Members of the Young Americans for Freedom, a campus group that supports the border security policy of President Donald Trump, posted the above picture on social media on Tuesday. After receiving several violent threats, the group contacted college officials and a police investigation was initiated.
Brazzaville, Congo (PANA)  The Congolese human rights watchdog (OCDH) Wednesday in Brazzaville called for complete press freedom in the Congo to enable journalists to work in total freedom
President Donald Trump turns back to the audience after speaking during an event in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, to declare a national emergency in order to build a wall along the southern border. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Oswego, NY (13126)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy. High 83F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 67F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
He said this right at the very beginning, she said. If youre interested in Disney and working at the Walt Disney Archives, you cant be a collector yourself because thats a conflict of interest. You can be interested, and you can be passionate about a certain aspect of it; yet if there was any sort of a fan interest, it had to be subdued subservient to your overall interest in what you were preserving.
"In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," the prosecutors wrote. "The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct."
Beth Wilkinson, an attorney for Kapoor, told jurors that any criminal activity by Insys was orchestrated by Burlakoff. She has sought to portray Burlakoff and the government's other key witness, former CEO Michael Babich, as liars who are willing to say anything to take down Kapoor in the hopes of getting a lesser sentence.
Mills was detained under the states Baker Act, an OPD spokesman said, which allows for people to be involuntarily committed if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others. Charges of disorderly conduct and resisting an officer without violence will be filed against him, spokesman Sgt. Eduardo Bernal said in an email.
What's Included

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 716-372-3121 or email nfinnerty@oleantimesherald.com.
A new mechanism aimed at unjust and arbitrary firings would not only provide workers with a genuine alternative to our imperfect wrongful discharge litigation in the courts  it would also induce the airing of general grievances which are not dependent upon proof that the unfair treatment is because of race, sex or other characteristics. Minorities and women are sometimes treated unfairly even when the grievance is not triggered by discrimination.
The sad part is, weve seen all this before, and New York politicians never seem to learn the lesson. Including communities from the start is a better and, in the end, faster way to approach economic development. New Yorkers have a long and effective history of blocking big development projects that are presented by haughty politicians saying there is no choice, from the Lower Manhattan Expressway proposed by Robert Moses in the 1940s to cut right through Soho and Little Italy to the West Side Stadium of the Bloomberg administration.
The city's union for retail workers saw the opportunity to tie the fate of the new project and the management jobs it would bring to an Amazon Staten Island fulfillment center that opened last year. The RWDSU, intent on unionizing Amazon-owned Whole Foods, demanded the company zip its lips during any union organizing drive at the warehouse, going far beyond its legal obligation not to coerce or intimidate workers, or else.
Im happy, and I think it was right, Ramsey told the Daily News after celebrating Saturday evening Mass at St. Josephs Church on the Upper East Side. The next thing that will happen  is (identifying) everybody else who knew and didnt do anything, which is almost as bad as what McCarrick himself did.
I do think an opportunity may have been lost in terms of potential jobs, improvements and opportunities for the community, but Ill never know if thats really the case because we didnt have the opportunity to make as many requests and demands of Amazon as we would have liked and to see if they were really gonna hold true to their word, he said.
In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, Muellers prosecutors wrote in a 27-page sentencing recommendation. The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.
A ban went nowhere in the City Council, but de Blasios administration used rule changes to begin the process of moving the carriages into the parks  a concession animal rights activists felt they had coming to them after the mayors 2013 rhetoric.
This is the time for the oppressed and the downtrodden and those who are everyday people to band together and finally, finally claim the power that they have always deserved in this country, he continued.  We set the tone in Queens this week, and were going to keep delivering the message.
But they went all the same, to lobby on behalf of future victims. They understood that the number one concern for most of the afflicted was access to financial compensation so families could be secure. None of them wanted to see families drained of stability in order to pay enormous medical bills.
We take great pride in our beers. When we came up with a great recipe, we didnt stop there. We made little tweaks here and there, trying a different yeast here, a different hope, and different grains until we had a world class beer, the Serious Brewing Co. website reads.
Martin was also killed inside the facility amid a gun battle with responding law enforcement about 90 minutes after the chaos first erupted. He had worked at the Henry Pratt Co., one of the largest valve manufacturers in the country, for 15 years.
Their marriage probably doesnt affect me  their union or whatever you want to call it. But in my opinion, theyre trying to force their beliefs on society, Garber said. He also said that he does not consider himself a bigot and believes that Christians such as himself should "take a stand on what you believe, lovingly."
You are certainly at the mercy of Mother Nature, with all that water and mud. And for the woman in the house to be able to slide down that hillside and come out the back side alive is a miracle, he told the news station.
Since winning her primary against then-Congressman Joe Crowley, Ocasio-Cortez has come under attack by conservative media for working as a bartender in the past, growing up in Westchester County even as she touts her Bronx roots, accused of attending Brown University (she went to Boston University), and of having revenge porn leaked (the photos were doctored).
On Aug. 28, 2017, the then-16-year-old Jouett walked into the Clovis-Carver public library and opened fire on staff and visitors with two handguns. In additional to the two librarians killed, Wanda Walters and Kristina Carter, four others were injured, including a 10-year-old boy.
Relatives, concerned that they had not heard from 78-year-old Rosemary Outland in weeks and looking to perform a wellness check, went to the home she shared with her daughter Jo-Whitney Outland, 55.
Amazon abruptly scrapped plans to build a major outpost in New York that could have created 25,000 jobs, blaming opposition from local leaders upset by the nearly $3 billion in incentives promised by state and city politicians.

The company said Thursday it did not see consistently "positive, collaborative" relationships with state and local officials. Opponents of the project feared congestion and higher rents in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, and objected to handing billions in incentives to a company run by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man.

State Senator Michael Gianaris, who represents Queens and was a vocal critic of the deal, told a news conference Thursday that the Amazon subsidies were unnecessary. "This was a shakedown, pure and simple," he said.

Amazon's sudden pullout from New York City prompted finger pointing by Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo, the politicians who crafted the deal. Cuomo angrily blamed the loss on local politicians while de Blasio blamed Amazon.

Cuomo said in a statement that a small group of politicians had "put their own narrow political interests" above those of New Yorkers.

The year-long search for its so-called HQ2 culminated in Amazon picking Northern Virginia and New York after hundreds of municipalities, from Newark, New Jersey, to Indianapolis competed for the coveted tax dollars and high-wage jobs the project promised.

Amazon said it would not conduct a new headquarters search and would focus on growing at other existing and planned offices. The company already has more than 5,000 employees in New York City and plans to continue to hire there, Amazon said Thursday.

A Siena College Poll conducted earlier this month found 56 percent of registered voters in New York supported the Amazon deal, while 36 percent opposed it.
And he come running down and he was bleeding pretty bad, and the next thing you know he was walking back and forth. I heard more shots, and we just left the building.
It has to be truthful, it has to be honest, it has to be factual. We know already there's a crime that's been committed. There's high probability there will be a criminal charge."
Drug dealers will do just about anything to project an image of danger in order to protect their drugs and cash, said Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan. Some drug dealers use pit bulls or snakes. These drug traffickers kept an alligator in the house. But at the end of the day, the police seized their drugs and money, and the alligator is headed to the zoo.
Cops had visited Big Daddys Stationary and Grocery store on Lorraine St. in Red Hook looking for untaxed cigarettes, but realized there could be guns on the premises after learning one of the workers had a prior arrest for possessing illegal firearms.
He is accused of killing Simonsen because in carrying out the robbery with a fake gun, he did recklessly engage in conduct which created a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby did cause the death of another person.
"O'Rourke claimed it was more of a fondling incident and that I was the only one  that it had never happened any other time," Burns recalled. "Garcia said they told O'Rourke not to make any contact with me and that they were going to send him to St. Luke's in Maryland for treatment."
"Weinsteins defense is old, tired and will not withstand the long line of women who will testify as to the way in which Weinstein manipulated women who had to deal with him even after he assaulted them because he held the keys to Hollywood."
The Jersey City man previously said he was asleep on the couch and woke up to the ruckus created by the argument that led to Comunales death at the hands of Rackover.
Pettway, a 30-year-old Brownsville emcee who performed under the stage name Mook Mula, was shot multiple times in the chest after a gambling game gone wrong in the lobby of his apartment on E. 93rd St. near Rutland Road around 10 p.m. on Dec. 2, 2017, police said.
You may check your facts and figures repeatedly, but nothing appears to add up correctly today. It's as if reality is playing games with your mind just to see how many oddities you notice before you acknowledge that things are not as they seem. But once you step beyond the limits of logic, a brave new world of magical possibilities stretches across your future. It's confusing at first, but you begin to realize that the only thing holding you back is your fear of the unknown. Rumi wrote, "Shine like the whole universe is yours."
Trump's attempt to plow ahead with a wall, his main campaign promise, is likely to please the president's conservative political base. But it also intensifies accusations Trump is abusing his emergency powers.

"We are talking about an invasion of our country," Trump said. "With drugs and human traffickers and all types of criminals and gangs."

Warning against what he called "gang monsters" and an "invasion" of drugs and crime, Trump said the emergency declaration was a "great thing to do." At one point, Trump mentioned "monstrous caravans," an apparent reference to the repeated groups of Central American migrants that have attempted to reach the U.S. during his presidency.

U.S. President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency, bypassing Congress to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, and setting up a legal challenge that could help determine the limits of U.S. presidential power.

 Budget Battle

Trump signed a bill funding the federal government later in the afternoon Friday. Congress reached the compromise bill in an attempt to end the partisan deadlock that had led to a recent 35-day partial government shutdown.

The funding legislation gives Trump only $1.4 billion for a barrier along just 90 kilometers of the border -- much less than the $5.7 billion he wanted to begin building 322 kilometers of wall.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen said in a statement Friday the bill provides critical funding for border security but added, "It gets nowhere close to completely solving the serious humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. Time and again, Congress has failed to fully fund DHS to confront this situation and to handle the influx of aliens, drugs, and other illicit traffic into our country. That is why I strongly support the President's decision to unlock additional funding for physical barriers."

Declaring a national emergency gives Trump the authority to move money from elsewhere in the federal budget, including funds for the U.S. military, and use it for a wall. In total, the White House will find roughly $8 billion to build the wall, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said.

Senator Brian Schatz, a senior Democratic appropriator, said the money for the wall simply wasn't available in the military budget. "The Military Construction funding process is rigorous," Schatz tweeted. "Whether it's dry docks or clinics or hangers or runways, there is not 3.5B to remove without dire consequences."

 Legal, Political Challenges

While Trump's decision ends the current battle over the budget, it potentially opens the door to much trickier legal challenges, which could delay wall construction for years. Trump seemed to acknowledge that reality Friday. "Sadly, we'll be sued. Sadly, it will go through a process. And happily we'll win," Trump said. "I hope."

Trump's wall also faces a tough road politically. In a statement, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that Congress "cannot let the President shred the Constitution."

"The President's unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation," the statement read. "This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process," it added.

The president contends there is a crisis along the U.S.-Mexican border. He says only a wall can stop illegal immigration and crime, drugs and violent gangs.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "President Trump's decision to announce emergency action is the predictable and understandable consequence of Democrats' decision to put partisan obstruction ahead of the national interest."

Democrats say a wall would be ineffective against illegal immigration and expensive. Above all, many say there is no emergency at the border, accusing Trump of manufacturing a crisis. House Democratic lawmakers Joaquin Castro from Texas and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York already have announced plans to introduce legislation to overturn Trump's decision.

While that legislation would likely pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, it would force a difficult choice on lawmakers in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, where many senators from the president's own party have expressed uneasiness about his move.

But Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted during the president's press conference, "Given Congress will try to block this executive action, I'm seeing speculation Congress could override a POTUS veto w/ GOP votes. They will not. The votes will not be there. There is broad GOP + American support for POTUS taking legal, constitutional action to protect families."

A January poll from Quinnipiac University suggested that two-thirds of Americans are opposed to such an emergency declaration.

 Bad Precedent?

There are concerns Trump's decision will set a precedent for future U.S. presidents to bypass Congress using national emergency declarations. According to the Constitution, Congress has the "power of the purse" -- to tax and spend money for the federal government.

"If this is deemed to be a national emergency that it opens the door for all kinds of things to be deemed national emergencies just given the policy preferences of a president," said Paul Schiff Berman, a law professor at George Washington University.

"You could say that global warming is a national emergency. You could say that lack of affordable health care is a national emergency. You could say that homelessness is a national emergency. And all of them are at least as plausible, if not more plausible, than the need to build a security wall," he said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced his state planned to file a lawsuit against the president for declaring the emergency. "The president's overreach has been extensive on any number of occasions and we have shot them down on any number of occasions," Newsom said in a press conference Friday. "This is another example of the president exploiting a serious law."

Presidents in both major U.S. political parties have increasingly used unilateral executive power to push through their policies. But this appears to be the first time a U.S. president has used congressionally mandated emergency powers to force through such a politically divisive policy.
Locane, who appeared on 13 episodes of Melrose Place, said during her appearance in court Friday, There is not a day that has gone by that I have not thought of the pain that my actions caused the Seeman family and of course Helene Seeman.
He had no pity, no compassion, no understanding of what the victims of war suffered, Ganz told The Guardian newspaper. Ultimately, I could not get to the heart of Hitler because there was none.
Rome, GA (30161)

Today

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High 88F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low near 65F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph.
Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowas Special Assistant on Youth Development, Mr Lawrence Ngozi Akpomiemie, has been reportedly shot dea...

Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowas Special Assistant on Youth Development, Mr Lawrence Ngozi Akpomiemie, has been reportedly shot dead.









Credible sources informed Daily Trust that the governors aide, fondly called Ngozi was shot dead on Friday around Ekpan in Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State.









It was learnt that Ngozi was ambushed by his assailants while returning from an outing with his girlfriend Friday night.









It was further gathered that he was repeatedly shot on his chest and head as the hoodlums were said to have waited until their target gave up the ghost before leaving.









It could not be confirmed however, at the time of filing this report, if the deceased female acquaintance was also killed by the hoodlums.









An unofficial police source and other security personnel in the area also confirmed the development this morning.
A U.S. Treasury Department statement said the U.S. delegation focused on issues such as forced technology transfers, intellectual property rights, cyber theft, agriculture, services and currency.

Earlier in the day, China's President Xi Jinping met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in Beijing. The official Xinhua news agency reported Xi said that he hopes the two sides can reach a mutually beneficial deal in their next round of negotiations.

"It's going extremely well, who knows what (that) means because it only matters if we get it done. But we're very much working very closely with China and President Xi, who I respect a lot, very good relationship that we have, and we're a lot closer than we ever were in this country with having a real trade deal," Trump told reporters at the White House Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump is hailing progress in ongoing trade talks with China, with negotiators set to meet next week in Washington as the March 1 deadline approaches.

"Detailed and intensive discussions led to progress between the two parties. Much work remains, however," the Treasury statement said.

China's state media report said the talks over the past two days made some progress on difficult and important issues. The statement said although much work remains to be done, the American officials said they were hopeful and willing to work with China to reach a deal in line with the interests of both sides.

This week's high-level discussions were aimed at reaching a deal ahead of the March deadline for an escalation in tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports.

In a tweet on Friday, before meeting with Xi, Secretary Mnuchin said that he and Lighthizer had "productive meetings" with China's top negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He.

Hu Xijin, the editor in chief of China's nationalistic tabloid the Global Times was optimistic, noting that there is a "great possibility for China and the U.S. reaching (a) final agreement."

In a tweet, he said, "From what I know, during the just-concluded round of China-U.S. trade talks, the two sides have discussed how to draft a document on comprehensively solving China-U.S. trade disputes, namely a MoU," adding that "After nearly one year of tough talks, I think the finishing line is nearly in sight."

Despite, Hu's optimism, few analysts see anything truly final being hammered out in the 90-day period that ends March 2. At best, most express a hope that the two sides will be able to create a framework that charts the way forward.

Last July, President Trump began raising tariffs that were aimed at "confronting China's unfair trade practices," such as a lack of reciprocal market access and complaints that Beijing steals or forces the handover of technology from companies. The trade tussle also seeks to address China's multi-billion-dollar trade surplus with the United States and generous subsidies for state industries.

China has responded by offering to narrow the trade surplus by purchasing more American soybeans, natural gas and other exports, but its willingness to press forward with key structural reforms remains a key sticking point.
President Muhammadu Buhari heavily criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when it postponed the 2015 general el...

President Muhammadu Buhari heavily criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when it postponed the 2015 general elections.





Then a candidate of the APC, Mr Buhari also criticised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government of systematic rigging.





On February 8, 2015, six days away, INEC postponed the February 14 presidential election by six weeks citing insecurity.





The elections commission chief, Attahiru Jega, said the delay until 28 March was necessary because of heightened insecurity that could affect the safety of election personnel, voters and materials, especially in the troubled North-east region.

Few days to the election when it started becoming clear that it would be postponed, Mr Buhari criticised the commission for considering postponement. He would later win the rescheduled polls.





After the latest postponement under Mr Buhari as president, the video of his interview was re-circulated by Channel 4 News.





It took INEC one month to work outI see no reason why we should postpone it, Mr Buhari said when asked by the planned postponement of 2015.

There are 14 local governments where there is (security) problem; 10 in Borno, two in Your, two in Adamawa. And there and 774 local governments in Nigeria. Should we postpone the election because of 14 local governments?





Mr Buhari suggested that even with Boko Haram onslaught, the electoral umpire ought to go ahead.





Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria were fighting wars and they conducted elections, what is Boko Haram? he said, dismissing the reporter.





Mr Buhari, however, asked his supporters to take advantage of the postponement to further mobilise support among Nigerians.





Mr Buhari also accused PDP of engineering the postponement to avoid a defeat; but appealed for calm among his supporters.





I wish to appeal for utmost restraint and calm by all Nigerians, especially the teeming supporters of our great party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.





It is important to note that although INEC acted within its constitutional powers, it is clear that it has been boxed into a situation where it has had to bow to pressure. Thus, the independence of INEC has been gravely compromised, he said.








The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed shock that the presidential election was postp...

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, has expressed shock that the presidential election was postponed by the Independent National Electoral Commission, a few hours before its conduct.









Atiku, who spoke at his residence in Yola, Adamawa State on Saturday, said he had no issue with the sensitive materials that had already been distributed for the election in as much as they were kept in a safe place.









Atiku said, I am shocked with the postponement of the election. You dont postpone an election few hours to its conduct. I am going to Abuja to attend an emergency meeting of the PDP and decide the next step. I am not dampened by the postponement.









As long as the sensitive materials that have been distributed already are kept in a safe place, there is no cause for alarm. I am appealing to Nigerians to please come out and vote and to please be patient. Whatever the stakeholders decide at the meeting in Abuja will be communicated to Nigerians.
The presidential candidate of Alliance for New Nigeria, Mr Fela Durotoye, has described the postponement of the elections until next Sat...

The presidential candidate of Alliance for New Nigeria, Mr Fela Durotoye, has described the postponement of the elections until next Saturday as a global disgrace.









We are so disappointed with the announcement of the postponement of the elections. It (the elections) should have happened today (Saturday). Today was a day that history was supposed to be made, he said on Saturday in a broadcast on Instagram Television, popularly known as IGTV.









Durotoye, however, appealed to the electorate not to be dismayed by the development.









They can only delay the elections, they cant delay our destiny, which is to have a new Nigeria where promises are kept, he stated.









We dont need this national embarrassment. This is a national disappointment and embarrassment. It is a global disgrace.









The 47-year-old ANN presidential candidate said it was baffling how after having four years to prepare, the Independent National Electoral Commission wasnt adequately prepared.









He argued that there were brilliant people in the country who could have organised the elections without logistics problem due to their expertise in project management.









He said, Everywhere across the world, people set dates. For four years, they knew we were going to have elections. How do we postpone elections at 3am on the day of elections?









People had left their homes because the system did not work, they couldnt transfer their Permanent Voter Cards, so they travelled. People left their children at home to travel to vote to deliver a new Nigeria. Some came in from abroad.









Durotoye said the postponement of the elections was a systematic way to frustrate the people, to disenfranchise them, especially first-time voters.









But, he said people were now wiser and would not be discouraged.









I challenge the youth to be awake. They should not be discouraged. Your efforts would only amount to waste if you dont show up at the polling booth next Saturday, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday in Daura denied prior knowledge of INECs decision to postpone the Presidential and National Assem...





President Muhammadu Buhari Saturday in Daura denied prior knowledge of INECs decision to postpone the Presidential and National Assembly Elections to Saturday February 23.





The Senior Special Assistant to the President, Malam Garba Shehu told newsmen who gathered in front of the Presidents house in Daura that his boss is as shocked as most Nigerians on receiving the news about the INECs decision.





Meanwhile the President has left Daura Saturday morning for Abuja to be briefed by the INEC Chairman on what transpired before addressing newsmen.





we shall be at the polling unit for the election, only to wake up this morning about the postponement. He was shocked by the development and has left for Abuja to hear from the INEC Chairman and the convened stakeholders meeting before issuing a statement to the Media. He said the President told all of us on Friday evening thatwe shall be at the polling unitfor the election, only to wake up this morning about the postponement. He was shocked by the development and has left for Abuja to hear from the INEC Chairman and the convened stakeholders meeting before issuing a statement to the Media.

The Nation recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, at its headquarters in Abuja, early Saturday morning announced the Postponement of the Scheduled Election for February 16by One week to now hold on Saturday February 23 for Presidential and National assembly Elections and March 9 for Governorship and State Assembly Elections, citing logistics challenges




The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has debunked reports that the body was planning to postpone Saturdays elections. ...

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has debunked reports that the body was planning to postpone Saturdays elections.





Presidential and National Assembly elections are scheduled to hold in few hours.





National Commissioner for Voter Education and Publicity at INEC, Mr. Festus Okoye said on Friday night that Nigerians should ignore the rumours.





His words: If stories are flying about, allow the stories to fly. What they are reporting is not true.





Asked to respond to information that INEC commissioners were in a meeting, Okoye said: Yes we are in a meeting but we have not taken such decision.





This is election period and as commissioners, we meet every time.





Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said his camp had foiled a plan to rig the polls in favour of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, President Muhammadu Buhari.





However, the recent development of INEC offices being set ablaze in Abia, Anambra, and Plateau states by mysterious fire, where thousands of electoral materials were burnt, could be major threat to the election.




Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the electoral body...





Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the electoral body has taken a decision on the elections.





Oyekanmi said this at the end of an emergency meeting which held at the INEC headquarters of on Friday.





He said Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, would soon brief Nigerians on the outcome of the meeting.





The commission had summoned stakeholders to a meeting to discuss the logistics challenges that could affect the exercise.





In some states, electoral materials had not been distributed as of 9pm, making some members of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to allege that there is a deliberate plot to sabotage the exercise.
Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect struck inside a mosque in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Saturday, killing 11 persons....





Suspected members of the Boko Haram sect struck inside a mosque in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state, on Saturday, killing 11 persons.





5:30am. Damian Chukwu, commissioner of police in the state, confirmed the incident, saying it happened around5:30am.





He said two suicide bombers, accompanied by a gunman, infiltrated the mosque located in Kushari village behind old CBN quarters in the ancient city.





More to follow










Thank you for trusting us for your local news coverage. You have reached the maximum number of free articles per month. Subscribe today for unlimited access to News-Press NOW. It's a fast and easy way to support local journalism.
Holly Fargo, who was set to take leadership of a new BSA troop for girls, was charged in connection with a theft scheme at Walmart in Atchison
Reservations for travel overseas are surging for this year's 10-day Golden Week period, during which the Imperial succession is set to take place, according to a JTB Corp. official.

As of late January, the number of overseas reservations in the period from April 27 to May 6 had jumped 2.5-fold from a year before, the official said.

Many package tours have already sold out at leading travel agencies, which are rushing to arrange additional tours using chartered flights.

This year's Golden Week includes 10 straight days of vacation including May 1, which has been designated as a one-off national holiday for when Crown Prince Naruhito will ascend the throne, following Emperor Akihito's abdication April 30.

At H.I.S. Co., the number of reservations for overseas trips during Golden Week had more than tripled from the previous year as of mid-January.

Golden Week trips usually go on sale after the New Year's holidays. This time, however, "trips to popular destinations were mostly sold out in mid-November last year," an H.I.S. official said.

For those without any workdays during this year's Golden Week, it is easier to plan ahead and fix travel dates earlier than usual, the official said.

Reservations have increased for trips to distant locations such as Europe and the United States, which tend to be avoided during short holiday periods. - Japan Times
Donald Trump yesterday hailed Pyongyangs tremendous economic potential and his great relationship with his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un ahead of a second scheduled summit between the two leaders. Speaking to reporters at the White House, the US president also took a dig at Barack Obama, suggesting his predecessor had been close to going to war with the nuclear-armed state. Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the Feb 27-28 summit, which will be the second time the pair come together following their Singapore meeting on June 12 last year.

But Trump held out the prospect of growth and prosperity for the impoverished and isolated country should it follow a path of peace. Their location between South Korea and Russia and China, right smack in the middle, is phenomenal. And we think they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future, Trump said. The president later hailed his warm relationship with Kim, adding that such an accomplishment had been beyond the capacity of Obama.

Recalling a conversation he had with Obama shortly before entering office, Trump said: I dont want to speak for him but I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war, he told me he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea. Where are we now? No missiles, no rockets, no nuclear testing. Weve learned a lot. But much more importantly... we have a great relationship.

I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un. The president added that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan had sent him a copy of a five-page letter delivered to the Nobel Peace Prize committee in which Abe had nominated Trump for his efforts in defusing tensions with Pyongyang. He said I have nominated you respectfully on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize. I said thank you, Trump said. Many other people feel that way, too. Ill probably never get it. Thats okay.

Trump also ran through some of the highlights of the fiery rhetoric he and Kim exchanged in 2017 when tensions between the two countries were sky-rocketing. It was a very tough dialogue at the beginning: Fire and fury, total annihilation, my button is bigger than yours. People said Trump is crazy. And you know what it ended up being? A very good relationship. I like him a lot and he likes me a lot. Nobody else would have done that. The Obama administration couldnt have done it.
For generations Algerians like the Gueldasmi family have barely eked out a living growing prickly pear fruits, but thanks to the cactuss new found virtues their lives are steadily improving. Now, my future is here. There is no need to go abroad to find work, said Fethi Gueldasmi, 40, whose familys revenues have been growing thanks to what agronomists and biologists now call the green gold. Scientific reports indicate that the Opuntia species of prickly pears which thrives in arid regions like Algerias northern Sidi Fredj contains a plethora of virtues.

Everything from the cactus -- once considered sacred by the ancient Aztecs -- can be transformed to yield nutritional and medical benefits except for its prickly spines. The green spiny discs known as cladodes are used for fodder while their tender inner flesh is a star of the cuisine of Mexico, where the cactus originated and figures on its national flag. Oil extracted from the seeds of fruit has antioxidant benefits and is used in cosmetics for its anti-ageing properties, besides being rich in vitamin C, calcium and magnesium.

The flowers of the cactus go into making herbal tea while the pulp of the red fruit is turned into juice, vinegar, jams and even sorbets. A 2017 study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) concluded prickly pears could be the answer to much of the worlds food security woes and prevent soil erosion.

Green gold

In Sidi Fredj, once an impoverished town in the Souk Haras province bordering Tunisia, Gueldsami, like his father and grandfather before him, farms prickly pears. The fruit must be handled carefully to avoid being pricked by the sharp spines. And until recently it was harvested for its tasty, sweet flesh, which only fetched a pittance of 10 dinars (US 0.08 cents, 0.07 euro cents) a piece at the local market.

Since 2013 however all that has changed with the creation of a cooperative of farmers, scientists and traders in Souk Haras, with help from Mexico, to exploit and market prickly pear by-products. A small factory was built in 2015 and oil was produced in small quantities before reaching 300 litres in 2017 and 1,000 litres in 2018. The cooperative is hoping to increase the output seven-fold by the end of this year thanks to a new and bigger factory which opened at the end of last year. One tonne of grains is needed to produce one litre of oil, which can fetch more than 2,000 euros (dollars) in Europe.

Algerias green gold is exported to France, Germany and Qatar and plans are being made to sell it in the United States as well, according to farmer Djamal Chaib. Although Algeria -- where most of the fertile land is free of pesticides -- has no organic certification body, oil from Sidi Fredj obtained an organic label from European agencies and is sold as such abroad.

Crucial food supply

Crucial food supply While most cacti are inedible, the Opuntia species has much to offer, especially if treated like a crop rather than a weed run wild, the FAO said in its 2017 report. It highlighted the 2015 Madagascar drought in which the cactus proved a crucial supply of food, forage and water for local people and their animals. Around 80 percent of Algeria, Africas largest country, is arid or semi-arid, providing an ideal terrain for farming prickly pears. In Sidi Fredj, the Gueldsami family and others have seen their revenues increase thanks to farming and selling prickly pears.

Fathi said his family is now able to make home improvements and pay in cash for their groceries instead of signing IOUs. His mother has also been saving money to carry out the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and Muslims must undertake the hajj at least once in their lifetime. Now, my future and that of my (10-year-old) daughter is here. There is no need to travel abroad, he said. Algeria is a country of 40 million where half the population is under 30, with one in three young people unemployed.

Many dream of travelling to Europe to find a job and improve their standard of living. Now hundreds of families are making a living from prickly pears, said Mohamed Mohamedi, who heads a farmers cooperative in the region. This includes women who take part in the harvest of prickly pears and young people.

No humble cactus

The FAO said in its report that beyond its immense benefits, the humble cactus can help fight food insecurity, improve soil quality, promote barley plantations and may even help limit emissions of greenhouse gases. A cactus stores water in its pads, thus providing a botanical well that can provide up to 180 tonnes of water per hectare -- enough to sustain five adult cows, a substantial increase over typical rangeland productivity, FAO said.

Climate change and the increasing risks of droughts are strong reasons to upgrade the humble cactus to the status of an essential crop in many areas, said Hans Dreyer, director of FAOs Plant Production and Protection Division, in the 2017 report. In Algeria, the farming of prickly pears has helped crop diversification as well, according to Khodir Madani, head of a university research laboratory, with farmers growing cereals and other crops among them. Fethis father, Youcef Gueldsami, agreed pointing to a few pistachio trees he planted alongside the cactus.
Kurdish-led forces cleared landmines and searched for tunnels blocking their advance Friday on the last square kilometre of an east Syria village defended by a few hundred Islamic State jihadists. Rainy weather and concern for civilians trapped in ISs last redoubt was delaying a push that will wipe out the last shred of the jihadists once-sprawling caliphate. The Syrian Democratic Forces have been closing in on holdout jihadists since September last year and a few hundred surviving IS members are now boxed into an area of around one square kilometre (less than half a square mile).

The large number of landmines and tunnels is hindering attempts by the SDF to secure complete control over the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Diehard jihadists were still launching sporadic attacks on SDF positions around their last stronghold in Baghouz, a small town near the banks of the Euphrates river. IS fighters are refusing to hand themselves over and they are still putting up a fight.

We do not know what is the point of this resistance, SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin said. Speaking in Al-Omar oil field, the SDFs main staging area, he said this week the jihadists had been using ambushes and explosives-laden motorbikes to inflict casualties on the SDF. The caliphate IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi proclaimed in mid-2014 once spanned territory the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people.

Eating grass

It printed its own schoolbooks, produced oil, collected taxes and minted its own currency, in a brief but unprecedented experiment in jihadist statehood. Successive offensives in Iraq and Syria have shattered the proto-state, which lost its key cities one after the other and haa since late 2017 been confined to its traditional power base in the Euphrates valley. An official declaration of victory against IS is expected in the coming days, a move of mostly symbolic value that will go down as the death certificate of the caliphate.

Estimates vary on the number of fighters and families left inside the last pocket but accounts from women who escaped with their children in recent days suggest come civilians are left inside. To avoid any harm to the wives and children of IS fighters, we are forced to be cautious, Afrin said. Close to 40,000 people have left the jihadists dwindling enclave in recent weeks, in the latest humanitarian emergency of an eight-year conflict that has killed 360,000 people and displaced 11 million.

Those who flee Baghouz have a perilous journey to the nearest SDF-held collection point, dodging booby traps and sniper fire. Women veiled from head to toe carrying scant belongings and dirty children often have to spend one night or more sleeping out in the cold. These people havent had any proper food in weeks... Ive heard accounts of people making some kind of soup with grass, said Jean-Nicolas Paquet-Rouleau, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Syria.
At least 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers were killed yesterday in Indian-administered Kashmir in the deadliest attack on government forces there since 2002, police said. The suicide bombing outside Srinagar claimed by an Islamist group is likely to ratchet up tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, with New Delhi long accusing Islamabad of supporting militants. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain, Indian Prime Minister Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, calling the attack despicable.

The attack saw explosives packed inside a van rip through buses in a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 members of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Two blue buses carrying around 35 people each bore the brunt of the massive blast, heard miles away, around 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the city of Srinagar on the main highway to Jammu. The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported that at least 39 people were dead, while other press reports said the number could exceed 40.

Some of the bodies were so badly blown up that officials feel it may take some time to identify them, PTI reported. The convoy was bringing the troopers back from leave to rejoin active service. It was unclear whether the van containing the explosives was driven into the convoy or whether it was detonated when the buses were adjacent. It was a powerful explosion. The explosive was car-borne, CRPF spokesman Sanjay Kumar said. Photos showed the blackened, mangled remains of at least one vehicle littered across the highway. Reports said that there were 350 kilos (770 pounds) of explosives used. Local media reports said the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group claimed responsibility.

A spokesman for the group told a local news agency that the suicide attack was carried out by Aadil Ahmad, alias Waqas Commando, a known militant from the area. After the attack, hundreds of government forces cordoned around 15 villages in the district the bomber came from and started searching house-to-house, a police officer and witnesses said. The last major car bombing, which killed 40 people including three suicide attackers, was also carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, in 2001. The target was the local parliament building in Srinagar.

Not in vain

The US ambassador to India, Kenneth Juster, tweeted that Washington strongly condemns todays terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir. We send our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims. The attack surpasses one in 2016 that was the biggest in 14 years, claiming the lives of 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp. India blamed militants in Pakistan for that attack, and responded with strikes across the heavily-militarised Line of Control, the de-facto border dividing the nuclear-armed nations.

The surgical strikes several kilometres (miles) inside Pakistan-controlled Kashmir remain a source of national pride for Modis government and were the subject of a rip-roaring recent Bollywood film. Indias foreign ministry, in a statement late Thursday, blamed Pakistan. This heinous and despicable act has been perpetrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation proscribed by the United Nations and other countries, the foreign office said. India is firmly and resolutely committed to taking all necessary measures to safeguard national security.

We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory, it added. The biggest attack on Indian forces was in May 2002, when militants attacked an Indian army camp in Kaluchak in Jammu city, killing 34 people, including family members of soldiers.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 56F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, then off and on rain showers overnight. Low 56F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Sophie Sergie Murder Original Story The original story in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on the murder of Sophie Sergie on the UAF campus published April 27, 1993.

FAIRBANKS - Timeline constructed from Alaska State Trooper information and Daily News-Miner files.

1993

 April 24: Sophie Sergie, a 20-year-old from Pitkas Point, flew into Fairbanks on Saturday for a dental appointment.

 April 25: She does errands, meets up with friends for a movie, and then is dropped off at Bartlett Hall at UAF.

 April 26: She is last seen around midnight Monday when she left the dorm to smoke a cigarette.

 April 26: Sergie is found dead in a bathtub in a second-floor bathroom around 2 p.m. by janitors who came to clean. She was likely killed in the early morning hours of April 26, based on autopsy information.

 Case responsibility is transferred to Alaska State Troopers early in the investigation.

 April 28: Troopers make positive identification of Sophie Sergie as the woman found dead on campus.

 April 30: UAF community gathers to remember and mourn Sergie.

 May 7: A $20,000 reward is offered but has an expiration.

 July 8: No killer has yet been identified.

 Oct. 6: A proposal is made to name a new campus building after Sergie but the idea is voted down by students on Oct. 14.

 April 26: The case remains unsolved at the one-year anniversary of Sergie's death.

1995

 April 15: The deadline for the $20,000 reward passes almost two years after the killing.

 April 27: Sergie's mother sues the university, alleging lax security.

1996

 Dec. 24: University officials meet with Sergie's mother to discuss a lawsuit settlement.

1997

 June 1: Sergie's case is still unsolved four years after hear death. The case eventually went cold but investigators continued to revisit it over the years as advances in technology occurred and as viable leads turned up.

2000

 DNA evidence is entered into a law enforcement computer analysis system.

2002

 Trooper Cold Case Unit is created. Sergies case is among the first cases reviewed.

2003 to mid-2009

 No new leads were developed.

 April 2009: Cold case investigators put out information to the public reminding them of Sergies case and encouraging anyone who was at Bartlett Hall or one of the other halls at UAF that weekend to contact them. Tips came in, which investigators tracked and worked.

2015

 Cold Case Unit is defunded.

2017

April: A Cold Case Unit investigator is rehired. Sergies case is among the files that immediate work started on.

2018

 April 25: A day before the 25th anniversary of Sergies death, the Golden State Killer is arrested after investigators used genetic genealogy to help them identify the serial killer. A trooper cold case investigator began researching the method to see if it was plausible to use in any of the cold cases he was working. He identified Sergies case as a good candidate for submission to Parabon Nanolabs.

 June: Parabon Nanolabs is contacted and the unknown DNA profile in Sergies case was sent out for genetic genealogy the following month.

 Oct: 10, 2018, Parabon Nanolabs contacted the CCU Investigator announcing it had a very high probability of identifying the unknown DNA sample.

 Oct. 18: The cold case investigator received identifying information for the unknown DNA sample. Steven H. Downs is identified as the suspect. He is found to be alive and living in Auburn, Maine. The cold case investigator reached out to Maine authorities to request their assistance. The Investigation determined that Downs was a student at UAF and lived in Bartlett Hall when Sergie was killed.

2019

 Feb. 11: A cold case investigator and another state investigator fly down to Maine for investigation and to contact Downs.

 Feb. 14: DNA is collected from Downs. It is matches DNA evidence taken from the scene in 1993.

 Feb. 15: Downs is arrested in Auburn, Maine.
Arrest Made In Sophie Sergie Murder Case Handout-Alaska State Troopers According to Alaska State Troopers Sophie Sergie is shown here on the evening of April 25, 1993. Sergie was kill

FAIRBANKSAlaska State Troopers arrested a 44-year-old Maine man Friday in connection with the 1993 sexual assault and killing of Sophie Sergie, whose body was found in a University of Alaska Fairbanks residence hall.

Steven Harris Downs Steven Harris Downs was arrested Friday afternoon in Auburn, Maine, and charged in the 1993 sexual assault and murder of 20-year-old Sophie Se

Steven Harris Downs, of Auburn, Maine, was identified as a suspect after newly submitted DNA evidence linked him to the crime, according to a trooper news release issued Friday afternoon.

Downs is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual assault. He was arrested by the Maine State Police Tactical Team outside an Auburn business at 1 p.m. Friday and will be extradited to Alaska for prosecution. Alaska State Troopers and Auburn police assisted in the arrest.

Alaska online court records show a no-bail warrant was issued for Downs in Fairbanks court Friday.

The arrest comes after dozens of investigators spent thousands of hours on the case over the decades that it remained unsolved, officials said at a Friday afternoon news conference in Anchorage hosted by the Alaska Department of Public Safety. Sergies mother, Elena Sergie, brother, Stephen Sergie, and cousin, Olga Tinker John, attended.

The news conference was broadcast via Facebook Live. None of Sergies relatives spoke.

Sophie Sergie Murder Original Story The original story in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner on the murder of Sophie Sergie on the UAF campus published April 27, 1993.

A seemingly unsolvable crime

Sergie, 20, of Pitkas Point, was found dead with her pants down in a bloody bathtub at Bartlett Hall at UAF on the afternoon of April 26, 1993. Sergie had been sexually assaulted, stabbed in the face multiple times and shot in the back of the head. An autopsy revealed she died from the gunshot wound. A .22-caliber bullet and DNA evidence were recovered from the scene.

As the investigation began, trooper Sgt. Jim McCann, the original investigator in the case, speculated that Sergie was "in the wrong place at the wrong time." He suspected the killer was a student or former student who had likely fantasized about the crime beforehand.

"Whoever did this is very, very angry at women," McCann told the Daily News-Miner two weeks after the killing.

Sergie was studying marine biology at UAF on a full scholarship but had moved back home to earn money for orthodontic work, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case. Sergie flew to Fairbanks April 24 and was staying with a female friend at Bartlett Hall for the weekend. She planned to return to Pitkas Point, a small village in Southwest Alaska, after her April 26 orthodontic appointment. She was last seen alive shortly after midnight, when she told her friend she was going to smoke a cigarette. The friend told Sergie she should smoke next to the exhaust vent in the tub room of the women's bathroom because it was cold outside.

Troopers were long unable to identify a suspect in the case, much to the frustration of Sergie's family and friends. DNA collected from Sergie's body was processed in 2000, and the resulting DNA profile was compared to other profiles in the national database. All potential suspects were eliminated and the investigation went dormant in 2003, according to the complaint.

Sophie Sergie Memorial News-Miner file photo Assistant professor Theresa John, left, shares the podium with Shirley Wasuli right, during a memorial service for Sophi

New leads

Downs was an 18-year-old UAF student living at Bartlett Hall at the time of Sergie's death, according to troopers. He and his roommate, who worked as a security guard at UAF, were briefly interviewed during the initial investigation. Both men denied any involvement or knowledge of the incident.

Downs' roommate was reinterviewed in 2010 after investigators learned he had been fired from his UAF security guard position for possessing a firearm in the dormitory. The man said he didn't own a .22-caliber gun but that his roommate, Downs, had an H&R .22-caliber revolver in his dorm room in 1993. A state forensic scientist later told investigators that the marks on the bullet recovered from the crime scene were consistent with having been fired from that type of gun.

In July 2018, an investigator with the troopers' Cold Case Investigative Unit decided to try genetic genealogy to identify Sergie's killer. The technique, which had been used earlier in the year to identify and arrest a California man suspected to be the Golden State Serial Killer, compares DNA profiles collected at crime scenes to DNA voluntarily submitted to public genealogical databases. The comparison identifies blood relatives of the unidentified suspect, and standard genealogical methods are used to narrow the field and identify a suspect.

The DNA profile submitted by the CCIU was found to match that of Downs' aunt.

"Through a thorough process of elimination, the lab determined that the known relative to the DNA profile only had one possible second-degree relationship with a male relative, her nephew, Steven H. Downs," the complaint states.

Tracking down a suspect

Further investigation revealed Downs was born in Maine and attended UAF from 1992 to 1996. He lived in Arizona for a time but eventually returned to Maine. Downs has no previous arrests, and his DNA had never been uploaded to the national database. He was most recently employed as a nurse in the Auburn area, according to the complaint.

Maine State Police contacted Downs at his home Wednesday and questioned him about the case. He again denied any involvement in Sergie's death and said he had been in his girlfriend's dorm room on the fourth floor of Bartlett Hall most of that evening. He repeatedly told detectives that Fort Wainwright soldiers were often in the building and speculated that one of them was responsible for Sergie's death.

Investigators searched Downs' house Thursday and obtained a sample of DNA from inside his cheek. The Maine state crime lab performed a DNA comparison in less than 24 hours and was able to match Downs' DNA with that found on Sergie's body.

UAF Chancellor Dan White issued a statement about Downs' arrest Friday afternoon.

"Sophies tragic death was a heartbreaking loss for her family and friends. It sent shock waves throughout our university and local community, and challenged our sense of security," White said. "While todays news is a step toward justice for Sophie and her family, it is also a reminder of a traumatic chapter in our communitys history. If you are struggling with this news, please reach out for help."

Contact staff writer Dorothy Chomicz at 459-7582. Follow her on Twitter: @FDNMcrime. Staff writer Amanda Bohman contributed to this report.
(Newser)  Toronto got an eye-popper Friday when it learned that Googlewhich is aiming to transform 12 acres of Waterfront land with tech-friendly developmentactually wants to develop 350 acres and draw profit from sources including higher property taxes and a share of developer fees, the Toronto Star reports. Politicians at all three levels of government expressed shock at the plan to effectively develop and tax a huge swath of prime, mostly public city property. "There is no way on God's green earth that Premier Doug Ford would ever sign off on handing away nearly 500 acres of prime waterfront property to a foreign multinational company," a senior official tells the Star. This despite Google sister company Sidewalk Labs saying it has already discussed plans with officials.

story continues below

"We're prepared to take the risk up front of developing a model to help make that happen, and were prepared to essentially get paid back when weve demonstrated that it can be successful," says Sidewalk CEO Dan Doctoroff. "We don't actually benefit until there's successful development." But the project, already plagued by concerns that Google might cull and monetize data of future residents, now appears shakier. "I was terribly shocked because this was not within the scope of the project," City Councillor Paula Fletcher tells Reuters. "I think it's a big credibility problem for everybody." The news coincided with a Friday Washington Post report that Google has been using anonymous holding companies to snap up land across America and acquire tax breaks. (Read more Google stories.)
(Newser)  Cardinal Donald Wuerl may have forgotten about sexual abuse allegations against his predecessor, but Pope Francis didn't. The New York Times reports that word has been handed down from the top: Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal of Washington, DC, has been defrocked. "The Holy Father has recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accord with law," the Vatican said in a statement, citing "sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power." The Vatican also noted that the 88-year-old's appeal on the matter had been nixed. McCarrick, who served as DC's archbishop from 2001 to 2006, resigned as a cardinal in July and is said to now be residing at a Kansas monastery, the BBC reports.

story continues below

McCarrick had relinquished his robes after an investigation by the Archdiocese of New York had found that allegations he'd sexually abused a teen in the '70s were credible; there were other sexual abuse allegations against him as well. The Times notes it looks to be the first time a US cardinal or bishop has been expelled, and the first time a cardinal anywhere has seen such a fate for sexual abuse allegations, even though hundreds of priests have been defrocked. One Catholic University of America professor calls the move "almost revolutionary." "Bishops and former cardinals are no longer immune to punishment," says Kurt Martens. "The reverence that was shown in the past to bishops no longer applies." (A new book describes a big gay subculture within the Vatican.)
(Newser)  How long will Paul Manafort go to prison for? If Robert Mueller has his way, a "long, long time," Vox notes, per a "harsh" sentencing memo filed by the special counsel's office Friday. In the memo, Mueller agreed with a probation department's recommendation that the ex-Trump campaign manager, 69, serve between 19.5 and 24 years, meaning he would likely spend the rest of his life in prison. "Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," Mueller noted in the filing. "The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct." Meanwhile, another court filing Friday from Mueller's office contains news on Roger Stone, with prosecutors for the first time saying they have evidence that the Trump ally was in touch with WikiLeaks.

story continues below

During their probe into Russia's hack of the Democratic Party, the prosecutors say they came across "communications" between Stone and "Organization 1," which is WikiLeaks, as well as between Stone and Guccifer 2.0, the Russian intelligence-created online persona behind the hack. Prosecutors didn't elaborate on what was in the Stone communications. Finally, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders revealed her own Mueller-related news to CNN: She said Friday she's had her own sit-down with the special counsel. "The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them," she said of her interview with the Mueller team. CNN notes the subject of her chat with the special counsel's office, which it says took place late last year, is unclear. (A judge has told Stone to keep his mouth shut when around a certain courthouse.)
(Newser)  Chicago police released without charges two Nigerian brothers arrested on suspicion of assaulting Empire actor Jussie Smollett, saying they have new evidence to investigate as a result of questioning them, per a brief statement Friday by Chicago police rep Anthony Guglielmi. He gave no details of the new evidence, per the AP. Smollett, who's black and gay, has said two masked men shouting racial and anti-gay slurs beat him and looped a rope around his neck early on Jan. 29 before running away. He said they also poured some kind of chemical on him. Smollett, 36, said he was out getting food at a Subway sandwich shop in downtown Chicago when the attack happened. A spokeswoman for Smollett said she had no comment on the release of the two men Friday. The two men, identified only as Nigerian brothers, were picked up at Chicago's O'Hare Airport on Wednesday on their return from Nigeria after police learned at least one worked on Empire, Guglielmi said.

story continues below

He said he didn't know what the man's job was. Guglielmi also said police searched the Chicago apartment where the men lived but that he had no info on what was found. Cops have said they found no surveillance video of an attack but continue to look. Investigators also said they were contacting stores in the hope of finding out who bought the rope that was around Smollett's neck. Police earlier this week said there was "no evidence to say that this is a hoax" and that Smollett "continues to be treated by police as a victim, not a suspect." In an ABC News interview, Smollett said he didn't remove the rope from around his neck before police arrived "because I wanted them to see," and that he initially refused to give police his cellphone because the device contained private content. He later gave cops heavily redacted phone records that police have said are insufficient for an investigation.

(Read more Jussie Smollett stories.)
(Newser)  In case you left Earth recently, President Trump has declared a national emergency to free up funds for his border wall. And now, as he predicted, lawsuits are on their way. The first one comes from the liberal non-profit Public Citizen, which says there's no actual emergency at the border, and Trump's declaration undermines the separation of powers because Congress already said no to wall money: "...A disagreement between the President and Congress about how to spend money does not constitute an emergency authorizing unilateral executive action," the group argues, per BuzzFeed. Three of the lawsuit's four plaintiffs are landowners who were told by the federal government that parts of the wall are slated for their properties.

story continues below

A fourth plaintiff, the Frontera Audubon Society, says the wall would hurt habitat in the Rio Grande valley. The American Civil Liberties Union also plans to sue, per CBS News, and so does California Gov. Gavin Newsom: "Donald Trump, we'll see you in court," he said Friday, NPR reports. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra echoed a widespread concern in his response to Trump's move: "President Trump got one thing right this morning about his declaration when he said, 'I didn't have to do this,'" said Becerra. "He's right. He didn't have to do this. In fact, he can't do this." The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed its own lawsuit claiming Trump failed to provide documents from federal departments saying he was allowed to declare an emergency over the wall, per USA Today. (Read more national emergency stories.)
(Newser)  What was likely a festive mood on Jennifer Aniston's private jet headed to Cabo San Lucas quickly changed Friday after a mechanical issue forced an emergency landing in California. People reports that Aniston and nine other passengers were on their way to Mexico from Los Angeles to celebrate the star's 50th birthday when an issue was discovered with one of the tires on the Gulfstream plane's landing gear, per a statement from Ontario International Airport. Initial tweets from the airport, which is where the plane ultimately landed, simply cited an "incoming aircraft" that placed the airport and local fire and police officials "on alert."

story continues below

A source tells People the airport was shut down specifically so Aniston's plane could land. USA Today reports the plane circled the airport for three hours to burn off fuel before touching down in a "slightly shaky but successful landing" around 2pm local time. Aniston and her party took off in another plane about two hours later. Also said to be on board: Friends co-star Courteney Cox. (Read more Jennifer Aniston stories.)
(Newser)  A judge ordered Roger Stone to keep his lips sealed when it comes to the special counsel's Russia investigation, at least when he's around a certain courthousethe one in Washington, DC., where he's facing charges. The judge was considering a complete gag order on Stone, Politico reports, because of concern that the sort of public statements Stone is making could affect his case. Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges including lying to Congress. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told him Friday to be careful when encountering reporters as he enters and leaves the courthouse. "I am pleased that the judges order leaves my First Amendment right to defend myself in public intact," Stone later emailed Politico. "I will of course continue to be judicious about my comments regarding the case." (Read more Roger Stone stories.)
Renters Get What Is Likely

Their Last Reprieve
iStock/Bogdan Khmelnytskyi(ORLANDO) -- Chaos erupted at Orlando International Airport Saturday after a man tried to breach a security checkpoint and travelers yelled out that the suspect had a gun, police said.



The man, Ryan Scott Mills, 38, was unarmed, Orlando Police said in a statement, adding that there was no gun involved in the incident and that no shots were ever fired.



Mills was attempting to cross the airports west checkpoint around noon on Saturday when he was stopped by TSA agents, who called police for assistance, authorities said. When police attempted to arrest him, he reached into his pocket, and thats when unknown persons in the screening area yelled that he had a gun, police said.



The commotion caused a panic and persons in the screening area fled, the police statement said. Some of them ran past the checkpoints, which caused TSA to immediately suspend screening operations. Several travelers were injured due to the panic (pushing from the crowd) but all were minor in nature.



Video from the incident shows people becoming increasingly panicked as they ran away from the screening area. With alarms blaring, children can be seen crying and rope barriers are strewn across the floors.



The person who took the video can be heard saying that the suspect had a grenade or something in his hand as he runs through the hallways of the airport.



Caroline Fennell, senior director of public affairs at the airport, said in a statement that the incident happened during one of the busiest times for security screening at the airport but that operations have resumed.



Orlando International Airport also tweeted that the checkpoint was fully operational but delays continue. Passengers scheduled for flights Saturday afternoon should check for status updates, according to the tweet.



Mills was taken into involuntary protective custody and he will be charged with disorderly conduct and resisting officer without violence, according to the police statement.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
What's Included

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 574-583-5121 or email cgrace@thehj.com.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 82F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely in the evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms later on. A few storms may be severe. Low 72F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
By PTI

ANKARA: Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"We haven't given all the elements we have at our disposal," the Turkish head of state said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel.

After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Turkish woman Hatice Cengiz.

Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who allegedly helped them dispose of the body, which has not been found.

Riyadh has arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder.

Khashoggi, Washington Post contributor, was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any involvement in the murder.

Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not make any "emotional decision" following India announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to the country and respond to it after due deliberation, a senior official said on Friday.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Trade Abdul Razzak Dawood told reporters here that a response to Indian decision would come after due deliberation.

"India has removed us from the list of MFN nations but we will not make any emotional decision and will issue a response after making due thinking," he said.

Withdrawal of the MFN status would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18.

But a finance ministry official told PTI that the impact of India's decision will be marginal.

"As the trade between the two countries was just over USD 2 billion dollars and Pakistan's exports were a fourth of it."

"So Pakistan is not going to lose much in terms of money in the short term," the official said.

Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

Withdrawal of the status would mean that India could impose heavy customs duties and discriminate Pakistani goods vis-a-vis similar items of other trading partners.

He said the decision will, in fact, hurt Indians as after revoking the MFN status tariffs would be more on the about USD 500 million Pakistani exports, including items like cement and salt.

Pakistan exports fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather to India.

But, it is believed that the decision might have long-term consequences as it will further dim the chances of normalisation of trade and tapping the potential of bilateral trade.

The World Bank in report called "A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia" estimated that Indo-Pak bilateral trade could reach to USD37 billion if trade barrier are removed.

The trade through the third country would increase as already about USD 3 billion worth goods are trade either through the UAE or Singapore.

India accorded the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 as part of the WTO free trade regime to treat all members of the world trading body on a non-discriminatory basis.

Pakistan was close to reciprocating the Indian move in 2011 when the Cabinet approved the MFN status for India but it was never implemented.
By AFP

TEHRAN: Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused "Pakistan's security forces" of supporting the perpetrators of a suicide bombing that killed 27 troops on Wednesday, in remarks on state TV aired on Saturday.

"Pakistan's government, who has housed these anti-revolutionaries and threats to Islam, knows where they are and they are supported by Pakistan's security forces," said Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist group Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice"). "If (the Pakistan government) does not punish them, we will retaliate against this anti-revolutionary force, and whatever Pakistan sees will be the consequence of its support for them," he warned.

The general made the remarks in Isfahan City on Friday evening during a farewell ceremony held for those killed. Funerals are expected to follow on Saturday.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Tehran in 2010. The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

The attack was one of the deadliest on Iranian security forces in recent years and came just days after Iran held more than a week of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah.

The commander also blasted "the support that the region's reactionary states Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis" maintain for "conspiracies" that he said were ordered by Israel and America. "We will certainly follow retaliatory measures," he added, without elaborating.

Jafari's comments came ahead of a two-day visit by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan, which is set to begin on Sunday. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the prepetrators of the attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries".
By AFP

TEKNAF: Some 102 Bangladeshi meth dealers have surrendered to authorities at a pre-scheduled ceremony in a coastal town, officials said Saturday, as a Philippines-style anti-narcotics crackdown sows fear among kingpins.

Bangladesh last year launched a "war" on drugs following a proliferation of illegal substances in the South Asian nation of 165 million people, mostly of cheap methamphetamine pills known as "yaba".

Police said 24 yaba "godfathers", as well as lieutenants and peddlers, surrendered to the country's home minister in Teknaf town -- the key gateway for smuggling yaba into the country from Myanmar, where the pills are manufactured by the millions.

The dealers also surrendered 350,000 vanilla-scented, small red yaba pills - whose name comes from a Thai word meaning "crazy medicine" -- and 30 illegal firearms. The country's police chief Mohammad Javed Patwary said authorities would advocate for lesser prison sentences for those who had surrendered, and would "assist" them in returning to normal life.

But he promised "harsh upcoming days" for those who had stayed away. "Those who are in hiding, don't get carried away. You'll not be spared," he told the mass gathering of several thousand locals who came to witness the event.

Teknaf is situated in Cox's Bazar district -- home to around a million Rohingya refugees - bordering Myanmar. Cox's Bazar is flooded with yaba, with many of the Rohingya refugees used as "mules" for carrying the pills. The pills have become an easy source of income for the Rohingya, some 740,000 of whom have poured across the border since Myanmar launched a military crackdown in August 2017 that the UN has described as ethnic cleansing.

The mass surrender comes during a concerted crackdown against drug traffickers, which has left nearly 300 people dead, including 40 from Teknaf, and seen about 25,000 arrested since May last year. On Friday Bangladesh security forces seized 570,000 yaba pills in separate drives in the border region next to Myanmar's northern Rakhine state.

According to the Department of Narcotics Control, some five million people in Bangladesh are drug users with yaba the most popular substance. The country seized a record 53 million yaba pills last year.

In October, authorities made yaba a class-A banned substance and parliament passed a law allowing the death penalty for dealing the drug. Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte's highly controversial anti-drug crackdown has killed thousands of alleged users and pushers since 2016.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is committed to implementing the decision of the International Court of Justice in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, a senior Pakistani official said as the country's delegation left for the Hague on Friday for the oral proceedings in the case that will commence at the world court from February 18.

Indian national Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017.

India moved the ICJ in May the same year against the verdict.

A 10-member bench of the ICJ on May 18, 2017, had restrained Pakistan from executing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.

Pakistan's Attorney General Anwar Mansoor would lead the Pakistani delegation at the ICJ while Director General South Asia Mohammad Faisal would lead the Foreign Office side, a senior official told Dawn.

The ICJ has set a timetable for the public hearing in the case from February 18 to 21 in The Hague and Harish Salve, who represents India in the case, is expected to argue first on February 18.

ALSO READ | Pakistan to present all evidence against Kulbhushan Jadhav in ICJ on February 19

The English Queen's Counsel Khawar Qureshi will make submissions on February 19 from Islamabad's side.

Then India will reply on February 20 while Islamabad will make its closing submissions on February 21, the daily said.

It is expected that the ICJ's decision may be delivered by the summer of 2019.

"We are fully prepared with our strongest evidence being the valid Indian passport recovered from Commander Jadhav with a Muslim name," the official told the Dawn, adding that Pakistan was committed to implementing the decision, irrespective of what decision came from the ICJ.

In reply to a question about Iran, the official said the Pakistan government was convinced that Iran had no role in Jadhav's episode though he remained there for some time.

"India wants to drag Iran into this dispute but we will not let it happen," he said.

In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday declined to go into the details of the case.

"The oral proceedings on the International Court of Justice are commencing on February 18. India will present its case before the court. Since the matter is subjudice it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public. Whatever we have to do, we will do at the court," he said in response to a question.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from restive Balochistan province on March 3, 2016, after he reportedly entered from Iran.

However, India maintains that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests after retiring from the Navy.

Jadhav's sentencing had evoked a sharp reaction in India.

India had approached the ICJ for "egregious" violation of the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, 1963, by Pakistan in Jadhav's case.
By IANS

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will consider all available options to retaliate for the Indian's decision to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, Prime Minister Imran Khan's Advisor on Commerce Razak Dawood has said.

India withdrew the MFN status it gave to Pakistan in 1996 following the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that has till now claimed the lives of 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers.

Dawood said on Friday that Pakistan might take unilateral measures against India or revoke concessions under the South Asia Preferential Trade Agreement (Sapta) and might take up the issue in the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation, Dawn online reported on Saturday.

"We would not overreact... We would take action with great care," he added while addressing the media at the office of board of investment on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit.

A Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist crashed a car bomb into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Thursday, making it the worst ever attack on security forces on any single day since a separatist campaign broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. It drew international condemnation.

The attack further damaged the already tense India-Pakistan diplomatic relations, with New Delhi saying it had evidence of Islamabad's involvement in the carnage. Pakistan, however, dismissed accusations that it had links with the militants behind the attack.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua met the envoys of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council - US, Russia, China, France and UK - on Friday and denied her country's role in the dastardly strike.

India, however, rejected Janjua's claims and said the "links are clear and evident and for all to see", noting that JeM was based in Pakistan.

A spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry termed as "preposterous" demands for an investigation saying there was a video of the suicide bomber declaring himself a member of the JeM.

India also demanded that Pakistan take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is currently in Munich, slammed India, saying that New Delhi should have acted more responsibly and engaged themselves with Pakistan by sharing evidence.

"Accusing Pakistan is very easy, you pass the buck," he said.

"Pakistan has been very clear, our viewpoint is clear, and, specifically, the stance of this government has been plain and simple: we desire peace," Qureshi said.

"We desire good relations with our neighbours, we neither wish to opt for the path of violence nor has this ever been part of our intentions," he added.
By Associated Press

DHAKA: More than 5,000 Bangladesh workers who demanded higher wages have been fired by factory owners, and hundreds face police charges in the world's second-largest garment export industry after China, an activist said Thursday.

Kalpona Akter of the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity said the firings came after thousands of workers took to the streets earlier this month in and around Dhaka, the nation's capital.

But an industry leader said Thursday that the dismissed workers were involved in vandalism or other crimes, or were laid off when factories closed because of business losses.

One worker was killed and more than 50 were injured in clashes during the protests in the Ashulia, Dhaka, Gazipur and Savar areas.

In November, the government increased the monthly minimum wage for garment workers to 8,000 takas (USD 96) from 5,300 takas (USD 63). But workers weren't satisfied after having demanded more, along with the implementation of other benefits declared by the authorities. Unions and advocacy groups have demanded up to 16,000 takas (USD 193) as a minimum salary, but factory owners say they are under tremendous pressure to meet prices demanded by global brands.

The industry exports about USD 30 billion worth of garments a year, mainly to Europe and North America.

Akter said hundreds of workers are facing looting and vandalism charges and some have also been accused of attempted murder. More than 50 workers were arrested and many others have fled their rented homes in the industrial zones, she said.

"We came to know at least 5,000 workers have been sacked, but the actual figure by this time could be about 7,000," she said. "Many workers are being harassed."

The president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association said he did not know the exact number of workers who have lost their jobs, and no innocent people were facing any legal trouble.

"Some of the workers were involved in vandalism, looting and other crimes," association President Siddiqur Rahman told The Associated Press. "They will damage our factories, they will destroy very expensive equipment, they will smash our vehicles and beat our officials. Should not we report it to police? If you are the owner what would you do?"

He said the industry has a shortage of workers.

"Why should I sack my workers if my business is good, if I make money? We have huge bank loans, we have many other liabilities, why would an owner fire their workers without any genuine reasons?"

He said the situation is now under control.
R Rajashekar Rao By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Friday directed the registrar (judicial) to take Assembly Secretary V Narasimha Charyulu and Law Secretary V Niranjan Rao into custody for contempt of court. Justice B Siva Sankara Rao was looking into a case filed by Congress MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar against their expulsion from the Legislative Assembly while passing the order. He had earlier directed that the MLAs be taken back into the Assembly as their expulsion was invalid.

Pursuant to the judges order, both secretaries were released after furnishing personal bonds of Rs 10,000 each. The judge impleaded S Madhusudhana Chary, who was the Assembly Speaker when the duo was expelled, as one of the respondents and issued contempt notice asking him to explain why he had not responded to the notice issued earlier.

Failing to respond to the notice amounts to contempt of court, the judge said and warned that, if necessary, he would pass orders for the arrest of the former Speaker.

The judge also impleaded the Home Ministry and issued a notice seeking its response on the matter. The justice asked the other respondents -- DGP M Mahender Reddy, Nalgonda SP A Venkata Ranganath and Gadwal SP Rema Rajeswari -- to explain why they had failed to respond to the notices served on them at the next hearing on March 8.

On April 17 last year, the judge while allowing the petition filed by Komatireddy and Sampath challenging their expulsion from the state Assembly, ruled that the dismissal of the two MLAs by the Telangana Legislative Assembly was invalid on the ground that principles of natural justice were not followed. The judge granted relief to them by setting aside the expulsion order of the and gazette notification issued by the state government notifying vacancy for Nalgonda and Alampur Assembly constituencies.

Both secretaries have filed writ appeals separately challenging the single judge order. While the appeals were pending before the Division Bench, on August 14, the judge issued Form-1 notices to both the secretaries for appearance before the court. On August 21, the Division Bench stayed the order of the single judge and all further proceedings in the contempt case.

On December 3 last year, the Bench closed appeals filed by Narasimha Charyulu and Niranjan Rao against the order passed by the judge in April. The bench said that the issues raised in the petition and the appeals do not survive for consideration since the 14th House of the Assembly stands dissolved. While closing the appeals, the bench said as a consequence of vacating all interlocutory orders issued in the appeals, the stay of proceedings before the single judge in contempt of court jurisdiction also stands vacated. It will now be open to the single judge to close the contempt case, the bench noted. On Feb 8 this year, the judge issued bailable warrants to both the secretaries for failure to appear before the court. The judge made it clear that those facing contempt case have to appear before the court once Form-1 notices were issued to them in the case.

When the matter came up for hearing on Friday, the judge after seeing both the secretaries, directed the registrar (judicial) to take them into custody and obtain personal bonds of `10,000 before letting them free.
By Express News Service

THOOTHUKUDI: A 38-year-old transgender priest was reportedly beheaded by unknown persons at SS Manikapuram in Thoothukudi on Friday. Police identified the deceased as Rajathi. According to police sources, the transgender was the priest of a nearby Mariamman Temple. On Friday evening, two persons allegedly beheaded her and fled.

A team headed by Thoothukudi Town Deputy Superintendent of Police R Prakash rushed to the spot and conducted a preliminary inquiry. The police are interrogating a grocery shop owner suspecting his role in the murder. It is said that Rajathi had condemned the grocery shop owner for his alleged illegal affair with a transgender woman.

The body was sent to Thoothukudi Medical College Hospital for postmortem. The (Thoothukudi?) North Police have collected CCTV footage from the nearby houses and shops.
By PTI

CHENNAI: After a stint of over six years as Tamil Nadu Health Secretary, senior IAS official, J Radhakrishnan was Saturday transferred to the Transport Department.

Belonging to the 1992 batch of the IAS, Radhakrishnan, assumed charge in the Health and Family Welfare Department in September 2012.

He will now hold charge as Principal Secretary, Transport Department, according to a Government Order which also notified transfers and postings in respect of other officials.

The 51-year old officer's transfer comes after Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry's (which is probing the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) counsel made an allegation against him in December 2018.

In a petition before the Commission, the counsel had alleged that Radhakrishnan "colluded and conspired," with Apollo Hospitals and "inappropriate treatment" was provided to her.

Both the hospital and Radhakrishnan had rejected the allegations.

The hospital, dismissing the allegations had said, that the proceedings before the inquiry panel cannot be "accusatorial" in nature.

The top official had dismissed the allegations levelled against him as "unfounded, baseless and wild."

The allegation was "not only false, but also slanderous", the top official had said.

In his capacity as Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Radhakrishnan was among top State officials who had a tab on the treatment for the late Chief Minister in 2016 at Apollo Hospitals here.

Also, Tamil Nadu Law Minister C V Shanmugam had wanted the state government to "investigate" the official's background, whom he had alleged was against taking Jayalalithaa abroad for treatment in 2016.

"Whether to take her or not to a foreign destination for treatment was purely a medical decision for which it would not be correct to hold an official like me responsible," Radhakrishnan had said.

On the issue of transfusion of HIV infected blood to a woman recently as well, Radhakrishnan had faced flak from some opposition leaders.
By PTI

PUDUCHERRY: Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, on a dharna outside the Raj Nivas here along with his ministerial colleagues for the last three days protesting Lt Governor Kiran Bedi's "negative stand" towards his government's proposals awaiting her approval, urged supporters on Saturday to ensure that law and order is not disrupted.

He also said as part of widening the agitation, stirs would be held at constituency level from Saturday.

Functionaries of different wings of the ruling Congress and the DMK have also joined the protest.

"We have selected 12 centres spread across 23 Assembly segments in Puducherry where the leaders and MLAs along with workers of parties belonging to the secular front would hold agitations in a peaceful manner," Narayanasamy said.

READ | Centre adopting step-motherly attitude towards Puducherry: CM Narayanasamy

As part of the stir, black flags would be hoisted atop houses of leaders.

Workers of the Congress party and its alliance partners in all Assembly segments on Sunday would protest "unanimously" against the "style of functioning" of Bedi, he said.

Calling on workers and others supporting the dharna to ensure that there is no disruption of law and order, the chief minister said, "Neither the Centre nor Kiran Bedi should get an opportunity to blame us on any count. The Central government is opposed to the territorial administration and hence we should tread a careful path," he said.

READ HERE | Arvind Kejriwal airs concern over Puducherry CM being 'forced' to sleep on road

Narayanasamy told reporters at the venue of agitation last night that he and his ministers would continue the stir till a "positive reply is available from the Lt Governor" to the various proposals, including a free rice scheme, the cabinet had forwarded to her.

"These proposals relating to welfare schemes and various administrative issues have been hanging in the balance for several months," he said.

A massive fast would be observed by all leaders and workers in front of the Head Post office here on February 21.

The chief minister also criticised the Lt Governor for "disrespecting" the people of Puducherry and also an elected government by leaving for Delhi a day after the agitation was launched.

Bedi had left for New Delhi early on Thursday morning under tight security of the Rapid Action Force (RAF).

ALSO READ | Modi government has made Governors BJP General Secretaries: Stalin

A source in the Raj Nivas had told PTI that she would return on February 20 and has invited the chief minister for discussion over the issues raised by him on February 21.

The Lt Governor and the government headed by Narayanasamy have been at loggerheads over various issues ever since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.

Narayanasamy had led an agitation in front of Parliament on January 4, demanding that the Centre sanction statehood for Puducherry and replace Kiran Bedi as the Lt Governor.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Attempt by the armed forces to avenge the death of 40 jawans in the Pulwama attack will lead to more bloodshed and trigger a new cycle of militancy, warned retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju. Lot of jingoism is going on in the name of Pulwama attack. I condemn the attack. But any attempt to avenge the massacre will end up in the slaughter of unarmed Kashmiri civilians. Kashmiri s are bitterly hostile to India. The suicide bomber has died and the perpetrators who helped him have vanished.

The army may go to a village, catch hold of a few unarmed civilians and kill them. This will only help to aggravate the situation. The relatives of dead will take to militancy and you will be converting non-militants into militants. If wisdom doesnt dawn, you will have more body bags arriving, he said `at a press conference in Kochi on Saturday.

Almost the entire Kashmir population has been alienated from India due to the stupidity of our political leaders for decades, he said.As a Kashmiri I know the mood in the valley. The militants may be only a few hundred. But most of the Kashmiris sympathise with them. After conducting an attack, the militants melt away among the population and the people there give them shelter, food and intelligence information. Any attempt to avenge the death will lead to a Vietnam-like situation. The only solution is reunification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh under a secular government, Katju said.

Courts should not intervene in matters of faith

Katju said courts should not intervene in matters of faith as it will lead to chaos and communal riots.

Religion is not a matter of reason. I am an atheist and I believe that all religions are false and superstitious. But most people are religious and we should respect them. The Ayyappa devotees believe that Ayyappa is a naishthik brahmachari and he does not like menstruating women visiting the temple. It is a matter of faith and you cannot question it. The judges who delivered the verdict have no knowledge about the realities of this country. It is not proper for the courts to interfere in matters of faith, he said.

According to him, the correct judgement is that of Indu Malhotra.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Foraying into uncharted waters, Kerala Tourism for the first time participated in the International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) in Tel Aviv. Kerala Tourism is now eyeing the largely untapped Israeli market to substantially increase footfall from the Jewish state.

Tourism Director P Bala Kiran led the state delegation to the two-day IMTM 2019, the largest annual professional tourism fair in the Eastern Mediterranean region. More importantly, IMTM is the tourism sectors official and only professional exhibition in Israel, the 25th edition of which concluded on Friday.

Sounding upbeat on Kerala Tourisms IMTM debut, Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said it was an extremely successful outing for the states tourism sector.

In the highly competitive global market, we need to scout for new source markets abroad to attract tourists. Our participation in a prestigious event like IMTM will propel us forward, he said.According to Kadakampally, presently there is a direct flight from Tel Aviv to New Delhi and Mumbai. A direct flight from Tel Aviv to Kochi will be launched by Arkia Israeli Airlines this September, which will be a major boost to tourism in India in general and Kerala in particular, he said.

Tourism Secretary Rani George said Keralas participation in IMTM is part of the tourism departments aggressive campaign to woo travellers from non-traditional markets. We have already made a strong presence in GCC member-states like the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Forging strong ties with Israels tourism segment will open new vistas of expansion for Kerala Tourism in the West Asia region, she said.

During the exhibition, Kerala Tourism launched a sleek and glossy coffee- table book, a first-of-its-kind visual odyssey of Jews who decided to make Kerala their home long before several members of the community chose to return to Israel. The book was formally launched by Pavan Kapoor, Indias Ambassador to Israel, who also visited the Kerala stall at the event.

In 2018, around 15,339 Israeli tourists visited the state, a 29 per cent year-on-year rise. Bala Kiran chose to hard sell Kochi as one of the oldest Jewish settlements on Asian soil, which had a much larger Jewish community than New York and surpassed it not only numerically, but also culturally. The Cochin Jewish community in 1792 had about 2,000 Jews and nine synagogues of considerable antiquity while New York had only 72 Jewish families and only one synagogue.

The book, One Heart, Two Worlds - The Story of The Jews of Kochi, brings alive the riveting real-life account of the Jewish community in Kochi.With less than 30 Jews remaining in Cochin today, the need to document the Jewish diaspora, who coexisted peacefully in the socio-cultural fabric here and were welcomed by the Rajas, acquires an immediacy and timeliness. This is what the book ensures, he said.
By Express News Service

HAVERI: The Haveri police have arrested one person and charged him with sedition for his alleged shouting of pro-Pakistan slogans during a meeting held to pay tribute to the martyred CRPF jawans who were killed in Pulwama.

The meeting was conducted at Devagiri village of Haveri district on Friday night and the arrested, 36-year-old Ahmed Ali Karimattihalli, is a resident of the same village.

According to police, a memorial service had been organized by the villagers to pay their respects to those who lost their lives in the terror attack and it was decided to observe a minute of silence. During this time, Ahmed started shouting 'Pakistan Zindabad' several times.

Stunned by this unexpected act, the villagers scolded him and even chased him when he tried to flee the scene.

Ahmed managed to escape but was caught later and handed over to the rural police.

A case was registered at the Haveri rural police station.

Superintendent of Police K Parashuram told The New Indian Express that a case of sedition has been charged against Ahmed Ali under sec 124 A of the Indian Penal Code and he will be produced before the court on Saturday.
Home they brought her warrior dead. And home they brought her warrior dead... Unfortunately, for India, warriors die not on alien land but on home turf. Not fighting a war but while merely joining their border posts. Not one or two, more than 40 CRPF jawans. Young men from all over, mostly from underprivileged rural and small-town India. Blown up by an SUV-borne suicide bomber, in such a manner that only the mangled metal of the bus remains.

How many more deaths will it take for Kashmir to wake up to see this mind-numbing violence only kills all sides, and gains nothing except daily bloodshed? Or for Pakistan and its diabolical generals to see their own society is drowning in blood? Nurturing terrorism while surviving on external dole, when even global lending agencies are doubtful if it can service debt, is neither honourable nor sound policy. West Asia, all-munificent Saudi Arabia in particular, must realise offering aid to a nation willing to cynically use human lives as fodder only means more Muslims die. Whether in the bloody birth of Bangladesh, the Afghan war or Kashmir. Nor can China confine itself to expressions of shock. Beijing needs to stop being a veto-wielding roadblock in the proscription via UNSC of terror masterminds like Maulana Masood Azhar.

Looking inwards, one cannot but lament the sorry ground intelligence, which failed to detect fidayeen Adil Ahmad Dhars recruitment in Jaish-e-Mohammed. Its amazing a car laden with explosives could escape detection on a sanitised route. Also, why was the CRPF battalion not airlifted and made to go by road through disturbed South Kashmir? Indian security agencies simply need to do more on their SOPs instead of periodically mulling what retaliatory action would satisfy public sentiment. And the political corollary of terrorism, on election eve? We may only hope the fallen jawans of Pulwama are spared the indignity of being made fodder twice over.
By IANS

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with RAW chief A. K. Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA Ajit Doval in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead.

What transpired between them was not immediately known or officially communicated, but sources in Home Ministry said that Singh took stock of the security situation in Kashmir in the aftermath of the terror attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The meeting also come in the wake of outrage and anger among the people post the attack as the country expecting retaliation from the government.

ALSO READ: 'Bharat ke Veer' website getting slow due to tremendous response from public, says Rajnath Singh

From the US, China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the European Union to Afghanistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, various countries have come in support of India and expressed solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just a day after the Pulwama attack, India started the process of isolating Pakistan on the international stage with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale meeting at least two dozen envoys in the national capital.

It also withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan. According to experts, India's decision to withdraw the MFN status to Pakistan would adversely impact the neighbouring country's economy.
sana shakil and mayank singh By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The suicide attack on the CRPF convoy has prompted security forces to revise the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) being followed since 2003 for movement of troops. Civilians will no longer be free to move around during convoy movement, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Friday.

Since 2003, civilian vehicles are allowed to move on highways during convoy movement and are even allowed to overtake the vehicles of security forces.

Though Thursdays attack has been the worst in the Valley in recent past  recording the highest number of deaths in a single terror attack in over three decades  security forces convoys have often been targeted in the past.

Thursday's attack brings to limelight vulnerability of security forces on roads, security officers said, revealing there have been 10 attacks on convoys since 2013 in Kashmir and stressing on the need to airlift troops.

Sources said that concerns of security officers were also conveyed to Singh who said the request will be looked into. J & K Transport commissioner SP Vaid, also former police chief of the state, said he had even made a proposal for security forces to be airlifted.

The transit alone takes a lot of time, especially when the roads are closed for weeks. This exposes the soldiers for a prolonged duration. I had proposed to airlift the jawans during a high-level security meeting of joint forces more than once, and also spoke about it to representatives of state and Union governments, Vaid said.

Meanwhile, a senior official confirmed that all the movement of security forces was cancelled till authorities could come up with a different set of plans.

Earlier the movement of security forces in convoys was kept separated. The civil vehicle was either restricted or had a separate time for movement. The aim was to keep the body of troops safe added the officer.

Army remains strict about its convoy movements. It does not allow, even in extreme cases to exceed the number of vehicles beyond 21.

Security analyst JK Verma found a new dimension in the attack.Such attacks have been common in Afghanistan. It is an important dimension and we will have to plan everything in such a way that we trap such attackers and eliminate them.

All the persons this paper spoke to favoured stopping the movement of the civil vehicle as the Kashmir remains an important place for the forces.
Shashi Tharoor By

Bloomberg

The recent flap over Winston Churchill -- with Labour politician John McDonnell calling Britains most revered prime minister a villain and prompting a rebuke from the latters grandson -- will astonish many Indians. Thats not because the label itself is a misnomer, but because McDonnell was exercised by the death of one Welsh miner in 1910. In fact, Churchill has the blood of millions on his hands whom the British prefer to forget.

History, Churchill himself said, will judge me kindly, because I intend to write it myself. He did, penning a multi-volume history of World War Two, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his self-serving fictions. As the Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies remarked of the man many Britons credit with winning the war, "His real tyrant is the glittering phrase, so attractive to his mind that awkward facts have to give way.

Awkward facts, alas, there are aplenty. As McDonnell correctly noted, Churchill as Home Secretary in 1910 sent battalions of police from London and ordered them to attack striking miners in Tonypandy in South Wales; one was killed and nearly 600 strikers and policemen were injured. Its unlikely this troubled his conscience much. He later assumed operational command of the police during a siege of armed Latvian anarchists in Stepney, where he decided to allow them to be burned to death in a house where they were trapped.

Shortly afterward, during the fight for Irish independence between 1918-23, Churchill was one of the few British officials in favor of bombing Irish protesters from the air, suggesting using machine gun fire bombs to scatter them. As Secretary of State for the Colonies, he followed through on that threat in Iraq. He ordered large-scale bombing of Mesopotamia in 1921, with an entire village wiped out in 45 minutes. When some British officials objected to his proposal for the use of gas against natives, he found their objections unreasonable. In fact he argued that poison gas was more humane than outright extermination: The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum.

This underscores the fundamental contrast in views of Churchill. In Britain and much of the West, hes seen as the savior of Democracy, Freedom, and all that is good in Western Civilization, as one enthusiastic correspondent put it. In fact, his record is far more mixed even there. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, Churchill was an open admirer of Mussolini, declaring that the Italian Fascist movement had rendered a service to the whole world. Traveling to Rome in 1927 to express his admiration for the Fascist Duce, Churchill announced that he could not help being charmed, like so many other people have been, by Signor Mussolinis gentle and simple bearing and by his calm detached poise in spite of so many burdens and dangers.

What Churchill was above all, though, was a committed imperialist -- one determined to preserve the British Empire not just by defeating the Nazis but much else besides. At the start of his career, as a young cavalry officer on the northwest frontier of India, he declared the Pashtuns needed to recognize the superiority of [the British] race and that those who resisted would be killed without quarter. He wrote happily about how he and his comrades systematically, village by village, destroyed the houses, filled up the wells, blew down the towers, cut down the great shady trees, burned the crops and broke the reservoirs in punitive devastation. Every tribesman caught was speared or cut down at once.

In Kenya, Churchill either directed or was complicit in policies involving the forced relocation of local people from the fertile highlands to make way for white colonial settlers and the incarceration of over 150,000 men, women and children in concentration camps. British authorities used rape, castration, lit cigarettes on tender spots and electric shocks to torture Kenyans under Churchills rule.



And his principal victims were the Indians -- a beastly people with a beastly religion, as he charmingly called us, a foul race. Churchill was an appalling racialist, one who could not bring himself to see any people of color as entitled to the same rights as himself. (He did not admit, for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia  by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race, has come in and taken its place.) He fantasized luridly of having Mahatma Gandhi tied to the ground and trampled upon by elephants.

Thanks to Churchills personal decisions, more than 3 million Bengalis died of hunger in a 1943 famine. Churchill deliberately ordered the diversion of food from starving Indian civilians to well-supplied British soldiers and even to top up European stockpiles, meant for yet-to-be-liberated Greeks and Yugoslavs. The starvation of anyway underfed Bengalis is less serious than that of sturdy Greeks, he argued. When reminded of the suffering of Bengalis, his response was typically Churchillian: The famine was the Indians own fault, he said, for breeding like rabbits. If the suffering was so dire, he wrote on the file, Why hasnt Gandhi died yet?

Its important to remember that these werent enemies in a war -- Churchill also wanted to drench the cities of the Ruhr in poison gas and said of the Japanese, we shall wipe them out, every one of them, men, women and children -- but British subjects. Nor can his views be excused as being reflective of their times; his own Secretary of State for War, Leo Amery, confessed that he could see very little difference between Churchills attitude and Hitlers.

Britons and Oscar voters may yet thrill to Churchills stirring words about freedom. But to the descendants of the Iraqis whom Churchill gassed and the Greek protesters on the streets of Athens who were mowed down on his orders in 1944 (killing 28 and maiming 120), to sundry Pashtuns and Irish, to Afghans and Kenyans and Welsh miners as well as to Indians like myself, it will always be a mystery why a few bombastic speeches have been enough to wash the bloodstains off Churchills hands. We shall remember him as a war criminal and an enemy of decency and humanity, a blinkered imperialist untroubled by the oppression of non-white peoples, a man who fought not to defend but to deny our freedom.
By PTI

YAVATMAL: Asserting that the sacrifice of the 40 CRPF personnel killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama will not go in vain, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday said security forces have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the attack.

At a public function in Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district, where he launched a number of projects, Modi also slammed Pakistan saying it has become a synonym for terrorism.

"Sacrifice of Pulwama martyrs will not go in vain. Our security forces have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the attack," the prime minister said, and warned that even if the terrorist organisations try to hide, they will be sought out and punished for the crime they have committed.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

"All of us can feel the pain of families of the Pulwama martyrs. We understand your anger," Modi said. Referring to Pakistan, the prime minister said, "A nation which is on the verge of bankruptcy has now become the second name for terror."

Modi also sought to know from the people present at the event whether they were happy with his work and the efforts he was taking.

At the event, the prime minister inaugurated an Eklavya Model Residential School for tribal students and handed over the keys of houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to some of the beneficiaries.

Modi flaged off the Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune train service through video link and also distributed certificates and cheques under the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM) to women Self-Help Groups.
By Express News Service

SRINAGAR: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said the plans of outside powers to spread militancy in J&K from across the Line of Control (LOC) will in no way be allowed to succeed.

Singh, who was in Srinagar to assess the situation in the wake of the Pulwama attack by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), which claimed 40 CRPF lives on Thursday, said There are reasons to believe that some people in J&K were in collusion with militants and Pakistan based ISI and the attack was a result of this. Without naming anybody he added, some elements in Kashmir are known to be on direct payroll of the ISI and the government would now review their security.

Earlier, Singh attended a ceremony at RTC Humhama on the outskirts of Srinagar where the bodies of jawans had been brought and shouldered the tricolour-draped coffin of one of the fallen.

Reacting to the ministers statement, former Chief Minister and National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah suggested the use of specially chartered trains for movement of security forces between Banihal and Baramulla.

They will be able to move at high speeds nonstop & they will be much safer than convoys. Also, highways will be available for civilian traffic, Omar tweeted. Former CM and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti tweeted too, saying, Stunned at his refusal to acknowledge grave security lapse despite intelligence inputs. Why were 2000 CRPF men allowed to travel in a convoy? Is air travel only for political elites? Defies common sense. Easy to blame us. J&K under Guv rule so he cant abdicate responsibility, she said

Meanwhile, separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik said people and the leadership of Kashmir regret every killing.

As we witness killing of our loved ones, our young, and shoulder their coffins each day we can feel and understand the pain and sense of loss that the family and friends of those who are killed go through. The silent grief and loss stay with them for a lifetime, the three leaders said.

They said the delay in resolution of Kashmir dispute, denial to engage with sentiments and aspirations of J&K people and use of the muscular military approach to counter an essentially political and human problem, is wreaking havoc in Kashmir.
By ANI

WASHINGTON: Strongly condemning the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Friday (local time) reiterated that Pakistan should not provide safe haven to terrorist groups operating on its soil.

"The US condemns yesterdays (Thursday) horrific terror attack on Indian security forces. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand with India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security," Pompeo wrote on his Twitter handle.

Taking a tough stand, Washington said that the attackers and backers behind the attack should be held accountable. The dastardly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Thursday afternoon claimed the lives of 40 security personnel. The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

READ| Regretting loss of lives, Pulwama bomber's father warns of more attacks if Kashmir issue not solved

Around 44 martyred jawans were in a bus, into which the terrorist rammed his vehicle with over 100-kg explosives. It was the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.

Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the responsibility for the deadly attack which left the bus extensively damaged in a blast.

The US issued a travel advisory to its citizens, urging them to reconsider travelling to Pakistan due to terrorism. Washington has further restricted the travel of its diplomats in the country and has explicitly asked its citizens to refrain from visiting Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, including the erstwhile FATA province, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Following the deadly assault, India on Friday withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. The international community too has expressed support to India in the wake of the attack. (ANI)
By Express News Service

MUMBAI: Ive lost the mentor who taught me how to survive in the volatile atmosphere of Srinagar, said Gautam Lahane, a junior buddy of CRPF constable Nitin Rathod who lost his life in the deadliest terrorist attack on Thursday.

Lahane hails from Shara village of Lonar tehsil of Buldana district. He recalls his first encounter with constable Rathod at Srinagar.

It was two years back. I was transferred from Jharkhand to Srinagar. I was not used to the ill famous stone pelting of the valley. As we were doing patrolling duty, the stone pelting began. Rathod sir realised that I was not carrying the shield and rushed to me. He covered me with his own shield and helped me to move to a safe place. He scolded me a lot but immediately calmed down after learning that that was my first day on duty at Srinagar. He lovingly inquired about my family and hometown which is when we realised that we are from neighbouring villages, Lahane said.

He was six years senior to me in service and was stationed in Srinagar for a long time. In the past two years, it had become a habit for me to be with him always. It was only this time that I couldnt get leave along with him. I came to the village on Feb 5th and he left for duty on Feb 11th. We didnt know it was the last time that we were meeting when he left for the train that day, Lahane said.

Lahane also recalled Rathod as a person who had a knack of quickly winning hearts of people from any age group.

Whenever off duty, he used to inspire children in the village to study, the exercise and do something for the nation. He inspired many to prepare for joining services. He was very popular in his village and his death has left everyone grieving, Lahane said.

Rathod who joined the forces in 2005, had served in the North East for a long time before being transferred to J&K. He is survived by wife Vandana, two children - 7-year-old daughter Prachi and 9-year-old son Piyush, parents and a younger brother.

To join the forces was always a dream for Nitin ever since our school days, said Rathors brother in law Ashok Chavan. Though the family owns a small piece of land measuring about 1.5 acres and farming is the only means of survival, his passion took him to join CRPF after completing his schooling, Chavan said.

Another CRPF constable who lost his life in the terror attack at Pulwama was Sanjay Rajput whose family hails from Malkapur of Buldana district but was currently staying at the CRPF camp in Hingna area of Nagpur with his wife Sushma and two children aged 13 and 10.

Slain CRPF Constable Sanjay Rajput.

Rajput would be remembered for his dedication to his duty. He had recently completed 23 years of service in CRPF and promoted to the post of head constable. He was eligible for voluntary retirement. But, he refused to execute the option saying that he wants to serve the nation till he is fit to do so, recalled one of his neighbours in Nagpur camp.

Sanjay had left home on February 11 to join the duty at Shrinagar.
By Online Desk

China sent a condolence message to India on Saturday, a day after it condemned the Pulwama terror attack, in which over 40 CRPF personnel were killed. However, the message had no mention of Pakistan or Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorists.

In the letter addressing to the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, China conveyed deep sympathy to the families of the Martyred jawans. Though China expressed "shock" over the incident, it has made very clear that the country won't back New Delhi's appeal to list the UN-proscribed Pakistan-based terror group's chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist'.

As many as 48 countries, including the US, Russia, France, Germany condemned the ghastly terror attack that shook the nation on Thursday.

READ | Covert op, terrorist bounties, water card: Experts mull options to hit back at Pakistan

(Screengrab | Embassy of Peoples Republic of China in the Republic of India)

The White House warned Pakistan to immediately stop providing support and safe haven to all its terror groups.
By IANS

PATNA: Inayat Khan, District Magistrate (DM) of Sheikhpura in Bihar, on Saturday decided to adopt the daughters of two CRPF troopers from the state, killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

Khan, a Bihar cadre IAS officer, has announced she will adopt two girls, one daughter each of slain CRPF personnel Ratan Kumar Thakur and Sanjay Kunar Sinha.

Khan said she will bear the cost of the girls' education besides taking care of other expenses through out their lives.

ALSO READ: Virender Sehwag offers to take care of education of martyrs' children

Khan will also donate her two days' salary to the families of the two martyrs. "I have requested all government staff of my district to donate their one day's salary to the families of the two martyrs," she said.

According to Khan, a bank account has been opened in Sheikhpura for people to donate generously to the kin of the martyred CRPF troopers.

Earlier, Khan, along with the staff at the DM's office, paid tributes to 49 CRPF troopers, killed in the Pulwama terror attack, by observing a minute's silence on Saturday.
Express News Service

NEW DELHI / SRINAGAR: A day after a suicide bomber killed over 40 CRPF personnel in south Kashmirs Pulwama district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday dropped hints that India would retaliate when he said security forces would decide the timing, place and nature of response.

I know there is deep anger, your blood boils looking at what has happened, Modi said.

The PMs comments came soon after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security where it was decided to withdraw the most favoured nation status to Pakistan.

After the CCS meeting, Union Minister Arun Jaitley said the Ministry of External Affairs would launch an all-out effort to isolate Pakistan.

Later, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and issued a demarche.

India also asked its High Commissioner to Pakistan, Ajay Bisaria, to return to Delhi for consultations.

ALSO READ | Regretting loss of lives, Pulwama bomber's father warns of more attacks if Kashmir issue not solved

Gokhale also met 25 heads of missions of the P-5 countries, South Asian countries and important partners such as Japan, Germany, Republic of Korea and others, and briefed them on Pakistans use of terror as an instrument of state policy.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who flew to Srinagar soon after the CCS meeting, said civilian vehicles would be stopped during the movement of a convoy of security forces.

I have given all the necessary directions to the officers. The morale has not taken a hit. We will see this fight against terrorism to the end, he said.

ALSO READ | Punish terrorists so that my husbands soul gets peace, says martyr's wife

The Opposition pledged support to the government, which has called an all-party meeting on Saturday to brief the leaders about the situation and build a consensus on the course of action.

Officials of the National Security Guard and the National Investigation Agency arrived in Pulwama to assist in the investigation.

In a startling revelation, CRPF and NSG sources said 50-80 kg of high-grade RDX was used in the attack.

ALSO READ | Pulwama terror attack: Pakistan won't make any 'emotional decision' on India's withdrawal of MFN status, says official

The last time RDX was used in such high quantity in India was during the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval spoke to chiefs of all security forces and intelligence agencies and asked them to be on alert in the wake of the terror attack.
By PTI

ISLAMABAD: In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan on Friday summoned Indian Deputy High Commissioner here and lodged a protest against India's allegation of its role in the brutal Pulwama terrorist attack.

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday that left 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five critically wounded.

The summoning of the Indian diplomat comes after India earlier in the day summoned Pakistan HC to India Sohail Mahmood and issued a very strong demarche over the killing of the CRPF soldiers.

Pakistan must take "immediate and verifiable action" against the JeM and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism operating from its territories, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the envoy.

Though the Foreign Office has not issued any statement, sources said the FO summoned the Indian Deputy High Commissioner and rejected "baseless allegations made by India" against Pakistan on the Pulwama attack.

A short video clip of the Indian diplomat leaving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is also circulating in the social media.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, FO spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua today briefed ambassadors of the United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and China on the Pulwama attack and rejected India's allegations.

"FS today briefed P5 Ambassadors at MoFA. Rejected Indian allegations on Pulwama attack," he tweeted.

"FS said Pakistan has pursued a constructive approach towards India. Pakistan's offer of dialogue and the #Kartarpur initiative are a clear evidence of this. Ratcheting up tensions in the region will be counterproductive," Faisal added.

Following the Pulwama terror attack, India Friday withdrew the 'most-favoured nation' status to Pakistan, a move which would enable India to increase customs duty on goods coming from the neighbouring country.

In a media briefing after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the most-favoured-nation (MFN) status to Pakistan stands revoked.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in in 1996, but the neighbouring country has not yet reciprocated.

According to sources, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria has also been called to Delhi for consultations in the wake of the horrific attack.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's information minister Fawad Chaudhry said in an interview that Pakistan would take action against anyone if India shares evidence.
By PTI

DHULE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted Saturday that each drop of tear shed in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack would be avenged.

Continuing his tough talk in the wake of the ghastly strike that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans Thursday, Modi said this is a "new India" which will not tolerate those who provide guns and bombs to target security personnel.

Addressing a public meeting after inaugurating several development projects here in north Maharashtra, he said anger over the horrific assault in Jammu and Kashmir is palpable in the country and all eyes are moist.

Modi paid tributes to the slain soldiers and hailed their families.

"I have come here at a time when there is anger and eyes are moist. I salute the brave soldiers and the mothers who gave birth to them," he said.

READ | Covert op, terrorist bounties, water card: Experts mull options to hit back at Pakistan

"Apart from the government, as citizens of the country, it is our responsibility to stand by the families of those who sacrificed everything for the country. This is the time for mourning and to show restrain and sensitivity," he said.

"I want to assure each family who lost their loved one that each drop of tear will be avenged (aasu ka pura pura jawab liya jayega)," Modi declared.

The dastardly attack in Pulwama has anguished the nation.



Yes, this is a time of great sadness.



But, I assure every family that a befitting reply will be given! pic.twitter.com/k9eSlfAePf  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 16, 2019

Speaking further on the Pulwama carnage, the prime minister said times have changed and the world will experience this soon.

"Ours is a new India with new methods and policies, and the world will experience this now. Those who spray bullets or those who provide guns and bombs to target our soldiers, will not be spared. We will not allow them to sleep in peace," Modi asserted.

The prime minister said his government has worked tirelessly for the welfare of farmers and pointed to the recent announcement of providing Rs 6,000 annually directly into the bank accounts of agriculturalists having less than five acres of land.

He said the development projects inaugurated Saturday would allow Dhule to compete with Surat in adjoining Gujarat in the next 30 years.

ALSO READ | Army Major killed along LoC in IED blast in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district

The prime minister inaugurated the Lower Panazara Medium Project constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchan Yojana (PMKSY).

Modi laid the foundation stones of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme and Dhule City Water Supply Scheme.

The prime minister also laid the foundation stone of Dhule-Nardana new rail line and Jalgaon-Manmad third railway line, besides flagging off the Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express through video link.
By Express News Service

BHOPAL: The Kamal Nath-led Congress government approved on Saturday, 24x7 Women Helpline for ensuring assistance to women during emergency situations.

The state cabinet chaired by the CM met for the first time in Jabalpur in the evening, where a slew of proposals was approved. The decisions included clearance to the round-the-clock Women Helpline 181 which will be linked to all emergency services, one-stop centres and other helplines.

The women helpline number 181 could be reached using telecommunication means or medium like cell-phones, landline, private-public network, GSM. CDMA, 3-G, 4-G. Using the helpline the women in crisis could get help through the phone. They can also get details about government schemes.

A sum of Rs 1.07 crore was sanctioned for filling 27 posts for women helpline centres through outsourcing.

Importantly, women safety was one the prime poll planks of the Congress in the recent assembly polls. The state has had the dubious distinction of being among the states where the incidence of crime against women has been maximum over the last few years.

The cabinet also approved the constitution of Directorate of Information Technology and its cadre, besides clearing the decks for continuing the Centre of Excellence  Project E-Mission. The Project E- Mission will continue up to 2019-20.

Also, the cabinet approved a policy 2019 for providing wireline and wireless based voice and data services by telecommunication services, internet services infrastructure suppliers. The proposed amendments in the MP Nagar Palika Rules 2012 regarding the installation of mobile towers in urban areas were also approved.

Later talking to journalists the CM Kamal Nath informed that around 50.60 lakh farmers have so far applied for the Rs 2 lakh agricultural loan waiver scheme. The process of crediting amount in the bank accounts of the eligible farmers will be started from February 22. He added that the agricultural loans of 25 lakh farmers will be waived off by March 2.
By PTI

NEW DELHI: A dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pulwama, will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring country's links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said Saturday.

Security agencies are preparing the dossier with the evidence gathered so far related to the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and the help being provided to the outfit by the country, they said.

This will be a dossier on Pakistani agencies' links with the JeM and how the terror group is being aided by them, a security official said.

The details of the terror attacks carried out by the JeM in the past will be mentioned in the document.

ALSO READ: Bihar District Magistrate Inayat Khan adopts daughters of martyred CRPF jawans

The Paris-headquartered Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will also be told through the dossier how the Pakistani agencies are providing funds to the JeM, the official said.

In the next meeting of the FATF, India will also press for the blacklisting of Pakistan so that that action can be taken against the country, another official said.

The FATF plenary and working group meetings will be held in Paris next week.

The FATF blacklist means the country concerned is "non-cooperative" in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

If the FATF blacklists Pakistan, it may lead to downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like IMF, World Bank, ADB, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moodys, S&P and Fitch.

ALSO READ: Virender Sehwag offers to take care of education of martyrs' children

Pakistan has been put on the grey list of the anti-terror finance watchdog in July 2018.

The FATF currently has 35 members and two regional organisations European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council.

North Korea and Iran are in the FATF blacklist.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

READ | Covert op, terrorist bounties, water card: Experts mull options to hit back at Pakistan

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the attack will pay "a very heavy price" and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with the terrorists.

In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely punished".
By PTI

NEW DELHI: India Saturday hiked the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from Pakistan, following revocation of the 'most-favoured nation' status in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

"India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet.

ALSO READ: Man arrested in Uttar Pradesh for objectionable remarks on social media over Pulwama terror attack

India on Friday revoked the 'most-favoured nation' (MFN) status to Pakistan following the Pulwama terror strike.

Increasing duties would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18.

The main items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather.
Express News Service

CHANDIGARH: Many Kashmiri students living in rented accommodations in Haryana's Mullana village have left after the district panchayat asked villagers to evict them.

Several students of MM University in Mullana who lived as paying guests in the village were told yesterday evening by the village panchayat to vacate within twenty-four hours. This comes two days after the deadliest militant attack on a convoy of CRPF in which 44 troopers of the force were killed.

Sources said that around 125 Kashmiri students are living in this village as most of them are studying at MM University. The students have appealed to the Jammu and Kashmir government to request the Haryana government to ensure their safety.

We have set up a location in Chandigarh to give shelter to those students who have been sent to Chandigarh by the police authorities.(From Dehradun) In case any student faces some issues in Chandigarh feel free to contact 9682548356@JKgrievance @jandkgovernor @GreaterKashmir  Banday MurSal (@Mursal4Kashmir) February 15, 2019

Sarpanch of the Mullana village, Naresh Rana alleged that some of the Kashmiri students were involved in suspicious activities. "About two months ago, we had asked students coming into our PGs from all over the country to deposit photocopies of their ID proof at the police station or in our panchayat office, as a precautionary measure, but no one deposited their ID proofs, he claimed.

READ HERE | Centre asks states to ensure security of students, residents belonging to Jammu and Kashmir

"Yesterday when we were taking out a solidarity march in the village in support of our brave soldiers who were killed in the Valley, many villagers were of the opinion that the Kashmiri students who are living in the PGs in the village and supporting the attackers through their Facebook posts and WhatsApp

messaged should be told to leave within twenty-four hours. A few of them were already leaving. The main student who is supporting the attack is now in Srinagar. After the Uri attack, he along with few others had supported the attackers by posting comments on social media, alleged Naresh Rana.

He added: "About half a dozen Kashmiri students have left as their landlords told them to leave. The Kashmiri students who have done nothing wrong, why should they be scared? They are staying in the village peacefully.

Students and other Kashmiris in need of help can use #SOSKashmir as hashtag for immediate help @arifamin16  Waheed Ur Rehman (@parawahid) February 16, 2019

But in the video which has gone viral, Rana could be heard asking villagers to get Kashmiri students, who have been living on rented accommodation, to leave their homes, "The people who are keeping these Kashmiri boys and girls as tenants in their houses should tell them to leave as these students distributed sweets after the attack and also held a party in the college. The villagers have been asked to vacate Kashmiri students from the rented accommodation in case it is not done the person in whose residence such students are living will be considered as traitors," Rana is hearing saying.

READ | Covert op, terrorist bounties, water card: Experts mull options to hit back at Pakistan

Meanwhile, half a dozen Kashmiri students have been shifted to the hostel of MM University after this video went viral.

As directed by @MehboobaMufti

PDP has set up helpline for students and others facing the problems outside the Kashmir or state. Contact

Firdous Tak 9858512300

Aijaz A Mir 9419011105

Waheed ur Rehman 9419000210

Tahir Syeed 9906473046

Sonu Singh 9419219828

Parvaiz Wafa 9419109931  Tahir Syeed |   (@TahirsyeedK) February 16, 2019

Vishal Garg, one of the trustees of the university, located in Mullana, said a few Kashmiri students of the

university had requested him for providing accommodation in the hostel and they had been given rooms.

Superintendent of Police of Ambla, Astha Modi said the matter was being investigated.

Around 1,200 Kashmiri students are studying in various educational institutions in Ambala district while around 120 of them are studying in MM Mullana University.
Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: While China expressed shock over Thursdays suicide bombing attack in Pulwama that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF soldiers, it remained non-committal over endorsing Indias long-standing efforts to have Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar proscribed by the United Nations (UN) as a global terrorist.

China has noted the reports of suicide terrorist attack. We are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condolences and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a media briefing in Beijing.

When questioned about Chinas stand on proscribing Azhar, Geng replied with a measured response.

As for the issue of listing, I could tell you that the 1267 Committee of Security Council has a clear stipulation on the listing and procedure of the terrorist organisations. JeM has been included in the Security Council terrorism sanctions list. China will continue to handle the relevant sanctions issue in a constructive and responsible manner, Geng said in an apparent reference to Indias appeal.

On Thursday, JeM claimed responsibility for the suicide attack that killed 40 soldiers in Pulwama, the worst such attack on Kashmiri soil.

Azhar, 50, a portly bespectacled man shifted his attention to Kashmir after being injured in the Mujahideen war against the Soviets.

Though his whereabouts are supposedly unknown, he is said to operate out of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) and surfaces now and then to deliver fiery anti-Indian speeches under Pakistani military protection.

He was arrested and jailed in India in February 1994 when he came to Kashmir to resolve differences among various militant groups there.

But on December 31, 1999, he was among three terrorists freed in exchange for the passengers aboard Indian Airlines flight IC 814, which had been hijacked and taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, under Taliban rule at the time. The hijackers were led by Azhars brother Ibrahim Athar.

Sources said the outfit, which unlike the local Kashmiri separatist outfits believes in suicide attacks, has been hit by the recent crackdown by Indian forces.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: Outraged over Thursdays suicide attack at Pulwama which left 40 CRPF personnel dead and many others injured, Assams former rebel leader-turned-politician Hagrama Mohilary on Saturday said he would send 500 Bodo youth to Kashmir to fight the terrorists if the Centre approves it.

We have a lot of Bodo youth who can fight the terrorists in Kashmir and if it so warrants, we can send 500 of them. The Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) will take care of their salaries, Mohilary told reporters after visiting the house of Maneswar Basumatary, who was among the slain CRPF jawans, at Kalbari in Assams Baksa district.

Mohilary was the chairman of erstwhile insurgent group Bodo Liberation Tigers which had shunned violence following its signing of the Bodo Accord with the Central government in 2003. Currently, he is the chief of BTC which administers four Assam districts.

READ | Covert op, terrorist bounties, water card: Experts mull options to hit back at Pakistan

The Bodo youth I will send should be allowed to go on the offensive. The Government of India has always been on the defensive (on the Kashmir front) but it hasnt paid off, Mohilary said, adding, We have many Bodo youth. We can send as many as required to Kashmir after giving them training.

The BTC chief condemned the suicide attack and insisted that the Central government avenge it saying, Government of India should permit the Army to go on the offensive. It is time for the Army to go on the offensive.

Meanwhile, outraged over the terror attack, a group of youth in Guwahati on Saturday took out a procession chanting anti-Pakistan slogans and forced the closure of shops and commercial establishments in some areas. Elsewhere in the state, people lit candles to pay homage to the slain jawans.

READ | Pulwama attack: In solidarity with forces in defending India's unity, says all-party resolution

Amidst the outrage, MLA Aminul Islam of opposition, All India United Democratic Front courted a controversy. He wrote on Facebook, Why do terror attacks always take place in Kashmir ahead of general elections in India?

Many users on the social networking site criticised him for the comment and demanded an apology from him. When contacted by this correspondent, the MLA refused to give any comment.
Anand ST Das By

Express News Service

PATNA: A special court conducting trial of the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuses case has ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the alleged role of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and two senior IAS officers.

Judge Manoj Kumar of the special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court passed the order on an application filed by Dr Ashwini Kumar, one of the accused in the horrific sexual abuse of minor girls staying at the government-funded shelter home.

Dr Kumar, a self-styled local doctor who was arrested in November last for allegedly injecting the minor girls with sedatives to facilitate their rape, had accused CBI of suppressing facts to protect some high-profile people. He had demanded that a probe should be conducted into the role of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and two IAS officers  Dharmendra Singh, then Muzaffarpur district magistrate, and Atul Prasad, principal secretary of the social welfare department.

READ HERE | Muzaffarpur horror: Five girls, not two, died in shelter home

The sexual abuses of the minor girls lodged at the Balika Grih shelter home run by Brajesh Thakur came to light in a social audit report of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in April 2018, leading to Muzaffarpur police to register an FIR against 11 people in May 2018. Massive public and political outcry over the scandal prompted Bihar CM Nitish Kumar to order a CBI probe in July 2018.

Medical examinations of the minor girls had confirmed that at least 34 of them were raped several times during the months they stayed at the facility. Thakur, the main accused who was described by the Supreme Court as a very influential man, was shifted to a jail in Patiala from a jail in Bihar after CBI accused him of trying to influence witnesses and destroy evidence.

Bihars then social welfare minister Manju Verma, whose husband and former JD(U) legislator Chandreshwar Verma was accused of frequenting the shelter home and having close links with Thakur, was forced to resign in August last. The couple is currently in jail after a CBI raid at their home in connection with the scandal found illegal ammunition.

ALSO READ | Bihar shelter home rape cases: SC holds CBI's Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt, asks him to sit in corner till rising of court

The Supreme Court had criticised the Bihar government earlier this month for providing incomplete information about the status of shelter homes in the state and transferred trial in the Muzaffarpur shelter home case to a court at Saket in Delhi. The apex court also said that trial in the case should be completed in six months.

Bihar Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav of RJD has been accusing CBI of protecting influential people in the Muzaffarpur case. He had raised the issue afresh in the Assemblys ongoing budget session on Thursday, but his demand of a discussion on it was rejected by Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.

We will first have a look at the courts order. We can comment only after perusing the courts order, said Sanjay Singh, spokesperson of Bihars ruling JD(U). Nitish Kumar is also the national president of JD(U).
By ANI

NEW DELHI: The international community has extended support to India following the dreaded Pulwama terror attack which claimed the lives of over 40 CRPF personnel in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

As many as 48 countries condemned the ghastly terror attack that shook the nation on Thursday.

ALSO READ: Security men search for body parts of dead CRPF men near bombing site

United States

White House released a statement condemning the "heinous terrorist attack" by a Pakistan-based terrorist group.

"We express our deep condolences to the victims families, the Indian government, and the Indian people for the loss of life in this brutal attack," the statement read.

The United States also called on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region. "This attack only strengthens our resolve to bolster counterterrorism cooperation and coordination between the United States and India," read the statement.

ALSO READ: Regretting loss of lives, Pulwama bomber's father warns of more attacks if Kashmir issue not solved

US State Department too issued a statement assuring that the United States is resolutely committed to working with the Indian government to combat terrorism in all its forms. "The UN designated, Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad has claimed responsibility for this heinous act. We call on all countries to uphold their responsibilities pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions to deny safe haven and support for terrorists," State Department stated in the press release.

The United Nations on Thursday (local time) strongly condemned the terrorist attack. "We strongly condemn today's attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. We express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and to the people and the Government of India. We wish a speedy recovery to injured and call for those behind the attack to be brought to justice," the UN said in a statement.

ALSO READ: Mortal remains of bravehearts arrive amidst anti-Pakistan slogans

Russia

Russia denounced terrorism in all its forms and manifestation.

Embassy of the Russian Federation tweeted, We denounce terrorism in all its forms & reiterate the need to combat these inhuman acts with decisive & collective response without any double standards. We express condolences to families of the deceased & wish a speedy recovery to injured.

France

French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian termed the Pulwama attack a "vile".

I condemn in the strongest terms the vile attack that has just struck India. I express my condolences to the families of fallen soldiers and my deep solidarity with the Government and people of India. France has always been and will always be alongside India in the fight against terrorism in all its forms. I call on each state to effectively combat terrorist networks and their funding channels and to prevent the cross-border movement of terrorist groups, such as Jaish-e-Mohamed, who has claimed responsibility for this attack, Drian wrote.

ALSO READ: Pakistan summons Indian Deputy High Commissioner, rejects claims of link to Pulwama attack

Germany

"Germany condemns terrorism in all forms. We are gravely shocked and deeply saddened. Our thoughts are with the families of the victims. Germany stands with its strategic partner India," Jasper Wieck, Charge d'Affaires of the German Embassy in India told ANI on Friday.

European Union

European Union (EU) expressed its dismay and condolences, asserting that terrorism can never be justified.

"As a strategic partner of India, The EU reaffirms its full solidarity at such a difficult moment. The European Union stands by India in fighting terrorism and will continue to strengthen its cooperation in this regard," stated EU.

ALSO READ: Army would decide timing and manner of response, hints PM Modi

Several countries including Romania, Czech Republic, Estonia, Andorra, The Netherlands, Tajikistan, Croatia, Greece, Seychelles, Mexico, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Finland, Belgium, Lebanon, Turkey, and Portugal condemned the attack and extended support and conveyed condolences.

ALSO READ: Explosion threw CRPF men's bodies about half a kilometre away from spot, says J&K police

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom offered condolences following the attack. Foreign Secretary of UK wrote, "Shocked by today's senseless and brutal act of terror in India-administered Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims' families. We stand with India."

Australia

Australia, too, came forward to convey condolences.

"Australia condemns the heinous terrorist attack on an Indian police convoy in Jammu and Kashmir. We convey our deepest condolences to the families of the victims, and all those injured. Our thoughts are with my friend Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian people," said Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Australia issued a statement saying, "Australia condemns the horrific bombing in Jammu & Kashmir. We extend our deepest sympathies to those killed and injured, their families & the people of India. We stand with India in the fight against terrorism."

ALSO READ: Terror groups take to social media after Pulwama attack

Bangladesh

Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Shiekh Hasina condoled the death of the soldiers.

"Excellency, on behalf of the people and the Government of Bangladesh, and on my own behalf, let me convey our heartfelt condolences for the loss of lives of more than 37 CRPF troops who were traveling by a bus in Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir this afternoon. Bangladesh strongly condemns this dastardly terrorist attack, she wrote in her letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mauritius

Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Mauritius termed the attack "vile" and expressed sympathy to the Indian government and people following the attack.

"Mauritius stands in staunch solidarity with the Government of India and remains committed to the fight against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations," asserted Mauritius.

Iran, Gulf countries

Several Gulf countries including UAE, KSA, Oman, Iran, and Bahrain came forward to condemn the dastardly attack. The countries also extended support to India in its fight against extremism and terrorism.

Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghassemi said, "As a country which has been a victim of terrorism and has made huge, extensive and effective efforts to uproot terrorist groups in West Asia, we have paid high costs in that end and are determined to firmly continue this path. We consider resorting to such bloody and inhumane methods by any groups and under any pretext and designation and with any intention as unacceptable."

Several other countries including Saudi Arabia, and UAE have also condemned the ghastly attack.

Japan

Condemning the ghastly attack, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to express solidarity against terrorism.

"I resolutely condemn the vicious terrorist attack carried out yesterday in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir. On behalf of the Japanese government and people, I would like to extend my sincere condolences to those who lost their lives and their bereaved families, and express my heartfelt sympathy to those who were injured. I express my heartfelt solidarity to the people of India in the process of overcoming this difficult time. Such act of terrorism cannot be justified for any reason. Japan is firmly committed to combatting terrorism in cooperation with India and the international community," he wrote.

Israel

Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu also extended support to India and tweeted, "To my dear friend, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, we stand with you, the security forces and the people of India following this heinous terrorist attack. We send our condolences to the families of the victims."

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid reached out with his tweet: Strongly condemn the suicide terrorist attack on the convoy carrying Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir today. I extend my prayers and condolences to the bereaved families of the dead and injured.

Maldives

"The Maldives is fully committed to the fight against terrorism and will continue to work closely with India, and the international community in eliminating this global menace, Foreign Minister of Maldives Abdulla Shahid said.

South Korea

South Korea also came forward to convey condolences to the Indian government. In a press release, South Korea said: "It is the ROK Government's firm position that terrorism is a crime against humanity that cannot be justified under any circumstances and must be eradicated. ROK government will continue to actively work with the international community to eradicate terrorism."

Bhutan

Expressing solidarity with the victims' families and people and Government of India, Bhutan's Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji tweeted, Shocked & saddened to hear of the terror attack in Kashmir. We strongly condemn this heinous attack & express our solidarity with families of victims, & people & Govt of India. Hope perpetrators will be brought to justice.

Nepal

Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli spoke to Modi and expressed his condolences, concern, and condemnation over the attack. Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also expressed his condolences and condemned the attack.

I strongly condemn the brutal terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district  the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. I express my condolences to @narendramodi and the families of police officers who lost their lives, Wickremesinghe tweeted.

China

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi wrote to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Friday to condemn the terror attack. He also expressed deep sympathy to families of the victims and injured.

"#Chinese State Councilor & FM #WangYi wrote to EAM @SushmaSwaraj, condemned the #Pulwama suicide attack, expressed deep sympathy to families of the victims & injured, and stressed that the #Chinese side resolutely opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism," tweeted Chinese ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui.

Speaking on the dreaded terror attack, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said: "The Chinese side firmly opposes and strongly condemns terrorism in any form, hoping the regional countries join hand together to confront the threat of terrorism so as to maintain regional peace and security."

The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain personnel were on a bus which had 42 CRPF men on board.

Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged in the blast and ensuing gunfire on the vehicle.
By PTI

AJMER: Condemning the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, Ajmer Sharif Dargah dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan Friday urged the government to not allow devotees from Pakistan to visit the shrine.

Ali Khan, the descendant of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hassan Chishti, paid tribute to the personnel killed in the attack.

He urged the government to not allow 'jatha' or group of devotees from Pakistan to visit the famous shrine in Rajasthan's Ajmer during festivals, including Urs, which commemorates the death anniversary of the Sufi saint.

READ HERE | Covert op, terrorist bounties, water card: Experts mull options to hit back against Pakistan

Describing the attack as "non-Islamic", he said harming lives of innocent people by attacking them cowardly is against the fundamental principles of the religion.

Several devotees from Pakistan visit the Ajmer Sharif Dargah every year.

On Thursday, an explosives laden truck rammed into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama outside Srinagar, killing 40 soldiers in one of the biggest terror attacks in recent years.

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.
By Online Desk

Actor Darshan, who turns 42 today, has asked his fans to celebrate his birthday in a different manner this year.

The Challenging Star told fans to refrain from cutting cakes and laying wreaths and garlands, Instead, he has asked them to donate food supplies to the Siddaganga mutt following the demise of seer Shri Shivakumara Swamiji at Tumakuru. The actor reportedly will transport them himself from his residence to the mutt.

READ HERE: How Shivakumara Swami scripted success at Siddaganga Mutt

This charitable idea incidentally came from Darshan's fans. Earlier this week, the actor had announced on Facebook that some fans had made videos asking him to distribute food and other essentials at the Siddaganga mutt, orphanages and other places. The post read: "Dear Fans, Greetings... Lately, a few of my fans have been visiting my place on account of my birthday and donating a few food items. A video is also making rounds on Facebook in which you have been asking me to distribute the supplies to Siddaganga Mutta and orphanages. I am extremely happy about your gesture. I am considering this as my birthday present. With a lot of gratitude, I am taking up the responsibility of distributing them to Siddaganaga Mutt, a few orphanages and old age homes. Kindly, try using cloth bags. Yours, Dasa Darshan."

Thousands of fans from across Karnataka will throng the actors house on his birthday February 16, the celebrations of which began on Friday evening. As he turns a year older, the actor says that there is nothing called a bucket list in his life, and he prefers living one day at a time. All I wish to do, is help people as long as I can, he says.

Earlier this year, Darshan had issued a statement saying he would not be celebrating his birthday as a mark of respect to Rebel Star Ambareesh who passed away in November 2018. Ambareesh and Darshan shared one of the closest relationships in the Kannada film fraternity.

In January this year, KGF star Yash too abstained from celebrating his birthday in memory of Ambareesh. A fan had committed suicide on not being allowed to meet Yash at the actor's residence. Yash told the media that those who commit such acts are not even fans and no actor would want his fans to behave in such a way.

Darshan's next films

Though a long list of films were announced on the eve of Darshans birthday, the actor at present only wants to concentrate on his next project - Yajamana - followed by Muniratna Kurukshetra. While the latter is the actors 50th, Yajamana is his 51st.

Yajamana, made under Media House Studio, features Rashmika Mandaanna, along with Tanya Hope. Yajamana has Dhananjay in a pivotal role while, Anoop Thakur Singh plays the antagonist.

Muniratna Kurukshetra, directed by Naganna, is based on the poem Gadhayuddha by Ranna, inspired by the Mahabharata. The story is centred on Duryodhana. The ensemble cast includes actors like Ambareesh, V Ravichandran, Arjun Sarja, Nikhil Gowda, Sneha, Meghana Raj, Saikumar Pudipeddi, Sonu Sood, Srinivasa Murthy, Danish Akhtar Saifi, Ravishankar and Hariprriya.

(With inputs from Express News Service)
By PTI

KOLKATA: The screening of director Anik Dutta's 'Bhobisyoter Bhoot' (Future Ghosts), a political satire, was on Saturday stopped in different city multiplexes and many single screens just a day after its release.

The director alleged that the owners of the theatres were forced to stop the screening of the film from this afternoon though it ran to packed halls in many places since its release Friday.

The film had been released in more than 40 screens across the state, he said.

Asked what could be the reason behind the withdrawal, Dutta said, "There had been some queries about the content of the film from certain quarters three days ago. But I told them since the film has already been cleared by the Censor Board, they have no cause to worry. I think there could be some sort of pressure from certain quarters on the hall owners. We will take appropriate action after discussing all aspects," he said.

To another question, Dutta, who won acclaim for his debut 'Bhooter Bhabisat' in 2012 and had notched up earnings of over Rs 3 crore in 100 days, said his new film is "undoubtedly a social commentary".

The story of the film is about a group of ghosts, including a politician, who assemble at a refugee camp and try to be relevant in contemporary times.

Asked whether he thought that the audience should have the right to decide on watching a film, his answer was "I think so". We have been asked by the authorities to discontinue the screening of Bhobisyoter Bhoot (Future Ghosts) in the apprehension of untoward incidents," a spokesperson of a multiplex chain said.

'The Accidental Prime Minister', a biographical film directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Sanjaya Baru, had to be withdrawn from several theatres in the city as activists claiming to belong to Congress slashed the screen at a multiplex and held protests elsewhere in early January.

Dutta said he was told by the producers that all the multiplex chains and several single screens in the city, where the film was being screened, had informed them on Saturday noon that it was being withdrawn but did not cite any reason.

The film has actor Kaushik Sen and veterans Barun Chanda, Paran Bandyopadhyay and Moon Moon Sen in the cast.

Dutta, who is known for his outspokenness, had earlier hinted during an interview that he had to face lots of pressure during the making of the film and promotion but did not elaborate.

Actor Kaushik Sen said, "As artists, we protest such undemocratic action."

A spokesman of one of the single screens in north Kolkata, where the film is being screened, when asked said, "We ran one show in the morning. But we had to stop screening for certain technical reasons."

The sudden withdrawal of the film caused protests by a section of the audience at a multiplex in south Kolkata who demanded to know the reason.

But there was no untoward incident.
Dileep V Kumar By

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With the Russian government weighing the idea of recognising ayurveda, it is expected to provide a window of opportunity for Kerala in the wellness tourism sector, said experts. Attending the inaugural International Ayush Conclave here, Devadattan Nair, of Thiruvananthapuram, who is part of a three-member delegation team from Russia, said that once the Russian government approves ayurveda as a recognised therapy, the state could cash in on the same as there is a growing popularity for ayurveda and yoga among the Russians.

Despite the growing popularity for ayurveda, the Russian government is yet to recognise it. But things might change for good as talks are on with Ministry of AYUSH and the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation, said Devadattan, who works at the Peoples Friendship University of Russia.

According to him, the lack of authentic ayurvedic healers is evident in the country as quacks were thriving and were making a financial windfall. Though Kerala tourism has an eye on Russia and the inflow of medical tourists from there to the state, its promotional campaigns are not good. Often it is limited to road shows. When compared with the tourism campaigns undertaken by Turkey and Egypt the state had to improve its campaigning in Russia. The idea is to enter into a memorandum of understanding with the state AYUSH Department. But they had informed us that before entering into such a pact they need a sanction from the Central government and they will have to consider its legal aspects, said Devadattan.

At the same time, it is said that the Conclave on Infrastructure Development in AYUSH Based Health Tourism Buyer Seller Meet and International Wellness Travel Bazaar to be convened on Sunday will help in the Ayurveda service providers in the state as they could connect with wellness travel operators.

Anita Karilio Arkas, president of the Russian-Indian Ayurveda Association and Maria Gavrilova, a promoter of Ayurveda products for Ayurveda Media, were the other members of Russian delegation .
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: For not submitting proper documents to the Visa Facilitation Centre due to which visa was rejected for two passengers who had booked a holiday to France, a consumer forum has directed booking agency Make My Trip to pay a fine of Rs 55,000 to the complainant. It also directed the agency to refund the visa charges and advance of Rs 59,200 paid by the complainant.

In November 2016, Vinod Paul of Choolaimedu paid Rs 45,000 as advance to Make My Trip for a holiday package to travel to France and Switzerland along with his wife. But, due to the lack of sufficient number of tourists, the trip was postponed by the company by a week for which the complainant had to submit all documents again.

Our Visa was rejected on grounds of improper documentation. When we approached the companys agents they said they were not responsible for the visa centres decision. Also, we had to shell out Rs 14,200 for sitting for the interview. If they had not rescheduled the trip, our visa wouldnt have been rejected, said Vinod in his complaint.

In its defence, Make My Trip said that as no fee was charged by them for processing of visa, cancellation or rejection of visa cannot be termed deficiency in service. Acceptance or rejection of visa is the sole discretion of the concerned embassy. The opposite parties have no control or say on the acts of the airlines or the embassies.The opposite parties had clearly performed all its duties with due diligence, it said.

North Chennai Consumer Disputes Redressal forum observed that when Make My Trip changed the tour dates, they had wrongly stated New Delhi as the departure location instead of Chennai in the forms submitted to the visa centre. Due to this error, the visa was rejected, the forum said. Also, the visa rejection came well within 20 days of the trip. Hence the complainant is entitled for a refund that the opposite party has refused to pay, which is a clear case of unfair trade, said the forum.
C Shivakumar By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: A major Information Technology company could be under the Income Tax department scanner after the US Department of Justice announced criminal charges against two former corporate executives of the company over corruption pertaining to the alleged bribing of officials in Tamil Nadu to obtain permit to build Cognizant KITS Campus (CKC) at Sholinganallur here.

A top Income Tax official told Express that it will depend on the information exchanged from United States Department of Justice and on finding out whether it is the Indian subsidiary company or the holding company.

If it is the subsidiary company, then action may be taken, he said.

This case pertains to Cognizant plans for additional construction to the already approved and existing IT or IT-enabled Services building. The US Department of Justice investigation found that Cognizant, through its employees, authorised its agents to pay $2 million as bribe for securing or obtaining a statutorily required planning permit for an office park at Sholinganallur as well as other improper payments in connection with other projects in India.

It is learnt that Cognizant had entered into an MoU with Tamil Nadu to invest `1,000 crore over five years to expand its delivery infrastructure both in Chennai and Coimbatore.

The US Department of Justice (criminal division) has said certain high-level employees of Cognizant along with agents of the company took part in a scheme through which they authorised a third-party construction company to pay an approximately $2 million in bribe in exchange for assistance in securing and obtaining a planning permit relating to construction of the CKC/KITS facility.

When Express tried to contact housing department sources, it is learnt that the documents will be provided to agencies if they ask for it. It is learnt that the Securities Exchange Board of India could take up the issue and undertake investigation and seek official documents from the State government pertaining to the planning permission.

Cognizant Chief Executive Officer Francisco DSouza said US court system will address the charges against the executives.

A Cognizant spokesman, Harsh Kabra, told Express that the matter did not involve our work with clients or affect our ability to provide the quality services our clients expect from us, when queried whether it will affect Cognizant business in the State.

On the status of the case pertaining to Income Tax department, which has demanded unpaid dues around share purchases done by its subsidiary, Cognizant Technology Solutions India, which had bought back shares from foreign owners  Cognizant Mauritius and the US-based parent Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, he said the matter is sub judice and hence he cannot comment on it.
The business community has high hopes that Egypts presidency of the African Union (AU) this year will boost trade and investments with African countries.

Egypt has strong economic and commercial ties with Nile Basin countries, including Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Burundi, making bilateral trade far exceed raw materials and simple commodities.

According to the State Information Service (SIS) website, Egypt has invested $15 million in Rwanda in construction and mining. Egypt exports aromatic mixtures, juices, juice makers and botanical extracts, and imports copper and zinc.

Egypt imports tea and tobacco from Kenya and Uganda. It exports sugar, sanitary paper, laundry products and polypropylene sheets to the former, and sugar, paraffin wax and laundry products to the latter.

Egyptian companies are highly active in Uganda, including conglomerates such as Al-Nasr for Import and Export, EgyptAir, Banque du Caire, the Arab Contractors, Mantrac Egypt  owned by Mansour Group  and Qalaa Holdings that has 85 per cent usufruct of the Rift Valley Railways connecting Mombasa port and Kampala.

Egypt exports aromatic mixtures, paraffin wax and copper wires to Ethiopia and imports camels and cows. Egyptian investments in Ethiopia are worth $2 billion, and in the past few years more than 150 Egyptian businessmen visited Ethiopia.

The National Bank of Egypt opened an office in Addis Ababa to facilitate financial procedures for Egyptians investing in Ethiopia, the Arab Contractors also has a branch there, and the country has resumed importing meat from Ethiopia.

Egypt imports copper from Tanzania, and exports sugar and sodium carbonates, while importing tea from Burundi and exporting aromatic mixtures and barley.

Figures released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics in December 2018 reveal that trade between Egypt and Nile Basin countries recorded a 17.5 per cent increase during the first 10 months of 2018, estimated at $1.38 billion, and up from $1.139 billion during the same period in 2017.

Egyptian exports to Nile Basin countries increased by 8.9 per cent in the first 10 months of 2018, recording $876 million, up from $804 million during the same period in 2017.

On the other hand, Egypt imported $504 million worth of commodities from Nile Basin countries during the first 10 months of 2018, with an increase of 50.4 per cent in the same period in 2017, which was estimated at $335 million.

There are many trade treaties partnering Egypt with its sisters in the continent, such as Agadir, Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and East African Community (EAC). Given the long, strong relationship between Egypt and African countries, one would assume trade would be up to par.

Not according to data released by Amr Nassar, the minister of trade and industry, who said his ministry was seeking to increase trade with African countries to two per cent of its overall trade, up from less than one per cent currently.

A Ministry of Trade and Industry report in 2017 said African countries ranking as suppliers for Egyptian imports was not impressive, with Sudan coming in 13th place and Libya 14th. In the list of fast growing export markets, South Africa came in second and Namibia seventh.

The least developing countries included Central Africa in sixth place, Zambia eighth, Guinea 10th and Senegal in 11th.

Chemical products are in demand in the African market. The Chemicals and Fertilisers Export Council (CFEC) announced this week that a delegation of Egyptian businessmen will fly to Uganda later this month to discuss trade and investment opportunities with the Egyptian business community in Uganda.

Alaa Saqti, head of the Egyptian industrial zone in Ethiopia, said most African countries are not industrially strong, importing all their needs from abroad. It is better for Egyptian companies to establish industrial areas in partnership with importers in each country to manufacture what they usually import, Saqti said.

Treading the trade line with African countries will not pay off because of the difficulty in establishing regular shipping lines. Its highly costly and risky, he added.

At the closing session of the 2018 Africa Investment Forum (AIF), President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi announced the establishment of an investment risks guarantee fund to encourage Egyptian investors to set up investments in Africa, participate in the continents development and take advantage of the available opportunities in the continent.

The fund would enable African countries to negotiate with international institutions, support infrastructure projects and help speed up the finalisation of the Cairo-Cape Town highway to boost inter-African trade.

A fund for investment in IT infrastructure will be established, according to the AIFs recommendations, in order to support technological development and digital transformation in the continent, and enhance cooperation between Egypt and African countries in governance and to fight corruption.

Other recommendations adopted at the AIF included increased cooperation between the public and private sectors in implementing transportation projects, reflecting the vast potential and opportunities in the continent and the ability to utilise technological tools to create new job markets.

The investment risks guarantee fund will cover non-trade risks, said Saqti, explaining that the fund will not approve exporting commodities that are not in demand. The fund will also protect exporters money and conduct studies on what each country needs, he added.

Khaled Abul-Makarem, head of the CFEC, told the council on Monday that coordination is afoot with the Africa Department of the Egyptian Commercial Service Office to decide on the most suitable form for Egypts presence in the Horn of Africa region in general, and in Djibouti in particular, be it through establishing a logistics zone or a storage area in the free zone as well as on the possibility of developing this Egyptian presence to include the establishment of an industrial zone that encompasses a number of assembly production lines.

The CFEC is more inclined to replace exhibitions in Africa with trade missions, Abul-Makarem said. He added that more focus should be drawn to markets in Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Angola, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda and Ghana since they depend on imports from Egypt and Tunisia, with preferences pointing in the direction of Egypt.

The councils plan for exhibitions, missions and trade events during the first half of the year, pointed out Abul-Makarem, includes an exhibition in Kenya from 19 to 22 March and another in Morocco, the Plast Expo, from 25 to 28 June, and three trade missions including  but not limited to  the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana.

Africa's Natural resourcesHe added that the CFEC finalised its work strategy in the African market during Egypts AU presidency. The plan will be discussed at the councils next meeting to be presented at the Export Development Authority.

The CFEC expects chemical exports to record a 40 per cent increase with the elimination of custom tariffs agreed in the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) accord between the SADC, COMESA and EAC once it goes into effect.

Egypt-Africa trade is not proportionate to the size of the African market. Currently standing at $1.2 billion, trade between Egypt and African countries can reach up to $8 billion or $10 billion, said Sherif Al-Gabali, head of the African Cooperation Committee at the Federation of Egyptian Industries.

The reason trade is not reaching its maximum potential, Al-Gabali told Al-Ahram Weekly, is primarily due to the insufficient presence of Egyptian companies in African markets.

Such presence requires embarking on promotional missions, holding exhibitions in African countries and setting up logistics centres to effect a shake-up in trade and transportation of supplies, Al-Gabali added, pointing out that African countries are lacking in many commodities, prime among which are textile products. That is where Egypt has a golden opportunity to increase its exports.

Mohamed Qassem, former deputy president of the Supreme Council for Textile Industries, said the textiles city project, developed in cooperation with the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, may act as an exporting centre of textiles products to Africa, especially in the north and east of the continent.

Ministry of Trade and Industry figures reveal that Egypts participation in the COMESA helped increase trade between African countries, particularly two-way trade. COMESA member states also include Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Angola, Burundi, Rwanda, Comoros, Congo, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Uganda, Swaziland, Zambia, Libya, Seychelles and Zimbabwe.

In 1998 Egypts imports from COMESA countries stood at $154 million, and increased to $608 million in 2017, and exports increased from $46 million in 1998 to $1.6 billion in 2017.

Nassar said Egypt has been pumping increasing investments in COMESA countries, and exports focus on building materials, such as steel and cement, in addition to chemical and paper products and medicines, while Egypts imports from COMESA states are primarily coffee beans, tea, tobacco, oily fruits, sesame, livestock and copper.

During the AU summit held in March 2018 in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, 44 countries, including Egypt, signed the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement.

Egypts trade relations with Africa go beyond those shared with Nile Basin and COMESA states. The country is looking at the implementation of the TFTA agreement between the COMESA, SADC and EAC. This agreement comprises 26 countries  half of the AUs member states  with a total GDP estimated at 60 per cent of the total GDP of the continent and 57 per cent of Africas population.

The TFTA Ministerial Committee announced at the Seventh AU Trade Ministers meeting, which Egypt hosted on 12-13 December 2018, that it expected TFTA to go into effect in April after a minimum of 13 countries  out of 22  sign the agreement. COMESA Secretary-General Chileshe Kapwepwe said at the summit that 61 per cent of the TFTA regulations have been agreed upon.

Nassar, the minister of trade and industry, said Egypts parliament will soon approve the TFTA, adding that the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement is a crucial step for the desired economic integration between African states and the establishment of a unified African market based on free trade and absent customs and technical obstacles.

Developing the infrastructure of transportation, IT and monetary services will boost trade between the countries of Africa and double two-way trade to reach 22 per cent of the total African trade in 2022, the minister added.

Meanwhile, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones signed two memoranda of understanding with Ethiopia and Uganda to increase cooperation in investment.

Other agreements signed include four water desalination stations, the Mangoky River bridge project with Madagascar, the development project of the Gulf of Kokodi with Ivory Coast and the expansion project of the potable water system in the area of Mangochi with Malawi.

Many Egyptian companies are actively in business in African states, such as the Arab Contractors, engaged in projects in 18 countries at a value of $1.5 billion.

One of the companys latest projects was signed in December in the attendance of the prime minister. The Arab Contractors, in partnership with Al-Sewedi Electric, won the bid to build the Stieglers Gorge dam in Tanzania to generate hydroelectric power from Rufiji River.

The Arab Contractors is currently engaged in projects in four African countries at an estimated cost of $400 million-$450 million, as part of its plan to increase its presence in African markets and build mega-projects.

In 2018, the company executed a mega-project that entailed building a huge water network in Mauritania, 540km from the capital, and was contracted the project of expanding Abidjan Airport in the Ivory Coast. The company also built a 114km road in Congo with a budget of $100 million.

For the Arab Contractors, road networks constitute 75 per cent of the companys businesses in African markets, besides service projects such as hospitals.

Another Egyptian company, Qalaa Holdings, has invested $650 million in a number of projects in Africa, according to its president Ahmed Heikal.

The group seeks to spend LE30 billion in investments in African states from 2018 to 2020.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Egypt-Africa: More agreements than trade

Short link:


SV Krishna Chaitanya By

Express News Service

CHENNAI: In a major embarrassment, National Green Tribunal (NGT) has slapped a whopping Rs 100 crore on Tamil Nadu government for failing to restore Chennai's waterways - Adyar, Cooum and Buckingham Canal, which have literally turned into sewage carriers. Besides, Chief Secretary has been summoned by the tribunal on April 23 with the progress report.

Disposing-off a bunch of petitions, the principal bench, comprising of NGT Chairperson justice AK Goel, Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member Nagin Nanda, observed that Adyar and Cooum are two of the most polluted rivers to flow through any major urban agglomeration anywhere in the world and held State government accountable. The tribunal went to an extent of accusing authorities of colluding with the polluters and law violators.

"In view of the consistent failure of the State, we are tentatively inclined to require the State of Tamil Nadu to pay a sum of Rs 100 crore as compensation for damage to the environment with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The amount may be used for restoration of the environment.

However, before taking a final view, we constitute a Joint Committee comprising of representatives of CPCB, Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, Madras School of Economics, NEERI and the State Pollution Control Board.

The Committee may assess the causes and quantum of damage to the environment as well as further steps required for restoration of the environment which are not covered in the action plan. The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board will be the nodal agency to coordinate and comply with the orders of the Tribunal. The Committee may give its report within three months," the bench said in its 19-page judgement.

Besides the penalty, the green bench directed State government to furnish performance guarantee to the satisfaction of CPCB within one month to complete the restoration work within the specified timelines.

The tribunal has compared the fate of Chennai's waterways to Bellandur lake in Bengaluru, wherein NGT directed Karnataka government to deposit Rs 500 crore in an escrow account to rejuvenate the lake.

The tribunal has also directed the Karnataka government and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to deposit an environment compensation of Rs 75 crore. When Karnataka government filed a review petition stating NGT acted beyond the statutory jurisdiction, the tribunal has dismissed the plea saying it does have the powers of a civil court and could issue such directions.

Referring to Chennai's rivers, "We are of the view that the magnitude of the damage to the environment is huge and there has been a long history of consistent failures of the State of Tamil Nadu and its authorities. The quantum of compensation to be recovered for the past failure and the amount of performance guarantee to be taken is required to the above extent to ensure compliance in future," the bench noted.

The tribunal has directed the committee headed by Chief Secretary to meet fortnightly for a period of next three months and thereafter on monthly basis to review the progress.

"Quarterly reports may be furnished to this Tribunal on the progress by e-mail. The first report may be furnished on or before 31.05.2019."

Rs 600 crore river restoration project: A failure

Though an Integrated Cooum River Eco-Restoration Project, costing 604.77crorese, was launched in 2015 and 60 sub-projects were granted, the overall progress has been far from satisfactory.

Now, the government has filed an affidavit before NGT on February 11 stating the eco-restoration plan would be implemented in three phases in eight years and the major activities will be completed in three years. The affidavit says the plan was review by Chief Secretary on February 1.

Meanwhile, Public Works Department (PWD) filed another separate action plan which states Chennai Rivers Restoration Trust (CRRT) had undertaken strenuous efforts for restoration of the Cooum and Adayar Rivers in Phase I and II respectively. Projects worth Rs 93.97 crore and Rs 104.31 crore had commenced or are to be taken up soon.

State government counsel submitted that the matter was taken up seriously has been reviewed directly by the Chief Secretary.

"Timelines have been laid down and funds have been allocated." However, NGT refused to accept the government's promises on face value and lambasted it for repeated failures.

Social activist Jawaharlal Shanmugam, who is one of the petitioners, told Express that NGT has delivered a landmark judgement. "Government gave an undertaking in the NGT that within 36 months from April, 2015, majority of restoration work on Buckingham Canal would be completed, but nothing has been done."

Waterway Encroachments identified Evicted Balance

Cooum 13,592 8,962 4,630

Adyar 10,347 4,161 6,186

Buckingham canal 26,300 408 25,892

Total 50,239 13,531 36,708

History of non-compliance:

Tribunal has passed several orders in the last five years.
New Castle, PA (16103)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High near 85F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low 67F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Business

Indias oil imports from Iran plunged 45% in Jan

By Nagaland Post | Publish Date: 2/16/2019 1:09:28 PM IST

Indias oil imports from Iran fell by 45 percent in January to 270,500 barrels per day oil (bpd), ship tracking data reviewed by Reuters showed, below the estimated 300,000 bpd for the month as some cargoes were delayed.

The United States introduced sanctions aimed at crippling Irans oil revenue-dependent economy in November but gave a six-month waiver to eight nations, including India, which allowed them to import some Iranian oil.

India is restricted to buying 1.25 million tonnes per month, some 300,000 bpd. January imports from Iran were 10.4 percent lower than December, the tanker arrival data showed.

Iran was the seventh biggest oil supplier to India in January compared with sixth in December, and slipped from third position it held a year ago. Last month Tehrans share in Indias overall oil imports declined to about 6 percent from about 10 percent a year earlier, the data showed.

After abandoning the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to end Tehrans nuclear ambitions and ballistic missile programme and curb its support for militants in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East.

In the first 10 months of this fisal year that began in April, Indias oil imports from Iran rose by 14.5 percent to 507,000 bpd as refiners boosted purchases ahead of the U.S. sanctions drawn by discounts offered by Tehran, the data showed.

Iran was hoping to sell more than 500,000 bpd of oil to India in 2018/19, its oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said last year, and had offered almost free shipping and an extended credit period to boost sales to the country. Indian refiners Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp, Mangalore Refinery and Petroleum Corp and Indian Oil Corp would lift same volume in March as they took in February, a governemnt official said.

In February, IOC placed an order for 5 million barrels, MRPL for 2 million barrels and HPCL and BPCL for 1 million barrels each. None of the companies responded to a Reuters email seeking comments. In the previous fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2018 Indian refiners cut purchases from Iran due to a dispute on the award of development rights of a giant gas field.

Government sources say Reuters calculations showing Indias oil imports from Iran in this fiscal year would be higher than the 452,000 bpd, or 22.6 million tonnes, it imported in the previous year, were correct.

Indias total oil imports in January were about 4.6 million bpd, a decline of about 10.4 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.
MERIDEN  The Meriden Police Department is pulling out of the substation it rented at 109 Main St. in South Meriden for about 10 years.

The police department is no longer renting the space due to the NI (Neighborhood Initiative) officer no longer being assigned to the area, police spokesman Sgt. John Mennone said in an e-mail. We are grateful to the owner for providing the space for a number of years.

The police department had 11 NI officers assigned in various locations throughout the city, but they were eliminated and returned to patrol duty after a tense budget process in the fall. Several months later, the department received enough funding to return four officers and a supervisor to the Neighborhood initiative, but not in South Meriden.

Its going to take a little of the hometown feel out of the community, said We the People Councilor Robert Williams. I was optimistic something could be worked out. Its pretty small (amount) in a multi-million dollar budget, but I cant speak to the cutbacks the chief had to manage.

Cpl. Fred Rivera was the longtime community officer in South Meriden and very involved in community events and programs.

Williams worked with Rivera nine years ago to move the station from the South Meriden volunteer firehouse to a more visible office in the village. Williams contacted the owner at the time and for a short time, the department didnt pay any rent. The rent later went up to a couple of hundred dollars a month, Williams said.

Rivera hosted monthly meetings and an open house on the third Thursday of the month. Some nights there would be three people, other nights turnout was 10 to 15 people.

It was a great gathering point for everyone, Williams said.

Landlord Vincent Pastore of Milford, who has owned the building for only a few years, said he intends to lease the spot as office space. There are four or five apartments upstairs and another commercial building on the eastern side of the building that was once a former package store.

It was a nice thing for the community, Pastore said. But if the funds arent there, it makes sense to close it.

President of the Neighborhood Advisory Council Holly Wills is a South Meriden resident who attended the monthly meetings. Wills is not overly concerned the closure of the substation will lead to a lapse in police coverage.

Its unfortunate that it closed, though our hope is that the NI officers will be back into our neighborhoods in the summer, Wills said. The neighborhood association is thrilled we have the patrol officers and the support of the NI officers and supervisor. If there is an issue, they will address it. Its a start.

The department has no data yet to determine if there is the cuts have had any significant impact to the community, Mennone said.

The patrol division has done an excellent job taking on any quality of life issues, he said. We will continue to service the community with the same quality of care.

mgodin@record-journal.com

203-317-2255

Twitter: @Cconnbiz
MERIDEN  A woman faces a first-degree larceny charge after police said she stole more than $40,000 while she worked as a bookkeeper for a local company.

Stephanie Kulowski, 32, of 61 Sexton St., New Britain, appeared in Meriden Superior Court on Thursday. Her case was continued to March 18.

On Sept. 13, 2017, Vincent Nanfito, owner of Nanfito Roofing and Siding, and his current accountant reported the former bookkeeper, Kulowski, stole money from the company, according to a police report.

Kulowski was hired in September 2015. Her duties included managing the company books, bank accounts, payables and receivables, the report said. Kulowski was responsible for the roofing company and AVT Construction. Nanfito told police he noticed discrepancies in mid-2017 and confronted Kulowski. Kulowski told Nanfito that she could explain the discrepancies before she was eventually fired.

Police discovered a $12,588 discrepancy in the AVT Construction accounts. The discrepancies were from checks made out to Kulowski by Kulowski, the report said. For the Nanfito roofing accounts, Kulowski would indicate in records that checks were paid to other companies but would write the actual check to herself. The total loss to the roofing company was $32,254.

Kulowski told police she was instructed by Nanfito to pay the contractors in cash, the report said. Nanfito denied the claim.

She was arrested on Nov. 20

lsellew@record-journal.com

203-317-2225

Twitter: @LaurenSellewRJ
MERIDEN  City leaders hope newly-proposed state legislation will curb the number of nip bottles on the Meriden Green.

The legislation would apply the states five-cent bottle deposit bill to the 50-milliliter bottles of alcohol, which currently arent subject to the deposit charge and typically cost $1 to $1.50.

At a recent City Council meeting, City Manager Tim Coon said the city has been exploring ways to address nip bottles discarded on the Green. Coon said trash bins are located around the perimeter of the green, which opened in 2016.

The biggest thing wed like to do is push our state legislature to support this bill for the nip bottles, Coon said in an interview this week. It is an ongoing issue and its pretty consistent across all municipalities.

Coon said Public Works Director Howard Weissberg is also considering some other solutions, such as putting traps in the sewer grates to prevent the bottles from getting in the stormwater system.

Coon and Weissberg recently met with Mohammed Khan, the owner of Big M Liquor located across from the Green, to discuss the issue. Coon said Khan was very cooperative and very much wished to be a part of the solution.

Coon said Khan hires someone to pick up discarded nip bottles in the immediate vicinity of his store, 71 Pratt St., but the city understands that hes not going to pay the person to clean up the Green.

There has to be holistic approach because Big M is not the only liquor store in the city, Coon said. Neither Khan nor Carroll Hughes, executive director of the Connecticut Package Store Association, could be reached for comment this week.

State Rep. Hilda Santiago, D-Meriden, whose House district includes the Meriden Green, said she supports applying the deposit charge to nip purchases.

I think its a good idea, Santiago said.

Three bills propose applying the deposit on nip bottles. All three bills have been referred to the legislatures Joint Environmental Committee, which Santiago doesnt sit on.

Santiago said shes never received complaints about nip bottles being littered at the Meriden Green, but noted other parks around the city also get polluted with the bottles.

mzabierek@record-journal.com

203-317-2279

Twitter: @MatthewZabierek
The Egyptian Autistic Society has chosen actress Shereen Reda as an ambassador for their autism awareness campaign Pass On The Light, which is held annually to raise awareness of autism in Egypt.

Reda appears in the film Al-Daif (The Guest), which is currently showing in cinemas.

The film is directed by Hadi El-Bagoury and written by Ibrahim Eissa.

Her next film, Ras Al-Sana (The New Year), which was directed by Mohamed Ahmed Sakr and written by Mohamed Hefzy, will be released soon.

Reda has previously participated in many societal and environmental events, such as the UN celebration for World Oceans Day. She also visited the victims of the terrorist bombings in the churches of Tanta and Alexandria, and participated in animal welfare campaigns.

The Egyptian Autistic Society is a non-profit organisation established in 1999 with the mission of catering to individuals with autism and their families and increasing awareness of the condition.

The campaign uses the hashtag #Passonthelight.

Short link:


Sayre, PA (18840)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 82F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Low 66F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
SUPPORT THIS INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM

The article youre about to read is from our reporters doing their important work  investigating, researching, and writing their stories.

We want to provide informative and inspirational stories that connect you to the people, issues and opportunities within our community.

Journalism takes a lot of resources. Today, our business model has been interrupted by the pandemic; the vast majority of our advertisers businesses have been impacted. Thats why the Weekly is now turning to you for financial support. Learn more about our new Insiders program here.

Thank you.

JOIN NOW
Fort Madison, IA (52627)

Today

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near an inch.
A blog about business, strategy and applying science to the benefit of society. We are passionate about liberty and free enterprise.
The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish, said that his four-day visit to Russia, set to start on Sunday, will include finalising negotiations to establish a Russian industrial zone east of Port Said.

Mamish noted that negotiations with the Russian side over the past period have yielded fruitful results, after a framework agreement was signed in Moscow in May 2018 to establish the zone, according to a SCA statement.

The chairman, along with his accompanying delegation, is set to meet with the Russian minister of industry and trade and his deputy, with the aim of discussing mechanisms of establishing the zone on an area of 5.25 square kilometres with investments totalling about $7 billion.

The support provided by the political leadership of the two countries has had a positive effect on negotiations between the SCA and the Russian side, Mamish said, pointing to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisis decree ratifying the framework agreement.

Short link:


Thats why I support the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR763). Introduced last month in the U.S. House of Representatives, it will drive down Americas carbon pollution, bring climate change under control, and unleash American technology, innovation and ingenuity. Its a solution to drive innovation, put our country at the forefront of the clean energy transition, and keep Americans healthier and safer. Co-sponsored by Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) along with Democrats from Florida, California and Illinois, the bill would put a price on carbon pollution. This price on pollution is a major market signal to stimulate the innovation we need.
Moments after Trevor Noah sat down behind his desk on the set of "The Daily Show," he looked straight into the camera and said three words: "The border wall."

"It's now official, neither Mexico nor Congress will pay for it," Noah informed his audience Thursday night. "So, like many of you after Valentine's Day, Trump is turning to Plan B."

"Plan B," in this case, is President Donald Trump's likely declaration of a national emergency to secure more money for his proposed border wall. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced that Trump will sign a $333 billion budget deal to avoid another government shutdown even though the compromise falls drastically short on delivering the 234 miles of steel walls the president has pushed for.

Cue the national emergency, which Trump declared Friday morning - the same time he plans to sign the spending bill, The Washington Post reported.

The news was met with instant backlash as the hashtag "#FakeEmergency" began trending on Twitter with more than 14,000 mentions as of early Friday morning, while late-night comedians, some of Trump's most vocal critics, gleefully ridiculed the impending announcement.

On Comedy Central, Noah appeared perplexed by Trump's forthcoming declaration, describing it as "weird."

"Normally in an emergency you don't spend months debating whether or not something is an emergency. Like, it's normally pretty clear," Noah said. "If someone is breaking into your house, you wouldn't call 911 and be like: 'No, no don't send someone right way. Give me a few weeks. Let me see if I can convince him to leave. I'll let you know.' "

He later offered an alternative to the wall: New York City subway turnstiles.

"Those things are so unreliable," Noah said following a segment on how New Yorkers routinely jump the mechanical gates. "You have to swipe like six times and it never works. Swipe and swipe and swipe and then you try and walk through and the bar hits you in the crotch. It's the worst."

The host's face lit up in an "aha" moment.

"Forget national emergency. You know what, if Trump wants to stop Mexicans, he should just put a row of New York subway turnstiles at the border," Noah said before adopting an accent. "They would be like, 'Ai yi yi, swipe again, swipe again. I'm turning around.' "

The show's social media accounts also didn't hold back, mocking White House press secretary Sarah Sanders's official statement on the matter, which appeared to be written on the iPhone Notes application. The show offered further commentary through "Bricky The Wall," billed as "President Trump's border wall mascot."

Stephen Colbert adopted a graver tone as he broke the news to his viewers that Trump would be getting $1.375 billion for 55 miles of fences along the border in Texas.

"That's a serious walkback," Colbert said with mock trepidation. "Honey, I know you wanted a diamond engagement ring, but what about this candy necklace? . . . You can eat it."

Colbert then played a clip of McConnell on the Senate floor speaking about the deal and Trump's plan, pointing out that the Republican leader's droning voice seemed to belie the imminent emergency.

"You can tell by the tone of my voice and the urgency with which I am informing you that this is a true national emergency," Colbert drawled, impersonating McConnell. "In a related matter, I see that the Senate chamber is on fire and filled with scorpions. Everybody, everybody run. Run for your lives. Now."

On NBC, Seth Meyers couldn't contain his shock.

"Wait, you're declaring a national emergency?" an incredulous Meyers asked. "This is like one of those news stories where a crazy guy calls 911 because McDonald's ran out of nuggets. There's nothing wrong with McDonald's. You're the problem."

In the hours after the announcement, social media was equally rife with reactions, many slamming the emergency as "fake," while others applauded the president.

Prominent conservatives defended Trump and supported the plan.

Tomi Lahren of Fox News clapped back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who repeatedly skewered Trump's expected emergency declaration on social media and to reporters on Thursday.

"I couldn't be happier with the @realDonaldTrump power move today!" Lahren wrote in another tweet.

But criticism only increased when word spread that Trump plans to go to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida, on Friday after signing the bill, Reuters reported.

RELATED STORIES:

Late-night comics follow Trump's State of the Union speech, live and exasperated

Chicago's frigid weather a punchline on late-night TV

'Build the Peach!': Late-night hosts mock Trump's insistence that 'A WALL is a WALL!'
As the Ministry of the Public Business Sector (MPBS) continues to implement its plans to develop 26 public-sector companies in order to optimise their outputs and reduce their losses, the cabinet has decided to set up a fund to settle their debts to the banking system.

The new fund will provide the needed finance for the administrative and technical upgrading of the state-owned companies and help to remove financial bottlenecks, according to a statement issued last week.

It will be managed by a committee headed by the MPBS minister and include members from the state council, the Finance Ministry, the National Investment Bank and the chairmen of the holding companies concerned.

The fund will target the renewed use of some 3,000 idle state assets.

Tarek Metwalli, a member of the Industry Committee of the House of Representatives, Egypts parliament, said this week that the fund should make use of these under-utilised assets either by leasing them or through usufruct arrangements.

Egypts public sector has long been criticised as overstaffed and inefficient, and officials have long struggled to push the firms towards profitability.

Hisham Tawfik of the public business enterprise sector said on television recently that net profits of the sector had reached LE11 billion during the last fiscal year.

He said there were 48 loss-making companies in the sector and 73 profit-making ones. In the 2015-16 fiscal year, the sectors losses amounted to LE7.5 billion.

There are 119 state-owned companies under the ministry umbrella, and it is seeking to conclude partnership agreements with international investors to revive some of the state-owned companies operating in the automotive, steel, engineering and transportation sectors, according to Tawfik.

It wants to find international companies in these sectors that have the ability and experience to run these public companies and restore them to profit, he said.

Such foreign partners would revive the production lines of the state-owned companies and produce commodities for the local market and export. The partners would get a determined share of the profits for 20 years in exchange, Tawfik said.

In cooperation with Egyptian commercial offices worldwide, the ministry is trying to attract bids for the companies from abroad, notably by a promotional tour by ministry members and commercial offices overseas to attract bids for the development of the Al-Nasr Automotive Company.

The ministry has asked Egyptian commercial offices overseas to contact foreign car companies under a projected partnership agreement that would aim at producing between 100,000 and 150,000 vehicles annually and help to revive the automotive production and feeding industries.

According to Tawfik, the ministry has received 12 tenders from international companies to participate in the development of public-sector companies in the automotive sector.

Two weeks ago, the board of directors of the Egyptian Iron and Steel Company, an affiliate of the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries, announced a call for tenders for a foreign partner to help develop the companys production lines in exchange for a share of the profits.

The foreign partner would need to restructure the production units of the company at a preliminary cost of $250 million, with annual production exceeding 1.2 million tons.

Mohamed Dawoud, deputy chairman of the Chamber of Metallurgical Industries at the Egyptian Federation of Industries, said the concept of getting foreign assistance to transfer modern technology and improve the quality of products is a good one since Egypt lacks such technical skills at present.

He expected that the move would stimulate the Al-Nasr Company, which has the facilities required but that has been mismanaged for some time.

Dawoud added that the success of the public-sector enterprises in Egypt would also depend on reducing the present bureaucracy.

Effat Abdel-Ati, head of the Division of Vehicles Traders and Agents at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said the government plans were a positive step towards improving the performance of the state-owned companies.

However, he said that boosting feeder industries in the car industry that produce fittings and other components was just as important as developing the vehicle industry itself.

He added that unless Egypt expanded such industries, the production of cars would be difficult.

I believe in the power of the public sector and its ability to lead the industrial sector in Egypt as it did in the past, but only if it is well-managed, said Jasmine Fouad, a professor of economics at Cairo University.

She said that it did not matter whether the companies had Egyptian or foreign managers as long as they boosted production.

The companies had the potential to successfully market their goods because consumers were looking to consume locally manufactured goods because of the high prices of imported ones.

Heba Al-Leithi, a professor of statistics at Cairo University, was not happy at the idea of foreign partners running the companies. I think the government is taking the easy way out. It would be better if the government changed the management of the companies itself, Al-Leithi said.

Experience had shown that foreign investors were not interested in improving local industries, she said, and workers rights had often been infringed upon in the process.

Some 382 state-owned enterprises have been fully or partially privatised in two phases of privatisation, the first from 1991 to 1997 and the second from 2004 to 2010.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Restructuring the public sector

Short link:


Jackson left open the possibility that she could amend the order in the future and reminded Stone that he is not permitted to contact any witnesses in the case. She also said if Stone complained about pretrial publicity at a later date, she would consider whether he had brought it on himself.
The beach confrontation began when Weinman repeatedly refused to give Wildwood officers her name when they questioned her about the presence of alcohol on the beach. A video shot by a nearby beachgoer showed an officer punching her twice in the head as she lies on the sand, her legs flailing.
Popular wines include merlot, riesling and two selections named after the couples children: Cameo, a sweet blend named after their daughter, Cameron; and Dangerous, a semi-dry Germanic-style red with a robust and smokey taste and hints of plum, blueberry, raspberry and cranberry named after their son, Dane. Glasses are $4-$6 and tastings, which include six varieties, are $5.
My Favorite Real Estate Strategies: Rent to Live, Buy to Rent

Did you read Andrea Riquiers two articles on Market Watch last year about real estate strategies?



Definitely worth it!



The first was The new housing play: helping priced-out renters become long-distance landlords.



It was a strategy aimed at people living in unaffordable areas like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, or New York.



Rent in those areas to avoid the high purchase costs and a major bubble burst (when it inevitably comes). Then use your freed-up borrowing power to buy a house in an affordable area where renting for income is more lucrative, and far less risky. Were talking places with high percentages of single-family rentals, like Detroit, Las Vegas, or Kansas City and a few more listed below.





Pick your poison

Except for Baltimore, these cities arent on the expensive coasts. Rather, theyre more towards the center of the country.They have more struggling middle- or lower-income families who cant afford to buy, even in these less over-valued areas. And besides Denver  to a degree  none of these are bubble cities that are likely to crash and crucify you.

In her second article called Pick your poison, Riquier showed that there are two ways to make money in real estate.



Look at this chart that rates areas by quality of life.







The A areas appreciate the most at 21% annually. Thats about twice as much as the B and C areas.



The worst  F areas  have slightly negative appreciation rates at -0.4%.



While F areas are NOT places you want to buy, A areas are the worst at this time because theyre out of reach of most buyers and will get hit the worst when this second real estate bubble bursts.

Now, look at the average rental returns

Theyre the highest in the poorer F areas, at 10.1%, which is damn good.



Rentals dont vary as much as appreciation and are still good at 7.9% in the A areas. But there, again, your risk is that the property value falls by 30% to 50% while you own it and wipes out many years of rental gains.



The rental appreciation rates are also higher in the lower quality areas.



There are now online companies  Roofstock, Home Union, Investability, and OwnAmerica  that help you identify, purchase, and manage such long-distance rentals.



One of the best sites at this point appears to be Roofstock.com. They charge a 2.5% brokerage fee to the seller, and 0.5% to the buyer. Thats cheaper than the standard 6% commission.



The ultimate strategy



But heres the ultimate strategy, and you should do this NOW, before the next crash, while its easier to borrow.



In the crash, rentals will tend to hold up. Housing prices will fall.



Use your equity and cash flow from owned rentals to buy the far cheaper foreclosures (often by just taking over the payments at a discount), then rent them out for even more profits.



This is what the smart money did during and after the 2008 crisis.



Hedge funds and individual investors bought single family houses for cheap, then rented them out for strong, positive cash flow.



And it gave them the potential to both buy more as the downturn progressed and to sell down the road when the market was better.



Single-family rentals attract older, more family-oriented renters that stay twice as long as they would in apartments (three years compared to one and a half years on average). And theyre less likely to default or burning down the house!



You can choose to sell the houses in a better market later down the road, and your renters may become the buyers.



Or you can just keep renting them out at stronger returns and then buy the house of your dreams in a once-expensive city of your choice when its bubble finally bursts!

Harry

http://economyandmarkets.com

Follow me on Twitter @HarryDentjr

P.S. Another way to stay ahead is by reading the 27 simple stock secrets that our Seven-Figure Trader says are worth $588,221. Youll find the details here.

Harry studied economics in college in the 70s, but found it vague and inconclusive. He became so disillusioned by the state of the profession that he turned his back on it. Instead, he threw himself into the burgeoning New Science of Finance, which married economic research and market research and encompassed identifying and studying demographic trends, business cycles, consumers purchasing power and many, many other trends that empowered him to forecast economic and market changes.

Copyright  2019 Harry Dent- All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Harry Dent Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




"Mi Amigo" Sheffield Bomber Crash Memorial Site Fly-past on 22nd February 2019 VR360

2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the crash of a US B17 Flying Fortress bomber in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield on the 22nd of February 1944 costing the lives of the 10 member crew of the "Mi Amigo". In commemoration of which a fly past will take place on the 22nd of February 2019 at 8.45am at Endcliffe Park that will include an F15 fighter jet from RAF Lakenheath, other aircraft to include Ospreys, Typhoons and a Dakota.

Here's a unique view of the memorial site in VR 360.

And here's another look around the memorial site ahead of the fly past.

The BBC will be covering the event from 6am to 9.15am with a big screen at the Cafe, the public are advised to arrive after 7.15am. A memorial service will take place at 8am. which will be followed by the fly past at 8.45am.

Here is the BBC breakfast announcement of the flypast to Tony Foulds who has tended the crash site memorial for decades.

By Anika Walayat

http://www.walayatfamily.com

Copyright  2005-2019 Marketoracle.co.uk (Market Oracle Ltd). All rights reserved.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




U.S. Vice President Mike Pence rebuked European powers over Iran and Venezuela on Saturday in a renewed attack on Washingtons traditional allies, rejecting a call by Germanys chancellor to include Russia in global cooperation efforts.

Describing the results of Donald Trumps presidency as remarkable and extraordinary, Pence told senior European and Asian officials the EU should follow the United States in quitting the Iran nuclear deal and recognizing the head of Venezuelas congress, Juan Guaido, as the countrys president.

America is stronger than ever before and America is leading on the world stage once again, Pence told officials at the Munich Security Conference, listing what he described as U.S. foreign policy successes from Afghanistan to North Korea.

Addressing an audience that included Trumps daughter Ivanka, Pences speech was the latest attempt by a Trump official to put the presidents America First agenda into a coherent policy plan.

European leaders are troubled by Trumps rhetoric, which they say is erratic and disruptive, citing his decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as undermining an arms control agreement that prevented Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.

But Pence  who last week during a visit to Poland accused Britain, Germany and France of undermining U.S. sanctions on Iran  repeated his demand that European powers withdraw from the deal.

The Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust and it seeks the means to achieve it, Pence, who also visited the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, told delegates.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure, Pence said.

Pence, who used his trip to Europe to push Trumps policy of favoring sovereign states as opposed to alliances and blocs, took aim at the European Union as a whole, saying once more the Old World can take a strong stand in support of freedom in the New World in Venezuela.

Today we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom and recognize Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president of Venezuela, he said, calling President Nicolas Maduro a dictator who must step down.

MERKELS VIEW

His speech contrasted sharply with German Chancellor Angela Merkels robust defense of Germanys foreign trade relations and ties with Russia, urging global leaders meeting in Munich to work together to tackle the worlds problems.

Speaking before Pence, Merkel questioned whether the U.S. decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal and withdrawal from Syria was the best way to tackle Tehran in the region.

She defended plans for a new natural gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that Pence again criticized.

Trump has accused Germany of being a captive of Russia due to its reliance on Russian energy, but Merkel argued:

If during the Cold War... we imported large amounts of Russian gas, I dont know why times should be so much worse today that we can say: Russia remains a partner.

During a question-and-answer session, she added that it would be wrong to exclude Russia politically, but Pence said Washington was holding Russia accountable for its 2014 seizure of Ukraine and what the West says are efforts to destabilize it through cyber attacks, disinformation and covert operations.

Geostrategically, Europe cant have an interest in cutting off all relations with Russia, Merkel said.

Trump has also criticized the large trade surplus that Germany, Europes biggest economy, has with the United States and has threatened to put tariffs on German cars in return.

We are proud of our cars and so we should be, Merkel said, adding, however, that many were built in the United States and exported to China.

If that is viewed as a security threat to the United States, then we are shocked, she said, drawing applause from the audience.

Short link:


Support Local Journalism

The Malibu community needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please help keep us in print by making a contribution.
Magnolia, AR (71754)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 94F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few clouds from time to time. Low around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Today

Scattered thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies. Low 73F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Scattered thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon. High 87F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
If you already subscribe to our eEdition edition, sign up for FREE access to our online edition. Thanks for reading the El Campo Leader News.
The European Union must recognize Venezuelan congress leader Juan Guaido as the president of the South American country, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday, pressing not just individual European governments but the bloc as a whole.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, Pence said Guaido, who has declared himself interim leader and has won U.S. and international support to replace Nicolas Maduro, deserved that the rest of the world recognize him, and called Maduro a dictator who must step down.

It is time for the rest of the world to step forward. Once more the old world can take a stand in support of freedom in the new world ... Today we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom and recognize Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president of Venezuela, Pence said.

Short link:


Piotrekswat/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- A Florida man who reported $18,497 in wages is in trouble after he received a $980,000 tax refund based on a false tax return that he filed, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Florida.

The complaint, which was filed Jan. 18, said the tax refund came after Ramon Christopher Blanchett reported $1,000,000 in federal income tax withheld on one of his forms.

Blanchett, according to the complaint, had reported wages from two employers on his 2016 Federal Income Tax Return form, which he self-prepared and filed on Feb. 21, 2017.

The complaint said Blanchett described himself as a "free-lancer." On one form, Blanchett listed his employer as Bridges Nursing and Rehabilitation and said he was paid $17,098, with $1,000,000 of federal income tax withheld. The complaint said Blanchett was actually paid $2,098 in wages, with no income tax withheld.

"Based on Blanchetts submission of the Form 1040, falsely representing that $1,000,000 in taxes had been withheld, the U.S. Treasury issued check number 403808854305, made payable to Blanchett, for $980,000," the complaint said.

Blanchetts other form listed his employer as Sizzling Platter, LLC. in Murray, Utah and reported $1,399 in wages with no federal income tax withheld, which the complaint said was accurate.

The complaint said Blanchett deposited the money into two SunTrust accounts, then was given a cashiers check for the $980,000 after his funds were frozen for suspected fraud in May 2018. He then opened a Grow Financial Money Market account in July by depositing the cashiers check, claiming the money was from "the estate of his deceased father," according to the complaint.

The complaint said IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) seized $919,251.94 from three Grow Financial Credit Union accounts in Blanchetts name, as well as a 2016 Lexus RC 350 that he purchased with the money. Blanchett also had $809.94 in a Grow Financial Credit Union account, which the complaint said came from a refund from Progressive Insurance when he canceled his car insurance.

There was no attorney listed for Blanchett.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The Trump administration ratcheted up pressure Saturday on embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, dispatching U.S. military planes filled with humanitarian aid to this city on the Venezuelan border.

In Germany, Vice President Mike Pence urged the European Union to follow the U.S. lead in rejecting the legitimacy of Maduros government and recognize the asserted interim government of Juan Guaido, the opposition legislator who declared himself interim president last month, with U.S. backing.

Meeting a U.S. Air-Force C-17 cargo plane at the airport here at a highly publicized event on Saturday was a welcome committee of representatives of the United States and Colombia, a close Washington ally, as well as officials with Guaidos self-declared interim administration.

This shows that we are serious  this aid must reach the people of Venezuela, no matter what Maduro says, said Jose Manuel Olivares, a Venezuelan lawmaker allied with Guaido.

Advertisement

The aid standoff has become a major test both of Guaidos asserted leadership and of Maduros resolve to resist growing international pressure to let in the food and medicine.

Maduro, who accuses Washington of mounting a coup against his socialist government, has labeled the aid a political tool and prelude to a U.S. invasion, and vowed it would never be allowed into Venezuela  which has been suffering chronic shortages of food and medicine.

But Guaido, the opposition leader, has pledged that the aid would enter Venezuela by Feb. 23. Opposition leaders have spoken of unspecified contingency plans to insure that the aid gets into the country.

The use of military aircraft to deliver food and medicines is standard and does not imply any prospective U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, according to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which is coordinating the aid program.

But the optics of a pair of huge cargo jets bearing the Stars and Stripes insignia touching down a few miles from the Venezuela border  their arrival touted at a tarmac press event organized by the U.S. embassy in Bogota  inevitably generated questions.

The Trump administration has said it seeks a nonviolent resolution to the Venezuelan crisis, but has not ruled out any options and insists that Maduro must relinquish power.

In a recent published interview, Guaido also pointedly did not rule out the possibility of military intervention in Venezuela. While he also said he prefers a peaceful outcome, Guaido told a Uruguayan publication that justification exists in Venezuelan law for an international force to restore the constitutional order and protect the live[s] of our citizens.

Francisco Santos, the Colombian ambassador to Washington who attended the airport press event here, was peppered with questions Saturday about a prospective U.S. military intervention, possibly from Colombian territory. He denied that the matter had even been officially discussed.

Advertisement

We have not spoken of military intervention, replied Santos, who added that the U.S. military aircraft were the easiest way to bring in the aid.

A previous shipment of Venezuela-bound aid was flown via commercial aircraft to Bogota and shipped by truck to Cucuta. Saturdays consignment ferried by the U.S. Air Force was the second major U.S. shipment of aid bound for Venezuela. More aid flights are scheduled in coming days, U.S. officials said.

Meanwhile, Pence in Germany called on the European Union to recognize Guaidos self-declared government.

Weve seen what happens when the free world and freedom-loving people unite around a single cause, Pence said at the annual Munich Security Conference.

Advertisement

While many European nations have recognized Guaido as Venezuelas interim leader, neither the European Union as a whole or the United Nations have taken that step.

Globally, Russia, China and Cuba remain allies of Maduros government. Officials of Mexico, Uruguay and Italy, among other nations, say they remain neutral in the dispute and have not recognized Guaidos rule.

Donated aid destined for Venezuela has been arriving to this border city for weeks, only to be stored in warehouses. Venezuelan authorities have barricaded a bridge border crossing where the food and medicine were supposed to be shipped in.

U.S. officials have been urging Venezuelan military and police to allow the food and medicines to enter Venezuela. But the Venezuelan military brass has shown no public sign of breaking with Maduro, despite offers of amnesty from Guaido and from U.S. leaders.

Advertisement

In comments at the airport here, Mark Green, who heads the U.S. Agency for International Development, which provided the aid, called Maduro a dictator and blamed his political mismanagement and corruption for Venezuelas collapsing economy and its shortages of foodstuffs and medicines.

Maduro blames U.S. sanctions against Venezuela  what he calls a U.S. economic war or blockade  for the countrys shortages.

Maduro was elected last year to a new six-year term in balloting boycotted by much of the opposition.

Special correspondent Mery Mogollon in Caracas contributed to this report.

Advertisement

patrick.mcdonnell@latimes.com

Twitter: @PmcdonnellLAT
Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick for soliciting sex during confession as well as other sex crimes against minors and adults, marking the most serious punishment meted out against a Catholic cardinal in modern times.

McCarrick, 88, a former archbishop of Washington, D.C., and highly influential figure in U.S. and international Catholic Church circles, can no longer call himself a priest, wear clerical attire or celebrate the sacraments.

The decision, announced on Saturday, came five days before a Vatican summit on sex abuse and follows allegations that Francis has done little to halt the plague of priestly predators who have seriously damaged the churchs reputation.

No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the church, said Cardinal Daniel Di Nardo, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, after the ruling, adding that dismissing McCarrick from the church gave a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated.

Advertisement

In its announcement, the Vatican said that McCarrick had been found guilty of solicitation in the sacrament of confession and sins against the sixth commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.

The sixth commandment is against adultery, but is used here by the Vatican to mean sex outside marriage, as well as, in McCarricks case, the breaking of his vow of celibacy, said Father Tom Reese, a senior analyst at the National Catholic Reporter.

The Vaticans doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith, condemned McCarrick on Jan. 11 and rejected his appeal on Feb. 13, with Pope Francis personally ruling out any chance of further appeals, the Vatican said.

The decision was welcomed by James Grein, the son of a family friend of McCarrick, who has told church investigators that McCarrick abused him for decades, beginning when he was 11.

Today I am happy that the pope believed me, Grein said in a statement, adding he hoped McCarrick will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children.

He added it was time to cleanse the church, and urged that the statute of limitations on old abuse cases be changed to allow prosecutions. Hundreds of priests, bishops and cardinals are hiding behind man-made law, he said.

More than 180 New Jersey priests named as accused abusers 

Ordained as a priest in 1958 in New York, McCarrick rose through the ranks of the U.S. church, becoming an auxiliary bishop in New York in 1977, then archbishop of Newark, archbishop of Washington in 2000  a post he retired from in 2006  and a cardinal in 2001. He was first suspended last year after a former altar boy accused him of abuse in New York in 1971.

Advertisement

Despite denying the allegation, McCarrick resigned from the college of cardinals in July, the first cardinal to step down in almost a century. Since last September, he has been living at a Capuchin friary in Kansas.

Further allegations followed, including Greins account and claims by a number of former seminarians that he lured trainee priests to his New Jersey beach house for sex.

The imposition on former Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick of the penalty of his dismissal from the clerical state, thus prohibiting him any type of priestly ministry, underscores the gravity of his actions, the archdiocese of Washington said Saturday. Our hope and prayer is that this decision serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse.

The Vaticans decision follows renewed alarm about sex abuse in the U.S. church, which first emerged nearly 20 years ago.

Advertisement

Last year, prosecutors in Pennsylvania made public the names of 300 priests involved in abusing minors in previous decades, as well as evidence of cover-ups by bishops who shifted abusive priests between dioceses rather than sanction them. And in Texas last month, church leaders identified 286 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children.

Church officials have said settlements were paid out decades ago following early allegations about McCarricks abusive behavior. Last August, a former papal nuncio, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, demanded Pope Francis resign, alleging that he knowingly turned a blind eye to the reports about McCarrick.

Defenders of the pope have argued that McCarrick was promoted during the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI, even as reports of his abuse of seminarians surfaced.

The accusations against Francis came as the pope last year performed an embarrassing U-turn over his dismissal of reports of widespread abuse in Chile. After accusing victims of slandering the church, he said he believed their stories and accepted the resignations of several Chilean bishops.

Advertisement

In a bid to end abuse and subsequent cover-ups, Francis will oversee a summit in Rome on Feb. 21-24 that brings together 115 heads of bishops conferences from around the world, as well as victims of abuse.

Father Reese said the defrocking of McCarrick sends a well-timed message to bishops arriving from countries where, unlike in the U.S., abuse has not yet taken been seriously.

This tells them that when an 88-year-old former cardinal is out, zero tolerance is real, he said. It hits them over the head with a two-by-four and tells them the pope takes it seriously so they should too.

Kington is a special correspondent.
Russia, the worlds fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter, is inching closer to ratifying the Paris climate accord by the end of the year, placing Moscow in yet another position to fill a void left by a United States withdrawal.

Russian President Vladimir Putins top climate advisor, Ruslan Edelgeriev, plans to give the leader a report by the end of the month outlining the pros and cons of ratification, according to the Kremlin website. Putin could then submit ratification legislation to the Russian parliament to be passed in time for the next United Nations climate change convention, scheduled for the end of the year.

Russia is one of 197 countries that have signed the 2016 Paris agreement, which aims to limit global warming to no more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels. A rise of about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit has already occurred. But Russia is among 13 nations that never formally ratified the document, meaning it is not committed to meeting the frameworks protocols for reducing greenhouse gases causing a global temperature rise.

Last year, an alarming report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a collection of the worlds leading climate scientists, warned that the planet will face severe impacts even at a 1.5-degree Celsius rise. The panel urged signing members of the Paris accord to adjust their national carbon reduction plans accordingly. But Russia, along with the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, blocked endorsing the report. They wanted the conference document only to note the study.

Advertisement

Despite its hesitance on climate issues, Russia has hinted before at ratifying the Paris agreement. Moscow now may see fully joining the pact as in its own best interest, experts believe.

Business group pushes for ratification

In January, Russias largest business group threw its weight behind ratification, providing new impetus to its passage.

The powerful Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs said its members supported ratification, citing concerns over economic restrictions and competitiveness, according to the daily Russian newspaper Kommersant, which obtained a copy of the letter sent to several ministries.

Ratifying the accord is good for business, which is probably why the union has come out in support of ratification now, said Oldag Caspar of Germanwatch, an environmental policy think tank in Berlin.

Russian businesses and major state enterprises fear falling behind in the global push to develop green energy technology, Caspar said. Ratifying the Paris accord creates a framework for the more progressive parts of the Russian government to support initiatives for a more innovative Russian economy.

Russian businesses also recognize that future trade deals with the European Union could be in jeopardy without ratification. The European Commission has said it prefers to deal with countries backing the Paris accord. A 2017 deal between Japan and the EU specifically referred to implementation of the climate accord.

Filling a void left by the United States

Russia continues to challenge U.S. dominance on the world stage.

President Trump announced in June 2017 that he planned to withdraw the United States from the Paris accord.

Advertisement

President Obama had championed the landmark pact at the U.N. climate change conference in 2015, where the U.S. and China, the worlds two largest carbon emitters, emerged as the leaders in pushing for global participation.

Trump said the accords commitments to eliminating carbon emissions undermined the U.S. economy and put its businesses at a disadvantage.

The United States cant officially leave the pact until November 2020, but experts say the nations leadership role on climate change issues has diminished since the announcement, leaving a void during subsequent environmental conferences.

If Russia does in fact fully join the Paris agreement, it casts an even harsher light on Trumps decision to withdraw from the agreement, said David Waskow, the director of the International Climate Initiative with the World Resources Institute. It will leave the U.S. very much on the outs and very isolated.

Advertisement

Moscow has sought to insert itself in other areas where U.S. leadership has retreated, including in Syria, where Russia has become the major power broker in that countrys ongoing civil war. Trump has pledged to bring American troops home from Syria, where they are supporting the fight against Islamic State and backing certain rebel groups battling Syrian President Bashar Assads forces.

In another geopolitical power play, Moscow hosted a second round of talks on Afghanistans political future between the Taliban and leaders of various Afghan political factions. This followed Trumps announcement that he planned to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan after a 17-year war.

Foraging Russian polar bears go viral

Russias steps toward ratification come as images of dozens of polar bears descending on one of its remote Arctic islands in search of food have gone viral.

Advertisement

Bears have been shown wandering in garbage dumps and apartment buildings, at one point walking by a childs stroller in a residential hallway. Authorities in the Novaya Zemlya region declared a state of emergency over the bears.

Scientists said a combination of thinning Arctic ice linked to climate change and the allure of open garbage dumps drew the group of about 50 polar bears to the small Russian archipelago.

Young workers see future in green energy

A generational change at many of the big, Russian state enterprises has created momentum for shifting to renewable energy technology, said Angelina Davydova, director of the Office of Environmental Information, a nongovernmental environmental policy group in Russia.

Many younger people working at the big state enterprises have been trained abroad and have seen what is possible, Davydova said.

Advertisement

Russia has looked to China as a role model for developing its economy, and that nation has been developing renewable energy technology, Davydova said. The Russian government doesnt want to miss out on any market opportunities, she said.

Russia sees itself as an energy superpower, but more people are seeing that energy is not just oil, gas and coal, she said. More and more people in the government and in state industries now have the understanding that there is a future in renewables.

The Climate Partnership of Russia, a coalition of Russian companies lobbying for ratification, welcomed the support from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, which is seen as the countrys most powerful business group.

Ratification is a strong boost for green initiatives in Russia, and a major groundwork for economic development, the Climate Partnership of Russia said in a statement. This step lets our country efficiently join the world efforts on struggling against malign environmental changes.

Advertisement

If and when Russia ratifies the Paris agreement, it will still have a major battle ahead to adopt a national carbon regulation policy. Under the accord, each member creates its own goals for curbing carbon emissions.

The question is will Russia go further and ensure that its emissions dont continue to rise but instead peak and begin to decline, Waskow said. What Russia does will have real substantial consequence on the world.

sabra.ayres@latimes.com

Twitter: @sabraayres

Advertisement

Ayres is a special correspondent.
Tens of millions of Nigerians ready to elect their next president woke up to some bewildering news on Saturday morning: Elections were off.

Around 3 a.m., while most of the nation slept, the countrys electoral commission announced that the vote was being postponed for a week, citing vague logistical problems.

Voters with smartphones found out on WhatsApp and Twitter. Others, after making long, expensive trips to cast their ballots in Africas largest exercise in democracy, showed up in the morning to find empty polling stations.

On Saturday in the capital, Abuja, a sense of deflation imbued the dusty air. Streets were largely empty, and vendors at the normally frenetic Wuse market sat, waiting for customers. In the Hilton hotel downtown, international election observers decamped from convoys of black SUVs and sat beside the pool, awaiting further instruction.

Advertisement

The worst thing is theyve been saying were well prepared, said Yunana Adam, playing volleyball with his friends in Usafa village, on Abujas outskirts, to work off some steam.

Only to cancel at the eleventh hour! his friend Hussein Iliya, wearing a purple Lakers jersey, chipped in. Its just not done. Its not done.

Safu Abdulsalam, who sells fish in Usafa, on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja, says shes disappointed that the Feb. 16 vote was delayed a week. (Krista Mahr / Los Angeles Times)

The election, now scheduled for Feb. 23, pits incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, who has pinned his reelection campaign to maintaining a sense of continuity, against the former vice president and businessman Atiku Abubakar, who has vowed to revive the sluggish economy and create millions of much-needed jobs.

Atiku accused Buhari of orchestrating the postponement to make it harder for Nigerians to get out and vote.

The Buhari administration hopes to disenfranchise the Nigerian electorate in order to ensure that turnout is low on the rescheduled date, Atiku said on Twitter. You can postpone an election, but you cannot postpone destiny.

Adam and Iliya, who both support Atiku and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), echoed that sentiment on the sidelines of their game. They didnt postpone yesterday. They postponed on the day, Iliya said. Something is fishy.

Buhari condemned the Independent National Electoral Commissions late decision, and denied meddling in its affairs. He asked Nigerians to remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development.

Advertisement

But supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) werent happy either.

So much money wasted, said Wale Lawal, a tailor in Usafa, who still plans to vote for Buhari next week. How many people are dying of hunger in this country? They do what they like.

The election stakes are high, with many Nigerians frustrated over the economys slow recovery from recession, rampant unemployment and years of conflict in the northeast, where the fight against Boko Haram rages on. Nigeria recently surpassed India as the country with the most people living in extreme poverty.

All of this has made for an unusually bitter campaign season, in which fake news and disinformation targeting young voters has deepened divides in a country already split along ethnic and religious lines, observers say.

Advertisement

Its not the first time that Nigeria has delayed national elections. In 2011, elections were delayed after voting had already started in some locations, and in 2015, they were delayed for several weeks due to security lapses.

On Saturday afternoon, the INEC said bad weather had prevented flights from getting election materials to some parts of the country, and that suspicious fires in several local INEC offices destroyed election materials.

The one-week adjustment was a painful one for INEC, but necessary in the overall interest of our democracy, INEC Chairman Mahmood Yakubu told a large meeting of political party members, candidates and observers in Abuja. He denied the delay was due to political influence.

His audience did not hold back in expressing their frustration.

Advertisement

Why wait until 2:30 a.m. when most decent Nigerians have gone to bed? demanded APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomole. Its a huge shock . Why didnt you inform us 48 hours before?

To groups following the movement of election materials, the delays didnt come as a total surprise as it became clear that some hadnt made it out to local polling stations the day before the vote.

If materials dont get to a state capital by the day before elections, you might be in trouble, says Agianpe Ashang, a senior program officer with the Policy and Legal Advocacy Center, part of a civil society body monitoring elections.

She dismissed the idea there was anything nefarious about the delay, chalking it up to a series of miscalculations by the INEC. Things werent being communicated.

Advertisement

At Tutunwada Secondary School, one of the polling centers in the capital, the building where voters should have been lined up all day to cast their ballots was locked and dark inside, and the school grounds nearly empty.

Princewill Okwara, a university lecturer, sat outside reading a book, hoping the class he normally takes here on weekends would be back in session since the election was called off.

I feel so bad. We all prepared to perform our civic responsibility, he said. Earlier in the morning, hed been the one to deliver the news to a hopeful voter that it wasnt happening. It came too late, he lamented. It came too late.

Mahr is a Times special correspondent.
Heres our weekly contribution from Rob Henie of the WCHR (West Coast Handicapping Report) and the ECHR (East Coast Handicapping Report). The thinking is if you can know and understand the strategies, it will make you a better handicapper.

A maiden special weight at a mile on the turf. One of the attributes of both our WCHR and ECHR, is our winning first timers, as exemplified by the $22 debut winner Friday, as well as 23 of the last 24 debut winners between Del Mar and Santa Anita entering this meet. One of the main reasons for this, is not only understanding the patterns over the years, winning tendencies of trainers, but often just as important, is, understanding who exits what races. What do we mean? It means not all $30,000 maiden claimers are the same, and not all maiden special weights are the same, which is why we came up last year with our WCHR Maiden Power Rankings, which clearly reveal which races consist of more talent than the others. When we look at this field on Saturday, its bad, not indicative of a true MSW condition, much closer to a $20,000 bunch than the other end of the spectrum. Not only is this useful, but even more important next time out when these same runners return, we can evaluate the strength of race they exit. As for this Saturday race, top selection is UNICORN (#4) , exiting not only a decent race last time out, but freshened off the downhill turf sprint, now given a flat mile, a signature move for many at this meet, but Richard Baltas in particular has become really good at this. The majority of this field just isnt much, and that should allow for a pretty effective effort, with a final  in the 24 second range giving her dead aim nearing the wire. MAXIM RATE (#7) debuts for Simon Callaghan , a guy who rarely leaves his horses short at first asking, and especially true when going long. Hes also been giving Andrea Atzeni plenty of good opportunities, and heres another.

8 Posit - Mario is so good with settling his mounts, especially useful with young runners, and we certainly liked the big improvement moving to the sod.

Prat rode the perfect race, biding his time early and then keeping Donut Girl on the rail, where he was able to gain the win by  length.

Shes good right now, Palma told Mike Willman of Santa Anita. She needed some time off, but shes good now. Well see how she is in the morning, but I want to keep her with Cal-breds.

There is a forecast of little to no rain on Saturday so maybe well be seeing some turf racing. Its a 10-race card starting at noon, with half of the races to be run on the grass. The average field size is 8.6, thanks to some big turf fields.

The big stakes race is the Grade 2 $200,000 Santa Monica Stakes for older fillies and mares going seven furlongs. Its drawn a pretty good field. It should go off about 4:10 p.m.

Marleys Freedom, and Eclipse Award finalist, is the 2-1 favorite for trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Drayden Van Dyke . Marley is seven-of-14 lifetime and has won six of her last seven races. She even won a Grade 1 at Saratoga.

The second favorite, at 3-1 is Selcourt, for John Sadler and Joe Talamo . She has won four-of-eight lifetime including Grade 2 and 3s. However, she was a disappointing 12 th in the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

Also in the race is Dream Tree, who won her first five races before a struggling eighth in the La Brea Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita.

There is also a minor stakes, the $70,000 Wishing Well Stakes for older fillies and mares going 6  furlongs down the 6  furlong hillside turf course. Belvoir Bay is the 5-2 favorite for Peter Miller and Joel Rosario . She won the Las Cienegas Stakes last out and has won Grade 2 and 3 races.

Second-time starter from the Phil D'Amato barn debuted vs. straight maidens and didn't run badly when finishing mid-pack after contesting the early pace in a race that has produced two next-out winners. He drops into a $50,000 claimer today, has tactical speed and should be very formidable in here assuming he can overcome the disadvantageous rail post coming down the hillside turf course.

He went very well late for second after a tough getaway in his most recent effort against a perfect tripped victor. In that effort, this gelding broke slow and outward to lose over a length and his early racing momentum. Energetic was still able to put forth a big run past the gap to finish with a quality second place finish. Its true that Energetic has a tendency to get into trouble early on, but hes also very talented and will pay nicely if he can put it all together against this evenly matched group at 300 yards.

(No worries, Ed Burgart hasnt gone away, hes just on vacation. Chris Wade has been the racing analyst and host of the Los Alamitos night simulcast broadcast for nearly two decades. While Ed is on vacation, Chris also fills in as the nighttime morning-line maker.)

Always looking to add more subscribers to this newsletter. Cant beat the price. If you like it, tell someone. If you dont like it, then youre probably not reading this. Either way, send to a friend and just have them click here and sign up . Remember, its free, and all we need is your email, nothing more.

Any thoughts, you can reach me at johnacherwa@gmail.com . You can also feed my ego by following me on Twitter @jcherwa

Santa Anita Charts Results for Friday, February 15. Copyright 2019 by Equibase Company. Reproduction prohibited. Santa Anita, Santa Anita Park, Arcadia, California. 31st day of a 61-day meet. Cloudy & Good

FIRST RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $55,000. Maiden Special Weight. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Time 23.92 48.22 1:12.46 1:24.67 1:37.05

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Kaydetre 124 3 2 11 11 11 11 1 Blanc 24.20 4 Gold Arrow 124 4 4 41 41 31 3 21 Rosario 0.70 2 Waze Ready 124 2 3 5 5 44 410 3 Quinonez 4.10 5 Scattering Mink 124 5 1 2hd 2hd 21 21 415 Prat 1.90 1 Mongolian Empire 124 1 5 31 31 5 5 5 Boulanger 26.30

3 KAYDETRE 50.40 9.80 5.60 4 GOLD ARROW 2.60 2.10 2 WAZE READY 2.60

$1 EXACTA (3-4) $74.70 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-4-2) $72.65

WinnerKaydetre Grr.m.5 by Mizzen Mast out of Delavallade, by Northern Spur (IRE). Bred by David Randall & Vida Randall (KY). Trainer: David A. Randall. Owner: Ranch Runners Ltd., Inc.. Mutuel Pool $144,821 Exacta Pool $81,505 Trifecta Pool $59,194. Scratchednone.

KAYDETRE had good early speed and angled in, set the pace a bit off the rail then inside leaving the second turn, responded when challenged into the stretch, inched away again along the fence in midstretch and held on gamely under left handed urging. GOLD ARROW stalked a bit off the rail then outside a rival, went three deep into and out of the second turn and continued willingly late. WAZE READY chased inside, went around a rival on the second turn then angled back to the rail into the stretch and gained the show. SCATTERING MINK three deep into the first turn, stalked outside a rival then just off the rail on the second turn, bid alongside the winner into the stretch, fell back some between foes a sixteenth out and was edged for third. MONGOLIAN EMPIRE bobbled in a slow start, was sent inside then saved ground stalking the pace, pulled a bit along the rail on the backstretch, dropped back on the second turn and gave way. WAZE READY wore calks.

SECOND RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $20,000. Maiden Claiming. 3 year olds. Claiming Price $20,000. Time 22.38 45.64 1:09.97 1:16.26

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 1 Contagion 124 1 4 1hd 1hd 11 12 Gutierrez 1.20 4 Hard to Come Home 117 3 3 32 2 24 27 Diaz, Jr. 1.30 3 R B Eye 119 2 2 2hd 31 4hd 31 Espinoza 5.20 6 Calder Vale 124 5 1 4 5 3hd 4 Quinonez 12.90 5 Sky Glory 124 4 5 5 4 5 5 T Baze 9.50

1 CONTAGION 4.40 2.60 2.10 4 HARD TO COME HOME 2.60 2.10 3 R B EYE 2.20

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-1) $159.60 $1 EXACTA (1-4) $4.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (1-4-3-6) $2.20 50-CENT TRIFECTA (1-4-3) $5.55

WinnerContagion Dbb.c.3 by Fed Biz out of Stadia, by Teuflesberg. Bred by Douglas Arnold (KY). Trainer: Steve Knapp. Owner: Zolotas, Steven and Zolotas, Sabina Romo. Mutuel Pool $117,756 Daily Double Pool $30,458 Exacta Pool $57,275 Superfecta Pool $18,865 Trifecta Pool $35,989. ClaimedContagion by ERJ Racing LLC, Robershaw, Richie, Rothblum, Steve and Westside Racing Stable. Trainer: Doug O'Neill. ScratchedFriday's At Shady.

CONTAGION broke in a bit and bobbled slightly in the second stride, went up inside to duel for the lead, came out a bit leaving the turn, inched away off the rail in the stretch and held gamely under urging then a hold late. HARD TO COME HOME dueled three deep then outside the winner leaving the turn and into the stretch, could not match that one in the final furlong but clearly bested the others. R B EYE had good early speed and dueled between horses, was momentarily in a bit tight a quarter mile out, continued between foes through much of the stretch and outfinished rivals for the show. CALDER VALE four wide early, chased off the rail then outside a rival, came three wide into the stretch and weakened. SKY GLORY settled off the rail then angled in on the backstretch, saved ground on the turn and into the stretch, continued inside and also weakened.

THIRD RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $33,000. Starter Allowance. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Price $50,000. Time 23.74 47.46 1:11.53 1:23.71 1:36.26

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 3 Foxtail 122 3 2 1 1 1hd 11 16 Rosario 2.60 4 Dearborn 122 4 1 2hd 2 22 24 2nk Prat 6.30 7 Trust Fund Kitty 122 6 5 51 51 5hd 41 31 Blanc 6.50 5 Princess Leia 124 5 6 43 31 31 31 45 Gryder 9.50 1 Atina 122 1 4 6 6 6 5hd 53 Talamo 8.60 2 Madaket Sunset 122 2 3 31 43 41 6 6 Pereira 1.20

3 FOXTAIL 7.20 3.80 3.00 4 DEARBORN 6.40 3.60 7 TRUST FUND KITTY 3.40

$2 ROULETTE (BLACK) $5.60 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (1-3) $22.60 $1 EXACTA (3-4) $21.00 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (3-4-7-5) $28.27 50-CENT TRIFECTA (3-4-7) $44.75

WinnerFoxtail B.m.5 by Mizzen Mast out of Surf Babe, by E Dubai. Bred by Joseph J. Perrotta (KY). Trainer: John W. Sadler. Owner: Hronis Racing LLC. Mutuel Pool $158,298 Roulette Pool $244 Daily Double Pool $14,576 Exacta Pool $87,236 Superfecta Pool $31,741 Trifecta Pool $50,259. ScratchedOperandi. 50-Cent Pick Three (3-1-3) paid $156.10. Pick Three Pool $36,060.

FOXTAIL had speed between horses, angled in on the first turn and set a pressured pace inside, inched away in the stretch and drew off under a tap with the whip turned down, an energetic hand ride and steady handling late. DEARBORN three deep early, dueled outside the winner then between horses on the backstretch and into second turn, fought back alongside the winner leaving that turn, could not match that one in the drive and just held second. TRUST FUND KITTY chased outside then off the rail, continued alongside a rival on the second turn and three wide into the stretch and was edged for the place. PRINCESS LEIA three deep into the first turn, stalked outside a rival then bid three wide leaving the backstretch and into the second turn, fell back and angled in some leaving that turn and was outfinished for a minor share. ATINA (ARG) saved ground chasing the pace, came a bit off the rail into and on the second turn, split horses into the stretch and weakened in the final furlong. MADAKET SUNSET had speed inside to press the pace, was in a bit tight early on the first turn, saved ground stalking the pace, dropped back on the second turn, continued inside and also weakened. FOXTAIL wore calks.

FOURTH RACE. 5 Furlongs. Purse: $18,000. Maiden Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Price $16,000. Time 21.83 45.71 58.36 1:04.88

Pgm Horse Wt PP St  3/8 Str Fin Jockey $1 7 Gio Pronto 124 7 6 66 4hd 42 1 Roman 10.00 1 Sweetener 124 1 5 3hd 32 1hd 2ns T Baze 1.50 4 Crackling Bread 124 4 1 21 21 2 33 Fuentes 1.60 6 Secret Offer 124 6 3 5hd 67 51 4ns Maldonado 11.00 3 Purdue 119 3 2 1hd 1hd 32 57 Figueroa 12.50 5 Factorize 117 5 4 41 51 65 62 Diaz, Jr. 5.30 2 Tempestuous Gal 119 2 7 7 7 7 7 Espinoza 58.20

7 GIO PRONTO 22.00 9.20 3.40 1 SWEETENER 3.40 2.20 4 CRACKLING BREAD 2.10

$2 ROULETTE (BLACK) $2.80 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (3-7) $68.80 $1 EXACTA (7-1) $35.90 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (7-1-4-6) $27.25 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (7-1-4-6-3) $620.80 50-CENT TRIFECTA (7-1-4) $33.70

WinnerGio Pronto B.f.4 by Gio Ponti out of Miss Forest City, by Coronado's Quest. Bred by Laberinto Farm & Racing Stables Corp (KY). Trainer: Richard Baltas. Owner: BHMFR, LLC. Mutuel Pool $179,558 Roulette Pool $241 Daily Double Pool $16,652 Exacta Pool $111,232 Superfecta Pool $44,656 Super High Five Pool $33,962 Trifecta Pool $68,663. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (1-3-7) paid $48.70. Pick Three Pool $19,449.

GIO PRONTO broke out some and a bit slowly, chased off the rail, angled in for the turn, came out into the stretch and again in upper stretch and rallied under urging to get up three deep late. SWEETENER a step slow to begin, chased inside, came out leaving the turn and into the stretch, bid three deep to gain the lead, battled outside a foe in the final furlong and was caught between horses late. CRACKLING BREAD had speed between foes then stalked off the rail, bid outside the pacesetter on the backstretch to duel for the lead, fought back between horses in midstretch then off the rail in the final furlong and continued gamely to the end. SECRET OFFER chased off the rail, angled in on the turn, found the inside into the stretch, came out a bit in the drive and lacked the needed rally. PURDUE had good early speed and angled in, dueled inside, fought back on the turn and to midstretch and weakened in the final furlong. FACTORIZE sent between horses early, stalked between rivals then off the rail, continued outside a foe on the turn and three deep into the stretch, drifted in some in the drive and weakened. TEMPESTUOUS GAL broke a bit slowly, dropped back inside, saved ground off the pace to the stretch and failed to menace. SWEETENER wore calks.

FIFTH RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $32,000. Maiden Claiming. Fillies. 3 year olds. Claiming Prices $50,000-$45,000. Time 23.23 46.92 1:12.66 1:25.19 1:37.86

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 4 Enlisting 124 3 5 52 56 2 16 114 Prat 0.80 3 Lil Respect 124 2 3 21 2 31 31 2 Pereira 2.60 1 Lily Con 124 1 1 1 1 11 21 31 Franco 8.30 6 Kirsch Truffle 124 4 2 3hd 3hd 42 45 48 Fuentes 9.10 7 American Falls 124 5 4 41 41 56 56 514 Quinonez 5.30 8 Reds Sacred Appeal 124 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 Flores 50.80

4 ENLISTING 3.60 2.20 2.10 3 LIL RESPECT 2.60 2.20 1 LILY CON 3.60

$2 ROULETTE (RED) $4.40 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (7-4) $35.60 $1 EXACTA (4-3) $3.20 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (4-3-1-6) $4.43 50-CENT TRIFECTA (4-3-1) $9.40

WinnerEnlisting Ch.f.3 by Candy Ride (ARG) out of Sign Up, by Mineshaft. Bred by Hurstland Farm & Alfred H. Nuckols III (KY). Trainer: Dan Blacker. Owner: D K Racing, LLC, Radley Equine, Inc., Taste of Victory Stables and Gold, Rick. Mutuel Pool $183,855 Roulette Pool $209 Daily Double Pool $20,643 Exacta Pool $109,473 Superfecta Pool $57,288 Trifecta Pool $74,610. ClaimedEnlisting by Hess, Maria E., Lambert, Jeffrey and Paradise Farms Corp. Trainer: Robert Hess, Jr. ClaimedLil Respect by Hronis Racing LLC. Trainer: John Sadler. ScratchedHilltop Harmony, Sapori Girl, Si'mon Li'mon. 50-Cent Pick Three (3-7-4) paid $36.90. Pick Three Pool $30,126. 50-Cent Pick Four (1/2-3-7-2/4/5/9) 1248 tickets with 4 correct paid $80.65. Pick Four Pool $131,985. 50-Cent Pick Five (3-1/2-3-7-2/4/5/9) 52 tickets with 5 correct paid $4,948.60. Pick Five Pool $299,237.

ENLISTING chased a bit off the rail then inside on the second turn, came out into the stretch to gain the advantage outside a rival under a tap of the whip turned down, was shaken up with the reins to widen in the drive and drew off under a hold the final sixteenth. LIL RESPECT pressed the pace outside a rival then between horses, stalked leaving the second turn and outfinished the pacesetter late for the place. LILY CON had good early speed and set a pressured pace inside, inched away on the second turn, was not a match for the winner in the drive and was outfinished for second. KIRSCH TRUFFLE stalked three deep then bid three wide between foes on the backstretch and into the second turn, tracked again on that turn, came three wide into the stretch and weakened. AMERICAN FALLS four wide into the first turn, bid four wide on the backstretch, stalked outside leaving the second turn, came four wide into the stretch and had little left for the drive. REDS SACRED APPEAL angled in and saved ground off the pace, came a bit off the rail in the stretch and gave way.

SIXTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $33,000. Claiming. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Prices $25,000-$22,500. Time 22.07 44.77 1:09.70 1:16.11

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 2 Conquest Cobra 122 2 3 4hd 4 2hd 1nk Prat 4.60 1 Best Two Minutes 122 1 4 5 5 31 2 Desormeaux 2.60 7 Graycaster 122 5 2 21 21 1 36 Rosario 2.20 3 R Cha Cha 119 3 1 1hd 1hd 43 43 Figueroa 1.90 4 Monydontspenitself 122 4 5 31 3hd 5 5 Talamo 10.80

2 CONQUEST COBRA 11.20 4.40 2.80 1 BEST TWO MINUTES 3.40 2.60 7 GRAYCASTER 2.60

$2 DAILY DOUBLE (4-2) $24.20 $1 EXACTA (2-1) $14.10 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (2-1-7-3) $8.48 50-CENT TRIFECTA (2-1-7) $25.95

WinnerConquest Cobra B.g.7 by Pioneerof the Nile out of Stateliness, by Silver Deputy. Bred by McKathan Bros. (FL). Trainer: Vladimir Cerin. Owner: Horseplayer Racing Club. Mutuel Pool $221,859 Daily Double Pool $18,437 Exacta Pool $94,261 Superfecta Pool $31,662 Trifecta Pool $59,901. ClaimedConquest Cobra by Hronis Racing LLC. Trainer: John Sadler. ClaimedGraycaster by DA Meah Racing and Boney, Derek. Trainer: Anna Meah. ClaimedR Cha Cha by Zolotas, Steven and Zolotas, Sabina Romo. Trainer: Jorge Periban. ScratchedBeantown Boys, Conqueror. 50-Cent Pick Three (7-4-2) paid $83.15. Pick Three Pool $25,225.

CONQUEST COBRA stalked outside a rival then between foes on the turn, came three deep into the stretch, rallied under urging to get up three deep nearing the wire. BEST TWO MINUTES saved ground stalking the pace, bid along the rail in the stretch, put a head in front in deep stretch and continued gamely to just miss. GRAYCASTER angled in and dueled outside a rival, was three deep into the stretch while taking a short lead, fought back between horses in the final furlong and was outkicked late. R CHA CHA had good early speed and dueled a bit off the rail to the stretch, was between rivals in upper stretch and weakened in the final furlong. MONYDONTSPENITSELF stalked off the rail then three deep on the turn, came four wide into the stretch and also weakened.

SEVENTH RACE. 6 Furlongs. Purse: $57,000. Allowance Optional Claiming. Fillies and Mares. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Price $20,000. Time 21.93 44.81 1:10.10 1:16.60

Pgm Horse Wt PP St   Str Fin Jockey $1 6 Donut Girl 122 3 6 3hd 4hd 21 1 Prat 2.40 4 Judicial 124 2 1 1hd 1hd 1 21 Bejarano 3.10 8 Shylock Eddie 124 5 3 4hd 3hd 3 3 Gryder 4.30 7 An Eddie Surprise 124 4 5 56 54 53 42 Gutierrez 7.90 2 Bragging Rights 122 1 4 6 6 6 53 Franco 23.40 9 Chasin Lucas 119 6 2 22 21 4hd 6 Espinoza 2.10

6 DONUT GIRL 6.80 4.40 3.20 4 JUDICIAL 4.00 3.00 8 SHYLOCK EDDIE 3.20

$2 ROULETTE (BLACK) $2.40 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (2-6) $57.40 $1 EXACTA (6-4) $11.60 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (6-4-8-7) $10.06 50-CENT TRIFECTA (6-4-8) $17.50

WinnerDonut Girl B.f.4 by Smiling Tiger out of Saturday's Girl, by Any Given Saturday. Bred by Premier Thoroughbreds LLC, Alan Klein &Rusty Brown (CA). Trainer: Hector O. Palma. Owner: Granja Mexico and Palma, Hector. Mutuel Pool $244,796 Roulette Pool $482 Daily Double Pool $21,567 Exacta Pool $139,711 Superfecta Pool $60,912 Trifecta Pool $89,980. ScratchedBezzy, Great Ma Neri, Scathing. 50-Cent Pick Three (4-2-6) paid $22.00. Pick Three Pool $21,087.

DONUT GIRL angled in and stalked inside, bid along the rail in the stretch, gained a slim advantage nearing the sixteenth pole and gamely prevailed under urging. JUDICIAL dueled a bit off the rail then inside, came out a bit into the stretch, battled outside the winner through the final furlong and continued gamely but could not quite match that one late. SHYLOCK EDDIE stalked three deep to the stretch, continued three wide in midstretch and edged a rival for the show. AN EDDIE SURPRISE stalked the pace between horses, waited off heels when lacking room from upper stretch to midstretch, angled in then out for room just past the eighth pole and was edged for third. BRAGGING RIGHTS settled inside then off the rail, angled in on the turn, swung out into the stretch and lacked the needed rally. CHASIN LUCAS angled in and dueled outside the runner-up, was fanned out a bit into the stretch and weakened in the final furlong.

EIGHTH RACE. 1 Mile. Purse: $18,000. Claiming. 4 year olds and up. Claiming Price $8,000. Time 22.97 46.25 1:10.44 1:23.28 1:36.56

Pgm Horse Wt PP St    Str Fin Jockey $1 2 Zestful 117 2 1 11 11 14 16 17 Figueroa 2.20 5 Lindante 117 5 3 3hd 2hd 21 21 21 Espinoza 3.30 3 Harrovian 122 3 7 42 61 51 31 31 Flores 28.70 6 I'll Wrap It Up 115 6 5 51 5hd 4hd 4 44 Leon 5.60 1 Go Ghetto 124 1 2 21 3 31 54 54 Roman 7.50 4 Crystal Dome 122 4 6 6hd 7 7 6 62 Maldonado 5.90 7 Banze No Oeste 124 7 4 7 41 61 7 7 Fuentes 3.90

2 ZESTFUL 6.40 3.60 2.80 5 LINDANTE 4.20 2.80 3 HARROVIAN 8.20

$2 ROULETTE (BLACK) $4.60 $2 DAILY DOUBLE (6-2) $35.60 $1 EXACTA (2-5) $11.60 10-CENT SUPERFECTA (2-5-3-6) $39.00 $1 SUPER HIGH FIVE (2-5-3-6-1) $850.30 50-CENT TRIFECTA (2-5-3) $53.75

WinnerZestful Ch.g.4 by Ghostzapper out of Sweet Relish, by Smoke Glacken. Bred by Pin Oak Stud, LLC (KY). Trainer: Doug F. O'Neill. Owner: C T R Stables LLC (Calvert), MyRacehorse.com, Wonderland Racing Stables, Friedman, Phil and Galliand. Mutuel Pool $216,136 Roulette Pool $288 Daily Double Pool $84,227 Exacta Pool $127,028 Superfecta Pool $52,467 Super High Five Pool $11,144 Trifecta Pool $83,152. ClaimedZestful by Top Hat Thoroughbreds. Trainer: Jeffrey Metz. ClaimedGo Ghetto by Sides, Clay R. and Rassel, Albert. Trainer: Peter Miller. ClaimedBanze No Oeste (BRZ) by Barnes, Michelle and Saratoga West. Trainer: Jeffrey Metz. Scratchednone. 50-Cent Pick Three (2-6-2) paid $38.30. Pick Three Pool $78,624. 50-Cent Pick Four (2/4/5/9-2-6-2) 2180 tickets with 4 correct paid $88.40. Pick Four Pool $252,638. 50-Cent Pick Five (7-2/4/5/9-2-6-2) 133 tickets with 5 correct paid $967.10. Pick Five Pool $168,156. 20-Cent Pick Six Jackpot (3-7-2/4/5/9-2-6-2) 41 tickets with 6 correct paid $970.98. Pick Six Jackpot Pool $74,520. Pick Six Jackpot Carryover $148,820.

ZESTFUL sent between horses early, dueled outside a rival then inched away leaving the first turn, set the pace a bit off the rail then inside on the second turn, kicked away on that turn and drew off in the stretch under a crack of the whip and a strong hand ride. LINDANTE three deep into the first turn, stalked outside a rival then off the rail leaving the second turn, came out into the stretch and held the place. HARROVIAN chased inside then a bit off the rail on the backstretch, angled in for the second turn, cut the corner into the stretch and bested the others. I'LL WRAP IT UP three wide into the first turn, chased off the rail then between foes on the backstretch, continued outside on the second turn and four wide into the stretch and lacked a rally. GO GHETTO had speed inside to duel for the lead then stalked along the fence, came out leaving the turn and into the stretch and weakened. CRYSTAL DOME (GB) pulled between horses then angled in and chased inside, came out into the stretch and also weakened. BANZE NO OESTE (BRZ) four wide into the first turn, stalked three deep, came four wide into the stretch and had little left for the drive.
Thank you @MovementSchools & @samaritans_feet for allowing us to spend time with your All-Stars  & for welcoming us into your home.  #WeAreFamily pic.twitter.com/itn4ml9Et2  LeBron James Family Foundation (@LJFamFoundation) February 15, 2019

The LeBron James Family Foundation continued an annual tradition of bringing 23 students who are part of their 330 Ambassador program to the All-Star city for community service and career development activities, as well as a visit with James.

On Friday morning, the students worked with the charity Samaritans Feet, which washes feet and provides shoes to people who need them, donating 400 pairs of shoes to local students.

It made me think about my little sisters, said Lulu Montes, a high school senior in Akron who has been a 330 Ambassador for three years. Theres this one girl, her name was Lyric. She said she wanted to be Wonder Woman. I think its great that all these kids have big dreams.

Advertisement

As a student who has also been in their shoes I think its great that we can say words of encouragement to them. It was a very, very powerful moment.

Its exactly what James hopes the program provides for the kids who participate in all of his foundations programs.

I dont know who will be able to be an NBA player or be a professional athlete but every kid has a dream and every kid has that, James said. And what that is, they have to tap into that.  Me having my school and me having the 240 kids to be able to see them every single day and figure out a way how we can tap into what that is to make them successful in life.

And Im not even talking from a money standpoint, [I mean] where they feel like theyve done something that means something in their lives and theyre able to give back to thats what its all about.

The group spent the afternoon with the Carolina Panthers to learn about various career opportunities.

The 330 Ambassadors (330 is Akrons area code) are mentors to students in James I Promise program, which includes the I Promise School that opened in July.

This year marks the third season Montes has participated in the groups All-Star weekend trip. She met her best friend through the program, Aaron Brown, a student from a different Akron High School, who has also been to three All-Star weekends as a 330 Ambassador.

The foundation itself really transformed me because not only did it make me feel more professionally prepared and personally a higher self-esteem, coming into the foundation I felt like I had many talents but didnt have an organized way of using them properly, said Brown, a high school senior who plans to attend Ohio State next year.

Advertisement

Brown likes to treat the weekend as a vacation.

I feel like it had the best of both words, Brown said. Professional development and also community service.  When we change this community and bring it back to Akron, it also changes me and makes me want to do more.

tania.ganguli@latimes.com

Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli
Jordan Spieth clocked out at the office at about 8:30 Friday morning. A short day, long on productivity.

Spieth, who had completed 12 holes Thursday in his rain-delayed first round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club, returned early Friday to complete his round. He played almost flawlessly, going two under in six holes to finish at seven-under par and alone atop the leaderboard at the time. He sat three shots behind Justin Thomas and Adam Scott after play ended Friday.

The 11-time winner on the PGA Tour didnt win any events last year, and in three this year he has missed a cut and finished tied for 35th and 45th. But hes seeing improvement.

From San Diego to Pebble was significant progress, from Pebble to here has been significant progress just in the way I feel hitting the ball, he said.

Advertisement

Im looking to try and make progress each day  because it didnt sustain through the weekend at Pebble.

Last week in Pebble Beach, Spieth shot 66-68 in the first two rounds, then 74-75 on the weekend. Two weeks earlier at Torrey Pines, he opened with a 65, followed by three 72s.

Spieth wants to avoid tailing off like that again.

I played beautifully today on those six holes, he said. I got off to good starts my last couple events, and I need to continue to work hard to improve each day here instead of kind of getting complacent and assuming that my games there.

1 / 33 J.B. Holmes hugs his son Tucker and wife Erica after winning on the 18th hole the Genesis Open golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 2 / 33 Justin Thomas hits above a bunker on the second hole during fourth round of the Genesis Open golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 3 / 33 J.B. Holmes, Justin Thomas, and Adam Scott, walk up a hill on the 18th hole during fourth round of the Genesis Open golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 4 / 33 J.B. Holmes tries to hit out of a bunker on the seventh hole during fourth round of the Genesis Open golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 5 / 33 Tiger Woods tees off at No. 10 during the fourth round of the Genesis Open. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 6 / 33 Phil Mickelson tees off at the 10th hole during fourth round of the Genesis Open on Sunday. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 7 / 33 J.B. Holmes tees off on the 18th hole during the final round of the Genesis Open on Sunday. (Ryan Kang / Associated Press) 8 / 33 Tiger Woods puts at No. 9 during the third round of the Genesis Open on Sunday. (Patrick T. Fallon / For The Times) 9 / 33 J.B. Holmes holds the winners trophy on the 18th green after the conclusion of the Genesis Open golf tournament at Riviera Country Club. (Ryan Kang / Associated Press) 10 / 33 Tiger Woods watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during his third round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 33 Phil Mickelson is greeted by fans as he walks to the practice tee before his third round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 33 Adam Scott watches his tee shot on the 2nd hole during his third round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. He birdied the hole. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 33 Jim Furyk chips onto the the second green from a hillside above the green during the third round of the Genesis Open. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 33 Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the second hole during his third round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 33 Adam Scott putts for eagle on the first green during his third round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 33 Co-leader Justin Thomas hits his tee shot on the 2nd hole during his second round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 33 Co-leader Adam Scott waits to putt under an umbrella during a downpour on the 16th hole during his second round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 33 Co-leader Justin Thomas puts his jacket on his head during a downpour on the 2nd hole during his second round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 33 Fans take selfies as Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas walk by during the second day of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 33 Rory McIlroy hits out of the green side bunker on the 11th hole during his first round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 33 Matt Kuchar hits his tee shot on the 10th hole during his first round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 33 Co-leader Justin Thomas hits his approach shot onto the second green during the second day of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 33 Tiger Woods lines up his putt on the 14th green during the second day of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 33 PACIFIC PALISADES, CA - FEBRUARY 15, 2019: Tiger Woods hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during his first round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 33 Spectators stand in the rain as they wait for Tiger Woods to tee off on the 18th hole during the second day of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 33 Tiger Woods waits to hit out of the rough on the 17th hole during the second day of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 33 Co-leader Justin Thomas chips out of the rough on the 18th hole during the second day of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club on Friday. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 33 Co-leader Jordan Spieth hits out of the rough on the 13th hole during the first round of the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 33 Last years winner, Bubba Watson, hits his tee shot on the 15th hole during the first round of the Genesis Open. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 33 Adam Long hits out of the green side bunker on the 9th hole during the first round. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 33 Phil Mickelson hits out of the rough on the 11th hole during the first round. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 33 Fans react as co-leader Jordan Spieth just misses a birdie on the 18th hole during the first round. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 33 A caddy juggles oranges as he takes refuge in a snack hut with the sign guy during a downpour in the first round. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Spieth planned to take things easy before starting his second round Saturday morning.

Light work and then rest, he said, be prepared for 27 to 30 holes tomorrow and potentially another 27ish on Sunday. .... I think less is more. ... Its all about trying to save as much energy as possible.

A stream might run through it

Advertisement

One of the unique characteristics of Riviera Country Club is that, despite the barranca (or deep gully) that meanders throughout the course, there is no water on the Pacific Palisades layout. That wasnt always the case.

A creek used to flow at the base of that barranca, but serious flooding in the late 1930s and again in 1969 eventually led the club to install a large concrete pipe underground to carry water through to the exit point on the sixth hole.

If Riviera President Megan Watanabes wishes come true, that will change. Watanabe said Friday that the club is awaiting the various approvals from the City of Los Angeles to get the water back to the surface, rebuild the creek and make it a feature of the course that was part of George C.Thomas original design.

About three years ago, the city came to us, Watanabe said. They were interested in putting the water back on the course; they wanted to clean the water before it got to the ocean. We were delighted. Of course, there is a lot of politics involved, so were just waiting on them. But were ready.

Advertisement

Watanabe said the club would hire an individual to design the creek as quickly as possible once it got the go-ahead.

Sign up for our daily sports newsletter 
As regular readers know, I attend a lot of events, far and wide. One of my favorites each year is the USC Libraries Scripter Awards honoring authors of printed works and the screenwriters who adapt their stories for film and television.

Catherine Quinlan, USC Dean of Libraries, is always such a gracious host as she welcomes guests.

Guests at the black-tie event gather first in the librarys exquisite rotunda, an homage to Northern Italys Romanesque architectural style. Its clad in cream-colored limestone and enhanced with travertine marble. This beautiful space never fails to momentarily take my breath away.

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

Enjoying the Scripter Award dinner were, back row from left, Patsy Dewey, Sue Stauffer and Jill Wondries. Seated from left are Jim Stauffer and Evelyn Siracuse. (Courtesy Sarah M. Golonka)

After cocktails and passed hors doeuvres are served, guests are ushered into the Los Angeles Times Reference Room with its gold-and-blue coffered ceiling designed by John D. Smeraldi.

The rooms chandeliers are made of bronze and pewter and they illuminate the books that encircle the room. The soft lighting makes the books that have golden titles glow even more warmly.

After a gourmet dinner was served Quinlan opened the ceremony. Taking top awards were the authors and screenwriters of the film Moonlight and the television series The Night Manager and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.

In the film category, the winners were playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney, author of In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue and screenwriter-director Barry Jenkins, who adapted McCraneys work into the screenplay for distributor A24s Moonlight.

Phyllis Winnaman and Bill Halliday arrive at the reception before the Scripter Awards. (Photo by Jane Napier Neely)

Accepting the award via video from the U.K., Jenkins said hes often described the experience of first reading McCraneys original piece as it being Halfway between the stage and the screen. I love that this award is for the adaptation because I feel like blending Tarells voice with mine  has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

In the television category, the selection committee was deadlocked between The Night Manager, based on the 1993 novel by John le Carre and adapted by David Farr into a six-part miniseries for AMC, and Stephen Cornwell and FXs The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, The latter was adapted by USC School of Cinematic Arts alums Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski from the nonfiction book The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin.

Accepting on behalf of The Night Manager was Cornwell, executive producer and le Carre's son who spoke of his father and his story. Nothing would have existed without his mind and his imagination, Cornwell said. The Night Manager is a character and a story of strange brilliance, a morality tale wrapped in a thriller.

In accepting the award for The People v. O.J. Simpson, Karaszewski said, Libraries saved my life, they were literally a sanctuary for me.

Dorothy and Leo Baudry enjoy the Scripter Award festivities. (Courtesy Sarah M. Golonka)

Earlier in the evening, Quinlan honored USC Trustee and longtime USC Libraries supporter Kathleen McCarthy Kostlan as the 2017 Ex Libris Award winner.

Writer-director Carl Reiner received the 2017 Literary Achievement Award and accepted the honor via video. Reiner joked that the award is one of two similarly exciting honors, the other being his donation of a toupee to the Smithsonian.

I was happy to see some of my Foothills-area neighbors at the event  Patsy Dewey, Sue and Jim Stauffer, Phyllis Winnaman, Bill Halladay, Jill Wondries, Evelyn Siracuse, and Janet and Frank McNiff.

My fabulously interesting tablemates were Leo and Dorothy Braudy. Leo got my attention immediately because he is one of Americas leading cultural historians and film critics. He is a professor and the Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature at USC where he teaches Restoration literature and history. His wife Dorothy is an artist working mainly in oils and is also a photographer. Her work is so color vibrant. The next day I wandered on her website, dorothybraudy.com, to see her paintings. Leos website, leobraudy.com is also delightful  go take a look.

--

JANE NAPIER NEELY covers the La Canada Flintridge social scene. Email her at jnvalleysun@aol.com with news of your special event.
Imagine the positive impact a team of mental health warriors  regular people trained to help young people dealing with psychological crises  could have if deployed into the local community.

It was a vision offered by state Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Canada Flintridge) on Friday in the Glendale Civic Auditorium as more than 100 people attended a one-day, eight-hour youth mental-health, first-aid workshop designed to do just that.

The local workshop, and another held on Feb. 2 in Altadena, were co-hosted by Portantino, First District PTA and Turtlesea Group.

Between both workshops, a 300-member-strong army of teachers, administrators and parents is now armed with practical techniques  and a certificate  to identify, assess and help adolescents struggling with mental-health problems, ranging from substance abuse to suicidal thoughts, Portantino said.

Its similar to a regular citizen administering CPR, said Sandy Russell, president of First District PTA. The training program was developed in 2001 by Betty Kitchner and Anthony Jorm from Australia.

In CPR, no ones asking you to rip open someones chest and perform heart surgery. Youre not the professional, Russell said. Were asking you to assess, calm and get the person the right help.

Part of the training, which Russell called a little overwhelming, is increasing awareness of the youths perspective.

In one exercise she recalled, attendees took turns assuming the roles of a teacher and a student, with the former expressing concern for the latter.

Another attendee was instructed to whisper negative sentiments, including questions about the teachers sincerity, into the students ear.

Often the attendee assuming the role of the teacher found the student to be disengaged from the conversation, unaware at first of what was being whispered into their ear.

In reality, the attendee playing the student is dealing with more complex emotions than they realize  just like real youths, Russell said.

In May, Russell was invited to attend the workshop in San Diego by local school administrators there. Upon completion, she knew she wanted to bring it to schools in her district, which stretches from Burbank to Pomona.

Russells ensuing outreach efforts brought her to Portantinos office. The senator, whose district includes parts of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, shared her passion for the spirit of the workshop, and in September the pair began working on bringing it to the communities they both represent.

The more people that have this training, the more we can help our kids, said Russell, whose son is a senior at Crescenta Valley High School. The adage, it takes a village  this is what were talking about.

According to Portantino, who has a 17-year-old-daughter, the goal is to destigmatize mental-health issues by discussing them more openly.

The biggest issue is that we keep it in the dark, so kids are alone with their trauma, Portantino said. If we could bring mental health out of the shadows, we can get [young people] more treatment.

Portantino plans soon to introduce a bill that would require California teachers to take the workshop as a prerequisite for earning their credential. Eventually, he would like to see the workshop become a national norm for teachers and school administrators.

lila.seidman@latimes.com

Twitter: @lila_seidman
The city of Newport Beach has stepped into the ongoing internal conflict at Newport Aquatic Center, asking the board of directors to respond to allegations of financial misconduct, harassment and retaliation.

Because the nonprofit rowing centers facility sits on city- and county-owned land and operates under a long-term, no-cost lease, the city, as a landlord, has a vested interest in its operations.

Although the city does not manage the programs offered by the NAC, ensuring limited public resources are being appropriately managed is a critical issue for the city, City Attorney Aaron Harp wrote in a Feb. 14 letter to the NAC board of directors.

He gave the board until March 8 to answer to statements that the board is undersized, per its bylaws; to let the city know if its in compliance with a newly updated policy that guides decisions to lease public property to nonprofits at a discount; and respond to a lengthy list of accusations of financial, managerial and personal misconduct some members have leveled against the board, staff and the centers longtime executive director, Billy Whitford.

Its the latest point on a timeline of fraught relations between some users and leaders at the NAC, which has offered recreational and competitive rowing and paddling for boaters of all ages since 1987.

In 2017, two now-former members of the executive board sued three of their colleagues, plus Whitford, and other staff members in Orange County Superior Court in an attempt to place the organization into receivership after they said an investigation showed financial impropriety.

Harps letter follows several weeks of direct appeals at City Council meetings by NAC users critical of the remaining board members, reiterating allegations detailed in the lawsuit and a two-part series the Daily Pilot published in September.

David Dimitruk, the attorney representing Whitford and board members Bill Grant, Jon Van Cleave and Jim Netzer, said the board will refute every claim to the city.

The allegations and accusations that have been made over a year and a half are false or distortions of pieces of information, Dimitruk said. He said the boards response will demonstrate that the NAC is on solid ground.

Whitford has also denied wrongdoing.

The complaints, which cover more than three pages of Harps six-page letter, broadly cover financial misconduct, including allegedly using NAC credit cards for personal purposes and directing funds raised for the junior rowing program to other programming; allowing for-profit businesses to operate out of the NAC base on the shores of Upper Newport Bay; and creating a hostile environment for employees and opposing members. This includes accusations of whistleblower retaliation by former Junior Rowing Director Pat Rolfes, who raised the possibility of fiscal mismanagement, and removing Bruce Ibbetson and Donna Warwick from the board after they sued their colleagues.

Warwick, Ibbetson and several parents of middle and high school students in the competitive junior rowing program assert that the case is about loose ethics to the point of corruption. The other side says its a power play to the point of a coup in an attempt to exalt junior rowing.

The city also seeks clarity on the size of the board, which dropped to four in September after the removal of Ibbetson and Warwick. Bylaws say the board should have at least eight members. Dimitriuk said two new members have recently been appointed.

The lawsuit is on hold as Dimitriuk appeals the Superior Court ruling denying his motion that the suit infringes on the defendants free speech rights.
A day after British Defence Minister Gavin Williamson accused Moscow of trying to goad the West in a bellicose speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called him Britains minister of war.

Williamson, addressing the Munich Security Conference on Friday, accused Russia of illegal activity on land and at sea, and called on Moscow to reset its relationship with Western countries through dialogue.

Lavrov addressed the meeting on Saturday and seized the opportunity to jibe back at Williamson when asked about the security situation of the Arctic.

We want to understand what kind of mandate NATO is going to have in the Arctic, he said.

If you listen to some people like the minister of war - oh, sorry the minister of defense - of the United Kingdom then you might get an impression that nobody except NATO have the right to be anywhere, he added to laughter.

It was not the first time Lavrov and Williamson have clashed verbally.

Last year, after Williamson told Russia to go away and shut up, Lavrov retorted: Maybe he lacks education.

Short link:


Orange County is working to repair part of a flood wall on Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach that collapsed during Thursdays rainstorm.

A crew of engineers plans to assess the damage until at least the middle of next week, said OC Public Works spokesman Shannon Widor. After that, a construction plan and timeline for completion will be sorted out.

About 250 feet of the flood wall, which is owned by Orange County, broke down in front of the Sawdust Art & Craft Festival grounds and the Boys & Girls Club of Laguna Beach. Widor said storm water eroded the soil behind the concrete wall, causing it to collapse into the channel.

Jordan Villwock, Lagunas emergency preparedness coordinator, said city employees removed two trees near the broken flood wall that were about to fall over.

City officials are working on plans to improve the channel between Beach Street and Main Beach to reduce the risk of downtown flooding. The proposed project would reconfigure the Beach Street transition structure to improve water flow, repair an underground culvert between Broadway and Ocean Avenue and reconstruct parts of the Main Beach outlet structures walls.

Plans for channel improvements are going through the permitting process and will be considered by the Planning Commission on March 20, project manager Lisa Penna said at a public workshop Wednesday. Construction likely will not begin until spring 2020, she said.

This just occurred in the 1000 block of Laguna Canyon Road. OC Flood Control District owned area. City of Laguna Beach department crews on scene to assist them in any way possible. @LagunaBeachPD @StuNewsLaguna @lagunabeachgov @lagunabeachindy pic.twitter.com/aAvir05ABK  Laguna Beach PD PIO (@LBPD_PIO_45) February 14, 2019

This weeks rain began Wednesday and pummeled the region before easing Thursday afternoon. The city issued an evacuation order Thursday morning for the Sun Valley neighborhood along Laguna Canyon Road and closed parts of El Toro Road and Broadway. The Community & Susi Q Center on Third Street was transformed into a makeshift shelter for residents until 4:30 p.m., about when the evacuation order was lifted.

We had a really good storm preparedness plan and had measures in place if things started occurring, Villwock said. The emergency preparedness team sent customized Ready OC notifications to downtown businesses and residents in the Sun Valley neighborhood, he said.

It kind of rings true to why we have a storm preparedness plan, Villwock said. This can happen really quickly. When the ground is saturated, it cant hold the water and it comes rushing down our channels.

Occupants at the Alternative Sleeping Location homeless shelter on Laguna Canyon Road were evacuated to Neighborhood Congregational Church for several hours until the rain let up and city officials cleared debris from the canyon road.

Animals at the Laguna Beach Animal Shelter were placed in a higher level of the shelter in case of flooding, Laguna Beach police said.

Times Community News contributor Daniel Langhorne contributed to this report.
In a move that could end nearly two years of tense negotiation with rank-and-file police, the Huntington Beach City Council on Tuesday will consider a proposed contract that provides officers retroactive incentives dating back to October 2017 and extends them through the end of this year.

The proposal, if approved, would cost the city $759,293.

The Police Officers Assn. has worked without a contract since fall 2017, a factor that contributed to mounting tensions between the union and Police Chief Robert Handy, as well as his supporters on the City Council, that eventually led to an independent review that called for operational efficiencies and better succession planning.

Under the pending 2017-19 contract, officers would see adjustments in medical benefits, vacation time and time off and a one-time, $1,200 reimbursement for law enforcement-related equipment purchases.

The citys monthly contribution toward employees medical plans would increase by a couple hundred dollars.

Officers will also have the option to convert up to 80 hours of accrued vacation into cash.

Employees would also be able to choose to be paid for compensatory time off twice a year, according to the contract.

If preliminary approval is granted Tuesday, the contract would eventually return to the City Council for the final OK.

False alarm burglary calls

In other business, Handy is proposing a modified resolution to alter false-alarm fees and fines after Councilwoman Kim Carr suggested lowering fees for senior citizens during last months council meeting.

Under the amended resolution, qualifying senior citizens will pay a reduced rate of $20.50 instead of $41 for an annual alarm permit.

The program is open only to residents 62 and older who meet very low income guidelines set by the federal government.

Citys charter review

The council will also vote on how to move forward with a review of its charter.

Councilman Mike Posey initially pitched creating a 15-member commission and hiring a consultant to examine the document during last months meeting.

The charter is typically reviewed every 10 years. The city spent about $25,000 in 2009 for a consultant who did not recommend any amendments.

A second option is to create an ad hoc committee made up of three council members, the city manager and the city attorney who will review the citys guiding document and determine whether changes are needed.

The process is estimated to take about 120 days with minimal costs and less staff time, according to a staff report.

Tuesdays meeting begins at 6 p.m. at 2000 Main St.
A Corona man is suspected of committing a mini-crime spree in Burbank earlier this month after police say he allegedly broke into two vehicles, burglarized them, attempted to steal the cars and tried to rob two people, all in the span of 20 minutes.

Efrain Bugarin Salinas, 27, was arrested on suspicion of attempted robbery, vehicle burglary, attempted burglary and attempted vehicle theft on Feb. 4 after the Burbank Police Department received multiple reports around the Empire Center.

Sgt. Derek Green, a department spokesman, said the initial call came in after a witness heard three loud pops coming from the Empire Centers parking lot and saw a man rummaging around inside a car that had one of its windows broken. Officers eventually located and detained the man near Best Buy.

As officers were interviewing witnesses at the scene, Green said police started to find there were multiple calls from around the area, all involving a suspect who matched the description of the man they had in custody.

The first incident occurred around 6:50 p.m. when a man allegedly tried to steal a Honda Civic at the 76 gas station off of San Fernando Boulevard and Buena Vista Street.

The man was seen minutes later at the Extended Stay America in the Empire Center, reportedly pounding on room doors.

He ultimately barges his way into a room and demands the occupant of it to give them their car keys, he said.

The man exited the room without getting anything and allegedly tried to pick-pocket a woman outside the hotel.

According to Green, thats when the man broke into the car at the shopping center.

Once officers responded to these locations, there were multiple witnesses at each, and they were describing the same person, Green said.

Salinas was eventually identified as the suspect, and authorities discovered he was out on post-release community supervision, a form of probation overseen by the county, for a prior carjacking conviction.

Green said its unknown why Salinas reportedly went on a mini-crime spree, but added it was possible he was under the influence of drugs at the time.

Its an unusual string of events given the time of day and being in a crowded, busy shopping area, he said. This person seemed determined to want to steal a car and went to great means to try to.

andy.nguyen@latimes.com

Twitter: @Andy_Truc
An art exhibit by members of the California Art League showcases their versatility with one color  blue.

Through Feb. 24, the Betsy Lueke Creative Arts Center in Burbank will host the groups exhibit titled Blue, which is a collection of paintings, photographs, sculptures and digitally created images that utilize the color.

Ken Ronney, the leagues president, said he was excited when the center invited his organization to curate an art exhibit at the Burbank facility, which is something Ronney has wanted to do for several years.

We have a lot of talented and imaginative artists, he said. Its always a surprise to see what shows up on the walls of the exhibit, and everybody is happy with it.

Equally excited about the exhibit was Virginia Causton-Keene, director of the creative arts center. She said she was immediately impressed with the level of talent displayed by league members, adding that each artist had a creative way of using blue in their piece.

Causton-Keene said she was entranced by a digital art piece by Michael John Pittas titled Related Species, in which a herd of unicorns is swimming with a pod of narwhals.

She said she was also fascinated by a painting titled Moon Over Tranquil Waters by William Winbrush, in which the artist paints the sky in three different phases  night, day and dawn  over a shallow creek bed.

Its like looking into a prism, Causton-Keene said. Its just so mesmerizing to me.

While blue often conveys a sad or somber tone, Causton-Keene said to her the color invokes brightness and clarity.

For me, its a really happy color because it reminds me of the sky on a clear day, sunshine and being outdoors, she said.

The gallery, located at 1100 W. Clark Ave., is free to the public. The Blue exhibit will be on display from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. The art center is closed on Sunday.

For more information, call (818) 238-5397.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Residents from Burbank and surrounding communities aired their concerns regarding 5G, or fifth-generation data networks, to city officials and attorneys this week.

Burbank Water and Power held a town hall meeting at the Buena Vista Branch Library Wednesday to discuss a a proposed wireless communication agreement with telecommunication carriers that would set the framework regarding where 5G devices can be installed and how they should look.

The city-owned utility will host another public meeting regarding the proposed 5G regulations at 6 p.m. on Feb. 28 at the citys Community Services Building, 150 N. Third St., in room 104.

Although the agreement, which will come before the City Council at a future meeting, would dictate the design of the devices and the length of time they can be installed in a given area, members of a panel of experts  primarily attorneys and legal counsels for Burbank knowledgeable about telecommunication issues  said the Federal Communications Commission is strict about the implementation of the devices.

Jonathan L. Kramer, an engineer and attorney who specializes in wireless communications, said cities can go as far as to check whether a device meets standards established by the FCC and how they can look, but thats about it.

In a recent FCC ruling, the agency prohibits state and local governments from impeding on the the implementation of 5G devices. However, the aesthetics of the device and certain fees can be regulated by local and state agencies.

Just like the city expects the residents to follow the laws, and the state expects the city to follow the law, the FCC and Congress expect the states and cities are going to follow the laws that they set down, Kramer said. This is the regulatory environment we operate within, so thats why the city and its proposed regulations [go] as far as we can legally to ensure that the sites comply with the FCC rules.

However, Burbank resident Ara Manoogian argued that 5G devices can potentially be hazardous to the public and does not want telecommunication companies to install them without there being some analysis on the impact they might have.

Concerns about telecommunication devices are nothing new to Burbank. In 2012, the City Council shot down T-Mobiles attempt to install antennas atop the Little White Chapel on Avon Street because of residents concerns.

In making their decision, City Council members cited several reasons for their rejection of T-Mobiles plan, including the fact that the new steeple-like structure where the equipment would have been installed would have made the church too tall to be compatible with the neighborhood.

At the meeting on Wednesday, Riad Sleiman, a principal electrical engineer for Burbank Water and Power, told the public the 5G devices will be much smaller than those proposed for the church, adding the equipment will be integrated into light poles throughout the city.

Though the wireless devices are smaller and consume less energy, Kramer said more devices would have to be installed to improve the coverage area.

Manoogian said he understands Burbank officials can do little to stop phone carriers from upgrading their network devices to be 5G-compliant, but added that cities in Northern California  like Fairfax and Mill Valley  are looking to fight the FCC.

The city needs to, if it chooses to ... oppose the federal law by opposing the ability for this 5G network to be put in and be sued to fight this in court, Manoogian said.

Sherman Oaks resident Nektar Chamchyan said shes not looking forward to the increased Internet speeds the 5G networks claim they will bring nor the health risks she thinks they will cause.

In fact, she told the panel shes considering ditching her smartphone for a more basic cellphone and that shell do away with Internet services altogether.

Ive decided I will be opting out of my smartphone for a flip phone, and if thats not going to work, Im going to stick with a landline, Chamchyan said. If 5G is going to be deployed everywhere, then thats my decision.

anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced he is endorsing California Sen. Kamala Harris for president during a Friday television appearance on MSNBC.

Im very enthusiastic about Kamala Harris, Newsom said in an interview with Chris Hayes, host of All In. Ill be endorsing her candidacy for president. Ive known her for decades  I think the American people could not do better.

Though not surprising given the long political relationship between the two former San Francisco politicians, Newsoms support could play a pivotal role in Harris prospects in an increasingly crowded Democratic field of presidential candidates. California lawmakers decided in 2017 to move the states primary to early March in an effort to make a bigger impact in the presidential sweepstakes.

Newsom said he got to know Harris well when he served as mayor of San Francisco at the same time Harris was the district attorney of the liberal Bay Area city.

Advertisement

His announcement follows endorsements of Harris from labor activist Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland).

Since announcing her candidacy in January, Harris has propelled herself to the front of the pack of Democratic candidates lining up to challenge Republican President Trump in 2020. Harris spent Friday campaigning in South Carolina, a pivotal early presidential primary state, starting her two-day swing at a town hall in Charleston.

Harris and Newsom are longtime friends and political allies. They were both mentored by former San Francisco Mayor and state Assembly Speaker Willie Brown and served in City Hall at the same time. They have also inhabited the same social circles and vacationed together.

Despite that, the two politicians were considered potential rivals after one of Californias U.S. Senate seats was vacated by the retiring Barbara Boxer in 2015. In the end, Harris jumped into the race to replace Boxer, and Newsom announced that he would run for California governor in 2018.

Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

phil.willon@latimes.com

Twitter: @philwillon
Sen. Kamala Harris has been called the female Barack Obama. Former Rep. Beto ORourke has been dubbed Barack Obama, but white. Sen. Cory Booker sings from the Obama hymnal of hope and optimism. Joe Biden, as Obamas vice president, is closer to the former president than anyone running for the White House in 2020.

In the rapidly growing Democratic candidate field, an under-the-radar competition is brewing over who is the clearest heir to former President Barack Obamas political legacy.

Many of the Democrats running or thinking about it have made a pilgrimage to Obamas office to seek his counsel. Some have found ways to casually drop that fact into televised interviews.

I cant think of a better person to get advice from, Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in an MSNBC interview after she announced her candidacy. And he seems, by the way, in a very good mood.

Advertisement

Obama is unlikely to weigh in with a public endorsement. But the competition to ignite an Obama-like spark and to reassemble the coalition of young voters, women and people of color that carried him twice into the White House testifies to his lasting impact on his party.

That sort of legacy is relatively rare. Republicans, after George W. Bushs presidency, did not flock to him for advice or run as his legatee. With Bill Clintons presidency clouded by scandal, even then-Vice President Al Gore kept his distance in his 2000 White House bid.

Ronald Reagan, by contrast, was an enduring political icon for the Republican Party, having galvanized a GOP coalition of defense hawks, fiscal conservatives and the religious right that endured for decades. A generation of Republicans after him competed in primaries to see who could out-Reagan their rivals.

Obamas stature is not quite that imposing, if only because there is not such broad agreement about whether replicating the Obama coalition alone is the most enduring future path for the party.

While he built a majority heavy on women and minorities in urban, coastal regions, some Democrats believe the party would be better off if it also worked harder to expand support among rural, white communities and in the Midwest.

There is also a lively debate about whether Obamas trademark message of hope and unity is what Democratic primary voters want to hear in the polarized Trump era.

Candidates such as Elizabeth Warren are building their campaign with fighting words about the clash between the haves and have-nots. But Valerie Jarrett, a close Obama friend and former White House advisor, says she believes voters are still hungry for an upbeat leader like Obama.

Part of the reason hes enjoying such popularity is he stood for something good and positive and optimistic, Jarrett said in an interview. There are several candidates who have that level of optimism and believe we should appeal to our better angels.

Advertisement

The latest from Washington 

Obama has been one of the most popular Democrats on the national scene since leaving office. In a September 2018 Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 54% of registered voters said they had positive feelings about him. He was in great demand during the midterm election and campaigned for Democrats across the country.

At the nadir of his presidency, by contrast, just 40% had positive feelings about him in an August 2014 Journal/NBC poll, and many Democrats in tough midterm races tried to run away from him and his signature healthcare law.

Obama has been less publicly political since the midterms. He is scheduled to speak Tuesday in Oakland at a conference of My Brothers Keeper, a nonprofit dedicated to advancing young men of color.

Advertisement

One of his political priorities is the work of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group that is trying to combat gerrymandering of congressional districts in Republicans favor. Late last year, Obama consolidated his political efforts by folding his nonprofit grassroots group Organizing for Action into the redistricting committee.

Not all 2020 presidential candidates are campaigning as heirs of Obama-ism. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who is expected to announce his 2020 bid in the coming week, has called for policies far to the left of Obamas in expanding access to healthcare and regulating Wall Street.

But many potential Democratic candidates want his advice on running for president, and Obama has been generous with his time. One of the lesser-known Democratic hopefuls said he spent 90 minutes with Obama last year. When he asked about Iowa, the early-voting state where Obama scored his break-out victory in 2008, the former president was still a wellspring of knowledge.

He still knows all the little nooks and crannies of campaigning in Iowa, the 2020 candidate said.

Advertisement

ORourke sought a meeting with Obama after the 2018 midterm election. He told Oprah Winfrey in an interview that the former president did not urge him one way or the other on the decision to run but warned him about the strain it could put on his family.

He said, Look, just to be really clear, this is one of the most intense  brutal things you can go through,  ORourke recalled. Know that going into it.

Klobuchar mentioned her visit with Obama when her MSNBC interview turned to the touchy subject of high turnover of her staff.

I was teasing President Obama the other day, Klobuchar said. They have hired  the White House hired over 20 of my staff members.

Advertisement

Harris also talked to Obama before announcing her campaign, but her staff offered no information about their contact.

Running for president during her first term in the Senate, as did Obama, and being a biracial lawyer nearly guaranteed Harris-Obama comparisons. Back in 2009, while Harris was running for California attorney general, the late Gwen Ifill identified her as part of a rising generation of black leaders in her book, The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

Shes brilliant; shes smart. They call her the female Barack Obama, Ifill said in an interview on Late Night with David Letterman.

Harris first met Obama when he ran for U.S. Senate from Illinois in 2004. She was an early supporter of his presidential bid at a time when Hillary Clinton was the establishment favorite.

Advertisement

When Obama announced his long-shot candidacy in Springfield, Ill., on a frigid day in February 2007, Harris was there. During her 2016 Senate campaign against fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez, Harris got a big plug from the president when he cut a 30-second television ad calling her a fearless fighter.

Her 2020 campaign strategy includes a significant departure from Obamas: She is embracing her identity as a black woman. Obama downplayed his race but still drew record levels of black turnout, which Democrats in 2020 will be aspiring to replicate.

Booker, who is also black and, like Obama, has a background as a community organizer, has a campaign message that is often likened to Obamas because of his focus on love and unity. In his first news conference as a candidate, he made a joke that appealed to voters affection for the former president and wife Michelle:

I want everyone to know: I miss Obama. And I miss her husband too, he said.

Advertisement

He recalled getting advice from Obama in the Oval Office the day he was sworn in as a senator. Im really grateful for the kind of leadership he provided this country, Booker said.

James M. Demers, who was co-chairman of Obamas 2008 campaign in New Hampshire, has endorsed Booker and called him Obama 2.0 because of his energetic ability to connect with voters.

We elected a president in 2008 who campaigned on hope and change, said Demers. In 2016, we elected a president who won on divide and conquer. If we respond to Donald Trump with our version of divide and conquer, we might win an election, but he proved you cant govern.

ORourke has been widely likened to Obama because of his youthful appeal, fundraising prowess and authentic-seeming style of campaigning in his unsuccessful 2018 campaign to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.

Advertisement

He should run, a fundraiser was quoted in Politico as saying. Hes Barack Obama, but white.

Obama called ORourke an impressive young man who ran a terrific race in Texas in a November 2018 podcast interview with his own former advisor David Axelrod.

What I liked most about his race was that it didnt feel constantly poll-tested, Obama said. The reason I was able to make a connection with a sizable portion of the country was people had a sense that I said what I meant.

No candidate is closer to Obama than Biden, and his supporters believe he will benefit strongly from that connection if he decides to run.

Advertisement

If he decides to run, there will be a huge nostalgia wave when you get to see Joe back on the campaign trail, said Wade Randlett, a longtime Democratic fundraiser.

But Axelrod said a Biden campaign would have to go far beyond a promise of an Obama-era restoration.

The challenge for him will be to speak to the future, said Axelrod. If he doesnt, he is not going to be the nominee.

janet.hook@latimes.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @hookjan
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled Friday that the Trump administration overstepped its authority by requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials in order to qualify for police grants used to fight gangs.

In another blow to the Trump administrations campaign against so-called sanctuary cities, U.S. District Judge Manuel Real issued a permanent injunction against the administrations application of immigration enforcement conditions to the funding.

The city of Los Angeles, whose police department does not provide information on immigration status to federal authorities, sued the Trump administration in October seeking an end to such conditions, which include notifying federal authorities 40 hours before releasing an immigrant in the country illegally and allowing immigration agents into jails.

Law enforcement officials in Los Angeles and other jurisdictions have argued that requiring them to provide immigration information to federal authorities deters people who are victims of or witnesses to crime from coming forward.

Advertisement

The ruling came hours after California announced plans to sue the Trump administration over its declaration of a national emergency at the southern border in an attempt to divert money from other projects for a border wall that Congress refused to fund.

Its particularly timely today because the administration again and again flouts the most basic constitutional principles, said Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer. The administration does not have the authority to make an end-run around Congress again and again with regard to public safety grants that are essential to our safety.

The U.S. Department of Justice issued the following statement:

The policies of sanctuary jurisdictions endanger communities and innocent Americans all across this country, and this decision does not change that simple fact, DOJ spokesman Steven Stafford said. Further, the scope of the injunction is far broader than conceivably necessary. We are closely evaluating this decision and considering our options.

The requirements affected two types of federal grants in particular: the Gang Suppression Planning Grants Program and the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, anti-gang money distributed annually based on a states population and violent crime rate.

Until 2017, when the Trump administration sought to apply the immigration enforcement requirements, Los Angeles had received $1 million or more in Byrne JAG money each year since 1997.

The conditions, Real said in his ruling, upset the constitutional balance between state and federal power by requiring state and local law enforcement to partner with federal authorities.

Feuer called it a win for public safety.

Advertisement

It has been extremely important for public safety in Los Angeles that all communities, including immigrants, cooperate with law enforcement when they are victims or witnesses of crime, Feuer said. The Trump administrations efforts to make Los Angeles complicit in civil immigration enforcement undermines local decisions about how we can best keep our streets safe.

Real issued a similar injunction in September 2018 that barred the Trump administration from using such conditions for the purposes of doling out the 2017 Byrne JAG funds. The Department of Justice has appealed that ruling and is awaiting a hearing date.

In April of last year, Real ruled that the Trump administrations use of similar conditions for community policing programs was also unlawful.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

Advertisement

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc.
Threatening to declare an emergency is akin to scheduling an unexpected event, so by definition a promised emergency cannot actually be a true crisis. But that isnt to say a bogus emergency declaration cannot itself spark another crisis, and thats exactly what President Trump has done.

The president says the United State is in an official state of emergency because of border crossings from Mexico and will try to redirect money already allocated by Congress so he can build his wall. Any normal public servant can recognize how fundamentally undemocratic this is, which is why the president can only declare national emergencies, and therefore assume extraordinary power, when the machinery of representative government is truly ill-equipped to respond to a crisis.

But Trump did not declare a national emergency because of a crisis; he did it to overcome a political defeat, a move that the L.A. Times editorial board says is a gross abuse of power :

Over weeks of negotiations stretching back into 2018, the Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress grappled with congressional Democrats over how to address the growth in asylum arrivals and other border concerns. The spending bill that Trump is due to sign into law raises spending on border security to $22.54 billion  more than the budgets for disaster relief, the federal courts or the Environmental Protection Agency, to cite just a few examples.

The measure is a compromise that reflects bipartisan support for improved border security, as well as the two parties different priorities. In addition to providing money for fencing, it increases the number of detention beds for deportable immigrants, expands immigration courts, adds hundreds of Border Patrol agents, supplies more money for drones and other border-surveillance technology, ramps up drug interdiction efforts at ports of entry, overhauls how Immigration and Customs Enforcement manages the cases under its purview, and addresses a number of complaints from Democrats about the treatment of detainees.

Under the Constitution, its up to Congress to decide how federal dollars are spent. Its telling that Trump couldnt persuade lawmakers to give him more money for his wall, even by shutting much of the federal government down for a record 35 days. He simply doesnt have the votes for the project, which isnt surprising, given that polls show most Americans dont support it.

Instead of taking his lumps and trying to make a better case for funding the wall next year, however, Trump is trying to circumvent Congress through a spurious emergency declaration. His supporters note how previous presidents have used executive orders to take steps Congress did not take; for example, President Truman ordered the armed forces to desegregate in 1948 after Congress failed to do so, and President Obama created a program allowing Dreamers to seek temporary legal status after a comprehensive immigration reform bill stalled (a move that Trump has derided as unlawful). But theres a world of difference between using executive orders to accomplish things Congress could not, and declaring an emergency to overturn a decision Congress made. Administration officials have noted that Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush both used emergency declarations to shift military construction funds, but that was in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001  not caravans of migrants.

>> Click here to read more
To the editor: Steve Almonds encouragement that we face our national predicament with courage and action, not clever barbs, is important. This is not a time to wander off giggling and pointing while Rome burns.

But, in my experience, those of us who look to comedians political jokes do so for the kind of laughter that provides both emotional release and new insights. Our political participation and activism is not hampered by this kind of social commentary; rather, it is energized.

In American history, Ben Franklin, Mark Twain and many more have reflected politics in their comedy, and we were more aware as a result, not less. This critical example of our freedom of speech, sadly, is still rare in the world. For example, Bassem Youssef in Egypt sacrificed his career and life in his country to slyly speak the truth.

I was struck by the poignancy of a comment from satirist Will Durst, speaking out on being funny in the era of Donald Trump: People need to know theyre not alone.

Advertisement

Christina Hosmer, Laguna Niguel

..

To the editor: Almond hit the bulls-eye in pointing out that mockery only helps President Trump.

We must take decisive action. We should respect the office of the president, but note the character of the man now occupying it. So many of us refused to do that while he was seeking the presidency after the emergence of the Billy Bush clip, which should have been enough to disqualify Trump or any other candidate from office.

And yet the beat goes on. How many more incidents do the American people need to realize that we need to rid ourselves of Trump?

Hopefully, the new majority in Congress will provide the oversight demanded by the Constitution.

David Knobler, Winnetka

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday labelled as "frightening" tough US trade rhetoric planning to declare European car imports a national security threat.

"If these cars... suddenly spell a threat to US national security, than that is frightening to us," she said.

Merkel pointed out that the biggest car plant of German luxury brand BMW was not in Bavaria but in South Carolina, from where it exports vehicles to China.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said at the Munich Security Conference.

"Then we will find a solution."

A US Commerce Department report has concluded that auto imports threaten national security, setting the stage for possible tariffs by the White House, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The investigation, ordered by President Donald Trump in May, is "positive" with respect to the central question of whether the imports "impair" US national security, said a European auto industry source.

"It's going to say that auto imports are a threat to national security," said an official with another auto company.

The report, which is expected to be delivered to the White House by a Sunday deadline, has been seen as a major risk for foreign automakers.

Trump has threatened to slap 25 percent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

After receiving the report, the US president will have 90 days to decide whether to move ahead with tariffs.

Trump in July reached a trade truce with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with the two pledging no new tariffs while the negotiations continued.

Brussels has already drawn up a list of 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion) in US exports for retaliatory tariffs should Washington press ahead, the commission's Director-General for Trade Jean-Luc Demarty told the European Parliament last month.

The White House has used the national security argument -- saying that undermining the American manufacturing base impairs military readiness, among other claims -- to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

Trading partners have sometimes reacted with outrage at the suggestion their exports posed a threat to US national security.

Short link:


The Los Angeles Unified School District emerged from Januarys weeklong teachers strike bruised and divided. On the surface, the areas of dispute were the usual ones: pay, working conditions and staffing levels. But the subtextual issues  the future of charter schools, the depth of the districts financial problems, a controversial and as-yet unclear plan to reorganize the district into 32 networks and, ultimately, lack of trust in the districts relatively new superintendent, Austin Beutner  are lasting ones that will require steady leadership and nuanced decision-making by the school board.

The board, however, remains as riven as ever, with three members seen as heavily pro-charter, two as pro-teachers union and one who serves as a swing vote. The seventh seat, which has been vacant since Ref Rodriguez stepped down in July after pleading guilty to criminal charges, is up for grabs in a special election on March 5.

To the great resentment of United Teachers Los Angeles, Rodriguez held tight to his seat despite the pending charges against him long enough to vote for hiring Beutner, whom the union sees as the choice of wealthy philanthropist school reformers who want more charter schools. Beutners plan to reorganize the district, which he says will bring decision-making out of headquarters and closer to schools, hasnt been met with enthusiasm so far, in large part because people dont know much about it. So when parents rose up to support teachers in their strike, Beutner, fairly or not, became a somewhat demonized figure.

No candidate fits all the criteria. But the one who comes closest is Cynthia Gonzalez.

Advertisement

Now Rodriguez is gone, and the race for his District 5 seat has drawn 10 candidates. They include educators and parents, community college professors, a longtime aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti and a well-known former City Council member and assemblywoman who previously served on the school board in the 1980s. The oddly shaped district on LAUSDs eastern border takes in the affluent neighborhoods of Silver Lake and Los Feliz to the north and more working-class towns such as Huntington Park and Cudahy to the south. About 90% of the students in District 5 are Latino.

Those students deserve a board member who understands the challenges they face and will stand up for their right to qualified teachers and better resources. At the same time, the board needs a collaborative, thoughtful and nondogmatic person who will use insight rather than rhetoric to get the job done.

This is too complicated a moment in the boards history for someone with no experience to take the job. The new board member is likely to serve as the decisive vote on hot-button issues. He or she should be steeped in knowledge of education generally and LAUSD specifically. Current, on-the-ground understanding of schools and of the day-to-day reality for teachers, parents and students is a big plus, especially because theres too little of that on the existing board. The new member should play a role in helping Beutner build stronger relationships with teachers and parents, and should advocate strongly for full transparency on district plans. Its preferable to have a board member who is independent-minded rather than ideologically wedded to the union or to charter school advocates.

No candidate fits all the criteria. But the one who comes closest is Cynthia Gonzalez, the principal of the communications and technology high school at Diego Rivera Learning Complex in South L.A. (Thats a pilot school, which means it has greater independence, like a charter school, but remains an LAUSD school with UTLA teachers.)

With previous experience as an administrator at one of the districts high-performing magnet schools (and two of her own children in district schools), Gonzalez has seen how much difference it makes for students to have savvy parents who can negotiate the schools bureaucracy and access to resources, both at home and at their schools. Gonzalez also understands that the challenges arent spread evenly among schools and that performance metrics dont take that into account.

Gonzalez, who has been a teacher and principal at L.A. schools for 17 years, points to at least one school that has such a high number of students with severe learning disabilities that it can never hope for a graduation rate of higher than 80%. And she expresses concern that charter schools tout their academic achievements without educating enough of those more challenging students.

She is clearly more aligned with the teachers union than with the charter school movement and would like to see at least a temporary moratorium on opening new charters. (Thats not a decision the school board can make under state law.) But, like Beutner, she is a strong believer in autonomy for individual schools, though she feels certain that can be accomplished without dividing down into 32 networks, if schools operated more like pilot schools. If she makes it to the board, we hope she would support all schools that do well by students with the greatest needs.

Enter the Fray: First takes on the news of the minute 

Advertisement

One of her roles on the board, Gonzalez said, would be to serve as a bridge between policymakers and reality, helping explain how proposed new initiatives would be received by schools  and whether they would be likely to work.

UTLA has thrown its support behind Jackie Goldberg, a retired teacher, 1980s school-board member, former L.A. City Council member and state legislator. But Goldberg, though smart, knowledgeable and effective, is too combative and too ideological. Garcettis favored candidate, longtime aide Heather Repenning, is moderate in her approach, but her lack of experience in education shows; during an interview, she had nothing insightful or original to say about the issues facing L.A. Unified. Both have raised far more money than Gonzalez.

That makes the odds against Gonzalez high. She lacks strong political connections. Shes simply an experienced educator with a strong grasp of both the big philosophical picture and the day-to-day work of educating students who often face extraordinary obstacles in their lives. Shes what the school board needs.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Amberkatherine DeCory carried photos of her daughters birth certificate in her diaper bag in case she had to prove that the lighter-skinned girl was really hers. Cydnee Rafferty gives her husband a letter explaining that he has permission to travel with their 5-year-old biracial daughter.

Families like theirs were not surprised when they heard that Cindy McCain had reported a woman to police for possible human trafficking because the widow of Sen. John McCain saw her at the airport with a toddler of a different ethnicity. Officers investigated and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Parents whose children have a different complexion say they regularly face suspicion and the assumption that they must be watching someone elses kids.

This is a problem that, to be frank, well-meaning white people get themselves into, said Rafferty, who is African American and whose husband is white. They think, If it doesnt make sense to me, it must not be right.

Advertisement

After McCains report, Rafferty posted to Twitter a selfie of her with her two children, ages 5 and 5 months.

I know they dont look like me, but I assure you, I grew them in my belly, Rafferty wrote to McCain.

Earlier this month, McCain claimed on Phoenix radio station KTAR that the woman she saw was waiting for a man who had bought the child to get off a plane, and that her Jan. 30 report to police had stopped the trafficking. She urged people to speak up if they see anything odd.

I came in from a trip Id been on, McCain said. I spotted  it looked odd  it was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child, this little toddler she had. Something didnt click with me. I tell people, Trust your gut.

She said she spoke about her suspicions with police and they went over and questioned her. And, by God, she was trafficking that kid.

This is a problem that, to be frank, well-meaning white people get themselves into. They think, If it doesnt make sense to me it must not be right. Cydnee Rafferty, who is African-American and the mother of two biracial children

Phoenix Police Sgt. Armando Carbajal confirmed that McCain requested a welfare check on a child at the airport, but said officers found no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment.

McCain has declined interview requests and has not said if anything besides the difference in ethnicity led her to suspect trafficking. A spokesman for the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University said McCain was only thinking about the possible ramifications of a criminal act, not the ethnicity of the possible trafficker.

Advertisement

After police debunked her claim, McCain reiterated the importance of speaking up when something looks wrong.

I apologize if anything else I have said on this matter distracts from if you see something, say something, she wrote on Twitter.

Rafferty, a 38-year-old New Yorker, was surprised that McCain, who adopted a daughter from Bangladesh, would make the same somethings-not-right assumption that mixed-race families grapple with constantly. Its not always summoning the police. Other, more common ways of calling out the differences sting too.

For Rafferty, the questions are frustrating and offensive: Whose baby is that? from a woman in the grocery store. Wheres her beautiful golden skin and curly hair? from a client at the office, who had a distinct idea of how a biracial child should look. Youre the ...? followed by a pause for her to fill in the blank with mom.

Advertisement

And if she pushes a stroller on Manhattans Upper West Side, everyone assumes shes the nanny. At the park, neither the mothers nor the caregivers know whether to embrace her in their camp.

DeCory, a 38-year-old police officer outside Minneapolis who has African American and Native American ancestry, said the anxiety between mom and baby is a constant challenge for mixed-race families that isnt talked about enough.

She recalls being haunted by a terrifying vision she couldnt shake: Someone would question whether she was truly the mother of her daughter, and she wouldnt be able to prove it. Shed imagine her daughter, Mila, being placed between her and a white woman while someone in authority watched to see which way she crawled.

Until her daughter could speak, DeCory carried her birth certificate and even a photo of her giving birth, just in case she had to prove that her light-haired, blue-eyed child was truly her own. As Mila has gotten older, her hair has darkened. Shes now 11.

Advertisement

DeCory didnt face the same anxieties with her other two children, who have darker skin closer to her own.

I would get anxiety going out with her in public, DeCory said. I was very reluctant to breastfeed her in public or do anything that would draw attention to me.
The man who gunned down five co-workers and wounded a sixth at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse before shooting and wounding five police officers brought his gun to a meeting in which he was going to be fired, authorities said Saturday.

Because Gary Martin brought his gun to Fridays meeting at the sprawling Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora, he likely knew he might be about to lose the job he had held for 15 years, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said at a news conference.

Ziman said she didnt know what had been conveyed to Martin, why he was being fired or whether he had shown up for his regular shift or was there just for the meeting. But she said as soon as he was fired, he pulled out his handgun and began shooting. Three of the five co-workers he killed were in the room with him and the other two were just outside, she said.

Frantic calls to 911 started pouring in from frightened workers at 1:24 p.m. and officers arrived at the scene within four minutes, authorities said. Martin fired on the officers when they arrived, striking one outside and another near the buildings entrance. The other three wounded officers were shot inside the building. None of their wounds are considered life-threatening, Ziman said Saturday.

Advertisement

This undated booking photo provided by the Aurora, Ill., Police Department shows Gary Montez Martin. (AP)

All of the officers who were wounded were shot within the first five minutes of police arriving at the scene, authorities said. After that flurry of shots and with officers from throughout the region streaming in to help, Martin ran off and hid inside the 29,000-square-foot building.

Police used an armored rescue vehicle called a Bearcat to enter the building, Aurora Police Lt. Rick Robertson said. Teams of officers then began to search the massive building, finding Martin hiding in the back about an hour later, and killed him in an exchange of gunfire, he said.

He was probably waiting for us to get to him there, said Robertson. It was just a very short gunfight, and it was over, so he was basically in the back waiting for us and fired upon us and our officers fired.

Police identified the slain workers as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin; plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego; mold operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; stock room attendant and fork lift operator Vicente Juarez of Oswego; and human resources intern and Northern Illinois University student Trevor Wehner, who lived in DeKalb and grew up in Sheridan.

It was Wehners first day on the job, his uncle Jay Wehner told the Associated Press. Trevor Wehner, 21, was on the deans list at NIUs business college and was on track to graduate in May with a degree in human resource management.

He always, always was happy. I have no bad words for him. He was a wonderful person. You cant say anything but nice things about him, Jay Wehner said of his nephew.

The worker who was shot but survived was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, authorities said. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury during the search of the building.

Advertisement

Martin had been arrested six times in Aurora over the years, including for domestic battery, Ziman said.

He was able to buy the Smith and Wesson .40-caliber handgun he used in the attack because an initial background check didnt catch that he had a prior felony conviction in Mississippi, the chief said. Martin was issued a firearm owners identification card in January of 2014 after he passed the initial background check and he bought the gun that March 11.

It wasnt until he applied for a concealed carry permit five days later and went through a more rigorous background check that uses digital fingerprinting that his 1995 felony conviction in Mississippi for aggravated battery was flagged and his firearm owners ID card was revoked, she said. Once his card was revoked, he could no longer legally have a gun.

The shooting shocked the city of 200,000, which is about 40 miles west of Chicago.

Advertisement

For so many years, we have seen similar situations throughout our nation and the horrible feeling that we get when we see it on the news. To experience it first-hand, is even more painful, Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said Friday.

Resident Christy Fonseca said she often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mothers Aurora neighborhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her mom Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.

Police cars with screaming sirens revved past her as she drove to her mothers house, where the Henry Pratt building is visible from the porch stoop. It was only when they flipped on the television news that they realized Martin had killed people just a few hundred feet away.

In Aurora, period, wed never thought anything like this would happen, Fonseca, a lifelong resident, said as she looked out at the warehouse where Henry Pratt makes valves for industrial purposes.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak on Friday signed into law a measure to require background checks on most private gun sales and transfers  the fulfillment of an initiative passed by voters more than two years ago.

In November 2016, the majority of Nevadans made it clear they wanted us to do more to address gun violence. But for the 829 days since then, theyve been ignored, the new Democratic governor said. That finally changes today.

A ballot initiative narrowly passed by voters was never enacted by the previous Republican administration. The attorney general at the time  Adam Laxalt  said the measure was unenforceable and poorly written.

But Democrats swept the governorship and control of both chambers of the state Legislature in November. Getting a law passed to require those background checks was a high priority for legislative leaders.

Advertisement

The law largely mirrors the ballot measure but removed language that would have required the FBI to conduct the background checks. Under the new law, which will take effect next year, the state will conduct them.

It was debated in committees this week and was designed to be signed into law around the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla., where 14 high school students and three staff members were killed on Valentines Day. During the Assembly vote Friday, Assemblyman Howard Watts listed the names of those who died in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The new law requires a background check on private sales and transfers through a licensed firearms dealer  with a few exemptions that include antique gun transfers and temporary transfer of a firearm in cases where a person is in danger of being injured or killed.

The signing of the bill marked a big moment in a state that has been undergoing somewhat of a political transformation over the last decade.

Members of a Nevada chapter of Moms Demand Action attend a hearing for Senate Bill 143 at the Nevada Legislature in Carson City. (Jason Bean / Associated Press)

Since 2008, Nevada has been blue on the presidential electoral map  choosing President Obama twice and voting for Hillary Clinton in 2016. In the last election cycle, the Senate incumbent, Republican Dean Heller, lost to Democrat Jacky Rosen  giving the state two women Democratic senators. After the 2016 election, Nevada also became the first state to have an overall majority of women in its Legislature.

The passage of the 2016 background check initiative, despite heavy spending against it by the National Rifle Assn., reflected that shift as well. Calls for more gun regulation came after the mass shooting in October 2017, when a gunman killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.

Prior to the state Assembly vote on Friday, where it passed 28 to 13, a handful of Republicans argued the law wouldnt stop criminals from obtaining guns. Assemblyman Glen Leavitt labeled the bill a publicity stunt.

Advertisement

But Democrats disagreed and said the measure would help save lives.

They say criminals are the ones who break the laws and will get guns anyway, Assemblyman Ozzie Fumo said. I say the logic of that argument is flawed. We might as well say that we might not have traffic laws on the books because only criminals will be the ones to break the traffic laws. However, Im here to tell you we need those laws on the books because we have to tell law-abiding citizens sometimes to give then direction as well.

Sisolak, flanked by Democratic lawmakers when he signed the bill, said he hoped it would spur other states to tighten gun regulations.

We have already lost too many lives across the country to guns, he said. With this bill, we are taking an important step to address the nationwide public health crisis that is gun violence, and we are making our children and families safer here at home by making it harder for potentially dangerous individuals to access a firearm.

Advertisement

david.montero@latimes.com | Twitter: @davemontero
In December, Zhoie Perez, a YouTube personality known for testing the limits of the 1st Amendment, stood on a sidewalk outside a church in Northridge filming with her iPhone.

When two young men approached to question her, Perez said, giggling, Were going to try the silent treatment.

Sir. Hows it going? one of the men asked Perez, a transgender woman, who was in boy mode that day.

They stared at her, looking puzzled.

Advertisement

Can we ask what youre recording for?

Getting no answer, they shook their heads and parted with a God bless, you have a good day.

She remarked to her phone how nice they were, because usually  predictably  they are not.

On Thursday, Perez got into an altercation that provoked a security guard at a Los Angeles synagogue to fire a shot that grazed her leg.

It was a bizarre cultural clash between a social media provocateur and a community on edge since the Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooting in October and rising incidents of anti-Semitism.

Perez filmed for 40 minutes outside the gates of the Etz Jacob Congregation/Ohel Chana High School building in the Fairfax District. As the security guard grew angrier, he filmed Perez in return, then pulled out his handgun.

Get away from the door, the guard said in one of two videos Perez posted to her Furry Potato Live YouTube channel. You try one more time and I shoot you.

The gun fired, and Perez repeatedly shouted that he shot her in the leg.

Advertisement

Police arrested the guard, Edduin Zelayagrunfeld on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. He could not be reached for comment Friday.

Perez was treated for her injury and gave a news conference later.

She is a self-proclaimed 1st Amendment auditor  a phenomenon that started in the last two years. According to Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardinos Center on Hate and Extremism, the audits usually involve people provoking police or others near sensitive locations who might challenge their right to assemble or film in a public space.

These are folks that like to leverage social media by going into public places, where they have a right to be, and testing the reactions to them by property owners and law enforcement, Levin said. Whats interesting is, it can go across the ideological spectrum. Its a movement, but its broad.

Advertisement

The movement has some roots among those who advocate for the rights to carry firearms openly, according to Levin, but the recent surge in auditing activity has more to do with large social media followings than any coherent political ideology.

Perez has more than 18,000 YouTube followers.

The Constitution protects even obnoxious gadflies, but I do have to step back for a second and say at a time when Germany, France, Britain and the U.S. have seen significant spikes in anti-Semitic hate crime, that to do this, is certainly constitutionally protected, but also seems to skirt common sense, Levin said.

In her videos, Perez seems to repeatedly prod at the edges of busy or popular locations around the Los Angeles area during interactions in which she starts out playfully confrontational but grows tenser as the minutes pass.

Advertisement

Just two weeks ago, she stood outside KTLAs Hollywood studio, hovering near entrance gates for several minutes until she was approached by a security guard.

The guard, incorrectly, told Perez she was not allowed to take pictures of the studio lot, even though she was standing on a public sidewalk. After several minutes of polite banter, the guard begins to try and block Perezs camera lens with his hand.

Once additional security is called to the scene, Perez begins to curse at the guards and make derisive comments about their weight. After roughly 30 minutes, two L.A. Police Department officers arrive and affirm Perezs right to film as long as she stays off private property, a reaction that Levin says is often the desired endgame for 1st Amendment auditors.

After asking for the officers names and badge numbers, however, Perez calls the female officer a tyrant as she leaves the scene.

Advertisement

Thursday was also not the first time Perezs actions provoked a violent response.

Late last year, Perez posted a video from outside the Islamic Center of Southern California in Koreatown  which received a phone threat about a shooting in 2016 from a man later found to have a cache of weapons when he was captured by the LAPD. She was pepper-sprayed by a security guard. The LAPD also responded to that scene, and Perez said she was on a public sidewalk when the guard sprayed her.

Although Levin did not know of Perezs activities before Thursday, he warned that, in general, some provocateurs may simply latch onto the auditor movement to gain notoriety.

Most of the people involved in this have a goal of sincerely illustrating 1st Amendment restrictions, but there are some who are more into goading conflict, and others who are into instant celebrity, he said.

Advertisement

In some of her videos, Perez talked about the possibility of being killed, knowing she was provoking people, particularly police officers.

Although there was always the potential for violence, some security professionals questioned the temple security guards decision to open fire. Louis Perry, owner of Kadima Security Services, which offers security to dozens of synagogues in Los Angeles, said the guard should never have taken his gun out.

What if it shot some kid on the street or an innocent bystander? What if he had killed the woman? Perry said.

He said the onus is on the institution to make sure its security guards are properly trained and vetted.

Advertisement

Demand for armed security at synagogues is at an all-time high.

In this new world, where terrorism [and fanaticism] reigns supreme.we must have guards, said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and its Museum of Tolerance. Now, every place is considered a battlefield.

Hier said the overwhelming majority of Jewish institutions across the U.S. have hired armed guards. To do otherwise would be too risky.

Not only should the guards at synagogues be armed, he said, the building should have the highest security measures possible, including working cameras that monitor the area 24/7.

Advertisement

After the attack in Pittsburgh, security has been a big concern for the Jewish community, said Jason Freidman, executive director of a company that trains and recruits volunteers to protect synagogues. The increase in demand has gone up 150%.

He said, based on comments on news articles and Perezs video, the incident has increased negative feelings toward the Jewish community.

Kristian Bikic, 27, a barista at Andante coffeehouse across the street from the synagogue, said he really liked the security guard who was regularly posted outside the synagogue.

He was a really nice guy. Weve observed him stop traffic for emergency vehicles when they passed through, sometimes five times a day, Bikic said. He seemed to know what he was doing.

Advertisement

But he expressed deep concern about the shooting. He said he understands that having an armed presence might make the community feel safer, but its a mixed bag if weapons arent handled in a safe manner.

But Sam Sugarman, 30, a regular at Andante, said he was disturbed by Perezs behavior on the video.

It was them basically casing the temple, he said. Im Jewish, so somebody filming the synagogue as if its some alien thing, with everything going on, thats pretty scary. I dont think the person was trying to be violent. I just think they were trying to get some sort of attention.

He said he could see how the security could have seen this person as a threat.

Advertisement

Sugarman didnt think the guard should have shot her, but added: My hunch was that he reacted out of fear for the kids he protects and for the community.

Times staff writer Benjamin Oreskes contributed to this report.
For years, Mayor John Duran has been a public avatar for West Hollywoods cheekily sexual culture.

From the City Council dais, he joked about wearing gold lame underwear and announced a public forum on anal cancer named Booty Call to Action. But he was also accused by another councilman of looking for sex on the dating app Grindr during public meetings.

Even after the city paid $500,000 in 2016 to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit brought by Durans former council deputy  whom Duran hired after meeting on Grindr and having sex with him  Duran was reelected.

For many, it seemed West Hollywood was the town that #MeToo forgot.

Advertisement

But now, amid new allegations of sexual harassment against Duran by members of the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles, some West Hollywood residents and politicians are saying enough is enough and that times have changed. Three of the citys five council members have called on Duran to resign, saying he has become a distraction.

Protesters are planning to converge on the City Council meeting Tuesday to call for Durans ouster and seek action in another scandal: the recent deaths of two gay black men in the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck, a white, wealthy Democratic donor and LGBTQ activist. For several years, Duran worked as an attorney for Buck.

Last week, Robert Oliver resigned as vice chair of the citys Public Safety Commission in protest after other commissioners declined to condemn Duran.

It is time that the #MeToo movement comes to West Hollywood, he said.

Duran, 59, has refused to step down, describing himself as a proudly sensual gay man who lived through a sexual revolution colliding against a prudish #MeToo movement thats too quick to judge. Bawdiness is just part of who hes always been, Duran said, and hes not going to change now.

Theres a culture clash going on, the mayor said. If somebody expresses himself or herself sexually, that doesnt make it harassment, per se.

People are thinking that anything sexual is harassment because somebody feels it is unwelcome, but you have to open your mouth and say, No, I dont want this.  Otherwise, how are any of us able to navigate the sexual politics of 2019? I just think there are bigger, more complex issues at play, that everyone needs to take a timeout and slow down. It cant be accusation equals guilt.

Three current or former members of the Gay Mens Chorus have accused Duran, the longtime board chairman, of crude sexual comments and engaging in unwanted touching.

Advertisement

Chorus member Brian Phillip Nichoalds said Duran slipped his hand inside Nichoalds waistband and made sexually charged comments. Joey Firoben, a former member, said Duran made inappropriate comments to him too.

Jason Tong, 23, who was both a singing member and part-time employee of the chorus, said that, in October, Duran came up behind him and put two fingers inside his waistband, near his hips, in a changing room before a show in Glendale. Tong said he turned around and made eye contact with Duran, who silently left the room.

I sort of went into a shocked state, Tong said. It all happened very quickly, five seconds or so.  I went to the next changing room over and told a couple of my friends what happened. Only then did I realize I had been violated by someone.

Tong said he was upset Duran was trying to blame a generational difference and that he knows lots of older gay men who definitely understand the idea of consent.

Advertisement

No matter how old you are, he said, its very easy to ask first.

Oliver, 29, said the accusations against Duran went beyond gay culture and colorful language.

Its his generation that made it possible for me to be an out, proud, liberated, married gay man today, Oliver said. But its my generations responsibility to take the lessons that we have learned collectively as a society and bring those to our LGBT community and teach his generation.

On Tuesday, City Council members Lindsey Horvath, Lauren Meister and John DAmico posted similar statements to their individual Facebook pages calling for Duran to resign.

Advertisement

Our City cannot focus on the work of the people when we have to address new and numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, including whether our Mayor used his title to solicit sexual favors, Horvath wrote.

City Atty. Mike Jenkins said state law did not allow the council of a general-law city to remove one of its members.

Duran told The Times that he thought his colleagues violated the states open-meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, by coordinating the statements, which were all posted within four minutes of each other. Jenkins said in an email that the statements reflect the individual views of each council member and are not the result of a coordinated effort.

Councilman John Heilman is the only member who has not publicly addressed the allegations.

Advertisement

Former West Hollywood Public Safety Commissioner Robert Oliver resigned in protest of fellow commissioners silence about accusations against Mayor John Duran. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Duran has been on the council since 2001 and has served four terms as mayor, a largely ceremonial title that rotates annually.

In a Facebook statement Wednesday, Duran wrote that gay people fought hard in the 1970s and 1980s for the right to maintain sexuality in the midst of plague and to come out on the other side into marriage equality.  Am I the only gay man in town who uses bawdy sexual humor? Or says inappropriate things? Nope.

So, will I resign? Those of you who know me  well know the answer. HELL NO.

Advertisement

Jeremy Goldbach, director of the Center for LGBT Health Equity at USC, said a certain level of off-color and gallows humor was part of life for many gay men who survived the AIDS crisis and that one of the defining characteristics for the LGBTQ rights movement was a willingness to push the boundaries on sexuality.

But I dont think the historical experiences in the LGBT community somehow provide permission for the way somebody acts today, he said. Were in a different time now, especially when people are in positions of power.  In those situations, it doesnt matter if you think something is offensive. What matters is the experience the other person is having.

Steve Martin, a former West Hollywood councilman who is gay, said gay elected officials had to follow the established rules because they represented everyone, not just the LGBTQ community.

Wrapping yourself in the flag of gay sexual liberation is just a dodge for irresponsible conduct, Martin said. Elected office is a public trust; this aint no nightclub, this aint no disco, as the song goes. Bathhouse conduct is not appropriate at City Hall or in any professional setting.

Advertisement

In October, Mike Gerle, the citys events services coordinator, formally complained to West Hollywoods human resources department about Duran. Gerle said he was working at a city-sponsored protest at West Hollywood Park with a giant balloon depicting President Trump as an infant when he heard Duran make a sexually charged comment to a photographer lying on the ground, saying he was always on his back.

Gerle, 53, also formally complained that Duran made inappropriate sexual advances toward his boyfriend, Dennis Gleason, on Grindr during a city-funded trip to a National League of Cities event in Washington, D.C., in 2018.

In Grindr screenshots provided to The Times, Duran asked to come to Gleasons room. Gleason declined, saying it was a little too close to home and that he worked for Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino and was dating Gerle.

Duran wrote: Oh my god. I didnt realize that. Disregard!

Advertisement

A few minutes later, he wrote: [Oral sex] shouldnt count. But Gerle would Hate me. A few minutes later, he asked again for a sex act, then wrote, Oh come on. That was slightly funny.

Gerle, a former International Mr. Leather, said he and Gleason had an open relationship and that his boyfriend could have sex with whomever he wanted  but that Duran crossed a line because he kept pursuing Gleason even after Gleason indicated he was uninterested.

Its about consent.  He has this sense of entitlement that because were gay, I can do whatever I want with you because thats our culture. Hes decided thats our culture. He doesnt understand that every gay man gets to decide what interactions he has. You dont get a pass.

Gleason, 37, the policy director for Buscaino, said Durans statements about a generational divide sounds like the same thing, to me, as locker-room talk. 

Advertisement

In a Feb. 11 letter to Gerle, the city said his complaints were unsubstantiated and that Human Resources recommends continuing to limit your interaction with Mayor Duran, per your request, without diminishing your job responsibilities or opportunities for advancement.

In an interview with the WeHo Times, a local news website, Duran dismissed his accusers from the chorus. Duran said that before Tong made a complaint, he had never heard of him.

I looked him up on Facebook and of course, hes a skinny Korean kid with pimples on his cheek.  Look at this guy. Its just not happening. Its not credible, Duran told the publication.

API Equality-LA, an Asian and Pacific Islander LGBTQ rights organization, condemned Durans victim-blaming and racist statements, saying Asian men have long been discriminated against in gay communities.

Advertisement

Estevan Montemayor, president of the board for Christopher Street West, the nonprofit that produces L.A. Pride, said Durans comment was very Trumpian.

He has dismissed his accusers because of the way they look and who they are. Its the same tactic. It is deplorable, said Montemayor, who said he had long considered Duran a friend.

Tong said he felt like he was being body shamed but that like every skinny, queer person of color who happens to be relatively young, its not like I havent been victimized like this before.

And besides, Tong added: Im not Korean; Im Chinese.

Advertisement

Times staff writer Jessica Gelt contributed to this report.
New Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is testing supporters with his unorthodox approach as the regions top cop.

Only two months on the job, Villanueva fired his departments top brass and asked others to reapply for their positions. His reinstatement of a deputy fired amid allegations of domestic abuse and stalking prompted a rare rebuke from several Los Angeles County supervisors.

Villanueva has also suggested that jail reforms put in place in response to a pattern of deputy violence against inmates has led to a rise in attacks against deputies and staff. But he used jail violence data known to be unreliable to make that case.

Several groups or individuals who endorsed the sheriff say they are sticking by him, despite the controversies.

Advertisement

By and large, people understand that the work of a reform is a long arc, said Hans Johnson, president of the East Area Progressive Democrats. Were not rushing to judgment.

Johnson said that Villanueva won the East Areas endorsement with his promises for more transparency, specifically related to jail oversight and the handling of immigrant detainees.

Bob Schoonover, president of Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents social workers, nurses and janitors, said workplace safety is the No. 1 issue for his members.

Our support for Sheriff Villanueva was rooted in trust, Schoonover said. He said he was unafraid to tackle the problems in the jails and we are looking forward to work with him and see him follow through.

Villanueva confounded the political establishment with his 2018 election victory over incumbent Sheriff Jim McDonnell. His slogan was Reform, Rebuild, Restore, and he promised sweeping changes at the Sheriffs Department, though was short on details in his campaign speeches.

An unlikely combination of voters  a left-wing base determined to challenge President Trumps crackdown on immigrants and sheriffs deputies eager to overhaul the departments hiring and promoting practices  supported his candidacy.

The political arm of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the union for rank-and-file deputies, gave $1.32 million to an outside group supporting Villanueva.

Ron Hernandez, president of the union, said that instances of inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-deputy violence have increased, based on what he hears from his members.

Advertisement

I believe we can all agree that weve made significant progress in reforms since the tenure of Sheriff [Lee] Baca, Hernandez said, referring to McDonnells predecessor. We must ensure deputy safety as we continue that effort.

As for Caren Carl Mandoyan  the deputy who was fired in 2016 by McDonnell in connection with allegations of domestic abuse and stalking, and later reinstated by Villanueva  Hernandez said the union respects the sheriffs right to pick his team.

Hernandez also said he appreciates the sheriffs stated approach to carefully review past terminations.

But former Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina, who endorsed Villanueva, criticized the sheriffs recent remarks that called efforts by the department to reduce force against inmates a social experiment.

Advertisement

Its disappointing and discouraging, said Molina, adding that rolling back reforms could bring liability to the county. Im looking at this and saying, what are you thinking?

Molina said that during the campaign she heard Villanueva talk about making changes at the jails. But she thought he was referring to the patronage system that allowed some deputies to be promoted over others, she said.

Ray Leyva, Villanuevas undersheriff, declined to comment on the criticism.

Villanueva was backed in his campaign by immigrant rights groups energized by his campaign promise to prohibit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from entering any Sheriffs Department facilities to conduct civil immigration actions.

Advertisement

The sheriff is now considering other moves, including looking at whether the Sheriffs Departments website should continue publishing release dates. ICE uses that information to stake out inmates as theyre released from jail and take them into federal custody.

The sheriff met recently with immigration groups to talk about his plan for the jails, said Pablo Alvarado, the co-executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, who was at the briefing.

We welcome any change that provides protection for immigrants, Alvarado said.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights, described Villanueva as a reformer and attentive to policy. But hes not a natural politician and needs to explain to the public why hes taking the actions he is, she said.

Advertisement

Or else the support that brought him to this position could fade, Salas said.

Several other high-profile political names who endorsed him either declined comment or didnt return phone calls. Former state Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg, now running for a Los Angeles Unified school board seat, declined to weigh in on Villanuevas actions so far.

Former state Sen. Kevin de Leon was another big name who endorsed Villanueva in last years race.

De Leon recently rolled out his own campaign for the Los Angeles City Council District 14 seat and released a list of more than two dozen supporters, which included Villanueva.

Advertisement

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
Los Angeles County health officials said Friday that bringing in cats to deal with City Halls rat infestation would only spread the fleas being carried by rodents.

The fleas from the rat would immediately jump onto the cat, said Dr. Dawn Terashita, an associate director with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

During a council meeting to discuss City Halls rat problem, Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson had suggested that an army of cats could be used to catch rodents at the downtown government building. A recent rash of sightings has raised concerns about infections of typhus, which can be spread by flea-carrying rats.

Los Angeles city leaders are now seeking solutions. City workers say theyve seen fleas, rodent droppings and partially eaten potted plants.

Advertisement

At least two employees also believe they were bitten by fleas, including Deputy City Atty. Elizabeth Greenwood. Greenwood says she was diagnosed with the illness while working in City Hall East and has not returned to work since November.

Last week, the council ordered a handful of city agencies to assess the infestation in and around City Hall. At Fridays council meeting, leaders from several city agencies said employees are monitoring rodent burrows, trimming trees and doing more street cleanings in the civic center neighborhood.

City employees also have been told to notify their supervisors about flea bites or typhus cases.

Some city officials have suggested the rat infestation is due to the demolition of Parker Center, the former police department headquarters across from City Hall East on Los Angeles Street. Others, including City Councilman Joe Buscaino, have linked the problem to the citys homelessness crisis.

On Friday, Wesson said he wants experts to find the source of the problem.

We do have issues. Theres too many reports of rodents, Wesson said. I dont think its because of skid row  not entirely. I dont think its because of the building being torn down east of here.

Speaking recently to ABC-7, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti suggested the risk of contracting typhus was being blown out of proportion.

Its been rats since Ive been there, said Garcetti, who was elected to the City Council in 2001. [There is] one case that may or may not have come from there, but that still is in the normal range of what we have each year.

Advertisement

He added that the larger problem is making sure that we end homelessness in Los Angeles and not to get distracted by a report of a flea or this or that. There are people who can get that from their pets. They can get it from all sorts of places.

However, Terashita said Friday that the number of typhus cases is on the rise. There were a total of 19 cases in downtown L.A. last year, up from fewer than five cases in 2017 and 2016, according to the county.

Last fall, there were so many cases that the county warned of an outbreak in downtown L.A. According to the Department of Public Healths website, the flea-borne illness spreads to people through bites and feces from infected fleas.

Greenwood on Friday accused Garcetti of mocking her typhus diagnosis.

Advertisement

Its a serious issue, which is why I went public, the deputy city attorney said in an interview with The Times. The rats and the fleas arent the problem. The problem is feces and urine, and the rotting trash around City Hall.

Meanwhile, two affordable housing groups  Housing Is a Human Right and the Coalition to Preserve LA  used the debate to call attention to the FBI investigation at City Hall by putting a giant inflatable rat outside the downtown building on Friday. The groups want an expanded investigation of corruption into City Hall.

dakota.smith@latimes.com

Twitter: @dakotacdsmith
For more than a year, giant rodent invaders with orange-hued teeth have munched through Californias marshland, threatening significant damage to the states wetlands and water infrastructure.

Nutria  large, web-footed mammals native to South America that resemble beavers  showed up in Merced County in 2017, alarming wildlife officials with their propensity to quickly reproduce, their voracious appetite for vegetation and their ability to destroy underground infrastructure.

The animals can grow to 2 feet in length and weigh 20 pounds and are recognized by their extra-large reddish-orange incisors. And, boy, do they use them.

Nutria populations not only destroy the states already diminished wetlands by consuming vegetation, but also burrow into the ground, potentially damaging irrigation canals and levees. This poses a risk to the states drinking water supply and could expose communities and farm fields to flooding, said Peter Tira, a spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Advertisement

Officials worry the semiaquatic rodents, which have been found on the fringe of the San Joaquin River Delta, will ravage the area and harm infrastructure that sends water to San Joaquin Valley farms and urban areas.

Wildlife officials have developed a plan to remove the nutria before their population explodes out of control but say they need more money to make that happen.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife asked the state Legislature last month to appropriate $1.9 million for the 2019-20 fiscal year to pay for a dedicated team of 10 scientists, analysts and other experts to track and eradicate the pests. The agency also asked for $1.6 million in subsequent years to fund the program.

Officials have already started hunting down the critters but say their efforts have been crippled by a lack of full-time staff.

Almost every female weve caught has been pregnant. Theyre incredibly prolific, which is why we have to get on it quickly, said Tira.

Theyre a threat to our multibillion-dollar agricultural economy, and theyre a public safety threat, he added. If they get entrenched in the Delta, they pose a huge threat to our water. It would be hard to get them out of there, and it would have consequences for the whole state.

Senior Wildlife Biologist Greg Gerstenberg examines three nutria caught near Gustine, Calif., within the previous two days in February 2018. (Randall Benton / AP)

State biologists had trapped 386 nutria in California as of last week. The majority of the creatures  316  were found in Merced. However, experts have captured the animals in San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, Mariposa and Fresno counties.

Advertisement

The nutria population is growing faster in the Central Valley than the state can currently combat, officials said, in large part because of their reproductive cycles. Females can produce up to 13 young per litter, have a relatively short gestation period and can breed again within 48 hours of giving birth.

Based on what is known about nutria and their current reproductive rate and distribution, without immediate action, nutria will rapidly expand their numbers and geographic presence and cause extensive damage to wetlands, riparian habitat, restoration projects, levees, water conveyance and flood-protection infrastructure, and agriculture, the Department of Fish and Wildlife wrote in a proposal to the state Legislature. It is not clear when  or if  the Legislature will consider the proposal.

Nutria were first brought to California in the late 1800s in an effort to establish a fur farm industry. When that business collapsed in the 1940s, some of the animals were released into the wild. State records indicate that nutria were present in the Central Valley and the south coast of California. They were declared eradicated from the state by the 1970s  until one showed up in a beaver trap in spring 2017 in Merced County. Since then, the population has exploded.

Trapping nutria is a meticulous process that involves sending biologists to survey landscapes for scat or other signs of the rodents and setting up cameras to confirm their presence. If nutria are spotted, trappers nab the animals, which eventually are euthanized. When nutria show up on private property, state officials have to negotiate with property owners for access to corral them.

Advertisement

We believe weve caught the infestation early enough that we can remove them from California, but its not going to be quick, Tira said. Its going to take a few years, for sure.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
The Lone Cypress clinging to a granite promontory above the surf on Californias Monterey Peninsula has survived arsonists fires, vandals paint, drought and relentless winds along the famously scenic 17-Mile Drive edging the Pebble Beach Resorts.

But on Thursday, the most photographed tree in North America was lashed by a brutal Pacific storm that knocked off one of its largest branches, significantly altering the appearance of the tree that has been a marketing tool and a registered trademark of the Pebble Beach Co. since 1919.

Until now, the tree, believed to be more than 250 years old, had posed for generations of camera-toting travelers like a steadfast example of rugged individualism.

The Pebble Beach Co. told the Associated Press on Friday that the loss of a limb was a natural part of the evolution of The Lone Cypress Tree, and that an arborist recently concluded that it is healthy and remains secure on its rocky perch.

Advertisement

But judging from KSBW Action News 8 reports, however, visitors gathering around the tree over the weekend were engaging in a new activity that started immediately after word spread that it had lost a limb, along with an estimated 1/3 of its foliage.

They were comparing images of the tree captured in personal snapshots, postcards and advertisements with the damaged contours of the world-famous example of the Monterey Cypress, which naturally occurs no other place on Earth but around Pebble Beach and Point Lobos.

Among them was Richard Yaus. His eyes alternating between the image on a Pebble Beach brochure and the spindly old conifer on the Gibraltar-like headlands, he sadly confirmed, It doesnt look like it used to.

Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com

@LouisSahagun
Iran on Saturday rejected accusations of anti-Semitism levelled against it by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, saying it respected Judaism but opposed Israel, which Tehran said was acting like a "killing machine against the Palestinians".

Pence accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism on Friday after visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, maintaining his harsh rhetoric just a day after attacking European powers for trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

"Iran's historic and cultural record of coexistence and respect for divine religions, particularly Judaism, is recorded in reliable historic documents of various nations," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

"The principle that underlies our foreign policy is the aggressive and occupying nature of the Zionist regime (Israel)..., which is a killing machine against the Palestinian people," Qasemi said, according the ministry's website.

Speaking to Germany's Der Spiegel Online, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described Pence's accusation as "laughable", adding: "Iran has always supported the Jews. We are just against Zionists. The Holocaust was a disaster."

Iran's ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000-20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but it is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel.

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander in January threatened Israel, which Iran does not recognise, with destruction if it attacks Iran, state media reported.

The United States is seeking to isolate Tehran. It reimposed economic sanctions last year after pulling out of the landmark 2015 Iran accord with world powers aimed at preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

The European Union is trying to keep the nuclear deal alive, however, and has developed a mechanism to open a channel to continue trade with Iran, drawing sharp criticism of Brussels from Pence on Thursday.

Short link:


Federal law enforcement officials seized more than 220 pounds of cocaine last month on two ships that arrived in Port Hueneme in Ventura County, officials said Friday.

The first stash, about 204 pounds, was discovered on Jan. 22 by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers who boarded a refrigerated ship that had arrived from Ecuador. Agents found 80 bundles of the drug wrapped and hidden under the boats floorboards.

Six days later, agents found seven more bundles weighing more than 17 pounds under the floor of a cargo ship from Guatemala.

The seizures, part of a joint effort between Border Patrol agents and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, were the biggest drug bust at the port in decades, the agencies said.

Advertisement

A smaller stash of cocaine was discovered beneath the floorboards of another cargo ship from Guatemala six days later. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

This is the largest drug seizure at Port Hueneme in the last quarter of a century, said LaFonda Sutton-Burke, CBP port director of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Seaport and Port Hueneme. Im extremely proud of the results of this joint effort; it shows the professionalism, vigilance and keen focus of both agencies in preventing dangerous drugs into our communities.

Earlier this month, Border Patrol officials in Los Angeles announced they had found more than 1.7 tons of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin in two containers being shipped from the Los Angeles-Long Beach port to Australia.

christine.maiduc@latimes.com

For more on California politics, follow @cmaiduc.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Trump administration this week over its recent policy that returns asylum seekers to Mexico while they wait for their cases in U.S. immigration court.

The ACLU has sued over  and successfully blocked  a number of immigration policies put forth by the Trump administration. Many anticipated that the organization would similarly fight the Trump administrations migrant protection protocols, known more informally as remain in Mexico, in federal court.

The program began as a pilot at the San Ysidro Port of Entry south of San Diego with single adults from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala being returned to Tijuana to wait for court dates in the U.S. A total of 73 people, including 13 children, have been returned since the program was implemented in late January.

The Trump administration is forcibly returning asylum seekers to danger in Mexico, said Judy Rabinovitz, deputy director of the ACLUs Immigrants Rights Project. Once again, the administration is breaking the law in order to deter asylum seekers from seeking safety in the United States.

Advertisement

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in the Northern District of California on behalf of 11 returnees from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. All of the returned plaintiffs, who are listed under pseudonyms in the complaint, say they fear for their lives in Tijuana.

Several said they were victims of violence in Tijuana. One said he was robbed at gunpoint and told by the robbers if they ever saw him again they would kill him. Two more said that they, along with other migrants, were threatened by local residents with sticks or rocks.

Two of the plaintiffs said they have had issues with Mexican police. One said he had to pay a bribe to police to avoid being arrested.

Another plaintiff said that on his way through Mexico he was kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel and worries that they will find him if he stays in the country.

Asylum seekers in Mexico face a heightened risk of kidnapping, disappearance, trafficking, sexual assault, and murder, among other harms, the complaint says. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons, as well as people of indigenous heritage, are particularly at risk.

The complaint also says that being returned to Mexico may prevent asylum seekers from finding attorneys and getting ready for their hearings.

Instead of being able to focus on preparing their cases, asylum seekers forced to return to Mexico will have to focus on trying to survive, the complaint says. These pressures may deter even those with the strongest asylum claims to give up, rather than endure the wait under such conditions.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said: The Migrant Protection Protocols are a vital response to the crisis at our southern border. The Department of Homeland Security is exercising its statutory authority to help alleviate this humanitarian and security crisis and secure our nation. We appreciate the Department of Justices support and partnership throughout this process.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, just over two weeks after U.S. officials began sending individual asylum seekers back to Tijuana while their claims are processed, the first families were returned to Mexico on Wednesday.

As rain moved in over the border region, a couple, four mothers and a total of 10 children were sent back to wait at Tijuanas El Chaparral plaza, according to Mexican immigration officials.

Another three children were returned with families on Thursday to the plaza. At least three of the children returned so far are 5 or younger, according to Mexicos National Migration Institute.

Asylum seekers stand in the plaza each morning to listen for their names to be called from the waiting list to ask the U.S. for protection. There were about 2,600 people on the list on Wednesday.

Advertisement

As word of the new policy, initially announced in December and implemented in late January, spread among those waiting to cross over the past two months, parents have worried about what would happen if they had to spend months in Tijuana while their cases were pending in the U.S.

Many of Tijuanas migrant shelters are in violent areas. Several parents spoke of hearing gunshots at night outside shelters and didnt want their children to have to spend more time there.

Tonatiuh Guillen, the head of Mexicos immigration agency, said last month that Mexico would not accept returnees under 18 and would not allow the program to expand beyond Tijuana.

Trump administration officials have said they would extend the program to other ports of entry along the southwest border and that the program could grow to include people from other countries.

Advertisement

Morrissey and Dibble write for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com
When our mother died last month, after a bungled transfer from hospital to residential hospice care that caused her unnecessary pain and distress, my siblings and I briefly considered suing.

It wasnt about money. As my sister said at the time, it just didnt seem right to let the hospice agency  which acknowledged and apologized for its failures  keep operating the same way without being held accountable.

But a drawn-out court battle didnt seem like much of a solution.

Was there another option?

Advertisement

Yes, said Charlene Harrington, a professor at the UC San Francisco nursing school and a former official with the state Department of Public Health. For years, Harrington has been one of Californias chief elder care advocates and a critic of the lack of regulatory oversight and useful information for consumers.

To Grace Lopez with love  and apologies that your end wasnt better 

Harrington said grieving families are often too busy after a death making funeral arrangements and trying to move on with their lives, or theyre unaware that theres a formal complaint process if theyre unhappy with the hospice care received by a loved one. And besides, hospice is for people close to death, so its not always easy to determine what should and shouldnt be reported.

People dont know to complain, and for the most part, they dont know theres a state website for that, said Harrington.

So even with more than 1,300 hospice agencies in California serving a growing population of patients, the number of complaints filed is small. And, as I would discover, fines are extremely rare.

Harrington referred me to the state Department of Public Health Licensing and Certification Program, which she ran during Gov. Jerry Browns first term back in the 1970s. It was confusing, but I finally clicked on complaint and got kicked over to the Cal Health Find Database, where I entered the name of the hospice agency, filled out a complaint form and submitted it.

Ill let you know how that goes, but it could take awhile.

Mike Connors of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform helped me locate and navigate state records that suggest some alarming shortcomings in oversight of hospice agencies.

Advertisement

They dont do a whole hell of a lot, he said of state regulators.

In 2016-17, the last fiscal year for which data are available, the Department of Public Health received 213 hospice complaints, according to records. Connors agrees with Harrington that the relatively small number is because the general public simply isnt aware that a hospice complaint process exists.

Those 213 complaints remained open investigations for an average of 358 days, said Connors, which suggests I may be waiting a year to hear the results of the complaint I filed last week. And Connors found evidence in state records of only one penalty imposed against a hospice agency in 2016-17.

At 92, Happi Hicks is too blessed to be stressed. All hospice care should be this way 

Advertisement

Nursing homes always have a very high priority and hospice has always been way down on the list of priorities. That just seems wrong, said Connors. It may have made sense when hospice care was a small nonprofit enterprise, Connors said, but it has evolved into what is largely a corporate for-profit industry that costs Medicare roughly $18 billion annually in the United States.

When I asked Connors if California was complying with a federal requirement to recertify hospice agencies every three years, his answer was at least as alarming as the rest of what he had to say.

Roughly 80% of hospice agencies, records show, are not reviewed and recertified by the state. Instead, Connors said, they opt to pay private accreditation companies to evaluate their performance. Thats allowable, Connors said, but its a system fraught with potential for huge conflicts of interest.

I wanted to hear what the state had to say about all of this, so I sent a list of questions on Thursday to the Department of Public Health. I wanted to know why there appear to be so few sanctions, and how we can expect greater accountability without them, and I wanted to know whether, given the aging population and growth of hospice, the state intends to do more to let people know theres a complaint process. Late on Friday, I got an email from a state spokesman who said he wouldnt be able to give me any answers until next week. So stay tuned for that.

Advertisement

I should say, as I have before, that Im a big believer in the benefits of hospice care, and it appears the vast majority of families have positive experiences. Ill never forget the professionalism and compassion of individual hospice nurses and attendants I met in the final days of my parents lives.

But boomers are headed for the finish line in greater numbers than ever without the benefit of adequate oversight of the hospice industry and without enough information to choose the right agency.

For years, Harrington tried to fill the void with a consumer-friendly website -- CalQualityCare.org. The joint operation between UCSF and the California Health Care Foundation compiled data from various sources to give consumers a road map and tip sheet for choosing good care facilities and avoiding those with reported deficiencies. For hospice agencies, the site had a ratings system that was easy to use.

But CalQualityCare ran out of money several years ago and is looking for a new sponsor.

Advertisement

In the meantime, Harrington said, consumers dont know where to look for information, and no one place has all the useful data. If consumers happen to find it, the website medicare.gov/hospicecompare has reviews of hospice agencies, and its possible, though not easy, to find records of complaints like the one I filed on the California Department of Public Health website.

Harrington said that with so many patients going directly from hospital to hospice, as my mother did, hospitals need to do a much better job of helping families educate themselves on hospice options, and they need to allow them adequate time to make informed decisions before discharging dying patients.

I told Harrington that to our family, my mothers discharge felt rushed by the hospital. She was suffering from kidney disease, heart problems, dementia and delirium, and there was pressure to quickly choose a hospice agency. It did not seem to us that we had any option but moving my mother quickly.

As a result, she was transported to a hospice facility in distress, without being sedated, and with none of her prescribed medication. My sister was in a panic, trying to calm our mother while calling the hospice agency to ask why they hadnt sent a nurse, as promised. This went on for hours.

Advertisement

Harrington put the blame on both the hospice agency and the hospital.

They want to get you out the door, Harrington said of hospitals. This is one of the problems Ive been fighting for years.

Hospice care, as one doctor told me, is like the rest of American health care. Its often great and sometimes not. We cant expect dying to always be a smooth or pain-free process, but terminally ill patients in their final days shouldnt have to suffer unnecessarily.

Im still going through the mail from my first hospice column, but if youve got a story to share, send it my way.

Advertisement

Get more of Steve Lopezs work and follow him on Twitter @LATstevelopez
Los Angeles police are investigating a posting on social media this week that shows a camouflage-clad figure wearing a vest packed with explosives and standing menacingly in front of a Photoshopped explosion at the top of a downtown office tower.

Above the terrorists head is this warning: Our promise will soon be fulfilled.

The LAPD on Saturday tweeted that it is aware of the posting but has not been able to find any credible threat against buildings in our city.

Nevertheless, we are taking this very seriously, police said, and are working with our federal partners to coordinate any information that will lead to the source of the post.

Advertisement

As a precaution, officials say they have boosted security dramatically in areas they consider vulnerable to truck and car bombs that could be detonated next to crowded terminals and sidewalks.

But the threat portrayed in the posting did not rise to the level of credibility that justified a public warning over the Presidents Day weekend.

As always, we encourage every Angeleno to heighten their awareness, police advised in a tweet. And if you see something, say something. Report it to iWatchLA.org or call 1-877-ATHREAT.

Protecting soft targets has long been an issue in Los Angeles. For years experts have expressed special concern about the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, Hollywood studios and bridges, as well as Los Angeles International Airport.

In 1980, a homemade explosive was set off at the China Airlines counter at LAX. It caused damage, but no one was hurt.

In 1999, there was a plot to blow up LAX at the start of the millennium.

In 2002, a classified report warned that a merchant ship with 40 Al Qaeda terrorists hidden onboard was believed steaming toward Southern California. Their plan: Unload near Santa Catalina Island and then strike downtown Los Angeles.

After several weeks of searching, the FBI was unable to substantiate the intelligence information it had received. Nonetheless, Catalina Island officials and merchants struggled to reduce the impact of the intelligence tip on tourism.

Advertisement

Louis.Sahagun@latimes.com

@LouisSahagun
From: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

To: Membership

Re: Addendum

The academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the plan to present four Oscar awards  Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short and Makeup and Hairstyling  during commercial breaks in the telecast. We take these concerns seriously. All Academy Awards will now be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday, Feb. 24.

Advertisement

And while were at it, we would like to formally apologize for The Greatest Show on Earth winning best picture over High Noon, Going My Way over Double Indemnity, Shakespeare in Love over Saving Private Ryan, Crash over Brokeback Mountain and for Dances With Wolves ever being made.

We would also like to retroactively nominate Barbra Streisand in the best director category for Yentl, which we were too mean to admit is a very good movie. We would also like to give Bill Murray the best actor Oscar for Lost in Translation, because, honestly, he deserved it.

Marisa Tomei gets to keep her Oscar, though, because that was not a mistake  she was terrific in My Cousin Vinny.

We cannot change but deeply regret the following: encouraging James Franco to convince Anne Hathaway that hosting together was a great idea, giving James Cameron a platform on which he could announce he was king of the world, telling Seth MacFarlane that We Saw Your Boobs was a go, and not insisting that David Letterman just stop with the Uma/Oprah thing already.

We are currently rewriting the shows script to include separate categories for best picture, drama, and best picture, comedy, because we believe every movie craft should be honored equally.

In that same spirit, we are re-instituting the juvenile Oscar and the awards for best assistant director, best title writing and best dance direction.

Also there will be new categories, for best script supervisor, because without those folks, movies would never get made, and for best depiction of a British royal and/or Winston Churchill because, well, it just keeps coming up.

We are currently rebuilding the stage so there are no steps to imperil the lives of women, or men, in high heels and we have asked the Los Angeles Philharmonic to perform the entire score for each and every nominated film, twice for Bohemian Rhapsody.

Advertisement

And finally, no winners will ever again be played off  we heard you and we want to hear you, even if you are just rattling off a random list of names and saying Oh God, I cant believe this 820 times.

If the television audience doesnt like it, well, were meeting with their reps Tuesday.

mary.mcnamara@latimes.com

@marymacTV
Astaire Dances 2: Fred & Ginger American Contemporary Ballet re-creates five of movie legend Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers classic dance routines; program also includes the suite from Balanchines Who Cares? Cooper Design Space, 860 S. Los Angeles St., 11th floor, L.A. Sun., 1 and 4 p.m. $45-$90. (213) 304-3408.

Awe and Wonder Donna Sternberg & Dancers presents works created by local choreographers in collaboration with scientists from a variety of fields. The Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. Sun., 3 p.m. $20-$30. (310) 260-1198.

Matthew Bournes Cinderella The choreographer reimagines the Prokofiev ballet based on the classic fairytale as a romantic fable set in London during WWII. Ahmanson Theater, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A. Sun., next Sun., 1 and 6:30 p.m.; Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; ends March 10. $30-$135. (213) 972-4400.

Ebb & Flow: Culver City 2019 Heidi Duckler Dance hosts this site-specific, climate change-themed festival integrating dance, visual arts, music and technology. Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, 6300 Hetzler Road, Culver City. Sat., next Sun., 11 a.m. Free. www.heididuckler.org.

Advertisement

Forever Flamenco by Fanny Ara Ara is joined by fellow dancers Reyes Barrios, Marina Elena and Timo Nunez for this entry in the monthly series. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A. Next Sun., 8 p.m. $30-$50. (323) 663-1525.
Jonathan Weedman will leave as executive director of the Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles after the groups board of directors voted not to renew his contract, Weedman said Friday.

The decision comes after news stories detailing financial turmoil within the organization and allegations of sexual misconduct against board chairman John Duran, the mayor of West Hollywood  allegations Duran has denied.

At an executive session of the board Wednesday night, board members considered dissolving GMCLA in the face of a nearly $200,000 budget shortfall but voted against the idea. They also discussed whether to renew Weedmans contract, which expired last month.

My belief in the possibility and promise of GMCLA remains undiminished, and I wish only the best for the organization going forward, Weedman said in an interview after confirming his departure. It is a community and cultural treasure that deserves and merits everyones support.

Advertisement

A faction of chorus members had been calling for the resignations of Weedman and Duran during the last few weeks. Duran said he would leave his post at the end of the current season. In an interview prior to Wednesdays executive session, Weedman expressed concern that recent bad press, coupled with financial troubles that he felt the group could overcome, had created a perfect storm.

The date of Weedmans last day with the chorus has not yet been decided, Weedman said, and he will help during the transition.

During his two years as executive director, Jonathan was responsible for the groundbreaking Dos Coros Una Voz concert with the Mexico City Gay Mens Chorus, the launch of the first peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, and the expansion of GMCLAs educational programs and community outreach under his leadership, the chorus said in a statement, adding that it wished Weedman the best in his future endeavors.

jessica.gelt@latimes.com

@jessicagelt
Capsule reviews are by Charles McNulty (C.M.), Philip Brandes (P.B.), F. Kathleen Foley (F.K.F.), Margaret Gray (M.G.) and Daryl H. Miller (D.H.M.).

Openings

The Obsession of Calvin Klein Ryan Raffertys semi-fictionalized musical about the fashion designer. Rockwell Table & Stage, 1714 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. Sun.-Mon., 8 p.m. $25-$45. (323) 669-1550.

The Road Theatre Fundraiser Features readings from My Life in Yankee Stadium: 40 Years as a Vendor and other Tales of Growing Up Somewhat Sane in the Bronx by Stewart J. Zully. The Road on Magnolia, 10747 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Sun., 5:30 p.m. $15. www.roadtheatre.org.

The Living Room Series Staged reading of Diane Baia Hales The Rake of His Heart. The Blanks 2nd Stage Theatre, 6500 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Mon., 8 p.m. $15 suggested donation. (323) 661-9827.

Advertisement

Evita Andrew Lloyd Webbers hit musical about the iconic first lady of Argentina. The Granada Theatre, 1214 State St., Santa Barbara. Tue.-Wed., 7:30 p.m. $44 and up. (805) 899-2222.

Kinky Boots A drag queen helps the owner of a failing shoe factory turn things around in this Tony-winning musical comedy from Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper. Hollywood Pantages, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; next Sun., 1 and 6:30 p.m.; ends Feb. 24. $35 and up; children under 5 not admitted. (800) 982-2787.

The Pack at the Pico New monthly reading series features original short comedies by Eugene Pack. The Pico, 10508 W. Pico Blvd., L.A. Tue., 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation: $5. (310) 204-4440.

These Violent Delights Reading of Jonathan Josephsons Romeo and Juliet-inspired mashup of action, horror, adventure and romantic comedy. Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West, L.A. Wed. Pay what you want. RSVP at www.jonathanjosephson.com.

The Cemetery Club Three Jewish widows kvetch about their late husbands in Ivan Menchells comedy. Little Fish Theatre, 777 S. Centre St., San Pedro. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends March 17. $15-$27. (310) 512-6030.

Off the Top! Broadway veteran Jason Kravits returns in this improvised evening of musical comedy. Upstairs at Vitellos, 4349 Tujunga Ave., Studio City. Thu., 8 p.m. $20; food and drink minimums apply. (818) 769-0905.

Unitard: Tard Core  Refreshed! The sketch-comedy trio returns with this adult-themed show. Cavern Club Celebrity Theater @ Casita Del Campo, 1920 Hyperion Ave., L.A. Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m. $20. (800) 838-3006.

What if they went to Moscow? Brazilian theater artist Christiane Jatahy reimagines the Chekov classic Three Sisters in this mix of theater and live cinema; in Portuguese with English supertitles. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., L.A. Thu.-Sat., 8:30 p.m.; next Sun., 1 p.m. $16-$30. (213) 237-2800.

Advertisement

The Clairvoyants Mentalist duo as seen on Americas Got Talent performs. La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Fri., 8 p.m. $30-$52. (562) 944-9801.

God Help Us! Ed Asner stars as the Almighty in benefit performances of Samuel Warren Joseph and Phil Proctors political comedy. Robert S. Wentz Theater, 600 Irvine Ave., Newport Beach. Fri., 7 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 7 p.m. $25-$40. www.nhhsdrama.com.

How Were Different From Animals For its inaugural production, Elan Ensemble stages this new work based on a book of short stories by author and filmmaker Miranda July. Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., L.A. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 3 p.m.; ends March 24. $25. (310) 990-2023.

Life Could Be a Dream An aspiring 1960s doo-wop group enters a radio contest in this family-friendly jukebox musical. International City Theatre, Long Beach Performing Arts Center, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends March 10. $47-$55. (562) 436-4610.

Advertisement

Othello Shakespeares tragedy of the Moor of Venice. The Helen Borgers Theatre, 4250 Atlantic Blvd., Long Beach. Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends March 16. $12.50, $22.50. (562) 997-1494.

The Bourgeois Gentleman City Garage revives its 2008 production of Molieres 17th-century satire about a would-be social climber. City Garage, Bergamot Station, building T1, 2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 4 p.m.; ends April 7. $20, $25; Sundays, pay what you can, at the door only. (310) 453-9939.

Hype Man A hip-hop trio on the verge of stardom is shaken by the police shooting of a black teen in the West Coast premiere of Idris Goodwins drama. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends April 14. $25-$45. (323) 663-1525.

The Judas Kiss David Hares drama about the playwright Oscar Wildes ill-fated romance with Lord Alfred Douglas. Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2 p.m.; ends March 24. $20-$39. (626) 683-6801.

Advertisement

Lend Me a Tenor An opera company in 1930s Cleveland scrambles to fill an important role in Ken Ludwigs classic backstage farce. Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach. Sat., 8 p.m.; ends March 23. $14-$27. (562) 494-1014.

The Magic Theatre Five top magicians perform close-up magic in intimate settings. La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada. Sat., 7 and 9 p.m. $45. (562) 944-9801.

Tuesdays with Morrie Stage adaptation of the Mitch Albom bestseller about his friendship with a former professor. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre. Sat., 8 p.m.; next Sun., 2:30 p.m.; ends March 31. $20-$40. (626) 355-4318.

Blues in the Night Musical revue created and directed by Sheldon Epps celebrates the classic torch songs, blues and ballads of Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and others. Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Next Sun., 1 p.m.; ends March 10. $55-$85. (949) 497-2787.

Advertisement

Critics Choices

Hir Taylor Macs family drama doubles as a depiction of America in the midst of reassessing itself. Director Bart DeLorenzo and his four actors fearlessly propel this humorous/horrific tale of a young soldier who returns home to find it changed: His domineering, abusive father is debilitated; his mother is in charge; and his sibling is transitioning genders. Patriarchy is in decline, but Mac isnt delivering liberal claptrap, instead pushing back against beliefs of all kinds in this age of antagonism. (D.H.M.) Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd., West L.A. Sun., next Sun., 2 p.m.; Wed., Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends March 17. $32-$37. (310) 477-2055.

Ragtime: The Musical Based on E.L. Doctorows sweeping historical novel, this stage adaptation, with book by Terrence McNally and score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, swings for the narrative fences. Dramatic subtlety cant help getting lost in the swirl. But when Ragtime works, its glorious. A hugely ambitious undertaking for Pasadena Playhouse, the production I feared might overwhelm the company. But trust me, musical theater lovers: The show, pulled off with polish and panache, is one you wont want to miss. (C.M.) The Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena. Sun., next Sun., 2 and 7 p.m.; Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; ends March 9. $25 and up. (626) 356-7529. www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.

Julia Sweeney: Older and Wider After spending 10 years in Chicago raising her daughter, Julia Sweeney returns to the local scene with this intensely personal, riotously funny solo show. Unguarded, uncensored, never holding back on her opinions about politics and religion, Sweeney mines comic gold from the ordinary  once again proving she is one of the most talented monologists of her generation. (F.K.F) Geffen Playhouse, Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. Ends Sun., 2 p.m. $30-$60. (310) 208-5454.

Smart Love Fine performances and a strikingly original premise elevate a witty but at times convoluted comedy about romantic possibilities afforded by the brave new world of ever-accelerating technology. (P.B) Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice. Sun., next Sun., 3 p.m.; Thu.-Sat., 8 p.m.; ends March 17. $25-$34; discounts available. (310) 822-8392.

Advertisement

Two Trains Running The seventh in August Wilsons deathless Century Cycle, a decade by decade dramatization of the 20th century African American experience, this play is set in 1969, as a catastrophic urban renewal project is blighting Pittsburghs once vibrant Hill District. In a faultless staging, director Michele Shay charts the fortunes of the hangers-on and survivors left in the aftermath, while the uniformly superb actors give such towering performances that to single out any one for praise would be a fools errand. They form an ensemble in the truest sense of the word  a family of equals who support one another generously and magnificently in this not-to-be-missed production. (F.K.F.) Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., L.A. Sun., next Sun., 2 p.m.; Thu.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 and 8 p.m.; ends March 3. $35. (855) 326-9945.

Witness Uganda: A Documentary Musical Dont let the oxymoronic subtitle or even the subject matter  a young mans struggle to found an educational nonprofit in Africa  scare you away from this new production in the Wallis studio space. The unlikely pairing of brutal disillusionment and musical theater results in an unusually vivid and unexpectedly uplifting show, with a dazzling cast. (M.G.) Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Lovelace Studio Theater, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. Sun., next Sun., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m.; Tue.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2:30 and 8 p.m.; ends March 3. $50. (310) 746-4000.
President Trump again indicated this week he might be open to revisiting the controversial new limit on state and local tax deductions that hits many middle-income residents hard in California and other high-tax, Democratic states.

Even so, dont count on any changes to the Republican tax bill that went into effect last year happening any time soon.

Legislative and political realities mean the $10,000 cap is unlikely to be scrapped or increased until after the 2020 elections at the earliest.

Although opposition to the cap is widely believed to have helped topple Republican House members in California, New York and New Jersey last November, a key Senate Republican is adamantly opposed to a change. And increasing or eliminating the cap probably wont help get those seats back.

Advertisement

The Republicans who might have benefited from that, many of them already lost, said Kyle Kondik, who analyzes elections at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat and leader of the fight against the cap, this month called the new tax policy an economic civil war that helps red states at the expense of blue states.

Cuomo met with Trump at the White House on Tuesday to discuss the matter.

I told the president myself today: SALT repeal is hurting us. And if you hurt New York, youre harming the economic engine of the nation, Cuomo tweeted afterward.

He told reporters that Trump indicated he was open to making changes, similar to something the president had said last week during a meeting with newspaper reporters.

Judd Deere, deputy White House press secretary, said Trump listened to Cuomos concerns.

The president reiterated the negative impact that high taxes in states like New York have on hardworking families and job creators, Deere said.

Trumps top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, told reporters on Thursday that he would meet with Cuomo and his staff soon to discuss possible solutions.

Advertisement

They have some ideas to kick around. We might have some ideas to kick around, Kudlow said. I want to be deliberately vague, because vague is all we have. Well see.

Lawmakers and officials from states most affected by the cap are pushing to scrap it after arguing strongly during the debate over the Republican tax bill in 2017 that their residents were being unfairly targeted because they tend to vote for Democrats.

Of the top 10 states for deductions for state and local taxes, known as SALT, Trump carried only three in the 2016 election.

Capping the SALT deduction was a direct hit on my constituents and my state, Rep. Mike Thompson, (D-St. Helena), a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said this week. We must have relief in this area, whether its changing the cap in some way or something else.

Advertisement

But the path to any changes is filled with severe obstacles.

The 2017 tax law slashed the corporate tax rate and reduced personal rates across the board.

Republicans argue the state and local tax deduction is mostly used by the wealthy and is unfair to residents in lower-tax states. Capping the deduction helped simplify the tax code and make it more equitable, they said.

Whats more, the rules adopted by the new House Democratic majority mean they would have to raise hundreds of billions of dollars elsewhere to make up for the tax revenue lost by reinstating the deduction. That would increase Republican opposition.

Advertisement

One key lawmaker, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the committee that would consider any revision, already has vowed the deduction limit wont be changed. Grassley told The Times this week that hes not open to raising or eliminating the cap.

Everybody but the president thats bringing this up are the very same people that complained that this tax bill  was something for the very wealthy and they want to turn around and give the 1% of the people that are affected by the state and local tax deduction [the ability to] pay less taxes, said Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, his voice rising in irritation. Its intellectually dishonest.

An analysis by the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that nearly two-thirds of the benefit of repealing the cap would go to the top 1% of taxpayers.

But even though the wealthy reap the most benefits, many of the people affected by the new cap in California and other high-cost, high-tax states are middle-income earners.

Advertisement

About 6.1 million California residents filed for the deduction in 2015, reducing their federal taxable income by $18,438 on average, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Only New York and Connecticut had a higher average deduction.

The tax law hasnt been as popular as Trump and Republicans had hoped. An NBC News exit poll after last Novembers elections found that only 29% of voters said the tax law changes helped them.

More recently, there have been stories about rising anger among taxpayers, many of whom are discovering they may owe money to the IRS or their refunds are smaller than expected because of the various changes, including the elimination of personal exemptions and other deductions, as well as new withholding tables put in place last year.

The limit on state and local tax deductions was highly unpopular in California, New York and New Jersey. In last falls elections, Democrats took control of the House in part because they won a combined 14 seats in those states that had been held by Republicans.

Advertisement

The seats included seven in California, including four in the former Republican stronghold of Orange County.

Kondik said anger over the deduction limit probably was a factor in Republican losses of those seats. But Democrats also picked up Republican seats in places where the cap was not a major factor.

And five of the Republican incumbents who lost in California, New York and New Jersey  including Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa  bucked their party and voted against the tax bill because of the state and local tax deduction limit. Kondik said those votes might not have helped.

If someone is mad about the SALT deduction, they may not care that their own member didnt vote for it, he said. They may just say, Hey, I got screwed over by the Republicans on it. Im going to vote the other way.

Advertisement

Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas), a key player in the Republican tax push, still opposes restoring the full deduction and downplayed the partys election losses.

I think frankly that the losses on the Republican side would have been much stronger without the tax reform, he said this week, arguing the tax cuts created a stronger economy that helped keep voter dissatisfaction down.

House Democrats have proposed legislation to fully restore the deduction. But on top of strong opposition from Senate Republicans and Trump, theres another problem with the bill.

Unlike Republicans, who passed the tax cut legislation even though it was projected to increase the federal budget deficit by $1.5 trillion over a decade, Democrats have a rule that any lost revenue must be offset.

Advertisement

To offset the cost of the bill, all the changes to the individual tax code, including the deduction limit on state and local taxes, expire after 2025. That sets up a future fight over extending the changes, similar to the battle in 2012 over extending the temporary tax cuts put in place by President George W. Bush.

For now, though, the focus is on the state and local tax deduction. And the so-called pay-as-you-go rule means that Democrats must find new revenue to offset the estimated $88-billion annual cost of restoring the deduction.

Sponsors of the legislation want to do that by raising the top individual tax bracket back up to 39.6%, where it stood for years before the Republican tax bill lowered it to 37%. Such a change would increase Republican opposition to addressing the state and local deduction limit.

Raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans has become a new rallying cry of some liberals. They include Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the 2020 presidential candidate who wants to enact a wealth tax on people with more than $50 million in assets, and freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has floated the idea of a top rate of as much as 70% for income above $10 million.
Last week, Libyan customs authorities in the Khums seaport seized another cargo of illicit arms and military hardware from Turkey. In a statement released 5 February, the customs authorities said the shipment included nine Toyota Sierra Leone 4X4 armoured assault vehicles and Turkish-made combat tanks.

The shipment arrived in the port, located 100 kilometres east of Tripoli, Tuesday, coming from the port of Mersin in southern Turkey.

There was no bill of lading or anything to designate a legitimate recipient in Libya, such as the ministries of defence or interior, which indicated that the military hardware was destined for one of the militias operating in western Libya.

According to informed sources, the confiscated shipment had been imported on behalf of the Special Deterrence Forces (SDF) and the Nawasi Battalion, which are two of the main militias that make up the Tripoli Protection Force.

Informed forces report that the governor of the Central Bank of Libya (CBL), Sadik Al-Kabir, who is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, had covered the cost of the shipments from the account of the Interior Ministry without its knowledge.

The ministry has filed a complaint with the office of the public prosecutor demanding an investigation.

In response, the sources said, Omar Bayu, media adviser to the CBL governor, attacked the interior minister of the government of national accord (GNA), Fathi Bashaga, on social networking sites and both Bayu and Al-Kabir warned Interior Ministry officials that if they did not withdraw the complaint filed with the public prosecution and settle outside of the courts the CBL would freeze all the ministrys transactions until it yields to the CBLs demands.

The Militias Respond

The Tripoli Protection Force (TPF), a coalition of militia groups that includes the SDF and Nawasi Battalion, posted a statement on its Facebook page 5 February urging the Libyan public prosecutor to launch in investigation into the shipment of armoured vehicles that had been seized in Khums and the previous shipments of illicit arms and ammunition that was confiscated in the same port.

The TPF also urged the public prosecutor to probe the latest outbreak of fighting in southern Tripoli and to pursue and bring to justice those responsible for it, including those who issued seditious ministerial decrees  an allusion to the GNAs interior minister.

The TPF, in the statement, reiterated its refusal to recognise the Presidency Council on the grounds that it did not fully conform to the provisions of the Libyan National Agreement signed in Skhirat, Morocco, in December 2015.

Previous Turkish Arms Shipments

On 17 December 2018, customs authorities in the port of Khums intercepted the BF Esperanza, a containership that had entered the port en route from Turkey, and confiscated containers containing not building supplies as was claimed, but large quantities of arms and ammunition.

The weapons originated from Turkey and were manufactured by two Turkish military and defence systems manufacturers, Zoraki and Retay.

According to the bills of lading, the designated recipients of the containers were the Al-Sahab and Nardeen Al-Hayat companies, while the firm responsible for the shipping arrangements was Al-Marfa Shipping and Maritime Services (MARFAMAR) based in the Andalous district of Tripoli, with branches in Misrata and Benghazi. The firms Website does not provide the names of its owners.

In January 2018, Greek authorities intercepted a Tanzanian-flagged ship bound for Libya carrying 500 tons of explosive materials. The ship had been loaded at the Turkish ports of Mersin and Iskenderun.

Although the ships bill of lading indicated that the shipment was destined for Djibouti and Oman, Greek authorities learned that the captain had been ordered by the ships owner to sail to Misrata and deliver the cargo there.

On 12 August 2014, the Libyan National Army (LNA) staged an airstrike against a ship bound for the port of Derna, carrying Turkish weapons to be delivered to the jihadist militias that controlled that eastern Libyan city. The shipment included artillery shells and missiles which fired off in all directions as the result of the direct strike.

These and a number of similar incidents confirm the Turkish regimes support for terrorists in Libya and their war against the LNA.

In a statement released following the discovery of the large shipment of military hardware from Turkey in December last year, the LNA said the lethal cargo, which included more than 4.2 million bullets, enough to kill nearly 80 per cent of the Libyan people, was proof that [its] purpose is to be used for terrorist operations in the Libyan territories.

It added: Turkey has not and will not cease exporting to Libya shipments of weapons such as those previously found in the battle zones [where the Libyan army faced off against Ansar Al-Sharia and the Islamic State group].

In its December 2018 statement, the LNA urged the UN Security Council and the UN Sanctions Committee to initiate an urgent investigation into Turkish weapons shipments in order to bring Turkey to account for its attempts to undermine Libyan security and stability through its support for terrorism.

The flow of Turkish weapons into Libya violates the UN arms embargo and constitutes a breach of UN Security Council resolutions 1973 on Libya and 1373, a universally binding resolution that prohibits any form of support for individuals and entities involved in terrorism.

Ankara's Relations With Libyan MIitias

Some observers draw a connection between the latest Turkish arms shipments and Ankaras withdrawal from the Palermo summit on Libya in November 2017 because it was excluded from some of its meetings.

Any meeting that excludes Turkey would prove to be counterproductive for the solution of this problem, warned Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay who represented his country at the summit.

Sources report that, in July last year, the Speaker of the High Council of State (HCS) Khaled Al-Mishri, approved a decision to send 11 HCS members to Istanbul for courses in politics and diplomacy.

Al-Mishri is a leading member of the Libyan chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood. Also, according to some sources, Libyan militia commanders, such as Abdul-Hakim Belhaj, are frequent visitors to Istanbul and Ankara.

The sources suspect that the visits are part of arrangements to transfer IS operatives fleeing Syria and Iraq via Sudan to southern Egypt and the Libyan border. They also believe that there was a secret agenda behind the official visit of members of the Tripoli-based GNA to Turkey in November 2018.

At the official level, the ministers of health from Tripoli and Ankara signed a MoU in a meeting attended by Chairman of the Presidency Council Fayez Al-Sarraj and Turkish President Erdogan while, behind the scenes, Libyan officials met with officials from Turkish and Qatari intelligence in order to coordinate plans for the coming phase.

Turkey's Ambitions In Libya And North Africa

Turkeys support for the Islamist militias in Libya dates to the beginning of the Libyan Revolution in 2011, when the Turkish government developed its expansionist plan to assert its influence over North Africa using the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt followed by an Islamist government in Libya after it took control there.

Ankaras official recognition of the National Transitional Council in Libya may have come five months late but, according to sources from the council, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) had good and secret relations with the council and its militant Islamist members, above all.

Simultaneously, it retained relations with the Gaddafi regime, which the Erdogan/AKP government, in keeping with its consummate pragmatism, supplied with military assistance and weapons after evacuating its citizens.

Until the revolution, some 20,000 Turks had resided in Libya in which Turkey invested heavily, especially in Misrata.

By the time Ankara recognised the Transitional Council as the sole representative of the Libyan people, on 1 July 2011, it had secured itself a role conducive to the realisation of its ambitions in North Africa.

Once again, the use of a facade for covert activities came into play. After the fall of the Gaddafi regime and Gaddafis death, the Erdogan government stepped in to offer logistical and political services.

One of these services was a direct flight between Misrata and Ankara which, in practice, was only made available to Islamist militia group members screened by Qatari agents.

Another direct flight was opened between Ankara and Matiga airport, which was controlled by Abdel-Hakim Balhaj and Islamist militias, in order to facilitate their travels to and from Turkey for the purposes of training, funding and moving assets abroad.

However, Turkish support for the Islamist militias in Libya would become more prominent after the overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt in 2013, which threw a spanner into the works of Ankaras designs.

Jihadist And Muslim Brotherhood Money Laundering In Turkey

The Erdogan/AKP government is closely connected with Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist money. Egyptian and Libyan Muslim Brotherhood members have substantial investments in Turkey, such as the chain of private schools owned by Talaat Fahmi, the official spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood organisation and the hotel, real estate and construction investments made by Youssef Al-Qaradawi, members of his family and other prominent Muslim Brotherhood figures.

The money connection is ideologically driven. In the pursuit of its neo-Ottoman hegemonic drive, the Erdogan regime is taking advantage of the strife and destruction in Libya to seize upon opportunities to invest in reconstruction, acquire new markets and open avenues of encroachment into Africa.

At the same time, it offers members of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood and various jihadist groups the opportunity to recycle moneys purloined from Libya.

Turkey is a prime investment destination for the assets Libyas Islamists plundered as spoils of war following the fall of the Gaddafi regime.

Evidence of the Turkish role in facilitating the flow of money out of Libya is to be found in a document published by WikiLeaks in 2016. The document in question is an email, dated 24 August 2013, from Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, who was once emir of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.

When he wrote the email, he was serving as commander of the Libyan Military Council. The subject was a request to the recipient to facilitate the transfer of a large sum of money that Belhaj had acquired as his share of the booty seized from Gaddafis Bab Al-Aziziya compound to a Turkish government bank so that he could subsequently invest it in Turkey. He offers a 25 per cent commission of the total sum ($15 million) in exchange for the service.

The document was one of thousands of emails, leaked from the AKPs Website on 20 July 2016, that triggered widespread controversy in Turkey.

The following day, Turkeys Internet watchdog said it had taken an administrative measure against the WikiLeaks Website, meaning it blocked it.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 14 February, 2019 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly under the headline: Turkish meddling in Libya

Short link:


Southwest Airlines Co. declared an operational emergency Friday because of an unusually high number of aircraft taken out of service for maintenance, and the carrier ordered all scheduled mechanics to show up for work or risk being fired.

Workers alleging illness will be required to provide a doctors note on their first day back at work, the airline said in a memo. Some workers might be called in on overtime, the carrier said, and those refusing to report for duty could face firing.

This is not the type of communication I (or any leader) want to issue, but it is necessary to get our aircraft back in service in order to serve our customers, according to the memo from Lonnie Warren, senior director of technical operations.

The number of planes taken out of service recently has more than doubled from the daily average of about 20, Southwest said in a statement, with no common theme among the reported items. The carrier had 750 Boeing Co. 737 aircraft in its fleet at the end of 2018, and operational planners have been working to minimize the effect on customers.

Advertisement

We are requiring all hands on deck to address maintenance items so that we may promptly return aircraft to service, the airline said.

Separately, Southwest alerted the Federal Aviation Administration about a maintenance issue involving the suitability of engine fuel-pump filter seals, or O-rings, on a limited number of planes, the regulator said in a statement. The airline completed the necessary repairs, the FAA said.

Southwest said all 22 affected aircraft have been returned to service.

The Dallas-based carrier has been in contract talks with the union representing mechanics for more than six years. Members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., representing 2,700 Southwest workers, rejected a tentative contract agreement in September.

In 2017, Southwest accused the union of encouraging members to refuse overtime assignments to pressure the company into contract talks. A lawsuit filed by the airline was suspended in 2018 after an initial agreement was reached.

The mechanics unions national office didnt immediately return a call seeking comment.

The maintenance issues were reported earlier by the Chicago Business Journal.

Schlangenstein writes for Bloomberg.
For almost 50 years, those within and without the Walt Disney Co. had a simple response when it came to almost any question regarding the history of the entertainment giant: Ask Dave. Whether seeking obscure ephemera, wondering whether Prince Charming has a real name or needing a long out-of-date contract, Dave Smith no doubt had the answer.

Smith, who created and maintained the Walt Disney Archives for 40 years, died Friday, the Walt Disney Co. said. While the company did not release an official cause of death, those who knew him said he had been in fragile health for much of the past year. He was 78.

A steward of the companys vast repository of intellectual property, Smith cataloged the companys secrets and debunked myths. The archives, housed at Disneys Burbank headquarters, have long been essential for animators, executives and Imagineers in need of research help  or inspiration.

In an industry thats notorious for neglecting its past, Smith stood out as perhaps the most respected, if unheralded, member of a small group of in-house studio historians. Smith is credited with helping Hollywood understand the cultural value of its past, starting at Disney in 1970 when rival studios were auctioning or dumping their histories.

Advertisement

This was an era in the movie business where everything that went into the history and the making of films was regarded as a means to an end and disposable, said Jeff Kurtti, a veteran of Walt Disney Imagineering. He referenced MGMs infamous 1970 auction, which The Times once described as  18-day wake for Hollywood.

That was the same year Dave came into Disney and said: Look at this stuff. This is important, said Kurtti, who wrote numerous books on Disney and was instrumental in constructing and curating San Franciscos Walt Disney Family Museum.

Smith retired in 2010 but continued to consult for Disney. He was beloved for his willingness to share the companys history. From the early 80s until his death, he answered fan questions via his Ask Dave column, most recently published by the companys fan club publication D23.

After some years behind the scenes at the studio, he became a somewhat more public figure with the rise of Disney fandom and the existence of regional and national conventions  gatherings where he was greeted as a kind of hero, said film critic and historian Leonard Maltin.

Smith was considered by many to be the worlds foremost expert on the company.

People tell me I am, Smith told The Times in a 2016 interview. Then again, I dont know all these facts in my brain. I look them up in the files of the archives.

Read more: Dave Smith spent 40 years preserving the Disney legacy 

Statement from Bob Iger on the passing of Walt Disney Archives founder and Disney Legend Dave Smith. https://t.co/PA1G9pkbQu pic.twitter.com/2vXGCKpzl4  Walt Disney Company (@WaltDisneyCo) February 16, 2019

Advertisement

In a statement, Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger called Smith an unsung hero of the companys history, noting the archivists rescue of countless documents and artifacts from obscurity.

We are indebted to him for building such an enduring, tangible connection to our past that continues to inspire our future, Iger said.

Smith was born and raised in Pasadena, the son of educators. A fateful trip to Disneyland in 1956 when Smith was 15 years old forever tethered him to Disney. As Smith told The Times in 2016, he spotted Walt Disney walking through the newly opened theme park and worked up the courage to ask for his autograph.

The mogul demurred, saying he didnt want draw a huge crowd  but promised to mail Smith an autograph if he would write him. Smith did his part, and Disney followed through.

Advertisement

Ive always wondered, what if he would have realized then what I would be doing 15 years later? Smith said in 2016. And what if I had realized then what I would be doing 15 years later? The questions I could have asked him. It would have saved me a lot of time!

#DaveSmith was the ultimate Disney historian who invented his own position at the studio as archivist. He was enthusiastic about his work and generous with his vast knowledge. I always knew I could call on him and he never let me down. What a loss. pic.twitter.com/Je1S5Y11yM  Leonard Maltin (@leonardmaltin) February 16, 2019

After earning a B.A. in history and a masters degree in library science from the UC Berkeley, Smith was able to reunite with Disney. In 1970  four years after the animation tycoon died  the company hired him to be its first archivist.

When Smith created the archives, it was a one-man operation; by 2016, the workforce had grown to 24 people.

Advertisement

Paula Sigman Lowery was hired by Smith in 1975 after graduating from UCLAs librarian program with a specialty in childrens literature. While continuing to consult today for the company, she recalled that during her 20 years working closely with Smith, he would engage the staff in many of his passions, from U.S. history to musical theater and travel, which came with slide shows of his expeditions at lunch.

He also made sure new hires understood that a job in the archives was not a place to explore ones fandom. Disney archivists were strictly forbidden from being Disney collectors themselves.

He said this right at the very beginning, she said. If youre interested in Disney and working at the Walt Disney Archives, you cant be a collector yourself because thats a conflict of interest. You can be interested, and you can be passionate about a certain aspect of it; yet if there was any sort of a fan interest, it had to be subdued subservient to your overall interest in what you were preserving.

Smith spent decades stocking the archives with a trove of valuable items. The collection includes such varied artifacts as Walt Disneys parents marriage certificate from 1888; the original script for Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouses debut; ticket No.1 to Disneyland; and a 20-foot model of the Black Pearl ship from the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. All of it has been preserved alongside more mundane material such as training manuals for theme park workers and DVDs of recent films.

Advertisement

He liked seeking out things  the thrill of the find, Jean Marana, Smiths sister, told The Times in 2016.

These moments were everything to me  and they exist today because of Dave Smith. pic.twitter.com/slscrxS7tb  Melena Perry (@MelenaPerry) February 16, 2019

Smith wrote several books, including Disney A to Z: The Official Encyclopedia. The fifth edition, published in 2016, clocked in at more than 850 pages.

The reference book sets the record straight on many Disney-related issues, and has become a research tool for reporters and others who write about the company. Maltin said he would be really sunk without the encyclopedia.

Advertisement

Its my go-to reference anytime Im introducing a Disney film or writing about Disney. It represents Daves life work, he said.

Smith also served as a debunker of false tales about Disney  including apocryphal yarns about the companys founder  and told The Times he relished his role as keeper of the true facts.

Thats one thing the archive has always tried to do, he said.

Lowery said such a mission had two key effects. One, it allowed academics and researchers to find accurate info, resulting in serious writings that advanced pop-culture as a work of art. Second, it aimed to instill a deep sense of tradition in those who joined the company.

Advertisement

That was really the key mission of the archives, so that people working on projects today for tomorrow would know what they had available to them, she said. We always believed that you cant know where youre going unless you understand where youve been.

Smith is survived by his sister.

Saddened to hear of Disney Archivist Dave Smiths passing. He did so much to preserve Disneys history. #DaveSmith #DisneyArchives pic.twitter.com/8NU7RJ9skx  Debbie Perry (@debbieanne_11) February 16, 2019

There have been many great Disney historians that kept the legacy of the company alive, but Dave Smith was THE Disney historian and the reason why Disneys past is as important as its present and future https://t.co/4ZG3AblIul  Mat Brunet (AniMat) (@AniMat505) February 16, 2019

Advertisement

daniel.miller@latimes.com

@DanielNMiller
The scandal involving Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, his paramour Lauren Sanchez and the supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer has revealed more than just a series of leaked texts and naked selfies. It has also laid bare a tangled web of overlapping relationships and interests across Hollywood, politics, national security and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As William Shakespeare wrote, Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. Here the Los Angeles Times maps out this strangest of bedfellows matrix.

A tangled web of overlapping relationships and interests (Thomas Suh Lauder / Los Angeles Times)

Jeff Bezos

The richest man in the world owns the Washington Post and space tourism outfit Blue Origin. He founded Amazon with his estranged wife, the novelist MacKenzie Bezos. He began an affair with Lauren Sanchez, a former local TV anchor in Los Angeles. She is married to Patrick Whitesell, Hollywood power agent and executive chairman of Endeavor, whose chief executive is Ari Emanuel. The agency has negotiated deals with Amazon Studios, and many of its clients have worked for the studio. Whitesell client John Krasinski stars in the Amazon Prime series Jack Ryan. The National Enquirer revealed the affair last month and published photos and text messages between Bezos and Sanchez. In an extraordinary blog post this month, Bezos accused the National Enquirer and its parent company, American Media Inc., of extortion and blackmail, alleging the tabloid threatened to publish more embarrassing pictures unless he abandoned his investigation of the leaks.

Advertisement

Michael Sanchez

Small-time Hollywood manager Sanchez is Lauren Sanchezs brother. His clients have included former So You Think You Can Dance judge Mary Murphy and former CNN and Fox conservative pundit and current RT anchor Scottie Nell Hughes. Since 2005, he has been known to place stories about his clients in the National Enquirer. Jeff Bezos security chief Gavin de Becker has named Michael Sanchez as leaking details about his sisters affair to the National Enquirer. Sanchez has denied leaking any graphic photos to the tabloid. Sanchez, a Republican, has represented Trump foreign policy advisor Carter Page and is an associate of GOP political operative Roger Stone. Page and Stone have come under the scrutiny of special prosecutor Robert S. Mueller III. Last month, the FBI arrested Stone on suspicion of misleading members of Congress. He maintains his innocence.

Donald Trump

Ari Emanuel was once Trumps agent when the future 45th president of the United States starred on the reality show The Apprentice. Emanuel is said to have introduced American Media Inc. chief David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, to Kacy Grine, a French-born financial advisor to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Grine and Pecker had dinner at the White House with Trump in July 2017. That year, Alwaleed was held in detention along with several other Saudi royal billionaires at the behest of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In 1991, Alwaleed helped bail out a deeply in debt Trump, buying his yacht. Four years later, he took a 51% stake in the Plaza Hotel in New York City, then owned by Trump. Last year, AMI published fawning glossy magazine the New Kingdom, celebrating the crown prince and his Vision 2030 economic plan. Grine wrote the only bylined article in the publication. Last year, AMI admitted to paying $150,000 in hush money to former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal to squelch her story of an alleged sexual affair with Trump in exchange for a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. attorneys office for the Southern District of New York. Federal prosecutors are looking at whether AMI violated a recent agreement in which AMI pledged not to commit any crimes for three years.

stacy.perman@latimes.com

@stacyperman
Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Feb. 15. AP



An employee of a manufacturing company opened fire in its suburban Chicago plant Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, according to local police.



Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman identified the gunman as 45-year-old Gary Martin and said he was believed to be an employee at the Henry Pratt Co.  which makes industrial valves  in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago. She told a news conference that officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.



Ziman said the gunman's motive was unknown.



"May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference.



Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions weren't released. Two of the officers were airlifted to trauma centers in Chicago, Ziman said. She said a sixth officer suffered a knee injury. Officials did not release the total number of people injured including police and civilians.



Dozens of first responder vehicles converged on the building housing the company in Aurora after police received multiple calls about an active shooter at 1:24 p.m. (local time).



Several ATF teams also responded and were at the scene, according to the agency's Chicago spokeswoman, while the FBI said it also responded.



John Probst, an employee at Henry Pratt, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst said he recognized the gunman and that he worked for the company.



"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," he said.



Probst added that he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."



"It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life," Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.



Police and squad cars guarded all access points to Henry Pratt five hours after the first calls to 911 about the shooting. The industrial park is surrounded by a neighborhood of modest homes with porch fronts, some with American flags perched outside.



At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street just a mile and a half from the shooting, neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martin's unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come into contact with him.



Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son's birthday, to find a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks.



"This is a strange thing to come home to, right,' she said. She had just learned that the shooter lived close by and his unit in the complex had been taped off by police.



Christy Fonseca often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mother's Aurora neighborhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.



Police cars with screaming sirens revved past her as she drove to her mother's house, where the Henry Pratt building is visible from the porch stoop. it was only when they flipped on the television news that they realized Martin had killed people just a few hundred feet away.



"In Aurora, period, we'd never thought anything like this would happen," Fonseca, a lifelong resident of the Chicago suburb, said as she looked out at the factory.



The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and was monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. "America is with you," he said.



Presence Mercy Medical Center was treating two patients and a third had been transferred by helicopter to another hospital, according to spokesman Matt Wakely. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital each had one patient from the shooting, their spokeswoman Kate Eller said. Rush Copley Medical Center received three patients from the shooting and all are being treated for non-life threatening injuries, according to spokeswoman Courtney Satlak. (AP)








Renault Samsung Motors, the South Korean unit of Renault SA of France, is expected to face a lower utilization rate after it stops producing the Nissan Rogue later this year, a company official said Friday.





The Nissan Rogue SUV accounts for 48 percent of production at Renault Samsung's plant in Busan, but the Franco-Japanese auto alliance is unlikely to renew a contract for the vehicle's production.





A source at Renault Samsung said renewing the contract, which will expire in September, would be "impossible," given the high costs at the plant.





Renault Samsung is getting ready to introduce a new SUV in 2020, but the plant's utilization rate will inevitably be reduced until exports and domestic sales of the vehicle start, the insider said.





The carmaker reported a 37 percent plunge in sales last month.





Renault Samsung sold 13,693 vehicles in January, down from 21,847 a year earlier.





Domestic sales fell 19 percent to 5,174 last month from 6,402 a year ago. Exports declined 45 percent to 8,519 autos from 15,445 during the same period. (Yonhap)


Lee Dong-gyu



By Lee Dong-gyu



"The International Exhibition of China's Reform and Opening Up in 40 Years," co-hosted by the China State Council Information Office and the Chinese Embassy in the Republic of Korea, was held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building from January 31 to February 2.



About 130 vivid pictures of China's reform and opening up were displayed under three themes  history, development and cooperation  graphically presenting the country's historical route and various achievements from 1978 to 2018.



The opening ceremony, which started with the welcoming message by Qiu Guohong, Chinese Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, brought about 200 people together  politicians, government officials, experts and students from the ROK and China.



Ambassador Qiu introduced the developmental progress and remarkable achievements of China's reform and opening up and stressed that China would continue to implement these through cooperating with other countries. Particularly, he said that the two countries should intensify strategic communication and invigorate mutual cooperation in each field, citing the proverb, "after the storm comes the calm."





Chinese Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Qiu Guohong speaks during the opening ceremony.



In his congratulatory message, lawmaker Sul Hoon (Democratic Party of Korea) noted that 40 years of China's reform and opening up have led to a dramatic change in human history and he hoped Korea and China would prosper together like the past 5,000 years.



Public Diplomacy Ambassador Bahk Sahng-hoon also delivered a congratulatory message. He said Korea and China have something in common  astonishing economic growth. As Korea performed the Miracle of the Han River, China achieved the Miracle of Reform and Opening Up during the past four decades. He closed his message by expecting the two countries' close cooperation for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia.



China is the world's second-largest economy and accounts for 15 percent of total global GDP. Nobody can dispute the fact that China is serving as a center for world economic development.



China's economic rise is based on its consistent reform and opening up policy. Various pictures of reform and opening up in the exhibition provided visitors with a rare glimpse of how the policy has created China's unprecedented development and improved its people's quality of life.



Exhibition visitors first experienced the historical route that China has taken during 40 years of reform and opening up. This is shown through diverse images of China's change from the beginning of the policy to now, such as the Shenzhen Economic Zone in 1979, the Pudong District of Shanghai in 1992 and the Shanghai Free Trade Zone in 2013. The most impressive photo was about Dongdaqiao in Beijing, which demonstrated the past and the present by mixing a black and white picture of the Dongdaqiao department store, built in 1981, and a color picture of a shopping mall built in the same location in 2016.





See the difference: Dongdaqiao in Beijing
Nagasaki in the 1890s.



By Robert Neff



In May 1895, the American warship Yorktown was stationed in the harbor of Chefoo (now known as Yantai), China. James H. Rocks, a first-class fireman, along with several other sailors, were given shore leave. Rocks didn't return. On June 5, he and two other men were declared deserters and a reward was placed on their heads.



According to Rocks, he hadn't planned on deserting  it was a spontaneous act brought about by a chance encounter with a fellow American. The man convinced Rocks that the Japanese were adopting American customs and had developed a taste for Western liquor. He proposed that the two of them go to Nagasaki and, as partners, open up a drinking establishment. Rocks had just been paid and had nearly $200 in his pockets. Opportunity was knocking and he was more than willing to open the door.



According to a newspaper article:



"It was not long after their arrival [in Nagasaki] that they were making the Japanese gloriously drunk on American mixed drinks. The patronage their bar received exceeded their fondest expectations, and they found it advisable to open a branch saloon in another part of the city."



Rocks had found success but he also had a secret  albeit it, an open one  that could destroy everything if the authorities wanted to make an issue of it.





An American warship in Nagasaki in the 1890s.



Rocks claimed that everyone aboard the Yorktown, including the officers, knew he was in Nagasaki and, when the ship was in that port, even frequented his bar and congratulated him on his success. But his success bred jealousy in others. A Dutchman, who frequented his bar, learned about his desertion and tried to blackmail him when the Yorktown arrived in Nagasaki in November 1895.



"I could report you on board the Yorktown at any time," he threatened, "and get a reward for informing on a deserter."



Rocks was furious and immediately leapt on the Dutchman. He punched him in the face and promptly threw him out of his establishment. The Dutchman, his feelings hurt as well as his face from his beating, was true to his word and Rocks was arrested.



He was court-martialed, found guilty and sentenced to serve the rest of his military service in a naval prison at Mare Island, San Francisco. He would be transported there aboard the American gunboat Concord. While on board the Concord, he spent 23 hours a day in double irons  he was only allowed one hour to exercise under guard. He slept and ate in his shackles.





Nagasaki harbor in the 1890s.



While the Concord was still in Nagasaki, some of his shipmates smuggled him the keys to his chains in an effort to help him escape but Rocks refused. He was determined to be retried in California and to be set free. He had the money  a certified check for $1,200 and a bag of gold worth $1,300.



He apparently was relatively successful and served only 18 months before he was released. He promptly returned to the Far East and, surprisingly, settled in Jemulpo in early 1897 and opened The Naval Club, which claimed to have the best Kentucky whiskey available. What became of Rocks and The Naval Club is unknown. Like many early Western visitors to Korea, his legacy is merely a footnote in the pages of Korean history.





A street in Nagasaki, circa 1890-1910.
Participants in the seminar to explore ways of increasing India-Korea cooperation pose. The Feb. 11 seminar organized by the Asia Institute marked the occasion of Indian Prime Minister Modi winning the Seoul Peace Prize. Courtesy of Lakhvinder Singh



By Lakhvinder Singh



India and Korea are two great Asian civilizations. Both have played major roles in the evolution of peace ethos and have strong tradition of working together in the past. Once again it is becoming imperative that they jointly take the lead in shaping the post-American world order in East Asia.



Prime Minister Modi' s winning of the 2018 Seoul Peace Prize is an opportunity for India to unite with Korea and strive towards ensuring peace and prosperity for all.



The balance of power in East Asia is shifting rapidly. U.S., who held peace in the region for the last 65 years, is being pushed back. Mostly China is occupying space left by U.S. in all fields, be it military, economic and cultural among others. This has the danger of creating huge imbalance in the region leading to friction and instability Given this Chinese expansion There is no way any Asian can match China economically or militarily in east Asia .



However, there is one area where we are unmatched: our unparalleled traditions of building and promoting peace in Asia. We are countries of peace. Teachings by our spiritual leaders are real assets and essential tools to reshape and build the post-American world order.



While China is building a Belt and Road of cement and concrete, we can build our own Belt and Road of peace and prosperity; uniting the whole of East Asia under the banner of "PEACE AND POROSPERITY FOR ALL." The Korean traditions of Hongik Ingan, living for the good of others, can lead us deep into such a peaceful and prosperous future.



Today Korea is the biggest flash point in the world where the possibility of nuclear war is very real. By starting our peace work from Korea we can unite all countries in our region which share our concerns of nuclear catastrophe.



Through Modi, India is being given a golden opportunity to return to its Asian roots  Peace. Its philosophical tradition of "may there be peace in the heavens, peace in the atmosphere, peace on earth, and "whole world is one family" appeals to many countries. The Seoul Peace Prize is India's chance to restore its centuries long spiritual connections with this region and the world at large.



Together and united we will build a new post-American world based on the principles of "universal peace and prosperity" as propagated by our spiritual leaders. Let us also remember that peace building is not just an abstract idea for academic use; rather it can bring material benefits when applied on the ground. The idea of positive peace is much more than only the absence of violence. It can reinvigorate whole societies and create limitless opportunities for growth and prosperity for everyone involved.



The Seoul Peace Prize awarded to India's Prime Minister offers a new expansion of the discourse on peace building on the Korean peninsula as part of a larger global effort to contain conflict. PM Modi's visit to Seoul immediately before the Trump-Kim Summit in Vietnam is rapidly taking on tremendous geopolitical significance. Now the core question before us is how might this opportunity expand Indian engagement on the Korean peninsula and what directions it might go. How deeply do policy makers of both counties comprehend the potential this prize offers us all? Or will this opportunity be wasted ?



A seminar to discuss and explore the future potential cooperation between our great counties was organized by The Asia institute on Feb. 11 in Seoul. This seminar led by Prof Emanuel Pasterich and supported by Prof. Lakhvinder Singh from the Asia institute, Zena Chung from the India- Korea business and policy forum and Kislay Kumar from "The Right Discourse,"considered concrete fields for cooperation where India and Korea can play a more active role in peace building in our conflict ridden region and world. Other prominent participants in the seminar included Donald Krik, a Seoul-based scholar and journalist and Ingil Jacob from Global Peace Foundation who appreciated the new larger role India has to play in this part of the world. Distribution of Ladoos, traditional Indian sweets used to mark happy occasions in India, increased the serenity of the event many fold.



Work for building stronger Korea- India strategic Partnership never stops.



The writer is director is peace program at The Asia Institute in Seoul


Islamist militants are increasing their activity in West Africa despite the establishment of a regional force to combat them in the Sahel region, and they are now threatening coastal countries, Burkina Faso's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Minister Alpha Barry gave a bleak outlook of the situation more than six years after French troops intervened in Mali to stop Islamist militants advancing on the capital Bamako.

The Sahel region has since suffered violence from militant groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, trafficking and the emergence of armed groups in one of the world's poorest regions.

The northern region of Burkina Faso, bordering Mali and Niger, has over the last 12 months been especially hard hit, leaving the government struggling to assert its authority since President Blaise Compaore was ousted in 2014 in a popular uprising.

"This threat is gaining ground. Yesterday four customs' officers were killed in south Burkina Faso on the border with Togo," Barry said.

A Spanish priest was also killed in the incident, which Burkinabe authorities blamed on Islamist militants.

"We've also seen attacks on the border with Benin, Ivory Coast and Ghana. It's no longer just the Sahel, it's coastal West Africa and the risk of spreading regionally."

France, the former colonial power in the region, has kept about 4,500 troops in the region and pushed for the creation of a force made up of soldiers from Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mauritania to combat jihadists.

But the so-called G5 force has been hobbled by delays in disbursing money and poor coordination between the five countries while insecurity has escalated.

Barry said just a fraction of more than 415 million euros ($468 million) promised for the force a year ago had been disbursed, meaning that it had only been able to carry out sporadic operations.

While there have been some operational successes with the help of French troops especially in central Mali, instability has also spread to Niger and Chad, which Paris considers as its most crucial ally in tackling Islamist militants.

This month France sent warplanes to support Chadian President Idriss Deby against a group of rebels, saying it was preventing a coup d'etat.

"The glass is half full," French Defence Minister Florence Parly said. "It's complex and we have a lot to do, but I'm convinced we are on the right track."

Short link:


Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono / Korea Times file



By Kim Bo-eun



The foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan met in Munich, Friday, to discuss recent rulings by the Supreme Court that ordered Japanese companies to compensate Korean victims of forced labor under Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea.



The meeting between Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha and her Japanese counterpart Taro Kono took place about three weeks after they met last month on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.



The forced labor rulings are among the thorniest of issues that has bilateral relations in recent months. The Supreme Court ordered two Japanese companies  Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal (NSSM) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries  to compensate plaintiffs, but the Japanese government's intervention is obstructing execution. A local court approved a measure to seize the NSSM's assets here last month, after the company refused to comply with the ruling. Plaintiffs of the Mitsubishi case have vowed to begin a process to take the same step next month. The rulings have long-reaching implications for Japan, because the number of Korean victims of forced labor is estimated to be between 100,000 and 200,000.



The Japanese government has contended that the issue was resolved by a bilateral deal in 1965. It requested "diplomatic discussions" with Seoul on the matter.



Other issues have added to the strain in ties. National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang in a recent interview called for Japanese Emperor Akihito to apologize for Japan's sexual enslavement of Korean women during war. Akihito is the son of Hirohito, who was Japan's monarch during the Japanese occuation.



Tokyo strongly denounced the remarks, with its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe calling for the speaker to apologize and retract his words. The South Korean government stated the remarks were intended to call for a sincere apology on the matter.



South Korea in November disbanded a foundation that was set up to carry out a disputed deal reached with Japan in December 2015. The issue of sex slaves surfaced again last month, after Kim Bok-dong, a victim and prominent activist, passed away. President Moon Jae-in, who visited Kim's memorial altar, vowed to "set history right" for sex slavery victims.



The ministers also discussed the ongoing process for North Korea to denuclearize, ahead of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to be held in Hanoi, Feb. 27 and 28.








Controversy was ignited Friday over whether to fully legalize abortion after a government survey showed that many women had opted to end their pregnancies due to socio-economic reasons.





On Thursday, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs released a survey on 10,000 women aged between 15 and 44, the first nationwide fact-finding survey on abortion in eight years.





Under South Korean law, abortions are illegal unless there are extenuating circumstances such as the unborn baby posing a serious health risk to the mother, or the pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.





The survey showed that the abortion rate reached 4.8 abortions per every 1,000 women in 2017, compared with 29.3 in 2005 and 15.8 in 2010.





It said 46.9 percent of women who opted to end their pregnancies were unmarried, followed by 37.9 percent for married women and 13 percent of women in cohabitation relationships.













The survey also showed that 33.4 percent of the respondents said they opted to terminate their pregnancies as it would interfere with their work or education, followed by 32.8 percent citing economic reasons.





It concluded that the most frequently cited reasons for having an abortion were socio-economic concerns and economic limitations.





Controversies over the balance between the right to life and women's self-determination have long been a social issue in the country.





In 2010, the government attempted to revise a law to allow more abortions but this was strongly opposed by religious circles, who cited that human life should be categorically respected from the moment of conception.





In 2012, the Constitutional Court ruled that the current law stipulating punishment for doctors administering an abortion was constitutional.





More than 75 percent of the surveyed women said the law on abortion should be amended. The current law stipulates a prison term of one year and a fine of up to 2 million won (US$1,780) for a woman undergoing an abortion.





Women's civic groups and some doctors argue that the law should be revised to allow abortions under more diverse circumstances.





Currently, women must submit proof that they were raped or that their health is at risk. The procedure must be carried out within the first six months of pregnancy. (Yonhap)


New Delhi: While the entire world is denouncing the terror attack in Pulwama, for the Pakistani media, the suicide bomber who carried out the ghastly killing of 40 CRPF personnel is a "freedom fighter", highlighting their mindset.

The Pakistani media also has been busy in making attempts to somehow show that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, which is based in Pakistan, was not involved, despite the terror outfit itself claiming responsibility for the carnage.

Pakistani daily 'The Nation' published a report headlined 'Freedom fighter launches attack..."

A report in the same newspaper also quoted some purported "spokesperson" of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, claiming that the outfit had "nothing to do with the attack".

This is in direct contradiction of the claim made by the JeM, in a statement issued in Srinagar, that it had carried out the attack. It also named the suicide bomber, along with his photo and video.

While the Pakistani regime has been crying hoarse that it wants better relations with India, the country`s media continues to spew venom of hatred and spreading malicious lies about the armed forces.

Several other Pakistani media houses have also not shied away from the display of utter hypocrisy, cowardice and unsympathetic behaviour. The Express Tribune and Daily Times went to the extent of misrepresenting the facts.
Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday took to streets to show solidarity with the CRPF jawans who were martyred in the deadly Pulwama terror attack.

Banerjee along with hundreds of Trinamool Congress supporters took out a candlelight march from Hazra in South Kolkata to Mahatma Gandhi's statue in Esplanade to pay their respects to the martyrs.

Beside Banerjee, other senior leaders were seen joining the solidarity rally without any party flags and slogans. Leaders holding on to candles had covered their faces with a black stripe to register their protest against the terror attack that claimed lives of at least 40 CRPF personnel.

At the Gandhi statue, Banerjee and party cadres raised slogans of 'Jai Hindi' and 'Vande Mataram'.

"All of us are united. This is united India. Terrorism has no religion. We do not support any kind of terrorism be it in the country or in the world. We stand united with the families of the CRPF jawans who lost their lives in the line of duty," said Banerjee.

This apart, party supremo Banerjee asked leaders to take out a silent protest on Sunday in their respective blocks to show solidarity with the jawans.

"In between 2 to 3 pm, take out a silent rally in your respective areas. Also, keep in mind that no microphones or speakers can be used as students are appearing for Madhyamik examinations," she added.
POKHRAN: The Indian Air Force's (IAF) major exercise Vayushakti 2019 will take place on Saturday at Pokhran Air-to-Ground Armament Range near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan during which it will display its massive firepower.

During the event, the IAF will showcase the prowess of its air-warriors and 'magnificent machines'. The full dress rehearsal of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) took place on Thursday.

A wide array of fighters, transport, helicopters, remotely piloted vehicle and combat equipment will be part of the exercise. They are as follows:

Su-30MKI

The IAF's Vayushakti 2019 is all set to witness a glimpse of Asia's top fighter jet Su-30MKI dropping HSLD bombs.

The Su-30 MKI is a modern multi-role, air superiority fighter aircraft of Indian Air Force. The aircraft is capable of decimating adversaries in air or on the ground with the wide array of air to air and air to ground weapons.

"Conventional 1000 lbs class of bombs offer more drag, ARDE (DRDO) designed & developed high-speed low drag (HSLD) 450 kg bombs suitable for carriage on modern aircraft," the IAF posted on Facebook.

MiG-29

The event will also see Mighty Mig-29 (Upgrade), the 4th generation air superiority fighter aircraft, showcasing its new capabilities for the first time.

Mig-29 upgrade is a multi-role, air dominance fighter aircraft of IAF. It is upgraded to carry a veritable plethora of air to air, air to surface, precision-guided and standoff weapons along with air to air refuelling capability.

MiG-21

The MiG-21, which is the most widely used fighter aircraft in the country, will also be seen in action at Vayushakti 2019.

The MiG-21 Bison is a multi-role, all-weather air defence aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with modern Radar and Avionics systems and carries a mix of air to air and air to ground weapons.

Mirage-2000

Manufactured by Dassault Aviation, the Mirage-2000--a multi-role, single-engine, air defence fourth-generation fighter aircraft--will also showcase its power during the event in Jaisalmer on Saturday.

The aircraft is employed in air defence and ground attack missions, with all-weather interception capability, with a full range of weapons and electronic warfare suite.

An-32

Vayushakti 2019 will also feature the An-32, a tactical light transport aircraft designed to operate in all weather conditions.

It is capable of operating from most demanding, hot and high altitude airfields. It features advanced cargo handling devices and a cargo door fitted with a ramp to ease loading and offloading of freight.

The IAF will also demonstrate its all-weather day-dusk-night operations at its exercise Vayushakti 2019.

"The 7th edition of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) of the Indian Air Force will showcase all weather day-dusk-night operations on 16 Feb at Pokhran range, Rajasthan," the IAF tweeted had tweeted earlier this week while sharing a video which gives a glimpse of the demonstration.

#VayuShakti2019 :The 7th edition of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) of the Indian Air Force will showcase all weather day-dusk-night operations on 16 Feb at Pokhran range, Rajasthan. A glimpse of the demonstration. Full Video- https://t.co/gYw4XPGuUQhttps://t.co/VIu3yRtL0C pic.twitter.com/yTu7YxgNcD  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 13, 2019

According to reports, the exercise will take place in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Nagaraj Naidu, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of India`s Mission to UN, stated that in this regard, a growing number of States believe that the use of force in self-defence against a non-state actor operating in the territory of another host State can be undertaken if: the non-state actor has repeatedly undertaken armed attacks against the State.
Jaipur: The members of Gujjar community called off their agitation on Saturday after getting a written assurance from the Rajasthan government that it will stand by them if the bill giving five per cent reservation to the community faces legal hurdles.

The agitation lasted for eight days as Gujjars and four other communities blocked railways tracks and highways in Rajasthan to demand five per cent quota in jobs and educational institutions.

"We are thankful to the chief minister for looking into the concerns of the community. We have received a written assurance from the government that it stands by the community if the bill passed by it faces legal hurdles," Vijay Bainsla, the son of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla told PTI.

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla: The agitation concludes today in the interest of the nation. I request that all the blockades across Rajasthan be removed immediately. pic.twitter.com/X1JGpGHzxc  ANI (@ANI) 16 February 2019

State Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh today met the representatives of the community to end the deadlock. He had met a Gujjar delegation on Friday as well but the talks remained inconclusive as they demanded a written assurance that necessary steps would be taken if their demands face legal hurdles.

Over a week-long dharna led by Kirori Bainsla on railway tracks and highways had inconvenienced travellers.

As per a North Western Railway spokesperson, 64 trains were cancelled, 71 diverted and 32 partially cancelled in the last eight days. A West Central Railway spokesperson said 148 trains were cancelled, 143 diverted and 52 short terminated.

Bainsla and his supporters began their sit-in on the railway tracks in Malarna Dungar area of Sawai Madhopur district on February 8, demanding five per cent quota for Gujjar, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and Gadaria communities in jobs and education.

The Rajasthan Assembly on Wednesday had passed a bill giving five per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutes to the Gujjars and four other agitating communities.
New Delhi: After accusing Alia Bhatt of being Karan Johar's 'puppet', Kangana Ranaut found her new target in Shabana Azmi. The Manikarnika actress called her 'anti-national' and also questioned her initial decision to participate in Karachi Lit Fest. Azmi and her husband Javed Akhtar were supposed to attend a literary event on her father Kaifi Azmi in Karachi but decided to skip the event as a sign of protest after the Pulwama attack.

Slamming Azmi, Kangana had told DNA, "People like Shabana Azmi calling for a halt on cultural exchange - they are the ones who promote Bharat Tere Tukde Honge gangs... Why did they organise an event in Karachi in the first place when Pakistani artists have been banned after Uri attacks? And now they are trying to save face? The film industry is full of such anti-nationals who boost enemies' morals in many ways, but right now is the time to focus on decisive actions... Pakistan ban is not the focus, Pakistan destruction is."

Shabana, however, had a dignified and calm response to Kangana's comments. She told In.com, "You really think at a time like this a personal attack on me can be of any significance when the entire country stands as one in our grief and in condemning this dastardly Pulwama attack? May God bless her.

Earlier, the veteran actress in a series of tweets had condemned the dastardly attack on CRPF Jawans. She wrote, "#Pulwama attack There is no way we can carry on with cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan even as our martyrs are laying down their lives for us. I stand in solidarity with the grieving families."
Mumbai: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday once again strongly condemned the Pulwama attack saying that each drop of tear shed would be avenged. "This is the time of mourning and to show restraint and sensitivity," he added.

PM Modi further said this is a "new India" which will not tolerate those who provide guns and bombs to target security personnel. Pulwama attack was the deadliest strike on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed lives of at least 40 CRPF jawans.

The Prime Minister, who was speaking at a public function in Maharashtra's Dhule district, also said that his government has worked tirelessly for the welfare of farmers and pointed to the recent announcement of providing Rs 6,000 annually directly into the bank accounts of agriculturalists having less than five acres of land.

Inaugurating several development projects, he said that the projects would allow Dhule to compete with Surat in adjoining Gujarat in the next 30 years.

The prime minister inaugurated the Lower Panazara Medium Project constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchan Yojana (PMKSY).

PM Modi laid the foundation stones of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme and Dhule City Water Supply Scheme.

The prime minister also laid the foundation stone of Dhule-Nardana new rail line and Jalgaon-Manmad third railway line, besides flagging off the Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express through a video link.

(With inputs from PTI)
MUMBAI: The BJP and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena have reportedly finalised a seat-sharing deal for contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha election 2019 in Maharashtra.

According to the seat-sharing formula finalised by the two parties, the BJP will contest on 25 out of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, while Shiv Sena will contest on remaining 23.

In the 2014 polls, the Shiv Sena had contested on 22 seats while the BJP fielded its candidates on 26 seats.

According to the agreement between the two parties, BJP will not field any candidate from the Palghar Lok Sabha constituency from where Shiv Sena will now contest.

Maharashtra Chief Minister had earlier held a seat-sharing discussion with Uddhav Thackeray and details of the meeting were also later shared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, the sources said.

Sources also claimed that the two parties have also reached an agreement regarding the upcoming assembly elections in the state.

For the Assembly elections slated to be held later in the year, the BJP will contest on 145 of the total 288 seats, with the Shiv Sena getting the remaining 143 seats, sources told Zee News.

The seat-sharing formula also includes an agreement that the Sena would be allotted 6 to 7 seats that the BJP presently holds in the Maharashtra Assembly.

However, there is no official confirmation regarding the same as yet from the two parties.

The Shiv Sena has repeatedly said that any decision regarding seat-sharing formula will be finalised by its chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The Shiv Sena has been smarting since the BJP demanded more seats during the seat distribution talks ahead of the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly elections. The BJP, emboldened by its strong showing in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, pushed hard.

The two long-time allies parted ways and contested the assembly election on their own even as they remained partners at the Centre.

The decision, however, backfired for Shiv Sena. The BJP won 123 seats with its smaller NDA partners, while the Shiv Sena managed only 63.

What further helped the BJP in Maharashtra was the breakdown of the long-term alliance between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of the elections.

The Shiv Sena then agreed to support a BJP government with Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister after the NCP offered to support a BJP government from the outside.

The reports of Shiv Sena deciding to fight the Lok Sabha election 2019 along with the BJP will surely give big relief to the saffron party which had been kept guessing by the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.

The Shiv Sena had been maintaining that it would fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on its own and when asked by reporters whether it would maintain the alliance with the BJP, Shiv Sena had said, "Wait and watch."

But, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis always looked confident that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance would work out and that there was nothing serious to worry.
Srinagar: Pakistan on Saturday violated ceasefire in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district. The ceasefire violation, which left a soldier injured, was reported at around 4 pm.

The jawan was injured in the ceasefire violation at Baba Khodi area of the same sector. The Army retaliated and an exchange of fire took place in the area.

The officer has been identified as Major Chitresh Singh Bisht from Uttarakhand's Dehradun.

Bisht, who was leading the Bomb Disposal Team in Naushera, defused one of the mines successfully. While neutralising another mine, the device got activated and the officer suffered grievous injuries resulting in his death.

#JammuAndKashmir: Major Chitresh Singh Bisht from Dehradun, Uttarakhand, who lost his life today while defusing an IED which had been planted by terrorists across the LoC in Naushera sector,Rajouri. During sanitisation of track in Naushera Sector, mines were detected on the track pic.twitter.com/BLBXESCUZ2  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

In another incident, an Army officer died in an explosion in the Rajouri sector along the Line of Control. The Major-rank Army officer was killed while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

The IED was apparently planted by "enemy forces within Indian territory" in Nowshera sector and set off when an Army officer, along with his men, was patrolling the area, officials said.

The martyred Army officer is from the Corps of Engineers. The IED was planted 1.5 kms inside the Line of Control in the Naushera sector of Rajouri district.

The incident comes two days after 40 CRPF personnel were martyred in a terror attack in Pulwama district of south Kashmir. The deadly attack, claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, has triggered a nation-wide outrage with people protesting all across the country.
Srinagar: An Army officer died in an explosion on Saturday in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri sector along the Line of Control. The Major-rank Army officer was killed while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

The IED was apparently planted by "enemy forces within Indian territory" in Nowshera sector and set off when an Army officer, along with his men, was patrolling the area, officials said.

The martyred Army officer is from the Corps of Engineers. The IED was planted 1.5 kms inside the Line of Control in the Naushera sector of Rajouri district.

The IED blast also left another soldier injured who was immediately rushed to the hospital.

The incident comes two days after 40 CRPF personnel were martyred in a terror attack in Pulwama district in south Kashmir. The deadly attack, claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, has triggered a nation-wide outrage with people protesting all across the country.

This was the second IED attack along the LoC in the same sector since January.

On January 11, two Army personnel, including a major, were killed in Naushera sector of Rajouri.

(With inputs from PTI)




President Donald Trump claimed Friday that Japan's prime minister had nominated him for a Nobel Peace Prize for opening a dialogue with North Korea.







Trump also complained about President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize and doubted he would be similarly honored.







Prime Minister Shinzo Abe "gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize," Trump said at a White House news conference when asked about his late February summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. "He said, 'I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.'"







The Associated Press could not immediately confirm Trump's claim. The Japanese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.







South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who also has credited Trump with starting negotiations with the reclusive North, has endorsed the U.S. leader for the Nobel Peace Prize as well.







Trump said early exchanges with Kim were filled with "fire and fury," but that the two have established a good relationship since their first meeting last year in Singapore. He said claimed Abe nominated him because he was worried about North Korea conducting missile tests over Japan.







Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, his first year in office, for laying out the U.S. commitment to "seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."







Trump complained Friday that Obama was there "for about 15 seconds" before he was awarded the prize.







"I'll probably never get it, but that's OK," Trump said. "They gave it to Obama. He didn't even know what he got it for." (AP)


Washington: US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence.

Bolton telephoned Doval on Friday to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US' full support to India in confronting terrorism.

"I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... And expressed US' condolences over the terrorist attack,'' he told PTI.

Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens.

''We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis,'' he said.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide a safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security,'' Pompeo said on Twitter.

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.

"The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.
New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) will demonstrate its full spectrum combat and fire capabilities on Saturday during 'Exercise Vayu Shakti-2019' in Pokharan firing range in Rajasthan. The exercise starts at 5.20 pm.

Watch it live on the IAF's official Facebook page - m.facebook.com/IndianAirForce. The exercise is also being telecast live on DD National and be webcast on gov.in/iaf.

#VayuShakti2019 : The Fire Power Demonstration of #IAF will be live on @DDNational & IAF's official Facebook page https://t.co/VexLWBpHPq on 16 Feb 19 from 1720hrs onwards.

The event is planned at Pokhran range, Rajasthan & will also be webcasted on https://t.co/i2XjFZOT6S pic.twitter.com/b00PDPCZrL  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 15, 2019

The 7th edition of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) of IAF will showcase all weather day-dusk-night operations.

#VayuShakti2019 :The 7th edition of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) of the Indian Air Force will showcase all weather day-dusk-night operations on 16 Feb at Pokhran range, Rajasthan. A glimpse of the demonstration. Full Video- https://t.co/gYw4XPGuUQhttps://t.co/VIu3yRtL0C pic.twitter.com/yTu7YxgNcD  Indian Air Force (@IAF_MCC) February 13, 2019

The firepower demonstration by the IAF is conducted once in three years which is participated by fighters, transports, helicopters, force enablers and support systems.

First such demonstration was held on July 21, 1953, at Tilpat range in New Delhi. The last demonstration at Tilpat was conducted on March 18, 1989, and thereafter the event moved to Pokharan range in Rajasthan, which shares the border with Pakistan.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday will demonstrate its full spectrum combat and fire capabilities during 'Exercise Vayu Shakti-2019' in Pokharan firing range in Rajasthan. The exercise will start from 5.20 pm and people can watch it live on the IAF's official Facebook page. It will be telecast live on DD National and will also be webcasted on gov.in/iaf.

"#VayuShakti2019: The Fire Power Demonstration of #IAF will be live on @DDNational & IAF's official Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/IndianAirForce on 16 Feb 19 from 1720hrs onwards. The event is planned at Pokhran range, Rajasthan and will also be webcasted on http://webcast.gov.in/iaf," said IAF in a Facebook post.

Akash missile firing, gun firing from Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and MiG 29's air-to-ground role will be among four "first-time demonstrations" in the exercise which is scheduled to be attended by Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

Indigenously developed weapons, aircraft and equipment displayed in the exercise will be Akash (mid-range surface-to-air missile), Astra (all-weather beyond visual range air-to-air missile), light combat aircraft Tejas, Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) and AEW&C (Airborne Early Warning and Control) systems on Embraer (aircraft) platform.

Ability to detect targets, multi-spectrum capability, swift identification and neutralising targets with precision will be displayed in the 1.55-hour long exercise aimed at showcasing the force's capabilities to prosecute 24X7 air operations.

Fighter planes like MiG29, Jaguar, Sukhoi, Mirage-2000, transport aircraft like AN-32, C130, Mi-17 VS and MI-35 helicopters will be among other aircraft flying and demonstrate its capabilities in the exercise.

"Exercise Vayu Shakti will take place on Saturday in Pokharan. A full dress rehearsal was conducted on Thursday," defence spokesperson Col Sombit Ghosh had said.

The firepower demonstration by the IAF is conducted once in three years which is participated by fighters, transports, helicopters, force enablers and support systems.

First such demonstration was held on July 21, 1953, at Tilpat range in New Delhi. The last demonstration at Tilpat was conducted on March 18, 1989, and thereafter the event moved to Pokharan range in Rajasthan, which shares the border with Pakistan.
JAIPUR: The Indian Air Force (IAF) will demonstrate its mighty Mig-29 upgrade, the 4th generation air superiority fighter aircraft, in its all-weather day-dusk-night operations at its exercise Vayushakti 2019 at Pokhran Air-to-Ground Armament Range near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan on Saturday.

Mig-29 upgrade is a multi-role, air dominance fighter aircraft of the IAF.

It has been upgraded to carry a veritable plethora of air-to-air, air-to-surface, precision-guided and standoff weapons along with air to air refuelling capability.

The Russian-origin aircraft, which is now capable of effecting mid-air refuelling, is compatible with the latest missiles and can launch multi-dimensional attacks.

The upgraded MiG-29 aircraft can take off within five minutes of spotting a hostile jet trying to enter the Indian airspace and destroy it. It has all the latest features, including a glass cockpit having digital screens.

The Vayushakti 2019 exercise is being used by the IAF for the demonstration of its firepower and to showcase its ever-increasing combat platforms.

Besides Mig-29, a wide array of other fighters, transport, helicopters, remotely piloted vehicle and combat equipment will also be part of the exercise.

The full dress rehearsal of the Fire Power Demonstration (FPD) took place on Thursday.

The exercise will reportedly take place in the presence of President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

(With PTI inputs)
Patna: An Indian Air Force plane carrying mortal remains of CRPF personnel was stranded at the Patna airport for several hours due to technical problems with the aircraft.

The plane - KA2683 - reached had reached Patna airport on Saturday morning with mortal remains of eight CRPF personnel martyred in the ghastly terror attack in J&K's Awantipora. Two of the coffins belonged to personnel from Bihar and were taken off the plane. The remaining coffins were to be taken to different parts of the country but the plane was unable to take off at the scheduled time due to problems in its engine compartment.

The six coffins inside the stranded plane belonged to one personnel from Jharkhand, two from West Bengal, two from Odisha and one from Assam. A number of planes had to be called in from these states to ensure that the mortal remains reach the native places without any additional delay.

Patna Airport director Rajendra Singh confirmed to Zee News that all the coffins had been sent from here by 1400hrs. He also confirmed that different states sent special aircraft for the mortal remains to be flown back.

It is reported that the IAF plane had - apart from the mortal remains of the martyred bravehearts, several top-ranking CRPF officials and personnel. Questions have already begun doing the rounds about why a potentially 'unfit' IAF plane was arranged for an extremely sensitive task of taking coffins to native places.
SRINAGAR: A suicide bomber who killed at least 44 CPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday, was radicalised after he was brutally thrashed by the security forces nearly three years ago, his parents alleged.

Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for Thursday`s car bomb attack on a security convoy - the worst in decades of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

The deadly attack came months before the crucial Lok Sabha elections 2019.

Adil Ahmad Dar, 20, from the village of Lethipora in Kashmir, rammed a car full of explosives into the convoy, escalating tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

"We are in pain in the same way the families of the soldiers are," said farmer Ghulam Hassan Dar, adding that his son had been radicalised after police stopped him and his friends on the way home from school in 2016.

"They were stopped by the troops and beaten up and harassed," Dar said, adding that the students were accused of stone-pelting. "Since then, he wanted to join the terrorists."

A video released by the JeM after the attack showed his son, dressed in military fatigues and carrying an automatic rifle, detailing his plan to carry out the bombing.

His mother, Fahmeeda, also corroborated her husband's account.

"He was beaten by the troops a few years back when he was returning from school," she said. "This led to anger in him against the troops."

They, however, claimed that they were completely unaware of their son`s plan to attack the CRPF convoy.

Dar did not return home from his work as a labourer on March 19 last year, Fahmeeda added. "We searched for him for three months," she said.

"Finally we gave up efforts to bring him back home," she added.

Reuters said that it could not independently verify the two accounts. There was also no response from the Home Ministry on the claims made by Dar's parents.

Anger over the attack is growing in the country, which accuses Pakistan of backing separatists and Jihadists in Kashmir.

Pakistan denies that, saying it offers only political support to the region`s suppressed Muslims in Kashmir.

Jaish, one of the most deadly groups operating in Kashmir, has been designated a terror group by the United Nations since 2001.

Ghulam Hassan Dar said he blamed politicians for his son's death.



"They should have resolved the issue through dialogue," he said, referring to the conflict in Kashmir.

"It is they who are responsible for driving these youth into terrorism. The sons of the common man die here, whether they are Indian troops or our sons."
NEW DELHI: In a major boost to India, the United States has agreed to back New Delhi's bid to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as 'global terrorist'.

The assurance to India came from US National Security Advisor John Bolton when he called his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval and expressed condolences and outrage over the Pulwama terror attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

US National Security Advisor John Bolton supported India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism. He offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice. NSA Doval appreciated US support. #PulwamaAttack https://t.co/jYG6KgeDXn  ANI (@ANI) 16 February 2019

The two NSAs agreed to hold Pakistan accountable for its obligations under the United Nations resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist` under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee process.

They vowed to work together to ensure Pak cease to be a safe haven for terrorist groups that target India, US&others in the region. They resolved to hold Pak to account for its obligations under UN resolutions&remove all obstacles to designating Masood Azhar as a global terrorist  ANI (@ANI) 16 February 2019

"National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had a telephone call with his US counterpart Ambassador John Bolton on the evening of 15 February. The call was initiated by the US side to express condolences and outrage over the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM)," read an official statement.

Bolton also extended support to India`s right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism.

He further offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice.

The two NSAs also vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe haven for JeM and other terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide a safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security," Pompeo said on Twitter.

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House had asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.

"The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.

(With Agency Inputs)
JAMMU: The investigators probing the Pulwama attack case have reportedly traced Abdul Rashid Gazi, who is believed to be the main conspirator of Thursday's suicide attack on the CRPF convoy which left at 40 troopers dead and several others critically injured.

According to reports, Abdul Rashid Gazi has been traced to some forest location near Pulwama or Tral and is believed to be operating from there.

Abdul Rashid Gazi is believed to have received directions from his Pakistan-based boss Maulana Masood Azhar to carry out a major terror strike in India.

Efforts are already underway to nab him alive.

It may be recalled that nearly a month ahead of the Pulwama attack, intelligence agencies had received inputs that terror outfit JeM was planning a major strike.

There were credible inputs that JeM was planning to target the security forces and other vital installation.

It appears that the agencies failed to act on the inputs gathered by the intelligence officials and eventually failed to foil the Pulwama attack plot.

The JeM, which was literally eliminated, had declared that it will do something big in the month of February and the Pulwama attack is being seen in that context.

Out of 70 odd JeM recruits, Adil Ahmed Dar was a category C terrorist who was also under the scanner of Indian security agencies.

A National Investigation Agency (NIA) team, along with explosives and forensic experts, collected the materials required for a forensic evaluation of the scene of crime.

Considering the status of the scene of crime, the team will continue with sifting of the material on Saturday as well. The outcome will be made known once the analysis is over.

The overall planning of the terror strike is believed to be done by a Pakistani national, Kamran of JeM, who has been operating and moving in the Pulwama, Awantipora and Tral areas of south Kashmir.

The "fidayeen" (suicide attacker) was later identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He had joined the JeM ranks in 2018.

According to initial investigations, the plan for the terror strike was hatched in the Midoora area of Tral.

The police are also looking for another local JeM overground worker, who was instrumental in arranging the explosives.

Continuing its probe, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has detained seven persons from Pulwama district in south Kashmir in connection with the deadly terror attack that killed 40 CRPF personnel near Awantipora.

The youths were detained from Pulwama and Awantipora during the night on suspicion of links with the planning of the suicide attack, the first-of-its-kind in which a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus.

With PTI inputs
NEW DELHI: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, who was called back for consultations in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack on CRPF troopers on Thursday, arrived in national capital on Saturday morning.

Bisaria will later hold discussions with top leaders and government officials over the emerging political situation in the wake of the deadly attack.

Sources: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrives in Delhi for consultations with senior officials and leadership. #PulwamaAttack (file pic) pic.twitter.com/kYwujohkGB  ANI (@ANI) 16 February 2019

The Government of India (GoI) had on Friday called Bisaria back home for consultations.

Prior to that, the government summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and lodged a strong protest over the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale summoned Mahmood to the MEA at 2 PM and issued a "very strong demarche" in connection with the terror attack on Thursday that also left 38 troopers injured.

Gokhale conveyed that Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action against the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), which claimed responsibility immediately after the attack, and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism and operating from Pakistani territory.

He also rejected the statement made by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry denying any involvement in the suicide attack, that has been called the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since terrorism began there in 1989.

Earlier, sending out a tough message to Pakistan, the government on Friday withdrew the 'most-favoured nation' status to Pakistan, a move which would enable India to increase customs duty on goods coming from the neighbouring country.

In a media briefing after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the most-favoured-nation (MFN) status to Pakistan stands revoked.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in in 1996, but the neighbouring country has not yet reciprocated.

The MFN status was accorded under WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this; and are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which means they have to treat each other and the other WTO member countries as favoured trading partners in terms of imposing customs duties on goods.

Meanwhile, coming down heavily on Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that those behind the Pulwama terror attack have committed a grave mistake and they will punished.

"If our neighbour, which is totally isolated in the world, thinks it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies, then it is making a big mistake," the Prime Minister said.

"I want to tell terrorist organisations and their guardians that they have done a grave mistake. Those behind the attack will be punished for their actions, PM Modi said here while flagging off the Delhi-Varanasi high-speed Vande Bharat Express train.

Paying tributes to the CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack, he said, Our security forces have been given full freedom (to carry out anti-terror operations). We have full faith in their bravery."

PM Modi also thanked the countries which have supported India and condemned this incident in the strongest of terms.

After the dastardly act, India demanded that the UN ban JeM and its chief Masood Azhar who roams freely in Pakistan.

In a statement, India`s External Affairs Ministry said all UN member countries should support a proposal for proscribing Azhar as an international terrorist.

The JeM, a Pakistan-based outfit, claimed responsibility for the attack in which a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force bus that was part of a large convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway around 3.15 PM, killing several troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.
NEW DELHI: The Government of India (GoI) India has yet again slammed Pakistan for claming that it is not aware of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's presence on its soil and denying any role in Thursday's worst suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

The strong condemnation from India came after Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua briefed ambassador of Permanent Five (P5) members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) rejecting Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack and claiming that Islamabad wants a constructive approach towards India.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement saying, ''JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack. The organisation and its leadership are located in Pakistan. LeT and other terror groups have welcomed the news of the attack. These groups are also based in Pakistan. Pakistan cannot claim that it is unaware of their presence and their activities."

The MEA statement further, "they have not taken any action against these groups despite international demands, especially against groups and individuals proscribed by the UN and other countries. The links to Pakistan are clear and evident for all to see."

"Its own Ministers have shared the same podium with UN proscribed terrorists,"

the MEA statement added.

Pakistani Ministers have often been clicked sharing dais with terrorists and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed.

In September 2018, Pakistan's Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri shared a platform with Hafiz Saeed and both made anti-India statements.

Last year, a video surfaced in which Pakistan's Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi had openly expressed the support of current Imran Khan Administration to Hafiz Saeed and his organization.

In the first week of February, Hafiz Saeed carried out a massive rally in Lahore.

India also categorically rejected Pakistan's demand for an "investigation" since there exists a video of the suicide bomber declaring himself a member of the JeM. Audio-visual and print material linking JeM to the terrorist attack is present too which MEA said leaves "no doubt that the claim is firmly established."

Pakistani FS also talked about constructive approach towards India which New Delhi rejected.

MEA said, 'What we have noticed, however, are claims to offer dialogue on the one hand, while sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terrorist organizations such as JeM on the other."

India's official stance on Pakistan has been talks and terror cant go together but talks on terror can happen.

Reiterating its stance on strong action on terrorist safe havens MEA demanded "Pakistan take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories"

Meanwhile, India on Friday briefed about Pakistan's involvement in Pulwama attack to P5 countries along with South Asian countries, Japan, Germany. On Saturday India will be briefing ASEAN ambassadors.
NEW DELHI: Thursday's suicide attack on the CRPF convoy, which left 40 security personnel dead and several others critically injured, has shaken the collective conscience of the entire nation. At a time when the government has promised to give a befitting response to the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack with unconditional support from the opposition parties, several government and non-government organisations and individuals have come forward to help the kith and kin of the Pulwama attack martyrs in whatever ways they can.

It may be recalled that various Central and state government bodies, their employees and private organisations have also decided to collect funds in order to support the families of fallen heroes of Mother India.

While jobs and adequate monetary assistance has been promised to the kith and kin of the slain CRPF soldiers, people from all walks of lives have come forward to donate as much as they can to various welfare funds constituted by the central and respective state governments.

Here's how you can make a contribution to these funds dedicated to the welfare of the kith and kin of martyred Indian soldiers.

Bharat Ke Veer

In order to help the grief-stricken families of our bravehearts, you donate funds by visiting the ''Bharat Ke Veer'' website started by the government of India.

You can also download the ''Bharat Ke Veer'' App to know more before donating money.

The 'Bharat Ke Veer' initiative was launched in April 2017 by the Ministry of Home Affairs with a purpose to enable citizens to help the families of soldiers by donating money online.

The donated money will either directly reach to the individual braveheart's account or it can also be transferred to the Bharat Ke Veer corpus fund.

Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties

Similarly, donations can also be made to the Army Welfare Fund.

The donations received in the fund is utilised to pay financial assistance/grant to widows of our Battle Casualties, their next of kin and dependents.

To donate, one can send a Demand Draft in favour of "Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties" payable at New Delhi or transfer directly to "Army Welfare Fund Battle Casualties" account with Syndicate Bank (IFSC: SYNB0009055; Account No.: 90552010165915).

National Defence Fund

Those interested in donating to the Indian Army can contribute to National Defence Fund (NDF) utilized for the welfare of Armed Forces (also Para Military Forces) members, including the Army, and their dependents.

The Fund is completely dependent on the voluntary contributions from the public.

Donations can be made online through NDF's website, PM India portals (pmindia.nic.in, pmindia.gov.in), and State Bank of India's website.

Army Central Welfare Fund

Monetary contributions can also be made to the Indian Army through the "Army Central Welfare Fund".

To donate, individuals can send a Demand Draft in favour of "Army Central Welfare Fund" payable at New Delhi. One can also transfer funds directly to the bank account of Army Central Welfare Fund with Corporation Bank (IFSC: CORP0000205; Account No.: 020500101007721).
NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi-led BJP government has called an all-party meeting on Saturday to discuss what could be the country's response to the deadliest terror attack on security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 11 AM at Parliament library.

The meeting has been convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and invitations have been extended to all major political parties. The parties will be briefed about the attack in Pulwama and the steps being taken by the government so far, a Home Ministry official.

The decision to convene the all-party meeting was taken at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Meanwhile, a high alert has been sounded in J&K and the security forces have been directed to remain vigilant. Curfew has also been imposed in several sensitive areas across the state.

The NIA and NSG investigators have collected forensic samples for credible leads regarding the Pulwama attack. At least seven people have been apprehended by the police and are being examined in connection with the attack.

Earlier on Friday, the main opposition party, Congress had extended full support to the government saying we are not going to be divided.

This is a terrible tragedy. This type of violence against our soldiers is absolutely disgusting. We are all standing together with our jawans. No force can divide or break this country. We are fully supporting the Government of India and our security forces. We are not going to get into any other conversation apart from this, Congress president Rahul Gandhi had said, earlier in the day.

Senior party leader and former prime minister Manmohan Singh had asserted Today is the day of mourning. Our country has lost close to 40 armed forces jawans and our foremost duty is to convey to their families that we are with them. We shall never compromise with the terrorist forces.

On Thursday, 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.
Pakistan's nefarious designs to shelter and support terrorist organisations has forced the country to fight fire on its western as well as eastern borders. Both Iran and India have tightened the noose on Islamabad for its role in the killing of its security forces.

While India has maintained that Pakistan uses terror organisations to wage proxy wars, its scathing attack on the country comes in the aftermath of Thursday's ghastly attack on a CRPF convoy in J&K's Awantipora. A nation united in grief and anger as it bid farewell to the 40 martyred personnel on Saturday with PM Narendra Modi assuring that not a drop of tear would go in vain.

The attack was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed even as Pakistan rushed to deny any involvement. Pakistan's role in shielding and supporting JeM - among other terror organisations, however, is well known to the world community. The P5 countries - permanent members of the UN Security Council - as well as several other nations have been updated about what transpired in J&K with India saying it has incontrovertible proof of Pakistani hand in the attack.

As an obvious result, India revoked the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan which is expected to further hurt its already crumbling economy. PM Modi has also said Indian security forces have been given full freedom to plan a retaliation.

This is just the start of major worries expected for the Imran Khan government.

There's another threat.

Iran, in no uncertain terms, warned Pakistan that it would pay a 'heavy price' for harbouring terrorists who killed 27 of its elite Revolutionary Guards in a suicide attack earlier in the week. "Why does Pakistan's army and security body give refuge to these anti-revolutionary groups? Pakistan will no doubt pay a high price," Revolutionary Guards chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari said in a live state telecast.

Much like funeral processions in several Indian cities, towns and villages on Saturday, people in Iran came out in huge numbers to pay their final respects to the 27 killed soldiers. Reuters reported that a massive crowd gathered in the city of Isfahan to bid farewell to their fallen soldiers.

And while Iran may not get US backing due to a number of differences between the two countries, India is working overtime to mobilise world opinion against Pakistan and for the country to finally realise the consequences of its devious ways.
New Delhi: As India withdrew the MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the ghastly Pulwama terror attack, the basic customs duty on all goods exported from the neighbouring country to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect.

The status of 'Most Favoured Nation' given to Pakistan was revoked on Friday while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that Indian security forces have been given full freedom to decide on an appropriate retaliation.

A nation-wide outrage has been triggered following the death of at least 40 CRPF jawans personnel in a terror attack in Pulwama district in south Kashmir. The deadly attack has been claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, prompting protests and demands that severe punishment be given to the neighbouring country.

India also launched a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan where it highlighted the neighbouring country's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy. Pakistan, however, remains in denial mode and has said it did not have any role in the Pulwama attack.
New Delhi: Taking cognizance of unconfirmed reports of students and residents hailing from Jammu and Kashmir facing threats in other parts of India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, the Home Minister has told all states and union territories to ensure their safety and maintain order.

There have been some reports from various parts of the country that people belonging to Jammu and Kashmir have been intimidated by locals. While this is not confirmed, the Home Ministry appears to not want to take any chances and has instructed states and UTs to ensure the safety of all, reported news agency ANI.

There has been a national outrage after 40 CRPF personnel were martyred in a terror attack in J&K's Pulwama on Thursday. The ghastly attack was claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, prompting protests and demands that severe punishment be doled out to the neighbouring country.

India has already launched a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan - calling back its envoy for consultations and appraising the international community of Islamabad's role in sheltering and supporting terror outfits like JeM. The status of 'Most Favoured Nation' given to Pakistan has also been revoked while Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Fridy that Indian security forces have been given full freedom to decide on an appropriate retaliation.

Pakistan remains in denial mode and has said it did not have any role in the Pulwama attacks. It is an excuse no one is buying considering that JeM accepted responsibility immediately after the attack and because Pakisatn's support to JeM is well established.
MUMBAI: Even as the government is preparing its response to Pakistan over Thursday's suicide attack on CRPF convoy in J&K's Pulwama, the Shiv Sena has said that it is now time to penetrate into Pakistan directly.

The remark was made by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray.

"This is not just a terrorist attack but an incursion of our intelligence agencies. If India had no prior information about such a major attack, then the question arises. What is the role of the intelligence agencies? If an intelligence failure led to the terrorist attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy then those who were in charge should be removed," Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday.

Thackeray made these remarks while speaking to reporters on the ghastly terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama.

"After surgical strikes of 2016, it is now time to penetrate into Pakistan directly," he added.



Appealing the whole nation to stand together against Pakistan, Thackrey said, "In the whole country, people should come together to tell Pakistan that our country will not bend and we will teach them a lesson. Those who are in powers, if they do not understand what they are doing then they should be removed from their positions. We had made surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but now have to penetrate into Pakistan directly."

"Elections and every other thing is secondary but it is most important to give a tit-for-tat response to Pakistan," he added.

As many as 40 security personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

All 40 slain CRPF personnel were travelling in a bus which came under the terror attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, later claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the security establishment and the intelligence agencies in a tizzy.

Amid anger and widespread protests over the incident, PM Narendra Modi on Friday warned Pakistan and said that the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack will be punished.

The government, which received wide support from the international community, also announced the withdrawal of ''Most Favoured Nation'' status granted to Pakistan.

During an all-party meeting held on Saturday, the government, as well as the opposition parties, unanimously agreed to take steps aimed at isolating Pakistan at the global level and pushing for a complete ban on terror outfits operating on its soil.

The NIA, which collected forensic samples from the Pulwama attack site, suggested that RDX was used in the attack, which might have been smuggled from across the border.

At least seven people were also detained by the police for questioning in connection with the attack.

While the security forces remained on a high alert in J&K, curfew was imposed in sensitive areas of the terrorism-hit state.

(With Agency inputs)
Political parties on Saturday put up a united face and expressed India's determination to fight terrorism following the Awantipora terror attack, underlining their solidarity with security forces for defending the country's unity and integrity.

A meeting of all political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and support being given to it from across the border.

The all-party meeting took place in the aftermath of one of the biggest terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's over Awantipora in which 40 CRPF jawans were martyred. Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for it.

The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from across the border.

The meeting was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Condemning the dastardly terror attack, the resolution reiterated that India has displayed firmness and resilience in tackling it.

The resolution stated that India has during the past three decades faced the menace of cross-border terrorism.

The parties vowed to stand with the families in their hour of grief.

"India has during the past three decades faced the menace of cross border terrorism. We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border. Of late, terrorismn in India is being actively encouraged by forces from across the border, India has displayed firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. We stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism, defending India's unity and integrity," said the resolution passed at the all-party meeting.

The meeting was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav are among others who attended the meeting.

Political parties have closed ranks following the attack and have offered their support to the NDA government on its response on the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked tough and asserted that those behind it will be punished, and his government has launched a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan within the international community.
The ghastly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora has been condemned in India and the world over. 40 security personnel were martyred in a suicide attack claimed by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed. At a time when an entire country has united in slamming Pakistan's role in supporting terrorists, WION has decided to withdraw invites sent to Pakistani speakers for its Global Summit.

WION had invited former Pakistan President and its ex-Army chief Pervez Musharraf, current Minister of Information and Broadcasting in Imran Khan government Fawad Chaudhary, former High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit and former Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Salman Bashir. The invites sent to all of them have been withdrawn.

In a statement issued by WION and shared by Sudhir Chaudhary - Editor in Chief of Zee News, Zee Business and WION, it was said that 'the heinous attack has vitiated the atmosphere and any deliberation on collective prosperity with Pakistan is untenable.'

Tough times call for tough measures. As India mourns the martyrs of Pulwama, @WIONews has withdrawn its invite to the Pakistani speakers from its Global Summit to be held in Dubai on Feb 20.Pak I&B Min Fawad Chaudhary & Former Prez Gen Pervez Musharraf were among the participants pic.twitter.com/U6mio9OXAt  Sudhir Chaudhary (@sudhirchaudhary) February 16, 2019

WION also said that it remains committed to presenting India's perspective to the world 'that includes taking a stand against entities and individuals trying to hurt India.'

Saluting the martyres of Pulwama and sharing thoughts and prayers with their families, WION stated that all other sessions of its Global Summit - scheduled for February 20 in Dubai - will be held as per schedule.
POKHRAN: The Indian Air Force's (IAF) MiG-21, one of the most widely used fighter aircraft of the country, will be seen displaying its ground attack during the all-weather day-dusk-night operations at the Vayushakti 2019 drill on Saturday.

The event, which will demonstrate IAF's full spectrum combat and fire capabilities, will take place in Pokhran Air-to-Ground Armament Range near Jaisalmer in Rajasthan.

A wide array of fighters, transport, helicopters, remotely piloted vehicle and combat equipment will be part of the exercise.

Forming the backbone of the IAF is the MiG-21 BISON, which is a single engine, single seater multirole fighter aircraft of Russian origin.

The multi-role, all-weather air defence aircraft has a maximum speed of 2,230 kilometers per hour (Mach 2.1) and carries one 23mm twin-barrel cannon with four R-60 close combat missiles.

It also features modern Radar and Avionics systems and carries a mix of air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons.

"#Vayushakti2019 : MiG-21  The MiG-21 is the most widely used fighter aircraft. The MiG-21 Bison is a Multi-role, all-weather air defence aircraft. The aircraft is equipped with modern Radar & Avionics systems and carries a mix of air to air & air to ground weapons," the IAF posted on their official Facebook page.

President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman are likely to attend the event.

The firepower demonstration by the IAF is conducted once in three years which is participated by fighters, transports, helicopters, force enablers and support systems.

First such demonstration was held on July 21, 1953, at Tilpat range in New Delhi. The last demonstration at Tilpat was conducted on March 18, 1989, and thereafter, the event moved to Pokharan range in Rajasthan, which shares the border with Pakistan.
NEW DELHI: Several candlelight vigils and prayers meetings were organised across the country to express solidarity with the families of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans killed in Pulwama attack.

The security forces on Friday took out a candlelight march in Hyderabad`s Telangana condemning the ghastly terror attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Hundreds of people congregated at India Gate and Jantar Mantar to hold candlelight marches as a mark of protest and to pay tributes to martyrs of Pulwama attack.

At Port Blair and Ladakh, hundreds of people gathered at various places and lighted candles and condemn the cowardly act.

"We feel ashamed of being a part of Kashmir that supports terrorist activities. Ladakhis are peace-loving and patriotic people," Ladakh Buddhist Association President Tsewang Thinles said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and Chiefs of Army, Navy and Air Force paid tributes to the CRPF personnel who were killed in Pulwama terror attack.

The mortal remains of 40 CRPF personnel, wrapped in tricolour, were brought to Palam airport on Friday evening.

Most of the soldiers, who fell victim to the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama that shook the nation hailed from Uttar Pradesh.

Ten of the 40 martyred soldiers were from Uttar Pradesh, five hailed from Rajasthan, four were from Punjab while two each belonged to Maharashtra and Uttarakhand.

Other soldiers who lost their lives were from Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Odisha, Karnataka, Assam and West Bengal.

Earlier in the day, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), made a review and an assessment of the situation on the ground.

Around 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir`s Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar - the slain personnel were in a bus which had 42 CRPF men on board.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, claimed responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged in the blast and ensuing gunfire on the vehicle.

Reflecting the outrage in the country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier on Friday said, the blood of Indians is boiling and issued a clear warning to Pakistan, declaring that the guardians of the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack will be definitely punished.

Asserting that a befitting reply will be given, he said, our neighbouring country forgets that this (India) is a country with new intent and new policy.

He said the terror organisations and their guardians have committed a grave mistake by carrying out the attack and that the Indian armed forces have been given a go-ahead to hit back at the time, place and form of their choosing.

He said Pakistan is making a big mistake by thinking that it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies.

PM Modi urged the international community to unite to wipe out the scourge of terrorism and isolate those responsible for the menace.

The Prime Minister also thanked the countries which have supported India and condemned this incident in the strongest of terms.

(With Agency inputs)
Kokomo, IN (46901)

Today

Windy with showers and thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 78F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low 71F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
New Delhi: As more people are coming forward to donate to the families of the martyred CRPF jawans, the Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday alerted saying that some unscrupulous elements are soliciting contributions from people through other accounts. It advised that people desirous of supporting families of the soldiers should only contribute through the website or app.

To donate to the families of the martyrs, visit the website or download the app - Bharat Ke Veer - at bharatkeveer.gov.in.

"It is also reported that some unscrupulous elements are soliciting contributions from people through other accounts. It's advised that people desirous of supporting families of martyrs of CAPFs should only contribute through the website. Contributions are free from income tax," the MHA said.

The Ministry further said, "During the last few days, there has been a tremendous response from people wanting to contribute through the website. MHA is grateful for this support. However due to heavy traffic, sometimes a slow down is reported in accessing the website."

Bharat Ke Veer is a trust into which public can contribute to support families of martyrs of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces- BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, NDRF, NSG, SSB and Assam Rifles. It is managed by a committee comprising of Director Generals of CAPFs.

In a dastardly terror attack on security forces, at least 40 CRPF personnel were martyred on Thursday after a suicide bomber from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a bus carrying the jawans in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria, who was called back for consultations in the aftermath of the Awantipora attack on CRPF troopers on Thursday, arrived on Saturday morning at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for consultations with senior officials and government officials in the national capital.

The Government of India (GoI) had on Friday called Bisaria back home for consultations.

Prior to that, the government summoned Pakistan High Commissioner Sohail Mahmood and lodged a strong protest over the Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF troopers in Jammu and Kashmir.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Foreign Secretary Vijay Keshav Gokhale summoned Mahmood to the MEA at 2 PM and issued a "very strong demarche" in connection with the terror attack on Thursday that also left 38 troopers injured.

Gokhale conveyed that Pakistan must take immediate and verifiable action against the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), which claimed responsibility immediately after the attack, and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism and operating from Pakistani territory.

He also rejected the statement made by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry denying any involvement in the suicide attack, that has been called the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since terrorism began there in 1989.

Earlier, sending out a tough message to Pakistan, the government on Friday withdrew the 'most-favoured nation' status to Pakistan, a move which would enable India to increase customs duty on goods coming from the neighbouring country.

In a media briefing after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the most-favoured-nation (MFN) status to Pakistan stands revoked.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in in 1996, but the neighbouring country has not yet reciprocated.

The MFN status was accorded under WTO's General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

Both India and Pakistan are signatories to this; and are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which means they have to treat each other and the other WTO member countries as favoured trading partners in terms of imposing customs duties on goods.

Meanwhile, coming down heavily on Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that those behind the Pulwama terror attack have committed a grave mistake and they will punished.

"If our neighbour, which is totally isolated in the world, thinks it can destabilise India through its tactics and conspiracies, then it is making a big mistake," the Prime Minister said.

"I want to tell terrorist organisations and their guardians that they have done a grave mistake. Those behind the attack will be punished for their actions, PM Modi said here while flagging off the Delhi-Varanasi high-speed Vande Bharat Express train.

Paying tributes to the CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack, he said, Our security forces have been given full freedom (to carry out anti-terror operations). We have full faith in their bravery."

PM Modi also thanked the countries which have supported India and condemned this incident in the strongest of terms.

After the dastardly act, India demanded that the UN ban JeM and its chief Masood Azhar who roams freely in Pakistan.

In a statement, India`s External Affairs Ministry said all UN member countries should support a proposal for proscribing Azhar as an international terrorist.

The JeM, a Pakistan-based outfit, claimed responsibility for the attack in which a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force bus that was part of a large convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway around 3.15 PM, killing several troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.
Ahmedabad: A clash broke out between members of two communities on Saturday when a candlelight protest march against the Pulwama terror attack was underway in Shahpur locality in Gujarat's Ahmedabad, police said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone II) Panna Momaya said tear gas shells had to be fired to bring the situation under control.

"A candlelight march was passing through a communally sensitive locality in Shahpur area when a clash broke out between members of two communities," the official said.

"Primarily, it appears some misunderstanding about stones being pelted by members of a procession passing from the same locality led to the clash. We are still investigating what started the clash," she said.

The DCP said there was no clear picture at the moment of people injured or property damaged though she added that the situation had been brought under control.
Islamabad: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman`s visit to Pakistan has been delayed by a day.

He is now scheduled to arrive in the country for a two-day visit starting from February 17 (Sunday), Pakistan`s Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Earlier, the Saudi Crown Prince was slated to arrive in Islamabad on Saturday, but now the visit has been postponed by a day.

The Pakistan foreign ministry did not divulge the reason behind the change in schedule, adding that the bilateral engagements "remains unchanged," The Dawn reported.

The Saudi Crown Prince will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including members of the royal family, ministers and businessmen.

This will be the Saudi Crown Prince`s maiden visit to Pakistan since becoming the heir to the throne in 2017.

Security has been beefed up in the Pakistani capital ahead of his arrival.

The sudden change in the schedule comes after Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir`s Pulwama district that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Denouncing the deadly assault, Saudi Arabia on Friday reinforced its support to India against terrorism and extremism, wishing for the speedy recovery of the wounded.

Last month, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide USD 3 billion to cash-starved Pakistan as a balance of payment support to stabilise its ailing economy besides providing oil on deferred payment for three years.

After visiting Pakistan, the Saudi Crown Prince will embark on a maiden two-day visit to India beginning from February 19.
Our directory features more than 18 million business listings from across the entire US. However, if we're missing your business, add your business by clicking on Add Your Business.
Venice, FL (34285)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 87F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies. Low 74F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph.
YORK  Thursday the York Lions Club made sure the next generation saw the American flag as more than a colorful piece of cloth; rather, a proud symbol of the United States.

For over 30 years, the York Lions Club has presented Flag Appreciation Day to area elementary school students. This year, five schools brought students to York High Schools auditorium to learn about the United States proud symbol.

Guest speaker Nebraska U.S. National Guard Capt. David Easterday gave an audience-participation presentation. He spoke about the history of the American flag, enlightening the kids about the symbolism behind each element and offered little-known facts about the flag.

Easterday said while serving in the deserts of the Middle East, he fully realized the power of the American flag.

Returning to base from a particularly dangerous mission, he caught sight of the American flag. I felt at peace because it reminded me of home, he said.

Its that feeling he said makes up the true meaning of our nations symbol. The flag is not magic, he said. What it represents is whats so important.
The Chairman of the Histadrut labor union Avi Nissenkorn announced that he is joining the Israel Resilience Party, headed by former IDF chief Benny Gantz, and will be seeking a ministerial position involving finance.
MUNICH - China rejected on Saturday German Chancellor Angela Merkel's appeal to join a Cold War-era arms control treaty that the United States accuses Russia of breaching, saying it would place unfair limits on the Chinese military.

Fearing a nuclear arms race between China, Russia and the United States after the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, which the United States is withdrawing from, Merkel made her call for a global treaty.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is defending European powers' decision to stand by the Iran nuclear deal, describing it as an "anchor" allowing the West to exert pressure.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Germany, France and Britain of trying to "break" American sanctions on Iran and called on them to follow Washington in pulling out of the nuclear deal.

Merkel told the Munich Security Conference Saturday the split over Iran "depresses me very much," but downplayed the substance of the differences.

She said: "I see the ballistic missile program, I see Iran in Yemen and above all I see Iran in Syria."

But "the only question that stands between us on this issue is, do we help our common cause, our common aim of containing the damaging or difficult development of Iran, by withdrawing from the one remaining agreement? Or do we help it more by keeping the small anchor we have in order maybe to exert pressure in other areas?"
A diplomatic spat has arisen between the United States and Russia over the formers policies on Iran and what they could entail for the Middle East. Alexander Zasypkin, Moscows ambassador in Beirut, accused Washington of inciting new conflicts which could involve many countries as well as ethnic and religious forces in the region.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter



The envoy also championed Iranian-backed Hezbollahwhich the US and most Western nations have designated a terrorist entityas a legitimate partner in Moscows military intervention in Syria.

When events started unfolding in Syria, Hezbollah sided with its lawful authorities, seeing the fight against terrorists in the region as its duty, Zasypkin said, echoing the rhetoric of Syrian President Bashar Assad regime, which labeled all those opposed to it as terrorists.

Hezbollah in Lebanon (Photo: AP)

While the war has wound down with the Assad regime victorious, Israel has been carrying out air strikes to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons from Iran into Hezbollahs waiting hands. But Russia has also made clear it will not stand for arbitrary attacks on sovereign Syrian territory, as Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said in a recent interview.

The sharp words coming out of Russia point to Lebanon as the next potential geopolitical battleground between Moscow and Washington.

Lebanon has been in this complicated situation for a long timewith powerful players competing for influence, says Nicu Popescu, Director of the Wider Europe Program and Senior Researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

Its obvious that Russia is much more present in the Middle East, but we are also seeing more outreach from Lebanon which is sending its diplomats more often to Moscow.

When it comes to the US we dont know when the announced troop withdrawal (from Syria) will be. But I dont see the US then becoming much more engaged in pushing Russia out of Lebanon.

Putin with Iranian President Rouhani (Photo: Reuters)

Turning to Israel, Popescu explained that Russia is unlikely to seek stronger alliances with Iran and Hezbollah, nor ramp up the presence of Iran-backed groups in Syria and Lebanon, which would risk upsetting Jerusalem.

From a Russian standpoint, there is sympathy with Israeli desires not to see too much of Iran in these countries, he said.

Professor Eyal Zisser, Vice Rector of Tel Aviv University and an expert on politics in Syria and Lebanon, says that it is logical from Russias point of view to move forward to Lebanon after establishing itself in Syria.

But Lebanon is more complicated, he says, because unlike Syria there are more actors such as Saudi Arabia and other Arab states.

I wouldnt call it a battleground because even in the case of Syria it is not that there was a competition. America, for good reasons, gave up," he says.

Lebanese PM Saad Hariri and Donald Trump in the White House (Photo: MCT) (Photo: MCT)

US President (Donald) Trump and former president Barack Obama said very clearly that they have no strategic interests in Syria. This can also be the case in Lebanon because it offers very little to the US, Zisser says.

A major segment of the Lebanese population is more Western, modern, and enjoys a high-standard of living. Clearly Russia has nothing to offer here. What did it give Assad? Only his political survival. But when it comes to economic growth and prosperity, Russia can offer very little.

This is why all parties, Lebanon included, understands that when it comes to standards of living it is important to maintain good relations with the US.

Robert J. Riggs, Associate Professor of Religion and Politics and a specialist in Shiite history at the University of Bridgeport, says that Lebanon could see conflict again, but more likely it would be sparked between Israel and Hezbollahs leadership, not between Russia and the US directly.

Recently, with the conscious policy of maximum pressure on Iran being exerted by the Trump administration, Hizbullah has been targeted as well. (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahus government has been emboldened to challenge Hezbollahdestroying the groups tunnels into Israeland this is partially due to the perceived support of the Trump administration.

Trump and Putin meeting in Helsinki in 2018 (Photo: AFP)

However, what has changed from the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah is the ongoing Syrian civil war, Riggs explained. For the first time, Hezbollah openly sent its troops into Syria (then Iraq and Yemen) to fight alongside local militias and the national army in Syria, bringing them into close proximity to the Russian military leadership.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the Russian leadership would praise Hezbollah, but doing it publicly is something new. Perhaps this can be attributed to the rising tensions between Russia and the US, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putins opportunism.
As the election campaigns ramp up ahead of the April 9 elections for the Knesset, Israelis are being exposed to borderline wanton behavior by the candidates seeking to claim a seat in the next parliament.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter



Downright ugly statements made in recent days beg the question of how low our politicians are willing to go in their bid to garner any advantage at the ballot box.

Moti Yogev of the Jewish Home is one such politician. The MK who once threatened to send bulldozers to raze the High Court of Justice has now directed his vitriol at former Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, who recently left to form a new party.

"Not only did he abandon his political home, religious Zionism, he also raped it," said Yogev. After a while he regained his composure and apologized for his words, but the damage was done.

Moti Yogev and Naftali Bennett

A few hours earlier, a social media post was made showing former Shas chief Eli Yishai with the slogan "a child should not have a father and father."

Yishai claimed that this ad was not part of his election campaign, but all the evidence indicated that the ad actually originated with his camp.

Eli Yishai denied that the 'a child should not have a father and father' poster did not come from his campaign

This phenomenon is not restricted to the smaller parties, who are scrambling to ensure that they even have Knesset representation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who also serves as defense minister, is entitled to enjoy the benefits that come with the posts he holds. But his recent use of the IDF - especially in pictures with soldiers - has led the attorney general to issue a directive forbidding him to drag the army into his election campaign.

And it's not just images. The public is entitled to demand that Netanyahu handle the sensitive security information entrusted to him with excessive care. He does not have the authority to reveal all manner of defense operations or military strikes, which have until recently been subject to a strict policy of ambiguity, solely to increase his chances of reelection as prime minister. Nor is there anything encouraging about the criticism on this issue from his main rival Benny Gantz. Israel's security interests should not be used in the service of any candidate, and Gantz has only added to the trend of making the IDF into a political tool.

Gantz and Netanyahu: A political rivalry turned ugly

Exploiting security incidents from the past to damage an opposing candidate is also out of bounds. Netanyahu's Likud party has been using the death of Druze Border Police officer Madhat Yousef at the start of the second intifada to attack Gantz. Yousef bled to death during riots at Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank in October 2000, while Gantz, who was then commander of the Judea and Samaria Division, led the ultimately futile attempts to rescue him.

The Likud use of the tragedy for elicited a furious response from the fallen officer's family. Madhat's brother, Mahdi, demanded that Netanyahu "end the cheap propaganda and take my brother's name off the political field."

In the past, in other elections, joint committees helped various parties reach agreements on what was acceptable, and in some cases even remove offensive broadcasts from the public domain. In other words, there was once an attempt to keep elections civil and avoid personal attacks on individual candidates.

But now, perhaps due to the endless channels of communication and the ability to hide behind anonymous identities on social networks, it seems that all the dams have been breached and anything goes.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's face beams down from election billboards depicting him as a statesman, shaking hands with US President Donald Trump.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter



Opponents portray Netanyahu, also known by his nickname Bibi, as a criminal. Even before he called an election for April 9, he was branded "crime minister" in huge banners at protest rallies, a reference to three corruption investigations threatening his decade of political dominance.

Netanyahu and Trump in a Likud Party billboard (Photo: Reuters)

Love him or loathe him, the election is all about Netanyahu.

Although the names of parties will be on ballot papers, the vote will amount to a referendum on Netanyahu in the shadow of his legal woes. If he wins, he will become Israel's longest-serving premier this summer, breaking the record of first prime minister David Ben-Gurion.

"There's no central issue other than Netanyahu's reign and clean government whether he remains prime minister and what the price is for corruption," said Tamar Hermann, a political science professor with the Israel Democracy Institute.

Opinion polls show Netanyahu's Likud party is likely to win about 30 seats in the 120-member parliament, enough for the right-wing leader, now 69 and in his fourth term, to form the type of nationalist-religious coalition government he already heads.

He faces a strong challenge from former Israel Defense Forces chief Benny Gantz. But Gantz's centrist Israel Resilience party, which is second in opinion polls, would need to pursue groundbreaking political alliances to outstrip a right-wing bloc.

In power since 2009, after a first stint as prime minister from 1996 to 1999, the man ardent supporters hail as "King Bibi" has struck a chord with an electorate that has moved to the right and watched with delight as, under Trump, Washington lined up with many of Netanyahu's policies.

That has included US withdrawal from the international deal curbing Iran's nuclear program, Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, the transfer of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and a cut-off of US aid to the Palestinian Authority over its refusal to resume peace talks that collapsed in 2014.

Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem (:  , ")

"He (Netanyahu) has brought us excellent achievements, he represents me with dignity. I feel like my country is flourishing because of him," said Ronit Levy, a 49-year-old insurance agent from the northern city of Afula who goes by the handle of "Ronit the Bibi'ite" on Twitter and Facebook.

The sign on the giant city-center billboards featuring Netanyahu and Trump says: "Netanyahu. In a different league."

Corruption cases

Netanyahu is suspected of wrongdoing in three separate cases: Case 1000 concerns allegations that the prime minister and his family received illicit gifts from wealthy donors, most notably billionaire film producer Arnon Milchan. Case 2000 concerns allegations that Netanyahu held talks with Yedioth Ahronoth publisher and owner Arnon Mozes about favorable coverage in return for legislation that would weaken Yedioth's rival, free daily Israel Hayom. Case 4000 concerns an alleged quid pro quo relationship between Netanyahu and investor Shaul Elovitch, who was the majority shareholder of Bezeq telecommunications and owner of the Walla! News site; Elovitch allegedly ensured Netanyahu and his family received favorable coverage on Walla! News in return for regulatory benefits for Bezeq, which sought to merge with satellite company Yes.

He has denied all wrongdoing, saying he is a victim of a left-wing witch hunt to topple him and that he has no intention of resigning. But his opponents are attacking his record and underlining the need for clean governance.

Benny Gantz

In a speech that boosted his ratings on January 29, Gantz said Israel's present leadership encouraged incitement, subversion and hatred, and was so detached from the people that it had adopted "the mannerisms of a French royal house".

"There was already a king who said: 'The State is me,' Gantz said, referring to King Louis XIV of France."But no. Not here. No Israeli leader is a king. The state is not me. The state is you. The state is actually us. The state is all of us."

Netanyahu's legal saga looks set to enter a new chapter soon. Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit could announce by the end of February whether he intends to file criminal charges, as police have recommended, in the three corruption investigations.

PM Netanyahu and Attorney General Avidhai Mandelblit (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Indictment in court would await the outcome of pre-trial hearings in which Netanyahu would try to dissuade Mandelblit from filing formal charges.

Those hearings would be unlikely to be wrapped up before the election, meaning voters would go to the polls aware that the attorney-general believes there is sufficient evidence to convict Netanyahu of criminal activity.

"The mere notion that in Israel a prime minister can remain in office while under indictment is ridiculous," Gantz said.

Palestinian issue

Palestinian leaders have had little to say about the Israeli election, maintaining their traditional policy of watching quietly from the sidelines.

They have already broken off contacts with the Trump administration, accusing it of pro-Israel bias. Any new Netanyahu government would be likely to include veteran allies opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Comments last week by Gantz that Israel must find a way "not to have dominion over other people" a reference to its continued control over the West Bankwon praise from a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (: )

"It's encouraging, if he succeeds and he sticks to this opinion," the spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said.

Trump intends to present a long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan only after the election and has been trying to enlist the support of US Arab allies in the region. But expectations of a breakthrough are low.

Another question looms for after the election: will coalition partners still stick with Netanyahu if Mandelblit, after a hearing, moves ahead with indictment?

Knives are already out: former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman, an erstwhile political ally of Netanyahu, has predicted that right-wing parties now pledging their support would eventually turn on the Israeli leader.

Hermann, of the Israel Democracy Institute, said Netanyahu enjoys loyalty from his core supporters of lower-income Israelis who see him as their champion.

Netanyahu's backers, many of them Jews with roots in the Middle East and North Africa, hold grudges against left-wing parties that once dominated Israeli politics, accusing them of maltreating immigrants from those regions.

"It doesn't matter what he does, they don't expect him to conduct himself by the same moral standards that bind ordinary people," Hermann said. "You don't regard the king the same way you do a peasant."
The north of Israel has much to offer tourists, with rolling green vistas, spectacular scenery, and glorious architecture. Here we take in five spots that make it a perfect tourist destination for visitors of all ages. Welcome to the unspoiled Western Galilee.

Follow Ynetnews on Facebook STRONG> and Twitter



1. Moshav Shavei Zion

Turning off the main highway, one rides over a bridge and enters the relaxed setting of the coastal community where residents prefer to not develop the beach and allow nature to have its way.

Upon encountering the beach, one of Israels prettiest, we felt as if we had returned to nature. Although the beach is often associated with summer, those who love the sea know that there is nothing more awe-inspiring than the sight of the sea battling with the winter wind, the smashing waves and a cloudy sky meeting the stormy waters on the horizon.





(Photo: Guy Benor)

Visitors will find that the beach has something for every age group - from a natural pool for children to a secret beach for surfers.

We gazed jealously at the homes abutting the beach, some of large proportions and others just simple houses. Who does not dream of waking up to the sound and sight of the sea just outside the window or to open the door and go for a stroll on the beach?

The moshav is also the site of Dolphin Village resort. It has more than 20 different rooms that are fit for families, couples and groups.

One who is seeking luxury accommodations will not find it here, but one who desires tranquility combined with quick access to one of the most beautiful beaches in Israel will discover just what they are looking for.

Rates are between NIS 400-1,000 per night for a couple, including breakfast.

2. Rosh Hanikra

In the evening, we went to Rosh Hanikra, 20 minutes away. The trip in the cable car down to the old train tracks, constructed by the British in an effort to connect Europe to the Middle East, will surely remind many Israelis of their childhood outings.

Equipped with lanterns, we set out for a night hike in the grottos. The floor was wet and slippery and it is advisable to hold on to the railing. From within the dark cave, you can clearly hear the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. Further down we encountered the beautiful sight of the grotto lit up with colorful lights. It is a wonderful opportunity for that viral Instagram post.

3. Dining on the edge

At the end of the lantern tour, we went to dine at Roish Hanika's kosher restaurant "Hatzuk" (the cliff), which sits above the site. During the day, one can eat while drinking in the sea views.

4. Life on the farm

The following day we went to Kibbutz Rosh Hanikra to sample life on the farm. In the square next to the cowshed we met Potash, an old farmer who was waiting for us with work boots at his feet, a plaid flannel checkered shirt and suspenders on his shoulders. Later Potash will enrich us with his rich knowledge of the advanced agriculture of the kibbutz.

The tour of the various branches of the kibbutz is conducted using electric vehicles. Above us, the green mountain rises up to the security wall that was recently built to protect the area from Hezbollah, just on the other side of the border. The other direction boasts spectacular views of the coast and sea. We passed through the barns and where they keep the new-born calves. This dairy has been awarded the European Union's commendation for the quality of its milk. We also visited the greenhouses where bananas and avocados are grown for export.

The rate for an agricultural tour combined with a tour of the grottos is NIS 78 for anyone over the age of three. Registration can be made online at: www.rosh-hanikra.com and depends on the weather and number of participants.

5. A watery thrill

The brave-hearted can take the opportunity to see the views of the area by boat - a fast rubber dinghy known as a Tornado boat, to be precise. The boat takes its passengers from Rosh Hanika down the coast to Achziv. Because of the location, the tours are coordinated with the Israeli navy and are often conducted under the watchful eye of a warship!

The tornado boat at Rosh Hanikra

The more sedate visitors can also see the scenery, albeit on a jeep tour of the hills and mountains of the area.
Yankton, SD (57078)

Today

Cloudy this morning. A few showers developing during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Cloudy with showers. Low 63F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
The U.S. government tracks 500,000 chunks and bits of space junk as they hurtle around Earth. Some 20,000 of these objects are larger than a softball.

To clean up the growing mess, scientists at the University of Surrey have previously tested a net to catch chunks of debris. Now, they've successfully tested out a harpoon.

The video below, released Friday by the university's space center, shows a test of the experimental RemoveDEBRIS satellite as it unleashes a harpoon at a piece of solar panel, held out on a 1.5-meter boom.

The harpoon clearly impales its target.

This is RemoveDEBRIS most demanding experiment and the fact that it was a success is testament to all involved," Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, said in a statement.

Next, the RemoveDEBRIS team  made up of a group of international collaborators  is planning its final experiment: responsibly destroying the satellite.

In March, the RemoveDEBRIS satellite will "inflate a sail that will drag the satellite into Earths atmosphere where it will be destroyed," the university said a statement. This is how the group intends to vaporize the future dangerous debris it catches.

SEE ALSO: Trump fails to block NASA's carbon sleuth from going to space

Human space debris hurtles around Earth faster than a speeding bullet, with debris often traveling at 17,500 mph, or faster. The threat of collisions is always present, though in some orbits the odds of an impact are significantly lower than others. The International Space Station, for instance, is in a relatively debris-free orbit, but even here there is the threat of "natural debris"  micrometeors  pummeling the space station.

Other orbits have considerably more debris spinning around Earth. In 2009, a derelict Russian satellite slammed into a functional Iridium telecommunication satellite at 26,000 mph, resulting in an estimated 200,000 bits of debris. In 2007, the Chinese launched a missile at an old weather satellite, spraying shrapnel into Earth's orbit.

Story continues

This risk amplifies as more satellites are rocketed into space. SpaceX now has government-approved plans to launch thousands of its Starlink satellites into orbit  perhaps by the mid-2020's, should they amass money for the pricey program.

This would double or triple the number of satellites in orbit.

"It is unprecedented, said Kessler, NASA's former senior scientist for orbital debris research told Mashable. "The sheer number, thats the problem."

Kessler has long warned about the potential of catastrophic chain reactions in Earth's orbit, wherein one collision creates enough weaponized debris to create a cycle of destruction.

Designs to harpoon dangerous chunks of debris are just being tested in space today, but the technology could prove critical as Earth's orbit grows increasingly trafficked with large, metallic satellites.
Thirteen same-sex couples in Japan have filed a lawsuit against their government, arguing the countrys rejection of equal marriage under the law is a violation of their constitutional rights.

While there is no law banning same-sex marriage in Japan, the constitutions marriage provisions have been interpreted as only applying to heterosexual couples, NPR reports.

The lawsuit, filed on Valentines Day, is the first legal action of its kind in the country and argues that Article 24 of the constitution should be reinterpreted to include same-sex relationships, according to Japan Times.

Article 24 states: Marriage shall be based only on the mutual consent of both sexes and it shall be maintained through mutual cooperation with the equal rights of husband and wife as a basis.

Lawyers representing the 13 couples say the governments legal interpretation ignores parts of the constitution that guarantee marriage equality. The constitution gives you the right to pursue happiness and equality before the law, Yoshie Yokoyama, a lawyer representing the couples told the South China Morning Post. Not recognising same-sex marriage violates this.

Most Japanese agree that same-sex marriage should be legal. A survey taken in January found that 80% of people between the ages of 20 and 59 in Japan support legalizing gay marriage, according to Japan Today.

However, the country has been slow to accept LGBTQ rights, advocates say. The pressure to follow a conservative family model, in which heterosexual couples are supposed to marry and have children, is still strong, lawmaker Mizuho Fukushima told the Associated Press.

Each of the 26 plaintiffs seeks 1 million yen ($9,000) in compensation, maintaining the governments decision to restrict same-sex marriage has caused them emotional distress, Kyodo News reports.
London (AFP) - British regional airline flybmi announced on Saturday it had ceased operations and was filing for administration, blaming spikes in fuel and carbon costs and uncertainty over Brexit.

Parent company British Midland Regional Limited said it had cancelled all flights with immediate effect, and would not be able to purchase, rearrange or reschedule any bookings on behalf of customers.

Flybmi, based in the East Midlands region of England, operated 17 aircraft on routes to 25 European cities, and had 376 employees based in Britain, Germany, Sweden and Belgium.

"It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement today," a company spokesperson said in a statement posted on its website.

"The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs.

"Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process," the spokesperson added.

Flybmi had been unable to secure post-Brexit flying contracts in Europe and feared it may not be able to continue serving destinations on the continent after Britain leaves the EU on March 29, according to the statement.

"Against this background, it has become impossible for the airline's shareholders to continue their extensive programme of funding into the business, despite investment totalling over A40 million in the last six years," it said.

The airline, which said it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights last year, operated under codeshare agreements with a host of European partners, including Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and Air France.

Its flights operated out of Aberdeen, Bristol, East Midlands, London Stansted, Newcastle and Derry in Britain as well as a host of European airports, including Frankurt, Milan Bergamo, Munich, and Paris Charles de Gaulle.

In lengthy advice posted online, it told customers not to travel to airports unless they have re-booked flights with alternative providers.

Story continues

It advised them to seek refunds for their cancelled reservations from credit card companies, booking websites or travel insurance providers.

Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union in less than six weeks.

But its parliament is yet to approve a withdrawal agreement with the bloc, leaving businesses increasingly concerned that the country may crash out without a deal.
Flickr / Official U.S. Navy Page

War Is Boring

Security,

The Pentagon behaves as if aircraft carriers will rule forever  they wont.

The U.S. Navys Big MistakeBuilding Tons of Aircraft Carriers

History, it has been written, does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Today its rhyming with Gen. Billy Mitchell. In the 1920s, Mitchell challenged conventional thinking by advocating air power at sea in the face of a naval establishment dominated by battleship proponents.

The hubris of the battleship Navy was such that just nine days before Pearl Harbor, the official program for the 1941 Army-Navy game displayed a full page photograph of the battleship USS Arizona with language virtually extolling its invincibility.

Of course, the reason that no one had yet sunk a battleship from the air  in combat  was that no one had yet tried.

In fact, Mitchell sank a captured German battleship, the Ostfriesland, in an aerial demonstration back in 1921, but the Navy said that the test proved nothing. Two of the observers that day were officials from Japan.

In addition, the architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, Isoroku Yamamoto, was a student at Harvard at the time and no doubt read accounts of the event that were widely reported in the newspapers.

The aircraft carrier decisively replaced the battleship as the Navys sea control capital ship, but its reign in that capacity was, in reality, quite brief. The aircraft carrier established its ascendancy in the Battle of Midway and was the centerpiece of five major sea battles between 1942 and 1944.

Yet, following the Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944, the U.S. Navy repositioned the aircraft carrier as a platform to project power ashore. The United States did not lose a fleet carrier in the war after the Hornet went down in 1942, because Japans surface fleet had been devastated. Nor did Tokyo effectively use its submarines.

That track record, just as the boast in the Army/Navy game program, however, is not an indication that a carrier cannot be sunk  or put out of commission  but rather the fact that since 1945, the U.S. Navy has never engaged another navy in battle that tried.

Story continues

Projecting the past into the future is risky business  especially when were unsure what that past was, James Holmes, a naval warfare expert at the U.S. Naval War College wrote.

Which brings us to today. The U.S. Navy has fallen into a troubling pattern of designing and acquiring new classes of ships that would arguably best be left as single ship  or at most in limited numbers. Its also building several types of new aircraft that fail to meet specifications.

The Navy is developing a new class of supercarriers that cannot function properly, and has designed them to launch F-35 fighters that are not ready to fly their missions. This is all happening during an era of out-of-control budgets, which bodes poorly for American sea power and leadership ahead.

That the Navy is concentrating larger percentages of its total force structure on large, high signature and increasingly vulnerable ships endangers Americas future. Fortunately, theres better options to the status quo if the Navy moves now.

Too expensive

Before asking whether it makes sense to continue to invest in aircraft carriers, we must ask the question whether we can afford them.

The Pentagon commissioned the USS George H.W. Bush in 2009 at a cost of $6.1 billion. Americas most recent aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, will cost more than double that in constant dollars. The carriers air wings cost about 70 percent again the cost of the ship itself.

In an era when personnel costs  including healthcare and pensions  are consuming the military from within, the fact that these craft require 46 percent of the Navys personnel to man and support places them in the crosshairs in an extreme budget-constrained environment.

The Center for Budgetary and Strategic Assessments stated that being the most expensive piece of military equipment in the world makes them a prime  and perhaps even a necessary target  in this era of belt tightening.

If 11 carriers  as required by legislation  is the minimal number required to have an effective supercarrier force, then carrier proponents are hoist upon their own petard.

If our fleet of small numbers is so fragile that it cannot afford the loss of a single ship due to budgeting, how will it survive the inevitable losses of combat? Commander Phillip E. Pournelle wrote in Proceedings.

That day has already come. As of early 2014, the Navy only has 10 operational supercarriers. Sequestration delayed the deployment of the Harry S. Trumanand has the Navy scrambling to come up with funds to refuel the Abraham Lincoln, raising the question whether the latter will ever come back into service.

It appears dubious that the Ford will have overcome major development issues to come into service in 2016.

Furthermore, if sequestration persists, the Navy might have to mothball four of nine air wings, making the discussion of 11 carrier platforms moot. Due to these substantial constraints, the Congressional Budget Office and former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel both floated the possibility of the Navy going down to as few as eight supercarriers.

The Navy, like the other services, has proven itself incapable of running an effective weapons acquisition program in recent decades. Instead, the services pay increasingly more money for progressively fewer units that often fail to meet original specifications.

The current shipbuilding plan calls for the Navy to have 306 ships while the actual number has dwindled 285. The CBO recently concluded that there is approximately a 30 percent gap between what the Navy would require to meet its shipbuilding plan and what it will likely obtain through the appropriation process.

The Navys own acquisitions chief recently told Congress that given the current trends and budget outlook, the Navy could slip to as few as 240 shipsin the next several decades.

The commitment to aircraft carriers is literally cannibalizing the rest of the Navy and simultaneously interfering with its ability to meet emerging requirements and threats.

Work began in 2005 on the Ford at an estimated procurement cost of $10.5 billion, which later increased to $12.8 and most recently to $14.2 billion and rising. Unfortunately, as the General Accountability Office noted in a recent report  issued when the Ford was 56 percent complete  that our previous work has shown that the full extent of cost growth does not usually manifest itself until after the ship is more than 60 percent complete.

Stating that the plan may prove unexecutable, the GAO added that the Fordwill be unlikely to fill the gap created by the scheduled decommissioning of the Enterprise. Worse, the Ford would likely face operational limitations that extend past commissioning and into initial deployments.

The already stretched multi-year procurement budget assumes that the Navy will spend $43 billion to procure the Ford and two other carriers of this class at the pace of one every five years, which does not include any additional cost overruns.

Unfortunately, cost estimates for the F-35Cs slated to fly off the Fords decks have almost doubled while performance concerns continue to mount.

Calling the Navy estimates optimistic, the GAO exhorted the service to improve the realism of the budget projections. Meanwhile the CBO has floated various options including canceling future procurement of Ford-class carriers. The Navy is currently trying to shift part of the funding for completion until after delivery of the first ship in an apparent attempt to obscure the extent of the overruns.

The surface fleet procurement program has suffered a massive disconnect between emerging capabilities and system design. Naval Operations chief Adm. Jonathan Greenert discussed the revolution in precision-weaponry such that instead of sorties per aimpoint, we now commonly speak of aimpoints per sortie.

But instead of leveraging this massive improvement in precision weapons, the Ford-class carriers were designed prior to his tenure and the costs have driven through the roof. This was in order to include new, untested technologies that dramatically increased the number of sorties that could be launched even though the performance ratios were going dramatically in the opposite direction.

Vulnerable to attack

The economies of scale that favored the carrier as a force projection instrument were made possible by the ability of such behemoths to operate close to shore with impunity. That age is drawing to a close.

The famed Adm. Horatio Nelson observed that a ships a fool to fight a fort. In the new age that is dawning, the fort is an increasingly sophisticated range of over-the-horizon anti-ship missiles that render surface ships vulnerable, and which will deny them proximity to the coastlines where U.S. carriers have reigned for decades.

These include ballistic missiles fired from a wide range of platforms, including easy to conceal mobile launchers. In a sweeping 2013 paper on the carriers future, Navy Capt. Henry Hendrix estimated China could produce 1,227 DF-21D ballistic anti-ship missiles for the cost of a single U.S. carrier.

Although one missile might not sink a carrier, a single missile might cause sufficient damage to take it out of commission.

Further, the radar signature of a 100,000-ton ship is very large and the sensors used on the carriers current defense systems only increase that signature.

In such an attack, the fleet must be able to defend against a large number of incoming weapons approaching on evasive trajectories at greater than twice the speed of sound, while the attacker needs to only score a few hits. These new anti-ship missiles put U.S. forces on the wrong side of physics, the U.S. Naval War Colleges Andrew Erickson warned.

Emerging anti-ship technology also places the aircraft carrier on the wrong side of basic arithmetic.

In its capacity as a force projection platform, the carrier operates by launching various types of attack and tactical fighter aircraft from its decks. The unrefueled radius of the Navys current F/A-18E Super Hornet falls within 390450 nautical miles. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will have an unrefueled combat radius of 730 nautical miles.

The Department of Defense, however, estimates that the range of the DF-21D anti-ship missile to be 1,5001,750 nautical miles and some speculate the range to be greater.

Recognizing the fact that these numbers will require placing the carrier strike groups well outside of their range, former Naval War College Dean Robert Rubel observed that a successful defense of a carrier does no good if the carrier cannot in turn succeed in attacking enemy naval forces.

Although a sustained attack from land-based ballistic missiles would be more than a challenge for the Navys current hard kill defense systems, the situation is potentially more serious.

The Navys plan to disrupt ballistic missile command-and-control systems with electronic measures would be inhibited by the same range arithmetic that keeps such craft far from shore.

Even more ominous, military analyst Robert Haddick wrote, are the squadrons of maritime strike fighters capable of launching scores of long-range, high-speed anti-ship cruise missiles, in volumes that threaten to overwhelm the most modern fleet defenses.

A reality-check exercise would be to conduct a theoretical battle with the rapidly developing Peoples Liberation Army Navy. The Chinese have around 100 fast missile boats  primarily of the Hubei class with stealth catamaran hulls  that carry eight anti-ship cruise missiles with current ranges of 160 nautical miles.

A coordinated attack would also likely include aircraft and Sovremenny-class destroyers and, in the next decade, an estimated 7580 submarines  both nuclear and diesel  armed with torpedoes and some with wave skimming, supersonic anti-ship missiles supplied by or copied from advanced Russian models.

Russia has been developing sea- and bomber-launched anti-ship missiles for decades. Russia is also a major arms merchant, making these anti-access systems potentially among its most attractive wares. In addition, those that are not purchased could also be reverse-engineered. Iran has, for obvious reasons, a very strong interest in and an unknown arsenal of such weapons.

As the costs of these weapons come down, the rate of proliferation will increase and place this technology in the hands of smaller states and potentially non-state groups. With such proliferation, the latitude of carrier task groups to own the coastlines along which they wish to operate in a power projection role will evaporate.

A troubling sign of things to come is a Russian firm that is reportedly selling a Club-K cruise missile concealable in shipping containers deployable on trucks, rail cars or merchant ships.

Although the saliency of this issue is now greater due to rapid advances in capabilities, there is nothing new in the vulnerability of aircraft carriers in specific and surface ships in general. Like the battleship admirals prior to Pearl Harbor, carrier advocates take solace from an unblemished record resulting from the Cold War [having] ended without a Leyte Gulf, Holmes noted.

A U.S. carrier group only came face-to-face with a Russian carrier task force during the Cold War once. During the tensions surrounding the Yom Kippur war, the presence of a locally superior Russian force resulted in the American ships having to reposition further west in the Mediterranean.

Soviet Adm. Sergei Gorchakov reportedly held the view that the U.S. had made a strategic miscalculation by relying on large and increasingly vulnerable aircraft carriers. The influential U.S. Adm. Hyman Rickover shared this view. In a 1982 congressional hearing, legislators asked him how long American carriers would survive in an actual war.

Rickovers response? Forty-eight hours, he said.

Now lets take a look at the unofficial record derived from war games. In 2002, the U.S. Navy held a large simulated war game, the Millennium Challenge, to test scenarios of attacks on the fleet by a hypothetical Gulf state  Iraq or possibly Iran.

The leader of the red team employed brilliant asymmetric tactics resulting in 16 U.S. ships, including two supercarriers, going to the bottom in a very short span of time. The Navy stopped the war game, prohibited the red team from using these tactics and then reran the exercise declaring victory on the second day.

As with Billy Mitchell and the Ostfriesland, according to the Navy the sinkings never happened. But, as Robert Gates noted in his memoirs, the enemy always gets a vote.

Ballistic missiles are just the most recent challenge to carrier vulnerability. I would argue that you can put a ship out of action faster by putting a hole in the bottom [with a torpedo] than by putting a hole in the top [with a weapon like the DF-21], former U.S. Naval Operations chief Gary Roughhead said.

This extends to diesel submarines. Although the number of simulated sinkings by ships of the Navy is officially unacknowledged, there are reports of around a dozen U.S. aircraft carriers being sunk in exercises with friendly countries including Canada, Denmark and Chile.

In 2005, the USS Ronald Reagan was sunk by the Gotland, an electric diesel sub that the U.S. Navy borrowed from Sweden between 2005 and 2007 and which was never detected in exercises by U.S. carrier groups during all that time.

Although its true that the Soviets and the Americans never faced off in an actual naval battle, there is every reason to believe that they would have had some success against the invulnerable carriers. As far back as 1968, a fast nuclear powered Russian submarine matched the Enterprise at top speed in the Pacific.

In 1995, Israeli Adm. Yedidia Yari wrote in the 2005 Naval War College Review that the Russian SS-N-22 Muskit anti-ship missile can probably penetrate any existing defense system, hard or soft-kill, especially when launched in salvos.

In 2012, test of a slower and higher-flying surrogate of the Muski missile demonstrated that the Aegis system could not be relied on for effective defense of itself or the aircraft carriers it was escorting, Winslow Wheeler of the Straus Military Reform Project noted.

One carrier, the USS Kitty Hawk, used up three of its nine lives having been run into by an undetected Soviet sub in 1984, overflown by two undetected Russian planes  an Su-24 and an Su-27  in 2000, and surprised by a Chinese Song-class attack submarine that surfaced undetected inside its perimeter and within torpedo range in 2006.

In March of this year, the French Navy reported that it had sunk the USSTheodore Roosevelt and half of its escorts in a war game, but hurriedly removed that information from its website.

The world, of course, is not standing still. Missile ranges and speeds will increase. Missiles will become more elusive and accurate  and could be nuclear-tipped. Sensors will see further and more accurately, significantly reducing the fog of war. Surface ships, no matter where located, will be increasingly vulnerable.

Supercavitating torpedoes  such as the Russian Shkval  already travel at 200 knots and can track ships for more than 1,000 kilometers. Above the surface, supersonic anti-ship missiles that currently travel at Mach 2 will be replaced by hypersonic missiles that will travel at Mach 5, and Mach 10 and Mach 25.

And well above the surface, newer electronic warfare weapons will reach into space and attack satellites and communications on which the modern information awareness of battle depends.

The future is drones and submarines

The modern aircraft carrier strike group stands at the very pinnacle in the history of warfare in terms of conventional lethality and sophistication. Unfortunately, in the modern context it resembles a Rube Goldberg device  the most complicated system that can be devised to perform a mission.

In order to deliver firepower on a target, the U.S. Navy fields an increasing unaffordable supercarrier which must be escorted by one Aegis cruiser, two destroyers, a nuclear attack submarine and a combined strike force crew of more than 6,000 to carry and launch an air wing of increasingly unaffordable airplanes with inadequate range.

The supercarrier requires an exponential and compounding set of very expensive investments. The total acquisition cost of a carrier strike group exceeds $25 billion, an air wing another $10 billion and the annual operating costs of perhaps $1 billion.

Yet, a cruise missile fired from a wide range of lower signature ships costs less than a third of each bomb delivered by a fighter from the deck of a carrier. Nor do these platforms require a carriers defensive shield  and they can launch from beyond the range of carrier-based aircraft.

In another time, the battles of Crecy and Agincourt signaled the end of the age of the armored knight who could be defeated from a distance with advanced, low cost, armor-piercing arrows. The age of the cavalry ended with advances in artillery, mechanized armor and the machine gun in World War I.

A similar shift is occurring now and will displace the modern equivalent of the dashing cavalry officer  the fighter pilot. The knight class never passes willingly  as they take justifiable pride in their acumen and truly believe in their mission. However, the carrier and its air wing cannot be allowed to drive strategy or procurement.

Nonetheless, the U.S. Navy continues to pursue the next generation of fighter, the F-35C, and the next two Ford-class carriers to launch them in spite of an explosion of costs and questions about performance, including its stealthiness.

In what seems like a perversion of logic, the air-Navy union has even proposed using some of the new unmanned systems being developed by the Navy, not to replace the fighter, but as an aerial refueling tanker to try to keep the manned aircraft relevant.

USNI News has also reported that the Navy plans to reduce the UCLASS drone to perform only surveillance functions in order to preserve manned fighters. More Rube Goldberg. Its in no way to dishonor the bravery and skill of fighter pilots to recognize the facts of physiology and physics. Unmanned vehicles and missiles can operate at speeds and turn radiuses that are impossible for a human to withstand.

With the pilot no longer in the equation, the vehicles can also achieve greater stealth. Unmanned craft and missiles cost dramatically less and remove the loss of the pilot from the equation, thus opening up an entire range of strike options than would otherwise be unavailable or suicidal.

Although TV viewers were in awe of images of precision weapons during Desert Storm, precision guided munitions had improved in effectiveness by 12 to 20 fold by the time of the second Iraq war. Those improvements will continue to be matched by increases in range accompanied, in some instances, by hypersonic speed.

In the meantime, new passive and active methods including the use of VHF and UHF from other sources  will make stealth increasingly elusive to achieve. Worryingly, Defense News has reported claims by Chinese sources that its DWL002 passive radar had already rendered the F-35 obsolete.

Concurrently, improvements and the ubiquitous placement of sensors feeding into massive computational systems will make total battlefield awareness  with the world being the battlefield  a reality. Sooner or later most of the worlds oceans will fall under the shadow of land-based precision weaponry, Holmes wrote.

The next two Ford-class carriers will not be completed for another decade  assuming the problems with the first vessel are resolved  and will have a life of 50 years. Can anyone possibly believe, given the pace of technological improvements, that by 2065 supercarriers and the manned aircraft that fly off of them will be anything other than relics?

Given these arguments, the Navy cannot and should not continue to pursue a force structure of 11 carriers. In 2013, an unmanned X-47B with a range three times the current carrier strike group  and twice that projected for the F-35C  landed on the deck of a carrier. Yet the Navy is spending too little on the revolution in unmanned systems.

In a recent joint think-tank symposium, both CSBA and Center for a New American Security called for decommissioning at least two carrier strike groups and possibly diverting savings from the F-35 program to facilitate this revolution.

In other words, over the next four or five decades the Navy would transition from large carriers launching fifth-generation fighters to supercarriers launching unmanned systems and to smaller amphibious assault ships  and other lower cost platforms  launching a variety of unmanned systems.

The Navys penchant for building ever larger and more complex carrier strike forces is analogous to an effort to build ever larger mainframe computers while the world is already moving from distributed systems to the cloud. Precise weapons can also be placed on a wide range of craft  even fishing boats  raising the specter of the USS Cole suicide attack on steroids.

Because the most critical naval competition will be a battle of signatures, a small signature-controlled combatant with long-range precision strike will be a decisive component of any fleet, Hendrix pointed out in Proceedings.

The economics and efficacy of substituting modular and expendable payloads for large hulking platforms is compelling. Such a naval force structure would more distributed, networked, numerous, elusive, small, long-range and hard to find, David Gompert and Terrence Kelly of the RAND Corporation noted.

Although the supercarrier would remain in the fleet until the Ford comes out of service, the Navy must move away from its carrier-centric architecture. Large surface ships are increasingly vulnerable, and the Navy should not be build and operate them if the costs are unacceptable.

New and very low-cost landing ships such as the USNS Montford Point and John Glenn can be built at about 1/25th to 1/30th the cost of a supercarrier and project advanced missiles, drones, helicopters, V-22 Ospreys or jump jets. Instead of an arsenal of 90 missiles on an existing Aegis craft, the new Afloat forward stage base ship Lewis B. Puller can hold 2,000 missiles at one-fourth the cost of an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

Another logical response to the strategic and technological realities facing the Navy would dictate a very marked emphasis on the improvement and development of a subsurface strategy  both manned and unmanned. Submarines are less vulnerable to cyber and electronic interventions than air- and surface-weapons.

The sea acts as a massive electromagnetic barrier to interference and as a de facto armor against most forms of attack such as anti-surface cruise or ballistic missiles like the DF-21D carrier killer, retired Commander Victor Vescovo stated in Proceedings.

The increasing vulnerability of carriers presents the U.S. in a crisis with a Hobsons choice of acquiescence or possible exposure of the fleet to heavy losses and potential escalation.

The emerging doctrine of AirSeaBattle, besides possibly coming too late to be of use, would similarly present the U.S. with a policy option that seems to ensure escalation.

The pivot to Asia should result in a pivot in procurement to subsurface vehicles  including stealthy unmanned underwater drones and gliders  not with the objective of scrapping for a fight, but for deterrence and to preserve the peace.

Unfortunately, thats not happening. The fleet of nuclear attack submarines  as opposed to strategic submarines armed with nuclear warheads  is now slated to drop from 54 in 2013 to cover the entire world to possibly as low as just 39 by 2030.

At present, the Navy is straining to build two attack submarines a year, while it could afford to build 10 at the cost of just one carrier and its air wing and, arguably, to much greater strategic effect. In addition, unlike most of the surface ship acquisition programs, attack submarine programs have had a generally good record for coming in on schedule and budget.

One of the most effective components of an effective submarine procurement program should be a back-to-the-future program involving very quiet diesel submarines. Diesel submarines are very hard to detect and can be procured at a rate of three or four per the cost of each nuclear submarine.

But here, as with Navy carrier policy, the leadership will encounter strong resistance from one of its unions, in this case the submariners who are committed to the nuclear Navy.

Sound policy will also require overcoming resistance to replacing manned subs with all manner of unmanned underwater vessels  from the very small to large-displacement unmanned vehicles.

Submarines, which were unsung game changers in both world wars, must continue to develop in terms of offensive capability as launchers of cruise missiles, non-nuclear ballistic missiles and eventually hypersonic missile.

The U.S. Navy is unquestionably the most powerful in the world today in the aggregate. Unfortunately, repeating that phrase like a standard campaign applause line isnt helpful. While the entire U.S. Navy dominates in tonnage and sheer firepower, that may not be meaningful in a specific locale with the force on deployment.

Then again, although Navy war games often disallow this reality, the very fact that the American Navy is the most powerful to fight a specific type of naval engagement practically guarantees that a future opponent will be so rude as to play a different game.

Yet, the Navy projects into the future a force structure that really is an updated version of what fought in the Pacific in the 1940s, and which was really untested in the Cold War. The alternative force structure hinted at here would equip the Navy possibly for the next 30 to 40 years.

Projected advances in sensor technology, as Greenert noted, will make stealth difficult to maintain above and below water. So, too, will the increasing range and precision of hypersonic weapons and the disabling stealth of deniable cyber-attacks. At that point, going into the 2050s and 2060s yet a different force structure and battle concept will be required.

One thing is certain, however. The aircraft carrier will not be the relevant weapon in the second half of the century. Continued overinvestment in them only ensures that the nations and possibly non-state groups that understand the future will be the ones that control the waves.

This article by David W. Wise originally appeared at War is Boring in 2015.

Image: Flickr / Official U.S. Navy Page

Read full article
Three people were taken to hospital after a Delta Air Lines flight experienced severe turbulence and had to make an emergency landing.

Flight 5763 was heading to Seattle from Santa Ana in California, when the turbulence struck at 34,000ft. The plane was diverted to Nevada.



One of those taken to hospital was a flight attendant. Another two passengers were injured but were not taken to hospital.

Passengers spoke about the plane taking a nose-dive twice because of the extreme conditions.

One of the injured passengers (Barbara Belcher)

The turbulence was so bad that it caused a flight attendants drinks cart to flip over in the aisle, dislodging its shelves and contents, according passengers onboard.

One, Dave Macias, told Fox News: We just saw the drink cart go up in the air. The flight attendant was tossed around like a rag doll. It was wild.

The incident happened on a Delta Air Line plane in the US (PA)

Another, Joe Justice, posted a video on Twitter showing the aftermath of the crazy turbulence but praised the actions of the crew.

Crazy turbulence and injuries, but the @delta crew handled it perfectly, even the emergency landing, said Justice on Twitter.

He added: We did a nose dive, twice.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

There were 59 passengers and four crew on board the flight.

The turbulence came after forecasts of heavy storms in the vicinity of the planes flight path.

In a statement, Delta apologised for the incident.

We apologize for this experience as we get customers to Seattle, said Delta.

Another passenger, Barbara Belcher, said passengers were offered free pizza after the incident.
By Tom Balmforth MOSCOW (Reuters) - Thirty years after the Soviet Union left Afghanistan, some Russian politicians are calling for a reassessment of the conflict which critics have long cast as a bloody foreign adventure akin to the U.S. war in Vietnam. Moscow completed the pullout of its troops on Feb. 15, 1989 after a nine-year war that claimed the lives of 14,000 Soviet nationals, many of them repatriated secretly in zinc coffins. Soviet deputies voted in a resolution that same year to formally condemn the intervention. Thirty years on, with Russia fighting in Syria and the United States moving to withdraw its own troops, Afghanistan is back in focus and Russian lawmakers have called into question the Soviet resolution. A flurry of diplomacy has also thrust Russia back into Afghanistan as a potential power broker, with Moscow hosting the Taliban and Afghan opposition politicians for its own peace negotiations on the heels of U.S. talks with the Taliban. Two lawmakers in the Kremlin-dominated parliament have drafted legislation on behalf of veterans groups to overturn the Soviet resolution, arguing that it had fundamentally failed to "correspond with the principles of historical justice". The legislation received preliminary backing from a parliamentary commission on defense last month, but was fiercely denounced on Friday as "unacceptable and irresponsible" by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in comments to RIA news agency. The Kremlin declined to comment on the parliamentary initiative and instead lauded veterans of the campaign. "For us the most important thing is to remember all the heroes who fulfilled their international duty and did what they had to do. Most important is not to forget these heroes, and no one indeed is forgetting these heroes," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The anniversary was marked by prominent commemorative events broadcast on state television. Russian President Vladimir Putin last year ordered officials to draw up a special program to mark the anniversary, though he himself did not publicly attend commemorations to mark the end of a war that came to embody a decline in Soviet power. Putin, who famously called the 1991 Soviet breakup the 20th century's greatest geopolitical catastrophe, marked the anniversary by awarding a military intelligence veteran who served in Afghanistan with the title of "hero of Russia". For other decorated veterans of the war, such as Alexander Rutskoi, who went on to become vice president under President Boris Yeltsin, the Soviet withdrawal was a betrayal to the men who laid down their lives. But with the United States moving to withdraw troops from Afghanistan, Rutskoi did not call for Russia to fill the vacuum left behind. "There's no point whatsoever in sending troops back there. We've lost time. We should have done it back then," he said. (Reporting by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Catherine Evans)
DALLAS (AP)  Four malnourished siblings, all aged 5 or younger, have been placed in foster care after authorities found them hungry and thirsty in a North Texas barn, two locked in a dog cage and the others smeared with excrement, authorities said Wednesday.

Law enforcement found the children Tuesday morning while responding to a domestic disturbance call at a property near Rhome, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Fort Worth.

The three boys and girl were released from a hospital Tuesday evening and placed into foster care, a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said. The agency did not say if the children have been placed together or split up.

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said deputies found the oldest two kids locked in a 3-by-3 foot (90-by-90 centimeter) cage and the other two were filthy and only partially clothed. Akin called it the worst case of child abuse he has seen in his 44-year career.

Paige Isabow Harkings and Andrew Joseph Fabila, who are both 24, were each charged with four counts of criminal child endangerment and were being held in the Wise County Jail. His bond was set at $60,000 Wednesday afternoon, while hers was set at $75,000.

Harkings was also charged with aggravated assault, and Fabila was taken to an area hospital to have "numerous lacerations on his face" treated before being jailed, the sheriff's office said in a statement. She is the mother to all four children, while he is the father of one, according to authorities.

The 4-year-old girl and the boys, aged 5, 3 and 1, are "doing OK," according to Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales. She declined to share details of their condition and treatment.

Akin said the children were starving and that a plentiful supply of food had been locked inside cabinets and a refrigerator in the barn. Deputies fed the kids and gave them water before taking them to the hospital, according to the sheriff's office.

Law enforcement and Department of Family and Protective Services staff are still investigating the case, Gonzales said.
By Douglas Busvine

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - The telecoms industry has called on European governments to join mobile operators in establishing a testing regime to protect network security without having to resort to the disruptive step of excluding vendors from the market.

The initiative by the GSMA, which represents 800 operators worldwide, comes as the United States steps up pressure on its allies to ban China's Huawei on national security grounds.

Operators warn that such a step would disrupt the supply of equipment, increase costs to them and their customers, delay the rollout of next-generation 5G services by years, and potentially hobble existing networks.

"Such significant consequences, intended or not, are entirely avoidable," the GSMA said in a statement issued just over two weeks before it hosts its annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The industry fest, to be attended by more than 100,000 visitors, is also expected to feature a closed-doors discussion of telecoms CEOs of the risks to the industry that would arise if governments ban Huawei, sources said.

Huawei, an associate member of the GSMA, is traditionally one of the biggest exhibitors in Barcelona. The global market leader in networks and number two in smartphones is expected to launch a new handset on the eve of the event.

The GSMA said it was assembling a task force of European operators to identify ways to enhance existing testing regimes run by individual operators, by third-party laboratories or in partnership with 3GPP, the 5G standardisation body.

It recommended that governments and mobile operators work together to agree on an assurance and testing regime for Europe "so that it ensures confidence in network security while maintaining competition in the supply of network equipment."

BIGGEST STEP

The initiative parallels similar calls by Europe's largest mobile operator, Deutsche Telekom, to strengthen Germany's testing and compliance regime without having to resort to a blanket ban on Chinese vendors.

Story continues

Deutsche Telekom said: "We welcome this move and think its good that the GSMA was able to find a common position." Spain's Telefonica said the GSMA's stance fully reflected its own position.

It marks the biggest step by the industry to avert a repeat of Australia's ban on Huawei - the networks leader with a global market share of 28 percent - following U.S. warnings that its equipment could come with 'back doors' that would expose it to cyber espionage.

Washington has also argued that Chinese vendors are subject to a National Intelligence Law that requires organisations and citizens to collaborate in espionage efforts.

The European Union is considering proposals that would amount to a de facto ban on Huawei, senior officials say, adding to mounting international pressure on the Shenzhen-based company.

Huawei has denied the U.S. claims, while European operators argue there is no evidence to suggest that the Huawei equipment they use in their networks has ever been used for nefarious ends.

There is a great deal at stake: The GSMA estimates that mobile operators will invest between $300 billion and $500 billion by 2025 in the rollout of 5G services in Europe that range from connected factories to super-fast broadband internet.

"As European policy makers consider ways to further secure network infrastructure, we urge them not to lose focus on all relevant policy objectives  security, competition, innovation and consumer impact," the GSMA said.

"This requires a fact-based and risk-based approach."

(Additional reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Mark Potter)
South African fans of U.S.-branded hot, glazed doughnuts with a gulp of coffee are about to see one well-known choice disappear.

The company that owns Dunkin Brands Group Inc.s local Dunkin Donuts chain has applied for voluntary liquidation of the unit. South African leisure company Grand Parade Investments Ltd., which ran the stores as a franchisee since late 2016, is also closing down its Baskin-Robbins ice cream stores, another Dunkin chain.

The opening of Dunkin Donuts in South Africa followed other U.S. chains such as Yum! Brands Inc.s Pizza Hut and Starbucks Corp. seeking to tap consumer demand for popular U.S. fast food. Grand Parade said in 2016 that it wanted to have 290 Dunkin stores in South Africa in 10 years, and purchased the rights to expand the brand into six more countries in the region. It now has 11 stores, all in the Cape Town area, according to its website, and five Baskin-Robbins locations.

Grand Parade made the decision after making a push to focus on its Burger King restaurants and an unsuccessful effort to sell the two unprofitable brands, the Cape Town-based company said Friday in a statement.

Grand Parade rose 1 percent to 2.89 rand as of 1:49 p.m in Johannesburg, paring its decline this year to 7.7 percent.

For consumers who still want a morning dose of American coffee and donuts, theres still Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc., with 16 local stores spread across the Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban areas.
The snow seems to never stop falling in the Sierra Nevada. Some locations like Northstar, at 8,601 feet in elevation, have received eight feet of snow in the past week. Another California ski area, Dodge Ridge, at 8,2000 feet, has recorded 14 feet in the past two weeks. Average snowpack is almost nine times deeper than this time last year and is covering around 20 percent more of the region.

It's been a busy season overall for skiers and resort owners, and they won't be disappointed this weekend. However, truckers will have a tough time hauling loads through the region, possibly running into more road closures and delays in the usual trouble spots like Carson Pass, Donner Pass and Echo Pass, just to name a few.

Snow Amounts and Travel Troubles

Map: NOAA

Map: NOAA

The forecast for snowfall is pretty steady through Sunday afternoon, with total accumulations of 12 to 36 inches above 8,000 feet in elevation in the southern end of the Sierras, along with. pockets of five-foot totals. Up to 12 inches could even pile up between in the foothills of the Kern County mountains.

Some of the heaviest snow is forecast to fall in western Plumas County and around Lassen National Volcanic Park, where three to six feet are on the way for places above 3,500 feet in elevation, with localized amounts up to seven feet. In eastern Plumas County, around Portola and Susanville, look for four to eight inches of weekend snow, with 12 to 24 inches west of US-395.

Other areas expected to be hit hard are from Kings Canyon National Park to Yosemite National Park, in addition to the Tulare County mountains (cities of Camp Nelson, Giant Forest, Johnsondale and Lodgepole). This is where new snow accumulations of one to three feet will accumulate, with up to five feet in the high country above 7,000 feet where winds gusts could reach 50 mph.

Learn more today

Learn more today

We can't forget about the communities of Bridgeport, Coleville and Mammoth Lakes in Mono County. They'll get five to 10 inches of new snow, with two to four feet above 7,000 feet in areas west of US-395. Winds will be fiercely whipping up to 60 mph across the tallest ridgetops.

Story continues

South Lake Tahoe, Incline Village, Stateline, and Truckee will probably see 12 to 36 inches of additional snow, with 3 to 6 feet above 7,000 feet. Winds gusts will reach 60 mph across the ridgelines Saturday and Sunday.

Interstate 80 from Reno through Truckee and Donner Pass is a popular route for truckers hauling loads from Colorado and Utah to northern California, even on the weekends. Hours of service utilization through Reno is often higher than the rest of the country, as seen on the FreightWaves SONAR chart below. Based on this trend, there may be a lot of truck traffic again this weekend, but drivers could run into major delays because of the weather.

According to the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), closures on I-80 have been frequent this winter, sometimes lasting more than 24 hours. Routes over other mountain passes have been closed at times, too. Carriers and fleet managers may want to plan alternate routes, if possible, so their drivers won't waste valuable time being snowbound.

SONAR ticker: HOS11.USA (white), HOS11.RNO (green)

SONAR ticker: HOS11.USA (white), HOS11.RNO (green)

The Cascade Range in northern California will get its share of snow this weekend, too, with up to 30 inches around Shasta Lake and Burney Basin above 3,000 feet. High elevations of Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Siskiyou and Trinity counties could receive 12 to 24 inches, with even a few inches down in the valleys. Winds will be occasionally strong, too.

Updated chain laws can be found here, and winter weather alerts from the National Weather Service (NWS) are on this interactive map.

Other Significant Weekend Weather

Look for heavy snow Friday evening in the Salt Lake City metro area, which could see around four inches along the I-15 corridor with isolated heavier amounts possible. Parts of the Wasatch Mountains will see up to 12 inches. On Saturday, this storm shifts to the western mountains of Colorado, where it will drop four to eight inches of snow in the highest elevations west of Denver. This could slow down traffic on portions of I-70. Areas such as Aspen, Steamboat Springs and Vail are forecast to see three to six inches.

Roads could be icy from sleet and freezing rain Friday evening along the Arkansas-Missouri border and into southern Illinois and Kentucky. Be extra careful on secondary routes, as well as bridges and overpasses. This batch of wintry weather, with some rain in the mix, could reach parts of the southern Appalachians by late Friday night or early Saturday. It should stay below the Mason-Dixon line on Saturday as it spreads through the Mid-Atlantic states, moving offshore by evening. An extensive band of snowfall will also develop Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon across the Dakotas, stretching to the Chicago metro area and upstate New York.

Strong winds could make deadheading or hauling light loads risky across eastern New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, where wind gusts could reach 50 mph on the I-27 corridor. Dust and dirt could be swirling around, reducing visibility at times.

Don't miss it. Register today .

Don't miss it. Register today.

Want more content like this? Click here to Subscribe

Permalink

See more from Benzinga

 2019 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sat for an interview with Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigators, she revealed Friday.

The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them, Sanders said.

While the details of the interview are not public, one area investigators are interested in is how Trump crafted his public statements on the investigation, a matter Sanders would have knowledge of. As a public face of the administration, Sanders has made numerous statements defending the presidents conduct as it pertains to the investigation.

Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, former White House communications director Hope Hicks, former press secretary Sean Spicer, and other White House officials have also answered questions from Muellers team.

Mueller is expected to soon wrap up his investigation into Russias efforts to influence the 2016 election. Then-acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker said in January that the investigation is close to being completed.

More from National Review
Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is set to travel to Ireland on Sunday to participate in a meeting about the Palestinian issue with a number of foreign ministers.

In an official statement, Egypts foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said Shoukrys participation in the consultative meeting between the foreign ministers of Ireland, France, Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, Sweden, Spain and the secretary-general of the Arab League comes as part of Egypts keenness to push ahead with efforts to support the Palestinian cause internationally.

During his visit, Shoukry will meet with the Irish president, the speaker of the Irish Parliament, and the deputy prime minister, and both the foreign and trade ministers.

He will also deliver a speech at the Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA), an Irish policy think tank, where he will present Egypts vision of developments in the region and of international issues.

The ministers visit comes as the two countries celebrate more than 40 years of diplomatic relations, with Egypt being the first Arab state to establish official ties with Ireland in 1975.

This is the first visit by an Egyptian foreign minister in 12 years.

Short link:


Mexico refused to pay for it. Congress wouldnt shell out, either. So President Donald Trump capped a two-month battle over his border wall by deciding to go it alone.

The White House announced Thursday that Trump would sign a spending bill to avoid a second government shutdown over his signature campaign promise, then declare a national emergency in a bid to construct the wall.

President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive actionincluding a national emergencyto ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border, said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary.

The unprecedented move allows Trump to signal to supporters that hes still fighting to deliver the wall, while also sidestepping a second politically damaging shutdown just weeks after a standoff that shuttered the government for 35 days, cost the economy some $11 billion and briefly dented the Presidents approval ratings. But the risky maneuver opens a Pandoras box of future challenges, both in the courts and in Congress. And Republicans fear it raises the prospect of a future Democratic President wielding national emergencies as a tool to bypass Congress on liberal political priorities like climate change and gun restrictions.

The precedent that the President is setting here is something that should be met with great unease and dismay by the Republicans, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters after the White House announcement, during which she bashed Trump for mounting an an end run around Congresss power of the purse.

Pelosis comments came exactly a year after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which killed 17 students and staff. And the Speaker used the grim anniversary to make explicit her threat. A Democratic President can declare emergencies as well, Pelosi said. If the President can declare an emergency on something that he has created as an emergency, an illusion that he wants to convey, just think of what a President with different values can present to the American people.

Story continues

The decision took even some senior White House aides by surprise. Minutes before McConnells announcement, one White House official told TIME that Trump had not made up his mind and aides were still reviewing the 1,100 pages of legislation before the Senate.

Before the chamber voted 83-16 to pass that bipartisan spending bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday he would support Trumps emergency declaration. That position was a reversal for McConnell, who like other Republican lawmakers had previously expressed concerns that an emergency declaration would be an overreach that a future Democratic president could capitalize on.

Republicans at the Capitol have spent recent days in a state of constant uncertainty. The crisis of Trumps own creation has left even the most strident presidential apologists exasperated, prompting GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa to make an unusual addendum to the chambers morning prayers: Lets all pray that the President will have wisdom to sign the bill so the government doesnt shut down.

Some senior Republicans were reluctant to publicly endorse Trumps use of emergency powers to reprogram dollars Congress had intended for other purposes. Others noted polling data showing the last shutdown was a political loser for the GOP. Senior Republican Senate aides described the mood as filled with quiet fury.

I think its a mistake on the presidents part, said Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, adding that National Emergencies Act applies to natural disasters or other catastrophic events. For the President to repurpose billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated for other purposes that he has previously signed into law, Collins added, strikes me as undermining the appropriations process, the role of Congress, and of being of dubious constitutionality.

Other GOP lawmakers were reserving judgment until after Trump signs the bill and acts on his own. West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito supports Trumps move but said shes concerned about the precedent it could set and wanted to see what he does and when he does it. Still other lawmakers suggested to McConnell that he go along with Trumps invocation of an emergency, because it faces an almost guaranteed challenge from Democrats.

Reversing the emergency declaration requires a simple majority in both the House and Senate. A Democratic leadership aide said a challenge is likely. But Pelosis office is waiting to see the details of the declaration before filing a resolution rejecting the action, which is likely to sail through the Democratic-controlled chamber.

Senate Republicans, who hold 53 of 100 seats, have previously warned Trump that he did not have 51 votes there either. If Senate Democrats vote against the emergency declaration in unison, it would only take four Republican defections to reject Trumps move. On Thursday more than double that number of GOP Senators opposed the spending bill. And due to Senate rules, McConnell would be powerless to prevent the resolution from coming to the floor. (If Trump, as expected, declined to sign the resolution, a two-thirds majority in each House would be required to override him.)

Democrats are also eyeing legal challenges to the Presidents authority to declare the border a national emergency. Those legal challenges will likely point to the fact that the Constitution gives the legislative branch the power of the purse. Legal experts argue a 1953 Supreme Court case, Youngstown v. Sawyer, precludes the President from declaring the emergency to build the wall. In that case, the Court found President Harry Truman overstepped his authority when he attempted to nationalize steel mills in order to feed the Korean War machine.

But whether or not the White House ultimately prevails, the lawsuits will trigger a prolonged court battle that could halt construction efforts. And in the meantime, the President will be boasting to his supporters about everything hes doing to deliver what he promised.

 With reporting from W.J. Hennigan and Alana Abramson from Washington


WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland summoned Israel's ambassador on Friday and threatened to scupper a summit in Jerusalem after reported comments in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to accuse the Polish nation of complicity in the Nazi Holocaust. Netanyahu's office said in a statement that the prime minister, who was in Warsaw for a U.S.-sponsored Middle East conference, had been misquoted by The Jerusalem Post, which issued a corrected story. In a later statement, Netanyahu's office said that in his remarks on the question of Polish collaboration with Nazi occupiers, he had not cast any blanket blame. Poland, where sensitivities over the issue of its actions during the Holocaust are high, called in Israeli envoy Anna Azari. The matter of Poland's conduct during the Holocaust - in which many of the six million Jewish dead were killed in Nazi camps on Polish soil - was at the center of an Israeli-Polish diplomatic dispute last year. After an outcry in Israel and the United States, Poland's conservative Law and Justice government backed out of legislation mandating jail terms for anyone suggesting the country had collaborated with the Nazis. Sensitivities were tested again late on Thursday after Netanyahu answered a question about that law posed by one of the Israeli reporters who had traveled with him to Poland. Israel's Haaretz newspaper quoted Netanyahu as saying: "The Poles collaborated with the Nazis, and I don't know anyone who was ever sued for such a statement." Yaakov Katz, the Jerusalem Post's editor, told Reuters the account in his newspaper had used the term "Polish nation", although not in a direct quote from Netanyahu, and the story was swiftly amended to reflect what he really said. But Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek said Warsaw wanted the matter "to be clarified unequivocally". Hours later, Netanyahu's office issued a second statement. "In a briefing, PM Netanyahu spoke of Poles and not the Polish people or the country of Poland," the statement said. Many Poles still refuse to accept research showing thousands participated in the Holocaust in addition to the thousands who risked their lives to help the Jews. Commenting on Netanyahu's remarks, Polish President Andrzej Duda raised a question mark over a two-day summit in Jerusalem next week of the four central European nations - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Duda said that if Netanyahu had said what was originally reported, "Israel would not be a good place to meet in spite of the previous arrangements". Duda offered his own presidential residence as an alternative venue. Netanyahu has sought to use the so-called Visegrad group as a counterweight to western European Union criticism of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. (Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko and Alan Charlish in Warsaw, Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by John Stonestreet, Mark Heinrich and Frances Kerry)
NEW YORK (AP)  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law Thursday long-sought legislation that gives the victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to seek criminal charges or file lawsuits against their abusers.

The law known as the Child Victims Act loosens one of the nation's tightest statutes of limitations on molestation cases. It also creates a one-year litigation window for victims to file lawsuits.

The legislation was blocked for the past decade by Republicans who controlled the state Senate. Democrats took control of the chamber in the November elections, and the Senate and Democrat-controlled Assembly approved the legislation Jan. 28.

Cuomo, a Democrat, signed the Child Victims Act in the Manhattan newsroom of the Daily News. The paper published more than 200 stories on the issue, including abuse at religious organizations, along with numerous editorials in favor of the legislation's passage.

Cuomo praised the newspaper and the state lawmakers who pushed for the legislation. He especially hailed the victims who went public with their stories of being sexually abused and trekked to Albany year after year to advocate for the measure's passage.

"They sacrificed their personal privacy so others wouldn't have to endure the same pain," Cuomo said.

Sarah Klein, a former Olympic gymnast who was one of the first known sexual abuse victims of former national team doctor Larry Nassar, was among the audience for the bill signing ceremony.

"It's an incredible day for all survivors to gain access to justice," she said afterward.

The new law erases what was one of the nation's most restrictive statutes of limitations when it comes to molestation. Victims now have until age 55 to file civil lawsuits and seek criminal charges until age 28, as opposed to 23 under the old statute.

Several other states have recently enacted similar laws to expand time frames for victims' lawsuits. Massachusetts gives victims up to 35 years to sue. Ohio and Pennsylvania both now give victims until age 30.

Story continues

The one-year litigation window for past claims that was barred by the statute of limitations had been the sticking point to getting the legislation approved. Major institutions such as the Catholic Church argued against it, warning that it could cause catastrophic financial harm to any organization that cares for children. Under the act, the window will not begin for six months.

The church dropped its opposition to the legislation last month, however, when the act was revised to treat public and private schools and entities the same.

A similar law in California, passed in 2002, resulted in Catholic dioceses there paying $1.2 billion in legal settlements.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  Police in North Macedonia say they've broken up a criminal ring of migrant smugglers and filed charges against 21 people, including a police officer, for illegal trafficking.

Police said Saturday they raided 20 locations in four cities, including the capital, Skopje, detained 17 people and seized several cellphones, weapons and travel documents, as well as significant amounts of drugs and money. Three men are on the run and one is already in jail on another charge.

Since May of 2018, the group has organized illegal transport for migrants in Greece to the North Macedonian border with Serbia, where the migrants were temporarily sheltered. Migrants, mostly from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Bangladesh, were charged up to 300 euros ($339) each.

An investigative judge ordered 11 people to be placed in 30-day custody.
Pyongyang (AFP) - The Day of the Shining Star dawned bitterly cold in Pyongyang. But thousands of North Koreans lined up in temperatures of minus 8 degrees Celsius on Saturday to pay their respects to late leader Kim Jong Il on his birthday.

Kim, the son of the isolated North's founder Kim Il Sung and the father and predecessor of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on February 16.

According to Pyongyang's orthodoxy, he came into the world in 1942, in a snow-covered hut at a secret camp on the slopes of Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean people, where his father was fighting occupying Japanese forces.

Outside historians point instead to official Soviet records, which say he was born a year earlier in a Siberian village where Kim Il Sung was in exile.

Either way, it is a key anniversary in a nuclear-armed nation whose people are taught from birth to revere the "Paektu bloodline", as the Kim family which has ruled it for three generations is known.

Referred to as the Day of the Shining Star, the occasion is celebrated with flower shows, mass dances in the capital and elsewhere, and laudatory tributes in state media, all reinforcing the underlying narrative.

Driver Kim Chol Jun, 42, took his two boys to Mansu Hill, where giant statues of the two older Kims look out over the capital, to pay his respects to them and the current leader.

"No sons and daughters feel tired when they visit their parents," he told AFP. "The great leaders are regarded as our own parents, so I visit here to bow before our parents with my sons."

Ordinary North Koreans consistently express unequivocal support for the leadership and its policies when speaking to foreign media.

- Silver screen -

Snow dusted the two monumental panels - one to the fight against Japanese occupiers, the other to the building of socialism - that flank the statues, their faces bathed in the light of the rising sun as small children swept the steps clean.

Story continues

In pride of place before the bronze effigies stood a large floral tribute emblazoned with the name of Kim Jong Un, who is due to hold his second summit with US President Donald Trump at the end of the month.

Pyongyang is under multiple international sanctions over its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, which Washington is pressing it to give up. North Korea has rejected demands for what it calls its "unilateral" disarmament.

At the statues, groups ranging from couples and families to hundreds-strong detachments of workers or soldiers assembled turn by turn in front of the images.

After placing individual blooms or flower baskets before the figures, they lined up as an announcer intoned: "Let us pay tribute", and bowed deeply, the military personnel saluting.

Kim Jong Il died in 2011 and his remains are preserved in a palatial mausoleum on the outskirts of Pyongyang, but officially he remains Eternal General Secretary of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

Retired actress Ri Cho Ok, 77, instantly became emotional when asked about the late leader, her voice trembling as she described how much she missed him and how standing before the statues brought the incumbent to mind.

Kim Jong Il was a film director himself and renowned cinephile, to the extent he had a top South Korean director and actress kidnapped so they could develop the North's cinema industry. Pyongyang says their eight-year stay was voluntary.

"The great general taught me step-by-step as I was becoming an actress," Ri said, "and gave me many orders and medals."

But, she added, "it was like I received all the honours in the world when I met him".
Munich (Germany) (AFP) - Russia gave "no new signals" Friday about saving a landmark Cold War missile control agreement, the head of NATO said, as fears grow of a new arms race in Europe.

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov brought no breakthrough and no indication that Moscow might be willing to back down over a missile system which NATO says breaches the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

The impending collapse of the 1987 agreement -- seen as a cornerstone of global arms control -- has raised doubts about the future of the fight against proliferation.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said more talks between Russia, the US and European nations were urgently needed to save the deal.

The US began pulling out of the INF treaty earlier this month in response to Moscow's deployment of the 9M729 missile, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal.

NATO has been urging Russia to save the treaty by abandoning the missile system, which officials say can hit capital cities throughout Europe as far as London.

"There were no new signals from the Russian side," Stoltenberg said after talks with Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference.

NATO has begun planning for the collapse of the treaty, but insists it will not "mirror" Russia, and Germany's Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said there should be no "tit for tat".

- Chinese missiles -

While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have voiced concern that the INF -- a bilateral treaty -- does nothing to constrain rapidly growing military power China.

Germany is organising an international conference in Berlin next month to start talks about how to create an arms control regime to replace the one forged in the bipolar Cold War era.

But the challenges are obvious. According to a new report by the Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), up to 95 percent of China's arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles would be in breach of the INF if Beijing were party to it.

Story continues

Given this, "it is difficult to envision a scenario under which China would today enter a regime such as the INF Treaty," the IISS report said.

Russia insists its missile system conforms to the treaty and offered foreign media and officials a viewing in a park outside Moscow last month.

US officials have said the "static display" did not answer the concerns about the missile, and Stoltenberg accused Moscow of disregarding the inspection protocols enshrined in the treaty.

"There is a specific verification committee and there are specific guidelines, rules on how to inspect, so a static display is not verification according to the treaty," he said.

The US has been raising concerns about the new Russian missile for more than five years, and last year published evidence it said proved the system was in breach.

Evidence has now been gathered independently by "several" other NATO countries that confirms the breach, Stoltenberg said.
KANO, Nigeria (AP)  Nigeria's top candidates on Saturday condemned the surprise last-minute decision to delay the presidential election for a week until Feb. 23, blaming each other but appealing to Africa's largest democracy for calm.

The decision, announced five hours before polls were to open, is a costly one, with analysts at SBM Intelligence estimating an economic hit of $2 billion, plus a blow to the country's reputation. Authorities now must decide what to do with already delivered voting materials in a tense atmosphere where some electoral facilities in recent days have been torched.

Electoral commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu told observers, diplomats and others that the delay had nothing to do with insecurity or political influence. He blamed "very trying circumstances" including bad weather affecting flights and the fires at three commission offices in an apparent "attempt to sabotage our preparations."

If the vote had continued as planned, polling units could not have opened at the same time nationwide. "This is very important to public perceptions of elections as free, fair and credible," Yakubu said, adding that as late as 2 a.m. they were still confident the election could go ahead.

The new Feb. 23 election date is "without equivocation" final, he said.

Bitter voters in the capital, Abuja, and elsewhere who traveled home to cast their ballots, including from Nigeria's vast diaspora, said they could not afford to wait another seven days, and warned that election apathy could follow. Some anguished over rescheduling weddings, exams and other milestones.

If the electoral commission knew about complications, why wait until the final moment to announce a delay, asked Godspower Egbenekama, spokesman for the Gbaramatu kingdom in Delta state in the restive south. "This shows that someone is pulling the strings from somewhere."

The party backing top opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar accused President Muhammadu Buhari's administration of "instigating this postponement" with the aim of ensuring a low turnout. It urged Nigerians to turn out in greater numbers a week from now.

Story continues

"You can postpone an election, but you cannot postpone destiny," Abubakar tweeted.

Buhari said he was "deeply disappointed" after the electoral commission had "given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections." His statement appealed for calm and asserted that his administration does not interfere in the commission's work.

A spokesman for the president's campaign committee, Festus Keyamo, accused Abubakar's party of causing the delay to try to slow Buhari's momentum.

But a ruling party campaign director in Delta state, Goodnews Agbi, said it was better to give the commission time to conduct a credible vote instead of rushing into a sham one "that the whole world will criticize later."

A civic group monitoring the election, the Situation Room, blasted the "needless tension and confusion" and called on political parties to avoid incitement and misinformation.

Nigeria's more than 190 million people anticipate a close race between Buhari and Abubakar, a billionaire former vice president. Both have pledged to work for a peaceful election even as supporters, including high-level officials, have caused alarm with warnings against foreign interference and allegations of rigging.

When Buhari came to power in 2015  after a six-week election delay blamed on extremist insecurity  he made Nigerian history with the first defeat of an incumbent president. The vote was hailed as one of the most transparent and untroubled ever in Africa's most populous country, which has seen deadly post-election violence in the past.

Now Buhari could become the second incumbent to be unseated. This election is a referendum on his record on insecurity, the economy and corruption, all of which he has been criticized by some Nigerians for doing too little too slowly.

___

Uguru reported from Ughelli, Nigeria, and Muhumuza reported from Yola, Nigeria. Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay in Kaduna, Nigeria, contributed.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's presidential election set for Saturday is now expected to be delayed in parts of the country, two diplomats and a government source said on Friday, citing difficulties in transporting electoral materials in some areas. President Muhammadu Buhari faces a tight election contest in Africa's largest economy, top oil producer and most populous nation against the main opposition candidate, businessman and former vice president Atiku Abubakar. An official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) told Reuters that "some result sheets and some ballot papers are reportedly missing. We want to track every (piece of) sensitive material, take inventory of what we have and what is missing". The official said if the election was to be postponed, INEC would have to talk with the political parties first before making any pronouncement. "A decision has been taken. We are going to address you soon," Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the National Chairman of INEC told reporters. A government official said "the legitimacy of the entire process will be questioned and the winner could lack the moral authority to superintend the affairs of the state". One Western diplomat said: "Sensitive materials (ballot papers and results sheets) have been delayed in being distributed." Nigeria is also dealing with pockets of instability. Throughout the day, authorities bolstered security in much of the country on the eve of the vote in Africa's largest democracy where past elections have been marred by violence, voter intimidation and ballot rigging. Dozens of combat policemen and other security forces were deployed from police headquarters in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state on the country's northeast frontier that has been worst hit by Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State in West Africa Province. (Reporting by Paul Carsten, Alexis Akwagyiram, Ardo Hazzad, Camillus Eboh; additional reporting by Lanre Ola, Aaron Ross, Garba Muhammad, Nneka Chile, Percy Dabang and Abraham Achirga; writing by James Macharia and Alexis Akwagyiram; editing by Frances Kerry and G Crosse)
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Police briefly scuffled with some of the 1,600 Central American migrants who have been confined at an improvised shelter in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras, across from Eagle Pass, Texas.

Video of Wednesday's incident shows some migrants tearing down a temporary awning and trying to wrestle metal barricades away from police.

The government of the border state of Coahuila said the situation was brought under control and talks were held with the migrants, who have been confined for at least 10 days in a vacant factory building that is ringed by police and soldiers.

Authorities said some of the migrants were angry about not being allowed out to go to a local store. They said about 30 were later permitted to go to the store, where migrants buy supplies to supplement the food they are given at the shelter.

Coahuila's government said it would not hesitate to turn over migrants to Mexican immigration authorities for deportation if there were any more disturbances.

"We have put a lot of effort into maintaining order and we will not allow disrespect for the law," state security secretary Jose Luis Pliego said. "We will act rigorously, if needed."

Officials said some migrants have asked to be taken to other cities in northern Mexico, presumably thinking they would have more freedom of movement.

The migrants want to present asylum claims in Eagle Pass, but only about a dozen per day are being allowed to do so.

Joe Rivano Barros, a field officer with the Texas-based refugee advocacy group Raices, said the migrants are frustrated because of a lack of information and lack of free movement.

"It's monotonous, it's like living in a prison," Rivano Barros said of the migrants he has spoken to through the chain-link fence at the shelter. His group, which offers free legal services to migrants, is not allowed inside the shelter.

Mexico's federal government had said previously that the migrants were not being allowed out of the shelter except under escort because most did not have humanitarian transit visas, while other groups of Central Americans have waited at the Mexico-Guatemala border to apply for such visas. But after a few hundred migrants at the shelter got humanitarian visas, most still weren't allowed to freely come and go at the shelter.

Migrants frustrated by the lack of information and confinement have asked to go elsewhere.

Rivano Barros said he has seen about seven buses waiting outside the shelter to take migrants to cities like Hermosillo, Sonora. From Hermosillo, migrants could reach the border city of Tijuana, across from San Diego, where other caravans have gone.
Chicago police confirmed on Friday that they have arrested two suspects in the case of Empire actor Jussie Smollett.

The police did not state what charges the men are being held on. Local media have identified the men as two brothers from Nigeria, though law enforcement has not confirmed their identities.

Related stories

Jussie Smollett Case: Chicago Police Arrest Two Suspects

Fox Stands Behind Jussie Smollett in Wake of Staged Assault Report

Chicago Police Say Reports Jussie Smollett Attack Was Staged Are 'Unconfirmed'

Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime and we are working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

Smolletts representatives have declined to say whether he has identified the men as his attackers.

An attorney for the men, Gloria Schmidt, told CBS Chicago on Thursday that the men know Smollett from working on the Fox show. She denied that they had assaulted Smollett.

Smollett told police on Jan. 29 that he was beaten by two men at 2 a.m. in the 300 block of E. North Water Street. He said his attackers yelled racial and homophobic epithets, doused him with bleach, and put a rope around his neck.

Chicago police said Thursday that reports that the event was a hoax are unconfirmed, and were based on incorrect information.

While we havent found any video documenting the alleged attack, there is also no evidence to say that this is a hoax, Guglielmi said. The alleged victim is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect.

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!
Isfahan (Iran) (AFP) - Tens of thousands of Iranians called for "revenge" Saturday at the funeral of 27 Revolutionary Guards killed in a suicide attack perpetrated by jihadists that Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting.

"The government of Pakistan must pay the price of harbouring these terrorist groups and this price will undoubtedly be very high," said Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist outfit Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer observe the previous reservations and will directly act to counter such acts," Jafari told mourners gathered at the city of Isfahan's Bozorgmehr Square.

The comments by Jafari, commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, came a day ahead of a planned two-day visit to Pakistan by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

Jafari blamed Pakistan's army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying that "sheltering and silence" amounts to supporting the perpetrators.

As he left the podium, people shouted "Commander of Sepah (Farsi for Revolutionary Guards) -- Revenge! Revenge!".

The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010.

Jafari also blasted "the traitorous governments of Saudi Arabia and (the) Emirates" and said Iran will no longer tolerate their "hidden support for anti-Islam thugs and Takfiri groups".

He called on President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Supreme National Security Council to give the guards more freedom to carry out "retaliatory operations," but did not elaborate.

Story continues

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries".

- 'We will never submit' -

Black flags attached to lamp-posts adorned Isfahan as the city prepared for the funeral and two days of mourning.

When the bodies of the troops arrived on the back of Toyota vans -- the guards' signature vehicles -- their comrades, women in black veils and young men in jeans were there to greet them.

Tens of thousands chanted "Down with America!" and "We will never submit!"

Iran's flag could be seen at half-mast in Bozorgmehr Square's southeastern side, and the crowd chanted "Allahu Akbar" each time the speaker read the names of the dead.

The troops killed in the bombing belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division, which is based in Isfahan province, according to Tasnim news agency.

Aged from 21 to 52, each will be buried in his hometown after the funeral.

A housekeeper originally from Khuzestan province, where a deadly attack killed 24 last year, told AFP of the thirst for revenge.

"We demand that the blood of these troops be avenged," said Tayebbeh Rezaee, 34. "They cannot weaken the Islamic Republic in any way -- not war, not economic attacks. So they have to stoop to such acts."

- Restive Sistan -

Sistan-Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint, where Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carry out cross-border raids.

A Revolutionary Guard was killed and five wounded in a February 2 attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl on a base of the Basij militia in the town of Nikshahr, some way from the border.

One of the wounded -- Khodarahm Heidari, who was critically injured in that attack -- died on Saturday, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in the provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, in an attack which Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border with Pakistan.
Tehran (AFP) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused "Pakistan's security forces" of supporting the perpetrators of a suicide bombing that killed 27 troops on Wednesday, in remarks state TV aired Saturday.

"Pakistan's government, who has housed these anti-revolutionaries and threats to Islam, knows where they are and they are supported by Pakistan's security forces," said Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist group Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").

"If (the Pakistan government) does not punish them, we will retaliate against this anti-revolutionary force, and whatever Pakistan sees will be the consequence of its support for them," he warned.

The general made the remarks in Isfahan City on Friday evening during a farewell ceremony held for those killed. Funerals are expected to follow on Saturday.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Tehran in 2010.

The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

The attack was one of the deadliest on Iranian security forces in recent years and came just days after Iran held more than a week of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah.

The commander also blasted "the support that the region's reactionary states Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis" maintain for "conspiracies" that he said were ordered by Israel and America.

"We will certainly follow retaliatory measures," he added, without elaborating.

Jafari's comments came ahead of a two-day visit by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan, which is set to begin on Sunday.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the prepetrators of the attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries".
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran warned neighboring Pakistan on Saturday it would "pay a heavy price" for allegedly harboring militants who killed 27 of its elite Revolutionary Guards in a suicide bombing near the border earlier this week, state television reported. Revolutionary Guards chief Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari also accused Tehran's regional rival Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of supporting militant Sunni groups that attack Iranian forces, saying they could face "reprisal operations." Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE deny backing such militants. "Why do Pakistan's army and security body ... give refuge to these anti-revolutionary groups? Pakistan will no doubt pay a high price," Jafari said in remarks live on state television. Jafari was addressing a large crowd gathered for the funeral of the victims of Wednesday's suicide bombing, which took place in a southeastern region where security forces are facing a rise in attacks by militants from the country's Sunni Muslim minority. "Just in the past year, six or seven suicide attacks were neutralized but they were able to carry out this one," Jafari told the mourners, who packed a square in the central city of Isfahan and roads leading to it. The Sunni group Jaish al Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the ethnic minority Baluchis, claimed responsibility for the attack. "The treacherous Saudi and UAE governments should know that Iran's patience has ended and we will no longer stand your secret support for these anti-Islam criminals," Jafari said. "We will avenge the blood of our martyrs from the Saudi and UAE governments and ask the President (Hassan Rouhani) ... to leave our hands free more than ever for reprisal operations," Jafari told the crowd, drawing chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest). Iran's Shi'ite Muslim authorities say militant groups operate from safe havens in Pakistan and have repeatedly called on the neighboring country to crack down on them. Jafari's remarks came amid heightening regional tensions after Israel and the Gulf Arab states attended a summit in the Polish capital Warsaw this week where the United States hoped to ratchet up pressure against Iran. (Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter and Helen Popper)
By Fayaz Bukhari and Sanjeev Miglani NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR (Reuters) - India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan on Friday to expect a strong response to a suicide attack that killed 44 paramilitary policemen in Kashmir, ratcheting up tension between the nuclear-armed neighbors. The car bomb attack on a security convoy on Thursday was the worst in decades of insurgency in the disputed region. India said it had "incontrovertible evidence" of Pakistani involvement, a statement quickly rejected by Islamabad. "We will give a befitting reply, our neighbor will not be allowed to destabilize us," Modi said in a speech, after meeting security advisers to discuss options. The attack comes months before national elections in India. The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility soon after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden car into a bus carrying police personnel. (graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2TM34k8) India has for years accused Muslim Pakistan of backing separatist militants in divided Kashmir, which the neighbors both claim in full but rule in part. Pakistan denies that, saying it only offers political support to the Himalayan region's suppressed Muslim people. The White House urged Pakistan "to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil". Pakistan is due to host peace talks next week between the Afghan Taliban and the United States as part of efforts to seek a political settlement to the Afghan war, but escalating tensions with India could divert Pakistan's attention. As outrage and demands for revenge flooded Indian social media, Arun Jaitley, one of the most senior figures in the Hindu nationalist-led government, told reporters India would work to ensure the "complete isolation" of Pakistan. The first step, he said, would include removing most favored nation (MFN) trade privileges that had been accorded to Pakistan - though annual bilateral trade between the countries is barely $2 billion. The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016 when Jaish militants raided an Indian army camp, killing 20 soldiers. Weeks later, Modi ordered a surgical strike on suspected militant camps across the border in Pakistan Kashmir. When he swept to power in 2014, Modi vowed to pursue a tough line with Pakistan. The two countries have gone to war three times since independence from Britain in 1947, twice over Kashmir. The Line of Control, the de facto border dividing Indian- and Pakistani-held Kashmir, is widely regarded as one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints, especially after the two countries became nuclear armed states in 1998. CALLS FOR REVENGE Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan's ambassador, Sohail Mahmood, and issued a demarche demanding that Islamabad take verifiable action against Jaish. India also recalled its ambassador in Pakistan for consultations, a government source said. Pakistan's foreign ministry also summoned the Indian deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad to reject New Delhi's "baseless allegations," a Pakistani official said. Crowds gathered in Jammu, the Hindu-dominated part of Jammu and Kashmir state, to demand stronger action against Pakistan. A curfew was briefly imposed in Jammu after crowds overturned and set fire to some vehicles. Protesters were also marching to the Pakistani embassy in New Delhi. The attack comes at a difficult time for Pakistan, which is struggling to attract foreign investment and avert a payments crisis, with its swiftly diminishing foreign currency reserves at less than $8 billion, equivalent to two months of import payments. The escalating tension risks overshadowing a visit to the region by the Saudi crown prince, who is due in Islamabad over the weekend and New Delhi next week, with both governments hoping to attract Saudi investment. On Friday, Islamabad said the two-day visit had been put back by a day until Sunday but the program would remain unchanged. It gave no explanation for the change. India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh flew into Srinagar, the main city in Indian Kashmir, and joined mourners carrying the coffins of the dead policemen, before they were sent to their homes across India. Hundreds of thousands of Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir. Singh said civilian vehicles will be stopped if there is a major movement of military convoys on the main highway following Thursday's attack. The separatist insurgency has waxed and waned since the late 1980s, but began to pick up in the last five years as a fresh generation of Kashmiris was drawn to militancy. Soon after Thursday's attack, Jaish released photographs and a video of a young Kashmiri villager, Adil Ahmad Dar, who it said had carried out the suicide attack on the convoy. In the video, Dar warned of more attacks to avenge human rights violations in Kashmir. On Friday, hundreds of people gathered at his village of Lethipora to mourn his death. His parents told Reuters the 20-year-old took up the gun after he was beaten by troops in Kashmir three years ago. Jaish is one of the most deadly groups operating in Kashmir. In 2001, it mounted an attack on the parliament in New Delhi that brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. Indian efforts to add Jaish leader Masood Azhar to a U.N. Security Council blacklist of al Qaeda-linked terrorists have been blocked by China. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang expressed "deep shock" at the latest attack and said Beijing hoped "relevant countries in the region" could cooperate to combat the threat. (Additional reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore, Robert Birsel)
By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has asked one buyer of Venezuelan oil to consider paying the South American nation's national oil company PDVSA in a way that avoids the U.S. financial system, an Indian government source said, after Washington imposed fresh sanctions on Venezuela last month.

The United States is seeking to cut off Venezuela's oil revenue and pressure the nation's President Nicolas Maduro to step down after it recognised opposition leader Juan Guaido as head of state.

The sanctions mean that if oil buyers pay PDVSA through the U.S. banking system, the funds could be seized by U.S. authorities. There may also be problems for transactions by banks that have a heavy U.S. presence even if they aren't in U.S. dollars and don't go through the United States.

The Indian buyer "expressed concern that there could be a problem in payments to PDVSA, so we have advised them to move away from the U.S. banking and institutional mechanism", said the source, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. He declined to name the buyer.

Most Western countries have recognised Guaido as Venezuela's interim head of state, but Maduro retains the backing of Russia and China as well as control of state institutions including the military.

The sanctions limit U.S. refiners to paying for Venezuelan oil by using escrow accounts that cannot be accessed by Maduro's government.

India still recognises Maduro as Venezuela's leader, which means "it does not make sense to shift to the other (escrow) payment avenue", the source said.

India's Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the country was monitoring the evolving situation in Venezuela.

"We are of the view that it is for the people of Venezuela to find a political solution, to resolve the political differences through constructive dialogue and discussion without resorting to violence," ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar said.

Purchases of oil are based on "commercial" factors, he said.

Story continues

India, Venezuela's second-biggest oil market after the United States, has already restricted oil imports from Iran to win a waiver from U.S. sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear and missiles programmes.

Top importers of Venezuelan crude: https://tmsnrt.rs/2BIRAqH

The U.S. sanctions have forced Venezuela to turn its focus increasingly to Asia to sell its oil.

India's Reliance Industries Ltd, operator of the world's biggest refining complex, and Nayara Energy, part-owned by Russian oil major Rosneft and trader Trafigura, are the two Indian buyers of Venezuelan oil.

Trafigura itself has decided to stop trading oil with Venezuela due to sanctions.

India's Oil Ministry, Reliance and Nayara did not respond to Reuters emails seeking comment for this story.

Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo this week travelled to India in an attempt to convince refiners to boost their purchases. The OPEC member aims to double oil sales to India from the current 300,000 barrels per day, he said.

Quevedo told reporters he would like to see the creation of a non-dollar trading bloc involving China, India and Russia.

After Quevedo's visit, White House National Security Advisor John Bolton tweeted: "Nations and firms that support Maduro's theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten. The United States will continue to use all of its powers to preserve the Venezuelan people's assets and we encourage all nations to work together to do the same".

In a note to clients on Tuesday, banking group Barclays said it would be difficult for Venezuela to find new markets in Asia given the stringent nature of the sanctions.

"Considering all the difficulties that Venezuela faces in delivering oil to other markets and the legal, reputational and financial risks confronting traders or counterparties that do business with it under the current conditions," the bank wrote, "It seems unlikely that all production can, in short order, go to other markets."

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Martin Howell and Dale Hudson)
Members of the St. Marks Episcopal School community in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 14 paid tribute to the 17 victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, marking one year since the incident.

This footage shows one of the school administrators reading out names while the students watch in silence. A bell tolls in the background.

The commemoration was one of many planned across Florida and the United States, according to local news reports.

The first anniversary of the Parkland shooting garnered nationwide attention as students continue to navigate the fallout, which sparked a year of political advocacy, backlash, and debate over gun control. Credit: St. Marks Episcopal School via Storyful
Cairo (AFP) - An attack Saturday on an Egyptian army checkpoint in the restive Sinai Peninsula left 15 soldiers dead or wounded and seven of the suspected jihadist assailants killed, the military said.

The Islamic State group, in a statement on its propaganda arm Amaq, claimed responsibility for the attack and said it targeted a military post near the airport in El-Arish, northern Sinai.

Security forces responded to the attack with an "exchange of fire", killing seven militants, army spokesman Tamer el-Refai said.

"An officer and 14 non-commissioned soldiers were killed or wounded," he said in a statement, without giving a breakdown of the casualties.

Medical sources in North Sinai told AFP that 11 soldiers were killed.

Egypt often announces that jihadists have been killed in military operations, but statements that security forces have suffered significant losses are rare.

Since the army's overthrow of elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, hundreds of soldiers and police have been killed in attacks by extremist groups.

Civilians have also been targeted in jihadist attacks, particularly members of Egypt's minority Coptic Christian community.

Egypt's army launched a major operation against the jihadists a year ago dubbed "Sinai 2018", after an attack in North Sinai killed more than 300 people at a mosque.

The army says more than 550 suspected jihadists have been killed in the offensive -- which has also targeted militants elsewhere in Egypt -- costing the lives of more than 30 soldiers.

But no independent statistics are available and North Sinai is largely cut off to media and foreigners.
WASHINGTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will almost certainly face legal challenges over his decision to declare a national emergency to get additional funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, circumventing the power of Congress to set spending policy.

Legal scholars say it is unclear how such a step would play out, but they agree a court test would likely focus on whether an emergency actually exists on the southern border and on the limits of presidential power over taxpayer funds.

Trump is unhappy with a bipartisan border security bill that is going through Congress to avert another government shutdown, because it contains only a fraction of the funds he demanded for his promised border wall. The White House said Trump would sign the bill but declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for the wall.

That will likely trigger a long legal fight possibly stretching into Trumps 2020 re-election bid, and embolden critics who already accuse him of authoritarian tendencies and unpredictable swerves in policy-making.

Congressional Democrats are already vowing legal challenges. They have balked at giving Trump money for what they say is a wasteful and unnecessary wall.

Trump made his promise to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign. The Mexican government has refused to pay.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

PRESIDENTIAL DISCRETION

Under the Constitution, decisions about spending taxpayer funds and creating policy are typically made by Congress.

But a 1976 law allows the president to bypass Congress and redirect funds in the event of a national emergency. The National Emergencies Act does not define emergency, giving the president broad discretion to declare one, legal experts said.

The law empowers Congress to override an emergency declaration, but that requires action by both chambers, which would be hard to get since the Senate is run by Trumps fellow Republicans and the House of Representatives by Democrats.

Story continues

The United States currently has about 30 national emergency proclamations in effect, including ones related to the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 and the swine flu pandemic in 2009.

Congress has made a wide range of special powers available to a president who declares a national emergency.

One law allows the president to redirect U.S. Department of Defense construction funds that have not yet been allocated.

Another enables the U.S. Army to halt civil projects and instead apply the funds and personnel to projects essential to the national defense.

LITTLE PRECEDENT

There are few court cases on the scope of the presidents emergency powers, and legal experts are split.

Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas, said a legal challenge on those grounds might succeed but that the courts typically showed deference to the president on national security matters.

Elizabeth Goitein, a lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice, said there were strong arguments that border wall construction is impermissible under various statutes granting the president emergency powers.

Individuals or businesses with contracts canceled because of a redirection of military funds might be better placed to challenge the president in court, as would private landowners whose property might be seized, Chesney said.

FINDING THE MONEY

A practical issue for Trump, even if he could credibly argue an emergency exists, is that he would need to get his wall money out of whatever funds are left over from a pool of about $10.4 billion in military construction projects during the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.

The U.S. military has not disclosed how much funding might be left over in its military construction budget. It was unclear whether any cash still available would be enough to make significant headway in building the border wall.
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood after he was found guilty of sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Vatican said on Saturday. Pope Francis has decided that the ruling, which followed an appeal by McCarrick, a power-broker as Archbishop of Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2006, was now final. A Vatican statement said his crimes were made more serious by "the aggravating factor of the abuse of power". The 88-year-old, who in July became the first Roman Catholic prelate in nearly 100 years to lose the title of cardinal, has now become the highest profile church figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times. The decision comes as the Church continues to grapple with a decades-long sexual abuse crisis that has exposed how predator priests were moved from parish to parish instead of being defrocked or turned over to civilian authorities in countries across the globe. With the ruling, Pope Francis appears to be sending a signal that even those in the highest echelons of the hierarchy will be held accountable. The ruling, made by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith three days ago, was announced ahead of next week's meeting at the Vatican between the heads of national Catholic Churches to discuss the global abuse crisis. Defrocking means McCarrick can no longer call himself a priest or celebrate the sacraments, although he would be allowed to administer to a person on the verge of death in an emergency. The allegations against McCarrick, whose fall from grace stunned the U.S. Church, date back decades to when he was still rising to the top of the hierarchy there. McCarrick, who has been living in seclusion in a remote friary in Kansas, has responded publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has "absolutely no recollection" of an alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago. BishopAccountability.org, a U.S.-based group which tracks abuse, said it was "meaningful punishment, and one which most abusive bishops have escaped" but years overdue. "Once again, under the glare of negative publicity, Pope Francis is prodded to finally do the right thing," a statement said. CRIME DURING CONFESSION McCarrick was also found guilty of the separate crime of solicitation, which refers to when a priest uses the pretext of the sacrament of confession to commit an immoral act with a penitent. One of the men who has claimed that McCarrick abused him when he was a boy said the then-priest touched his genitals during confession. Separately, several priests and ex-priests have come forward alleging McCarrick used his authority to coerce them to sleep with him when they were adult seminarians studying for the priesthood. McCarrick has not commented publicly on the allegations of misconduct with adults, which was an open secret in the U.S. Church. Francis ordered a "thorough study" last year of all documents in Holy See offices concerning McCarrick. The four U.S. dioceses where he served - New York, Metuchen, Newark, and Washington, D.C. - have launched independent investigations. The pope wanted the case completed before heads of national Catholic churches meet at the Vatican from Feb. 21-24 to discuss the crisis, three sources said. The meeting offers a chance for him to respond to criticism from victims of abuse that he has stumbled in his handling of the crisis and has not done enough to make bishops accountable. McCarrick had already received one of the most severe punishments short of defrocking. When the pope accepted his resignation as cardinal last July, he also ordered him to refrain from public ministry and live in seclusion, prayer and penitence. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Steve Scherer and Angus MacSwan)
Daura (Nigeria) (AFP) - Boko Haram insurgents killed eight people in Nigeria during an attack on the northeastern city of Maiduguri, a civilian militia leader said on Saturday.

"We recovered a total of eight bodies of residents killed in the Boko Haram attack," late on Friday, Haram Abba Aji-Kalli of the Civilian JTF militia told AFP.

The attack came hours before Nigeria's electoral commission announced it was postponing Saturday's presidential and legislative vote for a week.

The delay has been condemned by both President Muhammadu Buhari, who is standing for a second term, and his chief opponent former vice-president Atiku Abubakar.

Boko Haram fighters shot residents while two suicide bombers blew themselves up in the Friday attack on Maiduguri's Jiddari Polo neighbourhood.

The killings came after the group overran a military base north of Maiduguri on Thursday, stealing an armored vehicle and torching buildings in an attack that left "several soldiers" missing, two military sources said on condition of anonymity.

The day before, at least four people were killed when the insurgents struck a convoy belonging to the governor of northeast Nigeria's Borno state, of which Maiduguri is the capital.

In the hard-fought presidential campaign, Atiku has seized on Buhari's failure to defeat the group while the president has claimed the insurgency is weakening.
Reuters

Sebastien Roblin

Security,

New weapon systems due to be integrated in the Block 4 that will significantly expand the F-35s maritime strike, air-to-ground capabilities and air-to-air lethality.

How the 'Block' 4 F-35 Stealth Fighter Could Become A Navy Killer (And Much More)

After years of expensive development, the first fully combat-capable Block IIIF F-35 stealth fighter are due to enter service in 2019. However, the Pentagon is already looking ahead to adding dozens of additional capabilities to a follow-up model called the Block 4an upgrade so ambitious, its already budgeted to cost a whopping $16 billion.

A companion article details the major software and hardware upgrades to the F-35s sensors, communication and propulsion systems, as well as Block 4s troubled financial footing. Here, well look at the new weapon systems due to be integrated in the Block 4 that will significantly expand the F-35s maritime strike, air-to-ground capabilities and air-to-air lethality.

One major addition is the GBU-54/B Stormbreaker, also known as the Small Diameter Bomb II. Like the GPS-guided GBU-39 SDB I already integrated on the F-35, the 208-pound Stormbreaker is only six to seven inches in diameter, allowing eight to be stowed in the F-35s confined internal weapon bays. If stealth is not a factor, a further sixteen can be stored on the wings.

However, the SDB II can additionally adjust course to hit moving targets in all weather conditions up to forty-five miles away, thanks to its tri-mode guidance options: an uncooled infrared seeker, a millimeter-wavelength active radar, and ability to home in on a target illuminated by laser. It also has datalink enabling two-way communication with launching F-35, allowing adjustment or even cancelation of the strike. The Stormbreakers 105-pound shaped charge warhead can lands on average within one meter of its target, and is effective against personnel, boats, and ground vehicleseven including main battle tanks, which have thin top armor.

Story continues

The Pentagon hopes the Stormbreaker, combined with the F-35s advanced electro-optical targeting system and synthetic-aperture radar, will enable the policing of potential no-drive zonesthat is, areas in which military ground vehicles are forbidden to pass, based on the concept of the no-fly zone interdicting military aircraft.

However, Stormbreakers arent cheap at $115,000 each, so the Block 4 may also integrate the shorter-range GBU-54 Laser-JDAM. The 500-pound laser and GPS-guided bomb costs only around $20,000 and can also engage moving targets.

Another weapon due for full integration is the AGM-154 JSOW-C1, a larger thousand-pound glide bomb with a datalink and infrared seeker for terminal guidance designed to penetrate and destroy moving maritime targets up to seventy miles away when released at high altitude. These will give Navy F-35Cs significant maritime-strike capability.

More expensive, longer-range munitions like the far-reaching JASSM-ER and Long Range Anti-Ship Missile may only be integrated in a future Block 5 or Block 6 F-35. As the Lightning can approach closer to defended targets, integrating such long-range weapons is a lower priority. Meanwhile, non-stealthy fourth-generation fighters and bombers can benefit more from their use.

In terms of air-to-air capability, the F-35B is set to gain compatibility with the Block II model of the highly-maneuverable AIM-9X short-range missile, which the pilot can direct using a helmet-mounted sight. The Block IIs Lock-On-After-Launch capability means it can be fired from the F-35s internal bay without a lock, then, following guidance transmitted via the F-35s datalink, turn up to 180 degrees towards a target acquired by radar or even optically using the pilots helmeted-mounted sight, before finally homing in for the kill using its heat-seeker.

Speaking of the Helmet Mounted Display System, which uses cameras allowing Lightning pilots to see through their own plane, that is due be modified for lower weight and will also allow pilots to look directly behind them without having to turn fully around.

Addition of dual-rail missile racks for the F-35s bays will also allow it to carry up to six longer-range AIM-120 air-to-air missiles instead of four, helping mitigate the still significant risk F-35s may be overwhelmed by more numerous aerial adversaries.

Block 4 is also expected to include integration of country-specific weapons requested by foreign F-35 operators, including the U.K.s SPEAR cruise missile and Meteor anti-aircraft missile (considered to be one the most formidable long-range air-to-air missiles in service), Turkish SOM cruise missiles, and Norways Kongsberg Joint-Strike Missile, which can strike land or sea targets with a 500 pound warhead from up to 170 miles away. Norwegian F-35s will additionally even receive special drag-chutes to aid in landing on icy Scandinavian runways.

The F-35 Block 4 may also receive improved engines, and these may be designed to generate significant additional electrical output. Such surplus power could be eventually turned to powering airborne lasers weapons which could be used to blast incoming air-to-air missiles, ballistic missiles in the launch phase, and even enemy fighters. The Air Force plans to begin testing fighter and bomber-born lasers in the early 2020s, meaning any F-35 lasers weapon integration would likely only occur well after Block 4.

The scariest weapon Block 4 will bring to the F-35 is surely the B-61 Mod 12 nuclear gravity bomb, which has tail fins that can adjust the bombs trajectory to strike on average within 30 meters of a designated GPS coordinate. The B-61 has a selectable yield between .3 and 50 kilotons, and has bunker-penetration capabilities. The combination of precision and penetration means it could threaten an adversarys leadership, command and control facilities, and hardened missile launch sites. As part of a NATO agreement, the U.S. B-61 bombs will also be available for deployment on fellow F-35 operators in NATO.

The forthcoming ability of a frontline F-35s to penetrate hostile airspace with little warning, and potentially deliver a tactical nuclear weapon will surely become a factor in any adversarys military calculations, for better or worse.

Decisions to escalate to tactical nuclear warfarethat is, using smaller nuclear weapons against frontline military targetmay become less appealing, when the likelihood of a deadly riposte by nuclear-armed F-35s must be considered. On the downside, it might also motivate nuclear preemptive strikes on F-35 bases. Also, adversaries uncertain whether F-35s intermittently ghosting on low-bandwidth radars are armed with conventional or nuclear weapons may be driven to escalate to nuclear warfare prematurely.

All in all, the Block 4 upgrade is set to round-out the F-35s capabilities against a wide spectrum of targets, as well as fulfill promises to foreign F-35 partners to support their domestic weapon systems. But whether the Department of Defense can scrounge the necessary funds, and meet the ambitious development schedule, to deliver the Block 4 on time (and not over its already considerable budget, remains to be seen.

Sebastien Roblin holds a masters degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring.

.Image: Wikimedia Commons

Read full article
LONDON (Reuters) - British Brexit minister Stephen Barclay will meet ambassadors from the European Unions 27 other members on Friday, the prime minister's spokeswoman said, adding that government remained focused on securing changes to the so-called Irish backstop.

Prime Minister Theresa May wants those changes to be agreed as soon as possible so the deal can be brought back before parliament, the spokeswoman said.

"She is working very hard, as are all of her colleagues and all of the officials who are working on talking to the EU... we're aware of the pressures on the timetable," the spokeswoman said.

(Reporting By William James; Editing by Andrew MacAskill)
By Andreas Rinke MUNICH (Reuters) - Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders urged Germany to press ahead with plans to create common European regulations on arms exports, saying the issue posed a litmus test for Berlin's ambitions to foster a European defense policy. By showing "a kind of moral superelevation" on arms exports, Germany was frustrating Britain, France and Spain, Enders told Reuters, adding that without a common European approach Airbus could consider manufacturing German-free products. German restrictions on arms exports to non-EU or NATO countries have been a thorn in bilateral co-operation for years because of the historical objections of the Social Democrats, junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition. Berlin can stop exports of arms that include parts made in Germany under existing arrangements. "Yes, the French and Germans are apparently talking about it and trying to find a new regulation ... But at the moment there are no results," Enders told Reuters in an interview. "It has been driving us crazy at Airbus for years that when there is even just a tiny German part involved in, for example, helicopters the German side gives itself the right to, for example, block the sale of a French helicopter," he added. Much to France's irritation, Germany decided unilaterally last October - following the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul - to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, its second largest market in the world after Algeria. That decision has blocked the export license for the sale of the Meteor long-range air-to-air missile, which is supposed to equip the Saudi Air Force Eurofigher Typhoon. The Meteor is assembled by European leader MBDA, a subsidiary of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, while its propulsion system and its warheads are manufactured in Germany. A future warplane system launched this week by Paris and Berlin and a plan for a tank of the future could also be compromised if Berlin does not adapt its policies, French diplomatic and military sources warned. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen called on Thursday for a common European arms export policy, telling the Munich Security Conference: "We Germans should not pretend that we are more moral than France or more politically far-sighted than Great Britain in terms of human rights policy." A French government official said on Friday that the two countries had exchanged letters on the subject as was normal procedure, but that work was still ongoing. "On the fundamentals on both sides we've expressed our desire to resolve this problem. The work is still ahead of us," the French official said. Enders said Germany needed to secure common arms regulations if it wanted to push ahead with plans for a European defense policy. "It is to some degree a litmus test as to how serious the Germans are about common defense and close Franco-German cooperation," he said. (Additional reporting by John Irish and Tanya Wood; Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Numerous contenders for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination came out swinging Friday against President Trumps controversial decision to declare a national emergency so he can move funds around for the construction of a wall on the southern border.

Trump officially declared a national emergency Friday morning in response to Congresss refusal to approve the $5.7 billion he requested for construction of a wall on the southern border. Though it is likely to be tied up in lawsuits, the move would free up around $8 billion in federal money, including $3.6 billion in discretionary military funds, to build barriers at the border with Mexico.

We should do something about the actual emergencies that plague our nation  like climate change or health care access  not playing politics in order to build a wasteful border wall, Senator Kamala Harris of California wrote on Twitter.

Lets be clear on this: The only emergency at our border is the humanitarian one Trump created himself, by demonizing and ripping apart families, New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand said in a tweet. This manufactured crisis is racist, wasteful, and an outrageous abuse of power from someone too reckless and hateful to hold it.

Not getting what you want to fulfill a campaign promise/chant is not a national emergency, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota said on Twitter. Taking money from real needs and emergencies is what will create an actual emergency.

I may be the youngest one in the 2020 conversation, but Im old enough to remember conservatives being skeptical about executive power grabs, South Bend, Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg wrote. What will they do today? he asked.

Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren condemned the decision Thursday, before it was officially declared.

Trumps inability to follow through on a campaign promise is not a national emergency, Booker said. Lets not forget those still struggling to rebuild their lives after this administration failed to respond effectively to real emergencies in places like Puerto Rico.

Story continues

Warren agreed, saying the presidents ridiculous wall does not qualify as an emergency.

Gun violence is an emergency. Climate change is an emergency. Our countrys opioid epidemic is an emergency, the Massachusetts senator said.

Former San Antonio mayor and secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, meanwhile, accused Trump of launching a constitutional crisis.

We no longer have 3 co-equal branches of government. The President, in taking money designated by Congress for other needs to build his senseless wall, has voided the voice of the people, Castro wrote Friday on Twitter. The real national emergency is the constitutional crisis the President just instigated.

More from National Review
Wikimedia Commons

Sebastien Roblin

Security, Middle East

Some fighter history you may not know.

In the 1980s, Israel Developed a 'Heavy Hammer' F-4 Super Phantom: What Happened?

In 2018 reports emerged that the Pentagon would seek to procure a dozen upgraded F-15X fighters to replace an aging fleet of F-15C air superiority fighters. Rightly or wrongly, advocates of the F-35 stealth fighter fear the F-15X might impact F-35 procurement, even though the F-35 wasnt meant to replace the F-15C. This is far from the first time that manufacturers of new jet fighter designs have opposed pursuing upgrades of older models already in service.

The F-4 Phantom was a beast of a two-seat jet fighter that could fly over twice the speed of sound and carry a heavier bomb load than a four-engine B-17 bomber from World War II. The advanced radar-equipped jet entered service with the Air Force, Navy and Marines in the 1960s designed to engage enemy fighters at beyond visual range with air-to-air missiles.

However, designs flaws and circumstances both initially conspired against the Phantom in its first major combat test in the Vietnam War. It turned out early air-to-air missiles remained highly unreliable and the rules of engagement required U.S. pilots make visual contact before firing. Furthermore, the Phantom was less maneuverable than opposing MiGs and U.S. pilots werent trained to fight within visual range. As if that werent enough, the Phantom also lacked a gun!

Many of the Phantom's flaws were corrected, though. A 20-millimeter Vulcan cannon was added in the F-4E model and missile technology improved significantly. Moreover, Phantom pilots were trained on Air Combat Maneuver theory, and special wing slats were added that traded away some of the Phantom's considerable speed for greatly improved maneuverability. In addition to scoring a better than 3:1 kill ratio over Vietnam (150 kills for 41 losses in air-to-air combat), Phantoms chalked up a distinguished combat record abroad in the Iran-Iraq war and Arab-Israeli conflicts, shooting down roughly one-hundred-fifty more aircraft and taking out deadly surface-to-air missile batteries.

Story continues

Starting in the mid-1970s, the U.S. military began replacing Phantoms with new fourth-generation of F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, and the FA-18 Hornet jets. These used more efficient turbofan engines, fly-by-wire avionics rather than hydraulic controls, doppler radars that remained effective against low-flying aircraft, and airframe/engine pairings balancing speed and maneuverability for both long and short-range combat.

However, many of these technologies could be retrofitted to the Phantom. In the 1980s, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) planned a three-part modernization of the Phantom called the Kurnass (Heavy Hammer). The first phase of these upgrades included new radars, heads-up-displays, cockpit instrumentation, and standoff missile capability. But IAI also considered a more ambitious upgrade in conjunction with its a domestic light fighter project called the Lavi (Lion.)

In 1980, IAI selected engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney to develop a smaller variant of the F100 turbofan powering the F-15 for use in the Lavi. The resulting PW1120 turbofan was significantly smaller and shorter than the F100 but generated nearly as much thrust and had 70 percent interchangeable parts.

In 1983, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney proposed a Super Phantom upgrade powered by the PW1120, which was vastly more fuel-efficient and produced roughly 30 percent more thrust than the Phantoms smoky 50s-era J79 turbojets. The Boeing Super Phantom would also have come with aerodynamic conformal fuel tanks that nearly doubled range while inducing less drag than wing-mounted drop tanks. However, the Air Force cut funding for the project in 1984.

Later in July 986, as IAI proceeded with development of the Lavi, it modified F-4E Phantom #336 to serve as test-bed, replacing its starboard J79 engine with a PW1120possibly with assistance from Boeing. Less then a year later, the port engine was replaced as well, and the fully re-engined Phantom made its first flight on April 27, 1987.

By all accounts, the up-engined Phantom's performance was extraordinary, boosting the F-4E's thrust-to-weight ratio from .86 to 1.04. (A jet with a thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding of 1.0 or higher can fly straight up at a 90-degree angle and still accelerate.) As a result, the Super Phantom could climb 36 percent faster and sustain turns 15 percent faster which combined with wing slates. This put it on par with the fourth-generation F-15E Strike Eagle and could accelerate 27 percent faster, and take off with 20 percent less runway. Due to the engines' lighter weight and greater fuel efficiency, the Super Phantom could also fly considerably further.

Most remarkably, the Super Phantom could supercruise, meaning it could sustain flight above the speed of sound without using fuel-gulping afterburners. Even today, the United States has only one operational super-cruising fighter, the F-22 Raptor.

A few months later in the 1987 Paris Air Show, veteran pilot Adi Benaya took the Super Phantom (given show number #229) out for a spin in an impressive performance, which you can see here and here. Donald Fink wrote for Aviation Week that it amounted to a startling display of brute power in a series of vertical maneuvers and tight, high-g turns that were totally out of character for the aging F-4.

The Super Phantoms airshow debut created the impression IAI intended to implement the PW1120 upgrade and market it abroad. However, the super-cruising Super Phantom was not to beand the reasons why remain controversial.

Some sources claim that Super Phantom upgrade was simply too expensive, totaling $12 million per aircraft when bundled with improved avionics of the Kurnass, as well as proposed airframe modifications including strakes, canards and special fuel tanks. One should also bear in mind that Israeli Phantoms were already well into their airframe service lives.

Furthermore, two months later the Lavi fighter was canceled, partly due to pressure from the United States not to create competition for its fourth-generation fighters. As the PW1120 turbofan was not used by other aircraft, this would surely have raised the unit cost of procuring them for Phantoms.

However, it is also rumored that the Phantoms original manufacturer, McDonnell-Douglas, may have intervened to prevent IAI Super Phantoms from interfering with foreign sales of its new F FA-18C/D Hornet. Combining the upgraded engines and modernized avionics, the Super Phantom would have equaled or exceeded the $29 million FA-18C Hornet on several performance parameters. And hundreds of Phantoms were in service in Germany, Greece, Japan, Israel, South Korea, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

Thus, legend has it that McDonnell-Douglas quietly withheld authorization for the PW1120-powered Super Phantom to prevent IAI from marketing a cost-effective competitor to its newer fighters. However, though the rumor appears widely-held, confirmation from primary sources is not in evidence.

The IAF did proceed with avionics upgrades to 55 Kurnass Phantoms, including a combined throttle/joystick, an APG-76 Doppler radar, and support for Popeye ground-attack missiles. While the Kurnass Phantoms were retired in 2004, IAI implemented a similar upgrade or Turkish Air Force F-4s dubbed the Terminator 2020. These have seen extensive action over Syria.

Japan will retire its license-built F-4EJ Phantom fleet in 2019, leaving Greece, Iran, South Korea, and Turkey to fly upgraded Phantoms into the 2020sbut not the super-cruising Phantoms that could have been.

Sebastien Roblin holds a masters degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing, and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring.

Image: Wikimedia

Read full article
WATCH: Children with These Names Are More Likely to Be Naughty (or Nice)

Whats in a name? Well, according to the results of one survey at least, a whole lot more than just consonants and vowels.

New research from UK-based education company School Stickers suggests that it's entirely possible that the name you choose for your little ones could play a role in whether they turn out naughty or nice, Mother & Baby reports.

To determine which names are the naughtiest and which are the nicest, researchers examined more than 63,000 school children who kept track of their behavior in online sticker books. From the data on the children's behavior, School Stickers was able to identify the 20 nicest girls and boys names, as well as the 20 naughtiest girls and boys names.

Apparently, children with names like Ella, Joshua, Holly and Benjamin are more likely to dabble in misbehavior, while kids with monikers like Amy, Sophie, Harry and Jack are the best behaved.

Scroll down for the list of the naughtiest and nicest names:

Nicest girls:

Amy

Georgia

Emma

Charlotte

Grace

Sophie

Abigail

Hannah

Emily

Alice

Nicest boys:

Jacob

Daniel

Thomas

James

Adam

Harry

Samuel

Jack

Oliver

Ryan

Naughtiest girls:

Ella

Bethany

Eleanor

Olivia

Laura

Holly

Courtney

Amber

Caitlin

Jade

Naughtiest boys:

Joseph

Cameron

William

Jake

Joshua

Jamie

Lewis

Benjamin

Ethan

Luke
Hank Frentz/Shutterstock

Passing a kidney stone can be extremely painful and, in some cases, impossible without medical treatment like surgery. If you are passing a kidney stone, it would be great to know just how long you must endure the pain before it's over. The short answer, however, is that it depends on a few specific factors. On average, most people who pass a kidney stone do so in one to three weeksif they pass at all, according to Jennifer Linehan, MD, urologist and associate professor of urologic oncology at the John Wayne Cancer Institute at Providence Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. "Most times, you can simply wait for the stone to pass," she says. At a max, four to six weeks for the stone to pass is safe as long as the pain is bearable, she adds. Make sure you're not making these 7 innocent mistakes that put your kidneys at risk. Why passing a kidney stone takes approximately a few weeks has to do with knowing what a kidney stone isand it's not really a "stone" at all. "The term 'kidney stone' is a widely-used nickname to describe the calcifications consisting of the body's excess minerals and salts that can build up inside the kidney," says S. Adam Ramin, MD, urologist and medical director of Urology Cancer Specialists in Los Angeles. "As these substances accumulate in the kidney and begin to harden, they begin to form a crystal." When multiple crystals accumulate and join together, there's a pebble-like formation: a kidney stone. There are a few different types of kidney stones, too. Most are calcium stones which are due to an excess of calcium oxalate, says Dr. Ramin. This compound is found in some foods and is a waste product your body makes. High amounts of sodium, vitamin D, and dehydration are also major contributors to these types of kidney stones, according to Dr. Ramin. Other examples include uric acid, struvite, and cystine stones, but these only make up anywhere from 1 to 10 percent of kidney stones. Whether or not you can pass any of these types of stones mainly depends on the size and location of the stone in the urinary tract. "Stones that are less than four millimeters have a 75 percent [rate] of passing, of course, that may still be with discomfort," Dr. Linehan says. "As the stones get larger than four millimeters then [the] chance of passing gets less." Stones greater than six millimeters only have a 35 percent chance of passing without intervention. Passing a kidney stone is unnecessary for other peopleand some never even know they have one. "Small stones in the kidney may be left alone if they are not causing pain or infection," Dr. Linehan says. A few people choose to have these small stones removed because they're afraid of any potential pain from passing them in the future. Surgery is necessary if the stones cause repeated infections in the urine or are completely blocking the flow of urine from the kidney. Otherwise, your pain level determines if surgery or other methods like shockwave therapy are necessary. These are the 7 warning signs your kidneys could be in trouble. There are a few things you can do to make the pain of passing a kidney stone more bearable, according to Dr. Linehan. Pain medication, anti-nausea medication, and Flomax make moving a kidney stone easier. On the preventative side, Dr. Ramin recommends drinking more water and eating less salt. "My recommendation is to drink at least three liters of water every day, which is about ten 10oz glasses," he says. "Doing this will help to dissolve any excess toxins or chemicals that build up before they can form into crystals or stones." Dr. Ramin also recommends eating less meat or animal protein and less oxalate-rich foods such as coffee, chocolate, and soy products, too. Talk with your doctor about your options for passing a kidney stone. Inform them of any pain so you can find the best course of action for you. While you're there, don't forget to ask your doctor these other questions.
Photo credit: Picture It Photography

From Prevention

At 25, I joined a club I never wanted to be part of: the young widows' club. After nine short, perfect months of being married to the man of my dreams, he passed away in a tragic accident on our farm. It's been more than a year now and I'm still struggling, but I'm very thankful for our love story. If I can help even one person by sharing it - and remind them that they will smile again one day - talking about this is worth it.

I met Ethan while attending Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, just a few months before graduating with a degree in Animal Health Technology. We became friends on Facebook and I started seeing his name pop up daily. Every time I saw his picture, I wanted to get to know him more. One night, a few months after I'd graduated and moved to Nashville to work at an emergency veterinary hospital, he liked something new I posted. I thought, How do I know this guy? He's so cute. I messaged him, and he eventually asked me on a date to ride horses on his farm about an hour away in Cadiz, Kentucky. I love animals, so of course I agreed!

Photo credit: Courtesy of Lynley Taylor

Our first date was in September of 2014. When I pulled up to the farm that day, it was the prettiest place I'd ever seen. Ethan was a welder, and he and his family lived in what is referred to as a holler. You drive up and his parents' house is on the left. You drive a little further, and Ethan's house, which he'd built himself, is up on this hill. Then you go a little further and his grandparent's house is right down the road. It's called a holler because you can yell back and forth across the farm and talk to each other from your separate houses. Anyway, Ethan's whole family showed up that day to meet me and he was so embarrassed. I mean, it was not a normal first date, but I loved it. His dad had saddled the horses for us, and his mom just scooped me under her wing and took me to see her chickens.

That was a really special day. We rode horses and talked for hours. And when it was over, he asked me if I wanted to come back and do it again. I felt overwhelmed at first because I had never been pursued the way he was pursuing me, but in retrospect I think I was afraid because I knew I was going to marry him. When I talked to people about him, everybody who knew him told me, "If you get a chance with Ethan Taylor, you better take it." That he was the best person they had ever met.

Story continues

The rest of our courtship happened really fast. We fell in love within two weeks of our first date and became an official couple on September 28, 2014. We got engaged the following June and were married on October 3, 2015. I think everything happened the way it did - that we got married as quickly as we did - because God knew we wouldn't have but nine months together as husband and wife.

On our wedding day, we came together before the ceremony to pray. We stood back-to-back so as to not see each other before I walked down the aisle. Ethan was supposed to say the prayer, but I heard nothing.

"Well, babe, are you going to pray? ... Ethan?" I asked. Finally, he said something.

"Babe, I'm choked up." He was bawling. In that moment, he said he felt God with us and knew how lucky we were to be together. He proceeded to pray over our marriage and we put it completely in God's hands.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Lynley Taylor

Married life was the most fun thing ever. Every day before I left work, I'd be bouncing up and down just so excited that I was about to go home and see him. And every evening when I arrived home, I would find him on the farm and we would run to one another and I would jump in his arms. We wanted to spend every second together. We talked constantly. Even when we'd argue, it didn't last long because we loved one another too much to fight. After making up, we would pray together and thank God for our marriage. Life was just more colorful when I was with him. It was only nine months, but I feel like we had enough love for 100 years.

Despite my overwhelming happiness, I got this strange feeling shortly after we got married. I started worrying about him all the time, because he was always working by himself on the farm when I was gone. I don't know how to explain it, but every day when he came through the front door after work, I was so thankful that he was safe. He always promised me that he was careful, but it got to the point where any time I left the house for any reason and we weren't jumping-up-and-down happy, I would cry the whole time until I got home. It sounds weird, but I just had this feeling that there was no time to waste. And, if something did happen, it was important to me that we be on good terms.

The night before he passed away, I dreamt about him. I don't remember what it was about, I just remember his face. I woke up early before my alarm went off, which never happens because I am not a morning person. I remember looking over at him sleeping and thinking, I am so lucky to be this man's wife. I woke him up and we loved on each other all morning. As I was leaving for work, I realized I was running late because of all the time we spent together. Ethan was in the bathroom shaving, and he told me he loved me and he'd see me when we got home. We had the most perfect last morning together, I'm forever thankful for that.

Photo credit: Picture It Photography

That afternoon, I was filling out some paperwork when my office manager came over and said that our neighbor was there to take me home because there had been an accident. I asked with who, and she said with Ethan.

"Why are we not going to the hospital?" I asked. My office manager's first husband had passed away, but she talked about him with me all the time. She sat down and said, "They told me not to tell you, but I feel like I should be the one to tell you because you are going to be okay." I felt a rush come over my body. I can't explain it, but I heard God tell me, "Lynley, I prepared you for this." My coworkers gathered around me and prayed over me. Then I got in the car with my neighbor and I remember feeling like, This isn't happening. I kept saying, "I knew this was going to happen, I told him to be careful," and was repeating that over and over.

That day was supposed to be a normal day on the farm. Ethan was on summer vacation from teaching, so he was working on all kinds of little projects around our place, cutting down trees and hauling lumber. To this day, we don't know how it happened. There was an accident with his ATV and we were told he passed away instantly.

When I pulled up at the farm, it was about 30 minutes to an hour later and there were already 50 people there: neighbors, people from church, EMTs. It was like everybody knew before me.

Photo credit: Lynley Taylor

I called my parents next. I didn't tell them what happened; I just said they needed to come to my house as soon as possible. There were all these kids there from the church where Ethan and I were youth leaders, and I remember wanting to comfort them. At one point I walked toward the horse pasture and over to this creek. All our horses came up around me and I prayed. I remember looking at the water and thinking it was so beautiful and feeling peace that Ethan was with Jesus.

My dad came down there to check on me probably 20 minutes later and I looked at him and asked, "Now what am I supposed to do?" and he just held me. When Ethan and I got married, my dad gave my hand to Ethan. And in that moment, it was like my dad took my hand back.

That night it was storming. My best friend stayed with me and was sleeping in mine and Ethan's bed with me. Ethan always slept with his shirt off and at one point I reached my hand out and felt her T-shirt. That's when I completely lost it and realized that he was really gone.

The day of Ethan's visitation, his dad, my father-in-law, passed away in his sleep. They had a joint funeral together the following day. Ethan always had his hair fixed, so I had his barber come and do his hair, and I picked out his favorite T-shirt and a button-down for him to wear. He looked so handsome. I didn't remember this until later, but I asked my parents if I could stay at the funeral home because I wanted to have one more night with him. They had to make me leave.

I don't want to paint this picture like, "Oh he's gone, but you move on and have a happy life." No. It's hard and it sucks and I'm seriously struggling. But I just keep pushing forward to that next breath. At one point, I asked my mom if I could die because my heart hurt so bad. People say all the time, "You're so young, you're going to find somebody else." It's almost like a slap in the face because yeah, I am young. And the rest of my life I get to wake up and hurt.

The thing I would tell anyone who's dealing with someone who's grieving is not to judge them for the ways in which they cope with their loss. And I would tell anyone who is grieving to be prepared, because people will judge what they can't understand. When you're grieving, everyone is watching to see what you'll do, and they'll try and tell you what they think is best. That is not helpful. Some people talk to a counselor, and that's awesome. Some don't, and that's great. Some people struggle with depression, PTSD and anxiety after a traumatic loss. I've had severe anxiety and depression since Ethan's death, and nothing can prepare you for those emotions. Whatever is keeping a grieving person breathing and moving to the next day, you should never judge them.

Instead, make it a point to check on them. After the funeral is over and everyone has returned to their normal lives, that's when that person needs you the most. Even sending a simple text to let them know that you are thinking of them helps. Or better yet, find a need that they have and fulfill it. Don't ask what you can do. Think of something that their loved one used to take care of, that is now their responsibility, and do it for them. One of Ethan's best friends still shows up and mows my grass every few weeks. Another couple went above and beyond to help me when I decided to move away from mine and Ethan's farm. I couldn't imagine being there every day and him not coming home, so I made the hardest decision of my life to relocate Hidden Hollow Farms. When I texted asking the husband, who is a carpenter, whether he could give me an estimate for some work that needed to be done, he showed up with a whole crew of people and they power washed the entire house, mowed and weeded the yard, and cleaned out the barn. Who even thinks to do that? These acts of kindness mean more to me than I can explain.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Lynley Taylor

Weirdly, the week before Ethan died, I asked him what he would want me to do if something ever happened to him. (I don't know. The only thing I can say again is God.) He looked at me all strange and then he said that he'd want me to find a wonderful man and to be happy. That was the last response I expected to hear, and I told him if something happened to me that I would haunt whoever came into his life and that he was mine! But that's what I'm trying to do: be happy. I also know that before I can make anyone else happy, I have to be happy in my own skin. Part of me died that day with Ethan and is buried with him. I'm a different person than I was before. I miss the old Lynley, but I have to remain confident in Jesus that he's going to get me through this. And that the person I'm becoming is going to live every day to the fullest because I want to make Ethan proud of me.

July was the one-year anniversary of Ethan's death, and I've been working really hard. I ended up keeping the name Hidden Hollow Farms because my new place is a little hallow, just like mine and Ethan's was. I have six mini pigs, four horses, a miniature donkey, four goats, chickens, a couple of dogs, a couple of cats and four sheep, which was my last gift from Ethan. (Ethan didn't buy me jewelry - he bought me animals.) It's really cool to think about now because my animals have become my family and my therapy. We didn't get to have children, but he got me these precious babies who need me now. Part of grief means losing the dreams you had, but life can be beautiful post-loss. You just have to search for the glimmer of light in each day and make that your beacon of hope. That is what will get you through the future days and years to come.

('You Might Also Like',)
By Lizbeth Diaz and Mica Rosenberg MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States began sending Central American families seeking asylum back to Mexico this week, a Mexican immigration source said on Thursday, while U.S. human rights groups sued the Trump administration, saying the policy puts migrants in danger. Five families with a total of 16 people, including children from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, arrived in the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Wednesday, according to a person who works in migration for the Mexican government, who asked not to be named. In late January, the United States began sending non-Mexican migrants who had crossed at the U.S. border with Mexico back to Mexico to wait as their asylum requests are processed, a program called Migrant Protection Protocols. But until this week, only individual adults had been sent back, not children in family groups. Rights groups say the program endangers asylum seekers by forcing them to remain in regions of Mexico experiencing record levels of violence. "Both the U.S. and Mexican governments know that the border area is unsafe for women and children," Michelle Brane, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at the Women's Refugee Commission (WRC), said in a statement on the decision to return the families to Mexico. "The U.S. government knows full well that asylum-seeking families are no threat to this nation." Sixty-three people have returned to Mexico so far under the program, the government source said. Two shelters in Tijuana said they had received the families. They asked not to be named to avoid revealing their location. The American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of 11 anonymous asylum seekers on Thursday. The groups asked a U.S. judge to revoke the policy and order the government to bring the migrants back to the United States while their cases are processed. The 11 asylum seekers from Central America were returned to Mexico since Jan. 30 to wait out their immigration cases, and now fear for their lives, according to the complaint. The plaintiffs include a lesbian who said she was raped because of her sexual orientation and was forced to flee Honduras after her partner's family threatened to kill them. The lawsuit alleges the policy endangers migrants and violates U.S. immigration and administrative law, as well as universal norms of international law. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice said the government would defend the policy in court. "Congress has explicitly authorized the Department of Homeland Security to return aliens arriving from a contiguous foreign territory to that territory during that alien's immigration court proceedings," said Steven Stafford of the DOJ. In another sign of the political tension over immigration, the White House on Thursday said U.S. President Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for his promised wall on the Mexican border when he signs a bill to avert another government shutdown. Mexico's National Migration Institute and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City, Mica Rosenberg in New York and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco, Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; writing by Julia Love; editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Rosalba O'Brien)
By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Self-described "dirty trickster" Roger Stone will still be able to speak about his upcoming criminal trial under a gag order issued on Friday, but the U.S. judge handling the case warned the former adviser to Donald Trump that he might want to choose his words carefully. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she was issuing the modified gag order to "maintain the dignity and seriousness of the courthouse" in a case that has generated a carnival-like atmosphere since Stone's arrest in Florida on Jan. 25. The order prohibits lawyers involved in the case from speaking with news media outlets and prohibits other participants, like Stone himself, from making statements that may affect the case when they are near the courthouse. It does not stop Stone from talking about his case when he is not near the courthouse. However, Jackson warned Stone that he may not help his prospects by speaking out. "One factor that will be considered in the evaluation of any future request for relief based on pretrial publicity will be the extent to which the publicity was engendered by the defendant himself," Jackson wrote. One of Stone's attorneys said he was satisfied with the order. "We are pleased that Mr. Stone's First Amendment rights have been safeguarded. Courthouse steps are reasonable places for restraint for all," Stone lawyer Bruce Rogow said. The amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russia's role in the 2016 U.S. election and whether President Trump's Republican campaign conspired with Moscow. The 66-year-old self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" has embraced the spotlight since his arrest. After he was released from arrest, Stone flashed twin "V for Victory" signs that were made famous by his former mentor, disgraced Republican President Richard Nixon. He has criticized Mueller's investigation as an "inquisition," and told Reuters that his charges amount to "process crimes" that did not involve intentional lies. Stone is accused of telling unidentified members of Trump's 2016 campaign team that he had advance knowledge of plans by the WikiLeaks website to release damaging emails about Trump's Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Prosecutors say those emails were stolen by Russia. Stone's ties to Trump go back four decades, and he had urged Trump to run for president since 1988. Moscow has denied meddling in the campaign. Trump, who has frequently derided Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt," has denied any wrongdoing. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Susan Thomas, Leslie Adler and Jonathan Oatis)
The brothers involved in the Jussie Smollett case, Olabinjo (Ola) and Abimbola (Abel) Osundairo, have released a new statement through their lawyer Gloria Schmidt, expressing tremendous regret for their participation.My clients have tremendous regret over their involvement in this situation, and they understand how it has impacted people across the nation, particularly minority communities and especially those who have been victims of hate crimes themselves, Schmidt said in a statement provided to TheWrap on Thursday night.TheWrap reached out to Schmidt immediately after we received the statement to ask if the brothers  who were initially persons of interest and turned out to have both worked on Empire  still fully maintain their story that Smollett paid them to stage an assault in Chicago on Jan. 29. Schmidt did not respond to our question.Reps for Smollett did not immediately return our request for comment on this story.Also Read: Jussie Smollett's Lawyers Build His Defense Strategy: Here's How it Might LookThis case has had more twists and turns than an episode of Smolletts Fox soap opera, Empire. And though Smollett is still very much involved in the real-life Chicago drama  he has a court hearing next month  the actor/singer is no longer involved in Season 5 of the TV one.Empire executive producers announced last Friday that Smollett has been removed from the final two episodes of the Fox hip-hop dramas Season 5.The events of the past few weeks have been incredibly emotional for all of us, read the statement from Empire co-creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong, showrunner Brett Mahoney, and executive producers Brian Grazer, Sanaa Hamri, Francie Calfo and Dennis Hammer.Also Read: Why Jussie Smollett Probably Won't Get Prison TimeJussie has been an important member of our Empire family for the past five years and we care about him deeply, the statement continued. While these allegations are very disturbing, we are placing our trust in the legal system as the process plays out. We are also aware of the effects of this process on the cast and crew members who work on our show and to avoid further disruption on set, we have decided to remove the role of Jamal from the final two episodes of the season.Representatives for Smollett did not respond to TheWraps request for comment on the actor being dropped from the remainder of Empires fifth season.The decision to remove Smollett  who plays the openly gay Jamal Lyon on the series  from the remaining episodes of Season 5 comes after Empire studio 20th Century Fox stated last Thursday it was considering [its] options following the news of his arrest. We understand the seriousness of this matter and we respect the legal process. We are evaluating the situation and we are considering our options. A day earlier, the studio had renewed its support for the actor, saying, Jussie Smollett continues to be a consummate professional on set and as we have previously stated, he is not being written out of the show.Also Read: Jussie Smollett 'Feels Betrayed,' Legal System 'Wants to Skip Due Process,' Actor's Reps SayDuring a press conference last Thursday morning, shortly after Smolletts surrender, Chicago PD Superintendent Eddie Johnson said that the actor staged an attack on himself because he was dissatisfied with his salary. He also told reporters the police were in possession of a $3,500 check, which he said Smollett used to pay the brothers for the incident.The Fox dramas star is making around $125,000 per episode of Empire, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap, who added there had been no salary dispute between Smollett and the studio and that he had never even approached them about a raise.Smollett surrendered himself to Chicago police early last Thursday morning, hours after he was formally charged with filing a false police report. He was released from police custody later that afternoon, after posting bail and surrendering his passport following a bond hearing.The actors bail was set at $100,000, with Smollett required to post $10,000 (10 percent) for release. His next court date has been set for Thursday, March 14 at 11:30 a.m. Within hours of his release from police custody, Smollett returned to work on the set of Empire.Smolletts team put out this statement last week, after the actor was released from custody: Today we witnessed an organized law enforcement spectacle that has no place in the American legal system. The presumption of innocence, a bedrock in the search for justice, was trampled upon at the expense of Mr. Smollett and notably, on the eve of a Mayoral election. Mr. Smollett is a young man of impeccable character and integrity who fiercely and solemnly maintains his innocence and feels betrayed by a system that apparently wants to skip due process and proceed directly to sentencing.The criminal case against Smollett stems from a report he filed on Jan. 29 that he was attacked by two men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs and referenced MAGA.First arrested as persons of interest in the case, the Osundairo brothers were released without charges Feb. 15 following a 48-hour hold, after the police said new evidence had emerged and that the investigations trajectory had changed course. Earlier last week, CNN reported that Chicago police believed that Smollett might have paid the brothers to stage the attack.A week before Smollett reported the attack, Fox received a letter threatening Smollett. In mid-February, ABC News reported that the FBI and U.S. Postal Service were looking into the possibility that Smollett had sent the threatening letter to himself, or played a role in its creation and delivery.Along with the remarks Johnson made about Smolletts dissatisfaction with his salary during Chicago polices presser last week, the superintendent also said the actor sent the letter threatening to Fox himself. When Johnson first made those statements, he did not mention its source or his proof.Minutes later, during the media conferences Q&A portion, the police superintendent responded yes to a reporter who asked if that information came from Ola and Abel.Johnson also said the following of Smolletts photographed wounds: So, of course, it was staged. The brothers had on gloves during the staged attack where they punched him a little bit. But as far as we can tell, the scratches and bruising that you saw on his face were most likely self-inflicted.In a later press conference, Cook County Assistant States Attorney Risa Lanier detailed the prior relationship between Smollett and Abel Osundairo, saying that he was a source of designer drugs for Smollett and that they had been friends since late 2017. Lanier also detailed the timeline of events, including when and how Smollett convinced Abel, and later his brother, Ola, to stage an attack on him.Read original story Brothers Involved in Jussie Smollett Case Express Tremendous Regret in New Statement At TheWrap
Bernie Sanders, a likely 2020 contender, has unveiled a plan to tax the estates of multi-millionaires and billionaires at a rate as high as 77 percent. And despite decades of GOP efforts to scare the public about the so-called death tax, Sanders proposal is a hit with voters.

Half of Americans approve of the plan, according to a new Morning Consult poll, compared with just 29 percent who oppose it. The findings align with recent polls that have found majorities support plans by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to tax income over $10 million a year at 70 percent, and by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) to annually tax the wealth of Americans who have accumulated fortunes greater than $50 million. (For more read: Turns Out Americans Actually Do Want to Tax the Rich.)

Sanders, the Democratic Socialist Senator from Vermont, calls his proposal the For the 99.8% Act and claims the bill would raise $2.2 trillion from Americas nearly 600 billionaires.

Our bill does what the American people want [by] dramatically reducing wealth inequality, Sanders said in introducing the legislation at the end of January. From a moral, economic, and political perspective our nation will not thrive when so few have so much and so many have so little.

The proposal  as the branding suggests  is designed to hit only the top two-tenths of one-percent of Americans. For estates valued at more than $3.5 million, the Sanders tax rate is 45 percent. The tax would rise to 50 percent for the value of a fortune in excess of $10 million and to 55 percent for estates worth more than $50 million. Any part of an estate valued at more than $1 billion would be taxed at 77 percent. This returns the top estate tax bracket to the rate that the richest Americans paid through 1976.

The Sanders plan is unusual in that it names names. The senator has released a spreadsheet detailing what American billionaires would owe under his estate-tax hike, were they to die tomorrow. The fortunes of the nations richest men, Jeff Bezos ($132 billion) and Bill Gates ($96 billion), would be taxed $101 billion and $75 billion, respectively. The tax on the Koch brothers combined lucre ($98 billion) would yield nearly $75 billion. The $3.4 billion fortune of former Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz, who is threatening an independent 2020 run, in part based on the Democrats punitive tax policies, would be taxed more than $2 billion.

Schultz might find more to like in a new Republican proposal to eliminate the estate tax altogether, The Death Tax Elimination Act of 2019. The legislation is co-sponsored by 28 GOP senators, including even alleged moderates like Cory Gardner of Colorado. I am proud to cosponsor this legislation, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell introducing the bill in late January, to finally end the unfair death tax. The measure has little public support, backed by just 33 percent of Americans.
WASHINGTON  On Friday evening, lawyers working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller recommended that Paul Manafort, the presidents disgraced former campaign chairman, serve as many as 24 years in jail on charges brought in federal court in Virginia. This sentencing memo comes a day after a federal judge found that Manafort had intentionally lied to Mueller and his team in the course of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, violating his plea agreement.

Manaforts legal woes began almost one year ago, when he was indicted by Mueller alongside Rick Gates, his former protege and ex-Trump campaign aide, on 32 counts of tax and bank fraud. Last August, after Manafort took his case to trial in northern Virginia (Gates had already pleaded guilty), a jury convicted Manafort on eight counts of bank and tax fraud, which carried a maximum sentence of 80 years in prison.

The following month, Manafort pleaded guilty in a second case brought by Mueller, charging the former Trump deputy with money laundering, illegal foreign lobbying, witness tampering and conspiracy against the United States. As part of his plea deal, Manafort agreed to fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly cooperate with Muellers investigation. According to Mueller, that didnt happen.

In November, the special counsels office alleged that Manafort had lied to FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers on a variety of matters during his interviews with the government. It later emerged that those matters included Manaforts contacts with a Russian political consultant named Konstantin Kilimnik, who was his translator and lieutenant when they worked in Ukrainian politics together.

In a closed-door hearing two weeks ago, Andrew Weissman, a veteran prosecutor working for the special counsel, told Judge Amy Berman Jackson that the two mens conversations that took place during and after the 2016 election about a potential Ukrainian peace plan goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the special counsels office is investigating.

Story continues

The Special Counsel sentencing memo recommends a range of imprisonment of 235 to 293 months, or between 19.5 and 24.4 years. Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, the government argues. The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.

The sentencing memo is scathing, in parts. Manaforts crimes were the product of his planning and premeditation over many years, the document states. Manaforts criminal tax evasion, it adds, was not caused by any necessity but simple greed. Manafort had ample funds to cover these tax payments. He simply chose not to comply with laws that would reduce his wealth.

Manafort, who turned 69 in April, appears likely to spend the rest of his life in prison. His time in jail awaiting his sentencing has already taken a toll: Manaforts lawyers told the court in January that their client has suffered from depression, anxiety and severe gout, which has at times confined him to a wheelchair. But the sentencing memo advises no leniency here: Manaforts age does not eliminate the risk of recidivism he poses, it states, particularly given that the most recent crimes he pled guilty to occurred from February to April 2018, when he conspired to tamper with witnesses at a time when he was under indictment in two separate districts. Further as Judge Jackson found, Manaforts misconduct continued as recently as October 2018 when he repeatedly and intentionally lied to the government during proffer sessions and the grand jury.

Only one option now remains that could get Manafort off the hook: a presidential pardon. Trump has not sent a clear signal on whether he intends to pardon his former campaign chairman. But he told the New York Post in November: Why would I take it off the table?
Lee Daniels, Olabinjo Ola Osundairo

UPDATE

10:30 AM PT  Both Abel and Ola have been placed under arrest, but have not yet been charged with a crime.

One of the two men currently being detained for questioning in the alleged attack of Jussie Smollett was not only an extra on Empire, he snapped a photo with the co-creator himself.

Twitter

Olabinjo Osundairo and Abimbola Osundairo are the two brothers from Nigeria, currently in custody with the Chicago Police Department. Nicknamed Ola and Abel, the two brothers have also retained an attorney who has said she does not know what her clients could possibly be charged with.

Gloria Schmidt has revealed that the two brothers know Smollett from work on Empire, and worked out with him at their gym, but deny any involvement in the alleged attack on the actor.

Ola also dabbles as a rapper, and has released music on his Sound Cloud page under the name King Ola with tracks like, Gang Bang.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

According to the Chicago PD, the two men are being viewed as potential suspects. Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime and we are working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues.

Instagram

Smollett does indeed appear to know them and even follows Abel on Instagram. Ola also posted a photo of himself and Lee Daniels from 2015 when the jacked actor appeared on the FOX show.

Abel has also appeared on TV, including a small part on Chicago P.D.

Instagram Photo

Chicago reporter Charlie De Mar obtained the results of a search warrant executed at the apartment of the two brothers, and among the things listed include bleach and a red hat. As we reported, Jussie claims the attackers threw bleach on him while shouting homophobic and racist slurs.

Also recovered during the search was a copy of a script from Empire. Ola and Abel have not yet been charged with a crime, and although reports have surfaced that Smollett may have been involved with staging the attack, cops doubled down Friday morning that there is no evidence to suggest the incident was a hoax.

Story continues

Warrant

Abimbola 'Abel', and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo

The post Suspect in Jussie Smollett Attack Took a Photo with Lee Daniels on Empire Set appeared first on The Blast.
Civil rights activist Dolores Huerta co-founded with Cesar Chavez the United Farm Workers union where she currently serves as VP (Rosario Dawson played her in the 2014 biopic Cesar Chavez which starred Michael Pena as Chavez). Huerta is also founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which connects community-based organizing to local, state, and national movements. In 2012, President Bill Clinton awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S. These are her thoughts on Alfonso Cuarons Roma, which is up for 10 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film.

When I saw Alfonso Cuarons film Roma it moved me to tears. Cleo reminded me of women from my hometown agricultural community of Stockton, where I grew up in rural California in the 1950s. They were women who have been taught to lovingly serve their families and whove been so accustomed to being accommodating, that naturally, many gravitated towards domestic work, taking on the care and burden of other families and their own children. In Roma, with grace and dignity, Yalitza Aparicio beautifully portrays Cleo, a housekeeper and nanny, and in turn, she puts a human face to the respectable, vital job that millions of women do every single day in households around the world.

Related stories

The Film Academy's Annual Report Shows Assets Way Up, But Bond Proceeds Going Fast

Bette Midler to Perform Song From 'Mary Poppins Returns' At Oscars

'If Beale Street Could Talk' Puts The Mass Incarceration Issue On The Big Screen - Guest Column

I was raised by a strong, single mother who was the sole provider for her three children after she left our father. I watched my mother work tirelessly with the same quiet dignity to become more financially independent so she could provide everything for us: she worked three jobs, saved to open a restaurant, and took over a 70-room hotel where we three kids helped in the maintenance and were taught crucial lessons about the value of work and serving our community. My mother was my role model and idol  gentle, kind, generous and strong-willed. And like Marina de Taviras character, Sofia, she fought for the well-being and welfare of her children.

Story continues

As an activist, and specifically my work with farmworkers, I learned that the bias and racism that manifests itself in the mistreatment of workers comes from a simple lack of humanity. We fight hard every single day for basic human necessities for farmworkers in the fieldsfood, shelter, water simply because these workers are not looked at as human beings deserving of dignity and respect. So when a film like Roma comes along that impacts and inspires so many people globally, we are reminded of the power of film and storytelling to change hearts and minds and unite us in our shared humanity. Alfonso Cuarons decision to share his childhood memories through the eyes of the beautiful indigenous woman that raised him and his family humanizes the invisible people whom are atypically represented on film and often overlooked by society. Through his poignant portrayals, Cuaron honors them.

My experiences as a Mexican-American growing up facing constant discrimination is what led to my choice to leave teaching and turn to organizing. I learned organizing so workers like Yalitzas character can organize to improve their working conditions like domestic workers in California through labor unions. What we do as organizers is give workers their voice to fight for themselves. We should all be more vocal in leading the fight for workers rights and for all humans. I had witnessed the power that organizing and visibility can give to any group, but specifically people of color. Roma reminds me of that power and that seeing women, people of color and indigenous people on screen is crucial.

Roma is a love letter to the women that raised Alfonso Cuaron and a reminder that the strength of women lies in our solidarity.

Si Se Puede.
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo paid homage to his primetime rival Sean Hannity on Thursday, telling a guest that he considered the Fox News host to be the most powerful voice in all media today.

Sean Hannity has been a friend to me and hes incredibly persuasive and powerful, Cuomo said. I would argue he is without question the most powerful person in the media because what he says, the president does.

Not vice versa, Cuomo added. Weve never seen that before.

Cuomos guest, Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz, said the relationship between the two men was more complicated than how Cuomo was portraying it, but did not dispute the close bond between the two, which has been widely reported.

Also Read: Chris Cuomo Compares MAGA Hat to Shirt That Says 'I Hate Black People' (Video)

Ive bared witness to interactions where theyve had exchanges and robust discussions and they bounce ideas off of each other, Gaetz said. I think its good that we have a president that bounces ideas off of a lot of different people. Hes not just stuck in the cocoon of the West Wing. He seeks advice from all over the country.

Trump and Hannity are known to speak regularly and the president has been a frequent guest for interviews when he is looking to get his message out on national television. Hannity has even appeared with Trump at campaign events and taken part in jeering of his colleagues in the national press corps.

Also Read: Sean Hannity Tells Trump to Continue Shutdown 'Straight Through the State of the Union'

In the past Trump has shown himself to be extremely sensitive to criticism from Hannity and other right wing media talkers like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter. Last months government shutdown  the longest in U.S. history  came after fierce criticism in conservative media that Trump could not sign a funding bill that did not provide money for the wall.

Though President Trump is expected to sign a funding compromise on Friday to keep the government open, he has been urged by Hannity and others to declare a national emergency to secure funding for his long promised border wall. Such a move is almost certain to be challenged in court.

Read original story Chris Cuomo Calls Sean Hannity Without Question the Most Powerful Person in the Media At TheWrap
Bruno Ganz, the Swiss actor best known for dramatizing Adolf Hitlers final days in 2004s Downfall, has died. He was 77.

Ganz died at his home in Zurich on Friday, his representatives told media outlets. The cause of death was reportedly colon cancer.

Related stories

Bruno Ganz, Star of 'Downfall' and 'Wings of Desire,' Dies at 77

Wim Wenders on Pope Francis: 'Courageous, Fearless, Extremely Honest

Robby Muller, Renowned Cinematographer for Wenders, Von Trier, Jarmusch, Dies at 78

In addition to delivering one of the definitive cinematic portrayals of Hitler, Ganz played an angel who gives up immortality to experience earthly pleasures in Wim Wenders classic film Wings of Desire (1987). He reprised that role in Wenders 1993 follow-up, Faraway, So Close!

His celestial performance was so memorable that Ganz once recounted how people ascribed special powers to him when they recognized him in public.

People in planes said: Ah, no need to be afraid, because with you here, nothing can happen. Now we are safe,' Ganz told the Danish film journal P.O.V. Or a mother said to her child: Look, theres your guardian angel. They werent joking.

Other notable roles included turns in Stephen Daldrys Oscar-nominated The Reader (2008), Werner Herzogs Nosferatu (1979), Jonathan Demmes remake of The Manchurian Candidate (2004), and Franklin J. Schaffners The Boys from Brazil (1978), in which he played a professor who discovers a plan by the Nazis to create clones.

For Downfall, Ganz researched Hitler for four months, delivering a portrait of an alternately defiant and despondent Fuhrer whose dark dreams of ruling Europe end in a nondescript bunker, with only a few sycophants and loyalists at his side, as the Allies close in. Though most reviews were favorable, Downfall was criticized in some corners for humanizing Hitler.

Story continues

In a 2005 interview with the Irish Times, Ganz responded to that criticism, saying: What people need is for Hitler to actually represent evil itself. But what is evil itself? That means nothing to me. I have to perform a living human being.

We know how to judge Hitler, he added. We dont need another film that condemns him. We already know where we stand on this. I mean, there is certainly no sympathy for Hitler in the film.

Years later, scenes of Ganz as Hitler raving and pounding the table became the basis for Hitler Rant parody videos on YouTube that purported to show the Nazi dictator losing it over everything from Coldplay breaking up to the new Star Trek movie. Most of these videos were later taken down as a copyright violation.

Ganz also had a successful stage career, performing in such plays as Harold Pinters The Homecoming and Goethes Faust.

More recent works included Sally Potters 2017 British social comedy The Party, which screened in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, and another Berlinale title from that year, Matti Geschonnecks ensemble drama In Times of Fading Light, based on a bestselling novel about a family in communist East Germany.

Ganzs most recent big-screen appearance was in Lars von Triers The House That Jack Built, which premiered last year in Cannes.

An active member of the German film community, Ganz served as president of the German Film Academy alongside actress Iris Berben from 2010 to 2013. In 2010, he received a European Film Award for lifetime achievement.

Subscribe to Variety Newsletters and Email Alerts!
Photo credit: Spencer Platt - Getty Images

From Esquire

Any way you look at it, Amazon fucked the people of New York. The company said it would expand its headquarters into Long Island City in Queens, wooed by $3 billion in incentives and promising 25,000 new jobs in return. More than a few New Yorkers shared their thoughts on where Jeff Bezos could stick his headquarters instead. Local politicians and protestors organized against what they perceived as as encroaching threat. Then, Amazon killed the deal, convinced the city wasn't worth the trouble.

There are some that bemoan that loss. Thomas J. Grech, president and CEO of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, told Esquire via email that he felt "sadness and dismay" that the deal was dead. "An entire generation will look back at the these last few months and ask us why," he continued. "I hope those that opposed this Amazon deal have the answers to what we lost today."

But the people who felt threatened by Amazon's arrival in Queens aren't mourning. Locals who had warily eyed the influx of wealthy folks snapping up astronomically priced real estate in Long Island City to prepare for HQ2 got a respite. In the end, it was the rich people who got fucked the most, and that was worth celebrating-in New York and beyond.

"The tenants of Queens are sick and tired of corporate industry coming into majority immigrant and working class neighborhoods and gentrifying them," Johanna Monge, a tenant organizer with the Met Council on Housing, told Esquire over email. She declared victory for Queens tenants already burdened with increasing rents. "I think longterm it sets a precedent-that people power can triumph over corporate-backed politicians and corporations that puts profits before people... Victories like these give fuel to other tenant fights, like our campaign for Universal Rent Control, and should make developers and landlords very nervous about how power is shifting in our city."

Story continues

When Amazon first confirmed its intentions three months ago, real estate property prices shot up on the east side of the East River, proposed future home for Amazon HQ2, where space is bountiful and views are top notch. That all but guaranteed the rapidly gentrifying Queens borough would do so even faster-a big "fuck you" to local communities already fighting gentrification. Street Easy reported interest in Long Island City surged by 519 percent after Amazon's initial announcement was made. This is like a gift from the gods for the Long Island City condo market, a luxury real estate agent working in Queens told the Wall Street Journal.

Photo credit: Drew Angerer - Getty Images

Even before the official announcement, as speculation about Amazon's plans for New York frothed, two Amazon employees snagged units at a luxury Long Island City building called the Galerie, raising questions about who knew what, and when.

On Thursday, Amazon dropped the bomb: "After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the company said in a statement, explaining that backlash from state and local politicians would make working conditions too difficult in the city.

The glee wrought from Amazon's apparent failure to get on the good side of Queens locals flowed freely on the internet. The mayor said Amazon "threw away that opportunity" to work with communities. Triumphant memes were born, and there was little sympathy for LIC's newest luxury condo owners, whose Long Island City land grab appeared to have blown up in their own faces. "Can we get a special edition of the New York Times The Hunt column about all the amazon execs who bought condos in LIC already," writer Rachel Syme tweeted. Money flushed down the luxury high-rise toilet was not cried over by the masses.



Those in luxury real estate were pissed. Bloomberg reported on the "despair" circulating among Long Island City brokerages Thursday. The Real Estate Board of New York expressed its distaste in a statement: "Its unfortunate that we have lost out on an opportunity to create tens of thousands of jobs for city residents and generate billions of dollars in tax revenue to fund vital services including infrastructure improvements for transportation, schools, and open space."



Photo credit: Spencer Platt - Getty Images

But Rafael Jose, a real estate agent who works in Queens and is active with Queens Neighborhoods United, a group advocating against displacement on behalf of local residents and business owners, saw how Amazon's deal exacerbated issues of gentrification first-hand. "As soon as the Amazon news hit, landlords became much more aggressive, and people became much more worried as far as what their future looked like," he said. "It was like landlords on steroids."

Queens residents who lived and worked under yearly leases no longer knew if they could renew them, Jose explained. As the uncertainty mounted, high-rises crowded into the area that provided no amenities or benefits to locals. Now, with Amazon halting its plans, he says locals get a breather. He hopes that instead of pouring future funding into corporations, the city pools money to build community land trusts and small business incubation centers.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Amazon chickening out won't make the problem go away: Locals will have to continue fighting so they don't get pushed to the outskirts or even outside of the five boroughs. But for many, how sweet it was to see the richest man in the world and one of the richest companies in the world take their ball and go home. How satisfying it was to laugh at the thought of luxury condos in LIC being of no use to Amazon executives. How reassuring it was to know that, in the end, David can still get one over on Goliath.

Amazon said it has no plans to choose another location for its HQ2 expansion, saving locals in other cities that fight for now.

On Thursday night, Queens Neighborhoods United and 13 other grassroots area groups hosted a "Victory Party: We Beat Amazon!" on the streets. There was a Jeff Bezos pinata.

('You Might Also Like',)
Jake Jarvis can be reached by phone at 304-935-0144, on Twitter at @JakeJarvisWV or by email at jjarvis@statejournal.com.
Chris Mayo is director of the LGBTQ+ Center and a professor of womens and gender studies at West Virginia University.

This opinion piece was signed by every member of the LGBTQ+ Commission at WVU.


Thank you for Reading.

As a community service, our obituaries are always free to view. In order to better know our audience, we ask that you register to continuing viewing.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading. If you have a subscription, please Log In .

Your current subscription does not provide access to this content. If you believe you've gotten this message in error, please Log In.
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  President Donald Trump is issuing a federal disaster declaration authorizing aid to 10 Mississippi counties following flooding in late December.

Governments and certain nonprofit groups are eligible to be repaid for infrastructure damage, debris removal and overtime pay to emergency workers. The declaration applies to Clarke, Covington, Forrest, Greene, Jasper, Jones, Marion, Newton, Perry and Wayne counties.

The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says Friday that assistance to individuals and households is not included.

The 10 counties saw $7.5 million in damage. MEMA spokesman Ray Coleman says 264 homes and 21 businesses were destroyed or had major damage.

The U.S. Small Business Administration earlier offered low-interest loans to residents and businesses.

Mississippi is also approved statewide for aid to reduce or eliminate long-term risk from natural hazards.
COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - The Columbus Police Department opened up its facility to the public on Saturday to offer potential applicants the opportunity to experience police work before applying for the job.

The event happened from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Columbus Police Department on Main Street.

Participants toured the facility, visited the firing range, and learned more about the components of becoming an officer.

The process to become an officer is mentally and physically strenuous. Each applicant could practice testing their mental and physical skills. The entire application process takes months to complete.

Police Chief Fred Shelton said taking advantage of this opportunity sets up applicants for success in the training process.

"When our candidates actually go to the police academy, they have an idea of what police work is already about and they tend to come out better."

Anyone interested in becoming an officer can call the Columbus Police Department for more information.
Five victims of the mass shooting at an Illinois manufacturing business have died, Aurora Chief of Police Kristen Ziman told reporters Friday evening.

The shooter also was killed. He died in a gun battle with officers, the chief said.

Five officers who were wounded by gunfire, Ziman said, and a sixth officer suffered a knee injury.

The shooter was identified by Ziman as Gary Martin, 45, and authorities believe he was an employee at the company where the shooting occurred. Police said there was no obvious motive.

The shooting took place Friday afternoon at Henry Pratt Company, which says it is one of the United States' largest manufacturers of industrial valves.

An employee at the Henry Pratt company, John Probst, told CNN affiliate WLS the shooter was a co-worker and had a pistol.

"He was shooting everybody," Probst said.

Some patients from the shooting were sent to Mercy Medical Center and Rush Copley Medical Center, according to Mercy spokeswoman Olga Solares.

It was unclear how many patients there were and their conditions, she said.

"My heart goes out to the victims and their families who simply went to work today like any other day," police chief Ziman said.

A spokesman for the city, Clayton Muhammad, said the four officers' conditions were stable.

Aerial video from the scene showed scores of police vehicles outside the neighboring companies. The response included at least six ambulances and six firetrucks.

After the incident, police also put up crime scene tape near the Alro Steel Company.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI are responding to the scene, the agencies tweeted.

Aurora, a city of about 200,000 people, is about 40 miles west of Chicago. It is the second-largest city in Illinois, according to the city's website. Locals refer to Aurora as "City of Lights," a nod to it being one of the first American cities to implement a fully electric street lighting system.

Aurora has a strong music and arts scene, and is even the setting of the popular buddy-film Wayne's World. Although a suburb of Chicago, Aurora has a long tradition of manufacturing.
The week-long trade talks in Beijing between top-level representatives of China and the US ended on Friday without any agreement. Negotiations are to continue in Washington next week.

The next round will be virtually the last chance to reach a formal agreement before a March 1 deadline after which the US will increase tariffsfrom 10 to 25 percenton $200 billion worth of Chinese goods.

Even if a deal is reached it will not take the form of a detailed document. According to a statement issued by the White House, United States and Chinese officials have agreed that any commitments will be stated in a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) between the two countries.

The statement said detailed and intense discussions had led to progress but much work remains.

If an MOU is reached, along the lines of those established between the US and the European Union and the US and Japan, the drawing up of a final agreement would take place with existing US tariffs remaining in place. Thus the threat will remain that further measures would be imposed if the detailed discussions broke down.

Commenting on the outcome of the latest round of talks, US President Trump said they were going extremely well but then added: Who knows what that means because it only matters when we get it done.

Following his meeting with the US delegation, Chinas President Xi Jinping offered no details saying only that China and the US are inseparable and co-operation is the best choice.

Chinas official Xinhua News Agency said the discussions had made important, interim progress.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said the US felt we have made headway on very, very important and difficult issues without providing any details.

The comments by Trump and Lighthizer, together with a tweet by US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that productive meetings had been conducted, were enough to give a boost to the US stock market. The Dow finished up by more than 440 points or 1.7 percent for the day.

The White House statement said the key US concerns were so-called structural issues, including forced technology transfer, intellectual property rights, cyber theft, agriculture, services, non-tariff barriers, and currency. The two sides were also discussing increased Chinese purchase of US goods to reduce the trade deficit.

China has denied that it engages in forced technology transfers, insisting that any such transfers are part of agreements reached by US companies to gain greater access to Chinese markets. It has also committed to tightening laws on intellectual property. However, these measures are regarded as insufficient by the US.

Another key point, not specifically mentioned in the White House statement, has been Chinas state subsidies to its leading corporations, which the US claims are market distorting. China regards the US demands for such subsidies to be wound back as a means of intervening in the running of its economy and therefore not negotiable.

According to a Financial Times report, during the negotiations China promised to provide a list of all central and local government subsidies in accordance with World Trade Organisation requirements to ensure that they complied with WTO rules.

However, this was treated with scepticism by the US negotiators. Chinas system is so opaque that you would have to take their word that the WTO notification is complete, one of Lighthizers staff told the newspaper.

This dismissive approach highlights the more general issue of whether the US will accept any agreements from the Chinese side without establishing its own mechanisms for determining whether they are being carried out. As Lighthizer has emphasised on numerous occasions, enforcement is a key question.

For Beijing any mechanism that allows the US to directly intervene in monitoring, enforcing or determining the level of state subsidies would be an intolerable infringement on its national sovereignty.

In addition, according to a source familiar with the Chinese position, cited by the South China Morning Post, Beijing is concerned that the US would use the verification mechanism to make additional demands on the technology front.

Chinese officials have emphasised that they are prepared to reach an agreement to reduce the trade deficit and have made commitments to increase purchases of US goods. But they are well aware that the fundamental US objective is to try to block Chinas industrial and technological development.

The US regards Beijings Made in China 2025 program as a direct threat to its economic and ultimately military supremacy.

During the course of negotiations, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Chinas top planning agency was proposing to increase US semi-conductor sales to China to a total of over $200 billion over the next six years, or five times the current level in order to address the trade deficit.

However, in comments to the WSJ, John Neuffer, chief executive of the Semiconductor Industry Association, dismissed the proposal as a distraction and too clever by half. He described it as an accounting gimmick designed to help China achieve its Made-in-China 2025 goals.

The underlying US objectives are revealed not only in its positions during the trade talks but in its actions. The US Justice Department has charged Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei, with breaches of US sanctions against Iran and theft of intellectual property from the US firm T-Mobile.

While the trade negotiations were taking place this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was lobbying Eastern European countries to exclude Huawei from participation in the establishment of 5G mobile phone networks.

The US has already secured the exclusion of Huawei from countries in the so-called Five Eyes intelligence groupthe US, Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealandand wants the ban extended to all its allies.

In addition, the Trump administration reportedly has under consideration an executive order that would ban Chinese telecom companies from operating in the US on national security grounds. It would give greater authority to the Commerce Department to review purchases of products by companies connected to what are deemed adversarial countries.
On Friday, two days after his budget was voted down in the Congress, Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap general election for April 28. Sanchezs government, the shortest-lived since the Transition from fascist to parliamentary democratic rule in 1978, fell over the state prosecution of Catalan political prisoners who organized or supported the October 1, 2017, independence referendum. They face up to 25 years in prison on false charges of having instigated violence during the referendum.

Sanchez criticized Catalan nationalist parliamentarians who voted down his budget in retaliation for his trying of the Catalan nationalist prisoners. When some parties block the taking of decisions, it is necessary to call new elections, he said. There are parliamentary defeats that are social victories, he added, claiming that supposedly progressive measures inscribed in the budget that the PSOE is abandoning meant that citizens have seen what we wanted for the country.

Other PSOE officials said they were happy to abandon the budget to focus instead on attacking the Catalan nationalists. Its too bad the budget was not approved, but paradoxically thanks to that we now have a line. The right cannot throw in our face the accusation of having any agreement with the separatists. It was something that hurt us and that provoked uncertainty in parts of our electorate, a leading PSOE mayor told El Pais .

The PSOE is opening the door to the most right-wing campaign since 1978, in which the imposition of austerity and police-state rule is to proceed under cover of opposition to Catalan separatism. Elections in 2015 and 2016 produced hung parliaments, as votes split between the PSOE, the right wing Popular Party (PP), Citizens (Cs), and Podemos. Now, while the PSOE denounces the Catalan nationalists, the PP aims to assemble a narrow right wing majority on the basis of an anti-Catalan coalition with Cs and the new, pro-fascist VOX party.

VOX leader Santiago Abascal declared that the Living Spain, as he calls his supporters, has finally defeated an infamous legislature. He also denounced as incapable and cowardly the previous PP government of Mariano Rajoy, for having failed to crack down violently enough on the Catalan independence referendum.

This comment by Abascal, who has defended the genocidal record of Francisco Francos fascist army during the Spanish Civil War, underscores that VOX speaks for factions of the bourgeoisie planning military repression of the population.

Under Rajoy, Madrid sent 16,000 police to violently assault voters in the Catalan independence referendum, including the elderly, injuring over 1,000. It then jailed Catalan nationalist politicians in pre-trial detention and dissolved the elected Catalan government, using Article 155 of the 1978 Constitution to replace it with a government named by Madrid. At the height of the crisis, the PP threatened direct military intervention in Catalonia. Nonetheless, Abascal is attacking this record as insufficient.

PP leader Pablo Casado, while calling his party a calm, moderate force, stressed that he would work with Citizens and VOX to win a majority. Citing the Andalusian pact where the three parties are in a regional governmental alliance in Andalusia, he stressed the PP would build no sanitary cordon walling it off from the explicitly pro-Franco position of VOX. Sanitary cordons always harm those that build them, Casado commented, adding that he was fighting the Popular Front, that is, the government brought down by Francos coup and civil war.

In recent weeks, Casado has also unleashed a torrent of hysterical insults against Sanchez, calling him a felon, a compulsive liar, illegitimate, a squatter and guilty of high treason.

Similarly, Citizens leader Albert Rivera demanded that all candidates position themselves on the Catalan issue. He added that, if elected, he would promise not to pardon the coup plotters, that is, the prosecuted Catalan leaders. He warned that there could be a new Frankenstein government, with Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias as deputy prime minister in charge of Spains economy and the separatists deciding how my country should be ruled.

The principal danger in this situation is that the working class is not fully aware of the threat of police and military rule. There is no opposition from the European Union (EU) to the drive to legitimize Francoism, and what passes as opposition within the Spanish political establishment are split between open supporters of the policies of the right, and political indifference.

On Wednesday, Sanchez accused Citizens and the PP of failing to show the same loyalty to the government he had shown to the previous conservative government: The PP government had the institutional loyalty of the Socialists. But they were not loyal, not only to us, but to Spain. He added that weve been willing to compromise with those who think differently. Were pro-Europe, progressive, left-leaning, and not a single OECD country has had more female ministers than us.

In government, the PSOE was virtually indistinguishable from the PP. Its fundamental agenda was further austerity for the working class, stepped-up militarism in the service of Spains geo-strategic ambitions and re-stabilizing the state after the Catalan independence crisis.

On democratic rights, it continued the PPs clampdown. They have endorsed so-called hot returns of undocumented migrantsquick deportations that bypass immigration lawsat the southern borders of Ceuta and Melilla, and defended the anti-democratic Public Safety Law, better known by its nickname of the gag law. On the Catalan court case, the Sanchez government told state attorneys to charge the jailed nationalists under sedition, which carries a 15-year sentence.

Podemos has made clear it will mount no serious opposition to the right-wing campaign. Rather, it is fraudulently claiming that the Podemos-backed PSOE government was a success. Podemos parliamentary spokesperson Irene Montero cited the most socially progressive budgets in history as the main accomplishment of that government. But plans for an increased minimum wage, an end to the gag law outlawing the filming of police repression of protests, and subsidies for the elderly unemployedmany of which were included in the failed budgetwill not pass after this weeks budget vote.

She said that Podemos and the PSOE had In the eight months  worked to do things pushed by millions of people who have not given up. In fact, the vote for the PSOE and Podemos collapsed in the last elections held in the most populous region in Spain, Andalusia, as hundreds of thousands refused to support these parties and instead preferred to abstain.

According to Montero, however, Sanchezs gravest mistake was to not have integrated Podemos in his government. This would have produced a stable and solid government with which to present itself in Europe. She also attacked the Catalan nationalists for not having supported the PSOE government, cynically claiming Sanchez was the best guarantee of an honest and sensible dialogue with Catalonia.

Asked about possible post-electoral agreements, Montero said that Podemos would speak with all the legitimate representatives of the citizens, opening the door to alliances with all parties.

Nothing exposes more clearly the complacent and indifferent attitude of Podemos to the dangers facing the working class more than Monteros announcement that Iglesias, her partner, would continue on paternity leave during the campaign, in which he is Podemos lead candidate. She claimed this is a way of showing what type of Spain we want, one in which men and women share household duties. In fact, it underscores that Podemos is largely unconcerned by the drive towards police-state rule in Spain, which it does not intend to fight seriously.
Tens of thousands of teachers, nurses, garbage collection workers and other public sector employees took part in a nationwide strike in Portugal yesterday. They are fighting against wage cuts and austerity demanded by the European Union and imposed by the Socialist Party government of Prime Minister Antonio Costa.

The 24-hour strike was called by the major public sector trade unions, which support the Socialist Party government and its austerity policies, but are maneuvering to maintain control of a growing movement among nurses and other sections of workers that is increasingly developing outside of their control.

The strike in Portugal follows a 24-hour public-sector strike in Belgium on Wednesday, a strike of 70,000 teachers and public sector workers in Berlin the same day and mass protests of Italian workers opposing austerity and unemployment in Rome over the weekend. It takes place as tens of thousands of workers in France are due to take part today in the fourteenth weekly Yellow Vest protest against social inequality.

According to the National Teachers Federation, 90 percent of teachers and other school employees took part in the strike in Portugal, closing schools across the country. Roughly the same proportion of garbage collection workers struck.

The Common Front public sector union federation reported that more than two dozen hospitals had recorded a strike participation rate of between 75 and 100 percent in their Friday night shift, including at the Sao Jose and Santa Maria hospitals in Lisbon, and at the Sao Francisco Xavier, Santo Antonio and Pedro Hispano hospitals in Oporto.

Public sector workers have not received a wage increase for ten years. Their wages have been frozen every year by successive governments, and the Costa government announced last month that the freeze would be continued for another year. Only one group of public employees will receive a wage increasethose whose current wage of 580 euros per month is below the legal minimum wage of 600 euros.

A decade of austerity has led to a breakdown of schools and hospitals. Many teachers are hired to work for 3.5 hours per day but are expected to work the entire day, and are laid off at the conclusion of the school year for three months.

In contrast to the determination of workers to wage a struggle, the main union federations are motivated by entirely different concerns. Yesterday morning, Ana Avoila of the Common Front union declared that they will not give up fighting until the elections, which are due to be held in October. This points to the unions role in demobilizing opposition and channeling workers behind the re-election of a Socialist Party government.

The main UGT and CGTP union federations have called repeated one-day general strikes over the past five years, most recently last October, as a means of letting off steam among workers, as the unions have continued to negotiate further austerity. The latest strike is aimed at maintaining their control over and suppressing a movement among nurses in particular.

Beginning last November, tens of thousands of nurses supported calls for a strike that developed outside of the unions control on social media, particularly on WhatsApp groups. A statement published by a group of nurses called for a surgical strike, which would involve strikes of only a minority of workers at any one time, but enough to enforce the postponement of operations. The call was supported by Sindepor, the nurses union which is allied to the main Socialist Party UGT union federation, in order to prevent the strike from developing independently of the unions.

More than 14,000 workers, most of them nurses, donated money online via a crowd-funding page to provide a 42 euro daily wage to workers who strike. In the space of two months, the fund has raised over 600,000 euros. The strikes were first carried out between November 22 and December 31, forcing the postponement of 7,500 operations, and resumed on January 31 to continue until the end of February. According to government figures, it had caused the postponement of 2,657 operations in the week to February 8.

On February 7, the Costa government announced a legal injunction to shut down the nurses strike on the grounds that nursesand not successive governments that have starved hospitals of funds in order to hand over billions of euros to billionaire hedge fund holders of Portuguese government bondsare responsible for a reduction of services below a minimum required level. The Sindepor union has challenged the decision in the Supreme Court.

As part of an increasingly repressive crackdown against workers, the government has ordered that PPL, the private crowd-funding website, hand over the personal information, including IP addresses, of every worker who donated to the fund.

The trade unions have made clear that their real opponent in this situation is not the government, but workers themselves.

The president of the Portuguese Trade Union of Nurses, Lucia Leite, reacted to the presidents injunction announcement by warning of more uncontrollable forms of struggle by workers not supported by the unions themselves. But I have a clear conscience, she told Lula, because I warned the Minister of Health about this risk.

In an interview with RTP on January 30, UGT Secretary General Carlos Silva warned that any legal injunction against the nurses strike could trigger explosive opposition that the union could not control. Its not the attitude we expect from a leftist government, he said. He asked if the government wanted to maintain the climate of social conflict and wear out the unions, and added: And then negotiate with whom? The yellow vests, the social media networks, the inorganic movements? The government has to decide what it wants to do.

Meanwhile, Publico magazine published a report yesterday, under the heading, Hot Winter, warning that the number of union strike warnings had reached 112 in the first month and a half of the year, compared to 260 in the whole of 2018, a roughly three-fold increase from the three previous years. The publication warned of signs of contagion of the nurses struggle among teachers.

Silvas warning of Yellow Vest protests and inorganic movements expresses the real fears of the unions in Portugal and internationallythat workers, who are angered by the collaboration of the unions with continuous austerity, will take the struggle into their own hands and break out of the control of these pro-business apparatuses.

But that is exactly what is required. To take forward their struggle, nurses and other public sector workers should form their own independent organizations, networks of rank-and-file workplace committeesdemocratically controlled by workers themselvesin every hospital, school and workplace. Such committees would provide a means for workers to reach out and organize a joint struggle with their counterparts across national borders and overcome the continuous sabotage by the union apparatuses.

Such a fight must be coupled with a new political perspective. The anti-working class and pro-business policies of the Socialist Party government demonstrate the bankruptcy of all those forces who have worked to promote it, including not only the unions, but the pseudo-left Left Bloc party.

The answer to the program of capitalist austerity defended by all these parties is the taking of political power by the working class in Portugal and across Europe, and the reorganization of economic life on a socialist basis, according to social need, rather than private profit. Billions of dollars must be poured into healthcare, education and providing decent jobs for all workers, through the transformation of the banks and major corporations into public utilities under workers control.
On January 18, a federal judge rendered a guilty verdict against four volunteers from the humanitarian organization No More Deaths (NMD) for their actions in the Cabeza Prieta Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona along the US-Mexico border a year and a half ago. Judge Bernardo Velascos ruling marks the first conviction of humanitarian aid volunteers in the US in a decade.

The volunteersNatalie Hoffman, Oona Holcomb, Madeline Huse and Zaachila Orozco-McCormickwere found guilty of misdemeanors related to entering a wildlife refuge without a permit and leaving behind personal property. The latter was a reference to basic lifesaving necessities such as food, water and other small items left behind by the volunteers in order to ensure migrants survive the dangerous desert crossing.

The four volunteers each face a sentence of up to six months in prison, along with a possible $500 fine. Another four NMD volunteers are set to go to trial later this month on similar charges. A ninth volunteer, Scott Warren, will face trial in May on more serious charges including felony harboring and concealment for allegedly providing food, water, clean clothes and beds to two undocumented immigrants last year. If convicted and sentenced to consecutive terms, Warren could face up to 20 years in prison.

NMD has launched a campaign demanding that the Justice Department release the defendants on humanitarian grounds.

While NMD volunteers are not speaking to media while the trials are underway, WSWS reporters were able to speak to Enrique Morones, director of Border Angels, a sister organization of the group. Border Angels has been providing humanitarian aid to migrants in the US-Mexico border region of San Diego, California, since 1986.

Border Patrol was very upset when NMD came out with a video of their agents destroying water bottles, Morones stated.

This [lawsuit], I think, is in direct response to two thingsthe hate rhetoric of the Trump administration, and the video that exposed these Border Patrol agents. We have been supporting NMD and demand that those charged should be released.

What theyre trying to do is intimidate us. Border Patrol has approached us beforeasking what were doing, if we have a permit, etc.and we tell them that weve been doing this for more than 20 years and that were going to continue doing it. Were outraged and paying attention.

In June 2017, an NMD humanitarian aid camp on the outskirts of Arivaca, Arizona, was raided by Border Patrol and four patients receiving care were arrested. A second Border Patrol raid was carried out in January 2018, at the NMD humanitarian aid base in Ajo, Arizona, where two individuals receiving humanitarian aid were arrested along with Scott Warren.

In a statement published earlier this month, Parker Deighan, one of the so-called #Cabeza9 defendants, detailed that the remote terrain was being weaponized against people crossing the border, many of whom were fleeing poverty and violence. More specifically, since the mid-1990s, US border enforcement strategy has been to heavily concentrate enforcement in urban areas where people traditionally have crossed, thereby intentionally funneling migrants into remote and dangerous terrain, like Cabeza Prieta.

The increased use of these more dangerous crossings, particularly along the Southwestern border, is the product of a deliberate strategy adopted by the Border Patrol under both Democratic and Republican administrations to use the harsh terrain as a means of killing larger numbers of migrants who perish in the scorching desert and discourage others from crossing.

Rather than accepting and processing asylum seekers in accordance with international law, the US governments focus on militarizing the border has worked to reroute migrants, driving them further into uninhabitable terrain and territory controlled by organized crime syndicates and right-wing militias. This has only worsened with the Trump administrations efforts to build up the border wall, while ramping up the militarization of border areas in general.

Late last month, Pentagon officials confirmed the deployment of an additional 3,750 troops to the US-Mexico border, continuing the build-up of repressive forces directed against defenseless immigrants and refugees seeking asylum in the United States.

Under the fraudulent contexts of terrorist threat and an influx of drugs entering the United States, the Democrats have downplayed the mobilization of the military on US soil as a political stunt, refusing to acknowledge that the move is in violation of the Posse Comitatus law barring the military form performing domestic police functions.

Yesterdays declaration by President Trump of a national emergency at the US-Mexico border will mean billions more in funding for the mobilization US troops to build and construction of many miles of border wall.

These measures will only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis of migrant deaths in the deserts along the border. Between 2000 and 2016, the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) discovered the remains of 6,023 people who died crossing from Mexico into the United States. One Texas sheriff reported in May 2017 to the New York Times that, I would say for every one [body] we find, were probably missing five, putting the total dead in the tens of thousands.

The declaration of a state of emergency and mobilization of active duty troops coincides with the abusive treatment of tens of thousands of immigrants held in ICE and CBP facilities across the US, with billion-dollar companies making vast profits operating modern-day concentration camps.

In this context, the prosecution of the NMD volunteers demonstrates another step in the destruction of democratic rights in the systematic criminalization of individuals and groups who attempt to provide life saving aid to the most vulnerable sections of society.

The Trump administration is seeking to make an example out of Scott Warren for charges that he harbored immigrants crossing the border. Such an attack finds historic parallels in the persecution of sympathizers for harboring of Jews during the Holocaust.

The crackdown is part of the administrations efforts to whip up national chauvinism and prevent a unification of the working class internationally. The brave strike by maquiladora factory workers in Matamoros, Mexico, and the unity of workers across North America and all borders is the primary target of such measures.
In her opening address to the Munich Security Conference yesterday, German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen declared that the most prominent characteristic of the new security landscape is the return of competition between the major powers. She followed this up by adding, Our American friends recognised this early on. We also recognise and see, whether we like it or not, that Germany and Europe are part of this competitive struggle. We are not neutral.

Von der Leyens entire speech made very clear what this means. Almost 75 years after the end of World War II, the imperialist powers are openly preparing for a new round of military conflicts. In front of over 600 politicians, military personnel and intelligence service operatives, including 35 heads of government and 80 defence and foreign ministers, von der Leyen appealed for an independent German and European defence policy to enable Berlin and Brussels to play an independent role in the coming struggle.

We Europeans have to step it up a gear, stated von der Leyen, who also vowed to increase military spending. There is a clear plan: The white paper and capability plan shows how we will modernise our army by 2025. But we are also realistic, she added. We know we have to do more. Especially we Germans. We are firmly committed to the 2 percent goal. Just like how the federal government recently reassured NATO, and how it is included in our coalition agreement.

NATOs 2 percent goal, which the federal government together with other governments agreed at the NATO Wales summit in 2014, amounts to at least a 35 billion increase in the German defence budget over the course of a few years. The cost for this madness, which recalls rearmament under Hitler during the 1930s, will be borne by workers and young people, who will be used as cannon fodder in new wars and suffer the consequences of social spending cuts to pay for military rearmament.

We have set out towards a European defence union, boasted von der Leyen. We have finally found ways and means to overcome our fragmentation. We are harmonising our planning, purchasing of equipment, and readiness to deploy. This is resulting in the emergence of new, European capacities. It enables we Europeans to act in a crisis. And this is also transatlantic burden-sharing. To step things up a gear, however, we have to clear up a few contradictions.

The defence minister left no doubt about what the German ruling class wants to clear up. After its horrific crimes during two world wars, it now intends to use armed force to uphold the interests of German imperialism. We Germans shouldnt claim to be more moral than France, or more far-sighted on human rights policy than Britain, added von der Leyen. We have to summon up the political force for a reliable common line that connects our security interests with our humanitarian principles.

When European politicians bluster about humanitarian principles, responsibility, or peace, they mean brutal military interventions, which rely on the forcible suppression and plundering of the targeted country. Von der Leyen boasted that the German government also agreed this week to extend its mission in Afghanistan for another year. With that, we are making very clear that we stand by our responsibilities.

The military interventions in Syria and Iraq, which have laid waste to both countries and caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, must be continued, added the defence minister. Our mission continues, von der Leyen told her audience. Islamic State is not yet fully defeated and has been transformed into an underground network. The central focus therefore moves from the military component to stabilisation. In Iraq, it is necessary to support the newly-formed government and integrate those into reconstruction who fought bravely on our side.

Von der Leyen noted that a joint European force and military policy would be a benefit to NATO, but the first day of the conference underscored how sharp the tensions between the European powers and the United States have already become. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas used his remarks to launch a frontal attack on Donald Trumps trade policy. Tariffs and protectionism dont lead in the right direction, he stated, before describing American tariffs on steel and aluminium imports as a classic case of lose - lose.

Maas also declared his desire, along with France, Britain and the rest of the EU, to retain the Iran nuclear accord. At a Middle East conference in Warsaw on Thursday, US Vice President Mike Pence, who will speak in Munich today, demanded that the Europeans stand with us by abrogating the nuclear accord and supporting Washingtons war drive against Iran.

The conflicts within the EU are also more intense than at any time since the end of the Second World War. After a months-long conflict, France withdrew its ambassador from Italy last week. And tensions between Berlin and Paris are rising, in spite of their agreement on rearmament.

Additionally, French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled a joint appearance with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Munich at short notice. Instead, von der Leyen appeared alongside British Defence Minister Gavin Williamson and stressed the need to deepen the countries defence cooperation, particularly in the context of Brexit.

Williamson focused in his speech in Munich on threats against Russia. He welcomed Ursulas personal efforts to push ahead with investments in German defence, and declared that a common European military policy must above all be directed against Russia. Lets respond to the Russian violation of the INF treaty [The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty] and the threat posed by new Russian missiles. Lets be prepared to deal with these provocations. Russias adventurism must come with a price.

Although the imperialist powers are preparing for new horrific wars, which will call into question the very existence of humanity, no opposition to this within the establishment parties exists. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk, Alexander Neu, the Left Partys representative on the parliamentary defence committee, made clear that his party supports the German-European great power plans in all essentials. The German government cannot hide behind the US any more, or behind NATO, he declared. European security must be framed and realised by the Europeans themselves, not by the United States.

The only party to call the war danger by its real name and oppose it on the basis of a socialist programme is the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP). Against the capitalist warmongers around the world, we counterpose the international unity of the working class. Under conditions where all of the fundamental problems of the 20th century are erupting with full force once again, this perspective assumes tremendous urgency.
The Mexican and US ruling class and the trade unions are ramping up their physical intimidation and reprisals against the workers in Matamoros, Mexico, whose rebellion against the trade unions and sweatshop conditions has sparked an ongoing strike wave across the country.

On Thursday morning, the same workers at the Fisher Dynamics auto-parts plant in Matamoros who sent a video supporting the February 9 demonstration in Detroit against plant closings announced by GM in the United States and Canada, told the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter that union thugs had attacked their picket line.

They went to the plant at 2 a.m. We made a wall of workers to prevent anyone of the first shift from entering, to stop production as an action to put pressure. But those from the union pushed our fellow workers in an effort to break the picket, one of the Fisher workers said. Another worker added, They were people sent from Jesus Mendoza, the leader of the union. They do it to scare us.

Later in the afternoon, one of the Fisher Dynamics workers cheerfully reported that the company had agreed to their demands, a 20 percent raise and a bonus of 32.000 pesos ($1,700), which workers have called the 20-32. Nonetheless, workers are returning to work wary that the companies and the unions are intensifying the repression and reprisals across the city, with more than 1,500 layoffs since the strikes began last month.

Michael Fisher, the CEO of St. Clair Shores, Michigan-based Fisher Dynamics, was reached by the WSWS and questioned about the strike. He refused to comment on the strike and claimed that he was not aware of any physical attack on striking workers by thugs. "Yes, I am aware of the strike," he said, "But I am not interested in commenting on it," he told the reporter before hanging up.

The Socialist Equality Party (US) condemns these attacks against one of the most exploited sectors of the international working class and calls on workers across the United States, Canada and internationally to mobilize in their defense. As the appeal from Matamoros workers to their international brothers and sisters signified: An injury to one is an injury to all!

Similar threats by management, police and the unions are increasingly frequent across the city. On Thursday afternoon, hundreds of workers from Schumex, Adient and Tridonex carried out what some of them called a St. Valentines Day march, visiting each maquiladora plant on strike in Matamoros to protest the repression and show support. Over 20 plants remain on strike.

The Tamaulipas Secretary of Labor, Maria Estela Chavira, stated this week that 20,000 jobs could be lost as soon as six months, while the local maquiladora association threatened 25,000 layoffs within 3 years.

A worker at Kearfott, who also sent a powerful greeting to the February 9 demonstration in Detroit reported to the WSWS: The same union people that had tried to break the strike are collaborating with supervisors to spot any mistake by those who supported the strike in order to fire us. We are organizing a committee in each company to go support other fellow workers on strike and to expose what is happening at our plants.

The problem is that now that we decided to raise our voice, we are being marked by the government and the company, she added. We are supporting each other because the repression in Matamoros is on the order of the day. We are being subjected to slanders and hostility from everyone defending corporate interests. My company even wants to install a hidden camera in the bathroom. That is an invasion of privacy, I think, and hope it doesnt happen, she said, adding that her plant would send a delegation to support Parker workers on Friday as they rejoin the strike to protest firings and other reprisals.

On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal warned that the strikes in Matamoros are the largest in the country in nearly 30 years and an early indication of a revival of labor demands in Mexico. Last week, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that 2018 saw the largest number of US workers engaged in strike activity since 1986, led by an ongoing wave of teachers strikes, while resistance grows against the mass layoffs and concessions in the auto industry in the US, Canada and Europe.

In response to the growth of the class struggle, the Wall Street Journal also reported that the Mexican ruling class is promoting a new labor legislation to promote independent unions, requiring them to prove they represent a majority of workers in order to prevent wildcat rebellions like in Matamoros. The Journal adds that this was specifically demanded by the Trump administration as part of the new US-Canada-Mexico trade agreement.

Support for such legislationbased on the application of the 1949 UN International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 98 already ratified by the Morena-led Congress last Septemberhas also come from the established and right-wing union executives in Mexico and internationally.

Lobbying efforts for these steps have been carried out through the self-described independent Electrical Workers Union (SME) and the National Union of Workers (UNT) with the financial and political backing from IndustriALL, the AFL-CIO, the ILO and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of the ruling Social Democratic Party in Germany.

In response to a tweet last September reporting a meeting between the SME-UNT and the Morena president of the Senate, Marti Batres, a worker tweeted, Unions here in the border, Tamaulipas, are only good for taking weekly dues, but not for the worker. We are alone; I dont understand why you want to impose unions on us since they never do anything when we ask for their help.

On Wednesday, the SME, which also leads the New Workers Central (NTC), partnered with Morena Senator and leader of the Miners Union, Napoleon Gomez Urrutia, to announce the establishment of the International Labor Confederation (CIT).

While Urrutia has long floated the idea of a new union central as window dressing for the discredited existing confederations, he made explicit that the sudden announcement was a reaction to the wave of strikes initiated in Matamoros. As long as the conditions of exploitation continue for these workers, not just on the border but across the country, there is a risk that these conflicts will break out. We will always be ready to advise and support them, he stated.

However, the anti-worker character of this Morena-led conspiracy was exposed the next day by the president of the national Maquiladora Association, Luis Aguirre Lang, who requested that the new CIT and president Lopez Obrador "intervene immediately" to suppress opposition to mass firings in Matamoros. "We call on the new CIT announced Wednesday in encouraging the construction of and giving certainty within a legal framework of trade-union liberties, he said.

After weeks of ignoring the strike, an American delegation of the UAW and USW executives traveled to Matamoros to stage a photo op with workers, which was published under the headline: US unions bring solidarity to striking Mexican workers.

Facing the growing calls for international resistance by workers against decades of betrayals, these same union executives are fraudulently posing as supporters of independent unions in Mexico while stoking anti-Mexican chauvinism at home, all in order to prevent the development of a genuine international movement of the working class. After GMs announcement of plant closings, the UAW and its Canadian counterpart Unifor have produced video ads and billboards urging GM not to produce in Mexico and calling consumers to boycott cars Made in Mexico.

Moreover, earlier this month, UAW president Gary Jones said in a statement: The president has taken important steps to adhere to the concept that the US government and consumers should Buy American And its not just government, companies like General Motors have an obligation to build where they sell and stop exporting jobs abroad.

The ruling class is accelerating its cultivation of corporatist relations between the state and the union apparatus to chain the working class to capitalist and nationalist politics. Whether it is in Mexico, the US, Canada or internationally, the unions and its backers seek to restrain the growth of the class struggle on behalf of the corporations.
Asia

India: Childcare workers protest in Pune

Anganwadi (childcare) workers demonstrated in the western Indian state of Maharashtra this week to demand an increase in their honorarium, a threefold increase in the lump sum retirement fund and a monthly pension. The protests, which were organised by the Maharashtra Rajya Anganwadi Kruti Samiti, were held in different parts of the state, including outside the Pune Collectorate on February 11 and in Mumbai on February 12.

Anganwadi workers in Maharashtra are only paid about 7,000 rupees ($99) as a monthly honorarium compared to 12,000 rupees paid to the same workers in Kerala and some other Indian states. While the central Indian government last year increased the amount paid to anganwadi workers by 1,500 rupees, the workers are yet to receive the increase.

The protesting workers allege that the state wants to close down anganwadis that have less than 25 clients. The anganwadi workers provide care for babies, infants and children up to the age of five, as well as assistance to pregnant women and lactating mothers.

Gandhi Hospital contract nurses in Telangana strike over unpaid salaries

About 100 contract nurses from the state-owned Gandhi Hospital have held protests and a two-hour sit-down strike in the past week over the non-payment of salaries for last three months. The demonstration was organised by the Telangana State Medical Contract Employees & Workers Union.

While the nurses said they were reluctant to strike because it would impact on emergency services, management had ignored their appeals. The nurses have threatened indefinite strike action if their salary arrears are not paid.

Tamil Nadu: Madurai corporation workers hold sit-in protest

Madurai corporation workers in Tamil Nadu staged a sit-in protest on the premises of the Sandhapettai pumping station on February 5 over the victimisation of fellow workers.

The protesters, who have also taken sporadic strike action since February 5, were demanding action against an assistant engineer who sacked five drainage cleaning workers without warning on January 30. The cleaners, who were union members, had been employed at the facility for the past 13 years. They were sacked by the assistant engineer on the first day that he took charge of the area.

India: Punjab sewer workers demand permanent jobs

Scores of Sewerage Workers Union members demonstrated outside the Bathinda Municipal Corporation office, in the southern part of part of Punjab, on February 11. They were demanding permanent jobs for 48 contract and outsourced workers who have been employed by the Sewerage Board since 2001.

Protesters chanted slogans against the Punjab state government and accused it of not granting workers long outstanding demands. They said that although resolutions supporting their demands had been passed by General House meetings of the municipal council, the civic body has not taken the issue seriously.

Pakistan paramedics protest for service structure, benefits

Paramedical staff at government hospitals in Multan demonstrated on February 7 to demand a new service structure, health professional and risk allowances, job permanency for those performing special services and the withdrawal of the governments privatisation plans.

The demonstration was called by the Allied Health Professional Association and included paramedics from Nishtar Hospital, Childrens Complex, Chaudhry Pervez Elahi Institute of Cardiology, Fatima Hospital and Mian Shahbaz Sharif Hospital, as well as departmental employees. The workers have threatened to strike on February 19 and 20 if their demands are not addressed.

Bangladesh steel workers demand wage rise

Several hundred workers at PHP Steel Mills struck for four hours last Sunday demanding a salary increase. The factory, which employs about 1,600 permanent and casual workers, is located at Sitakunda in Bangladeshs Chittagong district. The walkout began at 7 a.m.

According to the police of Sitakunda Police Station, owners had assured the workers that they would take steps to meet their demands next month, and later workers called off the strike.

One worker told the media that the monthly wage of newly-appointed or trainee workers ranged from 3,000 taka ($US36) to 4,000 taka and that the average wage of an experienced worker was no more than 7,000 taka. There are no government-mandated wage guidelines on the Bangladesh steel industry.

ATG Ceylon strike continues in Sri Lankan free trade zone

Around 500 ATG Ceylon workers in the Katunayaka free trade zone remain on strike after walking out on January 11 over the sacking and victimisation of five fellow workers. Strikers protested near the Colombo railway station on February 14.

ATG Ceylon employs about 1,200 workers and is one of Sri Lankas leading glove manufacturers. The victimised employees were office bearers in a union formed by the workers to fight against the harsh conditions in the factory. Management has filed a bogus case with the police, claiming that the workers misused company property.

Taiwan pilots end seven-day strike

China Airlines management and Taoyuan Union of Pilots officials struck a new workplace agreement on Thursday after a fourth round of negotiations. The deal ends a week-long strike involving some 600 pilots and which impacted on more than 200 flights and almost 50,000 passengers. The stoppage resulted in $NT500 million ($US16.2 million) in losses on the carrier.

China Airlines has said it will address pilot fatigue by rostering three pilots on flights of more than eight hours, rather than two, and four pilots on flights over twelve hours, up from three. While the union claims to have extracted these concessions and that this will improve safety the deal includes a three-and-a-half year no strike pledge.

Burmese workers picket luxury hotel

On Monday workers rallied outside Hotel Tharabar Gate in the Mandalay Region of Burma to demand the right to organise and for reinstatement of union leaders and workers sacked last August.

The hotel workers have been the subject of ongoing state and employer harassment since the sackings. When sacked workers and their supporters attempted to march from the hotel to the Mandalay Region Government Office on December 13 they were attacked by police who broke up the rally and arrested thirteen protesters.

Australia and the Pacific

Australia: Aurizon coal haulage workers continue strikes

Train drivers and crew hauling coal on Aurizons Pring section of the central Queensland rail network walked off the job for 24 hours on Tuesday.

The Australian Federated Union of Locomotive Employees (AFULE), which covers the workers, also notified Aurizon that its members will impose a seven-day overtime ban across the whole coal rail network on February 20.

The stoppages follow two months of limited strike action and low level work bans involving close to 1,000 members, in a dispute for a new enterprise agreement.

The unions claim that major disputes are over Aurizons refusal to back-pay any negotiated wage increase, rostering, and proposed changes to the voluntary redundancy scheme and dispute procedures, including the removal of arbitration. The AFULE said it would de-escalate its industrial campaign if some progress was made on rostering, shift extensions and annual leave deductions.

DP World dock workers to vote on strike action

The Construction Forestry Mining Maritime and Energy Union (CFMMEU), representing 1,800 workers at DP World ports in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, has received permission from Australias Fair Work Commission to hold a protected action ballot on proposed strikes.

DP World is threatening to cancel the union-owned income protection scheme if workers do not accept the companys enterprise agreement offer. The proposed deal would roll over the old agreement, capping wage rises at 2.6 percent per annum. The union wants a ban on the use of casual labour, improved leave entitlements and the conversion of unused sick leave to days-in lieu.

The Fair Work Commission accepted DP Worlds request that it be given five days notice before strike action commences, rather than the legal requirement of three, giving the company additional time to minimise the impact of industrial action.

Port Kembla Coal Terminal lockout extended

Port Kembla Coal Terminal (PKCT) for the third time in four weeks locked out its 51 permanent workforce at the facility near Wollongong on February 8 in a dispute over job security provisions in a new enterprise agreement (EA). The lockouts are in response to minor strike action and bans by the CFMMEU.

The union and PKCT have been in dispute since the old EA expired in 2015, leaving workers without a pay raise for four years. The union claimed that the key sticking point in negotiations is managements refusal to carry over the previous job security clause, which prevents a sacked permanent employee being replaced by a casual contractor. The company has threatened to shut the facility if workers do not accept flexible conditions.

The CFMMEU has isolated the workers, refusing to mobilise any support from its thousands of members throughout the Illawarra region.

National Patient Transport workers to vote on industrial action in Victoria

United Voice and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation will ballot their members on industrial action in a dispute with National Patient Transport (NPT) for a new enterprise agreement. Action will be limited to bans on paperwork and communications.

According to the Ambulance Employees Association (Victoria), NPT workers are only paid just $24.09 an hour, which is paid 20 percent less than government patient transport workers who perform the same job. Workers have also complained of being called upon more frequently to assist in regular ambulance emergencies. As well as better wages, NPTs Ambulance Transport Attendants (ATA) want better training, access to sick leave and greater support from management.

New Zealand: Auckland bus drivers hold wildcat strikes

Drivers employed by NZ Bus on Aucklands public bus routes to and from the suburb of Onehunga held a strike without notice on Friday morning. Services returned to normal by 10 a.m. The strike followed morning walkouts on February 8 and 12 at the Swanson and Glenfield depots respectively. According to Fairfax Media, the strikes were planned by drivers without the knowledge of Auckland Transport or FIRST Union and Tramways Union, which officially represents the drivers.

Drivers are angry about inadequate training and fatigue caused by rostering. A drivers work day can be as long as 14 hours. A Tramways Union spokesperson told the media on February 12 that it had advised its 1,000 members not to take industrial action but drivers were so frustrated that they are not listening to (union) advice to wait until negotiations in November.

The unions say they were due to enter into negotiations with NZ Bus, mediated by the Employment Relations Authority, on January 30, but the company pulled out saying it was too busy.

New Zealand hospital administration workers hold stop work meetings

More than 5,500 administrative and clerical workers at public hospitals held two-hour nationwide stopwork meetings on February 11. The Public Service Association members voted overwhelmingly in favour of planning for strike action if there is no satisfactory result from pay negotiations later this month with New Zealands District Health Boards. Most of the workers are paid little more than the minimum wage.

The stopwork meetings occurred in the same week as a nationwide two-day strike by more than 3,000 junior doctors and a series of strikes by more than 1,000 hospital midwives. Last year, more than 30,000 nurses and healthcare assistants held a one-day strike.

The ongoing wave of strikes in the health sector is in response to deepening austerity measures under the Labour Party-led government, which falsely promised to address the crisis of underfunding and understaffing in hospitals.

Solomon Islands nurses vote to strike

Nurses in the Solomon Islands public health system have voted to hold a nationwide strike on February 27 if their demands for better pay are not met. The Solomon Islands Nurses Association says the government failed to pay allowances that had been promised to nurses in exchange for SINA cancelling a strike last year. The union says some nurses are leaving the impoverished country in search of better pay and conditions.
India has responded to a suicide-bombing Thursday in Indian-held Kashmir, which killed 40 Indian security personnel, with denunciations and blood-curdling threatsall but announcing an impending military strike on Pakistan.

Speaking yesterday, Narendra Modi, Indias prime minister and the head of the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), held Pakistan responsible for the attack. He then vowed that India will make the terror outfits and those aiding and abetting them . pay a heavy price.

Let me assure the nation, Modi continued, those behind this attack, the perpetrators of this attack will be punished. He said his government has given Indias security forces complete freedom of action.

Modi has repeatedly boasted that the cross-border military strikes he ordered on Pakistan in September 2016 in retaliation for a terror attack on an Indian army base in Jammu and Kashmir, have freed India from the shackles of strategic restraint.

Seeking to whip up war-fever, Modi declared yesterday: The blood of the people is boiling... Our neighbouring country, which has been isolated internationally, is in a state of illusion, [and] thinks such terror attacks can destabilise us, but their plans will not materialise.

At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) para-militaries were killed and several more injured on Thursday afternoon when a suicide-bomber rammed an SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus traveling on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles that was returning more than 2,500 soldiers, most of whom had been on holiday, to active duty in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmirs largest city.

Indian authorities blamed the success of the attackthe single biggest loss of Indian security forces in three decadeson intelligence and security lapses.

Citing a claim of responsibility for the attack from the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), an Islamist pro-Kashmir separatist group, New Delhi immediately declared Pakistan was to blame.

Yesterday, New Delhi delivered Pakistan what was termed a sternly-worded diplomatic demarche, recalled its ambassador from Islamabad, and announced it was canceling Pakistans most-favoured nation trade status . Everything suggests that Modi and his BJP intend to exploit Thursdays attack to the hilt to whip up bellicose nationalism with a view to deflecting mounting social anger, and mobilising its reactionary Hindu communalist base. All opposition will be branded as a threat to the national unity needed to confront arch-rival Pakistan.

In recent months, the Modi government has been shaken by growing worker and farmer protestsincluding a two-day nationwide general strike in January in which tens of millions participated.

Moreover, in December the BJP suffered electoral defeats in three Hindi-heartland states that hitherto were among its strongest bastions. This has placed a large question mark over whether the BJP will prevail in the national elections to be held in multiple phases this April and May.

Yesterday, the BJP and its Hindu extremist allies organised protests in several cities, including New Delhi, at which demands for military action against Pakistan were raised.

A crucial factor in the BJPs ability to exploit the Kashmir events to stoke communal reaction and to prepare aggressive military action against Pakistan is the role of the so-called opposition parties. Whatever their tactical differences and criticisms of the ruling BJP, they all support aggressively pursuing New Delhis geo-political interests in the region against Pakistan.

Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi denounced the incident as an attack on Indias soul and assured the BJP government that his party, as well as the entire opposition, is fully supportive of the government and the military. I want to make it very clear, said Gandhi, that the aim of terrorism is to divide this country and we are not going to be divided for even one second, no matter how hard people try.

The Congress and all the other opposition parties, including the Stalinist Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM, supported Modis September 2016 surgical strikes and hailed the Indian army for carrying them out. In the southern India state of Kerala, the CPM Chief Minister and Politburo member Pianrayi Vijayan introduced a resolution in the state assembly lauding the surgical strikes.

The Stalinists have issued only tepid criticisms of the BJP governments brutal crackdown on popular opposition in Kashmir, Indias only Muslim majority state, and its belligerent stand against Pakistan.

Continuing, albeit with an even harder edge, the policy of Indias previous Congress-led government, Modis BJP regime has rebuffed repeated Pakistani overtures and refuses all high-level discussions with Pakistan until Islamabad demonstrates it has ended all logistical support for insurgent groups in Indian-administered Kashmir.

The CPM Politburo immediately issued a statement that strongly condemns the terrorist attack mounted on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir. It reiterated its support for the Indian military, declaring: The Politburo of the CPI (M) conveys its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families of the personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty.

Thursdays suicide bombing was reportedly carried out by 20-year-old Adil Ahmed Dar, a Kashmir labourer, who grew up only a few kilometres from the site of bomb blast. According to his parents, Dar was radicalised following the police arrest and torture of him and his friends three years ago while they were returning from school.

Pakistans reaction to Indias bellicose threats has thus far been subdued and limited to a denial that it had any role in the Pulwama suicide-bombing. In previous cases, Islamabad has made its own blood-curdling threats of military retaliation, including boasting of its readiness to use nuclear weapons, in response to any Indian attack. It appears that Pakistan has been shaken by statements issued by several countries, including the US, condemning the attack and voicing support for Indias struggle against terrorism.

Yesterday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton effectively gave Washingtons green light to an Indian military strike on Pakistan. Bolton told the media that he had spoken with his Indian counterpart twice since Thursdays bomb blast. "I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence, he said. Bolton also reiterated the demand of an earlier White House statement that Pakistan eliminate all terrorist safe-havens.

The Kashmir dispute and the broader Indo-Pakistani rivalry have their roots in the reactionary 1947 communal partition of the subcontinent into a Muslim Pakistan and a Hindu-dominated India through the joint actions of South Asias departing British colonial overlords and the rival communally-based wings of the bourgeoisie, led respectively by the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress.

While both independent India and Pakistan laid claim to all of Kashmir, it subsequently came to be divided, through intrigue and war, into the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-held Azad Kashmir. In pursuit of their geo-political ambitions, the Indian and Pakistan ruling elites have both abused and ridden roughshod over the rights of the Kashmiri people.

For decades, New Delhi manipulated elections and arbitrarily unseated governments in Jammu and Kashmir. When faced with mass political unrest in the late 1980s, it resorted to violent repression. For its part, Pakistan has manipulated the opposition within Jammu and Kashmir and promoted Islamist insurgent groups in a bid to undermine rival India.

With the Modi government now seeking to extract a pound of flesh from Pakistan to avenge last Thursdays attack, there is a very real danger relations between South Asias rival nuclear-armed states will cascade out of control. Following Indias so-called surgical strikes on Pakistan in September 2016, the two countries teetered for months on the brink of all-out war. Shelling occurred on almost a daily basis, killing dozens of military personnel and civilians on both sides.

Adding to the explosiveness of the situation is the US drive to harness India to its military-strategic offensive against China. As a result, the Indo-Pakistan conflict has become increasingly enmeshed with rising US-China tensions, with New Delhi allied with Washington and Islamabad with Beijing.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author, lecturer and political commentator Chris Hedges has issued the following statement supporting the demonstrations called by the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) in Sydney on March 3 and Melbourne on March 10 to demand the freedom of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.

Hedges has actively opposed the persecution of Assange and the sweeping censorship of independent and critical internet-based media such as the WSWS, Truthdig and other anti-war and anti-imperialist publications.

****

It is imperative that we pressure the Australian government to make sure its citizen, Julian Assange, is protected from the lawlessness of the American empire. He has not been charged with a crime. He cannot, under international and American law, be kidnapped and taken to the United States and put on trial for his work as a publisher. I implore everyone who can, to attend the two rallies being organized in Australia demanding that the Australian government secure the freedom and safe passage home of Julian.

His fight ultimately is ours.

Chris Hedges

February 15, 2019
The following is a reply by Socialist Equality Party (UK) national secretary Chris Marsden to Mark Gardner, Deputy Chief Executive & Communications Director at the pro-Zionist Community Security Trust.

Gardner wrote to the World Socialist Web Site on February 9, replying to an article, Corbyn leadership bows before Blairites anti-Semitism witch-hunt, posted on the site that day. His letter reads:

Your characterisation of Community Security Trust as Zionist is pathetic and typical of hard left attempts to smear mainstream Jewish communal organisations. What do you actually mean by Zionist? And in what way is it more accurate to describe CST as Zionist, rather than as a Jewish British charity?

Contrary to your articles explicit claim, CSTs report does have a page explaining what it means by antisemitic incidents that show direct relation to the Labour Party. It includes examples.

Your ideological contempt for the experience of British Jews is a damning example of how far your anti Zionism has taken you.

Mark Gardner

****

Dear Mr Gardner,

Your reference to our typical hard left smear of the Community Security Trust (CST) is bogus. We describe the CST as Zionist because that is its political standpointand this is far more significant than its supposed role as a charity.

One important difference between the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) and the CST is that you consider it expedient to conceal your political agenda, whereas we do not. You are, as a Zionist, very clear what Zionism means. Historically, it refers to the nationalist movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East and now indicates active political support for the State of Israel.

The Socialist Equality Party and the WSWS opposes Zionism based on our opposition to all forms of nationalism and insistence on a unified offensive of Arab and Jewish workers for the overthrow of capitalism and for the formation of the United Socialist States of the Middle East. Here in the UK we seek to unite workers irrespective of national, ethnic or religious differences in a common struggle for socialism.

Your accusation of anti-Semitism is a political slander. The socialist movement has historically been at the forefront of the struggle against anti-Semitism, attracting many of its best representatives from among Jewish workers and intellectuals. In Germany, our comrades in the Socialist Equality Party are right now waging a determined struggle against efforts to rehabilitate Nazism involving attempts by leading historians and the Alternative for Germany to downplay Hitlers crimes against the Jews.

Your pose of outrage at our use of the term Zionism is part of a political campaign waged by the CST to equate all opposition to Zionism with anti-Semitism, hence your references to our ideological contempt for the experience of British Jews. The CST has repeatedly insisted that all mainstream Jewish opinion is Zionist. Therefore, in your view, to define the CST politically as Zionist is automatically anti-Semitic.

This is transparent nonsense, but you have been playing this ideological game for yearsdenouncing as anti-Semitic not only Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn but vast swathes of left-wing opposition to Israels brutal suppression of the Palestinians.

The CST is no more a representative of the Jewish community than are the political forces it representsthe Conservative government, the right-wing of the Labour Party and, one must add, the British and the Israeli state.

The CST was given a dispensation by the Charity Commission, meaning that it does not have to publish the names of its trustees. This serves to shield the CST from public scrutiny that would reveal its intimate connections with those waging a political offensive to tar the left as anti-Semiticoften using propaganda material prepared by the CST. However, management of the CST is carried out by Support Trustee Ltd, established in May 2003, whose personnel make clear the organisations right-wing and unambiguously Zionist political agenda.

The directors of Support Trustee Ltd include CST chairman Gerald Ronson, imprisoned for false accounting, conspiracy and theft in the Guinness shares scandal. He was nevertheless given a CBE for his charitable work by then Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron. Other directors are Keith Black and Douglas Krikler, who are both also connected to the United Jewish Israel Appeal, a registered charity dedicated to cultivating an enhanced sense of Jewish identity among Jewish youth and their connection with Israel.

Another director is David Menton, who is a director of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), a pro-Israeli advocacy group. BICOM established the We Believe in Israel advocacy organisation in the UK to counter opposition to Israel following its brutal repression of the second Palestinian intifada. We Believe in Israel is headed by right-wing anti-Corbyn Labourite Luke Akehurst. Among those playing a leading role in the anti-Semitism smear campaign against Labour and the left is Ruth Smeeth MP, who in the past worked for BICOM.

David Young, Lord Young of Graffham, is another director of Support Trustees Ltd who previously served as Margaret Thatchers chief of staff and her privatisations minister.

The CSTs advisory board includes leading Conservatives Michael Gove MP, Baroness Verma of Leicester, Lord Wolffson of Sunningdale and Lord Feldman of Frognal.

Top military figures include Field Marshal Lord Guthrie of Craigebank, the former head of the British Army, Brigadier Richard Andrews and Colonel Richard Kemp. Kemps most notable political intervention came in 2017 when, in response to Corbyns statements that any use of nuclear weapons is a disaster for the whole world, he replied, Quite literally if Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister enacted the policies he describes, he would have blood on his hands  he must never be elected to lead this country.

Top police officers include Chief Constable of Manchester Peter Fahy, Chief Constable of Strathclyde Stephen House, former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police John Stevens (now Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington), former assistant commissioner of the Met John Yates and former deputy assistant commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, John Grieve.

Niall Ferguson, the right-wing historian and member of the Hoover Institute, is another advisor.

To imply that such figures are impartial representatives of the Jewish community is ludicrous on its face. But these are not even the most damning presence on the advisory board. It includes right-wing Labour MPs Louise Ellman, Ivan Lewis, Denis MacShane, Jim Murphy and John Mann. They are joined by four Blairite peers, including Tony Blairs former Middle East envoy, Lord Levy of Mill Hill. The five MPs have all played a leading role in the witch-hunting of Corbyn as an anti-Semite.

The CSTs director of communications is Dave Rich, whose political obsessions are epitomised by his 2016 book, The Left's Jewish Problem: Jeremy Corbyn, Israel and AntiSemitism. The CST funded the doctoral thesis research that produced this book.

In March 2018, then Home Secretary Amber Rudd committed to 13.4 million in annual security funding to protect Jewish schools, institutions, etc., which she announced at the CSTs annual dinner alongside Gerald Ronson. The CST is given the right to dispense these funds.

This political pedigree accounts for the CSTs inflated role in British political life, its undeclared war against Corbyn and the leftand the fact that it appears to be virtually blind in its right eye about where the real threat of anti-Semitism comes from. It has no representative function for the Jewish community at all.

Your claim that the CSTs report clearly explains what it means by antisemitic incidents that show direct relation to the Labour Party is also false. The CST claims to have recorded 148 incidents in 2018 that were examples of, or occurred in the context of discussions about, antisemitism in the Labour Party. But you provide no evidence to support this assertion, merely stating that they occurred largely during two months that were characterised by repeated allegations of antisemitic statements and behaviour by Labour Party figures, including Corbyn himself and that the alleged victims were prominent MPs and peers who were either Jewish or who had spoken out against antisemitism and who received direct, targeted threats and hate mail.

You produce just four examples of the abovetwo internet posts and two anonymous letters that could each have been written by anyone. We address one example in the article you criticise. It should be noted that in her latest accusation that Labour is not doing enough to combat anti-Semitism, Blairite MP Margaret Hodge declared that she herself had submitted 200 examples of alleged antisemitism to Labours disciplinary process. Given that anyone who criticises the Blairites witch-hunt risks being denounced as anti-Semitic, one can only imagine what these accusations consist ofjust as one can only imagine what the CST is referring to in its own unpublished list of incidents.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Marsden

National Secretary, Socialist Equality Party
Prime Minister Theresa Mays tenuous hold on power suffered a further blow Thursday evening as her Brexit negotiating plan for exiting the European Union (EU) was again rejected by MPs.

Just two weeks ago, pro-Tory papers were crowing about Mays triumph after she overturned a previous defeat when MPs rejected her plan by a record margin of 230 and secured a slim parliamentary majority to seek concessions from the EU on the post-Brexit Irish border. But this backing evaporated Thursday, when Mays motion urging endorsement of her continued negotiations was defeated by 303 votes to 258 with nearly a quarter of Tory MPs, 67, abstaining and five voting against her deal.

May was sunk by the combined efforts of the hard-Brexit European Research Group (ERG), who took a collective decision to abstain and by nine pro-EU Tories, including Anna Soubry and Dominic Grieve. The Brexiteers voting against were Peter Bone, Sir Christopher Chope, Philip Hollobone, and Anne Marie Morris, as well as pro-Remain Tory, Sarah Wollaston.

The vote was non-binding but shows that May is still unable to win the backing of a majority of MPs for her plansmaking it even more difficult to secure concessions from the EU.

May has still been unable to win support among EU leaders for a change in the wording of the agreement previously reached regarding the Irish border that would satisfy her substantial Eurosceptic wing. The Brexiteers dont want even a temporary backstop in place that would keep Northern Ireland in the EU customs union, until an all-encompassing future deal could be reached between the UK and EU.

This left May putting a motion calling only for support of the motion passed January 29 instructing her to return to Brussels to agree alternative arrangements to replace the existing backstop plan and failing to get this passed.

The motion also called for an endorsement of a vote in Parliament last month that ruled out leaving the UK in a no-deal Brexit, forced to trade on World Trade Organisation terms. This is the bare minimum demanded by pro-Remain Tories and all the main opposition parties and has a clear majority in Parliament but is anathema to the ERG.

These intractable divisions threaten a split in the party, with most Tory MPs supporting a soft-Brexit and a maintenance of relations with the EU.

Government business minister Richard Harrington said after the vote that the ERG should join the new Brexit Party being promoted by former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage. The ERG were drinking champagne to celebrate her losing her deal and I regard that as being treachery, he said.

Parliaments pro-EU wing is determined that the ERG must not prevail and are lined up to back an amendment from the Blairite Labour MP Yvette Cooper on February 28, when May has authorised another vote to take place on her negotiations.

The amendment would give Parliament the power to prevent May from carrying out a no-deal Brexit. One Tory minister commented, We are determined that talks [with the EU] cant continue into March. Airing the concerns of dominant sections of big business and manufacturing, he added, We will make sure business is not further devastated. The PM has done her best but we cant allow the European Research Group and others to take negotiations into March.

Divisions over Brexit cut across party lines, leading to the sizeable rebellion suffered by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Thursday saw 41 Labour MPs ignore a party whip instructing them to oppose a Scottish National Party amendment calling for Brexit to be delayed by at least three months.

The rebellion was led by Blairites who have been seeking Corbyns removal since he became leader in 2015. Their opposition has focused on attacking his Brexit policy, which they say is enabling May to get her deal throughalong with manufacturing claims that the Labour leader is a facilitator of anti-Semitism within the party.

Corbyn supports a soft-Brexit, but has not specifically demanded, as have some of his shadow cabinet, that a second referendum Peoples Vote be required on Brexit. He has stuck to the insistence that Labour is seeking a general election and only failing this will other options, including a second referendum, be considered.

Addressing the crisis, the pro-Labour New Statesman commented this week on Why, for Corbyn or May, breaking the Brexit deadlock would also mean splitting their parties. Both leaders were seeking a Brexit deal that is acceptable to the European Union and can pass the House of Commons, and the price for each leader is shattering his or her party, potentially permanently.

Of the divisions tearing apart Labour, the New Statesman wrote, If Labour lets Mays deal through, it would also provide the perfect pretext for a split by the Sixthe anti-Corbyn MPs who want to set up their own party.

Earlier this month, the pro-Remain Observer reported that it had been told at least six leading Labour right-wingers were preparing to set up a breakaway party. However, Thursdays rejection of Corbyns whip revealed that there are substantially more than six Blairites that may be prepared to quit.

One of Corbyns long-time opponents, Chris Lesliewhose constituency party members passed a vote of no confidence in him last yearsaid after Thursdays vote, I certainly feel that we are being played for fools by the leadership of the Labour party on this particular issue because by now we should have reached the option of a public vote with the option of remaining in the European Union 

One of the Labour rights main figureheads is Chuka Umunna. The Financial Times noted Thursday that he is among a core group of backbenchers who have been discussing a breakaway party for months.

Even the mechanics of how such a party would be established are being made known to the main pro-Remain voice of finance capital. The FT reported that Under one plan, at least one MP would step down to prompt a by-election. Winning back his or her seat under the banner of a new party would prove the group could win elections, a backbencher said. At that point, the breakaway faction would try to persuade other MPs to leave Labour and join them.

From Umunnas latest statements, any such moves would need to be coordinated with pro-EU Tories also standing down in protest at the danger of a no-deal Brexit. Umunna warned on his own website prior to Thursdays votes that there were just 46 days until Brexit  If ministers want to influence the outcome of Brexit, now is the sensible time to resign and vote accordingly, otherwise it will be too late.

Umunna insisted, in order to get a cross-party amendment through which paves the way for Parliament to stop the government running down the clockwhich risks the UK falling off the cliff without a deal--we must both reduce the [pro-Brexit] Labour rebellion and increase the Conservative one.

Stating that he was in talks with sympathetic Tory ministers, he revealed that several are considering their positions and are now contemplating resigning from government 
In a major attack on democratic rights and academic freedom, University of Sydney management sacked Dr Tim Anderson this month on the basis of allegations that his criticisms of Israels oppression of the Palestinian people were offensive.

The move, carried out in defiance of widespread opposition among academics and staff, is part of a broader push to outlaw growing hostility to militarism and war, including at university campuses.

It follows a protracted campaign by senior figures in the federal Liberal-National Coalition government, the corporate media and university management to demonise Anderson because of his public denunciations of wars and military interventions by the US, Israel and other major powers.

Anderson, a senior lecturer in the faculty of political economy, was suspended by university management on December 3. He was informed in a letter from university Provost Stephen Garton that he was accused of offensive conduct and that termination proceedings had been initiated against him.

Garton cited lecture material displayed by Anderson, which allegedly featured an Israeli flag with the Nazi swastika superimposed on it. Critics of the Israeli government have frequently compared its brutal persecution of the Palestinian people to the actions of the fascist German regime.

The lecture material examined media coverage and the response of international organisations to Israels attack on Gaza in 2014.

The graphic noted that Israels aerial bombardment of the besieged territory was widely described as precision strikes targeting Palestinian militants. This was despite the fact that the barrage resulted in over 1,000 deaths, 75 percent of which were of civilians. By contrast, primitive Palestinian rocket attacks, which resulted in six civilian deaths, were denounced as indiscriminate.

The slide encouraged students to seek out independent evidence and to be wary of moral equivalence claims carrying inbuilt assumptions and recognise that both the objectives and actions of the parties are important.

The university employment review panel, which voted two to one on February 11 to sack Anderson, found that dissemination of the lecture material constituted serious misconduct. It claimed that it was reasonable to find the image of the Israeli flag with the superimposed swastika offensive.

The panel consisted of Janice McLeay, a former industrial relations commissioner and dispute management specialist, Professor Philippa Pattison, the universitys deputy vice chancellor of education, and Dr Neil Maclean, a senior anthropology lecturer. Maclean voted against sacking Anderson, but the termination was pushed through by McLeay and Pattison.

In his dissenting comments, Maclean warned of the implications of firing Anderson for academic freedom. He expressed opposition to university managements use of a minimalist criteria, based on vague claims of offensive and inappropriate conduct, to sack an academic.

Maclean stated that it was consistent with the requirements of professional judgement that staff formulate their own concrete criteria for the exercise of academic freedom.

In a public statement on February 11, Anderson condemned the panels decision, stating that it avoided important issues of principle over intellectual freedom and ignored an attempt by managers to link criticism of Israel with anti-semitism.

Anderson warned: This censorial abuse will send a cold chill through the University of Sydney. Other academics will worry they might also be expelled if a manager considers something they say is inappropriate or offensive. Who would know?

Anderson pointed to the politically-motivated character of the sacking. He noted that Garton, who initiated the termination proceedings against him, had condemned the lecture material documenting casualties during the attack on Gaza as not being even handed.

The sacked academic said that despite such remarks, the review panel found that Garton expressed no political views. Anderson countered: I say he expressed reactionary politics dressed up as ethics. I also say he has no mandate to protect Israel from criticism, on behalf of the University of Sydney.

The initiation of termination proceedings against Anderson in December provoked widespread opposition from academics and university staff.

A December 7 open letter, signed by 30 prominent academics and lecturers warned that Andersons dismissal would be an unacceptable act of censorship and a body-blow to academic freedom, which, by instilling a fear of arbitrary reprisal stifles the very freedom of debate and of thought that education requires.

That the university nevertheless proceeded with the sacking makes clear that Anderson has been the subject of a political victimisation.

In the first instance, Andersons repeated condemnations of Israeli attacks on the Palestinians have provoked the ire of various Zionist organisations. At university campuses, there is a concerted attempt to ban all criticisms of Israeli policy, on the basis of cynical and bogus accusations of anti-Semitism.

Anderson has also come under attack for his opposition to the US-led regime change operation in Syria. In April 2018, Education Minister Simon Birmingham called for an investigation into Anderson for comments he made questioning US claims that the Syrian government was responsible for a sarin gas attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun. The Murdoch-owned Daily Telegraph hysterically denounced Anderson as a sarin gasbag.

The alleged sarin attack was used to escalate direct US intervention, including the launching of a bombing campaign against Syrian government forces by the Trump administration. Anderson had noted that no evidence was provided of Syrian government culpability for a chemical weapons attack and that US-backed rebels, who were being militarily defeated, had a far greater motive for staging such an incident.

In a lengthy article late last year, Anderson reviewed a series of attempts by university management to suppress his public statements opposing US militarism.

Significantly, one of the earlier allegations of misconduct against Anderson was over his opposition to a May 2017 invitation by the university to US Republican politician John McCain to deliver an address on campus. Anderson had denounced McCain, who was implicated in every US war and military intervention over the past three decades, as a war criminal.

Garton responded: There are no grounds to assert that Senator McCain is a war criminal.

The attacks against Anderson are inextricably tied to the integration of Australian universities into a vast US-led military build-up, aimed at preparing for war with China and other powers. Virtually every university campus across the country participates in government funded programs to subordinate academic research to the development of new military technologies.

A host of pro-war think tanks have also been created. At the University of Sydney, the US Studies Centre was founded in 2006, with US and Australian government funding. Its explicit aim is to counter mass hostility to Australian involvement in US wars.

The attempts to suppress anti-war sentiment underscore the need to build a political movement of workers, students and young people in defence of democratic rights.

University of Sydney staff and students, and all academics, should oppose the sacking of Tim Anderson and demand his immediate reinstatement.
Multimedia Producer

Kara is an Emmy Award-winning digital producer. She is a Cincinnati native and an alumna of the University of South Carolina. She previously worked at WRDW-TV in Augusta, Ga., before moving to Nashville five years ago to work at WSMV-TV.
Ott Tanak moved back into the lead of Rally Sweden on Saturday morning as a mistake from overnight leader Teemu Suninen sent him plunging down the leaderboard.

Stage info: SS9/10 SS9: Rammen 1, 23.13km

The only new stage for 2019, although Rammen is by no means new to the rally. It was last driven in 2016, but in the opposite direction, and drivers dont spend too much time on the brakes in here. After a flowing start, the test develops into a series of long high-speed sections, broken up by narrower and twistier roads around a series of lakes. SS10: Hagfors 1, 23.40km

A well-known stage with a spectacular finale. After negotiating a series of fast, flowing corners, competitors burst into view in front of thousands of fans on the Varmullsasen ski slope. A set of tight downhill hairpin bends leads into a big jump before the finish at the bottom of the hill on the edge of Hagfors. The test underwent changes last year and is driven in the same format this time round.

Tanak regained top spot with second fastest time in the opening Rammen speed test. His advantage became much more comfortable when Suninen conceded almost 90sec and all hopes of a maiden WRC victory less than 1km from the end of the following Hagfors stage.

The Ford Fiesta driver was too fast into a right corner and slid wide on the next left bend. The snow sucked us into a snowbank and we got stuck and lost time. Too much speed and quite a lot of loose snow, explained the disappointed Finn, who dropped to eighth.

Tanak, who was also second quickest through Hagfors, emerged with a 34.2sec lead in his Toyota Yaris. We had a clean run in both stages. The first one was new so it would have been stupid to take any risks there. Im in a good rhythm at the moment, he said.

A cautious Andreas Mikkelsen climbed to second in his Hyundai i20. The Norwegian was seventh in both tests and was almost 15sec clear of Elfyn Evans Fiesta.

The battle for fourth raged between Esapekka Lappi, Thierry Neuville and Kris Meeke. Lappi was the man in control after Hagfors, despite admitting he was not brave enough at the wheel of his Citroen C3 in the high-speed sections.

He had 4.3sec in hand over Thierry Neuville, who struggled with his i20s handling, with Meeke a further 1.7sec back. Sebastien Loeb slipped away from the scrap in seventh, the Frenchman complaining his pace notes were too slow for the fast and icy Swedish forest roads.

Jari-Matti Latvala and Sebastien Ogier, both restarting today after retiring yesterday, claimed a stage win each.

Head to WRC+ to watch All Live from Rally Sweden, including every stage broadcast live, breaking service park news and expert studio analysis.

VIDEO

More News
Egypt condemned on Saturday a suicide bomb attack in Iran which killed 27 Revolutionary Guards earlier this week.

In an official statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry denounced the terror attack which took place in Sistan and Baluchistan province and targeted a bus carrying Revolutionary Guards personnel.

We offer our sincere condolences to the families of the victims, hoping for a speedy recovery for the injured. We stress the importance of joining international efforts to combat terrorism, the statement concluded.

Iran has warned neighbouring Pakistan it will pay a heavy price for allegedly harbouring militants behind the attack.

The Iranian group Jaish Al-Adl (Army of Justice), which says it seeks greater rights and better living conditions for the Sunni ethnic minority the Baluchis, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

Short link:


Woodward, OK (73801)

Today

Partly cloudy early. Thunderstorms developing this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 96F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low 67F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
A family is trying to get their heirlooms back after they were stolen right out of their driveway. Now theyre asking people across the state to help them track down a trailer full of irreplaceable items.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WLFI) - A bill that establishes a temporary traffic amnesty program is seeing success at the Indiana Statehouse. It would allow people who have unpaid traffic fines a chance to see a reduction in that amount, or establish a payment plan.

According to Representative Sharon Negele, there about 380,000 Hoosiers have a suspended license due to their inability to pay fines right now.

Representative Negele is a co-author of Representative Robin Shakleford's bill. She said she was motivated to support it because of how she saw this problem impacted the city of Attica while she was a Clerk Treasurer.

"The same people who kept getting caught drving while suspended and the fines and fees were just building up and it was reaching a point for each of these individuals," she said.

A point where they couldn't be productive members of society because of the weight of their fines. She said she jumped at the opportunity to support this bill when Representative Shakleford first proposed it last year. It died in the statehouse then, but after some fine tuning, it is receiving much more support.

It was voted on on the House floor on Februrary 12th. It received 87 yeas and 1 nay, from Representative Heath VanNatter from District 38.

Representative Negele said she wants to help Hoosiers who are affected by this get back on their feet.

"The state shouldn't be in the business of handouts," she said. "The state should be in the business of lifting people up and allowing them an avenue to be successful citizens."

The bill heads to the State Senate next.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP)  Indiana lawmakers have rejected a proposal to block taxpayer dollars from flowing to private schools that discriminate against gay employees and students.

The Indianapolis Star reports the debate this week centered on the state's private school voucher program after Roncalli High School was criticized last year for putting a guidance counselor on leave because of her same-sex marriage.

Shelly Fitzgerald has accused the Catholic school and the Archdiocese of Indianapolis of discrimination.

Indianapolis Archbishop Charles Thompson has said teachers and guidance counselors are ministers of the faith whose obligations are clearly spelled out in contracts.

Democratic state Rep. Dan Forestal of Indianapolis proposed an amendment on the House floor that would have put strings on that money. The House's Republican majority disagreed. The amendment failed on a largely party-line vote.
Otsego County, N.Y. - Imagine not being able to call 911 in an emergency. Sadly, it's a problem all too familiar for some residents in Otsego County and it's a problem so bad that many are blaming their landline service provider Frontier for their lack of sleep some nights.

Otsego County 911 Director Rob O'Brien is one of those residents, "It's very disturbing. There have been nights where I have a lost sleep over that. And it's happened where folks were in need of our services and weren't able to get a hold of 911."

O'Brien says the Frontier landline outages have been happening sporadically for years, but he says something has to be done to finally make Frontier do something to fix the problem.

O'Brien says many rural homes in the Butternut Valley are not able to get cell service, so the residents rely solely on landlines in the event of an emergency. He says outages can last a few days, but he says in January some lost service for more than 3 weeks, including Morris Town Supervisor Lynn Joy.

Joy says it was a long three weeks at his home, "I was calling them often and they'd say yep we got it taken care of, then I go home and then I had no service and I said I thought you said it was fixed, they then I said we got another problem. They never gave me a definitive of what was wrong. They'd say it wasn't the house service, it was in the transformers or in the relays or whatever, and whether it was equipment, they never would tell me. They said they were working on it. To me three weeks is an awful long time for them not to be able to track down and fix it."

Joy says these outages definitely put people in dangerous situations, "I know there was one issue, somebody had an issue and tried to call 911, didn't have it, and they finally had to transport them themselves."

Bob Eklund lives in New Lisbon and is also a New Lisbon Town Councilman. Eklund says people have had it with Frontier's service, himself included, "There are people around here that go without phone service for days on end. If somebody needs help, we often hear about the elderly, but that's equally true of families with small children. They've got to get in their car possibly with a sick child or a sick elderly person and go find someplace where they can make contact with an emergency squad."

Senator Jim Seward has been involved in this ongoing issue with Frontier for quite a while. He was out of the office on Friday, but staff member Jeffrey Bishop says the senator has had repeated conversations with both Frontier and the New York State Public Service Commission, but Bishop says, "Sadly so far this case is unresolved."

Not only is Seward involved in discussions with Frontier, so are Otsego County officials and the New York State Public Service Commission.

NYS PSC Public Information Officer James Denn released the following statement to News Channel 2 on Friday, "The Department is investigating complaints made regarding Frontier's service quality, including the county's complaint. Providing reliable service is the responsibility of the phone company, and the Department will ensure that the company meets its obligations."

Denn added, "Staff will be meeting with Frontier executives to discuss these issues, the status of remedial activities, which included certain network repairs and replacements, and any future actions to be taken by Frontier in light of the new complaints."

Denn says customers experiencing service problems should contact Frontier at 1-800-921-8104 and if customers are not satisfied with Frontier's response or if the repair is delayed, consumers may lodge a complaint by calling the DPS Complaint Hotline at 1-800-342-3377 or by visiting www.dps.ny.gov.

We tried reaching the public relations department with Frontier but did not get a response back.
ROME, N.Y. -- Rome is moving forward with its downtown revitalization initiative with plans to demo the parking garage on Liberty and George streets.

The garage is considered structurally unfit.

In its place, the city will temporarily put a parking lot.

Rome officials are calling for bids to demo the parking garage and bids to demo the pedestrian walkway between Rome City Hall and the Fort Stanwix garage.

March 1 is the deadline for both.
UTICA, N.Y - After Amazon pulled out of its deal to build another headquaters in New York City, local officials now trying to convince the retail giant that Upstate may be a better option.

Amazon pulled out of its deal because of the lack of support from residents and politicians that were downstate, even though majority of the population supported the deal.

The company would recieve just over a billion dollars in tax incentives from the state. In return, the state would recieve an estimated tax revenue of just over 20 billion dollars.

Locally, officials are still trying to push Upstate to Amazon.

"Lets call attention to what we have to offer up here. Lets also say that the original offer as an economic incentive, will still be available up here," said Senator Joe Griffo.

The plan for building a headquaters here in New York State may be dead, but officials believe that other aspects of the company could thrive in Upstate.

"Our Drone or UAS system that we have up here at Griffiss right up the thruway from queens could be a great test site or research facility, an area for amazon to develop their own drone delivery system, that can still take place here," said County Executive Anthony Picente.

Assemblyman Brian Miller belives politics may have gotten in the way of sealing the deal.

"You know we are sending this message to a 25,000 job employer that New York State is a tough place to do business. You know we've got the highest taxes, highest regulations. And now we have a very unstable political climate, so what does that say to the prospective companies and the companies that we already have," said Miller

Senator Griffo and County Executive Picente sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. They dont expect a response, but they do believe the company should take another look at Upstate

Link to letter sent to Amazon
A retired auxiliary bishop, who called Camden home, has died.

The Syracuse Diocese is remembering Friday night the most Reverend Thomas Costello.

Bishop Costello was 89 years old, and served as a priest for nearly 65 years, and as an auxiliary bishop for over 40.

Bishop Robert Cunningham called it a lifetime of service to the church.

Costello served as superintendent of Catholic schools from 1960 to 1975.

He was at the forefront of speaking out against racism, poverty, inequality and violence.

Costello marched with Martin Luther King, and spoke out against the death penalty.

Funeral arrangements have not been made yet.
The following companies are subsidiares of Waste Management: 635952 Ontario Inc., 8242348 Canada Inc., Acaverde S.A. de C.V., Access Computer Products, Advanced Environmental Technical Services L.L.C., Akron Regional Landfill Inc., Alliance Sanitary Landfill Inc., Alpharetta Transfer Station LLC, American Landfill Inc., American Oil Recovery LLC, Ameriwaste LLC, Anderson Landfill Inc., Anderson Rubbish Disposal, Antelope Valley Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., Arden Landfill Inc., Atlantic Waste Disposal Inc., Automated Salvage Transport Co. L.L.C., Avalon South LLC, Azusa Land Reclamation Inc., B&B Landfill Inc., Big Dipper Enterprises Inc., Bluegrass Containment L.L.C., Burnsville Sanitary Landfill Inc., CA Newco L.L.C., CR Group LLC, CWM Chemical Services L.L.C., Cal Sierra Disposal, California Asbestos Monofill Inc., Canadian Waste Services Holdings Inc., Capels Landfill LLC, Capital Sanitation Company, Capitol Disposal Inc., Carolina Grading Inc., Cedar Ridge Landfill Inc., Central Disposal Systems Inc., Chadwick Road Landfill Inc., Chambers Clearview Environmental Landfill Inc., Chambers Development Company Inc., Chambers Development of Ohio Inc., Chambers of Georgia Inc., Chambers of Mississippi Inc., Chemical Waste Management Inc., Chemical Waste Management of Indiana L.L.C., Chemical Waste Management of the Northwest Inc., Chesser Island Road Landfill Inc., City Environmental Services Inc. of Waters, Cleburne Landfill Company Corp., Coast Waste Management Inc., Coastal Recyclers Landfill LLC, Connecticut Valley Sanitary Waste Disposal Inc., Conservation Services Inc., Coshocton Landfill Inc., Cougar Landfill Inc., Countryside Landfill Inc., Curtis Creek Recovery Systems Inc., Cuyahoga Landfill Inc., DHC Land LLC, Dafter Sanitary Landfill Inc., Dauphin Meadows Inc., Deep Valley Landfill Inc., Deer Track Park Landfill Inc., Deffenbaugh Disposal Inc., Deffenbaugh Group Holdings Inc., Deffenbaugh Industries Inc., Deffenbaugh Recycling Company L.L.C., Deffenbaugh of Arkansas LLC, Del Almo Landfill L.L.C., Delaware Recyclable Products Inc., Dickinson Landfill Inc., Disposal Service Incorporated, Dolphin Services & Chemicals LLC, Dolphin-One LLC, ELDA Landfill Inc., Earthmovers Landfill L.L.C., East Liverpool Landfill Inc., Eastern One Land Corporation, Eco-Vista LLC, Elk River Landfill Inc., Energy Injection Services of Mississippi LLC, EnviroSolutions Dulles LLC, EnviroSolutions Holdings Inc., EnviroSolutions Real Property Holdings Inc., Envirofil of Illinois Inc., Evergreen Landfill Inc., Evergreen Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., Finch Waste Co LLC, Firetower Landfill LLC, Fred J. Eckert Sanitary Service Inc., Furnace Associates Inc., G.I. Industries, GA Landfills Inc., Gallia Landfill Inc., Garnet of Maryland Inc., Gateway Transfer Station LLC, Georgia Waste Systems Inc., Giordano Recycling L.L.C., Glades Landfill LLC, Glen's Sanitary Landfill Inc., Grand Central Sanitary Landfill Inc., Greenbow LLC, Greenleaf Compaction Inc., Greenstar Allentown LLC, Greenstar Georgia LLC, Greenstar LLC, Greenstar Managed Services - Connecticut LLC, Greenstar Managed Services - RLWM LLC, Greenstar Mid-America LLC, Greenstar New Jersey LLC, Greenstar Ohio LLC, Greenstar Paterson LLC, Greenstar Pittsburgh LLC, Greenstar Recycled Holdings LLC, Greenstar Recycling LLC, Guadalupe Mines Mutual Water Company, Guadalupe Rubbish Disposal Co. Inc., Ham Lake Haulers Inc., Harris Sanitation Inc., Harwood Landfill Inc., Hedco Landfill Limited, High Mountain Fuels LLC, Hillsboro Landfill Inc., Holyoke Sanitary Landfill Inc., IN Landfills L.L.C., Illini Disposal, International Environmental Management Inc., Jahner Sanitation Inc., Jay County Landfill L.L.C., K and W Landfill Inc., Keene Road Landfill Inc., Kelly Run Sanitation Inc., King George Landfill Inc., King George Landfill Properties LLC, Kirby Canyon Holdings LLC, L&K Group Holdings LLC, LCS Services Inc., Lakeville Recycling L.P., Land South Holdings LLC, Landfill Services of Charleston Inc., Laurel Highlands Landfill Inc., Liberty Landfill L.L.C., Liquid Logistics, Liquid Waste Management Inc., Longleaf C&D Disposal Facility Inc., Looney Bins Inc., Mac Land Disposal Inc. II, Mahoning Landfill Inc., Mass Gravel Inc., Mc Ginnes Industrial Maintenance Corporation, McDaniel Landfill Inc., McGill Landfill Inc., Meadowfill Landfill Inc., Michigan Environs Inc., Midwest One Land Corporation, Modesto Garbage Co. Inc., Moor Refuse Inc., Mordell, Mountain Indemnity Insurance Company, Mountainview Landfill Inc., Nassau Landfill L.L.C., National Guaranty Insurance Company of Vermont, New England CR L.L.C., New Milford Landfill L.L.C., New Orleans Landfill L.L.C., North Manatee Recycling and Disposal Facility L.L.C., Northwestern Landfill Inc., Nu-Way Live Oak Reclamation Inc., OAKLEAF Waste Management LLC, OGH Acquisition Corporation, Oak Grove Disposal Co. Inc., Oakleaf Global Holdings Inc., Oakleaf Waste Management Inc., Oakridge Landfill Inc., Oakwood Landfill Inc., Okeechobee Landfill Inc., Ozark Ridge Landfill Inc., P & R Environmental Industries L.L.C., Pacific Waste Management L.L.C., Pappy Inc., Peltz H.C. LLC, Pen-Rob Inc., People's Landfill Inc., Peterson Demolition Inc., Phoenix Resources Inc., Pine Grove Landfill Inc., Pine Tree Acres Inc., Prime Westport LLC, Quail Hollow Landfill Inc., Questquill Limited, R & B Landfill Inc., RAA Colorado L.L.C., RAA Trucking LLC, RCI Hudson Inc., RTS Landfill Inc., Recycle America Co. L.L.C., Recycle America Holdings Inc., Redwood Landfill Inc., Refuse Inc., Refuse Services Inc., Reliable Environmental Transport, Reliable Landfill L.L.C., Remote Landfill Services Inc., Reno Disposal Co., Resco Holdings L.L.C., Resource Control Composting Inc., Resource Control Inc., Richland County Landfill Inc., Riverbend Landfill Co., Rust Engineering & Construction Inc., Rust International Inc., S & J Landfill Limited Partnership, S & S Grading Inc., S&T Materials LLC, SC Holdings Inc., SF Land Acquisition LLC, Sanifill de Mexico (US) Inc., Sanifill de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Shade Landfill Inc., Shawnee Rock Company, Sierra Estrella Landfill Inc., Southern Alleghenies Landfill Inc., Southern One Land Corporation, Southern Waste Services L.L.C., Spruce Ridge Inc., Stony Hollow Landfill Inc., Suburban Landfill Inc., Summit Energy Services Inc, Swire Waste Management Limited, TN'T Sands Inc., TX Newco L.L.C., Texarkana Landfill L.L.C., Texas Pack Rat - Austin #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Dallas #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Houston #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Houston #2 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - Houston #3 LLC, Texas Pack Rat - San Antonio #1 LLC, Texas Pack Rat Service Company LLC, The Peltz Group LLC, The Waste Management Charitable Foundation, The Woodlands of Van Buren Inc., Thermal Remediation Solutions L.L.C., Trail Ridge Landfill Inc., TransAmerican Waste Industries, Transamerican Waste Central Landfill Inc., Trash Hunters Inc., Twin Bridges Golf Club L.P., USA South Hills Landfill Inc., USA Valley Facility Inc., USA Waste Geneva Landfill Inc., USA Waste Landfill Operations and Transfer Inc., USA Waste Services of NYC Inc., USA Waste of California Inc., USA Waste of Texas Landfills Inc., USA Waste of Virginia Landfills Inc., USA Waste-Management Resources LLC, USA-Crinc L.L.C., USB LIHTC Fund 2010-1 LLC, UWS Barre Inc., United Waste Systems Leasing Inc., Valley Garbage and Rubbish Company Inc., Vern's Refuse Service Inc., Vickery Environmental Inc., Vista Landfill LLC, Voyageur Disposal Processing Inc., WM Avon Inc., WM Bagco LLC, WM Billerica Inc., WM Biloxi Hauling LLC, WM Biloxi Transfer Station LLC, WM Boston CORE Inc., WM CCP Solutions LLC, WM Conversion Fund LLC, WM Corporate Services Inc., WM Curbside LLC, WM DC 1 LLC, WM Emergency Employee Support Fund Inc., WM Energy Resources Inc., WM Energy Services Holdings LLC, WM Energy Services of Ohio LLC, WM Energy Solutions Inc., WM GTL Inc., WM GTL JV Holdings LLC, WM GTL LLC, WM Green Squad LLC, WM GreenOps LLC, WM Healthcare Solutions Inc., WM Illinois Renewable Energy L.L.C., WM Intellectual Property Holdings L.L.C., WM International Holdings Inc., WM KS Energy Resources LLC, WM LNG Inc., WM LampTracker Inc., WM Landfills of Ohio Inc., WM Landfills of Tennessee Inc., WM Leasing Services of Texas LLC, WM Leasing of Arizona L.L.C., WM Leasing of Texas L.P., WM Logistics India Private Limited, WM Logistics LLC, WM Mercury Waste Inc., WM Middle Tennessee Environmental Center L.L.C., WM Mobile Bay Environmental Center Inc., WM ND Energy Resources II LLC, WM ND Energy Resources LLC, WM Nevada Renewable Energy L.L.C., WM North Broward Inc., WM Organic Growth Inc., WM PA Holdings LLC, WM PRG L.L.C., WM Pack-Rat LLC, WM Pack-Rat of California LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Illinois LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Kentucky LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Maryland LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Massachusetts LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Michigan LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Nevada LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Ohio LLC, WM Pack-Rat of Rhode Island LLC, WM Partnership Holdings Inc., WM Phoenix Energy Resources LLC, WM Propane LLC, WM Quebec Inc., WM RA Canada Inc., WM Recycle America L.L.C., WM Recycle Europe L.L.C., WM Recycling Latin America LLC, WM Refined Coal LLC, WM Renewable Energy L.L.C., WM Resource Recovery & Recycling Center Inc., WM Resources Inc., WM Safety Services L.L.C., WM Security Services Inc., WM Storage II Inc., WM Storage Inc., WM TX Energy Resources II LLC, WM TX Energy Resources LLC, WM Texas Pack Rat LLC, WM Trash Monitor Plus L.L.C., WM WY Energy Resources II LLC, WM WY Energy Resources III LLC, WM WY Energy Resources LLC, WM of North Dakota Energy Disposal Solutions LLC, WMI Mexico Holdings Inc., WMNA Container Recycling L.L.C., WMRE of Kentucky LLC, WMRE of Michigan LLC, WMRE of Ohio LLC, WMRE of Ohio-American LLC, WMSALSA Inc., WTI Air Pollution Control Inc., WTI Rust Holdings Inc., Warner Company, Waste Away Group Inc., Waste Management Arizona Landfills Inc., Waste Management Buckeye L.L.C., Waste Management China Holdings Limited, Waste Management Collection and Recycling Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Colorado Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Maine Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Maryland Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Massachusetts Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Oregon Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Pennsylvania Inc., Waste Management Disposal Services of Virginia Inc., Waste Management Energy Services of Texas LLC, Waste Management Holdings Inc., Waste Management Inc. of Florida, Waste Management Inc. of Tennessee, Waste Management Indycoke L.L.C., Waste Management International Inc., Waste Management National Services Inc., Waste Management National Transportation Services Inc., Waste Management Partners Inc., Waste Management Recycling and Disposal Services of California Inc., Waste Management Recycling of New Jersey L.L.C., Waste Management Service Center Inc., Waste Management of Alameda County Inc., Waste Management of Alaska Inc., Waste Management of Arizona Inc., Waste Management of Arkansas Inc., Waste Management of California Inc., Waste Management of Canada Corporation, Waste Management of Carolinas Inc., Waste Management of Colorado Inc., Waste Management of Connecticut Inc., Waste Management of Delaware Inc., Waste Management of Fairless L.L.C., Waste Management of Five Oaks Recycling and Disposal Facility Inc., Waste Management of Georgia Inc., Waste Management of Hawaii Inc., Waste Management of Idaho Inc., Waste Management of Illinois Inc., Waste Management of Indiana Holdings One Inc., Waste Management of Indiana Holdings Two Inc., Waste Management of Indiana L.L.C., Waste Management of Iowa Inc., Waste Management of Kansas Inc., Waste Management of Kentucky Holdings Inc., Waste Management of Kentucky L.L.C., Waste Management of Leon County Inc., Waste Management of Londonderry Inc., Waste Management of Louisiana Holdings One Inc., Waste Management of Louisiana L.L.C., Waste Management of Maine Inc., Waste Management of Maryland Inc., Waste Management of Massachusetts Inc., Waste Management of Metro Atlanta Inc., Waste Management of Michigan Inc., Waste Management of Minnesota Inc., Waste Management of Mississippi Inc., Waste Management of Missouri Inc., Waste Management of Montana Inc., Waste Management of Nebraska Inc., Waste Management of Nevada Inc., Waste Management of New Hampshire Inc., Waste Management of New Jersey Inc., Waste Management of New Mexico Inc., Waste Management of New York L.L.C., Waste Management of North Dakota Inc., Waste Management of Ohio Inc., Waste Management of Oklahoma Inc., Waste Management of Oregon Inc., Waste Management of Pennsylvania Gas Recovery L.L.C., Waste Management of Pennsylvania Inc., Waste Management of Rhode Island Inc., Waste Management of South Carolina Inc., Waste Management of South Dakota Inc., Waste Management of Texas Holdings Inc., Waste Management of Texas Inc., Waste Management of Tunica Landfill Inc., Waste Management of Utah Inc., Waste Management of Virginia Inc., Waste Management of Washington, Waste Management of West Virginia Inc., Waste Management of Wisconsin Inc., Waste Management of Wyoming Inc., Western One Land Corporation, Western Waste Industries, Western Waste of Texas L.L.C., Westminster Land Acquisition LLC, Wheelabrator Technologies, Wheelabrator Technologies International Inc., White Lake Landfill Inc., Willow Oak Landfill LLC, and eCycling Services L.L.C..
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. High 82F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely in the evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms later on. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. manufactures and sells cellulose specialty products in the United States, China, Canada, Japan, Europe, Latin America, other Asian countries, and internationally. The company operates through High Purity Cellulose, Forest Products, Paperboard, and Pulp & Newsprint segments. Its products include cellulose specialties, which are natural polymers that are used as raw materials to manufacture a range of consumer-oriented products, such as cigarette filters, liquid crystal displays, impact-resistant plastics, thickeners for food products, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, high-tenacity rayon yarn for tires and industrial hoses, food casings, paints, and lacquers. The company also offers commodity products, such as commodity viscose used in woven applications, including rayon textiles for clothing and other fabrics, as well as in non-woven applications comprising baby wipes, cosmetic and personal wipes, industrial wipes, and mattress ticking; and absorbent materials consisting of fluff fibers that are used as an absorbent medium in disposable baby diapers, feminine hygiene products, incontinence pads, convalescent bed pads, industrial towels and wipes, and non-woven fabrics. In addition, it provides finished dimensional lumber for use in the construction of residential and multi-family homes, light industrial, and commercial facilities, as well as in the home repair and remodel markets. Further, the company offers paperboards for packaging, printing documents, brochures, promotional materials, paperback books or catalog covers, file folders, tags, and tickets; high-yield pulps to produce paperboard and packaging products, printing and writing papers, and various other paper products; and newsprint, a paper grade used to print newspapers, advertising materials, and other publications. Rayonier Advanced Materials Inc. was founded in 1926 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida.

Read More
The following companies are subsidiares of InterContinental Hotels Group: 2250 Blake Street Hotel LLC, 24th Street Operator Sub LLC, 36th Street IHG Sub LLC, 426 Main Ave LLC, 46 Nevins Street Associates LLC, Allegro Management LLC, Alpha Kimball Hotel LLC, American Commonwealth Assurance Co. Ltd., Asia Pacific Holdings Limited, BHMC Canada Inc., BHR Holdings B.V., BHR Luxembourg SARL, BHR Pacific Holdings Inc., BHTC Canada Inc., BOC Barclay Sub LLC, Barclay Operating Corp., Bristol Oakbrook Tenant Company, Cafe Biarritz, Cambridge Lodging LLC, Capital Lodging LLC, Compania Inter-Continental De Hoteles El Salvador SA, Crowne Plaza Amsterdam (Management) B.V., Crowne Plaza LLC, Cumberland Akers Hotel LLC, Dunwoody Operations Inc., EVEN Real Estate Holding LLC, Edinburgh IC Limited, General Innkeeping Acceptance Corporation, Guangzhou SC Hotels Services Ltd., H.I. (Ireland) Limited, H.I. Soaltee Management Company Ltd, HC International Holdings Inc., HH France Holdings SAS, HH Hotels (EMEA) B.V., HH Hotels (Romania) SRL, HI Sugarloaf LLC, HIM (Aruba) NV, Hale International Ltd., Hoft Properties LLC, Holiday Hospitality Franchising LLC, Holiday Inn Mexicana S.A. de C.V., Holiday Inns (China) Ltd, Holiday Inns (Chongqing) Inc., Holiday Inns (Courtalin) Holdings SAS, Holiday Inns (Courtalin) SAS, Holiday Inns (England) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Germany) LLC, Holiday Inns (Guangzhou) Inc., Holiday Inns (Jamaica) Inc., Holiday Inns (Malaysia) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Middle East) Ltd., Holiday Inns (Philippines) Inc., Holiday Inns (Saudi Arabia) Inc., Holiday Inns (South East Asia) Inc., Holiday Inns (Thailand) Ltd., Holiday Inns (UK) Inc., Holiday Inns Crowne Plaza (Hong Kong) Inc., Holiday Inns Holdings (Australia) Pty Ltd, Holiday Inns Inc., Holiday Inns Investment (Nepal) Ltd., Holiday Inns of America (UK) Ltd., Holiday Inns of Belgium N.V., Holiday Pacific Equity Corporation, Holiday Pacific LLC, Holiday Pacific Partners LP, Hotel Inter-Continental London Limited, Hotel InterContinental London (Holdings) Limited, Hoteles Y Turismo HIH SRL, IC Hotelbetriebsfuhrungs GmbH, IC Hotels Management (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, IC International Hotels Limited Liability Company, IHC (Thailand) Limited, IHC Buckhead LLC, IHC Edinburgh (Holdings), IHC Hopkins (Holdings) Corp., IHC Hotel Limited, IHC Inter-Continental (Holdings) Corp., IHC London (Holdings), IHC M-H (Holdings) Corp., IHC May Fair (Holdings) Limited, IHC May Fair Hotel Limited, IHC Overseas (U.K.) Limited, IHC UK (Holdings) Limited, IHC United States (Holdings) Corp., IHC Willard (Holdings) Corp., IHG (Australasia) Limited, IHG (Marseille) SAS, IHG (Thailand) Limited, IHG ANA Hotels Group Japan LLC, IHG ANA Hotels Holdings Co. Ltd., IHG Bangkok Ltd, IHG Brasil Administracao de Hoteis e Servicos Ltda, IHG Commission Services SRL, IHG Community Development LLC, IHG Cyprus Limited, IHG ECS (Barbados) SRL, IHG Franchising Brasil Ltda, IHG Franchising DR Corporation, IHG Franchising LLC, IHG Hotels (New Zealand) Limited, IHG Hotels Limited, IHG Hotels Management (Australia) Pty Limited, IHG Hotels Nigeria Limited, IHG Hotels South Africa (Pty) Ltd, IHG International Partnership, IHG Istanbul Otel Yonetim Limited Sirketi, IHG Japan (Management) LLC, IHG Japan (Osaka) LLC, IHG Management (Maryland) LLC, IHG Management (Netherlands) B.V., IHG Management MD Barclay Sub LLC, IHG Management SL d.o.o, IHG Management d.o.o. Beograd, IHG Orchard Street Member LLC, IHG PS Nominees Limited, IHG Systems Pty Ltd, IHG Szalloda Budapest Szolgaltato Kft., IHG de Argentina SA, IND East Village SD Holdings LLC, Inter-Continental D.C. Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Investment Corp., Inter-Continental Florida Partner Corp., Inter-Continental Hospitality Corporation, Inter-Continental Hoteleira Limitada, Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Operating Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Montreal) Owning Corp., Inter-Continental Hotels (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation, Inter-Continental Hotels Corporation de Venezuela C.A., Inter-Continental Hotels of San Francisco Inc., Inter-Continental IOHC (Mauritius) Limited, Inter-Continental Management (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental (Branston) 1 Limited, InterContinental (PB) 1, InterContinental (PB) 2, InterContinental (PB) 3 Limited, InterContinental Berlin Service Company GmbH, InterContinental Brasil Administracao de Hoteis Ltda, InterContinental Gestion Hotelera S.L., InterContinental Hotel Berlin GmbH, InterContinental Hotel Dusseldorf GmbH (Germany), InterContinental Hotels (Puerto Rico) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Australia) Pty Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Canada) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (Espana) SA, InterContinental Hotels Group (Greater China) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (India) Pvt. Ltd, InterContinental Hotels Group (Japan) Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group (New Zealand) Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group (Shanghai) Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Customer Services Ltd., InterContinental Hotels Group Healthcare Trustee Limited, InterContinental Hotels Group Operating Corp., InterContinental Hotels Group Resources Inc., InterContinental Hotels Group Services Company, InterContinental Hotels Group do Brasil Limitada, InterContinental Hotels Italia S.r.L., InterContinental Hotels Limited, InterContinental Hotels Management GmbH, InterContinental Hotels Nevada Corporation, InterContinental Management AM LLC, InterContinental Management Bulgaria EOOD, InterContinental Management France SAS, InterContinental Management Poland sp. z.o.o, InterContinental Overseas Holding Corporation, Intercontinental Hotels Corporation Limited, KG Benefits LLC, KG Gift Card Inc., KG Liability LLC, KG Technology LLC, KHP Washington Operator LLC, KHRG 11th Avenue Hotel LLC, KHRG 851 LLC, KHRG Aertson LLC, KHRG Alexandria LLC, KHRG Alexis LLC, KHRG Allegro LLC, KHRG Argyle LLC, KHRG Austin Beverage Company LLC, KHRG Baltimore LLC, KHRG Born LLC, KHRG Boston Hotel LLC, KHRG Canary LLC, KHRG Cayman Employer Ltd., KHRG Cayman LLC, KHRG DC 1731 LLC, KHRG DC 2505 LLC, KHRG Donovan LLC, KHRG Employer LLC, KHRG Goleta LLC, KHRG Gray LLC, KHRG Gray U2 LLC, KHRG Hillcrest LLC, KHRG Huntington Beach LLC, KHRG King Street LLC, KHRG La Peer LLC, KHRG Miami Beach LLC, KHRG Muse LLC, KHRG NPC LLC, KHRG Onyx LLC, KHRG Palladian LLC, KHRG Palomar Phoenix LLC, KHRG Philly Monaco LLC, KHRG Pittsburgh LLC, KHRG Reynolds LLC, KHRG Riverplace LLC, KHRG SFD LLC, KHRG Sacramento LLC, KHRG Savannah LLC, KHRG Schofield LLC, KHRG Sedona LLC, KHRG State Street LLC, KHRG Sutter LLC, KHRG Sutter Union LLC, KHRG Taconic LLC, KHRG Tariff LLC, KHRG Texas Hospitality LLC, KHRG Texas Operations LLC, KHRG Tryon LLC, KHRG VZ Austin LLC, KHRG Vero Beach LLC, KHRG Vintage Park LLC, KHRG WPB LLC, KHRG Wabash LLC, KHRG Westwood LLC, KHRG Wilshire LLC, KHRG Zamora LLC, Kimpton Hollywood Licenses LLC, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group, Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group LLC, Kimpton Phoenix Licenses Holdings LLC, Kimpton Sedona Licenses LLC, Louisiana Acquisitions Corp., MH Lodging LLC, Mercer Fairview Holdings LLC, PML Services LLC, PT SC Hotels & Resorts Indonesia, Pollstrong Limited, Powell Pine Inc., Priscilla Holiday of Texas Inc., RM Lodging LLC, Regent Hotels and Resorts, Resort Services International (Cayo Largo) L.P., SBS Maryland Beverage Company LLC, SC Cellars Limited, SC Hotels International Services Inc., SC Leisure Group Limited, SC NAS 2 Limited, SC Quest Limited, SC Reservations (Philippines) Inc., SCH Insurance Company, SCIH Branston 3, SF MH Acquisition LLC, SPHC Group Pty Ltd., SPHC Management Ltd., Semiramis for training of Hotel Personnel and Hotel Management SAE, Six Continents Corporate Services, Six Continents Holdings Limited, Six Continents Hotels Inc., Six Continents Hotels International Limited, Six Continents Hotels de Colombia SA, Six Continents International Holdings B.V., Six Continents Investments Limited, Six Continents Limited, Six Continents Overseas Holdings Limited, Six Continents Restaurants Limited, SixCo North America Inc., Solamar Lodging LLC, Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (BVI) Ltd., Southern Pacific Hotels Properties Limited, Universal de Hoteles SA, White Shield Insurance Company Limited, and World Trade Centre Montreal Hotel Corporation.
Ad Investing Trends 3,021 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
Ad Investing Trends 2,839 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
I think I can help strengthen the districts relationship with community members and its partnerships with businesses.

Gendron, who has led two different rural K-8 district in Kenosha County over the last eight years, said he is looking forward to serving a union high school district.

Even though we are not a K-12 district, I think we need to look at it as a K-12 educational journey for our kids, he said.

He said he has enjoyed the five years he spent at Randall, during which time he helped the district pass three referendums and increase its district rating to significantly exceeding state standards.

Pending board approval, Gendron will start July 1. He will replace Scott Pierce, who retired from the post Dec. 31 after 11 years. Milton Thompson is serving as interim district administrator.

The search process, facilitated by the Wisconsin Association of School Boards, included an online community survey as well as a series of discussions to gather input from various stakeholders on the qualities and qualifications they were looking for in a leader for the district.

We want to thank our staff and community who played an active role during the interview process, Richter said. We believe that Mr. Gendron will be a leader who will build upon Centrals educational excellence.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
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.
Ad Investing Trends 2,542 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
Progressive groups and leaders are lambasting Republican Supreme Court nominee Brian Hagedorn as unqualified following revelations that he penned homophobic, misogynistic, racist and extremely partisan blog posts.

Hagedorn, who served as a legal counsel for Scott Walkers administration, faces Democrat-backed nominee Lisa Neubauer on April 2 for a vacant seat on the states high court. Its an open seat made vacant by the retirement of liberal former chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson.

A win by Hagedorn would move the conservative-dominated court farther to the right  from a 4-3 majority to a 5-2 advantage.

Neubauer was appointed to the 2nd District Court of Appeals in 2007 by ex-Gov. Jim Doyle. Running as an incumbent, she went on to win races at the ballot box both in 2008 and 2014. She currently serves as chief judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, a position to which she was appointed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Walker appointed Hagerdon to the 2nd District Court of Appeals in 2016, setting up his former lawyer for election to a six-year term in 2017.

Republicans hope that Walkers stamp of approval, along with Hagedorns anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice writings, will spur diehard Republicans, especially fundamentalist Christians, to the polls in what is likely to be a very low turnout election.

Radical, partisan agenda

For years, Hagedorn wrote blogs strongly supporting Republicans and GOP policy, calling into question his ability to make impartial decisions  although few Wisconsinites are naive enough to believe that any of the justices are politically neutral.

But Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative journalist Dan Bice reported that before joining the Walker administration Hagedorn also regularly wrote blog posts dehumanizing members of the LGBTQ community.

The idea that homosexual behavior is different than bestiality as a constitutional matter is unjustifiable, Hagedorn wrote on a blog responding to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Texas anti-sodomy law in 2003.

Hagedorn wrote equally bilious posts concerning pro-choice activists and liberals. He upbraided the NAACP as a partisan hack and a disgrace to America.

Hateful statements like these are wholly disqualifying, said Martha Laning, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Wisconsinites expect their judicial system to be fair and independent, but Hagedorns extreme beliefs and radical, partisan agenda put him out-of-step with these values. Hatred like this goes against everything we in Wisconsin believe in, and it has no place on our states highest bench.

Hagedorn's spokesperson offered no apology for his boss past remarks in a statement released to Bice, and he declined to acknowledge whether Hagedorn still held those beliefs.

Hagedorn has said that in his judicial role he treats everyone equally.

Acting on homophobia

But its evident that Hagedorn not only continues to hold homophobic views, but even acts on them in his personal life.

FAIR Wisconsin Executive Director Megin McDonell noted that Hagedorn put his homophobia into action when, as Walkers lawyer, he was part of a legal effort by the Walker administration to overturn a Wisconsin law providing basic rights for LGBTQ couples, including rights as basic as hospital visitation and inheritance for same-sex partners.

There is no reason to trust he wont do it again given the opportunity on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, said Fair Wisconsin executive director Megin McDonnell.

In 2016, after Walker appointed him to the judiciary, Hagedorn helped found the Augustine Academy, a private school whose official policy bans members of the LGBTQ community from working there. The school also bans LGBTQ students and students whose parents are LGBTQ.

Hagedorn continues to serve on the schools board of directors, according to One Wisconsin Now.

Lisa Neubauer Neubauer currently serves as chief judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

Judges are tasked with a sacred duty to uphold equal treatment for all people under the law. As someone who has publicly and unabashedly voiced contempt for LGBTQ equality, Brian Hagedorns record is disqualifying, said Wendy Strout, Wisconsin state director for the Human Rights Campaign.

Referendum on controversial rulings?

Off year Supreme Court elections, especially those held in the spring, draw very few voters to the polls. But this year, informed voters might be motivated more than usual.

Democrats, Independents and Republicans have all been paying more attention to the court in response to what most people consider to be the egregious decisions it has made in recent years.

One such decision drew ridicule and condemnation from leading legal experts worldwide. Conservatives on the court voted to adopt a law allowing justices to hear cases involving their major campaign contributors rather than forcing them to recuse themselves, as they do in other states.

Even worse, the Republican-affiliated justices approved verbatim a non-recusal law written by the Realtors Association, which strongly supported them financially in their bids for office.

That decision virtually proved that the Realtors Association, like other large donors, had stacked the Wisconsin Supreme court with justices beholden to their corporate interests. And, indeed, the court has ruled repeatedly in favor of the associations business interests, as well as those of other major corporate donors.

The Center for American Progress and other legal groups and scholars say that strong recusal rules are crucial to avoid the situation in which the Wisconsin Supreme Court now finds itself. Every ruling of the court that involves the interests of high-stakes donors comes with the suspicion that it was bought. Thus, such decisions lack legitimacy in the minds of a large swath of citizens.

Judge Brian Hagedorn Republicans hope Walkers stamp of approval and Hagedorns anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice writings, will drive fundamentalist Christians to the polls.

Hagedorn compromised by donors

Hagedorn once clerked for controversial former Justice Michael Gableman, who was heartily supported by the Wisconsin Realtors Association. And Gableman ruled continually in its favor.

The association is now lining up behind Hagedorn. The group already has loaded his campaign with an $18,000 contribution, according to the liberal group One Wisconsin Now.

But Hagedorn has an even more embarrassing major donor.

Michael White, the owner Rite-Hite Co., donated $20,000 to Hagedorn on Nov. 20, 2018, according to state campaign finance records. Thats the maximum individual contribution allowed by law to a campaign.

White is still free to contribute unlimited donations to dark money political action committees working on behalf of Hagedorns campaign. Such groups do not have to identify their donors, but they can run ads promoting any message they want, so long as the ads dont overtly urge voting for Hagedorn. (In an extraordinary ruling, the conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court defied federal law by ruling that campaign coordination between PACs and campaigns is legal. Wisconsin is one of only two states that allow such a universally scorned policy.)

White is controversial because hes shown that hes willing to do more than just write checks to influence elections. Hes also virtually blackmailed his workers to vote according to his wishes.

According to news reports, employees of White received an email from him at work in late October 2012 warning of personal consequences if President Barack Obama were to be re-elected.

According to state campaign finance records, on Nov. 20, 2018.

Brian Hagedorns largest individual donor literally threatened the livelihoods of the employees of his company if an election did not go his way, said One Wisconsin Now executive director Scot Ross in a press release. How in good conscience can someone who wants to sit on the state high court take $20,000 from someone willing to use these kinds of tactics to get their way?

Among the specific threats White made to the companys employees were the elimination of their retirement savings plans and the loss of their employer provided health care, if Obama was re-elected.

Every opportunity to make up for lost profits to taxes will have to be evaluated, White wrote.

In addition to crossing the line into bad taste, Whites electioneering may also have been illegal. Wisconsin state law prohibits threats against employees over the outcomes of elections by their employers, said One Wisconsin Now.

Republicans willing to spend

Last year, when Democrat-backed state Supreme Court candidate Rebecca Dallet defeated Michael Screnock, Walkers hand-picked candidate for the seat, prognosticators  including Walker  correctly saw it as a troubling sign of trouble ahead for the state GOP in the mid-term elections.

Before the election, Republicans appeared confident, failing to arm Screnock with strong enough funding for political ads in what was clearly a backlash year against the GOP.

But Republicans appear determined to avoid underspending this year.

The conservative blog Right Wisconsin reported that Hagedorn is already showing more organizational strength than Screnock's campaign.

RW reported that Hagedorns campaign already has raised $310,629.58, almost three times as much as Screnock and almost $100,000 more than Justice Rebecca Dallet raised at this point in the campaign.

Ultimately, of course, the race depends on whether the coalition of women, students, Millennials, and people of color that defeated Walker at the polls last year holds together and turns out to vote on April 2.
A purse lifted from Journey Church in Kenosha was recovered in a stolen Mustang found at a Waffle House in Kentucky.

A woman reported to Kenosha Police that her purse was stolen from a room at Journey Church, 10700 75th St., on Jan. 19.

Security video showed a man walking into the church and going into a room where a woman had left her purse.

The same man was seen leaving the church about 17 minutes later carrying a large, camel-colored purse and getting into a Mustang.

Shortly after the purse was stolen, someone used the womans debit card to buy cigarettes and gas at two local gas stations.

A man driving a Mustang was captured on security video using the debit card. The same man was also seen on video attempting to buy clothing and shoes with the stolen debit card that day at Rogans Shoes in Kenosha, but the card was declined.

Suspect in alleged crime spree held

On Jan. 27, police in Grant County, Ky., arrested David Meeker, 56, of Ohio.

It appears from a criminal complaint filed against Meeker in Kenosha County this week that he was on a crime spree.
Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Friday peacekeeping matters with a delegation from the American Jewish group, and, in a separate meeting, with UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix.

Shoukry met with the delegation of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

The meeting focused on ways to resume the peace process in the Middle East and Egyptian efforts to achieve Palestinian reconciliation, and with Egyptian-American relations, in light of the strategic nature of these relations and the common interests of both countries.

The delegation listened to a presentation on developments in regard to the Palestinian issue and the efforts exerted to resume peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis on the basis of agreed international references and a two-state solution to reach a permanent solution, a statement from the Egyptian foreign ministry read.

Shoukry stressed that the importance of the role played by various US departments in activating and strengthening American relations with Egypt, stressing the importance of intensifying coordination and political consultation on regional issues, especially in light of the successive crises and increasing challenges and risks facing the Middle East.

Shoukry and Lacroix discussed ways to support and enhance the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations.

The UN official was keen to thank the Egyptian government for the continued Egyptian contribution to peacekeeping operations, ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said in the statement.

The meeting tackled developments in Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, the statement read.

Lacroix praised Egypt's efforts towards achieving stability in Mali, and stressed the importance of the role that the United Nations should play, in cooperation with the African Union, in Mali and Burkina Faso.

He expressed his keenness to continue close and strategic cooperation with Egypt in all these issues during the Egyptian chairing of the African Union in 2019.

Shoukry affirmed that Egypt is continuing its regional and international efforts in the field of peacekeeping and peace building in order to reach the broader goal of sustaining peace globally, in line with the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations.

Short link:


Foxconn plans to build a flat-screen manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, which is in Racine County, about 70 miles north of Chicago. The Taiwanese electronics giant has said the facility eventually could employ up to 13,000 people.

Local officials and Republican state lawmakers  led by then-Gov. Scott Walker  extended the company an unprecedented $4 billion in incentives to lure the plant to Wisconsin.

The package exempted Foxconn from a host of environmental regulations, allowing the company to fill wetlands without a permit and to proceed without an environmental impact statement, which is a typically routine study of a construction projects potential effects on the environment.

The state Department of Natural Resources also approved the city of Racines request on behalf of Mount Pleasant to draw 7 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan to serve the plant.
Milburn said up to 30 businesses could be involved and it would be a good bang for a buck for the chamber.

In addition, the chamber is planning Red Bud Days, which runs during Mothers Day weekend. This years event, May 10-11, could feature a rock band performing near city hall.

The chamber is looking for more fundraisers after the decline of the Firecracker 5 in recent years, the organizations largest fundraiser.

Board members are already making plans for the holiday season. The chamber would like to raise funds for downtown holiday decorations. City staff was criticized last year for not putting up decorations following the annual holiday parade. The chamber stepped in and helped pay for wreaths that were placed on downtown light poles.

Reanee, also on the Downtown Beautification Task Force, said the group has discussed placing a wreath with a lighted star on all 35 downtown poles this holiday season. She said it would be costly, about $25,000, but believes the city should be decorated for the holidays.

I want people in this town to feel proud, feel great, Reanee said. We could also make a push for the city to chip in.

Annual dinner, more members
JUNEAU  A 28-year-old Colorado man was sentenced on Thursday to six years in prison for causing a 2017 crash while driving under the influence between Watertown and Lebanon, seriously injuring his passengers.

Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Brian Pfitzinger ordered that Steven Cummings spend six years in prison with an additional four years of extended supervision for use of a vehicle with controlled substance in his blood, causing great bodily harm. In addition, Cummings was also ordered to pay $18,975 in restitution to one of his victims.

People like Cummings present a substantial risk to the public, especially when theyre high and behind the wheel of a car, Dodge County District Attorney Kurt Klomberg said.

Cummings had alcohol, marijuana and cocaine in his system at the time of the crash, Klomberg said.
Many legislators apparently concluded it was time for these overly sensitive kids to suck it up and learn to live with the idea that everyone has the right to free speech on campus. Life is full of conflicts and no one should expect to be immune, they said.

Nowhere is it more important to uphold the right to free speech than at our public universities, Murphy declared in a column he disseminated around the state.

It didnt take a genius to recognize, however, that the real goal was to further conservatives contentions that campuses only welcome liberals to speak and these new rules would make it safe for conservatives to speak.

State Sen. LaTonya Johnson, a Milwaukee Democrat and an African-American, remarked, Its disappointing that the UW System Board of Regents are willing to consider a policy that will give control to people coming to our campus preaching hate and that we are threatening expulsion for students who stand up to hateful rhetoric and actions.

Its now another year and Murphy doesnt seem as enamored of free speech guarantees. Only a few weeks ago, he stuck his nose into another campus issue  this one involving a syllabus that UW political science professor Ken Mayer uses to describe a course, The American Presidency, that has taught for years.
A West Baraboo church has agreed to host a homeless shelter rent-free.

West Baraboo Church of God has asked the village to allow a shelter to occupy part of its Shaw Street building. The Rev. Derick Bacon said the congregation wanted to meet a community need, and has the space.

It became a matter of, what can we do to help? he said.

The church will not charge rent to the Baraboo Area Homeless Shelter organization, which plans to occupy one-third of the sanctuary, as well as classrooms, offices and the parish hall downstairs. If the West Baraboo Plan Commission and Village Board grant permission, the shelter board will undertake renovations that would include installing laundry facilities and showers.

They came to us and said theyd be interesting in hosting this, President David Mowers said. Thats an amazing deal.

Baraboos need for a homeless shelter was a subject of weekly Church of God prayer meetings. Church leaders saw hosting a shelter as a way to put excess space to use and play a key role in the community.

I think we can create two separate spaces, Bacon said.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}
Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Fitzgerald said shell miss the Baraboo staff and students who make the everyday exciting and sometimes unpredictable, as well as the administrative team. District Administrator Lori Mueller is particularly encouraging and supportive, Fitzgerald noted.

Its amazing to get to know the students and their families and make connections with the parents and have support from our community, so I have just been really, really lucky to have been part of the Baraboo schools for pretty much my entire career, she said.

But the promise of adventure in a new environment proved too tempting to resist. Fitzgerald has vacationed in China before and found international schools were looking for qualified educators.

While she will be embarking on the adventure solo, she hopes her family will visit her. She also plans to return to Baraboo for visits when her school is not in session.

Fitzgerald looks forward to the everyday cultural differences and the contrast in educational systems. She doesnt speak Mandarin, but doesnt need to  most lessons at the school are taught in English and all of the students speak English, mostly as a second language, which represents another challenge.
Love water, not oil, says Honor the Earth, the Minnesotan non-profit working to raise awareness of Indigenous environmental injustice.

When we love water, we work to protect it from toxins and to make sure that fresh water will be available for future generations.

When we love water, we will also protect the wild rice beds that grow in Minnesotas waters that have produced healthy nourishment for people and animals for many generations and that are included in treaty rights.

When we love water, we resist the oil pipelines, especially the planned Line 3 corridor in northern Minnesota, that would scar those wild rice beds and threaten ground water and pristine northern waterways.

When we love water, we speak out about the likely leakage of Line 3s tar sands oil, the most corrosive type due to the extremely toxic chemicals required to process this fuel.

When we love water, we support Gov. Walzs announcement to keep up the pressure with the Minnesota Department of Commerce appeal against Enbridge (a Canadian company). Our Department of Commerce has continually been questioning the very basis for Enbridges new Line 3 pipeline that will become a stranded asset according to Winona LaDuke, an economist and one of the founders of Honor the Earth.
She said no one from the district has replied to her emails as of Thursday afternoon.

Driskell is also upset Owatonna school leaders didnt do more right away to address the weekend social media posts.

The fact that they werent ready to address the hate speech on Monday morning was the cause of the problems Monday afternoon, Driskell said. Students who were affected by the hate speech came to the office to report it  they were dismissed and belittled and then the white office staff called the cops because people of color were, quote, too emotional.

This is not the first time the Owatonna school district has been accused of mishandling racial tensions. In 2009, tensions between white and Somali students escalated in a fight involving 11 students at the high school.

The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice investigated the incident and found Owatonna Public Schools meted out disproportionate discipline for the students involved in the November 2009 incident and that the districts policies, procedures and trainings were not adequately addressing harassment against Somali-American students.
I enjoy hymns by Bach and Mendelssohn for sure. I played for our church in Chicago for many years, he said. He and his wife of 11 years, Amy, and their two children, Nabiela, 4, and William, 20 months, belong to Bethany Lutheran Church.

My parents in Egypt were Coptic Christians and when I met Amy, I better understood what the Presbyterian faith is. We both attended an Orthodox Presbyterian Church. However, now, since the closest OPC is about 50 minutes away, we attend Bethany, he said.

Because Farouk and his wife come from strong Christian homes, they have a keen understanding as to how much faith sustains and empowers them in their everyday life.

Without faith we have nothing, as Bach used to sign all of his compositions, All for the Glory of God, he explained.

I am ever thankful and grateful for the gift of music. I have always believed it is the voice of God. What I can say is that I have always felt and thought that way of music... the deeper our faith grows, the more our understanding and commitment also grows.
Roger Lee Metz, 82, of Winona passed away at his home Thursday morning Feb. 14, 2019.

Roger was born December 2, 1936, to Herbert and Marie (Mehring) Metz in Hoopeston, Ill. He attended Hoopeston Public Schools and continued his education at The University of Illinois Champaign. During his high school years he spent many hours working on the family farms. Following his college education he moved to Chicago and worked for American Airlines as a ticket agent at Midway Airport. Later he transferred to the American Airlines downtown reservation office as a tariff agent, and this is where he met his wife, Ramona.

Roger and Ramona were married on May 13, 1961, in Waupaca, Wis. They moved to Waupaca in August of 1961 where Roger became the business manager of Waupaca Memorial Hospital. Two years later they moved to New London, Wis., where he was assistant administrator. A few years later he accepted the position as controller in the business office at Community Memorial Hospital in Winona and later promoted as hospital administrator.

Roger worked in administration at Community Memorial Hospital in Winona, Minn., for 29 years until retirement in 1997. He was passionate about his administrative career and the many caring people he worked with. He was known statewide for his strong support of auxiliaries within healthcare facilities.
Iceland has become the coldest tourism hot spot  and for good reason. A relatively easy flight from practically anywhere in the United States deposits passengers a short drive away from the Blue Lagoon. An hour later, you can be neck-deep in the lava fields natural geothermal spa.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Iceland has become the coldest tourism hot spot  and for good reason. A relatively easy flight from practically anywhere in the United States deposits passengers a short drive away from the Blue Lagoon. An hour later, you can be neck-deep in the lava fields natural geothermal spa.

The Golden Circle is another must-do. Its a loop from Reykjavik to the centre of Iceland and back. Visitors pass through glorious landscapes that include molten lava eruptions and some of the most spectacular waterfalls before returning to a once relatively quiet capital city now booming with restaurants, souvenir shops, museums and bars.

While its still possible to find spots in Iceland that look like a mural, its go-to destinations are often overcrowded. Tickets for the Blue Lagoon are frequently sold out. The Golden Circle has become so tourist-ridden that you can simply follow the slow-moving buses rather than use GPS. And if you dare enter a Reykjavik restaurant without a reservation, youd better be dining at 4 p.m. If you prefer the road less travelled, go here during the less-popular winter months (though its cold and dark) or make your reservations early.

Remarkably, however, you can experience geothermal saunas, glaciers, caves and more after driving about an hour northwest from Reykjavik to a portion of the country that seems virtually untouched by tourists  the region known as West Iceland.

The water flowing into Krauma, a geothermal bath in Reykholt, arrives directly from the smallest glacier in Iceland before being dispersed into five baths of varying temperature. (Only true Icelanders could dip more than their toes in the hottest of the baths.) If you go midweek, you may be the only people here.

Vatnshellir Cave, within Snaefellsjokull National Park, offers guided tours of an 8,000-year-old, below-the-surface lava cave. After descending in a spiral, wearing a provided helmet and headlamp, youll feel like youve entered a different planet. (Pro tip: although it may have been warm enough for a fugitive couple to allegedly live there comfortably centuries ago, its now bitterly cold in winter, so dress appropriately.)

If you take the Into the Glacier tour, which departs from Husafell or the Klaki base camp, depending on the season, youll ride in a ridiculously large vehicle  or on a snowmobile  to Icelands second-largest glacier, Langjokull. Then, youll enter a minuscule opening into a magnificent ice cave, complete with an ice bar and an ice chapel. Yes, you can get married here.

West Iceland also features the only full sheep farm in the country. At remote Bjarteyjarsandur, visitors can herd sheep (traditionally, children race after the animals while adults sip whiskey and watch), shear sheep, pick wild mussels and do other chores, depending on the season. Guests can stay at one of four on-site mountain cottages, as well as inside the farmhouse with the owners, and experience a true farm-to-table meal at the farms tiny restaurant.

Another only-in-West-Iceland experience is the Bjarnarhofn Shark Museum in the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, where you can learn all about fermented shark meat, a traditional Icelandic dish, and sample it along with Icelands signature spirit  Brennivin schnapps.

 Washington Post
For so many dreamers, its the gold standard for achievement: making it big in the Big Apple, showing youve got what it takes to survive and thrive in New York City.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For so many dreamers, its the gold standard for achievement: making it big in the Big Apple, showing youve got what it takes to survive and thrive in New York City.

As Ol Blue Eyes himself once crooned, if you can make it there, youll make it anywhere.

Alas, for Amazon  the massive online retailer whose creation and rapid growth spawned the worlds wealthiest human  all those gossamer dreams of Gothamite corporate conquest have fallen to dust. On Thursday, the Seattle-based company announced it has abandoned its plan to build part of its much-ballyhooed second headquarters (known during the frenzied city-search bid process as HQ2) in New York City.

The reason for the pullout, simply put, was resistance, from politicians, protesters and union officials who objected to the nearly US$3 billion in financial and tax incentives Amazon had demanded and was promised in return for choosing N.Y.C. as a site for its spinoff corporate campus (the company still has HQ-expansion plans for northern Virginia and, to a lesser extent, Nashville).

"After much thought and deliberation, weve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," an Amazon spokesperson said in a prepared statement, which also said, "A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned."

Bebeto Matthews / The Associated Press FILES A protester holds up a sign during an anti-Amazon rally in New York.

Its a long way from the continent-wide frenzy that was created late in 2017 when Amazon announced it was seeking a site for its HQ2, which was touted as an unparalleled economic opportunity for the "winning" city, a development worth US$5 billion that might ultimately employ 50,000 people earning average salaries exceeding US$100,000.

Winnipeg was one of many communities to hastily prepare a bid for the big prize, employing a "Team Manitoba" approach to trumpet the citys considerable business-climate charms.

Realistically, however, Winnipeg failed to tick the boxes of most of Amazons must-have requirements  population base over one million, ease of transportation access and the ability to "think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options"  and it was no surprise when the Manitoba capital was left off the "Top 20" candidates list last year.

What generated as much conversation and debate as the potential economic windfall of being chosen as the HQ2 city, however, was the audacious set of demands on which the successful bidder would be expected to deliver  tax credits and incentives, relocation grants, fee reductions and other financial concessions, adding up to billions of dollars.

The price tag was too rich for Winnipeg and the vast majority of other centres that briefly grasped, and then quickly let loose of, Amazon-sized aspirations; it didnt take long for the local business community to accept that reality and refocus on more attainable, affordable and satisifying economic-development activities.

Whats interesting, however, is that history will now show that in asking for the figurative moon, Amazon overshot even the realistic fiscal limits of the self-proclaimed greatest city in the world. Despite the eagerness of some N.Y.C. politicians to bend to the online retailers whims, the billions demanded by HQ2s promoters sparked a backlash that could not  by New Yorks lawmakers or by Amazon  be ignored.

All that was left on Thursday was for Amazon to start spreading the news, that it was leaving today.
Canadians like to stereotype Americans as boorish and bumptious travellers. Were quick to make unflattering generalizations about the national character they display when abroad.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Canadians like to stereotype Americans as boorish and bumptious travellers. Were quick to make unflattering generalizations about the national character they display when abroad.

We shouldnt be so self-righteous. What we export when vacationing in Mexico and the Caribbean sometimes isnt so very different.

Too many Canadians subscribe to an ethos of "Im on vacation and anything goes." We act as if socially appropriate behaviour is suspended where there are palm trees, playas and pina coladas. The result: Canuck tourist as minor sociopath, behaving as if immune to the consequences of his or her actions, caring naught for the discomfort or distress visited upon the locals or fellow tourists.

Nowhere is this more apparent than at all-inclusive resorts, a mainstay of package-tour winter holidays. At an all-inclusive resort, your package-deal week or two gets you all the food and alcohol you want for the duration of your stay. So youre entitled to unlimited daily free booze as soon as the swim-up bar opens at 10 a.m. Many, enraptured with that entitlement, cant wait to exercise it.

Unfailingly polite Latino bartenders man these bars. They adopt a mental stance akin to physicians treating non-compliant chronically ill patients. You see it in their fixed smiles and efficient automaton-like service, distancing themselves as they administer to those in their care  loud, drunk and sunburned Canadians.

Occasionally, the facades slip a bit, and you catch a glimpse of whats behind the polished service-industry deference.

I understand a little Spanish, speak even less. But once, while on an early morning trip to the bar to refill my rooms ice bucket, I heard a pair of resort bartenders in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, toss back and forth the word "vacas" (cows). They were being swarmed by milling, noisy Canadians lined up two-deep at the swim-up bar before 10 a.m. Several complained they shouldnt have to wait so long for their breakfast booze.

My fractured Spanish told me those bartenders werent trading remarks about animal husbandry. The bovines they had in mind surrounded them. They were us.

Passing by the same bar at noon, many of the same faces were still there  only now screaming choruses of "Go Leafs Go." Two of the loudest female screamers had ditched their bikini tops. Pool lounge chairs and tables-cum-umbrellas within 50 metres of the bar  normally prime poolside real estate  were empty. Clearly anyone whod wanted to converse, read a book or nap had retreated before the onslaught of Leafs Nation.

One guy, abandoning his poolside stool, drunkenly lurched in my direction. Trying to negotiate a curve in the flagstoned walkway, he lost his balance and fell into a bougainvillea. Two Good Samaritan cabana boys lifted him out of the bush. One on each flank, they draped the guys arms across their shoulders and escorted him (not easily, he was a big fella) to the washroom.

Several hours later, a hard-core dozen or more from the breakfast crowd were still there. Only now they were zombie-like. Quiet, but still drinking hard under a setting tropical sun, taking no visible pleasure in their consumption of alcohol.

Travel tour packagers are quick to tell us where to go and where to stay, but not how we should conduct ourselves once there.

Most all-inclusive-resort package tours feature first- or next-day briefings for newly arrived tourists. They usually consist of a half-hour to an hour of pointers, given by the tour operators local representative, about local transportation, guided tours available, currency and money-changing, and what  and what not  to buy. But theyre thin on providing a glimpse of local culture, and thinner still on encouraging respect for that culture.

Ive never heard a tour operators local rep advise tourists, even in the gentlest of terms, to be mindful of the sensibilities of those who live in the vacation destination. Nor have I ever heard the broadest hint that public conduct  especially overtly sexual conduct  passable in Winnipeg, Saskatoon or Ottawa may not be acceptable in a more conservative Hispanic, and predominantly Roman Catholic, culture. Tips on appropriate cross-cultural etiquette just arent on the agenda.

Part of travels allure is that it frees us from the constraints of our ordinary lives. Its liberating to not have to be precisely the same person you are at home or at work. But a winter holiday in a foreign clime isnt a licence to untether yourself from rules of conduct you abide by in Canada. Less so still does it warrant breaching the rules of the country youre a guest of.

And thats what you are: a guest. Something not to be forgotten. Something that should be underlined for Canadian tourists.

But rarely is.

Douglas J. Johnston is a Winnipeg lawyer and writer.
Last summer, a man high on methamphetamine strapped metal plates on his limbs, went outside and encouraged Winnipeg police officers to shoot him before they arrested him.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Last summer, a man high on methamphetamine strapped metal plates on his limbs, went outside and encouraged Winnipeg police officers to shoot him before they arrested him.

Last October, a 26-year-old man high on meth brandished metal shears and a piece of rebar while kicking and threatening Winnipeg police officers.

And in two separate incidents last month that occurred within a few hours of each other, two men -- both high on meth, armed with machetes and still in possession of the drug -- were successfully taken into police custody.

These are the types of incidents which not long ago might have easily ended up with police officers using deadly force to protect bystanders, as well as themselves.

But in each of these cases, and many others, deadly force was not used. Officers didn't even have to fire a Taser.

It leads to the question: has something changed with how Winnipeg police handle such incidents?

"You're making dumb choices." "Nobody likes you". "You should have killed yourself a long time ago." "Police are trying to trick you." "Don't put down the knife."

I'm holding a knife -- albeit made of rubber -- and these are the words I hear through wireless earphones. They're coming from both men and women, and they are coming in increasing urgency, as I go through a scenario mimicking what a person in a meth induced psychosis experiences. It's an auditory hallucination simulation and the voices are non-stop, going from loud to soft, sometimes overlapping, but the advice, if you can call it that, is always negative.

Hear what trainees hear Listen to the auditory hallucination simulation. click to read more Listen to the auditory hallucination simulation. Headphones are recommended. Grey: Generic voices Audio not supported Red: Police enter, hostile voices Visit Audio not supported Yellow: Voices start to become less hostile Visit Audio not supported Green: Voices support police/giving up weapon Visit Audio not supported Close

Jeff Quail, CEO of Setcan, which produces officer safety products and training, and who himself is a retired Winnipeg Police Service officer, is peering around a doorway, trying to get his voice to talk through the voices I'm hearing, to convince me to drop the weapon. It's a simple scenario, but it is one that offers a brief window into the mind of the person going through drug-induced psychosis.

After the simulation, called SimVoice, concludes, both Quail and a Free Press photographer agree the gaze on my face during the exercise was far different than it was earlier when the scenario was run without the audio being used.

Quail, whose company has given the SimVoice system for free to 250 police departments across North America in the year since it was developed, said the device "is all about creating compassion through the experience.

"They realize 'wow, this is really difficult for them'," he said. "By experiencing it on the other side, by having auditory hallucinations, you can start experiencing what it is like to have voices in your head.

"We're trying to help police make better decisions under stress. If you can make officers act better under stress, there is less a likelihood of them pulling the trigger.

"What's a life worth? How do you put a value on that?"

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Jeffrey Quail, CEO of Setcan (left), shows reporter Kevin Rollason the SimVoice technology which is designed to mimic some psychosis experiences.

Quail said he was sitting in a training session when "I had an aha moment" about the need for officers to get a better idea about the outlook of people in psychosis experiences.

But Quail said even with the SimVoice, and all the other training police officers are given, the conclusion of an incident in real life still ultimately comes down to the individual who is going through the meth-induced psychosis.

"It's a 100 per cent win when no one is injured, but the truth is, there's a false belief it is the police officer's decision. It is the individual's decision what happens."

Down at Winnipeg police headquarters, Deputy Police Chief Gord Perrier, Insp. Max Waddell of the organized crime unit, and Dr. Rob Grierson, the service's medical advisor as well as medical director for the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service, say the recent successful outcomes are the result of years of work and training in both mental health and use of force by the service's tactical response team, new training methods like the SimVoice, and an anti-psychotic drug that has just recently been approved to give to people going through meth-induced psychosis.

Perrier said he has gone through the SimVoice training himself and was impressed.

"It is genius," he said. "I automatically could see the reaction in the officers' faces and my face too -- because they taped it -- was exactly the same as a person who is sometimes suffering schizophrenia because it overloads so many things.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Deputy Police Chief Gord Perrier says the SimVoice technology is 'genius.'

"When you role reverse, and you become the police officer, there's something different that happens... you are reading that situation way deeper than you may have been before.

"You're looking at the weapon and intent a little differently and there's an automatic empathy build that is occurring because you have experienced that other way."

Grierson said police officers are also treating people having psychosis episodes on meth the same as people having schizophrenic episodes because they present the same way.

"You can virtually not tell the difference," he said.

"(Meth) is mimicking the same thing to the brain schizophrenia does ... we have a strategy to help people with schizophrenia and you can use that same strategy to help people with methamphetamine.

(imagetagRight)

"The strategies which work with one will work with the other. You just have to have the patience and the understanding of that."

And Perrier said calling the training "de escalation use of force", instead of just use of force, emphasizes the possibility of resolving the situation without using a weapon.

"It doesn't mean that if somebody presents a legitimate weapon, somebody presents a legitimate intent, and that threat level, that we're not going to do our job that's expected of us and deliver force to end that situation," he said. "Nothing has changed there.

"Because of those small changes in training, that small changes in additional training, and peoples' lived experiences, I think we're seeing some outcomes that could be different."

Perrier said there's another sobering reason for the positive outcomes in recent weeks: practice makes perfect.

"Police officers get good at dealing with something they deal with on a regular basis. We deal with this every day, day in and day out... people become good at it because they deal with it so often."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS SimVoice system was given to 250 police departments across North America in the year since it was developed.

The statistics are stark and show the problem of methamphetamine is still rising in the community. Just a month ago, Winnipeg police held a press conference showing the more than $1 million worth of meth they had seized in the weeks before. A year earlier, seizures were in the thousands of dollars.

And, just two years ago, methamphetamine wasn't the problem, fentanyl was.

Waddell said because "we were so focused on fentanyl, but, at the same time, I call them the quiet user group, was gaining momentum with methamphetamine... fentanyl in 2017 really started to tail off and that's when methamphetamine just really ramped up and you see it where it is today."

Waddell said because meth is a stimulant while fentanyl is a depressant, their effects on people are very different when police arrive.

"You're not as likely to act out in such a violent state with a fentanyl addiction as you would with a methamphetamine addiction because the way (meth) alters the brain makes you more unpredictable in a state of psychosis."

And, with fentanyl at $60,000 per kilo and meth at $17,000, Waddell said that also made it spread faster among users.

Statistics from the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service show that while paramedics attended 771 meth-related incidents in 2017, 2018 saw that figure rise to 1,166.

Grierson also said paramedics have had to pull out olanzapine, an anti-psychotic drug usually used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and a drug which paramedics began using on Dec. 4, after the province gave them the green light on people having psychosis episodes with meth, more than he predicted.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Organized Crime Unit insp. Max Waddell: 'You're not as likely to act out in such a violent state with a fentanyl addiction as you would with a methamphetamine.'

"We were the first place in Canada that provided that medication to paramedics," he said. "In the first month we gave the drug successfully 72 times to people.

"Now it's a good news and a bad news story. The bad news is we had to give it to 72 people. The good news is we had it and people were able to take it.

"You see these people, they're agitated, they're anxious, they're not violent, but they're frightened... you come in a calm, reassuring voice and say we're here to help, we're not going to lock you up, we're not going to tie you up, and... I've got a medication that can make you feel better and lo and behold people are taking it."

In the end, Perrier said, there's no way to know for sure how an incident will end, especially when you toss meth into the mix.

"With all of the training that they have, at the end of the day, they are really trying to predict what a human will do... there's some parts of it that are reliable, but there are large gaps still.

"There just is."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
For the first time in a province with the highest youth incarceration and child apprehension rates in Canada, Manitoba's government has said it will take action to "end that cycle" of youth caught between the criminal-justice and child-welfare systems. But some are questioning the value of a government study on a problem advocates have been vocal about for years.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the first time in a province with the highest youth incarceration and child apprehension rates in Canada, Manitoba's government has said it will take action to "end that cycle" of youth caught between the criminal-justice and child-welfare systems. But some are questioning the value of a government study on a problem advocates have been vocal about for years.

A "comprehensive review" of Manitoba's youth justice and child-welfare systems is underway, Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced Friday, and it's expected to result in a provincial strategy that's planned to be released publicly before the end of this year. Cullen said the province wants to reduce its reliance on jail sentences, cut down on chronic re-offending and increase treatment options and support for youth.

The announcement comes more than a year after a Free Press investigation revealed that, between August 2016 and October 2017, more than 60 per cent of youth in custody at the Manitoba Youth Centre were also in care of Child and Family Services. The province re-iterated that statistic after it did its own analysis of MYC admissions during the month of October, 2018.

That analysis also found about 78 per cent of the youth were "repeat offenders," and that two-thirds of the CFS-involved youth were charged with violent crimes, while about half of youth who weren't in CFS care were charged with violent crimes. Seventy per cent of all youth in Manitoba's criminal justice system had been back there 10 times or more. The province found 80 per cent of youth in the justice system were Indigenous, as were 90 per cent of youth in CFS care.

Many of the youth have mental-health issues, addictions or both, Cullen said, and have been "bouncing between the two systems without having positive outcomes."

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced a review of the province's youth justice and child-welfare system on Friday.

"So we want to make sure were providing those services to try to rehabilitate the youth, young offenders. Quite frankly, recidivism rates -- people keep showing back up in court -- and we have to end that cycle. The sooner we end that cycle, the better outcomes for kids and hopefully keep them out of the adult justice system as well."

The link between child welfare and justice Manitoba has the highest rates of incarcerated youth in Canada, according to the most recent data available from Statistics Canada. Out of every 10,000 youth, 22 were incarcerated in 2016/2017 -- more than four times Canada's national rate. Manitoba's provincial government has often acknowledged it maintains the highest rate of children apprehended into the child-welfare system, but there has never been an inter-departmental review of both systems to find out why such an overlap exists. click to read more Manitoba has the highest rates of incarcerated youth in Canada, according to the most recent data available from Statistics Canada. Out of every 10,000 youth, 22 were incarcerated in 2016/2017 -- more than four times Canada's national rate. Manitoba's provincial government has often acknowledged it maintains the highest rate of children apprehended into the child-welfare system, but there has never been an inter-departmental review of both systems to find out why such an overlap exists. When the Free Press reported in December 2017 that teens in CFS care were more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system, former Families Minister Scott Fielding and former Justice minister Heather Stefanson acknowledged the issue but didn't commit to any policy changes. The province introduced its new criminal-justice modernization strategy in spring 2018, but it focused on adults, not youth. Meanwhile, a long-term study from the Manitoba Centre for Health Policy is ongoing into so-called crossover youth. It will track overlap between the two systems over the course of 30 years. It's unclear how the province plans to keep track of CFS youth who are criminally charged and help them navigate both systems. On Friday, Cullen referenced long-term studies and said tracking is part of the plan. Once this strategy is in place, a key component of that will be outcomes so we can measure the metrics going forward, making sure were seeing some positive outcomes for youth, and that will obviously involve tracking," he said. Similar studies in Ontario and British Columbia found overlaps of between 40-50 per cent between child-welfare and youth-justice systems in those provinces. Close

The review will be conducted over the next few months with input from youth, Indigenous leaders and other "stakeholders," Cullen said. Two employees, one in the Families department and one in Manitoba Justice's constitutional law branch, are responsible for the review, which Cullen said will be completed within existing departmental budgets. He didn't give specifics on the scope of the review or what it will accomplish, but he said it will involve looking at what other governments have already done in B.C., Ontario and Quebec.

"Weve had this siloed approach in Manitoba, where other jurisdictions have a more comprehensive approach," Cullen said.

The long-standing overlap between child-welfare and criminal justice was one of the reasons the office of Manitoba's Advocate for Children and Youth pushed for broader power to investigate youth justice files, something it's been able to do since new legislation was brought in last March. Manitoba Advocate Daphne Penrose said she wasn't previously aware of the government's plans to launch a review. She said she's supportive of a review, but she encouraged the province to also look at the health system. Increased access to mental-health services and early intervention programs for kids is key, she said.

"If a child has mental-health issues because they've suffered a significant amount of trauma, and they turn to drugs and alcohol to try to cope because they can't access the services they need, and they grow up in an environment of violence because there's not the help the family needs, that is a multi-systemic response that is bigger than just justice and family services. It needs health at the table," Penrose said. She urged government officials to speak to youth directly as part of the review -- something Cullen said they will do.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba's Advocate for Children and Youth Daphne Penrose said she wasn't previously aware of the government's plans to launch a review.

NDP MLA Nahanni Fontaine, justice critic for the Opposition, questioned the timing and the wisdom of the review. She said she thinks the government is "just trying to kick it down the street for another time" before heading into another provincial election.

"We know what needs to be done now. Just do it now," she said, suggesting the provincial Progressive Conservatives should focus instead on not cutting restorative justice programs rather than studying an issue that was already discussed during Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Inquiry decades ago.

As a result of the Free Press's coverage of so-called crossover youth, Manitoba Justice said in January 2018 that it was monitoring bail program changes that Ontario introduced as a way to stop youth in the child-welfare system from getting trapped in a cycle of repeated criminal breach charges.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another charged cop. Another botched investigation.

On Thursday of this past week, a Winnipeg police officer was acquitted of impaired driving charges after a short trial in provincial court. Judge Robin FInlayson found there was not enough evidence against the officer, Leslie McRae, to support a conviction.

The court's decision seemed outrageous given the known facts of the case.

In late November 2017, a Headingley RCMP officer found McRae asleep at the wheel of his idling car on the shoulder of the Trans-Canada highway west of Winnipeg. The RCMP officer who woke McRae noted a strong smell of alcohol coming from the car, and signs of slurred speech and imbalance. McRae later refused to take a breathalyzer test.

McRae testified at his trial that although he had been drinking earlier in the evening, he was not impaired. He claimed he was very tired and pulled over to avoid falling asleep at the wheel.

How, you may ask, does anyone avoid an impaired driving conviction with underlying evidence such as this?

A number of questions typically arise. Did the court demonstrate any bias or deference because the accused was a police officer? Did the prosecutor ease up on the case for the same reason? Or, was there a subpar performance by the police who were tasked with investigating another police officer?

In the McRae case, it appears that the latter scenario -- incompetence at the investigation level -- is the most likely.

The first evidence of incompetence was the failure of police to produce video evidence from the breathalyzer tech room at the Headingley detachment, where McRae was taken for his test. It was at this stage that he refused to take the test, which is in and of itself a criminal offence with penalties that are more severe than impaired driving.

An accused with no previous impaired driving convictions, and no serious injuries as a result of the alleged impaired driving, typically faces a one-year licence suspension and a fine of about $1,500. However, a conviction for refusing a breathalyzer carries a two-year suspension and a similar fine.

Defence lawyers who handle impaired driving cases say that if their clients are charged with both refusing a breathalyzer and impaired driving, they often try to reach a deal where they plead guilty to impaired in exchange for a stay on the refusal.

Normally, a police investigation of impaired driving ends right at the point that the suspect refuses a breath test. Along with the circumstantial evidence (the observations of the officer who found McRae), it's pretty much a slam-dunk conviction. And given that the penalties are more severe than an impaired driving conviction, prosecutors are certain to get some sort of guilty plea.

There are many ways of slicing this case, and almost none of them come out with a positive assessment of the RCMP's performance.

Unless, of course, you lose a key piece of evidence.

In this case, RCMP "lost" the video from the breathalyzer tech room at the Headingley detachment. According to defence lawyers with extensive experience in impaired driving cases, the absence of video is not in and of itself a deal breaker; not all tech rooms have video surveillance.

But the admission that police lost the evidence is a much more serious matter. In this case, it made the decision to drop the charge of refusing the breath test an absolute must.

How and why the video footage was lost has never been fully explained, either by Manitoba Justice or the RCMP. However, the mere fact it was lost prompted Crown Attorney Brett Rach in September 2018 to drop the charge of refusing a breathalyzer.

Once that charge was dropped, the case against McRae became very tenuous. He was still charged with impaired driving but the evidence necessary to obtain a conviction was going to come down to the testimony from the arresting officer. And this is where the second issue of incompetence comes in: note taking.

Judge Finlayson said in court that "a police officer's notes are the lifeblood to his or her credibility." Lamentably, RCMP Const. Marcello Oddo did not take that into account on the night he arrested McRae.

Oddo's credibility at trial was undermined by the fact many of the details he provided to support the notion that McRae was severely impaired were not recorded in his notebook. Ultimately, Finlayson determined that McRae's testimony was more "credible" than that of the arresting officer.

There is a very good chance that Oddo did not do "catch-up" notes -- additional details added to an officer's notebook immediately after an arrest -- because he thought prosecutors would have a slam-dunk conviction on the charge of refusing a breathalyzer. That is a mistake that many police officers make, according to defence lawyers. In this case, it was a major mistake.

There are many ways of slicing this case, and almost none of them come out with a positive assessment of the RCMP's performance. There are also concerns about why the prosecutor did not summon other members of the RCMP Headingley detachment on duty that night, who may also have witnessed McRae's condition, to corroborate Oddo's testimony.

Either way, this is yet another case that demonstrates the inability of the justice system to objectively investigate and prosecute a police officer charged with a criminal offence. And that is rather remarkable given this province's history with botched police investigations of other police officers.

Time to tidy up this process, and ensure that police and prosecutors are double and triple checking their procedures so that that any acquittal of a police officer can be fully and completely explained by the best practices of the administration of justice.

dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca
Prepare to turn green with envy, because earlier this week I got to hang out with a major TV celebrity.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Prepare to turn green with envy, because earlier this week I got to hang out with a major TV celebrity.

Im talking about a little guy who is arguably the hardest-working TV star in show business, having appeared, by conservative estimate, in more than 9,000 episodes of his hugely popular show.

Despite having a legion of adoring fans that routinely write him fan letters, send him Valentines cards and beg him to make personal appearances, he remains a gentle, humble soul who never wastes time thinking about himself.

Thats just the way life rolls when youre a tiny blue-and-red hand puppet with googly button eyes and a legendary passion for pizza.

His name is Noname and, unless you or your loved ones have spent time recovering in Winnipeg Childrens Hospital, chances are youve never heard of him.

Noname  who got his moniker from young patients in a contest decades ago  is the shining star of Childrens Hospital TV Network, a closed-circuit station that, for the past 38 years, has been broadcasting kid-friendly programming into every patient room, clinic and waiting room in the hospital.

"This station was the first in-house, non-medical TV network in Canada. The second in North America," gushes Maria Soroka, a hospital child-life specialist who slips Noname on her right hand and brings the bubbly character to life three times a week.

For the uninitiated, Noname is the co-host, along with a volunteer human being, of CHTVs signature program, The Good Day Show, a live, hour-long, interactive show that is broadcast Monday to Friday at 1 p.m. (a taped version is replayed at 4 p.m.) from a tiny, cluttered second-floor studio in the Childrens Hospital.

"I love it," Soroka says of the beloved puppet star with the silky, blue velour skin and gaping red corduroy mouth. "In my early days, I loved hosting the show, but Noname is so much easier. Also, I dont have to worry what I look like."

The hospital network and its signature show were brought to life in 1981 because staff didnt think it was a great idea to have sick kids lying around wasting time watching soap operas, game shows and reruns of The Love Boat, Dallas and Dynasty.

Doug Speirs with Noname and Maria Soroka of The Good Day Show at the Childrens Hospital.

The goal of Noname, and the child-life specialists who bring him to life for one hour each day, is to provide comfort and reduce the stress and anxiety and terror children experience when they are trapped in a hospital battling serious illnesses and injuries.

Parents, some who remember Noname from their youth, will actually book medical appointments for their kids so they can be in the hospital for showtime.

"(Noname) gets fan letters and love letters and Valentines," Soroka says. "He gets requests to go up to the rooms and kids who watch him every day get really excited because its like Elmo walking in."

Last Tuesday, as part of I Love to Read Month, my buddy Big Daddy Tazz, one of Canadas most popular standup comedians, and I were invited to be special guests on The Good Day Show and engage in childlike banter with Noname and that days human co-host, Justin Sarides.

So there we were, squeezed behind a desk in a small studio, with Sarides parked on our right side and Soroka perched on a chair just offscreen to the left so that Noname could bob and weave in one corner of the small screen.

It was an entire hour of live TV, but it whizzed by in what felt like seconds. Sarides and Noname quizzed Tazz and myself about how we got started in our respective careers  I began reading comic books, while Tazz made school life bearable by making other kids laugh.

Throughout the show, Noname and his human co-host did something remarkable  offering personal greetings by name to each and every kid stuck in the hospital that day. "He does say Hi to all the babies, too, but as a group," Soroka says with a laugh.

Along with providing the voice for Noname, the child-life specialist has to hop up and down to operate the one camera in the room, which Soroka did when it came time for Tazz and I to read to our captive audience of kids.

Tazz read Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns About Bullies, the story of a little bunny who is beset by two mean piggies, while I read Whats Claude Doing?, the heart-tugging tale of a basset hound who cant come out to play because he refuses to leave his little boy who is home sick.

I learned a valuable lesson  it is hard to read in a normal voice when you are wearing a red-foam clowns nose. We also helped Sarides with a game of bingo, wherein he would plop down little picture cards and Tazz and I provided silly remarks and a few songs to go with each card.

Its an interactive show, so kids can phone in from their beds when they fill out the bingo cards, and its Nonames job to answer the phone.

SUPPLIED Justin Sarides, Noname and Maria Soroka are the entertainers at Children's Hospital's The Good Day Show.

"I LOVED it!!!" is what Tazz the comedian bellowed when asked whether he enjoyed playing second banana to a hand puppet. "I dont want an Oscar anymore; I just want to be on this show. My favourite part was just being silly, saying Hi to all the kids. Its all about the kids."

For Sarides, a 23-year-old University of Winnipeg psychology student, Mondays are his favourite days because thats when he gets to co-host with his puppet pal.

"Its just the best day," he chirps after the show wraps. "I get to give out prizes for bingo. Honestly, my mom used to be a child-life specialist, and I had the time, so I thought Id volunteer.

"I was a patient here in Grade 6 when I had salmonella. I thought it would be cool. I have the best gig you can get as a volunteer. Noname is great. He focuses a lot on pizza. Hes like the kids  hes nine years old and hes in the hospital."

As you can imagine, in the past 38 years, more than a few hands have filled Nonames brightly coloured body, of which there have been a few incarnations. "My aunt made this one maybe 10 years ago," Soroka says, holding up the velour puppet. "It fits like a glove."

She delights in knowing that Noname offers a place of comfort, joy and healing to kids enduring frightening medical procedures. "Noname is always nine years old," she says. Hes a nine-year-old boy. Luckily, I have one at home, so I can channel a nine-year-old.

"I play him three times a week and the kids dont notice or complain that one day he has a deep manly voice and the next day its a high falsetto. He loves pizza every day; the only thing he doesnt like is anchovies."

When hes not doing live TV, Noname the puppet also visits sick kids, offers encouraging words before operations, and sometimes does a bit of role-playing to prove that some procedure  like removing a tube from your throat  is really not all that scary.

Best of all, hes there every day at the same time on the same in-house channel offering a safe haven in the hospitals troubled waters.

"We had a child come down one time to tell Noname her best friend had died," Soroka recalls, welling up at the memory. "She didnt do it on the show. We did it before the show, and during the show we all waved to her friend. It was pretty emotional. It was kind of cool that a four-year-old thought her friend was watching the show in heaven."

Tanya Williams, director of communications and marketing for the Childrens Hospital Foundation of Manitoba, said the 250 or so episodes of The Good Day Show shot every year for the past 38 years are made possible by donors, especially through the Childrens Hospital Book Market.

So feel free to visit goodbear.ca and click donate. You can specify you want the money to go to CHTV and its signature show. Or visit St. Vital Centre for the next book market from April 25-27.

You dont need to be a child-life specialist  or a puppet, for that matter  to make a difference. You just need to care.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca
A convoy of about 80 semi-trucks and other vehicles rolled through the Winnipeg area on Friday afternoon, en route to Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A convoy of about 80 semi-trucks and other vehicles rolled through the Winnipeg area on Friday afternoon, en route to Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

Pulling over briefly at a Headingley truck stop where a few more trucks joined, the United We Roll Convoy For Canada continued its run on the perimeter, bypassing the city.

The convoy is hauling its pro-pipeline, anti-carbon tax message to Ottawa, where participants will hold rallies on Tuesday and Wednesday on Parliament Hill.

The trail of trucks is a calculated plan to get the ear of federal politicians and turn heads around the country, organizer Glen Carritt said.

"A convoy is a spectacle, thats for sure, and thats why were doing this," Carritt said in a telephone interview Friday afternoon while travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway.

Carritt, the operations manager of Oilfield Paramedics Fire and Safety Inc. in Innisfail, Alta., said there have been some local rallies in Alberta but a national stage is needed "to get our voices heard."

"Its the theatrics of all the trucks thats going to gain the attention to do what we want to accomplish."

He had to shout during the interview over the sounds of blasting semi-truck horns around him.

PHIL HOSSACK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS One of the smaller vehicles in a convoy of pipeline supporters heads through the city with a couple of dozen (maybe) trucks headed to Ottawa in protest of the Liberal Government policies.

"Its going fantastic. Were getting so much support. Every time you hear a horn honk, its more support for us on our way," he said, adding there have also been fuel donations to semi drivers from individuals and businesses along the way.

The focus at the rallies will be the need for pipeline construction and other concerns in Canadas oil and gas industry, but Carritt said other groups are invited join and voice concerns about other issues.

"We invite everybody, however they can get there, to join us. Anybody who has any concerns, Indigenous people, GMC plant workers, anyone. We see rally after rally across the country. We want all those people to be invited and join us at this rally," Carritt said. "Anyone who has a concern with the current government."

The convoy, which departed from Red Deer, Alta., with about 160 vehicles on Thursday morning, stopped in Regina on Thursday night and planned to spend Friday night in Kenora. Semis and other vehicles are joining and departing when they can.

"We picked up a few in Regina, another 10 or 15 in Virden, we picked up one in Brandon and were expecting to pick up some in Winnipeg, so were gaining again," Carritt said. "We always said there was going to be this many (75 or 80) that would go all the way to Ottawa."

The United We Roll Convoy For Canada website says the convoys purpose "is to show our concern to the current government that we oppose bill C48 and C69. We are in favour of pipelines to move our products in the oil and gas sector to the rest of Canada as well as the rest of the world. We are opposed to the current format of the carbon tax as well as the UN impact on Canadian borders."

Bill C-48 is the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act, which bans large-capacity oil tankers from loading and unloading in ports along an extensive stretch of northern B.C. coastline. Bill C-69 is the Impact Assessment Act, which will impose new environmental assessments on Canadas resource sector.

Carritt said the convoy is "a peaceful movement," but added participants can wear yellow vests, blue coveralls, white hard hats or red scarves, referring to clothing items worn by various recent protest movements in Canada, as long as a respectful atmosphere is maintained.

Organizers are publicly discouraging radicalism, racism, hate speech and violence that have surfaced in some yellow-vest protests in Canada and worldwide.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca
Federal investigators are probing the Saturday derailment of dozens of oil cars in western Manitoba, which has leaked crude oil near the Assiniboine River.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Federal investigators are probing the Saturday derailment of dozens of oil cars in western Manitoba, which has leaked crude oil near the Assiniboine River.

CN Rail says 37 crude-oil cars from a single train derailed at 3:30 a.m. near St-Lazare, which sits 10 kilometres from the Saskatchewan border, along one of Canadas busiest rail lines.

A derailment occurred early Saturday morning near St-Lazare, Man., near the Saskatchewan border, leaking crude oil. (Supplied photo)

The cars derailed onto pasture owned by rancher Jayme Corr. "We could smell it (oil) in the air when we went outside," Corr told the Brandon Sun, adding that he felt the track was poorly maintained.

CN spokesman Jonathan Abecassis said crews will assess how much oil has spilled.

"The leak has been contained and has not penetrated the Assiniboine River. Our environmental team is preparing clean up and remediation to protect the environment," he wrote.

PHOTO BY EYAN CORR About three dozen CN railcars derailed near St. Lazare early Saturday morning, causing a partial leak of crude oil.

Owen Jessop, fire chief for the RM of Ellice-Archie, said there were no injuries or fires, and that the incident occurred along a flat stretch of land in a valley. "We are assisting CN police with traffic control," he texted from just outside the perimeter, which he said spans three kilometres.

A spokesman for Manitobas Sustainable Development department said that not all 37 derailed cars are leaking.

"There is no risk of contamination to the Assiniboine River," wrote the spokesman. "A number of provincial agencies are involved in the response to this incident, but CN Rail is leading the cleanup."

PHOTO BY EYAN CORR About three dozen CN railcars derailed near St. Lazare early Saturday morning, causing a partial leak of crude oil.

Corr, who had long expected such an incident, said he'd bothered the company for years about its upkeep of the track.

"Its no surprise, put it that way, that something was going to happen down here," he said. "Until they start maintaining the track, this is going to keep happening."

Last month, two oncoming trains collided near Portage la Prarie, near a bridge where two lines of track merge.

The Transportation Safety Board is looking into the incident. "Weve deployed a team of investigators to the site," said spokesman Alexandre Fournier, who expected officials to arrive late Saturday afternoon.

It's unclear how the incident will impact rail shipments; sites are normally opened only after railway and independent investigators probe the area.

The derailment has occurred along CNs Rivers subdivision, one the busiest stretches of rail track in Canada.

Last month, the Free Press reported on years of issues at the bunkhouse the company uses for its workers to rest during multi-day trips. As recently as this past summer, workers have reported sleeping on floors and couches.

A historic amount of crude oil is moving by rail across Canada, due to backlogs in pipeline construction. According to American data, more than two million barrels of Canadian crude is being exported by rail each month into Midwest states through lines in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.

Thats a doubling from the amount of oil sent along that line from August back until 2012, when authorities started publishing that data.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

With files from Bud Robertson, Brandon Sun
MUNICH - German Chancellor Angela Merkel drew lengthy applause Saturday for her spirited defence of a multilateral approach to global affairs and support for Europe's decision to stand by a nuclear deal with Iran.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

United States Vice President Mike Pence hugs Cindy McCain, widow of US Senator John McCain, after delivering his speech during the John McCain Dissertation Award Ceremony at the Bavarian State Parliament in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Pence arrived Thursday to attend the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

MUNICH - German Chancellor Angela Merkel drew lengthy applause Saturday for her spirited defence of a multilateral approach to global affairs and support for Europe's decision to stand by a nuclear deal with Iran.

U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence was not among the impressed, however, and he doubled down on American criticism of Europe.

Merkel's comments at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of world leaders and top global defence and foreign policy officials, followed days of acrimony between the U.S. and Europe over Iran.

Merkel told the group  which included the largest U.S. delegation ever with dozens of members of Congress, Ivanka Trump, Pence and others  that she shared American concerns about many Iranian efforts to increase its power in the region.

But while she said the split with the U.S. over Iran's nuclear agreement "depresses me very much," she defended it as an important channel to Tehran, stressing the need for international diplomacy.

United States Vice President Mike Pence delivers his speech during the John McCain Dissertation Award Ceremony at the Bavarian State Parliament in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. Pence arrived Thursday to attend the Munich Security Conference. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

"I see the ballistic missile program, I see Iran in Yemen and above all I see Iran in Syria," she said. "The only question that stands between us on this issue is, do we help our common cause, our common aim of containing the damaging or difficult development of Iran, by withdrawing from the one remaining agreement? Or do we help it more by keeping the small anchor we have in order maybe to exert pressure in other areas?"

Germany, Britain, France, China, Russia and the European Union have been trying to keep the 2015 deal with Iran alive since President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of it last year.

The deal offers Iran sanctions relief for limiting its nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that, so far, Tehran is sticking to the agreement.

But the U.S. argues that the deal just puts off when Iran might be able to build a nuclear bomb. Speaking after Merkel, Pence pushed for Europeans to end their involvement in the nuclear deal, calling Iran "the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

"The time has come for our European partners to stop undermining U.S. sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime," Pence said. "The time has come for our European partners to stand with us and with the Iranian people, our allies and friends in the region. The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

Merkel's speech was warmly received, while Pence's was met with polite applause.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, welcomes the President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, left, for a bilateral meeting during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)

"This was a big and say-it-as-it-is Merkel speech," Daniela Schwarzer, the director of the German Council on Foreign Relations think-tank , wrote on Twitter. "Minutes of applause and standing ovations for a powerful commitment to picking up the pieces of a shattered (world) order and working on a European and (international) order that creates win-win situations."

Former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, who was in office when the Iran nuclear deal was negotiated, went out of his way to thank Merkel and defended the Iran deal as a "significant agreement."

Biden told the group that many Americans did not agree with the Trump administration's "America first" approach.

"You heard a lot today about leadership but in my experience, leadership only exists if somebody and others are with you," he said after Pence's address. "Leadership in the absence of people who are with you is not leadership."

In her speech, Merkel also questioned whether it was a good idea for the U.S. to withdraw troops quickly from Syria "or is that not also strengthening the possibilities for Iran and Russia to exert influence there?"

Turning to nuclear disarmament, Merkel said the recent U.S. announcement that it was pulling out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty was "inevitable" because of Russian violations.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers her speech during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson)

Moscow followed suit by also withdrawing from the treaty, strongly denying any breaches. The U.S. administration was also worried that the pact was an obstacle to efforts to counter intermediate-range missiles deployed by China, which is not covered by the treaty.

Merkel noted the treaty was conceived "essentially for Europe," where such missiles were stationed during the Cold War. She said "the answer cannot lie in blind rearmament."

"Disarmament is something that concerns us all, and we would of course be glad if such negotiations were conducted not just between the United States ... and Russia, but also with China," she said.

Merkel also defended Germany's progress in fulfilling NATO guidelines for countries to move toward spending 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence by 2024, which has been criticized as too slow. And overall, she rejected the idea of a go-it-alone foreign policy.

She said it's better to "put yourself in the other's shoes ... and see whether we can get win-win solutions together."

Pence stuck to the U.S. line that the 2 per cent NATO guideline is a strict commitment rather than a target, saying while more alliance members have met the criteria, "the truth is, many of our NATO allies still need to do more."

He also reiterated American opposition to the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which Washington fears will make Europe overly reliant on Russian gas.

"The United States commends all our European partners who've taken a strong stand against Nord Stream 2," he said. "And we commend others to do that same."

He added: "We cannot ensure the defence of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East."

Merkel defended the pipeline under the Baltic Sea, dismissing the American concerns as unfounded and assuring Ukraine that it won't get cut off from Russian fuel.

Speaking as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko looked on, she told him his country would continue to be a transit country for Russian gas even after the pipeline is complete.

Merkel noted that Europe also has enough terminals to receive more liquefied gas from the U.S., among other options.

"There's nothing that speaks against getting gas from the United States, but to exclude Russia is the wrong strategic signal," she said.

Moulson reported from Berlin.


Viewed of

Take Five - This is your final free article during this 30 day period.Stay in touch with all of the news from Winchester, Frederick and Clarke. Sign up today for complete digital access to The Winchester Star.
Willmar, MN (56201)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 87F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies. Low 64F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
The last person who asked me that is still missing.

If you need me, I'll be underwater.

It's a dry heat.

You call this hot? Bring it on.

Vote

View Results
On Thursday, a six-year-old girl in Andover was injured when a large piece of ice shattered the windshield of the car she was in. The ice and the glass cut her face.
Lucy (voiced by Elizabeth Banks), Emmet (Chris Pratt) and Unikitty (Alison Brie) in The Lego Movie 2

A lightning bolt fashioned from coloured plastic construction bricks almost strikes twice in the LEGO Movie 2.

Set five years after the award-winning first film, Mike Mitchell's briskly paced, uproarious and imaginative sequel is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that Mad Max might begrudgingly call home, where plastic characters from the LEGO and Duplo universes live in perpetual conflict.

Scriptwriters Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, masterminds of the award-winning 2014 original, show a delightful disregard for convention as they lampoon the Marvel and DC Comics universes and swathes of pop culture.

The Twilight saga, velociraptors from Jurassic Park, show-stopping film musicals and John McClane from the Die Hard series (voiced by Bruce Willis with tongue wedged firmly in cheek) provide hearty laughs amid expertly staged action sequences.

When the Justice League takes flight to repel alien invaders in a breezy prologue and one of the superheroes demands, 'Where's Batman?', a cohort testily responds, 'He's off having a standalone adventure.'.

Digitally rendered visuals, which mimic the imperfect movements of stop-motion animation, are laden with in-jokes that demand a second viewing.

Everything Is Awesome, the infectious song which temporarily supplanted Let It Go from Frozen as the soundtrack earworm of despairing parents, gets another airing alongside a new ditty, Catchy Song, which features the chorus, 'This song is gonna get stuck inside your head'.

I can confirm, resistance is futile.

It has been five years since Finn (Jadon Sand) allowed his younger sister Bianca (Brooklynn Prince) to play with his LEGO sets.

Consequently, Bricksburg has degenerated into the den of despair known as Apocalypseburg.

The relentless good cheer of mini-figure Emmet (voiced by Chris Pratt) is out of step with the prevailing gloom and Lucy (Elizabeth Banks) wishes he could be more manly and heroic.

'We have to be hardened and battle ready at all times.' she growls.

Queen Watevra Wa' Nabi (Tiffany Haddish), who presides over the rival Systar galaxy, dispatches her masked envoy General Mayhem (Stephanie Beatriz) to Apocalypseburg to facilitate nuptials with Batman (Will Arnett).

The caped crusader refuses to relinquish his bat-chelor status so General Mayhem kidnaps Batman plus Lucy, Unikitty (Alison Brie), Metal

Beard (Nick Offerman) and Benny (Charlie Day), and spirits her hostages to her shape-shifting leader.

A distraught Emmet gives chase and encounters a swaggering and stubbled ally in the manly form of archaeologist adventurer Rex Dangervest (Pratt again).

The Lego Movie 2 comes close to replicating the boundless glee of its predecessor.

Pratt has a blast in dual roles, poking merciless fun at his Guardians Of the Galaxy and Jurassic World screen personae.

Romance with an amusingly snarky Banks comes to the boil with precision timing.

The script's core message about overcoming differences and playing together in harmony is a tad heavy-handed but in this brightly coloured, intergalactic war, subtlety is the casualty.
The Riverbank House Hotel rocked and rolled to the sound of Wexford-born guitar legends Robbie Furlong and Bernie Barrett who returned to their home town from Dublin and Philadelphia, respectively, to entertain a large and enthusiastic local crowd.

The duo were ably assisted by the equally legendary drummer Bill Doyle who played on the 'house band' M.6 with music stalwarts Andrew Smith (keyboards and guitar), James O'Sullivan (fiddle and guitar), Phil O' Byrne (bass), Johnny Dunne (vocals and guitar) and Laura Roche (vocals).

The Wexford Guitar Legends dance gig showcased the enduring talents of Furlong who plays with Full Circle in Dublin, and Barrett, a musician based in Philadelphia, who returns to perform at special Wexford events.

There were also guest appearances by members of the Don Sadler Jazz Band. A raffle during the night raised money for Wexford Hospice Homecare.
Health food shops in Wexford blacked out their windows last Friday in protest at a move by the Revenue Commissioners to slap a 23% VAT rate on food supplements such as vitamins, probiotics and fish oils

Supplements currently attract a zero VAT charge as they are categorised as food but that is set to change from March 1, resulting in higher costs for customers.

Health store owners have warned that jobs will be lost and premises will close unless the Government intervenes to stop the imposition of VAT on many of their products.

Matt Ronan, the proprietor of Evolv in Enniscorthy is the campaign's national spokesperson, representing about 200 small health food stores dotted around Ireland.

'Health shops are going to be massively affected by this hasty measure and will be facing, in some cases, closures and staff lay-offs if it is implemented', he said.

Wexford TD and Labour leader Brendan Howlin has raised the issue in the Dail.

Management and staff of Evolv, Only Natural, the Wexford Natural Health Store and Rainbow Wholefoods came together for a protest in the Bullring, Wexford on Friday morning last, as part of a nationwide action, calling on the Government not to tax health.

'Retailers and wholesalers cannot afford to absorb the 23% and will have to pass it on. This will hit the pockets of anyone who buys supplements', said Patrick Meehan of the Natural Health Store on the Main Street.

'A lot of customers are on low or middle income and will not be able to afford them anymore'.

'A bottle of Cod Liver Oil selling for 10 now will rise to 12.30 with the VAT increase and a bottle selling at 20 will increase to 24.60.'

'We need to highlight to consumers the effect this will have on their pockets as well as their health and ask them to contact their local TD's or sign a petition in health stores or online'', said Patrick.

'All health stores and other retailers selling supplements need to stick together on this. A VAT rate of 23% will have a huge impact on sales and the potential for thousands of job losses and possible store closures'.

'GP's surgeries are already full and a lot of counties are looking at a shortage of GP's in the coming years. Taking good quality health supplements can help keep people healthy and away from their GP for minor illnesses', said Mr. meehan, calling on the Government to intervene.

Matt Ronan said health stores are already encountering a wave of customer anger over the prospect of forced price increases.

The 0% rate on food supplements has been in place since 1972.'Ireland is somewhat unique in the EU in that along with Britain we have a zero rate of VAT on normal foods. The we have the likes of biscuits and crackers at 13.5% with chocolate biscuits, sweets and fizzy drinks coming in at 23%', he explained.

'Despite a 40-year tradition of not taxing food of health products, the Revenue Commissioners has been pushing since 2012 to impose taxation on products such as probiotics which help the digestion and immunity, glucosamine sulphate which is used to keep achy joints moving and the likes of turmeric which is helpful in reducing inflammation and pain for people who have sore muscles or joints'.

Products that help prevent macular degeneration, a cause of blindness, and supplements that help with the menopause are also due attract the 23% VAT rate. However, food products such as rice and nuts will not be taxed.

'As it stands, from March 1, we will have the ridiculous situation where you can buy a burger and chips from a takeaway at a 13.5% VAT rate but if you decide to consume Vitamin C, Vitamin D or Omega-3 fish oils to help with immunity and cardiovascular health, you will be taxed at the full 23%', said Matt.

The campaign spokesman said a recent survey found that 71% of Irish people use food supplements quite regularly. 'So, it is by no means a minority issue and it is essential that the Minister recognises his responsibilities and brings sanity to a situation which is beginning to teeter on the ridiculous', he said.

Health Stores Ireland have submitted a position paper to the Minister for Finance, outlining 'this outrageous situation'.'

'It is vital that a discussion takes place in order to avoid chaos for consumers who will be massively diminished in their ability to protect and sometimes regain their health, using simple natural products largely based on food', said Mr. Ronan.
The entrance to the16-acre site to be used for border inspections in the event of a no-deal Brexit

The government are set to enact emergency planning powers to ensure that Rosslare Europort is Brexit-ready. With the clock rapidly ticking on a hard Brexit, it emerged last week that the Office of Public Works (OPW) had agreed terms for the purchase of a 16 acre site in Rosslare Harbour which is to be used for border inspections in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

According to the land registry, the site is currently owned by haulage firm Baku GLS, after they purchased it back in 2015, but it was previously a Renault car distribution centre owned by well-known business man Bill Cullen.

It is understood that the site is being purchased for Revenue Commissioners officials and Department of Agriculture veterinary inspectors to carry out customs, food and animal health checks on goods coming into the port on lorries from Britain.

A spokesperson for the OPW confirmed that terms had been agreed for the purchase of the site, but stated that 'until the legal formalities have been completed, it would be inappropriate to comment further.'

'This work is part of a series of measures that the Government is taking, both nationally and in conjunction with the EU, to prepare for the UK's departure from the European Union,' he said.

It is understood that the site, which sits some 2km from the port itself, is only being viewed as a short-term solution to the border checks issue with the clock ticking to the UK's departure from the EU at the end of March.

Sources have stated that work is due to get under way on creating the temporary customs post this summer and that the government aim to have measures in place at all Irish ports within 18 months.

In the longer term, plans are afoot for a single centralised compound at Rosslare Europe with a total of 13 inspection bays, parking for up to 35 trucks and a dedicated border control post for live animals. However, this could be some years away yet.

With the OPW remaining tight-lipped until the sale of the 16 acre site in the village goes through, it is unclear exactly how the customs checks will work, however, it is believed that certain trucks etc coming in on the ferries will be obliged to stop at the site on their way through Rosslare. Those who fail to comply would do so under the threat of prosecution and severe penalties.

While welcoming any investment in Rosslare, local councillor Ger Carthy is far from convinced by the action being taken by the government on the port.

'The way I see it, they're now being reactive as opposed to proactive,' he said. 'What were getting now is this piecemeal solution without the proper structure required in the port. It seems they've just picked a plot and they intend to throw down porta-cabins on it and hope for the best.'

They've ignored the harbour development plan and they've failed to invest in the port for years. Where is this chunk of funding that we're told is coming from Europe for Rosslare?'

Cllr Carthy also had some big questions for Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tanaiste Simon Coveney.

'Where is the Tanaiste?' He asked. 'What plan has he got for Rosslare Harbour? What kind of investment is going into the port? What's all this secrecy about?'

Similarly, Fianna Fail councillor and general election candidate Lisa McDonald criticised a lack of information from the government.

'We know that the OPW has bought a 16-acre site at the port for customs checks and inspections, however, it will be well after the March 29 deadline before these customs posts are up and running,' she said.

'At least 13 inspection bays for trucks, as well as parking and a border control post for livestock is needed.'

'The lack of information from government is worrying, given how close we are to the March deadline.'
Outstanding people from Wexford across business, political, academia and humanitarian spheres could receive a top award.

Junior Chamber International (JCI) Ireland, in association with AIB, have launched a nationwide search to find the top 10 outstanding young people in Ireland.

The Ten Outstanding Young People (TOYP) awards, is a global initiative that identifies innovative, extraordinary and dedicated young people.

There are ten categories to choose from: Business, economic, and/or entrepreneurial accomplishment; Political, legal, and/or governmental affairs; Academic leadership and/or accomplishment; Cultural achievement; Moral and/or environmental leadership; Contribution to children, world peace, and/or human rights; Humanitarian and/or voluntary leadership; Scientific and/or technological development; Personal improvement and/or accomplishment; Medical innovation

Local chamber branches will choose their top four nominees to send forward to the National TOYP Awards which will be celebrated on May 18.

The TOYP national winners will represent Ireland at the JCI World Congress in Estonia.

Members of the public can now nominate a young person between 18 and 40 who deserves to be highlighted and rewarded for their outstanding achievements. Go to JCIIreland.ie, click on Ten Outstanding Young Persons and fill out a very short nomination form. Entries close on Monday , March 4.
Wexford Bus has partnered with UPMC Whitfield, the largest private hospital in the South East, to promote ease of access to quality healthcare services for patients across the region.

The partnership will see buses operating between Wexford and Dublin, Carlow and Waterford bear the UPMC Whitfield logo and colours, and highlight the availability of a dedicated centre of medical excellence for patients in the region - with the Wexford to Waterford service terminating at UPMC Whitfield.

UPMC Whitfield has over 50 expert consultants working across a range of specialties, including radiotherapy, cardiology, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, oncology / haematology, radiology, ear, nose and throat, gynaecology, urology and general surgery. These are supported by a wider team of 180 dedicated medical, nursing and administration staff to ensure the 70-bed hospital offers patients the right care, in the right way, at the right time - in a first-class facility that is close to home.

Wexford Bus connects the major towns and cities across the South East. Its buses travel from Wexford to Waterford, Carlow and Dublin city and airport, and between Arklow, Wicklow and Dublin city and airport. Wexford Bus also connects all the key towns along its routes.

David Beirne, CEO at UPMC Whitfield, said: 'We're committed to supporting patients and communities in the South East, and are proud to be collaborating with Wexford Bus to highlight the great transport and health services in the region.

'Wexford Bus's services offer patients easy access to some of the best medical professionals and facilities in the country, and we're looking forward to working with them.'

Brendan Crowley, Managing Director of Wexford Bus said: 'We are delighted to have partnered with UPMC Whitfield. When developing our routes and schedules, we strive to accommodate our passengers by bringing them to the key health, education and commercial centres on the route.

'Our service between Wexford, New Ross and Waterford terminates at UPMC Whitfield to facilitate the ever-increasing number of passengers from the southeast who are attending appointments for a wide range of excellent healthcare services. Wexford Bus started operating between Wexford and Waterford at the end of 2015 and now operates up to eight daily services in each direction.'

Wexford Bus is owned and operated by Wexford-based Brendan and Lorene Crowley and was established in 1996. The aim was to operate a service around Wexford Town and the surrounding towns and villages. In 2007 the express service between Wexford and Dublin was launched. In 2015, the service between Wexford and Waterford via New Ross was introduced, and in 2018, the service for South Wicklow commenced.
Jacek Truszcznski (Economist, Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs European Commission), Verona Murphy (President Irish Road Haulage Association), Sean Kelly MEP, Minister Michael DArcy and Cormac Murphy (Head of EIB Group Office for Ireland)

Sean Kelly, MEP for Ireland South and leader of Fine Gael in the European Parliament, is urging County Wexford businesses to make full use of opportunities available under the EU Investment Plan to mitigate against the potential economic impacts of Brexit in the coming years.

Mr. Kelly was speaking from the Talbot Hotel in Wexford where he hosted a public meeting on 'Brexit and the EU Investment Plan', which also included contributions from Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Michael D'Arcy; President of the Irish Road Hauliers Association, Verona Murphy; Jacek Truszczynski of the European Commission; and Head of the European Investment Bank's Dublin Office, Cormac Murphy.

In his opening address, Mr. Kelly highlighted the potential of the EU Investment Plan for Ireland as the UK's withdrawal date draws nearer.

'The EU Investment Plan has been a huge success in recent years, and it perfectly demonstrates the benefit of being a member of the European Union', he said.

'The flagship programme thus far has been EFSI (European Fund for Strategic Investments), which mobilised 371.2 billion in additional investments up to December 2018, and which will hit 500 billion by 2020, supporting 856,000 EU SMEs in the process.'

'EFSI will soon be succeeded by the new InvestEU Programme, which is set to mobilise a further 650 billion in additional investments by 2027, and for which I have the privilege of being part of the European Parliament's negotiating team.'

'Even a fraction of this 650 billion investment coming Ireland's way would bring significant job creation and help support our companies through the challenges set to be brought on by Brexit' said the MEP.

He said a key improvement that InvestEU has over EFSI is the focus on small businesses and helping them to access finance. InvestEU will ensure that adequate support is allocated to smaller companies and projects.

'A good project that is struggling to get financing would be able to go to the EIB or another InvestEU implementing partner, and if it meets the required criteria, the EU Guarantee can take on some of the risk and increase the likelihood of financing', he said.

'We all know of cases where a perfectly good business venture or project fails to get off the ground due to difficulties obtaining financial backing for whatever reason - this is where the Investment Plan comes in.

The opportunities for Ireland are clear, especially as it means an overwhelming majority of our companies would qualify for support as a result.'
Avondale City Council approved a city-initiated request for approval of a final plat for city of Avondale Van Buren Fire Station Facility. The city council report indicated this is a partial replat of the Coldwater Place final plat.
SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) -- An oxygen tank explosion has led to a mans death in Springfield. Fire and police officials said the tank exploded Tuesday morning on Knox Street in the city after it was tampered with.
Pakistan Rangers Jobs 2019 for Soldiers

Latest Pakistan Rangers Security Posts Lahore 2021 Pakistan Rangers Punjab Lahore, Pakistan Army, Government of Pakistan are requires applications from Pakistanis Nationals and energetic candidates for the posts of Soldiers/ General Duty, Sipahi.

How to Apply on Pakistan Rangers 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:

Karachi HQ Pakistan Rangers Sindh Muslim Jinnah Courts Buildings Dr

Telephone: 042-99220037-8

Official Website: www.pakistanrangerspunjab.com

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.
Weatherford, TX (76086)

Today

Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 96F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 74F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph.
Reporter

I cover a range of stories for WDRB, but really enjoy tracking what's going on at our State Capitol. I grew up on military bases all over the world, but am a Kentuckian at heart. I'm an EKU alum, and have lived in Louisville for 30 years.
Wilmington, DE (19810)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 81F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed e-governance and IT sector projects with Estonia's President Kersti Kaljulaid on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, according to a statement from El-Sisis spokesman.

El-Sisi welcomed the activities of a number of Estonian companies in Egypt, which are working in the field of e-governance, IT, transport technology, shipping and logistics, pointing to the promising investment opportunities offered by the Suez Canal Economic Zone, according to a statement by Bassam Rady.

The Egyptian president stressed his keenness on promoting cooperation and relations with Estonia at all levels.

The pair also discussed cooperation in the fields of energy production from waste and extraction of shale oil.

They also discussed a number of regional and international issues of common concern and the challenges faced by African and European countries, especially the phenomenon of illegal immigration and terrorism, which require coordination and work between the two sides to reach effective solutions to these challenges through a common vision.

Kaljulaid, for her part, said her country seeks to boost cooperation with Egypt, in light of Cairo's great regional and African status, said Radi.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


A federal court ruled Friday that Iowa State had not acted "deliberately indifferent" to former student Melissa Maher by waiting to take action until the hearing process after she was sexually assaulted by another student in 2014.

Maher, who alleged in 2016 that her Title IX rights had been violated by Iowa State because the university subjected her to an unreasonable amount of time to investigate her assault, had her case originally dismissed in February 2018 by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa leading Maher to appeal the case.

Former Iowa State student suing university over handling of 2014 sexual assault A former Iowa State student is suing the school over its response to a sexual assault that o

However, on Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit came to the same conclusion as the district court.

"There is no genuine dispute that ISU was deliberately indifferent after its investigative report concluded that Whetstone sexually assaulted Maher because ISU was not clearly unreasonable in light of the known circumstances," according to court documents.

The court of appeals also affirmed that the district court was correct in granting Iowa State's motion for a summary judgment, which is a request for the court to rule there is no case because there are not enough facts to present the issue.

Court dismisses Title IX case against university by former student A federal court ruled Tuesday to dismiss a former Iowa State student's case against the univ

Maher was sexually assaulted in 2014 by then-student Patrick Whetstone in March 2014 at a Frederiksen Court apartment on Iowa State's campus. Maher reported the assault to the Iowa State Police Department the next day.

Whetstone was not charged for the crime until January 2015. In 2016, he pleaded guilty on charges of assault with intent to commit sexual assault, an aggravated misdemeanor. He was sentenced to two years probation.

Former Iowa State student given probation in sexual assault, victim speaks in court A former Iowa State student accused in a 2014 sexual assault pleaded guilty to a lesser char

After learning of the assault, Iowa State issued a no-contact order against Whetstone. Yet, when Maher returned to campus in the late summer of 2014, Maher learned Whetstone was living in a building close to her own.

Maher requested Whetstone be moved, but university officials explained they could not move him until the investigation and hearing processes concluded. Instead, Iowa State offered alternative housing arrangements for Maher on Aug. 20, 2014, which she declined.

The court of appeals decided the housing arrangements were reasonable of Iowa State, and that her "dissatisfaction with the schools response does not mean the schools response can be characterized as deliberate indifference."

The court also concluded it was not "deliberately indifferent" for Iowa State to wait to take such action until the hearing process concluded in an effort of "respecting Whetstones procedural due process rights."

Yet, on Sept. 19, 2014  just a month after Maher initially met with university officials to discuss Whetstone's housing  Iowa State concluded that Whetstone had sexually assaulted Maher. She later withdrew from the university.

Due to violating Iowa State's Code of Conduct, Whetstone was expelled from the university on July 22, 2015.

Maher alleged in her original suit that the discrimination she faced was "so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it can be said to deprive her of access to the educational opportunities or benefits provided by the school."
Los Angeles: The mental state of Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor when he shot dead Australian yoga instructor Justine Damond-Ruszczyk and a "ludicrous" statement by his partner have emerged as potential keys to the murder trial.

Australian Justine Damond was fatally shot by a policeman in the US. Credit:Facebook

New court filings by prosecutors also revealed Noor, who has refused to speak publicly about the shooting, gave what appears to be "his first version of the facts since the incident occurred 17 months ago to a defence investigator and a defence expert witness".

Noor was fired from the Minneapolis Police Department last March after he was charged with the second and third-degree murder of Ms Damond-Ruszczyk.

He faces up to 40 years' jail if convicted at the April 1 trial in Minneapolis.
Mr Shorten says the medical evacuation measure is strictly limited to people already in offshore detention, and accused Mr Morrison of using rhetoric that encouraged people to board a boat to Australia. Bill Shorten passed the 'medivac' bill, prompting rhetoric from the Government that he was soft on border protection. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen It's understood the opposition has insisted to the heads of Home Affairs and Operation Sovereign Borders that there be no reduction in patrols or scrutiny of the sea to the north of Australia during any transition period. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video More than 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers are living in Indonesia and only several hundred are resettled by the United Nations each year. The rest have been told that they may never be resettled in a third country.

The former people smuggler said of people who were waiting six or more years for resettlement, "they will ride [a boat] eventually, I think". However, among a dozen asylum seekers and refugees interviewed in two locations by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald in Indonesia, there is little enthusiasm to take a boat. One group, from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sudan were on the streets outside the West Jakarta Immigration centre. The others lived two hours south of Jakarta in the town of Cisarua. Sayed Hussaini outside the UNHCR in West Jakarta. Credit:James Massola Four of the 12 men were aware of a law change in Canberra this week on medical evacuations, with two across the detail. But only one, Afghan Hazara Sayed Ali Hussaini, who has been recognised as a refugee, said he was willing to try a boat. When Mr Hussaini arrived almost six years ago, he expected to take boat in a matter of weeks. But when turnbacks started under Tony Abbott, he changed his mind. He has been in Jakarta ever since.

"Back then I was worried about the boats being turned back. Secondly, I was told that the process here was quick. 'You just wait here,' the UNHCR said. But I have been waiting for [almost] six years." Loading Asked if he might try a boat if the Australian government changed he said: "Inshallah [God willing]. "Yes, if it is possible, if I have the money ... If there is [an opportunity] I want it because I am tired. Who wants to be like this, just sleeping and eating?" However, he has little money left to pay a smuggler.

The other 11 refugees interviewed, most of whom had come to Indonesia with family, insisted that boat journeys were too dangerous. Khalil Payeez, a Pakistani Hazara who arrived in Indonesia in July, 2013, agreed that if Labor wins the next election "of course people smugglers will try to start moving and make propaganda," and that "Some might think of jumping [on a boat]." "The smugglers will try to persuade people with promises ... The first boat is a test boat. If they go to Australia and get taken to Nauru or Manus no-one else will try. Here is much better than Manus, Nauru or Christmas Island," he said. Afghan Hazara Refugees Rajab Ali and one of his children, Farhad, 16. Credit:James Massola Mr Payeez is sceptical about the impact of the medical evacuation law change, but doesn't doubt - as Prime Minister Scott Morrison has argued - that would-be people smugglers could try to use the legal change to tempt new customers.

"Its too soon to say if it has an impact. I just got the news. I dont think its a huge impact. But people pay attention," he said. "[However] I don't think people here will be deceived again. It might be some might be interested, but not many. There are more families here [Cisarua] now and so people say the risk is too high, no one wants to get on a boat with children and family members." Many spoke at length about family and friends who had drowned, saying they did not want to risk the lives of their own children. Five members of Ashraf Jawadi's family and close friends died trying to get to Australia by boat, and he won't risk the journey with his wife and two children. Credit:James Massola Ashraf Jawadi, a 33-year-old Afghan who has lived in Cisarua for the past three years, insisted he, his wife and two children are "waiting to go legally. Not by boat. It is too dangerous".

"I lost many friends in 2011, 2012, 2013. Even now, we don't know what happened to them." "If you go by resettlement [through the UNHCR] it means the Australian government invite you. If you go by boat they don't invite you. There is a door and a window. Don't go by window." The decisive factor in most people's decision to stay in Indonesia has been the turn-backs policy. The former smuggler, who was at one time a mid-level operative for a major syndicate, agreed. "[Turn-backs] costs both the passengers and the smugglers," he said. Habibullah Habibi, an Afghan Hazara refugee who came to Indonesia in 2015 and lives in Cisarua with his wife and two young children. He says he won't get on a boat because he doesn't want to die. Credit:James Massola

However, a number of wealthy smugglers from the former boat trade in 2012 and 2013 were still in business, and hoping to start the route to Australia again. He named several, including Zahid Nanna, who organised a boat in 2012 that killed 96 people, and Sayed Naveed, who deputised for the infamous Sayed Abbas when he was in prison in Indonesia. "This time they are very big. They are rich because of Europe," the former smuggler said. If they were successful in re-establishing the route to Australia, "there will be no limit of passengers, especially from Afghanistan. Thousands of people are trying to get out, they are already here in Pakistan. A lot of them." Sayed Abbas who was accused of people smuggling, in court in Jakarta in 2013. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen In response to questions, Mr Shorten said, "Let me make it very clear to people smugglers in Indonesia or elsewhere: you and your trade are not welcome. Any government I lead will deploy the full force of the ring of steel of the Australian defence forces and our border forces."
A WA vegan at the centre of an angry showdown with a South West dairy farmer claims he has received hundreds of death threats after vision of the incident was made public.

Animal activist James Warden told Nine News Perth the threats were a risk he was willing to take to protect animals.

Vegan James Cordon in altercation with south west dairy farmer. Credit:Nine News Perth

"I'm definitely getting death threats, I've had 650 message requests of farmers and truck drivers messaging me and saying they are going to find me and murder me," he said.

"I'm not ok with the animals being hated...if there's a subsequent effect of me being neglected and me being threatened, that's an acceptable risk for myself."
A 21-year-old man was arrested at Sydney Airport on Thursday after allegedly attempting to import 80 kilograms of MDMA into Australia.

US citizen Eric Haddock was arrested by Australian Border Force officers after he allegedly travelled to Australia from the United States to receive the consignment of MDMA and enable its distribution in Sydney.

The drugs were detected on Tuesday by Australian Border Force officers, allegedly concealed in a commercial-grade electro-magnet. The matter was referred to the Australian Federal Police, who located 83 bags of a brown crystalline.

A 21-year-old man from the Unites States was arrested at Sydney Airport on Thursday after allegedly attempting to import 80 kilograms of MDMA into Australia. Credit:AFP

The man first arrived in Australia on Wednesday, flying into Melbourne on a flight from the United States. The next morning, police allege the man travelled to Sydney to take possession of the illicit substances which had arrived via air cargo from Germany.
Washington, IN (47501)

Today

Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 86F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy with a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
In November, the CIA concluded with medium-to-high confidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman probably ordered the killing of Khashoggi, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post who had written articles criticizing the prince. Saudi officials have vigorously denied that Mohammed was involved. President Trump has defended the crown prince and argued that the U.S. alliance with Saudi Arabia should not be threatened because of the Khashoggi case.
February they say, is the month of love and giving, as every 14th day of this month is set aside to show love by giving. To surprise its customers and spread love in a different way, MTN dispatched #MTNLoveBox models to major shopping malls across the country bearing gifts of love for 2. The models were dressed up in yellow heart-shaped costumes that had QR codes on them.

At first, most shoppers at the Polo Park Mall, Enugu, were curious as to what was going on, wetin dem dey do wey dem wear love like this? That was the question one of the shoppers asked and she was told she could win a prize by scanning the QR code on the costume. Interesting she said and quickly brought out her phone; who doesnt love freebies?

As the day wore on, different gifts were won by shoppers at the Polo Park mall who scanned the heart shaped QR codes. Gifts such as Samsung phones, Ice cream and movie vouchers for 2, shopping vouchers and free data were won by many.

To cap it all off, popular Nigerian actor and comedian, Osofia (Real name Nkem Owoh) who has a huge fan base in Enugu made an appearance and also took part in the fun!!!

#MTNLoveBox truly got a lot of people in the love and giving mood, as the shoppers in Enugu were full of smiles when they redeemed their gifts. The experience is something we wont forget in a hurry, many of us are already anticipating what MTN has in store next for us and we trust them not to disappoint.
YOLA, Nigeria  The borders were closed. Shops, universities, offices and airports, too. Tens of thousands of soldiers, observers and election officials were deployed around the country. Nigerians spent their savings, and risked their lives in some cases, to return to their hometowns to vote. When they went to sleep on the eve of election day, everything seemed in order for a day that was expected to reaffirm the transition to democracy in Africas most populous country.
We need to get used to this. Its not going to be like the good old times, when everyone comes, gives speeches, everyone applauds, and everyone goes home, said Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, whose nation is on the front lines of the conflict with Russia and whose security depends on Europe and the United States getting along well enough to defend the Baltics. Its getting crazier and crazier. I dont know what next years Munich will bring.
McCarrick was a globe-trotting diplomat, representing the Vatican abroad, advocating for human rights and religious freedom. He was the de facto lead spokesman among U.S. cardinals when the abuse crisis first exploded in the early 2000s, and he helped draw up rules in the United States for how the church would handle abuse, rules that provided zero tolerance for predator priests but did little to improve oversight of bishops or cardinals. McCarrick served as archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006 and afterward regularly testified before Congress and attended White House meetings.
The Mexican government has repeatedly said it lacks the resources to provide food, shelter and medical care to the families who are sent back across the border, potentially for months, until their first asylum hearing. Initially, in January, Mexican officials said they would not accept children sent back as a part of what are known as Migration Protection Protocols. For the first few weeks of the program, only individual adults were sent back.
Vanguard

The Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Uche Secondus, has called on the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Yakubu Mahmoud, to resign.

The Sun

Unidentified gunmen, have abducted an All Progressives Congress (APC) women leader in Delta State, identified simply as Margaret said to be a staunch supporter of the member representing Delta Central Senatorial District in the Senate, Mr. Ovie Omo-Agege.

Leadership

The Police Command in Enugu State says that election security arrangement still remained intact in the state in spite of postponement.

Daily Trust

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to resign following the Commissions postponement of the 2019 general election at the 11th hour.

The Nation

Consequently, the Presidential and National Assembly elections will come up next Saturday, 23rd February 2019 while the governorship and state Assembly election will now hold on 9th March, 2019.

Tribune

The electorate in oil-rich Delta State, who had weathered all storms in preparation to exercise their franchise on Saturday, woke up disappointed on realising the exercise had been postponed.
Her delegation is one of four in Munich, more than 50 members of Congress all told, taking up the mantle that was once the providence of the late senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). His close friends referred to his 2017 appearance at the gathering as his first act as secretary of reassurance in the Trump era.
In his speech, Pence also took aim at some allies growing interactions with Russia. He criticized Germanys planned purchase of Russian natural gas, which the United States considers a security threat. In an apparent reference to Turkeys purchase of Russian arms, he said: We have also made it clear that we will not stand idly by while NATO allies purchase weapons from our adversaries. We cannot ensure the defense of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East.
We dont know what the allegations are, said Harris lawyer David Freedman. We dont really know who the witnesses are going to be. Weve not seen any sort of report. I cant think of any proceeding Ive ever gone into with less information in terms of what evidence the state board investigators have. Which makes it difficult to be prepared to defend, because we dont know what were defending.
The $5 billion he demanded earlier this year was an arbitrary number, aides said, after he grew frustrated that Congress only gave him $1.6 billion  even though his own aides sought that amount. Trump has often talked about the wall, but current and former White House officials say it has not been a top priority among senior aides. There has been no designated point person on the issue, and Trumps agitation and concern often waxes and wanes.
In a footnote on his personal financial disclosure filed last May, Trump reported a reimbursement of up to $250,000 to Cohen. He said he was disclosing it in the interest of transparency, stressing that it was not required to be reported as a debt.
It is also unclear whether even the most vocal GOP critics of Trumps move will actually vote to disapprove of his emergency declaration, and few were willing to address the issue on Friday. According to one White House official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the individual was not allowed to comment publicly, administration aides have urged lawmakers to keep their powder dry for now rather than stating how theyd vote publicly.
As journalist Annie Lowrey, whose book Give People Money surveyed basic income programs around the world, points out, the United States is distinguished both by its exaltation of self-sufficiency and its unique racial divide. As it turns out, racism makes it hard to improve the safety net: Research shows that whites are less likely to support welfare programs when theyre told that blacks might benefit, even if they themselves are receiving social support. In fact, this was a flaw in the original New Deal: Agricultural and domestic laborers, most of whom were black, were purposefully excluded from many of the New Deals most important provisions.
The decision of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the 2019 general elections have been met with outcry by Nigerians. Nigerian Nollywood actress, Omoni Oboli, is definitely not happy about the decision.

The beautiful actress who has been on holidays in Los Angeles only returned back to the country two days to ago in order to participate in the postponed poll.

The 41 year old actress shared while taking to her Twitter handle today February 16th, how disgusted she is at the manners in which the elections were postponed.

She said:

But come to think of itdid @inecnigeria and the government apologize to us?!!! Dont we deserve an apology? You just disrupted our lives MAJORLY with an announcement and no apology? This is so disrespectful! Nigerians deserve better! #NigeriaDecides2019  Omoni Oboli (@Omonioboli) February 16, 2019

https://twitter.com/Omonioboli/status/1096660876428365824
There are other questions, too, that now seem destined to go largely unanswered: Did McCarrick simply perpetrate abuse, or was he involved in its coverup in any of his illustrious posts? (The ongoing New Jersey investigation into allegations against the states clergy may well yield answers here, though they wont play a role in the churchs formal accounting of McCarricks activities.) How many victims were there  seminarians, young men or minors? Reports on the Vaticans inquest list three individuals who submitted testimony of abuse by McCarrick, but I have learned in subsequent reporting of at least four others who testified, all of them from the same extended family. Romes investigation appeared to gather just enough rope to hang McCarrick  but is that all there is? Are there more who hesitated to come forward? McCarrick declared his innocence when the allegations against him were first publicized last summer and hasnt spoken on the charges since.
Regarding money, AIPAC, though a pro-Israel lobbying group, does not actually finance politicians. Omar was also quite wrong about the nations pro-Israel stance being all about the Benjamins baby, a reference to $100 bills. As most readers know, the United States supports Israel in large part because it is surrounded by countries, including Iran, that deny its right to exist, as well as other places that harbor or support terrorism, or are, in the case of Gaza, run by a terrorist organization. It is, in other words, in our national interest to support Israel.
Fact: Most illegal drugs that enter the country from Mexico are discovered by authorities at legal crossing points, not in remote areas where a wall would serve as a deterrent. That was the case, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, for 90 percent of the heroin seized along the border. Its not a Democratic talking point. Vice President Pence, in an opinion piece published last month in USA Today, noted that most seizures of illegal narcotics are primarily at points of entry.
RUSSIA

U.S. financier arrested on fraud allegations

Michael Calvey, one of the most prominent U.S. investors based in Russia, faced fraud allegations in a Moscow courtroom on Friday in a case that could raise fresh doubts about the countrys ability to attract foreign capital.

Calvey, who was taken into custody, denied the allegations in court and said he was ready to cooperate in the police probe, according to Russian media.

His private equity firm, Baring Vostok Capital Partners, said Russian authorities had detained him and three employees as a result of a shareholder dispute at a bank, Orient Express, in which the firm holds a stake.

A Moscow court notice showed that Calvey had been detained on suspicion of fraud carried out by an organized group. Such a crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, according to the Russian criminal code.

Calvey, 51, founded Baring Vostok in Moscow in 1994. The firm says it has invested $2.8 billion from North American pension funds and others into companies across the former Soviet Union.

It wasnt clear whether political motivations played a role in Calveys detention. He is at least the third Westerner to face adverse action by Russias justice system in two months.

 Anton Troianovski

SYRIA

Discovery of civilians hinders ISIS fight

The offensive on the last enclave held by the Islamic State in eastern Syria has been blunted by the discovery of hundreds of civilians still living there, said a commander with the Kurdish-led force fighting the extremists.

Adnan Afrin, a Kurdish commander in the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, said that in the last three days Islamic State militants had brought up hundreds of civilians from underground tunnels to make the SDF and U.S.-led coalition aware of their presence in the village of Baghouz.

Afrin estimated that around 1,000 civilians, including women and children, are still in the area.

 Associated Press

Erdogan expects U.S. to fully back Khashoggi probe: Turkey expects the United States to put its weight behind the probe into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. He also told broadcaster A Haber that Turkey was determined to take the investigation to an international court, adding that Ankara would deliver documents and information regarding the case to the authorities who would carry out the trial. The Trump administration last week declined to submit a report to Congress determining whether Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was personally responsible for the Oct. 2 killing of the Washington Post contributing columnist at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

Spain to elect new government in April: Spain will elect its third government in less than four years after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's fragile socialist government acknowledged that its support had evaporated and called an early general election. Sanchez's eight-month-old administration met its end after failing to get parliament's approval for its 2019 budget proposal this week, adding to the political uncertainty that has dogged Spain in recent years. The vote is set for April 28.

Brazil arrests 8 in dam break: Eight employees of Brazilian mining giant Vale, including four managers, have been arrested in the probe into last month's collapse of a mining dam that killed at least 166 people and left 147 missing in Minas Gerais state, the local prosecutor's office said. They will be held "under temporary custody" for 30 days to determine whether they have responsibility for the Jan. 25 collapse, a statement said.

 From news services


Superstar musician Ayo Balogun popularly known as Wizkid or Starboy has also joined many of his colleagues to reject the postponement of the presidential election.

The musician via his Instagram story on Saturday, the day elections should have held said that the two major parties  Peoples Democratic Party,PDP and the All Progressives Congress, APC are the same thing.

According to him, Nigerians should not be discouraged as they should go out on the 23rd of February, being the new date for the postponed elections to vote their choice.

He wrote:
Offers of support began streaming in almost faster than the girls could respond. The executive director of Greenpeace agreed to hand the groups social media accounts over to students for the day of the strike. The New York chapter of the Sunrise Movement, the grass-roots group advocating for the Green New Deal, offered to handle outreach for March 15. Prominent climate researchers including Michael Mann, Kathrine Hayhoe and Peter Kalmus followed the girls on Twitter and began to organize an open letter of support from scientists. Alexandria and her mother have been invited to attend a special briefing next week on the U.N. Climate Summit being held later this year.
When I started working on the virus in 1996, there were still over 500,000 children dying of measles each year worldwide. Such big numbers can be hard to digest. So to put it into perspective, if youve ever been on or seen a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, you will know its a pretty big airplane. Think of over three of these planes full of infants crashing every day of the year with 100 percent of the people on board dying. January, February, March . . . the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox . . . November, back to the winter solstice in December . . . one rhythmic year. Thats the reality of measles  over a half-million lives were lost globally every year in the 1990s.
Pence and the Benjamins: An Eternity of Anti-Semitism

By Chris Floyd

February 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - There has been much throwing about of brains on the subject of anti-Semitism lately. But in the ceaseless and almost entirely cynical media-political imbroglio that has followed the Benjamins tweet of Rep. Ilhan Omar, Ive seen nothing said about perhaps the most intense and thoroughgoing form of anti-Semitism in America today: an anti-Semitism that is not only prevalent but dominant in the halls of power at the moment.

This virulent anti-Semitism  which in at least one respect surpasses that of the Nazis themselves  is passionately embraced by millions of Americans. Its most prominent adherent right now  in terms of actual power  is the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence. (See note 1 below.) So we will examine Mike Pences beliefs as an exemplar of this growing brand of anti-Semitism.

Mike Pence believes, with all his heart, that every single Jewish person on the planet will  and should  burn in the ovens of Hell for all eternity  unless they stop being Jews and accept his own version of the Christian faith. There is no equivocating here. Pence is a passionate evangelical Christian. He believes that the Bible is the literal word of God, and that his sects interpretation of that word is true, correct and everlasting. I know his type of Christianity very well, for I was raised in it. There can be no question what Mike Pence, and millions of Americans, believe about Jews and their ultimate fate.

So lets continue. Mike Pence not only believes that every Jew alive today will be tortured and tormented for eternity, but that every single Jew since the time of Jesus Christ is right now burning and writhing in undying flames  unless, again, they had cast off their cursed Jewishness at some point and become Christians.

Thus Mike Pence believes that every Jewish person killed in the Holocaust  with a few exceptions (see note 2 below)  is even now, right this minute, screaming madly with unbearable pain as they feel the fire searing into their flesh: fire that never stops lashing, flesh that never burns away. Mike Pence believes that almost all of the Jews killed in the Holocaust went directly from the torment of the gas chamber or the shooting pit into the fires of Hell, where they are even now undergoing tortures and abominations far worse than the Nazis could ever inflict.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Its worse because there is no relief, not even for a moment. There is no chance even to lie down on a wooden plank for three hours in a bone-cold winter night after a back-breaking day of slave labor. There is not even the hope that your mind will break and youll lose conscious awareness of your situation, or that the torture will finally end at some point in the relief and oblivion of death.

There is none of that. No relief. No hope. No end. Only the unbearable pain of your entire body burning in flames, while you remain fully conscious, fully aware of every microsecond of agony. Forever. For millions of years, billions of years, trillions of years. This is what Mike Pence believes should happen to every single Jewish person who doesnt renounce their literally God-damned Jewishness. He believes they deserve to suffer unending torment and pain  because they didnt believe what he believes about God and Jesus and salvation.

The beliefs of Mike Pence about the eternal torment of Jews are the very embodiment of an extreme anti-Semitism. In its feverish vision of the ultimate fate of the Jewish people  an eternal Final Solution  it is even more brutal and cruel than Nazism itself.

2.

Now, Mike Pence might argue that he and his fellow sectarians are not anti-Semites, because they dont hate Jews just for being Jewish, as the Nazis did. In fact, Mike Pence and his religious compatriots will tell you they actually love Jews, deeply and fiercely, which is why they support the Israeli government far more blindly and fervently than, say, most Jewish Americans do. They love Jews so much they want to spend eternity with them  millions and billions and trillions of years! They love Jews so much that many of them pray nightly that every Jew in the world will be saved from the Jewishness they were unfortunately inflicted with at birth. They dont want a single Jew to writhe and scream forever in the fires of Hell. Let us grant them that.

Nevertheless, Mike Pence and his fellow sectarians are cheerfully resigned to the fact that this writhing and screaming will be the fate of any stiff-necked Jew who fails to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. They believe it is part of Gods perfect plan that such Jews burn in unrelenting agony for billions and trillions of years. They believe the eternal torture of the Jews is not only justified; it is righteous, holy, even glorious. Because it is in accordance with the divinely ordained structure of the universe.

Here, Mike Pence might object again. The fate of eternal hellfire awaits all those who refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, he might say. Were not just singling out the Jews for special measures. And thats true. But it was also true of the Nazis. They didnt just persecute and torture and murder Jews. There were many different kinds of people whom the Nazis felt violated their idea of the divinely ordered structure of the universe and deserved punishment, torment and elimination. But the fact that condemnation is spread around various groups doesnt mitigate the suffering of any specific group being targeted.

And with both Mike Pence and the Nazis, it is the Jewishness of the Jews that condemn them. For the Nazis, a Jew could be an exemplary person with a record of long and faithful service to the German nation; it didnt matter. They were Jewish and thus were condemned. For Mike Pence, a Jew could be an extraordinarily loving and giving individual, someone who has sacrificed for others, helped the poor and sick  indeed, lived a blameless, Christ-like life in every respect; it doesnt matter. If that person does not renounce their Jewishness, then it is their very Jewishness  their adherence to their own faith rather than the faith of Mike Pence  that will condemn them to eternal damnation.

I suppose one might say that non-religious Jews will be lumped in with all the other non-believers on the transport trains to Mike Pences eternal Auschwitz, and therefore its not their Jewishness per se that condemns them. Whether that will be any comfort to them as they screech in agony alongside religious Jews is unlikely. But let us concede that on this point, Mike Pence and his fellow sectarians are not as anti-Semitic as the Nazis: they only condemn religious Jews for being Jewish; non-religious Jews will go to Hell for other reasons.

And in fact, Im not here to equate evangelical Christianity with Nazism. Do Mike Pence and his fellow sectarians advocate the persecution of living Jews in any way, much less along Nazi lines? No, of course not. (Although it has to be said that Mike Pence  and Donald Trump  and millions of their followers seem happy to persecute Muslims in ways very similar to the Nazis early treatment of Jews. Whether their anti-Islamism will lead them into emulating the Nazis even further in their persecution of a demonized minority remains to be seen. But they are not there yet.)

My point is simply this: any belief-system that says Jews deserve to be tortured and tormented, forever, simply for being Jews, is anti-Semitic. Any belief-system that says this eternal punishment of Jews is an absolute requirement of a just and moral universe is anti-Semitic. Anyone who holds this belief is, ultimately and essentially, an anti-Semite, whatever else they might feel about Jewish individuals they know, or Jewish people in general, or the state of Israel.

Therefore, Mike Pence  and so many others who have been loudly and showily condemning Omar  are in fact anti-Semites of the highest order. They are the eternal anti-Semites, envisioning an unspeakable punishment for all Jews who remain Jews, for all time  yea, even beyond the end of all time. And that, to me, is utterly despicable.

NOTES.

1. Donald Trump is, of course, more powerful than Pence; but he cant be used as a representative in this case, because its obvious Trump has no religious belief at all. He is certainly not an evangelical Christian in even the remotest sense, although the political hucksters of Pences sect like to claim him as an adherent. His only object of worship  his only ultimate concern, to use the Tillichian terminology  is his own bloated, blustering self.

2. As noted, Mike Pence doesnt believe that every Jew who was murdered in the Holocaust is now in Hell. There are exceptions. First, of course, are the many Jewish converts to Christianity killed by the Nazis, who were less concerned with belief than biology. (Or rather, with their bogus view of biology and race science, which they took largely from American thinkers and lawmakers of the early 20th century.)

The second exception would be children who had not yet reached the age of accountability. This is the point (in the evangelical conception) at which a child comes to the conscious knowledge that he or she must accept Jesus as their Saviour and be baptized  or else burn eternally in Hell. This means that that little children who have not yet formed such an awareness are in a state of innocence, and would be taken up to heaven in the event of an untimely death. So while Mike Pence believes that Anne Frank, for example, went straight to the fiery pits of Hell as soon as she was murdered by the Nazis, many younger Jewish children would have been spared eternal damnation after their deaths.

(The age of accountability is a very murky milestone, however. I remember hearing a sermon on the subject when I was seven years old, and becoming aware that I was aware, that I understood the deal: Im a sinner who will burn in hell if I dont get baptized. At the same time, I was mortified by the idea of going down in front of the whole church at the altar call and confessing my conviction, which was the standard practice. But even though the preacher had offhandedly mentioned a vague age range  10, 11 years old  I figured God would know that I knew, and that I couldnt risk dying at some point in the next few years then trying to weasel out of things when I stood before the Great White Throne of Judgment: Hey, Im not even 11 years old yet, so I havent technically reached the age of accountability, right? Thus I spent a few anxious weeks running the risk of eternal damnation before I worked up the courage to overcome the embarrassment of making a public confession.)

Chris Floyd is an award-winning American journalist, and author of the book, Empire Burlesque: High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Regime . For more than 11 years he wrote the featured political column, Global Eye, for The Moscow Times and the St. Petersburg Times in Russia. He also served as UK correspondent for Truthout.org, and was an editorial writer for three years for The Bergen Record. http://www.chris-floyd.com/

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here
Several wildlife refuges and parks had thought they were spared wall construction when Congress approved a compromise bill Thursday, and several communities in South Texas felt protected by the bill because it requires the government to confer and seek to reach mutual agreement regarding the barriers in their jurisdictions if the $1.375 billion in congressional wall funding would be used for construction. But should Trump use separate funding under an emergency declaration, it is possible the government could ignore the instructions from Congress  and many here worry that could mean the wall will come without those consultations.
Some say any new crossing makes the most sense south of the existing bridge to handle traffic from the District and Northern Virginia. Others say a third span near the existing double span would be a convenient alternative if one of the other two had to be closed for a crash or maintenance. Those eyeing a connection north of Baltimore say it would provide the most direct link between the Eastern Shore and Interstate 95, particularly for trucks.
Elsewhere in the country, the New York pullout could be a landmark event that changes how states and cities go about luring investments to metropolitan areas where the explosive growth of the tech economy is already causing strains, analysts said. Such stresses have already appeared in Amazons home in Seattle and in San Francisco.
Banks, 77, started to chime in, then hesitated. Since the president is in office  Ill say it  its worse, she said. He brought out so much, people being prejudiced. It hasnt gone away; its just hurting. His thing about making America great again, he is talking about the 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s  because thats when things were very hard on black people. He wants that to come back. . . . We have been through this before, but we thought it was almost gone. 
Burke said he broke his left hip, four vertebrae and his collarbone in a military exercise, and hoped to receive training to work with computers through classes at either the University of Maryland, a community college or Strayer University, which offers classes to students mostly online. But when he raised that in the retraining program, Burke told the judge, King lied to him and told him Atius was his only choice.
Ilhan Omar Humiliates War Criminal



By Jimmy Dore



Rep. Ilhan Omar grills Venezuela Enovy Elliott Abrams over his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, during a hearing in the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Omar accused the Trump official of glorifying the "massacre" and "rape" during the El Salvador civil war in the 1980s.



February 15, 2019

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

==See Also==

Ahmed gets told to stop filming in supermarket full of food

Note To ICH Community

We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites.

Thank you for your support.

Peace and joy
In 1976, she set up an interior decorating business in New York with a contract to design suites for Americana Hotels. She also worked as an event planner and style counselor to Giorgio Armani and was a fixture on the cocktail party and fashion show circuits of London, Paris and New York. Even into her 80s Ms. Radziwill was making best-dressed lists while her expensively outfitted apartments were featured in architecture and design magazines.
As my feet had set down on the soil of England an Englishwoman approached me. She was breathless. Panting and flushed. She swung me round with a force that sent one of my coat buttons speeding into the crowd with the velocity of a bullet. Are you Sugar? she asked me. I was still trying to follow my poor button with the hope of retrieving it later as that coat had cost me a great deal of money. But this Englishwoman leaned close in to my face and demanded to know, Are you Sugar?
In a four-page order, Jackson said she had weighed Stones assertion of his constitutional rights to free speech as a writer and political commentator. Jacksons order barred prejudicial statements to the media or in public settings by any attorneys or potential witnesses in the case to safeguard the defendants right to a fair trial, maintain the dignity of the court and the safety and security of court personnel and the public. Her order also noted concern that a small crowd of chanting and sign-bearing demonstrators for and against Stone lined a courthouse entrance after his arraignment.
From your columns I know you to be interested in the history of the Washington area, so I am writing to ask if The Washington Post has an interest in unusual items from its own past. From the estate of an aunt, I somehow came into possession of a tall, silver loving cup trophy that has inscribed on it Washington Post, Floral-Flag Parade, Arthur C. Moses, July 5, 1909. Might there be a home at The Post for an item such as this?
He first emailed me in early January, telling me he was being evicted from an apartment where he had lived for 27 years and that he didnt know what to do. His landlord, he later told me, said he had too much stuff and that conditions there had drawn a visit from the fire department. He said he understands he has to leave and, despite being limited by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), he has started to place his belongings in storage.
VIRGINIA

Fairfax man charged

in wife's 2017 slaying

A Fairfax County man has been charged with killing his wife in 2017, following an extensive, two-year investigation, police said Friday.

Laszlo Pentek, 55, was arrested by a Fairfax County police SWAT team outside his home in the Mantua area on Friday afternoon, police said. Pentek has been charged with murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony in connection with the slaying of Donna Pentek, 51.

Fairfax County police officers were called to the single-family home in the 9200 block of Okla Drive on the afternoon of Jan. 6, 2017, after a family member came home and discovered Donna Pentek shot, police said.

No motive was given for the slaying.

 Justin Jouvenal

Behavioral specialist charged in rape

A man who worked with the mentally disabled at a Fairfax County community center has been charged in the rape of a second woman with mental impairments, police said Friday.

Bernards Betts-King, 60, of Springfield raped the woman in early 2017, Fairfax County police said. A spokesman for the department declined to release any additional details about the incident or how Betts-King allegedly came into contact with the woman.

Betts-King was charged earlier this week with raping a woman at Springfields MVLE Community Center, where he was a behavioral specialist. Police said that woman, who is mentally disabled, gave birth to a child as a result. They said a DNA test proved Betts-King was the father.

MVLE said in a statement Tuesday that Betts-King has been fired and that it is taking the situation very seriously.

 Justin Jouvenal

Read more:

Local newsletters: Local headlines (8 a.m.) | Afternoon Buzz (4 p.m.)

Like PostLocal on Facebook | Follow @postlocal on Twitter | Latest local news
Its important for us to acknowledge our history, even when we dont like what we see, LeBlanc said. Racism has no place at GW, and we will work every single day to create a welcoming, inclusive community for all. And we will continue to learn from our past and try to be more inclusive now and in the future.
SEC. 232. (a) Prior to use of any funds made available by this Act for the construction of physical barriers within the city limits of any city or census designated place described in subsection (c), the Department of Homeland Security and the local elected officials of such a city or census designated place shall confer and seek to reach mutual agreement regarding the design and alignment of physical barriers within that city or the census designated place (as the case may be). Such consultations shall continue until September 30, 2019 (or until agreement is reached, if earlier) and may be extended beyond that date by agreement of the parties, and no funds made available in this Act shall be used for such construction while consultations are continuing.
After Trump's National Emergency Declaration, Legal Scholar Says, Initiate Impeachment 'Immediately'





"All you need is one brave member of the U.S. House of Representatives to meaningfully assert that body's Power of the Purse."



By Julia Conley

While Democrats are preparing to propose a joint resolution challenging President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration in order to obtain funding for a border wall, one legal scholar is among those arguing the time has come to pursue a far more direct and effective method of combating the president's lawlessness: impeachment.

Ahead of Trump's national emergency declaration Friday morning, international law professor Francis Boyle said there is no time to lose.

"This should be initiated immediately," said Boyle. "All you need is one brave member of the U.S. House of Representatives to meaningfully assert that body's Power of the Purse. Trump's indications that he will override that legislative power and the seeming acquiescence by some Democrats is illegitimate and dangerous and subverts a fundamental premise of the Constitution.

Boylewho worked closely with former Rep. Henry Gonzalez (D-Texas) to introduce a resolution to impeach President George H.W. Bush for high crimes and misdemeanors after he initiated the first Gulf Warsaid Congress has a solid case for bringing charges against Trump over his violation of the U.S. Constitution:

A Bill of Impeachment could consist of articles including for (1) violating Article 1, Section 7 of the United States Constitution: "All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives" (2) Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution: "No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law" (3) It also violates the Federal Anti-Deficiency Statute.

With Trump preparing to unilaterally take control of government funds by declaring a national emergency, Boyle said, lawmakers' "most direct remedy is impeachment."

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Journalist John Nichols, who has advocated for impeachment as "the cure for a constitutional crisis," was among those who agreed with Boyle on social media, arguing that the U.S. is indeed in a state of national emergency as Trump has claimedjust not an emergency that will be fixed with a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.

I agree with President Trump that there is a national emergency. We just have different responses to what we deem to be a crisis.



He favors a wall.



I favor impeachment.  John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) February 15, 2019

Declaring a national emergency over nothing is also a despicable act of unconstitutional power grabbing. #ImpeachTrump https://t.co/3JFqBuXcuU  AlanB_1973 (@alanb_1973) February 15, 2019

"President Trump's illegal declaration of a national emergency to build a wall on the southern border of the United States that Congress has not authorized is a clear abuse of power," said John Bonifaz, president of the pro-democracy group Free Speech For People, in a statement. "It is timelong past timefor members of the U.S. House of Representatives to carry out their constitutional responsibilities and to start impeachment proceedings now against this president. We cannot continue to have a lawless president in the White House."

Peter Gleick, a climate scientist and advocate for impeachment, wrote on Twitter Thursday evening that looking back at the Trump administration, future generations will likely be baffled if lawmakers fail to impeach the president.

Honestly, what's it going to say to us and future generations if we DON'T impeach Trump?  Peter Gleick (@PeterGleick) February 14, 2019

This article was originally published by

"

Common Dreams

"-

Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here

==See Also==

Note To ICH Community

We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites.

Thank you for your support.

Peace and joy
Todays Headlines

The most important news stories of the day, curated by Post editors and delivered every morning.

By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
Decatur, IL (62521)

Today

Thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 86F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Venezuela - Media Find Trump's Coup Plan Does Not Work By Moon Of Alabama On January 25, two days after Random Guyido declared himself President of Venezuela, the lack of planing in the U.S. coup attempt was already obvious : My impression is that Trump was scammed. It was long evident that he gives little attention to details and does not think things through. Most likely Bolton, Pompeo and Rubio presented him with a three step plan: Phase 1. Support the self declared president Guaido; Phase 2: ... (wishful thinking) ...; Phase 3: Take half of their oil!

...

Bolton and Pompeo are both experienced politicians and bureaucrats. They likely knew that their plan was deeply flawed and would require much more than Trump would normally commit to. My hunch is that the soon coming mission creep was build into their plan, but that they did not reveal that. The U.S. coup planners and their Venezuelan puppets had hoped that the Venezuelan military would jump to their side. That was wishful thinking and unlikely to happen. They also thought up some "humanitarian aid" scheme in which pictures of trucks crossing a long blocked bridge would soon shame the Venezuelan president into stepping down. That was likewise nonsense. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter Unless the U.S. is willing and able to escalate, the coup attempt is destined to fail. 'Western' media now recognize that phase 2 of the coup plan is in deep trouble. Today the Guardian, Bloomberg and the New York Times all describe growing frustration with the lack of success. The Guardian notes : [T]hree weeks after Guaido electrified the previously rudderless opposition movement by declaring himself interim leader, there are signs his campaign risks losing steam. An anticipated mass defection of military chiefs  which opposition leaders admit is a prerequisite to Maduros departure  has not materialized, and Maduros inner-circle has begun claiming it has weathered the political storm. Bloomberg writes : Since Juan Guaido declared himself interim president three weeks ago and offered amnesty to officers who abandon Maduro, more than 30 countries led by the U.S. have hailed the move, waiting for the military to follow. There hasnt been a rush to his side.

...

In a country with more than 2,000 generals and admirals, only one top officer -- who commands no troops -- has pledged allegiance to Guaido.

...

This is a major reason why the revolution isnt moving as quickly as some had hoped when Guaido electrified the world on Jan. 23 with his declaration. This has led to impatience and finger-pointing. U.S. policy makers and those around Guaido -- as well as leaders in Brazil and Colombia -- are eyeing one another and worrying about failure. Officials in each camp have said privately they assumed the others had a more developed strategy. The NY Times shows similar frustration : [The opposition's] goal was to bring the supplies into Venezuela, forcing a confrontation with Mr. Maduro, who has refused the help. This would cast Mr. Maduro in a bad light, opposition leaders said, and display their ability to set up a government-like relief system in a nation where the crumbling economy has left many starving, sick and without access to medicine. But there was no dramatic confrontation. The "aid" delivery failed, according to Bloomberg, for lack of planning and coordination : Worry about what comes next has intensified. At a meeting in the U.S. embassy in Bogota, Colombia, last week, military, intelligence and civilian leaders from both countries discussed ways of moving humanitarian aid into Venezuela. There was a sense of frustration in the air, according to a participant who agreed to discuss it on condition of anonymity. The U.S. said it was paying for the aid but wanted Colombia to find trucks and drivers to move it in. The Colombians said no one would accept the mission because the Venezuelan military would arrest them. The aid remains in warehouses near the border. At similar meetings in the Colombian border city of Cucuta, a person who attended said the dynamic was the same -- the U.S. expecting Colombia to find the means to deliver the aid and the Colombians saying they cant. The opposition is only now thinking up its own crazy scheme for delivering the "aid": In Cucuta, members of the opposition say they are considering options to physically force the shipment into Venezuela. Omar Lares, a former opposition mayor in exile in Cucuta, said organizers want people to surround an aid truck on the Colombian side and accompany it to the bridge. A crowd of thousands would be gathered on the other side to push through a security cordon, move the containers blocking the bridge, and accompany the aid into Venezuela. One group over there, one over here, and well make one large human chain, he said. And what does he think the battalion of Venezuelan soldiers between the two groups will do? Just step aside and allow an invasion of their country? The struggle could make for some marketable TV pictures but it would not achieve anything. The lack of planning is daunting even to the lobbyists in Washington DC: The opposition has created immense expectations, and its not at all clear they have a plan for actually fulfilling them, said David Smilde, a Venezuela analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America. The U.S. coup plotters and their Venezuelan proxies seem to recognize that there will be no imminent change : Addressing a congressional hearing, the US special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, claimed Maduro and his band of thieves were finished. He claimed international pressure meant there is a storm brewing inside the Maduro regime that will eventually bring it to an end. But while Abrams said Washington was hopeful and confident of Maduros demise he admitted it was impossible to predict when it might come. The US would maintain pressure over the next weeks and months, he added, suggesting a quick resolution is no longer expected. Opposition leaders have spent recent days trying to dampen expectations that Maduros exit is imminent. Juan Andres Mejia, an opposition leader and Guaido ally, admitted that goal could take some time. The little spontaneous support the Random Guyido had in some parts of the population is already lessening. Yesterday's demonstration he had called for saw less attendance than the one on January 23. He now says that he will force the 'aid' crossing on February 23 but he does not seem to have a real plan to achieve that: President of the National Assembly Guaido also promised the country that US-delivered humanitarian aid will enter the country no matter what on February 23, issuing an order for the military to allow it to enter. However, military leaders have dismissed these calls, with the Central Defense Region tweeting in response that the armed forces would not take any orders from an imperial lackey. One month after the swearing in we have done it. This February 23 the humanitarian aid will enter the country. The Armed Forces have 11 days to decide if they are on the side of the Venezuelans and the Constitution or on that of the usurper, he claimed in reference to President Maduro. If the U.S. does not do more than it has done so far the government under President Maduro can sit this out. The sanctions and the lack of oil revenue will create many immediate problems. But in a few weeks Venezuelan oil will have found new buyers. Fresh money will come in and new sources for imports of medicine and staple food will have been found. Over the same time the Random Guy will lose support. The party he nominally leads only won 20% of the votes. The other opposition parties were never informed of his plan to declare himself president. Their support for the step was lukewarm and will cool further. They may in the end support the mediation talks Maduro has offered and which the UN, Uruguay and Mexico also support. The talks could lead to new parliament and/or presidential elections in a year or two and thereby solve the situation. The U.S. would not be satisfied by a compromise solution. Trump is now committed to 'regime change' in Venezuela. But how can he do it? Waging an open war against that country would be very messy, expensive and difficult to justify. To start and support a guerilla war - Elliott Abrams specialty - takes time also costs a lot of money. The chances to win it are low. Moreover Trump wants to get re-elected but could lose many votes over both scenarios. What else then can he do? This article was originally published by " Moon Of Alabama "- Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Ahmed gets told to stop filming in supermarket full of food Pence Accuses Europe of Busting Sanctions Against Iran: Pence took particular aim at France, Germany and the U.K., which defied threats from Washington and set up a special-payments company to in effect circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran Cuba says U.S. moving special forces, preparing Venezuelan intervention Venezuelas Top Diplomat Enlists Support From Dozens of Nations to Counter U.S.: Diplomats said the group totaled about 50 nations. Maduro claims Venezuela has engaged in secret talks with U.S. envoy: President Maduro claims that officials from his administration met with President Trumps envoy to Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, and extended an invitation for him to visit Venezuela. Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.
Pattanaphong Khuankaew/iStock(LOS ANGELES) -- An armed security guard at a Los Angeles synagogue was arrested after allegedly shooting a person recording video of the building in the leg.

Edduin Zelayagrunfeld, 44, was arrested on a felony charge for assault with a deadly weapon with a firearm, according to a statement from the Los Angeles Police Department. He worked at the Etz Jacob Congregation/Ohel Chana High School near the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and Stanley Avenue.

When police arrived on the scene at around 12 p.m., they found an "individual suffering from a gunshot wound to the leg," according to the LAPD statement. The victim of the shooting was transferred to the hospital with a non-life-threatening injury.

The alleged victim was live-streaming the school and the ensuing incident on YouTube. The LAPD confirmed that Zelayagrunfeld is the security guard in the video and can be seen pointing the gun down as the cameraperson zooms in and out on the weapon.

"This guard just pulled a gun out on me, everybody," the person holding the camera says in the video.

Zelayagrunfeld can be heard saying, "Why are you recording us? Why are you recording me? Why are you recording this institution? You cannot answer?"

He said he was going to shoot me dead if I moved," the cameraperson says shortly after.

A single shot is fired just over a minute later, and the cameraperson immediately retreats. They can be heard yelling that they had been shot in the leg, while Zelayagrunfeld tells them to "get away" and that it was a "warning shot" and they "are nothing."

Zelayagrunfeld was released from jail Friday on $50,000 bond. He's scheduled to appear in court on March 15.

The LAPD did not disclose the name of the victim.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
ASHLAND  The Platte Valley Wranglers 4-H Club held their organizational meeting for 2019 Monday, Feb. 4 at the VFW Hall in Ashland. New officers elected for 2019 were: Kaliska Kelley, president; Madeline Spreeman, vice president; Emily Kwarcinski, treasurer; Lilly Cullinane, secretary and Taryn Sudik, historian.

Although not much money was made on their annual Horse Show Fundraiser last year, the members voted to make donations anyway to the Saunders County Ag Society, HETRA and VFW Post 9776.

Upcoming events were announced of interest to club members and horse owners, especially the Horse Stampede held at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where 4-H speech contests, demonstration contests, art work and the Horse Bowl (horse knowledge and trivia contest) are held.

Much discussion was held regarding alternate dates for the annual horse show as the regular date was not available, with a final decision to be made later.

Organizational Leader Jean Stewart said the next meeting would be Monday, Feb. 25. If any other youth would like to join the club or they can contact Stewart at 402-944-3483.
And here I was, 29 years old, married to a drug addict. I had so many stories to contend with, jumping fences to get my car back from the drug dealers, standing toe-to-toe and nose-to-nose with dealers who threatened to kill me if I didnt leave them alone about getting my car back, knocks on the door in the middle of the night from thugs demanding money my husband owed them, stealing my own car back and driving backwards, trying to miss the flying bullets. You name it; I just about dealt with it.

Like Duty, McLennan Community College English professor Linda Crawford knew from her childhood that she wanted to write. After surviving a drug-abusing husband, poverty, single motherhood and dropping out of school, the Mississippi native knew she had experiences as a young adult worth writing about. Still, it took a word from God to get the job done.

I knew at some point I was going to write about it, but it was going to be a guide, Married To An Addict, she said.

That guide would have some practical advice for people trapped in a marriage or other relationship with an addict. Handy tips, like always carrying your car keys so your husband cannot sell your car for drug money. Or telling your employer not to let your husband pick up your paycheck.
A judge admonished a Houston attorney Friday after his office submitted a forged document to the court concerning a court appearance he never made.

Judge Ralph Strother of Wacos 19th State District Court called Chadrick Henderson into his chambers Friday morning and said he admonished him royally over a document Hendersons office filed concerning the courts weekly appearance docket and an alleged meeting with a prosecutor in an attempt to resolve a felony case. No meeting between Henderson and the prosecutor happened that day, as the document indicates.

I made it clear to the attorney that this behavior was not acceptable and was not to be repeated, Strother said.

Henderson blamed the forgery on a legal assistant and said he did not authorize the action, the judge said. Henderson declined comment after the meeting with the judge.

Strother said besides chiding Henderson for the forged document, he told him he has had other problems with Hendersons legal representation of clients and he needs to start handling his business with the court in a more professional manner.
Trumps Iran summit shows just how far he is from the rest of the west

By Simon Tisdall

February 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - Does Mike Pompeo realise what a foolish figure he cuts as he shambles around Europe , spouting risible tosh about Donald Trumps commitment to a new liberal order and America as force for good in the Middle East? It seems he does not. Pompeo is a former soldier, Tea Party Republican, hawkish CIA chief and enthusiastic torture advocate who complained in 2013 that Guantanamo Bay inmates on hunger strike had  put on weight . Self-awareness is not really his thing .

Whatever else he is, Pompeo is plainly no diplomat. Yet thanks to Trump, his job since April last year is US secretary of state, arguably the worlds most influential diplomatic post. Its a role previously held by such towering figures as James Monroe, John Foster Dulles and George Shultz. By comparison, Pompeo is a political pufferfish floundering out of his depth. His latest self-inflicted embarrassment is Wednesdays conference in Warsaw, envisaged (by him) as an international rally to put pressure on Iran .

In the week Iran noisily celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution and its leaders dared the US to do its worst , Pompeo mounted a demonstration of his own. His cunning wheeze was to bring together the pliant nations of Europe and the Arab world in an American-led show of unity that would convince the terrified mullahs to forsake their malign activities. What this inept bumbling has achieved instead is to startlingly expose the deep and widening divisions between the US and its principal European allies.

Although the state department belatedly broadened the scope of the conference, the foreign ministers of France and Germany have boycotted Pompeos misconceived anti-Tehran hooley . So, too, has Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief who played a key role in securing the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Trump reneged on last year. The EU (and this, for the moment, includes Britain) rightly regards Trumps vendetta against Iran as dangerous and counter-productive. Poor old Pompeo is seen as mere bagman, slavishly projecting his masters voice.

Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter

Trumps war of attrition against Tehran is accelerating rapidly. He misses no opportunity to denigrate Iran as the worlds leading state sponsor of terrorism, a phrase repeated to Republican applause in last weeks State of the Union address. The administration is threatening to follow up last years renewed, punitive US sanctions by cancelling oil import waivers for Iranian customers such as Italy and Greece. And it is pushing hard to undermine EU efforts to preserve Tehrans adherence to the nuclear deal by maintaining non-dollar trade.

While Pompeo and Mike Pence, Trumps vice-president, characterise the Warsaw conference as an attempt to create a better, more stable Middle East, it is ever clearer that Trumps Iran obsession is distorting long-held policy goals and destabilising regional partners. The presidents rash decision to withdraw US troops from Syria  opposed by Nato allies, Congress and Pentagon generals  was motivated primarily by his desire to redeploy these forces to keep watch on Iran. To do so, he apparently plans to expand residual American bases in Iraq .

Eight years after Barack Obama ended the Iraq war, Iraqs Shia leadership and political parties, with close ties to Iran, are understandably alarmed at the prospect of the Americans returning  and using their country as a launchpad for a new conflict. Iraqs Sunni minority  already the focus of efforts to regroup by displaced Isis terrorists  is not enamoured of the idea either. Having failed to consult Iraq in advance , Patrick Shanahan, Trumps stand-in defence secretary, was in Baghdad this week trying to calm tempers.

European allies are meanwhile dismayed by both the signals Trump is sending and the company he keeps. Despite this weeks cornering of Isis in south-east Syria, they see a troop pullout as premature, and an invitation to the jihadis to bide their time and wait to fight another day. They see it as a strategic capitulation to Russia and tacit acceptance of Bashar al-Assads survival. And they see it as a betrayal of the wests Kurdish allies and a green light for Turkeys autocratic leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to attack them.

Of even wider concern is the de facto alternative coalition that is coalescing around Trumps banner, symbolised by Pompeos Polish waffle-fest. The unelected princes, panjandrums and potentates of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf  inveterate, unreasoning foes of Iran  are in Warsaw in force. They actively encourage the White House on its collision course with Tehran. Israels prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is another keen conference attendee. He is presently authorising almost daily airstrikes against reported Iranian targets inside Syria, with Trumps approval.

Then there are the conference hosts. Polands rightwing rulers, at odds with Brussels over domestic policy, find a more congenial partner in Washington. Like Hungarys Viktor Orban, who Pompeo courted earlier this week, they share Trumps aggressive nationalist-populist predilections. To their way of thinking, if the US wants to go after Iran, then so be it. It matters not, apparently, that Palestine, Yemen, Idlib, gross mis-governance and human rights abuses in Egypt , Saudi Arabia and Sudan, and a host of other problems are considerably more inimical to long-term Middle East stability than is beleaguered, battered Iran .

Pompeos Warsaw war rally marks another stage in the deliberate, Trumpian process of dividing and disrupting the postwar western alliance, to the point of disintegration. If it were not obvious already, this weeks bellicose tub-thumping demonstrates that Britain, France and Germany can no longer rely on rational, informed, balanced US leadership. And Iran cannot rely on the European powers to stop Trumps next war of choice.

Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator.

This article was originally published by " The Guardian "-
Upset at the failure of his third marriage, Coble killed the Vichas, tied up four children and kidnapped his estranged wife, Karen Vicha Coble. He drove her to Bosque County, where he said he was going to rape and kill her, but before he could carry out the threat, he had a wreck during a high-speed chase with authorities.

J.R. Vicha, a Waco attorney and former prosecutor who was 11 at the time, was one of the children Coble tied up, along with three of Karen Vichas children. Vicha, Bobby Vichas son, and other family members have said they have grown impatient waiting almost 30 years for Cobles execution.

The Court of Criminal Appeals did the right thing denying the claims and not issuing a stay, J.R. Vicha said. These are the same issues that have already been ruled on many times. Hopefully, the federal courts will make the same determination and (Gov.) Greg Abbott will turn down his request for judicial clemency and we can get this done on the 28th.

Coble spent 17 years on death row before his death sentence was overturned and he was awarded a new punishment trial because of changes in the special issues posed to jurors trying to determine whether the death penalty or a life sentence is more appropriate.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Sabido, Rodriguezs apparent successor, had praise for her leadership. A general sales manager for Prophecy Media Group LLC, he is a native of Waco and a graduate of University High School and Baylor University.

Ive known Ms. Alice for many years of my life, and honestly I have nothing but respect and admiration for her, Sabido said. She came on the scene and represented the Hispanic community and the people of South Waco, especially her being a female Hispanic in a time that wasnt very popular, and both her and her husband made huge strides to the Hispanic community to bring us to the table. And we have something to offer.

Rodriguez carved out a reputation as a representative of ordinary residents looking for their fair share of city services and the preservation of their neighborhoods. She often sought for more homes to be built in her district, more minority-owned businesses to be selected for city contracts and more opportunities for her low-income constituents.

City Manager Wiley Stem III, a 41-year veteran of City Hall, has known Rodriguez for most of that time.
The first opportunity to register for the camp will be from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Lee Lockwood Auditorium, 2801 W. Waco Drive. This will be the best way to secure a spot for this summer.

For more information, call Linda Haskett at 776-0707.

Choir fundraiser

The Waco Community Choir is sponsoring a fish dinner from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Estella Maxey clubhouse, 1809 J.J. Flewellen Road.

A dinner of fish, fries, salad or cole slaw, dessert and drink costs $10 each.

The nominated choir is raising money to attend the Stella Award pre-show in Las Vegas.

For more information, contact Carol Richard at 548-4843.

Homespun quilters

The Waco Homespun Quilters Guild will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday Lakewood Christian Church, 6509 Bosque Blvd.

A garage sale-style offering of members sewing room items will be featured.

Submit items in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax 757-0302; or email goingson@wacotrib.com.
Home Search ICH Why The DNC Was Not Hacked By The Russians



By William Binney, former Technical Director NSA and Larry Johnson, former State CT and CIA February 15, 2019 " Information Clearing House " - The FBI, CIA and NSA claim that the DNC emails published by WIKILEAKS on July 26, 2016 were obtai ned via a Russian hack, but more than three years after the alleged hack no forensic evidence has been produced to support that claim. In fact, the available forensic evidence contradicts the official account that blames the leak of the DNC emails on a Russian internet intrusion. The existing evidence supports an alternative explanation--the files taken from the DNC between 23 and 25May 2016 and were copied onto a file storage device, such as a thumb drive. If the Russians actually had conducted an internet based hack of the DNC computer network then the evidence of such an attack would have been collected and stored by the National Security Agency. The technical systems to accomplish this task have been in place since 2002. The NSA had an opportunity to make it clear that there was irrefutable proof of Russian meddling, particularly with regard to the DNC hack, when it signed on to the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, regarding Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election : We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trumps election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him. All three agencies agree with this judgment. CIA and FBI have high confidence in this judgment; NSA has moderate confidence. The phrase, moderate confidence is intelligence speak for we have no hard evidence. Thanks to the leaks by Edward Snowden, we know with certainty that the NSA had the capability to examine and analyze the DNC emails. NSA routinely vacuumed up email traffic transiting the U.S. using robust collection systems (whether or not anyone in the NSA chose to look for this data is another question). If those emails had been hijacked over the internet then NSA also would have been able to track the electronic path they traveled over the internet. This kind of data would allow the NSA to declare without reservation or caveat that the Russians were guilty. The NSA could admit to such a fact in an unclassified assessment without compromising sources and methods. Instead, the NSA only claimed to have moderate confidence in the judgement regarding Russian meddling. If the NSA had hard intelligence to support the judgement the conclusion would have been stated as full confidence. We believe that Special Counsel Robert Mueller faces major embarrassment if he decides to pursue the indictment he filed--which accuses 12 Russian GRU military personnel and an entity identified as, Guccifer 2.0, for the DNC hackbecause the available forensic evidence indicates the emails were copied onto a storage device. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter According to a DOJ press release on the indictment of the Russians, Mueller declares that the emails were obtained via a spearphising attack: In 2016, officials in Unit 26165 began spearphishing volunteers and employees of the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, including the campaigns chairman. Through that process, officials in this unit were able to steal the usernames and passwords for numerous individuals and use those credentials to steal email content and hack into other computers. They also were able to hackinto the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) through these spearphishing techniques to steal emails and documents,covertly monitor the computer activity of dozens of employees, and implant hundreds of files of malicious computer code to steal passwords and maintain access to these networks. The officials in Unit 26165 coordinated with officials in Unit 74455 to plan the release of the stolen documents for the purpose of interfering with the 2016 presidential election. Defendants registered the domain DCLeaks.com and later staged the release of thousands of stolen emails and documents through that website. On the website, defendants claimed to be American hacktivists and used Facebook accounts with fictitious names and Twitter accounts to promote the website. After public accusations that the Russian government was behind the hacking of DNC and DCCC computers, defendants created the fictitious persona Guccifer 2.0. On the evening of June 15, 2016 between 4:19PM and 4:56PM, defendants used their Moscow-based server to search for a series of English words and phrases that later appeared in Guccifer 2.0s first blog post falsely claiming to be a lone Romanian hacker responsible for the hacks in the hopes of undermining the allegations of Russian involvement.(https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/grand-jury-indicts-12-russian-intelligence-officers-hacking-offenses-related-2016-election) Notwithstanding the DOJ press release, an examination of the Wikileaks DNC files do not support the claim that the emails were obtained via spearphising. Instead, the evidence clearly shows that the emails posted on the Wikileaks site were copied onto an electronic media, such as a CD-ROM or thumbdrive before they were posted at Wikileaks. The emails posted on Wikileaks were saved using the File Allocation Table (aka FAT) computer file system architecture. An examination of the Wikileaks DNC files shows they were created on 23, 25 and 26 May respectively. The fact that they appear in a FAT system format indicates the data was transfered to a storage device, such as a thumb drive. How do we know? The truth lies in the last modified time stamps on the Wikileaks files. Every single one of these time stamps end in even numbers. If you are not familiar with the FAT file system, you need to understand that when a date is stored under this system the data rounds the time to the nearest even numbered second. We have examined 500 DNC email files stored on Wikileaks and all 500 files end in an even number2, 4, 6, 8 or 0. If a system other than FAT had been used, there would have been an equal probability of the time stamp ending with an odd number. But that is not the case with the data stored on the Wikileaks site. All end with an even number. The DNC emails are in 3 batches (times are GMT). Date Count Min Time Max Time FAT Min Id Max Id 2016-05-23 10520 02:12:38 02:45:42 x 3800 14319 2016-05-25 11936 05:21:30 06:04:36 x 1 22456 2016-08-26 13357 14:11:36 20:06:04 x 22457 44053 The random probability that FAT was not used is 1 chance in 2 to the 500th power or approximately 1 chance in 10 to the 150th power - in other words, an infinitely high order. This data alone does not prove that the emails were copied at the DNC headquarters. But it does show that the data/emails posted by Wikileaks did go through a storage device, like a thumbdrive, before Wikileaks posted the emails on the World Wide Web. This fact alone is enough to raise reasonable doubts about Muellers indictment accusing 12 Russian soldiers as the culprits for the leak of the DNC emails to Wikileaks. A savvy defense attorney will argue, and rightly so, that someone copied the DNC files to a storage device (Eg., USB thumb drive) and transferred that to Wikileaks. We also tested the hypothesis that Wikileaks could have manipulated the files to produce the FAT result by comparing the DNC email files with the Podesta emails (aka Larter file) that was released on 21 September 2016. The FAT file format is NOT present in the Podesta files. If Wikileaks employed a standard protocol for handling data/emails received from unknown sources we should expect the File structure of the DNC emails to match the file structure of the Podesta emails. The evidence shows otherwise. There is further compelling technical evidence that undermines the claim that the DNC emails were downloaded over the internet as a result of a spearphising attack. Bill Binney, a former Technical Director of the National Security Agency, along with other former intelligence community experts, examined emails posted by Guccifer 2.0 and discovered that those emails could not have been downloaded over the internet as a result of a spearphising attack. It is a simple matter of mathematics and physics. Shortly after Wikileaks announced it had the DNC emails, Guccifer 2.0 emerged on the public stage, claimimg that he hacked the DNC and that he had the DNC emails. Guccifer 2.0 began in late June 2016 to publish documents as proof that he had hacked from the DNC. Taking Guccifer 2.0 at face valuei.e., that his documents were obtained via an internet attackBill Binney conducted a forensic examination of the metadata contained in the posted documents based on internet connection speeds in the United States. This analysis showed that the highest transfer rate was 49.1 megabytes per second, which is much faster than possible from a remote online connection. The 49.1 megabytes speed coincides with the download rate for a thumb drive. Binney, assisted by other colleagues with technical expertise, extended the examination and ran various tests forensic from the Netherlands, Albania, Belgrade and the UK. The fastest rate obtained -- from a data center in New Jersey to a data center in the UK--was 12 megabytes per second, which is less than a fourth of the rate necessary to transfer the data, as it was listed from Guccifer 2. The findings from the examination of the Guccifer 2.0 data and the Wikileaks data does not prove who copied the information to a thumbdrive, but it does provide and empirical alternative explanation that undermines the Special Counsels claim that the DNC was hacked. According to the forensic evidence for the Guccifer 2.0 data, the DNC emails were not taken by an internet spearphising attack. The data breach was local. It was copied from the network. There is other circumstantial evidence that buttresses the conclusion that the data breach was a local effort that copied data. First there is the Top Secret information leaked by Edward Snowden. If the DNC emails had been hacked via spearphising (as alleged by Mueller) then the data would have been captured by the NSA by means of the Upstream program (Fairview, Stormbrew, Blarney, Oakstar) and the forensic evidence would not modify times - the data would be presented as sent. Second, we have the public reporting on the DNC and Crowdstrike, which provide a bizarre timeline for the alleged Russian hacking. It was 29 April 2016, when the DNC claims it became aware its servers had been penetrated (see https://medium.com/homefront-rising/dumbstruck-how-crowdstrike-conned-america-on-the-hack-of-the-dnc-ecfa522ff44f ). No claim yet about who was responsible. According to CrowdStrike founder, Dimitri Alperovitch, his company first detected the Russians mucking around inside the DNC server on 6 May 2016. A CrowdStrike intelligence analyst reportedly told Alperovitch that : Falcon had identified not one but two Russian intruders: Cozy Bear, a group CrowdStrike's experts believed was affiliated with the FSB, Russia's answer to the CIA; and Fancy Bear, which they had linked to the GRU, Russian military intelligence. ( https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a49902/the-russian-emigre-leading-the-fight-to-protect-america/ ) And what did CrowdStrike do about this? Nothing. According to Michael Isikoff, CrowdStrike claimed their inactivity was a deliberate plan to avoid alerting the Russians that they had been discovered. This is nonsense. If a security company detected a thief breaking into a house and stealing its contents, what sane company would counsel the client to do nothing in order to avoid alerting the thief? We know from examining the Wikileaks data that the last message copied from the DNC network is dated Wed, 25 May 2016 08:48:35. No DNC emails were taken and released to Wikileaks after that date. CrowdStrike waited until 10 June 2016 to take concrete steps to clean up the DNC network. Alperovitch told Esquires Vicky Ward that : Ultimately, the teams decided it was necessary to replace the software on every computer at the DNC. Until the network was clean, secrecy was vital. On the afternoon of Friday, June 10, all DNC employees were instructed to leave their laptops in the office. https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a49902/the-russian-emigre-leading-the-fight-to-protect-america/ Why does a cyber security company wait 45 days after allegedly uncovering a massive Russian attack on the DNC server to take concrete steps to safeguard the integrity of the information held on the server? This makes no sense. A more plausible explanation is that it was discovered that emails had been downloaded from the server and copied onto a device like a thumdrive. But the culprit had not yet been identified. We know one thing for certainCrowdStrike did not take steps to shutdown and repair the DNC network until 18 days after the last email was copied from the server. The final curiosity is that the DNC never provided the FBI access to its servers in order for qualified FBI technicians to conduct a thorough forensic examination. If this had been a genuine internet hack, it would be very easy for the NSA to identify when the information was taken and the route it moved after being hacked from the server. The NSA had the technical collection systems in place to enable analysts to know the date and time of the messages. But that has not been done. Taken together, these disparate data points combine to paint a picture that exonerates alleged Russian hackers and implicates persons within our law enforcement and intelligence community taking part in a campaign of misinformation, deceit and incompetence. It is not a pretty picture. This article was originally published by " Sic Semper Tyrannis "- Do you agree or disagree? Post your comment here ==See Also== Note To ICH Community We ask that you assist us in dissemination of the article published by ICH to your social media accounts and post links to the article from other websites. Thank you for your support. Peace and joy The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. Search Information Clearing House === Click Here To Support Information Clearing House Your support has kept ICH free on the Web since 2002. Click for Spanish , German , Dutch , Danish , French , translation- Note- Translation may take a moment to load.
Muscle Shoals police say a Girl Scout troop in the Shoals was slipped a fake $100 bill while selling cookies.

Last Friday, Girl Scout Troop 20091, or better known as Troop 91, set up a cookie selling booth outside of the Muscle Shoals Walmart along Avalon Avenue. Police say the suspect bought $32 worth of girl scout cookies using a counterfeit $100, and got $68 in real money back from the Girl Scouts. In total, Troop 91 is out $100.



Photo Credit: Muscle Shoals Police Department Photo Credit: Muscle Shoals Police Department

Photo Credit: Muscle Shoals Police Department Photo Credit: Muscle Shoals Police Department

"You know better than to just take a $100 bill at face value. You check it and use your little marker," said a Girl Scout parent, Tiffany Lovell.

Lovell said it was a quick lapse in judgment. Troop 91 had been selling cookies for hours and were about to close up shop, when a woman came and bought cookies with the fake money.

"It did have markings on it that aren't normally there, but in the dark at the end of the day, when everyone is cold and tired, it wasn't all that obvious," said Lovell.

It took the parents about five minutes to notice the bill was fake, but the suspect was gone.

"We started looking for her to see if we could find her," said Lovell. "It's kind of a really low point to want to rip off kids."

When they couldn't find the suspect, they went down to the Muscle Shoals Police Department and filed a report. A Girl Scout, Elly Lovell, said they use the money raised from selling cookies to fund troop projects in the community and other things. She said she and the rest of her troop feel ripped off by this suspect.

"We gave away real money and cookies for a fake $100 bill. She basically robbed us," said the nine-year-old.

Muscle Shoals police say they know who the suspect is and have a felony forgery warrant out for her arrest. Since she had not been arrested yet, police can't release her identity. Officials say this suspect has additional drug and forgery warrants for her arrest in Colbert and Franklin Counties. Police believe she passed off the fake money on purpose.

"I think we're all just ready for her to be caught and find justice," said Tiffany Lovell.

Police say once they locate the suspect and make the arrest, they will let us know. We will provide updates.

Troop 91 will be set up and selling Girl Scout Cookies Saturday from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the North Alabama Flea Market in Muscle Shoals.
On Friday, more information was released about a Madison County man accused of leading law enforcement on a high-speed chase in Huntsville. It ended Thursday afternoon on Pulaski Pike and Mastin Lake Road when the suspect, Marius Moore, crashed into three vehicles.

Moore is a frequent guest at the Madison County Jail. In fact, Huntsville police said they had previously arrested him 21 times, and the department had six active warrants for him. Three of those warrants were for having a suspended license.

"It's like we've suspended your license, but it's still no guarantee some idiot isn't going to jump into a car and drive with or without a license," said Rob Broussard, the Madison County District Attorney.

He said it's common for people to serve little time when they commit misdemeanors.

"I'm not shocked when someone says to me, 'This guy has been arrested 21 times and he's out on the street,'" he said. "The harsh reality is there is lots of rift raft out on the street."

On Thursday, he led law enforcement in a multi-agency pursuit that started in unincorporated Madison County and ended in North Huntsville. He picked up two more charges for attempting to elude a police officer and reckless endangerment.

Broussard said those charges will be hard to keep him in jail, because he's not facing violent felonies.

"It's low level stuff. Welcome to the real world," he said.

As for the three vehicles Moore hit and the two people taken to the hospital, Broussard said the people involved might be out of luck.

"I don't know this guy, but I guarantee he probably doesn't have a ton of money, probably doesn't have insurance. As a practical matter...yeah you could go after him, but I don't know if there is any money to be had," he said.

Alabama State Troopers are still investigating the pursuit that ended in a wreck Thursday afternoon. The agency said there are no updates on the case.
The state says flu activity is up in Alabama for the fourth week in a row.

Right now, it's widespread, with the highest concentration of outbreaks being in North Alabama. The good news is flu season usually peaks in February, but it can last until May.

"When I had the flu, I would've welcomed death. I'm telling you it's that bad," said Doug McGee, who lives in Marshall County.

The Department of Health recommends that the first line of defense is a vaccination. This year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the flu vaccine is only 47 percent effective. Last flu season, the vaccine was 25 percent effective, and 900,000 people were hospitalized nationwide.

"Hopefully, they'll come up with something that's 100 percent effective, because I sure don't want anyone else to go through it," said McGee.

Schools across North Alabama have been closing because of a high number of absences among students and teachers. Right now, Scottsboro City Schools are closed until Tuesday to try to bring those numbers down. McGee says he just hopes he never has to go through it again

"I've never experienced any sickness like it, and I hope I don't do it again," said McGee.

Fifteen people, including one child, have died in Alabama this flu season.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Supreme Court has stayed a judge's order that overturned a state law protecting Confederate monuments.

Justices on Friday granted the request of Attorney General Steve Marshall. Marshall said the law will remain in effect while the state appeals.

A judge last month ruled a 2017 state law barring the removal or alteration of longstanding historical monuments violates the free speech rights of local communities.

The Alabama attorney general's office is appealing the decision.

Alabama sued the city of Birmingham in 2017 after officials erected a wooden box that obscured the view of a 52-foot-tall obelisk honoring Confederate veterans.

Below is Attorney General Steve Marshall's statement:

I am pleased that the Alabama Supreme Court has granted the States motion to stay the Circuit Courts ruling, said Attorney General Marshall. We think that U.S. Supreme Court precedent clearly demonstrates that the Circuit Court erred in striking down the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. Thus, we asked the Alabama Supreme Court to preserve the status quo regarding the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park until the Court rules on our appeal.

The Supreme Courts stay allows the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act to remain in effect until the Supreme Court resolves this appeal over the Acts constitutionality. We continue to hold that the Circuit Court erred when it ruled that the U.S. Constitution grants cities free speech rights that they can enforce against the State. For more than a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has held just the opposite, recognizing that a political subdivision, created by the state for the better ordering of government, has no privileges or immunities under the federal constitution which it may invoke in opposition to the will of its creator. We look forward to presenting these arguments to the Alabama Supreme Court.

----

See a copy of the Alabama Supreme Courts stay HERE.
Mary Boone. Photo: Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images

New York gallerist Mary Boone, whom New York Magazine crowned the Queen of the Art Scene on a 1982 cover, was sentenced on Thursday to serve two-and-a-half years in prison for tax fraud costing the federal government an estimated $3 million in revenue. According to the New York Times, the influential gallerist who fostered massive demand in the 80s for artists such as Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat had reported false business losses, used business funds to pay for more than $1.6 million in personal expenses, like renovations to her home, and then falsely claimed those personal expenses as business deductions on her 2012 tax forms. Attorney Robert Fink stated in court that the Greed Decade stalwart committed financial crimes, including filing nearly $14,000 spent at Hermes as business deductions not because she was greedy, but because she was frightened. In September 2018, shortly after Boone pleaded guilty to tax fraud, cover artist Richard Phillips told Vulture: These tax problems are something that may have an affect towards the future, but I dont think itll affect the uncountable contributions shes made in the past.

This is not Mary Boones first high-profile case of alleged fraud in recent memory. In 2016, Alec Baldwin sued Boone for defrauding him by selling him a Ross Bleckner painting for $190,000 that had already been sold at auction three years prior, and delivering him a new painting smelling of fresh paint under the same name in its place. The New Yorker reported that they settled out of court for over $1 million.
Lin-Manuel Miranda. Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Pro

A Friday evening Hamilton performance in San Francisco left three people injured after an attendee suffered a medical emergency that was mistaken for an active shooter situation. Per CNN, a woman experienced a heart attack during the musicals pivotal scene when Alexander Hamilton is shot by Aaron Burr in a duel, which caused many audience members to self-evacuate after believing the woman, who stood up to leave the theater to seek treatment, was actually shot. Panic further spread when someone in the audience yelled gun!, prompting the theaters attendees to stampede outside. Police told CNN that three people were injured and taken to a nearby hospital as a result, with the most serious injury being a broken leg. The woman who suffered from the heart attack was also hospitalized and in critical condition.

In a tweet, the citys Orpheum Theatre said an attendee activated the theaters fire pull station, which instructed the audience and cast to follow the life/safety systems automatic announcement and exit the theater. However, followup tweets from attendees said they believed the theater failed these supposed safety protocols, with many people likening what happened to mass chaos with absolutely no support and direction from the staff. In fact, one attendee witnessed staff hiding themselves from the pandemonium.

During a medical event at the SHN Orpheum Theatre this evening an audience member activated the theater's fire pull station. The audience and cast followed the life/safety system's automatic announcement and exited the theater.  SHN: Broadway in San Francisco (@shnsf) February 16, 2019

Police outside responded quickly. Thankfully there was no gun, no shooter. It was however a scary few minutes. Many many people here are visibly shaken. Crowds were running for the exits and ducking for cover @FOX40 pic.twitter.com/3MSrxNOOmG  Joe Khalil (@JoeKhalilTV) February 16, 2019

As a result of the panic, the Hamilton performance did not finish and attendees were instructed by police to go home.
James Butty

Zimbabwes main opposition Movement for Democratic Change is accusing President Emmerson Mnangagwas government of disseminating propaganda intended to mislead the international community about the violent protests that took place January 14-16 and the police and military reaction.

In a briefing paper, the government said the protests were organized by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and what it calls other local merchants of regime change.

The government also accused unnamed foreign hands in the organization, funding and execution of the protests.

Nkululeko Sibanda, spokesperson for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, says the Mnangagwa government is spreading lies in an effort to buy favors from the Southern African Development Community and the African Union.

A spokesman for Zimbabwes ruling ZANU-PF party says President Emmerson Mnangagwa s government is open to peaceful protests, but what happened on January 14 and 16 was not peaceful.

Instead, Simon Khaya Moyo says the so-called peaceful demonstrations were nothing but hooliganism.

All I can tell you is that it was not a demonstration and it was not a protest, it was a very violent demonstration where shops were looted, where there were barricades on all roads leading into town and nobody could go to work, where a lot of people broke into shops and also where a lot of people were injured and even one policeman was killed. So, to say it was a peaceful protest I must say protests must have people who must carry placards putting across what they are complaining about  But there was no such thing.

He denies opposition allegation that the government is disseminating false information about last months protests to gain international sympathy.

Non-governmental organizations say at least 12 people were gunned down by the Zimbabwe National Army and more than 1,000 arrested during and after the public protests last month. Indications are that some women were also raped by soldiers.

.
President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency, bypassing Congress to build a wall along the southern U.S. border, and setting up a legal challenge that could help determine the limits of U.S. presidential power.

Warning against what he called "gang monsters" and an "invasion" of drugs and crime, Trump said the emergency declaration was a "great thing to do."

At one point, Trump mentioned "monstrous caravans," an apparent reference to the repeated groups of Central American migrants that have attempted to reach the U.S. during his presidency.

"We are talking about an invasion of our country," Trump said. "With drugs and human traffickers and all types of criminals and gangs."

Trump's attempt to plow ahead with a wall, his main campaign promise, is likely to please the president's conservative political base. But it also intensifies accusations Trump is abusing his emergency powers.

Budget battle



Trump signed a bill funding the federal government later in the afternoon Friday. Congress reached the compromise bill in an attempt to end the partisan deadlock that had led to a recent 35-day partial government shutdown.



The funding legislation gives Trump only $1.4 billion for a barrier along just 90 kilometers of the border  much less than the $5.7 billion he wanted to begin building 322 kilometers of wall.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen M. Nielsen said in a statement Friday the bill provides critical funding for border security but added, "It gets nowhere close to completely solving the serious humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border. Time and again, Congress has failed to fully fund DHS to confront this situation and to handle the influx of aliens, drugs, and other illicit traffic into our country. That is why I strongly support the President's decision to unlock additional funding for physical barriers."

Declaring a national emergency gives Trump the authority to move money from elsewhere in the federal budget, including funds for the U.S. military, and use it for a wall. In total, the White House will find roughly $8 billion to build the wall, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said.

Senator Brian Schatz, a senior Democratic appropriator, said the money for the wall simply wasn't available in the military budget.

"The Military Construction funding process is rigorous," Schatz tweeted. "Whether it's dry docks or clinics or hangers or runways, there is not 3.5B to remove without dire consequences."

Legal, political challenges

While Trump's decision ends the current battle over the budget, it potentially opens the door to much trickier legal challenges, which could delay wall construction for years.

Trump seemed to acknowledge that reality Friday.

"Sadly, we'll be sued. Sadly, it will go through a process. And happily we'll win," Trump said. "I hope."

Trump's wall also faces a tough road politically.

In a statement, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that Congress "cannot let the President shred the Constitution."

"The President's unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defense funds for the security of our military and our nation," the statement read.

"This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process," it added.



The president contends there is a crisis along the U.S.-Mexican border. He says only a wall can stop illegal immigration and crime, drugs and violent gangs.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "President Trump's decision to announce emergency action is the predictable and understandable consequence of Democrats' decision to put partisan obstruction ahead of the national interest."



Democrats say a wall would be ineffective against illegal immigration and expensive. Above all, many say there is no emergency at the border, accusing Trump of manufacturing a crisis.

House Democratic lawmakers Joaquin Castro from Texas and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York already have announced plans to introduce legislation to overturn Trump's decision. While that legislation would likely pass the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, it would force a difficult choice on lawmakers in the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate, where many senators from the president's own party have expressed uneasiness about his move.

But Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, tweeted during the president's press conference, "Given Congress will try to block this executive action, I'm seeing speculation Congress could override a POTUS veto w/ GOP votes. They will not. The votes will not be there. There is broad GOP + American support for POTUS taking legal, constitutional action to protect families."

A January poll from Quinnipiac University suggested that two-thirds of Americans are opposed to such an emergency declaration.

Bad precedent?

There are concerns Trump's decision will set a precedent for future U.S. presidents to bypass Congress using national emergency declarations. According to the Constitution, Congress has the "power of the purse"  to tax and spend money for the federal government.

"If this is deemed to be a national emergency that it opens the door for all kinds of things to be deemed national emergencies just given the policy preferences of a president," said Paul Schiff Berman, a law professor at George Washington University.

"You could say that global warming is a national emergency. You could say that lack of affordable health care is a national emergency. You could say that homelessness is a national emergency. And all of them are at least as plausible, if not more plausible, than the need to build a security wall," he said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, announced his state planned to file a lawsuit against the president for declaring the emergency.

"The president's overreach has been extensive on any number of occasions and we have shot them down on any number of occasions," Newsom said in a press conference Friday. "This is another example of the president exploiting a serious law."

Presidents in both major U.S. political parties have increasingly used unilateral executive power to push through their policies. But this appears to be the first time a U.S. president has used congressionally mandated emergency powers to force through such a politically divisive policy.
Migrants seeking asylum are arriving by the thousands at the southern U.S. border. Mike O'Sullivan reports from Tijuana that they are joining a diverse group of Mexicans, Haitians and others who are waiting in Mexico to make their cases in U.S. immigration court.
A gay French writer has lifted the lid on what he calls one of the world's largest gay communities  the Vatican, estimating that most of its prelates are homosexually inclined and attributing much of the current crisis in the Catholic Church to an internecine war among them.

In the explosive book, In the Closet of the Vatican, author Frederic Martel describes a gay subculture at the Vatican and calls out the hypocrisy of Catholic bishops and cardinals who in public denounce homosexuality but in private lead double lives.

Aside from the subject matter, the book is astonishing for the access Martel had to the inner sanctum of the Holy See. Martel writes that he spent four years researching it in 30 countries, including weeks at a time living inside the Vatican walls. He says the doors were opened by a key Vatican gatekeeper and friend of Pope Francis who was the subject of the pontiff's famous remark about gay priests, "Who am I to judge?"

Martel says he conducted nearly 1,500 in-person interviews with 41 cardinals, 52 bishops or monsignors, and 45 Vatican and foreign ambassadors, many of whom are quoted at length and in on-the-record interviews that he says were recorded. Martel said he was assisted by 80 researchers, translators, fixers and local journalists, as well as a team of 15 lawyers. The 555-page book is being published simultaneously in eight languages in 20 countries, many bearing the title Sodom.

The Vatican didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Culture of secrecy

Martel appears to want to bolster Francis' efforts at reforming the Vatican by discrediting his biggest critics and removing the secrecy and scandal that surrounds homosexuality in the church. Church doctrine holds that gays are to be treated with respect and dignity, but that homosexual acts are "intrinsically disordered."

"Francis knows that he has to move on the church's stance, and that he will only be able to do this at the cost of a ruthless battle against all those who use sexual morality and homophobia to conceal their own hypocrisies and double lives," Martel writes.

But the book's Feb. 21 publication date coincides with the start of Francis' summit of church leaders on preventing the sexual abuse of minors, a crisis that is undermining his papacy. The book isn't about abuse, but the timing of its release could fuel the narrative, embraced by conservatives and rejected by the gay community, that the abuse scandal has been caused by homosexuals in the priesthood.

Martel is quick to separate the two issues. But he echoes the analysis of the late abuse researcher and psychotherapist A.W. Richard Sipe that the hidden sex lives of priests has created a culture of secrecy that allowed the abuse of minors to flourish. According to that argument, since many prelates in positions of authority have their own hidden sexual skeletons, they have no interest in denouncing the criminal pedophiles in their midst lest their own secrets be revealed.

'Gossip and innuendo'

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of Building a Bridge about how the Catholic Church should reach out more to the LGBT community, said that based on the excerpts he had read, Martel's book "makes a convincing case that in the Vatican many priests bishops and even cardinals are gay, and that some of them are sexually active."

But Martin added that the book's sarcastic tone belies its fatal flaw. "His extensive research is buried under so much gossip and innuendo that it makes it difficult to distinguish between fact and fiction."

"There are many gay priests, bishops and cardinals in ministry today in the church," Martin said. "But most of them are, like their straight counterparts, remaining faithful to a life of chastity and celibacy."

In the course of his research, Martel said he came to several conclusions about the reality of the Holy See that he calls the "rules," chief among them that the more obviously gay the priest, bishop or cardinal, the more vehement his anti-gay rhetoric.

Martel says his aim is not to "out" living prelates, though he makes some strong insinuations about those who are "in the parish," a euphemism he learns is code for gay clergy.

Martin said Martel "traffics in some of the worst gay stereotypes" by using sarcastic and derogatory terms, such as when he writes of Francis' plight: "Francis is said to be 'among the wolves.' It's not quite true: he's among the queens."

Martel moves from one scandal to another  from the current one over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington to the priest-friendly gay migrant prostitute scene near Rome's train station. He traces the reasons behind Pope Benedict XVI's resignation and the cover-up of the Mexican founder of the Legion of Christ, the pedophile Rev. Marcial Maciel. In each, Martel parses the scandal through the lens of the gay-friendly or homophobic prelates he says were involved.

Gay rights advocate

Equal parts investigative journalism and salacious gossip, Martel paints a picture of an institution almost at war with itself, rife with rumor and with leaders struggling to rationalize their own sexual appetites and orientations with official church teachings that require chastity and its unofficial tradition of hostility toward gays.

"Never, perhaps, have the appearances of an institution been so deceptive," Martel writes. "Equally deceptive are the pronouncements about celibacy and the vows of chastity that conceal a completely different reality."

Martel is not a household name in France, but is known in the French LGBT community as an advocate for gay rights. Those familiar with his work view it as rigorous, notably his 90-minute weekly show on public radio station France Culture called Soft Power. Recent episodes include investigations into global digital investment and the U.S.-China trade war.

As a French government adviser in the 1990s, he played a prominent role in legislation allowing civil unions, which not only allowed gay couples to formalize their relationships and share assets, but also proved hugely popular among heterosexual French couples increasingly skeptical of marriage.

His nonfiction books include a treatise on homosexuality in France over the past 50 years called The Pink and the Black (a sendup of Stendhal's classic The Red and the Black), as well as an investigation of the internet industry and a study of culture in the United States.

Martel attributes the high percentage of gays in the clergy to the fact that up until the homosexual liberation of the 1970s, gay Catholic men had few options. "So these pariahs became initiates and made a strength of a weakness," he writes. That analysis helps explain the dramatic fall in vocations in recent decades, as gay Catholic men now have other options, not least to live their lives openly, even in marriage.
"Continuing our engagement with partner countries EAM @SushmaSwaraj embarks on a three-nation visit that would take her to #Bulgaria, #Morocco and #Spain in the next three days," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

She will travel the nations from Feb 16-19.

As per a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs: "External Affairs Minister will be on an official visit to the Republic of Bulgaria on 16-17 February 2019. The visit is a follow-up visit to the State visit of the President of India to Bulgaria in September last year. This is the first ever visit of an Indian External Affairs Minister to Bulgaria. During the visit, EAM will meet with the Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria. The two leaders will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest. EAM will pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia. The statue was unveiled last year by Honble President of India along with President of Bulgaria to mark the celebrations of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. She will also interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit."

In the second leg of her tour, EAM will visit Kingdom of Morocco on 17-18 February 2019.

The visit is in pursuit of Indias objective of enhanced engagement with the Kingdom and will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues.

During the visit, EAM will interact with her counterpart Nasser Bourita, Minister of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation, Morocco.

She will also call on King Mohammed VI, King of Morocco, Saad Dine El Otmani, Head of Government and Habib El Maliki, President of Chamber of Representatives, Parliament.

Three MoUs for cooperation in the areas of Counter Terrorism, Housing & Human Settlements and Youth Matters are expected for signing during the visit. EAM will also interact with the Indian community in Rabat.

In the last leg of her visit, EAM will travel to Spain on 18-19 February, 2019 at the invitation of her counterpart, Josep Borrell Fontelles, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, the European Union and Cooperation.

During her visit, External Affairs Minister will hold a bilateral meeting with her counterpart to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual concern.

The Spanish Government will also confer upon EAM the prestigious Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit by the Spanish Government for Indias swift response through Operation Maitri in rescuing 71 Spanish nationals from Nepal in April 2015 in the wake of the disastrous earthquake. EAM will also interact with the Indian Community in Spain.

Image Credit: Raveesh Kumar Twitter page
WASHINGTON - Nearly a year in space put astronaut Scott Kelly's immune system on high alert and changed the activity of some of his genes compared with those of his Earth-bound identical twin, researchers said Friday.



Scientists don't know if the changes were good or bad, but results from a unique NASA twins study are raising new questions for doctors as the space agency aims to send people to Mars.



Tests of the genetic doubles gave scientists an opportunity, not available before, to track details of human biology, such as how an astronaut's genes turn on and off in space differently than at home. One puzzling change announced Friday at a science conference: Kelly's immune system was hyperactivated.



"It's as if the body is reacting to this alien environment," somewhat like the way a body would react with "a mysterious organism" inside, said geneticist Christopher Mason of New York's Weill Cornell Medical College, who helped lead the study. He said doctors were now looking for that in other astronauts.



Longtime research

Since the beginning of space exploration, NASA has studied the toll on astronauts' bodies, such as bone loss that requires exercise to counter. Typically they're in space about six months at a time. Kelly, who lived on the International Space Station, spent 340 days in space and set a U.S. record.



"I've never felt completely normal in space," the now-retired Kelly said in an email to The Associated Press, citing the usual congestion from shifting fluid, headaches and difficulty concentrating from extra carbon dioxide, and digestive complaints from microgravity.



But this study was a unique dive into the molecular level, with former astronaut Mark Kelly, Scott's twin, on the ground for comparison. Full results haven't yet been published, but researchers presented some findings Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

FILE - Retired astronaut Scott Kelly, right, speak FILE - Retired astronaut Scott Kelly, right, speaks while standing next to his astronaut twin brother, Mark Kelly, during an event renaming the elementary school they attended, May 19, 2016, in West Orange, N.J. FILE - Retired astronaut Scott Kelly, right, speaks while standing next to his astronaut twin brother, Mark Kelly, during an event renaming the elementary school they attended, May 19, 2016, in West Orange, N.J.

?'Gene expression'

A number of genes connected to the immune system became hyperactive, Mason said. It's not a change in DNA but in what's called "gene expression," how genes turn off and on and increase or decrease their production of proteins. Mason also spotted a spike in the bloodstream of another marker that primes the immune system. Yet at the same time, Kelly's blood showed fewer of another cell type that's an early defense against viruses.



It's not a surprise that gene activity would change in space  it changes in response to all kinds of stress.



"You can see the body adapting to the change in its environment," Mason said.



The good news: Almost everything returned to normal shortly after Kelly got back on Earth in March 2016. Those immune-related genes, however, "seemed to have this memory or this need to almost be on high alert" even six months later, Mason said.



"On the whole it's encouraging," said Craig Kundrot, who heads space life and science research for NASA. "There are no major new warning signs. We are seeing changes that we didn't necessarily anticipate," but they don't know if those changes are consequential.

Russian experience



From four Russians living in space for more than a year, NASA already knew prolonged time off Earth is possible, Kundrot said, adding, "We also aim for more than just possible. We want our astronauts to do more than just survive."



Ultimately, the twins study gives NASA a catalog of things to monitor on future missions to see if other astronauts react the same way. Astronauts on future missions will be able to do some of this testing in space instead of freezing samples for scientists back home, Mason said.

FILE - Space shuttle Atlantis astronaut Jerry Line FILE - Space shuttle Atlantis astronaut Jerry Linenger poses with his family following an interview, after returning to Earth May 24, 1997. Linenger spent 122 days on the Russian Mir space station. FILE - Space shuttle Atlantis astronaut Jerry Linenger poses with his family following an interview, after returning to Earth May 24, 1997. Linenger spent 122 days on the Russian Mir space station.

Immune issues sound familiar to Dr. Jerry Linenger, an American astronaut who spent more than four months on the Russian space station Mir. He said he was never sick in orbit, but once he came back to Earth, "I was probably more sick than I was in my life."



Astronauts launch into orbit with their own germs and get exposed to their crewmates' germs, and then after a week with nothing else new in the "very sterile environment" of a space station, "your immune system is really not challenged," Linenger said.



A human mission to Mars, which NASA hopes to launch in the 2030s, will take 30 months, including time on the surface, Kundrot said.

Radiation exposure



Radiation is a top concern. The mission would expose astronauts to galactic cosmic radiation levels higher than NASA's own safety standard. It's "just a little bit over," he said.



On Earth and even on the space station, Earth's magnetic field shields astronauts from lots of radiation. There would be no such shielding on the way to Mars and back, but tunnels or dirt-covered habitats could help a bit on Mars, Kundrot said.



Kelly, who turns 55 next week, said he'd go to Mars. He said a trip that long "wouldn't be worse than what I experienced. Possibly better. I think the big physical challenge, radiation aside, will be a mission where you are in space for years."
The Vatican said Saturday that Pope Francis has defrocked disgraced former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick.



In July of last year, Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation from the College of Cardinals following allegations he had sexually abused minor and adult seminarians over a period of decades.



The Vatican said in a statement that in January 2019 it had found McCarrick guilty of ". . . solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power." (The Sixth Commandment says 'Thou shall not commit adultery' and is one of the Ten Commandments the Bible says were given by God. The Commandments are fundamental to Judaism and Christianity.) Former US Cardinal McCarrick Dismissed From Priesthood Disgraced former U.S. Disgraced former U.S.

McCarrick appealed the decision expelling him from the priesthood, but it was upheld and McCarrick was notified of the decision Friday. .



The Vatican statement said its decision "is definitive and admits of no further recourse or appeal."

This latest move by Francis is unprecedented by the Vatican, and it is intended to send a strong message, according to Archbishop Charles Scicluna in an interview with Reuters.



"It is a very important signal that, if we're talking about accountability for bishops, we are actually doing it," he said. "We are walking the talk. There is also a very important signal for us bishops that we are not above the law. ... We should be judged according to the highest standards."



Scicluna said McCarrick's sexual misconduct with adult seminarians was an open secret in the U.S. church, and Scicluna also noted the decision could lead to "soul searching" by those who may have known about it but did not come forward. Scicluna is an archbishop in Malta and holds a prominent position in the Vatican department that judged McCarrick.



The church repeatedly has faced withering criticism for its mishandling of the sexual abuse crisis, which has documented how predator priests were simply moved from parish to parish in nations around the globe instead of being defrocked or turned over to civilian authorities.

McCarrick had been a highly respected and longtime ambassador of the Catholic Church was was a confidant ?of popes and U.S. presidents.



McCarrick, 88, was ordained a priest in 1958. His appointments included: auxiliary bishop of New York, bishop of Metuchen, archbishop of Newark, and archbishop of Washington.



In 2001, McCarrick became a cardinal.
The U.S. Air Force has begun flying tons of aid to a Colombian town on the Venezuelan border as part of an effort meant to undermine socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

US Military Delivers Aid to Colombia-Venezuela Border More than 200 tons of U.S. humanitarian aid intended for Venezuela is scheduled to begin arriving just across the border in Colombia Saturday, delivered by U.S. More than 200 tons of U.S. humanitarian aid intended for Venezuela is scheduled to begin arriving just across the border in Colombia Saturday, delivered by U.S.

The first of three C-17 cargo planes took off Saturday from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida and landed in the town of Cucuta. Its a collection point for aid thats supposed to be distributed by backers of Juan Guaido, the congressional leader who is recognized by the U.S. as Venezuelas legitimate president.

Previous aid shipments came on commercial planes.

Maduro has vowed to block the aid, which he calls unnecessary and illegal. He blames any hunger in the country on U.S. restrictions and his domestic foes.

Saturdays 180-ton shipment includes food or health packages for more than 25,000 people.
More than 200 tons of U.S. humanitarian aid intended for Venezuela is scheduled to begin arriving just across the border in Colombia Saturday, delivered by U.S. military cargo planes.

The aid will be delivered to Cucuta, Colombia, where other food and medical supplies are being held.

The aid comes at the request of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to ease shortages of food and other essentials in economically troubled Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said the aid is part of Washingtons political maneuvering to get him out of office, and he has blocked off a bridge needed to bring the supplies into Venezuela.

The United States said Maduros election was unfair and illegitimate, and U.S. officials and scores of other nations have recognized his rival, Guaido, as the countrys interim leader.

Sacks containing humanitarian aid are pictured at Sacks containing humanitarian aid are pictured at a warehouse near the Tienditas cross-border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela in Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 14, 2019. Sacks containing humanitarian aid are pictured at a warehouse near the Tienditas cross-border bridge between Colombia and Venezuela in Cucuta, Colombia, Feb. 14, 2019.

?Adding pressure

On Friday, Washington added to the political pressure on Maduro by sanctioning the head of Venezuelas oil company as well as top intelligence officials.

Earlier Friday, Guiados representatives collected aid pledges from many nations at a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, where 25 countries promised more than $100 million in humanitarian aid to Venezuela.

We came to ask for the solidarity of the governments of the world, said Lester Toledo, coordinator for international help for Venezuela. We appreciate the diplomatic gestures. We appreciate the letters and the recognition of President Guaido. But we ask for help, to make the humanitarian aid a reality. That all donations can let us purchase medical supplies that we really need.

WATCH: Neighbors Mull Ways to Get Aid Into Venezuela

?Distributing the aid

U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States Carlos Trujillo said Guaido has a plan.

I believe that President Guaido has done everything possible to make Maduro accept the humanitarian aid. Maduro has no argument, the person sitting in power doesnt let the humanitarian aid reach his people who are dying of hunger, Trujillo said.

Guaido said the aid will be brought into Venezuela Feb. 23.

Maduro, however, said the aid will not be brought into his nation, and he blames U.S. economic sanctions for Venezuelas problems.

Theyre putting pressure on Venezuelas banks, which are in charge of purchasing and bringing the food and supplies. The White House is pressuring so that none of our bank accounts work. They have frozen billions of dollars that could otherwise buy food and medicine, he claimed.

If the aid does arrive in Venezuela, organizations like the Red Cross will help distribute the supplies with neutral and independent conditions, Mario Villarroel, president of Venezuelas Red Cross, said.

We have the necessary experience, we know it is a very complex issue, but we will do our best to coordinate the distribution and organization of this humanitarian aid, he said.
GENEVA - A new United Nations report documents widespread and pervasive rape and sexual violence against women and girls, some as young as eight, in South Sudan's northern Unity Region.

The U.N. says at least 175 women and girls were victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence between September and December. It adds the actual number of victims was likely to be considerably higher.

Leer and Mayendit counties in Unity state, South S Unity state, South Sudan Unity state, South Sudan

The U.N. says attacks against civilians in South Sudan have decreased since the peace accord was signed Sept. 12. But it says conflict-related sexual violence continues in northern Unity.

Human Rights spokesman Rupert Colville says the kind of sexual violence being committed is particularly brutal and cruel. He says almost 90 percent of women and girls have been gang raped, often over several hours. He says no one is spared. Even pregnant women and nursing mothers are victims of sexual violence.

"The extreme brutality of the attackers appears to be a consistent feature with women and girls describing how they were brutally beaten by perpetrators with rifle butts, sticks, small firearms and cable wires if they attempted to resist their assailants or were simply gratuitously beaten after the rapes had taken place, Colville said.

Colville said no one is held accountable for the crimes. He said sexual violence is committed in a climate of pervasive impunity, contributing to the sense that violence against women and girls is a normal way of life.

The U.N. said most of the attacks reportedly have been carried out by youth militia groups and other elements allied with government forces. It said a few attacks also have been perpetrated by members of the pro-Riek Machar Opposition.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is calling on South Sudanese authorities to protect women and girls, to promptly investigate all allegations of sexual violence, and to bring the perpetrators to justice.
TIRANA, ALBANIA - Thousands of opposition supporters clashed with police outside the Albanian parliament on Saturday during an anti-government protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.



Critics have accused the socialist prime minister, in power since 2013, of corruption.



Police fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters, some of whom tried to enter the parliamentary building in Tirana by forcing their way through the main entrance.



Five police officers and about 10 demonstrators and journalists required hospital treatment, mostly for breathing problems after the clashes, the health ministry said.



Protesters repeatedly tried to break through police lines.



Several windows were broken as some demonstrators threw smoke grenades and stones toward the parliament building.

Albanian opposition supporters cover their faces a Albanian opposition supporters cover their faces after police threw tear gas during a protest outside the government building in Tirana, Feb. 16, 2019, demanding the resignation of the Albanian prime minister. Albanian opposition supporters cover their faces after police threw tear gas during a protest outside the government building in Tirana, Feb. 16, 2019, demanding the resignation of the Albanian prime minister.

"The situation is out of control," said Lulzim Basha, an organizer of the protest and leader of the main opposition center-right Democratic Party.



He blamed the police for having let the demonstrators get too close to the building so as to "incite violence" and allow Rama to denounce the opposition.



On Wednesday, Basha told a meeting of his supporters that "the 16th of February will be the last day in power for Rama."



Saturday's demonstration in the capital was the latest in a series that Basha has organized.



An opposition coalition of five parties, ranging from the center-right to the center-left, has accused Rama of "collusion with organized crime" and plunging "the country into corruption and poverty."



They want him to stand aside in favor of a government of technocrats who would prepare early parliamentary elections.
Voters in Nigeria woke up Saturday morning to the news that the presidential and parliamentary elections have been postponed for a week.

Nigeria's election commission postponed the vote just hours before the polls were to open.

President Muhammadu Buhari called on Africa's most populous nation to remain calm. He said in a statement this is a "trying moment in our democratic journey."

The president said Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had "given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections." He added, "We and all our citizens believed them."

The chairman of Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mahmood Yakubu, told reporters that "this was a difficult decision to take but necessary" for successful elections to take place.

He gave few details about why the change was made, but said "proceeding with the election as scheduled is no longer feasible."

Local media had reported that voting materials had not been delivered to all parts of the country.

An official of the election commission told Reuters news agency that "some result sheets and some ballot papers are reportedly missing."

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari greets his su Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari greets his supporters during a campaign rally ahead of the country's presidential election in Rivers State, Nigeria, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari greets his supporters during a campaign rally ahead of the country's presidential election in Rivers State, Nigeria, Feb. 12, 2019.

?Close race expected

The Situation Room, a civic group monitoring the election, said the delay casts a "cloud of doubt" on INEC's credibility and competence.

Voters said they were confused and disappointed by the weeklong suspension after the electoral commission had said everything was in order.

"We are all surprised. No one is happy," said Usman Joe Yussuf, a business owner in Lagos.



The election is expected to be a tight race between incumbent President Buhari and his main challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.

Abubakar urged Nigerians to "come out and vote" next week and asked them to be "patient."

Nigerian authorities increased security across much of the country on Friday ahead of the anticipated elections.

Officials in Nigeria's Kaduna state Friday reported at least 66 deaths in a wave of violence. State officials said the victims included 22 children.

Kaduna is an area known for its ethnic tensions, Christian-Muslim violence and election-related unrest.

Hundreds of people were killed in the region in 2011 when then-opposition candidate Buhari, a Muslim former military ruler from the north, lost to Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south.

FILE - Nigeria's main opposition party presidentia FILE - Nigeria's main opposition party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar speaks during an interview with Reuters in Lagos, Nigeria, Jan. 16, 2019. FILE - Nigeria's main opposition party presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar speaks during an interview with Reuters in Lagos, Nigeria, Jan. 16, 2019.

President Buhari, 76, who beat Jonathan in a rematch in 2015, is running for re-election against main challenger Abubakar, a 72-year-old businessman and former vice president.

Along with ongoing violence in Kaduna, Nigeria is dealing with the decade-long Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the northeast, and banditry and kidnappings in the northwest.

Before the announcement of a postponement, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with both President Buhari and Abubakar by phone on Friday, and "underscored U.S. support for the Nigerian goal of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections."

Pompeo welcomed both candidates' pledges to accept the results of a credible election process and said the United States wants to see elections that reflect the will of the Nigerian people, according to a State Department statement.

Pompeo noted the "deep and long-standing partnership" between the United States and Nigeria, Africa's most-populous democracy and the continent's largest economy.
MOSCOW - A Russian court has ordered Michael Calvey, the founder of Moscow-based private equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners and one of the country's most prominent American investors, to be held in custody for nearly two months on charges of embezzlement.



Moscow Basmanny court judge Artur Karpov ordered Calvey held in custody until at least April 13, arguing that the seriousness of the criminal charges made him a flight risk.



Calvey's attorney said the investor maintained his innocence and would appeal. Four other defendants in the case have been ordered to remain in pretrial custody for two months.

A spokeswoman for the Moscow district court Friday announced that Calvey had been detained along with other members of the firm Thursday on suspicion of stealing $37.5 million (2.5 billion rubles), a charge that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison upon conviction.

Private equity group partner

Calvey, 51, is a senior partner who founded Baring Vostok in 1994. According to the firms website, the private equity group holds more than $3.5 billion in committed capital and is a controlling shareholder in Russias Vostochny Bank, which focuses on Siberian and Far Eastern markets.

A statement on the Baring Vostok website said the company believes that the detention of its employees and the charges that have been brought are a result of a conflict with shareholders of Vostochniy [sic] Bank. We have full confidence in the legality of our employees actions and will vigorously defend their rights. Baring Vostoks activities in the Russian Federation are fully compliant with all applicable laws.

Before launching Baring Vostok, Calvey worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and for Salomon Brothers. Since arriving in Moscow in the mid-1990s, hes become a prominent and highly visible member of the Moscow investment community. He is a board member of the Washington-based Atlantic Council.

Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Micha Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Michael Calvey, center, is escorted to the courtroom in Moscow, Feb. 15, 2019. A veteran U.S. investment fund manager has been detained in Moscow and faces fraud charges. Founder of the Baring Vostok investment fund Michael Calvey, center, is escorted to the courtroom in Moscow, Feb. 15, 2019. A veteran U.S. investment fund manager has been detained in Moscow and faces fraud charges.

?Pleas from investment community

The announcement of Calveys detention sent shockwaves through the international investment community, prompting numerous pleas for his immediate release.

Herman Gref, head of Sberbank, Russias biggest state bank, issued a statement calling Calvey a decent, honest man, while Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russias $10 billion sovereign wealth fund and a close contact of Russian President Vladimir Putin, described Calvey as committed to the highest ethical standards accepted in the investment community.

Kremlin officials Friday said Putin wasnt aware of the charges being brought against Calvey.

We are aware that a U.S. citizen was arrested on February 14, 2019, in Russia," a State Department spokesperson said Friday. We have no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens abroad. Due to privacy considerations, we do not have any additional information at this time.

Calvey is the third Westerner to face prosecution in Russia since Dec. 31, when American citizen Paul Whelan, a former Marine, was jailed on accusations of spying. Last week, a Russian court sentenced Dennis Christensen, a Danish adherent of the Jehovahs Witnesses religion, to six years in prison for organizing the activity of an extremist organization.

Although Russia has jailed foreign investors who were vocal opponents of the Kremlin, Calvey has no such record of public political opinions.

Russia is a do-it-yourself market, Calvey told The Washington Post in 2011. You cant rely on outside service providers.

In that interview, Calvey said his group operates with 20 investors, four full-time lawyers and three government relations managers, along with a host of accountants and administrative support. At that time, all 10 of his partners were Russian nationals.

International firms arent equipped for Russia, he told the Post. And they usually have a low tolerance threshold for uncertainty and no sense of humor for Russian surprises, which he described as surprise audits, seizure of assets for back taxes, and sudden, sometimes seemingly arbitrary business license reviews.

The final straw

Vocal Kremlin critic and Hermitage Capital co-founder Bill Browder was denied entry into Russia in 2005 after his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, began investigating governmental misconduct and corruption in response to suspicious tax evasion charges brought against Hermitage by Russias Interior Ministry.

Magnitsky died under suspicious circumstances in Russian custody in 2009.

The arrest of Mike Calvey in Moscow should be the final straw that Russia is an entirely corrupt and [uninvestable] country, Browder said in a tweet Friday. Of all the people I knew in Moscow, Mike played by their rules, kept his head down and never criticized the government.

Pete Cobus is VOAs acting Moscow correspondent. State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributed reporting from Washington. Some information is from Reuters.
CAIRO - Following a terrorist attack Saturday on Egyptian military personnel in the northern Sinai region of el-Arish that resulted in 15 casualties, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi told a security gathering in Munich that terrorism destroys societies and hinders economic development, and it must be fought by all.

Arab media said the attack took place at a military checkpoint not far from the town of Sheikh Zuweid, the scene of previous terrorist attacks.

Egyptian army spokesman Tamer el-Refai wrote on his Facebook page that "14 soldiers and an officer were killed or wounded," adding that the army responded by killing seven Islamic militants. The attack reportedly took place about dawn.

IS claim

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack through its AMAQ news agency, though the group offered no proof for its claim.

Several Arab news channels reported that terrorists with ties to IS were behind the Sinai attack.

Egypt launched a major military campaign against terrorism in the northern Sinai more than a year ago, and there has been a noticeable drop in the level of terrorist attacks in that area, although the region remains restive. The Egyptian military has created a buffer zone with nearby Gaza, in addition to destroying numerous tunnels from Gaza into the Sinai.

The BBC Arabic service reported the Egyptian military also cleared a buffer zone around el-Arish airport after a failed terrorist attack on a plane carrying the country's defense minister and army chief. It did not say when the alleged attempted attack took place. VOA could not independently confirm the story.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Egyptian German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for a bilateral meeting during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019. German Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for a bilateral meeting during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 16, 2019.

El-Sissi said at the Munich Security Conference that terrorism was a burden for many countries in the region and that all nations should join forces to combat it.

He said terrorism had become an ugly international phenomenon that destabilizes countries, and that it was the duty of all nations to help to uproot it, since it is a major threat to economic development. He urged the international community to combat groups that practice terrorism and countries that support those groups.

Libya's eastern military spokesman, Col. Ahmed Almasmari, indicated in an interview Saturday that his forces also were fighting terrorist groups being sponsored by outside countries.

He said the Libyan army, under eastern military commander Gen. Khalifa Hafter, was working to wipe out terrorism and foreign mercenaries that fuel it.

Almasmari said that his forces had "dismantled a terrorist axis supported by both Qatar and Turkey." Both countries deny they support terrorism.

Local, regional causes

Khattar Abou Diab, who teaches political science at the University of Paris, told VOA that terrorism has both local and regional causes.

He said terrorism increased in Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood was ousted in 2013, as was the case in Algeria when the Islamists were overthrown in 1992, causing a bloody 10-year reign of terrorism. He said outside countries also support terrorists in Egypt, but that the Egyptian government has traditionally had bad relations with the Bedouin tribes in the northern Sinai, which makes the region a fertile ground for unrest.

Abou Diab speculated the current campaign to crush IS in Syria and Iraq "may be causing some terrorists to flee to other places, like the Sinai."
WASHINGTON - The last defenders of the Islamic State terror group's self-proclaimed caliphate are surrounded in a small neighborhood in the eastern Syrian village of Baghuz, facing imminent defeat.



The assessment Saturday, from a commander of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, follows days of slow and difficult fighting as IS fighters cling to an ever-shrinking sliver of land, pausing only for intermittent negotiations over a possible surrender.



"In a very short time, we will spread the good tidings to the world of the military end of Daesh," Jiya Furat, the SDF commander leading the final assault, told reporters during a news conference outside Baghuz. PM Says Iraq to Repatriate Iraqi IS Fighters Held in Syria Iraq will repatriate Iraqi members of the Islamic State group held by U.S.-backed fighters in Syria as well as thousands of their family members, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said.Abdul-Mahdi told reporters late Tuesday that families of those fighters will also be brought back and that tent settlements will be prepared to host them. Abdul-Mahdi's comments came after a meeting he held in Baghdad with acting U.S. Iraq will repatriate Iraqi members of the Islamic State group held by U.S.-backed fighters in Syria as well as thousands of their family members, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said.Abdul-Mahdi told reporters late Tuesday that families of those fighters will also be brought back and that tent settlements will be prepared to host them. Abdul-Mahdi's comments came after a meeting he held in Baghdad with acting U.S.

Furat said the self-proclaimed caliphate, which once covered large swaths of Syria and Iraq, had been reduced to an area covering no more than about 600 square meters, and that IS fighters were coming under fire from every direction.



But efforts to finish off the final IS enclave have been slowed due to concerns about civilians, including the wives and children of the terror group's fighters, trying to escape to safety.



"There have been some lapses in the battle as we continue to see hundreds of civilians still attempting to flee," coalition spokesman, Col. Sean Ryan, told VOA via email Saturday. "Strikes have been reduced to help protect the civilians."

US-Backed SDF Closing in on IS Stronghold in Syria The U.S.-led coalition in Syria says it carried out an airstrike against a former mosque in the last Syrian stronghold held by Islamic State fighters.A coalition statement said the strike in Baghuz took place Monday, and was done in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led anti-Islamic State coalition that is fighting the militants on the ground."This mosque lost its protected status when ISIS deliberately chose to use it as a command and control center," said Maj. Gen. The U.S.-led coalition in Syria says it carried out an airstrike against a former mosque in the last Syrian stronghold held by Islamic State fighters.A coalition statement said the strike in Baghuz took place Monday, and was done in support of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led anti-Islamic State coalition that is fighting the militants on the ground."This mosque lost its protected status when ISIS deliberately chose to use it as a command and control center," said Maj. Gen.

Those civilians who have escaped say IS has been using them as human shields, shooting at them if and when they attempt to leave.



The SDF advance has also been slowed by IS' use of booby traps and other improvised explosive devices [IEDs], and counterattacks using suicide bombers and cars or motorcycles laden with explosives.



There are also concerns about additional IS fighters hiding in what appears to be an extensive system of tunnels and caves.



Monitoring groups, including the Syrian Observatory for Human rights, reported a group of IS fighters launched a counterattack late Friday, targeting coalition-backed forces near the al-Azraq oilfield. But they said the assault was quickly repelled with the help of coalition warplanes.



Just days ago, coalition officials had described the fight against IS in its final hold-out of Baghuz as a clearing operation, with one top commander saying, "The end of the physical caliphate is at hand."

FILE - President Donald Trump waves as he walks th FILE - President Donald Trump waves as he walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office of the White House on arrival to make an announcement. FILE - President Donald Trump waves as he walks through the Colonnade from the Oval Office of the White House on arrival to make an announcement.

And on Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump stirred up anticipation that a final declaration of victory over the IS was fast-approaching.



"We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate," Trump said at the White House. "That'll be announced over the next 24 hours."



On Saturday, though, both coalition officials and the SDF suggested there was no longer any set timeline for an announcement.

US-backed Fighters Launch Final Push to Defeat IS in Syria U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said Saturday that they had begun an assault against Islamic State to clear the last enclave the militant group controls in eastern Syria. Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, tweeted Saturday, "#SDF started to move on to the last village remaining under jihadists' control. ... Village of Baghuz, which is the only remaining #ISIS pocket, will be cleared soon." "The battle is very fierce," Bali told The Associated Press. U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces said Saturday that they had begun an assault against Islamic State to clear the last enclave the militant group controls in eastern Syria. Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, tweeted Saturday, "#SDF started to move on to the last village remaining under jihadists' control. ... Village of Baghuz, which is the only remaining #ISIS pocket, will be cleared soon." "The battle is very fierce," Bali told The Associated Press.

U.S. officials have also been quick to point out that even once the last pocket of IS-held territory is taken, the fight will not be over.



Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Saturday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence promised the U.S. would maintain a strong presence in the Middle East and would "track down" any remnants or offshoots of the Islamic State.



Top U.S. military officials have warned the terror group still has 20,000 to 30,000 followers, including fighters, spread across Syria and Iraq. And they worry about the ability of their Syrian partners, in particular, to keep IS in check once U.S. troops withdraw.

Trump Speech Stokes Allies Fears Over US Troop Withdrawal U.S. U.S.

The U.S. official has also been talking with other members of the coalition about increasing their help as U.S. troops prepare to leave. But so far, other coalition members, many of whom have no troops on the ground in Syria, have been unwilling to make any specific commitments.



"I think there's a tremendous desire to have a security arrangement or mechanism that doesn't result in a security vacuum. What that isis still being developed," a senior defense official said Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.



"We've been pretty clear that this is going to be a deliberate withdrawal," the official added. "There's a timeline associated with that that's conditions-based. We've said publicly on a number of occasions that it will be here in months, not weeks and not years."
New Delhi, Feb 16 (UNI/IBNS) Strongly condemning the dastadly terror act in Pulwama on February 14, in which 40 CRPF jawans lost their lives, an all-party meeting here on Saturday said the country stands united in solidarity with the security forces in fighting terror and defending the unity and integrity of India.

A unanimous resolution passed at the meeting in Parliament, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, also condemned the support given to acts of terrorism from across the border.

''We strongly condemn the dastardly terror act of February 14, 2019 at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in which lives of 40 jawans of CRPF were lost.

''We, along with our countrymen, stand with their families in this hour of grief. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and the support given to it from across the border.

''Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and defending the unity and integrity of India, the resolution said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday continued his attack on Pakistan for his complicity on the issue of terror and said the western neighbour is on the verge of bankruptcy and is now known all over as an 'alternative name for terrorism'.

"The other name of terrorism is Pakistan today," Prime Minister said assuring the nation that a befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the February 14 dastardly act at Pulwama.

In one of the worst terror attacks on security personnel in recent times, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were martyred and 14 others injured when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant (suicide bomber) rammed an IED laden vehicle into the forces' convoy at Awantipora in south Kashmir district of Pulwama on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday afternoon.

JeM has claimed responsibility for the Fidayeen (suicide) attack even as India slammed Pakistan for giving full freedom to the militant group in its territory to prepare for attacking Indian securitymen.

"This terror group is led by the international terrorist Masood Azhar, who has been given full freedom by Government of Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity," said India in a statement.
HANOI - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Vietnam on Feb. 25 ahead of a planned second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, three sources with direct knowledge of Kims schedule told Reuters on Saturday.

Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28 following their historic first meeting last June in Singapore. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday Washington aims to get as far down the road as we can at the summit.

Hanoi Summit Sparks Optimism, But Called Moment of Truth The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in roughly two weeks is being seen by some as cause for optimism, but also as a moment of truth.Park In-hook, the president of the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, said during the organization's inaugural trilateral conference on China, U.S., and South Korean issues, theres a lot of emphasis on the February 27-28 talks in Hanoi because there is some phobia that this might be the last chance.Real results The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in roughly two weeks is being seen by some as cause for optimism, but also as a moment of truth.Park In-hook, the president of the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, said during the organization's inaugural trilateral conference on China, U.S., and South Korean issues, theres a lot of emphasis on the February 27-28 talks in Hanoi because there is some phobia that this might be the last chance.Real results

Kim will meet with Vietnamese officials when he arrives in Hanoi, said the sources, who requested anonymity citing the sensitivity and secrecy surrounding the movements of the North Korean leader.

He will also visit the Vietnamese manufacturing base of Bac Ninh and the industrial port town of Hai Phong, one source said.

Vietnams president and general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, will meet Kim ahead of a planned trip by Trong to neighboring Laos, one of the sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

A Reuters witness saw Kims close aide, Kim Chang Son, in Hanoi on Saturday visiting a government guesthouse and the Metropole and Melia hotels in the center of the capital.

Pompeo: US Aims to Get as Far Down Road as We Can' with N Korea The United States aims to "get as far down the road as we can" ahead of a summit with North Korea in Vietnam this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.Pompeo said he was sending his team back to Asia in the coming days for further discussions around all issues discussed at a groundbreaking Singapore summit last June between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.  The United States aims to "get as far down the road as we can" ahead of a summit with North Korea in Vietnam this month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.Pompeo said he was sending his team back to Asia in the coming days for further discussions around all issues discussed at a groundbreaking Singapore summit last June between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

Reuters was first to report last month that Hanoi was preparing to receive Kim for a state visit this month.

Communist-ruled Vietnam, which has embraced economic reforms and developed close diplomatic ties with its former foe the United States, has been widely touted as a model of reform for isolated and impoverished North Korea.

The former Cold War allies, which share a similar socialist ideology and exchanged military and political support during the Vietnam War, are eyeing a new chapter in relations following Hanois opening up and embrace of the West.
SYDNEY - Australias center-right government says it will re-open a controversial detention center on Christmas Island, after parliament voted to allow asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus to come to Australia for medical treatment.

The passage of the bill was an embarrassing defeat for Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who says making it easier for sick migrants held offshore to be treated in Australia would encourage more asylum-seekers to come by sea.

To anyone who thinks they should get on a boat, Im here and I will stop you, he said. My job now is to do everything within my power and in the power of the government to ensure that what the parliament has done to weaken our borders does not result in boats coming to Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Feb. 13, 2019. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison addresses media at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Feb. 13, 2019.

Critics see scare tactics

The detention center on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean, is to be reopened. It had been in operation since 2003, but was closed last year.

Critics say the prime ministers decision to reopen the facility 300 kilometers south of Indonesia is an attempt to scare voters about border security ahead of an election expected in May. Opponents point out that the medical evacuation law passed this week covers only people already detained offshore, and will not apply to new arrivals.

Professor Alex Riley from the University of Adelaide says many migrants will know the restrictions that Australia will impose.

Refugees are much better at sourcing information. The availability of smartphones and the growing information on the internet means that people soon work out what the opportunities really are, Riley said. People absolutely will be looking at the details. Before you jump on a boat and risk your life going to another country with the prospect of spending years and years in detention on an island, you are going to look at the details of what the law really says.

Since 2013, the Australian navy has been turning or towing back asylum-seeker boats.

There has been unrest at detention camps in the South Pacific, where other migrants intercepted at sea have been held. They have been told they will never be allowed to settle in Australia.

News is welcome, if temporary

On Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, refugees have welcomed news that they can go to Australia for medical treatment.

But Khalid Hamad who fled Sudan says his long-term future remains uncertain.

It is not (a) permanent solution to us, he said. To go to Australia, yes, to get the treatment, that is it. What after that? It is not (a) permanent solution, just temporary solution.

While the impassioned political debate has focused on migrants arriving by boat, whose numbers have dwindled in recent years, little attention is given to a record number of people, mostly from China and Malaysia, who arrive by plane seeking asylum in Australia.
A 15-year employee being fired from a manufacturing company opened fire in its suburban Chicago plant Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, police said.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin was being terminated before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co., which makes valves for industrial purposes, in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

Aurora, Illinois Aurora, Illinois Aurora, Illinois

She told a news conference that in addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury while officers were searching the building.

Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Police said they did not know the gunmans motive.

May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference.

Employees are escorted from the scene of a shootin Employees are escorted from the scene of a shooting at a manufacturing plant, Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Employees are escorted from the scene of a shooting at a manufacturing plant, Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, Ill.

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.

What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it, Probst said.

Probst said he wasnt hurt but that another colleague was bleeding pretty bad.

Its a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. Its a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life, Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.

An aerial photo of police and emergency vehicles p An aerial photo of police and emergency vehicles parked in a lot adjacent to a warehouse at the scene of a mass shooting involving multiply casualties in Aurora, Ill., Feb. 15, 2019. An aerial photo of police and emergency vehicles parked in a lot adjacent to a warehouse at the scene of a mass shooting involving multiply casualties in Aurora, Ill., Feb. 15, 2019.

At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street just a mile and a half from the shooting, neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martins unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with him.

Christy Fonseca often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mothers Aurora neighborhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her mom Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.

Police cars with screaming sirens revved past her as she drove to her mothers house, where the Henry Pratt building is visible from the porch. It was only when they turned on the television news that they realized Martin had killed people just a few hundred feet away.

In Aurora, period, wed never thought anything like this would happen, Fonseca, a lifelong resident of the Chicago suburb, said as she looked out at the factory.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families.

America is with you, he said.
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Hundreds of Haitians protested in the streets of the capital, Port- au-Prince, for the ninth consecutive day Friday, despite the president's assurances that he understands their pain and is working toward a solution.

"We are asking the international community to help us get rid of [President] Jovenel [Moise] because Jovenel is working for them," a protester told VOA Creole. "Fellow citizens, please if you see Jovenel on the street, handcuff him and throw him in jail," the young man added.

FILE - President Jovenel Moise, then the Haitian p FILE - President Jovenel Moise, then the Haitian presidential candidate of PHTK Political Party, speaks during an interview with AFP in Port-au-Prince, Sept. 6, 2016. FILE - President Jovenel Moise, then the Haitian presidential candidate of PHTK Political Party, speaks during an interview with AFP in Port-au-Prince, Sept. 6, 2016.

Moise broke his weeklong silence with a national address Thursday night, which was broadcast nationwide and on Facebook. He sought to calm and reassure a tense and angry nation.

"I hear you," Moise said, acknowledging criticism about his government's ineffectiveness and lack of transparency. "I will never betray you. You are the reason I ran for president. I'm working for you."

He also reminded the country's most underprivileged citizens that like them, he, too, came from humble beginnings.

Moise announced that he has taken a series of measures to make life better for Haitians and has asked Prime Minister Jean Henry Ceant, whom he described as an electoral rival, to communicate those measures and apply them immediately. He later tweeted that Ceant would announce the new economic measures Friday.

It is still unclear whether or when the prime minister will announce the measures, but in an interview with a local radio station Friday morning, Ceant said the president had pressured him to resign. Ceant said he refused.

A group of women and children walk to buy water in A group of women and children walk to buy water in the neighborhood of Petion Ville, in the Haitian Capital Port-au-Prince, on Feb. 14, 2019. A group of women and children walk to buy water in the neighborhood of Petion Ville, in the Haitian Capital Port-au-Prince, on Feb. 14, 2019.

On the streets of Port-au-Prince, protesters are burning tires and building makeshift barricades, which are blocking many roads.

"We don't need for the prime minister to resign," a protester in his 20s told VOA Creole. "We need lower prices. This morning I went to buy a bag of rice  I'm a poor person  they were asking 350 dollars [Haitian Gourdes, the local currency, are equivalent to about U.S. $3.50]. So, president, I'm asking you to resign. You can go now."

"Jovenel is adding fuel to the fire," a protester in his 40s told VOA Creole. "It would have been better if he had never said anything." The man decried the current living conditions where young people have died and residents are dealing with a water shortage.

"I'm out here [protesting] for the ninth time. I lost a lot of brothers and sisters during these protests," another man said proudly. "The president humiliated [in his speech last night] by calling us drug dealers, while he sends kudos to the Americans. Mr. President, we are not drug dealers!"

The international community has acknowledged the people's right to protest but deplored the violence and damage to property.

The U.S. Embassy issued a statement Friday reacting to the protests and the president's speech.

"The United States Government shares the desire of the Haitian people for a better future for Haiti," it said. "We encourage all of Haiti's lawfully elected representatives, and all Haitians who seek a peaceful political solution consistent with Haiti's constitution to engage in an inclusive dialogue  without resorting to violent action."

The statement also encouraged "sound economic policy measures" and "transparent resource management" as ways to improve living conditions.

Declaration de lambassade des Etats-Unis https://t.co/uP93Yru8oq  U.S. Embassy Haiti (@USEmbassyHaiti) February 15, 2019

Meanwhile, Haiti Foreign Minister Bocchit Edmond is in Washington. He tweeted a photo of himself at the White House where he met with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton.

@moisejovenel @jeanhenryceant @MCHaiti @Stanleylucas01 A la Maison Blanche pour rencontrer Ambassadeur John Bolton, Conseiller en Securite Nationale du President Trump pour discuter des questions bilaterales dimportance. pic.twitter.com/cLH2B3J7Ox  Bocchit Edmond (@BocchitEdmond) February 15, 2019

In Washington, the State Department has raised its travel alert for Haiti to level 4, the most serious. "Do not travel, due to crime and unrest," the advisory reads.

Renan Toussaint and Matiado Vilme contributed to this report from Port-au-Prince, Nike Ching contributed from the State Department, Ronald Cesar contributed in Washington.
Disgraced former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood following allegations against him, including sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican said Saturday.

McCarrick, who in July became the first Roman Catholic prelate in nearly 100 years to lose the title of cardinal, has now become the highest profile church figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times.

The defrocking was announced ahead of next weeks meeting at the Vatican between the heads of national Catholic churches to discuss the global sexual abuse crisis.

McCarrick had appealed the decision, but it was upheld and Pope Francis said no further appeal would be allowed.

The allegations against McCarrick date back decades when he was still rising to the top of the U.S. church hierarchy.

McCarrick, who became a power-broker as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., from 2001 to 2006, is living in seclusion in a remote friary in Kansas.

He has responded publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has absolutely no recollection of an alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld said Friday that he was launching a presidential exploratory committee, making him the first Republican to take steps to challenge U.S. President Donald Trump for the party's nomination in 2020.

Trump's popularity among Republicans remains high in his third year in office. While he is not expected to face significant hurdles in his bid for a second nomination, it is rare for an incumbent president to face a notable primary challenge, with the last being George H.W. Bush.

Weld, 73, is not well-known nationally but is well-respected among officials in the GOP establishment.

He was first elected governor of Massachusetts in 1990, defeating a conservative Democratic candidate. Weld became one of the state's more popular governors, being elected twice by comfortable margins.

While in office, he followed traditional Republican fiscal policies of trying to keep taxes and government spending low, but embraced liberal positions on abortion and gay rights.

Nation in 'grave peril'

In announcing his presidential aspirations Friday in Bedford, N.H., Weld said the country was in "grave peril" and described Trump as a "schoolyard bully."

"I encourage those of you who are watching the current administration nervously, but saying nothing, to stand up and speak out when lines are crossed in dangerous ways," Weld said.

Weld said Trump was "a president whose priorities are skewed to the promotion of himself rather than toward the good of the country."

Asked to comment on Weld's campaign, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders responded: "Who?"

Weld tried to win a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts in 1996 but lost to John Kerry. He later moved to New York and unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor in 2005.

FILE - Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, left, FILE - Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, left, stands with his vice presidential running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, during a campaign rally, Aug. 25, 2016, in Concord, N.H. FILE - Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, left, stands with his vice presidential running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, during a campaign rally, Aug. 25, 2016, in Concord, N.H.

In 2016, Weld joined the Libertarian Party, serving as running mate to the party's 2016 candidate, Gary Johnson. The duo received about 4.5 million votes, or a little more than 3 percent of the national popular vote. Weld returned to the Republican Party this year, saying it was the best place from which to challenge Trump.

Several other Republicans are also reportedly considering challenging Trump in the primaries, including former Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan. More than a dozen Democrats have already announced their intentions to run in the Democratic primaries or are reported to be considering candidacies.
WASHINGTON - Paul Manafort, the one-time chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, could spend more than 19 years in prison on tax and bank fraud charges, according to court papers filed Friday.

Documents filed by special counsel Robert Mueller's office reveal that Manafort faces the lengthiest prison term imposed in the Russia investigation if a federal judge agrees to it. It would also place the 69-year-old Manafort at serious risk of spending the rest of his life in prison.

The potential sentence stems from Manafort's conviction last year on eight felony charges that accused him of carrying out an elaborate scheme to conceal from tax authorities the millions of dollars he earned overseas from Ukrainian political consulting. It is one of two criminal cases pending against Manafort in which he faces prison time.

FILE - Special counsel Robert Mueller, in charge o FILE - Special counsel Robert Mueller, in charge of investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, departs Capitol Hill, in Washington, June 21, 2017. FILE - Special counsel Robert Mueller, in charge of investigating Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and possible collusion between Moscow and the Trump campaign, departs Capitol Hill, in Washington, June 21, 2017.

Though Mueller's office did not recommend a precise sentence for Manafort, prosecutors said they agreed with a calculation by federal probation officials that his crimes deserve a punishment of between 19 and 24 years. They also lay out in great detail for U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III how they say Manafort's greed drove him to disregard American law.

"In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," the prosecutors wrote. "The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct."

Mental and physical strain

Manafort has been jailed for months as he awaits his formal sentencing. His lawyers have said the incarceration has created a mental and physical strain on Manafort, who has recently used a wheelchair in court appearances.

But Mueller's team made clear that Manafort's age should not be a consideration, nor does it eliminate the risk that he could still commit new crimes. Prosecutors note that "his pattern of criminal activity" lasted more than a decade, that he conspired to tamper with witnesses despite facing indictments in two different districts and that he repeatedly lied to the government and to a grand jury even after he agreed to cooperate and plead guilty.

"Nothing about the defendant's age is unusual," they wrote. "Tax offenders are often older and often, like the defendant, wealthy, but they nonetheless receive substantial terms of incarceration notwithstanding age and health issues."

Prosecutors often acknowledge mitigating factors that a judge may consider on a defendant's behalf in favor of a more lenient sentence. But none exist here, prosecutors said. They also argued that Manafort deserved a sentencing enhancement reserved for defendants who lead or organize others in criminal activity.

"Manafort controlled the money at issue, he recruited others to facilitate these crimes, and he claimed a larger share of the proceeds," they said. "Further, Manafort was plainly the leader. He involved numerous individuals who were both knowing and unknowing participants in the criminal scheme."

Not a good week

The filing by prosecutors came just days after a judge in Manafort's other criminal case ruled that he breached his plea agreement by lying to investigators and a federal grand jury about several topics, including his interactions with an associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

That plea-agreement dispute has revealed that Mueller's team remains focused on Manafort's contacts with the associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, as prosecutors continue to investigate Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible coordination with Trump associates.

He faces up to five years in prison in that separate case in Washington.
Iranian rights groups say authorities have detained two civil activists in the country's northwestern Kurdistan province in recent days, one a teachers union member and the other an environmentalist.

Four groups quoted sources as saying Iranian security agents arrested Mokhtar Asadi, a member of the Kurdistan Teachers Association, in Sanandaj as he traveled home with his family on Thursday. They said Asadi was detained without a warrant and taken to an unknown location, hours after dozens of teachers held a peaceful protest outside the Sanandaj educational department.

The groups reporting on Asadi's detention were Iran's Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA), Kurdistan Human Rights Association and Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN).



The Sanandaj rally was part of a series of teacher protests held Thursday in six Iranian cities, with activists denouncing perceived government suppression of their rights and calling for better working conditions in their poorly paid profession.

There was no word on Asadi's case in Iranian state media. He has been arrested several times before in relation to his advocacy for teachers' rights, and had been released from his most recent detention last July after spending a year in Tehran's Evin prison on a charge of spreading anti-government propaganda.

HRANA has said Iranian authorities have tightened their grip on labor unions in recent years and have shown a "particular vitriol" toward those representing educators.

U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch joined four Iranian rights organizations in reporting the arrest of environmentalist Sirwan Ghorbani in Kamyaran on Tuesday. They said Iranian security officers detained Ghorbani, also a central council member of the Kurdistan National Unity Party, at his home.

The Iranian rights groups quoted sources as saying the officers who raided Ghorbani's home put a sack over his head, seized some of his personal belongings and confiscated the mobile phone of his sister Samira Ghorbani, who fainted and had to be taken to a hospital. They said the agents also ordered Samira Ghorbani to report to a local information bureau in the coming days.

Iranian state media were silent on Sirwan Ghorbani's arrest, details of which were reported by Campaign for the Defense of Political and Civil Prisoners, HRANA, KHRN and the Kurdistan Press Agency (KurdPA).



The rights groups said Iranian authorities detained 10 other environmental and civil activists in Kamyaran and Sanandaj in late December and in recent days extended their arrest for another month. A Jan. 7 report by Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted Kurdistan provincial deputy security chief Hussein Khosheqbal as saying those detained had been engaged in "criminal activities" on behalf of environmental groups.

Iran has come under criticism from international rights activists for its recent detentions and prosecutions of other Iranian environmentalists. Eight have been on trial since last month on spying-related charges that their supporters say are bogus.

This article originated in VOA's Persian service.
GENEVA - The U.N. Human Rights Office is calling on the Philippine judiciary to drop all charges against journalist Maria Ressa. It says pursuing the case threatens an independent media in the country.

Maria Ressa, founder and CEO of the independent news outlet Rappler, was arrested on libel charges earlier this week. She has since been freed on bail.

How Philippine President's Rising Anger Led to an Editors Arrest for Cyber-Libel Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte harshly criticizes a lot of his critics, especially skeptics of his deadly anti-drug campaign. But he got so fed up with one journalist that his government had her arrested, experts suspect. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte harshly criticizes a lot of his critics, especially skeptics of his deadly anti-drug campaign. But he got so fed up with one journalist that his government had her arrested, experts suspect.

This is not her first arrest. Ressa, a frequent critic of the policies of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, has repeatedly been charged with infractions, such as tax evasion.



U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville says Ressa was charged in an effort to prevent the independent voice of Rappler from being heard. He tells VOA she is being charged with libel or defamation under the Philippines' 2012 Cybercrime Prevention Act.



"It makes on-line libel a crime punishable with up to 12 years in jail. So, it is a pretty Draconian sentence," Colville said. "In the views of international human rights experts, defamation law should not lead to criminal charges and in this case, this law is being used to sentence and silence and threaten journalists."

Award-Winning Philippine Journalist Arrested on Libel Charges An award-winning Philippine journalist and founder of an online news site that has clashed repeatedly with President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Wednesday by government agents on libel charges.Maria Ressa, executive editor of Rappler, Inc., was arrested following a complaint from a businessman linked to murder and trafficking humans and drugs. The Philippine justice ministry filed the case on behalf of the of businessman, who denies any wrongdoing. An award-winning Philippine journalist and founder of an online news site that has clashed repeatedly with President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Wednesday by government agents on libel charges.Maria Ressa, executive editor of Rappler, Inc., was arrested following a complaint from a businessman linked to murder and trafficking humans and drugs. The Philippine justice ministry filed the case on behalf of the of businessman, who denies any wrongdoing.

Colville says the Ressa case is likely to have repercussions on other journalists, pushing many to self-censorship for fear of being punished. He says the public could be deprived of good news reporting as a result.



The U.N. human rights office is calling for a thorough, independent review of all charges against Ressa and other media professionals in the Philippines. It urges the judiciary to safeguard its own independence by throwing out cases that clearly are politically motivated.



It says the charges are not in line with international human rights standards. It adds they also trample on the rights of journalists to carry out their professional duties safely and without fear of reprisal.
Top military commanders of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) said Saturday that they had agreed to launch new, targeted military operations against al-Shabab militants in Somalia.



According to AMISOM, the new activities will be implemented in three phases in an effort to flush the terrorists from their hideouts in the region.



Speaking at the end of a five-day meeting of military commanders in Mogadishu, Simon Mulongo, the deputy special representative of the chairperson of the African Union Commission (DSRCC) for Somalia, explained the approach.



"The activities will consist of comprehensive operations in support of the Somalia Transition Plan and will include stability operations targeting al-Shabab hideouts and enhancing protection of population centers," said Mulongo.



Somali military officials said the planned military operations are part of the country's Transition Plan, which includes implementing a conditions-based AMISOM troop withdrawal, handing over of priority locations in Mogadishu to the Somali Security Forces, degrading al-Shabab and securing key supply routes.



"This is going to be achievable because I see a lot of clarity in our thoughts and the way we have tried to explain it in the plan," Mulongo added.

Lt. Gen. Tigabu Yilma Wondimhunegn, the force comm Lt. Gen. Tigabu Yilma Wondimhunegn, the force commander of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), speaks at the closing session of the AMISOM Sector Commanders Conference, which discussed the new concept of operations in Mogadishu, Somalia, Feb. 15, 2019. The document will guide AMISOM's activities and operations during the 2018-21 period. (O. Abdisalan/AMISOM) Lt. Gen. Tigabu Yilma Wondimhunegn, the force commander of the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), speaks at the closing session of the AMISOM Sector Commanders Conference, which discussed the new concept of operations in Mogadishu, Somalia, Feb. 15, 2019. The document will guide AMISOM's activities and operations during the 2018-21 period. (O. Abdisalan/AMISOM)

Lt. Gen. Tigabu Yilma Wondimhunegn, an Ethiopian general and the new AMISOM force commander, called for greater leadership and involvement by Somalia in the fight against al-Shabab and in the search for a lasting solution for Somalia.



"We should also work on getting the Somalis involved in these operations to enable us to succeed in our plans," he said.



Maj. Gen. Charles Tai Gituai, AMISOM deputy force commander in charge of operations and plans, said unity among the various commanders of the AMISOM troops could make the implementation of the plan very successful.



The meeting, which ended Friday, was attended by representatives of the Somali National Security Forces and other stakeholders.



AMISOM has more than 22,000 soldiers and police from six African countries deployed in Somalia to protect the government there and to fight the militants.



Although forces have weakened al-Shabab in their decade-long military mission, authorities said the terrorist group is still capable of carrying out attacks against Somali and AMISOM troops, along with assassinations against civilians and government workers in the country's capital, Mogadishu, and beyond.
What Vietnam stands to gain from ICT

How do you think Vietnam measures up to other Asian nations in information and communications technology (ICT)?

Vietnam has grown to become one of the most attractive investment markets in the region across several sectors, but the ICT industry and its digital economy stand as the most promising. From growing e-commerce, online gaming, travel booking, and offline-to-online platforms such as ride-hailing and food delivery, Vietnams digital economy continues to thrive, with its gross merchandise value being 4 per cent of the countrys GDP, higher than any other country in Southeast Asia. The ICT sector will continue to be a driving force for growth and transformation in the Vietnamese economy, especially in delivering Industry 4.0 ambitions, as this will secure the countrys strong competitive regional position in the coming decades.

What opportunities can you see in Vietnam for overseas investors to deploy ICT solutions and technology to help make the economy smarter?

Leading global technology companies have traditionally chosen Vietnam as a place to build large manufacturing facilities that supply equipment and products to the world, creating more jobs, developing human capital with technical expertise, and creating a more digital-savvy society.

Today we are beginning to see an expansion from these investments focused on manufacturing hardware to developing software and more application-based services. These foreign funds are critical to Vietnam, especially for the transfer of knowledge and bringing in global best practices that are crucial for the development of a local yet world-class ICT industry.

In recent years, the Vietnamese government has taken steps to attract local talent back home. This has enabled a burgeoning entrepreneurial scene, where startups and small businesses that leverage technology have emerged.

The opportunities from this are enormous, as the availability of local tech talent in a market of nearly 100 million people will create a foundation upon which international technology companies can invest and develop innovative products and services that can serve both local and regional markets. Grab, which opened a research and development (R&D) centre in Ho Chi Minh City in 2017, is an example.

However, Vietnams attractiveness to the international tech industry in the long term will depend on whether the right policies are in place to support the development and growth of the digital economy. These include allowing Vietnamese entrepreneurs and businesses to leverage global Internet platforms and services to grow, and setting up proper regimes for data management, privacy, and cybersecurity, which will enable data to flow freely across borders, while ensuring that risk is managed.

In 2019, Vietnam will officially launch 5G services. How important is this to potential investors?

Vietnam was one of the last countries in Southeast Asia to roll out 4G services. As 5G requires a significant amount of investment, plans to launch within the year are certainly ambitious, but will be a step forward for the development of new and cutting-edge services that depend on nearly instantaneous data communications.

Vietnams foresight and national strategies around Industry 4.0, smart cities, startups, and the National Innovation Network Programme will be enabled by state-of-the-art 4G and next-generation 5G, so this is an important piece of the nations economic transformation and growth plans.

However, the digital economy is not just about infrastructure and hardware. It is critical that equal focus is given to ensuring that the right policies and smart regulations are in place to support the development of an open and innovative digital ecosystem that will attract foreign investment.

Vietnam is planning to roll out 5G services within this year to stand in the frontline of ICT innovation Photo: Le Toan

What challenges do you foresee for investors from infrastructure and the business and investment climate?

The biggest challenges that they face in Vietnam are in navigating policies that govern the Internet economy today. In line with its Fourth Industrial Revolution ambitions, Vietnam is keen to capitalise on the opportunity presented by the digital economy.

However, the rush to regulate data flows and mandate local data storage through the newly-enacted Law on Cybersecurity will impact both foreign investment and the ability of local startups and small businesses to grow using global technologies such as cloud computing.

Under commitments of new-generation free trade agreements such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), Vietnam will open its doors wider to foreign investors in the ICT industry. Meanwhile, startups are surging. How will the deals impact this?

FTAs such as the EVFTA and the CPTPP, which has just come into effect on January 14, will help Vietnam strengthen its economy, attract foreign investment, and boost exports. By Vietnams own estimates, GDP will grow by $1.7 billion and exports by over $4 billion by 2035, up 1.32 per cent and 4.04 per cent, respectively. That said, the impact on Vietnam will largely depend on how the country addresses future challenges and opportunities. Startups, in particular, stand to benefit the most from knowledge, expertise, and technology transfer from global groups coming into the country and partnering with them in business.

Continued growth and foreign investment is necessary for startups to flourish, be competitive, and for the country to continue its rapid upward economic trajectory and achieve its goals in the digital economy.

In order to develop an e-government in favour of enterprises and people, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc recently established a national committee on e-government. What should the committee focus on in order to operate effectively?

According to the Vietnam E-commerce Association, this market in the country is valued at more than $5 billion, and in the next four years this could double. The impact of the Internet on the economy is estimated at 2-3 per cent of GDP, while the figure is expected to rise to 40-50 per cent in the future. In short, Vietnam has a lot to gain. If the country wants to capitalise on the opportunities that a robust digital economy brings, the committee will need to carefully consider and recommend guidelines and policies that are clear and can be implemented to bring about long-term positive benefits for the country and its people.

Laws take years to draft, and are difficult to roll back, while technology often evolves far too quickly for the legislative process to catch up.

In order to future-proof new policies and regulation to a certain extent, the committee should look to larger and more developed economies for how they developed their digital ecosystem, and look at ways of collaborating and engaging with industry and other stakeholders to develop legislation that is clear, consistent, and continues to support the growth of the Vietnamese digital economy.
Guven launched her hunger strike on November 8 AFP/ILYAS AKENGIN

The protest bid coincides with the 20th anniversary of the capture of Kurdish militant leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is jailed in a notorious prison island near Istanbul.

Leyla Guven of the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), launched her action on Nov 8 while in jail to protest against Ocalan's prison conditions.

She was freed last month under judicial supervision but continued her protest, refusing any treatment. Guven, 55, is consuming only sugared- or salted water.

Police on Friday blocked supporters from approaching Guven's house in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakir after a rally called by the HDP, an AFP correspondent said.

"The biggest task ahead of us today is to turn every aspect of life into an arena for struggle and support hunger strikes at the highest level," HDP MP Dilan Dirayet Tasdemir said.

"This dark picture and severe conditions of fascism can only be broken through our organised struggle," Tasdemir said.

More than 200 prisoners are on hunger strike to protest what they call Ocalan's isolation, according to the HDP.

Ocalan, one of the founders of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984, has not been allowed to see his lawyers since 2011.

The PKK is blacklisted as a terror group by Ankara and its Western allies.

Ocalan was caught in Kenya outside the Greek embassy in Nairobi on Feb 15, 1999 by Turkish secret service agents after attempting to seek asylum in Europe.

Turkish authorities last month allowed Ocalan's brother Mehmet to see him, the first visit in over two years.
By Tran Vinh Du Partner, Transaction Advisory Services, Ernst & Young Vietnam Ltd

SMEs should understand what the CPTPP is and how the agreement will impact their industries

While businesses involved in export-import will benefit directly from lowering tariffs both in Vietnam and in other CPTPP partners, indirect benefits will reach all via higher GDP growth. Other benefits, which are harder to quantify, include the lowering of regulatory requirements in CPTPP countries, and the required reform of state governance and legal framework applied to countries like Vietnam. These intangible benefits are perceived as more critical than numerical benefits by many experts in Vietnam.

As per small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Chapter 24 of the CPTPP agreement outlines how to help SMEs to engage in trade between CPTPP countries. I will not repeat the content of the chapter here, however, in general, there are key benefits which SMEs can achieve besides obvious numerical ones like lowering tariffs (which can take years to fully take effect). For example, there will be lower risk and uncertainty in doing business in CPTPP countries. The process of getting goods through customs will get easier. The CPTPP also helps better protect business transactions, intellectual property, and copyrights. Moving staff, technicians, and salespeople from our country to other CPTPP countries will also be better facilitated under the agreement.

For SMEs in Vietnam to capitalise better on the agreement, I think it is critical that they understand the agreement and understand how the CPTPP will impact their industries. They could discuss with tax consultants and trade experts, for example, to get deeper information. After obtaining a deep understanding of the impacts, SMEs need to recalibrate their business plan based on their updated information. Such recalibration may simply be searching for different business partners within the CPTPP to better take advantage of lowering tariffs or may be more complicated means, such as forming a new Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) investment strategy to expand capacity, and so on. It will really depend on each SMEs situation and there will be no one-size-fit-all formula in this type of context.

Vietnams agriculture will be substantially affected

In general, the common rule with free trade is: industries in which Vietnam has a competitive advantage will benefit from the trade pact, while industries in which Vietnam does not have a competitive advantage (but still operates) will be harmed.

In the case of the CPTPP, lowering tariffs from importing countries will significantly benefit Vietnamese companies doing businesses in industries like garment, textile, leather, processed food, beverages, tobacco, and the like. Industries like agriculture (especially livestock farming, poultry farming, and plantation) will be substantially impacted. Vietnamese companies will be able to expand their exports to some of the worlds largest markets, as well as boost exports of high-value processed produce, making it easier to join the global supply chain. Despite some advantages in low-cost manufacturing, low-cost workforce, along with an abundance of supply, Vietnamese agriculture still heavily depends on imported materials and does not have an advantage over other powerful economies within the CPTPP in terms of production efficiency. Therefore, the industry must step up restructuring by improving added value and sustainability, and limiting reliance on imported materials.

The CPTPPs stricter compliance requirements in terms of intellectual property may impact some industries which benefits from certain grey intellectual property areas, especially pharmaceuticals and high tech-related industries.

Vietnams financial market will witness more push for regulatory reform

The financial sector will certainly be impacted by a greater push for regulatory reform. However, I do not think there will be an identifiable impact on the financial market which could be singled out from the integration into the CPTPP. Integration into the CPTPP is a process which will take years for partner countries to fully realise. It will not happen in a week or a month. As such, the benefits and the impacts will take time to be reflected in the financial market. However, as I already said, we will see a gradual impact in companies earnings performance on the stock market in hotly-impacted industries.

Similarly, on the investment side, we have already observed a surge in interest in certain industries which are expected to benefit the most from the CPTPP. These trends will continue in the years to come, unless there are significant shocks from global trade such as a continuing trade war between major countries which could overshadow the impacts from the CPTPP.

More investment from private equity funds to pour into Vietnam Offshore investors did not wait to start searching for opportunities to invest in Vietnam. Since a few years back when the TPP was under discussion, they already began looking into opportunities in benefiting industries and ramped up their investments where possible. However, these early movers were mostly investment funds.

Now with the CPTPP in effect, we will continue to observe more investment from private equity funds pouring money in these sectors, but we will observe a gradual increase in strategic players relocating and building up their manufacturing capacity in Vietnam.

Ultimate winner will be decided by technology

While the inception of the CPTPP is a positive happenstance, the ongoing trade war between the US and China is one of the key risks going forward for the global economy, not just Vietnam. The initial impact of this war is starting to show on US corporate earnings reports. The prospect of the trade war ending soon is slim, while deepening seems likely.

Looking a bit further into the future, the technological revolution and the subsequent structural shifts in the global economy will continue to provide more ammunition for the trade war. It will not so much be about how many per cent tariffs are imposed on soybean or car parts. It will be about who will win the technological race. And the trade war will be a useful tool (and likely become a more favoured tool overtime) to combat and slow down the opponents technological progress. Recent arrests of some key executives of Chinese corporates and the Wests consensus on barring some Chinese technology firms are just the initial shots fired.

Vietnam will be impacted by the continuing trade war. Some of the impacts may initially seem positive, such as manufacturing operations shifting from China to countries like Vietnam. However, personally I do not think this benefit will be substantial. Ultimately, the trade war will undermine global economic growth and as an integrated economy, our growth will be negatively impacted as well.

The application and improvement of technologies along with training high-quality human resources are key factors for Vietnam to attain success in the new context brought by the CPTPP and many other FTAs, as well as the US-China trade war.
French President Emannuel Macron shakes hands with Apostolic Nuncio to France Luigi Ventura who is being investigated for sexual assault AFP/ludovic MARIN

Pope Francis has vowed that the church will no longer ignore abuse allegations, and he removed two prominent cardinals from his inner circle late last year after they were tainted by paedophile scandals.

The latest alleged sex scandal involves 74-year-old Luigi Ventura, Pope Francis' envoy to France, who is accused of molesting an official at the Paris mayor's office, a judicial source told AFP.

Ventura, an archbishop, has served as apostolic nuncio to France since 2009 and is covered by diplomatic immunity.

His Paris office did not respond to a request for comment.

Vatican spokesman Alessandro Gisotti said for his part that the Holy See was "awaiting the outcome of the investigation".

In the past, the Vatican - in line with diplomatic custom - has recalled any representatives implicated in scandal.

In 2012, for example, Polish archbishop Jozef Wesolowski was secretly recalled as papal nuncio from the Dominican Republic following reports he paid for sexual encounters with children.

The Vatican refused to extradite him to Poland for trial, but an ecclesiastical court found him guilty and he was defrocked in June 2014.

The Church decided to further try him on criminal charges, but he died following a cardiac arrest in August 2015 before the trial opened. He was 67.

In another case however Australian Cardinal George Pell, a close aide to the pope, last year returned from the Vatican to Australia to face child sex charges.

Pell was not covered by diplomatic immunity in that case.

'GROPED ON BACKSIDE'

Italian-born Ventura has been accused of molesting a man at the town hall in Paris on Jan 17 when Mayor Anne Hidalgo gave a New Year's address to diplomats, religious leaders and civil society figures.

"During the ceremony, a city employee was repeatedly groped on the backside, in three instances, once in front of a witness," a town hall source told AFP.

"It was quickly decided to report the matter to the public prosecutor," said Patrick Klugman, deputy mayor responsible for international relations.

The town hall filed a complaint on January 24 and an investigation was opened the next day, the judicial source said.

The case involves a man in his 30s who works in the town hall's international relations' department.

The Catholic La Croix newspaper Friday said it had gathered further witness accounts from other young men close to the church alleging they too were fondled by the prelate.

They speak of "similar gestures - hands on buttocks or thighs", the paper said, adding that the incidents all took place within the past year and that none of the young men involved had filed a complaint "for a variety of reasons".

The homosexual magazine Tetu for its part quoted another young man as saying he met the nuncio touched his bottom at another reception in January.

Ventura previously served in Brazil, Bolivia and Britain before being appointed papal nuncio to Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso and Niger, Chile and then Canada.

Catholic clerics have been denounced in countries as far afield as Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ireland and the United States, prompting pledges from Francis to rid the church of a scourge that has done enormous damage to its standing.

VATICAN MEETING

The pope has summoned a Church-wide meeting next week at the Vatican to notably discuss abuse of minors by clerics.

France's Catholic Church has seen its share of scandals in recent years.

On Mar 7, a court in Lyon is due to give its verdict in the case of Philippe Barbarin, the southeastern city's 68-year-old archbishop, and five former aides, all of whom are accused of covering up the sexual abuse of former boy scouts by a priest.

That priest, 73-year-old Bernard Preynat, was charged in 2016 with assault cases going back more than 20 years. He is expected to be tried later this year.

French filmmaker Francois Ozon made a film related to the case, and a court will decide on Monday whether it can go on public release ahead of Preynat's trial.
The new Ferrari Formula One SF90 which was unveiled at Maranello. (Photo: AFP/Handout)

The new SF90, featuring the team's traditional red with splashes of black, was launched at a glitzy ceremony at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters by drivers Sebastian Vettel and new 21-year-old team-mate Charles Leclerc.

"I'm extremely excited, I see the car completely assembled for the first time," said Vettel, 31, who along with Leclerc wore a black suit with the Ferrari crest.

"Unfortunately, I'm not dressed properly and can't just jump in and drive off. I can't wait.

"I'm looking forward to this year, I think the team is on the right path and hopefully we can continue improving."

Ferrari are the sport's most successful team, but have not won the drivers' title since Kimi Raikkonen took the title in 2007. The team's last constructors' title was in 2008.

The past two seasons have held out the promise of Ferrari challenging Mercedes' dominance, with Vettel finishing runner-up to Briton Lewis Hamilton on both occasions.

Vettel is heading into his fifth season with the team while Leclerc has replaced Raikkonen.

"Sebastian is hungry as ever, he knows the whole team is behind him," said Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri.

"This year is an important one for us as we celebrate our 90th anniversary as the Scuderia Ferrari was born in Modena in 1929.

"It's an important milestone as we continue to be inspired and guided by the vision of our founder Enzo Ferrari.

"Last season was our best in the last 10 years, yet we fell short of our objectives.

"Such a setback is never easy to swallow, but I assure you we look forward with strong commitment and determination."

Before joining Ferrari, Vettel monopolised the world title for four consecutive years with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013.

Ferrari team are under new leadership with Mattia Binotto replacing Maurizio Arrivabene as team principal.

Binotto explained that the "innovative" new car built on the successful features of the 2018 model.

"We got really good achievements in 2018 and it's a development of last year's car," he said. "We tried to push again to raise the bar and tried to be as extreme as we could."

The new car features a radical front wing design to meet new regulations, the aim of which is reduce turbulence and to allow cars to race closer together.

The rearward flaps slope downwards from the centre towards the outside of the wing, with the intention of being more aerodynamic.

Leclerc, a Monegasque, said he was "extremely excited to start this new adventure".

"It's a dream since childhood: I've always been looking at the red car hoping to one day be in it. So it's a very emotional day for me."
Puigdemont has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since Spain cracked down on his efforts to lead the Catalonia region to independence via a referendum AFP/Odd ANDERSEN

"There is a high risk that the proposed event could pose a threat to the maintenance of public order on Parliament's premises," the speaker's office said.

Puigdemont has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since Spain cracked down on his efforts to lead the Catalonia region to independence via a referendum.

He had been due to meet reporters on Monday in the European Parliament at an event hosted by the Belgian MEP Ralph Packet.

But his presence was furiously opposed by Spanish lawmakers, who regard his secession bid as illegal, and the assembly president ordered a security review.

The review noted increased tensions surrounding the ongoing trial of several of Puigdemont's Catalan colleagues who have been charged in Spain with "rebellion".

And earlier this month, pro-independence protesters temporarily occupied EU buildings in Barcelona.

"The analysis has concluded that the security threats linked to the event cannot be mitigated by Parliament security services," the statement said.

Puigdemont accused the parliament's president Antonio Trajani of bending to pressure from the "authoritarian drift of Spanish democracy" and vowed to hold his meeting elsewhere.

"Europe is losing democratic credibility," he complained.

Meanwhile, Spanish conservative MEP Gonzalez Pons welcomed the decision.

"The European Parliament has acted responsibly by suspending the act of the escaped coup plotter, Puigdemont," he said, in a tweet.

"After the independentistas took over the headquarters of the European institutions 15 days ago in Barcelona, it was necessary to prevent them repeating the aggression."

If he ever returns to Spain, the former Catalan regional president faces prosecution for pushing an independence referendum in October 2017 in defiance of a court ban.

The referendum was followed by a declaration of independence by leaders in the wealthy northeastern region -- a dozen of whom are now on trial

The move sparked Spain's deepest political crisis since its transition to democracy in the 1970s.
Born 1875 in Paris, French dancer and model Cleo de Merode was sent to study dance the age of eight, and made her professional debut at age eleven.Merode became renowned for her glamour even more than for her dancing skills. A particular new hairstyle she chose to wear became the talk of Parisian women and was quickly adopted as a popular style for all. Her fame was such that Alexandre Falguiere sculpted The Dancer in her image, which today can be seen in the Musee d'Orsay.In 1895, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec did her portrait, as would Charles Puyo, Alfredo Muller, and Giovanni Boldini. Her picture was taken by some of the most illustrious photographers of the day, including Felix Nadar.In 1896, King Leopold II attended the ballet and saw Merode dance. The 61-year-old Belgian King became enamoured with the 22-year-old ballet star, and gossip started that she was his latest mistress.Very popular in her ancestral homeland of Austria as well as in Germany, her character appeared in the German film(1926), played by Fern Andra. In Vienna, her beauty caught the attention of painter Gustav Klimt, whose primary focus was on female sexuality. Their story was the basis of the film(2006), in which the character "Lea de Castro" is based on Cleo de Merode.Merode continued to dance until her early fifties, when she retired to the seaside resort of Biarritz in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques departement of France. In 1955, she published her autobiography,Cleo de Merode died in 1966, aged 91.Take a look at these glamorous photos to see the beauty of Cleo de Merode in the late 1890s and early 1900s.


Last night (Feb. 15, 2019), American MMA fighter Amanda Lucas was spotted attending the hit show ABSINTHE at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Enjoying a night on The Strip, the eldest daughter of George Lucas was seen taking in ABSINTHEs outlandish acts and hilarious antics during the 8 p.m. performance and went backstage after the show for a photo with The Gazillionaire.

Photo courtesy of Joseph Sanders/Spiegelworld


On Saturday, Feb. 23, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) Foundation will hold the second annual Hidden Heroes Black & White Gala at 5 p.m. in the Mont-Royal Ballroom located inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (Pictured: Capt. Sasha Larkin)

The event will honor 13 LVMPD detectives and one sergeant from the Departments 1 October Redaction Unit, who for nine months reviewed and redacted thousands of pages of documents as well as examined hundreds of hours of body-worn camera footage from the tragedy.

The event will also recognize over 75 participants of the LVMPD Law Enforcement Explorer Program, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary of the program. The program exposes young adults to a career in law enforcement and aims to develop and refine qualities such as maturity, responsibility, character, civic duty and personal fitness.

The Hidden Heroes Black & White Gala is an outstanding platform to recognize members of LVMPD that we often dont hear about, but who nonetheless play an integral role in the organization day-in and day-out, said Tom Kovach, executive director of the LVMPD Foundation. Their commitment to the Las Vegas community and LVMPD is strong and their efforts deserve to be recognized.

The Hidden Heroes Black & White Gala was created by Nami Oneda, Founder of The Gratitude Project, after she was inspired by the heroic actions of LVMPD on 1 October. As a Las Vegas strip view resident, she saw the tireless efforts of not only first responders, but also the hidden heroes who were not in uniform but were going about the business of saving lives, investigating and keeping us safe. Oneda partnered with the LVMPD Foundation to create an opportunity for lesser known members of the LVMPD to have an opportunity to be recognized.

The 1 October Redaction Unit worked tirelessly reviewing hours of footage which was both mentally and physically exhausting, said Nami Oneda, founder of The Gratitude Project. It was their commitment to the task and the public that got them through this incredibly challenging project. We also wanted to honor the Explorer program in its 40th year and highlight the young adults dedicated to the Department and our community.

Funds raised from the Hidden Heroes Black & White Gala directly support community safety programs, fundraising for the construction of the Reality Based Training Center in Southern Nevadaand much more. The gala will begin with a VIP reception at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 23 in the Mont-Royal Ballroom located inside The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and will also feature a silent auction at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and the program at 7 p.m.
Archbishop Bernadito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations on Feb. 14 addressed a meeting on inequalities and challenges to social inclusion through fiscal, wage and social protection policies.

By Robin Gomes

With inequality levels high and still widening between the rich and the poor, both globally and within countries, the Holy See is calling for a relentless promotion of the principles of justice, solidarity and the common good.

Greater income inequality diminishes intergenerational economic mobility and the impact of economic growth on poverty reduction. It also undermines social cohesion and trust in socio-political systems, leading to a disconnect between those who govern and the citizens and engendering insecurity and uncertainty about the future, said Archbishop Bernadito Auza, the Holy Sees Permanent Observer to the United Nations on Thursday. He spoke at a meeting on inequalities and challenges to social inclusion through fiscal, wage and social protection policies.

A future for the young

Arch. Auza noted that insecurity and uncertainty particularly affect the young, many of whom must face the consequences of inequalities and persistent unemployment.

He recalled Pope Francis address to the diplomatic corps in January, when he exhorted governments to build secure prospects for the young by investing in initiatives that can help them to shape their future and enable them not only to find employment but also to form a family and raise children.

In this regard, the Holy See official emphasized that inclusive quality education, in particular for the children and the young in disadvantaged socio-economic situations, is a fundamental instrument in bridging inequalities and a strong enabler for a more dynamic and equitable socio-economic mobility of individuals and entire families.

Family

According to the Filipino archbishop, the promotion of the future of young people must involve investing in and strengthening the family. Besides being the most effective social protection policy of all because a strong family provides a solid social safety net, he said it also fosters a spirit of inclusion making society more familial and capacitates the young to be far better students.

According to Arch. Auza, policies and programmes in support of families are investments that catalyze the family to contribute to nurturing future generations and to taking care of the more vulnerable members of our society.

Women

Arch. Auza also stressed on the need to recognize the great contribution that women bring as dignified protagonists of development. It is necessary, he said, to ensure greater equality between women and men, which includes equal pay for equal work, fairness in career advancements, as well as protection for mothers.
Catholics and Anglicans are celebrating after Pope Francis cleared the way for the canonization of Cardinal John Henry Newman.

By Devin Watkins

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, welcomed the wonderful news shortly after a miracle attributed to Cardinal Newmans intercession was recognized on Wednesday.

This is wonderful news which will be greeted with thanks to God by people across the world, the Archbishop of Westminster said in a statement. Newmans exploration of faith, depth of personal courage, intellectual clarity and cultural sensitivity make him a deeply admired follower of Christ.

Best of 2 traditions

Newman first became an Anglican (Church of England) priest, before converting to Catholicism. He was ordained a Catholic priest and later named a Cardinal. Newman is revered by both the Catholic, as well as the Anglican Churches.



He brings together so many of the best of Catholic traditions shared well beyond the Catholic Church, Cardinal Nichols said. His canonisation will be welcomed especially in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion.

Cardinal Nichols said Newmans contemporaries in Birmingham recognised his holiness and lined the streets at the time of his burial. I hope every parish priest in England will hold his head high today knowing Cardinal Newman is declared a saint.

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI declared Cardinal Newman on 19 September 2010, during his historic visit to the United Kingdom.
A suicide bomber on Feb. 14 rammed a car loaded with explosives into a bus carrying paramilitary police to Srinagar, killing more than 40. .

By Robin Gomes

Indias Catholic Church has condemned the deadly terrorist attack on the countrys paramilitary police in Kashmir on Thursday that killed 44 soldiers and expressed its pain for the families who lost their loved ones.

A suicide bomber rammed a car loaded with explosives into a bus carrying the Central Reserve Force Police to Srinagar, the main city of India-administered Kashmir. The bus was part of a convoy of about 70 vehicles carrying about 2,500 troops to the restive region.

The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The CRPF is working with the Indian military to quell the 30-year insurgency in Kashmir.

Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbours both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs.

Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, the secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), denounced Feb. 14 attack as mindless violence.

Listen to Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas

Indian bishops

Its a very sad day for us here in India. Its a sad day for those 44 and more families who have lost their very young sons as well as for those who are injured, lamented Bishop Mascarenhas in an interview to Vatican News.

The Indian bishops feel the pain of the country as the nation is feeling pained at what should have never happened.

The CBCI secretary-general warned that violence cannot solve anything and violence will not bring anything to anyone.

The earlier these hard-hearted people stop killing innocent people in suicide bombs and in wayside killings, the better it is, he said.

The Indian bishops pray for their country and for those mourning their beloved. At the same time, they also pray that peace may prevail and no more lives are lost in this mindless violence.

CBCI statement

In a separate statement posted on the CBCI website, the Indian bishops condemned the dastardly and cowardly attack on our soldiers in Kashmir.

The Catholic Church in India mourns the death of our soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in the line of duty, read the statement by the CBCI, the apex body of the Catholic Church in India.

The bishops said their hearts go out to the families who have lost their beloved and prayed for them in this difficult and sorrowful moment.

The bishops entrusted the souls of the brave soldiers into the loving embrace of the Almighty and invoked Him to grant them eternal rest.

Stressing that violence solves no purpose and can never solve any issue, the Indian bishops prayed for peace and harmony and for their beloved nation that in this grave moment may act with wisdom and with the grace of God.

Rising tensions

Tensions have heightened further between India and Pakistan following Thursdays attack.

The Indian government accused Pakistan of letting militant groups operate from its soil and called on it to take action.

Islamabad said it rejected the suggestion it was linked to the attack.

Pakistan has previously denied New Delhi's accusations that it gives material help to the militants fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. It says it gives only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination.

Indian forces have sporadically battled Islamist militants in mountainous Kashmir since an armed revolt in 1989 in which tens of thousands were killed, but car bombings are rare.

The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016 when militants raided an Indian army camp in Uri, killing 20 soldiers.

Tension with Pakistan rose after that incident when New Delhi said the attackers had come from Pakistan to stage the assault. Pakistan denied any involvement.
Nigerians read about the postponement of elections in a daily paper (AFP or licensors)

The Archbishop of Abuja reacts to the last-minute announcement by Nigerias Electoral Commission that the countrys presidential and parliamentary elections would not take place as scheduled on Saturday, but have been postponed for a week.

By Linda Bordoni

Nigeria's electoral commission delayed a presidential and parliamentary election until February 23, making the announcement a mere five hours before polls were set to open on Saturday.

It cited unspecified "challenges" amid reports that voting materials had not been delivered to all parts of the country.

Meanwhile the top candidates in the vote condemned the decision and blamed each other but appealed to Africa's largest democracy for calm.

The party backing top opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar accused President Muhammadu Buhari's administration of "instigating this postponement" with the aim of ensuring a low turnout at the polls.

On the other hand, Buhari said he was "deeply disappointed and issued an appeal to Nigerians for calm during the "trying moment in our democratic journey" while stressing that his administration does not interfere in the commission's work.

Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, told Vatican news the announcement was a shock to himself, and to the people of Nigeria who are very disappointed.

Listen to the interview with Cardinal John Onaiyekan

We woke up early this morning to hear that the elections have been postponed for a week. The reasons given are still not clear and are certainly not adequate he said.



As they await further information from the Electoral Commission, Cardinal Onaiyekan said people across the country, many of whom had travelled from afar to cast their ballots, are very upset.

Bad news for Nigeria

Regarding voices that attribute the postponement of the poll to logistical problems or to security concerns, Cardinal Onaiyekan said he has heard that some of the electoral material had not been adequately distributed. He also confirmed there are security challenges, especially in the north east of the country where Boko Haram militants are still active.

But we knew of all this more than four years ago, so there was plenty of time to take action and make sure the election went on; and in fact up to yesterday afternoon the Electoral Commission called a press conference, with observers from all over the world, and assured them that things were in good shape and that we were ready for the election this morning he said.

He asks himself what possibly could have happened between yesterday evening and tonight: whatever it is, its bad news for Nigeria.

People being killed in Nigeria is no longer news

On Friday, news emerged that 66 people were killed in the past days in Kaduna State, but details regarding the attack have not been released.

One of the problems is that in Nigeria, that people are killed is no longer news. Its just like a normal thing the Cardinal said.

In fact, he added, the government has not even reacted to the news, but he said he hopes details will come to light to find out the truth.

The Cardinal confirmed that Kaduna has been a very problematic area for the past 3 or 4 years, but he claimed the violence is not due to religious tension between Christians and Muslims.

Even though most of the people who are indigenous to the area are Christians, and most of the people who are settlers in the place are Hausa Fulani Muslims he said, a fact that leads many, in Nigeria, to say when a Christian and a Muslim quarrel, it becomes a Christian/Muslim quarrel instead of seeing it the way it is.

We still believe, he said, that the issues are not religious: they are ethnic, they are social.
Valdosta, GA (31601)

Today

Mostly sunny early then increasing clouds with some scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. High 86F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) Dr. Yair Lotan presented on Genomic Insights and Biomarkers for Treatment Selection in Muscle-Invasive and Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer. He discussed the role of markers in bladder cancer and how they add independent information that can impact patient care. The markers can either be prognostic which provide information about patients overall cancer outcome, regardless of therapy, or predictive markers that provide information about the effect of the therapeutic intervention and can be a target for therapy.Dr. Lotan then discussed that there is a significant problem with understating. He highlighted a series of around 800 patients which showed 23% nodal metastasis and up to 42% of patients can be upstaged after radical cystectomy. He also highlighted that the risk of recurrence in T1-T2 patients is about 20-30% patients, which could be because of micrometastatic disease in these patients. Even though there is level 1 evidence showing that neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) improves survival, but there are problems with understanding, toxicity associated with chemotherapy and current national utilization is only around 20%. Nomograms can be utilized to identify high-risk patients, but they still lack useful information at the molecular level. A potential role for biomarkers is to identify high-risk patients, predict resistance to chemotherapy and identify pathways for targeted therapy.Dr. Lotan stressed on identifying patients at TUR who have a more aggressive disease than their clinical stage suggests but good evidence is lacking in this area. He highlighted a study which showed that unfavorable biomarker score was independently associated with T-stage upstaging. Dr. Lotans group also completed a multicenter study looking at molecular subtyping of clinically localized urothelial cancer using Decipher bladder essay and found that luminal tumors have lower rates of upstaging to non-organ confined disease compared to non-luminal tumors. If validated this data can help inform which patients may need multimodal therapy.Dr. Lotan then discussed regarding prediction of response to therapy. He highlighted the study from Dr. Plimacks group showing DNA repair genes can predict response to neoadjuvant cisplatin-based chemotherapy in muscle-invasive bladder cancer. ATM/RB1/FANCC mutation correlated with improved response and survival in discovery and validation sets. He also highlighted a study from Dr. Rosenbergs group which showed somatic ERCC2 mutation correlated with cisplatin sensitivity in muscle-invasive urothelial cancer and was validated in another study. Multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR 1) and BRCA 1 have also been studied in this setting. Data derived from TCGA has also been helpful in developing comprehensive molecular characterization. He also pointed to several studies that have looked at basal and luminal subtypes in terms of their response to NAC. The COXEN principle is another study looking at the prediction of treatment outcome using gene expression modeling, which was the basis of SWOG 1314 study.He concluded his talk by stressing that there is a need to identify which patients are at highest risk of non-organ confined disease and there is also a need to determine which patients will benefit from NAC. Research and trials in this area will lead to personalized medicine.Presented by: Yair Lotan, MD, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical CenterWritten by: Abhishek Srivastava, MD, Society of Urologic Oncology Fellow, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA Twitter: @shekabhishek at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, (ASCO GU) #GU19, February 14-16, 2019 - San Francisco, CA
Engage an anti-tumor immune response

Expand that immune response (eg. by cytokines, CTLA4)

Enable effector function by reduction of immunosuppressive entities in the tumor microenvironment

Bladder cancer  PD-L/PD-L1 inhibitors are approved in the second line, and first-line for cisplatin-ineligible patients. Investigations are ongoing in the first-line, adjuvant, neoadjuvant, and combination therapy

Renal cancer  immunotherapy is approved in the second line (nivolumab) and first line (nivolumab + ipilimumab) and investigations are ongoing with PD-L/PD-L1 inhibitors in combination with VEGF inhibitors

Prostate cancer  Sipuleucel-T is approved, as is pembrolizumab in MSI-H cancers and investigations are ongoing for combination immunotherapy

Kamat AM, Bellmunt J, Galsky MD, et al. Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of bladder carcinoma. J Immunother Cancer 2017 Aug 15;5(1):68 Rini BI, McDermott DF, Hammers H, et al. Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer consensus statement on immunotherapy for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma. J Immunother Cancer 2016 Nov 15;4:81 Motzer RJ, Tannir NM, McDermott DF, et al. Nivolumab plus Ipilimumab versus Sunitinib in Advanced Renal-Cell Carinoma. N Engl J Med 2018;378(14):1277-1290. Abida W, Cheng ML, Armenia J, et al. Analysis of prevalence of microsatellite instability in prostate cancer and response to immune checkpoint blockade. JAMA Oncol 2018 Dec 27 [Epub ahead of print]. Hansen AR, Massard C, Ott PA, et al. Pembrolizumab for advanced prostate adenocarcinoma: findings of the KEYNOTE-028 study. Ann Oncol 2018 Aug 1;29(8):1807-1813. Schlom J, Gulley JL. Vaccines as an Integral Component of Cancer Immunotherapy. JAMA 2018 Dec 4;320(21):2195-2196.

San Francisco, CA (UroToday.com) Dr. James L. Gulley presented the Keynote Lecture for the GU ASCO 2019 annual symposium discussing immunotherapy across genitourinary malignancies. Dr. Gulley started by highlighting that GU cancers are the original immune responsive tumors, dating back to the 1980s when interferon was used for renal cell carcinoma (RCC), to BCG for bladder cancer in 1990, and IL-2 for RCC in 1992. More recently, we have seen Sipuleucel-T for castrate-resistant prostate cancers (CRPC) in 2010, PD-1 and PD-L1 inhibitors for RCC in 2015 and in bladder cancer in 2016. As Dr. Gulley depicts, the pathway (with associated inhibitors) for immunogenic cell death are as follows:Across a number of malignancies, PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors promote a rapid, deep, durable response, including urothelial carcinoma, NSCLC, head and neck SCC, and colorectal cancer. Notably, much of this work was performed by Professors Jim Allison (MD Anderson Cancer Center) and Tasuku Honjo (Kyoto University), resulting in the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2018. Much of what depicts whether a tumor will respond to immunotherapy portends from the tumor mutational burden: urothelial carcinoma has a high mutational burden and generally responds well, whereas prostate cancer does not and has historically responded poorly to immunotherapy. Further prognostication may be possible by assessing a tumors T-cell inflamed gene expression profile as a function of its tumor mutational burden.With regards to bladder cancer, the Society of Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) developed a recent consensus statement on immunotherapy for bladder cancer, with the following treatment algorithm:Dr. Gulley notes that across the major trials evaluating immunotherapy in bladder cancer (atezolizumab, nivolumab, pembrolizumab, avelumab, durvalumab) the objective response rate ranges from only 13.4-21.1%. One way to improve response for more patients are agents to elicit viral mimicry in the tumor tissue to potentiate and reinvigorate anti-tumor immunity; epigenetic reprogramming of T lymphocytes can overcome immuno exhaustion. One such study ongoing is testing atezolizumab + guadecitabine (a DNMTi) among patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma that have progressed on prior checkpoint inhibitor therapy who still have measurable disease. As we have heard about at this meeting and several others in the last year or two, there are ongoing trials both in the adjuvant and neoadjuvant setting for bladder cancer:Despite being an orphan disease, penile cancer has also recently been evaluated with regards to immunotherapy. As Dr. Gulley notes, it has been estimated that 63.3% of penile squamous cell carcinomas have been attributed to HPV infection, and over several small trials with HPV+ tumors, the objective response rate to PD-1/PD-L1 is in the range of 15-21%.Similar to bladder cancer the SITC group has also published a consensus statement for renal cell carcinomawith the following treatment algorithm:Delving into the molecular biology, there is emerging work suggesting that endogenous retroviral signatures and CD8+ T-cell density may identify patients with mRCC who may respond to treatment. Dr. Gulley then highlighted the landmark CheckMate 214 study published last yearin the New England Journal of Medicine. In this phase III trial, 1,096 patients were assigned to receive nivolumab plus ipilimumab (550 patients) or sunitinib (546 patients), including 425 and 422, respectively, that had intermediate or poor risk disease. At a median follow-up of 25.2 months in intermediate- and poor-risk patients, the 18-month overall survival rate was 75% with nivolumab plus ipilimumab and 60% with sunitinib. The median OS was not reached with nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus 26.0 months with sunitinib (HR for death 0.63; p <0.001). Furthermore, the objective response rate was 42% versus 27% (P<0.001), and the complete response rate was 9% versus 1%. The median PFS was 11.6 months (nivolumab + ipilimumab) and 8.4 months (sunitinib) (HR 0.82; p = 0.03, but significant per the prespecified 0.009 threshold).The first-line immunotherapy disease space for mRCC is moving quickly. At ESMO 2018, the JAVELIN Renal 101 study presented initial results of this study in which patients were randomized to avelumab + axitinib vs sunitinib. The primary endpoint of PFS in the PD-L1+ group benefited avelumab + axitinib (HR 0.61, 95%CI 0.475-0.790), as did the key secondary endpoint of PFS in the overall population (HR 0.69, 95%CI 0.563-0.840; full report available ). Dr. Gulley notes the results of the KEYNOTE-426 study coming soon also from ASCO GU 2019, assessing pembrolizumab + axitinib vs sunitinib in the first-line setting.Dr. Gulley then discussed recent advances in prostate cancer and immunotherapy. He notes that pembrolizumab received FDA approval for MSI-high (MSI-H) mutation CRPC patients in 2017. A recent study from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center assessed the prevalence of MSI-H/dMMR prostate cancer among 1,033 patients treated at their institution, finding that 32 (3.1%) had MSI-H/dMMR disease. This included 23 patients (2.2%) that had tumors with high MSIsensor scores, and 7 of the 32 MSI-H/dMMR patients (21.9%) with a pathogenic germline mutation in a Lynch syndrome-associated gene. Eleven patients with MSI-H/dMMR CRPC received anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy and six of these had a greater than 50% decline in PSA levels. Based on these data, Dr. Gulley feels that every mCRPC patient should be tested.The KEYNOTE-028 study was a trial of pembrolizumab in advanced solid tumors among patients with PD-1 expression 1% of tumor or stromal cells. Among 245 men screened, there were 35 PD-1% (14.3%) and 23 patients who enrolled. There were four partial responses, for an objective response rate of 17.4% and 8 of 23 (34.8%) patients had stable disease. Median duration of response was 13.5 months, and median PFS and OS were 3.5 and 7.9 months, respectively. Furthermore, the 6-month PFS and OS rates were 34.8% and 73.4%, respectively. Dr. Gulley also touched on the results of the KEYNOTE-650 presented earlier during the GU ASCO 19 meeting testing nivolumab plus ipilimumab for treatment of mCRPC, details which can be found here:Given the low tumor mutational burden for prostate cancer patients, Dr. Gulley notes that there is interest in vaccines as an integral component of immunotherapy for several reasonsDr. Gulley concluded with several take-home messages:Presented by: James L. Gulley, The National Cancer Institute at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, MarylandWritten By: Zachary Klaassen, MD, MSc  Assistant Professor of Urology, Georgia Cancer Center, Augusta University/Medical College of Georgia, Twitter: @zklaassen_md at the 2019 American Society of Clinical Oncology Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, (ASCO GU) #GU19, February 14-16, 2019 - San Francisco, CA References:
The Central African Republic (CAR) peace agreement, which both the government and the African Union, the organizer of the peace talks, labeled historic, requires the political will of all parties involved, with establishing actual peace between individual communities to become one of the more difficult tasks, experts told Sputnik

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th February, 2019) The Central African Republic CAR ) peace agreement , which both the government and the African Union, the organizer of the peace talks, labeled historic, requires the political will of all parties involved, with establishing actual peace between individual communities to become one of the more difficult tasks, experts told Sputnik.

The Central African Republic has been suffering from a drawn-out conflict since a coup in 2013. Much of the fighting in recent years has been between the Muslim Seleka and Christian anti-Balaka militias.

On February 5, car President Faustin-Archange Touadera and leaders of 14 armed groups signed a peace deal at talks in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum. The following day, the deal was finalized and inked in the CAR capital of Bangui.

Experts recalled that attempts to put an end to hostilities in the country had been undertaken before, though without ever delivering a long-lasting solution to the crisis due to the failure of all sides to take a responsible approach to fulfilling their commitments.

"This is not the first [peace agreement]. In CAR there have been numerous deals signed with the armed groups making up a part of Seleka under [CAR] President [Francois] Bozize ... We had many international meetings aimed at finding an agreement ... and every time, there was a deal or recommendation which could pave the way to peace, but all of them failed," Roland Marchal, a research fellow at Sciences Po Center for International Studies (CERI), told Sputnik.

According to Marchal, the main reason previous arrangements collapsed was because of the sides' irresponsible approach toward complying with agreements.

"We are dependent on the goodwill of the parties. The government must do things, the armed groups must do theirs. What we saw with the previous agreements is that both the government and the armed groups tried implementing this agreement in their personal interest in a biased, if not illegal, manner. It explains why the crisis, instead of being settled, continued and deepened," Marchal explained.

Marchal also suggested that the agreement's success would depend a lot on the feasibility of its provisions.

"We have to see whether this agreement can be implemented, because there are peace agreements that are unrealistic, and whether there is a goodwill from both sides, at the same time," Marchal reiterated.

End Of Violence Main Achievement

Jonna Both, a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden University, praised the fact that the agreement brought an end to hostilities in the Central African Republic, while at the same time sharing Marchal's concerns regarding the possible challenges entailed in the deal's implementation.

"So peace has been obtained, at least for the moment ... For the moment obtaining the end of all hostilities is an important achievement. But in the long term one can foresee many challenges," Both told Sputnik.

Both, however, predicted that difficulties in the deal's implementations might lie at the level of local communities and neighborhoods.

"A lot of tensions will need to be resolved for people to live together in peace again," Both stated.

The two experts expressed concerns over the fact that the new peace agreement granted an extended role to the CAR armed groups.

According to Both, the new deal not only empowered the militias' position in the future government but also gave them a strong say in reconciliation process and justice.

"Their involvement in the justice and reconciliation process is raising particular concerns: will victims dare to try to obtain justice when the perpetrators are all over in powerful positions? In other countries we see that this has been impossible," Both stated.

Marchal, for his part, argued that armed groups started to represent various population groups without actually asking the people.

"People recognize the armed groups not from a political point of view, but because those are groups of vigilantism. But the fact that they provide protection [to certain groups of population] does not enable them to politically speak in one's name. I think that the African Union and the international community did not take this important nuance into consideration," Marchal stated.

The volatility of the armed groups' leadership was mentioned by Marchal as another factor calling into question the future of the deal.

"[These are movements] that do not have strong organization, so there are no command chains in most of them, so their chief decides something and his deputies do not respect this decision ... These movements are capable of being very united at one moment, and very divided at the other," Marchal warned.

He in the meantime reiterated that the CAR government also was liable for the agreement's fate, stressing that the country's crisis stemmed from the way the CAR state was functioning rather than the military groups' activities.
The European Union has already adopted the decision on new sanctions against Russia over the Kerch Strait incident, Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told Sputnik on Saturday

MUNICH (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2019) The European Union has already adopted the decision on new sanctions against Russia over the Kerch Strait incident, Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl told Sputnik on Saturday.

"A resolution is already taken on a necessary level," Kneissl said.
Index-Journal Careers

PART-TIME POSITION available in our packaging area.

Job responsibilities include putting inserts into the newspaper. Must have a positive attitude and be a team player. Applicants must be able to: lift up to 20-lbs; stand for long periods of time; be available to work Sunday thru Friday, late evening to early morning hours; pass drug screen.
MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th February, 2019) Death toll in a terrorist attack in the Chanali area of Khash-Zahedan road in southeastern Iran has risen to 41 people, local media reported.

According to Fars news agency, the number of victims in the attack increased to 41 people, including military personnel and civilians.

Earlier on Wednesday, the IRNA news agency reported, citing an informed source, that a bus with a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) personnel was blown up in an attack by a suicide bomber causing at least 20 members ofIRGC killed and 20 others injured.
(@ChaudhryMAli88)

The Chilean government decided to send 17 tonnes of humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Venezuela, the Chilean Interior Ministry has said

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th February, 2019) The Chilean government decided to send 17 tonnes of humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Venezuela, the Chilean Interior Ministry has said.

"This concerns a cargo which includes medication, food products and hygiene essentials. Venezuelan communities in Chile said they would collect their own [humanitarian aid] which will join this aid," the ministry said in a communique.

The ministry has not specified how it plans to deliver the aid to Venezuela.

According to Chile's National Institute of Statistics, there are over 288,000 Venezuelans currently living in Chile.

The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been blocking foreign aid from entering the country, citing concerns that assistance received from abroad would justify foreign intervention.

Meanwhile, opposition leader Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself Venezuela's interim president, has announced that foreign humanitarian aid will arrive in the country on February 23. The foreign aid has been brought to hubs in Brazil and Colombia.
The peace talks between the Central African Republic (CAR) government and a number of opposition groups in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, are set to conclude on Saturday, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui told Sputnik on Friday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd February, 2019) The peace talks between the Central African Republic government and a number of opposition groups in Sudan 's capital, Khartoum , are set to conclude on Saturday, African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Smail Chergui told Sputnik on Friday.

"I am positive and optimistic about finalizing the agreement very soon. We will conclude the talks tomorrow ... All the issues have been well addressed. The spirit was good. It is the first time that the government was meeting with these 14 armed groups. The atmosphere was conducive," Chergui, who was overseeing the talks, said.
(@rukhshanmir)

Vice President of Uganda Edward Ssekandi and Abdulrahim Obeid Al-Falahi, Acting Charge d'Affaires at the UAE Embassy in Kampala have opened the integrated centre of H.H. Sheikha Shamsa bint Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan at Masaka Town in the Central Region of Uganda

KAMPALA, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 16th Feb, 2019) Vice President of Uganda Edward Ssekandi and Abdulrahim Obeid Al-Falahi, Acting Charge d'Affaires at the UAE Embassy in Kampala have opened the integrated centre of H.H. Sheikha Shamsa bint Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan at Masaka Town in the Central Region of Uganda.

A number of ministers; MPs; heads of governorates; Deputy Mufti of Uganda and top officials attended the event.

The centre includes a mosque, a school, a medical centre and a sewing workshop with an artesian. The project was supported by the Ahmad bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Charitable and Humanitarian Works. Poor Families Development and Vocational Training projects such as poultry raising, carpentry and agriculture were also opened.

In his remarks on the occasion, Al-Falahi conveyed the greetings of the government and the people of the UAE to the Ugandan people and government.

He said that the projects were part of Sheikha Shamsa's efforts to alleviate the suffering of the underprivileged and meet their daily needs.

In his speech, Ssekandi expressed the strong UAE-Ugandan relations while praising the previous visit of Al-Falahi to the area last September.

He also hailed the efforts of the UAE diplomat to develop the diplomatic relations between the two countries, especially his visits that target the Ugandan Governorates so as to carry out charitable projects and provision of humanitarian assistance for the needy people in various Ugandan governorates.

He extended thanks to Sheikha Shamsa and the Ahmad bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation for Charitable and Humanitarian Works and other Emirati humanitarian organisations in the country for supporting the people of Uganda.
Memorial services will be held at Northridge Christian Church in The Link at 2 p.m. June 25, 2021. Lt. Col. Leeder was a native of Connellsville, Pa. and had made his home in Milledgeville for the past 25 years. He was predeceased by his parents, Laird Glenn Leeder Sr. and Hazel Mae Brooks L
Robin H. "Robbie" Foster, left, and Douglas County Sheriff's Sgt. Richard Poppie. Foster died in a 2014 collision when his vehicle was struck by Poppie's speeding police SUV.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday the means to boost investment with Germany, while highlighting the special Egyptian-German relationship.

During the meeting, El-Sisi hailed Germany's support for Egypt's battle against terrorism and extremism, as well as for the economic reform programme Egypt began implementing in 2016.

The two leaders said that they touched on irregular migration, combating terrorism, as well as international and regional issues of mutual concern.

They discussed the situations in Libya and Syria, stressing the importance of supporting the efforts of the UN envoy in Syria.

The pair also discussed issues related to the African continent, as Egypt is this years chair of the African Union.

The two leaders last met in October in Berlin where they discussed Germany's support for Egypt's economy and education, its efforts to encourage German investors to put money into Egypt, and Egypt's efforts to combat illegal migration and terrorism.

Short link:


It said some militants may still be hiding in underground tunnels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said U.S.-backed fighters seized the last Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria on Saturday after the jihadists who were still there surrendered.

Read alsoSyrian Kurds apprehend eight ISIS fighters, incl. Zarmanbetov of Ukrainian origin

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

The UK-based war monitoring group said the last few hundred Islamic State militants, many of them foreigners, had surrendered in the past two days to the Syrian Democratic Forces. It said some militants may still be hiding in underground tunnels.

With the help of U.S. air strikes, the Kurdish-led SDF has battled to crush Islamic State in the shrinking Baghouz enclave east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border.
A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, could face 19 to 24 years in prison on tax and bank-fraud charges, according to a new court filing by the U.S. special counsel.

In the February 15 filing by Robert Mueller's office, the special counsel said it agreed with federal sentencing guidelines that would set a prison term of between 235 months and 293 months based on the charges Manafort has been convicted of and to which he has pleaded guilty, RFE/RL wrote.

"In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," prosecutors wrote in their filing.

"The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct."

Read alsoU.S. judge rules ex-Trump campaign chief breached plea deal  media

The prosecutors further wrote that Manafort's advanced age of 69 should not help him receive a reduction in his sentence, saying that "he conspired to tamper with witnesses at a time when he was under indictment in two separate districts."

If accepted by Judge T.S. Ellis in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, it would put Manafort at risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.

Such a sentence would be the longest given out as part of the special counsel's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters.

Manafort also faces having to pay more than $24 million in restitution as part of his conviction on bank and tax-fraud charges related to his lobbying work for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians.

None of the charges Manafort faces related directly to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

Manafort, who has been held for five months in jail pending sentencing, has also pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C., federal court in a separate case, and will be sentenced next month.

Manafort had been in line for a reduced sentence  no more than 10 years  until a federal judge ruled that he breached an earlier plea agreement by lying to prosecutors on three different topics, including his communications with former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik.

Kilimnik, who was indicted last year on charges of witness tampering in Manafort's case, has been accused of having ties to Russian spy agencies, allegations he has denied. He is believed to be in Russia.

Manafort's attorneys had asserted that he did not intentionally mislead investigators but had initially forgotten some details, only to remember later.

Mueller's prosecutors have said discussions between Manafort and Kilimnik about a Ukrainian peace plan go to the "heart" of the Mueller probe.

In previous court documents, it was revealed that one of the topics discussed by Manafort and Kilimnik was a possible "Ukrainian peace plan."

The peace plan refers to the conflict that erupted in Ukraine in early 2014, after President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country amid mass protests.

The United States and Western allies hit Russia with sanctions after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, and Moscow had sought to ease the punitive measures.

According to court filings, the peace plan was reportedly aimed at lifting the U.S. sanctions on Russia.

Mueller's investigation has resulted in charges against at least 32 people, including Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The investigation also led to a guilty plea by Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in a case brought by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.
The situation in the area of the Joint Forces Operation remains under control of Ukrainian troops.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted two attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas on February 16, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as wounded in action.

Read alsoDonbas war update: One Ukrainian soldier killed, another two wounded in past day

"One Ukrainian soldier was wounded from 00:00 to 18:00 Kyiv time. Information on the enemy's losses is being clarified," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook.

The enemy opened fire from grenade launchers of various types and small arms at the Ukrainian positions near the town of Avdiyivka.

The situation in the area of the Joint Forces Operation remains under control of Ukrainian troops.
The "court" selected a preventive measure for the Crimean Tatars in the form of detention until April 13.

The Russian-controlled "court" in Crimea's Simferopol has arrested three Crimean Tatars detained after raids on their houses.

Read alsoCaptain of seized Nord vessel reportedly flees to Crimea, Ukrainian border guards checking details

According to lawyer Edem Semedlyaev, the meeting was held behind closed doors, since the "court" had decided there was a threat to the participants in the process, NGO Crimean Solidarity reported on Facebook.

The "court" selected a preventive measure for the Crimean Tatars in the form of detention until April 13.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Russia's FSB Federal Security Service on February 14 detained another three Crimean Tatars after raids on their houses.
The parties discussed further steps to be taken in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine as well as the policy of sanctions.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said Ukraine is grateful to U.S. partners and partners from the EU for a strong and constant support.

"I thanked the Vice President and asked to convey words of gratitude to the president of the United States, to the Congress for the financial support of Ukraine. You know that the budget provides more than US$700 million for the additional support of our state. And this is the position of a true friend and partner," Poroshenko told media representatives after the meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, according to the presidential press service.

"I am grateful to our American partners and our European partners for a clear and consistent position of support for Ukraine," Poroshenko added.

Read alsoUkraine, Montenegro presidents discuss need to intensify bilateral cooperation

The president said a very thorough discussion took place at the meeting with the Vice President of the United States. "He [Mike Pence] emphasized at the very beginning that Ukraine was a reliable and strategic partner of the United States of America. We firmly count on cooperation, including in the defense sector, including in the supply of all types of weapons to Ukraine, after we have adopted the law that allows the Ministry of Defense to directly provide the supply of weapons," the president said.

Poroshenko also thanked Pence for a high assessment of his team. In particular, the work of diplomats, the military and the government's steps that ensured the implementation of reforms.

The parties discussed further steps to be taken in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine as well as the policy of sanctions.

"We have thoroughly discussed the coordination of actions in response to the aggression in the Kerch Strait. We have thoroughly discussed further actions on the introduction of sanctions and coordination of these sanctions with the sanctions of the European Union. As I told you yesterday, we are waiting for a positive result next week," the president said.

The parties also agreed on further support for Ukraine and support for reforms.

"We agreed that the firm support of Ukraine would be continued in the United Nations General Assembly during the debate on the occupied territories, as well as in other international organizations," Poroshenko said.

In turn, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured the U.S. supported Ukraine. "I want to express a simple message to Ukrainians: 'We are with you.' Recent developments in the Kerch Strait remind of the challenges of Russian aggression faced by Ukraine. I want to assure you that the United States supports Ukraine," he said.

Pence also noted the economic reforms that made possible additional cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF. "I look forward to your further progress in the economy and hope that we will find additional ways to strengthen security in Europe," he added.
During the meeting, the interlocutors also discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral relations, European cooperation and cooperation in international organizations.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during the meeting with President of Montenegro Milo ukanovic within the annual Munich Security Conference has discussed the need to intensify bilateral cooperation.

Read alsoPoroshenko, Merkel in Munich discuss ways to counter Russia's aggression against Ukraine

The presidents have agreed on the need to intensify bilateral cooperation and discussed promising areas of cooperation, in particular the study of the European integration experience of Montenegro, including the adaptation of national legislation to the EU standards, according to the Ukrainian president's press service.

Poroshenko thanked the president of Montenegro for his consistent resolute support for the EU sanctions policy against the Russian Federation in connection with the ongoing aggression and violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine.

During the meeting, the interlocutors also discussed a wide range of issues of bilateral relations, European cooperation and cooperation in international organizations.

The parties agreed to maintain an active bilateral political dialogue between Ukraine and Montenegro to realize a significant potential of the Ukraine-Montenegro partnership.

Poroshenko reiterated the invitation to Milo ukanovic to make a visit to Ukraine.
The parties coordinated actions aimed at introducing the "Azov package" of sanctions.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Federal Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel in the framework of the Munich Security Conference have discussed ways to counter Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Read alsoPoroshenko thanks Stoltenberg for NATO's support to Ukraine, condemnation of Russian aggression

Poroshenko underlined the importance of increasing pressure on Russia to release captive Ukrainian sailors illegally detained in the Kerch Strait, as well as all Ukrainian hostages illegally kept both in Russia and in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea, according to the president's press service.

The parties coordinated actions aimed at introducing the "Azov package" of sanctions.

Another important topic of negotiations was the issue of preventing Russian interference in the presidential elections in Ukraine.
Evidence uncovered by Bellingcat points to recent contacts between the National Corps and alleged former U.S. armed services members who are currently in Ukraine.

Newly uncovered evidence going back to 2015 suggests that the Ukrainian white nationalist Azov movement has been systematically co-opting American right-wing extremists to advance the former's own international agenda.

The International Secretary of the National Corps, responsible for Azov's global strategy, told Bellingcat that the movement sought "all potential sympathizers" and "potential lobbyists" in the U.S., and hoped to "establish contacts with the American military."

Read alsoAzov special forces unit returns to Donbas

Bellingcat has confirmed that in January 2016, Azov, via its online podcast, was in contact with the late Andrew Oneschuk, an imminent member of the violent American neo-Nazi organization Atomwaffen Division. On Azov's podcast, Oneschuk discussed issues facing Americans that wanted to join Azov, and expressed interest in learning methods of attracting youth to nationalism in America. He was encouraged to try to join Azov.

In another previously unreported case from the autumn of 2018, the political wing of Azov, the National Corps, supported an effort by Joachim Furholm, a Norwegian citizen and self-described "national socialist revolutionary," to bring American right-wingers to Ukraine to fight against Russian aggression. The effort specifically framed participation in Ukraine's war against Russian aggression as an opportunity for American right-wingers to acquire combat and other practical experience to be deployed later within the United States after returning home. Furholm also spoke at a political rally held by the National Corps in front of Ukraine's Parliament in September 2018.

Evidence uncovered by Bellingcat points to recent contacts between the National Corps and alleged former U.S. armed services members who are currently in Ukraine.

In audio statements uncovered by Bellingcat, this agenda was summarized by the International Secretary of the political wing of Azov, the National Corps, as "world conservative revolution," aimed to "defend the white race."
| By Laura Lee

Imagine the night before an IPO, a deep fake video of the CEO comes out of the CEO soliciting a child prostitute or doing drugs, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law professor and privacy expert Danielle Citron, JD, said to a full house in the schools Ceremonial Moot Courtroom.

There goes the IPO, and the faith of the marketplace for the CEO is wrecked, she continued.

Citron was the keynote speaker at the Maryland Law Review 2019 spring symposium, Truth Decay: Deep Fakes and the Implications for Privacy, National Security and Democracy.

"Privacy Implications of Deep Fakes" panelists at the Maryland Law Review Spring 2019 Symposium (bottom row l-r) Suzanne Dunn, University of Ottawa; Mary Anne Franks, University of Miami School of Law; Ari Waldman, New York Law School. (Top row l-r) Danielle Citron, Maryland Carey Law; Woodrow Hartzog, Northeastern University School of Law; Jessica Silbey, Northeastern University School of Law.

If youve never heard of a deep fake, you will, said Citron, who noted that we are in a moment of pervasive disinformation.

(Watch Citron's keynote address in the video below.)

For the uninitiated, the term deep fake refers to the digital manipulation of audio, images, or video to make it appear that a person did or said something they didnt say or do in a very realistic way. The best deep fakes are undetectable and therefore hard to debunk. Well-known examples feature celebrities such as Gal Gadot and Emma Watson inserted into deep fake pornographic videos.

The latest technology called Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) adds a frightening level of sophistication by using machine learning techniques that are incredibly hard to detect.

The Deep Fake symposium was inspired in part by Deep Fakes: A Looming Challenge for Privacy, Democracy, and National Security, a forthcoming article in California Law Review co-authored by Citron and Robert Chesney, JD, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law. The article provides a prescient first assessment of the causes and consequences of deep fake technology.

The event attracted some of the best minds in the legal and technology communities to participate in spirited panel discussions, including The Privacy Implications of Deep Fakes which featured Woodrow Hartzog, JD, and Jessica Silbey, JD, both of Northeastern University School of Law; Mary Anne Franks, JD, DPhil, MPhil, University of Miami School of Law; Ari Waldman, JD, PhD, New York Law School; and Suzanne Dunn, JD, PhD, University of Ottawa.

Panelists for The Role of Intellectual Property, Platforms and Free Expression Concerns, and National Security Implications discussion included Stacey Dogan, JD, Boston University School of Law; Olivier Sylvain, JD, PhD, Fordham University School of Law; Kate Klonick, JD, PhD, St. Johns University Law School; and Thomas Kadri, JD, MA, Yale Law School. The panel was moderated by Carey Law professor David Gray, JD, PhD.

The third panel tackled the national security implications of deep fakes and featured Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution; Quinta Jurecic, managing editor, Lawfare; and Alan Rozenshtein, JD, University of Minnesota Law School.

The goal of the event, according to Citron, was to talk about the harm that deep fakes impose on individuals and society and then to puzzle through together the modest way that law can intervene.

And just how can the law intervene? The law is a modest and blunt tool, Citron admitted, but we have to try.

She ticked off areas of law that could be invoked in deep fake cases, including criminal statutes related to impersonation of government officials and fraud statutes. Citron and Chesney embrace the option of changing section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to make immunity conditional for internet platforms. Section 230 currently provides immunity from liability for providers and users of an interactive computer service who publish information provided by third-party users, according to the legislation.

Right now, its a free pass. It provides no incentives for platforms to protect the vulnerable, said Citron, who added there are platforms whose business model is based on abuse and destruction. They make money off of eyeballs. They make money when stuff goes viral.

At the end of the day, Bobby and I dont have clear answers, said Citron, referring to Chesney, her deep fake paper co-author. Thats why we wanted to bring the smartest people together in one room to talk about the privacy, the free speech, the IP, the national security implications of these images and video and audio.

I think the lesson is the law moves like a pendulum, she said, swinging her arm back and forth. We overreact, we underreact, and hopefully we end up somewhere in the middle.
One of two Wenatchee Valley men in federal meth case sentenced to 10 years
Ukrainian citizens can travel to Uruguay without a visa starting from today, February 15.

"Travel to Uruguay without a visa! From today, Ukrainian citizens can stay in Uruguay for up to 90 days without a visa," the Embassy of Ukraine in Argentina posted on Twitter.

As reported, on September 26, 2018, Ukraine and Uruguay signed the agreement on visa-free regime.
President Petro Poroshenko stresses that Ukraine is grateful to U.S. partners and partners from the EU for a strong and constant support of our state.

"I thanked the vice president and asked to convey words of gratitude to the president of the United States, the Congress for the financial support of Ukraine. You know that the budget provides more than USD 700 million for the additional support of our state. And this is the position of a true friend and partner," Poroshenko told the media representatives after the meeting with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, the press service of the head of state reported.

"I am grateful to our American partners and our European partners for a clear and consistent position of support for Ukraine," Poroshenko added.

The president said that a very thorough discussion took place at the meeting with the U.S. vice president. "He [Mike Pence] emphasized at the very beginning that Ukraine was a reliable and strategic partner of the United States of America. We firmly count on cooperation, including in the defense sector, including in the supply of all types of weapons to Ukraine, after we have adopted the law that allows the Defense Ministry to directly provide the supply of weapons," the head of state said.

The parties discussed further steps to be taken in response to Russia's actions in Ukraine as well as the policy of sanctions.

The interlocutors also agreed on the further support for our state and support for reforms. "We agreed that the firm support of Ukraine would be continued in the United Nations General Assembly during the debate on the occupied territories, as well as in other international organizations," the head of state said.

In turn, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured of the U.S. support for Ukraine during the meeting. "I want to express a simple message to Ukrainians: "We are with you". Recent developments in the Kerch Strait remind of the challenges of Russian aggression faced by Ukraine. I want to assure you that the United States supports Ukraine," he said.

He also noted the economic reforms that made possible additional cooperation between Ukraine and the IMF. "I look forward to your further progress in the economy and hope that we will find additional ways to strengthen security in Europe," Pence added.
The European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO) will send 48 long-term and 320 short-term observers for the presidential election in Ukraine.

"We started our work in January 2019 with the arrival of ten members of the main team. In addition, our team will include 48 long-term observers and 320 short-term observers for two rounds of the election," the ENEMO spokesperson said at a press conference on Friday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Head of ENEMO Election Observation Mission in Ukraine Mr. Zlatko Vujovic noted that the ENEMO had not made any reports yet.

"As soon as our long-term observers arrive, and they begin their work from next week, we will start to make our reports," Vujovic said.

At the same time, he expressed regret that the citizens of the Russian Federation had been banned from observing the elections in Ukraine.

As of February 13, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine registered 226 official observers from the international organizations and a foreign state (Germany), including 108 observers from the OSCE ODIHR.

ol
Ukraine has lost 2,945 soldiers during the whole period of military operation in Donbas. It has lost 948 soldiers after the signing of the Minsk agreements.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said this during his speech at the panel discussion "Security in Eastern Europe" within the framework of the Munich Security Conference, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

During the entire period of aggression, 2,945 soldiers were killed in the fighting, 948 soldiers were killed after signing of the Minsk agreements, Poroshenko said, stressing that one Ukrainian soldier was killed in the last 24 hours.

At the same time, the president stressed that the number of enemy attacks had significantly reduced after receiving Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States. "Russian tankers refuse to go to the contact line. We have halved the number of combat casualties, he added.

As reported, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on February 15-16 is on a working visit to Germany and participates in the 55th Munich Security Conference.

ish
Female inmates at the Women's Prison in Arouca say conditions are less than ideal, They are complaining about what they say is poor sanitisation of the facility, a lack of ventilation, pails in need of changing and court matters ongoing for years without any resolution.
Medicare? What a disappointment!

To help the sick and disabled citizens of the United States, that is if you and your doctor can and will jump through the barbed wire hoops designed to detour you from getting the help a Medicare recipient needs.

My husband has many medical problems. I have been caring for him for 11 years, alone.

Recently, because of a health problem with myself, I finally asked for temporary assistance with his care.

Medicare has instructed the four agencies what, when and where they can and cannot do.

Also, what our doctor needs to jump through their hoops to care for us is Jump, Spot! Jump! No wonder doctors have run away from Medicare insurance.

If the doctors dont comply, Medicare cancels the patients care. We have experienced this first-hand.

My husband is homebound and has been for two years. So, this is the reason I never asked for help from the government-run program called Medicare.

I feel so sorry for the doctors who are forced to deal with Medicare. I will never ask for help nor accept help from them, ever.
Its time for some adult dialogue.

The wall was a campaign plank to rally the troops and arouse emotion. It did that without regard to its efficiency as a practical immigration enforcement tool.

Because were so politically polarized, the wall automatically became endorsed/loved or rejected/hated, depending on party affiliation. It was reasonable to some, and another ugly, oppressive Berlin Wall to others.

President Trump bullied Congress by shutting down the government to get his way. It didnt work, and cost more than constructing the wall itself.

Then, he pleaded for bipartisanship  rejection of revenge, resistance and retribution. Fat chance!

He should remind Congress members of his oath to defend and enforce all laws, including immigration law and how the wall fits into that.

He should remind members that throwing money at the problem with vague suggestions of better or more enforcement probably wont accomplish much.
Tulsa police arrested a woman who they allege was intoxicated when she crashed into a utility pole and flipped her car late Thursday night.

Officers responded to a reported roll-over crash involving a utility pole near 17th Street and Peoria Avenue about 11:30 p.m. The driver, identified as Tiffany Cohn Alaniz, was not injured and refused medical help.

Police say the woman showed signs of intoxication and underwent field testing from officers. She was then arrested and booked into the Tulsa municipal jail on a complaint of driving under the influence of alcohol and was released on bond Friday afternoon, jail records show. Peoria was closed for several hours while crews repaired the power pole.

Alaniz is a television anchor for Fox23 News at Noon. The Tulsa stations news director declined to comment on the arrest because it is a personnel matter.

-- From staff reports
Rogers County authorities and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation are seeking a woman identified as a person of interest in connection with a deputy-involved shooting.

Hannah Swets, 29, is being sought for questioning in the Feb. 10 shooting that took place in Catoosa during a pursuit involving Rogers County deputies and 27-year-old Chad Lee Anderson, OSBI said.

Anderson reportedly led Rogers County deputies on a chase in a stolen vehicle that began in Catoosa and ended in Tulsa before he allegedly tried to run over deputies, according to a previous story.

Anderson was shot when deputies fired multiple rounds at the vehicle.

He was eventually arrested three days later at his girlfriends residence in Collinsville. Anderson was charged with assault with intent to kill, eluding a police officer, possession of a stolen vehicle, altering a license plate and unsafe lane use.

Investigators believe Swets may have sustained injuries in the shooting and want to contact her.

She is described as a 5-foot-1 white woman and about 103 pounds, authorities said. Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to contact the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation at 800-522-8017 or the Rogers County Sheriffs Office at 918-342-9700.
We had a productive second week at the Capitol. On Wednesday, I was proud to debate in favor of House Bill 2597, otherwise known as constitutional carry. The bill restores the Second Amendment rights of our law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm without a permit from the state.

There are 15 states that currently allow some form of permitless carry, including Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. The measure would prohibit felons and those with domestic violence convictions or who have been adjudicated as having a mental illness from carrying a firearm. The bill does not affect current federal law, so anyone attempting to purchase a firearm will still undergo a background check. HB2597 also protects the rights of private property owners and college campuses to continue to set their own policies regarding carry. The state-issued Self Defense Handgun License program would remain in place for people who want to obtain a license to carry in other states in accordance with their laws.

As one of the authors on the bill, I presented it before the House Public Safety Committee last week, where it was passed before being heard on the floor. The House voted to protect the Second Amendment rights of our citizens and the bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.
We work with businesses in our region who say that they could add 100 to 200 jobs tomorrow if they had the skilled workforce available, said Steve Tiger, CEO of Tulsa Technology Center.
Normal learning activities came to a standstill in a Ugandan school after musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine turned up in school to pick up his daughter.

Bobi Wine was elected as Kyadondo East member of National Assembly and became popular for his fearless championing for basic freedoms in the East African country, a move which earned him liberation warrior title.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

READ ALSO: Technical University of Mombasa in hot water over purchase of 5 TV sets worth KSh 4.5 million

Musician turned politician Bobi Wine had arrived at the school to pick up his youngest daughter Ssuubi. Photo: Kanyomozi District/Twitter.

Source: Twitter

READ ALSO: Scare as student appears strapped in gadgets resembling bombs in Nyeri

In a video which has gone viral captured by a parent who had also gone to pick up his child in the school, excited children are seen following after and crowding around the politician who was carrying his youngest daughter Ssuubi.

The MP who is at loggerheads with President Yoweri Museveni was seen wearing a wide smile as he swiftly walked away from the little souls who were amazed to see a high profile person visit their school.

They did not only crowd around the young politician but began chanting liberation slogans of "people power our power" synonymous with Bobi Wine.

READ ALSO: Bobi Wine's emotional re-union with his three children is the cutest thing ever

Teachers had a difficult time trying to contain the pupils who could not hide their admiration of the politician.

"Today was not a normal pick up at school. I found an unusual parent who was crowded by youngsters chanting 'people power our power' as teachers struggled to disperse them," tweeted the parent.

READ ALSO: Trailblazing governor Kibutha Kibwana launches yet another milk processing plant

Ugandans on social media weighed into the happening saying the children's reaction to the politician portrayed how badly the country needed liberation.

Do you have a have a life-changing story you would like us to publish? Please reach us through news@tuko.co.ke or WhatsApp: 0732482690 and Telegram: Tuko news.

Kenyan Men Reject Male Contraceptives| Tuko TV

Source: Kenya Breaking News Today
Controversial South Sudan tycoon Lawrence Lual Malong Yor Jnr popularly known as Young Tycoon has made headlines once again, this time with yet another show of 'philanthropy'.

Malong has promised to appreciate any musician who will hit the studio and record a song praising him with KSh 1 million.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens.

READ ALSO: I got my wealth from my Lord Jesus Christ - Laul Malong Jnr

READ ALSO: Jamaican reggae star Richie Spice asks Kenyan MPs to legalise marijuana

Speaking to Juba Eye, Malong he said he will give South Sudanese musicians first priority in the singing fest.

According to the self-proclaimed billionaire, just like Sudanese leaders Salva Kiir and Makuei Leuth who have been praised in songs, he wants musicians to praise him for being hardworking and generous.

Malong held that musicians especially those from South Sudan should praise right people like himself who are doing good things for humanity in the country.

'I donate money, I help the poor and I am very generous, there is a need to acknowledge my good personality in a song,'' he said.

READ ALSO: Bahati's miseries deepen as his manager and brother ditches EMB Records

The tycoon claimed the KSh 1 million appreciation was just but a way of encouraging talent especially for a job well done.

Malong does not mind the genre or style of music the artist will record but strictly wants it in English or Dinka.

This is not the first time the politician is making big money statement.

READ ALSO: Linus Kaikais wife takes swipe at Betty Kyallo following ex-hubbys wedding

In 2018, he claimed to wear designer shoes worth KSh 1 million and wrist watch worth KSh 10 million.

He also alleged he donated millions of shillings to Red Cross Society in Kenya and South Sudan.

The billionaire who had been reported to have made lots of money from the South Sudan war, denied the claims in one of his interviews, claiming his wealth "came from Jesus Christ".

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

Kenyan Men Reject Male Contraceptives| Tuko TV

Source: Tuko.co.ke
EAST GREENBUSH, N.Y.  In the face of Gov. Andrew Cuomos state cuts to Aid and Incentives for Municipalities or (AIM), many counties, towns a
The puerile exchanges between the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader marks another low in the tawdry politics of T&T.

Anyone looking on from the outside would find it hard to believe that this country is in a declared state of emergency, struggling with a pandemic that is fuelling daily Covid-19 deaths along with infections by the hundreds, with an economy marked by an increasingly burdensome foreign debt, job losses, collapsed businesses and biting poverty for a growing number of people.
T&T is a signatory to the Paris Agreement on climate changeto cut the generation of petroleum-based pollutants into the atmosphere. This is of major significance to our economy since this country is indeed one of the major per capita carbon polluters in the world, yet the use of petroleum-based products for export provides the country with crucial forex.
Faced with persistent insinuations from Opposition Members in Parliament yesterday that he got a Pfizer jab from the 80 vials sent from the US, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley went on the offensive and suggested that Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had contracted Covid-19 at some stage.
The House of Representatives will debate a motion of no confidence in Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh at 1.30 p.m. today.

The Opposition motion is filed in the name of Caroni East MP Dr Rishad Seecheran. The Health Minister is expected to speak.

The motion is unusually short. It reads, Whereas the Minister of Health has persistently demonstrated his inability to effectively undertake his duties in the health sector for the welfare of our citizens, be it resolved that this House express its lack of confidence in the Minister of Health and call for his immediate resignation.
COLONIAL Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Ltd (CLICO) is solvent, yet it still owes the Government $2.09 billion as part of its 2009 bailout arrangement.

In addition, approximately $1.66 billion provided with respect to British American Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited (BAT) remains unpaid.

This according to 38th quarterly report of the Central Bank, which was filed in the High Court pursuant to section 44E (7) of the Act, which reported on the period which ended March 31, 2021.

The report provides a snapshot of the progress of proposals to restructure CLICO, BAT and Clico Investment Bank (CIB)

In summary, of the approximately $18 billion (inclusive of preference interest due) provided by the Government in respect of CLICO, approximately $16.6 billion has been repaid by CLICO, leaving a balance of approximately $2.09 billion as at February 28, 2021, the report noted.

Payments for interest on the preference shares due to the Government have commenced. As at February 28, 2021, the remaining interest due to the Government on these preference shares amounted to approximately $32.8 million, it noted.

The report noted that by January 24, 2019 approximately $5 billion in cash payments were made to the Government in consideration for an appropriate reduction in CLICOs liabilities to GORTT.

A further cash payment of approximately $300 million (paid in tranches) was made to GORTT by CLICO between March 20 and 27, 2020. An additional $125 million was paid to GORTT on July 8, 2020. On September 17,2020, pursuant to another Ministerial direction, CLICO was directed to pay GORTT $600 million, in cash, in two tranches in exchange for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owed to GORTT.

The first tranche of approximately $300 million was paid to GORTT on September 30, 2020 and the second tranche of approximately $300.1 million was paid in two parts on October 24,2020 and October 30,2020, respectively, it said.

CLICOs most recent audited financial statement, for the 12 months ending December 31, 2020, indicate the company had positive net worth of $3.23 billion at the end of 2020.

That means the insurance company is in a position to pay off all of its liabilities, including the $2.09 billion it owes the Government.

The 2020 audit showed that CLICOs after tax profits plunged by 95 per cent for the year ending December 31, 2019.

CLICO recorded $119.23 million in after-tax profit in 2020, compared with $123.69 in 2019

Its total assets amounted to $13.55 billion in 2020, down from $14.90 billion at the end of 2019, while its total liabilities for 2020 were $10.31 billion.

CLICO has been under the control of the Central Bank since 2009, in accordance with Section 44D of the Central Bank Act.

In an interview earlier this year, Central Bank Governor Dr Alvin Hilaire said he is anxious for T&Ts regulator of financial institutions to close the book on this countrys largest bailout.

As I told you before, we want to get out of this thing yesterday. Right? We are not in the business of running insurance companies. Most of the conditions are no longer there in terms of the systemic issue. And in terms of the health of the financial system, so we dont have a systemic problem, he had said.

Ministerial directives

Despite CLICO being under the management of the Central Bank, the report noted that a number of transfers were made pursuant to ministerial directives over the course of the Central Banks management of CLICO.

Directives by the Minister of Finance to CLICO are allowed under section 44 F(5) of the Central Bank Act, which states: In the performance of its functions and in the exercise of its powers under section 44D the Bank shall comply with any general or special directions of the Minister and shall act only after due consultation with the Minister.

Among the ministerial directives recorded in the Central Bank document are:

1. In January 2017, in light of the unanticipated delay in the sale of MHIL shares and pursuant to directions from the Minister of Finance to the Central Bank, CLICO obtained an independent valuation of CLICOs 100 per cent shareholding in Occidental Investment Limited (OIL) and Oceanic Properties Limited (OPL) in preparation for the transfer of these shareholdings to the Government, thereby appropriately reducing CLICOs liabilities to the Government.

The valuation report was completed and the share sale and purchase agreement executed by the parties on March 28,2017. On May 8, 2017, the parties signed the necessary share transfer forms to facilitate the transfer of CLICOs 100 per cent shareholding in OIL and OPL to the State Enterprise, Golden Grove-Buccoo Limited.

2. In November 2017, pursuant to directions from the Minister of Finance to the Central Bank, arrangements were commenced to facilitate the purchase and cancellation of certain Government bonds held by CLICO in consideration for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owed by CLICO to the Government in order of priority. The relevant Sale and Purchase Agreement was executed on July 26, 2018 and a Variation Agreement which amended the value of binds to be transferred was executed on August 30,2019.

3. On April 11, 2018, approximately $107 million of a WASA loan facility together with a cash payment of $21 million were effectively transferred to the Government for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owed by CLICO to the Government in order of priority.

4. Pursuant to directions from the Minister of Finance, agreements were executed on March 29, 2018 for the transfer of CLICOs approximately 21 per cent shareholding in One Caribbean Media Limited (OCM) and approximately five per cent shareholding in West Indian Tobacco Company Limited to the Government based on an independent valuation, in consideration for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owed by CLICO to the Government in order of priority. These shares were transferred on April 25, 2018.

5. On April 30, 2018, CLICO received from the liquidator of CIB, the Deposit Insurance Corporation, an interim distribution of 27,619,219 Republic Bank Limited (RBL) shares and 848,564 OCM shares.

Pursuant to directions from the Minister of Finance, the Central Bank directed CLICO to transfer to the Government the RBL shares and the OCM shares based on the price determined by an independent valuation in consideration for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owned to the Government in order of priority. These shares were transferred to the Government on July 4, 2018.

6. On September 7, 2018 and April 4, 2019, bonds totally approximately $502 million (now valued at approximately $500 million pursuant to a Variation Agreement dated August 30, 2019) were transferred to the Government (for cancellation) in exchange for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owed by CLICO to the Government.

7. Further to directions to the Central Bank from the Minister of Finance, CLICO was directed to transfer one of its properties located in Chaguanas and one another located in Port of Spain to the Government, based on an up-to-date independent valuation, in consideration for an appropriate reduction in liabilities owed by CLICO to the Government.

For the property located on Chaguanas, the relevant sale and purchase agreement was executed on April 9, 2019 and the deed of assignment was registered on February 6, 2020.

The purchase agreement and the deed of lease for the property located in Port of Spain were executed on August 5,2020 in exchange for an appropriate reduction in liabilities.

Stalled sale

The report noted that progress on the sale of traditional insurance portfolios of CLICO and BAT has been impacted by ongoing court proceedings in the context of a challenge by one of the bidders of the portfolio. An injunction was granted to Maritime Life (Caribbean) Ltd in July 2020.

In the 2019 financial statement, it reclassified assets in preparation for sale to Sagicor.

CLICOs balance sheet showed the reclassification of over $7 billion in assets, in the form of Government bonds, from investment securities to assets held for sale.

In addition, it shifted all of its $6.43 billion in insurance contractsand all but $145.48 million of the $1.66 billion classified as investment contractsto $7.72 billion of liabilities directly associated with assets held for sale.

Note 18 of CLICOs financial statement indicates: The sales and purchase agreement allows for the parties to exit the contract by mutual agreement as well as by either party, if the other party fails to fulfil stipulated terms as outlined in the agreement.

But Note 18 adds: CLICO remains fully committed to the sale of the portfolio and the execution of the signed agreement.

Directives to sell the asset from the Central Bank as controller of CLICO under section 44D of the Central Bank Act have not changed.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

London, February 15

The British government on Friday dismissed as a hiccup its latest parliamentary defeat over Brexit, saying it would keep trying to renegotiate its EU divorce deal just six weeks before exit day.

But senior minister Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the House of Commons, conceded that the setback might affect the ongoing talks with the European Union.

Yesterday was more of a hiccup than the disaster, she told the BBC radio.

The minister added: The one problem with last nights vote is that it allows the EU to continue with this pretence that they dont know what we want. And they do know what we want. MPs on Thursday night rejected by 303 votes to 258 a motion expressing support for Prime Minister Theresa May as she seeks changes to the Irish backstop in her Brexit deal.  AFP
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Lahore: Pakistans jailed former PM Nawaz Sharif, who is serving a seven-year imprisonment in a corruption case, has been shifted to a hospital in Lahore from the Kot Lakhpat jail here for cardiac treatment. Sharif was brought to the Jinnah Hospital from the jail in high security. The Punjab home department has declared the private ward of Jinnah Hospital a sub-jail for the duration of Sharifs stay there. Sharif was shifted back to jail from Services Hospital. PTI
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

New Delhi, February 15

The much awaited visit of a Saudi delegation comprising Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to Pakistan has been compressed by a day.

A casualty of the shortened visit has been the Pak-Saudi Business Conference where a slew of projects for the cash-strapped country were to be sealed. The rescheduling of the conference due to the truncated visit takes place against the backdrop of a determined bid by India to diplomatically isolate Pakistan.

Prince Salman is on a multi-nation tour that includes India. In deference to Indian sensibilities about being hyphenated with Pakistan, Saudis de facto ruler may not fly directly from Islamabad to Delhi. Saudi Arabia is seen as Pakistans prime benefactor.

A notification released by the Pakistan government said the conference was postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.  TNS
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Johannesburg, February 16

Lack of conclusive evidence was the reason South African authorities decided to drop the arrest warrant against India-born businessman Ajay Gupta, a close aide of scandal-hit former president Jacob Zuma, an official has said.

The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) decided on Thursday to scrap the arrest warrant issued last February for Ajay, who was considered a fugitive from justice after leaving for Dubai a year ago.

Gupta and his younger siblings Atul and Rajesh are accused of attempted state capture and corruption through alleged irregular contracts running into billions of rands by using their close relationship to President Zuma.

Ajay was accused of offering the then Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas a bribe of 600 million-rand (USD 42.6 million) to take on the post of Finance Minister in Zumas Cabinet.

In return, Jonas was expected to give priority to the Gupta businesses in the IT, mining and media sector for government tenders.

But with reports that Jonas himself is now uncertain whether it was Ajay or Rajesh Gupta who had made the alleged offer, the NPA has withdrawn the charge, leaving Ajay free to return to South Africa. Although there was no word from him or his legal representatives on when and whether he would do so.

The decision was taken so that we can give more credence into the ongoing investigation as well as to make sure that the team that is working on the other matters that been presented to the Hawks, countrys elite police force, so that they are able to deal with them, NPA spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi told the media on Friday.

He said lack of conclusive evidence was the reason behind scrapping the fugitive status of the India-born businessman.

Once everything has been done, I think it is the decision of the NPA to be able to see whether that matter will still go on or not, he said.

Mulaudzi was referring to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture which is still going ahead, where a number of allegations have been made against the Gupta family, who have consistently denied the charges and have sought a right of reply.

This NPA decision follows the one taken by it last month not to prosecute Duduzane Zuma, son of the former president, who allegedly was the link between Jonas and the Guptas.

According to analysts, this left the prosecutors with little choice but to provisionally withdraw the charges against Ajay.

Questions are now being asked whether Ajay will appear before the Commission since he no longer faces the threat of arrest if he sets foot on South African soil.

Commission head Judge Raymond Zondo has refused to allow any Gupta testimony at the Commission via video link, citing that this would amount to preferential treatment, but agreed to personal submissions.

In an earlier interview with the New York Times, Ajay said he would return to the Commission to clear his name and that of his family.

The Gupta family arrived in South Africa from Saharanpur in the 1990s as the new democracy under former President Nelson Mandela opened up opportunities to establish the Sahara IT company. They soon expanded their empire to other sectors.

The Gupta family owns a range of business interests, including computing, mining, air travel, energy, technology and media.

Their media company comprising The New Age daily and the TV Network ANN7 was controversially sold through vendor financing to an associate, who was forced to shut them down within months of taking over.

A number of Gupta-owned mining companies are either in business rescue or facing closure.

The three brothers are known friends of former President Zuma - and his son, daughter and one of the presidents wives reportedly worked for the familys firms.

The Gupta brothers have been accused of wielding enormous political influence in South Africa, with critics alleging that they have tried to capture the state to advance their own business interests.

Zumas links to the Guptas are one of the reasons he resigned before the 2019 general election. The Guptas and Zuma have denied all allegations of wrongdoing. PTI
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Abuja, February 16

At least 66 people were killed on Friday by unidentified gunmen in Nigerias Kaduna state, on the eve of the countrys presidential election, officials said.

State government spokesman Samuel Aruwan said in a statement that eight settlements were attacked, with 22 children and 12 women among the victims, Xinhua news agency reported.

Aruwan said the cause of the violence was unclear, and some security operatives had been deployed to the affected localities.

Some suspects have been arrested in connection in with the violence, he said.

The spokesperson urged community, traditional and religious leaders in the area to encourage residents to avoid any reprisal attacks and to leave the matter in the hands of the security and law enforcement agencies.

The killings are being investigated and residents are assured that indicted persons will be prosecuted, he said.

On January 22, the Nigerian government alleged there were security threats to the upcoming general elections in the country, alerting citizens of the west African country to be wary of pending attacks before, during, and after the polls.

Kaduna, located in the northern part of the country, was among states earlier listed by the government as one of the flashpoint areas.  IANS
harinder@tribunemail.com

Dinesh Kanwar

Situated in the foothills of the Dhauladhar ranges, Pong Dam, it seems, is the favourite winter destination for over 1.2 lakh migratory birds, who visit from Ukraine, Siberia, Russia and even Austria every year.

Constructed, primarily for power generation, irrigation and flood control, the vast water body has a surface area of over 240 sq km with a catchment area of over 12.56 sq m. The prolonged winter season encouraged these trans-Himalayan birds to visit the Pond Dam wetland this year, too. The beautiful avian species can be spotted between Dhameta and Jawali on the western corner to Balla Tapu in Kohla near Nadaun.

The wildlife wing of the Forest Department conducted the bird Census in the last week of January at Pong Dam and over 1,15,229 birds of 103 species were recorded this year.

Among these, the bar-headed goose, the common coot and the northern pintails are the prominent ones, who are expected to stay for a longer duration this time.

Krishan Kumar, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife, here said: During the two-day Census of waterfowl species, over 1,15,229 birds were spotted at the Pong Dam wetland, which is one of the biggest man-made wetlands in northern India. He said the largest influx was of the bar-headed goose (29,443), followed by Eurasian coot (16,313), northern pintail (17,934), common teal (7,918) and common pochard (17,742), great cormorants (5,600), gadwalls (1,408), greylag goose (1,249) and ruddy shelduck (1,164). Other than these, common shelduck (52), northern lapwings (39), common merganser (31), greater white fronted goose (24), water pipits (22), pied avocets (6) and many other noticeable species were seen. Black Billed Terns, Sarus Crane and Osprey, which are rarely observed in Indian wetlands, were also recorded. From 1,10,000 in 2018 to 1,15,229 this year, the population of birds has shown an increase of over 5,229 birds, he said.

As per the Census of 2018, as many as 110,000 feathered guests of 107 species were recorded at Pong Dam wetland and the largest number was of bar-headed goose (38,530), common coot (12,632), northern pintail (9,470), common teal (9,284) and common pochard (7,764). The other birds recorded were common shelduck (22), sarus crane (8), osprey (7), black-bellied tern (2) and greater white-fronted goose (73).

In the Census conducted in the last week of January 2017, around 1,27,200 waterfowls from 93 species were recorded at the Pong wetland. Among these, greater flamingoes, a common migratory species in Indias coastal areas, were recorded for the first time at the Pong Dam.

Fishing major occupation of villagers

Apart from migratory birds, the Pong Dam has a variety of fish such as mahaseer, katla, rahoo, mirgal, malli, singhara, carps and mirror carps among others. Fishing is also one of the major occupations of hundreds of families living along the banks of Pong dam. A total of 27 fish species belonging to five families have been recorded at the Pong Dam.

Home to other wildlife species, too!

Over 24 species of mammals, including common leopard, sambhar, wild boar, porcupine, small Indian mongoose, common Indian mongoose, jungle cat, common palm civet, small Indian civet, blue bull, Indian smooth otter, jackals , monkeys and langoors, have been spotted by researchers at Pong Dam. Three striped squirrels, several rat species and mice were also recorded. In amphibians and reptiles, four species of frogs, 18 of snakes, four of lizards and turtles were seen at the wetland. The dam area also provides conducive environment for venomous snakes, including spectacled cobra, common krait, common Indian krait, russels viper and saw scaled viper.

One of the highest earth gravel dams in India

Pong Dam is one of the highest earth gravel dams in India, impounded across the River Beas. Also called as Maharana Pratap Sagar, the reservoir has a catchment area of 12.562 sq. km with a total length of 41.8 km and maximum breadth of 19 km.

The dam has a surface area of 24, 529 hectare at full storage level and 6,312 hectare at dead storage level. The elevation of the dam is 1,430 feet. The average water depth is 35.7 m.

The dam has been built on the River Beas that originates from Rohtang Pass in Kullu district while meandering through the valley. It has a number of tributaries including Manalsu, Parbati and Sainj on the left bank and Uhl on the other. The river also receives the entire drainage of the southern slopes of Dhauladhar range of mountains. The Beas and its principal tributaries are snowmelt or glacier fed, hence perennial, but the flow rate in the river fluctuates widely ranging from 13,6415 million cubic metre to 6,855 million cubic metre during the course of the year.

Pardeep Thakur, Conservator of Forest, wildlife, said: The increase in the influx of migratory birds is due to the safety and security being provided to birds. Minimum human interference is allowed in the wetland, especially areas where birds spend more time. The department also keeps a vigil on poaching with the help of watch towers installed at various locations and CCTV surveillance is also being done. Area residents are also help in keeping an eye and their participation is of great help to the department.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Sumedha Sharma

The 33rd edition of the International Surajkund Crafts Mela, the poster image of Haryanas cultural endeavours, being held at Surajkund in Faridabad since February 1 is drawing lakhs of visitors.

The mela has Maharashtra as its theme state and Thailand as the partner nation. It has 111 stalls where Indian and international artisans are showcasing their unique culture and rich heritage through various art forms, handicrafts and food stalls. Though each stall has a unique flavour to it, there are a few that are proving to be an instant hit.

Dry flowers, life-size soft toys

A number of youths have been thronging the mela every day, looking to get the best bunch of flowers and cuddly teddies in view of past Valentines Day. The stalls of message-bearing soft toys and customised accessories have been the biggest grocers, as Archies and Hallmark replicas are available at much cheaper price at Rs 200.

Similarly, dry and artificial flower arrangements at various stalls of northeastern states and various countries have been crowd-pullers.

Taj Mahal replicas

The marble Taj Mahal replicas being sold at the stall number 992 are one of the most sought-after items in the mela. Craftsman Kishore is a national award winner and he has been flooded with the demand of the miniature Taj Mahal priced at starting Rs 2,000. Besides, a marble cannon priced at Rs 7,000 is also a major crowd-puller.

Selfie stations

Considering peoples love for selfie and photos, several selfie stations have been created in the mela venue. People wait in long queues to get their perfect selfies. Swings have been put up near fountains on the mela premises where couples are getting their photos clicked in the Radha Krishna style. The replica of Thailand beaches and a mega carved door from Mahrashtra and Apna Ghar of Haryana are also the major attractions.

Eco-friendly Warli paintings

Sanjay Chintu Rajad from Palghar practises the traditional craft of Warli painting using coal, ash and clay as base for his masterpieces. From classical Tarpa dance to the Tree of Life, all the paintings are drawing immediate attention.

Metal artifacts

Artisan Praful Mohale from Nagpur is exhibiting his metal work creations and is getting a large number of visitors to his stall. Colourful and eye-catching, these decoration items made from metals are sure to attract many buyers. From frames to cutouts, the art works pivot around the theme of nature and beautiful traditional ceremonies.

Thailands herbal products

From anti-radiation cactus to handmade casuals, Thailands tropical beaches, opulent royal palaces, ancient ruins and ornate temples displaying figures of the Buddha have been replicated in the melas decoration. The partner nation Thailand has put up interesting stalls showcasing intricate decorative items, herbal care products or handmade casual wear that have been drawing crowds.

Artisan Kamoalthip offers a cactus plant, which has anti-radiation properties, to be used at home to bar unhealthy radiations. Nucharee Nilsuwan is offering authentic herbal products made from rare herbs and traditional Thai methods. Exclusive perfumes made by her team are drawing women. Pitak Intawong has brought hand-carved decorative items such as flowerpots, doorbells and lamps made from mango wood.

Artisan Bhodsaya is offering handmade t-shirts and casual dresses with traditional tie dye prints and natural colours. Thailand has even brought its culinary heritage with Thai soups such as Tum Yum and curries such as red and green curry that are getting much appreciation.

Cultural performances

The amphitheatre or the chaupal decorated in the traditional style is witnessing performances by folk artistes from Ghana, Egypt, Thailand, Zimbabwe and various Indian states. The major crowd-puller this time has been the Laavni performance and various plays depicting the life and valour of Maratha warrior Shivaji Rao.

Cotton, silk of Latur

Various artisans from the quaint town of Latur in Maharashtra are showcasing a wide range of exquisite cotton and silk sarees, dress materials and suits with mesmerising block prints and textures. Many self-help groups such as the Mahila Arthik Vikas Mandal and the Tejasvini Loksanchalit Sadhan Kendra too are participating in this category. These organisations help rural artisans, particularly women, by showcasing their handicrafts and handloom products in fairs and exhibitions.

Concessions allowed to girl students, war widows

As part of the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao campaign, there is free entry to girl students of government and government-aided schools on weekdays.

Free entry allowed to war widows and freedom fighters.

A rebate of 50 per cent on the entry ticket to the differently-abled persons, senior citizens and serving defence personnel and ex-servicemen.

A concession of 50 per cent on the ticket to college students on weekdays on the production of valid ID cards.

35 nations participating

Nepal, Afghanistan, New Zealand, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, Comoros, Turkey, Egypt, Syria, South Africa, Austria, Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Niger, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Ghana, Seychelles, Ethiopia, Morocco, Palestine, Bhutan, Uganda, Armenia, Maldives, Sudan, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Apna Ghar

To showcase traditional Haryanvi and Marathi homes and lifestyles of both states, several Apna Ghar have been erected. The decor in the Haryanvi Apna Ghar is typically rural with a king-sized charpoy, agricultural tools, ethic dresses etc. A handloom artisan, Muthoo Khan, is not just demonstrating his traditional loom but also happily getting his photos clicked with visitors. Similarly, the theme state Maharashtra has created a traditional Marathi house, which presents the traditional style of architecture with a veranda as the central figure and living areas and rooms surrounding it. Folk artistes from Maharashtra sit in the veranda and greet the audience with bhajans sung in the praise of Vithal Bhagwan.
1Berkshires' Benjamin Lamb and Jonathan Butler walked through the region's 'clusters,' identifying strengths and weaknesses.

1Berkshire Calls For 'New Narrative' of Berkshire Economy



Tyler Fairbank was an integral part of both the original blueprint and the new one. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Berkshire economy is growing, according to 1Berkshire.

The economic development agency said some $1 billion worth of investment has been made in the county in just the last three years. Now, the organization is asking the business community to embrace a "new narrative" of the county's economic future and has put forth Berkshire Blueprint 2.0, an economic development plan for future growth.

"We think it is time for a new narrative. When this project began many here in the county were working off the aging narrative that often referred to the best years of the Berkshires being in the past. The age of large scale, juggernaut manufacturers and robust downtowns that were the underpinnings of our landscape for 100 years," Butler said.

"However, we've also been watching the evolution of something very different, some reflected in the region's new vibrancy, the resurgence of the downtowns, and growing diversification in this economy. In recent years many of us in economic development and business have suggested that there is a very new Berkshire narrative."

In 2007, a number of business leaders unveiled the first Berkshire Blueprint which specific areas of economic growth to build on. In the last two years, 1Berkshire has been revisiting and refreshing that report.

In a packed Colonial Theatre on Friday, the organization said the process revealed that there has been economic growth and set out an action plan for that to continue.

"It was an amazing body of work and it set the sails for an amazing amount of work and effort to begin and really to supercharge the next decade of economic expansion in the Berkshires," said Tyler Fairbank, who was one of the driving forces behind both the original effort and the newest revision.

The new report is similar to the original. It identifies five main clusters of strength that could be pillars of the Berkshires economy for years to come. Those are advanced manufacturing, the creative economy, food and agriculture, health care, and hospitality. The report outlines the strengths and weaknesses in each of those sections and updates the supporting data making that case.

"Investment in the Berkshires is a good bet, get on board. Now we need to leverage this new narrative to further expand and strengthen our economic ecosystem," Butler said.

1Berkshire Chairman John Bissell said every one of those clusters is growing. However, people have tended to focus on the negatives. He hopes the report confirms that there is economic growth happening.

"We've spent many years telling the story of GE and Sprague and seeing more bad news around the corner. But folks, it is time for a change. It is time to open our eyes, ears, and hearts to a new narrative of growth and possibility. Things can change, things do change. Berkshire County is growing," Bissell said.

Even giving such a speech from the stage of the Colonial represents a dramatic change. He said if those involved in the efforts to renovate the building had focused on the negatives then it would likely have been demolished and turned into a parking lot. Instead, they rebuilt the theater to become a piece of the economic puzzle.

"Thousands of workers, business owners, and families and leaders have rebuilt the Berkshire economy, job by job, one investment at a time," Bissell said.

Mayor Linda Tyer, North Adams Mayor Thomas Bernard, and state Reps. Tricia Farley-Bouvier, John Barrett III, and Paul Mark all highlighted major investments that have been made in the county to echo that sentiment of growth.

With the 80-page plan now released, 1Berkshire is calling on those in the business community to come together in support of it. The organization is hoping the whole business community will work collaboratively to hasten economic growth.

"The reality is we just need to keep working on it together," 1Berkshire Director of Economic Development Benjamin Lamb said.



Mayor Linda Tyer was one of five elected officials to highlight major economic investments that have happened in the county recently. State Sen. Adam Hinds said the report will also help bring in public funding to various projects in those clusters. He, too, echoed the sentiment that good things are on the horizon for the economy and the new report and collective effort will help make the case for the state to increase its investment in those areas for the Berkshires.

"I'm rather bullish on the Berkshire economy right now and let me tell you why. We certainly have some dampeners that we've been concerned about, things like transportation around the county and connecting to regional economic centers is not where it needs to be, our own connectivity with high-speed internet is not where it needs to be, concerns around workforce development making sure that pipeline is as effective and efficient as it can be, energy costs," Hinds said.

"But with all of those that are deep concerns and motivating factors, we've also seen progress in the last couple years on several of these. We are now watching a process that will have every single town in Berkshire County lit up with high-speed internet by 2020, we not see a pilot train service that will connect us to New York City by 2020. We have the east-west rail study, a $1 million study that just got kicked off recently, connecting the Berkshires to Boston and a number of other initiatives that actually say we are chipping away at the concerns and challenges we face as a region."

Butler and Lamb outlined the action steps laid out in the report but said emerging clusters are invited into the effort. Butler said while the report may focus on those industries, there are always new areas that can be incorporated into the effort. Further, he said among those clusters is a lot of crossovers.

"This is a report that is living, growing, and evolving," Butler said.

The full report is available below.

Berkshire Blueprint 2.0 by on Scribd
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

AS for the failure of coercion, we will quote one or two more. A more honest man than John Bright never lived. And this is what he said of the first Coercion Act:-I think the legislation of 1881 was unfortunately a great mistake, though I was myself a member of the Government concerned in it. How many similar admissions should we have if all statesmen were as honest as Bright or as courageous as Gladstone! Let us quote another authority, an authority not as high, where statesmanship is concerned, as that of Gladstone or Bright, but one even more significant owing to the political creed and the high executive office held by the personage concerned. He had been looking through Coercion Acts, said Lord Carnarvon, who had become Lord Lieutenant of Ireland after the fall of the Gladstone Ministry in 1885, and had been astonished to find that ever since 1847, with some very short intervals hardly worth mentioning, Ireland had lived under exceptional and coercive legislation.
editorial@tribune.com

Pushpesh Pant

It may be sheer coincidence, but, in the recent days, we have been stumbling upon tapas in quick succession. First it was at a starred eatery in South Delhi and then a standalone restro-bar in Connaught Place featured these Spanish nibbles on its menu. And finally, a friend who recently returned from San Sebastian invited us to a tapas dinner at his house.

Well, the seductions of the bite-sized Hispanic delicacy are many. You can indulge to your hearts content with what you fancy most or try as many items on offer as you please. From breads topped with cheese and slices of Iberian pork to batter-fried small fish and sea food, there is a mind-boggling range of these small eats.

The birth of tapas is attributed to the sherry drinkers who would keep flies away from their glasses with an edible covering. Soon, tavern owners began to dish out tasty bits to keep the patrons glued to their seats,. Another legend has it that during the dreadful inquisition, tapas were used to expose the Jews who falsely claimed conversion to Christianity. Slightest reluctance to bite into a porcine nibble would give them away!

There are also stories claiming that tapas was created when King Alfonso X was recovering from an illness and was advised to eat small portions at intervals with a little wine. Yet another account tells us that it was a benevolent sovereign who ordered the inn keepers to compulsorily hand out food to those who came to drink ensuring that they got some nourishment as they guzzled alcohol. And then there are the cynics who believe that the tradition was started by wine sellers who disguised the taste of bad wine with strong cheeses or spicy meats.

The Spanish took the tapas wherever they went. Mexico, Chile and Argentina in South American continent as well the Philippines in Southeast Asia belong to the realm of tapas. Calamari and enchiladas are some of the most popular tapas.

People in many cities and towns as well as tourists hop from one small eatery to another to savour a signature dish or to bring back to life a jading palate. It is not obligatory to pair tapas with sherry. A glass of wine, cider or mug of beer can be used to wash these down.

Essentially, tapas are appetisers  hors doeuvre  that appear elsewhere in the form of canapes. What has contributed to their popularity is perhaps the custom of serving a late dinner  usually between 9 and 11 pm. Tapas also offer an opportunity to socialise in the daytime before having lunch at home. To us, the most interesting part of this genre is the intermingling of diverse ingredients and quick cooking techniques. Fruits of Earth and Fruits of Sea enrich the tapas platter and tempt the diner with stuffed olives, cheeses, sausages, quail eggs, baby octopus and cured meats.

Tapas remind us a bit of the mezze platter in the Mediterranean or sushi and satay in Japan and Indonesia. However, what makes them special is the flair of those who prepare these. Showmanship comes naturally to those who live in the land of bull fighters and flamenco dancers!
singhking99@yahoo.com

Pankaj K Deo

Electronic devices, especially cell phones, have a Pied Piper-like hold over todays know-it-all children whose first port of call is Google when it comes to looking for information. Offline resources, such as books, encyclopaedias and magazines, seem distinctly passe for the millennial generation. So, one would assume that the digital revolution might have sounded the death knell for the offline readership of childrens magazines popular in the 1980s and 1990s, but not quite.

Childrens magazines did become the unintended victims of this digital transformation sweeping across every sphere of human life in the first decade of the 21st century. However, faced with the struggle for existence, these magazines soon started adapting themselves to the digital readers of the 21st century.

When Chandamama, the iconic childrens magazine that came into existence in the year of India independence, ran into financial trouble after the onslaught of digital technology took a heavy toll on its circulation, a Mumbai-based technology firm, Geodesic, came to its rescue. Geodesic bought a 94 per cent stake in Chandamama in 2007 with plans to put it on a digital platform. It would allow kids to buy and download its issues. However, Geodesic soon ran into legal troubles and is now facing provisional liquidation on charges of financial irregularities. As a result, the magazine ceased publication in 2013. An order by the Bombay High Court put Chandamama up for sale in January 2019. Published in 13 languages, the copies of Chandamama used to sell like hot cakes among children in different parts of India and held sway over their imagination across the country.

Nandan, another popular Childrens magazine in Hindi, also faced a drastic fall in sale in the first decade of the 21st century. As a result, HT Media, which owned Nandan, sold it to its subsidiary Hindustan Media Ventures in 2009. Nandan is now also available on digital platforms. Although Nandan mainly focuses on motivational stories from Indian mythology, it also introduces children to gems of world literature that they would remember for a lifetime. As B. Venkat Mani, an academic at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, notes in his book, Recoding World Literature: My first exposure to vishva sahitya (world literature) was through a childrens magazine. In the early 1980s, the magazine carried a series called Vishva Ki Mahan Kritiyan (Great creations of the World), which featured abridged versions of ancient epics as well as novels and short stories from modern literatures of the world.

Another childrens magazine, Champak has, however, grown in circulation and remained among the top 10 Hindi magazines in 2017, according to a readership survey published by the Readership Studies Council of India (RSCI). The magazine, published by the Delhi Press Group, was among the early ones to adopt digital technology. It is available in the digital format on Magzter, the global digital magazine newsstand. Published in eight languages, Champak has a circulation of over 300,000 copies. The magazine offers not only mesmerising accounts of animal characters but also leaves a profound impression on young minds in their formative years with its content on moral values.

Digital revolution cuts both ways, and a lot depends on the right guidance by parents and teachers. As children spend more and more time on their digital devices, it becomes imperative for parents and teachers to ensure that the children use that time more fruitfully. One cannot deny that smart phones, tablets, and Kindle can make reading a pleasurable experience, and once the children fall in love with reading, there is no looking back. Technology, with all the apps available these days, can be used to inculcate reading habits into children and to turn even the most unwilling kid into a passionate reader.

The digital revolution has also enhanced accessibility of these magazines. Additionally, regular promotions and marketing by digital newsstands are making digital versions more accessible via their appstore/Playstore, thereby enhancing visibility and spurring sales growth for both online and offline versions. The fact that Google has now its own digital newsstand in India makes the scene quite encouraging.

Childrens magazines do not deal with news, but myths, mysteries, folktales, puzzles and morals. So unlike news magazines whose contents lose their relevance due to the speed at which news is disseminated through TV and online media these days, childrens magazines do not face an existential threat in terms of the relevance of contents. Childrens magazines serve as a storehouse of fascinating myths and mysteries that retain their spell on readers even when they have stepped into adulthood. Adult readers revising the old copies of their favourite magazines is quite usual. Many such readers prize their old copies and are willing to spend money on buying old editions.

Amar Chitra Katha (ACK), the publisher that has captivated generations of Indian children, partnered with Blippar India to bring out its childrens monthly, Tinkle, in a new avatar as Indias first augmented reality print magazine for children. Tinkle, as a 360-degree magazine, combines the best of both print and digital, with games, and selfie opportunities with Suppandi, the comic character, to take childrens reading to a new level altogether. And it didnt quite stop there, as the publisher has now a new YouTube channel with content based on stories from Tinkle. It is among the top five English magazines of India in terms of circulation and sells nearly three lakh copies a month.

The publisher is also collaborating with game developers to narrate stories interactively in line with the changing times when kids grow tapping screens of digital devices and taking selfies. Childrens magazines, like any other genre of publications, also need to be in tune with the changing times. No wonder the January 2019 edition of Tinkle has Ranveer Singh in his Simmba looks on its cover page with Suppandi, Tantri and Shikari Shambu in a selfie pose. Ranveer Singhs joy knew no bounds and he put the picture of Tinkle magazine on his Instagram, saying, I have to pinch myself to see if Im dreaming. This is one of the fondest memories from my childhood. I grew up reading Tinkle comics. Can't believe I'm on the cover with SUPPANDI AND SHIKARI SHAMBU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I mean ....... I can't even .......... @tinklecomicsstudio #blessed #nodreamtoobig.

Sensing business opportunities in India, Highlights for Children, the American publisher, joined hands with Delhi Press in 2013 to launch Highlights Champs and Highlights Genies. These American magazines, adapted for Indian children, are now available via subscription as well as at newsstands and book stores all over India. In the US, Highlights partnered with San Francisco-based start-up, Fingerprint in 2015, to take its interactive games beyond the crayons and colour pencils, to digital devices. Such a digital push helps the readership reconnect with the brand and hence boosts the offline circulation.

So, publishers, parents and teachers need to adapt to new age technologies and help foster a learning environment where both offline and online versions of childrens magazines coexist and complement each other. Reimagining and redesigning the content would be needed for sustaining both the versions, but perhaps thats the way forward.

Immortal tales

If the childrens magazines go digital, can the comics be far behind. Amar Chitra Katha, the publisher that has enthralled generations of comics readers, now offers a free ACK comics app. This app enables the comics reader to purchase, download and enjoy Amar Chitra Katha comics in their digital avatar. The app works across platforms  Windows, iOS and Android. Now the reader gets an enhanced reading experience and panel-by-panel view of digitally remastered comics. For those from the old school, the print version is also available.

Amar Chitra Katha comics are popular not only in India but also abroad among the NRIs who want their children to remain culturally connected with their motherland. Their availability on digital platforms makes them more accessible to such an international audience. Comics have now also found a new role in raising public awareness of issues, which confront us daily, by leveraging the superheroes they have created. Diamond Toons has launched the Swachh Bharat comic series, which portrays Chacha Chaudhary raising awareness about dry and wet garbage segregation. Created by cartoonist Pran in 1971, Chacha Chaudhary was conceived as a wise old man who can resolve problems with his razor-sharp intelligence. An iconic character like Chacha Chaudhary can be a great influencer and help bring about behavioural change among readers who are kids today but will be adults tomorrow. Digitalisation can help bring such socially meaningful comics to millions of readers on their fingertips.
editorial@tribune.com

Lt Gen Baljit Singh (retd)

On the night of February 24, Zoji la was successfully crossed despite a blizzard, without any loss of life or snow injury. This was a Herculean task as they had none of the specialised clothing and sophisticated accessories, whatsoever. In Brigadier Sens words: It called for unbound courage, determination and stamina...!

That Leh was held, and the enemy deprived of the pleasure of sacking and looting it, was the outcome of a great deed which will find few equals in military history.  Brigadier LP Sen, DSO, 161 Infantry Brigade

As it happens time and again in warfare, a bunch of bravehearts fired with the ideals of honour of their country, devotion to duty and honour of their battalion, volunteer for missions unmindful of the hazardous odds. So it was that 40 soldiers of 2 Dogra Battalion volunteered for a mission over unchartered territory, crossing two Himalayan passes above 11,000 ft high, frequented by snow blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and covered about 315 km on foot in nine days!

To better grasp the necessity for such an audacious mission, a brief historical perspective becomes unavoidable. The de jure northern border of Maharaja Ranjit Singhs kingdom was bound by the ipso facto dominions of Gilgit, Baltistan and Ladakh. However, with the decline and disintegration of the Sikh kingdom, Ranjit Singhs Dogra satraps carved out Jammu and Kashmir, inclusive of Ladakh, Baltistan and Gilgit as their hereditary fiefdom, and recognised in time by the Government of India. In the Great Game diplomacy for Central Asia, the Gilgit and Baltistan regions had acquired a certain strategic mystique. The British, thus, created and stationed a paramilitary force, the Gilgit Scouts of some 600 locals, commanded by a Major and accountable to the British Army in India. But in the run up to Indias independence, the jurisdiction of Gilgit Scouts under Major William Brown was transferred to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, in June 1947.

When the birth pangs of the Republic of India and Pakistan conflagrated into the Jammu and Kashmir war in October 1947, on Pakistans machinations Major Brown and Gilgit Scouts rose in revolt, hoisted the flag of Pakistan on the Gilgit agency headquarters, placed the Governor under arrest and massacred all non-Muslim inhabitants.

Major General KS Thimayya was quick to grasp the strategic advantage accruing to Pakistan, to operate unchallenged, along the Gilgit-Skardu-Nubra Valley axes to isolate and consolidate their control over the entire Ladakh province. For the moment, the General had only one option. It was to order Major Sher Jung Thapas Company ex 6 J&K Rifle located at Leh to Skardu and forestall enemys entry both to the Nubra valley and the Leh region. Thapa marched off from Leh, along with 75 soldiers, on November 23 and reached Skardu on December 3, 1947, covering 138 km and held on literally till the last man to last round up to August 1948, which is another war epic story for another time.

In 1947, route connectivity between Srinagar and Leh was confined to one fair-weather, unpaved road up to Sonamarg and a pony track-cum footpath beyond over Zoji la (11,575 ft), Kargil, Fotu la (13,478 ft) and on to Leh. Today this tarmac stretch of NH1D is sign posted as 425 km but making concessions for gradients engineered to suite motorised, wheeled transport, it would be a judicious assumption that foot distance in 1948 may have been around 300 km. All through mid-winters, Zoji la usually had 20 to 30 foot deep snow accumulation and the entire segment between Baltal and Dras was prone to frequent and lethal avalanches. Furthermore, there was absolutely no availability of food, fuel and fodder for men and animals, anywhere along this axis.

Fully cognisant of these irreconcilable facts, both Lieutenant General KM Cariappa and Major General KS Thimayya were of the unanimous opinion that ....the fall of Leh will be a strategic blow to India. It has to be saved at all cost. So for a start, Brigadier LP Sen, Commander 161 Infantry Brigade, was directed that the vacuum of military presence in Leh had to be restored. Brigadier Sen happened to be in the 2 Dogra Officers Mess and thinking aloud his options with Lieutenant Colonel GG Bewoor (another, future COAS!), the latter stated that his battalion had close to 80 soldiers belonging to Lahaul and Spiti valleys, who may be best suited to take up this gauntlet.

The dice was cast and Major Prithi Chand and his cousin Captain Kushal Chand, both from Patseo village in the shadow of Baralacha Pass (16,700 ft) on the boundary of Lahaul and Ladakh districts were asked about the feasibility of reaching Leh. Their prompt response was in the affirmative. With this reassurance, from among the volunteers, 40 medically fit soldiers, two specially trained medical orderlies, three wireless operators, Subedar Bhim Chand (maternal uncle of the two cousins!) together made up one slightly bloated platoon, since memorialised as The Lehdett.

Besides his personal weapon and a bandolier of 50 bullets, each soldier was given one extra rifle for a later, specific role in Ladakh. The party were provisioned with two months rations (to be carried on locally procured ponies) in the hope that by then replenishments to Leh through airdrops would materialise. So on February 16, 1948, the Lehdett set out in unit vehicles to Sonamarg, saddled loads astride ponies on February 17 and marched for Baltal on the long haul to Leh. As the pony owners sensed the ultimate destination, the entire lot vanished by night.

On February 18, while Prithi Chand confabulated with Colonel Bewoor over wireless, Kushal Chand with 10 soldiers went up the right spur overlooking Zoji la saddle. Spending better part of the day, they confirmed heavy deposit of snow not only on the pass but also on the two shoulders of Zoji la. Even more worrisome was the frequency of avalanches from mid-morning till mid-evening. Prithi Chand in the meanwhile was ordered to abandon all provisions, including extra rifles, and proceed with personal weapons and on survival rations up to Kargil where replenishments from the J&K State Forces supply dump would be made available.

With the hindsight of having experienced winters in Lahaul and Spiti, the Lehdett collectively decided that Zoji la would be safest to cross at the dead of night and using empty cooking vessels, they would create drumbeat vibrations continuously over the next three days to induce snow avalanches, paving safer passage across the pass. Accordingly, on the night of February 24, Zoji la was successfully crossed despite a blizzard, without any loss of life or snow injury. This was a Herculean achievement as they had none of the specialised snow clothing and sophisticated accessories, whatsoever and in Brigadier Sens words It called for unbound courage, determination and stamina...! They rested at Kargil on March 2, possibly engaged ponies and porters, collected 200 rifles from the J&K Forces armoury, food provisions and set out for Leh, covering the 249 km to a rousing welcome from the locals by sundown on March 8, 1948!

These doughty soldiers knew that their mission was far from complete. As the first step, they amalgamated the 25 soldiers left behind by Sher Jung Thapa, persuaded another 200 able-bodied Leh residents to undergo training in the use of rifles and by mid-April, created what is today the Ladakh & Nubra Scouts. Simultaneously, the two officers launched a brilliant initiative to enthuse the locals to clear the broad, level patch of ground between Leh town and Indus river of all boulders and by end April, 1948, Major Prithi Chand proudly reported to Major General KS Thimayya, DSO over wireless that Leh was ready to receive replenishments by airdrops. Little did he know that the General would, in fact, land at that very spot in a Dakota, flown by Air Commodore Mehar Singh, DSO on May 24, 1948, creating an enviable landmark in the World of Aviation history!

Fortuitously, Pakistan remained obsessed with the capture of Skardu but Lieutenant Colonel Thapa rebuffed all attempts. So in May 1948, the enemy diverted a sizeable force to capture Kargil and the Zoji la ridge line, thus bolting all doors for Indian reinforcements to Ladakh. Aware of the enemys presence at Kargil, Prithi Chand despatched Kushal Chand with few soldiers to defend the only bridge over Indus at Khaltse, the gateway to Leh. The enemy showed up on May 22, and Kushal Chand finding himself hopelessly outnumbered, set ablaze the centuries-old wooden bridge and gained valuable time.

Beginning on May 28 for a start, Air Commodore Mehar Singh led four Dakota sorties to fly in one company of 2/4 GR together with supporting weapons, adequate ammunition and logistical wherewithal, the first wholesome military advantage accruing from Lehdetts three-month-long singular stand in Ladakh.

Meanwhile, Subedar Bhim Chand, with 80 armed militia soldiers checkmated and inflicted heavy casualties on enemy intruders (estimated 900) in Shyok and Nubra valleys, in two nail biting actions. He was awarded the much-merited Vir Chakra and Bar while Prithi Chand & Kushal Chand were decorated with the Maha Vir Chakra. During the time Kushal Chand was engaged in dousing planks of the bridge with kerosene and setting it afire, Naik Bir Singh kept the enemy at bay, got fatally wounded and was awarded Vir Chakra (Posthumous). Maybe the moment of honour best belonged to Sepoy Togbe, the first Leh Militia volunteers who showed boundless courage in the Shyok valley encounters and emerge with Vir Chakra!

Major General KS Thimayya, GOC Sri Div paid high tribute to The Lehdett, One Force Too Many and placed on record that Their deeds and acts of gallantry against very superior forces in the Ladakh valley will go down in the annals of the Indian Army as one of the greatest feats. Let us stand up in salute to the Lehdetts spirit of devotion to duty and the unflagging vision of field commanders.
editorial@tribune.com

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, February 15

Four youth, who were brought back by Sangrur AAP MP Bhagwant Mann from Armenia last week, today alleged that the travel agents who had duped them had duped many others, who were still stuck in Armenia. They expressed dissatisfaction over the police action against the accused.

Mann said he would take up the matter with the state government for the extradition of one of the accused, Harpreet Kaur, from Armenia.

Though after the interference of the MP, the police have registered a case against the travel agents, they are yet to be arrested. The agents are threatening us with dire consequences if we do not withdraw our complaint, alleged Harmanjeet Singh in the presence of MP Mann in Sangrur. Another youth Jatinder Pal Singh alleged that he was beaten up by accused in Armenia after they got to know that he and others had complained against them to the MP.

The police must arrest all accused to save other youngsters. We all paid Rs 4 lakh each and were promised work permits in Armenia. But after we landed there, agents snatched our passports and locked us in a room, alleged Jatinder.

They had reached Armenia on December 9 on a four-month tourist visa, but when they started demanding jobs, they were allegedly locked up in a room. Finally, they came back on February 9. The rescued youth are Harmanjeet, Jatinder Pal Singh, Shamsher Singh and his wife Pinky.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 15

Condemning the Pulwama terror attack, Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said the basic attitude and orientation of the Pakistan government and ISI on terrorism had not changed.

He was here to hold a meeting under Bharat ke Mann ki Baat organised by state BJP president Shawet Malik and national BJP manifesto committee member Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina at Art Gallery.

Remembering his visit to Pakistan for ground-breaking ceremony of the Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Puri said some representatives from the Punjab Government at that stage were indulged in jhappi pappi politics without realising that one has to be careful in making assessments.

He said the corridor was a positive development and should be implemented, but the reality should not be ignored. Lets not be exuberant. Dont forget that Pakistan uses terror as an instrument of their policy. The Pulwama attack is a testament to that. I am deeply pained to see that some people lose sight of the motivating reality. CM Capt Amarinder Singh had taken an appropriate stand by not accepting the invitation with a clear and strong message to the Pakistan army chief that no professional army undertakes the killing of innocent civilians. I too had observed during my Pakistan visit that their mindset had not changed, he said.

Asked if the withdrawal of most-favoured nation status to Pakistan would affect the bilateral trade, he said: The business cant be as usual now.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Ropar, February 15

A pall of gloom descended on Rauli village in Nurpur Bedi area today when the news of death of 26-year-old Kulwinder Singh in the Pulwama terrorist attack reached his home.

After spending his 10-day leave at home, Kulwinder had left for his place of posting in Srinagar on February 10.

His father Darshan Singh said his only child Kulwinder, a constable in the Central Reserve Police Force, was scheduled to be married on November 8. During his leave he had started building additional rooms in the house. The last time my son talked to me over phone was on February 12. He had discussed about the arrangements for his marriage, he said.

He received a phone call regarding the incident from his unit yesterday evening, but was not informed about Kulwinders death. We later received a list of martyrs, which included my sons name as well, he added.

As the news of Kulwinders death spread, villagers thronged his home to console the bereaved family.

Meanwhile, to pay tribute to the martyrs, the residents of Nurpur Bedi area took out a candlelight march in the town. The Nurpur Bedi panchayat too has decided to observe a shutdown tomorrow to register their protest against the attack.

Students, along with members of Bharat Vikas Parishad, Government Teachers Union, Doon Welfare Society, Jan Adhikari Kalyan Samiti, Nupur Bedi Gram Panchayat, ETT Union, Master Cadre Union, Congress, AAP, SAD and BJP, were among those who participated in the march. Later, they burnt an effigy of Pakistan at the local bus stand.

Local markets will remain shut tomorrow in protest against the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist attack, Nurpur Bedi sarpanch Manjit Kaur announced.
editorial@tribune.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

More than three years after police firing at Behbal Kalan village left two persons dead, the Punjab and Haryana High Court stated the action was directed at an illegally gathered mob and no police official would train his gun unless urgently required. It granted interim anticipatory bail to Superintendent of Police Bikram (SP) Jit Singh.

Justice Ramendra Jain asserted the petitioner was not required for custodial interrogation.

The police party fired at the mob, which had gathered despite the issuance of proclamation under the Section 144 of the CrPC. Normally, no police official fires at a mob unless it is direly needed to avoid a troublesome situation, Justice Jain asserted in his four-page order.

Fixing the case for May 21, Justice Jain directed the petitioner to join investigation and be present as and when called for. In the event of arrest, he would be admitted to interim bail. The petitioner was also directed to abide by the conditions that accompany bail orders.

Bikram Jit Singh had moved the High Court through counsel Sant Pal Singh Sidhu for anticipatory bail in an FIR registered on October 21, 2015, for murder and other offences under Sections 302, 307 and 34 of the IPC. Later, offence under Sections 218 and 120-B of the IPC for public servant framing incorrect record or writing with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture and criminal conspiracy was added.

Justice Jain said the state government, rejecting Justice Jora Singhs report, ordered another commission of inquiry headed by Justice Ranjit Singh, which gave its report against one of the accused responsible for firing incident.

Opposing the plea, the state counsel asserted injured Beant Singh had specifically stated that a Sub-Inspector had fired on his direction. Permission was not taken from the Duty Magistrate before opening fire even though a Naib Tehsildar acting as Duty Magistrate was present on the spot.
editorial@tribune.com

Kulwinder Sandhu

Tribune News Service

Moga, February 15

After coming to know that her husband CRPF jawan Jaimal Singh had been killed in a terror attack in J&K, Sukhjit Kaur almost fainted on the bed in her room trying to come to terms with the irreparable loss. Her mother-in-law could be seen trying to console her with a heavy heart and tears in her eyes, her son having fallen victim to a suicide bomber.

Jaimal Singh, a resident of Ghalauti village in Dharamkot sub-division of the Moga district, was the driver of the bus that was blown up after the suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden SUV into the bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of J&K yesterday. As many as 42 CRPF jawans were killed and dozens injured in the incident.

Jaimal was born on April 26, 1974. He studied from the village school and joined the Central force on April 23, 1993. His father Jaswant Singh said Jaimal spoke to his wife and five-year-old son on Tuesday night informing them that his company was being shifted to another place.

Jaswant has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India must give a befitting reply to the terrorists and the neighbouring country Pakistan, which is harbouring them. It is high time for India to end terrorism forever so that no other parents or wives lose their sons or husbands in such tragic incidents, he said, his voice choking with grief.

Officials informed us about Jaimals martyrdom late on Thursday night. We were informed that the bus was blown up by terrorists. We are proud of his sacrifice, said Jaswant Singh. The family members were yet to get any information on the arrival of the mortal remains.

Earlier, as the news reached the village, hundreds of people thronged Jaimals house to console the grieving family and express their solidarity with them. The villagers said Jaimal was a brave man and a great son who cared a lot for his family.
Wintry Mess Coming Our Way

Update of closings and cancelations for Tuesday, Feb. 12:

Pittsfield City Council meeting canceled

Adams Community Bank offices close at 4

MountainOne offices close at 3

Northern Berkshire ABE session on the personal care attendant fundamentals class rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 20, at 1 p.m., Freel Library, MCLA.

Russell Field Renovation Project in Adams has been rescheduled to Feb. 25 at 6 p.m.

"Moby Dick: The Mini-Series" parts 1 & 2 for tonight and Thursday at the Berkshire Athenaeum are canceled. Both programs will be rescheduled.

Boys & Girls Club of the Berkshires is closing at 4:30. All activities after 4:30 are canceled.

Tonight's W.E.B. Du Bois Lecture at Bard College has been postponed.

It's almost Valentine's Day. Who doesn't LOVE a bit of winter muck and mess?



The National Weather Service has issued to advisories for the Berkshires: a wind advisory from 4 p.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Wednesday and a winter storm watch from Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon.

Schools in New York's Capital Region and in area hilltowns are already planning for early dismissal on Tuesday, including Pownal (Vt.) Elementary and Emma Miller in Savoy. Check our school closings page for updated postings.



A wind advisory means that sustained winds of 31 to 39 mph are expected, with gusts between 46 to 57 mph. Winds this strong are capable of downing small tree limbs and branches, possibly causing isolated power outages. As for the winter storm watch: Heavy snow is supposed to start during the day on Tuesday, likely around midday, changing to sleet and freezing rain overnight Tuesday. Total snow accumulations of 5 to 9 inches and ice accumulations of one to two-tenths of an inch possible.

"MassDOT is currently conducting preparation activities for the deployment of snow and ice crews in advance of Tuesday's winter weather," said state Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver. "Forecasters are predicting snow, sleet, and freezing rain in the state which will make travel challenging, so we are asking everyone to have a plan which takes the weather into account. People who are driving should consult a forecast before heading out, give plenty of space to plows and snow and ice equipment, and consider taking public transportation when possible."

How much snow we get, how much ice we get ... it all depends on when the changeover happens and if the sleet changes to rain (as the National Weather Service seems to think) or back to snow (as our friends at the Albany television stations seem to think).



We'll just have to wait and see, but brace yourself for a messy Tuesday evening commute home and afternoon and evening cancellations. Check back here at iBerkshires.com for all the latest.

FIRST WARNING: Here's the latest update to the snowfall forecast map for the storm that starts tomorrow. We'll have your hour-by-hour breakdown Live at Noon. https://t.co/NivjhELr9h pic.twitter.com/9upWGqYf4E  WNYT NewsChannel 13 (@WNYT) February 11, 2019
editorial@tribune.com

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Dinanagar (Gurdaspur), Feb 15

Member of Parliament (MP) from Gurdaspur Sunil Jakhar visited the house of Sepoy Maninder Singh at Arya Nagar, Dinanagar, today to express his sympathies with the soldiers family.

Maninder Singh, who joined duty last week after spending 10 days at his home, was killed in the attack on a CRPF convey in Pulwama in J&K yesterday. The MP was accompanied by DC Vipul Ujwal, SSP Swarandeep Singh, SDM Sakattar Singh Bal and senior officers of the administration.

Jakhar was on his way to New Delhi late last night when he heard the news of the attack. He immediately asked the DC to prepare a list of soldiers belonging to Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts who were killed in the attack. Also present were Ravinder Kumar Vicky, president of the Shaheed Parivar and senior Army officers from the Tibri cantonment.

The DC subsequently informed the MP that one soldier, Maninder Singh, hailed from the area. Jakhar offered his condolences to the deceaseds father Satpal Attari. He said the Modi government should not be cowed down by such attacks and added that the government should come out with a proper and firm policy to deal with the perpetuators of such dastardly actions.

In June, 2015, when three Pakistan-trained Lashkar-e-Toiba militants attacked the Dinanagar police station, seven persons three civilians and four security personal  were killed and the Modi government had promised to take action. However, nothing tangible was done despite the attackers leaving clear-cut evidence that they had crossed over from the Bamial border from Pakistan. Six months later, four Jaish-e-Mohammad militants laid siege to the high-security Pathankot Air Force base and threatened to blow up the entire station using hand grenades and RDX. Again the Union government dilly dallied. This sent a negative message among the security men. Now the time has come to take stringent action against our neighbouring country. One surgical strike is not enough, said Jakhar.

Cabinet minister and Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said it was too early to comment if such incidents would have an impact on the construction of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor. It is too early to say if such actions will act as an impediment in the corridors construction. It is sure to cast a shadow, but to what extent is still in the realms of speculation, he said.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

The Punjab Assembly was adjourned today after the House unanimously accepted Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singhs resolution condemning the barbaric attack by JeM terrorists on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama.

The Chief Minister called for a befitting reply to Pakistan and warned the Pakistan army and ISI against indulging in any such games in Punjab. We (Punjab) have a force of fully equipped 81,000 motivated men who have passed the test of fire to handle any situation, said the Chief Minister. If they try doing anything in Punjab they will get a befitting response, he said. The Chief Minister sought a retaliatory action from the Centre against Pakistan. He said time to talk peace with Pakistan was over.

The Chief Minister accused Imran Khan of playing a double game in his policy viz a viz India. He was promoting anti-Indian forces on the one hand and talking of starting a university in the name of Guru Nanak on the other. He had been made Prime Minister by the ISI and he was completely at their service.

The Chief Ministers resolution read, The House strongly condemns the barbaric attack by Jaish terrorists on the convoy of the CRPF in Pulwama that left 41 brave personnel dead and many others injured. The sacrifice of these martyrs should not go waste and I urge the Centre to ensure a befitting response to this attack on our country. The attack exposes the double standards of the Pakistan government, who on one hand is talking of peace and on the other actively supporting these terror outfits in J&K. We are all with the families of these martyred soldiers in their hour of grief and extend our heartfelt condolences to them.

SAD MLA Bikram Singh Majithia got up before the start of question hour. Seeking an adjournment of the House, he said the double standards of the Pakistans Prime Minister and its army chief stood exposed.

Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema sought Rs 1-crore compensation and jobs for kin of the four deceased jawans from Punjab.

Talking to the media later, the Chief Minister said it would be done. Replying to a media question later, the Chief Minister said he hoped the attack would not impact the Kartarpur corridor. He reiterated his plea for visa-free khule darshan.

Session extended by day

Post adjournment of the House for the day, the Business Advisory Committee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on Friday decided to extend the session by a day. In the meeting chaired by Speaker Rana KP Singh, it was decided to end the session on February 25. The session was to end on February 22. It being holiday on February 23 and February 24, the session will now end on February 25.

Handful of people to blame: Sidhu

Chandigarh: Reacting to the attack, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu said nations could not be blamed for a handful of people. Sidhu said, There are good, bad and ugly people in our lives. Every place, institution and nation has them. The ugly needs to be punished, but individuals cannot be blamed for a dastardly act. He said, Nations cannot be blamed just for a handful of people. These people have no country, no religion. They act as deterrents in peace process. We need to deal with them strictly. TNS

Minister cancels visit to Pak

Chandigarh: To protest against the attack, Animal Husbandry and Labour Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu cancelled his visit to the International Buffalo Congress scheduled from February 18 to 20 in Lahore. In a press statement, Balbir Singh said the attack on the CRPF convoy had shaken him emotionally. TNS
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

The Indian Air Force today opened a new page in aviation history when Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal from Chandigarh became the first woman flight engineer.

Though women engineers have been serving as ground duty officers, they have not been part of the aircrew. The flight engineers branch was opened to women officers in 2018. The IAF has had women pilots, both for fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters, for many years.

Commissioned in 2015, Jaiswal is from the 112th Helicopter Unit at Yelahanka airbase, near Bengaluru. She served as a battery commander in a frontline surface-to-air missile squadron before being selected for the six-month flight engineer course.

Jaiswal did her schooling from Chandigarh and then completed her BTech from Panjab University.

As a flight engineer, Jaiswal will be posted to operational helicopter units that undertake flying missions in varied geographical and climatic conditions, ranging from Siachen Glacier to hot deserts and coastal areas.

A flight engineer is a member of the flight crew responsible for monitoring and operating complex aircraft systems.

The new assignment also brings with it added responsibilities and tougher duties, said her father DK Jaiswal, who retired in November 2018 as a senior auditor from the office of the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts. The family has been residing in Chandigarh since the 1980s.

Hina was the first woman officer in the IAF to apply for the flight engineers course when she was posted at Jamnagar and this step was well appreciated by her colleagues as well as seniors. The family has stood by her at all times and backed all her decisions, he added.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February

The US has come out in categorical support of India's quest to shutdown terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and bring to book the masterminds of the Pulwama attack on a CRPF convoy.

The US said it would offer "all assistance" to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice, according to a Ministry of External Affairs readout of a telephonic conversation between NSA Ajit Doval and his US counterpart John Bolton on Friday evening.

The call came from the US, which also backed India's right to self defence against acts of terrorism.

The two NSAs "vowed" to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region.

They resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee process.
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Lucknow/Bengaluru, Feb 15

A day after the Pulwama attack, there was grief and anger in villages across the country that send young men to the security forces.

Among those killed in the terror attack were 12 CRPF troopers from Uttar Pradesh and at least four from Punjab.

OP Tripathi from Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, who lost his son Pankaj Tripathi, said: I am proud that my son sacrificed his life for the motherland, but the government should take steps against the attackers. The time for talking is up, we want retribution.

Tempers also ran high in Deorias Jaidev Chapia, the native village of Vijay Kumar Maurya, who left for Jammu on February 9 after spending time with family. His father demanded a befitting reply. At jawan Bablu Santras village in West Bengal, his grieving wife and mother also talked of revenge.

Residents of MPs Khudawal village in Jabalpur district recalled Ashwini Kachhhis winsome smile. He would encourage the youth to join the forces, his neighbour said.

Jaimal Singhs village in Moga is yet to come to terms with his death. He spoke to his wife and five-year-old son over the phone on Tuesday, his father Jaswant Singh said.

H Guru from Gudigere village in Karnatakas Mandya district too had called home just hours before the attack. So had Manoj Kumar Behera of Ratanpur village in Odishas Cuttack district. His wife said he had promised to call her up after he reached Srinagar.  TNS/PTI

Centre to brief all parties today

New Delhi: An all-party meeting will be held on Saturday to brief political parties on the Pulwama terror attack, officials said. At the meeting, convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, all major political parties will also be informed about steps being taken by the government so far, a Home Ministry official said. PTI

Nation in mourning, decries terror

BJP cancels all political events of PM, Amit Shah

The BJP on Friday cancelled all political programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief Amit Shah. Political programmes may have been cancelled, but developmental activities will not be stopped because of terror attacks. The agenda of Indias enemies is to create obstructions in the path of development, but we will not allow them to succeed, BJP spokesman Sambit Patra said.

Azmi, Akhtar wont attend Kaifi function in Karachi

Veteran actor Shabana Azmi said on Friday she and her husband lyricist-writer Javed Akhta had decided not to attend Kaifi Azmi's birth centenary celebrations in Karachi in the wake of the Pulwama attack. The couple was invited to Pakistan by the Karachi Arts Council for a two-day event. "@Javedakhtarjadu and I were invited for a 2 day event celebrating Kaifi's Centenary and were truly looking forward to it. I appreciate that our hosts the Karachi Arts Council mutually agreed to cancel the event at the nth hour in the wake of Pulwama attack," Azmi posted on Twitter.

Sharad Pawar calls for unity, takes dig at Modi

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said the Pulwama terror attack was an attack on the nation and there should be no attempts to politicise the issue. The former Union minister also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over some of the latter's statements after such attacks during the Congress-led UPA regime. "He (Modi) used to say the Manmohan Singh government did not have ability to teach a lesson (to Pakistan). He also used to remark that only those with a 56-inch chest could administer a tough lesson to Pakistan," Pawar said.

Dont allow Pak devotees: Ajmer Sharif chief to govt

Condemning the terror attackin Pulwama, Ajmer Sharif Dargah dewan Syed Zainul Abedin Ali Khan on Friday urged the government to not allow devotees from Pakistan to visit the shrine.

Ali Khan, the descendant of Sufi saint Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hassan Chishti, paid tribute to the personnel killed in the attack. He urged the government to not allow 'jatha' or group of devotees from Pakistan to visit the famous shrine in Rajasthan's Ajmer during festivals, including Urs.
shalender@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 15

Congress president Rahul Gandhi today said the Opposition stands with the government and the security forces in whatever decision they take to counter terrorism.

Addressing reporters a day after the dastardly attack on a CRPF convoy in Kashmir, Gandhi said the terrorists have attacked the soul of India and the Congress stands with the government.

The entire Opposition stands with the security forces and the government. This kind of violence against our most valuable people our soldiers is disgusting, he said flanked by former PM Manmohan Singh, and former ministers AK Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad. Gandhi said nothing, no amount of terror, hatred and anger could undermine the love on which this country has been built.

Singh also said: Today is a day of mourning. Our country has lost 40 jawans and our foremost duty is to convey to the grieving families that we stand with them in condemning this act of terror. We will not compromise with acts of terror and we will stand together in whatever needs to be done to counter terrorism.

Gandhi said the Congress wouldnt have any conversations as yet apart from the fact that it stands united with the soldiers and the government. His press conference today marked a departure from the partys official spokespersons line on the Pulwama attack last evening. Congress media head Randeep Surjewala yesterday attacked the BJP for its poor security record, attacked the PM for terrorist attacks since he assumed power. He was not present in the mornings press conference.
shalender@tribune.com

Washington/Moscow, Feb 15

Countries across the globe, including the US, Russia, Australia, France, Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh, have condemned the Pulwama attack. Russian President Vladimir Putin said perpetrators and sponsors of the attack should be brought to book and reiterated his countrys support for further strengthening counter-terror cooperation with India.

In a message to President Ram Nath Kovind and PM Modi, he said, ...We strongly condemn this brutal crime. The perpetrators and sponsors of this attack, undoubtedly, should be duly punished. The US specifically singled out Pakistan in its statement.

In a stern message, the White House asked Islamabad to immediately end its support to all terror groups and not to provide safe haven to them.

Maldives Preseident Ibrahim Mohamed Solih tweeted that the Maldives will continue to work with India and the international community to combat terrorism.  PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Islamabad, February 16

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal Pulwama terror attack even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

Qureshi, in a recorded a video message from Germany where he is attending the Munich Security Conference, claimed that India, without investigation, in a knee-jerk reaction, blamed Pakistan for the attack.

"It is easy to blame Pakistan but it will not solve the problem and the world will not be convinced," he said in the message which was released by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on its official Twitter account.

In a strong warning to Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday declared those responsible will pay a "very heavy price" and said the security forces have been given a free hand to decide on the timing, place and nature of their response to the carnage.

"A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons," Modi asserted. - PTI
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 15

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the government to ensure that non-bureaucrats were also appointed as Information Commissioners in the Central and state information commissions and the vacancies were filled timely and in a transparent manner.

We expect that Information Commissioners are appointed from other streams, as mentioned in the (Right to Information) Act and the selection is not limited to government employee or ex-employee, a Bench said.

The Bench  which on January 29 wondered why only bureaucrats were appointed  directed the government to fill vacancies without delay.

The verdict came on a PIL filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj, who said it would go a long way in ensuring that people get basic information in time.

On criteria

Terms and conditions for the appointment of CIC and Information Commissioners should be the same as applicable to CEC or Election Commissioners

Terms and conditions must be put on website and the criteria for shortlisting the candidates should be made public for transparency
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

New Delhi, February 15

India ratcheted the pressure on Pakistan by withdrawing the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, summoning its High Commissioner and calling its Indian envoy in Islamabad here for consultations.

Separately, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale reached out to over two-dozen New Delhi-based ambassadors to impress upon them the role played by Pakistan-based and incubated Jaish-e- Mohammed (JeM) in the Pulwama attack.

He also stressed Indias demand that Pakistan must immediately stop all support and financing to terror groups operating from areas under its control. The Foreign Secretary wanted all UN member-countries to support a proposal for proscribing JeM chief Masood Azhar as an international terrorist.

Among the heads of mission briefed today were all from P-5 countries, including China, that has blocked Masood Azhar being named as an international terrorist by the UNSC, most South Asian countries and other important partners like Japan, Germany and the Republic of Korea.

India has resolved to diplomatically isolate Pakistan unless it stops using terror as an instrument of state policy.

The withdrawal of MFN status is largely symbolic as it is unlikely to impact bilateral trade, which is $2 billion by the legitimate route and another $6 billion via Dubai and Singapore. Pakistan is yet to give MFN status and maintains a list of 1,200 items that are banned for import from India.

Gokhales very strong demarche to the Pakistani High Commissioner sought immediate closure of all terrorist training camps and verifiable action against JeM and its chief. He also rejected the statement issued by the Pakistan foreign ministry following the attack on Thursday that condemns the violence in generic terms.

Meanwhile, the Dean of Diplomatic Corps in Delhi, Hans Dannenberg Castellanos, also condoled the death of CRPF personnel and extended support to the Indian Government in its fight against terrorism.  TNS

During convoys, No civilian movement

A day after the deadliest militant attack on a convoy of security forces killing more than 40 CRPF men, the government decided to restrict civilian movement at the time of convoys. This was announced by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after reviewing the security situation with senior officers. TNS

Saudi Prince cuts short Pak visit

The much awaited visit of a Saudi delegation comprising Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman to Pakistan has been compressed by a day. A casualty of the shortened visit has been the Pak-Saudi Business Conference where a slew of projects for the economically beleagured country were to be sealed.
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 15

India has reacted sharply to Pakistan Foreign Secretary's briefing rejecting Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack.

What we have noticed, however, are claims to offer dialogue on the one hand, while sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terrorist organisations such as JeM on the other," said the Ministry of External Affairs in a late night statement on Friday.

It also accused Pakistan of not following a constructive approach while making a point by point rebuttal of the Pakistan Foreign Secretary's assertions and denials.

The Pakistan Foreign Secretary, the MEA said, cannot claim that it is unaware of the presence of JeM because its links to Pakistan are "clear and evident" with its ministers sharing the podium with UN proscribed terrorists.

The Ministry described Pakistan's demand for an investigation "preposterous" when there is a video of the suicide bomber declaring his allegiance to JeM.

There is other audio-visual and print material linking JeM to the terrorist attack. "We have therefore no doubt that the claim is firmly established," said the statement while seeking immediate and verifiable action by Pakistan against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control "to create a conducive atmosphere in the region free of terror.
uttara@tribuneindia.com

The Hague, February 16

India will ask the UN's top court Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Balouchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court.

The International Court of Justice urgently ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague.

The rare foray into the international courts for the nuclear-armed rivals could be another flashpoint after Thursday's suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops.

New Delhi's lawyers will present their arguments on Monday to the court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, followed by Pakistan's on Tuesday.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was accused of working for the Indian intelligence services in the province bordering Afghanistan, where Islamabad has long accused India of backing separatist rebels.

After a closed trial he was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 10, 2017, on charges of "espionage, sabotage and terrorism".

India insists Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi in court documents is asking that the ICJ order Islamabad to annul the sentence.

It accused Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access, as well as breaking human rights law.

If Pakistan is unable to quash Jadhav's death sentence, Islamabad should be found in violation of international law and treaties, and be told to "release the convicted Indian national forthwith", India said.

India accused Pakistan in 2017 of harassing Jadhav's family during a visit, saying their meeting was held in an "atmosphere of coercion".

Islamabad reacted coolly to the ICJ's urgent order to stay Jadhav's execution at the time, saying it "has not changed the status of commander Jadhav's case in any manner".

The ICJ's decision will likely come months after this week's hearings.

The last time India and Pakistan took a dispute to the ICJ was in 1999 when Islamabad protested at the downing of a Pakistani navy plane that killed 16 people.

The tribunal decided that it was not competent to rule in the dispute and closed the case.  AFP
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, Febraury 16

Those who want to contribute voluntarily to the families of CRPF jawans martyred in Pulwama terror attack can do so on the official website of 'Bharat Ke Veer'.

This fund is managed by a committee comprising Director Generals of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) under the aegis of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

'Bharat Ke Veer' is a trust into which public can contribute voluntarily to support families of martyrs of CAPFs -- BSF, CRPF, CISF, ITBP, NDRF, NSG, SSB and Assam Rifles, the MHA said.

Expressing gratitude for the support, MHA said, "During the last few days there has been a tremendous response from people wanting to contribute through the website : bharatkeveer.gov.in."

However, due to heavy traffic, sometimes a slowdown is reported in accessing the website, it added.

"It is also reported that some unscrupulous elements are soliciting contributions from people through other accounts. It is advised that people desirous of supporting families of martyrs of CAPFs should only contribute through the website -- bharatkeveer.gov.in," the Ministry of Home Affairs said.
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Yash Goyal

Our Correspondent

Jaipur, February 16

The nine-day-old Gurjar agitation was called off on Saturday after a written draft was signed between Gurjar Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti (GASS) and the Rajasthan government on five points of demands.

The demands include 5 per cent quota to five communities--Gurjars, Raika, Banjara, Gadariya, Rebari--and their six sub-castes in education and government jobs based on economic criteria as per the bill cleared by the assembly recently.

GASS patron KS Bainsla and Rajasthan Tourism Minister Vishwendra Singh along with senior officers signed the draft at the agitation site of Malarana Dungar in Sawaimadhopur district, Neeraj K Pawan, the state envoy, said.

The tracks, highways and roads are being cleared by the agitators on the call given by Bainsla, he said.

Among the 5-point draft, the GASS and the government agreed on 5 per cent reservation as notified on the bill passed by the state Assembly, a guarantee from the state government that if the bill gets stuck in legal tangle, the state government will immediately intervene and help the community. Backlog in services will be filled up for aspiring Gurjars, and there will be strengthening of Devnarayan Yojana and Board which were set up by the state government.

Prominent Gurjar leader Himmat Singh, who parted ways with GASS last year, told the media on Friday that Bainsla was allegedly bargaining with the Congress government for vested interests.

The trains would resume their run on original routes via Sawaimadhopur district after restoration and inspection, according to WCR sources.

While NWR's blockade on the Jaipur-Sawaimadhopur route was also being restored, its CPRO Abhay Sharma said.
editorial@tribune.com

Manav Mander

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, February 15

Every year, February 15 is observed as International Childhood Cancer Day.

The global theme for International Childhood Cancer Day this year is No more pain, No more loss. There is a wide gap between childhood cancer survivors in the low middle-income countries and that of high-income countries.

Dr Shruti Kakkar, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has been holding outreach clinics at Advanced Cancer Institute, Bhatinda, for the past one year.

The department is organising Foundation Oncology Skills Workshop for pediatric nurses on February 23 and 24. Nurses play an important role in the care of these children and the department hoped to improve their outcome by empowering nurses with up-to-date knowledge.

Patients were given yellow ribbon to wear, which signified International Childhood Cancer Day. The DMCH Managing Society decided to give free treatment to a girl child whose family doesnt have any resources.

SPS Hospital, Ludhiana, also observed the day by celebrating the spirit of children fighting this disease.

Dr Priyanka Gupta, Head of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at SPS Hospital, said International Childhood Cancer Day was notable for creating awareness among the masses for eliminating pain and suffering of children fighting cancer and achieve at least 60 per cent survival rate.

Gupta said childhood cancer should be made a national and global child health priority to ensure early and proper diagnosis, the right to access life-saving essential medicines, the right to appropriate and quality medical treatments, the right to treatment without pain and suffering, and when a cure is not attainable, the right of the child to a pain-free end of life care if everything else fails.

Gupta said cancer was an uncontrolled growth of cells in any part of the body which can spread to other parts. The belief about cancer is that it exists only in adults. This is untrue as it can appear at any age in life. In most cases, the cause is unknown. However, it is important to understand that it is not caused by anything the parent did or didnt do. This can be attributed to lack of cancer registries in a majority of low and middle income countries, under diagnosis, misdiagnosis and/or under-registration of children with cancer, she said.

Experts and researches estimate say approximately 90 per cent of children with cancer reside in developing countries. The commonest cancers are blood cancers (Leukemia) and brain tumours.
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Tribune Web Desk

Chandigarh, February 16

The music drama Gully Boy starring actors Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt has hit the theatres and has been gaining praises all over the world. Hollywood actor Will Smith wasnt far behind in sharing his views.

The 'Suicide Squad' actor shared a video on his Instagram story continuously praising Ranveers Gully Boy on Saturday.

Sharing a few glimpses of the song Apna time aayega, he says: Yo Ranveer! Congrats man. I am loving what you doing. Gully Boy.

 Yo Ranveer congrats man I am loving what youre doing with Gullyboy for me old school hip hop here seeing hip hop all over the world like that I am loving it man congrats  - Will Smith to Ranveer Singh



-

OMGGGG!!!!!  pic.twitter.com/AzZWjDmZLk  RanveerSingh TBT (@RanveerSinghtbt) 16 February 2019

He adds: I have seen old school hip hop, seen hip hop all over the world. I am loving it. Go get it.

Ranveer is playing the role of a rapper who beats all odds in India to become famous, in Gully Boy.

Gully Boy is directed by Zoya Akhtar.

Smith is currently awaiting for the release of his Disney film, "Alladin". The actor is playing blue-skinned Genie in the Guy Ritchie-directed film.
shriaya.dutt@tribuneindia.com

Mumbai, February 16

From Amitabh Bachchan to Lata Mangeshkar and Shah Rukh Khan, a string of Bollywood celebrities took to social media to condemn the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, which killed 45 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers.

Bollywood stars described it as "barbaric", "tragic" and a "heinous crime against humanity". They said they were heart broken with the news of the attack, which took place on Thursday.

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 45 troopers and leaving the security establishment stunned.

Here's what the celebrities have tweeted:

Amitabh Bachchan: Distressed... Disturbed.

Lata Mangeshkar: I condemn the terrorist attack in Jammu-Kashmir's Pulwama district. I would like to pay a tribute to the martyrs. I am with the families of these soldiers in this moment of grief.

-            .                .           .  Lata Mangeshkar (@mangeshkarlata) 15 February 2019

Shah Rukh Khan: Heartfelt condolences to the families of our valiant jawans. May the souls of our countrymen who laid their lives down for us rest in peace.

Heartfelt condolences to the families of our valiant jawans. May the souls of our countrymen who laid their lives down for us rest in peace. #Pulwama  Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) 15 February 2019

Salman Khan: My heart goes out for the jawans of our beloved country and their families who lost their lives as martyrs to save our families... You stand for India.

My heart goes out for the Jawans of our beloved country and their families who lost their lives as martyrs to save our families... #YouStandForIndia  Salman Khan (@BeingSalmanKhan) 14 February 2019

Aamir Khan: I am heartbroken to read about the terrorist attack on our CRPF jawans in Pulwama. It's so tragic. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the jawans who have lost their lives.

I am heartbroken to read about the terrorist attack on our CRPF Jawans in Pulwama. It's so tragic. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the Jawans who have lost their lives.  Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) 15 February 2019

Ranveer Singh: Disgusted at the cowardly terror attack on the CRPF soldiers in Pulwamamy sincere condolences to the families of our brave jawans. Saddened. Angry.

Disgusted at the cowardly terror attack on the #CRPF soldiers in #Pulwama - my sincere condolences to the families of our brave jawans. Saddened. Angry.  Ranveer Singh (@RanveerOfficial) 14 February 2019

Hrithik Roshan: Deeply grieved on hearing about the Pulwama attack. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the jawans martyred.

Deeply grieved on hearing about the Pulwama attack. My heartfelt condolences to the families of the Jawans martyred.  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) 15 February 2019

Rajkummar Rao: Pulwama terror attack is a heinous crime against humanity. My condolences go out to the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. May our martyrs rest in peace and the perpetrators of the crime brought to justice.

#PulawamaTerrorAttack is a heinous crime against humanity. My condolences go out to the families of our soldiers who have lost their lives. May our martyrs rest In peace and the perpetrators of the crime brought to justice.  Rajkummar Rao (@RajkummarRao) 15 February 2019

Neil Nitin Mukesh: My respects and condolences with the families Pulwama terror attack.

 my respects and condolences with the families #PulwamaTerrorAttack  Neil Nitin Mukesh (@NeilNMukesh) 15 February 2019

Saqib Saleem: Shocked and deeply saddened at the attack on our soldiers in Pulwama. Heart goes out to the families of the deceased soldiers. When will this hatred stop?

Shocked and deeply saddened at the attack on our soldiers in #Pulwama.

Heart goes out to the families of the deceased soldiers.

When will this hatred stop?#PulwamaAttack  Saqib Saleem (@Saqibsaleem) 15 February 2019

Disha Patani: Shocked! I salute and stand in solidarity with our Armed Forces. This deplorable act of cowardice and terror should be dealt with unforgiving urgency. No family should lose their sons like that, no soldier should be martyred like this. Deepest condolences to the families.

Shocked! I salute & stand in solidarity with our Armed Forces.This deplorable act of cowardice & terror should be dealt with unforgiving urgency. No family should lose their sons like that,no soldier should be martyred like this. Deepest condolences to the families.#PulwanaAttack  Disha Patani (@DishPatani) 15 February 2019

Juhi Chawla: Deeply saddened to hear the barbaric attack on our brave soldiers. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bravehearts.

Deeply saddened to hear the barbaric attack on our brave soldiers. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the bravehearts.. #PulwamaAttack  Juhi Chawla (@iam_juhi) 15 February 2019

Goldie Behl: Terrible sights of the tragedy in Kashmir! My heart goes out to these jawans who were killed in a terrorist attack in Kashmir yesterday. Let us all pray for their bereaved families!

Terrible sights of the tragedy in Kashmir! My heart goes out to these jawans who were killed in a terrorist attack in Kashmir yesterday. Let us all pray for their bereaved families! pic.twitter.com/MwVeOqjvlQ  goldie behl (@GOLDIEBEHL) 15 February 2019

Kunal Kapoor: My heartfelt appeal to people, to come forward and support Ketto (a fund-raising organisation) for their campaign to rehabilitate the families of CRPF martyrs. India, lets stand up for those who gave their lives for our safety. Jai Hind.  IANS
editorial@tribune.com

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 15

The 100-km stretch of heavily guarded road between southern tip of the Kashmir valley and Srinagar city has remained a target of militants but now security forces are facing a new challenge: the suicide bomber.

A lone militant who rammed an explosive-laden vehicle on Thursday afternoon into a paramilitary convoy at Lethpora village, on the highway outside Srinagar city, has changed the security dynamics in the region.

The high death toll in Thursdays attack has also unveiled chinks in the security apparatus, which had otherwise drafted fool-proof measures to secure the volatile stretch of the highway.

The attack-prone stretch of the Srinagar-Jammu highway, which is a crucial supply route for civilians as well as for troops, lies in south Kashmir where the road borders several districts where militant presence remains high.

Sources in the security agencies said militants frequently targeted convoys along the highway as it was very easy for them to get in and out of the highway which has multiple connecting roads with villages across south Kashmir where militants maintain safe-houses.

The national highway is the primary road link to Kashmir so at any given moment there is always some dignitary or some security vehicle on the move, a senior paramilitary official said.

The suicide attack took place in one of the most secure and highly guarded patch of the highway where it leaves the jurisdiction of militant-dominated south Kashmir and nears Srinagar city.

Even though the attacks along the southern stretch of the highway have taken place in recent years, Thursdays attack was a game changer in many ways as it marked a comeback of suicide bombers. Though there have been only a few similar attacks with the last one having taken place nearly two decades ago, Thursdays incident has sent shock waves through the security apparatus. The attack took place despite counter-measures and a rigid deployment to protect the highway.

The attack had three significant takeaways: Militants have the craftsmanship to build such massive bombs, they have the recruits to carry out such suicidal missions and that the highway is a target.

In past years, militants have managed to carry out back-to-back attacks along the highway even though there had been a brief lull last year.

The attacks during the recent years, however, were restricted to ambushes.

In a major highway attack in June 2016, two militants had ambushed a convoy of CRPFvehicles near Pampore town and pinned at least one vehicle with a heavy volume of fire in which eight personnel were killed and 20 were injured.

In another major attack in June 2013, the militants had ambushed an Army convoy on Srinagars outskirts in which eight soldiers were killed.

Convoys targeted earlier too
pardeepdhull@gmail.com

Srinagar, February 16

The Dehradun Police have assured its Jammu and Kashmir counterpart of taking all necessary measures for the safety and security of Kashmiri students studying there amidst allegation of their harassment after the Pulwama terror attack, an official said here on Saturday.

Some Kashmiri youths studying in the Uttarakhand capital have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir on Thursday that left 42 CRPF personnel dead.

This refers to the circulation of news regarding the harassment of Kashmir-based students in Dehradun. In this regard it is informed that the authorities from the Jammu and Kashmir Police have spoken to the authorities concerned in the Dehradun Police, a police spokesperson said here.

He said the Dehradun Police have assured the Jammu and Kashmir Police that they were in touch with the representative of youths from Kashmir and all necessary arrangements for the safety and security of students in Dehradun have been put in place.

Jammu and Kashmir Police officers are in constant touch with the Dehradun Police, the spokesperson said.

Two CRPF jawans from Uttarakhand were among the 42 personnel killed in Pulwama on Thursday when when a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus. PTI
editorial@tribune.com

yam Sood

Rajouri, February 15

Members of civil society on Friday condemned the cowardly attack on the CRPF convoy in Pulwama district even as main towns in the district observed a peaceful shutdown.

Showing solidarity with the bereaved families, the protesters demanded harsh retaliatory action against Pakistan. The incident has spread a strong resentment among the locals who joined the demonstration here.

It was a shocking incident. The whole country is behind the families of the martyred security personnel. Such acts of terrorists will not hamper the ongoing Operation all-out launched by the forces against anti-national elements, said Vibodh Gupta, an MLC.

He said another major surgical strike was needed against Pakistan for sponsoring and supporting terrorism from its soil.

Expressing his deepest condolences to the bereaved families of the martyred CRPF personnel, former MLA Qamar Choudhry condemned the act and demanded stern action against anti-national forces.

The Governors administration must take serious note of the incident and take strong action as many innocent lives were lost in the attack, said Choudhry.

Youth National Conference leader Shafkat Mir while conveying deepest condolences to the bereaved families expressed his concern about the security failure.

How an explosive-laden car was allowed on the highway without any checking, said Mir, adding that the government must deal with such forces with an iron hand.
editorial@tribune.com

Rifat Mohidin

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 15

An uneasy calm prevailed in Kashmir on Friday after the deadly attack on the CRPF convoy in which 42 personnel of the force were killed.

Residents preferred to stay indoors as many shops and business establishments remained shut in the area.

Hundreds of troopers in riot gear guarded streets as a high alert had been sounded in the region after the deadliest incident in the state sent shock waves across the country.

We are against the killings. We are against the killing of anyone. We have been demanding a permanent solution to the Kashmir problem, otherwise many more lives of civilians, security forces and militants will be lost and no one will be victorious in this dirty war, said Aijaz Ahmad, a resident of Srinagar, who avoided going to his office on Friday due to the tense situation.

Ahmad said after he heard of the attack, it created chaos everywhere as people were unable to understand what had happened. Roads wore a deserted look today. There were condemnations of the incident pouring in from various quarters.

I had to go for Friday prayers to Jamia Mosque in the old city, but I preferred to stay indoors. We do not know what the situation is going to be like here, a resident from Bohri Kadal in Srinagar said.

Villages along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway where the attack took place witnessed rare civilian movement as different teams visited the site for investigation purposes. Residents also blamed political leaders for playing with fire in Kashmir.

No one is really interested to solve the Kashmir problem, as it has consumed thousands of people till now. Political leaders just want the pot to remain boiling. They are only busy on social media, they do not bother about the real issues, said Shafqat Ahmad, a shopkeeper in the city centre.

Residents fear that it might create a charged atmosphere against Kashmiris in different parts of India. Some groups might play it up against Kashmiris, this is going to be a hard time, Ahmad cautioned. But what is the mistake of common masses?

Seven detained by police
editorial@tribune.com

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, February 15

Almost written-off from the insurgency landscape a few years ago, the Jaish-e-Mohammads (JeM) claim of responsibility for the deadliest-ever attack in the Kashmir valley has made it the biggest security threat in the region.

The JeM  which had almost vanquished several years ago with its manpower restricted to single digits across the Valley  is now present in most districts of the region. The group claimed responsibility for Thursdays suicide car bomb  one of its hallmark attacks  in which over 40 CRPF men were killed.

A senior police official said the militant group had found itself on the back foot for the past one year since most of its senior commanders were killed.

They were under a lot of pressure to act because most of their senior leaders had been neutralised and they were finding it difficult to carry out any major terror attack, the official added.

The official said the last major attack carried out by the JeM was when its fidayeen squad had stormed the Sunjuwan Army camp in Jammu city in February last year.

A foreign militant, Mufti Waqas, who had masterminded the Sunjwan and several other fidayeen attacks, was killed in a brief gunfight in March last year following which there was a lull in terror activities.

In the past year, the JeM restricted to low-level activities, which included grenade and sniper attacks, several incidents of weapon-snatching and killing of policemen.

The Pulwama attack, however, marked the comeback of suicide bomber, which the JeM had first introduced immediately after its formation in 2000.

The JeM was formed by a militant cleric, Masood Azhar, days after he along with two others were released in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in exchange for the release of passengers aboard the hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814. Azhar had spent six years in Indian jails before his release in December 1999.

The group had emerged on the militant scene in Kashmir within months after its formation and marked a dramatic escalation in the conflict. The first attack, which signalled its arrival, targeted the Armys 15 Corps headquarters in Srinagar city, when an 18-year-old boy detonated a car bomb outside its main entrance in April 2000.

Jaishs strength, however, had degraded continuously after it was banned by Pakistan following 9/11 attack and it was struggling for survival with only eight cadres left in the Kashmir valley in July 2013.

From being almost wiped out in Kashmir, Jaish-e-Mohammad recruited a large number of youth in the last two years. Of the 250 militants killed last year  one of the bloodiest years of the decade  more than 30 belonged to the JeM outfit.

The police estimate that dozens of JeM militants now operate in south Kashmir and around fringes of Srinagar city.

Carried out 2018 Sunjuwan attack
vinaymishra188@gmail.com

New Delhi, February 15

A day after the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were martyred, the Jammu and Kashmir Government on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking that Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Zahid Farooq be shifted from Jammu jail to Tihar, saying he is indoctrinating Indian inmates.

A Bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and MR Shah agreed to examine the plea and issued notice to Centre and sought its response in four weeks. Farooq was arrested by security forces while trying to cross border security fence on May 19, 2016.

The state government said that intelligence inputs indicated that militants belonging to terror outfits like Jaish and LeT were indoctrinating the minds of other inmates lodged in the prison.

It said that it had been reliably learnt that the prisoner and other similarly situated individuals had considerable local support and it couldnt be ruled out

that they may be receiving information, resources as well as other help to carry out terror activities.

The state also sought shifting of the trial to Delhi saying it apprehended that transporting the militant to court and back to prison posed a threat to escorting policemen and common public.

States standing counsel Shoeb Alam cited an example of an attack on a police party last year when policemen were killed and a Pakistani terrorist freed from custody while on a hospital visit. The petitioner State has received confidential intelligence inputs which show that he poses a threat to national security in as much as his involvement in planning and designing terror attacks against the citizens/residents in India cannot be ruled out.

To execute such nefarious schemes, it is understood that the prisoner and other similarly situated individuals have been mobilising support within the jail premises by influencing the minds and psyche of other inmates, the state government said.

Transfer of Farooq from his current prison in Jammu & Kashmir to a high-security prison outside the state was in the interest of national security, it said.  PTI
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Srinagar, February 16

National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Saturday expressed disappointment over a resolution passed in an all-party meeting in Delhi for not including in it an appeal to maintain calm in the wake of violence in Jammu and tension in other states over the Pulwama terror attack.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences," Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. People took to the streets to denounce the terror strike and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in it.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicles were torched and damaged. The curfew in Jammu city continued on Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

In Uttarakhand, some Kashmiri youths studying in the state capital of Dehradun have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir. PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Jammu, February 16

The curfew in Jammu city continued for the second day on Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities, a day after violence was reported during protests against the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 security men were killed, officials said.

They said the University of Jammu postponed all examinations scheduled for the day and mobile Internet services remained suspended across Jammu region.

Srinagar-bound vehicles stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway due to a landslide in Ramban were allowed to move forward amid tight security arrangements.

The curfew is being implemented strictly and there is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Vivek Gupta, told PTI.

Deputy Commissioner (Jammu) Ramesh Kumar said authorities were monitoring the situation and a decision to relax the curfew, which was imposed on Friday, would be taken later in the day.

The Army was conducting flag marches in sensitive localities of the city on Saturday, the officials said.

A defence spokesperson said the Army on Saturday deployed nine more security columns with air support to help the administration to maintain law and order in the entire city. Nine Internal Security Columns (ISCs) of the Army were deployed on Friday.

The city was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI). The people took to the streets to denounce the attack and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the jawans.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicles were torched and damaged.

The JCCI termed the violence unfortunate, saying, We will not allow miscreants to disturb peace and amity in Jammu where all the religions have coexisted. It said the bandh would not be extended.

Spokesperson of the Jammu university, Vinay Thusoo, said all examinations, theory and practical, to be conducted on Saturday were postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.

He said fresh dates would be notified later.

Inspector General of Police (Jammu) MK Sinha appealed to the people not to play into the hands of anti-national elements who wanted to disturb societal harmony.

A police official said high-speed mobile data services were barred in Jammu region, while the BSNL broadband service was functioning normally. PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Our Correspondent

Rajouri, February 16

An army officer was killed and a soldier suffered injuries on Saturday while defusing and an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Line of Control in Rajouri.

The Major-rank officer was defusing the IED which had been planted by terrorists. The officer is from the Corps of Engineers.

The blast killed the officer and injured a soldier who was evacuated to hospital, officials said.

The IED was planted 1.5 km inside the Line of Control in the Naushera sector of Rajouri district.

The army has confirmed that it was an IED blast and not a BAT action.

The IED blast came two days after 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist rammed an explosive-laden SUV into a bus carrying them in Pulwama district in south Kashmir. This was the second IED attack along the LoC in the same sector since January.

On January 11, two Army personnel, including a major, were killed in Naushera sector of Rajouri.

Soldier injured in Pak firing

A soldier was injured after Pakistani troops fired from small arms on forward posts along the Line of Control in Rajouri district, officials said.

The unprovoked firing from across the border started in the Naushera sector around 1600 hours, prompting strong retaliation by Indian troops, they said.

The exchange of fire between the two sides is continuing when last reports were received, the officials said.

They said a soldier was injured when he was hit by a bullet in the Kalal area of the sector. He was immediately shifted to a hospital.

The Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively, the officials said.  With PTI inputs
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, February 15

Pouring their heart out for the families of the CRPF jawans martyred in the Pulwama attack, residents, students, social activists and members of political parties organised various protests and paid tributes to the bravehearts on Friday.

To lodge their protest, they burnt effigies in the city.

Many schools held a special prayer during their Assembly to recall the valour of those who laid down their lives. Various organisations also observed a two-minute silence in the day. Residents also took to social media to offer their condolence messages.

Muslim leaders led by Punjab Waqf Board member Kaleem Azad organised a protest and raised anti-Pakistan slogans. They burnt an effigy of terrorism. Former chairperson of the Punjab SC Commission Rajesh Bagha took out a candlelight march around BMC Chowk.

BJP leaders, including Manoranjan Kalia, KD Bhandari, Mahinder Bhagat, Raman Pubby, Rakesh Rathour and youth leader Sunny Sharma, burnt an effigy at Patel Chowk.

Congress leaders, including MLA Rajinder Beri, DCC chiefs Baldev S Dev and Sukhwinder Lally and women activists Kittu Grewal and Kamaljit Multani, also held protests at Company Bagh Chowk. Leader of the Safai Mazdoor Union Chandan Grewal, along with the MC staff, also burnt an effigy in protest against the terror attack.

Angad Dutta, president, Youth Congress Jalandhar Cantonment, along with party workers, burnt an effigy of terrorism against the cowardly terrorist attack. They conveyed condolence to the bereaved family members of the deceased and wished speed recovery of the injured.

Expressing solidarity, president of the RCF Union Brij Mohan said, I am deeply pained as great martyr Kulwinder Singh hails from my native village. We bow our heads with much reverence to pay tributes to all great soldiers. We cannot return their debt in any manner.

Martyrs remembered

Phagwara: Local residents condemned the Pulwama attack and paid tributes to the martyrs. Members of the Muslims community also remembered the martyrs on Friday.

Hundreds of works belonging to the BJP led by Mayor Arun Khosla, Ramesh Sachdeva, councillor Anurag Mankhand and Sonu Rawalpindi hold a demonstration against Pakistan and burnt effigies of Pakistan and terrorism at Goal Chowk here.

Meanwhile, candlelight marches were organised by various organisations to pay homage to the martyred soldiers.

Students of Lovely Professional University paid tributes to the CRPF jawans who laid down their lives for the county. NSS and air wing cadets saluted the untimely departed brave souls. Students also observed a two-minute silence in all departments.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 15

The Himachal Government has signed a development policy loan pact with the Government of India and the World Bank for improving water supply and sewerage services in greater Shimla area.

The state government, the Government of India and World Bank representatives in a meeting held at New Delhi, signed development policy loan-1 (DPL1) amounting to Rs 292 crores out of total negotiated loan amount of Rs 986 crores.

After the state capital experienced water crisis during the last summer, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had made serious efforts to get this project approved so that the capital city did not face such crisis in the future, said an official spokesperson.

This is the first development policy loan related in water sector where the Himachal government has undertaken policy decision in institutional reform, volumetric tariff, water connections, energy efficiency and customer satisfaction. On successful achievement of all the prior action agreed with World Bank, the state government had approached the Department of Economic Affairs, Union Ministry of Finance to negotiate the loan with the World Bank.

The procurement process for the bulk water project has already been initiated and will be completed as per the timeline agreed with the World Bank.

Under this Rs 986 crore project, Rs 366 crores would be spent on 107 MLD bulk water supply from Sutlej river and rehabilitation of Giri and Gumma water sources, Rs 270 crore on improvement in water distribution and SCADA, Rs 246 crore on extension of sewerage network and Rs 104 crore on rehabilitation and capacity addition of sewerage treatment plants.

Additional Secretary, DEA, MoF Sameer Khare signed the legal and programme agreement on behalf of the Government of India. Principal Secretary Urban Development Prabodh Saxena signed the loan agreement and programme agreement on behalf of the Himachal Pradesh government. Country Director Junaid Ahmad and Team Leader Smita Misra represented the World Bank in the meeting.
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 16

Mortal remains of 30-year-old Tilak Raj, a CRPF trooper who was killed in the Pulwama attack, consigned to flames at his native village in Kangras Jawali on Saturday.

Thousands gathered to say their last goodbyes to the martyr as Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union Health Minister JP Nadda paid their respects. People anger was palpable in the anti-Pakistan slogans they shouted.

The trooper left a wife Savitri Devi and two very young sonsaged 3 and a month-old infant. His brother lit the funeral pyre.

Thakur said the nation shared the familys grief and was proud of the troopers sacrifice. He promised a job to the martyrs wife as well as possible assistance.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Shimla, February 15

The Himachal Vidhan Sabha today paid tributes to the martyred CRPF personnel in Kashmir and condemned the cowardly attack by militants.

Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur moved a resolution, offering condolences to the family of the martyrs. Even though the militant outfits have tried to shatter the morale of the armed forces by killing 42 CRPF men our valiant soldiers will give a befitting reply to this ghastly act, he said.

The Chief Minister announced an ex-gratia of Rs 20 lakh to the family of CRPF jawan Tilak Raj from Jawali area of Kangra, who died in the attack. The government will provide all possible help to the family of the bereaved who made the supreme sacrifice for the nation, he said.

It is Pakistan which is the mastermind of the attack and the whole nation is with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who must ensure that our forces give a befitting reply, he said. He said this was an attempt to create instability in the nation but the while nation is united in this hour of grief.

Vidhan Sabha Speaker Dr Rajeev Bindal also expressed his condolences to the bereaved family of Tilak Raj.

Offering condolences to the martyrs, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri said this was a big challenge thrown by militant outfits but the entire nation is one against such forces. The army, para-military forces and its establishments are being continuously targeted by the military so it is essential that a befitting reply is given to such forces, he said.

Former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh also offered condolences to the families of the martyrs and said that the entire nation is one in its fight against such forces.

The act close to Srinagar has proved that it is not just external forces but some elements within Jammu and Kashmir who are supporting the militants in this cause, he lamented.

Other legislators including Irrigation and Public Health Minister Mahender Singh, Col Dhani Ram Shandil (retd), Col Inder Singh (retd), Rakesh Pathania, Nand Lal, Suresh Kashyap, Vikram Jaryal, Vikramaditya Singh and Ashish Butail offered condolences to the family of Tilak Raj and condemned the attack.

The Vidhan Sabha was adjourned for the day after offering condolences to the 42 bravehearts.

Candle march

Residents of Mandi district paid tributes to the bravehearts killed in Pulwama terror attack by lighting candles. Most demanded stern action against those responsible for the ghastly act. In Lahaul-Spiti, employees of the DC office also observed silence.

Cong condemns attack
editorial@tribune.com

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, February 15

In a landmark decision, which will deter benami transactions in Kasauli, the District Collector vested 44.5 bighas at Jhol village with the state government for violating Section 118 of the HP Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, 1972, where luxury apartments were being constructed by a Delhi-based company.

The decision, which was taken yesterday, has brought to light the unholy nexus of non-Himachalis purchasing land in the name of local villagers for furthering their commercial objectives.

Deputy Commissioner Vinod Kumar said all benami transactions would face the heat for violating the revenue laws in the district and the case should act as a deterrent for the wrongdoers.

The case, which was initially investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) in 2013, was later referred to the DC for further action.

SIT probe had proved that land worth crores was bought in the name of Data Ram, a resident of Chatiyan village in Kasauli tehsil, and Deepak Virmani, who was a Delhi resident, but also an agriculturist of Himachal, by transferring crores in their account by several non-Himachalis in violation of the revenue laws.

First, 11 biswa land was bought at Sakhli village for Rs 6 lakh in November 2007 by Data Ram. A sum of Rs 4 lakh was transferred in his account by one Brijesh Virmani of Delhi to facilitate the sale. Several such deals were made subsequently. The probe had established that a sum of Rs 16 crore to Rs 17 crore was transferred in the bank account of Data Ram from 2006 to 2014 for buying 39.15 bighas, while 13.1-bigha land was bought in the name of his family members.

Several non-Himachalis transferred crores of rupees in an unregistered company, Mount and Pinance Company, which was specially created for the purpose. The company was run by Rohit Virmani, who is the son of Brijesh Virmani. A sum of Rs 2,24,48,000 was credited in Data Rams bank account from February 2009 to December 2013 to facilitate the construction of flats.

Another company by the name of Kasauli Hills Home was registered in Delhi, where Data Ram was shown to be a share-holder, while Brijesh Virmani and Ramesh Chand, both of whom were non-Himachalis, were its directors. The company was engaged in selling flats to prospective buyers and funds worth crores were deposited in its account.

The annual income tax returns of Data Ram as well as Deepak Virmani had no mention about these land transactions as inquired by SIT.

As many as eight flats were constructed on 1-07 bigha land shown to be bought by Data Ram, where two blocks of four-storeys were constructed and eight persons were shown to be its tenants. This was done to secure water and power connections in 2010.

Despite no building maps having been approved by the Town and Country Planning Department, they managed to secure power and water connections for these flats. The people shown as tenants had transferred lakhs in the bank account of Mount and Pinance Company.

While an in-depth probe had established that Delhi residents had invested crores in the project, several IAS as well as defence officials had bought flats, construction of which was in its initial stages.

Probe findings
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 15

The gory Pulwama incident in which 42 CRPF jawans lost their lives evoked anger and protests in the district.

Students of Central University of Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) burned the flag of Pakistan and organised a march braving heavy rain in the region. Students of Government College, Dharamsala, and other private institutes carried out candlelight marches.

Residents irrespective of their political affiliations expressed their anger and demanded strict action against perpetrator of the attack. Ritesh, a student of the Government College, said that it was high time that the Indian Government must avenge the death of martyrs. If a small nation like Israel can act against terrorists attacking them from bases in neighbouring countries, then why not the Indian Government act against them, he said. Similar sentiments were expressed by many as the incident led to gloom in Kangra that had a substantial population of ex-servicemen and youth serving in the armed forces.

Many political and social functions in the district were cancelled due to the Pulwama incident. The Kangra district, which has about 1 lakh youth serving in the Army and paramilitary forces, lost another brave heart, Tilak Raj, a resident of Dhewa village in Jawali subdivision.

There are 60,000 ex-servicemen and an equal number of servicemen from the district in the armed forces that was the highest for any district in the country. Himachal as a whole has about 1,20,000 servicemen and an equal number of ex-servicemen in the armed forces. The contributions of residents of Himachal in the armed forces can be gauged from the fact that soldiers from the state have been honoured with over 1,100 gallantry awards.
editorial@tribune.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

Students, advocates, ex-servicemen, politicians, players, government employees and people from other walks of life on Friday protested the Pulwama attack on CRPF personnel across the state.

Olympic medallist wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt condemned the attack and called for a strong action against Pakistan and terrorists.

National Health Mission (NHM) employees at Sonepat raised slogans against Pakistan, while at Karnal, they burnt the effigy of terrorism.

Students of Sudha Rastogi Dental College and YMCA University also paid homage to the martyrs at a condolence meeting in Faridabad.

At Gharaunda, BJP workers, led by local MLA Harvinder Kalyan, took out a protest march and termed the attack on CRPF personnel a cowardly act. Faridabad Congress activists led by local leaders burnt the flag of Pakistan.

CM pays condolences

Chandigarh: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday condemned the attack on Pulwama attack and conveyed his condolences to the families of martyred CRPF men. Khattar, who is in Mauritius for a three-day International Gita Mahotsav, was speaking at a seminar organised as part of the festival at Port Louis. TNS
editorial@tribune.com

Sunit Dhawan

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, February 15

The Central GST Division, Rohtak, has detected an evasion of service tax to the tune of Rs 2.34 crore by M/s Osaka Security and Housekeeping Services Pvt Ltd, Sonepat, which provides security and manpower to a number of educational institutes and industrial units.

Official sources said the period during which the company evaded service tax pertained to 2013-17 and the tax officials suspected that its owners prepared two sets of balance sheets in a bid to hoodwink the authorities concerned.

Talking to The Tribune here on Friday, GST Commissioner Vijay Mohan Jain said the companys director was summoned to the GST Commissionerate in Rohtak and he paid Rs 72 lakh.

His firm had earlier paid Rs 46 lakh. Hence, Rs 1.18 crore has been recovered from the firm and it has been given two weeks to deposit the balance amount as well as the interest penalty, the Commissioner said.

In another case, the Central GST Division, Rohtak, has detected a GST fraud involving issuance of fake invoices running into crores and availment of bogus input tax credit (ITC).

Additional Commissioner (GST) Mahender Singh said M/s Trivano International, Bahadurgarh, was found to have claimed ITC on invoices issued by a non-existent firm, M/s Balaji Timber.

M/s Trivano International used the ITC so availed for the payment of the GST on goods stated to be exported to Dubai through Jawaharlal Nehru Port, Mumbai, Singh said, maintaining the total credit amount is estimated to be Rs 4.99 crore.

The bank account of the firm was frozen. However, the proprietor voluntarily made a payment of Rs 4.56 crore against the refund amount of nearly Rs 5 crore. Efforts are being made to recover the balance amount along with the interest and penalty, said the Additional Commissioner.

Inquiries made by the Preventive Wing of the Mumbai Customs revealed that the goods had been misdeclared and the value was highly inflated in the export documents.

The description (of the goods being exported) was given as articles of cement concrete specially designed for radiation, whereas on testing, the same was found to be ordinary rotten cement-concrete bricks.

The Mumbai Customs Department has also registered a case against Trivano International for the violation of various provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

Rs 72 lakh cleared

M/s Osaka Security and Housekeeping Services Pvt Ltd, Sonepat, provides security and manpower to a number of educational institutes and industrial units

Official sources said the period during which the company evaded service tax pertained to 2013-17 and the tax officials suspected that its owners prepared two sets of balance sheets in a bid to hoodwink the authorities concerned

GST Commissioner Vijay Mohan Jain said the companys director was summoned to the GST Commissionerate in Rohtak and he paid Rs 72 lakh

Fake invoices raised

In another case, the Central GST Division, Rohtak, has detected a GST fraud involving issuance of fake invoices running into crores and availment of bogus input tax credit (ITC). Additional Commissioner (GST) Mahender Singh said M/s Trivano International, Bahadurgarh, was found to have claimed ITC on invoices issued by a non-existent firm, M/s Balaji Timber.
uttara@tribuneindia.com

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 16

Haryana Financial Commissioner is not competent to amend rules for grant of number of liquor vend licences for the entire state, the Supreme Court has ruled.

By a majority of 2:1, a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi struck down Rule 24(i-eeee) of the Haryana Liquor License Rules 1970, terming it ultra vires the Punjab Excise Act, 1914.

The majority verdict was delivered by CJI Gogoi and Justice Navin Sinha while Justice KM Joseph dissented. Justice Joseph held that the Financial Commissioner had power to decide the number of licenses to be granted.

Writing the verdict for the majority, Justice Sinha held that the Financial Commissioner was not competent to amend the Rules for grant of number of licences for the entire state as this power was exclusive to the State Government under Section 6 read with Section 13(a) and 58(2)(e) of the 1914 Act.

In the scheme of the Act, the Rules and the Order read together it is apparent that a liquor license is to be granted for a local area only. The power to determine the number of licences that may be granted in any category in a local area is exclusively vested in the State Government under Section 58(2)(e) of the Act.

The delegation of this power by the State Government to the Financial Commissioner is prohibited by Section 13(a). This is only in consonance with the general power of superintendence vested in the State Government under Section 8, Justice Sinha wrote.

The ruling came on an appeal filed by International Spirits and Wines Association of India which had unsuccessfully challenged Rule 24(i-eeee) of the Haryana Liquor License Rules 1970 (as amended by the Haryana Liquor License (Amendment) Rules 2017) before the Punjab and Haryana HC.

The issue was if a sub-delegate of the Financial Commissioner was competent under Section 13(b) read with Section 59(a) to issue L-1BF licence for the entire state under the amended rule, notwithstanding the prohibition in Section 13(a) to the delegation of powers under Section 58 by the State Government. The High Court had dismissed the Associations petition.

However, the Supreme Court said: To hold that the power of Financial Commissioner under Section 59(a) of the Act to regulate sale of liquor, and that sale could be regulated through grant of licence, the Financial Commissioner was vested with the power to determine the number of licences, to our mind is not only unreasonable but also unsustainable. Such an interpretation amounts to reading words into the statute which the legislature itself never intended.

The amendment notified by the Excise 15 Commissioner as a delegate of the Financial Commissioner was per se ultra vires the powers of the latter under Section 6 and 13(a) read with Section 58(2)(e) of the Act," the majority said.

The top court allowed the Associations appeal, saying: "The Financial Commissioner was therefore not competent to amend the Rules with regard to grant of number of licences for the entire state, and which power was exclusive to the State Government under Section 6 read with Section 13(a) and 58(2)(e) of the Act.

It held that Rule 24(i-eeee) as amended by the Financial Commissioner in exercise of powers under Section 59(a) of the Act was ultra vires the powers of the Financial Commissioner under the Act and accordingly struck it down.
California se enfrenta a lo que podria ser la variante de coronavirus mas contagiosa hasta la fecha, lo que ha llevado a las autoridades a advertir que los residentes se enfrentan a un riesgo importante si no se vacunan.
Egypt's military spokesperson Tamer El-Refai said that seven militants were killed in a clash in North Sinai on Saturday morning.

"Terrorist elements attacked one of the security checkpoints in North Sinai," he said in a statement.

"The pursuit and elimination of the terrorist elements in the area where the incident took place is still ongoing.

El-Refai said 15 Egyptian military personnel were killed or wounded during the shootout.

The clash took place on Saturday at 6am.

Short link:


editorial@tribune.com

Chandigarh: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday announced that a Chair on the Bhagavad Gita would be established at Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius to carry out study and research. He said Kurukshetra University would assist in the work. He was interacting with prominent personalities in Mauritius. He said this Chair would play a vital role in social and moral uplift of people. He suggested competitions on recitation of 700 'shlokas' and their discourse. He said people of Mauritius should visit India as this would open new doors of exchange between both countries. Khattar also made a courtesy call on acting Mauritius President Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory in Port Louis. He said Gita Jayanti Mahotsav was being held in the state at the international level for the last three years. Welcoming Khattar Vyapoory said last year he got the opportunity to participate in the International Gita Mahotsav in Haryana. TNS
monicakchauhan@gmail.com

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 16

Mulana panchayat in Ambala has asked the villagers to evict Kashmiri boys and girls living in rented accommodation in the village.

This come two days after the deadliest militant attack on a convoy of security forces, which killed more than 40 CRPF men.

Several students of MM University in Mulana live in tented accommodation in the village.

The students have been told to vacate the houses in 24 hours.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

A shroud of sadness descended on the country as the news came in of the death of 40 CRPF men in a suicide bomb attack. The nation as one joins the shattered families in their hour of grief. But repeated rhetoric of a muscular kind has now been shown to be inadequate in addressing national security concerns. The daily kill count in the Kashmir valley and the extended political celebration of the surgical strikes, recently made into a testosterone-laden blockbuster movie, were insufficient to neutralise the consequences of a disastrous coalition experimentation, repeated governance failures and the sidelining of alternative political voices in the Valley.

The unrelenting security operations with no political solution on the horizon may well have given way to complacency in the Kashmirs security infrastructure, leading to a grave intelligence lapse that permitted the accumulation of several hundred kilograms of explosives used in the attack. Pakistan is, of course, behind this attack. But we cannot forget that it was a local youth who rammed the car into the CRPF convoy. Continuing counter-insurgency strikes in the Valley are creating a contrarian conflict, which can only be addressed through a political process. The government and people of India cannot win this battle without winning the hearts and minds of the local population.

If the huge cache of explosives establishes the scale of intelligence failure, we need to ask how could 2,500 security personnel be ferried without following the standard operating procedure? We cannot afford to shed more blood in vain. If choppers are the answer, let the government bring in a more expensive alternative. The maximum losses of security forces have happened on the Anantnag-Brijbehara-Pampore axis, yet there has not been sufficient surveillance to deter this murderous mayhem that reduced the CRPF bus to a mangled heap. Pakistans deep state will try every dirty trick in its book but we should be militarily prepared to stop, expose and hit at its resources like Masood Azhar. Simultaneously, we should create an atmosphere of political engagement to address the angst of the Valleys youth.
Rajeev Dhavan

Rajeev Dhavan

Senior advocate, Supreme Court

THE CBI has recently been in the news mostly for the wrong reasons, with the allegations embroiling not only its Directors, but also the Central Vigilance Commission and the Union government. In the latest embarrassment, two of the premier investigating agencys high-ranking officers, former interim Director K Nageswara Rao and additional legal division incharge of prosecution Bhasuran S were punished for contempt of court by the Supreme Court.

The case pertained to the alleged sexual abuse of inmates of a childrens shelter home in Muzaffarpur. Dissatisfied with the Bihar Polices investigation, the apex court had transferred the case to the CBI on November 27, 2018. The next day, following the earlier orders of August 29, 31 and September 18, the Supreme Court affirmed that the CBIs probe officer in this case will not be transferred without the leave of the court.

However, on January 17, after the approval of the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), investigating officer AK Sharma (Joint Director) was transferred as Additional Director General of the CRPF. This was in violation of the courts order. No permission was taken from the court, which was informed of the development in a status report on January 31. The file had a note (dated January 18) by Bhasuran that since AK Sharma had been beneficially promoted to the rank of DGP, there was no legal impediment to relieve the officer, but these facts be brought to the notice of the Supreme Court for approval. Rao issued the relieving order the same day. How can prior permission of the SC be substituted with ex post facto approval after the event? The whole purpose of the SCs order was defeated. Contempt notices were issued. The officers apologised and admitted to contempt of court. The Attorney General emphasised that since this was civil contempt, it suggested that there was no wilful default.

An unconditional apology is a time-honoured escape route, sharpened by Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, which says that a conditional apology may be acceptable if its bona fide. It could not be said that the transgression was not wilful or they knew of the order because it was in the file with the note. So, it was a case of mercy. It follows that the apology was not bona fide. This was incorporated in the sentence  to remain in the court till its rising and a fine of Rs 1 lakh (which the officers could afford).

Due process is needed with regard to the rising of the court sentence. Some High Courts have put the contemnors in custody without handcuffs or sent them to sit in the Registrars room with implied access to rest rooms, water, tea, refreshments etc. In this case, they were asked to sit in a corner. I saw that they did not have food. They just sat there in public obloquy. When the Attorney General asked the court after lunch if they could go home, the Chief Justice of India said the court hadnt risen, so they must stay.

There are some cases of constructive contempt by the media or by way of comment which is criminal contempt, raising issues of free speech. But this was a civil contempt case of wilfully disobeying an order of the court. If a court cannot enforce its orders, then its writs and orders will be futile. It is not enough that all civil and judicial authorities must act in aid of the Supreme Court (Article 144). In its expansive version, this might embolden policemen, magistrates or ministers to take matters into their own hands. Hence, the contempt proceedings. But in civil contempt, there is the yes/no answer, apart from the three defences of not knowing, not wilful and bona fide apology. These usually work, with or without strictures against the disobedient person. I dont think this was civil contempt (disobeying an order addressed to you), because it was not addressed to a particular officer. It could be one of abetment or criminal contempt for obstructing justice.

Since the draft order was prepared by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and affirmed by the ACC, were the DoPT officers and those servicing them or the committee not abettors? After all, the contemptuous officers were obeying their respondent superiors. The court should have ordered a high-level investigation into who was responsible for ordering the officers transfer by drafting the order eventually passed, with the paper trail leading to the Cabinet Committee.

Officers obey the courts because strictures or punishment by the judiciary could ruin their career. That is why officers do not want such a blot on their file. In some cases, simple strictures are enough. Perhaps, that may have been enough in this case also.
Pravin Sawhney

Pravin Sawhney

Strategic Affairs Expert

The detestable Pulwama blast is not about intelligence failure or the inability of security forces to act upon it, as the government would want us to believe. It is about India lacking capability, capacity and political will for war escalation. And Pakistan being aware of it.

Things were made worse by the 2016 so-called surgical strikes, where India (a) clandestinely hit terrorists temporary launchpads rather than Pakistan army posts, and (b) immediately informed Pakistan that it would not escalate matters  an acknowledgment of defunct political will. Instead of furtively building war-withal for strengthening border management, Indian Generals, notwithstanding incessant terror attacks and loss of lives, continue with counter-terror operations and hollow bravado.

Moreover, the Modi governments iron-fist Kashmir policy, with no political balm, helped Pakistan declare its innocence. It was a local Jaish militant and not a Pakistani operative who orchestrated the mayhem. What would be lost in this big picture that Pakistan would tom-tom are the following: the 300-kg explosives came from Pakistan, though their fabrication into an IED would have been done in the Valley (the expert may still be ensconced somewhere enjoying local shelter and hospitality); and the Jaish-released video clip shows the lone perpetrator with M-4 carbine, which is not in the inventory of the Indian Army and paramilitary forces. It came from Pakistan.

Given all this, when government spokespersons talk about revenge, they do not make sense. What exactly are Delhis options? Another surgical strike is ruled out since (a) Pakistan would be on better watch, (b) India is still unprepared for an escalation whose dynamics are unpredictable, and (c) with the General Election looming, an escalation would spell political suicide. Yet, expect the Generals to inform the nation that they would strike at a time and place of own choosing, whatever that means.

With military options closed, the Modi government could plug the borders porosity  the closure of Poonch-Rawalkote and Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus routes and the foot crossings at Chakothi-Uri, Rawalkot-Poonch, Chihana-Tithwal and Tattapani-Mendhar could be on the cards. Even reduction of Pakistan High Commission staff, if not outright closure of the mission, might happen. Perhaps, the Kartarpur corridor project could be a casualty of the events. Within the Valley, the security forces led by the Army would intensify further hammering by its iron fist.

Such optics, however, would not hide the truth behind the Pulwama attack, which can be summed up in eight crisp points. One, the Indian Army cannot win this war which is fully supported by the Pakistan army. Two, it is time that our Generals realise that military objectives cannot, and should not, be similar to political objectives. Three, the Army should go back to building conventional war-withal  starting with strengthening border management  which is the only way to browbeat Pakistan. Four, internal security should progressively be handed over to the paramilitary and police forces. Five, there is little point in blaming China for its support to Pakistan; Beijing would do exactly what is in its national interest. Five, since the locals support has grown overwhelmingly, the ground situation within the Valley is far worse than is admitted. Six, given the increased interoperability between China and Pakistan and the aggressiveness of their foreign policy, external military threats on Indias unsettled borders are rising rapidly. This does not mean that China will start a war with India; what it means is that it would support Pakistan to the hilt politically, with war material and its own non-contact war capabilities. Seven, Delhi should start talks with all Kashmiri stakeholders, including Hurriyat and Shah Faisal, who is trying to harness youth power. And eight, India should talk with Pakistan, not on confidence-building measures, but on conflict resolution.

Consideration of these issues matters because while the Indian Army can perhaps hold the land indefinitely, the same cannot be said about the people. And this is where India has reached the tipping point: the people are no longer afraid of dying. Hence, they appear to be reaching out to Pakistan, instead of the other way around, to fight the Indian state.

Much of the blame for this should go to the Army leadership which misled the political leadership into believing that fencing of borders was good enough protection against a determined adversary. For example, when I asked the then Army Chief, Gen Dalbir Singh, in his customary media interaction in January 2015, how long the Army would continue with internal stability operations, his response was shocking: You should ask the Home Ministry. The Chief had aligned his objectives with that of the political leadership. No wonder, he led the 2016 surgical strikes, which sought political rather than military gains; and he handed over the baton to his successor, who, given his vast experience in counter-terror operations, has lifted local tactical operations to the level of operational art. Pulwama is a consequence of all this.

The problem, to be sure, is not the undiminishing number of terrorists or militants in the Valley. The problem is the Pakistan army, which does not think much about Indian Armys war-fighting capabilities. This needs to be reversed if another Pulwama is to be avoided. This will not be easy since the Generals, unwillingly to give up their risen status, would desist from going back to the barracks. Surely, the Army Chief would not advise the Prime Minister that his force should go back to its primary task.
editorial@tribune.com

Neha Saini

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 15

In the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, reactions from across the socio-cultural landscape have been pouring in. A collective call to severe ties with Pakistan being the centre of all, traders, artistes and social activists also raised concerns regarding its impact on people-to-people ties.

Its a condemnable act that should not go unpunished. Over the years, the tension between the two neighboring countries had already limited the cultural and as well as economic relations across the border. Consistent acts of terrorism might hinder the people-to-people relations as such incidents have direct impact popular mindset, said Ramesh Yadav, president, Folkore Research Society that organises Hind Pak Dosti festival every year. He said that though patience is required by citizens of the two countries, such acts find criticism even in Pakistan. There must be people in Pakistan who will be raising their voice against such incidents.

The trade ties too through Wagah are expected to slump after withdrawal of the (Most Favoured Nation) MFN status to Pakistan. In a statement released in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, Gunbir Singh, former chairman, CII Punjab, said, India had given MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but it was never reciprocated by Pakistan. The trade across Wagah has been to the tune of 2.4 billion USD per annum, and has depleted considerably due to tensions primarily in Kashmir.

He said that through the thick and thin, the barter trade across borders of Kashmir and the occupied Kashmir on the Pakistan side has been substantive, much to the detriment of actual fiscal trade between the countries. Lack of improvement in the situation even after the takeover of the new Imran Khan government in Pakistan, and the impending national elections in India, coupled with disruptive action in Kashmir, trade and commerce between the two nations is definitely heading for nadir, he said.
editorial@tribune.com

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

The Standing Committee of the UT Administrators Advisory Council on Environment has strongly recommended that the use of paver blocks should be discouraged in the city.

Acting on the recommendation, the Department of Environment has written to the Municipal Corporation and other stakeholders against installing paver blocks around the trees and strictly follow the green action plan of the UT while landscaping.

Rahul Mahajan, a social activist, said with pavers around, trees in the city were dying unnatural death. He added that pavers and tiles block aeration of trees and plants.

The panel formed under the chairmanship of former Union Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal recommended that old pavers should be used wherever required and no fresh tenders be issued.

Notably, the MC House had yesterday approved tender worth crores for paver blocks.

Bansal said there was a need to formulate an advisory committee on landscaping of the city, which would decide issues like paver blocks.
editorial@tribune.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 15

Just about three days before the proposed mass casual leave by the PGI Medical Technologists Association, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today stayed the operation of the strike notice. Taking up a petition filed by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, Justice Tejinder Singh Dhindsa also issued notice of motion to the Union of India and another respondent.

The direction came after Justice Dhindsas Bench was told that 10,000 patients on an average visited OPDs in the PGI daily and the strike contemplated on February 18 would cause immense disruption to the smooth functioning of the institute. It would also be violative of then provisions of the East Punjab Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1947.

As the case came up for hearing, counsel for the petitioner-institute Amit Jhanji told the Bench that the writ petition was filed to assail strike notice dated January 16 issued by the PGI Medical Technologists Association for observing a days mass casual leave on February18.

Justice Dhindsa asserted the perusal of the impugned strike notice would reveal that the association as intending to observe the one-day strike due to non-implementation of Professor Ashok Kumar Gupta Committees sixth CPC pay anomaly report for grant of grade pay of Rs 4, 600 with effect from January 1, 2006.

Justice Dhindsa also recorded Jhanjis contention that the proposal for implementation of the committee report had been duly sent by the petitioner-institute, but was rejected by the Central Government. But the representatives of the PGI Employees Union held a meeting with the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Health and Welfare, on December 21, 2018, in New Delhi.

In pursuance thereto, the petitioner-institute had again taken up the matter with the Ministry vide office letter dated January 17 to reconsider the proposal. The issue/grievance of the respondent-association was, as of date, still under consideration.

Under such circumstances, the token strike called would be wholly unjustified and against public interest. Issuing notice of motion for February 21, Justice Dhindsa added: In the meantime, operation of the impugned notice dated January 16 shall remain stayed.

Strike will cause disruption, bench told

The direction came after Justice Dhindsas Bench was told that 10,000 patients on an average visit OPDs in the PGI daily and the strike contemplated on February 18 would cause immense disruption to the smooth functioning of the institute. It would also be violative of then provisions of the East Punjab Essential Services (Maintenance) Act, 1947.
Tungsten Corp. f/k/a Online Tele-Solutions Inc. ( OTCMKTS:TUNG TUNG message board ) is an interesting ticker which we covered in a brief video in the end of May. The interesting part comes when you see the unusual pump for which they paid a whopping $2.2 million to promoters.

After all, the pump they had didn't manage to generate any big jumps in their stock price and they had only one day in which their stock price moved 10% upwards. The other trade sessions that had movement above 10%, unfortunately were in a negative direction. Most recently the ticker has been ending up in the red at market close for the last 5 trade sessions.

In the beginning of the month TUNG's stock managed to have a peak at $0.98, but with the recent movements in their stock price they are down 57% closing yesterday's trade session at $0.56. Nonetheless they have a healthy average trading volume of 573 thousand shares and daily trade value ranging from $100 thousand to $1.2 million.

The market cap of the company is mind-blowing for it's actual size and is estimated at $39 million. It's about time for their latest quarterly report to be filed with the SEC listing the mining property acquisitions and financial changes in more detail. We know from press releases that they managed to acquire mineral claims in Nevada in a transaction agreement with Nevada Tungsten Holdings Ltd, thus acquiring its mineral rights regarding patented and unpatented claims.

Still, it is unknown if this wasn't just another well planned action by TUNG in order to raise attention in their stock and enriching insiders. We all have seen well played scams that have a very well built facade with acquisitions and financing with which insiders manage to make times more the amount that they have invested in such activities. However, is TUNG the latest addition to the team of pump scheme aces?

This is a question for the future to tell. All we have now is suggestions and one can only speculate on how things will go for them based on the facts and the history of the company and it's leaders. In brief words, the pump that TUNG's stock is experiencing at the moment has been in the works for quite a while. The indications for that can be found with a few searches in Google from which we found out that the current CEO of TUNG registered the company's website 5 months before he took the helm.

Mr. Guy Martin is linked to another OTC Markets pump scheme in the face of Coyote Resources Inc. (OTCMKTS:COYR) being its CEO for quite a while now. The company hasn't yet experienced the downfall that TUNG faced in the last few trading sessions, but it hasn't generated any revenue since its inception in 2007 either. TUNG and COYR share another similarity apart from having the same man acting as CEO. The two companies have headquarters that are on the same address at 1671 Southwest 105 Lane, Davie, Florida. A quick search on Google maps reveals the address to be that of a very good looking house that even has a pool in the back, which we always consider as a bad sign. You can take a look at the beautiful house in question below.

All in all TUNG is a risky investment opportunity even if you decide to make a short term investment. This is due to the fact that virtually all of the company's stock is controlled by Filipino seed shareholders (the company's previous office was located in the Philippines, before Guy Martin sheltered in his house and also if you followed them closely you will see that the previous Chief Officers were Filipino) that are ready to dump stock at any time, so be sure to do your due diligence and weigh out the risks before you decide to play their game.
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, February 15

The countrys exports grew marginally by 3.74% in January due to subdued performance of key sectors, including engineering, leather, and gems and jewellery, even as the trade deficit narrowed to $14.73 billion.

According to data from the Commerce Ministry, exports during the month increased to $26.36 billion, compared with $25.41 billion in January 2018. Exports growth remained almost flat in November and December 2018.

In January, engineering exports grew by only 1%, while leather, and gems and jewellery recorded a growth of 0.33% and 6.67%, respectively. Exports of petroleum products shrinked by 19%.

Imports also remained almost flat at $41 billion during the last month. The trade deficit stood at $15.67 billion in January 2018.

However, the deficit in January 2019 widened as compared to December 2018 when it stood at $13 billion.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president Ganesh Kumar Gupta said the nominal growth in exports is due to tough global condition and some constraints on the domestic front.

Global trade growth is slowing down and global economies, including China and South East Asian nations, are also facing contraction in manufacturing worsening the fragile global situation, he said.

He demanded immediate support, including augmenting the flow of credit, higher tax deduction for research and development and better fiscal support for boosting exports.  PTI

Rise to $26.36 billion
Terre Haute, IN (47803)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 82F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Variable clouds with scattered thunderstorms. Low around 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
After four decades, the music is still rockin and better than ever.

DJ Jack Labarko Inc. has been providing musical entertainment to Johnstown and surrounding areas for 40 years, and its a business that Jack and Barbara Labarko started because they had a shared love of music and dancing.
@IsaacAvilucea on Twitter

Isaac Avilucea is The Trentonians main municipal scribe. A two-time prior restraint winner and testicular cancer survivor, he relishes his reputation as the "Mean Girls" reporter that followed his 18-day stay at the now-defunct North Adams Transcript.
A warning notice on potential risks to Chinese tourists travelling to New Zealand has raised further questions about the state of the New Zealand-China relationship. The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China, in New Zealand, issued a notice to tourists in December warning of robberies, a low rate of police investigation, dangerous driving conditions, and cases of Chinese citizens being refused entry to New Zealand, despite having a valid visa.

In January, another notice was issued in a similar vein, focusing on the dangers of driving on New Zealand roads. Later that month, a separate notice listed risks relating to the safety of people and their property, as well as road safety and issues relating to visas and travel documentation.

Full Article

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
"Do not travel to Haiti due to crime and civil unrest," the U.S. State Department says, urging Americans to avoid the country that is wracked with violent protests against President Jovenel Moise. The State Department is pulling all nonemergency U.S. personnel and their family members from the country.

The U.S. advisory comes one week after anti-corruption protests intensified, reflecting fury over a court report that alleges billions of dollars in development money from Venezuela's Petrocaribe fund were diverted or misused. The accusations include Moise and a company he headed before he took office in 2017.

Full Article

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Toyota launched the 2020 Tacoma model at the 2019 Chicago Auto Show. Although its sibling, the Sequoia TRD Pro, stole its thunder at the, one cannot sideline the Tacoma. After all, it is the best-selling mid-size pickup truck currently on the market. The 2020 Toyota Tacoma does not bring a lot of changes to the table; mechanically or cosmetically. Do you think there is enough to differentiate it from the 2019 model and keep up with the rising competition?

Background

Toyota Tacoma has been around for almost 24 years now. The Tacoma replaced the fifth-generation Hilux, also known as Toyota Pickup in the U.S., back in 1995, and was touted as a successor to the Hilux in almost every aspect. Despite the competition, the Tacoma has managed to hold on to the crown for 14 years straight.

In fact, in 2018, Toyota sold more than 200,000 Tacomas in a single year for the first time since its inception - 245,659 examples, to be precise.

This was an increase of 24-percent over the 2017 sales figures. Toyotas biggest rival is the phenom from the GM stable, the Chevy Colorado. Chevy sold a combined 168,334 exmaples of the GMC Canyon and Chevrolet Colorado. Basically, Toyota sold almost 75,000 units more than GM could both of its midsized trucks combined, thus showing the dominance it enjoys in the mid-size pickup truck market.

Exterior

New headlight and grille

Chrome highlights in taillight housing

Sequential LED headlights

New LED fog lamps and bed lamp

New Army Green shade on TRD Pro trim

The 2020 Toyota Tacoma looks fresh, but theres no hiding the fact that it went under the knife to look younger. Other than changes to the front grille and headlights, there is nothing much to talk about; but these changes are enough to trigger brand recall each time you are out truck-shopping in this crowded market. It is offered in six trims in total - SR, SR5, TRD Sport, TRD Off-road, Limited, and TRD Pro - and each of them has something new to offer.

The 2020 Toyota Tacoma is available in extended-cab and crew-cab configurations.

Extended cabs feature a six-foot-seven bed, whereas the crew cab can be had with either the six-foot-seven bed or a five-foot-five bed.

Upfront, the entry-level SR and SR5 trims remain the same. The Tacomas huge grille dominates the front and has chrome bits surrounding it. All the other trims receive a new grille that is the same size but boasts a different design. Its flanked by headlights that sweep back into the fenders. The Limited trim is offered with new LED headlights, whereas the TRD Sport comes with new LED fog lamps. The TRD Pro is offered with new sequential LED headlights and daytime running lights.

The profile is where the Tacoma looks like a beast. The Tacoma is a typical pickup truck with a bed that hangs well past the rear wheels. The Tacoma comes with painted flared wheel arches on some trims, while the others have been left as it is to accentuate the rugged look of the Tacoma. The abrupt raise at the end of the Tacomas window sill at the rear is a trademark Toyota-touch and is seen on other models as well.

All trim levels have changed in the rear to some degree. The entry level trims come with new, darker taillight housings.

I personally feel this is more in sync with the overall aura of the Tacoma, and it certainly adds to the styling and rugged-feel of the truck. The TRD Sport comes with chrome taillight inserts and a new LED bed lamp. The TRD Pro, on the other hand, receives black inserts in the taillamps. Sounds like a tedious job, but it helps distinguish the models from each other. The Tacoma TRD Pro, just like other vehicles in the TRD Pro lineup, can be availed in a new, exclusive, Army Green shade. This completes the color palette that already includes shades like the Super White, Midnight Black Metallic, and Magnetic Grey Metallic.

Interior

10-way power adjustable drivers seat

Supports Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa

Toyota Safety Sense P standard on all trims

Keyless ignition system

Surround-view camera system

Be it the driving position, or the tech-friendliness, neither of the two aspects have been the Tacomas strong suits. However, the Japanese automaker has decided to address both these issues on the 2020 model. The truck used to come with four-way manually adjustable seats up to the 2019 model, which limited drivers from a finding a perfect driving position. But this time, Toyota has offered a 10-way power adjustable drivers seat as standard equipment from the SR5 trim on up. The subpar seating was a major turn-off for prospective buyers, and it is good to see the automaker rectify it.

Some trims also feature new cloth seats. The seats are comfortable, and there is no dearth of space in the front or rear.

Coming to the second flaw, Toyota has finally realized that not offering simple stuff like Apple CarPlay on its lineup will turn away prospective buyers. So, for the 2020 model, Toyota has offered the Tacoma with a bigger 8.0-inch touchscreen infotainment system that supports both, Android Auto as well as Apple CarPlay. In fact, the automaker has gone the extra mile and is even offering Amazon Alexa on the 2020 model! The Tacoma comes with a keyless ignition system. As mentioned earlier, an LED bed lamp has also been added to the options list for increased nighttime visibility while loading and unloading cargo. The TRD Sport, TRD Pro, and Limited trims benefit from a surround-view camera system. The TRD Off-Road and TRD Pro feature a camera that points under the vehicle to help the driver keep tabs on off-road obstacles. Neat!

All trims now come with the Toyota Safety Sense P, which includes -

Pre-Collision Warning

Pedestrian Detection

Lane Departure Warning

Automatic High-Beams

Radar Cruise Control

Drivetrian

2.7-liter, naturally-aspirated engine

3.5-liter, V-6 unit

Packs 278 horses and 265 pound-feet of torque

Six-speed manual available

Towing capacity up to 6,800 pounds

New 16-inch alloys

Re-tuned shocks and rear springs

The 2020 Toyota Tacoma does not receive any changes under the hood. It still drives on the same 2.7-liter, naturally aspirated, four-cylinder that packs 159 horses and 180 pound-feet of torque. Theres also a the 3.5-liter, V-6 unit that churns out 278 horses and 265 pound-feet of torque. In my opinion, Toyota should have bumped up those power figures to stay in line with the competition. The Colorado and the Ranger offer up to 369 pound-feet and 310 pound-feet of torque, respectively. These things matter a lot when you are driving on non-tarmac surfaces. Both engines are mated to a six-speed automatic transmission as standard, but the larger V-6 mill can be mated to a six-speed manual as well. So, there is something for the purists!

Most of the 2020 Toyota Tacoma trims come standard with rear-wheel drive, and offer a part-time four-wheel-drive system.

The TRD Sport exclusively sends power to the rear wheels, while the TRD Pro comes only with a four-wheel-drive system.

The V-6 Tacomas come standard with a tow kit that includes a hitch, an engine oil cooler, a power steering cooler, an automatic transmission fluid cooler, and a 130-amp alternator.

The towing capacity remains unchanged as the Toyota Tacoma can still tow up to 6,800 pounds.

The Tacoma TRD Pro, however, comes with a set of changes of its own. It now rides on a set of new 16-inch rollers that are about 4 pounds lighter than the last set. The Fox shocks and rear springs have been re-tuned by Toyota Racing Development to accommodate the lighter wheels. They are 2.5-inch internal bypass shocks that improve ride comfort and off-road performance. This needs a mention because any change to the tuning could make a big difference to the pickup truck.

Although there is no official word yet, the TRD Off-Road and the TRD Pro trims will carry over the full suite of the all-wheel-drive system:

Push-Button Locking Rear Differential

Crawl Control System

Hill-Descent Control

Five Off-Road Traction Control Modes

2020 Toyota Tacoma specifications

Engine 2.7-liter, naturally-aspirated four-cylinder 3.5-liter, V-6 Horsepower 159 horsepower 278 horsepower Torque 180 pound feet 265 pound feet Transmission Six-Speed automatic Six-speed automatic or six-speed manual gearbox Fuel economy 21/20 19 Towing Capacity 6,800 pounds 6,800 pounds

Pricing

There is no word pricing for the 2020 Toyota Tacoma, but the 2019 models started at $25,500. Going by the new features and specifications, there should not be a significant change. So, we speculate the prices to begin around $26,000.

Competition

The Chevrolet Colorado has been a consistent performer for the bow-tie ever since its inception. The Colorado enjoyed a duopoly alongside the Tacoma, and the two steamrolled the competition for a very long time. However, the Colorado never got the upper hand because of its Jack of all, master of none traits. The truck looks decent, has a rich feature-list, an array of engines in its arsenal, but it never struck a chord with consumers. It looks curvy and butch at the same time and manages to put across its urban commuter and off-road beast alter egos quite well.

On the inside, the base trims come with nothing but basic features like Air Conditioning, Power Windows, and a Power Steering Wheel. As expected, the space on the inside is slim. While the front seats offer decent space, the rear is cramped even on the crew cab models. Overall cabin quality is decent, and it does not feel like Chevrolet has cut corners anywhere. Move up the ladder and the features bucket will keep filling, and by the time you reach the top-trim, you will see the Colorado with stuff like:

8-inch Touchscreen Infotainment System with Navigation

Cruise Control

Heated Leather Seats

Bose Audio System

Moonroof

The Colorado comes with three engine options, serving customers with varied needs. A 2.5-liter, four-cylinder, a 3.6-liter, six-cylinder, and a 2.8-liter, four-cylinder turbodiesel engine. All the engines are quite potent and do their duties well. Colorados alter ego - the ZR2 - is a monster off the road. It comes with features like front and rear locking differentials, an uprated suspension, and a wider track. To make sure rivals dont catch up with it, GM has worked on the already-capable ZR2 and launched the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Bison. So, whether youre looking for a daily driver or an adventurous pickup, the Colorado has you covered.

Chevrolet Colorado specifications

Engine 2.5-liter, four cylinder 3.6-liter, six cylinder 2.8-liter, four cylinder turbodiesel Power 200 hp 308 hp 181 hp Torque 191 lb-ft 275 lb-ft 369 lb-ft Transmission Six-speed Eight-speed Six-speed gearbox Fuel Economy (Combined) 23 mpg 21 mpg 24 mpg Towing Capacity 7,000 7,700 7,700 Price $21,300 onwards

Read our full review on the 2018 Chevrolet Colorado

The Ranger has been a vital moniker for the Blue Oval for ages now. It has been used on three different models to date, originating in 1958. The Ford Ranger pickup truck was launched in 1983, succeeding the 10-year old model called the Ford Courier. The pickup truck did quite well for almost 20 years before disappearing from the States in 2011. However, realizing the potential of the truck, Ford decided to revive the moniker in 2018, and it has its eyes set on the Tacoma, the Colarado, and the Gladiator. Ford has released a swarm of Rangers on the market, catering right from a budget customer to a buyer with loaded pockets.

The Ranger is not a very good-looking truck per se, but it dresses smart. The thick, black cladding adds to the character of the Ranger. It gels well with the crowd, but if youre looking for something flashy, look elsewhere. The Ranger has a deep cut into the lower doors that adds to the overall charisma of the truck. Extended-cab versions come with a six-foot bed, while crew cabs feature a five-foot bed and front-hinged rear doors.

In terms of space and comfort, the Ranger supersedes its rivals by a big margin. The seats are comfortable and cushiony, and there are enough legroom and shoulderroom even at the rear. With that said, the Rangers cabin quality is something Ford should work on. The center console, door panels, and the dash have hard plastics and do feel inferior to the likes of the Colorado and the Tacoma. As is the case with any Ford, there is a palette of top-class features to choose from, but most of them are optional. I dare say that the Ranger comes in barebones form in the lower trims. However, if you are ready to splurge extra moolah, Ford will pamper you with features like -

8-inch touchscreen Infotainment System with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto

Leather-wrapped Steering Wheel

Adaptive Cruise Control

Keyless Entry

Heated Front Seats

Leather Upholstery

Satellite Radio

Unlike its rivals, the Ranger comes with just one engine option - a 2.3-liter, four-cylinder EcoBoost that packs 270 horses and 310 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via an excellent 10-speed automatic transmission that covers up for the lack of engine options in the lineup. The Ranger can be availed with all-wheel drive as well. This engine is quite versatile and has enough punch in it for any of your activities. It comes with a locking rear differential and independent suspension in the front and rear. However, the Ranger is not an off-roader by any means. You can opt for the FX4 package, but we would say the Colorado ZR2 Bison performs much better in this department, followed by the Tacoma TRD Pro.

Ford Ranger specifications

Engine 2.3-liter, four-cylinder, EcoBoost unit Power 270 horsepower Torque 310 pound-feet Transmission 10-speed automatic gearbox Fuel Economy (Combined) 23 mpg Towing Capacity 7,500 pounds Price $24,300 onwards

Read our full review on the 2019 Ford Ranger

Final Thoughts

The Tacoma is an important product for the Japanese giant in the U.S. market. Although the Tacoma was ruling the segment until now, it is facing real heat from the competition lately. The Colorado has been closing in on the gap steadily, and there are other automakers that have also decided to take a share of the pie that Toyota has been enjoying for over a decade now. The first threat would be the resurrected, home-grown, Ford Ranger. Then there is also Jeep with its boy-wonder, the Gladiator. With both these brands trying to find their feet in this highly competitive segment, expect them to go berserk with their offering and even slash prices moving forward. So, unless Toyota decides to spice up things and provide better bang for the buck, it could very well lose its crown to any of its three potential rivals. What are your thoughts on the refreshed 2020 Toyota Tacoma? Share them with us in the comments section below.

Love it It is offered with a third pedal Comes with Toyota Safety Sense P suite on all the trims Now supports Apple CarPlay and Amazon Alexa!

Leave it Both the engines are a letdown in tougher, adventurous situations Toyota should have made the 2020 model more exciting; all updates are very minor Lack of optional packages



Further reading

2020 Toyota Tacoma Arrives At Chicago With New Features And Mild Visual Updates

Read our full review on the 2018 Toyota Tacoma.

Read our full review of the 2019 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro.
Ferrari has long prided itself on offering the finest driving machines around, and for years, the formula was quite simple - engine in the middle, power at the back, sharp suspension in the corners, and lots of wing at both ends. Now, however, as new technology finds its way into the performance sector, the Prancing Horse has been forced to adapt, which means the adoption of stuff like hybrid powerplants. And as it turns out, electrified assistance will become a major part of Ferraris offerings in just a few short years, starting with an upcoming V-8 supercar.

Creating A New Breed Of Ferrari

During a recent earnings call, Louis Camilleri, Ferraris current CEO, confirmed that the brand will debut a new hybrid supercar sometime this year, as reported by Automotive News. Whats more, the outlet also reports that the hybrid will come with more output than the 488 Pista, which means a figure over 710 horsepower. The new hybrid supercar will once again use Ferraris tried-and-true mid-engine layout, with a V-8 onboard for the internal combustion, and a single electric motor for the extra go.

Interestingly, the new hybrid supercar will fall under a new full-fledged high-volume nameplate, as opposed to a limited edition model like the LaFerrari.

Unfortunately, the new hybrid supercar wont arrive in time for the Geneva Motor Show in March, but it should debut sometime later this year with delivery expected by early 2020.

As for where and when the new Ferrari will finally make its appearance, well its hard to say. The Geneva Auto Show is the most obvious place, but with that out, we think a high-end motoring event like the Concorso dEleganza Villa dEste in Italy this coming May might fit the bill, as would the Pebble Beach Concours dElegance in California this August.

Ferrars Tech Takes A Step Forward

Note: Ferrari LaFerrari pictured here.

Hybrid power in a Ferrari is actually nothing new, as the Prancing Horse first dipped its toe into the world of electrified powertrains a few years back with the LaFerrari halo machine.

To help the brand break new ground with its range of production vehicles, the LaFerrari came equipped with a streetified version of Ferraris HY-KERS Formula 1 racing technology, thus creating one of the most impressive streetcars to ever wear the badge - and thats no small feat.

As such, we believe this new V-8 supercar will most likely offer an evolution of the LaFerraris hybrid system.

Its well-timed, as Ferrari has said previously that it will offer hybrid variants for more than half of its lineup by 2022, as well as offer an all-electric vehicle sometime within the same timeframe.

Whats more, Ferrari is working on its first SUV model as well, which will no doubt benefit from the brands foray into electrification.

Going hybrid is an interesting move for Ferrari, as it allows for more power and greater efficiency without going turbo. Indeed, with a hybrid naturally aspirated powerplant, drivers will still get a sharp throttle response, sky-high redline, and an uncorked exhaust note, all of which are characteristics that Ferrari considers critical to its brand perception.

As hybrids become a more regular thing for Ferrari, this upcoming V-8 supercar will undoubtedly lead the way. This could very well be the most important model to wear a Prancing Horse Badge since the LeFerrari.

For reference, the LaFerraris hybrid system uses a naturally aspirated 6.3-liter V-12 and two electric motors to produce 963 horsepower and 663 pound-feet of torque.

With the electricity providing gobs of low-end torque, Ferraris engineers tuned the 12 for peak high-rpm output, and the end result is a relatively flat power band and responsive throttle. One of the electric motors is directly integrated with the dual-clutch transmission, which makes for efficient packaging, while the batteries are mounted low in the chassis, giving it a low center of gravity.

Are you excited by Ferraris move towards electrification? Let us know in the comments section below.

Further Reading

Read our full review on the 2014 Ferrari LaFerrari.

Read our speculative review on the 2021 Ferrari LaFerrari Successor.

Is Ferrari Working On A Hybrid Sports Car?

Ferrari To Deliver Hybrid V-8 In 2019 - Will It Be Used To Fight The Lamborghini Urus SUV?

Source: Automotive News
Kansas City police investigated a reported bomb threat Friday night at a Northland Walmart.Authorities said the threat was reported just after 9 p.m. at the store near Interstate 29 and Barry Road.Police say no bomb was found. Kansas City police investigated a reported bomb threat Friday night at a Northland Walmart.
Tara Raghuveer wants to raise the alarm. "The national housing crisis has not skipped over Kansas City," she says. "Half the people in this city are tenants and many of them have issues with their housing." Raghuveer is the woman behind the Kansas City Eviction Project, which has analyzed 18 years of eviction filings in Jackson County.
KMBZ's Moneyline host survived WWII concentration camp as a child Kansas City, MO - Peter Newman is a certified public accountant who has hosted Moneyline on KMBZ for more than 30 years. Peter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1938, not too long after the Nazis took over. He and his family are Jewish. Peter and his parents fled Austria for Yugoslavia.

In one of the best local discussions this week . . . Kansas City hosts share a moment with one of their colleagues and consider his arduous journey to their offices. Take a listen:
2 men rob Northland bank Authorities are looking for two men who robbed a bank in the Northland Friday morning.

It's always amazing to see people try and get away with bank robbery given that we live in the age of surveillance . . . Today, two crooks were successful in their initial heist but most likely will be scooped up later thanks to the litany of spying that every American both guilty and innocent endures.Read more:
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) predicted Thursday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that "dignity" will be back in the Oval Office in 2020. Host Joe Scarborough asked McCaskill if the socialist Democrats are hurting the "heartland Democrats, to which the new MSNBC political analyst said she has to believe the party is going to have to sell the American people they are "not going to push extreme ideas."
[February 15, 2019] DUKE ENERGY INVESTIGATION INITIATED by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Investigates the Officers and Directors of Duke Energy Corporation - DUK

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF has commenced an investigation into Duke Energy (News - Alert) Corporation (NYSE: DUK). On February 1, 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that, based on a filing by the North American Electric Reliability Corp., a nonprofit oversight entity, and people familiar with the matter, the Company was facing a $10M fine by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for numerous violations of safety and cyber security rules, including "repeated failures to implement physical and cyber security protections," and that the Company had "failed to protect sensitive information on its most critical cyber assets and allowed employees without proper clearances to access computerized records for more than four years." According to the report, the 127 violations cited presented a serious risk to "the eastern interconnection, the web of electric utilities east of the Rocky Mountains that furnishes electricity to most Ameicans."



KSF's investigation is focusing on whether Duke's officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to Duke's shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of Duke shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-duk/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190215005536/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 15, 2019] ALLERGAN 96 HOUR DEADLINE ALERT: Approximately 96 Hours Remain; Former Louisiana Attorney General and Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Remind Investors with Losses in Excess Of $100,000 of Deadline in Class Action Lawsuit Against Allergan plc. - AGN

Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors with large financial interests that they have only until February 19, 2019 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Allergan plc. (NYSE: AGN (News - Alert) ). Investor losses must relate to purchases of the Company's shares between February 24, 2017, and December 19, 2018. This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. What You May Do If you purchased shares of Allergan and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, contact KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or via email (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-agn/ to learn more. If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action by overseeing lead counsel with the goal of obtaining a fair and just resolution, you must request this position by application to the Court by February 19, 2019.



About the Lawsuit On December 19, 2018, the Company announced that it had halted the sale of its textured breast implants in the European market following a compulsory recall request from the French regulatory authority, Agence Nationale de Securite du Medicament, after the product's CE Mark certification expired, amid concerns of a link to a rare form of cancer.

On this news, the price of Allergan's shares plummeted. The first-filed case is Cook v. Allergan Plc et al, No. 18-cv-12089. About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190215005545/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 15, 2019] CBS CORPORATION INVESTIGATION UPDATE by Former Louisiana Attorney General: Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC Continues to Investigate the Officers and Directors of CBS Corporation - CBS

Former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., Esq., a partner at the law firm of Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF"), announces that KSF continues its investigation into CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS). Beginning in November 2017, news reports revealed claims of sexual harassment and lewd conduct by veteran CBS anchor Charlie Rose toward numerous female employees dating back decades up to 2017, which CBS executives knew of but failed to take adequate measures to prevent. In July 2018, media reports exposed sexual harassment claims against CEO Leslie Moonves for conduct spanning the 1980s and mid-2000s including forcible touching or kissing and threats of career sabotage, all largely ignored by CBS. Subsequent reports further detailed a widespread culture of sexual harassment at CBS, ignored or even suppressed by executives, including three six-figure settlements with employees. The Company's actions, directed by its executives, have exposed it to significant litigation and expense including an ongoing securities class action lawsuit for failing to disclose material information to investors regarding the above conduct, violating feeral securities laws. Recently, the lawsuit's allegations were expanded to include that Moonves and other executives had sold over 3.4 million shares of CBS stock before the claims went public, totaling over $200M in proceeds.



KSF's investigation is focusing on whether CBS officers and/or directors breached their fiduciary duties to CBS shareholders or otherwise violated state or federal laws. If you have information that would assist KSF in its investigation, or have been a long-term holder of CBS shares and would like to discuss your legal rights, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com), or visit https://www.ksfcounsel.com/cases/nyse-cbs/ to learn more.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC KSF, whose partners include Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana. To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190215005532/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 15, 2019] Training Sessions Unveiled for Analytics Summit 2019 Presented by the UC Center for Business Analytics

Training session curriculums and schedules have been announced for Analytics Summit 2019 presented by the University of Cincinnati Center for Business Analytics. The 8th annual event is being held April 1-3, 2019 at the Sharonville Convention Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. All training sessions will be held April 1 and 2 from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. (EST), with the exception of the Analytics for Executives session being held April 2nd from noon until 5 p.m. Hands-on, practical training techniques will give students the opportunity to interact directly with expert instructors and peers, and get immediate feedback along with answers to technical and business-related questions. Sessions summaries follow. Prospective students are encouraged to visit the event website for a complete session outline, prerequisites, and details. Advanced MS Power BI - This course takes a deep dive into advanced level Power BI skills, covering lesser-known but more advanced skills from the Power BI set of features. The session will be led by Geoff Marsh, BI Practice Leader from Amend Consulting, and Derek Sasthav, Project Leader at Amend. Machine Learning with R - Learn the fundamentals and application of modern machine learning tasks. This course will cover unsupervised techniques to discover the hidden structure of datasets along with supervised techniques for predicting categorical and numeric responses via classification and regression. Session instructors will be Brad Boehmk, Director of Data Science at 84.51o, and Brandon Greenwell, Senior Data Scientist at Ascend Innovations.



Advanced Tableau Training - This two-day workshop on Tableau will cover intermediate and advanced topics. Attendees should have attended previous "Introduction to Tableau" training or have significant experience using Tableau in a professional environment. Course content will include advanced chart types and business dashboards, advanced calculations in Tableau, using calculations, parameters, and table calculations, and other topics. Jeff Shaffer, Tableau Zen Master, will lead this session. Big Data with Hadoop & Spark - Attendees will learn how these powerful tools function and form the core of big data analytics systems. The emphasis of this course will be on understanding the fundamental principles of big data systems using Hadoop and Spark and will extend beyond basics to introduce some technical components. Andrew Harrison, Assistant Professor of Information Systems at the Lindner School of Business at UC, and Zhe (Jay) Shan, Assistant Professor in Dept. Information Systems and Analytics at Miami University Farmer School of Business will lead this session.

Analytics for Executives - This half-day session led by Glenn Wegryn, Executive Director at the UC Center for Business Analytics is intended for business leaders at the Director level and above. It will focus on providing a fundamental understanding of what analytics is, examples of successful applications in financial and other industries, how to get started, and what resources, skill sets, organization, and cultural elements need to be in place for long-term success. Complete details and registration information can be found on the Analytics Summit 2019 event registration site. About the University of Cincinnati's Center for Business Analytics The Center for Business Analytics at the University of Cincinnati's Carl H. Lindner College of Business is a corporate-academic partnership that brings together a multidisciplinary group of businesses, organizations, faculty, and students to provide education and an exchange of ideas and best practices regarding the application of data-driven analytical methods for enhancing organizational performance. In collaboration with its corporate sponsors, the center provides symposia, student projects, community training, and applied research focused on the use of techniques such as data visualization, data mining, predictive modeling, simulation, and optimization to solve important problems faced by businesses, government and non-profit organizations. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190215005596/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
[February 15, 2019] Canada Invests in Energy Efficiency Improvements in Brockville

BROCKVILLE, ON, Feb. 15, 2019 /CNW/ - Energy efficiency in industry strengthens competitiveness, lowers costs, maximizes profits and promotes a more sustainable environment. Promoting and rewarding energy-efficient practices are key components of Canada's approach to transitioning to a clean energy future. Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands, Mark Gerretsen, on behalf of Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, today formally recognized a $40,000 investment for 3M Canada for an ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems Standard that reduced its energy consumption and improved environmental performance. With funding from Natural Resources Canada and facilitated by the Canadian Industry Partnership for Energy Conservation (CIPEC), the project enabled 3M Canada to improve the energy performance of its facilities across Ontario, including its plant in Brockville.



CIPEC includes more than 2,300 facilities representing 20 industrial sectors and over 50 trade associations. An award-winning partnership between the Government of Canada and Canadian industry, CIPEC advances industrial energy efficiency by promoting the uptake of energy management systems, best practices and technologies. Through Generation Energy, Canada's national energy dialogue, Canadians expressed that they want to see Canada continuing to be a leader in the transition to a clean growth economy. Canada will continue to support innovative projects that create jobs, improve industry competitiveness, cut pollution and act on climate change.

Quick Facts The ISO 50001 Energy Management Systems Standard is an internationally recognized voluntary standard that gives organizations a structured framework to manage energy.

Organizations that have implemented ISO 50001 have reduced energy costs and increased competitiveness while minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental impacts. Quote "With industry and government working together at all levels, we can create a more prosperous, competitive and sustainable Canada. Our government is committed to energy efficiency, and we are proud to work with 3M Canada to advance our clean energy future." Mark Gerretsen

Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands "The funding, combined with 3M Canada's own investments, has helped us improve energy efficiency by 11.6 percent since 2015 at our Brockville personal safety manufacturing facility." Andrew Hejnar

Energy Manager, 3M Canada Related Information

Canadian Industry Partnership for Energy Conservation (CIPEC) Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
Andrew "Andy" J. Martin, 78, of Gastonia, NC formerly of Fairmont, passed away peacefully in the presence of his family on Tuesday, June 15, 2021. He was born on May 14, 1943 in Fairmont son of the late John and Mary Coughlin Martin. He is survived by his children: Vickie Lynn (John Raymond)
GHENT Two men from Queens are accused of forgery and other offenses after their car was stopped Thursday night on Route 9H in Columbia County, State Police said.

Troopers stopped a 2018 Chrysler 300 in Ghent for a traffic violation. Both the passenger and driver gave false identities to avoid outstanding arrest warrants and they had several counterfeit $100 bills, troopers said.
TROY  Described simply as Four Trojans, a doctor, an artist, a merchant and a newspapersman went fishing and hunting in Montana 130 years ago with their story recounted in a privately printed volume Sport Among the Rockies.

The occupations were the only clues the Rensselaer County Historical Society gave retired research librarian Elsa Prigozy of Slingerlands to figure out.

Elsa is very much a history sleuth, said Stacy Pomeroy Draper, Historical Society curator.

Prigozy, 78, said she learned in library school at Columbia University that its all about being curious, thinking outside the box and asking questions. That was drilled home when she had to explain her reasoning for how she found information for a class on how to do library reference research.

I would have like to have been a police detective, but Im afraid of criminals, Prigozy said about her keenness searching for the facts that put together a story.

Prigozy started her hunt with Sport Among the Rockies, a limited edition book that may have had as few as 15 copies in hand from the Historical Society library. Draper asked Prigozy to investigate the identities for the society's next exhibition than opens March 29, entitled From Country Drives to the Grand Tour: Travel In and Out of Rensselaer County.

Sothebys estimates the value of the rare volume is $20,000 to $30,000, Prigozy said.

There were four of us. Four Trojans. We started August 14 for the far Northwest on a hunting and fishing trip. One of us was a doctor; one was an artist; the third was a merchant; the fourth was a newspaper man. Extreme modesty would naturally prevent the publication of names, but it is believed our identity is not unknown to friends, begins Sport Among the Rockies."

With their buddies long gone, Prigozy got to work find out who made up the intrepid band. She was able to identify the newspaperman quickly. He was the books author, Troy Times owner Charles Spencer Francis, who worked as a reporter, city editor and manager of the newspaper. His book was published in 1889 by the newspaper company.

Prigozy has spent her last 15 years volunteering for the Historical Society, usually handling written inquiries from people performing their own research. Prigozy and her late husband, Stephen Prigozy, a professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island, retired to the Capital Region.

But, this time Prigozy said she mulled over who could be the artist, the merchant, the doctor. She said they must have had social standing and money to be able to venture out to Montana and the Rocky Mountains. At the time, Troy was one of the nations richest cities, a center of manufacturing.

That led Prigozy to check out the Blue Book, as the social register, was known. That was a dead end.

Im supposed to be able to find papers. Im a librarian. Thats what I do, Prigozy said about locating documents to id the trios missing names.

Shes our chief history sleuth, emphasized Historical Society Executive Director Karin Krasevec-Lenz. Everyone assumes Prigozy will crack the case.

If theres something to be found, it will be found by Elsa, Draper said.

Theres one thing Prigozy said shes never been able to track down; its haunted her for nearly half a century. She was asked the question while working at UMass Amherst: Who said, When fascism comes to America it will be called democracy. The saying, she said, is by author Sinclair Lewis. Perhaps she was given the wrong quote, but it still lurks in her mind.

Tracking down the three unknown Trojans led Prigozy to check out Montana newspapers on the Library of Congress website Chronicling America. Thats where she found a link between the physician, Calvin E. Nichols, who had property in Montana and investments in a mining company.

Casting around for more clues, Prigozy circled back to the 19th century world of newspapers. Thats where in another Montana publication she identified the merchant and the artist. First just by their initials. The full names quickly came after that.

Rounding out the foursome were Nelson L. Weatherby, the merchant owner of the Cluett Music Store, and Zeph F. Magill, the artist and local Republican leader.

Draper said, Elsa can find just about every answer to our questions.

And in naming the four Trojan friends, thats what she did.
Aurora, Ill.

An employee of a manufacturing company opened fire in its suburban Chicago plant Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, police said.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman identified the gunman as 45-year-old Gary Martin and said he was believed to be an employee at the Henry Pratt Co.  which makes valves for industrial purposes  in the city about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago. She told a news conference that officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Police said they did not know the gunman's motive.

"May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the news conference.

Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions weren't released. Two of the officers were airlifted to trauma centers in Chicago, Ziman said. She said a sixth officer suffered a knee injury. Officials did not say the total number of people injured including police and civilians.

Dozens of first responder vehicles converged on the building housing the company in Aurora after police received multiple calls about an active shooter at 1:24 p.m. CST.

Several ATF teams also responded to the shooting and were at the scene, according to the agency's Chicago spokeswoman, and the FBI said it also responded.

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," Probst said.

Probst said he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."

"It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life," Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.

Police and squad cars guarded all access points to Henry Pratt five hours after the first calls to 911 about the shooting. The industrial park is surrounded by a neighborhood of modest homes with porch fronts, some with American flags perched outside.

At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street just a mile and a half from the shooting, neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martin's unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with him.

Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son's birthday, to find a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks.

"This is a strange thing to come home to, right," she said. She had just learned that the shooter lived close by and his unit in the complex had been taped off by police.

Christy Fonseca often worries about some of the gang-related crimes and shootings around her mother's Aurora neighborhood. But she never expected the type of phone call she got from her mom on Friday, warning her to be careful with an active shooter loose in the town.

Police cars with screaming sirens revved past her as she drove to her mother's house, where the Henry Pratt building is visible from the porch stoop. it was only when they flipped on the television news that they realized Martin had killed people just a few hundred feet away.

"In Aurora, period, we'd never thought anything like this would happen," Fonseca, a lifelong resident of the Chicago suburb, said as she looked out at the factory.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. "America is with you," he said.

Presence Mercy Medical Center was treating two patients and a third had been transferred by helicopter to another hospital, spokesman Matt Wakely said. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital each had one patient from the shooting, spokeswoman Kate Eller said. Rush Copley Medical Center received three patients from the shooting and all are being treated for non-life threatening injuries, spokeswoman Courtney Satlak said.
ALBANY  The aftershocks of Amazon's decision to pull the plug on plans to build a new headquarters in Long Island City will reverberate at the state Capitol and throughout New York's economy. And it's not just Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio who are upset.

Local business executives say they were also disappointed by Amazon's about-face on the campus, even though the Capital Region lost out on its bid to lure the e-commerce powerhouse to the Hudson River waterfront.

"It is unfortunate that some elected officials and community activists have failed their communities and the people of New York," said Capital Region Chamber President Mark Eagan, echoing Cuomo's criticism of certain labor and progressive groups as well as Democratic lawmakers who opposed the deal in whole or part.

A Cuomo administration source familiar with the company's decision laid the blame squarely at the feet of Sen. Mike Gianaris, a Queens Democrat who actively spoke out against the $3 billion package of tax breaks and other incentives offered to Amazon, and who had been reluctant to engage with the company.

"He killed the project," the source said.

Gianaris' opposition originally manifested itself in local protests, national interviews and legislative runarounds, but the stakes were raised earlier this month when state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins recommended he serve on an obscure state board that could potentially have nixed the tax breaks and cash grants proposed for Amazon.

That recommendation was the final straw, according to the Cuomo administration source, who said it indicated to the company that the entire Democratic majority, and not just Gianaris, was opposed to the project.

A source close to Amazon said the recommendation was a mistake  "a little too in-your-face."

Speaking to reporters after Amazon announced its pullout Thursday, Gianaris stressed that the final say over his appointment rested with the governor, who could have blocked him from serving on the review board.

The possibility that Cuomo might have prevented Gianaris from serving on the panel was previously discussed by Stewart-Cousins and an Amazon official, according to a source familiar with the conversation. If this had happened, the source said, Stewart-Cousins indicated her plan to support the nomination of a senator less publicly opposed to the deal.

In Amazon's announcement scrapping the headquarters in Queens, the company laid the blame on a "number of state and local politicians that made it clear that they oppose our presence."

In retrospect, Hudson Valley Gateway Chamber of Commerce President Deb Milone said Amazon may have had more local buy-in for their presence if the process bringing the company to the community had been more transparent and inclusive.

"It was just announced that it was happening," Milone said of the deal, which had been unveiled by Cuomo and de Blasio in mid-November. The Cuomo administration, however, said it played by the same rules as every other state and municipality competing for Amazon.

Despite this week's finger-pointing, Albany insiders that this won't loom over state budget negotiations, which will occupy Cuomo and Democratic lawmakers through the end of March.

Asked about the possibility that the issue had split the conference and the governor was trying to exploit a divide, Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Bethlehem, said, "The Senate Democrats will not be broken as a team."

Amazon announced plans for a second headquarters  dubbed "H2Q"  in September 2017. The Capital Region pitched a plan that included a campus with buildings in Renssealer and Albany, connected by a gondola over the Hudson. Long Island City and Arlington, Va., were chosen by Amazon in August 2018. The Long Island City facility was pitched as generating 25,000 or more jobs.

Some upstate lawmakers responded to Thursday's news with outreach to Amazon.

Assemblyman Karl Brabenec, a Hudson Valley Republican, said his district had the talent pool to meet the company's needs. "I personally invite Mr. Bezos to dinner at the Chateau Hathorn in beautiful Warwick, New York to discuss the transition," he said in a statement.

Sen. Bob Antonacci, a Syracuse-area Republican, actually got an Amazon representative on the phone Thursday night. "I expressed to him that not all politicians are like the politicians that chase them out of New York City," Antonacci said.

He acknowledged his efforts were a long shot, but "If we don't ask, we don't get."

Antonacci hopes the communities across upstate can come together to prepare to compete with major metropolitan areas for significant corporate developments on the scale of Amazon.

Antonio Civitella, CEO of the Schenectady software company Transfinder, said the loss of H2Q is a blow to the state's overall high-tech strategy and will have a ripple effect upstate. The business community and state economic development officials need to "figure out what our message is" quickly to respond to the collapse of the deal, he said.

"Even startups in New York may not want to stay here," Civitella said. "This Amazon decision is complex and I don't know all the details, but perception is reality. How friendly is New York state to business? This perception will be used against us, and we will not feel the full effect until years from now."

On Long Island, some small tech companies were relieved by Amazon's decision: Fierce competition for workers could have forced them to spend more on wages to keep their best employees.

The Capital Region, however, has a huge shortage of trained IT and software development workers to fill existing jobs, forcing firms to look outside the area for talent. Locally, employers have been working to get more students focused on those fields at an early age to create a better pipeline of tech workers closer to home.

Annemarie Lanesey, CEO of Greane Tree Technology in Troy and the founder of Albany Can Code, a nonprofit that help train software developers, said that New York City has the best tech talent pool in the country. She's curious to see where Amazon could go to replicate it.

Lanesey said that while recruitment for software developers is fierce, "not everyone is going to uproot their families" to move from the Capital Region to New York City for a better job.

Instead, she saw the Amazon HQ2 as a potential training ground for tech workers who could eventually have been recruited to the Capital Region.

She noted that most younger workers these days don't remain in one job their whole career. So the Amazon HQ2 would really be generating tens of thousands of trained New Yorkers that would help the state's tech workforce grow over time.

"We need to get ahead of the workforce," Lanesey said.

Tom Nardacci, who owns the Troy Innovation Garage, a co-working office for software developers and creative-economy workers, says that big companies like Amazon keep students that are educated at New York colleges in the New York instead of looking for work in other states like Massachusetts or California.

"Even if they relocated to the city for a few years, we have a greater chance to bring them back upstate," Nardacci said.

Nardacci is also disappointed because he thought that Amazon's presence in New York City could have had a bigger impact on Albany's transit infrastructure, which is linked to the city by rail.

"It's a missed opportunity to reignite conversation about high-speed rail to allow employees to live outside of New York City," Nardacci said.
Albany

After yanking online records that show local environmental settlements last month, Department of Environmental Conservation officials last week reversed course and put them back on.

Last month, the DEC regional office that covers Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and six other counties around the Capital Region halted online posting of its consent orders. The orders are settlements and potential fines reached by DEC with companies and people who break state environmental laws.

Region 4 was the only one of nine DEC regional offices to put such settlements on its website, and pulled the records to be "consistent" with the other regions, according to an online notice. The orders would be released only in response to requests under the state Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), the notice continued.

Since 2008, the regional DEC office based in Rotterdam had posted hundreds of such settlements online, but none of the eight other DEC regions statewide ever followed suit. The orders have involved a variety of environmental issues large and small, with fines ranging as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Last week, after a Times Union reporter asked why such longstanding DEC records were being taken offline at the same time the governor was calling for more state agency records to go online, the agency decided to resume posting such orders for the region.

The decision does not apply to the other eight DEC regions that have not been posting consent orders on their websites, although the matter will be further studied, said DEC spokesman Sean Mahar.

The agency also issued a statement that it is "committed to aggressively holding anyone accountable for violating our strong environmental laws and regulations ... All consent orders are available publicly upon request and as part of a pilot exploring DEC's ongoing efforts to make web content publicly accessible, DEC's Region 4 office had been posting the orders online.

"Through our efforts to enhance our website, DEC will continue to post these orders online and evaluate instituting a similar practice for other DEC regions as we look for ways to improve the website's user experience," the statement continued.

Initially, when the Times Union asked why the records were being taken offline, the agency issued a statement defending the move that said "posting of completed consent orders from just one DEC region was not consistent with implementation of a consistent web posting protocol. DEC continues to look for ways to improve the website's user experience, and will monitor feedback on the website to determine if other changes are necessary."

This move and subsequent reversal at Region 4 came as Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as part of his proposed 2019-20 state budget last month, proposed a law requiring state agencies, as well as the Legislature, to post more government records online. The governor had billed it as a way to increase governmental transparency and avoid delays in providing state records under FOIL requests.

Environmental groups welcomed the DEC decision to keep the records online, and urged that other regional offices start the practice as well.

"The information contained in these consent orders serve a vital public interest. DEC should be finding ways to be more transparent and share more of this type of information, not less,"said Kate Kurera, deputy director at the Albany-based Environmental Advocates of New York.

"We support full transparency," said Richard Webster, legal director of Riverkeeper, an Ossining-based group that advocates for water quality in the state.

"Taking these records offline would just generate more work for DEC having to respond to FOIL requests. The consent orders for all the regions should be available online," Webster added.

Robert Freeman, director of the state Committee on Open Government, which issues opinions on the state records and open meetings laws, said while there is currently no requirement that an agency put any of its records online, the DEC settlement agreements are "clearly significant to the public."

The governor's budget proposal also would expand the types of records the state Legislature must make public, essentially making them subject to the same FOIL requirements that government agencies must follow.

The governor's proposal for online disclosure of state records that the public regularly requests apparently addresses the issue of waiting times under FOIL for the records of state agencies, which process tens of thousands of requests annually.

It can take many months to get state records under a FOIL request. For example, the Times Union in October submitted a FOIL request to the state Health Department seeking an agreement related to the 2008 merger of St. Clare's Hospital and Ellis Hospital in Schenectady.

More than 1,100 former St. Clare's workers learned last fall that their pensions were going to be slashed or eliminated. Part of the 2008 agreement likely spells out the details of a $28 million payment payment from the state meant to keep the pension fund solvent.

Earlier this month, the Health Department FOIL office responded that it might be able to provide the St. Clare's report by mid-April, but added that the agency also might need even more time.
Delshateki Izquierdo, a freshman from Killeen, was among taste-testers at the "Hey Cupcake!" focus group recently, and voted for her favorite.
ALBANY  In the painted portrait, Gwen Carr looks straight at the viewer, her impassive expression in marked contrast to the grin on the face of her tuxedo-clad son, whose photo from high school graduation Carr is holding.

His name: Eric Garner. On July 17, 2014, Garner, then 43 years old, died after being held in a chokehold by one of the New York City Police officers arresting him on Staten Island for selling illegal cigarettes.

The portrait of Carr holding a photo of her son was one of 10 by artist Tracy Hetzel on display Saturday in the New York Civil Liberties Union booth on the Concourse of the Empire State Plaza during the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislative Conference.

The portraits are all of people, mostly mothers, holding photos of relatives who died as a result of police violence. They are part of NYCLU's Museum of Broken Windows, a traveling, pop-up exhibit of artists' responses to so-called "broken windows policing," which saw departments aggressively enforcing minor quality-of-life crimes like Garner's. The policy, critics contend, disproportionately targeted minority communities, sometimes with fatal results.

To facilitate conversations prompted by the portraits, another part of the NYCLU's booth was set up as a "listening room," where staff members encouraged passersby to share their experiences and concerns related to policing, criminal justice and relations between law-enforcement agencies and the communities they're meant to protect and serve.

"I've had a really great response so far from people wanting to voice their concerns and fears," said Trevor Smith, media strategist for NYCLU, chatting after talking for several minutes with an older black man who described an upsetting encounter with police at a neighborhood barbecue.

The man told Smith he had advised his children and grandchildren to never get confrontational with police, instead focusing on later justice in a court of law.

"He said, 'I told them you can't fight another day if you're dead,'" said Smith. "It's sad that people feel like they have to tell their kids that."

Among a variety of policing issues with which the NYCLU is concerned, one that could be addressed most quickly is transparency in departmental investigations of officer misconduct, said Michael Sisitzky, the agency's lead policy counsel. Under current state law, the findings of internal investigations are secret; the public can learn details of a case only if it comes out during a criminal proceeding against the officer, if one is pursued.

Bills that have been introduced in the state Senate and Assembly would require transparency in such misconduct investigations, Sisitzky said.

"Some of the things we're working on are going to take some time," including greater diversity within departmental ranks, sentencing reform and re-evaluation of drug laws, said Sisitzky.

"But this, with transparency and accountability  we can make that happen fast," he said. "Getting the word out today is one of the ways to push it."

sbarnes@timesunion.com  518-454-5489  blog.timesunion.com/tablehopping  @Tablehopping  facebook.com/SteveBarnesFoodCritic
Webster Groves, MO (63119)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms. High 92F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%. Localized flooding is possible..

Tonight

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing late. Low 76F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
Thomasville, GA (31792)

Today

Morning sunshine will give way to isolated thunderstorms this afternoon. High near 85F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Clear to partly cloudy. Low 68F. Winds light and variable.


remaining of

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
This subscription will allow current subscribers of The Tillamook Headlight Herald to access all of our online Subscriber-Only content, including the E Editions area.

NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN

If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please call us at 1-(503) 842-7535 or email admin@countrymedia.net.
Ad Investing Trends 2,093 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
Todays retirees want to be connected to the town, family, friends and not feel left out on a limb.

Retirement villages are therefore shifting their focus from building homes to creating lifestyles which extend way beyond bricks and mortar. Consequently, their buzzword is community.

Jonty Roots, managing director of brand and research agency Boomer & Beyond, which focuses on homebuyers aged over 55, says that most older people want to stay in their existing area, but live an easier, lower maintenance life by moving to a retirement community.

Impressive: Parkfest was held at Inspired Villages Great Alne Park in Warwickshire

Last year, Inspired Villages became the first retirement developer to stage a music festival.

Parkfest, as it was called, was held at 78-acre Great Alne Park in Warwickshire and was designed to celebrate the opening of its clubhouse, where facilities including a swimming pool, cinema and library are open to the local community.

Plans are now under way to stage The Grand Antiques Tour in March where residents and locals can have curios and antiques valued by BBC TV presenters Christina Trevanion and Timothy Medhurst, inspiredvillages.co.uk.

At Audleys retirement villages, restaurants are open to all. Audley St Georges Place is popular with the business community and Symonds, the restaurant at its newest development, Redwood in Bristol, has received rave reviews.

In the same vein, a successful Classic Cars event was held last year at Audley Chalfont Dene, audleyvillages.co.uk.

John Allan, managing director at Legal & General Homes which is developing a scheme of 1,000 properties in Crowthorne, Berkshire, believes communities work best when theyre made up of mixed groups.

Now's the time: Feeling involved in the world beyond the front door can boost wellbeing

The intention at Bucklers Park is for places like the primary school and the care home to come together with ideas such as concerts, art shows and volunteering opportunities, he says. The development includes one-and-two bedroom apartments and two-bedroom houses from 329,000, bucklerspark.co.uk.

PegasusLifes retirement schemes employ hosts who organise community projects, trips to London, volunteering and membership to clubs and organisations. Prices start from 320,000 for one-bedroom apartments at Carriages in Purley, 348,950 at Steepleton in Tetbury and 367,000 at Chapelwood in Wilmslow (pegasuslife.co.uk).

Feeling involved in the world beyond the front door can boost wellbeing, too. Retired chartered surveyor Sandy Copland, 83, bought a two-bedroom penthouse at LifeCares Residences Battersea Place two years ago.

His home overlooks leafy Battersea Park and is a bus ride from Chelseas Kings Road. He loves to entertain and has a busy life as a volunteer.

I am a sidesman in St Pauls Cathedral, secretary of the library committee at the Royal Air Force Club and involved with several livery companies, he explains.

I also love to entertain friends  they will come up to my apartment for a drink and we will go down to the restaurant for lunch.

Marcus Evans, of Crest Nicholson Regeneration, says the focus of its Bath Riverside development is all about creating a community for its older residents.

We are focused on building more than just homes, but rather long-lasting communities for everyone, he says.

One and two-bedroom waterfront apartments from 585,000 (crestnicholson.co.uk).
Under pressure: Just Eat may have to merge with a rival

Takeaway delivery firm Just Eat faces mounting pressure to merge with a rival after a second investor broke ranks to call for a shake-up.

Last week activist investor Cat Rock Capital, which holds 2 per cent of Just Eat, wrote an open letter to the firm's board demanding a major overhaul.

Just Eat has until now been able to dismiss the letter as a lone critic's view. But now another of its largest shareholders has broken ranks to back the call for action and has vowed to write to the board.

The Mail on Sunday understands that a further three shareholders have also written to the board in the past week to express their frustration at poor communication from the company over an action plan they deem worthy of discussion.

An investor who holds more than a million shares but wished to remain anonymous, said: 'We believe Cat Rock's argument for a merger with a well-run peer is worth serious consideration.

'Just Eat needs exceptional management to make up for lost time and the best teams are already running leading online food delivery companies.

'We would be deeply disappointed if the board ignored this path for long-term value creation. We will be writing to the Just Eat board to express our support for Cat Rock's proposal.'

In its letter last week, Cat Rock said the company should merge with a rival rather than continue its search to fill its vacant chief executive role.

The US-based hedge fund was particularly disappointed with the performance under the company's former boss, Peter Plumb, who quit suddenly three weeks ago.

The former Moneysupermarket boss was savaged by Cat Rock, which noted that several key executives resigned during his leadership. Other investors are said to be unhappy at the latest appointment of Kevin Edwards  a former marketing man for the Movember charity  to head Just Eat's Canadian business Skip The Dishes in place of its co-founder Chris Simair. Shareholders claim Edwards lacks the logistics and ecommerce skills needed for the job.

Cat Rock said: 'Ignoring the Plumb lesson, Just Eat shockingly entrusted the leadership of this crucial business to the former chief marketing officer of the Movember Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that gets men to grow moustaches.'

Just Eat's shares have plunged 12 per cent in the past year and the firm, which warned in November that profits would be lower than it had hoped, has dropped out of the FTSE 100 index of blue chip companies.

Cat Rock's founder and chief executive Alex Captain said Just Eat was 'the worst-performing public equity in online food delivery globally'. He urged the board to consider a merger.

In a fiery war of words, a supportive shareholder of Just Eat raised questions of Cat Rock's intent.

Sarasin, the asset manager, pointed out that Cat Rock has a 4 per cent shareholding in Takeaway and so may have a vested interest in a merger.

It added: 'Just Eat has market leading positions in the majority of their markets. We see few in-market synergies from a combination with other large aggregators at this time.'

Cat Rock sources pointed out that at least three other Just Eat shareholders also own a stake in Takeaway.

Just Eat has suffered in recent years due to the rise in popularity of rivals Deliveroo and Uber Eats.

However, it has a strong presence in Canada and Brazil, with suggestions of a merger with its Brazilian partners iFood, or a deal with Naspers, which owns Delivery Hero.

Just Eat said: 'We take communications with all our shareholders extremely seriously. We are carrying out a thorough CEO appointment process and we will update the market as appropriate.'
Anyone investing for the long term should always spread their wings and place a slice of their portfolio in overseas stock markets. Some money in the United States, Japan and Europe  preferably through an investment fund.

By going global, you bring diversification to your portfolio  and ensure your equity fortunes are not just dependent upon the UK stock market. Diversification is a golden rule of investing.

Part of this globalisation process should embrace investing in 'emerging' stock markets  equity markets in some of the world's fastest growing economies. The likes of Brazil, China, India and Russia.

Focus on China: Burberry's Chinese fans include actress Li Bingbing

Since the late 1980s, numerous investment funds have given investors the opportunity to make money from these embryonic markets. Investment house Templeton led the way with the launch 30 years ago of the Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust.

Today, it has assets of 2 billion and a fifth of its portfolio is invested in China. Big holdings include Chinese technology giant Alibaba and Indian bank ICICI (a brand on our high streets here in the UK). Over the past ten years, the trust has turned an investment of 1,000 into 3,100.

A guaranteed investment winner then? Sadly, there is no such thing. In theory, the investment case for emerging markets is a strong one. Typically, most emerging market economies are fast growing and underpinned by young workforces with money to spend. This, in turn, provides a fertile backdrop for companies to grow earnings, generate profits and provide shareholders with dividends.

But in practice, the correlation between rapid economic growth and soaring stock markets does not always hold fast.

A number of factors can upset the applecart and derail markets. For example, an economy slowing down (as China has done) dampening investors' expectations, worrying external issues (the threat of a full-blown trade war between the United States and China), higher commodity prices (painful for industry) and the value of the US dollar.

In general terms, a strong dollar is bad news for most emerging markets. First, it results in US investors  financial institutions such as pension funds  moving their money back home rather than having it invested overseas. Secondly, most emerging market economies and countries borrow in US dollars. A strong dollar means bigger interest bills. A negative.

This tsunami of factors means emerging markets go out of favour as quickly as they race ahead. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index is considered the best benchmark for them. It is based on the performance of more than 1,100 companies across 24 markets  not only China but the likes of Mexico, Pakistan, Peru and Qatar.

Over the last ten years, it has delivered annual returns ranging from 79 per cent in 2009 to minus 53 per cent in 2008. This is against an annual average performance of close to 10 per cent. Last year's return was minus 14 per cent.

Ben Yearsley is an investment expert at Shore Financial Planning in Plymouth. He says: 'I am a big fan of emerging markets, but they are not for nervous investors. They can spend years out of favour before suddenly coming back into vogue and shooting up in value.'

THE CURRENT CASE FOR INVESTING

Some investment experts believe emerging markets currently represent good value for money. This is because of continued strong earnings growth and their cheapness compared to more established markets such as the United States.

Jason Hollands, of wealth manager Tilney, says emerging markets are 'really cheap  a good starting point for investing new money'. He believes a sustained weaker dollar, a resolution of the trade dispute between the United States and China, and gentle stimulation of the domestic economy by the Chinese authorities (through tax cuts) all augur well. Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at investment platform AJ Bell, says: 'There are already signs that professional investors are allocating more money to this asset class.'

HOW TO INVEST IN THESE EXCITING MARKETS

There are various ways to benefit from emerging markets.

The most conservative approach is to buy either a global investment fund or investment trust with some assets in emerging markets.

For example, Scottish Mortgage, a 7 billion investment trust which is part of the FTSE 100 Index, has three Chinese technology focused companies among its top 10 holdings  Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu. The stakes in these three businesses account for more than 15 per cent of the trust's assets. You could also buy British companies whose businesses are exposed to the world's emerging economies. For example, investment house Ashmore is an emerging markets specialist whose shares are listed in London. Suter says: 'If you believe investors are going to plough back into emerging markets, Ashmore's shares could prove a shrewd purchase.'

Deluxe car manufacturer Aston Martin Lagonda and luxury goods brand Burberry are also businesses with a focus on emerging markets and in particular the Chinese middle-classes with money to spend.

For those in search of a broadly invested emerging markets fund, a cost-effective option is to buy a fund that tracks the performance of the MSCI Emerging Markets index. Fund iShares Core MSCI Emerging Markets mimics the performance of this index and has an ongoing annual charge of 0.18 per cent.

Most leading investment houses now run emerging market funds, including Baillie Gifford, JP Morgan Asset Management and Franklin Templeton. For the more adventurous, some asset managers run portfolios based on a single market or a geographic cluster  for example Fidelity China Special Situations, First State Asia, Jupiter India and JP Morgan Brazil.

FUNDS THAT LEADING ADVISERS FAVOUR

Wealth last week asked leading financial advisers for the funds they recommend to clients.

Suter likes Lazard Emerging Markets that has South Korean electronics giant Samsung and Brazilian banking firm Banco do Brasil among its 90-strong portfolio.

She is also an admirer of JP Morgan Emerging Markets Income, focused on investing in dividend-friendly companies. It currently has a dividend yield of just below four per cent.

Sister funds JP Morgan Emerging Markets and JP Morgan Emerging Markets Investment Trust are liked by Ben Willis at Chase de Vere, Laith Khalaf at Hargreaves Lansdown and Jason Hollands at Tilney. Another favourite is Fidelity Emerging Markets.

A SENSIBLE BATTLE PLAN

Do not invest more than five per cent of your Isa, pension or portfolio in emerging markets. Only invest if you are prepared to hold for at least five years. Short-term losses  and gains  can be huge.

Buy a fund with a track record going back at least ten years, giving you an idea of how it performs through the bad  and good  times. Emerging market funds are ideal as an investment in a Junior Isa on behalf of a child. Invest and the money can be left to grow for 18 years. Finally, invest on a regular basis  easily done through an investment platform run by the likes of AJ Bell, Interactive Investor and Hargreaves Lansdown.
Kasargod (Kerala), Feb 16 (PTI) The return of Narendra Modi to power will be the "death knell" of all the constitutional institutions in India, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Saturday.

He was speaking here at the inauguration of the northern region 'Kerala Samrakshana Yatra' which will be led by CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran and will highlight the "failures" of the central government.

"Return of Narendra Modi to power will be the death knell of all the constitutional institutions in India. As of now, an attack has been launched against them. It will result in creating a wide gap between the rich and the poor in the society," Yechury said.

Speaking about the Pulwama attack, in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, he said it should not be communalised for political gains.

"The Kashmir attack should be seen as a terrorist attack. The attack should not be communalised considering the religion of the terrorist and used for political gains. The country should stand together against terrorism," the CPI(M) leader said.

Yechury also said the Sabarimala issue is not going to have an impact on the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

He said in West Bengal, both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP are political rivals of the communist party.

"The massive rally of the CPI(M) in Bengal shows our clout there but Trinamool was not allowing people to vote there. We have not made any deals with the Congress party, but the aim is to oust the Narendra Modi government. (We) will take decisions accordingly. The main aim is to defeat the BJP candidates," Yechury said, addressing thousands of Left Democratic Front (LDF) workers.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the LDF has organised two regional yatras in the state.

CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan began his march from the southern district of the state -- Thiruvananthapuram -- on Thursday and it was inaugurated by CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy.

Both the marches will conclude on March 2 in Thrissur. PTI RRT SNE DIV

DIV
New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) In the backdrop of reports of threats issued to Kashmiris based out of Jammu and Kashmir following the Pulwama terror attack, a Srinagar-based CRPF helpline Saturday asked them to approach it in case they face any harassment.

The 'Madadgaar' helpline posted a tweet in this context stating that Kashmiri students and general public who are presently out of the state can contact it over the Twitter handle '@CRPFmadadgaar'.

They can call on 24x7 toll free number 14411 or send an SMS at mobile no: 7082814411 "for speedy assistance in case they face any difficulties or harassment".

A senior official said the force will undertake immediate steps in case the helpline receives a distress call by a Kashmir-based person and will alert and depute the officials from its nearest located base to address the issue.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the country's largest paramilitary force with over three lakh personnel in its ranks and it has its formations and battalions in maximum states of the country, he said.

"While we have lost our comrades, it is our pledge to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, especially to those living in the Kashmir Valley, that we are with them always," he said.

The Centre on Saturday also asked all states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir living in their areas.

The advisory came hours after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh assured an all-party meeting of doing the needful for the protection of the Kashmiri students and people who were allegedly threatened after the terrorist attack in Awantipora area of Pulwama district.

An official at the security establishment said there have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu and Kashmir experiencing threats and intimidation.

"Therefore, the Home Ministry today issued an advisory to all states/UTs to take necessary measures to ensure their safety and security," the official said.

Some Kashmiri youths studying in Uttarakhand's Dehradun alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the attack.

The CRPF, that is deployed for security duties in Jammu and Kashmir, had launched the 247 helpline Madadgaar (14411) in June 2017 to help any Valley resident who is in distress. PTI NES SNE

SNE

SNE
Labhpur (WB), Feb 16 (PTI) Tension gripped Labhpur area in West Bengal's Birbhum district on Saturday as a mob smashed local TMC MLA Manirul Islam's vehicle and chased him, forcing him to take refuge in the local police station, police said.

The incident comes days after the daughter of BJP leader Suprabhat Batyabyal was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint here. The girl's mother lodged a complaint at Labhpur police station after the alleged kidnapping on Thursday.

Protesting against the incident and demanding immediate rescue of the girl, an angry mob resorted to vandalism in and around the area as she remained untraceable.

At around 3 pm, the mob gheraoed Islam's vehicle at Indus village and pelted stones at it.

The MLA was rushed to safety by his security guards, the police said.

"When he reached the Labhpur police station, there too a mob started pelting stones," a police officer said.

Police resorted to mild lathicharge to disperse the mob, he added.

Later, Islam visited the girl's house and spoke to her family.

"I talked to the family members and assured that police are trying to find their daughter. We have already told police to act fast," he told PTI.

Meanwhile, protesters continued to block the Suri-Katwa road for the third day on Saturday.

BJP supporters demonstrated in front of the police station.

Additional force has been deployed in the area, the police said.

One suspect was detained on Friday for questioning in connection with the alleged kidnapping, superintendent of police, Birbhum, Shyam Singh, said.

Police haven't found any political motive behind the incident so far, he said.

Batyabyal, who switched to the BJP from the TMC around five months ago, was not at home when the miscreants broke into his house in Labhpur and kidnapped his 22-year-old daughter.

Before joining the TMC, Batyabal was a district committee member of the CPI(M).

"Five miscreants barged into the house around 8 pm on Thursday night on finding out that Suprabhat was not home," the BJP leader's brother, Sujit Batyabyal, had said on Friday.

"First, they confined us in a room and locked it from outside. Then they dragged my niece out at gunpoint and forced her into a car, which was parked near our home, and drove off," he said.

The BJP's district leadership alleged that the miscreants were TMC-backed goons.

The TMC has been threatening Suprabhat since he joined our party, a BJP leader said.

"The police was informed immediately but they did nothing effective," he alleged. PTI CORR AKB JM DIV

DIV
Kalabari/Guwahati, Feb 16 (PTI) The mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari, killed in the Pulwama terror attack, was consigned to the flames in his native village in Assam's Baksa district with full state honours on Saturday.

The tricolour draped wooden coffin bearing Basumatari's mortal remains was placed on the funeral pyre set up by the CRPF under a national flag in front of his house in Kalabari village.

The last rites of the head constable was performed as per Bodo ethnic community customs with full state honours in the presence of ministers Pramila Rani Brahma and Chandra Mohan Patowary.

Basumatari is survived by wife, daughter and son.

The head constable was among the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Basumatari's college going daughter Didmaswari told reporters, "I will join my father's CRPF if the government gives me a job to serve my country".

"My father always told me to study well and work hard to do well in my life. Yes, I am ready to work in the CRPF if the government gives me a job in the force", she said.

She said she would join her father's CRPF-98 Battalion.

Didmaswari demanded that a befitting reply be given to those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack.

"Only if the Government of India takes action against his killers will my father's soul rest in peace", she said.

She also said the government has to look after her family.

Basumatari's son Dhananjay also echoed his sister's demand of a "befitting reply" even if that means carrying out a surgical strike.

"We want justice. The perpetrators must be punished for killing my father, our jawans," Dhananjay said.

The head constable's wife Sunmati said that Basumatari had recently visited his village and the last phone call she had received from her husband was on the day before the attack.

She said he informed her that he was going to Jammu to join duty and would return home within 15 days.

Hundreds of people gathered at Basumatari's village to pay their last respects.

Slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai", "Vande Mataram", "CRPF Zindabad" and "Maneswar Basumatari Zindabad" rented the air in Kalabari as the CRPF jawan's body was consigned to the flames.

The coffin had earlier arrived in Guwahati by a special Indian Air Force aircraft for the last rites and was received at the air force's airport. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chandra Mohan Patowary, Guwahati MP Bijoya Chakraborty, Congress president Ripun Bora, Chief Seretary Alok Kumar and Director General of Police, Assam, Kula Saikia, among others paid homage.

Senior CRPF, Army, Air Force and other government officials along with political party leaders laid wreaths on the coffin.

The coffin was then taken by a special air force helicopter for Basumatari's village.

Sonowal and Sarma were the pallbearers carrying the coffin to the special helicopter.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Sonowal said, "I pray to almighty for peace of Maneswar Basumatari's soul. The nation will unitedly fight for protection of the sovereignty of our country."

"His sacrifice along with the other CRPF jawans will not go in vain. We are united to fight those anti national forces for ensuring the security of our country," he said.

Sarma said the army and security forces have been given free hand by the prime minister and victory will be achieved.

Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) chief Hagrama Mohilary visited the bereaved family and assured them that his organisation would look after them if the central or state government does not do so.

He told reporters that the Centre should give permission to the army to go on the offensive against Pakistan-based terrorists

"If the central government wants I can send 500 Bodo youths on salary from BTC to J&K to give offensive fight to terrorists from Pakistan," said Mohilary, who is also president of the Bodo Peoples Front an alliance partner of the ruling BJP in Assam.

In Guwahati, Jorhat and Tinsukia districts, traders shut their business establishments in honour of CRPF jawans.

Protests against the terror attack was held in Guwahati, Tinsukia and Jorhat.

Governor Jagdish Mukhi condemned the attack and expressed his condolences

Sonowal also announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh to the family of Basumatari. PTI ESB JM ANB

ANB
Bhubaneswar, Feb 16 (PTI) Odisha Saturday bid a tearful adieu to its CRPF jawans Prasanna Kumar Sahu and Manoj Kumar Behera, who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack, with thousands paying homage to them.

Their mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours in their respective villages in the presence of several dignitaries, including Union and state ministers, and senior officials.

The jawans from Odisha were among the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Sahu's funeral was held at his village in Naugaon area of Jagatsinghpur district and the last rites of Behera were performed at Ratanpur in Niali block of Cuttack district.

Slogans lile "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Shahid Amar Rahe" filled the air as the bodies of Sahu and Behera reached their villages. Several people paid their last respects.

After the martyrs' coffins, draped in the tri-colour, arrived in the state capital earlier in the day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Jual Oram, state ministers and a host of dignitaries joined the masses in paid homage to the brave jawans.

The chief minister paid floral tributes by placing a wreath after the bodies arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, where scores of people had converged to offer their last respects to the jawans.

Odisha Congress president Niranjan Patnaik, BJP state president Basant Panda, and senior CRPF, police and other officials were among those who paid homage at the airport.

A large number of people belonging to different spheres of life had assembled at the airport to pay homage to the two CRPF jawans after their bodies were flown in here by a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

As the bodies were taken in processions in special flower-bedecked vehicles, Union minister Pradhan and Odisha's Finance Minister S B Behera joined the last journey of Sahu, while Oram and State Health Minister Pratap Jena were with Behera's body to attend their funeral.

People lined up on both sides of the road to bid adieu to the jawans as the special vehicles carrying their mortal remains moved out of the airport.

All along the route of the two processions, a large number of people carrying the national flag and raising patriotic slogans had gathered to pay homage to the jawans.

The administration in Cuttack and Jagatsinghpur districts had made all necessary arrangements for the funeral of the two CRPF men.

Collectors and senior police and other officials were present during the funeral.

Soon after the bodies of the slain jawans reached here, the state government announced an enhanced ex gratia to Rs 25 lakh to each for their families. The state has handed over the amount to the jawans' families.

The government had on Friday announced Rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia, which was enhanced on Saturday after some criticism.

It had said it will bear the education cost of the children of the slain jawans.

"The martyrs' villages will be made model panchayats and the schools they went to would be named after them," a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office said.

Earlier on the day, thousands of school and college students along with their teachers observed a two-minute silence as a mark of respect to the CRPF jawans martyred in the terror attack at Pulwama. PTI AAM SKN DIV ANB

ANB
Imphal, Feb 16 (PTI) Two people were arrested in separate incidents by the Narcotics and Affairs of Border (NAB) Police at Imphal International Airport Saturday for allegedly trying to smuggle out drugs.

NAB sleuths seized 7.75 kg of opium from the baggage of a Madhya Pradesh resident who was to board an IndiGo flight for New Delhi from the Imphal airport, according to an official statement issued here.

The person was arrested and a case was registered, it added.

In another incident, a Manipuri resident was arrested after one kg of brown sugar was recovered from his baggage before he was to fly to Kolkata, police said.

A case was registered in the matter and a probe was underway, they said.

"IndiGo confirms that in two separate incidents at Imphal airport this morning, our security staff suspected contraband items while screening passenger's check-in baggage," the airline said in a statement. PTI IAS RKL DIV SNE

SNE
Man held for obstructing civic officials demolishing building

Thane, Feb 16 (PTI) A man has been arrested for

allegedly trying to stop civic officials from pulling down a

dilapidated structure in Maharashtra's Thane district, police

said Saturday.

A Thane Municipal Corporation team led deputy

municipal commissioner Ashok Burpulle, assistant civic

commissioner Maruti Gaikwad and others were at Harinivas

Circle here to pull down Aji Kripa building Friday evening

when the incident happened, an official from Naupada police

station said.

Dileep Sonone, who is reportedly a district-level

member of a political party, asked the officials to stop work

and resorted to abuses and also tried to hit them when they

refused to heed him, police said.

"The building had been declared dangerous after a

structural audit in 2001 and residents were evacuated in

August, 2015. Sonone used to be a resident of this building

earlier," the official said.

Based on a complaint by a civic official, Sonone was

arrested under section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter

public servant from discharge of his duty) and other relevant

sections of the Indian Penal Code, he added.

A local court remanded him in judicial custody and

further probe was underway, the police official said. PTI CORR

BNM BNM
Jaipur, Feb 16 (PTI) Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora held a meeting with top officials and discussed about preparations related to the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on the second day of his tour to the state.

Rajasthan Chief Secretary D B Gupta, Director General of Police Kapil Garg, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajeeva Swarup were among who attended the meeting.

DGP Law and Order M L Lathar informed the Election Commission of all preparations through a PPT presentation. Commission Secretary Rahul Sharma was also present. PTI AG DPB

DPB
New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) A man was injured after he was shot at by another man allegedly after an argument during an engagement party in Rohini's Aman Vihar area, police said.

The incident took place on Friday night, they added.

The victim, identified as Sandeep, is a resident of Mangolpuri area, police said.

The victim alleged that he came to attend the engagement ceremony of his friend, where Devender Kumar fired at him following an argument over some issues, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rohini) S D Mishra said.

He sustained a bullet injury in his left thigh after which he was taken to a nearby hospital where he was undergoing treatment, he said.

The exact reason that triggered the argument is part of investigation, he added.

A case was registered and the matter is being probed, the DCP said.

An empty cartridge was also found at the spot. Raid was conducted at the residence of the accused who is on the run, police said. PTI AMP BUN SMN

SMN
Kashmiri student held for hailing Jaish terrorist

Bengaluru, Feb 16 (PTI) A Kashmiri student studying in

a college here was Saturday arrested for allegedly hailing the

Jaish terrorist who carried out the suicide attack at Pulawama

killing 40 CRPF Jawans, police said.

They said 23-year-old Tahir Latif from Baramula

district is a student of Rewa University.

He had allegedly put up a screen-shot of the

Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Adil Ahmed and the bodies of

the slain soldiers as his display picture on WhatsApp, police

said.

He had also allegedly put up a status message saying,

"A big salute to this brave man!!! May Allah accept your

Shahadat and give you highest place in Jannah #Shaheed Adil

Bhai," they said.

Based on a student's complaint, a case was registered

under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and

various IPC sections, including 120(B) (criminal conspiracy),

police said.

Earlier, following a complaint by Vishwa Hindu

Parishad office bearer Girish Bharadwaj, a case was registered

here against Kashmiri youth Abid Malik for allegedly posting

derogatory remarks on a social networking site.

The case was registered under relevant sections of

the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967,

for a post he wrote on Facebook.

The youth allegedly shared some images posted by a

news channel after the attack and captioned it 'The real

surgical attack' on his FB page, police said.

During the investigation, it came to light that he had

studied at a college here and worked at an event management

firm, but had gone back to his home state.

The case was registered here as he had mentioned in

his profile that he resided in Bengaluru, police said.

Following the complaint, Facebook deleted his account.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of

the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a

Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over

100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. PTI

GMS

BN BN
Rupnagar (Pb), Feb 16 (PTI) People bid a tearful adieu to 26-year-old Kulwinder Singh, who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack, as his mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours at his native village Rauli in the Nurpur Bedi area here on Saturday.

The funeral pyre was lit by Kulwinder's father Darshan Singh.

Kulwinder, who was a constable in the CRPF, is survived by his father and mother.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five others injured Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Mortal remains of Kulwinder wrapped in the national flag were brought to his home in the morning.

Villagers, who thronged the house of the martyr to pay their last respects, sought strong action against Pakistan.

Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed as his family members mourned. The fiancee of Kulwinder, who was among the mourners, fainted when his body was brought home.

Darshan Singh, father of Kulwinder, was wearing his son's jacket while holding his photograph.

Seething with anger, villagers chanted 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Pakistan Murdabad' slogans when the mortal remains of Kulwinder was being taken for the final journey. Some among the mourners were carrying the national flag.

Shopkeepers of Nurpur Bedi and Rupnagar market shut their shops to register their protest against the attack.

Kulwinder was to get married on November 8 this year and he was renovating his house.

He had left for his place of posting on February 10 after spending 10 days of his leave with the family.

He had joined the 92nd battalion of the CRPF in 2014.

Among those who attended the cremation included Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh, SAD spokesperson and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema, AAP MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa, CRPF DIG 84th battalion Amar Singh Negi and Rupnagar Deputy Commissioner Sumit Jarangal. PTI CHS VSD AQS
Srinagar, Feb 16 (PTI) Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti Saturday cautioned that mischievous elements must not be allowed to use the Pulwama terror attack as "an excuse to persecute or harass people" from the state, saying the pain of the killings of CRPF personnel must not fuel "such diabolical plans".

"Understand the pain & (and) anguish. But we musnt (must not) allow such mischievous elements to use this as an excuse to persecute / harass people from J&K. Why should they suffer for somebody else's action? We need to be united instead of letting people exploit our fears," Mehbooba wrote on Twitter.

The PDP president's remarks came following violent protests in Jammu and reports of Kashmiri students being targeted in colleges and universities at some places outside the state.

"In ths (this) time of grief & outrage, attempts will be made to divide us. Religions & identities will be pitted against each other. Hindu vs (versus) Mus (Muslims). Jam (Jammu) vs Kash (Kashmir). Our pain musnt (must not) fuel such diabolical plans. Because eventually, the axe forgets but the tree remembers, the former chief minister said in another tweet.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded, on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack. PTI SSB SMN

SMN
Jammu, Feb 16 (PTI) A soldier was injured after Pakistani troops fired from small arms on forward posts along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Saturday officials said.

The unprovoked firing from across the border started in the Naushera sector around 1600 hours, prompting strong retaliation by Indian troops, they said.

The exchange of fire between the two sides is continuing when last reports were received, the officials said.

They said a soldier was injured when he was hit by a bullet in the Kalal area of the sector. He was immediately shifted to a hospital.

The Indian Army is retaliating strongly and effectively, the officials said. PTI TAS

ANB

ANB
Srinagar, Feb 16 (PTI) National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah Saturday expressed disappointment over a resolution passed in an all-party meeting in Delhi for not including in it an appeal to maintain calm in the wake of violence in Jammu and tension in other states over the Pulwama terror attack.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences," Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. People took to the streets to denounce the terror strike and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in it.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicle were torched and damaged. The curfew in Jammu city continued on Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

In Uttarakhand, some Kashmiri youths studying in the state capital of Dehradun have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir. PTI SSB NSD

NSD
Jammu, Feb 16 (PTI) An Army major was killed and a soldier injured in a mine explosion along the Line of Control (LoC) in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, officials said.

Another trooper was injured in a ceasefire violation along the LoC in the district, they said.

Major Chitresh Singh Bisht was leading a bomb disposal squad team for sanitisation when mines were detected on the track in Naushera sector around 3 pm, a defence spokesman said.

He said the team defused one of the mines successfully but while neutralizing another mine, the device got activated and the officer suffered grievous injuries and attained martyrdom.

Another solider was injured in the blast and was admitted to a hospital, the officials said.

Major Bisht (31) belonged to Dehradun in Uttarakhand and is survived by his parents.

"The officer was a brave and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for the supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," the spokesman said.

Earlier, the officials said the blast was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and was apparently planted by "enemy forces within Indian territory".

According to the officials, one soldier was injured when Pakistani troops violated ceasefire by targeting forward posts along the LoC in the Naushera sector, prompting retaliation by Indian troops.

The unprovoked firing of small arms from across the border started in Naushera sector around 4 pm and the exchange of firing between the two sides continued for quite sometime, they said.

The soldier was injured when he was hit by a bullet in Kalal area of the sector and was immediately shifted to a hospital.

The Indian Army retaliated strongly and effectively to the ceasefire violation by Pakistan but the casualties suffered by Pakistan in the retaliatory action was not known immediately, the officials said.

Since the beginning of the new year, Pakistani troops have been regularly violating the ceasefire, especially along the LoC in Jammu division.

A few incidents of ceasefire violations were also witnessed along the International Border (IB) in January.

On January 15, Assistant Command Vinay Prasad of the BSF was killed when he was hit by a Pakistani sniper from across the IB, while an Army porter lost his life along the LoC in Rajouri district on January 11.

The year 2018 had witnessed the highest number of ceasefire violations -- 2,936 -- by Pakistani troops in the last 15 years along the Indo-Pak border. PTI TAS SNE

SNE
New Delhi, New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) Following are top stories at 9:50 pm:





DEL21 BLAST-ALLPARTY-3RDLD MEETING

Parties come together to support security forces in defending India's integrity

New Delhi: Political parties Saturday put up a united face as they underlined India's determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack and expressed their solidarity with security forces in defending the country's unity and integrity.





DEL40 BIZ-LD JAITLEY-PAK-DUTY

India hikes import duty on Pakistani goods to 200 pc

New Delhi: Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.



DEL36 LDALL-FUNERALS

Outpouring of grief, anger marks final farewell to slain jawans

Lucknow/Jaipur: Sobbing family members Saturday lit the funeral pyres of the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack, joined by other mourners who at places gathered in their thousands.



DEL33 DEF-IAF-2NDLD POKHRAN

Ever prepared to deliver 'appropriate response' as assigned by political leadership: IAF chief

Pokhran (Rajasthan): As India's military establishment mulls options to avenge the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa Saturday said the IAF was ever prepared to deliver "appropriate response" as assigned by India's political leadership. By Manash Pratim Bhuyan



DEL6 US-BOLTON-2NDLD DOVAL

US NSA dials Ajit Doval, says America supports India's right to self-defence

New Delhi/Washington, Feb 16 (PTI) In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence as both sides vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe heaven for JeM and other terror groups. By Lalit K Jha





DEL17 JK-LD CURFEW

Curfew continues in Jammu for second day, Army presence stepped up

Jammu: The curfew in Jammu continued for the second day and the Army's presence was stepped up on Saturday, a day after violent protests rocked the city over a suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans in Kashmir.





BOM14 CG-LD RAHUL

Govt gave crores of rupees to Ambani & Mallya, but promised just Rs 3.50 a day to farmers: Rahul

Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh): Congress president Rahul Gandhi Saturday hit out at the Modi government, saying that while it waived loans worth Rs 3.5 lakh crore of select industrialists such as Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya, it promised just Rs 3.50 per day to farmers.



BOM7 MH-LD PM

Pak synonym for terrorism, security forces given free hand to punish Pulwama attack perpetrators: PM

Yavatmal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror strike that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, and urged people to have patience and faith in the security forces who have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the attack.



LGD13 DL-COURT-4THLD VADRA

Court extends Vadra's interim bail till Mar 2, directs him to join probe

New Delhi: Robert Vadra's interim bail was Saturday extended till March 2 in a money laundering case by a Delhi court which asked him to join the probe whenever asked to, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that he was not cooperating in the matter.



FGN18 BLAST-PAK-QURESHI

Nobody can browbeat Pak for Pulwama attack, ready to cooperate if India shares evidence: Qureshi

Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal Pulwama terror attack even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it. By Sajjad Hussain



FGN19 IRAN-3RDLD PAK

Iranians cry 'revenge' at funeral of suicide bomb victims

Isfahan (Iran): Tens of thousands of Iranians called for "revenge" Saturday at the funeral of 27 Revolutionary Guards killed in a suicide attack perpetrated by jihadists that Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting. AFP



FGN14 UN-JADHAV

India, Pakistan in UN court for death row 'spy' case

The Hague: India will ask the UN's top court Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.



FGN5 US-PAK-JEM

US asks Pak to freeze funds of designated terror groups, supports actions against JeM

Washington, Feb 16 (PTI) The US Friday asked Pakistan to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders. By Lalit K Jha. PTI AQS AQS
New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) A dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pulwama, will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring country's links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said Saturday.

Security agencies are preparing the dossier with the evidence gathered so far related to the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and the help being provided to the outfit by the country, they said.

This will be a dossier on Pakistani agencies' links with the JeM and how the terror group is being aided by them, a security official said. The details of the terror attacks carried out by the JeM in the past will be mentioned in the document.

The Paris-headquartered Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will also be told through the dossier how the Pakistani agencies are providing funds to the JeM, the official said.

In the next meeting of the FATF, India will also press for the blacklisting of Pakistan so that that action can be taken against the country, another official said.

The FATF plenary and working group meetings will be held in Paris next week.

The FATF blacklist means the country concerned is "non-cooperative" in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. If the FATF blacklists Pakistan, it may lead to downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like IMF, World Bank, ADB, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moodys, S&P and Fitch.

Pakistan has been put on the grey list of the anti-terror finance watchdog in July 2018. The FATF currently has 35 members and two regional organisations  European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council. North Korea and Iran are in the FATF blacklist.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the attack will pay "a very heavy price" and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with the terrorists.

In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely punished". PTI ACB AAR
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi highlighted security challenges facing the African continent, migration issues and means of fighting terrorism in his speech to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

The Egyptian president is attending the security conference as this years chairman of the African Union, a role he assumed this month.

In his address, El-Sisi also called for international help for the Palestinian people.

We need to relieve the Palestinians of their daily suffering, he said.

El-Sisi also urged the need for international cooperation on these issues.

The challenges of the age are too big for a single country or assembly to handle, El-Sisi said. We are witnessing armed conflicts, several wars, ethnic conflicts, terrorist attacks, in addition to the problems of poverty and unemployment."

"These challenges have been further compounded by the international polarisation and escalation of political confrontations, as well as the challenges of nature, such as climate change, desertification, water shortages and others.

"This requires strengthening international efforts, because the challenges of the present age exceed the capacity of any country."

He also highlighted the importance of economic development, especially post-conflict development, in many African countries.

Egypt welcomes cooperation with all international partners to establish security and achieve African economic development, El-Sisi said. Investment in Africa means investment in the future.

Speaking about terror, he said that it posed increasing risks that lead to the destabilisation of societies, which requires everyone to make vigorous and sincere efforts to uproot this abhorrent phenomenon, which is the first threat to the pursuit of development, including cracking down on terrorist groups and organisations."

Links between instability and migration

Following his speech, El-Sisi and Romania's President Klaus Iohannis, whose country currently holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union, joined conference chairman Wolfgang Ischinger for a forum session.

Ischinger asked El-Sisi and Iohannis to talk about expectations for an upcoming EU-Arab League summit, to be held later this month in Sharm El Sheikh.

Stability and security in the Arab region will be our priority  and effects the stability and security of our friends in Europe, El-Sisi said.

We have seen the instability in our Arab region or some Arab regions have an impact on stability in Europe. If we talk about migration, for example, this is a phenomenon that is caused by instability in some countries, for instance.

The displacement of some people, leaving home in the direction of Europe  we need in this current phase to further our communications, dialogue and coordination to find a common ground even more than before, to tackle the common issues. The conference that will be in Sharm El-Sheikh will be a good opportunity and a fundamental step that will be followed by further steps, he said.

Iohannis echoed the point. We need more, better stronger collaboration, he said, adding that the summit in Sharm El-Sheikh will focus on economic development and cooperation.

The Egyptian president said that Egypt hosts five million refugees, but they do not live in refugee camps, they are merged within Egyptian society.

He then pointed to the construction of the largest church in the Middle East, in Egypts New Administrative Capital, as an example of the values of coexistence on display.

Short link:


New Delhi, Feb 16 (PTI) A Special Task Force (STF) has been created in the ED,

the central agency that enforces the PMLA and FEMA laws in the country, to speedily probe money laundering cases emerging from illegal narcotics trade.

Officials said ED Director Sanjay Kumar Mishra has ordered for the creation of the first-ever STF in the agency and it will be headed by a special director-rank officer based at its headquarters in Delhi.

The STF team will comprise of a joint director, deputy directors and others as part of the new setup.

The force will specifically look into past and probable cases of illegal narcotics trade, drug crime syndicates and hawala transactions that have national and international links and such instances will be dealt under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The agency estimates that a number of terror financing cases have their roots in the illegal trade of narcotics transport, sale, purchase and smuggling and hence it was decided to work on these cases on priority and with dedicated focus.

The agency over the last one year has also obtained conviction in at least two such PMLA cases which were registered by it after taking cognisance of the predicate offence filed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) or the police under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The scheme of the anti-money laundering law mandates that the ED cannot independently file a criminal complaint under the PMLA but has to base its FIR on a predicate offence booked by any another law enforcement agency under the IPC or other laws.

All the past cases registered under this category (narcotics and drugs) and those to be taken up in the future will be dealt by the new STF which will have authority to conduct pan-India action, by taking assistance from Enforcement Directorate's zonal and regional offices across the country.

They said the ED is working on over two dozen such cases at present.

The central agency, that functions under the Union Finance Ministry, is empowered to enforce the PMLA and the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in the country. PTI NES





http://ptinews.com/images/pti.jpg



We bring the World to you"



Disclaimer : This e-mail message may contain proprietary, confidential or legally privileged information for the sole use of the person or entity to whom this message was originally addressed. Please delete this e-mail, if it is not meant for you.





http://ptinews.com/images/pti.jpg



We bring the World to you"



Disclaimer : This e-mail message may contain proprietary, confidential or legally privileged information for the sole use of the person or entity to whom this message was originally addressed. Please delete this e-mail, if it is not meant for you.

DPB

DPB
\R New Delhi, Feb 17 (PTI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met her Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva on Saturday and the two discussed a range of bilateral issues including those related to economy, agriculture and health. Swaraj is on a two-day official visit to Bulgaria, the first ever of an Indian external affairs minister to the Balkan nation, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

"Straight to work! Foreign Minister of #Bulgaria @EZaharievaMFA welcomed EAM @SushmaSwaraj ahead of the delegation level talks in #Sofia. Two countries are natural partners based on the foundation of deep historical and cultural linkages dating back to 8th century," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

"Preparing ground for expanding relationship. EAM @SushmaSwaraj held constructive meeting with Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister of #Bulgaria @EZaharievaMFA. Discussed a range of bilateral themes in economy, agriculture, health & pharma, IT, S &T, tourism & culture," he said in another tweet.

Swaraj's visit is a follow-up to the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Bulgaria in September last year.

She will interact with the Indian community and Friends of India in Sofia during the visit.

The external affairs minister will visit Kingdom of Morocco from February 17-18. She will be Spain from February 18-19. PTI GVS

GVS
Tehran, Feb 16 (AFP) Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused "Pakistan's security forces" of supporting the perpetrators of a suicide bombing that killed 27 troops on Wednesday, in remarks state TV aired Saturday.

"Pakistan's government, who has housed these anti-revolutionaries and threats to Islam, knows where they are and they are supported by Pakistan's security forces," said Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist group Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").

"If (the Pakistan government) does not punish them, we will retaliate against this anti-revolutionary force, and whatever Pakistan sees will be the consequence of its support for them," he warned.

The general made the remarks in Isfahan City on Friday evening during a farewell ceremony held for those killed. Funerals are expected to follow on Saturday.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Tehran in 2010.

The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

The attack was one of the deadliest on Iranian security forces in recent years and came just days after Iran held more than a week of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah.

The commander also blasted "the support that the region's reactionary states Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis" maintain for "conspiracies" that he said were ordered by Israel and America.

"We will certainly follow retaliatory measures," he added, without elaborating.

Jafari's comments came ahead of a two-day visit by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Pakistan, which is set to begin on Sunday.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the prepetrators of the attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries". (AFP) SMJ

SMJ
Colombo, Feb 16 (PTI) The EU has urged Sri Lanka to repeal its controversial anti-terror law and replace with a new one in compliance with the international norms.

Sri Lanka's human rights record, particularly over the impunity enjoyed by law enforcement officers, has been the subject of international condemnation.

The country has been grappling with a new counter-terrorism law in view of the criticism on the Prevention of Terrorist Act (PTA) of 1979. This was enacted at the beginning of the Tamil separatist war in the north and east regions.

Sri Lanka was urged by the European Union (EU) to repeal the current anti-terror law and replace it with a new counter-terrorism law in keeping with the international standards, according to a statement issued at the end of the 22nd session of the EU-Sri Lanka Joint Commission in Brussels on February 14.

The EU welcomed Sri Lanka's steps taken to implement the UN Human Rights Council resolution of October 2015 and setting up of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and passing of laws to set up the Office for Reparations.

The country's human rights record due to the PTA was under international focus which led to three UN rights body resolutions calling for accountability for alleged human rights abuses blamed both on the Tamil separatist group and and the security forces.

The rights groups have long demanded for repealing of PTA as it gave troops sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects indefinitely.

Currently, a parliamentary oversight committee is examining the proposed counter-terrorism act, the committee chief and parliamentarian Mayantha Dissanayake said.

The EU also expressed concern after Sri Lanka resumed death penalty. It has reminded Sri Lanka that its commitment to 27 conventions on human and labour rights, environment and good governance are conditions to qualify for the EU's GSP+ preferential trade scheme.

Sri Lanka had benefited by 2.2 billion euros worth of exports to the EU between June 2017 and May 2018  since the facility was restored to Sri Lanka after its suspension in 2010.

Sri Lanka's department of prisons on Monday said that applications have been sought to recruit two hangmen, days after President Maithripala Sirisena vowed to end a 42-year moratorium on death penalty within two months. Sri Lanka has not executed a death row convict since June 1976.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had launched a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The UN Human Rights Council has called for an international probe into the alleged war crimes during the military conflict with the LTTE.

According to the government figures, around 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts including the 30-year-long separatist war which claimed at least 100,000 lives. PTI CORR CPS
1 year on, no takers for 'Operation Greens' in West Bengal

Kolkata, Feb 16 (PTI) The Centre's Operation Greens

scheme, that aims at integrated development of tomato, onion

and potato value chain, has remained a non-starter in West

Bengal even after a year of its announcement, an official said

Saturday.

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) had

announced the scheme in 2018-19 Budget.

"Still there is no proposal under the Operation Greens

from West Bengal but we are hopeful to receive it in the near

future," MoPFI senior consultant Gajendra Bhujabal said on the

sidelines of a Confederation of Indian Industry organised

'Food Processing Conclave' here.

The official said that Rs 500 crore has already been

allocated for the scheme.

Potato had been selected for West Bengal and two of

the state's districts -- Hooghly and Bardhaman East -- were

identified for implementation of the scheme with an allocation

of Rs 50 crore.

Bhujabal said private companies are also free to take

benefit of the scheme that offers up to 50 per cent subsidy to

strengthen potato production clusters and Farmers' Producers

organisations and linking them with the market.

He said Bengal can even think of forming a sector

specific mini food parks like fisheries that will require

only about 15 acres.

Mega food parks require about 50 acres to get subsidy

from the Centre. PTI BSM

JM JM
Former defence minister Manohar Parrikar, who stayed back in Delhi when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paris and announced a new Rafale deal, is now in an unenviable position. Objections over the manner in which the prime ministers office was interfering in the negotiations headed by Air Marshal S.B.P. Sinha had been brought to his notice, and he is on record having downplayed them.

All government-to-government deals that India has entered into have carried a provision for arbitration between the two governments. In the Rafale deal, India agreed to water it down to arbitration between the Indian government and Dassault Aviation. The IAF lost immensely by scrapping 126 and going for only 36. We lost our manufacturing capability [by not allowing HAL to make the aircraft under licence], lost access to new technology, and the process has been delayed. The IAF is in serious crisis with respect to its force structure. M. Matheswaran, retired Air Marshal It is not necessary that successive governments will honour the terms [of the letter of comfort]. President Emmanuel Macron can afford to ignore the letter... which was sent during [his predecessor] Francois Hollandes tenure. Sudhansu Mohanty

The latest bombshell has been the revelation that several officials in the negotiating team had objected to the prime ministers office conducting parallel negotiations which, in their view, weakened Indias bargaining power over the French. Deputy secretary (air) S.K. Sharma even wrote in his note that the defence minister may advise the PMO that any officers, who are not part of the... negotiating team may refrain from having parallel parlays [sic] (parleys) with the officers of the French government.

When the objections were brought to Parrikars notice, he termed them an over-reaction, and said that the PMO and the French presidents office are monitoring the progress of the issue which was an outcome of the summit meeting. Yet, he recorded that the defence secretary may resolve the issue in consultation with the principal secretary to the prime minister. Meanwhile, chief negotiator Sinha (retired in December 2018), has jumped to the governments defence. He has alleged that the opposition has been using the ministry note selectively.

But the critics are not satisfied. According to them, the governments and negotiators defence still do not address the critical issue of the absence of a sovereign guarantee from the French government or a bank guarantee from the manufacturing company, Dassault Aviation. The governments argument has been that India had been striking government-to-government deals with the Americans (under the US governments Foreign Military SalesFMSprogramme) and the Russians without sovereign guarantees.

But as Sudhansu Mohanty, who was financial adviser to the defence ministry when the Rafale deal was signed, told THE WEEK, the deals with the Americans and the Russians have been pure government-to-government deals, whereas the Rafale deal was with Dassaulta private company. The French government has simply given a letter of comfort.

Normally, India has been insisting on sovereign guarantees when deals are made with private entities, and in case the host government is reluctant to give them, India has been seeking bank guarantees from the private company which can be encashed in case of failure of delivery. Of the two, India has been preferring sovereign guarantees from host governments to bank guarantees from the supplier because bank guarantees add to the cost, said a senior ministry official. In this case, as I understand, neither was insisted on. As Sharma wrote in his note, This is contrary to the position taken by the MoD [ministry of defence] and conveyed by the Indian negotiating team that the commercial offer should be backed by sovereign guarantees or otherwise by bank guarantee.

Hope in the air: Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra holding a model of Rafale during a roadshow in Lucknow on February 11 | Salil Bera

The governments explanation is that a letter of comfort given by the French government is as good as a sovereign guarantee, and that the PMO went ahead with the deal on the assurance from none less than the French prime minister. Indeed, former French prime minister Manuel Valls wrote a letter on September 8, 2016, a fortnight before the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) was signed, saying that their government would fully back the obligations made by French firms in the contract.

Vallss letter read: In so far as the government of the Republic of India will be required to make down payments before the delivery of the aircraft and associated armaments, I hereby confirm that the government of the French Republic is fully committed in doing whatever is necessary to make sure that Dassault Aviation and [missile manufacturer] MBDA of France, each in their own respect, do their utmost to fully respect their obligations in accordance with aforesaid intergovernmental agreement and annexed supporting protocols.

Furthermore, assuming that Dassault Aviation or MBDA France meet difficulties in the execution, their respective supply protocols and would have to reimburse all or part of the intermediary payment to the government of India, the government of French Republic will take appropriate measures so as to make sure that said payment or reimbursement will be made at the earliest, the letter stated.

Vallss letter also said: These commitments made by the French government as well as the mechanism stipulated in intergovernmental agreement will prevent the inclusion of bank guarantees into the supply protocols which would have generated additional costs for the government of India as well as for the industrialists.

Please rest assured of the mobilisation of my government by your side to implement our strategic partnership in the sector of defence, Valls wrote to Modi. Please accept, Prime Minister, the assurance of my highest consideration.

Ease of doing business: prime minister narendra modi has been accused of favouring anil ambanis reliance aerospace | Reuters

However, critics of the deal point out that this letter has no more value than the paper it is written onan assurance personally given by a prime minister to another prime minister. It is not necessary that successive governments will honour the terms, said Mohanty. If the government changes in France, they might even ignore the letter of comfort. President Emmanuel Macron can afford to ignore the letter of comfort which was sent during [his predecessor] Francois Hollandes tenure. But he cannot ignore a sovereign guarantee because it is an IGA. Added retired Air Marshal M. Matheswaran, who had played a key role in issuing the original global tender for 126 medium multirole combat aircraft during the United Progressive Alliances tenure: In the absence of a sovereign or a bank guarantee, you cannot hold the French government accountable [in case of any failure on the part of Dassault].

Apparently it was this concernthat Vallss letter of comfort has no legal sanctitythat prompted Sharma to initiate a note on November 24, 2015, expressing serious concerns over the letter of comfort which is now being proffered by the government as a substitute for sovereign guarantee. As Mohanty pointed out, a letter of comfort is like a betrothal, which has no legal sanctity, whereas a sovereign guarantee is like a marriage, which is much like a legal contract between two parties.

Then why did Parrikar play along? The only explanation is that since he had not been kept in the loop, he just played safe and left everything to the highest authority in the government, which was the PMO. As much is evident from Parrikars internal note, dated March 7, 2016, wherein he recorded: Considering the French insistence on our accepting the letter of comfort in lieu of bank/government guarantee, the views of MEA (ministry of external affairs) and NSA (national security adviser) on the subject, the special dispensation given [to] Russia (corporate guarantee backed by letter of comfort) and USA (procurement through FMS without government guarantee), and the need to secure and safeguard our interests against any advantage given M/s DA (Dassault Aviation), need to be placed before the CCS (cabinet committee on security) for its consideration. It shows that Parrikar did not want to burn his fingers, and left the responsibility to the PMO. Moreover, according to the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP), 2013, the competent financial authority for procurement cases valued at more than Rs1,000 crore was the CCS.

This is corroborated by the governments reply in the Supreme Court. Para 27 of the governments reply states, Chairman of INT (Indian negotiating team) submitted the report on August 4, 2016, and recommended the case to be progressed for CCS approval and signing the IGA.... After interministerial consultations with finance ministry and ministry of law and justice, the proposal was placed before the CCS on August 24, 2016. The approval of cabinet committee on security for the signing of the IGA for procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft was accorded on August 24, 2016.

After the CCSs approval was obtained, the IGA for 36 Rafale aircraft along with the aircraft package supply protocol, weapon package supply protocol, technical arrangement and offset contracts were signed on September 23, 2016, and India agreed to pay more than Rs59,000 crore. Was there any chance given here? asked a defence ministry officer. The announcement came first, then the ratification of the announcement. We do not do any deal ex post or ex ante as per DPP. So it is not a simple case like any other purchase. The DPP is our Bible or Gita. We ought to follow that to the hilt. Whenever there is even a minor deviation from it, we have to seek the raksha mantris (defence ministers) clearance.

The oppositions charge has been that it was the PMO which took undue interest in the deal, and this gave much leverage to the French side. Official documents confirm that a joint secretary in the PMO had been in regular contact with Luis Vassy, diplomatic adviser to the French minister of defence. An internal note prepared by the air acquisition wing of the defence ministry on August 23, 2016a day before the agreement with France was approved by the cabinet committee on securitystates that from the PMO, NSA Ajit Doval accompanied the negotiators to France on January 12 and 13, 2016.

Para 6 of the letter read: After receipt of above legal advice, discussions have taken place during the meetings of INT on these issues, in the meetings in MoD and also in the meeting of NSA and Member Secretary, INT, with the French side in Paris. Further, Para 7 of the letter said: As per the advice of MoL&J (ministry of law and justice), the French side was requested to incorporate a clause on Joint and Several Responsibility in respect of Article 3.1. Article 4.3 was amended in the meeting of NSA and Member Secretary, INT, with the French side in Paris on 12 & 13 January 2016, and was further amended after discussions in MoD.

All this have gone to buttress the opposition charge that the PMO, through Doval, was taking an undue interest in the details of the deal and played a proactive role in facilitating the acceptance of the letter of comfort instead of a sovereign guarantee or a bank guarantee.

Critics, too, concede that since it was a government-to-government deal, the PMO should take interest. But it needs to be looked into whether they are allowed to conduct parallel negotiations or put pressure on the official team which conducted the negotiations, said Matheswaran. From the way Manohar Parrikar reacted to the observations, it confirms that the PMO was calling the shots. In my career, I have never heard of any such scenario, where the PMO has intervened in such a manner.

The opposition is also accusing the government of hiding facts. In its reply before the Supreme Court, the Union government did not mention the role of the PMO or the NSA in the negotiations, alleged Congress president Rahul Gandhi. The affidavit had simply stated that the negotiating team was headed by the deputy chief of air staff and comprised the joint secretary and acquisition manager (air), joint secretary (defence offset management wing), joint secretary and additional financial adviser, finance manager (air), adviser (cost) and assistant chief of air staff (plans) as members.

In Rahuls view, the government had simply lied to the court. If the Supreme Court had seen this paper work, do you think the Supreme Court would have given the judgment it gave? he asked. So that judgment is also in question.

Moreover, all government-to-government deals that India has entered into have carried a provision for arbitration to be done between the two governments in case of either party backing out or faltering in payment or delivery of product. In the Rafale deal, India agreed to water it down to arbitration between the Indian government and Dassault Aviation. Moreover, as Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala pointed out, the government also agreed to shift the venue of arbitration from India to Geneva, Switzerland, to be held under the aegis of UNCITRAL (United Nations Commission on International Trade Laws) where, Part 1 of the Indian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, would not be applicable, even if the Indo-French agreement explicitly said that it would be.

The deal, according to critics, has been flawed from the start when the government decided that it would scrap the earlier plan to acquire 126 aircraft, of which 108 would be built in India under transferred technology by the public sector Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), as has been the practice with most fighter deals since 1962-63. Once the Modi government came to power, and the talks with the French got stuck over pricing, the demand dropped from 126 to 36 and all of them off the shelf from Dassault. Then came the announcement that the offsets for ancillaries and spares would be given to Reliance Defence, a company that was registered on the eve of signing the deal and with no experience whatsoever in defence manufacture, overlooking the claims of HAL which has been in aerospace manufacturing for more than seven decades. Soon new rounds of negotiationsfor the 36 fightersstarted in May 2015 and continued up to April 2016. A total of 74 meetings48 internal meetings of the negotiating team and 26 meetings with the French sidewere held.

The governments defence for cutting the number from 126 to 36 direct purchase has been that it wanted to speed up the acquisition since the enemy was getting better armed. The government told the Supreme Court that China and Pakistan had acquired better capability air-to-air missiles and inducted indigenous fighters in large numbers. Further, they modernised and inducted aircraft with advanced weapon and radar capabilities, it said. As per available information, our adversaries inducted more than 400 fighter (equivalent to more than 20 squadrons) during the period from 2010 to 2015. They not only inducted fourth generation aircraft, but also inducted fifth generation stealth fighter aircraft. It added that the situation was getting asymmetrical and extremely critical, and that an urgent need was felt to arrest the decline in the number of fighter squadrons in IAF and enhance their combat capabilities.

Indeed, the situation was getting critical, but the biggest irony of the current situation is that it is no better even with the outright purchase of 36 aircraft. According to an estimate, the worlds fourth largest air force (which back in the 1960s had dreamed of a 64-squadron force, including 10 transport squadrons and a heavy bomber squadron!) which had a strength of 42 squadrons (average of 18 jets per squadron) of fighters in 2002, will be down to 28 by 2020 and further down to 19 by 2042 if the government does not take speedy action. With delays in the induction of the homemade Tejas light fighter by over 15 years and the phasing out of the Russian MiG-23BN, MiG-21FL and MiG-21M/MF in addition to the Canberra and the Hunter, the fleet strength is currently down to 31 squadrons. With Pakistan boasting of a 400-plane air force, the 3:1 advantage that the IAF had over PAF has been reduced to below 1.5:1, not to talk of China which has a fleet of 80 squadrons.

The IAF lost immensely by scrapping 126 and going for only 36, rued Matheswaran. We lost our manufacturing capability [by not allowing HAL to make the aircraft under licence], lost access to new technology, and the process of acquisition has been delayed. The IAF is in serious crisis with respect to its force structure.

More ironically, the fewer numbers in the inventory are not in any manner reducing the complexity of the IAFs combat inventory. With Rafale coming in, the IAF would be saddled with nine types of fighter planesMiG-21Biz, MiG-27, MiG-29, Jaguar, Mirage-2000, Su-30MKI, Tejas, Hawk and Rafale. And then there would be the 126 multirole fighters which would have to be procured anyway to make up for the dearth of numbers, making a total of 10 types. It does not make any sense, as it increases load on logistics, maintenance and training, said retired Air Vice Marshal Manmohan Bahadur. Pakistan has just five types of agile fightersthe F-16 and JF-17, J-7 and Mirage III and Vin its inventory.

While the IAF is worried about the depleting combat strength and complexity of its logistics, opposition politicians are smelling corruption, compromise and crony capitalism in selecting Anil Ambanis newly-formed company as the offset partner. Having realised that it was being denied technology transfer and manufacturing business, HAL was looking forward to the offsets that the truncated 36-plane deal would have brought. The companywhich has built Gnats, MiG-21s, MiG-Bizs, MiG-27s, Dorniers, Jaguars, Su-30MKIs, Hawks and Tejases, not to speak of helicopters, and paid Rs5,000 crore to the defence ministry in dividends in the past four yearsis now seeing red. It had to borrow around Rs1,000 crore recently to pay salaries to its 30,000 employees. The financial situation at HAL would have been different if the Rafale offsets were given to it, T. Suvarna Raju, former chairman and managing director of HAL, told THE WEEK. It is a huge contract.

The opposition has been asking why the claim of the experienced HAL was ignored. The governments defence has been that Reliance was picked by Dassault. But Air Force veterans find the argument untenable. To my understanding, in the case of Rafale, the French government asked the company (Dassault) to directly deal with the Indian government, said Matheswaran. Now, it is up to our government to explain why they gave so much leverage to the French. In other words, the government weakened its negotiating muscle even in the selection of the offset partner.

With R. Prasannan
Sudhanshu Mohanty, former controller-general of Defence Accounts, was heading the finance wing of the defence ministry during the Rafale negotiations between October 2015 and May 2016. Mohanty, who had earned the reputation of being a sincere officer from the finance wing, had reservations about India going ahead with the deal to buy 36 Rafale fighters from France without seeking a sovereign guarantee or even a bank guarantee.



Excerpts from his interview to THE WEEK:



Did India give away too much to the French government in the Rafale deal?



To my understanding, the Indo-French IGA (inter-governmental agreement) has no meaning without a sovereign guarantee. The letter of comfort grants no comfort to protect Indian taxpayers money or India's strategic interests. Actually, it is a direct contract between the Indian government and the private firm called Dassault Aviation (DA), with a supportive documentthe French prime ministers letter of comfort.



Do you think IGA is permitted in such a deal?



Yes, under the defence procurement procedure (DPP), IGA is permitted.



But the government claims to have got a letter of comfort.



Letter of comfort is not the same as a sovereign guarantee. A letter of comfort in international commerce is called as letter of intent. It is neither legally enforceable nor is it legally tenable. Whereas a sovereign guarantee is given by the country with whom we are entering into an agreement.



Are you saying there were not enough protection clauses in the deal?



[When] any money... is released by the government of India to another party, before the item has been delivered to us (India), you are supposed to protect the money that has been advanced. By advance, I am not talking about the initial advance or mobilisation advance, which is given, but even the subsequent advances, which are paid under the milestone or stage payments. [Those are] always protected through a performance for bank guarantee.



In case there is some problem in delivering the item, obviously this irrevocable bank guaranteewhich cannot be revoked by the sellercan be encashed by the buyer at any point on contractual terms, which have been agreed upon by the two parties. It is there in the DPP, plus being there in the general financial regulations of the ministry of finance. It means any advance given has to be protected through a bank guarantee.



So, IGA does not provide protection?



In IGAs, generally, a sovereign guarantee is made available when you are buying something from a private party. In the case of Russia as well as the US, IGAs are between two governments. In the case of the US, we do dealing through the foreign military sales route. Similarly with Russia, it is through Rosoboronexport, which is a government agency.



The purchases from the US under the FMS programme are managed by the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), functioning under the US Department of Defense (DoD), and the US government takes complete responsibility for it. The payments too are made directly to a US government-assigned fund agency as per the IGA, with the advances earning interest till the retirement of bills. The risks, if any, are covered in the IGA signed with the US government and with no need for any overweening sovereign guarantee. Likewise, procurement from Russia today or from the erstwhile USSR are/were administered directly by the Russian government through the state intermediary agency (Rosoboronexport now) as its sole state intermediary agency.



Thus, IGA-backed purchases made from Russia are clearly on a firm government-to-government basis, and with no need for obtaining any sovereign guarantee from Russia, since no private entities are involved.



But here in this case, Dassault is a private company and not a government agency. To that extent, a sovereign guarantee is required or a bank guarantee. Bank guarantee is a first thing, but when it's a government-to-government deal, then of course, since we have diplomatic ties and a friendly relationship, naturally there is no insistence on a bank guarantee. But a sovereign guarantee is required from that country.



The French government is saying that a bank guarantee would have escalated the cost of the deal. Do you agree?



A bank guarantee does not come free. It comes at a particular cost to the firm and obviously he is going to pass it on to the buyer. Any deal we do with private firms is through bank guarantees. I don't think a government purchases anything that is not backed up by bank guarantees.



What will happen if Dassault fails to fulfil its commitment?



We have no protection to deal with such a situation. That is the reason why we [always] protect [the deals], because it is not anyone's personal money. It is the taxpayers' money. A company can afford to take the risk, but we cannot. That is why there are extra protection [clauses] while spending any money from the Consolidated Fund of India. So, if it is not there, then of course, there will be litigation or arbitration and correspondence with them.



In this case, [there is] no extra protection. In lieu of a sovereign guarantee, [there is] a letter of comfort from the French prime minister, who does not enjoy any executive power. In case of any conflict, the first thing that India would do would be to write to the prime minister of France and seek the help from his office. If it does not work, then there will be so many questions, which will be raised or are going to crop up.



Then, what is the sanctity of the letter of comfort?



A letter of comfort is just like a sagai (engagement). Either party can break away and go in different ways. It cannot be legally enforceable. When you enter into wedlock, and if it's registered, there are legal dimensions. Letter of comfort is only morally binding, not legally binding.



Surely, it does not give the comfort that the successor of the [present] French president or the prime minister will honour the terms. If the government changes, they might even ignore the letter of comfort. President Emmanuel Macron can afford to ignore the letter of comfort, which was sent during Francois Hollande's tenure. But he cannot ignore a sovereign guarantee because it's an IGA.



As the financial adviser, did you object to the deal on the ground that it was without adequate protection?



No financial adviser would ever approve such deal. I will always ensure, if it is an IGA, then the other country has to be involved. And if we are not getting the bank guarantee, there should be some way that the country is involved. Because they are the ones who are signing the IGA. [I] will never pass such a deal. Interest of the nation should not diluted.



Did the NSA play a proactive role?



First of all, the NSA has no locus standi to negotiate the Rafale deal. He was not part of the contract negotiation committee under the DPP 2013.



What do you say on the change in the benchmark price from 5.2 billion to 8.2 billion in the Rafale deal?



I believe that the negotiating team had some reservations on benchmark price, which was overruled by the ministry. As per the information available in public domain, the Defence Acquisition Council headed by the defence minister and consisting of all top MoD officials didnt recommend the case, and instead left it to the Cabinet Committee on Security to take a call.


THE MUCH-AWAITED report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the Rafale deal has armed both the opposition and the government, as the findings neither indict the government nor give a clean chit to the deal.

The audit found that the government spent about 2.68 per cent more on the training package, compared with the previous deal. But the ministry did not clarify the need for enhanced training, including advanced training, when the number of aircraft had come down to 36.

The report by the countrys premier auditor, Rajiv Mehrishi, broadly states that the deal under the NDA government at 7.87 billion for 36 jets through an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) was 2.86 per cent cheaper than the price that was being negotiated by the UPA-II in 2012.

However, the audit could not find any proposal with the defence ministry for procuring only 36 jets, as against UPA-IIs proposal to buy 126. It substantiates the oppositions claims that the Indian Air Force was not consulted before reducing the number of aircraft, and that the prime ministers office unilaterally took the decision.

The report also highlighted some important observations on the issue of payments and guarantees. A bank guarantee gets directly and automatically invoked in the event of a breach of contract by the seller. The report points out that in the 2015 offer, Dassault Aviation did not furnish any financial and performance bank guarantees. Since about 60 per cent of advance payments were to be made to the French vendors, the ministry of law and justice advised that government/sovereign guarantee should be requested in view of the value of the proposed procurement, said the report.

Moreover, the auditor also observed that the French government did not agree to an escrow account as it felt that the guarantees already provided by the government of France were far reaching and unprecedented.

The report noted that the finally approved Article 5 of the IGA by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) provided that the advance payments were to be made directly to Dassaults bank accounts opened in a French government-controlled bank, which the French government was to control and monitor for effective implementation of the IGA and supply protocols.

Now, why is the issue of sovereign guarantee so important in this deal? The report explained that in case of a breach of contract, the Indian defence ministry would have to first call for an arbitration with Dassault. If the arbitration award were in favour of the Indian party and the French vendor fails to honour the award, the Indian party should exhaust all available legal remedies. Only then will the French government make these payments on behalf of the vendors, the CAG stated.

On the Indian-specific enhancements (ISE), which constitute a significant value of the 7.87bn deal, the CAG said there was a saving of 17.08 per cent. However, the audit noted that four enhancements were stated not to be required in the technical and staff evaluations. The cost of these four enhancements items was IS4 M (million euros) constituting about 14 per cent of the ISE estimated cost. The ministry (of defence) has stated that scaling down the requirement to limit cash outgo cannot be considered as saving, the report said.

On the overall delivery schedule of the 36 jets compared with the delivery of the 18 jets in flyaway condition in the UPA-II deal, the CAG noted that there was an improvement of only one month in the 2016 contract. The Union government had claimed that it had signed the deal because aircraft were urgently needed.

Moreover, the audit also found that the government spent about 2.68 per cent more on the training package, compared with the previous deal. But the ministry did not clarify the need for enhanced training, including advanced training, when the number of aircraft had come down to 36 against the earlier 126.

Auditors also pointed out that during the negotiations for the 36 aircraft, in view of the huge cost and the reduced number of aircraft, the Indian negotiating team headed by the deputy chief of air staff proposed to reduce the number of ISEs. But Dassault said that since the price was a total package, the ministry would have to take up the matter with the French government.

In August 2016, before submission of the note to the approval of the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security), DCAS (deputy chief of air staff) (with the approval of chief of air staff) intimated the ministry (of defence) that ISE scope could be reduced by postponing six enhancements, which could be included if more Rafale aircraft were procured in future, said the report. The ministry turned down the proposal.

Moreover, in July 2014, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS, now called Airbus) gave an unsolicited offer of 20 per cent discount on the previous firm fixed 2007 offer on behalf of the Eurofighter Typhoon consortium. In this offer, EADS also offered to enhance the transfer of technology process through a comprehensive training and support programme to be combined with creation of an Eurofighter Typhoon industrial park in India. Ministry did not accept this offer, stating that it was an unsolicited offer, the CAG pointed out.

The CAG did not touch upon the issue of Rs30,000 crore offsets, as those are yet to be submitted to the government by Dassault later this year. A separate audit will look into the issue.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit to Pakistan has been delayed by a day in wake of the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

He was scheduled to reach Pakistan on Saturday, but now he is expected to reach on Sunday. Though the Pakistan foreign ministry did not reveal the reason behind the change in schedule, it is widely seen as a reaction to the terror attack against CRPF soldiers in Pulwama on Thursday. Saudi Arabia had strongly condemned the terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. Jaish-e-Mohammed had claimed responsibility for the attack.

Saudi Arabia had denounced the assault on Friday and reinforced its support to India against terrorism and extremism, wishing for the speedy recovery of the wounded.

However, the programmes of MbS's stay in Pakistan will remain unchanged, the foreign office said.

Prince Mohammad, who is also the deputy prime minister and minister of defence, will be conferred with Nishan-e-Pakistan the highest civilian award during his visit to the country, the Express Tribune reported.

Preparations have been made to give an "unprecedented warm welcome" to the Saudi Prince who will be received personally by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members at the Nur Khan Airbase, the report said.

Abdul Razzak Dawood, Advisor to prime minister on trade, said investment deals worth $10-15 billion dollars would be signed during the trip. On top of the list is an agreement to set up an oil refinery in Pakistan.

Elaborate security arrangements have been planned during the visit of the powerful heir to the Saudi throne.

(With inputs from PTI)
West Monroe, LA (71291)

Today

Sun and clouds mixed with a slight chance of thunderstorms during the afternoon. High 93F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low around 75F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
After being ostracised and targeted for the past two decades by the international community led by the United States, the Taliban is back at the negotiating table. It is now undoubtedly the key player in Kabul. The Ashraf Ghani government survives in Kabul only because of American support. The world, except for two prominent stakeholders, has recognised the reality. The two holdouts are India and the Ghani government, who continue to insist that there is no good Taliban and that the peace process should be Afghan-owned and Afghan-led.

The major driving force behind the latest round of peace manoeuvres is, of course, US President Donald Trump. Barack Obama had tried his best to nudge the process forward, without much success, but he managed to bring back the bulk of American forces from Afghanistan, leaving just 14,000 of them in the country. Trump, however, plays by a different rulebook and seems to have been convinced about bringing our great troops back home. That he is not bluffing is evident from his decision to pull out of Syria, despite objections from key allies like Saudi Arabia and his own defence and state departments.

After several months of backchannel negotiations with the Taliban, Trump sent his special representative Zalmay Khalilzad last month to speak to Taliban representatives based at its political office in Doha. At the end of the six-day talks, the US and the Taliban tentatively agreed on a peace deal. It envisages the Taliban agreeing to a ceasefire and launching direct talks with the government in Kabul. According to Khalilzad, if everything went according to plan, US troops would withdraw from Afghanistan within 18 months. The Taliban have committed, to our satisfaction, to do what is necessary that would prevent Afghanistan from ever becoming a platform for international terrorist groups or individuals, said Khalilzad. We felt enough confidence that we said we need to get this fleshed out, and details need to be worked out. He said the possibility of a Taliban role in a transitional government was not discussed at the meeting. US sources clarified that the agreement would work only if the Taliban agreed to a ceasefire and opened direct talks with the Ghani government.

Along with the Taliban, one other player which emerged on top after the latest round of talks is Pakistan. Despite international pressure, Pakistan did not give up on the Taliban and provided it with all kind of support including safe havens, logistical backup and political patronage. It risked American anger and even the loss of billions of dollars in aid, but it never abandoned the Taliban.

In October, Pakistan released from prison Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the co-founders of the Taliban movement. Although there are reports that the release happened because of American pressure, it has generated ample goodwill for Pakistan among Taliban troops. Baradar, a moderate figure held in high esteem by Taliban fighters, will head the group's political office in Qatar and will lead the 14-member Taliban delegation in the next round of talks with the US starting from February 25.

Pakistan has not just been actively pushing the Taliban to talk to the Americans. When gentle prodding and active persuasion did not work, it even tried detaining family members of Taliban leaders to force the dialogue. Religious leaders, too, were used to convince the Taliban leadership about the futility to continuing the war. Pakistan also provided logistical support to several Taliban leaders to travel to Qatar.

India, which is the largest regional donor in Afghanistan, spending more than $3 billion since 2002, seems to be nowhere in the evolving picture. India's decision not to speak to the Taliban held some merit so long as the US, too, held the same line. But with the Americans trying to figure a way out of the Afghan quagmire, India seems to be losing its way. The two countries, which used to be with India in opposing Taliban in the past, Russia and Iran, have moved on. The Russians now enjoy good relations with Pakistan and are already talking to the Taliban. Russia has hosted several rounds of dialogues involving the Taliban and is being seen as a key player on the issue. Russia has more or less shed its previous position of not dealing with the Taliban, leaving India in a position difficult to defend.

Shia Iran, which has a more testy relationship with the Taliban and its fundamentalist Sunni theology, too, has been more pragmatic in doing business with it. However, it has got more to do with Iran's antagonism towards the United States. For example, in 2017, Sharif Yaftali, who was the chief of general staff of the Afghan army, told the BBC that Iran had been supplying arms and ammunition to the Taliban in western Afghanistan. Last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in an interview with an Indian news channel that a future Afghan state without the Taliban was impossible.

It leaves India in an uncomfortable position. So far, it has put all its eggs in the single basket of anti-Talibanism, and is missing room for manoeuvre. There is no doubt that India enjoys tremendous goodwill in Afghanistan. It leads in providing humanitarian assistance, building infrastructure, providing educational support to Afghan students and is the largest importer of Afghan goods. Indian soft power in Afghanistan is incredible, but for a country going through a major security crisis, hard power is equally important. India does not seem to have the kind of coercive power required to protect its interests in Afghanistan. India does not share a border with Afghanistan like Pakistan and Iran do. Access is an issue. Similarly, India has no boots on ground, complicating the situation. In such a scenario, shutting the Taliban out completely may not be an option as geopolitical events in the region seems to overwhelm Indian positions.

Pakistan, meanwhile, is stepping up its game. If latest reports are to be believed, before the next round of scheduled talks between the US and the Taliban in Doha, a Taliban team will be arriving in Islamabad on February 18 and meet Khalilzad at the invitation of the Pakistan government. The Taliban delegation will also meet Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan. Any further development on this front is likely to consolidate Pakistan's position in the future of Afghanistan.

India has been trying to modify its decades-long position on the Taliban by non-officially participating in the Moscow conference on Afghanistan held in November. Two Indian retired diplomats took part in the conference which saw delegations from the Taliban and Afghanistan's High Peace Council, while there was no official participation from Afghanistan. India needs to carry forward such initiatives and try to speak to all relevant players in Afghanistan to safeguard its vital interests.
The prime minister would verily be the most gifted personality in our land. Topping the list would be his gift of the gab.

Then there are the gifts that he receives every dayfrom foreign dignitaries when he visits them or they visit him, and from lesser worthies within India. Mostly things of little use, except on the mantelpiece or in the showcaseenamelled tea-sets, embroidered shawls, encrusted watches, engraved bracelets, encased replicas, enlarged insignia, reprints of old books and records, paintings, carpets, wall-hangings, coasters, tea-cosies, salvers, salwars, turbans, jackets, cravats, cuff-links, tie-pins, lapel-pins, perfumes, plaques, mementos, monogrammed towels and such other bric-a-brac.

But there could also be a few gems thrown in between. Like the embroidered suit that gained much infamy after Narendra Modi wore it to tea with Barack Obama. That earned him a Malvolio-like image, and his government the sobriquet suit-boot ki sarkar from Rahul Gandhi. The suit, said to have cost a few crores to the donor, proved costlier for Modi. Many in the BJP believe that it cost him the 2015 Delhi Assembly polls that took place a few days later.

Illustration: Deni Lal

Some gifts are of emotional value. Like his old school attendance sheet that Manmohan Singh received from Pervez Musharraf. It stumped not only poor Manmohan but even the protocol vultures in the foreign office. They just did not know what to gift the general in return. They had already given him a copy of the old photo of the Neherwali Haveli in Old Delhi where Musharraf had spent his childhood.

Some gifts cannot be brought home. Kanthakha, the wiry Mongol horse that Modi received on a visit to Ulan Bator, had to be left behind because India had banned exchange of zoo animals as gifts since 2005.

The rule is that our dignitariesprime ministers, ministers and officerscan keep only inexpensive gifts with them after they leave office. Anything costlier than Rs5,000 has to be deposited in the toshakhana. If a dignitary takes a fancy for an item, he can pay the market price and keep it. Manmohan thus took five tea-sets.

The rest of the stuff are kept or auctioned by the toshakhana, or given over to museums. Former president Pratibha Patil packed them off to a museum that she had built in her hometown. A few of the gifts that Nehru received are on show at the Teen Murti Museum. If Modi has his way, the serene museum complex could soon turn into a dumping ground of prime ministerial bric-a-brac. He is converting the place into a museum for all prime ministers.

Most of our prime ministers have been handing over the costlier stuff to the toshakhana and leaving quietly. Not Modi, the ace merchandiser. He is putting the stuff to better use. Three weeks ago he put up for auction, in the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, some 1,800 such gifts that he had received in the last less than five years (that works out to five gifts or more received every day), and pledged the proceeds for cleaning the Ganga. Bless the thought.

The hype fetched the moolah. A Rs4,000 mini-Ashok Stambh fetched Rs13 lakh; a Rs5,000 Shiva statue Rs10 lakh; a memento from the Sikhs in Amritsar Rs10.1 lakh, a Buddha statue Rs7 lakh, a brass lion gifted by the Nepal prime minister Rs5.2 lakh.

TAILPIECE: When they met in Harare on the independence of Zimbabwe, Pakistan president Zia-ul-Haq gifted Indira Gandhi with a coffee-table book on Pakistan. Later she found that it carried maps which showed the whole of Kashmir as Pakistans. She asked Natwar Singh, who was posted in Harare, to quietly return the book to the Pak foreign office.

prasannan@theweek.in
He will next be seen in The Big Bull
News

Fire at martial arts centre in China kills 18

There were 34 boarding students on the premises when the fire broke out, according to government staff quoted by Beijing Toutiao News. It was unclear what caused the fire, which injured 16 people, four of whom were in serious condition.




Over the past 46 years Ive spent countless hours investigating UFO incursions at nuclear weapons sites, as revealed in hundreds of declassified U.S. government documents and the testimony of more than 160 U.S. military veterans whom Ive interviewed. Some of those individuals, including a few retired colonels, say that UFOs have actually tampered with American nuclear missiles, known as ICBMs, rendering them temporarily inoperable.



Significantly, CNN live-streamed my September 27, 2010 press conference in Washington D.C., during which seven of those veterans discussed their personal UFO encounters at ICBM

By Robert Hastings

The UFO Chronicles

2-16-19

sites or nukes storage facilities. The full-length video of that event is available online While the great majority of the veterans with whom Ive spoken have described simple sightings of anomalous aerial objects, a few have reported having what seem to be abduction-like encounters involving non-human entities. The most dramatic case involves a former U.S. Air Force Security Policeman, Mario Woods, who has summarized his experience at Ellsworth AFB, South Dakota, in November 1977.While investigating unauthorized intrusion alarms at one of Ellsworths missile silos, Woods and his Security Alert Team partnerwho must remain anonymoussaw a huge spherical craft silently hovering over the site, then suddenly became incapacitated, at which point they were confronted by four diminutive beings accompanied by a much taller figure. Both men recall hearing a chorus of voices in their heads, telepathically saying, Do not fear.Based on Woods conscious recall, as well as memories secured under hypnosis, the pair were removed from their security vehicle, then taken aboard the hovering craft and physically examined by their abductors. Afterward, they were transported to a location some five miles from the missile site, together with their truck. Eventually, other Air Force security personnel located the men and accompanied them back to the base for interrogation. Although Woods was unaware of it at the time, he and his partner had been missing for four hours.The next day, at the base hospital, skin samples were taken from Woods face, above his right eyebrow and from the back of his right hand. At both sites, the skin appeared sunburned. Further, two identical circular scars were discovered on his body, one below his left armpit and the other on his left ankle.I possess Woods DD214 service record, which confirms his Security Police position at Ellsworth AFB in 1977. Having communicated with him on several occasions over the past 18 months, and having reviewed the video of his October 2017 hypnosis session, my opinion is that he is telling the truth about his experience. Efforts are currently underway to locate his former security partner.As mentioned earlier, a handful of other Air Force veterans have now come forward and discussed their own abduction encounters, either while on-the-job or at home. The most well-known is former Captain Bob Salas, the ICBM launch officer whose Minuteman ICBMs dropped offline just as a UFO hovered over their launch control facility, at Malmstrom AFB, Montana, in March 1967.Another veteran, a retired Minuteman maintenance technician, Jeff Goodrich, has also had such experiences. On March 29, 1996, Goodrich had a the following unsettling encounter inside his house. A friend and fellow missile maintenance technician, Chris Jordan (not his real name), was spending the night on Goodrichs sofa, planning leave Montana the next morning, having been transferred to Dyess AFB, Texas.Goodrichs bedroom, located in the basement, doesnt have a door and opens into a subterranean living room. Both men had gone to bed about 11 p.m. It seemed to Goodrich that he hadnt been asleep very long when he was awakened by what sounded like someone upstairs running through the house. He knew it wasnt Jordan because he could hear him moving around on the sofa just outside his room. Lifting his head, Goodrich immediately noticed that he was inexplicably surrounded by what appeared to be fog backlit by an intensely bright white light.Goodrich thought he heard Jordan say something but couldnt understand what it was. At that moment, he became paralyzed. He tried to call out but couldnt speak. Seconds later, a small humanoid figure wearing a hood entered the room and stood at the foot of the bed. At that point, Goodrich apparently passed out.The next morning, Goodrich asked Jordan whether he had heard the running footsteps sound the previous night. The house guest confirmed that he had and said that he too had noticed the foggy white light. Moreover, he said, another bright beam of light had been shining through a window at one end of the living room. That window was not visible from Goodrichs bed. The two men talked briefly about the incident and compared notes, Jordan saying that he had also been paralyzed before losing consciousness. Unlike Goodrich, he had not seen the small hooded being.Three other USAF veterans have spoken to me about experiencing similar abduction-like encounters which I will summarize in a new book I am currently writing. In my opinion, these reports suggest a pattern of activity involving a small percentage of military personnel who have had a UFO sighting at a nuclear missile site, who have also been singled-out, sometimes years later, for a face-to-face interaction with the entities who presumably pilot the mysterious aerial craft.Although the skeptics will scoff, as they always do, I think this finding is significant and requires exhaustive investigation. Consequently, I am asking any military veteran who operated or guarded nuclear weaponswho also had an on-the-job UFO sighting and concurrent or subsequent abduction-like experienceto contact me at ufohastings@aol.com . While I would prefer to openly discuss any information revealed, I will keep our discussion confidential unless I am given permission to publish it. Be prepared to provide me with your DD214 forms.
Brenda Darlene (Burnett, Witt, Bollmer) Curtin, 52, of Cincinnati, Ohio passed away June 21, 2021. She was born November 13, 1968, in Cincinnati, Ohio to the late Gladys (Jones) Napier and the late Wilburn Burnett. Brenda was preceded in death by a daughter, Jennifer Witt and sisters Alta Ru
Investors remain cautiously optimistic that the wall of worry that has been plaguing us for months may now be crumbling. Thats no sure thing, but at least we did have some good news this week.

While most investors were not expecting a repeat of last months partial government shut-down, it was still a relief to see that issue put to bed on Friday. The president reluctantly signed the budget bill that Congress passed over his objections.

Granted, the president did not get his wall, although now he is threatening to get the funding by declaring a national emergency on our southern border. Whether there is or is not such an emergency, by declaring one, he bypasses Congress. That will establish a dangerous precedent for future presidents who may be frustrated with the constitutions checks and balances among the three bodies of government.

Another president could use that same tactic to circumvent Congress in order to secure his or her own objectives. Nancy Pelosi, the Democrat Speaker of the House, has already indicated that, for example, that same tactic could be used in the future to restrict or even outlaw guns in this country. It could be used to balance the budget, or set term limits in Congress, or any number of things that a frustrated president might wish for.

But enough politics. As I have written many times in the past few months, the markets remain China-dependent. Earlier in the week, markets swooned when reports surfaced that some of the structural issues within the Chinese economy that we want changed have become a sticking point in negotiations. A few days later, the president said he may consider postponing the March 1 deadline, if there was progress on the trade talks.

Almost every other day, some administration official or another makes a positive (or negative) comment that sets the markets in a tizzy. Words such as reluctant or constructive can send the Dow up or down 200 points in the blink of an eye. From my point of view, its all-day trading and wont impact the longer-term outcome of the markets.

I have been predicting from the outset of Trumps trade war, that there will be a resolution and a compromise on these issues between the U.S. and China. No, it wont be on the markets time table or terms. I believe it will be a series of incremental agreements on one or two issues at a time.

It also happens that it is a fortuitous period of time for the United States to address these decades-old issues. Not only is the Chinese economy faltering on several fronts, but China is also in the midst of a multi-year program of becoming a consumer-driven, rather than an export-driven, economy. As such, reducing exports and increasing imports dovetails with their own economic objectives through 2025. However, altering trade deficits and surpluses is the relatively easy part of the trade discussions.

The intellectual property debate is something that will require a substantial change within China and cant be done with a brush of the pen (or keyboard). Clearly, one of Chinas major objectives is to become the worlds leader in technology advancements. If that means stealing our secrets in any way they can, then they will do it. Not only is this a clear and present danger to our own economy, but also has enormous ramifications for our military and national defense.

Next week, the trade talks move back to Washington. As such, we can expect a series of leaks as the days go by, which should guarantee more volatility on a daily basis. As for the supposedly important stuff like earnings, economic growth, employment, etc., all of it remains relegated to second or third place as the talks progress.

As the markets climb, there are more and more calls by strategists for another one of those 6-7 percent pull-backs (that could easily turn into a 14-15 percent decline on the back of all this computer trading). I have an interesting notion. What if the news is really good on the China front and, after a brief spike up, markets use the occasion to sell on the news? That would be the most inconvenient thing that could occur to the greatest number of people. Thats what the markets usually do.

Bill Schmick is registered as an investment advisor representative and portfolio manager with Berkshire Money Management (BMM), managing over $400 million for investors in the Berkshires. Bills forecasts and opinions are purely his own and do not necessarily represent the views of BMM. None of his commentary is or should be considered investment advice. Anyone seeking individualized investment advice should contact a qualified investment adviser. None of the information presented in this article is intended to be and should not be construed as an endorsement of BMM or a solicitation to become a client of BMM. The reader should not assume that any strategies, or specific investments discussed are employed, bought, sold or held by BMM. Direct your inquiries to Bill at 1-888-232-6072 (toll free) or e-mail him at wschmick@berkshiremm.com .Visit www.afewdollarsmore.com for more of Bills insights.
In a recent GovTech webinar, Craig Hopkins, CIO of San Antonio, Texas, discussed the new landscape of resident engagement and the strategies his team is using to serve the community better than ever before.
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 movie 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.

Mendez, a 25-year veteran of the spy agency, was effectively in the business of geopolitical theater. Pulling techniques from magicians, movie makeup artists and even the television 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" (2012).

Mendez, who was portrayed by actor-director Ben Affleck in the film, was 78 when he died Jan. 19 at an assisted-living center in Frederick, Maryland. He had Parkinson's disease, said his wife, fellow CIA veteran Jonna Mendez.

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. "I've 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 CIA's chief of disguise when the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was seized by a militant Iranian student group on Nov. 4, 1979. The attack came months after the Islamic revolution forced out the country's leader, the Western-backed shah, and replaced him with the hard-line cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Sixty-six Americans, including six CIA officers, were taken hostage, while six other U.S. 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 Carter's presidency and resulted in the deaths of eight service members during a failed rescue mission in the Iranian desert. Mendez completed his rescue operation Jan. 28, 1980, but it took one more year before the last 52 hostages were released, on the day of Ronald Reagan's inauguration in January 1981.

- - -

The idea for the "Canadian caper," as Mendez's mission came to be known, was born out of desperation. A specialist in "exfiltration," the art of whisking people out of harm's 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 Wired magazine account by Joshuah Bearman, and when Mendez was promoted to chief of the agency's 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 centered 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, doesn't 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 honorary Oscar for his work on "Planet of the Apes," gave Spock his pointy ears and had assisted the CIA on old assignments. With another makeup artist, Bob Sidell, who later worked on "E.T.," 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 Jan. 25, 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 Jan. 28, 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: "We're 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 CIA's highest honors. But his and the CIA's role in the rescue operation was concealed until 1997, when Mendez was honored as one of 50 "trailblazers" who shaped the agency's first 50 years.

- - -

Antonio Joseph Mendez was born in Eureka, Nevada, on Nov. 15, 1940, to a mixed-heritage family (Italian, Mexican, Welsh) that he later credited with helping him blend in around the world. He was 3 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 in caves, loading it onto a toy wagon and selling it to his Mormon neighbors as fertilizer, $1 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 - U.S. Navy Civilians." Consumed by wanderlust, he went to interview and was handed a CIA recruitment guide.

Mendez retired in 1990 with a rank equivalent to that of a two-star general. He wrote several memoirs including "The Master of Disguise," co-authored with Malcolm McConnell. The book, along with Bearman's article in Wired, served as the source material for "Argo," which won the Oscar for best picture. (It took some liberties with the facts, Mendez said, including adding a chase scene and writing out two of his children.)

Mendez's 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 CIA's chief of disguise. In addition to his wife of Reston, Virginia, who confirmed his death, survivors include two children from his first marriage, Amanda Mendez of Smithsburg, Maryland, and sculptor Toby Mendez of Knoxville, Maryland; a son from his second marriage, Jesse Mendez of Charleston, West Virginia; several sisters; and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by a son from his first marriage, Ian Mendez.

Makeup, Mendez often said, was typically one of the easier parts of developing a disguise. Behavioral tics needed to be adjusted, credible backstories invented.

"There are occasions when you're getting ready to put your name on the hotel ledger," he told The Washington Post in 2000. "You've got reservations made for you in [an] alias. You've just flown 10 hours. There's that moment when you put the pen down and you think, 'Oh, jeez, what's my name?' "

"Once you go into the netherworld like that, by yourself," he added, "it's like going into another dimension. It's like being a time traveler. How do you get back?"
FRONT ROYAL, Va. - When Lillian Sloane, 92, was growing up in Linden, Virginia, she walked each day to a one-room schoolhouse with a wood-burning stove.

"An elder man lived near the school; he came every morning to work the fire, and he stayed until the teachers arrived," she recalled.

Sloane was addressing students Friday at Warren County Middle School, a 600-student, state-of-the-art facility that opened in 2017, at a ceremony to mark Black History Month.

The children, mostly white with a sprinkling of African Americans and others, listened as Sloane, who is black, told them how it used to be.

"I never had an opportunity to ride a school bus, even though a bus came every day to pick up the white students who lived on my lane," she said. "There was a spring nearby, a reservoir or water hole where someone used to go every morning to bring a bucket, and that was our drinking water."

Her story may have sounded like ancient times to the students, but it resonated for several special guests: James Kilby, Suetta Freeman, Joyce Banks and Ann Baltimore. They were among the original 23 students who integrated the Warren County public schools 60 years ago this week.

In 1958, Kilby's father, James Wilson Kilby, a farmer and janitor with a sixth-grade education, led a group of black families in filing a lawsuit that forced Warren County High School to admit blacks. It was the first challenge to Virginia's "Massive Resistance" laws defying attempts at public school desegregation, particularly after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision in 1954. The most dramatic of these battles would come in 1959, when Prince Edward County chose to close all of its public schools for five years rather than integrate.

Before the forced integration of Warren County High, Warren County had never had a high school for African Americans. They had to attend black high schools in neighboring counties such as Prince William or Culpeper, often living as boarders because the schools were too far away to commute to each day.

"This is where we live at, why can't our children be educated here?" Freeman, 74, recalls her parents saying.

After a bitter battle, on Feb. 18, 1959, 21 black students walked up a grassy hill to the school, past hecklers and policemen.

Warren County, whose population is about 5 percent black, is still largely rural but has added subdivisions, growing from 14,000 residents in the 1950s to nearly 40,000 now. To make room for new students, three schools have been built in the past 15 years.

After his father died in 2003, Kilby fought unsuccessfully to get one of the new schools named after him. He calls the elder Kilby a hero. (The drive heading up to the son's former high school, now Skyline Middle School, was named after his father.)

But walking up that hill as a 14-year-old that February day, Freeman didn't necessarily feel heroic.

"It was a long hill to walk up, and it was very cold, and we were met by some hostile people," she said. "We were nervous, but we didn't act like it. . . . Dad always told us to keep your mouth shut and keep walking."

It was a lonely school year. Aside from the black students who integrated Warren County High, not one student attended the school that semester. All the white students found alternatives. Even after they started to trickle back in the following year, there was little camaraderie across the racial divide.

"If we joined a club, other kids were sitting over there and you were sitting by yourself," Freeman said. "I never went to a sporting event; if they had sporting events, they didn't tell us. . . . They still owe me a prom. I don't know if they had a prom; if they did, they didn't let us know."

Standing with her former classmate after the ceremony, Baltimore, 77, laughed wryly. "I need the prom, the graduation, I need the whole nine yards."

Looking at pictures from 60 years ago, they recalled the scowling white faces lining their path to the school that day.

"They've all got that grim look - 'You all ain't going nowhere,' " Freeman said.

Kilby, 76, said, "They were angry."

Baltimore said, "The way they called us names, going up that hill."

The former students who were at the event Friday still live in Front Royal, and still see people from that time. And the bad feelings haven't all gone away.

"Even now when I go to my class reunions, there's still some to this day that will not come because I'm there," Freeman said.

Banks, 77, started to chime in, then hesitated. "Since the president is in office - I'll say it - it's worse," she said. "He brought out so much, people being prejudiced. It hasn't gone away; it's just hurting. His thing about making America great again, he is talking about the '60s, '50s, '40s, '30s - because that's when things were very hard on black people. He wants that to come back. . . . We have been through this before, but we thought it was almost gone. "

Regarding her own state governor, Ralph Northam, D, who is embroiled in controversy over wearing blackface, Banks was more forgiving. "I think he was a young man, but I think he's been doing all right by black people."

As students filed out after the ceremony, Principal Amy Gubler asked Freeman and the others what message they had for her student body, which is 82 percent white, 2 percent black and 8 percent Hispanic.

"They need to know more about why they might need to take a stand like we did," Freeman said.

Banks nodded. "If they were going through some of the stuff that we went through, they wouldn't want to go to school - but we went through all that stuff just to go to school."

Zachary Logan, a history teacher at the school who put the ceremony together, said he had heard some stories about integration while growing up in Warren County in the '80s and '90s, but it was not part of the school curriculum then.

"As a middle school and high school student, I had heard about civil rights events on a national level, and then I started working at the local heritage society and started learning about things that happened here," said Logan, who is white.

Logan said it's important for his students to understand their local history. "Virginia curriculum for students discusses the civil rights era as one of the things that define what brings our country into the modern era," he said.

Ayaana Vashista, 11, a sixth-grader who attended the ceremony, said Sloane's story was inspiring. "She came such a long way in her life, it's like she was trying to set an example for us," she said.
An eastern Missouri man faces charges accusing him of binding a dog's legs and mouth with tape and throwing the animal into a ditch, where it was found 12 hours later in bitter cold.

Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak on Thursday announced the arrest and charges against Paul Garcia, 39, of Barnhart. He is jailed on $50,000 bond on charges of animal abuse and armed criminal action.
EDWARDSVILLE  Madison County States Attorney Tom Gibbons reported Friday afternoon that Keaun Cook, Godfrey, charged in 2016 with terrorism charges as a teenager and plagued by mental illness, is officially set to be transferred from Madison County Jail to a mental health facility.

In a press release Gibbons wrote he was offering the updated, Because of the intense public interest in this case, and concerns expressed by his family, also advocated to this office through the leadership of the Alton Branch NAACP, about his condition.

Cook was originally accused of providing material support for terrorism and making a terroristic threat. His grandmother, Debra Thomas, pleaded at the time that Cook had no legitimate contact with terrorist groups, but he was in need of mental health treatment and was prone to psychotic episodes. She said he was targeted by authorities because of stuff he was typing into his phone.

Many community members advocated for Cook, saying he needed treatment, not jail  while authorities insisted he was a serious danger to society.

Two months after his arrest, he was found mentally fit to stand trial, but last May, a Madison County judge ordered further Department of Human Services evaluation due to Cooks erratic behavior behind bars, such has violence toward staff, leading to even more criminal charges.

Unfortunately, County Jails are not structured to serve as mental health facilities, and can only provide limited resources for inmates with such challenges, Gibbons wrote.

Unfortunately, DHS did not ever take custody of Mr. Cook or transfer him to another facility. Despite repeated requests to DHS to transfer him, he remained at the Madison County Jail.

In response, Cooks attorney Jeff Weishaupt, filed a new petition to determine fitness, and last week a judge ordered Cook unfit to stand trial, ordering him into DHS custody for treatment to help him regain fitness.

Since that order was entered, DHS personnel have visited Mr. Cook at the Madison County Jail to determine his current condition so he can be placed in the most appropriate, secured facility for treatment, Gibbons wrote. With the recent engagement by DHS, we are confident Mr. Cook will be transferred from the Madison County Jail to a secured DHS facility very soon, allowing him to receive the treatment he needs in a facility designed for such purpose.

Gibbons noted that the states attorneys office has no plans to allow Cook to skirt the responsibility of his criminal charges, adding that he hopes Cook will have his mental illness treated in the next year, so those proceedings can continue.

If convicted of all charges, he could be sentenced to over 70 years in prison.

Telegraph reporter Sanford J. Schmidt and previous Telegraph reporter Kelsey Landis contributed to this report.
NEW YORK - On the ninth Friday of her strike, 13-year-old Alexandria Villasenor wakes to a dozen emails, scores of Twitter notifications, and good news from the other side of the planet: Students in China want to join her movement.

Every week since December, the seventh-grader has made a pilgrimage to the United Nations Headquarters demanding action on climate change. She is one of a cadre of young, fierce and mostly female activists behind the "school strikes for climate" movement. On March 15, with the support of some of the world's biggest environmental groups, tens of thousands of kids in at least two dozen countries and nearly 30 U.S. states plan to skip school to protest.

Their demands are uncompromising: Nations must commit to cutting fossil-fuel emissions in half in the next 10 years to avoid catastrophic global warming.

And their message is firm: Kids are done waiting for adults to save their world.

"Mom, this is so cool," Alexandria says, as she reads the latest list of countries where kids have pledged to participate in a global strike: Australia, Thailand, Ghana, France. "Where is Gir--, Girona?"

"That's in Spain," replies her mother, Kristin Hogue.

They sit on the couch, still in their pajamas, and Alexandria pulls out the planner she purchased to keep track of all her commitments. Each task is color-coded by geographic scale: Pink for global organizing. Orange for national. Yellow for New York.

First on the agenda is an interview with a reporter from the U.K., who seems caught off guard by the young woman's fervor.

"My generation is really upset." The deal struck at COP24, the U.N. climate meeting in December, was insufficient, she says. "We're not going to let them . . . hand us down a broken planet."

"Huh. Right," the reporter says. "Big ambitions."

Alexandria raises her eyebrows.

"Yeah," she replies, confident.

Afterward, she changes into her striking uniform: waterproof ski pants and a down jacket, all in white, just like the congresswomen at the State of the Union and the suffragists of old. She packs her bag - planner, thermos, gloves - and grabs her plastic-encased cardboard signs, which read "SCHOOL STRIKE 4 CLIMATE" and "COP 24 FAILED US."

She holds the signs facing inward so other commuters on the subway can't see them. She doesn't like it when people stare.

"They'll probably think it's just a science project," Alexandria tells her mother. Then she laughs. "Well, technically it is. It's project conservation. Project save the Earth."

- - -

It's been four months since Alexandria decided the Earth needed saving. Last year, during a visit with family in northern California, she was caught in the cloud of smoke from the Camp Fire, which killed nearly 100 people and filled the air with unbreathable smoke. The girl suffers from asthma, and for days afterward she felt physically ill and emotionally distraught.

This isn't normal, she thought. This isn't right.

She began to look up articles about the West's historic drought, read reports about recent global temperature rise, asked her mother, a graduate student in the Climate and Society program at Columbia University, to explain the drivers behind global warming. She joined the New York chapter of Zero Hour, a network of young American climate activists.

In December she watched as international negotiators met in Poland to carve out a plan for curbing carbon emissions. A recent U.N. report found that humanity has until 2030 - the year Alexandria turns 24 - to achieve "rapid and far-reaching" transformation of society if we wish to avoid the dire environmental consequences of warming 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Yet the agreement that was ultimately reached fell far short of what scientists say is urgently needed.

In the midst of all this, Greta Thunberg, a 15-year-old from Sweden, took the podium.

"You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes," the girl proclaimed to a room full of stunned adults. "We have come here to let you know that change is coming, whether you like it or not."

Recalling that speech, Alexandria's eyes light up. "She just put them in their place," Alexandria says. "That was extremely satisfying."

Alexandria searched Greta's name online and found stories about the Swedish girl's climate strike in front of her country's parliament building, then in its fourth month. Greta said she had been inspired by student activists from Parkland, Fla., who said they would not go back to school until gun-control legislation was passed. "I am too young to vote and to lobby," she told The Washington Post this week. "But I can sit down with a sign and make my voice heard."

Alexandria knew what she needed to do.

She made her first pilgrimage to the United Nations Headquarters on Dec. 14. The next week she was back - with an umbrella. She has endured relentless rain and brutal wind off the East River (weeks three and four). She has braved the polar vortex that sent temperatures plummeting to 10 degrees (week eight).

Few of the New Yorkers bustling by ever stop to talk to her. And in her first eight weeks of striking, no one offered to join.

"But I stay motivated," she says. "Of course. It's my future on the line."

Many of Alexandria's friends are uninterested in her activism; their Instagram posts are more likely to show off a new outfit than a scene from a protest. Alexandria doesn't blame them - until a few months ago her life had also revolved around sleepovers and school plays. "I guess we're still teenagers," she says, shrugging.

But now she is switching to a private school that could accommodate her activism schedule and staying up all night talking to Thunberg and other kids from Australia, Uganda, the U.K. They are kindred spirits, internet-savvy teenage girls who can recite the results of the latest U.N. climate report and take pride in seeing through what Alexandria calls "the veil of money and B.S." that seems to stall so many adults.

Together, they debate strategy and discuss going vegan. On their strike days, they trade tweets littered with heart emoji and cheer as the walkouts expand.

Adults who underestimate the movement do so at their own peril. Since late last year, strikes in European cities have regularly drawn tens of thousands of participants. More than 15,000 people showed up for a strike in Australia - even after their prime minister urged them to be "less activist."

When a Belgian environment minister suggested that the growing protests were a "setup" this month, she was forced to resign. The following day, 20,000 kids were back in the streets of Brussels.

That day, Alexandria shared an image of a Dutch protest on Twitter, alongside the declaration, "It's coming to America. You haven't seen anything yet."

Alexandria has joined forces with Haven Coleman, a 12-year-old striker from Colorado, and Isra Hirsi, the 15-year-old daughter of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to organize the U.S. movement.

Offers of support began streaming in almost faster than the girls could respond. The executive director of Greenpeace agreed to hand the group's social media accounts over to students for the day of the strike. The New York chapter of the Sunrise Movement, the grass-roots group advocating for the Green New Deal, offered to handle outreach for March 15. Prominent climate researchers including Michael Mann, Kathrine Hayhoe and Peter Kalmus followed the girls on Twitter and began to organize an open letter of support from scientists. Alexandria and her mother have been invited to attend a special briefing next week on the U.N. Climate Summit being held later this year.

"These kids go straight to the top, and the adults listen," Hogue says.

"That's because they see the opportunity of the strikes and what it will do as good as the next person," Alexandria replies. "They see it."

Still, even the 13-year-old is stunned by the momentum of the movement, which seems to have taken on a life of its own. Sometimes all she can do is watch the emails roll in and think, "Whoa. I did that."

- - -

"That one down there is mine," Alexandria says. She points to a bench about 100 feet from the U.N. visitor entrance, as close as she's allowed to get to the protected building.

It's raining - a persistent chilly drizzle - and the wind keeps blowing her posters down. But Alexandria is feeling good about the day. For the first time since she started her protest, she will have company later that day.

Hogue takes a photo to post to Twitter. Alexandria poses with her arms crossed and her hip tilted to the side, unsmiling. She is not here to look cute.

Then Hogue hugs her daughter and walks away. Since she began the strike nine weeks ago, Alexandria has been adamant about protesting on her own.

"This is about my generation," the girl says.

After a few hours, the rain subsides and Alexandria's first fellow protester appears. Stefanie Giglio, 31, is a freelance writer and activist who was trained as one of Al Gore's "Climate Reality" advocates.

Alexandria reaches out to shake the woman's hand. "Thanks for coming," she says.

They compare signs and commiserate about how much more radical Europeans are than Americans.

"I really believe in direct action," Alexandria says.

"Yeah," says Giglio. "It's great that your parents are OK with this."

The 13-year-old nods. She has friends elsewhere in the city whose parents won't let them skip school to protest.

"They're so dependent on school," Alexandria says. "Like, I need to go to school to get the education for the job that's definitely going to be there in 10 years."

She raises her eyebrows again.

"If I don't have a future, why go to school? Why go to school if we're going to be too focused on running from disasters? Striking has to be the way."

Two blocks away, in the coffee shop where she usually waits out the protest, Hogue monitors Alexandria's Twitter feed and tries not to feel guilty for leaving her daughter out there alone.

The comments online don't help. For all the strangers on the internet who call Alexandria an inspiration, there are still people who tweet "YOU'RE A MORON" and "Go back to school!" and threaten to "come down there and teach you a real lesson about climate change."

Hogue blocks the worst offenders before the seventh-grader can see their messages. But there's not much else she can do. When she went to the New York Police Department's 17th precinct to file a report, officials told her they could only respond to concrete threats.

And every week, Alexandria insists on returning to her post.

"I have to let her make her own choices," Hogue says. "This is what she wants."

She recalls their first honest conversation about climate change, when Alexandria was 9 or 10, and Hogue was reading Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" for a college literature class.

The girl asked what the book was about. So Hogue told her of Carson's crusade against pesticides that killed birds and poisoned streams, how one woman speaking out led to the rise of environmentalism and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. That led to conversations about pollution and sea-level rise, about Alexandria's asthma and California drought - all the ways humans are still suffering today from the changes we've made to our planet.

"She seemed mad," Hogue said. "'Don't they know?' she kept asking. And I said yes. And she was like, 'Well, then why do they do it?' "

Hogue realized this was a truth from which she could no longer protect her daughter, just as she couldn't protect her from the pollutants that irritated her lungs.

It doesn't matter to them, she explained. Too many people will do what benefits them in the moment, even if it hurts others in the long run.

"She just couldn't understand how people could knowingly do that to the planet," Hogue said. "I think, sitting out there right now, she still doesn't understand."

But maybe, Hogue thinks, that's exactly what makes Alexandria and her friends so formidable.

- - -

The next day, a Saturday, Alexandria's chapter of Zero Hour huddles in a meeting room on the Columbia University campus to discuss plans for the global strike. The other kids are all in high school, but Alexandria is the clear leader of this gathering.

"Here's today's schedule," she says. "First Peter de Menocal is going to be giving a presentation on the latest climate science. Peter -" she looks toward the lone adult in the room, "are you ready?"

De Menocal, the dean of science for Columbia, stands and calls up the slide show he usually gives to graduate students. "Alexandria asked me to give you my worst," he says.

He displays a graph of future emissions scenarios. A blue curve depicts the path recommended by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which would limit warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius. "Business as usual" is shown in red - a line that just keeps going up.

"This is all that stuff you guys are fighting for," de Menocal says. "If you don't fight for it, we own those red pathways."

Alexandria knows this story. It's the one that climate researchers have been telling for nearly 40 years, to little effect. Humans keep emitting greenhouse gases, temperatures keep rising, and the outlook for the future keeps growing more and more bleak. When Alexandria tries to envision her own adulthood, she sees only "what ifs" - What if a wildfire destroys her family's home in California? What if there are food shortages, or illnesses, or floods?

But all those hours of organizing, all those days sitting in front of the U.N., "It helps," she says. "It makes me feel like I have power. Like I can make some kind of change."

His presentation done, de Menocal hands the clicker over and Alexandria straightens in her chair. "OK," she says. "Here's the update."

The professor leans forward as the 13-year-old launches into a description of the global strike - all the support it has, all the attention it has received. In 30 years of studying climate, in all his uncountable hours of attempting to convey the scope of the crisis, he has rarely felt so humbled, he says - or so filled with hope.

"Do you have a statement I can read somewhere?" he asks.

"Sure," Alexandria says. "We have a mission statement and a media advisory on our website."

De Menocal mouths "wow" and turns around to give the girl's mother an amazed grin. Afterward, he pulls Alexandria aside.

"Thank you for what you're doing," he says, shaking her hand. "Thank you so much. What can I do to help?"

She tells him about the scientists who are writing a letter of support and suggests that he get involved.

"He can organize the adults," she says later. "We're ready for them now."
A disease that impacts the lives of wildlife across the country has wildlife officials on alert.

Chronic wasting disease, also known as "zombie deer disease," has killed deer, elk and moose in 24 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CWD has also been reported in reindeer and moose in Norway, Finland and two Canadian provinces, as well as a small number of imported cases that have been reported in South Korea.

The CDC says the possibility that CWD could be spread to people cannot be ruled out.

"It is probable that human cases of chronic wasting disease associated with consumption with contaminated meat will be documented in the years ahead," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota told USA Today. "Its possible the number of human cases will be substantial and will not be isolated events."

Said to be similar to mad cow disease and with no known cure, researchers say the neurological disease attacks the brains of deer and other members of the deer family, creating holes that resemble those in sponges.

The CDC says the disease is spread by animal-to-animal contact, and if it could spread to people it would most likely be through the eating of infected deer and elk.



Wildlife officials say to prevent the spread of disease, deer carcasses should be buried on the property where they were harvested if possible, left in place or disposed of at an approved, lined landfill. They should not be disposed of in ponds, lakes or waterways, which could spread the disease to previously uninfected areas.

The disease was found in the following states:
A gunman opened fire at a suburban Chicago industrial park Friday, killing five people and wounding five officers.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters that the officers were fired upon Friday afternoon as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt Co. building in Aurora.

Ziman says the gunman was also killed.

Aurora city spokesman Clayton Muhammad said the officers were stable, but did not say if they were shot.

Muhammad also told ABC7 that the suspect had been neutralized. He did not elaborate.

Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions werent released.

The Kane County coroner was at the scene, and the Aurora Police Department was expected to hold a news conference Friday evening.

Live TV reports showed dozens of first responder vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, a city of about 200,000 people about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.

Several ATF teams responded to the shooting and were at the scene, according to the agencys Chicago spokeswoman, and the FBI said it also was responding.

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.

What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it, Probst said.

Probst said he wasnt hurt but that another colleague was bleeding pretty bad.

The company makes valves for industrial purposes.

Police said the situation had been contained and that there was no ongoing threat to the public, according to a statement issued by the Kane County Sheriffs Department on behalf of the Aurora Police Department.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

West Aurora School District 129 said on its website that it was keeping all students in their classrooms as police investigate, but that teaching will continue with reduced movement.

Presence Mercy Medical Center was treating two patients and a third had been transferred by helicopter to another hospital, spokesman Matt Wakely said. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital each had one patient from the shooting, spokeswoman Kate Eller said. Rush Copley Medical Center received three patients from the shooting and all are being treated for non-life threatening injuries, spokeswoman Courtney Satlak said.
TIJUANA, Mexico - When the United States sent a handful of families seeking asylum back to Mexico on Wednesday, it marked a new chapter in America's changing asylum policy. For the first time, parents with children will have to wait in border cities like this while their claims are processed.

For the Trump administration, it was a major step in an effort to roll back the so-called "catch-and-release" policy that allows migrant families to wait with relatives in the United States until their court dates. But for the families, who are now waiting in Tijuana shelters, it presents an enormous challenge. Many have no plan for where to live, let alone access to lawyers.

"During the interview, when the [asylum] officer said I had to wait in Mexico, I started crying. My youngest son said, 'Mama, don't cry', but I couldn't stop," said a woman who asked to be identified by her middle name, Esmerelda. She was one of the mothers who was turned back Wednesday as a part of the new policy.

She said she and her three children fled El Salvador after the country's powerful 18th Street gang tried to recruit her 11-year-old son.

"It was too much. I told [the officer] I had nowhere to go, and he just shrugged and looked at me like I was crazy," she said.

Many asylum seekers, like Esmerelda, have relatives they could stay with in the United States but don't know anyone in northern Mexico, leaving them with few options.

The Mexican government has repeatedly said it lacks the resources to provide food, shelter and medical care to the families who are sent back across the border, potentially for months, until their first asylum hearing. Initially, in January, Mexican officials said they would not accept children sent back as a part of the so-called "Migration Protection Protocols." For the first few weeks of the program, only individual adults were sent back.

But the Mexican government appears to have capitulated to U.S. demands, allowing families to return as a part of the program. So far, 73 people have been sent back to Mexico under the program, according to Mexican authorities, including 13 minors.

Now, the question is how families will deal with the new policy, which they worry will put them at risk.

Isabel, 31, arrived at the border with her three children from Guatemala, after traveling with a migrant caravan. She said she was fleeing two former partners who had beaten and threatened her. The most recent one was involved with the MS-13 gang and nearly killed her, she said.

Isabel said she had an interview with a U.S. asylum officer after turning herself in at the Tijuana port of entry on Feb. 9.

The officer "told me I would have to wait in Mexico for my court date on March 27," she said. "She said that I'd have to find a lawyer and then they let us go.

"I'm confused. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll just wait," Isabel said, and began to cry. "I can't go home to my country. I don't want riches, I just want to live in peace. I want a little store to sell things. My dream is to live quietly and raise my children."

The Tijuana shelter where the families are staying is packed with women and children, mostly from Central America but also from Mexico and Africa. There were clothes strung up inside. Women were lined up for a lunch of beef stew and rice.

The American Civil Liberties Union and immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit Thursday against the U.S. government, alleging the policy endangers migrants and violates U.S. law. The ACLU is asking a judge to allow the migrants to return to the United States while their cases are processed.

The lawsuit has 11 plaintiffs, all asylum seekers from Central America who were returned to Mexico since Jan. 30 to wait out their asylum cases. One is a lesbian who said she was assaulted because of her sexual orientation and fled Honduras after her partner's family threatened to kill her.

Steven Stafford, a Justice Department spokesman, said the U.S. government was planning to defend the policy, which it believes was authorized by Congress.

"Congress has explicitly authorized the Department of Homeland Security to return aliens arriving from a contiguous foreign territory to that territory during that alien's immigration court proceedings," Stafford said.

Analysts and immigration advocates have raised concerns about the effect the new U.S. policy will have on migrants - and especially on families.

"Mexico has never done enough to protect the safety of migrants or to investigate crimes committed against them," said Maureen Meyer, director for Mexico and migrant rights at the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA). "The U.S. doesn't appear to care how these asylum seekers will be put in greater risk by staying in Mexico."
On March 7, 2016, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic introduced the nation to Lindsey McFarland, the first person to undergo a successful uterus transplant in the United States. Within hours, however, McFarland was back in surgery: A life-threatening infection forced the organ's removal, crushing hope she might one day give birth.

McFarland later learned the culprit was Candida albicans, a fungus common in women's reproductive tracts. In her, it flared into a raging infection that damaged at least two of her arteries, including one that supplied blood to the newly-implanted uterus.

What she did not know is the transplanted uterus had come from a donor suffering from a Candida infection in her bladder - a fact made clear by routine testsconducted by the Miami organ group that provided the uterus.

That group, the Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency (LAORA), claims it alerted McFarland's surgeons to the infection soon after discovering it. But officials at the Cleveland Clinic said they were not told until weeks later, after the infection had forced the uterus' removal.

"No one reported the bladder infection to us," said a Cleveland Clinic official, who asked for his name to be withheld because he was not authorized to speak about the case. "We would have treated it and acted differently."

The alleged missteps that preceded McFarland's failed transplant - which have not been previously disclosed - illustrate what critics say is a lack of public accountability in the U.S. transplant system that undermines patient safety. They say the system's main actors are not required to reveal most mistakes to the government, the rest of the medical establishment or the public. Largely free of such oversight, they are rarely held publicly responsible for errors.

McFarland, 29, and the mother of five adopted children, learned about allegations that LAORA failed to report the infection to her surgeons only recently, from a Washington Post reporter. "We could be having a very different conversation today if that phone call had been made," she said in an interview.

A Candida infection in an organ donor is a red flag, experts said, because it may develop into a life-threatening problem for transplant patients on immune-suppressing drugs that leave them particularly vulnerable to pathogens. All organ donors must be tested for infections, and positive findings must be reported within 24 hours to transplant teams receiving the organ, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the transplant system.

In a two-paragraph statement, LAORA said it "reported the positive test results within 3 hours." The group did not respond to requests to specify more clearly when the notification took place.

Lisa Worley, assistant vice president of medical communications and media relations at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, which oversees LAORA, said "other organs from this donor were successfully transplanted," an indication that those organs were not infected. She declined to say whether infection had been found in any of them. Worley declined further comment, saying she had no additional information.

But Eileen Sheil, a spokeswoman for the Cleveland Clinic, said LAORA did not acknowledge the bladder infection until more than two weeks after the transplant, when the hospital contacted the group as part of its investigation into what had gone wrong.

Key parts of Cleveland Clinic's account are corroborated by emails obtained by The Post, in which a person familiar with the case reported the alleged communications failure to U.S. regulators.

The Post met with the author of the emails to ascertain details of that person's background and the credibility of the information. The Post agreed not to disclose the author's name to protect the person from retaliation. The Post also corroborated that the emails were sent to regulators several weeks after the transplant.

LAORA is one of 58 nonprofit "organ procurement organizations" chartered by the federal government to collect organs for transplant. Safety standards are enforced by UNOS, another nonprofit that works under contract with the federal government. Only the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) can shut down an organ procurement group but the agency largely defers to UNOS on safety issues.

At the time of McFarland's transplant, LAORA was a "member not in good standing" of the transplant network - a designation that indicated a "serious lapse in patient safety or quality of care," according to UNOS. The reasons for that designation are secret, however.

The designation, revealed only by a few paragraphs on UNOS' website, triggered additional monitoring and other corrective measures, but did not stop LAORA from functioning.

The complaint that LAORA failed to notify McFarland's surgeons about a donor infection is part of a pattern of reports about organ procurement agencies that has raised concern in Washington. Indiana Sen. Todd Young, R, said he is drafting legislation to tighten regulation of the transplant industry.

"This extremely troubling story is just one more example of the need for greater transparency, oversight and accountability in our organ donation system," Young said of McFarland's failed transplant.

McFarland was born without a uterus or fallopian tubes; a uterine transplant offered the only path to pregnancy and childbirth. She and her husband, Blake, had already adopted three boys when she became first in line for the Cleveland Clinic's groundbreaking uterine transplant program.

"We just wanted that chance," she said of the prospect of bearing a child naturally. "I really wanted to experience pregnancy, and all of the firsts that come with that, with Blake."

After undergoing a battery of physical and psychological tests, she underwent surgery over nine hours on Feb. 24, 2016. The transplant was meant to be temporary, intended to give her a chance to have one or two pregnancies via implanted embryos, with deliveries by Caesarean section. Then doctors would remove the organ so she would not have to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of her life.

But the plan went awry on March 7, when McFarland began bleeding. Doctors said they discovered an artery they had connected to supply blood to the uterus was damaged and had no choice but to remove the organ. The cause was subsequently revealed to be the Candida infection.

The McFarlands said doctors told them the infection most likely came from the transplanted uterus, because preoperative testing had shown no sign of Candida albicans infection in McFarland. Fungi and bacteria commonly live in healthy people without causing problems. But if they grow unchecked, as a result of medication or other health issues, they can attack tissues, and some can become lethal.

Cleveland Clinic surgeons contacted LAORA officials in the weeks after the transplant failed and learned for the first time the donor had tested positive for the infection, Sheil said in response to written questions from The Post.

Separately, on March 20, a person familiar with LAORA'S role emailed transplant regulators, claiming LAORA had not notified the Cleveland Clinic about the donor's positive test for the fungal infection.

The email identified the infection by name and asserted it had been discovered in lab tests within 24 hours after the organ was recovered on Feb. 24 from a woman in her 30s who died at Kendall Regional Hospital in Miami.

"Everyone at LAORA and many in the University [of Miami] know it was LAORA's fault for not reporting medical findings to Cleveland Clinic transplant team," said the email, which was sent to UNOS and other transplant authorities. "This is beyond terrible and embarrassing."

In an interview, the author of the email said LAORA's staff did not alert the Cleveland Clinic due to a lack of training and confusion surrounding the new procedure.

The emails show UNOS tried to investigate those complaints beginning a few months later. A spokesman for UNOS declined to comment, citing the need to protect donors' and recipients' confidentiality. A CMS official also received the emails; a spokeswoman for that agency declined to comment because the matter was investigated by a UNOS committee whose process is confidential.

An independent transplant expert said it is highly likely McFarland's infection came from the donor. But since all women carry the Candida albicans fungus, Cleveland Clinic doctors said they cannot entirely rule out the possibility that fungus in McFarland's own body grew into an infection after she began taking medication that suppressed her immune system.

Sheil said McFarland was not put on antifungal drugs in advance of the transplant because "fungal infection in a transplanted uterus is a rare and unanticipated complication that had never been seen or reported previously in transplant trials."

The clinic later changed its protocols to use antifungal drugs in all future uterine transplants.

Goran Klintmalm, chairman of transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center, the only other U.S. uterine transplant program, said the infection "almost certainly came from the donor."

Klintmalm said the suture line where an artery was connected to the uterus became infected. "That is typical when it comes from the donor," he said.

While common yeast infections caused by Candida albicans are easily treated, "it is a lethal infection if it gets out of hand," Klintmalm said.

About a week after the uterus was removed, McFarland suffered another serious complication: She was rushed back into surgery, where doctors discovered she was bleeding internally from an artery in her left leg that was badly damaged by the infection, and they made further repairs.

Three years later, McFarland said she has fully recovered, but is no longer a candidate for a transplant because of the damage to her arteries. She said she remains grateful to the organ donor and her family for giving her a shot at having biological children.

"I'm still a firm believer in uterus transplantation, even if it wasn't successful for me," said McFarland, who has since adopted two more children."I don't blame the donor at all. ... I may not have the happy ending, but there are women out there who are."

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Clinic has resumed its uterus transplant program. And the program at Baylor has successfully transplanted uteruses into eight women, Klintmalm said. So far, two of those women have given birth.

In December 2017, UNOS reinstated LAORA to regular status. The decision followed corrective actions that UNOS refused to make public as a matter of policy.

---

The Washington Post's Julia Robinson contributed to this report.
With a former county executive currently on trial for alleged financial malfeasance, Nassau County, N.Y., Comptroller Jack Schnirman has turned to technology to establish transparency and rebuild public trust in government.Schnirman, who took office in 2018, campaigned in part on a promise to open up and modernize the countys finances in response to a history of scandals, and now he has taken a big step in that direction with Nassau County Open Checkbook . Powered by Socrata Open Expenditures , it launched in recent weeks and is essentially a platform that allows users  be they members of the public, the media, or public servants themselves  to see how the county is spending its money, down to the individual transaction level. Schnirman described it as a stark contrast from how government spending in the county has traditionally been handled.It had really been a black box so to speak, Schnirman said. If you wanted information, you had to make a specific Freedom of Information Act request and almost be sent to an attic or basement to review boxes of files. There was no easy way to look at this information in a user-friendly format from a resident perspective, and from a user perspective it wasnt much different.Schnirman said establishing the open checkbook is the first step in a wide-spanning data-driven culture change. The work right now involves spreading awareness and encouraging users to dive into the platform's capabilities. His office has even set up an email address for residents and others to report inefficiencies they find.This is our starting place, Schnirman said, and we want to build from here.Plans call for slowly making more information available on the platform, including data sets that will enable viewing of county governance in a historical context. Nassau County is far from the only local government agency to use tech to foster transparency and by extension trust. Kevin Merritt, who is the president of the data and insights division for Socrata's parent company Tyler Technologies, said an increasing number of local governments across the country are making commitments to open data work.The idea of an open checkbook that anyone can view online is one that has been embraced by a wide range of governments across different levels, from the state of Ohio to the city of Baton Rouge, La As similar platforms become operational across the country, Merritt said more residents are beginning to expect their governments to follow suit.If anyone has seen a checkbook online from one government, Merritt said, theyre now asking their own government, Hey, why isnt our checkbook online?
Last May, officials in Midlothian, Texas, a city near Dallas, approved more than $10 million in tax breaks for a huge, mysterious new development across from a shuttered Toys R' Us warehouse.

That day was the first time officials had spoken publicly about an enigmatic developer's plans to build a sprawling data center. The developer, which incorporated with the state four months earlier, went by the name Sharka LLC. City officials declined at the time to say who was behind Sharka.

The mystery company was Google -- a fact the city revealed two months later, after the project was formally approved. Larry Barnett, president of Midlothian Economic Development, one of the agencies that negotiated the data center deal, said he knew at the time the tech giant was the one seeking a decade of tax giveaways for the project, but he was prohibited from disclosing it because the company had demanded secrecy.

"I'm confident that had the community known this project was under the direction of Google, people would have spoken out, but we were never given the chance to speak," said Travis Smith, managing editor of the Waxahachie Daily Light, the local paper. "We didn't know that it was Google until after it passed."

After the deal went through, Sharka changed its main address to that of Google's headquarters in Mountain View, California. Site work began last fall.

Google - which has risen to become one of the world's most valuable companies by transforming the public's ability to access information - has vastly expanded its geographic footprint over the last decade, building more than 15 data centers on three continents and 70 offices worldwide. But that development spree has often been shrouded in secrecy, making it nearly impossible for some communities to know, let alone protest or debate, who is using their land, their resources and their tax dollars until after the fact, according to Washington Post interviews and newly released public records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

With their growing reach into the U.S. economy and in the face of greater political scrutiny, tech giants including Google and Amazon are on a tear to expand - but communities now see their arrival more skeptically for the disruption, environmental impact and higher cost of living they often bring, as well as the incentives they seek, despite their deep pockets.

Local officials say they are pressed to maintain secrecy to lure powerful tech companies, who wish to avoid controversies and keep details about their operations under wraps. On Thursday that ability to play hardball was on full display after Amazon pulled the plug on plans to build a sprawling new campus in New York City rather than endure further public criticism of the project.

Amazon's year-long search for a second headquarters was criticized for its use of confidentiality agreements that were so restrictive that officials couldn't comment on their existence, and for playing cities against one another in a quest for government incentives. : Even after pulling out of New York, the Seattle-based company is slated to take in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks when it builds its second headquarters in northern Virginia. (Jeff Bezos, the co-founder of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.) Some New York lawmakers were so outraged by the secrecy of Amazon's process that they have introduced bills that would ban nondisclosure agreements for development projects in the city and state.

Apple has also sought multimillion-dollar tax giveaways to build a 5,000-person campus in Austin, Texas, its largest facility by number of employees after its headquarters in Cupertino, California. Facebook is slated to receive $150 million in property tax incentives for building a 970,000-square-foot data center in Utah, the company and local officials announced last year.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced $13 billion in new investments in data centers and offices across the U.S., a move that would grow the company's physical footprint to 24 states and create 10,000 new construction jobs. He said that 2019 would be the second year in the row the company is growing faster outside its home in the Bay Area than in it.

Yet Google has made extensive use of nondisclosure agreements in negotiations for its planned second campus in San Jose, California, the largest after its headquarters in nearby Mountain View. It has plans to build a large new campus in New York City as well as several other development projects, including in Virginia and Nevada, according to public announcements and company statements.

"We believe public dialogue is vital to the process of building new sites and offices, so we actively engage with community members and elected officials in the places we call home," Google spokeswoman Katherine Williams said in a statement. "In a single year, our data centers created $1.3 billion in economic activity, $750 million in labor income, and 11,000 jobs throughout the United States. Of course, when we enter new communities we use common industry practices and work with municipalities to follow their required procedures."

Amazon declined to comment. Facebook and Apple didn't respond to requests for comment.

Confidentiality agreements are common in development negotiations - but the level of secrecy around data center deals is unusual, experts say.

"Public transparency laws are designed to keep the public interest at the contract table, and the way you do that is with information," said Michelle Wilde Anderson, a Stanford Law School professor specializing in state and local government law. "If you scrutinize the winners and losers in this bargain, you see that Google is overwhelmingly the winner. Google has a strategic interest in getting their name out of these deals so that they go down more quietly, without public debate."

The Google records were obtained by the advocacy group Partnership for Working Families, which has sued the city of San Jose over its negotiations with Google, arguing that the more than a dozen non-disclosure agreements officials signed with the search were illegal under California law. Partnership for Working Families, which lobbies against issues such as income inequality, argues that secretive arrangements keep the public in the dark about the costs and benefits of corporate projects.

- - -

The records date back to 2006, when Google began its first wave of data center construction -- warehouses of servers that house computing infrastructure -- as the company raced to fight Microsoft and Yahoo in a war over search and new applications such as Gmail. The documents continue into 2018, offering a rare glimpse into the lengths Google has gone to keep these projects and their impact on the surrounding communities under wraps for over a decade.

Data centers, which can generate significant revenue for communities but use local resources such as energy and water, are sensitive sites for tech companies. If they are attacked, they could wipe out operations for the company. Everything from the technology they use to the location they are in are highly competitive.

The Partnership for Working Families sent Freedom of Information requests to local governments involved in brokering deals for Google's eight existing data centers in the U.S., plus Midlothian, and sent seven additional requests to cities where Google has offices.

Officials in eight of the cities signed nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, in their real estate dealings with Google, according to the documents. The documents also show that the search giant used shell companies to negotiate to build data centers in five of the six localities with data centers that responded to the records requests, including Midlothian; Berkeley County, South Carolina; Council Bluffs, Iowa; Lenoir, North Carolina; and Clarksville, Tennessee. Google's identity was eventually revealed, but often so late in the process that it precluded public debate.

Sometimes Google formed multiple subsidiaries, with distinct names, to handle different aspects of negotiations for the same site, according to the documents. In Midlothian, for example, Google created Sharka to negotiate the tax-abatement and the site plans, and used a separate Delaware company, Jet Stream LLC, to negotiate the land purchase with a private owner. In Iowa, Google created Delaware-based Questa LLC for the land sale and Gable Corp. for the development deal.

When Google's representatives first approached Midlothian in 2016, they used a code name that was not the same as either of the subsidiaries, Barnett said. (He declined to say what it was.) Google also asked Midlothian officials to sign a confidentiality agreement before they knew the developer's identity, Barnett said. He said Google revealed its identity a year later, as the deal approached.

Barnett said that some confidentiality is always necessary when negotiating competitive development deals. "When I'm trying to win a project, as all economic developers do, we abide by what the company wants. It would be detrimental to us to not to follow the company's lead," he said. "I've been doing this for 20 years, and my job is to make sure that my city gets the best deal. When a company asks for secrecy, I say yes. You have to build up trust."

Barnett said he did not believe that residents got the short end of the stick. Google's $500 million development would support local businesses, schools and 40 jobs that Google has promised to create over five years. "The community wins with this agreement," he said.

The records also demonstrate how Google was able to keep publicly relevant information out of view. Lenoir, North Carolina, where Google announced in 2007 it would build a data center, agreed to treat as a trade secret information about energy and water use, the number of workers to be employed by the data center, and the amount of capital the company would invest, according to the documents. The Google subsidiary, Tapaha Dynamics LLC, then moved to exempt such trade secrets from transparency laws that allow citizens to make public information requests. At one point, according to the documents, Lenoir's city attorney instructed city council members not to answer questions about the project during a public hearing.

Williams, the Google spokeswoman, told The Post that it considers information such as water and energy usage to be trade secrets because competitors could use it to draw sensitive conclusions about the company's technology.

Wilde Anderson said that Google's nondisclosure agreements, which she said are more stringent than other companies', appeared one-sided, protecting Google's interests above those of the city or the public. Midlothian's Barnett said it was written so broadly that he feared even disclosing the existence of an agreement would violate the NDA, echoing similar statements from officials in other locations.

Smaller cities, in particular, face a sizable power imbalance when they go to negotiate with some of the wealthiest companies in the world, Wilde Anderson added. Some are so cash-strapped that they lack a single full-time lawyer, she said. Breaking the rules could mean getting into a costly lawsuit with an adversary with a seemingly endless budget.

"Google's huge and well-resourced legal team pushes an NDA across the table, and it's just a mismatch of resources," she said. "Like many parts of life, you get what you pay for."

In Midlothian, Google's subsidiary had the authority to determine which documents would be disclosed, even if the state attorney general said they were subject to transparency law, according to the records.

Google's secret negotiations also appeared to lead to favorable land prices for the company. In 2008, Google purchased 850 acres of land for a dollar from Council Bluffs Industrial Foundation, a nonprofit that works with the city of Council Bluffs, according to deeds from the sale.

- - -

In a few cases, Google's secretive moves have prompted a public outcry.

Last year, an unfamiliar company filed a water permit application in South Carolina that would have made it the third largest aquifer user in the area, said Emily Cedzo, air, water, and public health projects director with the Coastal Conservation League, an environmental advocacy group in the Carolinas, who spotted the application.

She discovered via a quick Google search that Maguro Enterprises, the company that applied for the permit, shared an address with the Google data center that had been built a few years earlier in Berkeley County, South Carolina.

After her group publicized Google's permit application, the agency was flooded with so many public comments that it led to a heated hearing. Dozens of county residents, and even the manager of the local utility, protested the application because they felt it could become a threat to the community's drinking supply. No one seemed to know how much water Google's Maguro, which had negotiated a nondisclosure agreement with the county's sanitation department, had been using in the first place, Cedzo said.

"I can imagine that people were initially excited that Google would want to call the county home," Cedzo said. "But when you start digging a little deeper, it looks different."

Today, Google's Maguro entity is the only company in the county's top 10 users of water whose current volume of use is not publicly disclosed. Its application for more water is stalled, and it runs using the water it was previously allotted.

In Midlothian, a July article in the local newspaper, the Waxahachie Daily Light, announcing Google's role in the new data center elicited hundreds of comments and shares, with many residents complaining about the low number of jobs and the tax incentives. "There goes our small town living," one local wrote.

"So Google comes in and pays no taxes for 10 years, and only brings in 40 jobs hmm sounds like a great idea," wrote another.

Smith, the managing editor of the local paper, said, "I'm not going to say we've been lied to, but we've been strung along."
The Ford governments plan to overhaul the Ontario autism program has sparked furious debate, led to angry parent protests and triggered calls for the minister behind the revamp to resign.

It has also left much confusion around an often controversial subject.

Lisa MacLeod, minister of children, community and social services, said sweeping changes are necessary to clear the therapy wait list of 23,000 kids within 18 months and make the program fiscally sustainable.

Today, almost three out of every four children who require autism supports continue to be stranded on wait lists, she told reporters at a Feb. 6 news conference in Toronto. We are introducing reforms to provide them with the fairness and equality they deserve.

The Star consulted experts, advocates and government officials and websites to answer some questions about autism and what lies ahead for Ontario families.

Read more:

Autism therapists call on Ford government to rethink overhaul

Lisa MacLeod apologizes for comments amid calls for resignation over autism controversy

Autism group says minister warned of long, hard four years if they didnt support changes

What is autism?

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disability that affects communication and social interaction and may include repetitive behaviours and restricted interests. While autism affects every child differently and has no cure, symptoms, abilities and experiences can improve over time with the help of evidence-based therapies and interventions.

How is it diagnosed?

Five regional centres across Ontario, including Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, have developmental pediatricians, physicians and psychologists who are trained to diagnose autism.

Evidence shows that when children start behavioural intervention between ages 2 and 5, they gain improvements in cognitive and language development, are better prepared for school and have better long-term outcomes in adulthood, the ministry notes.

There are currently 2,400 children waiting  many for up to two years  for a publicly funded diagnosis from one of the five diagnostic hubs. Families unwilling to wait can pay for a diagnosis from a trained professional.

What is the government doing about the wait list for diagnosis?

The government has doubled funding for diagnostic hubs to $5.5 million over two years to ensure children are being diagnosed in a timely way.

How many children in Ontario have autism?

The latest research shows roughly 1 in 66 Canadian children have autism, or about 40,000 kids under age 18.

How many children are being treated now?

About 8,400 children are receiving needs-based treatment funded by the Ontario Autism Program, set up in 2017 by the previous Liberal government.

What is the bill for taxpayers?

The annual budget is $321 million. The government added an additional $100 million this year. But MacLeod has said it is one-time funding and changes are needed to make the program fair for families and sustainable for taxpayers.

What is Applied Behavioural Analysis, or ABA therapy?

ABA is the most effective evidence-based treatment for children with autism and is used with varying intensity, depending on a childs needs.

The therapy uses repetition and positive reinforcement to help children master life and social skills, such as dressing and having a conversation. In intense intervention, therapists work one-on-one with children to break down skills into small teachable steps. Once a skill has been mastered, the therapist works on helping the child use the skill in a natural setting.

For example, a child may be taught to request a favourite toy during a therapy session and then be encouraged to repeat the skill during a play date.

How much does it cost?

Children diagnosed with moderate to severe autism may require between 20 and 40 hours a week of ABA therapy, which can cost between $50,000 and $80,000 a year.

What is a Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA)?

A BCBA holds a masters degree in a related field such as psychology, behaviour analysis or education. To become board certified  a global certification  individuals must complete about two years of formal training in behaviour analysis, 1,500 hours of supervised practice and pass board exams.

For some children, ABA therapy is overseen by a clinical supervisor with a PhD in behaviour analysis or related field.

How is the government planning to clear the therapy wait list?

Instead of needs-based funding for a few children, managed by regional service agencies, the government will give money directly to all families so they can choose the services they want.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Funding will be capped based on age and targeted to lower- and middle-income families.

How can the money be used?

Unlike the previous program that limited public funds to evidence-based ABA therapy and parent training only, families will be able to use the money on behavioural services such as assessments and consultations, family/caregiver capacity building and training, respite services, technology aids, and travel, the governments website says.

Does the government regulate behavioural therapists like nurses and doctors?

No. By April 1, the government will create an online list of verified qualified service providers that will be available to help families access behavioural services, according to the website. Before April 2021, families can work with clinical supervisors who are not on the list, as long as they are working towards their qualifications. After that time, all clinical supervisors will have to meet program qualifications.

How will families get their money?

Currently, parents apply to one of nine regional autism service agencies for either publicly funded behaviour therapy, or for funding they can use to buy services from private clinics. The amount of therapy or direct funding a family receives is based on the severity of the childs diagnosis and the behaviour plan drawn up by a recognized professional. Families are served in order of their application date.

Under the new model, families will receive autism program funding through an independent intake agency which the ministry says will be set up within the next year. The new agency will help families register for the program, assess their funding eligibility, approve their childhood budgets and help them choose which services to purchase.

Families will no longer need a behaviour plan because funding will be based solely on their childs age and household income.

Starting April 1, kids under age 6 will receive up to $20,000 a year. Those over 6 will get $5,000 a year. Childhood budgets up to age 18 will be capped at $140,000 for kids entering the program under age 6 while lifetime funding for those entering at older ages will be limited to $55,000.

Funding will be income-tested with more money going to lower-income families. Although the ministry has not yet said what family income would receive the full amount, households above $250,000 will no longer qualify for funding.

Eligibility and the amount of funding a family receives will be reviewed annually, according to the ministry website.

Details on how families will receive their funding, eligible expenses and the reconciliation process will be available by April, 1, according to ministry officials.

How will the program be managed until the new intake agency is set up?

Starting April 1, government officials will help families register for the new childhood budgets, although it is not yet clear how they will get access to the wait lists, which are currently held by the nine regional service agencies. Nor is it clear how newly diagnosed children will be registered.

All these details are still being worked out and will be available before April 1, a government official said.

What happens to the 8,400 families already receiving publicly funded services?

New behaviour plans will continue to be developed until March 31, according to the government. If existing behaviour plans end after that date, government officials will help families apply for a childhood budget.

Ministry officials say there are no plans to put children currently receiving support back onto a wait list. All children who have a behaviour plan will continue to receive the services outlined in that plan until the plans end date.

Any money families have already received through the Ontario autism program will not be deducted from the new childhood budgets.

Families with questions can call the provinces toll-free autism services line at 1-888-284-8340 or consult ontario.ca/autism

Correction/Clarification  Feb. 17, 2019: This article has been updated to reflect that developmental pediatricians, physicians and psychologists are trained to diagnose autism. Also, a board certified ABA therapist is a global certification. A previous version of this story stated it was an American one.
Back in 2017, when civic leaders from across North America were engaged in a humiliating contest to see who could debase themselves the most by offering the most shameless bribes to Amazon  $7 billion in tax breaks! Renaming the whole city!  the city of Toronto did a strange thing. It declined to participate in the begging.

It did prepare a bid book to present the tech giant with the opportunity to locate a whack of jobs in a new corporate office in Toronto. But instead of opening the bank vault and offering to redevelop the whole city in its image, our governments basically just told Amazon what a great city we are to live and work in.

This approach was as smart as it was surprising. The submission reads like a manifesto of civic self confidence, I wrote at the time, Let Amazon decide whatever it wants. Well be fine either way. I still thought it looked smart when Amazon chose instead to locate in New York City and a suburb of Washington, D.C. As the winning cities go through internal shouting matches over whether its fair to provide helipads and billions of dollars of tax breaks for one company while other priorities are neglected, we can get on with building the city we need, I wrote in November.

And it looks all the smarter today after Amazon backed out of its New York City project, deciding that dealing with the public concerns there about its plans and the $2.8 billion in incentives it had been promised were too much hassle. These big tech companies, it seems, want a big blank cheque, and they dont want to have to discuss community concerns and deal with politics to get it.

Before anyone here develops a kink in their shoulder from patting themselves on the back, we might want to keep that lesson in mind, because the other big tech development news of the week  about Sidewalk Labs hopes for Toronto, as revealed by my colleague Marco Chown Oved  is a reminder Toronto will need to keep its no-begging resolve handy.

Around the same time cities began lining up for the Amazon H2Q reality-show sweepstakes, Googles Sidewalk Labs won a competition to develop a 12-acre site in the Port Lands called Quayside. The innovative smart city neighbourhood would serve as an experiment and a demonstration, with the hope that what is learned there might be applicable to the exponentially larger area ready for redevelopment right alongside it.

Read more:

Googles Sidewalk Labs plans massive expansion to waterfront vision

Share your thoughts

Google reaped millions of tax breaks as it secretly expanded its real estate footprint across the U.S.

Torontos failed bid to land Amazons second HQ is looking smarter after New York loses campus: observers

Now we learn just how high Googles hopes are: it has its eye on 350 acres in the Port Lands, where it could build all kinds of new area-wide infrastructure, including an LRT line, electrical and heating grids, and a sewer system. Its plan for this, which is not yet approved by the city or any other government, proposes the company would be paid back for this city-building through a mechanism similar to the tax-increment financing Mayor John Tory proposed to finance SmartTrack: Google would get a share of new development charges and tax revenue in the area over the next few decades to compensate it for its investment and risk.

None of that appears nefarious or even unattractive. It is, in fact, the kind of ambition youd expect from a company like Google, and the kind of proposal that was implied as a possibility for the larger Port Lands when the Quayside development project was announced as a kind of try-before-you-buy sample.

But it is a big proposal, and before anyone gets too far along in planning or committing to it, we want to make sure we have our priorities in order. The privacy concerns about the company and the kind of plugged-in tech surveillance neighbourhood it is building need to be nailed down. In Quayside and any bigger partnership, the city needs to explicitly approve things after community consultation, as it normally would.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The terms of that partnership need to put the citys wants and needs first and foremost: What does Toronto want? What is Sidewalk Labs providing to us that we cant better accomplish through a conventional contracting process? If we are contracting with them for infrastructure building, what are the terms of the payback, at what long-term cost to the city? And finally, shall we let the Quayside demonstration project get far enough along to demonstrate something before anyone starts getting hyped about bigger plans based on its success?

Watching Amazon deal  and then refuse to deal  with New York is a reminder of the kind of overreaching a big tech company can be expected to engage in. Torontos approach to that company was a model bid that showed its a city that knows its own priorities and wont bend them to impress a big employer or investor.

Best to keep that model in mind while we plan and build the largest, most important downtown redevelopment site well ever have.

Read more about:
Speaking of cut-and-dried court cases, Ryan Jarvis, 41, is a voyeur and teacherwhich came first I cannot say  who filmed the breasts and cleavage of 27 fully-dressed young girls in a London, Ont. high school by using a secret camera pen. What is the Supreme Court of Canada to make of that? Quite a lot. Its a profound question about women and their privacy.

In 2011, a suspicious principal discovered Jarvis holding a pen with a red light while talking to a student at a locker, and then leaning over another girl in a computer lab. Jarvis hastily put the pen in his pocket. This did not go over well.

Jarvis, a heavyset man with a shaved head, glasses and a goatee, felt that a man had a right to his own pen. Unmoved, police found that he had filmed girls as young as 14, all over the school and outside it too.

He was charged with voyeurism but a Superior Court judge, Andrew J. Goodman, acquitted him in 2015 on the grounds that the girls werent nude, and that Jarvis might not have had a sexual reason for front-upper-quadrant surveillance, though he could think of no other.

The Crown appealed and lost. The appeal court ruled 2-1 in Jarviss favour, saying the judge was wrong about the sex bit, but that students had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a school armed with security cameras. The dissenting judge got quite strenuous.

Well. The Supreme Court of Canada on Monday unanimously overturned the acquittal, thus proving the value of a 2005 voyeurism law that foresaw privacy problems enhanced by the advance of technology. (Note the $252-million settlement with 7,000 U.S. women after a Johns Hopkins gynecologist was found wearing a hidden camera around his neck.)

It has been a long eight years for the victims  and a Jarvis reduced to pencils  but sanity reigned. The court ruled that the girls had a right to personal autonomy and sexual integrity. The combination of expected privacy plus sexual intent added up to voyeurism.

The Womens Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), an intervener in the case, cheered. It confirms that all Canadians have rights to control who views their body and how, in both public and private places.

The 9-0 ruling is a triumph for the sexually surveilled, which seems to be just about everyone, not just children (the courts referred to more traditional cases involving playgrounds and men found parked in vans with clumps of used tissues at their feet).

Privacy is not an all-or-nothing concept, the Supreme Court ruled. It depends on various factors including location, the nature of the observing/recording, the victims activity, and the part of the body being viewed.

Women are at a disadvantage. It shouldnt have needed to be pointed out that breasts are intimate body parts even when clothed, but the Supreme Court said precisely that and we are grateful.

As for the lower-front quadrant, charges in cases of women being upskirted  men surreptitiously photographing crotches  are legion, especially in Torontos Eaton Centre with its many stairs and escalators.

Upskirting wasnt even a crime in Britain until this year, with one notorious Conservative MP, Sir Christopher Chope, blocking bills against upskirting as well as female genital mutilation. He appears to resent the existence of the vulva and clitoris and certainly thinks they are public property. Even Chopes own party despises him.

As for privacy rights, keep an eye on a U.K. debate  perhaps coming to Canada soon  in which the rights of women and transgender women are being questioned.

The government is working clumsily on a new Gender Recognition Act. The problem is private, women-only spaces like washrooms, change rooms, rape crisis centres, the Ladies outdoor bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath, and many others.

If sexual self-ID becomes law, anyone could declare themselves male or female. This means male sex offenders could self-ID as female and be placed in womens prisons, which are possibly nicer and full of targets. As the Guardian reports, Stephen Wood/David Thompson, a lifelong violent pedophile and rapist, put on a wig and makeup and had himself transferred to a womens prison where, under the name Karen White, he sexually assaulted two prisoners. Both sides of the transgender rights debate are united in the belief mistakes were made.

Self-ID destroys womens right to privacy, personal autonomy, sexual integrity and safety. Equally, it damages the hopes of fully transgendered women of good intent to be welcomed into womens spaces.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Canadas ruling on privacy and sexual purpose may assist here. Privacy is one of the most laden issues of modern life. You can buy a camera pen on Amazon for $40. Drones are commonplace.

There are many Ryan Jarvises in our past, present, and future. I hope the Supreme Court has constrained what LEAF calls technology-facilitated sexual violence  I prefer Pervy Teacher Syndrome  but the law will lose any race based on speed of response.
PM playing with political fire by going after former minister, Hebert, Feb. 14

To agree with Chantal Hebert, you only have to look at the ongoing blowback, much of it from women, on the internet after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threw former attorney general Jody Wilson- Raybould under the bus during his press conference in Winnipeg,

How apropos to have a large bus as the backdrop. This coming from someone who called himself a feminist and promised to bring more transparency and openness to government. Even his supporters are bewildered by the shoddy treatment Wilson-Raybould is receiving.

The decision by the Parliamentary justice committee, controlled by the Liberals, to refuse to hear from key witnesses such as Wilson- Raybould, senior PMO aide Gerald Butts and others only makes it seem a coverup of the sordid SNC-Lavalin affair is playing out.

Trudeau can only save himself be waving his client-solicitor privilege, allowing Wilson- Raybould to set the record straight and salvage her damaged reputation.

Larry Comeau, Ottawa

I voted for Trudeau and the Liberals because I believed they would do the right things for Canada, and I have been willing to forgive the missteps and fumbling. But, when you belittled an honourable Indigenous woman, you crossed my line.

I do not know what you plan to do, but it had better be quick, because this is not a test of endurance; it is a test of honour for Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party.

Keith Parkinson, Cambridge

Trudeau had the choice of keeping Wilson-Raybould in her position as attorney general and avoiding the divisive consequences that would arise from her decision to resign from cabinet.

As the prime minister tries to deal with the fraud and corruption charges against SNC-Lavalin, he now finds his government facing a new set of problems. This was not the outcome he was hoping to achieve.

Robert Ariano, Scarborough

Only in Canada would there be a frenzied scandal where unproven political interference in a prosecution is alleged in circumstances where the prosecution has continued unabated. Discussion about jobs is different from pressure.

The protocol for Jody Wilson-Rayboulds job is that she should have resigned when any interference happened, not wait till now to throw the prime minister under the bus.

Ellie McCaig, Burlington

If SNC-Lavalin finally ends up paying a heavy price for its past practices, the employees and shareholders will suffer, not members of management, who are comfortably cloistered in their boardroom while the best lawyers corporate money can buy guard the doors.

If corporate executives were made personally accountable for illegal misdeeds, their focus might shift. They might think twice before enhancing the bottom line by any means possible in order to maximize their incentive bonuses.

Lloyd Atkins, Vernon, B.C.

The essential argument being presented is that criminal activity is now essential to doing business in the modern global economy, specifically in countries where corruption is the rule.

Interestingly, SNC-Lavalin is being investigated for potential corruption involving the new super-hospital in Montreal, and former Conservative Senator and Harper cabinet minister Michel Fournier pleaded guilty in 2017 to taking a $2.3-million payment from the firm in connection with a project to refurbish the Jacques Cartier bridge in Montreal.

My fear is that corporate corruption, coupled with deferred prosecution agreements, is making Canada a country that not only tolerates and forgives corporate crime but where corruption is the rule. In these instances, crime will simply become the cost of doing business.

Mark Chambers, Scarborough

Lets put it in a way people in Ontario can understand. The open payment of bribes and graft in so many third-world countries  and others that arent third world  is as blatant as Premier Doug Ford handing his cronies plum patronage positions.

Steve Veale, Toronto

There are many points of view on this. And many differing agendae. For example, many innocent people would certainly lose their jobs if there were no attempts at mediated settlement and SNC went out of business.

Trudeau may have had strong words on the subject, directly or indirectly with his minister. She may have felt very pressured.

We do so much damage to the people we elect by calling them out constantly. We chose the plan and the party. Now lets allow them to make it work. We can never agree with every decision and every implementation plan.

We need to understand this matter. But in due course within due process. Let us not mistake political grandstanding for ethics and morality.

Kathleen Gallagher Ross, Toronto

Read more about:
This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com
CUCUTA, Colombia - The U.S. military airlifted tons of humanitarian aid to a Colombian town on the Venezuelan border Saturday as part of an effort meant to undermine socialist President Nicolas Maduro and back his rival for the leadership of the South American nation.

Three scheduled Air Force C-17 cargo planes that took off from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida had landed in Cucuta. That border city, swollen by a flood of migrants from Venezuela, is a collection point for aid thats supposed to be distributed by supporters of Juan Guaido, the congressional leader who is recognized by the U.S. and many other nations as Venezuelas legitimate president. He has called for the aid.

This wasnt the first, and it wont be the last, said USAID Administrator Mark Green, standing on the tarmac in Cucuta at a ceremony to receive the aid. More is on the way.

Commercial planes had been used for earlier shipments of aid, which is aimed at dramatizing the economic crisis  including hyperinflation and shortages of food and medicine  gripping Venezuela. Critics say last years re-election was fraudulent, making Maduros second term illegal.

We are saving lives with these airplanes, said Lestor Toledo, an exiled politician who is co-ordinating the international aid effort for Guaido.

Maduro has been using the military, which remains loyal, to help him block the aid from entering Venezuela, describing it as crumbs from a U.S. government whose restrictions have stripped his administration of control over many of its most valuable assets.

They hang us, steal our money and then say here, grab these crumbs and make a global show out of it, Maduro told The Associated Press on Thursday. With dignity we say No to the global show. Whoever wants to help Venezuela is welcome, but we have enough capacity to pay for everything that we need.

His vice-president has alleged, without evidence, that the aid packages are contaminated. Green on Saturday called the allegations absurd.

Saturdays 180-ton shipment includes high-energy food products or hygiene kids of soap, toothpaste and other goods for more than 25,000 people.

Guaido spoke to a crowd of supporters gathered in eastern Caracas on Saturday and vowed to form caravans of activists to reach the border and bring in aid on Jan. 23. He also called for people to gather in cities across the country to receive the aid  and called for the armed forces to allow it into the country.

In the crowd was Anibrez Peroza, a 40-year-old nurse, who said she was ready if necessary to go to Cucuta in a caravan to bring in the aid.

We have to do something to save so many people who are suffering and dying for lack of medicine, she said. Peroza wept as she described a dehydrated child dying in her arms for lack of a catheter to rehydrate him.

The U.S. and widespread European recognition of Guaido complicates Maduros efforts to find funds to keep his government, and its own food programs, running.

The U.S. has placed Venezuelas U.S. assets, including oil company Citgo, under Guaidos control and bans financial transactions by Maduro-controlled entities. Scores of Venezuelan officials also face personal financial sanctions in the United States.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

___

Gisela Salomon reported from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Florida, and Fabiola Sanchez reported from Caracas, Venezuela.
Reaction

Dallas view

Here is the full statement:

(TNS)  Amazon technology hubs already in Dallas and Austin could gain new jobs as a result of the surprise announcement Thursday that the online retailer had canceled its major expansion into New York City.Amazon says it won't open half of its new headquarters in New York City in a stunning reversal prompted by growing criticism there of lucrative incentives to entice to e-commerce giant's 25,000 jobs.The Seattle-based company also said Thursday that it will not reopen its HQ2 search, which lasted more than a year and attracted bids from 238 cities. Dallas and Austin were among 20 finalists named in January 2018.Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Amazon's decision was obviously "fluid" since they didn't pick New York in order to pull out a couple months later. Still, he didn't know what it might mean."They know we love them," he said to a group of reporters Thursday. Rawlings has said that he believed Amazon's site selection team had a strong positive view of Dallas, but was after more tech talent than the local region could offer. "A phone call," he said, would get things rolling in Dallas again.Amazon ultimately chose to split the headquarters and its 50,000 new jobs in New York and Washington D.C. At the same time, it selected Nashville as an operations hub with about 5,000 jobs.The Washington and Nashville plans will move forward, Amazon said, and it will start hiring and expanding its 17 tech hubs around the U.S.Amazon Web Services' office in North Dallas is one of those hubs and employs more than 500 people.There may be some cause for optimism that Dallas will hear from Amazon, but company's spokesman Adam Sedo declined to address it. Amazon has more than 11,000 employees in Dallas-Fort Worth at fulfillment and sorting centers. It also owns Whole Foods Market which is based in Austin. Many believed that Dallas was a strong contender for HQ2 up until the end. It was one of a few cities that was visited a second time by Amazon's search team.Ultimately, what pushed Amazon away from New York will be debated for sometime. Other cities and states offered bigger incentives than the $3 billion offered Amazon to go to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.Rawlings and other local officials maintained that Amazon didn't seem pressed about incentives when speaking to them. And now Amazon has walked away from those long-term incentives. Amazon said it was after the talent already in New York and that the region will continue to attract. It praised that workforce in its Thursday statement saying it had canceled its plans.Asked Thursday if he believed incentives are going way, he said, "Maybe in New York" but that he expected the practice to continue in Dallas-Fort Worth.Amazon could have rejected incentives and stayed in New York City.From the start, the HQ2 effort seemed that Amazon might be "escaping from public pressure and overbearing government intervention in Seattle," said Michael Farren, a research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, who has been following the HQ2 search closely. The Virginia site picked by Amazon is near the university."Amazon probably had dej... vu as it saw its NYC HQ2 expansion turning into a repetition of the contentious political and cultural atmosphere in has experienced in Seattle," Farren said. Seattle passed a head tax and then revoked it and even though Seattle is home to several other big companies, such as Starbucks and Nordstrom, it was often blamed for the lack of affordable housing.In it's statement, Amazon said that polls showed that 70 percent of New Yorkers support its plans, but "a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City."New York Mayor Bill De Blasio said Amazon's competitors will recognize that its talent base is worth "growing a strong and fairer economy for everyone.""You have to be tough to make it in New York City," De Blasio said. "We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world...Amazon threw away that opportunity."Bankrate.com's senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick called Amazon's decision "a stunning development" and one of those "be careful what you wish for" moments.For New York, the move could also prompt other businesses to "think twice before setting up shop or expanding in the region," Hamrick said. "From a broader view, this decision will do nothing to resolve the challenges associated with housing affordability voiced by critics of the Amazon decision and the generous tax incentives offered by government. That requires a bigger conversation which could very well unfold along with the 2020 election cycle."The almost $3 billion in tax incentives that Amazon was awarded stirred backlash from a number of activists.Deborah Axt, co-executive director of anti-poverty group Make the Road New York, called Amazon's withdrawal a "landmark victory.""This announcement ... shows the power of the people, even when taking on the world's richest man," Axt said. "Our members and allies stood firm against Governor Cuomo's plan to give away more than $3 billion in taxpayer giveaways so that Amazon could force its empire-building on our neighborhoods."Economic development watchdog group Good Jobs First said New York citizens stood up to incentives granted by elected officials with no community input and called it "a huge victory for community organizing.""It will also go down in history as a turning point in the debate" about how the corporate-dominated site location system should be dismantled, the group said in a statement.Others think Amazon gave up a fight."Rather than addressing the legitimate concerns that have been raised by many New Yorkers Amazon says you do it our way or not at all, we will not even consider the concerns of New Yorkers - that's not what a responsible business would do," said Chelsea Connor, a spokeswoman for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in New York.Dallas has a different view of growth, said Dan Noble, CEO of architect firm HKS, which was involved in the local effort to bid on HQ2 led by the Dallas Regional Chamber. Three different downtown sites came together after Amazon narrowed its local choice. The three sites together covered 245 acres of downtown from Reunion Tower to behind City Hall."We know the ropes here. We're used to growth. It's part of our culture," Noble said, adding Dallas-Fort Worth is the only U.S. metro area with three of the top 10 Fortune 500 companies based here. "They'd be in good company,"Right before Amazon started the HQ2 process in September 2017, the company put together state-by-state economic impacts. That information is on its website. After the decision, Amazon began analyzing its economic impact in metropolitan areas and Dallas-Fort Worth was one of the first.D-FW ranks among the top 10 metro areas where Amazon created new jobs, said Amazon spokesman Sedo. The $2.6 billion investment -- which includes more than $700 million in new facilities and $1 billion in payroll -- "makes D-FW one of the fastest growing investment hubs for Amazon in the last decade," he said.The number of Amazon D-FW employees increased from 200 in 2013 to 11,500 in 2017. That number is higher now, but Amazon's economic analysis only includes those years. Amazon said that makes it one of the 20 largest employers in D-FW.Its job growth represented 3 percent of North Texas' overall gains during those years and 35 percent of the job gains in the advanced logistics industry, Amazon said. Using economic multipliers, Amazon said its local spending resulting in $3.5 billion in additional economic activity from 2013 through 2017.Amazon heaped praise on New York City in its statement Thursday."We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion--we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture--and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents.""After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion--we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture--and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents. There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams.We are deeply grateful to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and their staffs, who so enthusiastically and graciously invited us to build in New York City and supported us during the process. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we can't speak positively enough about all their efforts. The steadfast commitment and dedication that these leaders have demonstrated to the communities they represent inspired us from the very beginning and is one of the big reasons our decision was so difficult.We do not intend to reopen the HQ2 search at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada.Thank you again to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and the many other community leaders and residents who welcomed our plans and supported us along the way. We hope to have future chances to collaborate as we continue to build our presence in New York over time."
AURORA, Ill. - The Latest on the mass shooting at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois (all times local):

5 p.m.

The chief executive of the company that owns the warehouse where an employee gunned down five co-workers says a background check on him when he joined Henry Pratt Co.15 years ago did not turn up a 1995 felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi

Scott Hall, president and CEO of Mueller Water Products Inc, which owns Henry Pratt in Aurora, Illinois, told a news conference Saturday that Gary Martin was being fired from his job when he started shooting and killed five co-workers including the human resources manager, plant manager and an intern.

He says: We can confirm that the individual was being terminated Friday for a culmination of a various workplace rules violations.

He says that when the shooting started, employees followed procedures and deactivated their access cards and locked down. He says there are security cameras outside but not inside the building.

___

2:15 p.m.

One of the five people who were killed by a fired worker at a suburban Chicago industrial warehouse was a 21-year-old college student who had started interning there that day.

Jay Wehner says his nephew, Trevor Wehner, began his human resources internship at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora on Friday.

Authorities say a 45-year-old worker pulled a gun after being fired and fatally shot Wehner and four other employees. They say he wounded a sixth employee and five police officers before officers eventually killed him in a gun battle.

Jay Wehner says his nephew grew up about 30 miles (50 kilometres) south of Aurora in Sheridan and was expected to graduate from Northern Illinois University in May with a degree in human resource management.

He says Trevor was a wonderful person who was fun, caring and always, always happy.

___

12:15 p.m.

Authorities say the man who killed five co-workers at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse brought his gun to a meeting in which he was going to be fired.

Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said Saturday that because 45-year-old Gary Martin brought his gun to Fridays meeting, its likely he knew there was a chance he would be fired, though she doesnt know exactly what he had been told or why he was fired.

Ziman says Martin pulled the gun and began shooting right after he was fired. She says three of the five Henry Pratt Co. co-workers he killed were in the room with him and the other two were just outside. A sixth male worker was shot but survived.

Police say Martin also shot and wounded five police officers before officers killed him.

___

Noon

Police say the fired worker who killed five people at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, was able to buy the gun he used because an initial background check didnt catch that he had a prior felony conviction in Mississippi.

Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said Saturday that Gary Martin was issued a firearm owners identification card in January of 2014 after he passed the initial background check.

She says he bought the Smith and Wesson .40-calibre handgun on March 11, 2014, and that his 1995 felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi wasnt flagged until he applied for a concealed carry permit five days later. That application process includes vetting using a more rigorous digital fingerprinting system.

Authorities say Martin fatally shot five Henry Pratt Co. workers and wounded a sixth and five police officers on Friday before officers killed him.

This item has been corrected to fix the spelling of Kristen Zimans first name, which had been misspelled Kristin.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

___

11:30 a.m.

Authorities say a human resources manager, a plant manager and an intern were among the five people killed by a fired worker at a manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois.

Police on Saturday identified the five Henry Pratt Co. employees who were killed Friday as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin; human resources intern and Northern Illinois University student Trevor Wehner of DeKalb; plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego; mould operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; and stock room attendant and fork lift operator Vicente Juarez of Oswego.

Police Chief Kristen Ziman says all of the dead were found in the same general area of the facility. A sixth worker was shot but survived and was treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Authorities say 45-year-old Gary Martin also shot and wounded five police officers before officers killed him inside the suburban Chicago warehouse.

___

11 a.m.

Authorities say a fired worker who killed five people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse had six prior arrests, locally.

Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said at a news conference Saturday that among the past charges 45-year-old Gary Martin faced were domestic battery-related counts.

Authorities say Martin fatally shot five co-workers and wounded a sixth on Friday at the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse. They say he also shot and wounded five police officers before officers killed him.

Ziman says none of the officers wounds are considered life-threatening.

___

12:15 a.m.

A man being fired from his job started shooting at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police.

Police say 45-year-old Gary Martin had been working at Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, Illinois, for 15 years and was being terminated Friday.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman says authorities dont yet know if the employees firing him were among the victims. A sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury at the scene.
WHEELING, W.Va. - The Wheeling 250 observance is providing a perfect opportunity for the Ohio County Public Library to showcase many treasures from its large archival collections.

Wheeling 250 is a year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the citys founding. City leaders and community groups are organizing events and exhibits to mark the occasion.

As part of that venture, the library is presenting a major exhibit, Wheeling in 250 Objects, in a new open exhibit area on its main floor. The display space was created last year as part of extensive renovations and upgrades to the facility.

Library Director Dottie Thomas said, The board, when they did the renovations, really wanted to increase the display space because of the quality of the displays weve been having.

The open design of the display space -situated between the librarys main desk, reference desk and computer section  allows for an exhibit to be shown over a long period of time. It can stay there for a while, Thomas said.

A total of 16-18 display cases are being placed in the exhibit area, said Erin Rothenbuehler, the librarys graphic designer who also works in archives and special collections.

The first part of Wheeling in 250 Objects, now on display, features artifacts related to the indigenous people of the Wheeling area. Other artifacts, documents and memorabilia will be added for each part of the multi-faceted exhibit.

Parts of the exhibit will remain on display throughout the year. Well end up with far more than 250 objects, Rothenbuehler said.

From that number, 250 items will be selected as representative of Wheelings history, said Sean Duffy, the librarys programming director who also works in archives.

Many of these objects will be on loan from various heritage partners and community members, he explained. Many more will come from the librarys own archives and special collections.

Identified as Object No. 1 is a replicated skull on a stick to symbolize the areas designation as the Place of the Skull, Rothenbuehler said.

The exhibit corresponds to the five symbolic stars on the city of Wheelings new flag, which was designed by Rothenbuehler. Blue lights are being used in the display area to represent Wheeling Creek.

A display case is filled with items that illustrate the five points to help people understand the symbols on the flag, Duffy said.

The first installment, representing the flags indigenous star, examines the history of native peoples of the Upper Ohio Valley, who lived in the region for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. Most of these artifacts are on loan from the Grave Creek Mound Archaeological Complexs research facility in Moundsville. Hank Lutton, curator of the archaeological complex, has provided a selection of items from that facility.

Displays relate to both the indigenous period (pre-contact with Europeans) and the time after European explorers and settlers came to the region, Duffy said. The later period represented a time of transition for Native Americans and their trading with Europeans.

For instance, he said, the display includes two kinds of projectile points: ones made of stone or bone, which were more ancient, and ones crafted from European copper, which obviously were trade items.

Also shown are glass beads, copper beads, decorative necklace, shell pendant, fish hooks, spear heads and iron trade tomahawks that Europeans would have, he said.

Of practical use was a ceramic bowl found near Wheeling Creek. They (Native Americans) would have ground up shells to mix with clay to keep the bowl from cracking during firing, Rothenbuehler said.

Duffy said the display includes a nutting stone, a large rock with eight holes, that could have been used for food grinding, starting fires or making weapons.

Also displayed are realistic-looking facsimiles of some real artifacts, Rothenbuehler pointed out. The re-creations include the skull, a lead plate that French explorer Celeron de Bienville placed at the mouth of Wheeling Creek, a page from explorer Christopher Gists diary that mentions Wealin Creek and a map drawn from surveyors documents that show Scalp Creek.

The next segment of the display will examine life on the frontier, focusing on the Zanes, Fort Henry and Fort Fincastle and extending into the era of slavery, Duffy said. Other phases of the installation will relate to transportation, tracing development of the National Road and the B&O Railroad, and the statehood movement.

An examination of Wheelings industrial era will constitute the biggest and final portion of the exhibit, he said, adding, We have a lot of stuff from 1900 to the present.

The exhibit may be viewed, free of charge, during regular hours of operation. The library, located at 52 16th St., is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday.

___

Displays such as Wheeling in 250 Objects are designed to bring awareness to the librarys archives, Rothenbuehler commented. Were trying to make it as accessible to people as possible.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Thomas noted, Our archival collections are catalogued. Anyone can see what we have.

In addition, Duffy said articles and stories written and shared on the librarys Archiving Wheeling blog provide context to artifacts featured in the various displays.

Several years ago, the board decided that one of a librarys main purposes is to preserve that communitys history and culture, the director said. Louis Horacek, a former assistant director, began collecting historical documents and other archival material.

As the collection grew, the library made a commitment to preserve the materials professionally. An archives room was created, utilizing part of a large storage room on the buildings lower level. We have been able to expand that room, Thomas said.

These displays are part of making that (archives) more accessible to the public and drawing attention to Wheeling and all of Ohio County, the director commented. We do have some things from other communities in the archival collection, and we hope to expand that in the future, too.

A catalogue of the collection is posted on the librarys website. The online resources allow people to conduct searches to see what might be included in the archives, she said.

In the future, we hope to draw researchers here, she said, adding, Weve already done that. We had a man from Australia here working on his doctorate.

The Archiving Wheeling blog also serves as an organ to connect what we have with what is out there, Duffy remarked. As a library archives, it has been well received and has led to people donating things because they saw a story on there.

___

Library officials think the archival collections and exhibits would complement a proposed Wheeling museum.

Well work in co-operation with the new museum when it comes, Rothenbuehler said.

Thomas foresees occasions when the museum could mount special displays at the library to draw attention to its holdings and to reach a wider audience. Noting that the library is open 67 hours a week, she said, Its hard to rival that.

Rothenbuehler noted that the library attracts considerable foot traffic from patrons borrowing books, using computer resources and attending programs and classes.

Duffy thinks the librarys display area could offer additional exhibit space for the museum to utilize. Most museums can display only 20 per cent of their collections at one time, he related.

___

Information from: The Intelligencer, http://www.theintelligencer.net
KETCHIKAN, Alaska - Ketchikans power utility is asking customers to throttle back their electrical usage.

Freezing temperatures and low water levels in lakes, the source of hydropower for Ketchikan Public Utilities electric division, has maxed out power production, the Ketchikan Daily News reported .

A 30-megawatt demand is putting stress on the system during peak hours. The utility is also juggling repairs, sending power to northern communities and dealing with Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation permit limitations, said electric division manager Andy Donato.

I dont know if its a real big challenge, Donato said. It may be a fun one, you know. Depends how you want to look at this.

Peak usage rates are from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

These mornings weve broke 30 (megawatt hours), Donato said. And when we get up to around 31, we get close to the extreme (where) we dont have any more generation.

The utility suggests lower temperatures on thermostats, turning off lights and taking shorter showers.

I just think that if more people are cognizant, we can diminish those peaks in those two periods and well get through this, this tight time. Donato said.

KPU is encouraging local businesses that have alternative fuel options to change over. The utility might shave another megawatt off demand if they do, he said.

Hydropower facilities around Ketchikan are producing about 12 megawatts. Diesel generators power the other 18 megawatts.

KPU is not using hydropower generation at Whitman Lake because of its low water level.

Meanwhile, a generator is in need of repair and the utility has turned to rentals.

A state air quality permit bans the grouping of too many generators for too long. On Tuesday, KPU workers unhooked rental diesels from the Bailey Powerhouse and transported them offsite.

And then with that, that gives us something like 700 hours each without any impact on permits, he said.

With cold weather forecast to continue another week, challenges remain. The air permit has hour limitations on the generators based on their particulate emissions, Donato said.

This has really become a challenge on how we balance various generators, to optimize the time remaining and utilize the larger ones for peak, he said.

The situation doesnt just affect Ketchikan. Last month, at the direction of the Southeast Alaska Power Association, KPU began transmitting power from Swan Lake to the Tyee Lake hydro facility. The intention was to help Wrangell and Petersburg, which also face low lake levels.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Were kind of in this together  Ketchikan, Wrangell and Petersburg, Donato said. And we realize with this weather its going to be around here for a couple more weeks. We want to figure out whats the best strategy to get all of us to pull through it.

___

Information from: Ketchikan (Alaska) Daily News, http://www.ketchikandailynews.com
JACKSON, Miss. - A federal judge says a handful of former Mississippi convicts who are suing to have their voting rights restored can represent everyone who falls into that category.

The ruling this week by U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan certifying the lawsuit as a class action raises the stakes considerably. A victory by the plaintiffs could restore voting rights to tens of thousands of Mississippians, not just the handful who sued.

Jordan ruled that the plaintiffs had met the legal tests for a class action, despite arguments by lawyers for the state that a class-action was unnecessary. Jordan said he might decide later whether the class should only include people who have completed all the terms of their sentence, including payment of fines and restitution, or whether to set different limits.

Theres still a long way to go in the case. Both sides have asked Jordan to rule without a trial, but the judge could choose to hear witnesses.

The Mississippi Constitution strips the ballot from people convicted of 10 felonies, including murder, forgery and bigamy. The attorney general later expanded that list to 22, adding crimes that include timber larceny and carjacking. The plaintiffs argue disenfranchisement violates the U.S. Constitution because it was adopted with the discriminatory intent of keeping African Americans from voting.

Between 1994 and 2017, about 47,000 people in Mississippi were convicted of disenfranchising crimes, Jonathan K. Youngwood, a New York-based attorney in the lawsuit, has said. About 60 per cent of them, or nearly 30,000, have completed their sentences but have not regained their voting rights. Some are still serving time.

African-Americans make up about 38 per cent of Mississippis population and 36.5 per cent of the states registered voters. Youngwood said 59 per cent to 60 per cent of people convicted of disenfranchising crimes in the state are black.

Some states automatically restore voting rights once someone gets out of prison, while others automatically restore rights once someone completes parole or probation. But Mississippi requires people to go through the arduous process of getting individual bills passed just for them with two-thirds approval by the Legislature, or getting a pardon from the governor. A 2016 Sentencing Project study found that 335 people achieved one those between 2000 in 2015.

Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, in his final year in office, hasnt granted any pardons and has let suffrage restoration bills become law without his signature. Last year, he let four become law without signing them and vetoed a fifth. In a brief veto message April 13, he said restoring the ballot depends on the support of law enforcement and the persons ability to show responsibility and honesty after conviction.

The issue of restoring rights has been gaining traction in historically restrictive states. Florida voters in November overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment that will automatically allow most felons who complete their sentences, about 1.4 million people, to register as voters. This week in Mississippi, the House passed House Bill 637 , which will set up a study committee to examine the issue. If the Senate agrees and Bryant signs it, the committee would issue a report by years end.

___

Follow Jeff Amy at http://twitter.com/jeffamy .
LOS ANGELESMatt Helgeson knew it was time to pull the plug.

For weeks, the University of California, Santa Barbara professor of chemical engineering had held out hope that politicians in Washington would find a way to end the government shutdown. If they did, his graduate students could still make their long-planned trip to Maryland to conduct experiments at the National Institute of Standards and Technologys Center for Neutron Research in mid-January.

A slot at the NCNR is a precious commodity, and Helgesons students had spent six months meticulously preparing for theirs. But every day the shutdown limped on, their prospects dimmed.

The final blow came when President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office and doubled down on his demand for a border wall  which Democrats refused to fund.

Helgeson called the two students into his office the next day. They skimmed the latest headlines to convince themselves that they had lost their shot. Nobody at the NCNR could give them any guidance; most employees were furloughed.

They bailed.

This is apparently the reality now, Helgeson told his students. Its really unfortunate that all of your work and resources are lost because of what is more or less political infighting.

More than a month later, the researchers are still coping with the fallout. Helgesons students finally left for the NCNR on Monday and will work through the weekend, now that lawmakers have averted a second shutdown.

Read More:

Canada to resume publishing trade data delayed by U.S. shutdown

National parks tally U.S. shutdown damage

Canadian IT provider to U.S. government escapes shutdown unscathed

They are just a few of the scientists who were hobbled by the 35-day lapse in federal funding that began just before Christmas. The government reopened on Jan. 26, but the shutdowns effects continue to ripple through the global scientific community.

The closing of the NCNR alone affected hundreds of researchers, and will complicate the centres operations for at least six months, according to the NISTs own assessment.

Set in the Washington suburb of Gaithersburg, Md., the NCNR is one of just three neutron-scattering facilities in the country. It houses a nuclear reactor that produces streams of particles, which scientists use to study superconductors, plastics, drug compounds and a variety of other materials.

Neutrons dont carry an electrical charge, so they can pass right through substances and reveal their structure and magnetic properties on an atomic level, said University of California, Berkeley physicist Bob Birgeneau.

They are a unique and important probe, he said  which is why the NCNRs instruments are booked up months in advance.

When the shutdown began, the NCNRs reactor had been powered down for routine maintenance over the holidays. It didnt come back on in early January as planned. Instead, the reactor sat quiet while dozens of staff scientists were forced to stay home.

The NIST hasnt released a detailed account of the full effect on federal researchers. But in a recent meeting with a committee of the NCNRs users, agency representatives shared a few figures that hint at the broader effect on U.S. research: Taking the facilitys 29 instruments down for 25 days of planned operations cost scientists 725 days  nearly two years  of work and represented $3.5 million (U.S.) in lost value.

More than 100 experiments were cancelled, according to Michael Hore, a materials scientist at Case Western Reserve University who sits on the user committee. And 200 to 300 government, university and industry researchers were directly affected, Hore estimated, because most experiments involve a minimum of two or three scientists.

The disruption has created a range of problems, from the personal to the professional, the economic to the intellectual.

Many researchers had to absorb hundreds of dollars in travel expenses for trips that never happened. Jodie Lutkenhaus, a chemical engineer at Texas A&M who studies thin films like those used in anti-reflective coatings, had to pay for a cancelled plane ticket and rental car when her student had to miss an experiment at the NCNR scheduled for Jan. 23.

Lutkenhaus covered the costs with funds she normally uses for conference travel and lab repairs. Now that money isnt going toward the pursuit of academic research, she said.

One graduate student at the University of Tennessee had arranged for her in-laws to visit and care for her young child while she travelled to the NCNR. Shell have to make new plans when her experiment is rescheduled for this spring.

In addition to eating nearly $1,000 worth of travel costs, Helgesons students scrapped the samples they had planned to analyze. They study the behaviour of tiny particles suspended in fluids and emulsions, like those used in injection moulding and to make certain kinds of drugs, but the solids can settle out of solution over time.

The actual raw materials werent all that expensive, Helgeson said. But it is quite a bit of time for the students to prepare those materials.

Yumi Ijiri, a physicist at Oberlin College in Ohio, had the opposite problem: The shutdown meant that NCNRs staff could not prepare for her experiment, which was originally scheduled for this week. It will be the first time the NCNR uses polarized neutrons in a new instrument, a technique that allows researchers to better distinguish the magnetic qualities of a material from its structural properties. NIST scientists had to make custom parts and tweak their software before Ijiris team arrived.

And that all didnt happen, she said.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The consequences of the shutdown will spread over months, and maybe years, as the facility clears its backlog.

Hore had an experiment planned for this spring, which will likely be bumped to accommodate rebookings. From what Im told, Hore said, the soonest we can make measurements will be sometime in the fall.

One of his graduate students needs those data to finish his Ph.D.; without it, hell likely have to stay on for another semester or two. This is holding him back, said Hore, who has to find a way to pay him for the extra time. (One option: Holding off on having a new student join his lab.)

Indeed, delays could be particularly devastating for scientists who are just starting out, said Birgeneau, who studies high-temperature superconductors like those used in MRI machines and satellites.

Two post-doctoral researchers in his lab had their NCNR experiments postponed for several months. That may not seem like a long time, he said, but post-docs only have a few years to crank out high-impact work to help launch their careers.

They are going to be competing for jobs with other people who werent reliant on federal government facilities that were shut down, he said.

The closing will hamper many researchers abilities to apply for new grants and additional time at the NCNR, which is only awarded twice a year, and to publish scientific papers. Already, the NIST estimates that the shutdown has held up about 35 research articles.

Mark Dadmun, a polymer scientist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studies materials used in 3-D printing and ways to make them stronger. His January experiment has been rescheduled for April, and an upcoming measurement has been pushed even later. The delay affects not just him but also his partners on a multimillion-dollar research project.

Ive got about three other collaborators that are waiting for our results, he said.

Stephen Wilson, a materials scientist at UC Santa Barbara, said the shutdown puts all U.S. scientists at a disadvantage. Science, to a large degree, is a race, he said.

Wilson studies materials for quantum computing, and hes one of many researchers jockeying to produce technology that will underpin the next generation of electronics. The shutdown thwarted his plans to wrap up a yearlong project with some final measurements at the NCNR last month.

It certainly slows down our research, he said. Internationally, people dont care the reason.

The NCNR also serves companies such as Toyota, Dow Chemical, Pfizer, and LOreal. The shutdowns direct effect on them remains unclear, but it certainly undermined a primary goal of the centres industrial consortium: to provide industry with predictable and timely access to neutron facilities, according to the NISTs website.

Right now, NCNR staffers are scrambling to make new plans. Theyve been working very hard to reschedule everyone, Wilson said.

Complicating matters was the looming threat of a second shutdown. Some researchers feared they would make it to the NCNR, only to be stymied again when the governments temporary funding ran out.

On Thursday, the White House said Trump would sign a deal hashed out by lawmakers to keep the government open. But that announcement came too late for some.

Anine Border, a doctoral student from Denmark who studies polystyrene, had an experiment slated to begin Feb. 22, but she postponed her trip until mid-April, just in case.

The experience has been eye-opening for her. The political situation in a completely different country across the Atlantic can actually affect the course of my Ph.D., she said. I definitely did not expect that.
JUNEAU, Alaska - The Latest on an Alaska abortion law struck down by the states Supreme Court (all times local):

3:50 p.m.

Abortion rights advocates are lauding an Alaska Supreme Court decision. That ruling found that a state law and regulation seeking to define what constitutes a medically necessary abortion for purposes of Medicaid funding was unconstitutional.

Jessica Cler (clayr) is with Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii. She praised the court for striking down what she called a cruel, inequitable restriction on abortion access for low-income women.

Medicaid provides health care for low-income Alaskans.

The courts majority opinion said the law and regulation violate the state constitutions guarantee of equal protection.

Justice Craig Stowers dissented, saying nothing in Alaskas equal protection clause requires the state to subsidize non-medically necessary abortions for Medicaid-eligible women just because it provides them with medically necessary care.

___

10:25 a.m.

The Alaska Supreme Court has struck down as unconstitutional a state law and regulation seeking to define what constitutes medically necessary abortions.

The court, in a 4-1 decision, upheld a 2015 lower court decision.

Both the law and regulation sought to define what constitutes a medically necessary abortion for purposes of Medicaid funding.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The high court ruled disparate restrictions on government funding for women based on their choice of abortion or childbirth deter the exercise of a fundamental right. Thats because, the court said, rejection of one option entails embrace of the other.

Justice Craig Stowers dissented, saying he believes the Legislature can constitutionally determine as a matter of state policy what is medically necessary for purposes of Medicaid funding.
ATLANTA - The Latest on saga involving Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage (all times local):

6:50 p.m.

Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage has surrendered to Georgia authorities on an outstanding warrant and been released on his own recognizance.

Attorney Abbi Taylor says the Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, turned himself in Friday morning on a warrant in Liberty County, along Georgias coast.

Taylor says they learned of the warrant while his client was in immigration custody and made arrangements for him to surrender.

News outlets report the warrant was for theft by deception. It stems from what Taylor said was essentially a civil dispute. She says Abraham-Joseph performed a concert in Liberty County several years ago and the person who had booked the concert didnt feel he had done enough and sought a warrant rather than suing him.

___

8:20 a.m.

The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage says he didnt talk about his British citizenship before because he didnt want to get deported.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was interviewed by ABCs Good Morning America for a Friday broadcast.

He was arrested Feb. 3 in what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said was a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.

Now 26, he says he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. That visa expired in 2006. He says he wasnt hiding it, but didnt want to get deported, so he wasnt going to just come out and say Hey by the way, I wasnt born here.

The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage said in an interview aired Friday that he didnt talk about his British citizenship before because he didnt want to get deported.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested Feb. 3. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called it a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.

Abraham-Joseph, now 26, told ABCs Good Morning America he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. His visa expired in 2006.

I knew I wasnt born here, he said. But I didnt know like, what that meant as far as when I transitioned into an adult, how it was going to affect my life.

The rapper said he wasnt hiding the fact that he isnt a U.S. citizen, but I didnt want to get deported so Im not going to just come out and say, Hey by the way, I wasnt born here.

His lawyers have said he applied for a new visa in 2017, and his case remains pending. One of his lawyers, Charles Kuck, said earlier this week that if the case follows the normal trajectory, it could take two to three years.

Abraham-Joseph said he believes the way immigration policy is enforced is broken, that he doesnt think people should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be for just being in the country for too long.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Attorney Alex Spiro said on Good Morning America that he believes Abraham-Joseph was targeted because hes both a celebrity and they can use this as a way to send a message and also, perhaps, because of his music.

He said he hopes the attention can help others held in immigration detention.

Theres people that are just totally forgotten that exist in these detention centres, Spiro said, later adding, Im hoping people like 21 Savage will bring light to these issues and help the people that are forgotten.

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said shortly after Abraham-Joseph was taken into custody that he was arrested in a targeted operation that had been planned weeks to months in advance.

Cox said at the time that Abraham-Joseph had overstayed his visa and also was convicted on felony drug charges in Fulton County, Georgia, in October 2014.

Abraham-Josephs lawyers have disputed that he has a felony conviction on his record.

He has a singular offence for marijuana when he was a college-age person, Spiro said in the television interview. Thats vacated, sealed. Theres no issue.

Fulton County prosecutors have said they cant comment on the case, which they say was handled under the states first offender law and is sealed.

An Atlanta police report from August 2014 says Abraham-Joseph was riding in a car driven by another man when officers stopped the car after an illegal U-turn in four lanes of traffic. During a search of the car with a police dog, officers found a jar containing 22.6 grams (0.8 ounces) of marijuana, 89 hydrocodone pills, a scale in plain view, two loaded guns and $1,775 in cash the report says.

Both men were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the report says.

A notice of seizure and forfeiture filed in Fulton County Superior Court in October 2014, says the $1,775 seized during the arrest is to be forfeited. It says the violation of law alleged is that Abraham-Joseph and the other man possessed marijuana.

Abraham-Joseph was nominated for two awards at the Grammys, including record of the year for Rockstar alongside Post Malone. His second solo album I Am I Was, released in December, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
LOS ANGELES - A federal judge on Friday permanently blocked the Trump administration from imposing conditions that police departments co-operate with immigration authorities to receive law enforcement grants.

The Department of Justice exceeded its authority and violated the constitution by requiring grant recipients to allow immigration authorities into jails and provide advance notice before releasing detainees suspected of being in the country illegally, Judge Manuel Real said.

Real said he agreed with a related ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago that said: The attorney general in this case used the sword of federal funding to conscript state and local authorities to aid in federal civil immigration enforcement. But the power of the purse rests with Congress, which authorized the federal funds at issue and did not impose any immigration enforcement conditions on the receipt of such funds.

As a sanctuary city, Los Angeles does not provide the co-operation required by the grants.

City Attorney Mike Feuer sought the permanent injunction in a lawsuit after LA didnt receive Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants in 2017 for the first time in 20 years. The city had received more than $1 million each year from the grant that goes toward hiring, equipment, training and other needs.

Weve got to stand up for public safety in Los Angeles and against the Trump administrations efforts to arrogate to itself authority it does not have, Feuer said in a statement. No matter who holds the presidency, the constitution is still the supreme law of land.

A Justice Department spokeswoman didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The ruling applies nationwide and includes another grant program aimed at fighting juvenile gang crime.

In a similar case, Real ruled in the citys favour in April over a grant program for hiring police officers.

The grant rules were imposed by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said cities endangered public safety if they didnt help enforce immigration laws.

Los Angeles is one of many U.S. cities that have implemented sanctuary laws aimed at focusing law enforcement officers on local crime rather than detaining people suspected of being in the country illegally.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this story.
ATLANTA - Three months after a much-disputed election for Georgia governor, lawmakers have filed a bill to make the state use voting machines that have electronic ballot markers and print a paper ballot.

The House bill, filed Thursday, addresses some aspects of election law criticized during Republican Gov. Brian Kemps successful race against Democrat Stacey Abrams last year. It tweaks the states strict standard for verifying voter registration and clarifies when polling places can be closed or moved.

Both issues flared during the race between Kemp and Abrams, who lost her bid to become the first black woman elected governor of any state.

Abrams accused Kemp of using his previous position as the states chief elections officer to suppress votes, especially from black and minority Georgians. Kemp vehemently denied the claim, said he followed state election law and counter-accused Abrams of advocating for illegals to vote.

The voting machine change follows the recommendations of a commission formed by Kemp, but disregards advice from cybersecurity experts and voting integrity activists who say hand-marked paper ballots would be the cheapest and most secure option.

Systems using electronic ballot markers include touchscreen computers where voters make their selections, then print a paper ballot thats counted after being scanned. Under the legislation the paper ballot printout would have to include a human readable list of a voters selections. Cost estimates approach $150 million for these types of systems, the same amount included in bond funding in Kemps 2020 budget proposal. Initial costs for hand-marked paper ballots would be closer to $30 million.

Republican Rep. Barry Fleming of Harlem, who authored the bill and co-chaired the commission, said Friday that electronic ballot markers would be more expensive initially but could save money on printing and operating in the long run.

Fleming also said he believes electronic ballot markers capture voter intent better than hand-marked paper.

If I type you a letter, youre going to be able to read it for sure, Fleming said. If I hand write it, well youll probably be able to read it  depends on how badly I mess. Fleming said hes concerned that stray marks on hand marked ballots could cause a problem.

Marilyn Marks, executive director of the non-profit election integrity group Coalition for Good Governance, criticized the proposal in an interview.

Marks said theres no data that entering information on a touchscreen is more accurate, as Fleming suggested. All you need to do is look at the mistakes people make on an iPhone when they are dialing a number or typing a message to see that touchscreens are not exactly 100 per cent accurate.

Marks said that despite the call for human readable lists of a voters selections to be printed on the paper ballot, theres no evidence that voters would take the time to or were capable of verifying their selections.

Imagine that you are voting on 50 different things, and then someone hands you a piece of paper and says Was this everything on the ballot? Marks said.

Marks group is involved in two ongoing lawsuits challenging the states use of its current outdated voting machines, which produce no auditable paper trail.

In one of the cases, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg ruled in September that state elections officials had buried their heads in the sand and warned them not to delay in tackling concerns about the security of the machines. But she declined to force an immediate switch.

The legislation, which could see some amendments, also requires the board of registrars to review any voter registration applications held for failing to pass the states exact match verification process for data entry error or other fault of the board.

Current state law says information on voter registration forms must precisely match information on file with the Georgia Department of Driver Services or the Social Security Administration. Election officials can place non-matching applications on hold.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

An Associated Press analysis in October found that 70 per cent of the 53,000 applications then on hold were from black Georgians.

The proposal also says polling places could not be changed or closed 60 days or less before a primary, general election or runoff.

Fleming said those proposals are not a reaction to any criticism Georgia received, but have been in the works as lawmakers look to improve the system.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Five crew members of a commercial fishing boat were rescued after their vessel sank in Alaska waters.

The Coast Guard says the five from the Pacific 1 were picked up from an inflatable life raft about 40 miles (64 kilometres) southwest of Dutch Harbor by a second commercial fishing boat, the Kona Kai.

The Kona Kai transported the five in good condition to Dutch Harbor.

After the Pacific 1 reported taking on water and listing heavily, the Kona Kai relayed the distress signal to the Coast Guard and motored to the last known location of the stricken vessel.

Coast Guard helicopters searched, spotted the raft and deployed a data marker buoy. An inflight problem forced the helicopter to fly back to its base.
ISFAHAN, Iran - Dozens of comrades circled caskets on the back of trucks on Saturday as thousands of mourners attended a mass funeral for 27 elite Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed in a suicide car bombing this week in Irans Sistan and Baluchistan province.

Men rhythmically struck their chests, a traditional way of showing grief, as women in long black chadors wept. Shouts of Death to America, and Death to Zionism could be heard from the crowd gathered in Bozorgmehr Square in the central city of Isfahan, where the soldiers were based.

The head of Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, threatened to retaliate against neighbouring Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates over the attack. Earlier, he claimed, without providing evidence, that the United States and Israel ordered Saudi Arabia and the Emirates to carry out the attack, which also wounded 12.

The treacherous government of Saudi and Emirates should know that the patience of the Islamic Republic about your hidden support for criminals and Takfiri groups has come to an end and Iran will not tolerate it anymore, said Jafari in a speech to the crowd.

We will get revenge for the blood of our martyrs from Saudi Arabia and Emirates, he said. He asked President Hassan Rouhani to give the Guard the freedom to retaliate.

Pegah Mohammadi, 19, a student, said she attended the funeral to say goodbye to heroes who sacrificed to provide security to the Iranian people. They gave their blood to protect our borders, to bring us security and peace, she said.

Family members accompanied the bodies of their loved ones to Isfahans Bagh Rezvan cemetery. Five of the dead Guard members will be buried there and the rest will be buried in nearby cities and towns in Isfahan province.

Wednesdays attack, claimed by Baluch separatists, killed both seasoned officers and younger soldiers, including a 20-year-old in the Isfahan-based Guards forces. The assault killed members of the Guards Imam Hussein division, which played a significant role in various battles during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

The bombing could lead to Iranian retaliation against the militant Sunni group Jaish al-Adl, who claimed responsibility. The group largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Recent militant assaults inside Iran have sparked retaliatory ballistic missile strikes in Iraq and Syria.

Attacks by Jaish al-Adl, or Army of Justice, have increased in recent years. Since its founding in 2012, it has abducted or killed border guards in hit-and-run assaults from its havens in Pakistan. It kidnapped 11 Iranian border guards in October. Five later were returned to Iran and six remained held.

Jafari said Iran expects Pakistan to punish the group, which allegedly has taken refuge in the countrys southwest. If they do not punish them, our retaliatory measures will be carried out, he said. Jafari said the Pakistani government knows where the attackers are harboured and accused Pakistan security forces of supporting them.

Tehran immediately linked Wednesdays attack to a U.S.-led conference in Warsaw largely focused on Iran, just two days after the nation marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The bomb struck a bus travelling on a road between the cities of Khash and Zahedan, a mountainous region along the Pakistani border that is also near Afghanistan. Images after the blast published by semi-official news agencies showed the explosion tore the bus apart, as passers-by used the light of their cellphones to illuminate the debris.

The Guard, which answers only to Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a statement saying a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a bus carrying border guards affiliated with its force.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

___

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.
SRINAGAR, India - As India considers its response to the suicide car bombing of a paramilitary convoy in the disputed region of Kashmir that killed dozens of soldiers, a retired military commander who oversaw a much-lauded military strike against neighbouring Pakistan in 2016 has urged caution.

A local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a convoy bus on Thursday, killing 41 soldiers and injuring two dozen others in the worst attack against Indian government forces in Kashmirs history. India blamed the attack on Pakistan andpromised a crushing response. New Delhi accuses its archrival of supporting rebels in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies.

The retired commander, Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, told The Associated Press on Saturday that while some kind of limited (military) strike (against Pakistan) is more than likely, he hopes for rethinking and reconciliation from all sides in the conflict.

The former general, who was in charge of the armys northern command at the frontier with Pakistan in Kashmir and counterinsurgency operations, oversaw Indias surgical strikes in September 2016 after militants attacked a military base in the frontier town of Uri near the highly militarized Line of Control.

Nineteen Indian soldiers and three assailants were killed in that attack. India instantly blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, who New Delhi alleged were Pakistani nationals.

At the peak of a 2016 civilian uprising triggered by the killing of a charismatic Kashmiri rebel leader, Hooda called for all sides to take a step back from the deadly confrontation, suggesting that political initiatives be taken instead. It was a rare move by a top Indian army general in Kashmir.

Later that year when the attack on the base in Uri happened, Hooda commanded what New Delhi called surgical strikes against militants in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir  which India said involved the countrys special forces killing an unknown number of insurgents. Pakistan denied that the strikes ever occurred, demanding that India produce evidence to back up the claim.

Hooda has since said that the constant hype of surgical strikes was unwarranted.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua rejected Indias allegations about Pakistans involvement in the attack, saying Saturday that it was part of New Delhis known rhetoric and tactics to divert global attention from human rights violations. According to foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal, Janjua called for implementation of U.N. resolutions to solve the issue of Kashmir.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Kashmir be made part of Pakistan or become an independent country. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.

A pre-recorded video circulated widely on social media showed the purported attacker, Adil Ahmed Dar, in combat clothes surrounded by guns and grenades claiming responsibility for the attack and calling for more such measures to drive India out of Kashmir.

Since 2016, soldiers from India and Pakistan have often traded fire along the frontier, blaming each other for initiating the skirmishes that have resulted in the deaths of dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides in violation of a 2003 cease-fire accord.

Hooda said that considering the state of affairs in Kashmir, he wasnt surprised by the bombing.

I just hope this all leads to some introspection, some deep thinking and engagement to do everything afresh and rethink what we all should be doing to settle issues once for all, he said.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

___

Follow Aijaz Hussain on Twitter at twitter.com/hussain_aijaz
NEW DELHI - With Indias general election barely months away, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under heavy pressure from his supporters to punish archrival Pakistan for a suicide attack on an Indian paramilitary convoy that killed at least 41 soldiers in disputed Kashmir.

India placed the blame for Thursdays bombing squarely on neighbouring Pakistan, which India accuses of supporting rebels in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies. A look at some of the retaliatory steps India is likely to consider:

___

DIPLOMATIC ISOLATION

Indias first public reaction to the attack was to withdraw the most-favoured nation trade status given to Pakistan and take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure the complete isolation from international community of Pakistan. New Delhi insists incontrovertible evidence is available of (Pakistan) having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident.

The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, headquartered in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for the attack. Indias foreign ministry on Friday briefed New Delhi-based diplomats from key countries, including China, which has in the past blocked Indias proposal to list Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as a designated terrorist by the United Nations. The ministry demanded Pakistan take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control to create conducive atmosphere in the region free of terror.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua rejected allegations about Pakistans involvement in the attack, saying Saturday that it was part of New Delhis known rhetoric and tactics to divert global attention from human rights violations.

___

MILITARY STRIKES

After a 2016 attack on an Indian army base that killed 19 soldiers, Indias army said it carried out a campaign of surgical strikes against militants across the highly militarized frontier that divides the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan. Pakistan dismissed the reports that Indias military had targeted terrorist launch pads inside the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Islamabad said instead that two of its soldiers were killed in unprovoked firing by India across the border.

Following the latest attack  the worst attack against Indian government forces in Kashmirs history  Modi warned that those behind it would pay a heavy price and that security forces have been given a free hand to act against terror. The Times of India newspaper reported Saturday that the military options  short of two nuclear-armed rivals going to war  could range from shallow ground-based attacks and occupation of some heights along the Line of Control (cease-fire line) to restricted but precision airstrikes against non-state targets in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

G. Parthasarthy, Indias former high commissioner to Pakistan, said a possible military response cant be discussed in public. We have said that Pakistan will pay a price, he said. For obvious reasons we are not going to spell out how that cost would be imposed.

Paul Staniland, a political science professor and South Asia expert at the University of Chicago, said Pakistans army is assuming it will be attacked and that Indian forces are preparing for a serious incursion of some sort.

___

DOMESTIC PRESSURE

Indian analysts say no political party can afford to neglect public opinion ahead of Indias election. Already, protesters chanted Attack Pakistan and fiery debates on television channels demanded retaliation.

I think the situation is extremely tense, said Amitabh Mattoo, professor of international studies at New Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University. The mood in the country is extremely angry at what has happened. And moreover, there are elections in the offing. No party could afford to neglect public opinion.

Staniland said the stakes are too high for India to do nothing at all. Modi is in a tricky position, he said. Indian forces are quite capable, but its not obvious what kinds of strikes would accomplish the core goal. Kashmir and Pakistan are among the few foreign policy topics that have real electoral resonance.

The general election is scheduled to be held before May.

___

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

U.S. RESPONSE

The U.S. singled out Pakistan in a statement condemning the attack and said it had strengthened U.S. resolve to bolster counterterrorism co-operation with India. To improve Indias military capabilities, the U.S. has offered to sell it unarmed Guardian surveillance drones, aircraft carrier technologies and F-18 and F-16 fighter aircraft. There are sticking points, however, including the purchase by India of Iranian oil and the Russian S-400 ground-to-air missile system, which could trigger U.S. sanctions on India.

___

THE HIMALAYAN PUZZLE

Indian-controlled Kashmir has remained a challenge for Indias policymakers ever since the Himalayan territory was split between India and Pakistan shortly after the two archrivals gained independence in 1947. The territory has been at the heart of Indias two wars out of four the country fought against Pakistan and China. Human rights groups say India has been responding to public protest with disproportionate force while treating the Kashmiri struggle for self-determination as Islamabads proxy war against New Delhi.

New Delhi initially grappled with largely peaceful anti-India protests. However, a series of political blunders, broken promises and a crackdown on dissent led to Kashmirs eruption into a full-blown armed rebellion against India in 1989 for a united Kashmir, either under Pakistani rule or independent of both countries. Indian forces largely crushed the rebellion in the mid-2000s. But the conflict intensified after Modi came to power in 2014 amid rising attacks by Hindu hard-liners against minorities in India, further deepening frustration with New Delhis rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir.

Modis Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has toughened its stance both against Pakistan and Kashmiri separatists. Policy experts say such an approach is intended to project the party as strong and uncompromising. But Modis policies have also had the unintended consequence of strengthening the resolve of those fighting for an end to Indias rule in Kashmir.

___

THE VIEW FROM PAKISTAN

After Imran Khan took over as Pakistans prime minister last August, he promised to take two steps forward for Indias one step to forge friendly ties. He said Kashmir was at the core of their differences, and that the countries have to end the tit-for-tat accusations. But the peace initiative remained a nonstarter, with violence rising in the Indian portion of Kashmir and India asking Pakistan to stop supporting insurgents.

Khan has now proposed to hold talks with India after its election. The former cricketer is very popular in India. He recently offered to open a Sikh religious shrine for Indian visitors on the Pakistani side of the border in Punjab province as a peace gesture. But in September, India pulled the plug on a rare meeting between its foreign minister and her Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of a U.N. summit  a move that was termed arrogant by Khan and unleashed a barrage of insults from both sides. India says it has not seen any constructive approach from Pakistan.

___

Associated Press writers Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Last month, the Trump administration joined dozens of other governments around the world to recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president. The move left the Venezuelan government led by Nicolas Maduro without official representation in the United States, its embassy in Georgetown mothballed.

But as embattled as Maduro is, he still has an important diplomatic lifeline to the United States and the wider world. The Venezuelan leader still holds onto a seat at the United Nations in New York. Even though it is President Donald Trumps hometown, the U.S. government may ultimately find it easier to pressure Maduro out of power in Caracas than to boot his U.N. diplomats out of New York City.

Located on East 46th Street, the Venezuelan Mission to the United Nations sits just across from the U.N. General Assembly. The building, which was constructed in 1965, is likely to be worth tens of millions of dollars. Photographs of the inside show a large building and faded grandeur, with artworks depicting the South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

These were investments that were made a long time ago that have not been maintained in many years, Isaias Medina, a former legal adviser to the mission who broke with the government in 2017, said of the buildings owned by Venezuela in the United States. Some of them are suffering infrastructurally, but theyre very well located.

Though Washington no longer recognizes Maduro as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, the United Nations still does. This gives Maduro government officials a vital diplomatic link to the wider world  and may also allow them to continue their talks with the Trump administration itself. Right there they have access to 193 countries in one place, Medina said.

Jorge Arreaza, Venezuelas foreign minister and a Maduro loyalist, traveled to New York City this week. While there, he greeted U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres for his second meeting in a month. Arreaza later pulled together a number of diplomats from other nations, including U.S. foes North Korea and Iran, to announce joint opposition to illegal, coercive unilateral measures.

Read more:

Opinion | Canada helps tee-up U.S. invasion of Venezuela

Truth versus propaganda about Venezuela

Canadas policy on Venezuela plagued by hypocrisy

Maduro suggested in an interview this week that Arreaza has met with Trumps Venezuela envoy, Elliott Abrams, twice in New York and asked the U.S.-based representative to visit the country however he wished, privately, publicly or secretly.

Diplomats, including Samuel Moncada, Venezuelas permanent representative to the United Nations, continue to work from the Venezuelan Mission in New York City. The east side of Manhattan has been home to the United Nations since 1952. The presence of the U.N. headquarters on U.S. soil complicates any American attempts to diplomatically isolate states to which the United States is opposed.

The U.S. accepts that it has a responsibility to accept whoever is recognized by the General Assembly as representing a given state, Richard Gowan, a fellow at the Center for Policy Research at United Nations University, said in an email. Its part of the basic host nation agreement with the U.N.

North Korean and Iranian diplomats are present at the United Nations even though the United States does not have diplomatic relations with those countries. In some cases, the United States implements geographic restrictions on countries  North Korean diplomats may not travel beyond 30 miles from Columbus Circle, for example. It is not clear whether the United States has imposed any similar restrictions on Venezuelan diplomats, but Moncada traveled to Washington on Thursday.

Though the United States has thrown out some diplomats who breach their diplomatic status, it has rarely, if ever, thrown out U.N. diplomats simply because it unilaterally does not recognize their governments. In 2006, the U.S. State Department issued an apology for the brief detention of Maduro himself, then the Venezuelan foreign minister under President Hugo Chavez, at John F. Kennedy Airport.

Since declaring himself interim president, Guaido has nominated a number of ambassadors: Carlos Vecchio, an exiled opposition leader, was accepted by the State Department as Guaidos representative in Washington in late January. Reuters reported last month that Guaido had written to Secretary General Guterres to ask for help.

However, the U.N. chief has repeatedly told reporters that his hands are tied by protocol. Recognizing governments is not for the secretary, its for the General Assembly, Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a January news conference.

The simplest way to deprive Venezuelas representatives of their seat at the United Nations would be a vote in the General Assembly. About 60 countries have announced that they view Guaido as the countrys interim leader. It is unclear whether such a tactic might work: Maduro still has powerful friends who most likely would try to block such a move, including Russia and China.

Another option might be to go directly to the U.N. credentials committee and challenge Maduros right to represent Venezuela.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Milos Alcalay, a former Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations who resigned in 2004 over concerns about human rights, suggested that there may be a way of using Arria Formula rules to allow Guaido to have representation at the United Nations (the tradition is named after Diego Arria, another former Venezuelan diplomat). If it is approved by the General Assembly, you could have different positions like you had for the Democratic Republic of Germany and the Federal Republic of Germany, he said, referring to the Cold War-era East and West Germany, respectively.

The United States could also consider unilateral action, Medina said, such as declaring some of Venezeulas U.N. diplomats personae non gratae. Hugo Chavezs daughter Maria Gabriela works at the mission in New York, he noted: Shes never even gone to the meetings. She just has the diplomatic passport and the immunity.

Under another administration, that might be unthinkable. And even under Trumps America First policy, it seems unlikely. Asked about the continued presence of Maduro representatives at the United Nations in New York, a senior administration official said only that the United States is willing to meet with former Venezuela officials, including Maduro himself, to discuss their exit plans.

Read more about:
YOLA, Nigeria - Nigerians awakened on Saturday to find the presidential election delayed a week until Feb. 23 because of what the electoral commission called unspecified challenges.

The top candidates condemned the decision and blamed each other but appealed to Africas largest democracy for calm, while they rushed back to the capital to learn more about what went wrong.

The postponement was announced a mere five hours before the polls were to open. The decision is a costly one, and authorities now must decide what to do with already delivered voting materials in a tense atmosphere where some electoral facilities in recent days have been torched.

Some bitter voters in the capital, Abuja, and elsewhere who travelled home to cast their ballots said they could not afford to wait another seven days. They warned that election apathy could follow.

The party backing top opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar accused President Muhammadu Buharis administration of instigating this postponement with the aim of ensuring a low turnout at the polls.

Their plan is to provoke the public, hoping for a negative reaction, and then use that as an excuse for further anti-democratic acts, the party said in a statement. It urged Nigerians to remain calm and turn out in greater numbers a week from now.

A calm-looking Abubakar, speaking to reporters outside his home in northern Adamawa state, said his party would decide on the way forward after an electoral commission briefing Saturday afternoon. A party spokesman in Delta state in the restive south said the commission has destroyed the soul of Nigeria with this act.

Buhari said he was deeply disappointed after the electoral commission had given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. We and all our citizens believed them.

His statement appealed to Nigerians for calm during the trying moment in our democratic journey and stressed that his administration does not interfere in the commissions work.

One ruling party campaign director in Delta state, Goodnews Agbi, told The Associated Press it was better to give the commission time to conduct a credible vote instead of rushing into a sham vote that the whole world will criticize later.

Commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu in the early-morning announcement said that this was a difficult decision to take but necessary for successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy.

Frustrated voters gathered in the capital. I came all the way from my home to cast my vote this morning ... and then I got informed that the election has been cancelled, so that is the reason why I am not happy, and Im very, very angry, voter Yusuf Ibrahim said.

Elsewhere, some Nigerians turned to playing football instead, or anguishing over rescheduling weddings, exams and other milestones because of the voting delay.

A civic group monitoring the election, the Situation Room, said the delay has created needless tension and confusion and called on political parties to avoid incitement and misinformation.

Nigeria postponed the previous presidential election in 2015 because of deadly insecurity in the northeast, which remains under threat from Islamic extremists.

More than 84 million voters in this country of some 190 million had been expected to head to the polls in what is seen as a close and heated race between Buhari and Abubakar, a billionaire former vice-president.

Both have pledged to work for a peaceful election even as their supporters, including high-level officials, have caused alarm with vivid warnings against foreign interference and allegations of rigging.

When Buhari came to power in 2015 he made history with the first defeat of an incumbent president in an election hailed as one of the most transparent and untroubled ever in Nigeria, which has seen deadly post-vote violence in the past.

Now Buhari could become the second incumbent to be unseated. This election is a referendum on his record on insecurity, the economy and corruption, all of which he has been criticized by some Nigerians for doing too little too slowly.

___

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Uguru reported from Ughelli, Nigeria. Associated Press photographer Jerome Delay in Kaduna, Nigeria, contributed.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa
MUNICHVice President Mike Pence urged the European Union to denounce Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday and recognize National Assembly head Juan Guaido as the countrys leader, increasing diplomatic pressure as a potential standoff brewed over blocked shipments of U.S. humanitarian aid.

Major European countries have followed the U.S. lead in recognizing Guaido as Venezuelas leader, but the European Union as an institution has not. Neither has the United Nations, where Maduro is attempting to rally support.

Weve seen what happens when the free world and freedom-loving people unite around a single cause, as so many of the nations represented in this room have stood with us and shoulder-to-shoulder with the Venezuelan people, Pence said at the annual Munich Security Conference.

Its time for the rest of the world to step forward. Once more the Old World can take a strong stand in support of freedom in the New World, Pence said. All of us must stand with the Venezuelan people until freedom and democracy are fully restored. Today, we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom.

Read More:

Venezuelas Maduro still has a diplomatic lifeline  and its in the heart of New York

U.S. military aircraft to deliver more aid to Venezuela border

Trump pans Venezuelan leaders refusal of humanitarian aid

Addressing the largely European audience, Pence got only polite applause for remarks defending the Trump administrations trade and defence policies and proclaiming Trump as the leader of the free world.

The vice president said the U.S. delegation to the annual defense-focused session is the largest ever, mostly because of a large bipartisan contingent from Congress, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. C. Pences mention that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is attending drew louder applause.

He used Venezuela as an example of what he called invigorated U.S. leadership. Washington was the first capital to recognize Guaido and more than 50 other nations have followed, he said.

The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy. Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power, and Nicolas Maduro must go, Pence said.

The 28-member EU, however, has been unable to agree on a unified position on Venezuela, due in part to Italys opposition, according to a French diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

In his speech, Pence also took aim at some allies growing interactions with Russia. He criticized Germanys planned purchase of Russian natural gas, which the United States considers a security threat. In an apparent reference to Turkeys purchase of Russian arms, he said: We have also made it clear that we will not stand idly by while NATO allies purchase weapons from our adversaries. We cannot ensure the defence of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East.

Turkey, a NATO ally, also skipped a diplomatic meeting last week that was planned by the United States as a show of force against Iran. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan instead attended a meeting in Russia with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Pence repeated the U.S. expectation that all NATO nations will meet an agreed goal of spending 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence, which Germany does not do.

He met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel here and told reporters that the session was productive. He also met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Read more about:
Every day for a year, from the confines of her tiny hospital room in Bangladesh, Popi Rani Das dreamed of Toronto.

A doctor from this faraway city had promised its surgeons could repair the life-threatening wounds in her throat caused by a horrific acid attack that left her unable to drink or eat.

Das was just 21 when her husband tried to kill her by tricking her into drinking the acid that burned away her entire esophagus and most of her stomach. For the next seven years, she lived in a top-floor room of the Acid Survivors Foundation Hospital in Dhaka, keeping herself alive by injecting pureed food into the feeding tube threaded into her small intestine.

Then, a chance meeting in February 2016 with Dr. Toni Zhong, a Toronto plastic surgeon on a medical mission to the country, gave Das hope that she would one day escape her bleak surroundings.

I remember feeling so much sadness for this woman, recalls Zhong. I remember thinking: This must be what it is like to be a forgotten person in a small corner of the world.

Das did come to Toronto in 2017 and, following a trio of risky surgeries at Toronto General Hospital, can once again eat and drink.

Now, two years after she arrived here  scared, weak and weighing less than 80 pounds  Das, 30, wants to make Canada her permanent home.

It was here, after all, that surgeons gave her another chance at life by building her a new esophagus using skin harvested from her arm.

She has also found friends and a new kind of family in the citys Bangladeshi Hindu community, which has rallied around her since the freezing February night she arrived at Pearson International Airport.

And, most important, living in Toronto keeps Das safe from her husband, who she says wanted her dead so he could remarry for a bigger dowry. Police charged him for the attack, her lawyer says, but he was released on bail and Das fears he will try to find her should she return to Dhaka.

I cannot go back  That is where my life is not safe and where my life could be in danger again.

Read More:

A Toronto doctor promised to help this acid attack survivor. One year later, shes leaving Toronto with a new esophagus

Acid attack victim finds hope in Toronto surgeons

Acid attack: From victim to triumph in India

Though she misses her country, especially its constant warmth and her friends at the Acid Survivors Foundation Hospital, Das is learning to love Toronto.

She enjoys her ESL classes, riding city buses and eating Oreo cookies, the everyday things that once seemed so impossible from her Dhaka hospital room.

I am safe here now, Das says in her soft-spoken and tentative English. I am OK here now.

Das filed a refugee protection claim last February and is waiting for her case to be heard by the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Her mother, Ajanta Rani Das, who travelled to Toronto with her daughter in 2017 and who has been by Dass side since the day she was attacked, has also made a claim. Both women say their lives are at risk in Bangladesh.

Douglas Lehrer, their Toronto-based immigration lawyer, says he has affidavits from Dass maternal aunt and from a neighbour stating Dass former husband is threatening to kill them out of revenge.

Lehrer says the immigration board, which is currently taking between six and 24 months to hear claims, must believe the women would be in danger in Bangladesh  and that the state would be unable to protect them  to grant them protected person status, thus putting them on the path to Canadian citizenship.

For now, Das is trying to put her immigration status out of mind and focus on her daily life in the city.

These days, she and her mother live in a basement apartment in Scarborough, where they enjoy cooking in their small kitchen, planning trips to the library and going for walks around their Birchmount Park neighbourhood.

Both women adore the big white flowers that bloom on bushes growing near their street and which remind them of their village in Bangladesh.

During her first year in Toronto, Das saw little more than hospital rooms, doctors offices and the apartment she shared with her mother near Toronto General. Much of her time was spent recovering from surgery, relearning how to swallow with her new esophagus, and finding strategies to deal with the post-traumatic stress triggered by her husbands attack.

Zhong, director of the breast reconstruction program at Torontos University Health Network (UHN), says few people would have the strength to endure the hardships Das has faced.

That inner courage was one reason Zhong felt compelled to help Das by raising more than $700,000 to start the UHN Helps Fund, to bring international patients to Toronto for life-changing surgery. A portion of that money paid for Dass medical care in Toronto, as well as her travel and living expenses.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Zhong also convinced Toronto General to open its operating rooms after-hours for Das, and the surgeons who performed the complex surgeries waived their fees, so as not to impact Canadian patients.

Though Zhong is happy Das is well and safe in Toronto, a part of her is also disheartened that Das will not return to Bangladesh to advocate for survivors of acid violence, something both women had once badly wanted.

Zhong says she didnt fully understand the risks Das faced until she was again in Dhaka in January of this year for another medical mission. There, she says, she met people who know Das and who believe the young womans decision to stay in Canada is the right one.

They told me, There is no doubt that if she came back she would be a target, for her husband or just in general, because (after earlier media stories) she has a celebratory status and she spoke out for herself.

The renowned doctor has many hopes for Das. Some, including a chance to eat and drink, have already been fulfilled. She also believes Das lived through her ordeals to make a lasting impact on the world.

She shouldnt have survived that initial attack, Zhong says, adding that 75 per cent of people who swallow acid will die. Popi is an incredibly strong person who can make a difference. I dont know where or how she can do that. But my hope for her is that she will find a way to tell her story and to live a meaningful life with this gift she has been given.

Arun Datta is among the dozens of people in Torontos Bangladeshi Hindu community who have helped Das since she arrived in the city. He says he didnt hesitate for a moment after Zhongs 2017 phone call, during which she asked for their communitys support.

Within days of that call, members of the Bangladesh-Canada Hindu Mandir temple in Scarborough were raising funds and finding a place for Das and her mother to stay.

We all had a desire to help, says Datta, who came to Canada 30 years ago and works as a paralegal while advocating for the rights of Hindus, a religious minority in Bangladesh, as the president of the Bangladesh Minority Rights Alliance. We gave money, and we gave time driving her to the hospital, going to get groceries, anything that was needed.

He and others in the Toronto community say Dass Hindu faith is yet another thing that will put her at risk in Bangladesh, where religious minorities face oppression and persecution.

That is the main reason we are all here, says Datta, gesturing to Das, her mother and some of their friends gathered around a table on a recent winter evening at the Bangladesh-Canada Hindu Mandir. We all have been victims as well.

Bijit Roy, the temples president, says the Toronto community has been moved by Dass story.

It was a rare type of cruelty, he says. She is far better here. Here she can have a new and safe life.

Looking at those gathered at the table, Das says she is grateful to everybody for their help  the Toronto surgeons, her new community and Canada, the country that made her safe.

While Das can read and write English fairly well, she finds it more difficult to maintain a conversation in English. Datta helps, when needed, to translate her exchange with a Star journalist between English and Bengali.

Das says she is not yet sure what her future holds as a potential Canadian.

In between her trips to the library and her ESL classes, Das continues to embroider, a task that helped pass time in her Dhaka hospital room. As long as she takes small, slow bites, she can eat anything she likes. She still loves Kit Kat and chocolate ice cream and most kinds of cookies. And she is practising English by watching TV.

I dont like sad movies, she says in English. Only funny.

While she is now used to Canadian winters, Das says she cant wait for the warm weather and more trips to Centre Island, one of her favourite places in Toronto. This summer, she wants to go up the CN Tower so she can look out over the city that is now her home.

The people here are good, she says in Bengali.

And then, in English: Here, I am safe.
After years of fluctuating attendance and revenue, the Toronto Zoo has formed a charitable organization to raise money for new capital projects and animal conservation programs.

The Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy was registered in December and a search for the executive director has begun, zoo spokesperson Jennifer Tracey said Friday.

The conservancy will help sustain the zoo as a living centre for education and science, providing compelling guest experiences and inspiring passion to protect wildlife and habitats, Tracey said.

It will not fund day-to-day operations of the zoo.

The move comes as the zoo strives to build attendance, which peaked more than 30 years ago at 1.89 million when pandas first visited the zoo in 1985. Attendance hit 1.46 million in 2013, again with pandas, and 1.3 million in 2016 following the birth of two panda cubs. The pandas, which were on loan from China, moved to the Calgary Zoo in March.

Despite efforts to attract visitors that included the first-ever blooming of a smelly corpse flower in the GTA, the zoo failed to meet its attendance and revenue targets in 2018, according to a year-end report presented at a board meeting on Friday afternoon.

General admissions were down six per cent in 2018, and were 18 per cent less than forecast.

Total revenues in 2018 were down five per cent, to $28.2 million, which was 17 per cent below what the zoo had forecast for the year. As a result, the zoo is anticipating a net loss of approximately $3.3 million in 2018.

The zoo blamed the decline in general admissions on poor weather on prime long weekends  a total of 16 extreme heat days and 20 extreme cold days, the zoo said. It also cited delays in opening the Amur tiger exhibit and in launching new attractions, including the Wild Rouge zip line.

The corpse flower (Amorphophallus titanum)  which emits a smell like rotting meat in order to attract flies and beetles to pollinate it  attracted crowds in September, but the bloom lasts roughly 36 hours and the plant can take seven to 10 years to bloom.

In all, the zoo saw 1,115,819 total visitors in 2018, an increase of five per cent over 2017  but that figure masks the overall decline in general admissions, and the fact that much of the increase was due to a resumption of school tours.

A strike by CUPE workers in 2017 forced the shutdown of the zoo during May and June, which led to the cancellation of year-end school trips and event bookings. The Elementary Teachers of Toronto union also encouraged teachers to consider the labour disruption when booking activities for their students.

Labour disruptions were linked to significant impacts on attendance in 2017 and 2018 at attractions that rely on unionized teachers bringing student groups to visit.

The Canadian National Exhibition suffered more than $1.5 million in estimated losses in 2018 as a direct result of the Exhibition Place lockout of IATSE Local 58, according to CNE chief executive officer Virginia Ludy. Total attendance was 1,390,005, a decrease of 11 per cent from 2017.

Despite our best efforts to distinguish the CNE as a tenant of Exhibition Place, the lockout had a negative impact on overall CNE attendance and revenue, said Ludy.

Revenues at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, which is also held at Exhibition Place, were down $200,000 in 2018. Overall attendance was down 12 per cent, and visits from school groups were down 27 per cent.

The zoo is planning changes to generate new interest, including an outdoor enclosure for orangutans in 2020 and a renewal of the front entrance, which has changed little since the zoo opened in 1974, according to chief operating officer Robin Hale.

It is also proposing new guest services offices, a new restaurant facility, new admission gates and a new animal exhibit at the front entrance. The project will cost $19 million over four years.

Right now, you dont actually see any animals until youre quite a ways into the zoo, said Hale. We think something very active, like an otter exhibit, would add some excitement from the beginning.

Money from the new Conservancy could be used to fund projects in the zoos master plan, including the Wilderness North Canadian Pavilion, and the conservation programs could include habitat restoration programs and reproductive scientific research.

The zoo is a world leader in wildlife conservation and research in veterinary, reproductive and nutritional sciences and plays a significant role in the fabric of our city, said Hale, adding that it is a major employer in Torontos east end and a major tourist destination that has a positive impact on Torontos economy.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

With the WWF Canada Living Planet Report released in September 2017 highlighting the declines in Canadian species over the last 40 years, the Toronto Zoo will have an even greater role to play going forward, Hale added.

Rob Vernon, a spokesperson for the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said the organization is still collecting self-reported figures from members on 2018 attendance, but said extreme weather did have an impact on them.

The AZA has 233 accredited members worldwide that collectively welcome 200 million visitors a year, Vernon said. The Toronto Zoo is a member.
Toronto police have arrested a 15-year-old boy after a woman said she was sexually assaulted on a subway train on Line 2 earlier this month.

A 21-year-old woman was heading west on a train on the morning of Feb. 12 when the suspect boarded the train at Woodbine station. The suspect sat next her, committed an indecent act, grabbed the woman and sexually assaulted her, police said in a release.

He fled at Greenwood station.

On Feb. 14, Toronto police arrested a 15-year-old boy and charged him with sexual assault.

Feb. 27, 2019  Update: This story has been updated from a previous version to report that a teenaged suspect was arrested. A surveillance photo that accompanied the story has been deleted because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Toronto police have identified the 28-year-old man, who died when he was shot at night in Rexdale. He is Tesfa Welsh-Hope of Toronto.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Wednesday, police responded to a call about gunshots in the area of Bergamot Ave., close to the intersection of Islington Ave. and Rexdale Blvd.

When officers arrived on the scene, they found a man lying on the ground, suffering from gunshot wounds, outside the building. He was rushed to a hospital where he died from his injuries, police say.

Police say the suspect they are looking for in this investigation is described as a male, wearing a dark-coloured, hooded jacket and he was last seen running southbound along a pathway toward 11 Bergamont Ave.

Police say investigators are interested in speaking with anyone who may have been in the area or anyone who has information and ask them to contact police at 416-808-7400.

Welsh-Hope is Torontos eighth homicide victim of 2019, and the fifth who died in a shooting. The others are:

Ian Dyer, 36, who was stabbed to death in a Toronto Community Housing building near Danforth and Midland Aves. on Jan. 6. Leigh Min, 34, was arrested on Jan. 8 and charged with first-degree murder.

Lorraine Kerubo Ogoti, 30, was found on an eighth-floor unit of a Scarborough apartment building suffering from stab wounds on Jan. 8. She died at the scene.

Aseel Yehya, 18, was shot dead in an Etobicoke street on Jan. 9 after police said he was approached by a dark-coloured vehicle.

Lingathasan Suntharamoorthy, 36, was shot dead in a Scarborough apartment building in the early morning on Jan. 12.

Hanh (Hana) Nguyen, 41, was stabbed to death at her home, near Jane St. and St. Clair Ave. W., on Jan. 24. Austin Le, 40, was found at the scene and was charged with second-degree murder.

Jaunoi Christian, 24, was shot to death Feb. 8 outside a nightclub on Queen St. E., near Parliament St.

Dean Howlett, 25, was shot dead Feb. 12 in Scarboroughs West Hill neighbourhood on Feb. 12. Naod Tsegazab, 22, of Toronto, has been charged with second-degree murder. Joseph Carlton Bryan, 21, of Toronto, has been charged with accessory after the fact.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...
Cannabis products made in shapes that appeal to children  such as gummy bears or lollipops  should be banned when the sale of edibles becomes legal later this year, Torontos medical officer of health says.

The citys board of health should also urge the federal government to ban cannabis vaping liquids that are offered in youth-friendly flavours that mimic candy or soft drinks, Dr. Eileen de Villa said Friday.

One of the major objectives of the legislation is to actually protect health and, in particular, to protect youth from the potential harmful effects associated with cannabis, de Villa said.

We feel the best thing to do in terms of protecting youth, is to avoid having these edible products in a gummy bear, lollipop or other shapes that might be appealing to youth.

De Villa added that theres a need for clearly defined labelling, which includes both dosing information and warnings about the risks of combining cannabis edibles with alcohol or highly caffeinated drinks.

Edible cannabis products were not included when federal legislation legalized the use of cannabis leaves, oil and seeds last year, but the government said the law would be amended to allow edibles by this October.

Read more:

Cannabis retail shops are scrambling to open on time across Ontario

Pot brownies in Canada could be 10 times weaker than they are in some states. Heres why that could be a big problem

Move over Betty Crocker: Pot edibles to include anything you can brew, stew, cook or chew

Consultations on those amendments are set to end next week.

Villa also supports on how much THC  the primary active component of cannabis  is available in one-time-use vaping devices, and would like them to include a mechanism that limits the maximum quantity inhaled in a single puff.

The federal regulations already have quite a bit in this regard, she said.

Industry consultant Mitchell Osak commended Toronto Public Health for what he deemed a list of prudent suggestions ahead of the products becoming legal.

The recommendations are consistent with the federal governments objective around safe and responsible usage and protection of youth, said Osak, a managing director of business consulting and technology services at Grant Thornton LLP, who advises companies in the Canadian cannabis industry including licensed producers, investors and governments.

Despite their illegal status, edible cannabis products are currently being sold at stores throughout Toronto.

A spokesperson for one dispensary visited by the Star this week said its customers are being given childproof bags to prevent youngsters from accidentally eating cannabis products that come in the form of a candy or a cookie.

That doesnt go far enough, says Osak, who believes that restricting the colour and design of the products is the right approach.

During a visit to a Cannabis and Fine Edibles (C.A.F.E.) location on Harbord St. this week, the Star observed a wide array of edibles ranging in potency from 55 to 300 milligrams of THC.

All of them exceeded the governments proposed limit of 10 milligrams, which Osak described as a little too cautious. Hes concerned that such low levels of THC will push customers towards the black market.

Information labels on products sold at C.A.F.E caution users to start with a small portion in order to determine ones tolerance level.

C.A.F.E. spokesperson David Thompson said childproof bags and information on packaging are some of the ways the underground cannabis retailer  which has several locations across the city  is trying to improve safety for customers.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

We make sure to try to place our edible dosing guidelines on each and every package that leaves the store, Thompson said, adding, We believe Health Canadas position to begin at ultralow dose concentrations is warranted.

He said C.A.F.E. is advising edible producers to read the regulations that are being discussed and to begin implementing the recommendations.

Health Canada has to be a beacon and a responsible steward to affect change over time, he said. We do not see any of this as a problem.
MONTREALMore than 100 Quebec tourists who had been trapped in Haiti amid violent street protests were flown back to Montreal on Saturday.

An Air Transat flight carrying the 113 passengers, along with a few people from other airlines, landed at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport just after 9 p.m.

Helicopter evacuations began early Saturday morning to take the travellers in small groups from a resort hotel on the Caribbean countrys Cote des Arcadins to the airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Air Transat said the Quebec and Canadian governments helped co-ordinate the evacuation effort.

Our customers, as well as their loved ones, have lived a challenging and uncertain week, spokeswoman Annick Guerard said in a statement.

Since the rise of tensions in Haiti, our teams have been mobilized and working hard to repatriate our customers safely and as quickly as possible.

Normand Rosa, one of the guests at the hotel, said Saturday morning that the helicopter evacuations from the hotel were rolling smoothly.

Rosa said he was glad Transat had finally given in to pressure to bring the vacationers to the airport, after the company said earlier in the week that logistics and security prevented it from doing so.

He said that while the hotel staff had been accommodating and hed never felt unsafe, it was time to return home.

Its better to evacuate before it deteriorates further, he said in a phone interview.

Protests demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise have claimed several lives over the past week.

Protesters are angry about skyrocketing inflation and the governments failure to prosecute embezzlement from a multi-billion-dollar Venezuelan program that sent discounted oil to Haiti.

Other Canadians stuck in Haiti have also been making their way to the airport by way of helicopter flights or harrowing road journeys.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

An Ottawa doctor and three health professionals from New Brunswick endured a nerve-wracking seven-and-a-half hour trip that ended with the group hiring an ambulance driver to secure safe passage to the airport on Friday.

Reached Saturday from a stopover in Philadelphia, Dr. Emilio Bazile said he felt lucky to have escaped with only a few bruises from flying rocks that also damaged a vehicle.

Read more about:
A 65-year-old man allegedly responsible for three murders and a string of other crimes that took place years ago was arrested in eastern Ontario this week, solving a set of cases that had long gone cold, police said Friday.

The charges laid against Michael Wentworth relate to the fatal beating of an elderly woman, the subsequent slayings of two men, a brazen bank robbery and the detonation of an explosive device, authorities said.

About 120 officers converged on the man in a co-ordinated takedown in Kingston on Thursday that was part of a joint investigation between local and provincial forces. Upwards of 60 investigators were involved as police built their case, officials said.

Our joint investigations have produced a result that offers an opportunity for these grieving families to try to move forward having lived with their respective tragic losses for so long, said Kingston police Chief Antje McNeely.

Wentworth faces three counts of first-degree murder, armed robbery, armed hostage taking and various explosive-related charges.

Investigators focused their attention on the man  who also goes by Michael Verney  about a year ago, said OPP Det. Insp. Jim Gorry.

The first crime Wentworth is accused in involved an alleged break-in at the home of 92-year-old Henrietta Knight on June 2, 1995.

Her death was very violent for a lady of her age, Gorry told reporters. She was severely beaten.

Knight died months later on Nov. 4, 1995, as a result of her injuries, police said.

On July 4, 1995, another crime took place when two men, armed with firearms, walked into a Toronto-Dominion bank in Kingston and made off with a sizable amount of money, Gorry alleged.

Then in November 1996, a 30-year-old man named Richard Kimball vanished, police said.

Our investigation led to the discovery that he had been murdered, Gorry said, adding that police are searching various properties but Kimballs body has not been found.

Police said the crimes continued on July 19, 2000, when an explosive device was detonated in Toronto.

It caused extensive damage, but thankfully no injuries, said OPP Det. Insp. Brad Collins.

On Oct. 21, 2001, police found Stephen St-Denis, 47, dead in a suspicious house fire.

Collins said police questioned whether they were dealing with the work of an alleged serial killer.

Because of the time span it covered and the fact of three homicides with which hes charged, its understandable people would want to consider this a serial case, Collins said. It doesnt fit the normal definition of a serial killer per se, so no, were not categorizing it as such.

Wentworth has been involved with the criminal element a great deal of his life, Collins said.

There is a good potential for him to be involved in other serious matters and thats why our investigation continues, the detective said.

Police declined to get into details of their investigation, noting only that DNA played a role along other investigative techniques.

The arrest had special meaning for several officers who were involved in the cases at the time, including the forces chief, who was part of Knights investigation early on and Gorry, who investigated the bank robbery.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Police said they informed all the three victims families personally about the charges.

Its probably one of the finest things that you can do when you give somebody that type of resolution, Gorry said.

Police also arrested Wentworths former wife, Sandra Carr, 52, of Kingston. She faces charges of obstructing justice and party to the first-degree murder of Kimball.
ROTHESAY, N.B.Police say an elderly couple was found dead on Valentines Day in the Saint John, N.B., suburb of Rothesay.

The 78-year-old woman was a victim of homicide, while police are still investigating the death of her 91-year-old husband.

It goes without saying were investigating the cause of the homicides, whatever that might be. All scenarios are being looked into, Det.-Sgt Craig MacDougall of Kennebecasis Regional Police said Friday.

The bodies were found after someone became concerned about the couple and went to check on them Thursday evening at their bungalow on Gondola Point Road, he said.

A 911 call was made, and police responded to find suspicious circumstances in the home.

MacDougall would not speculate on what may have happened or when the couple died but reassured members of the public they were not in danger.

We havent made any final determinations but we dont believe there are any suspects out there  The public is not at risk, he said.

The couple had family members in the area, he said.

Read more about:
WINNIPEGOSIS, MAN.Manitoba is taking a hard look at youth justice and its connection to child welfare after a study found more than half of kids incarcerated had also been in care.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen announced Friday that the province will review why youth are bouncing between the two systems without having positive outcomes.

We have to end that cycle, he said during a news conference.

The sooner we end that cycle, the better the outcomes for kids and hopefully (it will) keep them out of the adult justice system as well.

Cullen said the province has the highest rate of youth in custody in the country  four times the national average  and up to 90 per cent of them are Indigenous.

The study of admissions at the Manitoba Youth Centre in October 2018 showed about 60 per cent of youth charged were also involved with child welfare services.

Read more:

Toronto budget should protect citys most vulnerable, councillors told

Opinion | Anna Kamila Socha: To reduce youth crime, focus on mental health

Opinion | Max Fineday: All Canadians must work toward reconciliation

We know that youth in child and family services are far more likely to become involved in the criminal justice system, and they are more often to become repeat offenders as well, Cullen said.

There are more than 10,000 children in care in Manitoba and about 90 per cent are Indigenous.

Cullen said a review will provide recommendations for reducing the rates of incarceration and recidivism. In addition, it will tackle how to better get treatment and support to youth.

The review and recommendations are expected to be released by the end of 2019.

Daphne Penrose, Manitobas childrens advocate, said the review must recognize that many youth are running into conflict with the law because there are not enough treatment options for addiction and mental health issues. She added that funding and resources will need to match the recommendations.

The snapshot in October found one-third of youth were incarcerated for addiction-related matters.

A lot of these kids have come into CFS and have come into justice because of their lack of access to mental health services and addiction services, Penrose said.

I see this as a positive step, but I see a piece missing from the important equation.

Incarceration of youth generally across Canada has declined slightly each year since 2012. But Statistics Canada data from 2017 shows the proportion of Indigenous youth in custody has steadily increased. In the provinces, the numbers are the highest in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Opposition NDP justice critic Nahanni Fontaine said there have been many reports with recommendations around these issues, including the Manitoba Aboriginal Justice Inquiry. She said the government must act or the number of children that get into conflict in the law will just grow.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

My strong suggestion is they are just trying to kick it down the street for another time instead of actually doing the real concerted effort and work that needs to be done now, she said.

The youth review will build on an adult justice system modernization strategy announced last March, Cullen said. But he could not share any examples from that strategy that may be applied to youth.

Cullen did say the review would look to Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec for ideas and will include restorative justice practices.

Read more about:
VANCOUVERFirst it was Air Canada, then Royal Bank. Both companies started labelling the island nation of Taiwan as part of China last May.

And China is now pressuring even more Canadian multinationals to do the same, according to passages of the Blue Book on the Cyber Rule of Law (2018) obtained by The Star.

The book, published last month, condemns more than 60 of the worlds top firms for violating the One China Principle  the Chinese government position that Taiwan remains a part of Chinas territory after it separated in 1949.

The multinationals include Apple, Amazon, Siemens, LG Electronics and Sony as well as Toronto-based Manulife and Alimentation Couche-Tard in Montreal. All have been accused in the Blue Book of listing places like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau incorrectly on their websites.

According to a passage written in Chinese, acknowledging Taiwan as independent violates the international understanding of the One China Principle. This is against the China governments right to govern.

Canada does not recognize Taiwan  which has its own democratically elected government and laws  as a sovereign state and does not maintain government-to-government relations with the capital Taipei, according to Global Affairs Canada. However, Canada does maintain a trade office in Taipei and touts co-operation in several areas, such as foreign investment and human-rights issues.

Canada boasts of historical and economic relations with Hong Kong and Macau but recognizes them as special administrative regions under the authority of the Chinese state, despite them maintaining separate legal, administrative and judicial systems.

The book launched in Beijing on Jan. 12 and is compiled by the Institute of Law at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. The academy is a think tank that performs research and offers policy suggestions at the behest of two political bodies: the Communist Party of Chinas Central Committee, a policy forum for top leaders, and the executive body of the state, the State Council.

Although we have focused on correcting airline companies and are having some success, if we broaden the perspective these airline companies take up a small percentage of all international firms, the Blue Book says, translated from Chinese.

Last May, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration instructed Air Canada and 43 other international airlines to change references to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau on their websites and promotional material to comply with Communist Party standards.

Air Canada was accused by much of the Taiwanese-Canadian community of bowing to Beijings influence when it changed its designation of Taiwan to be part of China. At the time, it said the change was to comply with all legal requirements in all jurisdictions to which we fly.

In January, Taiwans Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the outrageous demand by Beijing on multinationals.

The ministry stated that Beijings move to impose its laws on multinational companies exposes its malicious intent in using political tactics to interfere with private enterprise. It added that pressuring multinationals violates the spirit of free international commerce.

The Star reached out to the Chinese embassy in Canada for an interview but did not receive a response.

The Star also reached out to Manulife, but the company did not respond. The financial services and management group manages $1.1 trillion and promotes itself as one of the fastest-growing companies in Asia, with offices in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, among other locations.

Alimentation Couche-Tard declined to comment. The convenience-store giant has 10,000 locations in North America, including Circle K and Macs, worth a total of $24 billion, according to Forbes. Founder Alain Bouchard said in a 2017 BNN Bloomberg interview that the company wants to increase its presence in Asia and sees growth opportunities there.

Jonathan Manthorpe, a veteran foreign correspondent and author of Claws of the Panda: Beijings Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada, said naming these companies in the Blue Book is a type of psychological warfare.

The same methods the Communist Party uses to pressure countries into cutting ties with Taiwan are being used for commercial isolation as well, he said.

Im not sure what good it does China in the long run. Many multinationals might well go along with Beijings blackmail in order to continue doing business with China, Manthorpe said. But it actually doesnt change the reality that Taiwan is an independent nation.

James Palmer, editor of the magazine Foreign Policy, describes Beijings latest move of pressuring multinationals as a way to weaponize Chinese law against international speech and threaten companies to comply or face charges in China.

Palmer added that if a company had to choose between aligning with China or Taiwan politically, the size of the Chinese market is enough to sway them to bend to China with very little pressure, said Palmer, who lived in China for 15 years, during which time he worked as a journalist and historian.

According to The World Bank, China is the planets second largest economy, with a population of 1.3 billion.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Corporations have no commitments to independence or moral values, Palmer added.

Earlier this month, an Angus Reid poll indicated two-thirds or 62 per cent of respondents say Chinas record on human rights and the rule of law should be a more important consideration for Canada than trade and investment opportunities when assessing their relationship.

The online survey was conducted in January among a representative randomized sample of 1,700 Canadian adults who are members of Angus Reid Forum.

Read more about:
HALIFAXA Dalhousie University student is impacting lives through her research using inexpensive, 3-D-printed microscopes to help diagnose blood-borne diseases like malaria.

The device easily clips onto a cellphone and costs about $1 to manufacture, making it a useful tool in developing countries and in communities without easy access to laboratory facilities.

Growing up in The Gambia Id done research work as a laboratory technician where people were coming to get blood work, and there are people who would travel long distances just because they are really ill, Fatou Secka, 26, recalled in an interview.

She said many of those patients would stay overnight by the lab so they could be among the first people seen in the morning. Many of them would learn they had malaria or chronic malaria.

Most of the work that we do in a hematology lab involves the use of a microscope, so when I was working on it in the water research lab we actually wanted it (the 3-D microscopes) for water work, like using water samples to look for microbes, Secka said.

But then it occurred to me that this could actually work for blood-borne diseases. I was very excited to think about it and test it and work on it for that purpose. It is such a small tool, but it can be used for bigger purposes.

Secka is pursuing a masters degree in civil engineering. Since 2016, she has worked on improving the quality of the device and the magnification of its lenses. Shes quick to point out that although she has worked to improve the technology and decided to explore how it might be used for diagnosing blood-borne diseases, the device isnt her intellectual property.

In August of 2017, Secka travelled back to her home in The Gambia to test the devices strengths and its limitations. Working with the assistance of medical professionals at a local hospital, she was determined to enhance the technology.

I got training from staff that were there ... I was going into the lab to look at slides that had positive malaria samples and then I would take pictures of it (using the phone microscope) and compare it to looking at an actual microscope with that same slide, she said.

I was working with people that are experts in that field to tell me what they were making of what they were seeing using this (3-D) microscope. I took their feedback and comments on things I could do to make it better.

Fatou Secka, a graduate student at Dalhousie University shares her experience as a women in STEM, how she came from The Gambia to study and live in Halifax, and how she is bringing a small idea that makes a big difference to the province and the world.

As a young girl, Fatou Secka wanted to be a doctor. Although she abandoned that plan and opted to pursue engineering, her desire to help improve peoples health outcomes hasnt waned.

Ive always had this strong belief that regardless of a persons status or their condition, one thing that they have a right to is a good health care, good water, those basic needs are things that they deserve and as people we should try to get it to them, she said.

I have always wanted to help  Ive always wanted to be involved in something that is huge and that can make the lives of people easier and better.

Although she prefers to remain behind the scenes, Secka was thrust into the spotlight during the Premiers State of the Province address on Feb. 6 where her work was highlighted and she was tasked with introducing Premier Stephen McNeil.

Graham Gagnon, a professor at Dalhousie Universitys Centre for Water Resources Studies and associate vice-president of research, said Secka is an outstanding student whose work has great potential.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

She has a tremendous humility, but just great confidence when you talk to her. She breaks all kinds of stereotypes about women in engineering and how she wants to change the world and do things properly. I mean, its humbling in some ways to be around her, he said in an interview.

I probably wouldve been shaking in my boots introducing the premier (on Feb. 6), and she was calm and cool and collected and very confident about everything and it was just stunning to watch. But thats her.

Gagnon said when he first discussed the idea of pursuing graduate studies with Secka, she told him she didnt know if she was good enough. He recalls telling her that not only had she done incredible work on the 3-D microscopes, but she then furthered that work by taking the devices to The Gambia for testing and training others on their use.

I told her  youre more than qualified and Im winning by having you in our lab because shes just that talented, Gagnon said.

During her 2017 trip to The Gambia, Secka discovered one significant limitation of the 3-D printed microscopes. She was concerned by the possibility of people infecting their phones with malaria, putting themselves and their friends and families at risk.

Her solution was to create her own inexpensive microscope that didnt require use of a phone, had greater magnification and was of a much higher quality.

Although she didnt know how to code, Secka was more than eager to learn.

Shes working now with a professor in mechanical engineering to code, to learn some basic manufacturing processes, all things well outside her comfort zone, Gagnon said. And shes doing, not surprisingly, exceptionally well. Its just thrilling to see.

Secka said her decision to pursue this project was a direct result of being inspired and motivated by what she managed to do with the 3-D printed devices.

I see it doing so many things, and not just detecting or diagnosing diseases like malaria for example. It could be a way that people can get jobs and be trained to do something positive, she said.

It can open up doors for people that dont have much to do in their communities. They can be trained, they can acquire skills, use these things to do work.

If her next microscope project is successful, she hopes corporations will partner with her to sponsor the devices. She said she has no interest in turning her invention into a business. She sees it as just another opportunity to help people who are less fortunate.

Well be trying to make it as affordable as possible, ensuring that it can get into the hands of people that are not as privileged as the ones that are here. Like rural communities, low-income developing communities, she said. I am very excited.

Yvette dEntremont is a Halifax-based reporter focusing on health. Follow her on Twitter: @ydentremont

Read more about:
The Father

Written by Florian Zeller. Directed by Ted Dykstra. Until March 3 at Coal Mine Theatre, 1454 Danforth Ave. coalminetheatre.com

French playwright of the moment Florian Zeller calls The Father a tragic farce, which in theory makes sense. It is steeped in misunderstandings, mistaken identities, will-they-or-wont-they courtships and an onslaught of entrances and exits; thus, the comedic mishaps of a farce.

Then the tragedy comes in to turn what would be funny in a farce into a source of fear and frustration, which is why The Father has been so widely acclaimed. It expresses the mishaps through the perspective of a man with dementia, his pained caretaker daughter and her exasperated partner.

Since its Paris premiere in 2012, its English-language U.K. premiere in 2014 and its Broadway run in 2016, The Father has impressed and terrified critics and audiences in the way it constantly shifts the rules of scenes: information received at one point is outright denied at another, places and faces change without warning, and behaviours swing from calm to violent in an instant  all delivered by the people around aging father Andre with the measured patience of someone sane speaking to someone unstable, or a parent speaking to a child.

The desired effect is for us to share Andres discomfort and confusion, distorting what we think is reality; its theatre gaslighting to build empathy for our main character.

Its a structure that Zeller has expanded into a trilogy including The Mother (in which a woman falls into a hallucinatory depression after her son moves out) and The Son, about a teenage boys anxiety following his parents divorce, all translated to English by Christopher Hampton.

Though Zeller calls The Father a dark comedy, the tragedy often wallops any potential laughs into submission, even with lovable Canadian TV actor Eric Peterson as Andre in the current Coal Mine Theatre production.

A late-stage casting change to replace Nicholas Campbell due to illness, Peterson has the benefit of having performed the role at Hamiltons Theatre Aquarius last fall  otherwise its hard to imagine him pulling off Andres monologues of unfinished sentences and 180-degree turns of thought and mood so impressively well.

But even in his most lighthearted moments, trying to impress young nurse Laura (Oyin Oladejo) with an invented past life as a tap dancer, Petersons Andre has a wide-eyed, big-smiled leer that suggests an inappropriate threat. On the other hand, that same scene unleashes Andres mean side as he rails against his dutiful daughter Anne (Trish Fagan). Peterson cant quite summon the brutal delivery needed to make this change as extreme as it needs to be.

He is best at capturing Andres childlike helplessness, culminating in a moving final breakdown. But these moments also move the audience from empathizing with Andre to being outside observers, and away from Zellers unique portrayal of dementia to a more stereotypical representation.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Fagan, a welcome sight back on a Toronto stage, is solid as Anne, one of the few reliable anchors the audience can hold onto besides Andre. Shes patient and even-keeled to balance her fathers erratic behaviour and her partner Pierres (Beau Dixon) anger. Even so, her martyrdom becomes wearying and we wish for her to, just once, unbutton her cardigan and let loose.

And that brings up another issue with The Father: Zellers interest in portraying the French bourgeoisie with beautiful homes and clothes, keeping their emotions stifled in polite company. The Father plays into the stereotype in stories like The Notebook, Still Alice and Greys Anatomy, that dementia is saddest when the wealthy, beautiful and white suffer from it. Even with the best performers and solid direction and design (by Anna Treusch, Bonnie Beecher and Richard Feren), as has become Coal Mines standard, theres a question of why were being immersed inside this particular family.

Perhaps this is merely the reaction of someone who doesnt have a close relationship to dementia and aging parents, or doesnt yet. Zellers concept of conveying the feeling of losing your mind and submitting to the orders of others, plays into our widespread fear of aging. With an aging population, its a good lesson for right now.
CALGARYIn his role with the Calgary Climate Hub, Joe Vipond has seen firsthand how many Calgarians have difficulty talking about climate change solutions.

Even harder  recognizing the problem and analyzing what it could mean for the citys economy, which is largely fuelled by the oil and gas sector.

But hes also been disappointed with how few climate-focused organizations are tackling the issue in Calgary, and more broadly, the lack of political leadership to meet emissions targets.

Now Vipond, the hubs interim co-chair, along with the rest of his organization, is committed to organizing more local solutions to the problems of climate change, to fill that gap and help Albertans realize this is a reality the rest of the world is coping with that Calgarians must face as well.

This idea that were going to have infinite growth in our oil and gas industry is quickly being challenged by geopolitical economic changes, Vipond said.

If we just pretend that this isnt a reality thats happening around the world thats going to affect our major industry, were going to get caught flat-footed. When a wave is coming, you dont try and stop the wave, youre not going to succeed. What you have to figure out is how to ride the wave.

The Calgary Climate Hub wants to mobilize Calgarians on a local level to feel empowered to act on climate change and hold political leaders accountable as well. Their plan is to meet with neighbourhoods across the city in hopes of sparking community-led environmental organization and action.

Vipond comes at the issue with years of experience advocating for environmental and climate causes, also working with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Vipond has long been frustrated with being able to count the number of climate-focused groups in Calgary on one hand, while disasters worsened by extreme weather events continue to damage his province. This could be seen in the 2013 flood in southern Alberta, where five people died and $6 billion in financial losses and property damage were incurred.

Its also turned longer, hotter summers into more dangerous wildfire seasons in Western Canada, resulting in Calgarys air quality rating hitting 10+ (the worst possible score) last August, according to Environment Canada.

The City of Calgary has promised in the past to lower emissions, but Vipond has been disappointed with the citys failure to do so.

He pointed to the 2011 Calgary Community GHG Reduction Plan, which aimed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 per cent below 2005 levels by 2020, a target that Councillor Druh Farrell says the city has woefully underperformed against.

Farrell said Calgary was on the path to being a leader on climate strategy, thanks in part to its 2011 plan and initiatives like the wind-powered CTrain system and energy-efficient street lights, but quickly stalled out.

We went backwards because our administration refused to acknowledge climate change in any of our reports and wasnt measuring any of our targets in any of our council-approved policies, Farrell said.

You cant leave a policy to languish for a decade and then measure it 10 years later and go oops. We need to be reporting regularly.

A new, more modest climate resilience strategy passed unanimously by city council last year brings more hope to both Vipond and Farrell.

Citizen-led committees tracking the citys progress and regular reports to Calgarians are needed to ensure the strategys success, said Farrell. And Vipond hopes his group will empower Calgarians to hold politicians to account when promises about climate action and emissions targets arent meant.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The group is starting slowly, holding its first major public event last week in Hillhurst Sunnyside to a crowd of 150, with the next planned for March 22 in Marda Loop. The hubs goal is to bring neighbours together to discuss climate change solutions, so they can take a problem that seems insurmountable and intimidating because of the damage its already caused both in Alberta and globally, and find solutions they can act on across the city.

When you look at the big picture, its overwhelming, Vipond said.

When you take it apart and deal with it one section at a time, suddenly youre having victories and everything doesnt seem so overwhelming and hopeless. You have to pare it down to small pieces in order to manage the solutions.

Read more about:
CALGARYA group of Alberta missionaries in Haiti is being airlifted to the capital so they can leave the country amid more than a week of violent protests.

Haiti Arise vice-president James Roberts said 24 people, mostly from southern Alberta, will take chartered helicopter flights Friday to the airport in Port-au-Prince.

The group has been stuck at the organizations compound in Grand-Goave, about 65 kilometres west of Port-au-Prince, while protesters have been blocking the roads.

Three other staff members and one of their family members will also be returning to Canada with the group.

Haitians have been protesting for days demanding President Jovenel Moises resignation as the country deals with crippling inflation and the devaluation of their currency. Several people were killed in the demonstrations over the past week.

Haiti Arise, a religious-based charity founded in 2000, has several campuses in Haiti that include a church, technical school and medical clinic.

Read more:

Canadians make harrowing trek to Haiti airport as Ottawa advises against travel

Violent protests in Haiti trap more than 100 Canadian tourists, aid workers

Haiti to unveil economic measures to quell violent protests

Roberts said they have groups of up to 30 people in Haiti at any given time. The people there now were supposed to fly back to Canada on Wednesday after a 10-day trip, but travel to Port-au-Prince has been impossible.

Everyone on the Haiti Arise compound is safe, he added. But the problem is that the food depots are closed and the fuel depots are closed. Theres no fuel for cooking or travel. People are running out of food.

Global Affairs Canada issued an advisory Thursday to avoid all travel to Haiti due to the civil unrest. The Canadian embassy in Port-au-Prince has also been closed since Wednesday.

Other Canadian tourists and aid workers have also been stuck in Haiti as protests block their path to the airport.

Roberts said Haiti Arise was hoping things would calm down this week, but then Moise vowed not to step down in a public statement Thursday.

That just ramped everything up and made it even more precarious to get in, said Roberts. Once he did that, we knew there was no way anyone was going to get into Port-au-Prince on the roads.

Thats when we made the decision to find other ways.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Haiti Arise also employs more than 100 Haitians on the compound, and Roberts said theyre concerned about making sure they can get access to supplies and food.

If things go to plan with the Canadians leaving the country, they should be home over the weekend.

With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press

Read more about:
About 900 people are out of work at Cambridge-based recreational-vehicle maker Erwin Hymer North America, after the company filed for receivership Friday, weeks after being cut out of a multi-billion-dollar takeover deal.

Employees were called into a company meeting Friday afternoon and told they were terminated, effective immediately, assembly line lead William Singleton said in an interview with the Star.

There were a lot of emotional people in that room. Some people were angry. Some people were crying. Some people had been there 30 or 40 years, said Singleton, adding that the only employees still left were a handful of payroll workers to make sure people got their remaining paycheques.

Were getting paid up until today, and theyre giving us vacation pay but no severance. Everybody but the payroll people are gone. Even the guy who told us is gone, Singleton added.

Other employees who didnt want to be named confirmed the terminations.

Formerly Roadtrek Motorhomes, the business was purchased in 2016 by German-based Erwin Hymer Group, one of the largest global players in the RV industry and manufacturers of the popular Hymer brand.

An email request for comment to a U.S.-based communications company which had been representing the company wasnt immediately returned. The personal voicemail box of Erwin Hymer North America CEO Jim Hammill was full.

Cambridge mayor Kathryn McGarry expressed concern for the workers and blasted the company for not reaching out to the city.

My thoughts are with the workers and their families over what should have been a happy holiday weekend. Our economic development staff and their regional partners have repeatedly reached out to the companys management team. However, there has been no response, nor any official public communication from the company other than a local commitment to brief us on the situation as soon as possible  which did not happen, McGarry said in an emailed statement.

McGarry said the city would do everything in its power to help the affected employees find new jobs.

I am saddened by the news this afternoon that Erwin Hymer Group (EHG) North America filed for receivership, said Kitchener mayor Berry Vrbanovic. My thoughts go to the hundreds of employees and their families impacted by this sudden news, especially as they started their Family Day weekend.

Vrbanovic added that both he and McGarry had been in touch with Todd Smith, the provincial minister of economic development, job creation and trade.

Between the province, our local Waterloo economic development corporation and ourselves, we will be doing everything we can to work with the receiver and explore all possible opportunities for the company and its employees in the days and weeks ahead, Vrbanovic said.

In addition to the plant in Cambridge, Erwin Hymer also operated a plant in Kitchener.

In early January, the company laid off 100 workers and suspended several senior managers. A $3.1-billion takeover of its parent company Erwin Hymer by U.S.-based Thor Industries was also delayed amid an investigation into financial irregularities. There were also reports some senior executives were fired.

The revised deal, which closed Feb. 1, cut the companys Cambridge-based operations out of the deal, and shaved $254 million off the purchase price.

The Cambridge plant produced the Roadtrek series of camper vans and Hymer-branded vehicles and trailers for the North American market.

The local manufacturers roots date to 1974 and the founding of Home & Park Vehicles. One of its first customers, Jac Hanemaayer, purchased the business a year later, and designed many of the features that came to symbolize the Roadtrek brand.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Hanemaayers son, Jeff, ran the business until it was acquired by American capital investment firm Industrial Opportunity Partners in 2011 in the wake of a recession that badly hurt the company.

When Erwin Hymer Group purchased Roadtrek almost three years ago, there were 300 employees based in Kitchener. The German parent company saw the acquisition as an opportunity to break into the North American RV market, capitalizing on Roadtreks significant share of the camper van segment and opening the door to the introduction of European styles and construction here.

The company then expanded into Cambridge, using a 255,000-square-foot facility formerly occupied by BlackBerry on Reuter Drive.
Sidewalk Labs LLCs ambitions to build a futuristic city on Torontos waterfront have gotten a whole lot bigger  and perhaps more controversial.

The urban innovation unit of Alphabet Inc. and sister company to Google is proposing to speed up its plans to redevelop 350 derelict acres on the citys waterfront in return for a cut of property taxes, development charges and increased land values.

New York-based Sidewalk is offering to finance the infrastructure required to get the project off the ground, including a light-rail line, in return for a slice of the proceeds, which it estimates could be about $6 billion (Canadian) over the next 30 years.

The proposal, which includes a new Google campus, builds on Sidewalks companys 2017 plan for a 12-acre redevelopment that envisioned a mecca of green energy, self-driving technology and 3,000 housing units all connected by digital sensors.

Sidewalk chief executive officer Dan Doctoroff said the project needs to be bigger for infrastructure investments like utility lines and public transit to make sense. The new financing model would allow the waterfront rail link to be built years, if not decades, sooner than it would otherwise, he said in a blog post.

Privacy Concerns

The proposal to build a city from scratch is the most wide-ranging since Sidewalk was selected to oversee the development. While greeted with enthusiasm when first unveiled, the project has become embroiled in controversy.

Privacy advocates are concerned about how data will be used by Alphabet, though the company has since committed to putting it all into public trust and not using it for advertising. Having money flow to Sidewalk that would normally go to city coffers might only inflame more controversy.

At the core of the debate is a question about whether tech giants like Google should have such a big impact on how cities are shaped. Amazon.com Inc. pulled out of a plan to build a large new campus in New York City after pressure from some residents and local politicians.

The project has yet to be approved by Sidewalk Labs and Waterfront Toronto, the government organization overseeing the project and various levels of government, and it may be years before its realized.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Read more about:
While Alberta Premier Rachel Notley touts new refineries to ease the Canadian provinces oil woes, one government-backed plant has been eating up taxpayers money without giving anything in return.

The North West Redwater Partnerships Sturgeon refinery some 350 kilometres north of Calgary  partly designed to process as much as 37,500 barrels a day of oilsands bitumen that Alberta collects from producers as royalty payments  is months late in honouring its part of the deal.

Yet, since June, the province has been paying the unit an estimated $750,000 a day in fees anyway, according to estimates by Brian Livingston, executive fellow at the University of Calgarys School of Public Policy.

Thats because an agreement originally drafted in 2011, before Notleys time, required a provincially owned corporation to start paying fees to the refinery in June 2018, regardless of whether the unit was actually processing anything. To make matters worse, the fee has increased because its linked to the projects rising operating and borrowing costs.

The imbroglio highlights the kinds of unexpected pitfalls Alberta might be setting itself up for with a slew of moves to rescue its beleaguered oil industry. The province is buying tank cars to ship crude by rail to the U.S. Gulf Coast, offering funding for prospective refinery and crude-upgrader projects and is limiting the amount of oil companies can produce, a bit like an OPEC country.

My guess is that they have probably learned a bit from this in terms of how they position themselves for future deals, said Jason Parent, vice president of consulting at Kent Group Ltd. a downstream consultancy based in London, Ontario.

The Sturgeon refinery hasnt started processing Albertas heavy crude yet because it experienced equipment failure in a unit, which is the main cause of the delay, the company said in a Feb. 7 statement. It will update its timeline on the start of bitumen processing early this year after additional progress on repairs and tests are completed.

Alberta is carefully advancing a strategy to do more refining and upgrading locally and we share the spirit of North West Redwaters goals, Michael McKinnon, a government spokesman, said in an email. The province still expects to see a net benefit to Albertans over the long term.

The amount the government has paid in fees to the refinery hasnt been disclosed but is anticipated to be included in a report this year, McKinnon said.

To be sure, theres a very compelling reason for Alberta to seek creative ways to encourage local refining: It produces more crude than it can ship and that sent local prices plummeting last year.

North West Redwater is a venture between Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and closely held North West Refining Inc. The governments support for the Sturgeon refinery and an accompanying carbon capture and storage project was controversial early on. The projects cost has more than doubled to $9.7 billion as of last year. The governments support for the venture included $432 million in loans.

Julie Woo, a spokeswoman for Canadian Natural, declined to comment. North West Redwater didnt return an email seeking further comment.

The first phase of the refinery was supposed to receive 75 per cent of its feedstock from the province in the form of bitumen, which the plant would process into diesel and other fuels for a fee, and then sell on behalf of the province. The other 25 per cent of the refining capacity is reserved for Canadian Natural. All told, when including the diluent that is mixed with bitumen, has a processing capacity of about 80,000 barrels a day.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

The refinery started operating more than a year ago, processing some light synthetic crude but none of the provinces bitumen at the moment.

Meanwhile, North West is raking in the fees.

Read more about:
Staff reports

Watertown Public Opinion

Why is it our state Legislature cant focus on important issues like nursing homes, education, medical insurance and mental health?

Instead, it is wrapped up in making South Dakota a community of gunslingers, returning us to the Wild West of the 1800s.

Earlier this session, Gov. Kristi Noem signed her first bill, allowing most South Dakotans to carry concealed weapons without undergoing a background check.

On Wednesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-3 to advance a bill making our public universities and technical institutes the equivalent of an old-west saloon where patrons walk in brandishing weapons.

The bill now will be up for debate and action before the full Senate on Tuesday.

Proponents said shootings on college campuses necessitate the need for students to be armed.

At the same time, courts have ruled that colleges have a duty to provide safe environments, something that abundant gun possession could make difficult. The courts have ruled that restricting guns in sensitive places such as schools or colleges is constitutional.

South Dakotas latest proposed legislation would eliminate colleges and technical institutes as sensitive places.

The proposed legislation says, Neither the Board of Regents nor the South Dakota Board of Technical Education, nor any institution of higher education under the control of the Board of Regents or the South Dakota Board of Technical Education, may adopt any rule, regulation, policy, standard, or other directive that limits or restricts the right of a person to carry or possess a firearm within the boundaries of the institution, beyond those limitations or restrictions set forth in law.

If it passes, youll be able to send your 18-year-old off to college with a suitcase full of weapons.

There was only one supporter at Wednesdays hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee  a spokesman for the South Dakota Gun Owners Association.

There were many opponents, including the Regents, the South Dakota Education Association, the S.D. Police Chiefs Association and the student associations at USD, SDSU and the S.D. School of Mines. Their opinions did not matter as it narrowly passed the committee.

Watertowns Sen. Lee Schoenbeck was a fierce opponent.

Schoenbeck is a sporting enthusiast who spends a lot of time hunting pheasants. Yet he understands there is a proper place for weapons and college dorm rooms and classrooms are not the place.

Schoenbeck called the measure one of the worst bills ever written.

If we gave Oscars for the worst public policy reflected in any bill introduced in South Dakota this year, SB 122 would get first, second and third, he said.

This drew a rebuke from proponent Sen. Stace Nelson, R-Fulton, who accused Schoenbeck of mocking the bills author.

Im not mocking anybody, Schoenbeck said.

He went on to say that there is no good public policy reason for putting guns in dorm rooms. I am embarrassed that we are having this discussion.

Nelson said people on college campuses need to be armed to prevent mass shootings. Gun free zones dont work, he said.

The right to bear arms is a right, not a theory, he said.

Nelson, who has a reputation of being perhaps South Dakotas most ideologically extreme legislators, accused the Board of Regents of violating existing state law by prohibiting weapons on campus.

Weapons are allowed in secured areas for students who use them for hunting. Nelson, on the other hand, prefers that dorm closets become home to guns, as well as clothing.

Schoenbeck said the legislation is not good for South Dakota.

We are going to kill this on the senate floor, he said.

Brad Johnson is a Watertown journalist and businessman who is active in state and local affairs.
David Jackson

Watertown Public Opinion

WASHINGTON  Donald Trump is entering the breach over presidential powers, and taking fellow Republicans with him.

Trump's late-breaking decision to declare a "national emergency" to help build his border wall comes over the objections of many congressional Republicans, and is perhaps the clearest sign yet of divisions within the GOP as it braces for the 2020 elections.

I wish he wouldnt have done it, said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, echoing comments by GOP colleagues.

Republican misgivings about Trump's order range from the moderate Susan Collins of Maine  "a mistake"  to the more libertarian Rand Paul of Kentucky, who tweeted that "extraconstitutional executive actions are wrong, no matter which party does them."

For his part, Trump said congressional Republicans have moved too slowly on wall funding. Still, he predicted that most will stick with him as things move forward, even as he appeared to blame the Republicans for what he considered a lack of funding for border security.

"People that should've stepped up did not step up," Trump said during a White House announcement Friday.

While Trump acknowledged he will be sued over the emergency declaration  and the courts could block his plan to claw money from other budgets for his wall  Democrats plan to exploit Republican divisions in a political way.

Leaders of the Democratic-run House said they will likely try to pass a resolution of disapproval of Trump's declaration of a national emergency on the border. Congressional rules would force the Republican-led Senate to vote on the measure as well, putting Trump's nominal allies on the record.

"I know the Republicans have some unease about it, no matter what they say," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. In a tweet after the president's announcement, Pelosi said she and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., "call upon our Republican colleagues to join us to defend the Constitution."

Several Republicans have voiced the concerns Pelosi has talked about: The idea that if Trump can declare a national emergency over a border wall, a future Democratic president can declare a national emergency on any number of his or her priorities, from gun control and climate change to opioids and immigration.

A vote on Trump's declaration would be another sign of how deep Republican divisions might run, and how they may play out between now and the next election in November 2020.

"I dont think anyone knows," said Scott Jennings, an adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

If four Republican senators join all the Democrats, a resolution of disapproval could get through the Congress. Trump would likely veto such legislation, though congressional Democrats could then mount an effort to override the veto, keeping the dispute in the political spotlight.

Beyond Capitol Hill, some Republicans are urging GOP lawmakers to fight Trump. That group includes longtime critics who are contemplating primary runs against the incumbent president in 2020.

"The good news out of this unconstitutional power grab is it will split off some Republicans from this wannabe Franco," tweeted John Weaver, a political strategist for former Ohio governor and possible Trump challenger John Kasich.

Republican angst in Congress seems fueled by the fact that Trump's decision of a national emergency caught many of them by surprise.

Trump and his aides had stopped discussing the national security idea in recent days, after weeks of hearing objections from fellow Republicans. Instead, party members urged the president to sign a new spending bill designed to prevent another partial government shutdown, only three weeks after a record-setting 35-day shutdown that also gave Republicans heartburn.

Trump did not use the words "national emergency" during his high-profile political rally Monday night near the Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. Administration officials like acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney had played down the idea, talking instead about plans to divert money from other budgets to finance the wall without a formal emergency declaration.

Things changed Thursday afternoon, amid worries that Trump might veto a new spending bill because it contained less than a third of the wall money he had demanded.

McConnell, who had urged Trump to forgo the emergency declaration, suddenly took to the Senate floor to announce what sounded like a deal with Trump: He would sign the spending bill to keep the government open, while McConnell would back the declaration.

"He has indicated he is prepared to sign the bill," McConnell said. "He will also be issuing a national emergency declaration at the same time. I've indicated to him that I'm going to support the national emergency declaration."

To be sure, many Republicans back Trump's emergency plan, calling it justified by the need for border security. They also cited Democratic opposition to the wall, noting that many members of the opposition don't want to spend any money at all on any kind of border barrier.

Others point out that the courts, probably the Supreme Court, will make the ultimate decision about whether Trump has the legal authority to take this kind of action.

If the courts block Trump's bid to declare a national emergency, that could potentially reduce Republican tensions.

If the courts back Trump, the nature of presidential relations with Congress will change, even between presidents and their parties.

There have been signs of friction before during the up-and-down relationship between Trump, the maverick businessman who had never run for office before 2016, and his adopted Republican Party.

Congressional Republicans have pushed back on concerns that Trump might try to remove special counsel Robert Mueller over the Russia investigation. They have criticized Trump for his decision to remove troops from Syria and his attacks on NATO.

Last week, hours before Trump delivered his State of the Union address, the Republican-controlled Senate approved legislation that included sharp criticism of Trump over planned withdrawals of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan.

For his part, Trump has blamed party members, particularly former House Speaker Paul Ryan, for their loss of the House during last year's elections, as well as other reversals.

Now come legal and political battles over national emergencies, even after Republicans had asked Trump not to take this step.

Some Republican analysts said the legal and political aspects of a unique situation make it hard to assess long-term impact.

Texas-based political consultant Matt Mackowiak said Pelosi's efforts to force a vote on the resolution "may divide the Republicans somewhat."

After that is anyone's guess.

"This is a constitutional issue and a separation-of-powers issue," he said. "And it doesnt break down nearly on party lines."

More:Follow the money: How President Trump's national emergency will pay for a border wall

More:Trump's emergency declaration would trigger a drawn-out legal fight

More:Democrats, Republicans warn Trump against declaring emergency over border wall funding

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Emergency declaration is clearest sign Donald Trump and Republicans are divided going into 2020 campaign
Staff reports

Watertown Public Opinion

Its February, and that means two things: Its cold and the Watertown Winter Farm Show was a highlight of the month.

I want to take this opportunity to thank farmers for all they continue to do for our state and our community. I was a city girl but my late husband David farmed for many years and his father before him. I know and appreciate how the family farm can go on for generations and be very personal.

From year to year, farmers livelihood  including its ups and downs  truly affects them and their families. Their livelihood also has a direct impact on nearby towns. Here, in northeast South Dakota, that statement couldnt be truer. And beyond that, farmers have an opportunity to make a difference in their hometown long into the future  even after retirement or passing on.

You may not have thought about it before, but farm land can support your community for generations to come. Such assets can be gifted as a whole or in part, for a charitable purpose through the Watertown Area Community Foundation. The end result is that you can make a significant impact on your community and the causes that matter to you for generations to come.

Each donors situation is different, but there are several land gifting options that exist.

The landowner, for example could instruct the Foundation to rent the land every year with earnings to go to the nonprofit or community entity of their choice. For several years, we have held land in Deuel County from which the earnings award scholarships to students who live in Deuel County. Over the years, the Thomas E. Peterson Scholarship Fund has resulted in thousands of dollars to deserving students from the donors area.

The Foundations Farm Land Retention Program offers these types of opportunities.

When a person gives the Foundation or other qualified charities a small portion of his or her estate, the value of that land acts as a charitable gift deduction on his/her tax return. With a plan, you can reduce the estate tax burden and possibly eliminate it. More importantly, you can do something for your community that will last forever.

To summarize, benefits of gifting farmland include:

 Land stays local with the Foundation and is tended to by local hands.

 Land remains functional as farmland.

 Land provides a lasting legacy for you and your community.

 The donor receives a tax deduction for the fair market value of the property.

 Donor bypasses capital gains taxes.

 Possibly reduce or eliminate estate taxes for your family.

Its important to know that there are options which include ways that preserve part of a familys assets while benefiting their community forever. The Farmland Retention Program at the Watertown Area Community Foundation provides such options.

For more information, please contact us at 605-882-3731, foundation@iw.net or 211 E. Kemp in downtown Watertown.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Cloudy skies with periods of rain this afternoon. High 79F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 67F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
Holding the balance: Phuket Immigration clarifies new rules on retirement visas to start March 1

PHUKET: Phuket Immigration this week clarified the new rules regarding applications for retirement visas, confirming only one major change: that for those applying using funds in a Thai bank account to support their application, a minimum of B400,000 must be kept in the account throughout the year.

immigration

By Tanyaluk Sakoot

Saturday 16 February 2019, 09:00AM

A foreigner hands in his application at Phuket Immigration. Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot

The rest of the new provisions have already long been in use, explained Phuket Immigration Deputy Chief Lt Col Archeep Jaroensuntisuk.

Phuket Immigration has received the order to introduce the new rules. The order was issued on Jan 18, and the new rules will come into force on March 1, he said.

Under the new provisions, applicants for an extension to stay in the country temporarily on a Non-Immigration O-A visa  technically just another permit-to-stay, but specifically for retirees  must be at least 50 years old, Col Acheep noted.

They must have entered country on a valid Non-Immigrant visa and are currently allowed to stay in Thailand on a valid permit to stay, he said.

Of primary concern is the confusion over the financial requirements, which Col Acheep stressed that applicants have to satisfy only one category.

Overall, the three main financial categories that applicants can apply under mandate that the applicant must prove that that all monies in hand  either received as income throughout the year or already in the bank, or a combination of both  totals at least B800,000.

Under the income requirement, applicants must receive at least B65,000 per month, Col Acheep explained.

As many embassies no longer issue affidavits confirming income, this is no longer required, he said, noting that letters from governments and pension fund providers will be accepted along with other forms of evidence to prove the income pending.

Of course any financial statements from banks and copies of bankbook records proving this income already being received should be provided, he said.

Alternatively, applicants can show they have B800,000 in Thai bank account.

Under the new rules, the B800,000 must be in the account at least two months before applying for the visa (permit to stay) and must remained in the account for at least three months after the visa has been issued, Col Acheep said.

Again, financial statements from the relevant bank and copies of the bankbook are required in proving the funds are actually in the account, he added.

After three months the foreigner can start withdrawing from the account, but under the new rules the balance in the account must not go below B400,000 at any time throughout the year, Col Acheep explained.

Asked what happens to applicants who are discovered next year dipping into the account, bringing the balance below B400,000, Col Acheep said, Just dont do it. Keep it at B400,000.

The third  and likely most popular option  is to have B400,000 in a Thai bank account and receiving monies throughout the year that altogether total at least B800,000.

The same statements, letters and copies of bankbook records as needed for the first two options are required when applying under this option, Col Acheep explained.

GRANDFATHER RULE

Stunningly, under the new order the old provisions that people who have been living in Thailand for continually on a retirement visa since before Oct 21, 1998 (**See correction below) can still apply under the exact same conditions that they were first approved.

Under this grandfather rule, applicants who are over 60 still only need to show that they either have B200,000 in a Thai bank, or receive at least B20,000 income per month.

Likewise, applicants under the same grandfather rule who are 55-60 years old can apply showing that they have B500,000 in Thai bank account or an income of B50,000 a month.

For these people there is no option to provide a combination of monies to reach any special target, Col Acheep explained.

They must have the money in the bank or receive the required monthly income; they cannot add them together to try and reach any special figure, he said.

However, there is no minimum balance required to be kept in a Thai bank account, he noted.

VISA OPTIONS

The Jan 18 order, issued by Immigration Bureau Deputy Commissioner Maj Gen Sarayut Sangonpokai, also made special mention that the new provisions specifically do not apply to:

- People who have Thai families

- People supporting Thai families

- People whose spouses have (recently) passed away

Regarding the exceptions for people who have or are supporting Thai families, Col Acheep explained that the retirement visa may not be the best option for them.

There are other non-immigrant visas better suited for these people. These visas of course have their own financial requirements, but the financial requirements specifically for retirees will not apply, he said.

If you believe you should be on one of these other visas (for supporting Thai families), then please come in and see us so we can explain which visas are available and what is required to be issued them, he said.

Regarding the exception for people whose spouses have passed away, Col Acheep admitted, We are still not sure exactly what this means. We are waiting for Bangkok to clarify that to us.

However, he again stressed, If you think this particular clause applies to you, it is best to come and explain your circumstances to us so we can explain what visa options are available.

A retirement visa is an option that foreigners can choose for themselves, Col Acheep said.

I just want foreigners to understand the updated immigration policy. There are very few changes, mainly just the B400,000 minimum bank balance requirement  the rest is making the rules clearer, he said.

*

* CORRECTION: Since October 21, 1998, not October 21, 2008 as originially reported. The error is sincerely regretted.
Dozens of street racers, promoter arrested in Bangkok

BANGKOK: Almost 80 motorcycle racers, both adults and teenagers, were arrested in Bangkok in the early hours of Saturday and the creator of a Facebook page promoting the race was also caught in a separate operation.

crimetransportpolice

By Bangkok Post

Saturday 16 February 2019, 03:28PM

Street racers, both adults and teenagers, are taken to Tha Kham police station in Bangkok after a crackdown operation on street racing in the early hours of Saturday. A total of 70 modified motorcycles are also seized from them. Photo: @Nithithorn.Official Facebook page via Bangkok Post

A combined team of police and officials from several units arrested 76 people  22 teenagers and 54 adults  and seized 70 modified motorcycles in areas under the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Police Division 9, said Maj Gen Nithithorn Jintakanon, commander of the Traffic Police Division, during a media briefing at Tha Kham police station. All racers were asked to take urine tests and none tested positive for illicit drugs. They were taken to the police station to have their offences put on records before being freed. The creator of Hippocing Prathetnon Facebook page, Chaithawat Preepradit, 23, was also caught in a separate operation. Mr Chaithawat, whose page had more than 300 followers, encouraged teenagers to take part in street racing on public roads in Bangkok and surrounding provinces. Each race was streamed live on his Facebook page. The man has been charged with supporting street racers on public streets and his Facebook page closed, said Maj Gen Nithithorn. See original story here.
Chalong Underpass makes breakthrough

PHUKET: The tunnel that will become the Chalong Underpass has now been fully excavated and the construction engineer for the project still hopes that the underpass will be open to traffic in April.

constructiontransport

By The Phuket News

Saturday 16 February 2019, 12:46PM

The tower in the middle of Chalong Circle is being built at a cost of B3 million. Photo: Phuket Highways Office

The tunnel has now been fully excavated and the underpass is hoped to open to traffic in April. Photo: Phuket Highways Office

The tunnel has now been fully excavated and the underpass is hoped to open to traffic in April. Photo: Phuket Highways Office

The tunnel has now been fully excavated and the underpass is hoped to open to traffic in April. Photo: Phuket Highways Office

Somkiet Yimpong, Project Manager at the Phuket office of the Highways Department, told The Phuket News yesterday (Feb 15) that the tunnel breakthrough came in late January.

Works on installing the panelling along the walls of the underpass have already begun, he said.

We still have to install all the fume-extraction fans, noise dampers, water pumps, lights and other things, but overall right now the construction project stands at 76% complete, Mr Somkiet said.

Mr Somkiet still hopes for the underpass to open to traffic in April, but might miss the previously hoped for opening before Songkran.

Once all the systems are installed we will have to go through the testing phase, but hopefully this will be all done before the end of April, he said.

Meanwhile, the structure that now sits in the middle of what used to be Chalong Circle is nearly complete.

Construction of the tower is on schedule to be complete next month, Mr Somkiet said.

The tower is being built at a cost of B3 million, as part of the overall B546mn budget for the entire underpass project, he explained.

At the top of the structure is a sculpture of lotus bulb, a Buddhist symbol of peace.

The design was part of the plans that were approved for the project, and similar Buddhist-themed designs are being used throughout the tunnel itself, Mr Somkiet said.
Board vetoes ban on hazardous chemicals

BANGKOK: The national committee on hazardous substances has rejected a request by a network to support a total ban on the use of three toxic agricultural chemicals, namely paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos in Thailand.



By Bangkok Post

Saturday 16 February 2019, 11:09AM

Activists have targeted three farm chemicals for a total ban, but government says it will take years. In the bullseye are herbicides paraquat and glyphosate and the pesticide chlorpyrifos, all of which are popular on Thai farms because of their effectiveness. Main photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill shows farmers spraying crops on a farm in Chachoengsao.

The committee held a special meeting on Thursday (Feb 14) to consider the networks request, which has also received support from the Public Health Ministry and the Office of the Ombudsman. Last December, the Ombudsman submitted its suggestion to the panel that it should ban paraquat by Jan 1, 2020.

The network, which consists of almost 700 organisations from across the country, says it is mulling whether to appeal to the Central Administrative Court against the decision.

However, the committee meeting chaired by deputy permanent-secretary for industry, Apichin Jotikasthira disagreed with the petition, saying it was only supporting the use of paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos in farming areas until new substances can replace the chemicals.

Mr Apichin said the panel will evaluate the controlled use of the chemicals every three months to see whether control measures are effective. "We will reconsider the matter in two years in regards to whether we will ban them or not," he said.

He said the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives will issue regulations on control of the use of the substances, including limiting exports, restrictions on which areas and on which plants they can be used, and which shops will be licensed to sell them.

Mr Apichin said the committee had spent four hours discussing the petition and agreed improper use of any hazardous substances would have impacts on people's health and the environment.

The authorities would have to make sure the direct users of those chemical substances realise how to use them properly, he said.

The Department of Agriculture is the prime state agency that will help provide information on the proper use of the chemical substances.

Prokchol Ousat, coordinator of Thai-PAN, one of the organisations in the network, said she was disappointed with the committee appeared not to care about the people's health and environment.

The network is considering to appeal to the court, he said.

See original story here.
Egyptian Tourism Minister Adviser for Training Soha Baghat discussed on Friday with a senior official of southwest China's Sichuan Province to boost bilateral cooperation in tourism, official MENA news agency reported.

Bahgat met with Gan Lin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, stressing the importance of the Chinese market.

Bahgat said that Chinese tourists increased in 2018, highlighting the cooperation with China in fields, including training and improving the efficiency of the human factor.

Gan said that China is looking forward to fostering tourism, academic, and cultural cooperation, citing the Chinese tourists' passion for the ancient Egyptian civilization.

He offered training programs for the Egyptian chefs for preparing the Chinese food.

Egypt is a favorable attraction to hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists each year for its historical sites and sunny sandy beaches.
The textile industry in Bangladesh continues to be in the spotlight. After a few weeks of demonstrations for salaries, in which fifty people were injured and around 8,000 workers were dismissed from thirty factories, the country returns to the front line before the threat of the closure of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety a few months after its renewal.

Next Monday, February 18, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh is expected to decide the future of this agreement, which last July renewed 119 international companies to give continuity for another three years. The first Accord, which was signed in 2013 as a result of the Rana Plaza tragedy, ended last year and it was decided then to establish an extension until 2021, a transition period to delegate its function to the Government.

However, from IndustriAll it is reported that, since the Accord was renewed, the Government of Bangladesh has been appealing to the established procedures trying to prevent it from continuing to develop its activity in the advancement of safety in manufacturing facilities.

Just after renewing the agreement for three more years, the Bengali Executive filed an order of restriction of the Accord procedures, which had to enter into force on November 30, 2018. The Government of the country intended to submit all decisions of the organization to the approval of a government committee, in addition to prohibit inspectors from identifying new security problems.

The Accord could stop operating in Bangladesh if next Monday the courts force to apply the restrictions of the Government

Just before the Executives proposal came into force, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh held a first hearing following the appeal filed by the Accord against the Government order. On December 6, a second hearing was held and, for next week, the third one is scheduled, which will be decisive to guarantee its future.

The Accord still maintains its office in Dhaka that has a structure with more than 200 employees. In case that the decision of the court favoured the Bengali Government, the office would be closed and would only have the option to continue operating from Amsterdam. This transfer would make it difficult to inspect and supervise the factories.

However, what from the Executive or the association of the sector in the country can be seen as a threat to their competitiveness, is somehow their lifeline, since the exit of the Accord from the country could lead to the termination of contracts by of large fashion distribution groups with those factories that do not have all the guarantees, as the companies alerted.

During its first five years of operation, the Accord carried out 7,000 periodic inspections and examined around 1,800 clothing factories. A total of 172 factories completed the task of correcting incidents.
 American Consumer News, LLC dba MarketBeat 2010-2021. All rights reserved.

326 E 8th St #105, Sioux Falls, SD 57103 | U.S. Based Support Team at [email protected] | (844) 978-6257

MarketBeat does not provide personalized financial advice and does not issue recommendations or offers to buy stock or sell any security.



Our Accessibility Statement | Terms of Service | Do Not Sell My Information



 2021 Market data provided is at least 10-minutes delayed and hosted by Barchart Solutions. Information is provided 'as-is' and solely for informational purposes, not for trading purposes or advice, and is delayed. To see all exchange delays and terms of use please see disclaimer. Fundamental company data provided by Zacks Investment Research.
Ad Investing Trends 1,636 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
Ad Investing Trends 1,979 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
A bakery in a tiny, rural town in northeast Tasmania has become an unlikely pilgrimage site for Japanese tourists and Studio Ghibli animation fans alike.

No one is quite sure how or when the Ross Village Bakery became a cult tourist destination, but rumor has it the shop, located in a quaint former convict settlement, was the inspiration for a key location in the Hayao Miyazaki animated classic "Kiki's Delivery Service."

Bakery owner Carl Crosby explains that visitors first started arriving about 25 years ago, back when his partner's parents ran the business.

"Kirsty's parents were wondering why everyone was coming here, and they started asking questions instead of answering them and found out that it was assumed the movie had been inspired by the bakery," the 55-year-old said.

Released in Japan in 1989, "Kiki's Delivery Service" is a coming-of-age story about 13-year-old witch Kiki who, together with her black cat Jiji, moves to a distant seaside village to complete her witch training.

While in her new home, Kiki is taken in by the owners of a local bakery, who allow her to live above their shop in a spare attic room.

Studio Ghibli has neither confirmed nor denied that Ross is the basis for the Gutiokipanja Bakery in the animation, adding to the mystery of how fans came to find the Ross Village Bakery in the first place.

"People say he (Hayao Miyazaki) visited, but we don't know," Crosby said.

With its ornate, wrought iron doors, the bakery's 168-year-old wood-fired oven is the star attraction of the shop among Kiki fans.

Despite being located behind the bakery's service area, Crosby takes guests back into the kitchen during quieter periods and allows them to see the antique up close.

"We try to keep this area (in front of the oven) clean enough that people can come in and take pictures because it happens twenty-four seven," Crosby says as he attends to some pastry which forms part of the bakery's famous vanilla slice.

During the peak summer holiday period, Crosby says roughly half of the customers are so-called "friends of Kiki," meaning up to 200 people per day could be interested in seeing the oven or "Kiki's Room," the small attic above the bakery available for fans who wish to stay the night.

While all fans are excited to see Kiki's Room, Crosby says it's travelers from Japan who express the most delight when they see the small two-bed loft space.

"People love it. They walk in there and they go up the stairs and all of a sudden you see the magic in their eyes and why they're here," he says.

"The animation of them with their laughter and giggles is pretty priceless sometimes."

Crosby says some fans dive head first into the experience, making their stay at Ross Village Bakery as immersive as possible.

Read also: Japan plans Studio Ghibli theme park

"We had a Japanese guy walk up the street dressed like Kiki one day to check into the room. Nothing but a black dress, red shoes and a bow in his hair," he says with a laugh.

The guest subsequently donated the outfit to the bakery and Crosby leaves the bow in the bedroom for people to take photos of.

Over the years, visitors to Kiki's Room have signed guestbooks which the bakery has kept, featuring messages written predominantly in English and Japanese, as well as fan art.

But with the exception of the antique oven and the attic bedroom, visitors to the bakery could be forgiven for mistaking the shop for any other Australian country-town bakery.

However, Craig Norris, a University of Tasmania lecturer who wrote an academic paper on the pilgrimage phenomenon in 2013, says the connection between the bakery in Kiki's story goes beyond visual similarities.

After reading through the archive of messages in the visitor's books, Norris, 44, found young Japanese travelers were identifying with Kiki's journey toward adulthood, and saw their visit to the bakery as a way of helping them explain their own experiences.

"The fans themselves, or more accurately probably working-holiday visa holders in Australia or people who studied in Australia, who have faced adversity have made sense of their experience through Kiki at that moment in time, being in the bakery," he says, pointing out that living and working in regional Australia presents linguistic and cultural challenges which may make people feel isolated.

"So the bakery is a way of helping them use popular culture almost as a resource to make sense of that challenge."

Norris suggests the location of the bakery itself, an hour-and-a-half north of the state capital Hobart along a winding, almost uninhabited freeway, adds to a sense of achievement when visitors reach their destination.

As a result, the bakery's popularity continues to thrive among Ghibli fans, despite not receiving official confirmation from the animation studio.

"At the Ross bakery there is a different type of authenticity happening. It's not a story of how something came to be made but more the ownership of it within the audience itself."

The lack of a rubber stamp of approval is also a blessing in disguise for the bakery owners.

"This way we don't have to get into the trademark world. Otherwise we need to have a surcharge on every time we say 'Kiki's Delivery Service' or 'Jiji'," Crosby says.

As the popularity of Studio Ghibli animations continues to spread to other parts of the world, Crosby has noticed more fans from other backgrounds have begun to make the pilgrimage, suggesting the reputation of Ross Village Bakery will also continue to grow.

"I think as long as there are international students and working-holiday visa holders who identify themselves as kind of alien while in Australia, I think Kiki and the bakery will continue," Norris said.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 11:45 860 acca405afacc7201380025f21a067722 1 SE Asia Crown-Prince-Mohammed-bin-Salman,Indonesia,Malaysia,Saudi-Arabia,visit,haj-quota,crane-accidents,investment,Foreign-Ministry Free

The Foreign Ministry has announced that the planned visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to Indonesia and Malaysia, has been postponed.

MbS, as the crown prince is informally known, was expected to meet with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo at Bogor Palace next week for talks on economic cooperation and what one senior ministry official dubbed on Friday as "the interests of the ummah".

The ministry then announced that the plan had been scrapped, without elaborating.

"Indonesia and Saudi Arabia will continue to communicate for a new schedule, and [...] more optimal outcomes [deliverables] for the visit," it said in a statement posted on its website on Saturday morning.

Separately, Malaysia's foreign ministry also came out with a postponement announcement, saying that it "apologizes for the change and the trouble it may have caused".

Prince Mohammed's last-minute cancelation comes amid a tour to India in an effort to ween the Saudi economy off oil exports. MbS also cut short a planned trip to Pakistan and it is still unclear if he will go ahead with a visit to China from Feb. 21 to 22.

The trip also comes amid MbS' efforts to restore his tattered reputation as the Arab kingdom's leading reformer, following allegations that he had played an important role in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Turkey, in October. Officials have denied that the crown prince was involved.

The visit would have also come as an opportunity for Indonesia to rake in Saudi investments after it failed to meet expectations during the visit of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 2017.

As the world's largest Muslim-majority country, Indonesia also stood to benefit from talks with Riyadh on the haj pilgrim quota and a promise to provide compensation to Indonesian victims of a 2015 crane accident in Mecca.

At least 200,000 pilgrims from Indonesia visit Saudi Arabia every year for the haj. (tjs)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin (The Jakarta Post)  Sat, February 16 2019

After two months of operation, the electric bicycle rental app Migo must soon pull its yellow fleet off the roads across Jakarta, to the dismay of hundreds of its customers who had found a new trick to beat the capital citys unforgiving traffic.



Since its arrival in early December, the China-based company has been met with public enthusiasm. Many Jakarta people, ranging from office workers to students, shifted to Migo electric scooters as a mode of transportation, which only cost Rp 3,000 (21 US cents) per half hour  quite a cheap bargain compared with the ubiquitous app-based motorcycle taxis.



The new business model has also profited Migo partners, who allocate space at their houses for stations where customers can park or find the rental scooters.



However, on Wednesday the Jakarta Police threatened to ban the scooters because of violations of the 2009 T...
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 18:25 859 acca405afacc7201380025f21a075179 4 City Nigeria,North-Jakarta,victim,police Free

A 35-year-old Nigerian man was found dead in his room at a boarding house in Koja, North Jakarta, on Friday evening. Police suspect he died after falling ill.

The body was discovered after the man ran out of electricity tokens on Friday, Koja Police detective unit chief Adj. Comr. Andry Suharto said.

A person heard the electricity token [machine] in the victims room beeping and the lights were off, he said on Saturday as reported by kompas.com.

The same person then knocked on the rooms door but was met with no response. He then called the boarding house owner and together they forced their way into the room.

As the lights were off inside the room, the two people could not see anything. After purchasing an electricity token and turning on the lights, they then saw the victim lying on his bed.

They tried to wake him up but he was lifeless, Andry said.

Police suspect the man died of illness.

We found no signs of violence on his body, he said, adding that the victim was taken to Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital for an autopsy.

People who came into contact with the victim the night before said he had a pale complexion, Andry said. (vla)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam  Sat, February 16, 2019 18:58 859 acca405afacc7201380025f21a075a91 1 National Navy,TNI-AL,Bintan,Riau-Islands Free

The Indonesian Navy foiled an alleged illegal ship-to-ship transfer of supplies involving foreign-flagged vessels in the waters of Bintan, Riau Islands, last week, a senior officer has reported.

A spokesperson for the Navys First Fleet Command, Lt. Col. Agung Nugroho, said the eight vessels were carrying out illegal activities.

We seized eight foreign vessels in the past week. At present, they are under our supervision in Bintan, Agung said.

The Navy said the ships are the Greek-flagged MT Archangelos Gabriel, Bahamian-flagged MT Agros, Hong Kong-flagged MV Wen De, Vietnamese-flagged MT Petrolimex, Panamanian-flagged SG Pegasus, Singaporean-flagged MCP Bilbao, Liberian-flagged MT Bliss and Liberian-flagged MT Afra Oak.

They also avoided paying non-tax state revenues [PNBP] that should be paid to the state, Agung said.

Agung also suspected the vessels had taken advantage of Indonesian waters to conduct illegal activities, such as waste disposal. He said further that investigators would charge them under the 2008 law on seafaring, the 2011 Immigration Law and the 2006 Customs Law.

He said all the vessels were not allowed to be in Indonesian waters unless they were in an emergency. (das)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 11:56 860 acca405afacc7201380025f21a067979 1 National Facebook,sexual-abuse,online-scam-network,National-Police,online-dating,cyber-crime Free

The National Police said on Friday that a hundred people lost tens of millions of rupiah in a sextortion scheme in which victims were tricked into sending sexual images that were used as blackmail.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Zahwani Pandra Arsyad, a police spokesperson, said a suspect identified only as SF had opened numerous fake accounts on Facebook to trick victims.

How the suspect baits the victim depends [on the gender]. If the victim is a woman, he would show a photo of an attractive man using language that draws the attention of internet users. The same goes with male victims, but a photo of an attractive woman is used instead, Zahwani told The Jakarta Post on Friday via phone call.

The investigation started in December 2018 after reports from the public about unusual cyberactivity, which led to the arrest of SF in Sidrap, South Sulawesi, on Feb. 6.

The police are also searching for two other suspects. One of them allegedly helped SF set up fake accounts while another is believed to have managed bank transactions for the scam since February of last year.

Zahwani said the suspect would then have intense communications with victims through messaging services like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, obtaining contact details from their social media accounts.

When victims were fully engaged, the suspect then allegedly sent videos of sexual acts in a bid to persuade the victim to do the same.

After the victim shows his or her private parts, the suspect would capture the nudity and immediately demand that a ransom be sent to the suspects bank accounts, saying that the captured nudity would otherwise go viral [] There are three [bank accounts] in total, Zahwani said.

The ransom ranged from Rp 300,000 (US$21) to Rp 30 million depending on the random selection of victims, Zahwani said.

On behalf of the police, we are urging the public to avoid trusting online acquaintances too easily or just avoid unknown individuals altogether, Zahwani said.

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) revealed earlier that sextortion was on the rise in 2018 and children were common targets.

The KPAI handled some sextortion cases against children last year but has said it will not go into detail on the cases to protect the victims  all of whom are girls.

The perpetrators date the girls online and ask for their suggestive photos. By the time they get the photos, they will ask for money or else threaten to share the photos online, KPAI commissioner for pornography and cybercrime Margaret Aliyatul Maimunah explained, urging all of society to work together to protect the children from pornography and cybercrime.

The Communications and Information Ministry blocked microblogging and social networking website Tumblr and app Tik-Tok after learning that they contained pornography and inappropriate content, but the platforms were later unblocked.

The ministry said that, in 2018, 984,441 pieces of negative content were blocked on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Google.

Around 80 percent of the blocked content is pornographic, said the acting head of the ministrys public relations bureau, Ferdinandus Setu. (mai)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Dylan Amirio (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16 2019

Movie screening: Newly launched feminist film review application Mango Meter will let you rate films based on their portrayals of female characters. The highest rating of five mangoes means a movie is fully feminist.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

Are you tired of watching romantic flicks featuring damsels in distress? Or blockbusters where the female characters only speak a few, petty lines? Mango Meter, dubbed the worlds first ever feminist film review application, will give you the power to criticize such films right on your mobile phone.



Inspired by the movie rating site Rotten Tomatoes, a group of feminist journalists, activists and academics from six Asian countries created Mango Meter. One of the initiators, Mumbai-based gender and human rights activist Sharmee Namjoshi, said the app came about as a result of their concerns about the poor portrayal of women in movies.

...
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Fadli (The Jakarta Post) Batam, Riau Islands  Sat, February 16 2019

Pegatron Corporation, the maker of Apples iPhones, is scheduled to start operating in Batam, Riau Islands, in April this year after the Taipei-based manufacturer agreed to rent a factory in a specially designated economic zone.



The general manager of Batams Batamindo Industrial Park, Mook Sooi Wah, confirmed the company would rent a 2-hectare manufacturing plant in the park.



The company will officially start operations in April, Mook told The Jakarta Post recently.



Batam Development Industrial Authority (BP Batam) chief Edy Putra Irawadi said Pegatrons total investment could reach US$300 million with an initial investment of $40 million. However, he said his side had not heard of confirmation from the company regarding its plan to build a manufacturing plant in Batamindo.



The company wants to build a large manufacturing plant in B...
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 15:07 860 acca405afacc7201380025f21a06f7f4 1 National 2019-presidential-election,Joko-Widodo-Maruf-Amin,Press-Council,Indopos,#2019PresidentialElection,#2019GeneralElections Free

The presidential campaign of incumbent Joko Jokowi Widodo has reported Indopos to the Press Council for allegedly spreading misinformation in a report concerning the incumbents plans after the April election.

The article, titled "Ahok Gantikan Maruf Amin?" (Will Ahok replace Ma'ruf Amin?), wrote about the rumored plan of replacing Jokowis running mate, Maruf Amin, a 75-year-old Muslim cleric, with former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, should the ticket win the presidential poll. It also said Maruf would leave the vice presidential post on account of his health.

The article also provided an infographic, showing that Basuki, also known as Ahok or BTP, would later become president, replacing Jokowi, and businessman-cum-politician Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the leader of the Perindo Party, a supporter of Jokowi-Maruf ticket, would become vice president.

The report irked Jokowis camp, which said the article had spread misinformation, as its main source was only social media. The campaign team, therefore, filed a report with the Press Council, accusing the newspaper of violating Law No. 40/1999 on the press.

This is slander for our presidential ticket. The election has not even happened yet, Ade Irfan Pulungan of the Jokowi-Maruf campaign said at the Press Councils office on Friday as quoted by tempo.co.

Ade has also demanded that the council require Indopos to issue an apology through a full page newspaper ad that would run for three days in national print media.

He urged the council to follow up immediately as the matter was related to the election.

We will take other legal measures if this takes too long [at the Press Council], he said.

The council said it would seek clarification and analysis regarding the complaints. Council expert Heru Tjahjo Soewardjojo said it planned to look into the matter as soon as possible.

Normally, the process takes two weeks. However, since this concerns the election, we will see what we can do, Heru said.

Indopos chief editor Juni Armanto said he had not expected the article to draw ire from the camp.

He claimed the article was meant to clarify information circulating on social media.

We expected this article to refute the rumor on social media, Juni said as quoted by kompas.com.

He admitted that the infographic was taken from social media, but the editorial team had obtained statements from Jokowis camp, refuting the rumor.

Indopos wants to be neutral in reporting the elections. I think this case has emerged on account of political dynamics. We are just going to offer an explanation to the Press Council to response to the complaint, he said. (das)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16 2019

A landmark trade deal between Indonesia and Australia may still be signed before the two countries head into general elections, after months of postponements following Canberras plan to move its embassy to Jerusalem.



Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said on Friday that the two sides were looking out for the most appropriate moment to meet and sign the multibillion dollar deal, deferring the final decision to their respective trade ministers.



I think at the moment the two [trade] ministers are working on the technical details [...] to find the appropriate time to sign the agreement, he told reporters in Jakarta.



Trade Minister Enggartiasto Lukita told reporters the previous day that the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IA-CEPA) could be signed next month.



Up until the end of last year, the ministe...
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 07:00 860 acca405afacc7201380025f21a05f58f 1 City bogor,grenade,victims,military Free

The grenade that exploded killing two boys and injuring another in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday is believed to have been used in military exercises, a senior Army officer has said.

Bogor Suryakencana Regional Military Command chief Col. Novi Helmy Prasetya said grenades were used in military training and the area where the boys found the device was believed to be the Cibungbulang shooting range around Mount Kapur in Ciampea. Novi said military training grounds were located far from residential areas.

I appeal to the community, especially parents, to remind children not to play around shooting ranges because they are restricted areas. Civilians are banned from these locations, he said.

If any civilian finds [suspect] objects such as grenades, please report them to the military. Dont bring them home, he added.

Previously, Bogor Regency Military District commander Lt. Col. Harry Eko Sutrisno said the boys, identified as Muhammad Mubarok, 10, Muhammad Doni, 14, and Khoirul Islami, 10, had probably found the old, rusted grenade while playing in the hilly military training grounds.

They reportedly took the grenade with them to one of their homes and played with it before the device exploded at around 2 p.m. on Thursday.

The explosion killed Muhammad Mubarok immediately and injured the other two.

The injured boys were taken to Leuwiliang Hospital. However, Doni later died at around 9 p.m.

Wiwik Wahyuningsih, director of Leuwiliang Hospital, told The Jakarta Post that Doni died before he could undergo emergency surgery to remove shrapnel from his legs.

The surviving victim, Khoirul Islami, is currently being treated at the hospital for severe leg injuries. (gis)
Suspects arrested in connection with an alleged racist and homophobic assault on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in Chicago were released on Friday, police said.

"Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete," the Chicago Police Department said in a email to Reuters.

The individuals are no longer being classified as suspects, the department said.

A spokesman for the department on Friday night declined to confirm to Reuters whether the individuals released were the two Nigerian brothers police said they arrested on Wednesday at Chicago O'Hare Airport in connection to the attack.

Authorities had previously said only that the pair, whose names have not been released, were persons of interest after they were recognized from surveillance camera footage taken in the area where Smollett said two men shouted slurs at him and put a rope around his neck on Jan. 29.

"Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime and we are working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.

He has denied a media report on Thursday that said officers were investigating whether Smollett staged the attack because he was being written out of the television show.

"While we haven't found any video documenting the alleged attack, there is no evidence to say that this is a hoax. The alleged victim is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect," Guglielmi said on Friday.

News of the alleged attack on Smollett, a 36-year-old openly gay African-American who plays a gay character on the hip-hop drama "Empire," caused uproar on social media, but some have doubted Smollett's account.

Read also: Chicago police dispute reports 'Empire' actor investigated for staging attack

In an interview with "Good Morning America" that aired on Thursday, Smollett said he was angry that some people questioned his story, and he suggested the disbelief might come from racial bias.

The two men know Smollett from working on "Empire" and were picked up at the airport on Wednesday after returning from Nigeria where they were visiting family, their lawyer Gloria Schmidt told Chicago TV station CBS2.

Schmidt could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.

Twentieth Century Fox Television, the producer of "Empire" released a statement on Thursday saying the idea that Smollett has been, or would be, written out of the show was "patently ridiculous," and that they continue to stand behind him.
Music streaming platform Spotify Indonesia has raised its minimum user age to 21 from 13 years old, with the policy effective Feb. 13.

As reported by kompas.com, Spotify Asia communications head Benjamin Chelliah said the update related to the involvement of third parties in the subscription scheme and services.

"As part of our efforts to be more transparent to users, we routinely examine the terms and conditions," Chelliah said as quoted by kompas.com.

He did not explain the reasons behind the age limit raise for users in Indonesia. The music platform implements different age limits and policy schemes in different countries, such as allowing 13-year-olds in some markets to use its services or requiring parental permission for underage users.

Chelliah also did not explain whether there was a change in the payment method for the "Premium for Student" offer, in which the previous age limit was 18 years old, as it offered students subscriptions for half the price. Spotify uses the help of third parties to verify student status by matching their university data on the SheerID website.

Read also: Millennials more familiar with music from 60s to 90s, study finds

In this case, Chelliah only mentioned that the involvement of third parties for subscriptions and services had been simplified.

The update gives authority to Spotify users on the use of third-party applications as well as the terms and conditions that apply to the application or device.

Chelliah also warned against the use of illegal applications that block advertisements for nonpremium services, saying such actions were not allowed.

"We have updated our user guidelines, making it clear that ad blocking, bots and cheating is not allowed," he explained. (liz/kes)

Editor's note:

Spotify Asia said in an official statement: In the most recent update to Spotifys terms and conditions of use, there was a change to the minimum age of Indonesian users. This change was made in error and has been corrected. Indonesian users must be 21 years or older, or 13 or older with parental or guardian consent.
Tommy Tjokro and Anisha Dasuki have been tapped by the General Elections Commission (KPU) and the campaign teams of both candidates to host the second presidential election debate on Feb. 17.

The two are presenters with private television stations owned by United Indonesia Party (Perindo) chairman Hary Tanoesoedibyo. Tommy works for RCTI and Anisha for iNews.

"I'm surprised [to be chosen]; I'm absolutely honored by this great opportunity. I'm also proud to be able to be part of Indonesia's history of democracy," Anisha recently told kompas.com.

"I would be nervous, that's for sure. However, I'll consider it a motivation to perform well," she added.

Read also: Rival camps gear up for second presidential debate

Separately, Tommy said putting aside any personal political preference was important. "Ideally, we should remain independent. This has nothing to do with [our own] political choice, but more with our professionalism as journalists and moderators."

"Both of us have signed an integrity pact, which forbids any interference from certain political parties or campaign teams. We will maintain the values of neutrality, independence and professionalism," said Anisha, who is a graduate of Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung.

Learning the debate's rules, regulations and topics, which cover energy, food, infrastructure, natural resources and the environment, is how Anisha and Tommy are preparing for the debate.

"For now we concentrate more on the contents. Afterwards, Anisha and I will focus on strengthening our chemistry," said Tommy, who moderated a Central Java gubernatorial election debate in 2018.

Prior to RCTI, Tommy worked as news presenter at Metro TV, Bloomberg TV Indonesia, MNC World News and iNews. The 41-year-old father of two and a winner of the Abang None Central Jakarta beauty pageant is a graduate of the Queensland University of Technology and currently serves as co-founder of the SEPIKUL public speaking school.

Meanwhile, Anisha's experiences as a moderator include debates in the West Java gubernatorial, East Java gubernatorial, Tangerang mayoral, East Nusa Tenggara gubernatorial and Morowali regency elections. Like Tommy, she had previously worked for Metro TV.

Prior to naming Anisha, award-winning journalist Najwa Shihab was among those considered to moderate the upcoming debate.

To be held in the Sultan Hotel in Central Jakarta, the debate is to be broadcast by private television stations RCTI, JTV, MNC TV and iNews. (kes)
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin M. Taufiqurrahman (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 16:03 860 acca405afacc7201380025f21a0700f9 1 Opinion Bukalapak,CEO,e-commerce,unicorn,politics,2019-presidential-debate,election,Jokowi,joko-widodo Free

Unless youre Donald Trump, Twitter only gives you the illusion of free speech. On this social media platform, you are free to speak your mind, until you arent. Compared to three or four years ago, Twitter is now a heavily policed environment, where hate speech, false claims and conspiracy theories could be struck down even without users filing a complaint about such violations. In past years, Twitter has unveiled a myriad of policies, ranging from a hateful conduct policy, rules against gambling to a regulation against what the company calls dehumanizing speech". The last rule was used last year to justify a purge against conspiracy theory website Infowars run by far-right talk show host Alex Jones.

These new sets of rules have turned the social media platform into a relatively benign environment and the only thing that could prevent users from making a fool of themselves on Twitter is their own sense of self-importance, a quality that any CEO has in abundance. CEOs think that if they are successful in running companies and bringing in billions in revenue, they know how the world works and their skills could be used to run the public sector (Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz is the last in the long line of billionaires running for president). CEOs hubris makes them think that they know something we dont and these days they could use Twitter to impart the knowledge and wisdom to the world.

Most CEOs dont stand on the soapbox talking to the world, but when they do, they fail spectacularly and at times they have to pay dearly for it. Tech visionary, self-made billionaire and a prolific Twitter user Elon Musk is a cautionary tale about CEOs having too much to say and paying a terrible price for the habit. Last year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission slapped a US$20 million fine against Musk for making a statement on Twitter that he would take car making company Tesla private, among other outrageous statements. Following the Twitter statement, the share price of Tesla experienced a 30 percent freefall from $379.57 on Aug. 7, last year to $264.77 on Sept. 28.

Musk appeared to forget that with great power, comes great responsibility, that his words move markets. And considering that their companys well-being could also be at stake, CEOs should choose their words carefully.

Elon Musk asked a judge to throw out a defamation lawsuit by a British caver whom the Tesla Inc. founder called a pedophile on Twitter. (Bloomberg/File)

CEO and founder of Bukalapak Achmad Zaky appeared to have failed to learn this lesson and he and his $1 billion e-commerce platform had to pay the price over the weekend.

A prolific Twitter user, more often than not Zaky has been less than wise with his choice of words. Last month, when The Economist erroneously stated that Bukalapak was a Singapore-based firm, he took to Twitter to lash out at the publication by calling it stupid. The majority of his tweets are innocuous, but it shows that he is an impulsive type who needs to respond to online trends. Then he dropped the bombshell on Thursday night. In what appeared to be a spur-of-the-moment tweet, he called the governments Industry 4.0 aspiration nonsense as Indonesia was behind other countries in terms of funding. But what riled people up, especially supporters of President Joko Jokowi Widodo, was how he capped off his 280 characters. I wish the new president could improve this.

I dont know why The Economist can be so stupid https://t.co/nrMgp6CpX5  Achmad Zaky (@achmadzaky) January 14, 2019

The backlash was swift. By Friday morning, the hashtag #UninstallBukalapak was trending on Twitter, mostly driven by Jokowi supporters who were angry that Zaky and his company appeared to have wished the incumbents rival, Prabowo Subianto, wins the 2019 presidential election.

Zaky quickly backtracked, deleting his original tweet and issued an apology. It was too late. Before long, not only was the #UninstallBukalapaktrending but his brand was soon turned into derisive memes and parodies. One that was heavily circulating online was an anagram of the name Bukalapak, Lupabapak, which in Indonesian means forgetting your father. Zaky once considered Jokowi to be his father as they both hailed from Surakarta, Central Java.

The damage was so enormous that Jokowi himself stepped in to do damage control for Zaky. During a meeting on Saturday, Jokowi himself made the call for users to not delete the Bukalapak app from their smartphones. A bigger disaster has been averted and Bukalapak is retreating to count the losses from this public relations disaster. Bukalapaks investors could now draw a sigh of relief and could only hope that a new policy could be put in place to reign in the company CEOs Twitter habit. Or they wish that Zaky could keep his most brilliant Twitter-worthy ideas to himself and keep the company stable.

If only CEOs, billionaires and certain president could get off Twitter.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin Andrio Adiwibowo (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019

In 2014, Indonesia set an ambitious target of being dengue-free by 2020. However, it seems unlikely that the goal will be achieved unless the country makes a radical change to its strategy.



Dengue cases nationwide have increased significantly. The Health Ministry recorded 9,600 cases in January across 372 cities and regencies, with four declaring extraordinary occurrence: Kupang and West Manggarai regencies in East Nusa Tenggara, Kapuas regency in Central Kalimantan and North Sulawesi province. The outbreak has claimed over 176 lives so far.



The incidence rate has continued to grow this month, and additional regencies have reported an outbreak. With the rainy season predicted to last through February, more people may contract dengue.



Indonesia has been battling dengue for decades, but why does it return to haunt us every year? First, it has

to Read Full Story SUBSCRIBE NOW Starting from IDR 55,000/month Unlimited access to our content on web and app

No advertising, no interruption

A bonus subscription to share

Bookmark and night mode functions on app

Subscription to our newsletters We accept Register to read 3 premium articles for free Already subscribed? login

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
Share this article Whatsapp

Facebook

Twitter

Linkedin John Lee (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sat, February 16, 2019 09:05 860 acca405afacc7201380025f21a063297 3 Opinion ASEAN,Indonesia,leadership Free

During the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Sydney last March, then-Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull reiterated, We believe in ASEAN centrality. That repetition genuinely indicated where Australia stood, but desire cannot be taken to be destiny.



Over the past two years, the United States, Australia, Japan and India have reinstituted the meeting of the Quad albeit at the senior official level rather than ministers. Along with China, these four countries are the regions naval powers. The Quad members are committed to the notion of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) despite differences with respect to what each country means by that term.



As China is pushing to alter the regional strategic order, the non-ASEAN powers have moved to a countering mindset. The extent to which ASEAN remains central to the thinking of the Quad countries depends on how the 10-country organization and its individual members respond. If ASEAN is to retain diplomatic centrality, then it must change its mindset and Indonesia holds the key.



At first glance, the FOIP is a reaffirmation of the security and economic rules-based order cobbled together after World War II, especially regarding respect for international law, freedom of the regional and global commons such as air, sea and cyberspace, and the way nations conduct economic relations.



ASEAN states should be comfortable with the FOIP principles which protect the rights and privileges of all states regardless of size and power. But public reaction has ranged from being agnostic to silent skepticism. While states like Indonesia and Vietnam have shown interest in the concept, most would rather avoid talking about an idea that has been criticized by China.



There are fears that the change in and widening of geostrategic focus from Asia-Pacific to Indo-Pacific will diminish the diplomatic centrality and relevance of ASEAN, although ASEAN-led meetings such as the East Asia Summit already includes India and shows an Indo-Pacific perspective. The fact that the newfound interest in the Indo-Pacific was an initiative by three non-ASEAN members heightens apprehension in ASEAN that diplomatic events and discussions may well transcend ASEAN centrality.



Furthermore, ASEAN states seek to manage relationships with great powers by championing principles of inclusiveness and neutrality (and maximizing diplomatic leverage through defending its privilege to define what these terms mean). If ASEAN is seen to support the FOIP, which is largely aimed against China, the cover of its commitment to inclusiveness and neutrality will be blown. If that occurs, the ramifications of Chinese displeasure are feared even if they are unknown.



The challenge for ASEAN is that what worked well in the past will be less effective in the evolving environment. China is increasingly challenging the US pre-eminence and aspects of the rules-based order when it is convenient for Beijing to do so. Its grand strategy is to weaken the strategic role of the US and degrade Washingtons credibility as a security provider, and gradually dismantle its system of alliances.



ASEANs principles of neutrality and inclusiveness are well suited to an environment without major disagreements between great powers. Such principles come under strain when strategic competition between the US and its allies on the one hand, and China on the other is intensifying.



Moreover, ASEANs preference for conflict avoidance has caused the organization and many of its member states to take a softer line against China with respect to the South China Sea. This is occurring even as China is changing facts on the water in a manner that is shifting the strategic balance in its favor. Only five of the 10 ASEAN states are claimants. The US, Japan and Australia are becoming less sympathetic to the perspective that disagreement over the South China Sea is primarily a China-ASEAN issue and will not sit idly by if Beijing continues to make strategic advances in that body of water.



Thus ASEAN centrality is only meaningful if its centrality is accepted by external great powers. Impatience with ASEAN will grow if the latter continues to sit on its hands. While it remains cost-free for all powers to pay lip service to ASEAN centrality, the US and allies may well bypass ASEAN entirely when it comes to the conversations about strategic issues that really matter.



This is where Indonesia comes in. Jakarta is comfortable with the Indo-Pacific concept, partly owing to its geography as a gateway between the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Indonesia is willing to speak openly and bluntly about Chinese transgressions, including in the South China Sea.



In a speech in January, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi raised Indonesias interest in leading other Southeast Asian states to build a free and open regional framework for the Indo-Pacific. The explicit aim is to ensure ASEAN adopts an Indo-Pacific strategy to safeguard the interests of its members.



This is not simple and unthinking parroting of US and allied priorities. It signals a proactive approach to advance Southeast Asian interests in an increasingly unsettled and dangerous environment  and bring ASEAN along with it at the same time.



It is a constructive way to engage with the US and its allies and even seeks to shape the latters priorities in a way that serves the interests of ASEAN member states.



It seems Indonesia understands that ASEANs future is at stake.

***

The writer is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and the United States Studies Center in Sydney. He was previously senior national security adviser to former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
More and more people are reaching age 65 without adequate resources for their financial support. To address this, there are growing calls for reform of both private and public savings plans.

Changes some 50 years ago sowed the seeds for many of todays retirement problems. Until that time, the common source for retirement income for both public and private employees was a pension plan.

In a pension plan, an employee makes no decisions. The employer contributes money to the plan (usually through lower wages) and an employee receives a lifetime income, generally beginning at retirement at age 65. How this is done is of little concern to the employee.

In the 1970s, however, businesses became alarmed by growing problems with their pension plans. Among other concerns, fiduciary responsibility for decisions was increasing and retirees were living longer. Offering pension plans was costing more and more money. For many businesses, pension plan liabilities began outweighing benefits.

Enter the 401(k) plan in the early 1980s. Although designed to enable smaller employers to provide retirement plans, they were also able to replace pension plans. And thats exactly what happened.
Were doing many things well already.

The combination of educational quality and value that we offer our students, for example, is almost unrivaled, thanks to a tradition of support from elected leaders.

Ive seen evidence of our educational excellence firsthand. I heard UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen say on the radio the other day that UNK is grounded in serving the needs of rural Nebraska. You see that philosophy come to life daily as UNK welcomes young men and women who are the first in their families to attend college and prepares them to become Nebraskas future teachers, healthcare professionals and business leaders.

UNK is in good hands. The same goes for the entire University of Nebraska system under the leadership of President Hank Bounds and the chancellors.

The advances in technology and healthcare happening here, too, are impressive.

Recently, I learned of a family friend from my hometown who had been diagnosed with a rare form of West Nile virus and was being treated at our medical center in Omaha. The next day, I wrote to Chancellor Jeff Gold, Even the tiny town of Amherst is affected by UNMC.
Several traffic accidents were reported throughout the day Friday, including a four-vehicle crash in the morning at the corner of Webb Road and Highway 30.

The Nebraska State Patrol urged drivers to use caution. Several highways were reported by the Nebraska Department of Transportation to be partially or mostly covered with snow in the Grand Island area.

More snow is in the forecast this weekend.

Starting Saturday afternoon and into Sunday morning, were looking at additional snow. The Grand Island area is expected to get 1 to 2 inches, Pfannkuch said.

The temperature will remain below normal for several days.

Thats one of the biggest stories of our whole forecast. We forecast one week at a time and the whole next week is below average, he said.

The high Saturday is expected to be 17, with winds blowing at 10 to 15 mph. Sundays high will be 23. The wind Sunday afternoon will pick up to about 20 mph out of the northwest, but the snow should be done falling by then.

The normal high temperature this time of year is about 40. The warmest Grand Island is to get in the coming week is 33 next Friday.

Every day between now and then, most days we are talking teens and 20s. So the entire week is below (normal), Pfannkuch said. Its going to be cold, but we are not seeing anything that would be considered dangerous wind chill.
There may come a time when tolls make sense for Connecticut but before we do that, we need to take a couple of steps back, before we move forward with tolls. Bills have been introduced in the legislature that propose as many as 82 toll gantries around the state, so its time for a serious conversation and a slower, more measured, approach.

First, lets use what is currently earmarked for transportation; second, once the money is there lets make sure that what we currently have is being spent on transportation that has the highest and best economic value; third lets find a way to spend what we have more efficiently and finally, lets modernize and optimize our existing revenue streams so we dont have to further tax our residents.

Connecticut must prioritize projects that have the most economic benefit for our state. If we reprioritize our current transportation spending, we do not need toll revenue.

How much money am I talking about? In 2017, the state generated $238 million from its gross receipts gas tax and another $500 million from its flat tax of 25 cents per gallon of gas. These two taxes combine to make gas taxes in Connecticut one of the highest in the country already.

In addition, Connecticut was apportioned $526 million from the Federal Government for maintaining our interstates, ranking us well above the national average per person and almost 50 percent more per person than Massachusetts or New York per capita. So, without tolls, we already have more than $1 billion to work with.

Taxing trucks is also being proposed by the Lamont administration, which doesnt make any financial sense. We would most likely lose a significant percentage of the revenue we already receive from the federal government for not having tolls. Research says that just taxing trucks will only generate approximately $200 million and cost us roughly $500 million to build and $100 million to operate. So where is the financial sense, let alone a windfall?

If applied to all motorists, however, tolls could eventually generate an estimated $1 billion annually. The tolls would cost an estimated $500 million to build and the construction project is anticipated to take five years to complete. We all know from experience that the cost will most likely double and it will take twice as long to complete.

In November, voters overwhelmingly approved a transportation lock box to ensure that all that money will go toward solving our transportation problems (although some members of the legislature admitted on the record that, in any given year, the legislature can decide to sweep money from the Special Transportation Fund and shift it into the General Fund).

Both tolling plans on the table now  to collect tolls on only trucks on interstates and to collect tolls on everyone, have big problems, not the least of which is that the state will lose the federal infrastructure money for not having tolls.

We can call it whatever we want, but it amounts to a $600 million to $700 million tax increase. Perhaps U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put it best with his recent reaction to President Trumps proposal of installing tolls on interstates.

The middle class need not ask for whom this bill tolls, it tolls for thee, said Schumer. They dont need higher local taxes and Trump tolls on top of all that.

Connecticut residents have yet to see any true business plan as it relates to tolls, just promises of riches; most of the tolls around the country are not profitable because of high debt and construction expense and bloated union administrative costs. On top of that, it is still coming out of our pockets at a time when Connecticut residents can least afford it. We are expected to pay 60-to-70 percent of the cost of a tolls project.

All we keep hearing out of Hartford is more tax and spend rather than holistically looking at all our states problems. Tolls may need to be a part of the solution, but unless we slow down and really look at all the ways to save money and generate revenue, it is just another lazy persons Band-aid. A holistic, well-thought-out state business plan would not just include revenue, but also our bloated expenses and unfunded liabilities.

Greg Kraut is a member of the Westport Representative Town Meeting, founder of The Economic Policy Project, and in 2018 ran for the 136th state House District seat.
President Donald Trump and his political team plan to make his yearslong quest for a border wall one of the primary thrusts of his re-election effort - attempting to turn his failure to build such a project into a combative sales pitch that pits him against the political establishment on immigration.

Trump has declared a national emergency to secure the funds Congress has repeatedly denied him despite his own admission that the move is likely to get tied up in court. This move has galvanized many of his supporters even as others on the right remain dubious and disappointed.

His campaign is fundraising off his showdown with congressional Democrats over the border - portraying the opposition party as more interested in political games than the public's safety.

And faced with the fact that he has yet to build an inch of the concrete or steel wall he promised, Trump and his campaign have started relying on a rhetorical sleight of hand: speaking the wall into existence.

"Now, you really mean, 'Finish that wall,' because we've built a lot of it," Trump incorrectly said at a campaign rally Monday in El Paso after supporters broke out in chants of "Build that wall!"

As he spoke, giant placards with the words "Finish the Wall" hung from the rafters, an unmistakable signal Trump's aides say reflects the campaign's growing push to convince the president's supporters that the border barrier they imagined him building is already real.

These endeavors underscore the extent to which Trump and his allies are attempting to make 2020 a repeat of 2016 - centered on a portrayal of the nation as under siege from criminal immigrants and other dark forces, and reliant upon a die-hard base of older whites in rural areas.

The strategy comes with serious risks. It largely assumes that despite Trump's poor poll numbers and his setback in the midterms, he remains popular enough to rely on the same strategy that delivered him the White House through a thin electoral college victory even as he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million votes.

"He used immigration pretty effectively in 2018 to motivate voters, but the question is whether it's going to be enough in the states he needs in 2020," said Jennifer Duffy, a nonpartisan election analyst at the Cook Political Report. "In places like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Pennsylvania and Arizona, can it get the job done?"

Duffy added that if Democrats nominate a strong presidential nominee, Trump might find himself fighting "the last war" as the electorate adjusts to new choices and new debates.

Trump's Republican allies remain confident and said his messaging in recent weeks - however bungled - is nevertheless setting him up for the 2020 presidential election, both in framing the wall as a motivating tool for his core voters and underscoring his commitment to border security.

"You can argue about the details, but strategically, it works," said former Republican House speaker Newt Gingrich, a Trump ally.

"The president wants Beto O'Rourke out there, in contrast, saying that walls kill people and we shouldn't have walls. That could be a snapshot of the 2020 election," Gringrich said of the former Democratic congressman from Texas, a potential presidential contender.

Critics say the president's exaggerated claims about ongoing wall construction will ultimately backfire, undermining his ability to sell himself as a master negotiator who can work his will in Washington.

"The president has always survived by living inside a reality-distortion field,'' said Tim O'Brien, author of "TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald" (2005). "When things don't go his way, he simply creates another narrative."

Trump's claims that the wall is well underway have intensified and become more descriptive in recent weeks as he weathered a record-breaking government shutdown over wall money and bipartisan negotiations to stave off a second lapse in federal funding.

"The wall is very, very on its way," Trump told a conference of law enforcement officials Wednesday. "It's happening as we speak . . . and it's a big wall. It's a strong wall. It's a wall the people aren't going through very easy."

On Friday, Trump signed a bill that included $1.375 billion for fencing and other expenditures, a far cry from the $5.7 billion he previously demanded. That money can also only go toward building the type of barriers already in use, not the concrete wall Trump highlighted during the campaign and early in his presidency.

By declaring a national emergency, the White House is attempting to bypass Congress and repurpose more than $6 billion from the Pentagon and other agencies to fund wall construction, but Democrats said they will attempt to stop the move legislatively and in the courts.

"What you're seeing is the mother of all pivots. He's trying to turn [being] outfoxed by Speaker Pelosi into a win by creating a rally cry for the re-elect campaign," said veteran GOP strategist Mike Murphy, a Trump critic. "For his core base, it'll ameliorate some of the criticism. But it won't help him with general-election voters. He's playing survival politics with his own base and using the illusion of success."

Trump has been building up to this strategy for much of the past year, as conservative angst mounted over the lack of progress on the wall while Republicans had full legislative control. Democrats took back the House in last year's midterm elections, all but killing Trump's chances of securing adequate funding to build hundreds of miles of walls on the border.

The president's original promise, to make Mexico pay for the wall, also remains unfulfilled, succumbing to a political reality that was long obvious despite Trump's claims to the contrary.

The president has complained repeatedly about news coverage depicting the wall as not being built and has told his campaign and communications officials they have to convince people that more of the wall is being built.

He has sought to meet with contractors about the wall, even giving specifics on how tall the wall should be.

Trump has repeatedly looked to unorthodox places to get wall money. For example, he has discussed using money meant to help Puerto Rico recover from Hurricane Maria to fund the wall. During a recent presidential trip to the border, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told Trump that pulling funds from Puerto Rico could jeopardize financial aid to Florida and Texas, which were also hit hard by natural disasters. Still, the option remains on the table for future expenditures toward the wall, two White House officials said.

While Trump has expressed frustration over Republicans not providing funding for his wall during the first two years of his presidency, GOP congressional leaders have been irritated at times by his shifting demands and lack of attention to the specifics of the legislative debate.

The $5 billion he demanded earlier this year was an arbitrary number, aides said, after he grew frustrated that Congress only gave him $1.6 billion - even though his own aides sought that amount. Trump has often talked about the wall, but current and former White House officials say it has not been a top priority among senior aides. There has been no designated point person on the issue, and Trump's agitation and concern often waxes and wanes.

Several times since taking office, Trump has redefined what he considers a wall. While his administration funded wall prototypes that were to be built of solid concrete or steel, Congress has placed restrictions into funding bills that only allow for previously deployed fencing designs. Trump has since claimed that such fences, including renovations that replace existing barriers, constitute the wall he promised.

During the last government shutdown, Trump told advisers that Democrats would be more inclined to support the wall if it was called a "steel slat barrier" or some other phrase. But eventually he relented, realizing there was no support for the wall no matter what he called it.

Polls show voters blamed the president for the government shutdown, though Trump has since cast it as a strategic win, despite the fact that it did not produce the wall funding he wanted.

According to a person who spoke with the president Monday, Trump has argued that he will eventually be able to claim that he "shut down the government over this wall" and that his supporters will approve.

Some of the president's allies have said that politically, Trump's "finish the wall" rhetoric should be interpreted more metaphorically than literally.

"The point of the wall is to show how the president is committed to border security and painting Democrats into a corner as being against that," said former White House legislative director Marc Short.

"Finish the wall,'' he said, "is a good message as long as the wall is a metaphor for border security."

A White House official said it is even broader than that.

"Finish the wall is really: 'Finish what we started.' It's about the Trump presidency, more than anything," said the official, who spoke under the condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak publicly. "It's telling the voters to stick with us, finish what we started, as the Democrats pursue the Green New Deal or Medicare-for-all."

Veteran Democrats acknowledge the power of Trump's pitch in a deeply divided nation, but question whether it can work again in 2020 in the same way it worked with some swing voters in 2016.

"It's an applause line that has emotional resonance - and it's completely irrational," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. "There is, I think, a broad majority of Americans who are really fed up with the false contention that the wall is somehow the equivalent to border security. It's a vanity project for the president."

Many moderate Republicans, such as Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a former FBI agent who represents the Philadelphia suburbs, have noticed Trump's evolving updates on the wall - and have grown frustrated with his insistence on calling for a wall.

"I never even use the term wall," Fitzpatrick said. "That conjures up images of a brick-and-mortar structure, from sea to shining sea, when it's far more complicated."

Democrats have pledged to file legal challenges to Trump's declaration of a national emergency, setting up a constitutional clash over the president's attempt to usurp spending power from Congress.

A court battle could stretch out for months or years, but Trump is already determined to tell his supporters he is moving full speed ahead on building the border wall.

"He fashions his own reality," said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs. "It's like John Kennedy going out after the Bay of Pigs and saying, 'What a great victory.' But for [Trump's] base, I'm just not sure that it matters to them."
Working to 70 Is Not an Easy Fix to the Retirement Crisis

CHICAGOIt may seem a simple solution to the brewing U.S. retirement crisis: Get people to work until 70 before retiring and 85 percent will have the money they need for retirement.

They will save more during additional years in jobs and leave existing savings untouched while getting paychecks; plus they have fewer years in retirement to cover living expenses with their savings, noted Alicia Munnell, director of Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

But despite the math that attracts economists and lawmakers worried about funding Social Security and Medicare, it turns out that it is not so easy.

James Poterba, an MIT economics professor, pointed to the problem at a Brookings Institution forum on the topic recently.

Not everybody can work longer, said Poterba, who is also president of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He contrasted workers in physically demanding or unpleasant jobs to economists in academic offices comfortably churning out studies on Social Security fixes.

While many professors cling to their jobs well into their 70s, research shows many people do not have that option.

The Urban Institute noted in a new study that about 10 percent of those over 50 had to leave their jobs because of health. But Urban Institute economist Richard W. Johnson, who studied work records of people over 50 in the federally funded Health and Retirement Study, said ageism is driving far more older workers away from their jobs, regardless of education, race, or gender.

Older workers also had trouble finding new jobs. Half had their income fall more than 42 percent, and only one in 10 ever earned as much as they had been making before losing their job. A third of those over 50 who lost jobs also had it happen again.

Even now, when the labor market is tight, ageism is still there, Johnson said.

Alternatives

While people may not make it to 70, economists recommended trying to work as long as possible. Stanford economist John Shoven has found that retiring at 66, instead of 62, can lift the standard of living by a third.

One suggestion from Munnell to convince employers to keep older workers on the job longer: declare 70 the new full retirement age for Social Security instead of the 66-1/2 to 67 it is now.

Munnell explained that employers are sometimes afraid to hire people in their 50s because they fear that person will stay indefinitely to build up meager 401(k) savings. If the retirement age were 70, the employer would perhaps hire an older person, knowing the employee eventually would leave.

But raising the retirement age is a political hot potato, mostly because people in lower-income and physically demanding jobs would receive less money if they claimed Social Security earlier than 70. President Donald Trump has promised not to alter Social Security.

Another idea proposed by Stanford economics professor John Shoven and Robert Clark, a North Carolina State University economics professor, is to relieve employers and employees of paying payroll tax toward Social Security for workers over 62.

Currently, both employees and employers face a payroll tax of 6.2 percent of earnings up to $132,900. As more older people work, Shoven and Clark argue higher income tax receipts could offset Social Securitys lost revenue.

Yet, Steve Goss, the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration, does not think those savings would be passed along to workers in higher wages or to increase the labor supply of older people.

Also, if Social Security suffers a loss in revenue, younger workers might have to pay higher taxes, leaving them less able to save for their own retirement and perpetuating the cycle of the retirement readiness crisis.

By Gail MarksJarvis
USDA Rules That Pink Slime Can Officially Be Called Ground Beef

A processed meat product pejoratively termed pink slime has been officially reclassified as ground beef by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Formally known as Lean Finely Textured Beef (LFTB), the meat product that has been hailed by food industry experts as a success story but derided by activists as barely fit for human consumption, was reclassified in December 2018, according to The Takeout, citing a representative for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

A company that manufactures LFTB, Beef Products Incorporated (BPI), notified its suppliers on Dec. 21, 2018, that newly issued USDA guidelines allowed the company to refer to the beef product as simply ground beef, according to Beef Magazine.

Craig Letch, BPIs vice president of sales and marketing, told the publication that the reclassification opens up new doors for us, adding, This change will allow us to provide new and innovative types of products that our process lends itself well to.

Reclassification is a victory for BPIa major producer of LFTBfollowing a whirlwind of negative coverage of the product in 2012 that sought to portray the substance as harmful, though, according to Eldon Roth, founder and CEO of BPI, the beef product had been used in over 300 billion meals without a single food-safety incident and added over $250 million in value to the U.S. beef industry annually.

BPI spokesman Rich Jochum said at the time that the company would continue communicating the benefits of BPIs lean beef, but that process is much more difficult than (countering) the campaign to spread misinformation that brought us to this point.

By this point Jochum was referring to the companys announcement of three plant closures and the loss of about 650 jobs.

Iowas then-Gov. Terry Branstad said of the closures, This is a sad day for the state of Iowa. The fact that a false, misleading smear campaign can destroy a companys reputation overnight should disturb us all.

Its Back

Alarmist coverage of LFTB is exemplified in a video posted on YouTube by IMR Films showing a processing machine churning out a stream of pastel goo, with on-screen text identifying it as pink slime, describing it as a concoction of beef and ammonium hydroxide McDonalds was using as a base for its burgers, before warning, Its back!

Activist celebrity chef Jaimie Oliver dove into the pink slime controversy in an April 2011 episode of his television show Jamie Olivers Food Revolution, in which he derided the use of beef that had been processed with the aid of liquid ammonia, saying, So, basically, were taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest form for dogs, and after this process we can give it to humans.

Oliver dramatized his point by dousing an armful of beef byproducts with liquid ammonia and running it through a meat grinder, with multiple camera shots of children in the audience reacting to his presentation with obvious revulsion.

A clip from Olivers show was played during the trial brought about by BPIs lawsuit against media conglomerate ABC, according to the Courthouse News Service, in which the meat company alleged ABCs coverage of LFTB misled consumers into believing the product was not nutritious, not beef, and was unsafe.

They ignored the proper name, said BPIs attorney Dan Webb in his opening argument in the trial, according to The Hollywood Reporter. When you have a major news organization that is calling the product slime, witnesses will say they cant imagine anything worse. It connotes something disgusting, inedible.

ABC and BPI settled the lawsuit mid-2017, according to the Chicago Tribune, with the settlement amount exceeding $177 million.

Had the two firms not settled, a victory for BPI could have resulted in a verdict of as much as $5.7 billion, Business Insider reported.

What Is LFTB?

The American Meat Institute (AMI), an industry association, describes Lean Finely Textured Beef as a category of beef products that uses hightechnology food processing equipment to separate lean meat from fat because doing it by hand would be impossible. LFTB products prevent the waste of valuable, lean, nutritious, safe, beef by using technology to do what hands cannot.

Jude Capper, an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at Washington State University told Beef Magazine that the technology makes for efficient carcass utilization, meaning fewer cattle slaughtered each year to meet consumer demand.

Lean finely textured beef adds 10-12 pounds of lean nutritious beef to every animal processed, Capper said. That means that to produce the same amount of beef for human consumption wed need to process an extra 1.5-1.9 percent more cattle each yearthats between 516,000 and 654,000 extra cattle in the U.S. per year.

AMI addressed the ammonia controversy, saying, Food grade ammonium hydroxide (basically ammonia + water), which has been declared safe by the Food and Drug Administration since 1974, is used to produce a number of products such as puddings and baked goods and can be used in the processing of boneless lean beef trimmings to control any harmful bacteria that may be present in the beef.

It said that a puff of ammonium hydroxide gas is used to destroy bacteria that could make people ill if the beef is not cooked thoroughly, and that the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration consider the process safe.
The Top 7 Things That Will Decide the 2020 Election

The 2020 presidential election cycle is underway, which means that there are polls out that purport to handicap President Donald Trumps chances for reelection.

Obviously, its too early to pay attention to those polls, but its not too early to pay attention to these seven things that will decide the 2020 presidential election.

Before we start, its worth noting that foreign policy isnt on the list. While its possible that an international incident can arise, current international conditions are calm by historical standards.

Five years ago, we were watching the ISIS terrorist group behead people on TV with no end in sight. Trump can rightly take credit for ending that.

As for North Korea, while a comprehensive deal related to that country will take some doing, the overall relative calm likely means that foreign policy wont rise to the level of a decisive factor in the 2020 election.

As for the top seven factors, they are the following:

7. Republican Fundraising

One of the most significant factors in the 2018 election, was the incredible advantage the Democrats had in fundraising. Congressional Democrats raised hundreds of millions more than Republicans, doing so because they matched information, technology, and money with candidates in ways never seen before in a national election.

In 2008, the Democrats were able to elect a president with a technological advantage. The Republicans subsequently caught up. One of the biggest questions for the 2020 election will be whether the Republicans close the fundraising gap.

Two additional notes: With so many Democrats running for president, it may be that their presidential candidates soak up a lot of the money their congressional candidates need. That could help Republicans retake the House.

Its also likely that the Democrat nominee will start with a fundraising disadvantage. They will likely have to spend every dime they have in order to get the nomination and have no money in the bank after winning the nomination. That would obviously benefit Trump.

6. The Economy

Absent a major unforeseeable circumstance, the economy will be doing well next year. The Trump/Republican tax reforms will pay dividends for many years. The change from territorial taxation (and the double taxation that used to be inflicted on U.S. companies) to worldwide taxation not only allows U.S. companies to bring money back to America, it also makes them more competitive internationally.

Beyond that, much like the lasting effects of the Reagan tax reforms that restored incentives to small business, the Trump/Republican reforms have and will continue to do the same.

Its also more than likely that Trump will be able to garner a victory in the trade negotiations with China. No, not every issue can or will be resolved. But an improvement over yesterday will be made and that will lift the markets and the U.S. economy.

Low unemployment numbers and rising wages are always helpful to the party in power. In 2020, that means the Republicans.

5. The Republicans Health Care Proposal

As the 2018 election demonstrated, a good economy is not enough. For most Democratic voters, the economy is not the most important issue. They didnt vote the economy in 2018 and they wont do that in 2020. They want the presidency so they can choose the next Supreme Court justice and they want a large expansion of government in the form of Medicare for All and the so-called Green New Deal and their social-justice causes.

Of course, their Medicare for All proposal is a naked attempt to buy votes. Its well beyond an unrealistic program but it speaks to a desire by most to have stable and reliable health care. If the Republicans want to win in 2020, once and for all, they have to have a plausible health care proposal that will make voters believe they will have that stable and reliable health care they so desperately want.

If they do, they will blunt the No. 1 issue for the Democrats. If they dont, they could well hand the Democrats the 2020 election.

4. How Far Left the Democrats Go

The most telling moment of Trumps 2019 State of the Union was the Democrats sitting stone-faced as Trump said America would never be socialist. Clearly, many Washington Democrats want just that. Their presidential candidates are in a race to see who can promise the most spending and demand the largest tax increases. Beyond that, those candidates and many others are embracing the Green New Deal.

The Pew polling shows rank and file Democrats want their party to move to the center. Their presidential candidates, on the other hand, are moving quite far left quickly. If Democrats nominate a candidate too far to the left, it will have a huge impact on No. 3 and No. 1 ahead.

3. Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg

Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg have enormous egos. So does John Kasich. The other two have something Kasich doesntenough money to run for president without asking anyone for money.

The further left the Democrats nomination process goes, the more likely one or both of them will run. If they do, they likely would draw more votes from the Democrats than the Republicans. In other words, they could help Trump win reelection. Even if they dont run, they seem intent on arguing against the Democrats big spending plans. That could help the Republicans too.

On the other hand, Bloomberg says he is going to spend $500 million to defeat Trump.

2. Trumps Brand



Trump continues to do more than anyone predicted. Underestimating him in 2020 may be comforting for some, but is less rational than emotional. Nevertheless, Republicans have lost four out of the last five presidential popular votes. Beyond that, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin all moved left in the last midterm.

Trump needs to increase his 2016 coalition. He can do that continuing to make his brand Mr. Fix It. Offering solutions versus the government takeovers offered by the Democrats will be key to his 2020 fortunes.

1. Independents

We live in The Divided Era. The Democratic base is solid and committed. The Republican base will be committed as well because the parties are leagues apart. Now, more than ever, Independents will decide the election. If the Democrats go too far left, they will drive Independents toward Trump. If Republicans offer practical solutions in contrast to the Democrats government takeovers, 2020 will be a Republican year.

Thomas Del Beccaro is the author of The Divided Era and is a former chairman of the California Republican Party.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Teenager Sentenced to Life in Prison Plus 40 Years for Mass Shooting

CLOVIS, N.M.A New Mexico teenager convicted of opening fire and killing two people at a public library will spend decades in prison before being eligible for parole under a sentence imposed Feb. 15 by a state district judge.

Judge James Hudson made his decision after hearing emotional testimony during a 3-day proceeding. He sentenced Nathaniel Jouett as an adult to two life sentences that will run concurrently plus 40 years in prison for carrying out the 2017 shooting at the Clovis library.

The Eastern New Mexico News reports that the earliest Jouett could be eligible for parole would be 2051.

Jouett previously pleaded guilty to 30 felony counts, including two first-degree murder charges for the deaths of library employees Wanda Walters and Krissie Carter. He seriously wounded four other people.

Jouett, who turned 18 last month, addressed the court Wednesday in his first public statement since the shooting. He apologized to the numerous victims who made statements at the start of the week.

The sentencing hearing followed a decision by the judge in December in which he denied a motion to conduct a hearing to determine if Jouett is amenable to treatment. That could have made him eligible for release when he turned 21.

New Mexico library killer sentenced to life in prison https://t.co/AuZecHrZTC pic.twitter.com/xh4RNLUbUf  NewsAlley (@newsalley) February 16, 2019

Tears flowing in the courtroom as the state describes how the shooting impacted the survivors lives. @NewsChannel10 https://t.co/HMJQCGOSeB  Cassie Stafford (@CassieAStafford) February 13, 2019

The judge said Friday he believes Jouett has the potential to be rehabilitated but he acknowledged that there are some questions about the potential for success. He also said in deciding the punishment that it would hold Jouett accountable for his actions as well as promote and protect public safety.

The judge took a few moments to recount what happened at the library on Aug. 28, 2017. He described the events that unfolded as horrific, as Jouett stood with a gun in his hand and shouted at victims before he stalked and shot at more victims before surrendering.

The quiet of the Clovis-Carver Library was shattered as gunshots rang out. Bullets pierced the quiet, leaving in their wake tragedy, heartbreak, and death, the judge said.

The result was what the judge described as a tsunami of harm for the victims and their families.

Hudson said there appeared to be two sides to Jouettone a caring and compassionate young man; the other an isolated teen who was struggling with anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Still, he said he would not ask why Jouett did what he did.

I do not ask why because there is no why that would ever suffice. No one will leave today with that question answered, the judge said.

A teenager will spend decades in prison after a judge says he stood with a gun and shouted at victims in a public library in New Mexico where he killed two workers and seriously wounded four other people. https://t.co/LUVKmZlncP  AP West Region (@APWestRegion) February 16, 2019

Prosecutors had asked that Jouett be sentenced to 96 years in prison, which would have effectively meant a life sentence without parole. The judge said such a sentence would exceed his authority.

Defense attorney Stephen Taylor asked that his client serve only 20 years in prison followed by five years of supervised probation. The judge said that would not provide enough accountability for the crimes.

The Associated Press generally does not identify juveniles charged with crimes as a matter of policy. It has identified Jouett, however, because of the seriousness of the crime.
Teen Planned to Shoot Ex-girlfriend at School, Documents Say

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.A note found in a 16-year-old boys pocket indicated that he had planned to kill his ex-girlfriend and others on Valentines Day, when he fired a gunshot inside his high school, according to documents filed by authorities in court.

No one was injured in the shooting that happened on Thursday, Feb. 14, the morning before classes started at V. Sue Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, a suburb of Albuquerque.

A witness had told authorities in a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Albuquerque Journal on Friday that the 16-year-old suspect had approached three other students sitting in an alcove before opening fire.

The Associated Press is not naming the suspect because of his age. He is facing charges of attempting to commit murder and unlawfully carrying a deadly weapon onto school grounds. Online court records do not yet list a defense attorney who could provide comment on the boys behalf.

He is being detained at the Bernalillo County Juvenile Detention Center after being questioned Thursday.

School officials said on Twitter that all students were safe, and the districts other schools were open. They announced later Thursday that classes at the high school would be postponed until Tuesday, Feb. 19, the day after Presidents Day.

confirmed that all students are safe and no one has been injured. The weapon involved has been recovered and the suspect is in custody. All other RRPS schools are open and in session. We thank parents for their help as we investigate this situation.  Rio Rancho Public Schools (@RRPS_EST1994) February 14, 2019

Kristy Berberich said outside the high school that her 16-year-old son called her immediately after students heard a gunshot.

I was worried sick but I knew he was safe, she said.

Police have not said where the suspect got the gun he carried onto school grounds on the anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, high school massacre that killed 14 students and three staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High Schoolthe deadliest high school shooting in the nations history.

In New Mexico, it is a misdemeanor offense for a person younger than the age of 19 to be in possession of a firearm.

Citing school surveillance video, police said the teen wore a ski mask that he took off before entering the building around 7 a.m. Thursday.

The witness, who was among the students in the alcove, said the boy pointed the handgun at the group, and at first, it did not go off.

A shot then went off after the suspect manipulated the weapon and pulled the trigger, the witness told officers.

Police said the boy also intended to kill himself, but instead, he put down the weapon after firing a shot and ran to a dry wash where he was arrested.

A teacher told police she received a text from the suspect in which he reportedly said: the voices wont stop. He also said sorry in the message and asked if anyone had been hurt.

By Russell Contreras And Mary Hudetz
ROSEMONT, Ill.Ronald Lau, senior engineer for Fuel Tech Pollution Control in Wheaton, Illinois, attended Shen Yun Performing Arts North American Companys matinee performance on Feb. 15.

Its a wonderful performance, its unlike anything youve probably seen before. So, dont expect anything just come enjoy it and you will definitely enjoy what you see, Ronald Lau said after seeing Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Rosemont Theatre.

What Lau enjoyed the most was the story telling. He explained that his profession allowed him to spend a lot of time in China and because of that he was already familiar with some the classical literature.

I especially liked the combination of the different histories, the ancient history and the dark side of the history, the communism part and all that joined together to tell that oneall those different stories, he said.

As Shen Yuns website explains, the New York based company is the worlds premier classical Chinese dance and music company. Shen Yun was established in New York in 2006 by elite Chinese artists. They came together with a shared vision and passionto revive the lost world of traditional Chinese culture and share it with everyone, the companys website states.

Lau said he is familiar with the oppression of the communist regime in China. He appreciated the story-based dances that depicted this ongoing issue, and said that there is hope that one day this will have changed.

Theres gonna be a lot more freedom for everybody to live their lives and follow their faith the way they choose, Lau said.

Lau said Chinas 5,000-year-old culture is fascinating for modern people, and that we can take solace from the message of the past from those who came before us.

Even if we have our own daily struggles we know that everybody had the same struggles as well, and theres also something about that, all that art and all that culture that survived, it tells you that theres something about us thats more than just some animal instinct, theres something that drives us, Lau said.

Absolutely, they should be trying to preserve that as much as possible, Lau said.

Watching the performance, Lau noticed many subtle, yet profoundly familiar themes.

Those sort of themes and that philosophy is what allowed the Western civilizations to advance, he said. Each person has their own value and each person has that kind oftheyre here for something more than just to serve some other person.

After seeing Shen Yun and reflecting on his personal travels to China, Lau made a cultural connection that was full of hope and promise.

I see hope for China. I see hope for everybody, he said. I am very optimistic. Communist governments are a threat. Totalitarian dictator governments are a threat, but Chinese people are not a threat.

With reporting by Catherine Wen and Andrew Darin.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006.
Jussie Smollett, a cast member in the TV series "Empire," attends the Fox Networks Group 2018 programming presentation afterparty in New York, on May 14, 2018. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

People of Interest in Jussie Smollett Case Released by Chicago Police

Chicago Police Department released the two men held for questioning in the Empire case without charges on Friday, Feb. 15, because of new evidence.

Due to new evidence as a result of todays interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete, Chicago police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi stated in a Twitter post.

Case Update: Due to new evidence as a result of todays interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete. pic.twitter.com/Hswn1Qjgcy  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 16, 2019

The authorities didnt elaborate on the new evidence.

The men who were questioned are brothers from Nigeria named Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo who describe themselves online as actors and models, according to TMZ.

The Nigerian brothers were picked up by the police at Chicagos OHare International Airport after they returned from Nigeria.

Guglielmi described them as people of interest and said theyre not considered as suspects.

The people of interest are alleged to be in the area where a crime was reported. They are not considered suspects at this time as they are currently being questioned by detectives. We remain in communication with the alleged victim, he said in an earlier statement.

Empire TV series actor Jussie Smollett, who is black and openly gay, alleged that he was attacked by two men on Jan. 29, after buying a sandwich from Subway and on his way home to his apartment.

He also said that the attackers yelled this is MAGA country in the late-night incident, apparently in reference to President Donald Trumps slogan Make America Great Again.

During an interview on ABC news, Smollett said that he doesnt know the eye color of the alleged attackers.

I cant tell you what the color their eyes were, he said.

Its Chicago in winter, people can wear ski masks and nobodys gonna question that, Smollett added.

He also alleged his two attackers shouted homophobic and racial slurs at him last month before wrapping a rope around his neck.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the authorities havent found any video showing the alleged attack.

In the interview with ABC News, Smollett said that I respect too much the people whoI am now one of those peoplewho have been attacked in any way. You do such a disservice when you lie about things like this.

Some news outlets have reported that the attack was possibly staged with help from the two brothers. But police said they have no evidence to support the hoax speculation and issued a rebuttal in a Feb. 14 statement.

Media reports about the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate, Guglielmi said.

He reaffirmed that media reports of investigative details cannot be confirmed at this time.

Jack Phillips from the Epoch Times contributed to this report.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador holds a baby while leaving an event in Badiraguato, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Mexico, on Feb. 15, 2019. (Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

Mexican President Visits El Chapos Home Turf Seeking Reconciliation

BADIRAGUATO, MexicoMexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited the birthplace of the countrys most infamous drug trafficker, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, on Feb. 15, calling for peace and reconciliation days after a U.S. jury convicted the kingpin.

Speaking to a crowd in Badiraguato, a mountainous municipality in the northwestern state of Sinaloa long associated with cartels, Lopez Obrador said people must not be stigmatized.

(The people of) Badiraguato are good people, they are hardworking people, he told a cheering crowd in a public square. We must seek reconciliation, we must find peace.

Though warring gang factions have inflicted periodic bloodshed on the municipality, some villagers speak fondly of the largesse of their native son, who was born in the hamlet of La Tuna and whose Sinaloa cartel provided work for marijuana and opium poppy growers.

Mexican president visits El Chapos home turf seeking reconciliation https://t.co/WaJjpZLW6j pic.twitter.com/XykwLinb94  Reuters UK (@ReutersUK) February 16, 2019

With a population of 32,000, Badiraguato is one of the poorest municipalities in the state of Sinaloa and the country, according to Mexican statistics agency Inegi.

Lopez Obrador, who has spoken of the need to fight poverty across Mexico, announced a development plan for Badiraguato that included a new highway, a public university and a program to plant trees.

Until now, Ive never seen a president come here, said Javier de la Rocha, a 41-year-old farmer.

El Chapo is not the only drug lord who calls it homeRafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, both former leaders of the Guadalajara cartel, were also born nearby.

If El Chapo returned to Badiraguato it would be a relief for its inhabitants because, according to them, there was neither poverty nor violence when he was there. https://t.co/a1YLYRunAn  Midland Reporter-Telegram (@mwtnews) February 15, 2019

In a district where 70 percent of residents live below the poverty line, the capos emerged as unlikely benefactors, building roads and buildings, locals say.

That may explain why some found Lopez Obradors visit, coming after El Chapos conviction on smuggling tons of drugs to the United States, so significant. With the drug lord behind bars, and facing a probable life sentence, Badiraguato will need a new champion.

Several residents said they were cautiously optimistic about Lopez Obradors plans and eager to work on the projects.

With the university, my family is no longer going to have to travel to study elsewhere, said de la Rocha, the farmer, leaning on his shovel in front of a huge sign welcoming Lopez Obrador.

By Diego Ore
The Best of Times and Worst of Times in Hong Kong. The CCPs Contradictory Regime.
An Iraqi special forces soldier fires an RPG during clashes with ISIS terrorists in Bartella, east of Mosul, Iraq, on Oct. 20, 2016. (Goran Tomasevic/File Photo/Reuters)

Last ISIS Holdout on Verge of Defeat in East Syria

NEAR BAGHOUZ, SyriaThe U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) will capture the ISIS terrorist group last enclave in eastern Syria in a very short time, the battle commander said on Saturday, Feb. 16.

The victory will bring the terrorist group, whose self-proclaimed caliphate once stretched across swathes of Syria and Iraq, to the brink of total territorial defeat.

Jiya Furat said the SDF had cornered the remaining ISIS terrorists in one tiny neighborhood of Baghouz village, under its fire from all sides.

With the help of U.S. airstrikes and special forces, the SDF, led by the Kurdish YPG militia, has marched into the pocket east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border.

Mostly foreign jihadists are making their last stand in Baghouz, SDF officials say. Thousands of civilians have streamed out escaping the violence this week alone.

Furat, the SDF offensives commander, said the jihadists only held 700 square meters now. But his fighters were moving cautiously because of civilians and hostages.

Thousands of civilians are still trapped there as human shields, he said. In the coming few days, in a very short time, we will spread the good tidings to the world of the military end of Daesh.

Still, he added the SDF would soon move to the next phase of chasing down sleeper cells and remnants spread out across the region to secure it.

Spokesman Mustafa Bali told Reuters the SDF had caught several militants who tried to flee among the civilians while others had handed themselves over.

The SDF believes a few hundred terrorists may still be holed up in the enclave, he said.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said earlier the SDF had taken control of all of Baghouz after the terrorists still there surrendered. SDF officials denied this.

By Rodi Said
Husband Accidentally Runs Over, Kills Wife in Their Driveway

The content is not available due to expiration.
Former Intel Officer Tony Shaffer on How the FBI Became a Political Tool Under Obama  American Thought Leaders

Events in the 2016 elections were unprecedented. Top FBI officials knowingly used information paid for by the campaign of Hillary Clinton to obtain a FISA spy warrant on a member of the Trump campaign. Meanwhile, top Obama administration officials also spied on the campaign, using so-called unmasking requests.

Those same FBI agents, however, chose to look the other way when it came to the risks posed by Clintons use of a private email server. We now know that emails she sent as secretary of state through that server were automatically copied to an unknown foreign entity.

Looking ahead of the 2020 elections, the question is whether the FBI has been reformed enough to make sure political biases dont influence investigations.

Today we sit down with Tony Shaffer, acting president of the London Center for Policy Research. He served as a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, where he was a senior intelligence officer. Today, hes also an advising producer for National Geographic and a member of the Trump 2020 advisory board.

Jan Jekielek: So lets talk about what has been known as the Spygate scandal or also known as the Russia collusion scandal in some circles. In short, the FBI used politicized and flawed information to investigate the Trump campaign. They were fed information by a series of people who were actually paid by the Hillary Clinton campaign, including MI6 agent Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson, and Perkins Coie lawyer Michael Sussman. The FBI then used this unverified information to obtain a series of FISA warrants on Trump campaign volunteer Carter Page [and others]. This seems like a terrible thing to happen and we were discussing earlier that this has really tarnished the reputation of certain agencies, especially the FBI, in this case. What do you think can be done to fix that?

Tony Shaffer: There are three things that need to be examined in this, and Ive had experience in dealing with these sorts of domestic operations. While its not well-known, the Department of Defense has parallel authorities with the FBI regarding what we call foreign counterintelligence. So, we, the Department of Defense, do these sorts of things. And so Im very familiar with the authorities, based on having to have briefed these sorts of operations to the Natural Security Council. So lets start there. EO12333 is the foundational document that governs all of these sorts of collection activities. Each agency then takes and has its own implementation guidelines, within the context of the FBI doing domestic foreign counterintelligence, especially on political campaigns.

A waiver is required by the National Security Council, in this case, Susan Rice, to allow for enhanced domestic collection on individuals. That is to say that, to have the Trump campaign collected on is extraordinarily hard because, in most circumstances, if youre a U.S. citizen and youre being targeted by the Russians, you are obligated to be told. The FBI is obligated to tell you that youre a target. Because youve done nothing wrong, youre a U.S. citizen. The only way you cannot have that done is by a waiver at the National Security Council. So everything starts, everything were talking about in some form, goes back to National Security Council, because those waivers had to be granted. So lets start with that. Once those waivers are granted then, weve seen from that allowance, that diversion from policy, for the FBI to have essentially this door open for them to do extraordinarily bad things regarding their authority.

The FISA system, the foreign intelligence collection activities which were talking about, are very powerful. The U.S. government has very powerful technology. Ive overseen very complex technology programs which the American public has no clue exists. They just dont. And any time you have these programs, you must have really good oversight so that this power is not abused. My belief is that certain members of the FBI knew exactly what they were doing regarding using these powerful tools of collection and technology against domestic political threatswhat they saw as threatswhich were the Trump campaign and others who were essentially endangering the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. That candidacy was jeopardized by two-fold issues: first, her use of an illegal email server; thats an unforced error on her part. Its still not resolved. And then, of course, just the fact that political forces were challenging her on the domestic political front. So these two things combined [and] weve now seen the FBI essentially took a side. And they did so again, based on the waivers they got from the White House.

So when you get down to the operational level, to the level of [James] Comey, of Peter Strzok, of Andrew McCabe, and these others, who were now the overseers of these immensely powerful programs, there was at some point, from my judgment, a decision to allow for what we as intelligence officers never permit: outside information to be used as gospel, hard intelligence facts. I did intelligence collection for over 30 years. And within those operations, unless we, the U.S. government, developed the information through our own independent sources, it wasnt considered valid. You would never take information from an opposition research firm, put it into the system, and say this is validated intelligence. Its never done, for two reasons: First, its opposition research, so you automatically understand the slant, even if its factual. Its going to be flavored a certain way to essentially be unusable for purposes of factual understanding of the situation. Its just not done. Secondly, whenever you do something like that, you have the potential of opening a door to information, operations, and deception. In this case, in the case of Steele with his information, its my belief based on what Ive seen regarding the information collection chain, this was information that was fed to Steele for purposes of upending our elections. This was information designed by someone in Russia to essentially be a poison pill. And I dont believe the Russians, for the record, took a side during the 2016 elections.

I believe the Russians were trying to upend the elections for purposes of just being Russians. The Russians try to be disruptive in any democratic process. This was no different. So they were in a position to win no matter who became the president. They would win because if Trump became president, they were able to do some things to undermine his authority. Obviously, the whole Russia narrative, the Russian investigation, has been a huge lodestone on the presidency. If Hillary Clinton had won, they could have done things to say that they undermined her legitimacy by saying that she did things with them and her election was not legitimate. They were going to win no matter whateither way. And the FBI was completely oblivious to the danger of taking in this information, putting it into the intelligence collection system as if it was gospel. So those are the two things I see that were hugely wrong with the FBI doing this. But let me emphasize this again, they could not have done all of these thingsespecially not telling Trump about the fact that there was a perception that he was being collected againstif not for the White House opening the door for them to do all this.

Mr. Jekielek: Because of this waiver of the NSC?

Mr. Shaffer: Because of that waiver.

Mr. Jekielek: So, two questions: Who can be held accountable for this and how can accountability be found? And the second is: What can be done to rehabilitate obviously this incredibly important agency, the FBI, which right now is in this tarnished state?

Mr. Shaffer: Let me say for the record, Ive worked with the FBI three times undercover with them over the past 30 years doing the INF: the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. I worked with the FBI in Texas, where we were in the process of destroying our boosters and the FBI and the Army ran joint teams to monitor Soviet officers who were involved in observing our activities. I worked with the FBI again on 17 November, a terrorist group in Athens, where we were working right out here at WFO, deploying forward with an FBI team to defeat the terror organization, which notably, they defeated right before the Greek Olympics, and then also in Afghanistan. In my book, Operation Dark Heart, I do document the time we worked together with the FBI. The FBI actually conducted an interrogation which ended up breakingwe didnt touch himan enabler of the IRGC trying to fund terrorist activities against us in Afghanistan. These are all things which Ive done, so I have the highest regard and respect for FBI agents.

I have no regard at all for their leadership. Many agents feel as I did, because of this tarnished image that these leaders have now created for the FBI. So what do we do? First, I think we have to do a full review of everything within the FBIs foreign counterintelligence programs. We have to have a peer come in and do, essentially, an academic and operational review. In the Army, we do to reduce all the time of foreign counterintelligence cases. We have someone with fresh eyes come in and look at it to verify the legality, verify the operational necessity, and verify the tradecraft, a very simple thing. Someone needs to do that regarding all FBI agents. Im arguing that we should have the Department of Defense, with their foreign counterintelligence activities, do a full audit. And I do mean a full audit, not an IG (inspector general) audit, not a criminal investigation. Just an audit, because if we believe that the FBI took these shortcuts, we do know they took shortcuts for this Russian narrative issue.

Mr. Jekielek: There may be other things.

Mr. Shaffer: There are probably other things. So I think we owe it to the American people to do. And the FBI owes it for their own interest to have someone come in and look. They owe it, they need to have this done to begin the process of overcoming this tarnished image that they have created. Secondly, and I think of equal importance, is to hold those accountable who broke the law. There are specific instances of Title 18, which some people like McCabe have been referred to the Department of Justice for violations of thatthere have been criminal referrals. I believe that if you examine each player within the context of the play: Comey, McCabe, Strzok, Lisa Page, and others, you will find that they did violate directly elements of Title 18 and, based on the fact that you need to have a single justice system that doesnt play favorites, they must be looked at for prosecution based on these violations. We know Comey compromised classified information. We know Strzok, for a fact, has lied before Congress at least three times. Ive talked to members of Congress about the conflicts between what he said in closed session versus what he said in open session.

Thats something thats being dealt with right now. So youve got to do both things: Youve got to do a full review to make sure that the American people can regain trust by a third party looking at what the FBI did on foreign counterintelligence as well as now, at this point, examining the full scope of all the Title 18 felony violations conducted by these officers and investigate them and prosecute them to the full extent of the law. They should not be above the law simply because they were federal officers in the FBI. It gives them no special dispensation for their bad acts.

Mr. Jekielek: You know one of the things that really struck me as you were speaking  Were talking about some opposition research that was used, but its also research that was actually done, at least in part, by foreign intelligence agencies. And so we had current and former United Kingdom intelligence agency people basically providing information about Americans. I think many of our audience would see that as gross overreach by intelligence agencies. How do we protect against this? How do we protect Americans against this in the future?

Mr. Shaffer: This goes back to where the FBI did violate laws or allowed the violation of laws to exist within the context of this. U.S. citizens cant deal legally with foreign intelligence and operatives, you cant do it. The moment you do that, you are in danger of violating U.S. law. There is a number of exceptions that allow for the FBI and intelligence community to spy on you. One of those is if you are dealing with a known intelligence operative of a foreign nation, thats illegal. It opens the door. But, in this case, it was encouraged. The FBI did not say, Fusion GPS, you shouldnt be doing that. They were all in, allowing this to be open. And the second point of concern is the very thing you said: Foreign intelligence services have an interest that is not generally in line with our interests. Even the British will tell you that while were allies, were not necessarily in sync on every single issue. They as a nation have their own national security objectives. Some overlap and some do not. So I think this is one of the issues that we have to be aware of when we study this as an after-the-fact issue.

The FBI knowingly permitted intelligence operatives from foreign nationswith objectives which clearly were not in the interests of United Statesto allow information into our system, to be used as fact, which has, to this day, disrupted our political process and continues to interfere with some peoples confidence in democracy.

Mr. Jekielek: As you mentioned earlier, you werent happy with the top brass in the FBI, but actually a lot of them, it seems, have been replaced or removed. I dont know how many layers or how deep that goes, but it does look like significant action has been taken. How significant is that?

Mr. Shaffer: Not sufficient. Director [Christopher] Wray has been reluctant to, I think, go to the full extent of whats necessary to weed out the bad actors. The FBI did not become corrupted overnight. This was, I would argue, a process started under the Clintons back in the 90s, where you had a series of individuals over time who came into the senior levels of the FBI, who were more legally focused, more lawyers out of DOJ, rather than field operatives. Ive been an operative my entire life. I have little tolerance for analysts who want to play in operations. And I think, in our intelligence community, we have seen huge failures based on analysts coming in to be in charge of operations. The same parallel exists within DOJ and FBI. Basically, the agents who come through the field have a really good understanding of how to go about investigating, preparing evidence, and submitting it for purposes of prosecution or, in the case of foreign counter-intelligence, how to effectively set up counterintelligence operations to catch spies. Lawyers who have never had any field operational experience and come in to be in charge and oversee that, tend to politicize the operations, rather than allow them to run to the full extent of what the logical conclusion should be. So what lawyers are to FBI operators, we have the same problem with analysts in the intelligence community, telling us, as operatives, what to do. This has been a problem over time.

A lot of the folks we see now running the FBI are very focused on legality rather than success  For example, in the last couple of days, Lisa Pages texts, which were revealed over the last 72 hours, indicate that the FBI was trying to cut a deal with State Department regarding Hillary Clintons classified emails found on the [Anthony] Weiner laptop; they said, basically, if you FBI downgrade the classification to unclassified, well give you more space in our embassies overseas. Thats payola.

Mr. Jekielek: That doesnt sound good.

Mr. Shaffer: Thats my point, you have these lawyers  Lisa Page is a lawyer. So what you see is lawyers coming in to manage the process of the whole activity. And I dont believe for a minute Lisa Pages actions were reflective of what a field operative in the FBI would have done regarding seeking justice. I dont think a field operative would have cared about how many attache positions they have in embassies overseas. They would have done their best as sworn officerssworn law enforcement officersto follow the information where it was. You bring in people like Lisa Page, who have no interest in serving justice, trying to basically cut political deals behind the scenes. This is the illustration of my point. And when you have this level of corruption, youve got to weed it out. And I dont believe Wray has actually gone in and done this to the level necessary to right the FBI.

Mr. Jekielek: Do you think he will?

Mr. Shaffer: No, I dont. I think he is a member of the swamp. I think, based on his actions to date, that he has done what he can to stop the bleeding. But he has no interest in cutting out the cancer thats in the FBI.

Mr. Jekielek: Speaking the email server, theres also some evidence recently unearthed that some of the emails may have been sent to a foreign entity.

Mr. Shaffer: All of them, except for seven.

Mr. Jekielek: Can you explore that a little bit more?

Mr. Shaffer: Ive actually spoken to the members of DOD who discovered this flaw. This flaw was discovered by the intelligence-community part of the Department of Defense. It was the ODNI inspector generals office. And they did a full evaluation. They received the same copy of the email server and all the emails that the FBI had. And the purpose of the ODNI, the IG who came out of DOD the reason they were doing this review is because they had to make an assessment of the classification of all the emails that were contained on Hillary Clintons server. So it was during that review of every email, basically, they went through every email and not only did DOD, but ODNI guys looked at the email, they looked at the metadata.

So every email, as you know and your audience probably knows, that within the data which moves the email, theres router information that indicates who sent the email, when it was sent, how it was sent, the route it took, and anybody else who gets copies of it. So within this very deep metadata review, the ODNI IG discovered that every email, except for like seven, were being sent to a third party. That third party was apparently, Im told, a business that was in Manassas, Virginia, and that business was owned or is owned by the Chinese intelligence service. And there was a drop at this place, then it was sent off to Chicago, is what I was briefed. And whats significant about this is not so much that I know; its the fact that, according to the ODNI IG, Peter Strzok, the guy in charge of the Clinton email investigation within the FBI, was briefed on this three times. And each briefing, he was presented with this information and the question was, What are you going to do about this? So and, by the way, this is now in congressional testimony. Peter Strzok was asked this question in closed hearings. He gave one answer in closed hearings and then he was asked again in public by Congressman Louie Gohmert and he gave a different answer. So this is an unresolved issue. Based on the information I have from talking to people who were directly involved, this was known to the FBI. And the FBI refused to examine it as part of their investigation.

To this day, I have no clear understanding of why Strzok did not look at this, but they did provide him, that is, the ODNI did provide Strzok the specific investigation data from their investigation, which indicated this all had occurred.

Mr. Jekielek: Can you comment on the national security implications of this?

Mr. Shaffer: The two implications are: First, anything that Hillary Clinton had on a server was compromised to the Chinese intelligence service, which indicates to me that by law, there is supposed to be a damage assessment conducted by this compromisethats by law. Anytime you have a compromise like this of information to a foreign intelligence threat, you have to do an evaluation of what damage was done. Jim Clapper, when he was ODNI, was asked about not doing a damage assessment. And he said that he didnt want to do it. I dont think thats a good answer. But it needs to be done. And again, Ive said this to a number of members of Congress and the Senate. This is not a partisan issue by law. When you have a compromise like this, it says in the law [that] you must do a damage assessment. So the first thing youve got to do is do a damage assessment. Secondly, there is other evidence the Chinese have been very effective in eating our lunch.

We lost a number of assets back about 2011, 2012 in Beijing. Weve never recovered from that. Theres other indicators that the Chinese are very effective in their intelligence collection programs against us. I think we need to do a review of everything were doing to figure out why the Chinese are so effective. So those are the things I think we should do, based on this information. And, again, Im speaking about this purely as an intelligence professional. You need to set aside the politics, whatever they are, and actually do the job evaluating how this was compromised, what was compromised, and what the damage was that came from this compromise.

Mr. Jekielek: This work that you do, advising congressional members and so forth, also speaks to your role as the acting president at the London Center. Can you tell me more about what you do?

Mr. Shaffer: Being a president is very distracting from getting work done, Ill say that for the record. What I normally do, as the vice president for operations and Im still doing it as president, is I manage a group of extraordinary fellowsmale and femalewho are masters of the practicing of their art of expertise or talent of their choosing. Sidney Powellyou interviewed Sidney Powell a few days agois an amazing woman who is an extraordinary litigator. Shes well-respected, a practitioner. One of my closest friends and colleagues who is one of our distinguished members of our board is Bud McFarlane, the national security adviser for President Reagan. [Theres also] Jim Woolsey, another extraordinary fellow, distinguished fellow, who actually is one of the backbone of our organization. The common thread of the people that we have within our ranks and our purpose as practitioners [is] we are very big on examining practical issues from the perspective of what policies work.

We dont deal well with theoretical papers. You dont see us do a lot of papers because, while we do have academicsI publish editorials, your organization publishes my editorialswere very much into educating the public in a very academic and factual way. We deal primarily in fact, in fact relating to this process worked in the past. We believe if you adapt this process for this current challenge, the chances of success are pretty good. And Id like to believe that if were brought into a situationwe were brought into Venezuela recently by certain senior leaders at the State Departmentwere being brought in because they want to have practical answers that will result in some outcome that is favorable to the national security interests of the United States.

Mr. Jekielek: Very interesting. This also speaks to my next question, which is personally you are involved as an adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign. What inspired you to do this?

Mr. Shaffer: Prior to President Trumps election, we as practitioners of intelligence and law enforcement, had seen a diminutionif you willof a commitment by the federal bureaucracy to do the right thing. I think we talked today about the Russian narrative or Russian collusion investigation as an example of that  including my own issue of Able Danger of the 9/11 attacks. Ive seen, personally, coverups that would curl the hair of the American public. And a lot of us were kind of tired of seeing the federal bureaucracy or the swamp being able to determine its own future by being pretty much impervious to any oversight. And when President Trump rolled into town, one of the extraordinary things about the man is that he actually went about keeping his political promises. And so to me, as someone who is seeing the swamp go after people for purposes of trying to protect its own wrongdoing, I was very buoyed by President Trumps election and then him keeping his word. When I was asked  a little over a year ago to join as an adviser to the campaign, I thought about it seriously.

Based on actions up to that point by the president, I felt that joining the campaign as an adviser would be a good thing. And since, then Ive been gratified. And you can go on the presidents Facebook page. Ive been the one putting together the national security policy planks for his campaign. Ive done a number of interviews with Lara Trumptheyre available. And what I do appreciate about being on Trump 2020 is that The London Centers fundamental philosophy is very Reagan-based. A lot of our fellows are very close to Reagans thinking on national security. And as the adviser to the campaign, I advise them to do Reagan-type stuff. Its really not rocket science, its actually examining what worked in the Reagan years.

And so I try to impart the wisdom that I get from these folks into the campaign to say, Hey, this is what I think may be best regarding our national security. I found that theyve been completely receptive to what I believe to be common-sense approaches. The president has seen what Ive done for his campaign. And apparently he likes it, because he allows it to be posted on his Facebook. So Ive been happily gratified that they actually do take my advice. And just a word, if you ask me to advise you and I show up and you dont want my advice, dont ask me to advise you. And Ive been gratified by the fact these people are very open to advice. Id like to believe the advice has been well-applied in his foreign policy over the past year.

Mr. Jekielek: Excellent. Tony, thanks so much. I certainly appreciate speaking with you.

Mr. Shaffer: Thank you. Its been great, and I appreciate your organization and being on with you.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

American Thought Leaders is a new Epoch Times show available on Facebook and Youtube.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Family of Ohio University Student Who Died Sues Fraternity

ATHENS, OhioThe family of an Ohio college student who died after pledging a fraternity is accusing the fraternity of extensive physical and mental hazing.

A lawsuit filed on Thursday, Feb. 14, in Athens County Court says Ohio University student Collin Wiant was beaten with a belt, pelted with eggs, deprived of sleep, and forced to take drugs, and drink a gallon of alcohol in an hour.

In an emailed statement, Sigma Pi fraternity said they are aware of the tragic passing of Collin Wiant but cant comment since they havent been served with a lawsuit https://t.co/BfZmJowZVG pic.twitter.com/BkPx6J8MDv  WTTE FOX 28 (@fox28columbus) February 14, 2019

The suit, seeking at least $25,000, names both the local chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity and the fraternitys Lebanon, Tennessee-based national office.

The lawsuit says the 18-year-old freshman from Dublin died Nov. 12, 2018, of asphyxiation due to the ingestion of nitrous oxide provided to and forced on Wiant by fraternity members.

Jonathan Frost, Sigma Pis executive director, declined to comment on the complaint.

Watch:

Arrest Reports Claim Fraternity Pledges Were Beaten And Urinated On During Hazing Rituals

More Students Killed By Fraternity Hazing

Timothy Piazza of Lebanon, New Jersey, died of head and spleen injuries suffered while drunkenly falling multiple times, including twice down a flight of stairs, during hazing activities at the fraternity house. He was 19 years old.

Timothy Piazza died last year after a hazing incident. Now the first young man to admit guilt and his fathers reaction. @TODAYshow pic.twitter.com/6MKpCKEHsJ  Kate Snow (@tvkatesnow) June 14, 2018

Authorities have said that the fraternity brothers waited for hours before calling for medical help.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed a new law on Oct. 20, 2018. The new law is raising the maximum penalty for fraternity hazing to a felony, carrying up to seven years in prison.

The death of Penn State student Timothy Piazza, is bringing a new anti-hazing law to Pennsylvania. Piazza died after a night of drinking in a fraternity house last year. Gov. Tom Wolf signed the new law that classifies incidents that result in severe injury or death as felonies. pic.twitter.com/BjQElgDNok  CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) October 20, 2018

The law is named, the Timothy Piazza Anti-Hazing Law after a Penn State freshman who died during hazing activities at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house in February 2017.

At least two other hazing-related deaths have occurred in Pennsylvania in the past five years.

Chen Michael Deng died in 2013 when he was 19 from injuries received during a hazing ritual by the Baruch College chapter of Pi Delta Psi at a house in the Poconos. Four fraternity members received two-year prison terms and more than 30 others received probation.

Freshman Michael Deng died after he was blindfolded and repeatedly tackled by his Pi Delta Psi fraternity brothers https://t.co/oGQ5IYVm7j via @WSJ  Zolan Kanno-Youngs (@KannoYoungs) January 9, 2018

Marquise Braham, a student at Penn States Altoona campus, committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 18 after allegedly suffering a mental breakdown because of hazing by the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Migrants break through the U.S. border fence just beyond the east pedestrian entrance of the San Ysidro crossing in Tijuana, Mexico, on Nov. 25, 2018. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Exclusive: Just How Dangerous Is the Border? Locals Share Their Stories

In a conversation with residents who live near the U.S.-Mexican border, one thing is made clear: There is a national emergency taking place at the border.

The Daily Caller News Foundation spoke exclusively with Arizona rancher Jim Chilton, who says the border isnt safe or secure. Chilton, who has worked on his farm near the southern border for decades, says crossings on his land have increased considerably in recent years and dangerous cartels are running drug trafficking routes through his property.

Tim Foley, the founder of a border enforcement militia group, recounted the gruesome details of a when a border patrol agent was shot multiple times by a drug trafficker, once in the hand, twice on his knee and once on his back. And then another cartel member hit the agent with a huge rock as he laid on the ground.

Despite horrific instances such as these happening at the southern border, numerous Democrats and talking heads continue to claim that there is no emergency.

By Jason Hopkins and Molly Prince | Contributor

Now check out other related articles:

Cartels Are Making Americans Living Near The Border Afraid To Report Crimes

Pentagon Is Sending Thousands More Troops To The Southern Border

10,000 Plus Migrants Hit Mexico And Request Asylum As Caravans Rage On

Follow Molly on Twitter

Follow Jason on Twitter
ST. PAUL, MinnesotaThe synergy of the dancers was what impressed County Commissioner Jim McDonough when he experienced Shen Yun Performing Arts. Whether it was two dancers on stage or 12, McDonough said they were all able to dance with perfect unison as though they were all connected by invisible glue.

Every movement was the same  they all just move in unison. Its pretty amazing, that takes a lot of work, he said. First time Im seeing this, and its beyond all my expectations.

McDonough and his wife Carol saw the evening performance at the St. Pauls Ordway Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 15. New York-based Shen Yun showcases Chinas 5,000 years of semi-divine culture that was lost after seven decades of communist rule.

The Ramsey County commissioner is currently serving the St. Paul neighborhoods of Upper East Side, Payne-Phalen, and Conway-Battle Creek. He also previously served as the chair of the Board of Commissioners from 2014 to 2016, and before that as chair of the Regional Rail Authority from 2008.

The couple was amazed that Shen Yun is able to preserve the centuries-old history and culture and bring it to the world on stage even after the Chinese communist regime tried to eradicate the traditional culture during the Cultural Revolution.

I think it was amazing because in 1949 when the great changes [happened] there, the communist party really tried to eliminate allcenturies of history, beauty, and  [to] be able to find a way to still survivea lot of credit to a lot of people for that, McDonough said.

The aim of the Cultural Revolution, which occurred between 1966 and 1976, was an unprecedented move to systematically eradicate traditional culture and replace it with Mao Zedongs way of thinking and style of discourse, as Shen Yun also explains on its website. Maos campaign has been catastrophic for Chinas traditional culture.

Even now, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sees traditional Chinese culture, which is deeply rooted in Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, as its greatest rival.

Shen Yuns mission is to revive this traditional culture and bring back the values and beliefs that the ancient people once held with high regard. And the company has been quite successful with its endeavor, expanding from one company to six equally sized companies that tour the world simultaneously to perform hundreds of sold-out shows.

Heart and Mind

The McDonoughs praised the dancers for their discipline and cooperation that are depicted in how the dancers perform and interact on stage.

Heart and mind, Jim McDonough said. Those young artists follow the principle so they can reach a certain level.

Many of the performers practice the spiritual discipline Falun Dafa. It involves meditation exercises and a set of teachings centered around three principles: Truthfulness, Compassion, Tolerance. As part of their practice, performers strive for self-betterment and ensure that they take responsibility, and put others first in everything they do, according to the companys website.

Having this spiritual connection motivates the performers to strive to excel and deliver a unique performance that captivates audience members and encourage them to reflect on their own lives and the modern world.

This is because many of Shen Yun pieces reflect this spirituality that was a foundation of ancient Chinese society. People in the past were influenced by spiritual and religious practices and had a strong sense of reverence for the divine. Chinas semi-divine traditional culture was also replete with values and virtues like benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness, which are depicted in many of the performances story-based dances.

The McDonoughs think its important that people have a stronger connection to spirituality and said the performance was like a spiritual moment in time.

You can sense the connection that the dancers are trying to convey between spirituality and to the reality, McDonough said.

With reporting by Sally Sun.

The Epoch Times considers Shen Yun Performing Arts the significant cultural event of our time and has covered audience reactions since the companys inception in 2006.
Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora, Ill., Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

5 Killed as Gunman Opens Fire at Illinois Warehouse

CHICAGOA gunman opened fire in an industrial warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, on Feb. 15, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was slain, law enforcement officials said.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the gunman, identified as Gary Martin, 45, was an employee at the industrial complex.

We have an active shooter incident at 641 Archer Av. This is an active scene. Please avoid the area, the Aurora Police Department said in a tweet shortly after 2 p.m. local time, adding that additional details would be forthcoming.

The city of Aurora, which is roughly 50 miles west of Chicago, tweeted about an hour later that a suspect had been arrested.

**** BREAKING UPDATE: First responders now confirm five civilians have died in the shooting at the manufacturing plant. Gepostet von Nick Beres NC5 am Freitag, 15. Februar 2019

EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m. local time THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down! More information will be provided soon, the city said.

At least one person was killed in the attack, a spokesman for the Kane County Coroner said.

Four police officers and several civilians were wounded in the attack, Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge President Chris Southwood said in a written statement.

Two of the people injured in the shooting were taken to Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora where they are being treated for non-life-threatening injuries, hospital spokeswoman Courtney Satlak said in an email to Reuters.

The wounded police officers were in stable condition at a local hospital, Clayton Muhammad, spokesman for the City of Aurora, told the local ABC affiliate.

Video on local media showed numerous police cars surrounding a large commercial building in Aurora, the ground covered in snow.

AURORA UPDATE: Five people are dead at the scene of a shooting at a company in Illinois. Police have identified the Gepostet von ABC7 am Freitag, 15. Februar 2019

Witness John Probst told CNN in an interview that he saw the gunman, a co-worker, running down an aisle of the manufacturing facility with a pistol equipped with a laser sight. Probst told the network that he saw people bleeding.

West Aurora School District 129 said on Twitter that all students in the district were being held in a soft lockdown on direction of the county sheriff.

Situation UPDATE! We have just received word that we have the all clear to lift the soft lockdown and begin dismissing schools and will dismiss in the following order with 40 minutes interval starting immediately. https://t.co/Nahfv8mp43  School District 129 (@sd129) February 15, 2019

A spokeswoman for U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was aware of the incident.

The President has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation in Aurora, IL, Sarah Sanders said in a written statement.

By Suzannah Gonzales
21 Savage Wasnt Hiding Being British, Feared Deportation

The Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage said in an interview aired on Feb. 15 that he didnt talk about his British citizenship before because he didnt want to get deported.

The Grammy-nominated artist, whose given name is Sheyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was arrested Feb. 3. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement called it a targeted operation. He was released from immigration custody Wednesday on a $100,000 bond.

Abraham-Joseph, now 26, told ABCs Good Morning America he had no idea what a visa was when his mother brought him to the U.S. at 7 years old. His visa expired in 2006.

I knew I wasnt born here, he said. But I didnt know like, what that meant as far as when I transitioned into an adult, how it was going to affect my life.

The rapper said he wasnt hiding the fact that he isnt a U.S. citizen, but I didnt want to get deported so Im not going to just come out and say, Hey by the way, I wasnt born here.

His lawyers have said he applied for a new visa in 2017, and his case remains pending. One of his lawyers, Charles Kuck, said earlier this week that if the case follows the normal trajectory, it could take two to three years.

While Abraham-Joseph was in immigration custody, his lawyers became aware of an outstanding warrant in Liberty County, along Georgias coast, and made arrangements for him to turn himself in, attorney Abbi Taylor said Friday.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Saint Laurent Don (@21savage) on Jul 17, 2017 at 5:50pm PDT

News outlets report the warrant was for theft by deception. It stemmed from what Taylor said was essentially a civil dispute. Abraham-Joseph performed a concert in Liberty County several years ago and the person who had booked the concert didnt feel he had done enough and sought a warrant rather than suing him, she said.

After turning himself in Friday morning, Abraham-Joseph was released on his own recognizance. His legal team is working to resolve the underlying issue, Taylor said.

Abraham-Joseph said he believes the way immigration policy is enforced is broken, that he doesnt think people should be arrested and put in a place where a murderer would be for just being in the country for too long.

Attorney Alex Spiro said on Good Morning America that he believes Abraham-Joseph was targeted because hes both a celebrity and they can use this as a way to send a message and also, perhaps, because of his music.

He said he hopes the attention can help others held in immigration detention.

Theres people that are just totally forgotten that exist in these detention centers, Spiro said, later adding, Im hoping people like 21 Savage will bring light to these issues and help the people that are forgotten.

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said shortly after Abraham-Joseph was taken into custody that he was arrested in a targeted operation that had been planned weeks to months in advance.

Cox said at the time that Abraham-Joseph had overstayed his visa and also was convicted on felony drug charges in Fulton County, Georgia, in October 2014.

Abraham-Josephs lawyers have disputed that he has a felony conviction on his record.

He has a singular offense for marijuana when he was a college-age person, Spiro said in the television interview. Thats vacated, sealed. Theres no issue.

Fulton County prosecutors have said they cant comment on the case, which they say was handled under the states first offender law and is sealed.

An Atlanta police report from August 2014 says Abraham-Joseph was riding in a car driven by another man when officers stopped the car after an illegal U-turn in four lanes of traffic. During a search of the car with a police dog, officers found a jar containing 0.8 ounces of marijuana, 89 hydrocodone pills, a scale in plain view, two loaded guns and $1,775 in cash the report says.

Both men were arrested and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of hydrocodone with intent to distribute and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, the report says.

A notice of seizure and forfeiture filed in Fulton County Superior Court in October 2014, says the $1,775 seized during the arrest is to be forfeited. It says the violation of law alleged is that Abraham-Joseph and the other man possessed marijuana.

Abraham-Joseph was nominated for two awards at the Grammys, including record of the year for Rockstar alongside Post Malone. His second solo album I Am I Was, released in December, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
The short answer to the core question is that a Green New Deal in some form may well be feasible as well as affordable. Much depends on which formulation is being assessed, over what time, and with what assumptions about overall costs and benefits for the American people, and for that matter, the world.

As expected, conservatives have been quick to denounce the proposal as irresponsible and costly. They tend to discount burdens already imposed by a rapidly changing climate, and the enormous risks and costs posed by climate change for the future.

A major scientific report from 13 federal agencies last November estimated that the U.S. economy could shrink as much as 10 percent by 2100 because of climate change.

According to a recent Brookings Institution study, much of that damage likely will occur in states that voted for Donald Trump. Perhaps residents eventually will see the economic logic of acting on climate change.

In 2017, record storms, floods and wildfires in the U.S. cost an estimated $306 billion in damages. In 2018, NOAA reported that 14 weather disasters cost the nation at least $1 billion each and killed more than 247 people. The total price tag for the nations economy was nearly $100 billion.
Long-duration spaceflight does weird things to the human body, even at the molecular level, but so far theres no reason to think humans couldnt survive a two-and-a-half-year round-trip journey to Mars. That was the bottom-line message Friday from a NASA official and two scientists as they revealed more results from the agencys Twins Study, which examined physiological changes in astronaut Scott Kelly during his nearly year-long sojourn in space while his twin brother, Mark Kelly, stayed on Earth.

The full report has not yet been published, but reporters got a summary at a news conference at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, in Washington. Among the highlights: Scott Kellys bloodwork showed that his immune system quickly ramped up when he went into space, as if, at the cellular level, his body felt under attack.

Its almost as if the bodys on high alert, said Christopher Mason, associate professor of computational genomics at Weill Cornell Medical College.

Some of the physiological effects of microgravity have long been known, such as impaired vision, bone loss, muscle loss and disruption to the wake-sleep cycle. The new research shows changes at the cellular level, including changes in gene expression.
More than 60 Texas A&M University students gathered Friday for the start of a 48-hour international event that would connect as many as 600 students from around the world.

In the second annual Invent for the Planet event, students will work together to brainstorm and construct prototypes of solutions to humanitarian issues such as disease prevention, automobile safety, cultural workforce inclusion and mental health support, just to name a few.

On Friday evening, dozens of Aggie students from different disciplines of study could be seen bustling to and fro between heavy equipment and white boards at the SuSu and Mark A. Fischer 72 Engineering Design Center on campus. They would soon open communications with peers in countries including Belgium, Brazil, Vietnam, India and Pakistan. Participating students from each college are, at a local level, encouraged to team up in groups of six or more, latching on to one of 16 unique humanitarian need-based prompts.
Peggy Ragsdale and her husband have lived in Bryan-College Station on and off since 1976, but they always found themselves drawn back to the area because of their love of the community and their strong network of friends.

Ragsdale spent her early years working a variety of jobs  including working in the insurance industry and later renovating homes fixer-upper style  while raising her four children before dedicating more time to being a volunteer.

I came with some friends to the Womens Auxiliary luncheons, and I had been volunteering at several organizations in town and was told they needed someone to help in the Clothing Closet, said Ragsdale, who now serves as the Clothing Closet coordinator at the Salvation Army of Bryan-College Station.

When Ragsdale began volunteering at the Clothing Closet, she took on the task of organizing the donation room, which consisted of piles of goods of all sorts that nearly reached the ceiling.

Six years later, the 72-year-old Ragsdale says that although it is hard work, she finds the work a good fit.
Are you a current print subscriber to Columbia Gorge News? If so, you qualify for free access to all content on columbiagorgenews.com. Simply verify with your subscriber id to receive free access. Your subscriber id may be found on your bill or mailing label.
Click the image to the left and log in to get your exclusive reader perks.
MILFORD - Francis Bunn Jr. passed away at Chestnut Park Nursing Home on June 22, 2021. He was the son of the late Francis L. and Lois (Day) Bunn. There will be no celebration of life for Fran. He would want everyone to spend time with their families making memories, doing what he loved best 
This is the temporary subscription pass for users returning from the Vision Data subscription process. Your subscription will be updated within 24 hours, after your information is verified. Please click the button below to get your pass.
This subscription will allow current subscribers of The St. Helens Chronicle to access all of our online Subscriber-Only content, including the E Editions area.

NOTE: To claim your access to the site, you will need to enter the Last Name and First Name that is tied to your subscription in this format: SMITH, JOHN

If you need help with exactly how your specific name needs be entered, please call us at 1-503-397-0116.
Four years ago, federal MPs Amanda Rishworth, Kate Ellis and Kelly O'Dwyer appeared together in an iconic photograph.

All three frontbenchers were expecting their first children, with high hopes of balancing their parliamentary careers with young families. And for several years, this was the case, with O'Dwyer even welcoming her second child as a cabinet minister in 2017.

But both Labor MP Ellis and Liberal MP O'Dwyer have since announced they will leave politics at the next election, explaining they want to spend more time with their children, particularly as they reach primary school age.

Labor MPs Amanda Rishworth and Kate Ellis and Liberal MP Kelly O'Dwyer were all pregnant with their first babies in 2015. Credit:Andrew Meares

Labor's Rishworth now has an announcement of her own to make: she and husband Tim Walker are expecting their second child in August.
Shadow social services minister Linda Burney says no one in the Labor caucus thinks the dole is adequate and her party's planned welfare review "cannot linger" due to the plight of people on unemployment benefits.

But Ms Burney, who is poised to become the minister in charge of welfare payments if Labor wins the May federal election, says there are challenges ahead if the dole is to be increased.

"For a change in the rate of Newstart, you've also got to win the argument in public," she told The Sun-Herald and The Sunday Age.

"A raise in the rate of Newstart has enormous financial implications. And I think we can't be naive [and not] be alive to all of those things. And I am alive to them."
With a heavy oak bar, sword slung overhead, pressed metal ceilings and a big old leather chair, you can almost smell the port and cigars in the old officers' mess at the Victoria Barracks on Petrie Terrace.

In fact, the whole complex scattered on the hill above the Roma Street railway yards is a step back in time to what has all the principal characteristics of a 19th-century British Empire military barracks, albeit on a small scale.

A view of the city from the Victoria Barracks. Credit:Brismania

There is a central parade ground surrounded by a soldiers' barracks, officers quarters, hospital and guard house as well as separate ordnance and transport compounds, together showing the military lifestyle of the 19th century.

Heading towards the CBD from Caxton Street and The Barracks, its easy to miss the big gates as Petrie Terrace swings around behind Roma Street. But behind the historic stone wall on an elevated and strategically located site, theres a whole new perspective of the city.
NSW Labor would Heritage-list the embattled Sirius building saving it from demolition, and retain the historic Windsor Bridge if elected in March.

Deputy Labor leader Penny Sharpe unveiled the moves as part of the state's first "Heritage Strategy" in the party's five-point plan on Saturday. The strategy would include specific laws to protect Aboriginal culture and a review of the government's management and protection of heritage assets.

The Sirius building would be saved from demolition under NSW Labor. Credit:Barton Taylor

A decision to protect the Sirius building reverses the current Liberal government's plan to sell off the building, and is in line with the recommendations of the the NSW Heritage Council.

"We want to protect the Sirius building, not just because it is an example of Brutalist architecture but because it tells a cultural and social story about Sydney," Ms Sharpe said.
Judith Taylor (Letters, 9/2), if you and other self-funded retirees truly don't want to burden the government, please return their cash payment. It's not your money. It's tax the company you invested in paid as part of its obligations. A company can't pay tax on anyone's behalf, not even its CEO. Money paid to self-managed super funds that pay no tax should be used to increase the age pension and improve our rivers, schools, hospitals and public housing instead of benefiting a large number of well-to-do retirees. Let's also correct the terminology. It's not a tax refund; it's a cash handout. You can't be possibly be refunded something that you haven't paid. Roy Browne, Templestowe A wrong this outrageous needs righting Judith Taylor says excess franking credits go to retirees who "attempted to plan for their retirement without burdening the government". A cost of about $6 billion, expected to rise to $8 billion, annually burdens the government a considerable amount. Surely well-off retirees who currently enjoy a negative tax balance can either learn to live within their means like many of their generation apathetically instruct "entitled" Millennials, follow Tim Wilson's relative's advice to restructure their finances to easily avoid the impacts of the proposed changes, or, God forbid, sell some assets if they're struggling to cope with losing out on middle-class welfare. I have no problem with Labor righting this "outrageous wrong" of Peter Costello, and repurposing it on education, health, infrastructure, services and people who actually need assistance from the government.

Andrew Seal, Kew THE FORUM Respect Mother Nature Thank you to Anthony Colangelo and The Sunday Age for showing the disregard by some mountain bikers of the laws and regulations protecting Yarra Bend National Park ("Yarra Bend's cycle of life and death", 10/2). This highlights a larger problem of environmental laws being ignored by some, at the expense of the rest of us.

We also see this disregard with illegal horse riding and quad bike riding on beaches, with the theft of environmental water by cotton farmers in the Darling catchment, with illegal fencing of public land on the Yarra, with landowners bulldozing dunes and cutting down trees to improve views around the Surrey River in our state's south-west. We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, where people affect every centimetre of this planet and other species only survive by the courtesy of our goodwill. It is time to start enforcing our laws and regulations, and fund agencies such as Parks Victoria to do so. The fish kills on the Darling River have brought to national attention the cost of that sort of disregard for our environment. Our environment is our greatest asset, not least of all our greatest economic asset. Andrew Kelly, Yarra Riverkeeper, Fitzroy Elite brought to book

Ronan McDonald ("The great Aussie fear of elitism", The Sunday Age, Opinion, 10/2) seems unaware of a stratum of Australian society that values intellectual scholarship, accepts disciplined academic work and comprehensive scientific or sociological research but doesn't automatically accord social status to noted participants in those fields. Tony Abbott, when prime minister, walked headlong into this constructive attitude of people being assessed in a totality when he awarded the Duke of Edinburgh another title and made Quentin Bryce a Dame. Mr Abbott's concept of elitism became a laughing matter and was a factor in his declining career. Louise Adler at Melbourne University Publishing has long been showing a pragmatic understanding of Australian book buyers with an eclectic publishing list. Given the small sales of academic work in book form it would have been logical, and possible, to establish an online arm of MUP for academic publications rather than raise the hackneyed cry of "popular culture" being crass. Des Files, Brunswick Motorcycle safety fail

Motorcyclists all over Victoria should be thankful that Aubrey Perry ("Why is lane filtering legal at any speed?", The Sunday Age, 10/2) is not responsible for setting the motorcycle road safety agenda. Her misunderstanding of the differences between lane filtering (moving between traffic at 30km/h or less) and lane splitting (moving between traffic at higher speeds) immediately undermines her argument. Rather than cherry-picking statistics from the internet, if she'd contacted VicRoads or the TAC directly she'd have discovered that motorcycle filtering is one of the safest choices a rider can make, and one which rarely leads to a fatality. I'd suggest that if Ms Perry is genuinely worried about her rather accident-prone motorcyclist partner, she should use her voice to lobby for more cost-effective training for riders, instead of arguing against a practice which has been proved to be safe, both in Australia and the rest of the world. Susan Lewis, Vermont South

PM true to form The Prime Minister did not do too well in his marketing role as inaugural director of Tourism Australia, a job from which he was sacked in 2006 by the minister for tourism in the Howard government, Fran Bailey. It is not surprising, therefore, to see that he is not doing too well in the marketing of the medivac legislation as bad law to be feared by all Australians. Jessie Mackenzie, Brunswick An each-way bet

When the Liberal Party was trying to send refugees to America they assured both presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump that these people had been through the most stringent security checks possible and that they were no threat to anyone. They are now telling the Australian public that the same people cannot possibly be allowed into Australia because they are a clear and potential threat to public safety and national security. I am wondering when they will tell us which one of these statements is a lie? Doug Steley, Heyfield Provocative politics

From his attacks against the humanitarian medivac legislation, it looks like the Prime Minister is quite happy to allow the result of the forthcoming federal election to be determined by a bunch of mercenary people smugglers operating along the southern coast of Indonesia. He was almost goading them to start up again just so he could blame it on Bill Shorten. How shameful to play politics with people's lives. God help us if the coming election is reduced to hysterical ranting and raving about border security, as in 2001 after the "Tampa" episode. The mood of the electorate has moved. We are not so easily spooked and frightened by outrageous claims. We can see through scaremongering. The recent Victorian election showed that such tactics will be severely punished by voters. Nick Toovey, Beaumaris The people will decide

Prime Minister Scott Morrison should not consider the historic loss of the government in the lower House this week as a defeat. Rather it is an affirmation of Australia being a robust democracy. It is the job of government to develop policy, and to put it to the House in a free vote. The dice falls as it may, and that is the will of the people as expressed by our parliamentary system. The question for Mr Morrison is: Was the Liberal Party position in line with the view of the majority of Australians? The vast majority of voters abhor the cruelty we have inflicted upon those in detention and a humanitarian position to provide medical care to those held in detention is right and proper. It is ironic that last week, Tony Mokbel, a convicted drug runner and gangster, is afforded urgent medical treatment while in the government's custody. Who is more deserving? Some in the Liberal Party, Mr Morrison among them, were completely out of touch with the electorate regarding marriage equality and they are currently exhibiting the same myopia regarding medical treatment for refugees.

An election looms, and the voters will speak, but it is not yet too late for the Liberal leadership to align its views with moderate, small-l liberals. Only if they do so can they avoid being a spent force after the election. Des Bleakley, Vermont South A billion better spent Scott Morrison must cease his ridiculous politicking around the plight of refugees and asylum seekers immediately and redirect the $1.4 billion he is proposing to waste on reopening the Christmas Island detention centre to grants for the survival and restoration of flood and drought-devastated landholdings in outback Queensland. Sue Currie, Northcote

Win-win a loser Good for the Interface Councils which encircle Melbourne to oppose the ad hoc rezoning of unserviced land on the Melbourne's fringe ("Plans raised for 12 new suburbs", 15/2). Local government carries the can when the state government succumbs to the land bank lobby. Who will collect the windfall profits? What party donations have been made? If the Victorian government was concerned about access to affordable housing, rather than bumping up its property taxes, it would not be selling inner-city public housing. So it's a win-win for developers  on the fringe and in the centre. Angela Munro, Carlton North

Internal combustion Alex Ellinghausen's photo of Energy Minister Angus Taylor sitting alone in the House of Representatives chamber (15/2), taken presumably after the government withdrew its "big stick" power company divestment legislation, says it all. We have an Energy Minister who has achieved virtually nothing since his appointment and a lame-duck government that continues to pursue its interventionist energy policies that are being condemned by industry, economists and experts as positively unhelpful to the mammoth task of decarbonising Australia's energy supply while improving its reliability. Australia has had six years of conservative government inaction on climate change and energy policy. Australia's total carbon emissions have been rising since each year since 2014, when they should be falling. It's time for a new government that will do something. Andrew Rothfield, Northcote
U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon canceled its plans to build a new headquarters in New York City, though most New Yorkers support it. Some local politicians as well as trade unions and community activists were blamed for Amazon pulling out.

Amazon said on Thursday it would not build a new headquarters due to opposition from "some state and local politicians."

"After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," Amazon said.

Amazon's decision to scrap its second national headquarters in the Queens borough was a result of resistance from some local officials, unions and community activists, Stanley Kwong, a professor of International Marketing at University of San Francisco, told Xinhua Thursday.

He called the Amazon decision "a stunning reversal" for one of the world's most valuable companies, which had promised to put half of the 50,000 jobs in the Long Island City neighborhood.

Amazon said polls show 70 percent of New Yorkers support its plans and investments in the city, but Kwong pointed out that some grassroots communities feared that the influx of usually high-paid Amazon employees would push up housing prices.

"A lot of communities are now weary of tech booms because of what has happened in the Bay Area," he said.

"The Bay Area's tech boom famously created an influx of tech companies, workers and jobs, but in 2012, it ignited a housing crisis that's made it difficult for many people, especially those in minimum wage or entry-level jobs, to live nearby," explained Kwong, who is also a strategic advisor to the Bay Area Council in San Francisco.

He said many low-income earners are worried about a prospect where they could not afford a home if housing costs skyrocket, and even lose their jobs when Amazon settles in.

Amazon employees at the new headquarters would likely be paid an average salary of at least 150,000 a year, which dwarfs the earnings of many locals in New York.

"The skyrocketing costs in San Francisco show no signs of slowing. Affordable housing remains even more scarce as new tech businesses crop up and exacerbate the issue," Kwong said.

Amazon had planned to split its new headquarters between Long Island City and Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia.

The U.S. online retail powerhouse disclosed Thursday that it does not intend to search for an alternative site for the second headquarters at this time, but it will continue its plans for Northern Virginia and Nashville.

Kwong said Virginia has already passed a law granting Amazon up to 750 million U.S. dollars in state incentives over the next 15 years, on condition that it create 37,850 new jobs over that period.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed disappointment at Amazon's decision to drop its plan of building the second headquarters in the city.

"You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity," the mayor tweeted after Amazon announced its drop-out plan.

"If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will," the mayor tweeted.

Meanwhile, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo denounced the New York State Senate in a statement, saying that they should be "held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

"A small group politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community ... the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," he said, without identifying any specific parties.

Amazon currently employs over 5,000 workers in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island.

In 2017, Amazon announced it was looking for a second headquarters, and pitted more than 200 cities against each other to woo its huge investment.
Three children  a 12-year-old girl and two boys, ages 9 and 14  were struck by two unknown males, one armed with a gun, in the 5700 block of Crowder Boulevard in the West Lake Forest neighborhood of eastern New Orleans. The age of the assailants was unknown. The children told police that, at around 12:24 p.m. Friday, the males struck two of the victims, stole a bicycle and then showed them the gun, telling them to stop following him or he would shoot them.

In other matters recently handled by local authorities:

 Man found shot to death at Claiborne and Canal.

At around 4:30 a.m. on Saturday, police found a man lying facedown down under the elevated portion of South Claiborne Avenue/Interstate 10. The man was suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and body. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Man fatally shot Saturday morning at edge of Central Business District, NOPD says A man was shot early Saturday morning at the edge of New Orleans' Central Business District, according to a press release from New Orleans Pol

 Teens shot on porch in Central City

Two teenagers, ages 17 and 13, were shot on Friday night while they sat on a porch in the 3200 block of Louisiana Parkway, according to the New Orleans Police Department. They told police that an unknown vehicle pulled up at around 8:30 p.m. and someone within the car began shooting. The boys were left with two graze wounds, on the abdomen of the 13-year-old and the buttocks of the 17-year-old; they were taken to a hospital to be treated.

 Man cut by broken wine glass

After two men argued within a car, a 19-year-old man was cut on both hands by a broken wine glass wielded by the other man. At around 1 p.m. on Friday, the victim pushed the other man out of the car and drove away from the scene of the crime, near the intersection of Convention Center Boulevard and Canal Street in the Central Business District. Police have identified Kendrick Johnson, 20, as a suspect in the incident.

 Man forced to go to ATM, robbed, in Little Woods

A male victim, whose age was not listed in preliminary incident reports, told police that he got off the bus with another man, who forced him at gunpoint to go to an ATM and withdraw money. The man gave the suspect cash and a cell phone and fled, around the 6900 block of Pinebrook Drive in the Little Woods neighborhood of eastern New Orleans. Shortly afterward, police arrested Derris Crayton, 26, who was booked with first-degree robbery and possession of stolen things.

 Woman enters former apartment with key, gets violent

At around 11:45 a.m. on Friday, a 33-year-old woman was slapped and threatened by a woman who used an old key to get into her home in the 6300 block of Ransom Street, in the Pines Village neighborhood of eastern New Orleans. The victim told police that the suspect slapped her, damaged property, and grabbed a knife. The victim ran and hid in the bathroom, but the suspect kicked in the bathroom door and tried to choke the victim, who called police. The suspect ran away before police arrived, but police have identified Gailory White, 22, as a suspect.
An accountant from Baton Rouge stole roughly $2 million that the historically troubled New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund gave to him to invest in life insurance policies  and then used the money to gamble, finance home improvements and pay off debts, federal prosecutors allege.

Wayne Triche faces charges of wire fraud and falsely reporting his income on several tax returns in a 38-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury Thursday.

Triche didnt immediately respond to a message left for him at his office Friday.

According to the indictment, the New Orleans Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund loaned $5 million to a company that Triche co-founded so the firm could buy life insurance policies as investments that officials hoped would generate profits.

Life insurance holders will sometimes sell their policies to investors who hope that the benefits paid out by the policy will be more than it cost to purchase and maintain it.

Triches company received more than $6 million in benefits from life insurance policies purchased as investments on behalf of the Firefighters Pension and Relief Fund, the feds said. But less than $3 million of that made its way back to the fund.

Triche took a large portion of that money and transferred it to a set of bank accounts under his control, said the indictment obtained by U.S. Attorney Peter Strassers office.

The indictment highlights 34 unauthorized transactions totaling more than $1.8 million between 2013 and 2016. Aside from gambling, home improvements and credit card payments, Triche used the money to pay a civil judgment and cover other living expenses, the indictment said.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

He then failed to report that income on his 2011 to 2014 tax returns, the government said.

Triche could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 if convicted of the charges, which resulted from an investigation by the FBI and IRS.

Attorney Louis Robein represents New Orleans firefighters in pension issues and said Thursday that retirement fund officials had cooperated with the feds. He declined further comment, citing the pending case.

The fund collects money that firefighters and the city pay toward their retirement. It invests that money and then pays out benefits as necessary.

It has long been underfunded because of low city payments as well as investments that have performed poorly.

Triche founded American Pension Consultants along with George Russell in 2002 records show. He assumed control of the company after Russell died a few years later, according to the indictment.

An arraignment date for Triche hadn't immediately been set Friday.
In the face of a looming housing crisis for dozens of inmates with mental health problems, a federal judge has handed New Orleans officials a 
A funeral service will be held Monday in Benton for Gov. John Bel Edwards' close confidant and former campaign manager Linda Day.

Day, a longtime education advocate who managed Edwards' 2015 run, died Thursday after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her husband, Pete, of Bossier City.

Day, 73, was serving as a senior adviser to Edwards' campaign for re-election this year.

Linda was not just a member of our team; she was part of our family. We have been together through good times and bad," Edwards said in a statement. She devoted her life to making Louisiana a better place, and it is today because of her. When our family needed Linda, she was always there for us. We hope over the course of our long journey together, we were able to do the same for her. We know now that Linda is watching over all of us, and we ask all Louisianans to join their prayers to ours for her husband, Pete, and her entire family."

Though not a figure often in the media spotlight during the campaigns, Day attended Edwards' special speaking events, including his annual State of the State addresses, and sat alongside first lady Donna Edwards.

The scoop on state politics in your inbox Get the Louisiana politics insider details once a week from us. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Before her turn to politics, she was a teacher and served as president of the Louisiana Association of Educators.

Visitation will be from noon to 1:30 p.m. Monday at Cypress Baptist Church in Benton, followed by funeral services from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Edwards will serve as an honorary pallbearer, and his son, John Miller, will be a pallbearer.

Friends and family can sign an online guestbook at www.osbornfuneralhome.net.

Donations in Day's memory can be made to CHRISTUS Cancer Treatment Center, 1453 East Bert Kouns, Shreveport, LA 71105.
Gov. John Bel Edwards' plan to boost teacher pay to the regional average is facing headwinds before the legislative debate even begins on April 8.

Governors in at least eight other states that Louisiana is compared to  half of the total  have proposed raising pay for their own teachers this year, according to the Southern Regional Education Board, which sets the average.

Those plans include raises of $3,000 in Georgia, $1,000 in Arkansas and $1,200 in Oklahoma.

In addition, six rival states raised teacher pay last year while Louisiana remained bogged down in a budget crisis that sparked seven special sessions.

Teachers in Louisiana last got pay raises that averaged $580 in 2013, and a $2,376 increase in 2007 when the state finally reached the regional average.

But the SREB's latest tally  for 2016-17  showed average teacher pay here was $50,000, or $1,498 below the average of the 16 states and $9,660 below the U.S. average then.

The governor and others contend the regional gap has widened since then, perhaps to $2,200 or so.

Edwards has proposed pay raises of $1,000 this year, part of a three-year plan aimed at reaching the Southern average.

Gov. Edwards targets boosting Louisiana teachers' regional average pay; downplays talk of walkouts Mixing education goals with re-election themes, Gov. John Bel Edwards said Saturday he is mapping plans to boost teacher pay to the regional a

However, similar and more generous proposals in rival states are sure to complicate the push.

"It is kind of a moving target, so it is going to take serious investment," said Debbie Meaux, president of the Louisiana Association of Educators and an Edwards ally.

Texas and other states in the region are also expected to debate teacher pay raises. How many will win final approval remains to be seen, which means the 2019 gap will not be known for months.

The size of the raise in Louisiana is just part of the debate.

Will Louisiana teachers walk out sometime this year? It depends on this factor, leader says Whether public school teachers walk off the job in the current school year depends on actions by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and the Repu

Sen. Conrad Appel, R-Metairie, a member of the Senate Education Committee who was its chairman for four years, said local school districts should help finance any pay boost.

"It is not necessarily just a state incentive," Appel said. "And No. 2, there needs to be something linking teacher pay increases to success in the classroom."

Others have suggested targeting high-demand teachers  like those who specialize in math, science or special education  for higher salaries.

+2 Education leaders support push for teacher pay raise; questions, concerns remain over details While public school teachers are enthused about prospects for a pay raise, they are leery about details of the plan, including how it would be

In a report last week, the Louisiana Budget Project said that, rather than across-the-board hikes, the raises should target huge disparities in pay across the state.

The review said teachers in 45 of the state's 69 school districts were paid less than the state average, according to policy analyst Neva Butkus, who did the report.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

But reaching the SREB average is expected to be the mantra in 2019, just as it was before the state did so 12 years ago.

Edwards' office downplayed concerns about action in other states.

"The governor has been clear all along that his plan is the first step in a multi-year process to get teacher pay up to the SREB average," Shauna Sanford, the communications director, said in a statement.

"If anything this makes an even stronger case for why we can no longer wait to implement these much-deserved and long-overdue raises for teachers and support personnel," Sanford said of pay raise debates elsewhere.

Why pay for new teachers in Louisiana stacks up better than for veteran teachers While public school teachers may get their first substantive pay hike in six years, low salaries are not a glaring issue for new teachers.

The governor, who has long enjoyed the support of the LAE and the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, has failed to deliver on most of his key public school proposals for the past three years.

"First and foremost, it is an election year, so you can't ignore this factor in considering the timing of this request by the governor," said Joshua Stockley, associate professor of political science at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

However, he also said the governor, whose wife, Donna, is a music education teacher, knows the plight of educators more than other statewide officeholders.

Stockley said the pay gap points to a larger issue.

"Louisiana has persistently struggled with staying at average," he said.

"We work so hard to get to the average and then, either by forces beyond our control or forces within our control, we find ourselves lagging again," Stockley said.

"There was a time when higher education statistics indicated that we were in the regional average under Gov. Kathleen Blanco," he said. "And we are only two governors removed and we find ourselves near the bottom."

The 2019 legislative session will be the first of Edwards' term where the state budget is not in crisis mode.

His plan, including $500 pay hikes for school support workers, totals $134.7 million.

Meaux, whose group favors increases of at least $1,200 this year, said Louisiana has to aim for exceeding the SREB average to stay there.

"We are lagging behind by a large percentage, and it is going to take an all-at-one-time and over many times of that investment," she said.

Shane Riddle, legislative and political director for the LAE, said that aside from concerns on exactly how raises should be funded, "we just need to make sure that we are trying to solve some of the problem quickly."

Appel, despite questions about the details of any increases, thinks one will pass. "Clearly, we need a pay raise," he said.

Larry Carter, president of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers, said Louisiana needs to find a way to both reach the SREB average and sustain it.

"What we are hoping for is that people in our Legislature are paying attention to the progress that other states are making regarding investments in education funding," Carter said.
A nonprofit Scotlandville organization is trying to get their community registered as a historic district to help property owners repair buildings that have anchored the area for generations.

It's a matter of civic pride for Byron Washington of the group North Baton Rouge Now. But a historic designation also makes it easier for nonprofits to secure grants for beautification projects, and for landowners to get help restoring old buildings.

For example, one federal program can reimburse up to 20 percent of costs to repair a historic building, said Nicole Hobson-Morris, director of the state's Division of Historic Preservation.

To qualify, Scotlandville will have to demonstrate that its district is at least 50 years old and significant for its architecture, archaeology, culture or connection to a historical figure, Hobson-Morris said.

Washington made the case Friday for the community's cultural importance. Standing near the intersection of Scenic Highway and Scotland Avenue, he said the area used to be a central business district where locals patronized their neighborhood entrepreneurs, all at the steps of Southern University. It was a thriving community which thrummed "like its own little heartbeat," he said.

+7 Developers rushing to Opportunity Zones for tax break, but is it helping Louisiana's low-income areas? A new federal program pitched as a way to aid low-income communities is ramping up across Louisiana, but after a political scramble to make va

Black History Month is a good reminder to think about the forebears of the local African-American community, he said. NBR Now will host three public meetings and are asking for community support as they make their case for the historic designation. Washington asked Scotlandville residents to bring photos, documents and stories.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

"Talk to your elders. Talk to your neighbors," he said.

The meetings will take place between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Feb 18 at the Jewel J. Newman Community Center and Feb. 21 at Scotlandville High. A Feb. 26 meeting at the Scotlandville library will run between 6:30 p.m. and 7:10 p.m.

Metro Councilwoman Chauna Banks also urged community input and said she's excited by the prospect of the historic recognition.

Organizers are still working out the boundaries of the proposed district, but NBR Now president Sateria Tate said it could run as far north as University Place and as far south as Southern Heights and the Banks Addition.

She echoed the call for community input and hopes property owners will learn about possibilities within a historic district because incentives can stack on top of other programs like the existing Opportunity Zone deals.

Hobson-Morris said a historic designation would not restrict what owners can do with their property, but the program is designed to "jump-start the revitalization process."

After the public meetings, it will take a month or two to survey the properties in Scotlandville, then at least another month for the state to review the application, depending on how much material is submitted, authorities said. If the state approves the application, it would go before the National Parks Service for a final determination.
Some LSU administrators have been placed on leave pending an investigation into their conduct in response to hazing allegations against several members of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, university officials announced Friday evening.

Officials said they received "an allegation regarding the reaction of some administrators after hearing a rumor regarding the DKE chapter."

"Individuals with knowledge about such activities taking place must share that information so that the appropriate steps can be taken to protect our students," LSU President F. King Alexander said in a statement. "Students, faculty and staff must continue to work together so that we can once and for all rid our organizations of this toxic and illegal behavior."

Nine DKE members have been arrested and accused of participating in abusive hazing rituals that included beating pledges with a metal pipe, dousing them with gasoline and urinating on them. The reports also depict a culture of silence meant to conceal the abuse from outsiders.

Top stories in Baton Rouge in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

"We are making important cultural changes, and remain committed to weeding out dangerous behavior in our student organizations," the LSU statement reads. "Hazing will not be tolerated on our campus. It is a criminal activity that destroys lives. We have taken aggressive steps toward eradicating this destructive element from our campus, and you are witnessing some of the fallout from our continued pursuit of a better, stronger campus culture for our students."

+2 LSU admins on leave amid questions over handling DKE abuse; ex-student affairs president left in January LSU placed multiple administrators connected to Greek life on leave Friday, a month after the university quietly parted ways with another top-

The accusations come amid the university's ongoing quest for increased safety within its Greek system following the hazing death of an LSU freshman in fall 2017, which sparked widespread concern about unsafe practices and lenient penalties for the students responsible.

DKE's national organization  one of the oldest fraternities in the nation  announced the sudden closure of its LSU chapter last month after an investigation found evidence of hazing and alcohol violations. The group said it shared its findings with LSU Police and the school administration.
Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission
Downtown Lafayette came out in force to celebrate Waitr opening its new headquarters on Jefferson Street.

Gov. John Bel Edwards was also on hand and delivered some good economic news for Lafayette and the state.

The delivery service's 48,000-square-foot office, at 214 Jefferson St. inside the Lemoine Building, will be home to about 200 new jobs over the next few years, according to Waitr Chief Executive Officer Chris Meaux. Their office at 1100 Bertrand Drive will remain open, he said, and will continue to serve as the customer operations center while the new headquarters will house the company's customer support, engineering, accounting, sales and marketing departments.

"Our workforce is a young workforce," Meaux said. "They like to be able to get out at lunch or what have you, so downtown was just the right place for us. It's really exciting with all the development and revitalization that's happening downtown and we thought we could help be a catalyst for that as well."

Meaux added that while Waitr is currently on the third floor of the building, they will be taking over the second floor in September.

Top stories in Acadiana in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Edwards applauded the 220 new jobs coming to Lafayette, which are in addition to the 315 people Waitr currently employs in Louisiana and the 5,800 the company employs nationwide. He also said the new jobs will pay higher than average salaries at $55,000 per year plus benefits. According to Louisiana Economic Development, this expansion will add 227 indirect jobs in Lafayette, as well.

"No community can deliver on great food and technology like Lafayette," Edwards said. "With an ambitious and intelligent staff like they have at Waitr, we believe that Waitr is going to deliver a whole new era a growth for Louisiana."

Louisiana startup Waitr posts $69 million in revenue, $35 million net loss for 2018 Louisiana food delivery service Waitr posted $69 million in revenue and a $35 million net loss for 2018, as the startup reported full earnings

Edwards also used the opportunity to announce a new state-supported venture capital program to help get entrepreneurs and startups off the ground. The state will provide $200,000 a year for the next five years for select new businesses with Waitr and Chris Meaux helping in the selection process, according to Edwards.

Edwards also announced the state will be providing a $1.5 million grant to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's School of Computing and Informatics. The grant will allow the school to increase the number of graduates to help staff tech companies in Louisiana like Waitr and CGI.
Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use.

This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email please call (208) 542-6777 for help.
What just happened? Twitter has hidden a tweet that appears to have come from or on behalf of Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, as the tweet breached their policies on inciting violence. But many users are calling the move hypocritical, given Twitters previously stated policy of not removing news-worthy posts made by country leaders.

On Thursday, Twitter account @khamenei_ir posted that Imam Khomeinis verdict regarding Salman Rushdie is based on divine verses and just like divine verses, it is solid and irrevocable. The verdict in question was a death sentence  a fatwa  being placed on Rushdie for blasphemy following the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.

The @khamenei_ir account isnt verified with Twitters blue tick, but it does have over half a million followers and displays no signs of being a parodic or satirical account.

Fellow tweeters reported the post to Twitter, and on Friday the platform confirmed to Buzzfeed that the offending tweet had been hidden, explaining that It's against our rules to make specific threats of violence or wish for the serious physical harm, death, or disease of an individual or group of people."

Reactions to the move were typically divided  some thought it was a positive step while others said hiding the tweet didnt go far enough and the account should be suspended. But many also pointed to what they viewed as inconsistency on Twitters part when it comes to implementing their stated policies.

Many users have sought to draw parallels between the Khamenei tweet and those of Donald Trump. The U.S. president is known for his prolific use of Twitter, and people have long complained about his posts allegedly containing hateful or threatening statements.

But in January 2018 Twitter released a blog post stating they would not remove tweets from the world leaders because blocking a world leader from Twitter or removing their controversial Tweets would hide important information people should be able to see and debate. Its this blog post that is fuelling much of the ire towards Twitters actions.

According to Twitters policies, the @khamenei_ir account will be in read-only mode until the offending tweet has been deleted by the account owner.
Something to look forward to: According to leaked financial information from the AirPods manufacturing plant, the first batch has been shipped and the second much larger batch will begin production shortly. The AirPods themselves will be black, improve audio quality, and introduce heart rate sensing for an additional $40 over the current generation.

Inventec, the Chinese company that manufactures AirPods, recently released its monthly financial statement. Other than confirming the company will build a new manufacturing plant in Nanchang to facilitate American customers, the public version of the report doesnt reveal specifics. However, Chinese website UDN was able to speak an investor with access to the private statement.

Inventec is reportedly expecting large profits to be made from the next AirPods, which will debut along with the AirPower charging mat very soon in Spring. Theyll cost $199 (the originals cost $159), come in black and white options and be coated in a new grippier material. The devices will be manufactured at the same rate as the original AirPods.

While Inventec specializes in audio and is not working on AirPower, the business plan is for them to launch together. AirPower will live up to all its promises but be thicker than original concepts that Apple showed off. According to a separate source claiming to speak with an Apple employee, advertisements for both devices are being filmed currently.

In terms of upgrades over the current generation, previous reports have suggested that the new AirPods will feature improved bass response, health sensors that include heart rate detection, and better water resistance. Theyll also use Bluetooth 5.0, which can improve audio quality while consuming less power. That will make the battery life slightly better compared to the originals, despite including batteries of the same capacity. Hey Siri compatibility will also be a feature.

For a company that seemed to give up on music hardware and let the iPod die, Apple has created one of the most successful and novel audio products of the last few years. AirPods 2 will no doubt be a big hit.
Seminole, FL (33772)

Today

Partial cloudiness early, with scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low around 75F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
An employee who was being terminated from his job at an Illinois warehouse opened fire at his workplace Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers, authorities said.

Gary Martin, 45, was called into a meeting that afternoon inside the warehouse in the Chicago suburb of Aurora and was told he was being fired. Martin then shot the three employees who were at the meeting and two others who were nearby using a Smith & Wesson handgun he owned illegally, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters Saturday.

Martin had a criminal record, including a felony that kept him from owning a gun legally, Ziman said.

Investigators have said little else that would explain the rampage, including why Martin, who had worked at the warehouse for 15 years, was being fired. It's unclear if Martin knew of his termination beforehand.

"I hate that we have to use the term classic workplace shooting. That pains me to do so. At this time I don't know," Ziman told reporters Friday. "Again, we can only surmise that with a gentleman who's being terminated that this was something he intended to do."

The five wounded officers were taken to local hospitals, two of whom were transferred to trauma centers. All are expected to survive, police said. One warehouse employee suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Several 911 calls came just before 1:30 p.m. Friday. Ziman said Martin shot the officers immediately after they arrived at the 29,000-square-foot warehouse of Henry Pratt Co., which manufactures water valves. Martin hid in the warehouse, and police spent the next hour and a half finding him inside the massive facility. When police found Martin, he fired at the officers, who then killed him, Ziman said.

Gabriel Gonzales, an Iraq War Marine veteran who can see the Henry Pratt warehouse from his front yard, said the number of police vehicles, flashing lights and armored cars Friday afternoon were giving him flashbacks.

"When you are a combat zone you expect it," said Gonzales. "I've never seen this many police officers anywhere."

He was watching his grandchildren, who were mesmerized by the activity unfolding through the window, and worrying about their brother Anthony, whose school was put under lock down.

"My grandson had a school lockdown at 8 years old. I mean, can you believe that?" Gonzalez said. "Back when I was a kid, it was just tornadoes."

At the news conference, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said the shooting marked "a sad day in the city."

"For so many years, we've seen similar situations throughout our nation," he said. "To experience it firsthand is even more painful."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker lauded the efforts of law enforcement officers and first responders before lamenting the "epidemic of gun violence that continues to ravage so many communities."

The victims' families, he said, "join a group that should not exist, yet continues to grow."

Tiffany Probst, 38, a legal assistant said her best friend saw a post on Facebook about the shooting and she started texting "that your dad might be inside!"

Her father, John, has worked as a machinist in the building for over 40 years. He has three grown children and has five grandchildren. Probst raced down to the factory, but it was blocked by police.

"I knew there was no way to call him because he's old school and never has a cellphone," then she heard from friends father was giving TV interviews and talking with the police.

"He's safe and talking to the news," she said. "He's not much of a talker, but when it comes to this, I can tell by his voice he's real shaken up. We are looking forward to giving him a hug."

This undated booking photo provided by the Aurora Illinois Police Department shows Gary Montez Martin, who police say killed multiple people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse after he was fired, Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. (Aurora Illinois Police Department via AP)AP

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., tweeted Friday that she was following the situation. This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans, Duckworth wrote. Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter.

"My heart breaks for Aurora," Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted. "I'm tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency."

The shooting occurred just a day after the first anniversary of a mass shooting that killed 17 students and staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The young survivors have since become among the loudest advocates for stronger gun laws, spurring a social media movement with the hashtag #NeverAgain. Their activism has led to the creation of the student-led demonstration, March for our Lives.

Nancy Caal, who works at Erwin's Truck Repair near the scene of the shooting, told The Post that she heard the din of sirens as police cars and ambulances rushed to the building behind hers.

She and two others put the shop on lockdown when they saw heavily armed officers heading toward the adjacent Henry Pratt warehouse.

"Nobody told us nothing," she said. "But we closed the gates and locked down the shop."

Aurora shares a name with another suburb that endured a mass shooting almost seven years ago. A gunman, James Holmes, opened fire inside a movie theater in 2012, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. The similarity was not lost on Nick Metz, the police chief of Aurora, Colorado.

Months from now as people talk about the mass shooting in Aurora, someone will ask, Which Aurora mass shooting are we talking about? he said on Twitter.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Democrats picked the newest member of the Syracuse Common Council Saturday and designated more than a dozen people to run for open positions in city and county government this year.

Bryn Lovejoy-Grinnell, who is director of legal services for Vera House, won the Onondaga County Democratic Committees backing for the vacant 3rd district council seat after three rounds of voting in a four-way race.

Council leaders previously agreed to appoint the committees designee to the seat, meaning Lovejoy-Grinnell will join the council in the coming weeks before having to run for election later this year. She will replace Sue Boyle, who resigned earlier this month to take a job with Onondaga County.

Lovejoy-Grinnell, 38 of Strathmore, defeated Chol Majok, Emad Rahim and Maritza Alvarado for the spot. Majok and Rahim both indicated they plan to challenge her in a primary.

The contest for the 3rd district seat was the most competitive race at the Democratic Committees designation meeting, which lasted more than three hours at the Teamsters local 317 on Spencer Street Saturday morning.

Sometimes democracy takes time, said party Chairwoman Pam Hunter.

The committee picked candidates to run for Onondaga County Comptroller, Onondaga County District Attorney, Onondaga County Legislature, Syracuse Auditor, Syracuse Common Council and several Syracuse school board positions.

Noticeably missing was any contender to run at the top of the ticket against Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon, a Republican. The party has struggled to find someone to take on McMahon, who was put in the job by the legislature last fall after former County Executive Joanie Mahoney resigned midterm.

State Assemblyman Al Stirpe has said hes considering running. Saturday morning, Hunter said shes spoken with another man who is also interested, but she declined to say who.

If the party doesnt have a candidate by the time petitioning begins, Hunter said Democrats will use a placeholder name to preserve the partys spot on the ballot. Essentially, the party can collect signatures for one person, then switch whose name is on the ballot later this spring. Hunter admitted that isnt ideal, since the petition period is a good time to start campaigning. She still hopes to have a candidate before Feb. 26.

Were getting close, she said Saturday morning.

In other races, the party unanimously picked City Auditor Marty Masterpole to run for county comptroller and Charles Keller to run for district attorney. Masterpole is term-limited out of office as auditor this year after eight years in the job.

Former Common Councilor Nader Maroun was chosen to run for auditor, defeating Ronnie Bell for the designation.

In a three-way contest for two open at-large seats on the Common Council, incumbents Michael Greene and Steve Thompson received designations. Rita Paniagua, a school board member, also sought the designation. She said Saturday she plans to run a primary for the nomination in June.

Jay Subedi, a business owner and former refugee from Bhutan, was picked to run for the councils 1st district seat. Thats the only seat currently held by a Republican, Joe Carni.

District Councilors Chad Ryan (2nd), Latoya Allen (4th) and Joe Driscoll (5th) were designated to run to keep their seats.

Bill Kinne was chosen to run for the 15th district seat on the Onondaga County Legislature, narrowly edging out Kyle Madden on a second round of voting. That seat was previously held by County Executive McMahon and was filled by Republican Miles Bottrill after McMahon was named county executive.

Kinne spent 20 years on the legislature from 1992 to 2011. He left that position after suffering a brain aneurysm and was soon after appointed to a job as a legislative aide.

I never wanted to leave" the legislature, he said Saturday morning. I was hoping to run against Ryan McMahon...but now Ill run against his machine.

Kinne defeated Madden, Misse Ross and Sharon Akkoul for the designation on the second round of balloting.

In the legislatures 7th district, DeWitt Town Councilor Joe Chiarenza was selected over incumbent Democrat Tom Buckel. Buckel had announced plans not to run last fall, but jumped back in the race this year.

I was uncertain and undecided until the very last minute, Buckel said Saturday. I will not primary.

Jessica Bumpus was picked to run for the 5th district legislature seat and Vernon Williams Jr. was designated for the 16th district position, currently held by his mother, Monica Williams.

There were six people seeking four open school board positions. The committee picked incumbents Mark Muhammad, Dan Romeo and Katie Sojewicz, as well as first time candidate Tamica Barnett, a city firefighter.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday he wants to shut down up to three state prisons by Labor Day, citing record declines in the states prison population and crime rate.

Cuomo said he wants the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to recommend which of the states 54 correctional facilities should be closed and how their staff and prison population should be transferred to other facilities.

Prison guards and some state lawmakers immediately criticized the plan, warning it will take an economic toll on some communities and make the remaining prisons less safe.

This will unquestionably make our prisons more dangerous, said Michael Powers, president of the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association.

It means consolidating the incarcerated into other prisons, making them overpopulated and increasing the risk of violent behavior, Powers said. Violence at New Yorks correctional facilities is already at a historic high.

State Sen. Patty Ritchie, a Republican who represents a North Country district, vowed to fight to keep open the five prisons in the region.

The five prisons in our region, and the jobs they support, are critical to our local communities and their economies, Ritchie said in a statement. She added, In the North Country, every job counts. We dont have Amazon wanting to locate in our region -- nor do we have the opportunity to turn down the tens of thousands of jobs a project like that would support.

Cuomo defended the plan, noting that the states prison population has declined by almost 17 percent since 2011, from 56,419 to 46,973 people. The governor said its the lowest prison population in decades, down from a peak of 72,649 about 20 years ago.

The state has closed 24 prisons and juvenile detention centers since Cuomo took office eight years ago. He said the consolidation has saved about $162 million per year.
In February 1919, many people who lived on the Westside of Syracuse hid in their homes in fear.

In areas around the newly built Vocational High School, named the Westside Academy at Blodgett today, a Mysterious Woman in Black had been appearing at all hours of the night and early morning.

The eerie creature, the Syracuse Herald said, comes upon pedestrians suddenly, appearing from out of nowhere then disappearing in the same fashion when anyone tried to get close to it.

The "Woman in Black" was seen often walking near the new Vocational High School, now called the Westside Academy at Blodgett. Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com SYRSYR

The newspaper said whoever, or whatever, it was seemed inoffensive enough but it still had an entire section of the city by the ears:

Children in the neighborhood have gotten so frightened that they refuse to go out at nights; and many women have declared that they will not venture forth after twilight until the mystery is solved. The men are more brave about it, though they are being persuaded by their wives to stay in.

Usually seen in the early morning hours just before dawn, though some evening sightings were made, often around the 500 block of Otisco Street, the figure was a topic of conversation for weeks in the city.

The Herald gave this description:

She is dressed always in black with skirts that are wide and flowing. This has been noticed on windy nights when the breezes have flung the voluminous draperies wide as the wearer walked rapidly, as she always does. About her head she wears some sort of a soft black shawl in which the lower part of her face is muffled.

Accounts said the figure was tall and had very large feet.

Some thought it was a ghost or apparition, a figment of peoples imaginations.

Others, after hearing about the figures height and foot size, believed it was a man dressed in womens clothing playing a joke on residents.

Children on Syracuse's Westside were frightened by a mysterious "woman in black." Headlines from the Feb. 13, 1919 Syracuse Herald. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm

One account declared that no woman ever had a foot so large, not even an Amazon.

But most thought it was a woman.

Mrs. Patrick Eagan, who lived at 504 Otisco Street, saw the figure every morning for three consecutive days from her window and was sure it was female.

Tall she is and thin and angular, Eagan said. But its a woman all right, because it hasnt a mans shape.

(Eagan also claimed that the woman in black and her had some sort of physic connection and that Eagan would have an uncomfortable feeling whenever the dark figure approached her home.)

People stayed up late looking out their windows hoping to see the woman and anyone who had a brush with her told the papers.

Miss Elizabeth Brown, of South Wilbur Avenue, saw her on the evening of February 20 while running an errand.

The roaming black-frocked one approached Brown and she quickly ran all the way back home.

No woman could be so tall, she declared, the figures exceeding full, almost trailing black robes, adding to her size.

While making his deliveries in the early morning of February 14, Milkman Bert DeWitt had the closest encounter.

She just appeared out of the darkness, he said.

This description appeared in Syracuse Herald on Feb. 23, 1919. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm

After asking her why she was roaming around scaring people, she gave him one awful look then vanished into a dark vacant lot.

Another milkman who refused to give his name, was startled when he found a terrified man, out of breath, hiding in his cart.

I was walking along, thinking of nothing in particular, the scared man said, and suddenly a black-clothed figure appeared at my side.

The man ran away.

Guess youd have beat it too, if youd seen what I did, he said after the milkman laughed at him.

Things then began to take a more serious turn.

Impostors began prowling the streets dressed in black looking to frighten people.

A group of teenage boys at a party went out one at a time in a black gown, until one was tackled by police and arrested.

Fred Greis, 24, was shot at while sneaking through backyards with a handkerchief over his face, looking to frighten people.

When Justice B.J. Shove was told that Greis had a newspaper clipping about the Woman in Black is his pocket, the judge flew into a rage.

This is the hour of the crack brained all over the world, he exclaimed. Here is a young man whose carrying of such a newspaper clipping shows his mentality and indicates that something must be done to put a stop to this nonsense.

Shove ordered Greis to be taken to the Psychopathic Hospital for an examination.

The nonsense all came to an end on March 2 and, like many mysteries, Syracuses Woman in Black had a very sane and plausible explanation.

Harriet Slayton, 61, of Wyoming Street, suffered from neuralgia, after a painful fall down her stairs. (The condition is described as a stabbing or burning pain from a damaged or irritated nerve.)

- A mysterious "woman in black" scared the people of Syracuse's westside in February 1919. Mrs. Harriet Slayton, a sufferer of neuralgia, who found relief from early morning walks cam forward and said the dark figure was her. Headlines from the March 2, 1919 Syracuse Herald. Heritage MicrofilmHeritage Microfilm

I fell down the stairs and injured my head, she said. Since then I have been greatly troubled with neuralgic pains in my head where the hurt was. The only way I can get relief is to walk in the open air.

The attacks usually came to her very early in the morning.

She wore black because that color, she said, was most becoming of her age. And she wrapped her head in a black shawl because she had a cashmere one which protected her aching jaw from the cold.

She chose to walk around the Vocational School because it was just a good place to walk.

The Herald said she was a stately woman, who lived alone with her cat, Bunch.

Like what many of the eyewitnesses said, she was tall and walked about quickly. But she had normal-sized feet.

Slayton did not read the newspapers and had no idea that she was the cause of so much furor.

It was not until two grown men seemed afraid of her that she realized something was wrong.

There two were coming towards me and both seemed a little unsteady on their feet, she told the Herald.

There is no doubt in my mind that I am it, she laughed, but wanted to make it clear she never walked through anyones yards. Those must have been her impersonators.

Slayton said she would begin doing her early morning walking from then on in her fenced in backyard or else she might be pinched for being the woman in black.

COPYCATS

Syracuses Woman in Black spawned several copycats throughout New York in February and March 1919.

In Cornwall, just north of New York City, a woman in black stopped people on the streets and frightened women and girls. Gangs of boys patrolled the streets with clubs.

In Utica, a 51-year-old man dressed in black and scared children on their way to school.

Harold Yates, 13, of Watertown was arrested in March for dressing in black and scaring people.

After the arrest, Watertowns Police Chief let people now his department was not fooling around:

There is no woman in black, but someone is going about trying to scare people, and you can say in the newspapers that the next person we catch trying this thing, they are going to get a shower of cold lead. I will instruct all my policemen to shoot at persons making up in this way and running around through back yards and in the streets scaring people.
OSWEGO, N.Y. -- Social media threats against a conservative student group at SUNY Oswego came from non-students and those in the organization declined to pursue charges against those who posted the threats, the university announced Friday.

On Tuesday, the threats were made against the Young Americans for Freedom, who set up a table in the Marano Campus Center that included support for building a wall at the United States southern border.

An investigation revealed those who made the threats are not enrolled as students, university police chief John Rossi Jr. said in a statement.

Students involved have declined to press criminal charges, and we have stopped the investigation, Rossi said. University Police will stay in contact with the District Attorneys Office should any additional matters surface.

YAF chair Tyler Toomey said the group submitted its request to set up a table two weeks ago because the deadline for federal funding to keep the government operating was Friday. Money to build a section of the border wall was included in the federal spending agreement that President Trump signed Friday.

Most of the threats included expletives or slurs, according to screen shots Toomey sent Syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.

Bro (expletive) make me wanna troop over there to grease them myself, one post said.

If you go to Oz & you havent violated that table as of yet you (expletive) idc, another said.

Somebody shoulda boomed at you (expletive), another post read, with two gun emojis at the end of it.

Another threat asked a student to pop on them."

Toomey and YAF alerted campus police and several campus administrators at 8 p.m. Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning. He eventually met with campus police Wednesday.
DANUBE, N.Y. -- A Herkimer County man was honored this week for putting his life on the line to save an Oneida County woman after a car crash in 2018.

Melissa Knudsen, of Yorkville, was driving on state Route 5S in the town of Danube on Sept. 9, 2018 when she struck a mailbox and her vehicle overturned several times. Knudsen, 40, became trapped inside her vehicle, state police said.

A nearby neighbor, Jason Ploss, heard the crash and ran over to the scene. He observed a woman inside and the doors pinned-shut due to the damage caused by the rollover crash, state police said.

Ploss physically forced the drivers door open and pulled Knudsen to safety, moments before the vehicle became fully engulfed in flames, state police said.

If not for the heroic actions of Mr. Ploss, the female driver would have likely perished in the fire, state police said.

Major Philip Rougeux, Troop D commander presented Ploss with a New York State Police Certificate of Recognition for his lifesaving efforts.
Cicero, N.Y. -- New England Motor Freight Inc. shut down without warning this week, closing its terminals and laying off workers throughout the Northeast, including about 60 in Cicero.

The company, based in Elizabeth, N.J., voluntarily filed for relief under Chapter 11 of U.S. Bankruptcy Law on Monday, listing tens of millions of dollars in debt. Ten other affiliated companies also filed bankruptcy.

Chapter 11 is normally used to protect a company from creditors while it reorganizes its finances. However, instead of presenting a reorganization plan, New England Motor Freight said it planned to use the proceedings to facilitate an orderly wind-down of its operations.

Upon the recommendation of its advisers, the company has determined that a Chapter 11 proceeding is the best mechanism to maximize the value of its assets for the benefit of its employees and various creditor constituencies, the company said in a statement.

We have worked hard to explore options for New England Motor Freight, but the macro-economic factors confronting this industry are significant," Vincent Colistra, a senior managing director with Phoenix Management Services and chief restructuring officer for the company, said.

Phoenix Management Services is serving as the companys financial and restructuring adviser.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney visited the companys Cicero terminal in 2012. McCartneys wife, Nancy Shevell, is the daughter of the companys owner, Myron Shevell, and is a vice president of the company. She was among the company officers who signed the bankruptcy filing.

New England Motor Freight lists 39 trucking terminals in 16 Northeast states, including eight in New York (Cicero, Albany, Bethpage, Binghamton, Buffalo, Falconer, Newburgh and Rochester).

Ronald Katich, of Kirkville, a driver for the company for 16 years, said the approximately 40 drivers and 20 support staff who worked in the companys terminal at 7201 Schuyler Road in Cicero were given no advance warning of the shutdown.

Update: The company has filed a notice with the state stating that 63 jobs will be lost at the Cicero facility and a total of 518 jobs throughout New York.

Katich said the company lost a major contract shipping John Deere products a year ago, but that its sudden closing came as a shock.

Nobody saw this coming, he said.

He said the company promised workers only two weeks severance pay and insurance coverage up to April 11.

The company, founded in 1977, employed approximately 4,000 people, Katich said.

Company representatives did not return a phone call from Syracuse.com seeking comment Friday.

Contact Rick Moriarty anytime: Email | Twitter | Facebook | 315-470-3148
Do you already have a paid subscription to any of the SWNewsMedia newspapers? If so, you can Activate your Premium online account by clicking here. Activation will allow you to view unlimited online articles each month. To activate your Premium online account, the email address and phone number provided with your paid newspaper subscription needs to match the information you use in setting up your online user account. If you are having trouble or want to confirm what email address and phone number is listed on your subscription account, please call 952-345-6682 or email circulation@swpub.com and we'll be happy to assist.
Bay of Plenty

Our client has plenty of work in the pipeline and as such they are in need of hammerhands for an immediate start.The successful...



View or Apply on GoodWork.co.nz
Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller says the last thing our Kiwifruit growers want is an infestation of the Queensland fruit fly.

A male Queensland fruit fly has been discovered in the Auckland suburb of Devonport.

Biosecurity teams are setting more traps there.

There are now legal controls to restrict the movement of fruit, vegetables, compost and green waste out of Devonport.

Todd says fruit flies are a severe threat to our export economy.

Its serious and I would expect MPI to be treating it as such, says Todd.

I would expect them to be prioritising that work above pretty much anything else.

But to MPIs credit, they have good surveillance network and have managed this biosecurity threat for many years.

They have processes to follow to assure themselves its just a one off.

Biosecurity New Zealand spokeswoman Catherine Duthie says its vital to find out if its a solitary fly or part of a wider population.

If the Australian fruit fly establishes itself here, it could have serious consequences for the horticulture industry.

In 2015, a Queensland fruit fly outbreak in New Zealand cost the government more than $1 million per insect to eradicate, with a total of $15.7m spent on the process.

The fruit fly has been found six times before in northern New Zealand - in Whangarei and in Auckland.
Stillwater, OK (74074)

Today

Sunshine early followed by partly cloudy skies and gusty winds this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 98F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms this evening becoming more widespread overnight. Low 74F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
I have found this analogy useful: grosso modo, over the past millennium, some countries have been predator fish and some countries have been prey fish. Predators and prey have completely different self images, behaviour and understandings of how the world works and how countries interact. Like all analogies, it's a rough guide: few countries have been wholly one or the other and for a time, military superiority enabled all European countries to become predator fish on the rest of the world. But I believe that it is a useful analogy today and especially when applied to the calamitous misunderstanding of the Anglo-Americans about Russia; they get it completely wrong and that can have disastrous consequences.

England is the paradigm predator fish. Confined to their small island with their warlike Welsh and Scottish neighbours, the English subdued the first but never quite the second. When James VI of Scotland ascended the English throne he cleverly invented "Britain" and the British people and bound English, Scots and Welsh to a common cause. This new amalgam then created the largest empire of human history: so extensive, the boast went, that the sun never set on it. In its shorter life, the United States of America has likewise been a successful predator fish. Starting as a ribbon along the lower sea coast of a continent  every bit of which was claimed by some European power to say nothing of the autochthonous inhabitants  it spread over half the continent. Today American military dominance in its hundreds of bases (it's always dawn in a US base somewhere), world-wide naval presence and its sovereign currency make the empires of the Nineteenth Century look half-hearted. Even though its relative power is failing, it remains the predominant power in most categories. And, as the latest Wikileaks revelations show, Washington is happy to use the so-called international instruments like the World Bank, OECD and IMF as weapons in its arsenal. The United Kingdom and the United States are, sequentially, the most successful predators ever; defeating every challenge, they have ascended to greater world power than any two other states in history. They are history's apex predators.

In contrast African states and kingdoms were prey fish to European and Arab predators: slaves, raw materials and space for colonists. The civilisations of Central and South America were swiftly felled by European diseases and more deadly weapons. For several centuries non-European countries and civilisations were prey fish to Europe. Even Belgium, prey at home, could be a predator in Africa. Mighty China was a prey fish too and one can only hope, in its coming pre-dominance, that it will not seek revenge for its "century of humiliation".

One should be wary of carrying the analogy too far: Zulus, Incas, Aztecs and Iroquois were successful predator fish in their ecologies until greater predators destroyed them. Sweden was a rapacious predator until defeat at Poltava marked the end and since then it has been quiet and peaceful. Former super-predators like Spain or Portugal, weakened by overextension and collapsed economies, have given up. Austria is a small land-locked country.

National myths have been profoundly shaped by the predator/prey dichotomy. Poland's independence has been ended more than once: most recently the USSR dominated it and so, today, there is more antipathy towards Russia than to Germany or Austria. The Galicians currently setting the tone in Ukraine show more animosity to Russia than Poland or Austria for similar reasons.

The relevance of this analogy to today's war on Russia is that Russia is in the unusual position of being half prey fish and half predator fish. For half of its thousand years it was a prey fish: maintaining its existence was a continual struggle with horse peoples in the south and Teutonic Knights in the north. A struggle lost to the Mongols, beginning a centuries-long endeavour to throw off the "Tatar yoke" and re-unite the Russian lands. The ejection of Polish-Lithuanian forces (two prey fish at their moment of predation) marked the end of the prey period and in the next five centuries Russia expanded in all directions, sometimes peacefully and sometimes by war, but always larger.

But the prey fish memory persists. In Russia monasteries are fortified and there are no castles; in Europe, monasteries are not fortified and there are many castles. Russia, in its prey fish time, had to fight for its very existence: given the centrality of Orthodoxy to the essence of Russianness, that meant its religion. Fortunately for the Russian Church, the Mongol conquerors were indifferent to their subjects' religion but the Teutonic Knights and the Polish-Lithuanians were Roman militants, Napoleon treated churches as stables and Hitler cared nothing for Russianness. Therefore monasteries, as the essence of Russianness, had to be fortified for the wars of national survival. The absence of castles is explained because, as private strongholds, they embodied the ability of local powers to resist the central power; in Russia the central power was the guarantor and protector of Russian existence. Europe, for all its wars, never, since the victory of Tours (ba fright at Vienna in 1683) was threatened in its very essence. (Spain, Portugal and the Balkans, however, have Russian-like histories: resistance to the alien and a long re-gathering of their lands).

As a result of these historical realities, Russians have a completely different view of war: for Russia it's life or death. For medieval Europe it was a sport for kings, ruinous in its neighbourhood but of limited effect elsewhere: from the peasant's perspective King A or King B meant little. The destructive wars of religion and revolution never threatened Europe qua Europe because they were civil wars between different types of Europeanness.

Russians remember the prey fish period better than they do the predator fish period. The prey fish memory makes it very difficult for the Russians to think of the Great Caucasus War or the wars in Central Asia as the predations that they actually were. They see the wars against the Persians or Ottomans as wars of liberation rather than the eating of weaker predators. The prey fish memory remains strong not only just because the early experience set the pattern but because of the powerful reinforcement of 1941-1945.

The Anglo-American experience of war has no memory like that. They have never been in a war in which every soldier that get to the enemy capital has passed through endless wastes of destruction of his homeland. (Americans: think of Sherman's march to the sea through the entire Confederacy and then extend it to take in the rest of the country on the Atlantic coast. Britain has nothing to match this other than, on a much smaller scale, the desolation of the Scottish borders under Edward I or the Highlands after Culloden.) This book makes the point that the USA and the UK have no conception of a war of annihilation but Russia has known many. The scars of the latest are still visible: there are nearly half a million dead Leningraders in Piskaryovskoye Cemetery alone: more than all the dead of Washington's overseas wars. A completely different conception of "war". This makes Russians defensive, suspicious and ready to fight for the Motherland but not very willing to acknowledge their predator period. The Anglo-Americans expect another profitable predation and sugar coat their predation with moralistic posturing as we perfectly see today in Venezuela: we must seize its oil for humanitarian reasons. A clash is inevitable.

While Russia cannot forget the prey period, its neighbours only remember its predator fish period. The contrast of memories is well expressed in this video from the Russian side of the benefits brought to the prey by "Russian occupants". But from the Lithuanian prey fish point of view, we have this completely different take of death and destruction. Each is true, each is false: but the difference in perception must be understood.

In other words, prey fish remember being eaten; predator fish have no such memory, or even appreciation of such fears. Predators cannot imagine being pushed to the edge because it's never happened to them, prey fish remember when they were; predators eat well, prey fish fear extinction. And so today the Anglo-Americans, unable to eat Russia (so confident they were that it was prey so short a time ago! gas station masquerading as a country, makes nothing), project their predatory disposition onto Russia.

The Anglo-Americans, after decades of successful predation, think they can push Russia back forever. But Russia cannot forget its prey period and its bred-in-the-bone understanding of what happens to prey. The danger is that, at some point, it will decide its very survival is at risk and then it will, as it has before, do whatever it needs to do, at whatever the cost, to survive.

Certainly, it would be a global disaster for humanity; a disaster for the entire world. As a citizen of Russia and the head of the Russian state I must ask myself: Why would we want a world without Russia?

It's a dangerous and possibly fatal misunderstanding given Russia's immense arsenal; unstoppable says a American general (retired and so able to see reality).
The iconic evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest havent always been here.

In a recent study published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, and Palaeoecology, scientists describe the emergence of these ecosystems about 51-53 million-years-agoa time with the highest-known global temperatures in the past 66-million-yearswhen the Pacific Northwest was a subtropical climate similar to todays southern Florida.

So how did temperate forests emerge during a hot, humid climate? The answer lies within the fossil record and is made possible by another icon of the Pacific northwestvolcanic mountain chains.

Alexander Lowe, graduate of Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada, and current graduate student at the University of Washington and Burke Museum, and co-authors analyzed 3,700 fossils from a unique paleontological site called the McAbee Fossil Beds in southern British Columbia, Canada. The site is an ancient lakebed formed by the surrounding active volcanoes. The ash from multiple eruptions and other sediment washing into the lake preserved an abundance of beautiful plant and insect fossils, and also micro-fossils like pollen and spores.

The team sampled fossils from two different geologic layers, representing two different snapshots in time that are estimated to be only 10,000  100,000 years apart. This geologic rarity allowed for the authors to look at forest dynamics operating over thousands to tens of thousands of years of time. More often, paleontologists are drawing comparisons across millions of years of time and different locations.

Lowe and co-authors found the ancient forests consisted of several plants iconic to todays Pacific Northwest region: cedars, firs, and other conifers, maples, birch and even ferns. A blooming of diversity of many species of both flowering plants and conifers were found in these layers. The most prevalent conifer found was Metasequoia occidentalis, the dawn redwood that is now native to eastern China. Of the flowering plants, Ulmus okanganensis (a species of elm), Fagus langevinii (a species of beech) and Alnus parvifolia (a species of alder) were the most abundant broadleaf species at the site.

It is interesting that the plants we see dominating these ancient forests represent a mix of plants we find today in the Pacific Northwest, southeastern U.S., and eastern China. This mixture of plants resulted in a high diversity, probably comparable to that seen in modern tropics, despite these forests having existed then at higher elevations, and the fact there was cold hardy plants around, firs for example, Lowe said. It is also interesting that despite volcanic eruptions that were frequent and dynamic through time, the forest didnt change much between the two layers we analyzed, so these forests were apparently quite resilient to volcanic eruptions.

The team reconstructed the ancient temperature and precipitation using the shape and size of fossil leaves, and found it to be similar to modern day Seattle, despite then existing at higher elevations. Apparently, some of the iconic temperate plants of the Pacific Northwest thrived in this cooler high elevation pocket, when the rest of the region was a subtropical Florida-like climate. Volcanic activity that was frequent (but not devastating enough to wipe out all plants with each eruption) provided fertile soil. Also, lower elevations in the foothills of the mountains created zones where the temperate, cooler plants could mingle with the warm-loving plants, providing an environment for both groups of plants to coexist in a highly diverse mix of plant species.

In addition to better understanding the ecosystem of these early temperate forests, this study provides clues to what may happen with todays concerns about climate change. By understanding how Pacific Northwest plants lived in subtropical condition of the past, we can better understand what may happen as temperatures rise in the region today.

As we see in upland sites like McAbee, and increasingly today, cooler climate plant and animal species are pushed to higher elevations as the climate warms. But what happens when there is no higher to go? We lose those species, Dr. David Greenwood said, Lowes previous advisor and coauthor on the McAbee study.

In the upcoming years as part of his Ph.D. research, Lowe is going to look at the fossil record during another, more recent warm period (1715 million years ago) to see how plants and regional climates responded. Along with other Burke paleontologists, he plans to analyze fossils from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

This study provides ecological context in which to understand the diversification and evolution of plant families that now dominate temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, and what could potentially happen to this important ecosystem in the face of warming climates today.

Reference:

Alexander J. Lowe et al. Plant community ecology and climate on an upland volcanic landscape during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum: McAbee Fossil Beds, British Columbia, Canada, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology (2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.09.010

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Burke Museum.
We must be clear. White supremacy is repulsive, wrote Ryan. This bigotry is counter to all this country stands for. There can be no moral ambiguity.

Notice anything missing?

How about the words Donald Trump?

This is, generally, as close as elected Republicans get to calling out Trumps frequent outbursts of bigotry, misogyny, bullying and lies: They criticize the sentiment, but  terrified of Trumps base  they carefully avoid criticizing the man expressing it. Anyone who has raised kids recognizes this passive-voice blame-avoidance strategy. Its never, I broke the glass. Its, The glass broke.

Too often, they dont say even that much. Throughout the recent debate over border security, as Trump has endlessly repeated the racist lie that unauthorized Latino immigrants pose a greater criminal threat than natural born citizens (data show the opposite is true), reaction from congressional Republicans has mostly come in just two forms: endorsing the racist lie, or clearing their throats and looking at their shoes.
11. General Conditions. All federal, state, local, and municipal laws, and regulations apply. Void where prohibited. By participating in the Promotion, entrants agree to comply with and to be bound by the official rules and by all interpretations of the official rules by the Sponsor. Decisions of the Sponsor shall be final in all matters relating to the Promotion. The Sponsor reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend this Promotion at any time. This Promotion is not intended for gambling. If it is determined that an entrant is using the Promotion for gambling purposes they will be disqualified and reported to authorities.

12. Release. By participating in the Promotion, entrants agree to release and hold harmless the Sponsor, and each of their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, advertising and promotion agencies, other companies associated with the Promotion, and each of their respective officers, directors, employees, shareholders, representatives, and agents (the "Released Parties)" from and against any claim or cause of action arising out of participation in the Promotion or receipt or use of the prize (including any travel or activity related thereto), including, but not limited to: (a) any technical errors associated with the Promotion, including lost, interrupted or unavailable Internet Service Provider (ISP), network, server, wireless service provider, or other connections, availability or accessibility or miscommunication or failed computer, satellite, telephone, cellular tower or cable transmissions, lines, or technical failure or jumbled, scrambled, delayed, or misdirected transmissions or computer hardware or software malfunctions, failures or difficulties; (b) unauthorized human intervention in the Promotion; (c) mechanical, network, electronic, computer, human, printing or typographical errors; (d)application downloads, (e) any other errors or problems in connection with the Promotion, including, without limitation, errors that may occur in the administration of the Promotion, the announcement of the winner, the cancellation or postponement of the event and/or the flyover, if applicable, the incorrect downloading of the application, the processing of entries application downloads or in any Promotion-related materials; or (f) injury, death, losses or damages of any kind, to persons or property which may be caused, directly or indirectly, in whole or in part, from entrants participation in the Promotion or acceptance, receipt or misuse of the prize (including any travel or activity related thereto). Entrant further agrees that in any cause of action, the Released Parties liability will be limited to the cost of entering and participating in the Promotion, and in no event shall the entrant be entitled to receive attorney's fees. Released Parties are also not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by site users, tampering, hacking, or by any equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Promotion. Entrant waives the right to claim any damages whatsoever, including, but not limited to, punitive, consequential, direct or indirect damages.
The animals have been transported to the humane society's headquarters in St. Louis, where they will receive veterinary care and shelter with the goal of making as many as possible available for adoption.

Some of the animals could be missing pets from the area, according to a post on the Facebook page for the Bates County Sheriff's Office.

Bates County Sheriff Chad Anderson stated: I have been reassured that if one of these animals are identified as a missing loved pet that they will assist with getting the animal back to the owner. That may include arranging to get the animal back. Even if we have to go to St. Louis to help return the identified animals, we will do that. Our priority in these cases is to rescue the animals and returning them to the owner if we can identify them.

He also stated in the post, I am confident that working with our court system we will be able to get the suspect the help she needs this time."

To help the animals recover, the humane society is asking for donations of dog and cat toys, long-cut shredded paper, newspapers, towels, blankets and sheets. Donations can be brought to the adoption center at 1201 Macklind Avenue.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Dozens of skaters rode around the Steinberg Skating Rink past sunset on Monday, June 7, 2021. They were taking part in the Steinberg Monday Sk
He tried to message Joedickes family on Facebook, without response at first. Eventually Lori Ritchey, who runs the Jefferson Barracks Historic Site Facebook page, agreed to help in the search, posting the story on the page.

Within hours, the post was shared hundreds of times, and members of the Joedicke family, including his grandsons, were tagged in the post.

It was amazing, said Jim Joedicke. He soon began speaking via Facebook with Van Muilekom.

It was almost midnight there, but he told me his son couldnt sleep because he was so excited, Jim Joedicke said.

Van Muilekom said in an interview that he had grown up hearing stories about his own grandfather, who was forced to work in Germany during WWII making goods for the war effort, and about his fathers childhood during the war. Van Muilekom and his son searched for artifacts looking for just this kind of connection, he said.

Once the family was found, Van Muilekom put the tag in the mail, addressed to Jim Joedicke.

We are glad that we could send it back to the family where it belongs, he said.

Jason Joedicke plans to display the tag along with his grandpas bayonet and an ammo box from the war.
Most schoolchildren learn that the Earth has three (or four) layers: a crust, mantle and core, which is sometimes subdivided into an inner and outer core. Thats not wrong, but it does leave out several other layers that scientists have identified within the Earth.

In a study published this week in Science, Princeton geophysicists Jessica Irving and Wenbo Wu, in collaboration with Sidao Ni from the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics in China, used data from an enormous earthquake in Bolivia to find mountains and other topography on a layer located 660 kilometers (410 miles) straight down, which separates the upper and lower mantle. (Lacking a formal name for this layer, the researchers simply call it the 660-km boundary.)

To peer deep into the Earth, scientists use the most powerful waves on the planet, which are generated by massive earthquakes. You want a big, deep earthquake to get the whole planet to shake, said Irving, an assistant professor of geosciences.

Big earthquakes are vastly more powerful than small ones  energy increases 30-fold with every step up the Richter scale  and deep earthquakes, instead of frittering away their energy in the crust, can get the whole mantle going, Irving said. She gets her best data from earthquakes that are magnitude 7.0 or higher, she said, as the shockwaves they send out in all directions can travel through the core to the other side of the planet  and back again. For this study, the key data came from waves picked up after a magnitude 8.2 earthquake  the second-largest deep earthquake ever recorded  that shook Bolivia in 1994.

Earthquakes this big dont come along very often, she said. Were lucky now that we have so many more seismometers than we did even 20 years ago. Seismology is a different field than it was 20 years ago, between instruments and computational resources.

Seismologists and data scientists use powerful computers, including Princetons Tiger supercomputer cluster, to simulate the complicated behavior of scattering waves in the deep Earth.

The technology depends on a fundamental property of waves: their ability to bend and bounce. Just as light waves can bounce (reflect) off a mirror or bend (refract) when passing through a prism, earthquake waves travel straight through homogenous rocks but reflect or refract when they encounter any boundary or roughness.

We know that almost all objects have surface roughness and therefore scatter light, said Wu, the lead author on the new paper, who just completed his geosciences Ph.D. and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the California Institute of Technology. Thats why we can see these objects  the scattering waves carry the information about the surfaces roughness. In this study, we investigated scattered seismic waves traveling inside the Earth to constrain the roughness of the Earths 660-km boundary.

The researchers were surprised by just how rough that boundary is  rougher than the surface layer that we all live on. In other words, stronger topography than the Rocky Mountains or the Appalachians is present at the 660-km boundary, said Wu. Their statistical model didnt allow for precise height determinations, but theres a chance that these mountains are bigger than anything on the surface of the Earth. The roughness wasnt equally distributed, either; just as the crusts surface has smooth ocean floors and massive mountains, the 660-km boundary has rough areas and smooth patches. The researchers also examined a layer 410 kilometers (255 miles) down, at the top of the mid-mantle transition zone, and they did not find similar roughness.

They find that Earths deep layers are just as complicated as what we observe at the surface, said seismologist Christine Houser, an assistant professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology who was not involved in this research. To find 2-mile (1-3 km) elevation changes on a boundary that is over 400 miles (660 km) deep using waves that travel through the entire Earth and back is an inspiring feat.  Their findings suggest that as earthquakes occur and seismic instruments become more sophisticated and expand into new areas, we will continue to detect new small-scale signals which reveal new properties of Earths layers.

What it means

The presence of roughness on the 660-km boundary has significant implications for understanding how our planet formed and continues to function. That layer divides the mantle, which makes up about 84 percent of the Earths volume, into its upper and lower sections. For years, geoscientists have debated just how important that boundary is. In particular, they have investigated how heat travels through the mantle  whether hot rocks are carried smoothly from the core-mantle boundary (almost 2,000 miles down) all the way up to the top of the mantle, or whether that transfer is interrupted at this layer. Some geochemical and mineralogical evidence suggests that the upper and lower mantle are chemically different, which supports the idea that the two sections dont mix thermally or physically. Other observations suggest no chemical difference between the upper and lower mantle, leading some to argue for whats called a well-mixed mantle, with both the upper and lower mantle participating in the same heat-transfer cycle.

Our findings provide insight into this question, said Wu. Their data suggests that both groups might be partially right. The smoother areas of the 660-km boundary could result from more thorough vertical mixing, while the rougher, mountainous areas may have formed where the upper and lower mantle dont mix as well.

In addition, the roughness the researchers found, which existed at large, moderate and small scales, could theoretically be caused by heat anomalies or chemical heterogeneities. But because of how heat in transported within the mantle, Wu explained, any small-scale thermal anomaly would be smoothed out within a million years. That leaves only chemical differences to explain the small-scale roughness they found.

What could cause significant chemical differences? The introduction of rocks that used to belong to the crust, now resting quietly in the mantle. Scientists have long debated the fate of the slabs of sea floor that get pushed into the mantle at subduction zones, the collisions happening found all around the Pacific Ocean and elsewhere around the world. Wu and Irving suggest that remnants of these slabs may now be just above or just below the 660-km boundary.

Its easy to assume, given we can only detect seismic waves traveling through the Earth in its current state, that seismologists cant help understand how Earths interior has changed over the past 4.5 billion years, said Irving. Whats exciting about these results is that they give us new information to understand the fate of ancient tectonic plates which have descended into the mantle, and where ancient mantle material might still reside.

She added: Seismology is most exciting when it lets us better understand our planets interior in both space and time.

Reference:

Wenbo Wu, Sidao Ni and Jessica Irving. Inferring Earths discontinuous chemical layering from the 660-kilometer boundary topography. Science, 2019 DOI: 10.1126/science.aav0822

Note: The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Princeton University. Original written by Liz Fuller-Wright.
ST. CHARLES  A Wentzville mother was sentenced on Friday to 21 years in prison for her role in the 2016 shaking and beating death of her son at the hands of her then-boyfriend.

Megan Hendricks, 22, pleaded guilty in August to a felony count of child abuse resulting in death over the killing of her 9-week-old son Jaxon. He died in November 2016 after weeks in the hospital for treatment of brain bleeding, liver contusions, a broken arm, clavicle and rib fractures.

Hendricks was sentenced by St. Charles County Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham. Her lawyer could not be reached Friday.

The same judge sentenced Hendricks' boyfriend, Robert Burnette, also 22, last week to 26 years in prison for beating the infant to death. He pleaded guilty to the same charge in August, admitting to various means of abuse including shoving his fingers down the boy's throat to stop his cries. Prosecutors dropped two other felony child abuse counts in exchange for his guilty plea.
More than two dozen firearms were stolen this week from a Rural King farm supply store in Swansea, Ill.

Around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, two masked people smashed the stores glass front doors and went directly to the area containing firearms, according to the Swansea Police Department. The two broke the glass display containers and cut a cable securing the guns. The suspects took 23 pistols, three long rifles and ammunition, police said. Surveillance video captured images of the incident.

Swansea police and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating the crime. Anyone with information can contact Swansea police detective Jason Frank at 618-233-8114. CrimeStoppers may also offer a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest by calling 1-866-371-8477.
HILLSDALE  Over the years, an untold number of people showed up here, at a former residence turned into a hall of justice, to be judged for speeding and other ordinance violations.

Many of them were poor. And many left even poorer after Hillsdale Municipal Court was done with them.

Then, in 2018, the tables turned. A monitor with the Supreme Court of Missouri stopped by to judge whether the tiny court  one of dozens in St. Louis County  met minimum operating standards. In a subsequent summons, Hillsdale was asked to show cause why its court shouldnt be closed.

Four years after the lid blew off over abusive police and court tactics in the region, igniting lawsuits and legislation, the monitor still found:

 The court was chronically behind in payments to the Missouri Crime Victims Compensation Program  to the tune of at least $50,000 since 2011  and had failed to make payments in an effort to correct said deficits as promised.

 Notice of rights were not posted nor available to the public.

 Separation of powers was blurred between police and city clerks.

 The court didnt have an online payment system nor enough personnel available.

Hillsdale municipal court proceedings are supposed to transfer to the St. Louis County Circuit Court, in Clayton, this month. Kinloch has already done so.

Given the limited staff that we have, it would have been extremely difficult for us to do, Alan Baker, 76, Hillsdales prosecuting and village attorney, said of meeting the states requirements.

Still, he grinned.

There is an interesting twist to this new arrangement, he said. Even though cases will not be prosecuted in Hillsdale, Hillsdale will still get the revenues from the cases prosecuted in St. Louis County.

Municipal courts have long been divisions of circuit courts, but over decades of running things their own way, in their own communities, oversight fell short. There was a temptation to use police and courts to bolster city budgets, even though they are supposed to be separate entities.

Following the shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, it was revealed in Ferguson that tickets, court fines and fee goals were analyzed and congratulated across departments like Wall Street earnings calls.

The Ferguson police chief infamously wrote in a 2012 email to the city manager that municipal court gross revenue passed the $2 million mark for the first time in history. Awesome! Thanks! the city manager responded. Ferguson was collecting nearly $450,000 alone in fines for failure to appear in court violations. Officers told federal authorities they competed to write the most tickets.

In light of these revelations and others, state lawmakers ultimately capped municipal court revenue at 20 percent of annual general operating revenue. The state high court set minimum operating requirements for municipal courts and hired two monitors to see them through.

In 2017, there were 971,000 municipal court cases filed in Missouri and $97 million collected in court costs, fines and bond forfeitures, down from 1.6 million cases and $148 million collected in 2013. The precipitous drop in St. Louis County, home to 88 municipalities, has been particularly notable.

Its been a culture change from just business as usual, said Courtney Whiteside, a monitor who has put some 30,000 miles on her car visiting municipal divisions since 2017. A very unfortunate, tragic situation brought to light, and sparked a movement thats been needed for a long time.

Statewide, 69 municipalities have transferred their court operations to circuit court, while others have restructured or consolidated.

Douglas Beach, former presiding judge of the 21st Circuit Court, monitors St. Louis County municipal courts. He said hes trying to improve performance, not shut anybody down.

We just simply say, if you choose to have a city municipal court, its a choice, he said. But if you want to do that, you need to follow the (Missouri) Supreme Court rules and procedures.

Old laws, new tricks

Checks and balances are a pillar of constitutional democracy, but the crowded halls of municipal governments in Missouri have challenged separation of powers, monitors said.

Court clerks arent supposed to do three different jobs through the same window  say handling a water bill one minute, a traffic ticket the next, and dispatching police calls in between.

Police and courts shouldnt look like the same thing. Prosecutors and judges shouldnt share the same file. The bailiff shouldnt be the officer who pulled you over.

The appearance of evil is worse than the evil itself, Beach said.

In Shrewsbury, that meant taking down plaques and other police memorabilia in a hallway that led to its municipal court. A closet was converted into an office for the court clerk who now has her own payment window.

In Chesterfield, the prosecutor moved out of the court clerks office, and there are now separate filing systems. Its the law. It always has been, said Nancy Morr, court administrator in Chesterfield. We got lax sharing the file. Now they are enforcing that.

There needs to be enough space.

In Florissant, municipal court is held in the former Dick Weber Bowling Alley. Rock Hill, Wright City and Eureka also have new court facilities.

A court clerk must be available at least 30 hours a week. If there is an automated phone system, messages must be returned. And there must be a court website and a way to access case information online.

In southeast St. Louis County, Lakeshire now pays Shrewsbury $50 a month for daytime clerk service. Glendale handles municipal court dockets for Oakland and Warson Woods for $3,000 and $1,500 a month, respectively.

In northwest St. Louis County, St. Ann is now a hub for municipal courts in Beverly Hills, Charlack, Northwoods, Vinita Park and Wellston. Normandy is a hub for Bellerive Acres, Cool Valley, Country Club Hills, Glen Echo Park, Greendale, Pasadena Hills, Pasadena Park and Uplands Park.

Cool Valley, population 1,200, pays Normandy $434,000 a year for police and municipal court, which is down from $692,000 when Cool Valley last provided both services.

Patricia Breckenridge, former Missouri Chief Justice, said in a 2016 announcement that the new hubs in St. Ann and Normandy showed change can happen.

By reducing costs, sharing operations, as well as clerical and judicial personnel, we hope to reduce the incentive to use municipal divisions as revenue generators rather than to ensure public safety, Breckenridge said then of the hubs, which were supported by state grants. The progress we have made proves we can change.

The pressure was on to change. Also in 2016, ArchCity Defenders, a group of attorneys who represent indigent clients, filed a debtors prison lawsuit claiming 13 municipalities used the St. Ann jail to hold people who couldnt pay fines and fees. A judge allowed three of the cities to be sued, while the others would have to be filed individually.

In September, Normandy was the first of the remaining cities to be sued again. In December, it was Edmundson, near St. Louis Lambert International Airport, which was accused of overpolicing and targeting African-Americans. The scathing first paragraph of the lawsuit has become familiar boilerplate:

The City of Edmundson, through its police department, municipal court system, and prosecuting attorneys office, has terrorized the named Plaintiffs and many thousands of others through a deliberate policy established and implemented to fill the citys coffers by extorting money from thousands of poor, disproportionately African-American people in the St. Louis region, creating a modern-day police state and debtors prison scheme that has no place in American society.

Edmundson, population 831, allegedly collected more than $2.2 million in municipal court revenue between 2012 and 2016. Asked if the region has made progress since the time in question, an ArchCity spokeswoman declined to comment.

Municipal Court Judge Jennifer H. Fisher, who serves in Normandy, St. Ann and Berkeley, said there has been a sea change.

There are a lot of people working hard to get it right, she said. I think thats been missed in this debate.

What hasnt changed, though, is that people in the municipal court system are usually poor. Some lack understanding and wrestle with tickets from years ago. People who have the means hire a lawyer or pay out of court to make fines go away.

Its not a court issue, its a societal issue, Fisher said. A lot of them dont have the money to pay the fines. We address that in court.

On Feb. 1 at St. Ann Consolidated Municipal Courts, Loyed Longenecker, 55, approached her bench during a payment docket. He lives in a truck with his wife and dog in the Pacific area. He owed $250 for driving through Wellston in September 2016 without valid plates and drivers license.

Fisher offered him alternative payment, which could include community service. But Longenecker said he preferred to pay $60, and set up a payment plan for the remaining $190.

The most important thing to remember, Fisher told him, if you dont have your payment, come to court.

Longenecker was one of just a few people who showed up in court this day. Other dockets are still packed.

Whose fault is that?

Hazelwood Municipal Court started early on Jan. 8, a Tuesday night. There were about 50 people in the courtroom, with dozens more waiting in the wings and foyer at City Hall.

No talking in court unless its court business, Municipal Court Judge Kevin Kelly warned from the bench.

There were 430 cases on the docket to get through, including one involving a young mother ticketed for a small amount of marijuana. The fine was $250, plus $26.50 in court costs, for a total of $276.50. She paid $10 off the tab and walked out the front door to face the balance another day.

How much are you paying tonight? Judge Kelly asked another defendant.

Looks like you are on a payment plan, he said to another.

Briana Evans, 24, of Florissant, stepped up to the podium next, facing payment for speeding, driving with a suspended license and failure to appear in court on those 2013 violations.

Did you bring something? Judge Kelly asked.

No, she said.

The judge noted how long the tickets have been lingering.

Whose fault is that? he asked.

Evans smiled back, another illustration of the complexities of municipal court  the desire to hold people accountable and yet allow leeway to continue being productive residents. Evans said in an interview that she went to jail in late 2018 for open warrants from traffic tickets in the region, which caused her to miss work at an assisted living center in Ballwin where she makes $13 an hour on the night shift.

Evans had unpaid tickets from Sycamore Hills, St. Louis, Ballwin and Hazelwood, according to court records.

I was younger and not going to court  just accumulating speeding tickets, she said.

On Jan. 8, Judge Kelly granted her a continuance in the Hazelwood cases. She would just need to pay $100 off a balance of $666.50 by her next court date.

Austin Reilly, 16, came to court with his father, Mike, which is often required for juvenile defendants. The teenager was ticketed for not having a functioning license plate light.

I was just driving around, Austin said.

His father said he thought it was crazy that they couldnt just pay the fine without coming to court in this case, but they said the experience still went smoothly. Ultimately, they paid $40 for the ticket and Austin had a real-life example to talk about during his government course at Hazelwood Central High School.

Show-Me the courts

The two state Supreme Court monitors described their effort to help municipalities meet minimum operating standards as going to school.

Its like fourth-grade civics on a regular basis, Whiteside said.

Some municipalities welcomed the oversight. Others have resisted statewide changes, including a uniform fine schedule and expansion of the Show-Me Courts system  the new, evolving record and case management automation system that is being developed.

My thing is lets not get upset about it, said Karen Jones, court administrator in Black Jack. Its something we need to do that we cant change.

Maryland Heights, based near Interstate 270 and Dorsett Road, wasnt as accepting.

Show-Me Courts forces cities to run a dual system, said Howard Paperner, city attorney. So you still have to monitor your old system. Its not a savings to the cities. How long is it going to take? Theres an assumption that youll be weaned off (the old system), but those are only assumptions.

He said the Show-Me Courts system charges defendants $7 per violation, which will bring total court costs over $30 per violation for many areas.

If we are taking $7 out of their pockets, we should have clear statutory authority for that taking, he said.

Maryland Heights City Administrator Jim Krischke questioned state oversight of municipal courts. Theres no clear mechanism for how the accountability and oversight will be on the court administration for court finances, he said. Theres a lot of responsibility that comes with handling cash on a daily basis. Theres a lot of opportunity for the mismanagement of funds.

And then theres Hillsdale, which couldnt meet a number of minimum operating standards and agreed to transfer its municipal court docket to circuit court. The move was supposed to be done by February, but Hillsdale hasnt heard anything since meetings were held with the state last fall.

A dictator would have already had us in Clayton six months ago, said Baker, the attorney who represents Hillsdale. But bureaucracies crawl.

Municipalities must still report the percentage of annual operating revenue from courts to the state auditors office, but there appears to be a misunderstanding of what the reporting requirements are.

According to a Post-Dispatch review of the most recent reports, Bella Villa was the only municipality in St. Louis County above that 20 percent cap  36 percent. Thirteen municipalities that have municipal court divisions hadnt filed the reports.

The Missouri Department of Revenue said it isnt withholding sales tax revenue against any municipalities that havent filed the paperwork.

All rise for Judge Outlaw

Of those municipalities that have reported, Maryland Heights, home to 27,000 people, Hollywood Casino and Westport Plaza, collected the most court revenue  $1.1 million, or 4 percent of general operating revenue in 2017.

Large signs on the municipal building have been changed so that police and municipal courts dont appear together. There are six court dockets a month. An extra was thrown in at 10 a.m. Jan. 31 with 500 cases on it. The cold weather canceled schools in the region and put a dent in municipal court attendance.

Thats one thing they wont cancel if its snowing or hailing outside, said Airion Golden, 24, of Bridgeton, who showed up early to face a ticket for expired license plates that he said was left on his car in a parking lot near work.

A series of Know your rights slides were projected on the walls at a fast clip. A bailiff with bulletproof plates under his white shirt asked Golden and a couple dozen others to rise for the Honorable Municipal Court Judge M. Deann Outlaw. She encouraged everyone to ask for help if needed.

We will talk with you, Outlaw said. We are reasonable people, OK?

First was a common thread in the case of Sauriahia Smith, 18. The Job Corps graduate, whod taken the train and bus from St. Ann, arrived to court 30 minutes early. Her case dated to Oct. 14, 2018, the day she said her drivers license arrived in the mail. She got a ticket later that night for driving without headlights and proof of insurance. Her first ticket came on the first day she had her license while making her first delivery for the online business DoorDash. The food delivery was late, but she said the customer, a mother with children, understood when she heard the story.

In court, Smith pleaded guilty to driving without lights and guilty with an explanation about insurance. Smith said Judge Outlaw told her that she would be lenient if Smith came back in March with proof of insurance.

I thought it would be one of those long courts, Smith said. It was real fast and quick.

Sierra Wilson, 32, of Beverly Hills, was the last to leave. Dressed in a gray sweatshirt with the word Blessed on it, she waited in the foyer for a ride to show up. The timing belt had broken on her own car.

She said she came to court to clean up a ticket for not having insurance. Shed already paid for another ticket from the same stop for having a brake light out. She said the officer who pulled her over was nice, even though she was arrested for having an open warrant in St. Louis for a speeding violation.

They even cuffed me in front so I could talk on my phone, she said.

Other than to work, she doesnt want to come back to Maryland Heights. Shes paid $10.50 an hour to clean hotel rooms at the DoubleTree in Westport.

Its lovely because I work six days a week, she said. Ive got to. Ive got three girls.

Originally published in the Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Shake off your afternoon slump with the oft-shared and offbeat news of the day, hand-brewed by our online news editors. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Before I came to St. Louis, I spent several months living in a boarding house in the city of Colima, a bit south and west of Mexico City. A few years ago, I decided to brush up on my Spanish and I sought out a tutor. My first tutor was a woman from Mexico. My second was a woman from Chile. My Spanish never really came back, but through my tutors, I met a number of people in the Latino community. I feel blessed about that.

I figured my friends would be crazy about Columba. Were all tribal. The Irish-Catholics were wild about John Kennedy. Blacks were wild about Barack Obama. Now it would be the Latinos turn. I could imagine a rally in front of a Latino crowd. Columba approaches the podium. In this country, race is usually a matter of black and white. Brown is an afterthought.

Ya era hora, she would say. Its about time. The crowd would go wild. An afterthought no longer.

The bad news for the Democrats is this would not necessarily be a one-time thing. Many Latinos are socially conservative. Many are religious. The ones I know are hard-working and pro-family. They could find a home in the Republican Party. The political landscape could be altered for years to come.
There are very few places like our houses of worship where we feel at peace, protected and rejuvenated.

People go to houses of worship for many reasons  prayer, religious education, connecting with our community members and sharing happiness in birth, marriage and sorrow.

For years I had found front doors of the mosque open in the middle of the night, so the faithful can enter for prayer at the wee hours. We did not have any watchperson for many years. The staff during the day hardly asked anyone about his or her identification.

Even if newcomers did not know anyone in the mosque, they felt a sense of belonging. Every new person was greeted with open hearts.

Now, the most common expression regarding security of our place of worship is, You have to be very careful. Times have changed.

Unfortunately, that is true about almost every place; schools, theaters, shopping malls, airports.

Safety never crossed my mind while going for prayers; I used to be more concerned about being on time, finding a good place to park and making sure the children were not running around. Now, when we enter the premises, we see security cars, armed security officers, security cameras and limited access after hours.
Scientists believe such a planet could be a good bet as a habitable home for our descendants, once weve destroyed Earth and have to flee this solar system, Anders writes in a current article for The Atlantic.

Her obsession with worlds of eternal darkness and never-ending sunlight led her to plunge into research on space and build the foundation for The City in the Middle of the Night. What, she wondered, would it be like for people living on a planet where the sky never changes?

Anders sets City on the planet January, settled long ago by refugees from Earth who found icy, perpetual night on one side and searing light and heat on the other. The sun never rises on January; it doesnt set. Instead, shutters that snap down at prescribed times delineate night from day.

Normal life is possible only in the strip of transition between dark and light, home to two old cities that wear different shades of normal. In Xiosphant, rigidly controlled by the government, Sophie is a timid rule-follower enchanted by her college roommate, Bianca. A bold but misguided act of chivalry quickly sends Sophie into the frozen blackness, where she is expected to die, but doesnt.
Some outside experts in Missouri speculate that Invenergys bid to take over the project can only help its odds of getting across the finish line.

I think this is good if this company is interested in this. They wouldnt be buying something that they thought was doomed, said James Owen, executive director for Renew Missouri, an organization that advocates for increased adoption of renewable energy in the state. I think this is ultimately showing that companies out there see that there is value to this project.

The project would be accompanied by the large-scale construction of new wind energy generation in western Kansas. Although about 85 percent of electricity distributed by the project would be destined for other states, it would power approximately 200,000 Missouri households. The PSC, even in denying the project through certain legal interpretations, has agreed that it is in the public interest, and would save Missouri customers millions of dollars by promoting access to cheap wind energy.
Two teams going in opposite directions meet for the second time this season when No. 17 Florida State visits Georgia Tech on Saturday in Atlanta.

FSU is a -6.5 road favorite here. The Noles have won the last two meetings, though the underdog is 21-7 Against The Spread in the last 28meetings. Georgia Tech will enter this game with six straight Losses. The Yellow Jackets have had offensive woes all season and rank last in the ACC in scoring with 65.6 points. Florid State has been sparked by the play of Mfiondu Kabengele, who is averaging 17 points and shot 58 percent from the floor over the last six games.
Were very pleased that customers found value in this, said Forck, adding that the program originally came about because of customer interest.

He said many individuals want solar power, but cant always get it themselves  whether because of the upfront costs of installation, or if they dont own a home, or have a roof contending with too much shade.

Not every customer can put solar panels on the rooftop, he said. (The program) is a very economical way to get benefits from solar without accruing those upfront costs.

Depending on their average power usage, residential customers and small businesses are eligible to buy up to five blocks of energy each month through the program, which is intended to cover no more than half of their overall electricity needs. Ameren was waiting until the Lambert project was fully subscribed before initiating construction, which Forck said would begin next month. The facility looks to start operation this summer.

Renewable energy advocates in the state were enormously encouraged by the news, according to James Owen, executive director of Renew Missouri, in an interview with the Post-Dispatch last week. He said the level of interest demonstrated by customers makes a case for the company to steadily add more solar generation.
Publicly traded companies such as Amazon have a legal responsibility to act in shareholders best interests, a mandate that many companies interpret to mean maximizing shareholder value by numerous means, including reducing their tax burdens.

By all indications, Amazon appears to be using the tax breaks that Congress has made available, Gardner said.

But he added that in the long-standing environment of federal budget deficits, when a company such as Amazon avoids billions in taxes, that money will ultimately have to come from somewhere. It could take the form of two billion cut out of infrastructure spending, he said. Or it could take the form of tax hikes down the road at some level on someone else, probably middle-income families and small businesses.

Gardner says that most of the tax breaks used by profitable businesses to reduce or eliminate their tax burdens were instituted at the behest of deep-pocketed and well-connected corporate lobbyists. In a political system that runs on private money, its always going to be hard to vote against the folks who have the money, he said. Companies havent been shy about pouring millions of dollars to prop up a system that benefits them.
President Klaus Iohannis, addressing on Saturday the Munich Security Conference, said that the multilateral international system is under increasing pressure, pointing out that cohesion is the response to this situation, and the major goal should be an Enhanced European Engagement according to Agerpres.

"We are facing concurrent classical and asymmetric threats from various strategic directions, and these are not just the concerns of politicians, the military and strategists. Today, security concerns are the prevalent issue on our European citizens' minds. At the same time, the multilateral international system is under increasing pressure, and adjusting it to the new realities is probably our greatest challenge. What should our European answer to these challenges be? My answer is 'cohesion', in its broadest sense. As debates on the future of Europe are at the forefront of the European agenda of the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union held by Romania, we need a cohesive and inclusive approach by the member states and by the European institutions. Therefore, this message of unity and cohesion fundamentally defines the priorities of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Our approach focuses on facilitating consensus, overcoming divisions and finding common ground on the inclusive ways to consolidate the Union. Security and defense are no exception. On the contrary, they are core components of the future of the Union - they make our external action credible and are a guarantee that we maintain and develop our vocation for multilateralism," Iohannis said at the 55th Munich Security Conference.

The President of Romania emphasized that in the last two or three years, significant results have been achieved in all areas - defense capabilities, industrial defense cooperation, operational commitments."We have also made significant progress in creating the conditions for the European Union to have a more ambitious role in the management of civilian crises. This is just the beginning, but it is a promising one, providing a solid basis for our future work," Klaus Iohannis pointed out.In this context, he emphasized that the major goal should be an Enhanced European Engagement."The Permanent Structured Cooperation, or PESCO, is one of the answers to the false dilemma between efficiency and inclusion and has the potential to generate significant evolution, if we ensure that cooperative projects will help identify solutions to existing capability gaps at European level. Now the focus should be on implementation. We need to maintain the momentum and stimulate further progress. We need to build bridges between various initiatives, making sure that they are coordinated and reinforce each other. We also need to invest more in our internal cohesion, which in this case translates into strategic convergence. The overarching goal, in my view, should be an enhanced European engagement. Enhanced - because we clearly need to do more. European - because such new efforts will be done through the European Union, without excluding other frameworks. Engagement - because our efforts should also result in a renewed commitment to NATO and the United Nations. Along these lines of action, a consolidated input from the European Union for international security will reassure our strategic partners, those partners we need to be efficient and credible. And this leads to the question - is this the right time to be more ambitious?" the Romanian President said.Klaus Iohannis pointed out that efforts should focus on developing a harmonized approach between NATO and the EU."We should achieve this by blending the unique, evolving and comprehensive role played by NATO in our collective defense with the European Union's integrated approach to crisis management and its unique ability of pulling together a wide range of instruments and resources. In this context, security and defense should be a catalyst for mitigating temporary disagreements across the Atlantic. We cannot afford any misunderstandings on topics of such strategic implications. We have to avoid initiatives that suggest transatlantic competition, and focus on building stronger consensus on the issues that we need to solve together. Complementarity and avoiding duplications between European Union and NATO are the key words in this endeavour," the President went on to say.The head of state said the challenges on the Eastern Flank cannot be ignored, showing that NATO needs to further strengthen its deterrence and defensive posture on this flank."Romania firmly supports an improved cohesion of the Eastern Flank, between its Northern and Southern parts. Indeed, the Black Sea region, where the security environment is increasingly challenged, as we have seen recently, needs more NATO presence," Iohannis said.He also mentioned that a landmark of the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will be the informal Sibiu Summit due on May 9. "We believe that it will be a good opportunity to send a message of unity, pro-European commitment and to project a positive perspective for the future of the European Union," President Iohannis concluded.* * *President Klaus Iohannis, attending on Saturday as a guest of honor the 55th Munich Security Conference, opened the debates in his capacity as high representative of the state that holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, alongside Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi - as High Representative of the State currently holding the Presidency of the African Union.The agenda of the conference includes topical subjects regarding the management of security challenges, the transatlantic relationship included, NATO's priorities, the future of the European project, and cooperation between the European Union and NATO.The Munich Security Conference is one of the most prestigious security forums, that has been bringing together since 1963 leaders and high-level decision-makers in security and defense. The conference is an essential milestone in European and Euro-Atlantic security debates, and allows for debates and informal exchanges of ideas on topical and perspective themes.
AGERPRES special correspondent Florentina Peia reports: President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday that the situation in the Black Sea region is complicated, emphasizing in this context that NATO's eastern flank should be treated in a serious and unitary manner.

Dear friends, dear allies, let's take care of the eastern flank! This does not mean neglecting the southern flank or other regions where NATO must be present, but the eastern flank is a special situation and I think that if we want to do something in the right direction, we must be careful to handle the Eastern Flank in a serious and unitary manner, we shouldn't believe that dividing the flank into the northern and southern part brings us any benefit. There is just one eastern flank, that has its specific issues and Romania is located thereon, therefore we are interested in all the relevant projects and developments. If there is talk inside NATO about deterrence, this is something we obviously need on the eastern flank, the Romanian head of state said at the Q&A session at the Munich Security Conference.

He also made a presentation of the situation in the region.Many of our friends and allies were not very aware of the importance of the Black Sea region, and I am not referring just to the Black Sea itself, but to the entire geographic region. Unfortunately, recent events have proven that the region is complicated from the security and the economic point of view, and I'd say much of the tension is rooted in historical developments, but unfortunately there are tensions there that stem from the near past. We have to face them, because they evolve, this isn't something very clear and we cannot draw a line and say 'this is one part, this is another', there are fluctuations from the strategic and security point of view, the region is complicated and complex and is not something we could call a stable and secure environment, it's a changing environment. That is why Romania has sought and succeeded in making allies aware of this situation. (...) NATO has a strategy for the Black Sea, it has a good presence in the region, we have many initiatives, Klaus Iohannis emphasized.
President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday that the situation in the Black Sea region is complicated, emphasizing in this context that NATO's eastern flank should be treated in a serious and unitary manner according to Agerpres.

Dear friends, dear allies, let's take care of the eastern flank! This does not mean neglecting the southern flank or other regions where NATO must be present, but the eastern flank is a special situation and I think that if we want to do something in the right direction, we must be careful to handle the Eastern Flank in a serious and unitary manner, we shouldn't believe that dividing the flank into the northern and southern part brings us any benefit. There is just one eastern flank, that has its specific issues and Romania is located thereon, therefore we are interested in all the relevant projects and developments. If there is talk inside NATO about deterrence, this is something we obviously need on the eastern flank, the Romanian head of state said at the Q&A session at the Munich Security Conference.

He also made a presentation of the situation in the region.Many of our friends and allies were not very aware of the importance of the Black Sea region, and I am not referring just to the Black Sea itself, but to the entire geographic region. Unfortunately, recent events have proven that the region is complicated from the security and the economic point of view, and I'd say much of the tension is rooted in historical developments, but unfortunately there are tensions there that stem from the near past. We have to face them, because they evolve, this isn't something very clear and we cannot draw a line and say 'this is one part, this is another', there are fluctuations from the strategic and security point of view, the region is complicated and complex and is not something we could call a stable and secure environment, it's a changing environment. That is why Romania has sought and succeeded in making allies aware of this situation. (...) NATO has a strategy for the Black Sea, it has a good presence in the region, we have many initiatives, Klaus Iohannis emphasized
Chairman of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE, junior coalition partner) Calin Popescu-Tariceanu considers that the most serious aspect about the former head of the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) Laura Codruta Kovesi is the corruption by power, which results in disregard for the principles of law and of the Constitution.

Read also: Belgium's Mertens downs top seed Simona Halep in Qatar Total Open final

"What I consider to be the most serious issue about Ms. Kovesi was the corruption by power. Corruption does not just mean just taking kick-backs from someone or receiving a piece of jewelry, this is already serious enough. But corruption by power is equally serious, meaning disregard for the principles of law and the country's Constitution," Tariceanu on Saturday told a press conference in Sinaia.

Asked to comment on the corruption case against the former DNA head, Tariceanu said: "I think Laura Codruta Kovesi is not more equal than others, we are all equal citizens, with the same rights and obligations."

The ALDE leader also spoke about Kovesi's candidacy for the position of European Chief Prosecutor, arguing that there are certain elements that cannot be overlooked.

''As a principle, I have always said that I will be glad and proud when a Romanian, a representative of Romania, will be able to land a position in the hierarchy of the European institutions. But there are certain things that cannot be overlooked, it seems extremely grave to me that, despite being penalized twice by the Constitutional Court as anticorruption head, not to mention the other issues which are also very important, one still targets such a position; there is something wrong here. There is something wrong not with the rule of law in Romania, but, let us say, rather with the perception and political relations that are being further created. And if for the other European partners this is just a trivial, minor issue, this is also something that needs to be red flagged," Tariceanu said.

ALDE Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu attended on Saturday the Political Winter School of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats Youth, which took place in Sinaia.

AGERPRES .
Tencent is looking to bring Apex Legends to China.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, the Chinese tech giant is discussing the possibility with Electronic Arts to bring the Respawn-developed battle royale title into the country.

This business move makes sense, seeing as how Apex Legends has already surpassed Fortnite's single-day viewship record on Twitch, and has crossed 1 million concurrent players just under 72 hours after its intial launch.

If the deal is successful, this would be the third battle-royale title under Tencent's repitoire of popular games. It currently oversees Chinese distribution for Fornite (Tencent holds a minority stake in Epic Games) and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.
"We went straight to the hospital, and they kind of just monitored me for two hours," Hernandez-Cancio said. She was later told to go home.

But a few hours after, she was told to return to the hospital to avoid possible seizures, and that her labor would have to be induced.

"After about 20 hours in labor but not a very effective labor, they finally decided that we had to do a C-section," she said. Three days later after giving birth successfully, she said she was dismissed from the hospital despite complaining of a fever.

Within three hours of being home, Hernandez-Cancio had to be admitted again.

"It turns out that I just had a massive infection of the wound, a massive infection of the uterus," she said. "At one point I stood up and the entire incision ripped open. Blood started pouring out. It was like a horror movie."

Hernandez-Cancio, who was born in Puerto Rico, believes her experience is an example of gender and racial disparities in health care.

Something Charles Johnson also believes contributed to his wife's death.
A new surgical cellphone app introduced to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is a cut above the rest.

Family members can use the app to receive real-time photos, text messages and video updates from the operating room during their loved ones surgery.

Before, we would have to send runners or telephone the waiting room. This is virtually instantaneous, Dr. Wayne Meredith, chairman of surgery at Baptist said Thursday. The first taste of this has been delicious, and the acceptance by families has been terrific.

Baptist is the first hospital in the state to incorporate the app, EASE (Electronic Access to Surgical Events), into surgical procedures.

The free app, which can be downloaded to any smartphone, has HIPAA-compliant, online banking-level security that ensures privacy is protected.

Right now, its text messages, but as we get more mature with it, we can send video and direct audio messages from surgeons, Meredith said. We can say Heres a picture of the gallstones The possibilities are endless.

The app, which can be shared with an unlimited amount of designated friends and family, is aimed at reducing anxiety for those who are waiting for news.
Iredell and Rowan authorities on Friday announced three arrests and the seizure of about $100,000 of methamphetamine stemming from a four-day operation along interstates 77, 40 and 85.

The joint effort involved the Iredell County Sheriffs Office, Rowan County Sheriffs Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations. It was part of the state-led Operation Tar Heel Gauntlet and involved increased patrols on the interstates from Monday through Thursday.

The goal was to enforce traffic laws and prevent or stop criminal activity, according to press releases from both the Iredell and Rowan sheriffs offices. Deputies spent two days in each county. Traffic stops turned up drugs, wanted suspects and guns, deputies said.

On Tuesday, while working on I-85 South, deputies stopped a black Nissan Altima with Maryland plates for a traffic violation, the releases said.

The driver, Octavio Lizarraga Ayala, 40, of Baltimore, Maryland, consented to a search of his car, deputies said. Deputies said they learned Ayala was in the country illegally.

There were 2.2 pounds of methamphetamine and $2,000 in cash hidden in a bag on the front passenger seat, the releases said. The drugs were worth approximately $100,000, investigators said.
McCarrick appealed the penalty, but the doctrinal officials earlier this week rejected his recourse, and he was notified on Friday, the Vatican announcement said.

The pope "has recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as 'res iudicata,'" the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse.

That meant McCarrick, a one-time "prince of the church," as cardinals are known, becomes the highest-ranking churchman to be laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state. It marks a remarkable downfall for the globe-trotting powerbroker and influential church fundraiser who mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called "Uncle Ted" by the young men he courted.

The scandal swirling around McCarrick was even more damning to the church's reputation in the eyes of the faithful because it apparently was an open secret that he slept with adult seminarians.

The Vatican summit, running Feb. 21-24, draws church leaders from around the world to talk about preventing abuse. It was called in part to respond to the McCarrick scandal as well as to the explosion of the abuse crisis in Chile and its escalation in the United States last year.
Brad Keselowski is better known for his work on the NASCAR track, so it might be odd to think of him working with engineers to solve metal manufacturing problems.

On Jan. 24, Keselowski announced his new company, Keselowski Advanced Manufacturing, at its facility at the Statesville Municipal Airport.

General manager Steve Fetch has been working with KAM since being recruited in April 2018. He described the company in laymans terms:

What we do is we take metal, and it can be in a solid form or in a powder former, and we make metallic based parts, he said.

Unsurprising for fans of Keselowskis racing career, KAMs vision is one of rapid growth.

The capabilities of new technologies are limited only by our imaginations and willingness to act, Keselowski said in a news release. Until now, much of this advanced manufacturing technology was considered too complex and too expensive for production level applications.

Fetch echoed that. He said KAM is dedicated to using the latest manufacturing technology, like machines that can communicate efficiency numbers or perform multiple tasks.

But having room in the shop helps too.
Countries & Areas

Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe
LB 399 would ensure that each school districts curriculum aligns with state social studies standards and teaches and assesses foundational knowledge in civics, history, economics, financial literacy and geography. Under the bill, the social studies curriculum would include multicultural topics in U.S. history  fitting for an increasingly diverse Nebraska population  and would instruct students in the dangers and fallacies of forms of government that restrict individual freedoms or possess antidemocratic ideals such as, but not limited to, Nazism and communism.

That last provision is part of the 1949 state law requiring instruction in Americanism and mandating a committee in each school district to review local curriculum. Slamas bill would rename them as American Civics committees and eliminate the 1949 provision making it a misdemeanor for educators to violate the law.

Lawmakers would do well to eliminate part of LB 399: its proposed requirement that public schools administer the same civics test that immigrants take for citizenship. The Nebraska State Board of Education, which otherwise indicated it has no problem with the bill, voted 8-0 to oppose the legislations naturalization-test provision, saying it would needlessly require too much rote memorization and intrude too much on the prerogatives by the State Board of Educations authority.

In the early years of our country, Thomas Jefferson wrote that wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government. Putting a spotlight on civics education through Slamas proposal would help Nebraska fulfill Jeffersons vision of a nation properly informed of its principles and ideals.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
Eastman suggested little things, such as people who know the area well, welcome maps that explain where events, restaurants and other tourist attractions are. She said you also want to give people items with Scottsbluff and Gering all over it.

Its something tangible they have so when they look at it later, they have good memories, Eastman said. You want to give them something that makes them want to come back.

Leisy and Niedan-Streeks are still looking for some groups that are willing to man each rural rest stop to provide drinks and snacks.

Its a great way for a group to get out and raise some money, Niedan-Streeks said.

Committees will now get together to work on their areas separately and will meet together monthly until the tour arrives.

Anyone who was not able to attend the meeting but still would like to help, may contact Brenda Leisy at 308-633-1808 or Karla Neidan-Streeks at 308-436-6886. The next meeting will be held in March at a time to be announced later.

Submit Your News We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on! Go to form
Allen, who has been a strong dry bean industry supporter for many years, brings that experience, and other skills, to her new job working with Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen.

I worked on his campaign for this office, and as it turns out, I think it was kind of a job interview, Allen said during an interview following her public address for the bean growers. I was his first hire, she added.

Allen believes she will be able to use her international experience to promote Nebraska industries, especially agriculture. Among her other duties will be public relations, liaison with Nebraska Realtors, international marketing, youth programs and spreading Evnens message, especially with the media.

According to Allen, one of the down sides of the job was having to move to Lincoln. However, she has turned that into a positive experience as well.

Moving from a farm at Ogallala to Lincoln was a challenge, but I havent lost my western Nebraska roots. Its good to bring western Nebraska, and fresh eyes, to Lincoln, she said.

She added that her children, all grown with careers and families of their own, have supported her move, and her husband has a new career. After selling his farm equipment a year ago, he became an over-the-road truck driver.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Q and U coincide in several words in the English language, so to celebrate this union, kindergarten students in Teri Ramirezs class celebrated Valentines Day with a wedding and reception for the letters.

Ahead of the holiday, Ramirez and the students discussed how Q and U are found together in several words like queen, quill and quarters. Thursday, the students brought items containing the letters Q and U for show-and-tell before witnessing the marriage of the letters. Some of the items students brought were a quilt, quarters and quills.

I started this last year because I just teach them how Q and U have to be together and we talk about how wherever Q is, U will be there in words, said Ramirez. At the end of the unit is a Valentines Day celebration.

Students gathered in the learning center at St. Agnes Catholic School for the wedding at 2:15 p.m. Ramirez chose students names from a hat to participate in the wedding. Easton Becker was the best man. Eliana Merrigan was the maid of honor. Kensington Suhr was the flower girl and Giovanni Alvizar was the ring bearer. Tristan Hoesing was Mr. U and Mila Miller was Ms. Q. The students carried giant letters decorated with googly eyes and a red paper mouth during the wedding ceremony. Students not selected as a member of the wedding party also had a role.
Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyoming announced the list of graduates for the 2018 fall semester and those students earning a place on the presidents and vice presidents honor rolls.

Students earning presidents honor roll recognition have earned a cumulative 3.75-4.0 GPA, and students on the vice presidents honor roll have earned a cumulative 3.5-3.74 GPA.

Credit Diploma Recipients include Amanda Lloyd of Scottsbluff.

Named to the Presidents Honor Roll was Shanda Barton, Kylie Korrell and Caleb Meeker, all of Torrington.

Those appearing on the Vice Presidents Honor Roll include Casey Huckfeldt of Gering and Amber Birkhofer of Kimball.
The couple was married on February 14, 1969, at the United Methodist Church in Gordon, Nebraska. Their daughters and grandchildren invite you to attend an open house reception to honor the couple on Saturday, February 23, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Weborg 21 Centre, 2625 10th St. Gering, NE. Cards may also be sent to 1070 Trail Court, Gering, NE.
.          ,         ,     .               .       2     ,   ,   5-  6-     .    ...
Two labor unions called on South African government to intervene and come up with options that might avert the possible retrenchments of 6,000 workers in the gold mining sector.

The Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and Solidarity's call come after Sibanye-Stillwater on Thursday announced that the restructuring of its mines would lead to over 6,000 retrenchments.

NUM's media officer Luphert Chilwane told Xinhua on Friday that they are pinning their hopes on upcoming consultations with Sibanye-Stillwater. "We hope that the consultations will avert retrenchments. There should be an alternative." Chilwane said.

Chilwane said labor unions are aware of problems confronting the gold sector. "Gold prices have been down. Some mines are old, but we call on Minerals Resources Department to intervene and come up with plans to revive these mines."

Gideon du Plessis, General Secretary at Solidarity union, also said loss making shafts must be revived.

"The Minerals Council of South Africa says 80 percent of gold mines are marginal, only 10 percent are making profits. The gold sector is under tremendous pressure," he told Xinhua. "We must do everything in our power to delay this ship from sinking."

Minerals Resources Department said the department will engage with all stakeholders and to explore all possible options to ensure many jobs are saved.

Sibanye-Stillwater, the largest gold producer in South Africa, blamed its financial losses for the looming job cuts. It is believed that the prolonged strike by members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union since November last year has also exacerbated problems in the company.
Ogden jazz icon Joe McQueen may be gone, but his memory and legacy live on. One physical reminder of his life, McQueen's lifelong home at 3158 Grant Ave., has now become available for sale. The house received extensive remodeling, but as investor Richard Casperson has said, "Joe's energy is 
P aul Hollywood's estranged wife has denied verbally abusing the Great British Bake Off judge's new partner when they bumped into each other at a supermarket.

Alex Hollywood, 54, and Summer Monteys-Fullam, 23, met one another by chance at a Marks & Spencers in Canterbury, Kent, and become embroiled in a dispute, according to reports in The Sun.

A representative of Alex denied she had verbally abused Monteys-Fullam during the incident, which was reported to police. However, they did confirm the pair met on Tuesday.

They said a "shocked" Alex had maintained a "dignified position" since she and Hollywood announced their split in November 2017.

Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood is now dating 23-year-old Summer Monteys-Fullam / Yui Mok/PA Wire

The statement read: "Alex was shocked to bump into Summer in her local supermarket but even in that difficult situation, she still did not and would not ever verbally abuse anyone.

"Alex has kept a dignified position throughout the last 14 months which have been extremely challenging, and continues to do so."

In a subsequent statement posted to Twitter, Alex, who alerted police to the incident, said she would "continue to stand tall, continue to be me, keep my integrity..."

She described the breakdown of her marriage as "very distressing".

Kent Police said: "Enquiries were carried out in which all parties involved were given words of advice."

Alex took Hollywood, 52, back following a brief separation in 2013 after he admitted having an affair with Marcela Valladolid, his co-star on the US version of Bake Off.
P hilip Hammond will not visit China this weekend amid reports that Beijing pulled out of trade talks after Gavin Williamson threatened to deploy a warship in the Pacific.

The Chancellor was expected to meet Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua, but Treasury sources said the trip was never confirmed.

It follows reports that Mr Hu scrapped the plans hours after Defence Secretary Mr Williamson announced that he would be sending HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific region.

The Sun reported China had been expected to lift its bans on British poultry and cosmetics not tested on animals, which could have opened up access to markets worth around 10 billion.

But a Treasury spokeswoman said: "The Chancellor is not travelling to China at this time. No trip was ever announced or confirmed."

A source suggested the visit would be rescheduled when possible.

Gavin Williamson announced he would be sending HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific region / Getty Images
I SIS teen Shamima Begum has told of her fears her baby will be taken away from her if she returns to Britain and said that she would miss her jihadist husband who she still loved very much.

The 19-year-old, who ran away from her home in Bethnal Green when she was 15 to join Isis in Syria, was found in a refugee camp by The Times earlier this week.

In a fresh interview with the newspaper, Ms Begum, who has already lost two children to illness and malnutrition, said: What do you think will happen to my child? Because I dont want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.

She also said she feared she might never see her husband, the Dutch jihadist Yago Riedijk, again. The last time she saw him was two weeks ago when they fled from the village of Baghuz  the last Isis stronghold in Syria.

(L-R) Kadiza Sultana, 16, Shamima Begum, 15 and Amira Abase, 15 going through security at Gatwick airport at the time they first fled to Syria

He surrendered to a group of fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces who are in the final stages of defeating Isis there, while Ms Begum was taken to the al-Hawl refugee camp.

Ms Begum also said she had been taken to hospital after having contractions following her arrival at the refugee camp, and could give birth "any day".

The pregnant teenager was tracked down by the newspaper four years after she travelled to Syria as a 15-year-old to join Islamic State, and she told how she would "do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child".

Terror trip: Two 15-year-old girls and a 16-year-old girl caught on CCTV at Gatwick travelling to Turkey / AP

Her case has been the subject of intense debate over what should happen to the teenager.

In a statement issued to ITV News, her family urged the Government to help her return to Britain to protect the welfare of her baby.

Shamima Begum when she was 15 and fled to join IS / PA

"Given Shamima's four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured," they said.

"Now, we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamima's two young children have died - children that we will never come to know as a family.

"This is the hardest of news to bear.

Former Met Police Chief Superintendent reacts to news IS schoolgirl Shamima Begum wanting to return to UK

"The welfare of Shamima's unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events."

Ms Begum told The Times she understood she could face a police investigation on her return, admitting: "I knew that coming back to the UK wouldn't be a quiet thing. It's uncomfortable.

"If I ever do go back, it'll be a long time before the cameras stop and all the questions stop."

The former east London schoolgirl had previously admitted that she did not regret travelling to IS-controlled Syria, and asserted she was "not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago".

The statement her family issued on Friday evening said they were shocked by her comments in the interview, but her words were those "of a girl who was groomed".

"We are also mindful that Shamima is currently in a camp surrounded by IS sympathisers and any comments by her could lead directly to danger to her and her child," they added.

Her family said her unborn child had "every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of this home".

"We welcome an investigation in what she did while she was there under the principles of British justice and would request the British Government assist us in returning Shamima and her child to the UK as a matter of urgency," the statement said.

Meanwhile, the head of MI6 warned that Britons returning from Islamic State were likely to have acquired "potentially very dangerous" skills and connections.

Alex Younger, who did not comment specifically on the case of Ms Begum, said UK nationals have a "right" to come home but that public safety was the first priority.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned he would "not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join IS, while security minister Ben Wallace said runaways who now wanted to come back must realise that "actions have consequences".

The head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said anyone returning from a conflict zone having gone to support a terrorist group should expect to face a police investigation.

"Any investigation is carried out with an open mind and based on the evidence available," he said.

"This is to determine if individuals have committed any terrorist or other criminal offences, regardless their motivation, and to ensure that they do not pose a danger to the public or the UK's national security."

Any hopes of a rescue mission by British officials were also swiftly quashed on Thursday as the Government ruled out an effort inside Syria to assist Ms Begum.

While refusing to comment on individual cases, Mr Wallace told the BBC: "I'm not putting at risk British people's lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

"There's consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences."

Questions have been raised over whether Britain would be able to prevent Ms Begum's eventual return to the UK.

Former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile told the BBC that if Ms Begum has not gained a second citizenship of another country, she will have to be allowed back to her homeland because under international law it is not possible for a person to be made "stateless".

Meanwhile, Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be "unreasonable" to expect the Syrian Defence Force to look after her indefinitely.

He also warned that summary execution is the "most likely outcome" for such captured foreign nationals who are handed over to Syrian or Iraqi authorities.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015.

Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green but not related to Shamima, had travelled to Syria two months earlier.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an air strike in 2016.
L ondoners flying out to Dominican Republic are being warned to be on alert about visiting the top holiday destination this half term after a spate of robberies and sexual attacks.

The idyllic long haul getaway has become the centre of a crime wave with tourists being violently attacked and mugged leading to the US State department issuing a travel advisory to exercise 'increased caution' due to high crime rates.

The Foreign Office is also advising UK tourists to be on alert after a spate of violent car robberies near to the main international airport Las Americas in the capital Santa Domingo.

The Caribbean island - off the coast of central America - is being touted as a 'safe' family destination by tour operators as tourists shun traditional European destinations such as France for fear of terrorism.

But now instead of facing a terror attack UK tourists could face violent muggers or sexual predators and official advice to Brits is to "take particular care" as the Dominican Republic has a "high crime rate".

Thousands of Brits will be jetting off to the island on half term holidays over the next few weeks unaware of the dangers laying in wait.

Nick Harris Head of Travel at Simpson Millar solicitors -an expert on long haul destinations - said people need to be aware that despite Dominican Republic being touted as a luxury getaway it is still a developing country.

He said: "There are lots of dangers and violence seems to be common place so people need to be more wary. Tourists are being targeted in a campaign of violent muggings outside hotels and car robberies and even sexual assaults in resorts.

"This is very worrying especially as the destination is being heavily promoted by UK tour operators as family friendly. Criminals often prey on people letting their hair down while abroad and unfortunately that is exactly what is happening over there.

"Behind the glitz and glam of the brochure can often lie a different world.

"We have also seen quite a lot of cases of food poisoning and illness such as Salmonella; which can leave people with life-long complications. We are already representing many victims who have fallen ill and people need to be extra vigilant especially in the resort areas of Puna Cuna.

"People need to have their eyes open to the dangers so they can protect themselves. Just because something looks great in pictures doesn't mean it will be the same in reality."

Latest figures revealed the Dominican Republic has become a big hit with Brits with nearly 180,000 visiting the island in 2017.

But beyond this new found popularity comes a dark underbelly which the Foreign Office has highlighted on its travel advice pages to reflect this ongoing crime wave on the Islands.

The FCO site states: The Dominican Republic is friendly and welcoming, but has a high crime rate ranging from opportunistic time like bag snatching and pick pocketing, to violent crime."

There have been incidents of passengers being "stopped and robbed or assaulted' when travelling from Las Americas' airport in Santa Domingo in the morning or late at night so the FCO tells visitors to be vigilant, especially after dark.

The FCO also warned of spate of sexual assaults including "assault, rape and sexual aggression" and warned tourists to be cautious' when dealing with strangers especially at beach resorts where 'other guests and even hotel staff have been implicated in attacks.'

The Foreign Office is also warning tourists of daylight gun toting muggers in the capital Santa Domingo and chillingly warns victims "don't resist" if attacked.

It also says avoid carrying smart phones or cameras in the street and to take "extra care" when using ATMs as card cloning and identity theft is rife on the island.
T he parents of the woman who died in the Wiltshire Novichok poisonings have said they want justice from the Government and blame them for putting former spy Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

Stan and Caroline Sturgess, whose daughter Dawn died in the months after the nerve agent attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter Yulia, spoke of unanswered questions about the case and said they were seeking "justice".

The Russian state is alleged to have poisoned Mr Skripal with Novichok hidden in a perfume bottle on March 4 last year in Salisbury, with Charlie Rowley and Ms Sturgess falling ill months later in nearby Amesbury after coming into contact with the same nerve agent.

Mr Sturgess, a retired bricklayer, told The Guardian: "I want justice from our own Government. What are they hiding? I don't think they have given us all the facts.

"If anyone, I blame the Government for putting Skripal in Salisbury.

Dawn Sturgess / AFP/Getty Images

"If they'd targeted Dawn specifically, it would be different. I don't care if they (the alleged attackers of the Skripals) are arrested or put in prison."

Of Mr Skripal, he added: "I don't know where Skripal is and I don't know what I'd do if I met him. He's still got his daughter."

Of the Skripals, Mrs Sturgess, a retired civil servant, told the paper: "It's sad they ended up in a coma but they weren't the true victims. (Skripal) took risks - he must have known there was a chance people were still after him."

Dawn Sturgess's partner Charlie Rowley / AFP/Getty Images

Both Mr Skripal and his daughter were critically ill after the alleged assassination attempt in which the nerve agent had been sprayed on a door handle at their home.

Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, who attended the scene, also needed hospital treatment and previously said he was "petrified" by the experience.

He told Panorama last November: "I didn't understand how it had happened, scared because it's the fear of the unknown because it's such a dangerous thing to have in your system. Knowing how the other two (the Skripals) were or how badly they'd been affected by it, I was petrified."

Last September, Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service said there was sufficient evidence to charge two Russian nationals named as Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov with offences including conspiracy to murder over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Russian spy 'poisoning': Sergei and Yulia Skripal are fighting for life in hospital / PA

It was subsequently reported by Bellingcat that Mr Boshirov was actually highly-decorated Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, and Mr Petrov was a military doctor called Alexander Yevgenyevich Mishkin.

Both men told Russian state-funded news channel RT they travelled to the "wonderful" city in Wiltshire to see Stonehenge and Old Sarum after recommendations from friends.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has previously denied the men identified by the UK were responsible for the attack.

The Government has been contacted for comment.
H ardline Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed "extremists" like far-right activist Tommy Robinson could win elections if Brexit is stopped.

Mr Rees-Mogg, chair of the anti-EU European Research Group of Conservative MPs, said delaying or stopping Brexit will be an opening for extremists.

Speaking on his LBC show on Friday, Mr Rees-Mogg said: The UK has been very fortunate in avoiding extremist parties. Throughout our history, we have tended to have moderate parties of the left and right  and the Lib Dems wherever they might be.

If we stop Brexit, if by some Parliamentary legerdemain we manage to delay and prevent Brexit, I think that will be an opening for extremists.

Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks on his LBC show on Friday / LBC

If we had European elections, my guess is that Tommy Robinson would do extremely well.

"And that would upset the balance of reasonableness that this country has normally been able to enjoy.

Far-right activist Tommy Robinson at the 'Brexit Betrayal' rally in central London in December / AFP/Getty Images

Mr Rees-Mogg also addressed Thursday's Commons vote in which the government was again defeated on its Brexit motion.

He was one of a group of about 60 Tory Brexiteer hardliners who abstained from the vote. Mr Rees-Mogg said: That motion had said that we were in favour both of replacing the Irish backstop but also ruling out the possibility of leaving without a deal.

Government Brexit motion defeated in House of Commons

For people of my way of thinking, removing the prospect of no deal is the silliest thing you can possibly do in a negotiation.

In all negotiations of any kind, whether they be grand matters of state or buying shoes in a bazaar, you want to be able to walk away and say: No, I am not going to pay the price for what you are offering me because it simply isnt good enough.

TODO: define component type apester

"People who dont do that find they get a bad deal.

Mr Rees-Mogg also insisted the defeat strengthens the governments negotiating position: The suggestion Parliament would not accept no deal that would have been manna from heaven for the EU.
J ustice Secretary David Gauke today said I wont support an irresponsible policy after being asked if he will resign over a no-deal Brexit five times during a live interview.

The Cabinet minister was being interviewed on Sky News when he was asked if he would quit his position if Theresa May allows the UK to crash out of the EU without a deal on March 29.

Sky News presenter Stephen Dixon asked If we do leave with no deal, which is a very real possibility now, at one minute past 11 on the 29th March, are you going to resign?

Mr Gauke replied: I dont imagine that that will be the circumstances, I am fighting to deliver a deal and thats what I want to do. The Governments position is to deliver a deal so that we can leave on the 29th March.

EPA

Mr Dixon repeated the question four more times as the minister tried to dodge giving a clear yes or no answer.

Justice Secretary David Gauke said the phones would provide "a crucial means of allowing prisoners to maintain family relationships" / AFP/Getty Images

I wont support an irresponsible policy, I think thats a clear answer to your question. I wont support an irresponsible policy. I dont expect us to have an irresponsible policy, Mr Gauke eventually said.

During an earlier interview on BBC Radio 4s Today programme, he had warned that crashing out of the European Union without a deal would have a "very adverse effect" on the UK's economy, security and union with Northern Ireland.

TODO: define component type apester

He suggested he would back an extension to Article 50 if a deal between the UK and EU was not reached, and said he expected the Government to act "responsibly" if the current deadlock prevailed.

Mr Gauke said he hoped it would be made clear in the next 10 days that the UK is in a position to leave with a deal on March 29.

But he said: "If not, then we will have to, in my view, act responsibly and make sure that this country, the economy is protected, our security is protected and the integrity of the Union is protected.

"I have very grave concerns about the consequences of leaving without a deal."

Mr Gauke added: "I think the idea of leaving without a deal on the 29th March would be one that would have a very adverse effect, to put it mildly, on our economy, on our security and on the integrity of the Union and I think my position on that is very clear."

He has previously suggested that Brexit might have to be delayed beyond the scheduled exit date.

Mr Gauke said he hoped a deal would have been reached by the next round of Commons votes on February 27, which has been described as a "high noon" moment for the future of Brexit.

Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January 1 /25 Brexit: Leave and Remain supporters gather in London on 29 January Pro-EU and pro-Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A man holds a 'Stop Brexit' sign aboard a campaign bus travelling down Whitehall in Westminster, London PA Pro-Brexit demonstrators chant slogans outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters Anti-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter vapes electronic cigarette in front of a group of remain supporters AP Pro-Brexit protestors dressed as suffragettes demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament Getty Images An anti-brexit supporter holds banners in London AP Pro and anti Brexit protestors discuss the vote and ongoing political processes as they demonstrate near to the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Pro-Brexit and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP A campaigner dressed as Charlie Chaplin walks by the Houses of Parliament PA A leave supporter holds banners at the parliament gates AP Pro-Brexit, left and anti-Brexit protesters hold banners in London AP Pro-Brexit demonstrators protest outside the Houses of Parliament Reuters A leave supporter holds banners in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London AP Police officers stand near Pro-Brexit and Anti-Brexit posters outside the Houses of Parliament, in Westminster, London Reuters Leave supporters hold placards in front of remain supporters during demonstrations in London, AP A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images A pro-Brexit protestor sets fire to a roll of toilet paper decorated with the EU flag as she demonstrates near the Houses of Parliament Getty Images Leave supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in Londo AP Leave and remain supporters hold placards as they take part in demonstrations near the parliament in London AP Pro-Brexit activists hold placards and wave flags as they demonstrate opposite the Houses of Parliament in London AFP/Getty Images A remain supporter, left and a leave supporter, center, discuss during demonstrations in London AP Pro-Brexit protesters demonstrate outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images v Reuters Anti-Brexit protesters demonstrate on a double decker bus outside the Houses of Parliament in Westminster Getty Images

Meanwhile, the Times reported that female MPs have been forced to move house and hire bodyguards because of tensions over Brexit.

The newspaper said one female parliamentarian was advised by police not to travel alone at night, while another was told not to drive herself and a third was warned against running in her local park.

A number of cross-party MPs have reported experiencing abuse in recent weeks.

'Any Brexit deal is going to be worse than what we have already got' says a business owner on BBC Question Time

Among them was pro-EU Conservative MP Anna Soubry, who was called a "Nazi" by pro-Brexit protesters as she was interviewed outside Parliament last month.

Meanwhile, the Government has stepped up its information campaign on Brexit preparations.
P olice are searching for a couple who are missing after their car was found empty following a crash.

Donna Smith, 27, and her partner Matthew Hughes, 25, were reported missing by relatives and were last seen getting into their car at their home in West Drayton at around 5.30pm.

Police received reports that their blue Vauxhall had been involved in a crash with a parked car in the Ruislip area on Saturday, although they were not in the car when officers arrived.

Scotland Yard said: Officers are growing increasingly concerned for their welfare and are appealing for anyone who knows of their whereabouts to get in contact with police.

Mr Hughes is described as a white man with dark brown hair. He is 5ft 11ins of skinny build, he is clean shaven and has an Ava Mae tattoo on his forearm. He was last seen wearing a grey jumper and jeans.

Ms Smith is described as a white female, of slim build. She is 5ft 7ins tall with light brown mid-shoulder length hair and was last seen wearing a black coat and jeans.
A n employee of 15 years who was being fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company killed five co-workers and wounded five police officers, authorities have said.

Gary Martin shot at officers as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt company building in Aurora, 40 miles west of Chicago. Police chief Kristen Ziman said that Martin, 45, was also killed.

Ms Ziman said that in addition to the five employees killed at around 1.30pm local time on Friday, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

A sixth officer suffered a knee injury while police were searching the 29,000-square-foot warehouse for the gunman.

Martin was cornered by police about an hour after the shooting began and was fatally shot in a stand-off.

Gary Martin worked for Henry Pratt for around 20 years before the shooting / Facebook

Ms Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the building.

Police said they did not know the gunman's motive but Ms Ziman added: We can only surmise with a gentleman that's being terminated that this was something he intended to do.

Law enforcement near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora / AP

The gunman's sister Tameka Martin told WBEZ that Martin had worked at Henry Pratt Co. for around 20 years before losing his job about two weeks ago.

Felicia Martin, his mother, told WGN: My heart goes out to all the victims and their families.

Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene in Aurora / AP

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co., told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded on Friday afternoon.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," he said. Mr Probst said he was not hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad".

Local resident Mary McKnight stepped out of her car at home to find a flurry of police cars and officers.

"This is a strange thing to come home to," she said. Ms McKnight had just learned that the shooter lived close by and his unit in the complex had been taped off by police.

Crime scene tape cordens off an area as officials search the apartment of Gary Martin / EPA

"In Aurora, period, we'd never thought anything like this would happen," Christy Fonseca, another local resident, said near the Henry Pratt building, which makes valves for industrial purposes.

Speaking after the shooting, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference: "May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger.

"It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country, Aurora mayor Richard Irvin added. It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.
London Fashion Week is under way, so naturally it's the perfect time for a fashion-inspired high tea.

Celebrating all things Dior and couture, The Berkeley Hotel's brand new Pret-a-Portea afternoon tea is inspired by the new Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams exhibition currently on at the V&A Museum.

The tea - masterminded by pastry chef Mourad Khiat - includes a biscuit take on the classic Dior Bar Suit, synonymous with the French fashion house since it first took to the runway in 1947. Taste-wise, think rich chocolate biscuit paired with cream royal icing.

Joining the suit is the Lady Dior handbag, which shot to fame back in 1995 when France's then First Lady Bernadette Chirac gifted it to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. And no fashion tea would be complete without a scent, which probably explains why a Miss Dior Eau De Parfum number has one of the top spots on the menu. Flavour, you ask? Lychee and raspberry.

People. Fashion. Power. Delivered weekly. Email Sign up Sign up I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice {{message}} {{permutiveUid}} {{message}}

Other highlights include a velvet mousse finished off with an edible violet (an homage to Dior's 1949 Miss Dior dress) and of course the Diors JAdior shoe from the current collection by Maria Grazia Chiuri. The only thing that is missing is Charlize Theron in a gold dress whispering sexily into your ear as you eat it.

Sound like your cup of tea? The Dior Collection is avaliable now in the very beautful Collins Room (it has the best light for taking pictures) and will set you back 58 per person (74 with champagne).
Millions of Indians will by now have seen the twisted wreckage of buses carrying dozens of Indian paramilitary soldiers from the Central Reserve Police Force, or CRPF; at least 37 of them died when a car loaded with explosives rammed into their convoy as it passed through Pulwama district of India's Jammu and Kashmir state. Jaish-e-Mohammed, a group of militant Islamic extremists who pioneered suicide bombings in the disputed region of Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the attack. As one Kashmiri politician wrote on Twitter, it was "reminiscent of the dark days of militancy pre 2004-05."

Jaish-e-Mohammed is based in Pakistan. Its leader, Masood Azhar, gives speeches freely and the group has built a sprawling training complex in the city of Bahawalpur, which features a wall painting of suitably militant-looking horses bearing down on Delhi's Red Fort. Periodically, the Pakistani government pretends to crack down on militant Islamists such as Azhar; in fact, the terrorists continue to raise funds, recruit and strike at will across Pakistan's borders. Nor is it just India that suffers. The Afghan government tells all and sundry that it cannot defeat the Taliban as long as the militants are supported by Pakistan. Just a day before the Kashmir attack, the Pakistan-based Sunni extremist group Jaish al Adl killed 27 members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, also using a car bomb.

Pakistani officials often like to say that their country is among the foremost victims of Islamist terrorism. Perhaps. But, their response has been at best to accommodate extremism, and at worst to try and convince terrorists that their efforts are best turned outwards, towards India, Afghanistan or Iran. Indian government officials -- like the Afghans - are caught in a bind. They have little leverage over the militants' patrons within the Pakistani military establishment. Nor are the Americans any longer influential enough to help: Jaish-e-Mohammed went quiet in the mid-2000s at American insistence but reemerged soon enough.

The Pakistani military has found a new patron: the People's Republic of China. Beijing has repeatedly blocked attempts by India at the United Nations to declare Azhar a "global terrorist," freeze his assets and prevent him from travelling. Nobody can quite understand why the same country that runs prison camps for ordinary Muslims in Xinjiang is protecting a self-confessed jihadi militant. Earlier, only the generals in Rawalpindi were held responsible for attacks such as this one in India. Today, Beijing's leaders will have to accept their share of the blame.

The India of the past would grit its teeth and absorb a blow like this. But Indian public opinion is no longer as patient as it was during the attack on Parliament in 2002 or the siege of Mumbai in 2008. The big box-office success of the past year in India has been a dramatization of the cross-border strikes on militant camps in Pakistani Kashmir launched in retaliation for a similar (albeit less bloody) Jaish-e-Mohammed attack a few years ago. India's ruling party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, won state elections following those strikes and it has adopted the movie's catchphrase as its own. Modi faces reelection in a few months; he'll be under tremendous pressure to respond as he did then.

Yet Modi's government has a lot of introspection to do as well. The militants released a video of the man driving the explosive-laden car: He was a local, from Gundibagh village in Pulwama. In the decade before Modi took office in 2014, homegrown Islamist militancy in Kashmir had largely died out. In the past five years, it has tragically come roaring back, fed by a series of cynical moves by the government in New Delhi meant to shore up its popularity in the rest of India.

Modi's colleagues in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have tried to paint other Indian politicians as being sympathetic to terrorists. The BJP formed an opportunistic alliance in order to enter Jammu and Kashmir's state government for the first time, and then abandoned that alliance in a manner that further alienated Kashmiris from Indian democracy. Party supporters own television channels that regularly paint all Kashmiris, not just terrorists, as the enemy.

Crowd-control tactics in Kashmir have become ever more brutal, angering locals. And anyone who speaks up for the basic rights of Kashmiris under India's liberal constitution is considered, in a delightful Indian neologism, "anti-national." In the process, a once-quiescent Kashmir has been set alight once again.

It's possible Pakistan may want to stir up trouble in Kashmir. But, if it succeeds, then it is New Delhi that will have failed. India's prime ministers, of every ideology and party, have long sought to control anger in Kashmir and, in the long term, win the state back to the Indian mainstream. Modi abandoned that policy, making his successors' task infinitely harder.

- - -

Sharma, a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, is the author of "Restart: The Last Chance for the Indian Economy."
Im not good at losing.

And yet, contrary to a headline on the front page of the Stamford Advocate (Government Center 1: Advocate 0), I dont really feel like we lost a Freedom of Information (FOI) battle with the City of Stamford Wednesday.

A former editor filed the complaint alleging the city did not promptly respond to a request for payroll records. I participated in an FOI Commission hearing last July in which four city employees, including city attorney Amy LiVolsi (a former member of the commission), contended that the document took four months and many hours on the taxpayers dime to compile.

The city didnt deny the information was public record. They just happened to release it hours after the complaint was filed, some four months after it was requested.

The commission dismissed the complaint, buying the citys defense that the document didnt exist when we requested it.

Me, not so much.

Which is one reason this doesnt feel like a loss.

The two hours of defensive play by LiVolsi, the city comptroller, a payroll numbers runner and the mayors assistant provided more transparency than we hoped for.

They cracked open the hood for a peek at the engine. We didnt expect a BMW X5, but were pretty horrified to get Stamfords version of the notorious Yugo 55.

Translation: They claimed victory by showing how poorly the city machine runs.

Its really a win-win; we got the data plus an admission that 888 Washington Blvd. bookkeepers are as overwhelmed as the HR department at the White House.

Because Im so bad at losing, though, that wasnt enough. I never believed the commission would slap the city with a deadline, though they deserve one. Advocate/Greenwich Time Managing Editor Tom Mellana expressed the lingering problem deftly: If four months was acceptable to the FOI Commission, would six months have been OK? A year? At what point does the information become public in name only?

Faced with a no-win scenario, I took the approach of Capt. James T. Kirk facing the Kobayashi Maru test (37-year-old plot spoiler: Kirk cheated).

A couple weeks ago, I asked a colleague at the New Haven Register (a fellow Hearst paper) to submit an identical request.

Its a fair comparison. After all, Stamford is a rugby team away from overtaking New Haven as the second most populated city in the state. Lets toss them both in a scrum and see who comes up with the ball.

The Register emailed Mayor Toni Harps office at 3:17 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6.

I am writing to request under the Connecticut Freedom of Information Act an electronic copy of the 2018 salaries of all city employees, broken down by total earnings, base pay, overtime, and police extra-duty pay.

Its a big ask, especially if youve never gotten it before. So Communications Director Laurence Grotheer consulted corporation counsel, which worked with payroll and human resources.

They emailed the information to an editor at 10:12 a.m. Monday. In two formats. Yes, a little more than two business days lapsed.

Grotheer said the New Haven process was streamlined because the document existed.

Stamford claims it has to create the document every year even though the Advocate has been publishing a version of it since the 1980s.

Greenwich took about a month to respond to a reporters recent request for similar informa tion.

As I explained in a column last June, Stamford officials reliably produced the list within weeks until Mayor David Martins tenure, even back when a floppy disc was cause for celebration after years of paper documents.

The lists are catnip for readers. They are also revealing. Municipalities should have easy access to such lists to manage staff and resources.

Lets compare some New Haven numbers with Stamfords. Oops, we still dont have the latter for 2018. Well have to run Stamfords numbers from 2017.

The top earner in New Haven was police Sgt. Paul Finch with $271,009, which included overtime and side job pay. Stamfords chart-topper was police Capt. Richard Conklin with earnings of $399,128.

The difference between the top earners for each city is $128,119, which will get you a firefighter in Stamford or a fire captain in New Haven.

Subtract the take-home pay of the top-five earners in New Haven from their Stamford counterparts and you can pocket $429,633. That could fund a few teachers.

These salaries are worth careful analysis, given that wages and benefits represent 80 percent of Stamfords budget.

Theres also the matter of equity. There are only two women among the top 20 earners in New Haven, including the superintendent of schools. Thats double the number in Stamford.

So lets rewrite the headline: Government Center 1, Taxpayers 0.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of the Stamford Advocate and Greenwich Time. jbreunig@scni.com; twitter.com/johnbreunig
GREENWICH  The arrest of an ex-boyfriend of Valerie Reyes in her killing brought with it new context to the murder of the 24-year-old woman.

The brutal act  in which Reyes mouth was covered with tape, her wrists and legs bound, her body stuffed in a suitcase and dumped on the side of a Greenwich road  was done at the hands of a former intimate partner, according to investigators.

If law enforcements theory about how she died proves to be true, Reyes is one of millions of women who have been seriously physically assaulted by a current or former intimate partner each year in the U.S.

The arrest of an ex-boyfriend in the Valerie Reyes case is not surprising to us, given that the majority of homicides against women are committed by current or former intimate partners, said Mary Lee Kiernan, president and CEO of the YWCA Greenwich.

While we dont yet know the exact cause of death, we continue to be deeply disturbed by the horrific violence and degrading objectification that is already evident.

Reyes, who lived in New Rochelle, N.Y., was reported missing on Jan. 29. Her body was found off Glenville Road on Feb. 5. Javier Da Silva, 24, of Queens, N.Y., was charged with a federal count of kidnapping resulting in death in the case.

Da Silva, who had overstayed his visa and was not in the country legally at the time of the killing, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Da Silva was the type of guy who wouldnt take no for an answer, said Norma Sanchez, Reyes mother. He and Reyes had dated for several months about a year ago.

Lucy Nolan, director of policy and public relations at the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, said she wasnt shocked that an intimate partner was arrested in the case. It exhibits the escalation of violence and control many abusive relationships involve, she said.

This is why people get restraining orders, she said. Its because real damage can happen. A woman cant control somebody who is out of control.

Kiernan said the anxiety and depression Reyes reportedly suffered may have been a sign that something else was going on in her personal life.

Valerie may have been exhibiting the trauma of abuse that victims of intimate partner violence suffer, she said. Often this trauma is misidentified as a mental health issue, paranoia or dramatic behavior, when victims are in fact suffering from various forms of abuse, coping with serious trauma and reaching out for help.

The night before Reyes went missing, her mother said the young woman told her she was afraid she would be murdered.

Intimate partner violence makes up 15 percent of all violent crime in the U.S. Women between the ages of 18 and 24 are the most likely to be abused by an intimate partner, according to a study from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Each year in the America, an average of more than 10 million women and men are physically abused by an intimate partner, per the study.

One in four women and one in nine men experience severe physical violence from an intimate partner. One in 10 woman have been raped by an intimate partner. Data for male victims is not available.

One in seven woman and one in 18 men have been stalked by an intimate partner and feared they would be killed or harmed.

One in five women and one in 71 men in the U.S. have been raped. More than half of female and male rape victims were raped by someone they knew, and of those cases 45.5 percent of women and 29 percent of men were raped by an intimate partner.

In America, 19.3 million women and 5.1 million men have been stalked. More than 60 percent of female stalking victims and 43 percent of men were stalked by an intimate partner.

Kiernan said YWCA Greenwich will continue its violence prevention education programs in schools throughout the community to promote healthy behaviors and relationships.

Prevention education, starting at a young age, is critical, she said.

Throughout Connecticut, nonprofits and police departments have adopted a lethality assessment program in an effort to save lives.

Service providers such as YWCA Greenwich and police officers ask a suspected victim of intimate partner violence a standardized list of questions, and if the victim screens positive, showing a risk of lethality, the victim is immediately connected with crisis services and sheltering, she said.

The LAP screen is an evidence-based questionnaire based on a nationally recognized model that has proven to reduce lethality in abusive intimate partner relationships.

If you are someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the statewide crisis hotline at 888-774-2900. In Greenwich, the YWCA hotline is 203-622-0003.
STAMFORD  A Stamford judge is set to hear arguments later this month to dismiss a suit brought by a state Senate candidate against the city of Norwalk and a local news outlet for publishing his 4-year-old drunk-driving arrest that had been erased from his record.

Last year after losing his state Senate bid, Marc DAmelio filed suit against the Norwalk Police Department for releasing the report of his expunged 2014 arrest in a blatant attempt to influence the election.

In November, DAmelio lost the election to Democratic Senate incumbent Bob Duff, 37 percent to 63 percent.

The suit alleges that the police department violated the law in releasing the arrest report and NancyonNorwalk online publisher Nancy Chapman invaded his privacy by publishing it. Furthermore,their actions inflicted emotional stress on DAmelio. The suit seeks more than $15,000 in damages.

Not all speech is protected. You cant yell fire in a crowded theater, said Rob Serafinowicz, who is representing DAmelio. The complaint is Nancy Chapman added additional facts and personal opinions in order to portray my client as someone who he is not, because of his political beliefs.

Serofinowicz said he respected freedom of the press, but not bloggers who give only one side of the story to the detriment of those with differing viewpoints.

Bill Fish, who is representing Chapman with co-counsel David Schultz, said, I think this is a quintessential case that the SLAPP statute was intended to deal with and the reason that the Connecticut General Assembly and other legislatures enacted this law.

SLAPP laws, or Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, prohibit frivolous suits designed to silence defendants for exercising their right of free speech.

Norwalk Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeffrey Spahr filed a motion to throw the suit out, saying that DAmelio alleges intentional actions committed by unnamed city of Norwalk employees and state statutes say the city cannot be held liable for acts or omissions of any employees which constitute criminal conduct, fraud, malice or willful misconduct.

Sphar notes that two weeks before Chapman wrote her article, DAmelio tried to redirect the focus of any upcoming adverse publicity by participating in a story in The Norwalk Hour where he decried political tricksterism in releasing the report, while covering the details of his arrest years earlier.

DAmelio was arrested on South Main Street early in the morning of Jan. 11, 2014, for allegedly driving drunk with his then 9-year-old daughter in the car in the front seat and three strangers whom he had picked up at a bodega in the back seat. Police said DAmelio told them he he was handing out his winnings from the Mohegan Sun casino to teach his daughter a lesson on helping the less fortunate. The Norwalk Hour covered the story right after the arrest happened in early 2014.

In The Norwalk Hour story published before the 2018 election, DAmelio acknowledged making a mistake, and described the release of the police reports as a witch hunt against him.

D'Amelio applied for and was granted a court diversionary program which he successfully completed, resulting in his drunk driving, risk of injury to a child, and failure to drive in proper lane charges being dismissed at state Superior Court in Norwalk.

Spahr also mentions that there was no guarantee Chapman would have written about the arrest if DAmelio hadnt blown the the whistle on himself by reaching out to the The Norwalk Hour and being their source for their story. Spahr also argues that it is clear the disclosure of the police reports was not the deciding factor in the election.

At the end of January, a motion to dismiss DAmelios suit was brought by Chapmans attorney David Schultz. In it, Schultz says the suit seeks to improperly punish a journalist for reporting true, newsworthy facts about a political candidate in the middle of a campaign. The motion says Chapman worked for four newspapers before landing a job with the Daily Voice in Norwalk and then starting her NancyonNorwalk website in 2012.

The motion says Chapmans article about the arrest is plainly an exercise of her right of free speech on a matter of public concern.

Also Schultz notes, DAmelios claims against Chapman are barred by the states fair report privilege, which renders all fair and accurate descriptions of official proceedings, such as court hearings, free from claims of libel and emotional distress.

A hearing on the motion is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 25 at the Stamford courthouse.
Madrid, Feb 14, 2019 (SPS)  the Spanish Workers Commissions (CCOO) regretted that the European Parliament ignores the verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding the illegal exploitation of Saharawi natural resources.

In this way, CCOO joins the movement of solidarity with the Saharawi people to ask for rectification of the effects of this shameful agreement that once again means a new attempt to broaden agreements that include products and other goods from Western Sahara.

The Workers Commissions organization highlights that the illegal agreement "represents a new looting of the region's natural resources and the continuity of the destruction of jobs for the Saharawi population, subjected to an occupation that has lasted more than four decades."

"International law does not recognize any Moroccan sovereignty or jurisdiction over the territory of Western Sahara, nor does it consider Morocco as the administering power of this territory. Therefore, the agreements signed with Morocco are not extendable to Western Sahara. This is confirmed, among other international norms and resolutions, by the Charter of the United Nations (chapter 73), the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice on Western Sahara in 1975 or the opinion of the UN of 2002 ", adds CCOO.

Referring to the responsibility of Spain as the administering power of Western Sahara, CCOO points out that the vote of the European Parliament also coincides with the visit that the King and Queen of Spain made to Morocco on 13 and 14 February, accompanied by five ministers, among others. Foreign, Interior, Agriculture and Trade that will sign political agreements with their Moroccan counterparts.SPS

125/090/TRA
Bir Lehlu (SADR Liberated Territories), February 13, 2019 (SPS) -. The Saharawi Government and the POLISARIO Front have reminded the King of Spain and the Spanish Government that Spain continues to be the administering Power of the Territory of Western Sahara under international law unless the Spanish State succeeds in completing the decolonization of the territory allowing the Saharawi people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination.

In a statement released today by the Ministry of Information of the SADR on the eve of the visit of the King of Spain to Morocco, the Saharawi Government reminds the Spanish monarch of the tragedy of more than 45 years that the Saharawi people live due to the lack of compliance with its international obligations to organize a referendum of self-determination.

In that sense, the Sahrawi Government has condemned the shameful policy of successive Spanish governments in their support and encouragement of an illegal Moroccan military occupation.

It also condemns "the Spanish position, shared with the French position, at the level of the European Union, which were behind the ratification by the European Parliament, a day before the King of Spain's visit to Morocco, a European-Moroccan agreement that reaches the territorial waters and soil of Western Sahara in flagrant violation of international law, in particular, the decisions of the European Court of Justice "

The POLISARIO hopes that the visit of Felipe VI to the Kingdom of Morocco can contribute to end the conflict in Western Sahara, in accordance with the Charter and the resolutions of the UN and the AU and can contribute to the achievement of a lasting peace in the region.

It asks the King of Spain to put an end to the serious violations of human rights in the OOTT, to the continuous illegal exploitation of the Saharawi natural resources, to the military and media siege imposed by the occupying power to occupied Western Sahara.

The Frente POLISARIO also hopes that the visit of the Spanish monarch to Morocco can contribute to "promote the process of a just solution to the conflict in Western Sahara and, in particular, it can be a timely support for the efforts of the Personal Envoy of the Secretary General of the United Nations, President Horst Koehler, including the success of the direct round of negotiations between the parties to the conflict. "SPS

125/090/TRA
Brussels, February 11, 2019 (SPS) - About 98 Sahrawi associations called on the Euro-deputies to vote against the EU-Morocco fisheries agreement, extended to the occupied Sahrawi territories, pointing out that this text aims to plunder the natural resources of Western Sahara and contributed to the continuation of the Moroccan occupation.



On the eve of the holding of a plenary session at the European Parliament, the Sahrawi associations called on European MPs to vote against the inclusion of occupied Western Sahara in the scope of EU-Morocco fisheries agreement.



Stakeholders of the Sahrawi civil society, from active organizations in the occupied and liberated territories and refugee camps and the Diaspora, called on the European deputies to defend the legality and right of Sahrawi people and to save the image of the European Union as an institution defending democracy, human rights and the rule of law.



We call you to take up your constitutional responsibilities and act as legislative power, defend your own court and not be attracted by the propaganda and unfounded claims, according to the Sahrawi associations.



In this regard, the collective of the Sahrawi organizations underlined that the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) gave twice a ruling (21 December 2016 and 27 February 2018) on the fact that Western Sahara is a distinct and separate territory from Morocco and that the Moroccan Kingdom has no sovereignty over Western Sahara. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) February 11, 2019 (SPS) - President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the POLISARIO Front, Brahim Ghali, on Sunday held official talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.



The talks centered on the United Nations-led peace process in Western Sahara in the context of the efforts of the UN Secretary-General and his Personal Envoy, Horst Koehler, to find a just and lasting solution to the conflict on the basis of international legitimacy.



The President of the Republic reiterated the full cooperation of the Sahrawi authorities with the United Nations in order to reach a just and lasting solution to the issue of decolonization of Western Sahara on the basis of the application of international legitimacy and respect for the inalienable right of the Sahrawi people to self-determination and independence in accordance with the resolutions of the United Nations and the African Union.



For his part, the UN Secretary-General stressed his full support for his personal envoy to advance the UN-led political process towards finding a solution to the long-running conflict in Western Sahara.



It should be recalled that the African Union had called upon the two member States, the Sahrawi Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco, to engage in direct and unconditional negotiations to resolve this African conflict. (SPS)



062/SPS/TRA
Addis Ababa, February 10, 2019 (SPS) - Scheduled for Sunday evening in Addis Ababa, the first meeting of the African Mechanism on Western Sahara will culminate in a roadmap that enables the African Union (AU) to significantly contribute to the efforts made by the United Nations (UN) and fully play its role in the resolution of this conflict that has lasted far too long, President of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat announced Sunday in Addis Ababa.



Regarding the Western Sahara conflict, a new African mechanism has been set up during the AU Summit in Nouakchott (2018). The mechanisms first meeting takes place today evening to draft a roadmap enabling the AU to significantly contribute to the efforts made by the UN and fully play its role in the settlement of this conflict that has lasted far too long, said Faki at the opening ceremony of the 32nd AU Heads of State and Government Summit in Addis Ababa.



Speaking at the 34th AU Executive Council, Faki had already reiterated his support to the UN efforts through the AU mechanism.



The Conference of the Heads of State and Government held on July 2018 in Nouakchott had adopted the African mechanism enabling the AU to effectively support to the UN-led process, based on the relevant resolution of the Security Council aimed at ensuring the Sahrawi peoples self-determination right.



This mechanism was adopted following the report prepared by the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki on the Western Sahara issue. The document recalled that Western Sahara and Morocco must resume negotiations under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General.



The report advocates negotiations "without preconditions and in good faith with a view to achieving a just, lasting and mutually acceptable political solution that provides for the self-determination of the people of Western Sahara under arrangements consistent with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
Addis Ababa, February 10, 2019 (SPS) - The African Mechanism on Western Sahara holds on Saturday, in the Ethiopian capital, its constitutive meeting to address the conflict in Western Sahara and to set up an efficient approach to enable the United Nations to reach a solution to this lingering conflict.



The African Union (AU) has decided to hold, on Saturday, the first meeting of the African Mechanism on Western Sahara.



This Mechanism, politically known as "the African Troika" has been created in accordance with the decision of the 31st Ordinary Session of the African Union, held in Nouakchott, announced Friday the source.



Through this mechanism, the AU aims at "contributing to reaching a peaceful, fair and permanent solution to enable the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination.



AU plans to activate the Troika as "culmination of the UN efforts to achieve an immediate solution," AU sources said.



The mechanism is intended to activate the role of the African envoy Joachim Chissano to Western Sahara, alternatively with the efforts made by the UN envoy, Horst Kohler, the same source added. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
Addis Ababa, February 9, 2019 (SPS) - The African Union (AU) reiterated its support to the efforts conducted, under the auspices of the United Nations, through the African mechanism established in Nouakchott Summit to reach a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, said Thursday, in Addis Ababa, the head of AU Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat.



I welcome the relaunch, under the auspices of the United Nations, of the process aimed at reaching a solution to the conflict in Western Sahara, said Faki in an opening speech at the 34th ordinary session of his executive Council.



AU will renew its support to these efforts through the African mechanism, established at Nouakchott Summit, he added.



The African mechanism enabling AU to provide an efficient support to the process led by UN, based on the relevant resolutions of the Security Council in order to enable the Sahrawi people to exercise their right to self-determination, was adopted by the Conference of heads of State and government, held in July 2018 in Nouakchott.



This mechanism was adopted following the report prepared by the head of AU Commission Moussa Faki on the issue of Western Sahara and in which it was underlined that Western Sahara and Morocco must resume negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations secretary general. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
The Mars rover Opportunity has died, NASA announced Wednesday (Feb. 13). A layer of dust likely coated its solar panels, preventing it from juicing itself up after a 2018 sky-blackening dust storm on the Red Planet.

But why couldn't NASA launch a rescue mission to get it working again? After all, Opportunity wasn't the first rover to get to Mars, and it won't be the last. It's just been the hardiest. In its stunning 14-plus years of travel, enabled by Martian winds that periodically cleaned off its solar panels, it has covered an impressive 28 miles (40 kilometers) on the planet.

The most obvious candidate to rescue Opportunity is the Curiosity rover, Opportunity's bigger, nuclear-powered younger sibling. Why not take some time out of Curiosity's work, and send it to see what's wrong with Opportunity and if it might be fixed? [Voyager to Mars Rover: NASA's 10 Greatest Innovations]

NASA's Opportunity Mars rover took this image of its own tracks on the rim of Endeavour Crater in June 2017. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.)

The first problem, unfortunately, is distance. According to NASA's Mars map, the Curiosity and Opportunity sites are about 5,200 miles (8,400 km) apart from one another. Curiosity's a bit swifter-footed than Opportunity, but even so, the young sprite would just take way too long to cover that terrain. To navigate the Martian terrain, these rovers require constant guidance from Earth Combined with the long delay between message transmission and receipt, even a trek of a few feet can take days.

The second problem is that Curiosity is an explorer, not a repair bot. It would be a monumental challenge to repurpose its onboard instruments to even clear dust off of Opportunity's solar panels. And there's no guarantee that's all that's gone wrong with the rover sitting silently in the Martian cold and darkness.

A selfie of the Mars Curiosity rover. Unfortunately, Opportunity's buddy can't come to its rescue. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

The final problem is time. Even if Curiosity could take some express train to Opportunity's location, Martian winter is setting in, and the conditions will likely compound any damage to Opportunity now that it's no longer able to keep itself warm.

So Opportunity is toast. But who knows, maybe humans on Mars will find it someday and manage to switch it back on.

Originally published on Live Science.
NEW YORK  It's been almost 50 years since humans first set foot on the moon. And since that historic journey, space exploration has grown tremendously. Government and private space enterprise alike now work toward a future in which spaceflight is as commonplace as it is ambitious and far-reaching. But it has been decades since 1972 , when the last human footprint was made on the moon's dusty surface.

In a conversation with Space.com, former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino, who now serves as the senior advisor of space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and as an American professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, said that he thinks it's high time that humans return to the moon . "We haven't been back there since the Apollo missions, but I think it's time now that we should go back," Massimino told Space.com aboard the Intrepid in front of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. [ The Apollo 11 Moon Landing Pictures ]

Massimino likened the current interest in space travel and a return to the moon to exploratory missions to the South and North Poles more than a hundred years ago. Just like we set up research stations and have stayed for extended periods in these remote locations, Massimino sees a similar future for humans on the moon. "50 years later, I think we can look forward to going back to the moon again. But not just for a visit  to settle there," he said, referring to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

But Massimino thinks that the next human mission to the surface of the moon will elicit a different response from the general public than that mission, and that's OK. "I don't know if the excitement will be there when we go back," he said. The entire world watched as the Apollo 11 mission landed on the lunar surface, and there have been so many incredible advances in science and space exploration since that Massimino doesn't think a new, crewed lunar mission would be as captivating to the public.

"Even going to Mars, I think probably a lot of people think we've been to Mars too," Massimino said, laughing, adding that even members of his own family think he went to the moon.

"I don't think we should worry about recreating it," Massimino said about the Apollo 11 moon landing. "I think we should just let it stand for what it was. which I think is the greatest accomplishment ever in the history of the world  I think it'll be big when it happens but I don't know if well ever top anything like what happened in the Apollo program."

Massimino expressed his personal excitement about humans going back to the moon, and added that he's excited to see the rise of private space companies alongside developments from agencies such as NASA. With recent advances from companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX , Boeing and Blue Origin, there are opportunities to go to space today that didn't exist in the time of the Apollo missions  or at least, there are some approaching in the near future that will allow more people to experience life off of Earth.
Roy Chapman, 73, of Nancy, passed away Tuesday, June 22, 2021 at his residence. Arrangements are pending and will be announced later by Morris & Hislope Funeral Home. Condolences may be expressed to the family at: www.morrisandhislope.com
Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, or activate your access, to continue reading.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Finance Perry Geerlings appointed a fellow Surinamese Racquel Lo Fo Wong as the Director of the Central Bank of St. Maarten.

Lo Fo Wong worked at the RBC Bank a Senior Officer in the Corporate Business Banking. She worked her last day on Friday and is expected to take up the new position as early as next week. Lo Fo Wong also worked at Orco Bank and former ABN Amro Bank.

The appointment shocks several persons within the political arena as well as the community. One MP said that a local St. Maartener Dwayne President was by-passed. President has been working in a senior position for quite some time and he even replaced the Branch Manager at times.

Some Members of Parliament intend to call Finance Minister Perry Geerlings to Parliament on the appointment especially since they believe Lo Fo Wong does not qualify for the job since she could not perform well as an Account Executive at Orco Bank where she supposedly had low productivity. The MPs that are outraged with the appointment says that Government and Parliament were not consulted on the appointment of Lo Fo Wong. They further stated that if the Surinamese national could not produce as an Account Manager then they want to know how she will produce as a regulator. Besides that, the MPs referred to an interview that Geerlings did in Suriname calling on Surinamese to come to St. Maarten for work. They said the Minister filled his cabinet with Surinamese and that local does not stand a chance with him.

Lo Fo Wong could not be reached for comment. When SMN News contacted her for a comment she said she is ill and should only be contacted on working days.
Oranjestad:--- A protocol between Aruba and the Netherlands was agreed upon on November 22nd, 2018, which is directed towards sustainable public finances. It is understood that as soon as possible a surplus of at least 1% of GDP will be achieved on the budget. This should lead to a substantial reduction in the debt ratio, which at presents amounts to almost 90% of GDP. Windfalls will have to be used in favor of the deficit reduction in the coming years. The reorganization of public finances must be tackled by means of a significant reduction of government expenditure. From 2019 onwards, Aruba will nominally decrease the personnel costs. In doing so, it is important to modernize the tax system with determination. This in turn will also stimulate the economy.

A deficit of -0.5% of GDP has been agreed on for the 2019 budget. Due to a lack of relevant and legally required information, the CAft is not in the position to assess whether with the adopted budget 2019 Aruba is on its path to sustainable public finances. Tax estimates and the temporary budget fund for the Social Crisis Plan have been insufficiently substantiated, as a result of which the reality level of the budget cannot be established. A general dividend policy is also lacking, which should enable the revenue of the government of government entities to be more predictable. In the past too, many high dividends have been booked, which later turned out to be unrealistic.

Aruba started reforming the tax system in the year 2019. An integral tax plan is not yet available. As a result, the CAft is unable to determine how realistic the expected tax revenues are. The CAft calls on the government to elaborate such a plan with diligence and to indicate how the efficiency of the tax office can be improved. In other areas too, more efficiency should be provided in the civil service. The CAft wants more insight into the budget funds of Aruba. It is insufficiently clear to the CAft what the monies from the funds will be used for and what risks these funds represent for the countrys budget. For the 2019 budget, the CAft has received insufficient clarification from the National Ordinance on the Interim Budget Fund for the Social Crisis Plan.

The CAft has visited Aruba during the last days. As usual, discussions were held with the Governor, the Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Culture and the Council of Ministers. In addition, the CAft paid a visit to the Central Bank Aruba and the Advisory Council. On Thursday, February 14th, the CAft Chairman, Mr. Raymond Gradus, gave a public lecture entitled "On the path towards sustainable public finances", in which he placed the development of public finances in Aruba in an economic perspective. The lecture was organized in collaboration with the University of Aruba and the PowerPoint presentation is available via the website of the CAft: www.cft.cw.
The police chief told reporters that officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the warehouse.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman told a news conference that the gunman was 45-year-old Gary Martin and said he was an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in the city about 65 kilometres west of Chicago. It is believed he was about to be fired.

A gunman has opened fire at a manufacturing plant in suburban Chicago on Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, police say.

Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions weren't released. Two of the officers were airlifted to trauma centres in Chicago, Ziman said. Officials did not say the total number of people injured other than the police officers. Police said they did not know his motive.

Live TV reports showed dozens of first responder vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, a city of about 200,000 people.

Several ATF teams responded to the shooting and were at the scene, according to the agency's Chicago spokeswoman, and the FBI said it also was responding.

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works for the company.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," Probst said.
Washington: US President Donald Trump has made the case that he deserves to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on North Korea and Syria, but complains he will probably never get the honour.

Trump capped off a rambling news conference with a well-oiled gripe that former president Barack Obama, a nemesis, won the Nobel Prize in 2009, just months into his first term in office.

Trump complained to the media "they gave it to Obama" but "I'll probably never get it". Credit:AP

"They gave it to Obama. He didn't even know what he got it for. He was there for about 15 seconds and he got the Nobel Prize. He said, 'Oh, what did I get it for?'" Trump grumbled on Friday.

"With me, I probably will never get it."
Bowen is standing a few blocks from the John Brown Smokehouse, a Kansas City-style barbecue restaurant he runs in Long Island City. Dressed in the hobo hipster style - fleecy jacket, old slippers - he moved to the area 10 years ago and has started a family here. "Look around man, this place is a ghost town," he says. "I want my four-year old daughter to grow up in a cool, high-tech neighbourhood, not surrounded by bombed-out factories." Frank Raffaele, who owns a chain of local coffee shops, is just as distraught. "This is a disastrous day for Queens," he says. "This was our big chance and we blew it."

Amazon's planned move to New York followed a national search in which cities competed to woo the company to their area. Officials in Tucson, Arizona, hauled a 6.4 metre tall cactus to Amazon's Seattle headquarters to catch the company's attention. The mayor of Kansas City wrote 1000 five-star reviews of Amazon products, each one mentioning why his city is so great. Stonecrest, a city of 55,000 people in Georgia, offered to carve out 345 acres of land and name the new city Amazon. "Jeff Bezos can be the mayor, CEO, king, whatever they want to call it," Stonecrest mayor Jason Lary said. "He'll be the first person to actually have a corporate city."

In the end Amazon chose to open up new headquarters in Virginia, near Washington DC, and New York. New York's political leaders initially celebrated the move, which they said would deliver 25,000 jobs and $US27.5 billion ($38.5 billion) in tax revenue over 25 years. In return, they gave Amazon $US3 billion in tax incentives and allowed the company to build a helicopter pad on the bank of the East River. "This is a giant step on our path to building an economy in New York City that leaves no one behind," Democratic mayor Bill de Blasio said at a November press conference. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, left wearing a purple tie, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, right, originally applauded Amazon's decision to open a new headquarters in Queens. Credit:AP

But resistance soon developed among locals, who thought the $3 billion would be better spent fixing the woeful subway system or reducing overcrowding in schools. They organised regular protest rallies and lobbied local politicians to oppose the move. The day Amazon announced it was cancelling the headquarters, they held a victory celebration at a plaza in Queens. "We dont have a jobs crisis in the neighbourhood, we have a housing crisis," says human rights lawyer Paula Avila Guillen, who lives in nearby Astoria and campaigned against Amazon's arrival. "It is already impossible for middle-class families to buy a home and a lot of people who live here would have been forced out by soaring rents." Many of the purported jobs, she says, would have gone to out-of-towners rather than New Yorkers.

Queens sculptor Stephen Geoffrey says: "The change was too big and too fast for the area. We are doing fine here on our own." Some local politicians and activists also opposed Amazon because of its tough anti-union stance and its work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which deports illegal immigrants. New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a vocal critic of the tax breaks given to Amazon. Credit:Bloomberg But a poll released last week by Siena College found that 58 per cent of New Yorkers supported Amazon's arrival compared to 35 per cent who opposed it. Support for the deal spanned all ages, socio-economic and racial demographics. Among Amazon's most prominent opponents was high-profile congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, whose congressional district borders Long Island City.
Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping said "important progress" had been made towards a trade deal with the US as he met with Washington's hardline trade representative Robert Lighthizer and commerce secretary Stephen Mnuchin on Friday night.

But few details were released after two days of trade talks in Beijing, and the US and Chinese negotiating teams agreed to meet in Washington next week.

A March 1 deadline for escalating tariffs on $US200 billion ($280 billion) in Chinese exports to the United States looms.

US President Donald Trump later said the trade negotiations were "going extremely well" and "it would be my honour to remove" punitive tariffs - but only if the two sides can reach a deal.
Jakarta: Indonesian plantation companies fined for burning huge areas of land since 2009 have failed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties meant to hold them accountable for actions that took a devastating environmental and human toll.

The palm oil and pulp wood companies involved in fires owe more than $US220 million ($309.5 million) in fines and the figure for unpaid penalties for environmental destruction swells to $US1.3 billion when an illegal logging case from 2013 is included, according to separate summaries of the cases compiled by Greenpeace and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.

Forest cleared for a palm oil plantation inside the Leuser Ecosystem near Kuala Simpang in Indonesia's Aceh province, March 2014. Credit:Michael Bachelard

Indonesia's annual dry season fires were particularly disastrous in 2015, burning 2.6 million hectares of land and spreading health-damaging haze across Indonesia, Singapore, southern Thailand and Malaysia. The World Bank estimated the fires cost Indonesia $US16 billion and a Harvard and Columbia study estimated the haze hastened 100,000 deaths in the region.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo and other senior officials vowed action but repeated legal appeals by the 10 companies taken to court by the environment ministry have dragged the cases out for years.
It's not illegal  it's not even unusual  for a politician to use their taxpayer-funded resources to print material benefiting a candidate of the same political persuasion, or even to put them on the payroll, but what galls is that Senator Pratt refuses to answer questions about how much of taxpayers' funds have been spent. A spokesman for her office said: "All printing and communications undertaken are submitted and approved by the Department of Finance, as consistent with the guidelines". Senator Louise Pratt in Canberra last year. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen "Senator Pratt uses a range of print and electronic media to engage with voters about the issues that matter to Western Australia  like the Liberal Partys savage cuts to WA schools, hospitals and infrastructure," he said after further requests for detail on the spending. "All expenditure complied with parliamentary work expenses rules."

She won't say how much taxpayer money is being spent on the Mellisa Teede campaign, or when Ms Teede was employed in her office or how much she was paid or even what her duties were while she was employed. But figures released by the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority reveal Senator Pratt spent $1384.11 on printing and communications from January to March, 2018, but then $42,999.88 from April to June, 2018, after Ms Teede started campaigning. Senator Pratt won't answer questions about how much of that money was spent on Labor's Canning Campaign. Questions to the campaign itself were also sidestepped. Why did Senator Pratt's office pay for advertising material for the campaign?

"Senator Pratt has used her printing and communications work expenses in line with finance approvals processes," a spokeswoman for Ms Teede said. What was her role in Senator Pratt's office? When did she start? Is she full-time or part-time? Does she have any other jobs? The reverse side of advertising material authorised by Senator Louise Pratt for Labor's Canning campaign. "Mellisa is no longer working for Senator Pratt," the spokeswoman said. "Mellisa is currently unemployed and is currently campaigning full time."

'Sad': State pollies grumpy and it's only the first week back WA Parliament returned this week, but the mood of its members wasn't improved by the lazy summer weeks since it last met. Leader of the House David Templeman and Housing Minister Peter Tinley were involved in an exchange of words according to eye witnesses. It was all about who was rostered to sit in the parliament as "duty minister" (this is the grown-up assigned to mind the backbench so they don't get up to anything naughty). Mr Tinley was pretty sure it wasn't his turn, but rather Seniors Minister Mick Murray.

He was so sure, expletives were unloaded. The Opposition started on the wrong foot as well. They pulled on a motion to refer Premier Mark McGowan to privileges committee to be investigated over a $206 million deal with Chinese telco Huawei. Loading This meant the Premier's statement on the first day back from break was pushed back, and delivered later in the day. Very inconvenient. "The Opposition has absolutely no respect for this place or the conventions of this place," he told the house.

"I find it very sad that an Opposition would be so disrespectful to the conventions of the Parliament and so pathetic, frankly, that it would misuse the standing orders in this way." And things went downhill from there. Mr McGowan castigated Geraldton MP Ian Blayney for his "lack of intelligence". Later, in question time, he hopped into Nedlands MP Bill Marmion: "Oh my God, you are so bad," the Premier said. "Member for Nedlands, what are you62 years of age or something like that? "What have you learnt all these years? What have you actually learnt?"

Mr Marmion asked the Premier to reveal the advice from ASIO about the Huawei contract. That was never going to happen. Speaking of Huawei ... Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei is increasing its footprint in Perth before its contract to build a 4G communications system for Perth's public passenger trains gets under way.

The company applied to the City of Perth to approve a $151,281 fitout of a floor of 225 St Georges Terrace. Luckily, that's at the Parliament end of the street and only a short walk from the ministerial suites in West Perth's Dumas House. Libs to choose candidate for Stirling Nominations have closed for the Liberal party to choose a candidate to replace retiring MP Michael Keenan. Sources say next Saturday's vote will be a contest between Vince Connelly and ECU General Counsel Joanne Quinn.

Also in the race is Michelle Sutherland, wife of former Mount Lawley MP Michael Sutherland. Tweet of the Week Looks like ABC Perth has a preference for which kind of candidate they'd prefer to represent the party in the seat. And here is the tweet of the week from 6PR's Oliver Peterson, explaining all.
Four NSW Young Liberals have been kicked out of the party for making lewd and derogatory comments about women in an online chat group meant for election campaigning.

The four used the dating app Tinder to connect with women who they hoped to convince to vote Liberal and then made sexually explicit comments about them in a Facebook group.

In one instance, one of the Young Liberals who works for a senior NSW Liberal MP, posted a photo of a woman he was chatting with on Tinder, describing her as a potato".

"A potato that can vote," the Young Liberal wrote.

Then root and boot her and leave some HTVs (how to vote cards). F..k I could go some fries right now."
Two Australian Chinese-language papers have dedicated their front pages to an open letter backing billionaire Huang Xiangmo, whose permanent residency was cancelled for reasons including character grounds in early February.

The letter, which appeared on the front pages of the Sing Tao Daily and Australian Chinese Daily and inside a third, the Daily Chinese Herald on Saturday, includes more than 120 community groups protesting the decision to effectively bar Mr Huang from Australia.

Huang Xiangmo hopes to return to his palatial Mosman home. Credit:James Brickwood

It says the Morrison governent's decision to cancel Mr Huang's residency is outrageous and calls for it to be overturned.

The letter, which appears to be a paid ad, marks a new escalation in Mr Huang's fight to have his residency reinstated.
Charles McCarthy . Credit:Facebook

A recreational fisherman has been found not guilty of murdering an Irish father- of-two by stabbing him in the head with a screwdriver during a fight next to Perth's Swan River over a "racist" remark.

Andrew Doan, 35, stood trial this week in the West Australian Supreme Court over the death of Charles John McCarthy, 32, in East Fremantle in the early hours of December 23, 2017.

Mr Doan was acquitted of both murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter on Friday after swift jury deliberations.

There were gasps and tears when the verdict was handed down.
Do we care more about asylum seekers wanting to get to Australia than the plight of Aboriginal children already living here?

A 29-second grab sent Twitter into meltdown, but do we really care? Credit:Twitter

On Saturday night, having read the devastating report into the suicides of 13 Western Australian Aboriginal children and young persons by State Coroner Ros Fogliani, I began an interview with former WA Police Commissioner Karl OCallaghan on my Sky News program, The Front Page, with this:

While as a nation we cannot stop talking about the Phelps Medivac Bill, where Dr Phelps said This humanitarian and medical crisis must have a solution, it seems we dont want to talk about what is happening in our own backyard. It begs the question: Do we care more about refugees and asylum seekers than Aboriginal children in remote communities, or is it that its all just too hard in the wake of the Stolen Generation?

This 29-second portion of my introduction was tweeted and viewed more than 50,000 times.
When it was announced in 2017 that the Yarra Building at Federation Square was to be demolished to make way for an Apple store there was a lot of opposition to the redevelopment. It seemed in the aftermath of the controversy that the idea might have been defeated but unfortunately that is not the case: Federation Square management is now awaiting permission from Heritage Victoria to demolish the building; public submissions on the proposal closed on Wednesday, with more than 2000 reportedly received.

The Yarra Building at Federation Square. Credit:Chris Hopkins

Fed Square has weathered a lot of negative comment from the time of the original design competition but is now warmly embraced by Melburnians and Australians in general. It has made a very significant contribution to the built environment and the cultural life of Melbourne. This was not easy to do and this achievement should not be underestimated or taken for granted. It has been a long time coming and now that it is here and largely successful it should not be tampered with in a way that will detract from its success.

The Our City, Our Square group protest against the proposed Apple Store at Federation Square. Credit:Chris Hopkins

One of the aims of the original Fed Square design competition was to address the long hoped-for desire for a building that would be an iconic symbol for Melbourne. The winning design, ironically, did not have an overtly distinctive shape in the manner of, for example, the Sydney Opera House, proposing instead an integrated mesh of buildings and spaces that formed a unique iconic urban environment; an urban landscape of forms, drawing on the laneway patterns and the colours of Melbourne. At the heart of the design was an urban public space with the buildings arranged around the periphery. The urban landscape of buildings around the urban public space forms an integrated whole.
Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli has enlisted the LGBTI community to help the church set a new direction after years of scandal and internal unrest.

In an unprecedented move that has divided some within the church, the Archdiocese this month invited gay Catholics to a 2-hour meeting at which they discussed how the institution should change with the times.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli. Credit:Eddie Jim

The session formed part of consultations for what will next year be the most significant conference Australian Catholic bishops have held in 80 years: the Plenary Council 2020.

But insiders admit the decision to seek the advice of the LGBTI community "stirred unease" among some hardliners who feared the conference could result in radical change, at a time when issues such as the ordination of female priests and the relaxing of mandatory celibacy rules are already hotly contested.
In criminal justice reform, many tend to view issues entirely through prisms of either toughness or softness, as if so reductive a perspective could ever reflect a complex reality. The truth is genuine efforts to reduce crime against historical trends, and not just the previous years rate, will emphasise different objectives at different times.

We should embrace a scheme that rewards eligible offenders with a chance to restore their name. Credit:File/iStock

Some will be rehabilitative while others will be punitive.

The need for Victoria to join all other Australian jurisdictions in embracing a spent convictions scheme is a good illustration of the former. Giving eligible low-level offenders a second chance to clear their past offending history to rebuild their lives would be an example of strong incentives complementing strong deterrents.

There are times, especially in the face of serious offending, when the sentencing objectives of punishment, deterrence and denunciation are necessary to reflect the turpitude of such wrongdoing and the communitys justifiable abhorrence. Consider rape, murder and child sexual abuse among other crimes.
It's organic zucchinis at 10 paces on the typically peaceful grounds of the Abbotsford Convent.

Couples sporting active wear and puffer vests to the convent's farmers market next Saturday morning may not realise it, but they've entered a battle zone over the right to host the monthly gathering of purveyors selling ethical meat, dairy and vegetables.

The Slow Food Market at Abbotsford Convent. Credit:

The warring parties are the two long-time organisers, with one claiming they have been kicked out in favour of a more "corporate" group that runs many of the farmers markets across the inner city.

Abbotsford Convent recently announced it was changing providers from Slow Food Melbourne to Melbourne Farmers Markets after more than a decade of management, sparking a clash between the two, which has resulted in a war of words on social media.
With apologies to Charles Dickens . . . it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

The best of times saw the nation come together under the leadership of Craig Foster to save a Shia Muslim refugee to our shores from a Thai prison and the clutches of the rulers of Bahrain. In the realms of the never before seen, the #SaveHakeem campaign saw Australian opinion mobilised on the side of justice and decency to save  can you believe it?  a . . . Muslim . . . refugee. In emphatic defiance of those who would demonise the religion. Can anyone think of a precedent? I cannot. It really was Australia at its best. As a people, we made a difference.

Former Socceroo Craig Foster with refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi at Melbourne International Airport on Tuesday, Credit:AAP

And yet the worst of times  happening concurrently  has seen the government and the usual slab of the commentariat combine in hysteria over a simple proposal to provide medical care to refugees under our care who have been on Manus and Nauru for up to seven years. The proposal is no more than base-level decency. And yet, as feared, conservative spin has moved into overdrive to portray Labor, the Greens and independents as combining to willfully unleash hordes of the great unwashed our way even as rapists, murderers and paedophiles are given the green light to come from here from the camps.

It is nonsense, and they know it. (And Kieran Gilbert and Laura Jayes wonderfully demonstrated exactly that on Sky, of all places, when they grilled the Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack on Wednesday morning.)
The total damage bill from the Queensland floods, which inundated Townsville homes and killed masses of cattle in the state's north-west, is estimated to have topped $1 billion.

At a meeting in Townsville on Friday, the Insurance Council of Australia told Deputy Premier Jackie Trad the north Queensland city's losses were about $606 million.

The latest figures from AgForce estimated half a million cattle had been killed in north-west Queensland, costing farmers about $500 million in livestock using the organisation's $1000 per head average figure.

ICA chief executive Rob Whelan said hundreds of disaster recovery experts and insurance assessors were on the ground in Townsville.
A motorbike rider has died in a head-on crash with a cattle truck on a Queensland highway.

Emergency services were called to the scene on the DAguilar Highway at Woolmar, about 100 kilometres north-west of Brisbane and near Kilcoy, about 3.20pm on Friday.

Police said the motorbike collided with the cattle truck, which had livestock aboard at the time.

The motorcyclist, a 49-year-old woman from Ilkley on the Sunshine Coast, died at the scene.

The cattle truck driver, a 58-year-old man, was not injured.
The four Gold Coast high school students who overdosed on prescription medication on Friday have been released from hospital.

A Gold Coast University Hospital spokeswoman said all four girls, aged in their mid-teens, had been released by 7am on Saturday after doctors kept a close eye on them.

Paramedics raced to Southport State High School on Friday morning after reports of an overdose. Credit:Google Maps Street View

The four girls had not been formally interviewed by Saturday morning, but they had spoken to detectives, according to a police spokeswoman.

Paramedics were called to Southport State High School on the Smith Street Motorway about 8.30am on Friday after a reported overdose.
Detectives are trying to identify a cyclist spotted on security camera footage about two kilometres from the scene of a shooting that claimed the life of a Brisbane woman last weekend.

Shooting victim Megan Kirley. Credit:Facebook

The man has been captured by several different cameras near Woodridge train station about the same time a triple-zero call was made reporting the discovery of 40-year-old Megan Kirley's body.

She was found dead at a semi-rural home on Wembley Road in the southern Brisbane suburb of Karawatha after police received a triple-zero call about 3.15am last Saturday, February 9.

Despite neighbours hearing what they believed were gunshots last Friday night, the triple-zero call was not made until several hours later during last Saturday morning.
Queensland mineworkers have protested outside BHP's Brisbane offices to demand more assistance for black lung and silicosis sufferers.

The Mine Dust Diseases Victims Group wants a fund established to help victims after their workers compensation payments finish.

So far, the group says, the mining companies have resisted.

Jim Pearce, a former coal miner and Queensland MP, says more than 100 mineworkers have now been diagnosed with mine dust diseases in Queensland.

"These guys are very sick, their families are suffering and their communities are suffering because they're losing good people to disease," he said on Friday.
The family of a Gold Coast schoolgirl urged to commit suicide by fellow students in a Snapchat video says they were failed by the Queensland government and schools.

A video containing schoolgirls screaming vicious abuse went viral this week, and clocked up more than 70,000 views before it was removed.

A family has issued a statement saying their daughter, Amber, was the victim of the bullying, apparently by Helensvale State High School students.

They say Amber had moved to the school in 2018 to escape cyberbullying at an independent school.

The family said they sought help from authorities to no avail.
Queenslands chief scientist has come to the defence of the controversial Great Barrier Reef Foundation and backed its efforts to protect the state's most prized natural asset.

Professor Paul Bertsch's comments came as a federal senate committee dominated by Labor and the Greens recommended the organisation return the $443.3 million research grant it received from the federal government in 2018.

Queensland's chief scientist Professor Paul Bertsch says work of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation allows science to move beyond merely monitoring towards solutions.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation began 20 years ago, after the area's first severe coral bleaching event in 1998.

The projects it funded  with money also received from many philanthropists  were chosen and directed by an international scientific advisory committee.
Police eventually confronted Mr Lambert as he brandished a knife during a tense, six-minute stand-off next to the Pacific Highway on the NSW Mid-North Coast after a pursuit. Officers shot him dead when he lunged towards them with the knife. Those officers had no choice but to pull the trigger on Mr Lambert given his actions, an inquest into his death found on Friday. The pair's brief relationship ended in bloody tragedy but had started on a dating app a few months earlier. Dr Jay, a trainee obstetrician and gynaecologist, met Mr Lambert, a banker from Kogarah in Sydney's south, on Tinder and the pair dated for less than two months.

Their long-distance relationship soured and Dr Jay ended it after she began to feel overwhelmed by his increasingly possessive and controlling behaviour. Loading He began to emotionally manipulate Dr Jay, making her feel she couldn't reject him. He threatened self-harm and suicide, claimed to have mental illnesses and feigned the deaths of family members. It reflected a pattern of intimate partner violence against multiple past girlfriends over many years, Acting NSW Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan said in her findings. "Sometimes he would contact family members of romantic partners and make threats of harm or created false identities to stalk partners.

"He would claim diagnoses of various psychological disorders to excuse his behaviour, implying that he suffered from a dissociative or multiple personality disorder." He sometimes referred to himself as bad Paul or evil Paul. At one stage, Mr Lambert claimed to have nine personalities. A coroner said Paul Lambert's family spoke at an inquest of "a kinder, gentler and more complex person than the evidence had revealed". Mr Lambert was also the subject of 10 apprehended domestic violence orders relating to five women, including Dr Jay, between 2003 and 2016. He had breached those orders on three occasions. The month before the attack, Dr Jay confided to a friend that she was scared and felt Mr Lambert was emotionally blackmailing her with his threats of self-harm. She reported him to police.

"The techniques of manipulation may seem obvious in retrospect but they were subtle and insidious at the time, involving layers of escalating emotional abuse," the coroner said. Loading "It led to an erosion of Dr Jays confidence and self-worth and to her doubting her own judgment and her own behaviour." In the weeks before the attack, Mr Lambert stalked Dr Jay and stole keys from her key ring, prompting her to take out an apprehended domestic violence order that was never served. Ms O'Sullivan said there was no possible intervention in the final two weeks of Mr Lamberts life that could have prevented the "tragic outcome". The best prospect of intervention would have been detecting he breached a Queensland parole order by living in NSW, she said.

A warrant for that breach would likely have led to Mr Lambert's arrest and, possibly, psychiatric treatment, before the attack, she said. The coroner found there was no alternative to lethal force when police shot him. She said one of the officers "reflects on the death every day and desperately wishes that there could have been a different outcome and that he could have 'sent Paul home' to his family". "Firing shots was clearly a last resort." The coroner recommended NSW Police continue to explore non-lethal options, including shields, for knife-wielding offenders.
One of the harbour's best vantage points for the New Year's Eve fireworks looks set to be reopened to the public this year, after North Sydney Council was accused of "killing New Year's Eve" by trialling ticketing at the 2018 festivities.

The about-face comes amid community backlash to the growing number of ticketed events and alcohol-free zones blanketing the city. The number of alcohol-free zones has surged from 94 to 293 over the last 14 years.

Blues Point Reserve on New Year's Eve in previous years before ticketing was introduced. Credit:Wolter Peeters

At its latest meeting North Sydney Council voted unanimously to "acknowledge the difficulties" that came from introducing ticketing at Blues Point Reserve and to explore "alternative options of managing the crowds".

Mayor Jilly Gibson raised the motion after she was inundated with complaints from residents and business owners, who usually do a roaring trade but said they instead faced a "ghost town".
Now 17, and a Year 12 student sitting for his Higher School Certificate, hes co-authored a childrens picture book about the experience of growing up in a gay household, celebrating Mardi Gras and loving wrestling.

I was excited to have my face on the poster as a kid but I wasnt thinking about the long-term impact, I was just obsessed with wrestling back then, he says.

Gus Skattebol-James (centre), with Maya Newell (left) and Charlotte Mars (right), the makers of the film Gayby Baby, in which he starred.

Gus Skattebol-James was 10 when he starred as one of the four children featured in the documentary film Gayby Baby about growing up with same sex parents. As the poster child for the film, which was banned by the NSW government from screening in state schools in 2015, he achieved a certain level of fame and notoriety at his inner west Sydney school.

He has written Wrestle! with the makers of Gayby Baby, Charlotte Mars and Maya Newell. Ms Newell, the films director, grew up in the inner west around the corner from his family, and like Gus was raised by two lesbians who have now been together for more than 30 years. She believes there is space in the book market to cater for the children of what she calls the Gayby boom.

Gus Skattebol-James on the movie poster for Gayby Baby.

We wrote Wrestle! because LGBTQIA families are still rarely represented in books ... children are growing up in a landscape that remains overwhelmingly dominated by images of cookie-cutter, 2+ 2 hetero families.

But in recent years thanks to reproductive technology, the changes to marriage laws and a lot more gay parents getting married, there are a lot more children growing up in same-sex families...we thought it was time for a book thats about showing there is no right or wrong way to be a family, or be yourself, she said.

When they began working on the book three years ago Gus didnt believe there were few books set in LGBTQI families. Hed always remembered one of his favourite books, Some dogs do as a childrens book featuring two mothers. He hadnt realised his mums had taken to the book with a white-out pen, changing the pronouns in the book, and removing references to dad and replacing them with mum.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation agreed to pay $25 million to settle FCPA charges with the SEC, and two of the companys former executives were charged Friday by the DOJ for paying bribes to an Indian government official.

Cognizant settled civil SEC charges related to violations of the antibribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the FCPA without admitting or denying the allegations.

The company agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of around $19 million and a penalty of $6 million.

The DOJ issued a declination to Cognizant dated February 13 and publicly released Friday under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy.

In a statement, Cognizant said the DOJ declined to prosecute because of the companys voluntary and prompt self-reporting, comprehensive investigation, compliance enhancements, and significant cooperation.

The SEC said that in 2014, a senior government official of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu demanded a $2 million bribe from the construction firm responsible for building Cognizants 2.7 million square foot campus in Chennai.

The bribes were made to ensure a construction permit necessary to complete the development of an office campus would be issued.

The new campus was designed to support thousands of employees and become one of Cognizants largest facilities in India.

Cognizants president Gordon Coburn, 55, and chief legal officer Steven E. Schwartz, 51, authorized the contractor to pay the bribe. They also directed their subordinates to conceal the bribe by doctoring the contractors change orders, the DOJ said.

Coburn and Schwartz were charged in a 12-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, three counts of violating the FCPA, seven counts of falsifying books and records, and one count of circumventing and failing to implement internal accounting controls.

A third-party construction firm was also authorized by Coburn, Schwartz, and others to pay two additional bribes totaling more than $1.6 million.

The allegations in the indictment filed yesterday describe a sophisticated international bribery scheme authorized and concealed by C-suite executives of a publicly-traded multinational company, Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski said.

Cognizant first disclosed the investigation into FCPA problems in India in September 2017.

New Jersey-based Cognizant isnt the first technology company to run into trouble in India.

In 2012, Oracle paid a $2 million civil penalty to the SEC to settle FCPA charges arising from a slush fund in India used to pay bribes.

____

Harry Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Children play at Callan Park. Credit:Dallas Kilponen

For more than a century (1873-2008), few Sydneysiders would have grown up without some conception of Callan Park. Initially "a hospital for the insane", then "mental hospital", eventually the very name Callan Park itself connoted poor treatment of the mentally ill. It ended its medical working life as part of a merged Rozelle Hospital before patients were moved to Concord Hospital.

It now sits in limbo land between a hideous past and a bright future. Six kilometres from the CBD on 150 hectares at Iron Cove, Lilyfield, Callan Park is among some of Sydney's most glorious waterfront land and has the potential to be the Centennial Park of the inner west.

As governments dither over its future, the park's heritage listing has not saved its sandstone buildings and magnificent gardens from the depredations of neglect. Some buildings have been abandoned, but the Kirkbride complex has been maintained by the University of Sydney's College of the Arts. The college is due to leave that site next year.

Last week NSW Opposition Leader Michael Daley raised the spectre of commercialisation when he announced a plan to create a $5 million trust to restore the site's dilapidated buildings.
It was an elegant inner city terrace, down the road from the controversial Blackwattle Bay development site, that first brought the family of rugby league legend Benny Elias together with Kym Lennox, a consultant with past ties to the Obeid family.

But the Forest Lodge property is now at the centre of a bitter NSW Supreme Court stoush between the pair, after relations soured over an unpaid half a million dollar loan from Mr Elias to Mr Lennox.

League legend Benny Elias has launched legal action over an unpaid half a million dollar loan. Credit:Ben Rushton

Documents obtained by The Sun-Herald show Mr Elias is seeking court orders to evict Mr Lennox from his home and sell the property so the loan can be repaid.

Mr Elias would be paid out with whatever was remaining after the repayment of the amount due to HSBC bank, which holds two mortgages over the property.
Anne Fairhall and her husband, Geoff, were on holiday she first noticed a shift in her usually diplomatic and amiable husband, then aged about 50.

He started shouting at her in public and becoming angry with strangers. And he seemed to have no sense that his dumbfounded wife found his behaviour deeply embarrassing.

It was so out of character that 30 years on Anne still clearly recalls her shock: "I was very angry with him because I felt he was misbehaving. But actually travelling had become difficult for him, because he was out of routine."

Geoff Fairhall, who has frontotemporal dementia, and his wife Anne at the care facility he moved into seven years ago. Credit:Chris Hopkins

A definitive diagnosis eluded Geoff  an academic and intellectual who spoke many languages  for a decade, but eventually it was determined he had frontotemporal dementia, which is due to progressive damage to the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain.
When Dimitrios "Jimmy" Gountounas and his mate Leo Yan Lai Cheung allegedly tried to import 101 kilograms of of ice and cocaine to Australia from Mexico in late 2017, it was just the start.

The men, who met in prison, wanted a "long-term relationship" with both the fearsome Sinaloa cartel they allegedly purchased the ice from and Australian buyers of the product.

Dimitrious "Jimmy" Gountounas and Leo Cheung were arrested in 2017 after allegedly trying to import 101kg of ice Credit:Australian Federal Police

"Really looking forward to completion of this one, and onto bigger and better ones," Mr Gountounas allegedly told someone he believed to be a third conspirator in the scheme.

The third man, really an undercover police officer, flew to Mexico City in September 2017 and met a man, allegedly a Mexican contact of Mr Cheung, in a hotel room where he allegedly collected five suitcases filled with the drug from the alleged cartel member.
Three workers undertaking concreting works on the light rail track reported feeling a tingling sensation in their arms as they were jackhammering on January 31.

Canberra Metro said work was stopped after the incident and it undertook "a rigorous investigation" and made improvements to work practices.

A light rail vehicle is tested on Northbourne Avenue. Credit:Karleen Minney

It is understood concrete was being removed at the time because of water ponding issues on the route.

A Canberra Metro and Transport Canberra and City Services directorate spokesman said the workers were not injured.
I kept asking if you were to launch a product for todays forward-thinking women, what would it look like? she says. In other words, what is the 2018 version of The Weekly and I believe it has to be something which is more tangible, something which can live through events and be accessed every day rather than once a month. Sign up and theres newsletters, podcasts, insight papers and a range of ways to get involved, a real sense of community. But FW is also about supercharging our desire for greater equality which I believe is very consistent with the way The Weekly saw itself. McCabe has plenty on her plate but politics, this desire for equality, still circulates through her veins.

Shes especially pleased to be launching Future Women in Canberra with an event to entice political junkies from all sides of the discussion. Meet the Chiefs, an off the record event, features Amanda Lampe, former chief of staff to Julia Gillard, Clive Mathieson, Malcolm Turnbulls chief of staff and Jim Chalmers, who was chief of staff to Wayne Swan and is now shadow minister for finance. You very rarely get to see behind the curtains, McCabe says. I read Anne Summers' memoir, Unfettered and Alive, when she was heading up the Office of Status of Women in the Hawke and Keating days, and I thought it would be interesting to talk to the chiefs of staff, the people that don't ever go public. They are right in the thick of it, both from the political side of it, and the policy and strategic perspective.

I think if we're going to get results we need to understand where to begin and I think these people have observations and insights that are so deeply rooted in reality and so rarely heard. McCabe is interested in levels of female representation in government, in policy debates around issues that affect women, and in finding a solution to domestic violence. Female representation is at one of its lowest levels and I'm hearing that the problems in the coalition are very real. There's a real fear of talking about it and I see Future Women, and our events, as a way to elevate that discussion and get some ideas out of it, get women engaged again. Jamila Rizvi is chairing the panel discussion. The Canberra-born-and-bred journalist, who worked for Kevin Rudd and later Kate Ellis, is also excited to come home.

I know from being a Canberra girl, having worked at Parliament House for about six years, one of the things you know when you work in politics is what it looks like from the outside and how everything happens and decisions are made in reality are very, very different, Rizvi says. There are the ideals we start with, the intentions we start with, and often they're derailed by a whole lot of things, whether that's the political process or realities of where money can and can't be moved. I think this event is an opportunity for people to see a bit of that and understand a bit of that. Particularly for a Canberra audience, where there are so many people with a good understanding of government policy in the first place - especially public servants who think they're so involved in the process and then it goes behind the doors of the ministers office or the prime ministers office and what comes out the other side doesn't look like what they sent in - I think this will be really eye opening for those people. Rizvi is editor at large for Future Women.

What a glorious title! she says. It gives me this open brief to do pretty much whatever I like. Shes hosting the podcast and writing for the website, hosting events and working on the strategic side of things. After a year where she battled a brain tumour, Rizvi is loving the deadlines. I had a year that I would very much like to forget ever happened and I'm very much hoping it's in the past and I can leave it there, she says. I'm someone who loves work and has always loved work. I've been fortunate that I've always had jobs that were really fulfilling and exciting and its nice to be a normal person and feeling healthy and doing ordinary things every day.

Is it nice to get her fingers back in the political pie? I don't think I'm very good at ever taking my fingers out, to be honest, she says. I absolutely loved working at Parliament House and living in Canberra, I loved that period of my life. It was exhausting and relentless but I look back very fondly on it. If you grow up in Canberra there's a level of politics that is in your blood and you can never get rid of it and I for one don't really want to.
An independent medical report into the death of an elderly Canberra woman following a stay in Calvary Hospital found treatment was "well short of accepted medical practice."

The report into the 2017 death of 85-year-old Gwendoline Flynn was made after the case was referred to the ACT Coroners Court last year by her daughter Robyn.

Robyn Flynn said she is disappointed the coroner won't launch a full inquiry into her mother's death. Credit:Karleen Minney

Robyn alleged her mother's death was a result of systemic bullying and intimidation of staff at the hospital.

While Coroner Lisbeth Campbell said the findings of the report determined there was no jurisdiction to investigate the death further, serious medical issues at Calvary Hospital were raised.
Canberra tobacco stores have reported a surge in sales for DIY pill-testing kits, as debate around pill testing at music festivals continues.

The kits, available over-the-counter for as little as $10, can identify potentially lethal substances in MDMA.

Owner of Mull Up Chris Burn with MDMA purity test kits Credit:Dion Georgopoulos

The EZ Test has been listed for sale at four stores in the ACT and has also been stocked by a chemist chain in parts of western Sydney and Darwin.

Owner of tobacco store Mull Up in Mitchell Chris Burn said there had been a recent uptake in sales of the test.
Secrecy provisions relating to child welfare cases in ACT legislation are the most restrictive in the country and are working against those they're meant to protect, according to two Canberra barristers.

The convoluted legislation is more restrictive than in cases where it is crucial to protect an informant giving evidence in a trial against a murderer, a drug importer or a bikie gang, barrister Philip Walker, SC said.

Mr Walker said the ACT should fall in line with other jurisdictions and reform the legislation to enable the decisions made by authorities to be better held to account.

A Coroner has released his findings into the death of a Queensland taxi driver.

The legislation is designed to protect children, families and those reporting child abuse from being identified. However, even with permission from the parents, the details of such cases cannot be reported, even anonymously.
"There is [also] a gender element to this; she is seen as a role model for young women, and African-Americans; she is a kind of totem for change ... and has become the vehicle through which people can hatefully depict women and the monarchy." The fairytale arc that was a nightmare for Diana over 15 years is happening (to Markle) over 15 months. Associate Professor Andrew Dodd, Melbourne University. "It has been much more rapid than I've even seen it; the fairytale arc that was a nightmare for Diana over 15 years is happening [to Markle] over 15 months  it's almost like there is an impatience to get to the next narrative milestone ... before anyone else does," says Dodd, who heads the Centre for Advancing Journalism at Melbourne University. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attending an awards ceremony on February 9. Credit:AP "There is [also] a sense this person is so far removed from the person writing the story, this bile and negativity won't affect her."

This has gone to another level. The reality is she is a human being and this will be having real life impacts. Professor Catherine Lumby, Macquarie University But Macquarie University media and communications professor, and gender commentator Professor Catherine Lumby says the "outrageous and sexist" coverage of Markle is most definitely personal. Markle has been subject to a steady flow of negative headlines since late last year, which have set her up as brittle, demanding and "difficult". Rumours include two of Markle's staff and one of Harry's quit due to the Duchess' unreasonableness and, of all things, rising early and expecting her staff to be available, and that she reduced the Duchess of Cambridge to tears during a bridesmaid dress fitting and a "messy rift" ensued. She has been branded "the new Yoko" for allegedly causing problems between Princes William and Harry, and a social climber for having "ghosted" former friends (Piers Morgan claims to be among them), despite the fact that old friends have spoken up about Markle's loyalty and generosity.

Princess Diana meeting Bosnian Serbs and Muslims affected by landmines. Credit:PA Perhaps the most pointed allegation is that Meghan is a bad daughter (hence, a bad woman) for blanking an ailing father  who sold staged pictures of himself to paparazzi in the lead-up to her wedding. He was originally coming to the wedding. Professor Lumby says there is a theme at play:"It is completely gendered". "She is a 'second' princess [duchess], so she's got to be cast as somehow the evil or the bad princess, as part of a contest between her and Kate Middleton. It is a fairytale basically, built into deep psychological and literary stereotypes about women being in contest and women who have privilege," she says. "Clooney was completely on the money. What happened to Diana was a travesty. Yes, she encouraged media attention but she couldn't avoid media attention; in the end, to quote Martin Amis, she was pursued by the high-tech dogs of fame, the paparazzi, and we have not learned from that."

Loading Lumby says Markle's mixed-race background is another factor in her targeting: "There are some deep social and cultural archetypes, stories you can fit people into; a narrative, and Meghan Markle is easily cast as the 'outsider'. "She's of mixed-race heritage, and she's proud of that ... and we also have archetypes about a woman when she comes in as 'older'." (Indeed, Morgan referenced Markle being "much older" than Harry; she is three years older.) Some tabloids are "looking for a story that Kate Middleton is the perfect princess and Meghan Markle is inappropriate, the evil step-sister is a very old narrative". "Unfortunately it is usually women who are dragged into it."

Sarah Ferguson, the former wife of Prince Andrew, made a similar observation in an open letter this month: Women, in particular, are constantly pitted against and compared with each other in a way that reminds me of how people tried to portray Diana and me all the time as rivals, which is something neither of us ever really felt." Says Lumby: "This has gone to another level ... The reality is [Meghan] is a human being and this will be having real-life impacts. We know nothing about her as a real person, it's a persona constructed in the media and it's outrageous, incredibly archaic and sexist." Kate Huppatz, Western Sydney University sociology associate professor, agrees this stuff is usually reserved for women: "Women are always subject to the public's gaze in ways that men aren't. "I think Diana and Meghan have been a particular focus because of their role in the creation of national identity  they embody an idealised femininity that is an avenue for the creation of national desire," says Huppatz, also editor of the Journal of Sociology. "Added to this, Meghan is a woman of colour, which is a point of interest for the media as the royal family symbolised and continues to symbolise whiteness and colonialism."

Of being pitted against her sister in the media, Princess Margaret (left), said: 'When there are two sisters and one is the Queen, who must be the source of honour and all that is good, the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister'. Credit:AFP The star qualities of both Meghan and Diana and the fact they both have/had a "publicly difficult" relationship  Diana's with Charles and Meghan's with her father  has contributed to the "soap opera" built around them. JaneMaree Maher, Monash University social sciences professor, goes further, describing it as a "particular type of vitriol" amounting to "abusive trolling" and "this idea that when a woman succeeds it's at the expense of another woman neglects the evidence of women supporting and taking care of each other, which they do all the time". Given the "trope of the 'catfight'" never goes out of style, Sydney University academic Kate Lonie, agrees the coverage about Markle was bound to go the grubby way it has. She also names class snobbery (which was also evident after Kate Middleton arrived on the royal scene), and Markle transgressing expectations of royals to be apolitical as things held against her. Lonie highlights Princess Margaret's famous quote about the way she and young Queen Elizabeth were treated as evidence of the enduring appeal of targeting one woman to tear down: "It was inevitable: When there are two sisters and one is the Queen, who must be the source of honour and all that is good, while the other must be the focus of the most creative malice, the evil sister.
I AM WEARING an original 1950s vintage hat. The clutch and the shoes are both modern, I bought them on the Gold Coast. The outfit is from a 1930s palazzo pyjama set pattern that I had recreated in white rayon to suit the Portsea Polo.

MY STYLE IS 1930s and 1970s influenced, with mid century accessories.

I ADMIRE THE STYLE OF Tessa Rickard, she is a Melbourne-based vintage stylist, and the founder of sunglasses brand Catch a Thief.

MY FAVOURITE PLACE TO SHOP is the Vintage Emporium on the Mornington Peninsula, that is pretty much my go-to. All of their outfits are authentic. I actually bought this hat from there.

MY BIGGEST FASHION MISTAKE WAS wearing crochet outfits. They did not work for me. Do you remember the crocheted bikinis where people's nipples stuck out in the wrong place? I think there has been a resurgence of crocheted outfits, but they have been made with modesty in mind.

WHEN I WAS A KID I WORE My mother dressed me, and she was not one to follow the current trends. She would make or buy our clothes from thrift shops. I have always been the same. I am always looking for something that is a little different. For example, the brooch I am wearing today is a 1980s Bakelite piece. I like mixing key vintage pieces with something that is a bit modern.
MISS FISHER'S MODERN MURDER MYSTERIES

Series premiere 

8.30pm, Seven

Wanted's Geraldine Hakewill picks up most elegantly where Essie Davis left off, carrying the essence of the hedonistic, irrepressible flapper sleuth through to a new era of beehives and capri pants. Her Peregrine Fisher, niece of Phryne missing and presumed dead in New Guinea, has inherited not only her aunt's fabulous house and car, but her reckless spirit and disdain for authority. She wastes no time in jumping on the case of a murdered bridal show model.

The star of Miss Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries shows reckless spirit and disdain for authority.

COUNTERPART

Double episode series return 

9.30pm, SBS

This Orwellian allegory for a frightened, militarised society strips the human experience back to one of careful, determined survival. There are so many echoes of our own troubled times in these parallel Berlins, yet this is a strangely analogue world, reminiscent of the Cold War, yet undeniably contemporary. Our accidental hero, Howard Silk (the brilliant J. K. Simmons), faces new threats circling the creepy corporate sphere and his tentative domestic one.
MRS WILSON

**** four stars

9.40pm, ABC

It is no coincidence that British actress Ruth Wilson (Luther) shares a surname with her on screen alter-ego in this emotionally charged post World War II drama. As executive producer of the series, she tells the story of her own grandmother's personal investigation of her dead husband's double life. Full of espionage intrigue and betrayal of Shakespearean proportions, this is an epic tale of a courageous search for truth and meaning in the darkest of corners.

Ruth Wilson tells the story of her own grandmother's personal investigation of her dead husband's double life in Mrs Wilson, an emotionally charged WWII drama. Credit:Steffan Hill

THE KENNEDYS: A FATAL AMBITION

Double episode series premiere *** three stars

8.30pm, SBS

We probably all know a family as afflicted with multiple tragedies as the American presidential dynasty, and that's perhaps why our collective fascination with the Kennedy's supposed "curse" endures. The family tree is traced back to the arrival on Ellis Island of Irish Catholic immigrants, and examined throughout the nation's formative decades that followed, offering a history lesson as well as a celebrity gawk.
THE HEIGHTS

Series premiere 

8.30pm, ABC

This smart soap has the potential to outlast its established network counterparts as long as it is afforded the same unconditional love. The mystery, suspense and kitchen sink drama is backed up with a naturally flowing script and domestic detail that is never merely incidental. A kicking soundtrack underscores the David-and-Goliath central plotline, around which are neatly woven interpersonal narratives that speak to the problems and experiences of the less than affluent.

The Heights: mystery, suspense and kitchen sink drama.

THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW



8.30pm, Ten

Ethereal actor Saoirse Ronan, who skyrocketed to fame in Greta Gerwin's film, Lady Bird, will be on Graham's comfy couch tonight to no doubt continue trying to educate the American guests about how to correctly pronounce her name. Also, she'll talk about her latest cinematic triumph, Mary Queen of Scots. The other luminaries include Laura Linney, on her role in the London stage production of My Name is Lucy Burton; and Timothee Chalamet on biographical crystal meth film, Beautiful Boy.
Sitting alongside Barry "DJ Debris" Francis in the Universal Music boardroom  sweeping views of Sydney Harbour unfolding through the window  they're pondering whether they can still recognise in each other elements of the person they first met.

The Hilltop Hoods - Daniel Smith (left), Matthew Lambert and Barry Francis - are about to release their eighth studio album. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

This year marks 30 years since MCs Matt "Suffa" Lambert and Daniel "Pressure" Smith met at school in Adelaide and became friends.

Hilltop Hoods may celebrate their 25th anniversary this year, but there's another milestone that means as much, if not more, to the hip-hop trio.

That much is clear from the moment the three sit down and, through the haze of brutal hangovers and cacophonous laughter, start recounting what they've been up to since wrapping up 2016's record-breaking Drinking From The Sun, Walking Under Stars symphony orchestra tour.

Francis got married, but his wife is now living in Hungary playing volleyball professionally. Lambert had two children, while Smith also had a baby, bringing his tally to four.

"When he puts his dad voice on you see his kids' backs straighten," says Lambert, chuckling. "I haven't got my dad voice yet."

This domestic bliss is one reason why the band committed to a lengthy break upon completion of the orchestral run of shows. It's also why it took a while to adjust when they returned to the road for a three-week jaunt around Europe last August.

"We were doing rehearsals and I was like, 'Man, I don't feel like a musician, I just feel like a dad,'" says Lambert. "And it wasn't until about three songs into the first show in Europe that I was like, 'Yeah, this is what I do. I remember this.'"
Dozens of Sydney independent schools in line to have their funding reduced will instead receive bonus payments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars this year from the federal government's private school funding package.

Oakhill College will receive almost $500,000, while St Scholastica's, Loreto Kirribilli and St Aloysius College will all get more than $350,000 in so-called low growth payments, according to figures released under Freedom of Information.

Under the needs-based funding reforms, over-paid independent schools should have their funding brought down to the Schooling Resource Standard benchmark over the next 10 years, and under-funded public schools should have their funding increased.

Redevelopment plans for Loreto Kirribilli, which is getting a $371,000 top-up payment from the federal government. Credit:Loreto Kirribilli

But last year, the federal government announced an extra $170.8 million would be spent in 2019 to ensure no private school lost any government funding during transition to a new way of calculating parents' capacity to contribute to their children's schooling.
The high-end restaurant business of celebrity chef Teage Ezard is significantly underpaying permanent staff through the excessive use of unpaid overtime.

An investigation by The Sunday Age has uncovered the pay rort at his eponymous flagship restaurant, Ezard, as well as at one of his other prominent eateries, Gingerboy.

Leaked rosters, pay slips and other records dating back several years show chefs at Ezard and Gingerboy regularly working more than 60 hours a week.

Teage Ezard's restaurants have underpaid chefs through excessive unpaid overtime. Credit:Simon Schluter

That pushed pay some weeks to as little as $15 an hour for some chefs, well below the legal minimum wage of the award, the wages safety net.
Even for this Gilded Age of 0.0001 per centers, Kenneth Griffin drips money.

The hedge-fund mogul recently closed on a New York penthouse for an eye-watering $US240 million $336 million). Before that he picked up a $US122 million London mansion. He can hang his $US200 million Pollock in one and his $US300 million de Kooning painting in the other.

Remarkably, all of that cost less than what Griffin made in 2018, when his personal fortune swelled by $US870 million ($1.2 billion) to about $US10 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, a ranking of the world's 500 richest people.

Kenneth Griffin, the billionaire founder of Citadel, got $1.2 billion richer last year. Credit:Bloomberg

More remarkable is how Griffin and many other hedge fund giants mint so much money: with investment returns that are solid, but a far cry from John Paulson's mammoth housing short or when George Soros broke the Bank of England.
Trevor and Karinne McDougall, of the Central Coast, say they were left with massive debts and stress-related health problems after closing their Western Australia store more than $500,000 out of pocket.

All four franchisees - mum-and-dad investors from the Hunter and Central Coast - opted out of their struggling stores.

Fast-forward to today and the group - which has franchised four stores and now has 14 corporate stores after nine closed - has experienced revolt from franchisees after stores failed to perform as expected.

A Tony Robbins convert and business motivational speaker, Mr Siderovski - who founded and is the managing director of SiDCOR Chartered Accountants - had grand visions of franchising and opening up to 50 Yogurtland stores across Australia in five years.

If empires are founded on bold visions, then Yogurtland Australia was off to the right start.

In a written statement, Mr Siderovski said there were "no issues" with Yogurtland Australia's franchise system "when it is operated as recommended".

His are not isolated complaints. Documents and correspondence reveal issues between all the franchisees and Yogurtland Franchising, with at least three of the franchisees understood to have suffered large financial losses, a claim Mr Siderovski denies.

"The stress has been immeasurable," he said. "This has dominated our lives for years now and it seems to go from bad to worse. It's been nothing short of a disaster for us and it's not over yet."

Mr McDougall is outraged at the impact the business venture has had on his family and his life savings.

Yogurtland Franchising is now pursuing the McDougalls in Newcastle Local Court for $52,000 in allegedly unpaid yoghurt bills. However, the couple plan to fight the case, arguing they have lost enough.

They also alleged they only discovered after signing up that they'd been sold used yoghurt machines from failed corporate stores for almost twice the price of new machines.

Two of the franchisees alleged they were not provided with mandatory disclosure documents designed to inform potential franchisees about the business they were considering buying into.

Disputes over prices charged for stores and equipment, allegations that Yogurtland Franchising misrepresented achievable turnover and profit figures, lack of transparency and claims the franchisor breached the Franchising Code of Conduct by not acting in good faith.

According to documents, many of the problems were similar for the stores at Baldivis, a southern suburb of Perth, Newcastle's Marketown and Erina on the Central Coast.

"This is so whether we are legally obliged to or not. In addition, I can say we cannot directly control how a franchisee decides to run a store. However, a large proportion of our franchisees either were qualified professionals in their own right, or had multiple businesses they operated."

Happier Times: The opening day of the Yogurtland store in Cessnock. It started as a franchise store, became a corporate store and closed this year. Credit:Marina Neil

"As part of our operational model, if a person for whatever reason does not want to continue with a YL [Yogurtland] franchise, then we will do all things that we can to solve their problems," he said.

"When there was a decision made by head office not to franchise anymore we were left in a position where they didn't want to buy back our store," he said. "In the end we closed it and the financial loss was huge."

According to Mr McDougall, that was definitely the case with Yogurtland Franchising.

Franchising in Australia is big business. There are 1120 franchising outfits and 79,000 franchisees, which is four times as many franchisors per head as in the US.

Due to report in March, the federal government inquiry examined the effectiveness of the Franchising Code of Conduct and heard explosive testimony from franchisees suffering financial devastation and mental health issues after watching their dream to own a small business turn into a personal and financial nightmare.

The Yogurtland Franchising saga has revived questions about the future of Australia's scandal-plagued $170 billion franchise industry following a joint parliamentary inquiry last year that revealed systematic problems across the sector.

All of the above claims Mr Siderovski denied. He said no profit was made on store fitouts. "We unequivocally deny providing anything that is false and misleading," he said. "We have always acted in the best interest of all parties concerned."

"I am working on something and if it comes off you will be set for life," Mr Siderovski wrote to the Temelkovskis.

In an email to the couple in October 2013, before Yogurtland Australia began franchising, Mr Siderovski - who was the Temelkovskis' long-term accountant and had known Mr Temelkovski since they were boys - urged the couple to "hold off" on further investigating a Mexican food franchise business.

Despite Mrs Temelkovski working full-time in the Erina store for two years without taking a wage, the business still struggled to turn a profit.

According to documents, Tony and Dianna Temelkovski, of Merewether, signed on as Yogurtland Australia's first franchisee in late 2014.

It's understood the other three sold their NSW-based stores back to Yogurtland Australia and at least two signed non-disclosure agreements officially gagging them.

Three months later Mr Siderovski told the Temelkovskis he was "about to franchise" Yogurtland and urged them again to "hold off on doing anything" with the Mexican franchise.

The couple, who paid $625,000 for the Erina store, were told it would be the first of three potential Yogurtland stores for them.

Expectations were high as the store opened in November 2014, after Mr Siderovski made lofty predictions about its performance.

Devastated: Trevor and Karinne McDougall, one of four Yogurtland franchisees who opted out of their stores amid disputes over disappointing profits and turnover. Credit:Simone de Peak

"The similar store is Macarthur Square that does 1.2m," he wrote in an email to the Commonwealth Bank, blind copied to the Temelkovskis, in the weeks before the Erina store opened. "Even after taking 20 per cent off he will make a profit of before tax and interest and lease payments of 200k ... At 1.2m the store will make close to 400k per year."

Later the same day, another email from Mr Siderovski to the bank, again blind copied to Mr Temelkovski.

This email set out "projections for the Erina store" detailing that the franchisee was expected to make a "net benefit" of $371,150 in the first year, $380,114 in the second, growing to $407,874 by the fifth year.

The store actually turned over between $800,000 and $850,000 a year, and once the costs were taken out, it was barely breaking even.

Mr Siderovski also advised the couple by email not to spend money on "legals" and to request a refund of the portion of the deposit they paid for the franchise that was set aside for legal fees. "We are not going to need to spend the money on legals," he wrote to Mr Temelkovski several weeks before the store opened.

He later advised the couple that the store was spending too much on wages and said he wanted to talk to them "about paying some people cash".

Less than two years after the Erina store opened, as it continued to fail to produce the profit margins the Temelkovskis were led to expect, Mr Siderovski changed his tune on the store's potential.

Considering selling the store, Mr Temelkovski emailed Mr Siderovski in August 2016. "As our financial adviser and accountant we kindly request your assistance  to obtain the required clarity to make this important decision for our family," he wrote.

Mr Siderovski responded the same day. "We can meet this week, but this is my advice for you and what I will tell you and Di as I did last time. You are not going to find the financial outcomes you want from a frozen yogurt store in Erina," he wrote.

"There is no opportunity to buy more stores and the uncertainty of retail and the particular industry is not going to provide the financial clarity you are after ... It is an uncertain industry that we don't have a lot of control over. My advice is to move on."

Yogurtland Australia made a $400,000 offer to buy the store, which would have resulted in a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in about two years.

When Mr Temelkovski labelled the offer "not fair", Mr Siderovski said the "fact the store did not do what you expected or what we anticipated is what it is".

"The model overall has underperformed, you have one of the best stores, there are a number not even close to break even," Mr Siderovski wrote. He later continued: "Things have changed and the way the relationship with the franchisees has gone I have chosen not to franchise anymore stores."

Mr Siderovski told the Herald this week that there was no decision made to stop franchising stores and "future franchise opportunities are being explored". He also confirmed he is not qualified to offer financial advice to clients and said he "does not provide finance advice".

It didn't help that the three franchisees who lodged disputes with Mr Siderovski were clients of SiDCOR Chartered Accountants when they bought into Yogurtland Australia, leading to allegations that Mr Siderovski had a conflict of interest because he owns both companies.

When asked about the potential conflict of interest, Mr Siderovski said many of the franchisees were successful business people, owning their own businesses or having executive positions in large companies. "No franchisees were inexperienced in business or lacked in business acumen," he said.

As the managing director of SiDCOR - the franchisees' accountant - Mr Siderovski held a position of trust, had intimate knowledge of the franchisees' finances and his guidance was sought.

High Hopes: the opening day of the Marketown Yogurtland store where participants tried to beat the record for the most number of free frozen yoghurts eaten. Credit:Marina Neil

Concerned about lack of profits at her Marketown store, franchisee Samantha Worth reached out to Mr Siderovski in June 2015 asking for help. "When [husband] Andy and I met with you a few weeks ago you were going to look into why we seem to be making very little in profit," she wrote. "I am concerned we are operating week-by-week at the moment."

About a year after Mrs Worth's email, Mr Siderovski emailed Mr Worth, responding to questions the couple asked about the initial price they paid for the Marketown store, $620,000, and the possibility of Yogurtland Australia buying it back.

"The fact that the store has not done what I anticipated is not something I have control of," Mr Siderovski wrote. "It is what it is ...Yes, stores now sell for approx. 400k but this is plus contributions from the centres (50-100k) so it is not black and white to say we charged this much and we now charge this much."

As a "goodwill" gesture Mr Siderovski offered to "personally" refund $120,000 towards the purchase price of the store or buy it for $450,000, but the deal did not go through at that time.

Further complicating matters was a plan for two of the franchisees to use part of their Self Managed Super Funds (SMSF) to help fund the purchase of their stores.

In a series of emails in November 2014, as the Worths were sorting out how to fund the purchase of the Marketown store, Mr Worth asked Mr Siderovski about the couple's finance options. "The balance up to $620k will come from super," Mr Siderovski wrote. "That is between us. Love ya."

Documents show Mr Siderovski asked the Temelkovskis if he could borrow money from their SMSF to help build more Yogurtland stores. A later spreadsheet details that $230,000 from the couple's super fund was to be used to help pay for the Erina store. But Mr Siderovski told the Herald this week that "no money from any SMSFs was used to purchase" a franchise.

According to a spokeswoman from the Australian Taxation Office, SMSFs can only be used to provide retirement benefits for members.

Problems in the relationships accelerated when the four disaffected franchisees, three from the Hunter and one from the Central Coast - who operated stores in Marketown, Cessnock, Erina and Western Australia - organised a private meeting in New Lambton in June 2016 to discuss their ongoing concerns.

After finding out about the meeting, Mr Siderovski wrote to Mr Worth that his patience with the "franchisees has run out". "We bend over backwards for them and discussion really is one point  revenue," he wrote the day before the meeting. "I can't wave a magic wand and it is retail... There are four franchisees and the head f--- they give us compared to franchise systems that provide less support with larger numbers is a joke."

According to notes taken from the meeting the franchisees were frustrated and angry, questioned if Yogurtland Australia was "viable", expressed concern about lack of leadership and discussed if an exit strategy was required.

Yogurtland Australia responded with individual meetings and a "highly confidential" two-page document labelled "Plan going forward" which advised that the business "will continue" and that its future was exciting.

"We acknowledge that there are many things that YL [Yogurtland] could have done different in its approach, delivery and communication with its corporate-owned stores and franchisee stores," it reads. "We have listened and heard feedback from meetings with franchisees and certain changes have now been put in place going forward."

Mr McDougall described the document as a "huge blow" because it advised franchisees to "at least work shifts in the business, if not manage the store" to reduce costs. "My store was in Western Australia and I live in NSW," he said. "I specifically bought the store to operate it as an investment with a manager." Not long after the group meeting in mid-2016, the Cessnock franchisee's store was taken over by Yogurtland Australia and ran as a corporate store until it closed this year. The former franchisee declined to comment.

Trench warfare between the remaining three franchisees and Yogurtland Franchising continued and the tone of Mr Siderovski's emails - in which he regularly called Mr Temelkovski and Mr Worth "brother" and signed off emails by writing "love ya" - changed.

In emails between Mr Siderovski and Mr Temelkovski in September 2016, the pair argued over a price for Yogurtland Australia to buy the Erina store. "We have paid a high premium (top dollar) for the YL Erina franchise. The highest out of all the franchisees," Mr Temelkovski wrote.

"The reason people buy a franchise model is that it is meant to be plug and play. Effectively you are buying a tried and tested system with the support structures. This you must admit has not been the case with our franchise model." Mr Siderovski responded: "Every franchise model is the same Tony. It does not work perfectly."

Devastated: Trevor and Karinne McDougall, one of four Yogurtland franchisees who opted out of their stores amid disputes over disappointing profits and turnover. Credit:Marina Neil

Mr Temelkovski continued: "Ever since we have started working with you as our advisor seven years ago we have trusted you implicitly and followed your advice 100% and have always treated you as family even though we have had mixed success."



Mr Siderovski replied: "This is part of the trial and error and growing. Saying anymore on this will only infuriate you and not resolve anything. Going forward you will need to seek help elsewhere from a financial point of view."

The situation deteriorated until the unhappy franchisees sought legal advice and lodged official disputes with Mr Siderovski in February 2017. Under the terms of the franchise agreements, the move triggered confidential mediation sessions that were held in mid-2017, overseen by Derek Minus, the government-appointed Franchising Mediation Adviser.

Mr Minus, who has publicly stated that the mediation system should be replaced by a dispute process that can issue binding determinations, said he could not discuss the cases. He said Mr McDougall's case remained open. Mr McDougall also said he could not discuss the mediation.

As the drawn-out Yogurtland dispute continued, a new threat to the franchisees' survival emerged. Struggling with their stores, the franchisees then handed over a total of $103,000 in legal fees leading up to and during the mediation.

Eventually, the Erina and Marketown stores were purchased by Yogurtland Australia under a confidential settlement and Mr McDougall, unable to get head office to buy the West Australian store, closed it on April 30 last year. Mr Siderovski said Yogurtland had no intention of opening corporate stores in Western Australia, he said the Erina and Marketown stores were "bought back" at "real value", and "we deny any losses were suffered".

The McDougalls were devastated by the outcome and angry they did not have the funds to continue the legal fight. Mr McDougall said he felt they pursued every avenue they could afford available to them under franchising regulations and that no one could help them. He said the franchisees and their lawyer believed they had a good case. However, deep pockets usually win legal battles.

As for the Yogurtland chain, it no longer has any franchisee stores. Fourteen corporate stores remain, with 11 across NSW - including two in the Hunter - and one in Queensland, Victoria and Canberra. Mr Siderovski said it was Yogurtland US that believed Australia was a 50-store market.

Newcastle Herald
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.

We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.

A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.  It was so much easier when all the Democrats had to worry about was opposing President Donald Trump.

But now theres open warfare within the party everywhere you look.

Thanks, Amazon.

The online retail giant announced the other day that it would not build its HQ2 facility in Queens after all.

Say goodbye to 25,000 jobs. Say goodbye to rising real estate values. Say goodbye to economic development.

It was a major blow to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, whod worked hard to bring Amazon here.

And theres plenty of blame to go around, according to Cuomo and de Blasio.

Cuomo is taking his wrath out on state Senate Democrats, who opposed the billions in tax breaks that Amazon was set to receive.

There were also concerns about accusations that Amazon mistreats its workers.

City Council lawmakers had the same complaints in opposing the deal.

Funny, it wasnt that long ago that state Democrats were touting a new era of unity now that the state Senate had been reclaimed by the party and the troublesome Independent Democratic Conference had been vanquished.

With the Democrats in control of every lever of government in Albany, just watch all the good that would get done.

A couple of months later, all that the Democrats are doing is biting each other in the throat. Its going to make for some fun budget negotiations in the coming months. Cuomo has never been one to forget a slight or to forgive a betrayal. He no doubt has his enemies list all drawn up.

De Blasio, meanwhile, slammed Amazon for taking its ball and going home. The mayor said it was disrespectful to all New Yorkers.

But, as gleefully detailed by the city tabloids, De Blasio also took aim at the progressives who opposed Amazon, like Queens Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Working people and young people needed the jobs that Amazon would have brought, de Blasio said during his regular appearance on Brian Lehrers radio show on WYNC. And government could have used the tax revenue thrown off by Amazon and all those new employees to provide the public services, the affordable housing, the transit fixes, that New Yorkers cry out for.

The ultra-progressive de Blasio even talked about how bad progressive policies and inept government stewardship almost drove the city into bankruptcy in the 1970s and, in fact, alienated working people.

So there is a limit to the revolutions ability to change the world.

In many ways, whats happened in New York this week mirrors whats been going on in Washington. There are two Democratic parties: One thats more establishment, the other rabidly and increasingly left-wing.

The fissure thats opened in the party has made old school Dems  Cuomo, de Blasio, Sen. Charles Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi  look positively stodgy. Ocasio-Cortez is the fresh-faced figurehead of the next generation.

In truth, Amazon only lit a match to the gas-soaked rags that were already there.

Things will only get more tense next year, when some of the biggest names in the party will be running against each other for president. And scrambling to out-progressive each other in the process.

None of this lets Trump off the hook, or course. The Dems will band together to oppose his national emergency and border wall. Theyll rally to impeach him. The resistance will go on.

But well see plenty of Dem-on-Dem bloodletting as well. Its something that Democrats do well.
A 14-year-old New Jersey girl landed in the hospital after eating a marijuana-laced Gummi Bear, and her 13-year-old classmate was arrested for distributing the edible, according to a report on our sister site NJ.com.

Police said the girl was at school in Fair Lawn when she became ill and vomited several times.

She was brought to a hospital in Ridgewood and was tested for drugs after she said a boy gave her candy that would stop her from stressing out, Fair Lawn Sgt. Brian Metzler told NJ.com.

The student had also distributed the spiked Gummi Bears to other children during the school day. He is being charged as a juvenile in family court in Bergen County.

It is unclear where the child acquired the edibles.

Childrens perception of and access to marijuana are among the issues that anti-addiction advocates raise in discussion of marijuana legalization.

A movement toward legalization for recreational use began in New Jersey when Governor Phil Murphy took office at the start of 2018, but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has quickly followed, ramping up the legalization movement in the Empire State.
Despite everything, I believe people are really good at heart.

I know you know the quote and its author, Anne Frank, the young Jewish woman who was murdered along with her family by Nazis during their attempt to wipe everybody that wasnt a Nazi from the face of the Earth. An attempt that ultimately failed and brought disgrace and dishonor upon the German people and celebrated trials to the cowards who escaped with their lives and hid like the rats they were all across the globe, until their sins caught up with them and their horrible deeds were exposed.

I often meditate on kindness, what it means, the place it plays in our lives.

During separate interviews, Lady GaGa thanked both Ellen Degeneres and Lin Manuel Miranda for practicing kindness. We understand it as a way of giving when no gift is sought, a way of easing another persons pain or just not being a pain in the butt to deal with. We understand its inherent value and that it is quite natural for us to practice kindness.

So, why do we become unkind? And, beyond that, how does a person justify committing acts of cruelty and thoughtlessness?

If kindness is giving, then unkindness (or selfishness) is taking. If kindness is expressing empathy, then unkindness (or cruelty) is having no empathy for another. If kindness is part of our DNA, then unkindness (or hatred) is a denial of the fact that all humans are one, that we eat, sleep, breathe and enjoy almost exactly the same way, wherever on this green globe we are.

Weve seen horrific acts of unkindness in our lives: the aforementioned Nazi regime; acts of genocide committed by warrior kings or fanatics; the unquestionable racism, sexism and xenophobias that plague our land, in spite of our efforts to remove them. The history of civil rights in our country reads like a bizarro version of real life, where people who should be honored and revered as heroes are shot dead in cold blood and murderers go free. Where an entire race of people is held down and repressed for decades before time and outrage change the scenario. Where people are murdered for walking hand-in-hand and are defamed because they are not afraid to state their authentic identity.

Personally, I believe evil arises from deprivation. Whenever I hear of some brazen act on the news, where a person is mugged, robbed, sexually assaulted, or a local store is held up and the owner killed, or a baby is found in a dumpster, I think: Desperate times create desperate actions. We are the richest country in the world. Why should anybody in our country lack for the essentials of life, good healthcare, a decent place to live, a decent job that allows parents to care properly for their children? Is this not, in fact, the ideal of the American dream? And yet, daily, we see frustration acted out in senseless episodes of abhorrent behavior.

I was talking to a cashier at a supermarket. She was about to go home to study. Shes planning on attending college next year. She shook her head. I wish it wasnt so expensive, she said, sadly.

THIS is the legacy were leaving to our children? That education is too expensive? That theyre better off just merely surviving, working crappy jobs till they die, that they have no time to dream of better things?

As both an educator and a parent, this enrages me. The problem isnt the teachers of the DOE, or the budget or the schools. Its that we dont think education is valuable enough for some folk and that theyd be better staying just where they are. Who gets to decide who participates in the American dream? Isnt it all of us or none of us?

Any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee. - John Donne

As I grow older, I dont find myself getting less passionate about the things I cherish and revere. I grow more passionate, more connected to my neighbor and my neighborhood, more in touch with how we communicate with each other and what those communications really mean.

Ive been stopped all over Staten Island by people who have read and enjoyed my columns. They ask me questions. They compliment me. I consider their attention an act of kindness.

Let me pass that on. Kindness is exactly like meditation. You start off slow in little bursts, and then, one day, youre practicing it without even knowing it.

I wish you and yours what your heart desires, but more importantly, what your soul needs to grow, to reach out to the stars, to achieve.

Hold those grey heads up!
Sharon, PA (16146)

Today

Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High around 85F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Sterling, VA (20165)

Today

Intervals of clouds and sunshine. High 82F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies in the evening, then becoming cloudy overnight. Low 68F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng on Friday stressed to take bolder and more effective measures to implement the proactive fiscal policy.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks when presiding over a meeting after an inspection of the Ministry of Finance (MOF).

At the meeting, Han studied major issues, including the launch of another round of tax cuts and fighting the "three critical battles" against risks, poverty and pollution.

The MOF should stick to the basic tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, promote high-quality development and take coordinated steps to ensure steady growth, advance reform, make structural adjustments, improve living standards and guard against risks, Han stressed.

He said that larger tax cuts will be helpful in improving the country's income distribution system and the tax structure and better serve China's current macro policy.

The MOF should relieve the social insurance payment burden of firms, strengthen the management of the fiscal revenue and expenditure and create a sound policy environment for fair competition, Han said.

Han underlined that measures should be in place to effectively prevent and handle financial risks, reinforce the monitoring of the local government debt risk and deploy more funds to facilitate winning the battles against poverty and pollution.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. This includes cookies from third party social media websites and ad networks. Such third party cookies may track your use on Sharedots sites for better rendering. Our partners use cookies to ensure we show you advertising that is relevant to you. If you continue without changing your settings, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on Sharedots website. However, you can change your cookie settings at any time. Learn more
This is the dramatic moment a plane skidded off the runway and crashed nose first into the grass while landing at an airport in Indonesia today (February 16)



The Lion Air Boing 737 had left Jakarta at 2pm local time and was coming into land at the airport in Pontianak some 500 miles north when it encountered a treacherous downpour.



Footage shows how the aircraft suddenly veered to the left before ditching in the wet ground.



Terrified passengers had to scramble from the exit and walk along the wing.



The wheels of the plane were almost entirely sunken into the sodden ground.



Polana Pramesti, Director General of Air Relations at the country's Ministry of Transportation, confirmed the crash. He said: ''It is true, the plane slipped due to heavy rain. There were no fatalities and the entire crew survived.''



Flights from the Supadio International Airport were cancelled while workers battled to drag the Boeing away from the runway.
BAGHOUZ, Syria  A U.S.-backed force in Syria is closing in on Islamic State militants occupying a tiny area less than a square mile in eastern Syria, and will soon declare the defeat of the extremists, a commander said Saturday.

The capture of the last pocket still held by Islamic State fighters in the village of Baghouz would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist groups hold on territory in Syria and Iraq  their self-proclaimed caliphate that at the height of the groups power in 2014 controlled nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

We will very soon bring good news to the whole world, said Ciya Furat, a commander with the Kurdish-led force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.

An Associated Press team in Baghouz on Saturday, hundreds of yards away from the last speck of land where the militants were holed up, saw several aircraft overhead and two air strikes hit the area. SDF fighters said the strikes were fired by the U.S.-led coalition.

The Syrian Democratic Forces declared the final push to capture the village a week ago after more than 20,000 civilians, many of them the wives and families of foreign fighters, were evacuated.

Since then, SDF commanders say they have been surprised to discover that there were hundreds more civilians in the enclave, after they were brought up by the militants from underground tunnels. Their presence has slowed the SDF advance.

Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said SDF fighters are almost in full control of the area once controlled by extremists, adding that there might still be militants hiding in a network of underground tunnels.

The Observatory said that some 200 Islamic State gunmen surrendered Friday, days after about 240 others surrendered and were taken by SDF fighters and members of the U.S.-led coalition.

The defeat of Daesh will come within days, Furat said, using the Arabic acronym to refer to the group. He added that after the physical defeat of Islamic State, the SDF will continue in its fight against Daesh sleepers cells.

Despite the expected defeat on the ground, activists and residents say Islamic State still has sleeper cells in Syria and Iraq and is laying the groundwork for an insurgency.

Sarah El Deeb is an Associated Press writer.
Andrew Medichini / Associated Press 2013

VATICAN CITY  Pope Francis has defrocked former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found the American guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession and of sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said Saturday.

McCarrick, 88, is the highest-ranking Catholic churchman to be laicized, as the process is called. It means he can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title. He is the first churchman who reached the rank of cardinal to be defrocked in the churchs sex abuse scandals.
YOLA, Nigeria  Nigerias top candidates on Saturday condemned the last-minute decision to delay the presidential election for a week until next Saturday, blaming each other but appealing to Africas largest democracy for calm.

The decision, announced a mere five hours before the polls were to open, is a costly one. Authorities now must decide what to do with already delivered voting materials in a tense atmosphere where some electoral facilities in recent days have been torched.

Electoral commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu told surprised election observers, diplomats and others that the delay had nothing to do with insecurity or political influence. He blamed very trying circumstances including bad weather affecting flights and fires at three commission offices that were an apparent attempt to sabotage our preparations.

If the vote had gone on as planned, polling units could not have opened at the same time nationwide. This is very important to public perceptions of elections as free, fair and credible, Yakubu said.

He hoped this would be the last postponement of the election, a sprawling affair with over 23,000 candidates for various posts and more than 84 million registered voters.

Some bitter voters in the capital, Abuja, and elsewhere who traveled home to cast their ballots said they could not afford to wait another seven days. They warned that election apathy could follow.

The party backing top opposition challenger Atiku Abubakar accused President Muhammadu Buharis administration of instigating this postponement with the aim of ensuring a low turnout.

Their plan is to provoke the public, hoping for a negative reaction, and then use that as an excuse for further anti-democratic acts, the party said. Its statement urged Nigerians to remain calm and turn out in greater numbers a week from now.

Buhari said he was deeply disappointed after the electoral commission had given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. His statement also appealed for calm and stressed that his administration does not interfere in the commissions work.

One ruling party campaign director in Delta state, Goodnews Agbi, said it was better to give the commission time to conduct a credible vote instead of rushing into one that the whole world will criticize later.

Rodney Muhumuza, Hilary Uguru and Cara Anna are Associated Press writers.
In route news this week, United has started flying its new wide-body, the 787-10, to San Francisco; United is also bringing new flights and schedule adjustments to its Denver hub, and is introducing new 737 MAX9 routes; Alaska Airlines goes transpacific with partner Qantas and rolls out its own MAX9s; Spirit adds more routes at Charlotte and Austin; Delta heads to Rio; Virgin Atlantic will offer a new way to get to Israel, and El Al adds a route there as well.

United's newest version of the Dreamliner, the 787-10, started flying between Newark and San Francisco this week after being introduced in January on the airline's Los Angeles-Newark route. It's the largest of the three 787 models and the first in United's Dreamliner fleet (787-8s, -9s, and now -10s) to have the airline's new Polaris business class seats in the front cabin, and it has 44 of them, along with 21 Premium Plus seats (United's new dedicated premium economy cabin) and an economy cabin with 54 extra-legroom Economy Plus seats and 199 standard seats. Read more: United's largest Dreamliner takes off

Two of United's multiple daily flights between SFO and Newark will now use the new 787-10  the 2 p.m. departure from San Francisco (UA2319, arriving Newark at 9:59 p.m.) and the 11:30 p.m. red eye departure (UA1796, arriving Newark at 7:35 a.m.). This spring, United will put new 787-10s into international service on routes out of Newark to Frankfurt, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, Paris, Brussels and Dublin. Last month, United gave us a test ride on the new plane; you can read about it here.

At its Denver hub, meanwhile, United this week introduced a "rebanking" of its flight schedules, giving customers better connecting opportunities and giving United room to add more departures, which now total 420 a day at DEN, up from 376 a year ago  and the airline's DEN capacity is due to grow by another 12 percent in 2019. (Rebanking involves adjusting flight schedules to cluster them around specific time slots during the day.) It's all part of United's strategy to build up its domestic network, especially by adding connections at its Denver, Chicago and Houston hubs; schedules at the latter two airports were already rebanked over the past 18 months.

United also announced three new routes out of Denver, including daily year-round flights to Syracuse, N.Y. and Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. starting June 6 with United Express/SkyWest E175s; and seasonal service to Portland, Maine beginning June 8 with an A320. And in other route news, United will deploy its new Boeing 737 MAX9 aircraft (the one with the notoriously tiny lavatory) into more markets this year, including one daily San Francisco-Seattle flight starting June 6; one weekly SFO-New Orleans flight beginning May 5; and daily flights from Houston to Phoenix as of April 1, to Seattle starting June 6, and to San Diego beginning August 20. On the international side, United will begin seasonal schedule reductions to Sydney on March 30, cutting back its LAX-Sydney frequencies from seven to three a week and trimming Houston-Sydney from seven flights a week to four.

Beginning in March, Alaska Airlines flyers will be able to book an Alaska flight to Australia, thanks to an expansion of the airline's code-sharing partnership with Qantas. As of March 1, Alaska's AS code will go onto Qantas flights from San Francisco to Sydney and Melbourne; from Los Angeles to Brisbane and Melbourne; and from Honolulu to Sydney. It's Alaska's first intercontinental code-sharing. (Qantas has been putting its code onto dozens of Alaska's North American routes for many months now.)

And speaking of Boeing 737 MAX 9s, Alaska is tentatively planning to start flying its own new MAX 9s this summer, putting them onto one of the airline's daily San Jose-Seattle flights and one of its LAX-Seattle flights July 15, followed by one daily San Diego-Seattle flight as of August 15.

Low-cost Spirit Airlines said this week it plans to add Charlotte, North Carolina, to its network on June 20, when it will inaugurate daily service from CLT to Baltimore/Washington, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and Newark. The airline is also growing its Austin operations. It kicked off new daily service this week from the Texas city to Baltimore/Washington, Chicago O'Hare, Denver, Detroit, Ft. Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Orlando and New Orleans, and it will add daily AUS-Los Angeles service on May 2, followed by daily AUS-Atlanta flights May 23.

Heading down to Rio for the Brazilian city's big Carnaval celebration next winter? Delta said it will revive daily New York JFK-Rio de Janeiro seasonal service on December 19, continuing through March 9, 2020. The southbound flight will operate overnight, with a 5:49 p.m. departure from JFK. The airline will use a767-300 with 25 flat-bed Delta One seats, 29 Comfort+ extra-legroom seats and 171 Main Cabin seats. Delta also flies from Atlanta to Rio.

In other international route news, Virgin Atlantic will give U.S. flyers a new connecting option for travel to Israel starting September 25, when it will introduce daily A330-300 flights from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv. For the North America-Israel market, the new route will bring "seamless connections and a consistent long-haul onboard experience for those customers connecting from the US via London Heathrow to Tel Aviv. The new service will offer convenient connection times across Virgin Atlantic networks including Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York," a Virgin spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Israel's El Al will add another option for U.S. travelers this summer when it kicks off new service between Orlando and Tel Aviv on July 2  although the airline will fly the route only once a week, and it will only continue through August 20.

Low-cost transatlantic carrier Norwegian is making some schedule adjustments this year. It will increase service from Los Angeles to Barcelona, boosting its schedule from four flights a week to five on May 4, and then to six a week starting June 12. It will also increase its Newark-Barcelona schedule from six flights a week to daily service on June 7. But the airline will also terminate its seasonal flights from the U.S. to the French Caribbean after the current winter schedule ends on March 31. That includes Norwegian's service from New York JFK and Ft. Lauderdale to Martinique and Guadeloupe.

Read all recent TravelSkills posts here

Get twice-per-week updates from TravelSkills via email! Sign up here

Chris McGinnis is the founder of TravelSkills.com. The author is solely responsible for the content above, and it is used here by permission. You can reach Chris at chris@travelskills.com or on Twitter @cjmcginnis.
A famed Frank Lloyd Wright home in Cincinnati landed on the market for $695,000 in mid-Januaryand was sold within a day!

Built in 1956, it's one of just three Usonian homes built by the famed architect in the Queen City. And this particular property didnt wait long for an offer.

We sold it the first day, says Susan Rissover with Keller Williams Advisors. While she didnt disclose the sale price, she explains, to get a Wright house under a million (dollars) seems like a steal.

The sellers werent necessarily looking for the highest offer. They were looking for the right buyer.

These houses are 60 to 70 years old. Youre not getting a new house," says Rissover. "Youre becoming a caretaker of a piece of art.

Known as the Boulter house, it's listed on the National Register of Historic Places. All of the furnishings are included in the sale.



Watch: Once Upon a Time, There Was a Fairytale Cottage in Ohio



"Usonian" was a term Wright preferred over American. The home designs, some 60 in all, were distinguished by small footprints, walls of glass, flat roofs, cantilevered overhangs, horizontal lines, and radiant floor heating. These homes were designed for middle-class families and built mainly in the suburbs.

The thinking of the time was a new utopia of easy living, to be built away from the cities, says Rissover. However, this Usonian home was built close to the University of Cincinnati because it was commissioned by university professors and classics scholars Cedric G. and Patricia Neils Boulter.

Its unique because its an urban setting, adds Rissover.

The Boulter house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the twilight of his career Steve Paszt Photography

Entry Steve Paszt Photography

Living space with built-ins and walls of glass Steve Paszt Photography

Dining room Steve Paszt Photography

Compact kitchen Steve Paszt Photography

Master suite with updated bath Steve Paszt Photography

Deck and second-floor balcony cincinnatimodern Susan Rissover

The two-story, 2,500-square-foot home sits on a sloping site and is meant to resemble a ship. The four-bedroom, 2.5-bath space was constructed with African and Philippine mahogany, Douglas fir, concrete blocks, and walls of glass.

The focus of the home is the 28-foot-long great room surrounded on three sides by 10-foot-tall windows, a fireplace, and built-in furniture designed by the architect. The small but efficient kitchen has been updated with custom cabinetry and stainless-steel appliances. Other details include concrete flooring with radiant heat on the main level, a cantilevered balcony, and a large patio.

A 1958 addition of a playroom was later converted into a master suite and bath, and the dining room was expanded by converting the carport into enclosed space. These updates by architect Chris Magee were made while maintaining the integrity of the original architecture.

The current owners are just the third owners of the property. After buying the place in 2003 for $455,000, they set about restoring the kitchen, carport, and master bath. They also increased the home's energy efficiency by adding insulation. Due to a preservation easement, no changes can be made to the exterior of the house without permission from the Cincinnati Preservation Association.

The home is located in the walkable Gaslight Clifton neighborhood, an added perk for the next owner of the modern marvel.

People want walkable, Rissover says.There arent many of these houses in walkable areas. We saw a huge response to the listing, and a lot of the response is due to location for sure.

The post Frank Lloyd Wright's Boulter House in Cincinnati Sold in One Day appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy, hosts of the nationally syndicated "The Breakfast Club" radio show, defended Kamala Harris over comments she made about her past marijuana use while on their show.

During an appearance on Feb. 11, Harris said she smoked marijuana in college while listening to Snoop Dogg and Tupac.

"What were you listening to when you was high?" Charlamagne Tha God asked her. "What was on? What song was on?"

"Was it Snoop?" DJ Envy asks.

"Yeah, definitely Snoop," Harris laughed. "Tupac for sure."

MORE: Kamala Harris says she's smoked pot and inhaled: 'I believe we need to legalize marijuana'

A number of social media users pointed out that Harris graduated from Howard University in 1986, and finished law school in 1989, but Snoop Dogg and Tupac's first albums didn't come out until 1993 and 1991, respectively.

Both had made music prior to their first albums, but Harris was done with school when they did.

Fox & Friends did a segment on Harris' comments, with host Steve Doocy stating, "she doesn't remember what she was listening to when she was smoking."

During a Thursday appearance on MSNBC, Charlamagne Tha God and DJ Envy accused Fox News of "lying" about what Harris said.

"I mean, we wanted to humanize her, not just talk about politics, talk about what she likes, what she does," DJ Envy said. "And I asked what she listens to and she said she listens to Snoop Dogg and Tupac at the same time my co-host was still talking about the marijuana and it was just a funny exchange but she was actually answering me and people took it that she was answering Charlamagne and said she was lying, which was not true."

RELATED: Some African-Americans are questioning Kamala Harris' blackness

Charlamagne Tha God accused African American social media users who made fun of Harris of "doing the work of Fox News."

"I want everybody to know they're doing the work of Fox News," he said. "The black Twitter people you see that are going in on Kamala because of this, y'all are doing the work of Fox News. Fox News got y'all. They got y'all."

You can watch the MSNBC segment in the video above.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter

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.
A Houston man has been charged with three counts of bestiality after allegedly offering up three of his dogs for sex to an undercover police officer, according to the Houston Police Department.

Juan Pablo Tschen, 31, was arrested Thursday and has since been released after posting $3,000 bond.

Three of his dogs believed to be used for bestiality were also seized during his arrest, police said.

Tschen was collared during an undercover sting conducted by the Houston Police Departments major offenders and animal cruelty units. Hes accused of participating in several online forums surrounding the illegal act, which grabbed the attention of investigators.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to you.

At some point, he offered up his dogs to an undercover officer, according to court documents.

Officers raided Tschens home along Amherst Street in the Rice Village/West University Place area on Wednesday morning. Three dogs were taken to Houstons BARC Animal Shelter, where theyll receive medical care, a BARC spokesperson said on Thursday.

The dogs are named:

Bo, a four-year-old male German shepherd

Sayhass, a three-year-old male Jack Russell terrier

Mozzie, a two-year-old male brindle

Tschen was taken into custody after being found at a relatives house about a mile away.

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.
Emporia, KS (66801)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms in the morning, then mainly cloudy during the afternoon with thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. High 91F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. A few storms may be severe. Low around 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected.
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



Three dogs were killed Friday night in a structure fire in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Fire Department.



The fire broke out at 546 Panorama Drive.



Firefighters said crews rescued the pets from the building, and firefighters immediately tried to revive them, but the animals perished as a result of the incident.



There were no other injuries reported in the fire.



Firefighters first reported the fire at 11:05 p.m.



The cause of the fire remained under investigation Friday night.



Firefighters also responded Friday night to a one-alarm fire at 735 Geary St. Firefighters first reported that blaze at 11:03 p.m.



There were no reported injuries in the fire, and the cause of the blaze was still under investigation Friday night.





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.
Families on Saturday and Sunday can attend animation filmmaking workshops and see international family-friendly films at the 11th Annual Bay Area International Children's Film Festival in Oakland.



The festival starts at 10 a.m. both days at the Chabot Space & Science Center at 10000 Skyline Blvd.



Families can attend panels and question and answer sessions with internationally renowned artists, animators and filmmakers.



All tickets to the festival include full admission to the science center.







A rainy weekend is ahead for the San Francisco Bay Area.



Scattered storms are expected to continue Friday night and into Saturday, bringing with them the potential for lightning strikes and hailstorms, according to the National Weather Service. Hail was reported in Oakland Friday afternoon.



A high surf advisory is in effect until 9 p.m. Saturday.



Temperatures will then drop, and North Bay elevations above 3,000 feet will likely see snow Saturday night into Sunday.



The Santa Lucia Mountains in the Monterey Bay area may get up to a foot of snow, and Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County could see up to 6 inches, weather officials said.



Things should dry out Sunday and into Monday, but temperatures will still be cold, with inland lows in the low 30s.







A trial for a man charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with a shooting that killed two men three years ago at San Francisco's Twin Peaks lookout resulted in a hung jury Friday.



According to the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, which represented 29-year-old Richard Contreras, the jury was hung 9-3 in favor of acquitting him of the two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder charges.



The jury, however, did find him guilty of carjacking at gunpoint, possession of a gun by a felon and unlawfully taking a vehicle.



Contreras was accused of killing Santa Rosa residents Julio Peraza, 21, and Rene Mora, 19, and injuring an 18-year-old around 2 a.m. on Valentine's Day 2016 at the popular tourist spot known for its sweeping views of San Francisco and the Bay.







A rabid bat was found at the Southland Mall in Hayward in early February and county officials are urging any victims to call the health department and a personal healthcare provider to get a vaccine.



The bat was found at entrance 8 at the mall on Feb. 5. Victims include anyone or any pet that touched or was bitten by the bat.



Victims may have been exposed to rabies, which is a fatal disease that can usually be prevented if the victim gets a series of shots as soon as possible after being exposed.



The bat was submitted to the Alameda County Public Health Laboratory on Wednesday and tests came back positive Thursday.



The Alameda County Public Health Department can be reached at (510) 267-3250, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Outside of those hours, callers are asked to follow the voice prompts to get in touch with the public health duty officer.







Parents and children gathered Thursday and again on Friday in the Bay Area to make others aware that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase finance two private prisons that make money at least in part by detaining immigrants.



Misa Takaki, a mother of two, was outside the Wells Fargo branch on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland near Lake Merritt with her two children around 4 p.m. Friday asking customers if they were aware of the bank's actions, which she said leads to family separations.



She said the response she got from customers was positive.



"Everybody is against family separation," Takaki said, adding that the same goes for putting kids in jails.



She also asked customers if they were willing to break up with their bank and she gave anyone interested the names of other financial institutions that don't finance private prisons.







San Jose and its largest waste management provider have successfully negotiated a lower price tag for services if the partnership is extended for another 15 years after it expires in 2021.



Oakland-based California Waste Solutions has agreed to a charge of $13.15 per household, much lower than its previous request for a 60 percent hike in fees. This could bring a savings of over $58 million in a 15-year period, according to the city.



CWS currently serves about 75 percent of San Jose's single-family households, while GreenTeam of San Jose services the other 25 percent.



The city has considered allowing its contract with CWS to expire following numerous fines and customer complaints about service problems, but staff met with the company five times between Jan. 23 and Feb. 8 to settle on the terms regarding pricing, services and customer satisfaction.



The city said in a memo Friday that CWS's performance will be assessed from July 1 through June 30 of 2020. Requirements for this period include a 75 percent customer satisfaction rating and under $30,000 in fines due to poor service or other breaches of contract.







Huge changes are in store for the Mavericks Challenge surf contest, held in Half Moon Bay.



The next time it's held, not only will women be included for the first time, but they will be able to win the same amount of prize money as men.



The move comes after an energetic push from women athletes, who have been fighting for equality in the sport for years.



This week, Assemblymembers Tasha Boerner Horvath, D-Encinitas, and Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, announced that those changes might be codified in California state law.



They have introduced a bill requiring competitions held on public lands to pay out equal prize money to the competing men and women.







The Vacaville Fire Protection District is investigating the cause of a fire Friday afternoon outside a residence at 6064 S. A St. near Elmira Road in unincorporated Solano County.



Deputy Fire Chief Doug Rogers said the two residents were not home when the fire started, and bystanders reported the fire.



The fire that burned the side of the home was reported around 1:50 p.m. and was controlled around 2:25 p.m., Rogers said.





















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.
An Uber driver nearly became an unwitting courier for a drug delivery after he was asked to drive a box of sneakers with a stash of suspected fentanyl from San Francisco to Tiburon, authorities said Saturday.



The driver was notified the evening of Feb. 9 that a female passenger wanted to be driven from the city to Tiburon.



When the driver arrived at the San Francisco location, however, a man greeted him and asked that he deliver a shoebox to the woman who had requested the ride, according to sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Brenton Schneider.



Although hesitant, the driver agreed to do it and put the box on the passenger floorboard and headed to Marin County.

As the driver was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, the rideshare was suddenly canceled and the driver became nervous on what might be in the box. A few minutes later, he spotted deputies on the on-ramp from Sausalito and asked for help, Schneider said.



He showed them the box and asked the deputies to examine it. They found the sneakers inside and suspected fentanyl in the right shoe. The shoes were placed into evidence, and authorities are waiting for someone to claim them.



The suspected fentanyl will be tested, Schneider said. No arrests have been made in the case, and authorities are seeking the man and woman who requested the ride and the delivery.




Parents and children gathered Thursday and again on Friday in the Bay Area to make others aware that Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase finance two private prisons that make money at least in part by detaining immigrants.



Misa Takaki, a mother of two, was outside the Wells Fargo branch on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland near Lake Merritt with her two children around 4 p.m. Friday asking customers if they were aware of the bank's actions, which she said leads to family separations.



She said the response she got from customers was positive.



"Everybody is against family separation," Takaki said, adding that the same goes for putting kids in jails.



She also asked customers if they were willing to break up with their bank and she gave anyone interested the names of other financial institutions that don't finance private prisons.



The actions Thursday, Friday and those planned for Saturday are meant to support a national day of action by the Families Belong Together coalition, which aims to keep families together.



More than a dozen actions were planned for the three days.



Wells Fargo officials, in a statement Friday, said, "Our exposure to this industry is modest, and has declined significantly due to our robust risk management practices and policies, and will continue to decrease. In addition, we are not actively marketing to this sector."



Takaki said she got a lot of thanks from people she spoke with. She had letters for people to sign if they wanted to ask the CEOs of the two banks to stop doing business with GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two private prison companies.



Thursday, parents delivered petition signatures to Wells Fargo in San Francisco, where the bank is based, to make their demands known.



Saturday, actions are planned for Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco.



JPMorgan Chase did not immediately respond to a request for comment.





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.
MARTINEZ (BCN)



A Pittsburg man has been sentenced to 21 years in state prison for multiple assaults and an attempted rape in 2016, Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton announced Friday.



Sunny Pal pleaded guilty to four felonies including the assault of his mother and the attempted sexual assault of an unnamed victim, prosecutors said.



On the morning of Jan. 11, 2016, Pal assaulted his mother at their home.



Later in the day, he then assaulted an unnamed victim at her home.



Prosecutors said Pal attempted to rape the victim and used a Taser on her.



During the incident, he also took her cellphone from her and would not let her leave the residence.



He eventually fled the home when a family member of the victim arrived.



Later that January, Pal attempted to evade arrest and drove recklessly throughout Antioch, prosecutors said.



Following a pursuit with Antioch police, he jumped off the Antioch Bridge during his attempt to evade arrest and was recovered by local residents fishing under the bridge.



The residents brought him to police waiting on the shore.



Pal was on felony probation for stalking during this time, prosecutors said.





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 FRANCISCO (BCN)



A trial for a man charged with murder and attempted murder in connection with a shooting that killed two men three years ago at San Francisco's Twin Peaks lookout resulted in a hung jury Friday.



According to the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, which represented 29-year-old Richard Contreras, the jury was hung 9-3 in favor of acquitting him of the two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder charges.



The jury, however, did find him guilty of carjacking at gunpoint, possession of a gun by a felon and unlawfully taking a vehicle.



Contreras was accused of killing Santa Rosa residents Julio Peraza, 21, and Rene Mora, 19, and injuring an 18-year-old around 2 a.m. on Valentine's Day 2016 at the popular tourist spot known for its sweeping views of San Francisco and the Bay.



During the trial, Contreras' attorney Katherine Kleigh Hathaway argued that Contreras had been assaulted and robbed five days before the shooting and carried a gun for his protection.



The day of the fatal shooting, Contreras arrived at the lookout spot in a car with two women, one of whom he was dating.



Also, at the lookout was a group of 11 people, six males and five females all between 16 and 22 years old and all from Santa Rosa. Among the group was Peraza, Mora, and the 18-year-old shooting victim.



Contreras testified at the trial that when he shouted "I'm alive, San Francisco!" men in the group shouted back and taunted him, Contreras' attorney said.



After seeing someone in the group with a gun and hearing shots, Contreras testified, he pulled out his gun and began shooting, according to his attorney.



Upon seeing that Contreras had a gun, the female driver who Contreras arrived with drove off along with the other female passenger, leaving Contreras alone at the lookout. Contreras then fled the scene of the shooting by stealing a GMC Yukon Denali at gunpoint from another person at the lookout.



Prosecutors said after the carjacking, he got rid of the weapon. Contreras was arrested two days later.



In a statement, Kleigh Hathaway said, "This is an outcome that I was not convinced I could hope for... But after talking to the jury, I'm very grateful that they found the courage to do the right thing. They understood that my client was outnumbered and about to be jumped by gang members, and he did what he felt he had to do."



"In taking the stand himself, Mr. Contreras explained what happened that terrible night and subjected himself to cross-examination," Public Defender Jeff Adachi said in a statement. "He also showed great remorse I'm sure if he could turn back time, he never would have driven to Twin Peaks that night. Thankfully, much of the jury weighed all the details and evidence and voted with their conscience."



Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney's Office, said a retrial for Contreras remains a possibility.



"All options are on the table including a retrial as it relates to the two counts of murder and one of attempted murder," he said.



Although the jury has reached its decision, the bifurcated trial is ongoing and is set to resume Tuesday.





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 FRANCISCO (BCN)



An immigration judge granted a Guatemalan immigrant--who has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention for nearly two years--a $25,000 bond Friday during a court hearing ordered by a federal magistrate last month.



Raul Lopez, 46, who has lived in the U.S. for 29 years, was initially detained by immigration agents in March 2017.



Last month, U.S. Magistrate Sallie Kim ruled that lawyers for Raul Lopez showed that Lopez had created significant changes in his situation by becoming rehabilitated from alcoholism since his last bond hearing in September 2017. At his initial bond hearing, an immigration judge determined he was a danger to the public and denied release because of his record of three misdemeanor DUI convictions between 2010 and 2016.



During Friday's hearing in front of Immigration Judge Joseph Park, Lopez appeared via telephone conference, his attorney Frances Kreimer said.



"We're very relieved," she said. "I think Mr. Lopez's experience has highlighted a lot of the injustices of this administration... We've seen the government refuse to give him a bond hearing--it took a federal magistrate."



Lopez's family and supporters had sought his release, with his daughter throwing her Quinceanera, or 15th birthday party, outside the West County Detention Center in Richmond, where he was being held.



In September 2018, Lopez was moved to a detention facility in Aurora, Colo. after the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office terminated its contract with ICE to house its detainees.



"We really see this as a testament to the power of the community to support this family," Kreimer said of Friday's outcome.



The government has 30 days to appeal the decision, she said.



According to Juan Prieto with the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, Raul's wife Dianeth Lopez is grateful that she and their two children will be reunited with him.



The CIYJA will be helping raise money for the bond. Donations can be made at www.bit.ly/reunitebayfams, Prieto said.





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.
An 84-year-old man was killed and an 85-year-old man was seriously injured Thursday in Santa Cruz County when a tree fell on a Cadillac Escalade they were in, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The two elderly men were headed northbound on state Highway 17 south of Summit Road when a tree toppled over around 3:30 p.m.



The tree collided with the Cadillac, causing a pileup of around 10 total vehicles. Only the people in the Cadillac were injured.



The driver, who lives in Aptos, suffered major injuries, according to a news release from the CHP. The other man was killed.







A San Mateo County Sheriff's Office deputy is facing criminal charges for allegedly using excessive force on inmates, including slamming one inmate's head into a closed elevator door.



Prosecutors say deputy Blake Lycett, 42, beat three inmates in August 2018. The alleged assaults were all caught on the Maguire Correctional Facility's surveillance cameras.



The first two incidents happened while inmates were being booked into the jail on Aug. 18, 2018.



Inmate Luis Cardenas was arrested for being drunk in public, and was not cooperating with deputies' commands as they were trying to book him into jail. So Lycett jumped on top of him and punched him in the back and in the back of the head, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.



The same day, Milan Jackson was being booked into jail for allegedly trespassing on Caltrain property and he was not cooperating with deputies. Lycett struck him multiple times, Wagstaffe said.



On Aug. 22, inmate Zephaniah Coon was refusing to go back into his cell. Deputies got Coon on the ground and Lycett kneed him multiple times in the torso before pushing his head into a closed elevator door, according to Wagstaffe.



Deputies and prosecutors spent months investigating the case, Wagstaffe said.



Wagstaffe also said that Lycett's use of force reports, written up after the incidents, are not accurate.



"The use of force reports ... were not consistent with the video and our interviews with other officers," Wagstaffe said.



Lycett was charged with the three crimes, all misdemeanors, on Wednesday. He was arraigned Friday morning and appeared through his attorney, Gregory Thoming, who asked for a continuance to review more records in the case, according to Wagstaffe.



Another hearing is scheduled for March 15. Thoming could not be reached for comment Friday.







A carjacking suspect who held a United Parcel Service driver hostage was shot and killed by police after a pursuit in San Jose on Thursday evening.



Family members have identified the man as Mark Morasky, known as "Shaggy," but the Santa Clara County medical examiner's office has not officially released his name.



Plainclothes Santa Clara County sheriff's deputies first encountered Morasky in a "suspicious" vehicle at the Ohlone/Chynoweth light rail station shortly after 5 p.m., San Jose police Chief Eddie Garcia said during a news conference Friday morning.



Deputies approached him and flashed their badge, and he allegedly fled the area with a female passenger in a black SUV after recognizing them as law enforcement.



Deputies didn't initiate a pursuit, but spotted the vehicle nearby a short while later after a search. At this time, the female suspect in the car fired at least one shot and hit the deputy's vehicle, according to Garcia.



The two suspects led deputies on a chase and the female suspect shot at the deputy's car at least three more times, Garcia said. They later determined the SUV had an unreported stolen license plate.



Deputies were not injured by the gunshots and didn't shoot back at the suspects, Garcia said, and lost sight of the SUV when it drove the wrong way on state Highway 87.



San Jose police joined the pursuit after an emergency request from deputies, along with a police helicopter unit, which located the SUV exiting onto eastbound Curtner Avenue and westbound Winepol Loop.



The suspects then left the SUV in the neighborhood, encountered a UPS driver walking in the area and forced him into his truck at gunpoint, Garcia said.



The UPS driver drove the suspects north on Highway 87 and used several maneuvers to bring the pursuit to an end, said Garcia, who described the man as impossibly "calm, cool, collected."



Police watched as the driver intentionally drove over spike strips and later learned he told the suspects he was unable to drive faster than 50 mph due to restrictions on his vehicle. The pursuit remained a low-speed chase throughout, police said.



With several tires disabled by the spike strips, the truck continued for miles and eventually exited the highway at Skyport Drive and North First Street.



The woman in the vehicle self-surrendered to police and Morasky allowed the UPS driver to exit shortly after that, Garcia said.



Hostage negotiators, police and deputies called the suspect and tried to get him to surrender, but at about 6:59 p.m., he drove the truck forward and was stopped by two armored vehicles.



He then fled the truck on foot into a nearby parking lot carrying a loaded shotgun toward civilians and law enforcement, where a police officer shot him at least one time. He died at the scene due to his injuries despite lifesaving efforts, Garcia said. No one else was injured.



Friends and family members said on social media that they tried and failed to get Morasky to safely surrender. One woman said she regretted allowing police to talk her into hanging up the phone, and that Morasky would still be alive if she hadn't.



Garcia said during the news conference that he couldn't confirm Morasky's friend's attempts, but said Morasky did not make use of several opportunities to drop his weapon, and called an armed standoff a "peculiar" way to surrender.







Inclement weather took its toll on a Vallejo police car and a fire truck Friday morning.



Two officers in a patrol car were driving north on Tuolumne Street around 9:05 a.m. in response to a report about a man with a gun when a Mini Cooper pulled out of westbound Maxwell Alley and struck the side of the patrol car, police Lt. Kent Tribble said.



The collision knocked the patrol car into the southbound lane of Tuolumne Street where it was struck by a southbound vehicle, Tribble said.



The officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital. One of the officers was cleared to return to duty and the other officer was sent home, Tribble said. The Mini Cooper driver complained of pain.



A Vallejo Fire Department truck two blocks away was responding to the collision involving the patrol car when a driver failed to yield at Florida and Amador streets and struck the side of the fire truck on eastbound Florida Street, Tribble said. Information on the driver was unavailable.



The roads were wet at the time of the collisions, Tribble said.







Work crews from Maggiora & Ghilotti, Inc. of San Rafael will begin clearing debris Friday morning from a mudslide area in Sausalito.



The mudslide on Sausalito Boulevard early Thursday morning destroyed two homes, damaged four other homes and five vehicles, according to City of Sausalito officials. Six structures were red tagged as being unsafe.



The slide originated around 3 a.m. above Sausalito Boulevard on land belonging to the National Park Service. It carried a duplex at 404/408 Sausalito Blvd. across the roadway and into a house at 63 Crescent Ave.



A woman who lived on the second floor of the collapsed duplex was trapped for 20 minutes before she was extricated. She was taken to Marin General Hospital, treated for injuries and released, Sausalito officials said.



Four adults, a baby, a cat and a dog were rescued from a home at 412 Sausalito Ave. Eighty public safety personnel were at the scene for several hours searching for anyone else trapped in the debris.



Multiple gas leaks in the area were mitigated, and 25 people were evacuated from their homes until 5 p.m. Thursday.



The National Weather Service said the Sausalito area received more than five inches of rain in the 24 hours before the mudslide.



Electricity is expected to be restored to all homes in the area Friday.



The work crews will clear debris from Sausalito before clearing debris on Crescent Avenue which will be more complicated and take more time, Sausalito officials said.







The westbound lanes of state Highway 37 were closed Friday morning in Marin County from Lakeville Highway to the U.S. Highway 101 interchange due to flooding.



As of Friday morning, the California Highway Patrol was reporting the lanes could reopen around 8 a.m.



Westbound traffic on state Highway 37 was being diverted off at Atherton Avenue.



The eastbound lanes of state Highway 37 remained open Friday.



The closure is due to flooding caused by a breach at nearby levees, according to the Caltrans.





















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.
The 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) kicked off on Friday, focusing on global order reshuffle.

"The world now is not only experiencing a series of smaller and bigger crises. We are experiencing an epochal shift ... an era is ending, and the rough outlines of a new political age are only beginning to emerge," MSC Chairman Wolfgang Ischinger said.

The annual Munich Security Report, which provides guidelines for the talks, said that a new era of great power competition might be unfolding.

"It's not enough to just sit and watch while institutions built over decades are eroding," Ischinger said. He called on participants to build trust in each other during the conference, encouraging people to "talk to each other" rather than "talk about each other."

In his opening speech, Ischinger, dressed in a hoodie with the EU logo, said that the EU's self-assertion will be one of the most important issues to address.

Echoing Ischinger's remark, British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson said the UK will remain committed to Europe's security after Brexit.

"Our commitment to European security remains steadfast," he said. "We will continue to deliver it long after we leave the EU."

The conference, scheduled from Friday to Sunday, has attracted heads of state and government and other prestigious figures in world politics and security. The event will cover issues including competition and cooperation between the great powers, the EU's future, and the already tainted transatlantic relations.

The Munich Security Conference was first held in 1963. Its original aim was to shore up commitments and help coordinate western defense policies. It has since grown to involve representatives from around the world and has served as a platform for debates on global security issues.

Host country Germany sees the conference as an opportunity to demonstrate its own commitment to international cooperation.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said that "national self-determination is only possible against the backdrop of international coordination."

"I will therefore campaign for doubling down on our commitment to the international order," Maas said.

German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said that we live in a time when "partners matter", and no nation can successfully face the complicated threats alone.

"We need and search for cooperation; we are all doing this," von der Leyen said.
WASHINGTON  Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., spent the past two weeks hammering out a deal on federal spending and border security with colleagues from both parties, reassured by a sense that Congress was finally asserting itself as a civil, stabilizing force.

The feeling did not last. On Friday, President Trump mounted one of the most serious executive branch challenges to congressional authority in decades, circumventing Congress with an emergency declaration. It would allow him to unilaterally divert billions of dollars to a border wall and presented his Republican allies on Capitol Hill, who labored on a legislative compromise, with the excruciating choice of either defending their institution or bowing to his whims.

The presidents move left Senate Republicans sharply divided, and it remains to be seen whether they will act collectively to try to stop Trump or how far into unchartered territory they are willing to follow a headstrong president operating with no road map beyond his own demands.

With him you always have to expect the unexpected, Capito said.

The Republican resistance to Trumps emergency declaration was much more pronounced in the Senate than in the House, where a few Republicans  in the minority but more closely aligned to Trump  groused. But most of the conservative rank and file embraced it.

After threatening to kill the spending compromise needed to keep the government open, Trump opted to cite a national emergency to pry loose additional funding to build a wall longer than the 55 miles in the bipartisan agreement. It was the divisive step that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader, Capito and most other Republicans in the Senate had forcefully urged him not to take, because it would establish a precedent they feared future Democratic presidents would use against them.

The decision left McConnell, a professed guardian of the Senates prerogatives and power, joining with Trump in supporting an executive branch end run greater than any of the incursions into the legislative process he often accused President Barack Obama of pursuing. Fellow senators said McConnell was unhappy with the declaration, but saw it as the only way to pass the spending bill.

Some top Republicans, led by McConnell, pivoted quickly to say they supported the presidents action because it was the only option left to him after Congress failed to meet his demands for wall funding.

Other Republicans portrayed it as a gross violation of the constitutional separation of powers, a blatant disregard by the president for Congress fundamental role in determining how federal dollars are spent.

He is usurping congressional authority, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. If the president can reallocate for his purposes billions of dollars in federal funding that Congress has approved for specific purposes and have been signed into law, that has the potential to render the appropriations process meaningless.

Several other Senate Republicans publicly and privately joined Collins in describing the move as a flagrant breach of congressional jurisdiction and a dangerous precedent. Their numbers raised the clear possibility that enough Republican defectors could join with Senate Democrats to provide a majority to disapprove of the presidents decision should the opportunity arise.

Four Republicans might be enough to join with Senate Democrats and pass legislation rebuking the president, and leadership aides put the number of potential defectors as high as 10. But the unrest seemed well short of the sort of party-wide revolt necessary to override a veto by Trump of any legislative attempt to prevent his declaration of an emergency, leaving a legal challenge as the only recourse.

Democrats were united in their condemnation, accusing Trump of claiming a false crisis because he could not win over Congress with his argument.

Carl Hulse and Glenn Thrush are New York Times writers.
SAN FRANCISCO  The Trump administrations policy of returning asylum seekers to Mexico while their cases wind through immigration courts violates U.S. law by putting the migrants in danger and depriving them of the ability to prepare their cases, a lawsuit by civil liberties groups claims.

The suit filed Thursday in federal court in San Francisco seeks a court order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out the policy that took effect in January at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego.

The change followed months of talks between the U.S. and Mexico and marked a shift to the U.S. asylum system that the administration and asylum experts said was unprecedented.

Mexican officials have sent mixed signals on the crucial point of whether Mexico would impose limits on accepting families. The effort began at a San Diego crossing for adults only, but U.S. officials have started to include families, which currently account for nearly half of Border Patrol arrests.

Instead of being able to focus on preparing their cases, asylum seekers forced to return to Mexico will have to focus on trying to survive, according to the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. These pressures may deter even those with the strongest asylum claims to give up, rather than endure the wait under such conditions.

Steven Stafford, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said Congress has explicitly authorized Homeland Security officials to return migrants to a contiguous foreign territory during their immigration proceedings.

The Department of Justice will defend the Department of Homeland Securitys lawful actions in court, he said in a statement.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the policy is a vital response to the crisis at our southern border.

Border Patrol arrests, the most widely used gauge of illegal crossings, have risen sharply over the last year but are relatively low in historical terms after hitting a 46-year low in 2017. Many are Central American asylum-seeking families and children who immediately turn themselves in to agents.

The suit was filed on behalf of 11 asylum seekers from Central America, many of whom have already experienced violence in Mexico, according to the lawsuit.

Sudhin Thanawala is an Associated Press writer.
AURORA, Ill.  The man who killed five co-workers and wounded five police officers at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse brought his gun to a meeting in which he was going to be fired, authorities said Saturday.

Because Gary Martin brought his gun to Fridays meeting at the sprawling Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora, he probably knew it was possible he was about to lose the job he had held for 15 years, police Chief Kristen Ziman said at a news conference.

Ziman said she didnt know what had been conveyed to Martin or why he was being fired. But she said as soon as he was fired, he pulled his handgun and began shooting. Three of the five co-workers he killed were in the room with him, and the other two were just outside, she said. A sixth employee and five police officers were shot but survived.

Frantic calls to 911 started pouring in from frightened workers at 1:24 p.m., and officers arrived at the scene within four minutes, authorities said. Martin fired on the officers when they arrived, striking one outside and another near the buildings entrance. The other three wounded officers were shot inside the building. None of their wounds is considered life-threatening, Ziman said Saturday.

Martin then hid inside the 29,000-square-foot building and a search ensued. He fired on an officer about an hour later and police fired back, killing him, authorities said.

Police identified the five slain workers as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin; human resources intern and Northern Illinois University student Trevor Wehner of DeKalb; plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego; mold operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; and stock room attendant and forklift operator Vicente Juarez of Oswego.

The wounded worker, whose name wasnt released, was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

Martin had been arrested six times in Aurora over the years, including for domestic battery, Ziman said. In 2014, he was able to buy the Smith and Wesson .40-caliber handgun he used in the attack because an initial background check didnt catch that he had a previous felony conviction in Mississippi, the chief said.

It wasnt until he applied for a concealed carry permit and went through a more rigorous background check that his 1995 felony conviction for aggravated battery was flagged and his firearm owners ID card was revoked, she said.

The shooting shocked the city of 200,000, about 40 miles west of Chicago.

For so many years, we have seen similar situations throughout our nation and the horrible feeling that we get when we see it on the news. To experience it firsthand is even more painful, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said Friday.

Don Babwin and Caryn Rousseau are Associated Press writers.
Five Democratic senators vying for their partys nomination to challenge President Trump in 2020 fanned out across the country Saturday to campaign and meet voters.

Kamala Harris of California spent her second straight day in the pivotal early-voting state of South Carolina, holding a town hall meeting in Columbia, the capital. Also visiting the state was Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who met with an estimated 800 voters in Greenville before heading to Georgia  an unusual early stop but one that signals Democratic hopes to make inroads in the South.

Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York both focused on New Hampshire. Booker made his first visit there since joining the race this month, holding a question-and-answer session with more than 400 voters in Portsmouth.

Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, meanwhile, made her own uncommon choice for early campaigning by visiting Wisconsin before heading to Iowa, home to the nations first caucus.

And a Democratic heavyweight whos yet to address his 2020 plans, former Vice President Joe Biden, made his own high-profile appearance at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

The Democratic senators stepped up their campaigning during the long holiday weekend at the start of Congress first recess this year. Their outreach to voters came in the wake of Trumps controversial decision to declare a national emergency to unilaterally redirect federal money for his promised wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Booker plans to spend three days in New Hampshire, which casts the first votes in the 2020 primary, and he kicked off the swing with a freewheeling conversation that drew questions on health care, the environment and foreign relations.

Booker is one of several Democratic presidential contenders who back legislation that would transition the United States to universal health insurance coverage, but he acknowledged Saturday that compromise may be necessary to get major health care legislation through the Senate.

Harris visited a handful of female-owned businesses in Columbia on the second day of a swing through South Carolina. Her visit was organized by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, whose father is Jim Clyburn, a South Carolina congressman and the third-ranking Democratic leader in the U.S. House.

Biden isnt officially part of the 2020 presidential race, but he bolstered his case for a potential candidacy by speaking to an international audience about the need to restore Americas ability to claim leadership in the world.

Without saying Trumps name, Biden said in a speech at the conference that current policies do not reflect the country.

The America I see values basic human decency, not snatching children from their parents or turning our backs on refugees at our border, he said.

Elana Schor is an Associated Press writer.
A bat found in a Hayward mall earlier this month was rabid, say Alameda County Public Health Department officials.

The bat, caught by Hayward Animal Control on Feb. 5, was taken from Southland Mall to the Alameda County Public Health Laboratory, where it tested positive for rabies.

Now, officials are asking anyone who might have touched the bat or been bitten by it between Feb. 5 and 13 to contact Public Health at (510) 267-3250.

RELATED: It felt like 'Pet Sematary': Jogger recounts nightmare encounter with rabid raccoon

"A bat bite can be very, very nominal and sometimes people might not even know they've been bitten," says Alameda County Public Health Department spokesperson Sherri Willis. "It's amazing how many people will touch a bat ... That mall is a big mall so we wanted to get the word out about this."

RELATED: Hayward woman finds live scorpion in JC Penney dress

Most cases of human rabies in the United States are because of contact with bats, according to Dr. Erica Pan, Interim County Health Officer. Due to that, the health department wants to be sure anyone who might have been affected is accounted for.

"We want to define what the exposure is," Willis says, "and that extends to humans and pets."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


More than 6,800 wines from 37 states and wine regions in the United States, Canada, and Mexico were entered into the 2019 competition.

Out of this enormous field of entries, the following wines stood out to be declared the best of the best, receiving the prestigious American AgCredit Sweepstake award. Included with each sweepstakes winner are tasting notes by Mike Dunne, contributing wine writer to the Sacramento Bee.

Sparkling Sweepstake

Trump Winery 2014

Monticello Methode

Champenoise Blanc de Blanc, Charlottesville, Va.

From a field of 23 candidates, the Trump stood out for its fine color, precise beads, boldness and persistence. Its citric fruit was buoyed by snappy acidity and complicated with a yeastiness more often identified with Champagne than American sparkling wine.

Sparkling Sweepstake

Goose Watch Winery NV Finger Lakes Brut Rose,

Rumulas, N.Y.

More Information For a comprehensive listing of all the Best of Class, double gold, gold, silver and bronzeawards, visit www.winejudging.com. See More Collapse

Goose Watch, Finger Lakes, Pinot Noir and all the rest of this sparkling wines long name each evoke images of nobility, endurance and excitement, and those same characteristics are realized in the glass when the wine is poured. This sparkler is simply beautiful, from its bright pink robe through its restrained boldness to its crisp finish.

White Sweepstake

Castello di Amorosa 2017 Napa Valley Reserve

Chardonnay, Calistoga, Calif.

A sunny and solid chardonnay that stands out for the clarity of its ripe fruit, zesty acidity, tapping spice and evocation of creme brulee and pears in its persistent finish.

Rose Sweepstake

Turkovich Family Wines 2018 Yolo County Rosa of

Grenache, Winters, Calif.

In the clarity and brilliance of its color, the allure of its fragrance and the honesty of its fruity flavor, this is a rose that could lead to a stampede among vintners to round up all the grenache they can find in Yolo County.

Red Sweepstake

Los Positas Vineyards 2016 Livermore Valley Estate

Malbec, Livermore, Calif.

The vineyard to produce this vivid malbec must have been planted on soil brought to Livermore Valley from Cahors in France, malbecs historic home, where the variety continues to generate exceptional wines. Nonetheless, for character, fine-line complexity and a vigorous, well-balanced finish, Cahors has met a worthy competitor in this wine.

Red Sweepstake

St. Annes Crossing 2016 Dry Creek Valley The Ranch

Zinfandel, Kenwood, Calif.

If you dont want zinfandels representative jammy boysenberry fruit, sweetness and oak in your zinfandel, move on. This has so much of all that that you will want to belly up to the tasting counter with a forklift to help with the lifting.

Specialty Sweepstake

4R Ranch Vineyards & Winery 2017 Texas Nectar Nero Rose, Muenster, Texas

A truly original dessert wine for its distinctive floral aroma, smooth texture, lush fruit and seamless integration of sugar and acid. The hummingbird of the label speaks for all of us as we flock to this feeder.

Specialty Sweepstake

Prager Winery and Port Works Napa Valley 10 Year Old Tawny Port Noble

Companion, St Helena, Calif.

Few wines are as aptly named as this, with Noble Companion apparently referring to the wines warm and generous fruit, bouquet of roses and bowl of welcoming nuts. Sit down with a fellow noble companion and start sipping, nibbling and chatting. The night cant help but be a winner.

Label Sweepstake

Bonterra Organic Vineyards 2016 California Equinox Red Label Winner, Hopland, Calif.
As President Trumps global trade war approaches a pivotal moment, American industry is trying to use his love of big economic numbers to get him to stand down.

Trump faces a series of decisions over the next several weeks about whether to increase tariffs on Chinese goods, impose new duties on imports of foreign cars and keep metal tariffs on trading partners like Canada and Mexico. While Trumps economic North Star has long been reducing the trade gap between what the United States exports and what it imports, industries from soybean farmers to nail manufacturers are trying to convince Trump that his policies are having the opposite effect  by dampening exports of some of Americas most cherished products.

Last week, the American spirits industry joined the growing chorus of businesses and trade groups trying to get Trump to remove tariffs on Chinese goods and foreign metals by showcasing the economic pain that the trade war has inflicted.

Since the Trump administration initiated tariffs last year on foreign steel and aluminum, $763 million worth of American spirits exports have been subject to retaliatory tariffs, according to data released by the Distilled Spirits Council, an industry group. The most draconian duties have come from Europe, where the rate on American whiskey is 25 percent.

The market is on the edge of its seat, council CEO Chris Swonger said. We hope that the Trump administration can land the plane on these major trade agreements.

Trumps tariffs have exacted a toll on a range of American businesses by raising costs for imported goods and creating new trade barriers as Europe, China, Canada and Mexico retaliate with tariffs and reduced market access. Financial markets have been gyrating on signs of optimism or pessimism about the trade disputes, and economists have blamed the tariff polices for contributing to weaker economic growth and diminished business confidence.

The spirits industry data show that the trade war is stalling exports at a moment when the thirst for products such as American whiskey is growing around the globe. After Canada imposed a 10 percent tariff on American whiskey on July 1, exports from distillers in the United States went from a 12.4 percent growth rate in the first half of the year to an 8.3 percent decline.

Worldwide exports of American whiskey during the first half of 2018 rose 28 percent from the same period in 2017. Shortly after Trumps tariffs went into effect, those sales slumped, declining 8.2 percent between July and November, compared with the same period the prior year.

Swonger said the tariffs on spirits like whiskey are no accident. Besides being a classic American product, bourbon has a manufacturing hub in Kentucky, a politically important state that supports Trump and is home to Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader.

Big manufacturers such as Beam Suntory got ahead of the tariffs by quickly exporting large quantities of their whiskey, delaying some lost sales and price increases. But smaller craft distillers that lacked the capacity to produce enough whiskey to do that have had to dramatically slow their expansion plans.

Scott Harris, founder of the Catoctin Creek distillery in Virginia, said that he had expected one-fourth of his companys revenue to come from Europe last year. Because of the tariffs, sales there were scant and plans to expand were frozen. Now he fears that European customers will develop a taste for other spirits, such as German whiskey.

Once that market is gone, its hard to get back into it, Harris said. We presently are treading water.

The alcohol industry has been hurt by retaliatory tariffs China imposed after the United States levied duties on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods. It has also suffered from retaliatory tariffs that Canada and Mexico put in place in response to Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs have made American spirits more expensive relative to domestic alternatives in those countries, causing demand to drop.

The tariffs have also hurt companies that supply the alcohol industry. Harris said that when his business gets a contract, it boosts other businesses, such as the farms that supply the ingredients needed to produce whiskey, rye and gin.

The United States has been trying to reach an agreement with China to resolve its trade fight before March 2, when tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods are set to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent. Trump suggested last week that he might be willing to extend the deadline if the negotiations on a trade pact are going well. A delegation of senior administration officials traveled to Beijing, attempting to hash out remaining differences.

The fate of the metal tariffs is less clear. The United States did not lift those levies as part of its new trade deal with Canada and Mexico, but several lawmakers, including Republican senators, are saying they will not pass the agreement unless the administration removes the tariffs on those trading partners.

Were caught in the middle of trade disputes which have to do with the steel industry, which have nothing to do with us, said Christine LoCascio, the Distilled Spirits Councils senior vice president for international trade.

The administration also faces a deadline this month to deliver a report to Trump outlining whether imports of foreign cars pose a threat to national security. The Commerce Department is expected to submit a report within the week outlining options for protecting the American auto industry, including tariffs or quotas to limit the influx of foreign cars.

While the spirits industry may not be directly affected by car tariffs, the imposition of additional trade barriers by Trump would undoubtedly provoke backlash and more retaliation against American products.

The Trump administration has offered subsidies to farmers hit by tariffs, but has not extended aid more broadly to other industries. And even those offered have been limited and delayed by the monthlong government shutdown.

Economists at the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the administrations trade policies would shave an average of 0.1 percentage point per year off economic growth over the next decade.

Trade has become the biggest issue facing the spirits industry, and Swonger has been in Washington to plead his case to officials from the Treasury and Commerce departments and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. He said that members of the administration appeared sympathetic to concerns about the long-term consequences of the tariffs, but that it was not clear whether Trump is ready to stand down.

Trump administration officials have argued that despite the outcries over trade, most of the country has been unscathed and that businesses are still benefiting from lower taxes and strong economic growth.

For spirits, slower exports did not stop the industry from having a booming year, thanks largely to the strong U.S. economy. Revenue across the sector was up 5.1 percent to a record $27.5 billion in 2018, with sales of the most expensive liquors growing the fastest.

This year, the Distilled Spirits Council hosted its annual economic briefing in a gleaming Manhattan skyscraper overlooking the East River. Bloody Marys with top-shelf vodka were on tap.

Consumers are drinking up and drinking better, Swonger said.

Alan Rappeport is a New York Times writer.
Many things affect your health. Genetics. Lifestyle. Modern medicine. The environment in which you live and work.

But although we rarely consider it, the degree of competition among health care organizations does so as well.

Markets for both hospitals and physicians have become more concentrated in recent years. Although higher prices are the consequences most often discussed, such consolidation can also result in worse health care. Studies show that rates of mortality and of major health setbacks grow when competition falls.

This runs counter to claims some in the health care industry have made in favor of mergers. By harnessing economies of scale and scope, theyve argued, larger organizations can offer better care at lower costs.

In one recent example, two Texas health systems  Baylor Scott & White, and Memorial Hermann Health System  sought to merge, forming a 68-hospital system. The systems have since abandoned the plan, but not before Jim Hinton, Baylor Scott & Whites chief executive, told the Wall Street Journal that the end, the more important end, is to improve care.

Yet Martin Gaynor, a Carnegie Mellon University economist who has been an author of several reviews exploring the consequences of hospital consolidation, said that evidence from three decades of hospital mergers does not support the claim that consolidation improves quality. This is especially true when government constrains prices, as is the case for Medicare in the United States and Britains National Health Service.

When prices are set by the government, hospitals dont compete on price; they compete on quality, Gaynor said.

But this does not happen in markets that are highly consolidated.

In 2006, the National Health Service introduced a policy that increased competition among hospitals. When recommending hospital care, it required general practitioners to provide patients with five options, as well as quality data for each. Because hospital payments are fixed by the government  whichever hospital a patient chooses gets the payment for care provided to that patient  hospitals ended up competing on quality.

Gaynor was an author of a study showing that consequences of this policy included shorter hospital stays and lower mortality. According to the study, for every decrease of 10 percentage points in hospital market concentration, 30-day mortality for heart attacks fell nearly 3 percent.

Another study found that hospital competition in the NHS decreased heart attack mortality, and several studies of Medicare also found that hospital competition results in lower rates of mortality from heart attacks and pneumonia.

Another piece of evidence in the competition-quality connection comes from other types of health care providers, including doctors. Recently, investigators from the Federal Trade Commission examined what happens when cardiologists team up into larger groups. The study, published in Health Services Research, focused on the health care outcomes of about 2 million Medicare beneficiaries who had been treated for hypertension, for a cardiac ailment or for a heart attack from 2005 to 2012.

The study found that when cardiology markets are more concentrated, these kinds of patients are more likely to have heart attacks, visit the emergency department, be readmitted to the hospital or die. These effects of market concentration are large.

To illustrate, consider a cardiology market with five practices in which one becomes more dominant  going from just below a 40 percent market share to a 60 percent market share (with the rest of the market split equally across the other four practices). The study found that the chance of having a heart attack would go up 5 to 7 percent as the largest cardiology practice became more dominant. The chance of visiting the emergency department, being readmitted to the hospital or dying would go up similarly.

The study also found that greater market concentration led to higher spending. And a different study of family doctors in England found that quality and patient satisfaction increased with competition.

For many goods and services, Americans are comfortable with the idea that competition leads to lower prices and better quality. But we often think of health care as different  that it somehow shouldnt be market based.

What the research shows, though, is that there are lots of ways markets can function, with more or less government involvement. Even when the government is highly involved, as is the case with the British National Health Service or American Medicare, competition is a valuable tool that can drive health care toward greater value.

Austin Frakt is a New York Times writer.
Amazons surprise announcement Thursday that it is canceling its planned expansion to a new corporate campus in New York was greeted with celebration by local activists and politicians who had opposed the deal, and frustration by local officials  and more than a few real estate agents, who had eagerly anticipated an influx of well-compensated tech workers.

For some, Amazons decision will represent a political failure, in which officials and local labor leaders blew a once-in-a-decade chance to bring thousands of high-paying jobs to New York.

For others, it reflects the hubris of one of the worlds most valuable companies, which sought billions of dollars in tax incentives it didnt need, and then got cold feet when local organizers and officials objected to that largess.

But more than anything, the battle poses a challenge to one of Amazons bedrock beliefs: that being loved by customers is all that matters.

By any measure, Amazon is one of the most popular companies in the world. It consistently ranks atop lists of Americans favorite brands, and its obsessive focus on customer satisfaction has created a generation of consumers who cant imagine shopping anywhere else.

Amazon is also overwhelmingly popular in New York, where polls have consistently shown that a majority of city residents supported the companys planned Queens expansion.

But happy customers dont necessarily translate to political power.

Amazon acted as though its popularity  and its early support from key politicians, including Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio  would clear a path to political concessions. But the company miscalculated the power of local organizers, who turned what might have been a straightforward construction project into an all-out political brawl. Amazon was caught flat-footed by the opposition, and belatedly mounted a charm campaign, taking out full-page newspaper ads and sending mailers to Queens residents in support of the deal.

In the end, confronted with a choice between fighting and fleeing, Amazon packed its bags.

This is a case of significant political malpractice, more than anything else, said Bradley Tusk, a venture capitalist and former campaign manager for Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Tusk, who now acts as a fixer for technology companies looking to break into regulated markets, said that Amazons response to local opposition was a tone-deaf misstep.

Amazon did not understand the local politics on the ground at all, he said. They just took Cuomos word for it that everyone would be supportive.

Amazon, which says it still plans to expand in Northern Virginia and Nashville as originally planned, blamed a small but vocal minority for sabotaging the deal.

While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project, the company said in a statement.

Local business leaders echoed that criticism.

New Yorkers wanted Amazon to come. The people who live in Queens wanted Amazon to come, said Julie Samuels, the executive director of Tech:NYC, a nonprofit organization that represents the citys tech industry. A handful of politicians got in the way.

Meanwhile, de Blasio characterized Amazon as a thin-skinned weakling, saying in a statement that you have to be tough to make it in New York City.

This fight echoed the political drama surrounding two other tech companies that had difficulty breaking into city politics: Uber and Airbnb, which faced early political opposition despite broad popularity with customers.

Several years ago, in response to a regulatory crackdown that threatened to crush its business model, Uber built a political war machine, hiring armies of lobbyists and political consultants  including Tusk  to make its case to officials across the country. It enlisted users, too, putting customized icons inside their Uber apps and urging them to petition City Hall for a reprieve. Airbnb used the same tactics, mobilizing its users in the cities where it faced restrictive regulations.

Amazon certainly knows how to fight. Last year, it successfully lobbied to kill a proposed business tax in Seattle that would have raised about $50 million a year for affordable housing and other programs.

It could have mounted a similar campaign in New York. Or it could have taken a page out of the Uber and Airbnb playbook, urging Amazon Prime members in New York to contact their representatives and agitate for a deal.

Instead, the company did its lobbying in private, preferring back-room negotiations to a noisy, public-facing campaign.

They failed to appreciate that this market was different than the others, Tusk said.

They didnt do their homework.

For Uber and Airbnb, of course, the stakes of political success were existential. Amazons size and market dominance have given it the ability to walk away from even a multibillion-dollar deal relatively painlessly. New Yorkers will still buy their toilet paper and dog food from Amazon, even if the company doesnt have an office in Long Island City.

Some New Yorkers who supported Amazons expansion plans may consider the companys retreat proof of the shortsightedness of politicians.

I hope there will be real lessons learned here, Samuels of Tech:NYC said. They were playing with fire, and look what happened.

But this should be a teachable moment for Amazon, too.

For years, the company succeeded wildly by catering to shoppers, and betting  mostly correctly  that its sterling customer reputation would insulate it from criticism over its labor practices, union resistance and other corporate shortcomings.

But that era may be over. In New York, at least, there are some problems that popularity cant fix.

Kevin Roose is a New York Times writer.
A potential rival to Palo Altos Tesla in electric cars just got a big boost from Amazon.

The online retail giant is leading a $700 million investment in Rivian, a Michigan company that is developing a battery-powered pickup truck and an electric sport utility vehicle. The automaker announced the new round of investment Friday, offering few details but saying it would remain independent.

Founded in 2009 by an MIT-trained engineer, R.J. Scaringe, Rivian first showed its truck and SUV at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November. The key feature of each is a chassis that is shaped like a skateboard and includes all the components that propel the vehicles  a large battery pack, axles, suspension, cooling system and four electric motors. The company says its pickup will be able to go up to 400 miles on a full charge.

The deal is the latest example of how the auto industry is being reshaped by new technology and nimble companies that have raced ahead of many traditional carmakers.

While General Motors, Ford Motor and others are scrambling to introduce new electric vehicles, Tesla has become by far the leading seller of electric cars in the United States. Waymo, a division of Googles parent company, Alphabet, is considered by some analysts to be the leading developer of autonomous vehicles.

Were inspired by Rivians vision for the future of electric transportation, Jeff Wilke, Amazons chief executive for worldwide consumer, said in a statement. R.J. has built an impressive organization, with a product portfolio and technology to match. Were thrilled to invest in such an innovative company.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the thinking behind the Rivian investment.

Since 2015, Amazon has been building out its own logistics network, one that is a global, end-to-end network covering all transportation modalities, Morgan Stanley described in a research note last month.

And last week, Amazon made a significant investment in Aurora, a Palo Alto startup that is developing self-driving technology. Aurora is led by Chris Urmson, who previously headed Alphabets autonomous car effort.

At the Los Angeles show, Scaringe described the companys pickup, the R1T, and its SUV, the R1S, as upscale vehicles that could be used for off-road adventures. They are intended to compete for motorists who buy pricey Land Rovers and Porsche SUVs.

Rivians vehicles are expected to sell for $68,000 or more.

Neal E. Boudette is a New York Times writer.
Washington, MO (63090)

Today

Thunderstorms likely in the morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 87F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy late. A stray severe thunderstorm is possible. Low 76F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Employees at San Francisco's Station 49 received a cease and desist order Thursday instructing them not to discuss the identity of the person who filed the anonymous complaint that led to the removal of the station's pet cat, Edna, on Monday.

The order, obtained by SFGATE, was sent by Mark Gonzales, the San Francisco Fire Department deputy chief of operations, It ordered employees to cease any communication regarding the complainant.

"The San Francisco Fire Department received a report alleging that Station 49 Personnel are openly speculating while on duty about the possible identity of the anonymous complainant that resulted in the removal of the cat from the workplace," the order reads.

"Effective immediately, I hereby order all Station 49 Personnel to cease and desist from any communication regarding the identity of the anonymous complainant while at work or using SFFD-issued devices or email accounts on or off-duty, or from engaging in any on or off-duty conduct that may violate any of the CCSF's laws and policies regarding anonymous complaints. Conduct of this nature includes, but is not limited to, rumor-mongering and mistreatment of co-workers."

RELATED: Alaska Airlines' Horizon flight makes emergency landing at SJC due to weather

In response, Gonzales told SFGATE that the order was designed to protect employees.

"I know it's an emotional thing; we understand that," Gonzales said of Edna's removal from the facility. "We're not inhumane, but we have rules, and if we knew about the cat ahead of time, this maybe could have been taken care of better. We don't want [employees] doing anything on- or off-duty that will get them in trouble."

Employees were warned that failure to sign the cease-and-desist order "may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment."

Gonzales added that discussing the complainant off duty, including on social media, is also prohibited.

"We wanted to reiterate that conduct applies while off duty," Gonzales said. "We don't want anyone to put anything too inflammatory online."

You can read the full order cease and desist order here.

CALIFORNIA STORM: Russian River swells above flood stage: Several businesses inundated with 2 feet water

A source at Station 49 said that employees are "angry and very upset" with the order.

"People are terrified about getting terminated," the source said, on condition of anonymity. "It's crazy that all of this stems from a cat getting taken away."

Employees said goodbye to Edna on Monday after launching an unsuccessful social media campaign to keep the cat.

The SFFD said that "public health and safety concerns counseled removal of the cat from the premises."

"To clarify what has been reported in the media, the workplace in question is not a Fire Station," the Fire Department said in a statement. "This facility is the Department's Ambulance Deployment Facility. Within this facility is Department Logistics, where medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuticals used by ambulance staff to provide crucial lifesaving emergency health care are housed."

ALSO: Whiteout conditions close I-80 over Sierra Nevada mountain range

Irene Ybarra, a former employee at Station 49, told SFGATE on Monday that she did not agree with the statement.

"When I was at Station 49, I developed the medical supply in such a way that Edna was not able to get into the clean room," she said. "The items are usually boxed up, and it's not something [Edna] is usually in the habit of getting on top of. She had her own specific spot, a box with blanket in it. Edna has never been a issue."

Edna is currently living with another Station 49 employee, but does not have a permanent home yet.

"Nobody adopted Edna, the person who took her home [Monday] has two dogs and two cats at home already, so this is not the ideal situation," Ybarra said. "She is still working to try to figure out [where Edna will go]."

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email him at eting@sfchronicle.com and follow him on Twitter

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.
As the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition celebrates its 19th year, the event has some extra special friends helping cheer it on. For its annual public tasting at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco on Feb. 16, attendees are flying in from around the country to sample award winners from the worlds largest competition of North American wines. And some guests have made the grand gathering a highlight of their year.

Consider Aaron Alderson of Phoenix, Ariz., who has been attending the past 18 years and now insists several of his friends come along, too.

I look forward to it every year because of my passion for wine and also just because its one of the most fun social events that I have ever attended, he said. Its great meeting new people and a great way to taste wines that are new to me, as well as my continued favorite wines.

After 65 professional judges gathered in January to select the top wines from a crowded field of varietals in many categories, the public tasting offers the rare opportunity to explore those winners.

Wineries pour a rainbow array, from Silver Medal 2017 Broken Earth Verdelho from Paso Robles, to Best of Class 2017 Intercoastal Vineyards Rose of Pinotage from Lodi to Double Gold 2016 Pezzi King Row 26 Zinfandel from Dry Creek Valley.

Alderson gravitates toward his favorite varietals, like random tastings of Old Vine Zinfandels, Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs. But the event means he can branch out, too, into exotica like Best of Class 2017 Malvasia Bianca from Pillsbury Wine Company in Cochise County, Ariz., Silver Medal Orange (skin fermented white wine) 2017 dOro from Via Romano Vineyards in the Sierra Foothills and even Best of Class non-vintage Mead from The Williamsburg Winery of Virginia.

As a valuable showcase of award-winning wines, the three-hour tasting attracts people looking to fill their own cellars, as well. Dolores Buchanan of Santa Rosa has attended the public tasting since 2006, bringing along friends and family from San Francisco.

After sampling at the event, she makes a beeline to Bottle Barn in Santa Rosa and purchases her newly discovered favorite Sweepstake and Double Gold winners.

Buy your San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting tickets today Fort Mason Center's Festival Pavilion in San Francisco 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 16 To purchase advance tickets for the public tasting, visit winejudging.com. For updates on the competition and public tasting, search #sfcwc on Twitter and Instagram. See More Collapse

I guess you could say Ive become a bit of a wine snob because now I will only taste wines that have won a gold and above, she said, while laughing. I am no longer a random wine taster, like I was in 2006.

Buchanan also uses the public tasting to see which wineries will earn her loyalty.

I dont know of another venue that offers you the ability to taste so many different wines, she said. In past years, I have actually joined wine clubs from wines that I tasted at The Chronicle event. And two years ago, my sister joined the Mazzocco Sonoma club at the tasting.

Each year, the public tasting welcomes even more national attendees, notes San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Executive Director Bob Fraser. Just a few of the supporting states include Delaware, Montana and Idaho.

In between sipping, guests also dig into small bites, seeing how preferred wines match with food. This year, that means artisan breads from Healdsburgs Costeaux French Bakery, cheeses from Sonoma Creamery, a variety of chips and sweets and fuller meals from several food trucks parked outside.

Its quite the deal, Buchanan said, especially considering the $70 ticket cost.

What keeps us coming back is wine tasting with friends and family, the atmosphere, not having to drive from winery to winery and the value, she said. Where else do you get this experience?
Its tough work, but as the saying (sort of) goes somebody has to be lucky enough to do it.

That, it seems, was the mantra for the 65 judges who gathered for the annual San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition this Jan. 8-11. During the four days, the experts tasted and evaluated thousands of wines in broad categories spanning sparkling, whites, roses, reds, dessert and fortified.

More than 6,800 wines were submitted for the competition this year from 1,132 wineries across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

To keep things even more interesting, after full days of tastings, the judges were treated to two wine parties. First, they went to a welcome reception and dinner on Jan. 8, hosted by the Yorkville Highlands AVA and The Trading Post in Cloverdale.

Second, they gathered for the Official Judges Dinner on Jan. 9, hosted by Wilson Artisan Wineries at Wilsons new wine bar and beer pub, Coyote Sonoma in Healdsburg.

For the judges dinner alone, Wilson poured eight different wines at the reception and five wines with dinner.

Its a bit exhausting, especially after judging big zins and cabs and red dessert wines, admitted Dustin Fults, owner of Fults Family Vineyards in Lower Lake (Lake County), as he sipped Viognier at Coyote Sonoma. But I really enjoy it, especially when I pull a couple of Double Golds.

Double Golds, in competition lingo, are the rare wines that receive gold medal ratings by all members of a judging panel, making them among the finest selections in the world. Judging is based on a consensual procedure determining which entries are worthy of bronze, silver or gold medals  usually there is a disagreement for favorites  but if all the judges unanimously agree on a wine, it receives a Double Gold award.

As the worlds largest competition of North American wines, the event tests even the most dedicated judges. The wine parties become a valuable distraction, offering time for the experts to relax, mingle and inevitably, continue to talk shop.

Buy your public tasting tickets today Advanced tickets for the 2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting are for sale at winejudging.com. See More Collapse

The judges have a tough job with all that tasting, so a big meal with great flavors is probably welcome, Wilson marketing director Katie Ambrosi said.

The Wilson team knows the dinner drill by now, having hosted in 2014 at its Soda Rock Winery in Healdsburg. Founders Ken and Diane Wilson own wineries and vineyards in Sonoma countrys Alexander, Dry Creek and Russian River Valleys, in Mendocino County and in the Valley of the Moon.

It was a great experience when we sponsored the judges dinner in the past, Ambrosi said. We were excited to showcase our new space at Coyote Sonoma and hope the judges enjoyed the environment.

The more than 140 guests did seem to be having a good time as they gathered for the reception, a walk-around party featuring seven wine and food tasting stations.

Each station showcased small bites matched to specific Wilson wines, such as apricot jam on creamy, buttery Point Reyes Toma farmstead cheese paired with Pezzi King Vineyards 2016 Row 14 Zinfandel. Some bites were especially inventive, including a dollop of cranberry sauce infused with Pinot Noir and paired with Matrix Winery 2016 Estate Pinot Noir, plus very rich mushroom pate spread on a truffle cracker and paired with Rockpile Vineyards 2014 Feather Ridge Cabernet Franc.

The dinner gave guests an opportunity to explore the new Coyote Sonoma  with its 11 craft beers, one local cider, one kombucha and two wines all on tap  plus plenty of wine by the glass and bottle. The artsy warehouse-style space boasts metal pendant lighting, a tin topped bar and a catwalk and was named as a tribute to the Wilson Winery of Dry Creek Valley in Healdsburg.

That estate is home to the Coyote, a 26-foot-tall by 23-foot-wide sculpture artist Bryan Tedrick created to represent a respect for freedom, love of wild spaces and the tenacity to remain. The seven-ton steel sculpture originally was created in 2013 for the Burning Man festival.

Ken Wilson believes, like the Coyote, we could all use a little more howl  a sign of both play and love of the pack  in our lives, Ambrosi said.

Next, it was time for the judges and their companions to settle in for dinner at long tables stretching the length of the airy, spacious Coyote Sonoma that doubles as a large tasting bar and soon-to-be pub restaurant. Served buffet-style, the casual mood belied the fancy menu that caterer Heidi West of Healdsburg created.

We love to work with Heidi, Ambrosi said. She and Diane know each other from growing up in Marin County and she always does an amazing job.

Guests loaded their plates with a bounty of dishes, starting with mixed field greens tossed with pomegranate, persimmon, goat cheese, pistachios and shallot vinaigrette. Bottles of wine sat on each table, beckoning for guests to serve themselves with recommended menu pairings, such as a crisp, bright 2017 Jaxon Keys Mendocino County Viognier with the salad.

Diners could choose between two entrees, including seared salmon filet with brown butter and sea salt, or whole roasted New York strip with salsa verde and crispy onion rings. Wisely, most chose both, pairing the fish with tropical, silky 2016 Mazzocco Stuhlmuller Vineyard Alexander Valley Chardonnay and the steak with 2015 deLorimier Preston Ranch Alexander Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

Even the side dishes had designated pairings: crushed new potatoes with soft churned butter, creme fraiche and chives matched with a 2016 Wilson Nolan Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, and braised white beans and Swiss chard with roasted garlic, fennel, thyme and red chile flakes to complement 2016 St. Annes Crossing Split Rail Vineyard Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel.
The annual food sponsor for the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition will be La Cocina, a nonprofit with a mission to cultivate working class food entrepreneurs as they formalize and grow their businesses.

La Cocina was born out of a belief that a community of talented natural entrepreneurs, given the right resources, can create self-sufficient businesses that benefit themselves, their families, their community and the whole city. The food that has come out of the nonprofits kitchen since 2005 reflects that aspiration and quite simply tastes amazing.

La Cocina supports businesses by providing an affordable commercial kitchen space, industry-specific technical assistance and access to market opportunities. It focuses primarily on providing resources to women from communities of color and immigrant communities. La Cocinas vision is that entrepreneurs gain financial security by doing what they love to do, creating an innovative, vibrant and inclusive economic landscape.

Several of the La Cocinas businesses will participate in the public tasting:

Origen

Origen (pronounced oh-ree-hen, meaning origin in Spanish) was inspired by chef and owner Rosa Martinezs childhood in a small town in Oaxaca. As a young girl, Martinez would cook and sell tamales in the town square with her mother. The experience left her with a love for cooking her mothers recipes.

Since moving to the U.S,, Martinez has been on a nearly 30-year mission to share Oaxacan food and culture through her hearty moles, tamales, enchiladas,and more. In 2016, she decided to launch Origen and showcase Oaxacan flavors through events, catering and a restaurant she plans to open in the Bay Area.

Origen was born out of her belief that Oaxacan cuisine in the Bay Area is underrepresented, and her appreciation for tradition, family and quality gives her cooking that special sazon.

Try La Cocinas food at the public tasting Fort Mason Center's Festival Pavilion in San Francisco 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 16 To purchase advance tickets for the public tasting, visit winejudging.com. For updates on the competition and public tasting, search #sfcwc on Twitter and Instagram. See More Collapse

Mi Morena

Guadalupe Moreno was born and raised in Mexico City, where the taco is a lifestyle, and no ones lives a better life than the ones eating tacos de guisados.

Guisados are the stews and simmered braises at the heart of Mexico Citys cuisine, and a proper guisado spot offers you a range of incomparable flavors, all on homemade tortillas. Mi Morena brings those flavors to life in the Bay Area; currently in Morenos mobile food truck around town, and in 2019 at La Cocinas Municipal Marketplace.

Aedan Foods

In 2011, after the devastating Tsunami struck Japan, founder Mariko Grady sold her natural fermented products to friends to raise money for the Japanese victims. The popularity of Gradys delicious fermented foods spread quickly by word-of-mouth in Japanese mothers and friends community.

After raising money, Grady started to write Aedans weekly newsletters to share fermented foods and her wisdom on leading a happy healthy life.

In May 2012, Grady joined the incubator kitchen program at La Cocina in San Francisco and since then, she has worked to develop her Aedan fermented food product line.

Aedan brings Japanese fermented foods that are essential to flavor and health of every traditional Japanese meal to your table. The team handcrafts these foods in small batches, bringing the foundation needed to craft fresh, healthful meals.

Pass the Sauced

Karla Rosales-Barrios is a San Francisco native with Nicaraguan roots raised in a working-class, culturally mixed neighborhood miles from San Franciscos Latino barrio, La Mission. She proudly claims its where her consciousness and inclusive worldview was born.

Rosales-Barrios learned to blend in as her familys Central American roots often clashed culturally both with non-Latinos and within the predominant Mexican and Chicano population in the bay.

Naturally curious and always hungry for deeper connections, Rosales-Barrios learned to recognize and navigate both the differences and similarities surrounding her.

Annual summer trips to visit her abuelitos in Nicaragua with the traditional stopover in Mexico City grew her appreciation for Mexican culture, its people and traditions.

These early experiences deepened the value of sharing and connecting with others over food. Pass The Sauced salsas celebrate and reflect those values; Rosales-Barrios invites you to experience, share and cook with her Saucy Local Goods.

The Uncreamery

The Uncreamery is San Franciscos first vegan creamery. Its goal is to provide the entire cheese experience for those who chose a dairy-free and vegan lifestyle, as well as for those who cant eat dairy due to allergies and other health concerns. It all starts with freshly made cashew or almond milk that is flavored and transformed into creamy and crave-worthy cheese analogs that can rival their dairy counterparts.

The current product line consists of four flavors: Classic Brie, Truffle Brie, Smoked Gouda and Ghost Pepper Jack. Fine vegan charcuterie, as well as gourmet, limited edition and seasonal flavors, are also available.

The creamery loves to collaborate with local stores and restaurants in order to make dairy-free and vegan options easily available. It believes that it is easier to make the switch, be that for animals, for the planet or for health reasons, if one doesnt have to sacrifice familiar taste and texture. The Uncreamerys vegan cheeses allow the cooks to recreate traditional dishes with ease, as they shred, slice and melt in a similar manner to dairy cheeses.
In 1982, two wine industry insiders sat down over a glass of Zinfandel and laid plans for the first Cloverdale Citrus Fair Wine Competition the following year.

At that time, Cloverdale Citrus Fair board members included Bob Del Sarto,who was the general manager of the historical Italian Swiss Colony winery in Asti, Calif., and Bob Bogner, who was general manager of one of the largest grape grower cooperatives of that day, Allied Grape Growers.

Together, they conceived the competition to fulfill the needs of the burgeoning wine industry in northern Sonoma and southern Mendocino counties.

The first competition was modest in size  15 wineries entered 45 wines and a single panel of five judges awarded 30 medals. Invited judges included winemakers Dick Arrowood, John Parducci, Robert Keeble, Mike Lee, wine writer Millie Howie and wine marketer Joe Vercelli.

The first few competitions were primarily staffed with the Citrus Fair board members pouring wines to the judges out of paper bags. It was quite simple, yet with credible and fair wine award results.

The event was growing in size and scope, and the Citrus Fair Board in 1986 realized they needed professional help, so they created a new Citrus Fair staff member position, the Citrus Fair Wine Director.

They turned to Bob Fraser, at that time agriculture business director of Santa Rosa Junior Colleges Agriculture and Natural Resources Department, who had joined the college staff in the early 1980s and resided in the community of Cloverdale.

Buy your public tasting tickets today Advanced tickets for the 2019 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Public Tasting are for sale at winejudging.com. See More Collapse

Fraser implemented the West Coast style of professional wine judging used by his colleague Rich Thomas, at that time coordinator of the Sonoma County Harvest Fair, whom Fraser assisted for a few years.

The competition rapidly grew in the 1990s to more than 100 wineries. Eligibility was gradually increased to include all wineries in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties. Consequently, it was renamed the Tri-County Wine Competition from 1996-99.

The competition expanded to the entire North Coast Appellation in 2000 as the California North Coast Wine Competition. This area included all wineries in the counties of Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake, Solano and Marin.

During this period of time, wineries and wine entries exploded and the Cloverdale Citrus Fair was now the dominant wine competition in Northern California, dwarfing even the prestigious Sonoma County Fair Wine Competition.

In 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle became the naming sponsor of the competition and the competition expanded to all American Viticulture Areas.

The public tasting shifted from Cloverdale to Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. San Francisco is one of the largest wine purchasing metropolitan regional demographics in the world.

From that point on, it was quite a ride. In 2019, there was more than 6,800 entries from more than 37 states and wine regions in the United States, Mexico and Canada. It also marked the 32nd year with Frasers association as staff wine director of the Cloverdale Citrus Fairs San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.

The proceeds of the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition support the nonprofit Cloverdale Citrus Fair and also help support wine and food education at educational institutions and nonprofit organizations.

The San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition continues to grow in size and prestige every ear, and it continues to be recognized as the largest competition of North American wines in the world.
Carlos Avila Gonzalez / The Chronicle

Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsed Sen. Kamala Harris for president Friday, adding to a bounty of state backing for the California Democrat.

The nod was hardly a surprise. Newsom and Harris share the same San Francisco political consultant, have many of the same donors and have known each other since before he became San Francisco mayor and she became district attorney in 2004.
Upcoming political events in the Bay Area.

MONDAY

Bicycle politics: A discussion on the politics of bike infrastructure and how to build a people-protected mobility movement, with Matt Brezina, co-founder of People Protected Bike Lanes. Sponsored by the Bay City Beacon. $5 for nonmembers. 6 p.m., SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St., San Francisco More information is here.

THURSDAY

Gloria Steinem: Feminist leader in conversation with Favianna Rodriguez, moderated by Lauren Schiller. $20. 7 p.m., Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St., San Francisco. More information is here.

SATURDAY

State Sen. Scott Wiener: San Francisco legislator holds a town hall meeting in the Richmond District. Noon, Richmond Recreation Center, 251 18th Ave., San Francisco. More information is here.

Black History Month discussion: San Francisco workers organizing against racist and sexist harassment on their jobs speak out, including Brenda Barros, SEIU 2021 chapter president; representatives of Erase Racism and Strength in Numbers, a worker-led Water Department group; and plumber Amy Gray-Schlink, with the Freedom Socialist Party. 1 p.m. lunch, 2:30 p.m. program. Door donation $3-$5, lunch donation $10. New Valencia Hall, 747 Polk St., San Francisco. More information is here.

Housing and transportation: State Sen. Nancy Skinner and Assembly members Buffy Wicks and Rob Bonta discuss their legislative priorities for housing and transportation. Sponsored by East Bay for Everyone. Free. Noon, 2044 Franklin St., Oakland. More information is here.

FEB. 25

New Cold War: A discussion of the new conflicts between the United States and Russia, with Russia scholar Stephen Cohen and Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of the Nation magazine. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley. More information is here.

Political cartoons: Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist Mark Fiore talks about his career and the state of political criticism. Sponsored by Peninsula Libraries Comic Arts Fest. Free. 7 p.m., Menlo Park main library, 800 Alma St. More information is here.

FEB. 26

Urban Shield: Alameda County Board of Supervisors will consider resteering homeland security money that has helped pay for law enforcement training exercise Urban Shield. 10 a.m. County Administration Building, 1221 Oak St., fifth floor, Oakland. More information is here.

FEB. 27

LGBTQ future: Panel discussion on history and future of LGBTQ movement. Panelists include Kate Kendell, former executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Christine Sun, legal and policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California; and Angelic Williams, founder of MyUmbrella app. Free. 6 p.m., SF LGBT Center, 1800 Market St., San Francisco. More information is here.

Census: The Alameda Complete Count Committee hosts a workshop for community organizations to brainstorm and coordinate on ways to ensure an accurate count on the 2020 Census. Free. 1:30 p.m., 1000 Broadway, No. 310A, Oakland. More information is here.

FEB. 28

Dinesh DSouza: Author discusses lefts ideological and historical connections to racism, fascism, forced sterilization and Jim Crow laws. Sponsored by Stanford College Republicans. Free. 7:30 p.m., Cemex Auditorium, 655 Knight Way, Stanford. Non-Stanford students must reserve seats here.

MARCH 2

Young women and politics: Political leadership conference for young women, including skill-building workshops, plenaries on policy topics, roundtable lunch discussions with elected women, and keynote addresses from prominent female political leaders. Sponsored by IGNITE National. $20 for educators, $15 for college students, $10 for high school students. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Kaiser, 3600 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here.

MARCH 3

Indivisible S.F.: General meeting. Featured speaker is veteran organizer and activist. Hene Kelley. 1 p.m., the Women's Building, 3543 18th Street, San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 6

Podcast Club: Like a book club, only with podcasts. The Ballot, a group for women who want to make a political change, will release a mix of political, fun, satirical and intellectually stimulating podcasts in advance for discussion. Free. 7 p.m., Mannys, 3092 Mission St., San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 9

Venezuela rally: March and rally against the Trump administrations campaign against the Maduro government in Venezuela. Sponsored by the ANSWER coalition. Noon, Civic Center Plaza, San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 11

Podcast Club: The Ballot holds its Podcast Club, a monthly series discussing several podcasts on a particular topic. This months subject is women and the media. Free. 6:30 p.m., Mannys, 3092 16th St., San Francisco. Podcasts and more information here.

MARCH 12

Youth-police roundtable: The San Francisco Youth Commission Transformative Justice Committee invites youths ages 12 to 24 to a roundtable with police to come up with community-oriented solutions to issues plaguing the justice system. 5 p.m., San Francisco Main Library, Latino/Hispanic Room A, 100 Larkin St. More information is here.

MARCH 13

Andrew McCabe: Former FBI deputy director speaks at the Commonwealth Club. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. Noon, 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

New citizen voting: Democracy Action volunteers will register new citizens to vote following swearing-in ceremonies. Two sessions, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway, Oakland. More information is here.

MARCH 18

John Lanchester, Michael Lewis: Lanchester, author of The Wall, and Lewis, author of The Fifth Risk, in conversation at the Commonwealth Club. 6:30 p.m. $30 for nonmembers, $10 for students. 110 Embarcadero, San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 24

Latino Democratic Club: Monthly meeting. Free. 6 p.m., 362 Capp St., San Francisco. More information is here.

MARCH 28

Indigenous resistance: Nick Estes, author of Our History is the Future, traces iIndigenous resistance from the days of the Indian Wars through the campaign for indigenous rights at the United Nations. Benefit for KPFA-FM. $12. 7:30 p.m., Hillside Club, 2286 Cedar St., Berkeley. More information is here.

APRIL 11

Valerie Jarrett: Former adviser to President Barack Obama discusses her book Finding My Voice: My Journey to the West Wing and the Path Forward, in a Commonwealth Club event. $35 for nommembers, $10 for students. Noon, Marines Memorial Theater, 609 Sutter St., San Francisco. More information is here.

To list an event, email Politics Editor Trapper Byrne at tbyrne@sfchronicle.com
My parents lived good lives and expected to die good deaths. They exercised daily, ate plenty of fruits and vegetables, and kept, in their well-organized files, boilerplate advance health directives. But when he was 79, my beloved and seemingly vigorous father came up from his basement study, put on the kettle for tea, and had a devastating stroke. For the next 6 years, my mother and I watched, heartbroken and largely helpless, as he descended into dementia, near-blindness and misery. To make matters worse, a pacemaker, thoughtlessly inserted two years after his stroke, unnecessarily prolonged his worst years on Earth.

That was a decade ago. Last month I turned 70. The peculiar problems of modern death  often overly medicalized and unnecessarily prolonged  are no longer abstractions to me. Even though I swim daily and take no medications, somewhere beyond the horizon, my death has saddled his horse and is heading my way. I want a better death than many of those Ive recently seen.

In this Im not alone. According to a 2017 Kaiser Foundation study, 7 in 10 Americans hope to die at home. But half die in nursing homes and hospitals, and more than a tenth are cruelly shuttled from one to the other in their final three days. Pain is a major barrier to a peaceful death, and nearly half of dying Americans suffer from uncontrolled pain. Nobody I know hopes to die in the soulless confines of an Intensive Care Unit. But more than a quarter of Medicare members cycle through one in their final month, and a fifth of Americans die in an ICU.

This state of affairs has many causes, among them fear, a culture-wide denial of death, ignorance of medicines limits, and a language barrier between medical staff and ordinary people. They often feel abandoned at their greatest hour of need, an HMO nurse told me about her many terminally ill patients. But the oncologists tell us that their patients fire them if they are truthful.

I dont want this to be my story.

In the past three years, Ive interviewed hundreds of people who have witnessed good deaths and hard ones, and I consulted top experts in end-of-life medicine. This is what I learned about how to get the best from our imperfect health care system and how to prepare for a good end of life.

Have a vision. Imagine what it would take you to die in peace and work back from there. Whom do you need to thank or forgive? Do you want to have someone reading to you from poetry or the Bible, or massaging your hands with oil, or simply holding them in silence? Talk about this with people you love.

Once youve got the basics clear, expand your horizons. A former forester, suffering from multiple sclerosis, was gurneyed into the woods in Washington state by volunteer firefighters for a last glimpse of his beloved trees. Something like this is possible if you face death while still enjoying life. Appoint someone with people skills and a backbone to speak for you if you can no longer speak for yourself.

More on health Opinion California offers doctors student-loan help to treat...

Stay in charge. If your doctor isnt curious about what matters to you or wont tell you whats going on in plain English, fire that doctor. Thats what Amy Berman did when a prominent oncologist told her to undergo chemotherapy, a mastectomy, radiation and then more chemo to treat her stage-four inflammatory breast cancer.

She settled on another oncologist who asked her, What do you want to accomplish? Berman said that she was aiming for a Niagara Falls trajectory: To live as well as possible for as long as possible, followed by a rapid final decline.

Berman, now 59, went on an estrogen suppressing pill. Eight years, later, shes still working, shes climbed the Great Wall of China, and has never been hospitalized. Most doctors, she says, focus only on length of life. Thats not my only metric.

Know the trajectory of your illness. If you face a frightening diagnosis, ask your doctor to draw a sketch tracking how you might feel and function during your illness and its treatments. A visual will yield far more helpful information than asking exactly how much time you have left.

When you become fragile, consider shifting your emphasis from cure to comfort and find an alternative to the emergency room.

And dont be afraid to explore hospice sooner rather than later. It wont make you die sooner, its covered by insurance, and you are more likely to die well, with your family supported and your pain under control.

Find your tribe and arrange caregivers. Dying at home is labor-intensive. Hospices provide home visits from nurses and other professionals, but your friends, relatives and hired aides will be the ones who empty bedpans and provide hands-on care. You dont have to be rich, or a saint, to handle this well. You do need one fiercely committed person to act as a central tent pole and as many part-timers as you can marshal. People who die comfortable, well-supported deaths at home tend to have one of three things going for them: money, a rich social network of neighbors or friends, or a good government program (like PACE, the federal Program of All Inclusive Care for the Elderly).

Dont wait until youre at deaths door to explore your passions, deepen your relationships and find your posse. Do favors for your neighbors and mentor younger people. It doesnt matter if you find your allies among fellow quilters, bridge-players, tai chi practitioners, or in the Christian Motorcyclists Association. You just need to share an activity face-to-face.

Take command of the space. No matter where death occurs, you can bring calm and meaning to the room. Dont be afraid to rearrange the physical environment. Weddings have been held in ICUs so that a dying mother could witness the ceremony. In a hospital or nursing home, ask for a private room, get televisions and telemetry turned off, and stop the taking of vital signs.

Clean house: Hospice nurses often list five emotional tasks for the end of life: thank you, I love you, please forgive me, I forgive you, and goodbye. Do not underestimate the power of your emotional legacy, expressed in even a small, last-minute exchange. Kathy Duby of Mill Valley was raised on the East Coast by a violent alcoholic mother. She had no memory of ever hearing, I love you.

When Duby was in her 40s, her mother lay dying of breast cancer in a hospital in Boston. Over the phone, she told Duby, Dont come, I dont want to see you. Duby got on a plane anyway.

She walked into the hospital room to see a tiny figure curled up in bed  shrunken, yellow, bald, bronzed by jaundice, as Duby later wrote in a poem. Dubys mother said aloud, I love you and Im sorry.

Duby replied, I love you and Im sorry.

Those few moments, Duby said, Cleared up a lifetime of misunderstanding each other.

Think of death as a rite of passage. In the days before effective medicine, our ancestors were guided by books and customs that framed dying as a spiritual ordeal rather than a medical event. Without abandoning the best of what modern medicine has to offer, return to that spirit.

Over the years, Ive learned one thing: Those who contemplate their aging, vulnerability and mortality often live better lives and experience better deaths than those who dont. They enroll in hospice earlier, and often feel and function better  and sometimes even live longer  than those who pursue maximum treatment.

We influence our lives, but we dont control them, and the same goes for how they end. No matter how bravely you adapt to loss and how cannily you navigate our fragmented health system, dying will still represent the ultimate loss of control.

But you dont have to be a passive victim. You retain moral agency. You can keep shaping your life all the way to its end  as long as you seize the power to imagine, to arrange support and to plan.

Katy Butler is a former Chronicle reporter and the author of The Art of Dying Well (Scribner, 2019). She will be speaking at Book Passage in Corte Madera on Tuesday, Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland on Thursday, and Books Inc. in Opera Plaza in San Francisco on Friday, all at 7 p.m.
Regarding Rise of the great green north (Editorial, Feb. 15): Canadas decision to legalize marijuana use for all its adult citizens is a wise decision that should be mirrored by our own federal government. The war on drugs in the U.S. should be focusing on the opioid epidemic, not marijuana. Our country is wasting taxpayer money prosecuting people for possession of pot.

The patchwork quilt of states that have and have not legalized its sale and usage is confusing and enables an unregulated black market to continue. American adults, like their Canadian counterparts, should be allowed to make their own decision on whether or not to use cannabis  without the federal governments interference.

Anthony Overton, East Palo Alto

Right decision

Thanks Gov. Gavin Newsom. My confidence and respect climbed up several notches for our governor when I read he has put the misguided and misleading high-speed rail project on the back burner. I suspect it took some political courage to make this decision, but its the right decision for all Californians.

David Altscher, Belmont

Bittersweet victory

Regarding Finding Kyle (Page 1, Feb. 10): Im struck by the parallels between the Gamboa familys agonizing journey and our own, but also that of so many other families whose lives went up in a fireball after losing their children to suicide. We became friends with the Gamboas through our shared activism for a suicide deterrent on the Golden Gate Bridge.

Like Kyle, our 17-year-old daughter, Casey, leapt on a dark, blustery January morning 11 years ago and disappeared. The tortured search for answers, the efforts to preserve their memory, the loss of hope and purpose are all too familiar. Like so many parents whove lost children, we try to ensure that their loss was not in vain. Completion of the suicide net will be a bittersweet victory, but it can never bring them back.

John Brooks, Fairfax

Wannabe dictator

President Trump has declared a national emergency at the border after promising Mexico would pay for his wall, failing to get funding despite controlling both houses of Congress, dawdling for months, previously tweeting that illegal crossings were at a 45-year low, and telling a reporter, I didnt really need to do this. Some emergency! I think the real emergency is that we have a dishonest, incompetent, mentally ill, wannabe dictator in the White House.

Gary Cavalli, Danville

High-speed rail needed

High-speed rail is a necessity for California. If we are one of the worlds biggest economies, we need to act like one. Rail would be an environmental benefit, reducing the number of planes. It would be an economic benefit by opening the Central Valley to the prosperity of the coast. It may be too late, but former Gov. Jerry Brown made a big mistake putting the rail where it is. If the state used the Interstate 5 center strip, land cost would be minimal and tracks could have been laid for most of the distance significantly faster, and there arent any towns to object. High-speed rail puts a country into this century. China built their very extensive network in short order and we certainly are as competent as they are. The governor has to understand that while there are social needs to be addressed, rail could be a substantial addition to the well-being of this state economically and environmentally.

Leonard Dorin, Lafayette

Denounce immorality

The inability of the U.S. to separate Saudi Arabias violations of human rights from Saudi Arabias usefulness as an ally cries out for congressional action. There must be a declaration from the U.S. to denounce the immorality of such behavior. Establishing either the guilt or innocence of individuals involved in Jamal Khashoggis murder is slowly continuing, but that is not the point. What is needed is a clear declaration from both the executive and congressional branches as to the condemnation of the outrageous violation of human rights that was perpetrated by Saudi Arabia on Jamal Khashoggi.

Barbara Krings, Sacramento

Election question

I saw the news that the NASA robot Opportunity finally ceased working after spending some 15 years on the red planet. Many thanks for the scientists, technicians and astronomers who made the mission such a success. With Opportunity lost on Mars ... Im wondering if theres still any opportunity here on the third planet from the sun for Republicans and Democrats to stop playing political games and actually have the interests of the citizens of this country at heart, instead of their own agendas.

Will the 2020 presidential election produce a leader like former President Abraham Lincoln, a Republican president who said that America shall have a new birth of freedom  and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. Or will this be another opportunity lost?

Piers Lahey, Daly City

Fabricated emergency

History had taught us that past dictators worldwide fabricated national emergencies in order to unilaterally impose their will on their countries. The declaration made by the current occupant of the White House has all the makings of a dictatorship.

The legislative and judicial branches of our government should exercise their powers to stop this fabricated national emergency. We dont want to find our country being governed by a dictator.

Angelica Gordon, Vallejo
President Trumps declaration of a national emergency at the southern border Friday claimed another casualty in his war on the law and language. Under every accepted definition and precedent, his so-called emergency is not one.

Rather, its a brazen attempt to violate the Constitutions basic restraints on presidential power to compensate for the limitations of his policies and politics. Having diminished the already weak support for his border wall with the longest government shutdown on record, Trump vowed to use emergency and other powers to redirect more than $6 billion to the project. Thats nearly five times what Congress eventually approved for additional border fencing this week in the bill Trump reluctantly signed.

Even as the president thereby dropped the threat of another pointless shutdown, his emergency declaration leveled a direct assault on Congress spending authority. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others rightly promised to oppose the maneuver, which drew criticism from several Republican senators. Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans were all too ready to accommodate Trump.

The National Emergencies Act allows Pelosis House Democrats to challenge the declaration and trigger a mandatory Senate vote. It would be a rare case in which McConnell could not block a floor vote, forcing his Senate Republicans to say yea or nay to a directive that pits their fear of Trump against their avowed constitutionalism. A majority vote against the emergency could be vetoed by Trump, however, and an override would require many more Republican defections.

The emergency declaration has fiscal as well as constitutional implications. While the administration appears to have abandoned the controversial prospect of redirecting funds for flood control in California and other places, its now eyeing money for an array of military construction projects that are sure to have their backers in Congress.

The declaration is also bound to be disputed in court, with Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra among the eager plaintiffs.

Every invocation of the National Emergencies Act since it became law has targeted hostile foreign governments or groups or responded to clear domestic crises such as the 2009 flu pandemic and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Trumps own extensive deliberations over whether to declare this emergency offer one indication that its disingenuous. Trump even acknowledged that he didnt need to do this.

The border invasion Trump proposes to stop with his emergent wall simply isnt occurring. Illegal crossings have fallen to about a fourth of their peak during George W. Bushs administration, and theres no evidence of Trumps claims that more fortification will substantially thwart drug smuggling, human trafficking, crime or terrorism. Despite the presidents harping on the threat of those surreptitiously crossing unsecured stretches of the border, the recent uptick in immigration from Mexico has consisted mainly of Central American families seeking asylum under U.S. and international law.

With the nation recognizing a holiday set aside for its greatest presidents, Trumps fake emergency evokes tin-pot autocracy and marks another low for his presidency.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.


By SacBee , Feb . 15, 2019





California plans to sue over President Donald Trumps decision to declare a national emergency at the Mexico border, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.





If filed, the lawsuit would mark the states 46th legal challenge to Trump administration policies. This time, Newsom said, the state intends to contest Trumps use of executive power for what the governor calls a manufactured crisis at the border.





Read More:



Join us - become an Elderado today at: LarryElder.com

Follow Larry Elder on Follow Larry Elder on Twitter

"Like" Larry Elder on Facebook




California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whos sued the Trump administration more than 40 times, likes to fashion himself as a crusader for equal justice and opportunity for all.

So its a wonder that hes chosen to be on the wrong side of history on an issue as important as public transparency.

The First Amendment Coalition, a free speech organization based in San Rafael, is suing Becerra over his offices failure to comply with SB1421, Californias police transparency law.

SB1421, by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is a landmark new law concerning police misconduct records. These documents have been protected by some of the strictest privacy laws in the state.

But decades of secrecy and a lack of accountability have taken their toll on the publics trust. Thats why free speech, police accountability, and good governance organizations organized tirelessly to pass SB1421.

Under the law, misconduct records related to sustained findings of sexual assault or dishonesty on the job, along with investigations about an officers use of a firearm or other use of deadly force, must be opened to the public.

The bills author has stated unambiguously that its intent was to open applicable records from the past as well as those in the future. Theres nothing in the bills text which limits its provisions to future records.

Yet law enforcement organizations hate the new law. Theyve been challenging it in court with the argument that it shouldnt be applicable retroactively.

Apparently, they can count on Becerras support.

When contacted for comment, Becerra sent this statement: Several cases have recently raised the issue whether SB1421 ... requires the disclosure of records relating to conduct that occurred before Jan. 1, 2019, which is SB1421s effective date. Given the ongoing proceedings, at this time, we are prepared to disclose only records beginning Jan. 1, 2019. When it comes to disclosing a persons private information, you dont get a second chance to get it right.

In any other circumstance, the states top law enforcement officer would probably say that you dont get a second chance to follow the law in the first place.

The states top law enforcement officer sets the tone for all of Californias law enforcement. By denying public access to these records, Becerra is encouraging other agencies to disregard their obligations to public access and public transparency.

Its the wrong choice.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
One word keeps coming up when San Franciscans reflect on the state of a city they regard as a better place to live than all the alternatives.

Frustration.

The paradox between residents loyalty to the city and their frustration with so many aspects about it was a recurring theme in an annual poll released last week by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. It found that 64 percent of San Franciscans regarded the city as a better place to live than most other places.

By overwhelming margins, respondents stated that availability of housing is getting worse, congestion is getting worse, crime is getting worse and homelessness and street behavior are getting worse.

These conclusions did not surprise some of the officials elected to address these problems. It jibes with everything I hear from people, said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. People love living here and want to be here, but are frustrated with certain things in the city.

Mayor London Breed anticipated  and agreed  that homelessness was the citys No. 1 issue.

I see what you see, she said at a chamber event Tuesday. Im frustrated by what youre frustrated by.

The frustration crosses ideological lines.

I think what San Franciscans are feeling is frustration with the lack of action coming out of City Hall, which is something I feel myself and agree with, said Supervisor Hillary Ronen, a leader of the progressive faction. Ask anyone in this building  with all the so-called political divides  and we will all tell you what the problems are, and weve been complaining about them for years. Homelessness. Clean streets. Affordable housing.

Ronen said one source of the frustration is that the scale of the solutions offered at City Hall too often dont match the magnitude of the problem. In the case of homelessness, she cited the battle over whether to establish conservatorships that would apply to just a few mentally ill homeless individuals and a triage program that would serve a small percentage of people living in their vehicles.

Worth doing? Yes, in my view. Changing the dynamic of homelessness in San Francisco? No, Ronen rightly noted.

These are big problems that need big solutions, she said. I feel like were working around the margins and not really projecting those big ideas.

The positive takeaway from the poll is that it suggested frustrated San Franciscans are receptive to remedies that would have been difficult if not unthinkable to achieve in the past. For example, 77 percent of the respondents would support safe injection sites for drug addicts, a 10 percent increase from the previous years poll. The unavoidable misery and health hazards on the streets  people shooting up in plain sight, the discarded needles strewn about  are having an impact.

A great place to live, except for oh so many challenges Key takeaways from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's annual poll: 64% Yes: "Is San Francisco a better place to live than most other places for you?" 12% "Quality of life across San Francisco is getting better." Getting worse: 52% 81% Homelessness and street behavior are getting worse. Getting better: 5% 82% Traffic congestion is getting worse. Getting better: 3% 63% Availability of housing is getting worse. Getting better: 9% 46% Crime situation is getting worse. Getting better: 14% See More Collapse

Perhaps the most profound and promising measure of public resolve was reflected in attitudes about housing and development.

I think at some point people reached the end of their rope on housing and are open to trying new things, said Wiener, the Democratic state senator who has been trying to break some of the political and regulatory hurdles to development since he was on the Board of Supervisors. There are certain ideas about housing that even five or 10 years ago would have fallen like a lead balloon.

Nearly 4 in 5 San Franciscans said they would support a policy to maximize construction of all housing types  a significant signal to a city too often stalemated in a tug-of-war between developers trying to optimize high-end housing and advocates pushing for higher levels of affordable units set aside for low- and middle-income households.

Wiener certainly took note of the 74 percent support for rezoning around transit stops for higher-density housing. He had seen polls taken during last years city elections that showed such support at closer to the 50 percent level. His proposal last year to force cities to allow more such transit-oriented development (SB827) stalled under the weight of concerns about displacement and loss of local control. He is back this year with SB50, narrowed and recalibrated to address some of the gentrification concerns.

He also believes that public sentiment is moving in his direction, not just in San Francisco, but in areas of the state suddenly feeling the pangs of unaffordability. A new statewide poll by the Edelman Trust found that 72 percent of Californians found the cost and availability of housing to be a very serious issue, nearly approaching the 76 percent mark in the Bay Area.

The Edelman poll concluded that the cost of housing is the No. 1 threat to the California economy, and 53 percent of the respondents considered leaving the state because of housing costs.

Wiener said it is not surprising that people struggling with housing would consider their options. But he cautioned against underestimating the resiliency and resolve of local residents.

The 64 percent of San Franciscans who maintain that this is still a better place to live than most others would attest to that.

People choose to live here despite the high housing costs, despite the challenges of homelessness and addiction, despite the congestion  despite everything, Wiener said. People choose to live here and to work very hard and to overcome obstacles to make a go of it here.

John Diaz is The San Francisco Chronicles editorial page editor. Email: jdiaz@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnDiazChron
A dangerous chemical could be eliminated from nail polishes sold in California under a plan announced on Friday in San Francisco.

State regulators declared that the solvent known as toluene, which has been associated with birth defects, miscarriages and organ damage, is a priority product for regulation. Within four years, under the state plan, manufacturers could be ordered to stop including toluene in polishes and other nail products.

The industry has known for a long time that toluene is a problematic chemical, said Meredith Williams, acting director of the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

Although regulators have been aware of toluenes dangers for decades, they said it takes a long time to ban toxic substances outright. One problem, said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the state Environmental Protection Agency, is that manufacturers can simply replace a banned chemical with an equally dangerous one.

The chemical industry is powerful, Blumenfeld said. They dont want to be regulated. But California says enough is enough.

To make their announcement Friday, state regulators took over a Mission District nail salon that is a founding member of the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, a handful of salons that have voluntarily agreed to stop using toluene and other toxic chemicals.

Van Nguyen, owner of the New York Nail salon at 3483 Mission St., said she has long known of the dangers of toluene and has refused to have it in her store. She said she suspects it was responsible for two miscarriages she suffered. In 2010, she said, she threw out about 700 bottles of toluene-infused nail polish, which set her back about $1,200. She also invested in masks, gloves and a ventilation system.

Toluene, which helps create a smooth look and clear colors in polishes, is one of the toxic trio of chemicals long found in nail products. The others are formaldehyde, a preservative, and dibutyl phthalate, which gives polish a hard finish.

Nguyen said her salon now features more than 1,000 toluene-free polishes with colors such as Violet Vixen (purple), Risque Business (brown) and My Sweet Desire (orange).

The battle against the toxic chemical trio in California is nothing new. In 2012, a widely reported state study found that nail products claiming on their labels to be free of the three chemicals still contained them. Those chemicals, banned in many foreign countries, are legal in the U.S. but must be listed on ingredient labels.

We appreciate (regulators) driving the use of safer nail products, said Catherine Porter, policy director of the collaborative. We hope nail salons across California become healthier places to work.

State regulators said many of the 130,000 nail salon workers in California are women of child-bearing age from low-income Asian immigrant communities who speak little or no English. These workers, Williams said, are more vulnerable to chemical hazards than customers, who visit a salon only occasionally.

Banning toluene from salons and from nail products sold over the counter would require industry cooperation and public vigilance along with new rules. The publics refusal to buy products containing dangerous chemicals is at least as powerful as a legal ban, Williams said.

A spokeswoman for the nail polish industry, Lisa Powers of the Personal Care Products Council, said its member companies have voluntarily stopped using toluene.

We phased it out, Powers said. Not from any safety issue, but because customers told us they didnt want it. We believe its safe to use.

Blumenfeld disagreed. He called toluene nasty stuff.

When his young daughter buys toluene-infused polish and opens the bottle, he said, Oh my God, the whole house stinks. You can get a migraine.

Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF
A San Francisco jury failed to reach a full verdict in the double-murder case against 30-year-old Richard Contreras, who was accused of shooting at a group of people at the Twin Peaks lookout on Valentines Day 2016.

The hung jury ultimately leaned toward the defendant, however, with nine in favor of acquittal and three convinced of his guilt on two murder and attempted murder charges, Public Defender Jeff Adachi said Friday. Contreras was convicted on the lesser counts of carjacking, unlawful possession of a gun by a felon and unlawful driving or taking of a vehicle.

Alex Bastian, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said prosecutors may attempt to retry the case, but all options are on the table for their next move.

The incident happened at about 2 a.m. on that fateful Valentines Day three years ago when a group of friends from Santa Rosa gathered on Twin Peaks main viewing deck, which boasts a sweeping vista of San Franciscos skyline and the Bay Bridge.

Contreras, who was there with a date and her friend, began firing into the crowd indiscriminately, Assistant District Attorney Adam Maldonado said, without any sort of confrontation, any fight or aggression.

The gunfire killed Rene Mora, 19, and 21-year-old Julio Peraza, and injured 18-year-old Eric Morales, who was struck in the stomach.

But Deputy Public Defender Kleigh Hathaway argued that Contreras case was one of self-defense. Before he opened fire, Contreras said he heard a group of men yelling at him and taunting him, and that he saw a gun and heard shots. After he finished shooting, Contreras admitted, he carjacked a couple in a vehicle to get away from the scene.

Hathaway additionally took the rare step of choosing to have her client testify in his own defense.

In taking the stand himself, Mr. Contreras explained what happened that terrible night and subjected himself to cross-examination, Adachi said in a statement. He also showed great remorse. Im sure if he could turn back time, he never would have driven to Twin Peaks that night.

Hathaway said she wasnt sure herself how the case would end.

This is an outcome that I was not convinced I could hope for, she said in a statement. But after talking to the jury, Im very grateful that they found the courage to do the right thing.

Megan Cassidy is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: megan.cassidy@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @meganrcassidy
Readers had several questions about my recent columns on the new tax deduction for rental income and a bill to create a $10,000 state-income tax deduction for contributions to Californias 529 College Savings plan, called ScholarShare.

Ill answer them here.

Q: Brian Hull asks, My wife and I are currently contributing to our five grandchildrens 529 ScholarShare accounts. If this bill is passed, will grandparents be able to get this tax deduction?

A: It depends on who is named as the account owner. Under AB211, only the contributions made by the account owner, referred to as the qualified taxpayer in the bill, may claim the deduction. Contributors to an account which they do not own will not be eligible, said Julio Martinez, executive director of ScholarShare, which is part of the California Treasurers office.

So if you, the grandparent, own the account and your grandchild is the beneficiary, you get the deduction. If your daughter is the account owner, and your grandchild is the beneficiary, you do not get the deduction for any contributions you make. However, if you give money to your daughter, and she puts it into the account, she could get the tax deduction.

Any state that offers a tax deduction for contributions to its 529 can decide who gets the deduction, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of SavingforCollege.com. Of the 34 states that offer a state income tax deduction, 24 let any contributor get it and 10 restrict the deduction to the account owner.

This restriction is problematic because it encourages grandparents to be the account owner to claim the state income tax deduction, even though a grandparent-owned 529 plan can hurt the grandchilds eligibility for need-based financial aid, Kantrowitz said in an email.

Although a grandparent-owned 529 plan is not reported as an asset on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA, distributions from the account are counted as untaxed income to the beneficiary, reducing aid eligibility by as much as half the distribution, he added.

There are workarounds, such as changing the account owner to the parent, or more complicated ones you can read about on Savingforcollege.com at https://bit.ly/2SK9MJX.

For my previous column, see https://bit.ly/2S5vC6f.

Q: Steve Ross asked, How difficult will it be to transfer an existing 529 plan from another state into the California plan if this new legislation passes?

A: First, remember that money transferred into ScholarShare from another state plan would not be eligible for the state tax deduction under AB211, if it passes. You could leave money in another states plan and put new money into a ScholarShare account that would be eligible for a California state income tax deduction if the bill passes.

If you do want to move money from one state plan to another, heres whats involved. The destination 529 plan usually has a form on its website, which you can use to transfer all or part of another 529 plan to the destination 529 plan, Kantrowitz said. You will have to specify the account number, account owner and beneficiary of each 529 plan, along with the address and contact information for the old 529 plan.

You might need to provide a medallion signature guarantee on the paperwork from a bank, stockbroker or credit union. Getting it notarized is usually not sufficient.

Warning: Before transferring funds, check whether the old 529 plan will recapture any state income tax benefits attributable to the amount that will be transferred. Some will.

Q: In response to my column last month on how the new 20 percent deduction for qualified business income applies to real estate, Judi Allewelt writes, I am a Realtor, an independent contractor with Coldwell Banker, who also owns several rentals. Can the 20 percent deduction be taken on both my rental income and my real estate sales income, since they are two separate businesses?

A: You could potentially qualify for both, but it depends on your income and how much time is spent on the rentals.

Starting with tax year 2018, taxpayers can deduct up to 20 percent of the income they receive from pass-through entities. These include partnerships, sole proprietorships and S corporations, or a limited liability company taxed as one of those. This is known as the qualified business income, pass-through or Section 199A deduction.

If your taxable income for 2018  from all sources combined  is less than $315,000 (married filing jointly) or $157,500 (all other filers), you get the deduction, no matter what kind of business it is.

If your taxable income is between $315,000 and $415,000 (married) or $157,500 and $207,500 (other filers), your deduction will be reduced if the income comes from what the IRS calls a specified service trade or business. This includes a lot of professions such as doctors, lawyers, athletes and artists. It does not include real estate agents. How much it gets reduced depends on a super-complicated formula that takes into account any wages the business paid and the depreciable property it owns.

If you are in this income range and not in one of those specified service professions, your deduction might  or might not  be reduced, according to the same formula.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

If your taxable income exceeds the top of that range, you get no deduction if you are in a specified service profession. Your deduction might be limited if it comes from some other type of business.

Being a landlord is generally not a specified service trade or business. If you own rental property that generates income (after all expenses including depreciation), that income might be eligible for the 20 percent deduction  but only if your rental activity rises to the level of being a trade or business.

Because that term is squishy when it comes to the rental business, the IRS created an extensive list of safe harbor rules. If you meet them all, your rental income will qualify for the deduction. One is that you  or people you hire  must spend at least 250 hours a year on eligible activities associated with the rental and have paperwork to prove it.

If you dont meet the safe harbor requirements, and dont spend enough time regularly and continuously involved in the rental enterprise, the IRS may not consider it a business for this purpose, in which case the deduction would be lost, said Jeff Levine, a financial planner with Blueprint Wealth Alliance.

In my previous column, Levine explained that to qualify for the safe harbor, taxpayers must own the rental property in their own name or in an entity that is taxed as if its in their own name. If you have to file a separate tax return for the rental business, it would not qualify for the safe harbor, he said.

That caused some confusion, and Levine said he may have oversimplified for a lay audience. Pass-through entities can qualify for the safe harbor if they own the real estate directly or through a disregarded entity, he said.

A disregarded entity is one where the business is separate from the individual for liability purposes, but is ignored for federal tax purposes. A classic example: John Smith owns a piece of real estate and wants to shield it from his personal assets for liability reasons. So he creates a single-member LLC to own the property. John Smith owns 100 percent of the LLC. The real estate has some asset protection, but John Smith will report it on his tax return as if he owned it himself. In that case, it could qualify for the deduction.

For my previous column, see https://bit.ly/2GJwwDF.

Q: Reader Al Schwarz wanted to know, if your rental business qualifies as a trade or business, will you have to pay self-employment tax?

A: The answer is no.

Kathleen Pender is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: kpender@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kathpender
A Richmond construction worker detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for two years will be freed, a federal judge ruled Friday.

Dozens of immigration advocates across the Bay Area had rallied for the man, despite convictions for driving under the influence and assault, saying ICE should not hold undocumented immigrants indefinitely.

Raul Lopez, 46, from Guatemala was detained in March 2017 during a routine ICE check-in and taken to the West County Detention Facility in Richmond. When Contra Costa County ended its contract with ICE last year, Lopez, a father of four, was moved more than 1,000 miles away to a private detention center in Aurora, Colo.

Because of his prolonged detention, Lopezs case attracted heavy media attention and became the focal point of a debate on the indefinite detention of undocumented immigrants. Advocates argue that it violates immigrants constitutional rights and makes it extremely difficult for them to properly fight their cases.

Community members across the Bay Area rallied for Lopezs release for more than a year, often protesting ahead of his court hearings. More than 30 supporters crammed a small courtroom for the three-hour hearing in San Francisco on Friday. Lopez telephoned in from Colorado.

He was ordered released on a $25,000 bond and was given strict guidelines for rehabilitation, including a three-month stay at a supervised facility.

Lopez detailed his long history with alcoholism  for which he had never sought treatment  during the hearing.

Since his arrest, Lopez has come to terms with his alcoholism and is committed to rehabilitation, he told Judge Joseph Park.

I realized I made a big mistake driving under the influence, and now Im very focused on rehabilitation, he said through an interpreter. I have in mind the suffering and sadness that my family has experienced in these two years that Ive been detained.

Department of Homeland Security attorney Deborah Ho cast doubt on Lopezs chances for rehabilitation, pointing out his DUI convictions and his lack of treatment in previous years. Ho declined to comment on the ruling Friday.

ICE had twice blocked Lopez from being released on bond, arguing that criminal convictions made him a threat to public safety. Lopez has three misdemeanor DUI convictions and one misdemeanor assault charge, according to his attorney, Daniel Werner. ICE has said Lopez had four DUIs.

His victory is symbolic of what many immigrants are experiencing, from indefinite detention to jail transfers and inhumane jail conditions, said Juan Prieto, spokesman for the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance. Its a victory against all of the different injustices that were seeing come out of the executive branch from President Trump.

Lopez was given a final deportation order in May 2009, which hes appealed multiple times, according to ICE. Hes awaiting a final decision on his latest appeal, the agency said.

ICE officers evaluate the totality of circumstances in making custody determinations, a spokeswoman said in a statement this month. The facts and circumstances around his case, including a conviction for a violent crime and four DUI convictions, deem him a threat to public safety. As a result, ICE will continue to detain him until the outcome of his appeal is determined.

But Judge Sallie Kim granted Lopez a bond hearing late last month, saying his prolonged detention was no longer justified.

Hes a great father to our kids, his wife, Dianeth, 38, said this month. Every day he would go on walks with them. He helped them with their homework. Now Im on my own. Its been extremely difficult.

My kids are teenagers. This is when they need a father the most.

Lopez immigrated to the U.S. illegally from Guatemala in 1989 and petitioned for asylum in 1993, according to Werner. But he said he was defrauded in the U.S. by an individual who wasnt licensed to practice immigration law  commonly known as notarios in Spanish. As a result, Lopez said, he didnt receive notice about his asylum hearing at the time and was ordered deported for not showing up to court. His criminal convictions put him on ICEs radar throughout the years.

Tatiana Sanchez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tatiana.sanchez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TatianaYSanchez
A Twin Peaks property owner has sued San Francisco in both state and federal court over the ruling he must build an exact replica of the 1935 home designed by famed modernist Richard Neutra that previously occupied the site.

In the lawsuit, which seeks $10 million in damages, attorneys for owner Ross Johnston allege the city illegally confiscated the property without just compensation and violated constitutionally protected rights of due process, freedom of speech, equal protection under the law, vested property rights and excessive fines.

On Dec. 13, the City Planning Commission unanimously turned down an application by Johnston to build a 4,000-square-foot home at 49 Hopkins Ave. that would have replaced a previous house the Department of Building Inspection ruled was demolished illegally.

Instead, the commission ordered Johnston to build a copy of the original 927-square-foot Largent House, one of five homes that Neutra designed in San Francisco.

The controversy struck a chord at a time when many San Franciscans complain about speculative developers snapping up average-sized homes then tearing them down without permission and replacing them with much larger and more expensive homes.

Johnston, who lives in Florida, had originally planned to appeal the Planning Commissions decision to the Board of Supervisors. But his appeal was rejected because he failed to obtain enough signatures. An appeal requires either signatures of 20 percent of neighbors within 300 feet of the property in question, or four members of the Board of Supervisors. Johnston managed to gather signatures from 10 percent of his neighbors. No supervisors signed on.

In addition to $10 million, Johnston is seeking restoration of a previously approved 2014 city permit that authorized the expansion of the home.

Andrew Zacks, Johnstons attorney, argued that the house Johnstons contractor illegally tore down didnt have enough of its original features to be considered historic, which Planning Department preservation evaluators had determined in 2014.

This case is just another example of abusive, retroactive government overreach by unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats drunk with power, Johnston said.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said that the lawsuits are under review.

Were reviewing these lawsuits, so were not going to discuss their specifics, Herrera said. But more broadly, illegal demolition is something we take very seriously. One cant just violate city laws and then ask for forgiveness later. It doesnt work that way.

Planning Commissioner Dennis Richards said there is precedent for the Hopkins Avenue decision  the panel had twice before ordered that homes be rebuilt after illegal demolitions, once at 665 Alvarado St. in Noe Valley and once at 214 States St. in Corona Heights.

He said that Johnston enjoyed the same due process afforded any project sponsor.

He came before the Planning Commission and failed to convince us that we should permit the demolition of the house that he had already demolished, said Richards. If he had come to us when the house was still standing, things might have gone differently.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfjkdineen
News for the Future

We cannot think of a recent time during which staying informed is more crucial. Understanding national, state and, most importantly, local events and their impact on you, as a reader and citizen, is vital. Help us expand this coverage, provide you more trusted local news and broaden your understanding of local events and developments through your support of our News for the Future campaign. Learn more at either link below.



Thank you for supporting The Keene Sentinel.
Elk Grove, CA (95624)

Today

A mainly sunny sky. High 93F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

A mostly clear sky. Low 57F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Thank you for reading!

You have reached your 30-day limit of free access to SentinelSource.com, The Keene Sentinels website. If you would like to read two more articles for free at this time, please register for an account by clicking the sign up button below.

We hope you find The Sentinels coverage of the Monadnock Region valuable. We rely on our subscribers to bring you strong local journalism and hope you will consider supporting our work by taking advantage of this special subscription offer here.
On February 13, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey entered a final judgment against defendant Brian Hirsch, who was charged by the SEC in connection with public offering allocation practices at two large brokerage firms.

The SEC's complaint, filed in December 2017, alleges that, while employed on the wealth syndicate desk of two different brokerage firms, Hirsch entered into undisclosed arrangements with certain customers in violation of the firms' initial and other public offering allocation policies and procedures. Under the arrangements, Hirsch provided the customers with preferential access to, and larger allocations of, public offerings marketed by the firms. In return, these customers made cash payments to Hirsch of up to 25 percent of the profits made by selling the offering stock into the secondary market. Hirsch previously pled guilty to criminal charges filed in a parallel action by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey. The SEC also charged two of Hirsch's customers who entered into the arrangements (see here and here), both of whom have entered into partial settlements with the SEC.

Hirsch consented to the entry of the judgment, which enjoins him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and imposes a total of $783,600 in disgorgement plus prejudgment interest. The judgment provides that the disgorgement is deemed satisfied by $800,000 in forfeiture that was ordered against Hirsch in the criminal proceeding. The SEC has also issued an administrative order barring Hirsch from any association with any broker-dealer, investment advisor, or other securities industry participants.

The SEC is represented by David Austin, Chevon Walker, Todd Brody and George Stepaniuk, and the case is being supervised by Sanjay Wadhwa. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in this matter.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation has agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and two of the company's former executives were charged for their roles in facilitating the payment of millions of dollars in a bribe to an Indian government official.

The SEC's complaint alleges that in 2014, a senior government official of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu demanded a $2 million bribe from the construction firm responsible for building Cognizant's 2.7 million square foot campus in Chennai, India. As alleged in the complaint, Gordon Coburn, Cognizant's President, and Steven E. Schwartz, the company's Chief Legal Officer, authorized the contractor to pay the bribe, and directed their subordinates to conceal the bribe by doctoring the contractor's change orders. The Commission also alleges that Cognizant authorized the construction firm to make two additional bribes totaling more than $1.6 million. Cognizant allegedly used sham change order requests to conceal the payments it made to reimburse the firm.

The Commission charged Coburn and Schwartz with violating Sections 30A and 13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, aiding and abetting Cognizant's violations of Exchange Act Sections 30A, 13(b)(2)(A), and 13(b)(2)(B), and violating Exchange Act Rules 13b2-1 and 13b2-2. The Commission is seeking permanent injunctions, civil money penalties, and officer and director bars against Coburn and Schwartz.

The SEC's order as to Cognizant found that the company violated Sections 30A, 13(b)(2)(A) and 13(b)(2)(B) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which are anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws. Without admitting or denying the allegations, the company agreed to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest of approximately $19 million and a civil penalty of $6 million.

The Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey also today announced the indictment of Coburn and Schwartz on criminal charges of violating and conspiring to violate the FCPA's anti-bribery and accounting provisions.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Michael K. Catoe, Paul W. Sharratt, and M. Shahriar Masud of the FCPA Unit, under the supervision of Robert I. Dodge. The litigation will be led by John Bowers. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Justice Department's Fraud Section, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
This story does seem to have some facts to back it up but there are more questions than answers, such as; if this thing really has been f...
An enormous 8,000-square-foot fortress set on 40 acres of land in Nevada's sagebrush-dotted high desert, a 2.5-hour drive from Las Vegas, is selling for $950,000.

The so-called Hard Luck Castle with four-bedrooms and three bathrooms is an extraordinary and admittedly quite odd architectural wonder with a fantastical design you'd expect to find on the set of an apocalyptic science-fiction filmthink "Mad Max."

Its concrete walls are 16 inches thick and wrap around the circular structure with a central staircase taking you to all four floors and a solarium encased in glass for stargazing.

"It's absolutely amazing," says listing agent Jake Rasmuson of Bishop Real Estate. "You have to picture the middle of Nevada...your views are completely uninterrupted.

The main house is comprised of 22 rooms including a wine cellar, a theater and game room, a viewing deck and a fountain room. There are also two working 1920s pipe organs that resonate throughout the halls when played.

RELATED: Seattle loses its Heart: Ann Wilson's house up for under $5 million

A builder from Southern California, the owner chose the town of Gold Point (pop. 6) in Esmeralda County for his dream home due to its privacy, lack of building codes and few laws on private land. He spent $3 million and 12 years to complete his plan, and now he's ready to move onto his next adventure.

"He built it all himself with help from friends ," says listing agent. He's a guy who can fix or do anything. He's an amazing craftsman."

He added: "He's ready to give up the property. Purchase a boat and start a new chapter in his life."

The property is off-the-grid with self-sustained energy systems using solar and wind and a 4,000 gallon water storage tank has rain catchment. There's a detached 600-square-foot workshop equipped with tools for working on cars and steel fabrication and a remodeled miner's cabin with a new bathroom and kitchen.

A productive yet dormant gold mine with a "serviceable" mine shaft is also included. It was shuttered after World War II, but allegedly still contains gold.

"In a lot of ways, it's a 'doomsday prepper' dream home...extremely self-sustaining and secure."

That said, Rasmusson says he could also see an interested buyer might be "an astrologist, an artists, a writer, a musician, a poet, someone who really wants peace and quiet and wants two pipe organs in their home" because the organs and everything else except the owner's dog and truck are included in the sale.
God has a plan. I have been cancer free for more than 15 years. My surgeon told me that only 10 percent of colon cancer patients make it to the 10-year mark. Gods hand. God had plans for me.

A grandfather to six beautiful grandchildren and three years ordained as a deacon for St. Anne Catholic Church. This was not a coincidence.

Then there is our sixth grandchild, Elizabeth, our miracle baby. Born with a congenital heart defect. This problem was detected the day after she was born by the nurse who was running some tests on her. Elizabeth was taken to the NICU unit, along with her parents. Four hours later, my wife received the following text from our daughter: Her oxygen levels just arent staying up, so they are putting her on a ventilator. She needs prayers, Mom. They might have to put her on cardiac bypass if her oxygen still doesnt come up with the ventilator. Pray for her. Our 1 day old baby is going on cardiac bypass.

We prayed. We had people praying for her all over the world. Jesus knows what is in your heart. He hears.
FLORENCE, S.C.  S.C. Sen. Hugh K. Leatherman Sr. got a lesson in virtual reality this week and found it to be fascinating technology.

Leatherman attended the 2019 Florence County Legislative Day reception Wednesday evening at the Columbia Museum of Art. While attending, the longtime senator from Florence was offered the opportunity to try a virtual reality trainer by South East Express.

I was fascinated, Leatherman said Thursday afternoon. It was a very different experience. It was a good experience.

He added that he immediately thought about the potential uses for the virtual reality training in other businesses. Leatherman also said it is fabulous that such technology exists.

Leatherman said he believed he was told the company used the technology to train forklift drivers. He said South East Express actually is able to show the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that its drivers have been trained.

Leatherman has served in the Senate since 1981 and is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He served as president pro tempore from June 2014 until January 2019 when the position was renamed.
We are focusing on monitoring for customer service, also for threat monitoring, Childers said. We can look at keywords, and then we can look for usage of violent language or threatening language, and we can pick up on that. What we are doing with Florence School District One is primarily customer service, but it is threat monitoring in addition to traditional security measures.

In addition to scanning social media posts, the information is keyword and location searchable, Childers said. He also said the software can compile information each week.

So much information is generated all the time that you just cant have enough eyeballs on it, Childers said. So, if we can automate a portion of it and find those couple of needles in the haystacks, and help them out and give them some leads with good information, that helps their students and keeps them safe.

Jones said the district began investigating the use of the Social Media Listening Center at the SiMT Center before Christmas.

This is the ecosystem our parents and students live in now, and because there is so much, you have to have AI or machine learning or algorithms to help filter through the noise, Jones said.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
A new electronic decision support tool for managing asthma has the potential to improve the quality of asthma care in primary care settings, suggests a study led by St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

The research, published today in the European Respiratory Journal, aimed to determine whether the Electronic Asthma Management System (eAMS) could help close existing gaps in asthma care. The system is a first-of-its-kind evidence-based computerized decision support tool.

"We have excellent therapies for this disease, yet most patients do not receive the best care, and as a result, are poorly controlled," said Dr. Samir Gupta, an associate scientist at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael's Hospital, who led this study. "There are many barriers facing busy primary care physicians in providing the best care, including lack of time, knowledge, training, and local resources. We sought to try to overcome these barriers by leveraging the power of technology."

Dr. Gupta and his team followed 23 physicians for two years across three large family health teams, assessing care provided to 1,272 unique patients with asthma. The study analyzed baseline care for one year, then integrated the eAMS into the practices and monitored care for another year to identify changes in the quality of care. The evaluation of an electronic tool builds on recent research led by Dr. Gupta that found that significant gaps persist in asthma care in these areas across the province.

With the eAMS, asthma control assessment increased from 14 per cent to 59 per cent of patients. The tool also increased the proportion of patients who received an asthma action plan from 0 to 18 per cent. This is a self-management tool that lets patients know how to adjust their medications in case their asthma flares up. Asthma control assessment and action plans have been key recommendations in asthma care guidelines for more than 20 years.

"Our research demonstrates that a carefully designed eHealth tool can effectively be used in busy primary care settings, and can improve asthma care," said Courtney Price, who was a summer student at the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute while the analysis was completed. "This is especially important as asthma affects 339 million people globally, is one of the most common chronic diseases in Canada, and is continuing to increase in both prevalence and cost."

The decision support tool consists of:

An electronic questionnaire which patients typically complete on a tablet device in the physician waiting room (providing information about their asthma); An automated, computerized decision support system which then processes these data to instantly produce a set of asthma care recommendations and presents these to the clinician upon opening the patient's electronic chart; and A printable asthma action plan that is auto-populated by the eAMS and given to patients by the clinician (an evidence-based tool which provides guidance on what patients should do if their asthma flares up).

Dr. Gupta and his team hope to provide access to the eAMS to all family physicians in Canada. Next steps will include integrating the system across the different electronic medical record systems in use across Canada, further studies to show its impact on patient health, and adding additional features to the tool.

"In the future, we also hope to use the valuable lessons learned in this study to design similar tools for other chronic diseases," he said.
Sales of prescription psychiatric drugs such as Xanax and diazepam via darknet online drug markets have increased in the UK at an alarming rate, according to new research by the University of Kent and King's College London.

The findings validate concerns that non-medical prescription drug use (NMPDU) is becoming increasingly common in the UK and that policy makers need to act to address this issue.

Researchers from the universities set out to examine the scale of NMPDU via sales made on the darknet of three key drug types: sedatives, stimulants and opioid dependency products. They did this by analysing these types of drugs sold on 31 cryptomarkets in the USA, UK, Australia and European nations such as Germany and Sweden between September 2013 and July 2016.

In the UK the proportion of sales of sedatives such as alprazolam (popularly known by its trade name Xanax) and diazepam had increased by just under a percentage point (0.9%) each year over the study period to around 12% of the total of all drugs sold via the darknet in the UK by 2016, behind drug groups such as cannabis, MDMA-type products and cocaine. The researchers said this should alarm policy makers and demonstrates an increasing interest in these products.

Furthermore, this meant the UK accounted for close to a third (31.1%) of all sedatives sold on the darknet in the data analysed, not far behind the US that had the largest share at 41.4%. The report also notes that sales of Xanax are catching up with the more traditionally used UK sedative diazepam -- growing from 10% to a quarter of sedative sales monitored over the study period.

The USA had the largest share of other prescription psychiatric drug sales monitored. In total it accounted for 59.2% of all stimulant sales monitored and 64.4% of opioid dependency products such as suboxone and methadone. Sales of sedatives and stimulants increased by half a percentage point, pointing to an increased popularity, though more muted than the increase for sedatives in the UK.

The researchers say the findings have a number of policy implications, not least by confirming that non-prescribed sedative demand is an increasing issue in the UK relative to other drugs, as has been previously noted by Public Health England, particularly with regards to the use of Xanax.

Dr Jack Cunliffe from the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research at Kent said: 'The data shows that there is significant increase in the demand for nonmedical use of prescription drugs in the UK compared to other drugs in many advanced Western nations via the darknet. Governments must recognise this and look to create policies that react to these trends, especially if they wish to avoid a prescription drugs crisis similar to that which is occurring in the USA.'

On the rise of alprazolam, Dr Cunliffe added: 'Given that Xanax is not available in the UK on the NHS, the rising sales might have something to do with its notoriety in the USA, where its use is frequently glamorised in popular culture.'

The findings, co-authored with Dr Thomas Pollak from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London and Dr David Decary-Hetu from the University of Montreal, have been published in the International Journal of Drug Policy in a paper entitled Nonmedical prescription psychiatric drug use and the darknet: a cryptomarket analysis.
Applying just a bit of strain to a piece of semiconductor or other crystalline material can deform the orderly arrangement of atoms in its structure enough to cause dramatic changes in its properties, such as the way it conducts electricity, transmits light, or conducts heat.

Now, a team of researchers at MIT and in Russia and Singapore have found ways to use artificial intelligence to help predict and control these changes, potentially opening up new avenues of research on advanced materials for future high-tech devices.

The findings appear this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, in a paper authored by MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering and of materials science and engineering Ju Li, MIT Principal Research Scientist Ming Dao, and MIT graduate student Zhe Shi, with Evgeni Tsymbalov and Alexander Shapeev at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology in Russia, and Subra Suresh, the Vannevar Bush Professor Emeritus and former dean of engineering at MIT and current president of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Already, based on earlier work at MIT, some degree of elastic strain has been incorporated in some silicon processor chips. Even a 1 percent change in the structure can in some cases improve the speed of the device by 50 percent, by allowing electrons to move through the material faster.

Recent research by Suresh, Dao, and Yang Lu, a former MIT postdoc now at City University of Hong Kong, showed that even diamond, the strongest and hardest material found in nature, can be elastically stretched by as much as 9 percent without failure when it is in the form of nanometer-sized needles. Li and Yang similarly demonstrated that nanoscale wires of silicon can be stretched purely elastically by more than 15 percent. These discoveries have opened up new avenues to explore how devices can be fabricated with even more dramatic changes in the materials' properties.

Strain made to order

Unlike other ways of changing a material's properties, such as chemical doping, which produce a permanent, static change, strain engineering allows properties to be changed on the fly. "Strain is something you can turn on and off dynamically," Li says.

advertisement

But the potential of strain-engineered materials has been hampered by the daunting range of possibilities. Strain can be applied in any of six different ways (in three different dimensions, each one of which can produce strain in-and-out or sideways), and with nearly infinite gradations of degree, so the full range of possibilities is impractical to explore simply by trial and error. "It quickly grows to 100 million calculations if we want to map out the entire elastic strain space," Li says.

That's where this team's novel application of machine learning methods comes to the rescue, providing a systematic way of exploring the possibilities and homing in on the appropriate amount and direction of strain to achieve a given set of properties for a particular purpose. "Now we have this very high-accuracy method" that drastically reduces the complexity of the calculations needed, Li says.

"This work is an illustration of how recent advances in seemingly distant fields such as material physics, artificial intelligence, computing, and machine learning can be brought together to advance scientific knowledge that has strong implications for industry application," Suresh says.

The new method, the researchers say, could open up possibilities for creating materials tuned precisely for electronic, optoelectronic, and photonic devices that could find uses for communications, information processing, and energy applications.

The team studied the effects of strain on the bandgap, a key electronic property of semiconductors, in both silicon and diamond. Using their neural network algorithm, they were able to predict with high accuracy how different amounts and orientations of strain would affect the bandgap.

advertisement

"Tuning" of a bandgap can be a key tool for improving the efficiency of a device, such as a silicon solar cell, by getting it to match more precisely the kind of energy source that it is designed to harness. By fine-tuning its bandgap, for example, it may be possible to make a silicon solar cell that is just as effective at capturing sunlight as its counterparts but is only one-thousandth as thick. In theory, the material "can even change from a semiconductor to a metal, and that would have many applications, if that's doable in a mass-produced product," Li says.

While it's possible in some cases to induce similar changes by other means, such as putting the material in a strong electric field or chemically altering it, those changes tend to have many side effects on the material's behavior, whereas changing the strain has fewer such side effects. For example, Li explains, an electrostatic field often interferes with the operation of the device because it affects the way electricity flows through it. Changing the strain produces no such interference.

Diamond's potential

Diamond has great potential as a semiconductor material, though it's still in its infancy compared to silicon technology. "It's an extreme material, with high carrier mobility," Li says, referring to the way negative and positive carriers of electric current move freely through diamond. Because of that, diamond could be ideal for some kinds of high-frequency electronic devices and for power electronics.

By some measures, Li says, diamond could potentially perform 100,000 times better than silicon. But it has other limitations, including the fact that nobody has yet figured out a good and scalable way to put diamond layers on a large substrate. The material is also difficult to "dope," or introduce other atoms into, a key part of semiconductor manufacturing.

By mounting the material in a frame that can be adjusted to change the amount and orientation of the strain, Dao says, "we can have considerable flexibility" in altering its dopant behavior.

Whereas this study focused specifically on the effects of strain on the materials' bandgap, "the method is generalizable" to other aspects, which affect not only electronic properties but also other properties such as photonic and magnetic behavior, Li says. From the 1 percent strain now being used in commercial chips, many new applications open up now that this team has shown that strains of nearly 10 percent are possible without fracturing. "When you get to more than 7 percent strain, you really change a lot in the material," he says.

"This new method could potentially lead to the design of unprecedented material properties," Li says. "But much further work will be needed to figure out how to impose the strain and how to scale up the process to do it on 100 million transistors on a chip [and ensure that] none of them can fail."

The work was supported by the MIT-Skoltech program and Nanyang Technological University.
Saratoga Springs Democratic Committee Chair Courtney DeLeonardis announced the Democratic candidates for Saratoga Springs City Council that will run for re-election. Additional candidates have expressed interest in interviewing for a position and those interviews are in process. Saratoga County Supervisor Tara Gaston will also be vying to remain in office for an additional term.
Danvers, MA (01923)

Today

Rain showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High around 75F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low around 65F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
US President Donald Trump's announcement on Friday that he will declare a national emergency in order to build a wall along the Mexican border appears likely to face strong political pushback.

Democrats and some Republicans oppose an emergency declaration.

The US House of Representatives on Thursday night passed legislation on spending and border security to avert another government shutdown, hours after the bill was approved by the Senate. The budget bill allows for $1.37 billion in funding for 55 miles of border barriers.

"President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action  including a national emergency  to ensure we stop the national security and humanitarian crisis at the border," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

Asked by reporters if she would file a legal challenge to an emergency declaration, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "I may, that's an option."

The top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, accused Trump of a "gross abuse of the power of the presidency".

Trump was expected to announce that he will be spending roughly $8 billion on border barriers  combining the money approved by Congress with funding he plans to repurpose through executive actions, including a national emergency, said a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly, the Associated Press reported. The money is expected to come from funds targeted for military construction and counterdrug efforts.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, said he will support Trump on an emergency declaration.

But Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican, said in a statement: "Declaring a national emergency for this purpose would be a mistake on the part of the president."

Congressional aides said House Democrats were expected to file a lawsuit if Trump declares a national emergency in order to protect the House's constitutional powers to decide how taxpayer money is appropriated.

Conservative critics were not only disappointed in the small amount of wall funding in the bill  Trump had requested $5.7 billion  but immediately seized on the spending bill, because it contains a clause that would allow border counties in Texas veto power over any barriers.

Pelosi said: "If the president can declare an emergency on something that he has created as an emergency  an illusion that he wants to convey  just think of what a president with different values can present to the American people."

Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas, said a legal challenge might succeed, but that courts typically defer to the president on national security matters.

Elizabeth Goitein, a lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice, said there were strong arguments that border wall construction is impermissible under various statutes granting the president emergency powers.
Rutland, VT (05701)

Today

Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High 81F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 62F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Chandigarh: 16th Feb: At a time when the nation is reeling from the deadliest attack on its security forces, which killed over 40 soldiers, controversy is already rearing its ugly head. This time, its the favourite child of controversy, Punjab cabinet minister, Navjot Singh Sidhu. Sidhu, yesterday talked about the attack, affected family, and the neighbouring country blamed for it. It is a known fact, that the Pakistan PM Imran Khan is his friend, and as he has done in the past, Sidhu jumped in with all his might to defend his friend.

Sidhu said, For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual? It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished. Where ever wars are fought and such things (Pulwama-type attack) happen, dialogue also continues simultaneously. There is a need to find a permanent solution to (issues between India and Pakistan). Such people (terrorists) have no religion, no country and no caste.

Pulwama Attack

When a snake bites, its antidote is also snake poison," Sidhu said. There was a huge out outcry against his attempted defence of Imran Khan, who had by that time not even condemned the deadly attack. Pakistan has vehemently denied any link with the attack. It has officially rejected Indias blame about supposed Islamabad links with the terror attack. Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack, and Masood Azhar is the man at the helm of its affairs and decisions.

He lives in Pakistan and enjoys freedom, despite him being named as one of the most wanted terrorists by India. The Kapil Sharma Show has sacked Sidhu over his said comments over the most sensate issue of the day, according to media reports. Though Sidhu has talked about peace, the rising passions have turned him a villain. Maybe his timing was not right.
Chandigarh, 16th Feb: A day after he was embroiled in controversy, for all the wrong reasons, Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu addressed the media today, and answered all the questions weighing around him about the issues. Sidhu began by questioning the step motherly treatment given to army men. He said, whenever a politician moves, whole cities are brought to a standstill for their security, but when such a large convoy of men who fight for our safety, is being moved, their safety is not taken care of, and the official protocol of tracking their movements is also not followed.

He further asked, that why the soldiers were not airlifted to the intended station, and were made to sit in those trucks since the wee hours. He questioned the decision to transport the men through trucks in such condition when there was already intelligence about a supposed attack. He raised his concerns about the negative voices rearing their way into the narrative about much awaited Kartarpur Corridor.

He said that the corridor is in Guru Nanaks remembrance. Guru Nanak has spread the word of peace, which is the most important message in todays time. Hence the Corridor is relevant and important today. He seemed enraged over the fact that it is the soldiers always who have to die even for political unrest. It has been 71 years that the two countries have not solved this issue, and it is the brave soldiers who have to lay down their lives every time.

Pulwama Attack

It is high time such an inhuman treatment of the forces is put to a halt. To solve this tug of war between the two countries, international pressure is the only way out. Without creating international pressure to find a solution of the issue, our soldiers will keep on facing this. He claimed, that he did not say anything wrong. His words, as always have been twisted and presented in front of the public by the media.

When asked a question about whether he has any regrets over hugging General Bajwa on his visit to Pakistan, he evaded the question by counter questioning the PM. He said that he went to Pakistan on official invitations and the issue has been blown out of proportion since, but the PM went there without any invitation, breaking the protocol, and his greetings and hugs have been discounted.

Sri Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara

Sidhu also avoided commenting over Punjab CM Amarinder Singhs statement over the Pulwama attack, in which he warned Pakistan and its Army Chief in very strong words. In the end, he clarified his stand by saying, his country is always a priority for him, and comes above everything else.

The Pulwama attack was a cowardly act, and the perpetrators must be punished severely, without any fail. It is high time we gave preference to the army men, and gave them a humanely treatment, instead of giving all preference to politicians of the Nation.
New Delhi, February 16: The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has welcomed the decision of the Meghalaya High court staying dislocation of the Sikhs of Shillong without following due process of law and said that this decision will go a long way in securing justice for the community. It is notable that the Sikhs living in Shillong have been living there since the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The British took the Sikhs there, to work as manual scavengers, as early as 1863.

Hence came into existence, the Punjabi Lane, a separate residential colony of Sikhs in Shillong. The residents of the area claim that the local Syiem (head) of Mylliem (village) had given them the piece of land in 1853 to settle there permanently. This makes them residents of the area for the last 150 years. During the 1970s, Shillong district administration identified the Punjabi Lane as an illegal slum colony and issued an eviction order.

Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee

But the residents obtained a stay order from Meghalaya High Court in 1986. The conflict was revived once again last year in June. After violent clashes between the locally dominant tribe Khasi, and the Punjabis. The Punjabis once again faced the danger of eviction from the Punjabi Lane. DSGMC and SGPC volunteered to fight a case on their behalf, and today a judgement was given in the case.

In a statement released here today, the DSGMC working President Harmeet Singh Kalka and General Secretary Mr. Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that members of the Sikh community were unduly being targeted by the government and the local administration. They said that todays order of the High court is a big victory for Sikh community facing danger of dislocation in Shillong.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa

They informed that the High Court judge Justice SR Sen has made it clear that the government cannot disturb them till the time civil courts are approached and title is decided and both the parties will be given an opportunity of hearing. The Honourable Court has also given liberty to approach the courts in case the petitioners are aggrieved again. They said that Sikhs are residing in the area of Shillong since long time and if at local level any issue had arisen out, it was duty of the local administration and the government to sort it out and protect the right of minorities as enshrined in the Constitution.

But after failure of the Government and the administration, the Sikhs had to resort to court to get justice. Meanwhile Mr. Jagdeep Singh Kahlon, Chairman Legal Cell of the DSGMC has also thanked the legal team of Advocate Harpreet Singh Hora and Advocate Naginder Benipal for pursuing the battle on behalf of Sikh community of Shillong.
Srinagar, Feb 16: With the bugler playing the 'last post', Home Minister Rajnath Singh turned a pallbearer Friday as the bodies of 40 paramilitary personnel killed in an audacious terror strike in South Kashmir's Pulwama district were sent on their last journey home. Singh, accompanied by a high-level team comprising officials from the CRPF, NIA and Home Ministry, arrived here Friday afternoon and drove straight to the adjacent CRPF campus where a wreath laying ceremony was held for the slain jawans.

As the bugler played the 'last post' and guard called for 'shok salami shastra' (reversing of arms in honour of fallen soldiers), a two-minute silence was observed after which the Union home minister gave a shoulder to the coffin of a jawan which was being taken to his native place in a special aircraft. The home minister, Governor Satya Pal Malik, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba, CRPF Director General R R Bhatnagar, Jammu and Kashmir DGP Dilbagh Singh besides others attended the wreath laying ceremony.

Rajnath Singh lays wreath on the coffins of CRPF martyred

"The nation will not forget the supreme sacrifice of our brave CRPF jawans. I have paid my last respects to the martyrs of Pulwama. The sacrifice will not go in vain," Singh said. The dignitaries stood in silence till the coffins were loaded in a truck which went to the Srinagar airport, the official said. As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles of the CRPF travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the attack will pay "a very heavy price" and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with terrorists. In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely be punished.
We are no longer saying that the purpose is to help children who are already in the (juvenile) court system, but any child who may be in crisis, Mullin said. When a child is in crisis because of abuse, or mental health or addiction, we want to see if we can stabilize a child before they start breaking into houses  we want to see if we can keep them in school and out of court.
Mumbai, Feb 16: Veteran actor Shabana Azmi on Friday said she and her husband, lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar, have decided not to attend Kaifi Azmi's birth centenary celebrations in Karachi in the wake of Pulwama terror attack. The couple was invited to Pakistan by the Karachi Arts Council for a two-day event. "@Javedakhtarjadu and I were invited for a 2 day event celebrating Kaifi's Centenary and were truly looking forward to it.

I appreciate that our hosts the Karachi Arts Council mutually agreed to cancel the event at the nth hour in the wake of Pulwama attack," Azmi posted on Twitter. In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar cancel Karachi Arts Council

Azmi condemned the attacks and said she stands united with the grieving families. "Will there be no let to these heinous attacks? These mindless killings. This utter disregard for human lives? Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama. I strongly condemn the worst terror attack on CRPF convoy," she wrote. Akhtar, who had penned the CRPF anthem which was launched in 2014, also took to Twitter to pay his condolences.

"I have a special relation with CRPF. I have written their anthem before putting the pen to paper I met a number of CRPF officers and whatever I learned, my respect, admiration and love for these braves increased by many a fold. Today I share the grief of the dear ones of the martyrs," he wrote.
 Markets change. Thats the way they work. Another company with a similar name  General Motors  announced last year it was shutting down eight auto plants (four in the U.S., four elsewhere) because consumer preferences were changing. President Trump complained that GM was turning its back on workers and taxpayers because it had taken a federal bailout in 2008. A decade later, though, the market changed.

 CEOs are paid to look after their shareholders, not workers or their communities. The GE and GM executives arent being evil. Theyre just doing their job  which is to maximize the return for their shareholders. If you dont like that, then you essentially dont like capitalism. Or, at least you dont like the version advocated by the late economist Milton Friedman, who argued that companies have no social responsibility to anyone other than their shareholders. Thats a controversial view of capitalism, to be sure, but its the version thats being practiced. Even U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has complained that the 2017 federal tax bill didnt do much for workers. When corporation uses profits for stock buyback its deciding that returning capital to shareholders is better for business than investing in their products or workers, Rubio tweeted recently. Tax code encourages this. No surprise we have work life that is unstable & low paying. Of course, he could have tried to write a tax bill that required or incentivized companies to invest in their operations, but that would have violated Friedmans doctrine that only shareholders matter.
She was a devoted churchgoer, said Wallace, noting she and her sister, Hope, were raised in the church. She loved to praise the lord.

Levi Dent, a minister who spearheaded the vigil, said he met Pierson 15 years ago when he would go into Sheetz for coffee.

She loved people, he said. The main thing is she loved people. ... If she could have, she would have pushed someone out of the way and saved them.

Pierson had been working at the jail kitchen for about a year, Wallace said. Throughout her life, Pierson worked hard. Sheetz, Dollar Tree, HopeTree Family Services. She also did hairdressing.

She was a lovely grandmother of three and mother of two, Wallace said.

On social media, an outpouring of prayers blossomed.

Those of us who grew up with Linda know that she made everyone in her presence feel loved and special, Toni Ward Belton, principal of Roanoke Academy for Mathematics and Science, wrote on Facebook.

The Virginia Sheriffs Association, a lobbying group, wrote on Twitter that it expresses its deepest condolences to the Roanoke Sheriffs Office and to the family of Linda Pierson.
The other day, I drove through the ongoing 10th Street construction in northwest Roanoke to visit a friend. (The area is closed to through traffic, but people living in the area can drive through to get to their homes.) While bouncing along the bumpy gravel road, I caught a glimpse of Lick Run Farm and Community Market and wondered how its doing amid all the upheaval.

Rick Williams, owner of the property on the corner of 10th Street and Kellogg Avenue, said things have been tough since the revitalization project began about three years ago. The farm unfortunately is located smack dab in the middle of both phases of construction, he said.

It has been difficult to access the farm, and theres always lots of dirt and dust from construction, Williams said. We have to hose down the house to keep it from looking terrible. Yet we are still progressing.

According to Williams, the farms long-term goal is to help establish a neighborhood village center  akin to Grandin Village or South Roanoke  for the Washington Park neighborhood and the bordering Melrose-Rugby neighborhood.
Navy of Mexico seizes vessels, 9 tons of drugs off Sonora

Puerto Libertad, Sonora  The Secretariat of the Navy of Mexico reports that personnel of the Fourth Naval Region based in Guaymas, Sonora seized more than 9 tons of drugs as well as fuel, ammunition and weapons for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces.

The navy also says that three small boats with high-powered outboard engines were also part of the seizure.

The discovery was made after conducting reconnaissance maritime and aerial surveillance patrols, where three vessels with suspicious cargo were located. From this, a joint operation with ships, naval units and personnel of the Marine Corps were sent to investigate the mainland area in the vicinity of Puerto Libertad.

During the operation, naval elements recovered 8,800 kilograms of marijuana, 292 kilograms of methamphetamine and 12 kilograms of marijuana seeds as well as 200 grams of fentanyl, amounting to more than nine tons of drugs.

Photo: La Secretaria de Marina-Armada de Mexico

On board the three vessels, navy personnel also report seizing weapons and ammunition for the exclusive use of the Armed Forces.

The boats, fuel and illicit cargo were placed at the disposal of the Federal Public Prosecutors Office in Hermosillo, Sonora.

The navy says that these patrols are part of the maritime, air and land surveillance operations carried out by the Secretary of the Navy of Mexico to inhibit criminal action in order to guarantee security and maintain the rule of law on Mexican coasts.
The presumption of innocence and due process are the tenants of a civilized society. The lieutenant governor, like everyone else, is entitled to both regardless of what the charges may be. During this time he needs to step aside to devote his attention to this process. As for his future, it is undetermined at this time.
Talented architects looking for a lasting legacy, one that spans decades without their names fading, would be wise to take on as many expensive, prominent commissions as they can.

It certainly worked for W. Duncan Lee and William Lawrence Bottomley, the two most widely recognized and admired architects active in Richmond during the 20th century. They each designed prominent houses on Monument Avenue and in the citys West End, and some of them are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register.

Carl Lindner Sr. took a slightly different course. Like Lee and Bottomley, he landed some impressive residential commissions, and the best of them rival Lee and Bottomleys work. But Lindner worked across a greater range of building types, producing designs for commercial buildings, single-family residences, apartment buildings and places of worship.

In comparison, Bottomley and Lee were residential commission architects and rarely strayed from that path with an apartment building or a more rare commercial building, said Marc Wagner, senior architectural historian for the Virginia Department of Historic Resources. They had a dedicated residential design clientele through their social networks.
How would Hill regard the current moment? I cant presume to know. Yet, my gut instinct is that he would have joined the scores of black officeholders and leaders calling on Gov. Ralph Northam  and, with less volume, Attorney General Mark Herring  to resign. Generous as Hill could be in assessing the human condition, he never hesitated to vent moral outrage when the racial hypocrisies and sins of the white governing class were laid bare.

Yet, what  if anything  does Hills ability to find common cause with so fierce an enemy as Godwin offer to the current moment?

I see three possible root motivations for Hills endorsement: personal, institutional, or pragmatic. We can rule out the first. There surely was no personal bond between Hill and Godwin, although each might have recognized a grudging kinship in the forceful, confident leadership style of the other. Otherwise, their personalities and priorities were light-years apart.
Defiant after a stinging budget defeat, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency Friday to get more federal dollars for his long-promised wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, relying on a broad interpretation of his powers that was certain to trigger stiff legal challenges. Bypassing Congress, which approved far less money for his proposed wall than he had sought, Trump said he will use executive action to siphon billions of dollars from federal military construction and counterdrug efforts for the wall. The move drew immediate bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill.
Finally, institutional racism manifests itself by quietly  but devastatingly  denying students of color access to all sorts of educational opportunities. Sadly, I can share one example from my own school division. When I arrived in Richmond a year ago, I found that many of our comprehensive high schools  which serve over 90 percent students of color  only offered a handful of advanced classes. Thus, the students at these schools didnt have the opportunity to earn the types of credits that would boost their GPAs and make them competitive in the college admissions process. Weve begun to correct this inequity by ensuring that all of our high schools offer, at a minimum, AP calculus, AP language and composition, AP biology, and AP Spanish. Of course, theres much more we have to do  and will do  to ensure that all of our young people have access to a full array of advanced learning opportunities. I fundamentally believe that when we, the adults, do right by our students, they will show the world what they and their families already know: that theres literally nothing they cant achieve.
A cadet private during his four years at VMI, he nevertheless excelled in academics as an English major. Chosen as valedictorian of the class of 1961, he addressed his classmates with these prophetic words: We have spent four years in preparation for something. What that something is or who we are, we do not know. Few would have guessed what that something would have been for Daniels.

He received a prestigious Danforth Fellowship for post-graduate study in English literature at Harvard, where he enrolled the following fall. During an Easter service the following year, however, he said he felt called to follow God in the ministry. He then left Harvard and enrolled in the Episcopal Theological School, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Although engrossed in his seminary studies, in the spring of 1965 Daniels responded to a call from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for fellow clergy to come to Alabama and join in the civil rights movement.

With several other fellow seminarians, Daniels was granted permission to spend the rest of the semester in Alabama working on voter registration and marching in demonstrations.
After 11 years as president and CEO of ChamberRVA, Kim Scheeler has announced that he plans to retire from the business organization effective Jan. 3. Scheeler joined the Greater Richmond Chamber in August 2008. He came to RVA after serving as president and CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce in Florida. As noted in Greg Gilligans news story, during his tenure, Scheeler started numerous programs and initiatives. He was instrumental in growing jobs and working with the business community, government, and nonprofits in collaborative efforts for the benefit of all. All in all, he has been a vital part of Richmonds recent successes. Scheeler said he made this announcement early enough to give ChamberRVA time to find a successor. That was probably a smart move on his part, because we predict the search committee is going to face a challenge filling his shoes.

Today is the 215th anniversary of the burning of the USS Philadelphia. On October 31, 1803, during the First Barbary War, the warship was cruising near Tripoli when it ran aground on an uncharted reef two miles from the Tripoli harbor. The ship was captured by Tripolitan naval forces. The ships captain and crew were taken ashore and enslaved. The Philadelphia was anchored in the harbor and used as a gun battery to fire against American ships. Commodore Edward Preble, the leader of U.S. ships in the area, knew the captured vessel contained far too much firepower to relinquish to the enemy. With little hope of recapturing the ship, the only other option was to destroy it. In a daring plan, Lt. Stephen Decatur, commanding officer of the USS Enterprise, was chosen to lead what was our Navys first special operations mission. With a crew of Marines handpicked from the ranks of the USS Enterprise and the USS Constitution, and a recently captured Tripolitan ketch renamed the USS Intrepid, Decatur sailed to Tripoli, posing as a local trading vessel. In the middle of the night, he drew alongside the Philadelphia. The young lieutenant ordered his Marines to storm the frigate and overpower the Tripolitan sailors. In short order, the Philadelphia was ablaze. Quickly jumping back into the Intrepid, the crew made it safely out of the harbor. The mission was a complete success: The Philadelphia burned to the waterline and sank and no Americans were killed. News of Decaturs daring feat electrified the young country and raised international esteem for the tiny U.S. Navy  even British Admiral Horatio Nelson called the act the most bold and daring act of the age. For his part, Decatur was promoted to captain  at 25, the youngest person to ever reach that rank in the U.S. Navy. The daring young man went on to have countless adventures and great success. Who ever said history was boring?
Retired Richmond police Detective Ray Williams, who died Feb. 1 at age 68, will be honored at a memorial service at 2 p.m. Saturday, today, at the Richmond Police Department training facility at 1202 W. Graham Road.

Williams was chief investigator in Richmond with a multijurisdictional task force that used DNA evidence to apprehend Timothy Spencer, the South Side Strangler, in 1988 and worked on a team that recaptured the murderous Briley brothers, who escaped the states most secure prison in 1984.

Williams also worked as a homicide detective in the 1990s, when Richmond had one of the highest murder rates in the country. He retired in 2000.
Dixon blamed blows to the projects timeline on turnover at Virginia Union and the Department of Economic Development, which has gone through three directors since the agreement was struck.

We have the funds available to do the project, Dixon said.

Business and property owners along Brookland Park Boulevard have grown weary of inaction.

In January, they sent a letter to Hilbert demanding that he, or the city, intervene. The letter also laid out frustrations over a spate of shootings and crime on the corridor, as well as another prominent building on the stretch that has fallen into disrepair.

That $200,000 could have gone to do a lot of stuff: streetlights, cameras, police presence. Instead, it was given to a guy four years ago and he hasnt done anything with it, said Cory Weiner, an investor who has bought several properties on the corridor in recent years and circulated the letter that was sent to Hilbert.

Weiner and others who signed on to the letter confronted the councilman at his district meeting last month. Since then, there has been no communication from Hilbert on the matter, Weiner said.
PHILADELPHIA -- Looking out the window on my flight home from a conference in Philadelphia, I wonder, how can the pilot navigate through the clouds?

Thousands of feet in the air, I wouldn't dare take my phone out of airplane mode to check. This is only my second solo flight, and in general, I'm a rule follower.

So for now, I'm grateful that someone else is at the helm, that I can be in seat 17C, where I have time to think about my experience at the CLEF Convening, a gathering of several newsrooms that have received grants from the Lenfest Institute to enhance their ability to listen to their audience.

For too long, newsrooms have had a parent's mentality -- we know what's best for you, eat your vegetables or else.

Many newsrooms have been flying blindly, but not with the same navigation tools that I sure hope my pilot has. Newsrooms have been giving readers what they think is best without seeking much guidance.

It's just plain dangerous, and it's not effective. It's not working in newsrooms across the country. Take the fact that so many newsrooms were shocked when President Donald Trump was elected.

At the conference I was talking to another attendee. I told her where I grew up (Butler, Pennsylvania), where I went to school (Erie, Pennsylvania), and where I now live (Mansfield). Then I told her what I've covered in that time and how I've listened to the people around me.

"You weren't surprised by the outcome, were you?" she said.

"No, not really," I responded.

Whether you love or hate Donald Trump? I don't care. This isn't a column about the president.

It's about how newsrooms and the need to improve their listening skills. Reporters need to listen to their audience more and better.

Hearken's Julia Brandel encourages newsrooms to adopt a "servant's mentality" instead of a parent's. She tells reporters to listen to what their reader's want and to let it inform their work.

Richland Source has long taken advantage of in-person meetups and invited our readers into our newsroom for events like our Newsroom After Hours concert series and a Community Baby Shower. Last May, we increased our ability to listen with the implementation of Open Source, a platform powered by Hearken that allows readers to suggest stories to the newsroom.

While we haven't been able to personally respond to every submission, I have personally read every one, and that has informed the newsroom's reporting.

Hearken has allowed Richland Source to move closer towards adopting a servant's mentality, letting our readers be our boss.

Other newsrooms across the country are doing this, too. They are working with Hearken, Ground Source, the Listening Post Collective and the Coral Project to become better listeners.

Another speaker at the conference, Andrew Losowsky of the Coral Project, said newsrooms need to prioritize keeping promises.

So I won't make any outlandish promises that I can't keep, but I will say this: I promise to keep my ears open. I will listen and do my best to cover this community in a way that truly reflects what our audience is communicating.

If you want to reach out, please submit questions below or email me at tracy@richlandsource.com.
SHELBY -- The historic Shelby Fire building may find a new use for a different branch of safety service in Shelby.

Shelby City Council passed an ordinance on Feb. 4 allowing the historic fire department building to be leased to Community Ambulance, the contracted EMS service provider for Shelby. The lease agreement will be facilitated through the Community Improvement Corporation (CIC) of Shelby.

Shelby Fire Chief Mike Thompson said on Feb. 4 the Community Ambulance team has been sleeping on air mattresses at the new fire station because they lost the building they had previously been using, a former Ford dealership on the corner of Mickey Road and S. Martin Drive.

Thompson explained the former Ford dealership building had never been zoned property or shifted a change of occupancy.

"They would have to go through the whole process and have it changed for 24-hour sleeping, which means bringing it up to modern fire code," Thompson said. "The only other option for a dormitory and a garage is the old Shelby Fire, because it was always designed for people to stay there, sleep there, and have trucks in it."

The historic Shelby Fire building has been vacant since last fall, when the Shelby Fire Department officially moved into a brand-new building funded in large part by Grant Milliron. The original station was built in 1872, and remains one of the oldest fire stations in the United States.

The future of the historic station has been in limbo for many months now, the biggest challenge coming from the fact that the building sits in the city's 100-year floodplain. Project Manager Joe Gies explained to the city's Buildings and Grounds Commission last March that the building's options are restrictive and cost-prohibitive.

Gies explained that because the station sits in the floodplain, the building would have to meet current floodplain regulations if it were altered by more than 50 percent of its market value. Currently the historic station's property is appraised at $55,000.

Thompson explained the city's contract with Community Ambulance expires in October, so the EMS team would likely occupy the historic building until then. After that, the city will go through the bidding process for EMS services again.

"I can't think of any other option," Thompson said. "There's just nothing out there we can get them into."

Community Ambulance is the primary EMS service for the city of Shelby. Shelby Fire acts as a back-up EMS service if there are multiple patients to transport.

"If they were nonexistent we would have three people for fire and EMS. We would be going backwards," Thompson said. "It's vital to keep them around...and get the job done for our citizens."

Originally, the ordinance did not pass through Shelby City Council on Feb. 4. A motion to pass the ordinance as an emergency failed, with Councilmen Derrin Roberts, Nathan Martin and Garland Gates voting for the measure and Councilman Steve McLaughin voting against. Councilman Charlie Roub was absent from the Feb. 4 meeting.

"I am fearful that what has just happened here at this council meeting has great potential to jeopardize the lives and safety of the people of this community," Gates said.

After a brief 10-minute recess, McLaughlin brought up a motion to reconsider the ordinance, and the ordinance was passed unanimously.

Martin asked for assurances from the administration that Community Ambulance would be responsible for paying utilities for the building. Otherwise, he was in favor of the legislation.

"I don't disagree this is something that needs to be done, I'm just trying to make sure our t's our crossed and our i's are dotted, the need for speed notwithstanding," he said.

Mayor Steve Schag called the fix a "port in the storm" for Community Ambulance. Gates agreed.

"Community Ambulance is an integral part of the safety forces here in this community, and through no fault of their own they are in a bad situation, and 'bad' is probably a very weak work to describe it," Gates said.

"We have a very easy solution, not a permanent solution, but one we say can last until October, and it gets them out of sleeping on air mattresses on the floor somewhere and into a building that was designed as a dormitory and a place for safety equipment. This is a simple solution to the situation that has arisen."
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has confirmed in an interview with NBC News that Tehran's bid to send a satellite into space failed in early February, the second such mishap within two months.



Zarif on February 15 said the reasons for the failure were not yet clear, but he suggested the authorities will investigate possible sabotage by the United States after a report in The New York Times published on February 13.



Citing current and former U.S. administration officials, the newspaper reported that the White House had accelerated a secret U.S. program to sabotage Iran's missiles and rockets.



Zarif said Iran had been investigating the causes of the failures but that it was now "looking into the specifics" because of the article.



"It's quite possible. We don't know yet," he said of possible sabotage. "We need to look into it very carefully."



A representative for the U.S. National Security Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



Tehran had previously acknowledged the failure of the first launch in January, with Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi telling state TV that the rocket carrying the satellite failed to reach the "necessary speed" in the third stage of launch.



The United States has condemned the launch attempts, warning that Washington "will not stand for Iran's blatant disregard for international norms."



The United States alleged that Iran's satellite program uses technologies "that are virtually identical and interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles" in defiance of UN resolutions against any activity related to delivering nuclear weapons.



Iran insists its satellite and rocket launches do not violate UN resolutions that only "called upon" it not to conduct such tests. It has said its missile program is only for civilian purposes.



Iran launched its first domestically built satellite in 2009, on the country's 30th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran marked the 40th anniversary of the revolution this month.



In the NBC interview, Zarif repeated claims that it would be "suicidal" to start a war with Iran, accusing the United States of having a "pathological obsession" with his country.



Zarif said that the "same gang" that was behind the 2003 Iraq war were "at it again" in pushing for a war with Iran, without naming names.



U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton has taken a hard line on Tehran, saying the administration will "squeeze Iran" with maximum economic pressure in response to Tehran's "malign" behavior in the Middle East and around the world.



Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, served in the administrations of former Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush.



Zarif also appeared to rule out the idea of renegotiating the 2015 nuclear deal that Iran signed with six world powers, granting it an easing of financial sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.



Trump last year pulled the United States out of the deal and began reimposing sanctions against Tehran.

With reporting by NBC and Reuters
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders has confirmed that she has been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who has been tasked with investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and any links to the campaign of now-President Donald Trump.

"The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them," Sanders told CNN on February 15.

She did not provide details, but reports state that she was interviewed at around the same time that Mueller questioned Trump's former chief of staff, John Kelly, who left his post in December.

Many other members of Trump's inner team have been questioned by the special counsel in the probe.

Sanders joined the Trump campaign in 2016 as an adviser and became press secretary in July 2017.

Trump has denied collusion with Russia and has denounced the investigation as a political "witch-hunt."

Sanders has also used the "witch-hunt" phrase to describe the special counsel's probe.

Russia has denied meddling in the 2016 election despite the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that it attempted to saw the election in Trump's favor.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has called on European allies to renounce a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

"The time has come for our European partners to stand with us and with the Iranian people," Pence said on February 15 at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

Under the agreement, major world powers agreed to provide sanctions relief to Iran in exchange for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

The United States withdrew from the agreement last year and began reimposing sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the agreement was "fatally flawed" because it did not address Iran's ballistic-missile program or Iran's alleged state sponsorship of terrorism.

The other signatories to the agreement -- France, Germany, Britain, the European Union, Russia, and China -- have all been working to save the agreement.

Pence's comments came just moments after German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the agreement in her comments to the Munich conference. She called the pact an "anchor" that allows the West to exert pressure on Tehran.

Pence also urged NATO members to boost defense spending to levels previously agreed.

Pence also called on Europe to recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the leader of his country.

"All of us must stand with the Venezuelan people until freedom and democracy is fully restored," Pence said.

Guaido declared himself president of Venezuela in January after President Nicolas Maduro refused to hold early elections.

The U.S. vice president also warned of a security threat from the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, saying it "provides Beijing's vast security apparatus with access to any data that touches their network or equipment."

"America is calling on all our security partners to be vigilant and to reject any enterprise that would compromise the integrity of our communications technology or our national security systems," Pence said.

Commenting after Pence's speech, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS news agency that the United States did not take into consideration the consequences of many of its international actions.

"The end of the speech makes it clear that the U.S. side is aimed at pursuing its agenda, mindless of any expenses, any devastating consequences for the global security system," he said.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, TASS, and AFP
Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for Donald Trump, could face 19 to 24 years in prison on tax and bank-fraud charges, according to a new court filing by the U.S. special counsel.



In the February 15 filing by Robert Muellers office, the special counsel said it agreed with federal sentencing guidelines that would set a prison term of between 235 months and 293 months based on the charges Manafort has been convicted of and to which he has pleaded guilty.



"In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," prosecutors wrote in their filing.



"The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct."



The prosecutors further wrote that Manafort's advanced age of 69 should not help him receive a reduction in his sentence, saying that "he conspired to tamper with witnesses at a time when he was under indictment in two separate districts."



If accepted by Judge T.S. Ellis in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, it would put Manafort at risk of spending the rest of his life in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.



Such a sentence would be the longest given out as part of the special counsels investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and related matters.



Manafort also faces having to pay more than $24 million in restitution as part of his conviction on bank and tax-fraud charges related to his lobbying work for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians.



None of the charges Manafort faces related directly to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.



Manafort, who has been held for five months in jail pending sentencing, has also pleaded guilty in a Washington, D.C., federal court in a separate case, and will be sentenced next month.



Manafort had been in line for a reduced sentence -- no more than 10 years -- until a federal judge ruled that he breached an earlier plea agreement by lying to prosecutors on three different topics, including his communications with former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik.



Kilimnik, who was indicted last year on charges of witness tampering in Manafort's case, has been accused of having ties to Russian spy agencies, allegations he has denied. He is believed to be in Russia.



Manafort's attorneys had asserted that he did not intentionally mislead investigators but had initially forgotten some details, only to remember later.



Mueller's prosecutors have said discussions between Manafort and Kilimnik about a Ukrainian peace plan go to the "heart" of the Mueller probe.



In previous court documents, it was revealed that one of the topics discussed by Manafort and Kilimnik was a possible "Ukrainian peace plan."



The peace plan refers to the conflict that erupted in Ukraine in early 2014, after President Viktor Yanukovych fled the country amid mass protests.



The United States and Western allies hit Russia with sanctions after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula, and Moscow had sought to ease the punitive measures.



According to court filings, the peace plan was reportedly aimed at lifting the U.S. sanctions on Russia.



Mueller's investigation has resulted in charges against at least 32 people, including Trump's first national security adviser, Michael Flynn. The investigation also led to a guilty plea by Trump's longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, in a case brought by the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and CNN
Authorities in St. Petersburg have denied permission to hold a march in the city center on February 24 to mark the fourth anniversary of the killing of opposition political leader Boris Nemtsov.

The Petersburg Protests movement posted on social media on February 16 that the city authorities had rejected all the proposed routes for the march.

St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputy Boris Vishnevsky posted on Facebook that the authorities instead proposed holding a rally in Polustrovo Park and a march in that area, some 5 kilometers from the city center.

"It's a mockery," Vishnevsky wrote. "We will sue them."

It is the first time the authorities in Russia's northern capital have refused permission for a march honoring Nemtsov, who was shot dead in Moscow on February 27, 2015.

In previous years, the event was held at Lenin Square next to the Finland Railway Station, and participants then marched to the Solovetsky Kamen memorial to victims of political repression, where they placed Nemtsov's portrait.

"The refusal to allow the Boris Nemtsov commemorative march and the offer of an alternative that does not suit the goals of the traditional event are perplexing," St. Petersburg human rights ombudsman Aleksandr Shishlov told Interfax.

Authorities in the cities of Kirov and Vladivostok have also already refused permission to hold similar events.

In Moscow, the mayor's office on February 14 gave permission for a march, although discussions concerning the exact route are still under way.

The Moscow event will take place on February 24 and authorities have authorized the participation of up to 30,000 people.

In June 2017, a court sentenced a former deputy commander of the Chechen Sever Battalion, Zaur Dadayev, to 20 years in prison for killing Nemtsov. Four other Chechens were given terms between 11 and 19 years in prison after being convicted of involvement.

Relatives and colleagues of Nemtsov consider the case still unsolved because the authorities have failed to determine who ordered the killing. They suspect it could be someone in the inner circle of President Vladimir Putin or Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

With reporting by Interfax
Thousands of people have demonstrated in Montenegro to demand the resignation of President Milo Djukanovic's government over allegations of corruption.

The crowd marched through the capital of Podgorica on February 16 chanting "Milo thief" and carrying banners reading "No more crime" or "Rebellion."

Dubbed "Resist," the protest was organized after a former key ally of Djukanovic accused the president and his ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of improper financial dealings and corruption.

Djukanovic has denied the allegations, and the authorities in turn accused former banker Dusko Knezevic of money laundering and fraud. Knezevic has fled the country.

Djukanovic and his party have ruled Montenegro virtually unchallenged for decades. He led the country to independence from much larger Serbia in 2006 and defied Russia to join NATO in 2017.

Based on reporting by AP
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, following a visit to the memorial site of Auschwitz, has accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism, a day after blasting European countries for attempting to undermine U.S. sanctions against Tehran.

Pence on February 15 said a visit to the Nazi death camp in Poland had made him more determined to confront Tehran, which he claimed was "breathing out murderous threats with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe."

"For me, it simply strengthens my resolve...to stand strong against Iran," Pence told reporters.

It was Pence's first visit to Auschwitz, where Nazi Germany murdered 1.1 million people, most of them Jews. Poles, Roma, and others were also killed at the site during the Nazi occupation of Eastern Europe during World War II.



Pence pointed to Iran's long-expressed desire to destroy the state of Israel as justification for singling out Tehran in his remarks.

Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, who is deputy chief the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, last month said Iran's strategy was to wipe "the Zionist regime" off the political map, according to Iranian state TV.

President Donald Trump has taken a tough stand against Tehran.

In 2018, he pulled the United States out of the 2015 landmark nuclear deal that Iran signed with six world powers. Trump said the accord was not tough enough and that Iran was violating its terms, which provided relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear program.

Tehran has denied that it was violating terms of the accord and has rejected other accusations, such as claims it is supporting terrorist activity in the region.

Pence on February 14 called on Washington's European allies to also withdraw from the nuclear deal with Iran, saying that Tehran was the "greatest threat to peace and security" in the Middle East.

He said that "some" of Washington's "leading European partners" had not been cooperative when it came to confronting Iran.

"In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said at the February 14 gathering.

France, Britain, and Germany two weeks have ago launched a new financial vehicle to trade with Iran while bypassing U.S. sanctions against Iran.

With reporting by AP and Reuters
A Moscow court has sanctioned the arrest of a prominent American investment-fund manager who is accused of large-scale fraud.

The Basmanny district court on February 16 remanded Michael Calvey, founder of the Baring Vostok investment company, to custody until April 13 pending trial.

A defense lawyer told Interfax that Calvey would appeal the court's decision.

Calvey was detained in Moscow on February 14 along with three other Baring Vostok employees, former Vostochny Bank CEO Aleksei Kordichev, and PKB General Director Maksim Vladimirov. All six defendants have now been remanded to custody.

At the February 16 hearing, Calvey -- who denies any wrongdoing -- told the court that he would cooperate with the investigation and asked to be placed under house arrest.

Seated in a locked, glass-walled space inside the court room, Calvey told the court via his lawyer who translated his speech into Russian, "I'm not going to run."

The court, however, ruled that he should be confined under the same terms as the other defendants.

After the hearing, Ivan Melnikov, head of the Moscow public monitoring commission, said he had been informed that Calvey would be quarantined for a medical examination for a period which "by law is maximum 10 days."

Quarantined suspects are held in solitary confinement while they are examined by doctors and psychologists, Melnikov said.

The charges stem from a long-running dispute between Baring Vostok and Vostochny Bank shareholders. Baring Vostok owns 52.5 percent of the bank. Prosecutors accuse the defendants of embezzling 2.5 billion rubles ($37.5 million) by persuading Vostochny Bank shareholders to approve a share deal at an unrealistically low price.

Kirill Dmitriyev, head of Russia's sovereign-wealth fund, was quoted by Reuters as saying he would personally vouch for Calvey, saying that he and his team were highly professional and committed to ethical standards.

German Gref, head of Russia's Sberbank, said on February 15 that Calvey was "a decent and honorable man who has done much to bring investment into our country."

Bernard Sucher, a U.S. investor and entrepreneur who worked in Moscow for two decades, told RFE/RL that Calvey "helped pioneer private equity in Russia and is viewed around the world as its unofficial leader."

"He's a good man, and the news that he has been detained for any reason at all is astonishing," Sucher said.

Founded in 1994, Baring Vostok is one of the largest private-equity firms in Russia and the former Soviet Union, according to the firm's website. It manages more than $3.7 billion in assets. It is particularly active in the technology sector and owns a stake in the Yandex search engine.

Before founding Baring Vostok, Calvey worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Salomon Brothers. He is a member of the board of directors of the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C.

With reporting by Reuters, Meduza, RBK, and Interfax
A day after accusing Russia of trying to "goad the West," British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson has been labeled the "minister of war" by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Lavrov's comments at the Munich Security Conference on February 16 come a day after Williamson said that Russia "was trying to goad the West into a new arms race it simply is not interested in and does not want."

Williamson also accused Russia of "illegal activity" on land and at sea, and called on Moscow to improve its relations with the West through dialogue.

Lavrov, talking about Russia's perception of "increased activity by NATO," said Moscow was interested in knowing how the Western alliance saw its mandate in the Arctic.

"If you listen to some people like the minister of war -- or, sorry, the minister of defense of the United Kingdom, then you might get an impression that nobody except NATO has the right to be anywhere other than in their own borders."

It was not the first time Lavrov and Williamson have clashed verbally.

Last year, after Williamson told Russia to "go away and shut up", Lavrov retorted, "Maybe he lacks education."

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
Thousands have turned out in Iran for the mass funeral of 27 Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) troops killed in a suicide car bombing near the border with Pakistan on February 13.

Shouts of "Death to America," and "Death to Zionism" could be heard from the crowd gathered on February 16 in the central city of Isfahan, where the elite troops were based.

Speaking to the crowd, IRGC commanding General Mohammad Ali Jafari threatened to retaliate against neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the attack.

Earlier, he claimed without providing evidence that the United States and Israel ordered Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to carry out the attack, which also wounded 12.

"We will get revenge for the blood of our martyrs from Saudi Arabia and the Emirates," Jafari said in a speech to the crowd. He asked President Hassan Rohani to give the IRGC the authority to retaliate.

The Sunni Muslim extremist group Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for the attack in southeastern Iran. The group claims it is seeking better conditions for Iran's ethnic Baluch minority.

Jafari said Iran expected Pakistan to "punish" the group, which allegedly has taken refuge in the country's southwest.

"If they do not punish them, our retaliatory measures will be carried out," he said.

The bomb struck a bus traveling on a road between the cities of Khash and Zahedan, a mountainous region along the Pakistani border that is also near Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, India was also pressuring Pakistan to crack down on extremist groups that it says are carrying out cross-border attacks in the disputed Kashmir region.

A Pakistan-based extremist group has claimed responsibility for a February 14 attack in India-controlled Kashmir that left 44 paramilitary police officers dead.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned that a hasty U.S. pullout from Syria runs the risk of strengthening the roles of Russia and Iran in the Middle East.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on February 16, Merkel questioned whether the planned U.S. withdrawal was "a good idea."

"Will it once more strengthen the capacity of Iran and Russia to exert their influence?" she asked.

She also cautioned against a premature U.S. withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan, saying that NATO's Resolute Support mission in that country was dependent on the U.S. military's commitment.

The German leader also called on Beijing to join the international disarmament process. Earlier this month, the United States announced it was withdrawing from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty after claiming that Russia was violating it. But Washington is also concerned that the treaty restricts U.S. weaponry in Asia, but does not limit those of China.

Merkel noted that the INF Treaty was negotiated "essentially for Europe" and that without it, Europe would have to push for future disarmament agreements to ensure its own security.

"Disarmament is something that concerns us all and where we would, of course, be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe, and Russia, but also with China," she said.

Chinese Politburo member Yang Jiechi told the Munich Conference shortly after Merkel's speech that the INF Treaty should be saved, but that China would not sign it.

"China develops its capabilities strictly in accordance to its defensive needs and doesn't pose a threat to anybody else," Yang said. "So we are opposed to the multilateralization of the INF."

Merkel also defended the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which Washington is concerned will make Europe overly reliant on Russian gas.

Speaking as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko looked on, she said his country would continue to be a transit country for Russian gas even after the pipeline was complete.

Merkel noted that Europe also has enough terminals to receive more liquefied gas from the United States, among other options. "There's nothing that speaks against getting gas from the United States, but to exclude Russia is the wrong strategic signal."

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, dpa, and TASS
KOLOMNA, Russia -- Maksim Chernykh was on his way to work one morning earlier this month when he got a frantic phone call from his mother. A dozen police officers were standing at the gate outside their house, she told him, saying they had a search warrant. Chernykh didn't make it to work that day.

The police didn't spend much time searching the house in the Moscow region village of Stepanshchino on February 7, Chernykh recalled. After what he called a perfunctory examination, they said they needed to see the other buildings on the property. Ignoring various sheds, they headed almost directly to the banya and, after that, announced they needed to check a snow-covered wood pile on the other side of the fence behind the sauna.

"They went straight there and spent quite a long time there," Chernykh told RFE/RL. At one point, they asked Chernykh to fetch a shovel to remove the snow. After some searching, the officers claimed to have found two hand grenades. Chernykh is under investigation.

Chernykh says the grenades were not his. He is being harassed by the authorities because of his vocal opposition to a controversial trash-incineration plant the government plans to build in Svistyagino, some 3 kilometers away from Stepanshchino, he says.

A week earlier, on January 31, law enforcement officials searched the homes of 14 activists working against the project in the nearby city of Kolomna. The early morning raids were part of an investigation into charges of "repeatedly violating the regulations on public events."

"The police were interested in data drives, documents related to the [No Dump in Kolomna] initiative group, and the newspaper published by [opposition politician and former Duma Deputy] Dmitry Gudkov," according to the No Dump in Kolomna group.

A criminal case was filed against activist Vyacheslav Yegorov, who is under house arrest facing charges of organizing unsanctioned protests via social media. In September, Yegorov told RFE/RL that police had threatened him with "a three-year term, like [Ildar] Dadin got."

Playing Hardball

Dadin was arrested in December 2015 and sentenced to three years in prison for repeatedly participating in one-person protests, becoming the first person prosecuted under a 2014 law banning repeated violations of the law on public assemblies. In 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law should only apply to people who endanger others or property while participating in unsanctioned protests.

"By opening this case against Yegorov, the Investigative Committee of Moscow Oblast is publicly spitting in the face of the Constitutional Court," human rights activist Alla Frolova told RFE/RL. Yegorov "is a public citizen of Kolomna who has lived and worked there his entire life."

Moscow-based rights activist Lev Ponomaryov says the authorities are moving aggressively from charging activists with relatively minor administrative violations and punishing them with fines or short jail terms to using the 2014 law to file serious criminal charges punishable by real prison sentences.

When opposition politician Aleksei Navalny organized national protests against raising retirement ages in September, Ponomaryov says, the authorities responded by "illegally" arresting organizers and "fabricating administrative cases against them."

"This was a perfectly working machine of administrative political repression," he says, "and society barely reacted. So they have moved on to mass criminal political repressions. We are now at the beginning of these repressions."

Moscow's Waste Problem Goes National

Protests against solid-waste-disposal plans swept Russia in 2018, particularly after March 21, when dozens of children in the Moscow region town of Volokolamsk were hospitalized with suspected poisoning caused by noxious gases emanating from a local landfill. Several thousand people turned out for a demonstration there in early April.

Nationally, Russia recycles just 4 percent of its waste. Moscow, with less than 10 percent of Russia's population, generates about 20 percent of its solid waste, according to government statistics.

About 90 percent of that waste is sent to landfills in the surrounding region. Many of those landfills have exceeded their planned capacity but continue to receive shipments from the capital. Government plans to ship large quantities of Moscow's garbage by train to a vast new landfill in Arkhangelsk Oblast have been met with anger from locals there.

In January, Putin ordered the government to develop a national system of waste disposal and a national oversight agency called Russian Ecological Operator before the end of 2019. Activists say the government's planning is opaque and the concerns of local residents are systematically ignored.

On February 3, thousands of protesters in about 30 Russian regions took to the streets in a national demonstration under the slogan "Russia is not a dump."

WATCH: Protests against waste disposal sites in Russia have prompted a wave of police raids. Protesters say they're being targeted for raising legitimate environmental concerns.

Kolomna -- a city of some 145,000 people about 100 kilometers southeast of Moscow -- threatens to become the next problem for the Kremlin. It is within a dozen kilometers of an existing landfill at Volovichi, a planned new landfill at Myachkovo, and the planned waste-incineration plant at Stepanshchino.

Moreover, it is the hometown of Gudkov, a charismatic and experienced liberal politician with a national reputation.

"Imagine a pile of garbage taller than the Kolomna kremlin," he tells RFE/RL, explaining that the Myachkovo plan calls for the accumulation of garbage to a depth of more than 40 meters over nine years. "And the waste incinerator will affect all of Kolomna and all of Voskresensk. It will be an ecological catastrophe.

"We have created a platform, sort of an ecological Uber, that serves all residents of the Kolomna and Voskresensk regions," he continues. "We have more than 2,000 members.... Our goal is to gather 10,000 and then we will call a protest demonstration."

"We have got the whole city listening to us," he adds. "And what can [the authorities] offer in response? Only repressions, because there can be no dialogue with residents. They have no intention of changing their plans to build the incinerator, and they are not going to close any landfills.

"But the people are defending their health, their lives. They don't want to breath dioxins. What the government is offering is just that we should all die of cancer or some other illness. It will be worse here than in Volokolamsk if the authorities don't start talking to us."

Kolomna resident Roman Nalyotov says the city is wondering "to what lengths the authorities will go to stop this."

"No one knows what they will burn in that plant or what will be released into the atmosphere," he adds. "And that worries me. My child has to live here, and I want him to live in somewhat better conditions. I think that is reason enough to protest."

Svetlana Yakunina is a Kolomna resident who has a dacha about a kilometer from the Volovichi landfill.

"No matter what, people are going to do whatever they can [to protect themselves]," she tells RFE/RL. "But when the authorities use such forceful methods, things get scary.... For 15 activists who are fighting to get the truth out, they mobilized 100 police officers."

Written by Robert Coalson based on reporting by Ivan Voronin of RFE/RL's Russian Service. Alina Pinchuk of RFE/RL's Russian Service contributed to this report from Moscow
Turkey's president has said his country will proceed with plans to purchase the advanced S-400 air-defense system from Russia despite pressure from the United States to scrap the deal.

"We made the S-400 deal with Russia, so it is out of the question for us to turn back," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told journalists in Ankara on February 16.

U.S. officials had given NATO-member Turkey an informal deadline of February 15 to respond to a rival U.S. offer to purchase a Patriot missile-defense system for $3.5 billion.

Erdogan said Turkey was still open to purchasing the Patriot systems, but Washington has said it would withdraw the offer if Turkey goes ahead with the deal with Moscow.

Washington has said Russia's S-400 cannot be integrated into NATO air defenses.

"We continue our work based on the promise of the S-400 deliveries in July," Erdogan said.

On February 6, Dmitry Shugayev, head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, told the daily Kommersant that Russia expected to complete the deal with Turkey "by fall of 2019."

Earlier media reported that Turkey will buy four battalion S-400 units for a price of $2.5 billion.

Based on reporting by Interfax, Kommersant, Reuters, and TASS
Kyin Lin (C), the gunman who shot a prominent Muslim lawyer who was a close advisor to Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, is escorted by police from the Yangon Northern District Court in Yangon, Feb. 15, 2019.

A Myanmar court on Friday handed down death sentences to two men found guilty of assassinating Ko Ni, a prominent human rights attorney and advisor to the countrys leader Aung San Suu Kyi, while two others who assisted in the murder plot received prison terms after a long and tortuous trial.

A panel of judges at the Northern Yangon District Court found gunman Kyi Lin guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to death by hanging, lawyers involved in the case said.

He also received an additional 23 years and hard labor for the death of taxi driver Nay Win, who chased him after Ko Ni was gunned down, and for illegal weapons possession, they said.

Accomplice Aung Win Zaw, a former military officer, was also sentenced to death for helping to plan the premeditated killing that took place about eight months after Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party came to power.

Former military officer Zayar Phyo and Aung Win Tun, two other defendants who helped carry out the crime, also received prison terms.

The court sentenced Zayar Phyo to five years in prison with hard labor for falsifying evidence, and handed Aung Win Tun a three-year term for harboring an offender.

Zayar Phyo was initially charged with masterminding the contract killing of Ko Ni, but the court decided that attorneys for the plaintiff failed to prove directly or indirectly that he was the architect of the plan and hired the hitman.

Zayar Phyos attorney, Nay La, who was also a confidante of Ko Ni, said the verdict was the product of a flawed legal system.

As I am part of the legal team working on the case, we believe there are flaws in our legal system, he said. We consulted with the district-level legal officer and the Office of the Attorney General. The district legal officer agreed with us that the system is flawed.

Former Lieutenant Colonel Aung Win Khine (also known as Khaing), brother of Aung Win Zaw and Aung Win Tun, was accused of premeditated murder for allegedly masterminding the crime, though he remains at large.

The court convicted Kyi Lin, Aung Win Zaw, and Aung Win Tun as initially charged during the trial that lasted for nearly two years and included more than 100 court hearings. But the original charge of premeditated murder for Zayar Phyo was unexpectedly downgraded.

With regards to Zayar Phyo, he was convicted for violating Section 212(1) of the Penal Code instead of his initial charges, said plaintiffs attorney Khin Maung Htay. We will proceed in pursuing justice for this decision.

Ko Ni, a 63-year old Muslim attorney who served as a legal advisor to the NLD, was shot point-black in the back of the head while he held his grandson at Yangon International Airport on Jan. 29, 2017 after returning from a work trip to Indonesia.

Observers and analysts have speculated that Ko Ni was targeted for being an outspoken critic of anti-Muslim attitudes held by Myanmars Buddhist nationalists and the countrys powerful military, and for advising the NLD on how to circumvent articles in the countrys military-drafted constitution that prevented Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president.

Aung Win Zaw (C), who helped plan the murder of prominent Muslim lawyer Ko Ni, is escorted by police from the Yangon Northern District Court in Yangon, Feb. 15, 2019. Credit: RFA Chance to appeal

Gunman Kyi Lin repeatedly testified in the court hearings that he was hired by someone named Myint Swe, but the court decided that his testimony was a fabrication and that Aung Win Zaw had masterminded the murder, sources said.

Supporters of Kyi Lin and Aung Win Zaw bemoaned the verdicts, while those who stood with Ko Nis family complained that the five-year sentence for Zayar Phyo was too lenient.

The two men who were handed death sentences can file appeals within a week, while the others can file appeals of their prison terms within 60 days.

Kyaw Kyaw Htike, one of the defendants attorneys, said he had no information on appealing the verdict, and that appeals depend on the wishes of the defendants families.

There are other legal offices involved in this case, he said. It is possible they will review and evaluate todays verdict, and it depends on the decision of the defendants.

Ko Nis son Thant Zin Oo declined to comment in detail on the verdict.

I dont want to make any comments with regards to the court verdict today, he said. The defendants still have the chance to appeal the decision, so we should wait and see if they decide to submit appeals.

The media were not allowed to interview the convicts, who were immediately taken to a vehicle and transported back to Insein Prison on the outskirts of Yangon.

Myanmar still sentences convicts to death by hanging, but is not known to have conducted any executions since the late 1980s.

Reported by Kyaw Zaw Win and Htet Arkar for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email please call (208) 542-6777 for help.



We get it. You don't want to see the ads.

We'd just ask you to understand that those ads help us pay the bills  and our reporters. Please, consider white-listing the Standard Journal in your ad-blocker or, even better, purchase a subscription so that you can help support quality local journalism.
Table of Contents



1 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Overview

1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR)

1.2 Classification of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) by Types

1.2.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Comparison by Types (2019-2024)

1.2.2 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Types in 2018

1.2.3 Hardware

1.2.4 Software

1.2.5 Service

1.3 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market by Application

1.3.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Size and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2014-2024)

1.3.2 Large Consumers

1.3.3 Small Consumers

1.4 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market by Regions

1.4.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Size (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2014-2024)

1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Status and Prospect (2014-2024)

1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Status and Prospect (2014-2024)

1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Status and Prospect (2014-2024)

1.4.4 South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Status and Prospect (2014-2024)

1.4.5 Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Status and Prospect (2014-2024)

1.5 Global Market Size of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) (2014-2024)

2 Manufacturers Profiles

2.1 Verifone Systems Inc

2.1.1 Business Overview

2.1.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.1.2.1 Product A

2.1.2.2 Product B

2.1.3 Verifone Systems Inc Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.2 NCR Corporation

2.2.1 Business Overview

2.2.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.2.2.1 Product A

2.2.2.2 Product B

2.2.3 NCR Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.3 Cognizant

2.3.1 Business Overview

2.3.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.3.2.1 Product A

2.3.2.2 Product B

2.3.3 Cognizant Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.4 PAR Technology Corporation

2.4.1 Business Overview

2.4.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.4.2.1 Product A

2.4.2.2 Product B

2.4.3 PAR Technology Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.5 NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc.

2.5.1 Business Overview

2.5.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.5.2.1 Product A

2.5.2.2 Product B

2.5.3 NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.6 LG

2.6.1 Business Overview

2.6.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.6.2.1 Product A

2.6.2.2 Product B

2.6.3 LG Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.7 Panasonic Corporation

2.7.1 Business Overview

2.7.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.7.2.1 Product A

2.7.2.2 Product B

2.7.3 Panasonic Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.8 Oracle Corporation

2.8.1 Business Overview

2.8.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.8.2.1 Product A

2.8.2.2 Product B

2.8.3 Oracle Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.9 Delphi Display Systems, Inc

2.9.1 Business Overview

2.9.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.9.2.1 Product A

2.9.2.2 Product B

2.9.3 Delphi Display Systems, Inc Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.10 HM Electronics, Inc.

2.10.1 Business Overview

2.10.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.10.2.1 Product A

2.10.2.2 Product B

2.10.3 HM Electronics, Inc. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.11 Revel Systems

2.11.1 Business Overview

2.11.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.11.2.1 Product A

2.11.2.2 Product B

2.11.3 Revel Systems Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.12 PAX Technology

2.12.1 Business Overview

2.12.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.12.2.1 Product A

2.12.2.2 Product B

2.12.3 PAX Technology Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.13 SZZT Electronics

2.13.1 Business Overview

2.13.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.13.2.1 Product A

2.13.2.2 Product B

2.13.3 SZZT Electronics Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

2.14 Shenzhen Xinguodu

2.14.1 Business Overview

2.14.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

2.14.2.1 Product A

2.14.2.2 Product B

2.14.3 Shenzhen Xinguodu Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

3 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Competition, by Players

3.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Share by Players (2014-2019)

3.2 Market Concentration Rate

3.2.1 Top 5 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Players Market Share

3.2.2 Top 10 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Players Market Share

3.3 Market Competition Trend

4 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Size by Regions

4.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Market Share by Regions

4.2 North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.3 Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.4 Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.5 South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

4.6 Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

5 North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries

5.1 North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

5.2 USA Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

5.3 Canada Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

5.4 Mexico Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

6 Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries

6.1 Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

6.2 Germany Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

6.3 UK Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

6.4 France Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

6.5 Russia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

6.6 Italy Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

7 Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries

7.1 Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

7.2 China Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

7.3 Japan Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

7.4 Korea Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

7.5 India Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

7.6 Southeast Asia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

8 South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries

8.1 South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

8.2 Brazil Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

8.3 Argentina Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

8.4 Colombia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

9 Middle East and Africa Revenue Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) by Countries

9.1 Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

9.2 Saudi Arabia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

9.3 UAE Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

9.4 Egypt Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

9.5 Nigeria Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

9.6 South Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

10 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Segment by Type

10.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Market Share by Type (2014-2019)

10.2 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Forecast by Type (2019-2024)

10.3 Hardware Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2024)

10.4 Software Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2024)

10.5 Service Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2024)

11 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Segment by Application

11.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Application (2014-2019)

11.2 Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Forecast by Application (2019-2024)

11.3 Large Consumers Revenue Growth (2014-2019)

11.4 Small Consumers Revenue Growth (2014-2019)

12 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Size Forecast (2019-2024)

12.1 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Size Forecast (2019-2024)

12.2 Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Forecast by Regions (2019-2024)

12.3 North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

12.4 Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

12.5 Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

12.6 South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

12.7 Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

13 Research Findings and Conclusion

14 Appendix

14.1 Methodology

14.2 Data Source



List of Tables and Figures



Figure Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Picture

Table Product Specifications of Quick Service Restaurant (QSR)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) and Revenue (Million USD) Market Split by Product Type

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Types in 2018

Figure Hardware Picture

Figure Software Picture

Figure Service Picture

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Application (2014-2024)

Figure Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Applications in 2018

Figure Large Consumers Picture

Figure Small Consumers Picture

Table Global Market Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions 2014-2024

Figure North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2014-2024)

Figure Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2014-2024)

Figure Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2014-2024)

Figure South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2014-2024)

Figure Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2014-2024)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2014-2024)

Table Verifone Systems Inc Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Verifone Systems Inc Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Verifone Systems Inc Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table NCR Corporation Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table NCR Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table NCR Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Cognizant Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Cognizant Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Cognizant Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table PAR Technology Corporation Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table PAR Technology Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table PAR Technology Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table LG Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table LG Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table LG Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Panasonic Corporation Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Panasonic Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Panasonic Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Oracle Corporation Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Oracle Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Oracle Corporation Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Delphi Display Systems, Inc Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Delphi Display Systems, Inc Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Delphi Display Systems, Inc Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table HM Electronics, Inc. Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table HM Electronics, Inc. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table HM Electronics, Inc. Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Revel Systems Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Revel Systems Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Revel Systems Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table PAX Technology Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table PAX Technology Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table PAX Technology Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table SZZT Electronics Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table SZZT Electronics Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table SZZT Electronics Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Shenzhen Xinguodu Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors

Table Shenzhen Xinguodu Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Type and Applications

Table Shenzhen Xinguodu Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Players (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Players (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Players in 2017

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Players in 2018

Figure Global Top 5 Players Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share in 2018

Figure Global Top 10 Players Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share in 2018

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (%) (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Regions (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Regions (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Regions in 2018

Figure North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

Table North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries in 2018

Figure USA Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Canada Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Mexico Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries in 2018

Figure Germany Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure UK Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure France Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Russia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Italy Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries in 2018

Figure China Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Japan Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Korea Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure India Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Southeast Asia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Countries (2014-2019)

Table South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries in 2018

Figure Brazil Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Argentina Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Colombia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Countries (2014-2019)

Table Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries (2014-2019)

Figure Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share by Countries in 2018

Figure Saudi Arabia Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure UAE Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Egypt Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Nigeria Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure South Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue and Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) by Type (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Type (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Type (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Type in 2019

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Forecast by Type (2019-2024)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Share Forecast by Type (2019-2024)

Figure Global Hardware Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Global Software Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Global Service Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue by Application (2014-2019)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Application (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Application (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Share by Application in 2019

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Forecast by Application (2019-2024)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Market Share Forecast by Application (2019-2024)

Figure Global Large Consumers Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Global Small Consumers Revenue Growth Rate (2014-2019)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate Forecast (2019-2024)

Table Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue (Million USD) Forecast by Regions (2019-2024)

Figure Global Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Share Forecast by Regions (2019-2024)

Figure North America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

Figure Europe Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

Figure Asia-Pacific Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

Figure South America Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)

Figure Middle East and Africa Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) Revenue Market Forecast (2019-2024)


3 1 of 3 Contributed photo / Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed photo / Show More Show Less 3 of 3





TORRINGTON  Northwest Connecticuts Chamber of Commerce held the 28th annual Read Aloud Day fEB. 13 at elementary schools around the region. Due to the weather, some schools postponed the event until the following day. Read Aloud Day is sponsored by The Draper Foundation Fund, a fund of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation.

More than 400 volunteers read to more than 7,500 students in grades PreK-6. Each grade level read the same book, chosen by a group of library media specialists from area schools in December. This year, 26 schools in Barkhamsted, Colebrook, Cornwall, Falls Village, Goshen, Hartland, Harwinton, Kent, Litchfield, Morris, New Hartford, Norfolk, North Canaan, Salisbury, Sharon, Torrington, Thomaston, Warren, and Winsted participated.
President John Dever has said before he hopes the new academic building coming in the next several years will transform the view of campus from the interstate, but for now the sign should be a nice first step.
SALISBURY  Many states have recognized the legitimate medical use of marijuana and have developed programs with specific protocols and qualifications to become a medical marijuana patient. In Connecticut the Department of Consumer Protection implements and oversees this program.

For the first time since the programs inception a dispensary, Still River Wellness, will open in the Northwest Corner in Torrington providing more access for Northwest residents interested in becoming patients.

Medical Cannabis in Northwest Connecticut: Talks and Panel Discussion, will be held March 7, 6 p.m. at the Scoville Memorial Library.

Department of Consumer Protection Commissioner Michelle H. Seagull, Tom Macre from Still River Wellness, and Mark Braunstein, one of the lead proponents of medical legalization and a patient, will each briefly discuss medical Cannabis, the genesis of the program, its growth to over 30,00 patients since its inception, legal requirements and how the state system functions, who qualifies and how, ailments treated with Cannabis, types of preparation and other aspects. Then a panel discussion will follow with plenty of time for questions and answers.

Seagull was appointed Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) in May 2017 and re-nominated by Governor Lamont in January 2019. From 2011 until her appointment as Commissioner, Ms. Seagull served as the Deputy Commissioner for DCP. When serving her first term as Deputy Commissioner, she led that team that developed DCPs Medical Marijuana Program.

Prior to joining DCP, Seagull was a partner at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP where her practice focused on issues related to unfair competition laws. Seagull received her B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She lives in Glastonbury with her husband and their two children.

Braunstein became a paraplegic from a diving accident in 1990. He uses no pharmaceutical drugs, but instead uses only traditional herbal remedies, including marijuana to treat the spasms and pains of his spinal cord injury. For the next 23 years, until his retirement in 2013, he was the art librarian and art curator at Connecticut College.

He served as Connecticuts poster child for medical marijuana, beginning in January 1997 when he publicly confessed to his criminal cannabis usage on the front page of the Sunday editorial section of the Hartford Courant. Between 1997 and 2012, he testified eight times be fore Connecticuts Judiciary Committee, for the legalization of medical cannabis.

He has written 5 books and over 100 magazine articles, including about medical marijuana, available on his website at www.MarkBraunstein.Org/medical-marijuana

Macre is the managing member of C-3 Ventures dba Still River Wellness dispensary in Torrington. After receiving his bachelors degree from Villanova University, he co-founded MedTech, a Medical Equipment company with his father. He has been serving as medical sales representative and manager for the past 6 years.

Macre has helped providers develop treatment plans for their patients and has worked one-on-one with each patient to ensure proper training and education on the safe and effective use of his companys equipment.

Working with pain management physicians, he learned the value that medical marijuana could have for patients suffering from chronic intractable pain. He has been involved with the medical marijuana industry and has attended numerous conferences and educational seminars on medical Cannabis including Oaksterdam University in Oakland, CA., University of California and at Waterbury Hospital. He has been hired as a consultant by other groups applying for medical marijuana licenses outside the state of CT.

The program is free and the public is welcome; to register or for more information visit scovillelibrary.org, or call 860-435-2838. The library is located at 38 Main St.
Contributed photo /

WINSTED  On Sunday, February 17, at 10:00 AM, First Church of Winsted, at 95 Park Place, will celebrate Black History Sunday worship on SUnday at 10 a.m., in our hopes to become a more culturally inclusive congregation, members said in a statement.

It seems appropriate to hold this service because 2019 is the 400th anniversary, or more accurately, the 400th tragi-versary of slavery in the United States, members said.
Arnold Gold/Hearst Connecticut Media

HARTFORD  Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on Saturday said he was coordinating with other states to investigate possible action against the Trump administrations declaration of a national emergency.

More for you News CT Democrats denounce Trump's wall national emergency

On Friday, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to appropriate funds for a wall a the United States southern border with Mexico.
NEW FAIRFIELD  Investigators found glaring inconsistencies in an Oakville mans description of the events that led to a Waterbury teachers death on Candlewood Lake last summer, according to a police report released Friday.

Gary Morrone, 66, now faces a new charge of criminally negligent homicide for his role in the death of Wanda Tirado, who died after police say she was struck by the propeller of Morrones pontoon boat on June 19 near Squantz Cove.

Morrone has pleaded not guilty to the new charge and two others for first-degree reckless boating and failure to report a boating accident, States Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky said.

Attorney David Grudberg, who is representing Morrone, has not yet received the full packages of reports from prosecutors and declined to comment when reached Friday.

The new report by the Environmental Conservation Police details for the first time officers interactions with Morrone in the hours after the accident.

Emergency personnel in New Fairfield were dispatched to the lake about 2:15 p.m. June 19 for reports that a man and an injured woman had been pulled from the lake by a Good Samaritan who had spotted both in the water a few minutes apart.

The other boater, whose name has been redacted from the report, initially helped the man later identified as Morrone back onto his pontoon boat with the slogan Just 4 Play emblazoned on the stern.

The other boater told police Morrone then left the scene in his boat and about five minutes later found the woman, Tirado, face down in the water. The other boater also told investigators Morrone had smelled of alcohol when he came out of the water, police said.

Rescue personnel performed CPR on Tirado, but they found significant traumas to her right arm and head consistent with injuries of a propeller strike, according to the report.

Officers tried to find Morrone but discovered he had docked his boat at Echo Bay Marina and left the lake, police said.

Morrone arrived at the Danbury Hospital emergency room more than an hour later and spoke with police, although the marina is only 15 minutes from the hospital, Officer Patrick Kiely noted in the report.

Kiely also noted glaring inconsistencies in Morrones explanation that he had been swimming with Tirado when his pontoon boat began to drift away from them. He also said he saw Tirado taken away by an emergency boat, the report said.

In a written statement, Morrone said he heard Tirado yell for help, walked around on the boat to find her and then jumped into the water to help her.

Its impossible for someone to jump into the water if they are already swimming in the water, Kiely wrote.

Morrone was arrested by state troopers outside the emergency room that night and later released on a $10,000 bond.

Tirado was remembered by friends last year as a selfless teacher and mother who loved Christmas and dancing. She is survived by two daughters, a teenager and a toddler.

Josefina Rodriguez Robles, Tirados mother, filed a civil lawsuit last summer, demanding $1.5 million from Morrone. That lawsuit is pending and the next hearing is scheduled for March 6.

At the time of her death, my daughter was only 38 years old with two young children who depended on her for love and financial support, Robles wrote in an affidavit as part of the lawsuit.

Criminally negligent homicide and reckless boating are both misdemeanor charges and failure to report an accident is an infraction.

Prosecutors added the negligent homicide charge this month after EnCon concluded its investigation and has dropped one of its original charges about a boating collision, since only one boat was involved, Sedensky said Friday. Court records had not been updated as of Friday afternoon to reflect the new charge, Sedensky confirmed.

A pre-trial conference in the criminal case is scheduled for next month.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com
Winsted doctor joins Hartford HealthCare

TORRINGTON  Dr. Roy Hitts internal medicine practice has joined the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group and will continue to see patients at his office at The Winsted Medical Center at 115 Spencer St., Winsted.

I am pleased to now be a part of the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group and look forward to sharing its resources as we continue to offer my patients trusted care and health management in northwest Connecticut, Hitt said.

The practice offers a wide range of primary care services that focus on the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that affect the adult populationboth acute and chronic.

Dr. Hitt graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, and served five years in the nuclear submarine service. He attended Medical School at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, and completed his Residency at Hartford Hospital. Dr. Hitt is Board Certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine, is the past President of the Litchfield County Medical Association, and a member of the American College of Physicians.

Hartford HealthCare Medical Group is a multi-specialty group encompassing physicians in more than 30 specialties in convenient offices across Connecticut. In addition to clinical practice, its doctors are teachers and researchers, always looking for ways to improve the quality of care and bring innovations to their patients. By representing so many specialties connected through one electronic medical record and the latest technology, the group provides patients with the most innovative and coordinated care.

The practice is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesdays 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. It accepts most major insurances.

For information and appointments, call 860-379-7579.

Dr. Ari Namon Joins CHH Ear, Nose and Throat

TORRINGTON  Otolaryngologist Ari Namon, MD, has joined Charlotte Hungerford Hospital (CHH) Ear, Nose and Throat and will be accepting new patients with Frank Luzzi, MD, at their office in the CHH Turner Coe Annex, at 540 Litchfield Street, Torrington. Dr. Namon will also offer services during selected hours at the CHH Primary Care Offices in Canaan and Thomaston.

Dr. Namon is double board certified by the American Board of Facial Plastic Surgery, the American Board of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and the American Board of Otolaryngology. He graduated with distinction from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, before receiving his medical degree with honors from Rutgers Medical School in Piscataway, NJ. After a General Surgery Internship at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, he completed an Otolaryngology/Head and Neck Surgery residency at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He also completed a Head and Neck Reconstruction Fellowship at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center in Chicago.

For the past four years, Dr. Namon has been the Director of Head and Neck Surgery at Caremount Medical, Poughkeepsie, NY and performed a variety of facial plastic surgery procedures for Sono Bello in Manhattan. He has served as Chief Medical Officer at Sharon Hospital, where he was also a member of the Board of Directors, and prior to that was in private practice. Dr. Namon has also served as an assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes and a clinical instructor in Surgery for the Department of Otolaryngology at Yale University.

CHH Ear Nose and Throat is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and accepts most major insurances. Patients should use the parking spaces and a patient entrance located in the lot behind the CHH Memorial Building. The lot and entrance are handicapped accessible. For questions or to schedule an appointment, contact 860-496-9565.

Litchfield Hills Pediatrics Joins Hartford HealthCare

TORRINGTON, Conn. (February 15, 2019) Litchfield Hills Pediatrics, including Dr. Lucia Benzoni, is now part of the Hartford HealthCare (HHC) Medical group and will continue to see patients at the office at 481 Bantam Road in Litchfield.

Our practice has had a strong and lasting relationship with Charlotte Hungerford Hospital over the years and we are very excited to affiliate with them as part of the Hartford HealthCare Medical Group. We look forward to continuing to serve our existing families and welcome new children at our office in Litchfield. said Dr. Benzoni.

Dr. Benzoni joined the CHH Medical Staff in 1999 and opened her practice in 2005. She attended Medical School at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, and did her Residency at the Christianacare (Medical Center of Delaware) Newark, DE. She is certified by The American Board of Pediatrics and American Board of Internal Medicine.

Litchfield Hills Pediatrics has two Physician Assistants. Leah Drouin, PA-C, received her Masters Degree at Rutgers/UMDNJ and has been a practicing PA in this area for more than 10 years. She was previously the lead PA at the CHH Medical Walk-In. Also new to the practice is Jessie Mangs, PA-C., a Candidate for Masters of Medical Science Physician Associate Program from Yale University, New Haven.

The practice is accepting new patients and is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It accepts most major insurances.

For information and appointments, call 860 567 1263.

Vanek appointed as Webster Bank SVP

WATERBURY - Renee Vanek has joined Webster Bank as senior vice president, and has also been appointed regional sales manager for the Webster Investments* (WIS) West Region, which includes Fairfield County, Connecticut, and Westchester County, New York.

A Certified Financial Planner with 33 years experience in the investment industry in Connecticut and New Jersey, Vanek was most recently a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch.

She earned a bachelors degree in business administration from Saint Joseph College in West Hartford, Connecticut. Residing in Cromwell, Connecticut and Basking Ridge, New Jersey, Vanek is active in her community and sits on the Grants Committee of the American Savings Foundation in New Britain, Connecticut.
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia also this week notified the university that it had approved CNUs new master of financial analysis degree. Students will start in the 1-year program, which the board of visitors approved in October, when school starts this fall.
Last updated on: February 16, 2019 14:26 IST

In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, United Satets National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence as both sides vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe heaven for JeM and other terror groups.

IMAGE: Tricolor draped coffins of the CRPF personnel, who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack, during wreath laying ceremony at the CRPF camp in Budgam. Photograph: (PTI Photo

At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Doval and Bolton held a telephonic conversation on Friday evening during which they resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under the United Nations resolutions and remove all obstacles to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the external affairs ministry said in New Delhi.

It said that Bolton supported India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism and offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice.

The call was initiated by the US side to express condolence and outrage over the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terrorist group JeM.

"I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed the US' condolences over the terrorist attack," Bolton said.

He said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens.

"We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis," the US NSA said.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security," Pompeo said on Twitter.

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack.

JeM has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

"The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.

Top US lawmakers have rallied behind India's effort to fight terrorism and said that such heinous crimes will not weaken the resolve of its people.

So far, more than 70 American lawmakers including 15 Senators have condemned the attack.
Source:

February 16, 2019 19:31 IST

A Delhi court on Saturday extended till March 2 the interim bail granted to Robert Vadra in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate and directed him to join the probe, whenever asked to, after the agency claimed that he was not cooperating in the matter.

Vadra's lawyer sought extension of the interim bail after ED requested for more time to file a reply to his anticipatory bail plea.

Special judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, and said the interim orders of protection from arrest will continue till next date of hearing.

The court also extended the protection from arrest granted to his close aide and co-accused in the case, Manoj Arora, till the next date of hearing i.e., March 2.

The ED told the court that it needed to question Vadra in the case and opposed his anticipatory bail plea, saying that he was not cooperating in the case.

It also said that Vadra has been summoned for questioning on Tuesday.

"Vadra is not cooperating and giving evasive replies," Special Public Prosecutor D P Singh and advocate Nitesh Rana, appearing for the ED, said.

The businessman, represented through senior advocate KTS Tulsi, however, denied the charge and said he was ready to come for questioning as and when called.

"The counsel submitted the applicant Robert Vadra has already joined the investigation and has cooperated during the investigation. Counsel submitted that applicant will join investigation as and when directed by the

investigating officer and is ready to cooperate. Under the facts and circumstances, applicant is directed to join the investigation as and when called by the IO," the court said.

Singh told the court Vadra is accompanied by a 'baraat' (procession) wherever he goes, whether to the agency's office or to the court.

"There are some people who always come with a 'baraat', Vadra is one of them," he, said, adding that by 'baraat', he was referring to the media.

The lawyer alleged that Vadra was using social media, including Facebook, for writing about the case and highlighting the matter.

Vadra had filed an anticipatory bail application in the case linked to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million pounds. The property is allegedly owned by him.

The agency had earlier said it has received information about various new properties in London which belongs to Vadra, including two houses of five and four million pounds, each, six other flats and more properties.

In his anticipatory bail plea, Vadra had said he was being subjected to "unwarranted, unjustified and malicious criminal prosecution which on the face of it is completely politically motivated and is being carried out for reasons other than those prescribed under law".

The plea had said Vadra's office was raided by ED on December 7, 2018 and therefore, he seriously apprehends that his liberty may be curtailed by the investigating agency.

"The petitioner (Vadra) is being subjected to a farce criminal prosecution which actually is beset with nothing else except political vendetta and most unfortunately the respondent (ED) being the law enforcement agency is a party to the unethical and illegal exercise.

"It is stated that the petitioner's (Vadra's) firm through its authorised representative Manoj Arora has already joined investigation with the ED conducting investigation into the affairs of the firm in Rajasthan with their offices at Jaipur on many occasions and has supplied all the relevant documents to the satisfaction of the officials of the ED," the plea had said.

Arora, an employee of Vadra's Skylight Hospitality LLP, was a key person in the case and he was aware of the latter's overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds, the ED had alleged.

Vadra had alleged that he is being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.

"It is stated the the petitioner has highest regard for the due process of law and is always willing to cooperate with the investigation in the highly charged political atmosphere and political contours of the present investigation, he seriously apprehends arrest by the investigating authorities and in such circumstances, the petitioner by means of the present petition is also praying that while he is willing to join investigation with the ED authorities," his plea read.

Arora had alleged before the court that the case was foisted on him by the NDA government out of "political vendetta".

However, the ED had refuted the allegations, asking that "should no authority investigate any political bigwig because that will be called a political vendetta?"

The agency had told the court that it lodged the money laundering case against Arora after his role came up during the probe of another case by the Income Tax Department under the newly enacted Black Money Act and tax law against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

It had alleged that the London-based property was bought by Bhandari for GBP 1.9 million and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses of approximately GBP 65,900 on its renovation.

"This gives credence to the fact that Bhandari was not the actual owner of the property but it was beneficially owned by Vadra who was incurring expenditure on the renovation of this property," the ED had told the court.

Meanwhile, Robert Vadra, in a Facebook post termed as "witch hunt" the Enforcement Directorate's action of attaching assets of a firm linked to him, and claimed that it showed "complete misuse of assertion of power".

Vadra alleged "relentless harassment" a day after the Enforcement Directorate said it has attached assets worth Rs 4.62 crore of a firm linked to him in connection with the Bikaner land scam money laundering case.

"I have had nothing to hide and I am surely not above the law. I have deposed for almost 6 days; ranging from 8 to 12 hours per day with a 40 minute lunch break, and have been escorted to the washroom," Vadra said in a Facebook post.

He said he has completely cooperated and adhered to the rules whenever called in any part of the country.

"Attachment of my work place -- my office and areas that are sub judice, shows a complete misuse of assertion of power, a complete vindictive & vicious witch hunt," he alleged.

"When truth sustains and prevails, I suppose an apology is all that will suffice. Will stay determined for justice for me," Vadra said.
Source:

Last updated on: February 16, 2019 20:26 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday slammed Pakistan over the Pulwama terror strike that claimed the lives of 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, and urged people to have patience and faith in

the security forces who have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the attack.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses after unveiling various development projects in Maharashtra's Yavatmal. Photograph: PIB

At a public function in Pandharkawada in Yavatmal district, where he launched a number of projects, Modi said Pakistan has become a synonym for terrorism.

"A nation which came into existence after Partition and encourages terror activities, and which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has now become the second name for terror," Modi said.

Asserting the country was in deep pain over what had happened in Pulwama, the prime minister said, "The sacrifice of the CRPF personnel martyred in Pulwama will not go in vain. Perpetrators of the crime will

be punished."

"Security forces have been given a free hand to punish the perpetrators of the crime. I appeal to the country to have patience and faith in the security forces. Our forces will decide the place, time and manner in which the perpetrators of this crime will be punished," he said.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg

of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

"All of us can feel the pain of families of the Pulwama martyrs. We understand your anger," Modi said.

At the event, the prime minister also dwelt on his government's development works. He recalled his visit to Dabhadi in Yavatmal district on March 20, 2014, for a 'chai pe charcha' programme.

"We had discussed the issues facing the country and promised to work to address all of them," Modi said, and asked those present at the event whether they were

happy with the work and the efforts he was making.

"I have worked sincerely to fulfil the assurances," he said.

Modi said under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, 1.25 crore farmer families will get Rs 6,000 annually in their bank accounts.

"The money will be given in three instalments," he said.

Asserting that people had voted for a strong government four-and-a-half years ago, Modi said, "It is because of your vote that the government could work with clean intentions. If there was a mistake from your end, we would have remained where we were."

"I hope you would strengthen the trust shown in development and I appeal to you to bless your 'pradhan sevak'."

He said the Centre was working towards improving the standard of living of the tribals, and steps like providing medical facilities to tackle the sickle cell disease, development of sports facilities in tribal areas were being taken.

At the beginning of the event, a two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to the Pulwama attack victims. Union ministers Nitin Gadkaria and Hansraj Ahir, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis

and Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao were also present.

During the programme, the prime minister inaugurated an Eklavya Model Residential School for tribal students and handed over the keys of houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana to some of the beneficiaries.

Modi flaged off the Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune train service through video link and also distributed certificates and cheques under the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission to women Self-Help

Groups.
Last updated on: February 16, 2019 22:12 IST

Amid chanting of patriotic slogans, people from different walks of life bid an emotional farewell to the bravehearts who lost their lives in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Huge crowds gathered to pay respects to the soldiers amid emotional moments, with anti-Pakistan slogans renting the air.

People, with tears in their eyes, stood on roads with flowers and national flags as the coffins arrived.

In one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into a bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

A large number of people attend the funeral procession of CRPF jawan Sanjay Singh at Masaurhi, in Patna. Photograph: PTI Photo

A large number of people with Indian flags attend the funeral procession of CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadavat Masaurhi, in Varanasi. Photograph: PTI Photo

Kin of slain CRPF jawan Ram Vakeel perform last rites during his cremation, in Mainpuri. Photograph: PTI Photo

People attend the funeral procession of CRPF jawan Mahesh Yadav at Tudihar, in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj. Photograph: PTI Photo

A relative of Mahesh Yadav couldn't hold back her tears. Photograph: PTI Photo

Daughter and wife of slain CRPF jawan Mohan Lal pay their last respects after a wreath-laying ceremony in Dehradun. Photograph: PTI Photo

A security personnel walks past an army truck carrying the mortal remains of slain CRPF jawan H Guru at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited airport in Bengaluru. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo

Family members of slain CRPF jawan Kaushal Kumar Rawat pay their last respects before his funeral procession in Agra. Photograph: PTI Photo

Family members mourn the death of CRPF jawan Sukhjinder Singh at his residence before his funeral in Gandiwind Dhattal village of Patti sub-division of Tarn Taran district. Photograph: PTI Photo
Source:

February 16, 2019 19:25 IST

A group of protesters on Saturday blocked the railway tracks at Nalasopara station in Palghar district of Maharashtra to protest against the terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, officials said.

In several parts of the metropolis, shops were shut in protest and schools held prayer meets as a mark of respect to the CRPF personnel who were killed on Thursday.

At Nalasopara, protesters got onto the tracks around 8.20 am and started raising slogans against Pakistan, the officials said, adding that train services on the route were affected due to the protest.

In a tweet, the Western Railway (WR) said, "Several protesters have blocked the tracks at Nallasopara due to which train movement has been affected at Nallasopara & beyond. GRP, RPF are making efforts to convince

the people & evacuate the tracks & normalize the train movement."

Chief spokesperson of the WR, Ravinder Bhakar, said the protest started at 8.20 am when people came on the railway tracks and stopped the movement of trains.

"Trains are not operating between Nalasopara and Virar stations, while services between Vasai to Churchgate are normal. Forces have been called in to disperse the agitating crowd," he said.

The protesters shouted slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai'. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack and demanded action against the neighbouring country for sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terror groups, another official said.

"The agitation is likely to affect the schedule of long-distance trains as well," he added.

According to railway officials, train operations on the section were suspended for almost three hours.

The textile hub in the Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai was the venue of a protest by cloth traders who kept their establishments closed for the day.

"We strongly condemn the horrendous terrorist attack in Pulwama. It is an act of cowardice. We have decided to keep our business shut for the day as a mark of respect for the 40 brave martyrs," said Rajiv Singal, trustee of the Bharat Merchant Chambers.

Shops in Tardeo, Grant Road, Haji Ali were also shut while prayers sessions were held in schools in the metropolis.

The Bombay Yarn Merchants' Association and Exchange Limited also issued a press statement Saturday stating that shops of their members were shut across the city.

Similar protests were also witnessed on Friday with BJP MLA Raj Purohit burning Pakistan's national flag while Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar and BJP MLA Bharti Lavekar paid floral tributes in suburban Andheri to the slain CRPF troopers.

On Friday, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors had organised a candlelight protest march at the civic-run Sion Hospital.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
Source:

February 16, 2019 21:41 IST

A dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pulwama, will be given to the Financial Action Task Force, an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring country's links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said Saturday.

IMAGE: Protesters raise slogans during a protest against the Pulwama terror attack. Photograph: PTI Photo

Security agencies are preparing the dossier with the evidence gathered so far related to the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and the help being provided to the outfit by the country, they said.

This will be a dossier on Pakistani agencies' links with the JeM and how the terror group is being aided by them, a security official said.

The details of the terror attacks carried out by the JeM in the past will be mentioned in the document.

The Paris-headquartered FATF will also be told through the dossier how the Pakistani agencies are providing funds to the JeM, the official said.

In the next meeting of the FATF, India will also press for the blacklisting of Pakistan so that that action can be taken against the country, another official said.

The FATF plenary and working group meetings will be held in Paris next week.

The FATF blacklist means the country concerned is "non-cooperative" in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. If the FATF blacklists Pakistan, it may lead to downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like IMF, World Bank, ADB, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moodys, S&P and Fitch.

Pakistan has been put on the grey list of the anti-terror finance watchdog in July 2018. The FATF currently has 35 members and two regional organisations  European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council. North Korea and Iran are in the FATF blacklist.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the attack will pay "a very heavy price" and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with the terrorists.

In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely punished".
Source:

Last updated on: February 16, 2019 16:00 IST

Political parties on Saturday put up a united face as they underlined India's determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack and expressed their solidarity with security forces in defending the country's unity and integrity.

-- Thousands pay tribute as bodies of CRPF soldiers reach homes

IMAGE: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chairs all-party meet on the Pulwama terror attack at Parliament House in New Delhi. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border.

Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

In the meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked him to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of the presidents of all major national and regional parties, a view supported by Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress and D Raja of the Communist Party of India.

The resolution adopted at the nearly two-hour meeting said, "India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges."

It added, "Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India."

The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country.

As many as 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the most lethal attacks targeting the security forces since Independence.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the terror strike.

IMAGE: Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar at the all-party meet. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Sanjay Raut, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP ally Shiv Sena, asked the government to draw inspiration from former prime minister Indira Gandhi and hit Pakistan directly.

He told reporters that he said an incident like Pulwama terror attack would not have happened if surgical strikes, which the Army had carried out across the Line of Control in 2016, had made an impact.

In his opening remarks, Singh briefed the leaders about the attack and his visit to the state on Friday.

"The government is determined to take its fight against terrorism to the logical conclusion. The sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain. The people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and are with us, but there are some elements supporting the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups," he said.

The morale of security forces is high and they have been given a free hand, he asserted.

IMAGE: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad addresses the media after attending the all-party meeting. Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal and CPI leader D Raja are also seen. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo

The meeting was also attended by Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the TMC, Jithendra Reddy of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party among others.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal were among others who attended the meeting.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters that parties extended their support to the government, as he read out from the resolution.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said political parties told the government that they will support any action it takes following the terror attack in Pulwama.

The issue of alleged harassment of some Kashmiri students outside the Valley was raised by National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

The home minister assured him that nobody will be allowed to vitiate communal harmony, and the central government is issuing an advisory in this regard to state governments.
February 16, 2019 10:39 IST

'Jaish has been allowed to resurge through supported terror actions in J&K in a deliberate tactic by Pakistan, if only to reduce the international pressure on the LeT after 26/11,' points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.

IMAGE: Protesters beat posters of Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Masood Azhar in Ahmedabad, February 15, 2019. Photograph: Santosh Hirlekar/PTI Photo

The deadly ambush by a Jaish e Mohammed suicide bomber on a CRPF convoy travelling along the Jammu-Srinagar highway near Latoomode, Avantipura, marks a disconcerting escalation in the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

Car borne suicide attacks were briefly seen in the valley last in the October 1, 2001 attack on the J&K assembly, but thereafter nipped in the bud through a series of concerted and successful counter measures.

This time, the quality of planning, prior garnering of high intensity explosives and precision of the attack could be indicative of more intensive training of Jaish cadres, even of recent 'indigenous' recruits from our part of Kashmir and study of such actions by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It could be a precursor to more such attempts against vulnerable security force installations, both static and mobile.

The JeM ('Army of the Prophet') has been allowed to resurge through supported terror actions in J&K over the last few years in a deliberate tactic by Pakistan, if only to reduce the international pressure on the Lashkar e Taiba leadership after 26/11.

In any case, Jaish initially emerged as Pakistan's alternative string to the bow of covert, asymmetric, action using non-State elements from the late 1990s and early 2000s, after glorifying post-December 1999 IC-814 hijack released Masood Azhar.

Harkat-ul Mujahideen cadres merged with JeM in this period. JeM's huge 605 acre complex with madrassas, swimming pool, training facilities and heavily guarded boundary wall came up in subsequent years.

Azhar was always a greater success as fund collector, ideologue and motivator than as a fighting militant. In recent years, his leadership and control may have become more distant, more as a cult phenomenon while actual supervision of India or Kashmir-centric operations devolved on his younger brother Rauf Asghar.

Reports of recent casualties of militants in Kashmir indicate martyrdom of close family relatives like Talha Rasheed, son of Masood's brother-in-law Abdul Rasheed Kamran (killed in November16) and Usman Haider, son of Azhar's elder brother Athar Ibrahim (killed in Tral, October 18).

The present action in Pulwama is reported to have been masterminded by Mohammad Umair, another son of Athar Ibrahim, along with a highly trained explosives expert who came in from Muzaffarabad.

The bulk of JeM's support base continues to lie in the south Punjab districts of Bahawalpur, Multan, Rahimyar Khan. Many recruits from this hinterland continue to go to Afghanistan, to train jointly with Lashkar e Taiba and Tehrik e Taliban elements. This happens with the knowledge of Pakistani agencies.

As could be expected, Pakistan has been quick to condemn the incident and deny its hand or support for such actions. These denials cut very little ice.

After the Pathankot attack in January 16, when the Ajit Kumar Doval-Lieutenant General Nasser Janjua (retd) (the Pakistani counterpart of the national security adviser) dialogue track was still surviving, several Jaish cadres were rounded up and the prominent leaders of JeM, including Masood Azhar, were taken into `protective custody.

However, soon enough, within a few months and as the heat eased, these cadres were quietly released. No satisfactory explanations were forthcoming from Janjua even after he was confronted with photographic evidence thereof.

By then, of course, Janjua's position as NSA was on a slipping wicket, as being a Raheel Sharif appointee, he did not enjoy similar rapport or confidence of Pakistan's new army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Presently, Pakistan does not have a national security adviser, and for all Imran Khan's seemingly conciliatory talk, there is no quasi-civilian interface for dialogue, though from time to time, we keep hearing of the Pakistan army's willingness or support for revival of talks.

These could be measures intended to divert international pressure and avoid isolation as `a global terror supporting pariah.

Against this backdrop, apart from the usual and perhaps politically necessary rhetoric about exploring possible measures of reprisal, both military and diplomatic, the immediate priority of our security and investigative agencies must focus on getting to the roots of this attack.

How it was planned, who was the actual mastermind, for how long did he come into our side of Kashmir, where the plotters stayed, who were the support agents, where the explosives were stored, who the Mahindra SuV belonged to and how the explosives were stacked into it, was any reconnaissance done of the convoy route, especially from where the link road to the highway was used, which villages it connected to.

How effective this resort to classical investigative and criminal policing work is will dictate the next logical counter-measure of policing to stem the possibility of further recurrence of such dastardly actions.

This is going to remain a daunting, uphill, task for which the central agencies must continue to depend on, and strengthen the morale not only of central forces deployed in J&K, but of the J&K police as well.

Efforts must be renewed to 'drain the swamp' through a sustained mix of carrot and stick, to use classical counter-terror terminology, so that the alienated youth of south Kashmir are made to understand the ultimate futility of falling prey to inducements from across the border, to take to militant methods.
February 16, 2019 09:31 IST

Crypto-assets are essential to blockchain technology, which has the potential to be one of the next major growth drivers for the software ecosystem in India. A prohibition would nip this opportunity in the bud, say Vaibhav Parikh and Jaideep Reddy.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

A committee headed by Subhash Chandra Garg, economic affairs secretary, is in the process of drafting regulations to govern crypto-assets.

Vaibhav Parikh, senior leader, and Jaideep Reddy, leader, at law firm Nishith Desai Associates, explain why there is a need to regulate crypto-assets, not prohibit their use.

There is an impression that the RBI has banned Bitcoins. Is this correct?

There is a misunderstanding that crypto-assets like Bitcoins are illegal in India.

No doubt, crypto-assets are not legal tender, but this does not make them illegal.

The fact that they are not legal tender only means they are not recognised as Indian currency.

However, they can be classified legally as digital goods. The RBI circular prohibits its regulated entities (ie, banks, etc) from facilitating the buying and selling of virtual currencies, including Bitcoins.

This makes trading in crypto-assets impractical since it cannot be done through banking channels. On a policy note, no major democratic country has banned crypto-assets.

If India chooses to do so, the entire blockchain ecosystem, which has huge benefits to bring to the country, will move out.

This exodus has already begun after the RBI circular. Crypto-assets are an integral part of blockchain technology as we have discussed in detail in our submission to the government.

Throughout history, regulation has always been found to be a more effective solution than prohibition.

What are the arguments in favour of the government regulating crypto-asset activity rather than prohibiting it?

An outright ban on crypto-asset activity should not be considered for several reasons.

Many experts agree that crypto-assets are essential to blockchain technology, which is a new and disruptive technology that presents both benefits and risks.

Crypto-assets create an incentive for blockchain participants to verify transactions.

Crypto-assets bring benefits such as disintermediation, which in many cases leads to reduced transaction costs and greater transaction integrity.

Examples from history (electricity, railways, telecommunications, motor vehicles, aircraft, mobile phones, and the internet) have taught us that, despite initial regulatory scepticism, disruptive and complex technologies should be regulated and not banned.

Banning crypto-assets is likely to have counter-productive effects and may also suffer from constitutional infirmities.

Rather, in line with the approach of the G20, the Financial Action Task Force, and advanced economies like the EU, the US, Japan, and Singapore, a balanced regulatory approach should be taken to promote the various benefits of the technology and mitigate the risks.

A recent study by Incrypt, which surveyed Indian blockchain software developers, found that blockchain has the potential to be one of the next major growth drivers for the software ecosystem in India, and that allowing crypto-asset transactions is integral to this.

A prohibition would nip this opportunity in the bud.

Can the current body of laws be used to regulate crypto-assets?

We submitted and presented to the Subhash Garg committee a detailed paper, Building a Successful Blockchain Ecosystem for India: Regulatory Approaches to Crypto-Assets, in this respect*.

The paper delves into detail on the precise steps under the Indian legal framework that the government could take to regulate crypto-assets.

Crypto-asset businesses could be brought within the Prevention of Money Laundering Act by a simple central government notification.

This would bring them within a well-established regulatory regime and tackle one of the main concerns expressed about them.

Crypto-asset businesses should also be licensed in order to protect consumers and avoid fraud and systemic risks.

There are already regimes being considered by the finance ministry to regulate commodity spot exchanges and other unregulated exchanges.

Crypto-asset exchanges can be brought within these regimes.

Alternatively, a variety of laws, like the Consumer Protection Act, the Foreign Exchange Management Act, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, and NBFC laws enable the government to frame specific regulations for various aspects of crypto-asset business activity.

In either case, responsibility for such licensing or oversight should be clearly assigned to a given regulatory body to avoid jurisdictional ambiguity.

Since the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has proven expertise as regards exchanges and investor protection, it is one option that can be considered.

Meanwhile, existing laws such as those relating to consumer protection, securities, taxes, and white collar crimes should be actively enforced with regard to crypto-asset business activity.

Much of this activity is already covered by these laws (eg, the recent prosecution of OneCoin and GainBitcoin).

However, the applicability of some of these laws may be further clarified specifically with respect to crypto-assets.

It is also worth noting that all crypto-assets are not alike.

There are over 2,000 of them and the implications of each should be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

We have suggested three categories of crypto-assets to facilitate analysis.

*As a disclosure, Nishith Desai Associates advises and represents various clients in legal matters relating to crypto-assets
But it is his passion for music and for sharing that music with others that is the foundation for this award. He has worked tirelessly to make certain the Virginia Symphony can share its beauty with audiences of all backgrounds and ages. At a time when the world could use a little less noise and a little more music, it seemed fitting to thank Bert for reminding us that there is beauty in the world, if we just take a moment to listen.
February 16, 2019 09:34 IST

Additionally, promoter Naresh Goyal and Etihad Airways, which owns a 24 per cent stake in the airline, will infuse around Rs 2,000 crore into the airline, sources aware of the development said.

IMAGE: Jet Airways' promoter Naresh Goyal. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe / Reuters

Cash-starved Jet Airways and its lenders led by State Bank of India are gearing up for a three-part resolution plan, which could take at least two months to fructify, sources in the know said.

Raising about Rs 2,500 crore through a rights issue is a key step for Jet in the proposed deal, even as its lenders are looking at a debt-to-equity conversion.

While lenders may convert Rs 1,000 crore of debt into equity, they will also participate in the equity infusion through a rights issue as part of the deal.

Additionally, promoter Naresh Goyal and Etihad Airways, which owns a 24 per cent stake in the airline, will infuse around Rs 2,000 crore into the airline, sources aware of the development said.

Lenders are expected to participate in a rights issue to raise capital. Also, government-owned infrastructure fund National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) is likely to buy a 19 per cent stake for Rs 1,500 crore. Along with the NIIF, banks will own a 51 per cent stake in the company.

The NIIF was approached by lenders after Etihad Airways refused to increase its stake beyond 25 per cent without an exemption from open offer.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India is learnt to have expressed its reservation over such an exemption.

NIIF Chief Executive Officer Sujoy Bose did not respond to multiple queries about the matter.

Sources said Etihad Airways would infuse around Rs 1,450 crore to maintain its stake at around 24 per cent, promoter Naresh Goyal would bring in Rs 550 crore to hold 21 to 22 per cent.

Goyal has already infused Rs 250 crore into the airline.

At the first stage of the resolution plan, lenders have agreed to convert around Rs 1,000 crore of debt into equity. In the second stage, there will be a rights issue of around Rs 2,500 crore in which banks will participate. This process is subject to approval from the promoter, lenders and Etihad Airways. It may take around two months to close, said an official of a State-owned lender. The third part of the plan would result in sale of some assets.

Another source said the SBI-led consortium would release around Rs 550 crore in the next 15 days to bridge the immediate funding gap. He said: The draft resolution plan has been approved by the Jet board and needs approval of the boards of banks and Etihad. Besides, the approval of various regulatory authorities is also required.

This would take a few months. There is an interim funding requirement of Rs 500-1,000 crore. Banks will make an assessment and lend the fund against security.

The airline has a funding gap of Rs 8,500 crore. There will be equity infusion, sale or sale and leaseback, debt-to-equity conversion, and refinancing of aircraft. A combination of all these will help the company reduce the debt. But, I will be unable to give you the numbers right now, said Amit Agarwal, chief financial officer at Jet Airways, on Friday.

On Thursday, the companys board approved a draft resolution plan, which comprises conversion of debt into 110.4 million shares. Jet had a gross debt of Rs 7,654 crore as of December-end, comprising aircraft loans worth Rs 1,700 crore. About 60 per cent of the loans are dollar denominated.

Jet has called an extraordinary general meeting next week to secure shareholders nod for the issue of 110.4 million shares to lenders.

But converting debt into equity hasnt worked before

Among the recent big accounts where the lenders converted debt into equity include Jaypee Power Ventures, IVRCL, KSK Mahanadi, Lanco and Kingfisher Airlines.

Indian lenders are taking a significant risk in converting part of Jet Airways debt into equity because in about 20 similar cases before banks had been unsuccessful in making money.

Many power projects where the debt was converted into equity are awaiting a sale.

Among the recent big accounts where the lenders converted debt into equity include Jaypee Power Ventures, IVRCL, KSK Mahanadi, Lanco and Kingfisher Airlines.

While Kingfishers debt was converted into equity at a premium to the then market price of the airline, in the case of Jet the debt is converted into equity at the rate of Rs 1 as the airlines book value per share is negative. It remains to be seen whether the banks would make money on their exposure, said a bank official. On Friday, the Jet stock closed at Rs 232 a share.

Lenders said they were throwing a lifeline to Jet for strategic reasons because it connected different parts of India. The airline has good assets in terms of landing slots all over the world. Once the airline finds its feet, the banks will be able to exit at a good price, said the chief executive of a bank.

In August, Jaypee Power Ventures (JPVL) announced the banks had decided to convert part of their debt into equity. The lenders included ICICI Bank, SBI, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Canara Bank and UCO Bank.

A portion of the outstanding amount of debt (including unpaid interest) worth Rs 3,058 crore was converted into 305.80 crore equity shares of Rs 10 each at a price determined in accordance with the RBI circular, the company in January as lenders took 51 per cent in the company. JPVL traded at Rs 1.56 a share on Friday on BSE.

Similarly, lenders had converted their loans to infrastructure construction firm IVRCL at a price of Rs 8.7 a share with a face value of Rs 2 in February 2016. The loans were converted under the RBIs strategic debt restructuring scheme. After conversion, the lenders held 51 per cent in the company.

As of today, IVRCLs shares are trading at Re 1 a share. This was after the company was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). With this, the banks are sitting on dud shares and did not get upside to their conversion.

There are several smaller accounts where banks converted their debt but did not get any returns. It would be interesting to see how the banks are expecting to see an upside in future, said a banking analyst. Many power sector cases are awaiting a buyer after banks converted their debt in the Samadhan scheme.

In July 2016, lenders took control of Lanco Infratech by converting part of their Rs 41,000 crore loan to the company into equity and taking 60 per cent in the company. This was after management consultancy firm EY came up with a valuation of Rs 5,300 crore for the company.

Lanco was referred to the NCLT under the IBC 2016 and to date banks have failed to recover any money from the Hyderabad-based company. The case is still pending at the NCLT.

-- Dev Chatterjee
February 16, 2019 09:23 IST

While India does not figure in the top 10 export destinations for Pakistani goods, it serves as a crucial channel for select goods such as leather hides and cheaper variants of fertilisers that are generally procured by importers at short notice.

IMAGE: The Wagah checkpost between India and Pakistan through which bilateral trade passes. Photograph: Getty Images

With India exploring every possible way to respond to Pakistan in the wake of the horrific terror attack in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, commerce department officials said the country was within its rights to launch an economic offensive against its neighbour and revoke Pakistans Most Favoured Nation status.

India has considered revoking Pakistans MFN status twice -- after the attacks at Uri and Pathankot. Now, New Delhi is also considering suspending trade ties with Pakistan, officials said.

According to government officials, India is not even required to inform the World Trade Organisation about its decision to revoke Pakistans MFN status, and that a notification to the effect would be out soon.

Revoking the MFN status, which was granted to Pakistan in 1996, will allow India to put higher import duties on Pakistani goods. While India does not figure in the top 10 export destinations for Pakistani goods, it serves as a crucial channel for select goods such as leather hides and cheaper variants of fertilisers that are generally procured by importers at short notice.

On the other hand, any decision to stop exports to Pakistan is likely to affect the neighbouring countrys cotton industry which relies on cotton bales from India. Pakistan has also come to depend upon cheaper varieties of Indian pharma products and machinery that are difficult to source from elsewhere.

The MFN status is governed by the WTOs General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Countries that are signatory to the agreement agree not to discriminate against each other and the rest of the WTO member countries. This means that every time a country lowers a trade barrier or opens up a market, it has to do so for the same goods or services for all its trading partners. Ever since it was established, the MFN clause has worked as a bulwark against dubious and partial trade practices and promoted free trade.

While economic sanctions are likely to have little effect on Pakistan owing to the small amount of bilateral trade between the two nations, revoking the MFN status has found more support. However, officials pointed out that the move was unprecedented since the measure is used to justify economic wrongs, and not political ones.

"Revoking the MFN status is frowned upon in multilateral trade forums as countries tend not to revoke the MFN in cases other than economic hostility by a trade partner, a senior commerce department official said.

Since India cannot complain of harmful trade practices by Pakistan in recent times, revoking the status may make it difficult to explain Indias position to the global community, the official added.

However, the fact that Pakistan has never reciprocated by granting India MFN status will strengthen Indias position, he said.

Other options

In fact, India is mulling the option of dragging Pakistan to the dispute settlement body of the WTO because of this. However, Islamabad could cite security exceptions through which a member-country may not grant MFN to another member on grounds of security, a diplomatic source said.

In 2017-18, bilateral trade between India and Pakistan stood at $2.4 billion, which is just 0.3 per cent of Indias overall merchandise trade. While Indias exports to Pakistan was $1.9 billion, or 0.63 per cent of its total exports, the imports from Pakistan amounted to $488 million, or 0.10 per cent of Indias total inward shipments.

Indian exports to Pakistan include cotton, organic chemicals and plastics, among others, while mineral fuels, edible nuts and plastering materials account for its top imports from that country. Though India does not restrict imports from Pakistan, its exports across 1029 tariff lines and including textile, auto and agro products, have restricted entry into that country.

Reacting to India striking down Pakistans MFN status, the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it was willing to sacrifice trade with Pakistan in the interest of the country. The chamber, which includes many exporters to Pakistan who trade through the overland Punjab routes, said exports can be increased, but only when the situation between the two countries normalises.
Athens Neighborhood Health Centers is welcoming its new pharmacy to town on Tuesday with an open house starting at 8 a.m. and ribbon cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. hosted by Mayor Kelly Girtz.
For the 4.3 percent of Athenians who identify as Asian, as well as many other students at the University of Georgia, this time of year may hol
A few months into his first term as mayor, Mayor Kelly Girtz sat down with The Red & Black to discuss his transition to mayor and future plans, as well as the horse painting in his office.
Career outcomes for graduates of the University of Georgia are 11.7 percent higher than the national average. According to UGA Today, within six months of graduation, UGA graduates are either employed or attending graduate school at a rate of 96 percent for the second year in a row.
TRAVERSE CITY  State legislators have taken action regarding the rash of snow days that have forced an unprecedented amount of school cancellations this year. Rep. Ben Frederick (R-Owosso) sponsored a bill that states that schools that were not in session during the days the governor declared a state of emergency would not be counted against school districts.
The costumes for Black Panther presented challenges that Carter had never seen in her three-decade movie career. Unlike with period films that take place in the past, such as Amistad and Malcolm X, she could not base her designs on old photographs and images. Instead, she was working off of images from Marvels comic book, trying to honor the original look while at the same time making it distinctive to her own vision and functional for the actors in the costumes.
Traverse City, MI (49684)

Today

Mostly cloudy...isolated thunderstorms developing this afternoon. High 79F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Cloudy this evening then becoming foggy and damp after midnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low 64F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 02/15/2019



ADVERTISEMENT

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS!

Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source!

Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

viewers shouldn't expect to see Scott Disick 's girlfriend, Sofia Richie , on the show when Season 16 premieres on E! next month.Sofia, the 20-year-old daughter of American Idol judge Lionel Richie , has confirmed she will not appear on the next season of , which premieres Sunday, March 31 at 9PM ET/PT on E!, Us Weekly reported "Not that I'm against it, [but] I'm just very private," Sofia told Us on Thursday while celebrating Valentine's Day with Scott, 35, at the Sugar Factory American Brasserie inside the Theater Box in San Diego, CA.But is not Scott's only reality TV project right now, as the businessman is also working on a new E! reality series about flipping houses.When asked whether Sofia will participate in Scott's new televised venture, Sofia admitted to the magazine, "Oh, God no.""He's the expert," Sofia said of Kourtney Kardashian 's ex. "I might put in my two cents, but he's the expert."And Scott insisted he's perfectly okay with Sofia choosing to stay out of the spotlight."Everyone has their own choices and nobody should have to do anything they don't want to do... It's her choice," Scott explained.The model and Scott, a father of three, were first spotted together in May 2017.It took time for fans to take the couple's relationship seriously given their age gap and Scott's longtime efforts to make things work with Kourtney, but a source revealed last month the romance is anything but fleeting.In fact, a source insisted Scott and Sofia are "extremely serious" about each other, although they are not rushing to get married."It's more likely that she gets pregnant before they get engaged," the insider told Us.If the pair were to move in that direction, however, they'd apparently have Kourtney's blessing."[I'd say] congratulations," Kourtney, 39, reportedly said on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen when asked how she would react if Scott and Sofia got engaged.Kourtney reportedly added there is no tension between Sofia and the famous Kardashian family."It's all good," Kourtney said on the talk show, according to the magazine, adding that they've vacationed together in the past.Kourtney and Scott dated on and off for nine years before calling it quits on their relationship for good in July 2015. The exes share three children together: Mason, 9, Penelope, 6, and Reign, 4.
Though Virginia already has reached the goal of 70% of adults vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4, Hampton Roads lags far behind. And when Virginias state of emergency expires June 30, public health officials say getting the masses vaccinated will become that much more complicated.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (C) meets with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who are here for a new round of China-U.S. high-level economic and trade consultations, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Feb. 15, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday met with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who were here for a new round of China-U.S. high-level economic and trade consultations, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, saying "important progress for the current stage" was made after the two-day talks.

Calling China-U.S. ties one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today, Xi said the two countries share broad common interests and shoulder important responsibilities in safeguarding world peace and stability, as well as promoting global development and prosperity.

It serves both peoples' fundamental interests and meets the expectations of the international community to maintain sound and stable development of China-U.S. ties, Xi said.

Xi said he met with U.S. President Donald Trump in Argentina last December and reached important consensus as both countries agreed to jointly advance the China-U.S. relationship featuring coordination, cooperation and stability.

"I hope that both teams will strengthen communication, focus on cooperation and manage differences in the principles and directions set by President Trump and I, so as to promote the sound and stable development of China-U.S. economic and trade cooperation and bilateral ties," Xi said.

The two teams have carried out intensive and conducive consultation since last December, Xi said.

"I have repeatedly said that China and the United States cannot be separated from one another. Only through cooperation can a win-win situation be attained, and confrontation will certainly lead to a lose-lose scenario," Xi said, adding that "cooperation is the best choice for both sides."

Regarding differences and frictions in trade, Xi said China stands ready to resolve them through cooperation and to reach a deal that can be accepted by both sides.

"Of course, there are principles in cooperation," he added.

Noting that the eyes of the world have been on Beijing these past two days, Xi said the two sides "have again achieved important progress for the current stage."

"Both sides will meet again next week in Washington. I hope you all will make persistent efforts and try to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," the president said.

Lighthizer and Mnuchin extended cordial greetings and best wishes from Trump to Xi.

The trade relationship between the United States and China is very important, they said.

Both teams involved in the consultation have been stepping up their efforts in implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state after their meeting in Argentina, according to the two senior officials.

On the basis of previous negotiations, the two sides had in-depth discussions on economic and trade issues of common concerns in the past two days, and new progress was made on important and difficult issues, they said, adding that they have high hopes although a lot of work lies ahead.

The U.S. team is willing to work with their Chinese counterpart in the next stage to maintain close communication and speed up their work in order to reach a deal that accords with the interests of both sides, they said.

They also told Xi that President Trump highly respects him and looks forward to keeping close contacts with him.

Conveying his sincere greetings to Trump via Lighthizer and Mnuchin, Xi said he cherishes the good working relationship with Trump very much and is willing to keep in touch with him through various means.

The new round of China-U.S. trade talks kicked off in Beijing on Thursday morning.

The opening ceremony of the talks was co-chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chief of the Chinese side of the China-U.S. comprehensive economic dialogue, Lighthizer and Mnuchin.
Chalabala/iStock(CHICAGO) -- Five victims were killed and at least five police officers were injured by gunfire in Aurora, Illinois when a gunman opened fire in an industrial warehouse, according to authorities.

The gunman, identified as Gary Martin, 45, was killed by responding police officers, according to Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman.

The shooting unfolded at the Henry Pratt Company, a warehouse in Aurora, a town about 40 miles west of Chicago.

The first 911 calls came in at 1:24 p.m. local time, according to Ziman. She said that Aurora police officers were on scene within four minutes "and were fired upon immediately."

SWAT teams entered the 29,000 square foot warehouse to locate Martin, Ziman said. When they found him, they engaged him in gunfire, ultimately killing him.

Law enforcement sources told ABC Chicago affiliate WLS late Friday night that Martin was told Friday he was being fired from the company where he had worked for about 15 years as an assembler, and that it was during his termination meeting that he produced his gun and began firing, then went out into the plant at large and continued shooting.

People who escaped the building when the shooting began described the chaos inside.

John Probst, a Henry Pratt employee who escaped, described to WLS seeing a man holding a pistol equipped with a laser sight, shooting indiscriminately. Probst told WLS he recognized the shooter as a coworker, though authorities have not confirmed whether Martin was employed there.

There would have been approximately 30 people in the building at the time of the shooting, Probst said.

Another witness who escaped the building with Probst and later ended up hiding out in a nearby home, described the chaos and confusion inside, and his split-second decision to flee.

We got out of the back door as soon as we heard shots, Howard Sebby told ABC News. We saw one guy get shot, he was a co-worker, he was shot in the arm and back, I think they took him to the hospital.

Sebby also said he saw the shooter "running," though it was unclear where the gunman may have been going.

Little information about Martin was immediately available. It was not immediately clear whether he has a criminal record in Illinois. WLS reported that Martin was convicted of felony aggravated assault in Mississippi in 1995.

EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m.



THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down!



More information will be provided soon.  City of Aurora, IL (@CityofAuroraIL) February 15, 2019

Aurora police noted that the location has been "secured" but a "continued police presence will remain as investigation [sic] continues."

Active Shooter Incident has been secured. Shooter is no longer a threat to the area. Continued police presence will remain as investigation continues. Parents please contact your local school districts for dismissal plan https://t.co/P4y7X7K4og  Aurora (IL) Police (@AuroraPoliceIL) February 15, 2019

Nearby hospital, Rush-Copley Medical Center, tweeted that they have received two patients who are being treated for non-life threatening injuries connected to the shooting.
,



We're sorry, this article is not currently available
How the U.S. Might Stay in Syria, and Leave at the Same Time

WASHINGTON -- Is there a way for the United States and its allies to remain in northeastern Syria, even after President Trump's pledged withdrawal of U.S. military forces there? Officials are struggling to devise such a "workaround" strategy, but it could carry more risks than keeping the existing advisory force.

The loudest public call for an alternative to withdrawal from Syria is Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. The senator said on Friday in Munich that he wants European nations to provide troops for a "safe zone" as a way of coaxing Trump to maintain a U.S. presence.

"I'm hoping that President Trump will be coming to some of you and asking for your help and you will say yes," Graham said, promising that the United States would offer "in return, the capability that we have that is unique," and that the United States "will still be in the fight in Syria."

How this plan might operate remains unclear, according to current and former U.S. officials. One official said Friday that Britain, France and Germany had already turned down initial U.S. requests for troops in Syria, but that was before Graham's public plea. Current plans call for U.S. military forces to depart Syria by the end of April, but officials say the timeline is fuzzy.

One possibility, according to U.S. and foreign officials, would be to have paramilitary officers from the CIA take over the training and advising of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Since 2015, those duties have been carried out by U.S. Special Operations forces.

This approach, still in the discussion stage, would allow Trump to claim he is delivering on his pledge to withdraw troops from Syria, without creating a vacuum in the northeast that would be exploited by Turkey, Iran, Russia and the Syrian regime.

This new option, in the language of government lawyers, would mix Title 10 overt military operations and Title 50 covert action. Reduced military activity could continue under Title 10 authority, to provide air cover and logistical support for U.S. and allied troops on the ground, but the SDF's advisers might be CIA officers. The CIA operatives, like existing Special Forces personnel, wouldn't be involved directly in ground combat.

Trump's December withdrawal decision shocked U.S. allies, members of Congress and administration officials -- and led to the resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. The latest open critic is Gen. Joseph Votel, the head of U.S. Central Command, who told CNN Friday during a trip to Oman that Trump's decision to pull the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria "would not have been my military advice at that particular time."

Votel said the Islamic State "still has leaders, still has fighters, it still has facilitators, so our continued military pressure is necessary to go after that network." He said SDF fighters "still require our enablement and our assistance with this."

A paramilitary advisory force, operating under Title 50, would have some significant disadvantages, reminiscent of other covert actions in past decades. Current U.S. military forces in Syria can deter adversaries because they carry the U.S. flag, literally and figuratively. A paramilitary force wouldn't have that same deterrent capability, or the ability to deconflict operations with other forces in the area, such as Russia and Turkey.

"Having a visible force on the ground deters all the other actors," argues a former U.S. official. "If we can't talk about that force, or it's wearing a different [CIA] hat, then our ability to deter is limited."

European nations will weigh the vulnerability of their troops as they consider any request to provide forces for a buffer zone. They've been reluctant to provide such overt support in the past. But they share U.S. worries about creating a vacuum in northeast Syria and the danger that Kurdish-led forces might be slaughtered if abandoned by the United States.

Given the U.S. and European policy muddle, SDF commanders must weigh whether to make their own accommodation with Russia and the Syrian regime. The United Arab Emirates is said to favor such an approach, and some longtime SDF supporters say a deal with the regime would be safer for the Kurds than depending on a fickle United States and a gun-shy Europe.

Trump supporters, such as Graham, often propose workarounds that try to preserve sensible policy while accommodating the president's whims. That might be doable in Syria, with allied help and some legal and military juggling. But the best course would be for Trump simply to acknowledge that his earlier decision was unwise and reverse it.

(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
Nippon TV has acquired the rights for the Japan broadcast of the South Korean drama series Mother, depicting modern women who, as their lives unfold, take the time to reflect on themselves to find a new way of living.





The Korean-language version is a remake of Nippon TVs original drama series of the same name. The remake will air on Nittele Plus, a channel operated by Nippon TV group company CS Nippon Corporation. Nittele Plus will air the original Japanese version in its entirety as well as all episodes of the South Korean remake.Binge-watching to compare the original with the remake is extremely popular on pay-TV platforms, the company noted.Immediately after the original version finished airing in Japan , Nippon TV secured a remake deal with CJ ENM, a major broadcasting, production, and distribution company in South Korea. The remake, which has different romantic elements and a different ending from the original, was produced by CJ ENM subsidiary Studio Dragon and broadcast on the tvN channel in January 2018, reaching fans all over Asia, according to the company. Moreover, in 2016, Mother was remade as Anne in Turkey, where it became a hit, and then went on to air in over 32 countries. Going forward, another remake deal is sealed for Ukraine.I was absolutely surprised when I heard that CJ ENM wanted to buy the scripted format rights to Mother immediately after it was broadcast in Japan, said Hisashi Tsugiya, producer at the Production Division at Nippon TV. They went on to work meticulously on the story of the remake so when I found out that it would air in 2018, I was really excited to see how it turned out. I had the honour of attending the 1 Cannes International Series Festival (CANNESERIES 2018) where over 2,000 people attended the screening, and I saw first-hand how the viewers were captivated by the drama.He added, There was a woman crying behind me and our eyes happened to meet. She said, I have the same past as the lead character. I really empathise with the story. Its great. I am very happy it will be shown in full in Japan and I would be honoured if many people would tune in to see it.
African publishing is gaining a higher global profile early in 2019. Numerous African writers are getting the star treatment from top publishers abroad for their latest works. In the U.S., these include Ghanaian writer Ayesha Harruna Attah, author of The Hundred Wells of Salaga (Other Press); Nigerias Chigozie Obioma, author of An Orchestra of Minorities (Little, Brown); and Zimbabwean writer Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, author of House of Stone (Norton)and thats just since the start of January. In addition, several publishers have started to develop lists dedicated to publishing works from Africa in the U.S., including Nigeria-based Cassava Republic Press and the U.S.s Catalyst Press and the Mantle.

The publishing industry is also becoming more of an economic driver in Africa, contributing as much as $1 billion annually to GDP on the continent, according to Nigerian Publishers Association president Gbadega Adedapo. Speaking in advance of a seminar on sustainable development for African publishers run by the International Publishers Association in Lagos last May, Adedapo went so far as to claim that the industry is growing at a cumulative rate of 6% per year across the continents 54 countries.

Alexander Nderitu, PEN Kenya Centres deputy secretary general, makes no such bold statements. In compiling Changing the Literary Map of Africa, a report surveying African publishing released earlier this month (and downloadable from the authors website), he aggregated a wide variety of perspectives on key topics related to the industry, such as the legacy of colonialism in publishing, the growing tension between diaspora African writers and those who stay at home, and the need for more African book prizes.

Among the challenges that face African publishing, according to Nderitu, is the size of the continent, which is home to 1.3 billion people representing some 3,000 ethnic groups with distinct languagesmany of which have no extensive written record, published literature, or libraries. Radio has long been helpful disseminating information and education in Africa, and, Nderitu notes, story hours, in which radio hosts read directly from books, have been popular. As a result, the podcasting and audiobook boom that has swept the U.S. is also taking off in Africa. Several startup companies on the continent are making a play for listeners. These include AkooBooks Audio in Ghana, eKitabu in Kenya, and OkadaBooks in Nigeria.

E-books, on the other hand, have yet to gain much traction on the continent. Though Africa as a whole has an internet penetration rate of 35%, or approximately 450 million people, the large international e-book distributors have yet to establish much of presence there outside of Egypt and South Africa; even more rarely are e-book stores customized to a particular country or regions content or currency. Piracy, in digital and print, is a persistent problem.

One nonprofit that has had some success addressing the lack of access to e-books is Worldreader, which brings digital libraries to underserved communities in Africa, Asia, India, Latin America, and the Middle East. Since 2010, it has created a library of 35,000 titles through partnerships with 425 publishers around the world, including 162 in Africa. Worldreader has paid more than $2 million to publishers in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Jordan for their content.

In Africa, Worldreaders work has been focused on Ghana, Kenya, and Nigeria; in Nigeria, the app has attracted 335,000 monthly users. A recent survey by the nonprofit released at the end of January, entitled The State of Digital Publishing: Facts and Figures from Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria, noted that African publishers are keen to publish more books digitally: Publishers perceive the biggest benefits of digital publishing as access to international markets, access to a wider audience, revenue generation, and the creation of accessible content. Despite the perceived benefits, which also include marginally faster production times and lower production costs, the biggest obstacles remain a lack of know-how and resources.

To address the range of challenges African publishers are facing, the IPA has taken an interest in fostering publishing on the continent. After the success of its first event in Lagos last year, the association is hosting a follow-up seminar, Sustainable Development for African Publishers, in Nairobi, June 1415.
This season, many books from religion and spirituality publishers deal with traumaparticularly relating to gun violence, as the nation continues to grapple with issues surrounding gun control. Also on the list are titles that exhibit reality TVs ever-increasing influence on religious publishing.

Called to Forgive: The Charleston Church Shooting, a Victims Husband, and the Path to Healing and Peace

Anthony B. Thompson, with Denise George. Bethany, June 4

Thompson, a pastor, explains why he decided to publicly forgive Dylann Roof for killing his wife during the 2015 mass shooting at Charleston, S.C.s Emanuel AME Church.

Consider the Women: A Provocative Guide to Three Matriarchs of the Bible

Debbie Blue. Eerdmans, $18

Examining the biblical stories of Esther, Hagar, and Mary, Blue, founding minister of House of Mercy in St. Paul, Minn., provides a female-centric rereading of Scripture that will be a conversation starter in congregations.

Devotedly: The Personal Letters and Love Story of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot

Valerie Elliot Shepard. B&H, Feb. 1

Jim Elliot was killed by the Huaorani tribe of Ecuador while working as a missionary among them. Here, Elliots daughter publishes letters he wrote to his wife in his final months. They reveal an intimate conversation about love, faith, and the work of missionaries.

Fire by Night: Finding God in the Pages of the Old Testament

Melissa Florer-Bixler. Herald, Apr. 9

Mennonite pastor Florer-Bixler guides readers through the Old Testament, musing on issues including white supremacy, immigration, and the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities.

For Such a Time as This: Hope and Forgiveness After the Charleston Massacre

Sharon Risher. Chalice, June 1

Reverend Risher, whose mother was killed during the 2015 mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., explores her mothers life and the church she grew up attending. Risher describes her struggle to forgive her mothers killer.

The Four Horsemen: The Conversation That Sparked an Atheist Revolution

Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. Random House, Mar. 19

Made up primarily of a transcript of a conversation between the four major New Atheists in 2007, this also serves as an outline of their ideas and a strong response to criticisms directed at New Atheism.

In Love with the World: A Monks Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, with Helen Tworkov. Random/Spiegel & Grau, May 7

This candid memoir from Mingyur Rinpoche, a Tibetan master of the Karma Kagyu and Nyingma traditions, recounts his decision to take an indefinite retreat and the near-fatal experience of food poisoning that inspires his ruminations on the Buddhist bardos.

Miracle Lady: Kathryn Kuhlman and the Transformation of Charismatic Christianity

Amy Collier Artman. Eerdmans, Mar. 19

Artman, religious studies instructor at Missouri State University, chronicles the life of Kathryn Kuhlman (19071976), a leading figure in charismatic Christianity and miracle healing, arguing that she has been unfairly overlooked in the religious history of the 20th century.

Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom

Elisabeth Hasselbeck. WaterBrook, Apr. 2

Former The View host Hasselbeck shares her life story as a journey of faith. She details her marriage and career in television alongside her relationship with God, exploring the challenges she has overcome and how her faith has matured because of them.

River of Fire: My Spiritual Journey

Helen Prejean. Random House, Jul. 16

Prejean, a Catholic nun and author of Dead Man Walking, writes about challenges facing the Catholic Church and passionately addresses the need to abolish the death penalty and reform criminal sentencing laws.

See the season's complete listing here.
In 2014, as the author of a new nonfiction bookwhich, even before publication, was more or less doomed to obscurity, at least outside of academic circlesI was looking for ways to shill a few copies. Hey, royalties are royalties, after all. Then it hit me: libraries. Of course! Libraries not only accept but actively encourage suggestions for new book purchases. Why not?

Well, many libraries forbid or at least discourage authors from suggesting purchases of their own works. As such, whenever I was able to do so, I self-identified as the books author but proceeded to explain the sound reasons why the library should purchase a copy anyway. So, please, before you get all high and mighty on me, I was upfront about what I was doing.

Suddenly an otherwise humdrum evening of TV, a postwork beer or two, and making too many ill-advised online chess moves devolved into an odyssey of looking up various public library systems across my home and native land, Canada, seeking either those fill-in-the-blanks book suggestion pages or librarian email addresses.

The pitch? Easy: Im a Canadian living in Canada. The book, Behind the Front, is published by a preeminent academic press. It deals with World War I, the centenary of which we were then in the middle of. It had received several positive reviews, and it dealt with a subject near and dear to the hearts of many Canadiansrelations between English and French speakers.

To the credit of Toronto Public Library, I received a personal response, rather than the far-more-common automatically generated sort, thanking me both for sending along a URL to a review in a major print publication and for not being an annoying self-published author, clearly a bete noire of this city staffer.

Thinking even more locally, I turned my focus toward the suburban and intellectual fringe of Toronto, where I currently live. Hey, if I could interest a local newspaper in devoting a story to the books publication as part of its Remembrance Day coverage, how difficult could it be to convince my neighborhood library of the relative merits of buying a copy?

Perhaps for no reason other than the fact that I can leave my front door and be outside the entrance of a local branch of Markham Public Library in, oh, three minutes, their belated thanks but no thanks rankled. Here was a golden opportunity to not only think local but to buy localbut they werent, dammit.

Responding in the gentlest way possible, I expressed my disappointment that the library was not open to supporting a local creatornot to mention a local taxpayer as well as a local voterand to give my epistle added oomph, I copied my local municipal councillor.

Lo and behold, I received apologetic emails from both the library and the councillor within hours. They assured me that this had all been a misunderstanding, that a portion of the library budget was earmarked for just such worthy purchases (note to self: good to know), and that several copies of my book would be ordered.

Mission accomplishedor so it seemed.

Though subsequently checking up on which libraries did or did not make a purchase was not a priority, it was nevertheless gratifying to discover that two copies had appeared in the TPL system. Not to be outdone, the London, Ontario, system purchased threeyes, threecopies.

My local library? Not one. Not on order. Nothing. Other than reminding the librarian of her earlier assurances, my final email was brief. Frankly, I was more frustrated than angry. Like, what the fuck gives? So when a single copyyup, a measly singleton, not the original several copies promisedof my book eventually appeared on local shelves, it felt a pyrrhic victory indeed.

In retrospect, Im not entirely convinced that theres any moral or insight or wisdom to be gained from my experience. But what I would say is this: as much as wed all like to idealize the people who run our libraries as the book-loving and curious people we want, or at least imagine, them to be, they are eminently human, constrained by bureaucracies and policies and financial considerations.

In the meantime, despite its plummeting Amazon ranking (#4,605,584), the book continues to receive excellent reviews. Not that that matters. Obscurity beckons.

Torontonian Craig Gibson is a historian and blogger. His first book, Behind the Front, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2014.
In Spanish filmmaker Arevalos Alices Island (Atria, Apr.), widow Alice Williams travels to an island off Cape Cod to try to find out the big secret her late husband was hiding from her.

What inspired Alices Island?

After my fourth feature film, I needed to kind of reinvent myself, do something different, and I couldnt think of a better way than to get inside the skin of a woman, because in all my films the protagonists have mainly been male. And so I wrote a screenplay, which basically ended up being the skeleton of the novel.

You also entered the manuscript in a competition under a female pseudonym. Why?

I wanted to make sure that if someone reads this novel and doesnt know who the author is he or she will think its been written by a woman. I wanted to make a portrait of a woman that women would relate to, would understand. I submitted to Spains Planeta Prize as Julia Ponsky, and when the members of the jury gave the awards, they told me they were impressed, because they really thought that the author was a woman.

Why did you decide to set the novel in the U.S.?

At first I tried to set it in Spain, but it has nothing to do with our idiosyncrasies. The way Alice doesnt tell anyone about her quest would probably be impossible here. I think in Spain Alice would probably gather all her friends and would cry and tell them what happened. And then her friends would just help her to discover what was going on.

Did you base the island on an actual island?

I took several trips along the East Coast, and I didnt quite find the island that I needed for my story. So then I decided, this is fiction, why dont you invent your own island? And so I took things that I saw in all different places and made up Robin Island. For me, the island itself is a metaphor for the place that were always looking for, that microcosm that confirms our own little world. Everything Ive written, its always about the need to find your own place in the world and to learn to be happy even with all the difficulties.

What was your biggest challenge?

The secret itself. When I originally wrote the screenplay, it was already 200 pages, and I didnt get around to the secret. I was very concerned that anything you reveal might not be satisfying enough. So when I started writing the novel, I didnt know what Alice was looking for. I just went along on her journey and finally one day I got this idea that really clicked. For me it was like being in the middle of the ocean, I was starting to drownand finally seeing land.
The $15.2 billion contract is a down payment on the construction of the future USS Enterprise, CVN-80, now undergoing advance work at HIIs Newport News shipyard, as well as CVN-81, which is not yet named. The ships are the planned third and fourth aircraft carriers of the Gerald R. Ford class.
Author Tracey Jackson I hope to successfully make my contribution about the island and its diaspora to the mainstream book industry so people can see that we have our own pivotal stories to tell against the richness of our culture.

If South Florida Author and Meet the World Image Solutions client Tracey Jackson has her say, those who read her new book From Yaad!, released Jan. 31, 2019, will see Jamaica and the Caribbean experience in a whole new light.

Being of Jamaican heritage and growing up in the United States, Jackson said she often experienced a world many Americans may never experience or understand. Navigating school and social life in English, but coming home to a household filled with Patois. Explaining to friends and acquaintances the difference between being an Afro-Caribbean and an African American. Navigating negative stereotypes filled with references to ganja, dreadlocks, and Reggae music.

Jackson said she knew a different reality, one filled with love, beauty, and pride. Her parents, both from Jamaica, encouraged her to pursue excellence, which she found through books at school. She said she devoured books by the likes of Maya Angelou, Cornel West, Langston Hughes, and others. However, finding books that reflected the Caribbean experience was challenging.

Growing up, I read endlessly about the African American experience through fiction and non-fiction because that was all that was available to me in the mainstream bookstores and libraries in America, she explained. I always wondered if the Jamaican experience (outside of beaches, Reggae, and marijuana) would ever be poetically written in a book that was available every and anywhere.

Finding few of these books, the speaker and technology consultant decided to add author to her list of titles in an effort to share the untold stories of the African-American and Caribbean-American experience while featuring positive characters with captivating stories. Besides From Yaad!, she now has four published works, including Impressions, a book of poetry; From the Valley to the Mountaintop - Lessons from the Journey, an inspirational work; and her first full-length fiction novel, The Summer of Chances, released in late 2018.

I hope to successfully make my contribution about the island and its diaspora to the mainstream book industry so people can see that we have our own pivotal stories to tell against the richness of our culture, she said.

She set out to do just that with From Yaad!, which tells the story of a young Jamaican-American professional who finds herself torn between her sensible career in New York, and the possibilities of taking over her deceased fathers villa in Jamaica, a land she hadnt experienced since childhood. Although she is from Yaad, which is slang for Jamaica, she finds that she still has much to learn about herself, friendship, family, and duty.

My stories are about the everyday man and woman, Jackson said. I want people to be able to see themselves, their friends, and family in my writing. My approach is a bit more everyday prose than the traditional. I've run into a lot of people who just want to read a book and get it. I figure, this is an area where I can play around and experiment. So far, so good!

From Yaad! is available for $3.99 on Amazon Kindle. For more information, contact Jackson at fromyaadstory(at)gmail(dot)com or Meet the World Image Solutions at info(at)mtwimagesolutions(dot)com.
Farzin Khaghani Farzin is a talented executive with a strong track record of aligning teams around the goals of business growth, accountability, and continuous improvement. Glen Jonas, CEO and owner of RF Technologies.

RF Technologies (RFT) has announced the recent appointment of Farzin Khaghani to the role of Senior Vice President, Sales, Marketing and IT. He joined the company in early January, having most recently served as Area Vice President at Conformis, a medical device company that designs and manufactures custom-made, patient specific knee implants.

Farzin is a talented executive with a strong track record of aligning teams around the goals of business growth, accountability, and continuous improvement, said Glen Jonas, CEO and owner of RF Technologies. When we started RF Technologies over thirty years ago, we had one mission: to keep people safe. I am very pleased to have Farzin join us and help lead this mission as we look forward to the years ahead.

I am proud to join the RFT team, said Khaghani, who adds, RFTs mission is inspiring and I look forward to working with our core safety and security businesses to protect our children, the elderly, and the staff who work with them.

Khaghani brings 30 years of professional experience in medical device and information technology. He has held senior management positions in marketing, sales, engineering and operations in healthcare and high-tech sectors. Prior to joining RF Technologies, Khaghani served in VP and director roles at Conformis Inc, Johnson and Johnson, Silverback Technologies, and Win Enterprises. He holds a BS in biology and mathematics from Cornell University, an MS in mechanical engineering from Boston University, and an Executive MBA from Suffolk Universitys Sawyer School of Management.

Khaghani serves as a member of the External Advisory Board for the Graduate School of Biomedical Science and Engineering at the University of Maine and supports various business and community initiatives outside of work.

Founded by Glen Jonas in 1987, RF Technologies is a recognized leader in providing safety and security solutions to the healthcare, senior living, hospitality, and education markets.

About RF Technologies:

RF Technologies is a leading provider of safety and security solutions for the healthcare, hospitality, and education markets, leveraging radio frequency identification (RFID) and real-time locating system (RTLS) technologies. The RF Technologies brand family includes CODE ALERT call and wander management systems, SAFE PLACE patient security systems, SENSATEC fall management products, HELP ALERT staff duress systems, and EXACTRACK equipment location systems. With more than 10,000 installations, RFT was the first in the industry to offer remote monitoring, RF consulting, 24/7 technical support by internal staff specialists, and a nationwide service team.
"Pathmark, one of the most innovative supermarket chains, is poised to reemerge on the grocery scene. We are very optimistic about the future of the Pathmark banner." John Derderian, President, Allegiance Retail Services

The iconic name Pathmark, among the most innovative supermarket chains in the northeast from the 1970s through the early 2000s, is now poised to reemerge onto the grocery scene. A 49,000 sq. ft. Pathmark is currently under-construction in central Brooklyn, NY, scheduled to open late March or early April 2019, in a storefront which ironically operated as a Pathmark until the A&P bankruptcy in 2015.

It was from this bankruptcy proceeding, that Allegiance Retail Services, LLC, purchased the intellectual property of the Pathmark name and associated marks to increase the number of banners available to coop members, and, more importantly, to develop a format to target a specific and under-served consumer segment.

Allegiance Retail Services, LLC is a supermarket cooperative which has 32 members operating 120 retail supermarkets in three states: New York; New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At one time the members of the cooperative were fierce competitors of rival Pathmark, but that ended abruptly when A&P liquidated all retail operations in August 2015.

After the purchase of the Pathmark name, Allegiance Retail Services began a brand review and market analysis, then developed a business plan and refined the formats operating principles. Additionally, Allegiance set-up rigorous guidelines related to a go-to-market operating strategy, physical requirements, and the experience needed to potentially be designated as a Pathmark operator. Some of the physical requirements associated with the Pathmark format include a store measuring at least 30,000 selling square feet; a full parking lot with easy ingress / egress; and a local consumer-base which aligns with the profile associated with Pathmarks past success.

This location in Brooklyn meets all the criteria set by Allegiance, and why not, this storefront was a successful Pathmark location for many decades. Aside from meeting all the physical requirements, the demographics and life-stage of consumers proximate to 1525 Albany Avenue, Brooklyn, matches nicely with the profile developed to be serviced by a Pathmark. That profile being a disproportionate number of area residents who are millennial families with one or more children, who demand wide variety, strong promotions, everyday values and ingredient-based products.

Although very optimistic about this banners future, Allegiance will assess the response to this first unit, before announcing any additional new or retro-fitted existing units.

Store Name: Pathmark of Albany Ave.

Address: 1525 Albany Ave., Brooklyn, New York

Store Opening: Late March / Early April 2019

Supermarket Cooperative: Allegiance Retail Services, LLC

Owner / Operators: PSK Supermarkets

About Allegiance

Allegiance Retail Services, LLC supports independent supermarkets (e.g., Foodtown, Freshtown, Frescho, DAgostino, LaBella Marketplace, Brooklyn Harvest, Market Fresh and Big Deal Food Market) for retail success by providing them with marketing, advertising, technological and merchandising support, as well as a full line of private label items. For more information, visit http://www.allegianceretailservices.com.

CONTACT:

John T. Derderian, President & COO

Allegiance Retail Services, LLC

732-596-6062

jderderian(at)allegiancehq.com

David Maniaci, Chairman & CEO

Allegiance Retail Services, LLC

201-589-0004

dmaniaci(at)allegiancehq.com
A three bedroom, two bathroom Sunshine West, Vic townhouse has been sold by its mortgagee for $515,000.

The vacated home was set for February 16 auction with a price guide of $490,000 to $530,000.

The median price for a home in Sunshine West is $645,000 according to CoreLogic, which calculate its annual change in median price over the past 10 years as 7.9%.

David Falcone of Stockdale and Leggo had the listing at 30 Fontana Close.

The similar residence on the corner next door, 30A Fontana Close sold in January last year for $555,000.

Set on 118 sqm the townhouse is located in the Callaway Park estate, with rear access double garaging.

The three bedroom two bathroom home features an open living plan, two parking spaces and a balcony.

It is positioned near shops, schools & public transport.

It last sold for $400,000 in 2012, while 30A Fontana close sold for $458,000 in 2012.
Pune, Feb 17 : "The Karate Kid" star Jaden Smith, also a rapper, had one of his "favourite performances ever" here. He doesn't want to just make strides in acting but also in music.

"I love hip-hop music. It's amazing. It's a way for all of us to express ourselves.... I would love to collaborate with some rappers from India. That would be a dream of mine because I really wanna be a global musical artiste," Jaden told select media including IANS here after his performance at Vh1 Supersonic 2019 on Saturday.

Talking about his first gig in India, the "Icon" hitmaker said: "I feel honoured to be here. It was one of my favourite performances ever. People here were so amazing."

The son of star couple Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith would like to come back and share his music with his fans in the country.

Last year, the young artiste grabbed eyeballs for releasing "SYRE: The Electric Album" on Instagram.

"I had created an app to release my first album. My second album... I released it on Instagram. My third album on Instagram TV. My next album...I don't know what I am going to do," Jaden said in response to a question by IANS.

He agrees that risk is involved in doing so.

"There is risk, but I also released it on normal music platforms. So, I released on Instagram but also on other platforms that everyone else does. I just did a little bit extra on top of what normal people usually do while releasing an album," he added.

"The Pursuit of Happyness" star also shared that he will collaborate with a lot of artistes.

"I am experimenting with rock music like punk rock music," he added.

(The writer's trip to Pune is at the invitation of the festival organisers. Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at Natalia.n@ians.in)
Kolkata, Feb 17 : The Special Task Force of Kolkata police on Saturday arrested an alleged operative of terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), said to be directly involved in last year's Bodh Gaya blast, an officer said.

Ariful Islam, 22, a resident of Panpara village in Assam's Barpeta, was apparently plotting a conspiracy for securing the escape of Kausar - one of the key accused in Burdwan's Khagragarh blast case of 2014 - from the Presidency Correctional Home (as jails are called in West Bengal).

He was taken into custody from central Kolkata's Babughat area.

Islam, who worked as a helper with truck drivers, came in touch with JMB operatives Jahidul Islam alias Kausar and Abdul Majid, who invited him to join the outfit.

According to the police officer, Islam was in contact with Kausar, Kalu, Adil, Hassan alias Umar, Paigambar, Kader Gazi and other senior members of the JMB.

"In January 2018, he, along with Adil, Hassan, Chota Kareem and Kausar, had been to Bodh Gaya in Bihar... they conducted a recce, planted explosives and were directly involved in the Bodh Gaya blast," he said.

Two crude bombs were recovered near the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya district where Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, was camping at that time.

According to district officials, a low intensity bomb blast had taken place near the site where the two crude bombs were found.

Bodh Gaya is a holy place for the Buddhists, as the religion's founder Gautama Buddha is said to have obtained Enlightenment there under what became known as the Bodhi Tree.

After the Bodh Gaya blast, Islam fled to Bengaluru.

"However, he got involved in some dacoities in Bengaluru with his other associates," the officer said.

"Islam had come to Kolkata for 'some specific work' regarding preparations for a plot to secure escape of Kausar from custody on way to court from jail," he added.

Some papers, including a map of Kolkata, have been seized from him.

Charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, waging war against the Indian government and conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code and under the Explosive Substances Act have been slapped against Islam.
Bengaluru, Feb 16 : The last rites of a CRPF trooper from Karnataka, killed in the Pulwama attack, were held on Saturday at his native village in Mandya district with full honours as thousands bid tearful adieu.

H. Guru's body, brought in an Indian Air Force AN-32 transport aircraft from Delhi, landed at the HAL airport and was driven in a flower-bedecked military truck to Gudigere village in Mandya, about 100km from here.

Guru, 33, was among the 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers who died on Thursday in Kashmir's Pulwama district in a terror attack on a bus in which they were travelling in a convoy to Srinagar from Jammu.

Thousands of people gathered en route from Bengaluru to Mandya as the military vehicle passed.

Guru's mortal remains were first taken to his residence in the village and later shifted to an open ground on the outskirts for cremation, which was delayed by over two hours.

Family members, including his widow Kalavathi, father Honnaiah, mother Chikka Thayamma, and younger brothers Madhu and Anand broke down at the sight of the body.

Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister G. Parameshwara, senior BJP leader S.M. Krishna, MP Shobha Karandlaje, state Ministers and CRPF officials paid their tributes to Guru and laid wreaths on his body.

After a gun salute by the state police as a mark of respect and playing of National Anthem and sounding of bugles, Guru's younger brother Madhu lit the funeral pyre amid chants of 'Bharat Mata ki jai'.

People from across the district thronged to the village for the state funeral.

Guru belonged to the 82nd Battalion of the CRPF and was posted in Srinagar.

The Chief Minister has assured the bereaved family of providing a government job to Kalavathi and compensation of Rs 25 lakh for his supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation.

According to his relatives, Guru was at home last week on leave and left for Kashmir on February 11.

Guru had joined the CRPF in 2011.
Kolkata, Feb 16 : West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday organised a candle march led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee here to protest against the terror attack on a paramilitary convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 49 troopers while the opposition Left Front and the BJP also hit the streets.

During the Trinamool's 5-km-long candle light procession starting from Hazra Park in the southern part of the metropolis to the Mahatma Gandhi statue at Mayo Road in central Kolkata, Banerjee and others walked silently carrying candles.

Holding a large banner with a remark "we salute our jawans", party activists, leaders, MLAs, MPs, and city Mayor Firhad Hakim also participated in the procession. As the march progressed, more and more people carrying festoons and placards joined in the rally and walked silently.

"We have come here to express our solidarity with the jawans," Banerjee said after completing the march.

They observed one minute silence in memory of the brave martyrs and Rabindra Sangeet - 'a guner poroshmoni'- was sung.

The suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy carrying troopers towards Srinagar had blown up a bus when an explosive-packed SUV rammed into it, causing the death of some 40 troopers at the spot on Thursday. Nine injured succumbed subsequently.

The Left parties also took out a rally holding posters, placards and festoons condemning the attack on jawans but their procession was stopped twice because of Banerjee-led Trinamool rally.

On request of police, Left Front Chairman Biman Bose and CPI-M State Committee Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra agreed to follow an alternate route from Lenin Statue to Shahid Bhagat Singh's statue at Minto Park, deviating from the original route from Lenin Statue to Hazra.

"Central government should adopt a pragmatic approach and find out a solution to this problem through dialogue. War-mongering will do no good. Security arrangements for the jawans should be improved," Bose said before reaching the statue of Shahid Bhagat Singh.

The BJP also took out a rally in Dum Dum area to protest against the attack.
Howrah: Last rites of Bablu Santra, one of the 49 CRPF personnel killed in 14 Feb Pulwama militant attack under way at West Bauria village in Howrah district of West Bengal on Feb 16, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Howrah: Bonomala Santra, grief struck mother of Bablu Santra, one of the 45 CRPF personnel killed in a suicide attack by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on 14th Feb 2019; in West Bauria village of West Bengal's Howrah district on Fe Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata/Bauria, Feb 16 : Emotion, anger and wailing by near and dear ones created heart-touching scenes as CRPF head constable Bablu Santra was on Saturday brought home, lifeless, two weeks before a scheduled leave he had applied for to spend time with his family.

A sea of humanity descended near the Santras' home at West Bauria in West Bengal's Howrah district to bid farewell to the braveheart, one of the 49 CRPF troopers killed by a suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

People carried the tricolour, waved posters condemning Pakistan and brought flower bouquets for Santra.

There was an undeclared shutdown in the entire Chengail administrative block, with shops, markets and offices remaining closed. Many households did not cook even a morsel since the morning.

"Bablu was so close to us. He was a great fighter. All shops and markets have remained closed today in his honour," said a grief-stricken neighbour, who owns a shop.

A club ground close to Santra's house had been prepared since Friday night for the ceremonial farewell, as also for his family members, friends, neighbours and others to have a last glimpse of his body that was carried in a slow march by CRPF troopers and personnel from other Central and state forces.

Draped in the tricolour, Santra's coffin was placed on a makeshift platform as thousands broke into slogans eulogising the martyr, shouting "Vande Mataram" and "Pakistan Murdabad."

The trooper's mother, Bonomala Santra, was inconsolable. From Friday night, she had been panicking at the thought of seeing the corpse of her only son.

When the moment of reckoning came after endless hours of wait, she hugged the coffin, bewildered, somewhat oblivious of the thousands of strangers.

"He was a responsible boy. He wanted to do so much for the family," she said, breaking into shrill cries, as an uncertain future dawned before the family which has lost its sole breadwinner.

Santra's grief-stricken wife Mita touched her husband's coffin and did not want to move away.

"He had applied for leave, and would have been home two weeks later. But cruel fate did not let that happen," said a neighbour.

"Nobody has taken anything except water in the area since the morning. I have not cooked. Most of the households have done away with lunch. We are not in a frame of mind to cook or eat," said a middle-aged woman, as the bugle played the last post.

The men in uniform accorded Santra a guard of honour and then reversed their arms for a gun salute.

But amid all this, Mita spoke out against bloodshed and war, even as she complained that the security arrangements for the CRPF convoy in Pulwama was "not adequate."

"War cannot be a solution to the problems. If there is war, lot more jawans will die. If you start a war, more families will lose their dear ones on both sides (of the border)," Mita said in a soft but clear tone.

Earlier, sustained cries of "Vande Mataram," "Bharat Mata ki Jai" and "Pakistan Murdabad" rent the air as hundreds paid homage to Santra and the other slain CRPF trooper from the state when their bodies reached the city.

Draped in the tricolour, the coffins carrying the mortal remains of Santra and constable Sudip Biswas were flown in to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport four hours behind schedule after a special air force flight developed snag at the Patna airport.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo, alongside troopers from the CRPF and other security forces, carried the bodies out of the airport, where people carrying the national flag, festoons and posters decrying the killings were waiting since morning to pay their respect to the martyrs.

Wreaths were laid and a guard of honour was given by the CRPF.

Three close relatives of Biswas, who had come all the way from Tehatta in Nadia, broke down on seeing the coffin in which his name was written.

Supriyo, BJP leader Locket Chatterjee and senior officers from the army, navy, air force, CRPF and the local police were among those who laid wreaths and saluted the slain bravehearts.

"Pakistan will have to pay a heavy price for this ghastly act. I am sure that right steps will be taken to teach Pakistan a lesson," said Supriyo.

A minute's silence was observed before the bodies were put in trucks for being driven to their homes for the last rites.
Kolkata: Union Minister Babul Supriyo carries the coffin of one of the two martyrs from West Bengal, who died in 14 Feb Pulwama militant attack along with 47 other CRPF men, at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Feb 16, 20 Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata: Union Minister Babul Supriyo carries the coffin of one of the two martyrs from West Bengal, who died in 14 Feb Pulwama militant attack along with 47 other CRPF men, at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Feb 16, 20 Image Source: IANS News

Kolkata, Feb 16 : Bangladesh Information Minister Hasan Mahmud on Saturday condemned the terror attack on a paramilitary convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 49 troopers and said terrorism has to be countered globally and regionally.

"We condemn the attack.. the Bangladesh government has officially condemned it. Terrorism is a global problem. We have been suffering because of terrorism. I am also a victim of terrorist attack," he said at a get-together event organised by the Kolkata Press Club.

The suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy carrying troopers towards Srinagar had blown up a bus when an explosive-packed SUV rammed into it, causing the death of some 40 troopers at the spot on Thursday. Nine injured succumbed subsequently.

Mahmud said that all the terrorist groups have their own regional and global networks but his country was cooperating with India against the threat.

"So, we need to fight against terrorist attacks regionally and globally. Bangladesh government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working with India and other countries as well. Whoever is linked or patronising this kind of attacks, we condemn everyone," he said.

Asked whether Pakistan should be isolated in the international forums following the Pulwama attack,he did not respond.

He said there are terrorist groups like Harkat-ul-Jihad, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and many others which were fomenting disturbance in Bangladesh but their activities have now been effectively contained.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina effectively contained (terrorists) attacks. We would not say that we have completely eradicated all these terrorist groups. (But) They are controlled," he said.

Asked about the alleged Bangladeshi terrorists from JMB being arrested in India, Mahmud said both the countries are cooperating each other and security agencies from both the countries have been coordinating and sharing information.

According to him, his country has taken several steps to curtail terror activities on its soil.

"As we have taken several steps to curb terror activities on our soil, they no longer have a fertile ground for breeding in Bangladesh, that may be the reason they are trying to cross over to India," he added.
With the imposition of various trade embargoes on Iran, obtaining payments for tea exports from Sri Lanka to Iran is causing several difficulties, Sri Lankan Tea Board Chairman Lucille Wijewardena told Daily Mirror.

"The European Union imposed an embargo on November 5 last year the United States had then imposed an economic embargo on Iran making it difficult to obtain dollar settlements. Some 32 million kilograms of tea are exported to Iran annually. This volume has now fallen by about 10 million kilograms," he said.

Mr. Wijewardena said Iran was the fourth larges purchaser of Sri Lankan tea.

He said earlier Sri Lanka bought crude oil in exchange for the tea, but with the EU and US-imposed embargo our exporters are finding it extremely difficult for tea exporters to obtain payment. (Indika Sri Aravinda)
New Delhi, Feb 16 : Earlier this week, a 29-year-old professional received a call from someone claiming to be from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), telling him that his name has been deleted from the voters' list and that the party will help him get re-enrolled. Soon after the call, he checked online and found his name intact in the voters' list.

Some days later, another person called and told him the party has successfully restored his name. When he said his name was never deleted from the list, the call got disconnected.

People across the city have been receiving such calls since January. Someone claiming to be from the AAP would call voters and tell them that the BJP has deleted their names from the voters' list and that Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was fighting to restore the names of such people.

After receiving the complaints, the Election Commission (EC) last week asked the Delhi Police to probe into telephone calls to people claiming their names have been deleted from electoral rolls.

When IANS contacted a few voters, some said the calls were made before last Sunday, while some others received such calls in the past few days.

"I don't know what the EC has said, but I got a call on Tuesday from someone in the AAP saying the BJP has deleted my name from the voters' list and that Kejriwal will restore it. After two days, someone called me to say my name has been restored," a Delhi University student said.

While AAP members said they were not making any such calls and that attempts were being made by others to defame the party, the BJP said people were still receiving calls and the investigation by Delhi Police will clear the picture.

Speaking to IANS, AAP leader Gopal Rai said, "How can anyone say that callers are actually from the party. Anyone can make calls to defame the party."

"Helping voters in getting enrolled and re-enrolled in the voters' list is something we have been doing on a regular basis since the beginning. These calls now are just being made to defame the party. Why will we call a voter if his/her name is already there in the list? The party does help people in getting enrolled, but calling people unnecessarily is not something we do," Rai said.

BJP leader Vijender Gupta said the AAP is trying to defame his party by calling people and telling them we has got their names removed from the voters' list.

"There has been a reduction in the number of calls after the EC directed the police to take actions. No party can enrol or remove the voters' name from the list without the voters' wish. There is no role of a party in that. THe AAP is using the BJP's name to defame us," Gupta told IANS.

He also said the reality will come to light after the police investigation. "If they were not making the phone calls, why didn't they approach the EC and say someone else is calling on their behlaf to defame them," Gupta asked.

(Nivedita Singh can be contacted at nivedita.singh@ians.in)
Shimla, Feb 16 : Himachal Pradesh Police on Saturday arrested an engineering undergraduate student of a private university for positing comments in favour of the Pulwama terror attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead, police said.

Tahseen Gul, a B.Tech student of Chitkara University in Baddi, was arrested for posting comments on social media on a video of suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar, a police official said.

A video of Dar was released by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed just minutes after he carried out the dastardly attack.

Gul was arrested on the complaint of the university and was booked under Section 153 (B) of the Indian Penal Code.

His fellow students informed the university about his comments.
Hyderabad, Feb 16 : Telangana Police's face recognition tool 'Darpan' has reunited a seven-year-old missing girl with her parents after two years.

The girl who went missing in January 2017 in Hyderabad was traced in Shahpur block of Madhya Pradesh's Betul district through 'Darpan'.

This was achieved by batch processing of photographs of missing persons in Telangana with persons found across the country, police said.

After getting the match, state CID traced her to the Ebenzer Education Society, an NGO.

The CID team informed the girl's parents and they rushed to Betul, where the girl was united with the family.

It was on January 4, 2017 that the missing case was registered at Bahadurpura police station in the old city of Hyderabad. It was later transferred to CID and its Women Protection Cell was investigating the case.

"This is the 18th case in which Darpan has united a missing person with his/her family through remotely processing images available in the public domain. This is an example of how artificial intelligence can be used to make things possible," said Additional Director General, CID, Govind Singh.

Last week, a 14-year-old mentally unsound boy, who went missing from his house in Madhya Pradesh was traced in Bengaluru by 'Darpan'. The boy was handed over to his family.

Salman Shaik, a resident of Chiman Ganj Mandi police station limits in Ujjain, had left his house in June last. The boy was traced to Government Balak Ashram, Hossur Road in Bengaluru.
Hyderabad, Feb 16 : Kidney patients in Telangana will now be eligible for free travel in the buses of state-owned Telangana State Road Development Corporation (TSRTC).

Under an order issued by the state government, about 7,600 kidney patients covered under 'Aarogyasri', a scheme for free treatment of poor patients, and who are undergoing dialysis will be extended the facility of free bus travel.

TSRTC Managing Director Sunil Sharma said instructions were issued to all depots to implement the order.

The state government will reimburse Rs 12.22 crore per annum to TSRTC for this facility for kidney patients.
Bhubaneswar, Feb 16 : The IPS Association of Odisha on Saturday said its members will contribute one day's salary for supporting the bereaved families of the CRPF personnel who were martyred in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.

The association will contribute to the welfare fund of Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for supporting the bereaved families, said a statement.

The Odisha IPS Association also condemned the Pulwama terror attack.

"The IPS Association, Odisha condemns the terror attack on CRPF personnel on 14th February 2019 at Pulwama, Kashmir. While expressing deep sorrow and anguish, the Association stands firmly in solidarity with the CRPF and is sure that resolute action will be taken against the perpetrators of this heinous crime," said the statement.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : As India explores military options to avenge Pulwama attacks, close to 150 Indian Air Force (IAF) fighters demonstrated their fire power at an exercise Vayu Shakti in Rajasthan on Saturday.

Though Vayu Shakti was planned months before the car bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, the exercise sends a strong signal about India's preparedness and capabilities.

A host of foreign military attaches were flown to the Pokhran field firing range, a designated location close to Pakistan border, for practising live fire, to witness IAF's precision and accuracy.

IAF chief B.S Dhanoa said that IAF was prepared for any action, including the present sub-conventional threat, and assured the nation of its capabilities and commitment.

"We are showcasing our capability to hit hard, hit fast and hit with precision, hit during day, hit during night and hit during adverse weather conditions through our autonomous bombing capabilities," he said.

An entire range of IAF fighters from Su-30 MKIs to Mirage 2000s, Jaguars and Might 21s are taking part in the practice. The upgraded Mig 29s are also taking part along with the transporters and helicopters.

Among the options on table to avenge Pulwama attacks is precision air strikes on terror targets across the border.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with RAW chief A. K. Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA Ajit Doval in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead.

What transpired between them was not immediately known or officially communicated, but sources in Home Ministry said that Singh took stock of the security situation in Kashmir in the aftermath of the terror attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The meeting also come in the wake of outrage and anger among the people post the attack as the country expecting retaliation from the government.

From the US, China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the European Union to Afghanistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, various countries have come in support of India and expressed solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just a day after the Pulwama attack, India started the process of isolating Pakistan on the international stage with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale meeting at least two dozen envoys in the national capital.

It also withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan. According to experts, India's decision to withdraw the MFN status to Pakistan would adversely impact the neighbouring country's economy.
Buldhana : , Feb 16 (IANS) Amidst slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', Maharashtra on Saturday bid a tearful adieu to the two CRPF troopers from the state who were among the 49 killed in the Pulwama suicide attack on Thursday.

The mortal remains of Nitin Rathod, 39, of Chorpangra village and Sanjay Rajput, 45, from Malkapur village, both in Buldhana district in Vidarbha, were brought to Aurangabad by a special flight from New Delhi and later taken to their native villages for last rites.

Huge crowds of mourners lined both sides of the roads, in buildings and on rooftops, many waving the national tricolour, as their funeral corteges entered their villages.

Led by their families, relatives, friends and others, teary-eyed mourners queued up to pay their final respects to the two departed troopers, offering flowers or garlands.

All along, the crowds raised slogans of 'Nitin Rathod Amar Rahe', 'Sanjay Rajput Amar Rahe', and 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' as the grieving families of both the troopers arrived for the last rites.

Both were accorded a funeral with full state honours with several civil, police and military officials, local elected representatives and people from adjoining villages in attendance.

Hailing from a farming family, Rathod, 36, joined the security forces in 2006, and two years later in 2008, he married Vandana. He has two minor children - Jeevan, 8 and Jivika, 5 - besides aged farmer parents Shivaji Rathod and Savitribai.

Joining the paramililtary forces almost 20 years ago, Rajput is survived by his wife Sushma and their two sons - Jai, 13 and Shubham, 11.

The Shri Saibaba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi in Ahmednagar announced a compensation of Rs 2.51 crore to each of the families of the 49 martyred troopers.

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan also announced a donation of Rs 500,000 to each of the troopers' families.

Chairman of Mumbai-based Siddhi Vinayak Temple Trust Adesh Bandekar announced Rs 51 lakh for the troopers besides other help to their families.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had Friday announced a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to the families of Rathod and Rajput, besides taking care of both the families' rehabilitation.
Imphal, Feb 16 : Manipur Students' Association Delhi (MSAD) advisor Thokchom Veewon was arrested under sedition charges by a joint team of Delhi and Manipur police here on Friday, police said.

Imphal East district superintendent of police Megha Chandra said he was arrested in a joint operation with the Delhi Police. He is the second person to be arrested in Manipur under sedition charges]

Veewon would be brought to Imphal for necessary actions, Chandra said on Saturday .

He said the Manipur SP CID had conducted an inquiry against the student leader relating to charges of cyber crime. The report of the inquiry was sent to the Imphal East district police.

Consequently, a police team had gone to his house in Manipur on February 12. When he was not found there, the police asked his family to advise him to concentrate on his studies.

Veewon's family members had told the police he was preparing for an examination in Delhi.

According to the SP, his messages on social media incited people and as such an FIR was registered against him under sedition charges.

Chandra said, "One message said 'the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 will be passed and in such a situation people of Manipur may seek self determination'. Veewon also referred to the incident of 'June 18, 2001 when the Manipur Assembly complex was burned'."

Some months ago Kishore Chandra, a news anchor in a local cable channel, was arrested under sedition charges for speaking out against a government function to mark the birth anniversary of Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, saying she had nothing to do with Manipur.

Though a district and sessions court ordered his release, the Manipur government arrested him from the court complex and detained him for one year under the National Security Act.
New York, Feb 16 : Two former high-ranking executives of the technology giant Cognizant have been charged by US prosecutors in the alleged $2 million bribery of Tamil Nadu government officials to get building permits for campus in Chennai.

Separately, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) that oversees publicly traded companies fined Cognizant $25 million for the alleged bribery said to have been made 2014.

The criminal charges were filed against Cognizant's former President Gordon Coburn, 55, and former Chief Legal Officer Steven Schwartz, 51, in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday relating to construction of its Indian subsidiary's 250,000 sq metre KITS campus in Chennai's Sholinganallur.

The prosecutors did not identify the Tamil Nadu officials or the construction company through which the alleged bribes were routed. In addition, they said two Cognizant officials who lived in India were a part of the alleged bribe controversy, but did not charge or identify them by name.

Announcing the criminal charges, Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski said: "The allegations in the indictment filed yesterday describe a sophisticated international bribery scheme authorised and concealed by C-suite executives of a publicly-traded multinational company."

The Department of Justice said it was not going to prosecute Cognizant because of the company's "prompt voluntary self-disclosure", cooperation and the payment to the SEC of the cost savings from the alleged bribery.

Cognizant CEO Francisco D'Souza in a message to the company's 282,000 staff said the Justice Department's decision was "a positive outcome for our company".

"Once allegations surfaced, we immediately took steps to address them and launched a thorough investigation conducted by experienced outside counsel", and the case did not involve work with clients, he added.

Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), paying bribe is a crime by a citizen or a company to foreigners, even if the payment is made abroad.

Coburn and Schwarts face 12 charges, including conspiracy, violation of the FCPA and falsifying records.

Court documents filed by the prosecution said the three co-conspirators, who lived in India and were not being charged, were mentioned only as "Vice President of Administration at Cognizant", "Cognizant's Chief Operating Officer" and "Department Head for Commercial Buildings at the Construction Company".

The SEC said of the $25 million Cognizant agreed to pay, $19 million was what it had gained by paying the alleged bribe and the interest on the amount, and the remaining $6 million was penalty.

According to court papers, a "Planning Permit" was required before construction started on the Cognizant campus. But the construction company filed the application for it 14 months after the construction had begun in 2011.

"A local development authority" gave conditional approval and forwarded it to another agency for the "Government Order" needed for the permit. When it did not come through even in January 2014, the contractor suggested that senior Cognizant executives meet "certain high-level officials of the Tamil Nadu government". But Cognizant refused to meet them.

In April 2014, the co-conspirator mentioned as "Vice President of Administration at Cognizant" in India told Coburn, Schwartz and the other official the contractor received a demand for $2 million from "one or more government officials", according to court documents.

Coburn "authorised the payment of an approximately $2 million bribe", the complaint said.

That co-conspirator suggested that Cognizant reimburse the contractor for the bribes but hide them as a "change order request" and the other three agreed, according to the complaint.

To increase pressure on the contractor to pay the bribe and get the permit, Coburn directed that payments to it be frozen till all the permits were received, the complaint said.

The contractor "appointed a new liaison consultant to process the approval", which came through in June 2014, and to hide the payments "a fake version of the claims list" was created to reimburse the contractor, court documents said.

The SEC said allegedly "Cognizant authorised the construction firm to make two additional bribes totalling more than $1.6 million".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed on Friday to punish those responsible for the deadliest attack in three decades in Indian-controlled Kashmir as pressure mounted on his government to take military action against militant groups in neighbouring Pakistan.



Modi described the deep anger in India a day after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a convoy of security personnel, killing 40 paramilitary officers as they travelled toward the city of Srinagar.



Your blood boils at what happened, Modi said. He promised that those behind the attack would pay a very heavy price for their actions.



India made clear that it holds Pakistan responsible for the unprecedented attack. India and the United States accuse Pakistan of supporting and sheltering militants who launch attacks into Indian-held territory, something which Pakistan denies.



A Pakistan-based militant group called Jaish-e-Mohammed, or Army of Mohammed, claimed responsibility for

Thursdays attack.



The group was banned by Pakistan but its leader, a radical cleric -Masood Azhar- is reportedly based in the Pakistani city of Bahawalpur. Officials in Pakistan deny that they support or protect militant leaders like Azhar.



The Indian government said Friday it will launch an effort to diplomatically isolate Pakistan, but ultimately India will be obliged to respond to the attack with military means, said Shivshankar Menon, Indias former National Security Adviser.



By Joanna Slater, Niha Masih (c) 2019, The Washington Post  Feb 15, 2019 - NEW DELHI -

Pakistan summons Indian envoy over Kashmir incident - FO official

ISLAMABAD REUTERS Feb 15 - Pakistan summoned Indias deputy head of mission to Islamabad on Friday after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Pakistan of involvement in a suicide attack that killed 44 policemen in Kashmir, a foreign office official said. We strongly rejected (Indias) baseless allegations, the official said in a text message, adding that the deputy head of mission had been summoned because the High Commissioner had left Islamabad.
Gandhinagar, Feb 16 : An Ahmedabad-based Gujarati business family will donate Rs 1 lakh to each family of the CRPF troopers slain in the terror attack in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir's on Thursday.

Briefing the media, Gujarat's Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said, "Babubhai Patel, a friend of mine, and his family have decided to donate Rs 1 lakh each to the family of all the CRPF troopers killed in the tragic incident in Pulwama. This is a wonderful gesture by the family. We hope more such donors will come forward and lend their support to the victims' families and show their solidarity towards the nation."

Babubhai Patel is the owner of Jai Somnath Infrastructure Private Limited, which deals in infrastructure-related projects across the country.

"After Thursday's incident, we, as a family, felt we cannot bring back to life the martyred troopers but we can lend financial assistance to their families. We have decided to donate Rs 1 lakh each to the martyrs' families," Babubhai said.

With the budget session of the Gujarat Assembly beginning on Monday, The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has convened a meeting of legislators here on Sunday, ahead of the budget session of the Assembly, beginning on Monday. Besides discussions on the session, the meeting is also expected to take up donations to be made by the legislators to the martyrs' families.

"BJP MLAs will chip in to help the martyred troopers' families. The amount of donation will be decided at Sunday meeting," said the Deputy Chief Minister.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, killing 49 troopers.
Agartala, Feb 16 : In a unique move 24 schoolchildren of the BSF families would be visiting Bangladesh on Sunday, an official said here on Saturday.

A senior Border Security Force (BSF) official said as part of the confidence-building measures, agreed upon by both the BSF and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) -- 24 school children, including 10 girls, would visit Dhaka and different historical places of that country through the Agartala-Akhaura check-post.

"They would return to Agartala on February 21," the official said.

These are children of BSF officials and troopers posted in three northeast frontiers -- Assam-Meghalaya, Cachar-Mizoram and Tripura.

This is the first time schoolchildren are going to Bangladesh from the northeastern region of India.

"Earlier a batch of schoolchildren belonging to BSF families from West Bengal had visited Bangladesh on a similar mission. Children of BGB officials would also visit Indian states soon," he said.

The four northeastern states -- Tripura (856 km), Meghalaya (443 km), Mizoram (318 km) and Assam (263 km) -- share 1,880-km international border with Bangladesh, a large portion of which are unfenced.
Cairo, Feb 16 : As many as seven militants were killed on Saturday in a shootout at a checkpoint in the country's North Sinai province, officials said. 15 military personnel were either killed or wounded in the gun battle, he added.

Military spokesman Tamer al-Refai said the forces were searching the area for other terrorists, Xinhua news agency reported.

Egypt has been facing terrorist violence, which has killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians, following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Muslim Brotherhood, currently banned.

Most terror attacks in Egypt in the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Army and police have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the ongoing anti-terror war declared by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Masurhai: People in large numbers participate in the last rites of martyr Sanjay Kumar Sinha, one of the 49 CRPF personnel killed in 14 Feb Pulwama militant attacks in Masurhai, Patna district, Bihar on Feb 16, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Patna: The coffins of Ratan Kumar Thakur and Sanjay Kumar Sinha, who were among the 49 CRPF personnel killed in 14 Feb Pulwama militant attack, arrive in Patna on Feb 16, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Patna, Feb 16 : Inayat Khan, District Magistrate (DM) of Sheikhpura in Bihar, on Saturday decided to adopt the daughters of two CRPF troopers from the state, killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

Khan, a Bihar cadre IAS officer, has announced she will adopt two girls, one daughter each of slain CRPF personnel Ratan Kumar Thakur and Sanjay Kunar Sinha.

Khan said she will bear the cost of the girls' education besides taking care of other expenses through out their lives.

Khan will also donate her two days' salary to the families of the two martyrs. "I have requested all government staff of my district to donate their one day's salary to the families of the two martyrs," she said.

According to Khan, a bank account has been opened in Sheikhpura for people to donate generously to the kin of the martyred CRPF troopers.

Earlier, Khan, along with the staff at the DM's office, paid tributes to 49 CRPF troopers, killed in the Pulwama terror attack, by observing a minute's silence on Saturday.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : The Delhi government has cancelled the fire safety licences of 57 hotels for various violations after inspecting 80 such establishment in the city, said Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday.

In a tweet, Jain said: "In all, NoC of 57 hotels out of 80 inspected are cancelled. All of them will be closed."

The action comes within a week of a massive fire at a hotel in Karol Bagh, which claimed 17 lives and injured many others.

The Minister said the fire department will intensify drive across the city to locate illegal constructions and hotels violating fire safety norms to prevent recurrence of any more incident.

According to Jain, municipal corporations and police have been asked to take necessary action to seal these establishments.

As many as 17 people were killed when a fire engulfed a five-storey hotel here on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the fire department inspected 23 hotels and 13 found them violating fire safety norms.

On Thursday, of the 22 hotels inspected 17 were found to were violating rules.

On Friday, 35 hotels were inspected by the fire department and 27 were found violating fire safety norms.
Dhule/Yavatmal : , Feb 16 (IANS) In a strong message to Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that terror groups who perpetrated the Pulwama attack, that left 49 CRPF troopers dead, cannot hide and "will be punished" as the security forces have been given a "free hand" to tackle them.

Paying tributes to two Central Reserve Police Force troopers from Maharashtra - Nitin Rathod and Sanjay Rajput from Buldhana - and others killed in the deadly attack on Thursday, Modi said the country has "complete faith and pride" in our soldiers and security forces and their sacrifices will not go in vain.

"Wherever the terror groups and the perpetrators may hide, our security forces will flush them out and punish them," Modi said amidst cheers from the gathering of farmers and women.

When and how to accomplish this has been left to the security forces, he said but appealed to the people of the country to be "patient" and repose confidence in the armed forces "as the terror perpetrators shall not be spared at any cost".

Sharing the outrage of the entire nation, he said: "We are deeply pained by what has happened. Every drop of blood of our slain soldiers shall be avenged."

Without naming Pakistan, Modi said that now, "the neighbouring country" has become synonymous with terror. "It has sheltered terrorism, but today it is on the verge of bankruptcy."

He reiterated in both Dhule and Yavatmal that "the sins committed will not be forgiven or left unpunished", referring to the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed which allegedly operates from safe havens in Pakistan.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll reached 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

Earlier on Saturday, Modi dedicated the state-of-the-art Eklavya Model Residential School, Nanded for 420 tribal students, and handed over keys to select beneficiaries of homes built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

He also flagged off the overnight Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune train, laid the foundation stone for roads under the Central Road Fund in the region and distributed certificates and cheques under Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission to women Self Help Groups.

In the afternoon, Modi inaugurated the Lower Panazara Medium Project, in Dhule, under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with a total water storage capacity of 109.31 million cubic metres and irrigation potential for 7,585 hectares in 21 villages of the district.

He laid the foundation stone for the Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme which envisages lifting 9.24 TMC of flood water from the Tapi river - flowing through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and finally Gujarat - in 124 monsoon days which would help irrigate 33,367 hectares of land in 100 villages.

Modi also laid the foundation stone for the Dhule City Water Supply Scheme under AMRUT which will ensure water availability and boost industrial and commercial growth.

The PM flagged off the overnight Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express, and laid the foundation stone for the Dhule-Nardana railway line, Jalgaon-Manmad third line and inaugurated the Jalgaon-Udhna Doubling and Electrification rail project.

Governor C.V. Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, several state ministers, local parliamentarians and legislators were also present on the occasion.
Seoul, Feb 16 : South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. said it will release its new flagship smartphone - the Galaxy S10 - on March 8 in the US.

Samsung's US website opened a pre-order page for the much-hyped premium phone ahead of an "Unpacked" event slated for February 20 in San Francisco.

In the US, Samsung offered buyers up to $550 off a Galaxy S10 in a trade-in programme for previously released devices, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Galaxy S10 will hit the Korean market on March 8, while those who ordered in advance can get the smartphone four days before the official launch, according to the nation's mobile carriers.

The South Korean tech giant is expected to launch the regular Galaxy S10, S10+ with a bigger screen and S10 Lite, a budget model.

Pre-orders for the Galaxy S10 and S10+ are expected to come with Galaxy Buds, Samsung's wireless earphones that can be charged by placing the case on the back of the new smartphone, industry officials said.
Jammu, Feb 16 : An Indian army officer was killed in an IED blast near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Saturday while a soldier was injured in a ceasefire violation by Pakistani forces in the same area.

A major was killed in Nowshera sector of Rajouri in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion, Defence Ministry spokesman, Lt Col Devender Anand said. The officer's name was not revealed yet.

The blast occurred at Lam Jhanger area, around 1.5 km from the LoC, officials said, adding that the IED could have been planted by militants.

The soldier was injured in the ceasefire violation at Baba Khodi area of the same sector. Indian forces retaliated and an exchange of fire was continuing in the area.
Washington, Feb 16 : US President Donald Trump's former election campaign manager Paul Manafort should be jailed for up to 24 years, special counsel Robert Mueller has said.

Mueller's team said in a court filing on Friday Manafort should face a prison term between 19 and a half and 24 and a half years, for "serious, longstanding, and bold" financial crimes, CNN reported.

"Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 elections wrote in the memo to Judge T.S. Ellis III.

"The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes," it stated.

Manafort was convicted in August of financial fraud and charges relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. He was found to have hidden more than $16 million in income from US authorities, which allowed him to avoid paying $6 million in taxes.

He also hid tens of millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts and secured $25 million bank loans through fraud, reports say.

The former election campaign manager had "ample funds" to cover the tax bills he should have paid, the court filing said, but "he simply chose not to comply with laws that would reduce his wealth".

Mueller's team said Manafort resorted to fraud to maintain a lifestyle of "lavish spending" -- spanning multiple homes, luxurious rugs and an ostrich-skin leather jacket -- after his lucrative work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine dried up.

Manafort had agreed in September to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy and fully cooperate with Mueller's investigations to avoid a second criminal trial. But the special counsel claimed in November Manafort had lied in interviews about a range of topics.

He was found guilty earlier this week of breaching his plea deal. He could also receive financial penalties totalling over $50 million, according to the filing by Mueller's prosecutors.

His sentence will be decided by judge Ellis.

Mueller's team said on Friday Manafort had resorted to crime despite having had "every opportunity to succeed". His sentence should punish him for serious wrongdoing and serve as a deterrent to others tempted to commit similar crimes, they said.
Hanoi, Feb 16 : A high-ranking North Korean negotiator travelled to Hanoi on Saturday, less than two weeks before the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

Kim Chang-son, considered de facto head of Kim's cabinet, arrived at the Hanoi airport around 11 a.m. on a flight from China's Guangzhou, according to Yonhap news agency.

Trump and Kim are set to meet here on February 27-28 for their second summit after first meeting in Singapore in June 2018.

Kim Chang-son, Chief Secretary of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, will discuss protocol and practical issues, like accommodation of the North Korean delegation during the summit, the report said.

He had also accompanied Kim Jong-un to the Singapore summit. During that meeting, Pyongyang agreed to work towards the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean Peninsula but with little clarity on how to achieve that goal.

The Hanoi summit is expected to help push revival of the stagnated talks on denuclearisation of the North Korean regime.

General Robert Abrams, commander of US Forces Korea, earlier this week called the second Trump-Kim meeting a "positive sign of continued dialogue", but added Pyongyang remained a military threat that Washington must be ready for.

Kim Jong-un is also likely to use the summit to make a state visit to Vietnam, the first by a North Korean leader to the country since its reunification in 1975, despite long-standing bilateral ties.

Earlier this week, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh was on a three-day visit to Pyongyang, where he met his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho and Ri Su-yong, in-charge of international affairs in the Workers' Party of Korea, according to official North Korean news agency KCNA.
Srinagar, Feb 16 : Traders at the Lal Chowk here shut their establishments on Saturday to protest against reported harassment of Kashmiri students outside the state.

They also carried out a march demanding protection for all Kashmiris, including students studying outside the state.

The Kashmir Traders Federation, an organisation of local traders and businessmen, has called for a protest shutdown in the Valley on Sunday in solidarity with Kashmiris living outside the Valley and with students and professionals.
Jammu, Feb 16 : Curfew in Jammu continued without any relaxation for the second consecutive day on Saturday, even as authorities said the situation was returning to normal.

"Curfew will continue till further orders. We will take a call later in the day after assessing the overall law and order situation," said an official.

The police said the situation was under control and returning to normal without any untoward incident occurring anywhere in the city on Saturday.

The police appealed people to not pay heed to rumours spread by anti-social elements in an attempt to fan passions through fake social media posts.

"Curfew is still on in the Jammu district. The situation is normal. Don't believe rumours being spread by miscreants," said the Inspector General of police (IGP), Jammu zone.

The police also warned of stern action against rumour mongers using social media to stoke passions.

Curfew was imposed in the city on Friday after miscreants torched some vehicles and damaged several others carrying number plates of Kashmir Valley in protest against the Pulwama terror attack.

The army was called to assist the civil administration to restore order in the city on Friday.

Suspension of mobile internet services, which began on Friday, continued on Saturday as well. The speed of fixed-line broadband connections has also been lowered to prevent any form of amplification of the situation given that anti-social elements could upload inflammatory pictures and comments on social media to disturb peace in the city.

Curfew, initially imposed in some areas, was later extended to the entire city as tension mounted in the wake of violence against a particular section of the society.

The authorities also met important personalities from different communities on Friday to seek their help in bringing back normalcy to the city.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : A Delhi court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the bail plea, which was rejected by Special Judge Arvind Kumar.

Michel sought the bail saying he has been in custody since December 4, 2018, and as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the probe was supposed to be completed by February 3, and the charge sheet was also not filed within the stipulated 60-day period, his defence counsel told the court.

The CBI argued the charge sheet against the accused, including Michel, has been filed and proceedings have started.

Quoting provisions of Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the CBI said the 60-day criteria was not applicable in this case.

On its part, the ED said rather than filing various prosecution complaints piecemeal, the agency is in the process of filing a detailed and comprehensive prosecution complaint.

Michel was extradited to India on December 4, 2018 from the United Arab Emirates after the ED had lodged a request with the UAE authorities for extradition. The ED arrested him on December 22, 2018.

The ED and the CBI had filed charge sheets in the bribery cases in courts and non-bailable warrants had been issued against the accused.

The CBI had named former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan as the four Indians involved in the scam.

The others named in the charge sheet included Giuseppe Orsi, former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa.
Ghaziabad, Feb 16 : The personal security officer (PSO) of a former Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation councillor was discovered dead with a gunshot wound to the head under mysterious circumstances here, police said on Saturday.

The incident came to light on Saturday morning at the councillor's residence in Sector-13, Pratap Vihar.

Superintendent of Police (SP) City Shlok Kumar said, "The PSO, identified as Brij Mohan Singh, a retired army personnel and a resident of Kannauj in UP, had joined his duty on Wednesday (February 13).

"The incident apparently took place at 3.00 a.m. on Saturday. But it came to light when a family member opened the door of his room and found him lying in a pool of blood on the bed. His licensed revolver was found next to him."

The former councillor, Pintu Yadav, said that he rushed the PSO to hospital but he succumbed on the way, added the SP.
Patna, Feb 16 : A court in Bihar's Muzaffarpur has directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry into the involvement of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and two senior officials in the infamous shelter home sexual exploitation case, officials said on Saturday.

Besides the Chief Minister, special POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court judge Manoj Kumar on Friday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the role of Muzaffarpur District Magistrate Dharmendra Singh and Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Atul Prasad.

The court's order came as it heard a petition filed by accused Ashwani, a self-claimed medical practitioner, demanding an investigation into the role of the three.

According to a charge sheet filed in the case, Ashwani used to visit the shelter home to allegedly administer sedative-laced injections to the inmates before they were subjected to sexual abuse.

The Muzaffarpur horror came to light in May 2018 when the Bihar Social Welfare Department filed an FIR based on a social audit of the shelter home conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.

Brajesh Thakur, a journalist-turned-social activist heading the NGO which ran the shelter home, and other accused were arrested. The matter was handed over to the CBI in July last year.

State Social Welfare Minister Manju Verma was forced to resign after the opposition protests over reports that her husband and former Janata Dal-United legislator Chandreshwar Verma allegedly had close links with Thakur.

Thakur has been shifted to a jail in high-security Patiala following a Supreme Court order while other accused, including his close aides and some government officials, are lodged in jails at Patna and Muzaffarpur.

The trial of the case was this month shifted to Delhi.

The apex court had recently also directed the CBI to take over the probe into allegations of sexual abuse at all such shelter homes across the state.

Rashtriya Janata Dal spokesperson Bhai Virender demanded resignation of Nitish Kumar following the court order. "Nitish Kumar was involved in the case and was protecting the accused and trying to suppress the facts since the beginning," he said.
Rome, Feb 16 : The Vatican on Saturday said it has defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the high-profile Catholic figure, of the priesthood rights after a Church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians over decades.

McCarrick, former leader of the Archdiocese of Washington once recognised as a powerful advocate of the Catholic Church's political priorities, was informed of the decision on Friday, the Vatican said in a statement cited by CNN.

It is the first time that a cardinal has been defrocked for sexual abuse.

The Vatican said a canonical process had found McCarrick guilty of several charges, including "sins" with minors and adults, "with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power", the Washington Post reported.

McCarrick, now 88, was accused of sexually abusing three minors and harassing adult seminarians and priests.

A New York Times investigation last summer detailed settlements paid to men who had complained of abuse when McCarrick was a bishop in New Jersey in the 1980s and revealed that some church leaders had long known of the accusations.

The Pope accepted McCarrick's resignation from the College of Cardinals in July and suspended him from all priestly duties. He was first removed from ministry in June, after a church panel substantiated a claim that he had abused an altar boy almost 50 years ago. McCarrick has denied accusations.

The judgment was recognised by Pope Francis to be of a "definitive nature" and no longer subject to appeal, the report said.

The defrocking came just days before the Pope plans to gather bishops from around the world for an unprecedented summit on abuse.

The former cardinal may not face criminal prosecution because the allegations related to crimes were beyond statutes of limitations in the US jurisdictions where they were said to have occurred.

The move came as officials in the US ramped up investigations into sexual abuse by the members of clergy. As many as 16 state attorney generals have opened abuse investigations since the summer.

The investigations spread after the release of an explosive Pennsylvania grand jury report last year that found that Catholic priests were accused of sexually abusing more than 300 minors over decades and that church leaders had covered up the cases.

The outrage over McCarrick -- along with with additional scandals in the US, Europe, Latin America and Australia -- has damaged the reputation of the Pope, who had said in 2013 he wanted the church to act "decisively" on abuse.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : The Supreme Court is likely to give verdict on the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's (TNPCB) plea against the December 15, 2018 National Green Tribunal's (NGT) order directing TNPCB to give its consent for restarting operations at Vedanta's copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi.

The grant of consent by the state pollution control board was subject to the satisfaction of certain conditionalities by Vedanta. The verdict was reserved on February 7 and the matter is listed for the announcement of orders on February 18.

The Division Bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha had reserved the order with the TNPCB asserting the copper smelting plant was the cause of near irreversible ground water pollution and thus can't be allowed to resume operations.

Vedanta had described the decision to shut the plant as "political." The copper smelting plant was shut permanently on May 28, 2018 in the wake of violent incidents that claimed many lives.

Coupled with the TNPCB and the Tamil Nadu government's plea was an application by Vedanta seeking direction to the state government to take steps, including restoration of electricity as directed by the green tribunal for the plant to start operations.

Vedanta had contended that the high ground water pollution was not limited just to Thoothukudi, but similar situation existed in other parts of the State.
February 16 : This February 2019 Samsung launched two of their finest gadgets. One is the Galaxy Tab Active 2 (in the tablet range) and the next is the latest of its mobile kin: the M30. This smartphone falls in the M series and is one gadget that balances budget and utility.

Launches kept aside, the Indian Smartphone market is in a competitive fix leaving India with plenty of choices. With a string of launches that began with the end of 2018, Xiaomi has successfully grabbed the Smartphone leader position in terms of market share, followed by Samsung, and third position was safely secured by Vivo.

If price is taken into account, One Plus topped the list in the premium basket whereas Samsung could walk over Apple in the super premium segment this time. In spite of all this, the only brands who launched the latest Android 9.0 (Pie) in 2018 were One Plus and Google.

Samsung's 'Galaxy Tab Active2' tablet launched in India for Rs 50,990

Image Source: IANS Galaxy Tab

Samsung on Thursday launched its new offering in the tablet category - "Galaxy Tab Active2" - with military-grade rugged design and built-in durability for tough work environments for Rs 50,990 in India.Read more

Samsung to launch Galaxy 'M30' in India in Feb at Rs 14,990

Image Source: IANS Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

After a successful launch of two industry-first Galaxy 'M' series smartphones in India in January, Samsung is gearing up to launch 'M30' for a starting price of Rs 14,990 in February.Read more

Xiaomi leads India smartphone market in 2018, Samsung second

Image Source: IANS News POCO F1 from Xiaomi

Chinese brand Xiaomi with 28.9 per cent market share led the Indian smartphone market in 2018, followed by South Korean brand Samsung at 22.4 per cent and Vivo at 10 per cent, an International Data Corporation (IDC) report said on Tuesday.Read more

Just 2 companies control 50% of India's smartphone market

Image Source: IANS News Xiaomi.

The year 2018 ended with just two companies together controlling around 50 per cent share of the India smartphone market - Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi and South Korean giant Samsung, according to latest data released by International Data Corporation (IDC).Read more

Latest Android OS smartphones (2018) shipped only by Google and OnePlus

Image Source: IANS OnePlus Smartphone

Google and OnePlus were the only brands which shipped all their smartphones with the latest version of Android OS in 2018, a new report said on Monday.Read more
San Francisco, Feb 16 : Google is planning to roll-out a functionality that would auto-update pre-loaded apps via Google Play even when users are not signed into their Google accounts.

With this feature, the search engine giant aims to provide a more consistent app experience for users in the coming months, Android Police reported on Friday.

Previously, if users were not signed into their Google accounts, pre-installed apps on their devices, including the Play Store, were cut off from updates.

"In the coming months, Google Play will begin testing a new feature that will automatically allow Google Play to update pre-loaded apps and with users having an option to turn off this feature at any time if they wish. This should also help developers reduce overhead costs required to support obsolete app versions," the report quoted Google as saying in a letter to the developers.

Google is advising developers to make sure that any updates to their app work properly in the absence of a Google account.

The feature would only apply to devices shipped with Android Lollipop or newer OS versions, the report added.

It is yet not clear by when would the feature be officially released for all Android users.
Chandigarh, Feb 16 : The last rites of four CRPF troopers from Punjab, who were killed in Thursday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, were performed on Saturday as their remains were consigned to flames in their villages.

All four were given state funeral and hundreds of people turned up for the last rites. They raised slogans in favour of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and against Pakistan.

The four troopers from Punjab were Jaimal Singh of village Kot Ise Khan in Moga district, Sukhjinder Singh of Gandiwind village in Tarn Taran district, Maninder Singh Attri of Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district and Kulwinder Singh of Rouli village in Nurpur Bedi area of Ropar district.

Contingents of the CRPF gave the final guard of honour to the martyrs. Ministers, political leaders and local administration officials were present when the last rites were performed.

Covered in the tricolour, the mortal remains of the CRPF troopers reached their respective villages early on Saturday.

Villagers and family members vented their anger on the attack and demanded that the Centre should avenge the deaths and give a befitting reply to the Pakistan-backed terrorists.

A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, leaving 49 security personnel dead.

Jaimal Singh, 44, was the driver of the fateful bus that was blown up in the attack. He left behind his ageing parents, wife, a 10-year-old son and a younger brother.

Sukhjinder Singh left behind his parents, wife and a seven-month-old son, who was born after a gap of eight years.

Maninder Singh had joined the duty on February 13 only. His younger brother is also serving in the CRPF and is posted in Assam now.

Kulwinder Singh was to get married later in 2019.
New Delhi, Feb 16 : Opposition parties on Saturday demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for consultations on the Pulwama terror attack.

They made this demand at the all-party meeting that was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the aftermath of the horrific attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that left 49 paramilitary troopers dead till Friday.

"We asked Home Minister to request the Prime Minister to hold a consultation meeting with the presidents of all national and regional parties and hold discussions with them," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.

Azad said Congress has extended its full support to the government to end terror. "We have disagreements with the government and there will be; but we have decided to stand with the government for the sake of country, for its safety and unity, for the safety of people and security forces," he said.

"We are with the Army, the BSF, the CRPF, the J&K Police to end the terror."

He said it was for the first time such a large number of security personnel had died in non-war situation since 1947.

"The nation is sad, angry. People and politicians irrespective of their religion, region, caste are mourning," Azad said. "Be it Kashmir or any part of the country, Congress will extend full cooperation to the government to deal with the militancy."

Other parties also supported the demand in the meeting, he added.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said such a meeting should be convened to discuss the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the efforts the government was likely to take to maintain peace and normalcy in the state.

"All parties expressed condemnation of the attack and reiterated that they were firmly behind the security forces at this challenging moment," Raja said after the all-party meeting.

The political parties also advised against any instigations against the Muslim community, he added.

Rashtriya Janata Dal's Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, Trinamool Congress's Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien, Republican Party of India chief and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, Congress's Anand Sharma, Telugu Desam Party's Ram Mohan Naidu were among the leaders present at the meeting.

The all-party meeting on Saturday also passed a resolution condemning the February 14 Pulwama attack that has till now claimed the lives of 49 CRPF troopers.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.
Mumbai, Feb 16 : Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will be donating Rs 5 lakh each to the families of 49 CRPF troopers who died in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his vehicle packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The actor is currently finding out "from several government sources where and how the amount will be distributed to ensure it is expedited".

His spokesperson confirmed the news, saying: "Yes, Mr Bachchan will be giving Rs 5 lakh to each of the martyr's families and is currently finding out the correct process to do so."

The "Piku" actor on Friday also cancelled his attendance as a special guest of Virat Kohli's Foundation event, which will now be held on Saturday.

-- With inputs from IANS
New Delhi, Feb 16 : A Delhi court on Saturday extended the interim bail till March 2 of Robert Vadra, Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, who came to the court for the first time in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special Judge Arvind Kumar also extended the interim protection from arrest to Vadra's close aide Manoj Arora till March 2.

The hearing was in relation to Vadra's anticipatory bail plea.

The ED, however, told the court that Vadra is not cooperating in the investigation.

Defending him, Vadra's counsel K.T.S. Tulsi said that he has appeared in the ED office thrice and grilled for a total of 23 hours and 25 minutes.

Special Public Prosecutor D.P. Singh argued that Vadra was taking to social media and claiming that he was a victim by posting that he was being "harrased".

Singh said that accused should not use social media to claim that he is being victimised.

He said that Vadra's visit to the court had attracted a lot of media attention which seemed like people had turned up for a "baraat" or a wedding party.

The case relates to ownership of 1.9 million pounds worth undisclosed assets abroad, allegedly belonging to Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, the new General Secretary of the Congress for Uttar Pradesh East.

The ED had lodged a money laundering case against Arora after his role surfaced during a probe by the Income Tax Department into another case under the new Black Money Act and tax law against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The London property was allegedly bought by Bhandari and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses on its renovation.

On December 7, as part of the investigation, the ED conducted searches at a number of premises in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.
Mumbai, Feb 16 : Disturbed after the deadly Pulwama attack, filmmaker Hansal Mehta says Pakistan's complicity in the business of terrorism should come to an end.

Hansal on Saturday took to Twitter to share his views. He also shared details about his 2017 film "Omerta" starring Rajkummar Rao. It is based on British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh's life.

"While 'Omerta' was based on Omar Saeed Sheikh, it was also about the patronage provided to men like Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, Hafiz Saeed by the state of Pakistan. Pakistan's complicity in the business of terrorism must be ended, with brute force if needed," he posted.

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his vehicle packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

After the strike, India rejected Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua's claims denying her country's links to the attack, saying that JeM, which claimed responsibility for the strike, is based in Pakistan, and the "links are clear and evident and for all to see".

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.
San Francisco, Feb 16 : Facebook has enabled advertisers to promote anti-vaccine content to nearly nine lakh people interested in "vaccine controversies", the media reported.

The social networking giant is already facing pressure to stop promoting anti-vaccine propaganda to users amid global concern over vaccine hesitancy and a measles outbreak in the Pacific northwest.

Advertisers pay to reach groups of people on Facebook which include those interested in "Dr Tenpenny on Vaccines", which refers to anti-vaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny, and "informed consent", which is language that anti-vaccine propagandists have adopted to fight vaccination laws, The Guardian reported on Friday.

On Thursday, California congressman Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, in letters to Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, urged them to take more responsibility for health-related misinformation on their platforms.

"The algorithms which power these services are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information, and the consequences of that are particularly troubling for public health issues," Schiff wrote.

"I am concerned by the report that Facebook accepts paid advertising that contains deliberate misinformation about vaccines," he added.

In 2017, ProPublica, a US-based non-profit organisation, revealed that the platform included targeting categories for people interested in a number of anti-Semitic phrases, such as "How to burn Jews" or "Jew hater".

While the anti-Semitic categories found by ProPublica were automatically generated and were too small to run effective ad campaigns by themselves, the "vaccine controversies" category contains nearly nine lakh people, and "informed consent" from about 340,000. The Tenpenny category only includes 720 people, which is too few to run a campaign.

Facebook declined to comment on the ad targeting categories, but said it was looking into the issue, The Guardian reported.

"We've taken steps to reduce the distribution of health-related misinformation on Facebook, but we know we have more to do," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement responding to Schiff's letter.

"We're currently working on additional changes that we'll be announcing soon."
New Delhi, Feb 16 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the government has "zero tolerance" towards terrorism and the security forces have been given a free hand to deal with terror groups.

"Rajnath Singh, in the all party meeting, said that due to the terror attack on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulawama, the entire country was deeply hurt and there is outrage," Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while speaking to reporters after the all-party meeting in Parliament here.

"Rajnath Singh assured that the moral of the security forces are high and we are committed to curb terror in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the government has given free hand to the security forces to deal with the terror groups and those who are giving shelter to them," Tomar said.

"He also said that the government's has a zero tolerance policy against terrorism and this terror attack shows their frustration."

The all-party meeting of the leaders of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha was called by Rajnath Singh.

The Minister said that, in the meeting, all the leaders discussed and assured that "all Opposition parties are standing with the government".

Rajnath Singh said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who want love and peace, are standing with us in the fight against terrorism.

"But there are a few people in the state who help the terror groups from across the border and they are the enemy of the youths in the state. They don't want peace and tranquality there," Tomar said quoting the Home Minister.

"The country is fighting against terrorism and we will take the fight to its logical end. The sacrifice of our troopers would not go in vain and we are committed to curb terrorism," he said.

Rajnath Singh assured that the government will help the families of the troopers who were killed and has also asked the state governments to take care of their families.

"The Home Minister assured that unitedly we will succeed in curbing terrorism in the state and bring back peace," Tomar said.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister also said that a resolution was passed in the meeting.
The ghastly news from Kashmir did cast a shadow, otherwise Lucknow has had a festive February. The first week was filled with the five-day annual Sanatkada jamboree with fabled Baradari as the festooned focal point. While the mood still lingered, the city found itself riveted on Priyanka Gandhi's roadshow with her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi in tow.

Those who had expressed doubts about her ability for hard work must have gasped: she interviewed candidates all night. Never mind if many of them did not come out with flying colours: some did not know basic facts about their respective constituencies.

Diplomats, who would normally send their Indian staff to study the local mood, have turned up themselves. While the Congress office at the Mall Avenue is crawling with aspiring netas, Taj hotel, where both Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia are staying, has enough security to annoy the hotel's other guests. Has security obstructed Priyanka kicking off the campaign with a dip in the Ganga during Kumbh? Congress choreographers had also floated the idea that a visit to a temple in Srinagar would authenticate her Kashmiri lineage. Who knows, that expedition may still be undertaken.

If arithmetic alone were to determine electoral outcomes, the Samajwadi Party-plus-Bahujan Samaj Party arrangement in Uttar Pradesh is formidable. But the chemistry of their workers at the constituency level has been adversarial.

True, grassroots workers are grappling with instructions from their leaders to tone down their animosities. But there are other complications, particularly in Akhilesh Yadav's camp. His uncle, Shivpal Yadav, is not reconciled to Akhilesh Yadav's unbridled control over the SP apparatus. So he has opened his own shop to trade his dwindling clout at the grassroots with anybody eager to damage the SP-BSP alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is so flushed with funds that it will loosen all its purse strings for Shivpal Yadav's anti-Akhilesh mission. The choice is Shivpal Yadav's: pocket the money or waste it.

Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder of SP, is so torn between his son and younger brother that he waffles something in favour of both alternately. In Parliament last week he left Sonia Gandhi, like everyone else, in a state of wonder. Making eye contact with a grinning Narendra Modi he said: "May you come back to power". The ear-to-ear smile on Mulayam Singh Yadav's face was interpreted by most as a clue to a deep understanding. He has so far been protected from the Enforcement Directorate.

"We shall not be on the back foot," was Rahul Gandhi's reaction to the insult heaped on the Congress by SP-BSP distributing nearly all the 80 seats among themselves, leaving two each for the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). He virtually advanced his proprietary claim on Uttar Pradesh by announcing that his party would contest all 80 seats.

In making this announcement Rahul Gandhi fell back once again on a delusion the party has nursed ever since it dropped to 140 seats after the Babari Masjid debacle. It is aching to revive. It is well nigh impossible for this desire to be fulfilled. A political party waxes and wanes, revives and loses, is up and down alternatively only in a two party system. In a country with 31 states, each with its own shade of politics, the seesaw model cannot work. The Congress must recognize the reality of a federal India. Otherwise it will continue to reset its target. Let me explain.

For 2019, the declared aim of all parties is to remove the BJP. Mamata Banerjee has grasped the reality. At the meeting called by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Jantar Mantar Road, she said that all regional parties must fight the BJP from their respective states and regions. "The Congress should fight from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh - states where it has shown that it is strong."

The Congress is uncomfortable being so circumscribed. It will not recover from a hangover of years long past when it was the only political party. In its origins, it represented diverse interests federated behind a programme for freedom. Subsequently, almost every political party came out of the Congress womb. Once Krishna Menon, Congressman closest to the Communists, and S.K. Patil, far right capitalist, fought the 1957 election on Congress ticket from different districts of Bombay (Mumbai).

In time, disparate interests, glued together, splintered. In 1967, eight Indian states had non-Congress governments. But the Congress remained in power in the centre for a simple reason: its social base remained relatively cohesive. But when in 1990, with Mandal Commission report giving reservations in government jobs to the OBCs whipping up the tempo of caste politics in North India, the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation was dusted up to promote Hindu consolidation. This would minimize the settlement at the lower reaches of the caste pyramid. Hindu consolidation would be best affected by bringing out the "other" in bolder relief. I have always believed that in India communal politics is a strategy to manage caste upheaval.

The unease in Hindu-Muslim relations since Partition exploded into full blown communalism in the 90s. It peaked with the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, the blame for which the minorities placed at the Congress Prime Minister's door. The Muslim voter left the Congress en masse. In the 1996 elections, the Congress was down to its lowest Lok Sabha tally ever -- 140 seats. It hovered around that figure, leapt to 206 in 2009 (for a range of reasons) and dived to 44 in 2014. Post 9/11 global Islmophobia was a Godsend to Hindutva, compelling the Congress into temple hopping and relentless cow worshiping for sheer survival.

There are reasons to believe that the BJP will not be able to repeat its 2014 performance in 2019. The nation is, therefore, headed for two distinct coalitions, facing each other across the aisle. One coalition will be led by the BJP. It is to make sure that it alone leads the other coalition that the Congress is playing risky games in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and to some extent West Bengal. In these states it is either threatening or fighting formations implacably opposed to the BJP.

(Saeed Naqvi is a commentator on political and diplomatic affairs. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com)
One of the most disturbing aspects of the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama was that the suicide bomber was a local, Adil Ahmad Dar, who lived in a village near the Jammu-Srinagar highway where the attack took place.

Although indoctrinated as a fidayeen by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad, Dar's act as a jehadi underlines the vulnerability of impressionable Kashmiri youths to insidious anti-India propaganda by Pakistani terror groups nurtured by the Deep State comprising the country's army and an espionage agency.

In this particular instance, Dar was apparently "inspired" to kill himself by the Taliban's "victory" signified by American withdrawal from Afghanistan. If anything, the tragedy emphasises the inter-linked international dimensions of Islamic terrorism.

From Syria to Afghanistan/Pakistan to Kashmir, the jehadi mindset is primed among the youth by the mythical Islamic Caliphate's war against the kafirs (infidels).

Unlike West Asia and even in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, Indian democracy provides a safeguard against a Messianic struggle, which is why an overwhelming majority of Indian Muslims, including those in Kashmir, remain committed to the democratic system.

As much is evident from the recent panchayat and municipal elections in the state even if the polling percentages in the Valley were low.

However, it is undeniable that a section of Muslims in the valley continue to remain alienated notwithstanding the government's attempts to reach out to them via the negotiations carried out by the Centre's representative, Dineshwar Sharma.

But if his efforts have failed to defuse the situation, the reason perhaps is the government's reluctance to implement some of the recommendations to improve the conditions made by the Dileep Padgaonkar Committee.

These included reducing the army's visibility, addressing human rights violations, reviewing the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and lifting the Disturbed Areas Act.

In essence, what these initiatives were expected to do was to reach out to the hearts and minds of the ordinary people whose commitment to the Indian state cannot be doubted as the continuing relevance of the mainstream parties like the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party show.

What is required to defang the terrorists and wean away the misguided youth from their self-destructive path is a gesture which will have a major impact.

One of them is to consider freezing the AFSPA (former Congress minister P. Chidambaram wanted it to be scrapped altogether) and to give a cast-iron guarantee that neither Article 370 nor Article 35A will be touched. The former confers a special status on Kashmir and the latter relates to citizenship rights.

It is only such "big ticket" reforms which can end the sense of alienation among the youths who are cynically exploited by Pakistan's Deep State.

An outreach of this nature will confirm that the government does not regard Kashmir merely as a law and order problem, where all that is needed is a harsh crackdown on the malcontents.

Arguably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may not find it easy to change its longstanding stance favouring dispensing with Article 370. But it has to be remembered that Atal Behari Vajpayee did put Article 370 in cold storage in 1996 along with his party's demand for building a Ram temple and introducing a uniform civil code when he was looking for allies to form a government.

Vajpayee had also called for looking at the Kashmir issue within the parameters of insaniyat (humanity) rather than of the Constitution.

Such broadmindedness is the need of the hour to dissuade deluded young men like Dar from the path of nihilism. Otherwise, more and more of such brainwashed youths will leave their kith and kin to court untimely death.

Equally, scores of security personnel will be in danger of losing their lives because official policies have failed to assure the discontented people of a state with a distinct cultural ambience that they are the nation's cherished citizens.

It is only when the Kashmiris are visibly mollified that Pakistan's "isolation", which the Centre is currently seeking, will be complete, for a fully integrated Kashmir will negate Pakistan's hope of avenging its Bangladesh defeat and recovering the "K" in the country's name.

India has dealt with rebellious outbreaks in different parts of the country from the Northeast to the Maoist belts in central and western areas with a fair amount of success. There is no reason why it cannot achieve the same in Kashmir with a patient understanding of the grievances affecting the state, especially when it has national-level leaders like Farooq and Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti with their political and administrative experience.

True, the jehadi factor makes it difficult for a government to adopt a sane attitude because of the irrational pseudo-religious fervour of the militants. But an overt demonstration of being sensitive can enable the government to enlist the overall support of Kashmiri society and enable the elders to rein in the rebels.

(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at amulyaganguli@gmail.com)
Washington, Feb 16 : While it was previously thought that long duration spaceflight can affect the human body, even at the molecular level, new results from NASAs "Twins Study" has showed that there are no major warning signs and no reason to think humans cannot survive a two-and-a-half-year round-trip journey to Mars.

As part of the "Twins Study", NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in space while Mark, his identical twin, stayed on Earth as a control subject to look at the effects of space travel on the human body.

Spending nearly a year in orbit increased NASA astronaut Scott Kelly's immune system response, as if, at the cellular level, his body felt under attack as compared to his Earth-bound twin brother, the Washington Post reported on Friday.

These comparisons, however, has not raised any red flags about long-term spaceflight on the International Space Station (ISS), NASA officials were quoted as saying at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science here.

"It's almost as if the body's on high alert," said Christopher Mason, Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The space sojourn also changed the activity of some of his genes.

"It's mostly really good news," Mason said, adding, "the body has extraordinary plasticity and adaptation to being in zero gravity, at least for a year".

According to Craig Kundrot, Director of NASA's space life and physical sciences division, so far the space agency's research found nothing that would make a Mars mission impossible.

According to report, the biggest concern is radiation as such a mission would expose astronauts to levels of radiation greater than permitted under current guidelines. That would not necessarily prevent a mission, but it remains a concern.

However, Kundrot cautioned that the twin study has only two people as samples. "We don't regard any of this as conclusive, but on the whole it's encouraging," he said, adding, "there are no new major warning signs".
New York, Feb 16 : Two former high-ranking executives of the technology company Cognizant have been charged by US prosecutors in alleged $2 million bribery of Tamil Nadu government officials to get building permits for its campus in Chennai.

Separately, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC), which oversees publicly traded companies, fined Cognizant a total of $25 million for the alleged bribery.

The criminal charges were filed on Friday against Cognizant's former President Gordon Coburn, 55, and former Chief Legal Officer Steven Schwartz, 51, in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, relating to the construction of its Indian subsidiary's 250,000 sq metre KITS campus in Chennai's Sholinganallur.

The prosecutors did not identify the Tamil Nadu officials or the construction company through which the alleged bribes were routed.

Announcing the criminal charges, Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski said: "The allegations in the indictment filed yesterday describe a sophisticated international bribery scheme authorized and concealed by C-suite executives of a publicly-traded multinational company."

It is a crime in the US under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for a citizen to bribe foreigners, even if the payment is made abroad.

Coburn and Schwarts face 12 charges, including conspiracy, violation of the FCPA and falsifying records.

Court documents filed by the prosecution said there were three co-conspirators, who lived in India and were not being charged. They were mentioned in the court papers only as "Vice President of Administration at Cognizant", "Cognizant's Chief Operating Officer" and "Department Head for Commercial Buildings at the Construction Company".

The Department of Justice said that it was not going to prosecute Congnizant because of the company's "prompt voluntary self-disclosure", cooperation and the payment to the SEC of the cost savings from the alleged bribery.

The SEC said that of the $25 million Cognizant agreed to pay, $19 million was what it had gained by paying the alleged bribe and the interest on the amount, and the remaining $6 million was penalty.

According to court papers, a "Planning Permit" was required before construction started on the Cognizant campus, but the construction company filed the application for it 14 months after the construction had begun in 2011.

"A local development authority" gave conditional approval and forwarded it to another agency for the "Government Order" needed for the permit. When it did not come through even in January 2014, the contractor suggested that senior Congizant executives meet "certain high-level officials of the Tamil Nadu government".

Cognizant refused to meet them.

In April 2014, the co-conspirator mentioned as "Vice President of Administration at Congnizant", in India told Coburn, Schwartz and the other official that the contractor received a demand for $2 million from "one or more government officials", according to court documents.

Coburn "authorized the payment of an approximately $2 million bribe", the complaint said.

That co-conspirator suggested that Cognizant reimburse the contractor for the bribes but hide them as a "change order request" and the other three agreed, according to the complaint.

To increase pressure on the contractor to pay the bribe and get the permit, Coburn directed that payments to it be frozen till all the permits were received, the complaint said.

The contractor "appointed a new liaison consultant to process the approval", which came through in June 2014, and to hide the payments "a fake version of the claims list" was created to reimburse the contractor, court documents said.

The SEC said in its statement that allegedly "Cognizant authorized the construction firm to make two additional bribes totalling more than $1.6 million".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 82F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Chicago, Feb 16 : Two men who were being questioned in connection with an attack reported by "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett, have been released without charge, the Chicago Police Department said.

The men, who were arrested on Wednesday, were released on Friday "due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations. Detectives have additional investigative work to complete," said Chicago Police Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi, reports cnn.com.

The men arrested were the same two who police previously said were being viewed as "potential suspects", police spokesperson Tom Ahern said.

Earlier Guglielmi said the two Nigerian brothers were being treated as "potential suspects" and that there was "probable cause that they may have been involved".

At that time police did not say precisely what the brothers were accused of or what the alleged crime might have been.

The two men and Smollett had some kind of previous affiliation, a police source said, without providing further detail.

Smollett, one of the stars of the TV drama "Empire", told authorities he was attacked on January 29 by the men who used "racial and homophobic slurs" on him.

There was also a brief struggle, Smollett told police. One attacker had allegedly put a rope around his neck and poured an unknown chemical substance on him, before running away.

Police has also searched apartment of two other men who were apprehended at the Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday night, but they were not considered suspects at that time.

One of the brothers had appeared on "Empire," according to police.

Authorities previously released surveillance images of two silhouetted figures in the area of the attack and said they were wanted for questioning.
Yavatmal : , Feb 16 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday here said terror groups who perpetrated the Pulwama attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead, cannot hide and "will be punished" as the security forces have been given a "free hand" to tackle the inevitable.

Paying tributes to two Central Reserve Police Force troopers from Maharashtra and others killed in the deadly attack on Thursday, Modi said the country has "faith and pride" in our soldiers and security forces and their sacrifices will not go in vain.

"Wherever the terror groups and the perpetrators may hide, our security forces will flush them out and punish them," Modi said amidst cheers from the gathering of farmers and women here.

When and how to accomplish this has been left to the security forces, but he appealed to the people of the country to be "patient" and repose confidence in the armed forces, "as the terror perpetrators shall not be spared at any cost", he added.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot, the toll reached 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.
Islamabad, Feb 16 : Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's visit to Pakistan that was scheduled to start on Saturday, has been cut short by a day rescheduled for Sunday-Monday, the Pakistan Foreign Office has said.

Salman, who was scheduled to visit Pakistan on February 16 along with a business delegation with big-ticket investment potential, not only did cut short his visit by 24 hours but also dropped the business delegation from his entourage.

Following which the Islamabad-based Board of Investment, which reports to Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a statement to invitees said the Pakistan-Saudi businesses conference scheduled on February 17 has been postponed.

"Any inconvenience caused in this regard is highly regretted. The new dates of the meeting will be informed in due course of time," it said.

The development came barely 48 hours after some 49 CRPF troopers died in a suicide attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, whose chief Masood Azhar roams freely on Pakistan soil and was yet to be designated a global terrorist.

The Pakistan Foreign Office said: "His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will visit Pakistan on February 17-18, 2019. The visit programme remains unchanged."

The Crown Prince is visiting at the invitation of Pakistan Prime Minister.

He would be accompanied by a high-powered delegation including members of the Saudi Royal family and key ministers on Sunday, the News International said.

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal earlier had said Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SCC), led by Salman and Khan will be launched during the visit of the Crown Prince.
Jammu, Feb 16 : Curfew imposed here in Jammu and Kashmir was not relaxed on Saturday two days after 49 CRPF troopers were blown up in a suicide attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama by a Jaish-e-Mohammad man, although authorities claimed the situation was under control.

"Curfew will continue till further orders. We will take a call later in the day after assessing the overall law and order situation," said an official here.

The Mobile Internet suspension started on Friday and continued on Saturday, as well.

Speed of fixedline broadband connections have also been slashed to prevent any form of amplification of the situation given the fact that anti-social elements could upload inflammatory pictures and comments on social media to disrupt peace in the city.

Curfew was imposed on Friday when miscreants torched and damaged several vehicles that carried registration numbers belonging to the Kashmir region.

The Army was immediately called out to assist the civil administration to restore order in the city.

Curfew was initially imposed in some vulnerable areas, but was later extended to the entire city as tension mounted in the wake of violence against a particular section of the society.

The authorities met with important citizens belonging to different communities on Friday to seek their help in bringing the city back to normal.
Abuja, Feb 16 : In the wake of a massacre that claimed 66 lives on the eve of the country's presidential election on Saturday, the national polling body announced the poll have been postponed until February 23 as scheduled voting was not "feasible".

Chairman of Nigeria's electoral body Mahmood Yakubu announced this at a press conference just hours ahead of the scheduled voting exercises on Saturday.

"Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plan and the determination to conduct free, fair, and credible elections, the Commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the elections as scheduled is no longer feasible," Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said.

At least 66 people, including 22 children and 12 women were killed on Friday by unidentified gunmen in Kaduna state, state government spokesman Samuel Aruwan said in a statement.

Some eight settlements were attacked, but the cause of the violence was not unclear, Xinhua news agency reported.

Some arrests have been made, Aruwan added, urging communities, traditional and religious leaders to dissuade residents from any reprisal attacks and leave matters in security and law enforcement agencies' hands.

On January 22, the Nigerian government had alleged there were security threats to the upcoming general elections in the country, alerting citizens of the west African country to be wary of pending attacks before, during, and after the polls.

Kaduna, located in the northern part of the country, was among states earlier listed by the government as one of the flashpoint areas.
San Francisco, Feb 16 : US online retail giant Amazon is leading a $700-million funding round for electric truck startup Rivian Automotive, Rivian has said.

The latest funds will help produce its first all-electric vehicles -- the R1T pickup truck and the seven-seat R1S SUV, which were revealed in the November Los Angeles Auto Show, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This investment is an important shift to sustainable mobility," said RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO on Friday.

Scaringe said it was expected to deliver its R1T and R1S SUV to customers by late 2020. "We're inspired by Rivian's vision for the future of electric transportation," said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer.

The two vehicles will have up to more than 400 miles (about 644 km) of range with extraordinary performance, off-road capability and utility, said the auto company.
London, Feb 16 : British Prime Minister Theresa May is to return to Brussels within days to meet European Union (EU) officials in a bid to rescue her Brexit deal.

Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, said in a radio interview on Friday that May will go to Brussels in the coming days to continue negotiations, but no timetable was stated.

Referring to the Thursday night vote, when MPs were asked to re-endorse May's Brexit deal, Leadsom said the defeat in the vote was more of a hiccup than a disaster, Xinhua news agency reported.

May's proposed cross-channel excursion follows a humiliating defeat Thursday fuelled by a rebellion by 60 of her own Conservative MPs who voted against endorsing the EU deal she has already agreed.

May's hope is that EU negotiators will present her with enough wriggle-room over the Northern Ireland border issue to win backing from lawmakers in a looming showdown.

Political commentators and some leading politicians are describing the expected showdown in the House of Commons on February 27 as a "high noon" for May, just four weeks before Britain's planned departure from the bloc.

Former attorney-general Dominic Grieve said in the Times newspaper that a dozen or more government ministers could quit during the so-called high noon round of Brexit votes on February 27.

The resignations are being threatened if it appears likely that Britain faces crashing out of the EU without a deal, say observers.

In media interviews, Grieve said that if May failed to remove the threat of no deal, there could be resignations on a scale that might bring down the government.

May will present the latest version of her deal to MPs on February 27, but political experts say she is likely to face a number of amendments, including demanding a delay in Britain's departure date, a guarantee that a no-deal Brexit will be ruled out, or calls for a second referendum or "people's vote" on her deal.

Until now, the EU has insisted that there can be no changes to the so-called backstop, a measure designed to ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of no deal being agreed.

Ambassadors from EU member states met the Brexit Secretary in London Friday to brief them on Britain's latest position.
Brussels, Feb 16 : Italy will spiral into a deep social and economic crisis like Venezuela's if it leaves the single currency, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has warned.

"Whoever from the ruling majority imagines that leaving the euro will be the miracle cure for our ills wants to take us where Venezuela finds itself today," Tajani wrote on social media on Friday.

"Only an irresponsible government could want Italy's exit from the euro and it should immediately clarify where it wants to take the country," he added.

Tajani's remarks came after Claudio Borghi, an MP from the ruling eurosceptic League party, suggested Italy should leave the single currency rather than suffer the strictures of existing eurozone rules.

"If Germany wants to continue doing as it pleases in Europe, we are better off leaving," said Borghese, who chairs the lower house of parliament's budget committee.

Borghese made the comments in an interview with website Affaritaliani.it on Friday.
Islamabad, Feb 16 : Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua has met the envoys of P-5 nations and rejected India's allegations of Islamabad's involvement in the terror attack on a paramilitary convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

"FS today briefed P5 Ambassadors at MoFA. Rejected Indian allegations on Pulwama attack," Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal tweeted on Friday night.

P-5 refers to US, Russia, China, France and UK -- which are permanent members of the UN Security Council.

In the meeting with P-5 envoys, Janjua has "noted a familiar Indian pattern of immediate and reflexive assignment of blame on Pakistan without investigations".

The meeting came hours after India's Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale on Friday met at least two dozen envoys in Delhi, including those from the P-5 nations.

The Pakistan Foreign Secretary said in the meeting that her country has pursued a constructive approach towards India, and Pakistan's offer of dialogue and "the Kartarpur initiative are a clear evidence of this".

Citing Janjua, Faisal wrote on Twitter that "ratcheting up tensions in the region will be counterproductive".

An operative of the Pakistan-based terror group JeM crashed a car bomb into a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Thursday, making it the worst ever attack on security forces on any single day since a separatist campaign broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989.

At least 45 troopers were killed in the ambush.
Ambassador Lauder, who hosted with his wife, Jo Carole Lauder, told the crowd that it was especially meaningful to host the event at his childhood home, which once belonged to his pathbreaking mother, Estee Lauder.

"My mother spent her life lifting women up and empowering them to achieve greatness. I know everyone here shares that mission, and I thank you for all that you do to end violence against women," Ambassador Lauder said.

UNWFPA President Barbara Winston said: "Technology and humanity have to meet in order to provide the world with the courage and ambition to give each person their inalienable rights."

"The UNWFPA is a vital organization devoted to raising awareness about the violence and indeed the atrocities perpetrated against women throughout the globe," said Commissioner Kelly.



In addition to Commissioner Kelly, this year's UNWFPA Awards Luncheon will be co-chaired by philanthropist Alice Tisch, who stood alongside Commissioner Kelly as he spoke.



Other guests at the elegant event included UNWFPA Treasurer Michal Grayevsky, and board members Stephanie Winston and Bona Neritani; Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah UNHCR's National Goodwill Ambassador; Susanne Geller of the German American Chamber of Commerce; Ambassador Besiana Kadare, Albania's Permanent Representative to the UN; Ambassador and Mrs.Kai Sauer, Finland's Permanent Representative to the UN; H.E. Ms.Ngedikes Olai Uludong, Permanent Representative of Palau, and DPR Ms. Karen Van Vlierberge, Permanent Representation of Belgium to the UN.

This year's Awards Luncheon will honor actor, writer and activist Ben Stiller; activist Leslee Udwin, CEO and founder of Think Equal; fashion designer Naeem Khan; and international philanthropists Albert and Deidre Pujols. UNWFPA will recognize Changemakers and Educators Marc Brackett Ph.D., Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and Robin Stern Ph.D., Co-Founder & Associate Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Together UNWFPA, Yale and Facebook are bringing awareness to the importance of integrating social and emotional well-being into schools, families and communities as a pathway to peace around the world.

UN Women for Peace Association was founded in 2008 under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, the wife of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The organization, which is led by Chair Dame Muna Rihani Al-Nasser and President Barbara Winston, helps to advance the goals of academic and charitable organizations that provide opportunities for women to partake in the global peace-building process through social, cultural, education and women empowerment programs.

Tickets and Tables for the Awards Luncheon on March 1 are still available for purchase at https://www.unwomenforpeace.org .

SOURCE UN Women for Peace Association

Related Links

https://www.unwomenforpeace.org


LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Cloud Capital is pleased to announce an investment in Los Angeles-based JibJab, LLC ("JibJab"), a leading independent provider of social expression content through branded satires, eCards, and messages. JibJab's products enable millions of people to create and share personalized videos that make each other laugh.

St. Cloud Capital partnered with San Francisco-based Catapult Capital in the acquisition of JibJab.

Paul Hanges, Chief Executive Officer of JibJab is excited to work with his new partners. "JibJab has been on a mission of making billions of people happy since 1999. In that time, we have evolved to become the go-to source for personalized expression both on the web and in our mobile apps. As the landscape of digital sharing and messaging platforms continues to grow, so does our opportunity to help millions of more people be funny onlineand our partnership with St. Cloud will help us accelerate and execute upon that vision."

"We believe the Company's unique offerings have allowed it to outperform other industry competitors. We look forward to working with Catapult, Paul and the JibJab team to maximize value during our partnership and expanding the Company's global brand," stated Ben Hom, Managing Partner of St. Cloud Capital.

For more information about St. Cloud Capital, please visit http://www.stcloudcapital.com

Contact: Brian Chow, [email protected]

SOURCE St. Cloud Capital

Related Links

http://www.stcloudcapital.com


SAN DIEGO, Feb. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- SDbody is implementing a non-invasive and drug free solution for Erectile Dysfunction (ED) called GAINSWave , which boasts a 75% success rate. GAINSWave is a premium brand of shockwave therapy designed to remove micro-plaque and stimulate the growth of new blood vessels to improve blood flow.

Erectile Dysfunction is a natural condition that affects every man with age. When men age, the vessels in their genitalia weaken as a result of built micro-plaque. This plaque restricts the blood flow that streams throughout the male member, resulting in a lack in the amount of blood required for erection. Subsequently, sensitivity declines along with the promotion of new blood vessels.

"For years, medical professionals have been searching for a concrete solution to treat the core of erectile dysfunction as opposed to just masking the symptoms with painful injections and pharmaceuticals," says Shawn Vedamani, MD. "From my experience, GAINSWave is that solution." The treatment is based on a series of over 30 clinical studies , and is supported by a network of over 320 urologists and medical professionals across the country.

Patients receiving GAINSWave have testified on their results, reporting improved erection quality, enhanced sexual performance and decreased refractory times between ejaculation. "It's also a powerful way to prevent ED. Until recently, most men were unaware that they could take their packages in for routine maintenance," adds Shawn Vedamani, MD.

This drug and surgery-free procedure only takes about 20 minutes and can enhance a man's sex life while addressing the root cause of Erectile Dysfunction and Peyronie's disease SDbody is now treating men with the GAINSWave Therapy in their offices located at 1707 Grand Ave, San Diego, CA 92109, USA.

Dr. Shawn Vedamani, M.D. is a board certified anesthesiologist whose passion for preventative and anti-aging medicine led him to join SDBotox in 2017. He brings 8 years of experience as a physician in both private clinics and educational institutions, as well as safe, cutting-edge, evidence-based treatments to each and every patient at SDBody. Dr. Vedamani knows how important it is for patients to look and feel their best, and he is committed to helping them reach their goals.

For More Information Contact:

Adrian Gonzalez

Social Media & PR Specialist

[email protected]

786-558-0338

SOURCE GAINSWave
BERKELEY, Calif., Feb. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Stella Carakasi DTC, Inc., a modern lifestyle brand that creates unique and comfortable clothing that transforms the way women feel, has launched a Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg. CF) campaign on the nation's leading equity crowdfunding platform, StartEngine.

Stella Carakasi's namesake label began in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012, and has since been known for their commitment to the environment, size-inclusivity and affordability. The company has been dedicated to sustainable supply chain practices, working directly with mills to develop soft, durable and eco-friendly fabrics. They also manufacture in small batch productions to maintain high-quality standards and minimize waste.

In 2018, Stella Carakasi launched their direct-to-consumer line, eschewing the traditional wholesale model and delivering their product directly to their customers. The direct-to-consumer business model eliminates middlemen and the associated costs, to deliver the products customers want without the markup. The Regulation Crowdfunding campaign echoes the company's commitment to the public. The offering, marketed to both accredited and non-accredited investors, gives regular people the opportunity to invest in Stella Carakasi DTC, Inc. on the StartEngine funding portal.

"We're pleased to share with the public an opportunity to invest in our vision of eco-friendly, size inclusive and affordable women's apparel," said CEO Steven Boutrous. "We're proud to utilize a trusted brand like StartEngine to educate the public about our company and the opportunities presented by Regulation CF."

Individuals interested in the Stella Carakasi DTC, Inc. equity crowdfunding campaign can find more information by visiting: www.startengine.com/stellacarakasi

About Stella Carakasi:

Stella Carakasi DTC, Inc. is the latest exciting iteration in a series of successful businesses driven by a team of fashion industry veterans boasting 25 years together. The brand is committed to a vision of sustainability, size inclusivity and accessibility to all women. Stella Carakasi, a division of Two Star Dog Inc. was founded in 2012. The direct-to-consumer brand, Stella Carakasi DTC, Inc., was incorporated in the state of Delaware in 2018 but maintains a principal office in Berkeley, California.

MEDIA CONTACT

Blanc Communications

(510) 525-1100 x14 office

[email protected]

Related Links

Reg. CF Campaign

Company Website

Related Video

https://vimeo.com/118453002

SOURCE Stella Carakasi DTC

Related Links

https://www.stellacarakasi.com


GREENBELT, Md., Feb. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bozzuto Group, one of the largest multifamily property management firms in the U.S., has announced it will deploy Leonardo247 across its entire portfolio comprised of over 70,000 residences.

Leonardo247 allows Bozzuto to easily administer workflow with regards to inspections, risk mitigation, preventative maintenance, administrative responsibilities and more, while providing real-time visibility into compliance across the portfolio, resulting in increased transparency and trust throughout the company and their clients.

Senior executives within Bozzuto cited Leonardo247's ability to consolidate all facets of operations into one easy-to-use, customizable solution that will introduce operational efficiencies across the organization while improving consistency in the field. "Bozzuto is excited to be partnering with Leonardo247. Their unique technology platform gives our team members an important tool for providing exceptional customer experiences onsite. We evaluated numerous solutions and determined that only Leonardo247 can truly address the full range of best practices we're seeking to automate," stated Chad Cooley, Managing Director, Strategic Support Services.

Daniel Cunningham, Founder and President of Leonardo247, has a strong background in multi-family asset management as well as property management. "I know from experience that as an industry we place a lot of responsibility on our teams in the field. Expecting them to be experts at everything necessary to properly oversee a multi-million-dollar asset, in addition to leasing apartments and providing top notch resident service, isn't always realistic. Leonardo247 ensures operational success by delivering daily guidance to the right properties at the right time, throughout the year, based on property specific equipment, amenities, and location," said Cunningham.

About Bozzuto

The Bozzuto Group is an experience-focused real estate company that is continually celebrated for its developments, customer service and workplace culture. With an expertise in homebuilding, multifamily development, construction and management for itself and its clients, Bozzuto is devoted to crafting extraordinary experiences.

Founded in 1988, Bozzuto has developed, acquired and built more than 42,000 homes and apartments. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Bozzuto currently manages 70,000 apartments and 2 million square feet of retail space along the East Coast, in Miami, Boston and the Northeast, and Chicago. www.bozzuto.com

About Leonardo247

Leonardo247's on-site performance management software is the first of its kind application to deliver daily guidance for multi-family community operations. The fully-customizable software automates and streamlines the existing policies and procedures of a property manager or owner in addition to providing industry best practices and municipal code compliance. Custom reporting offers real-time visibility into everything happening, or more importantly, not happening at a community or portfolio of communities. For more information visit www.leonardo247.com

SOURCE Leonardo247

Related Links

http://www.leonardo247.com


Zero Hedge

February 16, 2019

After unveiling his intention to declare a national emergency that would allow him to redirect some $7 billion in additional funding for his border wall, President Trump said Friday that we will be suedand we will possibly get a bad rulingand then we will get another bad rulingand then we will end up in the Supreme Court over the controversial plan, which even some Republican Senators (and former campaign-era rivals) have denounced as potentially unconstitutional. Of course, Trump is used to legal challenges to his policies. And hes also used to winning, as he ultimately prevailed during the battle over his travel ban (though the final measure approved by the Supreme Court was notably watered-down).

After Trump launched into a lengthy digression about the lengthy legal process upon which he was about to embark, several commentators noted, the challenges will offer Trump the opportunity to utter one of his favorite phrases: See you in court.

That moment Trump went on about what might happen next: "We will have a national emergency. And we will then be sued And we will possibly get a bad ruling. And then we will get another bad ruling. And then we will end up in the Supreme Court." pic.twitter.com/W26NdYqkR6  POLITICO (@politico) February 15, 2019

But while the battle over Trumps travel ban only took a few months to resolve, Politico speculated on Friday that the battle over Trumps national emergency declaration could take months or even years, as the step of trying to block a presidential emergency declaration would represent something totally unprecedented in the history of American politics.

Rather than solely worrying about a challenge from Congressional Democrats, Politico warned that a number of interest groups could try to kill the national emergency declaration. These include  but are not limited to  immigrant rights advocates, property rights activists, environmentalists, Democratic lawmakers and state officials.

Already, Reuters reported on Friday that New Yorks state attorney general has threatened legal action against over the emergency declaration.

We will not stand for this abuse of power and will fight back with every legal tool at our disposal, New Yorks Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

And California Gov. Gavin Newsom has already declared that the State of California will see Trump in court. And the states attorney general vowed before Trumps announcement that, if the president moves ahead with his plans, he will be held accountable.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, who has filed dozens of suits against Trump administration policy moves, added: There is no national emergency. If Trump oversteps his authority and abandons negotiations with Congress by declaring a fabricated national emergency, we wont only call his bluff, we will do what we must to hold him accountable. No one is above the law.

As Politico explains, while judges have sometimes tried to block Congressionally authorized spending, historically it has been almost unthinkable for judges to interfere with a national emergency declaration. However, given Trumps history of erratic and inflammatory statements, his frequent rhetorical disconnects with senior officials in his administration and his tendency to see crises that others view as completely contrived legal experts believe the challenges could make some headwayand that the issue could ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court after a lengthy meandering through the lower courts. Because the chances that challengers can find a circuit court willing to hold up the emergency declaration are seen as very high.

Normally, any other time, youd say its a no-brainer that the president wins, at least with respect to the decision to declare an emergency, said Bobby Chesney, a University of Texas law professor. But with this particular president, no bets are safe in assuming the courts will completely defer to himPresidents traditionally get tremendous deference, but Trump is not going to get the same level of deference. That really strips away the core rationaleand creates much more chance than normal that even at that initial step theres a non-negligible chance that [Trumps plan] could be rejected, Chesney said.

But politics aside, legal experts who spoke with Politico said property owners along the planned rout of the wall might have the best standing for a successful legal challenge.

Legal experts said affected property owners would have the clearest legal standing, but just what property is in most jeopardy of seizure by eminent domain may be unclear at the outset if the administration is vague about its construction plans. On the other hand, the House may be well positioned to file suit almost immediately on a theory that it is being unconstitutionally bypassed. Lawyers say the Houses legal authority to sue on that basis is shakier than that of a private landowner who has his or her land seized. However, in 2015 a federal judge ruled than the then-GOP-led House had legal standing to sue over purportedly unauthorized cost-sharing payments to insurance companies under Obamacare.

But as with all of Trumps previous legal challenges, Trump will likely be able to frame the resistance to his plans as grist for his reelection campaign.

Analysts also noted that even setbacks for Trump in the legal battle may amount to political victories for him, as he paints himself as fighting hard against a variety of legal and political forces trying to frustrate him at every turn. Hell be able to campaign against the backdrop of what the courts are doing to stop him, predicted Chesney, the University of Texas law professor.

But while its tempting to view conservative dominance on the Supreme Court as indicating that a political victory by Trump is virtually assured, Politico pointed out that an Obama appointee whom Trump had repeatedly attacked as biased over his Mexican heritage recently handed Trump a big legal win over his wall prototype and replacement projects, which Trump heralded as a big win.

Theres no guarantee that the Supreme Court might offer a similarly surprising ruling. As for whether Trump will need to put off his plans to start building, it all depends on which circuit courts hear the challenges, and whether those who are suing him are granted an injunction. If none is granted, he might be able to move ahead right away.

This article was posted: Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 7:49 am

Print this page.

Infowars.com Videos:

Comment on this article
Cultture

February 16, 2019

The day started out pretty epic for Cultttures Carpe Donktum with the President of the United States tweeting out his video.

with the President of the United States tweeting out his video. Carpe Donktum is a meme consultant and also sits on the editorial board of Culttture.

Universal Music Publishing Group filed a copyright claim through Twitter, forcing the platforms cooperation. Standard operating procedure for social media companies.

filed a copyright claim through Twitter, forcing the platforms cooperation. Standard operating procedure for social media companies. R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills and Carpe Donktum exchanged a series of tweets with Donktum believing it was settled. Hours later the video was disabled worldwide on Twitter.

bassist and Carpe Donktum exchanged a series of tweets with Donktum believing it was settled. Hours later the video was disabled worldwide on Twitter. Mills had wrote, So the memes fair use. I LOVE the 1st Amendment! Meme away, folks. Looks like Universal didnt respect the artists wishes.

Lets do it. Have fun. Sorry about the asshole part. @CarpeDonktum https://t.co/9PuubYvRkX  Mike Mills (@m_millsey) February 16, 2019

Carpe Donktum went live via Periscope a little before midnight, central standard time.

https://twitter.com/CarpeDonktum/status/1096643161600843779

Cultttures Editorial Consultant Ali Alexander has called on Trump reelection campaign manager Brad Parscale to file a suit in New York City.

Twitter has honored a copyright claim and censored @realDonaldTrump.@CarpeDonktum needs to write @parscale a letter licensing art. NYC judges are great with Fair Use and repurposing of artwork. Trump campaign should sue REM song copyright holder. Let's do it for the culture.  Advocate Ali Alexander (@ali) February 16, 2019

Freelance journalist Nick Monroe who tracks internet and censorship issues echoed the same sentiment.

when REM made TWEETS joining the side of DEMOCRATS, who were the subject of the video in question THEY BECAME PART OF THE PARODY ITSELF THEREFORE FAIR USE THUS FAIR USE https://t.co/E36JKQ45vF

THUS GAME ON https://t.co/ELLtSeyTjg pic.twitter.com/mQwr1FMOE5  Nick Monroe (@nickmon1112) February 16, 2019

Twitter was forced to comply with a DMCA request from Universal to take down a video containing political commentary/satire by @CarpeDonktum that Trump posted because of music used in it. This is a Fair Use issue thats been affecting content creators and Trump needs to fight it.  Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) February 16, 2019

So the memes fair use. I LOVE the 1st Amendment! Meme away, folks. But that takes nothing away from what a fraudulent con man @realDonaldTrump is. #WorldLeaderPretend  Mike Mills (@m_millsey) February 15, 2019

This is not the fault of Twitter or even R.E.M. Universal owns the rights to the song and they disrespected the Internet, R.E.M., @CarpeDonktum and the President of the United States when they filed a FALSE DMCA notice to take down a work that had been repurposed and Fair Use.  Advocate Ali Alexander (@ali) February 16, 2019

This article was posted: Saturday, February 16, 2019 at 8:02 am

Print this page.

Infowars.com Videos:

Comment on this article
Euro 2020: Spain devour Slovakia to qualify with Sweden A Martin Dubravka howler helped Spain to an emphatic 5-0 win over Slovakia as

Sports Ministry to order closure of venues where clubs flout Covid-19 protocols The Ministry of Youth and Sports has issued a caution to Clubs that it would
Firearms intercepted at Tema port Customs officials at the Port of Tema have intercepted firearms that have been
Elizabeth City, NC (27909)

Today

Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 82F. Winds ESE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly to mostly cloudy. Low 72F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
McKENZIE DELISLE/STAFF PHOTO A Verizon Communications crew works on South Catherine Street in the City of Plattsburgh. In some cases, crews need to trim back trees that encroach on utilities, and the company is allowed to do so even on private property. But some complain that they are given no notice and that a mess is left behind.
MERRILL [mdash] Florence Collins, 89, formerly of Merrill, N.Y., died Friday, June 24, 2021, at the Plattsburgh Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, Plattsburgh. Born on Sept. 17, 1931, in Ellenburg, N.Y., she was the daughter of Carl A. and Blanche (Bombard) Ormsbee. She was married to Willia
99 cent introductory offer

Includes everything we offer online for 24-7 news. This option allows you to read unlimited stories at ctnewsonline.com, and access our e-Edition (digital replicate of the daily newspaper). $7.99 per month after the introductory offer.

This service comes with a complimentary CT Select Card allowing for local discounts.

Rates are subject to change.
This home has been so special to our family, and the fact that its standing and still here is enormously important, Birnbaum said in a statement released by the Institute for Justice, for which McNamara is a senior attorney. Im grateful for the outcome, and Im grateful for having been able to fight for so long.

In June 2013, CRDA attempted to buy the Birnbuam property for $238,500 as part of the authoritys South Inlet Mixed Use Development Project. When Birnbaum refused, CRDA filed a complaint seeking a judgment that the authority had duly exercised its power of eminent domain, the ability of government to take private property for public use.

In November 2014, Mendez granted the CRDAs application to use eminent domain. But the Birnbaums filed a motion for reconsideration based on significant changes to the core principle of the CRDAs plan, namely that Revel Casino Hotel, a primary driver of the proposed development plan, had closed and that certain funding sources for the authority were being redirected by legislation in Trenton.
HARRINGTON, Del.  A 24-year-old Absecon man was shot and killed in an apartment Thursday, Delaware State Police said.

About 11:40 p.m., city police found Donte Demunguia suffering from a gunshot wound to the torso at the bottom of a staircase in the 8700 block of Park Brown Road, according to a news release.

He was taken to Milford Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Further investigation revealed a second victim, a 24-year-old resident of the apartment, was home at the time with an acquaintance, later identified as 25-year-old Devon Emfinger, of Aberdeen, Maryland. While the resident and Emfinger were on the second floor, they heard someone enter the front door. The female resident went downstairs when she was confronted by her ex-boyfriend, Demunguia, police said. Demunguia proceeded up the stairs when he was shot. The female resident was not injured.

Emfinger turned himself in Friday and was charged with reckless endangering and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

The State Police Homicide Unit is investigating.
Wendell Cherry, the Atlantic City Free Public Librarys Fade to Books coordinator, said that more than a dozen barbershops were approached about hosting book collections.

The library learned the school district also has a barbershop book program in five other shops throughout the city, but the library would love to see more city barbershops participate and become Fade to Books locations, Cherry said.

In visits to the shops, barbers tell me how pleased they are to have the books. I have been in shops when parents come with their children. Parents are happy to see the collections. The children head straight to the books, sometimes without prompting from mom or dad, Cherry said.

Dooney Nellom, the owner of Just Cuttn Up, loved the concept of the program. Thats why he agreed to have the books in his shop.

When the kids come into the barbershop, all they do is sit and wait for their haircuts, watch TV sometimes, watch cartoons. It was a good idea when he said can he bring the books in, so the kids can read while they are waiting for their haircuts, Nellom said. I said, Thats a good idea. Why not keep the kids minds sharp?

Javier Ulloa, the manager at Wallys Barbershop, also said yes when approached about the Fade to Books program.
ADVERTISEMENT

Lawrence Ijeh, Special Assistant to Delta Governor on Youth Development, has been shot dead by gunmen in Ekpan community, Uvwie Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Ijeh, also known as Ngozi, was said to have been killed on Friday night, inside his Toyota Camry Car.

He was found in a pool of his blood on Saturday morning.

The incident has caused tension in the community as security operatives have taken over the area.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that shops in the area closed as a result of the incident.

Innocent Akpotedja-Adjenughure, the Ekpan Community chairman, confirmed the killing. Yes, Ngozi was assassinated yesterday; no details yet, he said.

The Acting Police Public Relations (PPRO), in Delta, Oriseweje Chuks, when contacted, said, I am still investigating the matter; let me reach the DPO in Ekpan and get back to you.

Similarly, the Delta Commissioner for Information, Patrick Ukah and Charles Aniagwu, the Chief Press Secretary to Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa, both said they had yet to get details on the incident.

Condemnation

Mr Okowa condemned the killing, according to a press statement issued by Mr Aniagwu on Saturday.

He called on the security agencies to carry out a thorough investigation of the development, to ensure the perpetrators are dealt with accordingly.

On behalf of the government and people of Delta, I mourn the death of Ijei, who was my aide until his untimely demise.

I condole with his wife and family and urge security agencies to investigate the unfortunate incidence, to bring the perpetrators to justice.

We alerted the security agencies of some disturbing security situations in parts of the state and wonder what they are doing because these information have been available to them, he said.

The governor then urged the people of Delta to remain calm and maintain the existing peace the administration had built in the last three and half years.
ADVERTISEMENT

The Zamfara State police command, on Saturday, said 12 locally made guns were recovered from a suspect.

Mohammed Shehu, the commands spokesperson, refuted a rumour going round on social media that the suspect was arrested with AK47 rifles in Gusau.

He said the information is not only incorrect but unfounded.

He stated that on Friday, the Commands tactical team on stop and search duty at Dansadau area of Maru Local Government Area, intercepted a suspect identified as Salisu Saidu, male, of Mada in Gusau, in possession of twelve locally made guns.

He also said that, As the suspect and exhibits were being conveyed to Divisional police Headquarters at Maru, by the arresting policemen, a group of miscreants noticed the exhibits and suspect in handcuffs and decided to attack the suspect believing that he was a bandit.

The statement said the police officers, who were almost overpowered by the miscreants, had to call for reinforcement from (the) central police station in Gusau, the state capital.

The police quickly responded and rescued the suspect and the exhibits to the police station. However, the miscreants succeeded in setting the vehicle conveying the suspect ablaze, the statement continued.

Investigation has commenced and any person or group of persons found to have taken part in this lawlessness will be made to face the full wrath of the law.

The command therefore appeals to members of the public to stop taking laws into their hands but cooperate with the security agencies in their efforts to rid the state of criminal elements.
Sequel to the postponement of Saturdays elections, National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members serving in the Federal Capital Territory have threatened to boycott the newly scheduled dates for the elections.

The postponement came as a shock to the corps members who said the development has affected them adversely.

They blamed INEC for failing to hint them of the decision before sending them out to various wards.

The ad-hoc staff also blamed the NYSC for failing to prioritise their health and safety.

Many of them flooded their timelines expressing their displeasure.

A corps member, who wants anonymity so as not to be victimised said they had earlier gotten rumour of the postponement and then started to monitor INEC Twitter handle up until the INEC chairman made a press conference.

He said some of them arrived their wards of posting at 2:22 am and after 30 minutes had to leave.

INEC had NYSC ad-hoc staff sleep inside and around primary schools in an unsafe and unsanitary condition, no bed, no mosquito net, no security, just a sudden postponement of the 2019 General elections, he complained.

At Life Camp, Kabusa and GSS Nyanya, corps members who spoke with the reporter demanded their feeding and transport allowances which were later given to them after much pressure.

INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu announced on Saturday that the election as scheduled is no longer feasible due to logistics challenges.

The elections have now been rescheduled to commence in a week.

His announcement has been greeted by criticism by individuals and groups.

Suppressed aggression

In one of their WhatsApp Chat groups, the aggrieved corps members said there are plans to start a movement #ServingButNotSlaves to send a message to the authorities.

According to one of them if only corps members will unite together and start a movement, decide generally not to show up for the elections again, probably INEC would try and treat us like humans.

Another responded: I feel disrespected and disregarded by this inhuman treatment. INEC officials and security agents left the RAC without any notice. I dont mind leading a protest on this note; we slept under harsh conditions with very porous security. So they think we are fools?

The sad thing about this country is that the youths dont have one voice. With the way corps members were treated yesterday, a bold statement from the youths would be were not getting involved in coordinating anything, were just going to cast our votes, another commented.

On Twitter, more comments flooded:

@TosinOlugbenga

I expect NYSC to condemn this nonsense and do better in the future by engaging INEC about the welfare of the corpers. Be assure provisions were made for accommodation and their feeding.

ADVERTISEMENT

@williamlipede

This is totally unacceptable. Shouldnt @inecnigeria and @nysc worked out the logistics for accommodation? It began the question-what @inecnigeria been preparing for since 2015? Whether or not its an isolated event, it still isnt acceptable.
ADVERTISEMENT

The heads of the International Election Observation Missions and the United Nations on Saturday expressed disappointment following the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the 2019 general elections.

The groups in a joint statement to PREMIUM TIMES urge the INEC to use the new schedule to finalize all preparations and ensure the new election dates were strictly adhered to.

The full statement reads:

We, the Heads of the international election observation missions and the United Nations present in Nigeria, have taken note of the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to postpone the 2019 general elections due to logistical and operational challenges.

While we note that this decision has caused disappointment for many, we call on all Nigerians to continue to remain calm and supportive of the electoral process as INEC works to implement its new timeline.

We urge INEC to use this time to finalise all preparations and ensure that the new election dates are strictly adhered to. We encourage INEC to provide regular updates and information to the public on its preparations in the coming days and weeks to enhance confidence and trust in the process.

As we continue to closely observe preparations across the country, we stand in solidarity with the people of Nigeria in their desire for credible and peaceful elections.

The statement was signed by Former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, for the Economic Community of West African States Election Observation Mission; Former Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn, for the African Union Election Observation Mission, and Former President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Jakaya Kikwete, for the Commonwealth Observer Group and Director of African Political Affairs, Boubakar Adamou, for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

Others who signed the statement included Former President of Zambia, Rupiah Banda, for the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa Election Observation Mission; Belgian Member of the European Parliament, Maria Arena, European Union Election Observation Mission; Former President of Botswana Festus Mogae, and Former President of Latvia, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, National Democratic Institute/International Republican Institute Election Observation Mission, and United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General for West Africa and the Sahel, Mohamed Ibn Chambas.

Following the postponement, the Chairman of INEC, Mamhoud Yakubu, said the Presidential and National Assembly election earlier scheduled for February 16 have been postponed to February 23, while the governorship and State Assembly and the FCT Councils have been rescheduled from March 2 to March 9.
President Muhammadu Buhari heavily criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) when it postponed the 2015 general elections.

Then a candidate of the APC, Mr Buhari also criticised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led government of systematic rigging.

On February 8, 2015, six days away, INEC postponed the February 14 presidential election by six weeks citing insecurity.

The elections commission chief, Attahiru Jega, said the delay until 28 March was necessary because of heightened insecurity that could affect the safety of election personnel, voters and materials, especially in the troubled North-east region.

Few days to the election when it started becoming clear that it would be postponed, Mr Buhari criticised the commission for considering postponement. He would later win the rescheduled polls.

After the latest postponement under Mr Buhari as president, the video of his interview was re-circulated by Channel 4 News.

It took INEC one month to work outI see no reason why we should postpone it, Mr Buhari said when asked by the planned postponement of 2015.

There are 14 local governments where there is (security) problem; 10 in Borno, two in Your, two in Adamawa. And there and 774 local governments in Nigeria. Should we postpone the election because of 14 local governments?

Mr Buhari suggested that even with Boko Haram onslaught, the electoral umpire ought to go ahead.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria were fighting wars and they conducted elections, what is Boko Haram? he said, dismissing the reporter.

Mr Buhari, however, asked his supporters to take advantage of the postponement to further mobilise support among Nigerians.

Mr Buhari also accused PDP of engineering the postponement to avoid a defeat; but appealed for calm among his supporters.

I wish to appeal for utmost restraint and calm by all Nigerians, especially the teeming supporters of our great party, the All Progressives Congress, APC.

It is important to note that although INEC acted within its constitutional powers, it is clear that it has been boxed into a situation where it has had to bow to pressure. Thus, the independence of INEC has been gravely compromised, he said.

Repeat

INEC Saturday morning postponed the presidential and national assembly elections giving logistics challenges as reasons.

The announcement was made at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, few hours to the commencement of the polls.

The new dates for the elections are February 23 for presidential and national assembly elections and March 9 for governorship and state assemblies elections.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr Yakubu said further details of the postponement would be disclosed at a conference scheduled for 2:00 p.m., Saturday.

President Buhari said he was deeply disappointed by the latest postponement. He urged Nigerians to be calm and peaceful.
ADVERTISEMENT

The presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, said on Saturday he would be leaving Adamawa State for emergency meetings in Abuja, hours after the general elections were postponed.

Mr Abubakar arrived his home state on Thursday, and had expected to cast his vote at his polling unit near Yola, the state capital.

But the exercise was abruptly postponed at about 2:40 a.m. Saturday. Mr Mr Abubakar issued a statement accusing the Buhari administration of orchestrating the delay in order to disenfranchise Nigerians.

Mr Buharis campaign denied the allegations, and instead accused the opposition of being behind the postponement, which has rattled Nigerians far and wide.

At a brief interaction with journalists at his residence in Jimeta, near Yola, early Saturday, Mr Abubakar said he was shocked by the postponement, and would leave immediately for Abuja to hold talks for a better grasp of the development.

Mr Abubakar also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to immediately secure all voting materials that had been dispatched to local units in preparation for todays botched exercise.

As long as they are secure and they are in the right places, there is nothing to worry about, Mr Abubakar said.
Pitches are a delicate process whereby filmmakers have about two minutes to convince a bunch of people on their phones to risk their careers on their idea. And when Smith sat down with the Wachowskis, they kept droning on and on about how they were "gonna invent these cameras and then people can see the whole jump while you're stopped in the middle of the jump," i.e. the freeze-frame Trinity kick. So being fair to Smith, he didn't say no to one of the most famous movies ever to go do Wild Wild West; he said no to two strangers trying to convince him to crush his junk in a wire harness for seven weeks straight.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

But Smith doesn't want us to sympathize with his decision. He wants us to be grateful for it. Because even if he had been a better fit than Keanu Reeves (and that's highly debatable), there's no way he would've made up for the absence of Laurence Fishburne, the only man in existence who can look cool wearing a purple tie and Pince-nez sunglasses. "If I had done it, because I'm black, then Morpheus wouldn't have been black," claims Smith, pointing a finger at Hollywood's "one in, one out" principle when it comes to casting minorities in important roles.

Even worse (for the movie, not our racist society), Smith claims the role of Morpheus would've probably then gone to Val Kilmer. And not only is the idea of that guy giving any sort of advice to Will Smith too unbelievable even for a movie about how we're all flesh batteries for robots, Kilmer was also such a terror diva in the late '90s that he probably would've killed both the movie and the Wachowskis' career by insisting he play Morpheus unconscious like the literal Greek god of dreams or whatever. So if you believe Smith, you should thank him for accidentally giving us the best possible version of The Matrix and not, as we all do, hate him for forever robbing us of the unfathomable beauty that would've been his post-credits Matrix rap.
As two historic civilizations, China and Greece have deepened their cooperation in the modern era, while the two nations relations and trade volume are at an all-time high, said Leonidas Rokanas, Greek Ambassador to China, who voiced confidence in the two nations bilateral ties under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Chinese-Greek cooperation under the framework of BRI possesses both political and economic significance. It signifies high-level mutual trust, promoting further cooperation between two of the worlds oldest civilizations comprehensively, said Rokanas.

Rokanas made the remarks during an interview with Peoples Daily Online, adding that bilateral ties between China and Greece are going to flourish in multiple areas in 2019, with a focus on trade, infrastructure, and people-to-people exchange.

As an important meeting point of the land Silk Road and the maritime Silk Road, Greece is Chinas major partner in the construction of the Belt and Road, while foreign ministers of both nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly advanced further cooperation in August 2018.

Weve signed more than 20 documents, agreements and MOUs in multiple areas, and there are 10 more documents expected to be signed soon, said Rokanas, who further noted that Greece will actively participate in the second Belt and Road forum in April.

According to the ambassador, bilateral trade volume has increased significantly in traditional cooperation areas, such as tourism. The number of Chinese tourists visiting Greece increased by 35 percent in 2018, while it is expected to exceed 44 percent in 2019.

In addition to our already-exist cooperation areas, we want to work together with China in more new areas, such as creative industry, bio-technologies and green energy, noted the ambassador.

Expressing his congratulations to the upcoming 70th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, the ambassador spoke highly of Chinas development in the past 70 years, noting that the Chinese miracle is unprecedented and unique in the world history.

China had an annual growth rate of 9.5 percent between 1978 and 2018, while the rest of the world had 2.9 percent. Opening up and reform has led to structural reforms in China, transforming its planned economy to market one, making China a significant power in the fourth industrial revolution and globalization, said the ambassador.

Rokanas further noted that China also plays an important role in many international affairs, especially in combating climate change and improving the living quality of humankind.

China is one of our allies in combating climate change, which is the most important challenge and problem to humanity and the global community, not only for now but for centuries to come. We will innovate although it will be hard to save our planet while also improving the living quality of all people together, he further noted.
ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari says he is pained beyond words by the news of a fresh wave of killings on election eve in Kaduna State.

Reacting to the reports of violent killings in Kajuru local government, Kaduna State, Mr Buhari described it as an act of cowardice.

He assured that security forces would investigate and apprehend all those involved.

His spokesperson, Garba Shehu, in a statement on Friday evening also quoted the president as saying the perpetrators of this mayhem will not go unpunished.

Kaduna State governor, Nasir El-Rufai, had earlier announced that 66 persons were killed in some communities in Kajuru local government by yet to be identified attackers.

Among those killed were 22 children and 12 women.

The killings came a day to the now postponed presidential and National Assembly elections.

Mr Buhari said the action would not distract the nation from the elections.

He said his administration would foil the designs of those who want to disrupt the exercise.
The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, on Saturday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of plotting to disenfranchise Nigerians, moments after the general elections were formally postponed.

Mr Abubakar, however, urged Nigerians to exercise patience and not be provoked before the new dates announced for the exercise.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, announced at about 2:40 a.m. Saturday that the election had been postponed, barely hours after Nigerians were set to hit the polling units.

The elections would now hold on new dates scheduled as February 23 for presidential and National Assembly elections and March 9 for governorship and state assemblies elections.

Mr Yakubu said the announcement came hours after a string of strategic meetings were held by top INEC officials to review preparedness for the exercise. It was concluded that a rash of logistics challenges that arose on Friday informed the postponement.

Ekiti, Niger and Taraba States were identified as some of the states that faced glitches of distribution of voting materials that would be difficult to resolve in time for the elections Saturday morning, thereby forcing the postponement.

Nigerians online expressed severe disappointment in INECs eleventh-hour decision, with many criticising the umpire for displaying incompetence since it had four years to prepare for the exercise.

Mr Abubakars statement followed the reaction of Mr Buharis campaign office, which blamed the PDP for the postponement and called on Nigerians to support INEC in rejecting alleged opposition plots to compromise the commission.

This postponement is obviously a case of the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob. By instigating this postponement, Mr Abubakar said in a Saturday morning statement to PREMIUM TIMES.

The Buhari administration hopes to disenfranchise the Nigerian electorate in order to ensure that turn out is low on the rescheduled date. Nigerians must frustrate their plans by coming out in even greater numbers on Saturday, 23 February and Saturday, 9 March respectively, the former vice-president added.

Read his initial reaction in full below:

PRESS RELEASE

Election Postponement: Remain Peaceful In Face of Provocation

Yola, Nigeria, 16 Feb 2019: Dear citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,

As you know, the Independent National Electoral Commission has announced a postponement of the elections until 23 February and 9 March respectively.

The Buhari administration has had more than enough time and money to prepare for these elections and the Nigerian people were poised and ready to perform their civic responsibility by voting in the elections earlier scheduled for Saturday, 16 February, 2019.

This postponement is obviously a case of the hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob. By instigating this postponement, the Buhari administration hopes to disenfranchise the Nigerian electorate in order to ensure that turn out is low on the rescheduled date. Nigerians must frustrate their plans by coming out in even greater numbers on Saturday, 23 February and Saturday, 9 March respectively.

Knowing that the Nigerian people are determined to reject them, they are desperate and will do anything in their power to avoid their rejection by the Nigerian people.

ADVERTISEMENT

Their plan is to provoke the public, hoping for a negative reaction, and then use that as an excuse for further anti-democratic acts.

As such, I call on all Nigerians to be patient. We have tolerated the maladministration of this government for four years. We can extend our tolerance a few more days and give them our verdict via our votes.

Maintain the peace and be law abiding. Do not react to this provocation with anger, violence or any action that might be exploited by those who do not want this election to hold. Remain calm. We will overcome this. You can postpone an election, but you cannot postpone destiny.

Please come out to vote on Saturday, 23 February and Saturday, 9 March respectively. Frustrate those who do not want this election to hold by coming out in very large numbers. That is the best antidote to their plans.

May God bless you and may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Atiku Abubakar

Presidential Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party & Vice President of Nigeria, 1999-2007.
ADVERTISEMENT

Former Kaduna State Governor, Balarabe Musa, on Saturday expressed disappointment over the postponement of the general elections and argued that INEC was never prepared for the exercise in the first place.

INEC announced the postponement few hours to the kickoff of the February 16 presidential and National Assembly polls.

The chairman of the Commission, Mahmoud Yakubu, while announcing the postponement in Abuja, attributed the step to overwhelming logistics and operational challenges.

The commission fixed Feb. 23 and March 9 as new dates for the Presidential and National Assembly elections and, the Governorship and State Assembly polls respectively.

Mr Musa, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Kaduna on Saturday, said he was disappointed, but not surprised, at the development.

I am not surprised because INEC was never ready for the exercise, given the level of its preparations, he said.

INEC had serious funding challenges; what was appropriated to the commission by the National Assembly was not adequate and everyone knew it.

We are not even sure if the approved amount was released to the electoral body by the Federal Government.

The logistics and operational challenges are glaring. There are also serious security challenges that may affect the agency in the course of the elections.

The security services are facing the same funding crises and most of them are living in fear.

You can also see the serious challenges being faced by the Judiciary, who are supposed to play a major role in the election process, Mr Musa said.

So, I must say that I am disappointed, but, again, as I said, I am not surprised.

I hope that all the stakeholders will take the necessary measures to help INEC address the issues before Feb, 23, the new date for the Presidential polls, because the President can only hand over power to an elected person.

Mr Musa called on Nigerians to remain calm, while waiting for the new dates for the polls. (NAN)
PREMIUM TIMES has obtained more details of the attack the Kaduna State government said killed 66 people.

The attack occurred on Monday and was a reprisal after an earlier incident that left many dead, a resident said.

The details came amid controversy over the accuracy of the details provided by the Kaduna government.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai on Friday announced the recovery of 66 bodies on the eve of the now-postponed general elections, leading many to believe the killings took place that day.

Mr el-Rufai said the victims were killed by criminal elements in various dispersed hamlets in the Maro Gida and Iri axis of Kajuru LGA.

The settlements affected include Ruga Bahago, Ruga Daku, Ruga Ori, Ruga Haruna, Ruga Yukka Abubakar, Ruga Duni Kadiri, Ruga Shewuka and Ruga Shuaibu Yau, he said.

The government did not state which security outfit provided information on the killings and gave no further details on the nature of the attack.

The former head of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, said during a Channels TV programme that he could not confirm the killings took place. He said he contacted several sources in the area.

Mr Odinkalu said the report of the killings may have been part of the design by senior politicians in the country to create scenarios that could be used as a reason for the postponement of the elections.

The Peoples Democratic Party in Kaduna also questioned the death toll given by the governor, saying only 11 people died.

PREMIUM TIMES worked for hours to verify the report and established that Mr El-Rufais announcement was based on a confidential situation report (Sitrep) by Operation Yaki, a security team comprising of the Police, Army and the State Security Services.

According to the details of the report, Operation Yaki said that a patrol team of 15 soldiers that accompanied Fulani residents of the area, who were searching for their missing siblings, found the 66 bodies, amongst them women and children. They also saw several properties destroyed.

Details of attack

A PREMIUM TIMES reporter in the state also spoke to residents who gave details of the attack.

Benjamin Maigari, a local who said he travelled to the area ahead of the elections, said there were two attacks: the first on the Adara people of Maro and a second, a reprisal on the Fulani in the community.

He said the reprisal claimed more lives than the initial attack.

Towards the early hours of Monday, around 1 a.m., there was an attack on a community called Ungwar Bardi in Maro, Kajuru Local Government. The people there are predominantly Adara. So, there was an attack on them and 11 people were killed, he said.

The locals, thats the Adara people suspected that it was the Fulani that attacked and decided to have a reprisal attack that Monday. The reprisal was that same Monday. They attacked the hamlets of the Fulani within the community and killed the Fulanis. Women, children, inclusive. Even the one (attack) on Adara people, women and children were killed.

Police keep mum

He said police visited the area to access the situation on Monday and met with the district head and the divisional police in Kajuru Local Government.

ADVERTISEMENT

The police are yet to react or officially give an update on the development.

When contacted, police Public Relations Officer in Kaduna, Yakubu Sabo, said the force would soon release an update on the incident.

It is not clear why the state government delayed the announcement until Friday. However, the Operation Yaki report of the incident, based on which the government spoke, is dated 9 p.m Thursday, February 14.

PREMIUM TIMES could not get clarification from the governors spokesperson, Samuel Aruwan, as calls put through to his line were not answered. He did not also respond to text messages.

History of violence

In October 2018, the paramount ruler of Adara, Agom Maiwada Galadima, was killed by unknown persons days after he was abducted.

In response, the Kaduna State Government imposed a 24-hour curfew on some Kaduna metropolis such as Kasuwan Magani, Kajuru, Kateri and Kachia.

The government denied the killing had ethnic or religious undertone in the attack.

This is a struggle between good, decent, law abiding people trying to uphold the peace and criminals who want to divide and destroy. It is not a struggle between religious or ethnic groups. Let no criminal find succour in faith or tribe, Mr el-Rufai said at the time in a statement.

Before the monarch was whisked away, four persons, including a policeman, were killed along Kaduna/Kachia road by the alleged abductors on Friday, October 19.

His driver and the wife were freed by the kidnappers, leaving only the chief in their custody. Days later, he was killed.
ADVERTISEMENT

At least 11 people were killed on Saturday when Boko Haram gunmen and suicide bombers attacked a suburb of Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, police said.

Fifteen people were injured in the attack at and Polo general area.

Witnesses said the attack occurred in the morning as residents were responding to the postponement of todays general election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Gwozari, Kuahari

The lull in activities following the postponment of the polls limited the spread of news of the attack, with many in Maiduguri only getting to learn of the attack hours later, residents said

Witnesses said four Boko Haram fighters  three with suicide vests on their bodies, and one armed with a rifle  invaded their neighborhood and immediately began to shoot sporadically while the suicide bombers blew themselves up.

In Gwozari, Muslims who went to pray in the morning had to cut short their prayers after hearing the sound of gunfire. But as they made their ways out of the mosque, the gunman shot at them killing two and injuring many.

One of the suicide bombers tried to enter a mosque where people were observing their morning prayers but before he got closer, most them had started fleeing. So, the gunman opened fire from a distance and killed two people, said an eyewitness named Habu Aliyu.

The other assailant detonated his suicide vests at a different locations called Kushari where he killed himself and a fleeing child, he said.

The third suicide bomber wondered into Maiduguri neighborhood called Polo where he detonated himself amidst fleeing people. Three persons died in the explosion.

A resident of Polo, who identified himself as Gaji, said one of the civillian-JTF operatives was able to shoot the gunman accompanying the two suicide bombers in the leg before a soldier came to shoot the injured gunman dead.

The Borno state commissioner of police, Damian Chukwu, said the injured were taken taken to the hospital and clearance operation is currently being carried out at the location by a joint team of Explosive Ordnance Department, the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS), the Police Mobile Force, the Civil Defence and the military.

The attack occurred barely 24 hours after Ahmad Salkida, the Nigerian journalist known for his professional access to Boko Haram, tweeted that about 50 Boko Haram fighters were spotted camping at somewhere behind Maiduguri, called Ajilari-Cross.
ADVERTISEMENT

The chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mahmood Yakubu, has given details of the logistics and operational problems he earlier said prompted the rescheduling of the 2019 general elections billed to start Saturday.

The commission announced the shocking decision just hours before the opening of polls after repeatedly assuring Nigerians and international observers it was ready for the crucial elections. It blamed logistics problems but did not give details at first.

Many Nigerians have condemned the postponement, especially its timing, and have accused the commission of insensitivity, noting that INEC had not apologised for the inconvenience its decision had caused millions of people.

At a news conference Saturday afternoon, Mr Yakubu said the commission had been involved in large scale operations in preparations for the polls that it is therefore not unexpected that such a tremendous national mobilisation of men and materials would encounter operational challenges.

He listed the key challenges to be delays in delivering ballot papers and result sheets, occasioned in part by flight challenges due to bad weather.

He said apart from the logistical challenges, there were attempts to sabotage the commissions preparations, listing fire outbreaks at INEC facilities that destroyed smart card readers and voter cars. The fire at Anambra was the most serious of all, he said.

Mr Yakubu said despite those setbacks, the commission rapidly recovered by mopping up available card readers elsewhere.

He said if the polls had gone ahead, it would have meant some states starting well ahead of others with the implication of the elections being staggered.

Faced with these challenges, we initially thought that we only required a maximum of 24 hours to resolve the logistics issues involved and complete our deployment for the election, he said. This would mean shifting the elections to commence on Sunday 17th February, 2019. However, given the restriction of movement during elections, that could affect many voters who worship on Sunday. While the commission considering the following Monday, 19th February, 2019 as an option, our ICT department advised us that it would require 5-6 days to configure about 180,000 smart card readers earlier programmed to work only on election day, Saturday, 16th February 2019.

Read his full speech below:
ADVERTISEMENT

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections billed for Saturday, saying he was deeply disappointed by the move.

The Independent National Electoral Commission announced the shocking decision early Saturday, just hours before the opening of the polls, after repeatedly assuring Nigerians and international observers it was ready for the crucial elections.

The electoral body blamed logistics problems but did not give details.

Many Nigerians have condemned the postponement, especially its timing, and have accused the commission of insensitivity, noting that INEC had not apologised for the inconvenience its decision had caused millions of people.

In a statement Saturday, Mr Buhari appealed to Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development.

Read his statement below:

I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement.

Many Nigerians have traveled to various locations to exercise their right to vote, and international observers are gathered.

INEC themselves have given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. We and all our citizens believed them.

This administration has ensured that we do not interfere in any way with the work of INEC except to ensure that all funds were released to the commission.

We now urge INEC to ensure not only that materials already distributed are safe and do not get into wrong hands, but that everything is done to avoid the lapses that resulted in this unfortunate postponement, and ensure a free and fair election on the rescheduled dates.

While I reaffirm my strong commitment to the independence, neutrality of the electoral umpire and the sanctity of the electoral process and ballot, I urge all political stakeholders and Nigerians to continue to rally round INEC at this trying national moment in our democratic journey.

I, therefore, appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development.

I have decided to move back to Abuja to ensure that the 14.00 hrs meeting called by INEC with all stakeholders is successful.

Muhammadu Buhari

Daura, February 16, 2019
On Wednesday, four senior officials of the United States government and the deputy Chief of Mission at the Nigerian Embassy in Washington DC, made a last-minute ditch to place Americas position on the elections on record.

Speaking to the Nigerian community at the Embassy, the Nigerian diplomat, H.M. Hassan; Tobias Glucksman and Allison Callery of the State Department; and Chad Weinberg and Julia Drude of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) variously stated that the United States government is not supporting any candidate or political party in the 2019 elections.

We have heard news flying around that the government of this country is siding with one political party or the other, said Mr. Hassan, who denounced such statements as falsehood.

Speaking for the Nigerian government, the ambassador said we engage with the United States government on many levels and cover many areas. On elections, the diplomat emphasised that they (the U.S. government) are neutral.

Echoing Mr Hassan, the Americans who requested that, in line with Chatham House rules, each officials statement should be attributed to the group, said their governments final policy stance or pronouncement on this election is the statement Ambassador Symington released last Tuesday (February 12).

The seven-paragraph statement, published on the U.S. Embassy in Nigerias website, was apparently issued as a rebuttal to rumours and a clarification of an earlier statement by the U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Stuart Symington. It states in part that fake news and rumors are operating in overdrive as the election drew closer and that the United States Embassy in Nigeria is not taking sides in Nigerias election.

Without saying how far the fake news and rumours reached, the four Americans said that they intensified efforts this last week before the elections to dispel claims that their government supports any candidate or party.

We have been reaching out to various partners to review how we see the elections, they said, including civil society members and lawmakers at the United States Congress both of whom they briefed on Monday.

We spoke the unvarnished truth to civil society members, heard their perspectives and their concerns, tackled the tough questions they have for us and the challenges they gave to us, they said.

Later that day, we went to Congress to answer some more tough questions and exchanges about all that we are doing, what we see and what we hope to achieve.

The officials however noted that the United States non-partisan stance only applies to candidates and political parties. Their government, they said, is very supportive of Nigerias electoral process and their strategic partnership with Nigeria on all issues including elections.

From the United States perspective and, its fair to say, that of a lot of the international community, we all look at Nigeria the way Nigerians look at Nigeria. You are the giant of Africa, you have the largest economy, the largest population, the largest democracy, you have important influence not just in West Africa but on the continent and around the world.

Nigeria is a strategically important partner

Nigerias strategic importance to the United States, the American officials say, was significantly boosted by the 2015 election which the Americans describe as the most credible process that weve had and something that was celebrated back in the time because it was the first transition to an opposition party.

That election demonstrated that Nigerias electoral institutions and processes that made that happen broke new ground and a real sense of hope was born within the country and also around the region said the Americans.

Since that election, we have certainly noticed in West Africa that Nigeria has played very helpful role in supporting credible processes throughout the region. There have been thirteen elections in the region and at least six of them resulted in the transfer of power to an opposition candidate. That is sign of deepening of democratic institutions throughout the region.

Hoping to build on the success of the last general election, the American officials said that the State Department and USAID started their preparations for this years elections in 2017 and 2015 respectively.

We started to think of how can we support Nigeria with the tools that we have; whether its technical assistance, diplomatic intervention to ensure that we build on the success, deepen and strengthen democracy in the country. Those are our overarching goal. A year and a half ago, State Department officials started developing ideas and programs but USAID started as soon as the 2015 election was concluded. They said okay, we felt like we did a good job, how can we do better.

ADVERTISEMENT

How INEC has improved

The American officials are convinced that this years elections will be an improvement on previous ones.

A lot of the people that we talk to believe that, in a general sense, we seem to be in a better place this time around, not only in terms of the levels of violence but also the political awareness. On the institution side, INEC did state in 2015 that they have the capacity to manage an extensive election process in Nigeria, there are high expectations for their performance this election circle.

The Americans pointed out four areas in which INEC beefed up its institutional facilities to improve the voting experience and maintain their credibility.

One big change that we saw was the continuous voter registration process that was different from last time. It allowed for the year-long process of which brought in fourteen million more voters. There are now a little above 84 million registered voters at this point. That is a big improvement to enfranchise more Nigerians into the process.

The other improvement has been the accommodations that INEC has been making in order to ensure that more individuals, particularly internally displaced individuals and persons with disabilities to participate in the process. This still has its challenges but they have been working through those to address them.

The third area of improvement that USAID officials learnt of through partners who work with INEC is the issue of voter privacy, ensuring that individuals have the ability to cast their ballots in private in a cubicle so that voting will that the election will truly be secret ballot.

The fourth area in which INEC has made incremental improvement is the continued and active outreach and engagement with the public on voter education and civic engagement. They have been using different types of tools for communication, different channels, whether thats online or television, and different types of graphic display in terms of communications to ensure they further in their ability to get more people involved in the process.

POSTPONEMENT

INEC early on Saturday announced the postponement of the general elections by one week.

The postponement means the presidential and National Assembly elections earlier scheduled for February 16 will now hold on February 23. The governorship and state assembly elections initially scheduled for March 2 will now hold on March 9.

INEC mentioned challenges of logistics as reason for the postponement.

The postponement has been condemned by most Nigerians including the two major parties  APC and PDP, and their presidential candidates.
Nigerians on social media have criticised the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for postponing the general elections.

Following a stakeholders meeting which lasted for hours, INEC early on Saturday said it could no longer go ahead with the election.

The commission stated logistics and operational plans as reasons, noting that both elections would be shifted by a week each. The presidential and National Assembly elections will now hold on February 23 while state elections will hold on March 9.

Taking to social media, Nigerians attacked INEC Chairman, Mahmoud Yakubu. for the last minute decision.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu (2nd, L) and some National Commissioners, at a news conference to announce the shift of Saturdays (today) presidential and National Assembly elections to Feb. 23. The governorship and house of assembly, FCT area council elections have also been shifted from March 2 to March 9.

They also saved some of the criticisms for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari seeking re-election under the platform.

The former governor of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose in his reaction said the INEC Chaiman is acting a script prepared by the presidency.

@inecnigeria under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is obviously acting a script prepared by the Presidency cabal but Nigerians will defeat them all together.

@inecnigeria under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu is obviously acting a script prepared by the Presidency cabal but Nigerians will defeat them all together.  Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) February 16, 2019

 I said it two days ago that they were considering postponement of the elections because they knew that they cant win. Now I have been vindicated. With this postponement, they have only succeeded in making their situation worse. Nigerians will defeat this tyranny ultimately.

Two days ago, I told Nigerians that the Presidency cabal were considering postponement of the elections because they knew that they can't win. Now I'm vindicated. With this, they have only succeeded in making their situation worse. Nigerians will defeat this tyranny ultimately. pic.twitter.com/0ddLrXI3Xb  Peter Ayodele Fayose (@GovAyoFayose) February 16, 2019

Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also said the postponement is disappointing.

Mr. President was already in Daura in Katsina State and the VP already in Lagos to vote this morning before the postponement just announced by INEC. This is truly disappointing, but the march to the Next Level continues. Nigeria will prevail

Mr. President was already in Daura in Katsina State and the VP already in Lagos to vote this morning before the postponement just announced by INEC. This is truly disappointing, but the march to the Next Level continues. Nigeria will prevail  Laolu Akande (@akandeoj) February 16, 2019

Earlier PREMIUM TIMES published the reactions of the two major parties, APC and PDP, to the postponement. Both condemned it but blamed each other for influencing INEC.

Culled from Facebook and Twitter, below are some of the reactions of the Nigerians to the postponement.

A Twitter user, @ikechukwu887 said the INEC Chaiman gave no logical reason to postpone the election.

A Logistical nightmare? We havent learnt from history in this country. This has taken us to the stone age. The INEC chairman, gave no logical reasons to balance our psyche; which means he saw this coming.

A Logistical nightmare? We haven't learnt from history in this country. This has taken us to the stone age. The INEC chairman, gave no logical reasons to balance our psyche; which means he saw this coming.  Ike (@Ikechukwu877) February 16, 2019

ADVERTISEMENT

Lucky John Osagie: Only in Nigeria will election be postponed on election day.

The INEC chairman is as incompetent as Buhari himself. Mad Government.

Tola Gem Omojuwa: We have heard! Thanks to them for the disappointment. It shows their in competence!

Edobor Okao: This is a shame on our government and INEC. The Nation as a whole had four (04) good years to plan for this day. When will we ever get things right in this beloved country?

Gbolahan Oshinowo: Indirectly malami. Letter has been honored. Even Governorship election postponed. I wont be surprise what you will hear next about Zamfara state now. Nigeria is like Nollywood film.

@Adm4bn: Buhari is not ready for a free and fair election..someone should tell the tyrant that this is general election and not Osun or Ekiti rigging field.. Hes(Buhari) postponing to frustrate the foreign observersold style.Nigeria must decide #NigeriaDecides2019

@GbtMascotex: This INEC is a useless commission. After taking four years to prepare for an election and just this morning you are coming up with a trashy,stinking, and unashamed announcement of the postponement. Nigeria is a failed country.

Ikusika Oluwaseyi @Seyikan15: High level of incompetence and a show of shame on the part of INEC,..The whole world is watching

Samuel Ederehor @SamuelEderehor: Its a national disgrace.

Pretty Nija @JamesOkene: You must return my flight money. This is unacceptable, imagine the loses Nigerians has gone through, all those that travelled to vote with their hard earned resources. Sad day! #NigeriaDesides2019

Kiki @kikieee_: What happens to all the Nigerians that travelled to vote? Or the corps members sleeping in terrible conditions tonight  #NigeriaDesides2019

kenny Okolugbo @kennyokolugbo: #NigeriaDesides2019 INEC cant be postponing Presidential & National Assembly election on the morning of it Never-happened in history of this Country. We all knew dates of d election about 2 years ago. Yet they talk of logistics  public holidays already declared on Friday!

Bello Shagari @Belshagy: But nothing is more disappointing and disheartening that the postponement of the election on the day of the election.

Youth and Students have invested their time and resources, as well as other stakeholders.

You @basealkaline: Dear Commissioner, you had one job which is to conduct free and fair election and you had 4 years to prepared for it and you failed. If youre an honorable enough I did expect you to honorably resign and let whos capable enough to lead the commission. #NigeriaDesides2019

Iliya Sam: There are people either in government or in opposition working in cohort with some unpatriotic elements in INEC to rig the election and this is a shame. I pray that the government investigate this scandal and make Scape goats out of this elements. This is totally not acceptable in any democratic set up. Why always Nigeria?

Meanwhile, there are some Nigerians, a few, who believe that the postponement is a normal occurrence, for which neither INEC nor the federal government should be blamed.

Some of their reactions are captured below:

Ikechukwu @ikechukwu341: Election has been postponed as expected, there is nothing new about it, this happened in 2011 and 2015, we really need to get our act right in this country, logistics has been a major problems, this is as a result of poor infrastructural deficit over the years #NigeriaDesides2019.

Sani Abdullahi Auchan: still APC all the way!! come rain come sun.
ADVERTISEMENT

The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, on Saturday condemned the postponement of the 2019 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC).

In a statement his spokesperson, Ike Abonyi, Mr Secondus described the development as a deliberate plot by President Muhammadu Buhari to cling on to power even when it has become obvious to him that Nigerians want him out.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, announced at about 2:40 a.m. Saturday that the election had been postponed, barely hours after Nigerians were set to hit the polling units.

The elections would now hold on new dates scheduled as February 23 for presidential and National Assembly elections and March 9 for governorship and state assemblies elections.

Mr Yakubu said the announcement came hours after a string of strategic meetings were held by top INEC officials to review preparedness for the exercise. It was concluded that a rash of logistics challenges that arose on Friday informed the postponement.

Ekiti, Niger and Taraba States were identified as some of the states that faced glitches in distribution of voting materials that would be difficult to resolve in time for the elections Saturday morning, thereby forcing the postponement.

Nigerians online expressed severe disappointment in INECs decision, with many criticising the umpire for displaying incompetence since it had four years to prepare for the exercise.

Atiku Abubakar, the PDPs presidential candidate, also condemned the postponement and accused the Buhari administration of inflicting it on Nigerians to disenfranchise them.

Mr Secondus warned that the party will not accept anything short of a well organised electoral process devoid of manipulation, harassment and intimidation of voters and opposition elements.

Having failed in all their nefarious options to enable them cling on to power, the APC and the INEC came up with the idea of shifting election an action that is dangerous to our democracy and unacceptable, Mr Secondus said.

Mr Secondus alleged that the APC in connivance with the INEC has been trying to undermine the exercise, including burning down INEC offices in some states and destroying electoral materials to create artificial problems upon which to stand for their dubious act.

With several of their riggings failing, they have to force INEC to agree to a shift in the election or a staggered election with flimsy excuses pre-manufactured for the purpose.

For the avoidance of doubt the PDP sees this action as wicked and we are also aware of other dubious designs like the deployment of hooded security operatives who would be ruthless on the people ostensibly to scare them away, Mr Secondus said.

The National Chairman recalls that the PDP had earlier alerted Nigerians that the APC was coming up with lined up rigging strategies including burning down of INEC offices and engineering crisis in PDP strong hold areas to scare away the people.

Mr Secondus also blamed the killing of about 66 persons, including women and children, in Southern Kaduna on the APC, saying it was a scheme by the ruling party to frighten the people away from voting states.

Mr Secondus did not present any evidence to support his allegations against the APC on either the elections shift or the deaths in Kaduna State.

Earlier, Festus Keyamo, a spokesperson for Mr Buharis campaign, released a statement criticising the PDP as being behind the postponement, and called on Nigerians and the international community to safeguard the independence of the electoral commission from sinister influence of the opposition.
Important institutions and billion-dollar companies are too chicken to make a five-year-old their vice president of marketing, so it's up to boring, suited adults. Obviously they miss their marks on occasion, since they're driven by profits instead of childlike wonderment. But sometimes they miss a mark so badly that they win up traumatizing a whole generation. Like how ...

6 Danish Zoos Cut Up Dead Animals In Front Of Toddlers

In 2015, roughly 400 children gathered around the corpse of a euthanized lion to watch Simba get sliced into scientific bits.

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

It's the circle of psychiatrist visits.

They also gave the kids a free anatomy lesson that would've been too graphic for an episode of House. This included trying to replicate the young lion's roar by blowing into its severed windpipe, and asking if anyone would like an eyeball before chopping off the head. Children as young as toddlers were shoved to the front, presumably to make sure they could properly smell their innocence dying.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday postponed the presidential and national assembly elections as exclusively reported by PREMIUM TIMES.

The announcement by INEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, at the commissions headquarters in Abuja came hours before Nigerians were slated to head to the polling units.

The announcement was made at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday.

It came hours after PREMIUM TIMES reported that logistics challenges in some parts of the country may force the commission to move the elections.

The new dates for the elections are February 23 for presidential and national assembly elections and March 9 for governorship and state assemblies elections.

Mr Yakubu said further details of the postponement would be disclosed at a conference scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Saturday.

The statement read by the INEC Chairman:

The Independent National Electoral Commission met on Friday, 15 February 2019 and reviewed its preparation for the 2019 general elections scheduled for Saturday, February 16, and Saturday, March 2.

Following a careful review of the implementation of its logistics and operational plans and its determination to conduct free, fair and credible elections, the commission came to the conclusion that proceeding with the election as scheduled is no longer feasible.

Consequently, the commission has decided to reschedule the Presidential/National Assembly elections to Saturday, 23rd February 2019. Furthermore, the Governorship/State House of Assembly/Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections are rescheduled to Saturday, 9th March 2019.

This will afford the Commission the opportunity to address identified challenges in order to maintain the quality of our elections. This was a difficult decision for the commission to take but necessary for the successful delivery of elections and consolidation of our democracy.

The Commission will meet with key stakeholders to update them on this development at 2 P.M at the Abuja International Conference Centre.

Live update: Press briefing by the Hon. Chairman INEC, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu on #NigeriaDecides2019  elections https://t.co/S9ZTPbrBuK  INEC Nigeria (@inecnigeria) February 16, 2019

EKITI LAMENTS

Some of the states where INECs logistic challenges occur are Niger and Ekiti.

PREMIUM TIMES published a report by the News Agency of Nigeria where the Resident Electoral Commissioner in Niger State said ballot papers for two of the states three senatorial districts were missing as of Friday evening.

In Ekiti, the former governor of the state, Ayo Fayose, accused INEC of deliberately hoarding materials for the presidential, Senate and House of Representatives elections in some states to frustrate the PDP.

Mr Fayose said he was aware that ballot papers and result sheets for presidential and senatorial elections were not in Ekiti State as at 9 p.m. on Friday, adding that only materials for the House of Representatives were distributed.

According to his spokesperson, Lere Olayinka, Mr Fayose said similar situations already reported in Oyo, Taraba, Edo, Niger, Ogun, Rivers and other states.

ADVERTISEMENT
As the 2019 general election approaches, a trend where family members support different candidates appears to be increasing.

Those who in 2015 supported a particular candidate are on the opposing side for one reason or the other.

Below are some prominent Nigerians whose family members support different candidates publicly.

Bukola Saraki and Gbemisola Saraki

Bukola Saraki is the Senate President and a former senator, Gbemisola Saraki, is his sister.

The rivalry between the siblings can be traced back to 2011 when Gbemisola, who was a member of the House of Representatives (1999 to 2003 under the defunct All Peoples Party) and two-term senator ( 2003 to 2011 under the PDP), wanted to succeed her brother as governor of Kwara State.

Despite getting the backing of their late father, Olusola Saraki, her brother kicked against the idea arguing that it was not morally right for the position to be rotated between siblings. He then backed the incumbent governor of the state, Abdulfatah Ahmed.

Having lost control of the PDP in the state to his son, their father, popularly called Oloye, left the party for the Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN) under which platform Gbemisola contested but lost to Mr Ahmed.

Mr Saraki was also elected senator to represent Kwara Central Senatorial District, the seat vacated by Gbemisola.

In 2014, as a member of the PDP, after her brother had defected to the APC, she tried to contest for the governorship position of the state but was defeated at the partys primary by Simeon Ajibola.

She remained in the PDP till 2015 but members of the party in the state saw her as an extension of her fathers hegemony and blocked her every move.

In 2015, days before the gubernatorial election, she defected from the PDP to join her brother in the APC.

In 2018 again, Bukola Saraki defected from the APC to the PDP he left in 2014.

After his announcement of his defection, his sister declared her unwavering support for the re-election of President Muhammadu Buhari and the success of the APC.

Although Bukola lost his presidential bid in PDP, he is now part of the campaign team for PDPs presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who is seen as the major challenger of President Buhari.

Obasanjo and Olujonwo

Olujonwo Obasanjo, a son of a former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, joined President Buharis campaign team after his fathers endorsement of Mr Abubakar last year.

The former president had in 2015 supported Mr Buhari but stopped supporting him after accusing the president of dismal performance.

Declaring his support for Mr Abubakar, he said had forgiven his estranged former deputy whom he severally spoke and copiously wrote against for about 10 years.

But his son, Olujonwo, said his decision to support the president has not created any rift between him and his father. He said in supporting the president, he was only looking at the future of the Nigerian youth.

Doyin and Ditan

Just like the Obasanjos, Ditan Okukpe, the son of a member of the PDP and former Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs to former President Goodluck Jonathan, Doyin Okukpe, also joined President Buharis campaign team.

ADVERTISEMENT

Mr Okupe senior, who is also the chairman Bukola Saraki Presidential Campaign Media Council, said his son joined the Buhari campaign team as a way of getting back at him.

This may be his way of getting back at me. I wish him luck he said.

Rinsola Abiola and Jamiu Abiola

Rinsola and Jamiu Abiola are children of the late Moshood Abiola who was recently recognised by President Buhari 25 years after the election which he was said to have won but was annulled by the military junta of Ibrahim Babangida.

As a result of this act by the president, Jamiu threw his support for Mr Buhari and also urged the Yoruba to vote for him.

Rinsola Abiola on the other hand, who used to be a member of the APC, left the party. She said it is not friendly to the youth. She is now running on the platform of the Action Democratic Party (ADP) for the Abeokuta North/Odeda/Obafemi Owode federal constituency in Ogun State.

she has so far, however, not shown support for any presidential candidate.

Buba Galadima and daughter Zainab

Buba Galadima was a former associate who has turned a virulent critic of President Buhari. He created a factional APC, the R-APC, which has now joined forces with the PDP.

Mr Galadima is now a spokesperson of the Atiku presidential campaign. But his daughter works at the presidency as the special assistant on Rule of Law to the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
ADVERTISEMENT

The European Union (EU) must recognise Venezuelan Congress Leader, Juan Guaido, as the president of the South American country, U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence, said on Saturday.

Mr Pence, in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, ascertained that not just individual European governments, but the bloc, as a whole.

Mr Guaido, the Head of Venezuelas National Assembly, declared himself president of the crisis-wracked country in January, piling pressure on the president, Nicolas Maduro.

He said Mr Guaido, who has declared himself interim leader, has won U.S. and international support to replace Nicolas Maduro.

Guaido deserved the rest of the world to recognise him, and called Maduro a dictator who must step down, Mr Pence said.

According to him, it is time for the rest of the world to step forward.

Once more the old world can take a stand in support of freedom in the new world.

Today we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom and recognise Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president of Venezuela, Mr Pence said.

(Reuters/NAN)
ADVERTISEMENT

Former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood following allegations against him, including sexual abuse of minors, the Vatican said on Saturday.

McCarrick, who in July became the first Roman Catholic prelate in almost 100 years to lose the title of cardinal, has now become the highest profile church figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times.

The defrocking was announced ahead of coming weeks meeting at the Vatican between the heads of national Catholic churches to discuss the global sexual abuse crisis.

McCarrick had appealed the decision, however, it was upheld and Pope Francis said no further appeal would be allowed.

The allegations against McCarrick date back to decades ago when he was still rising to the top of the U.S. church hierarchy.

McCarrick, who became a power-broker as Archbishop of Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2006, is living in seclusion in a remote friary in Kansas.

He has responded publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has absolutely no recollection of an alleged case of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy over 50 years ago.

(Reuters/NAN)
As Nigerians go to the now postponed polls, observers in and outside Kwara State are particularly interested in knowing what becomes the political fate of Nigerias Senate President, Bukola Saraki.

A scion of the Saraki dynasty, Mr Saraki is contesting the Kwara Central Senatorial seat on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

His closest rival is Ibrahim Oloriegbe of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

Although there are other determining factors, analysts have opined that the biggest intrigue playing out in the senatorial district emanates from the renewed anti-Saraki dynasty revolt in Ilorin and other parts of the state.

The revolt, captured in the street lingo O to ge!translated loosely as Enough is Enough is believed to have emanated from Kwara South but has since taken a life of its own even in the heart of Ilorin.

A keenly competitive race

In 2015, observers in and around Kwara Central were surprised that Mr Sarakis campaign posters did not surface at strategic places in the district despite being on the ballot.

Months before that general election, he led party stalwarts and other political loyalists in Kwara, including the state governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, from the PDP into the APC.

Confident of winning the senatorial seat and delivering the state for then-candidate Muhammadu Buhari of the APC, the Senate president campaign handlers had very few posters of the politician pasted across the district.

He won that election convincingly.

That is not the situation of things right now in 2019, as you can see, Aliyu, a cab driver told PREMIUM TIMES Friday afternoon as he drove past huge campaign posters with images of the Senate President erected around Unity Road through Challenge, all the way to the Government House. This is the most competitive election in Kwara history; this O to ge campaign is like revolution, he added in Yoruba.

Political lineage

Mr Saraki is the son of Olusola Saraki, a second republic influential politician and lawmaker. He died in 2012, about a year after he lost a major political battle to his son, Bukola, in 2011.

Upon serving two terms as governor between 2003 and 2011, Mr Saraki (Bukola) threw his weight behind Mr Ahmed of the PDP, contrary to his fathers wish to have him replaced with his sister, Gbemisola Saraki.

The younger Bukola would come out victorious as Mr Ahmed emerged winner of that deeply rancorous guber election.

Since the death of the older Saraki, Mr (Bukola) Saraki has become the new face of the Saraki dynasty.

While the renewed O to ge revolt reflective of the battle for the gubernatorial position in the state, observers opine that this targets Mr Saraki.

The Kwara Central Senatorial District has four major divisions: Asa, Ilorin East, Ilorin South and Ilorin West. While Asa is believed to be important because of its size, Ilorin is considered the battleground in the district. Besides, candidates of the major parties in the contest hail from Ilorin.

Counter-revolt

Some residents of the town want the senate president to continue and have made this known through their counter-revolt lingo called O tun ya!translated loosely as Lets do it once more.

When PREMIUM TIMES did a random check at the Agbaji quarters of Ilorin on Thursday, many residents told our reporter that the Senate president would return to power.

ADVERTISEMENT

We love him, and he is our beloved son, said Ibrahim Kabir, a voter.

On the other hand, however, there are folks who want an end to the dynastic reign of Mr Saraki, especially in places outside of the district and beyond.

Many factors would determine the survival or otherwise of the Senate president next Saturday.

Oloriegbe and the gains of O to ge revolt

APCs Mr Oloriegbe, Senate President Sarakis closest rival, is not a new face in the politics of Kwara.

A former Majority Leader in the Kwara State House of Assembly, he is relatively known among the electorates in the district. But his candidature has received a boost because of the O to ge revolt.

Although some residents said the governorship slot remains the actual target of those behind the O to ge revolt, it is believed that the effect could upturn the dynamics of other elections.

Prominent among those at the forefront of the revolt is the governorship candidate of the APC, Abdulrahman AbdulRazak; the minister of Information, Lai Muhammed; and other notable politicians from the Southern district.

Gbemisola Saraki, Mr Bukolas younger sister, and Dele Belgore, a one-time candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the State, are also believed to be supporting the movement although they have barely been reported to be as fanatic toward the cause as others.

Besides, analysts believe that the position of Mr Saraki is under threat because some of his former aides have also joined the o to ge camp.

They cite the electoral strength of Mr Oloriegbe in the heart of Ilorin and other parts of the constituency.

They include Yinka Aluko, the former security aide to Mr Saraki during the latters tenure as governor of Kwara State.

Mr Aluko left his former boss before the 2015 general elections to become a running mate to then PDP candidate, Simeon Ajibola but has now defected into the APC.

Similarly, a former chief of staff and secretary to the State Government, AbdulGaniyu Cook Olododo and ex-Special Adviser on Inter-Parliamentary Affairs, Protocol and Special Duties on National Assembly Matters, Moshood Mustapha have also joined the O to ge revolt.

These three people are considered the political strategists and backbone of Saraki, an Ilorin resident who declined to have his name in print, told PREMIUM TIMES Friday.

Their exit remains why Saraki supporters are scared things may go wrong.

Ahmed, Buhari as albatrosses

For both Messrs Saraki and Oloriegbe, the performance of both Messrs Buhari and Ahmed could be an albatross.

While Mr Buhari is believed to have deepened poverty by his handling of the economy, Mr Ahmeds numerous battles with civil servants and other public officials could work against the Senate President.

Almost eight years after he left office, Kwara electorate still links the successes and failures of the incumbent to Mr Saraki.

Already, the result of the November 17 by-election for the Ekiti/Irepodun/Isin/Oke-Ero federal constituency has dealt a big blow on the Senate President and his political camp.

Analysts opine that the Kwara South Senatorial District may be won by the APC, given its strength in the region.

There are reports of discontent in the Kwara North district, especially among the youth in the region.

All of these are said to paint pictures of what is to come for Mr Saraki.

Many residents opine that the election will only shake his political structure to its root but would not consume him.

It will be a tight race, but I think Bukola Saraki will win in Kwara Central, Kayode Ali, a student of the University of Ilorin, told PREMIUM TIMES Thursday evening. It will be the most rigorous and keenly contested election for the Senate president since he has been in power.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has announced the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), Ikot Abasi, in Akwa Ibom State will soon recommence normal operations.

The Director-General, Alex Okoh, said in a statement sent to the media on February 2, that the privatisation agency was consulting to resolve critical issues to facilitate the reopening.

The Bureau has requested the Federal Government to consider and approve the categorisation of ALSCON under a strategic industry to enable it to buy gas at a concessionary price as opposed to the commercial price to enable the core investor in the company  DHL/RUSAL recommence production and operate profitably, Mr Okoh said.

The DG recalled the signing of Addendum No. 2 to the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) between the Ministry of Mines & Steel Development and Dayson Holdings Limited/RUSAL on January 17, 2018.

Following the agreement, he said the new core investor submitted a road map detailing issues requiring urgent resolution before the commencement of operations, including the issues of gas price and supply.

Upon the resolution of the gas price and supply issues, a new agreement will be signed in line with current realities. It will also take into consideration the trend internationally to allow ALSCON to remain competitive in the global aluminium products market, he stated.

BPE Ignores appeal court ruling

Regardless, PREMIUM TIMES investigations reveal BPEs plan appear to have ignored the implications of the latest ruling of the Appeal Court in Abuja.

Operations at the $3.2 billion smelter have stalled for almost 15 years since it was privatised in June 2004 due to the lingering ownership crisis.

On January 11, the Appeal Court presided over by Abdu Aboki, for the umpteenth time ordered BPE to obey the rule of law and enforce the July 6, 2012, judgment of the Supreme Court on ALSCON ownership debacle.

The ruling was delivered more than a month before February 2 when BPE unveiled its plan to recommence operations at ALSCON.

PREMIUM TIMES obtained a copy of the judgment in Abuja on Wednesday.

The case No. CA/A/637/2014 was filed on December 19, 2014, by Dayson Holdings Limited (DHL), the Nigerian special purpose vehicle used by UC RUSAL to participate in the bid for ALSCON in 2004.

The application sought a review of the September 30, 2014 ruling by the Appeal Court and a restraining order against BPEs attempt to enforce the July 6, 2012, order of the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court order followed several legal battles by BFIG to reclaim its award after BPEs unilateral cancellation of its declaration by National Council on Privatisation (NCP) as the winner of the June 2004 bid for ALSCON.

Following the order, BPE not only refused to obey and enforce it, but it also encouraged UC RUSAL to go to the Appeal Court for a review.

In the January 11, 2019 ruling, Justice Aboki upheld the Supreme Court verdict and again ordered full enforcement by BPE.

Specifically, the judge directed BPE to provide the mutual agreed Share Purchase Agreement (Exhibit BPE1) for execution by the parties.

The agreement, he said, would enable BFIG to pay the agreed 10 per cent of $410 million (about $41 million) within 15 working days from the date of the execution of the Share Purchase Agreement by the agreement dated May 20, 2004.

ADVERTISEMENT

The balance of 90 per cent of the bid price, Mr Aboki said, shall be paid within 90 calendar days as ordered by the Supreme Court.

The judge said the ruling sets aside the judgment in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/901/2013 of September 30, 2014, delivered by Justice Ashada Abdu-Kafarati of the Federal High Court, Abuja.

In the 2014 judgment, the judge had ordered BPE to accept 10 per cent of the purchase price, or $41 million, to be paid within 15 working days of the enforcement order, or not later than October 24, 2014.

Also, the judgment directed the balance of $369million be paid as per the audited financial statement by KPMG as at the date of the judgment.

In the courts view, the payment deadlines have to be reviewed to accommodate current realities, considering the legal battles, which rendered them outdated.

Why the court set aside the 2014 judgment

According to analysts, the latest court ruling conveys far-reaching implications which BPE appears to have ignored.

Those familiar with the ALSCON crisis told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday the latest Appeal Court ruling effectively nullifies all existing agreements purportedly entered between BPE and any individual or group concerning the ownership of ALSCON.

They say the ruling legally restores the ALSCON transaction to its July 6, 2012: the status of when the Supreme Court handed its final ruling, which ordered BPE to enforce the right of the winner of the bid for ALSCON in 2004.

The analysts cited the 2006 agreement signed between BPE and UC RUSAL, which transferred the management of ALSCON to the Russians.

Besides, on Sunday, January 21, 2018, BPE, supported by the then Minister of Mines & Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi, signed another controversial renewed Share Purchase Agreement, SPA with the Russians.

Details of the terms of the new agreement were not disclosed.

But, Mr Fayemi said it involved the complete takeover of ALSCON by Dayson Holdings Limited/RUSAL as the core investor, with the Federal Government retaining only 20 per cent equity.

BFIG writes BPE

Following the ruling, PREMIUM TIMES learnt counsel to BFIG, Patrick Ikwueto, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, on January 14, 2019, wrote to the DG of BPE to draw his attention to the consequential orders of the Appeal Court.

In the letter titled: Re: Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria Share Purchase Agreement As Per The Judgement Of The Court of Appeal Dated 11 January 2019, Mr Ikwueto recalled the contents of the final judgment and order of the Supreme Court on July 6, 2012.

The Judgment reads: I. An Order of specific performance is hereby decreed directing the Defendant/Respondent to provide the mutually agreed Share Purchase Agreement for execution by the parties to enable the Plaintiff/Applicant pay the agreed 10% of the accepted bid price of $410million (i.e. the sum of $41million) within 15 working days from the date of the execution of the Share Purchase Agreement in accordance with the agreement dated May 20, 2004, and the 90% balance bid price shall be paid within 90 calendar days.

II. An Order for the Defendant/Respondent to accept payment of the 10% of the bid price from the Plaintiff/Applicant within 15 days from the date of signing the Share Purchase Agreement (SPA).

III. An Order of perpetual injunction restraining the Defendant/Respondent, its servants, agent, privies, management or howsoever called from inviting any further bidding for the sale and acquisition of ALSCON in violation of the contract between the Plaintiff/Applicant and Defendant/Respondent and/or from negotiating to sell, selling, transferring or otherwise handing over the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) to any person or persons in violation of the contract between the Plaintiff/Appellant and the Defendant/Respondent.

The copy of the original SPA (Exhibit BPE1) approved by the Supreme Court obtained by PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday is a 15-page document.

It is accompanied by several volumes of annexures covering about 17 different aspects of ALSCON.

Section 19.1 explains that all the annexures that form part of this agreement shall be construed by the provisions of the Agreement.

The annexures include a financial statement of ALSCON for the year ended December 31, 2004; ALSCON Post-Acquisition Plan; List of Liabilities of ALSCON; List of Facilities of ALSCON; List of land Plots of ALSCON; List of Compensation Scheme of Employees of ALSCON, and List of Employee Benefit of ALSCON.

The others include List of Intellectual Property of ALSCON; List of Material Contracts of ALSCON; List of Banks of ALSCON; List of Government Authorities of ALSCON of ALSCON; Exhibit No. 1: Natural Gas Sales and Purchase Agreement; Exhibit 3: Federal Republic of Nigeria Officials Gazette, and Exhibit 4: Power of Attorney.

Section 2.1 of the SPA gave the bid payment schedule as 15 working days from June 17, 2004, while the balance of 90 per cent shall be paid on or before 90 working days from June 17, 2004. The date was the original fixture after the bid process in 2004.

The SPA also included the address and BPEs Citibank domiciliary account No. 0010428009 for the payment of the bid price.

On January 25, Mr Ikwueto, in another letter to BPE, noted all the information that required an update.

He also requested the corrections to be effected, particularly the current information on the signatories and payment schedules, to bring out a clean copy of the SPA.

To enable BFIG to execute the SPA and comply with the subsisting judgment/orders of the Supreme Court and reinforced by the Appeal Court, Mr Ikwueto requested BPE to forward to his client the clean copy of the SPA as directed.

On February 4, 2019, BPE sent a response to BFIG dated January 30, 2019, and signed by its DG.

The letter was accompanied with a reproduced 16-page SPA (not the original approved by the court) without any of the 17 annexures, acknowledged as key parts of the SPA.

Mr Okohs letter appeared vague on the exact payment schedule.

Although the letter said, payment of $41 million would be within 15 working days from the date of the execution of the SPA. Mr Okoh did not say when.

In the previous SPA, June 17, 2004, was given as the date for the payment. It also served as the date the payment of the balance of 90 per cent would begin to count.

Threat

Without clarifying the doubt, Mr Okoh went ahead to threaten: If the Bureau does not receive an executed copy of the mutual agreed Share Purchase Agreement, and payment of the agreed sum of $41 million, representing 10 per cent of the bid price within 15 working days, the Bureau will consider itself as being no longer bound by the agreement.

He said BPE would equally consider itself not contractually bound to BFIG if the balance of $369million is not paid within 90 calendar days of the payment of $41million.

A review of the document showed some aspects of the document differed substantially from the original SPA beyond the mere alteration of change of name of relevant signatories Mr Okoh spoke about.

For instance, the payment schedule was left as it was in the original document (15 working days from June 17, 2004, and the balance of 90 per cent shall be paid on or before 90 working days from June 17, 2004).

Also, BPEs domiciliary account details were changed from Citibank account No. 0010428009 at Wall Street, to CBN/BPE account No. 010147-USD-CDACBN-52.

Besides, Clause 9.17 in the new SPA, which bordered on negotiation of the new conditions of service with the two unions of ALSCON within 12 months of the takeover did not include the word ALSCON.

Treading beaten path of illegality

BPE appears to be treading a familiar beaten path of illegality in its handling of court-ordered resolution of the crisis.

In 2004, at the end of the privatisation exercise, BPE did not immediately issue BFIG a letter to demand payment of 10 per cent of the bid price.

When it finally did 48 hours later, a portion of the offer letter demanded the payment of 10 per cent of the $410 million, or $41 million, within 15 days of the collection of the letter.

This differed from 15 working days of signing the share purchase agreement (SPA) agreed by all parties at the technical bidders conference before the bidding exercise.

BFIG rejected the letter, insisting on agreed terms.

But, BPE stuck to its position till the expiration of the June 17, 2004 deadline before disqualifying the Nigerian firm for failing to meet the payment schedule.

Days later, BPE invited UC RUSAL to take over ALSCON on willing seller-willing buyer terms.

Again, after the Supreme Court ruling on July 6, 2012, BPE refused to retrieve the plant from UC RUSAL and hand over to BFIG, the winner recognised in the judgment.

On January 29, 2013, BPE, ostensibly obeying the Supreme Court, sent to BFIG an offer letter to Purchase 77.5 percent shares of the ALUMINIUM SHELTER COMPANY OF NIGERIA, ALSCON, a non-existent company, instead of ALUMINIUM SMELTER COMPANY OF NIGERIA, ALSCON.

Also, the letter was accompanied by a 16-page SPA, instead of the 58-page SPA sent to BFIG on October 8, 2012, to review and approve.

The execution of the SPA was stalemated, as BFIG rejected it on the ground that it was not interested in acquiring the shares of the ALUMINIUM SHELTER COMPANY OF NIGERIA.

More than a week later, without BPE sending the corrected version, BFIG, on February 13, 2013, signed the October 8, 2012 SPA sent by BPE.

The document was similar to the one UC RUSAL signed after its negotiation in 2006.

It included annexures of 17 key items, including financial statements, post-acquisition plan, liabilities, assets, gas sales and purchase agreements.

BFIGs refusal to sign the SPA was used by BPE as a reason to, again, disqualify it, forcing a return to the Supreme Court for an order to compel the BPE to comply with its 2012 order.

Failed attempt to subvert Supreme Court order

Since 2012, BPE made a couple of attempts to subvert the ruling of the Supreme Court.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo is believed to have sowed and nurtured the seed of the current crisis in ALSCON.

The bidding exercise had already ended on June 14, 2004. UC RUSAL was disqualified for disobeying bid guidelines.

The NCP had declared BFIG winner and the preferred bidder with an offer of $410million. What was left was the formal letter from BPE to the winner.

On learning that, UC RUSAL was disqualified and BFIG declared the winner. Mr Obasanjo criticised the outcome.

If our screening had been right, that group (BFIG) should have been disqualified, President Obasanjo told reporters shortly after the bid.

In the aluminium industry today, there are probably three with the technical know-how. I believe if they (BPE) were doing it correctly, they should not have disqualified them (RUSAL). They were asking for certain conditions others considered unimportant, he said.

Subsequently, the schedule to present the award letter to BFIG was postponed.

When the letter was issued, the original payment schedule was changed into what was it was earlier.

BFIGs request for correction of the observed mistake was ignored till the deadline expired and the bid was cancelled.

In April 2017, shortly after his appointment as Minister of Mines & Steel Development, Mr Fayemi visited ALSCON. He was received by UC RUSALs managing director, Dimitriy Zaviyalov.

During the visit, Mr Fayemi assured the Russians of governments commitment to free the complex of any encumbrances, regardless of the pending Supreme Court rulings.

Later in August 2017, Mr Fayemi invited BFIG Chief Executive, Rueben Jaja, to a meeting.

The DG BPE, Alex Okoh, and other ministry officials were present.

Also present were representatives of Danba & Beltech Exim Limited, led by its Chairman/CEO, Saadina Dantata. They said they were UC RUSALs agent.

Their purpose for attending the meeting was to present a proposal to BFIG to accept an offer to relinquish its legal rights to ALSCON on the strength of the Supreme Court ruling of July 6, 2012.

On August 21, 2017, Mr Dantata made an initial offer of $30 million to BFIG on behalf of UC RUSAL, payable over 20 years if it agrees to sign off all settlement agreements to terminate all outstanding legal cases in court about the deal to acquire ALSCON.

When Mr Jaja rejected the initial offer and opted out of further meetings, the group on August 28 resolved to send in absentia, through BPE, an adjusted final offer of $35 million, consisting $20 million initial payment.

The offer was in addition to $10 million spread over 20 years, on the same conditions in the spirit of an amicable settlement.
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar must be one of the most fortunate people in the world. She left Somalia during its civil war to take up residence in a Kenyan refugee camp. From the refugee camp she immigrated to the United States as a young girl and ultimately made her way to the Twin Cities with her family. She was elected to the state legislature at the age of 35 and to Congress at the age of 37. As the first Somali American in each of these positions she has become an intergalactic superstar. Norah Shapiros documentary Time For Ilhan focused on her election to the state legislature. Netflix cant be far behind.

Omars complaints represent the new assimilation. Nobody knows the troubles shes seen  since she arrived in the United States. Discrimination and Islamophobia are her constant refrain.

In a column ostensibly devoted to hate crimes  I wrote about it for RealClearPolitics  Omar wrote: Like members of the Jewish community, I know how it feels to be hated because of my religious beliefs. Almost one in five hate crimes committed last year was motivated by religious bias, with 18.1 percent committed against Muslims  well above the historical averages before President Trumps election.

Here she is in Patrick Condons vacuous Star Tribune story today: I know what intolerance looks like,

In his Opinion newsletter dated February 12, Star Tribune editorial page editor Scott Gillespie noted: Omar, the first Somali-American and one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, has faced bigotry since immigrating to the U.S. at age 12  a painful personal history she described when meeting with the Editorial Board for an endorsement interview last summer.

Gillespie takes her complaints at face value. He does not pause to reflect. Omar is an extraordinarily ungrateful refugee. She habitually portrays herself as a victim. Its an irritating if revealing tic. Her heart is full of hate.

Following her election to Congress Sheryl Gay Stolberg profiled Omar in the New York Times. James Freeman drew on Stolbergs profile for his Wall Street Journal column Ilhan Omars history of America (accessible here on Outline).

Stolberg quoted Omar recalling the first day we arrived in America[.] Omar quickly concluded that it was not the golden land that she had heard about. I think back to the orientations I went through a little over 20 years ago in the process of coming to this country, and in those orientations they did not have people who were homeless. There was an America that extended liberty and justice to everyone. There was an America where prosperity was guaranteed regardless of where you were born and what you looked like and who you prayed to, she said, adding, I wasnt comfortable with that hypocrisy.

Omar even blames us for terrorist attacks by al Shabab in Africa. According to Omar, Usually most people want to not look internal and see what their actions that makes another react. For us, its always I must have not done anything. Why is it happening to me? Nobody wants to take accountability of how these are byproducts of the actions of our involvement in other peoples affairs.

She expresses no gratitude to the United States, no pride in her citizenship. She has weighed us in the balance and found us wanting.

Omar has been the victim of one known incident, though it doesnt exactly serve as an indictment of the American people. Visiting D.C. after her election to the state legislature, a cab driver threatened to remove her hijab and called her filthy and ISIS.

The story of Omars unpleasant taxi ride nevertheless had a happy ending: A judge suspended Uka Onumas cab drivers license for 45 days, fined him $1,000 and ordered him to take anger-management and cultural-sensitivity classes. The perpetrator was himself an African immigrant.

Omar drew the usual conclusion from her ride: It is essential we recognize, what happened to me is not an isolated incident nor is it an extreme example of such encounters. Women and Muslims share these experiences every day. The story, however, is susceptible to other interpretations. One such interpretation would involve the challenges of assimilation and the perils of our current immigration system.
The two hottest commodities in the Democratic Party are Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Earlier this week, Omar exhibited stunning ignorance in her hostile questioning of Elliott Adams Abrams. Similarly, Ocasio-Cortez has often displayed a surprising lack of knowledge for someone who apparently is a college graduate. Dont get me started on the Green New Socialism. But she outdid herself yesterday.

The context was Amazons announcement that it would not, after all, build a second corporate headquarters in Long Island City, which I understand is close to, but not within, Ocasio-Cortezs district. The project reportedly would have entailed 25,000 new jobsnormally considered a good thing by Congressmen. But Ocasio-Cortez thought it was wonderful that her constituents would not have the option to compete for those jobs:

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019



I suppose if AOCs constituents thought they would be exploited by Amazon they wouldnt have to apply for jobs there. Now, they dont have the choice.

Whether New York should have given Amazon incentives necessary to cement the Long Island City deal is debatable. As a conservative, I might say No. So, putting aside the idiotic Marxist rhetoric, there is nothing wrong with saying adios to Amazon. This is where Ocasio-Cortez went off the rails and took a deep dive into stupidity:

You know, I think its really important that we understand that we need to invest in our economy, but we need to invest in our people, and to give away $3 billion to a company that has a history of worker exploitation thats paying below what the cost of New York City is not acceptable for us.

Of course, New York wasnt going to give Amazon anything, let alone $3 billion. The $3 billion is an estimate of foregone tax revenues. In other words, money that Amazon wont pay New York, not money that New York will pay Amazon. This is childishly simple, but apparently too much for AOC:

Whats great is that our economy, our local economy, is already growing. So I firmly believe that if we want to take that $3 billion dollars that we were willing to give to Amazon and invest it in our local community, we can do that. We can make those jobs. We can make 25,000 jobs. But we dont have to give away and allow our subway system to crumble so that Amazon essentially owns a part of New York City. We can create 25,000 jobs with Mom-and-Pops; we can create 25,000 jobs with companies that are willing to come to the table, but we should not be giving away our infrastructure, our subway system, our schools, our teachers salaries, our firefighters budgets, to a company that has not shown good faith to New Yorkers.

This is almost unbelievably stupid. Obviously, there is no $3 billion dollars that we were willing to give to Amazon. No one ever proposed to give money to Amazon. Those were dollars that we hypothetically would have refrained from collecting from Amazon. Those dollars do not exist. They are not in the possession of New York State or any other public entity. They cannot be invest[ed] in our local community. The absence of those funds will not allow our subway system to crumble. No one has ever proposed giving away our infrastructure, our schools, our teachers salaries, our firefighters budgets, to Amazon or anyone else.

This isnt complicated stuff. If Ocasio-Cortez is really this stupid, she shouldnt have graduated from high school. She certainly shouldnt be representing many thousands of constituents, who must assume that she is of at least average intelligence, in Congress.
Editorial

Pa. has long history of denying funds for public schools
"So we're saying if your family can buy you out of trouble, we're OK with that and if you can't afford it, come and paint a hallway?"

-- Lisa Longo, Phoenixville School Board member

Pull Quote
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@postregister.com for help creating one.
The bill would allow the sale of ivory that is part of an antique if it was removed from the wild before 1976 and it is a fixed component of a larger manufactured item. The bill also exempts museums and educational institutions and does not apply to ivory that is part of a musical instrument manufactured before 1976. It would also permit owners of ivory antiques to pass them on to their heirs.
A SHOW OF UNITY: U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seen at the final news conference of the Middle East summit in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 14. The summit, in which 65 countries are taking part, has been widely criticized as an attempt by the U.S. and its allies to isolate Iran. Jaap Arriens/Sipa USA/Tribune News Service
"My vision for Guam  after July 21  is to get back to normal as possible," Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero said in her remarks at an economic forum h Read more
He pleaded guilty to risk of injury to a minor by way of sexual contact and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, suspended after he serves five years, and 10 years of probation. He must also continue to register as a sex offender.
Columbia/Myrtle Beach Managing Editor

Andy Shain runs The Post and Courier's newsrooms based in Columbia and Myrtle Beach. He was editor of Free Times and has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Charlotte, Columbia and Myrtle Beach.
Political Reporter

Caitlin Byrd is a political reporter at The Post and Courier and author of the Palmetto Politics newsletter. Before moving to Charleston in 2016, her byline appeared in the Asheville Citizen-Times. To date, Byrd has won 17 awards for her work.
In this Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, second from left, reviews troops while visiting the Ministry of the People's Armed Forces to mark the 71st anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea. (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
Paul Bowers is an education reporter and father of three living in North Charleston. He previously worked at the Charleston City Paper, where he was twice named South Carolina Journalist of the Year in the weekly category.
David Slade is a senior Post and Courier reporter. His work has been honored nationally by Society of Professional Journalists, American Society of Newspaper Editors, Scripps foundation and others. Reach him at 843-937-5552 or dslade@postandcourier.com
Julien also called for broad cooperation in charting The Courants future, a commitment to digital innovation, and a belief in journalisms ability to improve peoples lives. Julien highlighted recent awards for The Courant - including Newspaper of the Year by the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and New England First Amendment Coalitions Michael Donoghue Freedom of Information Award - as well as investments in reporters and the newsroom.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Partly cloudy with afternoon showers or thunderstorms. High 83F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early followed by scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low around 75F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Get the SC business stories that matter.

Our newsletter catches you up with all the business stories that are shaping Charleston and South Carolina every Monday and Thursday at noon. Get ahead with us - it's free.
Workers are harnessed high above the ground during construction of the MUSC Shawn Jenkins Children's Hospital  with the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge in the background  on Monday, Aug. 6, 2018. The $388.7 million children's hospital is the largest and most expensive of a handful expansion projects MUSC has taken on that are scheduled to open in the next few years. File/Wade Spees/Staff
1.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

Republican strategist Rick Wilson tore into his own party on Saturday morning, saying it will be an unbelievable abdication of their responsibilities if they support Donald Trumps fake and unconstitutional national emergency.

Wilson predicted that Republicans, like usual, will line up to support Trumps phony declaration, even though many of them have publicly and privately announced their opposition over the past several weeks.

Its one more sign that my party has devolved into media bashing and Trump worshipping and theres nothing else there, the GOP strategist said.

Video:

Advertising

GOP strategist Rick Wilson predicts Republicans will allow Trump to get away with his unlawful declaration of emergency. #ctl #p2 #amjoy pic.twitter.com/SwGMXtKNVE  PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) February 16, 2019

Rick Wilson said:

What we are going to see is the usual act that we see with the Republican caucus every time. There are furrowed brows, there is hand wringing. They run to their couches because its so shocking and appalling and they tell reporters off the record, I cant believe they did this outrageous, egregious thing, and then they will go on the floor in fear out of a primary in 2020 and say, Mr. President, I believe he is doing this for the right reasons and the right thing. It is an unbelievable abdication of their responsibilities and its one more sign that my party has devolved into media bashing and Trump worshipping and theres nothing else there. Everything we used to care about, the constitution, the deficit, the debt, security, alliances, the world, stability, moral probity  all of its gone except for what makes Donald happy.

Dont count on the courts (or Republicans) to stop Trumps abuse of power

As was the case with Donald Trumps Muslim ban, America cannot count on the courts  especially the Supreme Court  to save us from the latest abuse of power by Trump.

Instead, it is up to Congress to stand up and block Trumps unlawful national emergency declaration.

As Rachel Maddow noted earlier in the week, Nancy Pelosi and Democrats in the House have the power to vote to overturn Trumps national emergency. Once the House takes up that measure, it would trigger a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

There are enough GOP senators on the record opposing Trumps national emergency declaration to block it in the Senate, but the question is whether they will put their votes where their mouths are.

If the past is any indication of how Republicans will behave on this issue, none of us should hold our breath.

Follow Sean Colarossi on Facebook and Twitter
788 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

Powerful chairmen of oversight committees in the House of Representatives are preparing to force Donald Trump to disclose his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin according to a new report from POLITICO.

POLITICO reported this morning that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) and House Foreign Affairs Committee Eliot Engel (D-NY) have been consulting with Douglas Letter, the Houses general counsel, on the most effective legal maneuvers to get the president to turn over the information.

House Democrats are taking their first real steps to force Trump to divulge information about his private conversations with Vladimir Putin https://t.co/CaLprf21Lg  POLITICO (@politico) February 16, 2019

I had a meeting with the general counsel to discuss this and determine the best way to find out what took place in those private meetings  whether its by seeking the interpreters testimony, the interpreters notes, or other means, Schiff told POLITICO.

Advertising

It is understood that when committee chairmen meet with the Houses general counsel it is usually a precursor to issues that could end up playing out in court.

In particular, POLITICO noted, Democrats say they want to find out what Trump and Putin discussed during their private meeting in Helsinki last July, where Trump put himself at odds with the U.S. intelligence community and declared  while standing next to the Russian president  that the Kremlin did not interfere in the 2016 elections.

The Democratic committee chairs are especially want to have Marina Gross, the State Department translator who was the only American present during the Helsinki talks, to turn over her notes about the secret meeting. After that, Democrats want her to testify publicly before Congress.

Im not saying that Im in favor of interpreters turning over all their notes, Engel said, but I do think that it shouldnt be up to the president to hide the notes.

As POLITICO notes, the actions by the House committee chairs will probably lead to an extraordinary clash with the White House over Congress oversight authority.

Democrats campaign to find out what Trump and Putin discussed began in earnest last month after a Washington Post story revealed that the U.S. president went to extraordinary lengths to shield his interpreters notes about a 2017 meeting with Putin in Hamburg from senior officials in his administration.

Earlier this month we reported that a former longtime CIA agent is concerned that Trump may be sharing classified secrets with Putin.

We also reported that an FBI investigation into whether Trump is working for Russia is ongoing at this time.

There is increasing evidence that the President of the United States may be a Russian spy. If this is true, then Vladimir Putin is his boss. So it is a critical national security matter that Congress  and the American people  find out as soon as possible what exactly Trump and Putin discussed in their clandestine meetings.
1.4k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

Fox News host and presidential adviser Sean Hannity published an op-ed last week setting forth exactly how he thought Donald Trump should handle negotiations with Congress on border security.

In the opinion piece Hannity wrote:

Step one: The president signs the deal, and uses the $1.375 billion as a downpayment for the wall. Step two: President Trump has identified some $900 million for additional construction that is already available for the administrations discretion. That would bring the pot to about $2.3 billion. Step three: This needs to happen simultaneously, and it has the president declaring a national emergency. This is the time.

So on Friday the leader of the free world obediently followed Hannitys instructions. He did everything that the TV personality told him to do.

Advertising

It does make you wonder who actually is the most powerful person on earth.

Increasingly Sean Hannitys influence over the White House  and Donald Trumps actions  appears not only improper, but downright scary.

In case you have doubts about that, consider what some of Hannitys other new demands are for the president. His latest directions to Trump are much more terrifying than simply a bogus national emergency declaration (which will probably fail anyway).

Media Matters for America (MMFA) published a report setting forth Hannitys major priorities for newly confirmed Attorney General, William Barr.

What Hannity now wants Trump to do, working with Barr, is to prosecute Trumps enemies.

Now Sean Hannity wants new Attorney General William Barr to prioritize investigating Trumps enemies

Now Sean Hannity wants new Attorney General William Barr to prioritize investigating Trump's enemies https://t.co/gUGsqWE6iY  (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) February 16, 2019

MMFA reported:

On Thursday night, just hours after the Senate confirmed Barr, Hannity crowed, My sources telling me tonight things are happening as we speak. The Fox host went on to detail numerous purported crimes he said had been committed by 10 deep state actors, including former FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Over the next year with a brand new attorney general, William Barr, this country  weve got to decide, Hannity concluded. You want to save the United States? You want to be a constitutional republic? You want equal justice under the law? Do you want a dual justice system, or do you want America to be handed off to your kids and grandkids as a banana republic?

Later in the program, Gregg Jarrett, the Fox legal analyst whose role at the network is to explain why the president and his team did not break the law but all of his critics did, claimed that more than a dozen Obama-era officials had committed crimes and that Barr should haul them all in front of a federal grand jury.

What about Hillary? Does she get held accountable? Hannity asked. They should reopen the investigation; it was a fraud, Jarrett responded.

For months Hannity has been urging Barr to investigate Trumps enemies. He als predicted that he would do so ever since Barr was nominated in December.

William Barr is generally well-respected in legal circles even though he took some controversial actions previously when he was attorney general.

He is not likely to follow Trump and Hannitys wild and frightening agenda of investigating and prosecuting the presidents political enemies.

Still, many people do have doubts about Barrs integrity. He chose to become attorney general under Trump, knowing what that might mean. And he published a document setting forth the issues he had with Special Counsel Robert Muellers investigation, showing a willingness to give in to Donald Trumps wishes.

And in his confirmation hearing, Barr also suggested he may agree with several right-wing conspiracy theories, perhaps showing his lack of judgment.

So there remain many reasons to worry about the new attorney general. Not only do we need to worry that he will stifle public release of the Mueller report, we also now need to worry that soon he will be taking his marching orders from Sean Hannity.

A terrifying prospect indeed.
6.2k SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

In a court filing on Friday, Bob Muellers office said that it had gathered evidence that Roger Stone worked with WikiLeaks and Russia to elect Donald Trump president. This is the most clear evidence yet that Donald Trump was not legitimately elected President of the United States.

Because of other big news yesterday, such as Donald Trump trying to destroy the U.S. Constitution by declaring a bogus national emergency, this Mueller news has not gotten the attention it deserves.

Yesterday we reported that:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller has evidence of communications between Roger Stone, and WikiLeaks related to the release of hacked Democratic Party emails.

Advertising

In a court filing on Friday, Muellers office said it had gathered that evidence in a separate probe into Russian intelligence officers who were charged by Mueller of hacking the emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and staging their release.

The truth is that these revelations by Mueller not only prove that Roger Stone committed treason and other crimes, they also prove without a doubt that there was illegal collusion (i.e., conspiracy) between Russia and Donald Trumps campaign for the presidency.

In short, Muellers filing for the first time proves that Donald Trump is an illegitimate president. The filing last night revealed that Muellers team had seized numerous communications between Stone and the Russian government hacker group called Guccifer 2.0.

This means that there is irrefutable, documented evidence that Stone was criminally conspiring with the Russian government to affect the outcome of the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.

Stone was an official Trump campaign adviser for a short period of time, and he remained a personal political adviser to Donald Trump throughout the campaign. Try as he might, Trump cannot distance himself from Stones activities.

All Mueller needs to do now is provide evidence to a court that Donald Trump knew Roger Stone was conspiring with Russia to help him win the 2016 election. If he can do that then he can prove that Trump is also guilty of the crimes which Stone committed.

In other words, yesterdays court filing shows that Mueller is now just one short step away from convicting Donald Trump for illegally conspiring against the United States to influence the 2016 election in his favor.

Muellers decision to reveal proof of collusion in an unredacted court filing shows that he is now ready to take down Donald Trump and his entire presidency.

Editors Note: The title of this post was changed for accuracy and clarity.
Advertising

By Jonathan Stempel

(Reuters)  The special master overseeing a U.S. government fund to compensate victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on Friday said future awards will be significantly reduced, typically by at least 50 percent, because the fund is running short of money.

Rupa Bhattacharyya, the special master, said the reduction in payouts from the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is necessary because the $2.375 billion remaining in the $7.375 billion fund is not enough to compensate the thousands of additional eligible victims and family members.

I am painfully aware of the unfairness of this plan, Bhattacharyya said on a conference call with reporters. It is the best that we could do.

Advertising

Roughly $5 billion has been awarded on more than 21,000 claims, about three-quarters of which came from New York. Bhattacharyya said the fund would have needed to be $12 billion, instead of $7.375 billion, to compensate everyone fully.

Nearly 3,000 people died on Sept. 11, 2001 when airplanes hijacked by al Qaeda crashed into New Yorks World Trade Center, the Pentagon outside Washington, and a Pennsylvania field.

The fund opened in late 2011 for first responders including police officers and firefighters; cleanup and construction crews; and people who lived, worked or went to school near the attacks. A similar fund ended operations seven years earlier.

Nearly 40,000 compensation claims have been filed in the last seven years, but half were filed in 2017 and 2018. Thousands more are expected.

Bhattacharyya attributed the faster pace of claims to the growing number of cancers, other serious illnesses and deaths linked to the attacks, and the funds warning in October that future payouts might be reduced.

The new procedure calls for base payouts, before offsets for sums awarded from other sources for the same injuries, to be reduced by 50 percent for claims submitted before Feb. 2, 2019, and 70 percent for claims submitted later.

Bhattacharyya said she could not abide by alternatives that would have awarded nothing to eligible victims.

People have until Dec. 18, 2020 to file claims.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Leslie Adler and Marguerita Choy)
As the Archdiocese of Hartford, I ask for the forgiveness of God, the wider community, our own Catholic people and I ask for it especially from all the victims of sexual abuse and their families, Blair said. I ask it for all [that] church leadership has done and has failed to do when it comes to the protection of its children.
824 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

(Reuters)  U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller disclosed for the first time on Friday that his office has evidence of communications between Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, and WikiLeaks related to the release of hacked Democratic Party emails.

In a court filing on Friday, Muellers office said it had gathered that evidence in a separate probe into Russian intelligence officers who were charged by Mueller of hacking the emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and staging their release.

In an email criticizing media coverage of Muellers filing on Friday, Stone said the evidence was innocuous Twitter direct messages that have already been disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee and prove absolutely nothing.

Stone was indicted last month for lying to Congress about his communications with others about the hacked emails. Mueller did not say at the time that he had evidence of communications with WikiLeaks. Stone, an ally of Trump for 40 years, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Advertising

Stone has previously acknowledged brief exchanges with both WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 but maintains he never had advance knowledge about the release of hacked emails. But Friday marked the first time Mueller indicated he had obtained related evidence, although it remained unclear if the evidence is more substantial than what is publicly known.

The government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release, Muellers team wrote in a filing to the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.

Several of those search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stones communications with Guccifer 2.0 and with Organization 1.

Organization 1 is a reference to WikiLeaks, while Guccifer 2.0 is a hacker persona U.S. intelligence agencies say was a cover name used by Russian military intelligence.

WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 each published emails and other documents from the Democratic Party in 2016 in an operation that Mueller alleges was part of a Kremlin-backed effort to tip the election in favor of then Republican nominee Trump.

WikiLeaks has previously denied any ties to or cooperation with Russia.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Washington and Mark Hosenball in London; editing by Diane Craft)
440 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  A U.S. judge on Friday limited the ability of people involved in the criminal trial of Roger Stone, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, from speaking publicly about the case in a way that may influence the outcome.

The order by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson prohibits lawyers involved in the case from speaking with news media, and prohibits other participants, like Stone himself, from making statements that may affect the case when they are near the courthouse.

It does not stop Stone from talking about his case when he is not near the courthouse. However, Jackson warned Stone that he may not help his prospects by speaking out.

Advertising

One factor that will be considered in the evaluation of any future request for relief based on pretrial publicity will be the extent to which the publicity was engendered by the defendant himself, Jackson wrote.

Stone faces charges of making false statements to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering in Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe into Russias role in the 2016 U.S. election and whether Trumps campaign conspired with Moscow.

The 66-year-old self-proclaimed dirty trickster has made several media appearances since charges were announced last month, and in a Reuters interview he has downplayed the charges as process crimes that did not involve intentional lies.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Susan Thomas and Leslie Adler)
924 SHARES Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Pinterest Reddit Print Mail Flipboard

Advertising

MSNBCs John Heilemann put Trumps cheap national emergency stunt in perspective by saying that the real emergency is guns, not the southern border.

Heilemann said on MSNBCs Deadline: White House:

We thought we would talk about it as political theater, as empty symbolism, as grotesque, as inappropriate as setting a bad precedent, as a million different things, but it set so much now in the context of this, however bad this turns out to be, another mass shooting,

Im looking at the statistics, 323 in 2018. 323 mat shootings in 2018, nearly one a day in America. I dont know what definitions  I dont know how to define an emergency, but Ill tell you that if you listen to the experts who talk about whats happening on the southern border and look at the number of mass shootings in America, before you go to solutions or anything else, I think we can all look around and say this is an emergency.

Advertising

I spent my week last week in any part of this week in Minneapolis-St. Paul with Amy Klobuchar announcing her campaign when she was there with Beto ORourke in El Paso when Trump was there. A lot of people were going up saying is the border an emergency? Do you think were in the middle of an emergency or not? Some people said yes but a lot more said thats not an emergency. An emergency is guns. An emergency is climate change. An emergency is the state of our schools. An emergency is health care in America. An emergency is the opioid crisis. A lot of people had a lot of things on their lists of what they thought in their lives and cities and communities were emergency, a lot of them, not all of them, a lot of them mentioned guns. This is the kind of thing when you think about this and think about what the president did today basically admitting what he was doing was a cheap, empty, meaningless political ploy, it makes your stomach churn.

Video:

John Heilemann says mass shootings like the one in Aurora, IL are the real emergency, not Trump's wall. https://t.co/PdI7vA7CJv pic.twitter.com/72xBwnBR2b  Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) February 15, 2019

America is reminded of what a real national emergency looks like

A national emergency is not a fake border crisis that was created by a sinking president who believes that his reelection depends on building a wall. A real national emergency is the fact that a mass shooting occurs in the United States on an almost daily basis. When Trump and the White House marked the first anniversary of the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, they never mentioned guns or gun violence.

Real emergencies cant be hidden, created, or delayed. Real emergencies kill and injure innocent people every day.

The real emergency is the one that Donald Trump doesnt want to talk about, but it is killing people every day.

Mass shootings are the true national emergency.

For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.

Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Advertising

By Ginger Gibson and Jan Wolfe

WASHINGTON (Reuters)  President Donald Trump will almost certainly face legal challenges over his decision to declare a national emergency to get additional funding for a U.S.-Mexico border wall, circumventing the power of Congress to set spending policy.

Legal scholars say it is unclear how such a step would play out, but they agree a court test would likely focus on whether an emergency actually exists on the southern border and on the limits of presidential power over taxpayer funds.

Trump is unhappy with a bipartisan border security bill that is going through Congress to avert another government shutdown, because it contains only a fraction of the funds he demanded for his promised border wall. The White House said Trump would sign the bill but declare a national emergency to try to obtain funds for the wall.

Advertising

That will likely trigger a long legal fight possibly stretching into Trumps 2020 re-election bid, and embolden critics who already accuse him of authoritarian tendencies and unpredictable swerves in policy-making.

Congressional Democrats are already vowing legal challenges.

They have balked at giving Trump money for what they say is a wasteful and unnecessary wall.

Trump made his promise to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it a centerpiece of his 2016 presidential campaign. The Mexican government has refused to pay.

PRESIDENTIAL DISCRETION

Under the Constitution, decisions about spending taxpayer funds and creating policy are typically made by Congress.

But a 1976 law allows the president to bypass Congress and redirect funds in the event of a national emergency. The National Emergencies Act does not define emergency, giving the president broad discretion to declare one, legal experts said.

The law empowers Congress to override an emergency declaration, but that requires action by both chambers, which would be hard to get since the Senate is run by Trumps fellow Republicans and the House of Representatives by Democrats.

The United States currently has about 30 national emergency proclamations in effect, including ones related to the Iran hostage crisis of 1979 and the swine flu pandemic in 2009.

Congress has made a wide range of special powers available to a president who declares a national emergency.

One law allows the president to redirect U.S. Department of Defense construction funds that have not yet been allocated.

Another enables the U.S. Army to halt civil projects and instead apply the funds and personnel to projects essential to the national defense.

LITTLE PRECEDENT

There are few court cases on the scope of the presidents emergency powers, and legal experts are split.

Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas, said a legal challenge on those grounds might succeed but that the courts typically showed deference to the president on national security matters.

Elizabeth Goitein, a lawyer at the Brennan Center for Justice, said there were strong arguments that border wall construction is impermissible under various statutes granting the president emergency powers.

While the U.S. Supreme Court has denied legal standing to individual lawmakers from the House of Representatives challenging White House actions, the entire House may have more solid legal ground to bring a lawsuit.

In 2015, the federal appeals court in Washington said the House as an institution had standing to challenge a means chosen by the Obama administration to fund part of the Affordable Care Act, where Congress had not appropriated the money.

Individuals or businesses with contracts canceled because of a redirection of military funds could also challenge Trump in court, as could private landowners whose property might be seized, Chesney said.

A practical issue for Trump, even if he could credibly argue an emergency exists, is that he would need to get his wall money out of whatever funds are left over from a pool of about $10.4 billion in military construction projects during the current fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.

The U.S. military has not disclosed how much funding might be left over in its military construction budget. It was unclear whether any cash still available would be enough to make significant headway in building the border wall.

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson and Jan Wolfe; Editing by Peter Cooney)
World Poker Tour champ Jordan Cristos began the final table of the 2019 US Poker Open Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha as the chip leader, and despite a back-and-forth heads-up match against German Manig Loeser, he wound up with all the chips.

Cristos topped a 64-entry field to win the tournament for $179,200, which along with the $27,000 he won for finishing 11th in Event #1: $10,000 NLH gives him the overall lead in the USPO points race. The ultimate winner of that race, which spans all ten tournaments, will walk away with a $100,000 bonus courtesy of PokerGO.

"It's cool. It's sweet," Cristos told USPO officials after the win. "The structure was turbo-ish and I feel like I didn't out-skill anyone here. There were 50 people in the field and I was probably the 44th best player, honestly. It feels good to come out on top though. I don't think I made many mistakes but I can't really gauge whether or not I did because I'm no PLO expert, but I won so that's good."

He continued: "I want to win the overall championship. If you do good the first two tournaments and you're leading, you might as well finish it out. There's no reason to stop now. It would be awesome to win the U.S. Poker Open. I would love to have the trophy at home to just stare at them every day for a year until it comes back again and be the U.S. Poker Open champion."

Cristos, who prior to the win had $2,329,116 in lifetime earnings, is best known for winning the 2012 WPT Legends of Poker for a career-high $613,355. Last summer, he also had a deep run in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event finishing in 69th place for $108,745.

USPO Event #2: $10,000 PLO Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Jordan Cristos United States $179,200 2 Manig Loeser Germany $128,000 3 Martin Zamani United States $83,200 4 Adam Hendrix United States $64,000 5 Cary Katz United States $51,200 6 Sean Winter United States $38,400

Final Table Action

Cristos got off to a hot start winning the first two hands and then notching the first elimination a short time later. It happened when Sean Winter, who was fresh off finishing runner-up to Stephen Chidwick in the opening event, and Cristos both had a Broadway straight plus redraw outs. Cristos hit his flush draw to improve and send Winter out in sixth place for $38,400.

Cary Katz, who the year before finished sixth in the same event, then got his chips in on a king-high flop holding aces and was up against Cristos bottom two pair. Cristos boated up and Katz was sent packing in fifth place for $51,200.

Immediately after, Adam Hendrix got his short stack all in preflop holding big cards in the small blind and Cristos looked him up with low cards in the big. The latter flopped bottom set and Hendrix had to settle for fourth place and $64,000 in prize money.

Cristos then dispatched an extremely short-stacked Martin Zamani in third place to set up his heads-up match against Loeser. The duo battled for longer than it took to get to heads-up play, and the chip lead changed on four occasions.

Eventually, Cristos flopped a pair with straight and flush draws against Loeser, who had two pair and an inferior flush draw. The chips went in and Cristos turned a bigger two pair. The river was a blank and Loeser, who credits fellow German poker pro Dominik Nitsche with helping him improve his game, fell in second place for $128,000.

PokerNews coverage of the 2019 USPO continues now with live updates from Event #3: $10,000 NLH, which you can follow here.

Remember, you can watch all USPO final tables exclusively on PokerGO. Subscribe to PokerGO for just $10 a month or $99 a year to watch nine straight days of U.S. Poker Open final table action plus PokerGOs full catalog of programming.
47 Remain in Unibet Open Sinaia After Bubble Bursts in Dramatic Fashion

February 15, 2019 Christian Zetzsche

Eight levels were scheduled for Day 2 of the 2019 Unibet Open Sinaia 1,100 Main Event, but it would take until 2.30 a.m. local time for the day to wrap up after an extensive bubble period. Out of the 366 entries, only 199 hopefuls had returned to the poker tables in the New Montana Hotel and the end of the day turned into a roller coaster of emotions.

With just two spots away from the elusive min-cash of 2,085 at the end of the eighth level, tournament staff decided to continue playing until the bubble burst and one full level passed with several players being at risk forced all in and surviving under miraculous circumstances. Unibet Poker ambassador Dara O'Kearney did so twice while fellow Irishman Padraig O'Neill found himself forced all in from the big blind and he came out on top of a six-way limped and checked down pot.

Eventually, it was Oleksandr Sharov that fell short of the money when his ace-six was bested by Razvan Sabau and his queen-jack. A jack-high straight on the board gave Sabau the best hand and right after, all 47 survivors bagged and tagged for the night. They will be aiming to take home as much of the 366,000 prize pool as possible on the remaining two tournament days.

Sabau leads the field after Day 2 with 741,000, only a smidge ahead of Ran Shahar (735,000), Cristian Grecu follows in third place with 711,000. Further notables include Silviu Baltateanu (612,000), Gilles Huet (343,000), Jean-Serge Baril (318,000), Evangelos Bechrakis (228,000), Aku Joentausta (172,000) and Toni Judet (172,000).

Traian Bostan

Three former Unibet champions are aiming for a repeat victory, two of them on home soil. Traian Bostan (pictured above) advanced with 330,000, Martin Soukup bagged up 227,000 and Unibet Poker ambassador Dan Murariu has 132,000. Fellow ambassadors Espen Uhlen Jorstad (240,000), Daiva Byrne (23,000) and the master of short stack grind Dara O'Kearney (3,000) are joined by Alan "Hotted89" Widmann (72,000).

2019 Unibet Open Sinana Main Event Schedule

Day Date Time Entries Survivors Further Information Day 1a February 13th, 2019 15:00 120 56 Play eight levels of 60 minutes, late reg six levels, 60-min dinner break after level four Day 1b February 14th, 2019 15:00 176 90 Play eight levels of 60 minutes, late reg six levels, 60-min dinner break after level four Day 1c February 14th, 2019 22:00 70 53 Play eight levels of 20 minutes, late reg six levels, re-entry for bustouts of 1a/1b Day 2 February 15th, 2019 15:00 366 199 Play eight levels of 60 minutes each, the money bubble will burst Day 3 February 16th, 2019 15:00 366 47 Play down to a final table Final Day February 17th, 2019 tba tba tba Level duration 45 minutes with six remaining, 30 minutes long when three remain

Esports Battle Royale XII champion Kevin "Rotterdam" van der Kooi was among those that fell agonizingly close of the money with a chip and a chair story to tell and fellow esport streamers John "Swifty" Pyle and Andrey "reynad" Yanyuk also bowed out before the money.

Among the Unibet Poker ambassadors, it was a disappointing day at the poker tables for David Lappin, Monica Vaka, Alexandre Reard, Quentin Lecomte, and Ian Simpson. Lappin ran with king-jack suited into the pocket aces of Yanyuk while Simpson was haunted by his nemesis hand once more. On Day 1b, Simpson busted with queens and ran with queens into kings mid-way through the day.

Plenty of other notables came short in their bid for a payday in Sinaia as Alexandru Papazian, Katie Swift, Florian Duta, Narcis Gabriel Nedelcu, Andy Hills, Tomasz Kozub, Mateusz Moolhuizen, Mihai Manole, Luciana Manolea, Carmen Zainescu and Andrei Boghean all ran out of chips much sooner than they had hoped for.

While the electric pace of the eliminations before the dinner break halved the field in the first four levels, the action thereafter slowed down and culminated in the frantic bubble period. As a result, many players advanced with very short stacks for Day 3 and will be under immediate pressure on resuming blinds of 4,000/8,000 and a big blind ante of 8,000.

Day 3 kicks off at 3 p.m. local time and will aim to play down to a final table. The action of the feature table will be streamed on a security delay of 30 minutes on the Unibet Poker Twitch channel. For all the outer table action, PokerNews will be your one-stop-shop on the way to crowning another champion of the popular mid-stakes circuit.

Tune back in then to find out who makes the cut and will fight another day on the way to crowning the next Unibet Open champion in the snowy mountains of Romania. The live stream action of the feature table will run on a security delay of 30 minutes on the Unibet Poker Twitch channel and the PokerNews live reporting team will be on the floor to provide all the action.
Jordan Cristos Wins 2019 USPO Event #2: $10K PLO for $179,200

February 15, 2019 Chad Holloway

World Poker Tour champ Jordan Cristos began the final table of the 2019 US Poker Open Event #2: $10,000 Pot-Limit Omaha as the chip leader, and despite a back-and-forth heads-up match against German Manig Loeser, he wound up with all the chips.

Cristos topped a 64-entry field to win the tournament for $179,200, which along with the $27,000 he won for finishing 11th in Event #1: $10,000 NLH gives him the overall lead in the USPO points race. The ultimate winner of that race, which spans all ten tournaments, will walk away with a $100,000 bonus courtesy of PokerGO.

"It's cool. It's sweet," Cristos told USPO officials after the win. "The structure was turbo-ish and I feel like I didn't out-skill anyone here. There were 50 people in the field and I was probably the 44th best player, honestly. It feels good to come out on top though. I don't think I made many mistakes but I can't really gauge whether or not I did because I'm no PLO expert, but I won so that's good."

He continued: "I want to win the overall championship. If you do good the first two tournaments and you're leading, you might as well finish it out. There's no reason to stop now. It would be awesome to win the U.S. Poker Open. I would love to have the trophy at home to just stare at them every day for a year until it comes back again and be the U.S. Poker Open champion."

Cristos, who prior to the win had $2,329,116 in lifetime earnings, is best known for winning the 2012 WPT Legends of Poker for a career-high $613,355. Last summer, he also had a deep run in the 2018 World Series of Poker Main Event finishing in 69th place for $108,745.

USPO Event #2: $10,000 PLO Final Table Results

Place Player Country Prize 1 Jordan Cristos United States $179,200 2 Manig Loeser Germany $128,000 3 Martin Zamani United States $83,200 4 Adam Hendrix United States $64,000 5 Cary Katz United States $51,200 6 Sean Winter United States $38,400

Final Table Action

Cristos got off to a hot start winning the first two hands and then notching the first elimination a short time later. It happened when Sean Winter, who was fresh off finishing runner-up to Stephen Chidwick in the opening event, and Cristos both had a Broadway straight plus redraw outs. Cristos hit his flush draw to improve and send Winter out in sixth place for $38,400.

Cary Katz, who the year before finished sixth in the same event, then got his chips in on a king-high flop holding aces and was up against Cristos bottom two pair. Cristos boated up and Katz was sent packing in fifth place for $51,200.

Immediately after, Adam Hendrix got his short stack all in preflop holding big cards in the small blind and Cristos looked him up with low cards, including a pair of threes, in the big. The latter flopped bottom set and Hendrix had to settle for fourth place and $64,000 in prize money.

Cristos then dispatched an extremely short-stacked Martin Zamani in third place to set up his heads-up match against Loeser. The duo battled for longer than it took to get to heads-up play, and the chip lead changed on four occasions.

Eventually, Cristos flopped a pair with straight and flush draws against Loeser, who had two pair and an inferior flush draw. The chips went in and Cristos turned a bigger two pair. The river was a blank and Loeser, who credits fellow German poker pro Dominik Nitsche with helping him improve his game, fell in second place for $128,000.

PokerNews coverage of the 2019 USPO continues now with live updates from Event #3: $10,000 NLH, which you can follow here.

Remember, you can watch all USPO final tables exclusively on PokerGO. Subscribe to PokerGO for just $10 a month or $99 a year to watch nine straight days of U.S. Poker Open final table action plus PokerGOs full catalog of programming.
According to the warrant for Waterburys arrest, the state police investigation into the case revealed that Waterbury veered from the northbound lane of Route 63 into a group of 18 motorcyclists who were driving south on Route 63. She claimed in a statement to police that she drove into the southbound lane to avoid a bike that drove into her lane, but the investigation revealed no motorcycles had crossed the center line, according to the warrant.
Thank you for reading the Philadelphia Tribune.

You have exhausted your free article views for this month. Please press the "subscribe" button below and see our introductory price of $0.25 per week for 13 weeks. Otherwise, we look forward to seeing you next month.
Lee Radziwill, who parlayed her cachet as the younger sister of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis into a varied career as a fashion tastemaker, interior decorator, actress, princess and grande dame of cafe society on two continents, died Feb. 15 in New York. She was 85.

The death was confirmed by Cornelia Guest, a close friend. No other details were available.

Brought up amid great wealth in the Bouvier and Auchincloss families, Radziwill was raised with her sister in mansions along the East Coast.

She famously floundered as an actress and obtained the empty title of princess only after exchanging vows with an exiled Polish nobleman, her second of three husbands. But her adventurous spirit, sophisticated looks, husky voice and glamorous association with the Kennedy White House put her on magazine covers and on televisions while opening doors to royal palaces, gala soirees, torrid romances and touchstone events of the 1960s and '70s.

Her most enduring influence was as a queen of style. Even before her sister married John F. Kennedy and became first lady in 1961, the fashion press began taking note of Radziwill's chic looks that often featured clean lines, oversize sunglasses and free-flowing hair. Vogue magazine credited her with helping U.S. fashion transition from the stodgy elegance of the 1950s to a more relaxed and confident style.

She worked as an assistant to longtime Harper's Bazaar editor Diana Vreeland, ran the American fashion pavilion at the 1958 World's Fair and inspired designers such as Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs. After seeing a photograph of Radziwill walking her dog in the 1960s, designer Michael Kors dubbed a throwback collection, that included balmacaan coats and stovepipe velvet slacks, "the Lee Radziwill look."

The writer Truman Capote said she outshined her more-famous sister. "She's all the things people give Jackie credit for," he told People magazine in 1976. "All the looks, style, taste - Jackie never had them at all, and yet it was Lee who lived in the shadow."

Gossip columnists and books, including Diana DuBois' 1995 unauthorized biography "In Her Sister's Shadow: An Intimate Biography of Lee Radziwill," insisted she was forever jealous of her internationally revered sibling. DuBois even said that Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, who married Jacqueline after her first husband was assassinated, was originally Radziwill's conquest until the day in 1963 when she invited her sister along to sail on his yacht.

Onassis "was dynamic, irrational, cruel I suppose, but fascinating," she told the New York Times in 2013. "He also had the most beautiful skin, and smelled wonderful. Naturally, I mean. Fascinating . . . as my sister discovered!" Radziwill always denied a rivalry.

During the Kennedy administration, the two sisters were confidants and traveling companions. They dined at Buckingham Palace and toured India, riding elephants and hobnobbing with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Radziwill spent much of the Cuban missile crisis holed up in the White House with Jacqueline and watching the president exchange tense phone calls with aides.

"I can't deny those few years were glamorous, being on the presidential yacht for the America's Cup races, the parties with the White House en fete. It was so ravishing," she told the Times.

By the time Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, she was an A-list socialite in her own right and often called "Princess Radziwill" thanks to her marriage in 1959 to Prince Stanislas Albert "Stash" Radziwill, who had fled Poland after World War II to become a London real estate developer.

She danced at Capote's legendary Black and White masquerade ball in 1966, sometimes called "the party of the century," and joined other celebrity hangers-on during the Rolling Stones' infamously debauched 1972 U.S. tour. Lead guitarist Keith Richards, who was unimpressed, dubbed her: "Princess Radish."

Always restless, Radziwill, as People magazine put it, tried "on careers like so many Halstons." With Capote providing acting tips and Saint Laurent a rack of dresses, Radziwill debuted in a 1967 Chicago stage production of "The Philadelphia Story." She played snooty socialite Tracy Lord, the role made famous by Katharine Hepburn, but critics panned her performance as stilted. One reviewer succinctly noted, "A star is not born."

The next year, Capote adapted the Vera Caspary suspense novel "Laura" for an ABC-TV production with Radziwill in the title role. But the reviews were even more brutal, calling the actress a pale comparison to Gene Tierney in the first-rate 1944 film version.

None of this dimmed Radziwill's allure in high society. Her pencil-thin physique, long neck and elongated mouth graced magazine covers and photographs by Richard Avedon. Another friend, Andy Warhol, captured her elegance in an orange silk-screen portrait. Her closest friend was Russian ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev, and she was romantically linked to other dashing men of the era, including architect Richard Meier and photographer and artist Peter Beard.

In 1976, she set up an interior decorating business in New York with a contract to design suites for Americana Hotels. She also worked as an event planner and style counselor to Giorgio Armani and was a fixture on the cocktail party and fashion show circuits of London, Paris and New York. Even into her 80s Radziwill was making best-dressed lists while her expensively outfitted apartments were featured in architecture and design magazines.

"For more than a half-century, she was a central figure in the comings and goings of high society," Vogue magazine wrote in a 2014 tribute. "A story about the frivolity of the 20th century should obligatorily dedicate at least one full chapter and numerous scattered mentions to Lee Radziwill."

Caroline Lee Bouvier was born in New York on March 3, 1933. Her father, John "Black Jack" Bouvier III, was a wealthy stockbroker notorious for his womanizing and heavy drinking. Her mother, Janet Norton Lee, hailed from a prominent Southern family.

After divorcing, her mother was married in 1942 to Washington businessman and Standard Oil heir Hugh Auchincloss Jr., stepfather of the author Gore Vidal.

The Bouvier sisters, raised in large part by governesses, attended the private Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut. Unhappy after her parents' divorce, the future princess said she grew so lonely that at age 11 she tried to adopt an orphan.

She claimed her parents doted on Jacqueline, who was four years older, a bookworm and a better equestrian, while Lee, who was once thrown from a horse and trampled, was afraid of the animals. "My mother endlessly told me I was too fat, that I wasn't a patch on my sister," she told the Times.

But like her sister, Lee was considered a classic beauty and named debutante of the year by the Hearst newspaper chain when she "came out" in 1950, the year of her Miss Porter's graduation. She enrolled at Sarah Lawrence College north of New York City but, professing a strong dislike for academics, left after her sophomore year to study art in Italy.

She and Jacqueline spent the summer of 1951 touring Europe, a trip that they turned into a book with illustrations by her older sister called, "One Special Summer," which was published in 1974.

Lee wrote a second memoir, in 2001, called "Happy Times," but her glamorous life was also marred by failed relationships and personal tragedy. Her first marriage, to Michael Canfield, son of the eminent book publishing executive Cass Canfield, collapsed, in part, because of his heavy drinking and her burgeoning relationship with Stanislas Radziwill; they wed in 1959 and divorced in 1974.

Her planned wedding to San Francisco hotelier and bon vivant Newton Cope was called off at the last minute, reportedly over differences involving a prenuptial agreement.

In 1988, she married film director and choreographer Herbert Ross, later telling the Times, "He was certainly different from anybody else I'd been involved with, and the film world sounded exciting. Well, it wasn't." And she said he was obsessed with the design tastes of his late wife, ballerina Nora Kaye. Radziwill and Ross divorced in 2001, shortly before his death.

She had two children with Prince Radziwill. Their son, Emmy Award-winning TV news producer Anthony Radziwill, died of a rare form of cancer in 1999 just weeks after her nephew, John F. Kennedy Jr., with whom she was close, died in a plane crash. Survivors include a daughter, Anna Christina "Tina" Radziwill. Information on other survivors was not immediately available.

Forever linked to the former first lady, Radziwill once told People that she had forged her own identity.

Ive been far more successful than I ever imagined, she said. Im nobodys kid sister.
Hussey told the judge, and Santiagos family, that Roman was sorry for what he did and for the familys loss. Roman was trying to catch the light and in doing so was reckless, Hussey said.
WASHINGTON - The federal judge overseeing the criminal trial of longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone imposed a gag order Friday, ordering Stone to limit his public comments near the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., but putting greater constraints on attorneys and potential witnesses, who were told not to make statements that might prejudice jurors.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington warned Stone that based on his conduct, she could later tighten the order, which she issued invoking a court rule to rein in pretrial publicity in sensational cases.

Stone, 66, a longtime GOP operative and self-described "dirty trickster," has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying about his efforts to gather information about hacked 2016 Democratic Party emails that were published by the WikiLeaks organization.

In a four-page order, Jackson said she had weighed Stone's assertion of his constitutional rights to free speech as a writer and political commentator. Jackson's order barred prejudicial statements "to the media or in public settings" by any attorneys or potential witnesses in the case to safeguard the defendant's right to a fair trial, maintain the dignity of the court and the safety and security of court personnel and the public. Her order also noted concern that a small crowd of chanting and sign-bearing demonstrators for and against Stone lined a courthouse entrance after his arraignment.

Jackson further directed Stone and other participants not to make any statements intended to influence the case or "interfere with the administration of justice" in the "immediate vicinity" of the courthouse.

Stone on Friday said in a text message, "I am pleased that the judge's order leaves my first amendment right to defend myself in public intact," adding, "I will of course continue to be judicious about my comments regarding the case."

The court said Stone's case would remain assigned to Jackson, over his defense lawyer's objections, who sought to have the case randomly assigned to another judge in the courthouse.

However, Stone has used the threat of such an order to raise money for his legal defense fund and to go on a public offensive against the court, prosecutors with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office and the U.S. attorney's office of the District.

In a videotaped fundraising appeal for his legal defense fund that he posted to his Instagram account hours earlier, Stone referred to Jackson, a 2011 court appointee, saying, "Now a federal judge appointed by Barack Obama threatens to gag me so I can't defend myself in public and raise the money necessary for a vigorous legal defense."

In the video Stone wears a blue T-shirt emblazoned with the words, "Roger Stone did nothing wrong!"

The special counsel's office made a pitch in an earlier court filing that the Stone case should be considered "related" to a case filed in July against 12 Russian military intelligence officers accused of hacking the Democratic Party during the 2016 campaign and distributing stolen documents through WikiLeaks. Jackson has that case.

Prosecutors argued Stone's alleged lies to Congress grew out of an investigation into the hacking. And they said "several" search warrants served in the hacking investigation were executed on online accounts that contained Stone's communications, particularly with WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, a person who distributed the stolen material online. Prosecutors previously alleged Guccifer 2.0 was an account operated by Russian military intelligence.

Stone has made public direct messages he exchanged with Guccifer 2.0 through Twitter and also with a WikiLeaks account. He has said the communications are innocuous and do not indicate any advance knowledge of plans to release stolen emails.

Stone's lawyers contended the two cases were unrelated.

A seven-count indictment unsealed Jan. 25 alleges that Stone sought information about the emails before the election at the direction of an unidentified senior Trump campaign official. He faces charges of lying, obstruction and witness tampering, including by pressuring another witness to lie or refuse to talk to Congress.

Stone, a veteran GOP operative and a friend of Trump's for four decades, briefly advised the presidential campaign in 2015 and remained in contact with Trump and top advisers through the election.

Prosecutors allege that in 2016, Stone repeatedly sought to learn when potentially damaging internal emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign would be released, but after the election tried to cover up what he had done by lying about it in his testimony to Congress.

In Stone's indictment, prosecutors allege that after the initial release of stolen Democratic emails on July 22, 2016, "a senior Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging information Organization 1" had regarding the Clinton campaign.

The indictment does not name the campaign official or say who directed the alleged outreach to Stone. People familiar with the case identified "Organization 1" as WikiLeaks, the global anti-secrecy group founded by Julian Assange.

Stone has repeatedly denied having any contact with Russia or WikiLeaks. Stone, WikiLeaks and Assange have said they never communicated with one another.

Stone is free on bond and limited to travel between south Florida, Washington and New York City.

The Washington Posts Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.
Philadelphias Republican ward leaders upended their primary on Friday, announcing they would gather next week to reconsider their endorsement of ward leader Daphne Goggins for mayor.

Two days after Goggins got the local partys nod in a vote, GOP Chairman Michael Meehan sent ward leaders an email calling for a do-over meeting on Monday. It followed a Clout column in the Inquirer that cited a Goggins rival complaining that she collects disability and does not hold a job.

The rival, defense lawyer Billy Ciancaglini, questioned whether someone on disability could handle the rigors of being mayor.

Ciancaglini, who switched to the Republican Party last year after running as a Democrat for judge, had been upset that no ward leader put his name in nomination during Wednesday nights vote.

Goggins was the only candidate considered by the leaders and won the endorsement on a third vote after the first two votes went for an open primary, in which the party would have remained neutral.

In his email and later in an interview Friday, Meehan suggested that Goggins had used all the time in a candidate interview with ward leaders last week to tout her credentials.

She dominated the thing and didnt let anyone ask any questions, said Meehan, adding that the party may vote to endorse no candidate on Monday.

Meehans email said disability is for people who are not able to perform a job in the national economy. The job of mayor qualifies as part of the national economy, he said.

He also said some ward leaders had complained that they were in the restroom Wednesday when the nomination vote was called.

Meehan compared that vote to an infamous referees call in the closing minutes of the NFC championiship last month between the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams. Unlike the NFL, Meehan said, the party should have a further review for our mutual benefit.

Goggins did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday. She had previously said she has been on disability for fibromyalgia since 2010 but still serves as a ward leader and volunteers for political work. Goggins also said in the Clout column, If I become mayor, Ill give up on the disability.

Ciancaglini said he has spoken with a ward leader about putting his name up for the endorsement Monday. But hes not expecting much.

I dont think Ill get it, he said. My prediction is that no one gets endorsed, which should have been the call all along.
Following a speech in which he declared a national emergency at the southern border Friday, President Donald Trump said he uses many stats to back his claims of escalating violence, illegal immigration rates, and drug entry from Mexico to the United States.

Sparring with reporter Brian Karem, who asked the president to clarify his source for the statistics, which contradict reports from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Trump said he relies on many stats, including those from Homeland Security, regarding immigration and drugs at the border. Trump did not specify his other sources.

The testy exchange was the latest dispute over the Trump administrations claims of a growing immigration threat at the southern border, and the figures purported to back up such statements.

I get my numbers from a lot of sources, like Homeland Security, primarily, and the numbers I have from Homeland Security are a disaster, Trump said, after raising his voice and telling Karem, a White House reporter for Playboy and political analyst for CNN, to sit down."

And you know what else is a disaster? The numbers that come out of Homeland Security, Kirstjen [Nielsen], for the cost that we spend, and the money that we lose because of illegal immigration. Billions and billions of dollars a month, billions and billions of dollars and its unnecessary, Trump continued.

So your own governments stats are wrong, are you saying? Karem asked.

No, no, I use many stats, Trump responded. Let me tell you, you have stats that are far worse than the ones that I use. But I use many stats, but I also use Homeland Security.

The president has repeatedly claimed that there is a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border in posturing for a wall. Though there is no standard specified by Congress for justifying a national emergency, researchers have questioned the numbers and context behind Trumps statements.

While it is true that the number of people caught while trying to cross into the United States from Mexico has recently risen, the total is still significantly below its peak in 2007, when President George W. Bush doubled the number of Border Patrol agents, according to FactCheck.org.

There were about 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States as of 2015, according to a Department of Homeland Security study from December. The statistics also suggested a declining rate of growth of new illegal immigration and/or an increasing share of new illegal aliens being repatriated or otherwise returning home, according to the report.

A Pew study estimated there were around 10.7 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States in 2016, a 13.7 percent decline from 2007.

And while research is scant on the cost of unauthorized immigrants to America, the highest costs would generally regard health care and education. Many undocumented immigrants, however, pay taxes and are not eligible to receive the most expensive healthcare benefits, such as Medicaid, the New York Times reported.

A 2016 study from the National Academy of Sciences found that immigrants  those who entered the country both legally and illegally  positively benefited the economy.

During his remarks Friday, Trump also doubled down on his claims of a flow of illicit drugs at the southern border.

A big majority of the big drugs, the big drug loads dont go through ports of entry, the president said. They cant go through ports of entry. You cant take big loads because you have people. We have some very capable people, the Border Patrol, law enforcement, looking.

However, his own governments findings disagree. According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, traffickers smuggle most drugs to the U.S. and Philadelphia through legal crossing points that are patrolled, not at unguarded stretches of the border.

 READ MORE: How heroin and fentanyl get into Philadelphia  and why a border wall likely wouldnt stop them

 READ MORE: Do walls really work for border security and immigration?

 READ MORE: Construction of border walls exploding around the world, as Trump demands billions for barrier at Mexico line

 READ MORE: Trump declares a national emergency over a non-existent crisis. Here are 4 emergencies that we actually face. | Editorial
WASHINGTON (AP)  Federal ethics officials believe President Donald Trumps lawyers provided false information about the $130,000 payment to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels after she alleged she had sex with Trump, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee said Friday.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said internal documents from the Office of Government Ethics described that Trumps personal lawyer Sheri Dillon and former White House attorney Stefan Passantino provided false information and evolving stories about the payment.

In a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Cummings requested the White House turn over documents as part of the committee's investigation into whether Trump failed to properly report the payments as campaign expenditures. Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations connected to the payments. He said Trump personally directed him to make them.

The Trump Organization paid Cohen $420,000 in monthly installments of $35,000 throughout 2017, after Cohen sought reimbursement for the hush-money payment to Daniels and other expenses, according to court documents. Prosecutors alleged he used "sham" invoices to try to conceal the true nature of the payments.

Cohen previously said the Trump Organization didn't reimburse him for the payments, while Trump has said Cohen was reimbursed through a retainer agreement in order to stop "false and extortionist accusations."

In internal notes obtained by the committee, one ethics official described the changing explanations from Trump's legal team as "evolving stories," the chairman said.

At first, Dillon told the ethics officials that Trump didn't owe Cohen any money and said that she confirmed with Trump that Cohen wasn't owed any money in 2016 or 2017. The letter says that in one of the notes, the officials summarized the position of Trump's lawyers: "Michael Cohen did not loan Pres Trump $."

After Trump tweeted in May 2018 that the hush-money agreement was paid using a monthly retainer agreement, the ethics officials went back to Dillon and were told that all the payments were "in connection with legal services," and compared them to "routine vendor payments," according to the letter.

Passantino made the same argument, saying the payments were for legal fees charged on a monthly basis, according to the letter. After ethics officials asked to see the retainer agreement, Dillion denied the request and said it was privileged, Cummings wrote.

Cummings argues that it is even more critical for the White House to produce the requested documents in light of the statements made to the ethics officials. He asked the White House to respond by next week about whether they intend to voluntarily comply with the request.

Neither Dillon nor Passantino immediately responded to emails seeking comment on Friday. The White House had no immediate comment.

The Republicans on the committee, who are in the minority, said in a statement that Cummings' letter is "merely retreading an old and tired story intended to embarrass the President." The statement chastised Cummings for using "cherry-picked confidential deliberations" in order to "smear" Trump.

The House oversight committee is also seeking similar documents from the Trump Organization.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said in an interview posted Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein broached the idea of using the Constitution to oust President Donald Trump, saying the Justice Department official "discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort."

McCabe, in his interview with 60 Minutes, said Rosenstein was discussing counting votes or possible votes to invoke the Constitutions 25th Amendment, which allows Cabinet members to seek the removal of a president if they conclude that he or she is mentally unfit.

Though McCabe wouldn't confirm that Rosenstein was plotting to get rid of Trump, he said: "What I can say is the deputy attorney general was definitely very concerned about the president, about his capacity and about his intent at that point in time."

The Justice Department issued a statement Thursday that did not deny the conversation but that said Rosenstein believes there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment, nor was [he] in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment.

CBS News posted the excerpt of its interview after ex-FBI official McCabe issued a statement saying comments of his on the subject had been taken out of context and misrepresented. The interview will air Sunday on 60 Minutes.

CBS released a story Thursday about its interview in which correspondent Scott Pelley said McCabe had confirmed a discussion about the Constitution's 25th Amendment. But the transcript of that section of the interview was not released until Friday, after McCabe spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz sought to downplay McCabe's involvement in any discussions about a potential removal of the president.

"Certain statements made by Mr. McCabe, in interviews associated with the release of his book, have been taken out of context and misrepresented," the statement said. "To clarify, at no time did Mr. McCabe participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions."

The interview was done ahead of the release next week of McCabes book about his time in the FBI, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump.
While Kensington and Philadelphia as a whole face unique barriers to making sure all residents have quality housing, the issue is not exclusive to the city. Heres a look at how other places are reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness in their communities.

Well House: Grand Rapids, Mich.

Well House, a nonprofit based in Grand Rapids, Mich., purchases abandoned buildings and involves the community in rehabilitating them into affordable, long-term homes for people without housing. Since Well House began restoring buildings in 1977, it has converted 13 houses into safe living spaces and housed approximately 5,000 people.

Residents can rent a private room in a Well House property indefinitely. Rent ranges from $300 a month for individuals to $400 a month for two people. Those payments include utilities, food grown on the property, and access to staff who can connect tenants to other services.

John Glover, the executive director of Well House, said that each property acquisition involves negotiating with land banks and working with the private sector, foundations, and community organizations.

Its very much a community effort, primarily by foundations and corporations, with a lot of sweat equity of the volunteers and a very small staff, Glover said.

Well House is funded through grants, donations, fund-raising, tenant rent, and farm income.

According to Glover, providing long-term housing addresses the needs of those who live on the margins. While Glover said that many shelters offer a wealth of services and exceptional work, he also saw how complex those environments could be for those living there.

Even if they find resources to get a low-income apartment, often theyre discriminated against, Glover said. Landlords dont want to risk someone with those kinds of problems coming into their buildings, because they dont have the work history, or they were evicted from a previous place.

Instead of rejecting potential tenants because of their past or present struggles, Well House welcomes them to the community. All that matters is that tenants pay rent and are respectful to their housemates and Well House staff.

Glover said that rehabbing the buildings is the most challenging part. Despite the hurdles, preserving community history is part of the Well House philosophy. The renovation process also brings together community members, residents, and often times those who will be living in the houses. This model, Glover believes, can work in any city as long as people are dedicated to making it happen.

Its very gritty, he said. Theres quite a lot of sweat equity and a lot of passion, but it can actually solve the problem.

A Tiny Home for Good: Syracuse, NY

For eight years, Andrew Lunetta worked in shelters, where he saw an immediate need for affordable long-term housing options.

According to Lunetta, when people moved from a shelter into affordable apartments on the private market, the units were often infested with vermin or otherwise not livable. Tenants often cycled in and out of the sheltering system for years. He decided to take action by raising the money to build tiny homes that could serve as long-term housing for those experiencing chronic homelessness.

While Philadelphia is considering a model that uses tiny homes as temporary, emergency shelter, A Tiny Home for Good provides residents with stable, long-term homes.

Initially, A Tiny Home for Good tried to acquire vacant land owned by the city, but city officials said that Lunetta needed to inform the surrounding residents of his plans. During this process, the project received massive pushback from neighbors.

No one was sure what the houses were going to look like, said Lunetta. They were concerned they would be more like a shelter.

Eventually, he decided to purchase vacant land from a private landlord instead. After the first tiny homes were established, Lunetta has found that communities are much more open to the idea.

One reason the homes are successful is that they blend into neighborhoods, Lunetta said. The organization scatters the homes in vacant lots across the city instead of concentrating them in one location. Lunetta explained that this helps mend the disconnect some residents have with those who have experienced homelessness.

Theyre just tiny homes in the neighborhood, said Lunetta. No longer are people saying, Thats where the homeless people live. 

Made possible by donated lots and volunteer effort. the project also benefits from Syracuse having low taxes and low building costs.

Lunetta realizes that in larger cities like Philadelphia, higher costs could be a major challenge. However, he stressed that having landlords who arent for-profit  but who instead have a mission of housing people through grants and public funding  can make a serious dent in chronic homelessness.

If it was done by someone who really cares about the people living there, the number [of people experiencing homelessness] could go down a lot faster, he said.

Boston Way Home Fund: Boston

In 2016, the City of Boston established the Boston Way Home Fund with the goal of raising more than $10 million in private and public funds in four years to create 200 units of permanent housing for people without homes. Since then, the program has housed 1,400 people, most of whom are veterans or people who have experienced chronic homelessness.

The funds implementation also led to the citys streamlining its system of providing services to those experiencing homelessness. Pine Street Inn, a nonprofit partner of the fund, focuses on getting people out of the shelter and into appropriate housing as quickly as possible. This includes moving people into permanent supportive housing or rapid re-housing, and providing rent assistance or housing vouchers.

Those working with individuals in the shelter have seen that many people come in as theyre transitioning out of health-care or criminal justice systems. Others need help connecting to long-term care. As the funds partners determine the needs of those experiencing homelessness, the city will continue pushing to raise money to create solutions based on those needs.

Jordan Holycross is a journalist and student living in Philadelphia. A version of this piece previously appeared in the Kensington Voice, a community-driven news initiative that amplifies traditionally underserved voices, illuminates the neighborhoods complexity, challenges, and resilience, and explores existing and potential solutions to problems facing the heart of Kensington.
One New Jersey lawmaker described it as the Scarlet Letter.

The criminal record that minorities acquire when they are disproportionately arrested for possessing small amounts of marijuana often robs them of the ability to get jobs and opportunities, said Annette Quijano, the deputy majority leader of the state Assembly.

They need a second chance," the Jersey City Democrat said, as lawmakers voted to advance a sweeping bill that would legalize weed for adult use and also remedy past arrests that were discriminatory.

A committee of both houses last month folded a plan to erase those criminal records into an omnibus bill that also would legalize cannabis and greatly expand the medical marijuana program. The ambitious expungement bill was the last thing added to the package, but it is no small matter. Hundreds of thousands of drug arrest and conviction records accumulated over the years would be wiped away if the bill passed.

The social justice issue brought me to the table, said state Assemblyman Jamel Holley, chair of the New Jersey Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, a nonprofit that advances the interests of African American communities. He is a cosponsor of both the expungement and the legalization bills. The unwieldy and costly expungement process needs to be simplified so people can get relief very soon, he said.

An ACLU study found that blacks are three times as likely to be arrested for marijuana possession as whites in New Jersey despite similar usage patterns. The latest data, from 2016, shows there were more than 32,000 arrests that year for possessing small amounts of marijuana. When multiplied over decades, the number of people who would be eligible for expungements would likely be in the hundreds of thousands.

Holley and Sen. Sandra Cunningham, a Jersey City Democrat, introduced the bill that calls for an automatic erasure of low-level marijuana records. But it goes beyond that, calling for the criminal records of people convicted of heroin and cocaine possession and low-level drug sales to be tossed, as well, as long as they are conviction-free for 10 years.

The omnibus bill faces a tough fight on the floor, and some lawmakers say the expungement proposal could win more votes.

A recent Rutgers-Eagleton poll found that 79 percent of New Jersey residents approve of allowing people to clear their records for possessing small amounts of marijuana. In the context of legal weed, those who were prosecuted on minor marijuana charges should no longer have to suffer the long-lasting consequences, social justice advocates say.

But Sen. Ron Rice, chair of the N.J. Legislative Black Caucus, doubts that the state can expunge the records of the thousands of people who have been convicted of low-level marijuana charges. It will take eight to 10 years. If we can do it at all, he said at the hearing. Were promising fictitious things.

Rice also said legalization is just about making money. It will have an adverse impact on communities of color and mislead people into thinking marijuana is acceptable even though employers continue to prohibit drug use, he said.

After Gov. Murphy, who supports legal weed, was elected last year, legalization has enjoyed most of the attention. But the newly introduced expungement bill is giving it new life. New Jerseys plan to wipe clean the criminal records of low-level marijuana offenders aims would be going into effect simultaneously with legalization, going

beyond what has been done in most of the 10 states that have legal weed.

A lot of the early laws on legalization didnt include it because many lawmakers considered it a bridge too far. Its gone from something not even considered six years ago when Colorado legalized marijuana for adult recreational use," said Becky Dansky, who helped write many of the states legalization laws when she was a legislative counsel with the Marijuana Policy Project, a national advocacy organization.

Colorado and California are now launching new expungement plans.

Dansky said that the criminal justice minded reform groups have ... reached a point where expungement is a must have.

On Tuesday, the mayor of Denver announced he was considering issuing an executive order to clear about 10,000 low-level marijuana offenses. Earlier this year, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle took steps to automatically clear past misdemeanor marijuana convictions.

Expungement should apply to anything that is now legal under whatever the new laws are. That would include possession and consumption. But it wouldnt necessarily apply to things that are still illegal, like selling it to children and things like that, Dansky said.

In New Jersey, Murphys spokesman said he would not comment on the bill that emerged from a joint legislative committee late last month. The governor does not comment on specific or pending legislation,spokesman Matthew Saidel said.

But Murphy often says that, as a father of four children, he was not readily on board with legalization until he learned of the social justice impact. That, he said, changed his mind.

Tens of thousands of people are arrested every year in New Jersey for low-level marijuana-related offenses, upending lives and creating permanent stains on their records that reduce chances of attaining quality, good-paying jobs,'' Murphy said in an emailed statement Wednesday. New Jersey has the largest white/black incarceration gap in the country, in part due to the failed war on drugs that has disproportionately punished minorities for minor crimes.

"I am committed to working with the Legislature on efforts that will accomplish these goals and ensure that the communities most impacted by war on drugs will see the economic benefits of adult-use marijuana legalization, he said.

In 2017, the number of expungement cases the courts disposed of jumped more than 10 percent, to 9,839, from 8,417 in 2016, according to the state Administrative Office of the Courts. The AOC does not track how many were granted.

People convicted of nonviolent crimes in New Jersey must wait three to six years, depending on the type and number of offenses, and have a clean record during that period before they can seek expungements.

In Philadelphia, only people convicted of a low-level or summary drug offense, and who have had no other convictions in the last five years, can have their records cleared, said Benjamin Waxman, spokesman for the District Attorneys office. Those with more serious drug offenses must be at least 70 and have a clean record for 10 years, he said.

Under the New Jersey bill, there would be no waiting period for low-level marijuana convictions. People also would get special help in processing their applications.

The measure also calls for people who are in jail or prison on such charges to be released. Those who have pending marijuana possession charges would have their cases dismissed.

Sen. Nicholas Scutari (D., Union) a primary architect of the legalization bill and a municipal prosecutor, said he doesnt anticipate that too many people would be released from prison. Marijuana-possession charges in the state typically lead to fines and probation, he said. But there may be incarcerated repeat offenders who are eligible to be let out, he said.

The debate over legalization is also creating some havoc in municipal courts, he said. There are lots of postponements in courts all over New Jersey right now, he said. Many defendants are waiting to see if marijuana will be legal before they agree to plead guilty and get probation or whatever. Theres a lot of ifs.

Scutari also said that the streamlined expungement process could take 12 to 18 months to roll out. People convicted of possessing, using and even selling an ounce or less of marijuana would be able to apply to have their records cleared.

Police have discretion to charge people with intent to distribute marijuana, or low-level sales, even when they possess small amounts of marijuana. If someone is standing on a street corner and has an ounce broken up into 30 joints, and its packaged for sale, that could be intent, he said.

Scutari said the expungement bill could help with the legalization effort, but he said it also would correct injustices. The expungement process in New Jersey is a nightmare, he said. This is really needed."
The plea is poignant in its urgency, a time-is-running-out appeal published in a Baltimore newspaper more than 40 years after Emancipation.

Ann Whaley, 101, is searching for relatives sold away from her. Before she dies, she wants to see them.

I am very anxious to get in direct correspondence with them, she writes. "Anything you can do for me, an ex-slave, will be highly appreciated.

The beseeching words that Whaley penned  part of her letter that appeared in the Baltimore Sun on Aug. 26, 1911  are about to reach a new audience. On Monday, they will be read from a stage at Villanova University as a cast of 75 area residents and students bring former slaves published petitions to life in Last Seen: Voices From Slaverys Lost Families.

The 8 p.m. performance at the schools Vasey Theater will be a compilation of classified ads, letters, and articles printed in newspapers in the decades after the 1863 signing of the Emancipation Proclamation: mothers searching for their children, husbands for their wives, daughters and sons for their parents, siblings for each other.

You think of Emancipation as this magic wand of freedom," said director Valerie Joyce, chair of Villanovas theater and studio art department. "But 50 years after, [families] are still placing ads for the people they lost in a search that reveals the open wounds that were left long after slavery ended.

The production (the tickets are free but have been snapped up already) was born of an online database created in 2017 by Judith Giesberg, a history professor and Civil War scholar at Villanova, and Margaret Jerrido, archivist for Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church in Society Hill.

Their project, Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery, has since become a repository for nearly 4,000 ads from hundreds of newspapers, including African American publications such as the Black Republican in New Orleans, abolitionist papers such as the Liberator, and the Christian Recorder, the official organ of the A.M.E. denomination published at Mother Bethel. The materials offer a trove of names of former slaves and long-lost relatives, owners and traders, and plantation locations.

Every state, Canada, and the West Indies are represented. Some searches stretch to Europe and Africa. The project has fueled school curricula and art competitions.

The database, which continues to grow as more ads are transcribed, has been a boon to the keepers of family histories. The Rev. Dr. Mark Kelly Tyler, of Mother Bethel, found a great-great-great-great-grandfather, the Rev. J. W. Devine of Pittsburgh, mentioned in an ad as a contact for former slaves seeking their families.

Last spring, Giesberg and Jerrido traveled to Yale University for a conference on digitizing African American history, where they met a faculty member who suggested using the ads as the basis for a theatrical project. Back at Villanova, Giesberg and Joyce set it in motion, with the hope that other schools will be inspired to follow suit.

For their production, they put out a call for volunteer readers and wound up with a diverse cast ranging in age from 6 to 78 and including teachers, clergy, students, retirees, professors, and students from a performing arts school in Baltimore.

They had one rehearsal before Mondays performance.

Jacquie Davis, 73, of West Philadelphia, a member of St. Matthew A.M.E. Churchs drama ministry, prepared for her role as Mrs. L.C. Carter of Chicago, who was looking for her son, Fred.

He was last seen at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco, Cal. You will do a great favor if you can tell of his whereabouts, Davis said in a delivery that was both mournful and majestic.

Shirley Washington, 70, a retired program administrator from West Oak Lane, fought back tears as she read Ann Whaleys letter.

I could imagine myself just wanting to see what other people in my family looked like, to feel them, to touch them, to hug them, Washington said.

Behind her, sixth graders from Tilden Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia waited their turn.

Alimah Crawford, 11, who passed up a birthday party to attend the rehearsal, walked to her mark and read a two-line ad placed in the Baltimore Sun by the brother of Kitty Collins, who was searching for his sister in 1865.

Afterward, Alimah said reading it made her feel sad  and furious.

Marla Mahoner, 45, a teacher from Delaware County, chose an ad placed in the Christian Recorder by Eliza Holmes, of Flatonia, Texas, who was looking for her son and her husband. My son was sold in Richmond, Va., I dont know where they carried him to, the ad said.

The separation of parent and child resonated with her, Mahoner said. She never met her biological father and yearned for that missing connection, even though she was raised by a wonderful" stepfather.

No matter how old you are," she said, "it never stops that desire to want to be a part of something bigger than you.

C.J. Miller, 40, said he felt the same emotional tug. A Villanova theater student, Miller says his daughter was adopted against his wishes and lives in Canada. For the production, he will read an 1879 ad placed in the Southwestern Christian Advocate, of New Orleans, by Henry Tibbs, who was searching for his mother. The last time he saw her, he was a little boy, Tibbs wrote, and she brought him cake and candy.

The words of former slaves need to be heard, said Tyler, the Mother Bethel pastor.

Here we are, this far away from the Civil War, and we havent learned anything, he said. There are immigrant children at the border whove been taken away from their families and some of them may never see their parents again. I hope we will learn about our history, and that it will speak to our present. 
A Trenton police officer was indicted Thursday on charges that he sexually assaulted two minors, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said Friday.

William L. Sanchez-Monllor, 37, of Burlington Township, was charged with 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault, eight counts of sexual assault, and related offenses. Specifics details about the allegations have been sealed by a Superior Court judge.

Sanchez-Monllor was arrested in September and has been in custody since then. The Trenton Police Department has suspended Sanchez-Monllor without pay, NJ.com reported.
Life has not been easy for Glenn Hudson, with diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease that required surgery in 2006. Last month Hudson, 61, was hit with yet another challenge  a bullet to the left jaw.

Hudson, who relies on disability benefits, had just left his North Philadelphia home Jan. 16 to pick up dinner at a nearby restaurant when five young men walking in the opposite direction announced a stickup, searched his pockets, and stole $20.

Four of the thieves began walking away. But one baby-faced teenager lingered, pointed a gun  and pulled the trigger from point-blank range.

Now, as he recovers from the small-caliber bullet wound to his jaw, Hudson is wondering whether the gunman and his accomplices will ever be caught. He has good reason to wonder: According to Philadelphia Police Department statistics, arrests were made in slightly less than 25 percent of all armed robberies over the last five years, with the solve rate essentially the same each year.

Philadelphia police are not alone among urban police departments in failing to solve most armed robberies. Atlanta police reported that just 7.7 percent of armed robberies resulted in arrests in 2017, while Houston police said 26 percent resulted in arrests in 2017. Nationally, the 2017 arrest rate for robberies was 29.7 percent, according to the FBI.

Still, its a jarring statistic even to experts.

If you stopped the average person on the street and told them if they were robbed that there was a three-quarters of a chance that whoever did it wouldnt be apprehended, I think that would stop them in their tracks," said Eric Piza, assistant professor of criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

Armed robberies are harder to solve than homicides, Piza said, because police departments use more personnel and resources tracking killers than robbers, and because killers often know their victims, while armed robbers typically target strangers. Still, he said as much effort should be put into investigating crime as in preventing it.

Generally speaking, while American policing over the last couple of years has gotten pretty good at understanding how to prevent crime in the first place, the investigation of crime is something that maybe we need to pay more attention to, Piza said.

Capt. Sekou Kinebrew, the Philadelphia Police Department spokesperson, declined to be interviewed but said in writing that solving robberies is a departmental priority.

Preventing, responding to, and investigating violent crime remains one of our core objectives," he wrote. Each of these aspects has unique challenges.

The department uses various approaches to combat gun violence, according to its Violent Crime Response strategy. These include so-called Hot-Spot patrols in more violence-prone districts; foot patrols in high-crime areas; creation last year of a Gun Violence Reduction Task Force to focus on repeat firearm offenders; creation in 2017 of the Intelligence Bureau to get real-time information to officers quicker; and working on task forces with the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Marshals Service.

But the fallout on the streets from the lack of arrests leads not just to more robberies but sometimes to murder. In Philadelphia, the victims have included police officers slain by serial robbers who were not caught until after they became cop killers.

In late 2014 and early 2015, brothers Ramone Williams and Carlton Hipps blazed a path of terror through North Philadelphia, robbing nine stores before they gunned down Officer Robert Wilson inside a GameStop store at 2101 W. Lehigh Ave. in Swampoodle.

In 2011, Chancier McFarland participated in two armed robberies before he and an accomplice murdered off-duty Officer Moses Walker during an attempted robbery in August 2012.

In 2007, John Jordan Lewis held up five pizza and doughnut shops in the weeks before he fatally shot Officer Charles Chuck Cassidy while robbing a Dunkin Donuts on North Broad Street.

Most of the nonfatal armed robberies committed by the eventual cop killers were filmed by surveillance cameras. Kinebrew said that such footage is a valuable investigative tool but not a singular solution to solving cases.

The existence of surveillance footage does not necessarily result in a rapid identification of suspects," he said. The identification occurs when we can apply a name to the face on the video. That requires further investigative steps, as well as assistance from the community and other stakeholders.

I saw my whole life disappear

Hudson still has the bullet in his jaw because doctors said its too risky to remove until scar tissue has formed. His jaw is bandaged, and he still wears the hospital identification bracelet from the night he was shot  to remind him, he said, of his gratitude that he survived. But the memory of the robbery wont fade anytime soon.

I have never in my life seen anything like that. I just saw my whole life disappear. As I was going down, I said to myself, This is it,  he said.

The father of nine said he is grateful to the first Philadelphia police officer who arrived within a minute of his 911 call and whisked him to Temple University Hospital.

But since then hes been consumed with frustration and fear that the robbers, whose assault was captured on videotape, have not been caught. He gave a statement to an officer but said he has not heard from any detectives, as the officer said he would.

By them not coming out here to at least let me know if they found out anything, I got real depressed about that," Hudson said during an interview at his home, his eyes brimming with tears. "When something of this magnitude happens to a person, you would figure they would come out and follow this up. Tell me something.

The video of Hudson being robbed and shot at 8:35 p.m. in the 2100 block of West Cambria Street is posted on the Police Departments YouTube channel.

Police said the shooter is thin, 5-foot-8, about 18 years old, has a light complexion, and wore a dark, puffy jacket and light-colored jeans ripped in the front. He was armed with a dark revolver. The four other suspects are described as about 18 years old, wearing dark clothing. All five are African American.

Zivka Ziza Djordjevich can relate. In August 2015, she was shot in the throat by one of two robbers who stormed into her Best Cake Kosher Bakery in Overbrook Park before it opened for the day.

They rummaged for money before one shouted, Just shoot the bitch! she said in an interview. A bullet ripped through Djordjevichs throat, almost causing her to drown in her own blood, she said.

At the hospital a detective showed her hundreds of pictures of suspects, but she didnt spot her attackers. Almost 3 years later, no one has been arrested.

I dont know. Its too much crime, Djordjevich, 60, said reflectively, behind the counter of her bakery, where she returned to work four months after being shot.

Djordjevich has installed surveillance cameras in her bakery and has added a handgun to her tools of trade while working. She said other nearby businesses have been held up since the robbery by still-elusive armed bandits.

The 7-Eleven twice, Popeyes, MetroPCS once, Staceys Pizza, said Djordjevich, who has owned her bakery on Haverford Avenue near City Avenue for 16 years.

I talked to one lady and she said to me, You know, Ive been robbed. I said, Youve got to be kidding. What did you do? She said, I just opened the register and I ran. I said, Good for you. 

Unsolved robberies have spurred some to take action on their own. Pennsylvania State Rep. Danilo Burgos is among them. In 1998, still grieving over the murder of his uncle, Jose Martinez, during a 1994 robbery of Martinezs North Philadelphia grocery store, Burgos joined with other small-business owners to found the Dominican Grocers Association of Philadelphia.

The association, designed to improve communication among police, agencies, and store owners  many who speak English as a second language  has grown to more than 385 stores, said Burgos, a Democrat elected last year to represent the 197th District in Hunting Park.

Criminals are becoming more brazen. The cameras are a deterrent, but they obviously are not stopping them," he said. Unfortunately, business owners still feel like they have a target on them from robbers.
Students at Pennsylvania State University on Friday complained on Twitter that the school had failed to alert the campus about a Thursday night shooting at an off-campus hotel in which the shooter was still on the loose.

Two people were killed and one  the 21-year-old shooters ex-girlfriend  were wounded at P.J. Harrigans at the Ramada Inn on South Atherton Street, about two miles from campus, according to news reports. The shooter later broke into a residence and killed the homeowner and then himself.

Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers told Onward State, an online student news site, that the university, as required under federal law, puts out alerts when incidents occur on campus property, public property within or adjacent to campus, and non-campus property that the college owns or controls.

State College police responded to the shooting in the borough last night as it was not on Penn States campus," Powers told Onward State. "The alert system includes incidents that are within Clery-reportable locations. Nevertheless, we understand our community concerns and the university will continue to review processes.

Early Friday afternoon, Powers issued another statement, noting that the university and borough police had been closely monitoring the situation Thursday evening.

After careful consideration based on the circumstances known to law enforcement at the time, location of the incidents, and the lack of an imminent threat to Penn State students or the campus, it was decided that an alert would not be sent, she wrote. The decision to send an action alert is made on a case-by-case basis for each situation, and is based on information available to Penn State police at the time of the event.

While Penn State may not have been required under federal law to send out an alert in the Ramada case, schools are encouraged to consider having a policy for notifying students about potential threats, even in areas not required to be reported on, according to the Clery Center, which advises schools on campus crime.

I cant determine whether or not they were in compliance, said Abigail Boyer, interim executive director. But its an ongoing conversation at institutions when there are incidents that fall outside of Clery compliance but still might impact members of the community. Does the institution have a system for communicating about that?

Temple University sends out alerts when incidents occur on campus or other areas patrolled by campus police, including the west side of Broad Street, where a significant number of students live, said Ray Betzner, university spokesman.
Haddonfield Deputy Mayor Jeff Kasko has been charged with assaulting a borough police officer in an incident that began after a confrontation with a process server who tried to deliver divorce papers to him at his home, authorities said Friday.

About 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, police responded to a report of an accident at Kaskos home, said Police Chief Jason Cutler. Kasko backed his 2012 black Volkswagen Passat out of his driveway, striking the process servers 2013 white BMW, which was partially blocking the driveway, police records show.

Kasko left the scene and the process server called police, the chief said. According to police records, the process server had gone to Kaskos home to deliver divorce papers. Kasko crashed into the process servers car in an attempt to get away from being served the legal documents," according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Kasko was not there when police arrived but returned while Patrolman Joni Frangieh was investigating the earlier crash, Cutler said. Frangieh was struck by a side rear-view mirror on Kaskos car, the chief said.

Frangieh was trying to get Kasko to stop as the commissioner entered the driveway blowing his horn, but to no avail, Cutler said. The officer suffered minor injuries, the chief said Friday.

Frangieh, who joined the department six months ago, said Kasko told him he had left the scene of the accident because he had errands to run. He said Kasko berated him and accused him of not maintaining a professional demeanor. Frangieh called for backup and Kasko asked for the police chief.

It obviously put the Haddonfield Police Department in an awkward position, Cutler said. "My officers handled themselves as they would treat any other resident. "

Kasko was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, assault with a motor vehicle, criminal mischief, and numerous motor vehicle offenses, including reckless driving, leaving the scene of an accident, and failure to report an accident. He was held overnight in the Camden County Jail and released Thursday. He faces a first appearance hearing Tuesday in Superior Court in Cherry Hill.

Kasko, 54, and his wife, Theresa, did not respond to a message left at the home.

Mayor Neal Rochford, who is on medical leave, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Kasko, a Republican, is one of three commissioners in the affluent community of about 11,000 residents. The commissioners select the mayor and deputy mayor. Kasko is serving his third four-year term in office. First elected in 2009, Kasko also is commissioner for revenue and finance.

Camden County GOP Chairman Richard Ambrosino did not respond to messages.

In 2013, Kasko was elected to a second term on the Board of Commissioners and was selected by his fellow commissioners to be mayor. He became Haddonfields first new mayor in 12 years, replacing Letitia Colombi, who decided to not seek another term.

Kasko, a public relations executive, made an unsuccessful bid for the county Freeholder Board in 2002. He served as an aide to former Gov. Christie Whitman and was a legislative aide in the Assembly.
An employee who was being terminated from his job at an Illinois warehouse opened fire at his workplace Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers, authorities said.

Gary Martin, 45, was called into a meeting that afternoon inside the warehouse in the Chicago suburb of Aurora and was told he was being fired. Martin then shot the three employees who were at the meeting and two others who were nearby using a Smith & Wesson handgun he owned illegally, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters Saturday.

Martin had a criminal record, including a felony that kept him from owning a gun legally, Ziman said.

Investigators have said little else that would explain the rampage, including why Martin, who had worked at the warehouse for 15 years, was being fired. It's unclear if Martin knew of his termination beforehand.

"I hate that we have to use the term classic workplace shooting. That pains me to do so. At this time I don't know," Ziman told reporters Friday. "Again, we can only surmise that with a gentleman who's being terminated that this was something he intended to do."

The five wounded officers were taken to local hospitals, two of whom were transferred to trauma centers. All are expected to survive, police said. One warehouse employee suffered non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Several 911 calls came just before 1:30 p.m. Friday. Ziman said Martin shot the officers immediately after they arrived at the 29,000-square-foot warehouse of Henry Pratt Co., which manufactures water valves. Martin hid in the warehouse, and police spent the next hour and a half finding him inside the massive facility. When police found Martin, he fired at the officers, who then killed him, Ziman said.

Gabriel Gonzales, an Iraq War Marine veteran who can see the Henry Pratt warehouse from his front yard, said the number of police vehicles, flashing lights and armored cars Friday afternoon were giving him flashbacks.

"When you are a combat zone you expect it," said Gonzales. "I've never seen this many police officers anywhere."

He was watching his grandchildren, who were mesmerized by the activity unfolding through the window, and worrying about their brother Anthony, whose school was put under lock down.

"My grandson had a school lockdown at 8 years old. I mean, can you believe that?" Gonzalez said. "Back when I was a kid, it was just tornadoes."

At the news conference, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said the shooting marked "a sad day in the city."

"For so many years, we've seen similar situations throughout our nation," he said. "To experience it firsthand is even more painful."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker lauded the efforts of law enforcement officers and first responders before lamenting the "epidemic of gun violence that continues to ravage so many communities."

The victims' families, he said, "join a group that should not exist, yet continues to grow."

Tiffany Probst, 38, a legal assistant said her best friend saw a post on Facebook about the shooting and she started texting "that your dad might be inside!"

Her father, John, has worked as a machinist in the building for over 40 years. He has three grown children and has five grandchildren. Probst raced down to the factory, but it was blocked by police.

"I knew there was no way to call him because he's old school and never has a cellphone," then she heard from friends father was giving TV interviews and talking with the police.

"He's safe and talking to the news," she said. "He's not much of a talker, but when it comes to this, I can tell by his voice he's real shaken up. We are looking forward to giving him a hug."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., tweeted Friday that she was following the situation. "This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans," Duckworth wrote. "Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter."

"My heart breaks for Aurora," Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted. "I'm tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency."

The shooting occurred just a day after the first anniversary of a mass shooting that killed 17 students and staffers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The young survivors have since become among the loudest advocates for stronger gun laws, spurring a social media movement with the hashtag #NeverAgain. Their activism has led to the creation of the student-led demonstration, March for our Lives.

Nancy Caal, who works at Erwin's Truck Repair near the scene of the shooting, told The Post that she heard the din of sirens as police cars and ambulances rushed to the building behind hers.

She and two others put the shop on lockdown when they saw heavily armed officers heading toward the adjacent Henry Pratt warehouse.

"Nobody told us nothing," she said. "But we closed the gates and locked down the shop."

Aurora shares a name with another suburb that endured a mass shooting almost seven years ago. A gunman, James Holmes, opened fire inside a movie theater in 2012, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. The similarity was not lost on Nick Metz, the police chief of Aurora, Colorado.

"Months from now as people talk about the mass shooting in Aurora, someone will ask, 'Which Aurora mass shooting are we talking about?'" he said on Twitter.

- - -

The Washington Posts Mark Berman and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  A federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Air Force to temporarily stop discharging service members who are HIV-positive, ruling that it's working under a policy that is "irrational" and "outdated."

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema in Alexandria, Va., issued her decision as a lawsuit moves forward against the U.S. military.

Service members in the Air Force claim they're being discharged solely because of their HIV status and despite the recommendations of their doctors and commanding officers, who say they are fit to serve.

For now, the ruling keeps at least two HIV-positive men in the Air Force who were days and weeks away from being formally discharged.

Air Force policies had prevented the service members with HIV from deploying to places outside the United States, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, without a waiver. That, in turn, resulted in the men being considered unfit for continued military service.

Because of advances in medicine and treatment for HIV, Brinkema wrote that the disease does not impose unreasonable burdens on the military when compared to similar chronic conditions.

She also said that HIV "does not seriously jeopardize the health or safety of the service member or his companions in service."

The judge added that the service members are likely to have some success in arguing their case as it moves forward.

The military has argued that the lawsuit is premature because the personnel have not explored all of their options within the military to fight being discharged. The military has also argued that such policy questions fall under the discretion of the federal government's executive branch.

The Department of Justice is representing the military. Spokeswoman Kelly Laco said its attorneys are reviewing the judge's decision. She declined to comment further.

The service members are being represented by lawyers from the LGBT rights groups Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN as well as the law firm Winston & Strawn.

The service members' attorneys said a judge's ruling against the military is rare, and framed the decision as a significant legal victory.

"These decisions should be based on science, not stigma, as today's ruling from the bench demonstrates," said Scott Schoettes, counsel and HIV project director at Lambda Legal.

Schoettes added: We still have to prove at trial that people living with HIV are deployable. But in the meantime theyre not going to be able to get rid of any of those service members.
Three people were found dead in suspected homicides across the Philadelphia region Friday and Saturday.

In Philadelphia, police said officers responding to a hospital case call found a woman in a trash bag, covered with a blanket, on the 1800 block of East Cliveden Street in East Mount Airy at 8:52 a.m. Saturday. Medics pronounced her dead a half hour later. Police did not reveal the womans identity or age.

Shortly before 11 p.m. Friday, police said a 17-year-old boy with gunshot wounds to his neck, back, and lower torso was found on the 5800 block of Angora Terrace in Southwest Philadelphia. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died at 4:45 a.m. Saturday. No weapon was found, police said. The victims identity was not released by police.

In New Jersey, authorities Saturday announced the death of Julio Sanchez-Moncada, 32, of Camden. Police said he was found shot multiple times on the 3100 block of Merriel Avenue in Camden, where he was pronounced dead around 11 a.m. Friday.

Anyone with information in that case is urged to contact Camden County Prosecutors Office Detective Jim Brining at 856-225-8439 or Camden County Police Detective Shawn Donlon at 856-757-7042, or send email to ccpotips@ccprosecutor.org.

No arrests were reported in any of the deaths.
Camden County prosecutors filed child pornography charges against David Jackson, 67, on Friday after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children sent detectives to his Somerdale home.

According to the Camden County Prosecutors Office, detectives arrived for a knock and talk at Jacksons house, where they previewed his devices. Jackson was then taken to the Gloucester Township Police Department for processing and released with a summons to appear in court at a later date.

Prosecutors said that numerous devices were taken from the home to be forensically analyzed, and that the investigation is ongoing.
They did it. A group that might as well be any of our kids. Theyre old enough for college but young enough that they know life mostly as a digital distraction driven by the smartphone in our hands, our pockets, our souls. They went without. And what they discovered in doing so should inspire fear in us all.

Fifteen undergrads went 24 hours with orders to keep their mitts off their smartphones. As their professor, I hoped this would lead to some good copy. This was a class in news column writing. My own full-day iPhone cleanse, done for this same group assignment Id designed, had been an eyes-and-ears-opening experiment.

>> READ MORE: I traded my iPhone for bliss.

I wish I could say impressions had been better for the St. Josephs University students. Some of you had asked, in email to me, how the class had fared. With final drafts of their accounts now in hand and permission to share excerpts, I deliver on your request.

Read it and weep.

Alysa Bainbridge, 20, sophomore, communications major, from Reading, Pa.

Its like losing a limb," she wrote. "Your source of oxygen. Being stranded on a deserted island, isolated from the rest of the world. ... I chose my 24 hours strategically, in a way that would inflict the least amount of pain possible: sorority recruitment weekend.

Things go haywire quickly.

I have a mini panic attack because I forgot to check what room recruitment was in before I gave up my phone. ... I wander around the building until I find other people wearing the same Tri Sigma T-shirt.

A few hours later: I reach unknowingly into the back pocket of my jeans for probably the 30th time that day only to have a miniature heart attack when my phone isnt there. ... I feel naked.

On a break: Everyones glued to their phones ... too occupied for a conversation. I feel the first pang of envy. I also realize how ridiculous it is to watch people stop mid-sentence and purse their lips for a Snapchat selfie not just once, but every two minutes.

Michael Kokias, 21, senior, dual English-business major, from Norwalk, Conn.

For Michael, a single Saturday without the phone was tricky. He went for a run. Got back and cleaned his room because - what else do you do when you cant waste time on the phone?

The tables never knew such pressure from a Clorox wipe, and the windows suddenly shone with a deep clean, putting some back into it. In silence I smelled the fumes, wanting, yearning for even a simple podcast to occupy my mind. But then I sat. And stared. (At the phone across the room, if you must know).

Paige Santiago, 21, senior, English major, from Ridgefield, Conn.

Looking around the dinner table, the nine people that sat with me are all sending messages or scrolling through Twitter. I feel a little lonely, and almost stupid, for sitting there staring at all of them."

Rebecca Lane, 22, senior, psychology major, English minor, Division 1 A-10 Conference lacrosse player attending SJU on scholarship from Australia.

Rebecca spent three hours and 19 minutes on her phone the day before giving it up. The next morning, she fell off the wagon immediately.

Marias faith in us Gen Zs to go without technology [is] proving almost as strong as using a freshly baked cake for the foundation of a skyscraper, she wrote. ... As I sit on my couch for the 30 seconds it takes my roommate to come downstairs, Im lost. I clench my phone in my right hand, thumb on the lock button, tempted to press down. In an attempt to distract myself I look around the lounge area. An empty cup on the coffee table. A blanket spread out next to me on the couch. Mail on the floor by the front door. Yet, my mind is completely consumed with the smooth glass encircling its perfect counterpart that is my thumb."

Our dependency on technology is masked by our own excuses of wanting to be more efficient and productive. To stay connected with the world. When did staying connected turn into tagging the friend you are sitting next to in a People of Walmart video rather than nudging them and watching it together? When did it become the norm to have a sea of bright screens in a movie theatre? ... I never thought it would happen to me but after countless hours of buzzing vibrations, taking and retaking photos, and word-by-word conversations I am now dependent. As I type this piece right now, I am back and forth each minute with iMessage, Snapchat, Instagram, and writing."
Carl Risoldi, the son of the Bucks County socialite found guilty in a $20 million insurance-fraud case earlier this month, pleaded guilty Friday to three related misdemeanor charges, including theft by deception and conspiracy, and was placed on four years probation.

As part of the plea agreement, Risoldi, 47, of Doylestown, agreed to forfeit his familys Clairemont property, a 10-acre estate in New Hope that has served as the site of lavish fund-raisers for Bucks County Republicans. His mother, Claire Risoldi, 71, was found guilty Feb. 5 on six charges of insurance fraud, theft by deception, and receiving stolen property stemming from an October 2013 fire at Clairemont, the third at the home since June 2009. She has not yet been sentenced.

Her son was arrested in January 2015 after a grand jury investigation into the Risoldis efforts to defraud the insurer AIG of $20 million in insurance proceeds, including $10 million for jewelry that the grand jury determined Claire Risoldi had falsely accused firefighters of stealing.

At the time, Carl Risoldi lived at Clairemont with his wife, Sheila, his mother, and her husband, Thomas French, according to a statement issued Saturday by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, whose office prosecuted the Risoldi cases.

Carl Risoldis plea deal was approved by Chester County Court Senior Judge Thomas Gavin, who was assigned to the case because of the Risoldis close ties to Bucks County officials.

This defendant and his co-conspirator Claire Risoldi, his mother, were focused on themselves and their excessive lifestyles, so much so that they broke the law and defrauded an insurance company out of millions of dollars," said the statement from Shapiro, noting such crime inflates rates and causes all of us to pay more.
A question that the Trump administration wants to add to the 2020 census asking for residents' citizenship status is unlawful, a federal judge in New York ruled Tuesday.

In adding the question, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, who oversees the census, overstepped his authority, did not adequately justify his reasoning, and violated federal law, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman wrote in his order. Furman blocked the question from the 2020 census.

In a startling number of ways, Secretary Rosss explanations for his decision were unsupported by, or even counter to, the evidence before the agency, the judge wrote. "For instance, he sought to justify his decision on the ground that no one provided evidence that reinstating a citizenship question on the decennial census would materially decrease response rates. But that assertion is simply untrue.

The Census Bureau itself calculated last year that adding a citizenship question was likely to lead to a decrease in questionnaire responses in noncitizen households.

Over objections from the Census Bureau about depressed counts and increased costs, the Trump administration said in March it wanted to add the question to collect better citizenship data for enforcement.

Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Philadelphia are among the 18 states, and 15 cities and counties, along with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, that sued the administration in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. They argued that the question would deter immigrants from answering census questionnaires, leading to an undercount of the states' populations.

The allocation of hundreds of billions of federal dollars, the number of seats each state receives in the U.S. House, and the boundaries of voting districts are all at stake in the 2020 census. Pennsylvania receives about $2,100 in federal funds per person and New Jersey about $1,960, according to a 2017 report by the George Washington Institute of Public Policy.

More than 260,000 noncitizens live in the eight-county region in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, including roughly 106,000 in Philadelphia, according to census estimates.

Mayor Jim Kenney on Tuesday called the judges ruling a huge victory for Philadelphia and other cities across our nation.

In a statement, Kenney said a citizenship question would have politicized an essential element of our democracy.

Because the Census Act directs the government to use information in administrative records when possible instead of asking direct questions in a census, the secretary violated federal law, the judge ruled. The secretary showed a preference for survey answers in a census "when the data gained from available administrative records would have been adequate  indeed, better, the judge wrote.

He also violated federal law when he failed to tell Congress in a report about the 2020 census that he wanted to add the citizenship question, according to Furman.

The judge heard testimony in the case last month. Local governments have filed six other lawsuits challenging the citizenship question. The issue is expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court this year.
(Photo/Chongqing Evening News)

Its not rare for figures in Chinese Kung Fu novels to run on the water. However, would it be amazing if a man was floating of the river surface while on his way to work? That is actually happening in southwestern Chinas Chongqing municipality, a city crossed by Chinas longest river the Yangtze River.

Liu Fucao, a 29-year-old man living along the south bank of the Yangtze River, told local newspaper Chongqing Evening News that he has been floating to work on a stand-up paddleboard for over half a year.

He said the bridge linking the south and north banks of the river has been in maintenance since last July, and it takes too much time waiting in line to board on a ferry. Since we can cross the river by ferries, why dont we just do that on a stand-up paddleboard, Liu noted.

(Photo/Chongqing Evening News)

As a paddle lover, Liu has been practicing the sport for over two years. Apart from participating in stand-up paddleboard competitions, he also joins voluntary water rescue missions with his friends.

When I get off work, I have to row back to the south bank, Liu said. Normally it takes 6 minutes for him to cross the Yangtze River in that he uses a professional paddleboard. The speed would be slowed down if he changes to a civil one.

Some people wonder if it is too cold to stand in the water. Liu responded that the water temperature was indeed higher than the air temperature, so he didnt feel cold.

Lius wife used to worry about his safety as he floated to work, and it was Lius skill that convinced her. In addition, Liu wears not only a life jacket, but also safety ropes on his legs. Because of this, his wife was gradually reassured.

Liu Fucao (Photo/Chongqing Evening News)
LANCASTER  Some people truck chickens down the road or move milk from state to state. Others lug fresh-cut lumber around.

The Cisney family makes a living hauling Amish.

I already have a morning and afternoon run that day, driver Lee Allan Cisney, 56, told an Amish man who called for a ride on a recent weekday afternoon. I have to take a young couple to pick out a wedding gift.

Think of haulin Amish" as a rural Uber, except trips are confirmed days or weeks ahead of time through landline telephones that sit in phone shanties, shared by various Amish families, in the middle of fields.

It looks like an outhouse, Cisney said.

In 1975, an Amish man asked Carl Cisney, Lee Allans father, to drive him to a welding shop. The Amish traditionally eschew technology and many dont drive. This man was a neighbor, so Cisney did him a favor. At the welding shop, other Amish men told Cisney, whod been unemployed, that he could make a living driving the Amish to work, the supermarket, or anywhere else they needed to go.

Thats traditionally how most of this got started, said Sarah Jane Cisney, Carls wife. People doing other Amish favors.

With Amish childbirth rates very high, the Amish population increases steadily decade by decade. That means the Cisneys and other drivers have had plenty of business. In his career of four decades-plus, Carl Cisney, 78, said he made deep friendships with the Amish, often getting invited to weddings, where he and Sarah Jane, who also drove, were the only English guests. Some clients have wanted to bring chickens and ducks inside for the ride. Hes always said no. Carl also insists Amish men take off their boots and put them in bags, particularly after a barn raising.

One passenger Carl Cisney picked up in a snowstorm in 1978 was very pregnant, and then, quite suddenly, wasnt pregnant anymore.

That little girl, born in Cisneys van, was named Sarah, after Sarah Jane, who came to help. Carl cant stand the sight of blood.

I jumped out of the van and said, Ill see you later, he said.

Despite his queasiness, Carl also once transported an Amish man to the hospital after he nailed his foot into a beam in a barn with an air hammer. The nail was so deep, he said. that the mans co-workers cut the wood and it came to the hospital still attached. After another mishap, Carl was asked to drive two fingers, on ice in a shoe box, to a hospital after an Amish man had an accident at a pallet shop. He was too late.

I think they just threw them in the trash can," he said, giggling.

Favors are fine, carpooling too, but if a driver wants to transport Amish for a fee, theres a permitting process handled by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. Drivers like the Cisneys and their son, Lee, are licensed paratransit drivers, with specific permitting to transport people whose personal convictions prevent them owning or operating motor vehicles,said PUC spokesperson Nils Hagan-Frederiksen.

Often, those drivers are referred to as Amish taxis," and Lee Allan said they charge anywhere from 80 cents to $1.30 a mile.

Its safe to say that for decades, theres been demand for this type of transportation, Hagan-Frederiksen said. Its an interesting carve-out that serves a need.

About 167 people are specifically licensed to drive the Amish, Hagan-Frederiksen said, and 99 of them are in Lancaster County. In the last 12 months, 29 more people filed for applications with the PUC to be Amish drivers.

Sarah Jane, 75, said the job attracts retirees and people between jobs, Many, she said, dont bother to get the license, but the PUC patrols the area and doles out fines up to $1,000 for individuals caught transporting Amish without a permit.

Benny Perez, a former EMT in New York City, said he used to travel to Lancaster County on vacations with his children. They would go to amusement parks, he said, and also gaze at the Amish way of life. Today, he drives a Chevy van with God be with you written across the bug guard.

Ive been haulin Amish for about three years now," Perez said.

Lee Allan Cisney drove off and on for years for his parents but took over the family business last year, after quitting his longtime job at a titanium foundry in Morgantown.

Ive made a lot of good friends, he said, driving his van down long, farm-lined roads this month. Ive hauled people who were kids when my parents hauled them."

Many Amish make the long trip into Philadelphia from Lancaster County each morning in vans to man the stalls at the Reading Terminal Market. Often, their driver is simply another employee who isnt Amish, which doesnt require a permit. Thats how Ben Kauffman, who runs Kauffmans Lancaster County Produce at the market, gets to work.

I sleep on the way there, but I cant sleep on the way home, he said.

The traditional mode of transportation for the Amish is horse and buggy, and Kauffman, 68, said the most distance a horse can handle in a day is a 40-mile round trip.

All depends on the horse, of course, he added.

The Amish are generally fairly quiet, the Cisneys said, but they have learned some things about their customers over the years, despite not picking up any Pennsylvania Dutch. If Amish women are speaking fast, it means theyre talking about the driver. Younger Amish like the radio on, Lee Allan said, country for the most part but also Christian music.

Some dont mind talking, which is perfect for Lee Allan.

I can talk a tin ear off a brass monkey, he said.

Carl Cisney said he found each new customer wanted to know where the last customer had gone, a bit of Amish gossip if you will. He put up a sign by the dashboard to squash it:

Dont ask me where the last person went and I wont tell the next person where you were going.
Logansport, IN (46947)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 79F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall near an inch.
Steve Foley

(231) 439-9397

BOYNE CITY  Late last month, Great Lakes Energy announced plans for construction on a fiber network starting this spring in parts of Emmet and Charlevoix counties, offering a new high-speed internet service option for members of the electric cooperative.

The Truestream network construction will expand availability of fiber-based internet and voice communication services to thousands of rural residents who do not have access to fiber at their home or business.

Lacey Matthews, communications and marketing manager with Great Lakes Energy, said its hard to put a specific time frame on when construction will be completed.

So much of it depends on how and when the ground thaws, Matthews said. Ideally, it would be in April, but if we get another late storm like we did last year that will move construction back.

With the nature of construction thats going on, we cant put an exact month on it right now.

The Truestream fiber network will deliver download speeds up to 1 gigabit (1,000 megabits) per second, extensive bandwidth, unlimited voice services and no data caps.

Great Lakes Energy, which is based in Boyne City and serves parts of western and Northern Michigan, notes a goal of driving innovation in technology and customer experience for rural residents and businesses.

Several customers in Emmet and Charlevoix counties have already voiced their interest and expressed the significance the service has for them, including Brian Bates, owner of Bear Creek Organic Farm in Petoskey.

The numbers dont lie, Bates said. Truestream is more than 400 times faster than speeds we were able to get with our previous internet provider. And for 75 percent less money with no contract and unlimited everything.

Great Lakes Energy touted Truestreams potential to open the door for more than just high-speed downloading and streaming of content. The cooperative noted that internet connections for many will finally catch up with modern video and voice calling technology, offering sharper images, clearer sound and minimized lag time.

The fiber will allow opportunities for many rural Michigan residents to work from home or take online courses.

Our entire community will benefit from the Truestream fiber network, said Great Lakes Energy CEO Bill Scott. Not only will members experience some of the fastest internet speeds and most reliable connectivity in the country, we believe the long-term economic boost to the area will be substantial.

Studies have shown that just having access to fiber can add to a homes real estate value, and weve already had 9,000 people register their interest, Scott added.

Were thrilled to launch in our Petoskey service area first, and we plan to continue expanding. Construction will take time, though.

Matthews said currently about 117 customers are connected to the fiber network, and construction in the spring will likely take place near the Bay Shore side of Petoskey.

The way the fiber works is, its run along our electrical lines, so its available only to our members, Matthews said.

Great Lakes Energy is encouraging interested members to register through www.jointruestream.com. There is no obligation once registered.

Its really going to ramp up this summer and were encouraging people to sign up now, because if they sign up now theyll receive free installation versus if they wait, itll cost $149 to be installed.

Monthly pricing for Truestream service starts at $59.99 for residential internet, with voice service available for an additional $34.99.
When Donald Trump is able to take his message directly to the American people, rather than wait for it to filter through the mainstream media, the people like what they hear.

Day after day, the biased press publish an endless array of news reports and opinion columns intended to attack President Trumps policies and portray him as a failure.

This narrative, however, is utterly misleading  and the president set the record straight in his State of the Union address, which received an overwhelmingly positive response from the public.

According to a poll conducted over the three days following the speech, President Trumps popularity soared to its highest level since shortly after he took office, with 52 percent of likely voters approving of his performance in the White House.

The Rasmussen poll, which is updated daily based on a three-day rolling average of survey responses, showed that the presidents approval rating jumped by an impressive nine percentage points in just over one week.

By contrast, Obamas approval rating at the same point in his presidency was at 50 percent  2 points lower than President Trumps post-SOTU popularity.

The impressive spike in the presidents approval rating is all the more stunning in light of the relentless mainstream media attacks on his administration, which reached a fever pitch during the partial government shutdown that ended Jan. 25.

Instead of focusing on the remarkable performance of the U.S. economy, for instance, the liberal press repeatedly warned that the shutdown would devastate the economy, even as the economic data continued to show strong job growth throughout the impasse.

Meanwhile, mainstream news outlets continued to focus on the partisan witch hunt looking for nonexistent Russian collusion, baselessly accusing President Trump of being a Russian operative who is working on behalf of Moscow.

In one particularly revealing instance, the Special Counsels office actually had to refute the claims made in a sensationalist, but thinly sourced, Buzzfeed News article.

Confronted with this barrage of lies about his administration, President Trump had only his record of policy accomplishments and unifying vision for America to offer in response. Fortunately, that was more than enough.

For more than two years, the President has fearlessly defended the interests of the American people, fighting to strengthen the well-being of millions of workers who were long abandoned by the political establishment in Washington.

As a result, unemployment dropped to a 49-year low in 2018, while GDP growth rose to a level not seen since 2005. Meanwhile, the President also signed legislation combating the opioid crisis and achieved bipartisan prison reform that had eluded the grasp of politicians in both parties for decades.

The Presidents determination to fight for America culminated in his impassioned argument for true border security, including the border wall that Democrats have obstinately obstructed, to solve the humanitarian and security crisis on our southern border.

Despite the medias best efforts to demonize President Trumps State of the Union address and discredit his remarks, a vast majority of Americans approved of the address and its unifying message.

The reaction was so positive, in fact, that it even overwhelmed the efforts of the mainstream media to blame the president for the impasse over fully funding the government through the rest of the year.

Try as they might, the fake news media just cant turn the American people against Donald Trump when they dont control the way his America First message is presented.

Michael Glassner is chief operating officer of Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Amazon announcing it will not put one of its new North America headquarters in New York City is the latest in a bad run of events that raise the possibility that progressives have overplayed their hand. While progressives may be newly energized after electoral success in November's elections, they don't have the electoral mandate they believe they do, and they still have to answer how they intend to implement their ambitious agenda with little to show for themselves to date.

This negative news cycle began last week when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., unveiled her Green New Deal proposal, with confusion about what was actually introduced. Wildly ambitious in scope, seeking to shift entirely to zero-emission energy within a decade and provide good-paying jobs to all, it was confusing in part because of the publication of an early draft of an FAQ that didn't represent what was actually in the proposal. This fueled opponents' attacks on the program and left lawmakers and the media trying to figure out what had actually been proposed.

In the wake of the botched Green New Deal proposal was California's new governor, Gavin Newsom, announcing that the state no longer intends to complete high-speed rail between Los Angeles and San Francisco. The project had become too costly to justify. Worse yet, only a hard-to-justify-in-a-vacuum stretch of rail in the Central Valley will be completed, at considerable cost. This was exactly the kind of project that the Green New Deal advocates, and if deep blue, wealthy California can't make it happen, it's hard to imagine making the economics and the politics of similar projects work across the country.

Opponents of New York's deal with Amazon are surely cheering Thursday's news, but they're on shaky ground politically, given that the arrival of Amazon has consistently polled well with voters. Support for the Amazon deal has been highest among black and Latino voters, with white voters considerably more mixed, largely over concerns about overcrowding infrastructure and aggravating a housing crisis. It's not a stretch to argue that the political divide on the Amazon deal mirrors that of New York's Democratic gubernatorial primary last year, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's voters supporting the deal and challenger Cynthia Nixon's voters more divided on it.

All these news stories cast a shadow over the Democratic presidential primary, where most major declared candidates to date have raced to embrace policy proposals like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal offered up by progressives. It's debatable whether this will end up being a winning strategy.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, considered a moderate rather than a progressive in today's Democratic Party, continues to lead all early polling. While skeptics think that's based on name recognition more than anything else, at a similar early stage of the 2016 Republican presidential primaries Jeb Bush never polled higher than the teens. While it remains to be seen whether Biden's strong polling will hold up if he enters the race, Democratic voters are saying for now that they're open to the candidacy of an older moderate white man, and aren't necessarily looking for a strong progressive.

It's possible that one day the Democratic Party will be the party of people like Ocasio-Cortez. But a little historical perspective may be in order. Newt Gingrich was first elected to Congress in 1978 and didn't become Speaker of the House until 16 years later. It was a similar story for Paul Ryan, who was first elected to Congress in 1998. Political revolutions take time, and even if progressives are convinced they'll win in the end, in 2019 they're overplaying their hand.

- - -

Sen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is a portfolio manager for New River Investments in Atlanta and has been a contributor to the Atlantic and Business Insider.
Clean air is a fundamental constitutional right  in Pennsylvania, anyway.

In 2017, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a landmark decision that made clear the scope of the Commonwealths constitutional obligation to protect the environment. Consistent with this decision, Pennsylvania must take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and establish enforceable limits on climate pollutants. The most effective way to quickly take such action is to enact a proven cap-and-trade program.

Such a cap-and-trade program is not only critical to protecting the future of our planet  its already authorized under existing PA law.

Last November, Clean Air Council and more than 60 legal experts, environmental advocates and Pennsylvania residents filed a petition to establish a cap-and-trade program in Pennsylvania. The petition for rule-making and proposed cap-and-trade regulation was submitted to the Environmental Quality Board and will be reviewed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The petition is supported by a substantial legal and factual record, and DEP should adopt the proposed regulation as quickly as possible.

Only a handful of states specifically spell out environmental protections in their state constitutions. In Pennsylvania, Article I, Section 27 speaks directly to the peoples fundamental rights and the states duties:

The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment. Pennsylvanias public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the Commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.

The 2017 PA Supreme Court decision clarified the scope and meaning of this Environmental Rights Amendment. It was a win for generations to come, finally bringing Pennsylvanias legal precedent for environmental action in line with this direct and visionary language.

More than a year later, a cap-and-trade program is the natural and necessary next step for the commonwealth to fulfill its role as trustee in conserving and maintaining our natural resources. Cap and trade is a proven, bipartisan approach to tackling environmental challenges. It harnesses the power of the market to foster innovation and solutions that benefit industry, local communities and residents. One of the earliest effective uses of cap and trade was to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions in the early 90s. making acid rain far less of an environmental issue today.

The proposed cap-and-trade regulation targeting greenhouse gas emissions is modeled after programs already having a positive impact in other jurisdictions. It also would allow Pennsylvania to trade with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market-based program designed to reduce emissions for New England and Mid-Atlantic states. It aligns Pennsylvania with the emissions goals established by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, as defined in the Paris Agreement. Governor Wolf has shown leadership on this issue and recently signed an Executive Order that commits Pennsylvania to meeting the emissions targets of the Paris Agreement. Our cap-and-trade program fits perfectly into Governor Wolfs bold vision.

This commitment to international emissions targets sends a strong political message, but it has a real environmental impact as well. Our states greenhouse gas emissions are globally significant. In 2014, Pennsylvanias total emissions exceeded all but 21 countries of the world. Limiting these emissions cannot be delayed by political maneuvering, industry meddling or ideological purity. A proven, practical cap-and-trade program must be enacted.

There is no time to waste. The latest reports paint a bleak picture. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released a 728-page report indicating that we have only 12 years to make massive changes to global energy infrastructure to avoid devastating climate outcomes.

President Trump is working to dismantle our existing opportunities to take action at the federal level. He has snubbed the Paris Climate Accord, rolled back the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, and morphed EPA into an agency bent on systematically destroying basic environmental protections.

If we cannot count on our own federal government, we need leadership at the state level. Its time for Pennsylvania to take responsibility for our greenhouse gas emissions and do everything within our power to limit them. It is our duty, as much as our right.

--

Joseph Otis Minott, Esq., is the executive director and chief counsel for Clean Air Council
Amazons plan to build a new headquarters in Long Island City faced significant resistance. AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews

New York offered Amazon close to US$3 billion to build a second headquarters in Long Island City on the promise of 25,000 jobs.

Since the deal was joyfully announced in November, however, many local residents and some politicians in the area have been questioning whether its worth it, both in terms of the price tag and the impact on housing and traffic congestion. And on Feb. 14, Amazon backed out of the deal, citing political opposition to its plans.

The research supports those who question the wisdom of cities and states incentivizing economic development. Studies suggest the jobs and economic gains are usually not worth the tax breaks since the majority of companies would have come even without incentives.

And thats when the companies try to live up to the promises they made. They dont always do so, with the latest example being Foxconns announcement that it is reconsidering plans to build a factory in Wisconsin  less than a year after agreeing to create up to 13,000 high-tech jobs in exchange for more than $4.5 billion in incentives.

But how often do companies that agree to build factories and create jobs in exchange for economic incentives back away from their promises? And when they do, do taxpayers ever learn about it?

To shine light on these questions, we conducted a study of a Texas economic development program. Taxpayers in any American city considering luring a company with cash should take heed.

Something to hide?

The Texas Enterprise Fund, which started in 2003, allows the state to offer cash grants to companies in exchange for promises of investments and job creation. As of Jan. 1, the program had provided over $600 million in cash incentives to companies vowing to create over 94,000 direct jobs in Texas.

In our study, we submitted public records requests for company applications and agreements for grants. We wanted to see what companies had promised the state in return for the cash.

Our research led to two troubling findings. First, public record law in Texas allows companies themselves to legally challenge requests  which is controversial yet not uncommon among other states.

In our study, 42 out of the 165 recipient companies submitted legal challenges to our requests. Before even seeing the data, we were asking ourselves: What are these companies trying to hide?

Although companies were partially successful in limiting our requests, primarily in getting certain parts of their proposals redacted, the governors office ultimately provided us with a complete list of companies that had some amendment to their contracts.

To our surprise, over a quarter of companies in the program  or 46  had renegotiated their incentive deals with the state. These deals werent announced by the governors office nor were they reported anywhere online.

Our public records request is still unfolding and we still havent received the contracts for roughly two-thirds of these companies. For the 63 companies whose contracts we received, 29 had amendments to the original.

SpaceX and Comerica

Most of these amended contracts were designed to reduce companies commitments to job creation. Two cases in point are SpaceX and Comerica.

SpaceX  a company that designs, manufactures and operates commercial spacecraft  received a $2.3 million grant in 2013 in exchange for a commitment to create 300 jobs at a new launch facility near Brownsville, Texas. In 2017, however, the company secretly renegotiated its grant contract to halve the size of the deal: SpaceX would reduce its commitment to 150 new jobs in return for a grant of $1.15 million. The situation is still a mystery, however, because the fund hasnt paid any funds nor has SpaceX reported jobs as part of the program.

Comerica received $3.5 million in 2007 in exchange for its commitment to create 200 jobs as part of its plan to move its headquarters to Dallas from Detroit. In 2012, the financial services giant amended the contract to allow 15 of its current executives  including the CEO  to be counted towards the job and wage target as long they relocated to Texas.

In case after case, companies renegotiated grant contracts in similar ways to get a better deal, all while avoiding public scrutiny. In contrast, announcements of the original agreements were typically covered as big events and photo ops, such as when former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and SpaceX founder Elon Musk broke ground together.

Empty promises

Perhaps most disturbingly, our two findings  company challenges and renegotiations  were related.

We found that companies that had renegotiated their contracts were much more likely to have challenged our public records request, at almost double the rate.

This pattern is consistent with companies using public records laws to hide their non-compliance with their job creation promises.

The finding, even if limited to a single state, is troubling. If companies can not only secretly renegotiate the deals but also make sure that public records laws shield them from revealing that they did, then the contracts are meaningless. And we would argue that politicians are at the very least complicit with these private deals.

In the cases of New York and Virginia  the other state that received a new Amazon location as a part of its HQ2 bidding process  the agreements they signed requires them to notify the online retailer of any public records requests in order to give it the opportunity to legally challenge them.

More broadly, secrecy pervades the entire process of economic development. For example, during the many months-long competition to win HQ2, Wisconsin officials purposely routed their Amazon bid through agencies not subject to public records requests, emails show. And cities like Austin and Los Angeles submitted their bids through non-public entities like the Chambers of Commerce as a way to shield them from public scrutiny.

When public records arent public

Throughout the country we have observed exceptions to public records laws and creative ways government official can circumvent these laws.

And the costs of this lack of transparency can be high, as audits of economic development programs in New Jersey and New York show.

The scathing audit of New Yorks Excelsior Jobs Program found not only a lack of due diligence but also a staff that had changed the required number of jobs for companies that were falling short of their creation requirements. And this program would have also provided much of the incentives for Amazons HQ2.

In other words, after politicians stage photo ops of company announcements, little is done to make sure companies are complying with these agreements.

Now that Amazon has pulled a Valentines Day breakup with New York, its worth considering who is to blame.

We think that the governor and mayor seriously miscalculated by negotiating a secret deal with Amazon and then proposing it as a take it or leave it offer to New Yorkers. Amazon may claim that it dumped New York, but it looks like the break-up was mutual.

Nathan Jensen, Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin and Calvin Thrall, PhD Student in Business and Development, University of Texas at Austin

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Linda Thompson, who for much of her four years as the lightning rod mayor of Harrisburg seemed to wall herself off from much of the outside world, has opened every possible door and window in a new, self-published book.

Ultimately a celebration of Thompsons Christian faith life, the book - which Thompson will sign at the Goodwin Memorial Family Life Center in Harrisburg Tuesday - also touches on some excruciatingly personal topics including two abortions, a past period of drug use, and what appears to be a post-mayoral depression.

But Thompson declares herself doing well, and happy, now. She is running a new non-profit, Linda D. Thompson Ministries, serving part-time as associate minister at Harrisburgs Goodwin Memorial Baptist Church and working as an associate chaplain at Dauphin County Prison.

And she has completed this book: The Chief Editor.

Built around Bible passages that Thompson sees as having particular applications to her own life, the book is chock-a-block full of stories about the citys first black and first female mayor from a perspective weve never heard before: her own.

I see me in these pages (of Scripture), and so I write about it, she said.

Here are some highlights:

Thompsons love-hate relationship with the media.

Its no secret that Linda Thompson spent most of her mayoralty at open war with the press.

She doesnt really declare a truce in the book, either, repeatedly charging news organizations with rushing to print or broadcast with what she terms one-sided stories based on declarations from her political opponents or disgruntled former staffers.

In her book, she characterizes the press as one of the foxes, mostly unnamed, but identifiable opponents who she believes were arrayed against her. The media, in particular, she accuses of employing double-standards in coverage of her.

As an example, she cites a photo of her riding in a River Rescue boat through Shipoke in the wake of flooding from Tropical Storm Lee, in which Thompson took heavy criticism for wearing a business suit in what many saw as little more than a photo opp.

Thompson still chafes at the memory.

At that moment, she said, I needed to be out and assessing the damage to our city, she said Friday. I didnt keep a change of clothes, like jeans and boots, at the office. So I went out that day in what I wore. In his 28 years in office, Thompson said, she never remembered her mayoral predecessor Stephen Reed taking any flack for his wardrobe.

But she also makes a point of fondly remembering the late Patriot-News criminal justice reporter Pete Shellem, who Thompsons family worked closely with for years while they were battling for the release of her half-brother, Steven Crawford, in a 1970s homicide case.

Thompson identifies herself as the go-between between a tipster who knew of the discovery of long-suppressed evidence in Crawfords case and Shellem, whose reporting on the discovery put Crawfords quest for exoneration back in the public eye.

Crawford was eventually freed in 2002 with his conviction overturned and charges dropped after 28 years in prison.

Revealing, and regretting, two abortions.

In a searingly personal reckoning, Thompson writes about her teen years relationship with Harrisburg resident Ray George, with whom she had her only son during her junior year in high school.

What Thompson never revealed publicly before now was that she had aborted two other pregnancies before that time.

It was all out of fear and shame, she said in a Friday interview. I was fearful of my mother; fearful of my father; fearful of the shame, because in that era people were still adamant about not being pregnant in your teenage years.

Thompson writes in her book that she considers that to have been the worst of her sins, but that she also believes God has granted her forgiveness through her faith. She said she wanted to share that story because she knows there are other children in the same situation, and she wants them to know there can be redemption.

She is not against abortion rights, she added, in response to a question. Ive always said that is a decision between a woman, her doctor, and God, and I remain with that, Thompson said.

But having made that decision herself, she said, her main point to the youths of today is that abstinence is the best route, so no one has to make those panicky decisions.

Seeking forgiveness from not just God, but Perry County.

You might remember one of the quintessential Mayor Thompson moments: At a press conference meant to announce bulk waste disposal services for city residents, Thompson was asked if non-city residents could use the service too.

She, in a word, stepped in it. The mayor said she didnt think her constituents would take kindly to me allowing some scumbag to come into our city from Perry County and dump waste for free after he got paid to pick it up.

Her point was, she was angry about what she believed was an ingrained practice of illegal dumping in the city, by residents and non-residents, that she knew was lowering the quality of life in Harrisburg. She did not mean, she writes, to call all Perry Countians scumbags.

But her critics had a field day: In short order there were bumper stickers, t-shirts and even menu items mocking the statement, and the incident gave fresh momentum to Thompsons haters.

No matter how bad I felt for using those choice words, and tried to explain to the pubic what my intended words meant, it was a bad choice of words and at that moment I lacked temperance, Thompson writes.

I am sure the people Perry County were hurt with my words and felt like I was looking down on them, but I was not. Deep in my heart I felt bad for my choice of words and remain careful of how I describe a matter.

A front and center faith.

Thompson was taken to task by the ACLU and others for her regular insertion of her faith life in to the public square, including opening her staff meetings at City Hall with prayer, and a three-day call for fasting and prayer for the citys fiscal health.

She was never shy about sharing the rather regular visions she says she gets directly from God, often in dreams.

There were also complaints that she had gone so far with her values as to make City Hall a hostile workplace. Former staffers described incidents in which she allegedly made derogatory comments about then-City Controller Dan Miller, a political rival who is gay, and Jews who she had to work with as Mayor, for example.

Thompson never actually denied the words. Instead, she said her record shows a commitment to diversity:

I have a passion for all people and have surrounded myself with a diverse group of people, both in my personal and professional life, said Thompson. Those who have a relationship with me, both personally and professionally, know that I care about our city and all people."

In her book, however, the former mayor doubles down on her reliance on her God as her chief advisor, in all things.

I was not perfect but I did not deny Jesus at any time during my political walk... I needed to be guided by Gods wisdom, because me administration inherited the worst fiscal crises of any municipal government since the depression and I had no time to visit God in secret, Thompson writes in her book.

I never forced my spiritual beliefs on any one in my administration, she continues, nor in the community. We had God fearing and Jesus loving members within my administration, who participated and enjoyed our voluntary prayers.

Laid low by defeat.

Just as many outside observers were surprised by her they-said-itd-never-happen 2009 Democratic primary win over seven-term incumbent Reed, Thompson was shaken by her own primary defeat when she was seeking a second term in 2013.

Facing two white men in a minority-majority city, Thompson seemed to think that enough of her coalition would hold together to win. Instead, she placed third.

The worst was yet to come.

Thompson writes about meeting with the citys personnel director the following October to ask about the benefits she was due.

Mayor, you get nothing, was the response... Surely I was not expecting to lose my re-election. So when the time came to leave the Mayors office, I had not pension and no plan of action. As an elected official, Thompson notes, she didnt even qualify for unemployment.

There was a point, Thompson said, where she had less than $5 left in her bank account. The kindness of family, church members helped to pull her through.

Letting go of any and all pride allowed me to survive one of the lowest, and most difficult times of my life, Thompson wrote. The love and kindness I received from my dearest friends was... reinforcement of knowing that God makes promises and he keeps them and they are life-changing.

Eventually, Thompson writes, she came to see her work as mayor as an assignment that God did not intend to be long-term.

A savior for the city.

Thompsons one term as mayor ended with her being viewed as one of the most unpopular politicians South Central Pennsylvania has ever seen.

She received harsh criticism for ousting Reed-appointed schools superintendent Gerald Kohn, who many felt had taken steps to push the city schools - albeit slowly - in a positive direction.

Turnover in her own senior staff was epidemic.

Most of her term was marked by such gridlock with city council, and a mutual inability from either side to break the logjam over how to respond to the citys incinerator debt crisis, that state officials stepped in to place Harrisburg in receivership.

But Thompson points out that the resulting Harrisburg Strong plan that by most measures is helping the city reach a new level of stability, is based on the same foundation of leveraging key public assets that she and her advisors had always wanted to pursue.

She believes history will judge her kindly for her refusal to concede to a council majority that wanted Harrisburg to declare bankruptcy. As she puts it:

"I had run my race and finished it well. The Strong Plan was finished and we defeated our adversaries who fought relentlessly to try and prevent us from succeeding at creating a plan under my administration...

I admit I made some mistakes, and surely I acknowledged those mistakes, and took them before God, but my mistakes were not life threatening to the people I loved and were called to serve. In fact, the Thompson Administration made Harrisburg better and we kept a steady hand to the plow and got the big things done.

Living by grace.

As much as she could be a warrior in city hall, both as mayor and before that in two terms on city council, the theme that pervades Thompsons book is living a life full of grace and forgiveness.

She insists that thats a very genuine sentiment, albeit maybe one that she didnt let the public see enough of during her tenure as mayor.

From Chapter Six of Thompsons book, entitled "A More Excellent Way! LOVE!:

I travel throughout the community and come into contact with many who opposed me. These individuals made it a point to support and be a part of the nasty lies and attacks on my character. Today, I truly can smile from my heart and hold no grudges and unforgiveness toward them. It is my prayer that they do the same for me.

Life is precious and it should be filled with love.

Thompson, in the interview, said the book is her latest attempt to inspire and encourage others to find that grace. If it helps get her view of the Linda Thompson Era in Harrisburg out there in the process, so be it.

There will probably be some who will never like me, and I have no control over that," Thompson said. But for the rest, I wanted to explain myself, and I think I did.

Thompsons book launch celebration is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Goodwin Memorial Family Life Center, 2430 N. 3rd St., Harrisburg.
Its been nearly two weeks since a New Jersey man was found dead alongside Interstate 81 with a gunshot wound to the head.

Tyrone M. Shaw, 46, of Roselle Park, N.J. was found dead and bleeding from the head after 11 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4, along the shoulder of I-81 northbound near mile marker 75.4 in West Hanover Township, Dauphin County, state police said.

Dauphin County Coroner Graham Hetrick later confirmed that Shaw died from a gunshot wound, and his death was ruled a homicide.

Police said Shaws vehicle, a black GMC Yukon, was pulled to the side of the interstate with its hazard lights activated. Its rear driver-side tire was flat.

A state police trooper found Shaw lying on the ground between the passenger side of the vehicle and a guardrail. A passenger-side door was left open, state police Trooper Brent Miller said.

No suspects have been named.

Police seek information

State police are asking anyone with information about the killing to call 717-671-7500. A cash reward is available.

Investigators also are requesting video of the shooting scene that could have been recorded by commercial vehicles dashboard cameras because no PennDOT traffic cameras exist in the area.

The GPS coordinates for the shooting scene are 40.343439 latitude and -76.7438832 longitude. And state police said commercial vehicle companies should be able to use the GPS information to identify tractor-trailers that were in the area at the time of the shooting.
WILLIAMSPORT - A man with ties to the Harrisburg area has been found guilty of second-degree murder in a double homicide in Williamsport on Halloween night in 2016.

Joseph Coleman

Joseph Sentore Coleman Jr., 37, yelled "racist" at the all-white Lycoming County jury of nine women and three men after the verdict was read Friday.

His family and friends also were vocally upset with the verdict.

Coleman, an African-American who has family in the Harrisburg area and had been arrested there, was accused in the home invasion that resulted in the deaths of Shane Wright, 25, and his mother, Kristine Kibler, 50.

He also was found guilty of robbery, attempted robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. He was acquitted on two counts of third-degree murder.

Presiding Clinton County Senior Judge J. Michael Williamson granted a defense motion during the trial that dismissed a count of conspiracy to commit murder.

First Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade praised the effort of Williamsport police Agent Trent Peacock who he said went "beyond the call of duty" to collect evidence.

One of the key prosecution witnesses was Casey N. Wilson, who has pleaded guilty to third-degree murder for his role in the case. His plea agreement calls for a sentence of 25 to 50 years.

Defense attorney Robert Hoffa, who said there will be an appeal, attacked Wilson's credibility during the trial and in his closing argument.

Citing Wilson's extensive criminal record, he called him a "crime wave waiting to happen. You can't believe anything that comes out of his mouth."

Hoffa contended Wilson accompanied Jordan Adonis Rawls, 37, into the house in the 600 block of Poplar Street on Oct. 31, 2016, not his client.

Wade called ridiculous the defense claim Wilson had a motive to frame Coleman. Wilson is an "unsavory human being," he said, but testimony and DNA evidence placed Coleman in the house.

Rawls killed Wright and Kibler, the prosecutor said evidence showed. Rawls is scheduled to be tried in April on the same charges as Coleman.

The prosecutor cited two 9mm casings recovered at the scene and bullet found in Rawls' apartment came from the same gun, a ballistic expert testified. That gun has been recovered but was not introduced as evidence.

Testimony and evidence provides this account of crime:

Wilson needed money to pay off a debt so the three decided to rob Wright, with whom Wilson regularly smoked marijuana.

Wilson drove the other two to Poplar Street, went inside to make sure women and children were upstairs and the back door was unlocked.

He returned to the car and Rawls and Coleman went inside. Two shots were heard and Coleman later berated Rawlings for shooting the two.

Wright was found dead at the front door. Kibler was discovered alive at the top of the second-floor steps but she died three hours later.

Wright also had been struck on the back of the head with a .22-calber pistol that contained Coleman's DNA. A magazine from that gun was found partially under his body.

Williamson deferred sentencing pending completion of a presentence report. Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence.

Coleman still must be tried on three firearms charges that had been severed to prevent jurors from knowing he was a convicted felon.

A dispute with his former attorneys resulted in a mistrial in December on those counts.

Coleman also is awaiting sentencing in U.S. Middle District Court where he was found guilty in December of a charge of illegal possession of a weapon by a convicted felon.

That charge stemmed from the sale of a 9mm pistol in May 2014 and was unrelated to the homicide.
Kyle Yorlets was authentic, and, on Friday, he was remembered for that authenticity.

He was remembered by loved ones at a Carlisle funeral home, where they shared stories about their friend, who they said was an open-book, a confident musician and supportive companion, who valued long and often personal conversations.

Yorlets, a Nashville musician and Carlisle native, was killed last week in Tennessee. The 24-year-old frontman of the band Carverton was shot outside of his home.

For many at the Friday viewing, it was music that linked them to Yorlets. That was true for Elizabeth Williamson, who got to know Yorlets during his teenage years, when he still lived in Carlisle and played in a heavy metal band.

Williamson said she used to watch Yorlets band practice, and hed often pick her up before those sessions would begin.

During those rides, theyd sometimes share a laugh while singing the Justin Bieber song As Long as You Love Me.

It was on the radio like every time, she said, recalling their silly duets.

Williamson also remembered the way Yorlets interacted with her daughter, Hayley, who was just 2 years old when they first met.

She recalled a specific time when Yorlets attended one of Hayleys birthday parties and the young girl sprayed him with Silly String.

He said, She silly strung me," Williamson said, laughing. My daughter admired him. Im pretty sure he was her first crush.

Elizabeth Williamson was a friend of Kyle Yorlets. There was a full moon the day Kyle was born, so she got a tattoo with the date in his memory. Feb. 15, 2019. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com

Yorlets, with his distinct rock-and-roll style and matching confidence, was often popular with the opposite sex, said Preston Cook, a man described by many as Yorlets best friend.

Cook and Yorlets grew up together in the Carlisle area, and, when Yorlets moved to Nashville, Cook eventually followed.

There, they worked together at a restaurant. On the day Yorlets died, he failed to show up for a restaurant shift, Cook said.

Someone told Cook there had been an accident, and, then, he started running. He ran from the restaurant to Yorlets home. There, he was told that his best friend died.

Police said his death was the result of the actions of a group of five near-children, the youngest of them only 12-years-old.

Police have said that the juveniles were attempting to steal Yorlets vehicle when he was shot on a Thursday afternoon as he stood outside of his home.

Authorities have revealed the names of three of the five juveniles suspected in the shooting because they are charged with homicide and are over the age of 13.

They are Roniyah McKnight, 14, Diamond Lewis, 15 and Decorrius Wright, 16, police said. A 12-year-old girl and 13-year-old boy also were charged.

On Friday, however, Cooks focus mainly was on good memories of his friend and their shared interest in music. Cook is a guitarist in a band called Centralia Drive.

Preston Cook and Kyle Yorlets were best friends. Photo taken outside the visitation in Carlisle on Feb. 15, 2019. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com

At Cooks first live Nashville performance, Yorlets sang one of the songs. That was just one of the many happy memories that Cook shared.

He sang, and he killed it, Cook said.

Cook said Yorlets was weird, and the best friends often tried to out weird one another. It was a fierce but healthy competition, he said, remembering Yorlets 22nd birthday, when a group of friends hosted The Roast of Kyle Yorlets.

It was an event in which the friends took turns poking fun at one another, with Yorlets as their main target. Cook remembered just demolishing Yorlets during the roast.

He took it like an absolute champ, Cook said, pointing out that Yorlets came back at them with playful insults of his own.

Jon Cray, Carvertons crew chief, also remembered Yorlets for his playful ribbing.

He told a story about a cross-country tour he took with the band. During the tour, Cray drove a van that towed a trailer holding all of the bands equipment.

The van hit a large bump, and one of the band members joked that the trailer had unhitched. Cray, however, took the joke literally, slamming on the vans brakes.

The band members, got a laugh out of the quick stop and continued to heckle Cray about it for the rest of the trip.

Kyle was one of the instigators of that, Cray said.

Cray is a native of Dillsburg, but he and Yorlets didnt become good friends until they both moved to Nashville.

Cray was instantly taken with Yorlets frankness and willingness to discuss any topic, even those that are deeply personal.

He is Kyle, Cray said. There was nothing to hide.

On Friday, Cray often found himself in tears when talking to loved ones about the loss of Yorlets. To help himself and others cope, he brought along a cute puppy named Wicket.

It was like losing a best friend, he said of Yorlets death.

For the past two years, Crays family has taken the trip from Dillsburg to Nashville over the Thanksgiving holiday. There, they would rent a home and host a meal for Cray and all of his friends, including Yorlets.

During those meals, Crays father, Steve, also got to know and love Yorlets, he said Friday.

Like his son, Steve Cray said he valued Yorlets penchant for honest conversation.

If you met Kyle, you met the real thing, he said. Kyle was like a son to me because he sat at my table.

And at that table, Yorlets ate, Steve Cray said, remembering that he especially enjoyed Thanksgivings corn pudding. Steve Cray said hell always remember Yorlets with one giant fist and a fork in it, just shoveling it in.

In the days since his death, Yorlets has been mourned and remembered by many, both locally and in Tennessee. That includes by his band members and family members like his mother, Deb Yorlets of Dickinson Township.

"Everyone who met him was amazed and loved him, his mother said last week. Its just so senseless what has happened.

And earlier this week, dozens of teary-eyed loved ones gathered for a memorial service remembering Yorlets in his second home of Nashville.

In Carlisle on Friday, it was hard for Cook to describe what life without Yorlets will be like. In many ways, Cook said, his relationship with Yorlets was stronger than the ones he shares with his family.

He became my family, Cook said. He is the closet person that I ever had.
The filthy and deplorable home where eight children lived was described in detail by police in documents used to charged a Steelton couple with child endangerment.

Thursday, Steelton Police said they charged Jamie Himes, 29, and Jason Crawford, 35 with nine counts each of endangering the welfare of children, but said they were continuing their investigation. The children ranged from ages 1 to 10.

Court documents obtained Friday showed that police first went to their home in the 300 block of Spruce Street, Steelton, on Oct. 19, 2018. Charges against Himes and Crawford were filed on Feb. 7.

On the 19th, Himes was arrested earlier in the day on an unrelated outstanding warrant, so family members came to check on the kids. When they found them living in the reported conditions, they contacted police.

Officers arrived and found the house cold and eight of the children filthy and unkept, court records show.

One boy had a severe case of diaper rash, causing an infection that resulted him being admitted to the hospital for two days, police said.

The other seven children in the home all had severe cases of head lice, and had to have their heads shaved to treat the infestation.

Police described the home as follows:

The house had dog and human feces strewn about the home, and the downstairs toilet was not working. It was filled with feces.

The sink had a form of gelatin in it, and bugs were in the gelatin, and flying around. There was a hole in the roof, and black mold was growing in one of the bedrooms.

All the children had to be transported to the hospital for either lice or diaper rash, police said.

Police learned that some of the children were not attending school on a regular basis and had numerous unexcused absences.

When the eldest child came home from school, the child was transported to the hospital for precautionary measures.

The Steelton Codes office was called and the home was condemned, police said. Children and Youth services were present during the search and assisted in the investigation.
Just after lunch on Friday, Harrisburg resident Chris Anderson and his wife spotted an unusual sticker on a light post as they walked around downtown.

The teal sticker with a simple triangle design on it had the words Identity Evropa on it, and thats when Anderson grew concerned.

It was startling, kind of hard to believe, Anderson said. He remembered that he saw a post about stickers, which represent an alt-right group, on State Street earlier in the week, but didnt pay much attention to it.

After finding one in Riverfront Park, the pair split up and walked around State 2nd, Pine and other streets around the Capitol. Together together they found six stickers scattered on electrical boxes, trash cans and posts.

Luckily, the stickers came off pretty easily, leading Anderson to believe they had only recently been put on.

Its disconcerting to say the least, Anderson said. He and his wife live and work downtown, and Anderson walks in the area every day. He hadnt noticed any stickers until Friday.

Identity Evropes website describes itself as a group of patriotic American Identitiarians" who embrace their European culture and roots and believe they need to restore America.

The organization, which requires an application process to become a member and annual fees, claims to have a presence in major cities. They suggest any member who does not live in a metropolitan area can participate in events when they are held in cities.

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Identity Evropa as an organization attempting to recruit white college-aged men to attempt to make them the face of white nationalism.

Rather than denigrating people of color, the campus-based organization focuses on raising white racial consciousness, building community based on shared racial identity and intellectualizing white supremacist ideology, the SPLC states.

The organization is credited with helping fund the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer.

Thats not what we need, not what the city needs, not what central Pa. needs, Anderson said. It makes me angry more than anything else.

Anderson posted to the Midtown Harrisburg Facebook group with a photo of the sticker, prompting discussion and people making efforts to take the stickers down.

Up until now, Anderson said he hasnt seen any of these ideologies demonstrated around the city, short of the planned rallies that never drew in tons of people other than protesters.

We never feel like were not safe, Anderson said. He said in Harrisburg, cultural diversity is a strength of the city.

Harrisburgs a great place, Anderson said. Its gone through a lot of issues, its going through a lot of issues. It doesnt need this.

Harrisburg officials said they were looking into the stickers as of Friday afternoon.
A Virginia woman was charged with concealing a dead body after hiding her mothers corpse in their home for 44 days, authorities said Friday.

Jo-Whitney Outland, 55, of Bristol, Virginia, hid the corpse of Rosemary Outland, her 78-year-old mother, under 54 blankets in their southwest Virginia home, said Sgt. Steve Crawford of the Bristol police.

Crawford said a letter written by Jo-Whitney Outland that was found in the home indicated her mother died Dec. 29 and that she covered the body with blankets after failing to revive her with CPR. Outland then padlocked a door and refused to let relatives into the home, masking the scent of the decomposing body with 66 air fresheners as she slept next to the body, Crawford said.

Outland did not have an attorney Friday, according to court records. No one answered the phone at a number listed for her in public records.

"I've handled a lot of deceased people but nothing of this magnitude," Crawford said. "It's bizarre."

Crawford said the body was found after Rosemary Outland's nephew climbed through a window. Authorities said there is no indication of foul play in her death.

The Bristol Herald Courier reported the body had signs of decomposition, mummification and decay. According to the newspaper, Jo-Whitney Outland seemed to be staying at the home after her mother's death, although authorities found her at a relative's house.

Outland told police the reason she did not call anyone when her mother died was that she feared being arrested, Crawford said. Adult protective services had contact with the Outlands in the past, he said, although no charges were ever filed.

Outland was arrested Tuesday and charged with concealment of a body, a felony. She was released and is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 28.

Forty-four days in the house with a deceased person - what can you really say about that other than that you had to know that you had to call someone? Crawford said.
Author Adam Makoss book, Spearhead: An American Tank Gunner, His Enemy, and a Collision of Lives in World War II, tells the true story of tank gunner and Pennsylvania native Clarence Smoyer.

Smoyer and the rest of his tank crew engaged in a famed tank duel during the Allied push to take the fortified German city of Cologne in 1945. The showdown between the American and German tanks was recorded on film, and years later, Smoyer would meet Gustav Schaefer, the gunner of the German tank with whom he had fought.

Makos and Smoyer will both be in Harrisburg on Feb. 19 for a book launch and signing event at Midtown Scholar Bookstore. A demilitarized Sherman tank will also be in place during the event outside of the bookstore.

The event is free, and both Makos and Smoyer will be available for book signings and pictures. For details, visit the Midtown Scholar Bookstore website.
Milton Pearce Blake was born in Pauls Valley, Okla., on June 1, 1938, the second child of Ragna Elizabeth and Roger Blake. He passed away at 83 years of age on June 11, 2021 in the Pauls Valley home in which he had been born.
Patna: Expressing his grief over the death of 49 CRPF jawans in Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir who perished in the hands of a Pakistan-sponsored suicide bomber last Thursday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday condemned the latest act of terrorism on the Indian soil saying the nation must give a befitting reply to those promoting such heinous acts so the sacrifices of the martyrs dont go in vain.



https://www.patnadaily.com/index.php/news/14147-cm-others-pay-tribute-to-fallen-soldiers-from-bihar-at-patna-airport.html#sigProId6429381d58 View the embedded image gallery online at:

Announcing an ex-gratia payment of Rs. 11 lakh each to the families of the two slain jawans from Bihar along with an additional payment of Rs. 25 lakh each from the Chief Ministers fund for a total of Rs. 36 lakh each.

Furthermore, the government will provide support to the victims families in terms of education, marriage, and other such events so they never feel they were alone and realize that the entire Bihar was behind them in their times of needs.

The martyrs were earlier identified as Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Nand Kishore Yadav, Mangal Pandey, Ram Kripal Yadav, Prem Kumar, Dr. C P Thakur, Krishna Nandan Prasad Verma, Rana Randhir Singh, Nityanand Rai, opposition leader Tejaswi Yadav, other Bihar leaders and top bureaucrats were also present at the airport to pay their respect to the fallen soldiers.
This still image from a 2015 video presented as evidence by the U.S. Attorney's Office in federal court in Boston shows a scene from a rap video made to motivate Insys Therapeutics sales representatives to get doctors to prescribe higher doses of the company's highly addictive fentanyl spray. Company founder John Kapoor and four other former executives are charged with scheming to pay physicians to induce them to prescribe higher doses. (Insys Therapeutics/U.S. Attorney's Office via AP)
Patna: Reacting angrily and understandably so, thousands of people representing various organizations took to the streets of Patna on Friday to demand revenge against Pakistan following the terrorist attack in Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir last Thursday that left at least 49 CRPF jawans left and scores injured.



https://www.patnadaily.com/index.php/news/14146-patna-erupts-with-anti-pakistan-protests.html#sigProIdd447af80f9 View the embedded image gallery online at:

India must give a befitting reply to Pakistan that continues to train, harbor, and promote terrorism in India. This cannot go on any longer and Prime Minister Narendra Modi must react with equal force to avenge the death of our martyrs who sacrificed their lives to keep us safe from Pakistani terrorists, said a youth leader of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

Gathering at Patnas Kargil Chowk near Gandhi Maidan, dozens of groups burnt the effigy of Pakistans Prime Minister and Pakistani flag chanting Khoon ka badla khoon, and Pakistan Murdabad. Some took out candle-light march to honor the slain soldiers.

At Bihar Assembly Bhawan, NDA legislators paid homage to the martyrs by holding candles in their hands.

Children at Tender Heart International School also took part in a candle-light vigil to pay their tribute to the fallen soldiers.
Patna: With allegations of attempting to provide protection to those involved in the Muzaffarpur shelter home abuse case, a special court in Delhi on Friday ordered a CBI probe against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and two senior government officials to find out if the charges against the CM were, in fact, true.

Acting on a plea by one Ashwini Kumar, a para-medical man, judge Manoj Kumar of a special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Delhi on Saturday ordered a CBI probe against former Muzaffarpur District Magistrate (DM) Dharmendra Singh, senior IAS officer Atul Kumar Singh, and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

As reported, Ashwini Kumar had told the authorities that it was at the behest of former DM, senior IAS officer, and chief minister Nitish Kumar, he gave shots to young girls at the shelter home to keep them sedated while they were raped or physically abused by the shelter home officials and other people in high places, a charge strongly denied by all those named in the case.

Hearing in the case is expected to begin sometime next week.

So far no comment from the Chief Minister or the other two named in the CBI case.
Patna: After a day of anarchy that included blocking of railroad tracks in Patna followed by police-protestors clash on Thursday, the Central government bowed under pressure and announced a change in its railways recruitment testing policy that would no longer require the Group D test candidates to have a certification from ITI or NCT as a prerequisite.

{gallery}newsimages2018/feb/022218{/gallery}In a tweet made on Thursday, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced the change in the recruitment policy surrendering to the demands of the candidates who had been protesting in Bihar for the past week or so for dropping the prerequisite that asked the candidates to have ITI or NCT certification.

It may be recalled that earlier this week, the government also decided to roll back on the age limit for the Group D test raising it from 28 to 30.

As reported, the railway ministry had earlier reduced the age limit from 31 to 28 thus raising the ire of students across the state.

While senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took credit for changing the mind of the Indian Railways on the age issue, it was Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi patted himself on the back saying it was he who had requested the Railway Minister to drop the ITI requirement as a prerequisite for appearing in Group D recruitment test.

Modi, congratulating Goyal for his decision, said the change would help thousands of students in Bihar.

Meanwhile, it was a day of chaos and anarchy at the railway track near Bahadurpur in Patna on Thursday where hundreds of irate students blocked the track for hours demanding a change in the test policy. They also burnt tires on the tracks causing Katihar Intercity Express to be stranded for more than two hours.
Patna: Police in Patna, during a routine vehicle check at Dak Bungalow crossing on Thursday, recovered Rs. 50 lakh in cash from the possession of two men.

According to the police report, when the police opened a large black bag from the car of the two men, they found several bundles of cash neatly bundled in packs of Rs. 2000 for a total of Rs. 50 lakh.

The men, who were identified as Ajit Kumar and Pawan Kumar were taken to the nearby Kotwali police station where they were being grilled about the large amount of cash found in their vehicle.

The two, however, denied any illegality saying they were the employees of private bank RBL and were carrying the money from Patna to the bank's branch in Gopalganj.

Both Ajit and Pawan said that it was not uncommon for the bank to carry large amount of cash in inconspicuous cars to avoid being identified by criminals.

Authorities have informed the income tax department and are also verifying the story of Ajit and Pawan.
If you are up-front about your experience of either addiction, or lets say marginalized sexuality, and you spend a lot of time with Christians from Orthodox or Eastern Catholic churches, eventually somebody will tell you to pray to Mary of Egypt. This is probably a good idea (look at this lady! Do you want to get in her way? Neither does sin) and I do it every night; and yet I am pretty ambivalent about her story, and want to suggest a couple cautionary notes about its contemporary deployment.

# A of all, what was Marys deal? This page gives the story as I hear it most often:

She began her life as a young woman who followed the passions of the body, running away from her parents at age twelve for Alexandria. There she lived as a harlot for seventeen years, refusing money from the men that she copulated with, instead living by begging and spinning flax. One day, however, she met a group of young men heading toward the sea to sail to Jerusalem for the veneration of the Holy Cross. Mary went along for the ride, seducing the men as they traveled for the fun of it. But when the group reached Jerusalem and actually went towards the church, Mary was prohibited from entering by an unseen force. After three such attempts, she remained outside on the church patio, where she looked up and saw an icon of the Theotokos. She began to weep and prayed with all her might that the Theotokos might allow her to see the True Cross; afterwards, she promised, she would renounce her worldly desires and go wherever the Theotokos may lead her.

So first of all I will make the extremely obvious point that if you tell gay people we should have some special connection to Mary of Egypt it sounds like youre saying being gay is inherently a condition of excessive sexuality. This is a traditional position in the Church and it fosters, in my opinion, the characteristic Christian mistake of reading homosexuality as a problem in the sex drive, where the remedy is heterosexuality, instead of a problem in ones same-sex longings and desires, where the remedy is living ones same-sex loves chastely. But beyond any theological problems, I am not convinced that a gay woman who has had (for example) two sexual partners in her life, both of which were within long-term relationships, is really gonna relate all that well to Mary of Egypt simply because shes gay.

Sarah at A Queer Calling put this whole situation so sharply in her lovely post about choosing St. Photini as her patroness:

After hearing the names of these two saints repeated one after the other for weeks, I finally asked someone, Why do you think so many people are advising that I take either St. Mary of Egypt or St. Mary Magdalene as my patroness? Seemingly puzzled by my lack of insight, he replied, Because theyre both women who repented of serious sin. Having spent years reading and learning about the lives of the saints, I pressed further, Thats true for many holy men and women the Church recognizes. Whats so special about St. Mary of Egypt and St. Mary Magdalene in that regard? He took a moment to stare at his shoes. Then, in a muted tone he spoke, They repented and overcame their passions. They asked God to rid them of lustful desiressomething like what youre doing with celibacy. I walked away from this interaction without saying much more.

more

# Since Mary didnt get that money, she was not a sex worker. Was she a sex addict?

One of the definitions of addiction which Ive found most illuminating in my own recovery is, persistence in a compulsive behavior in spite of negative consequences. Addiction is that feeling of being desperate not to drink, as you walk the familiar route to the liquor store. Addiction is drinking even when it isnt fun anymorewhen the liquor which used to make you more social now keeps you isolated, when what used to make you overcome your fears now keeps you trapped and terrified, and you go back to it anyway, getting no reward, hoping this time will be different, this time it will work again, and it keeps not working.

As far as the hagiographers are concerned, Mary suffered no negative consequences from her sexual appetites right up until that day she tried to venerate the Cross. Her hagiography may be punctuated with troubling silences (why do girls run away at age 12?) but at least from the legend that has been handed on, she enjoyed the Hell out of her sins. And practically the instant sin kept her from something she wanted, she stopped!

The characteristic experience of addiction, the source of all its demoralization and despair, doesnt seem to be an experience Mary had.

# Which brings us to that moment when an unseen force keeps her from entering the church. You know what unseen force usually keeps sinful people from coming into church? The Devil.

Probably the worst period of my alcoholism was when I stopped going to Confession. Shame and hopelessness almost kept me from church entirely. What kept me going was a combination of numb habit and the knowledge that missing Sunday Mass, at least, was a mortal sin. (Youve gotta love Catholicsswilling a handle of bottom-shelf bourbon, frantically Googling is epiphany a holy day of obligation.) And I cant tell you how grateful I am that God got me over that threshold, awful hungover evening after evening.

I love the 12 Steps, you guys know this about me, but all my memories of meetings are about sitting in a room while people tell their stories, thinking, All these people are better than me.

Its too easy to tell Marys story in a way that suggests we are right when we think were too soiled and selfish, too damaged and disgusting to come to Christ.

# And yet I do pray to her all the time; I love her. You guys know that Im reticent on the subject of my own *~*struggles with chastity*~* and boy howdy, Im not planning to change that, but I do in fact need and resort to the patroness of the sexually-chaotic. Shes the patroness of sleazoids; and so talking about how much you love her offers a salutary humiliation. I like that we have a saint where all you have to do is say that you have a special devotion to her and people are all like, Ohhhhhh.

# There are deeper readings of her story, in which its a story about hunger. That insatiable hunger for sex or for men isnt the opposite of her life abandoned to God in the desert. Its the foreshadowing of her desert life. Only God could meet that giant hunger. Her capacity for sin was her capacity for lovea desire so strong that once it found its proper object, it could only become spectacular holiness.

Or maybe her hunger was always a fear that she could not be okay on her own. In the desert God tells her, You have all you need. This fear of being without the shelter of otherswithout their approval, without their physical presence, (frankly) without their health insuranceis something I think a lot of people nowadays can relate to. In the desert God tells Mary, Youll never spend another night without a Lover.

# The troparion honoring Mary in the Orthodox Church begins with a line which can act as antidote, I hope, to any readings of Marys story which would turn hagiography into self-harm: The image of God was truly preserved in you, O mother,/For you took up the Cross and followed Christ. But of course she bore the image of God even before she took up her cross; and here we find our hope.

The image of God is preserved in you. God has prepared salvation for you, even when you turn away from it because you dont deserve it or cant imagine it. Even now, the image of God is preserved in you.

Picture of an icon of Mary of Egypt via Wikimedia Commons.
100 years ago

Feb. 16, 1919: Marion Arnold left his Tennessee home to fight in the Spanish-American War in 1898. That was the last time he saw his sister, and they lost touch. But now  20 years later  they have been reunited in Bloomington. He ran a Pantagraph want ad and that did the trick.

75 years ago

Feb. 16, 1944: Republican Wendell Willkie has thrown his hat into the ring for president. Born in Indiana, he was the Republican nominee in 1940 after switching from the Democratic Party in 1939. And, of course, he lost to President Roosevelt.

50 years ago

Feb. 16, 1969: Marine First Lt. John Prombo has been killed in Vietnam. He taught at Atwood High School near Monticello, as does his wife. The Prombos are both ISU graduates, as are his brother and both parents. The family asks donations be made to ISUs Bellarmine Center.

25 years ago

Feb. 16, 1994: The Unit 5 school board named Jerry Crabtree as principal of Normal West High School. West is a long way from completion and wont open until 1995. Crabtree is principal of nearby Parkside Junior High and will know a lot of the students when they move on to West.

Compiled by Jack Keefe; jkeefe@coldwellhomes.com.
The structure of the U.S. Constitution assumes that the electoral process  aka politics  is the primary means of holding federal officials accountable to the people. Which is why President Trumps tweet storm assailing the House of Representatives oversight hearings as presidential harassment is wrong as a matter of constitutional law.

The hearings inform our politics and reflect them; in this case, who won the midterm.

To be sure, we can all buckle our seat belts in anticipation of fiery probes of all things Trump by the now Democratic-controlled House. The top target: the cozy relationship between the president and Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the possibly nefarious reasons behind it. That it is also the stuff of special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation in no way removes it from congressional scrutiny.

There are also Trumps elusive tax returns to look into, the financial ins and outs of the Trump Organization, the administrations disparate handling of hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, the family separations and juvenile deaths at the southern border  among umpteen other matters.

Any one of these could undoubtedly have already drawn congressional oversight under more normal administrations. The fact that Congress is roaring back to life is a good thing  for both democracy and We the People.

In the Constitutions separation-of-powers design, members of Congress and the president are held accountable by the people at the ballot box. Those within the presidents chain of command  including military personnel and federal agency bureaucrats  are accountable to the people through him, too, because he hires and fires them.

A sitting president may also be held accountable through the courts, but the judicial branch is not tethered to popular will. Federal judges are appointed for life on the theory that the people fare better if courts make decisions based on individualized facts and the applicable law, not on politics or the prospects of reelection. But if these judges get things wrong, the people cant fire them.

Moreover, relying on federal courts and especially the Supreme Court to judge contentious executive rules and actions is laborious and its outcome  a decision that determines the meaning of the Constitution  is inflexible. And when it comes to potential criminal behavior, there are those who contend that the Constitution doesnt allow indictment of a sitting president.

So its best that Congress be the one to grade the presidents papers, so to speak, but are there limits?

Just ask the new attorney general of the United States, William Barr. He gave an answer to this question in a memorandum prepared back in 1989, when he was an assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel  the elite unit of the Department of Justice that advises the president on constitutional matters  under President George H.W. Bush.

Barr argued  I think properly  that the constitutional role of Congress is to adopt general legislation that will be implemented  executed  by the executive branch, and that this general legislative interest gives Congress investigative authority. In other words, Congress can investigate because it can legislate.

As a matter of practice, the president can try to evade a congressional investigation with a claim of executive privilege. The theory behind the claim is that candor among the presidents advisers is a good thing. If a presidents confidants know that what they say can be flashed before the public in a congressional hearing or otherwise, they may not be willing to speak up  and a lack of frankness would be bad at the helm of the executive branch.

But executive privilege is not absolute. Back to Barrs memo: The Constitution nowhere expressly states that the President, or the executive branch generally, enjoys a privilege against disclosing information requested by the courts, the public, or the legislative branch. The need for candor must give way to the greater public interest, which includes  and on this Barr quotes the Supreme Court  the possibility that such conversations will be called for in the context of a criminal prosecution.

Ideally, where Congress has a legitimate need for information, and the executive branch has a legitimate, constitutionally recognized need to keep certain information confidential, the two branches will try to accommodate each other  an unlikely outcome in our toxically polarized political climate.

Which brings us back to the harassment versus appropriate oversight dance going on in Washington now. When is an executive branch refusal to play ball as legitimate or more legitimate than Congress need for information?

There is no black-and-white legal answer to this question. But we can be sure that claims of executive privilege are not a shoo-in. Its undeniable that questioning acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker about goings-on at the Department of Justice could help Congress decide whether to pass legislation making it harder to dismiss a special counsel.

Additionally, the 17 known potentially criminal investigations of Trump-related matters provide a strong rationale for a congressional peeking behind the curtain. And indeed, if those who believe that a president cannot be constitutionally indicted by a grand jury  and thus ultimately cannot be tried before a federal judge  are correct, congressional oversight would be the sole option for ensuring the presidents fidelity to the voters interests.

So, no, House Democrats are not going nuts, to use the presidents word. The hearings scheduled arent unprecedented, despite tweets to the contrary. And rather than harassment, robust congressional oversight represents the best way to scrutinize the actions of this or any administration.

Wehle is a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. Kathleen Parker is on vacation; her column returns next week.

Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
JOLIET  The discovery of cracks in steel beams along Lake Shore Drive this week raised alarms about other problem bridges.

Two of the worst bridges in the state are along Interstate 80, crossing the Des Plaines River in Joliet, a rapidly developing area in Will County with heavy interstate truck traffic and distribution centers for companies like Amazon and Dollar Tree.

A prolonged shutdown of the bridges would be economically devastating. Joliet Mayor Bob ODekirk on Thursday said he is asking the citys public safety officials to begin working with county, state and federal authorities to establish a specific plan of action in case of a partial or complete failure of the structures.

He is also pressing lawmakers for emergency funding to repair and replace the bridges. ODekirk warned that unless the Illinois or U.S. departments of transportation give the city a definitive plan for funding and repairing the bridges in the near future, he will order a diversion of vehicles away from it, warn motorists of potential dangers and advise on alternative routes.

Do I think the bridge is going to fall in the river tomorrow, no, but these (IDOT) reports are pretty alarming, said John Greuling, president and CEO of the Will County Center for Economic Development. There are a lot of local folks who are concerned about this.

IDOT said in a statement that short-term repairs for the bridges are planned for this spring, and that the bridges are safe for travel and do not need to be closed. The bridges are inspected every three months.

The bridges were built in 1965 and reconstructed in 1998. The westbound section has an overall rating of 6 out of 100, the lowest for an interstate in the Chicago area, according to Illinois Department of Transportation records. The eastbound section scores a slightly higher 7.4. Both bridges together carry 85,400 vehicles per day.

The I-80 bridges are among 400 out of 3,460 bridges in the six-county area, or about 12 percent, deemed structurally deficient, meaning they are in need of repair or possible replacement.

The trucking industry is concerned that the state might decide to limit weight on I-80 over the Des Plaines River, which authorities sometimes do to relieve stress on aging infrastructure, said Matt Hart, executive of the director of the Illinois Trucking Association.

If truck weights are limited more than they are now, more trucks will be needed. Hart noted this would add to the cost of carrying goods.

There are also serious problems along other I-80 bridges from I-55 to I-294, according to IDOT records. The Briggs Street bridge over I-80, for example, gets a rating of 2 out of 9 for its superstructure. A rating of 1 would result in the bridge being closed.

IDOT is planning maintenance and improvement projects for several I-80 bridges, according to spokesman Guy Tridgell. A project that will start this spring will make structural steel and bearing repairs on the bridges over the Des Plaines River at an estimated cost of $5 million. Tridgell said lane closures for the work will be temporary and overnight.

Repairs for the 54-year-old Briggs Street bridge, which sees about 13,600 vehicles daily, are planned in about five years, at a cost of $3.5 million.

Next year, the department plans to rehabilitate and/or replace eastbound I-80 bridges east of the Des Plaines River at Chicago Street, Gardner Street/BNSF Railroad, Richards Street, Hickory Creek and Rowell Avenue/CN Railroad in Will County, at a cost of $47 million, Tridgell said. Westbound bridges will be scheduled for rehabilitation or replacement within the next couple of years, Tridgell said.

Bridges are not the only problem along I-80. The stretch of interstate, built in the 1960s, is too narrow for the amount of traffic it gets, with two lanes of traffic in each direction, said Mary Craighead, transportation policy analyst at the lllinois Economic Policy Institute, a think tank whose board members represent the construction industry and labor unions. A lot of the roadway does not have shoulders, and sharp curves require slow speeds, Craighead said.

The 16-mile stretch of I-80 near Joliet witnessed 37 fatal crashes between 2001 and 2016, Craighead found.

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning called I-80 improvements critical in its On to 2050 regional transportation proposal.

IDOT is finishing a multiyear study this year that will come up with a more comprehensive solution to I-80s needs between Minooka and New Lenox, including a new Des Plaines River bridge, Tridgell said. The total price of the improvements, which would be done in phases, is expected to be more than $1 billion.

IDOTs plan could take more than a decade to build, and Will County officials want it quicker. The Will County Center for Economic Development has formed the I-80 Coalition of government, business and labor leaders to push for significant progress in completing the improvements by 2023, Greuling said.

IDOT has to figure out how to pay for it, along with all the other work it needs to do. The departments current multiyear program has $2.6 billion in bridge maintenance funding to be spent over the next six years, far less than the estimated $10 billion in present-day needed bridge repairs, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Transportation agency officials and construction companies are hoping for a capital bill out of Springfield for the first time in a decade, to help pay for the backlog of needs for bridges, roads and public transit.

One financing strategy for I-80 could involve tolls, which does not sit well with the trucking association. Hart compared the tolls to a homeowner paying rent on his own house.

We think it would be absolutely horrible to take a public roadway the public already paid for, and charge rent on it, he said.

Another way to pay for infrastructure is an increase in the gas tax, which hasnt been raised in Illinois since 1990. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some suburban leaders have called for a 20- to 30-cent per gallon hike.

Adding to the problems of aging infrastructure is the changing climate, which can cause temperature extremes and flooding.

Steel beams on the Lake Shore Drive bridge cracked as a result of corrosion exacerbated by a big swing in temperature from -23 degrees to 51 between late January and early February, according to Chicago officials.

Craighead said the state may want to consider more inspections after big weather events. The Chicago Department of Transportation and IDOT are planning checks of bridges with structures similar to the Lake Shore Drive bridge.

A lot of our roads and ridges are really old and cant handle what our climate realities are, Craighead said.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0
SPRINGFIELD  A bill to raise Illinois minimum wage to $15 by 2025 needs only Gov. J.B. Pritzkers signature to become law, and his office said he stands ready to act in the coming days.

Today is a resounding victory for the 1.4 million Illinoisans who will soon get a hard-earned and well-deserved raise, Pritzker said in a news release Thursday, the day the House's 69-47-1 for the raise. After nearly a decade of delay, I applaud the House and Senate for passing a living wage with the fierce urgency this moment requires.

Progressive caucus: A group of House Democrats have formed an official caucus they say will champion a liberal agenda to provide a better direction for Illinois.

Among their legislative priorities are increasing the states minimum wage to $15 per hour, legalizing recreational marijuana and reforming campaign financing.

The Progressive Caucuss 16 members, most of whom are from Chicago and the suburbs, also plan to consider other initiatives, such as a progressive income tax and expansion of Medicare.

Abortion law: A bill overhauling Illinois abortion law and replacing it with a more liberal version has wide Democratic support in the House.

The Reproductive Health Act, proposed by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, would protect individual decision-making.

Under the proposed legislation, private health insurance companies operating in Illinois would need to cover abortion procedures without implementing any restrictions or delays on the coverage.

This would expand a law signed by former Gov. Bruce Rauner, which allowed tax dollars to be spent on abortion procedures through Illinois Medicaid and and state employee health insurance programs.

Other legislation, Senate Bill 1594, would repeal the Parental Notification of Abortion Act.

Adjutant general: The Illinois National Guard welcomed a new leader Friday, when Air National Guard Col. Richard Neely was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became the states 40th adjutant general.

He succeeds Maj. Gen. Richard J. Hayes, who is retiring.

Neely, 52, said that his top priorities as adjutant general will be to focus on making sure units are combat ready, supporting the National Guards personnel and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the units.

Divorced parents: Fathers rights advocates are making another attempt this year to push for a change in Illinois family law that sparked immense controversy in 2018: equal parenting time legislation.

State Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, is the lead sponsor of a bill that would create a rebuttable presumption in divorce cases that both parties should be given equal parenting time with any children of that marriage.

It would also require that when judges in divorce cases deviate from the standard, they explain in writing why they decided one parent should have more time with the children than the other.

That would be a sharp departure from the current legal standard in Illinois, which allows judges wide discretion to assign custody and parenting time in a way that reflects the best interests of the child.

Identity theft: Thirty-one state attorneys general, including Illinois Kwame Raoul, are advocating for tougher safeguards against identity theft in the Federal Trade Commissions rulebook.

In 2017, 16.7 million U.S. consumers were victims of identity fraud and theft totaling $16.8 billion, according to a letter sent to the FTC by the attorneys general.

These numbers are so high, they write, because not only are consumers increasingly unaware of just where their information is, but because identity thieves can so easily collect consumer data from broad breaches.

Underfunded pensions: Gov. J.B. Pritzkers administration is putting together what it calls a comprehensive plan to restore the states pension system to financial health that might include issuing up to $2 billion in new debt and selling off state-owned real estate.

Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes discussed those ideas Thursday in a speech to the City Club of Chicago, an organization made up of prominent business, civic and government leaders in the Chicago area.

In addition to issuing bonds and selling assets, Hynes said the administration hopes to earmark a portion of the governors proposed new graduated income tax to fund increased payments into the pension funds, extending an optional pension buyout program that lawmakers authorized last year, and extending the period for paying down the states unfunded pension liabilities by an additional seven years.

The states pension systems have a combined $134 billion in unfunded liabilities.

Gun laws: A bill introduced in the Illinois House would add several layers of state regulation to the production and distribution of 3D-printed and home-assembled guns and parts.

State Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, filed House Bill 2253, which would penalize as a Class 2 felony the possession of a firearm without a serial number that has been 3D-printed or self-assembled; distribution of downloadable firearm printing instructions unless the distributor performs background checks and procedures consistent with a legal gun transaction, and unlawful manufacture of a firearm without a serial number.

Lincoln heritage area: On Abraham Lincolns 210th birthday, his home states two U.S. senators advanced a bill to expand the Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois.

Sens. Tammy Duckworth, D-Hoffman Estates, and Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, said in a news release The Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area Amendment Act, which passed the Senate as part of the Natural Resources Management Act, will add Livingston County, the city of Jonesboro in Union County and the city of Freeport in Stephenson County to the heritage area.

U.S. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican from Illinois 16th District, has introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House.

The existing Lincoln National Heritage Area was established in 2008 and consists of 42 central Illinois counties stretching from the Indiana border to the Mississippi River. This bill would expand it to 43 counties and the communities of Freeport and Jonesboro.

The site generates approximately $260 million in economic impact, supports more than 3,000 jobs and generates $25.5 million in tax revenue.

Brookfield Zoo: Officials from Brookfield Zoo in the suburban Chicago area said Wednesday they will ask the state to help fund an estimated $260 million in needed upgrades and repairs as lawmakers consider a larger statewide capital improvements bill.

Backed by a coalition of environmental and education advocates, zoo officials said that without state funding, the zoo is in danger of having to cut back on its hours of operations and some of its educational programs, as well as raise the cost of admission.

Officials said the aging facilities, which date to the 1930s, have deteriorated, leading to leaky roofs and gas lines, failing electrical systems, potholes, buckled pavement and inadequate exhibits.

Officials said the Brookfield Zoo attracts about 2 million visitors a year, making it the busiest ticketed visitor attraction in the state.

Criminal justice reforms: Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday named Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton to lead a new office that will coordinate the administrations criminal justice reform initiatives, especially prison reform.

In an executive order, Pritzker established what hes calling the Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative, or JEO, which will centralize and coordinate criminal justice reforms across a number of different state agencies, with particular emphasis on the states prison system and sentencing guidelines.

Pritzker noted the state spends roughly $1.3 billion a year for the Illinois Department of Corrections, which houses about 43,000 inmates in a prison system designed to hold only about 32,000.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
BLOOMINGTON  A 30-year-old Bloomington man was convicted Friday of three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault that could send him to prison for 180 years when he is sentenced in April.

A jury deliberated about six hours over two days before returning guilty verdicts against Jamar Correa.

During two days of testimony, the jury heard testimony from the minor girl identified in the rape charges, and a second girl linked to a pending McLean County sexual abuse case against Correa.

Judge Casey Costigan revoked Correa's $1 million bond after the verdicts.

In her opening statement on Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney Erika Reynolds said the girl was sexually assaulted by Correa after he became involved with the girl's mother about eight years ago.

The child "began living a nightmare" after the two adults struck up a romance, said the prosecutor.

Correa's history of child sexual abuse includes substantiation of sexual assault and abuse charges involving a minor when he was a teenager, according to court testimony, and another abuse case pending in Kane County.

Jurors watched a video of Correa's interview with a Bloomington police detective in which the suspect denied the accusations.

Correa testified Thursday, again denying he had raped or molested the girls.

"I wasn't raised to even begin to think to do something so vile. My heart's not capable of doing something so grisly and disgusting," said Correa, a registered sex offender.

Correa talked about his temporary stays with people in Milwaukee, Aurora and Bloomington. He admitted to using a Bloomington address to satisfy an obligation to McLean County probation on a charge unrelated to the rape case, but denied he was ever at the home with the victim.

The state challenged Correa's claim, pointing out records that indicate he gave a probation officer a tour of the residence.

After the verdict, Correa's mother assured her son that an appeal will be filed.

"Hold your head up baby, because it's not over," she said as Correa was led from the courtroom.

The state's attorney's office issued a statement after the verdict: We are very pleased that the jury returned a guilty verdict against the Defendant. The entire Bloomington Police Department, including Detective John Heinlen, conducted a thorough and excellent investigation. The verdict is a positive step towards seeking justice for the victim and safety for the community.

Contact Edith Brady-Lunny at (309) 820-3276. Follow her on Twitter: @pg_blunny

Sign up for our Crime & Courts newsletter Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
NORMAL  Artist Wonsook Kim will receive an honorary degree from Illinois State University as part of its annual observance of Founders Day on Thursday.

In addition to honoring Kim, the university also will recognize faculty, staff, students and alumni during its Founders Day Convocation at 2 p.m. Thursday in the newly renovated Brown Ballroom at the Bone Student Center.

Among awards to be presented are University Professor, Distinguished Professor, Outstanding Teacher and Researcher, and administrative/professional and Civil Service Distinguished Service honors.

The celebration will start with the traditional Founders Day Bell Ringing Ceremony at 10 a.m. in the Brown Ballroom.

The ballroom also will contain displays highlighting ISU's history and academic mission from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Kim was born in Busan, Korea, in 1953 and came to the United States in 1972 to study fine arts at ISU, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees. Her work is in public collections that include the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla.; University Galleries at ISU; National Museum of Women In the Arts, Washington, D.C.; National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; and the Vatican Collection, Vatican City.

Her work has been featured in prominent exhibitions of new figurative art such as Episodes at Grace Borgenicht Gallery and Illustration and Allegory at Brooke Alexander. She has had one-person exhibitions in Chicago, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hamburg, Paris, Seoul, Bologna, Sofia, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo, among other cities.

While studying at ISU, professor Harold Boyd encouraged her to develop the autobiographical nature of her art. In the early 1990s, artwork by Kim and Boyd was featured in a University Galleries exhibition, The Spirits Descending.

She has maintained strong ties to ISU, establishing the Wonsook Kim Scholarship Endowment in 2015, and delivering a commencement address to the College of Fine Arts in 2004.

Kim works and resides in New York and Bloomington, Ind., with her husband, Thomas Clement.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Stay up-to-date on what's happening Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
NORMAL  For Normal Mayor Chris Koos, Amazon's investment in Rivian is another sign that the community was right to bet on the electric car start-up.

"It's incredible news for Rivian and for the community," said Koos of an equity investment round of $700 million led by Amazon announced Friday. "It just validates that we all took the right step in the right direction to make this happen, and I'm including Rivian in that."

About two years after local and state officials promised more than $50 million in incentives for the fledgling automaker to take over the former Mitsubishi plant in west Normal, Rivian stands ready to put the finishing touches on the R1T pickup and R1S SUV to be made in Normal, with the R1T out in 2020.

Industry analysts believe Rivian has the potential to become the Tesla of trucks, creating a niche in a highly profitable sector of the auto industry coveted by consumers and automakers alike.

The company, which had previously raised nearly $700 million in funding, gains both additional capital and legitimacy through the partnership, even though it has yet to begin production.

"I'm impressed by the fact it's a significant commitment, and the fact that Amazon is doing it. Amazon recognizing the Rivian organization is of course kudos to Rivian," said Koos. "My question now is, will you be able to go on Amazon and buy a Rivian pickup?"

Adam Jonas, an equity analyst with Morgan Stanley, issued a bullish note on Rivian this week, calling it the "next serious competition" to take market share from Tesla in the electric vehicle segment.

This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility," RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO, said in a statement on Friday. Beyond simply eliminating compromises that exist around performance, capability and efficiency, we are working to drive innovation across the entire customer experience."

He added that "delivering on this vision requires the right partners, and we are excited to have Amazon with us on our journey to create products, technology and experiences that reset expectations of what is possible.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Michelle Krebs, a Detroit-based analyst for Autotrader, said the new partnership with Amazon makes sense for Rivian.

"Amazon is an obvious player. For them, it's not that much money, but it does fit into their ideas for a future commercial fleet," Krebs said. "I've always thought electric and autonomous make the most sense when you use them in commercial fleet, because you can plan rides and charging."

The online retail giant has been building its delivery capabilities to take more control of its massive shipping operations beyond the United States Postal Service and the UPS. Investments in cutting-edge technologies like autonomous and all-electric vehicles are seen as part of that strategy.

Were inspired by Rivians vision for the future of electric transportation, Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer, said in the statement. RJ has built an impressive organization, with a product portfolio and technology to match. Were thrilled to invest in such an innovative company.

Rivian will remain an independent company; Amazon is leading the round, which includes participation from existing shareholders. Additional details about the investment are not being disclosed at this time, said the statement.

The investment follows Rivian unveiling the R1T and R1S at the LA Auto Show in November. Koos attended, and the town has pre-ordered two vehicles.

Rivian, with a current workforce of 750, has development centers in Plymouth, Mich.; San Jose, Calif.; Irvine, Calif; and Surrey, England.

Photos: Rivian shows off its electric pickup truck at Los Angeles Auto Show

The Chicago Tribune contributed to this story. Contact Derek Beigh at (309) 820-3234. Follow him on Twitter: @pg_beigh

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Eric Washington of Palestine Texas, died June 17, 2021 at the age of 46. Graveside Service will be Saturday, June 26, 2021 at the Jackson Quarter Cemetery in Tennessee Colony Texas. Elder R.C. Emanuel will be the officiant. viewing will be held, Friday, June 25, 2021 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. a
Barbara Jordan stands in front of the old Memorial Hospital that is being torn down. The City Council is holding a second town hall meeting on what to do with the lot on Tuesday.
We now know the name of the man who killed a mountain lion "with his bare hands" and how he did it. Spoiler alert  he used more than his hands.

Travis Kauffman, a 31-year-old employee of an environmental consulting firm, identified himself Thursday at a Colorado Parks and Wildlife news conference as the trail runner who

was ambushed by a young cougar.

Kauffman was jogging down a trail in the foothills outside of Fort Collins on Feb. 4 when the attack occurred.

KUNC reporter Luke Runyeon, who has known Kauffman for about five years, was the first to interview him and learn of the details of the encounter, which Kauffman called a "full-on fight for survival." Here are the highlights of what happened, according to Kauffman.

Kauffman had started his descent after making an arduous climb up to an icy ridge in the Horsetooth Open Space. While he often wears earbuds to listen to music when he runs, on this day he decided to forgo them.

He would later tell Runyeon that he is convinced that decision saved his life.

About a quarter-mile down the West Ridge Trail, he heard pine needles rustling behind him.

When he turned around he saw the cat  a juvenile weighing about 40 pounds (originally it was reported at 80 pounds)  running straight at him. He waved his arms and screamed, but the cougar kept coming.

Then it lunged at his face. Kauffman threw up his arms to ward off the attack, but the mountain lion clamped its jaws on his wrist and hand and wouldn't let go. It clung to him bear-hug style while thrashing with its legs.

Clawed on his back, thighs, neck and face, Kauffman tried to throw off the cat, but couldn't break its grip on his wrist. They rolled off the trail and slid about 20 feet down a slope, locked in combat.

"But during that fall, the cat ended up on its back and it still had my wrist this whole time in its mouth," Kauffman told Runyeon.

"I was pretty worried about its claws sinking into my stomach and groin area."

But now on top, Kauffman had the advantage. He managed to pin the mountain lion's hindquarters with his leg and searched desperately for a weapon with his free arm, but only found dry-rotted sticks. Eventually he grabbed a "pretty big" rock and tried to pound the cat on the back of the head, but the angle prevented him from being able put much force behind his blows.

The cougar twisted his his back legs free and scrabbled at Kauffman's calves and thighs. Kauffman scrambled to counter the pummeling hindquarters and eventually managed to pin them once again with his left leg. Then he swung his right leg around.

"I got my right foot onto its neck," he told Runyeon. "And then I was able to get some weight onto its windpipe and that's what eventually suffocated it."

It took a long time for the cougar to die. In all, he said the battle lasted about 10 minutes.

The cat did not release its grip on his wrist until it was dead.

Kauffman, bleeding from lacerations and scrapes, was able to half-run down the mountain. He was aware that the cat that attacked him was a juvenile and worried that its mother might be nearby.

He encountered three hikers, a man and a married couple, who helped him down to the Soderberg Open Space Trailhead. The woman drove him to a hospital while the men went to fetch Kauffman's truck at the trailhead where he had begun his run.

Doctors put more than two dozen stitches on his face and secured his wrist with a brace.

MORE: 'We did it for safety': Napa family faces backlash after killing mountain lion

When Colorado Parks and Wildlife visited the scene of the attack, the dead mountain lion had already been partially eaten. Its sex could not be determined.

Kauffman is back running, even though his wounds have not fully healed. He is perhaps more aware of his surroundings when pounding along a trail now than he was before the attack.

He had heard the mountain lion before he saw it, which allowed him to turn and defend himself. Had he not been alerted by those rustling pine needles, who knows what would have happened?

You can read the full story of Kauffman's cougar encounter and listen to Runyeon's interview with him here.
Ottumwa, IA (52501)

Today

Variable clouds with thunderstorms, especially during the afternoon hours. High 82F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Though both Libertango and Aconcagua: Concerto for Bandoneon demonstrate adept orchestra writing, their success is dependent on the soloist  and Labro is a dynamic performer who took full advantage of the instruments expressive capabilities. While there were some noticeable balance and synchronization issues between the soloist and the orchestra in both pieces, the overall effect was superb. Driving rhythmic sections were off-set with more lyrical, sultry music to create a distinct progression. The orchestra played with vigor, and Labros cadenzas were captivating. The opening of Aconcaguas second movement included a particularly gorgeous section with the bandoneon in counterpoint with a violin solo and accompanied by the harp. The violin part was beautifully performed by Associate Concert Master Lisa Rautenberg, who also did some lovely solo work later in the program. The first half closed with a brief encore featuring a theme from Il Postino, a 1994 film about Pablo Neruda.
EUGENE  A 37-year-old music teacher has been sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to four misdemeanor counts of third-degree sexual abuse with an underage student.

The Register-Guard reports that Gabriel Donovan Dickinson also received three years of probation at his sentencing Thursday in Lane County Circuit Court.

Assistant Lane County District Attorney JoAnn Miller says the victim's age at the time of the abuse and the type of abuse meant the crimes were misdemeanors.

Dickinson taught at Cottage Grove High School.

He must now register as a sex offender and forfeit his teaching certification and license. He's also not allowed to have contact with minors, and must complete sex offender treatment.

-- The Associated Press
Last month, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos spoke to school board members from around the nation about expanding freedom in education for our K-12 students. The school board members were in Washington, D.C., to advocate for public schools. It was not lost on this audience that she was again advocating for school choice  shifting federal funding away from public school districts to charter schools, private schools and for-profit businesses.

President Trump echoed that message in his Feb. 5 State of the Union address, which prompted DeVos to declare, Its time to do whats best for kids and get to work.

Actually, doing whats best for kids by providing choices has been the work of Oregons public schools since the Legislature passed the first charter school law in 1999. Nationwide, charter and private schools havent proven to be any more or less successful than public schools in producing positive outcomes such as graduating on time.

I was one of the school board members in Washington to discuss critical educational issues with our congressional delegation. The highest priority was the federal governments reneging on its promise to adequately fund the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

The president and education secretary would do well to make sure Congress makes good on its promise to fully fund programs it has already mandated before burdening us with unproven solutions to educating our children.

Tass Morrison, Sublimity

Morrison is a member of the North Santiam School Board and president of the Oregon School Boards Association.
On paper, two donations to Northwest Oregon political candidates last year came from former Rep. Deborah Boone, D-Cannon Beach.

She wrote the checks. Her name is listed as the donor.

In reality, Boone told The Oregonian/OregonLive, the money came from donors who asked her to pass it on under her name, creating a set of transactions and reports that may have violated state law.

Boone described the practice as commonplace among legislators.

Alma Whalen, a compliance specialist with the Oregon State Elections Division, said if candidates know the true source of a donation but dont report it, they would appear to be violating Oregons prohibition on contributions in a false name. The same is true for donors if they dont tell recipients where a contribution really came from, Whalen said.

A violation is a felony, punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a $125,000 fine.

Boone said John Helm, the husband of state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, gave Boone $2,500 in April 2018 with instructions to give it to Tim Josi. The former Tillamook County commissioner was running for Boones seat at the time.

A 2012 photo of then-Rep. Deborah Boone, D-Cannon Beach.

Asked whether she told Josi the money was actually from Helm, Boone replied: Yes I did. I asked Helm, Is it OK to say who its from? He said, Yeah.

Josi listed the donation in campaign finance disclosures as money from Boone, not Helm.

Josi did not respond to an email and two voicemails requesting comment.

Helm told The Oregonian/OregonLive he did not recall giving Boone instructions about what to do with the money he contributed to her campaign.

Separately, Boone said she took $1,000 in April 2018 from the Oregon Health Care Association with instructions to give it to Henry Heimuller, a candidate for Columbia County commissioner.

The money was given to me specifically for that, Boone said.

She said she assumed Heimuller knew where the money really came from. But she said she didnt tell him.

Heimuller told The Oregonian/OregonLive he was unaware of any effort by the health care association to fund his campaign. I wonder why they wouldnt just send me a check if they wanted to contribute to my campaign? That seems off to me, he said.

The Oregon Health Care Association, which lobbies for senior care companies, denied telling Boone to pass along the contribution. A spokeswoman, Rosie Ward, said no one from her organization has ever had any conversation with Rep. Boone in regard to any county commission race. The donation was made before an April fundraiser for moderate Democrats, she said, which included Boone.

Boones account is extraordinary in a state whose campaign finance system emphasizes transparency in place of limiting how much money donors can give.

State records show millions of dollars have moved between Oregon politicians in the past decade in what look like straightforward gestures of support. Lawmakers also routinely give money to committees run by legislative leaders, who then redistribute it to candidates in tough races.

According to Boone, the transactions are not always what they seem. She didnt like the practice of rerouting donations, she said, but found it was common in Salem.

Its so prevalent, said Boone, who served from 2004 until last month. I would think if it was illegal, theyd cite you on it.

Boone said she believes the law needs to be tightened to restrict the practice or to make it more obvious to the public.

Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, and former Tillamook County Commissioner Tim Josi.

Boone made her assertions in interviews this week with The Oregonian/OregonLive. She was explaining why she raised money from donors after announcing her retirement from the Legislature in January 2018.

In the Capitol, the practice is called a pass-through. Boone said she also engaged in the practice as a donor.

She said she intended to give $1,000 to Rep. Caddy McKeown, D-Coos Bay, in her race last year. But Boone said Rep. David Gomberg asked her to give the money to him instead, so he could pay fundraising dues owed to his caucus.

Then, Boone said, Gomberg directed the money to McKeown through the House Democratic caucus committee, Future PAC.

Gomberg said, Give me the money, and Ill give it to her, Boone said. I wanted to support her.

Future PAC and Gomberg, D-Otis, denied being involved in a directed pass-through.

Boone gave Gombergs campaign $1,000 on June 20, according to campaign finance records. He reported the donation on July 17. He donated $3,500 to Future PAC on July 26, one of many donations he made to the caucus in 2018 totaling $87,500. Future PAC gave McKeown $2,500 each month from July through October.

Everybody in the caucus understood Caddy was one of the priorities for Future PAC, Gomberg said. I absolutely gave them no instructions on how that money was to be spent.

McKeown said in a written statement: To the best of my knowledge every contribution to my campaign either from an individual, organization or Future PAC was above board based on their trust that I would faithfully represent the people of the South Coast.

One high-profile case involving charges of contribution in a false name came in 2004.

Multnomah County prosecutors alleged Portland developer Tom Moyer made donations to mayoral candidate Jim Francesconi under the names of his granddaughter and his executive assistant, who were also charged.

Charges were dropped against everyone after Moyer, then in his 90s, was found unable to aid and assist in his defense. Francesconi was not accused of any wrongdoing.

 Rob Davis

rdavis@oregonian.com

503.294.7657; @robwdavis

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
A 38-year-old man who squandered a large cash settlement on his $150-a-day heroin habit in less than a year was desperate to continue to feed his habit once the money was gone, according to court papers.

A probable-cause affidavit says Todd Anthony Billinghurst turned to stealing from the downtown Portland Apple Store nearly daily for the past few months -- leaving store managers and the off-duty Portland police officers they hired to guard the store exceedingly frustrated.

Billinghurst -- who could clearly see into the store, which is essentially a giant clear glass box on three sides -- later told police that he would watch from afar until the guard took a break, the affidavit alleges. Then Billinghurst would run into the store, grab an average of about $700 worth of electronics and escape within 20 seconds, according to the affidavit, written by Deputy District Attorney Kevin Demer.

A store manager gave police still shots of video surveillance that showed a man police identified as Billinghurst in the act. On Thursday, Portland police officer Joey Yoo recognized and arrested Billinghurst coming out of a bathroom at a Starbucks at Southwest Fourth Avenue and Morrison Street, according to the affidavit.

Billinghurst appeared in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Friday to hear the charges against him. Wearing a blue jail uniform, he pleaded not guilty to an accusation of first-degree aggravated theft from Nov. 1 to Feb. 14 at the store at 450 S.W. Yamhill St.

According to the affidavit, Billinghurst said that at first he stole Apple earbuds, but after management moved them behind a counter in response to the thefts, he began targeting Bose headphones. Billinghurst told police that hed usually grab two sets of Bose headphones at a time, and that he stole a total of about 100 headphones and Apple Airpods in the past two months. The headphones are valued at $349 each, and the Airpods at $159 each.

Billinghurst also told Detective Jeff Myers that each day he uses about 2.5 grams of heroin, which costs about $150, and his girlfriend uses about 1.5 grams, which costs about $90, court papers say. Billinghurst said the pair had been using $109,000 in settlement money that his girlfriend had received in December 2017, but theyd used it all up as of a few months ago and thats why hed turned to stealing daily from the Apple Store -- as well as Eddie Bauer and Ross Dress for Less, the affidavit states.

Court papers dont name the girlfriend, or why she received the large amount of settlement money.

On Friday, Billinghurst also pleaded not guilty to initiating a false report on the day of his arrest Thursday -- for allegedly telling arresting officers that he had swallowed heroin. Officers called an ambulance, which brought him to the hospital, where he admitted it wasnt true, according to court papers.

Billinghursts criminal history stretches back five years, to age 33, when he was convicted of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and heroin possession. Hes been convicted twice more of heroin possession.

-- Aimee Green

agreen@oregonian.com

o_aimee

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
As violent protests became almost routine the last two years in Portland, the officer overseeing the police crowd control team worked almost full-time reaching out to protest leaders to decide how police should plan and staff the demonstrations.

Lt. Jeffrey Niiya exchanged hundreds of texts and emails with Joey Gibson, the outspoken leader of Patriot Prayer, as the right-wing group ventured into Portland to stage rallies that drew counter-protesters and often devolved into bloody brawls.

Disclosure of the messages and rapport between Niiya and Gibson ignited a firestorm in the past several days.

City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, followed by Mayor Ted Wheeler, and community activists reacted with outrage. They jumped on the cozy communications as evidence of their long-standing fears that police have colluded with ultra-conservative demonstrators and targeted leftist opponents.

The heated flap shines a light on the challenge police face, law enforcement specialists say: While police gather information to keep the peace on city streets, as their policies direct, theyre also expected to maintain a fair playing field for dueling demonstrators.

If theres one thing we learned from Charlottesville, you have to connect with demonstrators from both sides, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit police policy organization. Not to do that is a recipe for disaster.

In 2017, police in Charlottesville, Va., were ill-prepared for the white nationalist Unite the Right rally that left dozens injured and one counter-protester dead.

You cant just pick and choose which demonstrators you like, Wexler said.

The confiding tone of Niiyas emails and texts could be taken as preferential treatment to people not familiar with police technique, said Erroll G. Southers, a national security professor at the University of Southern California.

I can understand how it looks to the oppositional groups. Dont get me wrong, the optics are not real good, said Southers, a former FBI agent. As soon as you appear to show some sort of favoritism or allegiance with an extremist group that can become a problem.

But its common to be conversational and work to establish a relationship, he said.

CROWD CONTROL POLICY

Its not the first time communications by Niiya, a 22-year police veteran who has been the bureaus liaison with demonstrators since Occupy Portland in 2011, have sparked controversy.

Two years ago, his emails and text messages with a member active in left-leaning protests, June Davies, became public. Then, critics accused Davies, known as Gia, of being an informant for the police.

Their text exchanges spanned months, often discussing police presence at protests, how activists might respond and Davies inquiring if certain people were arrested during marches and Niiya providing what information he could.

Since then, Niiya has continued to make overtures with self-described anti-fascist demonstrators and their allies but has had less success as a result, said Lt. Craig Morgan, president of the Portland Police Commanding Officers Association, the union that represents lieutenants.

Morgan said counter-demonstrators often have been less organized or without a clear leader and some dont recognize police authority. They have been less inclined to talk to officers before or during a protest, he said.

Obviously Joey Gibson was willing to engage in a dialogue and quite frankly, willing to provide information to us, Morgan said. We were getting valuable information to help us shape our responses and keep Portland safe.

You can second-guess the friendly tone but the reality is its done to build rapport with people to get information out of them for public safety. Thats a time-tested technique. Niiya has tried to do it with people from all sides.

The Police Bureaus policy on crowd control directs officers to make reasonable efforts to contact and engage in dialogue with known event or demonstration organizers. Thats done to plan and to develop a shared understanding of the organizers needs and objectives, according to the policy.

The bureau also should communicate its expectations and tell participants whats allowed or restricted during a protest, it says.

Officers who are liaisons are encouraged to maintain contact with organizers before and during the events and to interact with crowds in non-confrontational ways, the policy advises.

But police, while doing that, must avoid providing any suggestion or perception that theyre backing one group over another, said Brian Levin, a former New York City police officer and now director of California State University's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.

Police are in a difficult position trying to maintain some type of communication to forestall violence, Levin said. Police work requires that there be communication with folks that aint choir boys.

Gibson, who lives in Washington, has become a particularly polarizing figure on the Portland protest scene, drawing people espousing hateful views to his gatherings  including right-wing supporters from out of town known for clashing with antifa activists. Despite the mayors attempts to derail it, he held a rally in Portland in June 2017, shortly after a man was accused of fatally stabbing two good Samaritans and wounding a third on a MAX train who had tried to stop his racist rant. The alleged killer had attended one of Gibsons past rallies, though Gibson subsequently denounced him.

Niiyas texts and emails with Gibson show him sometimes telling Gibson about the movements of counter-protesters, telling Gibson if officers will be on foot or bike at protests, even warning Gibson about an arrest warrant for one of his devoted followers.

The problem is, even if the intentions here werent malicious, the perception can damage the police-community relationship significantly, Levin said.

Wexler added that if demonstrators on one side dont want to talk to police, you keep trying. You do the best you can. You try to talk to as many demonstrators on as many sides as you can or friends of friends.

CANT AID AND ABET

Its important for Niiya to have shared his communications and information he got from Gibson with command staff, said the USCs Southers, also the author of the book "Homegrown Violent Extremism.''

According to the material released, Niiya often alerted the police chief, an assistant police chief and others, including the mayors office, about details gleaned from Gibson. At one point, the communications referenced a meeting that police, Gibson and Wheeler had before the June 2017 protest.

Its appropriate to find out a protest groups plans, the number of people expected at a march, and whos expected to show, Southers said.

Niiyas suggestion to Gibson during one protest that Gibson may want to move his group because counter-protesters were headed his way also was appropriate to reduce the potential for violence, Southers said.

Even Niiyas hearty congratulations to Gibson upon learning he was running for U.S. Senate -- personally I dont have a problem with that, he said.

What would be unacceptable, he said, is police willing to aid and abet or fraternizing with an extremist organization.

Gibsons remark in one message to Niiya, when Gibson apologized, noting "I accidentally said portland police has our back. It slipped,'' is the kind of remark that can be explosive, the experts said.

HE WAS THE SAME WITH ALL GROUPS

The texts and emails give a one-sided view of how crowd control preparations work, said former Portland Deputy City Attorney Jason Loos, who was legal adviser to the Police Bureau from 2016 through 2018 and worked nearly every protest during that time.

Loos said he found Niiya to be professional and courteous to all sides.

There seems to be a lot of criticism because Sergeant Niiya was friendly, Loos said. I can guarantee you he was the same with all groups.

Niiyas alert to Gibson on the night of Dec. 8, 2017, and again the next day, on Dec. 9, 2017, about his supporters arrest warrant just before one protest made tactical sense, Loos said. Niiya advised Gibson that Tusitala John Tiny Toese, also a member of the far-right Proud Boys, had a disorderly conduct warrant in Portland and suggested that it be taken care of before Toese came to the city. Niiya also said officers could arrest Toese if he acted out but it wasnt likely to occur.

It is trying to avoid a flashpoint, Loos said. It is in no way allowing them to evade arrest. It is trying to avoid having them arrested in the middle of a demonstration.

Police did end up arresting Toese during a protest on Dec. 9, 2017, accusing him of additional allegations of attempted fourth-degree assault, harassment and second-degree disorderly conduct, in addition to the prior disorderly conduct warrant he faced, court records show.

Morgan, the union president, said theres a sense of frustration that the mayor condemned Niiyas actions before an internal investigation began.

It feels like hes already got his mind made up, Morgan said.

Now, its important for the Police Bureau to repair the break in the communitys trust, the experts all agreed.

It can be a catalyst for division or a catalyst for positive change, Levin said.

The bureau must do a full investigation and make it public when its done, they said.

Going forward, police need to ensure their text messages, emails and social media posts dont look overly chummy with either group of protesters, Levin said. Police also must continue to broadcast parameters set for future protests before an event and enforce them evenly without respect to ideology, he said.

Gibson on Friday said his contacts with Niiya were no different from Davis, the left-leaning protester.

Anytime I wasnt coming into Portland, Niiya was happy, Gibson said. Its funny to watch everyones reaction because he was doing his job.

Niiya himself wrote to Gibson last October: Its a tough job and trying to weigh everything to come out with everyone safe and happy. Probably will never happen but we try. And I try to do the best I can to communicate to you and the others on the other side who will listen to me.

Sample HTML block

-- Maxine Bernstein

Email at mbernstein@oregonian.com

Follow on Twitter @maxoregonian

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
A 50-year-old man who authorities say killed himself in his SUV in January as two Clackamas County deputies shot at him fired his handgun several times but apparently wasnt aiming at law enforcement, records show.

David J. Engebretson shot himself four times and was hit three times by deputies early Jan. 5, according to police reports released by the county sheriffs office. The Oregon State Medical Examiners Office ruled his death a suicide and concluded that he died from self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head. The office determined shots to his chest contributed to his death.

No one else was injured. A Clackamas County grand jury later ruled the shooting didnt warrant criminal charges for the deputies who fired.

The 245 pages of reports do not say how many times Deputies Scott Krause and Trevor Wolf fired on Engebretson or where else he was hit, other than his head and chest. The documents, released by the Clackamas County Sheriffs Office, didnt include write-ups of interviews with Krause or Wolf or a copy of the medical examiners report, but all three are mentioned several times.

According to the records, Krause spotted Engebretsons gold Ford Explorer parked near Oak Grove Methodist Church, learned Engebretson was the registered owner after checking his license plate and discovered he had a warrant for his arrest stemming from an unlawful use of a weapon charge. Wolf responded to the scene after Krause called for backup.

Engebretson refused to get out of his SUV when asked and at some point, the deputies reported shots being fired from inside the SUV. The sheriffs office said both Krause and Wolf fired at Engebretson.

Deputies later heard a final gunshot coming from the SUV and saw Engebretson stop moving, the reports said.

Engebretson died in the passenger seat of his SUV. Two empty cans of Mikes Harder Lemonade and a .22 caliber snub-nose revolver were among the items found in the SUV. Deputies noted that it appeared the handgun had been fired five times, the report said.

A third deputy, Nate Ariel, reported firing non-lethal ammunition at Engebretson and the SUV, the report said.

Ariel told detectives hed just arrived home from finishing his work shift at 3 a.m. but drove to the church after hearing reports of gunfire and a driver barricading himself inside his SUV, the reports said. He said he went because he had a non-lethal option and thought it would help coax the driver out.

Ariel said he shot out Engebretsons windows with foam batons  blunt-impact projectiles  so deputies at the scene could see inside the SUV, the reports said. He said he then fired chemical rounds into the SUV. When Engebretson didnt respond, he fired another foam baton at the mans chest, according to the reports.

When Engebretson didnt respond to that either, a deputy holding a ballistic shield led Ariel and several other deputies to the man, where they found him dead, the reports said.

A neighbor of the church told detectives after the shooting that Engrebretson used to live across the street from her. She said hed fired several gunshots into her home from across the street last Fourth of July, according to the reports. The documents doesn't say why.

Engrebretson was arrested for that shooting and charged with unlawful use of a weapon, reckless endangering and second-degree criminal mischief. A Clackamas County judge ordered him the next day to not contact that neighbor, court records show.

Engrebretson was released from jail July 10 but was later arrested after not appearing for court the next month. He posted bail in October, then missed another court date in November, so another warrant was issued for his arrest, according to court records.

It was that warrant that Clackamas County deputies discovered when they found Engrebretson in his SUV in January.

Engebretsons half-sister described her brother to detectives as an alcoholic living out of his SUV and the father of an adult son. She said he owed money to everyone in his life, including her, the reports said. She said she couldnt provide any direct knowledge of Engebretsons state of mind leading up to the shooting, according to the reports.

Detectives later spoke with Engebretsons son in Molalla. The son said he was adopted as a child and didnt have contact with Engebretson until a few years ago, the report said. He said Engebretson claimed he was dying of pancreatic cancer.

The son said he suspected Engebretson may have been suicidal but said his father never said anything about harming himself. In the weeks before his death, Engebretson gave his son the titles to a vehicle and a boat.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey

Visit subscription.oregonlive.com/newsletters to get Oregonian/OregonLive journalism delivered to your email inbox.
The three partners have lengthy coffee-related resumes, having worked for several independent cafes in the city  and also, Starbucks. At age 18, Barletta started his first coffee job at the international chain, but was fired a month later. "They let me go and told me that I wasn't really cut out for it. I always thought that was kind of funny," he says, laughing.
A Silverton company and its housing provider must pay $35,000 in penalties after an inspection found migrant farmworkers housed in filthy, rodent-infested quarters.

The U.S. Department of Labor said Friday that its inspectors found families in dilapidated, trash strewn housing at a facility in the Marion County city of Silverton.

The unannounced inspection found workers sleeping on mattresses on the floor, with one family separated from others by a garbage bag hung from the ceiling, according to the Labor department. Residents reported rodents throughout the facility, according to the department, which did not say when its inspection took place.

Under the Migrant and Seasonal Worker Protection Act, the department fined farm labor contractor Vasquez Family Labor Services $30,000 and issued another $5,000 in penalties against the firms housing provider, Jorge Vasquez.

Our company had the misfortune of renting a small office on the same property where the inspection occurred," Vasquez Family Labor Services said in a written statement. These were not our employees. We do not hire anybody to provide housing. We had no idea they were there.

The Oregon company said the Labor department made errors in its investigation and its announcement, but the firm said it "decided to settle with the agency rather than drag out the process and face much more in fines and legal fees.

The Department of Labor said its officials worked with Oregon labor safety officers and the Mexican consulate to move the workers to better living conditions.

This article has been updated with comment from Vasquez Family Labor Services.

-- Mike Rogoway | twitter: @rogoway | 503-294-7699
Instrument Transformers Market overstep USD 7 billion by 2024 |Top Players Raychem RPG (P) Ltd., KONCAR Group, Toshiba Corporation, Eaton, Toshiba

Instrument Transformers Market

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2141

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2141

https://www.gminsights.com

http://global4energy.com/

Instrument Transformer market will. Rising demand for electricity owing to rapid urbanization across the globe have instigated concerns pertaining to grid stability, which in turn will drive the instrument transformer market. Ongoing urban migration adhered by rising infrastructural investments will further complement the deployment of effective monitoring and control T&D systems.Get a Sample Copy of this Report@France instrument transformer industry is set to exceed USD 100 million by 2024. Stringent regulatory reforms pertaining to emissions coupled with rapid technological transitions to sustain an energy efficient grid infrastructure will comprehensively thrust the business. Inclination towards clean energy adhered by rising investments across the renewable sector will further escalate the product penetration across the country. In 2017, the French government has led forward its plan to invest over USD 20 billion toward its energy transition plan.In terms of regional industry outlook, the Asia Pacific instrument transformer market is estimated to exceed 7% growth rate in the ensuing seven years. The region has been witnessing large-scale migration across the urban centers along with the brisk expansion of utility-based electricity infrastructure, which has, in turn, favorably influenced the APAC instrument transformer industry. Furthermore, the rising rural electrification initiatives by governments of the developing economies across the region, augmented by significant investments by foremost financial entities such as Asian Development Bank and World Bank to restructure the existing electrical grids across the nations will further boost the instrument transformer market progression.Sustainable economic proliferation along with revamping lifestyles have led to an exponential rise in the peak load demand for energy. Hence, accruing energy demand across the globe subject to the ongoing economic and social reformation will appreciable augment the industry outlook.Oil immersed in 2016, accounted for over 50% of the instrument transformer market share. Effective insulation and di-electric strength when compared to its counterparts makes its adoption preferable. Applicability across high voltage applications coupled with economical cost structure will further escalate the product penetration. The technology since inception has witnessed sheer progression owing to its higher voltage output and operational flexibility with its prime application across utility and commercial electrical networks.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @In the recent times, instrument transformer market has witnessed a meteoric rise in its revenue graph, courtesy the rising demand for electricity owing to the exponential pace of urbanization, swift technological advancements to assist an energy-efficient and sustainable grid network, growing inclination toward clean energy with massive investments in the renewable sector coupled with various government initiatives to electrify rural hinterlands across the globe.Eminent players across the instrument transformer market include Schneider Electric Siemens CG Power and Industrial Solutions Limited Raychem RPG (P) Ltd. Weidmann Electrical Technology KONCAR Group Toshiba Corporation EatonAbout Global Market InsightsGlobal Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market estimated value US$ 102.54 Billion by 2025 | Some Key Players AstraZeneca PLC, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., and Daiichi Sankyo

Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/1500

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-customization/1500

Manufactures in vaccine market are focused on research and developmental activities for developing new vaccine with better safety and immunity for the disease at low cost and to strengthen the product portfolio. For instance, in 2017, GlaxoSmithKline plc, received US FDA approval for phase III clinical trial of its product Shingrix, a recombinant sub unit vaccine, for shingles infection in adults. Moreover, manufacturers are targeting disease such as HIV or dengue to expand product portfolio.Request Sample Copy Of This Report:For instance, in 2018, Sanofi received US FDA approval for its dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia. Furthermore, merger and acquisition are adopted by key players to expand the company share. In 2014, Pfizer Inc., acquired Baxters portfolio, which includes of marketed vaccines for US$ 648 million. The portfolio includes NeisVac-C and FSME-IMMUN/TicoVac vaccines against meningitis by group C meningococcal meningitis and tick-borne encephalitis, respectively.The global disease control and prevention vaccine market is projected to witness significant growth over the forecast period, owing to rapid advancements in technology for development of novel vaccines such as recombinant and cell-based technologies, resulting in increasing production of the vaccines. For instance, in 2018, collaboration between Austrian biotech Themis Bioscience and Oslo-based Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEIP). CEIP will fund US$ 37.5 million for vaccine development for five years. Moreover, governmental bodied supports the research and development program leading to the development of improved form of presently available vaccines.For instance, in 2015, a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease scientists engineered a protein to maintain the specific shape of the viral spike, stimulating the immune system to produce powerful anti-HIV antibodies. However, manufacturing cost as well as large gap between demand and supply leading to hike in pricing is expected to hinder the growth of disease control and prevention vaccination market.For instance, according to World Health Organization (WHO), incidence of polio are decreased by 99% as of 2018 as compare to 1988, attributed to global initiatives for polio eradication by public and private organizations. Furthermore, increasing government initiative to strengthen immunization program are expected to augment the growth of disease control and prevention vaccine market. For instance, in 2017, Minister of Health from 194 countries endorsed Global Vaccine Action Plan to prevent millions of death through more access to vaccine by 2020. Moreover, manufacturers are focusing on the developing new vaccine with better safety and immunity for the disease at low cost.According to Access to Medicine Foundation index, 2017, vaccine market is dominated by four major players, collectively referred as 'big four': GSK, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer, and Sanofi. Big four contribute to 80% of the global vaccine revenue. Players vary significantly by portfolio and pipeline size. Other major players operating in market include AstraZeneca PLC, Sinovac Biotech Ltd., Astellas Pharma Inc., Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd., and Daiichi Sankyo.Ask for customization:Detailed Segmentation:Global Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Product Type:Live-attenuated VaccinesInactivated VaccinesRecombinant VaccinesToxoid VaccinesGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Type:Monovalent VaccineMultivalent VaccineGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Route of Administration:OralInjectableGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Age Group:PediatricAdultsGlobal Disease Control and Prevention Vaccine Market, By Indication:Infectious DiseaseCancerOther IndicationAbout Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,, #3200, Seattle, WA 98154
Peyronies Disease Market - Only FDA approved product

Peyronie?s Disease Market

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/61

https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/ongoing-insight/toc/61

The market is dominated by a single player, Endo International plc who sells the only FDA approved Peyronies disease product. In May 2015, the American Urological Association presented the first ever treatment guidelines for Peyronies disease recommending the use of Xiaflex. Furthermore, the company is creating awareness through its Ask About the Curve campaign. Also, reimbursement from the U.S. insurance providers will boost the demand for this product. The product is estimated to generate USD 100 million in revenue for Peyronies disease by 2018. In Japan, BioSpecifics Technologies Corp. has granted Asahi Kasei Pharma the rights to develop and market XIAFLEX in Japan for Peyronie's disease. Further, the company is also partnering with global companies in Canada, Europe, Mexico, and Brazil for commercializing XIAFLEX for PD.Get Exclusive Sample Copy @With increasing awareness and research on this disease, new drug molecules could be made available in the market.On the other hand injectables show some positive outcomes over placebo. However, more studies are required to establish the efficacy. Studies with collagenase have shown positive outcomes for its use in Peyronie's disease. Therefore, Xiaflex (Collagenase clostridium histolyticum) from BioSpecifics Technologies Corporation is the only FDA approved product indicated for Peyronie's disease in adult men. Approved in 2013, Xiaflex is marketed in the U.S. by Endo International plc. In Europe, Collagenase clostridium histolyticum is available by the brand name Xiapex.A penile prosthetic device is another good treatment option for Peyronie's disease and moderate-to-severe ED. This device helps straighten the penis. Surgical procedure on the other hand involves grafting the space being emptied on removal of the plaque.The exact cause of plaque formation is not known. Hence, treatment is done with the available research and knowledge of plaque formation. There are various treatment options followed for Peyronie disease basis on which the market is analyzed. These include drugs, surgery and devices. The drugs market can be analyzed based on the administration route i.e. oral and injectable. Drugs prescribe through oral route include Vitamin E, Potassium amino-benzoate ("Potaba"), Tamoxifen, Colchicine, and Carnitine. Similarly, the injectable drugs include Verapamil, Interferon, and Collagenase. Use of oral drugs is limited as none of the studies conducted so far for Peyroniees disease have shown positive results of these drugs over the placebo.Peyronies disease is a rare condition observed in about 6 out of 100 men in the age group of 40 to 70 years. Moreover, the Urology Care Foundation also estimates that the number of people affected by this condition can be higher than this as many men are embarrassed and do not see their healthcare provider. It is mostly at times when the men visit the healthcare practitioner for erectile dysfunction treatment and the healthcare practitioner may notice Peyronies disease. Lack of awareness among patients has resulted in under reporting of this condition.Read Full Report with TOC @About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.1001 4th Ave,, #3200, Seattle, WA 98154
Onboard Diagnostics Aftermarket to grow at 17% CAGR to 2024| Key players are Danlaw, Azuga, Bosch, CalAmp, Metromile, Mojio, Continental, Intel Corporation, Verizon Communications

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2839

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/on-board-diagnostics-obd-aftermarket

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2839

https://www.gminsights.com/pressrelease/video-conferencing-market

https://www.gminsights.com

http://solutionrocket.com

North America is estimated to account for the largest share of over 40% in the global OBD aftermarket by 2024. The market growth in this region is attributed to technological advancements in the transportation infrastructure and the high penetration of the smartphones and cloud technology in the region. The extensive presence of some of the leading global auto manufacturers and suppliers is also contributing to the growing automobile industry in the region. These players have made significant investments in their manufacturing facilities and R&D departments to develop new and advanced vehicle models. For instance, in January 2018, Ford Motor Company announced that it is planning to increase investments in electric vehicles to USD 11 billion by 2022 with 40 electric and fully-hybrid vehicles in its portfolio.Request for a sample of this research report @Onboard Diagnostics (OBD) aftermarket is projected to surpass USD 1.5 billion by 2024. Onboard diagnostics refers to a vehicle?s self-diagnostics and reporting capabilities. The technology facilitates the monitoring and evaluation of the vehicle?s engine and its sub-components to ensure that all components are functioning properly. Vehicle owners and the car technicians use OBD devices to gain access to a real-time status of the vehicle subsystems. A simple OBD system consists of various sensors that collect the data from various vehicle components, refine, and process this data to gain valuable insights, that further aid in the diagnosis and repair of faulty components. These systems are currently being used with telematics that enables vehicle owners to detect issues such as low performance, and heavy emissions along with the real-time driver behavior.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Autel Intelligent Technology Corp.,Ltd. Automatic Labs AVL Ditest Azuga Bosch Diagnostics CalAmp Continental AG Danlaw, Inc. ERM Electronic Systems LTD Geotab Inc. Innova Intel Corporation Magneti Marelli S.p.A. Metromile Mojio TomTom International BV. Vector Informatik Verizon Communications Xirgo Technologies, Inc.The automotive industry uses two types of OBD hardware devices, viz., OBD scanners and OBD dongles. The scanners are more like code readers or scan tools that read codes from any vehicle equipped with OBD II. The OBD dongles are gaining more popularity among fleet managers. The dongle is a visible accessory that can be connected to the driver?s smartphone, plugged directly into the OBD II port, and can also be connected in an effortless way to a network. As these devices can be independently used and do not require any wired connection, the demand for dongles is projected to grow swiftly over the forecast timeline.Browse Full Report @The OBD aftermarket is projected to register a lucrative growth at a CAGR of over 17% between 2018 and 2024. The growth can be attributed to the factors such as an increase in vehicle production and the growing need to implement emission control norms and regulations to tackle air pollution. The significant investments made by the automotive manufacturers and the aftermarket service providers around the globe are contributing to an increasing demand for the development of connected vehicles. The rapid growth of the automobile industry has forced the manufacturers to offer more robust OBD devices, particularly for light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles.Another factor driving the growth of the OBD aftermarket is the increasing shift toward Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) to promote safer driving practices among the drivers. OBD devices help auto companies and insurance providers to set the premium amount depending on the driver?s driving habits, distance traveled, and the status of the vehicle. Based on these considerations, the insurance companies can decide whether to reward or penalize the customer.Asia Pacific OBD aftermarket is estimated to register the fastest growth at a CAGR of over 20% from 2018 to 2024 due to the rapid growth in the automobile industry, particularly in China, India, and Japan. With huge investments by domestic and global auto players in the region, the market is projected to grow swiftly during the forecast timeline. For instance, in April 2018, the Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland (ALL) in India made an announcement to invest Rs 1,000 crore to revamp its capacity and launch 20 new vehicles by the end of 2018. Similarly, in July 2018, Tesla planned to open a new electric car production plant in Shanghai to produce 500,000 cars a year. Due to a speedy growth in the automobile sector, the demand for OBD devices to tackle and diagnose the faulty emission-control systems is projected to increase during the forecast period.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The government agencies in the region have also implemented several emission standards to minimize the pollution levels and associated health hazards. For instance, in July 2018, the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry announced that car manufacturers have to comply with Euro 4 Emission Standards for all petrol-powered vehicles by September 2018 while diesel-powered vehicles will follow the standards from 2020. Also, in July 2018, the Chinese government released the China VI emission standard for heavy vehicles, which mandates Diesel Particulate Filters (DPF) on all heavy-duty vehicle models introduced after 2021. Such initiatives are expected to further facilitate the growing demand for OBD solutions in the region.Browse Related Report:Video Conferencing Market Size ByPR Component (Hardware [Multipoint Control Unit (MCU), Codecs, Peripheral Devices], Software [On-premise, Cloud], Service [Professional, Managed]), By Type (Room-Based, Telepresence, Desktop), By Application (Corporate Enterprise, Education, Government, Healthcare), Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia & New Zealand, Brazil, Mexico, UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018  2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market to hit USD 54 billion by 2024| By Key Vendors: Juniper Networks, Opera Software, Avast Software s.r.o, Blackberry Limited, Anchorfree Gmbh, IBM Corporation, Microsoft, Google, Cisco Systems

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2756

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/virtual-private-network-vpn-market

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2756

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/dynamic-application-security-testing-dast-market

https://www.gminsights.com

http://solutionrocket.com

The North America region is leading the VPN market with over 35% share in 2017. The growing number of cyber-attacks on enterprises across various business verticals drives the growth of the market. This encourages the organizations to implement VPN solutions to shield their company resources from unsanctioned access. The European region is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 13% during the forecast timeframe. This can be credited to the presence of a favorable regulatory scenario mandating various commercial establishments to adopt advanced cybersecurity mechanisms to protect the data. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow at a CAGR of 20% over the forecast timeframe. The extensive digitalization across various business verticals and increasing proliferation of smartphones are further adding to the growth of the market.Request for a sample of this research report @VPN Market is anticipated to exceed 54 billion by 2024. The market is driven by the growing adoption of VPN services across numerous industry verticals. The organizations are using VPN technology to enhance their network security and provide remote access to company resources. It is used to encrypt data transferred over public networks to safeguard the company?s sensitive information. In addition, the increasing frequency of advanced and sophisticated cyber-attacks are also adding to the growth of the market. The companies are looking for solutions to protect their transactions conducted over untrusted networks.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Airvpn Di Paolo Brini Anchorfree Gmbh Anthasoft, S.A. De C.V. Array Networks, Inc. Avast Software s.r.o Blackberry Limited. Bufferd Inc. Checkpoint Cisco Systems, Inc. Citrix Systems, Inc. Columbitech Ab Cryptzone Cyber Ghost Express VPN, LLC Golden Frog, GmbH Google, Inc. IBM Corporation Juniper Networks, Inc. Microsoft Corporation Mudhook Marketing, Inc. NCP engineering GmbH NetMotion Software, Inc. Nord VPN OPENVPN, Inc. Opera Software Safer Social Ltd. Smith Micro Software, Inc. TunnelBear, Inc. WatchGuard Technologies, Inc. Windscribe LimitedThe widespread adoption of trends, such as BYODs, is driving the growth of the VPN market. Permitting employees to link their devices to the company?s network exposes the company to various security issues. This makes the organizations susceptible to data thefts & frauds. The VPN technology allows companies to encrypt any information on the employee devices and scans for malware & trojans to secure company?s data from unauthorized access. The explosion in mobile and wireless devices is also adding to the growth of the VPN market. The declining prices and improvements in the internet speeds are nurturing the adoption of mobile devices across consumers and businesses.Browse Full Report:The hardware market holds over 45% stake in the VPN market. The growth is attributed to the growing demand for VPN routers among various business verticals and network service providers. The VPN router protects various devices and ensures security against WebRTC & DNS leaks. The software market is predicted to attain a growth rate of over 18% during the forecast timeline. The market is led by the rising adoption of trends, such as digital mobility, across multiple business sectors.The Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) market accounted for over 40% of the revenue in 2017. The deteriorating ATM/Frame-relay market is anticipated to drive the growth of the MPLS market. The enterprises are using the MPLS VPN solutions to prioritize applications by class of service. The cloud VPN market is expected to growth at a CAGR of 21% over the projected time period. The snowballing shift toward virtual applications and increasing demand for cloud services are propelling the growth of the cloud market. The mobile VPN market is anticipated to attain a growth rate of 17% over the forecast timeline. This growth is attributed to the growing incidence of cybercrime activities, which led the companies to adopt mobile VPN solutions to safeguard company resources.The site-to-site market is dominating the VPN market with a market share of over 40%. The inexpensive nature of the site-to-site topology is driving the adoption across various business sectors and service providers. It eradicates the need for distinct VPNs in individual systems, thus providing cost-effective solutions to reduce security vulnerabilities. The remote access market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 17% over the forecast timeframe. This growth is credited to the rising need for affordable means of sending secure data over untrusted networks. The extranet market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 15% over the forecast timeline. The companies are embracing the extranet framework to gain a competitive edge over their competitors by maintaining good relations with their customers.The commercial market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 15% during the projected timeline. The commercial segment consists of BFSI, healthcare, IT, manufacturing, and government verticals. The healthcare organizations are incorporating VPN solutions to protect their patient?s sensitive information and for digital recordkeeping. The consumer market is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 20% over the projected time period. The rising internet penetration and widespread adoption of mobile-enabled devices are propelling the growth of the consumer market. Moreover, customers are also using VPN products & services to gain access to restricted content and secure their devices from unauthorized access.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The players operating in the VPN Market are AirVPN, Anthasoft, NCP Engineering GmbH, TunnelBear, Inc., WatchGuard Technologies, Inc., Safer Social Ltd., Smith Micro Software, Inc., NetMotion Software, Inc., OpenVPN, Inc., Opera Software, Avast Software s.r.o, Buffered, Ltd., Microsoft Corporation, Mudhook Marketing, Inc., IBM Corporation, Juniper Networks, Inc., Golden Frog GmbH, Google, Inc., Columbitech AB, CyberGhost VPN, ExpressVPN LLC, Cryptzone, Cisco Systems, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., Checkpoint Software Technologies, Blackberry Limited., Array Networks, Inc., AnchorFree GmbH, and Windsribe Limited. The VPN market is dominated by prominent companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, Google, and IBM. The vendors are offering discounts to increase their market penetration and solidify their position in the market. They are also forming alliances with other regional players to increase their distribution. For instance, in March 2018, Jupiter Networks formed a strategic alliance with NCP Engendering to provide VPN remote access features for its SRX series firewalls. This partnership is expected to strengthen its VPN capabilities and increase its compatibility with various third-party solutions.Browse Related Report:Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, China, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, GCC, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018  2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Digital Banking Market in Asia Pacific to grow at 60% CAGR by 2024|By Key Vendors: BNY Mellon, Finastra Fiserv, Temenos, Backbase, Oracle, SAP SE, Intellect Design Arena, Kony

https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2651

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/digital-banking-market

https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2651

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/dynamic-application-security-testing-dast-market

https://www.gminsights.com

http://algosonline.com/news

Transactional services account for more than 90% share in the digital banking market. The market growth is credited to the growing adoption of electronic & mobile payment solutions. As the younger population across the countries is increasing, the demand for faster, convenient, and safer payment solutions is also rising. This is encouraging banking institutes to develop their own mobile & online platforms and provide services on the digital channel to gain customer loyalty and reduce the churn rate.Request for a sample of this research report @Digital Banking Market is anticipated to surpass USD 9 trillion mark by 2024 due to the rising investments in the Fintech market. Fintech has emerged as the most disruptive technology and venture capitalists and angel investors are investing billions to take advantage of the lucrative market. The banking institutes are also collaborating and investing in Fintech companies to develop their own digital solutions for customers to meet the consumer requirements.Company profiled in this report based on Business overview, Financial data, Product landscape, Strategic outlook & SWOT analysis: Appway Backbase BNY Mellon CREALOGIX ebanklT ETRONIKA Fidor Solutions Finastra Fiserv Halcom D.D. ieDigital Intellect Design Arena Kony NETinfo NF Innova Oracle SAB SAP SE Sopra TCS Technisys Temenos WorldlineThe increasing adoption of mobile & online banking platforms is also propelling the market growth. As the adoption of smartphone and internet services across the countries is increasing, consumers prefer mobile applications and websites to access their banking accounts. Furthermore, the integration of the advanced technologies, such as AI and blockchain, into the banking is also fostering market growth.Browse Full Report:The supportive government initiatives and policies across the countries are also promoting the adoption of digital banking solutions. The governments are constantly working on delivering banking services via the internet to reach remote areas. The digitalization & demonetization policies launched by the government will also encourage the adoption of digital banking solutions.Retail banking holds over 75% share in the digital banking market. The market is driven by the rising adoption of the internet and smartphones across the countries. As the adoption of the internet services and smartphones is increasing, and the information is easily available to customers, the buying of consumers is increasing. This is forcing banking institutes to provide a better customer experience and reach customers on their choice of the channel. Moreover, the increasing adoption of mobile and electronic payment solutions and the attractive offers and incentives offered by the payment solution providers are also the major forces accelerating the adoption of digital banking.The corporate sector is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of over 6% over the timeline. The increasing competition among Fintech players is the primary factor driving the adoption of digital banking in the corporate banking sector. Moreover, the integration of advanced analytics technologies such as Big Data to manage the assets, will reduce the risks and extract consumer insights, encouraging the adoption of digital solutions.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Asia Pacific is dominating the digital banking market with over 60% stake in 2017. The growing penetration of internet services and the adoption of smartphones are supporting market growth. Moreover, the digitalization initiatives launched by the government of emerging economies including India and China will also foster the demand for digital banking.The key vendors operating in the digital banking market are Backbase, BNY Mellon, Appway Crealogix, EdgeVerve Systems, ebanklT ETRONIKA, Finastra, Fiserv, Fidor, IE Digital, Halcom Intellect Design Arena, NETinfo, NF Innova, Kony, SAB, SAP, Oracle, Sopra, TCS, Technisys, Tagit, Worldline, and Temenos.Browse Related Report:Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, China, India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Mexico, GCC, South Africa), Growth Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2018  2024About Global Market Insights:Global Market Insights, Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider; offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy and biotechnology.Contact Us:Arun HegdeCorporate Sales, USAGlobal Market Insights, Inc.Phone: 1-302-846-7766Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688Email: sales@gminsights.comWeb:Blog:
Enormous Enlargement of in Luxury Hotels Market Upcoming Years| Marriott International, Hilton, Starwood Hotels & Resorts (Marriott), Hyatt Hotels, Four Seasons Holdings Inc., Shangri-La International Hotel Management

https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/sample/BnF/QBI-99S-BnF-12349

https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/enquiry/BnF/QBI-99S-BnF-12349

https://www.qurateresearch.com/report/buy/BnF/QBI-99S-BnF-12349/

https://www.qurateresearch.com/

Luxury Hotels Market share and size is giving soundness to the growth in parent economies and various leading regions. The Luxury Hotels Market analysis is an evaluation that analyses the progressing and notable trends alongside forecast to 2023. The study covers significant Luxury Hotels Market assessment players, arrangements that are vital, and improvements in the market.The Key Market Players for Global Luxury Hotels Market Are Listed Below: Marriott International Hilton, Starwood Hotels & Resorts (Marriott) Hyatt Hotels Four Seasons Holdings Shangri-La International Hotel Management InterContinental Hotels Group Mandarin Oriental International The Indian Hotels Company Jumeirah International Kerzner International Resorts ITC Hotels Leading HotelsAsk for a Sample of this Report Now atThis report provides in depth study of Luxury Hotels Market using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organisation. The Luxury Hotels Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organisation such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organisation.For instance, Star Hotel & Casino in Sydney offers complete guest control for their 174 luxury suites. The suites are integrated with a Control4 system that enables customers to control the television, music system, room temperature, blinds, and lights wirelessly through tablet/mobile applications. The system also incorporates light sensors that help save energy by switching lights off after 30 minutes of the room being unoccupied.The Gateway Canyon Resort in Colorado has installed an automation system by Crestron Electronics, Inc. for controlling and monitoring electrical fittings and electronics of its rooms. Kapari, a luxury hotel in Santorini Island, has installed an automated control system by AMX LLC in each room to enable high-tech room control for their guests.Ask for Pre-Order Enquiry@Geographically, North America was dominating regional market for aviation analytics, due to huge investment in infrastructure. In addition, North America holds maximum business centre/headquarters of world premium industries across world. Growing business in Asia Pacific serves as a fastest growing regional market for luxury hotels owing to the huge capital investment in construction of world class infrastructure. Shifting of business hub from west to east especially in China and India is a mean cause for the growth in the Asia Pacific region within the forecast period. Moreover, Latin America and Middle East & Africa is expected to have splendid growth due to growth in tourism sector within the forecasting period.A suite of research methodologies has been employed to understand the growth potentials of the global Luxury Hotels market in both, top-down and bottom-up approach. Tested and proven methods of market size forecasting have been used to translate loads of qualitative information into quantified data. The report has been designed to provide instant preliminary information on manufacturing of Luxury Hotels. Graphical and tabular representations of the forecasted market size estimations facilitate an ease of analysis and helps in linking socio-economic data with the changing undercurrents of the global Luxury Hotels market.Purchase Complete Report@Qurate Business Intelligence delivers unique market research solutions to its customers and help them to get equipped with refined information and market insights derived from reports. We are committed to providing best business services and easy processes to get the same. Qurate Business Intelligence considers themselves as strategic partners of their customers and always shows the keen level of interest to deliver quality.Contact Us:Nehal ChinoyRunwal Platinum,Ramnagar Colony, Bavdhan,Pune, Maharashtra, India-411021IN +919881074592info@qurateresearch.com
Latest research on Margarine Market With top key players: Unilever, Bunge, NMGK Group, ConAgra, Zydus Cadila, Wilmar-International, Fuji Oil, BRF, Yildiz Holding, Grupo Lala, NamChow, Sunnyfoods, Etc.

Margarine Market

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/65268

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/65268

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/65268

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/65268

www.upmarketresearch.com

Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Margarine Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 104 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Margarine 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 Scuba Diving Fins 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 Margarine Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Margarine 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 @The Major Players Reported In The Report Are: Unilever Bunge NMGK Group ConAgra Zydus Cadila Wilmar-International Fuji Oil BRF Yildiz Holding Grupo Lala NamChow Sunnyfoods Cargill COFCO Uni-President Mengniu Group Yili Group Brightdairy Dairy CrestGlobal Margarine Market: Product Segment Analysis: Special Type Universal TypeGlobal Margarine Market: Application Segment Analysis: Food Industry HouseholdThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Margarine Market 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 Margarine Market Chapter 6 Margarine Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Margarine Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Margarine Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Margarine Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Margarine Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Margarine 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 Margarine Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Margarine Market 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 Margarine Market 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 Margarine Market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research 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: Margarine Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Margarine Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Margarine Market  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.
2019  2025 Organic Dairy Products Market Sharing with Major Leading Industries like: AMUL, Danone, Arla Foods UK Plc, Dairy Farmers of America Inc. (DFA), Parmalat S.P.A, Dean Foods Company, Groupe Lactalis SA, Kraft Foods, Etc.

Organic Dairy Products Market

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/65157

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/65157

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/65157

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/65157

www.upmarketresearch.com

Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Organic Dairy Products Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 108 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Organic Dairy Products 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 Scuba Diving Fins 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 Organic Dairy Products Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Organic Dairy Products 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 @The Major Players Reported In The Report Are: AMUL Danone Arla Foods UK Plc Dairy Farmers of America Inc. (DFA) Parmalat S.P.A Dean Foods Company Groupe Lactalis SA Fonterra Group Cooperative Limited Kraft Foods Meiji Dairies Corp. Megmilk Snow Brand Organic Valley Sancor Cooperativas Royal FrieslandCampina N.V. UnileverGlobal Organic Dairy Products Market: Product Segment Analysis: Liquid Milk Milk Powder Cheese and Butter Ice CreamGlobal Organic Dairy Products Market: Application Segment Analysis: Children Adult The AgedThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Organic Dairy Products Market 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 Organic Dairy Products Market Chapter 6 Organic Dairy Products Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Organic Dairy Products Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Organic Dairy Products Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Organic Dairy Products Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Organic Dairy Products Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Organic Dairy Products 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 Organic Dairy Products Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Organic Dairy Products Market 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 Organic Dairy Products Market 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 Organic Dairy Products Market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research 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: Organic Dairy Products Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Organic Dairy Products Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Organic Dairy Products Market  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.
The home in Salisbury once occupied by Thomas Drew is a house of mysteries. In 2007, Drew  who was 91 and suffering from dementia  vanished without a trace in a case that still has not been solved. Then last September, a painting that Drew bought decades ago vanished off the walls of the home, only to turn up in an online auction in Fairfield County, the family reports.
Explore Why Ventilation Equipment Market Is Thriving Worldwide: Envirovent Ltd., Manrose Manufacturing Ltd., Stamm International Corporation, Zibo Lihua Ventilation Equipment Co. Ltd., VES Andover Ltd., Daikin Industries, Ltd.

Ventilation Equipment Market Research Report 2019-2025

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/61399

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/enquiry_before_buying/61399

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/requested_sample/61399

https://www.upmarketresearch.com/home/request_for_discount/61399

www.upmarketresearch.com

Up Market Research offers a latest published report on Global Ventilation Equipment Market Research Report 2019 delivering key insights and providing a competitive advantage to clients through a detailed report. The report contains 101 pages which highly exhibit on current market analysis scenario, upcoming as well as future opportunities, revenue growth, pricing and profitability.Request Sample Copy Of this Report @Ventilation Equipment 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 Scuba Diving Fins 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 Ventilation Equipment Market analysis & forecast 2018- 2025 is segmented into Product Segment, Application Segment & Major players.Region- wise Analysis Ventilation Equipment 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 @The Major Players Reported In The Report Are: Envirovent Ltd. Manrose Manufacturing Ltd. Stamm International Corporation Zibo Lihua Ventilation Equipment Co. Ltd. VES Andover Ltd. Daikin Industries, Ltd. Lennox International Inc. Takasago Thermal Engineering Co. Ltd. Systemair AB, Totech Corporation Inc. Greenheck Fan Corporation Air System Components Inc. Gree Electric Appliances Inc. Nuaire CECO Environmental Corp. Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals Ltd. Kruger Ventilation Industries Pte Ltd. Airflow Developments Limited Maico Elektroapparate-Fabrik GmbH Schaefer Ventilation EquipmentGlobal Ventilation Equipment Market: Product Segment Analysis: Air Filter Air Handling Unit (AHU) Air Purifier Roof Vent Axial Fan Centrifugal FanGlobal Ventilation Equipment Market: Application Segment Analysis: Industrial Non-IndustrialThe Report Covers In- Depth Analysis As Follows: Chapter 1 Overview of Ventilation Equipment Market 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 Ventilation Equipment Market Chapter 6 Ventilation Equipment Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers Chapter 7 Ventilation Equipment Market Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data Chapter 8 Upstream and Downstream Market Analysis of Ventilation Equipment Market Chapter 9 Cost and Gross Margin Analysis of Ventilation Equipment Market Chapter 10 Marketing Status Analysis of Ventilation Equipment Market Chapter 11 Report Conclusion Chapter 12 Research Methodology and ReferenceRequest Complete TOC Of this Report @Ventilation Equipment 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 Ventilation Equipment Market: Key Stakeholders: Manufacturers Distributors/Traders/Wholesalers Subcomponent Manufacturers Industry Association Downstream VendorsIn this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Ventilation Equipment Market 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 Ventilation Equipment Market 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 Ventilation Equipment Market analysis and forecast 2018- 2025.Avail Discount On this Report @Customization of the Report:Up Market Research 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: Ventilation Equipment Market  Global Market Status & Trend Report 2013- 2025 Top 20 Countries Data Ventilation Equipment Market  North America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  South America Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  Europe Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  EMEA Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  Asia Pacific Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  China Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  India Market Status and Trend Report 2013- 2025 Ventilation Equipment Market  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.
Furrer travels to Nigeria twice a year for three weeks to help out at the clinics. He said he retired to focus on the mission work, but he fell in love with the spirit and mission at Trinity Episcopal Church and felt called to go back into service.
I hang out at Walden like it is 1847, chatting with tourists, tour groups, and school groups. I enjoy doing presentations for nonprofits and historical societies. I get the best questions and people are attentive. I can say things as Henry that I cant say as Richard. Henry can speak his mind and not be considered weird or cranky, he said.
Manufacturers project hiring will reach roughly 2,500 workers a year through 2023. Between 2024 and 2028 the rate will increase to 3,000 annually due to U.S. defense requirements, new contracts and retirements, CSCU said. Between 25,000 and 35,000 workers are needed and either of those numbers "dwarfs CSCUs current capacity, the university system said.
Jaipur Literature Fest: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor all set to take the stage on February 26

For safekeeping: Congress alliance candidates flown to Jaipur ahead of May 2 counting

Curfew announced in Jaipur from 6 pm to 5 am

Rajasthan: Man sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to rape minor

Jaipur

oi-Vikas SV

Jodhpur, Feb 16: A 21-year-old man, who attempted to rape a three-year-old girl last year, was on Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment.

A POCSO court in Jodhpur sentenced man to life imprisonment for attempting to rape infant.

In his statement, Judge Bannalal Jat termed the crime as one of the most heinous and barbaric and said that the perpetrator needed to be given the harshest punishment, said Public Prosecutor Dinesh Kumar Sharma, as per a PTI report.

The convict was identified as Kailash Chandra. Chandra was caught red-handed while attempting to rape the three-year-old girl on October 11 last year, Sharma said, adding that 30 witnesses had been examined in the case, Sharma said.

[Mumbai: Man gets 20 yrs in jail for raping minor]

On October 11, the convict abducted the girl from the Rai Ka Bagh railway station when she was sleeping next to her mother and took her to a secluded place near the station, the public prosecutor said.

He was caught red-handed by officials of the Government Railway Police (GRP). Chandra was immediately arrested while the girl was sent for medical examination, Sharma added.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 20:57 [IST]
Covid-19 origin: Was right about China virus coming from Wuhan lab, says Donald Trump

Trump says India has just been devastated by COVID-19

Trump says North Korea has 'tremendous' economic potential

International

pti-PTI

Washington, Feb 15: Donald Trump hailed Pyongyang's "tremendous" economic potential Friday, ahead of a second scheduled summit between the US president and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un.

"Their location between South Korea and Russia and China right smack in the middle is phenomenal. And we think they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future," Trump told reporters at the White House.

[South Korea ecstatic over Trump-Kim meeting in Vietnam later this month]

Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the Feb 27-28 summit, which will be the second time the two leaders come together following their June 12 Singapore meeting.

PTI
Ramadan 2021: Hotels and restaurants in Dubai can serve food to customers without curtain covers

Saudi Crown Prince Salman's first visit to Pakistan delayed by a day

International

pti-PTI

Islamabad, Feb 16: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's arrival in Pakistan on his first official visit to the country has been delayed by a day for "unknown reasons".

He was scheduled to reach Islamabad on Saturday but due to a slight change, he will arrive on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office. However, the programmes of his stay in Pakistan will remain unchanged, it said.

Prince Mohammad, who is also the deputy prime minister and minister of defence, will be conferred with Nishan-e-Pakistan  the highest civilian award  during his visit to the country, the Express Tribune reported. A top official said that the arrival has been delayed by a day for "unknown reasons".

China again declines to back India's request on JeM Chief Masood Azhar

Preparations have been made to give an "unprecedented warm welcome" to the Saudi Prince who will be received personally by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members at the Nur Khan Airbase, the report said.

Abdul Razzak Dawood, Advisor to prime minister on trade, said investment deals worth USD 10-15 billion dollars would be signed during the trip.

On the top of the list is an agreement to set up an oil refinery in Pakistan. Elaborate security arrangements have been planned during the visit of the powerful heir to the Saudi throne.

PTI
Can men get arrested for sporting long hair: Apparently in Pakistan YES!

To stay in Grey List or downgrade to Black List: Key FATF decision on Pak this week

Pulwama: Working on options to retaliate, Pakistan says after India withdraws MFN status

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Islamabad, Feb 16: A day after India withdrew its 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) status to Pakistan in the wake of the horrific suicide terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Wednesday, February 14, killing more than 40 jawans, Pakistan said it was working on retaliatory options.

Razak Dawood, adviser on commerce to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, told the media on Friday, February 15, that Islamabad will weigh all available options to take counter-steps against the Indian government's withdrawal of the MFN status.

Pulwama payback: India withdraws Most Favoured Nation status given to Pakistan

Dawood said this while speaking to the media at the office of the board of investment on the two-day visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and a high-level business delegation to Pakistan.

The visit which was supposed to kick off on Saturday, February 16, will now begin on Sunday, February 17.

The commerce adviser to PM Khan said Islamabad might undertake unilateral measures Agreement and move the World Trade Organisation in Geneva.

Most Favoured Nation: What does Pakistan stand to lose?

India withdrew the MFN status which it had given to Pakistan in 1995 though many said it was only a symbolic retaliation against the terror attack. MFN status means a country will treat all WTO member nations equally in matters of tariffs on imports.

Pak could bring more items in negative list, says commerce ministry

Sources in Pakistan's commerce ministry said the country could bring in more items in the negative list that features items that are not to be imported from India, daily Dawn reported.

"Pakistan's exports to India stood at $288.134 million in 2004-05 and reached $350m in 2016-17 in the wake of liberalisation of the trade regime with India. Indian exports to Pakistan were $547.458m in 2004-05 and shot up to $2 billion in 2016-17," the Dawn reported, saying the unilateral trade liberalisation in goods and services helped India after the resumption while Pakistan's exports stagnated.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 12:42 [IST]
India needs to give up militarised approach to Kashmir issue for solution, says Pak editorial

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Islamabad, Feb 16: The ever-strained relationship between India and Pakistan saw a new low again this week after a suicide terror attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14 left over 40 jawans dead. The Indian establishment along with the entire nation were livid with the tragedy and sought revenge against the neighbours.

Among the first steps, India withdrew its Most-Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan more than two decades ago. It also vowed to isolate Pakistan in the international community.

Pakistan denied the charges of having any link with the attacks and condemned the attack, saying it was a "matter of grave concern". Both nations summoned each other's envoys to express their displeasure.

Pakistan's leading daily Dawn came up with an editorial saying Pakistan tried to reach out to successive governments in New Delhi a number of times to engage in dialogues and accused the latter of not reciprocating.

Pulwama: Working on options to retaliate, Pakistan says after India withdraws MFN status

According to it, Delhi "has more often than not jumped to its own conclusions".

Pakistan has tried to reach out to India time and again but didn't find response, says op-ed

"Unfortunately, this has become a never-ending cycle of blame games, rebuttals and denials - with no joint engagement to understand the cause of the violence. To Pakistan's credit, although it has vowed political, moral and diplomatic support for the Kashmiris, successive governments have at least attempted to reach out to India - several times - to engage in talks, but there has been no reciprocal gesture from Delhi, which has more often than not jumped to its own conclusions," it said.

The op-ed further asked India to provide evidence to Pakistan that non-state actors are using the latter's soil to target others for Islamabad to conduct probe. It said in the absence of such cooperation, a solution was unlikely to be reached.

It said the young suicide bomber, Adil Ahmad Dar, who carried out the Pulwama disaster was a native of "India-occupied Kashmir" and alleged that India's string-arm tactics in the region have alienated the local people who it said: "had no need of outside help to vent their anger and frustration".

'Atrocities unleashed by Indian military machine'

"Young Kashmiris are taking up the gun and attacking symbols of the Indian establishment. They have been met with a hail of bullets but have not been deterred. There have been several instances of students, academics and intellectuals choosing the path of armed struggle, mainly because they see no other way to resist the atrocities unleashed by the Indian military machine."

The piece said that till the time New Delhi did not give up its militarised approach to the Kashmir issue, there is little chance of violence subsiding.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 12:58 [IST]
About 200 US companies to move manufacturing from China to India

Talks with China will not help says USA NSA on situation on Ladakh

20 members of a family removed from US flight after mask of 1 slipped under nose

Aurora mass shooting: 5 killed, 6 cops wounded in outskirts of Chicago

International

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Chicago, Feb 16: Five people were killed and five police officers wounded when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago.

According to Associated Press, Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman identified the gunman as 45-year-old Gary Martin.

According to cbsnews, the shooter was a 15-year employee of the Henry Platt Co. and police believe he was being terminated Friday, Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said at a press conference late Friday.

Misplaced 'take left' sign sees cars almost entering couple's house every time

Statement from the Kendall County Sheriff's Office said:

Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the Aurora Police, the Aurora community, and the families of the victims involved in today's tragedy. We stand with our brothers and sisters in blue, and the world, in praying for a speedy recovery for the Aurora Officers injured, as well as the innocent victims who's lives have been forever changed. We will never forget the innocent lives lost far too soon, and pray their families and friends can one day find peace.
My administration does not tolerate harassment of any kind by anyone, Mayor Luke Bronin said in a written statement. While the accused officer was reassigned to a different unit the same day the initial complaint was made, and a formal investigation was initiated immediately, we have a fundamental obligation not only to be thorough, but also to be swift, in investigating and acting upon all harassment complaints of any kind.
In the monthly report recently released by OPEC, the organisations January output decreased by 0.93 million barrels a day to 30.83 million barrels a day. This is the result of a consensus between OPEC member countries and non-OPEC partners in agreeing to cut crude oil production by 1.2 million barrels a day in the first half of 2019, aiming to revive oil prices and take control of the redundancy. Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer in OPEC, took responsibility for reducing output by 322,000 barrels to 10.3 million barrels a day. Meanwhile, Russia, a non-OPEC country, pledged a reduction of 228,000 barrels per day.

It was not an easy step to reach consensus on output reduction because countries must accept concessions for the common good. The support from Russia, a major partner of OPEC, is extremely important, alongside Irans voluntary reduction of about 800,000 barrels per day from 2019. This is said to be a move of compromise from the Iranian side toward Saudi Arabia, a rival of Teheran in the region. The countries agreeing to set aside their own calculations and benefits to cut output aims to avoid the repetition of the scenario of a sharp plunge in oil prices, because if this happens, it will not only negatively affect oil exporting countries but also cause many implications for the world economy, as oil is considered a measurement of the global economys health. Most OPEC members are concerned about falling oil prices while revenues from oil exports contribute significantly to their budget. It is estimated that OPEC members have suffered losses of up to US$9 billion due to dropping oil prices, while the reduction of output risks them losing market share to other producers.

The evolutions of the black gold market in the first month of this year showed that the agreement to cut oil production has taken effect, making the market more stable after the oil price dropped sharply. However, analysts are still concerned about the stability of this highly precarious market. In order to balance the market, countries, both inside and outside OPEC, must strictly abide by the deal to cut production, regardless of the fact that this may cause significant losses to their own interests. Meanwhile, OPEC is also thought to be influenced by non-member countries. OPECs decisions are under great pressure from countries that control global oil supplies such as the United States and Russia. Besides, internal disputes and disagreements among OPEC member countries are also at risk of affecting the implementation of the agreement. The conflict between Saudi Arabia with Iran and Qatar, if left uncontrolled, will affect the oil market when no country wants to cut output. In the current context, the countries reaching an agreement on the reduction of oil production has been seen as the best solution to avoid a bad scenario regarding oil prices. In fact, after the deal was introduced, the black gold market reacted in a positive direction with oil prices immediately rising by 5%. However, the challenges that OPEC currently faces are from external factors. The non-OPEC countries increasing output to gain market share will also pose a big challenge to this bloc in the future.

OPEC is facing multiple difficulties, as not only must it make a reasonable cut to maintain oil revenues and avoid cracks within the bloc, but also balance the market. The recent efforts by OPEC and Russia to ensure production cuts have helped stop the slump of oil prices. This is said to be a positive step in the efforts to stabilise the black gold market, however, the reality also depends on many objective factors, including geopolitical factors.
At 110 kgs, US President Donald Trump is now officially obese

International

oi-Shubham Ghosh

Washington, Feb 16: US President Donald Trump has given enough glimpses of his love for fast food, and now it has been revealed that despite eyeing a weight lesser than by 10-15 pounds (4.5-7 kg), the man has become heavier over the past one year and is now officially an obese man.

The Republican president took a weight test last week as part of his annual physical exercise and it was found to be 243 pounds (110 kg), as per White House physician Dr Sean Conley.

It will be easier to climb Mt Everest than US-Mexico border wall, says Donald Trump

The 72-year-old (the oldest president ever to take office) is 6 feet 3 inches tall and with a body mass index of above 30, he is obese. Last year, Trump weighed 239 pounds (108 kg) last year.

However, Conley said the president was in "very good health" and was expected to continue to do so for the remaining period of his presidency and beyond it. No other details were released though, American media reports said.

A team of 11 experts examined the president for four hours at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, District of Columbia, and Conley's remarks came after that.

Trump declares national emergency to build wall; a constitutional crisis, says expert

Obesity is a major public health issue in the US where 93.3 million adults were obese in 2015-2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 13:36 [IST]
How Kashmirs separatists are wiping out a generation by facilitating drug trade and abuse

Kashmir separatists sent scores of youth on valid documents to Pak for terror training: NIA

Will security cover for Kashmir separatists be reviewed?

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Srinagar, Feb 16: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made a veiled reference to the separatists and said that the security cover given to them must be reviewed.

"Some elements in Jammu and Kashmir have links with the ISI and terrorist organisations. I have asked the state administration to review the security cover provided to these elements," he said after holding a review meeting with top officers, a day after 40 CRPF jawans were killed in an audacious suicide attack.

The Union home minister also announced that civilian traffic will be restricted on highways and major roads in Jammu and Kashmir during the movement of convoys of Army and security forces.

"Civilian traffic movement will be restricted for some time during movement of Army and security forces convoys. This may cause inconvenience and I apologise for this but this is necessary for safety of jawans," he told reporters after a high-level security review meeting here.

All civilian movement to be stopped on J-K highway when security forces' convoy passing: HM

Rajnath Singh is on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir following the worst terror attack on security forces in the state in the past three decades.

He said he has instructed the state government to ensure communal harmony.

40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the attack will pay "a very heavy price" and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with terrorists.

In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely punished.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 6:26 [IST]
Ishna Jan, the 23 year old lady who provided food and logistics to Pulwama bomber

Reinforced, markings of Karachi, Pak hand all over in tunnel used by JeM terrorists

The two Islamic State style terror acts in J&K

India

oi-Hardeep Singh Bedi

New Delhi, Feb 16: The gruesome suicide attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir was probably the second Islamic State (IS) style act in the state within a month.

A suicide bomber, identified as Adil Ahmad Dar, affiliated to Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) rammed explosive laden van into two buses of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying some 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel on Jammu-Srinagar Highway near Pulwama.

Before being killed, Dar claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

CRPF DG RR Bhatnagar has said that a new dimension is added to terrorist activity in Kashmir as an explosive-laden vehicle was used to target a convoy for the first time in the Pulwama terror attack.

However, Pulwamas suicide bomber was the second one in the history of Kashmiri terrorism.

Almost two decades ago, a suicide bomber, also affiliated to JeM, had exploded his explosive laden car outside the main gate of the Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar.

Though the JeM has taken responsibility of Pulwama attack, but the planners seem to be driven by the Islamic State style.

The IS has used thousands of suicide bombers who used explosive laden cars and trucks against security forces in Iraq.

[Pulwama: Bomb maker from PoK, mastermind an Afghanistan trained terrorist]

First it was reported that Dar's Scorpio van was laden with RDX, but reports now indicate his van was a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) in which a very fine quality of urea ammonium nitrate, which is commonly used in stone quarries in Kashmir, was used.

After Dar executed his task, the JeM released his pre-recorded video message. Again, this step bears resemblance to the Islamic State.

The IS used to release pre-recorded video messages of suicide bombers.

For example, the Islamic State released a posthumous statement from Saudi suicide bomber who struck Kuwait mosque and killed 17 people in 2015.

Before Pulwama attack, an incident also happened in Kashmir that had footprints of the Islamic State.

On February 1, the Jammu and Kashmir police recovered body of a 25-year-old woman from Dragad area of Shopian district, who was shot dead at point blank range by unidentified terrorists.

[How Jaish pieced together a sophisticated Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device]

Victim Ishrat Muneer was a resident of Dangerpora in Pulwama district. She was reportedly killed on the suspicion of being an informer of the security forces. Strategically, the terrorists also made a video of her killing and circulated it on social media.

The woman in the short video clip can be seen pleading for mercy with folded hands but the gunman shoots her twice.

Killers of Muneer also must have been inspired by the Islamic State's psychological tactic of filming the killing.

The IS is known for releasing videos of death punishment to hostages and informers to send warnings.

These two incidents give an idea about the new strategy of the terror masterminds sitting in Pakistan.

Chances are high that after the success of Pulwama attack they will lure others terrorists in Kashmir to become suicide bombers and use car bombs or VBIEDs to kill many before being killed.

The strategy behind the killing of Muneer could be an attempt to send a message to those Kashmiri girls who allegedly led security forces to those terrorists who had sexually exploited them.

For example, it is said that security forces managed to eliminate top terrorists like Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Abu Dujana, and another top-ranked Lashkar terrorist Abdullah Uni due to their involvement with women.

Interestingly, Pulwama suicide bomber Dar in his pre-recorded video message also warned Kashmiri young boys against falling in love.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 18:03 [IST]
No arrest of Teesta Setalvad in fund embezzlement case till May 31: SC

Teesta Setalvad, hubby quizzed in fund embezzlement case

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Ahmedabad, Feb 16: Social activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand appeared before the Ahmedabad Crime Branch to record their statements in the alleged Rs 1.4 crore fund embezzlement case related to their Mumbai-based NGO Sabrang Trust.

The activist couple was allowed to go after primary questioning at the Crime Branch office here, said a senior police official, adding the duo will be called in the future if needed.

On February 8, the Gujarat High Court had granted anticipatory bail to Setalvad and Anand in the case.

While giving them relief, the court had also asked the couple to appear before Crime Branch officials on February 15 for questioning and recording statements.

Teesta Setalvad gets relief from arrest

The Crime Branch had filed an FIR against Setalvad and Anand in March last year, alleging they used fraudulent means to secure funds of Rs 1.4 crore from the Union Human Resource Development Ministry between 2010 and 2013 through their NGO.

The FIR was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by Setalvad's former associate, Raees Khan Pathan.

The case was registered against Setalvad and Anand under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 403 (dishonest misappropriation of property) and 406 (criminal breach of trust).

It is alleged the husband-wife duo had used the funds to pay witnesses to make false deposition in some of the post- Godhra riot cases of 2002.

In the past, the couple has denied all the allegations against them.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 6:17 [IST]
Surgical strike, air strikes, limited conflicts: 3 options India would take to avenge Pulwama

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

New Delhi, Feb 16: In the aftermath of the ghastly Pulwama attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he had given the forces a free hand to deal with the situation.

India on Friday withdrew the Most Favoured Nation status given to Pakistan and also upped the diplomatic pressure on Pakistan. Officials tell OneIndia that the counter to Pakistan would be two-pronged. We would step up the pressure both diplomatically and also on the military side.

Pulwama: Huge impact as Supergel-90 multiplied potency of main explosive

National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval held several high level meetings here to discuss the next course of action. There would be many more meetings today as well. During the various meetings, several officials were in favour of air strikes.

While some were in favour of a surgical strike, others were against it as it was felt that there will not be an element of surprise as the enemy would be well prepared. The other option discussed was regarding a limited cross border strike. The intention would be to dismantle terror infrastructure.

Highly placed sources said that the most likely option would to carry out precision air strikes in Pakistan occupied Kashmir against the non-state actors. Most of the officials part of the high level deliberations were in favour of this option as the preparation required would be minimal.

Similar discussions were also held in the aftermath of the Uri attack. This time too, officials were unanimous in their decision to target the terror infrastructure and also ensure that there are no civilian casualties on the other side.

Pulwama attack: How were badly mutilated bodies of CRPF martyrs identified?

The operations would be tough and there would be a lot of risk involved. Normally after a major strike, terror camps across the border areas are shut down and operatives are moved back. However officials say that the risk has to be taken and a very strong message needs to be sent out.

During the discussions, officials also discussed the possibility of a limited conflict. During the deliberations today, officials would further discuss the options and also debate on what extent India would be willing to escalate the conflict to.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 8:15 [IST]
Even if there is 1 fatality: SCs strong warning to AP on conduct of Class 12 exams

Sensitise cops about Section 66A of IT Act says SC

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, Feb 16: The Supreme Court directed all state governments to sensitise their police personnel about its March 24, 2015 verdict which had scrapped Section 66A of Information Technology Act, so that people are not unnecessarily arrested under the struck down provision.

It also asked all the high courts to send the copy of the verdict to all the trial court to avoid people being prosecuted under the scrapped provision which provided for jail term to people who posted offensive content online.

A bench of Justices R F Nariman and Sanjay Kishan Kaul disposed of the application filed by NGO PUCL alleging that people were still being prosecuted under the scrapped provision.

Attorney General K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, said the court verdict needs to be sent to all the high courts and to the district courts, so that prosecution does not take place.

On January 7, while hearing the application of PUCL, the bench had observed that it is shocking that people are still being prosecuted under Section 66 A of the IT Act even after it has been scrapped by the court in 2015.

It had sought response from the Centre and warned the concerned officials from sending them to jail for violating its orders.

Will send you to jail, SC tells officials ordering arrest under scrapped IT law

Advocate Sanjay Parikh, appearing for the NGO had said prosecutions are taking place even after the provision has been struck down three years ago.

As per the data available, he had said, more than 22 prosecutions have taken place till now after the provisions was struck down.

Terming liberty of thought and expression "cardinal", the top court had on March 24, 2015, scrapped the provision saying that "the public's right to know is directly affected by Section 66A of the Information Technology Act .

The first PIL on the issue was filed in 2012 by a law student Shreya Singhal who sought an amendment in Section 66A of the Act after two girls Shaheen Dhada and Rinu Shrinivasan were arrested in Palghar in Maharashtra's Thane district.

While one had posted a comment against the shutdown in Mumbai following Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray's death, the other had 'liked' it.

PUCL was also one of the petitioners in the case and has challenged the constitutional validity of section 66A of IT Act.

"...despite the clear and unequivocal holding of this Court in Shreya Singhal case, Section 66A of the IT Act continues to be applied in the legal system. A recent working paper by the Internet Freedom Foundation demonstrates that pending prosecutions under Section 66A of the IT Act have not been terminated, and further that it continues to be invoked by police across India in FIR registered after the verdict," the PUCL plea said.

It said that research paper has considered several media reports as also the NCRB data but that is not an exhaustive list of the cases.

It added however that the data sufficiently establishes that Section 66A of the IT Act continues to live on in the legal system despite the judgment in Shreya Singhal case.

"That from the existence of several quashing petitions filed before High Courts, it is apparent that trial courts and prosecutors are not actively implementing the decision of this Court, and the burden of terminating illegal prosecutions based on Section 66A of the IT Act is unfairly falling upon accused persons," the plea said.

It added that the harm emanating from this state of affairs is enormous as besides indicating disregard for the Constitution and this Court, the continued use of Section 66A of the IT Act is a direct violation of the fundamental rights under Articles 19(1)(a) and 21 of the persons against whom the provision is invoked.

The NGO sought full compliance of the verdict of March 24, 2015, immediately through issuance of appropriate circulars/ advisories addressed to the Chief Secretaries of all States and Union Territories, and the Director Generals of Police of all States and Union Territories.

It also sought direction of the court to the court registry to send a copy of judgement to all the high courts to pass appropriate orders in pending cases concerning Section 66A of the IT Act as well as appropriate circulars to bring the Shreya Singhal judgement to the notice of all district courts within their jurisdiction to prevent failures of justice.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 6:20 [IST]
Repeated reconnaissance, support from OWGs: How Jaish carried a precision strike at Pulwama

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Feb 16: The suicide bomber, Adil Dar, who carried out the Pulwama attack may have not acted alone, investigators say. Through the entire operation, he had a lot of backend support and was being constantly guided and tipped off about the movement of the convoy, officials familiar with the investigation tell OneIndia.

Dar lived 10 kilometres away from the attack site and was familiar with the terrain. He also had the support of several over ground workers (OWG), who in turn passed on information about the movement of the convoys.

'He wanted to become a cleric, no idea why he choose this path', says Father of suicide bomber

Investigators also say that months of planning and trial runs had been undertaken by Dar before he finally decided to strike. There was an extreme amount of precision in the attack and this only suggests that there was a lot of planning that had gone in, the official also noted.

Officials said that the bus that came under attack was number 5 in the convoy. The official also noted that Dar may have either hit the bus with his vehicle or detonated his vehicle as he overtook the bus.

All the 39 jawans in the fifth bus were martyred in the attack. Another CRPF trooper who was part of the Road Opening Party was also killed. Some jawans who were travelling in bus number 6 were injured. The two buses were travelling at a distance of 50 metres apart.

Jaish bomber released a chilling video before striking at Pulwama

Investigators say that for months the Jaish operatives including Dar conducted a reconnaissance of the Jammu-Srinagar highway on the Kakapora-Lelhar side. The manner in which the attack was carried indicates that there was a lot of precision. Dar was waiting for the convoy and he entered from the left side. When the CRPF bus number 5 was alongside, he either hit his car against it or detonated his vehicle, investigators also say.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 7:45 [IST]
Prove it, says Navjot Sidhu as Amarinder Singh hints he may join AAP

'Truth will triumph': Navjot Singh Sidhu sticks to his guns over rift with Amarinder Singh

Pulwama Terror Attack: Navjot Singh Sidhu to be removed from The Kapil Sharma show

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 16: Punjab Cabinet minister and comedian Navjot Singh Sidhu has been asked to leave 'The Kapil Sharma Show' after he received flak for his remarks on Pulwama attack.

Reacting to the attack, one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir, Sidhu had commented, "For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual? It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished."

Sidhu's comment has not gone well with the netizens. In fact, #BoycottSidhu has been trending since last night.

Pulwama: As India plans revenge, Pak raises alert, moves its terrorists back

This is not the first time that Sony TV has taken a stand over a controversy. After Anu Malik was named in the MeToo campaign, he was sacked overnight as a judge from Indian Idol 10.

On Thursday, February 14, 2019, more than 40 CRPF jawans lost their lives in a terrorist attack which took place in Awantipora, Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir. A car carrying more than 350 kg of explosives rammed into a bus of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, causing a blast.

The incident has led the political parties to put up a united front as they vouch to tackle the issue of terrorism together.
Pulwama bomber became terrorist after he was beaten by troops, Prashant Bhushan justifies terror

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 16: As India salutes sacrifice of 40 brave-hearts, senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan has defended the terrorist behind the Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

"Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar became terrorist after he was beaten by troops. It is important to understand why so many young men in Kashmir are becoming militants and willing to die. Even US forces couldn't hold Afghanistan and Iraq after large-scale suicide attacks," tweeted Bhushan.

"Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar became terrorist after he was beaten by troops". It's imp to understand why so many young men in Kashmir are becoming militants&willing to die. Even US forces couldn't hold Afghanistan & Iraq after large-scale suicide attackshttps://t.co/2mr5d3WK2Z  Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) February 16, 2019

His statements come barely two days after the dastardly act of terror unleashed on innocent Central Reserve Police Force jawans in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. Congress' social media head Divya Spandana has retweeted it.

Pulwama: As India plans revenge, Pak raises alert, moves its terrorists back

Navjot Singh Sidhu said, "For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual?" He further said, "It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished."

Sidhu's comment has not gone well with the netizens, who slammed him. #boycottsidhu and #boycottkapilsharmashow have been trending on social media.

Fans have asked to remove Sidhu from the show, or else they won't watch The Kapil Sharma Show and will they will unsubscribe Sony TV. A few of them even unsubscribed Sony TV! Check out fans' comments!

Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack in Pulwama's Awantipora area. The attack took place after a suicide bomber, identified as local boy Adil Ahmad Dar, in a Mahindra Scorpio car loaded with 350 kilograms of explosives rammed into a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying over 2500 CRPF troops on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.
Pulwama: Bomb maker from PoK, mastermind an Afghanistan trained terrorist

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Srinagar, Feb 16: Investigations being conducted following the Pulwama attack have revealed that the person who assembled the bomb is from Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Sources tell OneIndia that the Jaish bomb expert managed to slip out and reach Muzzaffarbad, PoK after he had assembled it in the car, which was detonated before the CRPF bus on Thursday.

Surgical strike, air strikes, limited conflicts: 3 options India would take to avenge Pulwama

Investigations suggest that nearly 80 kilograms of RDX was used in the attack. The probe agencies are still trying to ascertain as how to so much explosive was fitted into a vehicle.

At first it was said that the vehicle used by the bomber, Adil Dar was a Scorpio. However further investigations suggest that it could have been either an Alto or Eeco. The investigators came to this conclusion after they found a bumper of a Maruti from the attack site.

While officials of the National Investigation Agency and the National Security Guards are investigating the case along with the Jammu and Kashmir police, the Intelligence is assisting in gathering of information relating to the modus operandi and also the masterminds of the attack.

While the bomb maker managed to get out of Kashmir, intelligence agencies say that the mastermind of the attack is still in the state. The mastermind identified as Mohammad Umair is still operating in the Pulwama area. An Intelligence Bureau official informed that he had overseen the entire attack and was also the one who masterminded it.

Umair is the nephew of Jaish-e-Mohamamd chief, Maulana Masood Azhar. He was sent into Kashmir after another nephew of Azhar, who went by the name Usman Haider was killed in an encounter. It may be recalled that Talha Rashid, also a nephew of the Jaish chief was killed in an encounter with the security forces in 2016.

Repeated reconnaissance, support from OWGs: How Jaish carried a precision strike at Pulwama

According to officials, Umair was trained in Afghanistan. An officer says that this explains why the nature of the attack was such. Vehicle ramming with bombs are reported from countries such as Afghanistan and Syria. In the aftermath of the attack, security officials had raised concerns about this style of attack and warned that it could become a norm.

Investigating officers say that while the mastermind and bomb maker has been identified, they are looking for the over ground workers, who aided the bomber with information and precise logistics. Dar was given precise information about the movement of the convoys.

The moment the convoys were spotted, he entered from the left side of bus number five and detonated the vehicle as a result of 40 jawans were martyred.
Why Coronado Is The Crown Jewel Of The Sea
At all party meet, PM Modi says priority is to strengthen democracy at grassroots in J&K

Chidambaram slams government for insisting on polls in Jammu and Kashmir before granting statehood

Pulwama attack updates: Police in Pulwama appeals locals to leave encounter site

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

New Delhi, Feb 17: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has called for a nationwide trade bandh or shutdown on Monday (February 18). The bandh has been called to express solidarity with the families of security personnel who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The traders body also said that the Bharat Trade Bandh across the country will be peaceful and only business establishments will remain closed. Essential items and public transport have been kept out of bandh.

Meanwhile, the bodies of the soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which were brought to Delhi on Friday evening, have started reaching their respective hometowns.

At least 44 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed his SUV, laden with explosives, into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Kashmir's Pulwama district. Scores were injured in the Kashmir terror attack.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the responsibility for the attack. The suicide bomber was identified as Adil Ahmed Dar, native of Kakapora tehsil in Pulwama district, who officials said joined the terror group in 2018.

Pulwama suicide attack: Both IB and police had warned of Jaish led strike

Here are the updates after terrorist attack on CRPF convoy at Pulwama:
Pulwama attack: Sumalatha Ambareesh offers half acre land to martyr's family

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Bengaluru, Feb 16: Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late Congress leader Ambareesh, offered half an acre of her own land for cremation of CRPF jawan H Guru who was martyred in Pulwama attack.

Sumalatha said, "If the government has already allotted the land for cremation, then the land can be used by the family for cultivation." Late Congress leader Ambareesh was MP of Mandya Lok Sabha constituency.

Karnataka: Martyred CRPF trooper's mortal remains on way to Mandya

Meanwhile, KPCC Working President Eshwar Khandre requested the state government to announce Rs 1 crore ex-gratia instead of Rs 25 lakh to martyr H Guru's kin. Khandre also added that Congress will stand by the Centre in its action against terrorists.

According to reports, Defence Ministry rejected CM HD Kumaraswamy's request to provide a chopper to shift the body of martyr Guru from HAL to Maddur. Union Minister DV Sadananand Gowda, Shobha Karandlaje, and other BJP leader will take part in the final rites of the martyr at his village in Mandya district.
Pulwama attack puts Modi in a strong position ahead of Lok Sabha election 2019

India

oi-Shubham Ghosh

New Delhi, Feb 16: For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the political challenge at home was turning out to be stiffer in recent months.

Electoral defeats in three states in the Hindi heartland in December, along with some alarming revelations on employment and the growing solidarity among the Opposition ranks even in a loose fashion certainly were not giving the prime minister and his party - BJP - an easy slip.

Pulwama attack: 'Pakistan will pay heavy price, have given forces free hand', says Modi

For Modi's supporters though these challenges are too weak to dislodge him for power in the upcoming general election but for a politician, a win is only a win when he wins it.

As a prime minister who is facing the anti-incumbency challenge, the confidence was understandably modest compared to the pre-2014 scenario.

Against this background, a dastardly attack happened on a convoy of jawans in the Pulwama district of the disturbed state of Jammu and Kashmir. Over 40 CRPF personnel were martyred after an explosive-laden vehicle was rammed into their bus by a suicide bomber.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. The country was furious and sought an instant revenge and Prime Minister Modi said the culprits will not be spared and the Indian Army has been given full freedom to decide on the next steps.

No matter how Modi's post-Pulwama policy works, his position has become stronger in domestic politics

For those who think that Modi is playing the gallery and he needs to think out something more substantial and faster to survive the electoral challenge, they are actually taking a wrong route.

The prime minister now finds himself at a stronger position and if one even takes the freedom to make a prediction: the post-Pulwama position of Modi will seem tougher for his opponents to beat, no matter how big a stage they choose to bring up their Mahagathbandhan.

The JeM attack has done Modi a favour. The BJP strongman can now afford to rekindle the passion which is attached with irreplaceable political commodities like nationalism or even the hyper version of it as well as that of national security.

These are issues that no Opposition can afford to disagree over with the government.

We have already seen Congress president Rahul Gandhi wasted no time to throw the Opposition's weight behind the government on the Pulwama disaster.

'Sacrifices of security personnel won't go in vain': PM Modi on 'dastardly' Pulwama attack

There is very little the other Opposition parties can do on this sensitive issue either since it is related to the country's sovereignty and security. For Modi, this relief is no less assuring.

When a nation comes under attack, it's generally the rulers who prevail

Also, it is an unwritten law of sort that the rulers of the day gain the trust of the people when the nation comes under attack.

We have seen how Indira Gandhi won in 1971; Atal Behari Vajpayee won in 1999 and even the tainted UPA led by the Congress came back to power just months after the devastating terror attack in Mumbai in 2008.

It is unlikely that the scrambled and jumbled anti-Modi front will gain when the idea of the nation's insecurity is strong.

What will be Modi's Pakistan or China policies post-Pulwama is for time to tell but he will certainly be the biggest beneficiary if India chooses to have a single and decisive leadership to lead it over the next five years.

The regional satraps aspiring to topple Modi might not seem too capable of catering to the passionate nationalism which will be ruling for some time now.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 9:47 [IST]
Pulwama attack: India's High Commissioner to Pak arrives at MEA

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

New Delhi, Feb 16: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrived at Ministry of External Affairs for consultations with senior officials and leadership following the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kahsmir.

Ajay Bisaria was called back for consultations in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack on CRPF troopers on Thursday. Bisaria will later hold discussions with top leaders and government officials over the emerging political situation in the wake of the deadly attack.

Pulwama: As India plans revenge, Pak raises alert, moves its terrorists back

India on Friday also announced, after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), that it has withdrawn most favoured nation (MFN) status accorded to Pakistan and would work to "isolate the western neighbour internationally."

The External Affairs Ministry in a statement on Thursday called upon the international community after the attack to support its bid to get the JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar declared a "designated terrorist" by the United Nations.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 13:10 [IST]
Mortal remains of Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas

A sombre farewell was given to two CRPF jawans from West Bengal, who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack, at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport on Saturday. As the coffins of the two jawans -- Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas -- draped in the national flag arrived at the airport, officers of the CRPF and different wings of the armed forces laid wreaths amidst the sounding of bugles by a contingent of the paramilitary force.

Union minister Babul Supriyo paid floral tributes to the jawans, whose bodies were then taken to their native villages in CRPF vehicles. Santra hailed from Chakkashi Rajbangshipara village at Uluberia in Howrah district, while Biswas was from Tehatta in Nadia district of West Bengal. He was to retire next year. He is survived by his mother, wife and a four-year-old daughter. Biswas (27), who was planning to get married, is survived by his parents. His father is a farmer and mother a housewife.

Rohtash Lamba of Rajasthan

Tens of thousands of people lined the roads and many more marched with the tricolour for the final journey of the five CRPF jawans from Rajasthan killed in the Pulwama terror attack who were cremated with full state honours in their native villages on Saturday. Amid slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai', 'vande mataram' and 'Pakistan murdabad' by the emotional people who had gathered to pay their respects, the mortal remains of the jawans were received by their grieving family members. Several Union and state ministers and MLAs also attended the last rites.

Markets remained closed in Jaipur, Churu, Pali, Jhunjhunu and at several other places in Rajasthan which accounted for highest casualties in the suicide attack after Uttar Pradesh. Roshitash Lamba from Jaipur district, Narayan Lal Gurjar from Rajsamand district, Jeet Ram from Bharatpur district, Bhagirath Singh from Dholpur district and Hemraj Meena from Kota district were among 40 paramilitary personnel who lost their lives when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a car laden with over 100 kg explosives into a CRPF bus in Awantipura of Jammu Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

[Nation bids tearful adieu as bodies of CRPF soldiers reach homes]

Mortal remains of Nitin Shivaji Rathod from Maharashtra

Coffins wrapped in tricolour were brought to the villages of four soldiers late Friday night by road. Mortal remains of Narayana Lal Gurjar were taken to Rajsamand on an IAF chopper Saturday. Heartrending scenes were witnessed as Rohitash Lamba's two-month-old son was made to touch a torch before the pyre was lit in Shahpura town of Jaipur district. The body was earlier taken to his residence from Amarsar police station where it was kept last night. His parents, relatives and villagers broke down on seeing the coffin. Floral wreaths were laid by CRPF officials, Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and MLAs Alok Beniwal and Ramlal Sharma. A resident of Govindpura Basadi village near Shahpura, around 65 kms from Jaipur, Lamba was the only earning member of his family.

He had joined the paramilitary force in 2013 and got married in 2017. Villagers shouted slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Rohitash amar rahein' as the slain soldier was given a gun salute. In Bharatpur's Sundarawali, Jeet Ram's father could not hold back himself after seeing the coffin.

The pyre was lit by Ram's younger brother Vikram Singh, who called for revenge and a befitting reply to the terrorists. Jeet Ram is survived by wife and two young daughters. In Sangod (Kota), Binol (Rajasamand), Rajakheda (Dholpur), scores of villagers joined the funeral processions of Hemraj Meena, Narayan Lal Gurjar and Bhagirath Singh as they bid a tearful adieu to the slain security personnel.

Martyr Pankaj Kumar Tripathi's last rites

The last rites of CRPF jawan, Shyam Babu, who was killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, was held in his native village in Kanpur Dehat district Saturday. Thousands of people, including from neighbouring areas, paid their last respects to Babu in Nonari village. The mortal remains were consigned to flames by Babu's brother Kamlesh. Villagers raised slogans like "Shaheed Shyam Babu Amar Rahe" and also against Pakistan. Babu's family demanded that Pakistan be given a befitting reply for the attack by a Jaish suicide bomber who targeted a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 jawans on Thursday.

Martyr Mahesh Kumar from UP

Union minister Smriti Irani and UP Cabinet minister Mukut Bihari Verma represented the government. Irani said the Centre and the state government would extend every possible support to the jawan's family and the death of the CRPF personnel will not go in vain. Consoling Babu's family, Irani said the prime minister has said security forces have been given a free hand to deal with terrorists and punish the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack. The jawan's body, draped in tricolour, was brought in a CRPF vehicle to his native village. Senior administration and police officials were present during the funeral. Kanpur Dehat District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh said the process to name a road in the area after Shyam Babu has been initiated.

Martyr Sanjay Kumar Sinha from Bihar

The Pulwama terror attack was unprecedented and the prevailing mood in the country calls for stern action, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday. Kumar was replying to questions from journalists at the airport here where three slain CRPF personnel -- two from the state and another from neighbouring Jharkhand -- were given the ceremonial guard of honour. "It was an unprecedented incident. Response is inevitable. Its nature and severity have to be decided. But the prevailing mood in the nation calls for stern action," the chief minister said. Mortal remains of Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur, hailing from Masaurhi in rural Patna and Bhagalpur respectively, besides Vijay Soreng who belonged to Gumla in Jharkhand, were brought here in a special aircraft.

[Every teardrop will be avenged, this is new India: Modi]

Martyr Ratan Kumar Thakur from Bihar

Besides Kumar, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and leader of the opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Yadav were among those present at the airport to pay tributes to the slain jawans.

"It is known world over that terrorist organisations are aided and abetted by Pakistan. The terrorists seem to be hell bent upon destroying the world with their activities. This cannot be tolerated. Two jawans from our state have lost their lives while another one is injured," he also said.

[Pulwama: Bomb maker from PoK, mastermind an Afghanistan trained terrorist]

"The state government will extend all possible assistance to the bereaved family members. In addition, to payment of ex-gratia that is normally paid to martyred security personnel, the state will bear the expenses of education and marriage of their children," he added. An official release added that in addition to Rs 11 lakh payable to next of kin of each slain CRPF personnel as per the state government's scheme for the purpose, an additional amount of Rs 25 lakh each will be paid from the chief minister's relief fund. Meanwhile, the mortal remains of Soreng was airlifted by a helicopter for his native place even as huge crowds gathered at Masaurhi and Bhagalpur where Sinha and Thakur will be cremated with full state honours. In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded, on Thursday. The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack.

Martyr PK Sahoo from Odisha

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, several ministers and senior officials joined hundreds of people in paying homage to two CRPF jawans from the state, who lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack, after their bodies were flown in here Saturday by a special aircraft of the Indian Air Force. The government also announced an enhanced ex-gratia to Rs 25 lakh for the families of slain soldiers Prasanna Kumar Sahoo and Manoj Kumar Behera. Patnaik paid floral tributes after the bodies arrived at the Biju Patnaik International Airport, where scores of people had converged to offer their last respects to the jawans.

Union Ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha Finance Minister S B Behera, Culture Minister Ashok Panda, Health Minister Pratap Jena, MP Prasanna Patsani, OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik, BJP state president Basant Panda, senior CRPF, police and government officials were among those who paid homage at the airport. The government had on Friday announced Rs 10 lakh as ex-gratia, which was enhanced on Saturday after some criticism.

Martyr C Sivachandran from Tamil Nadu

The state government also said that it will bear the education cost of the children of the slain jawans. "The martyrs' villages will be made model panchayats and the schools they went to would be named after them," an statement issued by the CMO said. Later the mortal remains of Prasanna Kumar Sahoo were taken to his native place at Naugaon area in Jagatsinghpur district and the coffin of Manoj Kumar Behera was sent to Ratanpur village in Cuttack district.

[How Jaish pieced together a sophisticated Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device]

People lined up on both sides of the road to bid adieu to the martyrs as the special vehicle carrying their mortal remains moved out of the airport. The two Union ministers and the state ministers proceeded to the martyrs' villages to attend their funeral, which has been arranged by the administrations of Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack districts.

Last rites of martyr Ramesh yadav from UP

People bid a tearful adieu to 26-year-old Kulwinder Singh, who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack, as his mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours at his native village Rauli in the Nurpur Bedi area here on Saturday. The funeral pyre was lit by Kulwinder's father Darshan Singh. Kulwinder, who was a constable in the CRPF, is survived by his father and mother. At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five others injured Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district. Mortal remains of Kulwinder wrapped in the national flag were brought to his home in the morning. Villagers, who thronged the house of the martyr to pay their last respects, sought strong action against Pakistan. Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed as his family members mourned. The fiancee of Kulwinder, who was among the mourners, fainted when his body was brought home.

Last rites of G Subramanian from Tamil Nadu

Darshan Singh, father of Kulwinder, was wearing his son's jacket while holding his photograph. Seething with anger, villagers chanted 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Pakistan Murdabad' slogans when the mortal remains of Kulwinder was being taken for the final journey. Some among the mourners were carrying the national flag. Shopkeepers of Nurpur Bedi and Rupnagar market shut their shops to register their protest against the attack. Kulwinder was to get married on November 8 this year and he was renovating his house. He had left for his place of posting on February 10 after spending 10 days of his leave with the family. He had joined the 92nd battalion of the CRPF in 2014. Among those who attended the cremation included Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh, SAD spokesperson and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema, AAP MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa, CRPF DIG 84th battalion Amar Singh Negi and Rupnagar Deputy Commissioner Sumit Jarangal.
All-party meet: Political parties unite to condemn Paks terror support

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 16: All party meet called by the Centre to discuss Thursday's terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir, which left 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force dead passed a resolution condemning the Pulwama terrorist attack today in New Delhi.

All-party meet resolution

The resolution stated, "We strongly condemn the dastardly terror act of 14 February, 2019 at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it across the border."

The all-party meeting on Saturday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Pulwama attacks.

India has faced the menace of cross-border terrorism for the past three decades and that India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges, it further said.

India needs to give up militarised approach to Kashmir issue for solution, says Pak editorial

"India has during the past three decades faced the menace of cross border terrorism. Of late, terrorism in India is being actively encouraged by the forces across the border. India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India," the resolution says.

We stand with govt, says Congress

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, speaking to reporters after Saturday's all-party meeting, said: "We had asked the Home Minister to convey to the Prime Minister that he should call a meeting of presidents of all parties. We have communicated to the government what Rahul Gandhi said in his press conference, that the country is in mourning and is angry. Since 1947, apart from a war, this is for the first time a terror attack has claimed so many lives.

We have differences with the government on a number of issues but at this juncture - we are standing with the government for ending terrorism. Militancy has to end," he said.

Omar Abdullah 'disappointed' with all-party meet resolution

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah took to Twitter on Saturday to express his displeasure with the resolution that was unanimously passed in the all-party meet in Delhi.

Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences. https://t.co/psxKrwDBu8  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

Shiv Sena urges govt to take action

Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut urged the government to take action against those behind the Pulwama attack. "Resolutions were passed after the attacks in Pathankot and Uri as well. We have told them (central government) that they should now take action," he said.

Leaders from different political parties arrived at the parliament complex for the meet. Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan and Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Singh Tomar were among those who attended the meeting.

This is the first-of-its-kind called by the ruling NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of a terror attack. Before the meeting began, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba went to the residence of the Home Minister to have one-to-one meeting.

The main opposition party, the Congress on Friday extended full support to the government saying "we are not going to be divided".

"This is a terrible tragedy. This type of violence done against our security forces is absolutely disgusting. The aim of terrorism is to divide this country and we are not going to be divided," Gandhi said.

Surgical strike, air strikes, limited conflicts: 3 options India would take to avenge Pulwama

Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said the all-party meeting would be convened to brief political parties on the incident so that the nation speaks in one voice on the issue.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.
2 years of Pulwama terror attack: Will not forget, say Rajnath Singh, Shah

Pulwama attack: Army enhances security in Jammu

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Jammu, Feb 16: The Army has deployed nine security columns with air support in Jammu following massive protests over the terror attack in Pulwama in the Valley in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, officials said.

Earlier, curfew was imposed in the city after stray incidents of violence and torching of vehicles.

Pulwama attack: How were badly mutilated bodies of CRPF martyrs identified?

"The Army has reacted promptly. Nine Internal Security Columns (ISCs) of the Army from Tiger division were deployed in Gujjar Nagar, Janipur, Shahidi Chowk, Talab Khatika and other areas of Jammu city. They have been provided air support from the White Knight Corps," a senior army officer said.

Flag marches were conducted by the security columns, he said.

"The proactive approach of the state police, divisional commissioner, collector's office and the Army has ensured that the situation remains in control," he said.

The officer said helicopters and utility armoured vehicles of the Army were also deployed to monitor the situation.

Pulwama attack: 7 persons detained, planner said to be identified

Earlier in the day, incidents of stone pelting and clashes between different factions were reported. The police resorted to cane charge and teargas shelling to disperse crowds. Nine persons were injured in the clashes, officials said.

The Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) had called for a complete shut down of Jammu city on Friday, protesting the death of CRPF men. The bandh was marked by processions by various political parties, he said.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 6:01 [IST]
Nation bids tearful adieu as bodies of CRPF soldiers reach homes

India

oi-Deepika S

New Delhi, Feb 16: Amid anger and tears, thousands gathered to pay tributes to CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama terror attack. People, with their tears in their eyes, stood on roads with flowers and national flags as the coffins arrived.

In one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into a bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

In Dehradun, a large crowd bade a tearful farewell to Mohan Lal on Saturday as the mortal remains of the CRPF ASI killed in the Pulwama terror attack were consigned to flames with full state honours at Haridwar's Kharkhari cremation ground on the banks of the Ganga.

The funeral pyre was lit by Lal's sons -- Shankar Raturi and Ram Prasad Raturi -- as hundreds of people watched.

In Punjab, People bid a tearful adieu to 26-year-old Kulwinder Singh, who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack, as his mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours at his native village Rauli in the Nurpur Bedi area here on Saturday. The funeral pyre was lit by Kulwinder's father Darshan Singh. Kulwinder, who was a constable in the CRPF, is survived by his father and mother.

How Jaish pieced together a sophisticated Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device

In UP, the body of Ajit Kumar Azad was received by his family members at around 7 am. The 35-year-old, who is survived by two daughters and a wife, was fondly remembered by everyone. Neighbours and people from Unnao had also gathered to express their solidarity with the family.

The funeral will take place at Ganga ghat, 15 km from his home, with full state honours.

In Varanasi too, people had gathered to pay tribute to Ramesh Yadav, whose body was brought to his native village Tofapur in Varanasi around 8:30 am. With national flags in their hands, people prayed for the fallen soldier.

The body of CRPF personnel Rohitash Lamba was also brought to his home in Govindpura in Jaipur around 8:40 am. People from the city were united with the soldier's family in the emotional time.

In Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav, Leader of opposition in state assembly Tejaswi Prasad Yadav, several state ministers and leader of political parties laid floral wreath on the mortal remains of slain CRPF personnel.

The last rites of jawans will be performed today at their respective native villages in Patna and Bhagalpur district with full state honours. Special chopper would carry the coffins of CRPF personnel.
Complete probe in Muzaffarpur shelter home case in three months: SC to CBI

No girl murdered in Bihar shelter home, bones found were of some other adults: CBI tells SC

Muzaffarpur shelter home case: CBI probe ordered against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

India

oi-Deepika S

Patna, Feb 16: A special POCSO court in Muzaffarpur has ordered CBI probe against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home rape case.

Along with Nitish Kumar, a probe has been ordered against Muzzaffarpur district magistrate Dharmendra Singh and principal secretary of Social Welfare Atul Prasad.

The court passed the order on February 15 on an application filed by an accused, Ashwani, a self-styled medical practitioner who allegedly used to inject the home's inmates with sedatives before they were subject to sexual abuse, reports PTI.

Ashwani had alleged in his petition that the CBI was "suppressing facts" in course of the investigation which would come to light if the roles of "former DM, Muzaffarpur, Dharmendra Singh, senior IAS officer Atul Kumar Singh, former divisional commissioner of Muzaffarpur and currently principal secretary, the Social Welfare Department, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar" were probed.

ABP-C Voter poll: Modi-Nitish combo set to decimate opposition in Bihar; NDA may win 35 seats

POCSO judge Manoj Kumar directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry against the aforementioned people.

The trial in the high-profile case was transferred vide order dated February 7 to the Special POCSO court at Saket in Delhi where hearing is likely to commence from next week, CBI sources said.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 14:29 [IST]
Mamata Banerjee leads candle light march, says terrorists have no religion

India

oi-Vikas SV

Kolkata, Feb 16: A candle light march was held in Kolkata on Saturday to pay homage to martyrs of the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 jawans were killed. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led a candle light march and said the country stands united by its brave jawans.

The march was held from Hazra crossing in south Kolkata to Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Mayo Road area. In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief condemned the attack and said terrorists "have no religion or caste".

[Pulwama attack: Grief stricken families perform last rites of martyrs]

"The country stands united. We are one and we unitedly stand by our brave jawans. Terrorists are terrorists. They have no religion, no caste," Banerjee said after the march in which she along with various other TMC leaders was seen carrying candles.

People walked silently along with TMC activists who carried national flags and posters with the names of all the 40 CRPF personnel killed in the attack. After the procession reached Gandhi's statue, Banerjee offered her respects and prayed for the those killed in the attack. A minute's silence was observed as a mark of respect to the bravehearts.

OneIndia News with PTI inputs

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 21:29 [IST]
Kerala civic bypolls: CPM-led LDF bags 16 out of 30 seats, BJP draws a blank

India

oi-PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 16: Notwithstanding the row over the Sabarimala women entry issue, the ruling CPM-led LDF in Kerala on Friday bagged 16 out of the 30 seats in the bypolls conducted for various local bodies across the state.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front got 12 seats while the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) and a Congress rebel retained the seats at Onchiyam in Kozhikode and Alappuzha district respectively.

The BJP, which spearheaded the Sabarimala protests and had high hopes, came a cropper, failing to win any seat.

In a setback to the ruling CPM, the RMP, to which slain leader TP Chandrasekharan belonged, retained the Onchiyam panchayat seat.

Kerala: Devotees throng to Sabarimala temple for five-day monthly 'puja'

The CPM had been saying the RMP had lost its relevance and was expecting to win this seat. RMP's P Sreejith won the fifth ward of Onchiyam panchayat with a majority of 308 votes and retained power in the Panchayat.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of RMP member AK Gopinath.

The election assumed importance as RMP was formed by Chandrasekharan, who was a former fellow-traveller of the CPM.

Chandrasekharan was killed in May 2012, three years after he parted ways with the CPM and founded the RMP.

In the bypolls, UDF lost five of its sitting seats in which four were won by the LDF and one by a Congress rebel. However, UDF won the five seats which were the sitting seats of ruling LDF.

In the November 2018 bypolls, the LDF had won 21 out of the 39 seats. The UDF had secured 12 seats while BJP two.

The Supreme Court had on 28 September last year allowed women of all age groups to enter the Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa temple, where earlier women in the menstruating age of 10-50 years were barred from offering prayers.

With the LDF government making it clear that it was constitutionally bound to implement the top court verdict, the BJP and right wing outfits and a section of devotees had launched massive and violent protests on the issue.

PTI

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 13:18 [IST]
Rape, POCSO case probes should be completed in 2 months: Centre to ask CMs, CJs

Kerala: Catholic priest gets 20 years imprisonment in rape case

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar P

Thalassery, Feb 16: Thalassery POCSO court Saturday sentenced Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery (50) to 20 years rigorous imprisonment for raping and impregnating a minor girl in Kannur. He has been sent to 60 years rigorous imprisonment in 3 charges including rape. He can serve all the 3 sentences together.

Thalassery Judge P.N. Vinod also fined the priest from the Mananthavady diocese in Wayanad district Rs 3 lakh after it was established that he had raped and impregnated a minor girl in 2016.

In 2017, the police arrested Robin Vadakkumchery alias Mathew Vadakkumchery,the parish vicar at St. Sebastian Church, Neendunoki, Kottiyoor, in Kannur district on the charge of raping a minor girl.

Muzaffarpur shelter home case: CBI probe ordered against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

He was suspended from the post with immediate effect by the Bishop of Mananthavady.

The Priest of Catholic Diocese of Mananthavady was accused of raping a minor who was a school student and attempting to destroy evidence of the crime. The case had become a challenge for the investigating authorities with even the parents of the survivor refusing to give a statement against the priest.

While the main accused along with others who helped him cover up the crime have been arrested, two more nuns surrendered before the police on Thursday but were let off on bail.
Before the ceasefire on Feb 24, Pakistan resorted to over 4,000 border violations

J&K: Pakistani troops violate ceasefire in Nowshera

India

oi-Vikas SV

Srinagar, Feb 16: Pakistani troops violated the ceasefire yet again in Nowshera Sector on Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. The violation took place in Rajouri district's Nowshera sector around 4.00 pm today.

Earlier today, an Army Major was killed while defusing an IED in Nowshera. The IED is said to have been planted to Pakistan backed terrorists.

On February 9, one jawan was injured after the Pakistani troops indulged in ceasefire violation along the border Nowshera sector.

On February 5, Pakistani troops resorted to ceasefire violation yet again along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch region. The ceasefire violation took place around 10.30 am at Krishna Ghati sector of Poonch.

[J&K: Jawan injured in ceasefire violation by Pakistan in Nowshera sector]

The year 2018 had witnessed 2,936 ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the India-Pakistan border, the highest in the last 15 years.

On January 9, Pakistani troops indulged in ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch sector which was said to be fourth in 2019. Even on January 2, Pakistan violated the ceasefire along the Line of Control in Poonch sector.

[Repeated reconnaissance, support from OWGs: How Jaish carried a precision strike at Pulwama]

On January 11, Pakistan troops had resorted to firing and shelling along the LoC in forward areas of the Rajouri and Poonch districts of Jammu and Kashmir in which an army porter was killed. Army porter, Hemraj, was critically injured when Pakistani troops resorted to unprovoked firing in Sunderbani Sector of Rajouri district. He was provided immediate resuscitation and medical aid, but he succumbed to the gunshot wounds, an Army PRO had said.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had on January 16 had summoned Pakistan High Commission official to register a strong protest over the death of Army porter Hemraj in unprovoked ceasefire violation by Pakistan forces on January 11 in Sunderbani Sector.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 19:16 [IST]
Restoration of Jammu and Kashmir's statehood must to rebuild trust: Farooq Abdullah

Delimitation, holding of polls in J&K important milestones in restoring statehood: says Amit Shah

At all party meet, PM Modi says priority is to strengthen democracy at grassroots in J&K

Chidambaram slams government for insisting on polls in Jammu and Kashmir before granting statehood

J&K: IED blast leaves an Army officer dead in Rajouri

India

oi-Vikas SV

Srinagar, Feb 16: Barely two days after the deadly terrorist attack in Pulwama, an Army officer was on Saturday killed in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Jammu and Kashmir's Nowshera Sector, said reports.

As per reports, the Army Major was killed while defusing the IED which was planted by the terrorists near the Line of Control (LoC).

Major Chitresh Singh Bisht who was leading the Bomb Disposal Team in Naushera sector defused one of the mines successfully. While neutralizing another mine, the device got activated and the officer suffered grievous injuries and lost his life, reported ANI.

The IED was planted 1.5 kms inside the Line of Control in the Naushera sector, Rajouri district, reported ANI.

CNN-News18 while quoting sources reported that an Afghan war veteran, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, who allegedly infiltrated into Valley in December and is an IED expert, could be the mastermind on Saturday's blast.

[Pulwama attack: Grief stricken families perform last rites of martyrs]

The officer's death comes amid national outrage over the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF jawans on Thursday. Defence spokesperson Lt Col Devender Anand said the explosion on Saturday took place around 3 pm.
Here is the list of trains canceled due to Gujjar quota agitation in next 3 days

Gujjar agitation over reservation called off

India

oi-Deepika S

Jaipur, Feb 16: The Gujjar community, whose members have been squatting on railway tracks and blocking road traffic in Rajasthan demanding five percent reservation in education and government jobs, on Saturday called off their agitation as the state government agreed to their demand.

"The government has accepted our demands. We are calling off the protest," said Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla.

Bainsla also said Cabinet Minister Vishvendra Singh shared the draft of the government which includes the Gujjar community's demand.

For the last ten days, Rajasthan has been witnessing a string of protests by the Gujjar community.

5 per cent Gujjar Reservation Bill passed in Rajasthan Assembly

As per the North Western Railways spokesperson, 64 trains have been cancelled, 71 diverted and 32 partially cancelled in the last eight days. The West Central spokesperson said 148 trains were cancelled, 143 diverted and 52 short terminated.

Bainsla and his supporters began their sit-in on the railway tracks in Malarna Dungar area of Sawai Madhopur district on February 8, demanding 5 per cent quota for Gujjar, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and Gadaria communities in jobs and education.

The Rajasthan assembly on Wednesday passed a bill giving 5 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutes to the Gujjars and four other communities agitating for it.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 12:30 [IST]
PM said he wants remove 'dil ki doori and Dilli ki doori': Omar Abdullah after meet on J&K

At all party meet, PM Modi says priority is to strengthen democracy at grassroots in J&K

Every teardrop will be avenged, this is new India: Modi

India

oi-Vikas SV

Dhule, Feb 16: Scaling up the attack on Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terrorist attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said it is the policy of India to not 'tease' anyone, but, he added, if teased then the 'new India' will give a befitting reply.

PM Modi is on a day-long visit to Yavatmal and Dhule in Maharashtra. He laid the foundation stone of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme, among several other development projects in Dhule.

"Each drop of tear after Pulwama terror attack will be avenged...This is the time of mourning and to show restraint and sensitivity...We will always stand by those who sacrificed their lives. This is a time of grief," said Prime Minister Modi at an event in Dhule.

"It has been a policy of India that we don't poke anyone. But if someone teases New India, it does not let it go unpunished," the Prime Minister added.

[Maharashtra: PM Modi launches development projects in Yavatmal]

He is also set to lay the foundation stone of Dhule-Nardana railway Line and Jalgaon - Manmad 3rd Railway Line. He will inaugurate Jalgaon-Udhana Doubling and electrification Rail Project. PM will Flag-off Bhusaval- Bandra Khandesh Express Train through a video link.

"There is a complete possibility of becoming an industrial city in Dhule. It is located in such a place where there is a possibility of business in different cities of the country. Many large national highways pass through here. Today, the strengthening of connectivity here has laid the foundation stone of two railway lines," Modi said.

[How will Pulwama attack affect Indian politics?]

Further speaking on Pulwama attack, Modi said that the sacrifice of jawans will not go in vain, adding, "The terrorist groups no matter where they hide, they will be punished."

At Yavatmal earlier today, he dedicated the Eklavya Model Residential School, Nanded by pressing a remote button. It has a capacity for 420 tribal students with state-of-the-art facilities, with the aim to improve the quality of education and avenues for overall growth.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 17:31 [IST]
Alliance in Tamil Nadu: Decision soon says AIADMK

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Anuj Cariappa

Chennai, Feb 16: Amid reports of talks between AIADMK and BJP for a tie-up to fight the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu, the state ruling party said a decision on finalising an alliance with various parties will be taken soon.

"A good, cordial decision will be taken in a day or two," AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam told reporters here when asked whether an alliance between his party and the BJP was being firmed up.

Separately, Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad and the party's state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan expressed confidence of stitching a powerful combine in the state.

Panneerselvam, who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, said the AIADMK was continuing talks with national and state parties on stitching an alliance for the Parliamentary polls, but did not name any party.

Their remarks came a day after Union Minister Piyush Goyal, party election in-charge for Tamil Nadu, said "All possibilities are under consideration and discussions. At the right time, we will give you the good news."

He had held talks late Thursday night with senior AIADMK leader and Minister P Thangamani, considered close to chief minister K Palaniswami.

When asked if his party will seek support from top actor Rajinikanth, Panneerselvam evaded a direct reply and merely said "the election victory will prove that people are with the AIADMK."

Ambani's invite DMK chief Stalin to their son's wedding

Speaking to reporters in Madurai, Prasad "it is going to be a powerful alliance of NDA in Tamil Nadu."

BJP would be finalising its "strategic partner," very soon, and "it is a very strong, effective, and resurgent NDA which will take on the Congress and DMK," he said.

Soundararajan claimed parties that were not part of the DMK-Congress combine will be joining hands with the BJP and other potential allies to form a robust alliance.

"Very soon, in two to three days the decision on coalition will be announced," she said adding talks were going on smoothly and in the "right direction," and a "sweet news" could be expected soon.

Prasad, Union Minister for Law and Justice, said people of Tamil Nadu too, like the rest of the country wanted "Narendra Modi to be Prime Minister again."

"I am sure the BJP by itself will cross 300 seats and along with NDA it is going to be 350 plus minimum", he claimed.

The Minister termed the opposition's proposed 'Mahagathbhandhan' (grand alliance) a "spurious opportunistic alliance" saying, their only agenda was to remove Modi.

"Who is their leader? not known. What is their programme? Not known...But they have only one agenda, that is to remove Narendra Modi (from office)," he said.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Saturday, February 16, 2019, 6:12 [IST]
The snow pushed northeast into the Omaha area from south-central Nebraska and continued into Iowa. By 9:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 inches had fallen at Red Oak and Clarinda, Iowa; 2 to 3 inches in the Lincoln area and 1 to 3 inches in Omaha area, according to reports to the National Weather Service. Offutt Air Force Base measured 2.3 inches by that time.

By about 10:45 p.m. snowfall totals included 5 inches at Persia, Iowa, in Harrison County; 4.3 inches southeast of Bellevue; and 3.8 inches at Offutt.

At midnight, the weather service office in Valley measured 3.7 inches of new snow, and Eppley Airfield had 4.9 inches.

The Omaha area could see some heavy snow through 1 a.m., the weather service said, but the bulk of the accumulating snow will be done by then.

All of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa is in a winter weather advisory from 6 p.m. Saturday night to noon on Sunday. The weather service upgraded the advisory to a winter storm warning for part of western Iowa that included Pottawattamie, Shelby, Montgomery, Adams, Union, Audubon, Guthrie, Dallas, Cass, Adair, Madison and Clarke Counties.

Streets
Poverty in land of plenty

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy once said, As long as there is plenty, poverty is evil. Government belongs wherever evil needs an adversary and there are people in distress. And the last two years have shown that there is plenty for the few but poverty for the rest of us.

The Nebraska congressional delegation helped contribute to adding to our national debt, helping those who had plenty and creating a growing poverty of distrust of our institutions and fellow lawmakers, choosing to disservice most Americans by bowing down to those of a particular economic, military or political party status.

Congress needs to change in the next two years. Most members from both parties have forgotten our revolutions truth that all Americans share successes and failures. Americas light on the hill shines brighter when we keep trying to work morally and authentically in a collaborative way without fear of which party may get credit. Improve the lives of all Americans, and send a ripple of hope for future generations to ride the waves we create now.

Philip OBrien, Omaha

Sad to see skating rinks close
The Fairfax allegations, however, have to be seen in the context of the Northam and Herring admissions.

Northam is in trouble because a hideously racist image  of a young man in blackface and another wearing a Ku Klux Klan robe  was found to have appeared on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. And because, in denying being the man in the picture wearing blackface, he revealed that he did wear blackface that same year on another occasion. And because he has sounded unacceptably clueless, in general, about race.

Herring is in trouble because he, too, acknowledged once wearing blackface. It might be a good idea, at this point, to poll white Virginia officials and ask who hasnt worn blackface.

A Washington Post poll showed that while white Virginians were almost evenly split on whether Northam should step down, African-Americans thought by a wide margin that he should remain in office. Some analysts were surprised; I wasnt. Northams progressive policies have been popular, and African-Americans in the South are jaded about the possibility that there might be racial skeletons rattling around any politicians closet.

But my guess is that if pollsters asked whether Fairfax should be impeached or forced to resign while Northam and Herring are allowed to stay, the result would be quite different.
Will sub-freezing temperatures in Omaha create more potholes?

When its cold like this, its actually good for potholes. But when the temperature swings, once we get (farther) into February, we tend to see things start popping.

The City Council voted this week to bring in contractors to help with pothole repair. Why did your department ask for this?

Its about being prepared and proactive in case we get in a situation where we could use some extra help. We will have a price and a purchase order established so that we can do that.

How did 2018 compare to previous years in the quantity and severity of potholes?

Severity was very bad last year, and that was something the entire Midwest and Northeast experienced. Potholes are caused by the weather. We did have a winter last year that was very conducive to potholes. We did see probably record numbers for the city of Omaha. (Last year, Rowser said city trucks had to treat the roads significantly more often, leading to more melt/freeze events and therefore worse potholes.)
LINCOLN  A Seward County sheriff's deputy has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree sexual assault.

Deputy Nicholas Bridgmon, 30, of Pleasant Dale, was arrested Friday in connection with a sexual assault dating to 2007 outside Cook, Nebraska, according to the Nebraska State Patrol.

The arrest followed an investigation by the patrol that began in November 2018. The patrol, in a press release Friday, said there may be additional victims. The investigation is ongoing.

The Seward County Sheriff's Office is conducting an internal investigation, it said in a release Friday.

Bridgmon, who has been a Seward County deputy since November 2015, has been placed on paid administrative leave.

The sheriff's office said there is no indication of any misconduct by the deputy while he was employed there.

Attempts to reach Bridgmon for comment Friday were not successful. There were no court records to indicate whether he was represented by an attorney at this time.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
When Matthew Lesleys wife tried to hand him divorce papers last month, he allegedly told her that he would kill himself in front of (her) so that she would have to live with the guilt.

Kristina Lesley outlined that threat in a protection order requested Thursday  Valentines Day  against her estranged husband. It was a stark warning of what was to come.

Shortly after noon on Friday, Matthew Lesley went to Uta Halee Academy, where Kristina Lesley is listed as a program director on the academys website, and fatally shot himself.

The Douglas County Sheriffs Office said the 37-year-old mans actions were directed at a staff member who was possibly in an estranged relationship. Authorities said that person, who was not identified, was not at the school Friday.

No Uta Halee residents or staff members were harmed, according to Tanya Martin, the schools principal, and the Sheriffs Office said the shooter did not go to the cottages where students stay.

Uta Halee is a residential treatment center for young women who have dealt with abuse, neglect, trauma and mental illness. The campus is at 10625 Calhoun Road in the Ponca Hills neighborhood north of Interstate 680 and west of NP Dodge Park.
In a video recorded on Jan. 19, a man is seen entering the rest area and immediately going to the womens restroom. He was dressed in a blue coat with a hood up and had a partially covered face. He can be seen entering the restroom at 10:46 p.m. and leaving at 11:32 p.m.

On the video from Jan. 20, the man was seen accompanied by a woman. They entered the restroom at 6:13 p.m. and did not leave until about 7:27 p.m.

According to the affidavit, deputies were able to identify a man as likely being the man in the videos. A sergeant later ran the license plates of all the vehicles at the rest area. One came back as registered to a woman who appeared to be the woman in the video.

These areas are designed for the public to obtain water from a water fountain, use restroom facilities, walk animals and to rest when tired. Rest areas are a service that is provided to the public. Due to the nature of the subjects actions, one of the rest areas had to be closed. The total estimated monetary loss to the state and (the contractor) is approximately $2,500, investigators said.
The hardest part for fellow vertical-miler Susan Lash isnt the climb.

The hardest part is getting out of bed and dragging myself here, said the 59-year-old from Illinois.

Then its the first climb up the tower, when she feels dead tired, but after that, things get easier. Maybe its the runners high, or maybe its the inspiration from her red T-shirt that says, Nevertheless, she persisted.

Lash thinks of the quote, which refers to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., when she feels her legs telling her to stop.

I tell them, No, we still have to go,  Lash said. Despite all that, Im persisting.

Participants could register individually or as a team to climb the tower one time, or complete a vertical mile.

Ivan Marsh  who holds the record for the fastest trek up the tower at 4 minutes, 15 seconds  was registered for this years race but did not participate.

Jason Larson, a 35-year-old man from Minneapolis, recorded this years fastest time at 4 minutes, 49 seconds.
SIDNEY, Neb. (AP)  Officials say four more of the 21 nursing homes and assisted living centers under state control are expected to close.

The state placed the 21 facilities in receivership last March, to be managed by Klaasmeyer & Associates. The state took the action after the homes owner, Cottonwood Healthcare, also known as Skyline, notified the state of its financial crisis.

The residents at Norfolk Care and Rehabilitation Center were told last week that Klaasmeyer & Associates would be seeking court permission to close the center. The same is expected for homes in Broken Bow, Grand Island and Schuyler.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The goal is that inclusivity just gets folded into the fabric of the theater, Sillau said.

Part of his motivation comes from his own experience.

I have a visible disability and grew up with a learning disability, though no one could tell that from the outside, he said. I didnt want to do plays just with other people with disabilities.

He had the opportunity to participate in theater with all sorts of people, and he wanted to create that for others, he said.

In addition to cast members, differently abled people will be behind the scenes for The Hobbit as interns in a program thats facilitated by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. They are learning such things as stage-managing and running the light board.

Nidal Sharif, 20, who has Down syndrome, is one of the goblins. His mother, Graciela, said it has been an extremely positive experience. She likes it because he has the same responsibilities as everyone else in the diverse cast.

They set high expectations for him  you need to be here at this time, you need to be doing this, she said. But at the same time, she said, they really put forth the effort to make sure he has support, not just left to fail.
American Women Sue U.S. Border Agency After Being Detained for Speaking Spanish zo Zo is a staff writer at Okayplayer where he covers

Maam, the reason I asked you for your ID is because I came in here and I saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here.

Two American women, Ana Suda and Martha Mimi Hernandez, have filed suit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection after being detained and asked for identification for speaking Spanish at a gas station in Havre, Montana.

According to a report from NPR, Suda and Hernandez  the former born in El Paso, TX, the latter in El Centro, CA  were waiting to purchase milk and eggs in May of 2018, when Hernandez said hello to CBP agent, Paul ONeil, who noted she had a very strong accent. Both Suda and Hernandez were detained for roughly 40 minutes while ONeil ran their identification outside of his CBP car. During the incident (see below,) Suda and Hernandez ask ONeil if it was illegal to speak Spanish in Montana, to which ONeil replies Well, maam its not illegal, its just very unheard of up here.

The longtime friends, who have lived in Havre for years working as certified nurse assistants, partnered with the American Civil Liberties Union to sue the CBP for a violation of their rights against unreasonable seizure and equal protection under the law, describing the experience as both humiliating and inciting emotional and psychological harm, and now fear speaking Spanish in public altogether. Theyre seeking unspecified compensation and punitive damages, asking the court to prevent border officials from stopping or detaining anyone on the basis of race, accent and/or speaking Spanish.

The report describes another incident from early in the year, when agents almost detained Suda and Hernandez for dancing at a bar, but escaped detainment after one of the agents recognized them as friends of his wife.

Watch a video of Hernandez and Suda confronting the officer below.
"He remains in stable condition and we are encouraged by his progress," Auburn police Capt. Lorenza Dorsey told the Opelika-Auburn News.

The officer was taken to the East Alabama Medical Center for surgery and later to the University of Alabama at Birmingham hospital afterward. He was reported to be in stable condition as of Friday night.

His parents wish to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers, and especially wishes to thank all law enforcement officers and other first involved in tonights situation, read a statement from the East Alabama Medical Center on Friday.

Auburn Mayor Ron Anders released a statement of support on Saturday morning.

Our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family as he recovers. As a community, I know you join me in thanking him in the bravery that he and those that came to his aid displayed in protecting and serving all of us, Anders said. I know his family is hurting that this happened. So are we all. We will continue to pray that his recovery is as swift as possible.

Anders continued by thanking the multiple agencies who were involved Friday and asked for people to respect the privacy of the officer and his family as he continues to recover.
The injured police officer was not identified by authorities late Friday night but was reported in stable condition at East Alabama Medical Center shortly before midnight.

All-out manhunt

Officers from multiple agencies, including a special task force on scene, engaged in heavy gunfire at Crossland Downs apartment complex on Stonegate Drive, off Wire Road.

The chaotic scene and sound of steady gunfire led to first responders quickly evacuating residents there and warning others nearby and across from the Auburn University vet school to shelter-in-place.

One woman told the Opelika-Auburn News that she heard the gunfire and took cover in her bathtub.

Others rushed outside and away from the shooting without even taking time to get fully dressed for the cool air and rain outside. Many residents evacuated with their pets, while police, fire and ambulance units arrived by the dozens with sirens wailing and lights flashing.

How it all started

The frantic action began around 5:30 p.m. Friday when Auburn police were asked to respond to an armed robbery on Dean Road.

One of the officers responding stopped a vehicle fitting the description of that driven by the suspects, nearby on Opelika Road near two auto parts stores and the Dollar General parking lot.

As the officer approached, the suspect opened fire, striking the officer at least four times, police said.

Immediately a regionwide alert and mug shot with a description went out, identifying him as Christopher James Wallace, 38, a white male wearing a camo hoodie. He was accompanied by an unknown white female, and the two were in a silver Jeep Liberty. The tag number also was shared.

"We're not going to rest until he's in custody," Auburn Police Capt. Lorenza Dorsey told reporters a short time later. Assistant Chief Will Mathews agreed. "Every police officer in the state of Alabama is looking for him."

The manhunt by all available units included detectives, sheriffs deputies, state and federal authorities, all working in unison to track down the suspected shooter.

That soon led to an apartment at Crossland Downs on Stonegate Drive, where a relative of the suspect was believed to be living.

'Bullets are flying!'

Police heavily armed and in tactical gear surrounded the apartment complex. Gunfire erupted that filled the air with noise and smoke. Residents from several blocks away heard the commotion, while nearby Auburn University issued warnings and a lockdown for the vet school.

Residents fled the scene and across Wire Road, which eventually was closed to all traffic, as the gunfire continued. Get back! Bullets are flying everywhere! one officer warned bystanders.

It sounded like fireworks going off, one man told the Opelika-Auburn News, which had reporters on the scene reporting live online with video of the frantic activity from across Wire Road.

The two suspects refused to exit, he said, even after the fire began.

The fire consumed the apartment. The suspects are believed to have perished in the fire, he said, shortly before 11 p.m. Friday.

The injured officer was undergoing surgery but reported in stable condition. He has served on the Auburn police force for 4-5 years, Dorsey said earlier.

Prayers for all

District Attorney Brandon Hughes was among the dozens of officials on hand, visibly upset when news of the incident first broke and he vowed full support for police.

"We just ask everybody to pray for the officer, pray for the doctors and the nurses, and pray for the people trying to chase him down," Hughes said of the suspect earlier in the night.

Wire Road and the involved portion of Opelika Road remained closed or obstructed late into the night.

More details will be reported as they become available, first on OANow.com later today, and also in Sundays edition of the Opelika-Auburn News.
Happy New Year To All From The SVP
President Trumps plan to divert military construction money to fund a border wall is an unusual use of emergency powers. Just once in the last four decades has an emergency declaration authorized military action: in 2001, after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Some declarations were subsequently amended to include a call for military action.)

National Emergency Declarations Since 1976 sanctions trade regulations weapons restrictions other military action

Presidents typically invoke emergency powers to impose sanctions on foreign individuals, groups or nations that threaten national security, though they have also been used domestically amid public health crises and to regulate exports.

Since the National Emergencies Act was passed in 1976, seven presidents have declared dozens of national emergencies, and 32 are still active.
Illegal migration is a problem for the whole of Spain, said Juan Francisco Rojas, the president of Vox in Almeria, where about 14,000 migrants arrived from Africa last year as the populist government in Italy tightened its borders.

As for Catalan secessionism, he said, Anything that affects one part of our territory also impacts the rest of Spain, which is why Vox wants to guarantee nobody can threaten our unity.

While much of the country favors a hard line toward Catalonia, Spain has been relatively tolerant on the issue of migration.

Just how far Voxs message will carry beyond the coastal south, then, is unclear. But the partys emergence in a country with a long chapter of dictatorship under Francisco Franco has unsettled many.

Santiago Abascal, the founder of Vox, has quickly found like-minded company in Europe, joining the French nationalist Marine Le Pen on her presidential campaign in 2017. Vox has also sought advice from Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist of President Trump.

In fact, the party also wants to follow Mr. Trumps example and erect walls around two Spanish enclaves in North Africa, to block migrants.

If you look at Trump in America or Bolsonaro in Brazil, you see that people now want politicians who are tough enough to do what they promise, said Juan Carlos Perez Carreno, the owner of a fleet of refrigerated trucks that transport produce picked in the greenhouses, referring to Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing leader of Brazil.
Taken together, the two men defined the dramatic change in American foreign policy that has left the traditional allies who gather at the Munich Security Conference in despair, and has led the Trump administration to embrace newer, far more authoritarian allies in Central Europe. Mr. Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spent the week visiting several of them, in a European tour that bore little resemblance to similar trips taken by administrations past.

The contrast is between a new foreign policy that focuses on America first and expects others to do as we say no matter what, said Ivo Daalder, a former American ambassador to NATO and now the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and the old foreign policy of working together in pursuit of common values.

Mr. Pence did acknowledge significant progress in getting more NATO members to live up to their commitment to contribute 2 percent of their gross domestic product to defense by 2024. Even the current secretary general of the NATO alliance, Jens Stoltenberg of Norway, said on Saturday that European allies are stepping up more for defense.

But Mr. Pence went further.

He repeated a call that he made in Warsaw on Thursday, during an American-led conference of foreign ministers chiefly from Arab and European states, that Britain, France and Germany withdraw from the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran.

It was a demand they had no intention of complying with, as Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany made clear in an impassioned defense of alliances and Europes approach to Iran that preceded Mr. Pences speech by only moments.
MUNICH  Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany delivered a strong rejoinder on Saturday to American demands that European allies pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and gave a spirited defense of multilateral institutions in a world increasingly marked by great-power rivalry.

In an uncharacteristically passionate speech, Ms. Merkel said the nuclear deal was the best way of influencing Iranian behavior on a range of non-nuclear issues, from missile development to terrorism.

Without mentioning President Trump or the United States by name in what may be her last speech to this major security conference, Ms. Merkel criticized other unilateral moves, such as Mr. Trumps decision to pull American troops out of Syria, a suggestion that he would withdraw quickly from Afghanistan and his decision to suspend the Intermediate Range Missile Treaty with Russia, which directly affects European security.

We sit there in the middle with the result, she said.

Ms. Merkel spoke immediately before the United States vice president, Mike Pence, and addressed a packed auditorium with an audience that included Mr. Trumps daughter Ivanka, as well as the Russian foreign minister and a high-ranking Chinese official, who all pointedly remained seated when the chancellor received a standing ovation.
TIRANA, Albania  Thousands of Albanian opposition supporters clashed with the police at an anti-government rally on Saturday, calling for the resignation of what they describe as a corrupt and inefficient cabinet and for early elections.

Supporters of the center-right Democratic Party broke police ranks as they tried to enter the building of the Socialist Party prime minister, Edi Rama.

Protesters threw petrol bombs, flares and other objects and tried to destroy scaffolding that protects the main door, which they broke. But they did not make it inside.

A security officer appealed for calm as some protesters tried to dismantle a piece of artwork.

The police offered little resistance. Officers elsewhere fired tear gas and water cannons and called through loudspeakers for protesters to disperse.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan  Afghan border security troops were asleep inside their remote post in southern Afghanistan early Friday when a Taliban infiltrator climbed a guard tower. Moments earlier, a lone sentry had left the post to wake his replacement.

As the new sentry climbed the tower, he was shot dead by the insurgent hiding inside, officials in Kandahar Province said Saturday.

Then, moments later, Taliban fighters rammed a stolen police Humvee packed with explosives through the entrance of the base, they said. Once inside, the attackers shot and killed security troops who had survived the initial explosion.

All 32 men posted at the base died, said Khalid Pashtun, a member of Parliament from Kandahar.

No one survived, he said.
KABUL, Afghanistan  Today, they are representatives of three central parties to the Afghan war, caught up by a frenzied effort to find an endgame to decades of violence.

But during the last stretch of peace their generation has known, in the 1970s, the three young Afghans  Ashraf Ghani, Zalmay Khalilzad and Sher Mohammed  were all busy finding themselves while studying on scholarships abroad.

During those years, Mr. Ghani and Mr. Khalilzad, now the Afghan president and the chief American peace envoy, were completing degrees in Lebanon at the American University in Beirut, a vibrant hub of ideologies and intellects during a turbulent time in the Middle East. They enjoyed the Mediterranean beaches, went to dances and met their future wives.

The third Afghan, now known as Sher Mohammed Abas Stanekzai, the chief negotiator for the Taliban, spent those years in military fatigues at the foothills of the Himalayas, training at Indias most prestigious military schools. On breaks, his batch of young Afghans would find themselves in the hills of Kashmir, or on the sets of Bollywood films hoping for a photo with the stars.
The United States military began flying humanitarian aid to a Colombian city close to the Venezuelan border on Saturday in an effort to turbocharge a relief plan that has become a cornerstone of the quest to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

Military personnel used C-17 cargo planes to transport thousands of nutritional supplements and hygiene kits from a base near Miami to Cucuta, the main staging ground for hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid that Venezuelan opposition leaders and their international backers hope to get across the border.

Mr. Maduro, who has accused the United States of weaponizing aid, has blocked the main roads that connect the two nations near Cucuta and put his armed forces on high alert to counter what he called conspiracies and provocations.

As the standoff over Venezuelas future has dragged on for weeks, Mr. Maduro and his foes are vying for the support of the commanders of the armed forces, which so far have remained loyal to the countrys authoritarian leader.
The political parties of the two leading candidates each accused the other of gaining an advantage from the delay.

A considerably lower turnout is almost certainly guaranteed. It is unlikely many voters who live far from their polling stations will be able to afford the time or money to make the trip again. But it is unclear which candidate that would benefit.

The leaders of Mr. Buharis party said Mr. Abubakar would gain an advantage from a breather and that his party had been bent on discrediting this process the moment it realized it cannot make up the numbers to win this election.

Mr. Abubakar accused the president of orchestrating the delay to suppress voter turnout.

Their plan is to provoke the public, hoping for a negative reaction, and then use that as an excuse for further antidemocratic acts, he said.

Yet both camps also urged supporters to be patient in the face of a delay that risks inflaming tensions in an already tense election.
Taxpayer refunds are sent out in batches via an expedited electronic system, Mr. Pine explained. If a refund is red flagged, it ought to prompt a closer examination by an I.R.S. employee who should have immediately and proactively stopped the refund from being issued based on the obvious discrepancy between the income reported of $18,497 and the refund generated of $980,000.

Mr. Blanchett has not been charged in federal court, Amy H. Filjones, a spokeswoman for the United States attorneys office in Tampa, Fla., said on Friday. A date for the next hearing has not been set, said a spokesman at the United States attorneys office.

According to court records, Mr. Blanchett pleaded guilty in 2016 to possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting an officer without violence, both misdemeanors of the first degree. In 2014, he was charged with possession of marijuana, also a first-degree misdemeanor, but the judge withheld adjudication, so he was not convicted of a crime.

SunTrust Bank, where Mr. Blanchett initially deposited the funds, suspected fraud and initially froze the funds, the court documents said, but later returned them to Mr. Blanchett via cashiers check. He then put the money into an account at Grow Financial, telling the bank that the money came from the estate of his deceased father, the documents said.

Mr. Blanchett shifted the money around, transferring it among different bank accounts within Grow Financial, the complaint said, eventually using some of it to purchase a silver Lexus last August. On Friday, a spokeswoman for SunTrust and a spokesman for Grow Financial declined to comment.

The complaint didnt specify when the I.R.S. first learned about the inaccurate refund check. But in August, Grow Financial sent the I.R.S. the funds in Mr. Blanchetts account in accordance with a federal seizure warrant, the complaint said. The I.R.S. also seized the Lexus, and the government is seeking a car insurance premium of about $809 that was refunded to Mr. Blanchett when he no longer had possession of the Lexus.

During 2011 to 2013, when Mr. Pine served as the director of field operations for the eastern half of the United States, and in the years before, refund fraud was out of control in Tampa, he said, primarily because of identity theft.
He is usurping congressional authority, Senator Susan Collins of Maine, a veteran member of the Appropriations Committee, said in an interview. If the president can reallocate for his purposes billions of dollars in federal funding that Congress has approved for specific purposes and have been signed into law, that has the potential to render the appropriations process meaningless.

Several other Senate Republicans publicly and privately joined Ms. Collins in describing the move as a flagrant breach of congressional jurisdiction and a dangerous precedent. Their numbers raised the clear possibility that enough Republican defectors could join with Senate Democrats to provide a majority to disapprove of the presidents decision should the opportunity arise.

Four Republicans might be enough to join with Senate Democrats and pass legislation rebuking the president, and leadership aides put the number of potential defectors as high as 10. But the unrest seemed well short of the sort of partywide revolt necessary to override a veto by Mr. Trump of any legislative attempt to prevent his declaration of an emergency, leaving a legal challenge as the only recourse.

I would not vote for disapproval, said Senator Richard C. Shelby, Republican of Alabama and the Appropriations Committee chairman who led the spending negotiations. Hes got the power to defend the country, to defend the borders, to protect the people as commander in chief. I believe the courts would uphold him on this.

Despite reservations about many of the actions taken by Mr. Trump and the White House over the past two years, most congressional Republicans have been reluctant to put too much distance between themselves and the president given his grip on Republican voters, many of whom consider the wall a national necessity. Mr. Trump exerts a powerful hold on his party, and lawmakers are cowed by the belief that opposing him will end in their political destruction.

Still, the emergency declaration was a direct assault on the ability of lawmakers themselves to restrain the president, and it raised expectations that more could balk at what was widely viewed as a serious case of executive overreach.

Somebody is going to have to say enough is enough, said Trent Lott, the former Senate leader from Mississippi, who questioned the wisdom of the move.
EAU CLAIRE, Wis.  Amy Klobuchar cast herself as the candidate from the heartland Saturday in the first campaign trip of her presidential run, visiting a state Hillary Clinton narrowly lost in 2016 and emphasizing her deep Midwestern roots, her knowledge of rural America and her record of bipartisanship while drawing sharp contrasts to President Trump on issues from climate change to immigration.

Ms. Klobuchar pointedly chose Wisconsin  the state that Mrs. Clinton did not visit during the general election campaign in 2016 and lost to Mr. Trump by less than one percentage point. The Wisconsin defeat, along with narrow losses in Michigan and Pennsylvania, clinched the election for President Trump and inflicted a devastating wound that still haunts Democrats in Wisconsin and beyond.

[Make sense of the people, issues and ideas shaping American politics with our newsletter.]

In an already crowded Democratic primary field, Ms. Klobuchar was eager to highlight what her campaign hopes can set her apart: her Midwestern base and her electoral dominance in many rural, red counties in Minnesota populated by the kind of voters who have largely deserted the Democratic Party. She campaigned in Iowa later in the day.

Were going to look at each other and look at the challenges we face in this country, she told an enthusiastic crowd jammed into the Shift Cyclery and Coffee Bar. The challenge that we see in both Minnesota and Wisconsin is about the rural-urban divide. What Ive decided to do in our state is to go to places that maybe we didnt focus on enough in the last few years. That includes our rural areas.
She wasnt in it for the money; this wasnt a fee-for-task thing, Douglas H. Wise, who was deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said of Ms. Witt. At some point, she took an ideological left turn to become aligned with the Persians.

By the time she did, she had spent much of her adult life in a shadowy world.

Ms. Witt, who was born in El Paso, enlisted in the Air Force and entered active duty about eight months after her 18th birthday, in 1997, just after the death of her mother. Slender, with straight brown hair, she was quickly assigned to the crew of an RC-135 spy plane  a jet packed with reconnaissance equipment.

She first deployed to the Middle East in 2002, when she was sent to Saudi Arabia. Other missions followed: to Diego Garcia, a British atoll in the Indian Ocean of immense strategic value to Western militaries, and to Greece. In 2005, she served an almost six-month deployment to Iraq at a time of growing sectarian violence and insurgent attacks. The next year, she began a roughly seven-month tour in Qatar.

In June 2008, the same month she left the Air Force, she earned a bachelors degree from the University of Maryland University College, and later worked for two national security contractors. Eventually, she entered graduate school at George Washington, an academic proving ground for aspiring diplomats and researchers near the State Departments headquarters.

Members of Ms. Witts family, who did not respond to messages after her indictment was announced, said little about her to neighbors. According to Mr. Ellis, her classmate, she seemed to have drifted from her relatives.

Connie Shields, who lives near Ms. Witts father, Harry Witt, in Longwood, Fla., said there had been little discussion of Ms. Witts intelligence work. It just was not talked about, Ms. Shields said. I dont think Harry knew too much about where she was or what she was doing.

She was only somewhat less mysterious at George Washington. To classmates, many of whom were far younger than her, she appeared shaken by her time in Iraq, withdrawn, even alienated.
He added, It signals that Rome may finally be serious about taking matters like abuse of power very seriously, with grave consequences for those who engage in that conduct.

Mr. McCarrick, now 88, was accused of sexually abusing three minors and harassing adult seminarians and priests. A New York Times investigation last summer detailed settlements paid to men who had complained of abuse when Mr. McCarrick was a bishop in New Jersey in the 1980s, and revealed that some church leaders had long known of the accusations.

Pope Francis accepted Mr. McCarricks resignation from the College of Cardinals in July and suspended him from all priestly duties. He was first removed from ministry in June, after a church panel substantiated a claim that he had abused an altar boy almost 50 years ago.

Mr. McCarrick was long a prominent Catholic voice on international and public policy issues, and a champion for progressive Catholics active in social justice causes.

The Archdiocese of Washington said in its own statement, Our hope and prayer is that this decision serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse, as well as those who have experienced disappointment or disillusionment because of what former Archbishop McCarrick has done.

James Grein, who told The Times that he was 11 when Mr. McCarrick began a sexually abusive relationship with him, said in a statement on Saturday: For years I have suffered, as many others have, at the hands of Theodore McCarrick. It is with profound sadness that I have had to participate in the canonical trial of my abuser. Nothing can give me back my childhood.

He added: With that said, today I am happy that the Pope believed me. I am hopeful now I can pass through my anger for the last time. I hope that Cardinal McCarrick will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus Church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children.
A Baltimore County, Md., judge this week overturned a jurys decision that granted more than $38 million to the family of a woman who was fatally shot by the police after an hourslong standoff that had been partly streamed live on Instagram.

The woman, Korryn Gaines, 23, was shot several times by a Baltimore County police officer in August 2016 as she sat in her apartment with her 5-year-old son, Kodi Gaines, nearby. Her son was struck in the face by the officers gunfire.

Almost exactly a year ago, a jury found that the first shot the officer had fired at Ms. Gaines was not reasonable and awarded damages on the grounds that the police had violated the Gaineses civil rights and had committed battery on the mother and son.

But the decision on Thursday by the judge, Mickey J. Norman of Baltimore County Circuit Court, determined that the police officer who shot Ms. Gaines, Royce Ruby, was entitled to qualified immunity, a legal protection used to defend government officials from civil liability while they are acting in an official capacity. Critics of the doctrine have argued that it has denied justice to victims of abuse, especially when it is used in police shooting cases.
A Houston police officer could face criminal charges after he lied about using a confidential informant in a narcotics operation that ended in a deadly shootout last month, the Houston police chief said.

Chief Art Acevedo of the Houston Police Department said there were material untruths or lies in an affidavit for a search warrant that led to the raid, in which officers breached the door of a house in southeast Houston and a gun battle broke out. Four officers were shot and two suspects were killed in the exchange.

Its a serious crime, Chief Acevedo said at a news conference on Friday. When we prepare a document to go into somebodys home  there is a sanctity of somebodys home  it has to be truthful.

The revelation, which emerged from sealed affidavits that were obtained by local news outlets, cast a shadow over the department of 5,200 officers in the nations fourth-largest city. But Chief Acevedo maintained that the police had reason to investigate the house, including a 911 call from a woman who said her daughter was there doing heroin.
The police on Saturday gave a fuller account of the deadly events inside the Henry Pratt Company warehouse on Friday afternoon, and identified the five workers  all co-workers of Mr. Martin  who were killed.

The victims included some of the companys most experienced workers but also its newest: Josh Pinkard, who was the plant manager of the warehouse, perished in the shooting, as did Trevor Wehner, who was a student at Northern Illinois University and an intern in the companys human resources department. Mr. Wehner was expected to graduate from college in May. Friday was the first day of his internship, according to officials from Northern Illinois University.

He knew he wanted to work in the H.R. business and was hoping this internship would lead into a full-time job in the future, said Winter Lane, Mr. Wehners girlfriend of more than three years, who grew up with him in the same small town of Serena, in north central Illinois.

Everyone there knew Mr. Wehner. He was kind, the most selfless person she had ever met, she said, someone with a big smile and a personality to match. He always saw the good in everyone, she said.

Also killed, the police said, were Vicente Juarez, a stock room attendant and forklift operator; Clayton Parks, the human resources manager; and Russell Beyer, a mold operator. Officials at Northern Illinois said that Mr. Parks had also graduated from the university, in 2014, and that it was offering counseling help to those in need. (The school, in DeKalb, Ill., was the site of another mass shooting 11 years ago.)

Abby Parks, the wife of Clayton Parks, said he was devoted to their son, Axel, who is 8 months old. The family we created together was Clays greatest joy, she said. He took his responsibilities as a husband and father very seriously and held those titles above all else. The couple had been married since 2016.

The police first received several 911 calls at 1:24 p.m. on Friday, as frantic callers said there was a shooter at the warehouse. Mr. Martin had been summoned to what the police described as a termination meeting at the warehouse where he had worked for at least 15 years. At least two victims were shot at the scene of that meeting.
Some are military veterans looking to settle unfinished scores; others are an eccentric breed of war tourist seeking a thrill. Still others are left-leaning idealists attracted by the Kurds talk of creating a socialist democracy called Rojava, with workers cooperatives and a constitution that recognizes environmental sustainability, religious freedom and gender equality.

Ive always hated capitalism and materialism, said Warren Stoddard, a 24-year-old from San Marcos, Tex., who joined the same infantry squad as Mr. Pugh. What the Kurds are doing fits with what I believe.

Mr. Stoddard graduated from college in 2018 with a degree in creative writing and the cover illustration from Ernest Hemingways novel The Sun Also Rises tattooed on his forearm. He said he weighed two options for what to do next: a cross-country motorcycle trip, or taking up arms in Syria.

The situation with the Kurds looked like Poland, 1939, he said in a telephone interview. I thought they could use my help.

The United States has been trying to deter its citizens from engaging in this sort of freelance warfare since the nations earliest days: President Washington issued a Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793 warning Americans not to get involved in the French Revolution. But a steady stream of idealists, romantics, opportunists, mercenaries and filibusters have jumped into foreign frays anyway  riding with Pancho Villa in Mexico, fighting fascists in Spain, ferrying arms to Cuba, battling communists in Africa and even trying to establish new slave states in Central America.

Those adventures often ended badly  sometimes in front of a firing squad. Thomas Paine, the author of Common Sense, spent a year in a dank cell in revolutionary Paris. Western leftists who went to fight in the Spanish Civil War, like the British writer George Orwell, had to flee when communist allies turned on each other. More recently, John Walker Lindh, an American who joined the Taliban before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was captured in Afghanistan, prosecuted in the United States and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Rates

From 225 Australian dollars (about $170 at current exchange rates).

The Basics

The former headquarters of Paramount Pictures Australia (a subsidiary of the fabled Paramount Pictures Corporation , the Hollywood motion-picture company) was given new life in 2013 when the Paramount Coffee Project and Golden Age Cinema & Bar opened in the 1940 Art Deco building. A co-working space soon followed, and together, these businesses became an au courant local hub. Its reach expanded in April with the 29-room Paramount House Hotel, occupying the attached onetime film-storage warehouse. I arrived at 10 a.m. , well before the 3 p.m. check-in time, and navigated a Saturday brunch madhouse at the Coffee Project, all blond wood and polished concrete, to reach the reception desk. My room wasnt ready, but the hotel emailed me when it was, and I checked in around 1:30. The staff had already deposited my bags into my room.

The Location

Surry Hills, a low-slung neighborhood of creative businesses, buzzy cafes and 19th-century terraced houses, has long attracted Sydneys trendsetters. But until the Paramount House, it didnt have a destination hotel befitting its wider allure. Hyde Park is a short walk away, as is the Central Business District.
When Phyllis Schlafly crusaded against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s as a threat to all-American motherhood, she handed out freshly baked bread and apple pie to state legislators. She warned of a dystopian post-E.R.A. future of women forced to enlist in the military, gay marriage, unisex toilets everywhere and homemakers driven into the workplace by husbands free to abandon them.

The E.R.A., which had been sailing to ratification, failed. Yet gay marriage is now the law. Women in the military see combat, although women are not required to register for the draft. Six women  so far  are running for president. A record-shattering number of women have claimed seats in Congress. And the percentage of prime-working-age women participating in the labor force has soared from 51 percent in 1972, when Congress passed the E.R.A., to more than 75 percent last year.

So what protections did American women earn without a constitutional amendment? Did the country get everywhere the people pushing for the amendment wanted it to go? These questions, once theoretical, are newly relevant with a push to revive the Equal Rights Amendment. It was left for dead in 1982, when three states failed to ratify it by a congressionally imposed deadline, leaving it short of the necessary three fourths of the states needed for ratification. But in the past two years, Nevada and Illinois have ratified the amendment. In Virginia, campaigners are pushing the state to ratify the amendment before the legislative session ends on Feb. 23, though ratification is a long shot .

Mrs. Schlafly may not have been able to prevent social changes that transformed the lives of American women, but she did drive a wedge between conservatives and liberals that remains today. She was one of the early architects of class conflict as expressed through culture wars, as a way to stop the progress of the equality ideals of the professional management elite, said Joan C. Williams, a feminist legal scholar skeptical about the usefulness of the Equal Rights Amendment. One of the ironic messages of the E.R.A. is not to underestimate the power of bathroom anxiety in pushing the country to the right.
You have little to lose by calling the managing agent or the landlord and asking to stay on as the prime tenant, with a new lease. Plead your case, explaining that you have been paying the tenant rent every month, unaware that your money was not ending up in the right hands. Provide canceled checks as proof of your reliability. Perhaps the landlord will decide that its easier to keep you in the apartment than go through the time and expense of cleaning out the unit and finding a new tenant.

Before you contact the landlord, or pack your belongings, find out more about the apartment. The unit might be rent-regulated, even if you are paying market-rate rent. Check its status with the Division of Housing and Community Renewal, a state agency that oversees rent-regulated apartments. If you discover that the unit is regulated, you may have what is known as an illusory tenancy defense. An illusory tenant is a prime tenant of a regulated apartment who no longer occupies it but operates it as a business, profiting off the rent.

Illusory tenancy cases typically involve hard-fought and expensive litigation, Mr. Frazer said. But if you prove your case and win, youll legally be entitled to take over the lease at the stabilized rate.

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.
Ever since Donald Trumps upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016, much of the media attention has been on how Democrats need to reconsider their strategy for winning voters in future elections, particularly Obama-to-Trump voters. But the results of the 2018 midterm elections suggest that Republicans have some soul-searching to do as well.

They lost the popular vote in six of the last seven presidential elections and suffered battering losses in the House in 2018. Republican strategists must grapple with how to keep their party viable nationally, and our data suggests that Trumpism may continue to hurt them in the future.

It has flown under the radar a bit, masked perhaps by the switch of millions of Barack Obamas voters into Mr. Trumps column, but in 2016 Mr. Trump did not receive support from a large segment of voters who pulled the lever for Mitt Romney in 2012. In fact, our data shows that 5 percent of Romney 2012 voters stayed home in 2016, while another 5 percent voted for Mrs. Clinton. These voters tended to be female, nonwhite, younger and more highly educated  the very voters Republicans feared would be alienated by a Trump victory when he was seeking the partys nomination.

Most strikingly, one-third of 2012 Romney voters who were under 40 in 2016 did not vote for Mr. Trump, but rather stayed home, voted for Mrs. Clinton or voted for a third-party candidate. Among the under-40 Romney voters who supported Mr. Trump in 2016, 16 percent appear to have defected from the party to vote for a Democratic House candidate in 2018. Of course, we dont know how they will vote in 2020, but what this means is that in the past two elections Republicans may have lost more than 40 percent of Romney voters born after 1976.
The Trump-Russia story is a drama that has unfolded in four acts.

Act I: Denial

George Stephanopoulos: Are there any ties between Mr. Trump, you or your campaign and Putin and his regime?

Paul Manafort: No, there are not. Thats absurd.  July 24, 2016

Donald Trump: I have nothing to do with Russia. I dont have any jobs in Russia. Im all over the world, but were not involved in Russia.  July 26, 2016
The consensus-driven approach had two clear advantages over existing alternatives. First, a forum to bring all interested parties into alignment reduced duplication and wasted effort. Second, the absence of state coercion to enforce standards meant that engineers and executives had strong incentives to resolve conflicts before they published a standard, lest they face government intervention down the road. The success of their efforts would depend on the voluntary adoption of standards. The consensus process was well suited for a society where technological and economic progress was within reach  all it needed to do was to find ways to cooperate.

This was no easy task. The standards committees longtime secretary, Paul Gough Agnew, looked back wearily at the endless discussions that set the stage for the first meeting in 1918. One of the groups founders, the electrical engineer Comfort Adams, observed, Fear and jealousy, as well as ignorance, were the chief obstacles which had to be overcome.

Over the past century, standardization has expanded immensely. Today, private transnational organizations create and revise thousands of consensus standards every year.

Although the voluntary consensus method has been effective, it has never been perfect. For example, consensus is often a euphemism. Nasty disagreements can derail the process. Companies that agree on standards one day turn around and sue one another the next. In some industries, companies can make fortunes by defying established standards  think of innovative products from Apple, or bold designs from the leaders of the fashion industry. Standardization also creates losers, and it can be very costly to invest in the losing side of standards wars like VHS versus Betamax, or Blu-ray versus HD DVD.

Access to standards also poses challenges. Since the consensus-building process is costly, organizations like ANSI often try to cover expenses by selling or licensing access to standards documents. For example, the book of standard s for concrete blocks and masonry structures costs $150. This business model strikes many critics as unjust, since private standards can be built into regulations, yet sometimes only citizens who pay can look at them.

The American system of standardization is driven by industry, but we should not lose sight of the crucial role played by government agencies. The National Bureau of Standards, now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology, contributed research and ideas to the standards committees efforts from the beginning. And governments often mandate standards around air pollution and automotive and aviation safety because industry did not adopt them on a voluntary consensus basis. Federal air pollution standards that led to the widespread adoption of the catalytic converter and reduced some automotive emissions by 99 percent worked through force, not bottom-up consensus.

Standards have always struggled with an image problem. Critics worry that a standardized world is dull and mediocre, a nightmare of conformity and Kafkaesque bureaucracy. Yet the champions of standardization insist that standards create the foundations for a better world. Albert Whitney, who was the standards committees chairman from 1922 to 1924, argued that many accomplishments of civilization involved the fixation of advances. The committees motto in the 1920s declared: Standardization is dynamic, not static; it means not to stand still, but to move forward together.

In an age of breathless enthusiasm for the new and disruptive, its worth remembering the mundane agreements embodied in the things around us. Its very ordinariness and settledness of standards that enable us to survive, and to move ahead.

Andrew Russell, the dean of arts and sciences at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, and Lee Vinsel, an assistant professor of science and technology studies at Virginia Tech, are working on a book about innovation and maintenance.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
Romantic love was a problem, too. Ti-Grace Atkinson, a radical feminist philosopher, positioned it as the enemy of independence and insecurity. What is love but need? she wrote in 1968. What is love but fear? Other early feminists werent against romance in a perfect world, but they reasoned that until conditions improved, heterosexual love was too tied to marriage and societal expectations of what it meant to be feminine. Shulamith Firestone, in her classic 1970 manifesto The Dialectic of Sex, saw romance as a cultural tool of male power to keep women from knowing their conditions. Radical lesbians like Jill Johnston viewed loving women instead of men as a necessary political choice.

Of course, if romance is the enemy of revolution, its also the enemy of rigid mandates like celibacy. Ultimately, the pro-sex feminists won out. In this moment of feminist resurgence, no one is suggesting we stop having sex.

For me, a woman who came of age with Lil Kim and Sex and the City, the idea feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face; eroticism is an irresistible source of pleasure. Which is precisely the point: Why has all joy and excitement been concentrated, driven into one narrow, difficult-to-find alley of human experience? Firestone wrote. Even she knew what it was like to be consumed with the pursuit of romance. In 2012, in an interview shortly after Firestone died, the feminist activist Rosalyn Baxandall told me that Firestone was no political celibate in the late 60s; instead, she remembered her as boy-crazy.

Boy-crazy is a revealing choice of words that, if anything, proves the celibates point. Anyone whos fallen in love knows that it can feel like a bout of a debilitating illness. The psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined the term limerence in 1979 to describe the obsessive early stages of love, particularly the unrequited kind. She found that among the symptoms of limerents were intrusive thinking, and a literal aching of the heart.

Doesnt it make sense to avoid this destabilizing, often delusional state when youre trying to start a movement? Especially when the source of that state is a member of the group thats oppressing you, and especially when that oppression often leads to marriage? Maybe its necessary to accept that love is an obstacle to rational thought.
Voters, however, appear more ambivalent. Though health care has long topped the electorates list of concerns, including in the 2018 midterms, surveys suggest that most Democrats want their party to focus on fixing the Affordable Care Act rather than on starting a long-shot bid for a single-payer health care system . In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, some 56 percent of Americans, including nearly a quarter of Republicans, supported the idea of a new federal program; but when trade-offs like higher taxes or the loss of private insurance options were factored in, that support evaporated.

As the 2020 race heats up, heres a primer to help citizens sort out where they stand.

What are the options?

The plans currently in play differ in their particulars: Senator Bernie Sanderss Medicare for All Act would scrap private insurance and create a new federal system to cover everyone; a plan from the Center for American Progress, a think tank, would create an optional public program that anyone could buy into ; a nd a plan from Senator Debbie Stabenow would give all Americans the option to buy into Medicare when they turn 50. But these plans would extend coverage to more people and would increase the federal governments role in providing and policing health insurance.

The proposals fall into two broad categories: universal and incremental . On the universal side, Medicare for all would largely eliminate the need for private insurance and for other public programs like Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Its coverage would also be more expansive than current Medicare: It would include eye and dental care as well as prescription drugs, and it would eliminate premiums, deductibles, copays and surprise medical bills.

A single federal payer  as such proposals envision  may well eliminate the waste, inefficiency and corruption that make the current system so expensive and inaccessible ; the experience of countries like Canada and Britain that rely heavily on one government payer suggests as much. But such a system would require dramatic changes from the status quo and would be a tough political sell. Whats more, single-payer is not the only way to achieve universal coverage.

On the incremental side, several different proposals would allow certain people to buy into existing public plans. Some would enable older Americans who are not yet eligible for Medicare to buy into that program  at age 50 or 55 or 60. One would let people who dont have other insurance coverage buy into Medicaid (as long as their state opted into the program).
It can be hard to trace the origins of our deepest convictions.

I was raised primarily by a single mother, cognizant, essentially from birth, that women can, and do, do everything, especially when no one else is around. I entered Antioch College in 1993 , the same year the school's sexual offense policy was relentlessly, internationally mocked for introducing the idea of verbal consent. Not long after, I shaved my head at a Burmese monastery to persuade myself that I was not defined by my physical body.

But the most vital feminist education I received was at Catholic school, in the early 1980s, in the suburban Midwest. It was there that my most beloved teachers were nuns who taught us to help the poor, pray for the sick and send our milk money to El Salvador. It was there that I learned of the necessity  and the possibilities  of self-sufficiency and cooperation.

In their polyester pantsuits and orthopedic shoes, Sister Irene and Sister Betty  my first- and second-grade teachers  emanated a sense of joy and purpose I found infectious. Founded in 1923, Our Lady of the Elms, in Akron, Ohio, has maintained its all-girl population for nearly a hundred years. The school promises that Woven into the experience of every Elms girl is Veritas, the pursuit of truth and justice.

Perhaps because my own daughter is now in second grade, Ive found myself thinking a lot about the ways in which I was taught to pursue truth and justice, and how inseparable these ideals became from my understanding of what it meant to be a girl.
In Wisconsin, white people account for 87.3 percent of the population. In the 2016 election, President Trump took all of the states 10 electoral votes. Ryan Morgan may not be the American boy some want, but he is the American boy who is.

Still, his presence in Esquire sparked rage online. Zara Rahim, a spokeswoman for Clintons 2016 campaign, called out Esquire for running the story during Black History Month. Imagine this same American Boy headline with someone who looks like Trayvon talking about what its like to have your mother sit you down to tell you how to stay alive, she wrote on Twitter. Others echoed the complaint.

One can debate whether the article should have run a month earlier or later, or whether Esquire runs enough stories about teenage boys of color. But few if any of those criticisms actually engaged with the story itself: Was the portrait wrong? Did it add value to our understanding of America in this moment?

While many in the press attacked Esquire, others went for Ryan Morgan. Some suggested he needed to be punched. Some suggested sending him hate mail. Others just swore.

If in 2020, he chooses to go to college, the Esquire story and the reaction to it will come up during his interview. If in 2025 he finds himself online dating, it will be right there, on Google, for any potential dates to find. People change, pictures dont.

Katie Herzog is a gay journalist who knows exactly what it feels like to wear a digital scarlet letter. In 2017 she wrote an article called The Detransitioners for the independent Seattle newspaper The Stranger. In the piece, she reports on people whove transitioned to a different gender and then transitioned back. The piece was met with visceral hatred. Ms. Herzog received hate mail, including videos of people lighting her article on fire.

I was part of the pile on. In a now deleted tweet, I called her  trash.  I feared that her piece somehow discredited my own identity. In fact, it was just adding nuance to a debate in queer culture.
When Amazon abandoned its plans to build a new headquarters in New York, the foes of corporate greed declared victory. Yet, should all the outrage be aimed at Amazon?

Certainly, in an era of concentrated wealth, taxpayers in big cities and small towns like Elwood, Ill., are rightly fed up with companies for accepting tax incentives in exchange for investments they most likely would have made anyway or that result in empty job promises. Amazon faced blistering criticism for pitting cities against one another in a bidding war for such incentives, and even more criticism for accepting a $3 billion subsidy package from the winner of that bidding war, New York.

But the role of public officials in this controversy deserves more scrutiny. Too often, they agree to economic development deals that fail to protect the interests of their constituents and negotiate through a process that is closed door and top down. State and local officials continue to hand out goodies even though evidence suggests that such subsidies have little effect on jobs.

In New York, the governor and mayor structured an agreement with Amazon using policy tools already established in the law. Amazon received as-of-right incentives, which are given automatically when a company wants to expand or relocate its facilities. New Yorks as-of-right incentives, which are available to any company in a priority industry for the state that goes to a borough outside Manhattan , have been widely criticized as flawed and outdated. The amount of incentives offered ballooned to billions of dollars because of the proposed job count. Additionally, the city and state agreed that Amazon would not need to go through a local land-use review process, prompting the City Council to cry foul. Soon, a vocal minority of elected officials, labor leaders, and community activists revolted against the deal.
Lee Radziwill, the free-spirited former princess who shared the qualities of wealth, social status and ambition with her older sister, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, but who struggled as an actor, decorator and writer to share her sisters aura of success, died on Friday at her home in Manhattan. She was 85.

Her daughter, Anna Christina Radziwill, confirmed the death, citing natural causes.

It cannot have been easy living in the shadow of one of the worlds most famous women, the wife of President John F. Kennedy, and Mrs. Radziwill was hardly immune to competitive instincts. Jackie Kennedy had helped create the mystique of the thousand days of Camelot  a woman who had made her new home a place of elegance and culture, who had brought babies into the White House for the first time in the 20th century.

Mrs. Radziwill, the wife of a Polish emigre nobleman, Prince Stanislas Radziwill, was an international socialite and fashion icon who for years was on lists of the worlds best-dressed women. Like Jackie, she had cultivated passions for painting, music, dance and poetry. She made several attempts for professional recognition, but achieved only pale reflections of the spotlight on her sister.
On February 15, answering a reporter's question on the recent US Navy ship passing through Vietnams Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelago, the spokeswoman affirmed: Vietnam's position on sovereignty, sovereignty rights and jurisdiction in the East Sea is clear, consistent with international law and has been emphasised many times.

As a member country of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and a country along the East Sea, Vietnam always respects the freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, in accordance with the provisions of international law, in particular the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, Hang stated, adding that the maritime claims and related actions of coastal states need to be consistent with international law as reflected in the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Tax Turmoil

Oh look, the dreaded tax forms in your mailbox: Its that time again. To make this season even more painful, millions of Americans will get smaller tax refunds this year, or find that they owe money despite no changes in their salaries. Yes, the Trump administrations tax overhaul was supposed to keep more money in your pocket, but the average refund for early filers was down 8.4 percent. Whats going on? For some taxpayers, its that certain deductions no longer apply. For others, its that less money was withheld from their pay last year. Either way, this isnt what you want to hear from your accountant, and it could dampen consumer spending in the coming months.

FEB. 17-23

Whats Next?

Buffett Takes Stock

If youre in the market for some corny investment jokes, look no further than Warren Buffetts annual shareholder letter, which he will post on Saturday along with financial results for his company, Berkshire Hathaway. The third-richest man in the world, Mr. Buffett, 88, has used his yearly letters to deliver dad humor, nuggets of financial wisdom and insights into his big-picture view of the economy since 1965. Many people pore over his words for stock tips, but theyre also worth a gander if you're interested in learning from one of the most successful and experienced private investors in history.

What the Fed Was Thinking

Remember when the Federal Reserve suddenly changed its mind about raising interest rates at its January policy meeting and adopted a more hands-off approach that sent markets into fits of glee? The Fed may offer more clues about its flip-flop when the minutes from that meeting become public on Wednesday. The Feds chairman, Jerome H. Powell, has now indicated that the Fed wont raise rates again until inflation accelerates  a reversal of previous policy. Higher rates are intended to keep the economy steady as it grows, so itll be interesting to learn why Fed officials felt compelled to take their hands off the levers.

The Standoff Drags On. And On.

If you hoped that American and Chinese officials might start making some real progress in resolving their trade war, sorry. Yet another round of talks concluded this past week with no resolution in sight, although they will continue this coming week in Washington. Mr. Trump is supposedly considering a 60-day extension to the looming March 2 deadline for a deal. If the worlds two largest economic powers cant come to an agreement, the United States has threatened to impose punitive tariffs against Chinese goods, hurting consumers in both countries. The upside to giving negotiators more time is obvious: The tariffs could be avoided, or at least put off. The downside is that it leaves companies  and even entire industries, like soybean farming  in limbo for even longer.
Nick Hanauer, a Seattle venture capitalist who was an early investor in Amazon and is now a progressive activist and writer, argues that trickle-down theory should be replaced with what he and Eric Liu, a former adviser in Bill Clintons administration, call middle-out economics.

I believe capitalism is the greatest social technology ever created for generating wealth and prosperity, he said, but weve confused whats good for the narrow-short-term interest of a few capitalists for whats good for capitalism.

The notion that tax cuts for the rich are what cause economic growth and create a thriving middle class is both wrong and backwards, Mr. Hanauer said. The thriving middle class is the cause of economic growth.

The ideas that are capturing attention, particularly in the run-up to the 2020 election, focus more directly on the fortunes of workers and give the government a much more central role in spurring economic growth and distributing wealth.

The approach reaches back to the era of Franklin D. Roosevelt for inspiration. The major effort to alter the course of climate change was purposely named the Green New Deal  after Roosevelts signature policy  precisely for that reason. Several versions of the program exist, but the one introduced by Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts includes a job guarantee program to assure a living wage job to every person who wants one.

During the recessions grimmest months, President Obama pushed to fast-track a multibillion-dollar stimulus package  the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009  aimed at creating jobs and spending money on transportation, technology and energy projects. Although the plan was smaller than several left-leaning Democrats wanted, it rested on a shared assumption that cranking up public investment would get the economy moving and put people back to work.
Two millionaire fugitives from Ecuador, whose family poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into American political campaigns as they fought to stay in the United States, were arrested last week in Miami by immigration authorities, officials said.

Roberto and William Isaias, 74 and 75, were taken on Wednesday to a detention facility where undocumented immigrants are held pending deportation, according to the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the authorities to make the arrests, but ICEs statement said the brothers were unlawfully present in the United States.

The Isaias brothers, bankers vilified in Ecuador for increasing their wealth in the late 1990s just as their bank collapsed  wiping out tens of thousands of customers savings  were convicted of embezzlement by a court there in 2012. They were sentenced to prison terms in absentia, having arrived in South Florida almost a decade earlier.
Nigerias electoral commission delayed the presidential election until Feb. 23, making the announcement a mere five hours before polls were set to open Saturday. It cited unspecified challenges amid reports that voting materials had not been delivered to all parts of the country.

This was a difficult decision to take but necessary for successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy, commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu told reporters in the capital, Abuja. He said more details would be released during an afternoon briefing.

Nigeria also postponed the previous presidential election in 2015 because of deadly insecurity in the northeast, which remains under threat from Islamic extremists.

More than 84 million voters in this country of some 190 million had been expected to head to the polls in what is seen as a close and heated race between 76-year-old President Muhammadu Buhari and top challenger Atiku Abubakar, a billionaire former vice president.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson, the federal judge handling the Washington case, ruled this week that Mr. Manafort had deliberately deceived prosecutors after he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts in September and agreed to cooperate with them in hopes of a lighter sentence. In a transcript of that hearing released Friday night, Judge Jackson said, My concern isnt with nonanswers or simply denials, but times he affirmatively advanced a detailed alternative story that was inconsistent with the facts.

She found that Mr. Manafort had deceived investigators about three issues, including his dealings with Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a Russian associate who prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence. At one point, Judge Jackson said, Mr. Manaforts actions seemed to constitute an attempt to shield his Russian conspirator from liability, adding, it gives rise to legitimate questions about where his loyalties lie.

Mr. Muellers team has been investigating whether Mr. Kilimnik played any role in Russias covert campaign to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors had told the judge that Mr. Manafort had lied about the fact that he had shared Trump campaign polling data with Mr. Kilimnik months before the 2016 election  possibly because he believed Mr. Trump would be less likely to pardon him for his crimes if his release of campaign data became known.

Defense lawyers had argued that the only real proof that Mr. Manafort ordered the data transfer came from Rick Gates, Mr. Trumps former deputy campaign chairman, who is awaiting sentencing on charges of conspiracy and lying to federal investigators. The lawyers said that Mr. Gates was not a credible witness and that emails supposedly backing up his account were ambiguous, at best.

At the earlier hearing, Judge Jackson had questioned why Mr. Kilimnik would have been interested in polling data. Richard Westling, one of Mr. Manaforts lawyers, maintained that some of the information, apparently the polling data, was very detailed and not easily understandable. The judge said, however, that that made Mr. Manaforts apparent decision to share it significant and unusual.
Private Property Owners

If the festering tension in South Texas over the last decade is any indication, some of the most strident opposition to Mr. Trumps wall is expected to come from owners of land along the border who face seizure of their property by the federal government to build it.

Landowners in Texas, largely in the Rio Grande Valley, filed hundreds of lawsuits aiming to block the Bush administration from building fencing along the border. Some property owners opposed the governments seizure of their land, while others said the compensation offered by federal authorities was too low.

Attention may now shift farther west to El Paso. Broad criticism of Mr. Trump in that city, a Democratic bastion in a state otherwise largely dominated by Republicans, emerged in recent days over the presidents widely discredited claim that border fencing had reduced crime there.

El Paso County, which encompasses the city of El Paso and is home to about 800,000 people, joined the Border Network for Human Rights; Protect Democracy, a group aiming to curb authoritarian-style politics; and the Niskanen Center, a nonpartisan think tank, in preparing a lawsuit over Mr. Trumps declaration.

Ricardo Samaniego, who heads the governing county court of commissioners, said that Mr. Trumps emergency declaration will further damage El Paso Countys reputation and economy, and we are determined to stop this from happening.

Precedent suggests that those living in the path of the planned wall may have a difficult time challenging it in court: Landowners have lost nearly all of the earlier cases aimed at preventing the federal government from seizing their property, though some ended up securing more compensation than initially offered.

Political Opponents

Democratic leaders in Congress have vowed to overturn the emergency declaration. This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed president, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said in a joint statement.
Near-Daily Updates on Your Fitness Progress

No one likes going to the gym that much, you are simply having a breakdown.

Monica Heisey is a writer on the Baroness von Sketch Show on IFC and the author of I Cant Believe Its Not Better: A Womans Guide to Coping With Life. Jason Adam Katzenstein is a cartoonist whose work is frequently featured in The New Yorker.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
Then again, if climate change is a potentially humanity-wrecking event, why shouldnt we treat it as an alien-invasion equivalent? Lets assume the most dire predictions are right and we dont have a moment to lose in substantially decarbonizing the global economy, no matter what the financial cost or political pain. In that case, isnt Pelosis incrementalist approach to climate absurdly inadequate?

Isnt it, in fact, like trying to put out a forest fire with a plant mister?

Marxists of old liked to talk about the fundamental contradictions of capitalism. Today we should also reckon with the contradictions of climate policy. Are we dealing with a problem so severe that it requires the political and economic equivalent of war socialism? Or should we think of climate change roughly the same way we think about global poverty  a serious problem we can work patiently to solve without resort to extreme measures like ending capitalism or depriving equally serious priorities of the attention they deserve?

If its the former, then another windmill subsidy or carbon-trading scheme wont do. We need to take extreme measures: to declare a national emergency, strictly ration every citizens carbon footprint, raise taxes on the rich and middle class alike to fund trillions of dollars in green infrastructure projects worldwide, and even impose economic sanctions on China and India if they dont stop building new coal plants.

If the latter, however, then can we at least end the apocalyptic talk, especially since we arent prepared to take more than piecemeal steps?

So far, activists have been able to elide this contradiction, claiming both that climate change is a World War III-level challenge, and that we can deal with it relatively easily. That may do wonders for public awareness  do your part and bike to work!  but it is self-deceiving, if not dishonest. Whatever else might be said of it, the Green New Deal blows the lid off that delusion. Its a remarkably honest attempt to offer a massive answer to what its authors see as an epochal problem.
Sharon Mattes, who under the name Sharon Bottoms was at the center of a much-publicized custody case in Virginia in the 1990s in which her own mother argued that she and her same-sex partner were not suitable parents, died on Jan. 21 in Richlands, N.C. She was 48.

Ms. Mattes had shunned the spotlight for the last two decades; a notice posted by the Jones Funeral Home in Richlands announced her death. Facebook posts from family members indicated that she had been ill for some time.

In a decade when gay-rights issues made frequent headlines, Bottoms v. Bottoms was a flash point. The case, in which Ms. Mattes ultimately lost custody of her young son to her mother, stretched for years as various courts gave differing rulings.

The exchanges between the sides in the courtroom and the news media were often acrimonious, and some language from the bench was blunt.
BEIJING  Li Rui, who over nearly four decades went from being one of Mao Zedongs personal secretaries in the 1950s to a Communist Party critic, revisionist historian and standard-bearer for liberal values in China, died in Beijing on Saturday. He was 101.

The cause of death was organ failure, brought on by a lung inflammation and cancer of the digestive tract, according to his daughter, Li Nanyang, who spoke with doctors at the Beijing hospital where Mr. Li had been receiving treatment.

Blunt, brash and quick-witted, Mr. Lis experience epitomized the hopes and disappointments of a generation. His perseverance and longevity made him one of the most influential government critics in the seven-decade history of the Peoples Republic of China. His work also helped reshape historians understanding of key moments in modern Chinese history  especially Maos responsibility for the catastrophic Great Leap Forward, in which famine killed more than 35 million people  while his political connections allowed him to protect moderate critics and make open appeals for free speech and constitutional government.

But Mr. Li was no dissident. He died a Communist Party member, enjoying the privileges that came from having joined the party in 1937, earlier than almost anyone else alive in China. He had a large apartment, a generous pension and lavish benefits, such as top-flight medical care. The party imprisoned him, exiled him, and almost starved him to death, but even when it expelled him he eventually returned in hopes of effecting change from within.
Donald S. Smith, an anti-abortion crusader who was both the writer and the executive producer of The Silent Scream, a controversial 1984 documentary that professed to show a fetus experiencing distress and pain during an abortion at 12 weeks, died on Jan. 30 in Wenatchee, Wash. He was 94.

Crusade for Life, the anti-abortion organization he founded, posted the news of his death on its website.

Mr. Smith was working in public relations and advertising when he began to turn his attention to the abortion issue. He and Dr. Bernard N. Nathanson, an obstetrician-gynecologist who had once performed abortions but had become an abortion opponent, joined forces to make The Silent Scream through American Portrait Films, a company Mr. Smith had formed.

Mr. Smiths promotional efforts included distributing videocassette copies of the movie to every member of Congress and every justice on the Supreme Court, as well as various state officials. The movie was widely criticized as exploitative and scientifically suspect by Planned Parenthood and other groups, but it became a pivotal weapon of the anti-abortion movement.
[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

In the hours after the deal to bring Amazon to New York had unraveled, the urgent message went out to Democratic state legislators: We need to talk.

Barely a month before, the Democrats had assumed control of the State Senate for the first time in a decade. But after the Amazon projects collapse on Thursday, they found themselves under attack from all quarters. From Amazon, who blamed their high-profile opposition. From Republicans, who asserted that Democrats were demonstrably bad for the economy. From some constituents, who felt they had been robbed of jobs.

Perhaps the greatest threat, though, came from within their own party: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo cast blame solely on the Senate for the deals demise, singling out individual senators for attack by name.

Several Long Island senators were banding together to discuss how to manage the fallout among their pro-Amazon constituents. Some of the suburban legislators had even in recent weeks sought help from Mr. Cuomo, out of fear that the Senate Democratic Conferences progressive agenda  and in particular its hard line on Amazons promised $3 billion in tax subsidies  would alienate swing voters who had made their wins possible.
And while Amazons arrival would be an enormous economic boost, was it right to permit a sprawling campus in an area with limited infrastructure and overcrowded subways, even while the company offered scant details about amenities for the nearby housing projects and other lower-income areas that would be its neighbors?

Ilya Usorov, 27, said he believed that the deal ultimately failed because New Yorkers could not unite behind it sufficiently to overcome the backlash that grew after Amazon said in November that it was coming.

I feel like all of New York was never really on board, said Mr. Usorov, who works for a business media start-up a floor above an Amazon store in SoHo. There was a contingent that was for, then a contingent that was against.

And while almost everyone interviewed said they were Amazon customers, they said their satisfaction at how easily and quickly they can get everything from shampoo to space heaters did not necessarily mean they were willing to support the companys voracious expansion into their city.

Somewhere along the line we have to think about the little man, said Althea Hudson, 59, who works at New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art built a substantial exhibition last year around a new acquisition, a golden-sheathed coffin from the 1st century B.C. that was inscribed for Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis.

But the exhibit, Nedjemankh and His Gilded Coffin, shuttered earlier this week because the Met agreed to return the highly ornamented artifact to Egypt after investigators determined it had been recently plundered from that country.

Museum officials said that they bought the object from an art dealer in Paris in 2017 and were fooled by a phony provenance that made it seem as if the coffin had been legitimately exported decades ago.

But prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorneys office presented the museum with evidence that suggested it had been looted from Egypt in 2011.
Alex Catterson was escorted from the courthouse, officers on either side him, eyes red, hands cuffed in front of him, the sleeves on his tan coat wet from wiping away tears. His family and friends had just exited in front of him, tears rolling down their faces, hugging tightly before exiting the courthouse.

Catterson, 22, was found guilty under Missouri Instruction No. 5 DWI death of another not a passenger Class B felony by an unanimous jury verdict for wrecking into The Palms Jan. 7, 2018, and killing Northwest sophomore Morgan McCoy.

Circuit Judge Roger Prokes began the final day of the trial by reading the jury instruction, explaining the law in this case and how the jurors should evaluate the evidence. The jury was given two instructions. Instruction No. 5 includes driving while intoxicated and driving with criminal negligence, Instruction No. 7 includes driving while intoxicated.

The gallery was at its fullest on the final day of the trial. The back two rows on the defense side were filled with Catterson's family and friends. On the prosecutor's side, all five benches were filled with McCoy's family, friends and sorority sisters. Several police officers who had responded to the crash lined the back wall. Even Mr. Bicycle Guy, Arnold Roebkes, who had placed the flowers on the door of The Palms after the incident, attended.

Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice stood in the middle of the evidence he spent about five minutes arranging, at a podium ready to give the jury his closing argument.

Leaning against the podium was a blown-up picture of McCoys drivers license. Among the evidence was a TV, an aerial map of Cattersons route leaned up against the TV cart, an easel holding multiple blown-up pictures of the scene and an easel pad with the State V. Alex Catterson written in black, thick marker.

He said five different ways, I'm drunk, Rice said. He talked about fishtailing, he talked about overcorrecting himself, he called Morgan a name, and he wanted another beer.

Rice became increasingly animated in his final argument, mimicking Defense Attorney Samuel Scroggie and his final witness Phil Buckley who testified Friday.

Rice mentioned the defense's claims about the truck slipping on ice and proceeded to refer to a photo that showed the tire marks going through the ice, indicating that Catterson never stopped at the stop sign.

Rice referenced the part in Buckleys testimony where he stated he had never heard of or saw a tie rod end spontaneously break, except for in this case.

Rice brought up Buckleys pay for participating in the investigation and trial. Buckley testified Friday, Feb. 15, that he would be making around $20,000 for investigating the crash and participating in deposition and trial. This includes a $175 per hour charge for investigation hours and $200 for deposition and trial hours.

Rice also referenced Elizabeth Kogan's testimony. Kogan tested Cattersons blood at the Missouri Highway Patrol crime lab in Jefferson City. She testified Thursday and spoke about the effects of having a .235 blood alcohol content, she listed things such as vomiting, slurred speech, impaired reaction time, impaired perception, impaired coordination, balance and comprehension as well as excessive risk-taking.

Rice ended his final argument and Scroggie entered the courtroom. Those in the gallery whispered among themselves waiting for defense attorney Samuel Scroggie to approach the jury. Scroggie walked up near the jury box to give his closing argument holding in his hands just a yellow legal pad and used an easel with a few pictures, left by Rice, as his evidence.

I hope you'll recall that when we started all this you were instructed to keep an open mind about this case no matter how difficult that is, Scroggie said. You've seen some gore, you've seen things that frankly you can't unsee, but you can't have made up your mind until deliberations begin.

Scroggie continued, reminding the jury that Maryville Public Safety officer Sarah Kahmann had never included the vehicular malfunction in her reports or probable cause statement and neither had officer Rex Riley.

Scroggie addressed moments in footage shown in days prior where Catterson called McCoy a b----, saying: I think I killed a b----, and That b---- better be OK.

Those things were meant to inflame your passion and prejudice, we are not here for passion and prejudice, we are here for facts, Scroggie said.

He began to talk about the vehicular malfunction in detail, standing before the jury box holding the same yellow notepad he scribbled notes on before. He began to speak about a broken ball joint but quickly corrected himself as he meant tie rod. Moving forward, he went on to reference a broken ball joint three more times.

Scroggie claimed it was dumb luck that the malfunction happened when it did and that it could have happened anywhere at any time.

He went on to address Cattersons intoxication and said that he was indeed intoxicated and that it would be ridiculous to try and claim that he wasn't, but that regardless the crash would have occurred.

Scroggie showed three photos, one depicting the crash, one showing the tire marks and one to show a pothole filled with snow and ice.

The real issue is, did Mr. Catterson even have the ability to operate his vehicle (after the malfunction), Scroggie said. The answer is no.

He went on to defend Catterson character, assuring the jury he is not a bad person, an unfortunate thing just happened in an unfortunate place.

He criticized the prosecuting attorney for making Catterson out to be a bad person and changing the narrative but ended by saying who Catterson is as a person is irrelevant. The issue at hand is, did he operate his vehicle off of the roadway.

Scroggie ended by reminding the jury they must give Catterson the benefit of the doubt. Joined by Catterson, he took a seat on the front bench and waited for Rice to give his response.

Rice walked across the courtroom wearing a black suit and gold tie carrying the aerial image of The Palms area and easel pad notes.

Rice speaking in a softer voice, refuted Scroggies point about Catterson running the stop sign being irrelevant to the case.

You should consider the entirety of Cattersons driving, to be frank, that is why Morgan is dead, Rice said.

Rice discredited Buckley's testimony and said Buckley did not scientifically test certain aspects of the crash and instead speculated.

Rice pointed out to the jury that Buckley said in his testimony that he couldn't rule out the tie rod breaking on impact. He continued telling the jury the tie rod didn't cause the crash, the Drunk did.

The broken the tie rod did not cause the crash, the drunk did and that's why he's guilty, Rice said.

Rice asked the jury to find Catterson guilty of Instruction No. 5.

At the end of the day, her name isnt b----, its Morgan.

The jury filed in a single line out of the courtroom to begin deliberating on whether to find Catterson guilty under Missouri Instruction No. 5, which includes driving while intoxicated and negligent actions, Missouri Instruction No. 7, which includes driving while intoxicated or to motion for acquittal.

After two and a half hours of deliberation, the jury emerged. They found Catterson guilty under Missouri Instruction No. 5. No reaction was seen in the courtroom as the gallery had been ordered not to express any reaction.

Cattersons bond was increased to $150,000 and he was taken into custody following the end of the trial. His sentencing will be held at 1:30 p.m. April 19.
Hammond police Sgt. Christopher Gootee,* a member of the GRIT task force, testified Costello's monitor last responded via GPS from an alley in East Chicago. The monitor was not located, he said.

Police obtained a search warrant for Costello's phone, and found locations of the phone and ankle monitor to be consistent up until the monitor stopped responding, Gootee said.

Police subsequently tracked Costello's phone to Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Bloomington, Indiana, and finally to an apartment complex in Indianapolis, he said.

Cantrell said Costello would not have been in violation of pretrial release conditions for traveling to Indianapolis. He said the state failed to present enough evidence and said jailers in Indianapolis may have taken the ankle monitor from Costello.

Gootee said authorities in Indianapolis told him Costello was not wearing an ankle monitor when he was booked at their jail.

Kellogg said police are hoping Costello's arrest serves as a lesson to defendants given the opportunity to wear an ankle monitor instead of awaiting trial in jail.

"We want the individuals to know that if you violate the terms of your probation, parole or bond, you will be located and additional charges will be sought if applicable."
MICHIGAN CITY  A man was arrested in connection with the death of a 31-year-old woman who died from a heroin overdose in Michigan City.

Scott A. Clemons, 29, of Michigan City, was charged with dealing a controlled substance resulting in death, a level 1 felony, according to a news release from the LaPorte County Drug Task Force.

This is the second person arrested for distributing heroin resulting in death within five days, the news release said.

On Nov. 1, the Michigan City Police Department was called to the 100 block of N. Porter Street for an unconscious 31-year-old woman. When police arrived, they said they found she was suffering from a suspected heroin overdose. Police transported the woman to St. Anthony's Hospital where she died on Nov. 24.

LaPorte County Drug Task Force Detective Willie Henderson immediately launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the woman's death.

Two months later, an extensive investigation revealed the source of the heroin that killed her.

Detective Henderson and Deputy Prosecutor Elizabeth Boehm presented their findings before LaPorte County Superior Court Judge Michael Bergerson and the charge were filed against Clemons.
Pulaski County's largest employer, the wheelchair-accessible vehicle maker BraunAbility, is moving its headquarters to an Indianapolis suburb after more than half a century in Winamac.

The company, which makes wheelchair lifts and converts Ford and Chrysler vehicles so they're wheelchair-accessible, has been based in Winamac since Ralph Braun founded it there 56 years ago. It will continue to operate a 170,000-square-foot factory there that does business worldwide.

BraunAbility, which was acquired by Patricia Industries in 2015, will invest $7.5 million in a new headquarters and research and development facility in Carmel, just north of Indianapolis.

In Carmel, the company will lease 18,000 square feet for corporate offices and build a 20,000-square-foot Research & Development Center that will "focus on innovation and new product development, supporting and ensuring long-term growth of its manufacturing operations in Winamac, as well as providing support for the companys dealer distribution channel and development business in Europe," according to a press release.

Its factory in Winamac will remain its primary manufacturing location and "will always be an important destination for partners, dealers, and customers."

"At BraunAbility, our goal is improving independence and freedom for our customers  we change lives," said Staci Kroon, BraunAbility president and CEO. "Winamac, Indiana is the birthplace of our company and will remain the heart and soul of the company as its primary manufacturing center. To support our continued expansion, we're excited to announce Carmel as our new, global headquarters. The new facilities will be designed for collaboration and innovation and are key to our long-term recruitment and retention strategies."

The company plans to relocate its headquarters by June and open the new R&D facility next year.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is giving the company $1.3 million in tax breaks for the in-state move.
CHICAGO  Google officials say the company has selected Chicago as its new finance division hub with plans to have the capacity to double its workforce in the city by the end of the year.

The Chicago announcement Friday is part of Google's national expansion plan . The California company said Wednesday that it plans to invest more than $13 billion this year on new and expanded data center and offices across the U.S.

Google currently has more than 1,000 employees working in its Chicago West Loop office. Google said last year that it would lease an additional 132,000 square feet of space in the neighborhood.

The announcement was made during a ceremony to award $1 million in grants to Illinois nonprofits from the technology company.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 0 Angry 0

The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Questo comunicato e stato pubblicato piu di 1 anno fa. Le informazioni su questa pagina potrebbero non essere attendibili.

TERA game updates the melancolia suit level ceiling associated with 60, with two top-level copies, six high-level replicates, five battlefields. At the same time, when it comes to career, nostalgic clothing has 9 occupations besides magic opponent, boxer, Ninja Warrior plus moonlight warrior. Alternatively, since an additional method of play, it will available up black crevices, alliance warfare, ancient weapons in addition to so on. Tera Mitica is a good theme park. This theme park is additionally educational.If you cherished this write-up and you would like to obtain a lot more data relating to TERA US Gold kindly pay a visit to the web site.It shows individuals typically the origin of Spanish world. There are many scenic spots that can certainly provide you with interested youngsters. The advantage of this leisure park is how the particular program changes every 12 months, so you may have something new.













TERA's most enchanting race, a thousand individuals possess a thousand choices, some men and women like the imperial sister, some people favor the type of man, some folks swallow heavy taste, several individuals can play together with small fresh. When it comes to the particular word "Meng", it's not Irene and Polly who belong to the two Meng clans. The previous has fulfilled with domestic players in TERA's advanced experience clothes, while the latter provides only a glimpse of pictures and videos, which usually makes men and women feel chaotic in seconds.

















Tera Precious metal includes expertise in supplies and component projects regarding enough time to mistakenly assume that it is in fact absolutely NSAID, whether or not it is impossible. Benedorm has 365 days of sunshine every year, plus every tourist is interested.If you cherished this article and also you would like to obtain more info concerning TERA EU Gold kindly visit our web site.Old-fashioned cities are loaned by fisheries and agriculture, but it has simply recently changed its picture. Trends have been discovered and some new games may feature non-target combat. Is actually exactly that game developers understand what they desire them to carry out and how to equilibrium it. Many MMORPG fans don't like button bashing, while others do. Many men and women would like to socialize and check out the complete game world.
Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and professional in residence at Kent State Universitys school of journalism. She is the author of two books, including and His Lovely Wife, which chronicled the successful race of her husband, Sherrod Brown, for the U.S. Senate. Email: con.schultz@yahoo.com
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited Slovakia on Feb. 12 during his five-nation European tour.

During his visit, Pompeo said he would be raising American concerns about China and Russias growing influence in Central Europe.

Pompeo met with the countrys top leaders and praised the mutual military and economic cooperation between Slovakia and the United States.

Pompeo said the United States appreciated Slovakias commitment to increase defense spending to two percent of its GDP by 2024.

Slovakia has already purchased U.S. military helicopters as part of a massive effort to modernize its army. Slovakia signed an agreement to purchase the 14 of the most advanced F-16 fighter jets last year.

The visit of Pompeo to Bratislava celebrates 30 years of democracy and attests to the continued friendship between the U.S. and Slovakia. Transatlantic unity is our greatest weapon against the challenges ahead. We are stronger together, wrote Slovakian foreign affairs minister Miroslav Lajcak on Twitter on Feb. 12 during a visit to the Gate of the Freedom in Bratislava, which is a memorial commemorating the occupation of former Czechoslovakia by the socialist Soviet Union.

Visit of @SecPompeo to Bratislava celebrates 30 yrs of democracy & attests the continued friendship between US & Slovakia. Transatlantic unity is our greatest weapon against challenges ahead. We are stronger together, 30 years ago and today. ???????????????? #CourageToBeFree pic.twitter.com/OctfgSmT9U  Miroslav Lajcak (@MiroslavLajcak) February 12, 2019

Pompeo recalled in front of the monument the time when he patrolled the border of Czechoslovakia as a young soldier in the 1980s. Ive seen with my own eyes how bad communism can be, he said. Ive seen what communism can do, and I dont want it to happen again.

Its an honor to be here. Memorials like this ensure that we dont forget whats at stake.

Pompeo also said that it is necessary to oppose attempts to undermine democracy and freedom.

We are aware of Russias aggressive role in this region. We can see it very clearly in Ukraine, where the illegal annexation continues, Pompeo said, adding that, The United States is ready to be a friend, partner, and ally of Slovakia in the coming decades as well.

Slovak President Andrej Kiska wrote on Facebook:In the discussion with Mike Pompeo, we have agreed that Europe and the U.S. need each other.

EUROPA A USA SA NAVZAJOM POTREBUJUPo 20 rokoch navstivil Slovensko americky minister zahranicnych veci. Ziadny stat, Gepostet von Andrej Kiska am Dienstag, 12. Februar 2019

Kiska also highlighted the ongoing trade cooperation between both countries. The U.S. is one of the most important business partners for Slovakia, with U.S. companies employing almost 50,000 Slovaks, he said.

The last visit by a U.S. foreign minister to Slovakia was 20 years ago.

It was U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who was herself born in former Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia was separated in 1992 into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Albrights family hid from the Nazis in London during the Second World War and then emigrated to the United States under the pressures from the spreading of communism in Europe.

Albright studied international relations in the USA and became the first woman ever to head the U.S. Department of State in 1997.

From The Epoch Times
Lee Paterson is the current superintendent of Roseburg Public Schools and previously served in this position from 2002 to 2008.
Last year St. Patricks parish spent the Lent season reflecting on this passage as it relates to our stewardship and how we trust that the Lord will provide for us at all times. But this is not an easy thing to do, trusting totally in Jesus Word. We are tired, our tanks are empty, and we feel as if there is no chance of catching anything, even a break in life. But Jesus asks us to dig deeper. To trust in His divine providence that what He says will come true, that what He promises will be. He wants us to cast our nets anyway, even if we have tried and tried before. Perseverance is important for any Christian striving to live the Gospel, to follow Jesus as His disciple.

This passage also mentions others that come to help when the catch is too big for the fishermen to haul in. When was the last time you went out of your way, threw down your own nets and offered to assist someone else? It may not mention it in this passage, but I am willing to bet that the catch was a blessing that all of them celebrated and shared in. When we look to others and see the needs of those who maybe have a hard time with believing, or trusting, we can foster a relationship that is very Christ-like and worthy of being His followers, His disciples.
February 15, 2019 Kim Coons , 706-866-9241 x139

Fort Oglethorpe, GA: On Saturday, March 2, at 2 pm, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will conduct a special 1-hour program focusing on Spanish contact in the Southeastern United States, specifically in the Chattanooga region. This is a free program and will take place at the Gateway Site, near 134 Hamm Road, in Moccasin Bend National Archeological District. Special Program signs will be also be placed along Manufacturers and Hamm Roads to assist participants to the program location.



Sometimes our reasons for doing certain things are not always what they seem. In 1540, the first Europeans made contact with the indigenous people living in todays greater Chattanooga area. That contact did not seem like such a bad thing at first. Unfortunately, Hernando de Soto led the Spanish conquistadors making this contact, and he was not there as a friendly envoy from the king of Spain. Soto was after something far more self-serving: gold and glory. Years before, as a member of Francisco Pizarros expedition in Peru, Soto helped capture and ransom the Incan Emperor Atahualpa. The vast riches he witnessed in Peru pushed Soto on a similar expedition into the Southeast. Come learn about the atrocities spread by these Spanish conquerors as they trekked through this region almost 480 years ago.



For more information about programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, contact the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, the Lookout Mountain Battlefield Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, or visit the park Soto at website.
February 15, 2019 Kim Coons , 706-866-9241 x139

Fort Oglethorpe, GA: On Saturday, February 23, 2019, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park will host the first presentation in its new Future Scholars Lecture Series. This 1-hour lecture, entitled, Bountiful Land and Poor Distribution: East Tennessees Agriculture and Its Impact on the Civil War will be presented in the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Centers theater at

2 pm.



Some of the most cutting edge scholarship on the Civil War era is being conducted by graduate students at universities and colleges throughout the nation, and this lecture aims to promote the work being done by the next generation of Civil War scholars. Lucas Wilder is a Ph.D. candidate at Mississippi State University, where he is researching the environmental effects of the Civil War in Tennessee and Appalachia. His presentation will explore how the environment and agricultural practices affected Civil War operations in the region. This presentation is made possible through the support of the parks cooperating association, Eastern National.



For more information about upcoming programs at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, please contact the Lookout Mountain Visitor Center at 423-821-7786, the Chickamauga Battlefield Visitor Center at 706-866-9241, or visit the parks website at www.nps.gov/chch.
According to IceUniverse, Xiaomi has announced that the release of its next flagship, the Mi 9, will take place on February 20. However, the event at which a similarly-tiered device, the Galaxy S10, will be unveiled on the same day by Samsung. This shows what could be considered a great amount of ambition on Xiaomi's part, at best.

4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other "or" search relation. 5G , Accessory , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , ARM , Audio , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Coffee Lake , Comet Lake , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy Note , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel Evo / Project Athena , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Linux / Unix , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Renoir , Review Snippet , Rocket Lake , Rumor , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) Ticker

The long-awaited Galaxy S10 line will finally be released at Samsungs Unpacked event on February 20, 2019. This move appears to have brought out the competitor in another Android-phone OEM, Xiaomi. This company has scheduled its own next flagship product launch for the exact same day.

The device in question is to be the Mi 9, the next iteration of Xiaomis main smartphone series. This phone is likely to be powered by the Snapdragon 855 processor. Its appearance has also been leaked extensively, by the OEM itself in part. These tip-offs suggest that it will be finished in a reflective material that is most probably glass.

The 9 may also be the first Mi-series with triple rear cameras. The rumor mill has also resulted in the output that one sensor in this module will be a high-end 48MP sensor. Therefore, Xiaomi may be promoting this as one of its best points against Samsung and its own new flagship series. However, the S10s variants are associated with a range of (occasionally novel) colors, whereas the Mi 9 has only been linked to shades of blue or black thus far. More recent rumors also point to the possibility of a purple version of this phone. All of them may have prismatic effects baked into their rear panels.

In general, it will be interesting to see how much focus the Mi 9 can draw away from Samsung on the day.
Apple will release red versions of the iPhone XS and XS Max, but only in China. At least, this is what a new post on Weibo claims. It cites the OEM's declining fortunes in the country in this apparent marketing decision.

4 Reviews , News , CPU , GPU , Articles , Columns , Other "or" search relation. 5G , Accessory , Alder Lake , AMD , Android , Apple , ARM , Audio , Business , Camera , Cannon Lake , Cezanne (Zen 3) , Charts , Chinese Tech , Chromebook , Coffee Lake , Comet Lake , Console , Convertible / 2-in-1 , Cryptocurrency , Cyberlaw , Deal , Desktop , Exclusive , Fail , Foldable , Gadget , Galaxy Note , Galaxy S , Gamecheck , Gaming , Geforce , Google Pixel , GPU , How To , Ice Lake , Intel Evo / Project Athena , Internet of Things (IoT) , iOS , iPad Pro , iPhone , Jasper Lake , Lakefield , Laptop , Launch , Linux / Unix , Lucienne (Zen 2) , MacBook , Mini PC , Monitor , MSI , OnePlus , Opinion , Phablet , Radeon , Renoir , Review Snippet , Rocket Lake , Rumor , Ryzen (Zen) , Science , Security , Smart Home , Smartphone , Smartwatch , Software , Storage , Tablet , ThinkPad , Thunderbolt , Tiger Lake , Touchscreen , Ultrabook , Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR) , Wearable , Windows , Workstation , XPS , Zen 3 (Vermeer) Ticker

The latest lines in top-tier iPhones have never come in colors besides gold, silver and space gray. However, a new post on Weibo claims that these devices will soon be offered in a new color to customers in China: red. This rumor appears to distinctly apply to the XS and XS Max, not the XR. It also indicates that this apparent new SKU has nothing to do with the PRODUCT:RED initiative whereby appropriately-finished versions of pre-existing iPhones are sold so as to raise funds for healthcare research.

Should this leak prove true, it will be the first time the iPhone XS or XS Max has been released in an exclusive new finish by Apple themselves. The OEM's most plausible motivation for doing so would be flagging revenues in the country, which are possibly driven by Qualcomm's successful attempt at having the first-party sale of some iPhone variants banned in China.

The Weibo tipster alleges that the 'China red' iPhones will be available by the end of February 2019, and that its price will start at "10,000 yuan" (about US$1476). This cost, at least, tracks well with Apple's current product strategy. However, this rumor is inescapably reminiscent of the recent "leak" pointing to a Cinnabar Red Galaxy S10 for the same region, which later turned out to be false.
Adam Troxtell / The Transcript

Aaron Varland from the FAA, left, presents the Wright Brothers Master Aviator Award to Leroy Wall, who has been flying and instructing for more than 50 years, a span that includes the Army, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and civilian instruction. With Wall to receive the award is his wife, Tommie.
Peggy Lou Butterfield died June 10, 2021 in Purcell at the age of 82 years 6 months 21 days. Services are entrusted to the care of Wadley's Funeral Service. Online condolences may be made at www.wadleysfuneralservice.com. Peggy was born November 11, 1938 in Lexington, Oklahoma to Addison Uly
We can take a student right out of high school and teach them how to make ethanol  teach them the process, he said.

Those without training usually start as a plant utility worker at $17 to $18 per hour, Shultz said. They do a little bit of everything and are then ready to advance to an operator position.

A pair of pig lungs hooked up to a ventilator attracted students to MCCs respiratory care program booth, staffed by John Detwiler.

Respiratory therapist demand is still high in this area, he said, adding that some health care facilities are having difficulty filling openings.

Students must apply to the program after completing about a years worth of general education classes, Detwiler said. The respiratory therapist program itself takes 21 months to finish.

Lexi Kirchert, a Lewis Central freshman, attended Trade Exploration Day just to explore and found the auto body and culinary arts booths interesting, she said. She feels the event is a good way to learn about careers.

Its all in one place, she said. You can learn things and, if you have questions, you can ask someone.
Payless ShoeSource is possibly looking at closing its U.S. stores.

According to Reuters News Agency, the retailer plans to close its approximately 2,300 stores after filing for bankruptcy later this month.

A week ago Bloomberg News reported that Payless is preparing for its second trip to bankruptcy court with a plan that could drastically shrink the size of the discount shoe chain, per people with knowledge of the matter.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The retailer sought a loan to get through bankruptcy proceedings, Bloomberg reported. A representative for the Topeka, Kansas-based company declined to comment to the news outlet.

Reuters said Payless had been trying to find a buyer, without success. The outlet noted theres a small chance a buyer could emerge after the bankruptcy filing, which could help save the stores.

According to the Payless website, the privately-held company was founded in Topeka in 1956 and today employs more than 18,000 associates worldwide.

The Nonpareil reached out to the Council Bluffs Payless ShoeSource, though a message left for a manager was not immediately returned.
A man was in critical condition after being struck by a vehicle Friday night (Feb. 15) at the intersection of Elysian Fields and St. Claude avenues at the edge of the Marigny, New Orleans Emergency Medical Services confirmed.

The injured pedestrian was transported to a local hospital by EMS, said that agencys spokesman, Lt. Jonathan Fourcade.

At the scene, police had cordoned off the southbound, or river-bound, lanes of Elysian Fields Avenue at the intersection with St. Claude.

The man was hit as the Krewe Boheme was lining up about nine blocks away at Dauphine Street and Franklin Avenue in the Marigny, according to a WDSU-TV parade tracker app.

The neighborhood had begun crowding with pedestrians ahead of Bohemes debut parade, which marches from the Marigny to the French Quarter. The walking parade, set to begin at 7 p.m., crosses Elysian Fields Avenue on Royal Street, a few blocks from the crash (route map).

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune Staff Photographer Michael DeMocker contributed to this report.
The Tigers may have missed out on their top target at defensive tackle in the 2019 class. But LSU is already loading up at the position for 2020.

LSU picked up a commitment from California 2020 defensive tackle Jordan Berry Saturday.

The 6-foot-3, 280-pound prospect out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Calif. holds offers from USC, Oregon State among several others.

He tweeted news of his commitment Saturday afternoon.

Berry joins a class at features a couple of Louisianas to 2020 defensive linemen in Jaquelin Roy and CamRon Jackson.

Take a look at his highlights below.
In this weeks coastal news roundup, WWNOs Travis Lux talks to NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune reporter Sara Sneath about an invasive plant amassing in Bayou St. John. The plant, identified as giant salvinia, can double in size within seven days.

Volunteers can help clear the plant from the bayou from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16. The effort will start at the intersection of Filmore Avenue and Wisner Boulevard. For more information, check out the Giant Salvinia Control Patrol Facebook page.

In other news, Pope Francis climatologist came to town this week. A Carmelite priest and atmospheric scientist, Rev. Eduardo Scarel spoke with local high school students and to an audience at the Notre Dame Seminary on Tuesday evening.

For these stories and more, see below:

Pope Francis climatologist visits New Orleans

West Bank cyanide plant proposal draws scores of worried residents: report

Neighbors fight back invasive plant floating in Bayou St. John

Mosaic fertilizer briefs EPA on contingency plans if wall failure releases hazardous wastewater
Convicted former district attorney Walter Reed should be allowed to remain free while he asks the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case, Reeds lawyer said in a court filing.

Attorney Richard Simmons Jr. asked U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon to keep in place the appeal bond Fallon granted in March 2017, allowing the former North Shore DA to avoid prison while appealing his 2016 convictions on corruption charges. At the very least, Simmons asked that Fallon delay a decision for 90 days or until April 25 so the judge can review Reeds petition to the Supreme Court.

A federal prosecutor early this month asked Fallon to immediately rescind Reeds appeal bond and set a date for him to report to prison to start serving his four-year prison sentence. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Ginsberg noted that a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals panel has rejected Reeds appeal and that the appellate court declined Reeds request that the full court re-hear the case.

The effort to get the Supreme Court to hear the case is unlikely to be successful and could take at least another year regardless of the outcome, Ginsberg has said.

A hearing has been scheduled Feb. 26 before Fallon.

Simmons, in a filing Thursday (Feb. 14), wrote that the request of the Supreme Court is not a delay tactic, pointing out that Reed has starting paying portions of the fines and fees leveled against him after his trial in 2016.

If Reed is successful in his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, monies can be returned, but the defendant cannot be returned his loss of liberty, Simmons wrote. The defendant has a 40 year history of public service. Is it too much to ask that the appellate system be finalized before incarceration?

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Reed, the longtime DA for St. Tammany and Washington parishes through 2014, was convicted in May 2016 of 18 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering, making false statements on his income tax returns and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to launder money.

Much of the trial focused on Reeds use of his campaign funds.

Simmons has argued that prosecutors made a federal case out of state campaign laws, and that criminal counts related to the campaign money should have been tried separately from other counts against Reed.

In his filing, Simmons noted that the Supreme Court is also being asked to review another local case that he called another example of federal prosecutors overreaching into ambiguous state regulatory schemes.

In that case, producer Peter Hoffman and attorney Michael Arata were convicted in 2015 in a scheme involving fraudulent documents to get more than $1 million in state tax credits for turning a dilapidated New Orleans mansion into a film production facility.

They filed a writ Feb. 7 of this year asking the Supreme Court to review the case, Simmons said.
A man was fatally shot in the head and left in a pickup truck in the East Riverside neighborhood Saturday morning (Feb. 16). New Orleans police said officers found the man bleeding from the head inside a pickup truck around 7 a.m. in the 600 block of Austerlitz Street.

The Police Department did not immediately release any more information on the killing, the third in the New Orleans area in about seven hours. Just after midnight, a man was killed in a drive-by shooting after a bar fight turned deadly in Kenner. At about 4:30 a.m., a man was shot to death at Canal Street and Claiborne Avenue.

. . . . . . .

Correction: An earlier version of this story said the victim in the pickup truck was found in the Touro neighborhood.
As the New Orleans Police Department continues to build up its ranks, the department is also seeking to grow its reserve unit. The invitation to apply this year to a new NOPD Reserve Police Academy has been extended to civilians, who would be able to help officers in a limited capacity, NOPD said.

The NOPD Reserve Police Unit, now comprised of about 80 trained officers, provides a low-to-no cost way for the city to help staff special events, the units commander, Louis Dabdoub, said. It also gives retired officers or people with a passion for law enforcement with a NOPD side-gig while opening up the option for some part-time police officers to work private paid detail jobs.

This summer, NOPD will host the first academy for the Reserve Police Unit the agency has had in 15 years, Dabdoub said.

The city is limited by budget constraints and difficulty recruiting enough hirable applicants as full-time officers, Dabdoub said. Since special events in the city range from a month-long Carnival season, New Orleans Saints games and festivals celebrating jazz heritage, creole tomatoes and tacos, working those events is a strain on resources sometimes, Dabdoub said.

(Reserves) are a force multiplier for a city that is much in need of officers ... without having to pay people full-time to cover events.

The reserve academy will train three types of reserve officers or volunteers: Level 1 reserves are commissioned officers with the authority of regular police officers; Level 2 reserves are commissioned officers with less training who must be accompanied by another officer; and Level 3 reserves are civilians who are not commissioned officers but can help direct traffic or guard barricades during Mardi Gras, for example, under the direction of officers.

Unpaid reserve officers or civilians are required to volunteer 24 hours a month on a schedule that suits them. Reserve officers who volunteer 40 hours a month are eligible to work off-duty details through the citys Office of Secondary Employment.

As NOPD is growing its force, but slowly

As of Feb. 6, NOPD employed 1,176 commissioned officers, plus 45 recruits, NOPD spokesman Aaron Looney said. Thats down from the 2010 staffing level that surpassed 1,500 officers during its peak.

A citywide hiring freeze implemented in 2010 by Mayor Mitch Landrieu, which Landrieu said was implemented to reign in the citys budget, stalled NOPD recruitment, prompting a sharp reduction of the force as officers retired or left the department. Later in Landrieus term, NOPD ramped up recruitment and the mayor at one time stated a goal of reaching 1,600 officers by 2020  a goal that now appears unattainable. A 2016 staffing analysis the city paid Berkshire Advisors $225,000 to conduct, however, advised the police department should be staffed at a slightly lower number of sworn officers: roughly 1,400.

The end of 2018 marked the first time in six years the police department was staffed by more than 1,200 officers and recruits.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell has not publicly stated a NOPD staffing goal, though she advocated during her campaign to add to NOPDs ranks. Melanie Talia, CEO of the New Orleans Police and Justice Foundation, said the departments goal is to hire 120 recruits in 2019. The foundation is providing NOPDs recruitment efforts with funding technical assistance.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

If achieved, the 2019 academy graduates should provide a double digit net increase of commissioned offers. In 2019, NOPD lost 76 officers or recruits in 2018 to resignations, retirements or terminations  the lowest attrition in more than two decades, according to data from the department. The NOPD lost 78 officers or recruits the year before, down from 103 departures in 2016, NOPD said. Police labor groups credited the lower attrition rate to a new pay system, implemented in October 2017, that included raises for officers. The department has also pointed to surveys of officers that show most are happy with the direction in which the department is headed.

How NOPD Reserve Academy will work

The reserve unit can function as a recruitment tool, too, Dabdoub said, allowing those unsure if they want to pursue law enforcement full time to test out the profession.

Level 1 reserve officers are fully commissioned and required to complete Peace Officer Standards and Training, often referred to as POST. In addition, Level 1 reserve officers must complete training related to NOPDs federal consent decree, which the department has been operating under since 2013 to correct unconstitutional policing practices. The training would take about seven months, which would entail classes two nights a week and on Saturdays, Dabdoub said. Level 1 reserve officers who volunteer 40 hours a month with NOPD would qualify for most off-duty private details, which they can perform without another officer present. Details are coordinated through the New Orleans Office of Secondary Employment.

Level 2 reserve officers are fully commissioned and POST certified officers who received additional training on the consent decree, but have not yet completed the extra training. Level 2 officers cannot work alone and must be with a fully trained NOPD officer. These officers can work private details only with other officers.

To become a Level 1 or Level 2 reserve officer, applicants must be 21 by the time they complete their training and pass a drug and background check. Level 1 and Level 2 reserve officers receive a uniform allowance. The uniforms appear the same; the only difference in appearance is reserve officers badges contain five digits, and full-time officers and supervisors badges contain at least four digits, Dabdoub said.

Level 3 civilian volunteers must complete 24 hours of training, one night a week for about three weeks, Dabdoub said. Level 3 reserves wear dark navy uniforms and can work barricades or help direct traffic at special events under the direction of other NOPD officers. Applicants must be 18 years old and must pass a drug and background check.

NOPDs reserve unit started in the 1960s as a group of non-commissioned volunteers, referred to then as auxiliaries, Dabdoub said. He described the initiative then as an early version of the community policing movement. In the 1970s, some auxiliaries obtained Police Officer Standards and Training certification and operated as limited-authority officers, mostly for special assignments like Mardi Gras parades and festivals. About 1980, NOPD graduated its first reserve academy, he said. The unit built up in the 1980s to about 280 commissioned reserve officers.

Up until about four years ago, Dabdoub said, the number of reserve officers had dwindled to a few dozen, until NOPD invited any commissioned officers, mostly retirees, to join the reserve unit. With the invitation in 2015 encouraging retirees to join the reserve unit, NOPD attracted a total of about 100 reserve officers. That number has since dwindled to about 80, most of which are retired officers or those who attended the last reserve academy NOPD hosted, about 15 years ago, he said.

The current crop of reserve officers include people with a variety of backgrounds  among them are a doctor, a stay-at-home mother and a daiquiri shop owner, Dabdoub said.

The reserve academy set to start this summer has room for 50 recruits, he said.

NOPD has asked those seekng more information about the Reserve Police Academy to visit joinNOPD.org or contact Troy McConnell at 504-401-3413 of tpmcconnell@nola.gov.
Authorities apprehended a person at the scene of an active shooting Friday (Feb. 15), at a manufacturing business in Aurora, Ill., according to multiple news reports and the City of Aurora.

Kane County coroners office spokesman Chris Nelson told The Associated Press at least one person was killed in the attack at the Henry Pratt Co. building. The Chicago Tribune reports that dispatchers indicated there were many injuries," and a city spokesperson told WGN in Chicago four police officers were among those injured.

John Probst told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door of the building in Aurora as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works at the company. He said the gunman has a pistol with a laser.

Probst says he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."

Henry Pratt Co. makes valves for portable water, wastewater, power generation and industrial purposes.

The city of Aurora confirmed on Twitter, about 2:23 p.m., that police responded to an active shooting near Highland Road and Archer Avenue. At about 3 p.m., the same account tweeted that the shooter had been apprehended, and that more information would be forthcoming.

Aurora is located about 40 miles west of Chicago.

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Officials from a hospital in the area said in a tweet two patients were being treated for non-life threatening injuries in connection to the active shooting.

A law enforcement source told WGN in Chicago that Kane Countys SWAT and a U.S Marshals Task Force had been deployed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reported that agents from that agency also responded.

At 2:43 p.m., the Aurora Police Department reported in a tweet officers were responding to an active shooting scene.

The Tribune reports a number of schools were place on lockdown during the active scene.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Stay with NOLA.com for updates on this developing story.
A 13-year-old boy was one of two teens shot while on a Broadmoor neighborhood porch Friday night (Feb. 15), according to New Orleans police.

The 13-year-old, who was struck once in the abdomen, and a 17-year-old boy, who was struck once in the buttocks, were in stable condition, said NOPD spokesman Juan Barnes.

The boys were on a porch in the 3200 block of Louisiana Avenue Parkway about 8:25 p.m. when they heard gunfire and then realized they had been shot, Barnes said. Their wounds are considered non-life-threatening, he said.

Police were working to determine possible motives and suspects in the shooting--and whether either teen was a target, according to Barnes.

At the scene, a woman was being consoled by a police chaplain.

Thats my grandson over there ... he got shot, she cried.

Im tired of this, a man said. Whens it going to stop?

Top stories in New Orleans in your inbox Twice daily we'll send you the day's biggest headlines. Sign up today. e-mail address * Sign Up

Police cordoned off the intersection of Louisiana Avenue Parkway and South Roman Street, where investigators placed four lime-green evidence cones in the roadway. Two of the cones were placed on South Roman Street and another two were placed on Louisiana Avenue Parkway in the middle of the intersection.

Neighbors said they heard about six gunshots.

Investigators walked the streets with flashlights, searching for more evidence. Some were focused on a stretch of sidewalk and grass on Louisiana Avenue Parkway near South Roman Street. Flashlight beams shone onto a trash bin and along the ground near a car parked in a driveway.

Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to call NOPD 2nd District detectives at 504-658-6020 or submit an anonymous tip by calling Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111.

Laura McKnight covers crime and breaking news for NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune.

NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune photographer Michael DeMocker contributed to this report.
Gov. Phil Murphy said hes got better things to do than worry about middle school melodrama.

That was his reaction Friday to a report that one of his frequent rivals, fellow Democrat and South Jersey powerbroker George Norcross, carried a photo of the governor with the words Phony Phil emblazoned on it.

The ribbing came during an annual trip that several of New Jerseys top political insiders  all male  made to Puerto Rico during Super Bowl weekend earlier this month, according to the report by political news website Politico New Jersey.

The trips opening dinner includes a roast, in which the attendees make fun of the states movers and shakers. This year, Norcross and South Jersey associates brought in poster-size photos of Murphy and some of the governors allies, placing them on tripods, according to two anonymous sources cited by Politico.

What did Murphy make of it?

First, the governor noted that he watched the Super Bowl with my wife and a couple of our kids.

Id say this, Murphy continued. I dont really, frankly pay much attention to middle school melodrama. I got elected to represent this state  all 9 million of us  the most diverse state in the nation. I go elected to rebuild the middle class.  Thats what Im focused on.

Murphy often feuds with Norcross, the most powerful non-elected official in the state, as well as Norcross ally, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, even though all three are Democrats.

Politico said the story came to its attention because it received an anonymous email attacking Murphy on the scandal that has engulfed his office the last few months  Katie Brennans allegations that former top Murphy aide Albert J. Alvarez raped her and remained in his state job for months even though Brennan alerted the governors inner circle multiple times.

The email directed people to a website called PhonyPhilMurphy.com, according to the report.

Norcross did not return a message from NJ Advance Media seeking comment on Politicos story.

Politico said his spokesman, Dan Fee, did not directly answer a question about whether Norcross had anything to do with the email.

Its my understanding that the slogan was originated by the victims rights community, but others would probably have better insight than me, Fee told the website. It might be easy to focus on something that appeared at an off-the-record event, but I dont believe it started there.

Politico said it could find no reference to the term Phony Phil Murphy involving the victims rights community online.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Matt Arco contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.comFollow him on Twitter @johnsb01

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
By Mark Di Ionno

The Venezuelan crisis came into our living rooms a few days ago. Riots always bring out the television cameras. Burning cars, tear-gassed protesters, cops in riot gear wading into the crowd, all that anger and violence make for good American TV ratings.

But millions of displaced migrants in tent cities or begging in the streets, not so much. Between 3 and 5 million people have fled Venezuela since 2014. Thats a staggering number and much larger than the well-publicized exodus from Syria and North African countries.

But the riot got the attention of our government. Sixteen people were killed and a few hundred injured as the government of Nicolas Maduro cracked down on a citizenry calling for him to step down amid the plummet of both human rights and the economy.

Donald Trump and other Western leaders want him out. Russia wants him in. At stake are relations with one of the worlds largest oil producers.

Oil. The root of all Venezuelas evils. It made the country wealthy, and corrupt, but the severe drop in oil prices twice in the last decade have thrown Venezuela into poverty, lawlessness and chaos.

Just after Christmas I visited Ecuador, invited there by an Ecuadorian journalist I met while she was in New Jersey. She wanted me to see this humanitarian crisis first-hand and see its impact on her country.

On the congested streets of Guayaquil, Ecuadors largest city, Venezuelan women approached cars with cardboard signs, begging for money to send home to their starving children. Venezuelan men swarmed the stopped traffic, with rags and buckets of soapy water, hoping for even pennies.

In fishing village of Porto Lopez, impoverished Venezuelan men do the hard labor of hauling the days catch off boats through the surf, or cleaning fish for customers for pennies a day.

This is horrible for these people, said journalist and publisher Sylvia Jauregui.

Most came through Colombia, which for a time didnt check passports, Jauregui said. Some spent all their money on buses to come across Colombia to Ecuador. Some walked, all the way.

She is especially interested in the plight of women, many of whom were professional people when Venezuelas economy was booming when oil demands, led by China, spiked at decade ago.

I know women who were educated people, with white-collar jobs, Jauregui said. They worked in offices, in cities. These were not all poor, rural people. Now they are here begging, or selling their bodies, to send whatever they can scrounge up to send home to their children, so they can eat.

Jauregui works in the mining region of Zamora-Chincipe, in the southeast region of Ecuador near the Peru border. A gold deposit there called Fruta del Norte is among the worlds largest recent precious metal discoveries.

A boom of jobs and wealth drew desperate Venezuelan women to the area to find work, whatever it was. Jauregui said she knows of one group of nine women that share a two-bedroom apartment with one bathroom. Sometimes the work is in the sex trade.

They send the money home, she said. But they know the store shelves are empty. There is little food, no medicine and no basic necessities, and no hope. Gangs are now stealing food and robbing people of what little they have.

Jauregui said the women spend almost nothing on themselves, just enough to be attractive to men. Many are like mistresses, getting just enough money to subsist but not enough to save and leave. They are captives, like all poor people in the vortex of international human trafficking. Weve all heard the stories of the abuse of house servants in wealthy countries like Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, or workers kept in camps and underfed as they work in Middle East oil fields. Why is it the wealthiest countries and people are the worst at exploiting the poor? It is all around us.

It is old news that these are not welcoming times in the United States and Europe for refugees or desperate immigrants escaping violence or poverty.

A few days after I left Ecuador, I traveled to London. The papers were filled with news about the Brexit negotiations. When the British voted to leave the European Union two years ago, one of the driving reasons was immigration.

One of the Brexit mottos was Take Our Country Back, the English cousin of Make American Great Again. New stories tell of how Englands social services are being overwhelmed by foreigners. I met a social medicine doctor there who said most of the people she treats these days have recently come in from foreign countries.

In most places in the world, refugees are easily identified as others by skin color or language. The Venezuelan crisis is different this way. The refugees assimilate easily. And many South American countries, poor as they are, offer universal safety nets of human services to them, even if they have no papers.

Those nets are fraying as more Venezuelans pile on. Ecuador says it needs $550 million to deal with the health and housing needs of the 600,000 Venezuelans now living in the country. Those numbers are based on guaranteeing the migrants human rights and ensure an orderly transition to their new surroundings, Ecuador Vice Minister Santiago Chavez said in November. In other words, they are being welcomed.

That is a statement you wont hear from Western governments, including ours. And those numbers, while a burden in a small South American country like Ecuador, are about the cost of three American F-22 Raptor fighter jets.

To be fair, the United States has sent $46 million in aid to the countries absorbing the desperate Venezuelans. Some will say thats not enough. Others will say its not our problem.

So the age-old question remains: Does a wealthy country and its people have a human obligation to lessen the burden of poor and hungry refugees, or should it protect its own resources, no matter how abundant?

In 10,000 years of human civilization, we havent been able to answer that question and probably never will.

So it comes down, as it always does, to the generosity of individuals and agencies that administer that generosity. Thank God there are enough of both. And thats the only way I could end this column on a positive note.

Former Star-Ledger columnist Mark Di Ionnos new novel is Gods of Wood & Stone. His website is markdiionno.com.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
For years, Vernon residents have stood by and watched in frustration as a pile of dirt and debris has continued to grow on a residential piece of property.

On Friday, residents got a welcome piece of news.

Three state lawmakers said they would pursue new laws to deal with the situation.

Sen. Steve Oroho, Asm. Parker Space and Asm. Hal Wirths --- all Republicans representing Sussex County --- have pledged to pursue legislation that would strengthen New Jerseys solid waste regulations.

The trio threw their support behind S1683, a bill sponsored by Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex.) The bill would expand background checks for people who work in New Jerseys solid waste industry, and would hold people working with soil and fill to the same strict standards applied to those working in the solid waste sector.

Vernon Mayor Harry Shortway and other town residents testified on Thursday before the state Senate Environment and Energy Committee in support of the bill.

For years in Vernon, Joseph Wallace has been bringing in truckloads of dirt and debris to his personal property in a secluded neighborhood on a private road called Silver Spruce Drive. Wallace insists that the material he is importing is clean and safe and he dismisses the notion that there is any contaminated or unsafe material in the artificial mountain. Yet he acknowledged he has convictions in New York on multiple counts of illegal dumping.

"We can honor everyones right to govern their own land, while still protecting public safety, Space said. This landfill has evolved from an eyesore to a multi-acre threat to our health, welfare and property values. We must get this neighborhood hazard under control immediately.

Wallace has been fined $75,000 for the work on Silver Spruce Drive, though he is currently appealing that penalty. In a separate case, Wallace faces more than 70 municipal summonses for violating local ordinances in Vernon.

Frustrated by the inability of local efforts to stop the stream of dump trucks to Wallaces property, neighbors have long asked for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to step in. Local elected officials and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-5th District) have made the same requests to the state.

The DEP has remained hands-off, maintaining that this is a local issue and no state rules have been broken.

If the state DEP wont step up and take action, we will craft legislation to create the appropriate enforcement mechanisms so communities are protected, Oroho said.

The lawmakers pledge comes a day after NJ Advance Media published a story about the tensions in town due to Wallaces pile.

Michael Sol Warren may be reached at mwarren@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MSolDub. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
By Mark Crawford

For decades, advocates and organizations like SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, have called on our New Jersey bishops to release the names and files of clergy known to have abused children. Such pleas fell on deaf ears.

While any release of information from our church officials, from an institution well known for its secrecy, is a step in the right direction, the list lacks important details. The list could hardly be considered a sincere attempt at contrition or full transparency. In fact, this limited release is more about damage control than it is about healing.

One can only conclude that the real reason any information has been released at all is due to continued pressure from the state Attorney Generals and his offices ongoing investigation of the five Catholic dioceses, as well as nationwide efforts to reform the statute of limitation laws and similar reform bills pending before New Jersey lawmakers. These are laws that will finally instill accountability, create consequences for institutional cover-ups and allow sexual abuse victims access to our courts.

Survivors of sexual abuse need information because its critical to their path of healing. When facts of their abuser, and or abuse, remains hidden, it often denies them of the ability to move forward. If this is a true attempt to heal the wounded, much more information is needed. Healthy institutions and all members of our society must learn as long as we keep secrets regarding sexual abuse, we empower the predator, who will continue to prey upon the vulnerable.

A survivor often wonders was it only me," were there others abused before or after me? "Did I have to be a victim, could someone have stopped my predator? Our bishops failed to detail when church officials learned of abuse allegations against those named and what action they took (or more often failed to take) to ensure others were not harmed.

We also werent told which assignments or parishes these men worked at when the abuses were perpetrated (some diocese failed to list assignments at all), leaving parents to wonder if the abuse occurred while the priest or deacon was at their parish or at their childrens school? We see no acknowledgement of when these men were removed from ministry or placed on leave, when they may have been sent to a treatment center or out of ministry.

They also didnt include in their listing any religious order clerics, who teach in our schools and operate some of our parishes. They may account for 20 percent to 30 percent of all abuse allegations in any given diocese. Yet, unlike other diocese, our N.J. bishops would not include them.

The use of the word multiple in describing the number of victims some of the men had leaves us wondering if they abused two victims, 10, 20 or 50? Clearly, some of these men who abused children, or those involved in child pornography, would have had many, many victims. Perhaps, detailing those numbers would have been too shocking to the faithful.

Additionally, they told us that those clergy still under investigation were not included in the listing at this time, which means the real number of abusive clergy is significantly higher than the 188 they reported. Lastly, they didnt tell us where those men are living today. Are they still among us? Are they working in our schools or working with children? Who is watching them?

The reality is our bishops know much more than they have shared with us. They cannot police themselves; intervention and investigation by civil authorities will be the only path to the full truth. Parents must remain vigilant, and encourage our bishops to provide the whole truth, which is long overdue. While releasing a list of names will bring validation for some victims, the facts that remain hidden will not bring the healing and transparency needed to end the scourge of sexual abuse within our church.

Mark Crawford, a survivor of clergy abuse, is the New Jersey director for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
A Philadelphia man who claims a sun deck Harrahs Casino Resort gave him third-degree burns on his feet - and lost part of one to amputation - is heading to trial, despite the casinos efforts to get the suit thrown out.

Howard Thompson, 50, has diabetic neuropathy  a lack of sensation in his feet  and didnt realize his feet were being burned as he stood on the pavers of the roof-top deck in May of 2012, the lawsuit said.

The flesh of at least one of his feet was actually cooking on the hot pavers, according to an expert report completed by a building consultant Thompson hired.

Consultant Mark Meshulam said he tested the surface temperature of the pavers under similar conditions and found that it was 137 degrees, hot enough to cook meat.

The massive concrete pavers... cooked his feet at a temperature that would produce a steak done medium, except that the steak would be taken off the burner after a few minutes, while Mr. Thompsons feet were exposed to the heat for a far longer duration, Meshulam wrote in his report.

He opined that the sun reflecting off the glazed, glass windows of the Harrahs towers reflected onto the pavers, heating them up. While there were signs warning hotel guests of surveillance cameras and even occasional strobe lighting, there was no warning about the hot sun deck or a requirement to wear shoes.

Man claims hot sun deck at Harrah's Casino in Atlantic City gave him third-degree burns on one foot (Photo from expert report of Mark Meshulam in court documents)

Harrahs has denied any liability, but on Thursday lost a last-ditch effort to get U.S. District Court Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez to throw out the lawsuit. Rodriguez rejected the casinos request to reconsider their denied motion for summary judgement. The trial is set to begin April 15.

Thompson and his wife, Deborah Thompson, had tried to sue the companies they believed built and designed the deck or supplied the pavers, but Rodriguez dismissed the claims against them in 2017 and 2018.

According to court filings in the case, the Thompsons were lounging on the sundeck near the pool at Harrahs on May 30, 2012 between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. Howard Thompson walked and stood on the deck while talking to his wife for between 20 and 30 minutes, according to court documents. They only realized when they went back to their hotel room later that he had a small burn on bottom of his left foot, the suit said, and decided to monitor it.

Several days later it became so painful that he went to Nazareth Hospitals emergency room, where he was diagnosed with a third-degree burn and cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection.

Doctors tried to treat the burn and subsequent infections with antibiotics and surgeries, the suit said, but foot infections are especially problematic for diabetics. The infection spread to the bone and most of his left foot had to be amputated by Aug. 28, 2012.

Dr. Ali Albert Anaim, an expert witness for Thompson, wrote that it is likely he may have to have more amputations in the future. Thompson worked as a booter for the Philadelphia Parking Authority, and now cannot be on his feet for more than an hour, the doctor said.

A spokesman for Harrahs and the casinos attorney, Victor Wasilauskas of Atlantic City, did not return requests for comment. However, court filings indicate that the resort may argue that the injuries were the result of Thompsons own negligence, his failure to get treatment sooner and his diabetes. The resort also has never had previous complaints about the pavers being too hot, according to court filings.

The Thompsons are seeking damages of at least $500,000 for the negligence they say caused Howard Thompson lots of pain and medical bills and prevented him from working and enjoying his life, the suit said.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
The Glassboro Police have enlisted the publics help to identify a man who broke into a local gas station kiosk early Friday morning and stole Juul cartridges.

Police released surveillance footage of the man which shows him breaking through the glass portion of a kiosk door at the Sunoco gas station located at the corner of Delsea Drive and Main Street in the borough just after 3 a.m. A second accomplice who did not enter the kiosk is also being sought.

The man, described as a white male by police, stole numerous Juul cartridges and other items before he and his accomplice fled north on Main Street on foot.

The Glassboro Police specifically pointed out the burglars red underwear, white sneakers and other features in a Facebook post that showed the surveillance footage.

His accomplice can briefly be spotted in the busted out window of the kiosks door and was wearing all black.

Police asked anyone who recognized the men or had any information about the burglary to call Glassboro Police Detective Cpl. Lou Butler at 856-881-1501, ext. 88132.

Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
A child died at a Salem County motel Friday night, but authorities said the death does not appear to be suspicious.

Police evacuated the Friendship Motel Inn in Carneys Point Township Saturday morning after suspecting carbon monoxide poisoning, but Lt. Dale Dannamee said the medical examiner later ruled that out as a cause of death. He said the child had been being treated for an infection prior to her death.

While they dont believe carbon monoxide killed the child, who was 7 or 8, authorities did find other people at the motel with elevated carbon monoxide levels in their bodies. The source of the gas is unknown, he said, but it doesnt appear to be any of the hotels gas appliances.

Dannamee said that before authorities ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning, they evacuated the motel at 605 S. Pennsville Auburn Road and tested the carbon monoxide levels of the occupants of the rooms near where the child had died. They did find that a family of six had elevated levels, and they were taken to the hospital to be treated, he said. Another man who had elevated levels declined treatment.

The only source of carbon monoxide in the motel was its gas hot water heater in the basement, he said, but the readings in the basement showed no excess carbon monoxide. Given that the carbon monoxide only affected people in a certain part of the motel, its possible a resident was cooking in a room, he said. Dannamee said he has not yet interviewed all the residents.

Guests were allowed back into their rooms late Saturday morning, he said.

He said hotels are required to have smoke detectors in all rooms, but carbon monoxide detectors are only required in areas with appliances.

Salem County Prosecutor John T. Lenahan said the incident was under investigation and he could not release any information.

A woman who answered the phone at the motel Saturday said she couldnt talk and asked a reporter to call back.

This story was updated from a previous version.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
The three Hamilton Township employees that shared offensive posts on Facebook last week have received counseling and sensitivity training -- but not pink slips -- according to a statement issued by Mayor Kelly Yaede.

I have been disappointed and disheartened by these instances, realizing the reality is that we cannot know of every example where an employee may have made or shared disturbing material, Yaede said in her statement. I will continue to educate our workforce on social media civility.

The township is also looking into further sensitivity training that can be applied to their entire staff and is in the process of reviewing potential social media and conduct policies, the Republican mayor said.

The training is a far cry from the call for resignation Yaede sent out a few days earlier when the townships public defender, also a Republican and former town councilman, shared a meme comparing Democrats wearing white to members of the Ku Klux Klan. Edward Gore, the public defender, retired in the wake of the incident.

One of the three other township employees caught sharing memes posted the same one that got Gore in trouble. The other two employees posted a photo of a Muslim man sitting on a toilet saying Muslims, dont use toilet paper. They use their hand.

Earlier this week, the Council on American-Islamic Relations called for the dismissal of all three employees.

"Of course what they did was legal but it was offensive, said James Sues, the director of New Jerseys chapter of CAIR. We did want to call them out and we want to understand what the township of Hamilton thinks.

Sues said the three employees have done a disservice to the diverse community that makes up New Jerseys population.

Yaede said she has reached out to the organization, and hopes to start a dialogue that can help foster a more respectful workforce.

Olivia Rizzo may be reached at orizzo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @LivRizz. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips. Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
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.

Gov. Phil Murphy and state legislative leaders have reached a deal in principle on how to tax and regulate marijuana in New Jersey after months of negotiations, paving the way to bringing legal weed to the Garden State.

Multiple legislative and industry sources confirmed an agreement was in place on a bill that would tax marijuana by the ounce, rather than the contentious sales tax that had divided Murphy and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney. Those sources requested anonymity because they werent authorized to speak publicly on the deal.

State Sen. Nicholas Scutari, D-Union, the prime sponsor of the legalization bill, refused to reveal any of the details of the negotiation. But he said they were as close as they had ever been in reaching an agreement.

We dont have a final deal," Scutari told NJ Advance Media on Friday night. "There still are more details to be worked out, but the two sticking points (taxes and a commission regulating the industry), we are there. But we are not finalized.

Sweeney, D-Gloucester, and a spokesman for Murphy declined comment. State Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, D-Middlesex, could not be reached for comment.

Another major sticking point was how the states new cannabis industry would be regulated. The tentative deal would put an independent commission in charge of most aspects. In recent weeks, Sweeney has publicly said Murphy, a fellow Democrat, has been reluctant to support this idea, so lawmakers agreed the governor could appoint three of the five members of the proposed Cannabis Regulatory Commission.

The final bill would also address clearing marijuana convictions from criminal records  expungements. Thats a key component to the effort to legalize marijuana. Legislators have been crafting a new expungement bill that could be introduced as early as next week.

Once those agreements are in place, Murphy, Sweeney and Coughlin will have to start wrangling votes. Sweeney said in November that he wouldnt post a legalization bill that he didnt think could get the votes to pass.

We are counting on the governor to help us in the legislative process because we need help getting the votes, Scutari added.

Both houses of the Democrat-controlled state Legislature  the Senate and Assembly  have to pass the bill before Murphy could sign it into law.

Just a few weeks ago, the legal weed debate had seemed to be locked in stalemate, partly because of taxes. Sweeney had said he wouldnt consider anything above a 12 percent sales tax, but Murphy was looking for a bigger number.

This tax agreement helps on two fronts. First, since its a tax on weight, neither the governor nor the senate president had to cave on the sales tax rate. Second, the tax on weight hedges against drops in marijuana prices, which has happened in other states that have legalized.

NJ Advance Media reported last month that Murphy and legislative leaders were considering a tax on weight, and that it could reignite marijuana talks in Trenton. Now it appears that making a deal on taxes was a priority for state leaders.

Heres how it would work: A tax on weight protects against falling prices by keeping the tax the same regardless of price. If the tax is $42 per ounce  which is reportedly the tax rate thats on the table  it would stay the same whether the ounce cost $300 or $150 or even $50.

Under the excise tax that was previously being discussed, consumers would pay a percentage of the sale in tax. At Sweeneys proposed 12 percent, consumers would pay $36 in tax on a $300 ounce of cannabis. But if prices fall to $150 an ounce, the states only getting $18 in tax.

With a sales tax, a drop in price, similar to whats been seen in states like Colorado and Oregon, would significantly hurt the states tax revenue. The Colorado Department of Revenue reported last year that marijuana prices had fallen by about 70 percent since recreational sales began in 2014. That price drop hasnt yet been reflected in the states revenue, but experts expect Colorado to start feeling the squeeze soon. Ounces of marijuana in Oregon are now selling for $50, way down from when the market became legal.

Stanford University professor Keith Humphreys wrote in The Washington Post recently that dropping cannabis prices likely will put some entrepreneurs out of business, but added the bigger financial hit will be felt by states that tax marijuana based on its price.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Are you interested in the N.J. cannabis industry? Subscribe here for exclusive insider information from NJ Cannabis Insider.

Payton Guion may be reached at PGuion@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @PaytonGuion. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook
West New York Mayor Felix Roque has filed ethics complaints against the towns attorney, making claims that his political foes derided as "completely false and groundless.

Roque filed complaints with both state Division of Local Government Services and the Office of Attorney Ethics Committee asserting that Town Attorney Michael A. Jimenez is violating ethics regulations by serving as both town attorney and town administrator, which would be a conflict of interest.

As the mayor of this great municipality it is my duty to make sure that all the laws and regulations are followed, Roque said in a statement. "I am appalled at not only the illegal conduct of Mr. Jimenez, but also at the fact that Commissioners (Gabriel) Rodriguez, (Cosmo) Cirillo and (Margarita) Guzman have failed to take action.

Roque said that Jimenez was given the additional duty of town administrator by Guzman, against his wishes, after Jamie Cryan stepped down from the position late last year.

Rodriguez, Guzman and Cirillo, who are on a candidate slate opposing Roque in the May municipal elections, issued a joint statement, calling the ethics complaints nothing more than a desperate and cheap political stunt.

In his complaint Roque points out examples of conflicts of interest, and goes great lengths in an additional argument that Jimenez has been weaponized by his political rivals on the board of commissioners.

It has become apparent to me that Mr. Jimenezs focus is expanding his power within the town regardless of his ethical obligations, Roque said in his complaint. Therefore, this complaint is my only recourse at this time.

In response to Roques claims, Rodriguez, Guzman and Cirillo said that Jimenez is not filling both positions.

Michael Jimenez is in no way acting as both our town attorney and town administrator, the three said in a statement. While he has stepped up in aiding in the daily functions of the administration, this is with no change in salary, title, and most importantly, without increasing the burden to our taxpayers.

They noted that during a preliminary review of the municipal budget, it is a matter of standard practice that hirings rarely take place.
The next leader of Jersey Citys school district should be someone who can focus entirely on instructional issues, with another district official who handles all other matters and answers directly to the school board, according to the school board president.

Sudhan Thomas, the Jersey City Board of Education president, revealed his desire for the future of the district during a Friday meeting with The Jersey Journals editorial board. Thomas was instrumental in the boards dismissal of Schools Superintendent Marcia V. Lyles on Jan. 31, a year and a half before Lyles contract expires.

Thomas stressed that his wish for two administrative heads for the 30,000-student district is his own personal hope, and that the nine-member board may not agree with him.

I think this district is too big for one superhuman to be sitting on top and managing the whole thing, he said.

Lyles was first hired in 2012 and her contract does not expire until June 2020. After years of sparring with board members and the local teachers union, the board voted on Jan. 2 to tell Lyles that she would not be rehired next year, an unusual step that occurred a year earlier than the board was required to give Lyles notice.

On Jan. 30, Lyles filed a federal lawsuit against Thomas, the union and the board, alleging she was harassed and that Thomas specifically hampered her ability to do her job properly. The next day, the board voted to relieve Lyles of her duties. To avoid terminating her, the board has placed her on paid administrative leave. Her salary is $231,000.

The district has a business administrator and associate superintendents already. But Thomas said he wants a newer role that would have expanded powers and would answer to the board, not to the superintendent.

This kind of change would need approval from state officials, he added.

Under this model, an assistant superintendent in charge of non-instructional matters would oversee negotiating new contracts with teachers, Thomas said.

Asked how this setup would have changed things for Lyles, Thomas said, I think shes a very, very highly evolved person when it comes to instruction and curriculum and she also has that demographic thirst  she wants to see black and brown kids succeed. I think in a different world, and an ideal world, if that were the only lane for her and we had the right resources, we would have had a different result.

Thomas was first elected to the board in 2016. His term expires in December.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY  The Jersey City council on Thursday approved commissioning a new study that the city says will help it hire more businesses owned by people of color, women, veterans and members of the LGBT community.

Members of the Jersey City NAACP urged the council to reject the $181,750 contract or postpone the vote, saying the city should first tackle all the recommendations of a similar study the city commissioned that dates to 2011, called the Croson study. That report found minority- and women-owned businesses won a fraction of city contracts and were barely represented on job sites for tax-abated projects.

The new study will be conducted by Rutgers Universitys business school, with help from New Jersey City University. It is projected to take 11 months to complete.

Council members who approved awarding the contract argued that embarking on a new study will not lead to any delay in the citys effort to award more contracts to women- and minority-owned businesses. But a new study will help give the city newer data to craft legislation that would help diversify the citys vendors.

Councilman Jermaine Robinson voted no. Councilman Rich Boggiano abstained, telling The Jersey Journal he objects to spending money on a new study and, for him, abstain is a no.

Robinson represents a swath of the south side of Jersey City that has struggled to match the economic revitalization seen in other parts of the city. He said hes heard from constituents who do not believe the city has acted aggressively enough to correct issues found by the Croson study.

There are fears that there has been no action, he said. We have been left behind for too long.

The reaction from Robinson and NAACP members was met with strenuous objection from Councilwoman-at-large Joyce Watterman. Watterman said any allegation that the Fulop administration sat on the Croson study is wrong.

We didnt toss it aside, she said, adding that the new study "wont hurt anyone. It will give us more data.

Soraya Hebron, the citys chief diversity officer, told council members a new study will help the city create programs for the business community as it exists now, not as it existed more than a decade ago. The Croson study was produced after an analysis of city procurement practices from 2001 through 2008.

Hebron said if she asked the Department of Public Works now to spend 20 percent of their budget with minority businesses, it wouldnt have any data on how many of those businesses sell items the DPW needs.

The Croson study found that women- and minority-owned businesses represented less than 8 percent of total city spending in a variety of categories, and sometimes less than 1 percent.

City spokeswoman Kimberly Wallace-Scalcione could not provide similar numbers for 2017 and 2018.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
High school juniors and seniors in New Jersey who have already passed the PARCC exams or other standardized tests can breathe a sigh of relief. Sophomores and freshmen? The state will get to you later.

Gov. Phil Murphys administration on Friday agreed to a compromise that will leave current graduation testing rules in place for high school seniors and extend those rules to juniors, averting a potential crisis for about 170,000 students. Under the agreement, those students can still use passing scores on PARCC, the SAT, ACT, or a series of other exams to prove theyre ready to graduate, so long as the court approves the deal.

The compromise resolves a legal challenge that initially led a panel of judges to invalidate the states high school graduation rules, leaving students without a clear path to a diploma. The Education Law Center, which challenged the rules, said its pleased to safeguard the rights of students already so close to their graduation.

We look forward to working collaboratively with state officials to develop appropriate graduation policies for future classes," said Jessica Levin, ELC senior attorney.

In other words, what will happen for sophomores and freshmen remains to be seen.

At issue is a state law that says all students must pass a standardized test in English and math during 11th grade in order to graduate from high school. New Jersey administered such an exam for years but stopped when the PARCC tests debuted during former Gov. Chris Christies administration.

Christies state Department of Education announced students would eventually need to pass PARCC exams in Algebra I and 10th-grade English to meet the graduation testing requirement. And it created a menu of other tests, such as the SAT, that students in graduating classes through 2020 could use as the state transitioned to the new assessments.

The problem is those exams arent exclusively given in 11th grade, and the state law was never changed to reflect what the state Department of Education was mandating.

The new compromise solves that temporarily, while buying officials time to figure out a long-term solution.

It will ensure that high school students in the classes of 2019 and 2020 have a clear pathway to graduation, said Alyana Alfaro, a spokeswoman for Murphy. In addition, this agreement will provide additional time needed to determine the best approach for testing students in the Class of 2021 and beyond.

Current rules call for sophomores and freshmen to pass the states 10th-grade English and Algebra 1 exams, but those requirements are clearly in violation of the law, according the court ruling.

The state could solve that problem by administering a new 11th-grade exam beginning next school year. But theres also a proposal in the state Legislature to change the existing law so the graduation tests could be given in other grades.

The state is also in the process of transitioning away from the PARCC assessments, making it unclear which exams students will be taking beyond next school year.

Murphy, a Democrat, had campaigned on ridding schools of PARCC testing and eliminating the requirement that students pass any specific standardized test in order to graduate. Hes since said the promise was more complicated than he realized.

Governor Murphy has long held that the era of high-stress testing must end in New Jersey and, since taking office, has set the state on a path to do just that while also protecting the needs of our states students, Alfaro said.

The Education Law Center and American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey challenged the testing rules on behalf of several civil rights organizations.

Adam Clark may be reached at adam_clark@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on twitter at @realAdamClark. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
A man is in custody after his parents were found dead in their Englewood house early Saturday, the mayor said.

The unidentified man was taken into custody by police Saturday afternoon after he went to his car at a ShopRite less than a mile from the familys house, said Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes. The ShopRite was briefly on lockdown as police searched the area for the man.

Two people -- Edward Boduch, 71, and his wife, Miroslawa Potocka, 72 -- were found stabbed to death inside their house on Lafayette Place, law enforcement officials said. Police went to the house after receiving a 10:52 a.m. call from a relative of the couple asking police to check on the family.

The Bergen County Prosecutors office said investigators were searching for a person of interest related to the stabbing. Englewood police said the person of interest was the couples son.

A black Honda Accord was towed from the ShopRite parking lot under the supervision of Bergen County Prosecutors office investigators around 6 p.m.

The investigation is ongoing and further information will be released at a later time, the prosecutors office said in a statement.

The mayor, who has previously called for more law enforcement resources in the Bergen County town, said the incident showed the need for more officers.

This goes to show you that we need more resources, more officers in Englewood both as a deterrent and to conduct investigations," Wildes said.

More information about the double homicide will be added as it become available.

Taylor Tiamoyo Harris may be reached at tharris@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
A mans Atlantic City home is safe, thanks to an appellate court ruling saying a state agency cant seize it without a plan.

Charles Birnbaum, was fighting the Casino Reinvestment Development Authoritys attempt to use eminent domain to seize his home to make room for a future development. The CRDA has not been clear about just what it would build in the spot.

In the decision released Friday, written by appellate Judge Ellen Koblitz, the court sided with Birnbaum, a piano tuner, saying the CRDA could not provide evidence to show that it would complete a construction project there in the reasonably foreseeable future.

In 2012, the CRDA told Birnbaum it would take his home via eminent domain, a process in which a government agency uses its right to take property for public use as long as the owners are compensated. Brinbaums house is in a redevelopment zone and is the only building left on the block. But, the CRDA has not announced plans for the use of the land. While the CRDA offered Birnbaum $238,500 for his house and property, Birnbaum fought the decision.

This home has been so special to our family, and the fact that its standing and still here is enormously important, Birnbaum said in a statement. Im grateful for the outcome, and Im grateful for having been able to fight for so long.

In a statement, a CRDA spokeswoman said, "we respect the courts decision.

In a 2014 interview with NJ Advance Media, Birnbaum said his parents, who were Holocaust survivors, bought the home in 1969 as a fresh start. The piano tuner said he was fighting not only to keep his way of life but to keep his familys history.

Todays opinion is a victory for property owners in New Jersey and nationwide, Institute for Justice attorney Robert McNamara, one of the lawyers who represented Birnbaum, said in a statement.

The power to seize private property through eminent domain is one of the governments most frightening powers, and todays opinion reaffirms that it can only be used for good reasonand that courts will stand in the way if government officials try to do otherwise.

Chris Franklin can be reached at cfranklin@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @cfranklinnews or on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
We are saddened to announce the passing of Peter S. Petrosian on June 16, 2021 in Cumming, Georgia. This year, Peter turned 69 years of age and celebrated his 36th wedding anniversary to his wife, Beth (Balise) Petrosian. Peter was the son of George and Alice (Mooradian) Petrosian who passed
THE ASSOCIATED PRESSIn this file photo from earlier this month, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, left, talks as Robert Mujica, budget director of the State of New York, about the amount of taxes paid to the federal government by New Yorkers.
NEW HAVEN  Four people are at the center of a conversation about race playing out on stage.

New Haven Fire Battalion Chief Frank Ricci, retired city Firefighter Michael Briscoe, attorney Karen Torre and city fire Capt. Tyrone Ewing  who all were affected by two divisive lawsuits were seated in the audience at the Yale Repertory Theater the first night the public would see them through the eyes of a playwright.

The production, Good Faith: Four Chats About Race and the New Haven Fire Department, draws from interviews and court transcripts to dramatically interpret the impact of two lawsuits brought by firefighters against the city. The playwright, Karen Hartman, used these cases to propel a conversation about race in the U.S.

Overall, this was the first time my story was ever expressed in the media, said Briscoe. It was the first and only time. What I like about it is it wasnt spun in any way. She definitely captured my intention and statement. Not much of what she reported was inaccurate. Briscoe, who sued the city unsuccessfully for weighting a promotional test he said disparately impacted African Americans, said (Hartmans) play was just as interested in my perspective as the other perspective.

The play acts out conversations Hartman had with each person so everyone got to see how their words, perspectives and opinions were interpreted to tell a story about race.

Theyre having a conversation about race, which is one of the most sensitive and divisive topics in American politics, Ricci said. To have an actor portray you on stage where its very easy for your words to be taken out of context, I was concerned he was going to say something blatantly racist.

Ricci, who was the lead plaintiff in the federal lawsuit Ricci v. DeStefano, didnt take the portrayal of himself kindly. While the scenes of him teaching at the fire academy were almost verbatim, he said, he otherwise thought his character was slanted to fit Hartmans narrative.

You could tell they were trying to steer it in a certain direction, Ricci said. It wasnt four good-faith chats about race. He said he knew the playwright was coming from a liberal view, which she is upfront about in the play, but throughout the production the creators tried to re-litigate facts that were already won and presented facts to the public that arent true.

In 2003, 118 New Haven firefighters took promotional examinations for lieutenant and captain and the results would determine who could be promoted over the following two years. The test-takers included Ricci, Briscoe and Ewing.

When the results came back, white candidates had outperformed minority candidates and the results were thrown out. Ricci was among a group of firefighters  19 white and one Hispanic  who filed a federal discrimination lawsuit. The firefighters, later dubbed the New Haven 20, hired Torre to see their case through.

I agree with Frank Ricci that if Hartman really wanted her play to promote honest chats about race, you cannot be dishonest about facts, Torre said in an email. And this play was in a very key respect, dishonest about facts. Torre said the play was ultimately about sore losers, heavy on emotions and deliberately omitted key facts that would debunk the rhetoric used in the play.

Torre said The plays biggest deceit is in falsely portraying the counter-lawsuit filed by Briscoe. The audience is led to believe Briscoes lawsuit not only had merit but in the end resulted in successful reforms. Neither is true.

She praised the talent of the cast, though, calling them superb, particularly Rene Augesen who portrayed Torre.

The play looks heavily at the 2009 Briscoe v. City of New Haven case in which Briscoe, who is black, sued for disparate impact, arguing the 60/40 weighting of the written and oral portions of the test disparately impacted black firefighters. His case originally was thrown out by the U.S. District Court, but he successfully appealed the decision. It once again landed in U.S. District Court where it again was dismissed.

My portion of the conversation was largely suppressed throughout, and what (Hartman) discovered, she brought to the forefront because people didnt know. Including it as part of the story allows you to take the timeline of the Ricci case to look at the impact. ... Everyones interested in what Mike and Frank think, but shes talking about something bigger.

Briscoe was set to appeal the decision when he and the city decided to settle for $285,000, appointing him director of the citys 911 call center to coincide with the settlement. He had said he was unfairly passed over for promotion because he was the top scorer on the oral portion of the exam, but scored a 59 on the written portion. He charged the test was racially biased and that it wasnt job-related.

Ricci said Hartman used Briscoes weighted test argument as the crux of the play without fairly presenting all the facts, namely a judicial ruling on Briscoes case that said if the weights were changed to favor the oral portion over the written, the same number of black firefighters would have passed the promotional test.

The play is courageous enough to put that on the table and let people hash it out, Briscoe said. If were going to be a great America, put that whole conversation on the table. My endeavor is not to discredit (Ricci). He was mistreated and within his rights to pursue a remedy to make him whole. When people look at the flip-side of that the story was not complete. What happens to the other side when the one side wins?

I think the play was done in a way that allows people to carry the conversation forward, Briscoe said.

Ewing couldnt be reached for comment.

mdignan@hearstmediact.com
BRANFORD  At the end of the month, a sweet little piece of Branford that has been a big part of peoples lives for more than four decades will became another memory of days gone by.

Lynns Restaurant & Delicatessen will close Feb. 28 after 41 years in business on East Main Street  kissing goodbye some customers who have been with them so long their names are on plaques on the wall adjacent to their favorite tables.

Sisters Lynn DeMusis-Grady and Helen Borrelli, who have spent much of their lives working at Lynns  and took over ownership when their mother, Ethel DeMusis, retired a few years ago  said its time for them to move into a new phase of their respective lives.

Its just time, said DeMusis-Grady, 54  after whom the restaurant was named when she was just a girl  who lives these days in North Branford. Its time for a new journey. Its time for a new venture in life. Im going to be selling real estate full-time.

Borrelli, 61, of Branford, has had less involvement in the business since running into some heart issues last February. But she has come back to work as she, her sister and their longtime staff wind down the restaurant that their mother and father, the late Matthew Babe DeMusis, started as a Dairy Mart in 1978.

Babe DeMusis passed away in 2008. These days, Ethel DeMusis spends winters in Florida, but she does come in when shes home  and her portrait hangs on a pillar, along with a photograph of her tending her roses.

A third sister, Roseann Pandolfi, isnt involved in the restaurant.

Borrelli recalled Lynns humble beginnings in its original location at 365 E. Main St.

But then my mom decided she was going to make some sausage and peppers  and that was it, she said.

Suddenly, people were waiting in line for food.

In 2003, what was then Lynns Dairy moved up the street to its current location adjacent to the Motel 6 at 318 E. Main St. They planted some parsley, basil and cilantro out back  and theyve been serving breakfast and lunch and catering to the Branford community ever since.

When their last week in business rolls around later this month, theyre going to try to make it fun, as it ought to be.

Were going to have a party all week  a celebration, said DeMusis-Grady.

After 41 years of serving the Shoreline, were going to have Champagne and mimosas ... and cherish all those memories, said Borrelli. Were leaving on a high note.

In the meantime, DeMusis-Grady urged customers to come in and use any gift cards they have.

The sisters  and their children  have literally grown up in the restaurant.

They also have two employees, Jona Moughty and Cheryl Velardi, who have been with them for 24 years and 21 years, respectively.

Borrellis daughter, Maria, 27, used to work here when she was 13, Borrelli said. Then she went to Quinnipiac. Then she went to law school. Now she works as a lawyer.

Borrellis son, Nick, 23, used to help Lynns out when it served food at the Branford Festival.

DeMusis-Gradys son, Chuck DeFilippo, 25  now a writer  also worked there at one point.

Their extended restaurant family grieved with them when DeMusis-Gradys daughter, Nicole DeFilippo, died of viral myocarditis, a rare heart virus, at age 16 in 2006  and theyve all come together over the years to raise money for charity in Nicoles name in the wake of that loss.

And throughout all the years Lynns has been open, I couldnt imagine working with anybody else, Borrelli said with a glance at her sister  and our mother!

Longtime customer Bud Milles of Branford has been a customer since at least 1980 or so, and theres a good chance hell be there to keep them company  at a table that bears a brass plaque that reads, This Table Reserved for Bud Milles  when they close.

Another nearby table is reserved for longtime customer Jon Jay Kirby.

On Wednesday, he was there, as usual, at his corner table with his daughter, Nancy Flanagan, eating his favorite  a roast beef sandwich.

I usually split a sandwich with him, although I like their salads, said Flanagan, who grew up with Borrelli and DeMusis.

Yeah, I could cry, Flanagan said, starting to tear up just a bit. Theyre like family every day. ... Its just a special place that will be very missed.

Milles said he stops by Lynns to eat not every day, but two or three days a week.

Why?

Because theyre friendly and theyve got good food! he said. Good food, good service, decent prices.

Moving on

Asked what hell do when Lynns closes, Milles said, Well find someplace else. But weve seen a lot of places close over the years, he said.

As he spoke, Borrelli stopped by a nearby table and Milles, 85, asked her, You gonna auction off the chair? I want this chair!

Borrelli responded, Im going to give you the the plaque off the wall!

While only two customers have plaques on the wall, many others have been coming to Lynns for years.

Mark Almeida, who lives in Westbrook but works a sales job in Branford  and stops in for lunch at Lynns about once a week  will miss the place.

Theyre just friendly, he said.

Almeida, who on Wednesday ordered his favorite  chicken cutlet on a hard roll with a scoop of tuna salad on the side  loves the familiarity of the place, as well.

Tina knows exactly what I want, he said. When Im in our Branford office, I come here.

Across the room, retired North Branford teachers Rosemary Cinquanta and Brenda Karsmarski were just finishing their traditional every-Wednesday lunch at Lynns  although they often are joined by other friends, as well.

Theyve been coming here almost every week since they retired in 2000 and 2001, respectively.

For them the attraction of Lynns all these years is fairly simple.

Theyre very friendly and the food is good, said Cinquanta. We know Helen and Lynn  and we know their mom, and they all know us by name at this point. They know what we like and dont like, she said.

Theyll be missed, said Mike Dougherty of Branford, who was eating lunch there Wednesday and said he has been going there at least since it moved to the current location. Hes kind of partial to the chicken cutlet sandwiches.

What does he like best about it?

The people behind the counter, said Dougherty, who is in the air compressor business. Comfortable food, comfortable setting, good people.

Its sad to see long-established natives, people who live in this area, who have had such a community identity, leave, he said.

mark.zaretsky@hearstmediact.com
MIDDLETOWN  From a conference room in the just-opened building where Community eConsult Network is located, the business looks like any other medical startup. Dr. Daren Anderson, acting as CEO, convenes a daily video call with the firms dozen or so employees in three states across the country.

Yesterday was really exciting, chimes Maryann McGuire, hired late last year to head new products, as she reports on a specialty review committee.

Routine, except Community eConsult Network is a spinoff of Connecticuts largest nonprofit health center for low-income patients.

The startup aims to radically change the way specialists see patients  by creating a platform and a network for primary-care docs to send patient cases, complete with records, histories and photos, to cardiologists, dermatologists, orthopedists and other specialists electronically.

The business, itself a nonprofit, is among the pioneers of these electronic consultations  an emerging form of telemedicine, which, according to research published in major medical journals, saves vast sums of money without compromising safety or quality.

That research? It was led by Anderson and others at the Weitzman Institute, which recently spun off CeCN, as the business is known, and is housed in the same new, ultramodern building just off Main Street in Middletowns North End.

Weitzman is the research arm of Community Health Center Inc., based in a larger building a few feet away. CHC, far and away the states largest health center serving low-income people, was founded in the 70s as a free clinic. It now has 15 hub clinics across Connecticut, 210 treatment locations and more than 140,000 patients with nearly 600,000 visits per year.

At first blush, a business like Community eConsult Network, backed by scientific studies, is not what youd expect to find at a health center aimed at serving people in poverty, with no uni versity affiliation. But as Anderson explains it, the e-consult model arose naturally from an urgent problem: Its not easy, to say the least, for people on Medicaid or without insurance at all, to get appointments with specialists.

And its not easy for working poor patients, perhaps without a car, to take a day off and somehow navigate their way to a medical specialty office far from home.

That was the impetus for this entire work, said Anderson, director of the Weitzman Institute and vice president and chief quality officer at CHC.

Years later, the platform is off the ground, not yet producing a surplus, but with paying customers in the ranks of Medicaid payers, private insurers and other institutions pushing for new ways to deliver health care.

Were the nationally recognized pioneer in this, Anderson says matter-of-factly in his small corner office.

Connecticut innovation

If e-consults save money, and they do, theyre part of a disjointed effort in the health sector to cut into the national, $3.5 trillion health care bill. Connecticuts Medicaid system, run by the state Department of Social Services, is among the leaders in cost containment and e-consults are part of that  although the reimbursement rates are not sustainable without outside subsidies.

Back in 2011, the Connecticut Health Foundation funded $150,000 toward the first study of effectiveness, then two years later, a follow-up grant of $25,000 for economic analysis. CHC has also funded much of the work for its Weitzman unit, which, broadly, aims to advance health delivery for underserved people.

In 2015, as a study showed that e-consults work safely, Connecticut became the first state in the nation to authorize e-consult reimbursement for Medicaid.

Now its starting to take off across the nation, though the unwieldy health payment systems, public and private, havent figured out the right levels of reimbursement for CeCN and its handful of competitors. The best customers across the country tend to be systems that are self-funded, or have payments based on overall population health management, rather than fee-for-service.

The Weitzman Institute was named in memory of Gerard Gerry Weitzman, an early supporter of CHC and innovation for underserved patients, who owned Peltons Pharmacy. He died in a car accident in 1999.

The institute and CeCN, along with two other health-related Weitzman businesses, have people in Denver and California in addition to Middletown.

UConn has been a partner in the research. And CHCs vast base of primary care data on Medicaid patients, along with Connecticut state data, has proven a great trove.

The latest study, published in December in Health Affairs, showed that Medicaid patients who had e-consults in four specialties  dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology and orthopedics  saved Medicaid an average of $82 per patient, per month, compared with those went directly to specialists for face-to-face visits.

Thats garnering a lot of attention, including a prominently displayed feature story on Thursday in the American Medical Associations publication.

Connecticut has become kind of a leading site for this sort of thing because of our work, said Anderson, the lead author of the recent study. Were Connecticut based and were recruiting in Connecticut.

Two-day service, or faster

The consults on one level are a tech play, with lots of data and images moving from doc to doc, allowing specialists to ply their trades on laptops anywhere. But its really just an extension of the old, so-called curbside consult, Anderson explains  in which one physician asks another about a case.

In that way, its not about primary care docs handing off patients to specialists; rather, the specialists offer advice through the platform. There isnt an elevated risk of errors and lawsuits, Anderson said

As it turns out, that eliminates the need for a lot of in-person specialist visits. But, said Mark Masselli, CEO and co-founder of CHC, Its not trying to prevent the visit.

Rather, the people involved say, it enables a specialist to see far more people, far sooner. And it prevents many hospital emergency room visits, the studies show.

Dr. Chris Norwood, a dermatologist at Starling Physicians in New Britain and Rocky Hill, handled 20 e-consults on a Thursday this month  all through CeCN, with patients from Washington state to Maine, many from Connecticut.

He could have seen perhaps five patients in person in that same time, he said. Appointments can normally take weeks or months to set up, but if he sees a patient electronically whos got a grave issue, they can get in to see me sooner.

Specialists in the network send primary-care doctors their findings within two days, usually faster, and they can go back and forth with requests. Norwood sometimes asks for clearer pictures, or photos of a patients fingernails for certain conditions.

For this, he collects a modest, some would say meager, $35 per electronic consult.

I wouldnt call it profitable but its not an enormous money sink and I think it does help the community greatly, Norwood said. No one is buying a Ferrari with this.

A powerful program

Electronic consults started with the Veterans Administration, which has been doing them for decades, said Anderson, a former primary care director for the VA in Connecticut. It later spread to hospitals in San Francisco, no surprise there, then Los Angeles.

Anderson, who has a Harvard undergrad degree in chemistry, his medical degree from Columbia University and his residency at Yale  where he later taught on the faculty  rejoined CHC in 2010 after an earlier stint as a staff physician for the center.

My goal had always been to work with the underserved, Anderson said.

And he was the first to launch wide-scale studies of the e-consult practice, soon after he rejoined CHC.

Patricia Baker, CEO of the Connecticut Health Foundation, said community health centers have long had trouble getting their patients in to see specialists, which is why electronic consultations advance the foundations goals.

It is a powerful program for providing care and making that care cost effective, and improving access, Baker said, but she added, rates need to be set to make that happen.

In a written statement, the state Department of Social Services said its committed to the technology and is preparing to issue new rates  after an increase on Jan. 1 that replaced a comically low rate.

Its all part of lurching toward a future that uses technology for doctor visits, not just treatment.

In 10 years, Anderson said, Some of our consult needs will be met through artificial intelligence, some will get an e-consult, some will get telehealth visit where you talk directly by video-conference. ... What we say is, move knowledge, not people.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
Naval Ravikant (@naval) is the CEO and co-founder of AngelList. He has invested in more than 100 companies, including Uber, Twitter, Yammer, and many others.

AngelList is a social media site whose mission is to connect startups with investors and investors with each other. The site makes money by taking a carry on all profits from the syndicate.

Naval has invested in Twitter, FourSquare, Docverse, Mixer labs, Jambbol, SnapLogic, PlanCast, Stack Overflow, Heyzap and Disqus.

How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

How to Get Rich (without getting lucky):  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Youre not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity  a piece of a business  to gain your financial freedom.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Pick an industry where you can play long term games with long term people.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Play iterated games. All the returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Pick business partners with high intelligence, energy, and, above all, integrity.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Arm yourself with specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Specific knowledge is knowledge that you cannot be trained for. If society can train you, it can train someone else, and replace you.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Learn to sell. Learn to build. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

Fortunes require leverage. Business leverage comes from capital, people, and products with no marginal cost of replication (code and media).  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

An army of robots is freely available  it's just packed in data centers for heat and space efficiency. Use it.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

If you can't code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts.  Naval (@naval) May 31, 2018

SOURCES  Naval Ravikant, Twitter, Youtube
Many Americans remain wary, if not hostile, to the idea of democracy promotion in the Middle East. The Iraq War, which wasn't launched to bring people power to Mesopotamia, is seen by most critics as the great catastrophe of Americans who wanted to export representative government. The failure of the "Arab Spring" to produce anything but bloodshed and continuing autocracy beyond Tunisia, where the region-wide revolt started in 2010 and democracy has held, has further reinforced the view that the United States really shouldn't back a rootless, convulsive cause. The American right sees Muslims as a bad Enlightenment bet; the left is more critical of Middle Eastern tyrannies (except in Iran and the Palestinian territories) but is extremely averse to "nation-building" in Islamic lands.

But unrest in the Middle East didn't start with elections. The region remains tumultuous in great part because the legitimacy of dictatorship has collapsed. Fear of chaos, which autocrats always encourage, gives rulers some breathing space - but not a lot, which is why autocracies have become more severe in the region. Iran's theocracy lives in constant fear of popular upheavals. Egypt is a ticking, bankrupt time bomb as the army shuts down all opposition. Political reform is way overdue in the ever-profligate, increasingly authoritarian Gulf states - especially in Saudi Arabia, where the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has converted an unpleasant, arch-conservative kingdom into a clumsy but nasty surveillance state.

Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a different case: An Islamic populist has used an institutionally weak democracy to enthrone himself as pasha. The good news: Close to half of Turkey's electorate wants to see the country return to a more liberal path. Democratic practices, however controlled by Kemalists and Islamists, have created aspirations and expectations that authoritarians can't dismiss.

And if we are serious about defanging jihadism, political pluralism in the Middle East is surely an essential part of that process. Democracy doesn't necessarily produce contented societies, but it does fundamentally alter notions of the sacred and the profane, especially the lawfulness of violence. Violent Islamist militants have feared Muslims voting: Islam is acutely uncomfortable with the idea that a majority of Muslims can be bad Muslims. The Nile Valley's democratic experiment, which was well on the way to rendering a harsh judgment against elected Islamists, was short-circuited by Gen. Abdel Fatah el-Sissi's coup in 2013.

American counterterrorist aid to Arab states has overwhelmingly been premised on an elitist contention: that with enough brute force, ruling regimes can control the radical threat. The Trump administration certainly wants to believe that religious moderation can arrive without political reform. Hence the White House's enthusiasm for el-Sissi and Saudi Arabia's enfant terrible, the crown prince.

Yet dictators commanding an obedient clergy to "reform" the faith have distanced the ulema, the clergy, from the faithful and opened a vast realm to dissidents. "Westernizing" tyrannies in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Iran, which destroyed the customs and civility of the old order, naturally produced violent Islamists. What the Trump administration is in effect hoping for, after the horrors of the Islamic State and al-Qaida, is that "modernizing," anti-Islamist authoritarians now will have better results.

But Syrian Sunni society hasn't become more secular or religiously quiescent after experiencing jihadist violence. (The savagery of the secular regime of Bashar al-Assad has been much worse.) Iraq remains a hopeful wild card precisely because its democratic politics, though ugly, have been resilient, which means secular and religious Shiites and Sunnis still build coalitions. Scarred and shamed by Saddam Hussein's totalitarianism, the country's Shiite clergy have staunchly backed popular sovereignty.

American foreign policy in the region is now centered on the Islamic Republic of Iran, and yet the White House has, so far, given minimal attention to supporting democracy where millions have hit the streets for the cause. Criticisms of Tehran's primary rivals, the Sunni Gulf Arab autocracies, are muted. Trump and senior officials say nary a word about Sissi's massive prison camps. Minus little slaps, the administration ignores Erdogan's tyranny.

A sensible American foreign policy would reverse course. With Arab rulers, we would clearly acknowledge that unchecked autocracy brings on revolution and religious extremism. With Turkey, Iraq and Tunisia, the lessons of post-World War II history apply: Many democracies have emerged, grown stronger, sometimes only survived because the United States invested in their defense. And "principled realism" ought to bear down on Iran. It is increasingly clear that Washington is, at best, prepared only to delay the mullahs' acquisition of nuclear weapons. Republicans and Democrats really ought to take more seriously the Iranian people's long quest for self-government.

The United States, a declining power, isn't going to transform the Middle East. But it can still aid a cause that could restore some dignity, pride and purpose to the region. Authoritarianism, however revamped by billionaire princes and sheikhs, isn't going to bring stability, security, religious reform or basic decency. Westerners need to be more honest and humble about their own bloody past - the long, tortuous road to democracy. Muslims need time - and fewer Western apologists for dictatorship.

- - -

Gerecht, a former CIA case officer, is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
When U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized Gerardo Serrano's pickup truck in September 2015, there was no judge to oversee his case. There were no warrants or squabbling lawyers. In fact, Serrano was never even charged with a crime. He lost his truck because, when he crossed into Mexico at Eagle Pass, Texas, agents found five low-caliber bullets that Serrano had forgotten were in the vehicle's center console.

Serrano was one of the lucky ones: He eventually got his truck back with the help of the libertarian Institute for Justice. But President Donald Trump wants to use the money the federal government made from auctioning off property it takes from people such as Serrano to pay for a border wall with Mexico. Trump's position highlights a major problem with civil forfeiture: It tempts the government to steal from citizens for its own gain.

The agents could seize Serrano's truck without any due process because of civil forfeiture, an absurd practice in which law enforcement seizes property from people suspected of a crime, even if they never charge the owners. The few proponents of civil forfeiture - generally those in the "hard on crime" crowd - contend this power is needed to fight crime and illicit drugs on the grounds that it can serve as a deterrent. Most reasonable people from across the ideological spectrum, however, call it what it is: government-sanctioned theft.

Much of the forfeitures at the federal level occur through agencies at the Justice Department, such as the FBI or Drug Enforcement Administration, and, therefore, end up in a fund controlled by the department. But other agencies, such as Customs and Border Protection and the IRS, send their forfeitures to a fund controlled by the Treasury Department.

It's this fund at Treasury that Trump intends to tap to fund increased border security. The plan is to reprogram $600 million from the fund, as well as billions of dollars from other sources, to stave off an "invasion of our country," as the president said Friday.

Trump's imagined "invasion" is, of course, baloney. And so is the logic by which the government justifies seizing this property. Some of the forfeitures in that fund are, no doubt, legitimate takings from criminals. But it's unclear how much of the money that Trump intends to use was squeezed out of people who were never charged with crimes. Why? Because, unlike the Justice Department, which has provided data from their forfeiture fund to the public, the Treasury Department won't give up such information.

"All we have are anecdotes," said Jennifer McDonald, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Justice. "Reasonably, a lot of people's money is caught up in it."

What we do know, however, is that the majority of federal forfeiture victims are never convicted or charged with a crime. One analysis based on Freedom of Information Act requests from the Institute for Justice found that 87 percent of forfeiture proceedings pursued by the Justice Department were civil, not criminal, cases. There's no reason to think that Treasury's fund is any different.

Consider, for example, the IRS, which has a nasty habit of seizing money from bank accounts without due process. The agency does so whenever someone deposits or withdraws money in such a way that makes them suspicious (for example, if a person makes a series of deposits slightly less than the limit of $10,000, appearing as if they are trying to launder money). But, in at least a third of such cases from 2005 to 2012, totaling $242 million in seizures, the IRS pursued no criminal charges.

Critics have already excoriated the president's emergency declaration as undemocratic and authoritarian. They have a point, and his actions will likely get caught up in court, but Trump's choice of wall funding spotlights a form of kleptocracy that was underway long before his election. We should be appalled by civil forfeiture, and not only when Trump tries to build a wall with the proceeds.
NEW FAIRFIELD  The Board of Selectmen proposed a nearly $13 million budget for the 2019-20 fiscal year during its special meeting Thursday night.

The proposal reflects a 6.47 percent, or $784,007, increase over the towns current budget. It includes almost $11 million for municipal operations.

First Selectman Pat Del Monaco said the towns budget priorities are school safety, capital and non-recurring costs, public works staffing, and adequate long-term planning and preventive maintenance.

School safety funding accounts for 32 percent of the proposed budget increase, including $180,772 for an additional school resource officer and $73,106 for a dispatcher to do monitoring in the schools, said Del Monaco.

The school district currently has three school resource officers who are filled on overtime shifts, said Del Monaco, and that overtime number is coming close to the cost of hiring a new officer.

Funding for an additional officer would cover salary, vehicle, medical, pension, supplies and training.

The proposed budget also allocates $412,250 to bridge and drainage repairs and maintenance.

According to Del Monaco, failing drainage has been causing icing on roadways and excess rainwater discharge on private properties in town.

In addition to aging drainage that requires increased maintenance, repair and replacement, she said, there are also catch basins that have not been routinely cleaned in the past seven years.

The proposed budget also addresses deteriorating roads in town.

Inferior paving materials used in the past have caused an increase in road repair activity, said Del Monaco. We have broken curbs and cracked sidewalks that need to be repaired annually. Currently they are not.

The budget also calls for hiring an additional department of public works employee to address things like boat dock repair and maintenance.

New Fairfields education board has proposed a $43.4 million budget, reflecting a 1.44 percent increase from 2018-19s spending plan.

Before going to the town for vote, the municipal and school budgets will be reviewed by the Board of Finance.

kendra.baker@hearst.com
Chicago:

Five people were killed and multiple police officers shot Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago, the latest mass shooting to hit the United States. The shooting took place at approximately 1:28 pm (1928 GMT), at a giant manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinoisa small suburb 65 kilometre west of central Chicago. Police said officers engaged in a firefight with the suspect, thought to be an employee, before he was shot dead. He was identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said five police officers were shot. Two were air lifted to Chicago-area trauma centers. The other officers on the scene located gunshot victims inside the building, Ziman told a news conference, putting the death toll at five people.

Police did not release information on the officers conditions or identify the victims. Police said they do not know the motive for the shooting, but witnesses told local media that the gunman was a disgruntled employee. Witnesses said they locked themselves into nearby buildings as the gunman began firing off rounds.

Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as officers with shields entered the complex. John Probst, who was in the building as the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker.

What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it, he said. We were just scared. Nancy Caal, an employee of a nearby repair workshop, told the Daily Herald newspaper she and three others had heard numerous emergency sirens, and so went and shut the front gate and locked all of the doors.

The local school district put campuses on lock down, but students were released later in the day. The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police lauded the wounded police officers who willingly ran into harms way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been monitoring the situation. Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you! Trump tweeted.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday. "We haven't given all the elements we have at our disposal," the Turkish head of state said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel. After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Turkish woman Hatice Cengiz. Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who allegedly helped them dispose of the body, which has not been found.

The dissident journalist was dismembered after his murder October 2 in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul but his remains have yet to be found. Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi minister of state for foreign affairs, said the murder was carried out by Saudi officials "acting outside their scope of authority" and that 11 people have been charged with the crime.



ALSO READ | Pakistan, Saudi Arabia to sign 8 MoUs during Prince Salman's visit

Khashoggi, Washington Post contributor, was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any involvement in the murder.

Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case.



The CIA has concluded the Saudi operation was likely directed by the powerful crown prince, but the White House has sidestepped that finding amid strenuous denials by Riyadh, a key US ally.

Earlier, The New York Times said the CIA had intercepted communications of the crown prince telling a top aide in 2017 that he would go after Khashoggi "with a bullet" if the journalist did not return to Saudi Arabia.



In October last year, the then top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee invoked the Magnitsky Act, which gave the Trump administration 120 days -- until February 8 -- to determine who was behind Khashoggi's killing and to describe actions against them.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman has delayed his visit to Pakistan by a day, the Pakistan Foreign Office said on Friday without divulging the reason for the change. He was scheduled to visit the country on Saturday for a two-day visit. However, the arrival has been rescheduled and now he would arrive on Sunday. It further said the crown prince "will visit Pakistan on February 17-18, 2019" and the "visit programme remains unchanged".

The schedule change comes a day after Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the terror attack on a CRFP convoy in Jammu and Kashmir in which more than 40 soldiers were killed.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will sign at least eight MoUs during Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit to the country, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had said on Wednesday. "We hope that at least eight MoUs will be signed during the high-powered visit. Saudi Arabia is our close and trustworthy friend and the relations with the visit of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman will be improved further, he said. He said that back-to-back visits of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Saudi Arabia also helped to improve the bilateral relations.

Qureshi addressing media in Islamabad said that the two sides had done proper homework ahead of the visit, which will probably be the biggest trip by a Saudi royal, in terms of composition and number of the entourage, in the history of relations between the two countries.

Earlier, personal amenities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reached Islamabad. The crown prince's belongings, including his exercise equipment and furniture, reached Islamabad in five trucks, the Dawn News reported quoting Saudi Embassy sources.

Prince Muhammad bin Salman will be the guest of honour at international investment conference scheduled to be held here next week. He is supposed to visit four countries but will start his visit from Pakistan. According to sources, a 40-member Saudi delegation, and over 100 Saudi and Pakistani business leaders will attend the international event. The forum will deliberate on energy, petrochemicals, housing, tourism in Punjab and KP, as well as sign MoUs in this regard.

Accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and leading Saudi businessmen, Prince Salman is also expected to arrive in India on February 19 on his maiden trip to the country. During the visit, the Crown Prince will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. He will also call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.



The visit by Prince Salman, who is also the vice president of Saudi Arabia's council of ministers, follows the highly successful trip of Prime Minister Modi to that country in April 2016, during which the two sides agreed to further elevate existing strategic partnership, the MEA said.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Isfahan (Iran):

Tens of thousands of Iranians called for "revenge" on Saturday at the funeral of 27 Revolutionary Guards killed in a suicide attack perpetrated by jihadists that Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting. "The government of Pakistan must pay the price of harbouring these terrorist groups and this price will undoubtedly be very high," said Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist outfit Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer observe the previous reservations and will directly act to counter such acts," Jafari told mourners gathered at the city of Isfahan's Bozorgmehr Square.

The comments by Jafari, commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, came a day ahead of a planned two-day visit to Pakistan by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia. Jafari blamed Pakistan's army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying that "sheltering and silence" amounts to supporting the perpetrators.

As he left the podium, people shouted "Commander of Sepah (Farsi for Revolutionary Guards) -- Revenge! Revenge!".

The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010.

Jafari also blasted "the traitorous governments of Saudi Arabia and (the) Emirates" and said Iran will no longer tolerate their "hidden support for anti-Islam thugs and Takfiri groups".

He called on President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Supreme National Security Council to give the guards more freedom to carry out "retaliatory operations," but did not elaborate.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries".

Black flags attached to lamp-posts adorned Isfahan as the city prepared for the funeral and two days of mourning.

When the bodies of the troops arrived on the back of Toyota vans -- the guards' signature vehicles -- their comrades, women in black veils and young men in jeans were there to greet them.

Tens of thousands chanted "Down with America!" and "We will never submit!" Iran's flag could be seen at half-mast in Bozorgmehr Square's southeastern side, and the crowd chanted "Allahu Akbar" each time the speaker read the names of the dead.

The troops killed in the bombing belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division, which is based in Isfahan province, according to Tasnim news agency.

Aged from 21 to 52, each will be buried in his hometown after the funeral.

A housekeeper originally from Khuzestan province, where a deadly attack killed 24 last year, told AFP of the thirst for revenge.

"We demand that the blood of these troops be avenged," said Tayebbeh Rezaee, 34. "They cannot weaken the Islamic Republic in any way -- not war, not economic attacks. So they have to stoop to such acts."

Sistan-Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint, where Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carry out cross-border raids.

A Revolutionary Guard was killed and five wounded in a February 2 attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl on a base of the Basij militia in the town of Nikshahr, some way from the border.

One of the wounded -- Khodarahm Heidari, who was critically injured in that attack -- died on Saturday, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in the provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, in an attack which Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border with Pakistan.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Several floors and walls of National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) in St. Petersburg have collapsed, Russian emergency authorities said. The cause of the collapse is unclear but state media said that it happened while renovations were taking place. The Russian media also reported that some students were at the university to attend elective weekend classes.

NEW: Video shows the moment when several floors collapsed at ITMO University in St. Petersburg, Russia pic.twitter.com/geiHiHIKAv  BNO News (@BNONews) February 16, 2019

Reports also suggest that many people are feared trapped under the debris. However, there has been no report of casualties yet.







For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Berlin:

Artificial intelligence (AI) can substantially improve our understanding of the climate and the Earth system, according to a study. Complex dynamic processes such as hurricanes, fire propagation, and vegetation dynamics can be better described with the help of AI, said researchers from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) in Germany. As a result, climate and Earth system models will be improved, with new models combining AI and physical modelling, according to the study published in the journal Nature.

In the past decades mainly static attributes have been investigated using machine learning approaches, such as the distribution of soil properties from the local to the global scale.

For some time now, it has been possible to tackle more dynamic processes by using more sophisticated deep learning techniques.



ALSO READ | Scientists upcycle plastic bags to create battery parts

This allows, for example, to quantify the global photosynthesis on land with simultaneous consideration of seasonal and short term variations.

"From a plethora of sensors, a deluge of Earth system data has become available, but so far we have been lagging behind in analysis and interpretation," said Markus Reichstein, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry.

"This is where deep learning techniques become a promising tool, beyond the classical machine learning applications such as image recognition, natural language processing or AlphaGo," said Joachim Denzler from the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU).

Examples for application are extreme events such as fire spreads or hurricanes, which are very complex processes influenced by local conditions but also by their temporal and spatial context.

This also applies to atmospheric and ocean transport, soil movement, and vegetation dynamics, some of the classic topics of Earth system science, researchers said.

However, deep learning approaches are difficult. All data-driven and statistical approaches do not guarantee physical consistency per se, are highly dependent on data quality, and may experience difficulties with extrapolations, they said.

Besides, the requirement for data processing and storage capacity is very high.

The publication discusses all these requirements and obstacles and develops a strategy to efficiently combine machine learning with physical modelling.

If both techniques are brought together, so-called hybrid models are created. They can, for example, be used for modelling the motion of ocean water to predict sea surface temperature.



ALSO READ | NASAs Opportunity rover mission on Mars bites the dust

While the temperatures are modelled physically, the ocean water movement is represented by a machine learning approach.

"The idea is to combine the best of two worlds, the consistency of physical models with the versatility of machine learning, to obtain greatly improved models," Reichstein said.

The scientists contend that detection and early warning of extreme events as well as seasonal and long-term prediction and projection of weather and climate will strongly benefit from the discussed deep-learning and hybrid modelling approaches.
At a meeting with the diplomat following the presentation, the Israeli President welcomed Ambassador Hung to take the new position, affirming that the State of Israel will create optimal conditions for him to fulfil his tasks.

President Rivlin recalled his impression and the fruitful outcomes of his official visit to Vietnam in March 2017.

He showed his delight at the substantial and effective development in the Israel-Vietnam partnership, saying that he believes the bilateral ties, especially in economy, education and science-technology, will continue expanding.

He extended his regards to Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong and said that he will soon send his invitation to the Vietnamese leader to visit Israel in order to promote bilateral friendship and sound partnership between the two countries.

For his part, Ambassador Hung pledged that he will work hard to contribute to further strengthening cooperation between the two countries.

He briefed his host of Vietnams major achievements in socio-economic development, external relations and international integration over the years.

The Government and people of Vietnam hope to bolster affiliation with Israel in various fields, he stated.

The diplomat mentioned key orientations and objectives during his office tenure, with focus on boosting bilateral collaboration in economy-trade, science-technology, innovation, and people-to-people exchange.

The ambassador also conveyed best regards from Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong to President Rivlin and people of Israel.
New Delhi:

NASA is speeding up plans backed by President Donald Trump to return to the moon, using private companies. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said: "Its important that we get back to the Moon as soon as possible. This time when we go to the Moon, were actually going to stay. "Were not going to leave flags and footprints and then come home and not go back for another 50 years. Speaking to reporters at NASAs Washington base of operations, Bridenstine said NASA will lead a sustainable space race to the Moon with the aid of private companies.



The Trump administration has said a return to the moon is a top priority. And NASA this month announced a plan to develop spacecraft capable of bringing humans to the lunar surface by 2028.



ALSO READ | NASAs Opportunity rover mission on Mars bites the dust



In November last year, NASA tagged nine American companies as eligible to bid on delivering robotic NASA payloads to the moon. "For us, if we had any wish, I would like to fly this calendar year," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASAs Science Mission Directorate, said during a webcast "media roundtable" at agency headquarters in Washington. "We care about speed. We want to start taking shots on goal," Zurbuchen said, noting that NASA will provide the eligible companies with financial incentives to get off the ground faster.



The nine companies NASA selected in November are Astrobotic, Deep Space Systems, Draper, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, Lockheed Martin Space, Masten Space Systems, Moon Express and Orbit Beyond.



One of the most critical pieces of this plan is a small space station, called the Gateway, which NASA aims to start building in lunar orbit in 2022. Gateway will be a hub for many kinds of lunar exploration, including sorties to the surface by landers both crewed and uncrewed, Space.com reported.



ALSO READ | New NASA telescope to explore origins of universe



On June 3, China landed a spacecraft on the farther side of the moon. This month, an Israeli spacecraft destined for the moon is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. If successful, it would make Israel the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The landing site of China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe has been named "Statio Tianhe". This was after the spacecraft made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon last month. The name, along with others for three craters and a peak nearby, were agreed by the China National Space Administration, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the International Astronomical Union. To better understand the lunar environment and prepare for a human return to the moon, the Chang'e-4 probe is setting the groundwork for a human return to the moon. This mission is seen significant as China pushes forward its space programme. China's ambitious space programme includes several manned missions, building a permanent space station and reaching to Mars.



The name "Tianhe" originates from the Chinese name for the Milky Way. The International Astronomical Union has also approved four other names for features near the landing site. The IAU is the officially recognized authority in astronomy for assigning designations to celestial bodies such as stars, planets and minor planets, including any surface features on them.



ALSO READ | Will stay on the moon when we go next: NASA administrator



China's Chang'e-4 probe, launched on December 8, landed on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on January 3. So far, a total of 12 lunar features have been named by China.



"Tianhe" is the Chinese word for Milky Way and "Statio" is Latin for base. Before "Statio Tianhe," only one place is listed on lunar maps as "Statio," namely "Statio Tranquilitatis" (Tranquillity Base), the site the Apollo 11 crew members of the United States landed and walked on in 1969, Xinhua reported.



In support of the lunar landing programme, China will launch a carrier rocket with a 100-ton-plus payload for the first time by about 2030, a report quoted a report of the symposium published on the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the central cabinet. China's first Mars probe is scheduled to be launched on a Long March 5 by 2020 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, South China's Hainan Province. The probe will hopefully orbit, land and deploy a rover on the Red Planet.

For all the Latest Science News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Robert Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, on Saturday appeared before Delhi's Patiala House Court for a scheduled hearing in connection with a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The court has extended his interim protection from arrest to March 2. During the hearing, the counsel for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) informed the court that Vadra was not cooperating in the case, an allegation which has been denied by the businessman. The investigation agency also said Vadra is always accompanied by a "baraat" wherever he goes, whether to ED or to Court.' Vadra's interim bail was scheduled to end on Saturday.

"Interim bail of Robert Vadra and Manoj Arora, in connection with a money laundering case, have been extended till 2 March by Delhi's Patiala House Court," the news agency ANI reported.

Interim bail of Robert Vadra and Manoj Arora, in connection with a money laundering case, have been extended till 2 March by Delhi's Patiala House Court. pic.twitter.com/MGR8vp7nfZ  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

The case relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property, located at 12, Bryanston Square, worth 1.9 million pounds, which is allegedly owned by Vadra.

Vadra had on February 1 moved to Delhi court seeking anticipatory bail in the money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Earlier, a lawyer from the prosecution team confirmed that Vadra has sought anticipatory bail in the case in which his close aide Manoj Arora was granted interim protection from arrest till February 6 by the court.

Arora, an employee of Vadra's Skylight Hospitality LLP, was a key person in the case and he was aware of the latter's overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds, ED had alleged.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired an all-party meeting in parliament on Saturday over the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday. The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. A resolution towards standing together to fight terrorism was passed.

We stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism, defending India's unity and integrity, the all-party resolution read. We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border, says resolution passed at all-party meeting, and the resolution also mentioned that terrorism was being actively encouraged by forces from across the border, and India has displayed firmness, resilience in tackling it.

A copy of the all-party resolution over the Pulwama terror attack.

Rajnath Singh said that the country is distraught and resentful. While some people with terrorism, the people of our country are with us. A zero-tolerance policy against terrorism continues and we will work together towards eradicating terrorism from Jammu and Kashmir.

After the all-party meet, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, We clarified what Congress President Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly said. The country is in mourning and is angry. Our party has decided that we will stand firmly with our security force and the government. There are various differences with the government but we stand with them to end terrorism. In today's meeting, the leaders of both Houses of Parliament were called. We requested the home minister that the prime minister should convene a meeting of all the chiefs of national and regional parties.

Urging the government to take stern action against the attack, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, said, "Resolutions were passed after Pathankot and Uri attack also. We have told them (central government) that they should now take action."

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The country is biding a tearful farewell to the bravehearts of the Pulwama terror attack on Saturday in their native places. The bodies of the soldiers reached Delhi's Palam air force area in a special Indian Air Force (IAF) plane on Friday evening. Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid his last respects to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack at the Palam technical area on Friday evening. PM Modi placed a wreath on a platform placed before the coffins carrying the mortal remains of the troopers. The coffins wrapped in tricolour were neatly arranged in the hanger, where senior officials of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) paid their last respects by placing wreaths one by one in a solemn ceremony, officials said.

Here are the LIVE updates:

10:50 pm: One person arrested in Muzaffarpur for posting an objectionable message on a WhatsApp group regarding Pulwama attack.

9:17 pm: Curfew to continue in Jammu.

DC Jammu: Curfew will continue in the night. Precautionary measures taken so that no violence takes place. There were no reports of violation of curfew in the day, except little disturbances. We'll decide in the morning whether to continue it or not, after assessing the situation pic.twitter.com/TO7nDGst0d  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

9:05 pm: Madhya Pardesh CM Kamal Nath paid his last respect to CRPF Constable Ashvni Kumar in Jabalpur.

Madhya Pardesh CM Kamal Nath and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan paid their last respect to CRPF Constable Ashvni Kumar in Jabalpur, earlier today. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/qJ8dTIQZNb  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

8:45 pm:

Karnataka: Family members of CRPF Constable Guru H pay their tribute to him in Gudigere, Mandya. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/QlbAC3TThJ  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

8:30 pm: Air Force personnel raised slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Veer Jawan, Amar Rahe" at Guwahati International Airport, as the mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari were being taken to his native village in Baksa.

#WATCH: Air Force personnel raised slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Veer Jawan, Amar Rahe" at Guwahati International Airport, as the mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari were being taken to his native village in Baksa. #Assam pic.twitter.com/YGv1NIVSmm  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

8:15 pm: Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma give shoulders to the mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari in Guwahati.

Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma give shoulders to the mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari in Guwahati. The body is being taken to Basumatari's native village in Baksa. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/ffZhdBB3F7  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

7:50 pm: Indian Air Force exercise Vayu Shakti 2019 at Pokhran Range in Rajasthan.

#Visuals from Indian Air Force Excercise Vayu Shakti 2019 at Pokhran Range in Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/7OokfP57YM  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

7:45 pm: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik convenes a high-level meeting at the Raj Bhavan.

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik convened a high level meeting at the Raj Bhavan today and reviewed the present law and order situation in the state in the aftermath of #PulwamaAttack . pic.twitter.com/NQyT0DwZl0  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

7:25 pm: Family members pay their tribute to CRPF jawan Guru H.

Karnataka: Visuals from Gudigere, Mandya as mortal remains of CRPF Constable Guru H are being brought for last rites. Family members pay their tribute to him. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/mmonbja2mI  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

7:00 pm: Security personnel and civilians hold a candle march in Bhopal to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in Pulwama Attack.

06: 40 pm: Last rites of CRPF Constable Tilak Raj performed at Dhewa in Kangra district.

Himachal Pradesh: Last rites ceremony of #CRPF Constable Tilak Raj at Dhewa in Kangra district. Union Minister JP Nadda and Chief Minister Jairam Thakur present. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/QKEgza3tNy  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

06:22 pm: Pakistan violated ceasefire in Nowshera sector in Rajouri district at 1600 hours.

06:07 pm: Mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Bablu Santra and Constable Sudip Biswaws brought to Kolkata airport.

06:05 pm: Vayu Shakti 2019: Indian Air Force demonstrates firepower in Pokharan.

#Visuals of Vayu Shakti 2019, firepower demonstration of the Indian Air Force at Pokhran Range in Rajasthan. Indian Air Force chief BS Dhanoa and Sachin Tendulkar present. pic.twitter.com/xHy75ChoNY  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

05:45 pm: Tributes being paid to CRPF's Naseer Ahmed at Rajouri.

Jammu & Kashmir: Tributes being paid to #CRPF's Naseer Ahmed at Rajouri; Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh also present. pic.twitter.com/ujZRzgL9QH  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

05:38 pm: The Major-rank army officer was killed while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which had been planted by terrorists.

The Major-rank army officer was killed while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which had been planted by terrorists. The officer is from the Corps of Engineers. The IED was planted 1.5 kms inside the Line of Control in the Naushera sector, Rajouri district, in J&K https://t.co/ZyWFS9RbWR  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

05:25 pm: One Army officer lost his life in an explosion in the Rajouri sector along the Line of Control.

Jammu & Kashmir: One Army officer has lost his life in an explosion in the Rajouri sector along the Line of Control. Nature of explosion being ascertained; More details awaited pic.twitter.com/UKQtY7F38S  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

05:08 pm: Omar Abdullah arrives at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence.

National Conference (NC) leader and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah arrives at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. pic.twitter.com/8bLIJTGZHM  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

04:48 pm: Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF head constable PK Sahoo underway in Bhubaneswar.

Odisha: Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF head constable PK Sahoo underway in Bhubaneswar. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/GDnEVfJPya  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

04:30 pm: Mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur reaches his home.

Bihar: Visuals from Ratanpur, Bhagalpur as mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur are being brought to his home. His father (Pic 4) had said after the #PulwamaAttack, "I will send my other son as well to fight. But Pakistan must be given a befitting reply" pic.twitter.com/3d7gy9xGaw  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

04:26 pm: Each drop of tear after Pulwama terror attack will be avenged, says PM Narendra Modi.

04:25 pm: It has been a policy of India that we dont poke anyone. But let me make it clear that if someone teases New India, it does not let it go unpunished: PM Narendra Modi.

04:17 pm: We will always stand by those who sacrificed their lives, says PM Narendra Modi in Dhule (Maharashtra).

04:16 pm: Mamata Banerjee participates in a candlelight march in Kolkata.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee participates in a candlelight march in Kolkata. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/xqg5mzod8q  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

04:11 pm: Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF constable Subramanian G. underway at Kovil Patti, Tuticorin.

Tamil Nadu: Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF constable Subramanian G. underway at Kovil Patti, Tuticorin. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/QCqbU2wWcH  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

03:55 pm: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an advisory to all states & Union Territories to take necessary measures to ensure the safety and security of students and other residents Jammu & Kashmir.

There have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu&Kashmir are experiencing threats&intimidation in light of #PulwamaAttack. Therefore, MHA today issued an advisory to all states & Union Territories to take necessary measures to ensure their safety & security. pic.twitter.com/tp2aYhTsxo  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

03:48 pm: CM N Chandrababu Naidu announces ex-gratia of Rs. 5 lakh each to the families of CRPF jawans killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu: The entire nation is grieving the loss of the brave CRPF Jawans. In their saddest hour, we stand by the bereaved families. Expressing our deepest sympathies, we extend ex gratia of Rs. 5 Lac each, to the families of the martyrs. (File pic) pic.twitter.com/GiJElyOqXF  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

03:46 pm: RAW chief AK Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA Ajit Doval arrive at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence for a high-level meeting.

Delhi: RAW chief AK Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba & NSA Ajit Doval arrive at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence for a high-level meeting. The meeting has begun. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/hN0EHottA8  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

03:45 pm: Prayagraj: Last rites ceremony of CRPF constable Mahesh Kumar who lost his life in Pulwama Attack.



Prayagraj: Last rites ceremony #CRPF Constable Mahesh Kumar who lost his life in #PulwamaAttack on 14th February pic.twitter.com/Op4ySuKH2Y  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 16, 2019

01.47 pm: Visuals from the last rites ceremony of Constable Pankaj Kumar Tripathi of CRPF as his mortal remains are being brought to his home in Harpur Tola village of Maharajganj in Uttar Pardesh.

#WATCH: Visuals from the last rites ceremony of Constable Pankaj Kumar Tripathi of CRPF as his mortal remains are being brought to his home in Harpur Tola village of Maharajganj. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/DsNK0fPeCA  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 16, 2019

01.36 pm: Mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ashwani Kachhi brought to his native village in Jabalpur.

Madhya Pradesh: Mortal remains of #CRPF Constable Ashwani Kachhi brought to his native village in Jabalpur. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/FI4nUY861w  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

01.30 pm: Resolution passed at the all-party meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

A copy of the all-party resolution over the Pulwama terror attack.

12.52 pm: "I have come to see the spot. As you have seen the teams are already working here --- forensic and NIA. The investigation is going on. Once it is concluded, only more details can be given," says RR Bhatnagar, the Director General of CRPF.

12.51 pm: "I had also said that barring war, for the first time since 1947 such large number of security personnel have been killed in an attack. We stand with our security forces - Army, CRPF, local police. The entire nation is standing with them," Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress.

12.50 pm: We clarified what Congress President Rahul Gandhi has repeatedly said. The country is in mourning and is angry. Our party has decided that we will stand firmly with our security force. There are various differences with the government but we stand with them to end terrorism. In today's meeting, the leaders of both Houses of Parliament were called. We requested the home minister that the prime minister should convene a meeting of all the chiefs of national and regional parties, says Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

12.47 pm: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has announced government jobs to one family member each of the two CRPF personnel from the state.

12.46 pm: Sanjay Rajput and Nitin Rathod's bodies reach Aurangabad airport.

11.30 am: The situation in Jammu is under control but as a precautionary measure, we have continued with the curfew. We will decide whether to continue it or not by evening, after assessing the situation, says Ramesh Kumar, DC Jammu.

11.25 am: The ambassador of Turkey reaches MEA office for a meeting with the Indian foreign secretary.

11.10 am: A team of National Investigation Agency reaches the site of Pulwama attack for further investigation.

11.08 am: All-party meeting begins in Parliament.

Delhi: All party meeting called by central government underway in Parliament building. #PulwamaAttack#AvengePulwama



: ANI



Follow LIVE updates here: https://t.co/gv2NGS7K5e pic.twitter.com/5xAvcWOYDg  News Nation (@NewsNationTV) February 16, 2019

11.04 am: Protesters stage a demonstration on the railway tracks at Nallasopara railway station in protest against the Pulwama Attack. Train movement affected at Nallasopara and beyond.

#WATCH Mumbai: Police baton charge to disperse protesters at Nallasopara railway station, protesting against #PulwamaAttack. Some protesters were demonstrating at railway tracks of the station earlier today affecting services. Services now resumed at Virar, Nallasopara&Bhayandar pic.twitter.com/lKJ4kuKoX7  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Maharashtra: Protesters stage demonstration on the railway tracks at Nallasopara railway station in protest against #PulwamaAttack. Train movement affected at Nallasopara and beyond. pic.twitter.com/BzFLDzyi6z  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

10.58 am: Leaders arrive at Parliament, for the all-party meeting called by the central government.

10.26 am: Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba arrives at the residence of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

10.21 am: CM Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav pay tribute to Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha of the CRPF.

Bihar: CM Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav pay tribute to Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha of CRPF who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack. pic.twitter.com/LJ7fOOjaQN  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

10.17 am: Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhle arrives at MEA headquarter in South block

10 am: The mortal remains of CRPF jawan Jeet Ram arrives at Bharatpur in Rajasthan.

The mortal remains of CRPF jawan Jeet Ram arrives at Bharatpur in Rajasthan. (Photo: News Nation)

9.45 am: Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will visit Jaitapur in Rajasthan to pay tribute to CRPF jawan Bhagirath.

9.44 am: The enforcement directorate has formed a special cell to check terror funding. A joint director-level officer has been given the responsibility of this cell. The agency will soon start investigating pending cases against terrorists.

9.39 am: Daughter of CRPF ASI Mohan Lal pays last tribute to her father in Dehradun.

9.38 am: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat pays tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal.

9.15 am: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrives in Delhi for consultations with senior officials and leadership.

9.01 am: People shout anti-Pakistan slogans at Sikar in Rajasthan.

9 am: Pakistani flags were removed from a film set in Mandawa as angry locals protest the killing of CRPF personnel in Kashmir by Pakistan-based terror outfit, Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Anti-Pakistan protests in Mandawa. (Photo: News Nation)

8.47 am: Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadav have been brought to his native village Tofapur in Varanasi.





Villagers throng to pay their tributes to CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadav in Varanasi. (Photo: ANI)

8.35 am: Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Rohitash Lamba have been brought to his native place in Govindpura, Jaipur.

7.20 am: Villagers and family of CRPF personnel Awadhesh Kumar Yadav mourn his death in Uttar Pradesh's Chandauli.

7.17 am: The U.S. condemns yesterdays horrific terror attack on Indian security forces. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand with India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security, says US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo.

The U.S. condemns yesterdays horrific terror attack on Indian security forces. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security.  Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) February 15, 2019

7.15 am: Ramesh Kumar, the Deputy Commissioner said, "The curfew was imposed in the city area of Jammu as it was the area where most of the incidents occurred. We will assess the situation in the morning and decide whether to lift the curfew or not.

7 am: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has cancelled all prior commitments scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. She will go to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to pay last respects to the CRPF jawans of the two states.

6.40 am: "It is a matter of concern that political discourse is reaching a new low in recent years. We should reverse this trend at the earliest. People in public life should understand that they are only rivals, not enemies. We should consider each one of our friends, who are in different political spectrum, our rivals only. It is only competition, healthy competition that is required," said Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

6.32 am: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announces an ex- gratia of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of the CRPF jawans, from the state. The chief minister has also urged all educational institutions in the state to observe a two-minute silence at 11 am today.





6.30 am: Devotees at the headquarter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at Mayapur in the Nadia district of West Bengal prayed for the peace of departed souls of the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday. Devotees along with visitors, guests and pilgrims from many countries participated in the special prayers and kirtan, and ISKCON spokesperson said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports India's right to self-defence. Bolton telephoned Doval Friday morning to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US' full support to India in confronting terrorism. "I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed the US' condolences over the terrorist attack, news agency PTI quoted Bolton as saying.



At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 80 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded.



ALSO READ | Pulwama Attack: PM Narendra Modi assures stern action as anger, outrage grow across India

Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis, he said.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security, Pompeo said on Twitter.

Condemning the terror strike, the US State Department said in a statement that it was resolutely committed to working with the Indian government to combat terrorism in all its forms.

"The US condemns in the strongest terms the terrorist attack today on an Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, State Department Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said and extend his deepest condolences to the deceased paramilitary personnel and their families.



ALSO READ | 80 kg high-grade RDX used by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Adil Ahmad Dar in Pulwama attack

The UN designated, Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad has claimed responsibility for this heinous act. We call on all countries to uphold their responsibilities pursuant to UN Security Council resolutions to deny safe haven and support for terrorists, Palladino said.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

The UK government on Friday condemned the terrorist attack in Pulwama and termed it as a "senseless and brutal act". Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday. At least 42 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 80 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district that also left many critically wounded. "Shocked by today's senseless and brutal act of terror in...Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims' families. We stand with India," UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter.

His statement came amid a widespread outpouring of support for India in the wake of the attack, with a number of British MPs taking to social media to condemn the terror strike.



ALSO READ | Pulwama Attack: We support India's right to self-defence, says US NSA

More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.

"I am deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in Kashmir. Thoughts are with the Indian security personnel killed and injured by this appalling crime, said Conservative Party MP Tom Tughendat, who is chairing the ongoing parliamentary Global Britain and India inquiry.

Another Tory MP and leader of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Hindus, Bob Blackman, also took to Twitter to say it was time for India to isolate Pakistan.

"Pulwama attack: India will 'completely isolate' Pakistan. We stand with India. Time to isolate & proscribe the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, he said.

Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma condemned the attack and called on the UK government to reconsider the reference to "India-administered Kashmir".



ALSO READ | Pulwama Attack: How did officials identify killed CRPF jawans? Here are details

"I was pleased to see the British Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, has offered his sincere condolences to the victims' families, and stated that 'we stand with India', but I am concerned that he used the phrase 'India-administered Kashmir'," he said.

Sharma said he has written to the Foreign Secretary to reiterate that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian state and has been since it formally acceded in 1947.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla on Saturday said that they have ended quota agitation in the interest of the nation and requested that all the blockades across Rajasthan be removed immediately. The Rajasthan government tabled bills on the Gujjar community's demand for an additional four per cent reservation as well as on 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections for government jobs and educational institutions, on Wednesday. Five communities namely Banjara/Baldiya/Labana, Gadiya Lohar/Gadoliya, Gujjar/Gurjar, Raika/Rebari/Debasi and Gadariya/Gadri/Gayari will benefit from this move.

The Gujjar stir had crippled the rail network in Rajasthan as agitators blocked roads and railway tracks. Every day for the past week, several trains were cancelled or diverted in the Sawai Madhopur district of the state. On Tuesday, the district collector had issued a notice to Bainsla asking him to vacate railway tracks. The sit-in had affected the movement of over 300 trains through the region so far. Amid the protests, the Rajasthan government conducted meetings throughout Tuesday at the state secretariat to discuss the quota issue with ministers and other Congress leaders.

At present, the Gujjar community in Rajasthan has 1 per cent reservation under the Most Backward Classes (MBC) within the 50 per cent legal limit. The demand for separate 5 per cent reservation for the Gujjars was struck down by the Rajasthan High Court in 2017. The state government has moved the Supreme Court against the Rajasthan HC order. Currently, reserved category has 49 per cent in Rajasthan including 21 per cent OBC, 16 per cent SC and 12 per cent ST. If Gehlot government bring another bill on Wednesday then it could be challenged again. Hence the Gurjars have been demanding 5 per cent reservation with an amendment in the constitution so it does not face any legal hurdle. Notable the Modi government recently gave 10 per cent reservation to economic weaker section (EWS) by amending the constitution. Gujjars have argued that the 10 per cent reservation announced by the Centre also exceeds the 50 per cent reservation limit.

On Wednesday, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot reiterated that the agitating Gujjar community members vacate the railway tracks and come forward to hold dialogue. He said the state government will do whatever it possibly can to address their issues and they should raise their demand before the Centre.

I want to appeal to the community members to hold talks. Whatever will be possible at the state governments level will be done. They should also raise their demand before the Centre, Gehlot told reporters in Jaipur.

He said that the one per cent reservation the community was getting at present was because of the decision taken by the former Congress government led by him. Several trains have been cancelled, many diverted. It is a loss for the country and its economy. People are suffering and I would appeal them to hold talks, the chief minister said.

Bainsla, who along with his supporters began the indefinite sit-in on railway tracks in Malarna-Dungar of Sawai Madhopur on Friday evening, has so far refused to back off.

We will not move from the tracks unless the announcement is made. There is only one demand, that is five per cent reservation, Bainslas son Vijay Singh said.

(With PTI inputs)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

A Special Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act Court in New Delhi on Saturday ordered a CBI probe against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal in Bihar. An inquiry has been also instructed against Muzaffarpur district magistrate Dharmendra Singh and principal secretary of Social Welfare Atul Prasad in the case.

"Court orders CBI to conduct a probe against Bihar CM Nitish Kumar in Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal," the news agency PTI reported.

The development came days after the Supreme Court, in its last hearing, on February 7 transferred the sensational case from the Bihar CBI court to a POCSO Saket trial court in New Delhi. The top court also came down heavily on the Nitish Kumar-led JD-U government for not submitting details on the Muzaffarpur sexual scandal case. A bench

A bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi took a grim view of the progress made so far in the case and directed the POSCO court to conclude the trial within six months from the date of transfer. The bench, which also consists of Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.

The bench was irked over the inadequate response of the Bihar government counsel on issues like the number of shelter homes, their management and the administrative control over them. "Enough is enough. Children cannot be treated like this. You cannot let your officers treat children this way. Spare the children," the bench said.

In 2018, several girls were allegedly raped and sexually abused at an NGO-run shelter home in Muzaffarpur and the issue had come to light following a report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS). Following the TISS report, an FIR was lodged on May 31, 2018, against 11 people in the matter.

The probe was later taken over by the CBI and 17 people have been arrested so far. The amicus curiae had also told the court that there were 1,028 shelter homes across India where instances of sexual and physical abuse have been reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Delhi's Patiala House Court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of Christian Michel, an alleged middleman in the AugustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. Opposing the plea, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said since Michel is close to influential people, he could leave the country on bail, tamper with the evidence, influence the witnesses.

Special judge Arvind Kumar rejected Michel's plea in the cases filed by the CBI and the ED. Michel, extradited from Dubai, was arrested by the ED on December 22 last year. On January 5, Michel was sent to judicial custody in the ED case. He is also lodged in judicial custody in the CBI case related to the scam. Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the ED and the CBI. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi :

The 'Bharat Ke Veer' contribution platform, that allows public to voluntarily contribute to support families of martyrs, has received unprecedented response after the Pulwama blast in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed live of 40 of Central Armed Paramilitary Force (CRPF) jawans. The portal has received donations of over Rs 7 crore so far, officials said on Saturday. Out of this amount, Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar has contributed Rs 5 crore. The actor has also requested people to donate for bravehearts via bharatkeveer.gov.in.

"We have received unprecedented donations at the online portal in the last 36 hours and the amount is over Rs 7 crore," BSF Inspector General (IG) Amit Lodha told PTI.

During the last few days there has been a tremendous response from people wanting to contribute through the website : https://t.co/wkuXoWnRJL

MHA is grateful for this support.



However Due to heavy traffic, sometimes a slow down is reported in accessing the website.   , HMO India (@HMOIndia) February 16, 2019

Akshay wrote on Twitter, "Pulwama is something we cannot & will not forget. Were all angry & its time to act. So act now, donate to the martyrs of Pulwama on https://www.bharatkeveer.gov.in Theres no better way to pay homage to them & show your support. This is the only official site, please dont fall prey to fakes."

He said, "Never in the two-year history of this benevolent public fund for CAPF martyrs, such a huge contribution has come in such a short time. We are grateful to the people of the country for expressing their solidarity with the martyrs."

#Pulwama is something we cannot & will not forget.Were all angry & its time to act. So act now,donate to the martyrs of Pulwama on https://t.co/5j0vxsSt7f Theres no better way to pay homage to them & show your support.This is the only official site,pls dont fall prey to fakes pic.twitter.com/sYruUtzgKY  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) February 16, 2019

The IG, who supervises the activity of the portal, said it was getting as many as "20,000 hits per second" post the Pulwama attack.

Meanwhile, the portal is facing some technical glitches. The website was not accessible at the time of writing this news. This is probably why the State Bank of India has also created a UPI for the Bharat Ke Veer initiative to help people make their monetary contributions easily, the BSF IG said.

Bharat Ke Veer, the fund-raising initiative, was launched in April 2017 by the Union Home Ministry, under whose command these paramilitary or Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF's) function.

The CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

With PTI Inputs

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

Amitabh Bachchan donated Rs 5 lakh each to the families of CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama attack on February 14. As many as 42 CRPF jawans were killed and dozens of others injured after a car with 350 kg of explosives hit a bus carrying the personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The vehicle was blown up by an improvised explosive device or IED explosion on Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora area of the district, a police official said, adding that the exact number of the deceased is yet to be ascertained

After 2016 Uri terror attack, this is considered to be the deadliest terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir in nearly two decades. The incident occurred at Lethpora on the Srinagar-Anantnag highway followed by gunshots aimed at the security forces in Pulwama district on Thursday.



On the work front, Amitabh is currently busy shooting Tapsee Pannu starrer Badla. Direct by Sujoy Ghosh, Badla is touted to be a revenge thriller. Amitabh Bachchans powerful performance clubbed with Taapsees stupendous acting skills will surely leave you thrilled for the film.

The character posters of the film were released yesterday. In the posters, we saw the intense side of the two protagonists  Tapsee and Amitabh Bachchan. Ahead of the poster release, Shah Rukh Khan had tweeted out, ''Main aap se Badla lene aa raha hoon @SrBachchan saab! Taiyaar rahiyega. In reply to his tweet, Big B wrote, ''Arey bhai @iamsrk, Badla lene ka time toh nikal gaya .. Ab toh sab ko Badla dene ka time hai.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

John Bolton, the US National Security Adviser, called his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday to express condolences and outrage over the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) that killed over 40 CRPF jawans. Bolton called Doval and offered the US' full support to India in confronting terrorism.

Bolton supported India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism. And also offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice. "I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed US' condolences over the terrorist attack," he told PTI.

Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. "We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis," he said.

Doval appreciated Boltons call for support and resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee process.

The White House and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security," Pompeo had tweeted.

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers.

The JeM claimed responsibility for the attack, which is considered to be the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir in nearly two decades. The incident occurred at Lethpora on the Srinagar-Anantnag highway followed by gunshots aimed at the security forces in Pulwama district.

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

In wake of the deadliest terror attack in Pulwama, veteran actress Shabana Azmi and her husband lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar have decided not to attend Kaifi Azmi's birth centenary celebrations in Karachi. Azmi said after the attack, she feels weakened in her belief that people to people contact can force the establishment to do the right thing. Azmi, however, said one should differentiate between the establishment and the people. The couple was invited to Pakistan by the Karachi Arts Council for a two-day event.

Taking to Twitter, Azmi wrote, "@Javedakhtarjadu and I were invited for a 2-day event celebrating Kaifi's Centenary and were truly looking forward to it. I appreciate that our hosts the Karachi Arts Council mutually agreed to cancel the event at the ninth hour in the wake of Pulwama attack".

"I am filled with pain and grief and all else .. by the dastardly #Pulwama attack. For the 1st time in all these years, I feel weakened in my belief that people to people contact can force the Establishment to do the right thing. We will need to call halt to cultural exchange," the actress tweeted.

"#Pulwama attack There is no way we can carry on with cultural exchanges between India and Pakistan even as our martyrs are laying down their lives for us. I stand in solidarity with the grieving families," she added.

"But let's not lose sight of the fact that there is a difference between d Pakistani Establishment and the people of Pakistan n vice versa. On both sides of d border stand sisters n brothers divided by circumstances with which they had nothing 2 do," Azmi said in a series of tweets.

@Javedakhtarjadu n I were invited for a 2 day event celebrating #Kaifi Azmi centenary. I appreciate that our hosts #Karachi Arts Council have mutually agreed with us to cancel the event at the nth hr in view of the dastardly Pulwama Massacre.  Azmi Shabana (@AzmiShabana) February 15, 2019

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded. Azmi condemned the attacks and said she stands united with the grieving families.

"Will there be no let to these heinous attacks? These mindless killings. This utter disregard for human lives? Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama. I strongly condemn the worst terror attack on CRPF convoy and stand united with the grieving families," she wrote in another tweet.

Akhtar, who penned the CRPF anthem in 2014, also took to Twitter to condemn the cowardice act. "I have a special relation with CRPF. I have written their anthem before putting the pen to paper I met a number of CRPF officers and whatever I learned, my respect, admiration and love for these braves increased by many a fold. Today I share the grief of the dear ones of the martyrs," he wrote.

(With inputs from agencies)

For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

With 2019 Lok Sabha Elections just around the corner, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday blew the poll bugle in Maharashtra. The prime minister, who arrived in Nagpur this morning, is scheduled to address members of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) at a rally in Pandharkawda town of Maharashtras Yavatmal district. Later in the day, Modi will also attend another public gathering at Dhule. He landed at the city airport by a special plane at 9:55 am from Delhi. Modi was received by Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari. Immediately after that, accompanied by the three, Modi took a helicopter to Pandharkwada and reached there by 10:30 am. Ahead of Modi's address in Yavatmal, a two-minute silence was observed to pay homage to the 40 CRPF jawans killed in the gruesome terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.

Here are the Highlights from PM Modi's address at Yavatmal:

12:20 pm: With the help of Janadhan and Bandhan Yojana, developmental works are in process to help the tribal community.

12:17 pm: Are you happy with the work I am doing, the efforts I'm taking: Modi asks people at public rally in Maharashtra's Yavatmal.

12:16 pm: In this Budget, our government has announced a big decision for the nomad community. For the first time in history, a government has taken care of the community. Our government has decided to set up a Developmental Welfare Board for this community: Modi.

12:12 pm: PM Modi targets Pakistan over Pulwama terror attack, says a nation on verge of bankruptcy has now become the second name for terror: PM

12:10 pm: I promise that every family will have their own house by 2022, says Modi.

12:09 pm: Centre aimed to provide houses to every homeless people by 2022 and our government is reaching towards the goal: PM Modi at Yavatmal.

12:06 pm: Today, millions of developmental and welfare projects have been inaugurated in Yavatmal. Some of these projects are related to the poor, railways and employment, says Modi.

12:02 pm: Terror organisations who have committed this crime, no matter how much they try to hide, they will be punished. Security forces have been given full freedom: Modi at Maharashtra's Yavatmal.

12:01 am: Two sons from Maharashtra lost their lives in the attack, their sacrifice wont go in vain, says the prime minister.

11:59 pm: All of us are going through deep pain. I understand your resentment over the gruesome terror attack in Pulwama. I can feel the pain of those families who have lost their sons: PM Modi.

11:49 am: Enhancing education, housing and financial inclusion for the poor: Narendra Modi. WATCH LIVE

Enhancing education, housing and financial inclusion for the poor. https://t.co/vt0vas5Axp  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 16, 2019

11:25 am: PM Modi lays foundation stone and inaugurates development projects in Yavatmal, Maharashtra.

LIVE : PM Modi lays foundation stone and inaugurates development projects in Yavatmal, Maharashtra. https://t.co/vCxFCsuozG  BJP (@BJP4India) February 16, 2019

11:03 am: PM Modi interacts with women Self Help Groups Pandharkawda, Yavatmal.

With Hon PM @narendramodi interacting with women Self Help Groups Pandharkawda, Yavatmal. https://t.co/zM38SBQxOa    (@BJP4Maharashtra) February 16, 2019

09:49 am: "Maharashtra: PM Narendra Modi arrives in Nagpur. He will launch multiple projects in the state today," the news agency ANI reported.

Maharashtra: PM Narendra Modi arrives in Nagpur. He will launch multiple projects in the state today. pic.twitter.com/PU6EOvshRp  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

During his day-long visit to the state, Modi is likely to announce some welfare schemes for members of SHGs operating across east Maharashtra. Over three lakh SHG women, farmers and tribals are expected to attend the rally, Union Minister Hansraj Ahir said. Besides, Modi will also launch two new trains, Eklavya schools for tribals, an irrigation scheme and a rail electrification project in Pandharkawda and Dhule.

Post that, the prime minister will hand over keys to selected beneficiaries marking e-grihapravesh of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. His agendas include the flagging off of Ajni-Pune AC train through a video link. Modi will then press the button to lay the foundation stone of roads under Central Road Fund. He will also distribute cheques and certificates under Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission to women SHGs.

The prime minister had in the past addressed women SHG members from adjoining Ghatanji tehsil through a video link. Yavatmal, which is a part of the extended cotton belt in the Vidarbha region, used to be called as the "suicide capital of farmers". Yavatmal-Washim Lok Sabha constituency is being represented by the Shiv Sena.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has planned protests on Saturday to oppose the prime minister's visit, claiming that he has 'failed' to fulfil the promises given to local farmers during his earlier visit in 2014. Former state unit Congress president Manikrao Thakre said the PMs visit was aimed at garnering votes of women for the polls.
New Delhi :

After months of speculation over the pre-poll alliance between the BJP and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu, both the parties have reportedly reached a seat-sharing agreement ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2019. According to reports, the AIADMK will contest elections on 25 seats and the BJP on 15 in the state. The development comes after a three-hour long meeting between chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam and Union Minister Piyush Goyal - who has been given charge of Tamil Nadu elections - on Thursday.

Earlier, BJP President Amit Shah said the BJP would soon form a strong electoral alliance in the state.

BJPs state unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan had claimed parties that were not part of the DMK-Congress combine will be joining hands with the BJP and other potential allies to form a robust alliance.

Union Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad had said people of Tamil Nadu too, like the rest of the country wanted "Narendra Modi to be Prime Minister again."

"I am sure the BJP by itself will cross 300 seats and along with NDA it is going to be 350 plus minimum", he claimed.
New Delhi:

In view of the gruesome terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday, the University of Jammu has postponed all exams scheduled to take place on Saturday, February 16, 2019. Earlier, the varsity had postponed the examinations which were scheduled for Friday, February 15, 2019. However, the university is yet to release the revised date sheet for the postponed exams in the grief-stricken state. For further updates, students are advised to keep a tab on the official website of the University that is jammuuniversity.in.

On Thursday, unsuspecting locals witnessed a blood bath in Pulwama district's Awantipora area after a Scorpio SUV with 350 kg of explosives hit a CRPF convoy, leaving 42 of them injured and dozens of others injured. After 2016 Uri terror attack, this is considered to be the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir in nearly two decades.

Meanwhile, keeping in mind the safety and security of the natives, a curfew has been imposed in the city following the deadliest terror strike in Pulwama on Thursday. "We have imposed curfew in Jammu city as a precautionary measure," Deputy Commissioner of Jammu Ramesh Kumar told news agency PTI.

Normal life in Kashmir came to a standstill on a call for shutdown with all kinds of transport, shops, markets and business establishment remained closed for the second consecutive day. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association is also protesting the cowardice act by the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and suspended work in all the courts across the state, including the High Court and tribunals. Protesters, particularly in the old city, refused to disperse even after loudspeakers announced a curfew in the militancy-hit state.

Talking about the prevailing conditions in the state, Ramesh Kumar, DC Jammu said, "Curfew was imposed yesterday, no casualties were reported. The situation is under control but as a precautionary measure, we have continued with the curfew. We will decide whether to continue it or not by evening, after assessing the situation".
Tokyo:

Japanese car giant Toyota on Wednesday slashed its full-year net profit forecast after profits tumbled nearly 30 percent in the first nine months. The maker of the Camry sedan and Prius hybrid now expects annual net profit of 1.87 trillion yen ($17 billion) instead of 2.3 trillion yen it projected three months ago.

The new forecast represents a 25-percent plunge from the last year. Its net profit for the nine months to December came to 1.42 trillion yen, down 29.3 percent from the same period the previous year.



ALSO READ | Mahindra launches XUV300 in India at Rs 7.90 lakh, more details inside

Operating profit rose 9.5 percent to 1.94 trillion yen on sales of 22.5 trillion yen, an increase of 3.1 percent.

Fellow Japanese automaker Honda last week logged a net-profit fall of 34.5 percent for the nine months to December but revised up its full-year forecasts thanks to strong motorcycle sales.

Nissan is to announce results next week, the first since its former chief executive Carlos Ghosn was arrested on November 19 for financial misconduct.
Please purchase a subscription read this premium content. If you have a subscription, please sign up for a digital website account or log in.
A dramatic clash between vegan activists and a frustrated shot-gun wielding farmer in Australia has been caught on video.

The footage, taken in in Western Australia earlier this week, shows tensions are increasingly boiling over.

Vegan activists from the Direct Action Everywhere group parked outside farmer Jason Parravacini's home and farm and began filming his cattle. Mr Parravacini came out to confront the pair, asking them to stop filming and leave the property.

"Don't come round my place - take the camera out of my face," he told the activists.

"I'm a primary producer. I'm feeding most of the world. And a lot of people don't complain, it's only guys like you - so I suggest you move on."

A heated scuffle ensued.

"I'll give her one minute to get rid of that or I'll remove it from you," Mr Parravacini warns the pair, before grabbing at the car keys.

"You get the f**k out of my place!"

Mr Parravacini then went inside and retrieved a shotgun and fired it into the distance. The activists then fled the scene.

Direct Action Everywhere activist James Warden, who was involved in the confrontation, said he was not surprised at the Mr Parravacini's reaction.

"These farming communities are an echo chamber for this kind of violence, and it does not surprise me whatsoever that they are now targeting and acting in violence towards human beings," Mr Warden told news.com.au.

The incident comes after animal rights charity Aussie Farms released an online map showing the locations of thousands of Australian farms where they think animals are being abused and exploited.

Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has issued a call for calm, saying the farm map has created "an atmosphere of fear and anxiety".
Carpinteria High School students walk on the platform in front of the Gen 7 buildings that comprise the new science wing.
China has issued a warning of sorts to New Zealand - talking up the risks of travelling here.

It's the latest signal sent by China which suggests a growing rift between New Zealand and our largest trading partner.

The tourism industry says there's nothing to see here - it's all just bluster. But there are concerns a diplomatic cooling could see Chinese travel elsewhere.

The China People's Daily, considered a mouthpiece of the Chinese state, published an article claiming tourists are turning away from New Zealand.

And the Chinese consulate issued warnings in December and January saying travel to New Zealand is unsafe.

China is a huge market. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) forecasts by 2024, Chinese tourists will be worth $3 billion a year, overtaking Australia as New Zealand's largest tourism market.

The tourism industry is downplaying the concerns but is worried all this talk about a scrap with China will be self-fulfilling.

"We may be creating an issue here, if this gets traction and gets a lot of coverage back in China" Chris Roberts, Tourism Industry Aotearoa CEO, said.

Some New Zealand exports to China have faced delays. A Sanford salmon shipment to China has been abruptly halted.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says there are no signs of anything out of the ordinary at the Chinese border - it's the usual hold ups.

But those who study China say the super power is sending New Zealand a message.

"Clearly, over the last year or so, we've run into a number of different issues" Jason Young, NZ China Research Centre Direct, said.

He says this war of words doesn't necessarily mean trade or tourism will be affected.

"A lot comes down to how it's managed diplomatically."

Diplomacy is nuanced and it's difficult to tell what's business as usual and what's a genuine warning sign.

But there's one thing we can point to as very problematic for New Zealand and its relationship with China: the Prime Minister's planned trip to Beijing last year is still being delayed.

She still doesn't have a date.

Newshub.
Quarantine officers are out in force in Auckland following the discovery of a Queensland fruit fly, but there are concerns Biosecurity New Zealand's been too slow off the mark.

The seaside village of Devonport is at the centre of a surveillance operation to find out if there's been an incursion of the pest.

A sunny Saturday brings a steady stream of visitors to and from Devonport. On Saturday, this seaside spot, is at the centre of a biosecurity alert.

Ferry passengers are having fruit and vegetables confiscated as they leave the area.

In spite of this bag checking, North Shore MP Maggie Barry says not enough has been done.

"I think the response has been a bit slow to be honest, as the local MP I would have hoped to have been informed that this was coming up so I could help spread the word.

"The fruit fly was found in this street on Thursday, this is day three, there's still no signage up," Ms Barry told Newshub.

Locals are sketchy on detail. Anthony Sanderson, manager of the cafe Corelli's said information hadn't been forthcoming.

"If they're serious about it they should have come and spoken to us and told us what the regulations are and what we should and shouldn't do."

Mayor Phil Goff says they're getting the word out.

"We hope it's isolated, we've had not evidence that it's not isolated yet but what we don't want to do is run the risk of spreading it, that damages our industry, our exports, it costs us billions of dollars," Mr Goff said.

Minister for Biosecurity Damien O'Connor told Newshub the operation speaks for itself:

"It's day two of the fruit fly response and there are 55 staff, 160 extra traps, a mobile lab, and dozens of signs, flyers, door knocks and public notices because this is a well-oiled response that Biosecurity New Zealand has managed six times over the past decade.

"No MP of any stripe should try and insert themselves in the middle of it for the sake of cheap political point scoring, which risks detracting hard-working staff from the important task at hand, which includes preventing the fruit fly from establishing here."

A large field operation is underway, 35 biosecurity officials are out on the street, handing out leaflets and talking to locals.

And 150 traps are being installed to catch any more if they're out there.

Horticulture New Zealand says the Queensland Fruit Fly is the number one threat to the industry, but they believe the plan is working well.

This is the first level response to the threat, but it will take a keen eye from the locals to help ensure there aren't any other fruit flies in the area.

Newshub
Two more popular rivers have joined the list of New Zealand waterways where toxic algae has taken hold.

The Otaki and Waingawa Rivers, north of Wellington, are now classed as extreme - which means more than half of the river bed is covered in toxic algae.

Warnings now exist for rivers in the Bay of Plenty, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, and Manawatu-Whanganui, in the north. Tasman, Nelson, Canterbury, Otago and Southland also have rivers with the algae in the south.

For the Otaki River, the amount of toxic algae has grown rapidly. 50 percent of the river is now covered in algae - two weeks ago it was 15 percent.

"It's definitely the worst we've seen in the Otaki River since records and monitoring began," said Mark Heath, a senior freshwater scientist.

"I think a lot of it's due to this really warm and dry weather, so when we get the water temperature lifting up, the low flows, it just seems to be this perfect breeding ground and environment for toxic algae to grow in."

Mr Heath says toxic algae have been around for billions of years - but the blooms have been getting worse for the last fifteen years.

"We're not 100% sure what the drivers are but under climate change scenarios, it's only predicted these toxic algal blooms are gonna get worse as our weather gets warmer, drier, and we have less rainfall," he said.

Also known as blue-green algae or cyanobacteria, it's distinguished from the more recognisable bright green algae by its musty smell and slimy appearance.

"These leathery, velvety mats that might be black or brown-green in colour, and they really attach to the rocks, and they peel off like a piece of leather," said Mr Heath.

When it's disturbed or dies, it floats to the surface, and can form mats at the water's edge - putting it within reach of babies, toddlers, or dogs.

"It only takes around about a fifty cent piece for a 20kg dog to have a lethal dose."

Contact with the algae can cause symptoms like skin irritation and muscle twitches, while swallowing it has the potential to cause nausea, vomiting, convulsions or loss of consciousness.

The bridge on State Highway 1 is a popular swimming spot - but swimmers and anglers have been told to stay away.

"It's a real shame but at the moment the risk is just not worth it," said Mr Heath.

Salt-water breaks down the neurotoxins in the algae, but what's needed is much-needed heavy rain to wash the algae out to sea.

For more information on toxic algae, and for advice on local waterways, visit:

https://www.lawa.org.nz/

http://www.gw.govt.nz/safeswim/

Newshub.
A change in shape for Cadbury's marshmallow Easter eggs left a sour taste in the mouths of many New Zealanders.

It also increased demand for locally-made products, including one factory in Oamaru still making Easter eggs by half.

Easter's still two months away, but production lines at Rainbow Confectionary have been running since before Christmas.

An extra 40 staff are working flat out, piecing together Easter eggs the old fashioned way.

Brent Baillie, Rainbow Confectionery general manager, says they are making the eggs the traditional way it has always been done.

"We're doing it the way kiwis expect it to be done."

To make the Easter treat the marshmallow egg halves are covered in chocolate.

One side is heated before the halves are pushed together by hand to form a whole egg.

Rainbow started production back in November last year, winding up today after turning out 9 million marshmallow eggs.

Rival Cadbury used to make its eggs the same way, before Mondelez closed the Dunedin factory last year, costing over 300 jobs.

New Zealanders are the biggest consumers of marshmallow eggs, many disappointed with the company's new Australian-made versions.

Cadbury says the switch to a flat-bottomed shape is due to "upgraded equipment".

"Other overseas markets aren't necessarily interested in them. That's why it might be an inconvenience to make these offshore, and bring them into New Zealand.

"But it's not an inconvenience for us to make what Kiwis know and love," Mr Baillie says.

The Oamaru company produces over 3000 tonnes of confectionery every year.. including Easter eggs for most of the country's supermarkets and retailers.

Orders are up this year, with a consumer backlash against the altered imported ones.

"When the consumer goes to the supermarket and goes to buy a product. I hope they speak with their wallets. I hope they support New Zealand-made manufacturers," Mr Baillie says.

Keeping it Kiwi and ensuring the traditional shape of a New Zealand classic keeps rolling on.

Newshub
Ja Rule has hinted that he's considering setting up a new music festival, after the last one he was involved with turned into a disaster.

The rapper, real name Jeffery Atkins, was involved in the planning for the now infamous Fyre Festival, which led to thousands of upset influencers stranded in the Bahamas.

None of the celebrities who promoted Fyre Festival on social media turned up, and festival-goers were left to eat pre-packaged sandwiches and stay in half-constructed emergency tents instead of the gourmet catering and luxury accommodation promised.

Ja Rule's partner and Fyre CEO Billy McFarland is currently serving time in prison for his role in the disaster, but the rapper was not charged with any crimes.

He's now told TMZ he's working on a new app called Iconn, which is similar to the Fyre App that spawned the disastrous festival.

"It is kind of similar to what the [Fyre] app was, but you have to understand the app was separate from the festival," Ja Rule told TMZ.

"Different teams working on the app than the festival and the whole nine."

He's now considering taking the same route to promote the app though, suggesting like Fyre, he could make a festival for Iconn.

"[Fyre] is the most iconic festival that never was... I have plans to create the Iconic music festival, but you didn't hear it from me."

Newshub.
Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox have been caught in high-altitude drama after their plane was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday (NZ time).

The pair were on a Gulfstream Aerospace IV private jet heading to Mexico from Los Angeles when the plane lost a wheel or tire during takeoff, TMZ reports.

According to TMZ, the flight was a surprise trip for Aniston's 50th birthday. Other passengers on board are said to be Jason Batemen's wife Amanda Anka and Molly Kimmel, wife of Jimmy Kimmel.

The flight was diverted to Ontario International Airport, east of Los Angeles, where it was forced to circle for several hours to burn off fuel before it could land safely.

Ontario airport officials say emergency services attended the landing in order to assist the aircraft. No one has been hurt in the incident.

Newshub.
GamesRadar+ is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more
Absolutely. Illegal immigration and drugs threaten our national security. Do whatever is necessary.

I agree theres a crisis at the border, but this is an abuse of power. Find another way.

There is no emergency. Trump invented a crisis to get what he wants: a wall.

The declaration is moot. It wont hold up in court.

Vote

View Results
Jeffersonville, IN (47130)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. Low 74F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is angry, and he has not been shy about letting people know.

Cuomo lashed out at state Senate Democrats this week following Amazons announcement that it would no longer build a new headquarters in New York City. He called out the body as a whole in a statement saying it should be held accountable for losing Amazon. But he singled out state Sen. Michael Gianaris  a staunch opponent of the deal whose nomination to the pivotal Public Authorities Control Board was seen as a turning point for the deal going sour, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins  who nominated Gianaris.

But Cuomo also, perhaps more perplexingly, targeted state Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Long Island Democrat, saying that Long Island lost an enormous economic opportunity and that Kaminsky cowered when he should have shown courage.

Kaminsky, as well as other long Island Democrats, supported the deal. And on the day the deal died, the lawmaker reportedly had concerns about the job loss. So, what was Cuomo thinking?

The governors broadside against Kaminsky, issued Thursday night by Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever, appeared to be in response to a press release from Kaminsky after the news broke that Amazon backed out of its deal in which he said Long Island would welcome Amazon coming there instead. And Kaminsky did not come out as loudly or publicly as the deals opponents before it fell apart. The sight of someone who Cuomo apparently felt did not work hard enough to keep the deal in place publicly posturing as pro-business was too much for the governor to bear.

Lever, in her statement about Kaminsky, said his invitation to Amazon was disingenuous. In a recent speech on Long Island, which members of the Long Island delegation attended, Cuomo defended the Amazon deal and said that he wouldnt want to be a senator running for re-election if the deal fell through. Now that it has, he wanted to ensure that the Long Island Democrats are blamed for not doing more to support a deal that could have benefited their community. (Long Island Democratic freshman state Sen. Anna Kaplan issued a press release Friday bemoaning the celebrations of Amazons loss, calling it devastating. It was her first public statement on the matter aside from quotes in interviews.)

A source with knowledge of the governors thinking, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said that  despite rumors that the governor may be purposefully trying to sow division among the Democratic conference  Cuomo was just genuinely angry and was lashing out. This is a governor who feels he has been wronged, and that the state has been wronged, the source said. The source said that someone within the governors office reached out to Kaminsky and other Long Island Democrats, asking for their public support, but that they decided, for the time being, to publicly defer to party leadership despite acknowledging the benefits of the deal for Long Island. The source added that Cuomo could punish the Long Island senators for staying on the sidelines during budget negotiations. Potential budgetary retribution could make the already vulnerable freshmen even more so if they dont deliver for their constituents in the way their Republican predecessors had.

Kaminsky could not be reached for comment by City & State, but he reportedly said that he found Cuomos attacks on him odd.

One Albany insider suggested that it is nonsense to believe that a press conference from a Long Island senator would have saved the deal from being scrapped and that tensions were simply running high on the day the news broke. The insider said that both sides lashed out and used strong language, but that by day two, emotions had calmed and there would not be lasting repercussions. However, the source with knowledge of Cuomos thinking suggested Long Island Democrats could have curried the governors favor by supporting him when he needed allies.

Some reporters on Twitter have suggested that Cuomo is trying to sow division within the Democratic conference by directly attacking Long Island in an effort to force its state senators to take a more assertively centrist position  and to create a New York City-suburban divide that could echo the bitter divisions between the former Independent Democratic Conference, which shared power with Republicans, and the mainline Democrats.

Multiple sources disputed this notion. However, the source with knowledge of Cuomos thinking said that maintaining unity, or even keeping the Democrats on Long Island in power, is not a necessity for Cuomo to govern, as he has proven he can be successful with a united or divided legislature.

Multiple sources also suggested that the governor believed the whole debacle was a miscalculated attempt by Stewart-Cousins to protect Gianaris from a primary challenge from the left. Before the election of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gianaris had been a close ally of then-Rep. Joseph Crowley. But after Crowleys ouster, they said Gianaris moved sharply to the left. A source in state government who requested anonymity to speak freely claimed that after Stewart-Cousins told Amazon in a meeting that she did not think Gianaris appointment would be approved by Cuomo, and that she planned to recommend someone else when he got turned down. But when asked for a name and a guarantee the replacement would be not a roadblock, she demurred.

According to this narrative, Stewart-Cousins was hoping to bolster Gianaris anti-Amazon credibility while not actually stopping the project from going through.

Mike Murphy, a spokesman for Stewart-Cousins, said that no one other than Gianaris had been considered. He added that while she acknowledged that Cuomo could have chosen not to approve the appointment, she did not appoint Gianaris as part of some ploy to protect him while secretly considering someone else.

In the aftermath of the Amazon deal crumbling, Cuomo is a man who feels he has been wronged after trying to do what was best for the state. Likewise, some members of the state Senate feel that the governor sold out New Yorkers in an unfair deal to a huge corporation, who then backed out at the first sign of discontent. The ultimate political fallout is still to be seen. If Long Island memories are long, they may end up sharing Cuomos vindictive feelings at the ballot box next year.
Funeral services for Thomas Armond "Tommy" Ritch, 72, will be Friday, June 11 at 11 a.m. from the Chapel of Kilgroe Funeral Home. Interment to followe at Bethlehem Primitive Baptist Cemetery in Gallant. The family will receive friends on Friday from 10 a.m. until service time at funeral home
I want the maximum justice possible, she told the judge before stepping down.

Maria Rodas said she and her husband were separated from their son for a number of years once they moved to the U.S. and their son stayed behind in El Salvador  at first working on a rural farm with his paternal grandparents, where she said he attended church daily, and then moving in with his aunt closer to a city.

She said their family moved to the U.S to escape danger in El Salvador and she warned her two sons to be wary of MS-13 members who might be trying to recruit youth.

Through a translator, she insisted Victor Rodas didnt come in contact with any gang members and was never a member of MS-13. Instead, she characterized him as a victim of the gang who had no criminal history himself.

Matthew Pack, Victor Rodas attorney, also pointed out his clients lack of recorded criminal history and asked for a fair and merciful verdict in a sentence between 24 to 40 years.

In arguments, Nance said Rodas was far from a victim of MS-13. Rather, he said, extensive evidence in the vein of violent and gang-related photos on his cell phone and contact with other alleged members showed he was an active participant in the gang.
E.C. Glass students then wanted to share the message with an elementary school, which led to two visual production students and Gibson-McDonald going to Bedford Hills Friday.

The kindergarten through fifth-grade students stood quietly with smiles on their faces and held the delicate chain in their hands as Glass senior Joe Dumonsau went down the hallway taking video of them.

Dumonsau, 18, will create a video with Glass junior Victoria Srougi, 17, of the students holding the chain as well as Glass students doing the same at the high school to compare how far each chain stretched in the schools.

Once the video is complete, it will be shared in Glass announcements.

Bedford Hills Principal Sherri Steele said receiving the chain from Glass is one example of collaboration between the schools.

This was a fun and great way [to work together] and such a beautiful message. I hope to do more things like this in the future, Steele said.

Seeing the chain at Glass and Bedford Hills was very uplifting, Dumonsau said.

You could tell it sent a message of spreading that peace through [Bedford Hills] and Glass kind of connecting the two schools, Dumonsau said.
A Lynchburg man was sentenced Friday to four years in prison for driving under the influence and injuring three people in a crash in July 2017.

Landon Cortez Parks, 29, pleaded guilty in late November to two counts of maiming someone while driving under the influence.

According to Virginia State Police, Parks struck three pedestrians from behind at about 2:21 a.m. July 2 while driving a 2005 Hyundai along the 3100 block of Fort Avenue.

The pedestrians, all 26 years old at the time, were walking in the roads bicycle lane and all were taken to Lynchburg General Hospital to be treated for their injuries, according to the state police.

Kayla Chapman, of Lynchburg, later was flown to the University of Virginia Medical Center and received surgery. Carter Garrett, of Lynchburg, and Jarred Boone, of Madison Heights, were treated and released from Lynchburg General Hospital.

Commonwealths Attorney Bethany Harrison said Chapman entered into a pre-trial settlement for her medical bills. Chapman testified Friday to suffering a severe concussion, road rash that permanently scarred her right side and shoulder, a liver laceration and a torn ACL in her right knee thats required multiple surgeries and ongoing physical therapy, according to Harrison.
Tweedy was one of several keynote speakers  including Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-California  during the Democratic National Committees Poverty Council meeting at the Marriott Marquis Hotel.

The goal of the meeting, which lasted more than two hours, was to raise awareness and facilitate governmental action to address issues surrounding poverty such as health care and homelessness.

Each of us must find a way to use our talent or our position to discover what we can do about poverty, Waters told a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people.

Waters serves as the chair of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services and said there are many things she can do in that position to address the poverty issue in America, including getting rid of predatory lending.
With that said, it is not 1983 anymore, and you dont have to rely on Reading Rainbow to show you that black characters and black authors exist. So for this months column, Im not going to share books about black history, but rather books by black authors about black characters that MADE history.

There is no better person with whom to start than Walter Dean Myers. Its 1969, the year of the moon landing, the last Beatles performance and the creation of PBS.

It was also the 14th year of the Vietnam War, the first American war in which black and white soldiers were integrated, which tells you a lot about the America of that time, and why its so revolutionary that 1969 was the year the childrens book Where Does the Day Go? was published.

Its a simple story: A father, his son and his sons friends go to the park, where they imagine what happens to the sun at the end of the day. But look at the cover: See the father in his shirtsleeves sitting under the tree? He is black. And the five children lounging at his feet? Three of them are black.

Where Does the Day Go? is just a little story, a story of a family, of friendships and imagination. And its 1969, and the family is black.
Mega Brother Nagababu continues to denigrate TDP and YSRCP. His latest video stands out one of the best sarcastic videos on the corruption practices of ruling and opposition parties.

Coming to the skit, Nagababu acts as a teacher and two students quarrel themselves. When Nagababu asks the reason why they get indulged in fisticuffs, one student alleges on the other that he gets one lakh crores through corruption, runs a media officially and becomes the A1 accused in several cases.

Advertisement

Another student doesn't stay silent. He alleges that the other one eats Rs.2 lakh crores and is running 7 channels, Also, he says the other student grabs thousand of acres of land in Amaravati.

Nagababu appreciates both the students as the best robbers and gives them a chocolate each.

But then, the twist comes here. Nagababu addresses the viewers and makes it clear that the skit gets inspired from a real incident in Yuvang Chung state in China. "I'm sure TDP and YSRCP have no connection with this skit. I take an oath on both the parties," Nagababu ends the skit. Needless to say, the viewers wear smiling look throughout the video.

Click here for Nagababu explaining China's real incident
FDA- and NIH-funded study finds unexpected sensory variant exclusive to African-Americans

A genetic variant found only in people of African descent significantly increases a smoker's preference for cigarettes containing menthol, a flavor additive. The variant of the MRGPRX4 gene is five to eight times more frequent among smokers who use menthol cigarettes than other smokers, according to an international group of researchers supported by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. The multiethnic study is the first to look across all genes to identify genetic vulnerability to menthol cigarettes. The paper was published online in the journal PLOS Genetics on February 15, 2019.

Menthol provides a minty taste and a cooling or soothing sensation, and plays a particularly troubling role in U.S. cigarette smoking patterns. According to the FDA, nearly 20 million people in the United States smoke menthol cigarettes, which are particularly popular among African-American smokers and teen smokers. In the U.S., 86 percent of African-American smokers use menthol cigarettes, compared to less than 30 percent of smokers of European descent. In addition, menthol cigarettes may be harder to quit than other cigarettes.

Although not originally the focus of the study, researchers also uncovered clues as to how menthol may reduce the irritation and harshness of smoking cigarettes.

"This study sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of how menthol interacts with the body," said Andrew Griffith, M.D., Ph.D., scientific director and acting deputy director of NIH's National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders (NIDCD). "These results can help inform public health strategies to lower the rates of harmful cigarette smoking among groups particularly vulnerable to using menthol cigarettes."

The research team, led by Dennis Drayna, Ph.D., chief of the Section on Genetics of Communication Disorders at the NIDCD, conducted detailed genetic analyses on 1,300 adults. In the initial analyses, researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas (UT Southwestern), used data from a multiethnic, population-based group of smokers from the Dallas Heart Study and from an African-American group of smokers from the Dallas Biobank. In conjunction with researchers from the Schroeder Institute for Tobacco Research, Washington, D.C., the scientists further confirmed their findings in a group of African-American smokers enrolled in the Washington, D.C., Tobacco QuitlineTM.

The researchers report that 5 to 8 percent of the African-American study participants had the gene variant. None of the participants of European, Asian, or Native American descent had the variant.

Identifying the genetic variant pointed the researchers in an unexpected direction, leading them to provide the first characterization of this naturally-occurring MRGPRX4 variant in humans. The gene codes for a sensor, or receptor, that is believed to be involved in detecting and responding to irritants from the environment in the lungs and airways.

"We expected to find genes that relate to taste receptors, since menthol is a flavor additive," said Drayna. "Instead, we discovered a different kind of signaling molecule that appears to be involved in menthol preference."

Collaborators at the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel Hill, then worked with the research team to look more closely at the effect of the African-specific variant on the function of the MRGPRX4 receptor. They found that the variant alters a specific type of cell signaling, and that menthol alters this further. Additional studies confirmed that this sensor is found in the airways, suggesting that menthol is likely to affect how we sense irritation in the airways.

"While this gene variant can't explain all of the increased use of menthol cigarettes by African-Americans, our findings indicate that this variant is a potentially important factor that underlies the preference for menthol cigarettes in this population. While things like cultural factors or industry advertising practices have been a focus for understanding menthol use thus far, our findings indicate that African-specific genetic factors also need to be considered," said Drayna.

The FDA has sought public commentary and scientific information on the use of menthol in tobacco products. The agency has announced plans to propose a ban on menthol-flavored cigarettes and cigars, in large part because of the high use of menthol cigarettes among youth and young adults. More than half of smokers ages 12 to 17 smoke menthol-flavored cigarettes. The prevalence rises to 7 out of 10 among African-American youth who smoke, according to the FDA.
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.

To subscribe, click here. Already a subscriber? Click here.
Cleveland resident Bri'anna Cooper, foreground, has been using Laketran's new Tyler Boulevard service since it began Jan. 28 to commute to her job at Mill-Rose Co. With 11 stops currently on each side of the road, Laketran is seeking to add more in the near future to better serve the businesses along the corridor.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
featured

Employment

Just In Time Staffing brings workers from Puerto Rico to fill Lake County area jobs
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:16 pm

CENTRALIA POLICE DEPARTMENT

Vehicle Theft

 At 9:25 a.m. Wednesday, a theft of a red 2006 Toyota Tacoma was reported in the 1300 block of Oxford Avenue. Someone stole the truck from a driveway, and the owner reported seeing someone drive away in it.

Person Trespassed After Accused of Stealing Food

 At 3:53 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue and placed a 24-year-old Rochester woman on trespass after she allegedly stole food from the store.

Clothing Stolen

 At 3:53 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 100 block of West High Street and issued a summons to a 28-year-old Centralia man who allegedly left a store without paying for two pairs of jeans.

 At 6:27 p.m. on Thursday, clothing was reported stolen from a retail store in the 100 block fo West High Street by an unidentified female suspect.

Police Issue Summonses for Protection Order Violations

 At 12:29 a.m. Thursday, police went to the 500 block of East Magnolia Street and issued a summons to a 20-year-old Centralia man on suspicion of violating a domestic violence protection order.

 At 2:38 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a violation of a protection order in the 1200 block of South Gold Street. A court summons was issued for a 59-year-old Centralia resident.

 At 3:58 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a violation of a protection order in the 500 block of East Magnolia Street. A court summons was issued for a 20-year-old Centralia man.

Police Investigate Sexual Assault

 At 11:02 a.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a sexual assault in the 1100 block of South Pearl Street. The report is under investigation.

Satellite Dish Damaged

 At 2:49 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a person damaging a satellite dish in the 200 block of West Hanson Street.

Hit and Run

 At 2:54 p.m. on Thursday, a hit and run was reported in the 900 block of Harrison Avenue.

Household Items Damaged

 At 2:59 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of malicious mischief in the 800 block of West Sixth Street in Centralia. Household items were reportedly damaged.

Package Stolen

 At 4 p.m. on Thursday, a package was reported stolen from a porch in the 200 block of Denny Way.

Suspect Jumps Fence, Steals Car Keys

 At 4:13 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report of a burglary in the 800 block of North Tower Avenue. An unknown suspect reportedly climbed a fence and stole car keys from vehicles parked inside the fenced-in area.

Transient Spotted Damaging Property

 At 5:27 p.m. on Thursday, police received a report that a person believed to be a transient was damaging property in the 100 block of West Magnolia Street. The suspect fled before police arrived.

DUI

 At 8:03 p.m. on Thursday, police responded to the 1200 block of North Tower Avenue and arrested Chad C. Bass, 30, of Centralia, on suspicion of driving under the influence. Bass allegedly drove a vehicle through a fence.

Tires, Wheels Taken

 At 9:12 p.m. on Thursday, tires and wheels were reported stolen from a parked vehicle in the 900 block of G Street.

Vehicle Prowl

 At 10:06 p.m. on Thursday, a vehicle prowl was reported in the 1100 block of Harrison Avenue. A computer, books and shoes were stolen.

CHEHALIS POLICE DEPARTMENT

Counterfeit Bills

 At 8:29 a.m. Wednesday, police were requested in the 500 block of Southeast Washington Avenue, where someone passed around $800 in counterfeit bills.

Thefts

 At 12:26 p.m. Wednesday, a theft of license plates was reported in the 500 block of Northwest Pacific Avenue.

 At 5:39 p.m. on Thursday, a third-degree theft was reported in the 400 block of North Market Boulevard.

Man Begins To Take Clothes Off in Parking Lot

 At 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, a caller reported a man was walking back in forth in front of a business, and then began to take his clothes off in the parking lot. The man then put the clothes he had discarded back on.

Staff Wants Man To Stop Doing Donuts in Parking Lot

 At 3:50 p.m. Wednesday, police were requested in the 100 block of Ribelin Road, where a male subject was using his vehicle to do donuts in a parking lot. The business staff didnt want the man to be in trouble  they just wanted him to stop.

Suspect Booked on Suspicion of Heroin Possession, Warrant

 At 12:29 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to the 600 block of Southwest 20th Street and arrested Joseph K. Dodd, 37, of Chehalis on suspicion of possession of heroin and on a Lewis County warrant for failure to appear in court.

Truck Damaged in Malicious Mischief

 At 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, police responded to a report of malicious mischief in the 1200 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue. A person reported someone tore out the ignition of a truck and stole gasoline from another vehicle the same night. A suspect was captured on camera taking the gas.

Suspect Booked for Attempt to Steal $800 in Merchandise

 At 7:56 p.m. on Thursday, police responded to a report of a theft in the 1600 block of Northwest Louisiana Avenue. A suspect reportedly pushed a shopping cart out of the store full of $800 of merchandise that hadnt been paid for. Gavin T. Kane, 19, of Centralia, was arrested on suspicion of second-degree theft.

Lewis County Jail Statistics

As of Friday morning, the Lewis County Jail had a total system population of 216 inmates, with 186 in general population, 29 in the Work Ethic and Restitution Center and one on work release. Of general population inmates, 153 were men and 33 were women and of WERC inmates, 24 were men and five women. A total of 32 inmates were booked through contracts with agencies outside Lewis County.



By The Chronicle Staff

Please call news reporter Cody Neuenschwander with news tips. He can be reached at 807-8208 or cneuenschwander@chronline.com
A gunman killed five people and wounded five police officers Friday afternoon after opening fire inside of a warehouse in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois, police say.

Aurora Police Chief Kristin Zimen said the suspected gunman, 45-year-old Gary Martin, was killed in an exchange of fire with police after shooting several employees of the Henry Pratt Co. and officers who rushed to the company's warehouse.

Zimen said during a brief news conference that officers were "fired upon immediately" upon responding to the 29,000-square-foot warehouse at about 1:30 p.m. Central time. Police believe Martin was an employee at the warehouse.

The company had fired Martin on Friday before the shooting, police said.

Police say the five wounded officers were taken to local hospitals, and two were then transferred to trauma centers. A sixth officer suffered a knee injury. Police did not take questions but scheduled a second news conference Friday night. Police did not specify if any others were injured, or how many.

Gabriel Gonzales, an Iraq War Marine veteran who can see the Henry Pratt warehouse from his front yard, said the number of police vehicles, flashing lights and armored cars Friday afternoon were giving him flashbacks.

"When you are a combat zone, you expect it," said Gonzales. "I've never seen this many police officers anywhere."

He was watching his grandchildren, who were mesmerized by the activity unfolding through the window, and worrying about their brother Anthony, whose school was put under lock down.

"My grandson had a school lock down at 8 years old. I mean, can you believe that?" Gonzalez said. "Back when I was a kid, it was just tornadoes."

At the news conference, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said the shooting marked "a sad day in the city."

"For so many years we've seen similar situations throughout our nation," he said. "To experience it firsthand is even more painful."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D, lauded the efforts of law enforcement officers and first responders before lamenting the "epidemic of gun violence that continues to ravage so many communities."

The victims' families, he said, "join a group that should not exist, yet continues to grow."

Tiffany Probst, 38, a legal assistant, said her best friend saw a post on Facebook about the shooting and started texting "that your dad might be inside!"

Her father, John, has worked as a machinist in the building for more than 40 years. He has three grown children and has five grandchildren. She raced down to the warehouse but was blocked by police.

"I knew there was no way to call him because he's old-school and never has a cellphone," she said. But then she heard from friends that her father was giving television interviews and talking with the police.

"He's safe and talking to the news," she said. "He's not much of a talker, but when it comes to this, I can tell by his voice he's real shaken up. We are looking forward to giving him a hug."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., tweeted Friday that she was following the situation. "This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans," Duckworth wrote. "Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter."

"My heart breaks for Aurora," Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted. "I'm tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency."

Nancy Caal, who works at Erwin's Truck Repair near the scene of the shooting, told The Post that she heard the din of sirens as police cars and ambulances rushed to the building behind hers.

She and two others put the shop on lockdown when they saw armed officers heading toward the adjacent Henry Pratt warehouse.

News reports of an active shooter there confirmed their fears shortly after.

"We are kind of nervous," Caal said. "It looks like something big is going on out there."

- - -

The Washington Post's Mark Berman and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
DANBURY  The already-stuffed city public schools are expected get even more crowded as the districts 16 consecutive years of growth shows no signs of slowing, according to a new study released this week.

Total enrollment  which now stands at 11,500 students  has increased 5.7 percent over the last five years and an almost unprecedented 13.2 percent in the past decade.

Only a handful of other school districts have grown while the states overall student population has dropped during the past 15 years and none have grown at a steady rate like Danbury, data shows.

You are definitely an unusual outlier in the state in terms of the rate of your growth and now how long its gone on, consultant Rebecca Augur told school board members this week. Its not just a blip, youre continuing on this trajectory.

The conclusions confirm school leaders biggest fears: The district could be within just five years of bursting at the seams, its campuses overflowing with students without space for new rooms or concrete plans to add a new school to handle the growth.

Based on these numbers, in seven years, were looking at an increase of population the same size as one of our largest elementary schools, school board chairman Pat Johnston said. Were looking at 600 more kids. Thats a whole new Park Avenue School.

The immense growth follows a red-hot real estate and rental market filled with high-density neighborhoods and even more new homes and apartments coming online every few months, concludes Augur, a principal planner at Milone and MacBroom. Augurs analysis included matching the number of new students in the district over the past three years to home sales and new construction during that time, establishing multipliers for each type of housing to determine how many new students a certain kind of home or apartment could produce.

The analysis showed the older and lower-priced apartments closer to the middle of the city are producing more children than the new, higher-priced apartments and homes like Sterling Woods condos.

But more expensive and smaller apartments are still producing new students for the district, such as the 15 children who live at the downtown Kennedy Flats, which officials had predicted would add no new children, Augur and Johnston pointed out.

With hundreds of new units still on the way, the hot housing market and extremely low rental vacancy rate make it almost certain the student population will continue to boom, Augur said. Even the lowest likely projections contemplate a flat student population, instead of the dropping enrollment other districts are experiencing, she said.

Were hesitant to say it can get much higher, theyre at almost historic positives right now, Augur said.

More Information Enrollment at Danbury Public Schools is expected to increase as much as 500 students over the next six school years, according to projections prepared for the district. 2018-19: 11,532 2019-20: 11,645 2020-21: 11,668 2021-22: 11,740 2022-23: 11,816 2023-24: 11,903 2024-25: 12,033 See More Collapse

All of those factors mean the district is expected to grow to about 12,000 students in the next five years.

In that time, Danbury High School could swell to almost 3,500 students  the absolute maximum capacity for what is already the largest high school in the state, even after the new $50 million addition to the campus this year.

We are becoming more and more an urban area and theres going to be a lot of growing pains that come with that, whether we want them or not, school board member Emanuela Palmares said.

That leaves school leaders pondering the need for an entirely new school, let alone what they consider to be lackluster funding from the state, they said.

The school boards facilities committee will discuss the need and the options to use space in existing school and city buildings.

Its really a necessity at this point, Palmares said of increased state and city funding. We have amazing growth in our city, which causes super-sized growth, quite frankly, in our schools. We cant count that as positive without having to look at how were going to support that growthwhen it comes to these kids becoming future leaders of Danbury.

zach.murdock@hearstmediact.com
BRIDGEPORT  Police arrested a local man Friday morning in connection with a fatal shooting last year in a North End motel.

Glenn Pettway, 25, of East Main Street, was charged with murder, felony murder, criminal possession of a pistol, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal use of a firearm and attempted first-degree robbery.

He was held in lieu of $1 million bond pending arraignment in Superior Court on Tuesday.

Pettway is accused of killing 48-year-old Alfanso Anderson on Feb. 26, 2018, at the Sunnyside Inn on Lake Street.

Police Lt. Chris LaMaine said they developed information that the homicide was committed while Pettway was attempting to collect a debt owed to a prostitute and mistakenly identified Anderson as the man that owed the debt.

No evidence was uncovered to believe that Anderson had any connection to Pettway, the prostitute, or that he had engaged in any illegal conduct; it appears that he was a truly innocent victim, LaMaine said.

Initial investigation of the crime led police to three potential suspects caught on surveillance footage at the motel.

As far as I know, theyre still very, very much investigating, Police Chief Armando Perez said later Friday. Detectives are still working the case.

He said nothing could bring the victim back, but he was glad the arrest could give Andersons family some peace of mind.

This arrest is the result of the outstanding work done by all those who participated in this case, which was led by Detective Martin Heanue. Additionally, the facts of this case would never have come to light without the hard work of Assistant United States Attorney Rahul Kale, LaMaine said.

The chief echoed similar sentiments.

Our detectives are second to none, he said.

Pettway is currently on probation for a 2014 conviction for robbery with a dangerous weapon.
Help support your local hometown newspaper/website. Independent local news reporting matters. Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription, for as little as $3, so we can continue to provide independent local reporting on our communities.
Park House sixth formers praised for their maturity

A GROUP of sixth-formers have been hailed heroes after rushing to the aid of a motorist and a van driver involved in a crash outside Newburys Park House School.

The two-vehicle collision, which involved the van and a car, took place at around 2.15pm on last Thursday.

The force of the crash pushed the van on to a road crossing, where pupils were about to cross.

Everyone managed to get out safely thanks to the quick-thinking actions of students, who contacted emergency services and helped occupants out of both vehicles.

One pupil called 999 and the other immediately opened the van drivers door and asked if he was all right.

They then checked on the motorist of the car, who was badly shaken and had disability needs, fetching the drivers mobility scooter out of the back and assembling it before helping him into it.

One student even steered the car off the road after police had arrived at the scene.

A representative from the van drivers employer praised students for the commendable maturity they displayed.

In an anonymous letter to the schools headteacher, Derek Peaple, the writer said: Dear Mr Peaple, a big thank you to two of your sixth form students and their friends who behaved today in a mature, compassionate and exemplary way.

It concluded: Luckily, they watched the traffic as well as the lights and didnt step out to cross in front of the van.

Mr Peaple said: I was hugely impressed by and proud of the maturity of our students response to the accident which occurred adjacent to the school entrance last Thursday.

A number were actively involved in supporting those involved, with sixth formers Noah Wood-Recio, James Cross, Matthew Rhodes and Oliver MacDonald in particular being commended for the care and compassion they demonstrated throughout.

A spokesperson from Thames Valley Police said: We were contacted by Thames Valley Fire Control Room at 14:39 who informed us of a two-vehicle collision outside Park House School, with the additional information that all the occupants of the cars had got themselves out of their vehicles, but a 71-year-old female was complaining of chest pains.

We sent an ambulance to the scene and the patient was able to be treated and discharged at the scene by the crew.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:13 pm

Id like to take the opportunity to examine Julie McDonalds column about Patty Murray earlier this week.

Its difficult to contrast with McDonald on this issue in some ways because, believe it or not, we share a lot of common ground on the issue. Its not my place to share McDonalds personal stories, but she was certainly a comforting person to me as I was going through fertility treatments to have my first son.

Speaking for myself personally, I can safely say that having to face the reality that you may not be able to conceive and bear your own children is certainly a transformative experience that changes how precious life and motherhood feels. Precarious, even. I remember reading books like Every Drunken Cheerleader, Why Not Me? as I cursed the skies, failed cycle after failed cycle, trying to conceive my first child.

Having gone through through fertility treatments, I would never personally ever consider myself pro-abortion. Life is precious. I think McDonald and I can absolutely, unequivocally agree there.

However, all that said, I found myself frustrated with McDonalds assessment of Senator Patty Murrays vote against Senator Ben Sasses infanticide bill. There is another side of this conversation that deserves to be represented on these editorial pages.

I went back and read conservative news articles on the topic, as well as more progressive assessments, as well as the actual laws on the books themselves  and Id like to give some context to the issue for this audience.

Recently, the State of Virginia passed legislation that revised protocols for women receiving a late-term abortion. Now before we clutch our pearls, lets make a point here: This legislation dealt specifically with women who were experiencing either A) a tragic pregnancy loss late in pregnancy, B) womens whose unborn children had been diagnosed with fatal defect, or C) women whose health was threatened by the pregnancy.

You might ask yourself why this legislation was updated. Well, lets think about this in terms of OB/GYN advancements. When many of our laws outlining legal, medically-sound abortion were written, we had limited means to see inside of the uterus during pregnancy. As sonograms and pregnancy ultrasounds become more accessible and common, more defects are being diagnosed sooner  prior to birth.

This legislation in Virginia made options for women facing such a diagnosis more accessible, so they can choose how they grieve and move on following traumatic loss.

One person might say ending a non-viable pregnancy is morally wrong. On the other hand, a different parent may believe it morally wrong to take such a pregnancy to term, knowing that it could cause suffering for the infant and that no medical intervention can change the outcome. They may seek closure in a way that feels more appropriate to them, given the unique tragedy they are facing.

The point is: It is a highly personal and traumatic family experience. A safe mechanism needs to exist for these situations. We have to be able to talk about the substance of these issues without the rhetoric and hyperbole fueled by clickbait headlines and slanted blogs.

After the Virginia bill passed, Senator Ben Sasse proposed the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, and he proposed it based on a flawed understanding of the update legislation. Some actually argued it was a political stunt for him to do so.

We have laws against infanticide in this country. This is a gross misinterpretation of the actual language of the bill that is being asked to be considered and therefore, I object, Murray (D-Washington) told colleagues on Monday, according to multiple news sources.

Quite frankly, its already illegal to kill infants. In 2004, President Bush signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (inspired by the deaths Laci and Conner Peterson) which even enhanced sentences for maliciously causing deaths of unborn children.

Murray didnt vote against the Born-Alive act because she supports infanticide, as McDonald supposed. She voted against it because its a duplicate law proposed by a Senator who misunderstood the real-world application of the Virginia bill and, in so doing, marginalizes those women and families who the bill is intended to help.

I recognize that McDonald is passionate for children. And I can identify, as I outlined. However, her assessment was essentially the parroting of many of the conservative news articles I read without really delving into the nuts and bolts of the issue. Its simply not the entire story.

I wish that our collective compassion to could extend to women who are actually facing these circumstances, instead of losing their voices in the chaos of misplaced outrage.
The service revenue and profit of Nepal Telecom (Ntc) has fell in the two quarters of Fiscal Year 2075/76. The financial report (unaudited) published earlier shows the decline of their revenue out of their services.

Nepal Telecom earned a total of Nrs 18 billion, 444 million from their main services. Whereas same period last FY 2074/75 showed their service revenue of Nrs 19 billion and 706 million. The income from services fell by 6.41% in the two quarters.

The period of the above data for FY 2075/76 dates from Shrawan 2075 to Poush 2075.

The financial reports cites the popularity of OTT services to negatively affect their interconnection business and hence the decline in the companys revenue from their service. Meanwhile they also try to assure for their effective measure to maintain their revenue.

But the financial report shows the increase in the income other than from their services at 22.71%.

With the service revenue fall, Nepal Telecom also witnesses decline in their net proft in the two quarter. The two quarters of last FY 2074/75 showed a profit of Nrs 7 billion and 482 million whereas this FY 2075/76 same period has a profit of Nrs 6 billion and 341 million only.

Net Profit of Ntc in two quarters 2075/76: Nrs 63,414,20000

Net Profit of Ntc in two quarters 2074/75: Nrs 74,828,14000

Decline: 15.25 %

The paid up capital of Nepal Telecom company is NRs 15 billion. The net worth per share of the company is Rs 706.67.

The earning per share (EPS) of the company also declines from Nrs 99.77 to Nrs 84.55. But they have increased the reserve amount from Nrs 75.34 Arba to Nrs 90.99 Arba in the same period that of FY 74/75 and FY 75/76 respectively.

Apart from the increase in the usage of OTT apps, Nepal Telecom also puts their challenging business environment in terms of competitive telecom landscapeas well as increase in competition and operating expenses. Despite which, they say to have managed to record a noteworthy growth in performanceby expanding its products/ services.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Viber to get latest news, information about Ntc, Ncell, Smart Cell and phones in Nepal.



Recommended:
A Massachusetts convenience store worker is back on the job after being threatened by a man with a syringe.

The incident happened Feb. 13 at the Union Supermarket on Park Street in Lawrence.

Surveillance video shows a male customer, later identified as 35-year-old Eric Aponte, come to the counter, apparently looking to buy something. Aponte then points a syringe at Catia Figuereo without warning as he demands money.

I very, very feeling nervous because the person tried to hurt me, Figuereo said.

Figuereo can be seen on video backing away from the man and the needle.

During the attempted robbery, the suspect grabbed the cash register and tried to take it but he ran out of the store without anything after one of the store's owners emerged from an office.

The owner followed the suspect out of the store, got in his car and watched him until police arrived.

Desperate times call for desperate measures, I guess," Lawrence Police Chief Roy Vasques said of the incident. "Obviously people with addictions are very down and out."

Police aprehended Aponte following a foot chase. He is charged with a number of offenses, including armed robbery.

The store's owners are working with Lawrence police and have installed video surveillance in the store to try and prevent these things from happening.

I am grateful to the police department of Lawrence... We want our customers to feel safe. This area is very dangerous, Figuereo said.

Aponte is being held without bail pending the outcome of a dangerousness hearing that will take place later in February. It's unclear if he has an attorney.
Police in Mansfield, Massachusetts are seeking the public's help to identify two women allegedly seen on surveillance camera shoplifting Patriots gear.

Authorities say the two women stole a handful of Patriots hats and other merchandise from The Paper Store in Mansfield Crossing on January 30, ahead of the Super Bowl.

In a Facebook post published on Friday, Mansfield Police appealed to those who especially enjoy watching Friday night reality crime shows.

"Can we get a little help from our Friday night couch detectives?" the department posted along with surveillance images of the pair. "Do you recognize these two women?"

Anyone who can identify the two women shown the photo are asked to contact Mansfield Police.
A man living in Massachusetts was arrested and arraigned on several charges after he allegedly struck a Tewksbury police vehicle and nearly struck a detective.

Jairo Samuel Andujar, 26, a Dominican National living in Lawrence, was arrested on Feb. 13 for multiple charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, failure to stop for police, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, two counts of possession of a false/stolen RMV document, five counts of identity fraud, false identification information to law enforcement, misleading a police investigation, and numerous motor vehicle violations.

Police say they conducted a traffic stop after observing suspicious activity on Woburn Street. As detectives approached the suspects vehicle, Andujar allegedly put his car in reverse and struck an unmarked police vehicle, nearly striking a detective.

Andujar then pulled forward and went around another unmarked police vehicle, nearly striking it, as well, according to police.

A short police pursuit followed before Andujar was taken into custody on Interstate 495 north.

While Andujar was being booked at the Tewksbury Police Department, he identified himself as Angel Montes-Rodrigues. Officials discovered that Andujar had stolen and assumed the identity of a resident by that name from Puerto Rico.

Authorities say Andujar possessed an authentic Massachusetts drivers license under the name Angel Luis Montes-Rodriguez with his picture affixed. He was also found to be in possession of a social security card, birth certificate, and Massachusetts learners permit all under the name Angel Luis Montes-Rodriguez.

Andujar later admitted that he came to the United States from the Dominican Republic last May and that once here he obtained a stolen identification package for $800 in New York, which was later used to fraudulently obtain the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicle documents.

Andujar was arraigned at Lowell District Court on Feb. 14 and released on $500 cash bail.
A Massachusetts resort employee is facing charges in connection with the alleged rape of a teenager at Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg.

Darren Ngabe, 23, of Fitchburg, was arraigned Wednesday in Fitchburg District Court on charges of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over 14, according to the Worcester District Attorney's office.

Great Wolf Resorts released a statement saying the alleged incident involved two of their employees and that it was actively being investigated.

"We have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to issues of this nature, and are assisting local authorities with their investigation. We have suspended the employee under police investigation and extended our support to the other pack member involved," read the statement from Great Wolf Resorts.

Ngabe's bail was set at $2,500 and he was ordered to have no contact with the victim. He was also ordered to stay away from Great Wolf Lodge.

Ngabe is due back in court on March 12 for a pre-trial conference. It's unclear if he has an attorney.
The Coolidge Corner Library in Brookline, Massachusetts, was closed Saturday in remembrance of a beloved children's librarian who was struck and killed while riding her bicycle.

Paula Sharaga, 69, of Cambridge, died Friday afternoon after she was struck by a cement truck in Boston.

The Public Library of Brookline said in a statement Saturday that it is deeply saddened by Sharaga's death.

"Paula was a wonderful asset to the Coolidge Corner community, which she served for almost two decades. Paula was a fun, caring, thoughtful, and empathetic staff member, and a kind and good friend," the statement read. "An avid bicyclist, dedicated environmentalist, and vigorous political advocate, Paula was loved by all who knew her and will be missed terribly by the staff of the library, and by her friends in the community and around the world. Our hearts go out to Paulas husband and the rest of her family at this terrible time."

As colleagues of Sharaga are mourning, they are also remembering the longtime children's librarian who they say was beloved by kids and their parents.

She was a real firecracker, Library Director Sara Slymon said. Paula was an amazing person, incredible librarian.

Brookline resident Todd Jennings says they used to go to Sharaga's music class all the time.

Our son really liked it," Jennings said. "She was a really great librarian, a really great music teacher.

Sharaga was not only a popular librarian, but the Cambridge resident was also a peace activist and heavily involved in protecting the environment.

And she was always on her bike.

Excellent biker, Slymon said. Always safe, vest, helmet, lights, all the time.

Sharaga was biking through a busy intersection between Fenway Park and the Longwood area when she was struck and killed Friday. Authorities say a preliminary investigation shows the cement truck, which had Boston Sand & Gravel Co. branding on it, was stopped at a traffic light on Brookline Avenue. When the light turned green, the truck started to move forward. Sharaga came into contact with the front end of the truck in the intersection.

The intersection where the crash took place has been a dangerous spot, according to neighborhood groups who have been pushing for change to make it safer.

We would recommend an overhaul of the intersection to include protected bike lanes, said Stacy Thompson, executive director of LivableStreets Alliance. Safer crossing for pedestrians which includes new and different signals.

The library was closed Saturday so grief counselors could be brought in to meet with the staff, and the same thing will take place on Sunday. The library will reopen on Tuesday.

The crash remains under investigation, including the sequence of events leading up to the fatal collision.

No charges have been filed against the cement truck driver, a 67-year-old Salem man. Police say the investigation will determine whether charges are warranted.
United States counterintelligence officials say an emerging threat to national security could wreck entire portions of the nations economy and currently poses as big or bigger threat to the country as foreign terrorism.

Just the latest example of this threat: the indictment last month of a Chinese Apple engineer accused of trying to swipe trade secrets related to the companys self-driving vehicle program. The case, say federal officials, is just the latest in whats become a steady stream of intellectual property theft, mostly based in Silicon Valley. And U.S. intelligence officials warn that American companies and universities are sitting ducks against the government of the Peoples Republic of China, which is willing to throw its full weight behind the effort to steal coveted technology to help drive its economy.

The yearly cost of this threat, according to a 2017 report to Congress: Upwards of $600 billion in losses of intellectual property rights each year. And thats just whats reported to authorities.

What weve seen is the Chinese taking the same intelligence organizations, the same techniques, the same tools that they and other countries have developed over the centuries to spy on one another and applying them to commercial espionage, said John Demers, assistant attorney general for the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

The U.S. Justice Department announced a new plan in November to thwart economic espionage and the pilfering of American trade secrets following indictments against a handful of individuals and companies accused of conspiring to steal semi-conductor company Microns intellectual property.

Assistant AG Demers points to that case in particular as a an example of the US Government successfully fighting foreign economic espionage because multiple executive branches of the government played a role.

We (US Justice Department) charged the company but most importantly in this case then the Commerce Department used its tools and said to the Taiwanese company that was stealing the information you cannot import parts that you need to produce the product, Demers said. Which means they cannot make the product that they were planning on making (with the stolen technology) to compete with the American company. We (the US Government) have deprived the thief really of the benefit of its theft.

John Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, discusses how economic espionage poses threat to US National Security.

Despite the successes, the fight against foreign spies stealing intellectual secrets from American business has intensified of late.

An NBC Bay Area analysis of all US District Court records dating back two decades found economic espionage and theft of trade secrets cases in court are rising sharply. Indictments on those charges are up 45 percent in the past five years compared to the five years prior, NBC Bay Areas Investigative Unit found.

China's Foreign Ministry in December called accusations of economic espionage from the U.S. "slanderous."

Cases on the Rise

China, intelligence officials say, has an official strategic plan called China 2025 where government leaders have decided that there are 10 key groups of technologies and industries where they, the PRC, want to have significant domestic capability. Part of that plan, US Justice Department officials tell NBC Bay Area, involves prying technological secrets from American companies rather than developing the technologies and capabilities themselves through research and development. Its easier and way cheaper and a lot faster to steal, Demers said.

Demers described it as the Chinese taking a Rob, Replicate and Replace approach to help propel their economy.

What I mean by that is, rob the intellectual property of an American company, Demers said. Replicate that product the company produces, and then replace the American product and American company.

Demers said 90% of trade secret theft from the US can be traced to China, and no company, no matter how large, is immune from the threat. NBC Bay Area found thatthe brunt of Chinas efforts seems to be focused on the crown jewels of American technology  researched, developed, and closely guarded here in Silicon Valley.

According to the court records NBC Bay Area analysed Silicon Valley powerhouses such as Apple, Genentech, Cisco, and Intel have all been victimizedmade targets of intellectual property theft.

Assistant special agent in charge of counterintelligence at the FBIs San Francisco field office, Craig Fair, said the private sector needs to do a better job of guarding those secrets and report any issues to the authorities.

NBC Bay Area

A Shared Responsibility

Its a pervasive and its a persistent problem, Assistant Special Agent Fair said. Its one that we as a government are not going to give up on. But its also a shared responsibility, and what we need is for the private sector and for academia to report and be aware that this is actually a problem.

Fair, who, in his role at head of counterintelligence, oversees a secret Bay Area office that, alone, handles 70 percent of the nations economic espionage cases. Fair says Chinas whole society approach to economic espionage makes it especially difficult to stop.

Its not just government actors that are collecting, Fair said. They actually use proxies abroad  whether they are journalists, scholars, businessmen, folks in the technology industry  and there is an expectation that whatever technology, whatever marketing process, or whatever source code they come across or have access to, theres an expectation that its going to be returned to the Chinese government at some point.

Craig D Fair discusses how Silicon Valley is central to emerging economic espionage threat to national security.

Federal officials admit that Silicon Valley companies are sometimes reticent to report or publicize the theft of trade secrets because theyre afraid of angering China, where they have manufacturing plants and millions of potential customers. Several government sources tell NBC Bay Area that many economic espionage cases quietly go away without the public ever hearing about them.

Fighting Back

But some companies do cooperate and are aggressive in fighting intellectual property theft directly. In one high profile example last year, the Silicon Valley high tech lighting company Lumileds won a $66 million civil lawsuit against Chinese competitor Elec-Tech International (ETI). The jury concluded that former Lumileds employees stole trade secrets on behalf of ETI, which used those secrets to develop its own LED technology.

Were happy about the message sent to other people who may have been targeting our technology, Lumileds CEO Mark Adams said. Were going to continue to make sure that others arent doing that.

Beyond the economic impact, Adams worries what the theft of Silicon Valley trade secrets means to national security in the future.

The next world war wont be on the ground, it will be cyber type activity, Adams said. And technologies that we develop in our own backyard, here in the Bay Area, if they get into the wrong hands, could be used against us. And thats a huge concern.

The Color White

Another fascinating recent economic espionage case was based in Oakland.

On a quiet, tree-lined street near downtown, U.S. counterintelligence agents say a spy ring for the PRC used a P.O. box inside a UPS store as a front for operations. According to court records, the lead spy, a man named Walter Liew, lived in a non-descript house in the hills of Orinda, and stashed his stolen secrets in a safety deposit box in a Bank of China branch at 9th and Franklin in Oakland. In this case, FBI Counterintelligence Agent Kevin Phelan said those secrets belonged to DuPont Chemical.

Phelan said DuPont spent decades and millions of dollars developing a powder called Titanium Dioxide, or the secret process for creating the color white.

Its a secret formula worth Billions of dollars in revenue every year. And DuPonts formula makes up 29 percent of the entire worlds $13 Billion supply of white.

They make the white things the whitest and the highest quality, Phelan said.

An inert powder, Titanium Dioxide, is added to everything from Oreo Cookies, to paper, iPhone cases, and buckets of paint. And China had its sights set on stealing Duponts formula and process for making white the whitest.

They said to [Liew], heres a list of items that we need to help grow the PRC to make the country stronger, and we need your help to get them.

It is a $13 billion a year industry and is in endless amount of things. Were talking about titanium dioxide. View more in this video.

The DuPont stolen secrets case is still ongoing. The U.S. government last fall charged four Chinese companies with economic espionage in connection with the case after winning criminal convictions against Walter Liew and others charged in the case in 2012.

During an October, 2018, hearing on the new charges against the four Chinese companies in Oaklands federal court, attorneys representing those companies declined to comment on the case.

Walter Liew was convicted and is now serving time in federal prison. A Federal Appeals Court upheld his conviction.

Phelan, who now works in Paris, says the theft of these secrets threaten the nations security by potentially devastating entire sections of the U.S. economy if the spies succeed in stealing the wrong secrets.

Its being able to protect jobs that people have in Silicon Valley, to protect companies, to protect the banks and the venture capitalists to fund these companies, Phelan said.

And its not just Silicon Valley. In some cases, the economy of entire small towns in middle America are threatened.

It means jobs there, Phelan said. In this case, it means entire towns in places like Delaware and Mississippi, in Tennessee.

In the town of New Johnsonville, Tennessee, population 1,951, The Company Chemours, formerly DuPont, employs about 1,000 people at the largest plant in the world manufacturing Titanium Dioxide  the color white.

Take a tour of New Johnsonville.

The towns mayor, David Cagle, once worked at the plant and worries about the towns future if the secret Titanium Dioxide formula stolen by China someday makes the Chemours plant obsolete.

Its the largest employer we have, Cagle said. People have been working there forever. Its real essential.
Retailer Target has big plans to open relatively small stores in two D.C. neighborhoods, continuing their expansion in the capital.

The superstore signed a lease this week to take over the former Best Buy space at 4500 Wisconsin Avenue NW. A company spokesman said they will open the city's fourth small-format Target there.

The space, which is about 46,000 square feet, became available after the electronics retailer moved out. The new store set to open in 2020.

The same year, Target plans to launch a slightly larger store at New York Avenue and 16th Street NE. That space is about 67,000 square feet  Still a fraction of a typical store that could exceed 100,000 square feet.

Target is working to expand into cramped suburbs and cities stores, where there are plenty of shoppers but limits on available real estate. Two small-format Targets, in Cleveland Park and on Georgia and Eastern Avenues NW, are set to open in early April.

The expansion in the area isn't limited to D.C.: In 2020, a store is also planned for Oxon Hill, Maryland.

A spokesperson for the store says more details will be released closer to the opening date.
The husband of a Virginia woman shot and killed more than two years ago was arrested Friday and charged with murder, police said.

Today, I announce justice is served in an active 2017 homicide investigation, Fairfax County police Maj. Ed O'Carroll said.

Officers received a call about a double shooting in a home in the 9200 block of Okla Drive in Fairfax just before 3:30 p.m. Jan. 6, 2017, and found 51-year-old Donna Pentek and her husband, Laszlo Pentek, shot.

The woman was pronounced dead at the scene, and her husband was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

Neighbors said the couple's daughter, who was 13 years old at the time, found her parents shot and called 911.

This is a sad case," O'Carroll said. "Its the murder of a member of our community  a daughter, a wife, a mom, a friend to many.

Investigators continued working on the case for two years, police said.

Police did not say whether he shot himself, but they do believe he shot his wife.

A SWAT team moved in to make arrest the 55-year-old suspect Friday.
Police are looking for an armed suspect who shot two people at a temporary staffing service in Northeast D.C., fatally wounding one of them.

A gunman wearing a mask and gloves walked into Trojan Labor, in the 1700 block of Hamlin Street NE, and shot two people in the office area.

David Anthony Remen, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, was pronounced dead. He was 32.

The owner of the business was rushed to a hospital with serious injuries.

Police responded before 6 a.m. Both victims were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. A short time later, Remen was pronounced dead.

The office was open at the time of the shooting. Witnesses described chaos, with multiple shots fired.

Detectives are seeking information on any possible motive.

"This does not appear to be a robbery, because it does not appear he tried to take anything," D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said.

One employee said he couldn't think of anyone who would want to target the victims.

"He gave people work," the worker said about the business owner.

The suspect is a black man, between 5 feet 11 inches and 6 feet 2 inches and 140 pounds. He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and black pants, and was armed with a gun, Newsham says.

Detectives are reviewing surveillance footage indoors and outdoors.

Police initially described the victims differently. This story was updated to reflect the latest information.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:12 pm

In the past six months, the newsroom staff at The Chronicle broke two key stories that directly impact the quality of life of people living in our circulation area  and involve the responsible spending of our taxpayer dollars.

We have a series of libraries under the same umbrella, and the executive director was going to close several of them, specifically those in our rural communities. She told the staff to keep it hush-hush. We got wind, brought transparency into the process and those libraries are still open.

Then, the agency leading our transit bus system also went sideways, warning of erroneous impacts if a taxing measure did not pass and publishing such incorrect information in an informational glossy flier, that was deemed campaign material. The problem is there was no indication on the flyer where the information was coming from, or who was paying for it. The state Public Disclosure Commission is now investigating the matter.

Reporter Will Rubin didnt stop digging. Employees of the agency started talking. They eventually put pen to paper and sent out letters claiming the executive director was failing. The director was ordered to stay away from the transit headquarters and an investigation began (he broke that directive last Saturday when he went to the office, much to the horror of some employees working over the weekend).

Our reporter didnt stop his examinations. He discovered the director had been found guilty of embezzlement with a felony conviction. The director failed to disclose this on his job application form. This past week he resigned.

Without The Chronicle, vital community libraries could have closed their doors and the continuance of poor leadership at the transit agency would have continued unchecked.

What do these examples show? What we do really does matter.

Local, independent news is critical to a highly functioning society. Our work makes our communities more efficient and professional and assists our governments in spending our dollars wisely.

A study that came out this summer laments the loss of journalism efforts due to staff cuts at papers across the land, and unfortunately, newspaper closures.

Josh Stearns, the program director of the Public Square Program at the Democracy Fund, is described as a journalist, community builder and civic strategist. He has worked as the director of journalism for the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation and press freedom director at Free Press.

In How We Know Journalism Is Good For Democracy, he wrote at least 900 communities in the United States have profound erosion in their access to local news since 2004. The term news deserts is now part of the lexicon in journalism circles in America.

Stearns believes a healthy democracy needs quality journalism, and he backs up his words with several studies.

He cites examples that conclude civic engagement drops when newspapers close. Political knowledge, voting numbers and the number of people running for office fall away.

Testimony to the Federal Trade Commission based on a study in 2009 stated those that read a newspaper can influence non-voters to vote by a 13 percent increase.

It is simple to understand. A lack of newspaper coverage leads to voters less informed and less interested, making them less likely to vote.

Another study found for every dollar spent on supporting local news, the community benefits. Examples include information sheds the light on corruption via taxpayer supported agencies and government officials. Sometimes its not corruption, but simply poor leadership and processes.

Another study states, Congressmen who are less covered by the local press work less for their constituencies, and that federal spending is lower in areas where there is less press coverage of the local members of Congress.

A separate study states each dollar spent on stories can generate hundreds of dollars in benefits to society.

A review of municipal bond data in the years following a newspaper shuttering its doors shows higher government costs due to the lack of the watchdog work of journalists. The review states cities lacking newspaper oversight have higher long-term borrowing costs which goes directly to citizens wallets and/or diminished services.

More press means more oversight on the bureaucrats and politicians running our cities, counties, states and the federal government.

Pamela Camps is the economics professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. She reports that polluters that are covered by journalist emit 29 percent less in emissions contrasted to businesses that dont have a vibrant press covering their moves.

What we do matters. These are trying times with attacks on us over fake news in an industry struggling to maintain profits.

I remind our great community we do help build stronger communities  and we do need your support to continue in our role as The Fourth Estate.



Michael Wagar is president of Lafromboise Communications, Inc., and publisher of The Chronicle.
The man accused of firing close to 20 bullets into a Hillcrest restaurant while customers and employees were inside could face a 374-year sentence if he is convicted of all 13 counts he is facing.

Police say Stefano Markell Parker, 29, made a "disturbing" Facebook post prior to unleashing a barrage of bullets into the Golden Dragon Asian Bistro on University Avenue Tuesday night.

Nine customers and some employees were inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting, but no one was injured.

The restaurant is in the heart of a neighborhood known around the nation for its LGBTQ community, and a man whose family owns the restaurant said witnessed an altercation between Parker and a group of Asian Americans outside the bistro the weekend prior.

At a Wednesday press conference, SDPD Assistant Chief Al Guaderrama said investigators have more evidence to process before determining the shooting a hate crime.

SDPD Assistant Chief Al Guaderrama said that Parker recently made a Facebook post that was "quite disturbing," but said investigators still have evidence to process before they determine a motive in the shooting.

We have a tremendous amount of evidence that we need to go through before we make the determination that it was a hate crime," Guaderrama said.

The assistant chief could not say if the shooting was premeditated, but prosecutors said Friday that based on the number of shots and location of the bullet holes that the shooting was deliberate.

"It is miraculous that no one was injured. I believe that there was some fast thinking that was done by people that were inside fo the restaurant at that time and they were able to protect themselves. Based off what I've seen, it is clear that this was a premeditated, attempted murder. This was not someone just shooting indiscriminately up in the air. He was aiming at people inside of this restaurant," Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said.

Mayor Kevin Faulconer also spoke at the conference and said he had asked the police department to increase patrols in the Hillcrest neighborhood.

We pride ourselves in San Diego for being a very diverse city and a city that celebrates unique culture. That is never going to change, said Faulconer. We will stand together to denounce violence and we will stand together to support our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.

Parker pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of premeditated attempted murder with a special allegation of discharging a firearm, plus one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of shooting into an occupied building.

The owner of the Golden Dragon told NBC 7 Tuesday night he didn't recognize Parker, but a family member of the owner said that he recognized Parker from an incident at the restaurant on Sunday, Feb. 10.

Mike Tamarkin said he saw a photo of the suspect and realized he had been in a fight with a group of Asian Americans outside the Golden Dragon that day.

"He was just mumbling something incoherent and giving me a weird look and gave me a weird feeling so I was like, screw this and went back inside the restaurant," Tamarkin said.

Tamarkin said he saw homophobic social media posts allegedly made by the suspect, calling them "sad" and "terrible."

Witnesses told SDPD Parker wore a trench coat and calmly walked away after the shooting, carrying the rifle with him. Guaderrama said Parker fled down a nearby alley where another witness saw him taking off his clothes.

Officers made contact with Parker and took him into custody without incident.

A trail of evidence, including clothes that matched the witness description and the rifle, were found discarded in the alley where he was found.

The assistant chief said he was hesitant to release more details of the crime in fear it could hinder the investigation, which he said will last days and consist of interviewing a number of witnesses and processing surveillance video.

We owe it to the community of Hillcrest and those nine victims," he said.

Kollette Lavoy and her father were seated at a table in the back of the restaurant when the shots rang out. She said a piece of shattered glass from the front windows grazed her forehead.

"It felt like forever but then it was purely silent and that's when I just realized you are waiting for footsteps to walk in and just finish the job," Lavoy said.

SDPD has not determined how Parker got a hold of his rifle, but said the weapon he used was not registered to him and had not been reported stolen.

SDPD said they found 19, 5.66 caliber weapon casings outside of the restaurant, which was riddled with bullet holes.

SDPD Officer Audra Brown said the evidence initially led them to Parker as a person of interest. He was questioned for hours before being declared a suspect.

"Its quite a blessing," Brown said. "With that hail of gunfire that went out  that nobody was hit."

According to Guaderrama, Parker's criminal history includes an arrest for homicide in Alabama several years ago.

Investigators are not sure when the crime occured, but believe it happened between 2000 and 2003. Guaderrama said Parker only served four or five years behind bars for the crime.

There couldve been lives lost yesterday  and I think everybody realizes that," Guaderrama said.

Investigators believe there were 11 people inside of the restaurant at the time of the shooting, and prosecutors asked anyone else who was inside to come forward and more charges will be added.

No other suspects are involved in the case. Parker is being held without bail.

San Diego City Council members Chris Ward (District 3), Jennifer Campbell (District 2) and Council President Georgette Gomez (District 9) issued a joint statement Wednesday regarding the shooting and other recent crime in the Hillcrest community.

Over the past week, we have seen an increase in crime and violence in a community that has historically identified as LGBTQIA+. From the cowardly vandalism of Pride Plaza to last nights shooting on University Avenue, it is clear that more must be done to address the rising public safety concerns of our residents. As members of the LGBTQIA+ community and the City Council, we stand united against these acts of violence and hate. What is meant to silence our community will only make us stronger, and we look forward to using that strength to work with the Mayors office and the San Diego Police Department to ensure we truly are a city that is safe for all.
NBC 7 Investigates is uncovering revealing new details of sexual misconduct within the San Diego County Sheriff's Department (SDSO).

A deputy was forced to resign after an internal investigation determined he fondled a homeless woman who was the alleged victim of an assault in a transient encampment.

More than 100 pages of internal investigation documents obtained by NBC 7 tell a multi-level tale of misconduct by former SDSO Deputy Juan Andrade.

According to the investigation, while Andrade was interviewing a homeless woman, the alleged victim of an attack on Jamacha Boulevard on March 11, 2017, the deputy told her he was attracted to her and made inappropriate comments.

The records indicate after seven phone calls he picked her up in his squad car near the encampment at Spring Glen Lane. He dropped her off in the alley behind the SDSO Rancho San Diego substation on Campo Road, fondled her, then promised to return with food for her.

Andrade returned 20 minutes later and took the woman into the substation where he reheated leftovers from breakfast for her.

After she ate, the report says Andrade made inappropriate comments, grabbed the womans hand and placed it on his crotch.

The encounter ended when Andrade told her his shift was about to end and he escorted the woman outside the substation.

Investigators found the deputy's conduct unbecoming of the office and said he failed to meet honest standards. He was also found guilty of incompetency and negligence.

Andrade traded termination for a chance to resign effective May 23, two months after the encounter.

NBC 7 received a copy of the case Friday through a public records request. The details of the case would have never seen the light of day had California Senate Bill 4121 not passed last month.

The open records law effectively gives the public access to discipline records of California Law enforcement officers  specifically, records regarding investigations into sexual misconduct and use of force.

Click here to read the full investigation report.

The release of records under this law is currently being challenged in the courts by eight police agencies in San Diego County.

NBC 7 and five other media organizations have filed motions in court to intervene and push for the release of these records. On Friday, a San Diego judge approved NBC 7's request to intervene, meaning journalists will be able to make their case to a judge on why the release of discipline records is of great public interest.
A riot involving nearly 50 inmates at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility left 10 prisoners wounded Friday, including one so severely that he had to be life-flighted from the prison, officials confirmed.

Several fights erupted simultaneously on the South Bay prison's yard for medium-custody prisoners at about 9 a.m. Friday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said.

CDCR Capt. Philip Bracamonte said guards responded with orders for the prisoners to stop and when that didn't work, pepper spray was used on the inmates to try to break up the fights.

No lethal force was used, Bracamonte said.

At a news briefing Friday afternoon, Bracamonte estimated the riot had lasted about three minutes until, in his words, guards were able to "stop inmates and get them down."

"Inmates eventually did comply and stopped their combative behavior," he added.

NEW INFO: Per State Dept of Corrections. 50 inmates involved in riot at Donovan. Started when several fights and attacks broke out at same time. 10 inmates injured. 1 with serious head injury. No guards were injured. No lethal force used. Homemade weapons recovered. #nbc7 pic.twitter.com/8Xl09TCXLa  Artie Ojeda (@ArtieNBCSD) February 15, 2019

Patrick Walker, Battalion Chief of Cal Fire in the Otay Mesa area said his agency responded to the prison and quickly elevated its response, calling on additional agencies for backup including the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, Chula Vista Fire Department, the CDRC, San Diego County EMS Bureau and Mercy ambulance and air ambulance.

In all, the battalion chief said crews transported 10 patients to local hospitals -- nine by ground and one by air ambulance. A total of 14 ambulances were used to aid patients following the riot.

#DonovanIC [final] Unified Command with @CACorrections has been terminated and all units are available. A big thank you to our local agencies at this incident. @SDFD @chulavistaFD @mercyambulance @sandiegocounty pic.twitter.com/iNWmwcUAYy  CAL FIRE/SAN DIEGO COUNTY FIRE (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) February 15, 2019

Walker said the inmate who was airlifted suffered a major head injury. Three other patients were considered "major trauma" injuries, and the rest suffered minor injuries. Those patients were all taken to hospitals via ground ambulances. He could not elaborate on their conditions.

According to the CDRC, some prison officers were residually affected by the release of pepper spray and were treated at the prison. No other injuries to officers were reported.

In the aftermath, investigators found several makeshift weapons at the scene. Bracamonte said he didn't have details on what those weapons were, and what materials had been used to make them.

Immediately following the riot, the prison was placed on lockdown. SkyRanger 7 spotted inmates outside the facility sitting on the ground in handcuffs. A line of officers was opposite them.

One person wearing a neck brace was loaded in the back of an ambulance staged right outside the door leading to the prison yard before the ambulance took off.

Bracamonte said the investigation is in its beginning stages and detectives are trying to determine the cause of the riot and whether it was premeditated. At the news briefing, he said nothing indicated the riot had been racially motivated by any one group at the facility.

Incident at Donovan State Prison. Weve heard several rounds of apparent gunfire. Weve seen several ambulances roll out. Also, an helicopter air ambulance has landed. #nbc7 Working to get official information. pic.twitter.com/lQClyyDnI5  Artie Ojeda (@ArtieNBCSD) February 15, 2019

Bracamonte said the riot happened while inmates in Unit A were having time outside, in the recreation yard. He said rec time is held daily in that area from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

When the riot started, the inmates were under normal staff observation, Bracamonte said.

The CDRD captain said inmates in Unit A are considered medium custody inmates, classified by the CDRD as a level 3 in terms of security. He said, typically, a level 3 inmate wouldnt be prone to this type of disturbance.

Bracamonte said investigators are looking into any tension or history in Unit A that may have led to the riot.

As the investigation continues, Bracamonte said the facility will be modified, but will not be on lockdown. He said this means inmate movement is limited, so investigators can continue to work at the prison and begin interviewing witnesses.

Donovan Correctional Facility is a state prison located just north of the Otay Mesa Point of Entry and on the outskirts of the Otay Open Space Preserve. Bracamonte said the facility currently houses 640 inmates.

And yet another ambulance leaves Donovan State Prison. Weve noticed white vans are following the ambulances. There are likely guards in those follow up vans. #nbc7 pic.twitter.com/h7xPzuGmFO  Artie Ojeda (@ArtieNBCSD) February 15, 2019

The prison made headlines in June 2018 when a federal lawsuit accused several guards of running a Mafia-style criminal gang at the prison. The lawsuit said prisoners were beaten and retaliated against guards who were allegedly part of the so-called "Green Wall" gang.

In August 2016, four correctional officers were attacked by an inmate at Donovan state prison. The ordeal began when inmate Charles Morgan spit on a correctional officer and hit him in the face. Three more officers were struck by the inmate in that incident.

During Friday's response to the prison, an NBC 7 news crew heard about a half-dozen loud bangs coming from the prison but noted a San Diego County Sheriff's Department shooting range was located near the facility.

Bracamonte confirmed no guns were fired inside the prison during the riot and the gunfire heard by crews was from the nearby firing range.
Weather Alert

...DANGEROUS HEAT EXPECTED THROUGH THE WEEKEND AND INTO NEXT WEEK... A strong high pressure system will build over the Pacific Northwest through the weekend and into next week. Sinking air under the high pressure will result in very hot temperatures and the potential for record highs from Saturday into next week for most areas. ...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON TO THURSDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures of 108 to 114 expected. * WHERE...In Washington, Lower Columbia Basin of Washington. In Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon. * WHEN...From Friday afternoon to Thursday evening. * IMPACTS...Extreme heat will significantly increase the potential for heat related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...There is some possibility that all time record high temperatures will be reached or exceeded during this heat wave. 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. &&
After a teenaged gunman killed 17 students and adults in Parkland, Florida, Jai Patel helped to organize Jersey City, New Jersey's, March for Our Lives, the demonstrations against gun violence that burst out across the country last year, spurred by the survivors of the Valentine's Day shooting.

The 19-year-old Patel said that the children who lived through the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 were too young to demand justice but that his generation was not. He became even more determined last month when he and his friends found themselves running from bullets after a fight broke out at a mall in Jersey City.

"It was crazy," he said. "The first gunshot went off and youre frozen solid to the ground. You're like, 'What am I supposed to do now?'"

He hid in a store bathroom, angry at how guns, whether used in gang-related shootings at malls or mass shootings in schools, offices, churches and synagogues, have traumatized him and his peers.

"Your right to own a gun should not infringe on my right to live peacefully," said Patel, now a first-year student at Rutgers University and the founder of the Hudson County, New Jersey, chapter of Students Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, an offshoot of Moms Demand Action.

That point was central to a manifesto by the students from Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who wrote that giving civilians access to soldiers' weapons was a "gross misuse" of the Second Amendment that endangered their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Parkland shooter used an AR-15, a type of gun favored by many mass murderers.

"I think that it was genius on their part to frame it that way," said another student, Alanna Miller of Southlake, Texas, outside of Dallas, and a volunteer for Students Demand Action there.

Kris Brown, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said that the students' decision to set their inalienable rights as spelled out in the Declaration of Independence against the Second Amendment was a key to shifting the debate. Last year, a record number of candidates sought her group's endorsement in the midterm elections -- it backed 70 in all -- and many Democrats in particular ran on strong gun violence prevention programs.

"The narrative that had been owned by the NRA for a long time is, 'Dont do anything to infringe on my constitutional rights,' meaning the Second Amendment right to own a gun," Brown said. "What these kids are articulating is, 'Do something to protect my fundamental rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.' Those are fundamental rights too and I think that has sparked something that is very gut level, and very basic with kids, who frankly feel afraid."

Polls show that young people care more about the issue of gun violence than older Americans. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll in October found that 5 percent of all registered voters listed guns as the most important factor in deciding their vote in the midterm elections, but among 18- to 29-year-olds, that number rose to 13 percent.

Polling done by Tufts University's CIRCLE, or The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, around the midterm elections found that 56 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds said they supported the gun-violence prevention movement. Those who identified as supporters or members of the movement were both more likely to report voting -- 65 percent of supporters said that they had voted -- and being contacted by campaigns and candidates, said the center's director, Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg. More than half of young Americans paid attention to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and slightly less than half, 43 percent, said it affected whom they voted for, at least somewhat, she said.

Last year was a deadly one. Besides the Parkland shootings, 10 people died at Santa Fe High School in Sante Fe, Texas, five staff members at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Annapolis, Maryland, 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and another 12 at the Borderline Bar and Grill in Thousand Oaks, California.

A team of more than 200 student journalists assembled by The Trace, a nonprofit news organization that reports on gun violence, and working with the Miami Herald wrote stories about 1,200 young people 18 and younger who were killed since the Parkland shooting.

But the year also has been a pivotal one for gun legislation groups: the Brady Campaign; Everytown for Gun Safety, including Moms Demand Action; and the Giffords Gun Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Twenty-six states passed gun violence prevention legislation, according to the Giffords Law Center, including 14 states with Republican governors. Compared to that, seven states approved of new gun rights laws.

The newly-in-charge House Democrats have already introduced a bill expanding background checks, though it is unlikely to be considered in the Republican-controlled Senate despite strong support from the public. Some 90 percent of Americans back such a step, according to a number of polls, and nearly three quarters of National Rifle Association members.

Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, noted that only a handful of legislators can block laws from being passed, as the country saw after the Sandy Hook shooting. But the Parkland students sparked an invigorated debate about gun violence that is playing out on social media and in city halls and statehouses across the country.

"I don't think there's any going back," she said. "There's no going back to the days where gun safety is the third rail of American politics."

After Parkland, Moms Demand Action was ready to absorb the thousands of new volunteers who came forward, Watts said. The organization has more than 5 million supporters and chapters in every state, she said. Now when a gun bill is being debated in a place like Montana, for example, dozens of Moms Demand Action volunteers will show up.

"And that has really shifted the optics and the dynamics of this conversation," she said.

Miller, a senior at Carroll Senior High School in Southlake, had researched the country's gun lobby and gun violence prevention as part of her school's debate team but knew of no way she could get involved. That was especially true in a more gun friendly state like Texas, she thought, though she was later surprised by how many of her schoolmates participated in a walkout.

"Until Parkland," she said. "Parkland changed everything because the students weren't just asking for thoughts and prayers as we're used to hearing all the time, it wasn't them asking for time to mourn but it was them coming out so confidently, so eloquently and becoming public figures of something they didn't ever ask to represent. But they took on that role and responsibility."

She said she felt that as someone with knowledge on the topic and experience in public speaking, she also had a responsibility to be an advocate.

"I also was somebody who was born in 2000 and has grown up in a post-Columbine world, and in my school I've had lockdown drills since kindergarten and we've had scares in our district," Miller said.

When Students Demand Action was launched nationally, she joined.

"There was finally a place for where I fit into the movement," she said.

Maren Frye, an 18-year-old in Berkeley, California, was one of the founders of the first Students Demand Action groups after the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016. When she talks about guns, she does it in terms of making the country safe for children, she said. Gun violence is the leading cause of death among black children and teenagers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"I think one of the most important things that has helped galvanize this movement is framing it in terms of a public safety issue rather than a political issue," she said. "Because we know that the politics of common sense gun reform divides people."

"When we talk about students' lives and and students' right to be safe at school it shifts that discussion," she added.
Republicans in Pennsylvania's Senate have been paying the legal bills of the chamber's ex-security chief in lawsuits by two women accusing him of harassing them while on the job as Senate security guards.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati's office has approved at least $23,355 to cover the legal bills of former security director Justin Ferrante, according to a report published by The Philadelphia Inquirer, LNP and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

An aide to Scarnati said Senate officials decided to cover Ferrante's bills in part because the Senate is also named as a defendant and that some allegations in the lawsuits "are likely not accurate."

"The senator believes that there needs to be due process afforded to employees and members," the aide, Drew Crompton, wrote in an email Friday.

There are other similar cases, including one pending in federal court, where the same decision to pay legal bills was made by Democrats, Crompton wrote.

In a recent court filing, Ferrante denied all allegations of wrongdoing or misconduct. Ferrante resigned in late 2017 amid allegations of harassment, including texting the women photos of genitals and feces.

Jennifer Storm, the state's victim advocate, said covering Ferrante's legal bills is a "slap in the face of these two women."

"I'm a little hard-pressed to understand where the Senate feels obligated to cover legal bills of a former employee when sexual harassment is not part of his official duties," Storm said.

The Senate is not paying lawyers' fees for the two women who are suing.

Sue Salov, the assistant security director, still works for the Senate, and said in her lawsuit that the Senate tolerated and perpetuated a culture that allowed for harassment and discrimination. Keah Tingler retired on disability last fall after she said she suffered a nervous breakdown.
Two people being questioned in the alleged attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett have been released.

"Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete," Chicago police spokesman Tom Ahern said.

The news comes hours after police said the suspects were arrested and were being interrogated.

"Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime and we are working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues," Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement, noting no charges had been filed at the time.

Two brothers affiliated with "Empire" were picked up for questioning as they arrived at O'Hare International Airport Wednesday evening, according to authorities. At the time, they were classified as "persons of interest."

Police did not elaborate on the brothers' roles on the show.

The Chicago Police Department threw cold water on reports Thursday night that Smollett staged his own attack in response to his character being written off of the show.

"Media reports about the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives," CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi tweeted. "Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate."

Media reports anout the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate. pic.twitter.com/iSO5YFv452  Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 15, 2019

A CBS reporter also tweeted the theory, citing "top sources."

A statement from 20th Century Fox Television, which produces "Empire," denied that Smollett was being taken off the show.

The idea that Jussie Smollett has been, or would be, written off of EMPIRE is patently ridiculous," it reads. "He remains a core player on this very successful series and we continue to stand behind him."

Police first said they identified and were questioning two persons of interest in the case Thursday morning.

"After a meticulous investigation with the use of advanced technology, interviews with the victim and witnesses and transportation records, detectives have identified two persons of interest in the Empire cast member case," police said in a statement.

The development came on the same morning Smollett's first television interview since the alleged attack aired.

We are pleased there is progress in the case and are waiting to hear further details," a spokesperson for Smollett said in a statement.

Smollett told police on Jan. 29 that two masked men punched him, subjected him to racist and homophobic insults, threw an "unknown chemical substance" on him and put a thin rope around his neck before fleeing. Smollett's account to detectives included that his attackers yelled that he was in "MAGA country," an apparent reference to the Trump campaign's "Make America Great Again" slogan that some critics of the president have decried as racist and discriminatory.

The alleged attack occurred in the 300 block of East Lower North Water Street about 2 a.m. as the actor returned home from an early-morning visit to a Subway restaurant, according to the police report.

Smollett said in the interview that he was left in shock after the incident and inititally didnt want to report it to police.

"I was looking at myself, just like checking myself out. I saw the bruise on my neck, you know, like the little -- the rope burn around my neck," he said. "So when the police came I kept the clothes on, I kept the rope on me... I mean, it wasn't, like, wrapped around. But, yeah, it was around because I wanted them to see."

Smollett said he's "pissed off" not just by the attack itself but by those questioning his story.

"For me, the main thing was the idea that I somehow switched up my story, you know? And that somehow maybe I added a little extra trinket, you know, of the MAGA thing," Smollett said. "I didn't need to add anything like that. They called me a f-----, they called me a n------. There's no which way you cut it. I don't need some MAGA hat as the cherry on top of some racist sundae."

The Chicago police report lists the weapon in the alleged attack as "hand, feet, teeth, etc."

"He is a victim," Chicago police Supt. Eddie Johnson recently said of Smollett. "And we treat him like a victim. He's been very cooperative."

Hours of surveillance video from multiple cameras in the area where Smollett says the attack happened were reviewed, but police have said no footage of an attack has been found.

Smollett handed over redacted phone records to Chicago police Monday, but authorities said the records "do not meet the burden for a criminal investigation as they were limted and heavily redacted."

A representative for Smollett said the redacted records were to protect the privacy of his contacts.

"They wanted me to give my phone to the tech for three to four hours. I'm sorry but -- I'm not gonna do that," Smollett said in the interview. "Because I have private pictures and videos and numbers: my partner's number, my family's number, my castmate's number, my friends' numbers, my private emails, my private songs, my private voice memos."

Only one image has been released of possible "persons of interest." It remained unclear if the two in the photo are the men currently being questioned.

"I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them," Smollett said in the interview. "Never did."
A Florida man received a huge IRS refund by falsely claiming he paid $1 million in taxes, authorities said Friday.

The IRS has recouped much of the $980,000 refund from Tampa resident Ramon Christopher Blanchett, who federal prosecutors said told a seven-digit lie on his 2016 income tax returns.

Blanchett called himself a "freelancer" and reported $18,497 of income that year, according to an asset forfeiture complaint filed last month by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa.

But in that same self-prepared 1040 return, filed Feb. 21, 2017, Blanchett also reported that $1 million had been withheld in taxes, which led to a $980,000 refund check, federal authorities said.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:14 pm

I read with interest and a bit of outrage the article in the Feb. 9 edition of The Chronicle regarding the resignation of Derrick Wojcik-Damers from Twin Transit.

I will excuse the board for trusting the Prothman Co. to do the fairly simple job of finding a qualified employee after paying them $24,000 for the task. However, I dont understand why board members Bobby Jackson and Chad Taylor felt the need to go out of their way to praise and make excuses for Wojcik-Damers.

It appears that he wasnt up to the task of managing the employees and operations of the organization, and he was dishonest about his past financial indiscretions to boot. For his trouble, he is publicly praised for being a swell guy, given six months pay and health care, and $5,000 to skip town as well!

So I offer this tip to those of you who have lofty career ambitions: There is going to be a lucrative position coming up at Twin Transit. The only qualifications are an audacious sense of entitlement and a good lawyer.

Pete Hammer

Chehalis
What to Know New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art says it's returning a prized artifact to Egypt after learning it was stolen from the country in 2011

The Manhattan District Attorney's office found evidence that the Met was given a false ownership history for the gilded Coffin of Nedjemankh

The Met bought the piece from a Paris art dealer in 2017 and displayed it until this week

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art says it's returning a prized artifact to Egypt after learning it was stolen from the country in 2011.

The Met said Friday that the Manhattan District Attorney's office found evidence that the museum was given a false ownership history for the gilded Coffin of Nedjemankh.

The Met bought the piece from a Paris art dealer in 2017 and displayed it until this week. Nedjemankh was a high-ranking first century BC priest.

Investigators say the Met was given fraudulent documents, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license.

Met president Daniel Weiss apologized to Egypt. He said the museum was a fraud victim and unwitting participant in the illegal trade of antiquities.

The Met says it's cooperating with the DA's investigation and revising its acquisitions process.
What to Know Joseph Comunale, of Stamford, Connecticut, was stabbed to death in November 2016 at an Upper East Side apartment after a night of partying

The 26-year-old's body was recovered Nov. 16 in NJ; a criminal complaint says he was stabbed more than a dozen times and burned

Three men, including the adopted son of jeweler-to-the-stars Jeffrey Rackover, were convicted of various charges in the Hofstra grad's death

A third man accused in the death of a Hofstra graduate who was brutally murdered after a night of partying in Manhattan more than two years ago pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution Friday, wrapping up a disturbing and mystifying case that stretched across three states.

Max Gemma, a 31-year-old from Oceanport, New Jersey, was the only one of the three suspects not to be charged with murder or manslaughter in the death of 26-year-old Joseph "Joey" Comunale, whose body was found in a shallow grave in Gemma's hometown on Nov. 16, 2016.



Prosecutors have said Comunale, of Stamford, Connecticut, was stabbed more than a dozen times in a luxury Upper East Side apartment owned by James Rackover, the adopted son of jeweler-to-the-stars Jeffery Rackover, after a night of partying with alcohol and cocaine.

Rackover was found guilty of second-degree murder and other crimes. He was sentenced to life in prison in December. The other killer, Lawrence Dilione, of Jersey City, got a 23-year sentence earlier this month after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter in January. Gemma will be sentenced in April.



In a statement Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance said that while the convictions would never undo the suffering of Comunale or Comunale's family, he hoped they would help the family continue to heal from the trauma and loss.



"Two years ago, Joseph Comunale, a bright and beloved 26-year-old man, was taken from his family and friends in a crime of unbelievable violence and cruelty," Vance said. "Now, each of the men responsible for stabbing Joey to death, dumping his body in a shallow grave, desecrating his remains, and trying in vain to destroy the evidence, have been convicted for their crimes."



Prosecutors have said it was Rackover and Dilione who shoved Comunale's body out one of Rackover's apartment windows and stuffed it in a duffel bag in the trunk of a black Mercedes that Rackover was seen driving. Records showed the Mercedes leaving Manhattan and traveling through the Holland Tunnel to New Jersey, where the body would eventually be found torched in a makeshift grave. A gas canister sat nearby.

Bloody clothing, sheets and towels were found in Rackover's apartment during the course of an investigation, prosecutors have said. The black Mercedes Rackover had been seen driving was later returned to Manhattan, left in a parking garage on East 58th Street, and a cadaver dog made a positive alert for a body or bodily fluids in the trunk area, the complaint said.
The grieving mother of a New Jersey girl killed by a police vehicle demanded answers after the department and prosecutors would not release details on her daughter's death at a Thursday afternoon news conference.

Though officials would not name the girl, her family identified her as 17-year-old Narreada Robles. She was near the intersection of Harrison Avenue and East State Street in Camden shortly after 10 p.m. Wednesday when she was struck by the Camden County Police Department vehicle, Camden County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman Alexandra McVeigh said.

"I feel dead inside. What they did to my daughter isn't fair," a weeping Lidia Robles said as she and other family members gathered to place candles and flowers at the site of the girl's death.

Family said the teen had just exited a bus near the intersection when she was struck. "They dragged her," said aunt Brenda Carter as she pointed to a streak of blood on the pavement.

Authorities have released few details about the crash, but McVeigh said the officer was responding to a call and had the cruiser's lights on at the time of the crash. However, McVeigh did not mention whether or not the vehicle's sirens were also on.

"The policy is that any time that an officer is responding to an emergency call for service, depending upon the situation, generally they'll have their overheads activated to signal a warning to the motorized public at large, and people at different points in time - depending upon the call - they'll have their sirens activated as well," Camden County Police Department Chief Scott Thomson said.

Thomson said the department's police vehicles have a "black box" of sorts that officials can use to determine which vehicle functions were activated. He added that the department will be working with city and county officials moving forward to determine safety measures at the intersection where the crash happened. One such measure could include a traffic light, he said.

But that answer did not did not satisfy the girl's mother, who, along with family, is demanding that the department release dashcam video of the crash.

"I want justice for my daughter. That's all I want," Lidia Robles said.

Narreada Robles was a senior at Woodrow Wilson High School. Family members said she was an example to her younger siblings and was planning on attending college after graduation. Grief counselors were made available for students at her school.

The officer was placed on administrative leave as the investigation continues.
Two fugitive bankers from Ecuador, whose relatives made political donations to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) and other leading politicians in the hopes of avoiding extradition, have been arrested by immigration agents in Florida.

Homeland Security officials said William and Roberto Isaias have been in the U.S. illegally for years, living in Florida and running their businesses there after fleeing Ecuador, where they were convicted in absentia in 2012 of embezzlement.

The Isaias brothers have long been suspected of moving some of their ill-gotten millions into the U.S. The pair vehemently deny any wrongdoing.

Relatives and employees of the brothers have donated more than $300,000 to U.S. political campaigns since 2010 amid the brothers' ongoing efforts to avoid being sent back to Ecuador to serve their prison sentences. Their arrests this week come after NBC New York in 2014 first revealed the brothers' presence in Miami and the familys political donations.

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested unlawfully present Ecuadorian nationals William and Roberto Isaias in Miami Feb. 13," said ICE Miami spokesman Nestor Yglesias. "Both men were then transferred to ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations and are presently in agency custody pending removal proceedings."

The spokesman would not say why the arrest took place now after years of their living in large homes and running businesses in the Miami area.

More than $100,000 in Isaias family donations went to members of Congress over the years, including Menendez and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. Menendez was among several congressional members who wrote letters to the State Department and the Department Homeland Security in support of the Isaias brothers amid their immigration struggles.

Menendez couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but in an interview on MSNBC on Saturday, the senator defended the bankers.

"This is a family that was persecuted by the then-president of that country, who took their television [stations] and took their free media, ultimately by state control, and ultimately took them," he said. "Everything our government has independently investigated found they were wrongly pursued. If they had been correctly pursued, then there would have been a grant of extradition by the Bush administration, a Republican administration or the Obama administration, a Democratic administration."

"So therefore, I think that it's pretty clear... on a bipartisan basis.. . that these are trumped-up charges," he maintained.

But several past U.S. ambassadors to Ecuador had called for the brothers to be deported. In 2005, then-U.S. Ambassador Kristie Kenney in a diplomatic cable said the brothers "...used their ill-gotten wealth to buy safe passage from Ecuador and later pressured prosecutors to reduce criminal charges against them."

Former U.S. Ambassador Linda Jewell also repeatedly voiced concern about the Isaias brothers' presence inside the United States. But Justice Department officials had said past extradition filings by Ecuadors government lacked sufficient proof.

In December, Floridas State Supreme Court let stand a civil suit by the government of Ecuador against the Isaias brothers. Plaintiff attorney Alvin Davis said they are seeking about $1 billion dollars in damages from the Isaias brothers for their banking crimes.

"Its about time," Davis said. "Someone has lifted the protective curtain around them."

Davis pushed back against Menendezs claims on MSNBC. He said it is not correct that past extradition requests were turned down because they were without merit. The U.S. Justice Department wanted additional information and the process is ongoing.

In 2012, Isaias relatives also gave $100,000 to the Democratic Party around the time another relative, Estefania Isaias, was accused of visa fraud by the State Department. She denies the allegations that she improperly smuggled maids into the U.S. from Ecuador to work at the Isaias Miami homes. Menendez wrote letters and made phone calls to try to help Estefania Isaias obtain permission to stay in the U.S. after the fraud allegations had surfaced. She was never charged and was permitted to stay in the country.

The Isaias family has said the charges against the bankers were politically motivated by a corrupt Ecuadorean government. Reached by phone, Xavier Castro, a close friend and one-time lawyer for the brothers in Ecuador, said the arrest is "unfortunate" and "disappointing" but that he did not know which attorney was handling the brothers immigration case in Miami.

A government source familiar with the Miami detention said William and Roberto Isaias are expected to remain in immigration custody pending removal hearings.

The Isaias brothers' presence in Florida has been a source of contention between the U.S. and Ecuador for years. The two governments have also been debating the presence of fugitive Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
On the eve of the day Broward County remembered those lost one year ago in Parkland, the man in charge of the sheriff's office on that tragic day appeared solemn and subdued, as he spoke to a political club that had supported him in the past.

"There's a lot of love in this room, tonight," now-suspended sheriff Scott Israel said at a Wednesday night meeting of the Dolphin Democrats in Wilton Manors. "Unfortunately and sadly I come to you with a heavy heart and you're here with a heavy heart."

The room fell hush as Israel recounted how he "spent the last year trying to make sense of the senseless ... I've been absolutely overwhelmed with shock and tremendous grief. I know how I feel and you feel. I can't fathom how the families feel who lost loved ones."

Many of them feel he should be permanently removed from office.

Asked by the NBC 6 Investigators what he had to say to those families, Israel said, "I pray for them. I pray for their loss, try to make sense of the senseless. I'll never push back  I may push back on what the governor's done, I will push back in court  but I won't push back on a parent who's lost a child. They can say what they want. They can feel the way they want and I won't push back or respond."

Next week, a special master appointed by the president of the Florida Senate will begin preliminary discussions about how to address Israel's fate. On Jan. 11, Gov. Ron DeSantis kept a campaign promise and suspended Israel, citing neglect of duty and incompetence. The Senate can remove him permanently or restore him to office. Israel has also vowed to file a lawsuit to challenge the governor's action.

If he loses on both fronts, he has said he will run again in 2020 to regain the office he has been elected to twice.

While speaking to the Democratic club, whose mission is to foster goodwill between LGBTQA members of the Democratic Party and the community at large, he was respectful of the timing and did not engage at length about his status in political purgatory.

He did tell the group this; "Tonight I have a lot more that I want to say. You know I come here tonight as your suspended sheriff. I can't even put into words how unjust that is This absolutely is a political move, nothing more and nothing less."

But, he added, "Tonight is the night, tomorrow, where we memorialize, we think where we were a year ago today and we think about what we could do even in our small little worlds to prevent these mass tragedies from happening."

After his speech, in an interview, NBC 6 Investigators  noting his deputies failed to run toward the danger after hearing gunshots that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School  asked if the suspension was justified because the buck stops with him.

"Absolutely not," he answered. "I'm responsible for all the actions and inactions of any Broward Sheriff's deputy. That goes without saying. I'm not responsible nor is any Broward Sheriff's deputy responsible for the killings. That was the responsibility of an evil killer."

But, even in this largely friendly political crowd, the one question he fielded  from a man who said he was a longtime supporter  dealt with a key issue that has bedeviled Israel after the massacre: his decision to change policy to say a deputy "may" enter a building  instead of "shall" enter a building -- to confront an active assailant.

"There was no training issue," he answered. "No policy issue, no word issue. This was about a deputy who chose not to go in and you cannot evaluate courage."

In fact, deputies told state investigators they were trained to go in and confront a shooter  regardless of the discretion afforded them in the policy. And a state commission found other agencies in Florida had similar policies and some had no policies at all.

As proof school resource deputy Scot Peterson's inaction was not ingrained in the agency by training or policy, Israel pointed to another deputy.

"You all know the name Peterson, but not many people if at all know the name Jesse Madrigal," he said, before describing how that deputy acted in January 2017, after a man opened fire at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, killing five.

"Jesse took the killer into custody in 72 seconds," he said. "Same sheriff, same training, same policies. Some people are going to go in and some people are not."
Here are some of the top stories of the past week for the NBC 6 Weekend Digest:

Worker at Miami Italian Restaurant Tested Positive for Hepatitis A

The Florida Department of Health is encouraging anyone who has dined at a Miami-area restaurant to seek medical assessment after identifying a positive case of hepatitis A in a food worker.

The restaurant is Primo's Italian Kitchen and Bar at 1717 North Bayshore Drive.

For more information, click here.

White Woman Threatens Black Florida Deputy With KKK During Arrest

A white woman in Florida who was stopped on suspicion of drunk driving told a black deputy she would have the Ku Klux Klan burn crosses on his property.

An arrest report says she smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and was unsteady on her feet.

For more information, click here.

Miami-Dade Schools Vote on Medical Marijuana

The Miami-Dade School Board is a step closer to developing a policy to deal with kids who need to take medical marijuana.

The district is one of a handful in the state without a policy despite state law requiring it.

On Wednesday, school board members voted to start a process that could lead to a policy.

For more information, click here.

State Legislator Suggests Shutting Down UCF Over Spending

A top Florida legislator suggested shutting down one of the nation's largest universities due to improper spending.

Rep. Randy Fine sharply criticized the University of Central Florida on Wednesday. In his remarks, Fine threw out the idea of shutting down UCF for five to ten years.

For more information, click here.
The Florida Department of Health is encouraging anyone who has dined at this Miami-area restaurant to seek medical assessment after identifying a positive case of hepatitis A in a food worker.

Anyone who frequented Primo's Italian Kitchen and Bar at 1717 North Bayshore Drive between January 26 to February 7 is encouraged to get vaccinated against hepatitis A if they haven't done so already, health officials said Friday.

Hepatitis A is an infection of the liver that can be caused by the hepatitis A virus. It can be spread when a person eats food or drinks beverages that have been handled by a person infected with the virus without healthy hygiene practices.

For more information on the alert and hepatitis A, click here.
Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke said amid the debate about building out the wall on the border with Mexico that, if he could, he would take down existing barriers, NBC News reported.

"Absolutely, I'd take the wall down," the Democrat from the border town of El Paso told MSNBC's Chris Hayes in an interview Thursday, adding that the 600 miles of wall and fencing already built along the border haven't made Americans demonstrably safer.

O'Rourke's comment comes after he was asked on Twitter by current Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, if O'Rourke would "snap your fingers" and eliminate El Paso's border wall.

On Monday, while President Donald Trump was in El Paso rallying support for his proposed border wall, O'Rourke led a rally nearby challenging his message.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel drew lengthy applause Saturday for her spirited defense of a multilateral approach to global affairs and support for Europe's decision to stand by a nuclear deal with Iran.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was not among the impressed, however, and he doubled down on American criticism of Europe.

Merkel's comments at the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of world leaders and top global defense and foreign policy officials, followed days of acrimony between the U.S. and Europe over Iran.

Merkel told the group  which included the largest U.S. delegation ever with dozens of members of Congress, Ivanka Trump, Pence and others  that she shared American concerns about many Iranian efforts to increase its power in the region.

But while she said the split with the U.S. over Iran's nuclear agreement "depresses me very much," she defended it as an important channel to Tehran, stressing the need for international diplomacy.

"I see the ballistic missile program, I see Iran in Yemen and above all I see Iran in Syria," she said. "The only question that stands between us on this issue is, do we help our common cause, our common aim of containing the damaging or difficult development of Iran, by withdrawing from the one remaining agreement? Or do we help it more by keeping the small anchor we have in order maybe to exert pressure in other areas?"

Germany, Britain, France, China, Russia and the European Union have been trying to keep the 2015 deal with Iran alive since U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled out of it last year.

The deal offers Iran sanctions relief for limiting its nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said that, so far, Tehran is sticking to the agreement.

But the U.S. argues that the deal just puts off when Iran might be able to build a nuclear bomb. Speaking after Merkel, Pence pushed for Europeans to end their involvement in the nuclear deal, calling Iran "the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

"The time has come for our European partners to stop undermining U.S. sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime," Pence said. "The time has come for our European partners to stand with us and with the Iranian people, our allies and friends in the region. The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal."

Merkel's speech was warmly received, while Pence's was met with polite applause.

"This was a big and say-it-as-it-is Merkel speech," Daniela Schwarzer, the director of the German Council on Foreign relations think tank, wrote on Twitter. "Minutes of applause and standing ovations for a powerful commitment to picking up the pieces of a shattered (world) order and working on a European and (international) order that creates win-win situations."

Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who was in office when the Iran nuclear deal was negotiated, went out of his way to thank Merkel and defended the Iran deal as a "significant agreement."

Biden told the group that many Americans did not agree with the Trump administration's "America first" approach.

"You heard a lot today about leadership but in my experience, leadership only exists if somebody and others are with you," he said after Pence's address. "Leadership in the absence of people who are with you is not leadership."

In her speech, Merkel also questioned whether it was a good idea for the U.S. to withdraw troops quickly from Syria "or is that not also strengthening the possibilities for Iran and Russia to exert influence there?"

Turning to nuclear disarmament, Merkel said the recent U.S. announcement that it was pulling out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty was "inevitable" because of Russian violations.

Moscow followed suit by also withdrawing from the treaty, strongly denying any breaches. The U.S. administration was also worried that the pact was an obstacle to efforts to counter intermediate-range missiles deployed by China, which is not covered by the treaty.

Merkel noted the treaty was conceived "essentially for Europe," where such missiles were stationed during the Cold War. She said "the answer cannot lie in blind rearmament."

"Disarmament is something that concerns us all, and we would of course be glad if such negotiations were conducted not just between the United States ... and Russia, but also with China," she said.

Merkel also defended Germany's progress in fulfilling NATO guidelines for countries to move toward spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense by 2024, which has been criticized as too slow. And overall, she rejected the idea of a go-it-alone foreign policy.

She said it's better to "put yourself in the other's shoes ... and see whether we can get win-win solutions together."

Pence stuck to the U.S. line that the 2 percent NATO guideline is a strict commitment rather than a target, saying while more alliance members have met the criteria, "the truth is, many of our NATO allies still need to do more."

He also reiterated American opposition to the joint German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, which Washington fears will make Europe overly reliant on Russian gas.

"The United States commends all our European partners who've taken a strong stand against Nord Stream 2," he said. "And we commend others to do that same."

He added: "We cannot ensure the defense of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East."

Merkel defended the pipeline under the Baltic Sea, dismissing the American concerns as unfounded and assuring Ukraine that it won't get cut off from Russian fuel.

Speaking as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko looked on, she told him his country would continue to be a transit country for Russian gas even after the pipeline is complete.

Merkel noted that Europe also has enough terminals to receive more liquefied gas from the U.S., among other options.

"There's nothing that speaks against getting gas from the United States, but to exclude Russia is the wrong strategic signal," she said.
Six people are dead, including the alleged gunman, and five police officers were wounded following an active shooter situation at a a sprawling industrial complex in Aurora.

Aurora police have confirmed that five police officers were also shot as they tried to get to the shooter inside the 29,000-square-foot building. All five have been transported to local hospitals, and a sixth officer suffered a knee injury.

Police are continuing their investigation into a shooting at an Aurora industrial complex at the shooters home, and NBC 5s Charlie Wojciechowski has the latest details.

On Saturday morning, police identified the five victims as:

Clayton Parks of Elgin, Illinois

Trevor Wehner of DeKalb, Illinois

Russell Beyer of Yorkville, Illinois

Vicente Juarez of Oswego, Illinois

Josh Pinkard of Oswego, Illinois

Police have not established a motive in the shooting, but believe that the shooter, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, was a former employee of the business. Chief of Police Kristen Ziman said investigators believe Martin was fired the day of the rampage. She said Martin used a Smith & Wesson handgun in the shooting.

Aurora police have not yet identified the victims, but families can go to Aurora University's public safety building for unification. Ziman did say all of the fatalities were male as well as the wounded officers.

The city's Twitter account posted at 3 p.m. "the shooter has been apprehended." Police said the scene was secured and the "shooter is no longer a threat to the area."

FBI, ATF Among Massive Response to Aurora Active Shooter Situation

At least one person was confirmed dead in the shooting, according to Chris Nelson, a spokesperson for Kane County Coroner Rob Russell's office. Further information on the fatality was not immediately known.

At least two patients from the area were taken to Presence Mercy Medical Center, but their conditions remained unknown, the hospital said. According to Olga Solares with Amita Health and Presence Mercy Medical Center, the hospital was placed on its highest alert to respond to the shooting.

Rush Copley Medical Center also said it has received three patients who are being treated for non-life threatening injuries. Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital also reported receiving one patient each. Conditions were not immediately known, according to Advocate Aurora Health.

The mayor's office confirmed four officers were injured but were in stable condition. Spokesperson Clayton Mohammad also reported civilian injuries but would not say how many. The office declined to comment on the condition of the suspect.

Around 2 p.m., Aurora police said command staff were responding to 641 Archer Ave. for "an active shooter incident." Residents were urged to avoid the area as the city sent out an alert of "an active shooter near Highland and Archer."

Illinois State Police District 5 said it was sending troopers to the scene. The ATF and FBI Chicago also said they were responding.

EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m.



THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down!



More information will be provided soon.  City of Aurora, IL (@CityofAuroraIL) February 15, 2019

Police said they were responding to the Henry Pratt Company, a valve manufacturing plant located at 401 S. Highland Ave. near Prairie and Archer. Police, SWAT and ambulance vehicles were seen swarming the area.

An employee at Henry Pratt who wished to remain anonymous told NBC 5 he and his coworkers heard "many, many gunshots" before running into an old, unused men's bathroom in the building to hide.

!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.getElementById("datawrapper-chart-"+t);e&&(e.style.height=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px")}})}();

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the president has been briefed and "is monitoring the ongoing situation in Aurora."

Gov. JB Pritzker also said he was "monitoring the shooting" and encouraged all residents to "follow the directives of their local law enforcement."

Holy Angels Catholic School said it was on lockdown amid the report.

West Aurora School District 129 said all students were being held in place "for their safety" after "reports of an active shooter at the Henry Pratt building." All 18 schools in the district were on lockdown, according to Board President Bob Gonzalez.

"Per directions from the county sheriff, the District has been advised to go into soft lockdown situation across the district. Teaching will continue with reduced movement. Normal operations will resume when the soft lockdown has been lifted. No one will be allowed to leave or enter our buildings until the lockdown has been lifted," the district wrote on Facebook.

Theyve had drills, and theyre used to it, but you can never get used to the real thing," a mom of a student told NBC 5. "I just want to go pick them up and give them a hug. Its really hard. I cant concentrate right now."

By 3:30 p.m., the district said will begin dismissing schools in 40-minute intervals. For a schedule of dismissals click here.

Aurora university said all classes were canceled for the remainder of the day Friday on the school's main campus following the incident.

Diana Muniz, an employee at Taqueria Muniz, said a customer reported hearing numerous shots in the area.

The customer said they heard one shot fired, then more shots like boom, boom, boom,'" she told NBC 5.

Aurora police planned to host a third press conference at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:01 pm

In the past six years, more than 3,000 children between 12 and 14 years old were charged with crimes in Washingtons juvenile courts.

Senate Bill 5735 aims to reduce that number by raising the age that a child is presumed to be incapable of a crime from 11 to 14.

As the current law stands, children 7 or younger are legally incapable of committing a crime. If a child is between eight and 11, they are assumed to be capable of crime, but that presumption can be overcome by evidence presented to a judge. Kids 12 and over are presumed to have the capacity to commit a crime.

In the past three years, states including California, Texas, Kansas and Colorado have also pushed for changes in their juvenile detention systems. Last year, the Washington State Supreme Court banned sentencing 16 and 17 year olds to life without parole.

Were seeing that around this country that conversation is happening about whats appropriate, said Sen. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, the prime sponsor of SB 5735. When is it inappropriate to even perceive that a child of that age is committing a crime?

In Washington currently, children ages 12 through 14 have the ability to challenge the court for a re-evaluation of their capability to commit a crime.

SB 5735 would presume that children younger than 15 are incapable, and would require prosecutors to provide evidence of competency in addition to evidence of a crime.

Russell Brown, executive director of the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, said he anticipates this law will create more trials, not keep children out of detention.

They would still potentially be charged, still potentially be arrested and there would be then a court hearing for the state to provide almost a pseudo trial  as to whether or not this particular juvenile has the capacity, Brown said. It would create the necessity for a lot more hearings, it wouldnt necessarily change  the capacity of a child to make that decision.

The presumption can be removed by proof that the child has the ability to understand the act or neglect, or know that the act was wrong. A fiscal note has been requested, but has not yet been received.

So were weighing the cost of the court next to a childs life, said Sen. Darneille. Thats really what were coming down to.
When California voters legalized marijuana, they were promised that part of the tax revenue from pot sales and cultivation would be devoted to programs to teach youth how to avoid substance abuse.

But more than a year after the start of sales, there's no money for those programs and questions are looming about how they might operate in the future.

The absence of funding is "really sad and disappointing," said Robert Harris, a policy adviser and lobbyist for the California Society of Addiction Medicine.

Equally troubling, he added, is the lack of clear guidelines for how that funding would be divvied up, and how programs would be run and evaluated.

A report this week from the state Legislative Analyst's Office suggested that the Legislature might have to address gaps in the law, even pointing out that the term "youth" isn't defined.

More needs to be done "so we don't roll it out and throw it away," Harris said.

Proposition 64, which voters approved in November 2016 and legalized pot sales for adults 21 and over, included a section requiring a slice of the tax revenue go toward youth education to prevent "substance use disorders" and "harm from substance use."

The absence of dollars so far can be explained by two factors: The effect of rigid rules that came with Proposition 64 and the slow start to sales that have brought in far less tax money than initially expected.

The law established a long list of requirements for how to spend cannabis tax money  basically, who gets it, in what order and how much.

Under those rules, most of the $150 million in tax money that has come in so far has been devoted to startup costs and operations for state regulation.

A second tier of funding, about $25 million of the total, is slated for university research, the California Highway Patrol and local grants that could include such things such as mental health treatment and legal services.

Funding for youth-education programs would be included in a third tier of spending, and so far there hasn't been enough tax money to provide that share, officials say.

It's possible that by the end of the state's fiscal year in June, enough pot sales will take place to pump money into those programs. And by the following year, state analysts expect sales to increase and funding for those programs to soar to $160 million.

Meanwhile, the state analyst's report outlined a series of gaps in the law that it said left broad questions about how those programs would work.

Among them: The law is silent on an oversight process to ensure money is being spent properly and delivering results.

"Numerous issues still need resolution," the report said.

At a state legislative hearing Wednesday, Clint Kellum of the state Finance Department warned that it remains difficult to predict with confidence how much tax money will come in from pot sales and cultivation.

"Given that it's a newly created market, these revenue projections are subject to considerable uncertainty," he said.
The United States Army is conducting military training in the greater Los Angeles and Long Beach areas from Monday through Saturday with the purpose of enhancing soldier skills by operating in various urban environments and settings, the U.S. Army said in a statement.

Residents around the LA area may hear sounds associated with training, including aircraft and weapon simulations, according to the U.S. Army. The Army said it would notify citizens close to the sites prior to the training.

An NBC4 viewer shared a video of several helicopters flying in formation in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood Monday night. Newchopper4 Bravo was overhead as the U.S. Army performed training exercises near L.A. Live and at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday night and in Long Beach on Wednesday night.

The Los Angeles Police Department is supporting the U.S. Army in its training exercise, and the facilities in Los Angeles provide the Army with unique locations to simulate urban environments, the Army said.

The statement concluded, "The Army sincerely appreciates the cooperation and understanding of citizens and local businesses in the vicinity of training, and apologizes for any possible disturbance."
Those who were planning to visit the San Bernardino National Forest for some fun in the snow might need to change their weekend plans.

The storm that drenched Southern California on Valentines Day prompted the closure of several mountain areas and U.S. Forest Service roads that will make it extremely hard, if not temporarily impossible, for visitors to arrive to their destination.

[LA GALLERY UPDATED 11/21] Southern California Mountain Snow Days

According to San Bernardino National Forest officials, routes leading to the Idyllwild and Big Bear areas have been damaged by the storm and impacted highways 18, 74 and 243.

Surrounding areas are currently inaccessible to non-residents and Caltrans is urging the public to use their Caltrans Quickmap tool to keep up to date with new closings and re-openings over the weekend.

As highway closures remain, the play area in Snow Valley, Highway 18, Bee Canyon, an off-highway area off Highway 74 and Idyllwild areas remain closed as well.

The visitor center in Idyllwild at the San Jacinto Roger Station will be closed throughout the weekend, but The Big Bear Discovery Center will reopen on Saturday. However, it's important to note that phones and internet are out in the area.

The Lytle Creek Visitor Center will be open, but the following Forest Service roads are closed:

1N33 (leads to West End Gun Club)

1N34 (San Servaine)

2N56 (Sheep Cyn)

2N58 (Middle Fork)

2N79 (Penstock)

3N06 (Stockton Flats)

3N29 (off Lone Pine Cyn)

3N31Y (Upper Lytle Divide)

3N33 (Stockton Flats area)

1N34 (San Sevaine)

1N12 (leading to Thomas Hunting Grounds)

2N43 (Sawpit Canyon)

2N49 (Sugarpine Mountain)

3N14 (Coxey)

[[505150961, C]]

For more information on closures unrelated to the storm, visit the San Bernardino National Forest website. To report damage, you can do so here.
A rare English bulldog puppy is on its way home thanks to cooperation between police officers in Illinois and the Los Angeles Police Department.

The blue merle English bulldog puppy was taken from a pet store in Naperville, Ill. on Dec. 18. It was 10 weeks old at the time. A local family had planned to bring the dog home as a Christmas surprise before it was stolen, according to a statement from the pet store.

Local police identified a suspect and followed his social media accounts to learn he lives in Los Angeles, the LAPD said. The Naperville police asked the LAPD for help finding the puppy. The LAPDs first attempt to locate the suspect came up cold, but the department stayed in touch with Naperville officers, who were continuing to track the suspects accounts.

Meet my heroes.



When I was stolen and taken to L.A., @NapervillePD and the LAPD joined forces to rescue me  but I have a question...I checked the weather and its cold/snowy back home. Can you pull some strings and let me enjoy some sunny SoCal weather for a couple extra days? pic.twitter.com/zw2as5A3JH  LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) February 16, 2019

On Sunday, the trail led LAPD officers to another location, where the suspect and dog were spotted. The suspect was taken into custody and the dog was unharmed, the LAPD said.

The dognapping is believed to be part of a larger theft ring, according to the department. Arrangements are being made to send to puppy back to Illinois, but not before it was given a tour of the station and a chance to thank the officers.

On Sunday, the LAPD posted photos of the dog's new family, who came all the way from Illinois to bring him home.
What to Know "Picasso in Color" opened to the public on February 16 and is open until mid-March.

It is the largest Picasso exhibition in the U.S.

The exhibit is free of charge.

Sixty original works by Pablo Picasso were unveiled to the public on Saturday for the "Picasso in Color" exhibition at Galerie Michael in Beverly Hills.

This is the largest Picasso exhibition of graphic works ever to be presented in the United States...and they're all available for purchase.

Included in the collection are 35 pieces that were discovered in a locked safe in the South of France in mid-to-late 2018 and have never been displayed.

Since most of Picasso's original paintings are too expensive for purchase -"Le Reve" sold for $155 million in 2013 - the exhibition is limited to graphics. This consists of linoleum cuts, etchings, lithographs, drawing and aquatints, which makes them relatively less expensive. Prices range from anywhere between $4,000 and $1.5 million.

"The only way a mortal today could own a Picasso is through the graphic medium," said Michael Schwartz, the owner and president of Galerie Michael. "You can actually acquire work of that level here."

Celebrating 40 years, Galerie Michael is the oldest and only fine art gallery on Rodeo Drive. It spent 18 months building the collection, which uniquely focuses on Picasso's colored graphics.

"They were so technically complex that it was nearly impossible for the printers to achieve the levels of genius and creativity and technical prowess that Picasso had created," Schwartz said. "It is the most unique exhibition of its kind ever to come to the United States, certainly California."

The opening of "Picasso in Color" featured a speech by art historian Eric Mourlot, whose grandfather worked with Picasso on many of the pieces on display.

Eleven of the pieces were already bought during the gallery's private, VIP gala on Friday night.

One of the highest-valued graphics, a linoleum print of Picasso's wife, Jacqueline, was sold to Gary Oakland, a housing developer from Billings, Montana. This piece had never been publicly shown before the gallery. It was known to exist, however, because re-prints were available - all of which Oakland owned before completing his collection on Friday.

"In the tradition of art, the color works of a graphics artist are always very valuable," said Schwartz. "In the case of Picasso, the black and whites are the ones that have sold for millions of dollars."

Pieces that are purchased must remain in the exhibit until its closes in March.

Other notable works on display include Picasso's first graphic, "The Frugal Repast" and his first linoleum cut, "Series of Portrait de Jeune Fille, d'apres Cranach le Jeune II."

"Picasso in Color" is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Gallery Michael is located on 224 North Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The exhibit is free of charge, however tickets for docent tours are $10 for adults and $5 for students on weekends.
A private jet has landed safely at a Southern California airport despite a landing gear problem.

Multiple outlets reported "Friends" stars -- and real-life friends -- Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, along with Jimmy Kimmel's wife Molly Kimmel, were aboard for Aniston's 50th birthday trip to Cabo San Lucas.

NBC has not independently confirmed that report.

The twin-engine Gulfstream G4 touched down gingerly shortly after 2 p.m. Friday at Ontario International Airport, east of Los Angeles.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor says the jet lost a wheel while departing Los Angeles International Airport and circled Ontario to burn off fuel.

The plane's planned destination was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The jet is registered to Really Convenient Aviation LLC of Wilmington, Delaware.
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would authorize the U.S. Treasury to mint $1 coins honoring former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara, for the year.

The Bushes, who lived in Texas and Maine, both died in 2018.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said the coin will pay tribute to the Bush legacy of "courage, duty, honor, and compassion" and serve as a reminder of their contributions to the country.

Sponsors include Collins and Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn of Texas, Rob Portman of Ohio and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine.

The Presidential $1 Coin Act requires the U.S. Treasury to issue new $1 coins in honor of the nation's deceased former presidents and directs the treasury to issue pure-gold bullion coins depicting first spouses.
Potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke is coming to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus Friday for a meet and greet with students and faculty, a closely guarded event that will be the former Texas congressman's first visit to a key state in the battleground, industrial Midwest.

O'Rourke is scheduled to be on campus for a two-hour meeting early Friday evening. UW-Madison spokesman John Lucas said Thursday the event is not open to the press, public or anyone not affiliated with the university.

The campus Political Science Student Association organized the meeting in a room that fits about 150 people. The group's leader, Isaac Johnson, said O'Rourke wanted to keep the event limited to students and those affiliated with the university.

"They're just really excited about the level of enthusiasm there has been at the university in the last election," Johnson said.

President Donald Trump carried Wisconsin in 2016 by less than a percentage point, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Hillary Clinton was heavily criticized for not campaigning in Wisconsin during the general election and Democrats are anxious to take it back.

Milwaukee is a finalist for the Democratic National Convention in 2020, with officials arguing that the state's importance in the presidential race makes the city the best location for the meeting. Organizers also say Democrats are surging in Wisconsin. In 2018, Democrats swept every statewide race in Wisconsin, including Tony Evers defeating incumbent Gov. Scott Walker.

O'Rourke's visit comes the night before announced Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of neighboring Minnesota, was to launch her first campaign swing in Eau Claire, in western Wisconsin. Klobuchar was then to campaign in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

"We're starting in Wisconsin because as you remember there wasn't a lot of campaigning in Wisconsin in 2016. With me, that changes," Klobuchar told reporters after she announced her candidacy Sunday, noting her mother grew up in the state. "I'm going to be there a lot."

On Saturday, O'Rourke is scheduled to address the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute's national conference in Chicago, where he will be the featured speaker at a Latino leaders recognition luncheon.

The Midwest swing follows O'Rourke's driving from his native El Paso through Texas to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado in recent weeks. He wrote about the trip in rambling online posts that drew criticism in some liberal quarters because they were full of highly self-centered observations about his family history and even what he had for lunch.

Those trips also included O'Rourke visiting at least one college campus, though, and he also recently stopped by his alma mater, Columbia University in New York, to discuss his opposition to Trump's plan to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border, climate change and other topics.
When new Odessa Regional Medical Center Director of Radiology Sarah Tamayo wanted to give her mother a birthday present, she settled on a heart scan.

The Odessa American reports Tamayo had one performed, as well.

"The funny thing about radiology is it's the only way to really see inside of your body without intervention, so doing something like a heart view scan gives you that opportunity to look into your body and try to make sure that everything's OK -- not that it shows everything under the sun, but it's a good starting point," Tamayo said.

The heart view scans at Odessa Regional cost $75, as do the CT healthy heart scans, or calcium score, at Medical Center Hospital.

"We're looking at multiple things for this. Your age is always a factor. Your gender is always a factor, if you have any family history of heart problems, that's a major factor," Tamayo said.

She added that if you are overweight, smoke, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, chest pain or pressure, shortness of breath, previous catheterizations, stents and conditions it's a good idea to get a heart view scan.

"The older you get, the more at risk you are. My mom is late 60s and she has quite a few of these risk factors," Tamayo said.

She added that her mother is a veterinarian. Being a medical professional, Tamayo said her mother would rather be on the caregiving side, so Tamayo said she felt that going with her would make her more comfortable.

"She loved it. She cried. It was fabulous. We went out for lunch afterward. It was a whole thing," Tamayo said.

Director of Marketing and Community Relations Tasa Richardson said many people are reactive when it comes to health care and the heart view scans give them the option to take more control.

Tamayo added that the scans don't take long. Once the patient is registered and hooked up to an EKG, it takes three to five minutes. A report is sent to the patient afterward.

Linno Guerrero, a CT technologist at MCH, said it's a good idea to come in for a calcium score because it comes with blood work that tests triglycerides, lipids and cholesterol. The patient also is weighed.

The scan shows calcium on the arteries and it's given a score.

Guerrero said MCH did take walk-ins, but they were getting upward of 10 people a day. Now they are scheduling three or four Monday through Friday. From start to finish, including registration and labs, it takes 20 to 30 minutes. The actual scan takes five to 10 minutes.

No dye is used in the scans.

"We're evaluating the calcium inside the arteries and if we do inject dye the scanner doesn't differentiate between the two, so it would not help to inject the dye unless there is a significant amount of calcium and the doctor requests going a step further or (to) another type of test," Guerrero said.

"Anything that's yellow, the scanner is reading as dense. It assigns it a certain number. The scanner will tell it it's calcium, or something that's dense," he added.

Each artery is scored to see if there was anything detectable.

"It gives you a range -- no identifiable plaque to extensive plaque burden and the likelihood of you having any coronary stenosis in those arteries," Guerrero said.

Patients get copy of the report. Bloodwork results are sent later.

Cardiologist Dr. Fernando Boccalandro reads these CTs, looks at calcium score and blood work and sends them an additional report of them both. Patients can take the report to their primary care physician or any other doctor they see.

Boccalandro said the scans are probably the best predictor to assess cardiovascular outcomes.

"They are better than statistical models based on demographics, like age, or sex, or risk factors so it has a lot of clinical utility because it allows you to see who is at high risk and who is at low risk," Boccalandro said.

It's also useful for people for whom use of cholesterol medication is being debated.

If the test shows you're starting to build up plaque, it could swing the vote toward cholesterol medicine, he added.

Asked how often people should go back for scans, Boccalandro said there's no firm answer.

"If you look at the current cholesterol guidelines, they actually incorporated this scan as part of the guidelines because, as I said, it helps determine who may or may not benefit from cholesterol medications. When you look at current data, it seems to perhaps have some value to repeat the scan every five to 10 years. There's not really any solid data as far as should you even repeat it," he said.

He added that it also is a motivator for people to see the scans because you can tell smokers they are at high risk for heart disease and that could mean trouble.

"Then when they see the scan and they see the plaque in their own heart, they say `Whoa. This is me,"' Boccalandro said.

When you review the scans with them, he said, they can tell you're not just telling stories and it gives them a chance to make changes and prevent a heart attack.

For people who are at low risk, they recommend showing the test to their primary care physician.

If they are at moderate risk, take it to a primary care doctor, or cardiologist for discussion to see if something different needs to be done.

"I would encourage people to do it because it's so simple and it really can make a big impact on what you do," Boccalandro said.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:27 pm

The state Employment Security Department wants lawmakers to create a new department within the agency to increase compliance with the H-2A federal agricultural guest worker visa program.

New fees assessed on farmers in addition to a limited amount of federal funds would help pay for the new Office of H-2A Compliance and Farm Labor under Senate Bill 5438, which was proposed by Employment Security Department and sponsored by a group of urban western Washington-area Democratic senators.

The H-2A program offers temporary visas for seasonal agricultural workers for employers who can demonstrate that there are not enough domestic workers who are able, willing, qualified, and available to do the temporary work. Under federal law, employers are required to provide workers with transportation, housing, affordable meals, hygiene facilities and at least 75 percent of the hours promised in the contract.

Although Washington receives about $300,000 of federal dollars per year to administer the program, state officials say it is not enough money to cover the cost.

According to the fiscal note accompanying the bill, the department would need to raise an additional $3.5 million on top of what it receives from the U.S. government per biennium to fund the new office with about 14 employees.

U.S. Department of Labor statistics show that nearly 25,000 H-2A positions were certified in Washington in 2018. That number is expected to grow to 30,000 this year said Nick Streuli, a legislative director with the Employment Security Department. He said the use of the H-2A program has increased by more than 1,000 percent in the last decade in Washington.

We believe the use of the H-2A program is important to the agriculture industry in the state of Washington, Streuli said. This bill represents our commitment to that belief and the need for additional resources to fund the work associated with the program.

If it becomes law, Senate Bill 5438, sponsored by Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, and nine other Democrat Senators would create the the Office of H-2A Compliance and Farm Labor under the Employment Security Department and would establish an advisory committee to review relevant issues with farm workers and to investigate ways to increase domestic farm worker recruitment.

Streuli says his department has met with the U.S. Department of Labor and members of Congress to seek more funding Washingtons H-2A program but has not yet seen results.

Given the dramatic rise in the use of the program we just dont feel like we can wait for Congressional action, he said.

To fund the program, the department would collect a fee from farmers for each H-2A application, as well as a per-employee fee.

The bill requires the fees to be set annually and prohibits the Employment Security Department from collecting more revenue than the projected cost of the program for the next calendar year. It also allows discounted rates for employers with track records of compliance with the H-2A program.

Because H-2A visas tie workers to a single employer, some worker advocates say the H-2A program needs greater oversight and enforcement because of the laborers unique position.

Columbia Legal Services has litigated a number of cases involving H-2A workers and employers, said Andrea Schmitt, an attorney with the nonprofit legal service. Weve seen up close the ways that the H-2A program makes workers uniquely vulnerable to abuse.

The farm industry is opposed to any kind of adequate state oversight of contracted workers coming in from out of the country, said Rosalinda Guillen with Community to Community Development, a Bellingham-based worker advocacy organization. They would have us believe that there will be harm done to the agricultural industry.

Some growers were worried that increasing the fee for H-2A will price them out of the program, or price competitors out of the program, which would further deplete the already strained domestic farm labor supply.

I think were being asked to sign a blank check and we would like to work with everybody, including farm labor advocates, in going forward to solve this problem, said Mike Gempler of the Washington Growers League.

I worry that as H-2A becomes expensive and cumbersome, more of the larger growers that use farm workers will stop using H-2A and make the domestic labor shortage even more dire for small farms like mine, said April Clayton of Red Apple Orchards.
This year, the event will be held on the largest scale ever, consisting of three major activities: the fourth International Conference promoting Vietnamese Literature, the third International Poetry Festival and the 17th Vietnam Poetry Day.

Various attractive activities

Running from February 15-21 (the 11th to 17th day of the first lunar month), the 2019 Vietnam Poetry Day is expected to bring poetry lovers myriads of unique and attractive events. Notably, the third International Poetry Festival will be the successful continuation of the first and second Asia-Pacific Poetry Festival.

This years event will feature the participation of around 200 poets, writers, translators, researchers, publishing houses and communicators from over 50 countries and territories worldwide. Many foreign guests are familiar with Vietnamese people as well as having significantly contributed to Vietnamese literature, such as poet Fernando Rendo (Colombia), co-chairman of the Russian Writers' Association Vadim Telekhin, and poet An Quan Van (the Republic of Korea) who translated the collection 'Nhat Ky Trong Tu' (Prison Diary) by President Ho Chi Minh into Korean.

The fourth International Conference promoting Vietnamese Literature will officially open on February 16, at the Vietnam-Soviet Friendship Labour Cultural Palace in Hanoi. In the afternoon of the same day, both Vietnamese and international poets will participate a seminar themed Vietnamese literature  the vitality of a peace-loving nation as well as exchange with students from the Hanoi University of Culture and Hanoi National University of Education.

On the morning of February 17, the 17th Vietnam Poetry Day will be held at Van Mieu  Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature), featuring poems on the countrys sovereignty over its seas and islands and the righteous war to defend the northern border (1979-2019). Notably, the Poetry Day will be also celebrated in Ha Long and Bac Giang cities in the northern provinces of Quang Ninh and Bac Giang, respectively. An International Poetry Gala Evening on the same day is expected to attract the interests of numerous visitors.

Party and State leaders will host a meeting with delegates at the Presidential Palace the day after and then they will visit Ha Long Bay and join the International Poetry Day in Ha Long city. On February 19, the participants will attend the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Poetry Day in Bac Giang city.

Promoting Vietnamese literature

The 2019 Vietnam Poetry Day, which is observed as a festival, will not only highlight poets but also expand to the fields of prose, research and translation, towards promoting Vietnamese literature to the world. Poet Nguyen Quang Thieu, Vice Chairman of Vietnamese Writers Association, said that there were not any Vietnamese-English bilingual literary works introduced at the previous international conferences and festivals. However, three bilingual works have been published for this years event, including Ten centuries of Vietnamese literature by Phong Le, the poem collection titled Song nui tren vai (Country on our shoulders) by 44 poets and the collection of Vietnamese modern short stories Mot loai chim tren song (A bird on the wave) by 22 authors. Despite the few works in the books, the foreign poets, writers and researchers can outline the basic portrait of Vietnamese literature and contact the authors by themselves.

In addition, exchanges and seminars on literature will be interwoven into activities, such as an exchange programme between delegates and students and a seminar within the framework of the international conference promoting Vietnamese literature.

In particular, the International Poetry Gala Evening at the Temple of Literature is considered an important spotlight, helping international friends to feel the traditional cultural features imbued with Vietnamese identities through poetry.

Poets Tran Dang Khoa and Nguyen Quang Thieu expressed their hope that the event would create concrete connections between domestic and foreign writers, poets and researchers. Notably, Vietnamese writers can promote their translations and publishing activities to bring their works to the world.

The uninterrupted organisation of cultural and literary events and the careful preparation of outstanding works are some of the efforts to help literary promotion activities to be more effective in the near future.
Austin's Watershed Protection Department will begin clearing out homeless encampments located in environmentally sensitive areas and connecting individuals found there with social services within the next two weeks, assistant director Jose Guerrero told the city's health and human services committee during a briefing Wednesday.

"A lot of the camps that they live in ... are on watershed lands, greenbelt areas, under bridges, in culverts -- mainly because they don't want to get wet; that's just the reality -- but we have flash flooding in Central Texas," Guerrero said. "It's a public safety and health issue."

The Austin American-Statesman reports officials said the six-month pilot program will focus on nine "hotspots" around the city and crews will visit them at varying frequencies:

-- A culvert at 2301 E. Riverside Drive, monthly.

-- 1901 Wickersham Lane, monthly.

-- 708 E. Eighth St., quarterly.

-- 3800 Warehouse Row, quarterly.

-- 428 Alpine Road, quarterly.

-- 1807 E. Stassney Lane, quarterly.

-- 3002 Oak Springs Drive, quarterly.

-- Two sites at 4501 E. Riverside Drive, monthly.

Guerrero said the department chose those locations because they're among those that have been visited the most frequently for cleanups in the past.

Homeless encampments in areas like culverts -- the channels that allow water to flow under a road or railroad -- or near creeks pose a risk for the people living there and the environment, Guerrero said. The lack of sanitary services in those areas could impact water quality, and the physical obstruction of encampments can inhibit stormwater, he said.

The Austin City Council budgeted $250,000 annually for four years of the program, Guerrero said. Managing engineer Ramesh Swaminathan estimated the pilot program will cost between $50,000 and $60,000, with most of the money going toward a contract with a custodial company and the rest for supplies.

The nine locations fall into three priority levels, which are based on the risk each poses to human safety and the environment, Swaminathan said. For immediate need areas, the department will ask people living there to evacuate and will give them a 72-hour notice of the cleanup. In medium priority areas, people will be given a 30 days' notice.

Swaminathan said the department is working with a variety of organizations -- including Integral Care, the county's mental health authority, and the city's homeless outreach street team -- to help connect the homeless people whom crews encounter with social services. With immediate need cleanups, the team will try to find them emergency shelter in addition to long-term support.

In low risk areas, Swaminathan said the department will supply people with cleanup materials, such as garbage receptacles and drawstring bags for possessions, and educate them on safe camping techniques, such as how to properly start and extinguish a fire.

After a recent test cleanup, Swaminathan said a woman the team encountered now has a case manager from Integral Care and receives health care services, and she has completed an assessment through a nonprofit to connect her with housing. She also has been removing trash in and around the encampment, which he said has saved the city money in avoided cleanups.

Council member Ann Kitchen asked Swaminathan if the department is considering installing infrastructure that will deter people from camping in these areas, in addition to the social services support.

"The cleanups are episodic and not an ultimate solution for folks," Kitchen said. "This program cannot solve all those problems; I'm not suggesting that. I'm just thinking that I am concerned it is not going far enough, particularly with regard to the places that are most dangerous for people."

Swaminathan said the department is studying infrastructural solutions, such as putting screens over culvert openings.

"I think we would all agree that this is just one piece of a much more comprehensive program that we need to undertake as the city moves forward," Council member Kathie Tovo said.
The city of Nimes in France became Fort Worths ninth sister city Thursday.

Nimes Mayor Jean-Paul Fournier and Councilwoman Ann Zadeh, stepping in for Mayor Betsy Price, signed the municipal agreement at the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum.

The process of becoming sister cities began in 2017 when a Fort Worth search team visited Nimes.

Twenty-one high school students from Nimes arrived in Fort Worth Friday. They will spend 10 days on an educational exchange hosted by FWISD World Languages Institute and Fort Worth Country Day School.

Price will take a group to Nimes Sept. 25 through Oct. 4 to sign the mutual agreement there. To join the group, contact beth@fwsistercities.org.

Fort Worths eight other sister cities are Bandung, Indonesia, Budapest, Hungary, Guiyang, China, Mbabane, Eswatini, Nagaoka, Japan, Reggio Emilia, Italy, Toluca, Mexico and Trier, Germany.
When David and Ann Nix moved to their little slice of property on CR 550 in the San Augustine County hamlet of Denning in 2012, they didn't expect that within seven years they'd have their own kind of empire spanning three counties and more than 1,800 square miles.

In fact, it wasn't something they particularly wanted, but the couple realized a need that was unmet deep in the pineywoods.

The Daily Sentinel reports two years ago, the Nixes founded the Denning Animal Rescue, which they intended to be a small operation rescuing cats, which they'd been doing for years. David, a disabled veteran and Ann were both fond of animals, and had spent years rescuing animals, rehoming them with the support of various organizations in the places where David was stationed.

"It wasn't just us then," Ann recalls. "We had lots of support."

In 2012, they moved to San Augustine to be closer to aging family members, and a chance encounter with a cat abandoned near their property led them to the decision to found a small rescue organization for felines in 2017 for San Augustine County.

But their work didn't stay within the county, and before too long, they began hearing from people in Shelby and Sabine counties -- none of which have an animal shelter. Sabine County is home to the Barking Mad Animal Rescue, but that organization primarily focuses on dogs and livestock, though according to its website, no animals are turned away when there is room available.

"It spiraled from cats to dogs to every kind of animal," Ann said. "It's bigger than I thought. If it involves animals, we do it."

The rescues relies largely on the Nix's personal income, a trickle of revenue from a booth set up inside Joy's This and That in downtown San Augustine, donations and whatever they can generate through their booths at festivals across the region.

It's far from self-sufficient, especially given the area the couple and their occasional handful of volunteers cover.

"These are rural, poor counties," Ann said. "The big donors don't come here. The big organizations don't work out here. We're just on our own."

Ann and David get calls from all over East Texas from people looking for help to rescue stray animals.

And often, they are where the pets of animal hoarders end up sending their animals.

Since they began as a nonprofit, the rescue has tried to keep the number of animals in their care to a manageable level, usually between 20 and 30 cats, which have access to two mobile homes on the Nix's property for shelter, warmth and respite from the Texas heat.

Three months ago, though the rescue found itself inundated after the rescue of some 60 cats from a home in the county.

"It's really common to have hoarding situations," Ann said. "We get cats all the time."

The animals suffer from a variety of health issues that the rescue is slowly working to address, but the high cost of veterinarian visits, feeding and care for the animals means its slow going.

Because the rescue takes in a lot of cats, it makes it difficult for them to take on many dogs, as well, though the Nixes aren't opposed to caring for dogs.

"We don't have the facilities for dogs," Ann said. "We just don't have the funds."

Recently, they've also taken up caring for almost a dozen horses and other equines suffering from neglect.

As with the cats and dogs that come to the rescue, the Nixes are looking for rescues and fosters to take over care of the animals, they said.

Ann and David plan to continue running their rescue for the time being, but they aren't sure how long they'll be able to keep it up.

"There's no feel good moments," Ann said. "For every one you get out, there are 10 more."

It may seem like an uphill battle for the rescue, but their efforts have made an impact.

Currently, six of the cats who've come to Denning are being fostered, for whom the Nixes have covered vet visits and necessities.

Since they began, Ann said they've adopted or relocated to other rescues out more than 100 cats, 36 dogs, two ferrets, and two birds.

They regularly hold adoption events in San Augustine and at Petsense in Nacogdoches.

The rescue has worked to establish free spay and neuter clinics in the past year with the help of corporate and a handful of private donors and Dr. Sharon DeHart, a veterinarian based in Reklaw.

Free clinics in August 2018 and in January 2019 saw more than 150 animals spayed or neutered, Ann said.

She and David said ultimately, they'd like to see spay and neuter programs instituted regularly in the counties they most often work in.

"If I could get anything, I'd get a spay and neuter program," Ann said. "It's out of control here. It has to start with spay and neuter."
The union representing teachers in Oakland said Saturday that it will strike on Thursday Feb. 21, a day after a neutral fact-finding report was issued.

At a news conference, Oakland Education Association president Keith Brown said "enough is enough." The teachers union is demanding a 12 percent raise over the next three years, but the school district said it cannot afford to pay more than 5 percent.

The Oakland teachers' union said 95 percent of its 3,000 members agreed to strike after negotiating and failing to reach agreement with the Oakland Unified School District for more than a year.

Teachers in the district say they are paid below their peers it the area, which has one of the highest cost-of-living rates in the nation. They are seeking a 12 percent raise over three years as well as smaller class sizes. The district has offered five percent and says it is squeezed by smaller budgets and declining enrollment.

A fact-finding report from the Public Employment Relations Board was released Saturday, with recommendations for compromise.

The report found that the teacher crisis in Oakland is much worse than state average. "We didn't need a factfinder to tell us that," Brown said.

Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said in a message posted to the district's website that she was "pleased with the recommendations" and hope to use the report to bring the union back to bargaining.

The spokesperson Oakland Unified School District pointed out that the district and the union both have five days until the strike to come to an agreement.

We are certainly sad to hear that they have announced that they have planned a strike on Thursday. But this is not a do or die moment. This is a moment where we can still come to an agreement, We can still prevent a strike. We know the teachers dont want a strike," OUSD spokesperson John Sasaki said.

Almost immediately after the union announced the strike, the school district put out an invitation for negotiators to return for talks and come to a resolution.

Mayor Libby Schaaf is urging both sides to continue negotiating to avoid a walkout. The city plans to open recreation centers and all public libraries for the families of about 37,000 students in the district who would be affected by a strike.

A strike in the city of 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco would follow one by Denver teachers, who ended a three-day walkout after their union reached a tentative deal Thursday.

The strike in Colorado was the latest win in a national movement by teachers demanding better wages and classroom reforms. Teachers in the nation's largest school district, Los Angeles, reached a deal following a six-day strike in January.

Meanwhile, the teachers' union in Sacramento, California, voted Thursday night to seek authorization from members for a strike there, the Sacramento Bee reported Friday.
Beth DeRosa was able to get out of what she says was an abusive relationship, and she is using her experience to help create the new Family Justice Center in New Haven.

Im really humbled to bring domestic neglect and mental abuse to the table and have it be recognized, DeRosa told NBC Connecticut.

DeRosa said she wishes a centralized service center for domestic violence victims had been available when she went through a divorce with her ex-husband of 13 years.

At the very beginning of the divorce process, I was actually asked by a judge once, he asked me if he ever hit me and I was confused almost by the question, DeRosa recalled, and I looked at him, I said Im sorry, what? Well he said did he ever hit you, I said well no, should I have let him. Well he said because he didnt hit you, you can live with him.

But DeRosa said she suffered mental abuse, emotional distress and domestic neglect, and that it was exacerbated during the divorce process, taking its toll on her and her three children.

Things like PTSD, severe anxiety, mood disorder depression abandonment issues, she said.

DeRosa is part of a focus group with domestic violence survivors.

I find it really rewarding because it's women from all different socio-economic groups, she said, different types of violence that they experienced.

The group is sharing ideas for what theyd like to see at the new Hope Family Justice Center of Greater New Haven.

Retired New Haven Police Captain Julie Johnson is leading the planning for the center.

As long as they provide services free of charge to victims and clients we will partner with anyone, Johnson said.

Johnson is a project coordinator for The Umbrella for Domestic Violence Services BHcare. She also spent time with the NHPD Detective Bureau specializing in domestic violence and sexual assault investigations.

Modeled after the more than 100 centers nationwide that are affiliated with the Family Justice Center Alliance, including one in Bridgeport, Johnson said the concept brings together different existing domestic violence services under one roof. Think of it as a one-stop-shop for seeking help from police, prosecutors, counselors and victim advocates.

We are always looking for new ways and innovative ideas to reduce crime and to make victims safer and because of the other Family Justice Centers that have been established, you know, major outcomes have come from having a Family Justice Center in communities, Johnson said.

Johnson said the new state law giving police more discretion to establish a dominant aggressor when responding to domestic calls should also help keep victims safe.

Over the course of time you might have a victim who calls the police and theyre also arrested, she explained, so that next time they may be weary of calling the police again because they might think if I call the police like last time I might be arrested.

Three of New Havens homicides in 2018 were domestic violence related, NHPD Chief Anthony Campbell said at last months crime statistic press conference. He said those homicides highlighted the need for the city to open a Family Justice Center.

Funding has been the biggest obstacle, Johnson said.

We are moving forward with our fundraising seeking grants and community support, she said.

A temporary location is open twice a week at New Havens opportunity center on Dixwell Avenue.

Our permanent location we hope to have opened in month or so or at least space designated for renovation in downtown New Haven, Johnson said.

Johnson explained the reason it is called a family justice center.

Often times its giving services to the whole family, not just the victims and often times the children are witnesses to violence and we know that childhood trauma kind of shows itself often throughout that childs life, she said.

DeRosa said her children still receive regular counseling.

Theyre sort of the unspoken victims of any type of abuse, she said.

DeRosa let her three children know she planned to sit down for an interview with NBC Connecticut.

We all agreed if we could help one more person, one more family, one more child just anybody than what we went through was not in vain, DeRosa said.
State colleges are once against facing a funding shortfall, but what the system will do about it is not yet clear.

The system has raised tuition for the past two academic years, by 4 percent at the four-year schools and 2.5 percent at community colleges, and with a $57 million shortfall this year, more tuition increases cannot be ruled out.

This is a system that has been trying to come up with ways to save money, some popular, and some not.

The systems President Mark Ojakian, who oversees Eastern Connecticut State University, Western Connecticut State University, Central Connecticut State University and Southern Connecticut State University has proposed a plan to consolidate the system as a way to cut tens of millions of dollars in cost. That plan was rejected by the accrediting agency.

But those discussions will continue, as well as others to try to save money.

"I think they're two separate issues but clearly when you have less money than you need, then you have to look at your operating model to make sure that you're providing what resources are necessary to students on their campus to be able to complete their education on time, Ojakian said.

The next meeting for the Board of Regents is in March. Governor Ned Lamont will also provide his first state budget next week, but its unknown if he has any plans to come to the rescue.
Its been a gut-wrenching 24 hours for the families of the victims of Fridays fatal shooting at an Aurora industrial complex.

As the news has slowly began to sink in for those families, the victims are being remembered for their loyalty, their kindness, and the impact they had on the lives of many, many others.

Throughout the day Saturday, friends and family members have come to the Henry Pratt Company to pay their respects to the five victims, who were killed when a former employee opened fire following the meeting in which his employment was terminated.

NBC 5s Lisa Chavarria kicks off our team coverage of Fridays shooting that left five people dead at an Aurora industrial complex.

One of the victims killed was 37-year-old Josh Pinkard of Oswego, who recently relocated to Aurora last spring to take over as plant manager. Pinkard leaves behind a wife and three children.

Another employee, Vicente Juarez, leaves behind three adult children and eight grandchildren, and his family is devastated by his tragic death.

Im not going to see my dad anymore, Juarezs daughter Diana said. Im never going to see him again. Hes never going to come home from work.

In Sheridan, Illinois, the family of 21-year-old Trevor Wehner is trying to make sense of his senseless death, as the college student was starting his internship at the company on Friday when the gunman opened fire.

He just wanted to care for others and be there for them and make everything better, Wehners brother Thomas said. God tells us to forgive and I think thats what Im going to do.

Russell Beyer of Yorkville was also killed in the shooting. A union chairman at the plant, Beyer was remembered by friends and neighbors as someone who cared deeply about the happiness of others.

If you ever had any problems or questions on anything, he was always the first person to come right over and help you, neighbor Dan Alexander said.

The victims will be remembered on Sunday during a vigil at the plant, which will begin at 2:30 p.m. Those looking to help the victims families can donate to a GoFundMe account, which has been set up by the city of Aurora.
The mass shooting in Aurora, Illinois, was the latest in a list of deadly shootings that have rocked the country. Here's a list of deadly mass shootings over the past few years.

 Nov. 7, 2018: Ian David Long killed 12 people at a country music bar in Thousand Oaks, California, before taking his own life. Long was a Marine combat veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

 Oct. 27, 2018: Robert Bowers is accused of opening fire at Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during Shabbat morning services, killing 11 and injuring others. It's the deadliest attack on Jews in the U.S. in history.

 June 28, 2018: Jarrod Ramos shot through the windows of the Capital Gazette offices in Annapolis, Maryland, before turning the weapon on employees there, killing five at The Capital newspaper. Authorities say Ramos had sent threatening letters to the newspaper prior to the attack.

 May 18, 2018: Dimitrios Pagourtzis began shooting during an art class at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas. The 17-year-old killed eight students and two teachers and 13 others were wounded. Explosive were found at the school and off campus.

 Feb. 14, 2018: Nikolas Cruz shot and killed 17 students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. It surpassed Columbine High School as the deadliest shooting at a high school in U.S. history.

 Nov. 5, 2017: Devin Patrick Kelley, who had been discharged from the Air Force after a conviction for domestic violence, used an AR-style firearm to shoot up a congregation at a small church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing more than two dozen.

 Oct. 1, 2017: Stephen Paddock opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from the 32nd floor of a hotel-casino, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500. SWAT teams with explosives then stormed his room and found he had killed himself.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:19 pm

Media organization representatives from across Washington lambasted proposed legislation that exempts the legislature from portions of the Public Records Act.

As the proposed bill moves through the legislative process, a related court case also moves through the judicial process.

The Senate State Government and Tribal Relations and Elections Committee took public testimony Wednesday on Senate Bill 5784 proposed by Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. Pedersen was the only person to speak in support of his bill.

A proposed substitute bill discussed at the hearing would exempt the legislature from disclosing a variety of documents, including records dealing with harassment, sexual assault or misconduct allegations, whistleblower protections, and constituent communications.

Pederson noted that Thurston County Superior Court ruled that the legislature is only obligated to disclose things that are currently considered public records and final sexual assault investigation reports are not included.

A year ago, we went through a very painful experience with 6617 that flew through, Pederson said. The things that I heard from my constituents told me that we needed to go in a very different direction.

In 2018, a bill was passed in two days without public testimony after a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled in January 2018 that the legislature was subject to the Public Records Act and had not been in compliance for years.

The lawmakers and the media outlets that sued them both appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court.

Rowland Thompson of Allied Daily Newspapers and also representing the Washington State Newspaper Publishers Association testified in opposition to Pedersens bill. The WNPA, along with the Associated Press and other news outlets, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the lawmakers.

We would rather lose the case than have this bill, Thompson said. If we accept this bill its an acquiescence on our part that your positions in the lawsuit are correct because most of them are carried forward in this bill.

Thompson spoke at length on objections to the proposed bill, saying this changes how the Public Records Act would apply to the legislative body as a whole. The act applies to the individual elected officials on governing bodies throughout the state, such as city councils and county commissions.

Last year a Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled that the law also applies to state legislators.

David Zeeck, who recently retired after decades as publisher of the Tacoma News Tribune, stated that with the proposed law, it appears that the the legislature is trying to legislate itself out of a problem in the courts.

Frank Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times, also a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the legislature, testified in opposition to the bill. Asking the media to compromise here is asking them to bet against themselves in the court case, Blethen said.

This not a battle youre going to win in the court of public opinion, Blethen added.

Cecilia Rexus, a member of the Tri City Herald editorial board, called in to give testimony in opposition of the bill.

I find it troubling that we are having this conversation at all, Rexus said. This bill is going down the same road as last year. It was going the wrong direction then, and its going the wrong direction now.

Laurie Williams, editor of the Tri City Herald, added: This change that youre proposing sends the wrong message, I think, in an era that is rife with conspiracy theories, paranoia, distrust and so-called fake news. This is not the time to give the public the sense that you have something to hide.

Chairman Sam Hunt, D- Olympia, concluded the hearing saying: We are not trying to hide things. We are trying to seek a better solution to clarify things without having to go to court.
A bill advancing in the Indiana Legislature would let pharmacists refuse to dispense abortion-inducing drugs to women if they have ethical, moral or religious objections.

The proposal endorsed by a state Senate committee would expand a current law that prevents doctors or hospital employees from being required to participate in abortions. The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Liz Brown of Fort Wayne would extend that conscience protection to pharmacists, nurses and physician assistants.

State records show that about 2,800, or roughly one-third, of abortions in Indiana last year were drug induced.

Democratic Sen. Jean Breaux of Indianapolis argued the law should require health care providers to let patients know beforehand of their objections. Brown maintains it's the patient's responsibility to ask.

The bill is awaiting action by the full Senate.
Police say that the gunman in Friday's fatal shooting at an Aurora industrial complex purchased his gun legally, but that he was rejected for a concealed carry permit for the weapon.

45-year-old Gary Martin, identified as the shooter by police, applied for an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification card in Jan. 2014. He was approved for that card, and applied to purchase a handgun, the same one used in Friday's shooting, in March of 2014.

Martin also applied for a concealed carry permit at the same time, but was rejected because of a felony conviction in Mississippi for aggravated assault, according to authorities.

Due to his failed background check, Martin was also stripped of his FOID card, meaning that he could no longer legally own the .44-caliber pistol.

Authorities are still working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to determine what steps were taken after Martin's failed background check.

The saga of how Martin acquired the gun is just one more example of what was a past filled with convictions, accusations, and court appearances.

NBC 5 Investigates has learned more about Martins past in the aftermath of Friday's shooting. Court records show the 45-year-old was the subject of two orders of protection involving the same woman. One was issued in 2008 and another in 2013. The most recent order includes allegations of stalking. He also has 17 charges of misdemeanor disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property on his recordthe latter of which he was convicted.

After Friday's shooting, investigators thoroughly searched Martin's apartment, and used a bomb-detecting robot to check for booby traps and other items in the complex.

"Its unfortunate nobody thinks this will happen in your complex," Martin's neighbor Edwardo Morales told NBC 5.

A quiet apartment community is now the second focus of the mass shooting investigation.

EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m.



THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down!



More information will be provided soon.  City of Aurora, IL (@CityofAuroraIL) February 15, 2019

Neighbors said Martin made them uneasy.

"When I saw the cops around here I knew it had to be him because he is a weird freaking guy," neighbor Jennifer White said.

Neighbors say they he was often seen around the grounds recording them with his drone.

"He was nice and quiet but he had a drone and was taking pictures," neighbor Jacqueline White said. "That was kinda creepy you would throw away garbage and the drone would wave at me."

Some neighbors say their thoughts are not about Martin, but instead are with the families of his victims.

"I didnt even know his name," Morales said. "I hope we dont say his name. We just have to remember the people who were lost today."
What to Know The gunman opened fire after his employment was terminated during a Friday meeting at the plant

Police say that three of the victims were in the room with Martin when he opened fire

Police say that Martin hid in a machine plant near the back of the building and shot at them when they arrived at the location

Police in Aurora, Illinois have identified the five victims of Fridays fatal shooting at the Henry Pratt Company building.

Authorities say that the victims were killed after the gunman, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, was fired by the company on Friday. After his employment was terminated, Martin pulled out a firearm, a .44 caliber pistol, and opened fire.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said that three of the victims were killed in the room where the termination meeting took place. A fourth victim was killed near the room, and a fifth victim was killed on another floor, according to authorities.

The victims were identified as:

Clayton Parks of Elgin, Illinois. Parks was the Human Resources Manager at the company.

Trevor Wehner of DeKalb, Illinois. Wehner was an HR intern at the building, and was a student at Northern Illinois University.

Russell Beyer of Yorkville, Illinois. Beyer was a Mold Operator at the plant.

Vicente Juarez of Oswego, Illinois. Juarez was a Stock Room Attendant and a Fork Lift Operator at the plant.

Josh Pinkard of Oswego, Illinois. Pinkard was the Plant Manager of the building.

Police also say that a sixth victim, identified as a male employee in the plant, was treated at an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

A GoFundMe account has been launched by the city to provide financial support to the families of the victims.

Chicago Police cleared an area around Clark and Roosevelt on Thursday afternoon after a suspicious item was found.

Chief Ziman says that all five officers that were shot are expected to recover from their wounds. The officers were identified as:

39-year-old man, with 13 years of service with the Aurora PD, was shot in the lower body, and is still in the hospital in stable condition.

52-year-old man, with 25 years of service with the Aurora PD, was shot in the upper body, and he will be released on Saturday.

52-year-old man, with 24 years of service with the Aurora PD, was shot in the lower body. He was released from the hospital on Friday evening.

53-year-old man, with 30 years of service with the Aurora PD, was shot in the lower body. He was treated and released.

24-year-old man, with four years of service with the Aurora PD, suffered shrapnel wounds to his upper body. He remains hospitalized.

A 23-year-old officer also suffered a minor knee injury while responding to the call, and was treated and released.

NBC 5s Lisa Chavarria kicks off our team coverage of Fridays shooting that left five people dead at an Aurora industrial complex.

Police say that their preliminary investigation has indicated that Martin opened fire during the meeting in which he was terminated. He then retreated to another area of the building, a machine shop, and waited for police to arrive for an hour, according to a timeline provided by authorities.

Once officers spotted him, Martin opened fire and was killed in the ensuing gunfight.

Martin was issued a Firearm Owners Identification Card in Jan. 2014, according to police. He applied to buy the gun used in the attack in March of that year, and also applied for a concealed carry permit in the state of Illinois.

Martins application was rejected when his background check revealed a felony conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi, and police say that the rejection would have caused him to lose his FOID card.

Representatives from the Henry Pratt Company held a news conference on Saturday, where they confirmed that Martin's employment had been terminated just prior to the shooting rampage.

The company's CEO Scott Hall told reporters that a background check was conducted on Martin when they hired him, but that it did not turn up the felony conviction on his record.

The company is one of North Americas largest manufacturers of valves for the potable water, wastewater, power generation and industrial markets, according to its website.
The plant where a deadly shooting left five people dead on Friday will re-open, the companys CEO announced on Saturday afternoon.

During a press conference, Mueller Water Products CEO Scott Hall said that the company will provide grief resources to employees, including counsellors, beginning on Sunday afternoon.

Hall also said that employees will be back with pay beginning on Monday, but said that he is unsure of whether production will resume on that date. The company is working out final details of a go-live program to get the facility back up and running after Fridays fatal shooting.

NBC 5s Lisa Chavarria kicks off our team coverage of Fridays shooting that left five people dead at an Aurora industrial complex.

The company also confirmed on Saturday that Gary Martin, the gunman that shot and killed five employees at the Henry Pratt Company facility, was fired on Friday for a culmination of many workplace violations, and after a meeting in which his employment was terminated, he pulled out a gun and opened fire.

Hall also said that the company performed a background check on Martin when he was hired in 2004, but that the check did not reveal the gunmans previous felony conviction in Mississippi.

The company pledged that it will continue to work with law enforcement agencies as they investigate the shooting.

We have pledged to continue to work closely with all local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies involved, the company said in a statement. We are grateful to them for their swift and tremendous response efforts.

Hall said that active shooter protocols were in place at the company, and when shots were fired, the building went into lockdown in accordance with those procedures.

They went into lockdown and remained there at polices discretion for quite some time, Hall said.

A total of three employees were killed in the room where Martin was fired, according to Aurora police. Two more victims were killed in other areas of the facility before the gunman was shot and killed during a brief exchange of gunfire with police.
President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting at a west suburban industrial complex that left at least four police officers injured as Illinois elected officialsincluding Gov. J.B. Pritzkermonitored details and praised the bravery of first responders.

The city of Auroras Twitter account posted at 3 p.m. "the shooter has been apprehended." Police said the scene was secured and the "shooter is no longer a threat to the area."

Trump tweeted gratitude for the police response shortly after 5 p.m.

"Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois," the president said. "Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!"

Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2019

Sen. Tammy Duckworth tweeted that she was monitoring the situation.

I am monitoring the situation in Aurora, Illinois. This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans. Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter.  Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) February 15, 2019

This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans, she said. Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter.

Sen. Dick Durbin was also monitoring the situation and thanked emergency personnel.

My heart breaks for Aurora, he said.

Rep. Bill Foster, of the 11th District, said he was aware of the situation and monitoring details.

My office is aware of the situation and is monitoring it closely. Thank you to all of the first responders who are on the scene right now. https://t.co/7ynPVwT5b3  Bill Foster (@RepBillFoster) February 15, 2019

Thank you to all of the first responders who are on the scene right now, he said.

Pritzker encouraged all residents to follow the directives of their local law enforcement.

I am monitoring the shooting in Aurora and encourage all residents to follow the directives of their local law enforcement.  Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) February 15, 2019

A press conference in Aurora was scheduled for 5 p.m.
A Massachusetts couple is facing charges for allegedly trafficking women for sex at a Salem brothel that served as a front for human trafficking and money laundering, according to the attorney general's office.

Woonryong Heo, and Hayun Nam, both 29, of Beverly, were arrested Wednesday by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the attorney general's office. Both suspects pleaded not guilty to one count each of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude, deriving support from prostitution, and money laundering at their arraignment Thursday in Salem District Court.

Through an investigation, authorities obtained evidence that Heo and Nam ran a "profitable and organized criminal enterprise through a residential brothel where they offered sexual activity between women and buyers in exchange for a fee," officials said in a statement.

The couple allegedly recruited women online, set up appointments and transported the women -- in some cases bringing them to and from South Station in Boston and Flushing, New York.

Bail for both Heo and Nam was set at $50,000, with conditions of release that they remain on house arrest, wear GPS tracking, stay away from the victims, surrender their passports, and not travel out of state.

A probable cause hearing is scheduled for March 14.

The investigation is ongoing.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is endorsing Sen. Kamala Harris for president in 2020.

The Democrat said in an MSNBC interview Friday: "I think the American people could not do better" than Harris. He added later in a tweet: "Kamala Harris is a fearless fighter. A voice for the voiceless and vulnerable."

Harris' campaign said in an email touting the endorsement that Newsom will join Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta as California co-chairs for her campaign.

Among the other Democrats who have announced bids for president are Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Cory Booker of New Jersey.

Harris was campaigning in South Carolina on Friday, holding a town hall and visiting Mother Emmanuel church, where nine churchgoers were slain during a 2015 Bible session.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:20 pm

Senate legislation would add citizenship or immigration status to the law against discrimination.

The law against discrimination currently outlaws discrimination against individuals based on race, creed, color, national origin, families with children, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, age, veterans status, or disability.

The bill does not differentiate immigration or citizenship status from the areas in which these groups are protected from discrimination. These areas include the right to employment, real estate transactions, credit transactions, and insurance transactions, among other areas.

The human rights commission administers the statue currently, as policy they do not ask about citizenship or immigration status.

Prime sponsor of Senate Bill 5165, District 37 Sen. Rebecca Saldana D- Seattle, testified on the bill at the Senate Law and Justice Committee on Feb. 12. The bill was also sponsored by six other Democratic senators.

In all cases where we, as a state, have an ability to recognize people living in our state that are residents, that are paying taxes, that are employed, that are contributing to our economy  we want to make sure they are afforded protections, said Saldana.

The bill does give precedent to federal regulations based on immigration and citizenship status. This means that federal prohibitions on hiring illegal immigrants and similar laws still apply but under the proposed bill it would be illegal to discriminate against illegal immigrants if they are engaging in lawful behavior.

Xochitl Maykovich of the Washington Community Action Network, an economic and racial justice advocate group, testified in support of the bill, outlining the issues in getting housing in many non-citizens or immigrants.

Theres not a lot of recourse because its very clear that theyre being discriminated against because of their citizenship status but theres really no place for them to go or no way for them to enforce their rights, said Maykovich I think this bill will do so much to protect people and making sure people stay housed.

Enoka Heart, a representative from the ACLU of Washington, also testified in support of the bill.

There are 1 million immigrants in Washington state, thats one out of seven of us. They are workers, students, parents, and children, they are our neighbors and members of our communities, some have lived in Washington for decades or for most of their lives, said Herat. They deserve to be treated like any other Washingtonian with dignity and respect.

Alex Hur a representative from One America, an immigrant and refugee advocacy group, testified in support of the bill, stating that discrimination is not limited to those here illegally but happens to people here legally at various stages of the immigration or citizenship process.

SB 5165 was passed out of the Senate Law and Justice Committee to the Rules Committee on Thursday.
(Natural News) Dogs are popular among pet owners for a reason: they are cute, cuddly, and incredibly affectionate. According to a study, your furry friend can help you get a good nights sleep. The study, which was published in the journal Anthrozoos, suggests that sleeping with a dog has a significant positive impact on the sleep quality of women.

For the study, researchers collated survey data from 962 adult women living in the U.S. Based on the results, 55 percent of the participants shared their bed with at least one dog while 31 percent of the women slept next to at least one cat. Additionally, 57 percent of the women slept next to a human partner.

Can pet dogs improve sleep quality?

The study showed that participants who slept in the same bed as their pet dog reported a much better night of rest than doing so with a cat or even another human.

The researchers explained that compared with human partners, dogs who slept in their owners bed disturbed the womens sleep less. The dogs were also associated with stronger feelings of comfort and security. (Related: Protect yourself against risk of early death: Get a dog.)

On the other hand, the women who slept next to cats reported that the latter were just as disruptive as human partners. The cats were also associated with weaker feelings of comfort and security than both human and dog bed partners.

The researchers also noted that the volunteers who owned dogs went to bed earlier and woke up earlier compared to cat owners.

This is good news for people who have a hard time waking up early, especially since there is mounting evidence that being an early riser is associated with several benefits such as better mental health and increased productivity.

The only downside to this is that dogs may shed on your bed. Being in close proximity to a pet can also trigger allergies.

Your dog may also start thinking that you are equals since they are allowed to share your bed. Cori Gross, a Seattle veterinarian, said that if youre worried that letting your dog sleep in your bed may cause dominance issues, you can teach your dog that you are still the leader of the pack.

If your dog is well-behaved, sharing a bed wont cause any problems. Even if your dog does have dominance issues, you can train them that being allowed on your bed is a privilege, not a right.

You can do this by getting your pet a dog bed and training him to stay in it when ordered to do so. This isnt as difficult as it sounds since dogs have an ingrained understanding of territory. Just be firm while youre training them to sleep in their own bed.

Susan Nelson, a clinical associate professor at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine, explained that pet dogs add companionship. They can be a source of extra warmth on a cold night, and dogs can provide a sense of security, especially for children who have trouble sleeping alone in their bedrooms.

Dogs also give owners an added sense of safety from potential intruders. Nelson added that letting your dog sleep in your bed can also foster a closer bond between the two of you.

As long as your dog is well-trained, theres no harm in sharing your bed with them so you can get a good nights sleep.

Sources include:

MSN.com

HealthFitnessRevolution.com
(Natural News) One of the most offensive things to many Americans is to suffer criticism from immigrants who came to our country to escape vile, deplorable, violent, and corrupt conditions in their own countries.

It seems something far more than mere hypocrisy to complain about your new home when your real home is, by comparison, so loathsome you couldnt remain there.

But immigrants who become Democrats seem to do it all the time, and some of them are now even becoming members of our government.

One of the newest is Rep. Ilhan Omar, a freshman Democrat from Minnesota. Originally from Somalia, she tweeted out a call to action late last month that was, frankly, infuriating:

Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee.

Before we can achieve the future we dream of, we have to be honest about the history of this nation.

These Lakota riders honor the 300 men, women and children killed there that day by US troops.

Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Wounded Knee. Before we can achieve the future we dream of, we have to be honest about the history of this nation. These Lakota riders honor the 300 men, women and children killed there that day by US troops. https://t.co/ay0pdZlXpB  Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) December 29, 2018

The tweet so offended conservative filmmaker and activist Andrew Marcus at Red-Pilled Jew that he had to reply to her, according to The Gateway Pundit:

@IlhanMN @BenjaminNorton Native Americans were slave holders. They owned black people! They also conquered and occupied land. Also, Muslims sold the slaves to the colonies. Muslims still practice slavery TODAY. but please, do go on.

All of that is true. Native Americans did indeed hold slaves, some of whom were of African descent. Of course, they fought wars among themselves and took/occupied land and resources from enemy tribes. The Arab slave trade was most active in North Africa, Southeast Africa, and West Asia, and it survived into the 21st century (it was ended in Muslim countries in the 19th and 20th centuries by White European nations, by the way). And in 2017, CNN, of all networks, did a report detailing how the black slave trade is ongoing in modern-day Libya. (Related: Hate Speech now means anything that disagrees with the status quo YouTube purging EVERY independent voice, left and right.)

Divisive comments are ignorant of U.S. history

All of what Marcus tweeted was true, but of course, because he directed his comments at a black, liberal, Democrat female congresswoman-to-be, he was punished for it by Twitters speech Nazis, The Gateway Pundit noted.

Now, even truth is suppressed on Twitter if it is deemed offensive and troublesome for Left-wing Democrats.

As for Omar, she has some gall to highlight the massacre at Wounded Knee. Whatever it was  right, wrong, or somewhere in between  it is unnecessarily divisive to call attention to it, especially now that shes a member of Congress. And it happened nearly 140 years ago.

In addition to being ignorant of history, her tweet suggests that somehow the United States and the American people have made zero progress since those days of oppression. The tweet makes it seem like the Jim Crow laws are still on the books, and the civil rights movement in the 1960s never happened.

What rights have the Lakota tribe members been denied? What future are they and other American minorities dreaming about that they have been prohibited from achieving? What opportunities have they been denied?

If were being honest about the history of America, where are Omars tweets recognizing the tens of millions of people U.S. troops saved from the clutches of tyranny during World Wars I & II? What about the nuclear holocaust American forces prevented by remaining vigilant and on point throughout the Cold War?

How many Americans  including ungrateful immigrants like Omar  have American troops saved from being murdered by extremist members of her faith.

Hey, just being honest here.

There may be some legitimate areas of concern that we face but thats no different from any other country. Were all a work in progress.

But to insinuate in an inane, divisive tweet that nothings changed in our country in more than a century is not just factually incorrect, its offensive and disgusting. She should apologize, and so should Twitter for its ridiculous treatment of Marcus.

Read more about the divisiveness of the Alt-Left at AltLeft.news.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

TheNationalSentinel.com
(Natural News) Scientists have finally found a non-toxic alternative to lead that can be used to build solar cells in the future  the so-called green element, bismuth. In a new study that was published recently in Advanced Materials, researchers found that bismuth may be incorporated into solar panels for roughly the same features and benefits as current models, but without the risky effects on humans, animals, and the environment.

Silicon has always been the material of choice for solar panels due to its effectiveness in converting light into energy. However, its low defect tolerance meant that it could only be produced after an energy-intensive process. As you can imagine, thats not very efficient.

And this is where alternative materials can come in. For a while, perovskite solar cells  which are lead-based  looked to be the most promising material out there. It was cheaper than other alternatives and didnt require a particularly high purity level. The only problem was that it used potentially toxic materials to humans, animals, and the environment. So thats why the use of bismuth could prove to be the best solution available.

Ties to older research

According to Professor Judith Driscoll from the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, co-author of the study, theyve been eyeing bismuth for quite some time. Bismuth oxyiodide has all the right physical property attributes for new, highly efficient light absorbers, said Driscoll. I first thought of this compound around five years ago, but it took the highly specialised experimental and theoretical skills of a large team for us to prove that this material has real practical potential.

The studys lead author, Dr. Roberty Hoye of Cambridges Cavendish Laboratory and Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, says that their research is rooted in a desire to find out why defects dont seem to affect the performance of lead-halide perovskite solar cells as much as they would in other materials. If we can figure out whats special about them, then perhaps we can replicated their properties using non-toxic materials, Hoye said.

In the study, the researchers found that bismuth oxyiodide can show the same defect tolerance as other lead-based solar cells. Compared with lead-halide perovskite cells, Bismuth oxyiodide was stable in air for at least 197 days. They also discovered that putting the new material in between two oxide electrodes, like in a sandwich, helped convert up to 80 percent of the light into an electrical charge.

Potential future uses

Bismuth is already widely used in cosmetic products, personal care products, and medicines. This new application shows that it still has plenty of promise. It is so promising, in fact, that the research on its use as an alternative material for solar panels has already caught the attention of several other people who are not directly involved.

According to Dr. David Scanlon, a theorist at Cambridge, the research could open the door to new possibilities.

Previously, the global solar cell research community has been searching for non-toxic materials that replicate the defect tolerance of the perovskites, but without much success in terms of photovoltaic performance, said Canlon. When I saw this work, my team calculated based on the optical properties that bismuth oxyiodide has a theoretical limit of 22% efficiency, which is comparable to silicon and the best perovskite solar cells. Theres a lot more we could get from this material by building off this teams work.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

Cam.ac.uk
(Natural News) There is growing interest in medicinal mushrooms in the Western market, thanks in part to the existence of popular and effective items like reishi mushrooms, which are referred to in China as the mushrooms of immortality. But this interest may fade rather quickly if the results of a new study, which tried to verify the number of reishi mushrooms in commercially available products, holds true.

In the study conducted by scientists from the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) and the University of Macau, it was revealed that only five out of a total of 19 supplement products could be verified as having genuine reishi mushroom. All the others failed the verification even though they had all been labeled as such. The results of the study were published in the journal Nature.

The researchers used a reliable and scientific toolkit to get the results they needed for their study. This involved relying on highly accurate test methods such as high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), colorimetric method, high-performance size-exclusion chromatography (HPSEC), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). By using these methods, they were able to find that the quality consistency of the tested products was extremely poor and should be carefully investigated.

A gap in quality

Out of more than a dozen available supplement products, only one is backed by a vocal supporter of higher quality and authenticity standards, and that is none other than Nammex Organic Mushroom Extracts, which was founded by Jeff Chilton. In an interview with NutraIngredients-USA, Chilton said, The time has come for supplement companies to embrace the new analytical standards and testing protocols that I have presented in my 2015 White Paper.

Chilton himself contributed to the study done by USP by submitting three separate mushroom extract samples from Nammex Reishi, which all managed to pass the USP test standards. Now that the USP has published their study with analytical data that supports my findings, there is no longer any excuse for companies to ignore this problem. Those who choose to carry on with business as usual will find themselves increasingly isolated in a marketplace that now requires increased transparency and higher quality standards based on scientific analysis, Chilton explained.

According to Stefan Gafner, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer at the American Botanical Council, the USP study offers a thorough chemical analysis of the 19 reishi supplements. The fact that only 26.3 percent of the tested products were found to be authentic suggests a need for improved quality control measures, said Gafner. While it is acknowledged that the sample size in this study is limited, the sample seems to be fairly representative of the U.S. market according to the authors.

Benefits of reishi mushrooms

The reputation of reishi mushrooms should not be taken lightly. After all, they wouldnt have earned the label of immortal mushrooms in ancient China and become well-known over the course of more than 2,000 years for nothing. So what exactly are the known benefits of reishi mushrooms, supplement or otherwise?

If you go back to ancient China, youll find that reishi mushrooms were being prescribed for all sorts of conditions, from simple fatigue to high blood pressure. These days, they are used mainly as supplement products that could help with a number of things. Namely, boosting immunity and helping prevent cancer, slowing the aging process, and treating cardiovascular conditions.

Reishi mushrooms are also rich in nutrients that are needed by the body. Much like other medicinal mushrooms, it contains fiber, amino acids, protein, steroids, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), and ascorbic acid. They are difficult for the human stomach to digest, so they are best consumed in extract form. So if you can make sure that a particular reishi mushroom product youre about to take is genuine, youll know that its worth it.

Sources include:

NutraIngredients-USA.com

Nature.com
(Natural News) In a decision made without consulting first with users, Microsoft is teaming up with an online censor to filter out and blacklist conservative and independent media voices under the false guise of combating fake news.

As reported by Breitbart Tech, Microsoft has already installed a mainstream media (MSM) browser extension that rates the accuracy of news sites as part of a default extension on its mobile versions of the Edge browser.

In practice, Breitbart reports, it creates a news blacklist by warning users away from sites including Breitbart News, The Drudge Report, and the Daily Mail.

The browser extension is called NewsGuard and it provides users with a red warning label if they visit a website that the Left-wing speech Nazis at Microsoft have judged to be unreliable. A green rating is assigned to websites that NewsGuard developers have deemed trustworthy.

Several sites that are either supportive of President Donald Trump or at least cover him and his administration fairly have already been red-flagged, including Breitbart, the site noted.

In addition, the right-leaning U.K. website The Daily Mail, the third-largest paper in the country, was also red-flagged because, as NewsGuard claims, the site fails to maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability.

It should be noted the Daily Mail has been responsible for several bombshell reports, none of which have been refuted and many of which exposed major scandals both in the United Kingdom and the United States.

There are additional examples proving that NewsGuard is really just another Big Tech censorship tool. (Related: Lawyer: Fake news media must retract false reporting on Covington Catholic School students or face a wave of lawsuits for slander and defamation.)

For example, WikiLeaks has been red-flagged even though the whistleblower website has never had to retract anything that it has published.

Establishment liberals and neocons developed this tool

Also, one of the websites with a green flag is none other than Buzzfeed, which recently published a bombshell story claiming that the president told his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Moscow. The reporters, Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold, claimed to have cited two federal law enforcement sources who were familiar with special counsel Robert Muellers findings.

The story was so fake that Muellers office took the very rare step of publicly claiming that it was not accurate  though Buzzfeed continues to stand by the story. One of the reporters, Leopold, has a long history of fabricating sources and making up details in his stories.

Buzzfeed also published, in its entirety, the fake Russia dossier compiled by Christopher Steele, who was hired by Fusion GPS and whose efforts were financed by the 2016 Clinton campaign. Nevertheless, NewsGuard says the site  which is owned by NBC, itself known for fake news  regularly corrects or clarifies errors, which, of course, implies that the news site does make errors.

Breitbart Tech noted further:

Many of the websites that recently fed the fake news feeding frenzy against students of Covington Catholic high school in Kentucky, who were falsely accused of taunting a left-wing Native American agitator, are also given a green rating. These include CNN, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

There are some liberal sites that have been given red flags, Breitbart noted. But NewsGuard trends towards the anti-establishment wing of Democrat politics like ShareBlue and the Daily Kos.

But equally politicized and oft-inaccurate sites like HuffPo and Salon do not have red ratings.

Breitbart reported that it shouldnt come as a big surprise that it and other independent, conservative-leaning pro-Trump sites have been red-flagged because the team members Microsoft assembled to program the browser extension include neocons and Leftists from the Clinton, Bush, and Obama administrations.

Read more about the big tech bias against conservative and independent media at Biased.news.

Sources include:

Breitbart.com

Lies.news
(Natural News) Utahans who support health freedom  which constitute the majority of Utah voters, it turns out  watched a bill they passed last November that would have legalized medical cannabis throughout the Beehive State slip through their fingers into the dustbin of tyranny, thanks to the conniving interference of Utahs Mormon-dominated legislature.

Just one day after Proposition 2, the Medical Marijuana Initiative that Utah voters passed by a 53 percent margin, was set to be implemented, the Utah House of Representatives and Senate held a special session to completely scrap the bill  replacing it with a much more restrictive Utah Medical Cannabis Act that will make it virtually impossible for anyone living in Utah to realistically access legal medical cannabis.

Even though overriding ballot initiatives that have been lawfully passed by voters is completely unconstitutional, the Church, with rubber-stamp approval from corrupt Utah Governor Gary Herbert, took it upon itself to do precisely that  patting itself on the back in the process, as if the Mormon religion somehow holds the ultimate authority to make medical decisions for all Utahans.

With the passage of the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, Utah now has the best-designed medical cannabis program in the country, Gov. Herbert arrogantly proclaimed, insinuating that the Proposition 2 replacement contrived by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in secret, and signed by himself into law, is somehow legitimate.

Mormon politicians and church leaders met in secret to scheme a plan of attack to destroy Proposition 2

Its important to note that, before Proposition 2 was even voted on, Mormon leadership with deep pockets were already busy plotting a way to destroy it. An extensive list of LDS propaganda talking points published by MormonNewsroom.org back on May 11, 2018, reveals the extent to which the Church, with the help of its powerful legal lobby, schemed up a plan to annihilate Proposition 2 in the event that it passed.

Readers are encouraged to take a closer look at this list, which clearly outlines LDS opposition to Utahans freely growing their own cannabis at home; purchasing the amounts of cannabis necessary to treat their individual ailments, as opposed to what the Church deems appropriate; and accessing medical cannabis through independent dispensaries as opposed to licensed pharmacies.

The LDS lobby also opposes Utahans with chronic pain being allowed to access medical cannabis at all, as chronic pain is difficult to diagnose, according to the Church. In other words, the Mormon-controlled legislature, law enforcement, and other state mechanisms of control in Utah crave much more power and control over medical cannabis use than Proposition 2 afforded them.

Help support lawsuit filed by former Salt Lake City mayor against State of Utah for illegally overriding passage of Proposition 2

In response to being legislatively assaulted in this manner by Utah politicians, a coalition of health freedom groups, led by former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, has filed a lawsuit in the 3rd District Court against the state legislature for scrapping this voter-passed initiative. Included in the lawsuit are the heads of both the Epilepsy Association of Utah (EAU) and Together for Responsible Use and Cannabis Education (TRUCE).

For three years, we advocated on the Hill, Christine Stenquist, president of TRUCE, is quoted as saying by The Salt Lake Tribune, contending that the Utah Medical Cannabis Act, the LDS replacement for Proposition 2, violates Utahs constitutional provisions for ballot initiative.

For two years, weve been in a campaign for the proposition. And when I saw it undermined so quickly on the first business day, I started to wonder: Is the initiative process in Utah just a suggestion box? Are our votes really meaning anything in this political process? How long do we just have to let politics happen to us?

Let me get this straight. The conservative, anti-socialism Utah government will be in charge of the distribution of medicine? jabbed one commenter at The Salt Lake Tribune about the hypocrisy of Proposition 2 being overridden by the Utah legislature.

Let all people know that dealing in the state of Utah or in any dealing with the LDS church, will be done by dishonest players from civic leaders, doctors, law enforcement, pharmacists, right up to the Governor, soberly revealed another about the current state of politics in Utah.

If you are a young person planning on building a future here just know that your views better be in tune with the LDS church, if you are a business looking to relocate or expand in this state, you better beware.

Please consider donating to the GoFundMe page thats been set up to help raise financial support for the aforementioned lawsuit, which aims to preserve the will of Utah voters in having true and honest access to medical cannabis  without interference from the Church.

For more cannabis-related news, be sure to check out MarijuanaToday.news.

Sources for this article include:

NYTimes.com

SLTrib.com

NaturalNews.com

LDS.org

MormonNewsroom.org

SLTrib.com

EpilepsyUT.org

TRUCEUtah.org

GoFundMe.com
(Natural News) A digital tracking app that allows Muslim males who live in Saudi Arabia to keep track of their female property in real time is reportedly approved and available for download in both Apples App Store and Googles Play Store  even as independent media outlets like Infowars and even Natural News that challenge mainstream narratives remain banned for their supposedly offensive content.

Known as Absher, the Sharia Law tool apparently functions like a homing device for Muslim men to keep 24/7 tabs on Muslim women, ensuring that they dont try to flee their enslavement. Should a Muslim woman attempt to escape from her Muslim prison, Absher allows the male guardians in her life, whether they be husbands, brothers, or other male kin, to quickly track them down and retrieve them.

Insider inadvertently spilled the beans about Abshers presence within the two major tech giants app stores, telling the story of one Saudi Arabian woman whose careful and creative planning allowed her to subvert its features in order to escape her oppression. Unlike others who have tried, but failed, resulting in their being beaten  or worse  the woman in question was able to get out of Saudi Arabia and make a new home in Sweden.

But unfortunately for many others, Absher has allowed countless Muslim male guardians to track down their potential female escapees and bring them back home  and they have Apple and Google to thank for making this system of total female enslavement possible within the worlds most oppressive Islamic regime, a.k.a. Saudi Arabia.

Absher has multiple meanings in Arabic, including your request is granted, good tidings, or at your service, explains Bill Bostock from Insider. It is the state-run e-service that contains an online expression of Saudi Arabias restrictive male-guardianship laws.

The Absher system  little-discussed in Western media  contains a log of women in Saudi Arabia and the means to bar them from travel or catch them trying to leave without permission.

Apple and Google support female enslavement in Saudi Arabia, but oppose your freedom to access non-state-run news and information here in the United States

Included in Bostocks article about Absher is a screenshot of the login page for the Apple iOS Absher app, which naturally functions in Arabic as the default language. The screenshot depicts a prompt asking for a male guardians government identification and password, which grants instant access to a 24/7 Big Brother monitoring platform for watching the every move of their Muslim female property.

Saudi men can  use this site to specify when and where women are allowed to fly out of the country and grant or revoke travel permission with a few clicks, rendering specific airports or destinations off-limits, Bostock explains.

Men can also enable an automatic SMS feature, which texts them when a woman uses her passport at a border crossing or airport check-in.

Its important to keep in mind that, because of Abshers adoption by both Apple and Google, its now easier than ever for Muslim men in Saudi Arabia to justify beating, and in some cases murdering, Muslim women who dare to try to escape its ever-reaching clutches. In other words, Apple and Google support the murder of Muslim women who refuse to abide by the oppressive mandates of Sharia Law.

The alert system is one of the main reasons women trying to flee Saudi Arabia get caught, because it tips their guardians off while they can still be apprehended, Bostock reveals, quoting a Saudi refugee who was successfully able to sidestep the system and attain freedom in Germany.

The authorities are using technology to monitor women, adds Saudi author and journalist Badriya al-Bishr, as quoted in Bostocks article. This is technology used to serve backwardness in order to keep women imprisoned.

For more related news, be sure to check out Tyranny.news.

Sources for this article include:

ThisIsInsider.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) The blueberries of Mars are not the least bit organic, much less edible. But the small, ferrous spheres strewn across the surface of Mars could tell us about the Red Planet during the time when liquid water flowed across its young face.

First discovered by NASAs Opportunity rover in 2004, the hematite-rich geologic features look like their namesake fruit. They also resemble certain mineral formations on Earth, which researchers have studied in order to get an idea of how their Martian analogs came to be.

Little is known about the Mars blueberries. But they are reportedly proof that large amounts of liquid water passed through the area containing them over a long period of time.

Researchers believe that deciphering the origin of the blueberries can tell us about the conditions on Mars when the spheres were being formed. And knowing the Martian environment during that time frame would allow them to take a good guess about the kinds of alien life forms that could have existed in those conditions. (Related: New evidence helps astronomers determine when life might have existed on Mars.)

Earth equivalents of blueberries suggest that Mars experienced a lot of floods

Mars is still out of reach of human astronauts and researchers for the next few years. So a research team from Nagoya University (Meidai) and Kochi University settled for the next best thing by traveling to Mongolia and Utah.

These two large, desert areas contain geologic features that resemble Mars blueberries. The terrestrial spheres come in various sizes but are generally much bigger than the Martian stones; their formations are also set up in a disorderly blob instead of a neat array.

The Japanese researchers found that the terrestrial blueberries are comprised of two layers of different materials. The outer shell contains most of the iron, while the inner core was comprised of a calcium carbonate mineral called calcite.

In addition to their field studies, the Meidai-Kochi researchers subjected the iron-coated calcite formations to chemical modeling. They believed the Earth blueberries started out as calcite structures that were subjected to floods of slightly acidic water with plenty of iron.

The floodwater ate at the calcite while also depositing iron around the mineral formation. Eventually, the increasing amounts of iron formed a protective layer of hematite around the remaining calcite, preserving the calcium carbonate material from further dissolution.

In comparison, the Martian blueberries are completely made out of hematite. The researchers theorized that the geologic formations on Mars were exposed to much longer periods of flooding that dissolved all of the calcite and left only the iron-rich material.

Did the atmosphere of Mars end up in its iron-rich mineral formations?

If it pans out, the new theory raises two big implications about the early history of Mars. First, the chemical process of shaping calcite into geologic blueberries requires a lot of liquid water that has a certain chemical composition. And the chemistry of water plays a big role in determining what organisms can live in an environment.

The second one involves the atmosphere of Mars. There is evidence that the planet used to have a much thicker atmosphere, but now the air there is extremely thin.

The explanation proposed by the Meidai-Kochi researchers is that the carbon in the air became carbonate ions. The ions then got trapped in the calcite precursors of the Martian blueberries, which cover less than one percent of the surface of the planet.

NASA will be dispatching the Mars 2020 rover in a few years. While it will land far from the area where Opportunity found the Mars blueberries, it may still end up coming across more of the curious spheres.

Sources include:

Space.com

Advances.ScienceMag.org
(As delivered)

Thank you so much. Its really a great pleasure to be back here at the Munich Security Conference, especially because the focus this year is on the need for global institutions, for global order.

And we all know that these institutions, this rules-based order is under pressure. And therefore we also know that when these institutions are under pressure, we also see more uncertainty and more unpredictability.

And therefore today, I will actually focus a bit on how we can deal with that unpredictability and the more uncertain security environment that surrounds us.

I will do that of course out of the perspective of NATO. And I will also do that knowing that one way of dealing with uncertainty is to try to predict the future.

At the same time, we know that to predict the future is extremely difficult.

We were not able to predict the fall of the Berlin Wall.

We were not able to predict the 9/11 attacks.

And we were not able to predict the rise of ISIS.

And I can also confess to you that I know its not only in the realm of international security that it is hard to predict the future.

Because for many years  well, not so many years  but in my first job, as an economist in the Central Bureau of Statistics in Norway, we tried to predict the oil price.

And we were wrong all the time.

So to predict the future is not easy.

What is therefore needed is not only to try to predict the future, but to develop strategies to deal with uncertainty, to be prepared for the unexpected.

And when it comes to security, there are at least three essential things we need to address when we try to develop a strategy to deal with and be able to tackle uncertainty.

One is strong multilateral frameworks;

Second, strong defence;

And third, strong transatlantic cooperation.

All of these help us to reduce risks.

And to cope with surprises when they happen.

And they will happen.

So first, we need strong and effective multilateral frameworks.

After the destruction of World War Two, visionary leaders created institutions that enabled countries to compete and cooperate peacefully.

That covered everything from European security and arms control.

To monetary policy and international trade.

They protected the weak from the strong.

They ensured our peace and prosperity.

And they have benefitted us all, and they have been incredibly effective in meeting the needs of the people they served.

Yet today, these institutions are under pressure.

If we want them to remain effective.

We need to continue to reform and modernize them.

That is why one of my main objectives in NATO has been reform.

To make sure the Alliance remains fit for the future.

One important framework that has served us all very well is the nuclear arms control regime.

Which, over many decades has dramatically reduced the number of nuclear weapons.

In the early 1990s, the United States and the Soviet Union each deployed 12,000 long-range strategic nuclear warheads.

Today there is a limit of 1,550 warheads for each country.

There were also almost three thousand intermediate range nuclear weapons in Europe.

The INF Treaty banned them all,

And brought that number down to zero.

But now, the whole nuclear arms control regime is under assault.

Russia has deployed several battalions of its new SSC-8 missile system, in breach of the Treaty.

These missiles are mobile.

Easy to hide.

And nuclear-capable.

They can reach European cities, like Munich, with little warning.

They lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons in a conflict.

It was on this very stage, at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, this was the place that President Putin first publically expressed his desire for Russia to leave the INF Treaty.

A treaty that is only respected by one side will not keep us safe.

Then it is just a piece of paper.

That is why, with the full support of all NATO Allies, the United States has announced its intention to withdraw from the Treaty.

This will take effect in six months.

So Russia still has a window of opportunity to return to compliance.

We call on Russia to take that opportunity.

And to verifiably destroy its intermediate range missiles.

The clock is ticking.

We want Russia to return to compliance.

But we are also preparing for a world without the INF Treaty.

And a world with more Russian missiles in Europe.

NATO has already started this work.

And I will not predict the outcome.

But what I can say is that we will do this as an Alliance.

United and measured.

And that NATO has no intention of deploying new land-based nuclear weapons in Europe.

NATO will always take the necessary steps to provide credible and effective deterrence.

While we remain determined to avoid a new arms race, we cannot afford to be complacent, and we cannot afford to be naive.

And that brings me to my second point, the second thing we must do to deal with uncertainty.

To continue investing in our defence.

For centuries in Europe, conflict was our constant companion.

The last 70 years of peace have been the exception, and not the rule.

We must never take peace for granted.

After the Cold War, NATO Allies cut their defence budgets.

And that was understandable, as tensions had fallen.

But today, tensions are increasing again.

And so for the first time in many years, we have started to significantly increase our defence budgets.

This is the right thing to do to keep our people secure in todays world.

Since 2016, NATO allies in Europe and Canada have spent an additional 41 billion dollars on defence.

And by the end of next year, that will rise to one hundred billion US dollars.

The money matters.

And what we do with that money matters too.

We have deployed combat-ready troops in the eastern part of the Alliance for the first time.

Increased the readiness of our forces.

Modernised our command structure.

Stepped up in the fight against terrorism.

And we are doing more to address hybrid and cyber threats.

By doing all this, we ensure we can continue to protect all Allies against any threat.

Not to provoke a conflict, but to preserve the peace.

Europe and North America are doing this together, through NATO.

And the unprecedented cooperation between NATO and the European Union also contributes to our security and to transatlantic burden-sharing.

And we just had a Defence Ministerial meeting in Brussels, and High Representative Federica Mogherini was there, as she always is. Showing that we are working more and more closely together, NATO and the European Union.

Therefore, the third essential element to manage uncertainty is strong transatlantic cooperation.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, Europe and North America brought the Cold War to an end without a shot being fired on European soil.

We underpinned stability and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.

We helped bring peace to the Balkans.

And fought side-by-side against terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The bond between our two continents is historical, cultural and personal.

But the real reason this bond endures is even more fundamental.

Standing together is in our shared interest.

It is in the national interest of each and every one of our nations.

The cooperation between North America and Europe is more important than ever.

As the balance of power is shifting.

A key driver for this shift is the rise of China.

There is genuine potential for partnership and political dialogue.

NATO and China have already worked together to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.

And our militaries are in regular contact.

But Chinas rise also presents a challenge.

One example is of course the concern many Allies have expressed about Chinas increasing investment in critical infrastructure, such as 5G.

We have to better understand the size and the scale of Chinas influence,

What it means for our security.

And we have to address it together.

Europe and North America are stronger together  economically, politically and militarily.

We represent almost one billion people.

Half of the worlds economic might.

And half of the worlds military might.

A strong NATO is good for global security.

It is good for the security of Europe.

And it is good for the security of North America.

NATO provides the United States with 28 friends and Allies.

And many more partners across the globe.

Nobody else can count on that.

Indeed, as you all know, the only time that we have invoked Article 5, our collective defence clause, was after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of troops from European Allies and Canada have served alongside America in Afghanistan.

And more than a thousand have paid the ultimate price.

The strength of a nation depends on the size of its economy.

And the size of its military.

But it also depends on the number of its friends.

So it is vital that we continue to stand together to maintain our security in an uncertain world.

If we maintain robust and relevant international institutions;

If we continue to invest in our defence;

And if we remain united,

We will be ready to face the future.

Whatever the future may bring.

MODERATOR: Thank you very much Secretary General Stoltenberg, I think you made a powerful case there for NATO being premised upon the principles of unity, of cooperation, but also of, of investment and responsibility. And if I may perhaps kick off this debate with a question to you. It really drives at the balance between that unity and cooperation on the one hand, and responsibility and investment on the other. Now, the term unnecessary duplication has really been at the heart of the discussion about the broader EU-NATO relationship for years, in fact, for decades now. And as Europeans though we assume, and we have to assume, greater responsibility, because that, indeed, is the premise for a stronger NATO. The question that I ask myself, and in fact I pose, I pose to you is: is there a level of necessary duplication that we have to endure, and if so, how do we make that necessary duplication not autarkic, not protectionist, and eventually to the benefit of unity and cooperation?

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: My starting point is the following: is that I have welcomed, I think, clearer than any other Secretary General of NATO ever has done, the EU initiatives, the EU efforts on defence. Because I really believe that by developing new capabilities, by addressing the fragmentation of the European defence industry, by, by increasing defence spending, that will be good, of course, for European Allies, for Europe, for the European Union and for NATO. There is no contradiction. So, and therefore I also welcome, of course, close cooperation between NATO and the European Union. And Federica is here, we have worked hard on how to we can really lift that to a new level. And I think EU NATO member states, Allies, have been able to do that, thats great.

But my message, and that answers also the question about duplication, is that we have only single set forces, we have limited resources, and we cannot duplicate each other.

The other message is that I welcome stronger EU efforts on defence, and I actually welcome stronger European unity. But European unity cannot substitute for transatlantic unity. And sometimes there is this misperception out there, that EU efforts, or European efforts on defence is something which is an alternative, can replace NATO. Thats not the case.

And Ive used the number many, many, many times, but after Brexit, 80 percent, 80 percent of NATOs defence expenditure will come from non-EU Allies. So its in a way obvious that, yes, stronger EU efforts on defence are great, but its not an alternative, cannot replace, and should not be presented as something which is, in a way, reducing the importance of the transatlantic bond, because we need strong EU efforts but we cannot... Europe, the European Union cannot take the role of NATO in providing collective security and protecting Europe.

This is partly about money  80 percent of the defence budget outside EU  but partly about geography. With all respect for Norway, its not a very big country, but an important country, up in the north, for, you know, the Arctic and the submarines and all that. In the south, Turkey is a key NATO ally in the fight against Daesh / ISIL; and in the West you have then US, Canada and United Kingdom. So this is partly about money, partly about geography and the message is just to avoid any misunderstanding about the purpose of EU efforts on defence.

Then, I think, duplication  as long as we dont do things which are undermining the strength of the transatlantic bond, as long as we complement the efforts of NATO, then everything is fine.

MODERATOR: Absolutely clear. Let me open this up to the floor, asking you also to introduce yourself before asking your question.

KONSTANTIN KOSACHEV: Thank you. Thank you very much. Konstantin Kosachev, the Russian parliament. I will go back to the issue of the INF Treaty. Mr Secretary General, we have reported the position of NATO on that, we should describe it as a unanimous support towards the United States of America against Russia. The agreement is a bilateral one, bilateral one, between Russia and the United States of America. And theoretically, NATO as a military alliance should have been, at least in the beginning, neutral, taking into account arguments and positions of both sides, both participants in the agreement. Because you are a serious Alliance and you need to act with responsibility. My question to you would be: how many times and at what level the military, the technical experts from the NATO have consulted the Russian experts, military experts, studying their arguments, taking into account their positions or you as an alliance, as the Alliance, have just based your position on the recommendation coming from the second state, which is a member state of NATO, and politically it is quite natural that you support that. But again, my question to you is that: how many times and at what level you have been studying the Russian argumentation in favour of the Russian position and against the American position before you have taken this unilateral approach in the Alliance. Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Our concern about the INF Treaty is dating back almost six years, because that was the first time the United States, but in close consultation with NATO Allies, raised that issue with Russia. And it was the Obama administration that first raised it and they used the different verification mechanisms, the different mechanisms in the Treaty, to make sure that there is full compliance, to raise their concerns. And all the way they consulted with NATO Allies, the Obama administration.

Then we had the Trump administration, they continued. The problem was that what also continued was the deployment of new Russian missiles. And at some stage this is not working, because if we have a treaty which is violated by one side and respected by the other, then that treaty doesnt deliver security. Then its not a real arms control treaty. And therefore we have raised it with Russia, at different levels.

There have been 30 high-level meetings between the US and Russia. Many European Allies have raised the issue with Russia several times. We had a meeting now just recently in the NATO-Russia Council where we raised the issue with all Allies present.

And I think we have to understand that . . . that, not only United States, but several Allies, have independently determined that Russia is in violation. There are no new US missiles in Europe but there are more and more Russian missiles in Europe. And I am extremely concerned, also partly because I am part of a generation that was shaped by the debate about intermediate-range forces in Europe. That was, in a way, the big issue in the 70s and the 80s. And regardless of what people thought about the NATO dual track decision back in 79, I know some people who were in favour and some who were against. But regardless of what they thought about that, we all agreed that the INF Treaty in 1987, that banned all those missiles, was a great achievement. And thats the reason why we are so extremely concerned and actually also why we have given Russia so much time to come back into compliance. This has been an issue for six years.

In December all Allies agreed that Russia was in violation. All Allies supported the US decision to start the withdrawal process within 60 days, if Russia didnt come back. Now they havent come back and United States have started the withdrawal process. That leaves then, six months for Russia to come back. So, again, come back to compliance with the INF Treaty. Thats the best way to reduce tensions and to avoid an arms race.

MODERATOR: Well, could not be said clearer than that. Steve Erlanger, New York Times.

STEVE ERLANGER [New York Times]: Yes. Thanks very much. Thank you, madam moderator. Secretary General, you have a President of the United States who clearly doesnt like NATO, doesnt believe in NATO, doesnt care about NATO, isnt committed to NATO, keeps talking it down and says privately, maybe we should pull out. Is it best for you to ignore what the President of the United States believes and feels? Have you given up trying to convince him? Are you hoping it just goes away? What kind of damage does it do to an Alliance that already has sufficient strains from antidemocratic members in Hungary and, increasingly, Poland? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Every time I meet President Donald Trump, he tells me that he likes NATO. Not only that he likes NATO, but hes a hundred percent in favour of NATO. But at the same time he also tells me that the European Allies and Canada have to spend more; that we need fair burden-sharing and he... at our first press conference, when I met him, also, just after he became President, in the White House, he actually said that, I used to say that NATO was obsolete, but NATO is no longer obsolete. Quote. That was what he actually said.

So President Trump has a different style than most other Presidents. He tweets more, he is more direct, but he has clearly stated again and again and again, for instance, at the NATO summit which was very... at the NATO summit we had all the 29 Allies together, sitting around the table. We had a very, I should say, open and frank debate. Different debate than we normally have at NATO summits. I was at my first in 2001. This was very different.

But no one was in doubt about the message from the President. And that was that he was in favour of NATO, but he wanted fair burden-sharing. And he actually pointed out some specific Allies and asked them to pay more. So the message is that, yes NATO is good, but we need to share the burden more fairly. And then let me add one more thing about that. And that is that: not only... European Allies are spending more  I refer the figures now, 100 billion  he actually liked that figure, its a good figure, a good number, good real money; but second, second, the United States is increasing their presence in Europe, now. The United States is not, not leaving Europe; the United States have increased their presence over the last years with more troops, more exercises, more investments in infrastructure.

So, yes, there are differences between NATO Allies on different issues, on trade, on climate change, we have had our discussions about burden-sharing in NATO, but actually the reality is that Europe and North America are doing more together than we have done for many years. We are 29 allies. We disagree. We are different. We come from different parties. Some are liberal, some are conservatives, some are social democrats some are Christian democrats, some are different things. But we have always been able to unite around our core tasks to protect each other. So thats the main message.

MODERATOR: Thank you. I had a question at the back. Yeah? There should be a mic coming.

ROGER COHEN [New York Times]: Yeah actually. Well, Im also from the New York Times, Roger Cohen, columnist for The Times. Steve, actually, has asked the question, the main question I was going to ask. I admire your faith in President Trump, Mr Secretary General. I think his true belief is the one he expresses consistently, which is tremendous scepticism over multilateralism, over Atlanticism, over American values as personified in this conference. When Secretary Pompeo was in Montenegro recently, he was asked if Article 5 would apply. In other words, if Montenegro were attacked, would all the NATO Allies comes to its defence. And the Secretary General punted . . . he did not reaffirm the validity of Article 5. This suggests that NATO is fraying at its core. What do you think?

JENS STOLTENBERG: So partly the answer is the same, meaning that what we see now... again, I understand that, that there are differences and political disagreements within NATO Allies and, and also about different positions by the United States. Thats fair enough. Im not denying that there are disagreements.

My message is that despite those disagreements, we have been able to deliver a strong NATO, that Europe and North America are doing more, more, more together. And the US is, of course, part of that with President Trump. Because for me, actions speak even louder than words. Meaning that: if you dont believe what he says, lets look at... study what the United States is doing and what they are doing is that you have to remember that, for instance . . . so, after the end of the Cold War, the United States reduced their presence in Europe. Thats true. The last US battle tank left Europe in December 2013. Now, the United States is back with . . . not with one battle tank, but with a full armoured brigade. Not seen that for many years in Europe. Now its there. So for me, thats a very strong expression of US commitment to NATO and to Article 5 and to the willingness to protect all Allies.

If they were not committed to NATO to Article 5, why do they then increase funding for US presence in Europe by 40 percent since he took office? Why do they send in a new armoured brigade? Why do they exercise up in the north of Norway and in the Baltics and, and... in all NATO territory? So, well, I accept that you have your opinions about President Trump, but there is an undeniable fact that there are more US forces now in Europe than has been for many, many years.

MODERATOR: Thank you. Pierre Lellouche.

PIERRE LELLOUCHE [Former French Minister]: Thank you Natalie. Monsieur Secretaire General, a question from a former French minister who is old enough to have remembered in this very room the debate about the deployment of INF back in the early 80s, and how difficult it was. This was a time when French President Mitterrand had to talk to the Bundestag and say that missiles should be deployed in Germany. Nuclear missiles in Germany. Saying that the peaceniks were on the west and the missiles were on the east. It was a very hard decision for the Germans, I remember this room at that time, and for the French as well, everybody. That decision was made in the name of coupling  coupling was a key word. Now, Mr Secretary General, despite all your efforts, how do you sell coupling today when the US President says he wants to leave NATO? How do you sell it? Second. Where do you deploy the missiles? Assuming the Russian, who denies they violate the treaty, it is their position. So they will not go back to the table in the next six months, we all know it. They know it. We know it. What do we do next? And where do you deploy the missiles?

Do you believe that there is going to be a crowd of countries ready to restart the debate of 40 years ago? Isnt it more reasonable to . . . for NATO to attend more urgent issue for example, we have one member, called Turkey, who is now openly involved in the war in Syria. At the very time when the US President wants to move out of Syria. It was a great advantage to Russia and Iran. Now can you please tell me the coherence of all of this NATO stuff, which frankly I have difficulty in understanding?

JENS STOLTENBERG: You are very right that one of the main issues that was discussed leading to the NATO decision in 79 was the issue of decoupling European security from US security. And, of course, if that happens then Article 5, NATO, is not credible. So to link European security with European security [sic] has been, in a way, the core purpose of NATO since we were established, and you are right that that was an issue discussed back in the 70s and 80s. I believe that to link European security to North American security, thats partly about paragraphs, the NATO Treaty, Article 5, but as I already have also said, its also very much about actually what you do on the ground. And the best way of linking European security to North American security is to have Canadian and US troops in Europe.

And I mentioned in my speech that for the first time in our history we have battle-ready combat troops in the Baltic countries and Poland. We have never had that before. Theyre not very big, around a thousand. But the strength of them is the following: is that they are combat-ready. And one battlegroup is led by the United States the battlegroup we have in Poland. And then the other, one other, is led by by Canada in Latvia. So if some of these countries are attacked, NATO will be there immediately. Its not a question of whether to have NATO involved. We will be involved immediately, because we are already there. So for me its hard to find any stronger message of coupling, or not delinking, than to do exactly what we have done the last years, to deploy NATO multinational troops in the eastern part of the Alliance.

So thats part of the answer. The other answer is the following, is that: it is, of course, in the interest of Europe to have a strong NATO, because US, Canada provide support. But its also in the interest of the United States to have a strong NATO. I refer to the 9/11 attacks. All Allies came and helped US in Afghanistan.

But the US presence in Europe is not only to protect Europe. The US military presence in Europe is also about projecting power beyond Europe, which has been in the interest of the United States for years. If a US soldier is wounded seriously in Afghanistan, Iraq, hes brought to Ramstein, in Germany. The US-Africa Command is not in Africa  its in Stuttgart in Germany.

So there is no doubt that the US presence in Europe is not only to protect Europe, it is also to, in a way, provide the platform for US security interests. So . . . and I mentioned also in my speech that NATO provides the United States with 28  soon 29, because the Republic of North Macedonia is now becoming member  friends and Allies.

And last time I was in United States, they were very concerned about the size of China. Well, if you are concerned about the size of China, then its a great advantage to have 29 Allies and friends, adding up to close to one billion people and half of the worlds GDP. So we are good for United States. And I think the Americans understand that, at least they tell me so.

The last thing you asked me about was, where are we going to deploy the missiles? Well, as I told... my message is the following: is that we will now assess what we will do. But I can tell you something about what we are going to do, meaning that we are going to do it together, not a bilateral arrangement, it will be something that NATO does as an Alliance. Secondly, it will be measured, we will be careful, because we need to find a balance between being strong, providing credible deterrence and defence, but not triggering an arms race. So we need to find that balance. And the third thing is that we dont intend to deploy new nuclear-capable missiles in Europe. And therefore we dont need to find that country.

MODERATOR: Thank you, Secretary General. I really think this has been a fantastically clear, frank and candid debate. And above all, an extremely persuasive one. Thank you Secretary General.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 6:28 pm

According to a report by the Urban Indian Health Institute, Seattle has the most cases of missing and murdered American Indian and Alaska Native women and girls than any other city in the country.

Washington state had the second-highest number of total cases, only following New Mexico.

House Bill 1713 aims to improve the law enforcement response to these cases by establishing a task force and Washington State Patrol liaisons to work with tribal communities and law enforcement. The bill has 24 bipartisan sponsors. According to its fiscal note, it is expected to cost the State patrol more than $500,000 to implement.

A number of Native American men and women testified asking for the bill to take steps further. Some called for the legislature to address missing and murdered indigenous men alongside women, elevate tribal voices throughout the implementation process, and increase of the number of liaison positions.

This is not just an American Indian/Alaskan Native women issue, it is an American issue, said Earth-Feather Sovereign, an advocate for the group Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Washington. We all have mothers and sisters and daughters, we need to protect all of them.

The advocacy group has organized multiple demonstrations in Washington, including the Seattle Womens March and a rally in opposition of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

HB 1723s prime sponsor, Representative Gina Mosbrucker, R-Goldendale, said that Sovereign and the 2017 movie Wind River inspired her to gather data and bring attention to this issue. She sponsored a related bill that passed the legislature last year to conduct a study on the missing and murdered indigenous women in Washington.

Mosbrucker is holding a stakeholder meeting on Feb. 14 to work through some of the issues of those who testified in opposition of the bill.

Theres a lot of discord between the tribes  generationally, Mosbrucker said. Urban and registered tribe members dont always get along and it becomes about personality instead of finding missing and murdered indigenous women.
Jokers please: first human Mars mission may need onboard comedians Guardian

Watch a satellite spear space debris with a harpoon The Verge (Kevin W)

School climate strike childrens brave stand has our support Guardian (martha r)

ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com uses AI to generate endless fake faces The Verge (Kevin W)

Dont Call JP Morgan Chases New JPM Coin a Cryptocurrency Motherboard. This relates directly to Bruce Schneiers discussion, which we flagged the other day, that private cyrptocurrencies are uninteresting and there is established tech that already does what they do.

Monitoring Heart Health, One Toilet Seat at a Time IEEE Spectrum (Chuck L)

New Drug Rapidly Repairs Age-Related Memory Loss, Improves Mood New Atlas

China?

Venezuela

Syraqistan

Big Brother is Watching You Watch

Imperial Collapse Watch

Trump Transition

This Is How AIPAC Really Works Nation

No, Gavin Newsom Didnt Just Kill Californias High-Speed Rail Project Capitol Public Radio

Trumps national emergency declaration undermines SCOTUS. Slate (resilc)

Ilhan Omar, Elliott Abrams, and the El Mozote Massacre Atlantic (resilc)

Alphabet unit seeks share of property taxes for Toronto smart city Reuters (JTM)

Amazon Got Exactly What It DeservedAnd So Did New York Atlantic (resilc)

Amazon May Get Tax Break for Poor With Project in Richest County Bloomberg (resilc)

Scarborough rips Ocasio-Cortezs Amazon response: She needs to learn basic thingsThe Hill. Resilc: So you know shes spot on.

Did Colin Kaepernick bring the NFL to its knees? Deadspin (Chuck L)

Whats Wrong With Functional Finance? (Wonkish) New York Times. Furzy: More MMT trashing.comparing it to Lerner??.Krugman cannot divest himself of the notion of debt.

MMT and Taxing the Rich Dean Baker (furzy)

CBSs Horror Stories on National Debt Arent Actually All That Scary FAIR (UserFriendly)

The Electric Pickup Truck, Brought to You by Amazon? Popular Mechanics (resilc)

Fare cutting puts the brakes on Ubers revenue growth Financial Times. See Hubert Horans post today.

Amazon Will Pay $0 in Federal Taxes on $11.2 Billion Profits Fortune

Class Warfare

Antidote du jour. Phil H:

This is my cat Pakas first Winter, & she gets excited whenever it snows. Loves to dash about, leap at snowflakes, pounce on imaginary mice, etc. This morning on a walk in the woods she attacked a slender sapling, hung for a bit about three feet off the ground, then rapidly climbed to the very top. The tree has no branches except at the top, & is only about three or four inches in diameter & about 16 to 18 feet tall. After examining the

clump of leaves, she managed to climb down without falling. I wonder if that means we will have an early Spring?

And a bonus (Chuck L). At first I wasnt so impressed because a couple of times the parrot looked like he was first trying the wrong hole, but then I realized he had also had to work out that each shape had to be oriented properly to drop in and hed mastered that.

This highly intelligent Green Eclectus Parrot is eager to show off it's ability to identify shapes.  pic.twitter.com/4qWhRXUHyj  Dexter #TeamPelosi (@Texas_Dexter) February 16, 2019

And this weekend handyman special from bob. This appears to have been prompted by the death of my microwave, as in something I could do with it. But as you can see, the microwave plays the part of the stone in the stone soup tale. Among other things, you need a well-equipped tool shop for this project. Nevertheless, my deceased microwave is still here if anyone is game..
The unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud recently raised by Secretary of State David Whitley should not be allowed to derail efforts to bring online voter registration to Texas.

Over the past 17 years, a majority of states in the U.S. have approved legislation allowing online voter registration. Its time Texas joined their ranks.

Online voter registration is more efficient and less expensive than using paper  and its safe. Reliable security measures have been developed to keep voting registration systems from being compromised, and to prevent fraud and access by hackers. Legislation to bring online voter registration to Texas merits bipartisan support in Austin.

Whitley did Texas voters and taxpayers no favors with his premature announcement that tens of thousands of people may have illegally cast ballots over the past 20 years. The information was not properly vetted and fanned the flames of public outrage over a virtually nonexistent problem. Whitley just this week finally issued an apology.

It could all have been handled in a more professional manner. Instead, a three weeks ago Whitleys office notified county elections officials that, using Texas Department of Public Safety data, his office had flagged 95,000 people on state voter rolls who did not appear to be U.S. citizens.

The back pedaling began early the next week, but not before Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and President Donald Trump had taken to Twitter, denouncing the alleged voter fraud. But since the bungled release of the list, weve learned some of the names were duplicates and many of the individuals flagged have become naturalized citizens. The voter list fiasco has also resulted in the filing of three lawsuits.

In addition, it has prompted state Rep. Roland Gutierrez, D-San Antonio, to seek repeal of 2013 legislation that enables DPS to share drivers license applicant information with the secretary of state for voter registration and election purposes.

On this last point, we ask Gutierrez to reconsider that move. Use of DPS information is vital if the state is going to successfully pursue online voter registration.

State Rep. Celia Israel, D-Austin, is making a repeat attempt to gain passage of online voter registration legislation. HB 361 would allow a person to complete a voter registration application on a state website.

Voters need a smoother route to the voting booth. They should not have to maneuver through an obstacle course to get there. The release of flawed data merited condemnation, but Gutierrezs bill is not the answer.
A decades-old culture at the Bexar County Courthouse that has allowed the dismissal of misdemeanor criminal cases because law enforcement officers didnt show up to testify must change.

A newly elected district attorney and turnover in 11 of the countys court-at-law benches might help facilitate a much-needed shift.

Defendants should not be rewarded with a get out of jail free card because law enforcement officers cant make it to the witness stand.

At the crux of the problem is a local policy of not issuing subpoenas to law enforcement officers to compel them to appear in county courts-at-law as witnesses. The district attorneys office and local law enforcement agencies operate under so-called gentlemens agreements to coordinate court appearances via a liaison.

The effectiveness of that agreement fluctuates. When it works as it should, it allows officers to continue their policing business until needed. They dont have to waste time at the courthouse waiting to be summoned to the witness stand.

It does not always work that way. Problems occur when officers dont show up, and judges  in the absence of a subpoena  have no legal authority to issue a warrant to haul them into court. Such problems do not exist in the felony courts, where the volume of cases set for trial is lower, the prosecutors more experienced, and subpoenas are issued to law enforcement agency shift supervisors compelling them to get their officers to court.

No-shows by law enforcement are detrimental to misdemeanor criminal case outcomes and a waste of taxpayer money, and they deny justice to the victims.

County Court No. 5 Judge John Longoria, the county courts administrative judge, has been concerned about the dismissal of cases due to missing witnesses for some time and discussed it with his new colleagues at a recent meeting. No formal action was taken.

Determining how many of the dismissals requested by prosecutors over the years have been due to the unavailability of law enforcement witnesses is difficult. Local rules allow the defense and prosecution one reset per case. A request for a second delay in a court setting by the state often results in a dismissal.

The dismissal motions filed in court are sometimes self-explanatory, but some are vaguely worded. A cursory look at County Court-at-Law No. 5 files, for example, reveals the reasons for dismissal include a necessary and material witness is missing or complaining witness could not be contacted. It does not always mention if the witness is a law enforcement officer.

Late last year, Longoria started jotting down the name and badge number of the AWOL law enforcement witnesses on the cases court jackets. All judges should be doing this for the sake of transparency.

A review of the cases heard in his court during December, which included two weeks during which there were no juries because of the holidays, show that two driving-while-intoxicated cases were dismissed due to the absence of a Bexar County sheriffs deputy or a San Antonio police officer. One of those DWIs was a second offense.

Not all law enforcement absences result in dismissals. Judges allow for extraordinary circumstances, such as illness, hospitalization and deployment, among other things.

Proceeding before a jury without a witness who is a law enforcement officer makes the prosecution that much more difficult  but it can be done. This month, a jury rendered a guilty verdict in a DWI case without the officers appearance. The case was tried before County Court-at-Law No. 11 Judge Tommy Stolhandske.

We urge District Attorney Joe Gonzales and the Bexar County judiciary to develop a better system to ensure law enforcement witnesses appear in court, one that holds them accountable if they dont show up. The way the system is set up now, there are no consequences for officers who have no valid reason for not making an appearance. It is only fair; the average person must comply with a subpoena or risk being held in contempt of court.

Getting a law enforcement officer on the witness stand for trial cannot continue to be a game of chance.
All statewide officials in the Commonwealth of Virginia should resign if Democrats are held to their own standards.

Even if Gov. Ralph Northam didnt appear in blackface in an image in his medical-school yearbook, he confessed to once darkening his face as part of a Michael Jackson costume.

Attorney General Mark Herring, who called Northams conduct indefensible, also used blackface once. Meanwhile, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has been accused of sexual assault.

If ever wearing blackface  even in the 1980s, as both Northam and Herring did  is a career-ender, and if we are supposed to believe all women, then all three of these Democrats have to go.

Virginia is an indication of an inflamed and unforgiving Democratic mood that will define the partys battle for the 2020 presidential nomination.

Democrats are about to embark on the first woke primary, a gantlet of political correctness that will routinely wring abject apologies out of candidates and find fault in even the most sure-footed. The passage of time will be no defense. Nor the best of intentions. Nor anything else.

Any lapses will be interpreted through the most hostile lens, made all the more brutal by the competition of a large field of candidates vying for the approval of a radicalized base. The Democrat nomination battle might as well be fought on the campus of Oberlin College and officiated by the director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

Being a progressive hero of long-standing doesnt afford any protection. Consider Elizabeth Warren. She certainly deserves all the grief she gets for her laughable identification of herself over the years as an American Indian. But for the identity-politics left, her fault runs deeper.

After taking a DNA test to prove her (distant) Native American ancestry, she stood accused, in the words of a member of a tribe in South Dakota, of privileging nonindigenous definitions of being indigenous. According to the New York Times, she had also tread too far into the fraught area of racial science  a field that has, at times, been used to justify the subjugation of racial minorities and Native Americans.

Yes, Warren stood exposed as implicitly in league with the oppressors of Native Americans  and here she had just wanted Donald Trump to stop calling her Pocahontas. Cherokee Nation activist Rebecca Nagle told CNN last week that Warren needed to apologize to the tribes that she has harmed and to native people broadly.

Sure enough, she apologized, and presumably will keep on doing it as long as shes running.

Its a season of apologies. When recently announced candidate Kirsten Gillibrand went on The Rachel Maddow Show, the MSNBC host hit her for having in the past used the term illegal alien, although it was standard and technically correct usage. Gillibrand allowed that she was embarrassed by her past positions on immigration.

In this environment, being a white male, particularly a white male not obsessed with gender and race, is a risk factor. This is one of Bernie Sanders major vulnerabilities.

Segments of the left jumped on him for doing his own State of the Union response after the official reply by the African-American activist Stacey Abrams. Marc Lamont Hill called Sanders choice racially tone-deaf.

In every presidential campaign, candidates have to explain and backfill to get with the partys latest program. What will make this process so much more intense for Democrats is the belief that even past mistakes involving the choice of words or symbolism are affirmatively injurious of other people. And that such mistakes represent deep sins to be repented of.

Even Kamala Harris, who calls racism, sexism and transphobia matters of national security, isnt safe. She was once a prosecutor, after all. Reviewing her record, a New York Times op-ed writer said that she needs to radically break with her past.

Who doesnt? No one will be woke enough to emerge from this process unscathed.

comments.lowry@nationalreview.com
San Antonio police are searching for the driver of a pickup truck who they say fled after a head-on collision in the Medical Center Saturday morning.

The pickup was headed west on Medical Drive near Horizon Hill Boulevard about 1 a.m. when it veered into oncoming lanes and struck a Crown Victoria heading east, according to police at the scene.
If you lost your phone during weekend one of Austin City Limits Music Festival last year, Austin police are trying to help you find it.

The department announced Friday that "a large number of cell phones" that were stolen from people who attended the popular music festival from Oct. 4-6 have been recovered and are ready to be reunited with their owner, according to a news release from the city.
When people ask how she lost her hand, Jennifer Lindgren, 17, will sometimes joke that it was the result of a lawnmower accident. And then there was the time when she told a rude young man it was from a shark attack.

I told her to stop saying that to people, her mother, Fiona Lindgren said with laugh. I told her, You cant do that.

Lindgren, a senior at Cinco Ranch High School, didnt lose her left hand in a tragic accident. She was born that way. But that hasnt prevented her from pursuing her passions, which include English-style horseback riding and exhibiting farm animals like Loo, a sheep she has raised for about six months.

I was born with one hand but I was raised to be independent, Lindgren said while inside Loos pen at the livestock pavilion in the Gerald D. Young Agricultural Sciences Center, 5825 Katy Hockley Cut Off Road. She is showing Loo at this years Katy ISD FFA Livestock Show & Rodeo.

Lindgren was born and raised in Sweden but moved with her family to Katy when she was in junior high school. Her hometown, impossible to pronounce, is spelled Jonkoping but with two dots  known as umlauts  over the os. Although Lindgren speaks Swedish at home, her English has a bit of a Texas twang.

The disability hasnt stopped her from succeeding in life. Lindgren is president of her schools FFA chapter and was just accepted at Texas A&M.

Ive always just done pretty much what everyone else does, she said. Most of the time, I forget that I have one hand. Most of my friends tell me they also forget.

Fiona Lindgren said her daughter doesnt regard the disability as any kind of obstacle.

She just gets on with it. Shes a strong person, Fiona Lindgren said. She does anything she wants to do.

She used to wear a prosthetic arm but found it didnt suit her active lifestyle.

It was hot and heavy and it was sweaty. I just didnt like it, Lindgren said. When I was riding horses, I had special Velcro on the reins for me to use. Now I just ride one-handed.

But today, Jennifer Lindgren is concentrating on Loos upcoming performance in the ring.

She gets really bad separation anxiety and she tends to jump on me. But, she looks pretty calm right now, Lindgren said.

She has exhibited livestock every year since joining the FFA as a Cinco Ranch High freshman. Her sister, Lori Lindgren, is a year younger and also is active in Cinco Ranch Highs FFA chapter. Her lamb, in the next pen, is called Nacho.

The judges will be focusing on the basic body structure of Loo and the other lambs in this years livestock show. That includes examining the width of the shoulders, length of the loin, musculature of the hind quarters and straightness of the legs. Lindgren confidently reaches down and pats Loo.

Shes always been muscular and shes always had a good structure, she said. Shes not too fat and not too skinny.

Fiona Lindgren said she never heard of FFA four years ago when she was searching for extracurricular school activities for her daughters to pursue. Their riding instructor in Texas recommended it.

We had no idea what it was. You can do farming in high school? she recalled. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves involved with.

Fiona Lindgren said she always gets nervous before her children accompany their livestock into the judging ring.

Youre nervous for them because theyre nervous, she said. Sometimes it goes well and sometimes it doesnt.

This time, it went well. Jennifer Lindgren and Loo won a respectable third in their weight class and came away with a Reserve Showman belt buckle.

Its a really good showing, her mother said, as she held the shiny object in her hand.

Its not uncommon for freshmen FFA members to develop an attachment to their livestock.

They know whats going to happen but its hard to prepare yourself, Lindgren said. But you get used to the good bye process.

Although a certified FFA old hand, Loo is the animal she has become the most attached to, she admitted.

She makes me laugh. She likes to hop on all four legs in the barn, Lindgren said. Shes been a good girl all year.

mike.glenn@chron.com
A restaurant in the Medical Center caught the attention of a city health inspector's nose in a bad way during a recent visit when a "heavy odor" was noticed coming from the floor drains.

French Corner at the Oak Hills Medical Building was just one of many restaurants, corner stores, and markets hit with citations by city officials this week. But it was the only one cited for smells "conveying sewage."

However, that may not have even been the worst violation at that particular establishment. Of the many dented cans French Corner was cited for, one was "already bloated with possible bacterial growth inside," according to the report. Not to mention the expired milk in a lidless container left in the cold hold.

LAST WEEK'S INSPECTIONS: Feb. 1, 2019

A total of 22 establishments failed to score a 90 or better over the past week, including a Northeast Side corner store with moldy soda nozzles, North Side grocery mart using one set of tongs for the jars of pickles, pigs feet and eggs, and the award-winning Two Bros. BBQ Market owned by Jason Dady, which has been honored in countless "best" rankings through the years but was tagged with score of 67 for a variety of violations.

To make the Express-News' list of restaurants with the most violations, an establishment must score 89 or below  or anything less than an "A"  during a random city health inspection over the past week.

Click through the gallery above to see which San Antonio establishments were cited by health inspectors this week.

The San Antonio Express-News examines hundreds of restaurant inspections each week conducted by the San Antonio Food and Environment Services division to bring you the eateries with scores of 89 or below.

Restaurants are graded on a 100-point system where "100" is a perfect score, and demerits are based upon the number of violations found during a regular food establishment inspection. There are three categories of demerits and each is assigned a demerit score of 3, 2, or 1 points, according to the health division.

If you have questions about inspections or complaints about a food establishment, contact the Metropolitan Health District office by calling 3-1-1 or 210-207-6000. Be prepared to provide the name, location, date of incident and details of the incident.
San Antonio's first and original food truck park could be making a return.

Boardwalk on Bulverde, beloved by many before it closed in January 2016, has scheduled a Spring Fling festival to take place March 8-10.

For one weekend only were bringing back food trucks/trailers, beer, live music, and a family-friendly atmosphere, the Facebook event page details.

Boardwalk on Bulverde hasn't made any official plans to stick around beyond that weekend, but if it goes well, the park could "very possibly" become a more permanent fixture again, according to Joshua Davies, chief brand officer for the park's parent company Cruising Kitchens.

Davies promised at least 10 food trucks will make appearances, including Wheelie Gourmet, Gracie's Kitchen, Mr. Fish, Southern Gourmet, and Maniacs. Live music and alcoholic drinks are also to be announced, the Facebook page said. In keeping with tradition, the event will feature moon bounces, a mechanical bull, and more  frequent attractions at previous Boardwalk on Bulverde events.

RELATED: East Side 3-story food truck park will 'showcase the best of what San Antonio has to offer'

Cruising Kitchens, a nationally recognized shop famous for creating custom food trucks, originally decided to close the park to rework the space in order to expand its fabrication shop. It achieved that goal in June, when it opened a new facility nearly 10 times as large as its former headquarters.

Organizers were prompted to host Spring Fling after several people asked about the park and said they miss it, according to Davies.

"We just thought we'd bring it back for one weekend, see how it does and go from there," Davies said.

Click through the slideshow to see photos of some of the previous festivals held at Boardwalk on Bulverde.

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
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 5:51 pm

Standing near a sample tray full of CBD oils, Shanna Hoyt-Siler pulled out what looked like an eyedropper and put oil into a little white paper cup. She has heard positive things about the pina colada-flavored oil, she said.

Its hard because a lot of people when they think of CBD, they think of pot, Hoyt-Siler said. They think getting high, its a drug. Thats not what CBD is about. The stuff I carry, its all been known  to help people with sleep, with anxiety, depression, pain, and a number of other things. It wont get you high.

Hoyt-Siler decided to open her own CBD American Shaman franchise, after her brother opened one in Missouri and talked about his experience. In addition to her new business, Hoyt-Siler also delivers bread for Bimbo Bakeries USA. Her business name is S.H.S. Organic, but the store sells CBD American Shaman products and the sign in the front window says CBD American Shaman.

CBD, or Cannabidiol, is oil from hemp plants and is not a controlled substance.

While people sometimes interchangeably use the words cannabis, hemp and marijuana, they are not the same thing. Cannabis is a family of plants  hemp and marijuana are the two main species. There are two main compounds, called cannabinoids, that come up when people discuss cannabis  Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD).

Marijuana has higher amounts of THC and that is what can give the user that high feeling, while hemp is where CBD oils come from. Although the products Hoyt-Siler sells have a small amount of THC in them  less than 0.03 percent  the amount is so small that her products are legal in all 50 states.

Hoyt-Siler opened up shop for the first time Tuesday. Her daughter, Jasmine Gallea, stopped by that afternoon. Gallea is a high school student in Running Start. While people must be over 18 years old to buy the CBD products, parents can buy the CBD products for their children. Gallea said she has found a lot of her friends use CBD products.

A lot of my friends have stress and anxiety and whatnot, Gallea said. Its good for that. They say it helps for that a bunch.  They buy it from places like the actual marijuana shops and whatnot. ... Here, there is more in-depth research to make sure youre getting the full benefits and the quality  and less THC than when you would buy it from a pot shop.

The shop has various bottles of CBD products that sit on shelves along the walls. Hoyt-Siler has a seating area with a couch and chairs, as well as an area with toys for children. While people must be over 18 to buy the products, people under 18 can be in the store.

People dont necessarily want to go into a pot shop, Hoyt-Siler said. They dont want to be seen going into a pot shop, they dont want to smell of the pot shop. So to be able to come into something like this  you can bring your kids.  Its a family-friendly environment and kids can come in here.

Hoyt-Siler said she was surprised when she first talked about opening her shop by how many people use CBD products.

Its not something, like, I used it and Oh this changed my life and I want to sell it Hoyt-Siler said. It was just something that my brother, hearing him talking about it, I decided that this is something I would like to do. But people use it for many things. I have noticed that I think some people do use it and they dont want people to know they use it because its so taboo.

The business is located at 1339 NW Louisiana Ave. in Chehalis and can be reached at nwamericanshaman@yahoo.com.
With cool, clear water running through the Frio River, plenty of hiking trails and an outdoor dance floor, it's easy to understand why many Texans travel to Garner State Park each spring, summer and fall to enjoy its beauty.

But it's likely that not every visitor will be inclined to spend a night under the stars  cramped in a sleeping bag, inside a small tent, nestled among rocks, twigs, dirt and free-roaming wildlife.
Elton John has announced the final dates for his farewell tour, which includes stops at big stadiums in the U.S. Elton John Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour will visit Frankfurt, Germany, on May 27, 2022, and will make several
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 2:58 pm

The Senate passed a bill Friday to remove the death penalty from Washington state statute and replacing it with life in prison without parole.

Senate Bill 5339 passed with 28 in favor, 19 opposed, with senators Phil Fortunado, R-Auburn and Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, excused.

Republican senators Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake and Brad Hawkins R-Wenatchee, and sponsor Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla voting in support of the typically democratic bill. Democratic senators Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, Dean Takko, D-Longview, and Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequium voted against the bill.

The Senate passed a similar bill last year prior to the state Supreme Court declaring the death penalty as applied was racist and arbitrary. The bill was never brought to a vote in the House.

House Bill 1488 is the companion to the bill passed in the Senate and has yet to hear public testimony.

Sen. Steve OBan, R-Tacoma, believes it is possible to create a death penalty that the Supreme Court would approve, saying the Senate has a lack of will to find a solution.

Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, spoke in support of the bill citing the testimony that took place in the Law and Justice Committee which he chairs.

Former state Secretary of the Department of Corrections Dick Morgan testified in support of the bill in committee on Feb. 5, speaking on behalf of several other previous DOC secretaries. Morgan said hundreds of prisoners have committed similar crimes and were sentenced to life without parole yet from a management viewpoint they pose no greater risk than those on death row.

There is punishment that exceeds normal imprisonment and that is placement in the highest security level  , said Morgan. That basically results in no physical human contact with another person while that punishment is in place. Its profound, its desocialization of an inmate in theyre violent enough, if the misconduct warrants it.

During the floor debate Sen. Keith Wagoner, R-Sedro-Woolley read a statement from the killer of Jayme Biendl, a correctional officer murdered in 2011 by an inmate already serving life in prison. Wagoner argued that if the death penalty is taken off the table there is no further punishment for inmates who commit crimes while serving life in prison.

Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley, ranking member on the Law and Justice Committee, acknowledged pursuing the death penalty is difficult and expensive.

Im not a zealot for the death penalty, said Padden. Im somewhat of a reluctant supporter.

Since 1904, 78 people have been executed in Washington state, according to the Department of Corrections. The last execution took place in 2010.
Ghana has infrastructure to fully go ...
For the Olympic gymnast, success comes down to how well she sticks the landing. A flubbed dismount sullies even the most awe-inspiring routine.

Stock-still at their desks, novelists face a similar demand for a perfectly choreographed last move. We follow them across hundreds of thousands of words, but the final line can make or break a book. It determines if parting is such sweet sorrow or a thudding disappointment.

A character in one of Jess Walter's novels says, "A book can only end one of two ways: truthfully or artfully." Alas, most don't end truthfully or artfully, but there are rare exceptions: novels that conclude with such gracefully calibrated language that we close the back cover and feel physically imprinted, as though the words were pressed into us by a weight we can hardly fathom.

The rest is silence.

Some of those great final lines remain markers of our favorite novels, holy relics of our most cherished reading experiences. Others enter into the language, take on a life of their own and eclipse their source.

Here are 23 final lines that I have never forgotten.

---

"I got to light out for the territory ahead of the rest, because Aunt Sally she's going to adopt me and sivilize me, and I can't stand it. I been there before."

"Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (BEGIN ITAL)by Mark Twain(1884)(END ITAL)

"Huck Finn" is the most contentious Great American Novel. The Concord Public Library in Massachusetts banned it soon after it was published. Censors' objections have shifted over the years (from truancy to the n-word), but it's been banned in parts of the country ever since. Even the novel's greatest fans have complained about those tedious final chapters, in which Tom and Huck plot to free Jim from the Phelpses' farm. (Hemingway condemned this section as "cheating.") But that last lonely line is pure genius. In Huck's sweet accent, Twain captures the spirit of an adolescent nation determined to resist domestication and to keep exploring the unknown.

---

"There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks lled the air."

"The Awakening"(BEGIN ITAL)by Kate Chopin(1899)(END ITAL)

At the end of Henrik Ibsen's play "Hedda Gabler" (1891), a trapped and passionate woman shoots herself in the head, and her old friend exclaims, "Good God! - people don't do such things." A few years later, Chopin ran right up against those same stultifying expectations in her last novel, "The Awakening," about a wife and mother who falls in love with another man and begins to imagine a different life. Although it inspired considerable condemnation at the time, it's now recognized as one of the earliest modernist novels and a foundational feminist text. The first readers were shocked by the heroine's decision to walk into the sea and drown herself. Even today, Chopin's final image of sensuous natural beauty is deeply unsettling.

---

"Beloved."

"Beloved"(BEGIN ITAL)by Toni Morrison (1987)(END ITAL)

Morrison's classic novel about slavery begins with this enigmatic line: "124 was spiteful." We come to understand that animus slowly, as the story of a murdered baby moves backward and forward in time, before and after the Civil War. Of course, former slaves and historians had described the horrors of slavery before, but nearly 125 years after Emancipation, Morrison made the psychological legacy of the South's peculiar institution palpable as no other book ever had. After so much trauma and the exhausting exorcism that concludes the novel, what other ending would do but a final invocation of that child who represents so many snuffed out by our nation's foundational sin? "Beloved."

---

"We try, as my sister said. We try. All of us. We try."

"Canada" (BEGIN ITAL)by Richard Ford (2012)(END ITAL)

Ford is better known for his books about real estate agent Frank Bascombe, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize, but this novel is his finest. It's a deeply contemplative story about a man whose inept parents were imprisoned for bank robbery, leaving him and his twin sister to fend for themselves when they were 15. Ford describes the adolescents' harrowing adventures in beautifully polished sentences. But even more arresting is the book's moral struggle to understand and forgive his parents' failings - and his own. That final line, with its simple, imploring repetition, concludes the novel with just the right spirit of affirmation and regret.

---

"It's funny. Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

"The Catcher in the Rye" (BEGIN ITAL)by J.D. Salinger (1951)(END ITAL)

Holden Caulfield would scoff at the idea, but he's served ably as the patron saint of disaffected teens for almost 70 years. His mix of treacly self-pity, witty cynicism and clinical depression speaks for millions of lonely people forced to endure a world of phonies. His final advice, not to tell anybody anything, could have run anywhere in the novel, but it sounds especially poignant at the end of his journey. It's a plaintive acknowledgment that his wandering confession to us has brought him no comfort. Considering Salinger's many decades as the nation's most famous recluse, we're tempted, of course, to consign that same pain to the author.

---

"And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!"

"A Christmas Carol" (BEGIN ITAL)by Charles Dickens (1843)(END ITAL)

Dickens didn't "invent Christmas," as a recent movie starring Christopher Plummer claims, but the Victorian novelist certainly taught us how to celebrate it. His story about a reformed miser was an immediate best-seller, and, a few years later, he began offering public readings that attracted enormous crowds in England and America. Repetition - and cynicism - may have reduced Tiny Tim's final prayer to a saccharine cliche, but the tale of lives reformed and saved has lost none of its real sweetness.

---

"He was soon borne away by the waves, and lost in darkness and distance."

"Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" (BEGIN ITAL)by Mary Shelley (1818)(END ITAL)

In 1816, Lord Byron suggested to friends vacationing with him in Switzerland that they each write a ghost story. In response to that challenge, 18-year-old Mary Shelley conceived of the world's most famous monster. Although two centuries have passed since Dr. Victor Frankenstein "turned loose into the world a depraved wretch," his creature's plaintive cry still moves anyone who has a beating heart. Tortured by loneliness, the monster ultimately flees to the North Pole, and the doctor dies in pursuit. How brilliant to end the novel with the grieving creature drifting away into the vast darkness - and whiteness - at the end of the world.

---

"Reader, I did not even have coffee with him. That much I learned in college."

"A Gate at the Stairs" (BEGIN ITAL)by Lorrie Moore (2009)(END ITAL)

Novels and short stories make different demands on their forms - and their readers. That contrast is most evident in the final moments. Lorrie Moore, one of the best short story writers alive, once said, "The end of a story is really everything," and for many years it seemed she had abandoned novel writing altogether. Then - after a 15 year hiatus - came "A Gate at the Stairs," about a witty young woman trying to figure out adult life in the face of two unspeakable tragedies. You can see in this novel's last words how successfully Moore switches registers. Knowing that the complex power of her book is already complete, the very ending offers a sigh of emotional relief: a wry repudiation of "Jane Eyre."

---

"I'll pray, and then I'll sleep."

"Gilead"(BEGIN ITAL)by Marilynne Robinson (2004)(END ITAL)

Perhaps the greatest failure of American literature, which is so bravely explicit about all other aspects of life, is its nervous avoidance of anything explicitly religious. Not so "Gilead," the first book in Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning trilogy about two families in Iowa. "Gilead" is not only one of the finest novels of the 21st century, it's also one of the most theological. The narrative comes to us as a sprawling letter written by John Ames, a 77-year-old Congregationalist minister who fears he might die soon. What, he asks himself, must he tell his 7-year-old son before he's carried away to imperishability? In prose of striking clarity, Rev. Ames describes adventures both historical and spiritual. His testimony, sealed with that line from "King Lear," is enough to convert anyone to the power of great fiction.

---

"After all, tomorrow is another day."

"Gone With the Wind" (BEGIN ITAL)by Margaret Mitchell (1936)(END ITAL)

Americans have consistently called Mitchell's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel one of their very favorites. It was a best-seller when it was published during the Great Depression, and just last year, it ranked No. 6 on PBS' "Great American Reads." But like several of our most popular books - I'm looking at you, "To Kill a Mockingbird" - its immortality has been buttressed by an exceptionally memorable film adaptation. All kinds of spot-on criticisms have been leveled against the novel (and producer David Selznick's 1939 movie) for its romanticized racism. But no one can forget Vivien Leigh - (BEGIN ITAL)I mean Scarlett O'Hara(END ITAL) - uttering that blithely optimistic line, which has since slid away from its source and entered our vernacular as an expression of gallows humor. It's also worth noting that Mitchell didn't coin the phrase; it appeared as a well-known maxim in the first volume of Harper's Weekly in 1857.

---

"She looked up and across the barn, and her lips came together and smiled mysteriously."

"The Grapes of Wrath" (BEGIN ITAL)by John Steinbeck (1939) (END ITAL)

Four decades later, I can still feel the shock of reaching the end of Steinbeck's novel about an Oklahoma family traveling to California in search of work. Although initially attacked for its fierce critique of unregulated capitalism, "The Grapes of Wrath" was a phenomenal best-seller and won a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Even today, millions of people think of the ravages of the Great Depression through the lens of Steinbeck's story. Its final scene, the culmination of a relentless series of hardships, losses and deaths, offers a moment of startling compassion and intimacy - the very milk of human kindness made flesh.

---

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

"The Great Gatsby" (BEGIN ITAL)by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)(END ITAL)

Only months after it was published, Fitzgerald referred to "Gatsby" as a "flop," and copies of the second printing were gathering dust in the publisher's warehouse 15 years later when he died. Now, of course, his story about a handsome gangster is considered one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. It's also one of the most poetic novels ever written, as this gorgeous closing line demonstrates. The mourning narrator, Nick Carraway, places Gatsby's romantic quest in the context of those first Dutch settlers who projected their hopes on the lush shores of this now corrupted country. We know, he laments, that our first dreams can never be realized, but we can't help pining for them anyhow.

---

"Are there any questions?"

"The Handmaid's Tale" (BEGIN ITAL)by Margaret Atwood (1985)(END ITAL)

If you haven't read Atwood's dystopian novel since it was first published, you may have forgotten what follows the story of Offred's resistance to the Republic of Gilead. The book ends with an epilogue that takes place at an academic conference in the year 2195. Professor Pieixoto describes the challenges of transcribing the story we've just read from 30 cassette tapes found in an army footlocker. Lapsing into the bland objectivity of academia, the professor warns his fellow scholars to be "cautious about passing moral judgment upon the Gileadean. Surely we have learned by now that such judgments are of necessity culture-specific." The lessons of the past, he notes chillingly, are obscured by the passage of time. When the applause dies down, he asks, "Are there any questions?" Those of us staring at a Supreme Court now tipping away from women's reproductive rights probably have several questions. Perhaps they will be answered in a sequel that Atwood plans to publish in September called "The Testaments."

---

"Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"

"Invisible Man" (BEGIN ITAL)by Ralph Ellison (1952)(END ITAL)

It's possible to measure the weight of a novel by the size of its impact crater. Ellison's masterpiece, which won the 1953 National Book Award, remade the terrain of African American fiction - and American fiction. "I am invisible," the unnamed narrator says at the start, "simply because people refuse to see me," but by the end, no one could ever ignore him. The story he tells - sometimes horrific, sometimes absurd, often both - takes him across the country, from a Southern "state college for Negroes" to Harlem, where he falls in and out with a black activist group. In the final pages, the narrator knows some readers will continue to ignore the relevance of his life: "You'll fail to see how any principle that applies to you could apply to me." But he knows that's not true. In fact, he confesses that the universality of his experience "frightens" him.

---

"I wish you all a long and happy life."

"The Lovely Bones" (BEGIN ITAL)by Alice Sebold (2002)(END ITAL)

The plot of Sebold's debut novel sounds equally gruesome and mawkish: Susie, a 14-year-old girl, is raped and murdered by a neighbor, and then she describes her family's reaction from heaven. Theologically, the story is a gooey mess of New Age mysticism, but it's emotionally effective because Sebold got Susie's voice just right. Although she's still a teenager with a teenager's silly attitudes and interests, death has given her preternatural insight into the suffering of those she's left behind. Her simple, final wish looks banal out of context, but after watching her family - and her murderer - for years, it's devastatingly pure.

---

"For an instant, everything was bathed in radiance."

"March" (BEGIN ITAL)by Geraldine Brooks (2005)(END ITAL)

The father of the four March sisters is just a minor character in Louisa May Alcott's beloved "Little Women" (1868), but Geraldine Brooks put him at the center of her historical novel "March," which won a Pulitzer Prize. This Civil War story cleverly blends biographical details about the real Bronson Alcott, Louisa May's father, with elements of the fictional Mr. March, who has gone south to serve as a chaplain to Union soldiers. Alcott gives little indication of what horrors may have shaken Father during his fight for abolition, and "Little Women" ends with Mrs. March saying, "Oh, my girls, however long you may live, I never can wish you a greater happiness than this." But by the time March returns to his happy home at the end of Brooks' novel, we know him as the haunted survivor of carnage - and a crushing spiritual crisis. The light of a single lamp brought into his dark parlor arrives like a foretaste of grace.

---

"And Madeleine kept squinting, as though Mitchell was already far away, until finally, smiling gratefully, she answered, 'Yes.'"

"The Marriage Plot" (BEGIN ITAL)by Jeffrey Eugenides (2011)(END ITAL)

Every once in a while a novel ends with the satisfaction of a final puzzle piece snapping into place - somehow both inevitable and surprising at the same time. Such is the effect of the last line of Eugenides' most recent novel, which seems in retrospect constructed to bring us directly to these three letters. "The Marriage Plot" is a cerebral romantic comedy about Madeleine, a thoroughly modern young woman who gets her ideas of love from 18th- and 19th-century fiction. Torn between two very different men, Madeleine endures real tragedy before finally correcting her course, which we, her desperate fans, can't know for sure until that very last word. Of course, Eugenides is also echoing the end of James Joyce's "Ulysses," whose last extraordinary sentence is about 4,000 words long and ends with Molly Bloom's boundless enthusiasm: "yes I said yes I will Yes."

---

"He loved Big Brother."

"Nineteen Eighty-Four"(BEGIN ITAL)by George Orwell (1949)(END ITAL)

Orwell's classic dystopian novel about a totalitarian state has never gone out of print, but it got a huge boost two years ago from the election of Donald Trump. His administration's unprecedented readiness to lie and to repeat lies aggressively reminds many readers of the Party that rules Oceania. Orwell's protagonist, Winston Smith, works as a reviser of historical records in the Ministry of Truth before becoming a member of a doomed resistance movement. The novel's final scenes of physical torture - including the gruesome "rat helmet" - are undeniably terrifying, but what's most chilling is the government's success at twisting the very minds of its subjects. In that haunting last line, we see the ultimate success of Big Brother's deception, and we feel the full atrocity of what's been done to Winston.

---

"He runs. Ah: runs. Runs."

"Rabbit, Run" (BEGIN ITAL)by John Updike (1960)(END ITAL)

When we first meet 26-year-old Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, he decides on a whim to run away from his wife and toddler. It's a "monstrously selfish" act borne of panic over his lost youth and the soul-crushing responsibilities of adult life. Rabbit eventually crawls home, determined to be better, but his flight instinct is not so easily quelled. In the final pages, at the worst possible moment, he flees again, which Updike captures in that closing line swelling with deliverance and cowardice. There is no better portrayal of 20th-century white men than the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Rabbit" series, which went on to include "Rabbit Redux," "Rabbit Is Rich," "Rabbit at Rest" and the novella "Rabbit Remembered." Each book ends with an echo of the first novel's last word, a subtle coda that ties together the stages of Rabbit's life.

---

"In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery."

"The Road" (BEGIN ITAL)by Cormac McCarthy (2006)(END ITAL)

This novel, about a man and his little boy walking through an apocalyptic wasteland, mesmerized - and terrified - readers. "The Road" won a Pulitzer Prize and even spurred the normally shy author to agree to speak with Oprah for his first-ever television interview. What accounts for the power of this bleak tale to shake even the most cynical readers? I think it's the tension between the countryside's utter destruction and the father's adamant love, all rendered in a style as spare as a sun-bleached bone. We arrive at the final page in a state of utter desolation. At that moment, McCarthy suddenly breaks away from his characters and describes trout that once swam in mountain streams. After the gray and blood-soaked pages that came before, it's shockingly beautiful and places humanity's horrors against the boundless life of the Earth.

---

"Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

"The Sun Also Rises" (BEGIN ITAL)by Ernest Hemingway (1926)(END ITAL)

Hemingway's vaguely autobiographical story about a group of dissipated friends in Europe after World War I has aged well. Its desultory plot and muffled despair still feel strikingly modern. But how painfully ironic that America's most macho author should be remembered for a novel about an impotent man. In this closing scene, the lovely Lady Brett tempts Jake once again to imagine what "a damned good time" they could have had. But Jake isn't having it anymore. The chaos and disappointments of the preceding months have cured him of pointless fantasies, and he dismisses Brett's romantic speculation with this bitter rhetorical question.

---

"She called in her soul to come and see."

"Their Eyes Were Watching God"(BEGIN ITAL)by Zora Neale Hurston (1937)(END ITAL)

"The fact that there is no demand for incisive and full-dress stories around Negroes above the servant class is indicative of something of vast importance to this nation," Hurston wrote in 1950. She knew firsthand the deleterious effects of that lack of demand. Her first book, "Barracoon," never found a publisher during her lifetime. Her extraordinary novel "Their Eyes Were Watching God" fell out of print and was essentially forgotten, until Alice Walker rediscovered it in the 1970s. Now, fortunately, the tumultuous story of Janie, a black woman in Florida, is firmly rooted in the canon of American literature, and every year new readers "come and see."

---

"and it was still hot."

"Where the Wild Things Are" (BEGIN ITAL)written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak (1963)(END ITAL)

The tale of Max, the mischievous boy sent to bed without his supper, was Sendak's greatest achievement, the perfect pairing of text and image. In fewer words than most novelists use in a single paragraph, Sendak managed to capture our fundamental fears and thrills. When Max "gave up being king of where the wild things are," sailed back to his room and found dinner waiting for him, his mother's love is confirmed, and the natural order of his world is restored. For generations of us, this is the first final line that knocked our booties off. And we never forgot it.
Moultrie, GA (31768)

Today

Mostly sunny. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 87F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
Lorain Mayor Chase Ritenauer, third from right, was a guest and speaker at the Jan. 29, 2019, meeting of the Lorain City School Board. Ritenauer encouraged the group to invite school district CEO David Hardy Jr. and the Lorain Academic Distress Commission to a joint meeting.
Larry Howell, 80, of Vermilion has been scout master for over 40 years and has made his mark on Vermilion Local Schools, with induction into the Vermilion High School Hall of Fame in 2013.
East Burke Christian Ministries would like to thank all the students and staff at all the Burke County Schools that collected food for area agencies. We received about 12 barrels of food. This is amazing and such a wonderful blessing! This will keep our pantry shelves stocked for awhile and allow us to use our funding for other needs for our clients.
February 16, 2019

The MoA Week In Review - OT 2019-10

Last week's posts on Moon of Alabama:

The U.S. attack against Venezuela triggered riots in Haiti. Haiti received oil and credit from Venezuela under very preferential conditions. The money saved was supposed to go into a special PetroCaribe fund to be spend on social projects in Haiti. When the U.S. enacted sanctions against Venezuela, Haiti stopped paying and the cheap oil flow ended. The fund was looted by local politicians. When the government then supported the U.S. coup attempt against Venezuela the people had enough and took to the streets.

BajoElCieloDeMoscu @VuelvaLaURSS - 17:28 utc - 14 Feb 2019

Translated from Spanish

The Haitian people have been protesting for five days against the dictator who supports Guaido in Venezuela, Jovenel Moises. In 5 days, the repressive forces of this criminal have murdered 52 Haitians and left 247 wounded. So you can see the streets of Puerto Principe, full of bodies.

The video attached to the above tweet shows five civilians, presumably dead, laying in the road.

---

A former chief of staff Nicolas Maduro, now a professor at Science Po in Paris, warns in an interview that the situation in Venezuela could easily escalate into a civil war.

Q: One of the things that have been said by the opposition very clearly is that there will be new elections. That is part of their plan. A: And what guarantees that the departure of Maduro doesn't create a civil war, for instance? The reality of Venezuela is that it is a very polarized country. It is totally unrealistic or irresponsible to think or to assume that there are all the guarantees for Venezuela to be in a peaceful situation. In order to be an election, you have to agree on the terms of that election. When will the election be held? Who can be allowed to run for those elections? And that's exactly the problem  saying there will be elections is assuming that the problem is solved before even addressing it.

---

Greg Grandin on sovereignty and Latin America: Whats at Stake in Venezuela?

---

February 12 - Russiagate Is Finished

February 16 - The Deep Nation Of Russia

---



Other stuff:

- "It's all about the Benjamins baby." That tweet by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and the reaction to it, put new focus on the Zionist lobby. M.J. Rosenberg: This Is How AIPAC Really Works - WSJ: Aipac raises more than $100 million a year, which it spends on lobbying politicians

- A longread by Matthew Hoh, who resigned over Obama's 2009 surge in Afghanistan: Time for Peace in Afghanistan and an End to the Lies

- A Chinese anime video series about the life and work of Karl Marx: The Leader (with subtitles in 7(!) languages)

Use as open thread ...

Posted by b on February 16, 2019 at 18:04 UTC | Permalink

Comments

next page 
February 16, 2019 The Deep Nation Of Russia In a newly published essay, a close aide to the Russian President Vladimir Putin describes the system of governance in Russia. It stands in contrast to the usual 'western' view of the 'autocratic' Russian state. U.S. media often depict Russia as a top-down state, run at the whims of one man. They cite western paid scholars to support that position. One example is this column in Friday's Washington Post: Why Russia no longer regrets its invasion of Afghanistan

Putin is reassessing history to make the case for adventures abroad. On February 15 1989 the last soldiers of the Soviet army left Afghanistan. Later that year the Congress of Peoples Deputies, the elected parliament of the USSR, passed a resolution that condemned the war: Now, however, the Russian government is considering reversing this earlier verdict, with the Duma set to approve a resolution officially reevaluating the intervention as one that took place within the bounds of international law and in the interests of the U.S.S.R. The authors ascribe the move to the Russian president and claim that he makes it to justify Russia's engagements in current wars: The Kremlin is rewriting history to retrospectively justify intervention in countries such as Ukraine and Syria as it seeks to regain its status as a global power.

...

To avoid domestic opposition, [Moscow] cannot allow the public to perceive Syria through the prism of the Afghan experience. Putin and his allies have decided to tackle this problem head-on by reinterpreting that experience.

...

That is why perhaps Putin, and Russian lawmakers, are marking the poignant anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan by attempting to ascribe meaning to that long-lost meaningless war. The columns is typical for the negative depiction of Russia, and its elected leader. Each and every move in the bowels of the Russian Federation is, without evidence, ascribed to its president and his always nefarious motives. It is also completely wrong. The new resolution it muses about never came to a vote: Most anticipated the Dumas Afghan bill would re-appear for final consideration earlier this week, signed by Mr Putin in time for todays anniversary. Unexpectedly, however, the bill disappeared from view at the last minute, with insiders citing a lack of agreement of a final draft. On Friday [its author], Frants Klintsevich confirmed to The Independent that his initiative had failed to receive necessary backing. He says drafting problems were to blame, and that the bill had been sent back for amendments. It might, or might not be resurrected, he added: We will continue to fight for it. I dont know if we will be successful. The resolution, which the Washington Post authors claim is motivated by Putin's need to justify current interventions, was not pushed by Putin at all. It was the Kremlin that stopped it. How does that fit to the presumed motives they muse about? The 'western' view of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, the "long-lost meaningless war", is that it was the catastrophic for the Soviet Union and led to its demise (pdf). That view is wrong. The war was neither meaningless, nor lost. The war was seen as strategically necessary to keep fundamentalist Islamists, financed by the United States, from penetrating the southern republics of the Soviet Union. When the Soviet army pulled out of Afghanistan it left a well equipped and capable Afghan army behind. The Afghan government was able to resist its U.S. financed enemies for three more years. It fell apart only after financial support from Russia ended. In size and relative cost the Afghan war, and its domestic impact in the Soviet Union, was only a third of the size and impact of the U.S. war in Vietnam. The Vietnam war did not destroy the United States and the Soviet war in Afghanistan did not destroy the Soviet Union. The reasons for its demise were ideological inflexibility and a leadership crisis. Those problems have now been solved. Last Monday Vladislav Surkov, a close aid to Putin, published a fundamental essay about the nature of governance of Russia: Putins Lasting State The intentionally provocative essay is central to understand what motivates the new Russia and how and why it functions so well (when compared to earlier times).

Vladislav Surkov - bigger It only seems that we have a choice. is its first sentence. The illusion of having a choice is only a trick of the western way of life and western democracy, writes Surkov. After the social and economic catastrophe of the 1990s, Russia became disinterested in such a system. In consequence: Russia stopped collapsing, started to recover and returned to its natural and its only possible condition: that of a great and growing community of nations that gathers lands. It is not a humble role that world history has assigned to our country, and it does not allow us to exit the world stage or to remain silent among the community of nations; it does not promise us rest and it predetermines the difficult character of our governance. Russia has found a new system of governance, says Surkov. But it is not yet up to its full capacity: Putins large-scale political machine is only now revving up and getting ready for long, difficult and interesting work. Its engagement at full power is still far ahead, and many years from now Russia will still be the government of Putin, just as contemporary France still calls itself the Fifth Republic of de Gaulle, ... He points out how Russia early on (see Putin's 2007 speech in Munich) warned of the dangers of the U.S. led globalization and liberalization that tries to do away with the nation state. His description of the 'western' system of governance is to the point: Nobody believes any more in the good intentions of public politicians. They are envied and are therefore considered corrupt, shrewd, or simply scoundrels. Popular political serials, such as The Boss and The House of Cards, paint correspondingly murky scenes of the establishments day-to-day. A scoundrel must not be allowed to go too far for the simple reason that he is a scoundrel. But when all around you (we surmise) there are only scoundrels, one is forced to use scoundrels to restrain other scoundrels. As one pounds out a wedge using another wedge, one dislodges a scoundrel using another scoundrel There is a wide choice of scoundrels and obfuscated rules designed to make their battles result in something like a tie. This is how a beneficial system of checks and balances comes abouta dynamic equilibrium of villainy, a balance of avarice, a harmony of swindles. But if someone forgets that this is just a game and starts to behave disharmoniously, the ever-vigilant deep state hurries to the rescue and an invisible hand drags the apostate down into the murky depths. In contrast to the western system, Russia does not have a deep state. Its governance is out in the open, not necessarily pretty, but everyone can see it. There is no deep state in Russia, says Surkov, there is instead a deep nation: With its gigantic mass the deep nation creates an insurmountable force of cultural gravitation which unites the nation and drags and pins down to earth (to the native land) the elite when it periodically attempts to soar above it in a cosmopolitan fashion. Vladimir Putin is trusted with leading Russia's deep nation because he listens to it: The ability to hear and to understand the nation, to see all the way through it, through its entire depth, and to act accordinglythat is the unique and most important virtue of Putins government. It is adequate for the needs of the people, it follows the same course with it, and this means that it is not subject to destructive overloads from historys countercurrents. This makes it effective and long-lasting. This unique Russian system makes it superior: The contemporary model of the Russian state starts with trust and relies on trust. This is its main distinction from the Western model, which cultivates mistrust and criticism. And this is the source of its power. Surkov predicts that it will have a great future: Our new state will have a long and glorious history in this new century. It will not break. It will act on its own, winning and retaining prize-winning spots in the highest league of geopolitical struggle. Sooner or later everyone will be forced to come to terms with thisincluding all those who currently demand that Russia change its behavior. Because it only seems as if they have a choice. Putin will have signed off the essay before it was published. It is, like his Munich speech, a public challenge to the western ruling class. "Wake up," it says. "Don't rely on those dimwits who ascribe this or that superficial motive to us. This all goes much deeper." The western Russia analysts will write heaps of bad articles about the Surkov essay. They will probably claim that it shows that Putin has delusions of grandeur. I for one read it as a honest description of Russia's natural state. We thankfully do not have to rely on the 'experts'. Those who want to understand Russia can read the essay themselves. Posted by b on February 16, 2019 at 11:32 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
Students hold placards during a vigil to pay tribute to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus in south Kashmir on Thursday, in Agartala. The placards read "Tribute to brave sons of mother India martyred in Kashmir". (Image: Reuters)

A large gathering during the cremation of slain CRPF Jawan Kaushal Kumar Rawat who lost his life in Pulwama terror attack, in Agra. (Image: PTI)

Vande Bharat Express, India's first semi-high speed train, arrives back from Varanasi after its inaugural run at New Delhi Railway Station. Vande Bharat Express ran into some trouble early Saturday while returning to Delhi from Varanasi.(Image: PTI)

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) workers sit outside the Doubeli polling station, after they arrived at the unit unaware of the postponement of the presidential election in Yola, in Adamawa State, Nigeria. (Image: Reuters)

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde attends MSC Women's Breakfast during the annual Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany. (Image: Reuters)

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and other senior Congress leaders during a rally in Bastar. (Image: PTI)

A rescued artisinal miner is carried from a pit as retrieval efforts proceed for trapped illegal gold miners in Kadoma, Zimbabwe. (Image: Reuters)

Pro-Kurd protesters take part in a demonstration in support of jailed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in Strasbourg, France. (Image: Reuters)

Protesters wearing yellow vests walk down the Champs Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe as they take part in a demonstration by the "yellow vests" movement in Paris, France. (Image: Reuters)
India and Singapore will sign an agreement for skilling Indian youths in the aviation sector at the Aero India Show next week.

Academies will be set up in Bengaluru and other places in India that will act as regional hubs for the training of Indian youths for domestic and overseas jobs in these sectors.

National Skill Development Corporation of India's (NSDC) Aerospace and Aviation Sector Skill Council in collaboration with Singapore Polytechnic and a Singapore-based private sector firm will signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on February 22 to establish skill development centers.

Aero India show 2019 will be held in Bengaluru from February 20-24. It will provide a significant platform in bolstering business opportunities in International aviation sector.

These 'Centers of Excellence in Advance Skilling' will provide training and certification drawing from Singapore curriculum and standards in sectors such as aerospace and aviation, emerging technologies, automotive and logistics.

"These are all priority sectors under 'Skill India' and 'Make in India' programmes, which require large workforce with advanced technical skills," India's High Commissioner in Singapore Jawed Ashraf said here on February 15.

He said that these sectors also provide more productive and remunerative employment opportunities.

Singapore is a leader in aviation services including maintenance, repair, overhaul services as well as skill development across various sectors, Ashraf said.

This is one of the many collaborations between India and Singapore in the crucial skill development sector following the signing of two MoUs between NSDC and Singapore Polytechnic to establish state-of-the-art Trainer and Assessor Academies across India.

"Skills development is one of the new areas that have gained prominence in the bilateral engagement with many countries, but especially with Singapore, not only at central but also at state level," the envoy said.

There are several institutional engagements including plans for setting up the first Indian Institute of Skills in Mumbai in collaboration with Singapore's Institute of Technical Education Services (ITEES); training programmes for state government officials in public administration and governance; urban planning, logistics and infrastructure development in collaboration with many Singapore-based institutions, including Institute of Technical Education, Singapore Cooperation Enterprise and Civil Service College.

Singapore has also opened three internationally acclaimed Skill Centers in India (New Delhi, Udaipur and Guwahati) and more coming up, Ashraf said.

The World Class Skill Centre (WCSC) in New Delhi has seen hundreds of students clearing the courses in the areas of Hospitality and Retail Sectors with 100 per cent employment rate. There are plans to move WCSC to a new site and further expand it, he said.

Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam and Odisha are also working with ITEES and Polytechnics in Singapore to develop skill centres. Odisha conducted training of 100 officials from ITI in Singapore last year.

"The close ties between India and Singapore have a history rooted in strong commercial, cultural and people-to-people links, reinforced by convergent strategic interests," Ashraf said.

The relationship, elevated to a Strategic Partnership in November 2015, has gained a new momentum and direction in last three years, he said.

"The initiatives in skill development taken during Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's visit in 2018 are now showing results," Ashraf added.
Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders urged Germany to press ahead with plans to create common European regulations on arms exports, saying the issue posed a litmus test for Berlin's ambitions to foster a European defence policy.

By showing "a kind of moral superelevation" on arms exports, Germany was frustrating Britain, France and Spain, Enders told Reuters, adding that without a common European approach Airbus could consider manufacturing German-free products.

German restrictions on arms exports to non-EU or NATO countries have been a thorn in bilateral co-operation for years because of the historical objections of the Social Democrats, junior partners in Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition.

Berlin can stop exports of arms that include parts made in Germany under existing arrangements.

"Yes, the French and Germans are apparently talking about it and trying to find a new regulation ... But at the moment there are no results," Enders told Reuters in an interview.

"It has been driving us crazy at Airbus for years that when there is even just a tiny German part involved in, for example, helicopters the German side gives itself the right to, for example, block the sale of a French helicopter," he added.

Much to France's irritation, Germany decided unilaterally last October - following the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul - to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia, its second largest market in the world after Algeria.

That decision has blocked the export licence for the sale of the Meteor long-range air-to-air missile, which is supposed to equip the Saudi Air Force Eurofigher Typhoon.

The Meteor is assembled by European leader MBDA, a subsidiary of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo, while its propulsion system and its warheads are manufactured in Germany.

A future warplane system launched this week by Paris and Berlin and a plan for a tank of the future could also be compromised if Berlin does not adapt its policies, French diplomatic and military sources warned.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen called on February 14 for a common European arms export policy, telling the Munich Security Conference:

"We Germans should not pretend that we are more moral than France or more politically far-sighted than Great Britain in terms of human rights policy."

A French government official said on February 15 that the two countries had exchanged letters on the subject as was normal procedure, but that work was still ongoing.

"On the fundamentals on both sides we've expressed our desire to resolve this problem. The work is still ahead of us," the French official said.

Enders said Germany needed to secure common arms regulations if it wanted to push ahead with plans for a European defence policy.

"It is to some degree a litmus test as to how serious the Germans are about common defence and close Franco-German cooperation," he said.
Mahindra XUV300 | Rs 8.3 lakh | The Mahindra XUV300 also managed to bag the best -selling compact SUV in May. This is at a time when the restriction were just easing off and when you expect the usual market leaders like the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the Hyundai Venue to keep the lead.

live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

On one hand, auto companies are packing their bags to leave the country following unsustainable losses, but the maiden profits reaped by one European company however, provides a glimmer of hope.

In other news, an industry underdog is fighting its way back into the market from where it was dislodged as the segment leader far too quickly. These, and more, are the major developments in the auto space during this week.

Daimler India records profit for the first time

Six years after setting foot in India, Daimler AGs truck and bus making company recorded yearly profits for the first time last year. With sales growth of 35 percent, 2018 was also the best year for the company since starting sales operations in 2012.

This is considered to be a thorough turnaround for Daimler considering only four years earlier, the company was declared financially sick after a massive erosion in its net worth in 2014. Company officials declined to give details of the profit

Ashok Leyland lines up Rs 1000 crore capex

Ashok Leyland, the countrys third biggest commercial vehicle producer, has lined up investments for a slew of projects for FY20 even as the truck and bus maker gets busy to expand its portfolio in the light-duty segment.

The Chennai-based company will be investing around Rs 1,000 crore as capital expenditure (capex) for the next financial year on electric vehicles, light commercial vehicles and capacity enhancement programs.

Honda to launch new Civic in India

Japanese auto maker Honda on February 13 said it will launch the latest version of Civic model in India next month, thus completing its sedan lineup in the country.

With sedans -- Amaze, City, Accord and the upcoming Civic -- the company will have four products across various price points to cater to a wide range of customers. Honda, which is present in the country through wholly- owned subsidiary Honda Cars India (HCIL), will now look at bolstering its presence in other segments, including sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Strike at Royal Enfield plant

Three months after Eicher Motors announced the resumption of production at the troubled Oragadam plant near Chennai after a 50-day stand-off, workers at the factory have resorted to a strike again in February.

The strike comes at a time when Royal Enfield is ramping up production of two new models  the Interceptor 650 and the Continental GT 650  which were launched recently in India and the overseas markets.

Eicher Motors net profit rises 2.4 percent in Q3

Royal Enfield maker Eicher Motors' third quarter (October-December) consolidated profit grew by 2.4 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 533 crore over low revenue growth and weak operating income. Profit in same quarter last year stood at Rs 530.9 crore.

Revenue from operations in Q3 increased 3.2 percent to Rs 2,341 crore year-on-year, but Royal Enfield sales volume declined six percent YoY against 3.6 percent rise in Q2.

Mahindra launches XUV300 to spruce up market share

Since the start of September, (SUV) specialist Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has launched several all-new models in the market, more than any other company during such a short span of time.

The company started with the Marazzo in September, before moving to Alturas G4 in November and culminating with the XUV300 in February.

These launches were inadequately interspersed with limited breathing space for the marketing team to plan the launches. Usually a marketing teams ploughs the ground at least six months before D-day.

Still the euphoria over the XUV300, a mini urban soft roader was palpable. At the sidelines of the launch event in Mumbai Pawan Goenka, managing director, M&M equipped, Our product engineers have not slept peacefully since the last four months.

In between, M&M engineers were bending their backs on meeting the Bharat Stage VI challenge too.

While the Alturas G4 is essentially a new-gen SsangYong Rexton that M&M decided to launch under its own brand, the other two (including their engines) are built at the Mahindra Research Valley in Chennai. The collective cost of developing both is little over Rs 2500 crore.

Both projects were commissioned around the same time three to four years ago when M&M was taking the heat from car market leader Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai who were making solid inroads into M&Ms home turf. M&M has seen a free fall in market share over the years from an enviable 50 percent market share to its current 26 percent of the domestic utility vehicle market.

A major chunk of that share stood on M&Ms long standing dark horse Bolero and not the new generation models such as TUV300, Nuvosport and KUV100, each of which performed below the company's expectations.

But the new vehicles are a class apart as per M&M. Not only are they built using global standards with a striking design language, they are also tested for quality parameters never used before. The XUV300 for instance is the only vehicle in its category to offer seven airbags along with disc brakes on all four wheels.

Marazzo was partly designed by Italian design house Pininfarina, which is owned by M&M. It has earned the best crash safety rating (NCAP 4 star rating) among all Mahindra vehicles produced till date.

Goenka is hoping to generate sales of 8,000-9,000 units a month from all the three models. The company hopes this will provide a boost of four to five percent in market share in the UV segment. That is an ambitious task, given that rivals are waiting in the wings to launch their models.
The Shiromani Akali Dal Saturday asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi to expel Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu from the party for calling for dialogue with Pakistan even after the Pulwama terrorist attack in which 40 CRPF jawans died.

Though Sidhu had condemned the "cowardly" attack by a Pakistan-based terror group, he had also called for dialogue to find a "permanent solution" to end the bloodshed.

Sidhu, who had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan prime minister last year, had said, "For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual?"

SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia said if the Congress president does not sack Sidhu, it would mean his statement was "made at the direction of Rahul Gandhi".

"I want to ask Rahul Gandhi if he will sit quietly... Every patriotic Indian is asking if Rahul will respect their wishes and rise above politics. Sidhu should be sacked promptly," he said.

The Akali leader said the credibility of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh was also on test.

"Punjabis are eager to know whether the words he (Singh) uttered in Vidhan Sabha yesterday about the stooges of Pakistan army chief are true. If so, the CM should not wait for Rahul Gandhi's assent to remove Sidhu from his cabinet," said Majithia.

"Navjot Sidhu apparently does not know even now that Pakistan is the fountainhead of terrorism. Even the US has condemned the Pulwama attack and said on record that it was conducted by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammad," he said.

Groups like Jaish were also responsible for Pathankot, Deenanagar and Uri attacks, the Akali leader said.
Rajnath Singh

An all-party meeting on the Pulwama terror attack has started here on February 16 and the Union government is expected to brief top leaders of different parties on steps being taken by it to meet the challenge.

The meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on February 15 to take stock of the situation, is being attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

The parties will be briefed about the attack in Pulwama and the steps being taken by the government so far, a home ministry official said.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav are among others who are attending the meeting.

As many as 40 CRPF jawans were killed in one of the biggest terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for it.

Political parties have closed ranks following the attack and have offered their support to the NDA government on its response on the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked tough and asserted that those behind it will be punished, and his government has launched a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan within the international community.
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives during his visit to Pakistan starting on Sunday, Pakistani government sources said, part of efforts to broker an end to Afghanistan's 17-year-old civil war.

Pakistan has been playing an increasingly vital role in the Afghanistan peace talks, which have been gathering momentum in recent months amid a growing US desire to pull out its troops.

Along with other Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia has been part of the peace negotiations and is seen to have some sway over the Afghan Taliban militants due to Riyadh's historical ties with the hard line Islamist group and the kingdom's religious clout as the birthplace of Islam.

Two senior Pakistani officials said the crown prince was likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives in Islamabad, where the militants, fighting to restore strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan after their 2001 ouster, say they are due to meet US representatives and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

"Though it is top secret so far, there are strong indications representatives of the Afghan Taliban will meet Prince Salman during their visit of Pakistan on February 18," one of the Pakistani officials in Islamabad said.

A senior Taliban leader in Qatar said no decision had been made on whether they would meet the crown prince.

"Actually meeting Prince Salman is not in the plan so far but we can discuss it when we are in Islamabad," said the Taliban representative.

Pakistan's Foreign Office and Saudi Arabia's government did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The crown prince is expected to stay to leave Pakistan on Monday after signing a raft of investment agreements in the energy sector for more than $10 billion.

But his trip, which Islamabad is treating as the biggest state visit in years, risks being overshadowed by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following a militant attack on Indian security forces in the disputed Kashmir region.

New Delhi says Pakistan had a hand in the attack by a militant group which is based on Pakistani soil, something Islamabad denies.
A level playing-field

The negative sides of Grabs monopoly following its acquisition of Ubers Southeast Asia business are not only present in Vietnam. In other countries, the merger immediately invited fines from national competition agencies.

In September 2018, the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) imposed a fine of SG$13 million (US$9.5 million) on the two companies for their merger deal.

The CCCS found that Grab had raised their fares by 10-15% after eliminating its rival Uber, adding that they had received numerous complaints from both riders and drivers on fare and commission increases.

Later in October, the Philippine Competition Commission decided to fine Grab for failing to maintain conditions as before the acquisition, such as pricing policies, rider promotions, driver incentives and service quality.

In Vietnam, the competition authority VCA also launched a probe into the deal in April 2018, immediately after Uber officially ended its operation in the Vietnamese market.

Preliminary results suggest that Grabs acquisition of Ubers Southeast Asia business showed signs of violating Vietnamese competition law.

Later in January this year, a council was established to deal with the case, but an extension of 60 days has been given for further investigation, meaning the public will have to wait longer before the final verdict is reached.

In fact, since Uber withdrew from Vietnam, many enterprises, including local ones such as Fastgo and Be, have entered the market to fill the void.

Under the pressure of competition, Grab seems to have backed down. In August last year, Grab immediately returned to a previous policy of offering significant promotions to riders.

During the recent Lunar New Year, a number of GrabBike drivers reported that fares were unable to rise too much due to the pressure from GoViet.

It is apparent that a competitive market will help mitigate negative issues, ensure service quality and bring more benefits to consumers.

But according to experts, the capacity of new services is nothing compared with the US$10 billion Grab in terms of both capital and experience, thus they could hardly compete with Grab in pricing and promotions in the long run.

GoViet, considered the closest competitor to Grab, has offered only motorbike service for now, so Grab remains in a dominant position in the Vietnamese market.

Therefore, it is necessary for the government to intervene in order regulate the market better, prevent monopoly, create a level playing field and protect the interests of consumers.

Prices up, quality down

Many Grab users have reported higher fares after the company acquired Ubers Southeast Asia business despite Grabs repeated denial of fare hikes. Consumers stated that for the same distance and during the same hours, Grabs fares have increased considerably, especially during rush hours or bad weather when the fares are exorbitant compared with conventional taxi.

According to many riders, the frequency and amount of promotions have also dropped sharply in tandem with falling quality, with more and more reported cancellations by drivers, causing them much inconvenience.

Thu Hoai in Hanois Dong Da district reported that during the Lunar New Year, she tried to book a Grab car but all her three bookings were cancelled without a reason. She added that some drivers even called and asked her to cancel the ride because they would not pick her up. Frustrated, Hoai decided to call a conventional cab.

Viet Ha in Hoan Kiem district said that I booked a ride from Nha Tho to Kim Lien and waited for over 15 minutes but the car had still not arrived. I called the driver but it took a long time for him to answer. He said he was unable to pick me up due to a traffic jam and conveniently asked me to cancel the booking.

He said under Grabs policy, drivers can cancel the ride five minutes after arriving at the pick-up point without seeing the customers. This mechanism is apparently in favour of drivers, with many customers complaining that they could wait for half an hour but when they arrived just 2-3 minutes late, the drivers already cancelled the booking and drove away.

Hieu, a GrabCar driver, explained that after Grab acquired Uber, all customers rushed to Grab for the ride-hailing service, so a number of drivers have become more self-important and less earnest in doing their job.

More importantly, as commissions rise while bonuses are scrapped, or are very little, drivers tend to pay less attention to reward points and focus more on easy rides to run as many trips as possible.

With a new promotion and commission policy, coupled with frequent ride cancellations and reduced quality, Grab is losing its lustre of a cheap and handy technology-based ride-hailing service that used to win praise of consumers.

Many customers have announced their boycott of the service, saying they cannot accept the vagueness in fare calculation and a policy not in favour of users.

In the meantime, conventional taxi companies are undergoing positive changes after losing a significant market share to technology-based services.

In a market where there is still plenty of room for growth, if the quality of one service drops, others will immediately jump into the market for a bigger slice of the pie. It is a good sign. The market is exclusive to no one and those who conduct their business in a non-transparent manner will fall to the bottom of customers choices.
CRPF_Soldiers_BSF_Terrorist_pulwama

The UK government on February 15 condemned the terrorist attack in Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans in Kashmir, as a "senseless and brutal act".

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

"Shocked by today's senseless and brutal act of terror in...Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims' families. We stand with India," UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter.

His statement came amid a widespread outpouring of support for India in the wake of the attack, with a number of British MPs taking to social media to condemn the terror strike.

"I am deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in Kashmir. Thoughts are with the Indian security personnel killed and injured by this appalling crime, said Conservative Party MP Tom Tughendat, who is chairing the ongoing parliamentary Global Britain and India inquiry.

Another Tory MP and leader of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Hindus, Bob Blackman, also took to Twitter to say it was time for India to isolate Pakistan.

"Pulwama attack: India will 'completely isolate' Pakistan. We stand with India. Time to isolate & proscribe the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, he said.

Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma condemned the attack and called on the UK government to reconsider the reference to "India-administered Kashmir".

"I was pleased to see the British Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, has offered his sincere condolences to the victims' families, and stated that 'we stand with India', but I am concerned that he used the phrase 'India-administered Kashmir'," he said.

Sharma said he has written to the Foreign Secretary to reiterate that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian state and has been since it formally acceded in 1947.
The UK government has updated its travel advisory for India, warning against travel to Jammu and Kashmir except very limited areas, as Indian-origin protestors gathered outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on February 16 to protest the brutal Pulwama terror attack in the state.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on February 14.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which earlier condemned the "senseless and brutal act", has warned British nationals to avoid the border areas with Pakistan as well as tourist hotspots.

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to the immediate vicinity of the border with Pakistan, other than at Wagah; Jammu and Kashmir, with the exception of (i) travel within the city of Jammu, (ii) travel by air to the city of Jammu, and (iii) travel within the region of Ladakh," the updated advisory said.

"The tourist destinations of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg fall within the areas to which the FCO advise against all travel. The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the city of Srinagar and between the cities of Jammu and Srinagar on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway," it noted.

The travel update followed UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt being challenged on social media over his Twitter statement referring to "India-administered Kashmir" as he expressed solidarity with India over the attack.

"I hope that you will withdraw this phrase and demure from using it again in the future due to the connotations this seemingly innocuous phrase contains," said veteran Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma in a letter addressed to the minister on Friday.

In the letter, he stressed that "Jammu and Kashmir have been an integral part of the Indian state" and that the minister's use of the "deeply offensive phrase had upset Indians and British Indians.

Several others reacted to Hunt's message on Twitter with similar comments, with one asking the UK minister to get his facts right and another adding that Kashmir was and remains a state of India even before Pakistan came into existence.

Social media channels were also used to publicise a "Stand Against Terrorism" demonstration, organised by non-resident Indian (NRI) as well as British Kashmiri outfits outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Saturday afternoon.

"We stand against terrorism all across the globe. Join us for a silent protest in showing our strength, support and solidarity," the group said in its message.

A large group of men and women of diverse age range gathered outside the diplomatic mission in Belgravia, central London, waving the Indian flag and placards reading "Vande Mataram" and "Declare Pakistan a Terrorist State", accompanied by chants such as "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", "Kashmir Hamara Hai" and "Pakistan Murdabad".

A number of representatives also made speeches calling on global action and economic sanctions against Pakistan for "inciting terrorism" in India.
India slammed Pakistan on February 15 for stating that it had no role in the Pulwama attack carried out by Pakistan-based terror group JeM, saying Islamabad could not claim that it was unaware of the presence of terror groups on its soil as the links of such outfits to the country were there for everyone to see.

In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner in Islamabad on February 15 and lodged a protest against India's allegation of its role in the Pulwama terror attack.

Hitting back at Pakistan, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: "JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack. The organisation and its leadership are located in Pakistan."

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other terror groups had welcomed the news of the attack and those groups were also based in Pakistan, he asserted.

"Pakistan cannot claim that it is unaware of their presence and their activities. They have not taken any action against these groups despite international demands, especially against groups and individuals proscribed by the UN and other countries," Kumar said.

The links to Pakistan were clear and evident for all to see, he added.

Pakistani ministers had shared the same podium with UN-proscribed terrorists, Kumar said.

He asserted that the neighbouring country's demand for an investigation was "preposterous" when there was a video of the suicide bomber declaring himself a member of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

There were also other audio-visual and print material linking JeM to the terror attack, the MEA spokesperson said.

"We have, therefore, no doubt that the claim is firmly established," he added.

There was no constructive approach from Pakistan on its relations with India, Kumar said.

"What we have noticed however, are claims to offer dialogue on one hand, while sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terrorist organisations such as JeM on the other," he added.

India demands that Pakistan should take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control to create a conducive atmosphere in the region, free of terror, Kumar said.

The JeM has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday that left 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel dead and five critically wounded.

The summoning of the Indian deputy high commissioner by Pakistan came after India, earlier in the day, summoned the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, Sohail Mahmood, and issued a very strong demarche over the killing of the CRPF men.

Pakistan must take "immediate and verifiable action" against JeM and it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with terrorism operating from its territories, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the envoy.

Though Pakistan's Foreign Office has not issued any statement, sources said it summoned the Indian deputy high commissioner and rejected the "baseless allegations made by India" against Pakistan on the Pulwama attack.

A short video clip of the Indian diplomat leaving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad was also circulating on social media platforms.

Meanwhile, in a tweet, Pakistan's Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Faisal said Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua briefed the ambassadors of the US, Russia, France, the UK and China on the Pulwama attack on Friday and rejected India's allegations.

Following the terror strike, India withdrew the "most-favoured nation" status to Pakistan on Friday, a move which would enable it to increase customs duty on goods coming from the neighbouring country.

In a media briefing after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the most-favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan stood revoked.

India had granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but the neighbouring country is yet to reciprocate.

According to sources, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria has also been called to Delhi for consultations in the wake of the horrific attack.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said in an interview that his country would take action against anyone if India shared evidence.
Former Indian navy officer Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav's mother Avanti (C) and wife, Chetankul arrive to meet him at Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, Pakistan December 25, 2017. REUTERS/Faisal Mahmood - RC17E6201140

India will ask the UN's top court on February 18 to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court.

The International Court of Justice urgently ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague.

The rare foray into the international courts for the nuclear-armed rivals could be another flashpoint after February 14 suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops.

New Delhi's lawyers will present their arguments on Monday to the court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, followed by Pakistan's on Tuesday.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was accused of working for the Indian intelligence services in the province bordering Afghanistan, where Islamabad has long accused India of backing separatist rebels.

After a closed trial he was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 10, 2017, on charges of "espionage, sabotage and terrorism". India insists Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi in court documents is asking that the ICJ order Islamabad to annul the sentence.

It accused Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access, as well as breaking human rights law. If Pakistan is unable to quash Jadhav's death sentence, Islamabad should be found in violation of international law and treaties, and be told to "release the convicted Indian national forthwith", India said.

India accused Pakistan in 2017 of harassing Jadhav's family during a visit, saying their meeting was held in an "atmosphere of coercion".

Islamabad reacted coolly to the ICJ's urgent order to stay Jadhav's execution at the time, saying it "has not changed the status of commander Jadhav's case in any manner".

The ICJ's decision will likely come months after this week's hearings.

The last time India and Pakistan took a dispute to the ICJ was in 1999 when Islamabad protested at the downing of a Pakistani navy plane that killed 16 people.

The tribunal decided that it was not competent to rule in the dispute and closed the case.
The Union government has hiked the basic customs duty on all goods imported from the neighbouring country to 200 percent with immediate effect.

This comes after India revoked the 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) status to Pakistan on February 15 following the Pulwama terror strike, that killed 50 CRPF jawans.



India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect. #Pulwama

 Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) February 16, 2019

"India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect," Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said in a tweet.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not reciprocated. Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

Increasing duties would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at $488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18.

The main items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 percent and 7.5 percent, respectively. Slapping an import duty of 200 percent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan, official sources told PTI.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.

Total India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to $2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against $2.27 billion in 2016-17. India imported goods worth $488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth $1.92 billion.During April-October 2018-19, India's exports to Pakistan stood at $1.18 billion, while imports were $338.66 billion.

With inputs from PTI
Typing 'best toilet paper in the world' in Googles image search shows pictures of Pakistan's national flags as the first few results.

Twitterati wasted no time in posting screen grabs of the search result on the social media platform.



Just search on google

As best toilet paper in the world#besttoiletpaperintheworld@RadioPakistan pic.twitter.com/bLjtSWW3rn  Bajrang dal Hazaribagh (@BHazaribagh) February 16, 2019

The incident surfaces just two days after the attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on February 14 that killed 44 CRPF personnel in the deadliest attack on security forces in decades.

This, is not the first time when Google algorithm has thrown up irrelevant images. Last year, US President Donald Trump was leading the search of the word 'idiot' on Google's image search. This was partially attributed to the Green Day song - American Idiot - which was used by protesters during his trip to London.
An inter-state fake currency racket was busted here, with the arrest of two people and fake Indian currency worth Rs 3.98 lakh and a two-wheeler were seized from their possession, police said on February 15.

One of the accused, Mohd Ghouse is a rowdy-sheeter of Chandrayangutta police station in Hyderabad.

"In the year 1991, as he was found in possession of bombs, TADA Act along with other relevant sections were invoked against him. Since 2011, he is involved in circulating fake Indian currency," a police press release said.

So far, he has been arrested in 12 cases in Hyderabad and one case each in Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, it said.

Ghouse was released on bail in the above cases on January 12 last and he had planned to re-start circulating fake currency, it said.

As he had lost contact with Ameenul Rehman (who was allegedly the main supplier of fake currency to Ghouse for the past few years and wanted in three cases in Hyderabad), Ghouse went to Rajahmundry Central jail on January 19 and met Suraj Shaik (a native of Malda in West Bengal) and obtained the phone number of Rehman alias Bablu, it said.

Ghouse contacted Bablu and fixed a fresh deal for supplying fake Indian currency.

As per the deal, Bablu sent Rs four lakh worth fake Indian currency through his trusted aide Rabiul Sekh, the release said.

While both Ghouse and Rabiul Sekh were trying to exchange fake Indian currency in Hashamabad area under Chandrayanagutta police station limits on February 15, they were caught by South Zone Task Force (of city police) and Chandrayangutta police, it said.

The prime accused Ameenul Rehman alias Bablu's village is located near Bangladesh border and he allegedly procures the currency from Bangladesh through agents, the release added.
National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on February 16 expressed disappointment over a resolution passed in an all-party meeting in Delhi for not including in it an appeal to maintain calm in the wake of violence in Jammu and tension in other states over the Pulwama terror attack.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences," Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on February 15. People took to the streets to denounce the terror strike and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in it.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on February 15 and a number of vehicle were torched and damaged. The curfew in Jammu city continued on February 16 and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

In Uttarakhand, some Kashmiri youths studying in the state capital of Dehradun have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.
FILE - In this March 6, 2018 file photo, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri attends a luncheon at the government house Casa Rosada, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Argentina's government on Thursday, May 31, 2018, vetoed a measure that would have capped increases in gas, electricity and water rates. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

Argentina's President Mauricio Macri will arrive in India on February 17 for a three-fay visit during which he will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enhance cooperation in key sectors such as economy, nuclear technology and space.

A high-level delegation comprising the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies Emilio Monzo, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jorge Faurie, Government Secretary of Modernisation Andres Ibarra, Government Secretary of Agriculture Luis Etchevehere, and senior officials will be accompanying Macri during the visit, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Argentina's first lady Juliana Awada will also be accompanying Macri.

Macri will arrive in Agra on February 17. A day later, he will hold delegation-level talks with Modi and have other official engagements. He will travel to Mumbai on February 19.

The state visit of Macri is taking place in the 70th year of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Macri's visit to India follows Modi travelling to Argentina in late 2018 for the G20 summit, during which the leaders had a "very productive" bilateral meeting.

During his visit, President Macri will also meet President Ram Nath Kovind.

The trade between the two sides stands at around $3 billion.

"This visit will provide opportunity to the two sides to review progress in bilateral ties and to explore new avenues of cooperation," the MEA had said.
Shishir Asthana

Actors are generally associated with flamboyance and flippancy, but rarely for their money management skills. But when you do find an artist who is a pro at options trading, it could seem like a fictional character coming out of a storybook.

Nonetheless, we did manage to lay our hands on one such actor who has been trading the options market since 2013 with the same dexterity as any professional. When he is not dancing around trees or beating up villains for the cameras, Shiv Darshan is striving to become a better trader.

A health freak who once weighed 110 kilos, Shiv also exercises his mind through meditation. An avid reader and traveller, Shiv comes from a family that has been in the film business for two decades.

Unlike most options traders, Shiv mostly trades multiple strategies with a set of conditions for picking up the strategies. But, Shiv points out, his uniqueness comes from his management of risk.

In an interview with Moneycontrol, Shiv Darshan talks of his journey from facing a camera to facing a trading screen.

Q: An actor and an options trader, whats the story here?

A: My family is into films for nearly two decades but we have also been discussing the financial market on our dinner table occasionally. Though I was only a listener in those early days, my baptism with markets happened in New York where I was studying acting at a time when the financial world was collapsing. I had a front-row seat of the turmoil happening at the epicenter of the financial meltdown.

It was during this time that a friend of mine who was trading options told me that I can double or triple my money in a short period of time, even in this market. Since I was fascinated with the financial market, given my educational background in commerce and my time with friends who were brokers, I lent him an ear.

I was sold to the idea of doubling or tripling my money in a few days. This friend gave me a crash course in options, which basically meant I could now differentiate between a call and put. I took my first trade within the next 2-3 days after being introduced to the concepts.

This was buying a put option on a stock  a deep out-of-the-money (OTM) option which doubled in the next few days. This was the worst moment in my trading career. After this, beginners luck hit me. I traded recklessly over the next few months.

My epiphany moment came with a long strangle trade I took on a company just before its results announcement. Even though the stock moved in my direction, I was in a loss. It was then I realised that there is more to options than simple moves.

Q: What about your acting school during this time?

A: Studying acting was on all along. I finished studying acting and film making in New York, but even while I was studying I used to follow markets. After returning to India, I acted in two movies, content of which have done very well in the digital space. I am still into acting but at the same time, I have dug my heels deeper in the financial markets.

Thanks to the extensive learning during my initial years, I now need lesser time for my options trades. I monitor my trade for about five minutes during the day and late in the evening, I spend around the same time to do what-if analysis of my positions and new trade that I might take. I invest less than 15 minutes a day on the markets. But this has been achieved after putting in long hours to learn the craft.

Q: What did you do after realising that you lost money despite being right?

A: What intrigued me to look further was the reason behind my loss despite the stock giving a strong move. I then dug deep and found that the option Greeks were the culprit. I studied extensively, attended lectures and seminars, saw as many videos as I could lay my hand on the subject, spoke to traders in the US to soak myself on the subject.

I have been in touch with trainers like John Locke and Dave Thomas who have helped me clear my doubts.

During the initial years I also studied technical analysis  Elliot Waves to start with and then Neo waves. After I came back to India, I cleared the exchange related certification exams to test my knowledge on the subject.

In the course of my reading, I chanced upon a book  Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. What struck me was that traders were taking high probability trades and winning in the market for years, but all it took was one Black Swan event to wipe out their profits. This was the core of my trading style which is essentially taking high probability trade but with good risk management in place.

Q: Why did you move from technical analysis based trading to Greeks-based option trading?

A: In technical analysis, since they are directional trades, I have only a 33 percent chance of winning. The stock can either go in my trading, which is when I make money; or stay at the same place  here I am better off keeping the money in the bank or if the stock goes down and I can lose money.

While in options trading, especially options writing based trades which I do, I make money if the stock moves in my direction or stays at the same place. It was a no-brainer; I doubled my chances of winning by moving to options.

This, however, is not to demean technical analysis, which on its own has been profitable to many traders. For me, given my passion for movies, options trading suited my personality and my time schedule.

Q: Can you tell us about the process behind the strategies you trade?

A: As mentioned earlier, the basic premise of my trading is to take high probability trades with good risk management. Actively managing risk is my USP.

All my trades are hedged, my overall position is hedged and my option Greeks are hedged to provide maximum safety.

I have a set of six strategies that I trade every month. Every strategy is chosen based on the implied volatility (IV) and tweaked as and when the Greeks tell me to.

I am basically a positive theta trader (option seller who gains from the deterioration of option value with time). My strategies are resilient to huge market moves in either direction. In fact, one of the six strategies that I take benefits from a huge Black Swan event.

I mainly trade the Nifty though I have a strategy for the weekly Bank Nifty too. I normally take a trade 30-45 days before expiry, but if IV is high I might take a trade 45-60 days before expiry.

My targets for the strategy is anywhere between 1.5-3 percent a month while my losses are pegged at around 1.5-2 percent.

After I enter a trade I continuously monitor my position and tweak or modify them as and when necessary.

Choice of my strategy depends on the IVs. In a high IV scenario, I chose strategies that benefit from short Vega (benefits when volatility shrinks) while during low IV times I am more skewed towards long Vega (benefits from an increase in volatility) strategies.

If India VIX is around 18 I will have 60 percent short Vega strategies in my portfolio and 40 percent long Vega. When it is low, say around 11-12 I am 60 percent long Vega and 40 percent short Vega. In case of around 21-22, I may increase my short Vega trades to a maximum of 65 percent. But I am out of the market if IV goes above 26.

I am always a net seller or always a positive theta trader.

Q: Can you walk us through your strategies

A: My first strategy is the conventional Iron Condor, but I take a low probability, Iron Condor, where the short strikes are at 20 deltas (probability of the strike being hit is around 20 percent). This enables me to get sufficient credit resulting in higher yields. The long side of the Iron Condors will be 2-3 strikes away from the short strike point. These generally depend on my view of the IVs. I generally have two condors on  current month and the next month.

Where my trading style differs is in the adjustments. I am ready to take around half a dozen adjustments if the situation so demands.

Lets take a case where the market falls and India VIX is around 15 when I initiated the position. Because of the fall, the VIX will rise. As it moves above 15 I will buy debit spreads on the side which is attacked to adjust my position to negate downside risk rather than buy long puts.

I will also reduce my position from say 10 lots to 3 lots, thus reducing my delta exposure.

If the market continues to fall and breaks through a support level I will convert my Condor into a butterfly by squaring off my call side. But if the market reverses I will not shy away to reconvert it to an Iron Condor.

My adjustments start when the deltas of the short strike increase by around 7-10 points. I take three adjustments but if Nifty goes 100 points away from my short strike I will close my position. Instead, I will double the size and take a credit spread.

If the stop is not hit then I am out of the trade either if the expiry is seven days away or my profit target of 3 percent is achieved. With the increase in margins recently the profit margin has come down a bit and so is my risk.

If I take the trade 40 days before expiry, then the holding period on an average is 20 days.

I also make adjustments when the trade is in profits to reduce the risk and protect my profit.

I lean a bit short delta as this is a Short Vega trade to reduce my Vega risk.

The second strategy is a Delta Neutral Butterfly.

It is basically a broken wing butterfly taken behind the market. It is a risk-averse strategy that is resilient to huge market moves on either side.

There are two set-ups depending on where the IVs are. The motive is to maintain a really flat T+0 line without deploying additional capital to the trade. I have pre-defined Delta and Vega guidelines - whenever they are met adjustments are made in the trade.

Drawdowns in the strategy are very less  last year it gave two loss trades of 1-1.3 percent while the winners yielded 2-2.5 percent.

Adjustments typically could be shifting long and short options, buying verticals, rolling the entire spread to be slightly short delta or as close to delta neutral as possible. This strategy is ideal for huge capital.

The third strategy I call it Long Vega 1. This is basically a calendar spread with my risk management principal. Here I initiate a calendar spread which is little OTM. In this strategy, I hedge the Greeks by taking a long Delta position against long Vega.

If the market moves a lot in any direction I follow it like a centipede. If Nifty moves by 150 points either up or down I will make an adjustment and shift few of my original calendar spreads to a new strike price OTM. The great thing about this trade is that you are in an out really fast. So if you have taken a trade 30 days to the expiry of the short strikes you are going to be out within 12 days.

The fourth strategy is Long Vega 2 which can be traded in all IV environments. It is the most adaptable strategy in my kitty. It can be traded as a standalone strategy and as a hedge for a low IV Iron Condor.

Here the structure is a short strangle near month and a long strangle for the next month. This could be a debit or credit spread depending on the IVs and selection of the long strikes.

The next strategy is known as Triplets.

I scale into the trade by initiating an OTM Put Butterfly and follow the market by creating a new position every time the market goes up by 150 points. I do this till there are three Put Butterflies in place. Now if the market again goes ahead I will take the first one out and create the fourth one.

This way there is a maximum of three Butterfly positions. This trade is taken 30-40 days before the expiry and works well in bearish, neutral and moderate bull markets. The only time this doesnt perform at par is in an out and out a bull run without any pullbacks.

The great thing about this trade is am not worried about my risk on the downside and only focusing on the upside risk. It gives me a huge range on the upside skewing the probabilities in my favour of emerging a winner.

Finally, the last strategy is a Ratio Condor with a Delta Neutral Structure. This strategy, as discussed earlier, benefits from a Black Swan event or a huge gap down opening. In case the market goes up by say around 3-5 percent my maximum loss would be 0.5 percent or lesser.

Of course, black swan events are rare and such anomalies dont happen on a daily basis- so we have a Delta Neutral Structure where we make money within a range.

I scale into my position. The good part of this strategy is that 15 days into the trade if the market is in the range, I am sitting in a position with no loss, I am basically playing with markets money. This condition lasts until seven days before expiry by when I close my position.

Q: What about the Weekly Bank Nifty strategy you mentioned earlier

A: I allocate a small capital for this strategy. Here I initiate a trade on the Bank Nifty on Friday afternoon. It is a Ratio Butterfly trade but requires me to have a view on the market.

If I have a bearish view and I create a position, I will be collecting theta for Saturday and Sunday. If the market opens on Monday around Friday closing levels I will be up by less than one percent. But if it opens lower as per my expectation I will be up by 1.2 percent. Only in case if the market gaps up on Monday by say 3.5 percent I would be losing 1 percent.

I can then decide to either square off my position or make risk management adjustments, which would be rolling out my position to new strikes of the same expiry.

I square of this trade latest by Tuesday afternoon. My sweet spot in trade is when on Tuesday the market is 1.5 to 2 percent against the spot price at which the trade was initiated. At my sweet spot, I would be at least 2-2.5 percent up.

Q: How did movies help you in trading or how did trading help you in your movie career.

A: Both fields are completely different but there is a tinge of similarity.

With both trading and acting there is a certain kind of risk that keeps you on the edge. We put our heart and soul into a project, anticipating the outcome and hoping for fruitful results.

Although I must say, with time Ive come to realise that if we understand the economics of the business in which we are engaged, there is no real risk. Because ultimately its how you tackle the situation and make the most of it.

I think options trading has made me more fearless and confident as an individual. It has taught me to be more patient in this fast-paced world where we look for instant results. But like they say if you want to learn anything great, patience is key. We need time to achieve our goals, especially big goals. So the key here with my strategies is the right skills and patience.

Gaining knowledge and educating yourself in the field of interest is essential, which is why I came up with this one of a kind mentoring session to guide other people to trade options in the most risk-averse way.

It is an initiative that I have recently started through powertechfunds.com where I mentor future traders. It is a one-on-one personalise mentoring program where I share my strategies in the live market and teach my risk management approach.
China's manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong is scheduled to dive 7,000 meters into the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific Ocean, the world's deepest known natural trench, in July as part of the country's effort to make its mark in exploring the mysteries of that dark world.

Ding Zhongjun, deputy chief engineer at the Ministry of Natural Resources' National Deep Sea Center, told Science and Technology Daily on Thursday that the July operation will be based aboard Jiaolong's new mother ship, Deep Sea 1, and will last 40 days with 10 dives.

The mission is intended to verify the compatibility of Jiaolong and Deep Sea 1, he said, adding that afterward they will remain in the western Pacific to conduct other scientific expeditions.
Manisha Kumar (name changed), a 22 year old commerce graduate from Andhra Pradesh was hoping that a higher education course at a relatively newer institute in the United States would be her golden ticket to get a permanent residency there, but her plans went awry after she ended up enrolling in a fake institute and has spent the past few weeks in a detention centre.

The University of Farmington was set up as part of a sting operation by the US Department of Homeland Security, and has led to 129 Indian students being under lens for an alleged immigration fraud. The legal process is underway and Kumar and several others fate is uncertain.

While Kumar could not be contacted, her relatives in India said that she was genuinely unaware that the institute was fake. She was apparently advised by her friends who also had similar plans. Her parents are now also worried that they will be unable to find a groom for her if she is imprisoned.

Depending on the legal situation, the students could be deported with a 10-year ban on their visit to the US. Worse, they could be imprisoned with a hefty fine being imposed on them.

Enrolling in degree mills to get a quick entry into the US has been a route opted by a section of Indian students. The maximum number of international students in the US belong to China closely followed by India.

According to the Open Doors 2018 report, the US had 10,94,792 international students pursuing higher education there. Of these, 1,96,271 students were Indians. It is estimated that almost 0.5 million to 0.8 million Indians apply for student visa every year.

Shady fly-by-night operators offer promises of an instant visa to the US. This is done through unaccredited universities setting up shop only to dupe students. Considering that a lot of students may not fulfill the eligibility criteria to work in the US after their education considering the stringent immigration norms, these degrees are often seen as a shortcut.

Overseas education consultancies state that often students are well aware that the degree is not recognised and still choose to take that route.

Take the incident of Mahesh Patil from rural Karnataka. He had plans to enroll into another such fake institute (University of Northern New Jersey) that was shut down by the immigration authorities. Initially, he worked in a few departmental stores hoping to find a route to stay there. However, a random police check led him to being deported and he has been banned for five years.

Patil who is now employed in an IT firm in Bengaluru cannot visit the US even though he could get a H1-B visa.

There are hundreds like Kumar and Patil who fall prey to unauthorised education institutes. Unlike India where unaccredited institutes continue to operate and churn out 1,000s of fake degrees each year, the US is far more stringent atleast for outsiders.

If caught, you may not even be given the benefit of doubt, considering the past track record of Indian students fraudulently travelling to the US for gaining permanent residency.

Risking your future for this American dream is simply not worth it.
live bse live

nse live Volume Todays L/H More 

Anand Rathi

Voltas being a strong brand in the room air conditioner (RAC) segment has maintained its market leadership position in India despite rising competition.

With a commanding Q2 FY19 25.6% market share, Voltas is number one in room A/Cs. It has the widest range of inverter A/Cs, well equipping it to cater to the rising shift (40% of split AC sales).

The immediate addressable is inventory liquidation; at end-Q2 FY19 it sat on 2.5 months of sales. We are hopeful as efforts are underway.

Voltas, having the largest distribution network (15,000+ touch points) among pure A/C players, and Bekos comprehensive product range are expected to be a favourable combination, aiding growth prospects.

The Rs 1.64 billion H1 FY19 EMP EBIT (Rs 655m a year ago) reflected a 390bp margin expansion to 9.3%, backed by strong, 45%, revenue growth to Rs 17.68 billion. Margin expansion is attributable to superior project selection and astute execution.

Improving operations combined with a healthy (and geographically diversified) order book of Rs 48.83 billion, offers ample assurance for the next two years.

With continuous improvement in operating performance, we expect a healthy up side in the near-term too. We continue to maintain Buy with target price of Rs 680.

The Joint Venture Company, Voltbek, will be launching new products in refrigerators, washing machines, micro waves and other white goods/domestic appliances under the brand name of Voltas-Beko. There will be a capacity of 1 mn refrigerators and washing machines and 0.5mn micro wave ovens.

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Oil prices rose more than 2 percent to their highest this year on February 15 after an outage at Saudi Arabia's offshore oilfield boosted expectations for tightening supply, while progressing US-Sino trade talks strengthened demand sentiment.

The international Brent crude benchmark rose $1.68, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $66.25 a barrel, its highest since November.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up $1.18, or 2.2 percent, at $55.59 a barrel, and hit their highest this year in post-settlement trade at $55.80.

For the week, Brent ended more than 6 percent higher and WTI gained more than 5 percent, partly on tightening supplies since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Russia started voluntary production cuts last month.

The partial closure of Saudi Arabia's Safaniya, the world's largest offshore oilfield, occurred about two weeks ago, a source said on Friday. Safaniya has production capacity of more than 1 million barrels per day. It was not immediately clear when the field would return to full capacity.

"It's another factor that is raising concerns about the availability of crude," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "All of a sudden you don't have to worry just about OPEC cuts. Now you have a problem with Saudi Arabia's ability to actually produce as much oil."

Leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia said on February 12 it would cut an additional half a million bpd in March more than it previously pledged.

Supply has also been curbed by US sanctions on Venezuelan and Iranian crude and reduced Libyan output because of civil unrest. Security threats could threaten Nigerian production after general elections this weekend.

Growing confidence that the United States and China will resolve their ongoing trade dispute also supported prices. Those talks will restart next week in Washington, with both sides saying this week's negotiations in Beijing showed progress.

"Optimism surrounding a potential trade deal has really been the big issue here in the United States the last couple days," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

However, prices pared gains after a report showed US energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for a second week in a row due to concerns that crude supplies will swamp global demand as US output keeps growing from record levels.

US oil drillers added three oil rigs this week, General Electric Coals Baker Hughes energy services firm said..
Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is planning to take on US rival Uber in some of Latin America's fastest-growing markets, recruiting managers in Chile, Peru and Colombia, according to job postings and a company official.

Didi has moved senior executives from China to lead its expansion in markets like Chile and Peru, and began in recent weeks advertising for driver operations, crisis management, marketing and business development personnel in those countries, an analysis of LinkedIn postings show.

Didi's widening expansion, if successful, could make for a bumpier ride for San Francisco-based Uber Technologies in Latin America, one of its fastest-growing regions, as it gets ready to go public as soon as later this year.

The two firms are already battling in Brazil, where Didi bought local startup 99 in January last year, and Mexico, where the Chinese firm lured drivers with higher pay and bonuses for signing up other drivers and passengers.

Didi is China's dominant ride-hailing firm and is backed by investors including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. In 2016, Didi bought Uber's local Chinese operations following a bruising two-year battle for domination in China.

The push comes as Didi is laying off staff in China as it grapples with regulatory scrutiny, reportedly significant financial losses and public backlash over the murder of two of its customers, sources told Reuters.

The firm's new Chile public affairs manager, Felipe Contreras, who was previously Uber's corporate communications chief in Chile, confirmed reports Didi was looking to hire a senior executive from Chilean cellular phone company WOM to lead its engagement with government and public policy operations.

"We haven't announced a date; this is internal to the company," he said when asked about the timing of the hiring.

Contreras confirmed the launch plans and told Reuters that the company's aim was to be a "market leader" in Chile based on "quality", in a market where Uber, Spain's Cabify and Greece's Beat already transport thousands of passengers a day.

Didi is still mulling the "best time" to launch its local service, he said, saying: "We are still in the planning and recruitment phase."

Chile's government has yet to pass a law regulating ride-sharing applications, resulting in a legal gray area which sees Uber, Cabify and Beat drivers routinely fined by the police for operating without public transport licenses.

The law is still at committee stage and would need approval by both Chile's lower and upper chambers, a process which could take up to a year.

Contreras said the timeline for Didi's launch would "not necessarily" hinge on the law's eventual passing. "We are studying all the variables," he said.
The Competition Commission of India (CCI) might be investigating Googles Android for abuse of dominance, according to a Reuters report. The investigation report, which might not see the light of the day anytime soon, would probably cost the company a few crores if the claimed allegations were proven true.

This is hardly the first time for the tech giant to face regulatory hurdles. For example, the company has been embroiled in a series of legal issues such as privacy, advertising and copyrights since 2010 across the globe. The instances seem only to be increasing.

With the implementation of privacy laws, people are beginning to be much more aware of what kind of information they are giving out. These cases are a case in point and are helping to spread awareness about what kind of information users give out and how it could potentially be used.

It might not be an exaggeration to say that more countries are skeptical about the companys motives and have initiated suo moto investigation.

The recent one is the levy of $5 billion by the European Union anti-trust commission for using Android OS to block its rivals. Previously it had penalised Google for close to $3 billion after it found that Googles online shopping service was unfair to the competition. Recently Japan started investigating the company and Facebook over concerns over monopoly and personal data in the country.

It does make one wonder what kind of impact these legal issues have on the way Google conducts business. The money can hardly make a dent into Googles business given that it has $103 billion in cash and securities.

Maybe it has more to do with the brand it created that is taking a beating and the consequence it might foster and less to do with money involved.

"Take the EU anti-trust case for instance. Once the EU levied the fine, other countries such as Japan follow it. It becomes a chain and it will impact the companys reputation," a senior anti-trust lawyer in India said. Privacy laws and government agencies that are coming down strongly are a case in point.

So the company will have offset its bad reputation and will invest more in other regions where it has a significant presence. The lawyer pointed out the work Google has done in India in partnership with the government such as the rail connectivity. It is more than obvious that Google is in it for the 1.3 billion millennial population that Indian boasts and less to do with being transparent.

Even if more such investigations open up, there is probably nothing we could do. We are at the juncture where it has almost become impossible to live without the search giant, so much so that the word google has become synonymous with search. The company knows it, the world knows it.

Given the inevitability, who are we to blame the tech giants arrogance.
Ad Investing Trends 1,568 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
China Aviation Daily | Feb. 13, 2019

Embraer and Air Astana, a flag carrier of Kazakhstan, have reached a multiyear agreement on a Flight Hour Pool Program to support the component needs for the airline's new E2 fleet, Embraer's second generation of the E-Jets family of commercial aircraft.

The E2's entry into service marks the beginning of Air Astana's fleet renewal. Currently the airline operates a fleet of nine E190s aircraft, the first of which was delivered in 2011, when the airline joined Embraer Pool Program. Now, with the extension of the pool program for the new E190-E2s, Air Astana have extended their trust in our strong partnership.

Air Astana took delivery of its first E190-E2 jet in December 2018 and flies the new aircraft on domestic and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) routes. The airline will receive four additional E190-E2s in 2019, with the last of the five aircraft, all of which are leased by AerCap, being delivered in the final quarter of 2019.

The Pool Agreement for the airline's E190-E2 fleet will cover unlimited access and full repair coverage for more than 325 components with almost a third of them exclusively placed at airline's main base to ensure high fleet availability.

"We are proud that Air Astana has chosen to place its trust in us to support its new E2 fleet, further reinforcing Embraer's commitment to customers in the region with TechCare portfolio of solutions. It is a strong endorsement for the program and Embraer services, proving customers loyalty to the state of the art support of the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) with a competitive value," said Johann Bordais, President and CEO of Embraer Services & Support.

"The support of the OEM is a natural fit for Air Astana as we transition into our new fleet of Embraer's second generation of E-Jets. This was fundamental in our decision to join the program, which will allow us to upkeep our daily operations as it offers cost effective and practical solutions, guaranteeing efficiency and competitive results," said Peter Foster, CEO of Air Astana.

Embraer's Flight Hour Pool Program, which currently supports more than 40 airlines worldwide, is designed to allow airlines to minimize their upfront investment on expensive repairable inventories and resources and to take advantage of Embraer's technical expertise and its vast component repair service provider network. The results are significant savings on repair and inventory carrying costs, reduction in required warehousing space, and the elimination of resources required for repair management, while ultimately providing guaranteed performance levels.

The E190-E2 is the first of three new aircraft types that will make up the Embraer E2 family of aircraft developed to succeed the first-generation of E-Jets. Embraer Services & Support has implemented the E2 Pool Program to support operators from the very first day of delivery. Widere, the largest regional airline in Scandinavia and launch customer for the E190-E2, received its first E2 aircraft on April 2018. Currently, 100% of the delivered E2 E-Jets are supported by the program.

This Pool Program is part of a suite of services that Embraer offers to support the worldwide growing fleet of Embraer aircraft through TechCare, the new Embraer platform that assembles the entire portfolio of products and solutions to deliver the best experience of services and support.

Contributed by Embraer
China Aviation Daily | Feb. 15, 2019

Mexico's flag carrier has today announced at Routes Americas 2019 that it is to launch a new route from Mexico City to Cali, Colombia. The new route will be flown four times a week, with the first flight scheduled for 16 May on a Boeing 737-700 with capacity for 124 passengers.

Cali becomes the carrier's third destination in Colombia in addition to Bogota and Medellin, which opened in 2010 and 2015 respectively. Cali is Colombia's second largest city by size, third largest by population, and has one of the country's fastest growing economies. The airport that serves the city, the Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport (CLO) is Colombia's third largest airport in terms of passengers (transporting 3,422,919 in 2010) and fourth in cargo.

Anko van der Werff, commercial executive vice president of Aeromexico, said: "At Aeromexico we are very proud to offer Mexicans and connecting passengers a greater offer to new Latin American destinations.

"Currently we have more than 20 years with presence in South America, flying to seven major cities, which positions us as the airline of Mexico with the largest presence in the region."

ASM, the airport strategy marketing consultancy, have been working with the airport to develop new routes, providing strategic advice, business case development and hands-on network support.

ASM helped to secure the two new routes for Cali. David Appleby, ASM's director - Latin America and Caribbean, said:"The new Aeromexico service to Cali is a great addition to the air service network of Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport.

"The strong and ever growing local market between Mexico City and Cali together with the wide range of connections that Aeromexico will offer passengers over its hub will be sure to make the route a real success.

"It is a great pleasure for myself and for the ASM team to work with Aerocali and to deliver these tangible results which benefit Cali, Palmira and the entire Valle del Cauca region." ASM, the airport strategy marketing consultancy, have been working with the airport to develop new routes, providing strategic advice, business case development and hands-on network support.

The service to Cali follows hot on the heels of Spirit's arrival at the airport, which was also supported by ASM. The new service between Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Alfonso Bonilla Aragon Airport in Cali, Colombia started on 20 December 2018.

Contributed by ASM
Europeans want relations with Moscow to go back to normal, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said after a long chain of meetings in Munich, Germany, adding that Europe is increasingly ready to listen to what the Kremlin has to say.

The Russian delegation has held more than two dozens of nonstop negotiations with foreign officials over just two days at the Munich Security Conference. Those included even some European nations that talk hard on the Kremlin publicly, Lavrov told journalists after meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Taro Kono.

Also on rt.com EU needs renovation: Lavrov says Europe has lost monopoly on regional integration as East rises

All talks were constructive, including those with the politicians, who otherwise make tough statements about Russia when they hold speeches in the European Parliament or elsewhere, the senior Russian diplomat said.

Everyone assured us that they want normalization of relations.

Speaking on his general impression of the conference so far, Lavrov noted that the international community has started to listen more to Russia, adding that the hard work Moscow was doing over the past years has apparently paid off. We are patient people  in a strategic sense, the minister said.

Lavrov believes that Washingtons continued attempts to impose its will on other nations threaten the international trade system and have already backfired by fueling the feeling of uncertainty in the world. The US unilateral coercive measures  its attempts to apply their legislation extraterritorially and force other nations to comply with the laws of a foreign state only contribute to confusion among its own allies, he said.

The minister reasoned that all sensible powers should come to the negotiating table and develop inclusive formats that would take into account the interests of all major players. However, Washington apparently struggles to accept the multipolar world, he believes.

Also on rt.com Munich brawl: Pence clashes with Merkel and Mogherini over Iran deal, Russian pipeline

The comments came after US Vice President Mike Pence sought to use the Munich event to lecture Washingtons allies on what they should and should not do  particularly in the cases of Russia and Iran. The speech was met with some resistance from Brussels and Berlin.

Pence particularly clashed with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over their conflicting views on the Nord Stream 2  the Russian gas pipeline project it develops together with some European companies, and which the US has long sought to undermine. While Pence claimed the project somehow threatens European security, Merkel maintained that Europe must retain sovereignty over its energy policy.

Lavrov also touched upon this issue as he recalled his talks with German officials and said that Berlin still views the Nord Stream 2 as a purely commercial project and shows no signs of caving in to the US pressure.

When it comes to Nord Stream 2, I have not heard anything that would indicate a change in Germanys stance on thiseconomic project.

If you like this story, share it with a friend!
Talks on buying US-made Patriot missile systems aren't going smoothly, as Americans are giving the cold shoulder to Turkish requests, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after his trip to Russia.

US officials "can't say anything [concrete] about the issues of joint production and loans" which, along with early delivery, Turkey considers "important" conditions for the deal to be made, Erdogan told reporters on Saturday.

"Under such circumstances, we can't take a step" to buy the US-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile systems, he explained.

Talks of acquiring Patriot systems from the US have been in the works for years, but the negotiations have stalled several times. They were reignited last fall after Turkish officials indicated that they were once again open to that option.

It would be extremely difficult for Washington to agree to share the Patriot technology with Turkey, because the system itself "is closely tied to US satellites and command centers," military expert Yuri Knutov told RT.

It will be a complete loss of sovereignty over the weapon. In practice, it will be operated by Turkish officers, but controlled by the Americans. It's the specifics of the Patriot system.

Erdogan signaled that negotiations had hit rocky ground as he was returning from Sochi, Russia, where he met with President Vladimir Putin. Among others things, the leaders discussed Syria and the recent deal for Ankara to buy Russian S-400 air defense systems.

Turkey signed a purchase agreement despite immense pressure from its ally Washington, whose politicians had suggested that the purchase of Russian-made arms would undermine security and interoperability within NATO. The conflict over the issue led US lawmakers to pass a bill effectively blocking the delivery of 100 F-35 fighter jets to Turkey.

US officials later reportedly attempted to tie the Patriot deal to scrapping the S-400 agreement  another condition that Turkey strongly rebuffed.

The most recent push to dissuade allies from dealing with Moscow came from US Vice President Mike Pence. "We have also made it clear that we will not stand idly by while NATO allies purchase weapons from our adversaries," he told the audience at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. "We cannot ensure the defense of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East."

Speaking to reporters the on same day, Erdogan reiterated that there is "no walking back" from the contract with Russia, and that the two sides are working to start the deployment of the S-400s to Turkey in July. Some 55 percent of their cost is set to be covered by a loan that Moscow is providing to Ankara. The offer was made "on very reasonable terms," the Turkish leader said back in June.

Turkey is also still interested in getting S-500s  the more advanced iteration of the S-400s  sometime in the future, Erdogan stated. He earlier suggested that if such a deal were to be struck, it should be a joint production.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Russia is testing the heavy attack drone Okhotnik ('Hunter'), which is designed to dismantle an enemys defenses. It is scheduled to enter service this year along with some similar models. Can it challenge the West's UAV reign?

The new heavy stealth attack drone Okhotnik will have its first test flight in the "nearest future," Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on Friday. The military earlier announced that it would start receiving new state-of-the-art recon and attack UAVs this year.

With the Pentagon extensively utilizing drones like MQ-1 Predator to spot and strike targets in places like the Middle East and Afghanistan, Moscow now hopes to up its game in drone warfare.

Also on rt.com Russian bots: Armed Uran-9 ground drones enter service

Around 70 Russian drones have already been deployed in Syria. Their mission has proven to be successful, the military says, as Forpost and Orlan-10 models spotted more than 47,000 enemy targets.

Russia doesnt yet have a full-fledged attack drone, however. The Okhotnik project is designed to change that. Developed by the Sukhoi aircraft manufacturer, it boasts a takeoff weight of 25 tons and an operational range of 5,000km. The first images of the drone, leaked last month, showed a flying wing-type aircraft rolled out on an airstrip during testing.

Media reports suggested that the UAV will not only be effective during solo missions, but also paired up with the newest 5th-gen supersonic stealth jet fighter Su-57. It is intended that the plane would enter battles after the drone has "penetrated" the enemys air defenses, sources told Interfax in January, adding that the drone will be "controlled" by the crew of the incoming jet.

Another drone set to enter service en masse this year is Orion. Known as Type 90 during its production stage, this medium UAV weighs in at around 1,000kg. It is capable of conducting 24-hour flights and striking targets with guided missiles, as well as 25kg and 50kg bombs. The aircraft was showcased during an arms expo last year and underwent testing in Syria.

Editor-in-chief of the Russian UAV-themed magazine 'Bespilotnaya Aviatsiya,' Denis Fedutinov, told RT that Moscow is aiming to acquire drones whose size mirrors that of US models. The Orion belongs to the same size bracket as the American drone Predator, while Okhotnik "can be compared" to Boeings X-45 and Northrop Grummans X-47B prototypes, he said.

Russias push for getting sophisticated drones was validated by the air campaign in Syria, where UAVs made "a significant contribution" in pinpointing targets and surveillance, military expert Aleksey Leonkov explained. The Soviet drone tech was comparable to the one in the US but it was later nearly completely wiped out during the 1990s, he said. Most projects were "placed into deep freeze or suspended," but now the war in Syria has given them a new start.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
Authorities have been telling Mt Everest climbers to clean up after themselves for some time now, but the rules have just taken a drastic new turn as China demanded adventurers to take their bodily waste, too.

Everest porters have been struggling to carry the 28,000 pounds of human waste - the equivalent to two fully-grown elephants - from base camp down to the nearby dumping ground each season.

Also on rt.com Nepal to measure Everest again after devastating 2015 earthquake

Now, an official from the Chinese Mountaineering Association (CMA) told the South China Morning Post that climbers will now be required to carry all their waste out with them. He did not specify how they plan on implementing the new rule.

Poop patrol isnt the only measure authorities are taking against the thrill-seeking litterbugs. All tourists have been banned from the base camp in Tibet until further notice in an effort to fight the heavy pollution carried by people who travel there to take in the sights at 17,000 feet.

READ MORE: Polish daredevil becomes first to ski down deadly K2 in jaw-dropping run (VIDEO)

Now only people with climbing permits will be allowed to reach the camp and Beijing only issues 300 of those each season.

Both Nepal and China have taken measures to force people to bring their trash back down with them to combat the littering issue - including charging a $4,000 garbage deposit that climbers only receive if they return their rubbish.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
US Vice President Mike Pence went full throttle in Munich as he rolled out a list of Washington's demands to the EU, clashing with Germany's Angela Merkel and Brussels' Federica Mogherini on Iran and Russia.

EU nations must "stop undermining US sanctions" against Iran, Pence told the audience at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday, urging European allies to follow the American lead in ditching the deal on the Iranian nuclear program.

He had earlier blasted EU countries for not being "cooperative" with Washington's push to pressure Iran. The US unilaterally pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) last year, citing mistrust towards the Islamic Republic and accusing it of threatening global security. Iran denied the allegations, while Washington's move was condemned by the EU, China and Russia.

The sanctions imposed on Tehran by the US prompted the EU to devise a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), a plan to protect European companies dealing with Iran. Speaking in Warsaw, Poland before heading to Munich, Pence warned that this "ill-advised step" will create "more distance" between Washington and the EU.

They call this scheme a Special Purpose Vehicle. We call it an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime.

EU's foreign affairs chief, Federica Mogherini, was unfazed by Pence's strong-worded warning. After meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Munich on Friday, she reiterated that the JCPOA "continues to deliver on its objectives and is crucial for both regional and global security," her office stated.

Also on rt.com EU countries move to evade US Iran sanctions by setting up payment channel for humanitarian trade

In his fiery tirade, the vice president also called on the EU to join Washington in openly backing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself to be the 'interim president' last month. He also warned NATO allies that the US "will not stand idly by" as they buy weapons from "our adversaries," hinting at the major contract recently signed between Turkey and Moscow for S-400 air defense missile systems.

Pence lashed out at the construction of Nord Stream 2, an underwater Baltic Sea pipeline that will supply Russian gas to Germany. The US "commends" those nations that had "taken a stand" against the project, and urges "others to do the same," Pence stated.

Also on rt.com No way back for Nord Stream 2 pipeline project  Germany

US officials, joined by the Baltic States and nations like Ukraine and Poland, had been arguing that the new pipeline goes against EU interests and will deprive Kiev of collecting lucrative revenue from the transit of Russian gas to Europe. These claims have been strongly rebuffed by Berlin.

It is "right and important" for Europe to "maintain sovereignty" over its energy policy and to have a variety of gas suppliers, Chancellor Angela Merkel said shortly before Mike Pence delivered his remarks. Defending the construction of the pipeline with Russia, she said that pushing Moscow out of the European gas market would be a "wrong strategic signal."

If during the Cold War... we imported large amounts of Russian gas, I don't know why times should be so much worse today that we can say: Russia remains a partner.

"Geostrategically, Europe can't have an interest in cutting off all relations with Russia," the German leader stated.
The founder and senior partner of Baring Vostok private equity fund, Michael Calvey, will be detained in Moscow for two months after his bail got rejected. The US citizen is accused of a large-scale fraud involving a Russian bank.

The investor was put in pre-trial custody by a Moscow court on Saturday. The court rejected the request of Calveys defense to release him on 5 million rubles ($75.5 thousand) bail. The prosecution, on its part, insisted that the detention was an absolute necessity, as the US citizen might try and flee the country.

Calvey's defense has already vowed to challenge the detention order.

We do not agree with the court's ruling and we will challenge it at the Moscow city court. We'll request either home arrest or bail, Calvey's attorney, Dmitry Kletochkin told TASS.

Also on rt.com US investor & top partners of Baring Vostok equity fund detained in Moscow on fraud allegations

Several other suspects, including partners of the Baring Vostok fund, namely Philippe Delpal, Vagan Abgaryan and Ivan Zyuzin  were ordered to remain in pretrial custody earlier on Friday. All individuals are suspected of taking part in a fraud, which involved Russia's Vostochny Bank.

The investigators believe that Calvey embezzled 2.5 billion rubles ($37.5 million) from Vostochny Bank via a fraudulent scheme. The investor and his associates have allegedly persuaded the bank's board to accept a package of shares of an enterprise instead of paying off a debt. While the shares were said to be worth over 3 billion rubles (some $45 million), their real cost was merely 600,000 rubles ($9,000).

Like this story? Share it with a friend!
A Russian grocery retailer was nearly forced to close during its grand opening week in Germany when a huge crowd of Leipzig locals arrived and gobbled up almost the entire inventory.

The promising slogan Only Lowest Prices Everyday evoked an enormous demand during the first days after the opening that toppled the most optimistic forecasts. The buying fever was reportedly triggered by very attractive prices for foodstuff and basic goods offered by the grocery store that had been opened in early February in a location where an Aldi market once stood.

Also on rt.com Siberian discount chain wins over German consumers challenging local giants Aldi & Lidl

Mere, a food discounter belonging to one of Russia's largest thrift shop chains Torgservis, offers a wide range of goods, from dairy products and coffee to canned food and sausages, manufactured mostly in Eastern European countries.

Shortly after the opening of the store in Leipzig, German media hurriedly accused the Russian business of attacking Aldi and Lidl, Germanys biggest retail chains with a multi-billion turnover.

According to analysts, Mere will hardly face the problems of the US retail corporation Walmart, which had to withdraw from Germany in 2006 after 10 years of ineffective business.

Many Germans cannot be identified as rich. There are many citizens living on welfare, pensioners, lonely and older people In some parts of the country, especially in the East, unemployment rate totals eight percent, Professor Johannes Ringel from Leipzigs University told Russias state TV channel Rossiya 2.

In this segment of the market, people usually keep a wary eye on their expenses. Thats why they will go shopping in Mere, the economist added.

People living in the Eastern parts of Germany are still nostalgic about the German Democratic Republic and like purchasing goods produced in countries of the former Soviet bloc, the media reported. However, most of the customers are rushing to the store because of prices that are nearly 30 percent lower than at other supermarkets.

For more stories on economy & finance visit RT's business section
Russian foreign minister says European project failing to provide security and prosperity for continent, while EU wastes its energies on confronting Russia to please Washington.

A unified Europe still hasnt been built, Sergey Lavrov said in his keynote address at the Munich Security Conference. Everyday issues  from eradicating terrorism, to providing steady economic growth  have not been addressed with adequate solutions.

READ MORE Munich brawl: Pence clashes with Merkel and Mogherini over Iran deal, Russian pipeline

Instead, the Russian diplomat said that Europe has been happy to play follower to Washingtons leader all while pursuing a NATO-centric foreign policy.

While Europeans have let themselves be dragged into a pointless standoff with Russia, losing billions on sanctions imposed on them from across the Atlantic, the world has continued changing, said Lavrov, in reference to the measures applied to Russia over Crimea and Ukraine since 2014.

In order to stop from falling behind, the European house needs a major renovation, insisted Lavrov.

In a practical sense the EU has lost its monopoly on the regional integration agenda. The balance of power across the region is changing, primarily due to the rising powers in the Asia Pacific, Lavrov warned.

Lavrov said that as part of this new configuration, which includes Chinas One Belt-One Road project, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a notable role is being played by the Eurasian Economic Union, which has strengthened ties between five former Soviet republics, including Russia.

But Lavrov insisted that despite widespread speculation among Western politicians and media outlets, Moscow is not interested in undermining the European Union.

Also on rt.com There are no independent countries in the world, Putin says

We are interested in a strong, independent, and open European Union, adding that EUs striving for independence in the sphere of defense in the form of an EU army, is a natural and positive development for the strengthening of a multipolar world.

To what extent Europe will be allowed to achieve its aims, is another question, Lavrov added.

Like this story? Share it with a friend!
The Canadian agency was required to examine if Vietnams carbon steel welded pipe sector operates in accordance with the market economys principles.

Vietnams Ministry of Industry and Trade has coordinated with relevant ministries and sectors to supply full information for the CBSA during the investigation and onsite verifications.

With the aforesaid conclusion, CBSA calculated the dumping margin of Vietnamese exporters based on their actual production costs.

This is the first anti-dumping investigation case in which Canada concluded that a Vietnamese manufacturing industry operates according to the market economys principles, without the involvement of the Government.

The dumping margin of the two Vietnamese enterprises that export the product to Canada was concluded only at 3 percent and 4.9 percent, much lower that that of other exporters from Turkey, Pakistan, and the Philippines.

This has helped Vietnamese businesses maintain their competitiveness advantages while exporting this product to Canada.

From February 15, 2019, Canada will begin to impose anti-dumping duties on carbon steel welded pipe from Vietnam, Turkey, Pakistan, and the Philippines, according to the margin that CBSA had concluded if the Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) rules that there is damage to the domestic manufacturing industry.
It's the hottest rivalry in Bellator MMA and the biggest fight in British MMA history. And after a two-year build-up, Michael 'Venom' Page and Paul 'Semtex' Daley will finally do battle at Bellator 216 on Saturday night.

On Saturday night in Uncasville, Connecticut, the two biggest rivals in Bellator MMA will go head to head in a hotly-anticipated bout that has been two years in the making.

British welterweight stars Paul 'Semtex' Daley and Michael 'Venom' Page have been on a collision course ever since they were both on the same Bellator MMA roster, but it has taken two years for the fight to finally come to fruition.

Now, after a long wait, the two duelling Brits will throw down in the quarter-finals of the Bellator Welterweight World Grand Prix tournament main event of Bellator 216.

It's an intriguing clash of fighting styles with the added spice of genuine bad blood between the pair.

DALEY'S ADVANTAGES: EXPERIENCE AND POWER

Paul Daley is a true veteran of the sport, and will be competing in his 59th professional contest against Page, who is comparatively early in his career, with just 13 bouts to his name.

Nottingham man Daley has shown a remarkable ability to finish opponents throughout his career, and seems to be getting better with age.

Former Army veteran Daley's 'Semtex' nickname comes from the plastic explosive used by armed forces, and the moniker is well chosen. Daley has finished 32 of his 40 career wins, with 30 of them coming via knockout or TKO.

His ability to turn the lights out on opponents has kept him right at the top of the sport, though he hasn't quite been able to win himself a world title with a leading MMA organization.

If he wins the Bellator Welterweight Grand Prix, he'll capture the world title in the process, but to achieve that he has to eliminate his big rival from the tournament and claim bragging rights as the best British welterweight in Bellator MMA.

PAGE'S ADVANTAGES: MOVEMENT AND SPEED

Page is a mixed martial arts one-off. His style evokes memories of Anderson Silva in his pomp, but in truth he's a very different fighter to the great former UFC middleweight champ.

Page's background is in point-fighting, and his control of range is outstanding as a result. His ability to bounce in and out of range, peppering his opponents with strikes, then sliding out of range of counters, is not only effective, it's also incredibly frustrating for his opponents.

And that ability to annoy and frustrate the opposition has helped Page secure spectacular finishes during his career as he baits his opponent to open themselves up with a wild attack, then he counters with force.

It's a strategy that has seen him rack up a 13-0 professional record and move towards the top of the Bellator welterweight division. But Daley will undoubtedly be the best fighter he has faced in his career.

If he puts him away in the same style he's dispensed with his other opponents, the doubters will have to concede that 'MVP' is the real deal.

LOOK OUT FOR: FLYING KNEES

Daley and Page have two of the best flying-knee knockouts in Bellator MMA history from their recent fights against Brennan Ward and Evangelista 'Cyborg' Santos respectively.

Their stunning flying knockouts showed their ability to finish opponents in the blink of an eye, and highlighted their penchant for the spectacular.

Will we see a similar technique finish the fight on Saturday night?
UPDATE: Suspect in Holland area hotel slaying cleared, witnesses gave misinformation

HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, MI -- A 14-year-old boy was shot and killed early Saturday, Feb. 16 at a Holland area hotel in what police say could be a gang-related shooting.

Police responded to the Hampton Inn, 12427 Felch Street, just after midnight on a report of shots fired.

Ottawa County sheriffs deputies and rescuers found a 14-year-old boy with a gunshot wound. He was taken to Holland Hospital but pronounced dead.

Sheriffs Capt. Mark Bennett said the person or persons responsible for the shooting left the scene.

Police say the shooting does appear to have some gang relationship," but they are investigating the extent.
IONIA, MI -- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has put the brakes on a proposal to build an immigration detention center on a former prison property in Ionia.

The governor decided Friday, Feb. 14 that a proposed sale of state property to the Immigration Centers of America would not happen.

ICA was working with the Michigan Land Bank Fast Track Authority to buy the former Deerfield Correctional Center property on Harwood Road in Ionia.

Once a renovation and rebuilding was complete, the facility would have a 600-bed capacity to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees.

Tiffany Brown, the press secretary for Whitmer, said the governor wanted a guarantee from ICA that such a facility would not be used to detain people separated from their children or other family members. Representatives from ICA could not make that guarantee, Brown said, as well as agree to other conditions without ICE signing off.

The Governor believes that building more detention facilities wont solve our immigration crisis, and she also believes that separating families doesnt reflect our Michigan values. Therefore, the Governor has decided that the sale of state property in Deerfield to ICA will not move forward. As the Governor has said before, its time for President Trump and Congress to work together on a bipartisan immigration reform plan that keeps communities safe, protects American jobs, and keeps families together," Brown said.

Brown said that when Whitmer took office in January, she began a review process that involved input from local elected officials, community leaders, civil rights groups, and ICA officials.
LOWELL, MI -- A Lowell Schools part-time employee has been arrested by federal authorities and is accused of taking sexually explicit photos of a baby.

Madalynne Iteen, 22, was arrested early Friday, Feb. 15 at her home and is now at the Newaygo County Jail pending a Feb. 21 detention hearing.

Lowell Schools Superintendent Gregg Pratt wrote a letter later Friday to notify parents that a worker had been arrested in a cooperative effort between Department of Homeland Security officers and Canadian law enforcement. He did not name the person, but indicated the person was on administrative leave.

A complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, however, shows that Iteen was identified after officers with the Durham Regional Police Service in Ontario arrested a person there for child pornography and gained access to an email account.

That account led investigators to a separate file storage area where photos allegedly taken by Iteen were found.

When Iteen was arrested, investigators say she waived her Miranda rights and spoke with officers. She allegedly told them that a person she met on social media sent her images of child pornography and she deleted them.

But the person then asked her to take sexually explicit images of an infant male she knew. She was asked to send the photos to the person and she did, according to the federal complaint.

Photos referenced in the complaint all appeared to have been taken in mid-July 2018. Some showed the boys genitals.

Pratt, the Lowell Schools superintendent, did not indicate the work duties assigned to the arrested person.
UPDATE: Madalynne Iteen, 22, the Lowell School District part-time employee, is accused by of taking sexually explicit photos of a baby. She is at the Newaygo County Jail pending a Feb. 21 detention hearing. A complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. "Lowell Schools part-time worker accused in child porn case involving baby.''

LOWELL, MI - Lowell Area Schools Superintendent Greg Pratt informed district families and staff Friday, Feb. 15, that an employee was arrested and is under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and Canadian law enforcement.

Pratts letter does not name the part-time employee, identify his or her job at the district, or say what he or she was arrested for by authorities. He said he was notified Friday morning of the arrest.

Families were told only that the employee was placed on administrative leave and that no Lowell students or other employees are known or alleged to be involved.

"The name of the employee has not yet been made public, but the employee is currently in custody and has been immediately placed on the administrative leave from the district pending the investigation,'' Pratts letter said.

"The district is cooperating fully with law enforcement and it is our policy not to comment further while an investigation is active and on-going.''

In his letter, Pratt said the Kent County Sheriffs Office made the arrest.

But Kent County Sheriff Sgt. Joel Roon said that was a mistake and their department was not involved in the arrest. He said it was entirely a Department of Homeland Security case.

Lowell Police Department also reports that it was not involved in the individuals arrest.

The Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment. Pratt had no further comment beyond the letter released.
ANN ARBOR, MI  The Federal Railroad Administration has raised concerns about the proposed cost of a new Amtrak station in Ann Arbor, newly released emails show.

The preliminary cost estimate is an order of magnitude higher than other new intercity passenger rail and multimodal stations for which MDOT was awarded funding to construct by FRA, the FRAs Melissa Hatcher wrote in a Nov. 19 email to city and state officials.

The citys new capital plan shows $14.7 million for final design of a new train station and parking deck over three years, plus $86 million for the first phase of construction several years from now.

Fuller Park is the citys preferred site, but the FRA has yet to sign off on the citys plans or commit any construction funds.

The total cost is high because the citys preferred location for the station is constrained and the city is proposing a substantial amount of parking, requiring a retaining wall to construct  the platform adjacent to a slope and the station to be located over-the-tracks, Hatcher wrote in the November email expressing concerns.

The city should consider value engineering in the proposed design to reduce the scope and scale of the project and bring down costs, Hatcher told the project team.

The emails were obtained by Ann Arbor resident Rita Mitchell, a member of Protect A2 Parks, through a Freedom of Information Act request. The group Protect A2 Parks, which recently made the emails public, has been concerned for several years about the push to build a new Amtrak station and parking deck in part of Fuller Park, where theres now a parking lot in front of the University of Michigan Hospital.

The group prefers the current Depot Street location for an Amtrak station and suggests improvements can be made there. The current station was built in the early 1980s.

Eli Cooper, the citys transportation program manager, told the FRA last month the city was working to respond to its concerns.

Neumann/Smith Architecture, the citys preliminary design and engineering consultant, has been responding to track and platform issues, along with Michael Nearing, the citys lead engineer. AECOM, another city consultant, is prepared to supplement and revise an environmental assessment report to take into account the FRA feedback, Cooper told the FRA.

City staff and our contractors will also work to identify cost efficiencies as part of our efforts, Cooper wrote in a Jan. 2 email to Hatcher, indicating that will be incorporated into future documents.

The city shares the FRAs concerns that the project costs have escalated, Cooper said in an interview.

This is not a blank-check project, he said.

The amount of parking included in the plans has been one of the biggest criticisms of the project. A large parking garage would be the dominant visual element along Fuller Road, with a smaller train station building tucked behind it above the railroad tracks.

As planned, the project would take shape in phases. The Phase 1 parking deck would have 539 spaces, and there would be another 109 spaces in a surface lot, for a total of 648, and 150 of those would be reserved for park users, Cooper said in September.

The city has indicated 1,320 total parking spaces may be needed at the station in the future if Amtrak service on the Detroit-Chicago line is expanded from three to 10 daily round trips, and if a separate commuter rail service between Ann Arbor and Detroit is implemented.

While the proposed station could serve proposed intercity passenger rail service of up to 10 round trips per day, FRA reminds MDOT and Ann Arbor that hundreds of millions of investment is required elsewhere in the rail corridor in Michigan, Indiana and Illinois to achieve the proposed intercity passenger rail service levels, in addition to the investment required to build the intermodal station in Ann Arbor, Hatcher wrote in her November email.

The recent federal government shutdown set the project back a month and a half because scheduled conference calls with the FRA couldnt happen, Cooper said. Theyre back on track now and working through the issues, he said, predicting a new environmental assessment report may be released by early April.

Cooper said the new station is envisioned as a regional destination, allowing people from outside the city to drive in, park, and hop on a train heading either west toward Chicago or east toward Detroit.

Were trying to keep it as reasonable as possible, but we have a scientifically arrived-at forecast for parking demand, he said, arguing the responsible thing to do is to design the project for that.

The way people are getting around is changing, with ride-sharing services and the advent of self-driving cars, Cooper acknowledged, but he still thinks people outside the city will drive their own cars and park at the station.

The current station is constrained, and as rail services expand in the future, it will be woefully inadequate, Cooper said.

Cooper notes the preliminary design and engineering team working on the Ann Arbor station project also worked on Dearborns new Amtrak station, the John D. Dingell Transit Center, which was built in 2012-2014 at a cost of $28.2 million. The station was 100-percent federally funded.

Ann Arbor officials are hoping federal funds will cover a significant portion of the costs of a new station here, with other matching funds coming from the city, state and other local partners.
ANN ARBOR, MI - City and county officials are looking to gather feedback on potential construction of a pedestrian tunnel beneath railroad tracks near the Huron River.

Ann Arbors Parks and Recreation Services, the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission and the Huron Waterloo Pathways Initiative are compiling a feasibility study on the tunnel that would connect Barton Nature Area and Bandemer Park.

The public will be able to see preliminary plans in a public meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26 in the Forsythe Middle School cafeteria, 1655 Newport Road.

Were working to improve safety on the (Michigan Department of Transportation) rail section there and in the North Main corridor in general ... because right now, theres not a great connection and theres a lot of trespassing going on across the railroad tracks, said Peter Sanderson, park planner with the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission.

A project timeline has not been set, but Sanderson said the target will be between 2020 and 2022.

The tunnel could connect with the Border-to-Border Trail, depending on the feasibility study.

This area came up multiple times at the public meetings. Weve heard this comment from many folks about trying to improve the connection there, Sanderson said.

Building a tunnel is a less expensive option than a bridge over the tracks, Sanderson said.

The Federal Railroad Administration designated this corridor as high-speed rail, he said. Youd need 26 feet of clearance over the track, which then requires compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of adding ramps that leaders worry residents and visitors will not use, Sanderson added.

View a map of the project area here.

Ann Arbor encourages anyone with disabilities to participate in the Feb. 26 meeting and to request accommodations, including sign language interpreters, by contacting the clerks office at 734-794-6140, emailing cityclerk@a2gov.org or mailing a written request to 301 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor.
MESICK, MI  A Michigan man is accused of using the dark web to order ecstasy from Europe and selling it in the United States.

Donald Fazenbaker, 48, of Mesick has been arraigned on two felony counts including Conspiracy to Deliver Ecstasy and Attempted Possession of Ecstasy.

A joint investigation by multiple agencies including the Traverse Narcotics Team, Michigan State Police and Homeland Security was conducted on Feb. 12 after 51 tablets (23 grams) of ecstasy was seized at Chicago OHare International airport.

The ecstasy entered the U.S. from the Netherlands and was destined for the village of Mesick in Wexford County.

Further investigation revealed multiple shipments and seizures of ecstasy involving Fazenbaker over three years.

A search of the suspects home later revealed several documents, electronic devices, and firearms, as well as evidence of dark web activity and potential use of cryptocurrencies to order the ecstasy from overseas.

Ordering unregulated substances from unknown overseas companies is both dangerous and illegal, a TNT statement reads.

Law enforcement is actively working to interdict packages as they enter the United States and will seek charges on anyone participating in this criminal activity.

The Traverse Narcotics Team is an eight-county, multi-jurisdictional task force under the direction of the Michigan State Police.

It is comprised of officers from various law enforcement agencies in Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Kalkaska, Antrim, Missaukee, Osceola, and Wexford counties.
Actress, socialite and fashion icon Lee Radziwill, the stylish younger sister of late First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, has died in her Manhattan home at the age of 85.

No other details were released about the Friday death of the globetrotting Radziwill, whose coterie of friends included Truman Capote, Rudolf Nureyev, Leonard Bernstein and Andy Warhol.

The ever-elegant Radziwills fashion sense was best illustrated by her work as an interior decorator and her time spent in a variety of positions working for Giorgio Armani.

We are heartbroken and I will miss our dear friend, tweeted fashion designer Tory Burch, an unabashed admirer. Rest in Peace, Lee Radziwill.

She was a 1996 inductee to the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame. And Radziwill released two books of photos depicting her world travels, tony homes and famous friends.

She was the height of elegance, a true icon  an incredibly attractive woman who always adapted to whatever the circumstance, said Mathilde Favier, public relations director in charge of VIPs at Christian Dior, to WWD.

She was never overdressed or underdressed . . . She was incredibly elegant and inspiring, and always ahead of her time because she was a fashion visionary. Its very sad. Its the end of an era.

Caroline Lee Radziwill was considered the the pretty one and her sister Jackie as the smart one as the pair were growing up. In her memoir Happy Times, Radziwill recounted her childhood admiration for her older sibling.

With the 1961 arrival of President Kennedy in the White House, Jackie and Lee reigned as the worlds best-known sisters  Americas new It Girls.

She was married three times, with her wedding to Polish aristocrat Prince Stanislaw Albrecht Radziwill turning Radziwill into a temporary princess and a mother of two. Their 1959 marriage came between her unions with publishing executive Michael Canfield in 1953 and film director Herbert Ross in 1988.

The first marriage was annulled, and the latter two ended in divorce.

Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy is followed by her sister, Princess Lee Radziwill, as they leave the princess's London home on June 6, 1961, for a look around London. AP

Her sister Jackie passed away at age 64 in 1994, and her son Anthony died of cancer in 1999  barely a month after the plane crash death of his cousin John Kennedy Jr.

In a 2013 interview with The New York Times, Radziwill bemoaned the loss of so many people throughout her life.

When I was young, I used to think that everyone should die at 70, she said. But my closest friends, like Rudolf and Andy and to an extent Capote, let along most of my close family, didnt even reach that age.

There is something to be said for being older, and memories.

-- Larry Mcshane, New York Daily News
The patrol boats, which have been in the Persian Gulf region since 2003, have been replaced by two of the service's newest...
MIDDLETOWN  The areas three state senators have jointly introduced legislation to create a 110-mile long multi-use hiking, biking and equestrian trail.

The proposal could dramatically extend the Air Line Trail and tie into a rail link that could draw visitors to area from New York, Massachusetts and beyond.

That in turn could generate a new source of tourism dollars for the region, residents were told during a hearing Wednesday night.

The proposal to develop the Central Connecticut Loop Trail was introduced in the General Assembly by Mary Daugherty Abrams, D-Meriden, Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, and Norm Needleman, D-Essex.

The General Assemblys tranportation committee reviewed the proposal during a hearing Wednesday.

If the legislation is approved, it would require the commissioners of both the state Department of Transportation and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to work together - and authorize funding - for planning, design and construction of a trail from East Hampton through Portland, Middletown, Meriden and Cheshire.

The loop trail proposal was brought up during a discussion Tuesday of a proposed extension of multi-use trail in Middletown.

Middletown will have a key role if the loop trail is approved.

It will join the 43-mile Air Line Trail that starts in Putnam and now runs into Portland and link it to the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail that runs south from Suffield to New Haven.

Meridens involvement in the loop trail will also be essential in attracting visitors, because of its newly opened railroad station on the Hartford Line, the rail line that links Springfield, Mass., to Hartford and New Haven.

New Haven in turn serves as pivot point for customers using the Metro-North rail service to and from New York City and the Shoreline East service that carries passengers east to New London.

Beyond just serving as a lure to tourism, Needleman said the loop trail will also serve as an economic benefit for the state and its towns, and as a feeder into Main Streets.

Runners, bikers and walkers will come from far away, with trailside businesses ready to fix their bicycles and provide them with food and drink, he said. And at the end of the day, they will be right in heart of Connecticut, which will surely lead them downtown for dinner of shopping on Main Street.

Although the claim could not immediately be verified, one speaker at Tuesdays meeting said the revived 360-mile long Erie Canalway Trail in Central New York State generates $700,000 a mile.

However, Elwin Guild, the chairman of Portlands Economic Development Commission, said in the past year that East Hamptons section of the Air Line Trail counted 65,000 users - and thats little old East Hampton.

Supporters of the proposal were heartened by the presence of a representative from Cheshire and a delegation from Portland led by First Selectwoman Susan S. Bransfield, Deputy First Selectman Louis J. Pear, Guild and his wife Joan, and Rosario Riz Rizzo, chairman of Portland Air Line Trail Committee.

What makes this (loop trail proposal) really effective is that its a multi-town effort, Bransfield said in endorsing the plan.

jmill@middletownpress.com
WASHINGTON  Connecticuts Democratic lawmakers denounced President Donald Trumps plans to declare a national emergency to obtain funding for a border wall, joining others in their party who are calling the presidents proposed actions an illegal power grab.

The president announced his plans on Friday before he signed a massive spending bill that averted another government shutdown, immediately touching off another bitter partisan war.

Declaring this a state of emergency is obviously unconstitutional, but President Trump doesnt seem to care, Murphy said in a statement. Trump says hes some master negotiator, but hes bungled this thing from the beginning.

Murphy was even harsher in a tweet.

You know whats an actual emergency? That Trump is so bad at this job that he couldnt get his top legislative priority done when he controlled every branch of government and is now panicking and doing unconstitutional things, Murphy tweeted.

The spending bill approved by both Democrats and Republicans Thursday contained more than $1.3 billion for border security, but not the funding amount Trump sought for his wall.

Displeased with the deal between congressional leaders, Trump announced he would use emergency powers to secure more than $8 billion to construct 234 miles of a barrier between the United States and Mexico, a move congressional Democrats say they will challenge both in court and through attempts to pass legislation aimed at stopping the construction.

The presidents actions clearly violate the Congresss exclusive power of the purse, which our founders enshrined in the Constitution, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a joint statement. The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available.

Its not clear where the money to build the wall would come from, but much of it is likely to come from the Pentagons military construction budget. That could affect many military bases across the nation that are slated to receive funding for new facilities, but its not likely to impact the Naval Submarine Base in New London, which has not received any construction or repair money from this account for years.

Still, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, condemned diverting funds from Pentagon construction projects.

Instead of promoting U.S. national security, this announcement will lead to the delay or cancellation of important military construction projects which directly support our service members conducting missions throughout the country and across the world, Courtney said. And because this is only a portion of the funds the President claims he needs for his border wall, it calls into question whether future declarations could disrupt future projects currently planned across Connecticut in the coming decade.

Some Republican lawmakers tried to dissuade the president from declaring a national emergency, saying it would allow a Democratic president to use the same tactic to circumvent Congress and tackle climate change or gun control.

That possibility was not lost on Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, who tweeted:

Huh. A National Emergency declaration.interesting precedent. Here are things killing many more Americans than illegal immigration: Drug overdoses. Gun violence. Double bacon cheeseburgers. Drunk driving. Effects of climate change. Just sayin.

Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, said it is the job of Congress to allocate funding and President Trump should not initiate this power grab of declaring an emergency where one does not actually exist.

Other Democratic lawmakers called the situation on the border a humanitarian crisis, not a matter of national security.

What is happening at the border is a humanitarian emergency of President Trumps own making, not a national emergency necessitating an emergency declaration, Sen. Richard Blumenthal said. President Trumps national emergency declaration is sure to be challenged in Congress and the courts, and should be swiftly struck down.

In his address on Friday, Trump acknowledged that his declaration of a national emergency would face court challenges, and that he could lose in the lower courts.

Hopefully well get a fair shake in the Supreme Court, Trump said. Were declaring it for virtual invasion purposes.

The president also said, Sadly, well be sued, and sadly, well go through a process.

Local projects

Every member of Connecticuts congressional delegation voted Thursday for the spending package that averts another shutdown.

Rep. John Larson, D-1st District, said the declaration of a national emergency in order to meet a meaningless campaign promise is an extraordinary abuse of power and a damper on the bipartisan agreement that was reached.

As Speaker Pelosi said, on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy in Parkland, we have not even addressed a true National Emergency, the epidemic of gun violence in our country, Larson said.

The spending package signed by Trump Friday funds nine departments until the end of the federal fiscal year, Sept. 30, and provides some new funding for programs important to Connecticut.

The funding bill contains $1.94 billion for Amtrak, including $650 million dedicated to the Northeast Corridor.

The spending package also contains $5 million for the U.S. Coast Guard Museum in New London, bringing the total federal investment in the project to $10 million, and $14 million for Long Island Sound Geographic Program, which aims to improve the water quality of the sound and restore habitat around the sound watershed.

The massive bill also contains two amendments concerning the pyrrhotite contained in the foundations of many Connecticut homes that has caused concrete to crumble.

One amendment allocates $100,000 for the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a map showing pyrrhotite occurrences across the United States, to try to determine the reach of the problem.

Larson and Courtney sponsored that amendment, as well as another with Murphy in the Senate that would require the Comptroller General of the United States and relevant regulators, under the Department of the Treasury, to study the financial impact of the pyrrhotite in concrete home foundations.

The spending measure also boosts federal money to combat opioid addiction and for Community Development Block Grants used by state and local governments to fund housing programs.
Meridian, MS (39302)

Today

Cloudy early with peeks of sunshine expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Some clouds. Low 69F. Winds light and variable.
It's 1955. The Cold War is in full swing. Thriller writers are having the time of their life. As for the rest of us, the threat of nuclear armageddon hangs over us, like, well, a mushroom cloud. In the middle of all this, the USAF's B-52 Stratofortresses keep making sorties, flying out of bases in the UK, going up to the Soviet Union's border. Just in case

via GIPHY

Fast forward to 2018. The world's changed unimaginably. The President of the United States argues with people on something we call 'Twitter'. But the B-52 is still soldiering on, flying missions in the South China Sea, reminding the PRC that the United States is still around, even if it's bogged down with fights over silly walls and whether the President had an affair!

The Mean Machine - Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress

The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is a legendary war machine - it's been around for longer than most of us, and thanks to constant upgrades, it's still on the frontlines.

 Tech. Sgt. Nathan Lipscomb for US DoD

The Balkans, the Gulf War(s), Afghanistan. It's been there, bringing a reign of destruction on people Uncle Sam doesn't like. And it's gonna be around for many years to come...

The B-52 project started in 1946 - just after the Second World War ended. The Cold War was starting, and the US wanted something to maintain its dominance. Designed to carry massive nuclear (and thermonuclear) weapons, the B-52 first took to the air in 1952, entering service in 1955.

The B-52 Was A Harbinger Of Doom

Even though the B-52 was later used with conventional weapons - it was responsible for carrying out several 'carpet bombing' missions in the Vietnam war - it was really meant for World War Three - carrying hydrogen bombs to attack the Soviet Union if the 'balloon ever went up'.

via GIPHY

One of the bombs the B-52 carried was the B61- which had a yield of nearly half a megaton. Another was the Mark 39 - which, hang on to your hats, had a yield of nearly 4 megatons! For reference, the bomb that levelled Hiroshima was just 20 kilotons.

Always Ready

As part of Operation Chrome Dome, B-52 bombers were kept constantly airborne - the reasoning being that even if the Soviet Union managed to 'take out' the US's ICBMs on their launchpads with a first strike, the B-52s (and the US Navy's missile submarines) would be around for retaliation. Even better, they could dissuade the Soviet Union from even trying to start a nuclear war.

 Senior Airman Malcolm Mayfield for US DoD

All That Flying With Nukes Was Risky

Did you know that we nearly faced nuclear armageddon in 1961? The US and Soviet Union weren't about to attack each other (though they came close on several occasions in the sixties). What happened was that a B-52 carrying two Mark 39 bombs broke up in mid-air, and the crew eventually bailed out. As it turns out, the two bombs fell out of the aircraft, and one of them got activated - with only one final switch preventing it from going off!

The B-52 Even Shot Down A Fighter Jet!

You wouldn't imagine a big, lumbering bomber to be able to shoot down one of the most legendary fighter jets ever, but that's exactly what happened in Vietnam back in 1972 - the tail gunner in a B-52 managed to shoot down the newest, deadliest jet fighter of the time - the MiG-21. A one-off? Heck, no! Another crew in another B-52 repeated this feat some days later! Pretty impressive, isn't it?

 Staff Sgt. Michael Battles for US DoD

This Massive Bomber Might Be In Service For Another 50 Years

The B-52, like every other piece of military equipment, has been getting upgrades throughout its life - the last major version first flew in 1961, with production stopping a year later. Of course, it's been given a lot of nips and tucks over the years, with fancy new electronics being retrofitted.

 Senior Airman Jonathan McElderry for US DoD

That means that even the youngest B-52 is well over 50 years old - but what's even more surprising is that the USAF might keep on flying these aircraft for another half-century. That's right, the B-1 Lancer (a gorgeous machine for sure), the F-117 stealth fighter, and the B-2 stealth bomber came much later, but nothing has managed to replace the B-52!

 NASA

There's a new upgrade programme on its way, with new engines, and new avionics, and who knows, the next generation might grow up marvelling at this 'Big Ugly Fat F@#er' (the nickname given to it by US troops in Vietnam) which has managed to outlast every other machine!
Ranveer Singh is one of the most eminent personalities of Bollywood. The man has an almost unbelievable hit-to-flop ratio and is married to one of the most beautiful and successful actresses in the country. It's practically impossible to dislike him (although, as a guy, you could feel a tad bit jealous sometimes), simply on account of how grounded, and funny he is.

But the one thing that sets him apart from all his contemporaries is his asli-pan ('Gully Boy' reference, guys, catch up). He is real, he is raw, he is bahut hard, and that's the sort of attitude Ranveer Singh exudes.

Here are all the times he has proved that we need to be more like him, which is more real, more asli:

1. Display of Affection

Pinterest

Whether it's a public display of affection or private, Ranveer has shown time and again that he is not afraid to express his love for his wife, Deepika Padukone. From coming down on the media for being unreasonable in reporting her life to flying to LA to be with her on her birthday amid tight filming schedules, he has done it all.

2. Fashion Style

Pinterest

If there's one guy in Bollywood who wears whatever he wants to without giving two hoots of what others think of him, it's Ranveer. Every time he has worn an outlandish piece of clothing, he has managed to set not just fashion goals, but also major confidence goals. Dare to be like him?

3. Trying Out New Things

Pinterest

If you've followed Ranveer's career, you will see the versatility in his choice of work. From playing a chocolate boy in 'Band Baaja Baarat' to a con man in 'Ladies vs Ricky Bahl', from a soft-spoken poet in 'Lootera' to the animalistic Khilji in 'Padmaavat', he has done it all! We need to emulate this urge of trying new things in life ourselves. Because what's life without experiments? BORING, that's what it is.

4. Being Humble

Pinterest

Ranveer Singh is a superstar. He is a brand in himself and yet when you see him talk to people, you realise how grounded he is. He actually catches up with the paparazzi instead of shunning them away, as most celebs do. And you know it's real when you see it.

5. Excitement Over (The Best) Little Things In Life

Did you know that KFC has launched a bunless burger in India? Now, that's a juicy piece of news has got me super excited and turns out, Ranveer is psyched about it too. His unapologetic excitement on finding out about the Double Down burger is absolutely contagious. And understandably too, I mean, KFC is taking the crispiness (and chicken-ness!) of their burgers a notch higher by completely removing the bun. Have a look:

Well, Ranveer surely knows that one's love for tasty chicken is forever and nothing, absolutely nothing, should get in the way; not even the bun!
Both bacterial diversity in the gut and regular exercise are important when it comes to health. But how are the two related? A new study uncovers the effect that exercise has on our health by adjusting the balance of the gut microbiome. Share on Pinterest New research finds out how exercise could support bacterial diversity in the gut. Though this may seem strange, human bodies are actually made, according to recent estimates , of about as many bacteria and other microorganisms as regular human cells. In the colon alone  the tract that contains the largest number of bacterial cells  there are approximately 38 trillion bacteria. These bacteria have important effects on the state of our health, and loss of bacterial diversity in the gut is linked to a heightened risk of disease. Now, a new study suggests that the level of a persons physical activity may affect the bacterial diversity in their gut, and thus influence their health. In a paper that appears in the journal Experimental Physiology, the authors, from Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, also explain the biological mechanism that makes this possible.

The link between exercise and the gut The researchers knew that cardiorespiratory fitness  the efficiency with which the circulatory and respiratory systems deliver oxygen during exercise  was associated with greater bacterial diversity, but it was unclear whether this was due to physical activity or an individuals percentage of body fat. In order to find out, the team worked with a cohort of 37 participants who had been successfully treated for nonmetastatic breast cancer. The decision to work with this cohort resulted from the fact that cancer treatment typically has a negative impact on metabolic health, including cardiorespiratory fitness. The participants agreed to perform graded exercises so that the researchers could assess their peak cardiorespiratory fitness, as well as total energy expenditure. The investigators also collected fecal samples from the volunteers and used them to analyze the participants gut microbiota. Following all the assessments and analyses, the researchers established that participants with higher cardiorespiratory fitness also had more diverse bacterial populations in the gut, compared with peers who had low cardiorespiratory fitness. Moreover, the team confirmed that cardiorespiratory fitness was linked with about a quarter of the variance in bacterial species diversity and that this effect was independent of that produced by an individuals body fat percentage. The data thus indicate that exercising with an intensity that is adequately high and can boost cardiorespiratory effectiveness will improve overall health by supporting a better-balanced gut.
People often wonder if a fetus can hear while in the womb. Many expectant parents will speak to or play music for a developing fetus. Evidence suggests that the auditory system starts forming at the 18th week of pregnancy and continues to develop until the baby is between 5 and 6 months of age. Everything that the fetus hears will contribute to this process. In this article, we look at what a fetus can hear at different stages of development.

Fetal hearing at each stage of development Share on Pinterest A fetus will develop their ability to hear while in the womb. Despite being close to a lentil in size, an embryo will begin to develop ears during the 2nd month of pregnancy. The ears start as tiny folds of skin on the sides of the head. After the 8th week, the embryo becomes a fetus. According to Mayo Clinic, the ears begin to stick out from the head at 18 weeks, and the fetus may become able to hear. At this stage, the brain starts to designate the areas that will govern smell, taste, vision, touch, and sound. By 22 to 24 weeks, the fetus will be about the size of a mango and will start to hear low-frequency noises from outside of the womb. As the fetus grows and their sense of hearing develops, they will be able to distinguish an increasing number of different sounds. Research suggests that the most vital time for the development of hearing is between 25 weeks of pregnancy and 5 to 6 months of age. By the time babies reach the age of 6 months, they will be able to turn their eyes or head toward the source of a sound. Newborns in the United States usually receive a hearing test before leaving the hospital or within 3 weeks of birth.

Can they differentiate between different voices? At first, a fetus cannot distinguish between different voices. A fetus begins responding to sound at between 22 and 24 weeks but can only hear low frequencies, such as a dog barking or a lawn mower. As the auditory system and the brain continue to develop, this range increases. By late pregnancy, the fetus can hear voices and distinguish between them.

Are loud noises bad for the fetus? Many people wonder whether it is safe to attend a loud concert or work in a noisy job while pregnant. While occasionally hearing loud sounds is unlikely to be harmful, research has found that prolonged exposure to loud noises may contribute to hearing loss in the baby. Examples of noisy jobs include those that involve people working in close proximity to: loud music

crowds

sirens

trucks

airplanes

machinery

guns According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health , researchers are unsure of what noise levels are safe for a developing fetus. However, taking into consideration how sound travels through the body, they recommend that pregnant women avoid very loud situations  anything louder than 115 decibels, which is about as loud as a chain saw  as much as possible.

Can the fetus hear music? Share on Pinterest A fetus can benefit from hearing speech and music. The noises that a fetus hears from around week 23 of pregnancy are vital to their future hearing. Specific parts of the auditory system need these noises to develop properly. As such, scientists recommend exposing a fetus to both speech and music. Many people believe that playing classical music to a growing fetus will help brain development and boost IQ, but there is little evidence to support this claim.

What does it sound like in the womb? It is noisy in the womb. As the fetuss auditory system develops, it will encounter all types of sound from within the womans body. These include the heartbeat, as well as the noises of the blood flow and digestive system. Around the 23rd week of pregnancy, the fetus will also be able to hear noises from outside of the womb. These include speech and music. As the fetus develops, all of the sounds will become louder and more distinguishable. Amniotic fluid surrounds the growing baby in the womb, and the womans body tissues encase them, so noises from outside the body will sound muffled.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, February 15, 2019

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider whether the Commerce Department can proceed with its plan to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 Census.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in New York blocked the Trump administration from questioning people about citizenship.

Furman ruled that the administration's decision to add a citizenship question was arbitrary and capricious, and that the question would likely result in undercounting certain sectors, including people who live in households containing noncitizens and Hispanics.

The ad industry weighed in last year against including a question about citizenship in the Census.

advertisement advertisement

We are concerned that the addition of a citizenship question would depress response among both non-citizens and their families (even if family members are indeed citizens), the CEOs of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, American Advertising Federation, Association of National Advertisers (ANA), and Advertising Research Foundation wrote in a jointly signed letter sent to the Commerce Department last August.

Days after Furman blocked the question, the Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court to hear an appeal.

The judgment below takes the unprecedented step of striking a demographic question from the decennial census and thereby preventing the Secretary of Commerce from exercising his delegated powers, the government wrote in a petition filed with the Supreme Court late last month.

The government added that it was seeking immediate Supreme Court review because Census questions must be finalized by this June.

The Trump administration argued in its petition that the decision to ask people about their citizenship was not arbitrary and capricious.

A question asking about citizenship or country of birth (or both) has a long pedigree on the decennial census, the DOJ wrote in its petition.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, February 15, 2019

As Congress prepares to tackle online privacy, advocacy groups say new privacy legislation should prohibit companies from using data in ways that violate civil rights laws.

Civil rights protections have existed in brick-and-mortar commerce for decades. It is time to ensure they apply to the internet economy as well, 44 organizations including Public Knowledge, the ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology and Electronic Privacy Information Center said this week in a letter to House and Senate leaders.

The letter comes as lawmakers are preparing new federal privacy legislation. Late last year, Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) unveiled a draft bill that would give consumers the right to prevent information about them from being shared or sold by ad-tech companies.

advertisement advertisement

The civil rights groups argue this week that privacy laws should specifically include anti-discrimination provisions.

Platforms and other online services should not be permitted to use consumer data to discriminate against protected classes or deny them opportunities in commerce, housing, and employment, or full participation in our democracy, the groups say. Companies also should be required to be transparent about their collection and use of personal information in automated decision making, and to anticipate and protect against discriminatory uses and disparate impacts of big data.

The organizations don't mention any company by name, but Facebook has previously come under fire for allowing landlords, employers and others to exclude people in some demographic categories from viewing ads.

Last August, faced with civil lawsuits and a new federal investigation, Facebook said it was removing more than 5,000 ad-targeting options -- including ones that may enable discrimination based on ethnicity or religion.

Public Knowledge and the others are also urging Congress to give people the right to correct inaccurate data about themselves.

Government and corporate databases must allow everyone -- including the urban and rural poor, people with disabilities, seniors, and people who lack access to the Internet -- to appropriately ensure the accuracy of personal information that is used to make important decisions about them, the watchdogs write. This requires disclosure of the underlying data, and the right to correct it when inaccurate.
by Larissa Faw , February 16, 2019

Spark Foundry is introducing "Spark Saves," a new company-wide initiative to train staffers in CPR. The first sessions kick off June 1 during National CPR and AED Awareness Week.

The event will be held during regular business hours and the agency will track participation through a heart-shaped graphic that increasingly becomes shaded to indicate how many employees have been trained. This graphic will be shared internally as well as periodically across its social pages.

This project first began with Spark Foundry CEO Chris Boothe, through his involvement as a vice chairman of the 2019 Chicago Heart Ball. In talking with employees about corporate programs, Boothe heard many express a desire to do something that is more long-term than a "one-off" community event, and more hands-on than simply making a donation.

advertisement advertisement

As a result, Boothe sought suggestions from agency employees and given the statistics around heart health  10,000 of those cardiac arrests occur in the workplace  CPR training felt like a natural fit. It also aligns well with Sparks rallying cry, Bring Your Heart, which asks employees to bring their superpowers to work every day.

"Whats more powerful than being able to save a life?" asks Spark Foundrys CMO Scott Hess. "We think programs like these have been part of why weve become such a magnet for talent in the industry. Its fun to work here. It matters to us not just as workers having a career, but as people living meaningful lives."

This program joins Spark Serves, an annual volunteer day of service where each office gives back to their local communities with their philanthropic activity of choice.

At present, this program is a Spark initiative only, but Hess says "wed be more than happy" to share the program with others at parent company Publicis Groupe or its various networks.
         .

          .

        , .

  .

         .

      -       .

          .
Meadville, PA (16335)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Occasional rain showers after midnight. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Submit A Press Release

$25.00 / for 2 days

Ensure your press release runs prominently on our website and in our E-mail Newsletter. Gauranteed placement on these platforms is $25.

Note: All submissions will go through our editorial approval process before being posted.
Note:

We have changed our commenting system. If you do not have an mdjonline.com account, you will need to create one in order to comment.
Hiram, GA (30141)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 84F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Mainly clear. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
Douglas County in 2018 continued to move politically to the Democratic side and dealt with changes in leadership in a number of areas.
An idea to solve a problem has developed into a business venture which has already proven successful after officially launching last month.
Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Selected annually based on a number of criteria, Model Schools must have evidence of a strong culture that puts students at the center of learning; and dedication to transforming instruction to meet the needs and demands of the future.

We are excited to have one of our own selected as a Model School, said MCS Superintendent Mark Garrett. This is real validation for the great work and innovative practices taking place at FCS. One of our main district priorities is to be a Future Focused school system and knowing that the ICLE has taken notice further endorses the work and highlights the growth we are seeing all across MCS.

FCS is in its third year of instruction since opening its door at West Middle School in 2016. FCS is for sixth to eighth grade with students who are grouped together to investigate curriculum through project based learning and small group instruction. Applications to be a scholar at FCS are due by Feb. 28.

The International Center for Leadership in Education is a division of learning company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
KEVIN HARVISON | Staff photo

Assistant McAlester Public Librarian Julie Horton shows a painting depicting the Rock Island Railroad Roundhouse that was once in Haileyville. A series of paintings by the late artist L.E. Bailey depicting scenes of the McAlester area in the 1920s and 30s will be on display beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 19, at the McAlester Public Library.
Worcester will negotiate community host agreements with four new marijuana dispensaries, bringing the total number of retail stores in the city to 13.

The city said in a statement Friday afternoon that the community host agreements include language that allows a community impact fee and other local regulatory oversight. By state law, Worcester must allow 15 retail marijuana establishments within the city.

The four new locations are: New Dia LLC at 118 Cambridge St.; Cultivate Holdings LLC at 1023 Southbridge St.; Munro Associates at 342 West Boylston St.; and Suns Mass II LLC at 56 Millbrook St.

The 13 proposed retail establishments are in addition to five approved manufacturing businesses, which are not open to the public and have limited signage.

At full operation, the city said the retail and manufacturing businesses are estimated to create 265 jobs.

Each potential new operator must still receive approval from the Cannabis Control Commission, as well as the citys Planning Board and License Commission.

The city previously issued a Request for Interest as a process for reviewing adult-use dispensaries seeking community host agreements. Each potential business was required to submit an application to the city and host a community outreach meeting.

An interdepartmental team from the city reviewed the applications and interviewed all potential businesses, and recommendations were made to the City Manager.

To date, the city said it has received 46 applications for a variety of cannabis-related licenses.

Worcester must still issue two additional retail licenses. The city said existing applicants will be considered and no new retail applications are being accepted.

Applications for manufacturing businesses are being accepted on a rolling basis.
An art item performed at the event (Photo: vov.vn)

With the theme Passport to Asia, the festival of Cergy-le-Haut city helped local people and international visitors explore specific traditional cultures of Asian people, including Vietnamese culture, in New Year days.

At the festival, Vietnams traditional dances and national musical instruments were introduced to international visitors.

I like Asian culture in general and Vietnamese culture. The string instruments and monochord are really impressive. For playing techniques, it needs high concentration. The harmonious combination of players with different instruments creates really impressive sounds, one visitor said.

At the same time, the Vietnamese community in Paris also attended a festival to welcome the Lunar New Year organized by the Overseas Vietnamese Association in France in Baltard, Nogent-sur-Marne city, Val-de-Marne province.

At the festival, Vietnamese people and international visitors experienced traditional festival spaces, Tet market, culinary kiosks, souvenirs, traditional costumes and folk games, and unique artistic program of Vietnam.

The Vietnamese community in France have a chance to remember the national cultural tradition, as well as help young Vietnamese people explore special cultural features of the homeland. Besides, this is also a chance for French people, especially young French, to learn about Vietnams culture./.
A 16-year-old North High School student was arrested after allegedly assaulting a school resource officer in Worcester on Thursday, police said.

At about 10:15 a.m. Thursday a school resource officers assigned to North High School attempted to break up a fight. When trying to stop the teenager - who is not being identified because he is underage - the officer was assaulted.

The 16-year-old was charged with assault, assault and battery, assault and battery on a police officer, and resisting arrest.

He will be arraigned in Worcester District Court, police said.

An investigation is ongoing.
FORT MYERS, Fla.  Red Sox shortstop prospect C.J. Chatham understands exactly what he needs to do to hit for more power during 2019.

Chatham enjoyed a strong first full professional season, batting .314 with a .350 on-base percentage in 114 games between Low-A Greenville (19 games) and High-A Salem (95 games). But he expected more power. He slugged .389 with 20 doubles, two triples, three homers and 52 RBIs

The powers there, Chatham said. Its for sure there. Something in my swing this past year was not letting me get that backspin that I have in the past. It was a couple minor adjustments. I feel like Im going to be back on track."

Chatham saw backspin during a strong batting practice session here at the JetBlue Park complex Friday.

Hes an important prospect to watch in 2019, especially with Xander Bogaerts eligible for free agency after this season. The right-handed hitter, who turned 24 in December, is one of only two shortstop prospects listed among the top 30 prospects in the system, per SoxProspects.com rankings. Antoni Flores, an 18-year-old shortstop from the Dominican Republic, is ranked the No. 8 prospect in the organization. Chatham is ranked No. 9.

Mainly getting backspin to left (field) and backspin just in the gaps in general, Chatham said. Because a lot of the best pitches I saw (last year) I was getting topspin on them. Id hit like a topspin line drive between short and third.

He went more to right field than ever before in 2018.

So once I started getting backspin on those, and I worked with it, and it seems like something has changed. So I hope I can take that into this year and get some more extra-base hits.

Last year marked his first true full professional season. A severe hamstring injury limited the 2016 second-round draft pick out of Florida Atlantic to just one game for Greenville and six rehab games in the Florida Gulf Coast League in 2017

He did pilates in the offseason entering the 2018 season to strengthen his hamstring and hips.

Obviously there was a little bit of Where am I at? (heading into 2018) because you dont see live pitching for so long," Chatham said. So youve just got to keep telling yourself, Im fine. Im fine. Thats what I did. I came back and out of the gate I was doing well. So I honestly felt like after the first week hitting-wise I really didnt miss a beat.

But backspin and pitch selection are the two areas he hopes to improve in 2019.

Chatham is three inches taller than Bogaerts at 6-foot-4. Hes looking forward to working with both Bogaerts and manager Alex Cora, an infield defensive guru.

I cant wait, Chatham said. Once that gets going, Im going to try and obviously take as much in from him (Cora) as I can just because he played in the bigs for a long time. He knows what hes talking about. A guy like Xander, just watching the way he goes about his work is something that Im going to be paying attention to. Because being a big leaguer is all about being consistent every day.

Chatham, a slick defender himself, also plans to watch Bogaerts footwork.

See his first step, Chatham said. Theres probably going to be certain things that he does. Hopefully I can talk to him about it and work off it.

Chatham also looks forward to meeting slugger J.D. Martinez.

Just because his journey is pretty incredible and where he is now, Chatham said. And hes from where Im from (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.). So just kind of get to talk to him a little bit about what he does, some of the things he does. Take whatever works for me and put it in my game."

Cora looks forward to working with Chatham.

I saw him play his last year at FAU in a regional tournament in Miami, Cora said. "He was hurt (broken thumb). He was hitting. I just saw him swing the bat. When healthy, hes a good player. We all know what he did offensively last year. And I want to see him defensively. See what we can do. See the upside. But first with the offense, you can tell he has a pretty good idea how to get the barrel to the ball. So that will be cool.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis and the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith have removed Theodore E. McCarrick, former U.S. cardinal and archbishop emeritus of Washington, from the priesthood after finding him guilty of sexual abuse of minors and adults.

The ruling makes McCarrick, a once powerful and well-liked member of the Church hierarchy who also served as archbishop of Newark, the highest ranking figure to be expelled from the priesthood in contemporary times and comes just ahead of a meeting next week in which the president of Catholic bishops conferences from around the world will meet at the Vatican to discuss the Church's ongoing clergy sexual abuse crisis and their role in better addressing it.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, called the expulsion "a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated."

"No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church. For all those McCarrick abused, I pray this judgement will be one small step, among many, toward healing," said DiNardo in a statement to the media.

Francis had accepted the resignation of the 88-year-old McCarrick from the College of Cardinals this summer in the wake of an investigation by the Archdiocese of New York that found sexual abuse allegations against McCarrick credible and substantiated.

He was removed from public ministry and ordered into a life of prayer and penance - he has been living in a seclusion at St. Fidelis Capuchin Friary in Victoria, Kansas - while the CFD conducted what was a shortened canonical process into the allegations and concluded with imposing the penalty of being laicized.

According to Catholic News Agency quoting a Vatican communique of Feb. 16, the CDF first issued a decree finding McCarrick guilty Jan. 11, a finding that McCarrick, who said he had no recollection of any of the events he was accused of, appealed and that was rejected by the CDF Feb. 13.

The CDF reportedly found McCarrick guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops had called for a full investigation into the allegations against McCarrick in September and Francis had ordered a review of all Vatican files pertaining to allegations of sexual misconduct against McCarrick in October.

In October, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former top Vatican official in the United States, accused Francis of having knowledge of the allegations of abuse against McCarrick and allowing McCarrick to continue in ministry despite alleged restrictions imposed by Francis' predecessor.

The Catholic News Agency has posted a timeline leading up to the Vatican decision.

McCarrick was made a cardinal in 2001 by then John Paul II despite the Vatican being made aware in a letter from a U.S. priest about McCarrick's used his authority over seminarians to engage in sexual relationships.

In August, Francis had issued a statement in the wake of media coverage of allegations against McCarrick saying, "Both abuse and its cover-up can no longer be tolerated and a different treatment for Bishops who have committed or covered up abuse, in fact represents a form of clericalism that is no longer acceptable."
The management of Tribune Publishing, owner of the Hartford Courant, has agreed to recognize the Hartford Courant Guild representing the newspapers employees, a union spokesperson said.

Kathleen McWilliams, a Courant reporter, said the company made its announcement Friday evening.

Hartford Courant Guild organizing committee released a statement lauding the management decision.

We look forward to building a more productive and collaborative relationship with the company as we join the conversation shaping the future of the Hartford Courant. We fight for improved resources and support so we can continue to serve our readers to the best of our abilities.

Courant workers on Monday asked the ownership to voluntarily recognize the guild without a vote of the employees.

McWilliams said support for the union has increased since the organizing began Monday. Initially 77 percent of the workers were in support of collective bargaining, and by the Friday announcement fully 83 percent of eligible workers had signed cards in support, she said.

McWilliams has said the newspaper has lost half its staff since 2011 through layoffs, buyouts and attrition.

The Chicago-based Tribune Publishing has not yet commented on the announcement.

The NewsGuild represents employees at the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune, Capital Gazette, Carroll County Times, Virginia-Pilot and Daily Press  all Tribune Publishing-owned newspapers.

The Hartford Courant Guild will be affiliated with the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America.

Locally, workers at the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Amherst Bulletin and the Valley Advocate voted to join the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America in December.
SPRINGFIELD  A federal magistrate judge has rejected prosecutors request that a suspect in a major East Longmeadow marijuana be held without the right to bail pending his trial.

Instead, Magistrate Judge Katherine A. Robertson on Friday ordered John Pereiras release if he put up $250,000. According to court documents, his parents have agreed to put up the value of their home in Ludlow as collateral for his release.

Pereira was arrested on Feb. 8 after a year-long FBI investigation into marijuana trafficking. FBI agents and other law enforcement officials raided a total of four buildings in Springfield, Ellington, Connecticut and two in East Longmeadow. In all, agents recovered more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

At one of the East Longmeadow properties, Pereiras residence at 4 Princeton St., authorities found 260 pounds of marijuana and a safe containing $688,000.

He is charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a minimum sentence of 5 years in federal prison.

Robertsons order said prosecutors argued that Pereira represented a flight risk, and that the amount of drugs and money indicate that he is involved in a drug distribution ring of national rather than a local scope. As such, she wrote, he probably has connections to people and undisclosed sources of cash that could aid him in fleeing prosecution.

It notes he is unemployed, having recently worked as manager at a bar owned by his father that has since closed.

Robertson noted that Pereira, 33, has no prior criminal history and is a lifelong resident of Western Massachusetts with strong family connections to the area, and that should be enough to minimize the risk that he would flee.

In addition to the bail, Robertson required that Pereira agree to several conditions to be released.

Among them are that he wear an electronic GPS tracking device monitored by the Hampden County Sheriff, that he surrender his passport and any firearms in his possession, that he avoid drugs and alcohol and submit to routine drug testing, and that he check in with the probation department as often as ordered.
SPRINGFIELD  The number of arrests by the Springfield Police Narcotics Unit are down significantly over the last three years  but the amount of heroin being taken off the streets is up.

Fewer arrests but more product confiscated in warrant searches, said Capt. Brian Keenan, reflects a focus on long-term investigations and bigger targets, namely the large-scale producers and distributors of the drugs that end up on the street.

And one of the reasons for this new focus, Keenan said, is that cracking down on street-level drug dealing isnt what it used to be.

Cell phones and social media have changed the whole game, he said.

In the 90s, Keenan said, a drug dealer would stand on the same corner all day long. Hed have cash and a stash of drugs on him. Customers would arrive for a quick exchange.

All undercover detectives had to do was find the right corner and sit, watch and wait.

Today, the dealers are not necessarily waiting on the corner. Instead, dealers and customers text back and forth and then agree to meet somewhere.

It can be any parking lot in the city, he said.

Keenan, commander of the police departments 40-member Narcotics Unit, sat down with The Republican to talk about the challenges of drug enforcement in the age of the opioid pandemic and how police agencies need to adopt more collaborative approaches to chase down dealers.

Over the past few years, Keenan said the focus has been to target large-scale operations where heroin is processed and packaged for distribution to street-level dealers.

In the last few years, these can be anywhere in the city, in any neighborhood, he said.

The city used to have hot spots for drug activity, such as the Hollywood section of the South End or parts of the North End. Now its all over, he said, and the focus has been to root those places out.

While the number of narcotics arrests fell 40 percent between 2016 and 2018, the amount of raw unprocessed heroin seized in drug raids was 270 percent higher in the same period for 2018 compared to 2016, according to Springfield police data. The seizure of heroin bags, the individual packets of the drug used in street sales, are also up about 45 percent when comparing 2018 to 2016.

The Narcotics Unit made 492 arrests in 2018  down by 42 percent from 816 arrests in 2016, and 7 percent from the 531 arrests in 2017.

But in terms of the drug itself, narcotics officers seized 3.7 kilograms of unprocessed heroin during drug arrests in 2018, and 99,700 individual packets. In 2016, the year-end totals were 1 kilogram and 69,100 packets.

Police data shows the 2018 numbers for heroin seizures are about half what they were in 2017. Police spokesman Ryan Walsh said direct comparisons between the two years is difficult because of an August 2017 drug raid that resulted in the seizure of more than 6 kilos of raw heroin.

Those numbers only reflect only Springfield narcotics bureau investigations, and not joint-investigations involving different federal or state task forces or other police departments.

County-wide, the Hampden County Drug Task Force in 2018 made 61 narcotics arrests, confiscated 1.25 kilograms of unprocessed heroin and 55,300 packets, according to the Hampden District Attorneys Office.

The task force in 2017 made 60 arrests, and seized 7 kilograms of heroin and 92,900 packets.

There is some overlap with numbers for Springfield, said James Leydon, spokesman for Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni.

The data is the result of significant arrests inside Springfield and other parts of the county, including Holyoke, West Springfield, Chicopee, Agawam and Brimfield, he said.

The task force, which operates under the supervision of the Hampden District Attorneys Office, tends to focus on large narcotics operations.

Through the efforts of the Hampden County Narcotics Task force and our work in the countys courtrooms, we are holding drug traffickers accountable for their role in spreading addiction and despair in our communities, Gulluni said.

An important asset, Gulluni said, are the collaborative relationships between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies that bring substantial resources and expertise to bear in combating the addiction epidemic."

Keenan said another difference in the drug trade is that the dealers have become much more regionalized. Its not uncommon for Springfield dealers to distribute their product as far west as Pittsfield and as far north as Brattleboro. People from those cities will also come to Springfield to buy drugs.

As a result, Keenan said narcotics enforcement has taken a much more regional approach as well.

The Springfield narcotics unit has members who are assigned to the regional task forces overseen by the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force.

The units also works closely with narcotics units in other police departments, he said.

The partnerships we have with the task forces are key, Keenan said. As things get more regional, we have outstanding partnerships with a lot of other police departments.

He also cited a strong relationships and support from Gulluni and Assistant Hampden DA Jennifer Fitzgerald.

Keenan said the units relationships with other agencies and departments helps with the exchange of information.

Its an information-based business, he said. Theres not a shortage of information out there.

Different agencies and different jurisdictions share information about known suspects. They also hear from residents in neighborhoods where drug operations have set up shop.

We have to vet it, but we make the best use of it," Keenan said.

The Narcotics Unit is still operating under a cloud resulting from the indictment of Springfield police officer Gregg A. Bigda.

Bigda created a public relations and legal firestorm for the department when video footage from a February 2016 incident emerged showing him threatening to plant drug evidence on an juvenile accused of stealing an unmarked police car.

The disclosure led to his being suspended temporarily, and then transferred to the police records bureau. He remained there until a federal grand jury issued an indictment against him and former narcotics detective Steven Vigneault on Oct. 25. He is now facing charges of excessive use of force, deprivation of rights and obstruction of justice.

As fallout from the Bigda affair, the U.S. Department of Justice in April launched an investigation into the Springfield Narcotics Unit for possible civil rights abuses.

Keenan said he cant say much about that.

He did say he was appointed narcotics commander in July 2017, which is well after the Bidga news came to light.

Since then there have been new policies and training to prevent implemented to insure good policing moving forward, he said.

In spite of (the Bigda fallout) were still doing our thing, making good cases and working with other law-enforcement agencies, he said.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno has suspended negotiations with the Springfield Police Supervisors Association after several days of contentious bargaining and passing the commanders contract to arbitration.

Sarno released a statement Saturday morning simply stating that, In the name of and in respect to our taxpayers and our Citys continued fiscal stability, I have suspended negotiations with the Police Supervisors Union.

The mayor prefaced his announcement with a series of postings on Twitter complaining about the what he called, unsustainable financial demands, when he announced Thursday that the contract would go to arbitration after negotiations failed.

However, on Friday, the mayor turned his argument to staff residency, arguing that a majority of police supervisors were not even Springfield residents but lived outside the boundaries of the city they worked in.

Their tax dollars do not go to our Springfield. But our tax dollars go to paying out lawsuits for their sins of not properly supervising our rank and file police officers, he tweeted.

Sarno again tweeted late Friday night that an overwhelming number of the departments command staff were not Springfield residents.

Captain (Brian) Keenan (head of the Police Supervisors Association), Attorney Hynes and Commissioner (John) Barbieri  whats wrong with this picture? Of the 72 sergeants, lieutenants and captains, 73 % do not reside in our Springfield  stay tuned.

The Springfield patrolmans union came to terms with the city last week, agreeing to a package that included a 13 percent pay increase over four years. However, the new contract also includes a residency requirement for new hires.
LONGMEADOW  Columbia Gas technicians quickly repaired a leaking natural gas main Friday afternoon.

Tracy Stefanowicz, communications manager for Columbia Gas, said she was notified of the leak on Laurel Street near its intersection with Birchland Street at about 3:30 p.m. Crews effected the repair and left the area shortly before 6 p.m.

Stefanowicz said company management determined there was no need to evacuate nearby homes, and no injuries were reported. Longmeadow firefighters also responded to the scene.

Traffic was rerouted around the site of the leak. Longmeadow police blocked traffic at the intersections of Longmeadow Street and Forest Glen Road and Converse and Laurel streets.
CHICOPEE  A Chicopee mother is facing charges for allegedly keeping unsecured firearms around her house, including a 9 mm pistol under her mattress.

Jennifer Diaz, 30, pleaded not guilty Friday in Chicopee District Court to two counts of improper storage of a firearm and two counts of improper storage of a rifle or shotgun near a minor.

The arraignment came four weeks after Diazs partner, David Class, 41, was arrested after investigators said they found 83 grams of heroin, 650 grams of cocaine and more than $36,000 in cash during a raid on his Lauzier Terrace home and a second address in Springfield.

Six firearms were also found at Classs home, with one tucked under the mattress in the master bedroom, another in a jacket pocket and four more in the basement and garage, according to the arrest report. Two other defendants  Jonathan Faust, 30, and Karla Santana, 34, both of Springfield  were arrested on related drug and firearms charges.

Diaz, described variously in court records as Classs wife and girlfriend, was summoned to court, rather than arrested. When state police and the members of the Hampden County Narcotics Task Force raided the home on Jan. 19, they found Class and Diaz home with their child, whose age is not listed in court documents.

Unlike Class, Diaz has a license to carry a firearm in Massachusetts. A 9 mm Canik pistol found beneath her mattress in the master bedroom was registered to her, but had no trigger lock and was not stored in a lock box. An unsecured .40-caliber Hi Point rifle found in the basement also belonged to Diaz, court records show.

Two of the guns seized at the home had been reported stolen  a .22-caliber rifle out of Hooks, Texas, and a Glock 17 pistol out of Georgia, authorities said.

Following his arrest, Class  who was awaiting trial in two other drug cases  pleaded not guilty to multiple drug and firearms charges and was ordered held without right to bail. District Attorney Anthony Gulluni at the time said it was shocking that the suspect continued his alleged drug dealing after posting a total of $200,000 bail in the other two cases.

For her part, Diaz was released Friday on personal recognizance and ordered to have no firearms while the case is pending.

Diaz and Class are due back in court for a pretrial hearings on March 29.
OffTheMenuGuy@aol.comThe 34th Annual WGBY Wine Lovers Weekend, an event that claims to be one of the region's largest wine, beer, and food tasting events, returns to the Tower Square Hotel in downtown Springfield on March 15 and 16.

The two-part fundraiser kicks off with a grand tasting on March 15. Co hosted by Table & Vine of West Springfield, the tasting event runs from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Seventy-plus vendors are expected to be on hand, offering some 300 wine and craft beer selections for attendees to sample.

WGBY has additionally recruited more than 20 local chefs and artisan food producers to participate in the tasting under the unified theme of "The Edible Pioneer Valley." Among the area restaurants to be represented are Center Square Grill (East Longmeadow), The Bistro at Gateway City Arts (Holyoke), Nadim's Downtown Mediterranean Grill (Springfield), and Spoleto (Northampton). The dishes the chefs plan to offer will be paired with appropriate wines from the tasting, and each guest will get a "Tasting Program" to help organize his or her wine and food explorations.

This year WGBY has encouraged participating culinarians to focus on examples from their repertoires that are inspired by various cultural backgrounds and experiences. It's an organizational scheme that promises to make the tasting experience even more memorable.

General admission tickets to the Friday night tasting are $49, with a premium "Connoisseur" ticket that provides access to a VIP tasting area priced at $79.

The second event of the weekend, the WGBY Wine Lovers Dinner, is scheduled for March 16 and will be orchestrated by chef Sanford D'Amato.

As a food professional, D'Amato's special interest is what he likes to refer to as "Contemporary Ethnic," a style of cookery that reflects the immigrant experience both here in American as well as the native lands from which they came.

His menu for the Wine Lovers Dinner, developed in collaboration with Tower Square Hotel chef William Rounds, will feature influences from Native American, Italian, Mexican, Latin American, Polish, and English food traditions.

Table & Vine's wine director, Michael Quinlan, will be presenting two paired wines per course, offering his insights as what makes his wine-food pairings appropriate.

Cost to attend the dinner, which begins at 6 p.m., are $175.

Tickets for both the Friday evening tasting and Saturday's Wine Lovers Dinner can be purchased online at wgby.org. Telephone orders can be placed at (413) 781-2801, ext. 1547.



Side Dishes:



February's fundraising feast at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge is scheduled for Monday, February 25, with the evening benefiting the Southbridge Elementary School and the First Baptist Church of North Oxford.

The menu is a new one for the series. Dubbed an "American Feast," the buffet will feature meatloaf with gravy, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and buttered corn. As always, the dinner also includes tossed salad with maple vinaigrette, dinner rolls, dessert, soft drinks, and coffee.

Two open seatings will be held, one at 4:30 p.m. and a second at 6:30 p.m. No reservations are accepted, and the cost to attend for adults is $14, with a $5 charge for children.

More information can be obtained by calling the Publick House at (508) 347-3313.



Max Burger in Longmeadow will be presenting a Local Brewery Beer & Food Pairing Dinner on Feb. 25 starting at 6 p.m.

Featured beers will be from Back East Brewing Company of Bloomfield, CT, and Back East's founder and owner, Tony Karlowicz, will be on hand to discuss the beers being served.

Chef Jakub Koziara has put together a five-course menu designed to work with Back East's brewing efforts.

The dinner will begin with clams casino stuffed mushrooms, then move on to a grilled peach salad. Tuna tacos will serve as the seafood course, while the main event is to be cola-braised short ribs garnished with crispy shallots and accompanied by root vegetable au gratin.

Turtle cheesecake with Bourbon caramel will be served for dessert.

The dinner is priced at $65 per person, not including tax or gratuity. Reservations can be made by calling Max Burger at (413) 798-0101.



Sue Tansey of Partners Restaurant in Feeding Hills sent an update about her restaurant's upcoming game dinners. Although the March 1 dinner is currently sold out, there are still tickets left for the March 2 date.

She also adds that Partners will be featuring beers from Westfield new microbrewery, Tin Bridge Brewery, at both events.

Partners Restaurant answers at (413) 786-0975.



Lattitude Restaurant in West Springfield is once again offering its Story Tellers "Unplugged" Series, a no-reservations, no-cover performance series featuring local musical talent.

On Feb. 22, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., Tom Ingram and special guest Aaron Fay will be performing.

A full menu is available during these Unplugged events. More information can be had by calling the restaurant at (413) 241-8888.



To celebrate the chain's 50th anniversary, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Inc. is sending a newly built "Forever Yummm" food truck on a two-month, nine-state tour.

As with many modern marketing efforts, the food truck tour is designed to create social media buzz around Red Robin's "brand." Traveling through Washington State, Oregon, California, and Arizona, the truck will them head east, with stops planned in Michigan, New York, and North Carolina.

At the truck's various stops along the way, Red Robin will encourage consumers to post, on Twitter and Instagram, their renditions of the Red Robin advertising jingle. The top 50 entries will be awarded prizes, and a grand prizewinner will get 50 years of Red Robin.

The tour will also be promoted on a special web site, foreveryummm.com.



Wendy's locations nationwide have added three new burgers to their repertoire as part of a "Made to Crave" menu.

The S'Awesome Bacon Cheeseburger comes with bacon, American cheese, lettuce, sweet onions, and pickles. A slather of the chain's proprietary S'Awesome sauce is added to finish the sandwich.

A Peppercorn Mushroom Melt is garnished with mushrooms, fried onions, Asiago cheese, and a peppercorn aioli, while the new Barbecue Cheeseburger features as toppings American cheese, fried onions, pickles, and a slather of tradition barbecue sauce.

All three new burgers are being promoted as permanent additions to the menu; they're available a la carte or as part of a fried and drink "combo."



The widely anticipated roll out of McCafe Donut Sticks takes place on Feb. 20 as Chicago-based McDonald's introduces the new breakfast item nationwide.

The churro-style pastries are freshly fried in each McDonald's location before being finished with cinnamon sugar. They're being offered in half-dozen portions with a suggested menu price of $1.69.

The sticks are being promoted as a limited-time only offering, part of the chain's efforts to boast breakfast traffic.





Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College's hospitality and culinary arts program and has over 40 years of restaurant and educational experience. Please send items of interest to Off the Menu at the Republican, P.O. Box 1329, Springfield, MA 01101; Robert can also be reached at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com






By Tim Brennan, Pioneer Valley Planning Commission

In the 1980s, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission took on the formidable challenge of cleaning-up severe pollution in the Pioneer Valley's premiere natural resource, the Connecticut River. A catalyst for action was the relatively new federal water quality standards laid out in the 1972 Clean Water Act but also a New York Times article which branded the Connecticut as the "best landscaped sewer in the country."

Advocacy led to the commonwealth committing funds to undertake a detailed assessment of the Connecticut River's water quality problems which confirmed the source as Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Hundreds of CSOs were discharging millions of gallons of raw sewage into the Connecticut River during periods of precipitation or snow melt when the sewage treatment plants lacked sufficient capacity to handle it bypassing the treatment process.

With a creditable action plan was in place to regain "Class B" fishable, swimmable water quality in the Connecticut, it was clear we'd need abroad coalition of partners to transition from a planning to doing if there was to be real progress implementing this ambitious clean-up agenda. Soon after came the establishment of the Connecticut River Clean-up Committee, comprised of key officials from the affected communities, engaged federal and state legislators, an expanding "navy" of volunteers, environmental advocates and, ultimately, the public at large.

This coalition, which remains active, has doggedly pursued achieving the mandated federal water quality standards laid out back in 1972. The results, which span nearly 30 years, are real and impressive.

Water pollution levels in the Connecticut have been reduced by over 50 percent. Class B water quality is not the norm on the Connecticut north of the Holyoke Dam, and the number of CSO-affected communities along the Connecticut has shrunk to three, Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke.

Nevertheless, there's still substantial clean-up work to be done carrying a $300 million price tag. That said, the Connecticut River has been re-claimed as a vital asset and it's actually conceivable to think that by 2040, Class B water quality on the Connecticut will become the norm after decades of neglect and misuse as a waste receptacle.

Although cleaning up the Connecticut has often felt like the most consequential environmental challenge our region could face, along came a chorus of scientists warning of the potentially devastating impacts of global warming and convincingly pointed to greenhouse gas air pollution as the primary source. Tombs of research revealed that without major reductions of these same greenhouse gases, the increase in annual average temperature relative to pre-industrial times could rise 9 degrees by the end of the century - an intolerable temperature spike that a consensus agreed needed to be capped at no more than a 3.6 degrees increase over preindustrial levels.

Once again, an environmental imperative had emerged but one that was global, rather than regional, in scope plus one enormously complicated to solve. However, failure to rein in greenhouse gases would insure that major adverse impacts on nations, world commerce, food systems, infrastructure, weather patterns and people were definitely in our future.

Within the last year, the warnings have become even more pointed and shrill with the authors of the recently released Fourth National Climate Assessment Report arguing that "climate change impacts and associated economic damages in the United States can be substantially reduced over the course of the 21st century through global-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions though the magnitude and timing of available risks vary by sector and region." The report goes on to urge action is needed now since deep and lasting greenhouse gas emission reductions must be realized by 2050 if the desired beneficial effects are to be seen in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Fortunately, there is a long and growing list of programs, projects and initiatives that our region has already put in place, or plans to, that can further reduce the Pioneer Valley's greenhouse gas emissions. These include rail passenger and freight improvements, a wide array of energy conservation programs, an expanding portfolio of renewable energy investments, the first phase of the ValleyBike bike share program, a toolbox of innovative zoning and smart growth land use measures, and ongoing efforts to boost, rather than cut, public transit services while electric buses are added to the PVTA's bus fleet.

Beyond these measures, there are many more our region will need to pursue to insure it is fully accountable for its fair share of slashing worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Correspondingly, it's the only reliable way to protect the Pioneer Valley's economy, environment, health and quality of life from entering a extended period of steep decline. These efforts will surely be difficult, expensive and fraught with obstacles and setbacks, but they must be done.

Tackling climate change and bringing it to the top of the region's collective work agenda will require a 21st century form of Yankee ingenuity and the kind of grit that only true "pioneers" can muster. The solutions we devise will need to be bold and encompass three core categories:

* Placing a price on greenhouse gas emissions;

* Using responsible regulations to govern how much greenhouse gas air pollution can be legally emitted; and

* Investing public and private sector dollars to advance clean-energy research, development and investments.

Using the example of the Connecticut River, history demonstrates that when the region comes together tremendous progress can be realized. We now must learn to multitask as we also turn our attention to beyond the Connecticut River to tackle the ominous threats posed by climate change and steel ourselves for the long game.

Tim Brennan is executive director of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission. To learn more about the commission and its work, visit the website, pvpc.org.
By Ronald C. DeCurzio, Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co.

The consumer-owned Massachusetts municipal utilities have a long and storied history of paving their own way when it comes to providing superior service at the lowest cost to their customers. For these utilities and their joint action agency, the Ludlow-based Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., the past has helped set the stage for the future of public power in the region.

The 40 municipal electric utilities in Massachusetts, of which 20 are members of Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co. (MMWEC) and 28 are project participants, operate under a not-for-profit business model based on local control over decisions affecting electric service, rates and resource choices. In Western Massachusetts, the communities of Chicopee, Holyoke, Westfield, South Hadley, Russell and Chester are served by these public power utilities.

Despite the utilities' establishment in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it wasn't until the early 1960s when developments in the industry forced municipal utilities in the state to begin asserting their rights to participate in the New England Power Pool and develop their own power supply. After several years of litigation came success for the municipals, but with it came the reality that many municipal utilities couldn't do it alone.

It was 50 years ago, in 1969, when MMWEC was incorporated as the agency to help municipal utilities develop and implement their visions through the concept of joint action.

Today, joint action and the public power business model work hand-in-hand to continue bringing superior service at the lowest cost to municipal utility customers, all while supporting public policies intended to reduce carbon emissions. In 2018, MMWEC and its members developed several innovative projects, programs and services to that end. Through the end of 2018, MMWEC member utilities owned 58.2 megawatts of wind generation, 47.5 megawatts of solar and 17.5 of megawatts of energy storage, with an additional 8 megawatts of energy storage coming online this year.

The trend continues in 2019.

The Berkshire Wind Power Cooperative Corp., consisting of MMWEC and 16 of its members, will expand the existing Berkshire Wind power project located on Brodie Mountain in Hancock. Two turbines producing 4.6 megawatts of generating capacity are being constructed adjacent to the existing 10-turbine, 15 megawatt wind farm. The Chicopee Electric Light Department and the Russell Municipal Light Department are participating, along with others in the expansion project, which is expected to be completed this spring.

Chicopee also will be joined by the municipal light departments in Russell and Westfield in a power purchase agreement for the Holiday Hill wind project currently under construction in Russell. This two-turbine, 5 megawatt project is expected to reach commercial operation this year.

Several municipal light departments have new or planned energy storage projects in their communities, including Holyoke Gas & Electric, which has constructed the state's largest utility-scale energy storage system. The system will work in conjunction with the Mount Tom Solar Array, the largest community solar project in the state.

Meanwhile, the West Boylston Municipal Light Plant has just completed installation of the first of its kind in New England flywheel energy storage system, to maximize the benefits of its solar array.

The MMWEC electric vehicle program, launched in 2017, continued its growth in 2018. The South Hadley Electric Department is one of several municipal utilities supporting this initiative to encourage increased electric vehicle adoption by offering incentives to its customers on electric vehicles and chargers. The program is tailored to provide the options and choices that honor the local decision-making authority that is the foundation of the public power business model.

The Chicopee utility recently joined Holyoke in offering fiber for high-speed internet to its commercial customers and will start rolling out high-speed internet to residential customers later this year. Meanwhile, South Hadley also is launching its new fiber optic program in 2019 and is one of two municipal utilities, along with Westfield, currently offering residential fiber to the home. In the spirit of joint action, employees at Holyoke Gas & Electric, who have experience providing fiber to its customers, are assisting the staff in Chicopee and South Hadley in rolling out their fiber programs.

For its part, MMWEC has developed new peak load projection and remote dispatch services to assist its members in staying ahead of the curve with these emerging technologies. These forward-thinking programs use data, technology, infrastructure and staff expertise to help MMWEC members capture the benefits of emerging technologies by recognizing industry trends and responding to evolving customer desires.

Today, Massachusetts municipal utilities deliver the benefits of non-profit operation, local control and independent decision-making - all traditional values upon which they were founded. Enlightened by these values over a century of serving their communities, municipal utilities today are finding innovative solutions to the challenges posed by evolving public policies, wholesale power market complexities and technologies of the future. MMWEC and its member utilities will continue to meet this challenge head-on, while delivering exceptional service at the lowest cost.

Ronald C. DeCurzio is the CEO of Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Co., Based in Ludlow. To learn more about MMWEC, go online to mmwec.org.
By Richard C. Lord, Associated Industries of Massachusetts

There are approximately 7 million job openings throughout the United States this morning.

There are also 6.2 million unemployed people looking for work.

Our ability to reconcile those two numbers - not to mention our willingness to address the structural shortfall of 800,000 people needed to fill all the jobs - will define the economic future of Massachusetts and the nation.

It's no wonder that hiring skilled employees remains one of the central economic challenges outlined in the Blueprint for the Next Century 3.0, the latest revision of Associated Industries of Massachusetts' long-term economic plan for Massachusetts. AIM asked the opinions of more than a thousand Massachusetts employers in compiling the Blueprint, and almost all of them expressed some level of concern about finding people with the skills and work ethic to fuel company growth in an increasingly competitive global economy.

The causes of the labor crisis are complex:

* A strong economy - Massachusetts employers continue to add 65,000 jobs per year a decade into the economic recovery. The state unemployment rate has remained below 4 percent since April of 2016 and now stands at 3.5 percent;

* Changing job requirements - Since January 2013, approximately 10.6 million jobs have been added to the U.S. economy. Of these, 71 percent have gone to individuals with a college degree compared with only 15 percent to individuals with some college but no degree and 14 percent to those with a high school diploma or less;

* Demographics - If current trends continue, the Massachusetts labor force will stop growing in 10 years. That development has significant implications for economic sectors such as manufacturing, where employers are set to confront more than 100,000 job vacancies in the next decade because more than half of the manufacturing work force is 45 years of age or older and headed toward retirement; and

* Lagging Productivity - The amount of output per hour of work has been weak throughout the current recovery and that has placed additional pressure on hiring. Over the past decade, productivity has been up at an average annual rate of 1.3 percent, just about half the 2.1 percent gains seen in the seven decades starting in 1947. Slow productivity growth increases the need for workers.

The skilled labor shortage is affecting companies all over the world. According to the latest Manpower "Talent Shortage Survey," 44 percent of employers across the globe report they cannot find the skills they need. The German Economic Institute recently calculated that the lack of skilled labor is costing the German economy 30 billion euros a year in GDP growth.

So, what are the solutions to the work-force challenge? Don't expect a silver bullet. The breadth and complexity of the issue means that business and government must employ a variety of approaches to bridging the skills gap. That means:

* Overhauling the work-force development system to ensure that people of all ages are being taught the skills that employers demand. That overhaul is well underway in Massachusetts;

* Ensuring that the public schools provide the basic skills that allow students to compete for jobs that were not even envisioned 20 years ago. Just 37 percent of Massachusetts students who finished ninth-grade in 2009 went on to complete the post-secondary credential required for most new jobs. Evaluate Massachusetts public schools based not only upon college attendance rates but also on the ability of students to achieve gainful employment upon graduation;

* Supporting and expanding vocational education;

* Resolving the immigration issue that has cast uncertainty upon Massachusetts and other education and technology driven economies.

* Expanding opportunity to the full diversity of the Massachusetts population. The unemployment rate among people of color in Massachusetts is 4.1 percent and among Latinos is 5.8 percent, versus 3.0 percent for whites. The demographic reality is that Massachusetts cannot afford to leave anyone behind; and

* Encouraging collaboration among employers, schools, community colleges, universities and training providers to establish a consistent and logical path from learning to employment.

Those collaborations might look something like Tech Foundry, which continues to graduate students with desperately needed information technology skills. It may look like the culinary and gaming programs that Springfield Technical Community College and Holyoke Community College developed in collaboration with MGM Springfield. It may look like the longstanding partnership between the region's metal-machining companies and schools like Westfield Technical Academy.

The demographic and technological underpinnings of the labor shortage mean the issue will transcend short-term economic cycles. The economy has bumped up against the proverbial labor wall, and it will take creativity and determination to ensure that the Massachusetts prosperity engine does not run out of gas.

Richard C. Lord is president and CEO of Associated Industries of Massachusetts. To learn more about the organization, go online to aimnet.org.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley called President Donald Trumps decision to declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border an abuse of power that will do nothing to protect the country.

The occupant of the White House is dangerous. Dangerous to our economy, to our democracy, and to our humanity. Checks and balances were put in place specifically to prevent the type of self-serving, short-sighted actions this Administration has taken, Pressley, a Boston Democrat, wrote in a statement.

Pressley represents Massachusetts 7th district which encompasses parts of Boston, Cambridge, Milton and all of Chelsea, Everett, Randolph, and Somerville.

Since its recess, I thought Id take my hair down & do a little light reading. #SeeYouInCourt #FakeTrumpEmergency pic.twitter.com/2t8pPAYIow  Rep Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) February 15, 2019

On Friday Trump declared a national emergency which he says he will use to get funding for a wall at the US-Mexico a border - one of his core campaign promises leading up to the 2016 election.

Trump unsuccessfully lobbied Congress to include $5.7 billion in border wall funds in the most recent budget bill, leading to the longest government shutdown in history. The government reopened January 25 after it was shuttered for 35 days in a fight over the wall funding.

Trump signed a $333 billion bill to finance several Cabinet agencies through September on Friday, which includes $1.4 billion to construct 55 miles of barrier. However, Trump is not satisfied.

By declaring a national emergency Trump can go around Congress and access about $8 billion for border security, White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told The Washington Post.

It is a controversial move decried by Democratic leaders of Congress who promise a legal battle.

This fake national emergency declaration is an abuse of power and does nothing to make our country safer, Pressley wrote in her statement. Mr. Trump, well see you in court.
Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins said she will seek a longer sentence for the North Reading man who on Thursday was convicted of hate crimes for the 2017 assault of a Moroccan woman on the MBTAs Orange Line.

Sean Devlin, 35, was found guilty Thursday of several charges including violating the womans constitutional rights, assault and battery for purpose of intimidation, and assault and battery on a person over 60. He was sentenced to two years in a house of corrections with one year of probation to follow.

On June 19, 2017 Devlin began shouting anti-Muslim slurs at a 61-year-old woman who was riding the Orange Line train back from a prayer service during Ramadan. Devlin mocked the womans hijab and told her to take it off and return to her country, prosecutors said.

This is my country, said the woman, an East Boston resident who had emigrated from Morocco and recently became an American citizen, according to prosecutors.

Devlin also accused the woman of having a bomb in her bag and punched a window near her, breaking it.

As the woman left the train in fear, Devlin struck her, prosecutors said in a statement.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders ordered the sentence be retroactive to the date of his arrest, making Devlin eligible for release in four months.

Because most of the time Devlin spent behind bars since his arrest was for conviction in Middlesex County and not the Suffolk case, Rollins said she will seek reconsideration of that decision and appeal if necessary.

The sentence as it was imposed does not reflect the seriousness of these offenses, Rollins said. Hate crimes spread fear across entire neighborhoods and communities. There are legal and moral reasons Devlin ought to serve a significant Suffolk County sentence for a serious Suffolk County crime.

At a sentencing hearing on Friday the woman delivered a victim impact statement.

I used to cry daily and pray for justice, the woman said through an interpreter. Why would someone attack me just for wearing something different? I am so thankful my rights were taken seriously  I am here for peace, tranquility, and safety.

After thanking the court through the interpreter, she spoke in English, prosecutors said.

God bless America, she said.
A 45-year-old Revere woman has been charged with drunken driving following a crash that injured two teens in the city Friday afternoon.

Kerry Grasso was charged with operating under the influence after Massachusetts State Police say she crashed into a van carrying two students from Wakefields Northeast Metro Tech. The crash, at Eliot Circle near Revere Beach, was reported just after 1 p.m., according to state police.

Two teens were injured but only one was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment of injuries that were not considered life-threatening, state police said.
A 28-year-old Dorchester man was arrested in Woburn after police say he shot a man over a $10 debt.

Woburn police said they arrested Asa Cooper after he shot a 43-year-old man twice in the legs Saturday morning.

At about midnight police responded to Highland Street in Woburn for reports of shots fired. When they arrived they found a 43-year-old man with gunshot wounds in his legs. He was taken to a local hospital with injuries not believed to be life-threatening, police said.

Officers spoke to witnesses who said a group of people was standing outside of a home when they were approached by another group inside a minivan. The van had a logo that read One Call on its side and had a school bus sign on the roof, police said.

An argument broke out over a $10 debt, police said, which led Cooper to shoot the victim multiple times. The group in the minivan then fled the scene, police said.

Police released a description of the van to local departments and shortly afterward, Stoneham police and Massachusetts State Police stopped the vehicle on I-93 south in Woburn.

Four people were inside the van including Cooper who was arrested. The other three people were not charged, but the van was seized as evidence, police said.

Cooper faces several charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing injury, and assault to murder with a firearm.

He is scheduled for arraignment in Woburn District Court Tuesday.
On Thursday afternoon, Monday emailed his statement to the Bulletin.

For the last two weeks there has been a well-organized campaign by people grinding very rusty, old axes, to attack my character, professional reputation and competency to be a judge, Monday wrote in his statement. This campaign was also designed to tarnish my legitimacy, in the event that I was actually selected. It is apparent to me that this campaign has at least partially succeeded.

I have no desire to continue to subject either me or my family to these attacks.

Several lawyers said Wednesday and Thursday that in addition to opposition expressed by the two bar associations, they understand some members of the public contacted legislators to express their opposition to Mondays being elected judge.

Legislators did not respond to specific questions from the Bulletin about how Monday became a candidate if his name was not among the lawyers who initially were considered by the two bar associations.

Monday was known to be active in political circles, contributing to campaigns and holding campaign events at his home.
Under such an increase, a citizen whose house is valued at $100,000 would pay an additional $20 for a years tax, Towarnicki said.

I suspect there might be a considerable amount of support for that, he said.

We do need citizen input, Mayor Kathy Lawson said.

There are no resources in the budget, nothing to cut to compensate for more money to spend on EMS, Towarnicki said. The only way is to generate revenue.

In the meantime, he said it does not make sense to start a third ambulance running now until the permanent funding is settled. The next fiscal year starts in July.

To consider this this time of year is quite awkward, he said. I dont feel comfortable making that decision today  not knowing what the FY20 budget looks like. I think it will be as tight as other budgets weve had, possibly worse.

There also may be other projects or programs with higher priority, he added.

And then theres the cost of equipment.

The city has three ambulances now, but if it were to add staffing to operate all three ambulances at once, it would need a fourth bus to handle times when one of the three is out of commission.
It is an exceptional discovery by the archaeological mission of the French Institute for the Near East (IFPO): a village dating back to the Byzantine era in Al Jawzeh, in the Zaarour region, at an altitude of 1,400 meters, 45 kilometers to the east of Beirut. Al Jawzeh is an exceptional archeological site in the Lebanese mountains, said the two archaeologists Lina Nacouzi and Dominique Pieri during a conference held in the American University of Beiruts Archeological Museum. Lina Nacouzi, an IFPO research associate, and Dominique Pieri, Head of Archeology and the Ancient History Department at the IFPO, have been co-leading the Al Jawzeh mission since 2012.

A unique character

The Byzantine village could be the remains of a rich estate from the 5th century, surrounding an imposing building with a monumental appearance. The rectangular-shaped building was meticulously carved and executed; its stone blocks are well cut and squared and the walls are at least one meter wide, said the two specialists. On a mound overlooking the building, a necropolis of six monolithic sarcophaguses dominates the skyline. Collective tombs (called communal tombs), containing up to 11 skeletons, were unearthed from the site.

To the east of the site, there are the remains of a limestone quarry, stone from which was used to carve the sarcophaguses and in the construction of the large building and the village houses. In the center of the site appears a doline, a natural depression where fertile soil had accumulated over time and had made the area suitable for agriculture. An inscription of the Roman emperor Hadrian, discovered in the immediate vicinity of the site, indicates that a forest had covered the surrounding slopes. This inscription also means that an ancient road was connecting the village to the rest of the country. In fact, it is very close to the current route leading from Sannine to the Bekaa valley, explained Lina Nacouzi. Water, fertile land and wood: all the components needed for a human settlement that could live in total self-sufficiency, she said.





Maximos and the Roman baths

The study of the building revealed an opulent residence. Dominique Pieri noted that fragments of mosaic and marble were uncovered, as well as ceramics imported from Asia Minor, the Black Sea, North Africa and Egypt. Nacouzi pointed out a rather peculiar thing: the building was covered with roofing tiles. They are stamped with the name of Maximos, with two crosses engraved on both sides of the name. The specialists were all the more surprised to discover, right next to the large building, the remains of small Roman-style baths. They are unusual in rural areas, they said, adding that the caldarium system was almost intact, while the frigidarium was quite well preserved.





600 to 800 amphorae of wine per season

During the archeological excavations, the IFPO team discovered a winepress on the ground floor of the building. The installation includes four grape-crushers (the juice was extracted by crushing grapes barefoot), and two 1.20-meter-deep collecting basins that received the juice after it had been filtered through settling tanks, before it was stored in large jars. This structure is not common. Winepresses usually have only one grape-crusher and one basin. However, the site certainly had a particularly important production, since the basins have a capacity of two cubic meters each. In total, these four cubic meters could fill up to 600-800 wine amphorae per season, from a single winepress! This implies that in the Byzantine period, winemaking was the main activity of the village, said Mr. Pieri, adding that another winepress, constructed in exactly the same way, was discovered in a neighboring building located on the opposite side of the main building. There may be other presses to discover.

Workshops for iron-ore reduction and ceramics

Abandoned during the 7th century, the village was reoccupied between the 12th and the 15th centuries. At that time, the inhabitants, who were living in single-room houses, had focused on iron mining and production. They built their workshops on the ruins of the Byzantine monumental building, after dividing the space through several partitions. A furnace was unearthed and we suspect the existence of two others, said Lina Nacouzi who started exploring several sites in the Metn region, particularly in Zaarour, Mrouj, Marjaba, Baskinta and Bteghrine, in 2002. She noted that iron slag had been found on the site and in the surrounding area. They are generally evidence of the Medieval occupation. However, their dating is confirmed by the ceramics, she said.

The site revealed a significant quantity of ceramic items. These are often fragments, but there is also a series of complete objects from the Byzantine era, such as oil lamps, jugs, large storing jars and items used in food preparation or as tableware. All these items lead us to think that during the Byzantine period, the residents of the village were adopting an urban lifestyle, said Mr. Pieri. From the Medieval era, glazed ceramics and a fairly wide variety of colorful potteries, mostly made in Beirut, were found on the site.

The two archeologists also highlighted the existence of some traces from pre-Byzantine eras, which were identified by pottery fragments dating back to the Bronze Age, as well as Hellenistic and Roman times. But we are unable now to associate them with specific levels or structures. They are just indicators at the moment, they said.





A multidisciplinary team

The IFPOs mission is a joint Franco-Lebanese effort that includes archeologists from the Lebanese University, the University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanons National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Directorate General of Antiquities (DGA), as well as researchers from Frances CNRS and the Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University. A multidisciplinary team contributes to a better understanding of site history; it is composed of a geomorphologist, an archaeozoologist, an archaeobotanist (to re-create the vegetation), an archaeometallurgist to spot the mines in the surrounding areas and to study how the furnaces would have operated and the manufacturing methods used to create the iron tools, and an anthropologist to examine the human remains. A specialist in glass objects and a numismatist are also part of the team. In the field, a topographer uses a drone to draw plans, take aerial views and generate 3D images. His work allows us to display the site in three dimensions and to reconstitute the building as it was before, explained the two archaeologists. The excavations are supported by Frances Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the high-end laboratory ResMed and the Middle East Office of the Francophone University Agency (AUF).

Before the 1990s, it was believed that the mountain was exclusively devoted to the worship of gods. The excavations at Yanouh, in the upper valley of Nahr Ibrahim, which uncovered the oldest settlement on the mountain, one that dated to the dawn of the 3rd millennium BC (Early Bronze Age II), at Chhim (6th century BC) and recently at Al Jawzeh, prove that Lebanons highlands were inhabited for a long time.





(This article was originally published in French in L'Orient-Le Jour the 12th of February)












Lockport, NY (14094)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 86F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with rain developing after midnight. Low 68F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Police arrested a 22-year-old man Friday in connection with an attempted kidnapping at gunpoint on the River Walk.

Ulises Artiga now faces a charge of attempted aggravated kidnapping. He is accused of confronting a woman in the 100 block of East Guenther Street at about 9:45 a.m. Thursday, pointing a gun at her and grabbing her.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

The victim was able to break away and scream for help.

"She did an outstanding job," said Michelle Ramos, a spokeswoman for the San Antonio Police Department.

Artiga did not know the alleged victim, Ramos said.

Witnesses were able to snap photos of the the suspect's vehicle as he sped away from the scene. Those photos were distributed to media outlets Thursday night. By Friday morning, authorities had located the vehicle on the West Side and staked it out.

RELATED: SAPD looking for suspect who tried to kidnap woman along the River Walk

Authorities saw Artiga get into the vehicle and soon after arrested him. They found a weapon inside the vehicle.

Artiga did not respond to questions from the media when he was arrested, but he wept as he was being taken to Bexar County Jail. An officer removed Artiga's hat and smiled at him as he took him to the police car.

Ramos wouldn't say whether Artiga admitted to the alleged attempted kidnapping, but he did cooperate with investigators.

Fares Sabawi covers crime in San Antonio and Bexar County. Read him on our breaking news site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com | fsabawi@mysa.com|@FaresInSA
A fire that started in the wall of an North Side apartment building Friday afternoon left 10 families without homes and four dogs dead, officials said.

San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood said they received the call at 3:06 p.m. in the Oasis at Oakwell apartments, 1946 NE Interstate 410 Loop.

When firefighters arrived, they found a resident who led them through a smokey haze to a fire that was in the back of her oven, according to the chief.

Firefighters determined the fire was in the wall and began working to stop its spread.

That forced us to chase this fire, which quickly was up in the attic, Hood said.

FIND OUT FIRST: Get San Antonio breaking news directly to your inbox

The building was evacuated and a second alarm was called to get firefighters into the attic.

Hood said one side of the attic was easier to reach than the other, which made it difficult to stop the flames.

We chased fire from apartment to apartment, Hood said.

A fire captain suffered a laceration to his head during the incident, the chief said. He is expected to be OK.

One of the main challenges to this fire is that its 85 degrees today, Hood said. Last week I was standing in the sleet and today were standing here in temperatures that are really difficult for firefighters, so we needed the extra manpower.

Overall, 160 firefighters combatted the fire, the bulk of which was extinguished in about an hour.

In the end, 12 apartments were damaged to the point of being uninhabitable, firefighters said.

The damage left 15 adults and 5 children, the youngest being an infant, without a home, Hood said.

Four dogs died in the blaze, firefighters said. A few other animals were rescued while others are still missing, Hood said.

Animal Care Services was called to help care for the animals and search for those still missing.

Firefighters were taking apart the attic with axes, chainsaws and other tools to extinguish any remaining embers.

The Red Cross is helping residents find temporary lodging if they cant find another apartment in the complex and with supplies, officials said.

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:
An internal Houston police investigation has uncovered alarming deficiencies in the department's narcotics division that led to an allegedly falsified search warrant used to justify a southeast Houston drug raid last month that killed two Pecan Park residents and injured five officers, according to documents obtained Friday by the Houston Chronicle.

In a hastily called press conference, Police Chief Art Acevedo said Gerald Goines, the veteran narcotics case agent at the center of the controversy, will likely face criminal charges. The internal investigation revealed he allegedly lied about using a confidential informant to conduct an undercover buy at the residence on Harding Street. The buy led to a raid and a fatal gunfight at the house the next day, killing Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and injuring five Houston Police Department officers.

The debacle, which has infuriated officers across the department and which critics say has damaged public trust in HPD, and infuriated members of the department's rank-and-file, also prompted Acevedo to order an "extensive audit" of the 175-member narcotics division and an examination of Goines' recent cases.

FOR SUBSCRIBERS: Undercover officer has history of allegations, only on HoustonChronicle.com

"We know that there's already a crime that's been committed," Acevedo said. "It's a serious crime when we prepare a document to go into somebody's home, into the sanctity that is somebody's home. It has to be truthful, it has to be honest, it has to be factual. We know already there's a crime that's been committed. There's high probability there will be a criminal charge."

Houston Police Officers' Union President Joe Gamaldi said that while he was "extremely concerned and disturbed" by the allegations that came to light Friday, they were "not indicative" of the performance of the rest of the department's 5,200 officers. He pledged to back any reforms needed to avoid similar misconduct in the future.

"We certainly feel this is an isolated incident," he said. "However, we will certainly support any review or changes to policy that need to be made in order to ensure that something like this never happens again."

The critical allegations were outlined in a sworn affidavit written by HPD Officer R. Bass, with the department's Special Investigations Unit, who asked a judge for a search warrant to examine the cell phone of officer Steven Bryant, an undercover narcotics officer relieved of duty after the shooting.

The Chronicle normally does not publish the names of undercover officers, but Goines and Bryant were identified in an affidavit related to a search warrant and both have been relieved of duty by Acevedo.

In the initial HPD warrant, Goines wrote that he monitored a buy at the home by a confidential informant, who identified the substance that was purchased as heroin and said there was a 9mm handgun in the house. Police obtained a no-knock warrant allowing them to enter unannounced  and burst into the small southeast home the next day to a hail of gunfire.

At the end of the shootout, both Tuttle and Nicholas had been shot to death, and five officers were injured  four by gunfire. Police found 18 grams of marijuana  about half an ounce  and a little more than a gram of white powder, but no heroin or trafficking paraphernalia. After the fatal operation, neighbors pushed back on assertions by police the residence was a drug house.

HPD investigators have not been unable to locate the confidential informants who Goines claimed  in two separate interviews  made the undercover purchases at the Pecan Park home, according to Bass' affidavit.

When detectives talked to the informants, both said they'd worked for Goines but never purchased drugs at the 7815 Harding home where Tuttle and Nicholas were killed. Investigators then got a full list of Goines' confidential informants, and they all denied making a buy at the Tuttle house or ever purchasing narcotics from Nicholas or Tuttle.

Bryant told investigators he had retrieved two bags of heroin from the center console of Goines' police car at the instruction of another officer. That was not consistent with the affidavit used to obtain the warrant for the Jan. 28 raid, which said Bryant identified heroin brought out of the house. Though he took the two bags of drugs for testing to determine that they were heroin, Bryant eventually said he had never seen the narcotics in question before retrieving them from the car.

Investigators are reviewing Goines' past cases, Acevedo said, adding that he's assigned Assistant Chief Pedro Lopez to take a broader look "to make sure that we're not being myopic, that we look at our entire narcotics operation out there, in terms of the street level units, and they'll be conducting a very extensive audit."

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.

The allegations of false information used to conduct a raid that led to the death of two residents and left five officers injured further stunned and angered residents. It marked one of most significant cases of police misconduct within the narcotics division in decades.

"When I joined this police department I told my people that if you lie you die," Acevedo he said. "I've been here over two years and you will not find anyone here that has a sustained dishonesty violation who is a member of this department."

As Friday's revelations raised renewed calls for outside scrutiny, Acevedo dismissed the need for an independent investigation.

"The Houston Police Department is conducting a robust investigation, a thorough investigation, an impartial investigation into everything that occurred leading up to and during that raid," he said, repeating past promises of transparency.

However, he was emphatic his officers had legitimate reasons to investigate the house, citing a 911 call about the location from a woman reporting to be the mother of a young woman using heroin there.

"We have the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch), we have the audio, we have the patrol units that responded," Acevedo said. "This was not just an investigator who decided to go target a house as far as we've determined so far, for no reason."

The Chronicle has requested a copy of the 911 call Acevedo referenced, but HPD has asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to allow the request to be withheld.

ONLY ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: Lack of body cameras limits answers from botched Houston drug raid.

Mayor Sylvester Turner called for a "full and thorough" investigation, urging that it be completed "as soon as possible."

"I will refrain from commenting about it until I have all facts before me," he said, in an emailed statement.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said her office was continuing to work with police to investigate the matter.

"After a thorough review, our Civil Rights Division prosecutors will present this case to a grand jury to determine if any criminal charges are warranted," Ogg said, in an emailed statement.

Former Chief Charles A. McClelland said the scandal constitutes serious violations of civil and constitutional rights, and possibly puts the city in civil jeopardy.

"It goes to the highest type of corruption any time police officers are accused of fabricating evidence," he said. "And it has betrayed the public trust."

McClelland, who allowed FBI agents to review HPD investigations into a number of police brutality cases, said the scandal merited an external probe.

"If I was chief, I would also ask the FBI to conduct its own independent investigation," he said. "Everybody at HPD needs to be held accountable  from Goines' supervisors all the way to the chief of police."

Houston defense attorneys warned that Goines' conduct could jeopardize many pending cases.

"The saddest part of all of this, is this guy probably would have gotten away with it, but for the fact it was a botched raid and police officers were shot and innocent people killed," said Doug Murphy, a criminal defense attorney and president of Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association.

Acevedo showed little tolerance for the alleged conduct of his officers, and later expressed compassion for the relatives of the couple slain in the botched raid.

"When laziness includes lying on an affidavit, you're more than likely going to get arrested," Acevedo said. "And we will have no problem putting ... handcuffs on someone who violated the public trust."

The chief said he had spoken directly to the family, but gave no details.

"I feel really badly for the Tuttle family, because no matter what we find there will always be a doubt," Acevedo said. " I'm not saying we're not going to find things but there's always 'what could they have done differently,' and my heart goes out to them because, they have a lot of unanswered questions."

Samantha Ketterer and McKenzie Misiaszek contributed to this report.

st.john.smith@chron.com

keri.blakinger@chron.com

james.pinkerton@chron.com
The Vatican has dismissed former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a Church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors.



McCarrick, who once led the Archdiocese of Washington and was recognized as a powerful advocate of the Catholic Church's political priorities, was informed of the decision on Friday, a Vatican statement said.

The judgment was recognized by the Pope to be a "definitive nature," and is "res iudicata" -- meaning it is no longer subject to appeal.

Allegations that McCarrick had sexually abused seminarians and an altar boy decades ago had left the Church reeling in recent years, prompting serious questions among Catholic leaders as to why he was allowed to rise through the Church ranks.

A letter from a top Vatican official released last year appeared to acknowledge that the Holy See knew about the allegations for at least several months before McCarrick was elevated to Cardinal in 2001.

He subsequently led the Archdiocese of Washington until 2006, frequently meeting political leaders and becoming a force in American politics.

McCarrick is one of the most high-profile figures to be expelled from the Church during the sex abuse crisis that has roiled the institution in recent decades.

He has previously denied the allegations, saying he has "absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse."

But Pope Francis ordered a Vatican investigation into the accusations in 2017, and McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals last year.

Patrick Noaker, the attorney for the former altar boy who made the accusation against McCarrick, said last June that his client was molested twice by McCarrick, once in 1971 and once the following year.

Both alleged incidents, Noaker said, occurred at St. Patrick's Cathedral as his client was being fitted for a cassock for Christmas Mass.

"McCarrick started measuring him, then he unzipped his pants, stuck his hand in and grabbed his genitals," Noaker said. The lawyer said his client, who was about 16 at the time and a student at a Catholic high school in New York, pushed McCarrick away. "One thing he distinctly remembers is that McCarrick told him not to tell anyone about it," Noaker said.

In the weeks after the allegations were made public, others came forward to say McCarrick had sexually abused them, according to published reports.

An investigation by the Archdiocese of New York found the allegations against McCarrick to be "credible and substantiated" and handed the matter over to law enforcement last year.
A disabled infantryman who served three tours in Iraq and was exploited by a Department of Veterans Affairs official looked across a courtroom and called on the man to think hard in prison about what he had done.

"You took an oath to serve veterans. You took an oath to serve your country. But money and greed corrupted you," Chris Burke, 51, of Herndon, Virginia, a former U.S. infantry member who served three tours, told James King in federal court Friday at King's sentencing hearing.

King led a scheme to steer 88 disabled veterans and more than $2 million in taxpayer-funded benefits to sham job-retraining schools in exchange for bribes and kickbacks.

He was sentenced to 11 years in prison in Washington after former U.S. service members told a judge how King, 61, of Baltimore, wasted years of their lives and left them with nothing but debt and stolen dreams of post-service careers.

Many times, Burke said, he and other veterans waited in their cars or stood in front of a locked storefront office of Atius Technology Institute of Beltsville, Maryland, while instructors failed to show. Burke told the court that he called and went to King's office to try to get a response, and got no answer after raising complaints to a department office in Baltimore.

Burke said he broke his left hip, four vertebrae and his collarbone in a military exercise, and hoped to receive training to work with computers through classes at either the University of Maryland, a community college or Strayer University, which offers classes to students mostly online. But when he raised that in the retraining program, Burke told the judge, King lied to him and told him Atius was his only choice.

"In prison, I want you to think about families and others you were supposed to help," Burke told King. "Think about how you can make it right."

Another veteran, who was not identified and whose letter to the court was read by Assistant U.S. Attorney Simon Cataldo of the District of Columbia, said that after two years of study, "I have nothing to show for it."

The letter posed the question: "How am I supposed to justify the knowledge I gained from a fraudulent institution," or the time out of the job market, to skeptical employers? VA will not compensate or credit her for the wasted benefits, she wrote.

VA's vocational rehabilitation and employment program provides counselors and money for education and training to help disabled veterans land civilian work.

Cataldo said King's victims included older service members who had finished their military careers, young ones just establishing themselves after deployment and immigrant veterans getting their first exposure to U.S. civilian life.

Some may have wanted to learn mortuary science or culinary skills, but King ignored requests and misled them, U.S. District Judge John Bates said. King admitted to padding invoices and student hours, and receiving $155,000 in kickbacks or bribes.

King pleaded guilty in October to one count each of honest services and wire fraud, bribery and falsifying records to obstruct the investigation, which revealed he steered $2.1 million in U.S. veterans benefits to three for-profit schools in exchange for a cut, and manipulated veterans to attend those schools despite having better options.

Three school owners and employees who admitted bribing King already have been sentenced. Atius owner Albert Poawui must serve 70 months in prison and pay back $1.5 million; Atius employee Sombo Kanneh must serve 20 months and pay back $113,000; and Michelle Stevens, the owner of Eelon Training Academy of Leesburg, Florida, which King helped set up, was sentenced to serve 30 months in prison and pay back $83,000.

In court, King admitted his crimes but asked for forgiveness, saying he had a caseload of 250 veterans and failed to check on schools.

"I can't say I am not responsible for it because I am, and I am sorry," King said.

King's lawyer, William Buie III, went further, asserting King merely followed a "custom and practice" of federal employees and contractors at VA and elsewhere exploiting insider skills for rewards before or after leaving public sector work.

King's actions were "indefensible," Buie said, but asked for a fair sentence that considered his age, lack of criminal history, his 7-year-old daughter, past military service and his lesser cut in the scheme, which he was ordered to pay back in restitution.

Bates, a Vietnam War veteran and former U.S. Army lieutenant, noted that King did not leave the military "on the best terms," adding that the judge himself was 72-years-old.

Bates sentenced King to less than the 14 to 17 1/2 years prosecutors sought, noting King's age and lesser financial benefit in the overall scheme, but said King led and orchestrated multiple schemes involving multiple bribes from several "grossly deficient" schools over more than two years, victimizing veterans, taxpayers and VA.

"This was a lengthy, broad and callous bribery scheme and financial scheme, for which you bear the primary responsibility," Bates said.

His voice rising, Bates said, "People need to know that that cannot continue at VA. We cannot allow people in public office who are being bribed to send money to companies."

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu of the District cited King's betrayal of public trust for those he was to serve as a mentor and counselor. "Instead of helping our veterans, he lined his own pockets by taking bribes to send them to three sham schools that brought them only pain and frustration," Liu said.
In Catholic Church law, being forcibly laicized is sometimes called the death penalty for priests - a dismissal from the priesthood, a status change that is permanent, something that can't even be said of excommunication. Even priests who request laicization are told to move away, and to not divulge what happened unless they have to, in order to avoid scandalizing other Catholics. No working in parishes, seminaries, Catholic schools. Your previous identity is wiped out.

At the same time, in the eyes of the church the mark of priestly ordination can never be removed. Something metaphysical changed then that can't be undone. A Minnesota diocesan official who was laicizing a man still warmly reassured him, tapping his chest: In here,you're a priest forever, the official said, a former church lawyer present testified in a 2014 affidavit. The man had abused women, including in the confessional, one of whom killed herself.

Theodore McCarrick is believed to be the first cardinal - a title he held until allegations surfaced last summer - laicized for sexual misconduct, and one of just six bishops accused of similar crimes and dismissed, according to the abuse-tracking group BishopAccountability. But in an era of rampant clergy scandals, when the words "bishop" and "cardinal" are being removed from Catholic fundraising drives in order to boost giving, experts predict many Catholics won't see the rare defrocking as particularly weighty. Or as sufficient justice for McCarrick's alleged victims.

"The reality is that, leaving aside the issue of embarrassment - and I'd be cautious on that - what difference does it make to McCarrick?" said Jennifer Haselberger, a canon lawyer who represented the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis until 2013, when she quit over what she described as the office's mishandling of abusive priests. "Realistically when we think of justice, what will he experience? And he will know in his heart of hearts that he's still a priest.

In fact there is a lot of debate in Catholicism about the value of defrocking abusive clerics, an action that is extremely rare, and somewhat new in Catholicism. Since the sex abuse crisis erupted in the early 2000s, new fast-track legal systems created by Rome have led to more defrockings, and church leaders have wrestled with whether it's wiser to keep abusers in-house, where they can be monitored closely, as well as whether Catholicism's main business should be forgiving - not condemning. McCarrick's high-profile defrocking has raised another question: Should the church's legal system be focused less on the accused and more on restitution for victims?

"If we kick this person out, [and] he's no longer on our books, what are we doing then? Are we just protecting the liability of the institution or are we doing justice?" said Kurt Martens, a canon law professor at Catholic University.

Haselberger suggested dismissal isn't as crushing a punishment as it may sound for McCarrick, who was one of the most powerful, popular U.S. clerics until his case exploded last June. To her, the fact that rumors surrounding McCarrick's conduct had been circulating for years before the public allegations surfaced is proof that the system is broken. She predicted he won't suffer financially or go to jail and in fact could, given his previously high-profile as a do-gooder and fundraiser, come out of this viewed as a martyr by some. Many will continue to treat him as a priest, she said.

McCarrick and his lawyers haven't commented since last summer, so it's impossible to know how he feels about the penalty. Shamed? Justified? Wronged? But people who know him say McCarrick, now a frail 88, hasn't seemed able to fully accept what's happening. The former cardinal could still face civil suits.

But priests who have been forcibly laicized and canon lawyers who represent accused priests say laicization can elicit a wide range of reactions. To some it's a kind of personal trauma, like being forcibly separated from your children. For people being crushed by a celibacy vow they couldn't keep, it can feel like relief. Many say they still feel, act and sometimes are treated like priests, even if they can't wear the clothes or perform the sacraments.

"I joined this men's group, and three weeks into it, they all called me 'Father.' I asked why, and one said: 'It's what you are. It's who you are.' This is a lovely thing to hear. It's painful but lovely. Whether they call me [my name] or 'Father,' both ways it's a little bit of the knife," said a man who was laicized several years ago after being accused of sexual misconduct with a minor.

The man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he doesn't want the accusations against him publicized, said he lost health care and other reimbursements owed to him by his diocese before he was laicized, has been professionally damaged by the allegation and is too young to start receiving his church pension yet. Among the biggest losses, he said, is being barred from celebrating Mass for himself every day, privately, which he could do for the years while he was suspended, before being defrocked. "That's a big deal. [While celebrating Mass,] we believe the whole church celebrates with you, even if you're alone, you're still part of the community."

Canon law allows bishops to strip defrocked clerics of all financial benefits, though civil law requires they receive their pension once they're vested. Deals vary; some receive nothing while others may negotiate for health care or education that will allow them to make a new career. Experts say diocesan legal officials like laicizing clerics because it relieves the organization of future liability.

According to BishopAccountability, more than 1,000 priests have been laicized in the past few decades for sexual misconduct, while of 99 bishops worldwide accused of similar crimes, just six were laicized. A new process the church created in the early 2000s made it easier to remove priests, but still didn't clearly establish rules around dismissing higher-up clerics.

Robert Ciolek is a former priest who the church paid a settlement, in part based upon his accusations that McCarrick pressured him into backrubs and into sleeping in the same bed when Ciolek was a seminarian and young priest in McCarrick's diocese. Now a lawyer, Ciolek said the forced laicization undoubtedly must be "devastating" to McCarrick, who had built up decades "of administering the sacraments, hearing confessions and baptizing babies, marrying, forgiving people their sins, last rites. All that is gone . . . all the good he might have done, the church is taking away the core of his essence by laicizing him. But, make no mistake, based on the accusations against him, especially those involving sexual abuse of minors, it is fully deserved."

Ciolek recalled the pain of petitioning the Vatican to approve his own request to leave the priesthood. He was already married and a father, but wanted to be formally released from his promise of celibacy, allowing his civil marriage to be recognized and thus be in good standing to receive the sacraments. He had to wait about 10 years and submit thick documents arguing, essentially, that it was a mistake for him to have ever have become a priest. In reality, Ciolek said he believes he was called to be a priest and loved being a priest, and might still be one if not for the Church's celibacy requirement. He didn't like having to put in writing that there was something flawed with his ministry.

Pat Noaker, who represents two men who say McCarrick abused them when they were minors, said neither of his clients feel celebratory about the laicization, though they may feel it's merited.

"Both have hope the church can be reformed. That is unique. Most of my clients don't have that hope. Both of them do," he said. Asked if the outcome was justice, Noaker said: "Neither of these men had a particular result in mind. Having him laicized or otherwise, they didn't care which avenue the Vatican chose - they just didn't want McCarrick using his power to have access to children."

Laicizing a priest - whether by choice or not - doesn't mean they aren't still a priest; they are. It means they are free of the rights and responsibilities of the position. They may not present themselves as priests in their dress nor perform sacraments such as celebrating Mass or hearing confession. The one exception is that they are still obliged to hear the last rites of the dying if no other priest is available.

People choosing to leave or being forced to was exceedingly rare over the centuries, Haselberger said. Even in cases of priests suspended for abuse claims, she said, laicization was usually done at the request of the priest. The church was loathe to dismiss clerics. The big wave came after the second Vatican Council in the 1960s, a series of meetings many expected to liberalize the church more and perhaps let priests marry. Disappointed changes weren't made, many priests left and asked to be relieved of their celibacy vows. After a decade or two, Pope John Paul II stopped granting the petitions.

Men who requested dismissal had to prove they could no longer function as priests, making arguments such as the one Ciolek did - that they really shouldn't have been a priest to start with. It's a bit like a marriage annulment, except laicization doesn't nullify any of the sacraments or priestly work priests did. But church law does not view laicization in a neutral way.

Part of it is the shame and cover-up, she says, but part of it is that the job of clerics is forgiveness. "There's a tension between that spiritual reality and the idea of imposing penalties. It's not in their nature," she said. The penal process can seem at times more focused on the accused than the victim, she said.

In the popular imagination excommunication is more severe, but that is actually a temporary penalty. It's meant, under canon law, to cure the person doing wrong and bring them back into communion with the Church.

A priest can be dismissed from the clerical state by a local tribunal or by the Vatican, depending on the situation, Martens said.

But some groups who advocate for accused priests say canon law has always made it possible to remove clerics, and what's new is a rush by higher-ups to judge priests without a transparent, fair process - to present an image of cracking down. Unlike bishops, priests don't have the means to properly defend themselves, these advocates say.

What will happen to McCarrick is unclear. Some say he has significant savings and a pension and will likely be offered housing or other support by the many to whom he ministered over the decades. High-up clerics who are dismissed, like McCarrick, are insulated from much of the pain, while the average priest is ruined.

That said, Haselberger says the comparison to a "death penalty" is offensive to people who receive real death penalties. Dismissal primarily means not being able to publicly present as a priest. In the meantime, McCarrick's lawyers will fend off at least one possible civil suit, as New York just passed an extension of the window for victims to sue, and New Jersey is expected to as well - both states where victims have alleged McCarrick misconduct. For now that means waiting.

"It's not satisfaction" we're feeling, said the Rev. Matt Fish, a Washington priest. "But the priest is meant to signify something. And there is a virtue and dignity that goes along with it. And maybe this is a step towards restoring that."
A federal judge on Friday placed some limits on what longtime Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone and his lawyers can say publicly about his criminal case brought by the special counsel in the Russia probe.

But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson stopped short of imposing a broad ban on public comments by the outspoken political operative, issuing a limited gag order she said was necessary to ensure Stone's right to a fair trial and "to maintain the dignity and seriousness of the courthouse and these proceedings."

The order bars Stone from making comments about his pending case near the courthouse but it does not constrain him from making other public statements about his case. It does generally bar his lawyers, prosecutors and witnesses from making public comments that could "pose a substantial likelihood" of prejudicing potential jurors.

Jackson's order also comes after a string of media appearances by the attention-seeking political consultant since his indictment and arrest last month. In several of those interviews, Stone had blasted special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference as politically motivated and criticized his case as involving only "process crimes."

Jackson had cited those media appearances in raising the prospect of a gag order, warning Stone at a hearing not to treat his case like a "book tour."

Lawyers for Stone had argued that any limits on his public comments would infringe on his First Amendment right to free speech. They wrote in a filing last week that Stone's comments wouldn't merit a "clear and present danger to a fair trial." Mueller's prosecutors had said they wouldn't oppose a gag order.

In her order, Jackson said she considered not only the potential impact of public comments on jurors but also the need to maintain order at the federal courthouse in Washington.

Citing the "size and vociferousness" of crowds already attracted to Stone's court proceedings, Jackson barred Stone, lawyers and witnesses from making any statements to the news media while entering and exiting the courthouse.

Jackson left open the possibility that she could amend the order in the future and reminded Stone that he is not allowed to contact any witnesses in the case. She also said if Stone complained about pre-trial publicity at a later date, she would consider whether he had brought it on himself.

The 66-year-old Stone was arrested in an FBI raid at his Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home last month. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of lying to Congress, obstruction and witness tampering. The charges stem from conversations he had during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released material stolen from Democratic groups, including Hillary Clinton's campaign.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said that Russia was the source of the hacked material, and last year Mueller charged 12 Russian intelligence officers in the hacking.

Stone is not accused of directly coordinating with WikiLeaks. But Mueller's team did confirm in a court filing Friday that investigators have evidence of communication between Stone and WikiLeaks and between Stone and Guccifer 2.0, who purported to be a Romanian hacker responsible for the intrusions but who authorities say was actually a Russian agent.
EDWARDSVILLE  The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees this week approved a tuition freeze for all new undergraduate students at SIUE, effective fall 2019. The board met on the Edwardsville campus.

Tuition for the 2019-20 academic year will remain $9,123 for new, full-time undergraduate students (15 hours per semester) entering fall 2019. Undergraduate students currently in a guaranteed tuition plan will also maintain their annual tuition rate.

SIUE has traditionally been a leader among Illinois public, four-year higher education institutions in delivering the best educational experience at the most affordable price, said Chancellor Randy Pembrook, PhD.

In fall 2017, in-state tuition became available to all new and continuing domestic undergraduate students. Offering in-state tuition to out-of-state students streamlines tuition rates and produces less confusing rate structures, while broadening the institutions recruiting opportunities.

In fall 2019, all domestic graduate students will be charged the in-state graduate tuition rate of $8,155.20 (12 hours per semester). A $237.60 annual increase (3 percent) was approved for graduate students for the coming fall.

International students will continue to be assessed a 2.5 times surcharge on the in-state rate, unless they qualify for an alternate tuition rate.

For the second consecutive year, School of Dental Medicine (SDM) tuition will remain the same. In-state SDM students will pay an annual tuition of $29,998. Beginning fall 2019, the SDM is offering the in-state rate to all new and continuing domestic dental students in its traditional program to build and maintain a diverse student population. This does not include the SDM International Advancement Placement Program, which remains at 2.3 times the instate dental rate.

The School of Pharmacy (SOP) will increase in-state tuition by $356 to $24,096 (1.5 percent).

Visit siue.edu/paying-for-college for more information about tuition and fees.
Steve McClure already has spent a few weeks in his role as senator for Illinois 50th District, working to meet his districts residents and establish goals for his term.

In one of his first acts as senator, McClure, a 34-year-old Springfield Republican, voted against legislation that would increase the states minimum wage to $15, claiming it would harm local businesses and cause the loss of jobs or hours for many people.

A lot of people will lose jobs, businesses will leave, the cost of education will go up, McClure said of the legislation, which passed in the Senate and the House and now awaits Gov. J.B. Pritzkers signature.

The move might benefit larger cities such as Chicago, where the cost of living is higher, but it also would cause higher prices on goods and services in other parts of the state, McClure said.

His opposition is not to an increase in the minimum wage but to a one-size-fits-all increase, he said, adding that a regional wage increase based on the areas cost of living would be more beneficial.

The minimum wage vote was just the first of many McClure hopes to make in the best interest of his constituents, he said.

McClure, who was elected last year, said he wants to spend his first term working with residents in his district to find out what they need and how the Senate can help.

One of the biggest things I learned during my campaign is that people need me and my staff to be accessible, McClure said. I want to be available for people, to come tell me their problems, ideas. The most important job I have is to listen to them, help them if I can or find someone that can help them.

Though he has never before held elected office, McClure has had an interest in politics since childhood.

I remember going to the governors Christmas parties, McClure said. As I grew, I knew that was something I wanted to do.

McClure was raised in Springfield before attending college at Arizona State University. After receiving bachelors degrees in history and political science, he attended the University of Illinois in Springfield, where he earned a masters degree in political science.

He obtained a law degree from Valparaiso University School of Law in Indiana.

McClure spent time as an assistant states attorney in Sangamon County, was a felony attorney with the Sangamon County Felony Division and worked on several boards involving investigations into neglect.

McClure was elected after his predecessor, Sam McCann, decided to run for governor as an independent after saying he felt the Republican Party had moved away from its morals and goals.

Believing that some of the people being voted into office recently and some of the bills being passed have not been in the best interests of the people in his district, McClure decided to run for office himself. His goal in running was to represent the districts residents and find ways to work across the aisle in the Senate, he said.

I need to focus on the things we do agree on, the things we can get done, he said.

Passing bills that are not bipartisan could be difficult with a Democratic governor and a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, McClure said.

In the case of the minimum wage bill, McClure said there wasnt a lot of discussion on how it will impact different regions of the state. He hopes future legislative proposals will come with a greater effort to compromise, he said.

It seems like theres not going to be a lot of compromise or discussion with us if it is something (Democrats) want to pass, McClure said.

State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, has known McClure for a long time and is looking forward having him as a colleague.

Davidsmeyer said hell work with McClure to give some bills hes been working on  on constituent-driven issues related to pay-day lenders and tax return donations  the best chance to pass in both houses. A bill to streamline the sale of excess state property, such as the Jacksonville Developmental Center grounds, will be important to the district and will be an area on which they can work together, Davidsmeyer said.

As they talk about capital plans and infrastructure improvements, there will be a lot to work together on, Davidsmeyer said.

The biggest problem McClure wants to address is the number of people leaving the state.

People are continuing to leave the state and not coming back, McClure said. We need to stop the bleeding and get people to come back. I dont think its addressed enough that so many people are leaving the state.

McClure said Illinois has to find ways to appeal to residents and businesses. One way he said that could be done is to establish programs with colleges and universities that help students start their own businesses or connect with job opportunities.

He said lawmakers also need to stop passing legislation that negatively impacts the people of the state  he sees the minimum wage bill as an example of this  causing them to leave.

McClure also wants to look at the abandoned state-owned buildings, such as the Jacksonville Developmental Center.

There are abandoned buildings in every district across the state, McClure said. Doing something with them is something we should all be able to agree on.

Samantha McDaniel-Ogletree can be reached at 217-243-6121, ext. 1233, or on Twitter @JCNews_samantha.
As part of its controversial plan to widen lanes on the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, Maryland says it intends to focus on the implementation of toll lanes - as many as four on each highway - and abandon earlier considerations of more general-purpose lanes, bus rapid transit and bus-only lanes.

Maryland transportation officials have narrowed the number of possible construction alternatives to seven from an original list of 15 for further study of potential toll operations in the two corridors that suffer some of the worst traffic congestion in the region.

Gov. Larry Hogan, R, in September 2017 proposed widening the highways to add managed toll lanes through a public-private partnership.

The concept, which is expected to cost between $9 billion and $11 billion for both highways, is undergoing a complex federal review process that will explore a variety of possible improvements before settling on a preferred alternative.

State transportation officials have said the goal is to find the best solution that not only provides some relief for commuters, but also is financially viable. The original set of options unveiled last summer included congestion-priced toll lanes and dedicated bus lanes, as well as spot improvements to the existing road and the conversion of existing HOV lanes to toll lanes on I-270.

The state announced this week it is proceeding with a smaller pool of options that focus on a system of managed toll lanes. Moving forward, the decision will be mostly choosing between a high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane system, similar to Virginia's Express Lanes on interstates 66, 495, and 95, where carpoolers use the lanes free, or express toll lanes, which require all road users to pay. The no-build option also remains, as required in the federal environmental review process.

"HOT Lanes and express toll lanes provide people with a choice for a faster, predictable trip when they need it," the state said in explaining its decision to favor toll lanes for the corridors. Even though it's removing the "transit-only" alternative, the state said transit solutions are part of its overall relief plan, but "overall, transit alone would not address the existing and long-term traffic growth."

Similarly, the state is abandoning the concept to add HOV or general-purpose lanes, saying those options would not support long-term traffic growth either, nor provide a revenue source needed to fund construction of the projects.

"Under the Hogan Administration's Traffic Relief Plan, all free unrestricted lanes will remain free while new managed lanes will address the crippling congestion in the National Capital Region. These managed lanes are a proven solution in Maryland and across the world in reducing similar serious congestion issues," Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn. said. "The first phase delivers a long-overdue American Legion Bridge and adds new managed lanes on I-495 from the American Legion Bridge to I-95. This first phase was originally linked to the Purple Line in previous studies that recommended providing this complimentary transit and highway network system. The I-495 and I-270 P3 Program will be key to connecting a system of systems by linking into transit with Corridor Cities Transitway in Montgomery County and transit-oriented development projects in Greenbelt, New Carrolton and Branch Avenue in Prince George's County."

The announcement, posted Wednesday night on the project website, quickly drew criticism from groups opposed to the toll lanes and the highway widening, and from residents worried about the effects on adjacent property.

"The arguments MDOT uses to rule out transit don't pass the laugh test," said Ben Ross, chair of the Maryland Transit Opportunities Coalition, which has been advocating more transit in both corridors. "They admit that if they run more trains, people will be able to avoid traffic jams, but then say that's not good enough because the traffic jams on existing roads will still be there. But adding toll lanes won't remove congestion from existing roads, either. In fact, for the toll revenue scheme to work, the state needs to make sure the traffic jams continue - because no one will pay tolls if the free lanes are moving at full speed."

Pete Altman of the citizen group Don't Widen 270 said the decision to focus on adding toll lanes has residents worried about the project's ability to stay within the roads' existing footprints. State officials have said their plan is to keep the roadway improvements within the right of way, but no details have been made available about how that would be accomplished.

"What does this mean for homes and neighborhoods by the highway?" Altman said. "We still don't know, and by throwing transit under the bus and limiting its focus to adding lanes, Governor Hogan's administration is bulldozing over public opinion and raising the anxiety and uncertainty that nearby residents are experiencing over the future of our communities."

Opponents are counting on state lawmakers to put the brakes on Hogan's plan. Legislators are reviewing several proposals that would delay or derail the construction of toll lanes, including a plan that would essentially give counties the power to veto state toll projects and another that could delay Hogan's plan by requiring the state to hold off on pre-solicitation of contracting a private partner for the project until the environmental study is completed in 2020. A third bill would prohibit the state from acquiring land for the purpose of a public-private partnership project that includes the addition of toll lanes to the Beltway and I-270.

The Maryland Department of Transportation opposes the legislation. Agency officials say the proposals could "impede progress on projects that aim to provide meaningful congestion relief. Hogan's plan, the state says, would ease traffic congestion and give drivers more options - and is in line with a regional vision for a robust network of toll roads with pricing based on congestion.

The seven alternatives will move forward for detailed traffic, environmental and financial analyses, officials said. From those, the state will select a smaller pool of options this year to complete a draft of the environmental impact statement before a final option is selected and recommended in 2020. Transportation officials say the narrowed list of alternative were chosen to meet certain criteria, including that the project must be able to pay for itself.
Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that Virginia has selected a contractor to build two new tunnels and widen a major highway in Hampton Roads. The $3.3 billion price tag - funded by regional gas and sales taxes, tolls and other sources - makes it one of the two biggest transportation projects in commonwealth history.

Northam, D, touted the deal, saying he is "proud of the hard work and negotiations that have taken place over this past year," and state Sen. Frank Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, in return offered praise for the embattled governor.

"I want to personally thank Governor Northam and his team for making this day possible," Wagner said in a statement.

The winning consortium, Hampton Roads Connector Partners, is led by the U.S. arm of the Spanish construction firm Dragados. Plans call for a large boring machine to dig under the soft floor of a vital commercial and military channel, a construction method transportation officials said will cut down on disruptions to shipping traffic.

A pair of two-lane tunnels will be added, and Interstate 64's four lanes will expand to eight during rush hour. The project is slated for completion in November 2025.

The improvements to the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel are meant to ease daily snarls in the highly congested stretch between Hampton and Norfolk, which sometimes carries more than 100,000 cars a day. The original two-lane tunnels opened in 1957 and 1976.

"This project will help double capacity. Today, people can get backed up for miles at times. It can be 20, 30, 45 minutes," Deputy Transportation Secretary Nick Donohue said.

The bulk of the money for the improvements will come from a regional gas and sales tax increase put in place as part of a statewide transportation funding law in 2013. The law has also been used by northern Virginia to raise revenue.

There will also be $200 million in state funds under a program that prioritizes projects that reduce congestion, officials said. And Virginia is seeking about $1 billion in subsidized federal loans under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act for the tunnel and other projects, Donohue said.

"This is a monumental day for the commonwealth, and Hampton Roads in particular," said Del. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "The fact that we have a contract for the new tunnel . . . is something many didn't think they'd see in their lifetime. When you combine it with the other work that's been done by the Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission, it's pretty amazing."

The commission is the body set up to decide how to spend the regional transportation funds, and Jones, a member, pointed to its work on numerous area bridge and road projects.

Tolls will be charged on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel's new lanes, while the old lanes will remain free, Jones said.

"We haven't decided if they're going to be 24-7, or if they're going to be HOT lanes just during rush hour," Jones said, using a term for toll lanes that allow car pools or vehicles with multiple passengers to travel free. Officials are conducting a toll study to inform the decision, he said.

Virginia's Department of Transportation said the $3.3 billion effort to remake the bridge-tunnel is the biggest single transportation project in state history, though combining the two individual phases of northern Virginia's Dulles rail project, which is bringing the Silver Line to Dulles International Airport, totals $5.8 billion.

Despite the tumult in Richmond that started after a racist photo from the 1984 medical school yearbook of Northam surfaced about two weeks ago, Jones said that "it's been business as usual for us at the Capitol." He said legislators have worked well with Northam administration officials, who have been instrumental in the project.

Donohue said the procurement has been underway since December 2017, and Friday's announcement was not timed for political benefit.

"This project represents the culmination of the region and the state working together in a bipartisan and collaborative fashion to get results for commuters in Virginia," he said.

In addition to Dragados USA, members of the winning team, selected based on bids and technical specifications, are HDR and Mott MacDonald, the lead designers, and Flatiron Construction, Vinci Construction and Dodin Campenon Bernard, a France-based construction company.
Fathers rights advocates are making another attempt this year to push for a change in Illinois family law that sparked immense controversy in 2018  equal parenting time legislation.

Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, is the lead sponsor of a bill that would create a rebuttable presumption in divorce cases that both parties should be given equal parenting time with any children of that marriage.

It also would require that, when judges in divorce cases deviate from the standard, they explain in writing why they decided one parent should have more time with the children than the other.

That would be a sharp departure from the current legal standard in Illinois, which allows judges wide discretion to assign custody and parenting time in a way that reflects the best interests of the child.

But James Bedell, a psychologist who practices in suburban Chicago and is a proponent of the bill, said the best interests of the child standard is vague and flawed, and that equal parenting time actually is in the best interests of children.

Children have a fundamental bonding attachment to each parent, he said. They establish that in the course of the marriage. They establish that in the course of both parents (having) fundamental and equal involvement with the child. And when divorce occurs, there is no necessary reason why a child who has equal access to both parents should suddenly not have equal access to both parents.

A similar bill was introduced in the 2018 session but failed to make it through the House process. Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago), who chairs the subcommittee handling the bill, opened Thursdays hearing by recalling the intense debate last year when, she said, supporters of the measure, engaged in inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, including bullying, threats and harassment of those who opposed it.

One of the individuals who testified had photos of his children posted online on the pages of organizations supporting the bill, she said. Another attorney was attacked online and had to shut down his Twitter account.  Several individuals who took a public position against the bill received ongoing threats via phone calls to the point that law enforcement was called.

Ford also recalled that, when those events happened, he and other supporters of the bill had a news conference to say they did not condone such behavior. But he insisted that supporters of the change also deserve to be heard.

This is a very contentious bill and it deserves to have a real discussion, he said.

While individuals on both sides indicated they hope the tone of this years debate will be more civil, opponents of the measure indicated they still have reservations about changing the standard on parenting time.

It is essential that the well-being of children in custody proceedings remain focused on a childs best interests and not on a number, said Danielle Gomez, an attorney with the Cook County Public Guardian, an agency that represents children in highly contested custody cases.

In particular, Gomez said, children of divorced parents would be adversely affected the most by any change.

They are the ones who will be exposed to additional conflict if they are shuttled back and forth between their parents homes, she said. Children are keenly aware of the discord among their parents, no matter what our best attempts are to alleviate that. They know whats going on, and they perceive that.

The subcommittee took no action on the bill Thursday. Ford said he intends to continue working on details of the plan in hopes of crafting a bill that can pass the full House.

We are here to get it right and do whats in the best interests of the state, he said. Im just hoping that the members of this committee will have an open mind, because I dont know if we have a perfect law on the book today, and so what this bill tries to do is make it more perfect.

According to information on the General Assemblys website, as of Thursday more than 2,500 individuals had signed up as supporters of the measure, while more than 3,300 have signed up as opponents.

The legislation is House Bill 185.
Mike and Carole Conley of Godfrey will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Feb. 22, 2019.

Mike, after graduation from Illinois State University, became a Major and aviator in the US Marine Corps, and afterward had a successful 35 years in their insurance industry and retired as the president and CEO of a MetLife company. He is internationally recognized as the creator of the first virtual insurance company and built three such companies in the US, Canada and the Netherlands. Mike has professional designations as a Chartered Life Underwriter and Chartered Financial Consultant.

Carole has retired as the founder/owner of Art and Framing Consultants, and was president of 5As for 13 years and also a State of Illinois Humane Investigator. She is currently a very active volunteer for SNIP, which is a spay and nurturing program for Riverbend pet owners, and is also president of Friends of Hayner Library, which raises funds for the library through quarterly book sales.

Mike and Carole have two daughters, Jennifer Krafka and Erin Heil, and four grandchildren that all grew up and reside in Alton.

A friends and family open house is planned in March.
U.S. nuclear energy developers on Tuesday met with President Donald Trump and asked for help winning contracts to build power plants in the Middle East and elsewhere overseas.

"There is competition around the globe, and we want to be part of it," said Chris Crane, the chief executive officer of Exelon Corp., the largest U.S. operator of nuclear plants, following the meeting at the White House.

The push comes as developers seek U.S. government approval of next-generation advanced and small modular nuclear reactors -- and the administration's help in selling their products to the world. The International Atomic Energy Agency predicts that some 554 gigawatts of nuclear electric generating capacity will come online by 2030, a 42 percent increase over current levels.

The White House meeting included representatives from a range of nuclear developers, including NuScale Power, TerraPower, Westinghouse Electric Co. and General Electric, as well as suppliers Centrus Energy Corp. and Lightbridge Corp. and other companies. It was initiated by Jack Keane, a retired Army general and the co-founder of IP3 International, a company that has advocated American nuclear power development in the Middle East, according to two people familiar with the session.

The executives sought to enlist Trump in their bid to make U.S. nuclear power more competitive globally, such as with financing assistance to vie against subsidized companies. Russia, China and France are also seeking to build nuclear plants overseas.

"The United States needs to maintain a leadership position," said Crane, flanked by Dan Poneman of Centrus Energy Group and John Hopkins, president of NuScale. "There's a huge economic upside for jobs -- manufacturing jobs, operating jobs, engineering jobs -- that can be created in us playing a more stronger role in the international economy."

Participants in the meeting described Trump as engaged and probing.

"He really wanted to hear from us on what our views are on how we win the global nuclear energy technology race," said J. Clay Sell, the chief executive officer of X-energy, a Maryland-based advanced nuclear reactor company that is in talks to build reactors in Jordan.

Sell said the company is set to meet next week with representatives of Jordan, with whom they have a memorandum of understanding, though a nuclear-sharing agreement has yet to be finalized.

The developers argued that U.S. national security would be jeopardized if the country cedes its role as a chief developer of civilian nuclear power plants. As the domestic nuclear fleet ages -- and the prospects for building a new wave of plants diminish -- exporting the technology globally is a way to ensure a robust and thriving U.S. brain trust on nuclear power.

"There was a notion in the room that this is very much a competition with Russia and China and there are strategic benefits to the U.S. being involved in overseas nuclear programs and there are strategic losses if they aren't," said Seth Grae, president of Lightbridge Corp.

The executives are looking for Trump to highlight the role U.S. nuclear developers can play in providing power to other countries, just as the president touts American exports of natural gas, according to people familiar with the session.

One possibility: A directive laying out U.S. nuclear power development as a chief national security goal.

Also on the table: Efforts to secure agreements to share U.S. nuclear technology with Middle East nations, including Jordan and Saudi Arabia. While negotiations for a so-called 123 agreement with Saudi Arabia were damaged after the killing of columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, an agreement with Jordan is also a possibility.

Some nuclear executives also expressed concerns about a raft of policies designed to boost their competitors generating renewable power. The industry representatives meeting with Trump promised to come back in a few months with more concrete ideas.

Separately Tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would require any nuclear sharing agreement between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. meet the so-called "gold standard" barring enrichment and reprocessing of uranium.

The White House has vowed to help the nuclear power industry, which is struggling to compete with electricity from cheaper natural gas and renewables, but the administration so far hasn't been able to formulate a plan to do so.

IP3 International is backed by several prominent national security figures, including Keane, whom Trump has considered as a possible defense secretary.

Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser who pleaded guilty to making false and fraudulent statements to the FBI, has been linked to IP3 and was accused of failing to disclose private travel and meetings tied to a plan by Russia and Saudi Arabia to build nuclear plants while seeking a government security clearance.

Representatives of IP3 did not respond to a request seeking comment. A NuScale representative referred questions about the meeting to the U.S. Nuclear Infrastructure Council, which didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokeswoman for the White House declined to comment.

- - -

Bloomberg's Alyza Sebenius contributed.
Amazon's sudden abandonment of its touted New York City project sends a message to companies and elected officials nationwide that it's not enough to promise to create jobs to win public support for new investments in cities already facing growth pains, analysts said.

Instead, business and political leaders need to focus as well on solving problems of gentrification that the new jobs will exacerbate, including housing costs, overcrowded schools and displacement of longtime residents.

The political dynamics in what one urban expert called the "disaster" in New York also highlighted the growing strength of the left wing of the Democratic Party. The emergence of a populist "Tea Party of the Left" led some elected officials to switch sides to oppose the Amazon plan and others to mute their support, according to political observers.

One consequence is that in an era of heightened concern about economic inequality and excessive corporate power, it will be harder than in the past to justify offering huge subsidies to wealthy companies as New York proposed for Amazon.

Amazon stunned New York and the nation this week by announcing that it was canceling its plan to build a tech campus in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens with at least 25,000 jobs paying an average of at least $150,000 a year.

The company cited local opposition, particularly from state legislators and city council members who threatened to kill some of the subsidies in a total incentives package of up to $3 billion.

The withdrawal marked a sour end to the Seattle-based company's lengthy, much-hyped search for a second headquarters, in which 238 jurisdictions initially competed for a project that was originally supposed to create 50,000 jobs. In November, Amazon announced that it was splitting the prize - 25,000 jobs apiece to Queens and to Arlington, Virginia.

Amazon is not facing anywhere near as much opposition in Virginia as in New York. Virginia has already given final approval to up to $750 million in state incentives, and county leaders say their interactions with the online retail giant have gone smoothly.

Arlington is more welcoming partly because it has been trying for years to lure a company to fill commercial office spaces left vacant by a Pentagon withdrawal more than a decade ago. State officials got bipartisan buy-in from Richmond legislators before unveiling the state's subsidy package. Labor unions are more powerful in New York than in Virginia, a right-to-work state.

Elsewhere in the country, the New York pullout could be a landmark event that changes how states and cities go about luring investments to metropolitan areas where the explosive growth of the tech economy is already causing strains, analysts said. Such stresses have already appeared in Amazon's home in Seattle, and in San Francisco.

Companies could be asked to accept smaller subsidies, or none at all, and to agree to do more to support affordable housing and local infrastructure.

"The reality of this economy is facing political backlash," said Amy Liu, director of the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution. "There are overall concerns about wealth concentrations and inequality. . . . There's just a lot less tolerance, particularly in the [urban] markets with concentrated wealth, to accept more of this growth or, worse yet, to subsidize it."

The collapse of Amazon's project in Queens led to an intense round of finger-pointing among the company, politicians who supported the project and those who opposed it. Opinion polls showed strong popular backing for the project in principle, but there was less support for the subsidies. Also, opponents were organized and vocal.

"This is a disaster on all fronts," said Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto School of Cities. He said Amazon erred by picking a site in a part of the city filled with liberal sympathizers in unions and community groups.

"Jeff Bezos should stand up and fire the site selection team," Florida said, referring to Amazon's founder and chief executive, who also owns The Washington Post. "Anyone who is sentient would have said, 'You are putting this in a hotbed of activism.' Somebody didn't do their homework."

Amazon officials disagreed, noting that the level of opposition surprised many in New York, including top elected officials.

Amazon opponents celebrated their victory Thursday evening by dancing to the sounds of mariachis and a Caribbean drum group at a street party in Queens. They smashed open a pinata with Bezos' face on it.

"It was a barrio that beat back the billionaire," said Angeles Solis, lead organizer for Make the Road New York, an organization of low-income immigrants and communities of color.

Solis said local opponents were most concerned about gentrification and Amazon's partnership with companies that work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"The issues that really resounded with our members and community were displacement, school overcrowding and Amazon's data surveillance practices and partnership with ICE," Solis said.

She said lower-income residents didn't think they'd get many of the 25,000 jobs, a concern echoed by independent analysts.

"New Yorkers have seen these projects come in with a lot of promises, and they don't always work out so well for the working-class people," said Marie Checker, a professor of urban studies at Queens College.

Opponents echoed that worry, predicting the new jobs would go to outsiders whom they derided as "Red Sox fans" who would root against the hometown Yankees.

The rising concerns about gentrification have contributed to growth of an outspoken, anti-corporate wing of the Democratic Party, spurred as well by opposition to President Donald Trump. One of its champions is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., whose district borders the planned Amazon site and who helped lead the opposition to the project.

One consequence was that some political leaders who originally supported the Amazon plan changed their minds, and other supporters declined to speak up strongly in favor of the project.

Those who switched positions included state Sen. Michael Gianaris, D-Queens, the deputy majority leader in the Senate; Deputy Leader of the City Council James Van Bramer, D-Queens; and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, also a Democrat.

They have said they changed their position because the subsidies package was excessive and the deal with Amazon was structured to avoid the normal review process for city land-use decisions. Political observers said another factor was fear of a left-wing primary opponent in future elections.

"To the extent that some elected officials may be concerned that even if they are fairly left, that they could face a challenge from the left . . . that could be a factor in goading officials to be more visible on this than they otherwise would have been," said Jarrett Murphy, executive editor of City Limits, a nonprofit investigative news site.
Here's an excerpt from an article provided by the New York National Guard as part of a series about World War I and its aftermath based on information from the New York State Military Museum, Saratoga Springs.

The African-American Soldiers of the New York National Guard's 15th Infantry Regiment didn't get a parade when they left for World War I in 1917.

There were New York City parades for the Guardsmen of the 27th Division and the 42nd Division and the draftee Soldiers of the 77th Division.

But when the commander of the 15th Infantry asked to march with the 42nd  nicknamed the Rainbow Division  he was reportedly told that "black is not a color of the rainbow" as part of the "no."

But on Feb. 17, 1919, when those 2,900 soldiers came home as the "Harlem Hell Fighters" of the 369th Infantry Regiment, New York City residents, both white and black, packed the streets as they paraded up Fifth Avenue.

"Throngs pay tribute to the Heroic 15th," proclaimed the New York Tribune.

"Theirs is the finest of records," the New York Tribune wrote in its coverage of the parade. "The entire regiment was awarded the Croix de Guerre. Under fire for 191 days they never lost a prisoner or a foot of ground."

In the early 20th century, black Americans could not join the New York National Guard. While there were African American regiments in the Army there were none in the New York National Guard.

In 1916 the governor authorized the creation of the 15th New York Infantry to be manned by African-Americans  with white officers  and headquartered in Harlem where 50,000 of the 60,000 black residents of Manhattan lived in 1910.

When the New York Guard went to war in 1917 so did the 15th New York. But when the unit showed up in Spartanburg, S.C. to train, the soldiers met discrimination at every turn.

To get his men out of South Carolina, Col. William Hayward, the commander, pushed for his unit to go to France as soon as possible. So in December 1917, well before most American soldiers, the men from Harlem arrived in France.

At first they served unloading supply ships.

But the French Army needed soldiers and the U.S. Army was ambivalent about black troops. So the 15th New York, now renamed the 369th Infantry, was sent to fight under French command, solving a problem for both armies.

In March 1918, the 369th was in combat. And while the American commander, Gen. John J. Pershing restricted press reports on soldiers and units under his command, the French Army did not.

When Pvts. Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts won the French Croix de Guerre for fighting off a German patrol it was big news in the U.S. A country hungry for war news and American heroes discovered the 369th.

The 369th was in combat for 191 days; never losing a position, never losing a man as a prisoner, and only failing once to gain an objective. Their unit band, led by famed bandleader James Europe, became famous across France for playing jazz music.

Welcomed home

When the 369th arrived in Hoboken, N.J. on Feb. 10, 1919, the New York City Mayor's Committee of Welcome to the Homecoming Troops began planning the party.

On Feb. 17, the soldiers traveled by ferry from Long Island and landed at East 34th Street.

They marched up Fifth Avenue and passed a reviewing stand that included Gov. Al Smith and Mayor John Hylan at Sixtieth Street. The official parade route would cover more than seven miles from 23rd Street to 145th Street and Lennox Avenue in Harlem.

Lt. Europe marched with his band, the New York Tribune noted, while Sgt. Henry Johnson, who had killed four Germans and chased away 24 others, rode in a car because he had a "silver plate in his foot as a relic of that memorable occasion."

Johnson lived in Albany and was awarded a Medial of Honor in 2015.

Along the route of the march, soldiers were tossed candy and cigarettes and flowers, newspapers noted. Millionaire Henry Frick stood on the steps of his Fifth Avenue mansion and waved an American flag and cheered as the men marched past.

When the 369th turned off Fifth Avenue onto Lennox Avenue for the march into Harlem the welcome grew even louder, the New York Sun reported. People crammed themselves onto the sidewalk and into the windows of the buildings along the route to see their soldiers come home.

At 145th Street the parade came to its end and families went looking for their soldiers.

"The fathers and mothers and wives and sweethearts of the men would no longer be denied and they swooped through police lines like water through a sieve," the Sun wrote.

"The Soldiers were too well trained to break ranks but when a mother spied her son and threw her arms around his neck with joy at getting him back again, he just hugged her off her feet," the paper wrote.

With the parade over the men were guided into subway cars and headed to the Park Avenue Armory, home of the 71st Regiment, for a chicken dinner and more socializing. The regimental band, which had begun playing at 6 a.m. and performed all day finally got a break during the dinner and the men rested.

The New York Times noted that the band boasted five kettle drums presented to the unit by the French Army "as a mark of esteem." They also had a drum captured from a German unit that had been "driven back so rapidly that they lost interest in bulky impedimenta."

The New York Times estimated that 10,000 people waited outside the armory and "all the spaces about the Armory were packed with negro women and girls." The Soldiers inside ate quickly and came back out to find their families.

"I saw the allied parade in Paris and thought that was about the biggest thing that had ever happened, but this had it stopped," Lt. Europe told the New York Sun reporter as the party ran down.
Saratoga Springs

Muslims around the world enthusiastically embrace Valentines Day, even in war-battered countries where car bombs pose an everyday threat. In Iraq, crimson and pink heart balloons float over market stalls and vendors sell roses and huge scarlet teddy bears. In Kabul, Afghan vendors sell heart trinkets and chocolates.

Pakistan banned Valentine's Day last year. But sweethearts were so determined to celebrate it, police at checkpoints searched cars for heart-shaped gifts and red stuffed toys.

"Muslims, like everyone, enjoy the idea of a day dedicated to true love, which is what all humans want," said Schenectady resident Samin Khan, who grew up in Norway after her parents moved there from Pakistan.

Khan married an American man and enjoyed being his valentine.

"But the commercialization of Valentines Day always bothered me," Khan said. "Then I started to realize how loaded with triggers Valentine's is for those suffering loneliness or great loss."

Khan is a leader in the Capital Region chapter of Ahmadiyya, a nationwide Muslim social and philanthropic club that fosters many interfaith projects. Khan has helped food pantries, refugees, the homeless and battered women. Just like the refugees fleeing war zones, the abused women she met "literally ran for their lives often with just the clothes on their backs. It was clear they felt so alone."

Meanwhile last month, Khan's 14-year-old daughter, Elaham Malik, was working on an Ahmadiyya project collecting food donations for a women's shelter.

"When I opened the shelter's pantry door, the shelves were all bare," Malik said, still a bit amazed. "The volunteers told me how the shelter struggles for donations after the Christmas season ends."

She and Khan wanted to do a Valentine's Day project to comfort women hidden in Capital Region domestic violence shelters and safe houses. They wanted to make 100 beautifully decorated gift boxes, each containing essentials like toothbrushes plus a mix of candy and pampering treats like gourmet tea and beauty products.

"I thought how much better I feel when I give myself some special time for a facial or manicure with pretty polish," Malik said.

The teen made 100 vanilla-scented, coconut oil soaps and lip glosses.

Volunteers from Saratoga Springs' Presbyterian New England Congregational Church and Temple Sinai helped Ahmadiyya collect donations.

Presbyterian volunteer Linda Letendre met Khan at a fun fair Ahmadiyya women organized for everyone of all faiths to enjoy food, games and learn about Muslim traditions. The event was held right before Donald Trump was elected president and Letendre remembers anti-Muslim fervor was running high at rallies and protests across America.

Letendre approached Khan's table to invite them to a church event. They were so sweet to her that, to her embarrassment, she burst into tears.

The ladies clustered around her, offering her tea, a chair to sit in and henna hand tattoos to cheer her.

"Samin and I became friends; we have dinner at each other's homes, go for coffee, chat on the phone," Letendre said.

Rabbi Linda Motzkin suggested letting children decorate the elegant brownish-bronze boxes with hearts of pastel paper and gold foil, lace doilies and glittery ribbons.

The volunteers also asked the children to write a note with a different message each for each of the 100 women. Khan remembers the phrases were simple: "I will be your friend" and "We send you love" and "I want you to be happy."

The messages may sound as sweetly prosaic as candy conversation hearts. But coming from a child, they seemed deeply heartfelt.

Khan imagined a woman who had lost everything  home, friends, possessions, even her sense of self worth  opening the gift and reading the note. The messages weren't magic. But they represented the powerful idea that unmet friends exist truly is.

"We may never meet the women in the safe houses, but they'll understand the message that people who would respect and care about her, were somewhere nearby," Khan said. "

"She will know that the gifts come from women of different faiths and religions who share the same ideas about what friendship and love truly are," Khan added.

She counts the women who worked on this project as true friends.

"Interfaith project such as this one are essential to tear down walls and build bridges of love and understanding," she said.

"Love wins in the end even in dark times. I have to believe that because what is the alternative?"
A MOYROSS man has been remanded in custody after being charged in connection with the discovery of an explosive device in the estate.

Anthony McNamara, 34, with an address at Ballygrennan Close was arrested on Thursday after gardai found what they believe to be a "viable" pipebomb during searches of the area.

At a special sitting of Limerick District Court this Saturday afternoon, Judge Mary Larkin refused bail for the 34-year-old after he was charged under section four of the Explosive Substances Act 1883.

It is alleged that on an unknown date, the accused made an explosive substance.

Giving evidence to the court, Garda Denis O'Leary, Henry Street station, said a copper pipe was recovered, with a suspected explosive substance at its core from a bin beside Mr McNamara's home.

Garda O'Leary told the court it will be alleged the copper pipe was seven inches in length, with a fuse coming out of it, and an "improvised explosive substance" inside the tube.

Ballistics analysis had concluded that it was an "explosive substance", he added

The court heard how when he was arrested last Thursday, the accused stated what was recovered "wasn't an explosive device".

Defence solicitor Con Barry argued that his client was "experimenting" after finding two fireworks left over.

He said if Mr McNamara had put together an explosive device, he would not have left it in a wheelie bin beside his home and in close proximity to the household of his mother, who lives next door.

Gardai opposed the application - citing fears Mr McNamara would commit further alleged offences if out on bail.

Judge Larkin refused the bail application, with the accused set to appear again at Limerick District Court this Tuesday morning.
EIGHT original creations designed by innovative Limerick students have made it through to the semi-finals of Junk Kouture 2019.

Now in its ninth year, Irelands leading fashion and art competition for secondary schools challenges students to create unique, original and innovative outfits from recycled materials and junk.

The all Ireland competition sees students combining fashion design, engineering and environmental sustainability to create show-stopping couture garments.

We were blown away by the standard and imagination of this years entries, Junk Kouture operations manager Megan Kelly said.

The judges have had the most difficult job since the competition has begun, to decide who should go forward to the semi-finals.

We also had more entries this year, which made the decision choosing process even more challenging. Limerick students will represent their schools with eight fantastic creations in the Southern regional semi-final next month.

Colaiste Ide agus Iosef will represent their school in Abbeyfeale with Plastic Fantastic, Hazelwood College in Dromcollogher will be represented by Eat, Sleep, Shoot, Repeat and students at Colaiste Iosaef in Kilmallock have created Peeking Blinders.

Students at Salesian Secondary College in Pallaskenry, created Walking Wilderness, which was inspired by the wild hedgerows in the County Limerick village.

Students at Colaiste Nano Nagle on Sexton Street qualified for the Southern Regional semi-final with two designs; Wipe Out and Rome-ing in d-Nile.

Villiers Secondary School will also compete in March with its students colourful entry Hidden Lotus and students at Ardscoil Mhuire in Corbally will represent their school with United Colours.
SINN Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan has repeated his call on Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy to introduce rent controls in Limerick.

It comes after figures out this week revealed prices for tenants have skyrocketed once again year-on-year, a move claimed as scandalous by the City TD.

According to the Daft.ie quarterly rental report, the average rental price in Limerick is now 16.7% higher than in the last quarter of 2017, ending the year at 1,171  and 827 in the county.

Mr Quinlivan said: Renters in Limerick are continuing to see their rates spiral out of control, as Fine Gael refuse to take radical action to address the problem. Limerick has been particularly hard hit with huge rent increases. Rents are continuing to rise to unsustainable levels. This is not a sustainable situation. How on earth are working people looking to rent in Limerick supposed to afford such an increase in rent in one year?

Mr Quinlivan acknowledged rent certainty will not resolve the issue of high rents.

It will however put a break on the unaffordable rent increases that thousands of people are facing. The huge increase in rents coupled with a severe shortage of homes to rent and buy is exacerbating the housing crisis, he said.

Despite the average rent standing at 1,171, Mr Quinlivan believes youd struggle to find a property at that price, due to a lack of supply.

A three-bedroom house in Raheen is for rent at 1,400, however 2 bed apartments are advertised for 1,200 per month which is beyond the reach of many. These rent increases are not sustainable and many working families cannot afford these high rents or find suitable properties to live in. Many working families earn too much to get any social support and too little to get a mortgage, now many cant even afford to rent, he added.

Rents in other Irish cities continued to climb  in Dublin, the average rate for tenants was 1,982, up 8.8% year-on-year.

In Cork, the average stood at 1,314, up 11.4%, in Galway, its 1,239, up 13.1%, while in Waterford, the average rate is 968, up 16% annually.
No Party for Billy Burns, a locally produced and shot film that was first released in 2017 is making it's debut in The CornMill Theatre, Carrigallen on Saturday, February 23 at 8pm.



Director Padraig Conaty said the screening is a sort of homecoming for the film that has three Leitrim actors in it; Seamus O'Rourke, Charlie McGuinness and Sean Fox.

Gowna man, Padraig is hoping to have the film play at a number of European film festival and screenings this year, but first he would like Seamus O'Rourke to see it!

Leitrim Observer columnist Seamus plays a small part in the film, but due to his hectic schedule has not seen the finished product.



Preceding the main event will also be a screening of the short film You're Not a Man at All, shot locally in Carrigallen and Gowna, starring Seamus O'Rourke and written by O'Rourke and Conaty.

Padraig said the Billy Burns film which had a filming budget of 7,000 and with editing cost about 25,000 plays really well with audiences, there is humour but also a reality ... a heart to it.



Asked if he had a problem getting people to take part in an almost zero budget film, Padraig said the opposite was the case.

We held auditions and had a lot of Dublin actors down but their Cavan accents were so put on that we went with the local actors and they really shone, there is so much talent in this area of Leitrim and Cavan.

Some of the actors in this film such as Sean Fox have gone onto bigger and better things.



One of the stars of RTE's Taken Down, Sean is currently performing in the Cripple of Inishmann in The Gaiety Theatre and Padraig said that is no surprise, Sean has a small part but what he does, he does very well.

The plan will be to release the Billy Burns film online after it had a few more days out at festivals and screening.

Conaty who works in the Irish film industry in a professional and technical capacity has a few projects in the air.



As well as promoting Billy Burns, the writer and director is also working with Seamus O'Rourke on a new script for a film.

While details at the moment are quite secret, Padraig did let the Leitrim Observer know the film has a GAA theme and will look at the current GAA culture.

As usual we will try to make people laugh and cry ... the basics! It is very early days but he is excited to get started on the feature length film.



Padraig commented on the current film scene locally, with companies such as Bandit Films in Dromahair and Philip Doherty currently shooting a new film in Swanlinbar and Cavan Town, he said this region is flourishing with creativity.

We have always had a good creative scene locally but that is getting more recognition and is allowing people to stop seeing it as a hobby and turn it into a successful career.

Screening

No Party for Billy Burns will screen in The CornMill Theatre, Carrigallen on Saturday, February 23 at 8pm.

Billy Burns is a would-be cowboy lost in the dreary fields of Cavan.

Stranded at home with his grandfather and ridiculed for his innocent ways, Billy works for local ranchers, saving his money for a trip up to the big city.

When Billy falls in with the local thug he finds the adventure and excitement he always looked for, but the local crew pick on the weak, Billy is left broken and bruised, with little left to lose.

Seamus O'Rourke and Charles McGuinness are expected to be in attendance.

Bookings: (087)2570363.

Also read: Dermot Healy's masterpiece in The Corn Mill Theatre
The European Committee of Regions met in Lough Rynn this week to talk about the rural revival of towns and villages. It is difficult to talk about rural revival in Leitrim without touching on the subject of forestry; but Scottish Minister Mairi Gougeon MSP certainly had a different view on the controversial issue when she spoke in Lough Rynn this week at the European Committee of Regions.



Cllr Enda Stenson brought up the forestry issue when he welcomed his EU colleagues to Mohill on Monday.

He said he believes Europe has an urban agenda and has ignored vast swathes of rural areas, he argued, we have not got the finance we deserve to survive.



Stenson said forestry was also an EU agenda which is grant aided and is pushing people out. He explained that when large companies outbid locals, people leave and trees don't go into shops and support local communities.



However, Minister Gougeon, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment had a different perspective on forestry.

Speaking on keeping young people in rural Scotland, the minister said more forestry was one of her country's big aims.

While she noted the conflict of forestry, she said Scotland have a set ambitious targets to plant 10,000 hectares of woodland until 2025 and then 15,000 hectares from there on.



She said this is vitally important for climate change, as a natural flood management and for local jobs.

Ms Gougeon said their forestry plans went hand in hand with policies on rural communities and keeping young people in the country.



She did stress that the Scottish policy is about the right tree in the right place and using natural woodlands to help fight climate change.

The outspoken minister said Scotland are also aiming to be carbon neutral by 2050.

Save Leitrim had placed a number of banners campaigning against forestry on the route to Lough Rynn Castle Hotel to co-incide with the EU meeting.





Also read: SMART Mohill to be the face of EU rural revival
When it comes to beer styles the Beer Judge Certificate Programme (BJCP) lists hundreds of them, and warns that they are continuously evolving.

Read also: Naas mourns the passing of Peter Doyle

So how does someone dipping their toes into the craft beer world get a taste for different beers, or even work out what they might like to drink?

The BJCP website is an invaluable resource to help you tell a Berliner Weisse from a London Porter. But before you get into the nitty gritty and complexities of specific beer styles, we believe that having a general grasp of the broader beer categories can help ensure you are drinking a delicious beer, and hopefully give you a reference point from where to find new beers to enjoy.

Provided a beer is brewed to style, knowing about different styles should help you choose a beer that is just right for you, and ensure you are getting something you will enjoy in your beer glass.

There are a few key ways of categorising beer styles.

Firstly, beers can be differentiated by the ingredients used to brew them: choosing different types of grain or even different barleys will impart specific characteristics, flavours or even colours to the finished beer. Wheat, rye, barley malt, rice and sorghum each have their own attributes.

Our advice is to start with a beer you enjoy and carefully read its ingredients. While most beer is brewed with malted barley, it is interesting to note the different grains or adjuncts which turn up in your favourite brews.

Once you know what makes a beer taste the way you like it, you can then seek out these ingredients in other brews.

As ingredients often influence a beers colour, this is another way to help categorise a beer; dark coloured beer such as roasty stouts fall at one end of the spectrum and tend to be choc-full of roasted and malty flavours with notes of coffee and chocolate; bright clear beers such as lagers or pale ales, at the other end of the spectrum are often crisp, light, refreshing beers.

However, watch out as colour alone is not always an indication as to how a beer will taste.

We have imbibed the palest-coloured beers that are jam-packed with flavour, and dark beers that surprise the palate with their elegant, light, drinkability. Just as a book cant be always be judged by its cover, the colour of a beer can point you towards a particular style direction but can sometimes be misleading.

Throughout history, specific geographical areas have become synonymous with the production of particular beer styles.

Beers from Belgium, for example, are known for their malty backbone, but Belgium is also known for its brewing diversity. From here, you can expect to find well-crafted high ABV beers as well as delicious sours.

Germany has a reputation for producing excellent, clean, crisp lagers, while in the USA hops are king and west coast IPAs pack a bitter, aromatic, often high-alcohol punch.

Getting to grips with the general styles associated with a particular country or region will help you navigate through the beer taps and bottles of your local pub or off-licence all the easier.

One of the most distinct ways of differentiating beer styles is by the type of yeast used to brew them. It can be argued that all beer falls into one of two categories: ales or lagers depending on the type and the way a beer is brewed.

As you know from our previous articles, all yeasts devour sugars and produce CO2 and alcohol to make beer, but the method in which they do this is different, depending on the strain of yeast.

Historically, yeasts can be broadly divided into two types; top fermenting yeasts or ale yeasts, so called because the yeast cells flocculate (gather together) at the top of the fermenting vessel; and bottom fermenting yeasts, such as lager yeasts, strains which prefer to flocculate at the bottom of the fermenting vessel.

In simple terms, that makes every beer brewed either an ale or a lager. While many of todays modern yeast strains like to confound this generalisation, there is one constant, distinguishing, important difference, and that is temperature.

Ale yeasts like warmer temperatures; they become dormant below about 12C, while lager yeasts will happily work at temperatures as low as 4C. Different yeast strains impart different characteristics, so you can get a steer towards what to expect them to taste like by knowing if a beer is described as an ale or a lager.

So when youre faced with unfamiliar styles, we hope that getting to grips with these simple ways of framing and categorising beers will help make your next beer decision a little easier.
Maybe its the height of it; churches are generally so tall they are the outstanding pieces of architecture in most Irish towns, with the steeples often visible from some distance.

Read also:New coffee shop and roastery on the way to Naas

Rathangans Church of the Assumption has a slightly forbidding look. It sits on an elevated site with a prairie of a car park out front.

The sight of people out demonstrating in Drogheda over a suggestion that the name of the local hospital be changed from Our Lady of Lourdes brought to mind just how diminished the influence of the church has become in less than three decades.

About 1,000 people took to the streets of the County Louth town before Christmas. Depending on your point of view, this protest is a quirky throwback to the days when women wore head scarves and every house had a picture of the Pope, John F Kennedy and the Sacred Heart.

Or, less likely, its the faint beginnings of a counter revolution by people who feel the church has been pushed around too much and for too long. If youre old enough its hard to get your head around just how rapidly and inexorably the churchs influence has waned.

The church in Rathangan is probably the biggest building in the town and its not unique in that.

Certainly its the most imposing. Back then it was located between the Convent of Mercy and the primary school, which, like most primary schools is managed to a Catholic ethos. Added together, the three buildings amounted to a mini Vatican republic.

Its hard to imagine that churches were not built deliberately to create an impression of power, to be approached with sense of foreboding.

There are many simple churches dotted around the place but the Catholic churches were generally impressive affairs with no end of marble and expensive wood and metal.

There was a time in Rathangan when two priests worked or served there, and sometimes one would come home from the missions, generally in Africa, and there would be three.

There were three masses on a Sunday and one on a Saturday and a daily mass.

Children were forced out of their homes to attend one of these, and to go to confession at least once a month, a daunting enough task for an 11-year-old.

The priest would visit the schools, the primary schools anyway. The pupils would be warned in advance that the priest was coming and to be on their best behaviour. Even as a child you sensed that the teachers were a little nervous about the arrival of the ecclesiastical visitor.

The parish priest then in Rathangan was Fr William Kinsella, an austere figure who nevertheless lived a simple life. Hed ask you a question or two about religion but mostly he felt he was fulfilling a duty. One of the more interesting questions he asked us was if our eyes ever lied. Of course not.

They do, he said, because if you look at a railway track it narrows into the distance when in fact its the same width all the way.

Religion as a subject on the curriculum was important.

So important that we were taught a foolproof way to remember how to spell Catechism correctly every time.

We learned a poem using the first letter of each word in sequence to get it right  Call Adam Tell Eve CH Is Selling Meat.

For CH you inserted name of someone in your class with those initials. In Rathangan we had two, blessed as were with a Christopher Harhen and a Cyril Hackett.

And the parochial houses in Rathangan and elsewhere were generally impressive homesteads.

They had to be supported and this was done by the parishioner every week and at least once a year with an envelope contribution.

The amounts paid into the envelopes were announced from the altar on one of those Sundays when the mass seemed to go on for six hours as the priest read out every name in the parish as well as the amount they paid.

It was a crude but effective way of ensuring that everyone contributed. Some people interpreted the donations of others as self-aggrandizement.

It also confirmed the identities of families you thought might be struggling

Thered have been no need for a protest then about dropping of Our Lady from the name of a public building  it wouldnt have been a runner.
The work colleagues, friends and family of Gerry Miller turned out for his recent retirement dinner at Fallons of Kilcullen on February 1.

Gerry started out as a science teacher nearly 37 years ago.

In the early years, he worked in Meath and Louth and then settled in Grange Community College in Dublin.

He arrived as deputy principal in September 1999 to St Conleths Vocational School, as it was then. During his 19 years as deputy principal, Gerry spent a few terms as acting principal.

According to his colleagues, Gerrys role was varied within the school, as science teacher, agriculture and horticultural science (Ag Hort) expert, facilities manager, purveyor of keyboards, mice and cables for everything.

In relation to the Ag Hort, the Leaving Cert Applied students loved this class and had great respect for Mr Miller.

During his time as deputy principal, Gerry became very involved in the Principals & Deputy Principals Association (PDA). He was treasurer for Area 1 which includes Kildare, Wicklow, Laois and Carlow.

He also represented the region at National Executive and was well respected by all during his many years of involvement there.

Another area that he loved being involved in was KITE (Kildare Into Tertiary Education).

It was a steering group to promote third level education in Disadvantaged Area Schools (DAS).

Gerry was at the very first meeting and became involved because he wanted to give the students in St Conleths every support and encouragement to continue their education.

Gerry is wished a long and happy retirement by members of the staff at St Conleths and he will now have more time to pursue his many areas of interest.
Theodore McCarrick, the former Newark archbishop and cardinal who wielded immense influence within the Catholic Church, has been defrocked and cast out of the ministry by Pope Francis over decades-old sexual abuse allegations, in a final reckoning for the 88-year-old priest.

McCarrick was laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state  considered one the harshest forms of punishment that can be issued by the church  after he was found guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession, and sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians over decades, the Vatican announced Saturday.

It marked an extraordinary moment for a church still struggling to come to terms with the sexual abuse crisis within its priesthood. McCarrick was one of the highest-ranking American Catholic leaders to ever be so disciplined.

The move came a few days before the pope is to lead a gathering of bishops from around the world over the sex abuse crisis that has eroded the faith of many Catholics.

McCarrick, who last year was forced to resigned from the College of Cardinals, is currently living at St. Fidelis Friary, a religious residence in Victoria, Kansas, after the pope ordered him to withdraw from public ministry and events and contemplate a life of prayer and penance.

It is not known whether McCarrick will have to leave the friary. Upon being laicized, the church no longer has a responsibility to house, feed or provide him with medical care. He will not be allowed to wear the collar or other clerical garb, nor will he permitted to celebrate Mass or any other sacraments. He will not longer be called Father, or any other honorary title given to clerics. Instead, he will be just Mr. McCarrick.

It was a stunning fall from grace for a man who was once the most recognized Catholic leader in New Jersey and a leading voice on national issues for the church, despite years of rumors about sexual misconduct with seminarians at a beach house in New Jersey. In 1995, his rising prominence came into the spotlight when Pope John Paul II came to visit the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart, the seat of the Archdiocese of Newark Archdiocese where McCarrick had been archbishop.

In its statement out of Rome, the Vatican said the Congresso of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the conclusion of a penal process, issued a decree finding McCarrick guilty of the following delicts while a cleric: solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power. The statement said the Congresso imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.

When he was ordained a priest his New York in 1958, McCarrick took a vow of celibacy, in accordance with church rules on priests.

McCarrick was informed of the decision on Wednesday. The former cardinal had appealed the penalty, but it was rejected.

The Ordinary Session of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith considered the recourse he presented against this decision. Having examined the arguments in the recourse, the Ordinary Session confirmed the decree, said the Vatican. The Holy Father has recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accord with law, rendering it a res iudicata (i.e., admitting of no further recourse).

In a statement issued through his lawyer, James Grein, one of McCarricks accusers, expressed hope that the former priest will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children.

Grein had testified to church officials that, among other abuses, McCarrick had repeatedly groped him during confession.

Today I am happy that the pope believed me, said Grein.

The beginning of the end for McCarrick came in June. By then a cardinal and the Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., McCarrick was abruptly removed from public ministry after the Archdiocese of New York announced that a review board had substantiated claims of abuse involving a teen 50 years earlier while McCarrick had been serving as a priest in New York.

At the same time, church officials in New Jersey separately revealed McCarrick had previously been accused of sexual misconduct with three adults during his time in the state. Two of those cases resulted in secret legal settlements with undisclosed terms, according to the Archdiocese of Newark.

The settlements included $80,000 paid to a former priest turned lawyer from New Jersey who said McCarrick, known as Uncle Ted, would invite young seminarians and priests to a Shore house in Sea Girt, where they would be expected to share a bed with McCarrick.

The 1971 alleged incident in New York involved a then-16-year-old boy attending Cathedral Prep Seminary in Manhattan. The teen said he was being measured for a special cassock for altar servers for Christmas Mass at St. Patricks Cathedral, when McCarrick, then a monsignor, unzipped the teenagers pants him while measuring him for the garment.

The following year, McCarrick reportedly cornered the teenager in a bathroom and put his hand down the boy's pants, according to a lawyer for the young victim who is now a 62-year-old married New Jersey businessman. His allegations came to light after the man contacted the Archdiocese of New York when he heard there was a panel considering settlements for alleged victims, his lawyer said.

McCarrick, upon being removed from public ministry, did not admit to the abuse, but accepted his punishment.

While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people, he said in accepting the Vatican's decision last year.

He has not said anything publicly since.

Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who received at least nine honorary degrees by colleges and universities in the U.S. (William Perlman | Star-Ledger photo)SL

McCarrick, who was born in New York in 1930, grew up in Washington Heights and began his road to the priesthood as an altar boy at his neighborhood parish, the Church of the Incarnation. After high school, he studied in Europe and went to Fordham University, and then enrolled at St. Joseph's Seminary in the Dunwoodie section of Yonkers, N.Y.

Ordained a priest in 1958 by New York's Cardinal Francis Spellman, McCarrick was sent to Puerto Rico and in 1965 became president of Catholic University in Ponce.

In 1981, he was named the first bishop of the new Diocese of Metuchen. Five years later, he was named archbishop of Newark.

While still in Newark, he was said to be looking at retirement when he turned 70. But Pope John Paul II picked him as Washingtons archbishop in late 2000.

In 2001, the pope made him a cardinal.

Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, the current archbishop of Newark where McCarrick had served for so long, said the decree from the Holy See impacted not only the states largest diocese, but the Catholic community across the globe.

It especially affects those who have experienced the trauma of sexual abuse by clergy who violated a sacred trust and caused incalculable harm to the lives and well-being of young and adult victims, Tobin said in a statement. It is profoundly disheartening and disturbing to know that a church leader, who served and led our Archdiocese of Newark for 14 years, acted in a way that is contrary to the Christian way of life as well as his vocation as a priest of Jesus Christ.

He said the popes determination reflected his resolve to protect the weak and vulnerable, respect human dignity, accept responsibility, and reinforce the churchs commitment to healing, reconciliation, and solidarity with victims.

To all those abused by clergy, especially the victims of Theodore McCarrick, I continue to express my profound sadness and renew heartfelt apologies for the life-long suffering you have endured, said Tobin.

In this March 4, 2015, file photo, then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick speaks during a memorial service in South Bend, Ind.

Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston and President of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the action against McCarrick is a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated. No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the church.

DiNardo himself has come under criticism over its handling of abuse cases in Houston by victims who said they felt DiNardo didnt do enough to stop the priest.

Meanwhile, an advocate for church accountability over sex abuse said Pope Francis should say what he knew about Theodore McCarrick.

Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org told the Associate Press that while McCarricks defrocking was significant, most abusive bishops have escaped defrocking.

Doyle, who is in Rome for the popes gathering of bishops about the crisis, said the pope should use the power of his office to laicize those bishops immediately.

Of the accused bishops Doyles group has tracked, McCarrick is only the seventh to be laicized. He was the first churchman who reached the rank of cardinal to be defrocked in the scandals, she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips

Get the latest updates right in your inbox. Subscribe to NJ.coms newsletters.
Easton police filed new charges Friday against three people already imprisoned for allegedly stealing a wallet from a vehicle and going on a spending spree.

Soumira Haddad, 23, of Forks Township, is among those charged. She is also accused of stealing from a vehicle in Northampton.

Haddad along with David Barndt, 31, and Scott Dittmar, 28, were arraigned on the new Easton counts Friday before District Judge Antonia Grifo.

They were ordered held in Northampton County Prison in lieu of additional bail, and all three waived their rights to preliminary hearings. They are now scheduled for formal arraignment April 11 in Northampton County Court, where they will face trial unless a plea deal is reached, or their cases are disposed of in another way. Grifo ordered drug and alcohol treatment as a condition of their release on bail.

The three are accused of taking cash, change and laptops from vehicles on College Hill, according to court records. The owners reported break-ins to two vehicles in the 100 block of Parker Avenue and one vehicle in the 200 block of Wayne Avenue on Jan. 12. Another victim reported Jan. 15 that two vehicles had been broken into in the 700 block of Weygadt Drive. Police spoke Jan. 21 with the fifth victim, who said his vehicle had been broken into Jan. 11 in the 800 block of Paxinosa Avenue.

Haddad, of the 1700 block of Clarendon Drive in Forks; Barndt, who has Wilson Borough and Easton addresses; and Dittmar, of the 100 block of Wayne Avenue in Easton, were initially charged Jan. 18 by Easton police. Detective Ben Mastrofilippo filed the additional charges with Grifos office Friday following further investigation.

Barndt told police he is addicted to drugs and would drive Haddad and Dittmar around College Hill, where Haddad and Dittmar would check the door handles on vehicles and take whatever they could to buy food and illegal narcotics, according to court records. Dittmar told police he only entered one vehicle but did not remove any items, records say.

All three face charges of receiving stolen property and conspiracy, with Haddad and Dittmar also charged with theft.

In the Northampton case, Haddad was charged Thursday with taking $50 cash plus $280 in Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem vouchers discovered missing Jan. 8 from a vehicle in the 300 block of East 12th Street in the borough, according to court records. Police Detective Glenn Deist said he searched records and video at the casino and learned Haddad had cashed out the vouchers. She is charged with theft and receiving stolen property in that investigation.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein and Facebook. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
The recent postponement of the much-awaited general elections that were expected to kick-off on Saturday, February 16, has triggered series of mixed reactions and comments from stakeholders, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's spokesman, Laolu Akande and Nigerians generally, especially on social media.

Nigerians on social media have aired their views on the shifting of the general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday, February 16.

No doubt, the development has caused much inconvenience for quite a lot of persons who have some personal plans after the presidential and National Assembly polls before it was postponed. Some have even berated the electoral body and condemned its decision.

On his part, Laolu Akande, the spokesman of Nigeria's vice president, Yemi Osinbajo, has expressed regret over the shifting of the polls, adding that his principal was in Lagos and President Muhammadu Buhari was in Daura, Katsina state, ready for the elections when the announcement of the postponement was made.

However, some supporters of the two topmost political parties for the elections, APC and PDP, have expressed certainty of victory come what may.

Read tweets below:

Earlier, Legit.ng reported that INEC had shifted the 2019 general election over logistics constraints.

This was announced in Abuja by the chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu around 2.45 am on Saturday, February 16, after he held an emergency meeting with security officials, election observers and other stakeholders.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

He said proceeding with the election as scheduled is no longer feasible and as result of this, the election was postponed by a week.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

2019 Election: Atiku may win and Buhari will be declared winner| Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has shifted the 2019 general election over logistics constraints.

This was announced in Abuja by the chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu around 2.45 am on Saturday, February 16, after he held an emergency meeting with security officials, election observers and other stakeholders.

He said proceeding with the election as scheduled is no longer feasible and as result of this, the election was postponed by a week.

Consequently, a new date has been fixed for the presidential/National Assembly and the governorship/states assemblies election.

Presidential and National Assembly elections will now hold on Saturday, February 23 while the governorship and state assembly elections will hold on Saturday, March 9.

Recall that Legit.ng had reported that ahead of the presidential and national assembly elections scheduled to hold on Saturday, February 16, officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had an emergency meeting.

READ ALSO: I have not run from Nigeria, I'll be around to vote - Obasanjo

According to reports, the urgent meeting was as a result of the challenges facing the exercise as materials needed for the elections have not been distributed in some states as at 9pm on the eve of the election.

However, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), says the electoral body has taken a decision on the presidential election after the meeting ended around 1am on Saturday, February 16.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Niger on Friday, February 15 said that elections for the senatorial positions of Niger east and Niger north may not hold on Saturday as the ballot papers meant for the zone were missing.

Prof. Samuel Egwu, Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in the state, made the declaration while interacting with newsmen in Minna.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

Legit TV visits Anambra fire scene, as INEC reveals preparedness | #Elections2019.

Source: Legit.ng
- Ahead of the general elections, IGP Mohammed Abubakar Adamu has deployed more police commissioners nationwide to tighten security

- IGP Adamu deployed not less than 55 additional police commissioners to man all the 109 senatorial zones in the country

- Added to this, the police boss also ordered the restriction of movement on Saturday, February 16, from 6am - 6pm

In an effort to ensure security, during the general polls, the acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammed Abubakar Adamu has deployed not less than 55 commissioners of police and other deputy commissioners of the force to monitor all the 109 senatorial zones in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the force had deployed some commissioners of police in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja. Added to this, some Assistant Inspector Generals (AIGs) were also deployed to coordinates the commissioners of police in all the states of the federation for the elections, Vanguard reports.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

The nationwide deployments are as follow: CP Mohammed Dan Mallam is deployed to Edo as CP for elections duty; CP Uche Anozie is to take charge of Edo north senatorial district, CP Edna Obioderi Ugbubor for Edo central senatorial district and DCP Jimoh Abdulkadri for Edo south senatorial district.

CP Odumosu, CP Edo state is deployed to federal operations at force headquarters for elections duty.

For Oyo, CP Adamu Sule Jajere is to take charge of Oyo north senatorial district; DCP Titilayo Kagode takes charge of Oyo central Senatorial district.

For Kano state, CP Usman Sule Gomina takes charge of Kano south senatorial district, DCP Ben Nebolisa Okolo takes charge of Kano central senatorial district while DCP Mohammed Ahmed Banda takes charge of Kano north senatorial district.

For Ogun State, CP Olugbenga Adeyanju is to take charge of Ogun central senatorial district, CP Finmihan Adeoye is to take charge of Ogun west senatorial district, CP Agunbiade Olasore is to take charge of Ogun east senatorial district.

For Delta state, CP Nkeruwem Akpan takes charge of Delta North, CP Mobolaji Olaniyi takes charge of Delta central, CP Ndatsu Aliyu Mohammed takes charge of Delta south.

For Lagos state, CP Ebrimson Kenneth takes charge of Lagos central Senatorial district; CP David Akinremi takes charge of Lagos west senatorial district while DCP Bankole Sikiru takes charge of Lagos east senatorial district. AIG David Folawiyo is to coordinate the CPs in Lagos state.

Moreover, the IGP has ordered the restriction of vehicular movement from 6am  6pm on Saturday, February 16.

ACP Frank Mba, the force public relations officer, in a statement said: The IGP notes that the restriction will assist the security agencies in effectively policing the electoral process, thereby preventing hoodlums and criminally-minded elements from hijacking and disrupting the electoral process.

"He urges the citizens to troupe out en-masse on the day of the election to exercise their franchise without any fear or apprehension as the Police and other security agencies have already put in place adequate security measures to ensure a safe, secure and conducive environment for a peaceful and credible election.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

"While regretting the inconveniences the restriction will cause the citizens, the IGP however warns that the Force will deal decisively with any individual(s) or group(s) that will want to test our common will in our resolve to ensure a peaceful election.

"He, therefore, enjoins the citizens to steer-clear of vote buying, vote selling, hate speeches, circulating fake news, snatching of ballot boxes and other act(s) capable of truncating the peoples will noting that the Force will not hesitate to bring to bear the full weight of the law on anyone who engages in any crime during this period."

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Kayode Egbetokun, a former chief security officer to the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, had been appointed as the commissioner of police for Kwara state.

Egbetokuns appointment and deployment alongside 36 others, was approved by the Police Service Commission (PSC).

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

2019 Election: New IGP Speaks Tough | Legit TV

Source: Legit
- Nuhu Ribadu has explained the presence of governors from Niger Republic at the APC rally in Kano state

- The former EFCC boss said the visit of governors from neighbouring country at a political party rally is lawful and not a big deal

- There has been criticism from opposition party over the Nigerien governors attendance at the rally

The Director of the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, has said there is no law broken with the presence of two governors from neighbouring country, Niger Republic, at the Presidential camapaign rally of the APC in Kano state.

The Guardian reports that Ribadu said the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) protocol allows free movement of persons within the ECOWAS sub-region.

READ ALSO: Igbos itching towards presidency - Atiku

He said: For your information, it is a free world and it is the constitutional right of everyone to be where he wants to be. You have no right to curtail anybody from doing what he wants to do. People from West Africa are free to move into Nigeria. We have a protocol or agreement that they dont need a visa to come into this country."

Nigerien governors with Kano state governor at the APC rally. Source: The Cable

Source: Twitter

Ribadu, a former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said he is aware that the governors and foreigners are not allow to vote but as West Africans, nothing stops them from supporting a president they feel has done well for his people.

"You cannot and you have no right as a Nigerian to stop them from exercising their fundamental human right to identify with their friends. Their presence may or may not have any impact on the re-election, but they are entitled to it. We have to guarantee their freedom because their presence is within the law and we dont have the right to stop them, he said.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said the presence of some governors from Niger Republic ahead of President Muhammadu Buharis campaign rally in Kano state did not violate any Nigerian law.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng to serve its readers better

We are honestly tired of Buhari and Atiku | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit.ng
- The umbrella body of militants groups in the Niger-Delta, Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators (CNDA), has vowed to cause violence if elections in the region are rigged.

- The militants also called on security agencies not to aid the manipulation of votes during the elections

- The spokesman of the group, John Duku said that they will monitor the proceedings in polling units across the South-South region

Ahead of the February 16 presidential poll, the Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators (CNDA), has vowed to resist any attempt to impose President Muhammadu Buhari on Nigeria, declaring that the people of the region will not support the presidents re-election bid, The Punch reports.

Legit.ng gathered that the umbrella body of militant groups in the Niger Delta, warned that the 2019 general election would be bloody should anybody or security agents attempt to rig the polls in the Niger Delta region.

The militant groups subsequently in the region have perfected plans to deploy their men in polling units across the South-South geopolitical zones.

READ ALSO: Atiku departs US, heads to Abuja for presidential debate

The coalition, comprises of Niger Delta Avengers, Niger Delta Volunteers, Bakassi Strike Force and Niger Delta Warriors. Others are Niger Delta Peoples Fighters, Bakassi Freedom Fighters, Niger Delta Movement for Justice and Niger Delta Fighters Network.

John Duku, the convener of the coalition group, said: We have sensitised our members and affiliates on how and who to vote, come February 16, 2019. I also want to assure you that our men would be on the ground in all the polling units across the Niger Delta region.

If we notice any attempt to rig election by anyone, including the security agents, it shall be bloody. Let people vote (according to) their conscience and let the vote of the people count.

We want to assure you that President Buhari will not return in 2019 except INEC compromises election results. Buhari has neglected the Niger Delta people to the extent that we would have reacted in a very negative way if not for our elders and leaders who continuously calmed us down.

Our brother, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, accepted defeat and handed over to Buhari; I implore Buhari to toe the path of honour and do same.

Meanwhile, Pan-Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), a group headed by Chief Edwin Clarke, declared that it had begun an alliance with other regions on the need to ensure that only presidential candidates, who are in support of restructuring, would get the peoples votes.

The secretary general PANDEF, Dr. Alfred Mulade, in an interview on Thursday, January 17, that since President Buhari was not in support of restructuring, he would not enjoy the votes of the Niger Delta people.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Legit.ng previously reported that in what was seen as a setback for the candidacy of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), a political movement started by Shehu YarAdua declared support for President Buhari.

Atiku, who is now in America on a foreign campaign, has always regarded YarAdua as his mentor and leader.

But the founding chairman of the PDM, Dr Farouk Abdulaziz led other executives to declare support for President Muhammadu Buharis candidacy. Among the delegates was the current chairman, Senator Abubakar Mahdi.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better.

Nigeria Latest News: Buhari vs Atiku - 2019 Elections | - on Legit TV

Source: Legit
Srinagar, February 16: An Army major was martyred in an IED blast at Nowshera sector in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday. The Major-rank army officer was defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which had been planted by terrorists. The officer is from the Corps of Engineers, news agency ANI reported.

The incident comes two days after one of the deadliest terror strikes on security forces in the Valley in three decades that killed 40 security personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. A terrorist of Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad, identified as Adil Ahmed Dar, rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus they were travelling in. Pulwama Terrorist Attack: MHA Issues Advisory For Safety of Kashmiri People Living in Other States.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peacetime. The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora. Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack. Pulwama Terror Attack: JeM Terrorist Used 80 Kg RDX, Blast Tossed a Body 80 Metres Away.

A day after the attack, the Centre announced the withdrawal of 'Most Favoured Nation' (MFN) status granted to Pakistan. As many as 48 countries have extended support to India, condemning the dastardly act.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 16, 2019 05:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
South African police arrested a former ambassador to Iran on corruption charges related to the award of a mobile-phone license to MTN Group Limited. after it was initially given to Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS.

The case has been the subject of legal claims for several years by the Turkish company, which accuses Johannesburg-based MTN of paying bribes to South African and Iranian officials. MTN secured 49 percent of Irancell Telecommunication Co. Services in 2005, which gave it a license to operate in the country, after the stake was originally awarded to Turkcell. MTN has always denied the bribery charges.

Yusuf Saloojee, 75, was seized by the Hawks, a South African anti-corruption police unit, over allegations he facilitated the cancellation of the Turkcell license by the Iran government, which was then awarded to MTN. Saloojee, now retired, is accused of earning 1.4 million rand ($99,170) for his role in the process, which was then used to buy a house in Pretoria, according to a Friday statement by the Hawks.

Stories Continues after ad

MTN has consistently denied that there is any credible evidence that it promised Ambassador Saloojee any money, or that Ambassador Saloojee accepted money from MTN, the carrier said in an emailed response to questions. The allegations against MTN and Ambassador Saloojee appear to be based on the evidence of a single witness, Mr Chris Kilowan, a disgruntled former employee of MTN.

Legal Action

The ex-ambassadors arrest may have implications for the outcome of Turkcells latest attempt to sue MTN, which was filed in South Africas High Court in Johannesburg in 2017. The Istanbul-based company is demanding $4.2 billion in damages, based on profit the carrier says it could have made had it been able to keep the license, plus interest.

MTN shares reversed gains and traded 1.8 percent lower at 84.50 rand as of the close in Johannesburg, valuing the company at 161 billion rand. The stock has slumped more than 34 percent over the past 12 months.

Iran is MTNs second-biggest market, with 44.5 million subscribers at the end of March. The country has been a thorn in the carriers side of late, as U.S.-led sanctions prevent MTN from being able to repatriate funds from the nation. The company is also facing legal claims in Nigeria, its biggest market, over the alleged non-payment of $2 billion of back taxes, while the head of MTNs Uganda division was deported earlier Friday.

Turkcell first sued Johannesburg-based MTN in the U.S. in 2012, though was later forced to withdraw the claim after the Supreme Court ruled that it couldnt be heard in the country. The case was later filed in South Africa in 2013, but was delayed following objections by MTN and subsequent amendments.

Saloogee was granted bail by the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court and his case will be heard on April 17.
Art Institute of Chicago unveils key findings in African art thanks to medical technology

CHICAGO--On February 16, the Art Institute of Chicago announced the results of significant new research on five terracotta sculptures--so named Bankoni after a village in present-day Mali where they were found. The objects date from between the 12th and 15th centuries. This places them "among the oldest surviving sculptures from sub-Saharan Africa and among the oldest works of African art in the Art Institute's collection beyond Egypt," according to Constantine Petridis, Chair of the Arts of the Americas and Africa and Curator of African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Art Institute's Bankoni figures are exceptional, not only for their large size and fine detail, but also for the fact that they have remained as a group throughout history (whereas others have been dispersed). The group's inclusion in a major traveling exhibition, Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa, presented the Art Institute's Conservation & Science department with an unprecedented opportunity to expand on previous scientific analysis using cutting-edge technology made possible by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

"Thanks to our long-standing relationship with Dr. Michael Vannier, a radiologist at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, we were able to use computed axial tomography or CT scanning--which is basically an X-ray but in 3D--to closely examine the ceramic," said Rachel Sabino, Objects Conservator in the Department of Conservation & Science at the Art Institute of Chicago. "As each figure went through the scanner we were able to see immediately that they had all been created with the exact same clay and with the exact same fabrication methods. This confirmed for us that our five were conceived as a group from the start and that they aren't figures from different places or different potters."

The results also verified that the sculptures were not "pastiches" made from unrelated fragments of the appropriate age, as is sometimes discovered to be the case with ancient ceramics. Additionally, 3D models generated from the CT data helped pinpoint locations for sample sites to use in thermoluminescence (TL) testing, a specialized technique for dating ceramics. The TL results revealed that the objects were fired between 500 and 800 years ago, older than previous testing had indicated.

These types of collaborations between museums and hospitals have expanded the conservator's toolkit by giving them access to the most advanced technologies and to equipment that would be otherwise unavailable. Their medical partners' specialized knowledge guarantees that conservators have the best instrumental protocol available to find answers to their questions and that the results will be interpreted accurately.

"The encyclopedic collection at the Art Institute of Chicago serves as a reference standard for both scholars and the general public, so it's crucial that the objects on display in service to a museum's educational and social mission be what they purport to be. To that end, we are absolutely thrilled at the extent to which this partnership has allowed us to see just how ancient, how unique and how exceptional our figures really are," said Sabino.

###

The Art Institute of Chicago's Bankoni figures will be on view in the traveling exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa at the following dates and locations:

The Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL

Jan 26, 2019 to July 21, 2019

Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada

Sept 21, 2019 to Feb 23, 2020

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC

Apr 8, 2020 to Nov 29, 2020

Image:

Bankoni. Equestrian and Four Figures. Mali. 1175-1500. Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment

This story has been published on: 2019-02-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
On a hot day, what classic summer treat not only cools you down but also brings back memories?
A U.S. district judge has sentenced a Browning man Thursday to 16 years in prison and six years of supervised release for having sex with and giving methamphetamine to a minor at his home on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation four years ago, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

U.S. District Judge Bryan M. Morris presided for Bruce Dragonflys case, a 56-year-old who pleaded guilty in July to aggravated sexual abuse of a minor and distribution of a controlled substance to a minor.

Through an investigation from Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services and the FBI, prosecutors said they found evidence of Dragonfly supplying meth to people who attended a home party on his property in 2015, including the victim, a minor.

In exchange, he asked her for a sex act, and continued to supply the drug for sex, money or non-sexual favors until mid-2017 both on and off the Blackfeet Reservation, according to the press release.

Dragonfly confirmed this exchange in an interview with FBI agents in back in April.
Being proud of being an American

Serving in the military or as a first responder

Being an honorable citizen

Freedom to speak your mind

Vote

View Results
Weather Alert

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE 413... ...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 PM MDT THIS EVENING FOR SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS FOR FIRE WEATHER ZONE 413... The National Weather Service in Pocatello has issued a Red Flag Warning for scattered thunderstorms, which is in effect from noon today to 9 PM MDT this evening. * AFFECTED AREA...Fire Weather Zone 413 Caribou Range/Caribou NF. * IMPACTS...Scattered thunderstorms will produce lightning and gusty erratic winds. A mix of wet and dry thunderstorms is forecast, with some producing wetting rains over one quarter of an inch. * OUTFLOW WINDS...Gusts over 35 mph possible. 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. &&
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 76F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall possibly over one inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 77F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
The two escaped from the Forrest County Jail on Friday night, and are considered dangerous, according to the Hattiesburg Police Department. They were identified as Carlos Sibley, 26, who recently pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and Donaven Harris, 29, who has an armed robbery charge as well as two aggravated assault charges.
Politico reports:

The brilliance of McConnells campaigns are that they are comprised of a complex orchestra of political instruments brought together for a symphony of absolute destruction, said Josh Holmes, a McConnell political adviser. His opponents may hear a note or two before they decide to run but he saves the full composition to ensure its the last thing a candidate hears before they enter the political graveyard.

I love that quote. And we see this in action here:

One of the co-authors of the Green New Deal is slamming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for announcing hes bringing the resolution to a vote.

Last week, Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., introduced a sprawling blueprint of an environmental and economic overhaul that has gotten the support of numerous Democrats, including most of the candidates who have announced 2020 presidential runs. 

The hilarious outcome is that Markey has accused McConnell of sabotage by allowing people to vote on the plan he co-sponsored and he is now saying he will vote against his own plan.

A recent biography of McConnell described him as one of the most consequential politics in the history of the United States, who hasnt been President. Whether you agree with him or not, that is probably true.

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

More

Reddit

Pinterest



Print

Tumblr




BRITT, Iowa - Being able to speak, read or write in more than one language is no easy feat.

And now, students at West Hancock High School are getting recognized for being able to do it thanks to a law signed by Governor Reynolds into law during the 2018 legislative session.

Students who take a test to prove their proficiency in English and another language can earn a 'seal of biliteracy' on their diploma and transcript, which could lead to big opportunities after graduation.

Seniors Jennifer Lopez and Kristian Hammack are bilingual, and are looking forward to those opportunities, especially in the medical field.

"With this, when we further our careers, if anyone needs any help translating, we can help them. It's just a great opportunity," Hammack said.

With the changing demographics in Iowa and across the country, Lopez highly recommends being a part of it.

"I think it's a great opportunity because I want to go into the medical field and for me, it'd be a great thing since there's a diverse amount of people speaking different languages. I can speak spanish to those who need an interpreter."

Iowa is one of 34 states, including Minnesota, to participate in the Seal of Biliteracy program.
NEVIS, Minn. (AP)  Minnesota authorities are investigating the deaths of three people, including a gunman who led sheriff's deputies on a car chase while exchanging gunfire.

The Hubbard County Sheriff's Office says deputies responding to a shooting in the City of Nevis Thursday found a woman dead outside a home shortly before 8 p.m. Deputies pursued the suspect, who fled in the victim's car.

Authorities have not released the name and gender of the suspect or how the three deceased are related.

Authorities say the suspect shot at deputies during the chase and struck one of them. The deputy survived.

The suspect's car ended in a ditch. Authorities say the suspect left the car and shot at deputies before getting back in and was later found dead in the vehicle. Another person who was shot was also in the car.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  After a four-day trial, a Rochester man is convicted of abducting and sexually assaulting a woman.

Bakil Nuh Dahir, 25, was arrested in October 2018 after police say he gave a man and woman a ride home, but then threatened the man with a tire iron until he got out of the vehicle. Police say Dahir then drove off with the woman, sexually assaulted her, and dropped her off at a gas station.

A jury found Dahir guilty Thursday of 3rd degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping, and false imprisonment. He was found not guilty of 2nd and 5th degree assault.

Dahir is now scheduled to be sentenced on April 1 in Olmsted County District Court.
MASON CITY, Iowa - A familiar face on KIMT is one of the Humane Society of the United States' "Advocates We Love" winners for her anti-puppy mill efforts.

The Humane Society of North Iowa's Sybil Soukup earned the honor by helping lead the effort to remove over 300 Samoyed dogs from White Fire Kennels near Manly as part of a larger investigation. 154 Samoyeds were seized from the Worth County breeder in November.

She didn't think she would win an award like this in her career, but she adds that she has an enormous amount of help on her side.

"All of my shelter staff took on the extra effort and the extra demands. My shelter manager Stacy Rooney, she's really the one that did a lot of the leg work and made a lot of the phone calls. As the face of the organization, I'm happy to represent all of these people that worked so hard for this rescue effort."

Barbara Kavars, the owner of White Fire Kennels, recently filed an appeal in an effort to keep 9 of those seized dogs, plus four cats. Soukup hopes that the judge's initial ruling stands, as she remains concerned about the health of the animals.

"I don't want these dogs to ever go back to a lifetime of confinement and breeding, which is exactly where they would go."

Soukup was one of 14 nationwide advocates awarded by the Humane Society of the United States' "Stop Puppy Mills" campaign.
ROCHESTER, Minn. -

A battle is happening between the President and members of Congress -- after declaring a National Emergency to fund his border wall and one woman in Rochester was not one to shy away from her outrage.

"A lot of them that come across the border are good citizens and God made all of us," Jeanette Ernst said. "He didn't make just the ones that were born in the United States."

Ernst is of the belief that if there is an emergency, the solution is simple.

"I think the solution is to get a different President," Ernst said.

Trump is not the first President to declare a national emergency -- the first was declared in 1979 during the beginning of the Iran Hostage Crisis.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  A motorcycle rider who smashed into a car pleads guilty to DWI.

Nicholas John Hanson, 34 of Rochester, was charged with drunk driving and criminal vehicular operation for rear ending a car in June 2018. The motorcycle was found at the scene but not the rider. Hanson later turned himself in and said he remembered losing control of his bike but not hitting a car.

As part of a plea deal, the charge of criminal vehicular operation was dismissed and Hanson was sentenced Friday to one year of probation and $300 fine.

Hanson is also facing felony charges after the Olmsted County Sheriffs Office says he ran and stop sign on January 12 and the fled from deputies. Authorities say Hanson was eventually caught and found with methamphetamine. He has not entered a plea in that case.
AUSTIN, Minn. - To contribute to Paint the Town Pink, Woodson Kindergarten Center collected Pennies for Pink. The funds will go to the Hormel Institute for breast cancer research. They raised $1,912.66.

To celebrate, Woodson had an assembly on Friday. They played games and watched Principal Jill Rollie kiss Pixi the pig.

"We definitely wanted to push the message that there's no generosity too small to make a difference, to make an impact, and who knows, one of these pennies just might be the penny that supports a cure for cancer," says Rollie.
CRESCO, Iowa  A man who police say confessed to burglarizing 10 homes in two years gets probation.

Daryl Edward Sobolik, 48 of Cresco, was arrested in May 2018 after Cresco police were shown security video of Sobolik trying to break into an apartment. He was charged with four counts of 3rd degree burglary and one count of attempted 3rd degree burglary.

Sobolik pleaded guilty to two counts of 3rd degree burglary and has been sentenced to two to five years of probation. He will also have to pay restitution to his victims as determined by the Howard County Attorney.
AURORA, Ill. (AP)  A city spokesman says four police officers were wounded in a shooting at a business in suburban Chicago.

Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, told ABC7 that the officers are in stable condition following the shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. building Friday afternoon.

Muhammad did not say the officers were shot or if anyone else was hurt.

Authorities say a suspect has been apprehended.

Live TV reports showed dozens of first responder vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt Co. Several ATF teams responded to the shooting and were at the scene, according to the agency's Chicago spokeswoman, and the FBI said it also was responding.

John Probst told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door of the Henry Pratt Co. building in Aurora as the shooting unfolded Friday afternoon. Probst says he recognized the gunman and that he works at the company. He said the gunman has "a pistol with a laser."

Probst says he wasn't hurt but that another colleague was "bleeding pretty bad."

The company makes valves for portable water, wastewater, power generation and industrial purposes.

West Aurora School District 129 said on its website that it was keeping all students in their classrooms as police investigate, but that "teaching will continue with reduced movement."

Spokespeople for Mercy Medical Center and Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora and Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove did not immediately return messages seeking information about whether either hospital was treating victims from the shooting.

Aurora is city of about 200,000 peole about 38 miles west of Chicago.
MASON CITY, Iowa  Firefighters battled flames and sub-zero cold Saturday morning at a vacant house fire.

The Mason City Fire Department says crews were called to the 1500 block of North Pennsylvania before sunrise.

Firefighters got the call just after 5:00 a.m. The State Fire Marshal is still investigating the cause.

MCFD is reporting no injuries, but is calling the vacant house a total loss.

The family of the houses owner says it was a rental property where someone had just been evicted and the family was going to start remodeling the home on Saturday so a family member could move into it.
ROCHESTER, Minn. - The Olmsted County Commissioners have approved purchasing the former Seneca Foods property.

The 11 acres of land come at the price of $5.6 million. The board voted 5 to 2 to approve the purchase.

One of big questions the County Board of Commissioners were quick to answer was what would happen to the corn cob tower.

"That corn cob will not be going down," Bier said. It will continue to overlook Graham Park and the Board has plans to make the property it sits on a mobility hub and a venue for agriculture, sports and community events.

John Kruesel is all about preserving is all about preserving the corn tower and also has ideas for making the mobility hub more appealing to residents.

"The mobility hub as I see it would be a nice transfer hub of using possibly a trolley that's on the rail lines to bring people to this destination not for parking but bring it for the sports events, the skating events," Kruesel said.

But Bier is not dwelling on the past... he is thinking about the future.

"You look back 20 years and people think it was a very wise decision," Bier said.

Previous coverage:

ROCHESTER, Minn. - The fate of Rochester's iconic corncob water tower seems to be in safe hands.

Olmsted County has reached an agreement with Seneca foods to purchase the 11 acre Seneca canning facility in Rochester, where the water tower sits.

In a press release, the County says they'll work with the City of Rochester to preserve the water tower.

The property is adjacent to Graham Park, which is already owned by Olmsted County.

In a press release, the County says the Seneca property location is "an asset to help realize the vision and master plan for Graham Park as a regional venue for agriculture, sports, and community and private events."

County Comissioners will vote on the final purchase agreement at their meeting on Tuesday, February 19th.
CERRO GORDO COUNTY, Iowa  A driver suffered minor injuries after a rollover crash Friday night.

The Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office says Willie E. Woodson, 39 of Dallas, Texas, was driving east on 300th Street when he tried to pass someone around 8:17 pm in the 10000 block and lost control. Woodsons vehicle went into the south ditch, flipped, and rolled several times.

Woodson was treated and released at MercyOne North Iowa Medical Center. Hes being cited for failure to maintain control, unsafe passing, no valid drivers license, and an insurance violation.

The damage to Woodsons vehicle is extensive.
MASON CITY, Iowa - Another arrest has been made in a week-long warrant cleanup in Cerro Gordo County.

Almyra Sharp, 43, of Mason City, is accused of delivering methamphetamine. Authorities say in July of 2018 at 1st St. SW in Mason City she delivered meth to a cooperating individual.

Sharp is accused of delivering meth to a CI under the direct control of the Cerro Gordo County Sheriffs Office.

Five people were arrested on the same charges throughout the week. Sharp is being held on $20,000 bond.

Related: Mason City meth arrests this week. Another arrest for delivering meth.
ALBERT LEA, Minn. - On Friday, students at Southwest Middle School selected their top 3 choices of 30 different career presentations. Local employers gave presentations on what it's like to be a physician's assistant, a truck driver, and firefighter, for example. They answered students' questions and explained how much school they need to attend after high school to be in the particular career field. The career presentations ranged from jobs that don't require schooling beyond a high school diploma, and jobs that require a doctorate.

Sixth and seventh graders will soon be planning their high school class schedules, so the goal is to help them get on track. "Show them if you wanted to be an electrician, that's what this looks like and it's a 2 year program or less to go through. If you want to go into law enforcement, there's a couple different paths with that. Yet if you want to be a doctor and go into those post secondary degrees and beyond, you can do those things too," explains administrator John Double.

It's the middle school's first timing holding the expo, but they hope to have it again in the future and continue to add more employers.
AUSTIN, Minn.  A man accused of threatening to shoot a grocery store worker is pleading guilty.

Troy Lamont Moody, 53 of Austin, was charged with three counts of illegal possession of a firearm or ammunition, four counts counts of stalking, and one count of terroristic threats after a May 2018 incident at the Aldi Grocery store on 17th Street NW in Austin. A store employee says Moody threatened to shoot her if she didnt give him her phone number, then again threatened to shoot her if she told anyone about it.

That led Austin police to search Moodys home and say they found a 12-gauge shotgun, a loaded revolver, and ammunition.

Moody has pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm or ammunition and one count of stalking. His sentencing is set for April 11.
RUDD, Iowa  An arrest has been made in the theft of Ritchie Valens memorabilia during the Winter Dance Party.

The Clear Lake Police Department says it arrested Mark Hobbs, 59, at an apartment in Rudd at around 3:40 pm Friday. Hes accused of taking two photos and a framed movie poster belonging to the family of Ritchie Valens on February 2. Police say Hobbs was identified on surveillance video taking the items.

They were found in a parking lot Thursday in the 500 block of Highway 18 in Clear Lake. Police say they do not now how they got there.

The Clear Lake Police Department says it was assisted by the Floyd County Sheriffs Office in this arrest.

Hobbs is facing a charge of 3rd degree theft. This case remains under investigation.
Weather Alert

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions will develop in central Washington on Friday and build into eastern Washington and north Idaho over the weekend. * WHERE...Portions of North and North Central Idaho. Portions of Central, East Central, North Central, Northeast, and Southeast Washington. * WHEN...From Friday through Thursday, and possibly into next weekend. * IMPACTS...Unprecedented triple digit heat and unusually warm overnight temperatures will make it difficult to control the build up of heat in homes without air conditioning. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...This event will likely be one of the most extreme and prolonged heat waves in the recorded history of the Inland Northwest. Unprecedented heat will not only threaten the health of residents in the Inland Northwest but will make our region increasingly vulnerable to wildfires and intensify the impacts our ongoing drought. 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. Going to a place with air conditioning even for a couple hours can help mitigate heat stress. Consider going to a shopping mall, local library, or community center for relief. Do not leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles. Car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes. Take extra precautions when outside. Wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing. Try to limit strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Take action when you see symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. &&
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has pledged to support the East African Community (EAC)s 5th Development Strategy, which requires US $985 million over a period of five years.

This was reached at two days ago as the EAC Secretary General Amb. Liberat Mfumukeko met AfDBs President, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina at the banks headquarters in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Mfumukeko specifically sought support in the areas of Agriculture and Industry but especially agri-industrialisation. During the meeting, Adesina noted that it was critical to link infrastructure projects with agriculture development and industrial development for the benefits to reach the common citizenry in EAC.

Dr Adesina also agreed to support establishment of an AfDB coordination and capacity building unit at the EAC HQs noting that the AfDB portfolio has grown and therefore need for more coordination, strategic and analytical capacity;

He said the Bank is committed to present EAC bankable projects to the AfDB coordinated African Investment Forum in November 2019 in South Africa. A joint team of EAC and AfDB will work on preparing bankable projects for presentation to that effect.

The EAC Secretary General during the meeting with Adesina highlighted the progress in the 4 pillars of integration and articulated the support needed from the bank and appreciated the great support provided by AfDB especially in the area of Infrastructure Development and the financial sector.

He also requested support for the implementation of the EAC Heads of State approved infrastructure projects during their Retreat in Kampala in February 2018. The EAC Heads of State approved a list of 286 infrastructure projects which are estimated to cost US 78 billion to implemented over a period of 10 years.

Adesina appreciated the visit by the EAC Secretary General, noting that the EAC is the most active and dynamic regional economic bloc with very clear results and a very high level of political momentum.

He lauded the EAC for the great gains made in the implementation of the Customs Union and the Common Market. He specifically commended the progress in free movement of people and increased trade. He noted that EAC Countries are now issuing the East African e-Passport.

Other officials that added the meeting in Abidjan were: Dr. Khaled Sherif, AfDB Vice-President for Regional Integration and Business Delivery, Dr. Caleb Weggoro, AfDB Executive Director responsible for East Africa; Dr. James Njagu, EAC Chief de Cabinet and Ms. Beata Mukabaranga, EAC Principal Resource Mobilisation Officer.
EUGENE, Ore.  A Eugene woman survived a car crashing through her hotel room Saturday morning.

The accident happened at the American Best Value Inn on West 6th Avenue around 7:30 Saturday morning.

The driver careened through one room, taking out at least 2 walls and causing significant structural damage.

KEZI 9 News was on scene and spoke to the woman inside that room, Sheena Cocroft, who said she was sleeping when the car came barreling through.

It sounded like an airplane was landing on me, literally, Cocroft said, And it felt like a brick hit my back. I was just screaming, screaming.

Eugene Springfield firefighters responded, along with the Eugene Police Department.

The driver, Jordan Belvelry, was arrested, and charged with DUII and careless driving.
In five traffic stops on Interstate 80 over the course of two days, the Nebraska State Patrol seized 100 pounds of marijuana, with 85 of them coming on an arrest near Giltner.

All five stops happened between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

At 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, the State Patrol approached a Chevrolet Tahoe parked in a no-parking area on the shoulder of the on-ramp at exit 324 near Giltner. Troopers then found 85 pounds of marijuana in the Tahoe. The driver, Franklin Schillfarth, a 55-year-old Maryland man, was arrested and was lodged in Hamilton County Jail.

Wednesday morning near Kearney, a trooper found three pounds of marijuana located hidden inside a large, older television. A Chevy pickup pulling a trailer was stopped for failing to stay in its lane near Kearney at mile marker 280 at about 9 a.m. The trooper could smell the odor of marijuana in the vehicle and conducted a search. The search revealed personal use marijuana and a handgun. An investigation revealed that the driver was unaware of the marijuana inside the television. The driver, Ryan Taylor, 35, of Florida, was arrested and cited for a concealed handgun violation and personal use marijuana. He was lodged in Buffalo County Jail.
The commission would have seven members, including three from each of the two main political parties. The chair could not be from either of those parties.

The bill sets out principles for redrawing boundaries, such as ensuring equal populations in the districts, following county lines and ensuring that districts are compact and contiguous.

It requires the commission to ignore the political party of voters and previous election results and to avoid improperly diluting the voting rights of any group based on race or language. The commission would work with the Legislature's research director in drawing the new boundaries.

Public hearings would be held on the resulting proposals, after which they would go to the Legislature for approval. If lawmakers rejected the initial set of proposals, the commission would be required to draw up a second set of proposals. If those also were rejected, the Executive Board would draw up a third set.

- LB 466, introduced by Howard, would be similar to the process used in Iowa since 1981. It would put the job of drawing new district boundaries in the hands of the director of legislative research.
RED CLOUD  The National Willa Cather Center is partnering with the Willa Cather Archive and Audubons Rowe Sanctuary southwest of Gibbon for a March 22 ecotourism day trip.

Events will start at 5:15 a.m. with sunrise viewing of the sandhill cranes from a Platte River viewing blind at Rowe Sanctuary.

During the charter ride to Red Cloud  Cathers hometown  there will be readings from O Pioneers! by Andrew Jewell, University of Nebraska-Lincoln professor in university libraries and Willa Cather Archives director, and Emily Rau, the archives managing editor and a Ph.D. candidate at UNL.

There will be a catered lunch and tour of Cather historic sites.

Author-biologist Caleb Roberts, a Ph.D. candidate in applied ecology at UNL, will give a presentation before a Willa Cather Memorial Prairie stop.

The tour will return to Rowe Sanctuary around 3:30 p.m.

The cost is $90 per person. Register at WillaCather.org or by calling 402-746-2653.
FUNK  Theres a lot of water in the wetlands at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Funk Waterfowl Production Area, which will make it attractive to many of the millions of geese, ducks and other migratory waterfowl passing through south-central Nebraska this spring.

For now, the water remains frozen.

So it will take time and warmer weather for USFWS officials to see the benefits of a project used for the first time late last fall to bring additional water into the wetlands.

A pipeline linked to Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation Districts Phelps Canal south of the WPA was used for roughly a month to deliver approximately 2,200 acre-feet of Platte River water to Funks wetlands.

It worked out real well, said Brad Krohn, project leader for USFWs Rainwater Basin Wetland Management District, which has 61 WPAs in 21 south-central Nebraska counties and is headquartered at the Funk WPA.

Were satisfied with where the water went ... There was no backing up on any adjacent properties or on any roads, Krohn said about the initial use of the wetlands enhancement system. It (water) went to several units on the property. It stretched clear across the property.
KEARNEY  Josh Jelden made waiting tables look easy.

Jelden grinned happily as he served dinners at Skeeter Barnes last Tuesday evening to old friends Jerry and Carrie Stithem. We drink beer together, said Jerry, clad in a red Nebraska sweatshirt.

Carrie added, We love supporting our friends, and this goes to a good cause.

Jelden was a team captain at the first of five Dine-Outs sponsored by the United Way of the Kearney Area. He and co-team captain Matt Meister and their team of seven volunteers assisted Skeeter Barnes servers by refilling water glasses, waiting tables, pouring beverages and much more.

Skeeter Barnes customers Dudley and Margie Nelson of Kearney praised Jeldens server talents, too. Weve known Josh since the day he was born. Were neighbors, Margie said.

Friendships and fun are exactly why United Way started the Dine-Outs in 2014.

For the next three weeks, five teams, each chaired by past United Way campaign chairs, will help wait tables at five restaurants and compete to see which team can pull in the most tips. All tips go to United Way.
Peterson said she posts what she has for sale on the Facebook page, which allows customers to identify the size, make payment and arrange to have the items shipped.

Its easy. People want easy, she added.

Looking back and ahead

Looking back, its easy to see how her experiences prepared her for this business.

She learned skills from an artsy mom and a dad, Allan Hollertz, whose is good at solving problems and restoring cars. Her college path featured graphic design, advertising and business classes.

Everything happens for a reason, Peterson said. She described herself as a respectful employee when she worked in marketing for Allmand Bros. in Holdrege, but she always has known she works best when shes the boss.

When her children are older, shed like to have a space in downtown Holdrege where she can work, sell clothing from a storefront and maybe bring a fabric shop back to town.

Shed like to have employees at some point to print, mark and cut patterns, and run a future store. Peterson said the sewing preparation tasks can take two days and then it may take another day for sales and shipping.
COZAD  Wilson Public Library will host a free farm succession planning program at 6:45 p.m. March 13 at the Cozad High School Auditorium.

The event is part of One Book, One Cozad activities developed around the 2019 book selection, This Blessed Earth: A Year in the Life of an American Family Farm by Ted Genoways.

The speaker will be University of Nebraska-Lincoln Harlan Agribusiness Professor Emeritus Ron Hanson, who was the first UNL professor to receive the U.S. Department of Agricultures Excellence in University Teaching Award.

Hanson is recognized as an expert on farm ownership and management succession planning, and has counseled Nebraska farm families on such issues for more than 40 years.
- Free Crane Breakfast  7:30-10 a.m. March 23 at the Gibbon American Legion, hosted by the American Legion Riders. Donations will go to the Legacy Fund for scholarships

FORT KEARNY STATE PARK

Location: 1020 V Road (Highway 50A) southeast of Kearney

Historical Park and Visitors Center: Open daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m. March 2-April 7, admission $2 for adults, $1 for children

Features: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission staff will be available to answer questions about migration and good viewing hours, and have maps for self-guided tours. There is an 18-minute video about the migration.

Recreation Area and Hike-Bike Trail viewing: Best crane viewing is a half hour before sunrise and sunset from the old railroad bridge spanning the Platte River.

Features: The walk to the bridge is 300 yards and the full trail is 1.4 miles. There are opportunities for camping and other wildlife viewing.

Park permits: A valid state park permit is required at both areas and can be purchased at the visitors center. A season permit is $35; a daily permit is $6 per vehicle for Nebraska residents and $8 for non-residents.
Its continuing education time for Nebraska farmers and ranchers. Following are some of the training, research update and irrigation conference opportunities in February.

Nebraska Extension will be hosting several Private Pesticide Applicator, chemigation and dicamba trainings.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture should have sent bar-coded letters in the mail to private pesticide applicators whose licenses will expire in 2019. It is important for applicators who are re-certifying to bring their letters to pesticide training.

Trainings are scheduled across the state for first-time certification and recertification.

Chemigation training is required for farmers who want to apply chemicals through irrigation systems during crop-growing season.

In-person trainings are available because applicators must pass an exam to become certified. First-time chemigators must attend in-person training.

Applicators who need to recertify and have not let their licenses expire may opt for online training at https://water.unl.edu/article/agricultural-irrigation/chemigation. However, they still must take an exam in person at a testing site.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)  The mayor of Portland, Oregon, has asked the police chief to investigate "disturbing" texts between the commander of the department's rapid response team and the leader of a far-right group involved in violent protests in the city.

The text messages show Lt. Jeff Niiya communicating with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson during protests, detailing the movement of a rival anti-fascist protest group and warning Gibson a Patriot Prayer member with a possible warrant for his arrest needed to be careful. The messages were first reported Thursday by the Willamette Week newspaper.

Mayor Ted Wheeler said the messages appeared to encourage Patriot Prayer and contributed to distrust of the police.

The police were accused last August of being heavy-handed and injuring some people who were protesting a rally organized by Gibson. Portland has been roiled by a series of protests over the past several years involving Gibson's group and a left-wing movement known as antifa, whose members often wear black masks.

Patriot Prayer is a right-wing group whose members say they advocate free speech by opposing political correctness. They have staged many right-wing protest in liberal cites, mostly on the West Coast, some of which have drawn violent reactions.

In a statement, Wheeler said police must remain objective and that the texts appear to "cross several boundaries."

"They also raise questions about whether warrants are being enforced consistently and what information is being shared with individuals who may be subject to arrest," the mayor said.

In one text Niiya tells Gibson he doesn't see a need to arrest his assistant, Tusitala Toese, who often brawls with anti-fascist protesters, even if he has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime.

"Just make sure he doesn't do anything which may draw our attention," Niiya texted Gibson on Dec. 9, 2017. "If he still has the warrant in the system (I don't run you guys so I don't personally know) the officers could arrest him. I don't see a need to arrest on the warrant unless there is a reason."

Efforts to reach Niiya for comment were not immediately successful.

A police spokeswoman said it is not unusual for officers to suggest people turn themselves in to avoid being arrested on a warrant.

"In crowd management situations, it may not be safe or prudent to arrest a person right at that time, so the arrest may be delayed or followed up on later It is not uncommon for officers to provide guidance for someone to turn themselves in on a warrant if the subject is not present," Lt. Tina Jones said told Willamette Week.

Chief Danielle Outlaw said in a statement that an internal review would be conducted to see if policies were violated. "If anything is identified that is deemed outside of our values and directives, it will be addressed," the police chief said.

A member of Portland's City Council, Jo Ann Hardesty, said the "broken policing system in Portland" must be addressed.

"This story, like many that have come before it, simply confirms what many in the community have already known  there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists," she said.
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho (AP)  An Oregon man potentially faces a 15-year prison sentence after authorities said he traveled 365 miles (587 kilometers) to have a sex with a teenage girl.

The Coeur d'Alene Press reports 36-year-old Eric Anderson, of Damascus, Oregon, was charged Thursday with one felony count of using the internet to entice a child under the age of 16 for sex.

Magistrate James Combo set bond at $250,000. Combo says Anderson's income is too high for a public defender.

Police say Anderson answered an advertisement on a website often used by people looking for sex. They say Anderson began chatting with a police officer posing as a 15-year-old girl who attended an alternative school in Post Falls, Idaho.

Authorities say Anderson drove from Portland to Post Falls Wednesday and was arrested outside a residence authorities pretended was the teenager's home.

Court records do not list Anderson's attorney and it wasn't immediately clear if he has obtained one yet. A phone number for Anderson could not be found.
Today

Partly cloudy. High near 80F. Winds light and variable.

Tonight

Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Cloudy early with partial sunshine expected late. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. Winds light and variable.
I wish you could see them.

Just when we think winter will never end, life comes back.

An hour later, we rounded a bend and saw Monterey Bay, blue as the sky and rimmed with foam, welcoming us home.

Marriage is a lot like a road trip. Some days its smooth sailing. But at times, it can get white-knuckled, hopping-mad, hair-on-fire bumpy. And yet, no matter whos driving, youre on the same road together. So you might as well take it as it comes and try to make the best of it.

Snacks help. Music, too, especially songs you both like and can sing off-key together.

But the best thing about road trips and marriage is this: You have someone to share the journey, to trust with your life, a traveling companion to tap on the arm and say, Look at that!

Here, free of charge, are a few tips from someone whos been married almost as long as shes been driving: Keep moving in the right direction. Know when to talk and when to shut up. Never argue over needing a pit stop. Pray like theres no tomorrow. And try your best, come what may, to enjoy the ride. At the end of the road, youll be glad you did.

Heres to happy trails.

Sharon Randall can be reached at randallbay@ earthlink.net.
Listening to my fellow citizens, I wondered if there is a real, true solution to the pain and wrongdoing that is plaguing our culture  the vitriol, indifference, ignorance and hurt. Can the transgressions of people against people ever be righted? If so, where does it begin? How does it happen? And how can I be part of it?

As a historian and student of leadership, I have learned that the challenges with no easy answers require first steps based in good faith. Leaders serious about realizing change will invite people different from themselves to talk, and they will make a commitment to listen. This is only the first step, but it is a necessary step, without which change is impossible.

I predict this event will be hailed as a significant milestone toward a stronger Winston-Salem because I witnessed leaders from many backgrounds, races and faiths extend an invitation to talk. And people accepted and displayed great courage to speak their truth.

The biggest, most important battles are won by those with the biggest hearts and those who lead humbly. True leadership emerges from the desire to invite others into conversation. Where pain and hurt run deep, let our compassion and grace run deeper still.
What the administration really needs to do is expand and improve facilities for processing, caring for and, when necessary, housing these asylum seekers. But Trump doesnt care about doing the right thing, or even the necessary thing. He cares only about being able to claim he is following through on his vicious anti-immigration rhetoric, which brands Mexican would-be migrants as rapists and Central Americans as members of the MS-13 street gang.

Trump had two years in which Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate  and could not convince Congress to give him funding for a wall. He decided to make it an issue only after Democrats won the power to say no. The presidents negotiating strategy  pitching tantrums, walking away from the table, venting on Twitter, provoking the longest partial government shutdown in history  was never going to work. You might think hed have learned something about how Washington works by now, but you would be wrong.

Since there obviously is no legitimate emergency, Trumps declaration  and the shifting of resources from duly authorized projects to the wall  will surely be challenged in court. It is possible, if not likely, that any actual construction will be held up indefinitely.
The statue at the corner of Fourth and Liberty streets has been a constant object of contention over the past few month, from the pages of this publication to the meetings of the Winston-Salem City Council. Even after the city announced that the statue would be removed, it still stands and we still wait. The persistent debate has offered a glimpse into the stark divide between the two sides: those who find the statue to be a benign memorial to fallen soldiers fighting for their homes and families, and those who find the statue to be a blatant shrine to white supremacy and soldiers who gave their lives in defense of slavery. In what follows, I hope to shed some light on some of the historical and cultural context behind such monuments.

While the statue certainly commemorated the war dead of Forsyth County, this fails to tell the entire story of this or any other Confederate statue. This statue is an example of what is called the Lost Cause.
Milak filed the same answer for all three defendants, and in those answers, Milak said Patterson was given three medications that day and a nurse practitioner wrote an order for amlodipine and lisinopril. The lawsuit said Pattersons blood pressure was checked once more where it measured 204/138. Rhoades had ordered Pattersons blood pressure to be checked once a day for the next three days after he was first admitted to the jail.

The defendants admit that after May 19, 2017, there is no record of additional blood pressures for Patterson.

Milak denies allegations that Rhoades and Correct Care were negligent in their care of Patterson and said that evidence will show that Patterson failed to exercise reasonable care for his health and safety. She wrote that evidence will show that this alleged failure was a proximate cause of his outcome.

She also alleges that the defendants can claim governmental immunity because they were acting on the behalf of a government agency, the jail. And Milak denies that Rhoades was an agent or employee of Correct Care Solutions in his role as medical director. The lawsuit alleges Rhoades was a Correct Care employee.
Q: Why do we know so little about the Old Testament book of Leviticus?

Answer: To give some background, Levi was a son of Jacob and Leah, and the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Levi. He was the grandfather of Aaron and Moses. The people in Leviticus are Levites. To give a quick response to the question, I think some readers are not interested in the laws that are recorded in the Book of Leviticus. People who tend to respond more to the words of Christ do not accept the harsher laws in the book. Others feel that the books laws are only applicable to the time period. Today, there are some people who remain faithful to these laws.

Beyond the laws, a closer reading would reveal an important point in the book. It is a guide to understanding Gods holiness, which means that people must be holy and create a holy society. The priest instructs the people to live holy lives and follow the laws. At the time, these social and religious laws fostered the well-being of the community. The rituals gave the people the opportunity to seek forgiveness, to offer prayers of thanksgiving and to offer sacrifices.
A national rating agency has changed its outlook on Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centers financial operations from stable to negative.

Moodys Investors Service disclosed the rating downgrade Feb. 8.

Moodys reaffirmed its A2 rating on the systems revenue bonds from its last report in December 2017. In that report, Wake Forest Baptists rating was downgraded from positive to stable.

According to Investopedia, an A2 rating is considered as usually the second- or third-highest rating that a rating agency assigns to a security or carrier.

The rating change comes following three recent expansion developments that Moodys appears to view as positive in the long term.

By comparison, S&P Global Ratings said in its latest report in December 2017 that it had reaffirmed A ratings on two series of Wake Forest Baptist bonds, as well as an overall positive rating on the center for the third consecutive year.

Moodys said the negative outlook reflects its view that Wake Forest Baptist will likely find it challenging to achieve and sustain stronger operating performance, which, in combination with moderate balance sheet metrics, would no longer support the current rating.
VF Jeanswear closing Greenville, S.C. facility

Two N.C. corporations are conducting job cuts in South Carolina, according to WARN Act notices filed with state officials.

VF Jeanswear Ltd. said it will close a logistics facility in Greenville, eliminating at least 150 jobs by April 13. Lowes Cos. Inc. said it will eliminate 80 jobs when it closes a Charleston facility by March 25.

VF said Friday the closing is part of its Kontoor Brands spin-off initiative and a decision to wind down its VF Fleet operations in the coming months.

The fleet provided transportation and logistics support for VFs brands, including transfer of raw materials, machinery, office supplies and finished products between internal manufacturing operations and distribution centers for Jeanswear brands and other brands in the VF portfolio.

Kontoor will be based in Greensboro at 400 N. Elm St., and operate the Lee, Rock & Republic and Wrangler brands, along with the VF Outlet business.

The rest of VF will be based in Denver and positioned primarily as offering outdoors lifestyle brands. The spinoff is slated to be completed by June 30 with Kontoor operating as a publicly traded company.

Richard Craver
There has been a shuffling of the top-five ownership stakes in Primo Water Corp., according to regulatory filing this week.

Akre Capital Management LLC has climbed to the top with 2.85 million shares and a 7.4 percent stake as of a filing Thursday.

Meanwhile, Wellington Management Co.s stake has dropped from 3.59 million shares and a 11.5 percent stake in June to 2.35 million shares and a 6.11 percent stake as of a Tuesday filing.

Private-equity firms are required to declare their ownership stakes annually, typically in February, or when it has a significant increase or decrease in shares.

Primos second largest stakeholder is BlackRock at 2.44 million shares and a 6.3 percent stake.

An activist hedge-fund group, Legion Partners LP, continues to add to its Primo stake. It went from 2.12 million shares and a 5.8 percent stake in June to 2.37 million shares and a 6.14 percent stake as of a Feb. 8 filing.
Joplin, MO (64801)

Today

Isolated thunderstorms this morning, then partly cloudy during the afternoon hours. High near 95F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies this evening. Thunderstorms likely late. Low 74F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
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.
Jacksonville, TX (75766)

Today

Partly cloudy. High 93F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Low around 75F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
 Flash

China will enhance cooperation with Pakistan under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), said Gao Yunlong, vice chairman of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Gao made the remarks here Friday while meeting Pakistani President Arif Alvi.

He said that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners and the friendship between the two counties is deeply rooted in the two peoples.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has brought tangible benefits to the people of both countries and China is willing to facilitate bilateral parliamentary and civil exchanges and conduct closer cooperation under the BRI framework, Gao said.

For his part, Alvi said Pakistan will intensify coordination with China in regional and global issues, adding that the two countries enjoy long history of friendship.

The president also said that the Pakistani side is willing to join hands with China to push the development of the BRI and CPEC to a new height.

Gao kicked off his Pakistan visit on Feb. 13 at the invitation of Pakistan's Senate. He also met with Chairman of the Senate Sadiq Sanjrani, Leader of the House for the Pakistan's Senate Shibli Faraz and Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Daru Khan Achakzai.
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:
The pop historian Eric Zemmour has fashioned himself as an evangelist of French culture  and has become a driving force for French conservatism, writes Elisabeth Zerofsky.

To follow Eric Zemmour around Paris last Autumn was to make a tour of the citys slightly faded belle epoque salons.

In September, after his latest book, French Destiny, was published, Le Figaro, Frances centre-right daily paper, where Zemmour is a columnist, hosted a talk at the Salle Gaveau.

A 1906 chamber-music hall, painted pale yellow and lined with parterre boxes, it is just two blocks from the presidential palace. Im not going to introduce Eric Zemmour, his presenter told the sold-out hall, noting that you would have to live at the very edge of the universe to escape him.

Im always intimidated when someone says something nice about me, Zemmour replied. It happens pretty rarely.

At 60, Zemmour is slight, with thinning hair and a spry energy. In a normal week, he might be a guest on morning radio, discuss the death of Gaullism on his Wednesday-evening talk show and publish a column on the genius of the French language.

But when he releases a book  he has written three since 2014  his frequent speaking engagements mean additional opportunities to expound on his preferred topics: the historical curtailment of French dominance, and the elites who have destroyed what remains of French identity.

All this time in front of the public increases the chance that he will do what he is best known for: defy the still-robust codes of French politesse. I have the great fault of being unable to concede, Zemmour says. Im not glorifying being this way. I just cant help it.

It is a trait that ensures not only that Zemmour is to be found everywhere, talking, but also that everyone, everywhere, is talking about him.

In the lobby, before the evenings programme, Zemmours colleagues were chattering about his latest clash, the so-called affaire des prenoms. On a talk show the previous Sunday, Zemmour went on a riff about the importance of a first name in signalling Frenchness, a long-standing obsession of his. (In 2009, he publicly castigated the minister of justice, Rachida Dati, for naming her daughter Zohra.)

Zemmour concluded by informing one of the panelists, a young journalist with Senegalese roots named Hapsatou Sy, that her mother was wrong not to give her a French name  say, Corinne  to show that their family was dedicated to the task of assimilating.

Everyone laughed, but the producers cut the cameras and the conversation continued off-screen, where Zemmour told Sy that her name was an insult to France.

Sy took to Twitter the following day: She was considering not only quitting the show, she wrote, but also filing a complaint for hate speech. Normal business on Frances TV networks, radio stations and social media platforms practically came to a stop, as every member of the left, despite vowing never to repeat Zemmours name, offered a defence of Sy, and every member of the right denounced a siege on free speech.

Most of Zemmours books are what he calls historical essays. His narratives, based on a personal reading of many works by historians, are long (the last three were more than 500 pages each) and intended for an audience already familiar with Robespierre and the Girondins.

He can skip straight to the riffs, turning events from many centuries ago into neat paradigms for today: Its exactly the same! is one of Zemmours favourite phrases.

His explanations delight his audiences; they have the pleasant totality of fables.

In a radio interview the week before his appearance at the Salle Gaveau, Zemmour nodded in vigorous agreement when he was asked if he was nostalgic and reactionary.

These tendencies appeal to a wide-ranging, well-heeled, conservative crowd but havent cost him the loyalty of a younger audience. At the Salle Gaveau, I spoke with one such fan, a 27-year-old named Jacques, the founder of a successful startup.

Im not nostalgic, Jacques said. I think theres a lot thats not working in modernity. But we have to say that when you come to a country you have to integrate and assimilate.

Zemmours detractors often link him to the Rassemblement National  formerly the National Front  but his true allegiance is to Bonapartism.

Napoleon

His nostalgia is not, as they claim, for Les Trente Glorieuses, the decades between the mid-1940s and the mid-1970s, when growth was high in France and immigration was more limited, but rather for the early 1800s (or, at the latest, for the 19th-century grandeur that died with Charles de Gaulle).

In Zemmours view, Waterloo was the beginning of the nations decline; the Prussian defeat of 1871, sealed Frances fate. The Declaration of the Rights of Man was not a universal truth, but a political tool used to further the dominion of the revolutionaries  something to be dispensed with when necessary.

Im accustomed to saying that when you have the biggest population in Europe and the giant army of Napoleon, the Rights of Man are magnificent, you can impose it on everyone, Zemmour said that evening.

But when youre 1% of the world population, and when we have 1.5 billion Africans at our door who, in the name of the Rights of Man, want to come to France, I say the Rights of Man are the death of France.

The audience responded with an energetic round of applause.

Everyone on the French right pays attention to Zemmour, but his pining for the lost paradise of Greater France is particularly resonant for older readers, many of whom attended his talk a few days later at the Theatre Montansier in Versailles.

Anyone over 70 was born at a time when empire was just the reality, Vincent Martigny, a professor of political science at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, told me.

For them, it was completely natural that we had colonies everywhere. And I think a large part of public opinion, especially those who are over a certain age, though its fading, is still deluded by this past, thinking it wasnt so bad.

Zemmours 2010 book, Melancolie Francaise, was a lament for France as the heir to Rome, destined to be recognised for its exceptional civilisation. Without irony, he cites the memoirs of Chateaubriand who, wounded in the siege of Thionville in 1792 and taken in by a group of Flemish women, reflects: I have the feeling that they treat me with a kind of respect and deference; there is something superior and delicate in the French nature that other peoples recognize.

Zemmour maintains that it is because of the 1763 treaty between France and Britain, which ceded much of French territory in America to the British, that globalisation is English rather than French.

In 2010, as a guest on a talk show, Zemmour repeated one of his favourite claims about immigration: People who come from immigrant backgrounds are stopped more frequently by the police because most drug dealers are black or Arab, he said. Thats a fact. (This is impossible to verify; in France, it is illegal for government agencies to gather statistics based on race or ethnicity.)

When the TV segment aired, the shows producers ran a chyron that read: Zemmour has gone off the rails.

Jacques de Guillebon, the editor of a new right-wing magazine, LIncorrect, credits Zemmour with being the first to speak about immigration publicly without a complex.

Fifteen, 20 years ago in France, you didnt have the right, de Guillebon told me. He influenced a lot of people who didnt dare to think what they were thinking.

Charles de Gaulle

France has long had its own version of the free-speech wars. France has strict hate-speech statutes, which can be applied at the discretion of investigating judges.

Zemmour has spent hundreds of hours and thousands of euro going to court to defend himself against charges of inciting racial hatred.

Zemmour found new fodder for his battle with leftist elites in mid-November, when 280,000 French protesters calling themselves the gilets jaunes, or yellow vests, demonstrated across the country against a tax increase on diesel fuel.

President Emmanuel Macron had announced the tax as part of Frances climate-change policy, creating a strange predicament for urban liberals. Normally they would support a working-class movement against the mechanisms of power, but the gilets jaunes were protesting, at least initially, a policy liberals hold dear.

Zemmour did not miss his chance to underscore this contradiction and skewer his opponents, remarking that the gilets jaunes were a French manifestation of a global phenomenon. As the protests continued to dominate the news cycle  blocked roads, vandalised businesses and monuments, tear gas filling the Champs-Elysees  Zemmour wrote and spoke incessantly on the topic. Ultimately, he declared Macrons mandate dead.

Zemmours newest book, French Destiny, is in some ways a response to the surprisingly successful Histoire mondiale de la France (Global History of France), compiled and edited by the noted historian Patrick Boucheron and published in 2015.

Where Boucheron presents French history as a product of diverse ethnic and geographical influences, Zemmour adheres to Thomas Carlyles dictum that history is but the biography of great men: the most powerful win, and rightly so. For Zemmour, the strict hierarchical social order born of Catholicism, divorced from the church and joined with the principles of Roman law is what gives French society its unique structure.

A Tellow Vest march.

The significance of Zemmours evangelism for the Catholic culture of France turns on the fact that he is Jewish and of Algerian descent.

In French Destiny, Zemmour writes for the first time about his family and childhood. I think that we are the children of a generation, even more than we are the children of our parents, Zemmour told me.

French Destiny was the top seller on French Amazon for weeks, and he had been doing nonstop publicity appearances by the time I finally sat

down with him in a cafe on the Boulevard Haussmann, not far from Le Figaros offices.

He ordered a tea and stirred some orange marmalade into it to soothe his throat, nursing a cold he caught the week before.

In my generation, we were French, we appropriated French history, people coming from every horizon became French, he said.

In his new book, he wanted to show how history was the vector of assimilation.

Eric Justin Leon Zemmour was born in a Paris suburb in 1958. His parents, descendants of Berber Jews, came to Paris from Algeria in the 1950s, during the French-Algerian war.

Zemmour tells of his grandfathers showing him an old postage stamp bearing a turbaned fighter holding a gun; his family name, which means olive tree in Berber, is blazoned across the top.

According to Zemmour, the Berber tribe to which his family belonged resisted the French invaders before embracing them. His passion for his familys adoptive land feels almost American  except, Zemmour insists, they were not immigrants. The Cremieux Decree of 1870 made Algerian Jews, but not Algerian Muslims, French citizens: They had migrated, not immigrated.

After high school, Zemmour attended Sciences Po, the feeder school for Frances political class, and took the entrance exams for the Ecole Nationale dAdministration, the finishing academy from which almost all of the countrys high officials, including presidents, have graduated; he passed the written entrance exam but failed the oral one.

He began working as a political reporter for Le Quotidien de Paris, which he described to me as right-wing anarchist  a French tradition of irreverence toward the establishment, which, he said, despises the moralism of progressives.

When the paper closed in the 1990s, he took a position at Le Figaro and began appearing on early-morning television news, where he cemented his reputation for being fully contemptuous of the liberal bourgeoisie, as one TV producer put it. In the meantime, he published three novels and 10 books of essays.

Zemmours 2014 book, French Suicide, was a work of pop history that courses through key legal decisions, pivotal figures, and cultural anecdotes in the 40 years following the soft revolution of May 1968, when university students famously took to the streets of Paris and upended traditional social structures.

Throughout the book, Zemmour polemicises against the cultural decay that he believes ensued: the creeping feminisation of society, which prioritised consensus over authority, peace over war, and the individual over the family. French Suicide sold 500,000 copies  more than 6,000 a day at one point  making him one of the most widely-read authors in France that year.

In retrospect, it is easy to see that the book thrived within the same civic breakdown that, a few years later, would allow Emmanuel Macron to overturn the French political system entirely.

In Zemmours imagination, his family is the model of French assimilation. His parents arrived from a Judeo-Arab culture but gave their children Christian first names; Zemmour studied the Torah privately, but removed any external symbols of his faith in public, presenting himself as fully devoted to the principle of laicite, or French secularism. Whats more, he didnt experience this as any kind of internal contradiction or compromise. Why couldnt immigrants today do the same?

Throughout French Destiny, Zemmour poses the question, echoing the 19th-century French philosopher Ernest Renan, of what a nation is: a territory, a people, an administration, or a spirit, a set of values, an idea.

He appears to depart from the far right in choosing the latter: I believe that one becomes French through literature and history, if you didnt have the luck to be it through blood and soil, he writes.

Yet there is an essentialist argument running through the book. Zemmour claims not only that Charles Martels defeat of the Omayyad caliphate near Poitiers in 732 gave rise to the Frankish empire, but also that this confrontation between civilisations is being repeated today.

In October, the news broke that Zemmour would be giving a talk at Issep, a new higher-education institution opened in Lyon last September by Marion Marechal, the niece of the National Front leader Marine Le Pen. All the media outlets in Paris ran jittery headlines.

Issep stands for Institut de Sciences Sociales, Economiques et Politiques, which is remarkably similar to Institut dEtudes Politiques de Paris, the official name of Sciences Po. Marechals aim, it seems, is to set herself up as a competitor.

At Issep, Zemmour had an especially receptive audience. One man in his 40s told me that the passion for France that Zemmour and Marechal share is rare.

People are hungry for that, he said. There are so few people like Zemmour among the journalists, the personalities we see on TV  theyre all anti-France, cosmopolitan. He is not.

He was especially tired of hearing that there was no such thing as French culture.

All these people who want to think for us today in France, they dont love France, he said.

They think France is some vague idea that belongs only to a few.

One Issep student asked Zemmour about his belief that Frances defeat in the Seven Years War, between 1756 and 1763, was the beginning of the nations decline.

It seems like a long time ago, the student said, but for you, the history of France has been a succession of failed attempts to compensate for this defeat. Is there still any meaning in asserting the existence of a grand French destiny?

Zemmour was ready with a response, observing that Frances colonial conquests were an attempt to compensate for that defeat. Today, he went on, French elites have decided, ignobly, that a new kind of French power can be obtained only by entwining the country within the European Union.

For him, the process of writing his most recent book, he explained earlier that evening, recalled the legend about the person who is dying and sees each major stage of his life pass before his eyes: Now we are reliving the main crises we experienced during a thousand years of history.

But each generation, he said, rewrites the history of France in accordance with the problems they confront. The students seemed satisfied. They thanked Zemmour for travelling such a long way to answer all their questions.

Adapted from an article that originally appeared in The New York Times Magazine

2019 The New York Times
Its reputational death by a thousand drip feeds that those in power should really worry about, says Fiachra O Cionnaith.

THE phrase death by a thousand cuts is all the rage in political circles, given the ongoing problems besetting the Government.

Knives out for Harris this, cutbacks (or should that be reprofiling and deferrals) that, and all the while Varadkar and Donohoe studiously watching their backs for any shiny objects veering sharply towards them, means the phrase is understandably never far from peoples lips.

But, in reality, death by drowning due to a thousand drips  or at least drip-feeds  is a far more accurate prognosis for what is really threatening the longevity of those in power.

And as anyone who has ever been forced to endure Chinese water torture will confirm, the latter is ultimately far more damaging to the one attribute politicians need  credibility  than any nips and scratches from opposition knives  most of which can be cured with a trip to the (spin) doctor for a quick cover-up.

From the ongoing fiasco of the childrens hospital to Denis Naughtens resignation last year over broadband, not to mention Frances Fitzgeralds exit in 2017, the Governments biggest problem is not the repeated cuts caused by the mountain of crises it is increasingly facing. It is actually how it handles them or, to be more precise, doesnt handle. It seems to prefer to reach for the safety blanket of spin and distraction every time an issue starts to drip out into public view, instead of just admitting there is a problem and treating the public like adults who will work out what has gone wrong.

And while it may not seem like it, this approach ultimately risks seeing those in power sink beneath the tide of controversy without a trace. The childrens hospital costs crisis is a prime example, and while its political spotlight may be dimming, it wont be forgotten easily by the public.

Since last autumn when Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe and Health Minister Simon Harris were officially informed of the costs crisis, the Government has ducked and dived to avoid the facts.

Ministers told multiple Dail committees the project was a few million euro over-budget, then 450m over-budget, then potentially up to 1.1bn over-budget with seemingly no end in sight.

They and the national paediatric hospital development board agreed to release all records immediately, before taking considerably longer than immediately to do so, dripping out information as they went.

They insisted a 99m black hole in the Governments much-vaunted capital projects budget could be filled with vague new phrases like reprofiling, which everyone was assured was definitely not cuts. No siree.

Simon Harris and Paschal Donohoe.

And throughout the entire saga were ongoing questions over when exactly Donohoe and Harris were first told of what was going wrong.

For a Government spending so much money on spin, the decision to try and hoodwink people on the real depth of the crisis instead of just being transparent from last autumn is a PR disaster  making the scandal now as much about whether you can trust the Government as about the spiralling overruns involving officials and builders.

Similarly, last years broadband crisis, which saw Naughtens departure as Communications Minister, was another example of what will happen if you gamble on not providing all the information to people at the very start.

Throughout October, it emerged that Mr Naughten liked company when he went for dinner. Quite a bit of it, as it happens.

Sure it was only one meal, was the initial Government mantra.

Then three. Then five. Then half a dozen... And all with a businessman central to the consortium which ultimately won the tender. Oh dear.

If the situation was handled by simply providing all of the information up front in one big serving, Naughten may have wobbled but he would have stood a far better chance of staying afloat. Instead, the drip-drip drowned Naughtens credibility. And with the flood, he was washed away on the tide of public opinion.

Just like Frances Fitzgeralds fall from grace 10 months earlier, it wasnt necessarily the scandal itself which caused the Government the most problems, but the way it was handled. And it is a misstep that is simply not being learned from, whether its a big, unexpected scandal or smaller day-to-day ones.

After the latest release of housing statistics on Wednesday night, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy travelled to RTE and Newstalk HQ on Thursday to explain the figures to their listeners.

He began by rattling off his pre-cooked answers, but neither interviewer was buying it, and cut straight to the chase by asking how many social houses were built last year.

Em... er... ah... well... is the gist of the first two minutes of Mr Murphys attempts to answer the easiest of questions for a housing minister, as he presumably wondered whether he should just repeat the same carefully crafted PR line again, only LOUDER. And. More. Slowly. This. Time.

Eventually, after realising he was not in fact an ignorant tourist in a Spanish hotel, he conceded defeat. The Government is below target on social housing builds  in fact almost 50% worse than the 7,000 pledged by Mr Varadkar in November 2017.

Awkward? Like totes, Murph.

But while this awkwardness wouldnt have been mitigated entirely by just admitting this at the start and having the grown-up, if difficult, conversation, an intelligent and able politician such as Murphy is capable of having, it would have at least been a start.

Of course, we shouldnt be so naive as to think its only the Government that likes to tiptoe around the truth every now and again. The Opposition does it too.

Eoghan Murphy

Lying about your motives, or at least giving a carefully nuanced version of the truth, goes hand in glove with politics. However, the lack of honesty in the Government when crises occur conceals a far more dangerous trend that erodes the Coalitions credibility and public trust in democracy.

Oddly enough, the clearest example of what Fine Gael is doing wrong came from the ranks of its often ridiculed Coalition partners  no, not Fianna Fail  the Independents.

In early 2017, unaligned Independent TD and Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone had found herself wandering through a minefield over her conversations with then-taoiseach Enda Kenny on the Maurice McCabe scandal.

Standing in front of the firing squad, the ministers colleagues could be heard clearing their throats to voice the dreaded vote of confidence.

Then, she did something more experienced politicians would privately always advise against: She admitted she had made a mistake. The baying public mobs response? Fair enough, honest error, lesson learned  now lets get back to the bigger problems.

At this weeks Dail Public Accounts Committee meeting, Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy brought the issue full circle again.

Speaking during a discussion on the childrens hospital costs crisis, she explained that the Government has previously signed up to an open government approach system, which encourages greater transparency among officials when scandals occur.

It doesnt feel like it, Ms Murphy, who is fair-minded on how to handle crises but who is no ones fool, said dryly.

Death by a thousand cuts is manageable, particularly when you have so many spin doctors offering up a cure.

Its reputational death by a thousand drip feeds that those in power should really worry about.

A cut can heal, but never-ending drip-dripping? Before you know it, youll have drowned.

Time to grab that snorkel Leo.
Trust in authority is at an all-time low around the world, but we can all do more before giving into despair, writes Joyce Fegan.

Sunday afternoons protest outside Simon Harris home is neither an isolated, nor a peculiarly Irish, incident. And the sentiment that drove it isnt going anywhere.

Trust, the world over, is in decline. Were sceptical of the media. We distrust politicians. Were disillusioned by the state of the world and we dont know what to do with all of this anger and despair.

Sometimes it leaks out in traffic, with raised fingers, or hands thumped against car horns. More often than not, it seeps out online, with rage-filled comment threads on Facebook, typically laden with expletives and lacking time for punctuation.

Other times we turn this anger to action, taking it to the streets.

In France, we have the gilets jaunes  or the yellow vests  with their guerrilla blockades of roundabouts to demand economic justice. In India, we have 5m people lining up across a state demanding an end to violence against women seeking entry to a Hindu temple. In Ireland, we had tens of thousands of people marching for reproductive rights, housing equality, and an increase in nurses wages.

This correlation between distrust, anger, and protest is not anecdotal. The Edelman Trust Barometer for 2019 shows that the world, not just Ireland, is in a precarious place.

From an Irish perspective, just 38% of us trust government and only 35% said we trusted the media. In contrast, 69% of Irish people said they worry about false information and fake news being weaponised.

But, despite our lack of trust in the media, our engagement with the news as a way to cope with the state of the world has shot up. There has been a 17-point increase in news engagement on 2018 among the general population, with 65% of Irish people engaged with current affairs on a daily or weekly basis.

Globally, we are not alone. The world has returned to a record-high trust inequality. What does this mean? According to the barometer, there is now a 16-point gap in trust between the more-trusting informed public and the far more sceptical mass population. The gap between these two groups is in double digits in 18 countries.

This shows a world divided into extremes; a world where some use intimidating guerrilla tactics to voice their dissent and one where people either plod merrily along or else assemble lawfully to act on their anger.

Stephen Kehoe, global chair of reputation for Edelman, said the gap between the sceptical mass population and the informed one, pointed to a rot.

Divergent levels of confidence between the mass population and informed public about the future signal a continued underlying rot in the structure of society, Mr Kehoe said.

He believes that the data points to protest.

While not everyone is taking to the streets, the data shows why protests like the gilet jaunes in France, the womens marches in India and walkouts by employees at some major tech companies could become more mainstream, he said.

A homelessness protest in Dublin.

While freedom of assembly is a constitutional right here and is also contained in the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the word peaceful is used in both documents.

Our anger may well be justified both here and abroad, and our right to protest guaranteed, but its how we get our point across that matters.

There is a fine line between scepticism and cynicism. Scepticism is seen as healthy. The sceptic wants evidence before they believe you. They are open-minded and will accept a fact when its proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Cynicism, on the other hand, is about believing immediately in the worst, a belief that a person or an institution is working purely out of self- interest. The cynics mind is closed, theyre not interested in your evidence.

Considering these times of distrust and despair that we are currently living in, its easy for scepticism to harden into cynicism. And its tempting to let our protest be led by the latter.

When Enda Kenny resigned as leader of Fine Gael and therefore as taoiseach in June 2017, he made one point that took up residence in my head and has stayed there ever since.

Cynicism is always an easy cop-out, he said. I thought about what he meant, what he wanted the Irish public to hear, and why he made that point, of all points, on his big day of departure.

I really believe that politics is work worth doing, a noble profession, he added.

Cynicism would lead you to believe that every single person who enters political life is a corrupt shark out solely for their own gain. Scepticism, on the other hand, would lead you to hold these people to account.

And when they fall short, as they will and inevitably do, scepticism will leave you angry.

What do we then do with that justifiable anger? Do we degrade each other online? Do we intimidate our publicly elected officials? Do we turn to physical violence?

The answer depends on what you want to get out of it. Do you want to be right or do you want to bring about change?

Martin Luther King Jrs son, Martin Luther King III, was addressing an audience of Black Lives Matters activists in Virginia just before the US midterms last November. The crowd was hurt and angry. Many had been marched on by hundreds of white men brandishing torches only a year before. They wanted to know what to do with this anger.

I was 10 years old when my father was gunned down, he said. I was 11 years old when my uncle mysteriously drowned. I was 15 years old when my grandmother was killed in the church while praying the Lords Prayer. My father was killed by a white man.

It would have been easy to embrace hatred.

The crowd ended up offering advice to itself, with the chant dont boo, vote, reverberating around the theatre.

In May 2019, we will have our own chance to vote, with seats in Europe and in our local councils up for grabs. Often those who sit on councils end up in Leinster House one day.

Why use your anger to be right, when you could use it to bring about change?
SEAT has completed its trio of SUVs with the introduction to the Irish market of the all-new Tarraco, which will go on sale here from a baseline price of 34,700 for the SE range.

The latest vehicle was designed and developed at SEATs facilities in Martorell and built in Wolfsburg, Germany, and is said to bring a fresh look to the sector, highlighting greater self-confidence, elegance, sportiness, and determination.

The Tarraco sits at the top of SEATs SUV family as the big brother to both the Ateca and the Arona. According to the manufacturer, it mixes state-of-the-art technology, dynamic and agile handling, practicality and functionality with elegant, progressive design.

SEAT says the new SUV blends the key attributes of every vehicle in the companys range: design and functionality, sportiness and comfort, technology and emotion, in a form that suits a wide variety of lifestyles.

The all-new SEAT Tarraco is designed for drivers who need the usefulness of a five- or seven-seater and the practicality of a higher driving position but are conscious of a vehicles aesthetics and appreciate the Tarracos balance between self-confidence, elegance, and sportiness, claimed SEAT at the Irish launch this week.

Inside the cabin, the Tarraco fuses a high quality, ergonomically designed interior space with state-of-the-art infotainment and connectivity technologies aimed at maximising the interaction between driver and vehicle.

The range will also boast a choice of two advanced petrol engines and two diesel units, helping it to meet the most stringent emissions legislation while offering the best possible performance.

It is also future-proofed and ready to take alternative powertrain technologies.

SEAT describes the car as potentially being a disruptive force in the SUV market, indicating it is looking to this car to make substantial sales gains.

As the SUV market continues to expand, the Tarraco will play a key role for SEAT, strengthening the brand and aiding growth at a time when the companys sales are rising steadily.

With three SUVs on offer, SEATs opportunities for greater expansion can only increase.

Speaking at the launch, Niall Phillips, brand director at SEAT Ireland, said: We are very excited to welcome the Tarraco to Ireland in 2019. There has never been a greater demand in the Irish market for SUV vehicles and SEAT has been satisfying this demand over the past couple of years through its existing SUV range comprised of the SEAT Ateca and Arona, models which have enjoyed remarkable success.

The introduction of the Tarraco now allows SEAT to target a different customer segment again and we are extremely confident that it will resonate with Irish motorists.
Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East, the conference duly taking place on February 13-14 in Warsaw, capital of Poland.



Though the United States invested tremendous diplomatic resources in getting the conference up and running, it may well still prove to be a failure of American diplomacy.

According to on-site reports, it was intended to invite more than 70 countries to the conference held jointly by the U.S. and Poland, although only about 60 turned up.

Pompeo himself emphasized that fighting against extremism, restricting missile programs and countering nuclear proliferation would be major topics for discussion and the United States sent a high-level delegation consisting of Vice President Mike Pence, Senior Presidential adviser Jared Kushner and the Secretary of State Pompeo.

Though the U.S. did not mention an intention of using the event to target Iran, everybody clearly saw it as an American containment tactic. Although dubbed a "Middle East" conference, Iran was not invited to attend, which seems a mistake limiting the meeting's ability to achieve results.

Iran is certainly a very important player in the region not only in population terms, but also by the size of its territory and regional influence. And the topics listed by Pompeo were all related to Iran in one form or another.

From an American perspective, Iran is the number one State-sponsor of international terrorism, it has programs for developing nuclear weapons and their delivery system (missiles). Meanwhile, the countries most enthusiastic about the conference were those obviously hostile to Iran.

As a result, despite all the careful arrangements, the conference was doomed to fail, being unable to achieve such goals as politically isolating Iran and economically punishing it. In fact, the event clearly indicated the isolation of the U.S. rather than Iran.

Firstly, no major European government officials were there. High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini was absent, claiming conflicting agendas. France and Germany did not send their foreign ministers.

As a result, although designed to function at a ministerial level, those who attended the conference were mainly ranked at a lower level.

European countries do share American concerns about Iran's role in the region, having publicly expressed concerns about the country's expansion in Syria and in other Arab countries in recent years. Likewise, they are also worried about Iran's missile program since parts of Europe are within the range of its known missile types.

However, the European Union remains significantly distant from the U.S. on the best way to deal with Iran-related issues.

While the U.S. is pushing for a program of isolating and sanctioning Iran, the EU favors talking with Iran and respecting its interest in playing a significant role in regional affairs.

The EU is particularly dissatisfied with the 2018 American withdrawal from the JCPOA, popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal. Europeans regard the deal as a major diplomatic achievement, and its prestige and ability to deliver greater regional security is seriously undermined by the U.S. withdrawal. European economic interests have also been seriously hurt after the America re-imposed economic and trade sanctions on Iran that had been lifted after the deal was signed in July 2015.

The differences even resulted in direct confrontation. Last month, the EU formally established the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) as a means of carrying out trade with Iran bypassing American financial sanctions. This move was fiercely criticized by Vice President Mike Pence at the Warsaw conference.

Secondly, no other major global actor was willing to respond to the American initiative, and, certainly, the Warsaw meeting exposed serious differences between the U.S. and the wider international community.

Though the U.S. wanted to build the broadest possible international alliance against Iran, it failed dismally. It was not only the major EU powers like France and Germany, but also Russia and China, who showed little or no interest in getting involved.

The British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt was only in the conference briefly. In other words, besides the U.S., none of the permanent members of U.N. Security Council took the American initiative seriously.

This certainly seems to suggest that the Warsaw conference had much to do with the isolation of the United States on the Iran issue.

Thirdly, quite a number of Middle East countries kept their distance from the U.S. States like Israel and Saudi Arabia were enthusiastic, and they might also have been the forces pushing for the conference behind the scenes.

However, some other Middle East countries did not show much interest. They might have sent delegations to Warsaw without being in anyway interested in joining the U.S. in concerted action against Iran.

Countries such as Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey all have a close interest in ensuring normal relations with Tehran. Some other regional states even refused any participation, such as Lebanon.

The conference will have very limited effect in punishing Iran economically. The reasons are simple. The countries participating in the conference are not the ones that have strong economic ties with Tehran. Or to put it another way, those having strong economic ties with Iran were not at the conference.

Therefore, it is very clear, there is a big gap between the international community in general and the U.S. on Iran. U.S. efforts to unilaterally impose its own agenda in this regard is doomed to fail, which also seriously undermines America's image in the world.

In some way, the failure of the Warsaw conference also suggests the declining role of the U.S. since it can no longer rally an international consensus as it did in the Madrid Middle East conference of 1991.

Dr. Jin Liangxiang is Senior Research Fellow with the Center for West Asian and African Studies, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/jinliangxiang.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

If you would like to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinion@china.org.cn.
I recently received my November/December issue of our comrade publication Current Affairs in the mail (with the witty caption Our Latest Issue  By Far at the top of the front cover), so we dont feel quite so bad that D&S print subscribers were receiving their copies of our January/February issue around the same time. Solidarity with Current Affairs as we both try to get back on schedule!

We just posted our columnist John Millers latest, A Green Job Guarantee, and we posted Jim Cyphers cover story, Neoliberalism Unchained: Jair Bolsonaro and the Rise of the Extreme Right in Brazil on January 31st.

Heres the January/February issues p. 2 editorial note, including an announcement of our 45th anniversary celebrations:

The Right and Resistance

Brazil had hoped to unveil its new face to foreign capital, as Glenn Greenwald of The Intercept put it, at this years World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. But the countrys far-right incoming president, Jair Bolsonaro, had to cancel a press conference with his top ministers, including Chicago Boy economist Paulo Guedes, in order to avoid questions from the media about an unfolding scandal involving suspicious deposits into the bank account of one of Bolsonaros sons.

How did this situation in Brazil come to pass? In his cover story for this issue, economist James M. Cypher explains Brazils steady slither into extreme right-wing rule, and the brand of corrupt neoliberalism it will usher in. Brazils oligarchs, led by big agribusiness Bancada Ruralista (rural caucus), were behind the rights coup against Dilma Rousseff of the Partido dos Trabalhadores (Workers Party) and its people-friendly neo-developmentalism. Bolsonaro, who has praised the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1965 to 1985, promises a brutal neoliberal regime that will allow international capital to plunder and despoil the Amazon. Meanwhile, Trump has had kind words for Bolsonaro, and the two have teamed up to signal support for a coup in Venezuela.

In this issue we also address the rise of the right in the United States. Jerry Friedmans Economy in Numbers reveals that the unequaland unrepresentativeU.S. Senate is one key factor. The U.S. Constitutions guarantee that every state, regardless of population, will have two senators gives disproportionate representation to rural areas over urban, gives white voters more clout than non-white voters, and favors conservatives over liberals. All of this has favored Trump and the GOP, but it is deeply undemocratic and will be hard to change.

But we do offer some rays of hope in this issue: an article on the gilets jaunes and their resistance to rising inequality in France; a feature on the revival of rent control in the United States, and how mainstream economics gets it wrong about rental housing markets; John Millers column on how a federal job guarantee could help create green jobs; and more. With this issue we kick off our 45th anniversary year! Our official 45th anniversary issue will be in November/December, but for each issue this year we will include a reprint of an article from the D&S archives.

On p. 27 we have an article on work stoppages from the January 1975 issuetimely given the L.A. teachers strike (which recently ended in victory for the teachers), the wave of teachers strikes last year (see Ellen David Friedmans Whats Behind the Teachers Strikes, D&S, May/June 2018), and the role that slowdowns, sick-ins, and threats of a general strike by flight attendants, air traffic controllers, and TSA agents appear to have played in ending Trumps government shutdown. While it feels as if theres an upswing in strikes and labor militancy, reading the piece from 1975 is a good reminder of how many fewer strikes there are these days than there were when D&S was founded. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were just seven work stoppages involving 1,000 or more workers in 2017 (the most recent year for which the BLS has data), and those stoppages involved some 25,000 workers total. In contrast, 1974, the year D&S was founded (and the year that this issues 45th anniversary reprint focuses on), had 424 work stoppages of 1,000 or more workersinvolving a jaw-dropping total of 1,796,000 workers.

Keep an eye on these pages and our website in the coming months as we continue to celebrate our 45th anniversary with reflections from readers on the impact of D&S, anniversary events, and a sustainability campaign to support our work for years to come.
Chef and restauranteur Seamus OConnell is about to close his iconic Cork restaurant. He looks back on 25 years at the helm of The Ivory Tower  and reveals his new plans to Ellie OByrne.

Seamus OConnell is gazing out the first-floor window of his restaurant.

Around him, the orange-washed walls and hardwood dressers are bedecked with a bewildering assortment of curiosities: African artworks, a book on taxidermy, a Victorian pith helmet. Its mid-morning.

There are still dregs in wineglasses on the tables from last nights service.

At his elbow lies a 25-year-old handwritten menu, a memory of the first meals served here in the Ivory Tower, the Cork eatery which, as OConnells brainchild, has been the stuff of high accolade and occasional controversy for a quarter century.

In just weeks, OConnell will shut the Ivory Tower and move on to pastures new, with a fresh restaurant venture in Kerry. But first, theres time for a little contemplation.

And the chef is in a reflective mood. Last summer, nearing his 50th birthday, he met his biological mother for the first time.

Raised by adoptive parents, still both alive but now in their nineties, in the US state of Arizona, hed long since given up any hope of tracing his birth mother.

My kids bought me a DNA test for Christmas, he says. The next thing, I got an email from this guy in Texas saying we were related.

"I thought it was a hoax, but by my birthday last May, I was going to meet my mother for the first time, in the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia.

His mother, he discovered, had been the daughter of an Air force Colonel based in the Arizona desert. After a fling as an exchange student in Germany, she gave her baby up for adoption.

It must have been a life-changing experience? Oh yes, of course. He smiles.

I mean, I didnt get dinner. I was really looking forward to my new mum cooking me dinner, but not a bean. So I cooked for her.

After this reunion, OConnell says he got to thinking about his reasons for moving to Ireland in the first place.

After a stint in New York, working in restaurants like Le Bernardin and La Reserve, he first arrived on Irish shores in the mid-80s and fell in love with West Cork.

Following time in France honing his craft in three Michelin-starred restaurants La Tour Rose and Alain Chapel, whose eponymous owner was a founder of the Nouvelle Cuisine movement, he returned to Ireland, working in Kinsale and then Lettercollum House in Timoleague before the birth of his first child led to him moving to Cork City in 1988 by necessity rather than by choice.

I remembered why I left America and what I wanted when I came to Ireland and I started thinking: What am I doing living in Cork city? I could have lived in New York or Paris if I was looking for city life.

He came to Ireland, he says, for the countryside: My ideal was self-sufficient and hippyish. I wanted to grow everything myself. The Ivory Tower, born out of a combination of necessity and youthful drive, emerged as an inspiring game-changer on the Cork restaurant scene.

A glance at that first menu from winter 1993 reveals starters like crab quenelle and conger eel sausages and prune stuffed with wild duck mousse, while mains included pheasant braised with chestnuts and ceps, and a grilled shark with salsa and guacamole, possibly an early progenitor of what would emerge as one of OConnells typically quirky signature dishes, Blackened Shark with Banana Ketchup, which was lapped up by boom-time restaurant-goers keen to prove their sophisticated palettes.

They were heady days on the Cork food scene. OConnell and fellow former Quay Co-op chef Denis Cotter, who had opened his ground-breaking vegetarian Cafe Paradiso the same year, were young chefs whose innovative cooking drew international attention to the second city.

For a time, it seemed OConnell could do no wrong. His blonde good looks and macho leather apron made him a good fit for TV; he landed an RTE cookery series, Soulfood, which cemented his image as an intuitive breath of fresh air in the somewhat stultified world of Irish cuisine.

TV was good for business, but I didnt like the business it brought, OConnell says. We were full for two sittings each night, but everyone wanted well-done steaks and bottles of Bordeaux. I didnt enjoy cooking for them at all; it wasnt what I wanted to be doing.

In the meantime, OConnell had become a family man in typically unconventional fashion; he has five children by three different partners.

He lived above the shop at the Ivory Tower with his three youngest and their mother, now his ex-partner, during the restaurants hey-day.

This building, then, has been home as well as work, and houses important memories.

Weve had some great visitors, OConnell says, glancing around at the empty tables. I remember Gil Scott Heron sitting here with my son on his lap. The musicians were a highlight.

"There was a guy running a world music label from Cork and we had a relationship where hed bring them here when they were in Ireland on tour.

When ill-fated US TV chef Anthony Bourdain came to town, he filmed at the Ivory Tower with OConnell.

Other business ventures included Pi, a pizza restaurant, and hip Japanese pop-up The Yumi Yuki Club above The Triskel arts centre.

Winning Chef of the Year at the annual Irish Restaurant Awards in 2004 was recognition from respected fellow chefs, and a coup made all the sweeter for the fact that he had never joined the organising body, the Restaurant Association of Ireland (RAI). That felt pretty good, he says with a mischievous glint.

OConnell is a mercurial creative genius or the possessor of a streak of aggression and arrogance, or a little of both, depending on who you talk to.

Running a restaurant in a dilapidated protected building with a tiny galley kitchen, and with his decidedly anti-authoritarian streak, it was almost inevitable that he would have a polarising impact.

He says:

The Ivory Tower has always been a bit of a wild card, where we dont pander to what the public wants as much as we should

But thats always been the most fun: people hear about the Ivory Tower and they think its going to be this grand dining room.

"They walk in here and say: Is this it?! Its funny to get their perceptions of it.

The fun wore off when he found himself facing a closure order by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in 2011 for breaches of food safety regulations.

Defying the closure order, OConnell kept serving until he was hauled before the High Court, forcing the restaurants closure until he complied with the required, and disputed, food safety measures.

I closed for a week after speaking out and raising a few hackles, he says. They have the power, I dont, so I had to appease them. He admits to being a bit cocky in the press about the affair, which marked a turning point in his restaurants fortunes.

After the FSAI, it seemed everyone was taking a pot shot at me, he says.

We got shut down by the fire officer too. I thought, f**k this. I put the building up for sale and considered moving back to America.

"I had years of terrible business in the recession. I couldnt afford staff. It was just grim, but I still had five kids in Cork.

The hit to a restaurants reputation from an FSAI closure is severe. We never recovered, OConnell says.

Nearly 10 years later, its on the front page of my Google search results. Ive asked them to remove it because its not relevant and theyve refused, even though the FSAI and I have an OK relationship now.

Having downsized, OConnell faced a huge tax bill, for which he unsuccessfully tried to negotiate gradual repayments.

Disaster struck when bailiffs arrived in the middle of a dinner service and began seizing tableware, furnishings and even the wine in front of astonished diners.

He can laugh now, but he shakes his head too, at the memory: I was pulling my hair out. My girlfriend, who was waiting tables, ran upstairs and got the TV and tried to hide it on the balcony. I had to buy everything back.

The dictionary definition of an Ivory Tower is a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world.

A self-fulfilling prophecy? OConnell is reticent on the notion of regrets. Has he been too hot-headed?

I prefer to think Im smouldery, he jokes, and then, no, I probably would have made the same decisions.

OConnells new venture is Malarkey, a 90-seat restaurant in Killarney town centre in the former Chapter 40 restaurant.

The menu, he says, is Irish for the Americans and fusion for the Irish, a nod to the Kerry towns place as a tourist haven.

The food has innovative flair, but is slightly scaled back from the heights of the Ivory Towers whimsy  easier to replicate and manage.

OConnell says hes looking forward to climbing down from his culinary Ivory Tower and engaging the practicalities of a designed-for-purpose kitchen at Malarkey.

And he wont be sorry to leave Cork City centres noise pollution behind either.

The thing hell miss the most? The English Market, the jewel in the crown of Corks food culture, just metres from the Ivory Tower.

It led me to be able to design a type of cooking that was completely spontaneous, he says.

I could walk around the corner and buy produce. Thats the thing that has defined this restaurant, more than anything else.
Ed Power went to see Post Malone play the 3Arena in Dublin.

[rating]4[/rating]

It was Valentines Night in Dublin and all the love in the room was directed at the bearish figure wreathed in facial tattoos and wearing a shirt festooned with shamrocks.

Post Malone started his European tour with a bone fide claim to be the biggest brand in rap in 2019. His hook-up with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the Grammys a few days previously had confirmed his elevation to the highest tier of pop royalty. It was an incredible ascent by an artist who had uploaded his first single to Soundcloud just four years ago (and who played the tiny Academy third stage down the road from the 3Arena in 2016).

His rise from the obscurity of the Dallas suburbs had meanwhile taken on soap opera trappings following the incarceration by emigration officials of his collaborator 21 Savage on Super Bowl weekend. Malone  born Austin Malone  duly gave a shout out to his imprisoned friend as he plunged into the hit they wrote together, Rockstar.

21 f***ing Savage, he bellowed as flames jetted into the air and he walked to the back of the ramp jutting into the crowd to symbolically smash a guitar.

As with much of his material Rockstar was a rap track that seemed uncomfortable in its skin.

Over a lurching beat that sounded forever in danger of toppling in on itself, he counted the way overnight fame can pull at the loose threads of your soul. It was a hip hop number that seemed to want to be something else  a soul searing rock ballad possibly.

posty killing yesterday in Dublin #postmalone  pic.twitter.com/LCxEcaFQRL  post malone archive (@malonearchives) February 15, 2019

That was no surprise considering Malone has listed as influences Nirvana, Fleet Foxes and, a bit improbably, experimental folk musician Bon Iver. He certainly brought stadium rock showmanship, the evening beginning with the artist concealed within a giant shoebox-like edifice.

It rose, emitting dry ice and blinding light and there, in the middle, stood Malone. He had dressed for the occasion, with an untucked shirt covered in clovers and even sparked up (explaining that he would be fined $4000 for breaching the no-smoking rule).

Hip hop gatekeepers are tremendously sniffy about Malone, who happens not to have grown up in a crack house and isnt above slathering his music in mosh-pit guitars.

Here, it was the breadth of the material that was striking. Wow was an rn b heat-seeker while Pyscho and I Fall Apart dripped with suburban metalhead angst.

This wasnt music to change your life  but it was tremendous fun and the enthusiasm with which the audience responded confirmed that, whatever the elitists think, fans love affair with Post Malones music has little sign of fading.
The Minister for Health Simon Harris has said that re-tendering the contract for the National Children's Hospital was not an option.

Mr Harris said he wanted the work to carry on and for "everyone to continue in what they have promised to do".

Speaking with Brendan O'Connor on today's Marian Finucane show on RTE Radio One, he said putting the contract out to tender would just lead to higher costs.

Yesterday, construction firm BAM said it would be willing to "opt out" of the contract if the hospital board wishes for it to re-tender for it.

"My priority as Health Minister is to see people build this hospital," he said.

We have paid people a hell of a lot of money to build this.

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar accused some firms of low-balling with false figures before driving up prices.

"We particularly want to look at past form of contractors and public service references because there are one or two contractors who quite frankly I would not like see get a public contract again in this State," he said.

Mr Harris denied that the Taoiseach was directing his comments at BAM or any particular firm.

"Leo said exactly what a number of people are thinking, we want to ensure there's a good value of money for taxpayers; he wasn't referring to any specific company at all.

"No one is blaming anyone here, what people are saying, including the Taoiseach, is there is an inquiry. Can we let it look into the issues and see where it brings us."

Commenting on a demonstration outside his home last weekend, Mr Harris described the gathering as "intimidation and thuggery".

Mr Harris, his wife Caoimhe and their three-week-old daughter were inside the house in Greystones, Co Wicklow at the time.

Gardai were called and the congregation from the Fingal Battalion Direct Action Group, Wicklow Says No and the Anti-Eviction Flying Column, then dispersed.

Mr Harris said the incident last Sunday afternoon was "a violation".

"They didn't even know I was home," he said, as the group only saw his wife was bringing their daughter into the house.

He said they "effectively blocked our driveway", and the family was "trapped in the house for the best of two hours".

"We spent the afternoon in our house with the blinds down on the phone to the gardai," he said.

"This wasn't a protest, it was a clear attempt to intimidate my family and neighbours."

It felt like such a violation. It was intimidation and thuggery.

He said his wife and child are not public figures, and that his first instinct was to protect his family and his home.

"I felt guilty, which is a horrible thing to feel, that my job brought these people to our home," he said.

"We can't allow this to become any way normal or acceptable. We need to make sure we're not legitimising this, that we're calling this a protest.

"I understand there's lots of issues, the people who stood outside my house had lots of signs," he said, including signs on issues such as the nurses' strike and CervicalCheck scandal.

However, Mr Harris said "these people hijack these causes in an effort to bring intimidation to a family".

Mr Harris said he believes he was targeted because of the "tone of our discourse because we dehumanise politicians".

He sais the way in which politicians are discussed and viewed dehumanises them, and that this needs to be reflected on.

On becoming a father for this first time, Mr Harris said he had hoped he would have a few days to enjoy being a new Dad, but this didn't happen.

"I knew I was never going to have two weeks, but I did have this notion I'd have two days.

"The Dail still seems to operate on the assumption that everyone is in their 50s and has their children raised."
The biggest bill for repairs relating to Office of Public Works property last year was 16,272.90 for a sculpture damaged by skateboarding.

It was just one of a number of OPW-maintained sites and works to suffer damage last year, a list which includes the Rock of Cashel and the Hill of Tara.

The large-scale sculpture by Michael Warren, comprising five individual painted steel forms in the lower yard of Dublin Castle, was removed last year by the OPW.

In a response to a Freedom of Information request the OPW said: The sculpture had general wear and tear on its surfaces and skateboard damage on several of the painted surface edges.

The cost accrued in 2018 for its repair and relocation was 16,272.90. This cost included crane removal, transportation, refurbishment, storage, surface repaint and repair. It is planned to place this sculpture in a new location in 2019.

It was just one of two damaged artworks dealt with by the OPW last year, the other being blue paint on one of three stone figures in the grounds of the Honourable Society of Kings Inn in Dublin for which there was no cost.

Nor were there any notifications of missing artworks last year, but there was some damage to historical sites and monuments over the course of the year, sometimes as a result of suspected vandalism.

As for the Hill of Tara, the OPW said issues were lighting fires on a national monument, scoring the ground, pitching tents causing ground disturbance, leaving large amounts of rubbish (including tents), causing concern to the general public.

While it was all cleaned up by OPW staff it said the problem reoccurs periodically.

The Rock of Cashel: The 300 cost of repairing a damaged pier at the site was provided by the person responsible. Picture: Bernd Klumpp

At Maynooth Castle the OPW said the site was constantly covered in bottles, cans, bags, boxes leaving it in a dangerous condition with staff cleaning it on an ongoing basis.

At Newtown Priory in Trim in Co Meath the OPW observed a large increase in the amount of broken bottles and rubbish which also left it in a dangerous condition and requiring ongoing cleaning.

Two glass panels in the reception area at St Audeons in Dublin 8, costing 600 to repair, with gardai notified, while it cost 270 to repair a damaged shaft on a headstone cross at Roscommon Abbey.

The 300 cost of repairing a damaged pier at the Rock Of Cashel was provided by the person responsible after a van accidentally collided with it.

In Co Cork, the Medici pavilion on Garnish Island sustained damage to a marble pedestal and column, possibly caused by vandalism. It was temporarily repaired and a full repair is due to be undertaken this spring for approximately 200.

Elsewhere, the arm rest of a chair in the style of Louis XVI in the drawing room if Dublin Castle broke in January last year, but was deemed minor damage, while windows were broken at Grange Castle in Co Kildare and a bar at the entrance gate to the Mound of Hostages in Co Meath was bent to allow access.

Three sites, including Monkstown Castle in Dublin, had to have graffiti removed, while other sites to sustain minor damage included Athcairn Castle in Duleek in Co Meath, and nearby Duleek Abbey.
Those who doubt EU unity with Ireland will get a nasty surprise, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned.

Ahead of next weeks publication of emergency legislation in the event of a no-deal, Government figures say it is now clear there is a rump of British MPs who are determined to see Britain crash out with no deal.

And with less than 20 days of the Dail sitting before the March 29 exit date, the Government is set to ramp up preparations with fears the Brexit clock is at five to midnight.

Mr Varadkar dismissed reports that Irish goods may be subject to checks on mainland Europe if no border infrastructure is erected here after Brexit.

We cant allow a decision made in Britain to leave the European Union to undermine our membership of the single market and customs union, which we will protect, he said.

With British prime minister Theresa May set to try and move her Brexit plan forward again on February 27, the Government believes an extension to the Brexit March deadline is possible. However, Mr Varadkar said it was not inevitable, while Tanaiste Simon Coveney said a natural extension could last to the end of June.

Mr Varadkar told an All-Ireland Brexit conference that anyone expecting unity from EU states to weaken in the weeks ahead was in for a nasty surprise.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said more detail was needed on Irelands contingency measures.

The stakes are very serious for the livelihoods of many out there in different sectors, he said.
A 39-year-old has been arrested after a man and a woman were attacked in their north Belfast home during a burglary.

The incident took place at a house on the Ligoniel Road last night.
Update - February 27: Noel Leeson and Anthony Keegan have been located safe and well.

Earlier: February 16 - Gardai appeal for public's help as pair missing from Tallaght

Gardai are seeking the public's help in tracing two missing men from the Russell Square area of Tallaght.

Noel Leeson (34) and Anthony Keegan (47) were last seen on February 3.

Gardai believe both men may have travelled to Birmingham and are possibly driving motor vehicle 05-D-46207, a black Audi A3.

Noel Leeson is described as 59, of slim build with short brown hair. He has blue eyes and usually has stubble/beard and speaks with a Dublin accent. He has a distinctive scar on his neck.

Anthony Keegan is described as approximately 6 foot tall, of slim build with short brown hair. He has brown eyes and usually has stubble/beard and speaks with a Dublin accent. He has a number of distinctive ink dots on his knuckles. When last seen, he was wearing a brown leather jacket, navy jeans, and black shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Gardai at Tallaght Garda Station
The taxpayer could be forced to pay substantial penalties to the construction firm at the centre of the childrens hospital costs crisis if it is asked to leave the project.

Fears over the potential bill were raised after BAM said it would be willing to quit the multi-billion euro project, but only if it is asked to do so by the hospitals board, as fresh demands were made to re-tender the second construction phase.

In a hard-hitting Dail statement on Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said some firms should be blocked from receiving further State contracts, and accused unidentified firms of low-balling with fake figures before driving up prices.

In a subsequent announcement that afternoon, Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe confirmed Cabinet had agreed to beef up tendering rules to take into account past work on State projects and to strictly limit costs.

After three days of silence, BAM said yesterday it wants Mr Varadkar to publicly clarify that he was not referring to the firm. BAM added that it is willing to leave the project, but only if asked to do so by the national paediatric hospital development board  which multiple sources confirmed could mean it is given substantial pay-outs in breach of contract compensation.

BAM wishes to confirm it did not benefit inappropriately from the tender process, said its Irish branch chief executive, Theo Cullinane, in a statement.

BAM will fully engage with PwC [which is due to complete its report on the childrens hospital costs on March 29] to ensure all relevant facts are disclosed.

In response to the Taoiseachs comments in the Dail, BAM has written to the Taoiseach directly to respectfully request him to clarify he was not referring to BAM.

BAM will continue its commitment to the new childrens hospital... BAM wishes to advise the hospital board that if it would prefer to opt out of this contract and procure the work in some other way, then BAM will co-operate with them to facilitate this option.

A Government spokes- person said last night Mr Varadkar did not reference any specific company in the Dail, but confirmed the Coalition is not satisfied with several aspects of the childrens hospital project.

The national paediatric hospital development board would only say it is committed to delivering the new childrens hospital but the BAM statement has led to a fresh flurry of concern over the hospitals future.

Sources last night said if BAM is asked to quit by the hospital board, the firm would potentially be due millions in breach of contract penalties, as it has only offered to facilitate a request to quit, rather than saying it will voluntarily leave. While it is understood the Government hopes and would expect BAM to waive its right to compensation, a BAM spokesperson yesterday declined to rule out seeking the penalties.

Speaking to the Irish Examiner last night, Labours Alan Kelly, Fianna Fails Stephen Donnelly, and Sinn Feins Louise OReilly called on BAM, the hospital board, and the Government to clarify the BAM exit cost.

Mr Kelly and Ms OReilly criticised Mr Varadkars Dail comments as unwise, and Mr Kelly said: The Government is in an awkward position here.

If they dont [re-tender] they will be blamed for not changing companies, and if they do, they will be blamed for the compensation and re-tendering costs.
A man sparked an alert after walking into a pub in Dublin with a shotgun yesterday evening.

It happened at a bar on the Old Rush Road at around 5pm.

Gardai carried out a search of a house in nearby Kenure Park a short time later, and seized a number of firearms and a quantity of ammunition.

A man in his forties was arrested and brought to Balbriggan Garda station where he was questioned and later released.

A file on the case is being prepared for the DPP and investigations are ongoing.
An independent review is to look at whether accountants in Britain should check for fraud when auditing company finances so they could potentially spot problems that cause corporate crashes, the UK business ministry has said.

The collapse of construction firm Carillion and retailer BHS and, more recently, troubles at Patisserie Valerie prompted politicians to try to shake up accounting and the dominance of the Big Four firms - EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC - that check the books of most major companies in the country.
The pound edged higher yesterday as strong British retail sales lifted sentiment, though investors were considering the consequences of a Brexit vote defeat in parliament for Prime Minister Theresa May.

On a weekly basis, the British currency was set for its third consecutive drop. Analysts said the latest parliamentary loss for the UK government, although on a symbolic vote, indicates Ms May does not have the support of her MPs. With less than six weeks before the March 29 exit date, Ms May has stepped up efforts to convince the EU to grant her concessions.
Amazons decision to ditch its plans for a New York headquarters doesnt augur well for governments and corporations intent on using taxpayer money to fund job-creation schemes.

Many in New York, and on the left, are celebrating their victory over big, bad Amazon; they should spare a thought for the people of Wisconsin who are stuck with the boondoggle known as Foxconn.

From the outset, I warned that it was a deal with all the hallmarks of Terry Gou deal-making.

Mr Gou is the founder and chairman of Foxconn Technology Group, the Taiwanese electronics giant that makes Apple iPhones and almost every other tech gadget in the world.

From Brazil to Indonesia, and throughout China, Mr Gou has a history of schmoozing with politicians who become enchanted by his zeal and are left with the belief that their beloved town will become the next iPhone City. My parody letter from Mr Gou to President-elect Donald Trump served as a warning.

That didnt stop Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin at the time, from becoming the latest leader to be hypnotised by the perceived greenbacks and glory from cozying up to Foxconn. The result was one of the largest corporate welfare packages in US history, with President Trump himself happy to take the credit.

What Amazon got out of New York pales in comparison to the largesse Wisconsin offered Foxconn.

In its November 13 press release announcing the New York deal, Amazon noted that it would receive $1.52bn (1.35bn) of direct incentives based on the creation of 25,000 jobs  $61,000 each.

That figure climbs when you consider other incentives and tax credits.

The initial deal with Foxconn had Wisconsin dishing out as much as $1m per job.

Amazon announced that it would invest $2.5bn in Long Island with $10bn in incremental tax revenue over 20 years as a result of that investment and the jobs created.

Foxconn said it would invest $10bn in Wisconsin to manufacture high-end LCD panels for televisions, computers, cars and other devices staffed by an initial 3,000 jobs that would rise to 13,000. Not even Terry Gou would be bold enough to claim they would assemble iPhones in the state.

That $10bn figure should have been the first warning sign for the people of Wisconsin  including those responsible for looking after the interests of its citizens  because its more than Foxconn spends in five years worldwide.

Amazons $2.5bn figure looked relatively sedate but deserved close examination. Also worthy of inspection is the salary claims each made.

Amazon said its jobs would have an average salary of $150,000 a year.

According to data compiled by Glassdoor, level II software development engineers at Amazon earn an average of $115,917 a year (going as high as $158,000), while warehouse associates pull in $26,775 annually.

Remembering the law of averages, for every job paying $100,000, Amazon would need to create a job paying $200,000 just to maintain that magic $150,000 figure.

Over at Foxconn, the target was far more modest: Just $54,000 a job  but thats backed by as much as $1m of incentives for each of them.

The states economic development corporation, which handled negotiations, even made the unlikely claim that the project would create 10,000 construction jobs just to build the Foxconn factory with an additional 6,000 indirect positions.

If the truth of Foxconns Wisconsin plans hadnt yet become clear, then a January admission by Mr Gous right-hand man and key negotiator Louis Woo solidified reality: Instead of actually building displays in Wisconsin, which would have created blue-collar manufacturing jobs, the company would hire far less factory staff and turn their attention to research and development at the site.

That proved what I had already warned: Plans for a US panel factory didnt make sense.

Austin Carrs did a brilliant investigative piece for Bloomberg Businessweek which rounds out the tale of Foxconns Wisconsin adventure: Interviews with 49 people familiar with Foxconns Wisconsin project, including more than a dozen current and former employees close to its efforts there, show how hollow the boosters assurances have been all along.

With Amazon pulling out of New York, maybe some residents felt that they dodged a bullet.

Yet 800 miles to the west, Wisconsinites are still looking down the barrel of a bazooka.

- Bloomberg Opinion
Prior to joining Willis Tower Watson, Dunston was head of marine at Chubb Singapore. He had also held various key leadership roles in London, such as Chubb Syndicate and Pembroke Managing Agency.

According to Scott Burnett, head of Asia and CEO, corporate risk and broking, Asia at Willis Towers Watson, the brokers role has evolved over the recent years. The companys clients are now looking beyond the current risks they face, amid new and disruptive technologies.

With Bens track record and notable reputation within the broking, underwriting and carrier community, his expertise will be invaluable to our regional team, Burnett said. The Asia head of broking role is a critical and strategic position, responsible for leading our broking strategy across more than 15 locations in Asia.
Local Twin Cities artists Enzyrose, Eyenga Bokamba, Noah Lawrence-Holder, LeShon Lee, and Meadow Gillispie, talk about their reaction to the murder of George Floyd, the trial of Derek Chauvin, and life as a black artist during this time.
The phrase is originally credited to Confucius, with some variation over the years, and its an apt saying in Virginia politics at the moment:
Real-time social media posts from local businesses and organizations across Northern Virginia, powered by Friends2Follow. To add your business to the stream, email cfields@insidenova.com or click on the green button below.
Two bills are headed to the governors desk requiring Dominion Energy to clean up millions of tons of coal ash at four Virginia power plants in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including at the Possum Point site near Dumfries.

SB 1355, introduced by Republican Sen. Frank Wagner of Virginia Beach, was approved by the House 93-2 on Friday. The bills passage comes a day after the Senate approved an identical bill, HB 2786, 38-2.

Both bills require the removal of the more than 28 million tons of coal ash currently stored at Chesterfield Power Station, Chesapeake Energy Center, Possum Point Power Station and Bremo Power Station.

According to the legislation, coal ash waste at these sites must be recycled or moved to lined and permitted landfills, with at least one quarter of the coal ash being recycled. The measure also requires Dominion Energy, which owns all four sites, to offer municipal water hookups or water testing to residents within one-half mile of the coal ash basins.

The cost of the closure and removal of coal ash sites will be at least partly recovered by rate adjustments authorized by the State Corporation Commision, meaning that Dominion Energy wont have to foot the bill on its own.

Todays vote is a major victory for environmental organizations that have for years pushed for the cleanup of coal ash.

For too long, monopoly utilities have gotten away with inadequately dealing with toxic coal ash at the cost of the communities living around the leaking pits. In the future, we must work to strengthen the standards passed today and expand them to the remaining coal ash sites in Virginia, said Kate Addleson, director of the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter.

Coal ash is defined as the waste product produced by coal-fired power plants and is typically stored in ponds or landfills on the power stations property. Coal ash contains contaminants like mercury, cadmium and arsenic that can pollute waterways, ground water, drinking water, and the air if not properly managed.

Coal ash spills in Eden, North Carolina in 2014 and Kingston, Tennessee in 2008 caused widespread environmental and economic damage to nearby waterways and properties. As a result, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began taking measures to help ensure protective coal ash disposal.

After years of debate and study, lawmakers came up with a final coal ash solution that protects our water from heavy metals and carcinogens and ensures we no longer have to live with a toxic threat on the banks of our rivers, said Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters.
Will Poland throw Hungary out of V4?

by Mason Jones Thursday Feb 14th, 2019 12:52 AM



In recent years, in the European Union there has been a rift between countries of Eastern Europe and Western European nations that are considered as the founders of the EU.
Indian American filmmaker Nisha Ganatra, whose new film, Late Night, has been purchased by Amazon for $13 million, speaks onstage during the Stella Artois & Deadline Sundance Series: ReFrames #GotStamped: Gender Parity Success Stories, presented by Women In Film at Stellas Film Lounge Jan. 26 in Park City, Utah. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Stella Artois)
A Ministry of Education spokesperson on Friday said no academic misconduct would be tolerated, vowing firm actions in identifying and investigating such acts.

Xu Mei made the remarks while commenting on the suspected academic misconduct by Zhai Tianlin, a 32-year-old Chinese actor, who has a Ph.D. from the Beijing Film Academy and is a postdoctoral candidate at the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University. He has been accused of plagiarism over his doctoral research papers.

"The education ministry's stand on academic misconduct remains consistent, which is zero tolerance," Xu said, stressing that there is no place for actions of defying academic rules and undermining educational equity.

"I believe that the authorities concerned will continue investigations into the issue seriously, handle it in accordance with the law and rules, and make public progress in a timely manner," she added.

Both the Beijing Film Academy and the Peking University's Guanghua School of Management have launched investigations into the issue while Beijing municipal education authorities, as well as disciplinary inspection and supervision agencies, have also started supervision procedures.

In an apology letter posted online, Zhai said he was deeply sorry to the schools, teachers and the public for being dishonest.
The nation is mourning the death of 44 men who lost their lives in the terror attack that took place in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama on February 14. The families are inconsolable and there's not a dry eye in the country at the moment.



Sitting in our rooms, reading the newspapers and feeling helpless won't help. But what will help is, doing what we can. There are a number of ways in which we can help the families of the martyrs because after all if we cant help them in other ways we can at least do things that will make their families feel that humanity isn't entirely dead.

Also read: Pulwama Attack: Wife Of Martyr Pradeep Singh Heard The Blast While Talking To Him On The Phone

Here is what all you can do:

1. Financial Aid for martyrs' families

Paytm

If you are willing to contribute to the families of the martyrs you can visit the bharatkeveer.gov.in website. The 'Bharat Ke Veer' was initiated in April 2017, by the Ministry of Home Affairs with a purpose for the citizens to help the family of the martyred soldiers. The donated money can either go to the soldier's account or it can reach the Bharat Ke Veer fund.

With the help of the portal, you can provide financial support to the families of martyrs from Assam Rifles (AR), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), National Security Guard (NSG), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

You can also visit Paytm and donate the amount to CRPF Wives Welfare Association.

2. Peaceful protests against terrorism and standing for the soldiers

Indiatimes

You can also do protests and candlelight marches in the memory of the martyrs and protest against terrorism. But with all these things you should keep in mind peaceful law and order situations. By doing protests and candlelight marches it shows how united we are against terrorism.

On February 15, a group of ex-Armymen staged a protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar.

Also read: Candlelight Marches, Diyas Lit In Their Memory: India Prays For CRPF Martyrs & Their Families

3. Do not engage in warmongering on social media

Twitter

If we don't have the power to do anything while sitting in our rooms, then we shouldn't even promote the idea of war as it costs a lot of lives. We should think about the soldiers protecting our borders, and doing so selflessly, and sometimes getting martyred in the process. We should also think about those families who send their brothers, husbands, fathers, and sons to fight that war.

Even if we can't do these things then let's become an Indian who is worth dying for!
Their families were waiting for them to visit during the next holiday. They had some responsibilities to be fulfilled. But look how they came home - wrapped in a tricolour. The families were devastated and their dreams shattered. At once, the family felt the loss of a son, brother, husband and father.

On February 14, 44 CRPF personnel were martyred in Pulwamas Awantipora and among them were Martyrs Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur.

Sergeant Sanjay Kumar Sinhas family and friends reacted with disbelief when a call was made to them. "We want strong retaliation from the government. There should be another surgical strike. How long will we go on losing our people to terrorist attacks from across the border?" his friend asked.

Paid last respects to Bihar brave hearts Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and HC Sanjay Kumar Sinha of CRPF who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack. Nation will always remember their valour and sacrifice. pic.twitter.com/bTHKD0m20T  Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) February 16, 2019

His wife Babita, has been crying, ever since she heard the news. His father, Mahendra Prasad, concerned about his familys future said that My son has been martyred, but the government should consider what our family is going through. Sanjay has two grown-up but unmarried daughters. Before leaving, he had said that he would finalise the marriage of the elder one the next time he's here. I have no idea what we are going to do now."

Mahendra Prasad, who was also a CRPF jawan, wants the government to provide them with the means to survive.

Also Read: 44 Coffins Wrapped In Indian Tricolour: India Pays Tribute To Martyrs Of Pulwama Terror Attack

The condition of Martyr Ratan Kumar Thakurs family is none too different from Sinha's. He left behind his 4-year-old son and a wife who is expecting their second child. "Ratan had told us that he would call by evening, soon after joining work in Srinagar. But we received a call from his superior instead, and it was to inform us about this terrible news," said Niranjan Thakur, the CRPF constable's father.

Bihar: CM Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav pay tribute to Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha of CRPF who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack. pic.twitter.com/LJ7fOOjaQN  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Constable Thakurs salary made his family aspire for better living standards and recently his family shifted to a rented accommodation at Bhagalpur. "We had hoped to ensure a bright future for his younger brother, who is doing a BA course, but now I am ready to let him join the force too. The enemy must be taught a lesson," his father said.

CRPF Personnel Ratan Thakur's (who lost his life in #PulwamaTerrorAttack ) father in Bhagalpur: I have sacrificed a son in Mother India's service, I will send my other son as well to fight, ready to give him up for Mother India, but Pakistan must be given a befitting reply.#Bihar pic.twitter.com/rI6cM38Agh  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019

Also Read: Pulwama Attack: Who Will Look After Martyr Rohitash Lamba's 2-Month-Old Daughter Now?

"I shudder to think of Rajnandini (constable Thakur's widow). She is still young and has a long life before her. How will she bring up her children now?" he asked.
The last phone call which made by CRPF jawan Pradeep Singh Yadav was to his wife Neeraj Devi before he was martyred in the Pulwama terror attack on February 14. He was on the phone and was talking to his wife before the suicide bomber rammed his SUV into the CRPF convoy, claiming 44 lives including him.

"I was talking to my husband on the phone when I heard a deafening sound from the other side, seconds after which there was complete silence and the call got disconnected. Sensing something untoward has happened, I made several attempts to know about his well-being, but everything was over for me," said Neeraj, a native of Ajan Sukhsenpur village in Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh.

Twitter

Also Read: 44 Coffins Wrapped In Indian Tricolour: India Pays Tribute To Martyrs Of Pulwama Terror Attack

"I later received another phone call, this time from the CRPF control room, informing me about my husband's death in a blast," she added.

Pradeep left behind his wife and two children. His wife and children were at his wifes mothers place at Kanpur when they got the news of their fathers death. She rushed to her husbands native place, Ajan Sukhsenpur, where the mortal remains of the soldier will reach today.

Twitter/Amar Ujala

Pradeep had two daughters, Supriya and Sona, aged 10 and 2 respectively. "He (Pradeep) was very fond of Sona and when he last spoke to me on Thursday, he inquired about her well-being... he spoke about her for nearly 10 minutes," said an inconsolable Neeraj.

Delhi: Visuals from outside Palam airport. The mortal remains of some CRPF jawans are now being taken to their native places. #PulwamaTerrorAttack pic.twitter.com/w7qcIWtaSW  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019

"A few minutes after Neeraj spoke to Pradeep, we heard her screams. She broke down after receiving the phone call from CRPF control room, which confirmed the death of Pradeep," said a family member of the deceased soldier.

"Though we are proud of the sacrifice my brother made, deep inside we are angry too," said Sonu, a maternal cousin of Pradeep. Sonu said Pradeep had last visited home earlier this month.

Also Read: Pulwama Attack: Who Will Look After Martyr Rohitash Lamba's 2-Month-Old Daughter Now?

It was for the government to decide what action should be taken against the terrorists, he said, adding, "Now, we want action and not assurances."

J&K: A candlelight march, organised by Ladakh Buddhist Association, was taken out in Leh earlier today in protest against #PulwamaAttack. pic.twitter.com/QvsA04QwA6  ANI (@ANI) February 15, 2019

Remembering Martyr Pradeep, his school teachers said that he was a really good student and always wanted to serve the nation from a very young age.
Overseeing a prison isn't all about just keeping inmates from escaping, it's also up to authorities to keep them safe from each other and themselves.

Convicts frequently overdose from drugs smuggled in, get into vicious brawls and feuds, and even commit suicide.

A robotic arm will search inmates' feces for contraband - Images courtesy SCMP

Now, it seems China is looking at ways to improve inmate security and safety in its prisons by utilising a number of technological advances. The Correctional Services Department in Hong Kong this week announced a new plan to monitor inmates using a combination of robots, wearables, and IoT technology.

The department oversees the housing of around 8,300 criminals in its jail son average, so they think a "smart prison" will help make policing them a little easier. They intend to run smaller tests in prisons first before implementing them on a larger scale if thy prove successful.

The South China Morning Post reports that one of these tech measures will be a robotic arm to do the "dirty work" of sifting through the feces of newly admitted inmates for contraband. This could include everything from drugs, to cash, to weapons. Previously, this job would fall to security officers with wooden sticks.

Another measure they will be testing is a tracking wristband. Similar to a fitness band on the commercial market, this will help digitally keep track of inmates' whereabouts in real time, and alert officials if they're doing something suspicious or sustained an injury.

Video analytics will pinpoint odd behaviour

In the Pik Uk Prison, authorities are already testing a new video surveillance system. Its 12 cameras don't just stream live footage from inside the prison, but also feed into an algorithm trained on archived footage to detect unusual behaviour in the prison. If any event is flagged, authorities are automatically pinged on the spot.

Of course, this raises other issues as well. No one could complain about a robot sifting through poop in place of humans, but the problem is the surveillance system. For one thing, two of the cameras at Pik Uk Prison are reportedly inside inmate restrooms. And though the prison superintendent told SCMP parts of the footage is "obscured" it wasn't mentioned whether that happens automatically or is done later. If it's the former, it opens the door for corrupt employees to exploit inmates by selling the footage on the black market.

It all depends on whether the corrections department is able to walk the line between safety and the inmates' rights.
After the Pulwama attack which left over 40 paramilitary soldiers martyred, the CRPF has told the government that buses "with thin metallic plates which offer no protection from bullets or IED, and demanded facilities at par with an army which gets armoured vehicles. The demands for better-armoured vehicles and better support have been raised time and again, but most of the time, they have fallen on deaf ears. Many even argued that if the soldiers had been airlifted, the loss of lives could have been prevented.

PTI

The report says and was quoted by the News18 that while the convoys get smooth run during summers they are not regular during winters and rainy season because of snowfall and landslide and this leaves the soldiers stranded in big numbers at Jammus transit camp often. The transit camp has limited capacity to accommodate thousand personnel at a time (and) beyond that personnel are shifted to nearby location, says the report.

Up convoy (from Jammu to Srinagar) plied only three days in the past 15 days because of heavy snowfall. The Last up convoy on (February 4) in which 91 vehicles with 2871 transient (forces) moved from Jammu to Srinagar, said the report.

Trying to get over the tedious procurement process of armoured vehicles and other better facilities, in July 2018, the CRPF attempted to armour plate many vehicles by arranging local meta sheets, concrete and wooden planks.

"We are trying to acquire more bullet-proof vehicles (for deployment in Kashmir). Since the rate of procurement and procurement through suppliers is a tedious process...we decided to improvise," CRPF Director General RR Bhatnagar had told reporters earlier on 78th Raising Days of the CRPF.

The report also said that threat like IEDs and bullets could have been dealt with, but the use of a vehicle full with explosive took the force off guard.

The threat to convoy in the valley has always been from standoff firing and IED planted conventionally for which adequate security measures have been devised and implemented. Troops too have been trained and sensitised for the same, says the report.
Representational Image

Two days after the dastardly attack on CRPF convoy claimed lives of 40 men, another blast has killed one Army jawan in Jammu and Kashmirs Nowshera town in Rajouri district. An Army Major was killed while diffusing the IED reported planted by Pakistani intruders. Read more

Here's more top news of the day:





1) More Than 80 Kilogrammes Of RDX Was Used In Pulwama Attack That Killed 40 CRPF Men

Reuters

The toll in the Pulwama attack on CRPF convoy climbed to 40 on Friday. High-grade RDX explosive, weighing about 80 kilogram, was used in a suicide attack on a CRPF bus that killed 40 paramilitary personnel. Read more

2) A Day After Pulwama Attack, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Visit To Pakistan Delayed

Reuters

This development comes a day after the attack that killed over 40 CRPF soldiers in a car bomb attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. Prince Mohammed will arrive in Pakistan on Sunday, the sources added. Read more

3) Thin Metal Plates On Buses Offer No Help Against Bullets, CRPF Tell Government After Pulwama Attack

PTI

After the Pulwama attack which left over 40 paramilitary soldiers martyred, the CRPF has told the government that buses "with thin metallic plates which offer no protection from bullets or IED. Read more

4) Aadhaar, ID Cards, Leave Applications Helped Identify 40 Dead CRPF Personnel In Pulwama Attack

AFP

The fellow soldiers of the martyred soldiers helped to identify the soldiers with help of Aadhaar Cards ID Cards and leave applications written by the soldiers, the officials said on Friday. Read more

5) This UP Village Has Acquired The Name Of 'Widows' Village' After Losing Lives To Spurious Liquor

toi

As one enters the nondescript village of Pusaina in Mainpuri district, two things are unmistakably evident -- a musty stench in the air and a large number of women without sindoor. Read more
Two days after the dastardly attack on CRPF convoy claimed lives of 40 men, another blast has killed one Army jawan in Jammu and Kashmirs Nowshera town in Rajouri district. An Army Major was killed while diffusing the IED reported planted by Pakistani intruders.

Representational Image

The Major-rank army officer was killed while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which had been planted by terrorists. The officer is from the Corps of Engineers. The IED was planted 1.5 kms inside the Line of Control in the Naushera sector, Rajouri district, in J&K https://t.co/ZyWFS9RbWR  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

More details awaited
A day after 45 CRPF personnel were martyred in a deadly attack in Pulwama, India could stop exporting tea to Pakistan in wake of escalating tensions between the two nations. The exporters body has said they're even willing to incur losses adding for them the nation comes first and are willing to back the central government in case of any retaliatory measures. Asked if the Indian Tea Exporters' Association (ITEA) was ready to stop shipments across the border to Pakistan if the government shuts the door on bilateral trade, ITEA chairman Anshuman Kanoria asserted, "Of course, we are ready. The nation and the security of our forces and fellow countrymen comes first and commerce is secondary."

AFP

Kanoria said the tea exporters would support any decision by the central government in retaliation for the attack that was the worst-ever in Jammu and Kashmir against the forces since militancy erupted in the state in 1989.

A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 45 troopers and injuring 38.

Reuters

"Following the horrific terror attack, we have not even bothered to think about commercial implications. The nation comes first and when there is an incident like this, you are actually waiting for guidance from the government. What will happen to the market is completely secondary," Kanoria said.

"Even if the tea exports to Pakistan are affected as a result of any decision the government takes in retaliation for the attack, we will stand by the government's decision irrespective of the possible adverse impact on our commerce," he elaborated.

AFP

Echoing Kanoria, India Tea Association Chairman Vivek Goenka said, "Whenever there are tensions between the two countries, exports get impacted. We have seen that in the past also.

"However, we fully support the central government for its decisions. The country's security is much more important."

According to Tea Board data, exports to Pakistan during 2018 stood at 15.83 million kg, up by about 7.5 per cent from 14.73 million kg shipped out during the previous year. The exports were valued at Rs 154.71 crore during the calendar year 2018 against 142.44 crore in the previous year.

BCCL

The attack took place around 3.15 p.m. on Thursday when a 'Fidayeen' bomber belonging to the Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) rammed his explosive-packed SUV into a bus carrying CRPF troopers in Lethpora area of Pulwama.

ANI

The CRPF convoy of 78 vehicles was coming from Jammu to Srinagar. The convoy carried 2,547 CRPF personnel. The attack happened even as an intelligence input had warned of its possibility 48 hours earlier.

(With inputs from IANS)
Just like all of us, Bollywood stars also devastated by the violence that the country witnessed on the day of love. On Feb 14, at least 44 Jawans were killed in the deadliest terror attacks in three decades. Expressing her anger and displeasure, Janhvi Kapoor also condemned the Pulwama terror attack.

The reasons to be angered and hurt are plenty. The one that upsets me the most is that our men didnt even get the chance to fight for themselves, she wrote in her Instagram post.

While the entire nation has been left devastated after the deadly Pulwama terror attack, Pakistani newspaper is apparently celebrating the incident that killed the lives of at least 44 Indian Jawans.

After Pakistani newspaper The Nation hailed the suicide bomber as "valiant" and called the terror attack a fight for freedom. The media across the border have published such propaganda stories against India in the past as well.

Janhvi Kapoor recently shared the same on her Instagram profile slamming the article.

The second photo is of a propagandist article that is celebrating this terrorist attack as a fight for freedom. Its tragic and irresponsible that the truths of such a condemnable act are being distorted by the media to suit their political agendas, she wrote.

Here's how people reacted to this.

Name the freedom fighter who kill human and who r called freedom fighter? Those who attack from behind. If dare came infront and then fight..#StopTerrorismInKashmir  Anamika (@Anamika37487175) February 16, 2019

On the other hand, Sushant Singh Rajput shared a post urging people to donate for the families of martyrs.

Heres what Varun Dhawan said after the incident.

Also Read: To Pay A Tribute To CRPF Martyrs Of Pulwama Attack, Bollywood Will Observe Black Day On Feb 17
The Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) announced the launch a special campaign to inspect the sewage outlets to the Yangtze River Friday.

To inspect and manage the contamination from the sewer drains is fundamentally important in improving the ecological environment of the Yangtze River, said Zhai Qing, vice minister of the MEE.

The campaign will last for two years, aiming to grasp a general picture of the number of the sewage outlets to the Yangtze River, monitor the sewer drains, detect the source of pollution and control and curb the pollution.

The inspection will cover 11 provinces and cities along the Yangtze River Economic Belt, including Sichuan province and the municipalities of Chongqing and Shanghai.

The trunk stream, major tributaries and Taihu Lake will be the focus of the inspection, the MEE said.

"Not a single sewage outlet to the Yangtze River could be left out," said Zhai, adding that this round of inspection will be based on the previous work but go further and deeper.
The nation is grieving and is angry. From Bollywood celebs like Madhur Bhandarkar and Uri Director Aditya Dhar urging their contemporaries to cut all ties with Pakistan and ban their artistes in the country, to celebrities like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan among others paying their tributes to the families of those who lost their loved ones by lighting candles, everyone is remembering the martyrs in their prayers.

magicofbollywood.com

Condemning the terror attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), actor Manoj Bajpayee recently told IANS that the country should have faith in them (government) and support them in such trying circumstances.

Words will fall short to express our anger for this kind of heinous act. My prayers are the families of soldiers who have lost their dear ones in the tragedy and it's their irreparable loss, he was quoted as saying by IANS at Cine And TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) and 48 Hour Film Project's first edition of 'Act Fest 2019', which he attended along with Sara Ali Khan, Ronit Roy and Divya Dutta.

Indiawest.com

I feel scared and hurt... I get angry whenever I hear of such evil acts... I am feeling really sad to hear about what has happened in Jammu and Kashmir, said Sara Ali Khan.

Twitter

More than 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling in the convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. The Pakistan-based JeM terror group has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.


remaining of

Thank you for Reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
Pope Francis has defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said on Saturday.

The punishment for the once-powerful prelate, who had served as the Archbishop of Washington, was announced five days before Francis is to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world to help the Catholic Church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-ups by church hierarchy.

The decades-long scandals have shaken the faith of many Catholics and threatened Franciss papacy.

Expand Close Vatican officials found McCarrick guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, files) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Vatican officials found McCarrick guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, files)

Defrocking means that McCarrick, 88, who now lives in a friary in Kansas after he lost his title of cardinal last year, will not be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments.

The Vaticans press office said that, on January 11, the Holy Sees doctrinal watchdog office, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, had found McCarrick guilty of solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.

The officials imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.

The Sixth Commandment regards sexual behaviour.

In addition, McCarrick, when he was ordained a priest in 1958, took a vow of celibacy, in accordance with church rules on priests.

Expand Close McCarrick took a vow of celibacy when he was ordained (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp McCarrick took a vow of celibacy when he was ordained (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, file)

McCarrick appealed against the penalty, but the doctrinal officials earlier this week rejected his recourse, and he was notified on Friday, the Vatican announcement said.

The Pope has recognised the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as res iudicata, the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse.

That meant McCarrick, a one-time prince of the church, as cardinals are known, becomes the highest-ranking churchman to be laicised, or dismissed from the clerical state.

It marks a remarkable downfall for the globe-trotting powerbroker and influential church fundraiser who mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called Uncle Ted by the young men he courted.

The scandal swirling around McCarrick was even more damning because it was apparently an open secret that he slept with adult seminarians.
Police fired tear gas and brought in water cannon and a horse brigade to disperse several thousand yellow vest protesters in Paris at the end of a march through the French capital.

Anti-Semitic remarks were aimed at a noted philosopher on the protesters route in a bitter finale to the 14th straight weekend of demonstrations.

Tear gas filled the esplanade of Les Invalides monument, obscuring the gold dome that crowns the monument housing Napoleons tomb. Tension also marked demonstrations in other cities.

In Rouen, Normandy, a car blocked by demonstrators was pushed through the crowd, slightly injuring four people, the news channel BFMTV reported.

Expand Close Demonstrations were held for a 14th straight weekend (AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Demonstrations were held for a 14th straight weekend (AP)

Police used tear gas and water cannon in Bordeaux, a stronghold of the yellow vest movement. Another demonstration in the capital has been planned for Sunday to mark three months since the movement held its first nationwide protests on November 17.

In Paris, an array of insults, some anti-Semitic, by a handful of yellow vest protesters were aimed at the well-known French philosopher, Alain Finkelkraut, underlining the excesses that surge within an increasingly divided movement with radical fringes.

French president Emmanuel Macron tweeted that the anti-Semitic injuries he (Mr Finkelkraut) received are the absolute negation of what we are and of what makes us a great nation.

Expand Close Graffiti written on an Apple sign reading Pay your taxes, in front of an Apple store during a demonstration (AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Graffiti written on an Apple sign reading Pay your taxes, in front of an Apple store during a demonstration (AP)

Interior minister Christophe Castaner denounced the surge of pure hate, while government spokesman Benjamin Griveau tweeted that the ugly beast lurks in the anonymity of the crowd.

Mr Finkelkraut once showed sympathy for the movement but criticised it in a recent interview with Le Figaro daily. Some yellow vest protesters have expressed racist or anti-Semitic views online and on the sidelines of protests.

I felt an absolute hate, Mr Finkelkraut told the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, going on to express relief that police intervened.

The Paris prosecutors office said 15 people were detained for questioning, far less than the scores detained in earlier, larger demonstrations that degenerated into scattered rioting and destruction.

Expand Close Although support is waning for the movement, it was still able to draw thousands of people (AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Although support is waning for the movement, it was still able to draw thousands of people (AP)

Violence has marked most of the protests that started against fuel taxes and grew into a mass movement against Mr Macron and his pro-business policies.

However, the increasingly divided movement is having trouble maintaining momentum, as well as support from the public which had initially backed protesters.

French media quoted the interior ministry as saying that 41,500 protesters nationwide turned out on Saturday, some 10,000 less than the previous week, with 5,000 in Paris.

In Paris, tensions mounted as the more than four-hour march ended at the Invalides, with projectiles thrown at police.

Many French people are asking aloud how long the yellow vest movement will keep up its protests, which drain security forces and have dented the French economy.
Democrats and campaign groups vowed to fight US President Donald Trump's "unlawful" national emergency declaration yesterday as he revealed plans to raid existing government funds to build his Mexico border wall.

The US president hopes to gather $8bn (7bn) through various means to construct barriers along America's southern border, declaring at a White House press conference that "walls work 100pc".

Most controversial is the $3.6bn Mr Trump wants to redirect from existing military construction projects by using a power only available to him after declaring a national emergency.

He also plans to take $2.5bn from a Pentagon anti-drugs fund and $600m from money forfeited to the Treasury.

A further $1.375bn comes from legislation agreed by Congress in a compromise spending deal.

"We're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border and we're going to do it one way or the other," Mr Trump said, adding: "We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country."

It prompted a fierce backlash from political opponents, advocacy groups and even some Republican senators, who believe the move amounts to constitutional overreach.

Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the Democrat leaders in the House of Representatives and Senate respectively, issued a statement condemning the announcement.

"The president's unlawful declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed defence funds for the security of our military and our nation," it read.

"This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed president, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process."

The Democrats are yet to decide if they will launch a legal challenge but groups including Protect Democracy, a body run by former government lawyers, and the Niskanen Centre, a liberal think-tank, have vowed to do so.

More than half a dozen Republican senators also publicly criticised the move, calling it a "bad idea", a "mistake" and "unnecessary".

Some could even join Democrats in backing a resolution blocking the declaration, though ultimately that needs the backing of two-thirds of all senators to be binding, which seems unlikely.

Senior officials in California also indicated they would launch a legal challenge.

Mr Trump (left) was bullish about a legal battle, predicting that his government would be sued but that the Supreme Court would rule in his favour.

There is no set definition of what amounts to a national emergency.

It would theoretically open up more than 100 statutory powers to him, but, each has a strict legal definition.

The Trump administration will have to prove how raiding existing military construction budgets to build the wall is permissible under the law.

Mr Trump took the move after almost two months of discussions in Congress, including a 35-day government shutdown, produced enough funding for just 55 miles of fencing. Under his plan, 234 miles of wall made from steel bollards will be constructed. Around 700 miles of the 2,000-mile border already has a barrier.

During a press conference, Mr Trump bemoaned the fact that he was unlikely to win the Nobel Peace Prize when discussing his forthcoming North Korean summit. He said that Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, had nominated him for the award, writing a "beautiful" five-page letter to the body that makes the decision.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

First responders and emergency vehicles are gathered near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora. (Bev Horne/Daily Herald via AP)

Law enforcement personnel gather near the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene where an active shooter was reported in Aurora. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Five people have been killed and five police officers wounded in a shooting at a business in the suburbs of Chicago.

A gunman opened fire in an industrial building in the city of Aurora, law enforcement officials said.

Police chief Kristen Ziman said that the officers were shot at as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt company building.

Ms Ziman said the gunman was also killed.

Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, said the officers were in a stable condition.

Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions were not released.

Live TV reports showed dozens of emergency vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt company in Aurora, a city of about 200,000 people about 40 miles west of Chicago.

John Probst, an employee at the company, said that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded. He said he recognised the gunman.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," Mr Probst said.

He said he was not hurt but that another colleague was bleeding pretty bad.

The company makes valves for industrial purposes.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The company makes valves for portable water, waste water, power generation and industrial purposes.

Expand Close Emergency vehicles gathered near the scene of the shooting at an industrial park in Aurora (Bev Horne/Daily Herald/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Emergency vehicles gathered near the scene of the shooting at an industrial park in Aurora (Bev Horne/Daily Herald/AP)

West Aurora School District 129 said on its website that it was keeping all students in their classrooms as police investigate but that teaching will continue with reduced movement.

Aurora is city of about 200,000 people about 38 miles west of Chicago.

CNN, citing local officials and hospitals, had earlier reported that four police officers and "multiple" civilians were shot and wounded in the attack.

Aurora is city of about 200,000 people about 38 miles west of Chicago.

The City of Aurora had earlier tweeted that a gunman has been apprehended, while Kane County Coroner said that at least one fatality had been sustained.

"We have an active shooter incident at 641 Archer Av. This is an active scene. Please avoid the area," the Aurora Police Department said in a tweet at about 2.20pm central US time, adding that additional details would be forthcoming.

The city of Aurora later tweeted about 40 minutes later that a suspect had been arrested.

"EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m. THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down! More information will be provided soon," the city said.

Media photographs and video showed numerous police cars surrounding a large commercial building in Aurora, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Chicago.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Steve Gorman and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles Writing by Dan Whitcomb Editing by Leslie Adler and James Dalgleish)
Iran is planning a "new Holocaust" to destroy Israel, US Vice President Mike Pence claimed at a summit on Middle Eastern security.

"The Iranian regime openly advocates another Holocaust and seeks the means to achieve it," he told delegates at the conference, which was co-hosted by the US and Poland in Warsaw.

Mr Pence used his speech to encourage sceptical allies into joining an anti-Iran alliance, which includes Israel and Arabian Peninsula monarchies.

"Leaders from across the region agreed that the greatest threat to peace and security of the Middle East is the Islamic Republic of Iran," Mr Pence said. "They've supported terrorist proxies and militias. The Iranian regime is the leading state sponsor of terrorism in the world."

Mr Pence went on to demand European countries abandon the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated with Iran by former US president Barack Obama.

He criticised European nations for recently announcing an EU financial mechanism to continue trade with Iran. "Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as co-operative," Mr Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

Last year Donald Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran deal, under which Tehran agreed to curbs on its nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

However, Britain, France and Germany, along with the rest of the EU, continue to support the nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Mr Pence called on Europe to follow Washington and exit the agreement: "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us."

He said a new European scheme to trade with Iran, known as the Special Purpose Vehicle, was "an effort to break US sanctions against Iran's murderous ...regime".

Both the UN's atomic watchdog and Mr Trump's own intelligence chiefs have said Iran remains in compliance with the agreement despite the US withdrawal. Iran was not invited to the Warsaw conference and called the event a "circus" aimed at "demonising" the country. ( Independent News Service)
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort could spend nearly two decades in prison on tax and bank fraud charges, prosecutors have said.

The potential sentence stems from Manaforts conviction last year on eight counts related to an elaborate scheme to conceal from tax authorities the millions of dollars he earned overseas from Ukrainian political consulting.

Court documents filed by special counsel Robert Muellers office reveal that Manafort faces possibly the lengthiest prison term in the Russia investigation.

In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars

Manafort, who led Donald Trumps campaign for months during the 2016 presidential campaign, is not charged with any crimes directly related to Russian election interference, the thrust of Mr Muellers probe.

But prosecutors have recently revealed that they remain deeply interested in his contacts during and after the campaign with an associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

In a 27-page court filing, prosecutors did not recommend a precise sentence for Manafort, but they agreed with a calculation by federal probation officials that his crimes deserve a punishment of between 19.5 and 24.5 years.

They also lay out in great detail for US District Judge T S Ellis III how they say Manaforts greed drove him to disregard American law.

Expand Close Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing (Kevin Wolf/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing (Kevin Wolf/AP)

In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, the prosecutors wrote.

The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.

Manafort has been jailed for months as he awaits his formal sentencing.

His lawyers have said the incarceration has created a mental and physical strain on Manafort, who has recently used a wheelchair in court appearances and will turn 70 in April.

But Muellers team made clear that Manaforts age should not be a consideration, nor does it eliminate the risk that he could still commit new crimes.

Nothing about the defendants age is unusual, they wrote. Tax offenders are often older and often, like the defendant, wealthy, but they nonetheless receive substantial terms of incarceration notwithstanding age and health issues.

Prosecutors often acknowledge mitigating factors that a judge may consider on a defendants behalf in favour of a more lenient sentence but none exist here, prosecutors said.

They note that his pattern of criminal activity lasted more than a decade, that he conspired to tamper with witnesses despite facing indictments in two different districts and that he repeatedly lied to the government and to a grand jury even after he agreed to cooperate and plead guilty.
You are here: China

Police in east China's Anhui province have detained eight people for organizing cross-border online gambling, which involves over 130 million yuan (around US$19.2 million).

Earlier in December 2018, a victim reported to the local police of Sixian county that he had lost over 100,000 yuan in a group chat on QQ, a major social media platform, since March.

After a thorough investigation, police traced the online gambling operation to Quanzhou county, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in south China.

Police said the online gambling platform was based in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, and the illegal business was operated by Chinese suspects in Hanoi and Guangxi.

The police launched a raid in early February when suspects returned to China for the Spring Festival, or Lunar New Year, a traditional occasion for family gatherings.

Eight suspects were arrested at different places including Guangxi and provinces of Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Hubei. Three vehicles, over 20 computers and 30 cell phones were confiscated on site.

Further investigation is underway.
Police officers armed with rifles gather at the scene in Aurora (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune/AP)

Five people have been killed and five police officers wounded in a shooting at a business in the suburbs of Chicago.

Police chief Kristen Ziman said that the officers were shot at as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt company building in Aurora.

Ms Ziman said the gunman was also killed.

Clayton Muhammad, the director of communications for the city of Aurora, said the officers were in a stable condition.

Hospitals reported treating at least seven patients from the shooting, though their conditions were not released.

Live TV reports showed dozens of emergency vehicles outside a building housing the Henry Pratt company in Aurora, a city of about 200,000 people about 40 miles west of Chicago.

John Probst, an employee at the company, said that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded. He said he recognised the gunman.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it," Mr Probst said.

He said he was not hurt but that another colleague was bleeding pretty bad.

The company makes valves for industrial purposes.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The company makes valves for portable water, waste water, power generation and industrial purposes.

Expand Close Emergency vehicles gathered near the scene of the shooting at an industrial park in Aurora (Bev Horne/Daily Herald/AP) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Emergency vehicles gathered near the scene of the shooting at an industrial park in Aurora (Bev Horne/Daily Herald/AP)

West Aurora School District 129 said on its website that it was keeping all students in their classrooms as police investigate but that teaching will continue with reduced movement.

Aurora is city of about 200,000 people about 38 miles west of Chicago.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called a snap national election for April 28 yesterday after parliament voted down his budget bill, spelling an uncertain few months for a country whose political landscape is increasingly fragmented.

Spain exited a deep economic slump in 2013 but has been plagued since then by political volatility, driven by deep divisions over an independence drive in Catalonia and the emergence of new, populist parties.

Mr Sanchez, who took office in June at the head of a minority government holding less than a quarter of parliamentary seats, called the election after his former Catalan nationalist allies refused to back his budget.

"One cannot govern without a budget," Mr Sanchez said in a televised address that bore hallmarks of a campaign speech, laying out his government's achievements and saying he was seeking a broader majority to pursue a social reform agenda.

"Between doing nothing and continuing without the budget and calling on Spaniards to have their say, I choose the second. Spain needs to keep advancing, progressing with tolerance."

Mr Sanchez's Socialist party leads opinion polls, but the polls also show that no single party would win enough votes to govern on its own.

A range of possible coalition scenarios points to lengthy negotiations between three or more parties, potentially including the far-right Vox - it would be a first for post-Franco era Spain - and tapping into a divisive and high-profile debate over Catalan separatism.

Anti-immigration Vox, one of several emerging parties that have ripped apart the two-party establishment that has alternated power since Spain's democracy was re-established after Francisco Franco's death in 1975, saw its first electoral success in December.

Twelve of its lawmakers were elected to Andalusia's regional parliament, where it is backing the ruling administration, and in April it seems certain to enter the national parliament and possibly the government.

With Catalan separatist leaders on trial in Madrid for a failed independence bid in 2017 that angered many voters in the rest of the country, that region's uneasy relationship with central government will also be high on the electoral agenda.

A source with direct knowledge of the matter had said on Wednesday the country's highest court had no plans to suspend the trial if elections were called, even if it will now take place during campaigning.

Mr Sanchez's government - which had replaced another, conservative minority administration removed from office in a no-confidence vote - had also depended on the support of other small regional parties to pass legislation.
Ballot: A man sells vegetables next to electoral posters in the Nigerian city of Mubi, Adamawa State, ahead of todays presidential election. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Nigeria bolstered security in much of the country yesterday on the eve of a presidential election in Africa's largest democracy where past ballots have been marred by violence, voter intimidation and vote rigging.

The two leading candidates in today's vote are President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015, and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007.

The country, which has Africa's largest economy, is dealing with pockets of instability: authorities are trying to tackle a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast and communal violence between farmers and nomadic cattle herders in central states, along with banditry and kidnappings in the northwest.

Dozens of combat policemen and members of other security forces were deployed from police headquarters in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state that has been worst hit by Boko Haram and its off-shoot, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

"There are about 14,000 security personnel deployed for the election purpose. This deployment also includes 11,000 policemen," said Borno's police commissioner, Damian Chukwu.

Military vehicles and soldiers were seen moving toward volatile parts of the state, which has seen an uptick in attacks by ISWAP in recent months.

The group said it carried out an attack on the convoy of Borno's governor earlier this week.

In Kano, a hotly contested state that is the economic hub of the north, police said at least 15,000 officers would be deployed for the election with a further 5,000 from other services.

That compares with just over 10,000 officers on duty on a normal day.

Muhammad Wakili, commissioner of police for Kano state, promised a "violence-free" poll.

Kano is the most populous state in the northwest, a region that accounts for nearly a quarter of Nigeria's voters.

It has been a Buhari stronghold in the last three elections and his posters outnumber those of Mr Atiku.

In Adamawa, Mr Atiku's northeastern home state where he will vote, a police spokesman said more than 7,500 officers had been deployed, significantly more than the usual number on the streets.

Mr Atiku spent much of the day in meetings with members of his party in Yola, the state capital of Adamawa.

Mr Buhari worshipped at a mosque in Daura, his hometown in the northwest, which sits near the border with Niger.
Family outing: Michael Douglas with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their children Dylan and Cerys at the London premiere of Ant-Man. Photo: Luke McGregor.

Actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones attend AARP's 15th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on February 8, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

Michael Douglas has gained a new appreciation for life after recovering from cancer, and insists he and wife Catherine Zeta-Jones are "tighter" than ever.

The 72-year-old was diagnosed with stage IV tongue cancer, the most advanced type, in 2010 and subsequently underwent treatment.

Three years later, he and his actress spouse Catherine (47) announced their separation after tying the knot in November 2000 and having kids Dylan (16) and daughter Carys, who turns 14 this month together.

The pair quickly put their differences aside though and reunited just months later, which Michael believes had something to do with the new outlook on life his health scare gave him.

Expand Close Actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones attend AARP's 15th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on February 8, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones attend AARP's 15th Annual Movies For Grownups Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel on February 8, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Joshua Blanchard/Getty Images)

"Once I started coming out the other end of stage four, it gave me a whole new appreciation (of life)," he told reporters at a TCM Classic Film Festival Q and A at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre in Los Angeles recently.

"Family gives me more purpose than any other thing in my life."

"Youve both got to want to make it happen," Michael added of his and Catherines reunion, insisting every marriage has issues.

"If one is going out the door, no matter how hard you try, (a split) is going to happen. But I think if youre fortunate enough to take a look and you want to make it work, then I think you can succeed... And it makes you tighter than before."

Expand Close Family outing: Michael Douglas with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their children Dylan and Cerys at the London premiere of Ant-Man. Photo: Luke McGregor. / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Family outing: Michael Douglas with his wife Catherine Zeta-Jones and their children Dylan and Cerys at the London premiere of Ant-Man. Photo: Luke McGregor.

He now feels as though hes a better husband and father having spent more time with his loved ones, especially as his kids give him "a lot of pressure" to do well.

The veteran actor also has son Cameron with first wife Diandra Luker, who he split from in 1995 after18 years of marriage. Their 38-year-old son was released from prison last year following a sentence for drug possession, and Michael insists on taking the blame insisting Cameron had a "difficult upbringing."

"I love my oldest son Cameron.... And he has had difficulties in life, and my memories are that it was my fault and that it was a difficult upbringing," Michael added.
Judge Gerard Haughton departed from the courthouse in Wexford for the last time with the applause of a standing ovation ringing in his ears.

The Wicklow native stepped down last week from the bench 28 years after delivering his first verdicts in the District Court.

And he made no secret of the fact that he was reluctant to retire, his career brought to an end by a rule which sets 70 as the age limit for judges.

He also revealed that the law was not his first choice of career, as he left school with his heart set on becoming a pilot.

He set off to England for preliminary trials with the RAF only to fail an eye test which put a stop to any such ambitions, so he became a solicitor instead.

By the time he was called to be a judge in 1991 he had built up a successful legal practice in Wicklow town.

In his new role, he built up a formidable reputation as an expert in the law, while also being widely respected for the humanity of his decision-making.

He became the 'resident' judge for District 23 covering Wexford and Gorey during 2008 when he succeeded the late Donnchadh O Buachalla.

The departing justice used the occasion of his final Wexford appearance to make a plea to Government to streamline road traffic legislation.

Much of the time in the District Court is wasted dealing with motoring offences such as drink driving, he suggested.

Judge Haughton noted that a recent Law Reform Commission report on the matter ran to 16,000 words in its review of the relevant acts, statutory instruments and regulations.

His recommendation to the legislators was: 'Put it in the bin and replace it with something more easily administered and understood.'

Court clerk Deirdre McCarthy introduced a string of speakers eager to pay tribute to the reluctant retiree in front of a packed courthouse.

First to speak was Judge Flann Brennan, representing the president of the District Court, who spoke of his departing colleague as a wonderful example of judicial practice and expertise.

He described Gerard Haughton as having all the qualities of a good judge and a man for whom precision is a hallmark.

Judge Colin Daly of the District Court Judges Association called him a great judge and a good man.

The judge's wife Elsie Haughton, their four children and several grandchildren were present to hear the tributes which included a few words from retired Judge Michael Patwell and barrister Jordan Fletcher.

Wexford solicitors were represented by Martin Lawlor, who recalled that Judge Haughton was always noted for his fairness, politeness and even-handedness, underpinned by a vast knowledge of the law.

Garda Chief Superintendent Pat McMenamin felt that everyone who appeared before the judge was met with fairness and respect.

Brief words of praise and best wishes were also delivered by Seamus Halpenny of the probation service and by court clerk Deirdre McCarthy.

Then all - including one prisoner in custody and waiting for his case to be dealt with - rose to deliver the standing ovation.
The IFA has called on food companies to clearly indicate the country of origin on meat product labelling during a protest at Kerry Foods in Shillelagh on Friday.

Farmers from across the country gathered at the south Wicklow meat processing plant to voice their concerns about a loophole in current legislation.

The furore arose last week when questions were asked about a Denny chicken product labelled as being 'Made in Wicklow' despite the fact that the chicken used, was imported from EU countries.

Speaking at the protest, IFA Poultry Chairman Andy Boylan called for the loophole to be closed.

'What the IFA is calling for is for clear and accurate information to be included on food labels, including the country of origin. I don't know any country that 'makes' a chicken. Poultry farmers rear chickens and the consumers have a right to know where the meat they are buying comes from. Looking at that label, one would immediately think it was Irish chicken contained within. Consumers do not have time to be dissecting labels in the supermarket. They are entitled to clear information from the outset,' said Mr Boylan.

He said the fact that Kerry Foods originally said that the chicken came from Brazil, but then that it came from other countries, only adds to the general confusion for consumers.

'This loophole in the current labelling legislation reinforces the importance of trusting the Bord Bia Quality Assurance label,' he added.

Mr Boylan called on Irish MEPs and the EU Commissioner for Agriculture to ensure that this issue is highlighted and addressed as a matter of urgency at EU legislative level.

He said Irish consumers feel misled by a brand that they have loyalty to.

'Poultry farmers have had their margins squeezed with all inputs increasing by 15-30 per cent in the past two years. They need an increase to cover their costs, and don't want to see an Irish food company, Kerry Foods, and their brand Denny, which is perceived as an Irish brand, using imported product. The Irish consumer values and trusts Irish poultry and all food processors should support locally-produced chicken. For Kerry Foods to import chicken from across the globe when the most efficiently produced chicken is produced on their doorstep here is a disgrace and needs to be rectified,' Mr Boylan said.

Chair of Wicklow IFA Chris Hill also attended the protest. He said that while Kerry Foods was in the spotlight at the moment, it is not the only company exploiting the legislative loophole.

'Everybody is talking about Kerry Foods this week but they are just one company which does not include the country of origin on their labels. It is up to them who they buy their chicken from, but the consumer should be informed,' he said.

'This action strips the value out of the Wicklow brand and there is no information on the packaging as to how it is produced,' he added.

IFA Grain Chairman Mark Browne said that this practice also impacts Irish grain producers and that by supporting foreign chicken producers, companies such as Kerry Foods are sending business out of country which could be supporting the Irish economy and jobs.

A spokesperson for Kerry Foods did not comment on Friday's protest but previously said that the Denny Foods sliced chicken packaging 'fully complies with the strict EU labelling regulations'.

Kerry Foods added that the 'Made in Wicklow' claim refers to the product being cooked, cooled, sliced, packaged and labelled in Co Wicklow.
Greystones was the location for a new Irish record catch after a tope weighing 34.02 kg was caught in October.

The catch is one of the one of many included in the just published Irish Specimen Fish Committee (ISFC) report for 2019.

Founded in 1955, the report sets out to verify, record and publicise the capture of large fish caught on rod and line by anglers in Ireland, both in freshwater and marine waters. Over 30,000 claims have been received by the ISFC over the past 63 years

Angler Stephen Hanway from Dublin set a new Irish record on October 3 when he caught a Tope weighing 34.02 kg at Greystones. He used Mackerel as bait.

The two largest Tope catches of the year both occurred in Greystones, with Clyde McElwaine second after using Mackerel for his 27.22 kg specimen on June 30. The third and fourth largest catches took place in Wicklow with Daudu Dennis using Coalfish for a 26.31 kg specimen and John Millerick using Mackerel for a 22.68 kg fish.

Craig Murphy caught the fifth largest Black Bream last year in Wicklow on June 26 using squid and weighing 1.00 kg.

Kit Dunne caught the seventh heaviest Spur Dogfish of the year in Wicklow on April 22. He used Mackerel as bait to land the 6.58 kg fish. Paul Smith also used Mackerel to catch a Spur Dogfish in Wicklow weighing 6.46 kg. Other specimen Spur Dogfish catches in Wicklow include Garry Blake with a 6.01 kg catch on March 24 using Squid and Mackerel, Thomas Lynch of August 4 using squid and mackerel for a 5.99 kg catch, Ken Garry using Mackerel as bait on April 7 and Stan Ryan using Squid and Mackerel to catch two large specimens on April 7.

Des Chew caught a Thick Lipped Mullet weighing 2.81 kg at Vartry Estuary on July 20 using bread. The Vartry Estuary was also the location for another catch weighing 2.45 kg by Des Chew on August 4 and a 2.30 kg catch by Brian Cooke on October 21. Craig Murphy was the captor of a 2.30 kg Thick lipped Mullet in the River Vartry on July 9.

Of the top 50 largest Smooth Hounds landed in Ireland last year, the overwhelming majority were captured off Wicklow's coastline. The heaviest catch of the year was 8.30 kg by Evan McGovern using crab on June 24. Crab was also the bait used by Bert McGregor to land a 8.16 kg specimen, Shane McLave for his 7.48 kg catch, Thomas Lynch with 7.26 kg, Jeff Nolan with 7.14 kg and John Millerick with 6.35 kg.

Two special awards have also been won for catches landed in Wicklow. The Young Specimen Angler of the Year award went to John Patrick Chew of Dublin for the 5.9 kg Smooth-hound he caught on June 22. Dr Arthur Went, a noted fisheries biologist and one of the two founder members of the

ISFC, nominated this award which based on the highest percentage of the specimen weight taken by an angler aged 13 years or younger.

The Best International fish Award went to French native Daudu Denis for the 26.31 kg Tope caught in Wicklow on October 2.
Plans for a greenway from Wicklow town to Greystones continue to progress as the second meeting of the East Coast Greenway Taskforce took place last week.

The meeting was chaired by Wicklow County Council CEO Frank Curran and was attended by representatives from Irish Rail, OPW, Failte Ireland, WCC, National Parks and Wildlife and the East Coast Greenway group.

The Wicklow Town Team are leading the initiative, after forming the Wicklow Greenway sub group chaired by Ciaran Lally.

Engineering consultants WS Atkins were deployed by Wicklow County Council in April of last year to establish a feasibility study for greenway plans. Consultants from WS Atkins updated the meeting on their findings, including ongoing communications with Irish Rail.

'The consultants are in regular contact with Irish Rail to plan the safest movement of people near the railway line,' explained Mr Lally.

'Secondly, due to the large areas of land along the coast designated as Special Areas of Conservation or Special Protection Areas, the design of any greenway must take full cognisance of the flora, fauna and wildlife along any proposed route, as they have special protection under European Law.'

That has resulted on a short delay over the feasibility study, which is now expected to be completed by April. While the East Coast Greenway Group were initially disappointed to hear of the short delay, they have been highly impressed by the approach taken by WS Atkins.

'We are in full agreement that any proposed route must be sympathetic to the beautiful nature in this area and not have any negative environmental impact whatsoever,' confirmed Mr Lally. 'Working in harmony with nature will only enhance the physical and mental health benefits of the greenway for the people of Wicklow, in addition to the significant economic benefits the greenway would have for all towns along the route. We look forward to seeing the final feasibility report in April'.
The nurses' strike was called off late on Monday evening after the Labour Court issued its recommendations aimed at resolving the dispute.

Plans for three days of consecutive of strike action over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were suspended by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (IMNO) following the release of a seven page document by the Labour Court recommending that thousands of nurses be able to move to an enhanced pay-scale offering salaries of 35,806 ad upwards.

The recommendation also states that an expert review of the nursing profession will be set up ad report at the end of the pay deal.

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people took part in a rally in Dublin in support of nurses and midwives involved in the dispute.

Local nurses were involved in a picket outside Wicklow Primary Healthcare Centre at Knockrobin on Thursday afternoon, with passing motorists beeping their car horns in support.

'We are doing this for patient safety and for both new and existing staff. I'm not doing this for me. I'm doing it for my children and my children's children. Staff levels have been so greatly reduced it just ends up putting extra pressure on existing staff,' said Mary Kinsella of Arklow.

'I don't want to be out here but I am 100 per cent committed,' said another nurse, who asked only to be identified as Clare.

Another protester said a lot of nursing graduates have become so disillusioned they are using their qualifications to try and locate other forms of employment or instead continue their studies in a different field.

'Lots of people just decide to go back to college and pursue something different or they use their nursing qualification to move onto another area. That's not to mention the numbers of graduating nurses who go abroad to find employment because the terms are better'.

The patients the nurses care for are also very supportive of their strike days.

'It's not within nurses' nature to tell clients they aren't coming but we feel we have no real option but to take action. It's not nice at the moment and things are very stressful. We contacted each and every patient by phone to let them know they wouldn't be getting a call today. But we gave them any supplies they may require, such as dressings, just in case they have to visit their GP. People are getting accommodated' said another protester.

Local cafes in Wicklow town showcased their support by providing free tea, coffee and refreshments to the strikers, while other generous souls presented them with snacks to keep them going. Also offering all the support she could muster was Mary Kinsella's eight-year-old daughter.

'She was talking about getting an electric toothbrush and I told her to hold off because mammy is on strike. Last night she came up to me and gave me 5 and refused to take it back'.
An Arklow company at the centre of the controversy surrounding a no-deal Brexit ferry service contract has pulled out of talks with the company, leading to the contract being terminated.

Arklow Shipping Ltd, Ireland's largest shipping company, previously said it intended to invest in Seaborne Freight's venture to provide the ferry service after Seaborne was awarded a 13.8 million (15.7 million) contract to provide roll-on, roll-off ferries.

When the contract was awarded to Seaborne Freight, there was criticism of that decision as the company did not possess any suitable ships, which is why the services of a company such as Arklow Shipping were required.

In a letter to UK Transport Secretary Chris Grayling, dated January 18, 2019, James A Tyrrell of Arklow Shipping wrote: 'Arklow Shipping has been working with Seaborne for twelve months in connection with Seaborne's proposals to develop new freight services between the UK and continental Europe.

'Arklow Shipping is therefore familiar with Seaborne's agreement with Her Majesty's Government to provide additional freight capacity in the event of the UK's departure from the European Union on a no deal basis'.

He went on to write that in respect of current proposals to develop a shipping route between Ramsgate in England and Ostend in Belgium.

The Ramsgate to Ostend crossing offers drivers coming from Northern Europe a much more direct route to England, saving around 100km in driving distance and avoiding the congestion and delays that occur around Calais.

'Arklow Shipping intends to provide equity finance for the purchase of both vessels and an equity stake within Seaborne which will be the operating entity of this project', wrote Mr Tyrrell.

The letter read that he 'will be working closely with the team at Seaborne to ensure that they have appropriate support from Arklow Shipping to deliver on their commitments'.

This letter was posted on the GOV.UK website and widely circulated on social media last Sunday.

However at the weekend the British Department of Transport said it had decided to cancel its contract with Seaborne Freight after Arklow Shipping, which it described as the company's 'backer', decided to 'step back from the deal.

Efforts to contact Arklow Shipping in respect of the deal were unsuccessful at the time of going to print however it was reported in the Irish Times and the Guardian newspaper in England that there was no formal deal in place between Arklow Shipping and Seaborne Freight.

After Arklow Shipping's decision to step away from the deal pro-Brexit Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned if 'pressure from the Irish Government' was the reason for Arklow Shipping's decision.

This has since been dismissed by Minister for European Affairs Helen McEntee said there was 'absolutely no truth to it'.
The five places are clearly shown on high-resolution images based on data from the Chang'e 2 and Chang'e 4 missions. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

The landing site of China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe has been named "Statio Tianhe" after the spacecraft made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon last month.

Together with three nearby impact craters and one hill, the name was approved by the International Astronomical Union (IAU), Liu Jizhong, director of the China Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said at a joint press conference.

The CNSA held the joint press conference with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the IAU.

"Tianhe" is the Chinese word for Milky Way and "Statio" is Latin for base. Before "Statio Tianhe," only one place is listed on lunar maps as "Statio," namely "Statio Tranquilitatis" (Tranquility Base), the site the Apollo 11 crew members of the United States landed and walked on in 1969.

According to the CNSA, the Chang'e-4 probe landed at the preselected landing area at 177.6 degrees east longitude and 45.5 degrees south latitude on the far side of the moon at 10:26 a.m. Jan. 3 Beijing Time. The landing area is the Von Karman Crater within the Aitken Basin.

The three nearby impact craters located in the Von Karman Crater form the shape of a triangle with Statio Tianhe at the center, looking like the celestial Summer Triangle prominent in evening skies from June through December in the northern hemisphere.

The defining vertices of the Summer Triangle are at Vega, Altair and Deneb, each of which is the brightest star of its constellation. The three craters were therefore named after the three stars with names in traditional Chinese astrology. Zhinyu is for Vega, Hegu (also called Niulang) for Altair and Tianjin for Deneb.

In Chinese folk tales, lovers Niulang and Zhinyu, one a cowherder and the other a weaver fairy, were separated by the Tianhe (Heavenly River, or the Milky Way), as their love was not allowed by the gods. They could only reunite once a year when a flock of magpies formed a bridge across the river.

In Chinese, Tianjin means galaxy's ferry and bridge across the Milky Way.

Along with relay satellite Queqiao (Magpie Bridge), the naming of Statio Tianhe and the three craters are integrated with rich cultural connotations, said Li Chunlai, deputy director of the National Astronomical Observatories of China and commander-in-chief of the ground application system of Chang'e-4, at the press conference.

At the center of Von Karman Crater, around 46 km northwest to Statio Tianhe, a hill that was used to locate the landing site was named Mons Tai. Regarded as the foremost of the Five Great Mountains of China, Mount Tai is of historical and cultural significance. Mons is Latin for mountain.

It is the IAU's first time approving lunar place names with "Mons" since 1985.

The IAU is the officially recognized authority in astronomy for assigning designations to celestial bodies such as stars, planets and minor planets, including any surface features on them.

So far, a total of 12 lunar features have been named by China.

Liu said naming lunar surface features provides scientists in China and abroad with original data and location standards and will open a new chapter in lunar exploration in the world.

In January 2016, the landing site of Chang'e-3 was named "Guang Han Gong" or "Moon Palace," more than two years after the probe made China's first successful soft-landing on the moon in December 2013.

The Chang'e-4 probe, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on Dec. 8, 2018, touched down on the far side of the moon after orbiting the moon for more than 20 days.

With the communication assistance of the relay satellite Queqiao (Magpie Bridge), the probe sent back the first-ever close-up photograph of the moon's far side.
Kelan Hughes from Bray and his band W.A.L.K.E.R. join artists such as Hozier and Rodrigo y Gabriela as the latest addition to Evolving Music Publishing.

The 19-year-old has signed a worldwide publishing deal with MCD and Live Nation boss Denis Desmond.

Kelan completed his Leaving Certificate and graduated from St Kilian's Community School in June 2017. Since then, the Bray man has focused all of his time and attention on his music career.

The band's first EP, 'Bringing Rock Back', was mixed by producer Michael Wagener, known for his work with rock legends such as Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Queen.

Kelan and the other band members Glen Walker, Ali Cruz and Peter Jordan are looking forward to a busy future, with their first single 'Time To Party' reaching number two in the Irish rock charts within 24 hours of its release.

W.A.L.K.E.R. are now focusing on 'Bringing Rock Back' to Ireland and their EP of the same name is out now.

The band will play live at The Grand Social on March 2. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.ie.
There was great news for supporters of the arts this week as it was revealed that the new Asgard Theatre is just weeks away from opening its doors in Arklow.

Arklow Music and Arts group has been working hard on getting the project off the ground since 2014 and this week revealed that a new black box style theatre is to open upstairs at Kenny's of the Harbour on Lower Main Street.

The venue was made available following an appeal by Arklow Music and Arts seeking a suitable premises. Black box theatre, a relatively recent innovation, is an increasingly popular model for accommodating the arts, with its flexible nature very much one of its charms.

Members of AMA have travelled around Ireland and viewed a number of similar ventures, speaking to those involved and taking guidance on what would best suit Arklow's particular needs.

Work on the second part of the project, Asgard Theatre 2 will commence later this year, but for now, AMA's attentions are focused on getting their Asgard Theatre up and running.

'As work progresses on the venue, it is more than appropriate to take a time out from the renovations, to acknowledge the depth of financial contribution, moral support and - let's be honest here - love we have received from our many friends, family, over in the United States of America. We are forever in your debt,' a spokesperson for AMA said.
The council has called on Minister for Education Joe McHugh to reduce the length of time it takes a second level teacher to qualify from two years to one.

It's on foot of a motion by Fianna Fail Councillor Seamus Kilgannon who believes it could address the shortage of secondary teachers in the key subjects of Maths, Irish and Modern Foreign Languages.

He also told the monthly meeting it could reduce the costs for student teachers, who often have to live away from home and have no income during their two-year training period.

"By 2024 they have forecasted there will be 36,000 extra pupils in the education system and an extra 2,000 teachers will be needed," he told the meeting.
A flushed Councillor Hubert Keaney sits in a quiet room outside the Council Chamber, looking like he can't believe himself what he'd just done. The straight-talking Manorhamilton man had just announced his retirement from local politics only minutes earlier to a near-empty chamber. He caught everyone by surprise and councillors rushed back into the chamber to express their genuine shock and dismay.

No, he would not be contesting the selection convention that night for Fine Gael, and yes, he would no longer be a county councillor for the party after the local elections next May.

"In one way, this is not a big decision," he told The Sligo Champion. "I've never seen myself as a long-term politician. It's going to be a big change though, I won't deny it. It wasn't one particular thing, it was a number of things," he said, recalling the months of agonising over his decision.

"Sometimes I'd come to a decision and say I'm going and then I'd take a deep breath and say 'I'll wait for another week or month', because there are parts of this job I love and I know I will deeply miss them," he said.

He called (in vain) for rises in the Local Property Tax during budget meetings because he believed it would significantly boost the council coffers and allow the council to provide more services.

Those are the moments he found his voice and loved it: "I loved the job of being in at the council and bringing the Executive to account, going through detailed budgets and I played a big part in the Estimate meetings and I loved that. Certainly, I loved when we were producing development plans and I'll miss being involved in that, I was a main cog in some of those things."

One of his proudest achievements was de-zoning land in Sligo, becoming the first county in Ireland to do so back in 2010. Villages like Grange, zoned for 2,000 houses in the property bubble were curbed back to a core strategy and planned to be developed from the inside out. "It's proven to be the correct policy. I actually went on a roadshow with the Department at that time to other councils and various different agencies to explain how we got it through the members here in Sligo. Before that there was a huge amount of land zoned in every village in the country," he said.

Looking back, the signs may have been under our nose all along. Cllr Keaney, for we may still call him that, when standing up to have his say on local issues, often connects them to what's going on in the world at large, to international politics.

"I'd be somewhat disillusioned with the way politics is going. It's become more of a celebrity chase. I think we're losing thinkers," he said. "If you look at it globally, we've a President across the world who's tweeting about politics daily - it's demeaning politics. it's too important an issue, at any stage, whether it's county councillors, TDs, senators, making decisions that affect people's lives. With the advent of social media, everything is commented on," he said.

He says he hasn't been at the receiving end of much of the vitriol on social media, simply because he doesn't go there.

"I don't put a huge amount of posts up. I attend events and all I see is, dare I say it many of my colleagues, people on their phones and tweeting. I'm not that person. I'm not going to compete in that space and I don't want to compete in that space. I don't think it's good for society. I may be an old fogie on that.

"Some politics is about the bread and butter issues and the nitty gritty but also there's the big issues and they only can be tackled about by proper informed debate. That's something I want to get involved in again, I don't think in relation to politics but in relation to some issues. I think maybe I can have a better voice outside the political system. That may seem a bit strange but I'll develop them over the next couple of years," he said.

One issue on his mind is climate change, prompting him to suggest at the same meeting that the council ban the use of plastic drinking water cups in the chamber. "The reality is that Hubert Keaney will survive - 'we'll be alright Jack' is my generation but it's for my children and their children and what we're leaving behind for them.

"I've spoken about it in there a few weeks ago at an SPC meeting - we don't seem to get it in this society. We talk about minor issues but we're forgetting the big picture and that's not a criticism of Sligo but a criticism of humanity in itself. We are facing some of the greatest challenges that humanity has ever faced," he stressed.

"And yes, they're going to affect us here in Sligo the same way as they're going to affect people all around the world. You only have to look at the last two weeks - look at the weather patterns in the world. There's going to be more depopulation and displacement of people in the world, these are going to be serious issues," he said.

It's a sign of his disillusionment with the political sphere when a councillor of ten years believes he can tackle those issues better outside of the Irish political system. Cllr Keaney believes his political identity may in fact, be holding him back.

"When you're a politician, and I've been very outspoken on a lot of things, and very associated with Fine Gael, I'm considered to be the spokesperson within the council on that. You'll hear the banter, what does Keaney say about that, defending the Government and I've probably over-defended the Government at times but I always felt that when you walk into a room people don't see me as Hubert Keaney, they see me as Hubert Keaney the county councillor.

"So, no matter what I say, they're going to colour it and form an opinion just because I'm a Fine Gael councillor or if they've heard me say something before they didn't likeso I feel that when you're outside politics you're more independent, more objective," he decided.

Relaxing back in his chair, Cllr Keaney turns reflective, but insists he's not having a midlife crisis. "One of the things I'm going to get more involved in is some charitable work and be reflective on life. I'm turning 55 in a few months' time and I gave up smoking six months ago and started doing fitness, part of my process of decision making. I certainly like the changes that have come about. I think it's important. There's a lot of things we can be doing to change our lives and make our lives better, both physically and mentally. That's certainly an area I want to get into. While a politician - that's not a good place for your mental health," he laughed.

"I won't say it's a mid-life crisis I'm going through but it's a reflective thing I want to do. Did I want to be here in three months' time at a monthly meeting, I thought 'no'. I've done it for ten years. I have enjoyed it. Don't get me wrong. There have been frustrations and there will always be, that's in any job," he said.

Now that he's departing the political arena, what does he think of the state of Fine Gael in Sligo facing into the 2019 Local Elections?

"The local elections will be tough. The last time was a bad day for us (in 2014). I was very fortunate to get the second Fine Gael seat in the Sligo-Drumcliffe area. We went from 12 seats in the previous council to three. It'll be a challenge for us but I think it's doable. I think we'll come back with maybe five seats on a good day. We'll certainly come back with three.

"There's no doubt that the economy is doing well and we're getting a lot of investment in Sligo but there are still an awful lot of issues. I've spoken here in the Chamber before about legacy debt and people are still struggling.

"You've the whole thing of the health services now, the waiting lists, the constant queuing in A&E, the frustration of the nurses, that will all lead into negative stuff for the Government, for the party. It will be difficult but there will be very good candidates there and I'm sure the machine will get behind them and put their best foot forward. It will be difficult for all the parties," he said, adding that he will "absolutely" support the Fine Gael candidates in the next General Election.

For now, Cllr Keaney will remain on as a member of Fine Gael but down the line sees it might be better if he was totally outside a party altogether to do the work he wants to do.

"I would be very committed to social justice and the challenges that we have. Sometimes we get branded by parties as this or that. Society is evolving and changing and it's up to political parties to change with that. It should always be about social justice.

"What policy was effective ten years ago isn't always the policy that is suitable for the next generation," he said.

Hanging up his political boots will no doubt be welcomed by his four grown children and wife Christina, his biggest supporter. "It's tough on family life but they'll be glad with this decision I'm making. It's not about myself, it's about my family as well," he said.

"Hopefully some things were brought about because of my intervention, well I know they did and I'm very proud of that. I think there's a bit of kick in me yet. There's some things I want to do. You'll be seeing some of them over the next couple of months," he said, before darting back into the fray in the Council chamber.
Diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease at the age of 24, creche worker Clare Connolly was determined not to let the disease get the better of her.

After an innocuous fall in college at the age of 19, the Clare native now living in Sligo became more aware of her body.

"About a month or two after the fall one of my toes started twitching, my mother noticed and asked could I stop it and I couldn't, that's when we got suspicious," explained the 29-year-old.

In and out of doctors appointments, it was a whole five years later when Clare finally saw a neurologist who informed her that the earlier fall had not triggered her symptoms.

In March 2014 Clare was diagnosed with Juvenile Onset Parkinson's Disease. Clare admits that it took a number of days for the news to sink in.

"It was only afterwards it hit me. And I thought, 'What do I do now?', but there and then I was more fascinated looking at the scan of my brain than the prognosis."

The prognosis wasn't good. After hearing that Clare worked in childcare, her neurologist told her she would only have ten years in her career due to the disease.

Sitting in the car after receiving the diagnosis, Clare showed her steely resolve stating to her mother, 'This won't stop me'.

The amateur theatre enthusiast's next thoughts were focused on overcoming her symptoms. With an upcoming show with her local musical society, Clare was adamant to get rid of her tremor before taking to the stage.

"I thought, 'How quick can this medication work'. From 19 to 24 I deteriorated with no treatment. My tremor was very visual, I was shuffling, my legs were so heavy and weak and I was very fatigued, walking with my knees and not with my hips."

Accepting her diagnosis and coming to terms with living with it, Clare attended World Parkinson's Day in Dublin which in turn introduced her to Smovey, an exercise ring that vibrates.

The exercise tool was revolutionary for Clare and helped bring her walk back to normal. Such was the improvement that her neurologist told her she had added a further ten years to her work span.

A firm believer in exercise, she explains that medication can only do so much in terms of staving off the progression of the disease

"You have to do exercise. That's what I always tell anyone diagnosed, forget about the medication you're on, what exercise are you doing? You have to do exercise."

Previously not one for exercise, Clare now keeps fit with yoga classes and cardio.

"It kills me, but at the end of the day, this is what my body needs."

Involved with Young Parkinson's Ireland (YPI), a support group which offers advice, runs events and provides talks, Clare says the group is highly beneficial for anyone dealing with the disease, whether newly-diagnosed or not. The youngest member of the group, she adds that the organisation if for people under the age of 55 who have the disease.

"We have all sorts of talks and advice from insurance, to work.

"What's the first thing you think of when you're diagnosed? What do I need help with? We've listened to young people who have been diagnosed and what they are worried about," she explains.

Each month YPI have a social event inviting those with the disease to meet up and chat.

"The organisation also has a closed Facebook page that people with the condition can join.

"If someone has a query or a question there's advice there."

Speaking about ongoing management of the disease, the Clare native is positive and is currently on as little medication as possible.

"I'm on a low dose of medication, I was on an average dose but we cut it back because I was getting too much medication for what I needed. I'm on the bare minimum and I'm very stable on that and I'm able to work full time."

Asked how it impacts her life and whether her condition is noticeable to others, the 29-year-old speaks candidly.

Parents of children she takes care of recently approached her informing her they never knew about her condition, which surprised her as she explains she does have a noticeable tremor.

"With Juvenile Onset Parkinson's a lot of people don't see that you're sick and a lot of it is internal, fatigue, soreness and stiffness and depression comes hand-in-hand when you're diagnosed, but you just have to keep your head above water and keep a positive attitude."

Meeting newly-diagnosed people often through her work with Young Parkinson's Ireland, Clare makes it her business to chat to them and make sure they're doing okay .

"I tell them they will be ok and they will have a normal life, they'll just have to alter it a little bit.

"The first thing I say to them is, 'It's okay not to be okay and to make sure they're getting the right treatment. My door is always open for any questions.

"Everyone has a different experience with Parkinson's." A big message that Clare is trying to communicate to people is people younger than 55 get diagnosed with the disease.

"I don't consider it an old age disease anymore. I got it." In order to get this message out, upcoming awareness campaigns about the disease are being rolled out, including TV ads and a feature film has been released entitled 'The New Music'. The film is available to view via Facebook and Twitter. Clare emphasises that anyone in Sligo who has been newly-diagnosed and is looking for information can contact her directly.

So, what about hopes for the future living with the degenerative disorder?

For Clare it's simple, 'a cure'. "A cure, everybody is hoping for a cure. Like Sinemet was the newest medication invented and that's 50 years old so you're hoping for something else. In terms of research they're getting on in ways. People have longer life-expectancies than many years ago.

In the short term however, the positive spokesperson is focused on happier things a she prepares to marry her partner Ronan later this year.

For more information about Parkinson's Disease you can visit www.ypi.ie or email ypisligoevents@parkinsons.ie.
The children in Realta Beaga Pre-School in Coolaney have been showing what they love about their community and why they are proud to call Coolaney home.

The children along with teacher Aolish Gormley were taking part in a project about their local community over the past couple of weeks.

It was a great way to learn more about their area.

Aolish explained how the project saw the children set out on an adventure in their area, visiting the places they love and the places that are special to them.

Aolish said: "Realta Beaga Pre-School is strongly influenced by the Reggio Emilia philosophy, an Italian approach to Early Years Education.

"The Reggio approach sees every child as strong, confident and competent with their own ideas, and opinions.

"The adult's role is to work collaboratively with the children, providing starting points for the young people to explore and develop their own thinking and ways of learning.

"Conversations were the starting point for the project, the children shared their thoughts and opinions about where was important to them and where they would like to visit.

"I just listened carefully to all the wonderful things they had to say and the project took off from there".

She added: "The Reggio approach values the importance of building relationships within the community for the children.

"Taking the children out to explore their local community was a really simple way to make them aware of the wider world, also by helping children to learn about the world of work and the different jobs people do.

"This will help them develop a growing understanding of what it means to be a citizen in their community," Aolish added.
Plays never before performed in New Ross, including Waiting for Godot, will be the entertainment on offer during this year's New Ross Drama Festival.

The festival line-up has just been announced and it features a heady mixture of Irish and international plays and an array of genres, from comedy to tragedy - performed by festival stalwarts, but, mainly by groups who are threading the boards in New Ross for the first time.

The curtain will rise on the 2019 festival on Wednesday, March 20, with the Samuel Beckett play Waiting for Godot by the Newpoint Players from Newry. This will be followed on Thursday, March 21, by It's the Real McCoy (a play by Tommy Marren), performed by the Wexford based Wayside Players.

Unforgiven by John McDwyer is the play being performed by Kilworth Drama Group (Co Cork) on Friday, March 22.

The drama continues on Monday, March 25, with Eclipsed by Tinahely Drama Group, followed by The Lonesome West by Mullingar Theatre Lab the following night.

A Fine Bright Day is the Philip Goulding offering, performed by Co Waterford based Ballyduff Drama Group on Wednesday, March 27, and Push Up (a play by Toland Goulding), will be performed by The Moat Club, Co Kildare on Thursday, March 28.

Finishing off this year's festival will be the Sebastian Barry play, The Steward of Christendom, on Friday, March 29, performed by Kilrush Drama Group from Co Wexford.

The adjudicators is Pat Nolan (who played the put-upon teacher Barry in Fair City).

Waiting for Godot

'Nothing happens, nobody comes, nobody goes, it's awful. This immortal line from the play was adopted by Jean Anouih to characterise the first production of Waiting for Godot in 1953. He went on to predict that the play would, in time, represent the most important premiere to be staged in Paris for forty years. Nobody acquainted with Beckett's masterly black comedy would now question this prescient recognition of a classic of 20th century literature.

The Real McCoy

It's The Real McCoy involves two love stories. A strong willed, jilted wife, a timid husband, a confused curate, a gormless postman, two pedigree gossips all combine in this light-hearted comedy set in rural Ireland in 1964.

Unforgiven

Unforgiven is a real circus of as play. A laugh a minute exposition of Irish rural life where nothing is ever as it seems. PJ awaits the death of his father so he can marry his neighbour, Mary and live happily ever after. His brother, Seamie, holds a watching brief while Mary seems unaware of PJ's plans for her. When the father dies another brother arrives home from America and a colony of cats land among her pigeons in an uproarious comedy.

Eclipsed

Eclipsed is an all female play set in one of the Magdalene Laundries about how they cope with the lives of drudgery they live in the shadow of the outside world.

The Lonesome West

The Lonesome West concerns Valene and Coleman, two brothers living alone in their father's house after his recent death. They find it impossible to exist without engaging in violent disputes over the most mundane and innocent of topics. Only Fr Welsh, the local young priest, is prepared to try to reconcile the two before their petty squabbling spirals into vicious and bloody carnage.

A Fine Bright Day

A Fine Bright Day revolves around protagonist Margaret Harvey, who has lived with her daughter Rebecca in a small cottage ever since the death of her husband 30 years previously.

Rebecca is moving out to live with her boyfriend, so when she meets Milton Farnsworth, an American painter visiting the area to paint the landscape, she invites him to lodge with Margaret during his stay. Margaret has become increasingly set in her ways over the years, dependent on ritual and superstition, but with patience, humour and cheap wine, Milton gradually encourages her to relinquish her hold on control. The play has been described as warm, funny and moving.

Push Up

Push Up's characters are all vying to nab the executive suite in a hotel. Everyone wants the Delhi job. Everyone wants sex and everyone wants love. So they push for it. Set in a world of work, the play has won rave reviews for its comedy.

The Steward of Christendom

The Steward of Christendom is set in the County Home in Baltinglass, Co Dublin, in around 1932. The play sees Lear-like Thomas Dunne, an ex-chief superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, trying to break free of history and from himself.
Nurses based in the New Houghton Hospital in New Ross have been protesting in the cold and rain over the complete lack of cover and the rising stress levels they face every day they arrive at work to care for patients.

Over 37,000 nurses belonging to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation who resumed their strike action on Thursday morning in a dispute over pay and staff shortages. It was the third day on the picket line and due to the shortage of staff only three at a time could protest on the footpath outside the hospital at any one time.

Nationally all outpatient, inpatient and day surgery appointments were cancelled, as were routine community nursing services and health centre nurse clinics.

As on Tuesday, the strike hit respite and rehabilitation units for the elderly or those with intellectual disability.

Helen Kehoe has been nursing since 1975 and she has never seen it as bad. 'We are paid below (our peers). Our staffing levels are so low we are having to pull in people from other countries.'

Joan Cahill qualified as a nurse in 1986. She said: 'It's more dire now due to the big shortage of nurses. The stress is huge. We are paid below physiotherapists and occupational therapists. We can't get young nurses to stay. We just lost a girl who was agency. She is gone to Australia where the conditions are much better. She had just qualified.'

All three agreed that if not for overtime and late night and weekend work, the wages would be far below those of their peers. 'You are taking your registration in your hands every day you go to work. We are under pressure to provide the service patients need. It's frustrating. We are moving very quickly (between patients). It's demanding. Any young nurse would have to be mad to stay here,' Joan said.

Helen said: 'I wouldn't be an Irish nurse. Before we had five or six temps who were in their fifties. They have retired so we've no back-up.'

The 15 nurses at the hospital have been taking turns protesting outside on Hospital Road where they were beeped several times by supportive passing drivers.

Saravanan Goplaswamy has been working at the hospital for a year. He said: 'The shortage of staff means the safety of patients is compromised.

'It's very bad and it's getting worse. It's very hard to get agency staff in New Ross as they want to be in a city, like Waterford. We are working the equivalent of two to three jobs.'

Joan, Helen and Saravanan say getting the 12 per cent pay rise will bring them up to what their peers are getting. Joan said: 'If there is a job and they weren't specifically assigned to anyone it's the nurses job.'
A new Savannah exhibition at the Dunbrody Experience Famine tour is due to open in the coming months, adding to the attraction's offering.

CEO Sean Connick said people will leave the Famine ship and arrive into 'Savannah', in the latest expansion phase of the visitor centre, which attracted just under 70,000 people last year.

'You will step onto the Savannah quayside in the mid-1800s. This latest phase of the centre's expansion has come out of the Savannah Access, which was established in 2013. Now, for the first time, we are able to showcase the Savannah side of the story.'

Mr Connick said Savannah historians and colleges are supporting the access's efforts. 'The Dunbrody sailed to Savannah on five occasions and we have some great Wexford stories to tell. We have a ten point integrated action plan and when this phase is completed we have eight more phases to go.'

Mr Connick said the plan will be completed phase by phase, subject to funding being allocated.

The Irish America Hall of Fame was upgraded last year in the first phase of works. 'We have ambitious plans which have come on the back of trips I have taken and by gauging customer's needs.'

Wexford Local Development has assisted the Dunbrody Experience centre through providing Leader funding, while Failte Ireland has also been very supportive of the centre's expansion plans. 'We are really appreciative of the funding. The JFK Trust board and staff recognise the great work Failte Ireland has been doing around the peninsula from here to Loftus Hall, to Hook Lighthouse and to Tintern Abbey. There are some great synergies.'

The JFK Trust board are aiming to attract 250,000 people to New Ross and district over the coming years. The Dunbrody centre attracted 69,500 people on its tour in 2018, with a further 9,500 visiting the Kennedy Homestead in Dunganstown.

'That's not including people going to the cafe. We are continuing to grow. We have had a recent assistance from Failte Ireland and there are a number of issues we have identified that are being funded.'

These include new front doors and entrance and the painting of the centre. This follows a 250,000 spend on refurbishing the famine ship in early 2018.

Plans to expand the centre's story offering into Murphy's furniture building on the quay are ready to be developed, subject to funding.

'We are in for the funding application. Our future plan would open the development further, linking with St Mary's Church and expanding our story to incorporate the William Marshall story and the Normans. We're looking at a modern facility with a modern exhibition space which could be used for travelling exhibitions. We are not in a position to host these exhibitions currently as we don't have the facilities.'

A local development group incorporating Destination New Ross and New Ross Municipal District council are also advancing the plans. 'We are seeking funding from Failte Ireland. That was superseded by the Rural Regeneration Fund. Wexford County Council has made applications for the four towns.'

Describing the opening of a visitor centre on the quay as key to the town's future as a tourism destination, Mr Connick said: 'It links the Dunbrody, bringing in St Mary's, The High Hill and the business incubation centre at the top of John Street.'

He said: 'There are always challenges. We are watching Brexit and what's happening in America very closely. These are anxious times.'

The number of British visitors to the famine ship rose slightly last year compared to 2017, despite the fact all of the Dublin tourist attractions recorded a fall in British numbers, he said. The majority of tour ticket paying visitors hail from America, France and Germany.

In preparation for a hard Brexit, Mr Connick and the centre's management team are looking at their budgets. Addressing the possibility of a hard Brexit and a fall in British tourists arriving to the centre, Mr Connick said: 'It could take 10 per cent off our future expectations. We are hoping common sense prevails and that some sort of structured withdrawal can be arranged.'
You are here: Business

U.S. online retailing giant Amazon is leading a US$700 million funding round for electric truck startup Rivian Automotive, Rivian said Friday.

Rivian said the latest funds will help produce its first all-electric vehicles -- the R1T pickup truck and the seven-seat R1S SUV, which were revealed in the LA Auto Show, an international event for world automakers held in Los Angeles, Southern California last November.

"This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility," said RJ Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO.

"We are excited to have Amazon with us on our journey to create products, technology and experiences that reset expectations of what is possible," he added.

Scaringe said Amazon's support will help his company's goal to improve electric vehicles' performance, capability, efficiency, as well as drive innovation to improve customer experience.

Rivian said it is expected to deliver its R1T electric pickup and R1S SUV to customers in late 2020.

The two vehicles will have up to more than 400 miles (about 644 km) of range with extraordinary performance, off-road capability and utility, said the auto company.

"We're inspired by Rivian's vision for the future of electric transportation," said Jeff Wilke, Amazon CEO Worldwide Consumer.

Rivian now employs more than 750 workers, with development centers in Michigan's Plymouth, San Jose and Irvine in California, and Surrey in Britain.

Last week, self-driving car startup Aurora announced that Amazon joined other investors like Sequoia and energy giant Shell to help it raise more than 530 million dollars in funding.
Nurses and midwives continued their action outside Wexford General Hospital last week as the dispute between the government and the INMO rumbled on.

Last Tuesday, the miserable wet weather didn't seem to dampen the resolve of the nurses in the slightest, as they continued to march up and down outside of the hospital, drawing approving honks from passing motorists.

If there were any fewer nurses out on the picket lines, it wasn't because of the weather, it was owing to the hospital being over capacity after a busy weekend. Several nurses were pulled from the picket lines, inside to try and help with the overflow.

'It was rough on Tuesday,' said INMO representative at Wexford General Emer Ward. 'Extra beds had to be opened up and it was pretty full on. The weekend was very busy and A&E was very busy, so we had to bring staff in and the discharge lounge had to be opened up as an in-patient area.'

'Again this is all about patient safety,' Ms Ward said. 'The opening of extra areas and the hospital being over capacity is nothing to do with the dispute. Even if we were fully staffed, we would've been in the same situation.'

Ms Ward added that, once again, the support from the people of Wexford was fantastic. Over the course of both Tuesday and Thursday, a steady stream of well-wishers came by, dropping off supplies such as hot drinks, hot food, cakes and sweets for those wearing a path up and down outside the hospital.

While she said that the situation at Wexford General had improved slightly on Thursday, everyone had been braced for further action this week.

One of the things initially touted last week from the government was the potential for pay sanctions on striking nurses. According to Ms Ward, however, this threat has served to only strengthen resolve.

'To us, it's a complete lack of respect,' she said. 'To suggest penalising nurses... I've never heard of the government threatening to penalise staff in a situation like this. I'm surprised at Simon Harris, given the fact that his wife is a nurse. If anything, though, I feel it has strengthened our resolve and made us more determined.'

Despite the nurses' assertion that things improved slightly on Thursday when compared to Tuesday, it was reported that Wexford General Hospital may have made an application to come 'off call' briefly on Thursday evening - meaning all emergencies would have been directed to Kilkenny and Waterford.

However, consultant in emergency medicine at the hospital Paul Kelly said that he was unaware if this action had been taken.

'That may have gone on later in the evening, but I'm not sure,' he said. 'I'm certainly not aware of it. Thursday did get very busy. We had consultants on the floor from 6 a.m. until 4 a.m. - almost 24-hour consultant coverage. The nurses still put patients first and any patients that were very ill received the required care from them.'

While the strikes have had a major impact, Mr Kelly believes that Wexford General is coping quite well.

'Wexford General tends to manage bed capacity issues better than some other hospitals,' he said. 'We run things quite well when we're overcrowded and see patients promptly enough. On Tuesday we managed quite well, but Thursday was busier.'

Mr Kelly urged the public to be mindful of delays and avoid attending the hospital except in the case of an emergency.

'We would advice patients to seek help from their GP first,' he said. 'Inevitably there will be significant delays over the coming days. We are so dependant on nurses. They are the back bone of the health system.'
Research into sensor technology by a Kerry native scientist to help diagnose sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) early was awarded over 100,000 by Government this week.

If fruitful its anticipated it will equip medicine with a brand-new tool to diagnose and combat STDs and other infections early.

Dr James Rice, who led the UCD research into what was described as a novel sensor technology, received the award as part of a Government tranche of funding for promising medical and scientific research in Ireland.

A native of Tullahinnell, Ballylongford, Dr Rice attended Asdee National School and St Josephs Secondary School in Ballybunion before pursuing a career in science that sees him today primarily focusing on optical processes in nanomaterials in his research.

And its in this field the Kerry man is developing the sensor technology, which is hoped will form part of medicines arsenal in identifying and diagnosing disease early.

The research aims to develop a novel sensor technology for disease diagnostics.

This technology will be able to monitor on-the-spot early signs of infections such as those associated with sexually transmitted diseases, Dr Rice explained.

The aim of the research is to provide technological solutions in areas such as medical diagnostics or energy harvesting through applying the understanding of light-driven processes in nanomaterials.

He said the award means we can apply research undertaken over the last four years to develop a new medical diagnostic tool.
A Listowel man who attacked a paramedic attempting to help his brother believed he was an intruder and punched him into the mouth, Listowel District Court was told last week.

The court heard that David Costello of 8 Dirha Cottages, Listowel, was before the court on a charge of assault at his home in October 2017. The court heard that gardai had been called to assist paramedics because the defendant was "agitated, highly volatile and aggressive' in the house while paramedics were attempting to treat his brother so much so that a struggle ensued and pepper spray had to be used on Mr Costello to calm the situation down. The paramedic suffered bruising as a result.

Judge David Waters said that he has strong feelings on assaulting emergency personnel particularly ambulance personnel and firemen as they are not trained to deal with aggression. Defence solicitor, Padraig O'Connell, said that Mr Costello was "not aware of the identity or role of Mr Buckley (the paramedic)" on the night.

Sgt Kieran O'Connell explained that the paramedic was not dressed in an uniform as he is involved in the Rapid Response Unit and was called because the patient was unresponsive and his expertise was needed.

Mr O'Connell said given that there was no uniform his client had given a "reasonable excuse" for what happened. He said that his client has "a myriad of medical difficulties from head to toe and everything in between." He added the "brothers are joined at the hip" and that both have medical difficulties and would also have difficulties with comprehension and intellect.

Judge David Waters said that his "gut reaction" was to put him in custody but that he should first get the benefit of a suspended sentence first and this is what he would do. The court heard that Mr Costello has 14 previous convictions the most recent of which dates back to July 2018.

He gave Mr Costello a five month suspended sentence but warned that if he came before him again he would activate this sentence along with giving him another one. "He doesn't seem to be a man that wants to help himself," said Judge Waters.
The son of leading Irish 20th Century architect Michael Scott has criticised recent alterations to the Corpus Christi Church in Knockanure as having 'degraded' the building's effect as originally conceived by his father. Knockanure/Moyvane Parish Priest Fr Kevin McNamara, who oversaw the recent work, said that the alterations were both 'necessary' and 'enhancing'.

Corpus Christi was opened in 1963 as one of the first and finest examples of modernist architecture in a religious context in Ireland; containing works by many well-known Irish artists.

Listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, the beamed, concrete-slab roofed structure was a treasured part of architect Michael Scott's agency portfolio.

Regarded as one of the most exciting architects of his era, he established firm Scott, Tallon and Walker and personally won the commission to construct the North Kerry church; with partner Ronald Tallon designing it.

Michael's son Niall Scott said his father and Ronnie Tallon held Knockanure Church in deep affection. Niall is also an architect, who is now retired from the family firm and living much of the year in his ancestral home of Sneem, where he is chairman of the local Sneem Digital Hub.

"He was so delighted with it. I remember all of us being at its Consecration. Indeed, I was the first to be married in the Church. It's a beautiful building, containing priceless works of art which include the incredible Last Supper panel by Oisin Kelly, a wood sculpture of the Madonna and Child by Imogen Stuart and the Stations of the Cross tapestries by Leslie McGreaney, which sit over special acoustic absorbtion panels," Mr Scott explained.

The Church underwent renovations prior to Christmas that included the painting in white of the teak screen into the Sacristy, the addition of a dove and sacred heart emblem to the baptismal font and altar, respectively, as well as electrical work which has seen wire conduits running clearly on the walls - alongside the Imogen Stuart on one side of the Church.

"It is very sad to see such changes and in my mind amounts to spending money to deface such an important work of architecture," Mr Scott said. "For instance the teak screen on the Sacristy was intended to remain that way in order to highlight the altar by contrasting with the white screen behind it."

Mr Scott said the new emblems attached to the altar and font are completely out of place with the overall aesthetic. The electrical conduits were also criticised as detracting from the works of art - in particular Imogen Stuart's Madonna and Child.

But Fr McNamara - who led much-needed renovation work at the neo-classical sister church in the parish, at Moyvane - said the electrical works at Corpus Christi were very necessary. "The electrical upgrading of Corpus Christi Church was necessary and vital for Health and Safety reasons as the electrical system hadn't been touched since the church was opened in 1963. The old electrical system had been holding on by a wing and a prayer," Fr McNamara explained.

"As for the other changes I would view it that they have been undertaken to enhance the space as a place of worship for people and they weren't undertaken to insult the architect or anyone else.

"The new emblems are simply attached to the altar and baptismal font in order to provide a point of focus for worshippers who had been looking at bare marble. "No damage has been done to the Church as there's no structural change involved at all. And I haven't heard any criticism of the new measures by any parishioners. These weren't so much changes, but a project of refurbishment the Church needed," Fr McNamara said.
Michael Stack from Dooncaha, Tarbert, passed away on January 25, 2019, aged 83.

He died peacefully in the loving company of close family members at Tullamore Hospital. He is survived by his seven children, Tom, Helen, Pat, Joanne, Annetta, Marie and Marguerite.

Michael is predeceased by his wife Josie, who died on April 12, 2014. Michael has ten grandchildren, Cassie, Grace, Finola, Annabel, Andrea, Ciaran, Cormac, Ryan, Hannah Marie and Donnacha.

Michael was born in Dooncaha, Tarbert, on April 25, 1935, and had two sisters. Michael is survived by his sister Mary Stack who lives in London. His other sister Annie died in London in 1982.

Michael was a very holy person and prayed every day for his family.

He had a keen interest in the GAA, reading and geography, always keeping a map close to hand for reference.

Before his wife Josie passed away, they both celebrated 50 years of marriage in November 2013 which was a very memorable occasion for them, their family, relatives and friends. A special mass was celebrated by Fr Danny Broderick in the Listowel Arms Hotel to mark the golden anniversary.

Michael moved to Moate, County Westmeath in 2016 to live with his daughter Joanne and during his first two years there settled very well into the Community, attending mass every day and enjoying trips to Athlone with the active retirement group.

During this time, Michael also enjoyed many trips home to Dooncaha, Tarbert to catch up with his relatives, friends and close neighbours in Kerry.

He was always kept up to speed on local Kerry news while living in Moate, continuing to read The Kerryman every week.

During his last year in life, he was unable to travel to Kerry, but enjoyed visits to Moate from his family, relatives, neighbours and friends.

At Christmas 2018, in Moate, there was another very memorable family gathering for Joanne's birthday and Michael enjoyed the Mass that was celebrated in the house by Fr Farrell, which was attended by family and friends from Kerry and Moate.

Michael will be sadly missed by his family, relatives, neighbours and friends.

Mary OSullivan RIP - A wonderful mother, grandmother and great grandmother

Mary O'Sullivan (nee Quirke) Stacks Villas, Tralee and formerly of Ashford, Middlesex UK, passed away peacefully on 16th January 2019 surrounded by her loving children in the wonderful care of the staff of Ashborough Lodge Nursing Home.

Mary who had celebrated her 90th Birthday in November was described by her family as a wonderful mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.

Born in Tralee in 1928, she was the second youngest daughter of James and Annie Quirke.

Of a large family of 12, Mary was a sister to Kit, Sonny, Jim, Jer, John, Larry, Teresa, Nello, Christy, Paddy and Betty who all pre-deceased her.

Mary along with her sisters attended Scoil Eoin Balloonagh. She started her working life in The Kerryman in Tralee but like so many of her generation she travelled to England to work where several of her brothers and sisters were already based.

It was here that she met the love of her life Noel from The Staff Barracks, Tralee. They married in St Michael's Church in Ashford and had four children Joseph, Kevin, Ann and Marion.

Mary and Noel spent 32 happy years living in England where they forged many friendships.

In 1978 they realised a lifelong ambition and returned to Stacks Villas where Mary had grown up. They were surrounded by lovely neighbours including Pat Phelan who was a marvellous friend and neighbour and someone who they could totally depend on.

Mary had a deep faith and a particular devotion to St. Padre Pio and she was heavily involved with the prayer group.

She found great strength and purpose from this community who she felt helped her through the difficult times during Noel's ill health.

She was delighted along with her cousin Helen Commane (RIP) and friends Betty Moran, Philly Tobin (RIP) and Pauline Cronin from the St. Brendan's prayer group to attend St Pio's canonisation by Pope John Paul II in Rome in 2002.

Spending time with her immediate family brought Mary great joy whether that was in Tralee or on visits to England. She along with her dear friend Judy Miller especially loved the wonderful family gatherings that were hosted by her daughter Ann and son-in-law Richard in their home where the Miller and O'Sullivan families would come together for a good old sing song.

Mary would always sing her favourite Petula Clarke song "The Song of my Life" and it was only fitting to hear this beautifully sung by Kathryn Smith at her graveside.

Mary reposed in her daughter Ann's home in Carrigeendaniel where the Rosary was said by Fr John O'Rourke, a wonderful friend to both Mary and Noel for almost 25 years. Requiem Mass was on Monday 21st January in The Church of our Lady and St. Brendan. Burial took place in St John's Cemetery Oakview, Tralee, where she was laid to rest with her husband Noel.

Mary is sadly missed by her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, son in law, daughters in law, relatives, neighbours and all who knew and loved her.

May she rest in peace.
The cold weather didn't deter more than 30 nurses and supporters picketing at Gorey District Hospital on Thursday as part of a nationwide protest due to pay and working conditions.

It was the third day for many nurses in County Wexford on the picket line, but the first for the nurses of Gorey District Hospital and, as of yet, there is no sign of a breakthrough in the escalating dispute.

Local INMO representative Helen Crehan of Gorey District Hospital said picketing outside was their last resort saying they had no other options left.

While many of the protesters walked up and down outside the hospital, trying their best to keep warm,it was business as usual for certain areas within the hospital.

'While we are out here on strike, there are staff inside providing life services and high risk areas are being staffed as normal,' said Helen.

The local nurses on strike said their main focus is for the recruitment and retention of nurses, while also looking for better pay.

'No one wants to go on strike, but we were left with no other option,' said Helen. 'It's an awful position for us to be put in, but this isn't something that just happened over night.'

Helen said as far as she knows, nothing has been resolved. She added the Government are not coming up with any proposals or negotiations.

Many Irish nurses now live and work in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Dubai because they receive a decent salary for working less hours that they do in Ireland.

'Irish nurses are highly sought after because we are well trained,' said Helen. 'They would stay in Ireland if conditions were different.'

Helen reported that there was a huge mandate for strike among the members. She added that they are losing good nurses to other countries.

With no negotiations or proposals in place between the INMO and the Government, the strike action will continue.

There are three further consecutive strike days scheduled for this week, starting today (Tuesday), and another two for the following week.

The local nurses on the picket line thanked the public for their support.
China's CRRC, the world's largest supplier of rail transit equipment, has recently opened its financial leasing subsidiary in a bid to expand its business overseas.



The financial leasing firm in Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone in the northern Chinese municipality of Tianjin has a registered capital of 3 billion yuan (US$443 million).

As the first financial leasing firm established after the unveiling of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission last April, it was jointly founded by CRRC Corp. Ltd., its parent company CRRC Group, and Tianjin Trust Co., Ltd.

The CRRC Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. will move quickly into the global high-speed rail locomotive sales system to increase exports of China-made rail equipment through financial leasing, a company official told Xinhua.

The company will help facilitate global business through capital and technology exports to realize in-depth cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road, the official said.

As a new and major financial services platform for the rolling stock industry, it focuses on world-leading rail transit equipment, including high-speed trains, high-powered locomotives, freight trains and urban rail transit vehicles.

Dongjiang Free Trade Port Zone is a major home for financial leasing companies that contribute to 80 percent of the financial leasing businesses for aircraft, ships for international shipping and offshore engineering equipment in China.








Developer Gerry Gannon, who wants to build nearly 400 units on the site

Well-known Dublin-based developer Gerry Gannon has entered into consultations with An Bord Pleanala in relation to a large development in Gorey that would consist of nearly 400 units.

It is believed Mr Gannon of Gerard Gannon Properties will build the proposed development of 364 apartments and houses at Kilnahue and Gorey Hill, accessed via Kilnahue Lane and the Carnew Road. The company was previously refused permission by An Bord Pleanala for 219 homes and a creche at the site in 2017 and Mr Gannon was told there wasn't sufficient housing for the 38-acre site in the interest of land efficiency.

Mr Gannon's latest scheme will include the demolition of existing structures and the construction of 64 duplex units, 172 apartments and 128 houses. The case is due to be decided on Tuesday, April 2.

This will be one of Mr Gannon's biggest projects outside of Dublin and, if it gets the go ahead, it will make Gorey the fastest growing town in the country.

Mr Gannon was one of the Maple 10 who bought shares in Anglo Irish Bank to reduce Sean Quinn's stake in the lending institution. He also sold his share of the K Club in Kildare to Michael Smurfit in order to pay off his debt of 1 billion to Anglo Irish Bank.
There is a ban on selling smoky coal in Wexford and district, but householders are travelling outside the area to buy smoky coal and then returning home to burn it

The Government's failure to introduce a smoky coal ban in the county's towns could have fatal consequences for people suffering from respiratory problems in County Wexford.

A report released last week highlighted how 8,235 of the county's 16,469 people with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) remain undiagnosed.

COPD is a type of obstructive lung disease characterized by long-term breathing problems and poor airflow. The main symptoms include shortness of breath and cough with sputum production. COPD is a progressive disease, meaning it typically worsens over time.

Wexford County Council Senior Executive Environmental Scientist, Brendan Cooney said it is dangerous for people suffering from asthma or respiratory problems to go outdoors in New Ross, Enniscorthy and Gorey on cold, frosty nights, as people are burning smoky coal - filling the air with dangerous particulates and sulphur dioxide.

'During periods when it is cold and frosty the air quality in all County Wexford's towns is not good. New Ross and Enniscorthy have the worst air quality on these nights, followed by Gorey and Wexford.'

From 4 p.m. on such winter nights the air becomes thick with health damaging particulates.

Mr Cooney said: 'We are one of the only counties to measure air quality. It's unhealthy, particularly for asthma sufferers and people with respiratory conditions.'

He highlighted a reading from Ard Mhicil estate in New Ross on January 30, showing a level of PM2.5 greater than 80 microgrammes, PM10 greater than 100 microgrammes.

Mr Cooney said: 'The smaller the number the more the particulates. The particulates get into the lungs and the further in they go the more damage they cause to the extent that it can be life threatening for asthmatics because they already have problems with their breathing. Wexford town is not as bad but we have lost our broadband link to our Talbot Green station. New Ross and Enniscorthy are equally as bad.'

Mr Cooney said anyone suffering from regular breathing difficulties should stay indoors in New Ross and Enniscorthy on frosty evenings.

'This is the advice of experts and of the Environmental Protection Agency. The smog sits on top of the town and it's full of (bad) stuff like carcinogens.'

The sale of bituminous (smoky) coal was banned in parts of Ireland in the early 1990s in an effort to address this issue.

'Winter smog' was a growing problem in urban areas at the time, due to the widespread use of bituminous coal, and this, in turn, had given rise to serious health effects in the populations of towns across Ireland.

Both New Ross and Enniscorthy towns are situated in valleys so smoke from house fires does not dissipate easily, especially when calm conditions prevail.

The most dangerous times in towns is between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. when people come home from work and light their fires. Consequently, the Government vowed to implement a blanket ban on smoky coal use for the entire country but this has not come to pass. The Environmental Protection Agency has repeatedly highlighted that air quality is significantly worse in smaller towns during the winter months because large quantities of solid fuel are being burned. Ireland was required to consult with the European Commission to give effect to the ban to ensure the measures are compatible with EU legislation but this has not happened nationally.

A ban on the burning, marketing, sale and distribution of bituminous coal, smoky coal extends over a wide area including Wexford town, Ardcavan and Castlebridge but people have been travelling just outside these areas, buying smoky coal and returning home to burn it. Mr Cooney urged people living in these populous areas to stop this practise for their own health and for their families' health. 'We are realising more and more that people should got out and but smokeless fuels. There's a Wexford company, Stafford's in New Ross, that are selling smokeless fuels.'

He called for the smoky coal ban to be extended throughout the country.

The council's environment department has been receiving complaints from residents of Enniscorthy and New Ross about smog.

'We got one in this morning,' Mr Cooney said. 'The person said very poor air quality is an ongoing issue (in their town) and that they are very worried about it, especially for their children.'

He said environment staff investigate complaints and send them on to the Department of Environment.

Gorey municipal district have already written to the department about the problem in the town and Mr Cooney is hopeful the ban can be extended throughout the county.

Cllr Malcolm Byrne said he has been pushing the issue of a smoky coal ban for over three years. 'I have been highlighting the problem of particulates in the air that contribute to breathing difficulties. Management keeps fobbing me off about waiting for a national strategy. I'm frustrated with it. New Ross is badly affected.'

Meanwhile COPD Support Ireland is calling on people with undiagnosed COPD to see a doctor and get an official diagnosis. A free COPD Adviceline 1800 832 146 is there for anyone with COPD to speak to a respiratory nurse about a number of topics on managing and improving their condition.

Professor JJ Gilmartin, Chairperson of COPD Support Ireland, said: '500,000 people In Ireland have COPD and estimates suggest that 50 per cent of these people are undiagnosed. If you find yourself experiencing COPD symptoms like shortness of breath, persistent coughing, coughing up mucus/phlegm and wheezing, you should see a doctor who can help you investigate if you may have COPD - especially if you are over 40 years old. Being diagnosed with COPD will allow you to get in control of your condition and avail of all our COPD services which includes the COPD and Asthma Adviceline.'
A group of concerned parents in Skerries has identified a school place crisis at secondary level in the north Fingal town.

Following a Freedom of Information request to the Department of Education by a group of concerned parents in Skerries it has emerged that the recent capacity crisis in the local Community College is expected the get significantly worse in the coming years according to the Department's own projections.

After it emerged in October 2018 that many students would not get an initial offer of a place in the Community College for September 2019 Parents Association Reps from Educate Together, St. Patricks, Realt na Mara, Holmpatrick and Milverton came together to call on the Minister to act to develop more school places and assess the need for another post-primary school in Skerries.

The group also gathered data from the local primary schools to try to estimate future demands on places on the Community College.

Currently Skerries Community College has limited its annual 1st year intake to 180 pupils, accordign to the group, however, they say even this limit is unsustainable due to the current lack of classroom space.

The school was originally built for 800 pupils and is currently 'bursting at the seams with 947 enrolled', according to the group.

- an average of 158 per year including tranSpeaking on behalf of the group, Joe O'Brien a parent of children at Educate Together and a local Green Party representative said: 'It was disappointing that the Department initially refused our request for their projected figures for the Skerries School Planning Area and that we had to appeal that refusal.

'While it is clear from the Department's own projections that there isn't going to be enough places in the Community College for the growing demand in Skerries in the coming years it is also notable that the Department is underestimating this need in our view.'

Mr O'Brien added: 'While the Department's own figures clearly indicate a growing shortage of places in the years ahead, our own more current exercise of simply asking the primary schools their current enrolment numbers per class are even more startling.'

He said the group has written to the Minister for Education to expedite actions to increase the capacity of the Community College and to further explore the need for another post-primary school in Skerries.'
A Donabate adventurer has been reunited with his beloved bath tub, nicknamed 'Sheila' after more than three years of separation after he hauled the tub on his back up the highest peak in Africa only for it to get lost in transit on his return to Ireland.

Rob Dowling is known nationally and indeed, internationally for his unique adventurers that has seen him row that same bath tub, affectionately known as 'Sheila' down the Amazon before he carried it up Kilimanjaro.

At the end of both trips, circumstances conspired to separate the Rob from his bath tub on the journey home but somehow, now matter how long it takes, it seems they have a happy knack of finding each other again.

This time the separation has lasted more than three years but last autumn, Rob returned home from a trip to Africa where miraculously, he found 'Sheila' again and just last week. the bath tub arrived home to Donabate where Rob can now get busy working on his next epic challenge of circumnavigating the enormous salt flat desert of Bolivia, dragging the bath tub behind him.

After more than three years of separation, it took Rob just two weeks to find the tub, a find he can describe only as a 'miracle' and one that reinforces his belief that somehow he is fated to complete the four challenges with the bath tub he has set out for himself.

Describing how he made the unlikely find, Rob told the Fingal Independent: 'I went over a month ago. Basically she went missing three years and two months ago. I didn't have the heart to look for it for a while, I was just devastated at the loss and I had to concentrate on other things.

'I arrived in Kilimanjaro and met with this guy called Moses who I met three years ago when I did the mountain climb. He is sort of a local fixer. The people I stayed with before who minded the bath for me and they were deeply upset that I never received it - they assumed I had done. I didn't want to contact them and tell them I never got it because I didn't want to upset them.

'I had told them that a shipping agent would come and get it so when someone arrived to come and take it away, they weren't surprised.

'In a nutshell what happened was that the bath was taken by the shipping agent and brought to a warehouse. The person who took it, Daniel, moved on from the job soon after and left the bath in the warehouse. There was no paper trail, no records or anything. So, I tracked him down and we talked.'

He explained: 'The policy is after a year, unclaimed goods are given to what they call a contractor and he scraps it.

'I went to them and nobody had any records of where it went, the staff had all been turned around and nobody knew where it was.

'They directed me to the city dump and that was my low point. I was there talking to the scavengers, who make their living going through the rubbish and selling what they find.

'They told me that the dump was two years old and catered for 1,800,000 people so you can imagine the scale of it. So I didn't know where I was going to start but I gave out some posters, and they were all on WhatsApp would you believe and they talked to each other and I had set a reward and 500 was a lot to them so they said they would put word out on the scavenger network.'

The dump is in Arusha, in the shadow of Kilimanjaro. But as the scavengers searched, Rob was also fielding phone calls from all over the place, thanks to covering a vast area with leaflets promising a reward for the find.

Of course, many of the claims were bogus and Rob insisted on a picture before taking any claim seriously until one day he got a call from a woman who despite having no picture to send, was able to describe the tub in detail, including the metal frame that Rob had put around it so he could carry it on his back, up the mighty mountain.

He said: 'I got a call from a woman and something told me this was genuine. There was no picture but I made an exception, there was something in her voice that told me she was speaking the truth. She was related to one of these contractors and she said that she knew the whereabouts of the bath tub

'There was no photograph and she said she wasn't able to send me one but she was able to describe the metal frame I had put the bath in so I could carry it on my back on the climb.

'So in the heel of the hunt it was maybe two, two-and-a-half years since she (the bath tub) left the warehouse. She was probably moved all over the place, had water in it at one point and there she was in the shadow of Mt Meru. I had images of her sitting in the shadow of a mountain and that had put me off the trail because I thought it was Mt Kilimanjaro, but it wasn't, it was Mt Meru.

'All I could find out about it that it was holding water for a year or two then it got moved again and damaged and it was no good to anyone anymore.

It was in a small village on the slopes of Mt Meru. There was a about 15 houses in the village and there she was lying on the ground.'

Rob had to restrain himself from showing the delight he felt inside as he feared the price of the reward going up he seemed too excited.

He said: 'My biggest problem was that I couldn't show how excited I was for the simple reason, if I showed how excited I was, they would want more money for it.

'But internally, I was elated. If you told me that I won 10 million on the lotto, it wouldn't have phased me, but that did phase me. I said to Mo, let's get this in the car now and get out of here.'

He paid over the reward and left, elated at the reunion and already looking forward to taking 'Sheila' on another adventure.

Rob's attachment to his adventuring partner is such that he could not even consider completing his next adventure with a replacement tub.

He said: 'Finding her again was a key to a very big lock and without this key, the project means nothing.'

The adventurer found a kind of validation for his mission in being reunited with the bath tub yet again.

'She has been returned to me and that shows me, at a higher level, that the spirit, the universe, faith, destiny, whatever you want to call it, wants me to start the next challenge.'

Sheila made the long trip home just last week, after that miracle find, last October.

Rob said that seeing the tub back in his Donabate workshop was 'surreal'.

He said: 'The only thing I can compare it to was winning the Lotto. I know that sounds crazy to a lot of people but I would not have swapped that feeling for winning the Irish Lotto.'

The next challenge for Rob and his tub will be to become the first human to circumnavigate the Bolivian salt flat desert hauling a payload, namely this very bath tub behind him.

He is working with a philanthropist with a charity in Peru to raise money for a surgical centre for street kids which Rob will dedicate his next challenge to.

He hopes to be ready to go to Bolivia in just six weeks from now to begin the challenge.

Before that, Rob has some fundraising to do and to generate some publicity for the challenge, you will be able to see him on Ireland AM on Virgin Media, this week.

Also, Cotswold Outdoor stores have helped out with discounts on a lot of the equipment Rob will need for the challenge. In return, Rob has agreed to have the tub on display in the store in early March and will host a talk at its Trinity Street store on Pancake Tuesday from 6pm to 7pm where he will give a fascinating insight into his adventuring ways.

The Donabate adventurer will take about 52 days to complete the challenge which will be the third in a four-part adventure that has so far taken up about 12 years of his life.

The final challenge will be the craziest of them all as he bids to fly the length of the Amazon in his bathtub, by making it the seat in a delta-wing trike.

Rob is looking for corporate sponsorship for the challenge and needs more funding to get this epic and history-making trip across the line. You can contact him at amazonquest@gmail.com
AIB and Junior Chamber begin search for the top ten outstanding young people in Ireland and nominees from Fingal are being sought.

The Ten Outstanding Young People (TOYP) Awards, is a global initiative that identifies innovative, extraordinary & dedicated young people.

Local communities across Ireland are being tasked with nominating young leaders.

JCI Ireland President Keira Keogh said: 'We are asking you to nominate young leaders in your community.

'By recognising their achievements and sharing their stories of discovery, determination and ingenuity, we can inspire more young people to go out there and become leaders who create better societies. TOYP awards are magical. T

'he feeling of pride from the honouree's family and friends, mixed with the look of awe and inspiration on the faces of all attending is enough to leave you feeling like you have just witnessed something really special.'

Local branches including JCI Fingal will choose their top four nominees to send forward to the National TOYP Awards which will be celebrated on May 18.

The TOYP national winners will represent Ireland at the JCI World Congress in Estonia and ultimately have the chance to be recognised as one of the Ten Outstanding Young People of The World.

Ireland has had great success over the past number of years with Harry McCann 2017, Ciara Judge (2016), Joanne O Riordan (2015) and Aisling Neary (2012) all being recognised as TOYP World Winners.

Former recipient Aisling Neary said: 'Having been a previous recipient of the TOYP Award it was an amazing opportunity to represent Ireland as one of the top outstanding young people of the world. For me the joy of being nominated for a TOYP award was not about recognition of good work being done by so many people but that it is a visual reminder of the fact that each tiny drop of kindness being done can result in a flood of hope and life for those less fortunate than others. '

Aisling was nominated for her contribution to Humanitarian and Voluntary Leadership. Aisling used her nursing skills to serve others, be that working with orphans in Romania, to helping people suffering from HIV in Australia. She also gives back in so many other ways.

The TOYP awards in Ireland would not be possible without the support of AIB, who have been supporting the initiative since 2013.

Members of the public can now nominate their local by nominating a young person (18-40) who deserves to be highlighted and rewarded for their outstanding achievements. Go to JCIIreland.ie, click on Ten Outstanding Young Persons and fill out a very short nomination form Entries close on Monday, March 4 at midnight
Paul Reid CE Fingal County Council, Helena Humphries, Fingal LEO, Oisin Geoghegan, Head of Enterprise, Mayor of Fingal Anthony Lavin, Emer OGorman, Director of Services and Martin Daly, Fingal LEO

Aspiring entrepreneurs and people who have recently set up a fledgling business are urged to follow their dream at Fingal start-up bootcamp which will kick-off, Fingal Local Enterprise Week next month.

Entrepreneurs are often celebrated for wearing multiple hats and putting extremely long hours into the development of their business, while at the same time balancing family and personal demands.

However their biggest strength is also their greatest weakness, being too absorbed in the day-to-day organisation of their business could result in the loss of perspective.

To counteract this, Fingal Local Enterprise Office is organising a one-off 'Start-Up Business Bootcamp' that will kick-off Local Enterprise Week, on March 4.

This unique and exclusive full-day, advanced bootcamp for start-up businesses is designed to pull busy entrepreneurs away from the distractions of their busy life for one day, to equip them for a more strategic and successful business into the future.

The bootcamp will provide a creative and engaging thinking space to help entrepreneurs gain new perspectives and insights for a better and stronger business and a more focused, strategic business owner/manager.

Head of Enterprise in Fingal, Oisin Geoghegan said: 'The demand for our Start Your Own Business programmes and other business supports is consistently high.

'Last year, we ran thirteen full Start Your Own Business programmes, for 151 entrepreneurs, most of who will go on to establish a new business

'We are targeting start-ups that have real job creation potential to join us in this highly interactive and intensive Business Bootcamp.

'It will be an intensive and memorable learning experience.

'All participants will come out of this bootcamp with lots of ideas as to how they can drive their new business forward.'

Places are strictly limited to a maximum of 50 Business Owner Managers.

Applicants must have a newly established business or giving serious consideration to setting up their own business.

After leaving the Start-up Bootcamp inspired and energised, participants can attend a range of other events throughout Local Enterprise Week to support their business success.

These include learning how to run your business successfully from Fingal entrepreneurs on Tuesday in Portmarnock (hosted by Fingal Dublin Chamber); a finance-raising seminar on Wednesday at Bank of Ireland Enterprise Hub in Ballycoolin; a marketing workshop on Thursday (hosted by Balbriggan Chamber); and a HR essentials breakfast event Clayton hotel at the M1/M50 Junction (hosted by Plato Dublin).

A myriad of other events are also on offer and you can find out more about Local Enterprise Week in Fingal at www.localenterprise.ie/fingal.

All events are funded by Fingal Local Enterprise Office: so they are either free-of-charge or a small booking fee applies.

As with last year, many of the events are expected to book up quickly so early booking is strongly advised.
An innovative autism programme with its roots in Fingal is to be awarded funding of 40,000.

The 'Not So Different Creative Ability Hub' which celebrates diversity and promotes inclusion of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder has been awarded 40,000 by Digital Innovation Programme by Minister Michael Ring from the Department of Rural and Community Development.

Senator James Reilly welcomed the funding announcement saying: 'I have a special interest in Autism Spectrum Disorder and I welcome this key positive initiative emanating from Fingal.'

The funding will go towards the kit-out of a room providing 13 creative digital workstations comprised of high spec graphic PCs, laptops, hard drives, creative suite software, wired fit out and installation.

Senator Reilly said: 'I look forward to the implementation of the project, results and report afterwards. Hopefully it can be rolled out nationwide after it has been proven successful in Fingal.'

The Programme is designed to support and encourage imaginative uses of technology by Local Authorities for the common good.

A total of 246,294 is being allocated for eight Local Authority-led digital initiatives, under the Programme.

These initiatives are piloted locally before they are scaled up or replicated elsewhere in the country.

The response to the latest call for applications under the Digital Innovation Programme was particularly strong. The projects that were submitted bear testament to the level of creativity and innovation in Ireland's communities and within our local authorities.

Senator Reilly explained: 'Not So Different Creative Ability Hub celebrates diversity and promotes inclusion of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder to realise their full potential through education and employment.

'The Hub is a social enterprise comprising of a local authority, local development company, second level and third level educators that work with the neuro-diversity specialists 'Not So Different'. The hub will provide employability skills training and support talented creative individuals to become work-ready, and build connections with employers that value talents such as logic and pattern thinkers, thinking in pictures, problem solving, analytical abilities, creative and innovative abilities and others.'
Fingal County Council's Events Department are inviting applications for community groups or business to participate in this year's St Patrick's Day Parades taking place in Blanchardstown, Balbriggan, and Swords.

Those interested can apply by downloading an application form from www.fingalparades.com and submitting the completed form to fingal@davisevents.ie. The closing date for applications is Friday, 15 February.

Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Anthony Lavin said: 'Saint Patrick's Day is a significant cultural event and the parades allow Fingal residents to celebrate in their communities. The St Patrick's Day Parades are an opportunity for residents to learn about local community groups and the businesses in their area. I look forward to seeing the diverse and creative floats at the Fingal parades this year.'

Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Paul Reid said: 'Over 55,000 people attended the Fingal Saint Patrick's Day parades last year and I look forward to seeing the turn out for this year.'

Davis Events have been again engaged by Fingal County Council to deliver the 2019 parades. Davis Events are liaising with theatre groups to arrange workshops for a number of participants who will be taking part in the parades. Fingal County Council is partnering with St. Patrick's Festival in Swords and this will include the addition of a pageant float "Banba", representing the Celtic Goddess of Ireland. St. Patrick's Festival will work with community groups in Fingal to develop stories around Irish tradition, diversity and Irish mythology.

The Swords parade begins at 11am, the Balbriggan parade begins at 2 pm and the Blanchardstown parade begins at 3 pm. There are also parades taking place in Rush, Lusk and Skerries which are organised by community groups. The Rush parade begins at 1 pm and the Lusk parade takes place at 1.30. In Skerries, the parade begins at 3 pm.
A man from Enniscorthy was targeted by thieves as he went shopping having just come from the bank.

A spokesperson for the local Gardai said the incident occurred between 11.35 a.m. and 1.45 p.m. on Friday, February 1.

The injured party had withdrawn money from the bank and had then driven from there to Bellefield Road where he stopped to go into the local Gala store.

However, while in there thieves broke into his car and took the money.

The Gardai are appealing for information from people who have been in the Bellefield Road area around that time.

In particular, they are looking for any dashcam footage of the area which might come in useful as part of their investigations into the matter.

The injured party made an attempt to stop the culprits but was unsuccessful.

The Gardai can be contacted in strict confidence on 053-9242580.
When they were first picked, Guerra said it was quiet as the jurors hadnt gotten to know each other yet, and they werent used to not having their phones accessible. As time wore on, Guerra said the jurors started joking around to help pass the time.
Gerald O'Donoghue with his wife Maura and Renua Party leader John Leahy at the launch of his Local Election campaign in the Riverside Park Hotel on Thursday night

Enniscorthy man, Gerald O'Donoghue has officially launched his local election campaign as he sets about winning a seat on Wexford County Council for Renua.

The launch took place in the Riverside Park Hotel and was attended by Renua party leader, John Leahy.

He was introduced by Mr O'Donoghue's campaign manager, William Houlihan, and proceeded to outline the main policies of the party - which he said is referred to as the six pillars: Taxpayer first; Entrepreneurship; Nation State; Pro-life; Law and Order, and Cohesive Society.

Mr Leahy also focussed attention on Wexford specific issues such as ongoing neglect of Rosslare Europort and the lack of a 'meaningful third level campus' with degree courses in science, technology, and engineering.

Mr O'Donoghue also gave an address and outlined the main points of his manifesto which will include lack of mental health services in Co Wexford, lack of third level opportunities, job creation, IDA neglect and neglect of Rosslare Europort.

Mr O'Donoghue said Enniscorthy town suffered as a result of the closure of St Senan's Hospital as well as the wider county.

'Patients and families now must travel outside the county to access mental health services,' he said.

'This is not acceptable considering that Co. Wexford has one of the highest rates of suicide in the country,' he added.

Mr O'Donoghue also placed an emphasis on the need for adequate job creation in the county: 'The county misses out on the economic benefit of student spend; it results in a brain drain which is reflected in Wexford having one of the lowest demographic figures countrywide for 20 to 45-year-olds and it results in low rates of IDA job investment.'

'There was an opportunity to use the St. Senan's facility for a third level campus but this did not receive enough support from the county council or from the political representatives,' said Mr O'Donoghue.

'It was a real missed opportunity for Enniscorthy.'

He promised that if elected his priority for job creation will be to 'overturn official Government/IDA policy that Wexford is not a priority' and that Waterford is the gateway for job creation in the southeast.

'With the onset of Brexit and potential problems with the use of the British land bridge to Europe it is unbelievable that the Government has not invested in Rosslare due to it being the closest Irish port to Europe,' he said.
A man living in Enniscorthy has praised the kindness of local people who helped him find his beloved pet dog after it went missing.

Ron Bridge, from Carley's Bridge, spoke to this newspaper about the events that unfolded on Monday, February 4, involving his 15-year-old jack russell, Vino.

While out walking by the Boro river, Vino decided to go for an adventure of his own and despite the best efforts of Ron he was nowhere to be found for a number of hours.

'He lived with me in Thailand for eight years and also in the UK for five years and then having travelled all over the world he got lost in Enniscorthy,' Ron told this newspaper.

Obviously, overjoyed at having his fateful friend back safe and sound he said he walked the road near where he went missing but couldn't find him.

'I called into the shop in Tomnalossett and the staff there were fantastic,' he said.

'They told everyone who came into the shop and then a lady out driving came back to the shop and said she had spotted him,' he added.

'About three hours later as I was walking along the road a car pulled up and a lady asked me was I the man looking for a dog and there he was sitting in the front seat of her car.'

For Ron the kindness shown towards him in his efforts to find Vino is something for which he will be forever grateful.

'Those people could not have been kinder,' he said.

Unfortunately, he doesn't know the name of the lady who returned to the shop to say she spotted Vino or the woman who took him into her car.

'The second woman even took him to the vet to get his chip read but because it's a UK chip it still didn't lead them to me,' he said.

'The vet said she should take him back to the area where she found him and that's when she saw me walking along,' he added.

'I was just walking down the country road looking when she stopped and I just thought how kind of her.'

While Ron hasn't yet got to thank the women who helped him, in person, he has made a donation to a local animal charity as a way of expressing gratitude for their efforts.

'It's just my little way of giving something back for the kindness they showed me,' he said.

'Everything about just showed the good side of people and the kindness of human nature,' he added.

'I was lucky to have such good people around here.'
Gardai in Enniscorthy are hunting for three men who committed a robbery in broad daylight in Bunclody at the weekend. An employee was forced into a back office of a well-known business premises before the raiders made their getaway.

The crime was committed in the middle of the day on Saturday at the local Vodafone store.

According to Gardai, three males entered the premises just before 3.00pm on Saturday.

'The males entered the store and looked around the shop and then spoke to a staff member,' said the Garda.

The intruders then forced the staff member into a back office.

The Garda spokesperson said a small amount of damage was done to the premises but the gang made off with some phones.

It's believed the gang made their getaway in a car and the Gardai have made an appeal for information from people who may have been in the vicinity of the shop at the time.

The incident may also be linked to a similar crime that was committed in a Vodafone store in Athy earlier that same day.

Enniscorthy Gardai Station can be contacted at 053-9242580.
David Doyle, Minister Paul Kehoe and school children raised the tricolour at the ceremony in Glenbrien

David Doyle, Minister Paul Kehoe and local school children raised the tricolour at the ceremony in Glenbrien to mark centenary of first Dail

Minister Paul Kehoe, unveiling a plaque, with Cllr Willie Kavanagh, Fr John Byrne, Cllr Johnny Mythen, Bernie Doyle, TD James Browne and David Doyle at the ceremony in Glenbrien to mark centenary of first Dail

The 100th anniversary of the first sitting of Dail Eireann was celebrated in Glenbrien village with a ceremony that the organisers said was both commemorative and celebratory.

The event was organised by the local village renewal group and one of its members, David Doyle, told this newspaper that it was a lovely occasion that was poignant and respectful.

Among the people in attendance were Minister Paul Kehoe and Deputy James Browne along with members of the Organisation of National Ex-Servicemen and Women (ONE), and the United Nations Veterans' Association (IUNVA).

Members of the local authority were also invited to the event with Cllrs Johnny Mythen and Willie Kavanagh both present to witness the ceremony.

The commemoration began with mass, celebrated by Fr John Byrne, during which the members of the IUNVA formed a colour guard of honour assisted by Anthony Nolan on bugle.

After the mass a parade, formed under Willie Gilbert and Mick O'Neill - both from the IUNVA - marched to the local public amenity site where Minister Kehoe unveiled a specially commissioned plaque.

Three new flagpoles were also erected on the site and Minister Kehoe raised the national flag, Cllr Willie Kavanagh raised the Oylegate-Glenbrien flag and Deputy James Browne raised the flag of the EU.

Minister Kehoe, in his speech, expressed delight at being able to attend such a significant event.

Referring to a previous ceremony he attended in the Mansion House - also marking the centenary of the first Dail - he said he had time to reflect on what it means to serve in Dail Eireann as a representative of the people of Wexford.

'The centenary event also allowed us a parliament, and indeed nation, to reflect on the journey that we have made, the country we have become,' he said.

'There is no doubt the events that took place a century ago paved the way for this country's autonomy, nationhood and ultimately, democracy,' he added.

He then referenced the Declaration of Independence and the first Dail and said of its members: '[They] yearned for an open, free and democratic nation. It was a nation which sought to re-establish justice, to provide for future defence and, perhaps most importantly, to ensure peace at home and goodwill with all nations.'

Following the General Election of December 1918, 105 politicians were elected to the UK parliament, however, the Sinn Fein delegation's 73 members declined to take their seats at Westminster and that prompted the first Dail sitting on January 21, 1919.

Minister Kehoe spoke of Roger Sweetman and Dr Jim Ryan, both of whom were from Co Wexford, who were members of that first Dail.

'As proud Wexford people, we should cherish each opportunity to reflect on the life and achievements of the county's first two members of Dail Eireann,' said Minister Kehoe.

'Not every part of our past was free from violence, disorder and indeed bloodshed, but if we are to truly remember our past, we must do so with dignity, honesty and respect.'

The choir from the local national school also performed at the event and they gave a rousing rendition of the national anthem assisted by Orla Quirke and Fiona Quirke.

Following the formalities everyone in attendance was invited back to the old school community hall for light refreshments.

On behalf of the organising committee Mr Doyle thanked everyone who attended and those who helped make the event a success including O'Brien's Inn which provided refreshments for the school choir.
Murrintown NS, winners of the Under 11 section at the Credit Union Schools Quiz in the Riverside Park Hotel. Front: Finn Stafford, Jenna Ryan, Joe Radford and Sile Roe. Back: Frances Cross (ECU) and Fintan Whyte (acting principal)

Donard NS who finished third in the Under 13 section at the Credit Union Schools Quiz in the Riverside Park Hotel. Front: Cormac Kenny, Phena Quigley, Bridin Quigley and Shayne McDonald. Back: Frances Cross (ECU), Roisin Quigley (parent) and Nicky Cosgrave (chairman ECU)

Enniscorthy Credit Union has held its heat of this year's annual credit union school's quiz and it proved to be a hotly contested event.

The local round of the quiz - which this year celebrates its 28th anniversary - was held in the Riverside Park Hotel.

One of the most popular initiatives in the credit union it attracts a lot of interest from local schools each year and this time around was no different with 29 schools entering through 56 different teams.

They were welcomed to the event by the Chairman of Enniscorthy Credit Union, Nick Cosgrave, who thanked the teachers and parents for organising the teams and getting them to the venue.

Mr Cosgrave highlighted the fact that for the local organisation the quiz is more than just a promotional event.

'One of our operating principles refers to social responsibility and contributing to the education of our members and potential members,' said Mr Cosgrave.

'With this event we are encouraging local children to work together and see what they are capable of achieving as part of a team,' he added.

As an acknowledgement to the parents and teachers there was also a raffle on the night for two 50 prizes which were won by Catherine Nolan and Sophie Fielding.

Mr Cosgrave thanked the volunteers who corrected answers, kept scores and acted as quiz assistants collecting answer sheets. He also thanked the staff of the Riverside Park Hotel for their help on the day.

The quizmaster was Liam Waters who had everyone under starter's orders at 3 p.m.

There were two sections on the day; one for under-11s and one for under-13s.

A spokesperson for the organisers commented to this newspaper: 'As Enniscorthy Credit Union had more than 20 schools represented in the schools quiz this year both the winner and the runner-up in each [category] is sent forward to the next level of the quiz - Chapter level - which will be held in early March.'

The winning teams at chapter level will go through to the Grand Final which will be held in the RDS, Dublin, on Sunday, April 7.

Caim National School won its way to the grand final in the under 13 section last year for Enniscorthy Credit Union and everyone is hoping for even more success this year.

The spokesperson said the quality of answering and the knowledge of the contestants was very impressive this year and resulted in tie-breaks being used to decide 2nd, 3rd and 4th places in the U13 quiz. A tie-break also decided 4th place in the U11 category.

Following a very close competition the overall winners were composed of: Under-11: 1st - Murrintown National School; 2nd - Patrick's NS, Crossabeg; 3rd - St Joseph's NS, Bree; 4th - Marshalstown NS; Under 13:

1st - St Senan's Primary School, Enniscorthy; 2nd - Oylegate NS; 3rd - St Joseph's NS, Donard; 4th - Scoil Mochua, Oulart.

Mr Cosgrave, thanked all of the teams for competing and he wished the winners and runners-up the best of luck at the chapter level of the competition.
A retired surgeon has been found guilty of groping seven boys in his care over a period of three decades.

Michael Shine (86) of Ballsbridge, Dublin had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to thirteen charges of indecent assault committed during medical examinations at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda, Co Louth and at two private clinics in Drogheda on dates between 1971 to 1992.

On day 17 of the trial a jury of two women and eight men returned guilty verdicts, having deliberated for after just over six hours.

Judge Martin Nolan adjourned the matter until February 22 next for sentencing and remanded Shine on bail until that date.

Shine denied doing anything improper during examinations with any of the complainants and said he has "no memory whatsoever" of ever treating any of them.

Judge Nolan said that a medical expert had given evidence that the actions alleged in the case were medically inappropriate and that they did constitute indecent assault if the jury accepted the evidence of the complainants beyond a reasonable doubt.

He told the jury that people "can be inaccurate about one thing and very accurate about others".

In her closing remarks to the jury, Cathleen Noctor SC, prosecuting, said that the accounts of all complainants in the case were similar. She said that the evidence was that each alleged assault happened to a male child while they were alone with their doctor.
A new 'M1 Corridor Project' has been announced for the Drogheda-Dundalk and possibly Newry area.

Minister Eoghan Murphy officially launched the idea on Monday in Castlebellingham.

The major new investment initiative which will see the region challenge Dublin and Belfast for international investment and is part of the government's Project 2040 plans.

The project aims to drive international investment into the region by highlighting the enormous advantages it has over Dublin or Belfast as a location for investment.

The launch was attended by local and multinational business leaders based in the region, who heard of the significance of the area being included in the Project Ireland 2040.

The M1 Corridor Project is a business-led initiative driven by local business groups, and spear headed by Dundalk Chamber, Drogheda & District Chamber, and The Mill Enterprise Hub and Oriel Hub Enterprise Centre.

Those attending the launch yesterday heard that the project will 'aim to drive international investment into the region by highlighting the enormous advantages it has as a superb location for investment.'

Central among these advantages is the connectivity of the region as the transport and broadband backbone of the island.

President of Drogheda and District Chamber, Shona McManus has welcomed the launch of the M1 Corridor jobs and investment initiative.

She described the M1 Corridor project as "a truly ground-up initiative that has been developed and supported by local stakeholders across the region."

Shona sees the initiative as a key platform for sustainability and driving growth in a location that's at the centre of Ireland's economic growth and ideal for business and investment. This will help create much needed jobs and careers in a great region in which to work, live, study and play.

"We expect this M1 Corridor initiative will help strengthen Drogheda and the wider region's position as it competes both nationally and internationally for foreign direct investment; 2nd site and Start-Up companies. Already, we have excellent infrastructure and a talented workforce with a broad range of skills and qualifications. Add to that our unrivalled location, the fastest broadband and a great coastal lifestyle. While there are still some challenges to address, never before have we been in a stronger position to grow and prosper," she added.

Paddy Malone, spokesman for Dundalk Chamber added; 'The M1 Corridor Project has been carefully developed by local business groups on both sides of the border for over ten years and will bring new investment and jobs into the Drogheda-Dundalk-Newry region.'

He added: 'Our critical objective is to highlight the huge advantages of the region in comparison to Dublin or Belfast as a location for investment.'

The event heard that north east region has been comparably neglected and has relied on indigenous business for development.

'For countless years, there has been far too much emphasis placed on Dublin and this has backfired in terms of spiralling housing, commercial property and wage costs for firms moving to Ireland,' said Paddy.

'In contrast the M1 corridor is close to Dublin but is highly cost competitive.; 'The M1 Corridor is of critical strategic importance to the all-island economy in the decades ahead.''

Minister Eoghan Murphy met with representatives from both Louth towns who outlined just how significant a player the eastern seaboard will be in the next few decades, given its growing population and broad reach to other regions. north, south and west.

The removal of Dundalk as a Gateway in the Draft 2040 Development Plan came as a shock to us,' said Paddy Malone, Dundalk Chamber.

But, he singled out one man, Anthony Abbott King, a senior planner in Louth County Council who found a way to ensure the county would feature in the government's vision for the next twenty years.

'Louth County Council's proposal was the creation of a 'Linear City', where the Drogheda - Dundalk corridor is considered as a single conurbation thereby comfortably meeting the population threshold.'

As part of the council's Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy (RSES) the Dublin- Belfast Economic Corridor was recognised as a 'growth enabler' for the region.

The council's strategy, which is being submitted to the Project 2040 plan also highlights that the Dublin-Belfast corridor 'has the capacity to provide the only potential paired city European growth pole of scale on the island: reaching a European benchmark five million population target to compete with similar city regions in the EU.'

The impending impact of Brexit has also been recognised in the plan, where it is acknowledged; 'The imperative to counteract Brexit with a proactive spatial economic strategy adds to the significance of the corridor.'

The local authority proposed to develop an Urban Area plan (UAP for Dundalk to provide a 'coordinated planning framework to identify and deliver strategic sites and regeneration areas for the future physical, economic, and social development of the town to ensure targeted compact growth of a minimum of 30% is achieved.'

As part of this aim the need for the regeneration of specific parts of both Louth towns, including the Long Walk area in Dundalk and Westgate in Drogheda was highlighted

The council is in the process of implementing urban design visions for the regeneration of both areas.

But key to the local plans is the aim to incorporate 'population targets' rather than caps for both Dundalk and Drogheda.

Indeed as part of the new spatial strategy it is envisaged that 50,000 people could reside in each town by the year 2031.

Speaking ahead of the meeting with Minister Murphy, Paddy added : 'The Chamber will emphasise that its focus is to support the Louth County Council proposal of the Drogheda- Dundalk as a 'linear city' but also to expand it to include Newry.'

'The Minister has already indicated that if our submission was along those lines he would support it,' said Paddy.

'The 2040 Plan as he announced in November 2017 responded to our submission in full. The focus on the M1 Corridor to Newry was noted, and the additional work on the All Island economy and the section on Brexit.'

'He had taken on board all of what we and Louth County Council had submitted,' added Paddy. At the same time Drogheda Chamber had submitted a document in relation to the proposed Drogheda city status, which helped bolster the case for Louth's MI economic corridor.
A former curate in St Peter's made his return to the parish after almost 30 years last Saturday - on the night he was appointed Parish Priest.

Canon Eugene Sweeney was a new priest back in 1988 and spent his early years in Drogheda, before departing for Armagh.

But he has now returned to the PP role to replace Archdeacon Jim Carroll.

He said it was all a 'new beginning' for him and the world has greatly changed.

But he told a story of when visited the church during the week and recognised a woman, Judy, now 94, at prayer.

'I recognised her from my time here and she recognised me. She was the first parishioner I met in the chapel,' he stated.

He thanked the archbishop for trusting him with the new role.

Archbishop Eamon Martin conducted the ceremony and certainly delighted the locals when he welcomed the mayor, who attended with Cllr Pio Smith, and the 'people of the city of Drogheda'.

A Vicar General, Canon Sweeney was ordained in Darver in 1988 and was the administrator of St Patrick's in Armagh as well as PP in Loughgall and Eglish.

'You are a man of talent, wisdom and good judgement....a gentle and caring pastor,' the Archbishop stated.

He said St Peter's was all the more important as it housed the national shrine of St Oliver Plunkett.

'You are following in good footsteps and I thank Monsignor Carroll for his efforts overs the years here,' he added.

Canon Sweeney was then formally handed the keys of St Peter's.

Archbishop Martin also remarked that he wanted to scotch a rumour he had heard. 'There was a report that I was sending one of my best men to Drogheda because if there's a hard border I mighn't be able to get here myself!.' he quipped, before adding that he hoped there would be no hard border for the good of everyone.
The last thing most women would want to do after being given a cancer diagnosis is to sit at a laptop and write. But most women arent Termonfeckin woman Eileen Rushe.

The 33-year-old mum of one is still processing the shock of finding out her last cervical smear check showed she had the disease the treatment for which began on Christmas Eve.

Yet in the intervening weeks, while being hit with the full force of radiation, her thoughts have already turned to others, sharing her life-changing experience in a bittersweet blog called Cervical Cancer is a Bitch.

Ive had great feedback from the blog, and even all the female teachers in my son Seamus school have gone to get smear tests done after reading it, which is one of the points I want to make, says Eileen, who is originally from Bettystown, and has called Termonfeckin her home for 12 years.

While still processing the news, as soon as I heard on December 18th that the results were bad, I decided to go with treatment, and concentrate as being as positive as possible, and I find this cathartic in a way.

Unlike many women in Ireland, Eileen tried to do everything the right way.

She got regular smear tests done  in her own words maybe too many, but 18 months ago, one showed up abnormal cells.

That is not too unusual, and the idea of regular smears is to catch things like this early, as they are supposed to be slow growing cells, she explains. But for whatever reason, and we might never know how or why, cancer seems to have been missed, and by the time we did find out, I needed urgent treatment.

With so many harrowing tales of misdiagnosis and mishandling of cervical smears in Ireland at the moment, is Eileen not eager to find out if she too fell afoul of the bungling mess.

You know, right now, it doesnt change anything, and what happened, happened, and I just want to get cured, she says bravely. I am getting daily treatment in St Lukes (in Rathgar) and it is gruelling and so painful! The way I can describe it, its like very bad labour, and any mum will know what I mean!

Those memories of labour throw back 12 years, when Eileen became mum to Seamus, who was a surprise to say the least! The discovery at college that she was expecting is one of the tales she tells in her blog.

Thinking back I remember clear as day in that first week in college there was a poster on the back of the door saying 1/11 first years have an unplanned pregnancy.. I actually laughed out loud and was thinking, what a dope, she writes. Well the following February I was expecting I know scarlet for myself  Well isnt it great that happened now because the treatment to get rid of my cervical cancer also sends me into early menopause and makes me infertile. Now honestly this is no big deal for me as I am blessed with the beautiful son I have and to be honest the thought of nappies again makes me even more nauseous than I already am!

She describes Seamus as her whole life and is determined to stay strong for his sake.

His dad John Byrne passed away in July 2017 at just 32 with complications from epilepsy, so hes already had his fair share, says Eileen, whose mum and dad Jim and Mary, live in Sandpit. He stays with his grandparents during the week now while I am getting treatment all week, and Im sure they are spoiling him rotten!

Eileen says as soon as she can, she will get the HPV vaccine for her son.

In my opinion, everyone should get it  I mean, there just isnt any evidence to back up the negative press, and we have to use what we have available to us right now. It may be hard to trust, but we all have to run with it at the moment.

And her advice to women is to still trust the cervical smear system and get checked regularly.

I know its not a perfect system and maybe I will look into what happened some other time, but it is still frightful that some women arent up to date with smears, says Eileen.

I work in Irish Life in Dublin, who have been great allowing me a break to get well, but I am the third person on my team to get cancer, which is mad, so I encourage everyone to get checked as often as they need to.

If I can stop one child, or woman going through what Im going through, it will be worth it.

You can follow Eileens journey on www. Cervicalcancerisabtch.home.blog
As humanities educators, we are proud to bring this type of programming to the community and to give area youth opportunities for creative expression, CHESS Dean Elaine Carey said. This is our second poetry slam, and we are gratified by the overwhelming response from area high schools, our PNW students, faculty and staff, as well as individuals representing the ethnically and culturally diverse region served by the university.
It is hoped that 25,000 will be raised from the upcoming Night at the Dogs fundraiser which will go towards the next stage of legal fees to aid the Sliabh Luachra Awareness Group.

The awareness group have engaged the services of a legal team who have secured a Judicial Review An Bord Plenala granted planning permission to Silverbirch Renewables Ltd to put in place 12 wind turbines in the Gneeveguilla and Ballydesmond region.

With the granting of a judicial review, it means no work can take place by Silverbirch Renewables until this is heard in the High Court.

A Judicial Review is primarily concerned with the decision making process rather than with the substance of the decision.

Previously, the Sliabh Luachra Awareness Group managed to raise 12,000 in the space of just 10 days by utilising a Go FundMe page which received huge local support.

Shaun O'Rourke of the Sliabh Luachra Awareness Group said the first fundraiser was used to secure a legal team and the second batch of fundraising with their Night at the Dogs will help continue the work of the legal team which the group has engaged.

"The tickets are selling really well for our Night at the Dogs which will be held at the Kingdom Greyhound Stadium in Tralee on Saturday, February 23. With our booklet, we got great support from businesses in Duhallow and in Castleisland, Tralee and Currow. Our legal team are very active and are working away on our file," said Mr O'Rourke.

He stressed as he has done so on numerous previous occasions to The Corkman that the group are pro green energy and are not opposed to Wind turbines, however, they are very much opposed to wind turbines which would be among" the tallest structures in the entire country being so close to their homes."

Kerry County Council shot down the planning application for 12 turbines with a height of up to 160 metres high and being 500 metres from some residents' homes. Silverbirch Renewables Ltd appealed the decision by KCC to An Bord Pleanala who granted planning permission.

The Sliabh Luachra Awareness Group in turn engaged the services of a legal team who have now secured a JR.

Previously, Fred O'Sullivan of the Sliabh Luachra Awareness Group said that the "turbines will be higher than the Spire in Dublin and St Mary's Cathedral in Killarney."

He also pointed out that the Sliabh Luachra region was a catchment area for the protected Hen Harrier and Freshwater Pearl Mussel.
A 28 year old North Corkman has been found guilty of manslaughter and remanded on bail for sentence over the death of a 65 year old man whom he struck with a single punch outside a bar in Kanturk.

Jonathan O'Sullivan from Kanturk, but living at Birchfield Park, Goatstown, Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Finbarr Lehane at the Stand Bar, the Square, Kanturk on October 23/24, 2016.

But this Wednesday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, a jury of nine men and three women found him guilty by a majority 11-1 decision of the unlawfully killing of Mr Lehane, a musician from Glen South in Banteer. The jury had spent three hours 41 minutes deliberating in the case.

Mr Lehane died in Cork University Hospital on November 7, 2016, some two weeks after suffering serious head injuries in the assault which happened outside the pub in Kanturk.

During the trial, which ran for three days at the Anglesea Street Courthouse, the jury heard evidence from Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster, who said the cause of Mr Lehane's death was complicated.

However, prosecution barrister Imelda Kelly BL said that the state was not under obligation to prove that the punch thrown by O'Sullivan was the sole cause but rather that it was a real and substantial cause.

Mary Rose Grearty defence senior counsel reminded the jury of how upset the accused was when he gave brief evidence where he stated that what happened had horrendous consequences for everybody. Ms Grearty SC said that obviously the most terrible consequences were for the late Mr Lehane and his relatives.

Ms Grearty said to the jury that the issue they had to decide was whether the blow struck by O'Sullivan was objectively dangerous. "The single most important factor is, do you have a doubt about whether it was objectively dangerous? What force was used to strike the blow?" she said.

Dr Bolster agreed under cross-examination by Ms Grearty that she did not find a single mark to the face of the deceased when she examined it a fortnight after the incident in the bar. Dr Bolster also confirmed that medical notes on the late Mr Lehane's admission on the night made no reference to any mark on his face.

The late Mr Lehane was a respected musician in north Cork and was best known for his harmonica and spoons playing. He lived at Glen South, Banteer with his wife, and had five adult children.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain adjourned sentence to allow for preparation of a Victim Impact Statement by Mr Lehane's family and he remanded O'Sullivan on bail to appear again on February 28 for sentencing.
A 35-year-old North Corkman has been jailed for 18 months after he pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography, including images of adults engaging in sexual activities with babies.

Timothy Lynch of St Oliver's Place, Kanturk, pleaded guilty to one count of possessing and three counts of distributing child pornography from his former home at Finisk, Rivervalley, Mallow in 2015.

Det Garda Niall Ruddy told Cork Circuit Criminal Court that the offences came to light after gardai were contacted by Welsh police who were investigating a British citizen for child pornography offences. Welsh police were tracking the activities of the British citizen who was contacted by 40 different people using an anonymous phone app called Kik and amongst those who contacted him was Lynch.

Police were able to identify Lynch, who used the pseudonym Horny2611, by tracing the email address that was used to create the Kik account and gardai raided his family home in Mallow on April 24, 2015.

Det Garda Ruddy said that gardai, in the course of their search, found some 210 images on Lynch's phone, some of which he described as "horrific", depicting adults engaging in sexual acts with babies.

Lynch was actively seeking and swapping child pornography at the time and they established he had shared a total of 13 images with three others on three dates in February and April 2015, he said.

Asked by state barrister Imelda Kelly BL what he knew about Lynch, Det Garda Ruddy said he did not know much about him but claimed he was a former Rose of Tralee escort who lived with his mother and brother.

Defence barrister Donal O'Sullivan BL pleaded for leniency for his client and pointed out that he had co-operated with gardai from the start of their investigation and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. Mr O'Sullivan said that his client had lived with his brother and mother in Mallow but he had since moved with them to live in Kanturk and that he was a loner and his brother was his only friend.

He said that while his client had indeed distributed images, the number was relatively small and there was never any question of him ever seeking money for the images but was instead just sharing them.

Lynch had gone for counselling with Dr Gillian Moore-Groarke who said he was a vulnerable type of person and did not believe he was at risk of re-offending, said Mr O'Sullivan as he pleaded for leniency.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain noted Dr Moore-Groarke's report and he said the background and personality profile of Lynch matched many of those coming before his court on child pornography charges.

"He was isolated, a loner, a dependent type of personality, may have been bullied at a younger age, struggled to maintain relationships, never had a relationship with a girl, he struggled at many levels."

However, he had also to take account of the charges, including the distribution ones and the fact that Lynch had shared truly horrific material involving adults engaging in sexual acts with babies. He had deliberately involved himself with like-minded people by sharing images and, even with a guilty plea to the distribution charge, he had to mark the seriousness of the offending with a custodial term.

He sentenced Lynch to three years in jail but suspended the final 18 months in the light of his guilty plea on condition he would remain under supervision of the Probation Service upon his release from prison.
Former County Mayor Cllr Declan Hurley making a presentation to the Dromahane Community Park group of Cllr John Paul OShea, Lilian Meade, Mary Manning, Eileen Kelly and Ronnie Dunne at the 2018 County Mayors Community Awards ceremony

The call has gone out from County Hall to people across Cork to nominate the individuals and groups that have made outstanding contributions to their local communities over the past year.

Nominations are now been sought for the annual Cork County Mayor's Community Awards Scheme 2019, with the winners set to be honoured at a gala bash in the County Hall later on this year.

Now in its seventh-year, the scheme publicly acknowledges those whose tireless voluntary efforts on behalf of others, in conjunction with the County Council and other agencies, have helped helps draw their respective communities together.

Past winners have been behind a wide variety of initiatives that have ultimately made their towns, villages and local communities better places to live and work in.

The Mayor of County Cork, Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy, urged people to get their thinking caps on and nominate the all too often 'unsung heroes' they feel are worthy of being formally recognised for their hard work and dedication.

"There are so many wonderful individuals and groups in Cork County that I want to afford recognition for the work they do. Their selflessness, energy and enthusiasm are what these awards represent," said Cllr Murphy.

"This wonderful scheme is about congratulating all those nominated for the enormous positives they bring to their respective communities. Their selflessness, energy and enthusiasm are what these awards represent. This recognition will help encourage others to follow their lead and I look forward to meeting all nominees on awards the night, which is set to be a wonderful community orientated and inclusive gathering," he added.

Mayor Murphy will present a total of 11 awards on the night, including three from each of Council's geographical areas (north, south and west). There will also be an overall Community & Voluntary award and one individual award winner, which will be selected from the nine recipients.

"If you know of an organisation of individual that you feel should be recognised for their efforts, contact a local County Councillor or member of the Public Participation Network (PPN) who will make the formal nomination," said Mayor Murphy.

The closing date for the receipt of nominations has been set for Thursday, February 28. For more information about the scheme and how to submit a nomination visit www..corkcoco.ie.
It has been a difficult new year for beef farmers. Poor market conditions have been compounded by continued Brexit uncertainty.

If the injury of continued income loss wasn't bad enough, the insult of a perceived increase in hostility towards the sector - in the guise of 'Veganuary', the 'Lancet' report and an avalanche of negative comment regarding the climate change credentials of the industry - has led to anger and unrest among farmers.

The prospect of a disorderly Brexit poses the most immediate and devastating threat to the Irish beef sector. My department estimates that additional tariffs for the Irish agri-food sector as a whole, on exports to the UK, would add 1.7bn in costs. This could reduce or potentially wipe out Irish exports of beef, dairy and pig meat to the UK market.

Beef exports to the UK in 2016 accounted for 50 per cent of total beef exports (valued at 1.1bn) - the estimated tariff rate equivalent (based on weighted averages) is 70per cent, approximately 781m. Teagasc modelling suggests a reduction of over 20 per cent in Irish beef prices, resulting in beef farm incomes reducing by up to 40 per cent. This would challenge the viability of many beef farms and have an impact on production, processing and employment.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has been preparing for Brexit long before the June 2016 referendum or my appointment as minister the previous month.

But no amount of planning can prepare an industry for the potential loss of half its market, built up over decades.

We have had some considerable successes on targeting new markets. Being the first EU country to achieve access to the Chinese beef market is a significant one. But this will be a medium to long-term gain and will not compensate for the impact of a disorderly Brexit overnight.

If the worst comes to the worst, we will need EU help. Exceptional aid under the Common Market Organisation regulation will be required. EU Commissioner Phil Hogan understands this and we are in continued contact, as are our officials.

Nationally, we have been investing to try to build resilience in the sector. This week, I announced the opening of the 20m Beef Environmental Efficiency Pilot (Beep) announced in Budget 2019 as part of the 78m Brexit package for the agri-food industry. Beep is designed to provide an injection of investment at a critical time for farmers navigating the challenges ahead, while delivering in real terms on our climate objectives. Further to this, we have invested 300m in the Beef Data & Genomics Programme (BDGP) over the lifetime of the Rural Development Programme 2016-2020.

This year, farmers will see an increase of 23m in the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme, aimed at the most marginal and challenged farm holdings, thus restoring the budget for this scheme to pre-downturn levels, following a further 25m increase last year.

Other supports available for beef farmers under Pillar II of the Common Agricultural Policy include the climate-friendly Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme and the department's Knowledge Transfer Groups.

In total, according to the Teagasc National Farm Survey, suckler farmers receive support equivalent to approximately 500 per suckler cow on average.

Irish farmers are feeling unfairly targeted by much of the commentary surrounding climate change and climate action. Ireland is the fifth most carbon-efficient producer of beef per kg in the EU and the most efficient producer of dairy.

We have an economy that is heavily reliant on agriculture. While we have been very successful at decoupling emissions from output, I am very aware that in recent years we have seen an increase in our overall emissions.

To those who say that agriculture and beef farming in particular is part of our emissions problem; I say the sector is part of the solution in transitioning to an environmentally sustainable economy by 2050. The long-term vision for the agricultural sector is an approach to carbon-neutrality which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production.

We are looking at taking a three-legged stool approach - firstly by reducing the intensity of agricultural emissions through schemes such as the BDGP and Beep, which will potentially reduce greenhouse gas output per cow by 10pc; secondly by increasing carbon sequestration through forestry and land use; and finally via the displacement of fossil fuels and energy-intensive materials with renewable energy and heat sources.

Irish beef farmers are a resilient, committed breed. They have faced challenges over the years, from BSE to the horse meat scandal, extreme weather to market volatility, and have overcome them all. Our beef sector is the foundation block of our 13bn-plus agri-food industry.

So while the commitment still remains on beef farms across Ireland to produce a safe, nutritious and sustainably produced product for the world, that commitment will be matched by Government action, as witnessed by this week's investment.
Last Thursday the Transition Year students of St. Mary's attended the I WISH science fair. The main aim of the event was to empower women to take up jobs related to STEM topics (science, technology, engineering and maths).

Currently only 25 per cent of people working in STEM jobs are women. One of the speakers at the convention, Caroline O'Driscoll (I WISH Co-Founder), revealed how in her niece's class there is only one girl - out of a class of 50 students - studying physics for the Leaving Certificate.

She labelled this "heartbreaking" as she believes women have a lot more potential, adding that the stereotypes that existed when she was our age still live on today. Caroline believes that girls are sometimes scared to do something out of the ordinary and pursue what they want to pursue as a career because it's not seen as "the norm".

There were many speakers on the day, all women, who were promoting the idea of empowering women in science, including Gillian Keating, Kathy Chou and Ruth Buckley. Each speaker had a different experience with science and their own unique story to tell. After the speakers had finished, the students were allowed to go and visit the exhibition where science, technology and engineering companies gave an insight into what goes on in their industries. And there were free items too provided by each company, all of which were gladly accepted.

The Transition Year students agreed that the conference was both empowering and insightful. While listening to all of the wonderful female speakers, it became clear that more women should be working in STEM jobs. Whether you want to be an engineer, accountant or scientist, there is an opportunity for each and every student out there, including us women.

By Daniella Morey and Emma Deasy

Lions Valentines gift for Cancer Connect

Macroom Lions held a Valentine's Ball in The Castle Hotel on Saturday night, with music by the Hatricks and some great spot prizes were sponsored by local business as well as some very generous personal donations.

Macroom Lions are hoping to raise over 3,000 for Cancer Connect and will still accept donations up to the handover of funds raised.

Cancer Connect has been in operation since 2011. Cancer Connect is a free, flexible and confidential service, that runs five days a week to Cork hospitals. The service is operated entirely by volunteer drivers.

During this short period the service has grown considerably and is now firmly established as a vital support for the many people who avail of the services to get to the Cork Hospitals for either Radiotherapy or Chemotherapy treatment. To date, over 11,500 passenger journeys have been recorded.

To donate please contact any member of Macroom Lions Club or drop it into reception at the Castle Hotel, marked for Macroom Lions Club fundraiser.

The funds raised will go towards keeping the invaluable Cancer Connect service operating. Cancer Connect are always looking for drivers who could help with their service, even helping out once a month could make a huge difference to those dealing with cancer.

Fundraiser in aid of MND

Just over 3,200 has been raised in Macroom towards a hugely successful national fundraiser, Walk While You Can, in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association and Research Motor Neurone.

A cheque presentation will be made next week by Nora (O'Connell) Casey. Nora previously told The Corkman that she was so taken by the plight of motor neurone sufferer, Fr Tony Coote, that she felt she had to do something.

Fr Coote is regarded as an extremely charismatic priest in Dublin's Mount Merrion parish and he was diagnosed with MND in March last year.

He then decided to raise awareness and funds for sufferers by walking the length of Ireland.

He was determined to turn his experience into a "positive force for future generations of MND suffers" and so came up with the idea of walking 535 kilometres under the banner, 'Walk While You Can'.

He began the walk in Letterkenny in Donegal on July 10 and it all ended on August 6 in Ballydehob in West Cork. The effort has, to date, raised over 450,000.

In Macroom, a cheque for 3,210 will be presented on Saturday, February 23, at Murray's Hall, Railway View at 8pm.
Donie Howard, Kilcorney and Evelyn Tarrant, Coachford, at last years Mayors Community Awards ceremony at Co Hall

The dedication of individuals and community groups across Ireland to the preservation and promotion of Ireland's heritage was recently recognised at the National Heritage Awards 2018 and closing ceremony for the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018.

The special event, held at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin last week was attended by Minister of State at the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Sean Kyne TD and presented by RTE broadcaster, Mary Kennedy.

Hosted by the Heritage Council, the National Heritage Week Awards showcase the most engaging and innovative National Heritage Week events.

Close to 700 nominations were received across the five categories in 2018.

This year's award winners reflect the full breadth of Ireland's diverse heritage, spanning natural, built and cultural heritage and congratulations to Eugene Dunbar of Westmeath who won the National Heritage Hero Award for 2018.

The day also celebrated some of the best Heritage Week and European Year of Cultural Heritage events from 2018.

The National Heritage Communities Award, recognizing events that bring communities together to celebrate National Heritage Week, was won by the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork City for the 'Creative Connections' Project and tremendous credit is also due to the organisers of the Youghal Medieval Festival who were recognised in the national shortlist for Best 'Cool for Kids' Award.

The Youghal Medieval Festival, now in its 12th Year, sees over 8,000 visitors and plans are already underway for the Festival in Heritage Week 2019.

For full information on the Awards visit www.heritageweek.ie/news/national-heritage-awards-2018-winners and we are already looking forward to National Heritage Week 2019, taking place from August 17-25.

Nominations being sought for County Mayor's Awards

Speaking of awards, nominations are now open for the Cork County Mayor's Community Awards 2019.

Now in its 7th year, this awards scheme was introduced to acknowledge publicly the work of volunteers and to recognise communities working in partnership with the local authority and other agencies to better their communities.

Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr Patrick Gerard Murphy, is asking people and groups to contact their local Councillor or PPN representatives to suggest nominees,

"There are so many wonderful individuals and groups in Cork County that I want to afford recognition for the work they do. These awards are set to congratulate all those nominated on the enormous positives they are bringing to their communities and to promote further their commitment to their communities," said Mayor Murphy.

"Their selflessness, energy and enthusiasm are what these awards represent. I look forward to meeting each and every one of these communities and individuals on the night, which is set to be a wonderful community orientated and inclusive gathering."

Mayor Murphy will make eleven awards on the night including three each from North Cork, South Cork and West Cork.

There will also be one overall Community and Voluntary Group award and one overall Individual award from within these nine award recipients.

Cork County Councillors and PPN secretariat members can nominate organisations and individuals and to put someone forward simply get in touch.

More information is available on Cork County Council's website, www.corkcoco.ie and the closing date for receipt of completed nominations is Thursday, February 28.

Businesses urged to get behind Artist in Residence programme

Many local communities are involved in numerous wonderful heritage and arts projects, and local business too often get involved.

Recently announced, and no doubt of interest to many businesses in Cork, is the Business to Arts Artist-in-Residence Programme, and the Mayor of the County of Cork has encouraged businesses to get involved.

The programme offers businesses the opportunity to develop their corporate social responsibility activity through an Artist-in-Residence (AR) programme.

Matched funding up to 7,500 will be available to companies participating in the programme which consists of at least 18 months of community engagement, staff engagement or work-place creativity activities.

In welcoming the call Mayor Murphy said "it is great to see schemes which are promoting both best practice for businesses in fulfilling their social corporate responsibility and supporting art and artists within the community."

Business to Arts is a membership-based, charitable organisation that teams business members up with artists and Art organisations.

The matched funding available for the AR programme is provided by Creative Ireland through the 'National Creativity Fund' and the deadline for receipt of expressions of interest is Friday, February 15.

To find out more visit www.businesstoarts.ie/artsfund or email eileen@businesstoarts.ie.

Applications open for community 'Adopt A Monument scheme

As with the potential of the Business to Arts Scheme, good partnership can be key to so many productive and worthwhile endeavours that involve and speak to local communities.

Another partnership that may interest local communities is the Heritage Council's 2019 Adopt a Monument Scheme.

For communities, the Adopt a Monument Scheme offers a way of promoting pride in local historical monuments, sites and buildings.

It also offers opportunities to develop and understand the story of one's locality and to work collaboratively.

From mentoring and training to assistance with funding applications and community events, the Heritage Council works in partnership to help to develop a deeper understanding of the monument and its place in the landscape and the team work with the communities to create and implement bespoke plans for each monument.

For those groups interested in applying, application forms must be submitted to adoptamonument@heritagecouncil.ie by Thursday, February 28.

For for further information visit www.heritagecouncil.ie/projects/adopt-a-monument.

Clonmult Ambush commemoration nest Sunday

In terms of upcoming events, this weekend sees the Clonmult Ambush commemoration take place this coming Sunday.

Commencing at 12.30pm at the Ambush Site itself, Mr. Alan Dukes, who has a family connection with the Ambush, will deliver the oration.

On February 20, 1921 during an action in Clonmult, seven miles northeast of Midleton, County Cork the IRA suffered its greatest loss of volunteers in conflict.

Almost the entire East Cork flying column was wiped out in a single defensive action.

Twelve men were shot dead and eight men were taken prisoner, two of whom were subsequently executed.

The 98th commemoration, organised by the Clonmult Ambush Committee, will include a cross laying ceremony on behalf of each of the 24 men who had been in the house on that fateful day.

This is a community commemorative event and everyone is welcome, with ample parking provided adjacent to the site on the day.

For further information, email clonmult1921@gmail.com.
A young performer is set to leave her native Mallow in pursuit of her stage dreams - but not before a farewell performance at the Everyman Palace Theatre.

Recently accepted to Brighton Academy of Performing Arts in England, Mallow native Shauna D. Murphy has been attending Centre Stage School since 2004.

In her 15 years with the school she has studied a huge and varied range of disciplines; from drama and singing, to many forms of dance like ballet, modern dance and jazz dance. Where she has really shone, however, is in musical theatre, and real exhibitions of her talent include performing as Tiger Lily in Peter Pan, and as Fiona in Shrek.

According to Centre Stage director Aideen McAuliffe, Shauna also dazzled in one of the lead roles of last year's Senior Musical Theatre production, 'For Forever', at Cork Arts Theatre.

"A dedicated student of performing arts, Shauna is also deeply passionate about singing, dancing and acting, and is what is referred to in professional circles as a 'triple threat' as she is gifted in all three areas," said Aideen.

One of your last chances to see Shauna perform before she goes to the UK to follow her dream is in this weekend's production of 'Forever After' at the Everyman Theatre, Cork with all the musical theatre students of Centre Stage School. This production is for three performances only (Saturday 16th at 7pm, Sunday 17th at 2pm and 7pm) so book your tickets now at www.everymancork.com or call 021 450 1673.

"The Brighton Academy of Musical Theatre is a well established and hugely respected place of higher learning in the area of musical theatre, and it is a great honour to be accepted to such a course," added Aideen. "All the staff and students at Centre Stage School wish Shauna unlimited success in her college course, and expect to hear wonderful things in the very near future."
Student Leon Hughes is one of the stars of the film 'Detainment', which has been short-listed for Best Live Action Short Film in this year's Oscars.

The Academy Awards take place in Hollywood on February 24 and the 30-minute Vincent Lambe film is among the nominees.

Leon, who is in third year at Colaiste Chraobh Abhann and lives in Newtownmounkennedy, plays the role of Robert Thompson in the film, with Ely Solan playing Jon Venables.

Both boys were convicted of the horrific murder of two-year-old James 'Jamie' Bolger in Liverpool in 1993. They were just ten years old at the time of the killing.

The film deals with the investigation into the murder and is based on police interview transcripts and records.

Detainment is Leon's first film. He has previously played lead roles in school and with his drama school.

Lambe's short film has already won awards at the Cannes Film Festival, the Richard Harris Film Festival and the Irish Screen America awards. However, it also attracted controversy after Jamie Bulger's mother, Denise Fergus, called for it to be withdrawn from the Oscar nominations.
The Lake County Extension Homemakers Association is accepting applications for the Lucile Smith Memorial Scholarship, which is offered annually. In addition, applications for the Indiana Extension Homemakers Association (state level) Career Advancement Scholarship also are available through the Indiana Extension Homemakers Association. To be eligible for the Lucile Smith Memorial Scholarship, applicant must be an Indiana resident 21 years of age or older, and a resident of Lake County for at least six months. Application deadline is March 1. To be eligible for the Indiana Extension Homemakers Association Scholarship, applicant must be a homemaker 25 years of age or older, and a resident of Indiana. Application deadline is March 15. Both scholarships require that the applicant has been admitted or cleared for admission to an academic or vocational school that is state licensed or accredited. Preference will be given to a person studying at an undergraduate level. More information and applications are with Diana at dmcook@purdue.edu. or at 219-755-3240.
Kelan Hughes from Bray and his band W.A.L.K.E.R. join artists such as Hozier and Rodrigo y Gabriela as the latest addition to Evolving Music Publishing.

The 19-year-old has signed a worldwide publishing deal with MCD and Live Nation boss Denis Desmond.

Kelan, pictured right, completed his Leaving Certificate and graduated from St Kilian's Community School in June 2017. Since then, the Bray man has focused all of his time and attention on his music career.

The band's first EP, 'Bringing Rock Back', was mixed by producer Michael Wagener, known for his work with rock legends such as Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne and Queen.

Kelan and the other band members Glen Walker, Ali Cruz and Peter Jordan are looking forward to a busy future, with their first single 'Time To Party' reaching number two in the Irish rock charts within 24 hours of its release.

W.A.L.K.E.R. are now focusing on 'Bringing Rock Back' to Ireland and their EP of the same name is out now.

The band will play live at The Grand Social on March 2. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.ie.
Public support for the nurses strike shows no sign of waning as INMO members took to the picket line outside the Louth County Hospital last Tuesday and Thursday.

Theres constant tooting and beeping of horns from passing motorists and a stream of donations from coffee to scones. A consignment of umbrellas was dropped down by DkIT Sport during Tuesdays downpour and fire fighters from Dundalk turned up on Thursday morning to lend their support to the striking nurses.

Local councillors and members of the public have walked alongside them outside the hospital gates in a show of solidarity.

With a three further days of industrial action planned tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday, local nurses say that they are buoyed up by this support.

We are getting amazing support from the public, says public health nurse Anita Roddy, chairperson of the Dundalk branch of the INMO.

Its very sad that we have to be here, she says. It goes against everything that our livelihood is about but we have no choice as nurses are being treated so badly.

This is the second time that Anita and fellow public health nurse Sinead Reilly have taken part in industrial action. They were both on the strike lines twenty years ago and they say that the nurses resolve is showing no sign of weakening, despite the fact that they are losing pay when they go on strike.

We want pay restoration and fairness, better staffing levels for safer patient care, says Sinead.

The bottom line is we have the same level of education as other health professions but we dont get the same pay, even though we work longer hours, says Anita Roddy.

She challenges the pay rates for nurses which have been quoted by HSE management.

Im qualified forty years this year, says Anita. Im qualified as a general nurse, a mid-wife and in public health nursing and Im getting 50,000 a year. I dont know where they are getting these figures from. I dont know anyone on those wages. Its not fair the way our wages are being represented. Its just not true.

Sinead, who works a four day week as a public health nurse, says she takes home 500 a week after deductions.

This is why were here, says Anita. The wage structure is so unfair. Nurses are really struggling. We have children to feed and mortgages to pay just like everyone else.

She says she knows of nurses going to work hours before their shift starts so that they can get free parking.

Sinead points out it goes against the grain for nurses to leave their patients.

Last year in the snow, nurses came in and slept in their sleeping bags, she recalls.

They are worried that unless their demands for better pay and conditions are met that the exodus of young nurses abroad will continue.

Who can blame them for leaving, for going somewhere that there is better pay and conditions? says Sinead.

The patient to staff ratio is much lower in other countries so they are working in a safer environment. Here, if someone rings in sick, there might be no one to cover for them for a whole day, which means that everyone else has to cover for them.

People need a nurse when they are born and when they are dying and at different stages in between, says Anita.

They fear that the Government is banking on the nurses caving in as they face losing more pay as the strike continues.

I think the Government are hoping that well crack, says Anita.

However, she says they are adamant that they wont back down. We are getting lots of support. The fire fighters were up here this morning. People are bringing us up coffee, buns, soup. Members of the public are coming up and walking with us. They know what we do.

Having picketed in rain, hail and snow over the past two weeks, last Thursdays sunshine was a welcome break but it was the only good news as the Government shows little sign of meeting their demands.

Health Minister Simon Harris said in the Dail that the stakes are hight and that there is a danger that hospitals become unsafe as the strike continues.

However, he said meeting the pay demands of the nurses would put the public finances into an unsustainable spiral.

Nurses are getting a pay rise under the current wage agreement and it would be unfair to other unions which are abiding by its rules to single out one profession for more pay, he added.
The funeral of Blackrock student Mark Sands is due to take place in his native village this week.

The popular 21 year old UCD student was on an exchange programme with the University of Texas in Austin when he was hit by a car while riding an electric scooter on February 1.

He sustained serious injuries and underwent emergency surgery but passed away with his heartbroken parents Paddy and Ruth and sisters Laura and Aoife at his bedside. He is also survived by grandparents Richard and Joan Martin, aunts Mary, Annemarie, Elaine, and Lisa, uncle Richard, uncles-in-law Carl and Paul, aunt-in-law Catherine, cousins, and Laura's partner, Andy and many friends.

Mark is reposing at his family home today (Tuesday) from 3pm to 8pm. A Liturgical celebration of Mark's life will take place tomorrow in St. Oliver Plunkett Church, Blackrock, at 11am, followed by private cremation on Thursday.

A GoFundMe page set up to raise money for the family's expenses has raised over $36,000.

His family have expressed their thanks to all those who donated saying that they are 'overwhelmed by your support and donations. Any funds over and beyond costs and expenses will be distributed to causes meaningful to Mark and the family.'

The family have donated Mark's organs to give other the gift of life to other.

A third year computer science student at UCD, Mark had enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin in the autumn as an exchange student and was a member of the Iron Spikes spirit group.

He had travelled home to Ireland to spend Christmas with his family and had returned to Austin in January.

A book of condolences was opened by the UCD School of Computer Science who described his death as 'a sorrow for all in the UCD community' and expressed their deepest condolences to his family and friends.

The Iron Spikes spirit group at the University of Texas said they were 'deeply saddened by the sudden and tragic loss of Mark Sands. Mark was an incredible man who always brought a smile to those around him. He was a kind, loving, and caring individual who regularly put others first. He was truly a blessing to know and touched so many lives for the better. Mark will be missed greatly, and our organization sends our love and condolences to Mark's family and friends.'

It has also emerged that the type of scooter Mark was riding when he was struck by a Uber car is the subject of calls for an investigation following a number of accidents in the United States.

A spokesperson for the electric-scooter-rental company has been reported as commenting: 'We were devastated to learn of this tragic death here in Austin and our thoughts are with the victim's family and friends during this extremely difficult time.'
A motion of 'solidarity and support' for the nurses and midwives who are on strike to demand 'a safe, full-staffed, functioning health service that values them and pays them as essential skilled workers' was passed at last week's Municipal District of Dundalk meeting.

The motion was moved by Sinn Fein Cllr Anne Campbell in place of her party colleague Cllr Ruairi O Murchu who was unable to attend the meeting.

Cllr Campbell said she 'wholeheartedly supported' the motion.

'The Government have not it one on a number of points regarding this issue,' she said.

She discounted the argument that other public sector workers would be entitled to a pay claim if the nurses got an increase.

'We can't equate what nurses do with the rest of the public sector,'she declared.

She pointed out that the dispute wasn't just about pay but about working conditions, which had got progressively worse over the last 10 years.

They nurses were not just taking industrial action for themselves but also for their patients.

She spoke of how proud she was of her brother who had switched careers to become a nurse and now works in one of the business ER departments in Dublin and has told her of the conditions which nurses have to work in.

'I can tell you now that nurses don't want to be on the picket line. They want to be doing what they are best at but they are not being listened to. They have demanded a fully functional staffed health service. The nurses' cause is right, their actions are justified.'

Cllr Maeve Yore said she fully supported the motion. Noting that the Taoiseach gets the same salary as six nurses, she asked 'Is he worth it?'

Cllr Tomas Sharkey said people shouldn't be shocked at how few young people want to go into nursing, not just because of the pay, but because of the conditions.

Adding her support for the motion, Cllr Emma Coffey said : 'when nurses take to the picket line, yuo know it is an issue. They are at the end of their tether.' She voiced concerns about the number of young nurses and doctors who are emigrating.

Cllr Edel Corrigan felt it was important to support the motion and send out a message of solidarity to the nurses.

Chairman Cllr Conor Keeland said he too supported the motion as the decision to go out on strike was not one which the nurses had taken lightly.

He hoped for a speedy resolution to the dispute which a satisfactory result for the nurses.

Cllr Antoin Watters said he had a lot of family members working in the nursing profession and wanted to send out a message of solidarity.
Louth County Council has been allocated 100,000 for a walkway linking the Avenue Road with the Dublin Road, it was confirmed at last week's meeting of the Dundalk Municipal District.

Senior Engineer Mark Johnson told Cllr Maeve Yore that the walkway will start at the Avenue Road, across from the Avenue Centre, linking with the existing footpath to Tesco Extra, and run along the Blackwater-Ramparts river at Gosling's Terrace, behind the old garage to the student accommodation.

He said that the project will include a pedestrian crossing and a proper pathway, and will also allow them to tidy up the river area, street lighting, and a cycle way and walkway.
The existing Omeath-Carlingford Greenway has been very popular

The first cross-border section of the Carlingford Lough Greenway, going from Victoria Lock to Omeath will be completed in the first quarter of 2021, councillors heard at last week's meeting of the Municipal District of Dundalk.

A presentation by Doran Consulting Engineers on Tuesday night outlined how a 6.6km stretch from Victoria Lock to Omeath will be the first cross-border section of the Greenway, which will eventually form part of the Great Eastern Greenway stretching from Dublin to Belfast.

It follows on the already completed sections from Carlingford Marina to Omeath village and from the Albert Basin in Newry to Victoria Lock which opened last year.

The Greenway will be constructed from similar materials as those already used in existing sections, with fine gravel and areas of asphalt where needed, and timber fencing.

It will cling to the shoreline between Omeath and Victoria Lock.

Work will also be carried out on improving 1.3km of linkages from the Marina to Carlingford town centre. It will follow the existing footpath along the water and through the town. Traffic calming measures will be put in place to reduce speed to 30kmp in the village.

The presentation was welcomed by Cllr Antoin Watters who wondered if there were any contingency plans for Brexit.

Cllr Maeve Yore asked if they were getting much co-operation from landowners.

Senior Engineer Catherine Duff said the local authority was working behind the scenes to reach consensus with the landowners.

The Council is holding a public information session on Tuesday, February 19 from 12 noon to 8pm in The Station House. Carlingford. Members of the project team will be on hand to answer questions.

It is intended that Part 8 planning permission for these sections of the Greenway will be sought in early March.
Few things in the wider world interest people more than the inner workings of the Catholic Church and the process of electing a new Pope. The intrigue that follows the death - or abdication - of a pontiff has frequently been the subject of films and plays, including 'The Shoes of the Fisherman' with Anthony Quinn and 'The Pope Must Die' with Robbie Coltrane. Anyone who has read the novel 'Conclave' by Robert Harris gets an unrivalled glimpse into a centuries-old ritual culminating with the white smoke that notifies a waiting world from a makeshift chimney that the Church once again has a leader.

The Pope's decision on Thursday to tap Irishman Cardinal Kevin Farrell as the Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church means the Dublin-native will have a key role when Francis either dies or decides to follow the lead of his predecessor and steps down.

As camerlengo, Farrell effectively takes possession of the Vatican when there is no Pope. He certifies the death of a Pope and notifies the world that a period of sede vacante has begun and the search for a new pontiff must begin. As the man charged with organising meetings of the College of Cardinals, he has a unique hand in shaping the conversations around who the next Bishop of Rome will be.

His assignment by Francis is a sign that the Argentine thinks that Farrell is a man in his mould and will want a successor to carry on the simple form of the papacy that the present incumbent has embraced.

The current Pope is hugely popular with the general public, but the issue of clerical sexual abuse could still wreck his pontificate and mar his reputation as an open-minded reformer.

That's why the Pope has called leaders of the Church from all over the world - including Primate of All-Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin - to Rome next week for a key summit on the protection of minors.

It's no secret that last summer's papal visit to Dublin was, well, underwhelming. It wasn't just chaos around organisation and the fact that Ireland is not as self-consciously Catholic as when St John Paul II visited in 1979. The Church's failings loomed large - and the finger pointed squarely at Francis himself.

Devastating reports from Australia and the United States had catapulted the issue of sexual abuse in the Church centre-stage. Francis's own initial denial about allegations from Chile left him guilty of being at best ambivalent about the issue, and at worst part of the problem.

Set beside the sickening revelations from every corner of Ireland over the last 25 years, it made for a toxic mix and proved to be the rather depressing background music for the entire trip. As one senior Irish cleric complained to me afterwards: "Just as we were getting over this, he landed and brought a whole mess of his own making with him."

It was a rare taste of unpopularity for the Argentine pontiff as his magic touch seemed to no longer work. Francis has been used to adulation and praise for his simple style and direct language.

From 'Time' magazine to gay advocacy groups, the world has seen in him a humble advocate for those on the margins of both Church and state.

Yet, his apparent slowness to learn the painful lessons of the past and make the protection of children and vulnerable adults his top priority may yet derail his papacy and leave even his most ardent of supporters with dashed hopes.

The crunch meeting brings together the most senior churchmen from almost 200 countries and the eyes of the Catholic world are looking to Rome. The faithful who have held on to their Catholicism during this tempest have looked to the upper echelons of the Church with a mixture of incredulity and anger. How, they wonder, have the lessons of Ireland not been learned in other countries?

Let's face it, if there was a ground zero of the abuse crisis, it was here. Pope Benedict XVI observed almost a decade ago that the scandals in Ireland "have obscured the light of the Gospel to a degree that not even centuries of persecution succeeded in doing". It's a sobering thought.

But, in fairness, recent decades have seen a Church transformed. Gone are the protection of reputations and the avoidance of scandal, and accountability and best practise are now the order of the day when it comes to child protection. God knows it was a painful journey with many lives wrecked, but the Church here now operates policies that can only be described as the gold standard.

The problem is in many parts of the world the global Church appears to have gained nothing from our bitter experiences. Every month brings fresh revelations and claims from a different part of the world. And yet, this tsunami has yet to hit developing countries in Africa and Asia. Some prelates in these regions have even insisted child abuse is impossible in their cultural context.

I've got news for them: there are people who seek to do harm to children in every culture and way of life. This Rome summit needs to hammer home this trust and ensure that action is taken now. If not, we likely face decades of fresh revelations of the same pattern of abuse and cover-up as country after country emulates our mistakes.

Not only would that be a catastrophe for the victims, it would be a permanent black mark against Francis and his inability to get a grip of this crisis. Whether he knows it or not, it's a make-or-break summit for the Pope.

Michael Kelly is editor of 'The Irish Catholic' newspaper
Come back Stormont, all is forgiven. Compared with the fog and obfuscation at Westminster, relentless Tory infighting and the writhing of a shambolic political system, quarrels in the Northern Assembly look petty. Nothing was ripped that can't be sewn up again.

Meanwhile, a Stormont-shaped hole gapes through the Brexit debate. Devolved government has been missing and missed for the past two years. As soon as B-Day passes on March 29, a push should be made by Dublin and London to kickstart the Belfast institutions.

It won't be easy. Compromise is required. The DUP needs to surrender its attachment to the Petition of Concern, machinery it used repeatedly to block legislation that had cross-party majority backing. As for Sinn Fein, it will have to drop its support for marriage equality, abortion reform or an Irish language act. I don't mean to suggest those are trivial issues, far from it, but something has to be conceded. Workarounds for progress on those matters can be found once the Assembly is operational.

At least Northern voices (other than the DUP's) were heard on the Brexit question at Dublin Castle yesterday, when MLAs spoke at the fifth All-Island Civic Dialogue and reiterated the importance of the backstop. By and large, their voices have been absent from the debate, deprived of their platform.

Unfortunately, unionism was a no-show at the event, with neither UUP nor DUP politicians willing to participate. This is a loss for all of us, not least their own communities, and some carrot must be found to make public engagement with the Republic palatable to them.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said this week he believed that if it wasn't for Brexit, the Northern institutions would be back in business. There is logic to such a viewpoint. However, once Brexit happens, focus and energy can be redirected towards giving Stormont a new lease of life.

Meanwhile, brinkmanship continues to play out at Westminster and we are no further forward towards an agreed solution. Rather, a zombie-like drive towards crash-out is gaining momentum. Leo Varadkar told the Dublin Castle audience that Ireland is intensifying preparations for no deal.

Theresa May whirls about, giving the appearance of activity - shuttling between EU leaders and her own hardliners - yet nothing of substance is taking place behind the smoke and mirrors. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that the prime minister is running down the clock, as Labour's Brexit spokesperson Keir Starmer suggested in Dublin this week.

The logjam in her Withdrawal Agreement is the backstop, which has acquired totemic status, with neither side ready to be seen giving way on it. But the backstop is about the Border and that's concerned with more than tariffs on goods or customs regulations - it goes to the heart of human relationships, family and community life. An open Border protects the peace, safeguards normal life - a hard Border compromises them.

Magic technological solutions for a frictionless frontier don't yet exist, although perhaps they will in the future. Until they do, the British parliament's "alternative arrangements" kite won't fly. Brussels is adamant it won't alter the Withdrawal Agreement, as Mrs May knows perfectly well, but where wriggle room exists is for some words of comfort about the backstop to be added to the political declaration.

Will such a fudge prove acceptable to a House of Commons' majority? The answer will only be apparent when a real meaningful vote is held, as opposed to that succession of pantomime votes enacted in recent weeks. In the last week of March, as close to B-Day as possible, Mrs May will present the House of Commons with a stark deal or no-deal choice.

Will a hard Border result from that vote? Mr Ahern this week gave evidence before a Westminster group, the cross-party Exiting the European Union Committee. When asked whether Irish people expected a Border, he replied: "The Irish Government doesn't want it, the British government doesn't want it, Europe doesn't want it - I think most Irish people take from that 'then we'll definitely have it'." A spine-chilling analysis, all told.

Committee member Sammy Wilson didn't seem to care. Yet there are signs that the DUP is starting to soften its stance on a customs union with the EU. And Arlene Foster may not be averse to a resumption of Stormont, although her party has been the main obstacle to progress there since its focus shifted to Westminster. After all, her role as party leader has been diminished since Stormont's collapse.

Ironically, Mrs May is reliant on Remainers to leave the EU with a deal, according to Dr Katy Hayward, from Queen's University Belfast, speaking at a panel discussion this week at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin. She said it was one of the illogical truths of Brexit - that responsible pro-European politicians would have to help the prime minister avoid a cliff-face departure.

At the same Countdown to Brexit event, Daithi O Ceallaigh, former Irish ambassador to Britain and later the UN, urged Irish negotiators to keep their nerve despite crash-out anxiety. "We have to hold our position and we shouldn't put our toe in the water until the UK government knows what it wants," he said. He expressed concern at the potential negative impact of Brexit on Irish-British relations, with officials no longer having regular meetings through common membership of the EU.

In the post-Brexit universe, diplomatic efforts must be undertaken to improve the relationship between Ireland and Britain. The current British government has behaved disappointingly in breaking the spirit, if not the letter, of the Good Friday Agreement; it has shown bad faith by compromising the agreement for selfish ends. Some say they can no longer be regarded as credible co-guarantors. But bridges will need to be built because they remain our nearest neighbours and our fortunes are bound up in one another.

That said, it is up to representatives of the Irish people, North and south, to insist that this peace treaty, lodged with the UN, belongs to us and we won't have it tampered with. Not by the Tories, nor by its DUP ally.

Currently, the DUP is punching above its weight, determining much of what happens to Northern Ireland as regards Brexit - with repercussions particularly in the Border region, but elsewhere in the Republic as well. This is not just unfortunate but regressive. Hardline unionism, where ideology is the measure rather than what's best for people economically and socially, is taking far-reaching decisions which will affect future generations.

Stormont is one potential way to counteract the DUP's voice. The vacuum of the past two years cannot and must not continue.
Adrian Huizar, 14, a student at Queen of All Saints in Michigan City was one of two Indiana winners this year. He will get $1,000, an engraved silver medallion and paid trip in May to Washington D.C. where 10 national winners will be named, according to a release.
The Children's Hospital debacle took another very public twist yesterday which has added to the Government's woes in relation to its handling of the project.

The landmark project - which has been marked by many photo-calls and PR opportunities - was supposed to be the crown jewel in Fine Gael's track record.

As health minister, Leo Varadkar attended the unveiling of the new design and as Taoiseach he pointed to it too often as an example of this Government getting things done.

But instead of a bit of sparkle, it has now become a black mark on the record of this Government; a sign that Ireland has not yet learned all of the lessons of the past when it comes to public spending.

A letter from construction company BAM to the Taoiseach yesterday was followed by a statement issued through a PR firm. The statement called on Mr Varadkar to clarify remarks he made in the Dail about companies allegedly low-balling when bidding for State work.

He did not mention specific companies but said there are some he would not like to see get another State contract.

The statement was a bid to deflect attention away from the Government.

However, the statement from the construction company will see the wisdom of the move called into question now.

Crucially, the company also offered to "facilitate" the hospital board opting out of the contract if it so wished.

It also spoke of the "vital" need for the confidence of all involved.

The statement could be read as a bid to turn up the heat on those leading the landmark hospital project, both at board and Government level, to say that they have full confidence in the company and the project.

But officially the Government could only point to the ongoing PwC review into the cost escalations, which is not due to be completed until the end of March.

Opposition TDs stepped out to urge the Government to consider the offer and to assess if it would lead to savings for the taxpayer.

Sources pointed to an assessment that was done when the mammoth increase in the costs first emerged, which found that there would be costs rather than potential savings.

The letter has turned the focus back on the Government after a week of the Taoiseach and ministers furiously trying to dampen the furore.

Attention had turned somewhat to the hospital board's involvement, the record of the contractors involved, as well as the design team and the design process.

With one short statement the spotlight has again swung around to the Government's handling of not only the hospital, but the controversy over the costs that has played out in recent weeks.

If the Government felt the storm had been weathered for now at least, last night it was clear the political crisis is likely to continue.
There's a joke going around that everybody wants Theresa May to be prime minister, with the exception of a majority of the UK electorate and herself.

She has had a torrid two years steering the British chariot towards a cliff while being jeered from the sidelines by all and sundry.

But throughout that time the Irish Government has steadfastly done its best to keep her in power. Very often that required Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney to keep their mouths shut when they should have been pointing out some obvious truths.

From a long way back, the Irish side decided their best chance of getting a decent Brexit deal complete with the backstop was Mrs May. They bet the all-island economy on her. In fairness look at the alternatives.

Expand Close Standing together: From left, European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mairead McGuinness MEP during an all-island civic dialogue on Brexit at Dublin Castle yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Standing together: From left, European Affairs Minister Helen McEntee, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Mairead McGuinness MEP during an all-island civic dialogue on Brexit at Dublin Castle yesterday. Photo: Gareth Chaney

However, it's time to ask whether we backed the wrong horse. Did the Irish Government place blind faith in someone who is just the same as the rest of them?

Mrs May prides herself on being a 'bloody difficult woman' but Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg are equally difficult men. We have now reached a point where the two sides have neutered each other in the House of Commons.

But the prime minister is technically in the driving seat. She is the one who devised an excruciatingly narrow definition of Brexit that is dissected with red lines.

It was the vicar's daughter who did a deal with the EU. Initially it was the best deal in town. Now she seems to think it's a working document. There was shock in Dublin at the end of January when Mrs May decided to back a vote which mandated her to seek changes to the Withdrawal Agreement.

Negotiating the deal over the course of two years had been both tedious and tension-filled - but politics found a way.

Privately, Irish officials were furious when Mrs May went back on it. The word 'betrayal' was never uttered publicly but it was in frequent use behind closed doors in Government Buildings.

The problem with the prime minister is that she talks tough but acts weak. That applies to her dealings with both the EU and the hardline Brexiteers in her own party.

The signs of weakness have been there from the start. After replacing David Cameron as Conservative Party leader she sought to bring everybody together by appointing hardliners to her cabinet. They played her along for a while, quitting when they could get maximum headlines.

She triggered Article 50 in March 2017 without any coherent strategy for how to negotiate with the EU.

Then there was the snap election where she ran under the ironic banner of 'Strong and Stable'. She was neither.

Then Mrs May clung to power by getting into bed with the DUP, seemingly oblivious to the impact that would have on the Brexit negotiations.

A column in the 'Financial Times' yesterday talked about how Britain is now being "held hostage to Mrs May's vanity".

All the while the Irish Government continues to believe she is the right person to have leading the UK. It swallowed the line that it is her or Labour's Jeremy Corbyn.

Asked yesterday what he makes of the role Corbyn is playing in the whole fiasco, Mr Varadkar told a reporter that he had many thoughts on the issue but would be more keen to share them over a drink than in front of the cameras.

He described Mrs May as "sincere" and instead focused his ire on the rump of Tory MPs who are making life difficult for her.

But this weekend the prime minister is continuing to try to abandon her deal at the behest of the loud minority. Mr Coveney accepted yesterday she is trying to keep her party together but also indicated he trusts her to do the right thing in the end. We can only hope that blind faith is rewarded.
We need to tell you today of how it was An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission for a hospice in Galway, because, among other things, it was worried about the fate of a field.

On Thursday, the members of An Bord Pleanala, according to some, saved the homes of several butterflies in Galway, a meadow, and a wide variant of other species, including orchids. This would have been fine if it was a commercial project but surely some sacrifices must be made for the hospice application.

Galway badly needs a new hospice and a site had been secured on HSE-controlled lands right next to Merlin Park Hospital in Galway.

The benefits of having the hospice near to a hospital are obvious. I'm sure most of you were in favour of a pay rise for the nurses. Hospice nurses should be paid double that and more. They are well entitled to good working conditions. I will never forget the care my mother was given when she was dying.

The present Galway Hospice is situated in a place where further expansion is impossible. The new site meant vulnerable patients would be close to X-rays and emergency facilities.

Land is scarce in booming Galway, and land near a hospital in the city is scarcer still.

Galway County Council granted planning permission, with conditions, for a 36-bed hospice to be built on a meadow in Merlin.

The decision was appealed to An Bord Pleanala by an organisation known as The Friends of Merlin Woods.

The Galway Hospice people spent years finding and planning a site that would be suitable for the care of the sick and the dying. Money was raised and volunteers gave up their every free moment to back the project. There is no greater love.

The field they planned to build the 36-bed hospice on was zoned Annex 1 hay meadow. Opponents say butterflies and orchids would have been threatened and access to other lands may have been more difficult. The area near the field is wooded and is a lovely piece of the country, very near the city. But should we look at the greater good? The objectors have a strong point when it comes to saving the environment preserving Merlin Woods but this wasn't the time or the place, and the loss of just one field is minimal. No precedent will be set. This is a hospice not a factory, nor a bungalow.

An Bord Pleanala stated that the development would contravene recreation and amenity zoning, as well as having an impact on the "significant biodiversity value".

But Galway City Council had inserted a specific objective into the current Galway City Development Plan to facilitate the development of a hospice on the site.

The hospice field is not the only hay meadow in Galway. There are hundreds more, if not thousands, and maybe there are a million meadows more, if you take in the whole country. There are other meadows in the vicinity of the proposed hospice site. It's not as if this is the last meadow. Each meadow is precious, but so too are the hospice patients.

The present 18-bed hospice is inadequate for the care of the dying. More beds are needed. The new hospice will have double the capacity. Ancillary facilities are badly needed and wouldn't it be nice if the patients could look out on fields, hedgerows and meadows? Or even take a walk in the Merlin Woods, if they were up to it.

The proposed site is near the hospital but far enough away to give the patients the peace, light and space they so need. Galway County Council was happy with the site, subject to conditions, as was a planning inspector who recommended the granting of planning to An Bord Pleanala. But the board disagreed.

There is talk of a legal challenge by the Galway Hospice. The hospice says the challenge if it materialises will be financed by separate funds from donors, who are incensed by the An Bord Pleanala decision.

I hope they win. Can you imagine the hospice people saying to someone in dire need of a bed: "Sorry, we have no room due to the refusal to grant planning for one field next to a hospital."

I am sure the appeals board felt it was absolutely right in every respect. But it should have seen the big picture. I'm sure too the board gave full and due consideration to arguments on all sides.

It was genuinely worried about the future of this field, next to a hospital. It may even be right in law, but morally this was a travesty. If the law needs to be changed, change the law. Butterflies before sick people may be a simplification, but there is truth here.

If the board wins, it means heart and emotion has no place in Irish planning, nor has any sense of balancing the rights of the seriously ill with the needs of the environment.

There is no sense of scale here. This field is just one in the overall patchwork of fields. The hospice is a giant step forward for the care of Galway's most vulnerable.

So far as I know though, no dying Galway person was called to give evidence. It's not as if we are calling for the extinction of all butterflies. This is an exceptional case. I wonder will hay be saved in Merlin's Meadow this summer. Maybe cows will eat the hay and methane will flow out and up to the ozone layer.

I wonder too who will mop the butterflies' brows and take the pulses of the orchids in the Merlin's Meadow when the field lies unbuilt upon. There will hardly be a person who will trample the grass or take time to notice the biodiversity. The field will just become another field in the varied patchwork.

Merlin's Meadow could have been a last caring, loving home for those in extremis. There is no logic here. The objectors and the board took a narrow view like as if they were looking through a telescope from the wide end. The board's own inspector presided over the oral hearing last December, and he found in favour of the Merlin Hospice project.

There is no doubt but that whatever the outcome, the decision of An Bord Pleanala will delay the building of the hospice for some time to come. And time is not on the side of those most in need of hospice beds.
The recession may have had an adverse effect on life expectancy in Ireland, according to the latest research.

A newly published research paper has probed the effects of the global financial crash in 2008, and the austerity policies that were introduced across Europe.

There was an upward trend in life expectancy during the two decades preceding the global financial crash in 2008, but that trajectory has stalled and there has been a "major shift" in older-age mortality.

This trend was even more pronounced in some other European countries, including Greece and the UK, where health and social-care budgets were affected following the economic downturn, according to the study.

However, it noted that there has been no reduction in life expectancy gains in Finland and Norway, which "did not [choose] austerity".

This "might be telling", the research added.

Population projections based on the assumption of increasing life expectancy may now be challenged by the trends identified by the study, according to its author, Professor Jan Rigby from the Centre for Health Geoinformatics at Maynooth University.

The research paper, which was published in the latest issue of the 'Irish Medical Journal', examined the trajectories of life expectancies across Europe following the global recession and the implementation of various national austerity policies.

In Ireland, the study reviewed mortality rates between 1986 and 2008, and compared them to figures for people aged from 65 to 84 during the period 2011 to 2016.

It found that the increases recorded prior to the economic crash have stalled, though the change was less severe than in Greece, the UK and other Western mainland countries.

Irish life expectancy at 65 had increased by three years for men and 2.6 years for women in 2005 compared to a decade earlier.

However, this trend had slowed substantially to 1.9 years for men and 1.2 years for women by the end of the following decade.

The study noted that life expectancy in Ireland was rising through to 2011, but recent changes in older-age mortality represented "a major shift".

This pattern was "clear" in 2016 but had begun at least by 2014, with some evidence of rises in 2012.

In the UK, improvements in life expectancy at birth have slowed since 2010, while life expectancy in some parts of England have actually decreased by more than a year since 2011.

"This is an extraordinary reversal," the paper said.

"The divergence currently under way in Europe since 2014 begs the question: into which group of countries will Ireland fall and why?

"The situation requires very careful monitoring," the study concluded.

For many decades in affluent countries, life expectancies had been improving by around two years every decade.

Life expectancies for women remain higher than for men.

The paper said that recession and austerity could be predicted to affect most heavily on the most vulnerable, particularly if health or social-care budgets were affected.

It remains to be seen whether the "stalling" which is now being noted is a temporary phenomenon in response to the global recession.

The full European figures for life expectancy for 2016 are yet to be released.
I have no excuse for taking 25 years to visit Chameleon in Temple Bar, but I finally made it last week and am kicking myself for not getting it together before now. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.

In the end, it was Instagram that made me do it, proving yet again the power of social media in the food world. The restaurant put up a photo of its new exterior paint job - a vibrant turquoise blue that would brighten up the rainiest, greyest day in Dublin - and I knew that what I most wanted to eat that weekend was vibrant Asian food.

Chameleon has been in business since 1994; no mean achievement in the capital. Carol Walsh originally operated a dance studio from the first floor (hence the mirrors on the walls) and opened a vegetarian cafe, The Cellary, on the ground floor. As this grew in popularity, the cafe took over the first-floor space too, but had to shut down for a period due to building works in the area. Carol took the opportunity to go travelling in Asia, and when she came back, hired a Dutch-Indonesian chef and replaced the cafe with Chameleon, serving a traditional Indonesian rijsttafel.

Fast forward a few years, and Carol's now-partner, Kevin O'Toole, came to work front of house at Chameleon. Kevin says that he had always been interested in food and cooked a lot at home, but hadn't trained formally. So when he took over the kitchen he enrolled in IT Tallaght, "ate books", and set about evolving the food offering at Chameleon.

Over the years, the couple have travelled to Indonesia often, but Kevin stresses that the food at Chameleon does not aim for authenticity. "That's just copying," he says. "What I'm trying to do is make it better, to produce dishes that appeal more to our clientele, by using different cuts and cooking methods."

Part of O'Toole's approach is to use Irish fish and free-range chicken thigh meat, and the recent re-vamp of the exterior took away the word 'Indonesian'.

"You adapt," says O'Toole. "I just want to cook things that are really tasty."

The menu is initially daunting, especially for anyone (like me) who's not hugely familiar with the food from this part of the world. But the staff - and I have the sense that Chameleon is a good place to work and that there's not much of turnover - are adept at steering newbies.

We order off the Asian tapas menu, but there are also four different set menus, including one that's vegan, and the nimble women at the large, low traditional Balinese table next to us are happily tucking into those. Judging by the amount of food, these appear good value.

I've heard so many good things about the bao at Chameleon that we order four variations. And yes, they are perfect pillows of dough filled with flavour, our favourite being the sliced pork belly with pineapple compote, a felicitous balance of rich meat cut through with the sharpness of the fruit.

The buttermilk chicken version is pretty delicious too, as is another made with katsu-style 'fish fingers' of prawn and squid.

A star anise-infused Javanese short rib of beef is rich, tender and elegant, while kari java, a curry of Wicklow lamb and sweet potato, the epitome of comfort. We love the bami goreng and nasi goreng, noodles and rice respectively. And the sambal fries. And the kimchi.

So many new restaurants have opened in Dublin in recent months, with many establishments feeling more like cogs in some grand corporate property play than anything to do with food, that it's an absolute pleasure to discover a family-owned restaurant in the city centre that's simply focussed on the enjoyment of its customers.

Our bill for five, with a pint of Eight Degrees' Howling Gale, a large glass of Albarino, a few soft drinks and sparkling water, comes to 171.90 before service. Not the most traditional of Sunday dinners, granted, but delicious all the same.

ON A BUDGET

Choose from the tapas-style dishes and bao, all priced in and around a tenner, and you can eat as much or as little as you like. The Bali early bird menu is 29 per head.

ON A BLOW OUT

The Sumatra set menu is 40 per head.

THE HIGH POINT

Pork bao with pineapple compote are the business.

THE LOW POINT

Balinese-style seating would require agility, but there are regular tables.

THE RATING

8/10 food

8/10 Ambience

8/10 Value

24/30 Overall
Thousands of sexual acts a year, rape, violence and depraved behaviour; this is the world of hundreds of young women who are involved in Ireland's lucrative prostitution 'industry' that has moved largely indoors and off the streets.

The vast majority are young and vulnerable, and they are not Irish; they are from impoverished regions of the world. Many thought they were escaping a life of poverty only to find themselves betrayed by a friend or even a boyfriend. Some have come from homelessness or the care system or have been abused in childhood. The vast majority have no choice and are trapped.

Two years ago, Ireland moved to better protect these women by criminalising the act of buying sex, rather than the prostitutes themselves. Thus far, just one conviction has resulted, of a 65-year-old man who last month was fined 200 for paying for sex following a raid on a brothel in Dublin's Blanchardstown.

Dubliner Rachel Moran was made homeless as a 14-year-old and was involved in prostitution the following year. At the age of 22, after seven years in sex work, she managed to extricate herself and returned to education. She is now one of the leading members of global organisation Space International, which was set up in 2012, whose aim is to change social attitudes towards prostitution and press for its recognition as a sexually exploitative human rights violation.

Expand Close Time to stop: From left, Bridget Perrier,Ne'cole Daniels, Rachel Moran and Fiona Broadfoot from Space International during an event to call for an end to sex trafficking and prostitution. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Time to stop: From left, Bridget Perrier,Ne'cole Daniels, Rachel Moran and Fiona Broadfoot from Space International during an event to call for an end to sex trafficking and prostitution. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Moran believes that the new legislation is a good thing. It's understood that two further cases are currently pending.

"The legislation is already helping women by sending the message to men that it is not socially or legally tolerable to relegate women to the status of commodities. The men of 1990s Ireland were never sent that message. They should have been, but they were not," she says.

"I am glad that the men of today are sent the clear message that you do not get to buy your way inside women's bodies."

However, Moran believes much more funding is needed both in this country and abroad to help women exit prostitution and rebuild their lives. "This level of support is significant and too often overlooked, and it involves funding for education, training, housing, childcare and healthcare, including addiction services, counselling and trauma therapies," she says.

*******

Sarah Benson, CEO of Ruhama, which works with 300 women affected by prostitution and sex trafficking every year, says the recent case sent a clear message that it is not acceptable to pay for access to another person's body for sexual gratification.

Expand Close Sarah Benson, CEO of Women's Aid / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Sarah Benson, CEO of Women's Aid

"Sex buyers have been operating with impunity in Ireland for far too long, and we are hopeful that more convictions will be achieved under this legislation in future. Evidence has shown that tackling 'demand' is a key mechanism for preventing the sexual exploitation of the most vulnerable in our society. While the sex trade continues to thrive due to buyers' demand, the criminal gangs running it are profiting," says Benson.

She believes that as awareness of the change in the law increases, it will have an important "chilling effect" on those who may be considering buying sex. And Benson believes this disrupting effect on demand is important in targeting the lucrative businesses of traffickers and pimps.

"Legislation is a critical tool to change behaviours and international studies show that the number one deterrent to men who are thinking of buying sex is that they will get caught or it will be found out that they are doing it," says Benson.

"The legislation against the buyers isn't a 'hang 'em high' and put them in jail approach - it's a fine. But at the same time, the law is very clear - it's not on and women and girls are not for sale," she says.

Last year the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) provided legal information and support to around 20 victims of trafficking. The organisation's gender and anti-trafficking expert Nusha Yonkova says all had endured horrific treatment.

"We are concerned about the lack of gender-specific accommodation, such as women's shelters for example. While every experience is different, the general pattern suggests they would have been lured into the situation by false promises of work or access to education, sometimes by someone they knew, often by unscrupulous criminals and pimps," says Yonkova.

"The Immigrant Council of Ireland has recently concluded a two-year comparative study of legislative systems in six EU member states. The Disrupt Demand project found the Swedish legislative approach, underpinned by principles of gender equality, has proven to be an effective anti-trafficking and demand reduction measure. This is the model on which the Irish Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 is based and, alongside robust service provision and exit route support, we hope in time to see a similar impact," she says.

According to Paul Anthony McDermott, barrister and lecturer in criminal law at UCD, the 'public' element of the new legislation will be a deterrent in itself. McDermott says the very fact cases will be dealt with in open court and reported upon would be far more worrying to those thinking of buying sex than any penalty the law could impose.

And he points out that the legislation is sure to make people think twice before they act. "The thinking is if you stop demand, you stop the problem. If you can attack the demand side, it's the best way to solve the problem," says McDermott. He adds that with any new legislation, it can take a period of time for it to bed down before it becomes an ordinary part of the law.

*******

Monica O'Connor, co-founder of University College Dublin's Sexual Exploitation Research Project (SERP) has spent well over 15 years researching prostitution and talking to women involved in it.

She is a huge supporter of the new law making it an offence to buy sex because, she says, prostitution is inherently harmful. In her book The Sex Economy, she found irrefutable evidence of the harm done to women through prostitution.

O'Connor says there is no evidence to show that regulating or legalising prostitution has even been successful anywhere. She says the evidence from Germany and the Netherlands, where liberal regimes are enshrined in the law, is that the conditions in which women are exploited are appalling, with pimping and coercion on the rise.

In a major piece of research in 2009, O'Connor looked at the Irish scene. It pointed to between 800 and 1,000 young women in prostitution here on any given day. It showed a highly mobile and organised business where women were moved around the country like cattle.

"I interviewed one young woman and she didn't know where she'd been - she thought she'd been in Galway and Sligo. There is evidence that some young mobile women are involved in between 1,200 and 1,400 sexual acts in a year. I understand people's desire to hold on to the idea of choice, but the vast majority are impoverished and vulnerable girls and young women who are targeted, groomed, recruited and coerced by pimps and traffickers.

"Once they are entrapped in the sex trade, there's no bodily autonomy or control over the sexual acts they have to perform," says O'Connor.

In her research, O'Connor also looked at what the buyers of sex were saying online and she found a language of consumerism that has crept in which, she says, has made it acceptable for men to buy their way into women's bodies.

Comments like "she doesn't enjoy her job" or "she was a bit switched off" and even "she wasn't good value for money" were common and O'Connor says the women involved were very aware that the bad reviews were meaningful and would have an impact on them.

The clients of women involved in prostitution here are, according to O'Connor, mostly young, professional, middle-class men in relationships.

"One woman said to me she'd scream if she saw one more baby seat in the back of a car. They are not the lonely old men portrayed in the media. In all countries, they are largely young professional, middle-class men.

"It's very much about the buyer wanting to do whatever he wants to do. In my experience what happens is they say 'I'll pay for no condoms or anal sex'.

"Listening to women, all of them ended up doing things they absolutely hated. All of them were coerced or raped at some point in the industry. When you read the surveys with men online, it's really about them saying 'I get to have the sex that I want to have. I'm paying so I get whatever I want. I don't have to bother bringing her to dinner or negotiating - I just pay'," she says.

O'Connor says as a society, we have to look at the impact of porn and what is being put in front of young men.

"One of the things about porn is women are always doing things and saying yes to things. No matter what he wants, they're enjoying it. It's the portrayal of girls as doing anything you want and really enjoying it.

"Do I think porn and prostitution are linked - for sure," she adds.

It's a point Rachel Moran of Space International is keen to address, too. "Pornography is a major driver in the dehumanisation of sexuality, and prostitution is sexuality in its most dehumanised form.

"We don't need to involve the psychologists and the psychiatrists to figure out what's going on here; we just need to listen to the women who are used by men in the brothels, with porn playing 24/7 on the brothels' so-called 'bedroom' walls," she says.

*******

Not everyone agrees that the new law, which passed the final stage of its legislative journey on Valentine's Day two years ago, is a good thing. It was, in fact, vehemently opposed by a number of women representing the sex industry.

Kate McGrew of the Sex Workers Alliance of Ireland (SWAI) says the new law increased the criminalisation of "collective workers".

"Many of Ireland's sex workers prefer to work in pairs or groups for safety, and the new law increased penalties for this kind of work, called brothel-keeping, even when they are independent workers. What this means is that if workers want to work legally, they have to work alone, which is less safe," says McGrew.

She points out that the new law did not change the fact that it still remains legal to sell sex alone and says workers now have reason not to try to access justice or interact with gardai for fear of their income being taken away.

"We have seen an increased dependence on third-parties, particularly unscrupulous landlords who extort workers and house them in shoddy conditions, knowing that increased stigma and criminalisation has pushed us deeper into a black market. We have assisted workers this past year who have been in situations of a landlord in some cases trying to solicit sex and in one case attempting to rape her," says McGrew.

*******

However, Rachel Moran argues that there's no such thing as 'sex work': "Sex is not work and to anyone who thinks it is, I would say you must be doing it wrong. Sex is no more work than a smile is work or a hug is work. Sex is grounded in human connection, intimacy, spontaneity, mutuality, attraction and passion. Sexual activity in the absence of these things is simply compensated sexual abuse. There is a whole universe of difference between having sex and tolerating it.

"What's missing so often in discussions about prostitution is the human cost, the emotional misery, the chemical addiction, the children raised in state care.

"When people think about the fatalities of prostitution, they often think - and with good reason - of the phenomenally high homicide rates, but they less often think about the women who die from cirrhosis of the liver, narcotic overdose, and suicide, all of which are frankly off-the-scale as compared to the general population," says Moran.
John Stalker: Spent two years on inquiry into RUC in Northern Ireland. Picture: PA

John Stalker, the British policeman who led an inquiry into 'shoot to kill' allegations in the North, has died aged 79.

Manchester-born Mr Stalker served as an officer for more than three decades, rose to the rank of Deputy Chief Constable and led the policing inquiry in Northern Ireland which became known as the Stalker Inquiry.

In 1978 - at the age of 38 - he was appointed head of Warwickshire CID, the youngest Detective Chief Superintendent in the UK, later becoming Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police in 1984, the biggest British police force outside of London.

During his time as a police officer Mr Stalker travelled around the world studying terrorism and crime in Europe, the USA and South America. In 1982 he worked for two years in Northern Ireland, investigating an alleged state "shoot to kill" policy targeting members of the Provisional IRA.

After his retirement in 1987 he carved out a new career as a journalist and pursued his passion for writing.

He presented the series 'Crime Stalker' on Central Television for six years.

His death was announced by his eldest daughter, Colette Cartwright, in a statement paying tribute to a "beloved husband, grandfather and great-grandfather who enriched the lives of many".
Sinn Fein's MEPs voted against a new trade deal which will gradually eliminate tariffs on goods moving between the EU and Singapore over the next five years.

The party, along with Independent MEPs Luke 'Ming' Flanagan and Nessa Childers, went against the landmark deal earlier this week.

Firms of all sizes should find it easier to export to the growing economy as a result of the deal - but Sinn Fein raised concerns about a section which sets up an Investment Court System (ICS).

The court will be charged with assessing disputes, but Sinn Fein's Matt Carthy said it posed "a serious threat to our democracy, our legislative sovereignty and our constitutional integrity".

However, Fine Gael MEP Sean Kelly argues the ICS will ensure investment protection rules are adhered to and transparency improved.

He said "from an Irish perspective" the benefits of the deal are "clear, and particularly for our agri-food sectors".

"International trade is vitally important to our economy. For MEPs, particularly Irish ones, to vote against such an agreement is downright ridiculous and demonstrates their disinterest in creating jobs," he said.

"Trade with countries outside the EU provides jobs for 31 million Europeans. That means one in seven jobs in the EU depends on exports."
As a result of the legacy financial issues facing Naperville, the city council had to make some very difficult financial decisions that included reducing the budget and finding new revenues, Chirico said. Today, the city is in a much better financial position as a result of adopting responsible sustainable financial policies and having the financial discipline to carry them out.
The crew hauling the James Caird, after the Endurance broke up, with Shackleton looking on. Photos: PA

A hut in the Antarctic that was used by Shackleton. Photos: PA

An expedition to find the Endurance, Ernest Shackleton's ship, has been defeated by horrendous weather and pack ice - the very conditions that trapped the explorer's vessel in Antarctica more than a century ago.

The expedition was called off after "extreme weather conditions" led to the loss of an autonomous robotic submarine that, it was hoped, would have located the wreck.

The Endurance became trapped in pack ice and sank to the bottom of the Weddell Sea in 1915.

The expedition reached the wreck site earlier this week, relying on detailed records left by Frank Worsley, the captain of the Endurance, and deployed the submersible.

The underwater robot, known as AUV7, was on the final leg of a 30-hour mission, deep beneath the ice, when contact was lost between it and the expedition ship, the SA Agulhas II. Running the risk of becoming trapped in the ice itself, as the Endurance was, the polar research vessel had to withdraw.

Frustratingly for the team, it is not known whether the submersible captured images of the Endurance wreck.

"As a team we are clearly disappointed not to have been successful in our mission to find Endurance," said Mensun Bound, director of exploration.

"Like Shackleton before us, who described the graveyard of Endurance as 'the worst portion of the worst sea in the world', our well-laid plans were overcome by the rapidly moving ice, and what Shackleton called 'the evil conditions of the Weddell Sea'."

Oliver Plunkett, the head of Ocean Infinity, the American company which provided the underwater sub, said: "Everyone at Ocean Infinity is deeply disappointed that at the 11th-hour, we were not able to produce the images of what is without doubt the most challenging shipwreck in the world to locate."

While it failed to find the Endurance, the expedition did collect valuable information on the Larsen C Ice Shelf, which two years ago calved a huge iceberg known as A68.

That research will contribute to the understanding of how the continent is being affected by climate change.

The expedition will soon embark on its return journey to Cape Town.

The story of how Shackleton, who was born in Kilkea, Co Kildare, managed to save his crew after the loss of the Endurance is one of the world's great survival stories. They were members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, the objective of which was to make the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent.

But after the three-masted Endurance became trapped in ice, eventually being crushed to bits after 10 months, Shackleton and his 27-man crew made their way north in lifeboats, sailing over stretches of water and dragging them over ice floes.

They reached Elephant Island, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, where Shackleton left the bulk of the crew.

Leaving them to subsist on penguins and seal meat, he then set off with five others, in a tiny boat, to try to reach the island of South Georgia, 1,280km away.

Remarkably, they made it, but then had to haul themselves over a range of mountains in order to reach a whaling station on the other side of the island.

After regaining his strength, Shackleton succeeded in rescuing the rest of his crew from Elephant Island. Not one man died. Shackleton embarked on another Antarctic expedition in 1921 but died on South Georgia at the start of the journey. ( Daily Telegraph, London)
The road from Dungloe in the heart of the Rosses hugs the coast, rising gradually as you reach the townland of Meenacross. A few houses are dotted along the road facing seawards.

The house where Shaun Duffy once lived sits a short distance up a lane that doesn't look like it's used much. The bungalow with a small front porch lies vacant, commanding stunning views of Traighenna Strand. In the clear light of day it's hard to imagine such darkness being visited on this place.

But in the early hours of January 29, 2005, Shaun Duffy was murdered in a brutal attack that sent shockwaves through the locality. The aftershocks on the close-knit community he came from can still be felt to this day.

The 36-year-old was set upon when he returned home after a night out. An inquest into his death in 2010 found that he had been stabbed several times, suffered numerous blows to the head and a crossbow arrow had gone through his right arm.

Expand Close Stabbed: Shaun Duffy / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Stabbed: Shaun Duffy

His brother Kevin, who had been socialising with him the night before, knew something was wrong when he called to Shaun's home the next day.

"The inside door on the porch, which my brother always used, wasn't locked. I knew straight away something was wrong because he always locked it," he told the inquest into his brother's death.

"I found Shaun inside lying face down on the sofa and there was a lot of blood. I noticed a large gash on his head and an arrow in his arm. He was cold and I felt for a pulse but couldn't get one. I knew straight away he was dead," Kevin Duffy said.

The effect of the callous and brutal killing reverberated through the townland and beyond. Dungloe, just four miles from Shaun Duffy's house, is well known for playing host to Gaeltacht students in the summer and hosting the famous Mary from Dungloe festival.

It's also a magnet for tourists, who use it as a base to discover the wilds of the Rosses area of Donegal, and a mecca for fishermen keen to catch sea trout. Vicious knife crime was a stranger in this place.

Shaun Duffy himself was well known in the town. Standing at 6ft 4in, he was a big burly bear of a man, fond of his style. He took care in his appearance and wore tweed caps and jackets with smart shirts and ties.

He worked various jobs: as an undertaker and as a bouncer in the town. He had previously worked as a doorman and as a driver at the Mary from Dungloe festival in the summer. Described as larger than life, he was a jack of all trades and had many interests.

Within hours of finding him dead, house-to-house inquiries began in the Meenacross and Maghery areas, and a team of 40 gardai and detectives were assembled in the hunt to find his killer.

Inquiries centred around the area of the murder and gardai were also trying to trace people who were in the Strand Bar at nearby Maghery on the night prior to the murder where Shaun Duffy had socialised before heading home.

The murder investigation resulted in over 1,430 lines of enquiry being followed and almost 700 witnesses being interviewed. One line being followed by detectives at the time was whether Shaun Duffy's associates through his interests in horses or his work as a bouncer bore a grudge against him.

Lived in fear

To this day, locals don't like talking about events of that fateful January. His large family of five sisters and two brothers have rarely spoken of it publicly.

The fact that the case has never been solved is something that townspeople regret, and many would rather not talk about the gruesome nature of the crime.

One local, who didn't want to be named, said the details of the investigation were horrific. He said that very quickly it became apparent to everyone that no one person could have been responsible for the killing.

"He was a big tank of a man - he was no waif and he did a bit of bouncing. People must have been waiting for him when he came home that night. There had to have been a struggle. It would be remarkable if it was just one person," he says.

His mother Kathleen told the inquest into his death that he had many enemies and lived in fear of what might happen to him. As part of the investigation into his murder, gardai were looking at all aspects of his life - from his bouncing to his dabbling in buying and selling cars - to see if they could uncover what, if any, motives there could be to kill him. Another man, who knew Shaun Duffy all his life, described him as a very nice man and a good man who was kind to his neighbours, particularly the elderly in his community. He describes a man who was always looking for progress in his own area and was never out for himself.

He says the anniversary of his death brings back the memories of that awful time and how for the sake of the family, he hopes that there will be answers about what happened.

Other reports suggested he had a short fuse. He was due to appear in court to face an assault charge.

To coincide with the anniversary of the murder this year, gardai renewed their appeal for witnesses to come forward.

At Letterkenny Garda Station, Detective Inspector Pat O'Donnell, who is overseeing the fresh appeal, says anybody who has information about the killing but who didn't pass it on at the time should come forward. He says it's never too late for a person to confidentially pass on what they know.

Det Insp O'Donnell says while people sometimes feel that the passage of time is a barrier to them coming forward, this shouldn't be the case.

Investigators are also hoping that advances in DNA technology and testing may hold the key to solving the 14-year mystery of who killed Shaun Duffy.

According to Det Insp O'Donnell, the DNA aspect of the case is currently being reviewed and gardai believe this will dictate the course of the investigation.

And he says gardai are keeping an open mind as to whether locals were involved or whether the perpetrators were from outside the community.

According to Dr Dorothy Ramsbottom, DNA Development and Cold Case Manager at Forensic Science Ireland, more sensitive technology means DNA testing on "cold" or historic cases can yield results.

This is because profiles can be generated from samples that may have been unsuitable in the past. Using the current technology to revisit these samples means there is a possibility of getting a result.

Dr Ramsbottom describes the process of analysing DNA samples from cold cases as "meticulous and laborious" but she says the very reason for doing it is to yield new information.

"We wouldn't be doing cold cases if there wasn't a hope of getting something. We always hope we'll identify something or progress the investigation a bit further," she says.

In Meenacross, the house where Shaun Duffy once lived has just gone "sale agreed". The shockwaves that once reverberated around this rural community have subsided but the search for answers goes on.

Speaking at Shaun Duffy's funeral, chief celebrant Father John Joe Duffy, a first cousin of the deceased, appealed for those who carried out the brutal murder to give themselves up.

He spoke of the terrible tragedy that has visited the Duffy family and the local community. And he spoke of a cloud which "lies over this beautiful and peaceful area of west Donegal".

Three months ago, Shaun Duffy's father Liam passed away having never seen those responsible for his son's death brought to justice. Many hope that the cloud over what happened may yet lift.
A garda convicted of possessing images and videos of children being sexually abused has been jailed for two years.

Joseph O'Connor (58), of west Dublin, had pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to five counts of possession of child pornography at his home on dates between July 30 and August 2, 2011.

In August 2011, gardai investigating an allegation of assault made against O'Connor seized evidence from his home, including a laptop. An analysis of the laptop found videos in the computer's 'recycle bin' depicting boys under the age of 10 being sexually abused.

Two videos depicted boys under 17 being subjected to sexual acts with a male adult. There were also multiple copies of 16 different images of children sexually exposed or being subjected to sexual acts with other children.

After a trial last November, a jury convicted him of four counts. The jury acquitted him of one count which dealt with 56 duplicates of two images found on his laptop.

Detective Superintendent Colm O'Malley told the court, at a hearing last month, that O'Connor had been a garda for 25 years before his suspension from duty in 2012.

He agreed with Paul Carroll SC, defending, that O'Connor had a good work record and had not re-offended since these offences came to light.

Yesterday, Judge Elma Sheahan noted the severity of the images and quoted a previous judgment which states that even though these type of images are private "they cannot be created without a child being violated somewhere, often unspeakably".

She said his position as a garda meant his offending brought that organisation into disrepute and placed his culpability at a high level. Against that, she said, a term of imprisonment will bring an additional hardship because of this position.

A psychologist report placed O'Connor at a low risk of re- offending but Judge Sheahan said it was difficult to take this into consideration as there was no acceptance of responsibility and no willingness to engage in therapy.

She set a headline sentence of three-and-a-half years which she reduced to two years after taking into consideration O'Connor's position as a garda and the support of his family.
A US executive went on a rampage in a Cork hotel after a combination of whiskey and prescription medications, causing over 16,000 in damage, assaulting two receptionists and throwing heavy fire extinguishers from the fifth floor down on to the ground floor lobby.

Albert Santiago (54), from Beach Park, Chicago, pleaded guilty to a total of 16 charges before Cork Circuit Criminal Court arising from incidents at the Clayton Hotel on Lapps Quay on August 12, 2018.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain was told Santiago - a specialist engineering executive with a US pharmaceutical giant - has since lost his job.

Santiago pleaded guilty to two assault charges, one charge of reckless endangerment, one charge of engaging in threatening behaviour, one charge of being intoxicated and a danger to others and 11 charges of criminal damage.

A total of 16,000 in damage was caused at the hotel including to art work, a revolving door, a lift call station, a fire station, walls, glass panels, a fire extinguisher, chairs, a table, a hotel bedroom door and golden spheres.

The reckless endangerment charge arose from Santiago throwing a metal fire extinguisher and furniture from the fifth floor balcony down through the atrium and onto the ground floor reception area. No one was injured.

However, Santiago also admitted assaulting two hotel staff who were working in the reception area and attempted to calm him down, one being pushed in the face.

Santiago - a veteran specialist engineer - had just arrived in Cork after flying from Chicago via London.

He was due to visit his company's east Cork plant for a work assignment the following day.

However, he consumed a whiskey in the hotel and then went to a bar near the Clayton Hotel.

He was also on prescription medication at the time.

There was absolutely no involvement of recreational drugs.

After leaving the pub, Santiago told gardai he recalled being assaulted as he walked back to his hotel. He became very paranoid as a result.

Santiago became agitated and then lost control in the hotel - causing criminal damage and throwing heavy items from the fifth floor balcony down into the reception area while also shouting about the devil.

The defendant subsequently lost his job of 31 years.

He had been planning to retire within five years but now faces rebuilding his career.

Santiago was shocked when shown CCTV footage and said he was "disgusted".

He brought 11,000 to court in compensation for the hotel and a further 5,500 in a bail bond would also become available.

Sentencing was adjourned to November 1.
A man has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for car-jacking a vehicle belonging to a consultant psychiatrist and his pregnant wife, while armed with a machete.

At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Gerald Keys jailed Declan Sherlock (24), formerly of Dromard, Ennis, Co Clare, for offences associated with the car-jacking of Dr Narayanan Subramanian and his wife, Anju Sara Alex, four days before Christmas in 2017.

Sherlock was on High Court bail at the time of the offence and as a result, the two-and-a-half-year jail term is consecutive on a two-year jail term imposed on Sherlock for a feud-related assault.

In a separate case at Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Keys sentenced Declan Sherlock and his brother Damien Sherlock (27), formerly of Dromard, to two years with six months suspended in each case for their role in an attack on taxi driver Abi Ohiku on June 9, 2017.

Their younger brother Jordan Sherlock (19), formerly of Dromard, Ennis, was also jailed for three years, with the final 18 months suspended, for his part in the incident.

Jordan Sherlock, who was 17 at the time, stabbed Mr Ohiku six times with a penknife near his former home at Dromard.

Mr Ohiku was set upon by four members of the Sherlock family in a dispute over a fare. Their father, James Sherlock, avoided jail and received a two-year suspended sentence for his role in the attack.

Judge Keys described the attack as "vicious and completely unwarranted".

The Sherlocks' victims were not in court for the cases yesterday.

Damien Sherlock has 110 previous convictions, Declan Sherlock has 24 and James Sherlock has 21.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Ohiku said to them: "What kind of human beings are you to bring such inhumane treatment on me?"

Mr Ohiku said that he thinks "about my blood, that was gushing from the six stab wounds that you have inflicted upon me, every day and I have not been able to erase that from my head and mind".

Mr Ohiku said: "The ninth of June is a day I will remember for a long time - the beating and stabbing that you inflicted on me in the attack that night has left me with huge physical and psychological problems."

In the separate machete case, which occurred six months later in the same Ennis estate of Dromard, Declan Sherlock held the machete up to the stomach of Dr Subramanian.

In his victim impact statement read out at Ennis Circuit Court previously, Dr Subramanian said: "This man made one of the best days of our life after the scan of our unborn on that day into one of the worst we could have ever imagined in our life."

Sherlock pleaded guilty to nine separate charges from the incident, including hijacking the car, threatening to kill Dr Subramanian on Ennis's Lahinch Road at the Dromard housing estate, criminal damage, possession of a weapon and dangerous driving.

Sherlock was on bail at the time, having secured High Court bail after being refused bail in the district court in relation to an assault causing harm charge.

In his victim impact statement, Dr Subramanian said: "It baffles me to this day to find out after his criminal activity that this man had a few convictions in the past, was on bail, after being refused bail initially, and skipped bail a week earlier only to threaten to stab his innocent neighbours and steal their car to crash it, whose only fault was being his neighbour."
After years of building up a career as a major criminal while operating in the shadows, Mr Nobody has finally come under the full glare of the public spotlight.

Declan Brady, aka Mr Nobody, managed to gain the trust of the top ranks of the Kinahan crime cartel to become its most important figure in this country while maintaining a front as a small-time player in the transport industry.

Brady (52) was known to his neighbours in Celbridge, Co Kildare, and the business community at Greenogue industrial estate in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, as a truck driver involved in importing and exporting.

His office at the front of his rented unit at Greenogue was no different to the dozens of similar units in the area, with shelves littered with files surrounding his employee, who dealt with public inquiries.

But there the similarity ended. A cursory glance at any of the folders would show that all of the pages were blank.

Brady has not filed any tax returns with the Revenue since 2012 when his records then showed earnings of around 20,000.

Despite that, he drove around in a 151 Jaguar car, which he parked outside his five-bedroom detached house, worth at least 500,000, in the St Wolstan's Abbey area of Celbridge.

He also splashed out an estimated 70,000 for a family wedding in an upmarket hotel, where the lucky woman to catch the bride's flowers bouquet or garter was rewarded with a new car.

It was a far cry from his relatively modest beginnings in Drimnagh, south Dublin, where he grew up and was acquainted with other Kinahan associates such as the late David Byrne, who was shot dead in the Regency hotel, an incident that brought the Kinahan-Hutch feud onto the streets of the capital, Byrne's brother Liam, and Thomas 'Bomber' Kavanagh.

Brady rarely came to the attention of gardai in his earlier days and had five criminal convictions, all for road traffic offences.

He was seen by the Kinahans as an ideal choice to front up and take charge of a transport company while being responsible for the gang's arsenal in Ireland and then storing it safely at the gang's main arms depot in Greenogue before the weapons were distributed to the gunmen.

His company rented out the Greenogue unit from its unsuspecting owners in January 2016 - a year before it was raided by armed gardai.

Unknown to him, his movements and regular trips overseas to Britain and to Spain, to receive instructions from the cartel bosses, were being noted by officers from the Garda Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau (DOCB), who had stepped up surveillance on all known Kinahan associates since the Regency attack.

A detailed examination of his seized company documentation and records showed that around 1m had passed through the accounts in the previous few years.

During the searches that were carried out alongside the Garda raid on the Greenogue unit, officers found 330,000 in cash, hidden in shoe boxes in a house, as well as 140,000, which was "frozen" in a number of bank accounts.

An operation specifically targeting Brady and his three associates, Sean Ruth, Jonathan Harding and James Walsh, went up a notch in late 2016. In January 2017, gardai received intelligence suggesting that the Kinahans were planning a "hit" to coincide with the anniversary of the murder of David Byrne on February 5.

They decided to swoop on the unit on the morning of January 24. However, Brady did not remain long in the premises and had left again by the time heavily armed officers from the Emergency Response Unit stormed the unit. They found the three associates, who have all since been jailed for possession of arms and ammunition, inside the unit. Brady was arrested nearby.

Five of the 15 guns discovered had been loaded and ready for distribution to the gunmen for use in the feud attack, believed by gardai to have been imminent.

The other 10 weapons were individually wrapped in plastic and kept in zip bags, along with ammunition. All of the weapons had their serial numbers erased and were in pristine condition.

Some of the handguns were traced back to South American countries, including Brazil, while the rest of the weaponry were from the Czech Republic and eastern Europe.

Many of the guns were smuggled into the country as "sweeteners" as part of drugs shipments, imported by the Kinahan cartel. Two forklifts were also seized.

Brady's trial was due to begin last Monday but he pleaded guilty to the charges of possession of 15 firearms and around 1,350 rounds of assorted ammunition.

He now faces an investigation into his assets and tax accounts by the Criminal Assets Bureau.

Officers are expected to look at his Celbridge house as well as property alleged to be linked to him in Portugal and Spain.
Up until this week, it had been a case of setting the scene. We learnt of the landscape, of the events as they had transpired, and the narratives of key witnesses.

It had almost been easy to forget the presence of the man seated on his own in courtroom 13 - the person at the centre of these legal proceedings, Patrick Quirke.

But for the first time, he came into sharp focus and we heard the voice of the Tipperary farmer himself, through the viewfinder of his initial Garda interviews.

Mr Quirke (50), of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan - a part-time DJ known as Mr Moonlight - on a date between June 3, 2011, and April 2013.

Expand Close Mary Lowry. Photo: Tony Gavin / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Mary Lowry. Photo: Tony Gavin

Inspector David Buckley told the trial that as one of the first gardai called to the scene on April 20, 2013, after the discovery of Mr Ryan's remains, he had invited Mr Quirke to accompany him to the station in Tipperary Town to take a "cautioned memo of interview" regarding what had occurred on the farm.

He had informed Mr Quirke that he was not obliged to go and stressed upon him that he was not under arrest.

Mr Quirke said he was happy to accompany them and he sat into the back of the patrol car.

At the Garda station, they proceeded to the interview room and Mr Quirke was handed an article on the regulations regarding the recording of interviews.

Insp Buckley unwrapped some fresh tapes in Mr Quirke's presence. He was asked if he had a mobile phone and agreed to hand it over by consent, to have it downloaded and examined. And then the interview got underway.

"You discovered a body on back of Mary Lowry's land earlier today," Inspector Buckley began, and Mr Quirke replied, "Yes."

He was asked how he came to find the remains.

"I went to empty the slurry tanks to spread the slurry," he said, explaining that he had borrowed a tractor with an agitator from a neighbour.

"The slurry was very thick and I needed more water," he said.

"I knew there was water in the old septic tank," he added, telling the garda about a leak in the milking parlour pipes which serviced that tank.

He went there to suck out water but when he opened the lid, noticed that there was something down there.

"I could see plastic," he said, adding that he thought at first it was "a dummy or an inflatable doll".

"The water was all sucked up at this stage so I turned off the tanker and opened the other lid. I could see clearly it was a body. I was shocked," he said.

He rang his wife Imelda but it took three calls to get through to her. He knew she was at her sister-in-law's and did not want to panic her. She asked him if he wanted a lift and he said he did.

"I wanted to wait for her 'til I did anything else," he told gardai.

She got there in about 10 minutes and he went down to the gate to meet her, explaining: "I just wanted to meet her as quick as I could, I just panicked."

"When she got over the shock, she rang Tom Neville," he said, of the garda she had contacted that day.

"We waited, then ye all came out."

Asked if he was on his own on the farm that day, he said that he was supposed to have a student with him but he was sick. "He got a kick from a cow last Friday and he's out since," he explained.

Put to him that it was late in the year to be spreading slurry, Mr Quirke replied: "Yes but the year is late."

Insp Buckley told the trial that he distinctly recalled looking Mr Quirke up and down and noticing "no sign of dirt".

He put it to him that he was "fairly clean for a man doing a dirty job", and Mr Quirke replied that he was "only getting into the dirty part, mixing the slurry".

During the course of that interview, he spoke of his relationship with Mary Lowry, the owner of the farm at Fawnagowan.

Asked if he knew Bobby Ryan, he told gardai he had met him three times - the first time at Hayes's Hotel in Thurles, the second at a social night in Clonmel when he and his wife Imelda went out with Bobby and Mary, and the third time was "just a chance meeting" at the office in Killough Quarry.

At this point in the interview, Mr Quirke asked if he thought he would be able to get his tractor back this evening, and the garda replied: "That I don't know at the moment."

Asked if he approved of the relationship between Mr Ryan and Mary Lowry, he said: "Well, I'm sure you know I had an affair with Mary Lowry. But I didn't disapprove of it," adding that there was "no animosity between me and Bobby Ryan".

He described the DJ as "happy-go-lucky".

Questioned as to whether the relationship had ended "good or bad", Mr Quirke said it had been "mixed", explaining that he had wanted to keep it "friendly" as they were "family as such".

Asked if he had been "jealous", he said no.

"You just took it on the chin," gardai put it to him, and Mr Quirke replied: "No," adding, "What else could I do but take it on the chin."

He had never exchanged heated words with Mr Ryan.

Asked if he had met Bobby Ryan leaving Mary's house that morning, Mr Quirke said no, and asked if he had known his body was there all along, Mr Quirke replied: "No. These are nice questions, now, lads."

Mr Quirke said that "like everyone", he had "hunches" about what had happened to Mr Ryan.

"Everyone had notions, was he attacked, did he leave for Spain," he said.

He described Mary Lowry as having a "couldn't-care-less attitude" about it that he found "intriguing".

She gave "strange" answers to questions about it.

He said he had asked her "on and off on different occasions" if she had heard any car drive in to the yard that morning but she said she was certain a car didn't drive into the yard.

"I found this answer strange because on several occasions I was in the bedroom with her and the doorbell would ring and you couldn't be certain if a car had driven into the yard," Mr Quirke said.

Asked why he didn't show gardai the tank in the search of 2011, he said: "I didn't think of it. I thought it was laughable to be emptying the slurry tank." Asked if this was because he knew the body was there, he said no.

He described the tank as one that he "wouldn't pay attention to".

"It couldn't have been easy to see her carrying on with Bobby Ryan - it has to have bothered you," gardai put it to him.

"No more than it was for her to see me with my wife," Mr Quirke replied.

The trial continues.
Murder accused Patrick Quirke told a garda sent to supervise the emptying of slurry tanks in the search for Bobby Ryan that there were just two tanks on the farm.

Garda Conor Ryan gave evidence at the Central Criminal Court, saying he had relied upon Mr Quirke to tell him the location of tanks on the farm at Fawnagowan, Co Tipperary.

Arrangements were made for him to meet Mr Quirke at the property and to get him to empty the tanks with a tractor and tanker.

Mr Quirke's demeanour was "calm", he told the jury.

Mr Quirke (50), of Breanshamore, Co Tipperary, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Ryan - a part-time DJ known as 'Mr Moonlight' - on a date between June 3, 2011 and April 2013.

The trial heard that one of the tanks was located at the top of the farm and was in a slatted shed, where waste from cattle was collected, he said. When he looked through the manhole cover, he saw there was no slurry in it.

The other was an open tank in the farm yard which contained a "small quantity" of slurry. This was sucked out and spread on the land, Gda Ryan said, estimating it had taken "four goes" to empty it.

"After this process I had a conversation with Mr Quirke and asked him if they were the only two tanks on the farm and he told me they were, judge," Gda Ryan said.

Nothing of evidential value was found in the search, he told the court. Asked what the purpose of his visit, he replied that it was a "missing person investigation".

He could not recall the exact date of the emptying of the tanks but said he believed it was "four to five days" after the initial search of the farm on June 7, 2011.

Gda Ryan was also present at the scene when the body of Mr Ryan was uncovered in the tank on April 30, 2013. He told the trial he knelt down and looked into the tank, seeing "a very badly decomposed body".

Asked if he had observed anything else, Gda Ryan replied that he saw a hose running into the tank that was attached onto a vacuum tanker and tractor.

He observed the vacuum pump was placed in a neutral position, adding: "It wasn't sucking at the time."

When he looked into the tanker he noticed there were no fresh markings on the inside. He went to the nearby cow shed with the slatted floor and noticed that the slurry in this tank was "heavily crusted", he told the court.

Gda Ryan was asked to move the tanker from the area where Mr Ryan's body lay and to empty the contents. He explained to the court that he was able to do this because he came from a "family farm".

He emptied the contents of the tanker onto the ground, adding a "very small quantity of soiled water" came out, estimating it at about 100 litres.

Under cross-examination, Gda Ryan told Bernard Condon SC, for the defence, that he could have asked Mr Quirke if there were any other "slurry tanks", rather than "tanks".

He told Mr Condon that he can't be sure but he is "nearly certain" that he emptied the tank under the direction of his superintendent.

Asked if it struck him as odd that a senior Garda member would ask him to empty a tank at a crime scene, Gda Ryan replied: "No judge."

Mr Condon continued: "You were not at all surprised at a crime scene where a body had been found?"

The witness replied: "The tractor was pulled away from where the body was found."

Asked if anyone had thought to collect the contents, pass it through a sieve or film the emptying of the tank on a mobile phone, Gda Ryan replied that they had not.

He said he did not know if the superintendent was watching the process and couldn't remember if anyone was wearing a forensic suit.

Asked if he had taken notes, Gda Ryan said he did not.

Meanwhile, retired garda Tony Chearnley said he was asked to use an excavator to pull the large concrete lid from the tank where Mr Ryan's body was discovered. While lifting the lid, it broke and a lot of "small pieces" fell into the tank. He told the trial that the concrete breaking up was "not ideal", but said: "We don't live in an ideal world. It wasn't ideal but that was the best I could do."

There was no 'panic' amongst gardai when this happened, he said.

The trial continues.
An annual Cork charity ball is pulling out all the stops this year in an effort to raise much-needed funds for one of the citys oldest homelessness charities.

The proceeds of the raffle at the annual Marketing Institute of Ireland (MII) Cork Charity Ball will go to a well deserved home.

Cork Penny Dinners- set up over 150 years ago to help famine victims - is the primary source of food and warmth for many homeless people in Cork.

This years prestigious event, entitled The Ringmasters Ball, is circus themed and fire breathers, acrobats and trapeze artists will all perform before the charity raffle takes place.

Last years Renaissance-themed event raised 7,750 for Down Syndrome Cork Field of Dreams, and it is expected that this years raffle will top even that.

Speaking at the launch of the ball this week, Caitriona Twomey, CPD Volunteer Coordinator for Cork Penny Dinners said that the fundraiser is a much-needed boost for the charity.

Penny Dinners has been providing a helping hand and a hot meal to those that need it most for centuries, she said, but sadly our services are needed more today than ever before.

With so many obstacles in front of those that visit us on a daily basis, the generosity of MII Cork and the Cork business community as a whole is hugely appreciated and greatly needed, so I am so thankful that we have been selected as the chosen MII Cork Ball charity for 2019.

Due to the growing needs of the Cork public we are currently in the middle of expanding our services offered to include a step-up house and medical services. The generosity of ball attendees and the funds raised will be instrumental in making these a reality.

The ball, which will take place in Rochestown Park Hotel on Saturday March 23, will feature a drinks reception and a five-course-meal and, as well as the circus performers, Cork four-piece The Guilty Judges will also entertain the business guests gathered to mingle and network.

Tickets for the event are on sale for 100 until February 25 when they will increase in price to 125, and tables of ten can be booked for 1,000.
The presentation will outline the initial findings of the study and is open to all interested parties, officials said. The forum is scheduled for March 7 at 6 p.m. in the University Center of Lake County, at 1200 University Center Drive on the College of Lake Countys Grayslake campus.
Ardal OHanlon will feature in the second season of Derry Girls (Ian West/PA)

Actor Ardal O'Hanlon has revealed how people genuinely think he is as stupid as his hapless Father Ted character.

The comedian, who is currently in the middle of his stand-up tour across Britain and Ireland, said the Craggy Island sitcom is now so ingrained in everyday life that it has been brought up in parliament and court cases.

It's more than 20 years since the last episode was filmed, but the Monaghan star said yesterday on Good Morning Britain that it is referenced almost daily.

"In parliament, if anyone does anything stupid it's 'oh that's like something out of Father Ted'.

"Last week there was a court case where someone stole money from a charity and again that was referenced by the barrister in court, 'This is like something out of Father Ted', that the money was 'just resting in my account'.

"Any protests you have, there are various banners from Father Ted - 'careful now' and 'down with this sort of thing' - whether it's nurses' strikes or water protests or whatever.

Expand Close Ardal OHanlon as detective Jack Mooney in Death In Paradise (Denis Guyenon/BBC) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Ardal OHanlon as detective Jack Mooney in Death In Paradise (Denis Guyenon/BBC)

"I think people continue to discover it, very young kids discover it."

And the actor also noted that people often think he is as dim in real life as Father Dougal.

Expand Close Dermot Morgan as Fr Ted and Ardal O'Hanlon as Fr Dougal in the famous 'My Lovely Horse' video. Photo: Channel 4 / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Dermot Morgan as Fr Ted and Ardal O'Hanlon as Fr Dougal in the famous 'My Lovely Horse' video. Photo: Channel 4

"They genuinely think I'm stupid," he said. "Someone actually stopped my wife on the street just a few weeks ago and asked her a genuine enquiry, 'Is he as stupid in real life?'

"The worst thing is, I was standing right behind her like she was my carer," he added.

Expand Close Fr Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlon) in the milk float from the Father Ted episode Speed 3 / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Fr Dougal (Ardal O'Hanlon) in the milk float from the Father Ted episode Speed 3

The comedian, whose new stand-up tour is called The Showing Off Must Go On, told how his family didn't initially warm to the idea of comedy as a career.

"Where I come from showing off is big no-no," he said.

Expand Close A witty tonic: Ardal O'Hanlon, Fionn O'Shea and Amy Huberman star in Handsome Devil / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp A witty tonic: Ardal O'Hanlon, Fionn O'Shea and Amy Huberman star in Handsome Devil

"I think they would have preferred if I was an armed robber than a stand-up comedian. It's the worst thing, you're not supposed to draw attention to yourself at all.

"I genuinely remember my mother, when I was about eight years old, made us some spaghetti bolognese and told us not to tell anyone in case the neighbours thought we were showing off.

"There was the kind of mentality that showing off was a terrible thing, so I've always been quite conflicted because I love stand-up but at the same time I think 'Oh well, that's showing off, I shouldn't be doing this'."

But he added they changed their minds over the years.

"They're all into it now. They love it really," he said.

Meanwhile, O'Hanlon is enjoying filming his role as a detective in the BBC series Death In Paradise in Guadeloupe - but admits it's hard working in the heat.

"It's very enjoyable but it's demanding. It's hot and humid," he said.

The actor also gave the British morning TV programme an idea of the Irish perspective on Brexit.

"In Ireland, people are obsessed with Brexit because we see it as an existential crisis," he said.

"We're very worried about the consequences for the Border, cross-Border trade, security and all those things.

"Our concerns are slightly different from the mainstream British concerns, but it just consumes everyone and every waking moment."
It was the first instalment of Dermot Bannon's Incredible Homes (RTE1), which means it's time to get out the exclamation marks. "Wow!" said Dermot when he entered Judith's house in Sydney. "I love it! Oh my God!"

Judith, Dermot informed us, was an "art collector, philanthropist and billionaire" and she lived with her two dogs in an edifice designed for her by one of Australia's top architects.

Indeed, for Dermot, it was "one of the most beautiful spaces I have ever been". And as for the dinner table that was about a mile long and seated 60 people: "It's stunning!"

Judith laughed nervously, maybe wondering whether she should get a restraining order against this demented Irishman who had invaded her home and wouldn't shut up about the vast staircases and other flamboyant fixtures that only the super-rich can afford.

But then it was on to other Sydney homes and to more gawking and gasping. There was a house built on top of a cliff that was "really, really stunning", and another house that was not only "stunning" but also "amazing" and "incredible" and "takes your breath away".

"This is living, isn't it?" he said of one house - and perhaps that's so if you've all the money in the world and are not fretting over whether you and your family can afford that modest three-bed 30 miles from where you want to be - or even be able to pay next month's rent without ending up in a hotel room provided by social welfare.

Such thoughts, however, were far from Dermot's mind as he drooled over a beachfront Sydney house designed by yet another top Australian architect. "Wow!" he said. "What an amazing space! I'm in love with this space! Magical!"

At the programme's outset, this superfan of bling stood on the balcony of a clifftop house, extended his arms and yelled "Hello, Australia!" like a schoolboy on his first trip abroad. It was almost endearing, though mainly embarrassing. But there's no deterring Dermot, who doesn't do embarrassment and who tomorrow night will be oohing and aahing over billionaire pads in Melbourne.

When introducing Claire Byrne Live (RTE1), the host promised an interview in which Alastair Campbell would say that Britain was now "the laughing stock of the world". In the event, he didn't quite say that, though he thought that the British government was "lurching towards some crazy solution" in which the Irish were in danger of "becoming collateral damage".

Claire, though, seemed more preoccupied with the metabolic age test that she had agreed to undertake later in the show. "I've a feeling I'm going to regret this a lot", she said at the outset, clearly mindful of the fact that when Leo Varadkar underwent the test a week earlier for Operation Transformation, our 40-year-old Taoiseach was told he had the metabolic age of a 53-year-old.

As it happened, 43-year-old Claire turned out to have the metabolic age of a 28-year-old. "I'm so relieved," she said. Well, I'm glad that someone was happy - though not viewers left wondering what this stuff was doing on a supposedly serious current affairs show.

Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil (BBC2) focused on the migrant crisis that began with mass drownings off the coast of Italy in 2015 and that made a sham of EU solidarity.

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi found few friends in dealing with the crisis, apart from Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and German chancellor Angela Merkel, who would soon go on to create problems for herself through her welcoming of huge numbers of refugees into Germany. This has been an informative, indeed absorbing, series.

Inspector Morse ran for 33 episodes from 1987 to 2000, followed by 33 episodes of Lewis, featuring Kevin Whately as Morse's former sidekick. That was rather colourless, much like its main actor, but Endeavour (Virgin One), which features Morse in his younger police career, is a superior series.

Indeed, I prefer it to the original Inspector Morse, not least because Shaun Evans is a more interesting actor than John Thaw, whom I always thought ponderously self-important and lugubrious. And the characters and situations devised by screenwriter Russell Lewis have been more intriguing, too.

The sixth season began this week with Morse demoted to uniform rustic duties and the arrival of a new boss in DI Ronnie Box (Simon Harrison), a thuggish sexist spiv more used to strong-arm London tactics than quieter Oxfordshire ways.

Happily Morses's old mentor, Fred Thursday, is back, once again splendidly played by Roger Allam, whom I could watch reciting the phone book. And this week's mystery, which concerned the disappearance of two young girls, was satisfyingly played out, with Morse finally cracking the two cases - one of them involving a tragic accident, the other a darker case of child abuse.

This is old-fashioned police drama, somewhat in the manner of A Touch of Frost, which I always thought critically underrated. Indeed, being old-fashioned doesn't have to mean being dull, as Endeavour continues to demonstrate.

Shetland (BBC1) is old-fashioned, too, though with virtues of its own, not least Douglas Henshall's playing of DI Jimmy Perez, a decent man with a real concern for truth and justice. In the current series, he's trying to solve the murder of a Nigerian man who's found dismembered on the islands.

It's an ongoing mystery, not like the stand-alone stories to be encountered in Endeavour, and it's bleaker, too (those windswept landscapes for starters), but it holds the attention.
In 1929, one of Ireland's best playwrights and arguably England's greatest film director embarked on a most unlikely collaboration. Alfred Hitchcock was much taken with Sean O'Casey's Civil War epic Juno and the Paycock when he saw it on the London stage in 1926, and thought it might make a great film.

Bizarrely, he planned a silent version, but by the time he got around to shoot it in 1929, talking pictures had arrived in Britain. So had O'Casey, and Hitch wooed the Dublin playwright during the film's preparation. They got on after a fashion, but neither would be very happy with the finished product.

Hitchcock's Juno tends to be overlooked these days, was almost lost and is rarely screened. But it's a remarkable artefact in many ways, and a new documentary which will premiere during the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival explores the making of this flawed but fascinating film. Directed by Brian O'Flaherty with the help of the East Wall History Group, When Hitchcock Met O'Casey illustrates just how improbable the great men's partnership was.

Their backgrounds, though, were not so different. Both were born into the so-called 'shabby genteel' lower-middle class, O'Casey in Dublin's Dorset Street in 1880, Hitchcock in the dreary East London suburb of Leytonstone, two decades later. But while Hitch's childhood was a little lonely but otherwise relatively comfortable, O'Casey experienced real hardship in north Dublin's tenements after the family slid down the social scale following his father's early death.

Expand Close Irish playwright Sean O'Casey (1880 - 1964). Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Irish playwright Sean O'Casey (1880 - 1964). Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Flann O'Brien, always one to spread the love, viciously satirised Sean O'Casey in At Swim-Two-Birds as 'Jem Casey', the 'poet of the pick', but O'Casey's working-class credentials were real enough. His Protestant family ended up around Sheriff Street, and Sean's schooling was blighted by an eye infection. He taught himself to read and write at 13, and left school a year later to take up a series of manual jobs.

O'Casey was radicalised during the Gaelic revival, first becoming a nationalist before the events of 1916 converted him to international socialism. In When Hitchcock Met O'Casey, the author Peter Sheridan tells a nice story about how the playwright was inspired to create his greatest works. "O'Casey and Gabriel Fallon [the future drama critic] had been to a play in the Abbey about the tenements," Sheridan explains, "it was called Slum.

"O'Casey thought it was bourgeois nonsense, hated it, and as Fallon told the story, they walked home afterwards and under the Five Lamps, O'Casey made this declaration that he was going to write a real play about the real slum-dwellers of this city."

In fact he wrote three, Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars, which cleverly undercut the supposed heroics of 1916 and the wars that followed by demonstrating how little difference they made to the plight of Dublin's underclass.

He was deeply ambivalent about 1916, and very uneasy about the socially conservative direction the new state took after independence, and its deference to the Catholic Church. He emigrated to London in 1926, and that was where he ran into the famed director.

Hitch first saw Juno and the Paycock when it transferred to London after its initial Abbey run. He often went to the theatre in search of ideas and ready-made stories, and was instantly taken by O'Casey's beautifully constructed play. He was fascinated by it, and acquired the rights.

Expand Close Alfred Hitchcock / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Alfred Hitchcock

"I liked the story and the play very much, it contained a lot of humour and tragedy," he later told his great fan and confidante Francois Truffaut. "I remember going over it again and again, seeing whether I could retell it in cinematic form."

Was he attracted by its Irishness? Hitchcock had strong Irish roots, and his Catholic upbringing would provide the themes of guilt and redemption that would later recur in his work. He was probably more interested in Juno's sublime form, but making the film would not prove easy.

Its shoot coincided with the arrival of synchronised sound, a revolution in film-making that initially thwarted the camera's freedom to roam and bound it to clunky sound sets. Hitchcock had worked his way up from the very bottom of the British film industry, and in 1929 had established himself as an up-and-coming director.

Once Hitchcock had committed to making Juno, he sought Sean O'Casey's blessing after being introduced to him by the writer and critic Ivor Montagu.

He invited the playwright to Elstree Studios to watch him shooting scenes for his thriller Blackmail, and see how he worked.

But as the documentary points out, O'Casey had a rather condescending attitude to cinema, which he considered a low art form in the main. It was about to pay him good money, and he got on nicely with Hitchcock at the beginning. He thought it was fun to be taken to Elstree to see "the things that astonish the people", but he didn't seem all that astonished himself.

A dedicated socialist, he was more impressed with Russian film-makers like Sergei Eisenstein, and might have considered the young Hitchcock a bit of a hack. Of course he was not, but like everyone else, Hitch was struggling with the transition to sound - and the shooting of Juno would provide him with many headaches.

Set in the Dublin tenements in the early 1920s, Juno and the Paycock tells the story of the grandly dysfunctional Boyle family. Juno is the put-upon mother, Captain Boyle the work-shy, boozy father who spends most of his time drinking and nattering with the loquacious wastrel Joxer while Juno and daughter Mary are out working. Their son, Johnny, was wounded in the Civil War, and things get even worse for all concerned when the Captain starts spending an inheritance that turns out to be illusory.

Hitchcock retained much of the original Abbey cast, including the great Sara Allgood, who played Juno, her estranged sister Maire O'Neill as Maisie Madigan, Kathleen O'Regan as Mary, and Sidney Morgan giving a wonderful portrayal of Joxer. Barry Fitzgerald had made the role of the Captain his own in the original Abbey production, but although he does appear in the film as a grandiloquent street narrator, the future Hollywood star was unknown in England at the time, and the producers - and possibly Hitchcock - wanted a better-known name instead.

That would turn out to be Edward Chapman, a journeyman English actor who'd later form a low comic partnership with Norman Wisdom. He did his best with the accent, but seemed lost in the all-Irish cast, and proved a weakness at the centre of the film.

If you watch Chapman attempt the "what is the stars" speech, the results are not pretty.

Sean's wife, Eileen, would later claim that Barry Fitzgerald had failed the screen test, and that Hitchcock apparently didn't see the star quality that would propel the actor to Hollywood's A-list. It's also been suggested that part of the reason for O'Casey's unhappiness with the finished film was that he'd campaigned for Fitzgerald to get the part. But some of this may be wistful hindsight, and Sara Allgood, the film's rather thin-skinned focus, may have been happier to play off Chapman than a potentially scene-stealing Fitzgerald. Hitchcock, meanwhile, was battling with the new restrictions of synchronised sound.

"It was a bad experience for me," Hitchcock would later conclude, and it seems O'Casey was not thrilled by the process either. According to his daughter, Shivaun, "he was bitterly disappointed that Barry wasn't in it, who he really admired as an actor and who he reckoned was a brilliant Boyle".

He was even more annoyed when the film was released in America under the title The Shame of Mary Boyle, the whole point of his play being that it was Irish society, not poor pregnant Mary, that ought to have been ashamed.

Juno and the Paycock did reasonable business, but is something of an anomaly in its director's career - and is hardly a typical Hitchcock film. It's also a bit of a period piece, an early sound film that seems stiff and stagy, but it's strangely watchable all the same.

And it is gold dust for anyone with a passing interest in Irish theatre, because it gives us a tantalising glimpse at how the classic Abbey productions of the 1920s might have looked, and sounded. It's well worth watching, and so is this informative documentary.

'When Hitchcock Met O'Casey' will be screened at the Light House on February 21 at 6.15pm. For more information see www.diff.ie
Meghan Markle's acting career may be over, but one of her pre-royal roles as an LA party girl looks set to reach new audiences.

Artist Rights Distribution has picked up The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down for the US, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Meghan plays the lead role in the 2011 TV film which charts the trials and tribulations of a batch of twenty-something singles clubbing and partying their way through LA.

Directed by Michael Shapiro it also stars Max Greenfield of Nerw Girl fame, and Adam Pally as well as Eva Marcille.

It was originally intended to be a TV series, but a reboot of the film of the same name which released in 2006.

The Hollywood Reporter states that the company intends to release the film, among several other acquisitions, this year.

Meghan (37) has acting credits rolling back to 2002 including one-off TV roles in CSI: NY and 90210 and roles in films Remember Me, Horrible Bosses, and Anti-Social.

Most recently she starred as Rachel Zane in legal drama Suits, departing the series after she became engaged to Prince Harry.

Her final episode in the series aired in April.
It's both surprising and unsurprising to hear Elif Shafak describe herself as an introvert. In her writing and lectures she has often talked about the importance of being many things at once. Linguistically, geographically and creatively, she embraces her own multiplicities, speaking out against tribalism and the danger of staying within cultural cocoons. A political scientist and public intellectual as well as a prolific novelist, she writes in English and Turkish, enjoying the commute between languages, setting her stories all over the world.

"It's not easy for me to speak up in a public space to be honest," she says on the phone from London, where she has lived for the past decade with her husband and two children, "and yet I also know that if you happen to be a storyteller from wounded countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Venezuela, Philippines, Russia, you don't have the luxury of saying, 'I'm only going to write my stories, I'm not interested in politics'. We can't have that luxury when so much is happening."

For this reason, Shafak engages in the public sphere, contributing to newspapers, judging literary prizes and advocating for minority, women's and LGBT rights. Her two TED talks have been watched by millions online. She has published 10 novels, most recently Three Daughters of Eve, a story set in Istanbul and Oxford that explores sexual harassment, economic inequality and the tension between secularism and faith.

It's quite a CV, the result of luminous intelligence, vast imagination and particular life circumstances. Shafak was born in Brussels in 1971 to Turkish parents who separated when she was young. She spent her early childhood in Ankara. In a society composed of large, patriarchal families, she was raised on her own by her mother - who was secular, educated and later became a diplomat - and by her maternal grandmother - who was more spiritual and less educated, a local healer.

In her TED talk, 'The Politics of Fiction', Shafak reflects on how her grandmother used to cure people of warts and acne, an intricate ritual involving apples, rose thorns and circles of black ink. When she asked for an explanation, her grandmother told her to "beware the power of circles." She uses this as a springboard for one of the lecture's key points: "If you want to destroy something," she says, "surround it with thick walls."

On the TED stage, she is strikingly authentic, cerebral and emotional, breaking down walls with her words. She may be following a script, but it's also how she speaks on the phone, digressing at one point to ask if the background noise is disruptive; some trees are being pruned on her street.

As a teenager, she lived in Spain with her mother and later spent time in the US. A self-declared global soul, she frequently uses the word coexistence. Integration, she says, requires a narrative that goes beyond party politics. For her, democracy is not only about the ballot box, it's also about rule of law, separation of powers, a free media, an independent academia, women's rights, LGBT rights and, crucially, stories.

"Every extremist ideology from racism to Islamic fundamentalism, they have this in common: they dehumanise the other," she says, "and when that happens, when we don't see the other as our equal fellow human being, upon that ground anything can be sown: the seeds of racism, sexism, all kinds of discrimination.

"So for me it's very important to understand the other, the stories of the other... storytellers need to rehumanise those who have been dehumanised, and we need to bring more nuance into the conversation, because the age we're living in is based on dualities, clashes. Culture has become warfare, a battleground. Culture is not a battleground. It's how we connect."

Shafak is the most widely read female writer in Turkey - every book that she signs there, she says, has been read by four or five people - but her relationship with the Turkish state has been fraught. In 2006, pregnant with her first child, she was prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" in her novel The Bastard of Istanbul. Comments made by her characters on the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire during World War I were used as "evidence" against her. She was acquitted but it was an extremely difficult time.

"There were ultranationalist groups on the streets burning EU flags next to my picture, spitting at my picture, associating me with the EU, trying to say, 'These liberals, they're western stooges...' And after the trial... for a year and a half, I lived with a bodyguard. And then you ask yourself, why would you live with a bodyguard for writing a novel? For writing a work of fiction?"

Though at the time she didn't link it to the trial, she suffered from depression after the birth of her daughter, an experience she writes about in her memoir Black Milk. Clever, playful and heartfelt, the book investigates her ambivalence about motherhood by way of personifying several of her different selves - cynical, ambitious, spiritual, pragmatic, nurturing - and looking at the choices of other women writers, including Sylvia Plath, Simone de Beauvoir and Zelda Fitzgerald. Writing Black Milk, she says, helped her achieve a better "inner democracy".

Shafak often speaks about Turkey's "slide backward" under its current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan - the fact, for example, that it now jails more journalists than anywhere else - but she is wary of dividing the world into "liquid" and "solid" countries. Liberal democracy is a very fragile ecosystem, she says, and can't be taken for granted. A British citizen, she watched the lead-up to the Brexit vote, especially the deceptions within the Leave campaign, with dismay.

"Seventy-seven million Turks were suddenly at the gates, hordes of barbarians, that was the impression created... The people who were saying these things, they knew that Turkey wasn't joining the EU anytime soon, but it was used like a fear card."

People look to Shafak for insights into Turkey, which is sometimes considered to be a bridge between East and West, and though she provides those insights and often sets her stories in Turkey, she rejects identity politics and the idea that as a woman writer from a Muslim background, she should tell the stories of Muslim women.

"We don't expect an Afghan writer to write sci-fi," she says. "We want an Afghan writer to tell us how dark and sad life is for Afghan people, so-called realistic stories. And then we leave other areas such as avant-garde, experimental fiction, genre-breaking fiction to authors who do not have to represent a certain collective identity. All these expectations are things that I'm very critical of. I think writers cannot be reduced to a single identity."

Since 2016, Shafak says, "we have entered a new stage in history," and she notices more Western authors feeling a similar urgency to speak up about the dangers facing "our core-shared values in a democracy".

"I think it's important to understand how politics works, how power works," she says. "The old maxim is true: you might not be interested in politics but politics is interested in you."

Elif Shafak will be in conversation with Sean Rocks on March 2 as part of the Ennis Book Club Festival. www.ennisbookclubfestival.com
Following India's September move to scrap a colonial-era ban on gay sex, more and more corporations are opening their doors to LGBT+ people and ushering in policies to make them feel more welcome.

But smaller firms across industries - textile houses, printing presses, rubber manufacturers, real estate agencies and others - are not racing to diversify just yet.

At a dusty roadside eatery in northern Haryana state, Babu Ram Bhoshne and six of his workers burst into laughter at the idea of hiring lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and introducing LGBT+ policies at their workplace.

"Do I want to run my business or do I want to keep worrying about these people flirting with my waiters," said the mustachioed 62-year-old, laughing at the cash register, with pictures of Hindu gods and godesses on the wall behind him.

"If I have kinnars (transgender women) and (gay) men walking around, I will lose all my customers. They are not ready for such things," Bhoshne said, adding that his restaurant is most frequented by truckers, farm labourers and local villagers.

Experts say such homo- and transphobic comments are not surprising in India, which despite making great economic strides, remains a largely conservative country where homosexuality and premarital sex are still frowned upon.

And most of India's 60 million small and medium-sized enterprises - which contribute nearly 30 percent to the national GDP - are in rural areas, according to government data.

Bhoshne's Goldy Vaishnav restaurant was one of more than a dozen small firms the Thomson Reuters Foundation visited, with most owners unaware of or uninterested in gay- or trans-friendly policies such as health insurance for same-sex couples.

Ashok Row Kavi, a prominent LGBT+ rights activist, said that when most firms, including those in cities and satellite towns, continue to struggle with a wide gender gap, expecting LGBT-friendly policies in smaller ones was "far-fetched".

"There are no women in these places, so from where would you get LGBT+ (people) in? If there is an effeminate boy, he's in big trouble. And they won't employ trans (people) for heaven's sake," Kavi told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"It won't happen until we accept that the system has gone wrong, that there is a toxic masculine atmosphere all over, and until we learn through the education system to change it," said Kavi, chairman of Mumbai-based charity Humsafar Trust.

GREAT BUSINESS SENSE

India is home to nearly 56 million LGBT+ adults, according to Paris-based firm Out Now Consulting, a marketing company that helps businesses target gay clients. Yet the LGBT+ market remains largely untapped, mainly due to discrimination.

That is why large Indian companies are rushing to change policies to include gender-neutral bathrooms, insurance for same-sex couples, leave for sex reassignment surgeries and sensitising employees.

They are finding growing resonance after gay relationships were decriminalised in the world's largest democracy, said Parmesh Shahani, head of the Godrej India Culture Lab, which encourages Indian companies to adopt LGBT-friendly policies.

"Corporate India has realised that whichever way you look at it - from an economic or talent perspective - everyone wants to hire millennials and for them, being inclusive really matters; they won't work for homophobic companies," he said.

The World Bank estimates that homophobia costs India $31bn a year.

While Shahani said he does not see rural or even urban India becoming fully inclusive any time soon, he was hopeful that small businesses would follow in the footsteps of the corporate world, "otherwise they're not going to get the brightest minds".

Mumbai-based conglomerate Godrej and a handful of others, such as Tata and the Lalit Hospitality Group, have long offered LGBT+ benefits and workplace support despite the colonial-era law banning homosexuality, with the rest catching up now.

"As a business owner, I think it's very important to have these policies, which for me make great business sense," said Keshav Suri, whose family owns the Lalit hotel chain.

Reports, including from Accenture and the Brunswick Group, show that inclusive policies result in benefits such as greater national GDP, talent retention, more productivity and a better reputation that can lead to direct investments.

WILLING, BUT NOT YET

Not all small businesses are against diversifying. Three of those the Thomson Reuters Foundation visited were on board, but said the time was not right because of problems ranging from a lack of financial resources to fear of backlash from workers.

"It has never even crossed my mind. In the past 25 years of running this business, no such case has come up. I don't think any of my workers are (LGBT+)," said Rajiv Mehtani, owner of Indo Farm Implements in Haryana's Karnal district.

"It doesn't matter if someone is gay or transgender as long as the job gets done ... We have to evolve with the times, but not immediately."

As Mehtani got up to take a phone call, one of his company supervisors, who refused to give his name, said: "No way, such things are never going to happen here. There is no need or space for such people - men do all the work here."

Gaurav Kaushik, who owns Bharat Polymer, a small company that sells irrigation pipelines to farms, said: "I am happy to employ (LGBT+ people), but nobody is openly gay around here (because) word travels fast and consequences are usually high."

Outside cities, coming out has risks - from so-called "honour killings" to corrective rape, which are seldom reported as they are often carried out by husbands, brothers and fathers in a bid to 'cure' gay women, rights groups say.

Kavi said the violence LGBT+ people face is often from their own families, who beat them to make them conform and maintain the social balance.

To escape the beatings and find a sense of belonging, LGBT+ people flock to cities, and increasingly - with the internet and social media easing migration for jobs and gay marriage - many leave India altogether.

Shubha Chacko, executive director of Solidarity Foundation, which helps transgender people find jobs, suggested industry lobbying groups hold seminars outside metropolitan areas and engage with small firms to bring in tailor-made LGBT+ solutions.

But for Jaswant Singh, owner of a mustard oil company, LGBT-friendly policies are intrusive and best not to be introduced at work.

"Why should I bring in something that may make my employees feel pressured to reveal their sexual orientation," 30-year-old Singh said.

"That is their business and I am here to mind mine."
The chairman of Europe's insurance regulator has called for more powers to prevent cross-border insurers like Qudos or Setanta collapsing.

Gabriel Bernardino told an event in Dublin that he wants to be able to take a more preventive approach rather than tackling issues as they arise.

EU insurers can do business here because of the single market. But the collapse of entities regulated abroad has hit Irish policyholders in the pocket, and raised questions about whether foreign-regulated insurers should be allowed here at all.

Mr Bernardino, chairman of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, said that the cross-border insurance regime should be preserved because it can create more choice and competition.

He acknowledged however that there has been poor supervision in some countries, saying that when cases like Qudos or Setanta arise it "severely disrupts public trust in the function of insurance and the internal market".

"We shouldn't have these zombie companies in the market," he said, adding that his organisation needs beefed up powers for giving orders to domestic insurance supervisors.

"We need ... to have the possibility to give clear and concrete recommendations to the home authority. And that this is dealt with as a recommendation coming from a European authority that needs to work on a 'comply or explain' basis.

"Nowadays I tell you we have been giving a lot of recommendations. Many of them have been followed, but others not so much. And that is not optimal."
'After 61 years, I've finally become an overnight success' - although Celtic Wind Crops CEO Joe Gavin jokes about the speed at which the hemp oil business he set up six years ago has grown, there is plenty of truth in his statement.

Originally from Ballymun in North Dublin, Joe says that he fell in to the agri-food sales space by accident. He cut his teeth working for Avonmore from 1984 to 1987 and later moved to Kerry Group, where he was a leading member of the team that brought the Kerry LowLow products to the market.

"I learned about farmers and how proud they were of their product and the innate passion and pride that they had. The ethos of Kerry and Avonmore was to promote quality produce and I really began to understand the importance of farm to fork," Joe tells the Farming Independent.

It was this understanding of farm to fork, and a wish to make money for himself for a change, that led Joe to consider starting a food business of his own and in 2011 a meeting with a young entrepreneur provided this opportunity.

The economic downturn of 2008 meant that the marketing role of Celtic Wind's managing director, Paul McCourt, with the Radisson Hotel Group dried up.

In an effort to keep occupied, he began researching the Napoleonic Wars on the internet, where he repeatedly came across references of hemp.

Expand Close Hemp / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Hemp

"I came across the word hemp everywhere. It fed and clothed Napoleon's armies. I started to do some more googling and noticed that hemp was a big industry in Europe, the US and Canada and hadn't started here," says the 38-year-old from Dundalk, Co Louth.

With no agricultural experience, he approached three tillage farmers - Michael Hanlon, Eamon Toner and Martin Duffy, all based in the Cooley Peninsula in Louth, to test-grow hemp.

Partnership

The crop grew successfully and in 2011, Joe and Paul went in to partnership together, but it was another five years before the pair launched the first Celtic Wind CBD oil to the food supplement market.

"At first we were looking at breaking hemp straw, which can be used for animal bedding. The conversation around CBD didn't start until we saw the trend for these oils taking off in the US," explains Joe.

"Around this time, Vera Twomey started campaigning for medicinal cannabis to treat her daughter's epilepsy and we began to look at CBD."

CBD oils are derived from the hemp plant and are a constituent of cannabis but do not contain its psychoactive ingredient, THC (tetrahydrocannabinol).

"We wanted to be the leaders in this. Nobody was listening to us and nobody wanted to lend to us because they assumed we wanted to grow weed," he says.

"We eventually got funding from AIB and in a last gasp of hope we started producing our own CBD oil and launched our first product to the market in 2016. It was a runaway success."

While the various CBD oil companies worldwide extract the oil in a lab, Celtic Wind grow, harvest and create the product naturally by pressing the oil from the plant within eight hours of harvest. Joe says that there is still a "massive misconception" around CBD oils in Ireland, with many people fearful that it contains cannabis.

"There's a huge amount of confusion around CBD. People think it is weed - but there is no psychoactive added.

"We are a fully certified product with the FSAI, Bord Bia and the HSE."

He adds that since the product is marketed as a food supplement, the company can't make any health claims, but that consumers of the products are reporting benefits from using the oils.

"I took the decision to take all calls from customers for the first year of the business. I have received calls from parents who say the oil when dropped on the tongue has helped their children who have autism and from people who say it has eased their arthritis," says Joe.

"I've written to Health Minister Simon Harris and would love to talk to him about the benefits."

The business recently signed a lucrative deal to supply the Lloyds Pharmacy chain in the UK.

The pair have 2,500 acres of land at their disposal in the Cooley peninsula, with 33 farmers on board. Ten acres were planted in 2014, 120 acres in 2016 and this year, 600 acres will be plotted with hemp.

Drought

The crop grows to up to 12ft high but only grew to 7ft last summer as a result of the drought.

"It's a resilient crop. Yield was very good last year, despite the weather. Once planted, the crop should germinate within seven days. Once it grows to three inches off the ground, you know it is fine but you need to monitor it," says Paul.

"Since it grows to 12ft in height, we use a drone to monitor the crop and we don't spray it. All going well, it should be ready to harvest in September."

In the early days of the business, Joe and Paul travelled to France and the Netherlands to hemp farms to learn how to grow the crop.

"We learned what not to do from those farms more than anything. We saw that while they grew the crop well, they didn't have the commercial experience to drive it forward," points out Paul.

"We harvest hemp as a dual crop with the seed on the top and straw on the bottom. The straw is shipped to the UK and the fibre is used to make high-end mattresses."

Since the business has an office and growers in Northern Ireland, Joe thinks the product should be insulated from Brexit, but he is concerned about a VAT increase on food supplements to 23pc, which is set to be introduced on March 1.

This will see the price of the 10ml bottle jump from the current 29.99 to 36 in March.

Joe says that the business currently has 16 staff and he has no plans to retire anytime soon.

"I want to bring this business as far as I can. I want to milk this success. I can't believe we have missed hemp in Ireland for so long. We are the hemp industry in Ireland and we are determined for it to grow and for farmers to be appreciated."

'This could be a multi-million crop for farmers if the shackles were removed'

Strict regulation is preventing Irish tillage farmers from taking advantage of a potential multi-million euro hemp industry, says Teagasc energy and rural development advisor, Barry Caslin.

"Joined-up thinking is needed with the Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Authority, Bord Bia and the Department of Justice on this. If the shackles were removed, this could be a multi-million euro crop for farmers," he says.

Mr Caslin meets regularly with 12 hemp farmers across the country who want to set up a hemp co-operative and remove the strict licensing around the crop.

Growth rate

The crop is also grown in Teagasc Oakpark each year and achieves a growth rate of 13-14 tonnes at 85pc dry matter per hectare. "It's an ideal break crop and has 5,000 different uses," explains Mr Caslin.

"A farmer in Cork is using it to make toilet paper and it's great for insulation. It can be used to make plastic and hempcrete so there are a lot of market opportunities there and an opportunity within the bio-economy.

IFA Renewables chair Tom Short added that: "Hemp offers an ideal opportunity for rural development in Ireland. Any crop that can be grown should be investigated. It would allow all farmers to make a contribution to the renewable industry."
Lorries queue on the A256 outside Dover, part of the landbridge to Ireland, during trials for post-Brexit disruption at Britains channel ports. Photo: Gareth Fuller/PA

France will be ready to handle border inspections in the event of a no-deal Brexit but fears long tailbacks at the Channel as goods flow between Britain and Europe, its agriculture minister said.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29, but Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to secure parliamentary approval for a divorce deal agreed with the EU last year.

May suffered another defeat in parliament over her Brexit strategy on Thursday, and Frances European affairs minister said Britain should hurry up and decide on its withdrawal terms.

France is the EUs biggest agricultural producer and exports large amounts of wine, spirits and dairy products to Britain, while relying on its neighbors waters to sustain its fishing industry.

Following the launch of a 50-million-euro ($56-million) no-deal Brexit plan in January, the French government has established large inspection zones at ports and recruited extra personnel, including 80 food safety inspectors, Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said.

France is genuinely ready to carry out checks and guarantee food safety in this country, Guillaume told Reuters.

The main traffic jam we fear is at the exit of the Channel Tunnel, he said, stressing that 80 percent of British food exports to the rest of the EU pass through France.

Businesses have been warning of long tailbacks for lorries transporting goods between Britain and mainland Europe, and the British government said last week most goods from the EU will be allowed into Britain without full customs checks for at least three months if there is no Brexit deal.

Guillaume said France would focus on checking documents rather than inspecting goods in order to get lorries quickly through freight corridors being set up at French ports.

Were not going to check everything because the British are not going to send us totally rotten produce, there is trust, he said. This is not war.

He dismissed fears in the farming world of a repeat of disruption caused by a Russian embargo on Western food in 2014 - which prompted the EU to grant 1 billion euros in aid to the dairy, fruit and vegetable sectors.

But he repeated French calls for Britain not to close its territorial fishing waters if it leaves the EU without an agreement.

That would be an unacceptable retaliatory measure, he said.

Fishing rights were a flashpoint between Britain and France last year when fishermen clashed in the Baie de Seine area of the Channel over access to scallop-rich waters.
No Brexit deal is better than a bad deal, a leading Democratic Unionist MP has told his party conference.

Nigel Dodds was speaking just days after MPs voted down Prime Minister Theresa May's approach to the Brexit talks.

MPs voted by 303 to 258 against a motion endorsing the government's negotiating strategy.

With just over 40 days to go until the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union, the DUP deputy leader said Mrs May will have their support if "necessary changes" are made to the backstop.

He told his party's spring conference in Omagh, Co Tyrone, that they want a Brexit deal, "but we are very clear that a no-deal is better than a bad deal".

"As we leave the EU - for us the guiding star is the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland," he said.

"We will do nothing to undermine that Union.

"The only way to a majority in the House of Commons is with DUP votes. With necessary changes to the backstop, the Prime Minister will have our support."

In her speech to the conference, Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster said her party will say no when the deal is "not suitable", but will also "not be afraid to say yes when the deal is right".

"We will measure any new draft Withdrawal Agreement against our own tests of both protecting the Union and respecting the referendum result," she said.

Mrs Foster added: "We must work for a sensible deal which works for every part of the United Kingdom."

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Taoiseach a hard border has to be on the table in a no-deal Brexit scenario, it has emerged.

Europes longest-serving leader questioned Leo Varadkars hard-line stance on the Border amid fears it was undercutting the EUs negotiating position.

The Irish Government has repeatedly insisted it is not preparing to erect any physical infrastructure at the Border, even if the UK crashes out without a deal on March 29.

But during a 40-minute phone call in early January, Ms Merkel suggested this approach was giving ammunition to Brexiteers in London.

Read More

Opponents of the so-called backstop, which ties Northern Ireland to EU regulations unless and until a workable trade deal is agreed, claim it is unnecessary because both he UK and Ireland have said they will not erect a border.

According to Bloomberg, Mr Varadkar explained to Ms Merkel that no Irish government would accept checkpoints that could become targets for violence.

Sources last night confirmed the accuracy of the report, but noted that Mr Varadkar has acknowledged the only way to avoid a border in the long-term is to have customs and regulatory alignment.

Since the phone call, Ms Merkel has publicly defended the need for the backstop. Meanwhile, both the Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader have insisted EU solidarity on the backstop is watertight.

The phone call between Mr Vardakar and Ms Merkel has been described by officials in Dublin as a brainstorming session during which he explained the context of the Irish situation.

Earlier this week, Ms Merkel said the EU and UK "must do everything to achieve an orderly Brexit" but a deal "must be a fair agreement that works in practice and we have some work ahead".

It comes as pro-Brexit members of Theresa May's government were reported as saying they are willing to accept a five-year limit on the backstop - a proposal that has already been rejected by the EU.

Read More

Speaking at the All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit, Mr Varadkar said: "Ireland's concerns on the Border have become EU concerns. Our insistence on a legally binding and operable means to avoid a hard Border has become an EU insistence."

The Taoiseach said those predicting the EU will abandon Ireland at the last minute in order to secure a Brexit deal "are in for a nasty surprise".

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: "There is no scenario where they [the EU27] will force Ireland to accept a deal." However, what happens if the UK leaves without a deal is less clear. The Border will become an EU frontier which Ireland will be expected to police in order to protect the single market.

The official Irish position now is that in a no-deal scenario "difficult discussions" between the UK, Ireland and EU will have to take place.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney indicated yesterday that Ireland will argue the UK must live up to its promise of avoiding a hard border through regulatory alignment even if it crashes out.

The Government has rejected suggestions from unnamed EU diplomats that an alternative to a hard border on the island would be for checks on goods leaving Ireland for the continent.

Mr Coveney said he is "suspicious" of such ideas coming from anonymous sources who may have an agenda.

However, they echo comments made in recent weeks by Belgium MEP Philippe Lamberts, a member of the Brexit steering group of the European Parliament.

"If Ireland refuses to protect the Border with Northern Ireland after a hard Brexit, we would have to relocate the customs border to the continent," he told German news outlet 'Der Spiegel'.

Mr Varadkar sought to categorically deny this proposal yesterday, saying: "We are founder members of the single market. We can't allow a decision made in Britain to leave the European Union to undermine our membership of the single market and customs union, which we will protect."

He added that checks on goods leaving Ireland "would create a hard border between Ireland and the European Union and that is not something we can accept".

Meanwhile, in a rare public appearance, former Taoiseach Brian Cowen has described the position of the UK parliament on Brexit as "unreasonable".

Addressing a meeting in Belfast, Mr Cowen said it is "a great failure in the negotiating process generally - not attributing any blame to anybody - that we have to come to this point where we don't have the clarity that one would expect after two years of arduous negotiation".

Mrs May did received a boost last night when US President Donald Trump predicted trade between the US and UK will increase "very substantially" after Brexit. "We're agreeing to go forward and preserve our trade agreement.

"You know all of the situation with respect to Brexit and the complexity and the problems, but we have a very good trading relationship with the UK and that's just been strengthened further.

"So with the UK we're continuing our trade and we're going to actually be increasing it very substantially as time goes by," Mr Trump said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Taoiseach a hard border has to be on the table in a no-deal Brexit scenario, it has emerged.

Europes longest-serving leader questioned Leo Varadkars hard-line stance on the Border amid fears it was undercutting the EUs negotiating position.

The Irish Government has repeatedly insisted it is not preparing to erect any physical infrastructure at the Border, even if the UK crashes out without a deal on March 29.

But during a 40-minute phone call in early January, Ms Merkel suggested this approach was giving ammunition to Brexiteers in London.

Opponents of the so-called backstop, which ties Northern Ireland to EU regulations unless and until a workable trade deal is agreed, claim it is unnecessary because both he UK and Ireland have said they will not erect a border.

According to Bloomberg, Mr Varadkar explained to Ms Merkel that no Irish government would accept checkpoints that could become targets for violence.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA Tanaiste Simon Coveney. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Sources last night confirmed the accuracy of the report, but noted that Mr Varadkar has acknowledged the only way to avoid a border in the long-term is to have customs and regulatory alignment.

Since the phone call, Ms Merkel has publicly defended the need for the backstop. Meanwhile, both the Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader have insisted EU solidarity on the backstop is watertight.

The phone call between Mr Vardakar and Ms Merkel has been described by officials in Dublin as a brainstorming session during which he explained the context of the Irish situation.

Earlier this week, Ms Merkel said the EU and UK "must do everything to achieve an orderly Brexit" but a deal "must be a fair agreement that works in practice and we have some work ahead".

It comes as pro-Brexit members of Theresa May's government were reported as saying they are willing to accept a five-year limit on the backstop - a proposal that has already been rejected by the EU.

Speaking at the All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit, Mr Varadkar said: "Ireland's concerns on the Border have become EU concerns. Our insistence on a legally binding and operable means to avoid a hard Border has become an EU insistence."

The Taoiseach said those predicting the EU will abandon Ireland at the last minute in order to secure a Brexit deal "are in for a nasty surprise".

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin said: "There is no scenario where they [the EU27] will force Ireland to accept a deal." However, what happens if the UK leaves without a deal is less clear. The Border will become an EU frontier which Ireland will be expected to police in order to protect the single market.

The official Irish position now is that in a no-deal scenario "difficult discussions" between the UK, Ireland and EU will have to take place.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney indicated yesterday that Ireland will argue the UK must live up to its promise of avoiding a hard border through regulatory alignment even if it crashes out.

The Government has rejected suggestions from unnamed EU diplomats that an alternative to a hard border on the island would be for checks on goods leaving Ireland for the continent.

Mr Coveney said he is "suspicious" of such ideas coming from anonymous sources who may have an agenda.

However, they echo comments made in recent weeks by Belgium MEP Philippe Lamberts, a member of the Brexit steering group of the European Parliament.

"If Ireland refuses to protect the Border with Northern Ireland after a hard Brexit, we would have to relocate the customs border to the continent," he told German news outlet 'Der Spiegel'.

Mr Varadkar sought to categorically deny this proposal yesterday, saying: "We are founder members of the single market. We can't allow a decision made in Britain to leave the European Union to undermine our membership of the single market and customs union, which we will protect."

He added that checks on goods leaving Ireland "would create a hard border between Ireland and the European Union and that is not something we can accept".

Meanwhile, in a rare public appearance, former Taoiseach Brian Cowen has described the position of the UK parliament on Brexit as "unreasonable".

Addressing a meeting in Belfast, Mr Cowen said it is "a great failure in the negotiating process generally - not attributing any blame to anybody - that we have to come to this point where we don't have the clarity that one would expect after two years of arduous negotiation".

Mrs May did received a boost last night when US President Donald Trump predicted trade between the US and UK will increase "very substantially" after Brexit. "We're agreeing to go forward and preserve our trade agreement.

"You know all of the situation with respect to Brexit and the complexity and the problems, but we have a very good trading relationship with the UK and that's just been strengthened further.

"So with the UK we're continuing our trade and we're going to actually be increasing it very substantially as time goes by," Mr Trump said.
Russian Emergency employees work at the scene of the collapse building of the Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics in St. Petersburg, Russia (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Several floors of a university building in St Petersburg have collapsed, Russian authorities said.

It is not clear what caused the collapse at the building in the Saint Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics.

News reports said there may have been students in the building for elective weekend instruction.

The school, known as ITMO University, is one of Russia's national research universities.
Thanks to Steven Panthera for this one. A lot of nominations, so I was strict, ruling out Bennie and the Jets and Holiday Inn because Elton John is a solo artist rather than a band. The same went for The Free Electric Band by Albert Hammond.

1. The One in the Middle, Manfred Mann, 1965. Let me tell you about the Manfreds  including a personnel check. Nominated by Teri Walsh and Pat Harty.

2. (Theme From) The Monkees, The Monkees, 1967. Better known as Hey, Hey, Were the Monkees. Thank you to Sirena Bergman.

3. Were an American Band, Grand Funk Railroad, 1973. Self-aggrandising but fun, from a band previously scorned by US critics, said Andrew Ruddle. The lyrics mention playing poker with blues great Freddie King, travelling through Little Rock, Arkansas, and stopping to party with four groupies who sneaked into their hotel in Omaha, Nebraska.

4. Saturday Gigs, Mott the Hoople, 1974. Take the mick out of Top of the Pops / We play better than they do. From David Lister.

5. The Worst Band in the World, 10cc, 1974. A song about being a terrible band by one of the best bands ever, said Andy Murray. Includes the lyric: Never seen the van  leave it to the roadies. Never met the roadies  leave em in the van.

6. Overnight Sensation, The Raspberries, 1974. The best song ever about wanting a hit record  which became a hit record, at least in the US: Andy Murray again.

7. Have a Cigar, Pink Floyd, 1975. Oh, by the way, which ones Pink? Thanks to Paul Frame.

Loading....

8. One Chord Wonders The Adverts, 1978. Were half way through our favourite song / We look up and the audience has gone. From Rlgkross.

9. Sultans of Swing, Dire Straits, 1978. Check out guitar George / He knows all the chords / Mind, its strictly rhythm / He doesnt want to make it cry or sing / Left-handed old guitar is all he can afford / When he gets up under the lights to play his thing. Many nominations, including from Steven Panthera and Adam Greves.

10. Yesterday When I Was Mad, Pet Shop Boys, 1993. Its fabulous youre still around today / Youve both made such a little go a very long way. Nominated by Corvette Pete.

Several nominations, from Gideon Rachman, Roger McCormick and Steven Fogel, for Travelin Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970, but I dont like it.

Next week: Widely accepted aphorisms that are untrue, such as: i before e except after c.

Coming soon: Titles changed for foreign markets, such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk
Never mind the Brexit deal; hows no deal going?

As usual with Brexit, it depends who you ask. Alistair Burt, an oldschool Europhile foreign office minister: We are not leaving without a deal. If you want to leave, youd better agree on one. In the next fortnight would help.

Clear enough. But Andrea Leadsom, leader of the house of Commons, and well-known Leaver, rather contradicted him shortly after he spoke, saying that no deal is absolutely still on the table: The government does not want no deal, but it is there because that is the legal default position, and any competent government must prepare for all eventualities.

Business minister Richard Harrington is openly talking about quitting if no deal became policy. Other ministers, up to and including the cabinet, have let their similar sentiments be known (including the chancellor, Philip Hammond, work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd, justice secretary David Gauke and business secretary Greg Clark).

On the other side, the likes of Leadsom have let it be known that they would quit if no deal is ruled out. Michael Gove, though a conviction Leaver, is thought to be terrified of no deal, and the prime minister... ? According to her chief EU negotiator, Olly Robbins, shed rather delay Brexit than leave with no deal. One of her spin doctors said the same thing the other week; that she already rules out no deal, but cant say so in public. I heard that on Radio 4.

Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Show all 18 1 /18 Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well These billboards were plastered by campaign group Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well PA Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter Top politicians' Brexit tweets haven't aged well @ByDonkeys / Twitter

So lets concentrate on what is really clear and plain fact. No deal has to be kept on the table so that Theresa May can threaten people  soft Labour MPs, in every sense  with it. Time is her only reliable ally in this war, and, as is apparent, she is running down the clock to make the choices for MPs starker and more urgent. Her strength is her stamina. She is gambling that at some point they will throw the towel in, and enough of them on either side will find themselves in a bizarre inchoate alliance to approve her withdrawal agreement because they dislike the alternatives more. A majority of one would be sufficient. She will, as is also clear, promise anything and bribe anyone to get what she wants.

Another thing that is plain is that this game of chicken could go wrong, and wed leave the EU with an accidental Brexit on the worst possible terms. Its not supposed to go this way, and it would deliver a hard border on the Irish border within weeks, but accidents do happen.

The question is how and when no deal will be taken off the table. Will it be when the Commons votes for her deal? What if it refuses, again? What if other options, such as delaying Article 50 or a second referendum remain on the table, and seem more attractive? What if parliament takes back control over the negotiations? What if the EU refuses to extend Article 50, or only does so on condition there is a democratic consultation, such as a referendum or general election?

There are 650 MPs in the House of Commons. Of them, only somewhere between 30 and 100 would be prepared to countenance no deal, and a few would positively welcome it. That means that something like 600 MPs are against no deal and would dump it tomorrow if they could. There is a Commons majority of 500+ against no deal (give or take, leaving aside the speaker, Sinn Fein, eccentrics and suspended MPs). It would be strange indeed if such an overwhelming majority wasnt able to make its voice heard and its views effective. As May says, they should keep their nerve, but at some point they will need to act, before it is too late, even if means splitting the cabinet and fracturing the government.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

A final irony. As is not stressed often enough, the Commons is not being asked to vote on a deal or no deal  but only half a deal. The proper UK-EU deal does not exist. There is the divorce deal, the UK-EU withdrawal agreement, and a political declaration about a future trade and security deal, but thats all. At best, then, we have part of a deal. So even if no deal is rejected, and the withdrawal agreement is approved, MPs will still have only agreed on the less important bit of the UK-EU trade deal.

The choice, in other words, is actually between no deal and half a deal (or a second referendum). There is no comprehensive deal to vote on.

Clear?
The furore over Shamima Begum is unfathomable. Theresa May is using this as a smokescreen to divert public attention from her failure to negotiate a good withdrawal deal with the EU.

As home secretary, May once asked universities and colleges to essentially spy on Muslims. And while the idea of identifying people who are vulnerable to extremism and radicalisation is to be applauded, it was bound to class the entire Muslim community as suspicious and drive a chasm between Muslims and non-Muslims in this age of populism, antisemitism and Islamophobia. It also fails to address the root causes of homegrown terrorism and acknowledge Britains complicity in the gruesome atrocities perpetrated in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob

London NW2

What happens if Britain washes its hands of Shamima Begum? Isis will set her up somewhere blogging the UK with stories of how Britain dumped her because of a decision she made aged 15, whereas her new friends support her unconditionally.

What does that say about Britain? Shell turn other young heads.

Conversely, if we welcome her and her new child back to their UK home, she may blog for our side. And her publishing deal  a Four Years With Isis bestseller, the profits of which should go to victims of terror  will place her in the top taxpayer bracket, paying for her use of the welfare state.

Barry Tighe

Woodford Green

The Iraq war is to blame for Isis

Towards the end of his excellent review of the debacle that is now Middle Eastern politics and strife, Patrick Cockburn draws attention to the difference between the reaction to Tony Blairs invasion of Iraq and the lukewarm attitude at the beginning to events in Syria.

At the time, the negative response by the west to appeals for help from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighting against the tyranny of the Syrian regime could be attributed to a reaction against western interference in Syrian affairs as a result of the quagmire in post-Saddam Iraq created by lack of planning for the country after hostilities had ceased. This was exacerbated by the over rapid de-Baathification of the infrastructure resulting in chaos which continues to the present day.

In other words, if George W Bush and Blair, rather than acting on spurious intelligence and invading Iraq, had concentrated on developing Afghanistan after defeating the Taliban, there might have been less resistance by voters to helping the FSA at the outset in Syria and Isis would have been stifled before it could gain a foothold in the region.

Patrick Cleary

Devon

Sean OGrady writes: The time has surely come for the public to be confronted with a plan for the consequences of Brexit and [be] asked if they still want to go ahead.

We should have been confronted with a plan two years ago but were given nothing but slogans: cheap, nasty slogans that did nothing to address the gross inequalities brought about by austerity and by a nasty Tory party that was happy to allow the EU to be blamed for all our woes.

So, when OGrady gets his initial wish and we leave the EU, who will be to blame when it all goes to pot  as it most certainly (and foreseeably) will? The prime minister for not getting the right deal? Not the Brexiteers, you may be certain. Not David Davis, not Liam Fox, not Michael Gove not Boris Johnson (now officially and, by a long street, the worst foreign minister we have ever had  as, tragically, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe can testify  and a very expensive mayor, and not Jacob, who clearly lives in another universe.

Jeremy Corbyn has been equally useless. So, who will to be to blame? Who, if any, of those fine Brexiteers would like to own up to not having had anything even close to resembling a plan that OGrady now, belatedly, seeks?

Beryl Wall

London W4

How Jacob Rees-Mogg convinced me to love the EU

On Question Time this week, Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed that the EU is a failed economic model, stifled by regulation, that we must leave, with the eurozone achieving growth of only 26 per cent since the euro was introduced, while admitting almost in the same breath that our growth in that same period was 44 per cent, even faster than that great example of deregulated markets, America, which grew by 42 per cent.

This suggests to me that we have a fantastic deal in the EU. For example, we were allowed to stay out of the euro, the cause of most of their problems, and we would be foolish to abandon this deal which has served us so well in return for the vague hopes and promises, not to say lies, of the Brexiteers, that even when supposedly applied in the US did not yield as good a result as we got within the EU. Why on earth is he arguing for us to leave on the basis of evidence that actually points in exactly the opposite direction?

Even if he is right, we must not forget that, perhaps in an unguarded moment, he admitted that it might take up to 50 years for his supposed benefits to come through.

He might also have been challenged on the 2017 election result: the Conservatives, promising to leave the single market and the customs union, failed to get a majority and are only in office because of questionable inducements to a Northern Ireland party that only reflects the minority opinion there on Brexit. Not really a convincing mandate for a hard brexit.

We must not allow the Brexiteers to get away with such absurd arguments, especially if we do manage to get a second referendum, in which every vote will count.

Adrian Cosker

Hertfordshire

We could all learn something from the younger generation

As our parliamentarians behave like children, milling around the playground in gangs, obsessed with the Brexit craze, cowed by bullies, the free riders seeking to profit from the chaos of no deal, it falls to our schoolchildren to sound the alarm bells of the issue which, but for the saturation of parliament by this futile and manufactured craze, would, one likes to think, be firmly on the centre of this farcical stage  the very real peril of the extinction of our species.

As we bemoan the alienation of our youth from politics, can we wonder that our children, acutely aware of the dark shadow over their future, in desperation decide to break school rules to shame our politicians, and to inject some much-needed anger and urgency into the meandering climate change debate.

While the planet manifests its increasing volatility with ever more frequent extreme weather events, what is so dispiriting is the fact that the vast complexity of extrication from the EU was entirely predictable, had those responsible for inducing the slender majority of the electorate to vote Leave paused for a moment to consider what it was they were advocating. Unless, of course, a parliament drowning in the intractability of the process is what they were seeking.

As denigration of parliament rightly descends to utter disillusion, it is time to heed the timely wisdom coming from the mouths of our children.

Martin Allen

West Sussex
The experiment has ended. Finland tried a pilot scheme for a universal basic income for its unemployed people  they got a monthly payment from the state whether or not they got a job instead of the usual unemployment benefit, which would end once they found work.

So what happened? We got the results last week, and they carry lessons for other countries  perhaps especially for the US  seeking to find ways of reforming their welfare systems.

In a nutshell, giving people a universal income did not help them get into jobs, but they did feel somewhat happier than those in the control group.

The general reaction to this is that the experiment has been somewhat disappointing. You would expect people to be more willing to take on a job if they knew that they would still keep their state benefit, but this has not happened. And the difference in happiness, while statistically significant, is not that huge.

But I take away a rather different lesson. It is that the idea of doing randomised trials is a really sensible way of evaluating social policies. If this technique were more widely applied, it would be possible to fine-tune welfare support systems so that they gave taxpayers better value for their money, and recipients a higher quality of benefits. The universal basic income is an idea that has generated a lot of global interest. For example, the opposition party in India wants to do something similar. But this is the first proper national randomised trial on a national basis anywhere in the world to see whether it works.

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.

Before any new drug is introduced, there are randomised trials to see whether it is safe, whether it improves the condition of the patients, or there are side effects, and so on. Why not apply the same to social policies?

The pioneer for applying randomised trials to social policy is Esther Duflo, the French-born economist who works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is wonderful. However she has focussed mainly on developing countries. It seems to me she could be equally useful nearer home, for US social policy needs a thorough overhaul  but one driven by evidence of what works best, rather than the political headlining stuff of the moment.

Recommended How a universal basic income could help women in abusive relationships

Look at the pitch of the left-leaning prominent Democrats. Elizabeth Warren has called for a wealth tax to fund an expansion of welfare spending. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants a top rate of income tax of up to 70 per cent. And presidential candidate Andrew Yang wants a monthly income of $1,000 for everyone.

The trouble is that these plans  the wealth tax, the high marginal rate of income tax, and the universal monthly income  are all framed without proper reference to the experience of other countries. Of course you cannot transplant a programme from one country and expect it to bring the same results. Our cultures and economies are all different. But I would expect Senator Warren to have looked at how wealth taxes performed in Europe and Canada before proposing one for the US. (The answer is not very well.)

Ocasio-Cortez should be aware that the European and UK experience suggests that the top rate of income tax to maximise the revenue seems to be somewhere between 40 per cent and 50 per cent. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has done a lot of work on this. Back in the 1950s and 1960s top tax rates were 70 per cent or higher in much of the developed world, including the US and UK. But governments found that when they cut top rates to 50 per cent or below, tax revenues from the wealthy went up, not down.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

As for a universal income programme, well, Finlands experience shows that while it may bring some benefits, it is not a magic bullet for nudging unemployed people into work.

My point here is that countries need to learn from each other. There are aspects of government policy where the US has a lot to teach the UK and Europe  encouraging more business startups, for example. Equally there are areas where Europe has more experience than the US. Social policy is one.

Finland has done a randomised trial of a particular welfare policy. We should learn from this. And governments throughout the developed world should carry out more such studies about other social policies before they launch some politically-attractive new initiative  and find it doesnt work.
Another airline has collapsed: Flybmi, based at East Midlands airport, has stopped flying and gone into administration. These are the key questions and answers.

Who was Flybmi?

It has a long history as the regional arm of British Midland, later BMI. When British Airways took over BMI in 2012, BA said it was uninterested in the regional operation. BMI Regional, as it was initially known, was sold off to investors who oped to develop a flourishing carrier.

Like Flybmi, Ryanair was once a small, struggling regional airline, and through cutting costs and fares has grown into the giant of European budget aviation. But Flybmis model involved charging premium fares for niche routes.

Where did Flybmi actually fly?

From regional UK airports (Aberdeen, Bristol, East Midlands and Newcastle) to Continental and Scandinavian destinations including Brussels, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Oslo, Paris and Stavanger.

It also operated the heavily subsidised route between City of Derry and London Stansted.

How big was Flybmi?

The airline had 17 small jet aircraft carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights in 2018. That is as many as Ryanair flies in a day-and-a-half.

Why did it close?

The airline was heavily loss-making, and no-one was prepared to put in extra funding. The average passenger load per flight was just 18, meaning even the small regional jet planes flown by Flybmi were less than half-full. While many of the airlines passengers were business travellers paying high fares, price-sensitive travellers (like me) would opt for alternative routes on cheaper carriers.

Rather than paying 74 one way from Stansted to City of Derry, I prefer to pay one quarter the fare to Belfast International and complete the journey overland.

Since Flybmi split away from BMI, investors have pumped in 40m, which represents a subsidy of about 13 per passenger ever flown.

The airline cites uncertainty over the UK leaving the European Union as a key factor, saying: The challenges, particularly those created by Brexit, have proven to be insurmountable.

Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around Flybmis ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe.

If planes were half-empty  why didnt Flybmi simply halve the number of flights to fill them all up?

The airline was firmly aimed at business travellers, who demand a choice of departures. Were the twice-daily Bristol-Munich route to become only a single daily service, the average load might have fallen even further.

What happens to people who are currently away from home and were planning to fly back on Flybmi?

Tickets issued directly by Flybmi are worthless. Grounded passengers will become unsecured creditors of an airline with no assets. However, other carriers will step in to offer rescue fares on replacement routes. For example, Ryanair is selling 9.99 tickets between Belfast International and Stansted for passengers on the City of Derry route.

Travel insurance may cover additional costs, such ground transport and hotel accommodation.

Passengers with Flybmi flights that were sold by codeshare partners  Lufthansa, Brussels Airlines, Turkish Airlines, Loganair, Air France and Air Dolomiti  should contact the carrier that issued the tickets about alternative flights.

I have a future booking. What are my options?

For bookings made with Flybmi, the airline has no assets and will never fly again. The standard procedure will be for passengers to contact their card issuer to begin the process of obtaining a refund.

For codeshare flights, the airline that sold the ticket should offer alternatives.

The very small number of passengers whose bookings were made as part of a package holiday should contact the tour operator to discuss options.

I have paid for car rental and accommodation bookings. If I cant find alternative flights, will I be compensated for my costs?

You may be able to claim these costs back from your card issuer or travel insurer.

What happens to routes which were operated by Flybmi  will someone else step in?

Airlines will move in on the abandoned routes if they believe there is a market. The Scottish airline Loganair will take over the route from Aberdeen to Bristol, Oslo and Esbjerg on 4 March, and those from Newcastle to Stavanger and Brussels on 25 March.

Airline Investments Ltd owned both Flybmi and Loganair.

On the City of Derry-Stansted link, the availability of a generous subsidy means that another airline is likely to take over very soon. A route such as Bristol to Munich, connecting two big cities, may prove appealing to other carriers.

Why are times so tough?

This winter is proving extremely cruel to small airlines, which have high fixed costs and, currently, very low revenues. It has precipitated the collapse of Primera Air, Cobalt of Cyprus and Germania before Flybmi.

Flybe, which is continuing operations as normal, has been rescued by a cash injection from a consortium involving Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Air and a US hedge fund  which bought it for just 2.2m.

Small regional airlines based in the UK are particularly vulnerable. Return journeys on domestic flights are subject to 26 in Air Passenger Duty, placing them at an immediate disadvantage. And whenever a route becomes successful, it is likely that a bigger player will elbow in with larger planes and lower fares.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Demand across Europe is extremely weak. Even during half-term I am flying from Luton to Lisbon for 32. Later on this month there are plenty of flights to France, Spain, Germany and Italy that are being sold at a loss  for less than the 13 the airline must pay in Air Passenger Duty, such as Manchester to Cologne in Germany and Stansted to Castellon in Spain.

With passengers spoiled for choice and keen to find low fares, airlines with high costs  as small regional airlines tend to be  watch their passengers disappear to bigger rivals.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, representing 13 British carriers, said the collapse should give government pause for thought about the costs they are asking airlines to absorb and to what extent this is sustainable into the future.

Whos next to fail?

Speculation is rife in aviation circles about possible collapses. If travellers shy away from airlines that are rumoured to be on the brink, these can prove self-fulfilling prophecies. The best advice is to ensure that flight bookings are protected  paid by credit card and, if possible, bought as part of a package.

I have been waiting for 250 in compensation from Flybmi following a severely delayed flight. Will I ever see the money?

No.
Eurostar has cancelled four trains from Paris to London St Pancras on Sunday, and delayed or diverted others, due to the deactivation of a Second World War bomb disposal to the north of the French terminus at Gare du Nord.

The bomb was found earlier this month by workers on a building site near Porte de la Chapelle, north of Gare du Nord.

The cross-Channel train operator has warned of major disruption both to our services and transport throughout Paris on Sunday 17 February.

Besides the main line north from Paris Gare du Nord to Lille and Calais, RER suburban rail and Metro services face disruption  as will the A1 autoroute.

Eurostar is telling passengers: As a result of this operation we have had to substantially revise our plan for Sunday and will be running a modified timetable.

This includes the cancellation of five services and the rerouting of one service to Marne-la-Vallee.

Due to the high volume of customers and limited availability, we are advising that customers travelling this weekend change their plans.

The train operator is offering free exchanges or full refunds.

Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Show all 29 1 /29 Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Water cannons are turned on the protesters Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Riot police detain protesters EPA Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A car is set alight in the protests AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures The Arc de Triomphe is graffitied with the slogan: 'he yellow vests will triumph' Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters barricade themselves on the Champs Elysees as police line the streets Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester fires at police with a slingshot AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester holds up a sign that reads 'your Europe ruins us' Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester gestures amidst burning cars EPA Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters walk amidst tear gas near the Arc de Triomphe Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester runs amidst tear gas Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters on the Champs Elysees amidst tear gas AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters in yellow vests gather outside the town hall in Bordeaux EPA Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters gather on the Champs Elysees after the police deploy tear gas AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters stand by the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Paris AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester waves a French flag Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Riot police take formation AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A general view of the Champs Elysees in Paris today as protesters clash with police Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester wears a jacket reading 'Macron, thief, lier, crook, go away, the people banish you' AP Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters gather on the Champs Elysees AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters hold a French flag by a burning barricade AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters gather by a fire AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Water cannons are turned on the protesters Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester wears an adapted yellow vest reading 'Macron's cemetery: here lies your buying power' AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters gather by a burning car AFP/Getty Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Riot police advance through tear gas followed closely by their water cannon EPA Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Tear gas is deployed to deter the protesters Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester waves a French flag amidst tear gas AP Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures Protesters walk amidst tear gas by the Arc de Triomphe Reuters Clashes at the Paris fuel protests: in pictures A protester holds a sign asking for the reintroduction of ISF (an old French tax on wealth) AFP/Getty

Trains from Paris to London are worst affected. The four cancelled trains would normally carry up to 3,600 passengers.

Many passengers in the French capital for a late Valentine getaway could be stranded until Monday.

Two other trains are being delayed.

A single London-Paris service has been cancelled. Passengers on the southbound train diverted to Marne-la-Vallee, the station for Disneyland Paris, will be given tickets for the RER to the city centre.

The train operator said: Were very sorry for the inconvenience caused by a delay or cancellation to your Eurostar journey. We understand how stressful this can be and we will always try our best to prevent this.

The deactivation will also cause problems for travellers between Paris Charles de Gaulle airport and the city centre.
It will also develop a multi-generational playscape complete with fun activities for adults and children, according to the release. It will have an educational component to it as well, according to the Park District release. The grant will pay for nearly half the project cost.
In a dark, damp living room a young boy leans forward awkwardly as he sits alone on green patterned floor cushions. His gaze to the floor, wrapped in blankets, he huddles by the family stove. Abdul Al Moamen,10, slowly raises his eyes to meet the last of the evening light finding the gaps in the mortar between the concrete blocks of the walls of his family home.

With the sound of feet shuffling on the coarse concrete floor and a rustling of papers, his father, Muhammad, emerges from the black of the adjoining room. He clutches an armful of medical documents written in French, a language he cannot read. His son is two years overdue a heart operation that would save his life.

Ahmed Fawzi, Lebanon country director for Muslim Aid, a UK-based NGO, discusses the case and an immediate course of action with the family. Abdul quietly cries in the corner, the tears journeying down his cheeks past his visibly blue lips, the cyanosis a sign that his heart is failing. He understands the dismal prognosis. He slumps against the wall and his eyes return to the floor, defeated.

His family, like many Syrian refugees, rely solely on UN handouts of under a dollar a day to survive. His father, an unemployed labourer, is in no position to contribute his share of the $50,000 procedure to save his son's life, instead forced to borrow money for food expenses and rent. He is not alone. Almost nine out of every ten refugees say they are in debt to shopkeepers and landlords, further highlighting the vulnerabilities of most Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

Abdul and his family are amongst the 60,000 refugees across 6,000 tents in the Arsal region of east Lebanon. The al-Wafa camp in which they live hosts 700 Syrians who fled their homes at the outbreak of civil war in 2012.

Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Show all 17 1 /17 Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Nagan, 12, is one of 180,000 Syrian refugee children Unicef has identified as OOSC (Out Of School Children) who have been forced into work in Lebanon Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The majestic snow capped mountains overlooking al-Wafa refugee camp in Arsal, Lebanon. It is home to 700 refugees who fled their homes at the outbreak of civil war in 2012 Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Fuda al-Bareesh, 92, spends her days in solitude at Alsalam 2 camp in Arsal, Lebanon. She made the journey from Syria across the mountains alone on a donkey Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Kareemah, 21, mother of two from Chebaa, southern Lebanon. She is unsure how her family will be able to afford basics like food and fuel if aid is cut off Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Exercising patience in the cold, men and women wait to collect winter fuel at Alsalam camp, Arsal. Gifted by Muslim Aid UK donors, each family receives 20 litres  enough for two days of continuous heat Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The view to the snow covered mountains through the cracked pane of glass at al-Wafa camp Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year At al-Wafa refugee camp in Arsal, Abdul Al Moamen, 10, sits in tears Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed, 3, helps his eldest brother to move the empty plastic jerry cans along the line as they get refilled at a fuel distribution centre Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Qaram, 8, was orphaned when her father was killed by Isis. She is in desperate need of an operation to save her sight. Instead of going to school, she works eight-hour shifts each day on a nearby farm Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed Fawzi, Lebanon country director for Muslim Aid, comforts Abdul al-Moamen Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Bisan, 5, plays with friends in among puddles of rainwater from recent storms Norma and Miriam Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Amina Safadi is a beneficiary of the Primary Healthcare Centre in Chebaa, Lebanon. The ICRC-accredited facility welcomes the most marginalised Lebanese residents as well as Syrian refugees. Safadi says she has no idea what she would do if the service was unavailable Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The queue for fuel at a fuel distribution centre in Arsal Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Hadi, 6, waits with aid workers whilst his mother collects heating fuel for the familys stove Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Fuel bowser delivers aid to the 700 residents at al-Wafa camp Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year The child workers of Lebanon. Unicef says 180,000 children are working on farms and in factories Paddy Dowling Return to Lebanon: Syrian refugee crisis in its eighth year Ahmed Slabi and his five children. What are my choices now for me and my family? It's bad here or worse in Syria. He feels dependent on international aid, a social pariah and beggar in a country that is not his own Paddy Dowling

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees claims 948,849 Syrian refugees are registered in Lebanon, but actual figures from municipalities and central government report that 1.5 million have spilled across the border, adding to 450,000 Palestinians according to the UN Relief and Works Agency.

What are my choices now for me and my family  its the bad here or the worst in Syria. Ahmed Slabi, 45, from Homs, describes having to leave a life where he asked for nothing to now subsisting on international aid, a social pariah, begging in a country which is not his own.

The local residents of Arsal have been kind to us, they welcomed us and helped us when we needed it most  but as their community struggle themselves, inevitably, they grow tired of our presence and we are now tired of being here.

Recommended Bloody battle for last Isis territory nears end in Syria

This is the world's largest refugee crisis and it has been shouldered by countries such as Lebanon which have provided sanctuary for millions, sharing access to education, hospitals and other services on an unprecedented scale. With the crisis now in its eighth year and no clear end in sight, international humanitarian funding is looking decidedly uncertain for 2019. Has the world simply had enough of this crisis?

Ahmed, father of five, is faced with an unimaginable dilemma: stay and starve at Aedoun Camp or travel the 80km back over the mountain pass to his home in Syria, and likely starve there too. Help us please, we cannot survive here like this anymore. The exhausted, anguished plea of a raddled man.

Many Syrians contemplate the difficult journey home, to the towns and villages from which they fled, many with only the clothes on their backs, unsure now whether they still have homes to come back to.

UNHCR records indicate to date only 12,620 refugees have voluntarily returned to Syria. Only 1,398 have done so from Lebanon - an insignificant 0.1 per cent.

Fuda Al-Bareesh, 92, spends her days in her solitude at Alsalam 2 Camp. As temperatures consistently fall to -5 degrees celsius at night she has chosen staying warm over eating (Paddy Dowling)

Basking in the intoxicating paraffin warmth of her tent, Fuda Al-Bareesh, 92, spends her days alone. At the arrival of visitors her piercing blue eyes sparkle momentarily, catching the light from the open doorway. Her journey from Syria by donkey was also alone, and to this day she has heard no news of her children from whom she was separated in the exodus of 2012. Kindly neighbours fetch her fuel for her, but she often has to go without food to pay for it

Outside, a queue forms at the distribution near the camps entrance. Men, woman and children queue patiently one behind the other, their breath hanging motionless, suspended in the crisp winter morning air. The blue jerry cans with red caps gripped by their cold weathered hands hung by their side and twitched and danced in the line, empty with the anticipation of being refilled. A fuel bowser arrived to dispense 20 litres of free heating fuel for families desperate to keep their stoves lit as temperatures consistently fall to -5 degrees celsius at night.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Jehangir Malik, head of Muslim Aid, explains, As we complain about our mild winters in the UK, our heartfelt thoughts go out to the people of the Lebanon where the habitations of Syrian refugees and local communities have been ravaged by the snow, rain and wind of recent storms Norma and Miriam. Through local teams, we have brought heating fuel, mattresses and blankets which will give people some comfort, but there is still so much more to be done. We must also lobby for more international support to the Lebanon which is providing temporary refuge to so many who have fled the ongoing dire violence and upheaval in Syria.

Storms Norma and Miriam have left rubbish floating in the deep stagnant rainwater in the alleyways between the white tarpaulin tents at Somakia Refugee camp in the northern Lebanese town of Akkar. Qaram, eight, sits on a green sun-beaten plastic chair in the doorway of her home. A large fabric patch covers her right eye, which she hides from onlookers out of embarrassment. She is in desperate need of an operation to save her sight. Qaram is an orphan, her father killed by Isis who suspected him of siding with the Syrian regime in Akesh in east Sulaymaniyah. Her grief stricken mother abandoned Qaram and her five other siblings when she was just two years old. While she is now cared for by extended family, there is little chance they will be able to raise any money to fund the $7,500 cost of the procedure. While Qaram waits in hope, she has been forced out of school to contribute to her new family, working eight hour shifts every day with her friends on a nearby farm.

Qaram, 8, is in desperate need of an operation to save her sight (Paddy Dowling)

Local farmers visit refugee camps to recruit children to plant and harvest their crops, for which they pay around $3 per day. Unicef have identified around 180,000 Syrian OOSC (Out Of School Children) in Lebanon alone that are forced into child labour on farms and in factories to support their families.

Education is the key to empowering Syria's next generation and provide support for their families and communities. Mary Joy Pigozzi, executive director of Educate A Child, explains "To help address the plight of Syrian and Palestinian children in Lebanon who have been affected by the conflict in Syria, EAAs Educate A Child programme has partnered with UNRWA and the US. Fund for Unicef to increase education access for OOSC; provide psychosocial and survival skills support systems; deliver learning content adapted to the aggravated setting; improve the quality of teaching; ensure safe learning environments; construct/rehabilitate learning spaces; and train school management staff."

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are still more vulnerable than ever, with more than half living in extreme poverty and three quarters below the poverty line. Eight years into the crisis, Syrian refugees in Lebanon are more reliant than ever on aid. With continued support from the International community and the patience and good grace of the Lebanese people maybe one day they will make their journey home.

While Abduls brothers and sisters play outside on the snow-capped mountains of Arsal, he remains by the family stove in the living room with his parents, praying for a miracle to keep him alive.

You can donate to Muslim Aid's global winter appeal here
Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives during his visit to Pakistan on Sunday, in an effort to broker an end to Afghanistans 17-year-old civil war, Pakistani government sources have said.

Pakistan has been playing an increasingly vital role in the Afghanistan peace talks, which have been gathering momentum in recent months amid a growing US desire to pull out its troops.

Along with other Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia has been part of the peace negotiations and is seen to have some sway over the Afghan Taliban militants due to Riyadhs historical ties with the hardline Islamist group and the kingdoms religious clout as the birthplace of Islam.

Two senior Pakistani officials said the crown prince was likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives in Islamabad, where the militants, fighting to restore strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan after their 2001 ouster, say they are due to meet US representatives and Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan.

Though it is top secret so far, there are strong indications representatives of the Afghan Taliban will meet Prince Salman during their visit of Pakistan on 18 February, one Pakistani official in Islamabad said.

Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear Show all 16 1 /16 Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2001 Afghans at the Killi Faizo refugee camp desperately reach for bags of rice being handed out to the thousands who escaped the bombardment in southern Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom. (Chaman, Pakistan, December 4, 2001) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2002 Mahbooba stands against a bullet-ridden wall, waiting to be seen at a medical clinic. The seven-year-old girl suffers from leishmaniasis, a parasitical infection. (Kabul, March 1, 2002) All photos Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2003 A mother and her two children look out from their cave dwelling. Many families who, fleeing the Taliban, took refuge inside caves adjacent to Bamiyans destroyed ancient Buddha statues now have nowhere else to live. (Bamiyan, November 19, 2003) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2007 Students recite prayers in a makeshift outdoor classroom in the Wakhan Corridor, a mountainous region in northeastern Afghanistan that extends to China and separates Tajikistan from India and Pakistan. (Northeastern Afghanistan, September 2, 2007) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2007 Bodybuilders in the 55-60 kg category square off during a regional bodybuilding competition. Many Afghan men, like others around the world, feel that a macho image of physical strength is important. (Kabul, August 6, 2007) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2008 A woman in a white burqa enjoys an afternoon with her family feeding the white pigeons at the Blue Mosque. (Mazar-e-Sharif, March 8, 2008) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2009 Addicts inject heroin while trying to keep warm inside the abandoned Russian Cultural Center, which the capital citys addicts use as a common gathering point. Heroin is readily available, costing about one dollar a hit. (Kabul, February 9, 2009) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2009 An elderly man holds his granddaughter in their tent at a refugee camp after they were forced to flee their village, which US and NATO forces had bombed because, they claimed, it was a Taliban hideout. (Surobi, Nangarhar Province, February 7, 2009) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2009 Seven-year-old Attiullah, a patient at Mirwais Hospital, stands alongside an X ray showing the bullet that entered his back, nearly killing him. Attiullah was shot by US forces when he was caught in a crossfire as he was herding sheep. (Kandahar, October 13, 2009). Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2010 US Army Sargeant Jay Kenney (right), with Task Force Destiny, helps wounded Afghan National Army soldiers exit a Blackhawk helicopter after they have been rescued in an air mission. (Kandahar, December 12, 2010) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2010 An Afghan National Army battalion marches back to barracks at the Kabul Military Training Center. (Kabul, October 4, 2010) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2014 Eid Muhammad, seventy, lives in a house with a view overlooking the hills of Kabul. He and millions of other Afghans occupy land and housing without possessing formal deeds to them. (Kabul, November 21, 2014) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2014 Razima holds her two-year-old son, Malik, while waiting for medical attention at the Boost Hospital emergency room. (Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, June 23, 2014) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2014 Young women cheer as they attend a rally for the Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani. (Kabul, April 1, 2014) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2014 Burqa-clad women wait to vote after a polling station runs out of ballots. (Kabul, April 5, 2014) Paula Bronstein Afghanistan: Between Hope and Fear 2015 Relatives, friends, and womens rights activists grieve at the home of Farkhunda Malikzada, who was killed by a mob in the center of Kabul. Farkhunda was violently beaten and set on fire after a local cleric accused her of burning a Quran. (Kabul, March 22, 2015) Paula Bronstein

A senior Taliban leader in Qatar said no decision had been made on whether they would meet the crown prince.

 Mohammed bin Salman: Islamic law 'does not particularly specify a black abaya or a black head cover'

Actually meeting Prince Salman is not in the plan so far but we can discuss it when we are in Islamabad, said the Taliban representative.

Pakistans Foreign Office and Saudi Arabias government did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The crown prince is expected to leave Pakistan on Monday after signing a raft of investment agreements in the energy sector for more than $10bn.

But his trip, which Islamabad is treating as the biggest state visit in years, risks being overshadowed by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following a militant attack on Indian security forces in the disputed Kashmir region.

New Delhi says Pakistan had a hand in the attack by a militant group which is based on Pakistani soil, something Islamabad denies.

Reuters
Kurdish-led fighters are on the verge of capturing the last Isis enclave, with the jidahi groups once-sprawling caliphate reduced to just 700sq m in eastern Syria.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said it would seize control of the village of Baghouz, where a pocket of Isis fighters is holed up, in a very short time after hundreds of militants reportedly surrendered.

Battle commander Jiya Furat said the SDF had cornered the remaining militants in one tiny neighbourhood but were moving cautiously because of civilians and hostages trapped there as human shields.

The mostly foreign Isis fighters have been hiding among civilians in a tiny camp in Deir ez-Zor province, the last remnant of a proclaimed caliphate that once encompassed over 41,000 square miles of Iraq and Syria.

About 440 jihadis have surrendered during a week-long SDF offensive backed by US airstrikes and special forces, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

The UK-based observatory said the SDF had taken control of Baghouz on Saturday, but Mr Furat said a few hundred jidahis still held 700sq m of territory on the eastern bank of the Euphrates river.

The village is under the fire of our forces ... but thousands of civilians are still trapped there as human shields, he told Reuters.

In the coming few days, in a very short time, we will spread the good tidings to the world of the military end of Daesh.

President Donald Trump said on Friday he expected the eradication of the caliphate to be announced within 24 hours.

But the SDF offensive was complicated by the discovery that about 1,600 women and children, mostly families of Isis fighters, remained in the village.

This was a surprise. We did not imagine there would be this number of civilians left, said commander Adnan Afrin on Friday. We do not want to cause a massacre against civilians in the last pocket.

More than 20,000 civilians, many of them the wives of Isis militants, have fled the area amid intense fighting as the SDF closed in from three sides under the cover of airstrikes by a US-led coalition.

SDF spokesperson Mustafa Bali said some militants had been caught attempting to escape with civilians.

After capturing Baghouz, the Kurdish-led forces will move on to chasing down sleeper cells and remnants spread out across the region to secure it, he added.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The US commander leading the war against Isis on Friday cautioned against declaring victory over the jidahist group.

Joseph Votel, the top American general in the Middle East, told CNN: When I say, we have defeated them, I want to ensure that means they do not have the capability to plot or direct attacks against the US or our allies.

They still have this very powerful ideology, so they can inspire.

Mr Votel, who is soon leaving his post, criticised Mr Trumps December announcement that the US is to withdraw its troops from Syria.

It would not have been my military advice at that particular time, he said. I would not have made that suggestion, frankly.
Iran has threatened Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with retaliation after 27 members of the country's elite revolutionary guard forces were killed in a suicide bombing on Wednesday.

The head of the revolutionary guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, claimed, without evidence, that the US and Israel had ordered Saudi Arabia and the UAE to carry out the attack.

"We definitely will retaliate," the general said, in comments reported by state media.

Mr Jafari was speaking at one of two funeral ceremonies held on Friday for the attack's victims.

The Jaish al-Adl Sunni militant group claimed responsibility for the bombing, which wounded 12 people.

Revolution in Iran: In pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Revolution in Iran: In pictures Revolution in Iran: In pictures A demonstration against the Shah in 1979 Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Armed women on guard in one of the main squares in Tehran at the beginning of the Iranian Revolution Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Demonstrators hold a poster of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in January 1979, in Tehran, during a demonstration against the Shah AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Iranian rebels pose with a U.S. flag they bayonetted upside down on trees at Sultanabad Garrison northeast of Tehran on February 12 2019 AP Revolution in Iran: In pictures A gun battle in Khorramshahr during the revolution, 1979 Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters demonstrate in the streets of Tehran against the Shah among tear gas. The "black friday" caused the death of 200 people according to the Iranian government, 2000 according to the opposition, September 8 1978 AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Women wearing the traditional Chador demonstrate in the streets of Tehran against the Shah on September 7 1978 AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Demonstrators in Tehran calling for the replacement of the Shah of Iran during the Iranian Revolution, 1979. They carry placards depicting Ayatollah Mahmoud Talaghani, one of the leading revolutionaries Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters demonstrate in the streets of Tehran against the Shah. The "black friday" caused the death of 200 people according to the Iranian government, 2000 according to the opposition, September 8 1978 AFP/Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures Thousands of the Ayatollah Khomeini's supporters on the streets of Tehran calling for the religious leader's return in January 1979 Getty Revolution in Iran: In pictures The Iranian Islamic Republic Army demonstrates in solidarity with people in the street during the Iranian revolution. They are carrying posters of the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian religious and political leader Getty

The attack took place in a southeastern region near the village of Chanali, where security forces are facing a rising number of attacks from the militants, who mainly operate near Iran's border with Pakistan.

The region is known as a crossroads for narcotics trafficking gangs and jihadi networks sometimes rooted in local tribes.

On Saturday, Iran said Pakistan should crack down on the groups or to face the possibility of military action from Tehran.

"If Pakistan does not carry out its responsibilities, Iran reserves the right to confront threats on its borders ... based on international law and will retaliate to punish the terrorists," said Mr Jafari, according to state news.

Iran's Shia Muslim authorities say the Sunni militant groups operate from safe havens in Pakistan.

Officials have repeatedly called on the neighbouring country to take action against the Jaish al-Adl and similar groups.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Additional reporting by agencies
A Russian court has sentenced a prominent American investor to two months of pre-trial detention in a development that has sent shockwaves through the countrys business community.

Michael Calvey, the founder of Baring Vostok Capital Partners, was one of several executives arrested on Friday.

He is one of the last major western private equity investors to remain in Russia, with his investment company claiming to have raised nearly $4bn (3.1bn) in capital.

On Friday, a judge ordered Mr Calvey be detained for 72 hours, but agreed to a longer restriction less than a day later.

Prosecutors allege that the American investor was part of a criminal gang that defrauded a bank of 2.5 billion roubles (approximately 29m). They accuse him of undervaluing shares transferred to a debt collector company in a related-party transaction.

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, Baring Vostok said the charges that have been brought as a result of a commercial conflict with the alleged victims. The company has an active arbitration claim in London against the prosecuting party, which alleges a dozen cases of fraud.

Mr Calvey has denied the charges. In court, he said almost none of the charges were true, and challenged the alleged victim to sell the shares to see their true market value.

You can easily learn the real value of the shares  which really comes to between 2 and 3 billion  as verified by an independent valuer, he said.

 Elderly Russian woman suspected of being serial killer after man's body parts found in her fridge

The case puts extra pressure on Russias already troubled investment climate. On Saturday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Vladimir Putin had been informed about developments. But local media reported that his leading finance officials had been kept in the dark.

The former economy minister Herman Gref said he knew Mr Cavley as an honest man and expressed hope that the criminal prosecution was the result of a misunderstanding.

But the future does not look promising for the American investor. Prosecutors have asked custodial sentence of three years imprisonment, and the expectation must be that they will be successful.

In court, Mr Calvey said he believed in the objectivity of the Russian judicial system, and that he had been on the receiving end of many just verdicts.

Less than 0.1 per cent of all criminal cases brought in Russian courts end in acquittal.
Several floors, walls and part of the roof of a university building in St Petersburg collapsed on Saturday, trapping around two dozen people inside, according to Russia's emergency authorities.

80 people have now been evacuated from the building.

The cause of the partial collapse at the city's National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO) remains unclear but the country's Emergency Ministry said that it occured while renovations were taking place.

Emergency services said there were no casualties, as no bodies were found in the rubble and no immediate injuries were reported.

"A partial roof collapse has occurred at one of the buildings; according to prelim. data, there have been no casualties," a spokesperson for the university said on Twitter.

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

"Emergency services and officials are on site."

Some students were reportedly at the university to attend elective weekend classes.

ITMO is one of Russia's national research universities.

Alexander Beglov, St Peterburg's acting governor, has travelled to the institution, according to state media.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Additional reporting by agencies
Celebrities have thrown their weight behind a petition to save six labradors from being killed once a medical trial for human dental implants ends.

Venus, Milia, Mimosa, Luna, Lotus and Zuri have had a third of their teeth pulled out and replaced with the implants at Gothenburg University, in Sweden.

They are being used in the experiment because dogs are understood to have similar saliva and oral bacteria to humans.

The two-year-old labradors will be put down by the end of the month so scientists can see what effect this has on their tissue and blood.

More than 84,000 people, including British comedian Ricky Gervais and Downton Abbey actor Peter Egan, have backed a petition calling for the dogs to be allowed to live.

The most controversial animal killings Show all 6 1 /6 The most controversial animal killings The most controversial animal killings Cincinnati Zoo worker shots and kills Harambe, the 17-year-old gorilla Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla was shot and killed by a Cincinnati Zoo worker after a three-year-old boy climbed into a gorilla enclosure and was grabbed and dragged by Harambe. The incident was recorded on video and received broad international coverage and commentary, including controversy over the choice to kill Harambe. A number of primatologists and conservationists wrote later that the zoo had no other choice under the circumstances, and that it highlighted the danger of zoo animals in close proximity to humans and the need for better standards of care Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden The most controversial animal killings Walt Palmer (left), from Minnesota, who killed Cecil, the Zimbabwean lion (pictured here with another lion shot in Africa) Walter James Palmer has been named by Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force as the shooter of Cecil, a 13-year-old prized lion. He is now wanted by Zimbabwe officials on poaching charges. The lion was protected and the subject of a decade long study by the Wildlife Unit of Oxford University in the UK. He was outfitted with a GPS collar and was killed in Hwange National Park. The Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Authority and the Safari Operators Association said that two men were charged with poaching in connection to Mr Palmer The most controversial animal killings Kendall Jones hunting images Kendall Jones, a 19-year-old Texas Tech university student, has provoked worldwide fury after posting pictures of herself smiling next to animals she hunted, including a lion, rhinoceros, antelope, leopard, elephant, zebra and hippopotamus The most controversial animal killings Rebecca Francis hunting images Rebecca Francis, a huntress who has killed dozens of wild animals has been sent death wishes by furious social media users after a picture showing her lying down next to a dead giraffe was circulated. Rebecca Francis has a website and Facebook page dedicated to the animals she has killed in hunts across Africa and America. Francis, a prolific hunter who has also co-hosted the television show Eye of the Hunter, regularly posts pictures of herself posing next to dead bears, giraffes, buffaloes and zebras, among other animals. She uses a bow and arrow to kill her prey The most controversial animal killings The slaughter of Marius, an 18-month-old healthy giraffe in Copenhagen Zoo Copenhagen Zoo made the controversial decision to euthanise a healthy giraffe named Marius, which was later dissected and fed to lions as visitors watched. The slaughter sparked a furious backlash from social media users and zoo staff have received death threats by phone and email. Soon after the incident, Copenhagen Zoo faced an international outcry once again after four healthy lions were put down The most controversial animal killings Swiss Dahlholzli zoo kills healthy brown bear cub A Switzerland zoo faced heavy criticism from animal rights groups, after keepers put down a healthy brown bear cub to spare it from being bullied by its dominant male father. The 360 kg male bear Misha had already killed one of his 11-week old cubs in public and was bullying the second, staff at the zoo said, because he was jealous of the attention the cubs were receiving from their mother, Masha. Both adult brown bears had been donated to Berns Dahlholzli zoo in 2009. Campaigners condemned staff there for not separating the cubs, who are being referred to as Baby Bear Two and Baby Bear Three, and their mother from Misha after their birth in January Facebook

However the Animal Rights Alliance, a Swedish organisation which set up the petition, said the animals would still be killed.

Goran Landberg, deputy vice-chancellor for research at Gothenburg University, told digital publisher The Local: Its difficult for us to reach a consensus on these issues, but dialogue is important.

Ricky Gervais (Rex/Shuttershock)

As we see it, animal experiments are still needed in some kinds of research, to develop new medicines and treatment methods and gain basic knowledge.

Vet Mark Collins told Swedish television network TV4 that the dogs would be emotionally broken by the treatment they have received because they develop a strong bond with humans.

The Animal Rights Alliance staged a protest outside the universitys laboratory for experimental medicine, where the trial has been taking place.

Researchers in Sweden must prove there is no alternative to animal testing to be granted permission by the Swedish board of agriculture.

Gothenburg University, which has approval, said it must follow guidelines to ensure that the welfare of the animals was monitored by vets and to ensure as few animals as possible were used.
Rancour and recriminations were the order of the day with allies as well as adversaries turning on each other in one of the most important gatherings of the Munich Security Conference in recent years.

Efforts were supposed to be made, at least among western countries, to find common ground on a range of issues from the Middle East after the end of the Isis caliphate to cyber warfare, Brexit, extremism and climate change.

Instead the US vice president Mike Pence attacked European states for not joining Washington in pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran and failing to fully follow the American line on the Venezuelan crisis.

Repeatedly praising Donald Trump for his allegedly remarkable and extraordinary qualities which have made America stronger than ever before, enabling it to lead on the world stage again, Mr Pence derided Nato allies.

His speech was greeted with muted cheering, with Mr Trumps daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner clapping enthusiastically, but a significant number of those present staying silent and some of his remarks being greeted with whispered mockery.

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 criticism was not just one way. Angela Merkel warned of the dangers in American isolationism and staunchly defended multilateral institutions under threat from US policy.

The German chancellor defended the Iran deal, condemning Mr Trumps decision to withdraw from it, and questioned his decision to pull troops out of Syria and Afghanistan. Ms Merkel also rebuffed US demands that her government scrap a gas deal with Moscow under which a new pipeline, Nord Stream 2, being built under the Baltic, will bring Russian gas directly to Germany.

She highlighted a statement by a US official that German cars were a security threat to America, to show the attitude to trade held by some in Washington. We are proud of our cars and so we should be ... If it is viewed as a security threat to the United States then we are shocked, said Ms Merkel, adding that many were manufactured in the US and exported to countries like China.

Merkel speaks at 55th Munich Security Conference (Getty)

Warning of attacks on international organisations of the type Mr Trump is in the habit of making, Ms Merkel commented: We cannot just smash it, we need to cooperate ... Now that we see pressure on the classic order we are used to, the question now is, Do we fall apart into pieces of a puzzle and think everyone can solve the question best for himself alone?.

It would be wiser, she said, to put yourself in the others shoes ... and see whether we can get win-win solutions together.

Germany is among international powers  along with Britain, France, Russia and China  which signed the nuclear agreement with Tehran. All these countries, as well as the UN Atomic Energy Authority, stress that the deal was working in preventing Iran developing a nuclear arsenal and that Tehran was abiding by its obligations.

European countries have organised a payment mechanism under which businesses and banks would, in theory, be able to trade with Iran without incurring American sanctions. Mike Pence said: The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure. The time has come for our European partners to stop undermining US sanctions against this murderous revolutionary regime.

When Mr Pence went on to accuse Iran of sponsoring terrorism there were some whispered comments among some in the room about Gulf states, which are major purchasers of American arms, funding extremist Islamist groups. There were also sotto voce comments about the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi for which officials close to Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, an American ally close to Mr Kushner, have been blamed.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Mr Pence is part of the largest American delegation ever sent to the Munich conference. It includes senior Democrats like Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi who are vocal critics of Mr Trump. Mr Biden is expected to criticise current US policy in a number of fields, including foreign policy, when he speaks at a session.

It was not surprising, in this acrimonious atmosphere, to hear the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov round on the west for a catalogue of alleged wrongdoing past and present, from the illegal bombing of Serbia and organising a coup in Kiev to the aggressive stance being taken by western politicians.

British defence secretary Gavin Williamson, who had attacked Russia in a speech at the conference on Friday for its role in a number of conflicts, got a special mention. If you listen to some people like the minister of war  sorry the minister of defence  of the United Kingdom then you might get an impression that nobody except Nato has the right to be anywhere, said Mr Lavrov.
Singapore's parliament may make the practice of stealthing  the act of non-consensually removing a condom during sex  illegal, in a landmark bill that also addresses revenge porn and upskirting.

The Criminal Law Reform Bill will, if passed, change the country's penal code "to ensure that it remains relevant and up-to-date", according to the city state's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

"The bill introduces a new offence criminalising the procurement of sexual activity where consent is obtained by deception or false representation regarding (a) the use or manner of use of a sexually protective device, or (b) whether one is suffering from a sexually transmitted disease," a spokesperson for the department said in a statement.

People convicted of stealthing could be imprisoned for up to 10 years, according to the bill's current text.

Those found guilty could also be caned.

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

Rape crisis organisations around the world have condemned stealthing as a sex crime which negates consent, but a 2017 study suggests that the deception is a commonly practised one.

Singapore's government introduced the proposed legislation in parliament on 11 February for its first reading.

If passed unchanged it will also criminalise the act of non-consensually taking an image or recording of a person's genitals, a practice often known as 'upskirting'.

Lawmakers also hope to criminalise revenge porn, including the act of threatening to distribute an intimate image of a person to cause them "humiliation, distress or alarm".

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The draft legislation follows a landmark case in Switzerland where in 2017 a man was convicted of rape after he removed his condom during sex with an unconsenting partner.
India has accused Pakistan of having a "direct hand" in the suicide bombing of a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir which killed at least 44 soldiers and left dozens more seriously injured.

Tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad have risen sharply since the attack earlier this week, when a Kashmiri militant rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into the paramilitary convoy. It was the worst attack against Indian government forces since Kashmir's military insurgency began in 1989.

The Indian government has now said that it would take diplomatic steps "to ensure the complete isolation" of Pakistan from the international community.

It said it had "incontrovertible evidence" that its neighbour had "a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident." Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has also threatened "a jaw breaking reply".

Pakistan for its part, has rejected the allegations and condemned the attack.

Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Show all 13 1 /13 Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian muslims in Mumbai burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Hafiz Saeed, chief of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40 AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Policeman walk past vehicles set on fire in Jammu by a mob during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Vehicles are set on fire in Jammu during protests following the attack AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian Muslims hold a protest in Mumbai the day after the terrorist attack AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Protestors in Jammu throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian police men keep vigil next to a barbed wire fencing during the third day of curfew in Jammu AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan as part of protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers pay tribute to their colleague Maneswar Basumatary, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian army soldiers patrol during a curfew in Jammu on February 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A crowd carries a victim's coffin during a cremation ceremony AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A relative of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Sudip Biswas mourns over his coffin at Kolkata airport AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP

Tehmina Janjua, the country's foreign secretary, said that the claims were part of India's "known rhetoric and tactics" to divert international attention from human rights violations allegedly carried out by troops in Indian administered Kashmir.

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), a militant group based in Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for the latest bombing, which is thought to have been carried out by Adil Ahmed Dar, a Kashmiri militant.

A clip of him spread online in the aftermath of the blast. In the footage he is dressed in combat clothes, surrounded by guns and grenades and claims responsibility for the attack. He also called for India to be driven out of the region.

India has demanded that Pakistan takes action against the militant group.

Thousands of mourners across India attended funerals for some of the soldiers who were killed as a round-the-clock curfew remained in force in part of the restive region.

TV stations showed coffins wrapped in Indian flags being carried by thousands of people across their hometowns.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but has long been a disputed territory claimed fully by both countries.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

In recent years, younger Kashmiris have openly supported rebels advocating to break away from India.

Anti-Pakistan protests were held in Indian cities, including Mumbai, in the aftermath of the attack.

The countries have twice gone to war over Kashmir since their independence from Britain in 1947.

In 2001, an attack on its parliament building prompted New Delhi to mobilise the military along the border with Pakistan in a standoff that lasted a year.

Additional reporting by agencies
The minimum wage increase will help everyone, she said. I know it could make prices go up. But Id like to believe that it will help the mothers I work with every day, the adult students trying to improve their lives. Wouldnt it be nice to actually be able to afford to pay your rent?
The US has supported Indias right to self defence against cross-border terrorism after an attack claimed by Pakistan-based militants killed at least 44 police officers in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

In comments that will please Indian hawks but also raise fears that tensions between India and Pakistan could escalate yet further, US national security advisor John Bolton reportedly told his counterpart in Delhi, that America offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

Mr Bolton and Ajit Doval also resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions, Indias foreign ministry said in a statement.

The development came after 44 members of an Indian paramilitary police force were this week killed in a car bomb attack on a convoy at Pulwama, near Srinigar. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a group that operates out of Pakistan and was founded by Masood Azhar.

India on Friday claimed it had incontrovertible evidence Pakistan had a direct hand in the attack. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said India would initiate all possible diplomatic steps to ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan, of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident.

Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Show all 13 1 /13 Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian muslims in Mumbai burn posters of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan, center, and Hafiz Saeed, chief of Pakistani religious group Jamaat-ud-Dawa, during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir that killed at least 40 AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Policeman walk past vehicles set on fire in Jammu by a mob during a protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Vehicles are set on fire in Jammu during protests following the attack AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian Muslims hold a protest in Mumbai the day after the terrorist attack AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Protestors in Jammu throw stones during a clash between communities while protesting against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy that killed at least 40 in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian police men keep vigil next to a barbed wire fencing during the third day of curfew in Jammu AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party workers in Mumbai burn a symbolic effigy of Pakistan as part of protest against Thursday's attack on a paramilitary convoy in Kashmir, AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers pay tribute to their colleague Maneswar Basumatary, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Indian army soldiers patrol during a curfew in Jammu on February 16, 2019 AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A crowd carries a victim's coffin during a cremation ceremony AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack A relative of Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Sudip Biswas mourns over his coffin at Kolkata airport AFP/Getty Images Fire on the streets as Indians react to the Pulwama bombing attack Mourners gather for the cremation of Central Reserve Police Force soldier Mahesh Yadav, who was killed in Thursday's bombing in Kashmir AP

He said India was to strip Pakistan of its most favoured nation status , a move that reportedly increased tariffs on Pakistani goods by 200 per cent.

Pakistan has denied it had any role in Thursdays attack and accused India of pointing the finger of blame without conducting a proper investigation. Pakistans foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua said in a statement after meeting foreign ambassadors, there was: A familiar Indian pattern of immediate and reflexive assignment of blame on Pakistan without investigations.

Pakistan has long been accused of harbouring militant groups the nations military historically saw as part of its defence against India. Over the years, its intelligence forces have supplied weapons and logistical support to militants to carry out cross-border attacks in Kashmir, a long-disputed region that each country lays claim to and controls part of it.

In recent years, Pakistan has said it has dropped its support for such militants, despite its failure to bring to justice figures such as Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left more than 160 people dead.

Just how to control such militants is a major challenge for prime minister Imran Khan, who was elected last year. Many believe the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, won the election with at least the tacit approval of the countrys powerful military, making it harder for him to crack down on militants that may have links to the armed forces or intelligence services.

Tensions between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed nations which have gone to four on four occasions since the two nations secured their independence from Britain in 1947, have worsened in the days since the attack, despite Islamabads insistence it had nothing to do with it.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Indias population is majority Hindu, while Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim.

The situation is made more challenging by the fact India is due to hold a general election in May, heaping pressure on Indias prime minister Narendra Modi, as his country looks to how he responds to the attack, the deadliest of its kind in years.

Over the weekend, the bodies of members of the central reserve police force killed in the bombing, were returned to villages and towns across the country for funeral rites.

I want to tell the terrorist organisations and their supporters that have made a huge mistake, Mr Modi said on Friday. They will have to pay a very heavy cost for this. I give assurance to the nation that the forces behind the attack, the culprits behind this attack  they will definitely be punished for their actions.
Robert Muellers team has questioned Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary has confirmed.

In a statement to CNN, Ms Sanders, 36, said she had been questioned last year by the special counsel probing Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election, and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel, she said.

I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them.

The network said the interview was one of the final known interviews to have been carried out by Mr Muellers team.

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 was conducted late last year, at around the same time prosecutors spoke to then-White House chief of staff John Kelly.

 Sarah Sanders says Donald Trump throws his support behind Covington Catholic Students: 'These are kids... POTUS has shown his support through tweets'

A number of other senior officials, including former White House communications director Hope Hicks and former press secretary Sean Spicer, were also brought in for questioning, it said.

The White House did not immediately agree to grant the special counsel an interview with Ms Sanders, CNN said.

Special counsel office spokesman Peter Carr has declined to comment.
A Tesla travelling at 128mph nearly cut another car in half after driving through a red light, police in Florida, said.

Surveillance footage showed an Infiniti SUV attempting to make a U-turn on a green light when it is hit by the Tesla. The force of the impact causes the SUV to flip on its roof.

Miami Beach Police Department said that it was traveling at 128 mph two seconds before the crash and 93 mph at the time of impact.

All three people inside the SUV suffered serious injuries and had to undergo surgery, a spokerperson for the force told CBS Miami.

The Tesla's driver, Jose Manuel Soto, has been arrested and faces felony charges after the incident in October last year.

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 38-year-old, who surrendered to authorities on 25 January faces three counts of reckless driving causing serious bodily injury.

Police said Mr Soto showed a wanton and willful disregard for the safety of others.

In a message accompanying a video of the crash posted on Facebook, the force wrote: In 2017, nearly 10,000 people lost their lives as a result of speed-related crashes #Drivesafe
A disgraced former US cardinal has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood over allegations he abused a teenage boy and solicited sex during confession.

The Vatican announced the defrocking of Theodore McCarrick on Saturday days before the Pope is to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world over the sex abuse crisis engulfing the church.

McCarrick, a once-powerful prelate and former Archbishop of Washington, is the highest profile church figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times.

In July last year he became the first cardinal to lose the title in nearly 100 years when he was forced to step down over the abuse allegations.

Last month the Holy See's watchdog, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, found McCarrick guilty of soliticing sex while hearing confession and having sexual contact with children and adults "with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".

Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Show all 55 1 /55 Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis celebrates the Holy Mass at the Phoenix Park, in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis arrives at Phoenix Park for a Papal Mass of the World Meeting of Families in Dublin EPA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A vigil takes place at the site of the mass grave which contained the remains of 796 named babies from the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam. The vigil coincides with the Phoenix park mass which is taking place in Dublin held by Pope Francis. Excavations at the site in 2017 revealed underground structures which held babies bodies with ages ranging from 35 weeks to three years old with most of the dead buried in the 1950s when the facility was run by the Bon Secours Sisters, a Catholic religious order of nuns who received unmarried pregnant women to give birth Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures An aerial view of the crowd at Phoenix Park Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Children queue for communion during Pope Francis' closing Mass PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures The Stand4Truth rally gathers outside a former Magdalene laundry in Dublin as part of the demonstrations against clerical sex abuse PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis leads the Holy Mass at Phoenix Park AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis arrives to celebrate the Holy Mass at the Phoenix Park AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures The names of the victims are read out as a vigil takes place at the site of the mass grave which contained the remains of 796 named babies from the Bon Secours Mother and Baby home Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis leads the Holy Mass at Phoenix Park AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A member of the clergy carries a bowl of incense PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A vigil takes place at the site of the mass grave which contained the remains of 796 named babies Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Members of the public pray as they watch Pope Francis deliver a Papal Mass of the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park EPA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis attends the closing Mass at the World Meeting of Families at Phoenix Park in Dublin PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis passes by a banner of a protester as he leaves St Mary's Pro-Cathedral AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis speaks during his visit to the Capuchin Day Centre for Homeless in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on Christchurch PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on College Green PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Members of the public wave at Pope Francis as he travels through the city Getty Images Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis laughs as he leaves St Mary's Pro Cathedral during his visit to Dublin Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Two boys wave flags after climbing a post as they wait for Pope Francis Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pairs of baby shoes are hung from black ribbons on Gardiner Street in Dublin in memory of the children who died at the Bon Secours Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, Co Galway PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Crowds on O'Connell Street PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures WMOF2018/Maxwell Photography/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis memorabilia on sale on O'Connell Street PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis arrives at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral during his visit to Ireland to attend the 2018 World Meeting of Families AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to the waiting crowds on O'Connell Street PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis addresses the congragation at St Mary's Pro-Cathedral AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Stephen O'Brien selling bottles of holy water from the St Mary's Pro Cathedral PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis prays inside St Mary's Pro Cathedral Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A man waves a rainbow flag behind a model of a pope which stands in the window above a bar Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures People hold a banner against Pope Francis on the way to St Mary's Pro-Cathedral AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Nuns wait by the side of the road for Pope Francis Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A model of a pope is placed in the window above a bar as crowds wait for Pope Francis to travel through the city Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Crowds on O'Connell Street, Dublin waiting to see Pope Francis as he travels in the Popemobile PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis waves to wellwishers as he arrives at Dublin Airport Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures His visit, the first by a Pope since John Paul II's in 1979 is expected to attract hundreds of thousands of Catholics to a series of events in Dublin and Knock PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis talks to journalists aboard a plane flying from Fiumicino aiport to Dublin AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures LGBT protestors from Dublin Pride and We Are Church with flags and umbrellas on Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin to remember the victims of clerical sex abuse ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis disembarks from the aircraft as he arrives at Dublin Airport Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Woman wait for Pope Francis to drive past, in Dublin Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Taoiseach Leo Varadkar delivers a speech watched by Pope Francis in St. Patrick's Hall at Dublin Castle WMOF2018/Maxwell Photography/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Protesters hold banners during a demonstration against clerical sex abuse, in Dublin Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis plants a tree during a meeting with Irish President Michael D Higgins, at Aras an Uachtarain PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis walks with the President of Ireland Michael Higgins at Aras an Uachtarain WMOF2018/Maxwell Photography/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Reuters Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis, center, is flanked by Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, right, as they arrive to meet authorities, in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Protestors wearing baby shoes, to signify the children who died in mother and baby homes in Ireland, protest in Dublin ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Franci PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis exchanges gifts with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar AFP/Getty Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Pope Francis speaks with President Michael D Higgins in his study during a visit to Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park, Dublin PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Navy band march prior to the arrival of Pope Francis at the Presidential residence in Dublin AP Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures Eddie McGuinness from Dublin LGBTQ Pride carries a rainbow flag across Ha'Penny Bridge, Dublin ahead of the start of the visit to Ireland by Pope Francis PA Pope Francis visits Ireland  in pictures A message left by Pope Francis in the visitors book at Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park PA

McCarrick took a vow of celibacy, in acccordance with church rules, when he was ordained as a priest in 1958.

The 88-year-old appealed against his dismissal from the priesthood but was notified on Friday that the decision had been upheld, the Vatican announced.

Defrocking means McCarrick, who now lives in a friary in Kansas, will not be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments.

It is a remarkable downfall for a figure known as a globe-trotting powerbroker and influential church fundraiser. McCarrick, who was Archbishop of Washington DC from 2001 to 2006, mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called "Uncle Ted" by the young men he courted.

He has responded publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has "absolutely no recollection" of the alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago.

McCarrick is one of the highest ranking church officials accused of abuse in a scandal has eroded the faith of many of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Patterns of widespread abuse have been reported across the United States, as well as in Europe, Chile and Australia, undercutting the churchs moral authority and taking a toll on its membership and finances.

Last year a former top Vatican official urged Pope Francis to resign afer revealing he told him about the allegations against McCarrick as early as 2013. The Pope refused to comment on accusations of a cover-up.
A gunman who walked into his workplace and shot five people dead had just found out he was about to be sacked, police say.

Gary Martin, 45, also injured five police officers and a sixth employee after he opened fire at Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday.

It later emerged that Martin was not legally allowed to own a gun because of a previous conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi.

He bought the weapon he used in the attack, a Smith and Wesson .40-calibre handgun, in March 2011 after an initial background check failed to spot the felony from 1995.

It was only when he applied for a concealed carry permit five days later that his conviction was flagged and his firearm owners ID card was revoked.

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

Illinois State Police sent Martin a letter asking him to voluntarily surrender the weapon, but he did not, according to Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman.

He was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm, Ms Ziman said.

Police have identified the workers who were killed as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin, human resources intern Trevor Wehner of DeKalb, plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego, mould operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; and stock room attendant Vicente Juarez of Oswego.

It was Mr Wehners first day on the job, his uncle Jay Wehner said. The Northern Illinois University student was on track to graduate in May with a degree in human resource management.

He always, always was happy, said Jay Wehner. I have no bad words for him. He was a wonderful person. You cant say anything but nice things about him.

The first reports of a shooting at the manufacturing plant where Martin had worked for 15 years arrived at about 1.24pm local time on Friday.

Officers arrived at the sprawling facility four minutes later and five policemen were shot within the first five minutes.

Witnesses described seeing a gunman running through the building carrying a pistol fitted with a laser sight.

Workers look out of an office window following a shooting which killed five people and injured five police officers at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, US, on 15 February, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Police used an armored rescue vehicle called a Bearcat to enter the building and Martin was found hiding in the back about an hour later.

He was probably waiting for us to get to him there, said Aurora police lieutenant Rick Robertson. It was just a very short gunfight and it was over, so he was basically in the back waiting for us and fired upon us and our officers fired.

All of the wounded officers and a sixth employee who was injured were being treated in hospital on Friday but were expected to survive.

Chief Ziman said a search of the gunmans home and preliminary evidence suggested he acted alone.

Police search the flat of Gary Martin, who is believed to be responsible for a mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Company, in Aurora, Illinois, USA, which killed five people and left five police officers injured on 15 February, 2019. (EPA/TANNEN MAURY)

Martins mother told the Chicago Sun-Times that her son had been way too stressed out recently, but it was not clear what he was stressed about.

The gunmans LinkedIn page listed him as a valve assembler at the Henry Pratt plant, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Products.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Mueller said in a statement on Twitter: Mueller Water Products is shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy that occurred today at our Henry Pratt facility.

Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones, the first responders, the Aurora community and the entire Mueller family during this extremely difficult time.

US president Donald Trump tweeted: Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!

Illinois governor JB Pritzker told a press conference may God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continued to run toward danger.

The incident came just one day after the one-year anniversary of a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which saw a gunman kill 17 people.

Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
A man gunned down five people at a business in suburban Chicago, before he was shot and killed.

Gary Martin also shot and wounded five police officers in the attack at the Henry Pratt Co warehouse in Aurora. Workers at the plant said he was employed there.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the 45-year-old was shot and killed.

The citys director of communications Clayton Muhammad told the ABC7 news channel, that the police officers were in stable condition.

May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run towards danger, Illinois governor said at a news conference on Friday afternoon.

Mass shootings in America Show all 8 1 /8 Mass shootings in America Mass shootings in America Camden shootings  1949 Howard Unruh killed 13 people, including three children, during a 12-minute walk through his neighborhood on September 6, 1949, in Camden, New Jersey, when he was 28 years old. The incident became known as the "Walk of Death". Unruh was found to be criminally insane and died in 2009 after a lengthy illness at the age of 88, following 60 years of confinement. Alamy Mass shootings in America University of Texas tower shooting  1966 Charles Whitman killed 17 people and injured 31 others in Austin, Texas. After stabbing his mother and wife the night before, he headed to the University of Texas, where he opened fire on people in the campus and streets from the observation desk. He was shot dead after a policeman and civilian reached the scene. Austin History Center, Austin Public Library Mass shootings in America Easter Sunday Massacre  1975 James Ruppert killd 11 family members in his mother's house, which included his mother, brother and his wife, as well as their eight children. He used a magnum, two handguns and a rifle. Mass shootings in America Wilkes-Barre shootings  1982 Former prison guard, George Banks, shot dead 13 people in Pennsylvania, including five of his own children. AP Photo/Times Leader Mass shootings in America Wah Mee massacre  1983 Three men, Kwan Fai Mak, Wai-Chiu Ng, and Benjamin Ng, killed 13 people who were in Seattle's Wah Mee gambling club. YouTube/KIRO 7 News Mass shootings in America San Ysidro McDonald's massacre  1984 James Huberty killed 21 people and injured 19 others after he walked in a McDonald's in San Diego. He was shot dead by a sniper after 78 minutes of him entering the restaurant. Alamy Mass shootings in America Palm Sunday massacre  1984 Ten people were shot dead from handguns at close range in a New York home. A baby girl was the only survivor after convicted dealer, Christopher Thomas, shot three women, one teenage girl and six children in their Brooklyn home. Thomas was convicted of manslaughter and cleared of murder. He was released from prison after 32 years. Mass shootings in America Edmond post office shooting  1986 Patrick Sherrill, a postal worker at the Edmond post office in Oklahoma, killed 14 co-workers and injured 6 others, before he shot himself. Oklahoma Highway Patrol Collection

We have an active shooter incident at 641 Archer Av. This is an active scene. Please avoid the area, the Aurora Police Department had earlier said on Twitter

At 3pm, the city of Aurora, located 40 miles west of Chicago, reported that the shooter was in custody but said the area was still in lock-down at that time.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The Chicago FBI also responded to the scene to assist local law enforcement, as local schools went into lock-down.

John Probst, an employee at the company, told a local television network, he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded. Mr Probst said he recognised the gunman and that he worked for the company.

What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it, Mr Probst said.

The Associated Press said Presence Mercy Medical Centre was treating two patients and a third had been transferred by helicopter to another hospital, spokesman Matt Wakely said.

Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital each had one patient from the shooting, spokeswoman Kate Eller said. Rush Copley Medical Centre received three patients from the shooting and all are being treated for non-life threatening injuries, according to spokesperson Courtney Satlak.

Donald Trump was been briefed on events.

The president has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation in Aurora, Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
Zimbabwean rescuers pulled out eight illegal gold miners alive on Saturday out of about 70 people who were earlier this week trapped in flooded shafts, in an accident that the government has declared a disaster, officials and witnesses said.

The accident in Battlefields, 175 km (109 miles) west of Harare, happened on Tuesday night and has shone a light on the dangers facing illegal gold miners, who last year contributed a large part of Zimbabwe's record 33 tonne bullion output.

"So far we have managed to bring out eight miners alive and we are yet to assess and find any more people down there who are still alive," Tapererwa Paswavaviri, the government deputy chief mining engineer told reporters at the accident scene.

The miners, who were covered in mud, were whisked away by officials before speaking to reporters. Rescuers briefly stopped operations due to rain.

Local Government Minister July Moyo said in a statement on Friday the government had declared the incident a disaster and that up to 70 people could have been trapped in the pits.

 Zimbabwean female group protecting elephants from poachers

Battlefields and surrounding areas are rich in gold deposits and popular with artisanal miners, known locally as "Makorokoza" or hustlers, who use picks and shovels and generator-powered water pumps. The makeshift shafts and tunnels can easily collapse in the rainy season when the ground is soft.

The pits are dotted around a clearing some 8 km from the main dirt road. On the edges are shacks made of plastic which serve as accommodation for those digging for gold.

Anxious relatives and other miners have continued to camp at the mining site hoping to see their colleagues amid frustration that the rescue process was taking too long.

Reuters
Authorities in Nigeria have postponed the countrys presidential election five hours before polls were due to open.

The electoral commission said that the vote would be delayed until 23 February due to unspecified challenges.

This was a difficult decision to take but necessary for successful delivery of the elections and the consolidation of our democracy, said commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu, in the early hours of Saturday.

A logistics review led the commission to conclude that going ahead with the election was no longer feasible, he added.

The decision comes days after the commission reported fires at electoral offices in the states of Anambra and Plateu.

Nigeria delays 2019 presidential election Show all 4 1 /4 Nigeria delays 2019 presidential election Nigeria delays 2019 presidential election Paramilitary forces stand near Daura, native home of Nigerian president Mohammadu Buhari AFP/Getty Images Nigeria delays 2019 presidential election Former vice-president and presidential aspirant Atiku Abubakar speaks in Lagos AFP/Getty Images Nigeria delays 2019 presidential election Staff members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unload ballot boxes in southern Nigeria AFP/Getty Images Nigeria delays 2019 presidential election Police officers attend the posting parade for the elction in southern Nigeria AFP/Getty Images

Voting materials are also yet to reach parts of the country, according to local news reports.

Some result sheets and some ballot papers are reportedly missing, a commission official said.

We want to track every (piece of) sensitive material, take inventory of what we have and what is missing.

Tens of millions of Nigerian voters were expected to cast their ballots on Saturday, in a close race between current president Muhammadu Buhari and his main challenger Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president.

Both men have pledged to work for a peaceful election, even as their supporters caused alarm with allegations of vote-rigging.

The Situation Room, a civil society collective monitoring the vote, said in a statement that any suggestion that the election be held in a staggered manner will be totally unacceptable, and would be a recipe for a disastrous election.

News of the votes delay began spreading in the early hours of Saturday and was greeted with dismay from political figures.

This is truly disappointing but ... Nigeria will prevail, a spokesperson for vice president Yemi Osinbajo said on Twitter.

Nigerian officials also postponed the 2015 presidential election because of deadly instability in the countrys northeast.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Mr Buhari is currently in Daura, his hometown, where he had been planning to vote.

The incumbent president has worried many Nigerians after spending more than 150 days outside the country for still-unspecified medical treatment.

Mr Abubakar, a billionaire, has campaigned against him under the slogan Lets Make Nigeria Work Again and has promised to use his business acumen to alleviate poverty in the country.

Additional reporting by agencies
British arms sales to Saudi Arabia are causing significant civilian casualties in Yemen and are probably illegal, a damning parliamentary report says today.

Theresa Mays refusal to curb weapons exports has been condemned by peers who conclude it is on the wrong side of international humanitarian law.

The prime minister has faced down calls for a ban  on sales worth a staggering 4.7bn since the brutal war in Yemen began in 2015  despite the growing humanitarian disaster.

An estimated 85,000 children under the age of five have died from extreme hunger or disease in a war between a Saudi-led coalition and Iran-backed rebels. Up to 14 million people are at risk of famine.

Independent experts have highlighted extraordinary rates of civilian deaths by airstrikes carried out by the Saudi coalition, with about 166 people dying every month last autumn.

Recommended Conjoined twins in Yemen die after not receiving urgent treatment

Now the House of Lords International Relations Committee says the prime minister must rein in arms sales to Riyadh as a matter of urgency  describing the situation in the country as unconscionable.

We do not agree with the governments assertion that it is narrowly on the right side of international humanitarian law in the case of licensing arms exports to the Saudi-led coalition, said Lord Howell, its Conservative chairman.

It is narrowly on the wrong side: given the volume and type of arms being exported to the Saudi-led coalition, we believe they are highly likely to be the cause of significant civilian casualties in Yemen, risking the violation of international humanitarian law.

The government must address the root causes of the suffering  the conflict itself  and be prepared to suspend some key export licences to Saudi Arabia and members of the coalition.

Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Show all 17 1 /17 Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Doctors take some blood of Yemeni Yousef Abdullah Bakhit Ali, 13, suffering from severe acute malnutrition. With ongoing and unending conflict in Yemen, humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate across the country Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen A doctor weighs Yemeni baby Yahya Hamoud Ali Al Huzef, 9 months suffering from malnutrition Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Ali Mohammed Ahmed Jamal,12 years old and suffering from severe acute malnutrition. He arrives with his family at a Unicef supported treatment centre in a hospital in Sanaa Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen A doctor measures the arm of Yemeni Ali Mohammed Ahmed Jamal, 12, who is suffering from malnutrition at a treatment centre in a hospital in Sanaa Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen There are over 400,000 severely malnourished children in need urgent lifesaving assistance in Yemen Unicef/Abdulhaleem Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Ali Mohammed Ahmed Jamal is weighed Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen A doctor measures the arm of baby Yahya Hamoud Ali Al Huzef Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Unicef are currently working to reach 275,000 malnourished children with critical life-saving supplies and care for over 5 million people with safe and clean water to stop the spread of life-threatening diseases Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Yahya Hamoud Ali Al Huzef with his family in his house in the outskirts of the capital Sanaa Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen The country is on the brink of famine and children's chances of survival are becoming slimmer by the day Unicef/Abdulhaleem Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Ali Mohammed Ahmed Jamal has his arm measured Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Unicef are currently working to provide nearly 1 million children with vaccines and healthcare Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Unicef are working with partners around-the clock to save children suffering from malnutrition and disease Unicef/Abdulhaleem Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Unicef are currently working to provide 9 million people with emergency cash assistance to help families buy basic commodities so they can survive Unicef/Huwais Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Ali Mohammed Ahmed Jamal is suffering from malnutrition Unicef Children suffering from acute malnutrition in Yemen Unicef/Abdulhaleem

The report calls on the government to:

* Stop relying on assurances by Saudi Arabia that UK weapons are not being used in breaches of international humanitarian law

* Warn the regime, and Iran, that failure to back the Stockholm Agreement  which agreed to a partial ceasefire  would have negative consequences

* Provide greater support to the United Nations secretary general for Yemen and throw its weight behind the UN peace process

* Stand ready to use its role as penholder, or chairman, at the UN security council to intervene if peace talks are not progressing and if blockages arise

Jeremy Corbyn has demanded a ban on arms sales to Saudi Arabia, pointing out that Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and others have already done so.

But ministers have insisted that exports are assessed against strict criteria and stopped if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

Quizzed in the Commons in December, the prime minister ducked the controversy, insisting: The question of providing for those people who are suffering terribly in the Yemen today is about ensuring that there is a political solution in the Yemen.

We believe that there is an opportunity for that now and that is what we have been encouraging all the parties to come together for.
Russia has dubbed Gavin Williamson the minister for war in the latest controversy surrounding the gaffe-prone defence secretary.

Sergei Lavrov, Moscows foreign minister, hit out at Mr Williamson after he accused the Kremlin of using mercenaries to get away with murder while denying the blood on their hands and of trying to goad the west into a new arms race.

The defence secretary is also under fire after the chancellor aborted a trade trip to China, amid the fury sparked by his plan to send a British aircraft carrier to Beijings backyard.

Addressing an international conference, Mr Lavrov took sarcastic aim at Williamson when asked about the security situation in the Arctic.

We want to understand what kind of mandate NATO is going to have in the Arctic," he said.

If you listen to some people like the minister of war - oh, sorry the minister of defence - of the United Kingdom then you might get an impression that nobody except NATO have the right to be anywhere, he added to laughter.

It was not the first time Mr Lavrov and Mr Williamson have clashed verbally. Last year, after the defence secretary told Vladimir Putin to go away and shut up, he said: Maybe he lacks education.

Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Show all 32 1 /32 Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Activists of opposition parties burn flares during a rally demanding to break an agreement with Russia on the use of the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, in front of the parliament building in Kiev Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Volunteers with the right-wing paramilitary Azov National Corps light flares during a rally on the snowy streets in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev after Russia seized two of their armored artillery vessels and a tug boat in the Black Sea AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Ukrainian Nationalists demand to break the diplomatic relations with Russia and nationalization of Russian property in Ukraine EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Ukrainian activists burn flares during their rally in front of Russian Consulate in Kharkiv EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Seized Ukrainian ships, small armoured artillery ships and a tug boat, are seen anchored in a port of Kerch Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, announced, on 25 November, at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council that they will introduce martial law in Ukraine for a period of 60 days and appeal to the Parliament to consider the move Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Russia seized two small-sized 'Berdiansk' and 'Nikopol' armored artillery boats. The 'Yany Kapu' tugboat has forcibly been stopped Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Children from an orphanage volunteer to help the city defenders strengthen trenches on Ukraine's Army positions near the village of Rybatske 25 km from Mariupol AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Policemen guard at Russian consulate during a protest action in the Black Sea Ukrainian city of Odessa AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 With relations still raw after Russias annexation of Crimea and its backing for a pro-Moscow insurgency in eastern Ukraine, the capture of three Ukrainian naval vessels risks pushing the two countries towards a wider conflict. Graphic explains how the naval incident unfolded on a map Graphic News Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Activists of far-right parties burn flares in front of the parliament building in Kiev during a rally to support the Ukrainian navy Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A Ukraine army APC moves toward on position at an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Ukrainian Nationalists sign a banner with a slogan reading like 'Not retreat and not surrendering!' EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Activists glue Ukrainian flag on the fence of Russian consulate AFP/Getty Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A volunteer with the right-wing paramilitary Azov National Corps during a rally on the snowy streets in front of the Ukrainian parliament in Kiev AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A National Guard serviceman extinguishes a torch thrown by a protester during a rally against the seizure by Russian special forces of three of the Ukrainian navy ships Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A protester throws a smoke grenade during a rally in front of the embassy of Russia in Kiev AP Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Protestors set up paper ships on the tires during their rally near of Russian embassy building in Kiev EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 A man extinguishes a burning car of the embassy of Russia Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 Paper boats are seen placed during a protest Reuters Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA Protests break out after Russia seize Ukraine warships in 2018 EPA

On Friday, Mr Williamson  dubbed Private Pike by critics at Westminster  struck a bellicose tone by accusing Russia of illegal activity on land and at sea.

Weve seen Russian recklessness and disregard for life on the streets of Britain, he told the Munich security conference, an annual gathering of global foreign and defence officials.

The Kremlin is also taking the fight into the grey zone. Operating without rules using espionage, military, political, cyber, economic and even criminal tools to undermine its competitors.

Their clandestine use of proxies  mercenary armies  like the infamous and unaccountable Wagner group, allows the Kremlin to get away with murder while denying the blood on their hands.

Three days earlier, he said: Russia is resurgent  rebuilding its military arsenal to bring the independent countries of the former Soviet Union like Georgia and Ukraine back into its orbit.

It was revealed on Saturday that Philip Hammond will not make his expected to trip to China next week  which had been seen as a vital part of efforts to build the UKs global trading links ahead of Brexit.

The apparent pull-out followed Mr Williamsons gunboat diplomacy, by announcing HMS Queen Elizabeth would be sent to the Pacific and that Britain was prepared to use lethal force to deter countries that flout international law.

The speech was widely seen as a threat to China over its expansion in the South China Sea and triggered a protest by the Chinese ambassador to the foreign office.
Powell is open to making changes to the ordinance that was developed while the city was under the gun to start the project and not lose a $2.5 million federal grant, she said. Elgin needs to get the work under say, but I also want to be fair to our residents and be cognizant of the cost and the burden we are putting on them as well, Powell said.
Campaigners for a fresh Brexit referendum will pour onto the streets for another huge demonstration next month, with the decision poised to go down to the wire.

The Put It To The People march  organised in partnership with The Independents Final Say campaign  will take place in London on Saturday 23 March, just six days before the UKs scheduled departure from the EU.

That decision still hangs in the balance, with the EU refusing changes demanded by Theresa May to reverse the crushing defeat of her divorce deal last month and cabinet ministers threatening resignation.

Now the Peoples Vote campaign has announced a repeat of last Octobers massive event, which attracted up to 700,000 people in London and many more at marches in other cities.

Backed by The Independent, it will give the public another opportunity to tell the government that voters must be given the Final Say on any Brexit deal.

Politicians of all parties immediately welcomed the announcement, arguing it was likely to come at a pivotal moment, as the stalemate in parliament drags on.

Cabinet ministers have refused to rule out Ms May waiting until the eve of Brexit before a second meaningful vote by MPs, in what has been criticised as a form of blackmail.

A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Show all 65 1 /65 A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit An estimated 700,000 people marched through London to demand a final say on the withdrawal agreement Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Red smoke from a canister hangs in the air as around 100,000 demonstrators march through London during a People's Vote anti-brexit demonstration savings banners and placards Anti-Brexit People's Vote March for the Future in London Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Mayor of London Sadiq Khan takes part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Protesters wearing final Say shirts and holding placards Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit MP Chuka Umunna (left) and MP Vince Cable (right) as MP Anna Soubry (centre) addresses Anti-Brexit campaigners at a rally after the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A Peoples Vote march attendee calls for a Final Say Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators with banners 'We're with EU' during the People's Vote March for the Future in London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Protesters at Londons march for the future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Editor of The Independent Christian Broughton speaks to demonstrators in Parliament Sqaure after they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A poster at the March for the Future in October The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 campaigner wrapped in EU flag Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Angela Christofilou/The Independent A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Final Say campaigners take part in the peoples vote march for the future in London 20/10/2018 Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators pass Trafalgar Square as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators wave Union and European flags and hold up placards as they pass Trafalgar Square, taking part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators hold placards as they take part in a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A demonstrator holds a message during a march calling for a People's Vote on the final Brexit deal, in central London on October 20, 2018. - Britons dreading life outside Europe gathered from all corners of the UK to London on Saturday to try to stop their country's looming breakup with the EU. AFP/Getty A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum. PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Demonstrators take part in the 'People's Vote March for the Future,' in central London, Britain, 20 October 2018. Reports state that the 'March for the Future' is to be led by a column of young people and call for a Peopleas Vote on the Brexit deal. After marching through central London, there will be a rally on stage in Parliament Square, including speeches from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan EPA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit A protester brandishes an Independent t-shirt during the Brexit March Angela Christofilou A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Tens of thousands of people take part in People's Vote March for the Future in central London. The march organised by the People's Vote campaign is led by young people calling for a People's Vote on the Brexit deal Rex A historic moment: thousands march to demand Final Say on Brexit Anti-Brexit campaigners take part in the People's Vote March for the Future in London, a march and rally in support of a second EU referendum PA

Meanwhile, Labour grassroots anger with Jeremy Corbyn has grown, as he has refused to throw his weight behind a referendum  in breach of the partys Brexit policy, say the delegates who wrote it.

There is now a real danger that this is going to go right down to the wire, said Anna Soubry, the pro-EU Conservative MP. Come the final week of March there will be nowhere for any MP to hide, which is why this march could be of historic significance.

Caroline Lucas, the former Green Party leader, said: Brexit is already causing deep damage and this may very well be our last chance to demand the public have a say on the way forward before its too late.

Labours David Lammy said: Whatever parliament decides over the coming weeks, and whatever amendments have already been passed, it is in those final days that we have the biggest chance to convince MPs to give this decision back to the public.

And Sir Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: I know that hundreds of thousands of people from right across the United Kingdom will take to the streets and join us in demanding that their voices are heard.

The Independent has been campaigning for a fresh public vote since last July through its Final Say campaign, with more than 1.1 million people having signed our petition.

Support surged at Westminster after last Octobers unprecedented turnout, when the crowds stretched so far back that plenty of people never even made it to the rally.

The 23 March demonstration will begin at 12pm  high noon  on Londons Park Lane, leading to a rally and speeches by supporters in Parliament Square.

It will be staged the day after a crucial EU summit, potentially the prime ministers last chance to secure concessions to avert the no-deal Brexit she has threatened, if her deal does not pass.

However, the prime ministers my-deal-or-no-deal strategy could yet be thwarted by MPs attempt to take control of the process, in a vote on 27 February, if ministers carry out their threat to quit.

For more details about the Put It To The People march  and to sign up  please visit peoples-vote.uk/march

For updates on whats going on with Brexit, you can register here to receive our new Brexit in Brief newsletter and other benefits. If you already have a registered account with The Independent you can sign up for the newsletter via your Account details tab
The UKs justice secretary has conceded the government may not be able to block the return of a schoolgirl who fled to Syria to join Isis in 2015.

David Gauke said Britain cant make people stateless, comments which appear to contradict those of home secretary Sajid Javid, who on Friday vowed he will not hesitate to prevent 19-year-old Shamima Begum from making her way home.

The London teenager, who is heavily pregnant, is currently living in a Syrian refugee camp after fleeing the Isis caliphate. She told The Times this week that she did not regret running away when she was 15 but wanted to return home to raise her child.

Mr Javid said: My message is clear  if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad, I will not hesitate to prevent your return.

But his cabinet colleague, Mr Gauke, told Sky News: Obviously we have to act within the powers that we have.

It is the case we cant make people stateless, but without getting too drawn into the specifics, the approach that we take as a government, which is the responsible one, is to ensure that we protect the British public. That is the key thing.

There are clearly dangers involved when we have people returning from dangerous parts of the world where they have voluntarily gone to and we need to make sure the British public are protected.

Timeline of the Isis caliphate Show all 19 1 /19 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Timeline of the Isis caliphate ISIS began as a group by the merging of extremist organisations ISI and al-Nusra in 2013. Following clashes, Syrian rebels captured the ISIS headquarters in Aleppo in January 2014 (pictured) AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi declared the creation of a caliphate in Mosul on 27 June 2014 Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis conquered the Kurdish towns of Sinjar and Zumar in August 2014, forcing thousands of civilians to flee their homes. Pictured are a group of Yazidi Kurds who have fled Rex Timeline of the Isis caliphate On September 2 2014 Isis released a video depicting the beheading of US journalist Steven Sotloff. On September 13 they released another video showing the execution of British aid worker David Haines Timeline of the Isis caliphate The US launched its first airstrikes against Isis in Syria on 23 September 2014. Here Lt Gen William C Mayville Jnr speaks about the bombing campaign in the wake of the first strikes Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis militants sit atop a hill planted with their flag in the Syrian town of Kobani on 6 October 2014. They had been advancing on Kobani since mid-September and by now was in control of the citys entrance and exit points AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Residents of the border village of Alizar keep guard day and night as they wait in fear of mortar fire from Isis who have occupied the nearby city of Kobani Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Smoke rises following a US airstrike on Kobani, 28 October 2014 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate YPG fighters raise a flag as they reclaim Kobani on 26 January 2015 VOA Timeline of the Isis caliphate Isis seized the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra on 20 May 2015. This image show the city from above days after its capture by Isis Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces are stationed on a hill above the town of Sinjar as smoke rises following US airstrikes on 12 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Kurdish forces enter Sinjar after seizing it from Isis control on 13 November 2015 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi government forces make the victory sign as they retake the city of Fallujah from ISIS on 26 June 2016 Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Iraqi forces battle with Isis for the city of Mosul on 30 June 2017 AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of the Iraqi federal police raise flags in Mosul on 8 July 2017. On the following day, Iraqi prime minister Haider Al Abadi declares victory over Isis in Mosul Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Members of Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Female fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces celebrate in Al-Naim Square after taking back the city of Raqqa from Isis. US-backed Syrian forces declare victory over Isis in Raqqa on 20 October 2017 after a four-month long campaign AFP/Getty Timeline of the Isis caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria in January 2019 They were among the last civilians to be living in the ISIS caliphate, by this time reduced to just two small villages in Syrias Deir ez-Zor Richard Hall/The Independent Timeline of the Isis caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate, on Saturday 26 January 2019 Richard Hall/The Independent

Doubts about the home secretarys vow have also been raised by Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, who said the UK would be legally obliged to allow Ms Begum to return unless she had a second nationality.

The UN Convention on Human Rights safeguards the right to a nationality.

Kurdish officials have also demanded the UK fulfils its moral and legal duty to repatriate Ms Begum and other British Isis members detained in Syria.

Abdel Karim Omar, a Kurdish foreign affairs official, told The Independent that thousands of detained Isis fighters, women and children were a big burden.

We cannot bear this responsiblity alone, he added.

Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be unreasonable to expect the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces to take responsibility for the teenager indefinitely.

He also warned that summary execution was the most likely outcome for captured foreign nationals who are handed over to Syrian or Iraqi authorities.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The UK government has dismissed suggestions it could launch a rescue mission to bring Ms Begum home. Security minister Ben Wallace told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK to join Isis in February 2015.

One of them, Kadiza Sultana, was reportedly killed in an air strike in 2016.
Shamima Begum, the London schoolgirl who ran away to join Isis in Syria, has said she wants to keep her baby with her if she returns to the UK.

As her family pleaded for the teenager to be allowed back to Britain "as a matter of urgency", the 19-year-old who is nine months pregnant said she understood the controversy and intense media scrutiny a return to the UK would bring.

But said she did not want to be separated from her child.

"I dont want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family," she told The Times.

They said the pregnant 19-year-old and her unborn child should be allowed to return home to Bethnal Green and be dealt with under the British justice system.

Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Show all 14 1 /14 Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Trucks full of women and children arrive from the last Isis-held areas in Deir ez-Zor, Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Zikia Ibrahim, 28, with her two-year-old son and 8-month-old daughter, after fleeing the Isis caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Men who fled the last Isis-held area of Syria line up to be questioned by American and Kurdish intelligence officials Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A young girl pulls her belongings after arriving Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate An SDF fighter hands out bread to women and children after they arrive Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Sita Ghazzar, 70, after fleeing from the last Isis-held territory in Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate A family from Russia who recently fled the last Isis-held area of Syria Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent Syria at war: Fleeing the caliphate Richard Hall/The Independent

Their plea came Britain's counter-terrorism chief Neil Basu warned that any British nationals returning from Syria could expect to be investigated and would have to live under stringent limitations.

He said anyone returning from the war-torn country would be assessed to determine whether they had committed any terrorist or other criminal offences.

Ms Begums family said they were prepared for the teenager  currently in a camp where almost 40,000 Isis fighters family members are being held  to face questioning by the British authorities.

We welcome an investigation in what she did while she was there under the principles of British justice and would request the British government assist us in returning Shamima and her child to the UK as a matter of urgency, the family told ITV News. As a British citizen, Shamima has every expectation to be returned to the UK and be dealt with under the British justice system.

Shamimas child who will also be British has every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of this home.

Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum before catching flight to Turkey in 2015 (Met Police/PA)

Ms Begum, who left London in 2015 with two friends, is currently living in at a refugee camp in northern Syria.

She told The Times earlier this week that she would do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

Her case has received high-profile backing, with former MI6 chief Richard Barrett saying the teenager should be given a chance to return if we are to stand by our values.

But the government has indicated it will not be contacting local authorities to negotiate her passage out of a camp.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned he will not hesitate to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join Isis, while security minister Ben Wallace said he would not put British lives at risk to help Ms Begum.

Mr Basu, appointed national counter-terrorism chief last year, explained what was likely to happen to any UK nationals returning from Syria or Iraq if they had gone in support of any proscribed terrorist group.

Any investigation is carried out with an open mind and based on the evidence available, he said. This is to determine if individuals have committed any terrorist or other criminal offences, regardless their motivation, and to ensure that they do not pose a danger to the public or the UKs national security.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

There can be no hope of repatriation without these investigations taking place, and anyone who does return to the UK from conflict zones can, at best, expect to live under stringent limitations set out in the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIM) Act.

The former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile has argued that if Ms Begum has not gained a second citizenship of another country, she will have to be allowed to return because under international law it is not possible for a person to be made stateless.

Mr Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be unreasonable to expect the Syrian Defence Force to look after her indefinitely at the detainee camp.
Stacey* was 10 when she had sex for the first time. By the age of 13, she was routinely sexually exploited by older boys and men. As one of the youngest female members of a notorious gang, she didnt have much choice.

I was passed around like a minion. I dont remember half of it. It was like I wasnt really there, she says matter-of-factly, recalling the sexual abuse. I could get up, clean myself off, and I would forget that something had happened five minutes later. I just blocked it out.

Groomed in a gang from the age of 12, sex with older members became a way of life during her adolescence. As well as being a sexual commodity, she quickly became a trusted drug mule. Senior gang members knew that, as a young girl, she had little chance of being stopped by police.

I was jumping out of school to go get more drugs. When I was 15, I would get a text message when I was in English and I would get up, get my bag, jump over the fence and do what I needed to do. Sometimes I would go back into school afterwards, says Stacey.

It was very easy to be drawn in. And theres money everywhere. I saved up 400 when I was 15. I realised I could make so much money. I never thought about getting out  Id get out and do what? It wasnt even an option. The gang becomes your family, thats what keeps you in.

BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard

Staceys experience is not an isolated one. In 2017, nearly 500 girls under the age of 18 were referred to the Home Office as suspected victims of sexual exploitation  up from 250 in three years. A further 110 female minors were referred for labour exploitation, up from 47 in 2014.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) which records these figures, attributes the rise largely to an increase in county lines gang exploitation. The agency recently admitted that the scale of dealing across the UK was three times larger than feared, with thousands of children being exploited.

While boys make up the bulk of drug dealers and runners, police have said girls and women were being sexually exploited or used for associated crime, including shoplifting and money laundering. Figures show there has been a 66 per cent increase in British nationals identified as potential child trafficking victims in 12 months  38 per cent of whom were female.

Despite the frequency at which Stacey would abandon lessons to fulfil drug running duties, her gang involvement was never identified by teachers or childrens services in any meaningful way. Even when she told a school counsellor she was having sexual encounters with older males, no further enquiries were made.

No one picked up on it. I spoke to a counsellor at school, mainly about sexual health, she says. There wasnt a lot that I could disclose, but when I did disclose things, it never escalated to where it needed to. So I gave up. I stopped telling the truth; I started lying to services.

Failure by authorities to recognise female gang involvement is a concern among the few third sector organisations that exist specifically to support young women in these situations.

The Gangs Matrix, a system set up by the Metropolitan Police in 2012 in a bid to crackdown on gang crime in London, has been criticised for taking a narrow focus on the issue. The latest data recorded by the system, which lists individuals as gang nominals, shows that 3,806 young people were listed, of which just 1 per cent were female.

A new project run by the Childrens Society, which is designed to tackle and disrupt child exploitation and operates across Greater Manchester, London and Birmingham, has found that of the young people identified in the charity, around 50 per cent were girls.

Recommended Gangs recruiting children as young as 12 as Class A drug dealers

Jo Hunt, area manager for the project, said the charity had come across girls as young as 11 being exploited, but that too often they are not being identified by statutory services.

We know young women and girls are being passed around by older men. But we need to do a lot more promotion and awareness raising in schools. We need to be upskilling the professionals to recognise the signs, she said.

Where there are a lot of teenage boys or men in gangs, you know there are going to be girls. Although they wont necessarily be a part of the actual violence, they are on the peripheral, and they play an important role.

Abi Billinghurst, founder of Abianda, a social enterprise that works with young women affected by gangs  said to be the only one in the country  says services are failing to identify and tackle female gang involvement.

The young girls were working with dont typically get the status of gang membership. Theyre there as a commodity to the males within that setting, she explains. But often professionals dont even have young women on their agenda when theyre thinking about the gang issue. Theyre not proactively asking questions about the young women who might be orbiting the young men, she says.

We might see girls coming to notice more through sexual health services, mental health services or doctors surgeries, whereas boys might be coming to notice much more because of eruptions of violence within the community, and public damage or risk to other community members. Theres less of a focus on girls because they arent seen inflicting harm on other people or communities.

At the age of 16, Staceys role within the gang dramatically changed. She formed a relationship with one of the leading members, a man who was 18 years her senior, which she says elevated her straight to the top.

I stopped being passed around. I was just with him. Everyone knew about it. Once youre in a relationship with a gang member, no one touches you, she says. He wasnt attractive. He wasnt young. But we both carried heroin. I moved in with him at 17.

 Life as a teenage drug dealer

The now 24-year-old, who removed herself from the gang world five years ago, acknowledges that although this relationship meant she was protected in a sense, it also exposed her to higher levels of violence and criminal activity  as she was required to start cooking drugs and she witnessed gang warfare up close.

When he was angry it was a different level of anger than what I was used to, she says of her ex-partner. Sometimes he would leave the house angry and come back with blood on his knuckles and on his shoes. I wouldnt know whose it was, but Id know not to ask any questions, and wait for him to tell me. And if he told me, Id know I couldnt speak to anyone else.

It was quite difficult seeing stuff and, as a young teenage girl, not being able to say anything to anyone.

Ms Billinghurst, whose service helps girls and young women aged 11 to 24, says many of the girls she supports are having to navigate a war zone, confronted with complex and traumatic situations wherever they look. Yet shortcomings in service provision, and fear of repercussions from older male gang members, means many feel unable to escape from it.

The perception of them accessing services from their associates, even if theyre just seeking help around their complex needs, is that theyre snitching, and therefore there could be subsequent threats of harm to them, their family and people they love, she says.

Young women remain hidden because of these barriers to accessing services, and this dilemma that they often find themselves in. They think, Ill deal with the adversity on my own, even if that means living a nightmare.

This nightmare is pervaded by the exposure to violence. As Stacey recalls: I saw people in my peer group getting hurt on a regular basis. There would be an argument and it would end up in a fight.

It quickly becomes normalised. If you hear that someone got stabbed you dont go Oh my god thats so sad, you go Oh my god, what did he do? and you want to hear the drama. Even if you do feel a bit of sadness youve got to push that back and start enquiring, asking questions.

Ive gone to more funerals than Ive gone birthday parties  thats not even a joke  and Im only 24.

Stacey became pregnant at the age of 18, which she describes as a route out. At this point, because her partner brought in the bulk of their income, she had managed to start a job at a university  and she said getting pregnant was the last thing she needed to do to leave the gang.

Now a single mother with a four-year-old daughter, Stacey says she still has moments of considering falling back into a life in which a lot of money can be made with one sell.

Sometimes now when my electricity is about to run out and Ive only got 20 left and I dont get paid until the following Friday, I think about that phone call that I could make and make 800 in an hour, she says.

The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo, 18, was killed in a fight in Chislehurst on 10 January 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Hasan Ozcan Hasan Ozcan, 19, was stabbed to death on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking on 3 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Sabri Chibani Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed fatally in the chest in Streatham on 11 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Promise Nkenda Lord Promise Nkenda, 17, was stabbed to death in Canning Town on 14 February 2018 Facebook The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lewis Blackman Lewis Blackman, a 19-year-old rapper from Kentish Town, was stabbed to death in Kensington on 18 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Abdikarim Hassan Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was stabbed to death near his home in Camden's Peckwater estate on 20 March - less tahan two hours before another man was stabbed to death nearby Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Kelvin Odunuyi Kelvin Odunuyi, a 19-year-old rapper known as DipDat and Lampz, was shot dead in Wood Green on 8 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lyndon Davis Lyndon Davis, 18, was chased down and stabbed to death in Chadwell Heath on 14 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Tanesha Melbourne-Blake Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tottenham on 2 April PA The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Amaan Shakoor Amaan Shakoor, 16, was shot dead in Walthamstow on 2 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Israel Ogunsola Israel Ogunsola, 18, was stabbed to death in Hackney on 4 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, a 17-year-old rapper and aspiring architect, was shot dead in a Kennington Street on 5 May Handout The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jordan Douherty Aspiring rapper Jordan Douherty died of his injuries outside a birthday party in Romford on 23 June Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Katrina Makunova Katrina Makunova, 17, was stabbed to death in Camberwell on 12 July 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Latwaan Griffiths 18-year-old Latwaan Griffiths was fatally stabbed on 25 July and died in hospital after being thrown off the back of a moped in Camberwell Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Guled Farah Guled Farah, 19, was shot in Walthamstow on 22 September Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Ethan Nedd-Bruce Ethan Nedd-Bruce, 18, died after he was shot outside a party at a flat in Greenwich, south-east London, on 22 October. He had also been stabbed, but the gunshot wound was the cause of death. Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jay Hughes Jay Hughes, 15, died was fatally stabbed outside a chicken shop in Bellingham, south-east London, on 1 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Malcolm Mide-Madariola Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was found suffering from a stab wound outside Clapham South Tube station on 2 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 John Ogunjobi John Ogunjobi, 16, died in front of his parents after he was stabbed in Greenleaf Close, Tulse Hill, on 5 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Aron Warren Aron Warren, 18, was found stabbed in a flat block in Greenwich on 8 December and died at the scene Metropolitan Police

I dont do it. I feel like an addict, this must be how addicts feel, like having a withdrawal.

Stacey believes county lines and gang crime has completely developed since she was involved, but that as a result of heightened media attention, more services are being developed to tackle the issues. She feels that she was failed  and that so were those abusing her.

My teens were full of drama and abuse and half the time I didnt know it was abuse. But I cant hate anyone for it. I still bump into people and talk to people who have done things to me. But I cant hate them, because they didnt know that they were doing that, she says.

If they had the right support, they would know that theyve done a lot of things to people, and they would probably hate themselves. Unfortunately theyre still stuck in that world so theyre probably out there doing it all the time. They are also victims to it.

Now that its escalating and its more of a media issue, everyone wants to get their thumb out and bring up services. But sometimes its just too late. These services shouldve come 10 years ago when it was me, so that my generation couldve been saved.
A 63-year-old man fighting for his life after thieves ran him over while stealing his car is said to be a "nice bloke" who lives in "a Mecca for stealing".

Police arrested two people after the man was struck in Nook Lane, Ashford-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, by his own car on Friday morning.

His neighbour, Kenneth Cooper, 66, who lives in Rushmere, the street where the theft happened, said: "He's a nice bloke, he's a really nice family guy. He's a pretty quiet bloke and a nice bloke - he doesn't deserve what's happened to him.

"(This area) is a Mecca for stealing."

Detectives arrested a 46-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder and a 45-year-old woman on suspicion of assisting an offender after the incident at about 7.20am.

BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto Adam Corbett / @adamcorbettphoto BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard BikeStormz Ride Out against knife crime London 2018 Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard Ollie Trenchard / @ollie.trenchard

Both were in custody on Saturday morning as the victim remained in hospital in a critical condition with serious head injuries.

The theft happened in a cul-de-sac before the victim was hit near a mini roundabout in an adjacent street, which is also connected to the cul-de-sac by a footpath.

Mr Cooper, a retired former soldier, added: "I saw the car going down the road and it was not going at breakneck speed or anything. I thought it was him going to work, he normally did at that time.

"He's run down the ginnel (alleyway) at the bottom while the car's going around the corner."

The victim has lived in the street for about 10 years, Mr Cooper said.

"It's not unusual at all. I'm sick to death of my car being broken into if I ever leave it open," he added.

"They (thieves) try your car doors."

 Man arrested over attempted theft of Magna Carta from Salisbury Cathedral by smashing glass case with hammer

Police at the scene on Friday were also asking neighbours in surrounding streets for CCTV of the incident.

Several streets were sealed off by police tape for several hours as forensics officers searched for evidence.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said the suspects, driving the victim's red Citroen C1, fled the scene after the collision.

The car was later discovered about a mile away.

Detective Inspector Benjamin Cottam, from the force's major incident team, said: "The man remains in a critical condition in hospital, and my thoughts are with him and his family at this truly awful time.

"Although we now have two people in custody, this investigation is very much ongoing and I would urge anyone with information to please come forward to police if you haven't done so already.

"I'd like to appeal to anyone who saw the red Citroen C1 in the area at the time, or anyone with dashcam footage, to please get in touch with us as soon as you possibly can."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0161 856 9289 or 101 quoting incident number 363 of 15/02/2019, or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Press Association
A man who jumped feet first onto a tent with two homeless people sleeping inside has been jailed.

Jamie Nickell, 26, was caught on CCTV as he took a run-up before launching himself at the makeshift shelter in a shop doorway in Hull, East Yorkshire.

His friend Jake Mann, 29, filmed the attack on his mobile phone in the early hours of 30 November. Laughing, the pair then walked off.

One of the defendants was heard shouting you dirty, scumbag, trampy b******s during the incident.

Hull Crown Court heard how the two men were visiting the city for a concert and had been drinking in the lead up to the assault.

The Stats: Homelessness in the UK Show all 10 1 /10 The Stats: Homelessness in the UK The Stats: Homelessness in the UK Sleeping rough up 165% from 2010 The total number of people counted or estimated to be sleeping rough on a single night in autumn 2018 was 4,677, up 2,909 people or 165% from the 2010 total of 1,768 Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK London rough sleepers up 13% The number of people sleeping rough increased by 146 or 13% in London since 2017 AFP/Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK London accounted for 27% of people sleeping rough in England London accounted for 27% of the total number of people sleeping rough in England. This is up from 24% of the England total in 2017 Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK 64% of rough sleeps UK nationals 64% were UK nationals, compared to 71% in 2017 AFP/Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK 14% of rough sleepers are women 14% of the people recorded sleeping rough were women, the same as in 2017 Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK 6% were aged 25 years or under, compared to 8% in 2017 AFP/Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK Thousands of families staying in temporary housing Almost 79,000 families were staying in temporary housing in the last three months of 2017 because they didn't have a permanent home, compared with 48,010 in the same period eight years before Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK Reduction in families living in temporary housing before Coalition government There had been a significant reduction in families living in such conditions before the Coalition government came into power, with the number having fallen by 52 per cent between 2004 and 2010 under the Labour government AFP/Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK Families staying in temporary has risen since But the figure has crept up in each of the past seven years, from 69,140 in the last quarter of 2015, to 75,740 in the same period in 2016 and 78,930 at the end of last year Getty The Stats: Homelessness in the UK Nearly 58,000 families accepted as homeless (2018) Nearly 58,000 families have been accepted as homeless by their local council in the past year (as of March 2018), equating to an increase of 8 per cent over the last five years Getty

The attack resulted in one of the homeless men, Steve Cadman, suffering a minor injury to his knee.

Sentencing the two men, Judge Mark Bury described the attack as repugnant.

Nickell, from Lincoln, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and was sentenced to four months in prison at Hull Crown Court on Friday.

Jake Mann laughed as he filmed the attack on the tent where two homeless men were sleeping. (SWNS)

Mann, also of Lincoln, was jailed for 14 weeks for his part in the attack earlier this week.

Hull Central Neighbourhoods Inspector Julian Hart said after the hearing: We do not put up with this type of antisocial and violent behaviour in Hull.

This was a reckless and thoughtless act that took place after the pair had been drinking which could have resulted in much more serious injuries. Im very glad it didnt and fortunately the two men in the tent were not seriously hurt.

This wasnt a joke. This wasnt a bit of fun. This was a serious assault that has resulted in two men being sent to prison.
The London tomb of German philosopher Karl Marx has been vandalised for the second time in two weeks.

The words Doctrine of Hate and Architect of Genocide were daubed in red on the grave of Highgate Cemeterys most famous resident.

A marble plaque was also smashed up in the senseless, stupid, ignorant attack, said the charity which runs the cemetery.

The latest defacement comes after the monument, which attracts tens of thousands of visitors a year, was damaged with a hammer earlier this month.

Visitor Maxwell Blowfield said he was shocked to discover the vandalism on Saturday morning.

Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Show all 11 1 /11 Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures German social, political and economic theorist Karl Marx. His theories of class struggle predicted that capitalism breeds inherent tensions that will lead to its self-destruction and make way for socialism. Getty Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures The sculpture of German philosopher and revolutionary Karl Marx is revealed during its inauguration at the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx in Trier, Germany. AP Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Karl Marx with his eldest daughter. His writings became a fundamental basis for revolutionary movements across the globe, particularly the Russian Revolution that led to the creation of the Soviet Union. Revolutionary, armed struggles with the goal of creating socialist or communist societies had a powerful influence on the course of the 20th century in nearly every part of the world. Getty Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures The dilapidated exterior of 41 Maitland Park Road, Hampstead, in 1958, where Karl Marx spent the last 15 years of his life. He lived and wrote mostly in exile in London. Getty Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Marx collaborated with fellow German thinker Friedrich Engels in London. A statue of both, The Marx-Engels monument, stands in Berlin, Germany. AFP/Getty Images Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures The bronze statue, by Chinese artist Wu Weishan, weighs 2.3 tons and measures 4.4 meters. It was a present from the People's Republic of China. Getty Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures The tomb of Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery in London. Getty Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Karl Marx is buried in a different part of the cemetery. Both Highgate East and West Cemetery's contain the graves of a number of famous people such as Marx, William Friese-Greene, Douglas Adams and Beryl Bainbridge. Karl Marx's tomb, the Eyptian Avenue and the Columbarium are Grade One listed buildings. PA Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Karl Marx Monument in Chemnitz, Germany. The sculpture and base stands over 13m tall. "Workers of the world, unite!" appears behind engraved on the wall. Getty Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks on the podium at an event to mark the bicentennial of Karl Marx's birth at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Xi praised Karl Marx as "the greatest thinker of modern times," calling his theories a tool for China to "win the future." AP Karl Marx: social, political and economic theorist in pictures Some of the 500, one meter tall statues of Karl Marx, in front of the Porta Nigra, in Trier, Germany. The statues, created by artist Ottmar Hoerl, are part of an exhibition at the Museum Simeonstift Trier that were created to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the death of Marx in 1883. Marx, who was born in Trier, is the author of The Communist Manifesto, and his ideas on the relationship between labour, industry and capital created the ideological foundation for socialist and communist movements across the globe. Getty

Mr Blowfield, 31, who works as a press officer with the British Museum, said: Its a highlight of the cemetery. Its a shame. The red paint will disappear, I assume, but to see that kind of level of damage and to see it happen twice, its not good.

I wouldnt like to say who or why someone did it but it was clearly someone very critical of Marx and that part of history. I am just surprised that somebody in 2019 feels they need to and do something like that.

A post on the cemeterys Twitter account condemned the vandalism.

Whatever you think about Marxs legacy, this is not the way to make the point, it added.

The Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust said that Marxs grave appeared to have been targeted in a deliberate and sustained attack following the first incident of vandalism on 4 February.

Ian Dungavell, the trusts chief executive, described the damage as very upsetting.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

The marble plaque on the tomb was first used on the grave of Marxs wife, Jenny von Westphalen, in 1881. It was moved when the couples remains were exhumed and reinterred in a more prominent location in the cemetery in 1954.

In the 1970s, the memorial was damaged by two homemade bombs. It is Grade I-listed, putting it on a par with the most important buildings in the country.

The monument is owned by the Marx Grave Trust, which is represented by the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell.

Police said no arrests have been made over either the 4 February vandalism or the most recent attack.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: We would appeal to anyone who has any information to contact us.
As humans embark on the next big voyage into the unknown, there will need to be someone aboard the first Mars-bound spacecraft who can crack a joke.

Travelling to the red planet, astronauts will have to endure a level of isolation unprecedented in space travel, which has been compared to historic trips such Christopher Columbuss quest for the New World.

To ensure the crew that ultimately embarks on such a mission is ideally suited, Nasa has been investigating the social makeup required to function in such challenging circumstances

It has taken its cues from teams working in isolated conditions such as on fishing camps in Alaska or on expeditions to Antarctica, and one role in particular has emerged as crucial.

Groups work best when they have somebody who takes on the role of class clown, said Dr Jeffrey Johnson, a researcher at the University of Florida who has immersed himself in such teams.

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

These are people that have the ability to pull everyone together, bridge gaps when tensions appear and really boost morale.

This is a pattern he has observed repeatedly while working across four summers with teams from Russia, Poland, China and India at the South Pole.

Recommended Nasa launching new mission to find the origins of the universe

Taking an important historic example, the anthropologist points to Adolf Lindstrom, the cook who accompanied the famous polar explorer Roald Amundsen and was noted for his good humour.

In his diary, Amundsen himself said Lindstrom had rendered greater and more valuable services to the Norwegian polar expedition than any other man.

A Mars mission will need a Lindstrom-like figure, somebody who can break the tension, can bring people together, said Dr Johnson, who presented his most recent findings about social roles at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting in Washington DC.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

However, he noted that while the clown might have many natural talents, they would need to pull their weight if they were to embark on such an important mission.

Being funny wont be enough to land somebody the job, he said. They also need to be an excellent scientist and engineer and be able to pass a rigorous training regime.
In the Lords she never spoke. In a life devoted largely to fighting elections she never stood. In a mass movement she was accountable to only one man. Yet over a period of nearly eight years she was arguably the most powerful woman in Britain. She was envied by cabinet ministers and resented by civil servants. For Marcia Falkender had the ear of the prime minister and consistently exerted more political influence in Britain than any other woman until the arrival of Margaret Thatcher.

Her maiden name was Field, her married name was Williams, her title was Baroness Falkender but always she was known simply as Marcia, a Christian name which, incidentally, she disliked intensely. Few contemporaries have been identifiable so easily by just a first name. It was not only at Westminster that she made her name memorable as private and political secretary to Labour prime minister Harold Wilson.

At times Falkender dominated the papers. In 1974, for instance, when they were following up a land deal in which she and her family were involved, more than 6,000 column inches of words and pictures were devoted to the affair in less than a fortnight. Her relationship with Wilson was a subject of speculation, particularly in foreign publications. Her role in building up Wilsons political funds was questioned. Her quarrels with Downing Street colleagues were notorious and often public. Yet one story never emerged at the time when she was most powerful  the two children to whom she gave birth as an unmarried mother while she was employed at No 10.

What took her so far at Westminster? Joe Haines, Wilsons press secretary, who in The Politics of Power (1977) wrote a book which helped to destroy her reputation, had to admit her best qualities. He described her as being at one point politically indispensable. Then he went further: If she had been Boadicea, she might not have lost. And he summed up: Her gift was that she was a better politician on her good days than all those who made a profession of it.

And on other days? Even her admirers would have to admit that she could be tyrannical, wayward, often cruel. Gerald Kaufman once told me that any biography of Falkender should be called With a Curl in the Middle of Her Forehead. For on her good days she was very, very good indeed. And on her bad ones she could be truly horrid.

Falkener in 1987. A life peer, she never made a speech in the Lords (Getty)

Marcia Field was born in 1932 in the Northamptonshire village of Long Buckley, was educated at a primary school and then won a scholarship to Northampton High School for Girls. Already anti-establishment and with views of her own, she was influenced by a left-wing teacher, the daughter of a former Tory chief whip, who saw that she sat successfully for another scholarship, which took her to London University, where she read history at Queen Mary College. She was educated almost entirely by her own efforts. Her father, manager of a small brickworks who later started his own building firm, helped out but there was never much money around in her childhood.

An honours degree in history suggested little except a teaching career which she was determined to avoid. So she took a secretarial course and snatched at the chance to work at the old Labour Party headquarters in Transport House, London. That year, 1955, she married a college boyfriend, George Edmund Williams (Eddie) , an aeronautical engineer. The marriage did not last. She once told me: I was very fond of Eddie but on my way to the honeymoon I had a dreadful feeling that we had made a mistake. Eddie obtained a job in the United States. She did not follow him. Later he wanted to marry again and there was an amicable divorce.

Harold Wilson appeared a glamorous figure when she started at Transport House. He was the brilliant young ex-cabinet minister who had risked his career by resigning with Nye Bevan. He was not on the left  he never had been  but he was far from the right-wing old guard who thought he needed curbing. Marcia, discovering the plots, sent him anonymous warnings. But she did not meet him until a Labour Party dinner at the Commons for the Soviet leaders, Khrushchev and Bulganin, which was intended to help the peace process but which typically produced a tremendous row. Marcia, entrusted with the shorthand note of the speeches, had little time for the drama for in her new role she was, in her own words, frozen with fear one minute and covered with perspiration the next.

Soon afterwards Falkender became Wilsons secretary. At first she worked in the Meyer timber group offices, where he was a consultant, but she moved to the Commons as Wilson became chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and eventually shadow chancellor. Whether it was her influence or not it was in this period that Wilson flowered. He had been a dull speaker, packing his speeches with figures, and a bit of a dull dog all round. Suddenly his speeches became full of irony and satire, reaching their peak during his famous duels with Harold Macmillan.

Falkender was not responsible for the content of his speeches  she had no talent in that direction  but many credit her with his change in style. She was certainly credited with the tactics in his battle for the leadership after the death of Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell in 1963 and she remained the driving force during Wilsons 14 years as leader.

Much of her advice was good. She was an intuitive politician. As a Garter knight Wilson adopted as his motto Tempus rerum imperator (roughly, timing is everything). That was Marcias view too. She led him through the jungle of Labour and trade-union politics and was as responsible as anybody for the fact that there was never a serious threat to his leadership, although, ironically, she fed his fears and believed herself that he was in constant danger from a coup.

She also helped to fill Wilsons treasure chest. This took the form of a trust fund for the leaders expenses which had its origin in comparable contributions from rich businessmen to a poor party in the Attlee-Gaitskell years. Most gave because they believed in Labour and only wanted it to win. But those who gave most were those who, coincidentally, came to appear on the honours lists. In the end there was reason to believe that some gave primarily because they believed that Wilson would show gratitude in a way which reminded some of Lloyd George. And this apparently he did, though his own needs were modest.

She also made some major blunders. She was responsible, for instance, for the low-key, meet-the-people style of Wilsons 1970 election campaign with few big meetings and all the emphasis on Labours sense of responsibility. This misjudgement came at a difficult time for her. She was still recovering from the effect of giving birth to boys in successive summers  1968 and 1969. Timothy and Daniel were the sons of the late Walter Terry, a gifted Fleet Street political editor. Falkenders affair with him began in 1967 and for a time they lived together. Marcia hoped to marry him but in the end he refused to leave his wife. She never really recovered from this affair though the boys, who rarely saw their father after their first year, became the centre of her life.

Wilsons two general election victories in 1974 represented the peak of her political career. From then on, she knew, things would get worse. She realised that the Wilson government was going nowhere and he had told her, as he had told three or four other people, that he would resign in 1976. The stresses inside the political office became greater, the rows more wearing.

Then there was the great land deal story. Falkenders brother, a geologist turned businessman, had bought a slag heap near Wigan. When the slag was worked out the site seemed valuable for development purposes. Falkender and other members of the family became involved in the deal. A letter with Wilsons apparent signature on it was forged. The forgery was revealed to the press and Falkenders West End mews house was besieged. In the event the deal fell through and the forger went to prison. At his trial the prosecuting counsel observed that the Field family have acted with complete propriety throughout the whole of these transactions. This was certainly the case but this was not the impression given by newspapers at the time.

That summer Falkender was made a life peer, as Wilsons act of defiance to Fleet Street. It was widely criticised at the time and the criticisms were renewed when Lady Falkender failed to speak in the upper house. She once told me that she had chosen her title because it had family connections and the connection had provided her with royal blood.

Then, in March 1976, Wilson resigned, saying at the time that he was tired of the job. Falkender fought the decision and until the final day sought to make him change his mind. It was the last of many battles she had had with the prime minister and possibly it was the most important. But this time she lost.

Marcia Falkender deserves to be remembered: she was witty and often brilliant, and lightened more lives than she harmed. That is more than one can say about most political figures.

Marcia Matilda Falkender, political adviser, born 10 March 1932, died 6 February 2019

Terence Lancaster died in 2007
A Liberal Democrat MEP claims she was dropped from a Brexit debate organised by students at Oxford after a tweet in which she criticised a Tory MP received negative attention.

Catherine Bearder had been booked to speak to Polish students on a panel with Brexiteer Daniel Kawczynski on Saturday, but her invitation was cancelled at the last minute.

Ms Bearder claimed the decision was taken after she sent a tweet saying she would try to put the little unicorns Daniel lets free every now and then back in their stables during the Brexit debate.

When Ms Bearder was told on Friday shed been disinvited from the event at the University of Oxford, she called for an immediate explanation as claimed it looked like censorship on campus.

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

She later tweeted that the decision has been taken after her social media post attracted attention.

Earlier this week Mr Kawczynski admitted he was wrong and apologised over a tweet claiming that the UK received no aid from Americas famous Marshall Plan after the Second World War.

A former Lib Dem councillor for Islington, Stefan Kasprzak, was asked to stand in on the panel, which was moderated by Marek Matraszek, chairman of a public affairs agency.

Ms Bearder spoke to students outside the event who told her they were amazed by the decision.

Speaking to The Independent, she said: If you are not robust, then what the Dickens are you doing in politics?

"Oxford University for centuries have had debates and that is what students want."

On the all-male panel, she added: "It makes a change being the token woman to being the excluded woman.

"There were a lot of female students going in and what message does that send to them?"

Recommended Universities urged to increase security to combat violence at events

A spokesperson for the Oxford University Polish Society, which organised the event at the universitys examination schools, apologised for the way in which the change of arrangements were communicated and "for any upset or embarrassment" caused.

They said: "An online exchange, primarily concerned with issues irrelevant to the Polish student community in the UK, caused concerns that the panel debate would be overshadowed by issues specific to internal British political controversies, however topical.

"We strongly deny the charges of stifling free speech, let alone censorship. We are deeply committed to free speech and consider it to be an important part of our identity as a student body."

The organisers added that Mr Kasprzyk, a Liberal Democrat and a vocal supporter of the Remain campaign, was invited to represent the opposing views to Mr Kawczynski.
On Aug. 21, the court entered a judgment against Lynwood for the full amount of the delinquent contributions, but to date, the village has not paid it off, and in fact owes slightly more now due to accrued interest, the suit claims.
Amazon has thrown down the gauntlet to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, inviting the congresswoman to visit one of its facilities after she claimed the tech giant had created dehumanising conditions for its workers.

The 29-year-old congresswoman was among those who celebrated after Amazon announced this week it was pulling out of plans to open what it termed a second headquarters in New York City.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the citys 14th district, which is close to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens where the facility was to be based, had opposed the $3bn in tax incentives the state and city had offered the e-commerce giant, headed by Jeff Bezos.

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbours defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a newly-elected Democrat, wrote on Twitter after the companys announcement.

Amazon said it was not proceeding because it had not had positive, collaborative relationships with state and local officials.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez greets fellow lawmakers ahead of the State of the Union address Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez participates in an event with Democratic members of Congress EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures The Democrat senator speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol January 30, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and fellow Democrat Rashida Tlaib AP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the Senate chamber to watch two votes on January 24, 2019 Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez arrives with Chellie Pingree at a House Democratic Caucus meeting Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez during Donald Trump's State of the Union address Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures New York State Assembly member Catalina Cruz with Ocasio-Cortez AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Nydia Velazquez talks with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez casts her vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez poses with a campaign worker during a whistle stop in the Queens borough of New York Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez outside the US Capitol AFP/Getty Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio-Cortez after casting her ballot in the 2018 midterm general election at a polling site in New York EPA Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez looks on during a march organised by the Women's March Alliance in Manhattan Reuters Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez - the Democratic congresswoman in pictures Ocasio Cortez looks on at the Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 16, 2019 AFP/Getty

Responding to one commenter on Twitter who claimed Amazon was a strict performance-heavy organisational structure, she said: Is that culture of strict performance why Amazon workers have to urinate in bottles & work while on food stamps to meet targets?

She added: Performance shouldnt come at the cost of dehumanising conditions. Thats why we got rid of sweatshops.

 Amazon rolls out Scout delivery robot

Amazon disputed the claims and invited the congresswoman to visit for herself.

Dave Clark, Amazons senior vice president of worldwide operations, said on Twitter: @aoc these claims simply arent true. We are proud of our jobs with excellent pay ($15 min), benefits from day 1, & lots of other benefits like our Career Choice pre-paid educational programmes. Why dont you come take a tour & see for yourself...wed love to have you!

Ms Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a question as to whether or not she will take up the invitation to visit.
Body positivity activists have staged a protest at London Fashion Week urging for more curves on the catwalk.

On Friday morning, the group of plus-size models and social media influencers gathered outside the British Fashion Councils central LFW space at 180 Strand.

They held placards bearing phrases such as: Fashion should empower us, and Our beauty is immeasurable.

The protest was led by plus-size model Hayley Hasselhoff, 26, and organised by retailer Simply Be, which sells women's fashion in sizes 12 to 32.

Those in attendance included British model Felicity Hayward, who is a UK size 20 and activist Michelle Elman, who runs the body positivity Instagram account, "Scarred not Scared", and is also a UK size 20.

Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Show all 9 1 /9 Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images Body positivity activists protest outside London Fashion Week Getty Images

The protest comes after research comissioned by Simply Be found that 89 per cent of women didn't feel their body size was represented on the runways.

Ed Watson, global communications director at N Brown Group plc, which owns Simply Be, said: We love London Fashion Week and anything that raises the profile of British fashion. However, it would be great to seemore diverse representation of body shape on the runways.

This isnt about thin shaming  we just think its time we saw more diversity in terms of size in advertising campaigns and on runways, because women are so much more than their measurements."

Recommended Everything you need to know about London Fashion Week 2019

Simply Be arranged a similar protest this time last year, which saw those in attendance wear lingerie for the occasion.

At the time, Hasselhoff, whose father is Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, spoke about the importance of campaigning for body positivity in fashion.

We want to give women everywhere the confidence to be who they are," she said.

Hasselhoff pictured at the protest on Friday morning (Getty Images)

"This is only achieved by showing a wide variety of models irrespective of size. By tearing up the one size fits fashion rule book we hope to encourage any woman, whatever her size, to feel fabulous in their skin.

Keep up to date with The Independent's London Fashion Week coverage here.
Plans are under way to plant swathes of genetically engineered trees across the ailing forests of North America in a bid to save them from the ravages of disease and pests.

Species such as the ash tree and whitebark pine have faced catastrophic declines of up to half their populations after creatures introduced from overseas tore through their defences.

With some trees driven to the brink of extinction, some scientists have called for drastic action to help forests fight back against the pests.

The reason they are so deadly is that native species are not genetically adapted to defend against them, explained Dr Ines Ibanez, an ecologist from the University of Michigan.

This problem can be fixed by providing trees with the genetic tools they need to fight their attackers.

Environment news in pictures Show all 8 1 /8 Environment news in pictures Environment news in pictures Davos 2019: David Attenborough issues stark warning about future of civilisation as he demands practical solutions to combat climate change Sir David Attenborough has issued a stark warning about climate change to business figures gathered in Davos, telling them that "what we do now...will profoundly affect the next few thousand years". On the eve of this year's World Economic Forum, the renowned naturalist told the audience that the worlds of business and politics should "get on with the practical solutions" needed to prevent environmental damage. "As a species we are expert problem solvers. But we've not yet applied ourselves to this problem with the focus it requires. "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," he said. The broadcaster made his speech after receiving a Crystal Award, which is awarded by the forum to "exceptional cultural leaders". AFP/Getty Environment news in pictures At least 60% of wild coffee species face extinction triggered by climate change and disease Two decades of research have revealed that 60 per cent of the worlds coffee species face extinction due to the combined threats of deforestation, disease and climate change. The wild strain of arabica, the most widely consumed coffee on the planet, is among those now recognised as endangered, raising concerns about its long-term survival. These results are worrying for the millions of farmers around the world who depend on the continued survival of coffee for their livelihoods. As conditions for coffee farming become tougher, scientists predict the industry will need to rely on wild varieties to develop more resilient strains Alan Schaller Environment news in pictures Warming Antarctic waters are speeding the rate at which glaciers are melting The Antarctic ice sheet is losing six times as much ice each year as it was in the 1980s and the pace is accelerating, one of the most comprehensive studies of climate change effects on the continent has shown. More than half an inch has been added to global sea levels since 1979, but if current trends continue it will be responsible for metres more in future, the Nasa-funded study found. The international effort used aerial photos, satellite data and climate models dating back to the 1970s across18 Antarctic regions to get the most complete picture to date on the impacts of the changing climate. It found that between 1979 and 1990 Antarctica lost an average of 40 gigatonnes (40 billion tonnes) of its mass each year. Between 2009 and 2017 it lost an average 252 gigatonnes a year. This has added 3.6mm per decade to sea levels, or around 14mm since 1979, the study shows Nasa/Getty Environment news in pictures Greater Manchester to ban fracking, paving way for confrontation with government over controversial industry Greater Manchester is to effectively ban fracking, raising the prospect of fresh confrontation with the government over the controversial industry. All of the regions 10 councils are to implement planning policies which create a presumption against drilling for shale gas in their areas, Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has announced. Campaigners said the move was the latest sign that the tide was turning against fracking, which has been the subject of multiple legal battles across the country. Critics of fracking say it poses environmental and health risks. Drilling at the UKs only operational fracking site, run by Cuadrilla in Lancashire, has repeatedly been halted due to earth tremors. But ministers support the industry and last year unveiled plans to accelerate the development of new drilling sites Ross Wills Environment news in pictures Japan confirms plan to resume commercial whaling in its waters from next year Japan will resume commercial whaling next year for the first time in more than three decades, in a move that has provoked strong criticism from campaigners and the international community. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said his nation would leave the International Whaling Commission (IWC) to resume hunting the marine mammals in Japanese waters. However, he stated the activity would be limited to Japans territory and the 200 mile exclusive economic zone along its coasts. This means controversial scientific trips to Antarctica in which Japanese vessels killed hundreds of whales, as well as activity in the northwest Pacific, will stop in 2019 AP Environment news in pictures COP24: Environmental groups criticise morally unacceptable climate deal reached after major Poland summit Diplomats from around the world have agreed a major climate deal after two weeks of United Nations talks in Poland. But climate campaigners warned the deal  effectively a set of rules for how to govern the 2015 Paris climate accord  agreed between almost 200 countries lacked ambition or a clear promise of enhanced climate action. Activists cautiously welcomed elements of the plan, saying important progress had been made on ensuring that efforts to tackle climate change by individual nations can be measured and compared. But environmental groups were also highly critical of the agreement, warning it lacked ambition and clarity on key issues, including financing for climate projects for developing countries. The COP24 deal, which is aimed at providing firm guidelines for countries on how to transparently report their greenhouse gas emissions and their efforts to reduce them, was confirmed on 15 December, after talks overran Reuters Environment news in pictures Unprecedented changes needed to stop global warming as UN report reveals islands starting to vanish and coral reefs dying Greenhouse gas emissions must be cut almost in half by 2030 to avert global environmental catastrophe, including the total loss of every coral reef, the disappearance of Arctic ice and the destruction of island communities, a landmark UN report has concluded. Drawing on more than 6,000 scientific studies and compiled over two years, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) findings, released this morning, warn enormous and rapid changes to the way everyone on Earth eats, travels and produces energy need to be brought in immediately. Though the scientists behind the report said there is cause for optimism, they recognised the grim reality that nations are currently nowhere near on track to avert disaster AFP/Getty Environment news in pictures Africas three biggest elephant poaching cartels exposed using DNA from illegal ivory shipments DNA taken from massive shipments of ivory has been used to identify the three largest wildlife trafficking gangs operating at the height of Africas elephant poaching epidemic. Ivory tends to be shipped around the world from African ports in bulk, and scientists have used genetic evidence gleaned from intercepted batches to reveal their origins. Led by Dr Samuel Wasser from the University of Washington, they traced a number of these shipments to three cartels operating out of Kenya, Uganda and Togo. Evidence collected by Dr Wasser has already helped convict ivory kingpin Feisal Mohamed Ali, and as his team joins the dots between shipments they plan to shore up the cases against more of the continents most prolific smugglers Art Wolfe

People are interested in exploring the potential of biotechnology, which could be used to introduce a specific trait unto a tree species or make it resistant or tolerant a disease or pest, said Dr Jason Delborne, a social scientist at North Carolina State University

While genetic engineering normally takes place within tight restrictions, these GM trees would be created with the express intention of spreading far and wide.

This prompted the US government to enlist Drs Delborne and Ibanez along with other collaborators from across the academic spectrum to assess whether the nation should embark on such an enormous leap into the unknown.

Recommended Councils could be banned from felling trees without consulting locals

Their work has come at a crucial time, as efforts to genetically modify trees are already under way.

Perhaps the most successful project has been one targeting the American chestnut, which was all but wiped out by a fungal blight in the mid-1900s.

Chestnuts used to make up around a quarter of the trees in eastern US forests, but after 6 billion were killed the remnant population is nothing but stumps.

But the tree may have found a saviour in the form of a pioneering project led by Professor William Powell at SUNY-ESF, which has created chestnut trees with an extra gene from wheat that detoxifies the fungus.

Recommended How Jair Bolsonaro can be stopped from trashing the Amazon rainforest

Tests have shown these new strains are resistant to the blight, providing hope for the future of the species.

The goal for them is to make it deregulated so they could plant it freely in the environment, then over a decade you could plant chestnut tees and they would spread and repopulate the forest. Thats the vision, said Prof Powell.

Unlike many GM species, these trees would not be commercial given the primary end goal is simply to restore nature to its former glory and not make money.

Nevertheless, such technologies could still face a backlash, and the scientists presenting their work at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington DC urged caution.

 Support free-thinking journalism and attend Independent events

Some people love that idea, others say You want to release a GMO in wild forests, are you kidding? said Dr Delborne.

Dr Ibanez said a broad range of measures will be necessary to save the nations forests, including breeding programmes and the search for natural genetic resistance in populations. While genetic engineering cannot yet be viewed as a silver bullet to solve the problem, it may still prove essential.

We may start losing species quite fast, and want to have this in our toolbox, she said.
JJ Abrams has revealed that filming on Star Wars 9 has come to an end and fans are convinced a title announcement is imminent as a cryptic tease arrives on an official Twitter account linked to the franchise.

The director confirmed the news with an on-set photo showing the lead trio  John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Isaac  sharing a hug.

There is no adequate way to thank this truly magical crew and cast, Abrams tweeted.

Boyega later tweeted the same photo, calling his final day on set the end to a chapter of my life that I couldnt be more thankful for.

Fans have been expecting a title announcement for Episode IX for weeks now. In comparison, the title of Episode VII  The Force Awakens  was announced weeks before principal photography drew to a close.

47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Show all 47 1 /47 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination American Psycho (2000) Starring future Oscar-winner Christian Bale, Mary Harrons adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel  in which the Vice star plays the psychopathic Patrick Bateman - didnt receive a single nomination. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Before Sunrise (1995) While the final two chapters of Richard Linklaters Before trilogy earned screenplay nominations, the film that introduced the world to future married couple Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) was criminally overlooked. Columbia Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Big Heat (1953) Fritz Lang had a number of films overlooked by the Academy; this noir, starring Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and and Gloria Grahame, was one of them. Columbia Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Big Lebowski (1998) The Academys generosity to the Coen brothers peaked when No Country for Old Men beat There Will Be Blood in one of the ceremonys closest Best Picture races of all time. It remains surprising that one of their few films to evade any nominations is this endlessly quotable mistaken identity comedy starring Jeff Bridges as The Dude. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Blow Out (1981) Brian De Palma doesnt exactly make films in the hope of winning award, but his political thriller - based on Michelangelo Antonionis Blow Up  would have deserved any Oscar it was nominated for. Filmways Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Breathless (1960) Breathless' failure to receive a nomination is proof that the Oscars cant be trusted. Despite being one of the most studied films in the world, Jean Luc-Godards French masterpiece has an Academy Award tally of zero. Films Around The World 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Bringing Up Baby (1938) The Academy rewarded many notable screwball comedies, though this Howard Hawks-directed standout starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn - whod go on to hold the record for most wins - wasn't one of them. Courtesy of BFI 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Don't Look Now (1973) Nicolas Roeg, who directed this Venice-set chiller, is one of the most unfairly overlooked directors in Oscars history. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Donnie Darko (2004) Richard Kellys science-fiction mind-bender, which made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal, was a festival favourite upon its debut in 2004. Many expected a screenplay nomination to manifest. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) It wouldnt be until the 1990s that western films found favour with the Academy. It was ironically thanks to Unforgiven, a film directed by Clint Eastwood whose career flourished after starring in this Sergio Leone film that many consider to be the genres peak. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination La haine (1995) Mathieu Kassovitzs black-and-white drama  translated in English as Hate  follows three young friends and their struggles living in the suburbs of Paris. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Halloween (1978) The Academy may not be frothing at the mouth to nominate horror films, but do have previous (see: The Exorcist and The Silence of the Lamb), which makes the absence of John Carpenters influential Halloween a glaring oversight. Aquarius Releasing 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Harold and Maude (1971) This offbeat romantic drama was a critical and commercial flop at the time of release, which probably accounts for its lack of Oscar nominations. Today, though, its cult following ensures it remains in good favour with film fans. Paramount Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Heat (1995) On paper, the big screen union of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Manns cop drama was a shoo-in for awards, but no Oscar nominations manifested. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination His Girl Friday (1940) Yet another Howard Hawks screwball comedy starring Cary Grant that criminally failed to secure a single Oscar nomination. L/Columbia/Koba/Rex/Shutterstock 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Insomnia (2002) While falling short of Christopher Nolans best, modest drama Insomnia  made years before Batman Begins  had enough strong performances (Al Pacino, Robin Wiliams, Hilary Swank) to warrant acting nominations. Alas, it received none. Warner Bros Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Local Hero (1983) Bill Forsyths beloved comedy-drama follows the mishaps of an American man sent to buy up a Scottish village where the oil company he works for wants to build a refinery. Forsyth won the Bafta for Best Director, but the film received no such love from the Academy. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination M (1931) Youd be mistaken for thinking the M stands for masterpiece in Fritz Langs German drama that follows the manhunt for a serial killer - not that the Academy agreed. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination A Man Escaped (1956) Robert Bressons adaptation of Andre Devignys memoirs charts the French Resistance members time as prisoner of the Germans during World War II, and is even more enthralling considering Bresson himself was held captive years before. Gaumont Film Company 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Margaret (2011) Kenneth Lonergan would go on to win an Oscar for Manchester but he Sea, but Margaret - his three-hour plus drama featuring a searing performance from Anna Paquin - failed to secure a single nomination. Fox Searchlight Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination In the Mood for Love (2000) Wong Kar-wai set the benchmark for romance in film with his acclaimed Hong Kong drama following a man and woman (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who develop feelings for one another after suspecting their respective spouses of having an affair together. defd Deutscher Fernsehdienst 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The King of Comedy (1982) It may have taken him decades to win an Oscar, but the Academy has rarely balked at nominating Martin Scorsese films  especially for films starring Robert De Niro. The King of Comedy was an exception. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Long Goodbye (1973) Robert Altmans superior thriller stars Elliott Gould as Raymond Chandlers private investigator Philip Marlowe in one of the directors most entertaining films. The director would go on to be the recipient of the Honorary Award in 2006. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Man With Two Brains (1983) He may have hosted several times, but Steve Martin has never been nominated for an Oscar. One film he deserved recognition for was Carl Reiner's 1983 sci-fi comedy, The Man with Two Brains. Warner Bros. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination A Matter of Life and Death (1946) The Academy Film Archive may have preserved A Matter of Life and Death in 1999, but voters failed to recognise the Powell & Pressburgers fantasy-romance at the time of its release in 1946. Eagle-Lion Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Mean Streets (1973) It may not be credited as his debut, but Mean Streets is very much the first true Martin Scorsese film. The director would go on to win a belated Oscar for The Departed in 2007, but hed have to wait until 1975 for his first nomination (Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore). Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Melancholia (2011) No Lars von Trier film has ever been nominated for Best Picture, though Dancer in the Dark came close (it settled for a Best Original Song nomination). He came close with Melancholia, but ultimately, the drama didn't get Canal+ 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Miller's Crossing (1990) Despite being revered as a Coen brothers favourite, not to mention its notable performances from Gabriel Byrne and Albert Finney, Millers Crossing is one of few Coen brother films not to receive a single Oscar nomination. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Once Upon a Time in America (1984) Though it's by no means a masterpiece, its staggering to think that Sergio Leones gangster epic - starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci - didnt acquire any Oscar nominations (the film's music was disqualified from consideration after Warner Bros accidentally omitted the composer's name from the opening credits when trimming the films lengthy running time for its American release). Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Paterson (2016) Critics assumed Jim Jarmuschs Paterson would have been a shoo-in for awards recognition - most notably in the Best Actor category, thanks to a quietly fantastic performance from Adam Driver - but no such luck. Amazon Studios 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Paths of Glory (1957) Stanley Kubrick never won Best Director despite being nominated four times. One of his films that didnt make the Oscars cut in any category was his black-and-white anti-war film, Paths of Glory. United Artists 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Play Misty for Me (1971) Clint Eastwood would go onto become something of an Oscar darling thanks to Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, but his directorial debut was ignored by the Academy. Univeral Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Reservoir Dogs (1992) Reservoir Dogs may not touch Quentin Tarantinos best, but it remains a surprise that the filmmakers debut didnt get recognised in the screenplay category, at least. Miramax Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Rider (2018) Of all the 2018 films to be snubbed at this years Oscars, Chloe Zhaos drama - which stars a real-life rodeo cowboy and his family - smacks as the most unfair. Sony Pictures Classics 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Searchers (1956) The role of Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards might be considered John Waynes best role, but the Academy didnt agree: he would win his sole Oscar for True Grit in 1970. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Shining (1980) Another Kubrick film that was completely ignored by the Academy is the directors Stephen King adaptation, The Shining. Today, its considered one of his finest works as well as being one of the most revered horror films of all time. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Shop Around the Corner (1953) It may have endured as one of the best loved romcoms of all time, but it has zero Oscar nominations to its name. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Still Walking (2008) Japanese director Hirokazo Kore-eda's portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of the eldest son was a glaring oversight by the Academy. IFC Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Swingers Before he became Disney's go to, Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book and the forthcoming live-action Lion King) wrote this independent film about the lives of single, unemployed actors living in Hollywood, California during the 1990s swing revival. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination This Is England (2006 The 2007 ceremony would have been far better had Shane Meadows' coming-of-drama been in contention for awards. Optimum Releasing 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Three Kings (1999) The Academy deemed Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle worthy of nominations, but not David O Russells Three Kings, which remains one of his greatest films to this day. Warner Bros Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Tokyo Story (1953) Tokyo Story is deemed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece and was named Sight & Sound's best film of all time in 2012. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Touch of Evil (1958) Orson Welles' classic noir wasn't as well loved at the time of release as it is today. BFI 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Tyrannosaur (2011) Olivia Colman may be in contention for Best Actress at this years ceremony, but the fact she failed to earn a nomination (or Bafta, for that matter) for her role in Paddy Considines hard-hitting drama Tyrannosaur is one of the biggest oversights in awards history. StudioCanal UK 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Walkabout (1971) Another exceptional achievement in filmmaking from Nicolas Roeg that somehow failed to receive any Oscar nominations. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination You Were Never Really Here (2018) Notch it down to bad timing, but Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here - starring Joaquin Phoenix - is a sensational piece of work worthy of reward. Amazon Studio 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Zodiac (2007) Three years later, David Fincher would go head-to-head with The King Speech's Tom Hooper for The Social Network. In truth, serial killer drama Zodiac is every bit as good as the Facebook drama. Warner Bros Pictures

The Last Jedis title was announced a year and a half before the film was released in cinema and six months before filming ended.

What's more is that the official Star Wars account in the UK posted a tweet earlier today (16 February), writing "The calm before the galactic storm". It certainly seems as if we'll know the name of Episode IX extremely soon.

Earlier this week, HBO president Casey Bloys accidentally revealed that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss's forthcoming Star Wars project will be a trilogy of films

Star Wars: Episode IX will be released in cinemas on 20 December.
It might sound obvious, but a film getting nominated for an Oscar doesnt automatically make it good.

In fact, there have been numerous deserving films over the years that were somehow overlooked by the Academy.

Sure, its easy to assume that certain films dont get nominated because theyre not what Oscar voters would usually go for, but there have been some surprises in the past.

For example, pretty much every new superhero film earns a nomination thanks to the technical or makeup categories, while random animated films are acknowledged most likely because of the low number on offer in a certain year.

This means films like DCs Suicide Squad may have been mauled by the critics, but still get recognised by the Academy (it went on to win), which is ridiculous when you consider classics such as Dont Look Now or The King of Comedy didnt even get recognised.

They arent alone  below are the 47 most surprising films that didnt receive an Oscar nomination in any category.

Access unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows with Amazon Prime VideoSign up now for a 30-day free trial Sign up

47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Show all 47 1 /47 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination American Psycho (2000) Starring future Oscar-winner Christian Bale, Mary Harrons adaptation of the Bret Easton Ellis novel  in which the Vice star plays the psychopathic Patrick Bateman - didnt receive a single nomination. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Before Sunrise (1995) While the final two chapters of Richard Linklaters Before trilogy earned screenplay nominations, the film that introduced the world to future married couple Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) was criminally overlooked. Columbia Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Big Heat (1953) Fritz Lang had a number of films overlooked by the Academy; this noir, starring Glenn Ford, Lee Marvin and and Gloria Grahame, was one of them. Columbia Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Big Lebowski (1998) The Academys generosity to the Coen brothers peaked when No Country for Old Men beat There Will Be Blood in one of the ceremonys closest Best Picture races of all time. It remains surprising that one of their few films to evade any nominations is this endlessly quotable mistaken identity comedy starring Jeff Bridges as The Dude. PolyGram Filmed Entertainment 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Blow Out (1981) Brian De Palma doesnt exactly make films in the hope of winning award, but his political thriller - based on Michelangelo Antonionis Blow Up  would have deserved any Oscar it was nominated for. Filmways Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Breathless (1960) Breathless' failure to receive a nomination is proof that the Oscars cant be trusted. Despite being one of the most studied films in the world, Jean Luc-Godards French masterpiece has an Academy Award tally of zero. Films Around The World 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Bringing Up Baby (1938) The Academy rewarded many notable screwball comedies, though this Howard Hawks-directed standout starring Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn - whod go on to hold the record for most wins - wasn't one of them. Courtesy of BFI 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Don't Look Now (1973) Nicolas Roeg, who directed this Venice-set chiller, is one of the most unfairly overlooked directors in Oscars history. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Donnie Darko (2004) Richard Kellys science-fiction mind-bender, which made a star of Jake Gyllenhaal, was a festival favourite upon its debut in 2004. Many expected a screenplay nomination to manifest. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) It wouldnt be until the 1990s that western films found favour with the Academy. It was ironically thanks to Unforgiven, a film directed by Clint Eastwood whose career flourished after starring in this Sergio Leone film that many consider to be the genres peak. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination La haine (1995) Mathieu Kassovitzs black-and-white drama  translated in English as Hate  follows three young friends and their struggles living in the suburbs of Paris. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Halloween (1978) The Academy may not be frothing at the mouth to nominate horror films, but do have previous (see: The Exorcist and The Silence of the Lamb), which makes the absence of John Carpenters influential Halloween a glaring oversight. Aquarius Releasing 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Harold and Maude (1971) This offbeat romantic drama was a critical and commercial flop at the time of release, which probably accounts for its lack of Oscar nominations. Today, though, its cult following ensures it remains in good favour with film fans. Paramount Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Heat (1995) On paper, the big screen union of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Michael Manns cop drama was a shoo-in for awards, but no Oscar nominations manifested. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination His Girl Friday (1940) Yet another Howard Hawks screwball comedy starring Cary Grant that criminally failed to secure a single Oscar nomination. L/Columbia/Koba/Rex/Shutterstock 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Insomnia (2002) While falling short of Christopher Nolans best, modest drama Insomnia  made years before Batman Begins  had enough strong performances (Al Pacino, Robin Wiliams, Hilary Swank) to warrant acting nominations. Alas, it received none. Warner Bros Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Local Hero (1983) Bill Forsyths beloved comedy-drama follows the mishaps of an American man sent to buy up a Scottish village where the oil company he works for wants to build a refinery. Forsyth won the Bafta for Best Director, but the film received no such love from the Academy. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination M (1931) Youd be mistaken for thinking the M stands for masterpiece in Fritz Langs German drama that follows the manhunt for a serial killer - not that the Academy agreed. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination A Man Escaped (1956) Robert Bressons adaptation of Andre Devignys memoirs charts the French Resistance members time as prisoner of the Germans during World War II, and is even more enthralling considering Bresson himself was held captive years before. Gaumont Film Company 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Margaret (2011) Kenneth Lonergan would go on to win an Oscar for Manchester but he Sea, but Margaret - his three-hour plus drama featuring a searing performance from Anna Paquin - failed to secure a single nomination. Fox Searchlight Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination In the Mood for Love (2000) Wong Kar-wai set the benchmark for romance in film with his acclaimed Hong Kong drama following a man and woman (Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung) who develop feelings for one another after suspecting their respective spouses of having an affair together. defd Deutscher Fernsehdienst 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The King of Comedy (1982) It may have taken him decades to win an Oscar, but the Academy has rarely balked at nominating Martin Scorsese films  especially for films starring Robert De Niro. The King of Comedy was an exception. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Long Goodbye (1973) Robert Altmans superior thriller stars Elliott Gould as Raymond Chandlers private investigator Philip Marlowe in one of the directors most entertaining films. The director would go on to be the recipient of the Honorary Award in 2006. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Man With Two Brains (1983) He may have hosted several times, but Steve Martin has never been nominated for an Oscar. One film he deserved recognition for was Carl Reiner's 1983 sci-fi comedy, The Man with Two Brains. Warner Bros. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination A Matter of Life and Death (1946) The Academy Film Archive may have preserved A Matter of Life and Death in 1999, but voters failed to recognise the Powell & Pressburgers fantasy-romance at the time of its release in 1946. Eagle-Lion Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Mean Streets (1973) It may not be credited as his debut, but Mean Streets is very much the first true Martin Scorsese film. The director would go on to win a belated Oscar for The Departed in 2007, but hed have to wait until 1975 for his first nomination (Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore). Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Melancholia (2011) No Lars von Trier film has ever been nominated for Best Picture, though Dancer in the Dark came close (it settled for a Best Original Song nomination). He came close with Melancholia, but ultimately, the drama didn't get Canal+ 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Miller's Crossing (1990) Despite being revered as a Coen brothers favourite, not to mention its notable performances from Gabriel Byrne and Albert Finney, Millers Crossing is one of few Coen brother films not to receive a single Oscar nomination. 20th Century Fox 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Once Upon a Time in America (1984) Though it's by no means a masterpiece, its staggering to think that Sergio Leones gangster epic - starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci - didnt acquire any Oscar nominations (the film's music was disqualified from consideration after Warner Bros accidentally omitted the composer's name from the opening credits when trimming the films lengthy running time for its American release). Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Paterson (2016) Critics assumed Jim Jarmuschs Paterson would have been a shoo-in for awards recognition - most notably in the Best Actor category, thanks to a quietly fantastic performance from Adam Driver - but no such luck. Amazon Studios 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Paths of Glory (1957) Stanley Kubrick never won Best Director despite being nominated four times. One of his films that didnt make the Oscars cut in any category was his black-and-white anti-war film, Paths of Glory. United Artists 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Play Misty for Me (1971) Clint Eastwood would go onto become something of an Oscar darling thanks to Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, but his directorial debut was ignored by the Academy. Univeral Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Reservoir Dogs (1992) Reservoir Dogs may not touch Quentin Tarantinos best, but it remains a surprise that the filmmakers debut didnt get recognised in the screenplay category, at least. Miramax Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Rider (2018) Of all the 2018 films to be snubbed at this years Oscars, Chloe Zhaos drama - which stars a real-life rodeo cowboy and his family - smacks as the most unfair. Sony Pictures Classics 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Searchers (1956) The role of Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards might be considered John Waynes best role, but the Academy didnt agree: he would win his sole Oscar for True Grit in 1970. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Shining (1980) Another Kubrick film that was completely ignored by the Academy is the directors Stephen King adaptation, The Shining. Today, its considered one of his finest works as well as being one of the most revered horror films of all time. Warner Bros 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination The Shop Around the Corner (1953) It may have endured as one of the best loved romcoms of all time, but it has zero Oscar nominations to its name. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Still Walking (2008) Japanese director Hirokazo Kore-eda's portrait of a family over roughly 24 hours as they commemorate the death of the eldest son was a glaring oversight by the Academy. IFC Films 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Swingers Before he became Disney's go to, Jon Favreau (Iron Man, The Jungle Book and the forthcoming live-action Lion King) wrote this independent film about the lives of single, unemployed actors living in Hollywood, California during the 1990s swing revival. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination This Is England (2006 The 2007 ceremony would have been far better had Shane Meadows' coming-of-drama been in contention for awards. Optimum Releasing 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Three Kings (1999) The Academy deemed Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle worthy of nominations, but not David O Russells Three Kings, which remains one of his greatest films to this day. Warner Bros Pictures 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Tokyo Story (1953) Tokyo Story is deemed Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu's masterpiece and was named Sight & Sound's best film of all time in 2012. Rex Features 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Touch of Evil (1958) Orson Welles' classic noir wasn't as well loved at the time of release as it is today. BFI 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Tyrannosaur (2011) Olivia Colman may be in contention for Best Actress at this years ceremony, but the fact she failed to earn a nomination (or Bafta, for that matter) for her role in Paddy Considines hard-hitting drama Tyrannosaur is one of the biggest oversights in awards history. StudioCanal UK 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Walkabout (1971) Another exceptional achievement in filmmaking from Nicolas Roeg that somehow failed to receive any Oscar nominations. 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination You Were Never Really Here (2018) Notch it down to bad timing, but Lynne Ramsays You Were Never Really Here - starring Joaquin Phoenix - is a sensational piece of work worthy of reward. Amazon Studio 47 brilliant films that didn't receive a single Oscar nomination Zodiac (2007) Three years later, David Fincher would go head-to-head with The King Speech's Tom Hooper for The Social Network. In truth, serial killer drama Zodiac is every bit as good as the Facebook drama. Warner Bros Pictures

Other galleries you might like:

21 actors who took their roles so seriously it out of hand

37 best film twists of all time

37 actors who almost died on set
In early 2004, Viacom announced it would spin off Blockbuster Video, leaving CEO John Antioco master of his own fate. He moved quickly to meet the threat posed by Netflix head on, launching Blockbuster Online in 2004 and, after successfully testing the concept in a few markets, ending late fees in early 2005.

Still, not satisfied with playing catch-up, Antioco searched for model that would return his company to dominance. He found it in 2006 with the Total Access program. Within a few weeks of announcing the promotion, Blockbuster was winning the majority of new subscribers, outstripping Netflix for the first time.

It was a textbook case of sound strategy and great execution meeting a disruptive threat, but it would not end well. In 2010 Blockbuster would declare bankruptcy and become a cautionary tale. We tend to think that driving change is merely a matter of coming up with a clever plan and executing well. Yet that isn't enough. You also need learn how to survive victory.

Defying Critics and Beating the Odds

John Antioco was the quintessential American success story. Starting from humble origins as a management trainee at 7-Eleven, he rose to become a senior vice president at the company. Antioco then moved on to run the struggling Circle K convenience store chain, which he turned around in just three years before moving on to Taco Bell and working the same magic there.

So when he joined Blockbuster as CEO in 1997, he was ideally suited to the job. Early in his tenure, he came up with a program to share rental revenues with the movie studios rather than buying the videos directly. The strategy improved the firm's cash position and its access of high demand movies, while also allowing it to increase its marketing budget. It was a stroke of genius.

"The experienced video executives were skeptical," Antioco would later tell me. "In fact, they thought that the revenue-sharing agreement would kill the company. But throughout my career, I had learned that whenever you set out to do anything big, some people aren't going to like it. I'd been successful by defying the status quo at important junctures and that's what I thought had to be done in this case."

So Antioco approached the Netflix problem in the same way. He assembled a team of talented executives, came up with a strategy and worked to execute it flawlessly. Yet although his efforts were initially successful, there was a flaw in his plan that he didn't see at the time and it would lead to Blockbuster's downfall.

Failing to Align Stakeholders

Not everybody was thrilled with the moves Antioco made. Franchisees, many of whom had their life savings invested in their business, were suspicious of Blockbuster Online. They only owned 20% of the stores, but could make their displeasure known. The moves were also expensive, costing roughly $400 million to implement, and investors balked.

So while Blockbuster was making progress against the Netflix threat, as earnings turned to losses, its stock took a beating. The low price attracted the corporate raider Carl Icahn, whose heavy-handed style made managing the company increasingly difficult. Things came to a head in late 2006 when Icahn demanded that Antioco accept only half of the bonus he was owed.

"I was at a point, both personally and financially, that I had little desire to fight it out anymore," Antioco told me. He negotiated his exit early the next year and left the company in July of 2007. His successor, JIm Keyes, was determined to change Antioco's strategy, cut investment in the DVD subscription model, reinstated late fees and shifted the focus back to retail stores in order to ramp up an effort to aggregate content for streaming.

When Blockbuster declared bankruptcy in 2010, the event was, perhaps predictably, portrayed as corporate America's inability to navigate digital disruption. Yet, as we have seen, nothing could be further from the truth. The management team came up with a viable strategy, executed it well and proved they could compete, yet still were unable to survive that victory.

Building Shared Purpose and Shared Consciousness

When General Stanley McChrystal took over command of special forces in Iraq, the situation encountered was surprisingly similar to that of Antioco and Blockbuster. A well-led, well-resourced and highly efficient organization was faced with a disruptive challenge by a smaller, less powerful, but incredibly disruptive adversary.

Yet while Antico saw the problem as one of strategy and tactics, McChrystal saw it as one of one of organizational coherence. So he embarked on a program to improve the links both within his command and also to outside stakeholders, such as partner agencies, law enforcement and embassy personnel, to build "shared purpose and shared consciousness."

"We began to make progress when we started looking at these relationships as just that: relationships -- parts of a network, not cogs in a machine or outputs and inputs," McChrystal would later write in his book, Team of Teams. Within a few years, the terrorists were on the run.

The difference in outcomes was striking. Antioco, who had built his career on defying the critics, largely ignored their concerns and pressed on with his strategy. McChrystal, on the other hand, understood that if he couldn't get key stakeholders on board, the strategy wouldn't matter. He worked on building relationships not to overpower, but to attract others to his cause. There were still critics, but they were vastly outnumbered.

You Need a Plan to Survive Victory from the Start

In my book, Cascades, I cover a wide range of transformational efforts, from revolutionary political movements to corporate turnarounds. In every case, the movement for change inspired others to move against it. As Saul Alinsky pointed out decades ago, every revolution inspires a counterrevolution.

I saw this first hand in Ukraine's Orange Revolution, which I was personally involved in. Five years after we protested in the bitter cold to overturn a falsified election, we saw the target of ire, Viktor Yanukovych, win the presidency in an election that outside observers judged to be legitimate. Later, similar events played out in the aftermath of Egypt's Arab Spring.

What makes the difference is not a particular strategy or persona, but whether an organization can align based on shared values and purpose. It wasn't that Blockbuster franchisees were worried that Antioco's plan wouldn't succeed, they were terrified that it would and they would be left behind. Investors, for their part, were more focused on earnings than Antioco's vision.

Yet shared values are what enables a transformation to succeed beyond a few initial victories. As Irving Wladawsky-Berger, a key player in IBM's historic turnaround in the 90s told me, "Because the transformation was about values first and technology second, we were able to continue to embrace those values as the technology and marketplace continued to evolve."

And that's what so often makes the difference between ultimate success and failure. Those that see driving change as merely a series of benchmarks often see their efforts thwarted. Those that build a plan to survive victory based on the forging of shared values, are much more likely to prevail. Transformation is always a journey, never a destination.
(The Center Square)  There are a few more weeks for landlords and their tenants in Illinois who havent paid rent because of the eviction moratorium to apply for some of more than $1.5 billion in rental assistance, but not every situation is eligible.The Illinois Housing Development Authori
Im neither an architect nor an engineer, although I use elements of both disciplines. The issue is, Can you put somebody on top of what youve built? If we have something happen, somebody could get injured, he said.
How many more are going to have to die before Congress and state legislators finally take action to get guns out of the hands of people who should never have been approved for permits in the first place?
They said the trooper located a vehicle about 3 a.m. at 43rd and LaSalle streets in Chicago that matched a description of one that was involved in an aggravated hijacking in Dolton.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation2@journalnet.com for help creating one.
Of those casting ballots, 49 percent favored eliminating the villages primary election while 51 percent were opposed. Another binding question asked whether the number of trustees should be reduced to four from the current six, with 49 percent of voters in favor and 51 percent opposed.
We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@idahopress.com for help creating one.




iciHaiti - Crisis : First day without demonstration





Thursday, after 7 days of demonstrations and violence, the opposition seemed to have paused for this 8th day. No significant demonstration was reported to the country, which allowed a timid resumption of activities in several cities of the country...



In Port-au-Prince, traffic remained difficult for motorists and public transit (rare). Only taxi-motorcycles circulated in streets that had not yet been completely cleared, strewn with various obstacles : barricades, rocks, branches and burned car carcasses.



In the commercial center of the capital, in a post-riot setting, there was little affluence, many shops having been looted or vandalized were closed...



In Port-au-Prince, several banks and supermarkets had reopened their doors as in Petion-ville. In stores many products are missing on the shelves, the merchants could not be replenished...



On the sidewalks some informal businesses were cautiously back and the number of passersby was rising sharply.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26930-haiti-crisis-7th-days-of-demonstrations-at-least-2-dead-and-thirty-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26927-haiti-flash-udmo-agents-shoot-at-the-crowd-in-petit-goave-at-least-15-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26904-haiti-crisis-protests-affect-the-water-supply-of-the-capital.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26901-haiti-crisis-the-capitale-roads-service-suspended.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26899-haiti-flash-banks-attacked-gas-station-burned-opposition-is-radicalized.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26891-haiti-flash-3rd-day-of-demonstration-and-violence.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26885-haiti-flash-2nd-day-of-violent-demonstrations-at-least-3-dead-and-many-injured.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26875-haiti-flash-important-damage-at-least-4-dead-and-21-wounded-during-the-demonstrations.html



TB/ iciHaiti


















At the beginning of February 2019, I was in Haiti with a team of other short-term missionaries. I wasnt surprised at the lack of first world comforts, but what was unanticipated was the ease at which one could play the lottery.

When food, education, and medical care are sparse, the buying of a lottery ticket can feel like hope. A buyer might think here my liberation might be found. If I could be the winner, I may finally find a way to help my dying child, beaten mother, or be the first of my family to live in something with doors and windows. With a lottery kiosk every few blocks, even in the mountains where few people dwell, it is clear Haiti is longing for salvation.

Our team was there to come alongside orphans and those caring for them, to offer biblical wisdom to hurting hearts, and to share the good news that Jesus can rescue souls. What I can see clearly now is that we were also there to encourage and strengthen hearts that would soon enter yet another terrifying trial.

Days after we left, the political protests began. Less than two weeks after we arrived home and found ourselves safe again in the states, the headlines coming out of Haiti look like this: Protests in Haiti turn deadly (Global News), Protesters stone home of Haiti president, clash with police (Washington Post), and Do Not Travel To Haiti, U.S. Tells Citizens, Citing Violent Unrest (NPR).

Haiti is a nation that has been promised aid but has found their hopes deferred as money that was intended to rescue is sifted through greedy hands. The corruption that runs rampant through the government has snatched away dreams of development. Foreign Aid feels as far away as the lottery because chances of the funds reaching who they are intended for are slim. The Haitian people find the strength to be bold, not to conquer fear, but in order to survive. They protest because work is hard to find, prices for food are exorbitant, and fuel is scant. They march with hopes that the government might finally hear them.

Venezuela tried to help when they introduced the PetroCaribe program in 2005. The Caricom website defines the program, The payment system allows for participating nations to buy oil on market value with only a portion paid for upfront and the remainder to be paid through a 25 year financing agreement on 1% interest. This program was developed so Caribbean countries could use the money they were saving to build up their countries. In addition to the oil deal, the US also sent financial aid. However, it is my understanding that the plan isnt working for Haiti, because the money is missing and the fuel isnt being paid for, so the delivery of petrol has slowed to a stop.

Jonathon Gatehouse of CBC News reported, But no one is quite sure what happened to Haitis windfall. The Haitian Senate produced reports in 2016 and 2017 alleging that nearly $2 billion of the money, which was intended for infrastructure and economic development projects, was embezzled or misappropriated.

The citizens of Haiti have been taught by poverty that they cannot trust their leaders, so they are asking for justicethey are asking for life. An uprising in the face of oppression is not something foreign to the land of Haiti. They gained their independence from France by overthrowing the French to find freedom from slavery and colonial rule in the Haitian Revolution over 200 years ago.

In 2010 after the devastating earthquake that claimed approximately 230,000 lives made world news, relief efforts poured in. Then in 2016 when the winds of hurricane Matthew tore through shanties and homes still unstable from the waves of earth that crashed in years before, we heard again of the plight of souls trying to survive in the poorest country of the Western Hemisphere.



This is not a game Haitian lives are playing, and there is no winning ticket that can offer salvation, but Jesus can. I saw him working powerfully. He is setting people free and binding broken hearts. He is breaking chains of oppression and rescuing people from darkness. Gods people are housing orphans and training them to be leaders who love the Lord, so that the next generation of Haitians are equipped to change their country.

I heard of the conditions before we voyaged to Haiti, but now I have walked on her land and know her precious people. Its beautiful. Its hard. Its worth taking the time to understand. Ive seen the pain that is littered across this would be paradise and can petition God to come to the aid of people whose names I knowwhose eyes Ive looked into.

My heart is wrecked in a sacred way, and I know I must pray. Each morning I am searching through the latest news out of Haiti and seeking God for justice. Each night these names I didnt know a month ago leave my lips and voyage to the throne of God.

Will you join me in boldly praying for this country? Hebrews 4:16 tells us, Let us then approach Gods throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Haiti is in a time of need and we must pray for mercy and grace. If you dont know how to pray, Ive got you covered. Jesus, we pray:

*For aid to reach the Haitian people.

*For the violence to cease and for there to be real peace. Peace that comes from justice done, not just for things to grow quiet.

*For the people of Haiti that they can find food and water as supply routes are cut off.

*For the missionaries on the ground. That they would have the wisdom to know if, when, and how to evacuate.

*For lots of sun so that solar panels work, since there is no other power currently.

*For the government to be purified of the corruption that has weakened the whole country.

*For the protection of and provision for the girls at Faith House Orphanage and the people who work with them.

*For Christians in Haiti to be able to share the reason for the hope within them.

*For righteous government officials to rise up and lead.

*For the hold of voodoo to be broken and for the power of God to heal.

*That God would pour out his mercy on this country and move in ways we could never imagine.

Thank you for spending a portion of your day learning about and praying for a country in crisis. Prayer is more powerful than we realize and it is easy to remain unaware, but as one of my new Haitian friends reminded me just over a week ago, ansanm nou fo together we are strong.

With Jesus, we are even stronger.

Chara Donahue enjoys freelance writing, biblical counseling, and speaking to women when her four kids are out playing with dad. She holds an MSEd from Corban University and is passionate about seeing people set free through Gods truths. She is a regular contributor at iBelieve and her words have appeared at Christianity Todays Women Leaders, Crosswalk, (in)courage, and The Huffington Post. She longs to be a voice that says, Hey we are in this together, and there is room for us all. You can find more from Chara at One Anchored Voice, Facebook, and Twitter.
A conservative anti-North Korean activist (C) holds a placard calling for the release of detained US missionary Kenneth Bae during a protest against the North Korean regime, in Seoul on Febraury 16, 2014. Rare talks between the rival Koreas ended on an even rarer note of agreement February 14, allowing an under-threat reunion for divided families to go ahead and fuelling hopes of further constructive engagement. AFP PHOTO / Ed Jones (Photo credit should read ED JONES/AFP/Getty Images)
In addition to the five officers who were shot, many others raced toward the danger in an act of selfless bravery that we too often take for granted. We must always recognize and treasure the first-responders who pledge to put their lives in danger to protect the public.
As an existing print subscriber it is easy to get FREE access to all our online content.

When you click get started below it will walk you through creating an online account to attach your print subscription number to.

After your account is created it will ask you to either add a subscription for online access or click on the print subscriber button. Click the print subscriber button header and it will open a dropdown, now click on get started. The page will reload and you will be prompted to enter an account number and a zip code.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO USE THE NUMBER OFF OF THE MOST RECENT ISSUE OR ANYTHING AFTER JANUARY 28, 2019 TO GAIN ACCESS!

OLD ACCOUNT NUMBERS WILL NOT WORK

The account number and zip code are easily available on your most recent issue of the High Plains Journal or Midwest Ag Journal in the address fields as is shown here. Sometimes the account number has extra zero's in front of it, just ignore those.
Houston, MO (65483)

Today

Scattered thunderstorms this morning, then partly cloudy during the afternoon hours. High 91F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 74F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
As Verizon prepared to launch its 5G broadband service for homes late last year, I asked the company if I could try it out and report on the results. A technician was dispatched to my Montrose-area condo as I salivated over the notion of hyperfast, wireless internet access.

So I was terribly disappointed to learn that, despite the fact that there was a Verizon 5G antenna visible less than half a block from my balcony, the technician couldnt get a signal at all from that access point.

He blamed mother nature.

Standing between me and 5G was a tree. Specifically, the leafy bounty of a tall crepe myrtle was blocking the signal. I knew that some of the frequencies used by this next-generation wireless technology had difficulties penetrating objects, including leaves, but still I was surprised something so basic was denying me service.

5G IN HOUSTON: 5G promises Houstonians faster internet, more choice

But this is how it is with 5G, which is debuting this year and should hit its stride in 2020. This newer wireless technology will not only bring faster speeds, but also lower latency  the speed at which a network responds to a devices request  and, if the hype is to be believed, could spawn a new wave of innovation.

In Houston, there are two providers of 5G: Verizon, with its home broadband service, and AT&T, with mobile 5G. (The latter is not to be confused with AT&Ts 5G Evolution, which is actually a beefed up version of the more prevalent wireless standard LTE.) But as 2019 progresses, all four major U.S. telecom companies will have kicked off their buildouts.

You should also start seeing smartphones that use 5G in the coming months, particularly after the annual Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona later this month, where new hardware and services will be unveiled.

But even though 5G may finally be here, I have a word of advice, even for the earliest of adopters:

Wait.

While it may be tempting to snatch up a shiny new 5G smartphone once its available and to sign up for service from whatever carrier has launched 5G, those whove seen this movie before know youre better off waiting. Doing so may save you frustration, dashed expectations and certainly money.

The general public is not advised to go out and buy the brand new, latest tech, said Anshel Sag, an analyst with Moor Insights & Strategy. Thats why Apple is successful, they wait for technology to be mature enough to be mainstream.

Heres why waiting is likely to pay off, even for those who usually tend to leap right away on newer tech.

Expense

In general, you can expect the first handsets that support 5G wireless to cost more. That was true for the first smartphones to use LTE when it was young, and it will be even more so with 5G.

5G AT HOME: Houston couple gets first Verizon 5G home broadband in U.S.

Thats because 5G relies on multiple types of cellular frequencies to work properly, and will require multiple antennas and processors than do LTE-based phones. On the off-chance you havent noticed, newer, top-of-the-line smartphones already crest the $1,000 hill, and you can expect that to continue with early 5G devices. It will be a while before the technology makes its way down to the lower price tiers.

What about the cost of 5G service? Whether its going to come with a premium is not yet known.

How much 5G will cost isnt a subject most carriers are eager to talk about, said Karl Bode, an analyst and journalist who focuses on telecom. Americans already pay some of the highest prices for wireless data, and theres really nothing to indicate thats going to change.

Currently, only AT&T is offering mobile 5G service in Houston and 11 other markets, and its only accessible via invitation to a mobile hotspot that mere mortals cant buy yet . The service is $70 for 15 gigabytes of data each month; the companys LTE hotspot service is $50 for 10 GB. How pricing will be structured for smartphones is not yet known.

Hardware

Expect to see early Android-based smartphones from Samsung, LG and other top-name makers, including in Googles Pixel line, analyst Sag said. But theyll be Version 1.0 devices, with all that implies.

Battery life will be the biggest issue, Sag said. There will be two modems in the phone, and two chips, and that is going to consume more power.

MOBILE 5G: AT&T turns on its 5G network in Houston

Such was the case with early LTE smartphones, which had batteries that had difficulty lasting a full day out of the box. Handset makers master power management over time, but keeping early 5G phones charged may be a challenge.

Most phones will appear later in the year. Samsung is expected to announce a 5G version of its Galaxy S10 during an event Wednesday in New York, but most analysts dont expect that variant to be available until later in the year.

Coverage

Dont expect 5G service to be widely available, even after cellular providers launch their offerings. It should appear in the denser parts of urban areas first, then spread out to suburbs and, eventually  maybe  to rural areas.

AT&T isnt being specific about what parts of Houston are covered by its nascent 5G signal. In a statement, a spokesman said only that we have multiple 5G radios, which initially are installed on rooftop sites or other typical small cell designs like lamp posts and utility poles.

An important part of 5G service is a frequency known as millimeter wave. It can carry a lot of data quickly, but its the signal that has a hard time passing through objects, ranging from buildings to glass to foliage. Other frequencies are added to the stew, along with increased capacity and other infrastructure known as backhaul that connects the internet to cell towers. Because millimeter wave cant travel very far, it will mostly be used in urban areas where small antennas can be densely packed.

But Sag said other carriers are planning to essentially layer 5G technologies on top of the same frequencies that are used for LTE. This is how T-Mobile and Sprint will deploy it, he said, and it could give them an edge in getting coverage up quickly.

These companies could have nationwide 5G coverage up by the end of 2019 or early 2020, he said.

Sag said early adopters who choose to make the leap to 5G sooner rather than later are also the type of users who update their smartphones often. If youre one of those, be prepared to have some patience as this brave, fast world gets sorted out.

dwight.silverman@chron.com

twitter.com/dsilverman

houstonchronicle.com/techburger
WASHINGTON - When Julian Castro declared his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination last month, he spoke of the Black Lives Matter movement and recalled Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo. and other African Americans who died in confrontations with police.

On his campaign website, Castro paid tribute recently to Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African American teen who died in Florida seven years ago in a much-publicized case in which the shooter was acquitted.

In early competition in the Democrats diverse field of presidential hopefuls, Castro, a former San Antonio mayor, is appealing broadly to minority voters and hoping that African Americans can bolster his long-shot candidacy.

In wooing black voters, Castro intends to focus heavily on housing inequities and what he calls justice reform. His campaign is tailoring messages aimed specially at black women, a dependable voting bloc that has displayed increasing clout in elections around the country.

We say after every election that black women showed up in droves, said Castro campaign manager Maya Rupert, who is African American. They are consistently voting not just for their own interests but for all progressive-minded people.

She added: I think he is really going to resonate with black voters.

African American women, who vote at a higher rate than African American men, are an attractive target for Castro and other Democrats. Black women were credited with providing the margin that elected Alabama U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, in a special election in December 2017.

In the midterm elections last year, 94 percent of black women voted for Democrats, compared to 84 percent of black men, according to election-eve polling by an alliance including the African American Research Collaborative. In Texas, African Americans overall voted 84 percent Democratic - including 86 percent for Democrat Beto ORourke in his strong but losing effort to unseat GOP Sen. Ted Cruz.

Castro, who was housing secretary in the Obama administration, intends to campaign on an array of matters related to housing, issues he sees as long-overlooked in national politics.

Rupert observed that African Americans are less likely to own homes than whites and sometimes must pay half or more of their income on rents.

That is debilitating across the board and particularly difficult when there isnt family wealth to drawn on. It is especially troubling among young people and especially young people of color, she said.

Castro, speaking recently in early-voting New Hampshire at St. Anselm Colleges Politics and Eggs forum, said he intends to make housing a major issue in his campaign.

If we were to go and read the transcripts of 30 or 40 years worth of presidential debates, I bet you the issue of housing hasnt even come up once, he said.

Castros campaign received a boost recently when Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, who has Mexican heritage, announced that he wont join the Democratic field - leaving Castro as perhaps the only Hispanic who will make the race.

In seeking to expand his minority backing, Castro believes that his background mirrors that of many African Americans. He and his twin brother, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, grew up in San Antonio in modest circumstances, he tells audiences. They went to elementary and middle school across from public housing projects. Their mother and father never married, and their father was absent from the home after they reached the age of eight.

Castro was more revealing in his recent memoir, An Unlikely Journey, writing about the hardship of growing up without a car in the family and watching his mothers friends drop off boxes of food.

In the campaigns early going, Democratic hopefuls offer competing stories of difficult pasts sprinkled with appeals to minorities.

When Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren declared her candidacy, she talked of growing up in Oklahoma on the ragged edge of the middle classWhen my daddy had a heart attack, my family nearly tumbled over the financial cliff.

Speaking in the shadow of old mills in immigrant-rich Lawrence, Mass., she added: The path to economic security had gotten tougher and rockier for working families and even tougher and even rockier for people of color.

As the son of IBM executives, New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, an African American, didnt experience the hardships rivals talk about. But he recalled obstacles when his family tried to in move into a neighborhood with better schools because of the color of our skin.

In the video announcing his candidacy, Booker says while walking through Newark, I am the only senator who goes home to a low-income, inner-city community.

When Sen. Amy Klobuchar, of Minnesota, announced her candidacy last weekend on a Mississippi River island, she recounted that her grandfather had worked in an iron ore mine 1,500 feet below ground and stuffed money in a coffee can so her father could go to college.

The Mississippi, she said, leads to Memphis, where Rev. Martin Luther King, preached about the mountaintop where hed seen the promised land.

Even in the post-Barack Obama political era, race can become an issue in Democratic politics, as Sen. Kamala Harris of California found out last week when confronting disparaging comments about her heritage.

Harris is the daughter of an India-born mother and cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States and a Jamaican-born father who became an economics professor after arriving in California.

I was born black, I will die black and Im not going to make excuses for anybody because they dont understand, she said, responding to an interviewers question about the legitimacy of your blackness.

In San Antonio, Castro made allies with African Americans as mayor and before that as a city councilman, according to interviews.

Its not just housing, its education, too, said Dwayne Robinson, who helped Castro engineer the city sales tax hike in 2012 to support Pre-K in San Antonio.

Robinson said he worked among other African Americans to build support both for initiatives by both Castro brothers.

There were a lot of concerns about the Castros, he said. But here are these two young men who basically come from a single parent household, two inner-city kids with a father not being there, who overcame all of that, went to an Ivy League school and came back home to San Antonio. What I said was that if they were African Americans, you would be proud of them.

Jelynne LeBlanc Burley, a former San Antonio deputy city manager, recalled Castros role in directing $55 million in federal Housing and Urban Development grants to the citys historically African American east side.

His hands are dirty; he has been in the trenches, said Burley, now president and CEO of the Center for Health Care Services.

Burley, who also is president of the National Forum of Black Public Administrators, said that Castro earned a reputation among African Americans as HUD secretary in the Obama administration for anti-discrimination initiatives, broadband expansion and other public housing initiatives.

Its who he is, always trying to right inequities. He searches for ways to improve opportunity for those who havent been granted privilege, she said.
A Houston family has sued a nightclub for allegedly serving alcohol to their underage daughter, an exotic dancer there, before she died in a wreck in June 2017.

The parents of Alanna Luengas allege that the Splendor Gentlemans Club in the Willowbrook area routinely provided the 18-year-old dancer drinks to loosen up, then allowed her to get in her car at the end of the night on June 25.

When she crashed, she had a blood-alcohol concentration of .23, nearly three times the legal limit, according to the lawsuit.

Our grief is barely tolerable, her parents, Jade James and John Luengas, said in a statement. She was beautiful, funny, remarkably self-confident, friendly and had a way of putting a smile on everyones face. Its impossible for our hearts to understand that we will never touch her, smell her, or see her ever again.

The suit seeks $10 million in damages.

Tory Taylor, an attorney representing the club, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The club has denied the allegations in written responses filed in court.

This case is a long way from over, Taylor said.

The Luengas familys attorneys said that for most of the night, the teen was with a 55-year-old who was a frequent, and favored, customer of Splendor.

Managers brought free alcoholic drinks and shots to the table, the lawsuit alleges. The patron then bought more. He paid for a total of 17 alcoholic beverages and a bottle of champagne, according to the lawsuit.

Splendor managers and waitstaff served Alanna with many drinks, the second amended petition of the lawsuit states. As a result, Alanna became visibly drunk, left Splendor in her vehicle, and met her death shortly after.

The night of the crash, Splendor wasnt enforcing a policy requiring workers to sign out with their managers, the lawsuit alleges.

Luengas got in her car around 2 a.m., even though she clearly presented a danger to herself and others, the lawsuit states.

Luengas made an unsafe lane change while driving home in the 11600 block of Katy Freeway. She hit a vehicle, lost control and then hit a second vehicle, according to police reports. She then struck a concrete barrier head on and died, her parents attorneys said.

The teens parents argue that her employer had a duty to take reasonable care to prevent her from driving when she left the club. They werent aware that she was working there until the night of the crash, and have since heard that their daughter intended to stop working there after about one month of employment. The clubs operations manager said he had no comment on the lawsuit.

Luengas was legally of age to work at the club. Previous efforts to raise the age have failed or died in committee.

Splendor became the source of a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission investigation months after the crash. The agency received an anonymous citizen complaint in February 2018 regarding the wreck and conducted undercover operations at the establishment. Investigators didnt find any violations and the complaint was closed, spokesman Chris Porter said.

The club has been fined on several occasions, according to state records. Between 2002 and 2011, Splendor paid more than $44,000 in fines for violations including soliciting alcoholic beverages, possessing/permitting the possession of drugs, lewd acts or exposure of a person and place or manner of prostitution. No violations have been recorded since 2011.

James and Luengas said they hope the lawsuit will help them discover exactly what happened to their daughter that night, and to hold the club responsible.

By doing so, we hope that this lawsuit will result in a meaningful change in how this particular club operates, as well as any other clubs that choose to hire 18-year-olds to work for them, they said. If this lawsuit prevents even one family from having to go through the extreme pain and anguish that we have endured, then it is the least we can do to honor Alannas memory.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com

Twitter.com/sam_kett
A man with a documented 'hatred towards African Americans' has been accused of viciously attacking a 92-year-old black man last month at a Houston Metro bus station, according to an affidavit filed last week in Harris County.

Albert Gallegos, 21, allegedly beat the man unconscious on Jan. 7 in an unprovoked attack at a Metro bus station in the 2900 block of Broadway  an area where witnesses told investigators, "the suspect always goes after and tries to attack African-Americans," the affidavit said.

Police said his violence toward black people stems from his mother's relationship with a black man, the affidavit said.

RELATED: Texas and Houston area cities with the most reported hate crimes in 2017

A warrant was issued for his arrest last week on a charge of injury to the elderly, and he was arrested Tuesday. Metro police called the beating a hate crime in the affidavit, primarily based on a documented history of violence against black people, the affidavit stated.

"After reading these reports about the suspect's history I can clearly see the suspect is picking his victims on the basis of their skin color," the affidavit said. 'The victim in my case is a 92-year-old black male who has never deal with or had any type of interaction with the suspect."

Gallegos' court-appointed attorney, Paria Rafiee, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to you.

Police initially had trouble identifying Gallegos after the Jan. 7 attack, but further investigation revealed his name, and a felony warrant for an aggravated assault charge issued in 2018.

In that assault, reported on Christmas Day, a knife-wielding Gallegos threatened to murder his mother's boyfriend of five years because he was black, court documents say.

The mother told police that Gallegos had been angry about the relationship since it began. She was "extremely upset, visibly shaking, pacing and worried" when speaking to police, the documents say.

Gallegos reportedly fled before police could talk to him.

The following month, police said he walked up behind the 92-year-old victim and ambushed him, leaving him in pain for at least five days after the attack, police said.

Gallegos is currently booked into Harris County Jail on a combined bail of $35,000 for both the aggravated assault and injury to the elderly charges.

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.
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention vowed last week not to tolerate sexual abuse and to enact reforms after an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News revealed that more than 700 people had been molested by Southern Baptist pastors, church employees and volunteers over a span of two decades.

But the question remains: What will leaders of the largest coalition of Baptist churches in the United States actually do about the problem?

SBC President J.D. Greear, a North Carolina pastor, said he was broken by what he read in the newspapers. He hasnt offered specific solutions, but he ordered a study of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches last summer and is expected to unveil proposals when SBC leaders meet in Nashville, Tenn., this coming week.

ABUSE OF FAITH: Investigation reveals 700 victims of sex abuse in Southern Baptist church

Other prominent SBC officials are calling for changes that include creating a registry of church employees and volunteers credibly accused of sexual misconduct and aggressively removing from the convention churches that knowingly hire predators.

Reactions to Abuse of Faith: "I will pursue every possible avenue to bring the vast spiritual, financial, and organizational resources of the Southern Baptist Convention to bear on stopping predators in our midst." - J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. "I know a lot of people are shocked with the amount of victims and amount of predators there were. But I know - I know for a fact that there are so many more." - Anne Marie Miller, who said she was sexually abused as a teenager by a 25-year-old seminary student, on National Public Radio. "You are great to bring all this to light. As hard is was to go over it all, I feel like (my daughter) is looking down and feeling proud of you and everyone that has come forward." - Gwen Casados, who shared the story of her daughter, Heather, being sexually abused as a 14-year-old inside Houston Second Baptist church in 1994. Her daughter later died. "This is nothing short of a scandal and a crisis. There should be no tolerance for, or covering up of, sexual abuse of the vulnerable ever, especially within the church of Jesus Christ." - Russell Moore, president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "We thank you for bringing this issue to the light of day. It is our belief that when churches refuse to take action for the ungodly conduct of those in church leadership, God will use those outside of the church to expose their evil deeds. It is a sad day when this happens but we applaud your work." - Dan Wilson, member of a Southern Baptist church in Oklahoma City. "Those of us that represent victims are each aware of specific incidents, but it has been difficult to get a full picture as to the extent of the crisis. With the recent reporting regarding the degree of rampant sexual abuse it is clear an independent investigation is needed in order to protect the many innocent children vulnerable to sexual exploitation within the Southern Baptist Convention." - Cris Feldman, Houston lawyer who has litigated abuse cases within the Southern Baptist Convention. See More Collapse

Russell Moore, president of the SBCs Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, praised the newspapers investigation and said people with functioning consciences have been filled with rage by the findings.

The two papers really did a service to churches by collating together this information, doing the hard work of going through and talking to people who have experienced awful, awful trauma, said Moore, a former professor and dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

The idea that somehow this shouldnt be out there in public is exactly the mentality that leads to these predators being able to carry out their actions, he said.

The three-part series, Abuse of Faith, was produced by a team of journalists at the Chronicle and Express-News who found 380 allegations of sexual misconduct against pastors, employees and volunteers at SBC churches in the past 20 years.

More than 700 people  most of them children  reported being sexually abused. In at least 35 cases, Baptist churches hired men who had exhibited predatory behavior in the past or were registered sex offenders, the investigation found.

The paper published an online database of 220 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers who have been convicted of sex crimes or reached plea deals. Since the series was published, local news outlets across the country have used the database to discover cases of sexual abuse in their communities.

Readers reached out to the newspapers with their own stories of being sexually assaulted by someone they trusted in a Southern Baptist church.

Over the years Ive learned to cope with this and Ive also realized that I am not alone, wrote one adult survivor who, as a boy, was molested by former Southern Baptist pastor Doug Myers. Your article reaffirms this and I feel more empowered knowing that more people will now better understand what is really going on.

Myers served in Baptist churches in three different states and his conduct around boys raised suspicions  but he still managed to find work as a pastor. Myers was finally arrested and convicted of sex crimes against multiple victims in Maryland and Florida, and he is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Maryland.

A core group of activists and sex-abuse survivors have spent years calling for reforms at Southern Baptist churches, and theyre skeptical of the response from SBC leaders.

Its a temporary P.R. Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging problem, said Amy Smith, a victims advocate in Dallas who blogs about allegations of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches.

Smith and other critics point out that some of the same SBC officials who called for action last week had previously expressed support for C.J. Mahaney, former leader of a network of Christian churches called Sovereign Grace who was closely allied with SBC leaders.

Read the entire ABUSE OF FAITH series on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com.

A class-action lawsuit filed in 2012 by church members accused Sovereign Grace of covering up allegations of sexual abuse. Mahaney denied any wrongdoing and the suit was later dismissed because of the statute of limitations. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, had voiced support for Mahaney.

Mohler, in an interview last week, said he now realizes that was a mistake and expressed remorse.

C.J. was a friend, Mohler said. I believe in retrospect I erred in being part of a statement being supportive of C.J. and being dismissive of the charges. And I regret that action, which I think was taken without due regard to the claims made by the victims and survivors at the time.

Mohler called for the SBC to take action against churches that have mishandled allegations of sex abuse.

The first concern has to be for survivors, the first response has to be heartbreak, Mohler said. The moral verdict of what has been done and what has been allowed to be done has to be taken at full force. And then the obvious question, is what Southern Baptists are going to do about this?

Advocates and survivors said theyve paid a heavy personal toll for speaking out against sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches.

Smith said her father, a former deacon at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, ostracized her when she raised concerns about John Langworthy, a former music minister at Prestonwood who was fired in the summer of 1989 after behaving inappropriately with a teenage student.

Smith had attended Prestonwood and knew Langworthy. She grew concerned years later when she learned Langworthy was working around children at a public school and a church in Mississippi.

Smith alerted the school superintendent and church officials in Mississippi, raising questions that eventually led to Langworthys resignation. Smith obtained a video of a sermon Langworthy delivered to the congregation. In it, he admitted to sexual indiscretions with younger males in Mississippi and Texas.

The video helped bolster a criminal case against Langworthy, and in September 2011 he was charged with eights counts of gratification of lust involving multiple boys in Mississippi from 1980 to 1984.

Langworthy pleaded guilty in a deal that allowed him to avoid prison, but he is now a registered sex offender.

Smith said she believes she did the right thing. But she had no idea speaking out would be so difficult.

Victims face this when they come forward in churches, Smith said.

Prestonwood, one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Texas, is led by former SBC President Jack Graham.

In a statement Friday, Prestonwood said church leaders learned of concerns about crude and inappropriate behavior by Langworthy in 1989, weeks after Graham became pastor. It wasnt apparent that this behavior involved any form of molestation, the church said.

Smith disputed the statement. She said that the church was downplaying the severity of Langworthy's behavior, and that church lawyers were called in to address the situation.

Wade Burleson, a Southern Baptist pastor who has asked the SBC to establish a registry of credibly accused offenders that churches could use to vet job applicants, said he expects the newspapers investigation will lead to tangible change at the SBCs annual meeting in June at Birmingham, Ala.

I think its a guarantee, he said. In other words, it wont just be, Read this study, read this book. It will be, This is what we are doing.

Burleson first pushed for the offender registry at the 2007 annual SBC meeting in San Antonio. A year later, an SBC committee rejected the idea, saying the convention had no authority to compel member churches to use the registry.

After publication of Abuse of Faith, SBC leaders joined Burleson in supporting a database of offenders. Like Burleson, Mohler said the SBC should fund the effort and an independent nonprofit should oversee the data.

Two other leaders of SBC seminaries said they supported the idea, as did Thom Rainer, the CEO of the SBCs publishing arm, LifeWay Resources.

I think this is the loudest Ive ever heard it, Rainer said of calls for an offender database. That is absolutely huge. Weve definitely had people advocating it up to this point, but it has never been at the crescendo that it is now.

Chronicle staff writer Lise Olsen contributed to this report.

***

Abuse of Faith

Part 1: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

Part 2: Churches hired dozens of leaders accused of sex offenses

Part 3: More than 100 youth pastors convicted or charged in sex crimes

Search the database: We compiled 20 years of convictions



Help us investigate: Do you have information about sexual misconduct in Southern Baptist churches? Fill out our confidential questionnaire here.

Support our journalism:

Help our journalists uncover the big stories. Subscribe today.
Being able to relate to others, whether that includes the 289 members of her police department, a concerned neighborhood group or a young suspect sitting in the back of a squad car, is a major reason Ziman is sitting behind the chief's desk today. It's the "art and skill of communication" that has helped hone her police chops, she insists. And it's finding as many ways as possible, including social media, to connect to this city's residents that will help her become an even stronger leader in these challenging times for police officers.
Howard Schultz, the former chief executive of Starbucks, is ignoring the facts.

He is thinking about running for president in 2020 as an independent, rather than challenging President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination  or facing off against the dozens of Democrats expected to throw their hat into the ring.

Schultz could afford to stage such a run because he is a billionaire. And many Americans share his disillusionment with the two-party system  which is understandable, given the binary choice we were presented with in 2016, and its eventual result.

Its doubtful, though, that Schultz could elicit the support of such Americans, or anybody else.

Last week, a CNN poll found that 4 percent of Americans are very likely to back Schultz, should he decide to run. Fully 44 percent have already ruled him out. No one, it would appear, actually likes him all that much.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Welcome to Houston, Howard Schultz. But do we really need another billionaire president? [Editorial]

And Democrats have expressed outrage over the possibility that Schultz might serve as a spoiler, whose candidacy would result in a second term of Trump.

Schultz has been dismissive of those concerns, insisting that he would only run if he could be elected president and go on to govern well. But the arithmetical reasoning, from his critics, is straightforward enough.

A majority of Americans identify as Democratic or independent. And those who identify as Republican have proven to be remarkably loyal to Trump. That being the case, a third-party candidate would be more likely to draw support from the Democratic nominee, whoever he or she is. That might prove decisive if the next presidential election is as narrowly decided as the last one was.

For Schultz to ignore that reality suggests a lack of emotional intelligence, if nothing else.

And on Tuesday, Schultz visited Houston for a town hall with CNNs Poppy Harlow, which was broadcast live to viewers across the nation. The exercise helped illustrate why passive-aggressive centrism has little electoral appeal.

I would just say, as somebody who grew up in a very diverse background as a young boy in the projects, I didnt see color as a young boy, and I honestly dont see color now, Schultz explained at one point.

Its true that in 2012, as chairman and CEO of Starbucks, Schultz oversaw the rollout of the chains Blonde Roast, a lighter-bodied coffee which is, like its Medium Roast and Dark Roast offerings, a deep espresso brown.

The question, however, was about an episode of racial profiling at a Philadelphia Starbucks in April 2018, which prompted Starbucks to conduct anti-bias training at thousands of its outposts.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Grieder: Julian Castro is a serious presidential candidate

Schultz, who is white, may have considered that an isolated incident. It wasnt. The nation he aspires to lead has been roiled by a spate of racist hate crimes in recent years.

In 2015, a white gunman killed nine black people during a weekly Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

In the aftermath of that attack, Schultz visited the city, where he met with baristas from three of the chains stores, as well as a former employee whose half-sister was among those killed.

Schultzs professed color-blindness is mysterious, under the circumstances, especially given that at Tuesdays town hall he went on to say that racism is one of the issues hes concerned about.

Injustice in America of any kind  especially racial injustice, which continues  is not something that we should be proud of and we need to resolve, Schultz said.

And in an op-ed published the following day on CNNs website, he again paid lip service to the concerns raised by Americans about our political discourse, and the state of the nation in general.

In so many ways, the people of this great country are not getting the opportunities they deserve because our two-party system is broken. Americans know it, and they are ready to disrupt it, Schultz wrote.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Presidential powers are limited and an emergency declaration is not a blank check

A few days later, he told the Washington Post that he might accept the two-party system a little while longer, though. The salient question, in Schultzs view, is whether the Democratic primary would produce an outcome that he considers satisfactory.

I would reassess the situation if the numbers change as a result of a centrist Democrat winning the nomination, Schultz said.

I wouldnt go so far as to say he makes Trump look good; the president on Friday declared a national emergency after Congress again refused to concede to his demands for billions in funds for a border wall.

But the best thing I can say about Schultzs prospective candidacy, thus far, is that hes given Americans on both sides of the aisle something to agree on. He should probably stick to making coffee, rather than running for president. Hes entitled to his opinions, of course, and to express them with his vote.

erica.grieder@chron.com
Driven by an ever-increasing need to quickly respond to consumer demand, Home Depot recently signed a 20-year, 770,640-square-foot lease for a distribution center in a sprawling business park Hines is building next to Sam Houston Race Park in northwest Houston.

The deal, a Home Depot representative said in an email, is a component of the companys nationwide push to speed up delivery to customers and stores. The company announced at the end of 2017 that it was embarking on a $1.2 billion upgrade to its supply chain that would enable customers to receive deliveries within a day, if not hours.

Were benefiting from this lack of patience on the consumers part, and e-commerce, said Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president of research at the Greater Houston Partnership. It goes along with short attention spans, and Snapchat and everything else. They want it now.

HOME MARKET: Houston home sales fall for third straight month

The Houston regions nearly 7 million consumers are driving demand for distribution centers, he said. That drive is particularly acute on Houstons northwest and west sides, where distribution centers can also serve Austin and San Antonio.

As a result, the regions industrial vacancy rate has hovered around 5 percent since 2011. The overall Houston industrial market closed 2018 at an even 5 percent, according to CBRE, slightly tighter than the 5.4 percent posted in the year-earlier period. In northwest Houston, things were a little looser, as vacancy hit 6.1 percent at the end of 2018, according to CBREs calculations, up from 5.8 percent at the end of 2017. Some of that increase can be attributed to the delivery of 4.1 million square feet of new inventory in the submarket, a spike from the 1.6 million delivered the year earlier.

That 4.1 million additional square feet in northwest Houston was the second-largest inventory increase in the region, trailing southeast Houston, where 4.8 million square feet came online to feed growth in the petrochemical industry and at Port Houston.

In all, developers have put 53 million square feet of industrial space into the Houston market since the oil downturn in 2013, a 10 percent increase that has brought the overall market to 573 million square feet, according to commercial real estate services firm NAI Partners. About 35 percent of that growth, or 18.8 million square feet, took place in the northwest submarket.

Long-term commitment

The Home Depot deal will kick off construction at Hines Grand National Business Park, a 106-acre complex planned to hold 1.3 million square feet of industrial space in addition to retail strips along North Sam Houston Parkway West and Gessner Road.

Home Depot declined to discuss the lease terms, but at an average asking rent of 64 cents a month per square foot, the lease could be worth as much as $118 million.

IN THE HEIGHTS: Affordable housing developer changes design of Heights project

While Hines preleased its space, Transwestern Development Co. plans to break ground on an industrial project that will add 833,720 square feet of speculative distribution space not far from the race track.

The Houston-based company, in partnership with institutional investors advised by J.P. Morgan Asset Management, acquired a 60-acre site for the development of the Sam Houston Distribution Center. The seller was not disclosed. The site, south of Sam Houston Race Park, is off Fairbanks North Houston Road between Fallbrook Drive and Taub Road.

The project is designed to appeal to a wide range of tenants including local and regional distribution for consumer goods, office supply companies, construction materials, tile/granite suppliers, household appliances and light manufacturing, said Ben Newell, senior vice president in Transwestern Developments logistics group.

The project will be comprised of three buildings, with additional land for added trailer storage or a build-to-suit opportunity. The buildings in the first phase consist of a 200,200-square-foot, front-load building with a 32-foot clear height; a 494,800-square-foot, cross-dock facility with a 36-foot clear height; and a 138,720-square-foot, front-load facility with a 32-foot clear height.

Northwest Houston is a core national industrial market as well as Houstons most dynamic and strongest submarket, Newell said. The massive infrastructure improvement to Highway 290 ensures the long-term continual growth of the northwest submarket and serves as a catalyst for exponential commercial and residential development along the corridor.

Completion is planned to coincide with the end of the $1.8 billion expansion of U.S. 290 in 2020.
President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency to fund the construction of a border wall could open the possibility of circumventing a competitive bidding process to award a multibillion-dollarcontract to a favored company, some government contracting experts warned Friday.

The most extreme scenario,contracting experts say, is one in which Trump flexes his presidential powers, channels his background as a real estate mogul, and selects a winner as if hosting "The Apprentice."

"The president does have the prerogative to circumvent all of the competitive requirements by claiming a national emergency," said Kent Goodger, a retired federal contracting officer. "He can go right to a favored source to build a fence."

Trump on Friday justified his emergency declaration by broadly characterizing the migrants crossing the southern border as human traffickers and drug smugglers with criminal and gang ties.

"We're talking about an invasion of our country," Trump said.

Neither the administration - nor Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, both of which oversaw previous contracts related to the border wall - has outlined what type of contracting process it will follow.

The emergency declaration, through which Trump hopes to direct more than $6 billion from military funds to new border barriers, is likely to be challenged in court, triggering a protracted legal battle.

Under normal circumstances, the government would seek bids from contractors and select winners based on the best value.

An emergency declaration gives Trump extraordinary flexibility - potentially at a high cost to taxpayers if he bypasses the traditional processes, experts said.

Charles Tiefer, a law professor at the University of Baltimore and an expert in government contracting, said Trump's background in private construction and real estate may make him impatient with the government contracting process.

"The more he thinks of himself as the master builder and flexes his muscles, the less competition and the less wisdom in the choice of the contractor," Tiefer said.

"The strong tradition among Democratic and Republican administrations alike is to compete contracts to get the best value. They compete even defense contracts. They don't say, 'It's military, so rush it through the competition,' " Tiefer added.

"But the emergency declaration has a sense of haste, and haste makes waste in contracting."

If Trump is willing to take more time, he could open bidding to companies that have already won contracts related to the wall.

These include the firms that successfully competed to build the prototypes of Trump's wall in San Diego orcarry out repair work to existing fencing, experts say.

Six companies were awarded contracts in 2017 to build prototypes of Trump's wall, the first step in fulfilling the president's campaign promise of building a "big, beautiful" concrete wall stretching along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

The winning companies range from a small, Hispanic-owned firm in Arizona to a defense manufacturer owned by the state-run Israel Aerospace Industries.

At least four additional companies were awarded contracts to replace existing fencing, build secondary barriers, and add gates, according to Customs and Border Protection.

Trump has since scaled back his vision. In December, he touted "artistically designed steel slats" instead of a solid barrier.

About 700 miles of fencing have already been constructed under previous administrations.

None of the 10 construction companies lauded on Customs and Border Protection's website for winning border wall-related contracts had been awarded border wall construction contracts under previous administrations.

The six companies creating prototype walls were compensated between $365,000 and $664,000 for their designs, according to a database of federal contractors. Most have been marked for $300 million in potential total value in future wall contracts, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the Federal Procurement Data System.

It remains unclear whether any of the 10 contractors would receive priority under Trump's emergency declaration for the next construction phase.

Al Anderson, general manager of KWR Construction, which was chosen to build a wall prototype, said he has received no word from the government on how any future contracting process would play out.

"If this is truly a national emergency, then the Federal Acquisition Regulation has a provision where they can sole source to companies for urgent and compelling reasons," Anderson said.

David Houseman, president of Houseman & Associates, a consulting firm focused on government acquisitions, said he does not expect the government to completely bypass competitive bidding under an emergency declaration.

The government can tap existing border wall contractors and place additional "task orders" for new wall construction - jobs the contractors would then compete for, Houseman said.

But other experts are skeptical that Trump would follow even that streamlined bidding route. He can simply move forward without any type of competition.

Ultimately, it is up to Trump.

"I don't see President Trump submitting to congressional oversight about whether the way that is pursued has enough competition," Tiefer said. "Once he declares a national emergency, he calls the tune about how the wall is built."
Cardi B and Meek Mill expressed outrage on Instagram yesterday after news that New York inmate, Anthony Myrie, died in prison. The two artists suggested that prison officials are trying to cover-up the real reason for the man's death. The increase of attention on Myrie's death has sparked an official response from Greene Correctional Facility.

New York Department of Corrections spokesperson Thomas Mailey told TMZ the death of Myrie "appears to be consistent with sudden cardiac arrest." Mailey explained the prison doesn't typically release information pertaining to the death of inmates in the midst of investigation but they decided against it this time around due to "the abundance of misinformation in circulation."

Meek and Cardi shared messages from Myrie's family which alleged the prison guards had a role in the man's death. The message also accused prison guards of lying about the whereabouts of Myrie's corpse to "buy time to cover this up."

Mailey said Myrie was involved in a scrap with three inmates but the officers intervened. He said the body was examined after the incident and Myrie didn't sustain injuries, according to the medical staff.

Mailey also said Myrie complained about chest pains after while he was waiting to be questioned by the prison's staff. He collapsed and became "unconscious and unresponsive" after he was taken back to the medical unit. He was pronounced dead after being transferred to Albany Medical Center. Mailey said an initial autopsy report indicated Myrie had no body trauma and "the cause of death appears to be consistent with sudden cardiac arrest."
Crime can happen anywhere; we all know that. And it can happen anytime, even though statistics indicate things heat up as the temperatures rise. But the horrific act that played out Friday did what no other crime  or any event, for that matter  has ever done. It pushed this city right into the center of the national spotlight as the latest community rocked by a mass shooting.
Bloomington, IN (47401)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 83F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms, especially during the evening. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Click here to find out where to get a COVID-19 vaccine or test.

To find out how many local residents have been vaccinated for COVID-19, click here. Use the map to find numbers for individual counties.

Find detailed statistics about COVID-19 tests, cases and deaths by county and for the state as a whole on the Indiana State Department of Health's online dashboard.
This year our dine and drink business locations throughout the Gorge have suffered with closures. You can help support your favorites by purchasing take out and gift cards. Many of these business will offer curb-side delivery and some will deliver to your home. Lets keep the Gorge going strong!
Lima, OH (45805)

Today

Mostly cloudy. Scattered showers and storms. High around 80F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening followed by occasional showers overnight. Locally heavy rainfall. Low 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph.
Im sure, it would be bad news to shut the government down.

Probably. Its the same old, same old every year - special sessions, more money paid to legislators.

Im not so sure - everything is always so divided.

Vote

View Results
Copyright  2019 at Sun Newspapers. Digital dissemination of this content without prior written consent is a violation of federal law and may be subject to legal action.
I told the governor I wanted to serve the state and its veterans and went home and talked about it with my family on (Feb. 15), she said. They were all excited and for me, this is a big move stepping away from being the assistant majority leader. In the end, Im going to be working more away from home and traveling around to veterans homes throughout Illinois. I know Im going to have to leave my state rep job, but I feel good about the people Im going to be working with and Im pretty comfortable with that.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports Indias right to self-defense.

Bolton telephoned Doval Friday morning to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US full support to India in confronting terrorism.

I told Ajit Doval today that we support Indias right to self-defense. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed the US condolences over the terrorist attack, he told PTI.

Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis, he said. Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security, Pompeo said on Twitter.

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to immediately end its support to all terror groups and not to provide safe haven to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers.

Also read | Pulwama attack: UK foreign secretary receives flak over India-administered Kashmir tweet

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.

The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.

Also read | All-party meet over Pulwama terror attack at 11 am, government to brief opposition
The Foreign Office on Friday revised its travel advisory for India in the light of the Pulwama attack, cautioning British citizens against all travel to Jammu and Kashmir, except travel within Jammu, travel by air to Jammu and travel within the Ladakh region.

The tourist destinations of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg fall within the areas to which the Foreign Office advises against all travel, while the advice is against all but essential travel to Srinagar and between the cities of Jammu and Srinagar on the Jammu-Srinagar highway.

If youre travelling in or through Srinagar you should remain vigilant. On 14 February 2019 a terrorist attack took place in Kashmir targeting Indian security forces on the highway between Jammu and Srinagar, with many killed and injured, the advisory said.

It added that the road leading to Srinagar Airport and the airport is currently open, advising British citizens to take all precautions for safety: If youre travelling with a tour operator you should keep in touch with them and contact them for further information on arrangements they may be making for you to leave the area.

Also read | RDX mix, more than one militant behind Pulwama attack

The advisory, which is relied upon for various purposes, including insurance and official tours, notes that terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in India, adding that such attacks are carried out by terrorist and insurgent groups including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Indian Mujahideen.

Theres a heightened threat of terrorist attack globally against UK interests and British nationals from groups or individuals motivated by the conflict in Iraq and Syria. You should be vigilant at this time, the advisory adds.

Nearly a million British citizens travel to India every year; most visits are trouble-free.
The United States continued to press Pakistan on terrorism in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack and signalled Friday its recognition of Indias right to self-defense as it weighs options amidst mounting pressure for a response, ranging from a military strike to abrogation of a river water-sharing treaty.

I told Ajit Doval today that we support Indias right to self-defense, US national security adviser John Bolton said to reporters at a briefing on Venezuela, according to PTI news agency. A transcript of the media availability was not immediately available.

I have spoken to him twice, including this morning ... and expressed USs condolences over the terrorist attack, he said reportedly.

Boltons remarks came amidst mounting calls in India for retaliatory action, with options ranging from military strikes to abrogating the Indus Waters Treaty under which India has undertaken to use only a small portion of the water from the river flowing through its territories into Pakistan.

Bolton went on to point to Pakistan as responsible for the attack saying. We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis.

The first retaliatory strike by India to a terrorist strike by a Pakistan-based outfit  called a surgical strike  took place in 2016, in response to an attack on an Indian military base in Uri, Kashmir, the same day as when Doval, the Indian national security adviser, spoke to his then US counterpart Susan Rice, September 29. There has been some speculation that the strike was underway at the time Doval was speaking to Rice.

The United States has blamed Pakistan unequivocally and squarely for the Pulwama attack, for providing safe haven to terrorist groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad, which has claimed responsibility for the killing of 43 CRPF (Central Reserve Police force) personnel.

Both the White House and the State Department named Pakistan as responsible in their statements condemning the attack on Thursday.

And Secretary of State Mike Pompeo leant into it in a post on Twitter on Friday, the day after. The US condemns yesterdays horrific terror attack on Indian security forces, he wrote, adding, Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security.

Pompeo has been one of the most aggressive of Trump administration officials on Pakistan, He brought up terrorism in a phone call to Imran Khan in the first senior level interaction with the newly elected leader and put it center-stage in his visit to Islamabad on his way to New Delhi for the inaugural 2+2 ministerial.

Boltons phone call with Doval, however, escalates US support for India at this time to a different level, said an Indian official close to the deliberations, similar to the one adopted by the US in September 2016, when India first carried out a surgical strike in response to a terrorist attack by a Pakistan-based group.

We do empathize with Indias perception that they do need to respond militarily, Peter Lavoy, a senior White House official overseeing relations with India for the Obama White House, had said a few weeks after after the strikes, in retaliation for a terrorist attack on an Indian military base in Uri, Kashmir.
A non-profit sued to block President Donald Trump from diverting funds from the federal budget to spend about $8 billion on his promised border wall, hours after he declared a national emergency.

Public Citizen, a consumer rights think tank, filed the complaint Friday evening on behalf of a nature preserve and three landowners in southern Texas whove been told the government will seek to build sections of the wall on their property once funding becomes available.

The case was the first among many expected legal challenges to the presidents authority to circumvent Congress as he seeks to fulfill a campaign promise to build a barricade along the U.S. border with Mexico. State attorneys general in California, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and elsewhere are poised to bring more suits. Congress is considering taking its own action against the president.

Trump signs spending bill and declares emergency to build wall

Public Citizen claims Trump violated the Constitutions separation-of-powers doctrine when he invoked the National Emergencies Act, sidestepping the decision by Congress not to authorize more than $1.35 billion for the wall. Trump signed the declaration Friday after approving legislation to fund the government and avoid yet another shutdown.

Trumps gambit combines an emergency declaration with ordinary executive actions. He plans to redirect $3.5 billion Congress approved for the Defense Departments military construction budget and reprogram $2.5 billion from the military drug interdiction efforts and $600 million from the Treasury Departments drug forfeiture program, a senior administration official said on Thursday.

Public Citizen alleges that Trumps declaration isnt a response to an emergency, but instead reflects a long-running disagreement between the president and Congress about whether to build a wall.

Also read | Donald Trump says hell declare border emergency to free up wall money

About that wall Trump said Mexico would be paying for

Such a disagreement does not constitute an emergency authorizing unilateral executive action, according to the complaint filed in Washington federal court. The invocation of emergency powers and exercise of those powers, and the diversion of funds to build a wall, are thus contrary to law.

In unscripted remarks Friday morning, Trump depicted the emergency declaration as ordinary but also said he expected it to be challenged in court. He predicted hed eventually prevail, but conceded: I didnt need to do this. I just want to get it done faster, he said of the wall.

Now those comments may be used against him in court.

Words have meaning, said Allison Zieve, a lawyer for Public Citizen. The facts make clear that the premise of the presidents declaration -- that the absence of a wall in the areas where construction is planned is an emergency -- is legally untenable and an impermissible basis for seeking to obligate funds that Congress has refused to appropriate for a border wall.

What a state of emergency might do for Trumps wall

One challenge for Public Citizen could be the funding Congress did give the president to build steel fencing along the border. Trumps emergency funds may not be drawn until existing allocations have been spent, which means it may be weeks or months until the consumer group can show that anyone has been harmed by the presidents actions.

Meanwhile, Nayda Alvarez, the lead plaintiff in Fridays case, fears for her home near the Rio Grande Valley. In September, Alvarez received a letter from U.S. Customs and Border Protection seeking access to the property so that federal agents could assess future construction within feet of her house. Her concern is that construction of the wall would cut off several acres of her familys ancestral property and take away her view of the river.

Another plaintiff, the Frontera Audubon Society in Weslaco, Texas, claims the wall would rip through a wildlife corridor, destroying habitats for birds and other animals.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Xavier Becerra said the complaint they plan to file challenging the presidents emergency declaration will mark the 46th time the most populous state has taken the Trump administration to court. Newsom, a newly elected Democrat, said Friday that the President is putting at risk law enforcement programs that combat gang violence, drug sales and human trafficking for a vanity project.

The wall will do nothing to impact drugs coming over our border.

Also read | Pulwama attack will strengthen India-US counter-terrorism cooperation: Donald Trump
US president Donald Trump formally declared a national emergency on Friday to fund his long-promised border wall, in addition to the money allocated for it in a compromise spending bill that he will sign into law later in the day to avert another shutdown of the federal government.

Were going to be signing, today, and registering a national emergency and its a great thing to do, the president said in a long and rambling address from the White House, adding, the purpose was to stop the invasion of drugs and criminals through the border on the south, along Mexico.

He dismissed criticism that the emergency declaration was an unprecedented move but added that he could anticipate opposition and legal challenges. And this quote from him was widely cited by experts and critics as something that could be used in the lawsuits: I didnt need to do this.

The 1,169-page spending bill, which was passed by congress on Thursday, allocated $1.375 billion for the wall, much less than the $5.7 billion Trump had sought. The administration plans to raise about $6.5 billion more through the emergency declaration and other executive action. The target is about $8 billion in all.

Bulk of the additional money will be reprogrammed allocations for military constructions and the Pentagons counter-narcotics schemes  $3.6 billion and $2.5 billion respectively  and the rest, about $600 million, from asset forfeitures and seizures by the US treasury, White House officials said.

Also read | Donald Trumps border wall emergency faces first legal challenge

Trump will sign the compromise spending bill later in the day, in time to avert another shutdown, that would have kicked in past midnight.

A national emergency has been declared 58 times before to deal with a variety of issues including the prevention of uncut diamonds from Sierra Leone. And also to raise funds on two occasions, a senior administration official told reported during a briefing to preview the presidents announcements.

Its neither unprecedented not does it set a precedence, the official insisted, addressing concerns raised by both Democrats and Republicans. It actually creates zero precedent, Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, told reporters. This is authority given to the president in law already. Its not as if he didnt get what he wanted and waved a magic wand to get some money.

Congressional Democrats, who had already announced their opposition to the emergency declaration calling it a lawless act, plan to challenge it in the congress and in courts. This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed President, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democratic senator Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement, following the presidents speech.

They added: The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available.

They went on to urge Republicans to join them to oppose the declaration, hoping, perhaps, to feed on their reservation about an emergency declaration. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the senate, had privately counseled the president against it and had threatened to pass a legislation to overturn it. But he has since changed his mind.

Announcing the spending deal and the presidents intention to invoke an emergency, McConnell said on the floor of the senate Thursday that Ive indicated to him that I am going to support the national emergency declaration.

Also read | Pulwama attack will strengthen India-US counter-terrorism cooperation: Trump
Vrish Soreng, 65, is both a grieving as well as a proud father. His son, Vijay Soreng, 47, was killed in the terrorist attack at Pulwama, in Jammu & Kashmir, on Thursday. Even as grief shrouded the family home of the younger Soren, a member of the Central Reserve Police Force, his father stood tall.

A resident of Basia Farmasa village at Basia block in Gumla district of Jharkhand, and himself a retired soldier, Soreng Senior said that it was his wish during his service period to even die for the nation. What I could not do, my son did, by making the ultimate sacrifice, said the stoic father.

Vrish now takes care of his meagre agricultural fields, along with his younger son, Sanjay Soreng, 40. The other family members include Vrishs wife Lakshmi Devi, 60; Vijays wife, Kamala Ba, a policewoman with the 10th battalion of Jharkhand Armed Police at Ranchi; and Vijays three children.

Vijays eldest son Arun, 21, is an undergraduate student at a college in Khunti district; daughter Barkha Kumari, 15, is a Class IX student at a school in Keonjhar, Odisha; and youngest son Rahul, 9, is a student in the same school.

Sanjay recalled his elder brothers ambition to serve the nation: Even as a child, my brother was fascinated by the army. He joined the army quite early. He used to say that giving away ones life in the line of duty was the best possible way to die.

Vijay had come home for a few days  from February 1 to 8  and Sanjay said that he could not imagine that would be their last meeting. Vijay had contacted his family before his convoy left Jammu, around noon on Thursday. My brother said he had left from his camp; he said that the roads were slippery and that he would call us after reaching his destination, said Sanjay.

That call never came. The family members got some news about the IED blast, but nothing was confirmed. We all tried to reach Vijay over the phone. But, his phone was switched off, said Sanjay. Around 1.30am on Friday, the family received a call from army command room in Jammu & Kashmir, informing them that Vijay was no more.

Within moments, everything changed. My mother has been inconsolable, said Sanjay.

About his sister-in-law, he said, She is a strong woman, but I dont know how shell cope with this news. Two of their children are still young.

According to Sanjay, Vijays body was to reach Ranchi airport on Friday night, and the cremation would be on Saturday.
A day after a terror strike in Pulwama killed at least 38 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel, the city on Friday condemned the attack, demanding strict action from the authorities.

There were protests at Bhendi Bazaar, Nagpada and other spots, with angry citizens burning Pakistani flags and effigies and pictures of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, Jaish-e-Mohammed founder Masood Azhar, who claimed the responsibility for the attack. At Nagpada, residents gathered outside the mosque and shouted slogans.

The Indian Army knows what they need to do. We just want them to ensure that such an incident doesnt happen again. The deaths of soldiers need to be avenged and those responsible for it need to be taught a lesson, said Furqan Sayed of NGO Sahas Foundation.

Some areas saw candlelight marches, too. As citizens of the country, we need to do something. We can only pray for the departed souls and salute their sacrifice. No one was expecting such an attack, said Jatin Kothari, a member of an NGO, I am New Ghatkopar.

The Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust at Prabhadevi said they will provide a help of 51 lakh to the families of jawans who lost their lives. Its the least we can do as a religious institution who cares for the welfare of the society, said Aadesh Bandekar, chairperson, Siddhivinayak Temple Trust, adding, The trust has also decided to donate 25 lakh to the Queen Marys institute at Pune, which helps soldiers who suffered injuries in various attacks.
Anger and grief ruled Uttar Pradesh which lost 12 CRPF jawans in Thursdays terrorist attack in Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir.

Tempers ran high as the families of soldiers sought a befitting reply to Pakistan to avenge the attack.

The Uttar Pradesh government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each to the families of 12 CRPF jawans from the state killed in the terror attack in Pulwama.

UP parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna said, One of their family members will also get government job and the link road connecting the native village of jawans with the main road will be named after them.

Khanna added that the last rites of the soldiers would be done with full government honour. A minister, besides the DM and the SSP of the district concerned, would also be present during the last rites of all the 12 soldiers killed in the attack, he said.

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath also expressed grief over the deaths and prayed for peace to departed souls.

Those CRPF personnel from UP who lost their lives in the attack included Avdhesh Kumar Yadav (Chandauli), Pankaj Kumar Tripathi (Maharajganj), Amit Kumar (Shamli), Pradip Kumar (Shamli), Vijay Kumar Maurya (Deoria), Ram Vakeel (Mainpuri), Mahesh Kumar (Prayagraj), Ramesh Yadav (Varanasi), Kaushal Kumar Rawat (Agra), Pradeep Kumar (Kannauj), Shyam Babu (Kanpur Dehat) and Ajit Kumar Azad (Unnao).

The Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly also paid homage to the CRPF personnel killed in the terror attack.

Cutting across party lines, the lawmakers demanded strict action against Pakistan as well as terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM) that carried out the suicide attack on the convoy.

The families of slain CRPF soldiers were unable to come to terms with the harsh reality.

Neerja, wife of CRPF jawan from Kanpur Pradeep Kumar, said she was talking to her husband on the phone but before their conversation could end, his phone suddenly switched off.

Pradeep was a native of Kannauj but was residing with his family in Bara Sirohi locality of Kanpur.

I tried to call him back but it did not connect. I got to know about the attack from television news channels. In the evening, I got a message from the army control room about the death of my husband. I was shocked. How could it happen within two minutes, she said.
This is time of mourning and to show restrain and sensitivity: PM Modi

This is time of mourning and to show restrain and sensitivity, says PM Narendra Modi on Pulwama terror attack.

Prime Minister Irrigation Project has been started to improve status of irrigation: PM Modi

Prime Minister Irrigation Project has been started to improve the status of irrigation of Maharashtra and other parts of the country, including Dhule, says PM Narendra Modi.

Each drop of tear after Pulwama terror attack will be avenged: PM Modi

Each drop of tear after Pulwama terror attack will be avenged, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event in Maharashtras Dhule district.

Strengthening of connectivity here has laid the foundation stone of two railway lines: PM Modi

There is a complete possibility of becoming an industrial city in Dhule. It is located in such a place where there is a possibility of business in different cities of the country. Many large national highways pass through here. Today, the strengthening of connectivity here has laid the foundation stone of two railway lines, says PM Narendra Modi.

If someone teases New India, it does not let it go unpunished: PM Modi

It has been a policy of India that we dont poke anyone. But if someone teases New India, it does not let it go unpunished, says PM Narendra Modi.

Our soldiers have always selflessly worked for the nation: PM Modi

Our soldiers have always selflessly worked for the nation, says Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

We will always stand by those who sacrificed their lives: PM Modi

We will always stand by those who sacrificed their lives. This is a time of grief, says PM Narendra Modi.

PM Modi lays foundation stone and inaugurates development projects at Dhule

Prime Minister Narendra Modi lays foundation stone and inaugurates development projects at Dhule, Maharashtra.

Nation on verge of bankruptcy has now become second name for terror: PM

PM Modi targeted Pakistan over Pulwama terror attack and said a nation on verge of bankruptcy has now become second name for terror.

Are you happy with the work I am doing, asks PM Modi

Are you happy with the work I am doing, the efforts Im taking, PM Narendra Modi asked people at public rally in Maharashtras Yavatmal.

Security forces have been given full freedom: PM Modi

Terror organisations who have committed this crime, no matter how much they try to hide, they will be punished. Security forces have been given full freedom, said PM Narendra Modi ij Maharashtras Yavatmal.

2 sons from Maharashtra lost their lives, their sacrifice wont go in vain: PM

I know that we are all in immense pain after what happend in Pulwama, I understand your anger. Two sons from Maharashtra lost their lives in the attack, their sacrifice wont go in vain, said PM Narendra Modi in Yavatmal.

Our jawans will decide fate of terrorists who attacked Pulwama: PM

The martyr CRPFs sacrifice wont go in vain, the terrorist groups no matter where they hide, they will be punished.

Security forces have been told decide the fate of terrorists who attacked our jawans in Pulwama, they will not be spared, said PM Narendra Modi in Yavatmal.

PM Modi addresses public meeting in Nagpur

PM Narendra Modi who is on a day log visit to Maharashtra, is currently addressing a rally in Maharashtras Nagpur.

PM Modi lays foundation stone of development projects in Nagpur

PM Modi lays foundation stone & dedicates various development projects to the nation in Nagpur .

PM Modi to inaugurate several projects in Maharashtra

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a day-long visit to Yavatmal and Dhule in Maharashtra on Saturday, an official announcement said here on Friday.
America is home to so much breathtaking natural beauty, from spectacular lakes and waterfalls to stunning coastlines and national parks. But some of Americas most famous, fabulous landmarks were actually designed and built by humans. These bridges, buildings, churches, castles, college campuses and more are not just the biggest, tallest, hardest to build or most beautiful. On top of that, they have become iconic symbols of their states, drawing in tourists from around the country and even around the world to marvel at their design. Whether theyre loved by locals or lauded by professionals like the American Institute of Architecture, these are the top man-made marvels in every state. (Kaitlin Miller, The Active Times)
A study that reconstructed droughts and famines across India over the last 146 years says lack of moisture in the soil for extended periods of time can be linked to some of the most devastating famines.

Previous attempts to study 18th and 19th century droughts have been limited to meteorological droughts caused by failure of rains. The latest study -- by Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn), University of California, and the India Meteorological Department, Pune  for the first time links decline in soil moisture to droughts and famines. It is important because groundwater, which can improve soil moisture during drought, is being depleted rapidly.

Drought causes depletion of soil moisture and groundwater. Moreover, to replenish soil moisture, groundwater abstraction increases during drought, which further negatively impacts groundwater storage, said Vimal Mishra of the department of civil engineering, IIT-Gn, co-author of the study.

The study found that between 1870 and 2016 India witnessed seven major soil moisture droughts or agricultural drought periods (1876-1882, 1895-1900, 1908-1924, 1937- 1945, 1982-1990, 1997-2004, and 2011-2015) based on their analysis of severity, area, and duration. Three droughts in 1877, 1896, and 1899 were linked to El Nino when warm temperatures in the Pacific Ocean cause below-normal rains, but barring the famine of 1943, five major famines during 1873-74, 1876, 1877, 1896-97, 1899 were caused by large-scale and severe soil moisture droughts driven by June-September monsoon failures.

Over exploitation and changing rainfall patterns have led to the depletion of groundwater, which is a threat to food and freshwater security. Lean-density rain over India, which is favourable for recharging groundwater, has declined in the last 30-40 years, and high intensity rainfall has increased, said Mishra. Historically ground water has been the saver in times of droughts in most regions of India, said Mishra.

India is the worlds largest user of groundwater extracting 250 cubic kilometres every year  more than one-fourth of the world total. The South Asian Network on Dams, River and People estimates that ground water is vital for two-thirds of irrigated area, 85% of rural population and more than half of urban and industry.

As per the Central Ground Water Board, water level in only 30% wells rose more than two metres between 2007 and 2017, while there was a 30% decrease in 43% wells. Its in Indias national interest to bring net groundwater extraction into balance, i.e., recharge equal to withdrawals, said Dennis P Lettenmaier, co-author and professor at the department of geography, UCLA.

The study, Drought and Famine in India, 1870-2016, was published in Geophysical Research Letters in January.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reiterated that India will respond in befitting manner to the perpetrators of a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Thursday, when at least 40 security personnel were killed. PM Modi said each drop of tears will be avenged.

India is a nation of new tradition and new policy. The world will experience this now, PM Modi said at an event in Maharashtras Dhule, where he unveiled development projects adding, This is a time of restraint, a time of sensitivity. This is a time of sorrow. But I want to assure every family of the martyrs that each drop of tear after Pulwama terror attack will be avenged.

Following the terror attack in South Kashmir, violence erupted in Jammu city on Friday, when columns of army had to be deployed to maintain calm. Nine people, including policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents in Jammu, where protesters torched several vehicles and damaged others.

The Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities. Curfew, which was imposed in the entire city to maintain law and order, continued till Saturday.

In Mumbai, protesters disrupted train services and forced shops shut to protest terror attack in Pulwama. In Uttarakhand, news agency PTI reported that a group of Kashmiri students alleged that they were harassed by some people over Pulwama attack.

At the all-party meet, called by the government earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the opposition leaders that clear instructions have been given to Jammu and Kashmir administration to ensure peace in the wake of terror attack.

A resolution was passed at the all-party meet condemning Pulwama terror attack. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India, says the resolution.

When the issue of alleged harassment of some Kashmiri students was raised by National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah at the all-party meeting, Union home minister assured him that nobody will be allowed to vitiate communal harmony. Later, the central government issued an advisory to state governments in this regard.

Follow latest updates here

At another public event in Maharashtras Yavatmal, PM Modi said Pakistan has become a synonym for terrorism. He said, A nation which came into existence after Partition and encourages terror activities, and which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has now become the second name for terror.

India has launched a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack. It withdrew the most favoured nation status accorded to Pakistan 23 years ago. The ministry of external affairs outreached to more than 25 countries including P5  the US, the UK, France, Russia and China, for diplomatic isolation of Pakistan over the issue of terrorism.

Indias outreach to China is significant in the view that Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack, in which a convoy carrying more than 2,500 security forces was targeted in a suicide bombing incident on Jammu-Srinagar highway.

Also Read | Political parties unite at Pulwama attack meeting, condemn Paks terror support

India has been pushing for declaring Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist by the United Nations. But China has consistently used it veto to shield the terror outfits chief. Following the terror attack, China expressed shock but remained unmoved on Masood Azhar.

The government has promised to give a befitting response to all those responsible for one of the worst terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir. The government has got support from all the opposition parties in its bid to meet challenges posed by terror groups in the Kashmir Valley.
The US has backed Indias right to defend itself against cross-border terrorism in the aftermath of Thursdays Pulwama terror attack claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed, even as the two sides pledged to cooperate to eradicate terrorist safe havens in Pakistan.

The American support was conveyed during a phone conversation between National Security Advisor, John Bolton, and his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, on Friday, which was initiated by the US side, the external affairs ministry said in a readout on Saturday.

In a tweet on Saturday, Bolton added: Pakistan must crack down on JeM and all terrorists operating from its territory. The support came as New Delhi weighs its options amid mounting pressure for a response, ranging from a military strike to a slew of diplomatic measures.

The readout from the external affairs ministry said: Ambassador Bolton supported Indias right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism. He offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice. Bolton called Doval to express condolences and outrage over the JeM suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Pulwama that killed 40 troops.

The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region, the readout added.

Bolton and Doval also resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under United Nations resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee process.

I told Ajit Doval that we support Indias right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice... and expressed the US condolences over the terrorist attack, Bolton was quoted as saying by PTI.

He said the US has been very clear on Pakistan ending its support to terrorist safe havens. And we are continuing to be, in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis, Bolton said. Soon after the attack, the White House issued a strongly worded statement calling on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil.

It also described the terror strike in Pulwama as an attack by a Pakistan-based terrorist group. Boltons call to Doval escalates US support for India to a different level, said an Indian official close to the deliberations, similar to the stance adopted by the US when India carried out its surgical strikes in 2016.

India responded to a strike by a Pakistan-based group on a military base in Uri, Kashmir, with retaliatory surgical strikes the same day that Doval spoke to his then US counterpart, Susan Rice, on September 29.

There has been some speculation the strike was underway when Doval was speaking to Rice. Secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has been one of the most aggressive of Trump administration officials on Pakistan.

He brought up terrorism in a phone call to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the first senior interaction with the Pakistani leader after his election last year, and put it centre stage during his visit to Islamabad on his way to New Delhi for the inaugural 2+2 meeting.
Washingtons call for Islamabad to freeze without delay the funds and assets of United Nation Security Council-designated terror groups such as JeM is expected to strengthen Indias hands when the FATF reviews Pakistans action against terror financing in Paris next week.

The Financial Action Task Force, which placed Pakistan on its grey list last June for failing to do enough to counter the financing of UN-designated terror groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba and their affiliates, will hold its working group and plenary meetings in the French capital during February 17-22.

The meetings will include a review of steps taken so far by Pakistan on a 27-point action plan the country has to implement by September, people familiar with developments said.

Days ahead of the crucial meetings, a US state department spokesperson said in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack by the JeM that Pakistan should deny safe haven to terrorists and freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets or economic resources of individuals and entities on the UNSC 1267 sanctions list.

The UN Security Council sanctioned JeM under Resolution 1267 in 2001, making it mandatory for member states to deny the group access to arms, freeze its financial assets and prevent foreign travel by the groups leaders.

India, the UK and the US received unprecedented support from China and Saudi Arabia for the move last year to include Pakistan in FATFs grey list. In January, the Asia Pacific Group of FATF had assessed steps taken by Pakistan to implement the 27-point action plan at a meeting in Sydeny.

During the three-day meet in Sydney, the Pakistani delegation was given 28 questions regarding actions it has taken to counter the financing of terror groups including LeT according media reports.
A resolution adopted by the all party meeting condemned Thursdays attack at Pulwama that left 40 CRPF jawans dead in a suicide bombing. The all party meeting was called by Union home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the Pulwama attack.

The resolution also condemned terrorism in all forms as well as the support it was getting from across the border.

Referring to it as the dastardly attack, the resolution states, We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border.

It further goes on to say that India has faced the menace of cross-border terrorism for the past three decades and that India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges.

Also read: Soldiers will decide punishment for perpetrators of Pulwama, says PM Modi

India has during the past three decades faced the menace of cross border terrorism. Of late, terrorism in India is being actively encouraged by the forces across the border. India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India, the resolution says.

Also read: What I couldnt do, my son did: Father of jawan killed in Pulwama attack

Earlier, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad had stated that the Opposition parties had informed the home minister that the Opposition would stand with the government to end terror in the country.

The opposition parties had also requested Rajnath Singh to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet the presidents of all national and regional parties to discuss the issues in person.

Azad said that the opposition leaders had unitedly told the home minister that all parties had expressed their grief at the attack and loss of lives.

As per our knowledge barring wars, this is the first time that such a large number of personnel have died since 1947. All parties and countrymen, from all religions and regions are mourning, Azad said while addressing the media.

At a time like this, our party has decided that we are with the security forces and the local police in Jammu and Kashmir, he said.

We have also decided that there are many disagreements with the government, but for the sake of our country, security of all, we will stand with the government to end terror. The government has our support, Azad said.

Apart from Rajnath Singh and Azad, among those present at the meeting were Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, TMCs Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O Brien, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut, and Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Singh Tomar.

On Thursday, 40 CRPF jawans had lost their lives in a suicide bombing at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday called off Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans planned visit to two Southeast Asia nations, raising speculation about his travel plans to India next week. According to an earlier plan, the prince was scheduled to go to Pakistan and Malaysia before travelling to India during February 19-20 for a visit intended to boost cooperation in fields ranging from defence and security to trade and investment.

The Indonesian foreign ministry announced on Saturday the princes plans to visit Indonesia and Malaysia during a five-nation tour had been postponed. It said new dates for the visit will be worked out later. Besides India and Pakistan, the prince is expected to visit China.

Any plan to travel directly from Pakistan, which the prince will visit during February 17-18, to India is not expected to go down well with New Delhi, especially in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack claimed by the JeM, people familiar with developments said. The Saudi delegation had initially planned to travel from Pakistan to Malaysia to send out a message that Riyadh was not hyphenating its relations with New Delhi and Islamabad. There was speculation on Saturday that the Saudi delegation would make a brief stopover in Riyadh after the Pakistan leg of the tour before travelling to India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said that the jawans will decide what punishment has to be dealt to the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF jawans lost their lives.

He also launched a scathing attack at Pakistan without naming it and said that it had become a synonym for terrorism.

A country that was formed after Indias partition, which gives shelter to terrorism and which is on the verge of bankruptcy has today become a synonym for terrorism, the PM said at a public event at Yavatmal in Maharashtra.

He was speaking in reference to Thursdays suicide bombing at Pulwama in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Saying that the sacrifices of the jawans will not be in vain, the PM said that no matter where the leaders of terror organisations hide, they will have to pay for their sins.

Also read: Pulwama attack: What has this bloodshed got to do with Kartarpur corridor, asks Navjot Singh Sidhu

Our jawans will decide what, where, when and how the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack will be punished, PM Modi said.

Responding to the sentiment of anger that has spread across the country after the Pulwama attack, the PM called for patience.

Have patience and faith in our soldiers. The nation understands the anger in the armed forces and the CRPF. We have given them a free hand to decide the punishment for those who carried out the Pulwama attack, the PM said.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Pulwama terror attack recalling his statements made in the run up to 2014 Lok Sabha polls to target then Congress-led UPA government. The NCP was part of the Manmohan Singh government back then.

I can remember, Prime Minister Modi, before coming to power, used to say in his election rallies that Manmohan Singhs government had failed to teach Pakistan a lesson (after terror attacks), news agency PTI quoted Pawar as saying during an interaction with reporters at Baramati in Maharashtras Pune district.

He used to say the Manmohan Singh government did not have ability to teach a lesson (to Pakistan). He also used to remark that only those with a 56-inch chest could administer a tough lesson to Pakistan, said Pawar.

Also Read | Pulwama attack: Top Indian security officials suspect Masood Azhars nephew to be the mastermind

The NCP president called Thursdays attack on the CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir as an attack on the nation and emphasised that there should be no attempts to politicise the terror incident.

As a prime ministerial candidate, Modi used to exhort people in his rallies to replace the UPA government with that of the BJP so that Pakistan could be given a befitting reply for such terror attacks, Pawar said.

But everyone has seen what has happened now. But today I will not repeat that same demand which he (Modi) had made (at that time), Pawar said adding the kind of image that Modi created of himself in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls had now become a 100 per cent failure.

Follow Pulwama updates here

A convoy of 78 vehicles carrying more than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force jawans was targeted by terrorists on Jammu-Srinagar highway. The bus, which bore the brunt of the attack, was reduced to a heap of mangled iron. Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack.

At least 40 CRPF jawans were killed in the terror attack, which saw a strong reaction from the Modi government, which withdrew the most favoured status granted to Pakistan in 1996. The ministry of external affairs reached out to more than 25 countries including P5  the US, the UK, France, Russia and China.

PM Modi, later at a public event, served a stern warning to Pakistan saying the neighbour wont be allowed to succeed in its attempt to de-stabilise the country.

Pawar also blamed Pakistan, though like PM Modi, he did not take its name. He said, Such explosives and weapons are generally available with the army. Since they cannot get it from the Indian Army, it is clear the neighbouring nation provided such weapons to the attackers.

The former defence minister also said there is need to give national security and defence greater importance.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hit out at the intelligence department as she expressed her grief over the demise of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama terror attack on Thursday.

Addressing the media, she said: People are asking what was NSA and intelligence doing? This is an intelligence failure. Why were so many vans going together when there is a security threat?

Banerjee condemned the attack and asserted that if Pakistan is involved in it then strong action should be taken against it.

We condemn any terror attack. I dont want to discuss foreign affairs. But if Pakistan has done something, strong action should be taken, she added.

Also read| Pulwama attack: Security officials suspect Azhars nephew to be mastermind

Elaborating upon the measures taken by her government to help the families of the deceased security personnel she stated, I spoke to one of the two family members of the deceased personnel and also sent my ministers to their house. We will give them necessary support for employment.

Around 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain jawans personnel were travelling in a bus which came under the terror attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, has claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged.

Also read| RDX mix, more than one militant behind Pulwama attack

Also read| India unites in mourning for CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama terror attack

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. )
The family and relatives of Adil Ahmad Dar, the suspected suicide bomber who rammed an explosive-laden SUV into a security convoy, killing 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at Lethpora area in Pulwama, held a funeral on Friday without any body.

All the shops lining the road leading to Dars village in Kakapora area of Pulwama were shut and security forces had laid a blockade a few kilometres ahead of the village to stop vehicles from moving towards the village. Despite the restrictions, hundreds of people managed to reach the village and participate in the funeral that was held at a nearby school ground.

We did not get any body or body parts. Police said there is nothing to give. There is no grave, he said.

Adils father Ghulam Hassan Dar said his son was a simple boy. He was very religious and would often help his mother in her work, he said. He suspected an incident in his school days which might have changed his mind.

Once he was returning from school when was detained by the police and asked to rub his nose on the ground. It was humiliating experience for him and he used to remember the incident every now and then, said Ghulam Hassan.

Dar, 22, studied till Class 12 and then joined a course in religious studies in 2017. However, he left his home in March 2018 on a cycle and that was the last time he was seen.

When Dar left home in 2018, the family looked for him for months, said Sameer Ahmad, 22, a cousin of Dar. After that his photo appeared on social media announcing his joining of militancy, he said.
Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday asked what Pulwama terror attack had got to do with the Kartarpur corridor.

Speaking to ANI, Sidhu said: What has this bloodshed got to do with Kartarpur? When a person becomes a pilgrim out of devotion, he becomes a different person.

What I feel is that we should deliberate over the problem of terrorism, and find out the root cause of the problem and uproot it, he said.

Condemning the terror attack in Pulwama on Thursday, Sidhu said: It is a condemnable and cowardly act. It needs a permanent solution through dialogue.

Also read| Security officials suspect Azhars nephew to be mastermind

How long will the jawans sacrifice their lives? How long will the bloodshed continue? People who do this must be punished. Hurling abuses wont help, he said.

As many as 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain jawans personnel were travelling in a bus which came under the terror attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, has claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged.

Also read| RDX mix, more than one militant behind Pulwama attack

Also read| Pulwama terror attack suicide bombers funeral held sans body

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. )
The Pulwama attack drew condemnation from across the political spectrum in the United Kingdom, but a reference by foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt to India-administered Kashmir in his reaction raised hackles among many.

Leading criticism of the use of the phrase, senior Labour MP Virendra Sharma wrote to Hunt, asking him to withdraw it, informing him that the state of Jammu and Kashmir has been an integral part of India since its accession in 1947.

Hunt tweeted after the attack: Shocked by todays senseless and brutal act of terror in India-administered Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims families. We stand with India.

The Foreign Office has long used India-administered Kashmir to refer to Jammu and Kashmir, but the phrase has riled many in Indian circles. Its use by Hunt in the context of the Pulwama attack prompted criticism by twitterati based in the UK, India and elsewhere.

Thanking Hunt for standing with India, Sharma wrote to him: In your tweet, you use the phrase India-administered Kashmir, which is deeply offensive to many in India, and this country, as it suggests that India is a colonising nation, whereas the state chose to join India in 1947 due to the constitutional commitment to secularism and plurality.

Also read | Pulwama attack: Top Indian security officials suspect Masood Azhars nephew to be the mastermind

Sharma, MP from Ealing Southall, is the chair of the Indo-British All Party Parliamentary Group, a forum to discuss and raise matters related to India in the British parliament.

Foreign Office minister for Asia Tariq Ahmad met Indian high commissioner Ruchi Ghanshyam and conveyed condolences, adding: India is a key partner for the UK across trade, security and culture.

Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of parliament, said: Im deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in Kashmir. Thoughts are with the Indian security personnel killed and injured by this appalling crime.

Conservative MP Bob Blackman said: We stand with India. Time to isolate and proscribe the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, while Labour MP Barry Gardiner added: Solidarity with the people of India from all of us in the Labour Party. We utterly reject this disgusting terrorist violence.

Also read | RDX mix, more than one militant behind Pulwama attack
The worst terror attack on Indian forces in Kashmirs Pulwama could impact Sino-India ties as New Delhi and Beijing continue to differ sharply over listing Pakistan-based outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist at the United Nations.

The group has claimed responsibility for the attack and China has repeatedly in the past blocked Indias efforts to list Azhar as a global terrorist at the UN Security Council. While condemning the attack, the Chinese foreign ministry gave enough indications on Friday that its stand remains the same.

Azhars listing has remained a major bilateral squabble between the two neighbours despite the bonhomie generated after the informal Wuhan summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping last April; Home minister Rajnath Singh had highlighted it in China late last year.

Its just that discussions to resolve the Azhar issue had been pushed to the background in the atmosphere of post-Doklam geniality between India and China. This weeks attack, however, could act as a headwind against that bilateral enthusiasm. Chinese academics have called for dialogue to resolve the issue and asked India to furnish more evidence against Azhar to China.

Bilateral ties, as well as broad ties in the region between India, China and Pakistan, could run into difficult times in the aftermath of the attack, said Hu Shisheng, director of the Institute of South and Southeast Asian and Oceania Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

Follow updates here

It is difficult to say how China will respond when India brings up the issue next time at the UN. There should be a mutual dialogue between India and China to resolve this issue, Hu added. Hu, an expert on south Asia, said its possible that Beijing directly talks to Islamabad about the attack and its impact.

Wang Dehua, south Asia expert at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, agreed, saying that India and Chinas different views over JeM and Azhar could only be solved through dialogue. Wang also argued that India needs to do more to change Chinas stand.

As early as 2009, India tried to place Azhar in the UN sanctions list. At that time, the United Kingdom, as a permanent member of the Security Council, also expressed its opposition and asked India to present more evidence. India launched a strong diplomatic offensive for this and finally changed the attitude of the UK, but China still has reservations on this issue, Wang said.

Wang added that according to the United Nations Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Act, India only needs to submit evidence to the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee to prove that Azhar is a member of al-Qaeda or the Taliban, or with both organisations.

There is a link. But India is not submitting such evidence and it is useless to blame China for obstructing. That is to say, no matter what the nature of JeM is, there is no evidence that Azhar is subordinate to terrorist organisations such as Al Qaeda and Islamic State. Therefore, the JeM is not subject to Resolution 1267, which specifically attacks the two organisations, and naturally cannot be included in the list, Wang said.
The suicide strike that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force troops in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama has cast a shadow on the Lok Sabha elections and the assembly poll in the state.

The Election Commission (EC) had scheduled a meeting on Monday to discuss J&Ks poll preparedness, but it is not clear whether state officials can make it to Delhi for the meeting. According to a person aware of developments, the J&K chief electoral officer, chief secretary and the director general of police, apart from home ministry officials, were expected at the meeting in the Election Commission headquarters.

Earlier, the Centre was exploring the possibility of holding the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls along with the general elections slated for April-May. The state has been under Presidents Rule from mid-December after six months of Governors Rule, which was imposed after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led coalition government headed by Mehbooba Mufti in June last year.

The biggest challenge for the Election Commission will be to conduct polls in the constituencies of Srinagar, Baramulla and Anantnag, said another person aware of developments.

After security forces and the state administration flagged hostile conditions in J&K for holding polls, the by-elections to Anantnag parliamentary constituency were deferred indefinitely. The seat has been vacant since July 2016, when PDP chief Mehbooba resigned following the death of her father Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

The by-elections to Srinagar parliamentary constituency in April 2017 saw an abysmal voter turnout of 7.13%, the lowest ever in its electoral history. A senior government official speaking on condition of anonymity said the chances of holding assembly polls along with the Lok Sabha elections appear dim following the suicide attack.

Much depends on the level of the intensity and the ground situation in the coming days. It also depends on the response and the steps taken by the government vis-a-vis Pakistan. As of now, the broad thinking in the government is that the assembly elections should be postponed, he said.

The state commission had earlier indicated to the EC that it would be more propitious to not hold J&K assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls. Political leaders are also divided in their opinion on the election schedule.
All educational institutions of Odisha observed two minutes silence at 11 am today in memory of the CRPF jawans who were killed in a suicide bombing attack on Thursday.

The homage to the jawans came after chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who termed the Pulwama terror attack as a cowardly act, urged all schools in the state to observe two minutes silence. CRPF jawans Prasanna Kumar Sahu and Manoj Behera from Odisha were among the jawans who were killed in the Pulwama attack.

Officials said the caskets containing the mortal remains of Sahu and Behera would arrive at Biju Patnaik International Airport today after which they would be carried towards their respective villages. Sahu, a 48-year-old jawan, hailed from Parisikhar village in Jagatsinghpur district while Manoj Behera, 33, is from Ratanpur village in Cuttack district. Behera leaves behind his wife, one-year-old daughter and ageing parents behind him. Sahu leaves behind his wife and two teenaged children.

Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan will be present at Sahus native village Parisikhar during the last rites while union tribal affairs minister Jual Oram will be in attendance at Beheras native village Ratanpur today.

Patnaik has already announced Rs 10 lakh ex gratia for the next of the kin of Behera and Sahu.

Also read | Pulwama terror attack suicide bombers funeral held sans body
The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday sought to question businessman Robert Vadra four-five times more in connection with an alleged money laundering case. The court extended the interim bail granted to Vadra till March 2, when the Patiala House Court will hear his anticipatory bail plea.

Appearing for the ED, special public prosecutor DP Singh informed the court that they need four-five more appearances of Vadra in the alleged money laundering case.

Senior lawyer KTS Tulsi, who appeared for Vadra, told the court that they are ready to extend their support and cooperation to the ED in the case.

Earlier in the day, Vadra called the ED action a complete vindictive & vicious witch hunt in a Facebook post. I have had nothing to hide and I am surely not above the law. I have deposed for almost 6 days; ranging from 8 to 12 hours per day with a 40 minute lunch break, and have been escorted to the washroom, he said.

Vadra, who is the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in two separate cases first in agencys Delhi office and then in Jaipur. The ED is probing allegations of money laundering in connection with a case of purchase of illegal property in London and a land scam in Rajasthans Bikaner.

His appearance before the ED acquired political overtones with his wife and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accompanying him to the investigating agencys offices in Delhi and Jaipur. After dropping Vadra off at EDs Delhi office, Priyanka Gandhi had said she wanted to send a message by accompanying her husband.

Earlier this month, Vadra had been granted interim bail till February 16. He appeared before the court at the expiry of the period of interim bail. In the previous hearing, the court had directed Vadra to cooperate with the ED in connection with the cases of alleged dubious financial dealings.

The London assets case relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a property worth 1.9 million British pounds. In the Bikaner land scam case, the Rajasthan High Court directed Vadra to cooperate with the agency.

According to ED, Vadras connection appeared during probe into a case by the Income Tax Department. That case relates to probe against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari under the 2015 anti-black money law.

During the probe, the role of Manoj Arora cropped up. Arora is believed to be a close aide of Vadra and an employee of Skylight Hospitality LLP, a firm linked to him. The ED lodged a case against Arora under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED conducted raids in the case and grilled Arora in December 2018.

The ED alleged that the London-based property was bought by Bhandari for 1.9 million British pounds and sold for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses of approximately 65,900 British pounds on its renovation. The agency says the London-based property, including two houses and six flats, belong to Vadra.

The BJP has used the allegations against Vadra to attack the Congress party alleging he got kickbacks in petroleum and defence deals during the UPA regime. Vadra has denied all allegations saying he was being hounded and harassed to serve political ends.

(With inputs from agencies)
There has been mounting concern over the safety of Kashmiris living in different parts of the country after Kashmirs bloodiest attack that killed 40 CRPF soldiers in south Kashmir on Thursday. There have been some incidents of people from Kashmir being harassed and intimidated in retaliation against the terror attack, prompting the Union home ministry to issue an advisory all states to ensure safety and security of the students and people from Jammu and Kashmir living in their areas .

The CRPF, which suffered its worst loss in a single day in the valley, and has sworn to avenge the death of its troopers, stayed true to its professionalism as it took to Twitter to announce the launch of a 24-hour helpline for Kashmiri students and general public who are out of the valley.

#Kashmiri students and general public, presently out of #kashmir can contact @CRPFmadadgaar on 24x7 toll free number 14411 or SMS us at 7082814411 for speedy assistance in case they face any difficulties/harrasment. @crpfindia @HMOIndia @JKZONECRPF @jammusector @crpf_srinagar pic.twitter.com/L2Snvk6uC4  CRPF Madadgaar (@CRPFmadadgaar) February 16, 2019

The home ministrys advisory came hours after home minister Rajnath Singh assured an all party meeting of doing the needful for the protection of the Kashmiri students and people who were allegedly threatened after the terrorist attack in Pulwama.

A Home Ministry official said there have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu and Kashmir experiencing threats and intimidation. Therefore, the Home Ministry today issued an advisory to all states/UTs to take necessary measures to ensure their safety and security, the official said.

Some Kashmiri youths studying in the Uttarakhand capital, Dehradun, have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the attack

The Jammu and Kashmir Police said anyone from the state who is living outside and needs assistance can contact them. People on social media also posted several helpline numbers.

Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik held a high level meeting at the Raj Bhavan on Saturday and reviewed the law and order situation in the state in the aftermath of a the Pulwama attack.

The governor reviewed the situation of students from Jammu and Kashmir State in various Universities and Colleges across the country. He was informed that the Liaison Officers appointed at all major locations were working effectively and coordinating with University Authorities and local police ensuring the safety of our students.

The Governor asked all political parties and senior political leaders to appeal to people to maintain peace and harmony. Malik appealed to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony so that the forces trying to disrupt the peaceful environs for their petty interests are defeated.
The Uttar Pradesh police arrested a student of a Lucknow college on Saturday shortly after he was rusticated for allegedly posting messages on WhatsApp against the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers killed in Thursdays terrorist attack in Pulwama.

Ahead of the arrest, police had also registered a case against the student of Jai Narain Post Graduate College under the Information Technology Act.

Rajab Khan, who was pursuing BA first year was rusticated for his derogatory post, said principal SD Sharma.

Sharma said Rajab, son of labourer Anis Khan, had posted WhatsApp messages against the slain

CRPF troopers and added that the college reported the matter to police. Saurabh Shukla, a former student of the college, had also complained to the police.

Station house officer (SHO), Hussianganj police station, Anil Kumar said a case was registered against Rajab, 21, on the complaint of Saurabh.

Sharma said the college had zero tolerance to such incidents and added that the matter was reported to the University of Lucknow. The college has asked students to maintain peace and harmony and not to spread ill-will against anybody, he added.

Ahead of his arrest from the Krishnanagar locality, Rajab had switched off his phone.

Earlier, a student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) was booked and later suspended, and two students of private institutes in Uttarakhand were suspended for remarks they allegedly made against the CRPF jawans. All these three students are from Kashmir.

AMU INCIDENT

Senior superintendent of police, Agra, Akash Kulhary said a case was lodged against an Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) student Basim Hilal after the cyber and media cells of the district police noticed an objectionable tweet.

When we checked, we found the account closed. The case was lodged on a complaint of in-charge of media cell under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act (for objectionable post) and Indian Penal Code (for hurting religious sentiments), he said.

On Friday, AMUs public relation officer Omar S Peerzada said the student was suspended following the case against him. The comment has tarnished the image of AMU and created disharmony in its peaceful academic atmosphere, he had said.
A special court in Thalassery (north Keralas Kannur) on Saturday awarded 20-year rigorous imprisonment to Father Robin Vadkumcherry (51), a senior Catholic priest, for sexually assaulting a minor girl for more than four years.

However, the court acquitted six others - four nuns, a priest, and an employee of the orphanage - who faced charges of covering up the crime for want of evidence. The Pocso (protection of children from sexual offences act) Court has also ordered criminal proceedings against the victims parents who turned hostile later.

Though the quantum of punishment is more than 60 years, the priest can serve it concurrently but the court made it clear it should not be less than 20 years. It also imposed a fine of Rs 3 lakh on the priest. The prosecution said it will appeal against the acquittal of six others. The punishment came after a two-year trial. .

The infamous Kottiyoor rape case came to light after the 17-year-old victim gave birth to a baby boy in a hospital run by the same parish. After the delivery, the girl and new-born were shifted to an orphanage being run by the Mananthawady Archdiocese discreetly. Later, the victims father was forced to own up to the crime. Both, the victim and father, later admitted the crime to the police.

While the investigation was on, childline officials got a discreet phone call pointing to the priests involvement in the case and alerted the police. The police registered a case against the priest on February 27, 2017. A week later he was arrested while trying to flee to Canada. Though 10 people were initially booked, two doctors and the administrator of the hospital where the victim gave birth were later removed from the list of accused lafter they approached the Supreme Court saying they were not aware of the victims age. Six others were booked for helping the accused and covering up the crime.

During the trial, the victim, her parents and many witnesses turned hostile. There were also attempts to fudge the victims age so as to prove that she was a major when she gave birth to the child. At one point, the victim also told the court that she was in love with the priest and they had consensual sex. However, the prosecution relied fully on the statement of the government doctor and established that the girl was a minor and that the sexual relation, even if it had the consent of the minor, should be construed as rape. The DNA test also nailed the prime accused. The prosecution also succeeded in proving that the assault had been going on for more than four years.

The incident invited enough embarrassment to the church. Robin was the vicar of the St Sebastian church in Kottiyoor when the incident took place. Powerful in the community, he was a top contender for the post of bishop of the Mananthawady diocese of the Syro-Malabar church.

The Mananthawady diocese has welcomed the verdict and expressed much relief over the acquittal of the nuns and priest. Sister Lucy Kalapurakkal, who recently supported the agitation against deposed Jalandhar bishop Franco Mullakkal and is facing action, has lauded the verdict. It will work as a deterrent against such offenders. Rather than covering up such heinous crimes, church should expose such elements, she said.
News of Ratan Kumar Thakurs death, one of the CRPF soldiers killed in the suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama on Thursday, sent shockwaves among the family members, relatives and the locals in Bhagalpur.

A native of Kahalgaon subdivision of the district, Thakurs family, comprising his wife and son, stayed in a rented house on Bhatta Road of Isakchak locality for the childs better studies. However, in the hour of grief, all the family members have converged at the killed jawans house. Rattan was a constable in CRPFs 45 battalion.

Also read: Political parties unite on Pulwama attack, condemn Paks terror support

His father, Ram Niranjan Thakur, remained inconsolable but managed to put up a brave face, asserting that he would not hesitate to sacrifice his other son to take revenge against the Pakistan-sponsored terrorists for the dastardly act.

If required, I shall also pick up guns and don the battle fatigues to settle the score with the sponsors of terror strikes, a sobbing Thakur said.

Also read: What I couldnt do, my son did: Father of jawan killed in Pulwama attack

Life isnt going to be the same again as the loss cannot be compensated. Ratan was eldest of four siblings. He had joined the service in 2011 and was scheduled to come home during Holi to arrange and settle his sisters marriage, he said.

Ratans widow, Rajnandani, who he married in 2014, is pregnant and expecting the couples second child soon. Their first child, Krishna is three-years-old.

Also read: Will avenge each teardrop, says PM Modi, calls for restraint

He had come home in July 2018 on an extended holiday, said Milan Kumar Thakur, his younger brother.

Ratans widow had spoken to him minutes before the gruesome incident. Ratan was travelling in the convoy to Srinagar at that time. He had told her that he would call her upon reaching Srinagar.

Locals assembled at Ratans house to console the bereaved family. Agitated people also raised slogans against Pakistan for sponsoring terror in India. Local authorities including DM Pranav Kumar and SSP Ashish Bharati also visited the house and assured all possible help to the family.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Bob Gonzalez, a local school board president who runs an insurance office out of his house next to the site of Fridays shooting, said he was deeply unnerved by the incident and already rethinking safety protocols: It just makes me wonder, here, the door to my office is always unlocked, I see my clients come in, I know my clients, but it makes me wonder whether now I should have some kind lock that I can lock from the inside and keep my door locked at all times. Its very scary.
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.

Vote

View Results
A dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pulwama, will be given to the FATF, an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring countrys links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said on Saturday.

Security agencies are preparing the dossier with the evidence gathered so far related to the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and the help being provided to the outfit by the country, they said. This will be a dossier on Pakistani agencies links with the JeM and how the terror group is being aided by them, a security official said. The details of the terror attacks carried out by the JeM in the past will be mentioned in the document.

The Paris-headquartered Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will also be told through the dossier how the Pakistani agencies are providing funds to the JeM, the official said. In the next meeting of the FATF, India will also press for the blacklisting of Pakistan so that that action can be taken against the country, another official said.

The FATF plenary and working group meetings will be held in Paris next week.

Follow updates here

The FATF blacklist means the country concerned is non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. If the FATF blacklists Pakistan, it may lead to downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like IMF, World Bank, ADB, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moodys, S&P and Fitch.

Pakistan has been put on the grey list of the anti-terror finance watchdog in July 2018. The FATF currently has 35 members and two regional organisations  European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council. North Korea and Iran are in the FATF blacklist. Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said those responsible for the attack will pay a very heavy price and security forces will be given a free hand to deal with the terrorists. In a hard-hitting speech, Modi said the blood of the people is boiling and forces behind the act of terrorism will be definitely punished.
India has started putting together a dossier on Saturday that will detail Pakistans involvement in the suicide bomb attack that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama this week. The dossier will be circulated in world capitals as part of New Delhis efforts to isolate Pakistan internationally, according to senior government officials who did not want to be named.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale and secretaries of the external affairs ministry held separate meetings with several envoys, including ambassadors from the Association of Southeast Nations, the Gulf Cooperation Council and Central Asian and African nations.

India launched a diplomatic offensive against Pakistan on Friday, a day after the Pulwama attack, when Gokhale met 25 heads of missions, including the P5 or five permanent members of the UN Security Council  the United States, the United Kingdom, China, Russia and France  besides South Asian countries and key partners such as Israel, Japan and South Korea.

Also on Friday, India withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status it gave to Pakistan in 1996, which offered the neighbour a guarantee that it wouldnt be treated any differently from other trade partners of India.

Upon withdrawal (of MFN), basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect, finance minister Arun Jaitley wrote in a Twitter post on Saturday. The government is also planning to tighten medical visa requirements for security reasons, two officials aware of the developments said.

Orders to remove security detail of separatist leaders have also been issued by the government. Only a few have security cover, it will be removed in comings days, a senior officer who did not want to be named said.

Forty personnel were killed on Thursday when an explosives-laden vehicledriven by a suicide bomber rammed a bus carrying CRPF personnel, part of a large paramilitary convoy, on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the deadliest attack on security forces in three decades of insurgency. The Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack within hours. Pakistan has denied involvement.

The dossier that New Delhi is putting together will contain evidence of Pakistani involvement not only in the Pulwama attack but also in training, equipping and guiding terror groups in Jammu and Kashmir and even in mainland India, officials sad.

The Cabinet Committee on Security  the highest decision-making body on security, chaired by the prime minister and comprising the defence, home and external affairs ministers  met on Friday and decided to launch a massive diplomatic effort to isolate Pakistan.

As part of that effort, during Saturdays meetings, Gokhale and the other secretaries rejected Pakistans denial of involvement and highlighted its role in using terrorism as an instrument of its state policy, said an official familiar with the development.

Reacting to Pakistan foreign secretary Tehmina Janjuas remarks denying involvement in the attack, external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar described Islamabads call for an investigation into the strike as preposterous.

Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility for the attack. The organisation and its leadership are located in Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba and other terror groups have welcomed the news of the attack. These groups are also based in Pakistan. Pakistan cannot claim it is unaware of their presence and their activities, Kumar said.

Notably, after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks when 10 Pakistan-based terrorists took the sea route to attack Indias financial capital and killed 166 people, New Delhi had sent nearly a dozen dossiers, including the DNA samples of the terrorists, to Islamabad with a demand that Pakistan investigates and book those behind the attack. And earlier, India had given evidence of Pakistans role in supporting terror groups to the international community.

Pakistan hasnt acted against these groups despite international demands, especially groups and individuals proscribed by the UN and other countries, Kumar said.

The links to Pakistan are clear and evident for all to see. Its own ministers have shared the same podium with UN-proscribed terrorists, he added. As the suicide bomber had issued a video declaring himself a member of JeM, India has no doubt that the claim is firmly established, he said.

The curbs on medical visas is likely to end Pakistanis access to cheap and quality medical facilities in India.

An immediate option is to demand additional documents, including an endorsement by Pakistans foreign ministry, to ensure only genuine patients can enter India for medical treatment, one of the officials quoted above said.

At present, cases of organ transplants, particularly liver and kidney, require authentication by Pakistans foreign ministry. The purpose is to ensure that an organ donor is donating his or her organ voluntarily, the official said. Dr Sanjeev Bagai, chairman, Nephron Clinic, said medical visa norms for patients from Pakistan were tightened after the September 2016 attack on an Army brigade headquarters in Uri. Now, they are expected to be blocked completely.

Patients from Pakistan prefer India because of better clinical results at one-tenth the cost (in developed countries). India is nearer, there is no language barrier, currency availability is not an issue and they get better follow-up services, he said.

Indian defence experts said it was necessary to immediately suspend all kinds of visas so that ordinary citizens pressure Islamabad to stop protecting terrorists on its soil. Visas on all possible grounds  family, medical, trade, etc.  must be stopped for a reasonable period to enable Pakistans ordinary citizens to realize what their state has been up to, said Deba Mohanty, a New Delhi-based defence and strategic affairs expert. In 2015-16, about 1,921 medical visas were issued to Pakistani nationals, 58,360 to patients from Bangladesh and 29,492 to those from Afghanistan
India on Saturday raised customs duty on all imports from Pakistan to 200% after withdrawing the most favoured nation or MFN status over Pulwama attack in which at least 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

Union Minister Arun Jaitley made the announcement on Twitter. India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect, he said.

Also Read: India revokes MFN status to Pakistan in Pulwama attack fallout: What it means

India had on Friday stripped Pakistan of MFN status, which offered the country certain trade privileges.

India has also launched a coordinated move to mount global pressure on Islamabad to crack down on terrorists operating from its soil, with Arun Jaitley saying the government will take all steps to ensure the complete isolation of Pakistan.

Also Watch: All party meet adopts resolution condemning Pulwama terror attack

On Thursday, a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a CRPF truck, part of a convoy of 78 vehicles, in the Avantipora area of Pulwama district. Initial reports said 44 men were feared to have been killed. On Thursday, the CRPF confirmed 40 deaths, making it the deadliest attack in Jammu and Kashmirs three-decade-long insurgency.

Also Read: Will avenge each teardrop, says PM on terror attack, calls for restraint

Saturdays decision is expected to impact Pakistans exports to India. In 2017-18, India imported goods worth Rs 3,482.3 crore from Pakistan, according to news agency PTI.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan, official sources said.

Also Read: Pulwama attack headwind could impact China-India ties

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country invoked a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. Both the countries are member of this organisation.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.
The Gujjar community on Saturday called off their eight-day agitation after Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh handed over a draft of reservation bill to the Gujjar leaders on the railway tracks at Malarna Dungar. Train services on Delhi-Mumbai have been resumed after the agitation was withdrawn.

Gujjar leader Col (retd) Kirori Singh Bainsla announced all agitators to just withdraw stir and open all railway tracks and national highways after he and other leaders read the draft.

In a tweet, chief minister Ashok Gehlot welcomed the withdrawal of the agitation. He said, Whenever the Gujjar community had held agitations, we (Congress) resolved the issues through dialogues and talks. We have been successful without using force.

Over a week-long dharna led by Kirori Bainsla on railway tracks and highways had inconvenienced travellers. Gujjars were demanding. They were demanding 5% reservation in educational institutes and state services.

Taking a dig at BJP, Gehlot said that even today it pains us that 72 Gujjars had lost their lives in police firing under the BJP regime. He said whenever there have been agitations in BJP rule, Congress leaders have appealed the agitators to maintain peace. However, it is unfortunate that whenever agitations took place in Congress rule, the BJP leaders always provoked them. This is the difference in thinking of Congress and BJP, he added.

BJP spokesperson Mukesh Pareek said Gehlots remarks were baseless and condemnable. The remarks show his conservative and narrow-minded thinking. He should give one instance of any BJP leader provoking agitators. The BJP is always at the forefront to protect the interests and rights of the people and the peace and communal amity of the state.

The government has assured that if the bill faces any legal problems, then the state government will immediately interfere and extend support to the community. Tourism minister Vishvendra Singh and IAS officer Neeraj K Pawan had been camping in Sawai Madhopur since last eight days and were trying to resolve the stalemate.

Singh said, I had come here in Sawai Madhopur to talk with agitators within 24 hours of Gurjar stir and I promised to solve the issue. State government has fulfilled demands of Gurjars.

Bainsla said We are satisfied with the bill passed by the government to give 5% reservation... .
A government school principal in Rajasthans Pratapgarh district was suspended on Saturday for allegedly making objectionable comments against the CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack, officials said.

Police have registered a case against the principal for promoting enmity and hurting religious sentiments.

A case was registered following a complaint lodged by the school staff. People had blocked roads demanding action against the principal for his objectionable comments during the morning prayer, local Station House Officer (SHO) Daulat Singh said. Taking swift action in the matter, director, secondary education, Nathmal Didel suspended him with immediate effect.

Follow updates here

Communal harmony was disturbed due to his objectionable comments. Such behaviour is against the dignity of the post, the director, secondary education, said in the suspension order.

On Thursday, 40 CRPF jawans, including five from Rajasthan, were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a car laden with an estimated 100 kg explosives in a CRPF bus in Awantipora of Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.
The government on Friday approved amendments to Model Building Bye-laws (MBBL), 2016 and Urban Regional Development Plans Formulation and Implementation (URDPFI) Guidelines, 2014, to set up charging stations for electric vehicles across the country, an official said.

With this, the government aims to move 25% of the transportation to electric vehicles by 2030 in order to reduce air pollution.

The guidelines will act as a guiding document to the state governments and union territories to incorporate the norms and standards of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in their respective building bye-laws, a spokesperson for the ministry of housing and urban affairs said.

We have circulated the guidelines to all the states and UTs with the request to amend their building bye-laws and master plan regulations.

The government permitted private charging at residences and offices. Public charging stations will be set up every 25 km on both sides of highways and roads. For heavy electric vehicles such as trucks and buses, at least one fast-charging station will be set up every 100 km. Charging facilities will also be available at bus depots and transport hubs within three years. In the first phase, to be completed by 2021, mega cities  with a population of over 4 million as per the 2011 census  will be covered.

Other big cities such as state capitals and union territories will come under the second phase, to be completed by

2023.

On December 14, the power ministry had issued guidelines for setting up charging infrastructure across the countrys major corridors. The move came against the backdrop of the governments target of achieving full electric mobility by 2030.

Ministry of Powers guidelines have also been considered while making these amendments. Cities and towns in the country are facing the problems of environmental pollution thereby severely impacting the health of the urban residents, the official said.

India is committed to United Nations goal to take urgent action to combat climate change. Government has initiated several steps to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. One of such steps is to encourage environment-friendly electric cars, the official added.

A meeting was held on Friday between the Fifteenth Finance Commission, chaired by power minister R K Singh and chairman, finance commission, N K Singh.

The ministry of power proposed to the commission a scheme for supporting switching to electric mobility in India  for rolling out EV infrastructure across 70 cities and 20% of highways in five years by 2025  at a cost of ~5,000 crore.
A fire broke out in the Delhi High Court building on Saturday. Smoke could be seen coming out of the high court building.

News agency PTI reported that it was a minor fire that broke out at the canteen of the high court . A call about the blaze was received at 1.30 pm after which four fire tenders were rushed to the spot, the agency quoted a senior Delhi Fire Service (DFS) officer as saying.

The fire broke out in the chimney of the canteen and was brought under control by 1.50 pm, he said, adding that no injury or casualty was reported.

More details are awaited.
Situation is under control in Jammu city, where curfew had be imposed on Friday following violence in some areas in the wake reports of arson and stone pelting, the district officials said on Saturday. Jammu deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar said the curfew will continue during the day and a decision to lift restrictions will be taken in the evening after assessing the situation.

Situation is under control since last evening. Earlier, there were some peaceful protests but in the afternoon they turned violent and some vehicles were set afire. Curfew will continue. People have been requested not to come out of their homes. They have been told not to believe in rumours and cooperate with the administration to restore normalcy. Educational institutions are closed, Kumar told HT.

He also said that security to civil secretariat employees and Kashmiris in Jammu was being provided. No mischievous element will be allowed to vitiate the atmosphere. Security forces have been deployed in strength and religious places besides Kashmiri employees are being given focused attention, he said.

On Saturday morning the winter capital wore a deserted look. Jammu city has 75 municipal wards. Security forces and army have been deployed across the city and their strength was more in sensitive areas.

Watch video:

Concertina wires were laid on various roads of the city to check movement of the people. Army helicopters also hovered over the city to monitor the situation. Mobile internet remains suspended while broadband speed has also been curtailed to check rumour-mongers.

Gujjar Nagar of Jammu was the centre of violence. Several vehicles were torched by an angry mob of protesters, who claimed that they were attacked by another group. The protesters, police had said on Friday, were raising slogans in a densely populated area in the wake of a terror attack in South Kashmirs Pulwama killing at least 40 security personnel.

The Army was immediately called out to assist the civil administration to restore order in the city. Curfew was initially imposed in some vulnerable areas, but was later extended to the entire city as tension mounted in the wake of violence against a particular section of the society.

Soldiers in combat uniform with weapons were seen dotting the citys vantage points. The army had also put up a red-coloured banner at busy Bikram Chowk that read in Hindi and English, if you cross the line, you will be fired upon. The Army later removed it.

The Indian Army has deployed its 15 columns comprising 1,095 soldiers along with air support in Jammu. The Army reacted promptly and in a swift action, nine internal security columns from Tiger Division along with air support from White Knight Corps were deployed in Gujjar Nagar, Janipur, Shahidi Chowk, Talab Khatikan and other areas on Friday itself.

Now a total of 15 columns are out on the streets of Jammu city, said Defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand adding, Three columns have been kept on a stand-by. One column comprises 70 soldiers, two JCOs (junior commissioned officer) and an officer.

Flag marches were also conducted by the army columns. Helicopters and UAVs of Army were also put into operation to monitor the situation. The proactive approach jointly taken by J&K Police, civil administration and Indian Army has ensured that the situation remains under control and peaceful, said Anand.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
Jaimal Singh, 44, the driver of the CRPF vehicle that was blown up after a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden SUV into it in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama, had spoken to his wife Sukhjit Kaur barely hours before the attack on Thursday.

Jaimal, 44, who belonged to Ghalauti village in Moga district had joined the CRPF in 1993 and had visited the family on January 28 last time. On the morning of February 14, he had spoken to his wife Sukhjit on the telephone and had told her that he was going to Srinagar. That phone call had lasted barely a minute. Later that day, Sukhjit Kaur kept calling throughout the day but failed to get connect.

We dont want to blame anyone (Pakistan). Weve lost our whole world. The government and people will show their concern to the families only for four days and then nobody bothers. We have to spend our entire life and dont know how we will face challenges. We have no demands from the government as earlier too jawans were killed in attacks. what has the government done for families, she said.

Jaimals father Jaswant Singh said, Our relative who is also in the army informed us about Jaimals death on Thursday. The government must take care of the families and must take strong steps against terrorism so that more soldiers dont die.

Jaimals cousin Gurcharan Singh said the government must avenge the jawans who had been killed. Jaimal is survived by his parents, younger brother, wife and minor son.

The villagers who were gathered at Jaimals house in large number said he was a religious, soft-spoken and down-to-earth person and that they were proud of him for having made the supreme sacrifice for the country.

Moga deputy commissioner, Sandeep Hans said the state will give compensation to the family as per the state policy.

Jaimal Singh was cremated in his native village Ghalauti, in Moga district. Union cabinet minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu had attended Jaimal Singhs last rites in Moga. Shiromani Akali Dal chief and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal too had visited Jaimals home.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON
A special court that deals with offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) has forwarded to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) a petition seeking an inquiry against Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and some officials in connection with a case of alleged sexual abuse at a Muzaffarpur shelter home, the lawyer for the petitioner said.

The petition was filed by lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha on behalf of Ashwani Kumar, an accused in the case and a self-styled medical practitioner who allegedly used to inject the shelter homes inmates with sedatives before they were subjected to sexual abuse.

New agency PTI later said the complaint relates to release of funds to shelter homes.

Several attempts made by HT to reach the chief ministers office for comment were unsuccessful. Hindustan Times couldnt independently confirm the development.

The POCSO court forwarded a copy of the petition to the superintendent of police, CBI, on February 16, claimed Ojha, who said that a certified copy of the courts directive would be available on Monday or Tuesday.

This is a fabricated news. Where is the order? Those giving statements should know the law, Neeraj Kumar, spokesman for the ruling Janata Dal (United) said, referring to opposition politicians who called for Nitish Kumars resignation. It was our government which gave orders for social audit of shelter homes. We pleaded that court should monitor the case.

A lawyer in Muzaffarpur said the petition had been forwarded to the CBI as a matter of procedure.

Its a routine procedure that if any accused petitions the court to forward his application, the court forwards it. The special court has no power to pass direction to CBI for investigation nor the honourable special court has given any such order of investigation or probe against CM and others, Sharat Sinha, a Muzaffarpur lawyer, told TV channels.

The Muzaffarpur case involves the alleged sexual abuse of 34 out of 42 inmates living at a shelter home run by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in the town. A first information report was lodged against 12 people on May 31, 2018, following which the shelter home was sealed, the NGO running it had its registration cancelled and its owner Brajesh Thakur, the main suspect in the case, was arrested.

The case was handed over to the CBI in July last year and weeks later social welfare minister Manju Verma stepped down following allegations that her husband had close links with Thakur.

(An earlier version of this story, based on a news agency PTI report, said a probe had been ordered)
An economy is only as strong as its workers, and the share of our population in the workforce is shrinking. In fact, one of the main reasons U.S. economic growth is almost universally expected to slow dramatically  despite what you may have heard from Trump tax-cut cheerleaders  in the coming years is precisely this demographic issue.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday returned the ownership documents to Chhattisgarh farmers and tribal people, whose land was acquired for a Tata Steel factory in Bastar district of the state. Gandhi said Chhattisgarh became the first state to return land to the farmers and tribals after having acquired the same for a development project.

The Congress had promised in the run up to the Chhattisgarh assembly election to return the land to its original owner if voted to power. The land was acquired for a factory in 2008, which could not be established by Tata Steel. Spread over 10 villages, total 1,764.61 hectares of land belonging to 1,707 farmers had been acquired by the government.

This was the first public function held by Gandhi, who had put off all political events in the wake of Pulwama terror attack on Thursday, when terrorists targeted a convoy of security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed in the attack that was carried out

Gandhi had said it was a time for mourning for the nation and cancelled all his political rallies. At his first post-Pulwama public rally, the Congress president spoke mostly about the farmers and tribals.

Speaking at the Adivais Krishak Adhikar Sammelan at the Dhuregaon village in Bastar, Gandhi also targeted the BJP saying, The previous BJP government claimed that it did not have money to give fair MSPs (minimum support price) to farmers. We have proved that it can be done after forming the government.

Gandhi also took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over farm loan waiver. He said, Farmers pay insurance premiums but do not receive insurance when their crops are damaged. This money goes straight to the pocket of people like Anil Ambani If Narendra Modi can waive off loans of industrialists like Anil Ambani, Mehul Choksi, Nirav Modi then we can do waive off farm loans too.

If demonetisation was a fight against black money, why honest people had to stand in queues, said Gandhi attacking the Modi government over its decision to recall nearly 86 per cent of the money in circulation in November 2016. The Congress has maintained that demonetisation led to massive loss of jobs in small and medium scale sector of economy.

The Congress president also unveiled a number of development projects under the newly elected Bhupesh Baghel government of Chhattisgarh. In his bid to strike a chord with the tribal people of the state, Gandhi said the forest, land and water rights belong to tribal people and the benefit from the forest produce should reach them.
Violent protests rocked Jammu for the second consecutive day on Saturday with reports of arson and stone pelting by mobs protesting the attack on security personnel in Pulwama that killed 40.

Jammu deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar said the curfew imposed on Friday will continue and a decision to lift restrictions will be taken after assessing the situation.

Earlier, there were some peaceful protests but in the afternoon they turned violent and some vehicles were set afire. Curfew will continue. People have been requested not to come out of their homes. They have been told not to believe in rumours and cooperate with the administration to restore normalcy. Educational institutions are closed, Kumar said.

He also said that security to civil secretariat employees and Kashmiris in Jammu was being provided. No mischievous element will be allowed to vitiate the atmosphere, he said.

Security forces and army were deployed across the city. Concertina wires were laid on various roads to check the movement of the people. Army helicopters hovered over the city and mobile internet remains suspended .

Now a total of 15 columns are out on the streets of Jammu city, said defence spokesman, Lt Col Devender Anand, adding, Three columns have been kept on a stand-by. One column comprises 70 soldiers, two JCOs (junior commissioned officer) and an officer.

Stone pelting was reported from the Janipur area on Saturday morning. At around 9am, a group of mischievous elements pelted stones at government quarters in Janipur, said president of the the civil secretariat union, Ghulam Rasool Mir.
Major Chitresh Bisht (31) was scheduled to be been home in Dehradun next month for his marriage. But now, only his body will arrive in a coffin.

The officer was killed on Saturday while defusing a landmine near Nowshera sector close to the Line of Control in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmi.

Major Bisht who was with the armys Corps of Engineers is survived by his parents and an elder brother who lives abroad. His father SS Bisht, is a retired police officer.

He was our younger son. We used to speak almost every day over the phone but today we couldnt speak and this incident happened. He was about to get married next month, his inconsolable father told reporters.

Major Bisht had defused one mine but the next one exploded grievously injuring him. He was rushed to a nearby army hospital where he succumbed to injuries during treatment. Another jawan who was with him was injured.

Late Saturday late evening, Governor Baby Rani Maurya and chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat offered their condolences to the officers family and described him as a brave soldier who made the supreme sacrifice.

BJP state chief, Ajay Bhatt, along with senior police officials reached his house to offer their condolences to his family members. Congress state chief Pritam Singh also condoled Major Bishts death.
An Army officer was killed on Saturday while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which had been planted by terrorists in Laam area in Naushera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said. A soldier was also injured in the blast.

The IED was planted 1.5 km inside the Line of Control.

The officer, a Major, belonged to the armys corps of engineers.

The officers death comes amid national outrage over the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed 40 CRPF jawans on Thursday. Defence spokesperson Lt Col Devender Anand said the explosion on Saturday that killed the officer took place around 3 pm.

At about 1500 hours (3 pm) on Saturday, mines were detected during sanitisation of a track in Nowshera sector. Major Chitresh Singh Bisht, who was leading the bomb disposal team, defused one of the mines successfully. While neutralising another mine, the device got activated and the officer suffered grievous injuries and attained martyrdom, said defence spokesman Lt Col Devender Anand.

Major Chitresh Singh Bisht

Maj Bisht, aged 31 years, belonged to Dehradun, Uttarakhand and is survived by his parents. Maj Chitresh Singh Bisht was a brave and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for the supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty, said Lt Col Anand.

Sources said the officer and the soldier had spotted freshly-dug soil on the dirt track during patrol. They were checking the spot when the blast took place which caused the death of officer and injured a soldier, said a source.

The improvised explosive device appears to have been planted recently by elements from across the Line of Control, sources said. They said this was a common modus operandi adopted by Pakistan-based terrorists to target Indian security forces deployed along the border.

Also Watch: PM Modi: Sacrifice of those killed in Pulwama will not go in vain

The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility for Thursdays terror attack in south Kashmirs Pulwama.

India has blamed Pakistan for the deadly attack and has it of harbouring terror outfits. Pakistan has distanced itself from the attack but India has rejected this statement. India has called for Masood Azhar, the Jaish-e-Mohammad chief, to be branded as a designated terrorist by the United Nations.

A meeting of all political parties in New Delhi had also backed the security establishment all the way and condemned, not just the terror attack but also the support that terrorists received from across the border.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reacting to the terror attack, has said that the security forces have been given a free hand. Addressing a public gathering on Saturday, he said that the soldiers would decide on how and when to punish the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned up the heat on Pakistan on Saturday, saying he had given the armed forces a free hand to punish the masterminds of the suicide bombing that killed 45 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the deadliest terrorist attack ever in Kashmir.

How, when, where and who will punish the killers and their promoters will be decided by our forces, who are capable of dealing with the situation, Modi said at a public meeting in this Maharashtra town, two days after the attack for which the Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility.

Modi, who virtually launched the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP) election campaign from Pandharkawda, said he could understand public anguish over the attack, carried out by a 22-year-old Pulwama resident who drove a car packed with explosives into a CRPF bus, part of a 78-vehicle convoy on its way from one transit camp in Jammu to another in Srinagar.

Watch | PM Modi: Sacrifice of those killed in Pulwama will not go in vain

Wherever the terror groups and the perpetrators may hide, our security forces will flush them out and punish them, the PM said at the meeting at which two minutes of silence was observed to pay homage to the troopers who died in the attack. Be patient and trust them.

He did not mention Pakistan by name.

A nation which came into existence after Partition and encourages terror activities, and which is on the verge of bankruptcy, has now become the second name for terror, Modi said.

Read: CRPF soldiers elder daughter lights pyre as thousands mourn. She is 10

In other developments on Saturday and overnight, Indian high commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrived in New Delhi for consultations with senior officials and the political leadership over the fallout of the Pulwama terror attack. US national security adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart, Ajit Doval, on the phone that the US supported Indias right to self defence.

Bisarias arrival dovetailed with speculation that India may downgrade diplomatic ties with Pakistan.

Bolton, in a telephone call to Doval, promised to work with India to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe haven for JeM [Jaish-e-Mohammad] and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region, according to a readout released by the foreign ministry on Saturday.

Also Read: Pulwama attack headwind could impact China-India ties

Doval and Bolton resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions and remove all obstacles to designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the ministry said.

It said that Bolton supported Indias right to self defence against cross-border terrorism and offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice.

I told Ajit Doval today that we support Indias right to self defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed the US condolences over the terrorist attack, Bolton told PTI in Washington.

Tension in the usually fractious relationship between India and Pakistan has escalated dramatically since Thursdays terrorist attack, the worst in the three-decades-long Kashmir insurgency that New Delhi accuses Islamabad of fomenting. In September 2016, the Indian Army carried out retaliatory surgical strikes on terrorist training camps across the Line of Control dividing Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, days after an attack on the brigade headquarters in Uri left 19 soldiers dead.

On Friday, India withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status it bestowed on Pakistan in 1996, entitling the neighbour to certain export incentives, and launched an all-out diplomatic offensive to isolate Islamabad, which has denied involvement in the Pulwama attack.

The offensive continued on Saturday, with the foreign ministry briefing heads of mission of Middle Eastern countries about Islamabads role in sponsoring JeM. Ambassadors of the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Bahrain, Jordan, Oman, Morocco, Egypt and Kuwait attended the briefing.

One day prior, the ministry apprised around 25 heads of mission, including representatives from South Korea, Sweden, Slovakia, France, Spain, Bhutan, Germany, Hungary, Italy, European Union, Canada, Britain, Russia, Israel, Australia, and Japan.

Domestic political parties closed ranks on Saturday at a meeting called by Union home minister Rajnath Singh to discuss the Pulwama attack. We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border, a resolution adopted at an all-party meeting said.

The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India, the resolution said.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Opposition had informed the home minister that it would stand alongside the government in the fight against terror. Opposition parties also requested Rajnath Singh to ask the Prime Minister to meet the presidents of all national and regional parties.

Singh said the government had zero tolerance towards terrorism.

Rajnath Singh, in the all party meeting, said that due to the terror attack on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulawama, the entire country was deeply hurt and there is outrage, parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters.

Rajnath Singh assured that the morale of the security forces is high and we are committed to curbing terror in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the government has given a free hand to the security forces to deal with the terror groups and those who are giving shelter to them, Tomar said.
Tears. Anger. And Anti-Pakistan slogans. These are the three things that are uniting various villages across the country as the bodies of the killed CRPF jawans arrive home one by one.

At the homes of the 40 jawans who died in the Pulwama suicide attack on Thursday, people lined up to pay their last respects.

At Tirva Kannauj, thousands of people paid rich tributes to jawan Pradeep Kumar, whose body reached his home town around 9am today.

At Unnao, in Uttar Pradesh, Ajit Kumar Azads body was received by his family around 7am on Saturday morning. Azad, 35 is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Also read: Will avenge each teardrop, says PM on terror attack, calls for restraint

In Varanasis Tohfapur village, Ramesh Yadavs body reached home around 8.30am. Locals holding the Tricolour high in their hands, shouted slogans of Ramesh Yadav amar rahe (May Ramesh Yadav live for ever).

A small controversy erupted at Yadavs cremation when his kin demanded a petrol pump and pucca road for the village.

Yadavs family members also said that the administration had agreed to bring home Rakeshs elder brother from Maharashtra but hadnt done anything. They said they would not perform the last rites unless their demands were met.

It was only after minister Anil Rajbhar agreed to the family demands that they agreed to perform the last rites.

Family members of Kaushal Kumar Rawat break down as soldiers body comes home. (Raju Tomar/ HT Photo)

Sugarcane minister Suresh Rana pays homage to martyr Pradeep Kumar at his village Banat in Shamli district. (HT Photo)

Thousands gather around to pay their last tribute. (HT photo)

In Agras Kehrai village, the anger was visible as 48-year-old Kaushal Kumar Rawats body reached home and the villagers gathered together and raised anti-Pakistan slogans. Rawats cremation will be held at a location near his paternal house. Member of Parliament Chaudhary Babulal and MLA Hemlata Diwakar too are at the spot.

Amid tears, Rawats father, 80-year-old Gita Ram Rawat called for revenge and a befitting reply to Pakistan.

In Punjabs Moga, the body of Jaimal Singh, who was driving the CRPF bus when it was blown up in the suicide bombing, has reached home. His cremation is took place in the afternoon with Union minister Harsimrat Badal, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu in attendance.

In Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav paid tributes to constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and head constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack.

Also read | Desperately wanted him to quit: Pulwama terror attack suspects mother
Customs duty on imports from Pakistan raised to 200%

Upon Indias withdrawal of MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status to Pakistan, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200% with immediate effect, reports ANI.

Assam CM carries mortal remains of CRPF jawan

Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma carry the mortal remains of CRPF jawan Maneswar Basumatary, in Guwahati. ( HT Photo )

J&K Governor asks police to take strict action against miscreants

J&K Governor directs police to take strict action without mercy against those indulging in any type of violence, arson or rumour mongering irrespective of political and religious affiliation.

J&K Governor convene high-level meeting

Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik convene high-level meeting at Raj Bhavan to review the law and order situation in the state.

Mortal remains of CRPF constable Guru H brought for last rites in Mandya, Karnataka

Karnataka: Visuals from Gudigere, Mandya as mortal remains of CRPF Constable Guru H are being brought for last rites. Family members pay their tribute to him. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/mmonbja2mI  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Security personnel hold candle march in Bhopal

Security personnel and civilians hold a candle march in Bhopal to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in Pulwama.

Madhya Pradesh: Security personnel and civilians hold a candle march in Bhopal to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/MTyXfOYeHo  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Deceased CRPF jawans family in Howrah pay tribute

Family members of CRPF head constable Bablu Santra, martyred in Pulwama, pay tribute in Howrah.

West Bengal: Family members of CRPF Head constable Bablu Santra pay tribute in Howrah. pic.twitter.com/HdIX4QUVvx  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

CRPF officers, family members hold candle march in Bhopal

CRPF officers and their family members hold a candle march in Bhopal to pay tribute to the jawans who lost their lives in Pulwama.

Madhya Pradesh: #CRPF officers and their family members hold a candle march in Bhopal to pay tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/0y6lXuge0x  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Mortal remains of CRPF constable Nitin Shivaji Rathod brought for last rites in Maharashtra

Maharashtra: Visuals from Chorpangra, Baldana as mortal remains of CRPF Constable Nitin Shivaji Rathod are being brought for last rites. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/2ZwkNznfqi  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Union minister JP Nadda at last rites ceremony of CRPF constable

Union minister JP Nadda and Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur present at the last rites ceremony of CRPF constable Tilak Raj at Dhewa in Kangra district.

Himachal Pradesh: Last rites ceremony of #CRPF Constable Tilak Raj at Dhewa in Kangra district. Union Minister JP Nadda and Chief Minister Jairam Thakur present. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/QKEgza3tNy  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Union minister Jitendra Singh present at funeral of CRPF jawan at Rajouri

Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh present at the funeral of CRPFs Naseer Ahmed at Rajouri. Ahmed lost his life in the Pulwama attack.

Jammu & Kashmir: Tributes being paid to #CRPF's Naseer Ahmed at Rajouri; Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh also present. pic.twitter.com/ujZRzgL9QH  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

An artists tribute to the martyrs

L Eswar Rao, a Bhubaneswar-based artist, has crafted a miniature of Amar Jawan in a bottle using clay and cardboard, to pay tribute to the 40 CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in Pulwama, reports ANI.

Odisha: L Eswar Rao, a Bhubaneswar-based artist, has crafted a miniature of "Amar Jawan" in a bottle using clay and cardboard, to pay tribute to the 40 CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in #PulwamaTerroristAttack. pic.twitter.com/WDhxbIb8Ar  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Requested Rajnath to ensure safety of Kashmiris in other states: Omar Abdullah

I took the opportunity to inform @rajnathsingh Sb of the reports I had received of Kashmiri students & others being threatened/harassed and requested him to appoint a modal officer in @HMOIndia to ensure the directive issued to states is followed in letter & spirit.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

Requested Rajnath to take all steps necessary to ensure Jammu remains calm: Omar Abdullah

Just met union Home Minister @rajnathsingh Sb to personally pay my condolences for the tragic deaths in Pulwama on Thursday. I requested him to take all steps necessary to ensure Jammu remains calm.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

Omar Abdullah at Rajnath Singhs residence

National Conference (NC) leader and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah arrives at Home minister Rajnath Singhs residence.

National Conference (NC) leader and former J&K CM Omar Abdullah arrives at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence. pic.twitter.com/8bLIJTGZHM  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF head constable underway in Bhubaneswar

Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF head constable PK Sahoo underway in Bhubaneswar.

Odisha: Wreath-laying ceremony of CRPF head constable PK Sahoo underway in Bhubaneswar. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/GDnEVfJPya  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Mamata Banerjee participates in candlelight vigil

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee participates in a candlelight vigil in protest against the attack on CRPF jawans, in Kolkata. ( Arijit Sen/HT Photo )

MoS finance Shiv Pratap Shukla at funeral of Pulwama martyr in Maharajganj

MoS finance Shiv Pratap Shukla reaches Magarajganj to pay homage to Pulwama martyr Pankaj Tripathi, in Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh. ( Abdul Jadeed/HT Photo )

MHA asks states to ensure security of Kashmiris

MHA issues advisory to all states/UTs to take necessary measures to ensure safety and security of residents of Jammu and Kashmir after reports of them getting threats in the wake of Pulwama attack.

High level meeting at Rajnath Singhs residence

RAW chief AK Dhasmana, IB additional director Arvind Kumar, Union Home secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA Ajit Doval arrive at Home minister Rajnath Singhs residence for a high-level meeting.

Odisha enhances compensation for martyrs families

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik announces enhancement of ex-gratia for the next of kin of CRPFs Prasanna K Sahoo and Manoj Kumar Behera who lost their lives in the Pulwama attack, reports ANI. They will be given ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh each instead of Rs 10 lakh.

Odisha govt to bear educational expenses of martyrs kids

Odisha govt to bear educational expenses of the kids of two CRPF jawans from the state who were killed in Pulwama. The schools where the jawans studied will be named after them and their gram panchayats will be declared model gram panchayats.

Congress leader demands sedition case against Sidhu

Punjab Congress general secretary Pawan Dewan demands dismissal of cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and registration of sedition case against him.

Last ritest of Pulwama martyr Sukhjinder Singh in Punjabs Tarn Taran

Haryana villagers ask Kashmiris to vacate

Villagers of Mullana in Haryanas Ambala district ask Kashmiri students to vacate flats.

Rajasthan University to donate fest money to martyrs families

University of Rajasthan students union cancels annual cultural programme, Ghoomar, and announces to donate Rs 10 lakh collected for it, to the next of kin of Pulwama martyrs.

Our condolences with the families of Pulwama martyrs: Rahul Gandhi

Jawans who sacrificed their lives in Jammu and Kashmir, who were martyred, we remember them. Our condolences are with their families: Congress president Rahul Gandhi at public meeting in Dhuragaon, Chhattisgarh.

Huge crowds gather to receive mortal remains of CRPF head constable in Bihar

Huge crowds gather to receive the mortal remains of CRPF head constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha in Masaurhi, in Patna district.

#Bihar: Huge crowds gather to receive mortal remains of #CRPF Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha in Masaurhi, in Patna district pic.twitter.com/29HLozUXAz  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman lays wreath on mortal remains of CRPF constable C Sivachandran

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the mortal remains of CRPF constable C Sivachandran in Tamil Nadu, Trichy.

Mortal remains of CRPF constable Pankaj Kumar Tripathi brought home

Mortal remains of CRPF Constable Pankaj Kumar Tripathi are being brought to his home in Maharajganjs Harpur Tola.

Should now take action: Sanjay Raut

Resolutions were passed after Pathankot and Uri attack also. We have told them (central government) that they should now take action, said Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena according to news agency ANI.

Rajasthan govt revises ex-gratia to families of CRPF jawans killed in Pulwama

The Rajasthan government Saturday revised the ex-gratia to the family members of CRPF jawans from the state who were among the 40 killed in the Pulwama terror attack to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh.

The government has also announced jobs to family members of the slain jawans. Five CRPF personnel soldiers from Rajasthan were killed in Thursdays attack, one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir, when a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with over 100 kg explosives into a CRPF bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

TN CM announces government jobs for kin of martyr CRPF troopers

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Saturday announced that government jobs will be given to one family member each of the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers - G. Subramanian and C.Sivachandran - who died in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Thursday.

In a statement, Palaniswami said he has ordered a government job to one family member each of the martyr CRPF troopers.

In solidarity with forces in defending Indias unity, says all party resolution

Political parties Saturday put up a united face and expressed Indias determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack, underlining their solidarity with security forces for defending the countrys unity and integrity.

A meeting of all political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and support being given to it from across the border.

The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country.

Agra markets observe shutdown in protest against Pulwama terror attack

Several shops and business establishments in Uttar Pradeshs Agra city downed their shutters on Saturday morning to protest the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district that left 49 troopers dead.

Groups of people went around markets and localities, shouting slogans against Pakistani leaders and torching their effigies and the Pakistani flag.

Meanwhile, the last journey of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Kaushal Kumar Rawat, a resident of Kahrai village, was attened by thousands of people who were joined by Cabinet Minister SP Singh Baghel and several leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and senior district officials. His body arrived here in the wee hours.

Reliance Foundation offers to rehabilitate kin of martyr jawans

The Reliance Foundation on Saturday said it was ready to assume full responsibility for the livelihood of families of Pulwama victims besides education and employment of their children.

The foundation also said it was prepared to provide the best possible treatment to the injured troopers of the attacks.

We shall also deem it to be our duty to shoulder any responsibility the government may place upon us in service to our beloved Armed Forces, it said in a statement.

Police baton charge to disperse protesters at Mumbais Nallasopara railway station

Police baton charge to disperse protesters at Mumbais Nallasopara railway station, protesting against Pulwama terror attack. Some protesters were demonstrating at railway tracks of the station earlier today affecting services. Services have now resumed at Virar, Nallasopara and Bhayandar.

#WATCH Mumbai: Police baton charge to disperse protesters at Nallasopara railway station, protesting against #PulwamaAttack. Some protesters were demonstrating at railway tracks of the station earlier today affecting services. Services now resumed at Virar, Nallasopara&Bhayandar pic.twitter.com/lKJ4kuKoX7  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Investigation underway: DG CRPF RR Bhatnagar

I have come to the see the spot, as you have seen the teams are already working here, forensic and NIA teams. The investigation is going on; Once the investigation is concluded then only more details can be given, said DG CRPF RR Bhatnagar.

Karnataka CM HD Kumaraswamy pays tribute to CRPF personnel H Guru

Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy pays tribute to CRPF personnel H Guru who lost his life in Pulwama terror attack.

Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy pays tribute to CRPF personnel H Guru who lost his life in Pulwama terror attack. ( ANI Photo )

Rajnath says have zero tolerance for terror, security forces have free hand: Tomar

Home minister Rajnath Singh said that we will rid Jammu and Kashmir of terrorism. He said security forces have a free hand. We have had a zero tolerance for terror and this attack is in response to this.

People of the state who want peace are with us, only some elements are helping the terrorists from across the border and they are the enemies of the youth of Kashmir and dont want peace, said Parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar while addressing the media after the all-party meet convened by Rajnath Singh.

We strongly condemned the dastardly attack that claimed lives of our CRPF soldiers. We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border.

India has faced the menace of cross border terrorism. India has displayed firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges, he further added.

Largest number of personnel died since 1947: Azad

As per our knowledge barring wars, this is the first time that such a large number of personnel have died since 1947

All parties and countrymen, from all religions and regions are mourning.

At a time like this, our party has decided that we are with the security forces and the local police in J&K

We have also decided that there are many disagreements with the government, but for the sake of our country, security of all, we will stand with the government to end terror

The government has our support, Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad further added.

Stand with govt to end terror: Congs Azad after all party meet

We told the home minister that he should tell the PM on our behalf that he himself should meet all national and regional party presidents.

PM should call a meeting of these heads and discuss the issues with them. All parties supported this suggestion.

We have made it clear that whatever Rahul Gandhi said in the Press con yesterday we repeated it at the meeting.

The whole country is in mourning and is sad, is angry, said Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad while addressing media after the all-party meeting.

Farooq Abdullah leaves all-party meet, heads to Jammu

National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah has left the all-party meet. He is headed to Jammu.

Congress Jyotiraditya Scindia also left the meeting a while ago, however, he didnt mention why he was leaving.

Situation under control: Jammu deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar

Jammu deputy commissioner Ramesh Kumar Saturday said, situation is under control since last evening. Earlier there were some peaceful protests but in the afternoon the protestors turned violent and set afire a few vehicles.

Curfew will continue, people are requested not to come out of their homes. Educational institutions are closed. Dont believe in rumours and cooperate with the administration to restore normalcy, he added.

In Gujjar Nagar there was a clash but curfew was imposed immediately. Security to civil secretariat employees and Kashmiris in Jammu being provided security. Curfew will continue but will review it regularly depending upon the situation, no mischievous elements will be allowed to vitiate the atmoshpere, religious places, Kashmiri employees given focused attention

Abhay Singh Chautala cancels visit to Lahore, Pakistan

Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader Abhay Singh Chautala has canceled his scheduled visit to Lahore, Pakistan, in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, reported news agency ANI.

This comes a day after a Delhi court allowed him to undertake a personal visit to Lahore.

Chautalas lawyer Amit Sahni said his client has now cancelled his Pakistan visit due to the recent terrorist attack in Kashmir.

An application was filed on February 14 by Chautala, an accused in a disproportionate assets case, seeking permission to visit Pakistan.

All-party meeting underway

An all-party meeting on the Pulwama terror attack has started here Saturday and the Union government is expected to brief top leaders of different parties on steps being taken by it to meet the challenge.

The meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation, is being attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek OBrien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

The parties will be briefed about the attack in Pulwama and the steps being taken by the government so far, a home ministry official said

Commuters stage rail roko in Mumbais Nalla Sopara,Virar

Rail traffic between Virar, Vasai and Nalla Sopara were affected on Saturday morning, as commuters staged a rail roko to protest the Pulwama terror attack in which 45 jawans of the CRPF were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday afternoon. Stone pelting at trains was also reported at Nalla Sopara.

Besides the rail roko, shops and commercial establishments in Virar also downed their shutters on Saturday morning, and even a few Vasai civic buses were forced to halt at Virar, as part of the protests.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, Farooq Abdullah among leaders at all-party meet

Home minister Rajnath Singh, Congress Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, National Conferences Farooq Abdullah, LJPs Ram Vilas Paswan, TMCs Sudip Bandopadhya, Derek Obrion, CPIs D Raja, NCPs Sharad Pawar, Shiv Senas Sanjay Rout, RJDs Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, TRS Jitendra Reddy, RSLPs Upendra Kushwaha, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar are among the leaders attending the all-party meet over Pulwama terror attack.

All-party meet over Pulwama terror attack begins

All-party meet over Pulwama terror attack began on Saturday. Home minister Rajnath Singh is expected to brief the Opposition. Political leaders including

US asks Pakistan to freeze without delay the funds to terror groups

The US Friday asked Pakistan to freeze without delay the funds and other financial assets of the UNSC-designated terrorist networks and their leaders.

It also said it fully supports actions to prevent the outlawed Jaish-e-Mohammed from conducting future attacks.

Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.

Curfew to continue in Jammu

Curfew imposed here in Jammu and Kashmir was not relaxed on Saturday two days after 49 CRPF troopers were blown up in a suicide attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama by a Jaish-e-Mohammad man, although authorities claimed the situation was under control.

Curfew will continue till further orders. We will take a call later in the day after assessing the overall law and order situation, said an official here.

The Mobile Internet suspension started on Friday and continued on Saturday, as well.

Virat Kohli postpones Indian Sports Honours

Star cricketer Virat Kohli has postponed the RP-SG Indian Sports Honours, which was to take place on Saturday, as a mark of respect to the CRPF personnel martyred in the Pulwama terrorist attack.

The RP-SG Indian Sports Honours has been postponed. At this heavy moment of loss that we all find ourselves in, we would like to cancel this event that was scheduled to take place tomorrow, Kohli wrote on his twitter handle Friday night.

Union minister Anupriya Patel visits house of constable Mahesh Kumar

Union minister Anupriya Patel Saturday visited the house of constable Mahesh Kumar in Tudihar Badal-Ka-Purwa village of Meja tehsil of Uttar Pradeshs Prayagraj. He is one of the CRPF personnel killed in the terror attack in Pulwama. Mortal remains about to reach the village.

Indian High Commissioner Ajay Bisaria arrives in Delhi

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrived here on Saturday for consultations with senior officials and leadership over the Pulwama terror attack, reported news agency ANI quoting sources.

Rajiv Gauba reaches Rajnath Singhs residence

Ahead of all-party meet over Pulwama terror attack, Union home secretary Rajiv Gauba arrived at the residence of home minister Rajnath Singh.

Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat pays tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal

Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat pays tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal who lost his life in Thursdays terror attack in Pulwama.

His daughter also paid last tribute to her father.

CRPF ASI Mohan Lals daughter pays last tribute to her father. ( ANI Photo )

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat pays tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal ( ANI Photo )

Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav pay tribute to martyr soldiers

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav paid tribute to constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and head constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha of CRPF who lost their lives in Thursdays terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama.

Martyr CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadavs kin ask for petrol pump, pucca road

Martyr CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadavs kin Friday asked for a petrol pump and pucca road in the village to which state minister Anil Rajbhar agreed and assured in written.

His family refused to perform last rites of the martyr jawan as his elder brother Rakesh, who lives in Maharashtra, couldnt reach as he couldnt avail the flight ticket that the administration had promised on Friday.

To this, state minister Anil Rajbhar assured the jawans family that a ticket would be provide immediately and the family agreed to perform last rites thereafter.

Sugarcane minister Suresh Rana pays homage to martyer Pradeep Kumar

Sugarcane minister Suresh Rana paid homage to martyer Pradeep Kumar at his village Banat in Uttar Pradeshs Shamli district.

Pulwama terror attack: Sugarcane minister Suresh Rana pays homage to martyer Pradeep at his village Banat in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. ( HT Photo )

Thousands gather to pay tribute to martyr CRPF jawans

Pulwama terror attack: Thousands gather to pay tribute to martyr CRPF Pradeep Kumar in Tirva Kannauj. ( HT Photo )

Pulwama terror attack: Thousands gather to pay tribute to martyr CRPF Pradeep Kumar in Tirva Kannauj. ( HT Photo )

Pulwama terror attack: Thousands join cremation of martyr CRPF Kaushal Kumar Rawat in Uttar Pradeshs Kehrai. ( HT Photo )

Father of martyr Kaushal Kumar Rawat calls for revenge

Gita Ram Rawat , father of martyr CRPF Nayak Kaushal Kumar Rawat has called for revenge and a befitting reply to Pakistan . Rawats 80-year-old father is farmer in village Kehrai of Agra.

Last rites of martyrs Pradeep Kumar and Amit Kumar begin

Last rites of martyrs Pradeep Kumar and Amit Kumar began in village Banat and Shamli of Uttar Pradesh.

Mortal remains of CRPF Kaushal Kumar Rawat reach Agra

Mortal remains of CRPF Kaushal Kumar Rawat reached village Kehrai in Uttar Pradeshs Agra district . Villagers from nearby area gathered and raising anti Pakistan slogans.

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Ajit Kumar Azad reach Unnao

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Ajit Kumar Azad reached his village in Uttar Pradeshs Unnao.

Pulwama terror attack: Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Ajit Kumar Azad reached his village in Uttar Pradeshs Unnao. ( HT Photo )

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Jaimal Singh reach Punjab

The body of the martyr central reserve police force, Jaimal Singh reached at block office in Kot Isse Khan in Punjabs Moga. Jaimal was the driver of the blow up vehicle. The cremation will take place in the afternoon.

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadav reach Varanasi

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Ramesh Yadav have been brought to his native village Tofapur in Varanasi, reported news agency ANI.

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan constable Kulwinder Singh reach Punjab

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan constable Kulwinder Singh reached Punjabs Nurpur Bedi police station. Cremation will take place around 10 am on Saturday.

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Rohitash Lamba brought to Jaipur

Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Rohitash Lamba have been brought to his native place in Govindpura, Jaipur reported news agency ANI.

Pulwama terror attack: Mortal remains of CRPF jawan Rohitash Lamba have been brought to his native place in Govindpura, Jaipur. ( ANI Photo )

We support Indias right to self-defense: US NSA John Bolton

US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports Indias right to self-defense.

Bolton telephoned Doval Friday morning to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US full support to India in confronting terrorism.

I told Ajit Doval today that we support Indias right to self-defense. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed the US condolences over the terrorist attack, he told PTI.

India unites in mourning

Prime Minister Narendra Modi put Pakistan on notice on Friday to brace for a strong response to the terrorist strike that left at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers dead in Kashmir  an attack that escalated tensions between the two neighbours and united India in grief and anger.

Showing unity of purpose, Congress president Rahul Gandhi offered his partys support to Modis National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government and security forces in the measures they take in the aftermath of Thursdays attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway by a suicide car bomber who belonged to the Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror group.

All-party meet at 11 am

The Central Reserve Police Force lost at least 38 jawans, who were part of more than 2,500 troops travelling from Jammu to Srinagar when the convoy of 78 vehicles was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber.

Rajnath Singh, who visited Srinagar after attending the CCS meet at Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence in New Delhi, is expected to brief the all-party leaders about the Pulwama terror attack and the emergent security situation in the Kashmir Valley.
The all-party meeting called by the Narendra Modi government over Pulwama terror attack is underway in New Delhi. The government briefed the political parties on the terror attack that killed at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans in South Kashmir on Thursday, when a convoy of security forces was targeted by terrorists.

The all-party meeting began shortly after 11 am started at Parliament Library. Those who came to the all-party meet include Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, LJP chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Trinamool Congress leaders Sudip Bandopadhya and Derek Obrion, CPI leader D Raja, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Rout, RJD leader Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, TRS leader Jitendra Reddy, RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha and AIADMK leader N Krishnan.

The decision to hold an all-party meet was announced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after he emerged from a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday morning. Jaitley announced that the all-party meet would be called soon after Rajnath Singhs return from Kashmir.

Rajnath Singh, who visited Srinagar after attending the CCS meet at Prime Minister Narendra Modis residence in New Delhi, is expected to brief the all-party leaders about the Pulwama terror attack and the emergent security situation in the Kashmir Valley.

During his visit to Srinagar, Singh held a high-level meeting with the top officials of the Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police to assess the security situation in the Valley. The government has vowed to give befitting reply to those behind this terror attack.

Read| Top Indian security officials suspect Masood Azhars nephew to be the mastermind

The Central Reserve Police Force lost at least 38 jawans, who were part of more than 2,500 troops travelling from Jammu to Srinagar when the convoy of 78 vehicles was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber. An explosive-laden SUV rammed one of the buses carrying the CRPF jawans reducing it to a heap of mangled iron.

PM Modi, speaking at a public event in New Delhi, said the terrorists and their supporters responsible for Pulwama attack will be definitely punished. The government on Friday moved swiftly to isolate Pakistan with its outreach to more than 15 influential nations including the P5- the US, the UK, France, Russia and China.

Also read| Covert ops, air attack among Indias options to avenge Pulwama terror attack

The main opposition party, the Congress has extended its full support to the government and security forces. Party president Rahul Gandhi said, the Congress is with the security forces and the government. We are not going to be divided, Gandhi said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Also read| India starts efforts to isolate Pak, foreign secy meets 25 envoys

Other parties also extended their support to the security forces and the government. BJP ally Shiv Sena, which welcomed an all-party meet, called for a special joint session of Parliament to discuss the Pulwama terror attack.

The government had called an all-party meet in 2016, when the special forces of Indian Army carried out surgical strike in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to demolish terror launch pads in the aftermath of the Uri attack. The government had briefed the all-party leaders about the surgical strike.

Also read| World leaders condemn Pulwama attack
Seat-sharing talks between the ruling AIADMK and the BJP as well as that involving the opposition DMK and the Congress for the Lok Sabha elections have hit a road block with the Dravidian majors unrelenting over the number of seats which the national parties are demanding.

Both the Congress and the BJP have been pressing for double digit seats, a demand the AIADMK and the DMK see as too high to accommodate, people familiar with the developments said.

Following the standoff with the DMK during the negotiations, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president KS Alagiri left for New Delhi on Saturday after being summoned by the party high command. This followed DMK Rajya Sabha MP, Kanimozhi Karunanidhi engaging Congress leaders in the national capital. Interestingly, she had cancelled her programmes in Thoothukudi at the instance of Stalin.

According to Congress functionaries, the party had demanded double digit seats, considering the fact that the party had contested 15 seats together with the DMK. But, the DMK cited the 2014 results when the grand old party secured only 4.3% votes and did not accede to the Congress demand. Both the DMK and the Congress failed to win any of the 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu in 2014.

Now, it is up to the leadership of both the parties to thrash it out.

It is not smooth sailing for the AIADMK and the BJP either with the saffron party pushing for a larger number of seats. The Thursday night between Union railway minister Piyush Goyal, BJPs in-charge of Tamil Nadu BJP with chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and deputy CM, O Panneerselvam and seat sharing panel of the AIADMK failed to yield any result.

Many of the seats in the BJPs wish list are also strongholds of the AIADMK, which are also cornered by AIADMK Ministers and regional satraps either for their wards or family members.

Both the parties will have another meeting on February 19 to finalise seat sharing. The BJP won one Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu in 2014.

Without mass base in Tamil Nadu, both the BJP and Congress have to ride piggy back on the Dravidian parties. Their claim to higher number of seats stems from the fact that either of them would form the government at the Centre, where they could accommodate them. But, the Dravidian parties are wary of yielding more political space to the national parties. Further, conceding more seats means that they have to carry the national parties on their shoulders, said C Lakshmanan, Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies.

While the national parties are struggling to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu, regional players, the OBC Vanniyar-dominant PMK of Ramadoss and DMDK of actor Vijayakanth are engaged in a hard bargain with both the AIADMK and DMK. The two parties had no qualms in admitting that they are holding talks with the AIADMK and the DMK.

The PMK and DMDK have not identified their preference but agree that they have been talking to both the Dravidian majors with an eye on securing more seats.

In the past assembly and LS elections, the PMK and DMDK have managed to get 4% to 5 % vote share.

Though it was expected that the PMK and DMDK would team up with the AIADMK-BJP combine, the two regional players are dragging their feet.

We have been talking to the DMK as well as the AIADMK. Soon, we will make an announcement about our alliance, Anbumani Ramadoss, PMK youth wing president and Dharmapuri MP told the media recently.

For her part, DMDK treasurer Premalatha Vijayakanth, on Saturday said the big parties in the state are engaged in talks with them.

The major parties in the state are talking to us. Our leader Vijayakanth has returned from the US now. He will decide the alliance soon, said Premalatha.

It is clear that the PMK and the DMDK would choose the party which offers the best deal.

According to a senior office bearer of PMK, their party wants at least seven seats with the promise of a Rajya Sabha seat later.

Our party is very strong in the northern districts. We are the deciding factor in Dharmapuri, Salem, Krishnagiri, Vellore, Tiruvallur, Kanchipuram, Arakkonam, Sriperumbudur, Villupuram, Kallakkurichi, Chidambaram, Cuddalore, Arani and Tiruvannamalai LS seats. So, our party expects at least half of the constituencies where we are having a strong base, said the PMK functionary.

DMDK sources said their party wants to bargain a minimum of six seats.

For us, Villupuram, Kallakurichi, Perambalur, Salem, Kanchipuram, Tiruvannamalai, Arani and Madurai LS constituencies are our forte. So, we are bargaining to get these seats, said a close associate of Vijayakanth.

Though DMK has confirmed the alliance with Congress, it has not firmed up any pact with other allies such as Vaikos MDMK, CPI, CPI(M) and VCK, a Dalit party.

DMKs seat sharing panel head and party treasurer Duraimurugan has been maintaining that new parties would come into DMK-Congress combine and a few of their current allies would go out.

MDMK, VCK, CPI and CPI (M) are not our alliance partners, they are just friends. As of now, Congress and the IUML are our electoral allies. After election dates are announced, new friends may come on board and a few existing ones could go away, Duraimurugan has said earlier.

According to analysts, Duraimurugans statement reveals that PMK would come anytime into the alliance.

We cannot say anything now. Duraimurugan, himself a Vanniyar, would be interested in getting the PMK on board. Also, he is hoping to field his son from Vellore, where the PMK could tilt the scales. So, he wants to bring the OBC Vanniyar party into the alliance. Since PMK and VCK are rivals, PMKs entry would disturb VCK, said Aazhi Senthilnathan, a publisher and analyst.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) details of projects undertaken by its MPs in the last five years, in what appears to be a review of sorts before tickets are allotted for the summer general elections.

A senior BJP leader familiar with developments said party MPs had undertaken several development projects over five years and published various booklets and pamphlets to publicize their work.

The Prime Ministers Office (PMO) has sought five copies of such documents from each MP, the leader said, not wishing to be named.

We have written to the MPs asking them to share these by February 20, so that they can be forwarded to the PMO.

The PMO periodically reviews the performance of BJP MPs, and feedback received from sources within and outside the party matters in deciding who gets tickets and who doesnt, a second BJP leader said, requesting not to be identified.

In every interaction with MPs over the last five years, Prime Minister Modi has repeatedly insisted that they be active in their constituencies and take government programmes to the people, the second leader said.

Modi meets BJP MPs in groups during practically every session of Parliament to discuss and get feedback on important issues. At the recent BJP national council meeting in Delhi, he asked party leaders not to simply depend on the Modi factor to win the Lok Sabha elections but individually connect with the masses.

BJP national president Amit Shahs strategy for winning the 2019 elections banks on the premise that those who have benefited from government schemes will vote for Modi.

The idea behind the exercise undertaken by the PMO is also to find out how active the parliamentarians were in the last five years and whether they were in constant touch with their constituents, the first leader said.

Experts see a pattern in such an exercise. As chief minister of Gujarat, Modi used to depend on feedback from different sources to decide whether a sitting legislator stood a chance to be re-elected, said Sanjeev Tiwari, associate professor of political science at Delhi University.

As a result, a large number of legislators who were unpopular were denied tickets to cut the personal anti-incumbency they faced. It was a successful experiment, Tiwari said.

The BJP seems to be taking a similar course for the national elections.
A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of Christian James Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland deal.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar of Patiala House Court dismissed his bail plea in two cases against him filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Last week, the court had sought the response of the CBI and the ED on Michels bail plea. Michel was arrested in the UAE and extradited to India on December 4. He is currently in judicial custody.

The ED, which is probing this case along with the CBI, had filed a charge sheet against Michel in 2016 and had alleged that he received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland which was nothing but kickbacks to execute the 12-helicopter deal in favour of the firm in guise of of genuine transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country.

Under the now-scrapped deal with AugustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian defence group Leonardo, formerly Finmeccanica, India agreed to buy 12 helicopters for ferrying VVIPs. The chopper deal was inked in February 2010 and scrapped four years later over allegations that bribes had exchanged hands.

The CBI has alleged there was an estimated loss of about Rs 2,666 crore to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.

On Thursday, the court granted seven-day interim bail to Rajiv Saxena, another accused in the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

The Patiala House Court gave Saxena interim bail in lieu of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the same amount. It directed him against leaving Delhi without permission. The court also ordered him not to tamper with the evident or try to contact any of the witnesses.

Saxena was sent to India from the UAE in January to face trial over alleged bribery of government officials involved in an abortive deal to buy 12 helicopter from the Anglo-Italian firm, AgustaWestland. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has named Saxena as the key money launderer in the scam.
Thirty-five years after the inception of Indias light combat aircraft programme, the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) has finally frozen the design of the Tejas Mark I defence fighter with aircraft drawings submitted on December 31 and the certificate of combat readiness obtained from the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC) under the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).

In an interview, Girish Deodhare, director, combat aircraft and ADA, said that the first Tejas in the final operational configuration (FOC) will be delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) in September with another 15 fighters to be delivered in the following 20 months. The deliveries will be much faster with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) deciding to outsource aircraft sub-assemblies to private companies such as Larsen & Toubro.

The FOC Tejas will have air-to-air refueling capability, beyond visual range Israeli Derby missiles, high angle attack expansion with a capability to match the best fighters in its light weight class in the 4 to 4.5 generation category.

From the initial order of 40 fighters from IAF, Deodhare said state-owned HAL, Bengaluru had delivered 12 fighters in combat-ready initial operational configuration (IOC) with the next four fighters to be delivered next month. The eight remaining aircraft will be in two-seater trainer configuration, which will follow the FOC fighters and also be fitted with air to air refuellers.

The IAF order under negotiation for 83 more platforms will be Tejas Mark IA, which will be fitted with state-of-the-art active electronically scanned array radar developed indigenously or ELTA, Israel, in a tie-up with HAL. ADA, Deodhare disclosed, is already testing an indigenously developed AESA radar with Tejas Mark I.

Deodhare conceded that there have been delays in the Tejas programme due to optimistic projections of time by its designers, developers and producers, and added that Tejas Mark II will be a twin-engine advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) with a heavier GE-414 engine as compared to the GE 404 engine of the Mark I. The twin-engine fighter will also have a naval variant. The development of the Mark II has already received a green signal from the defence minister and is set to go before the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for full financial approval of development costs.

Even though the FOC Tejas will come with some deviations from the air staff qualitative requirements, 1985, the fighter will not loose any of its fighting capability and will optimally perform its duties of defending air bases under attack and Indian borders. While the turnaround time of Tejas Mark I is high as the designers focused on the development of the aircraft primarily, with only the secondary focus on maintenance and repairs, HT learns that IAF has finally been handed over initial documentation (the manual) of the fighter with the upgraded and complete documentation ready in the next two to three months. The force needs this manual for training and operating purposes.
Undergraduate medical students will be given the option of choosing Ayush (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and homoeopathy) systems as an elective subject from the 2019-20 academic year, a top functionary of the board of governors that oversees medical colleges said. The initiative is aimed at introducing future doctors to alternative systems of medicine,

The government had in September 2018 dissolved the Medical Council of India and constituted the board of governors (BoG) to supersede the medical regulator. The new syllabus received final approval from the BoG last month and will be implemented from August, when the new academic session (2019-20) begins. The 3-month module will be designed by Ayush ministry.

Also read| Schools run by spiritual gurus to give yoga certificates

It is to give a hang of the alternative systems of medicine to the students of allopathy. Ayush systems can play a great role in promoting preventive health. However, it will not be mandatory for medical students, said Dr V K Paul, chairman, BoG. The students will get to visit Ayush hospitals, attend outpatient departments (OPDs), etc, he added.

Also read| Over 12,000 Ayush wellness hubs across India soon
The revelation that the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) was involved in parallel negotiations over the Rafale deal has excited furious press and political interest. However, there seems to be a sharp divide over how significant this is. The issue is simple. Is it a serious embarrassment for the government, as the opposition claims, or is it being exaggerated and misunderstood, as the government insists? But to answer that question one needs to start by answering four others. Thats what I want to do today.

First, was the PMO negotiating or simply involved in discussions? In an interview on television, Air Marshal SBP Sinha, the head of the Indian negotiating team, told me that the PMO was directly contacted by the French government after the Indian and French negotiating teams failed to solve the sovereign guarantee issue. The two governments reached an agreement between themselves to accept a letter of comfort instead of a sovereign guarantee and the Indian negotiating team accepted it. Put like that, the PMOs involvement seems harmless. After all, whenever two negotiating teams cant resolve a matter it has to be referred to their two respective governments. Thats all that happened.

However, the defence ministry seriously objected to this. So the second question we need to address is: why? Are there good reasons for criticising the PMOs involvement? The then defence secretary, in a note written in his own hand and sent directly to the then defence minister Manohar Parrikar, said It is desirable that such discussions be avoided by the PMO as it undermines our negotiation position seriously. Now you cant have stronger words than that. And they come from the top civil servant in the defence ministry. But were his worst fears realised or merely theoretical? The MoD note clearly states they were realised.

This is where we need a bit of detail. The defence ministrys note establishes that the PMO intervened in two areas, over the sovereign guarantee versus letter of comfort debate and by agreeing that the implementing court for a decision by (the) arbitration tribunal shall not be specifically Indian. And what did the MoD note say about these two interventions? The outcomes agreed to by the PMO are contradictory to the stand taken by the MoD and the negotiating team in both these aspects. In other words, the PMOs intervention actually set back Indias interests as viewed by the MoD and negotiating team. This should have alarmed Mr Parrikar. But did it?

To answer that, we need to examine the then defence minister Manohar Parrikars explanation for the PMOs role. Is it convincing or confusing? Thats the third question. Parrikar said the PMO was monitoring the progress of the issue. But the MoD note says the PMO agreed to two measures contradictory to the MoD and the negotiating teams stand. Thats clearly not monitoring. In fact, thats definitely negotiating if not also interfering. And that leads to a fourth question. Was Mr Parrikar covering up for the PMO or did he fail to understand the true significance of the MoD note? This question still awaits an answer.

Seen in the light of the four issues I have raised, theres a clear need for further explanation by the government. It certainly seems as if matters werent handled properly. Whether that suggests corruption is, however, a different matter. As yet, thats by no means proven. But that, of course, wont derail the charge that the government has let India down. Nor, unfortunately, is it an effective defence.

Karan Thapar is the author of Devils Advocate: The Untold Story

The views expressed are personal
When Justin Trudeau formed his first Cabinet, the mandate letter (or policy instruction) he handed out to the incoming minister of international trade (now enhanced to International Trade Diversification), mentioned two countries specifically as focus areas for Ottawa going ahead  China and India.

In recent weeks, the detention of a senior Huawei executive in Vancouver for possible extradition to the United States, has led to cratering to relations with Beijing, and even caused Canadas Ambassador to China to resign after some fairly intemperate remarks that appeared like shilling for the Chinese position. As for India, this week also marks the anniversary of Trudeaus (in)famous visit to India.

The latter is truly the greater misstep for the Canadian Prime Minister. If ties with China are frustrating, the terrible trip last February proved the flashpoint for criticism over Trudeaus administration to commence.

There may have been carping and cribbing prior to that, but before he touched down in New Delhi and faced the snub heard throughout the world as Narendra Modi wasnt there to greet him with a customary hug, Trudeau was still largely admired, particularly by the global media looking for a counterpoint to the odious Donald Trump.

That changed rapidly in the eight days Trudeau spent in India. His dalliance with pro-Khalistani elements became a matter of international focus, as did his costumes, that appeared to have been borrowed from a wardrobe for the kitschiest of Bollywood dresstravaganzas.

He did manage to dam the slide in popularity, but what that loss of sheen did was to signal that Trudeau was no longer above criticism  the golden boy had feet of clay. The India trip made the media, and the public, till then signalling another majority mandate for Trudeau in October 2019, start checking out the warts not just the Star Wars socks.

In the 12 months that have followed, Trudeau has careened from controversy to crisis, and the attacks have mounted, the latest episode being accusations that Canadas Attorney-General was demoted for not obliging the PMO in a case of alleged kickbacks. None of that has been proven but it once again underscores how vulnerable Trudeau has become since that shield of charisma came crashing down in India. In fact, that pessimism over performance of his government has affected his entire Cabinet. As a December poll indicated, just about the only Minister to get a positive rating was foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, who was, ironically, the original holder of the international trade portfolio who was given that mandate. That some even talk of her as a potential successor to Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party is the sort of discussion that would have been considered incomprehensible a year earlier.

Trudeau still remains the most likely winner of the 2019 federal elections, but he is no longer a shoo-in. That fateful and frightful trip took its toll and you wouldnt blame Trudeau if he considered India a four-letter word.

Anirudh Bhattacharyya is a Toronto-based commentator on American affairs

The views expressed are personal
Are you crazy? the girlfriend exclaimed when I suggested I wanted to go for a weekend trip to Australia. And when I persisted, she said, Are you going to meet someone there, arent you?

The thing is, my girl and I hooked up on Tinder about six months ago, and even though we hit it off instantly and have been committed for over four months, we havent gotten past the get off dating apps hurdle. (I believe why should one; her thinking may be otherwise!)

The reason for me wanting to head from Mumbai to Perth was a food event that has been on my radar for a few years now.

At the festival, a stall is dedicated to turmeric and is called yellow superfood in a drink (Vishal Siromani)

The Margaret River Gourmet Escape is a food festival that takes place in a tiny town about 300kms south of Perth, and has caught the fancy of food and wine lovers alike. In addition, to good food made with fresh Australian produce, it promises free flowing top-ups of the most fantastic wines from across the continent, and over the last few years, a good number of food personalities and star chefs have been making their way down under.

This year, a friend informed, the big star there is Nigella Lawson; and whatever apprehension I had about flying continents and oceans to be in Australia for just 72 hours, was washed away immediately.

Sorry babe, Ive had a longer affair with Nigella, and even longer with good food, I told the better half, and off I went. As it turned out, Perth for the weekend is not that crazy an idea after all. In fact, the six hour flight from Mumbai to Singapore was longer than the five-and-a-half it took from Singapore down to Perth. Western Australia also falls in the same time zone as Singapore, so theres less that messes with your head. A friend from Sydney visiting the festival had to deal with a three-hour time difference, while I  whod come across continents from India  had just 2.5 hours of lag.

The Margaret River Gourmet Escape takes place in a town 300kms South of Perth and has caught the fancy of food and wine lovers alike

The terror of long flights set aside, the next challenge was the distance to Margaret River. Driving down 300km after 10-odd hours of overnight flying can be daunting, but thanks to great roads, same side driving as in India, and a fantastic car  we got the Lexus NX for all our days  this turned out to be a breeze. The NX is the smaller SUV as compared to the RX, which my friend drives in Bengaluru. But throughout the 1,000-odd km we did over this weekend, I could hardly feel the difference. The car not only gave us a smooth ride, it also reminded the driver to take some rest every now and then. (Driverless cars may be a thing of the future, cars than interact with you is for right now!)

The 300km drive to Margaret River from Perth is a breeze, thanks to great roads and same side driving as in India (Vishal Siromani)

Our programme at the food festival, we discovered, included curated lunches and dinners with some great chefs from the region and beyond; but every venue was a good 50km away. Going to the festival on the weekend made us drive over 140kms back and forth on a single day, and thanks to the car, great weather and fantastic roads (no thanks to the occasional kangaroo that jumped on the tarmac)  this experience turned out to be a stress-free one indeed.

A taste of Western Oz

One of the first dinners we were treated to was set in a jungle, and preceded by a cultural performances by the natives. If you thought they were wine drinkers, think again.

Chef Shaun Quades deconstructed Pearl On The Ocean Floor (Vishal Siromani)

The meal was put together by a Caribbean chef who has made his mark in Sydney called Paul Carmichael. Time and opportunity may have displaced this chef from his home in the Atlantic Ocean, but it was obvious from his food that his heart remained there. Trout Roe, Jerk Pork Jowl accompanied by the oddly named Dog Sauce (it was just hot dog flavoured chilli sauce) made its way to the table, as the chef made a sight of himself roasting foods on an open fire beside the dining canopy. The main was the challenge: Fish Head, Chickpea and Hot Sauce. Thankfully for most, the dish came with tail pieces as well. Adventurous old me went for the head, which was okay, but  surrounded by people with grossed out faces around me, I skipped biting into the eye.

Foraging, then eating

Post breakfast at The Empire Retreat and Spa, probably the only disappointment on this trip (how can a luxury hotel not have steady Wi-Fi?), we set out on our next expedition.

This time, it was a chef from the region, Paul Iskov, who first took us foraging for fresh ingredients, explaining the significance of sustainability, going local and farming fresh, then served up a meal that had everything from macademia, to saltbush, to kangaroo meat and wattleseed. If we were eating fresh leaves plucked off trees from Pauls hands in the morning, we were polishing off the gravy using Australian Damper, that could well be eaten on its own.

Vinyards of good food

A lobster benedict (Vishal Siromani)

Dinner on Day 2 took place on the grounds of the stunning Fraser Gallop estate, where new age chef Shaun Quade presented his experiments on a plate. (Well, most of the dishes did come on plates!) Vague names like Pearl on the Ocean Floor gave way to a variety of fresh ingredients set out in front of you to combine and interpret on your own. The pearl was the most discussed with diners around the table; some thought it was egg, others said umami. It was upon the chef to show up at the end of the meal to explain.

The evening was a theatrical performance as well, with the number of servers matched exactly to the number of diners on every table. Ours had about 30, and for every course a line of 30 servers made their way through the grounds to the heated dining tent, and stood behind each diner until everyone was in place. Like they say, food isnt just tasted, it is experienced.

The actual festival

A dessert of riberry jube, saltbush fudge and quandong nougat (Vishal Siromani)

turned out to be smaller in scale by Indian standards, but the fact that Australians had travelled 300kms south on a weekend, said enough about the success of the event.

Your entry ticket got you a wine glass, which you used as you went sampling wines and not having to purchase any. What this also meant: checks set up by the cops along the routes to ensure no DUI was taking place. This slowed things down, but it was a weekend to enjoy!

At the food festival, the line outside the stall selling yellow superfood in a drink, haldi, was the longest

In addition to drink there was the food that was fresh, local but also international in its preparation. One spotted a Singapore Airlines lounge that was conducting cooking classes, but the coveted one to get invited to was the Lexus Lounge, where VIPs milled about exchanging notes on good wine and better food.

The main stage area, with music and the works, was hosted by Vick, a guy of Indian origin, who brought up chefs to cook meals in front of a crowd of 300. It had stocked refrigerators, a kitchen counter, stovetops, and sink, with assistant chefs who ensured performances move smoothly. A special ticket got you access to the two dining tables on the ends of the stage; whatever the celebrity chefs cooked, you got to sample.

Interestingly, amidst the many stalls selling all kinds of foods, one that stood out sold yellow superfood in a drink. The Charlick Turmuric Method showcased the goodness of haldi that every Indian would know of, and health conscious as Australians tend to be, the line outside this tiny stall, was often the longest!

The Lexus NX is the smaller SUV (Vishal Siromani)

Nigella, naturally!

Goddess of food porn, Nigella Lawson (Vishal Siromani)

That afternoon, as we drove back to the hotel, we realised the drive back for dinner would mean were doing 90kms each way. But the promise of the Goddess Of Good Food, made us get a short nap and back behind the wheel.

The disappointment when we arrived was that Nigella wasnt cooking herself. It was a finger-food menu curated by her. But then she arrived, smiled and emitted the right kind of noises, and voila all was forgotten! That night, Nigella was in conversation with a popular local editor and radio show host. They spoke about family and cooking for children and running a kitchen, but the sassiness in every traditional act of cooking and food consumption shone out in bold.

Chef Paul Iskov takes his diners foraging to pluck leaves thatll later be used in lunch (Vishal Siromani)

Was it worth flying across continents and oceans to overeat overpriced, pretentious sounding foods? May be. But, was it worth it coming all the way to listen to Nigella in person, see her answer (some comfortable, others not) questions and smile through it all and look nothing close to her real age? (Yes, Im crushing!)

Yes, it was. And my girlfriend was right. I was coming down to meet someone I desire, after all!

From HT Brunch, February 17, 2019

Follow us on twitter.com/HTBrunch

Connect with us on facebook.com/hindustantimesbrunch
Actor Ranveer Singh is earning praise for his performance in the film Gully Boy from all over the world. After being greeted with the loudest cheers at the Berlin International Film Festival, Ranveer has now blown away Hollywood actor (and part-time rapper) Will Smith with his performance.

The Suicide Squad actor shared a video on his Instagram that shows him reacting to the film along with a few glimpses of the song Apna Time Aayega. The actor looks excited and says, Yo Ranveer! Congrats man. I am loving what you doing. Gully Boy. He adds, I have seen old school hip hop, seen hip hop all over the world. I am loving it. Go get it.

Will Smith praises Ranveer Singhs work in Gully Boy.

Gully Boy got a thumbs up from critics in India with many even calling it Ranveer and director Zoya Akhtars best work ever.

It opened big on Valentines Day, Thursday, with collections of Rs 19.40 crore. It has already made a total of Rs 32 crore in two days, as per early estimates reported by Boxofficeindia.com.

Ranveer plays an aspiring rapper in the film, which is loosely based on the lives of Mumbai rappers Divine and Naezy. Alia Bhatt plays his girlfriend and a medical student in the film.

Also read: In defence of Lootera: The flop that established Ranveer Singh as an actor

Meanwhile, Smith will next be seen in Disneys live action Aladdin. He plays the blue-skinned Genie in the remake.

A teaser for the film, directed by Guy Ritchie, was unveiled recently and was poorly received online, with most criticism directed towards its visual effects.

incredible that this was my exact expression watching the trailer for the new Aladdin movie pic.twitter.com/jTsVASVG9r  Omar Sakr (@OmarjSakr) February 11, 2019

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Actor Amitabh Bachchan will be donating Rs 5 lakh each to the families of 40 CRPF troppers who died in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his vehicle packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 40 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The actor is currently finding out from several government sources where and how the amount will be distributed to ensure it is expedited.

His spokesperson confirmed the news, saying: Yes, Mr Bachchan will be giving Rs 5 lakh to each of the martyrs families and is currently finding out the correct process to do so.

The Piku actor on Friday also cancelled his attendance as a special guest of Virat Kohlis Foundation event, which will now be held on Saturday.

Also read: Ranveer Singh on infidelity, cheating on Deepika Padukone: Ive bagged the topmost chick, no one can tempt me

His son and actor Abhishek Bachchan had expressed his shock on the gruesome Pulwama attack on Friday. He had tweeted, Such terrible news coming from #Pulwama. Today when people are celebrating love, hate raises its ugly head too. My thoughts and prayers for the martyrs and their families.

Such terrible news coming from #Pulwama. Today when people are celebrating love, hate raises its ugly head too. My thoughts and prayers for the martyrs and their families.  Abhishek Bachchan (@juniorbachchan) February 14, 2019

He had later shared a link of a website on Twitter where the individuals can contribute directly into a martyrs account.

(With HT inputs)

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Kangana Ranaut has made yet another bold statement and this time veteran actress Shabana Azmi is at the receiving end. So, we earlier told you how Shabana Azmi, along with husband Javed Akhtar, was supposed to jet off to Karachi for an event organized for her father Kaifi Azmis birth centenary. But after the Pulwama terror attack yesterday that killed 44 jawans, the actress and husband Javed Akhtar turned down the invite.

While speaking to Pinkvilla exclusively, the actress said, Javed and I were invited by Karachi Arts Council for a 2-day event celebrating my father Kaifi Azmis birth centenary. I appreciate that our hosts have mutually agreed to cancel the event at the nth hour in wake of the Pulwama attack.

But, even though the actress denied the invitation, Manikarnika actress Kangana didnt fail to take a jibe on her. In a recent statement issued by the Manikarnika actress, the actress called Shabana Azmi an anti-national who boosts the morale of the enemies. Heres her entire statement.

People like Shabana Azmi calling for a halt on cultural exchange, they are the ones who promote Bharat tere tukade honge gangs. why did they organize an event in Karachi in the first place when Pakistani artists have been banned after Uri attacks and now they are trying to save face. The film industry is full of such anti-nationals who boost enemies morale in many ways but right now is the time to focus on decisive actions Pakistan ban is not the focus, Pakistan destruction is.

Kangana was supposed to throw a success bash for Manikarnika tomorrow but in wake of the terror attacks, she cancelled the same.

Source : Times Now
As far as crimes go, is unlawfully tampering with an electric meter worse than illegally keeping livestock within the city limits? In 1952 in Alexander City, Alabama, it appears that it was.

I draw this conclusion after happening upon a copy of a police report from the night the great Hank Williams, the doomed hillbilly Shakespeare with a bad back and a deep thirst, ended up in the pokey, charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct for running wild in the halls of the Russell Hotel in Alex City. I found an authoritative account of the incident and the police report on the great website Saving Country Music (www.saving countrymusic.com), part of an essay on the origin of a photo of Hank emerging from jail, shirtless and looking like he could use a hot shower and a good meal or three.

I had heard the story (a lodge owner and fishing buddy paid his $25 bond and $10 fine) and seen the photo (its frightening) before, but the copy of the police report, which looked more like a citation than the police reports I perused during my days on the cops-and-courts beat, was new to me.
SHERRILLS FORD  Sherrills Ford-Terrell Fire & Rescue has earned a Class 4/9E rating by the NC DOI Office of State Fire Marshal in its most recent inspection.

The departments previous rating was a Class 6/9E which was in 2005. Fire departments are rated on a scale of 10 with 10 being a non-rated fire department and 1 being the highest rating a department can receive. There are 1532 fire districts within North Carolina. Of those, 199 are Class 4. This Public Protection Classification (PPC) places Sherrills Ford-Terrell Fire & Rescue in the top 13 percent within North Carolina.

The departments new rating, which is an improvement from its previous Class 6/9E designation, will take effect on March 1.

The enhanced score works to lower insurance costs for property owners and businesses within the SFTFR district. The PPC score is a measure of the communitys overall ability to reduce property losses due to fires.

In general, the price of fire insurance in a community with a good PPC is substantially lower than in a community with a poor PPC, assuming all other factors are equal.
****************** MID-MONTH MADNESS WINNERS GRAND PRIZE WINNER - Roxanne Cruz BLOG WINNER: Melanie Backus Individual Winners: Nancy: Amazon Gift Card: Connie Ruggles Contest #2 (not sure of prize): Marilyn Ridgeway Naomi: Ebook of Love Coward and swag: Darla Fillmore Catherine: Reader's choice of Destiny Series book: Deb Allard Vicki: Anonymous Bride: Darla Fillmore Mutiny of the Heart: Marilyn Ridgeway Linda: Ebook of Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Avis Powers Ebook of Gold Rush Bride Hannah: Nancy Costello ***************** GIVEAWAY RULES



Winners must leave their email address and will be notified by email and the winne r s name will be anno unced in the days comments. No one under 18 can enter our giveaways. No purchase is necessary.





All winners have one week to claim their prize. USA shipping only. Offer void where prohibited. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.




Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  Work to renovate the East Burke Street bridge over Tuscarora Creek in Martinsburg has restarted after being stalled last year by persistent elevated stream flow and rainy weather, officials said last week.

In a report to the Martinsburg City Council, City Manager Mark Baldwin noted that the state Division of Highways notified the city that work was again commencing on the much-delayed bridge project and that it is estimated to be completed by December.

The $2.4 million project east of Queen Street near the CSX Corp. underpass had been projected to be completed this coming summer, but a DOH construction engineer told Herald-Mail Media in early October that the contractor had lost about two months of construction time due to above-average rainfall.

St. Albans, W.Va.-based Orders Construction Co. Inc. was awarded the project after bids were opened in September 2017.

Baldwin noted that the city is monitoring the progress of the East Burke Street bridge renovation, along with other downtown area transportation projects that are moving toward construction phases.

A state DOH project to build handicapped accessible curb ramps at intersections along state-controlled routes in the downtown area and upgrade traffic signals throughout the city is expected to begin this spring, Baldwin reported.

Wolf Creek Contracting Co. LLC of Waterford, Ohio, submitted a $1.4 million bid last summer to build the curb ramps at 129 locations along W.Va. 45, W.Va. 9 and U.S. 11. Multiple blocks of Queen and King streets and Winchester Avenue overlap the routes for U.S. 11, W.Va. 45 and W.Va. 9 in the city.

Meanwhile, a second phase of improvements planned for the CSX underpass for Queen Street at the northern end of the downtowns historic business district also is nearing construction.

Design work is about 95 percent complete for the project, which is expected to include cleaning and painting existing walls of the underpass, installation of new railings, guardrail and lighting.

Baldwin reported that the citys planning department is reviewing plans to submit to the state Department of Transportation and CSX. The city must also obtain permit approvals from both parties.

Hopefully, permits will be completed by summer 2019 in order to consider bid and construction phase, Baldwin wrote in his report.

These phases will have to be considered due to several other projects in and around the downtown area.

Design of a third street- scape phase of the underpass area project between Pennsylvania Avenue and Race Street is expected to be completed this summer, Baldwin reported.

Among other projects, Baldwin reported that installation of new gateway and wayfinding signage for the city is expected to begin next month. Baltimore-based Gable Co. was awarded a $449,940.60 contract in December to fabricate and install monument gateway entrance signs along primary routes into the city, as well as several secondary and way-finding signs, including directional signs for attractions and parking in the downtown area.

The projects estimated completion is in July, Baldwin said.

Also expected to be completed this year is the design work for the citys downtown Train Station Corridor project, which envisions streetscape and drainage improvements along East Martin Street from Queen Street to R B White Avenue, just beyond the train station at 229 E. Martin St.

The city has received more than $675,000 in transportation grant funding for the project, which Baldwin noted could be advertised to bidders this fall.

Construction of the citys new police station and municipal court building on West Race Street also has been projected to be completed by years end.

A planned upgrade to the city computer-aided dispatch system for the police department is being coordinated with the construction project.

The Berkeley County Council on Thursday agreed to provide the city access to the countys dispatching resources and provide 24-hour technical support services.

The proposed memorandum of understanding between the county, city and TriTech Software Systems is contingent upon approval by all parties, officials said.

The county has proposed charging the city an initial $75,000 fee to provide access for the citys system to operate in the countys computing environment and hourly rates for services provided by the county.

The fee was calculated by factoring the estimated $500,000 up-front cost for the city to launch such a system on their own and the citys population being about 15 percent of the county total, according to Deputy County Administrator Gary Wine.

Wine and County Administrator Alan Davis told county council members that the agreement between the two local governments would be the first of its kind in West Virginia.

Wine assured the county council that the countys IT operations would not be impacted by the agreement with the city.

Berkeley County Council President Doug Copenhaver Jr., lauded the proposed MOU as the latest effort by the county to strengthen its relationship with the city so we all can benefit.

Copenhaver noted the pending computer-aided dispatch agreement comes after the county council approved a tax incentive package last summer to encourage redevelopment of the historic Shenandoah Hotel in support of the downtown areas revitalization.

The hotel project is pending.
Matthew Umstead

mumstead@herald-mail.com

MARTINSBURG, W.Va.  Shepherd University plans to charge higher tuition and fees and room and board rates this fall.

The universitys Board of Governors voted Thursday to raise tuition for in-state students 3.1 percent, increasing the charge to $3,892 per semester, the school announced.

Out-of-state residents at the four-year state school would see tuition increase to $9,112 per semester as a result of a 1 percent increase.

In-state graduate tuition, per credit hour, would increase to $475. Out-of-state graduate students would be charged $689 per credit hour. The board did not change the credit-hour rate for its Doctor of Nursing Practice degree.

Meal plans were increased an average of 3.5 percent.

Room rates for Shaw and Thacher halls are set to increase $55 per semester and Potomac Place residents will be charged $64 more, the university said. Suite and apartment-style housing rates will not change, the university said.

The university also announced Friday that it is reorganizing academic units before the fall semester and reducing the number of colleges from five to four.

Any possible changes in staffing would not impact existing employees because some position vacancies were considered in creating the new academic structure, university spokeswoman Valerie Owens wrote in an email when asked about staffing changes.

The universitys new structure will be: College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; College of Business; College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; and College of Nursing, Education and Health Sciences.

Within the colleges, there will be four professional schools for Music; Nursing; Education; and Recreation, Sport and Exercise Sciences. There also will be a freestanding School of Graduate and Professional Studies.

An academic leadership search is underway with the reorganization.

Tuition and fee increases come as the university continues to see dips in enrollment.

The universitys head-count enrollment last fall dipped to 3,721, down from 3,789, university officials reported in November.

The Board of Governors was told last fall that 66 percent of the universitys undergraduate students are from West Virginia, followed by 20 percent from Maryland, 8 percent from Virginia and 2 percent from Pennsylvania.

Among West Virginia undergraduate students, 56 percent are from Jefferson and Berkley counties.

About 66 percent of undergraduates commute to school, the university reported.

The governing board was told this week that the university remains last among peer state institutions for state funding and has seen a 13.8 percent drop in appropriations, or about $1.5 million, since fiscal year 2013.
Staff reports

The Herald-Mail

Sloane Dunn, 9, donated items Friday to the Humane Society of Washington County. The Rockland Woods Elementary School student, who just celebrated a birthday, asked friends for donations for the local shelter rather than presents. She donated more than 200 pounds of dog and cat food, plus dozens of other items such as snacks, toys, blankets, collars and leashes. With help from her mother, Meghan Dunn, and other family members, she also raised more than $75 to donate. "I just like animals and it's fun," Sloane said.
Dan Dearth

ddearth@herald-mail.com

Deb Blumenschein said she doesnt care if she never works as a nurse again.

Last September, Blumenschein was fired from her nursing job at the Potomac Center in Hagerstown after she publicly stated on social media that the Maryland Department of Health was sending violent patients there.

She argued that the state-run facility was designed to house nonviolent people with developmental disabilities  not the criminally insane.

There are sweet souls there, Blumenschein said at the time. ... The other half are the animals that want to kill you.

She met Wednesday with an investigator from the Maryland Board of Nursing to discuss her case. Although the state declined to discuss the meeting, Blumenschein said the state wanted to hear her version of events from the time she went public on Sept. 8 to the time she was fired later that month.

She said she believes the state retaliated against her not only because of the social media post, but because Herald-Mail Media wrote about her shortly thereafter.

In the newspaper story, Blumenschein said she believed the Department of Healths plan to transfer patients from the states Secure Evaluation and Therapeutic Treatment (SETT) unit at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville would create a dangerous situation for the Potomac Center and the surrounding neighborhood.

SETT patients are court-appointed and many have violent backgrounds.

The (Baltimore) Sun has reported that on Thanksgiving Day in 2016, patients at the SETT unit rioted and took over a housing unit at Springfield.

Patients threw chairs, knocked over file cabinets and tried to break into the staffs Plexiglas-enclosed refuge, The Suns story said. The patients poured cooking oil over the floors, making them slippery. One patient tried to crawl into the office through the suspended ceiling.

The story said a Maryland State Police SWAT team freed nine security and patient care workers who locked themselves in offices.

In 2018, the Department of Health quietly formulated a plan to send multiple SETT patients to the Potomac Center.

Blumenschein said several patients arrived before she started to voice her concerns in public.

The state has disputed that.

Blumenschein, a petite 63-year-old, recalled being attacked by a patient last summer while she administered his medication. She said she fears what might have happened had another staff member not intervened.

She said the attack on her and other Potomac Center employees  some of whom suffered concussions and broken bones  prompted her to get involved in a Sept. 8 Facebook discussion about violence at that facility on Marshall Street.

When one Facebook user referred to the patients as human beings, Blumenschein responded by writing, These things are not human they are animals. Dont believe, come work with me for a day.

She said she believes her Facebook post was one reason she got fired. It didnt help her situation, she said, when she also told her story to Herald-Mail Media.

Theyre mad because the newspaper story kept (the state) from bringing a whole truckload up from Sykesville, she said.

Del. Paul Corderman and state Sen. Andrew Serafini, Republicans who represent Washington County, said in the fall that they had no idea about the departments plan to mix SETT patients with developmentally disabled patients at the Potomac Center.

After Corderman and Serafini started to ask around, the department put its plan on hold to start transferring SETT patients in mid-September.

On Wednesday, Serafini and Corderman said they havent heard anything new.

Maryland Department of Health spokeswoman Brittany Fowler wrote Wednesday in an email that the department does not have an update on the SETT relocation at this time.

Blumenschein, who lives in Fulton County, Pa., said she worked at the Potomac Center for 13 years and recently accepted a job as a cook at a Tri-State-area school. Although the job doesnt pay as well as nursing, she said shes happy to let go of the stress.

She said the state told her that she could go to jail and pay a fine if the investigation finds she violated the law.

From what Blumenschein said she was told during the closed Maryland School of Nursing meeting, the infraction was very minor.

Blumenschein said she would be satisfied if the state left her alone and scrapped its plan to send SETT patients to Hagerstown.

Why is it OK for them to lie, but when I tell the truth, its something different? she asked. ... I dont have any plans to go back to nursing. I just dont want to go to jail or get a fine.
C.J. Lovelace

cj.lovelace@herald-mail.com

Members of Congress representing the Tri-State area reacted positively Friday to the passage of an appropriations package keeping the government open.

However, President Donald Trumps decision to sign an emergency declaration to expedite plans to build a southern border wall drew considerable criticism from Democrats.

Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, as well as Rep. David Trone, all D-Md., each issued statements denouncing Trump.

The very nature of how President Trump decided finally to declare a so-called emergency at our southern border shows how he, too, knows that there is no real national emergency at our southern border, Cardin said.

Van Hollen said Trumps declaration to fund the wall is likely illegal and a gross abuse of power.

Trone said the bipartisan bill Congress passed was a win for the American worker ... but declaring a national emergency in order to fund an ineffective and expensive wall is ridiculous.

This wall will not do a thing to make us safer and will not stem the tide of the opioid epidemic, yet the President is building the wall by stealing money from our military and federal anti-narcotics efforts, he said.

In West Virginia, Sens. Joe Manchin, a Democrat, and Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, applauded Congress passage of the spending bill that, in addition to the money for the wall, provides another $1.7 billion for wider border security and humanitarian aid.

Although it took us a long time to get here, Im glad weve finally passed these bills, avoided another harmful government shutdown and funded the border wall and border security, Manchin said.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., shared his thoughts on Twitter, saying the bipartisan agreement would keep the government open and invest in effective border security, instead of funding President Trumps wall, which security experts say will not work.

Sen. Pat Toomey and Rep. John Joyce, both R-Pa., were less critical of Trump, but said they hoped the president would not have been forced to take unilateral action to secure the border, according to comments published by the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Going forward, Congress must redouble its efforts starting today to formulate serious legislative solutions that will stop the influx of opioids into our country, properly fund the wall, secure our border, and most importantly, keep Americans safe, Joyce said.
The Herald-Mail

ANNAPOLIS  Even before this years General Assembly convened, legislative leaders targeted raising Marylands minimum wage. Last month, the leadership of both the Senate and the House made it official, including raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour as one of their legislative priorities.

Measures now under consideration in both the Senate and the House would raise the minimum wage, now $10.10 per hour, incrementally until it reaches $15 in 2024. After that, the minimum wage would be tied to the consumer price index.

The argument is simple: The current minimum is not a living wage, proponents say.

For far too long, working families in Maryland have been struggling to cover the costs of their basic necessity, the bills House sponsor, Del. Diana Fennell, D-Prince Georges, told the House Economic Matters Committee earlier this month. A $15 hour minimum wage would give over 600,000 working people a raise, and help raise them from poverty.

Theyre not just food workers, she added. Theyre health care workers, security guards, farm workers, teachers aides, airport workers  to list a few.

Women and people of color, she said, are over-represented in low-wage professions. Raising the minimum would help reduce both racial and gender gaps, she said.

And she cited a recent Gonzales Poll showing 61 percent of Marylanders supporting a $15 minimum.

Prince Georges County Executive Angela Alsobrooks noted to the committee that stagnant wages and income inequities continue to be a strong point of consternation for so many working families. From 2009 to 2015, she said, the top 1 percent of Maryland families made 26 times more than the bottom 99 percent of workers.

She argued that loosening the pursestrings for lower wage earners would strengthen consumer demand and create an economy that works for everyone, and not just a wealthy few.

But opponents say raising Marylands minimum wage to $15, which would put it among the highest state minimums in the nation, would come at a price. Paying a minimum of $15 an hour might sound good, they say, but small businesses cant afford it. It could mean eliminating jobs altogether, owners say  and its impossible to pay a $15 minimum for a job that no longer exists.

Unintended consequences?

Eighty-four jobs in Washington County, Md., gone, Teri Leiter, owner of Leiters Fine Catering in Williamsport, told the Economic Matters Committee. A three-generation, family-owned catering company, gone  this is what will happen if you pass this bill.

Leiter said 55 of her employees work at minimum wage. Most of them use their paychecks as a second income, she said, and include students and retirees that just want a little extra.

The minimum wage increase would cost her company nearly 50 percent more for labor, she said; those currently making more than minimum wage would have to be compensated at higher levels, too. Bottom line? Another $151,000 for wages.

We just cannot absorb this, she said. Small business cannot absorb it.

Shed have to consider closing her business or moving it three miles to West Virginia, she said, or 15 miles to Pennsylvania, where the minimum wage is lower.

West Virginias minimum wage is $8.75 per hour; Pennsylvanias is the same as the federal standard, $7.25 per hour.

Currently, the countrys highest minimum wage is in Washington, D.C., at $13.25, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Wages there are set to rise incrementally to $15 by July 1, 2020. Californias minimum wage is set to reach $15 by Jan. 1, 2022, and Massachusetts will raise its minimum to $15 by Jan. 1, 2023. New Jersey will raise its minimum wage to $15 by Jan. 1, 2024, and after next year, New York will adjust its minimum annually until it reaches $15.

But more than half the states have minimum wages below $10, with no immediate plans to raise them above that point. Five more have no state minimum wage requirement at all.

While the minimum is on the rise in the nations capital, no state bordering Maryland has a minimum wage approaching Marylands current $10.10 per hour. Delawares minimum will rise from $8.75 to $9.25 on Oct. 1.

And in that discrepancy lies the rub for Western Maryland. This bill is gonna be devastating to Western Maryland, Gary Hayes, chairman-elect of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce, told the committee. Our proximity to West Virginia and Pennsylvania is just far too close, and its too easy for a business to just move.  three miles west or south or north, and theyre in another state. Totally different jurisdiction, different set of playing rules. We are not playing fairly with the communities around us; theyve got a competitive advantage over us.

Hayes, who owns a Spherion Staffing Services franchise, said five of his client businesses had already moved to Pennsylvania or West Virginia. He suggested the lawmakers carve out Western Maryland and the Eastern Shore from legislation to further raise the minimum wage.

But Del. William Wivell, R-Washington, told Herald-Mail Media that hes skeptical that an amendment to regionalize the bill would fly.

It can always be offered, but I think the chances of it being successful are probably somewhat slim, he said. He noted that Del. Neil Parrott, R-Washington, has filed a bill to allow counties to determine their own minimum wages, which would seem to make more sense.

Sen. George Edwards, R-Washington, was a little more succinct.

One size doesnt fit all, he said.

Most Western Maryland businesses oppose the bill, he said. Im sure everybody would like to get as much as they can get, but I see it as a starting salary, not a minimum wage. Its the starting pay; you start and then you move your way up. Students who get their first jobs at fast-food restaurants, for example, dont anticipate making that their full-time future work, he said.

Its the kind of job where young people learn to work, you learn work ethic, he added.

Edwards said some businesses had already told him the change might make them consider leaving Maryland.

If the metropolitan area wants to (raise the minimum wage), fine  let them do it. But one size doesnt fit all, and hopefully they would understand that.

But Sen. Andrew Serafini, R-Washington, said hes also skeptical that lawmakers would go for a regional approach to raising the minimum  and because of a similar dilemma: Lawmakers from urban counties might conclude that I dont want to be at $15 if others arent, he said.

While hes seen some admission that it would be fair to let counties on the borders or with lower costs of living off the hook, he said, voting for it would be another matter. Theres an intellectual agreement that it would be more fair, he said, but that might be as far as it would go. And its a nightmare to keep track of different rates, he added.

Other costs

Washington County Commissioner Cort Meinelschmidt visited local lawmakers two days before the hearing on the House bill, specifically to talk about what raising the minimum wage would cost the county government.

For Washington County, the minimum wage  if we increase that to $15  it actually costs the county $30 million annually, he said. That includes $22 million in wages, $6.1 million in pension costs and about $2 million in taxes, he said.

Adding to the cost is that raising hourly wages for lifeguards, for example, from $11 to $15, means the county would have to raise wages for all the levels of employees above those entry-level positions, too.

Legislative analysts say state government costs would soar, too  by $85.1 million in the coming fiscal year to $428.6 million in Fiscal Year 2024.

Come visit us

Chamber President Paul Frey attempted to be solution-focused in his remarks on the bill. He told the committee about initiatives in the county to improve education and training opportunities to prepare young people for careers that pay well above the current minimum wage.

Were doing all those things in partnership without even talking about minimum wage, he said. Were doing that with the private sector, the public sector, the school system, our colleges and our community members.

He invited the delegates to talk with him about what can be done without raising the minimum wage to have a positive effect on the community.

I have a bold idea that will take a lot of courage and leadership from this body, he added. I would suggest you postpone this legislation for a year. Lets work together  come to Washington County and see what were doing.

Hell get another chance to make that plea next week  the Senate version of the bill will be heard Thursday in the Senate Finance Committee.
Dan Dearth

ddearth@herald-mail.com

Deb Blumenschein said she doesn't care if she never works as a nurse again.

Last September, Blumenschein was fired from her nursing job at the Potomac Center in Hagerstown after she publicly stated on social media that the Maryland Department of Health was sending violent patients there.

She argued that the state-run facility was designed to house nonviolent people with developmental disabilities  not the criminally insane.

"There are sweet souls there," Blumenschein said at the time. "... The other half are the animals that want to kill you."

She met Wednesday with an investigator from the Maryland Board of Nursing to discuss her case. Although the state declined to discuss the meeting, Blumenschein said the state wanted to hear her version of events from the time she went public on Sept. 8 to the time she was fired later that month.

She said she believes the state retaliated against her not only because of the social media post, but because Herald-Mail Media wrote about her shortly thereafter.

In the newspaper story, Blumenschein said she believed the Department of Health's plan to transfer patients from the state's Secure Evaluation and Therapeutic Treatment (SETT) unit at Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville would create a dangerous situation for the Potomac Center and the surrounding neighborhood.

SETT patients are court-appointed and many have violent backgrounds.

The (Baltimore) Sun has reported that on Thanksgiving Day in 2016, patients at the SETT unit rioted and took over a housing unit at Springfield.

"Patients threw chairs, knocked over file cabinets and tried to break into the staff's Plexiglas-enclosed refuge," The Sun's story said. "The patients poured cooking oil over the floors, making them slippery. One patient tried to crawl into the office through the suspended ceiling."

The story said a Maryland State Police SWAT team freed nine security and patient care workers who locked themselves in offices.

In 2018, the Department of Health quietly formulated a plan to send multiple SETT patients to the Potomac Center.

Blumenschein said several patients arrived before she started to voice her concerns in public.

The state has disputed that.

Blumenschein, a petite 63-year-old, recalled being attacked by a patient last summer while she administered his medication. She said she fears what might have happened had another staff member not intervened.

She said the attack on her and other Potomac Center employees  some of whom suffered concussions and broken bones  prompted her to get involved in a Sept. 8 Facebook discussion about violence at that facility on Marshall Street.

When one Facebook user referred to the patients as human beings, Blumenschein responded by writing, "These things are not human they are animals. Don't believe, come work with me for a day."

She said she believes her Facebook post was one reason she got fired. It didn't help her situation, she said, when she also told her story to Herald-Mail Media.

"They're mad because the newspaper story kept (the state) from bringing a whole truckload up from Sykesville," she said.

Del. Paul Corderman and state Sen. Andrew Serafini, Republicans who represent Washington County, said in the fall that they had no idea about the department's plan to mix SETT patients with developmentally disabled patients at the Potomac Center.

After Corderman and Serafini started to ask around, the department put its plan on hold to start transferring SETT patients in mid-September.

On Wednesday, Serafini and Corderman said they haven't heard anything new.

Maryland Department of Health spokeswoman Brittany Fowler wrote Wednesday in an email that the department "does not have an update on the SETT relocation at this time."

Blumenschein, who lives in Fulton County, Pa., said she worked at the Potomac Center for 13 years and recently accepted a job as a cook at a Tri-State-area school. Although the job doesn't pay as well as nursing, she said she's happy to let go of the stress.

She said the state told her that she could go to jail and pay a fine if the investigation finds she violated the law.

From what Blumenschein said she was told during the closed Maryland School of Nursing meeting, the infraction was very minor.

Blumenschein said she would be satisfied if the state left her alone and scrapped its plan to send SETT patients to Hagerstown.

"Why is it OK for them to lie, but when I tell the truth, it's something different?" she asked. "... I don't have any plans to go back to nursing. I just don't want to go to jail or get a fine."
Cornelius Baxter Commercial Buildings The first of these two commercial buildings on Center Street was built in 1893 at 1 E. Center St. It was built by Cornelius Baxter, who had made his fortune in mining. The building, at the corner of Center and Main streets, replaced a saloon that had previously stood at that intersection. The building at 1 E. Center St. houses Evans Roman Way Barbershop. A partnering building was built at 3 E. Center St. in 1910. The second building was larger and more ornate than the building it sat next to. In 1928, the city leased the building and built a cement ramp to make it a permanent firehouse. It was restored in 1940 and again housed businesses. The building is now home of Saving Hope Restored.

David N. Adamson Commercial Building David Adamson was a sheep farmer from Heber. He moved to Pleasant Grove and built a commercial building that sat next door to Baxters second building. Adamsons building was twice as big as Baxters building. The National Register of Historic Places says that the building was built in 1910, though the Utah Department of Heritage and Arts states that it was built in 1901. The three buildings stand like a staircase with their graduated size. The building is home to the Star Saloon.

Beers House-Hotel The Beers House-Hotel in Pleasant Grove was built in 1885 and was renovated 1930 and again in 1993. It is located at 65 N. 100 East. It was one of three hotels in Pleasant Grove in the late 19th century. The hotel/home was built by Franklin Beers and his wife Elizabeth. Beers owned a mercantile business in Pleasant Grove and his wife managed the hotel while raising their nine children in the house. Today it is home to GoCertify, a local IT company.

Pleasant Grove School Also called the Old Bell School, the Pleasant Grove School was a pioneer-era school constructed of adobe at 55 S. 100 East. When originally constructed, it was a one-room schoolhouse, but a second room was added in 1880 and a third in 1886. It was used as a school until 1893. It was again used as a high school from 1910 to 1912 and then was used as a library until 1940. Since 1945, the school has been the subject of community preservation efforts. The building has been a relic hall, and is now known as the Pioneer Museum.

Pleasant Grove Town Hall The Pleasant Grove Town Hall, built in 1887, replaced the citys first town hall, which was a one-room log building. It was used as town hall building until 1940, when a third town hall building was built in the city. The Pleasant Grove Town Hall building was then used as a lunchroom for Pleasant Grove High School until 1949. Since that time, it has been used as the home of the Pleasant Grove First Baptist Church and the Pleasant Grove Public Library. Located at 107 S. 100 East, it is now home to Bliss Photo Studio and Boutique.

Pleasant Grove Tithing Office Built in 1908, the Pleasant Grove Tithing Office is one of 28 surviving tithing offices for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. It is located at 7 S. 300 East.

Drugstore/Review Building The Drugstore/Review building was built in 1900 by David Adamson to house Pleasant Grove Drug. According to the Utah Division of State History, the building was then a millinery shop and part of Clarks General Merchandise. It was also used for the Red and White Store, which was a meat and grocery market. The building was purchased in 1956 by Abe Gibson who moved the Pleasant Grove Review presses to the building. It is located at 11 S. Main St. Today it is home to PG Printers.

Clarks Merchandise Built in 1908 by William L. Hayes, this building originally housed Masons Mens Clothing Store. Hyrum Clark moved his general merchandise store into the building sometime before 1922, and his family ran the business until 1942. The building was then converted to Radmall Hardware in 1944, which was located in the building until 1988. The building was restored in 1997. Today, the building is home to Rosebud Antiques at 15 S. Main St.

Smith Rexall Drug Building Smith Rexall Drug in downtown Pleasant Grove has been open for more than 100 years. The store opened in 1910, but moved into its current building in 1917. It has been family-owned since that time. It is located at 10 S. Main St. in Pleasant Grove.

The Bank of Pleasant Grove building The Bank of Pleasant Grove building has stood at the corner of Main and Center streets for more than 100 years. It was built in 1917, introducing more prairie-style architecture to Pleasant Groves downtown area. According to the National Register of Historic Places, the building still retains much of its historical integrity. It is located at 2 S. Main St.
Provo, UT (84601)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 83F. S winds shifting to WNW at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low 58F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Someone in the Ocasio-Cortez office had forgotten to remove a parenthetical note clearly meant for internal consumption: We will begin work immediately on Green New Deal bills to put the nuts and bolts on the plan described in this resolution (important to say so someone else cant claim this mantle). Even more embarrassing, the FAQ implied that the deal would ultimately ban air travel and scour the country clean of cows.

It was an inauspicious launch for the signature new initiative of the Democratic Partys signature new star. Instead of confessing that they were still learning how policymaking works, Ocasio-Cortez apparently decided to just pretend it hadnt happened  not in the sense of ignoring the gibes and hoping to live it down but in the sense of an Obi-Wanian these are not the droids youre looking for.

An Ocasio-Cortez adviser claimed that the document was fake, and when that ploy was laughed off cable news, Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff tried to convince Twitter that the FAQs most risible parts were fake; or if not fake, misconstrued; or if not misconstrued, part of a brainstorming document that had never been intended for publication, and the fact that theyd sent it to major media outlets was no reason to believe that they meant it.
SMYRNA, Tenn.  It's not fancy. But in the exurbs of Nashville stands part of a billion-dollar real estate empire.

The Florence Commons community consists of about 300 mobile homes of varying vintages, mostly single-wide, many valued at less than $30,000 apiece, set 20 feet apart from one another. The occupants of some will tell you: The floors buckle. The ceilings crack. The doors don't shut right. Their homes are sinking.

"Okay - it's a trailer park, not a fancy gated community," said Jessica Boudreaux, 33, who lives there with her two daughters. "If people could, they'd live somewhere else."

Yet Florence Commons, along with more than 200 other mobile home parks around the U.S., has produced hefty returns for Stockbridge Capital, a $13 billion private-equity firm, and its major investors.

Their mobile home park company has produced tens of millions for investors in recent years and saw a return on investment of more than 30 percent between late 2016 and the end of 2017, according to documents.

Those ample returns arise in part from their willingness to boost the rents of the mobile home residents. As one investors report on the company put it approvingly: The "senior management team has a demonstrated track record of increasing home rental rates."

It has received $1.3 billion in financing through government-sponsored lender Fannie Mae, which says mobile homes are "inherently affordable." The money helped them buy existing mobile-home parks.

As large financial firms buy more and more U.S. homes, both conventional and mobile, the question of whether such investments benefit tenants or merely exploit them is a matter of dispute.

"They prey on people who can't afford land, people who can't move," said David Barrett, 62, an excavation equipment operator who lives in Florence Commons. "They're taking advantage of - I wouldn't say poor people - but working people. Where do you think their profits come from?"

Yes Communities, the investors' company that owns Florence Commons, says it is helping to meet the nation's need for affordable housing.

Much of the investors' revenue comes from residents who, while they often own their homes, must pay rent for the home lot. At Florence Commons, rent has risen by four percent a year or more, residents said - and most have little choice but to pay up: For practical reasons, they can't move. The dwellings are called "mobile," but they are costly to transport and sometimes owners are contractually forbidden to move them.

The residents at Florence Commons must pay in other ways, too. Rent checks that are six days late incur a 10 percent fee and a threat of quick eviction. If residents fail to cut the grass, the park managers threaten them with fees of $100 or more, residents said. An aggressive towing service has forced some residents t0 pay $200 or more to recover their cars.

The median income for families that live in mobile homes is about $30,000 a year. Adult residents of mobile homes also have lower levels of formal education, according to surveys. About two thirds lack education beyond high school.

"The owners just seem to want to get every dime from us," Boudreaux said.

Officials with Stockbridge Capital, a firm led by Terry Fancher and Sol Raso that focuses on real estate investments, released a statement: "Stockbridge is proud of its association with YES Communities, which has met the affordable housing needs of its residents nationwide for the past 11 years."

Vanessa Jasinski, vice president of marketing for Yes Communities said that the rents at Florence Commons have risen at four percent a year on average over the last six years - slightly higher than the average mobile home lot rate in the area last year, according to figures from Datacomp, an industry analyst.

Jasinski also said that the rules - and fees - for lawn and parking violations are intended to create pleasant surroundings. No park residents were required to pay for grass-cutting last year, she said. She noted that in the past five years, 46 home renters at Florence Commons have purchased homes in the community.

As for the damage caused by mobile homes settling, she said that "it is not uncommon for manufactured homes to settle and experience issues like these. This is true also of site-built homes."

* * *

Over the past three years, some of the biggest private-equity firms - Carlyle Group, Apollo Global Management and TPG Capital - have taken stakes in mobile home parks, according to a forthcoming report by the nonprofit groups Private Equity Stakeholder Project, MHAction and Americans for Financial Reform. The mobile home parks owned by private-equity firms have more than 100,000 home sites, according to the report.

"The firms made these investments seeking to double or triple their money in the space of a few years," said Jim Baker, director of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, an organization that has been critical of the private-equity industry. "That doesn't lead to affordable housing."

He said residents of these mobile home communities are reporting substantial rent increases, aggressive fees for small infractions and escalating evictions.

Critics of the role of large investors are taking in mobile home parks point to the remarks of Frank Rolfe, an investor who has owned thousands of mobile home lots. Referring to the steady stream of revenue, he said that a mobile home park "is like a Waffle House where the customers are chained to their booths."

In fact, the money that investors can see from mobile home parks is remarkably steady - and growing fast. Between 2004 and 2018, operating income from mobile home parks rose 87 percent according to Green Street Advisors, the global real estate research firm, never once declining, even during the recession.

In the case of Yes Communities, government help supports the investors' returns.

In August 2016, Fannie Mae, the government sponsored lender, said that it was helping to finance Yes Communities. It has now helped, through two banks, to provide about $1.3 billion for Yes Communities. Those loans enable Yes Communities to buy up mobile home parks.

The Yes Communities loan "will preserve affordable housing in communities across the nation," Fannie Mae said in a news release at the time.

"[P]roviding investors with attractive returns helps YES to invest into new communities and markets and meet the affordable housing needs of both existing and new residents," she said.

The terms of the loan to Yes Communities, however, do not limit the rent hikes that face residents. A Fannie Mae spokesperson said rent limits are not in their purview.

"We believe the federal government should be preserving affordable housing, but as far as we can tell, that's not the case with these loans" said Elisabeth Voight, co-director of MHAction, an organization of mobile home residents. "If it were, there would be requirements to keep the rents affordable. These loans should be helping residents buy and run their own communities, not private-equity groups that earn huge profits."

* * *

Stockbridge Capital, which is based in San Francisco and specializes in real estate investments, first invested in the mobile home park operator in 2008. In August 2016, it sold 71 percent of Yes Communities to a fund whose investors include the government of Singapore and a pension fund for public school employees in Pennsylvania. It continues to manage the mobile home park operator.

It is generally difficult to know how much private-equity firms are making, but the Pennsylvania pension fund does issue some figures. Between September 2016 and December 2017, the value of its $179 million investment rose more than 30 percent, according to their public disclosures.

But while Yes Communities is producing ample returns for investors, some residents say the parks have suffered.

"It's really gone downhill," said Kris Wilkin, 47, a state corrections officer who bought a 2003 double wide in Florence Commons seven years ago.

One year, residents said, the community swimming pool didn't open for the summer. Residents also pointed to couches and other trash out lying in surrounding open spaces.

Boudreaux, a medical assistant for a neurologist, agreed. She and her two daughters moved there in 2011.

Florence Commons, she said, was appealing to her because it welcomes people with imperfect credit. At the sales office, where salespeople encourage customers to buy homes in the park, they tell visitors that they can buy a home even if their credit records include a bankruptcy or home foreclosure. Credit scores need be no higher than 550.

"Yes! It Feels Good to be a Homeowner!" the company brochures say. "Contact our homeownership specialist today!"

Boudreaux had come from a mobile home park in South Dakota that was family-owned. There, she said, "if there was an issue, they'd fix it." She expected it would be the same at Florence Commons.

"They said they'd work with us," Boudreaux said.

She bought a double-wide for $34,000.

There are aspects of the park she likes - for one thing, it's conveniently located and there are enough kids in the neighborhood that she's rarely had to drive them to a playdate.

But the company, she says, doesn't respond to basic requests for maintenance - for better drainage, for streetlights, for potholes. The park managers seem unimpressed, she said, by her complaint that uneven settling of her lot has created a crack in her ceiling where the two side of her double-wide are separating.

Meanwhile, the mobile home lot rents are rising.

The loan payments on the home itself, she said, have dropped. But over the last six years, her lot rent has risen from $338 to $437, or almost 30 percent.

"They're almost like slumlords," she said. "If you point something out, they're just like . . . whatever. They just want the rent."
BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn.  Katie Johnson believes Moose, a 3-year-old husky retriever mix, will make a great therapy dog at Branch House Family Center because he did such a phenomenal job comforting and protecting her throughout her abusive marriage and difficult divorce.

Moose joined the Branch House team in Blountville last week, but Johnson said hes already helped victims, including one woman who got very anxious while talking to staff. He climbed in her lap, put his face against hers and helped her feel more calm and secure. He also guarded the door because he could tell the woman was upset, she said.

The purpose of the nonprofit justice center, funded by a federal grant, is to provide victims of child abuse, elder abuse, sexual assault and exploitation with counseling, legal services, orders of protection and more at one location. Nineteen local agencies have partnered with the center to provide those services.

Johnson received services at the center in 2017 and was an intern and volunteer there before she was hired as the centers coordinated community response specialist in July 2018. She rescued Moose from the Washington County/Johnson City Animal Shelter in 2016, when he was a year old. He had been abused and starved, according to Johnson.
One of Bristol, Virginias only unsolved murder cases has left investigators stumped for 35 years.

On Feb. 13, 1984, Thomas G. Helvey found the body of his 30-year-old wife Ngoc Dong Mai Helvey in an upstairs room of their Country Collection craft shop at 1201 Lawrence Ave.

Mai had been bludgeoned to death and had visible head wounds to the front and back of her head. The autopsy showed she suffered six wounds to her head, including one blow that fractured her skull, according to the Bristol Herald Courier.

Neighbors who were outside that afternoon told the newspaper they saw a man go into the craft shop around 4:30 p.m.

The neighbors said the man drove up in a light blue Ford Mustang, was inside the shop for about 15 minutes and left. They described him as being 5-foot-7 and white, with dark hair and a dark complexion.

Around 5 p.m., Helvey arrived at the store, found his wife and called the Bristol Life Saving Crew.

He was an engineer with Bristol Steel and Iron Works.

Police spent most of the night sifting through the store  which the Helveys had remodeled from a two-story wood frame house the previous fall  gathering potential evidence and talking to neighbors.
ABINGDON, Va.  A convicted felon who previously pleaded guilty to illegally possessing firearms was sentenced to nearly six years in prison on Thursday.

Patrick Steven Hyde, 40, of St. Paul, Virginia, pleaded guilty to one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He had more than a dozen firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office.

During the search, investigators recovered 14 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, two bulletproof vests and marijuana, the release states. Firearms recovered included five semi-automatic rifles and two semi-automatic pistols, according to the release.

He also faces charges in Wise County of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.

Hydes wife, Crystal Hyde, 35, told investigators that she purchased and possessed all of the weapons and ammunition in an attempt to keep her husband out of further legal trouble. She pleaded guilty to the charge and will be sentenced in March.
A Meadowview man is facing multiple felony charges after being found with drugs and stolen property.

The Washington County Sheriff's Office received a call about a suspicious vehicle on Thursday. Deputy R.C. Lord spotted a vehicle pulling into a tractor equipment business that matched the description of the suspicious vehicle, according to a news release.

A traffic stop was initiated after the vehicle turned off its lights and began circling the parking lot slowly scanning equipment with a flashlight. The driver, later identified as Johnny Edward Jobe, 43, of Meadowview, gave officers consent to search the vehicle, the release stated.

Deputy Lord located 2.5 grams of methamphetamine, three handguns, two sets of scales, individual plastic baggies and $2,500 in cash. A check of the truck and trailer resulted in the trailer being stolen from North Carolina, the release stated.

Jobe was arrested and charged with felony buying or receiving stolen goods, felony possession of a firearm with a controlled substance, felony possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, felony possession of methamphetamine and multiple traffic violations.

He was transported to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority in Abingdon and is being held without bond.
ABINGDON, Va.  Officers with the Washington County Sheriff's Office are looking for an Abingdon man accused of stealing a vehicle and leading officers on a chase.

On Friday, police received a be on the lookout call for a stolen white Toyota Tundra. According to a news release, Glade Spring Police patrolman Steve McVey spotted the truck on State Route 91.

A pursuit ensued and the truck ended up pulling off the roadway and getting stuck, according to the release. The driver left the vehicle and escaped police. McVey was able to positively identify the suspect as Derek Joshua Brown, 37, of Abingdon.

He has been charged with felony eluding and driving on a revoked license, fifth offense. Anyone who knows where he is is asked to contact the Glade Springs Police Department or WCSO.
LEBANON, Va.  A murder charge has been lodged against a Lebanon man accused of shooting a man in December.

Donald Ray Clark, 56, was charged by warrant on Friday, according to Russell County Commonwealths Attorney Zack Stoots.

The charge stems from the fatal shooting of 66-year-old William Trigg Tignor, Stoots said.

The prosecutor declined to release additional details about the shooting, including where it occurred or whether the individuals knew each other. However, Tignors obituary states that he died Dec. 17 at his home in Lebanon.

Stoots said an extensive ongoing investigation continues by the Russell County Sheriffs Office, with the assistance of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Lebanon Police Department, the Wise County Sheriffs Office and the Virginia State Police.

This is a horrific event that should have never occurred, said Stoots, who indicated that additional details will be provided once the investigation concludes.
The position is a new one created last year and funded this year by the General Assembly.

Jenkins plans to remain in her present role managing Griffiths Abingdon office until early June and help train her replacement.

Its bittersweet. I love my job, and I love all the people Ive gotten to know and deal with. Its a big district, and its been a lot of responsibility, Jenkins said. Morgan works harder than anybody realizes that he does and how passionate he is about what he does. Ive been very blessed to have been a part of all this.

Reached in his Washington, D.C., office on Friday, Griffith said this will be a loss for his staff.

Were sorry to see Michelle go, but its something she wants to do, so were happy for her, Griffith said. She did a great job as district director. She interfaced with constituents; she worked with any number of different boards and organizations throughout the Ninth District. It is going to be a loss for us but you have to be happy when you see people doing things they want to do. You want to see people growing in their careers so were happy for her.

Griffith, also an attorney, said Jenkins is willing to work hard and is very patient, attributes that will serve her well on the bench.
Anderson, IN (46016)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 78F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely this evening. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Betty Faye Isham, 90, of Greenville, passed away on June 20, 2021, in Greenville. Funeral services will be 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 23, 2021, at Coker-Mathews Funeral Home Chapel with Mr. Amos Lowry officiating. Visitation will be Noon until service time at the funeral home. Interment will be 
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email customercare@heraldandnews.com for help creating one.
Donald Trump declared a national emergency yesterday in a bid to fund his promised wall at the US-Mexico border, an action Democrats vowed to challenge on its legal basis.

The Republican president's move circumvents the need to win over lawmakers in Congress and represents a new approach to his 2016 campaign pledge to halt the flow of immigrants into the country.

He is also expected to sign a bipartisan government spending bill that Congress approved on Thursday that would prevent another partial government shutdown by funding several agencies that otherwise would have closed.

Mr Trump made no direct mention of the funding bill in his speech, which represents a legislative defeat since it contains no money for his wall - the focus of conflict between him and Democrats in Congress.

Mr Trump's demand that Congress provide him with $5.7bn (5bn) in wall funding as part of legislation to fund the agencies triggered a government shutdown across December and January that damaged the US economy.

Battle

By turning his wall-funding quest towards a legally uncertain strategy based on declaring a national emergency, Mr Trump risks a lengthy battle with Democrats and dividing fellow Republicans.

Fifteen Democrats in the Republican-controlled Senate introduced legislation on Thursday to prevent the transfer of funds from accounts Mr Trump would likely target to pay for the wall.

Top Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer swiftly responded to Mr Trump's declaration of an emergency.

"The president's actions clearly violate the Congress' exclusive power of the purse, which our founders enshrined in the constitution," they said in a statement.

"The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the courts and in the public, using every remedy available."

New York state's attorney general, Letitia James, said her office would also challenge Mr Trump in court.

"We'll win in the Supreme Court," the president predicted.

Legal experts said the Trump administration may prevail.

The National Emergencies Act of 1976 gives the president broad leeway to declare an emergency.

The law also includes a mechanism for Congress to oppose such a declaration.
Gardai have carried out a series of raids as part of investigations into a number of feud firebombings in the capital.

Local detectives, backed by members of the Armed Support Unit, searched three addresses in the north inner city.

The raids targeted people suspected of involvement in up to a dozen arson attacks on members of the Hutch family in recent months.

Warfare

Officers remain on high alert with fears that more firebombings will be carried out as part of the warfare.

Most of the attacks have been carried out in the north inner city, but last week the home of a woman in Crumlin who has no involvement in crime was hit.

Sources told the Herald three properties were raided and further operations are expected, but no arrests were made as part of the raids.

"The situation is very tense at the moment and shows no signs of slowing down," a source added.

"A number of raids have been carried out targeting those suspected of involvement, and operations will continue."

On February 8, the Crumlin home of an innocent woman connected to the Hutch family was targeted.

The previous weekend, an innocent 92-year-old man was caught up in the trouble after more than 100,000 of damage was caused in a revenge firebomb attack on three vehicles.

The man was targeted because he is related to a young thug who the Hutch mob believes is aligned with criminals providing "logistical support" to the rival Kinahan cartel.

Last month, a car owned by a sister of gang boss Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch was torched outside her home in Clarence Street North.

Like the other Hutch-linked women targeted the week before, the 52-year-old woman had no involvement in organised crime.

In another incident, on January 9, a house that was being renovated for a female member of the Hutch family was targeted in a petrol bomb attack which caused extensive damage.

Gardai were alerted to a fire at the front of the property in St Margaret's Avenue, just off the North Circular Road, and found the front door and porch in flames when they arrived.

There was a strong smell of petrol and gardai believe the house was deliberately targeted.

Just under 24 hours earlier, a car owned by a close female associate of cartel target Jonathan Hutch was set on fire in North Great Charles Street, again in a targeted attack.

This followed an incident on December 17 when a soph- isticated hoax bomb was left outside the home of an innocent woman, which led to a Dorset Street apartment block being evacuated.

Intimidate

The incidents have all been linked to the Hutch/Kinahan feud, which has so far claimed up to 19 lives.

However, due to increased garda pressure and the jailing of a number of hitmen, the cartel has been forced to recruit low-level criminals to carry out arson attacks to intimidate the Hutch faction.

Speaking to the Herald last month, Assistant Commissioner Pat Leahy warned the feuding is "inter-generational" and will go on for years.
A father was charged with assault by gardai after a woman became convinced he was slapping his toddler.

The 46-year-old - who cannot be named for legal reasons - also faces a charge of attempting to interfere with a witness.

He has been co-operating fully with Probation and Welfare Service officials and is due to be sentenced on the slapping charge.

Judge Olann Kelleher decided that, while he found the facts proven against the man, he wanted to consider alternatives to recording a conviction.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has indicated that the witness interference charge can be dealt with at the district court.

Cork District Court was told by a female witness she was near the Dunnes Stores outlet at the Bishopstown Court Shopping Centre, in Cork on July 23, 2017.

Screaming

Her attention was drawn to the high-pitched sound of a child crying. She saw a man struggling with a child by a shopping trolley.

He was trying to get the child's legs into the shopping trolley seat.

The woman noticed that the child was still crying and screaming as the man proceeded to do some shopping in the centre.

Later, she came across the pair back in the car park, where she said she saw the man standing by the rear of his car and swinging his hands into the back of the car.

The woman said she heard the child crying and noted that her voice was getting higher and louder in apparent distress.

A second woman at the complex said she also saw the man swinging his hands into the rear of the car and heard a child crying. She said she was convinced the man had been slapping the child in the rear of the car.

Both women were upset about the incident. Neither actually witnessed the child being struck, but were convinced about what was happening.
Sarah Clarke was served with the book of evidence at court

A young mother charged with drugs offences following the seizure of nearly 600,000 of heroin and cocaine has been sent for trial.

Sarah Clarke (24) was served with the book of evidence when she appeared on bail before Tallaght District Court.

The accused is charged with possession of cocaine and heroin, as well as having the drugs for sale or supply.

The drugs were allegedly found when gardai raided the accused's home at New Bancroft Place, Tallaght, last October 17.

Ms Clarke is also facing a charge under Section 15a of the Misuse of Drugs Act, where the value of the drugs is greater than 13,000.

She was arrested following an operation by detectives into the sale and supply of controlled substances in the Tallaght area.

Warning

A state solicitor said the book of evidence had been served on the accused, who goes forward for trial to the present sittings of Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Judge Patricia McNamara gave the accused the formal alibi warning.

As part of her bail conditions, Ms Clarke has surrendered her passport and agreed not to apply for new documents.

She is signing on once a week at her local garda station and has been ordered to keep her mobile phone on at all times so gardai can contact her.

Defence solicitor Terence Hanahoe and one junior counsel were assigned on legal aid.

Due to the seriousness of the charges, a second senior counsel was also assigned by the judge.

Judge McNamara further ordered that a video copy of a garda interview with Ms Clarke be furnished to her lawyers.

The accused, a single mother-of-one, has not yet indicated a plea to the charges.
Former gang boss John Gilligan, who was arrested with more than 22,000 in a suitcase at Belfast International Airport last August, is to contest charges he faces in April.

Dubliner Gilligan (66) was in the dock at Coleraine Magistrates' Court yesterday. He faces two charges.

One is that on last August 23, he attempted to remove criminal property from Northern Ireland.

The second is that he possessed criminal property, namely 22,280.

A defence lawyer said they were served with the case pap-ers that morning, adding: "They are quite voluminous."

He said his "clear instructions" were to enter a not guilty plea and contest the charges.

A prosecution lawyer said there were 15 prosecution witnesses, while the defence lawyer told the court there were 13 for the defence.

District Judge Peter King set a contest day at the end of April and said a review would be held in mid-March to "firm up" the number of witnesses that would be needed.

He said Gilligan did not need to attend next month.

The defendant said: "OK, thank you very much."

He was released on continuing bail, no details of which were given in court.

On the way out, Gilligan held the door open for other members of the public.

Gilligan had spent several months on custody in relation to the charges, and when he was granted bail recently he had pledged to show up at yesterday's court date, telling a judge: "I wouldn't run."

Sentence

During his recent court appearance, a prosecutor had confirmed that if found guilty, the maximum sentence the accused could face would be six months.

Gilligan had actually served five months on remand, the equivalent of a 10-month sentence.

At the time of the airport cash detection, the UK's National Crime Agency said officers recovered around 22,000 at the scene.

After the court date, the Court Service confirmed the defendant was on 500 (570) bail along with a 5,000 (5,700) surety and was to reside at an address "agreed by Police Service of Northern Ireland".
Free access for current print subscribers

As a home delivery subscriber, you get free unlimited digital access to premium content on HenryHerald.com, including local news, local sports, obituaries, legal notices, local features, and the e-edition.

All you need is your print subscription account number and your last name.

Don't know your subscription number? Email access@henryherald.com with your delivery address.

Activate your account now.
A TEAM of 11 people aim to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for the Chiltern Centre for disabled children in Henley.

They will fly to Tanzania on Sunday for the seven-day trek up the 19,341ft peak.

The climbers, who include Henley residents Yvette Kershaw, Nick Steel, Nigel Reading, Ian Gallifant and Shlomo Manheim, hope to raise 50,000.

Each one has committed to raising at least 1,000.

The rest of the team comprises friends and families of young people who are cared for at the centre, off Greys Road. They range in age from people in their twenties to a 69-year-old.

The charity announced plans for the expedition a year ago.

The volunteers will follow the Lemosho route, which goes through arid lowlands and the Shira Plateau moorlands and up the Barranco Wall, an exposed 1,000ft climb.

They will then make for the summit under moonlight.

On the way back down the group will walk through lush tropical rainforests crowded with monkeys and butterflies. The climbers have been on training walks together on Mount Snowdon in Wales and Box Hill in Surrey. Harriet Barcella, community fund-raiser at the centre, said the trekkers were looking forward to the challenge.

She said: Most of them have never done anything like it before. I think they are excited. They are conscious that the struggles on the climb are incomparable to what the children and families at the Chiltern Centre go through and they hope that will keep them going.

To donate, visit www.chiltern

centre.org.uk
Editor: If water is life then why dont we do something positive about replenishin




Haiti - News : Zapping...





Security : Haitian Chancellor at the White House

Bocchit Edmond, went in emergency to the White House at the request of President Jovenel Moise, to meet with John Bolton, National Security Advisor to President Trump to discuss the situation in Haiti.



US Marines in Haiti

The Pentagon has sent a dozen US marines to reinforce in Haiti to ensure the security of the US Embassy, announced Friday CNN two US officials in Port-au-Prince.



Dajabon market in freefall

Friday on the binational market of Dajabon activities were reduced by more than 90% due to the low number of Haitian buyers who can not get to the market safely and blocked roads and looting in Haiti by protesters since February 7th. The income losses for traders on both sides of the border are considerable and are in millions of Pesos and Gourdes.



Former Senator Steven Benoit disappointed

Former Senator Steven Irvenson Benoit, reacting to President Jovenel Moise's speech, said he was disappointed, saying [...] I was expecting a speech that would take into account the reality of the moment marked by a dysfunctional country". He believes that the next few days will be difficult if President Moise and his team do not resign.



Mexico : Closed Consular Section

Given the prevailing insecurity situation, the Consular Section of the Mexican Embassy informs that it will be closed until further notice. All persons having an appointment booked by our MEXITEL system will be welcomed without making a new appointment once the service to the public has been reinstated. Please follow our next announcements.



Canada : Embassy Closed

The Canadian Embassy remained closed to the public yesterday, Friday, February 15, since February 13. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26939-haiti-scandal-canada-closes-its-embassy-in-haiti-but-continues-deportations-of-haitians.html . Emergency consular assistance services for Canadian citizens in Haiti are always available. If this assistance is needed, Canadians can reach the service by calling (509) 2812-9000 locally or by calling the Ottawa Monitoring and Emergency Response Center (collect) at 1-613- 996-8885. An email can also be sent to sos@international.gc.ca



Japan : Embassy Closed

The Embassy of Japan in Haiti was closed yesterday Friday, February 15 as a precaution.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - NOTICE : Canada asks its citizens to leave Haiti





The Canadian Government recommends that its citizens avoid any trip to Haiti.



In addition, Canada notes that "the security situation could deteriorate rapidly" and advises "You should consider leaving Haiti by commercial means as long as they are available."



Recalling that "burning barricades disrupt traffic on the main streets of Port-au-Prince. Access to Toussaint-Louverture International Airport is difficult and could be blocked without notice. Clashes, sometimes involving the use of firearms, have already claimed victims."



Note that the Canadian Embassy in Haiti was closed on February 15, 2019, due to civil unrest in Port-au-Prince and across the country.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26930-haiti-crisis-7th-days-of-demonstrations-at-least-2-dead-and-thirty-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26927-haiti-flash-udmo-agents-shoot-at-the-crowd-in-petit-goave-at-least-15-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26904-haiti-crisis-protests-affect-the-water-supply-of-the-capital.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26901-haiti-crisis-the-capitale-roads-service-suspended.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26899-haiti-flash-banks-attacked-gas-station-burned-opposition-is-radicalized.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26891-haiti-flash-3rd-day-of-demonstration-and-violence.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26885-haiti-flash-2nd-day-of-violent-demonstrations-at-least-3-dead-and-many-injured.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26875-haiti-flash-important-damage-at-least-4-dead-and-21-wounded-during-the-demonstrations.html



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - FLASH : USA raises to maximum Travel Advisory Levels for Haiti





Thursday one hour after the message to the Nation of President Jovenel Moise, the US State Department in a travel advisory, has raised the alert level to 4 (maximum level) recommending do not travel to Haiti due to crime and civil unrest. This is the second time that Haiti goes to level 4 after the riots of July 2018 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-24909-haiti-usa-travel-advisory-for-haiti-raised-to-level-4.html



"There are currently widespread, violent, and unpredictable demonstrations in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere in Haiti. Due to these demonstrations, on February 14, 2019, the Department of State ordered the departure of all non-emergency U.S. personnel and their family members https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26920-haiti-flash-6th-day-of-paralysis-the-country-sinks-into-chaos.html . The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Haiti.



Protests, tire burning, and road blockages are frequent and unpredictable. Violent crime, such as armed robbery, is common. Local police may lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents, and emergency response, including ambulance service, is limited or non-existent.



Travelers are sometimes targeted, followed, and violently attacked and robbed shortly after leaving the Port-au-Prince international airport. The U.S. Embassy requires its personnel to use official transportation to and from the airport, and it takes steps to detect surveillance and deter criminal attacks during these transports.



The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens due to reduced staffing and security concerns.



If you decide to travel to Haiti :



Avoid demonstrations. Do not attempt to drive through roadblocks.

Arrange airport transfers and hotels in advance, or have your host meet you upon arrival.

Be careful about providing your destination address in Haiti. Do not provide personal information to unauthorized individuals located in the immigration, customs, or other areas inside or near any airports in Haiti.

As you leave the airport, make sure you are not being followed. If you notice you are being followed, drive to the nearest police station immediately.

Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.

Purchase travel insurance and medical evacuation insurance ahead of time.

Review information on Travel to High-Risk Areas.

Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.

Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter.

Review the Overseas Security Advisory Council report on Haiti.

U.S. citizens who travel abroad should always have a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Travelers Checklist.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26945-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-26938-icihaiti-crisis-first-day-without-demonstration.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26930-haiti-crisis-7th-days-of-demonstrations-at-least-2-dead-and-thirty-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26927-haiti-flash-udmo-agents-shoot-at-the-crowd-in-petit-goave-at-least-15-wounded.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26904-haiti-crisis-protests-affect-the-water-supply-of-the-capital.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26901-haiti-crisis-the-capitale-roads-service-suspended.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26899-haiti-flash-banks-attacked-gas-station-burned-opposition-is-radicalized.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26891-haiti-flash-3rd-day-of-demonstration-and-violence.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26885-haiti-flash-2nd-day-of-violent-demonstrations-at-least-3-dead-and-many-injured.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26875-haiti-flash-important-damage-at-least-4-dead-and-21-wounded-during-the-demonstrations.html



HL/ HaitiLibre





"






















Haiti - FLASH : Canada temporarily suspends deportations of Haitians to Haiti





No more Haitian will be expelled from Canada to Haiti because of riots and insecurity that persist in this country, said Friday Judith Gadbois-St-Cyr, spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) "Following a decision by the CBSA dated February 15, 2019, an administrative reprieve on removals to Haiti will take effect immediately until further notice," adding that the Agency was aware of the impact of this situation on individuals concerned but without providing the number of Haitian citizens who have been deported to Haiti since the beginning of the crisis.



Questioned by journalists Friday morning about the evictions to Haiti, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said :



"We are very much concerned by the situation in Haiti. This is a situation that impacts many Canadians who have family and friends in Haiti.



We are also very aware of a number of Canadians who are currently stranded in Haiti and who want to come back and have to return to Canada.



We are working with Global Affairs and our entire Diplomatic Corps to help them.



Compared to the status of the immigration department we ara looking at this issue there and are going to have things to say in the near future."



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-26939-haiti-scandal-canada-closes-its-embassy-in-haiti-but-continues-deportations-of-haitians.html



HL/ HaitiLibre


















We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Submit




Have any questions? Please give us a call at 520-625-5511
The Santa Cruz County Sheriffs Department is sending a crew into the Santa Rita Mountains on Wednesday, two days after a hiker apparently dis
Back in August last year Motorola, or Lenovo, depending on you preference, unveiled the Moto Z3 - still its current flagship offer. Along with it at the special Chicago event came the 4G Moto Mod - a somewhat odd result of a new-found 5G hype, combined with an ongoing promise of Modo Mod compatibility and investment in the ecosystem.

After that initial wave of viral media coverage for what was essentially, at the time, a shell, with a 2,000 mAh battery pack and space to eventually fit in one of Qualcomm's X50 5G modems, the 5G Moto Mod slipped into obscurity. Until late last month, when Motorola released a software update for the Moto Z3 adding in support for said snap-on accessory.

Now an FCC certification for the 5G Moto Mod has surface as well, proving that the company does, indeed intend to follow-through with the product and prove that it wasn't just a PR stunt. There is still no word on actual pricing or availability for the 5G mod, but spending the extra money and extending the effort to get FCC approval does mean that a release is imminent.



5G Moto mod

The enclosed sketches also show that the design and dimensions of the module haven't really been changed after its announcement. Meaning that it is still just as big and cumbersome as we remember from our hands-on experience with a hardware mockup a while back. The 5G Moto Mod measures 59.15 x 72.96 x 5.97mm, standing even taller than the Moto Z3 itself due to the inclusion of a protruding antenna. When snapped to the back of the phone, it makes the entire package 13.75mm thick and with a combined weight of a hefty 281 grams. Other, less than ideal aspects of the product include the fact that it is designed to only work on the Verizon network and has a separate non-removable SIM or eSIM module, vastly limiting its versatility. Or at least that was the case when it was announced.

Also, at least from what we've seen so far, it seems that no other Moto Mod compatible devices, besides the Moto Z3 will be able to use the 5G mod. There have been rumors for planned Moto Z2 compatibility, but that doesnt really seem too likely.



5G Moto mod

All this being said, there are still certain positive aspects to the 5G Moto Mod. For one, our original estimates on the 5G adoption rates were a bit too optimistic, it seems, since 5G handsets are only now starting to emerge. This could make the 5G Moto Mod at least a bit more relevant from a timing perspective during this initial early-adopter 5G stage. Also, we do appreciate the fact the accessory has a separate USB Type-C interface of its own, which could allow it to plug into a PC and connect it to a fast 5G network. Heres hoping Verizon doesnt make the device and data plan pricing too prohibitive.

Source
Huawei's plans regarding the new P30 and P30 Pro flagships, upcoming 5G devices and MWC 2019 presence are kind of lacking particulars at the moment. As far as we know, the company will be teasing/unveiling or at the very least discussing 5G at its February 24 Barcelona event. That being said, however, a recent press release, dealing with Huawei's Polish branch did accidentally hint that the new P30 flagship will be unveiled in Paris at the end of March (likely March 28). A historical favourite combination of location and time frame for Huawei unveilings.



Huawei P30 and P30 Pro User Agent Profiles

As far as the P30 and P30 Pro phones themselves go, the available info has been rather conflicting as well. Mostly acquired through third-party case maker renders. Thankfully today brings a fresh User Agent Profile leak, referring to ELE-L29 and VOG-L29 smartphones, which should indeed be the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro, respectively.

As is the nature of said machine-friendly feature descriptor file, the information it holds is scarce. In this particular case it reveals a 1080 x 2340 resolution for the P30 Pair. Also, features multiple mentions of Android 9 Pie - more than likely the OS version to ship out of the box.

Beyond that little info has been revealed on the P30 and P30 Pro. Those case renders we mentioned earlier did confirm four cameras on the Huawei P30 Pro in a vertical arrangement along with a dual LED flash on the right. The vanilla P30 will get a vertical three-camera setup with the flash sitting below. And on the front of the phones - a waterdrop notch, quite similar to that on the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20X.

Anything beyond this is part speculation and part educated guess. Like, for instance, the probable inclusion of an under display fingerprint reader and hence an OLED panel. The familiar Kirin 980 chipset will likely be making another appearance on the P30 pair as well, for a couple of reasons. For one, Huawei's own Balong 5000 5G modem is designed to be hooked up to the Kirin 980. Also, Huawei has a habit of releasing its new silicon on Mate family devices first and then the P series.

These are also more than a few questions regarding Huawei's MWC event. We recall an earlier promise of a foldable 5G phone, which judging by the rather standard resolution, won't likely be the P30 or the P30 Pro. Technically, the company promised 5G phones, plural, so we might see a non-foldable phone as well. The event announcement mentions Internet of Everything, so its likely that the companys new 5G home router will attend too. Beyond that, we'll just have to wait and see.

Source
First, it was her clothing. Then her dancing. Not to mention her credit score, her apartment, her hometown. Maybe it was only a matter of time before right-wing trolls went after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's love life.

On Friday - the day after Valentine's Day, as some commenters dutifully noted - an accusation that the New York democrat was employing her boyfriend as a member of her staff made its way around the Twitter pages of various conservative media magoos. Gleeful outrage ensued.

"While you were having a nice Valentine's Day, @AOC decided to put her boyfriend on staff - drawing a salary on the taxpayer's dime," wrote Twitter user Luke Thompson in one viral post. "Nice to see her adapting to the swamp so quickly."

".@AOC is having a tough week," wrote Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA.

Then, from Katrina Pierson, a senior adviser to the Trump 2020 campaign: "Her jobs for everyone starts with her boyfriend. Pure socialism, government chooses the winners and losers."

Fox News picked up on this chatter and published a story that asserted Ocasio-Cortez "faces questions" about her boyfriend. Similar stories in Breitbart and the Daily Caller followed.

The fast-growing conspiracy seems to have originated from a few would-be sleuths who found her boyfriend's name, Riley Roberts, listed in online House directories with a "mail.house.gov" email address. Thus, he must be on her staff.

Well, they're partly correct. Roberts does have a House email address, but, as a spokesperson for the chamber's Office of the Chief Administrative Officer explained, that does not mean he's an employee.

"From time to time, at the request of members, spouses and partners are provided House email accounts for the purposes of viewing the member's calendar," the spokesperson said.

On Twitter, Ocasio-Cortez made the same point - that allowing partners access to members' schedules through House email accounts is commonplace and is not against any government rules - adding, that Thompson should "check your facts before you tweet nonsense."

Her chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, told The Post that, "Rep. Ocasio-Cortez's partner, Mr. Roberts, has no official position, paid or otherwise, with her congressional office. Members of Congress have very tightly scheduled calendars that their family members and partners are allowed to access to make personal plans around official schedules."

The attacks were the latest in a litany of ginned-up or exaggerated controversies that have been unrelenting since the first-term democratic socialist began making political waves.

Merely one such example: In July 2018, John Cardillo, host of a Newsmax show, tweeted a photo of Ocasio-Cortez's childhood home in Westchester County, New York. He wrote, "This is the Yorktown Heights (very nice area) home @Ocasio2018 grew up in" and added, erroneously, that she then went to Brown University, an Ivy League school.

Then-candidate Ocasio-Cortez responded forcefully, writing, "Hey John, 1. I didn't go to Brown or the Ivy League. I went to BU. Try Google. 2. It is nice. Growing up, it was a good town for working people. My mom scrubbed toilets so I could live here & I grew up seeing how the Zip code one is born in determines much of their opportunity."

In a January interview, responding to a phony "nude selfie" that the Daily Caller promoted (before walking back its headline), Ocasio-Cortez told The Post that her right wing detractors were "out of all their artillery."

"The nude is supposed to be like the bazooka. You know, like, 'We're going to take her down,'" she said, possibly anticipating future provocations. "Dude, you're all out of bullets, you're all out of bombs, you're all out of all this stuff. What have you got left?"
GREENWICH  After months of work trying to get the extension of a senior tax credit through the Board of Selectmen, advocates of the program now face budget officials.

The extensions duration likely will be a sticking point when the Board of Estimate and Taxation considers the matter this week.

The town Commission on Aging is seeking a 10-year extension to the credit, which provides help for eligible Greenwich seniors and is set to expire on June 30. However when the credit came before the BETs Budget Committee on Wednesday the recommendation was made to reduce it to a five-year extension.

Before the full BET, which is to vote on the credit Tuesday evening, Lori Contadino, director of the Commission in Aging, said she will push for the 10 years.

I was a little surprised and disappointed that it might have come across that we were supporting a five-year extension instead of 10, Contadino said I want to make sure the BET knows that was not our intention. I will work with whatever parameters they give us of course but we prefer the 10-year extension.

Leslie Moriarty, chair of the Budget Committee, and Jill Oberlander, BET chair, could not be reached for comment. Michael Mason, a member of the Budget Committee, said after discussion five years made more sense.

What convinced me is the idea that when we do this every five years we have a chance to evaluate it and improve it, Mason said. This is a program that helps a lot of people in town and why would you want to wait 10 years to make it better? When you have it up for review every five years you can see whats working.

Mason said he was open to 10 years because of all the work that goes into preparing the tax credit.

Its not like were going to dissolve this and not do the tax credit, Mason said. I think everyone supports this.

The tax credit has been in place since 2000. Contadino said it has never exceeded budget.

This is something that benefits our most elderly and vulnerable income constrained residents, Contadino said.

The credit allows seniors who own homes in Greenwich to save on property tax, based on a sliding scale depending on household income. The current form of the credit, approved by the selectmen last month, extends the benefit to cover residents who have a permanent disability.

The commission had requested a 10-year extension in 2014, but the RTM bumped it down to five.

The BET meeting on Tuesday will be at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

The Board of Selectmen gave unanimous approval for a 10-year extension in January, and said they wanted to explore ways to cover more residents.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
Greensburg, IN (47240)

Today

Thunderstorms likely this morning. Then a chance of scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 82F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then cloudy skies after midnight. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
A gunman opened fire at a manufacturing plant in suburban Chicago on Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was fatally shot, police said
Wherever she goes, the subject of Anne Frank invariably comes up.

"People always ask," Schloss said.

The abridged version of Schloss' life story  she says she wants to save most details for the audience  includes fleeing the invasion of Austria by the Nazis and eventually resettling in Amsterdam, where she met Anne Frank.

The girls, both 11 at the time, had gotten to know each other because they lived in nearby apartments. Anne loved to laugh, Schloss recalled, as they skipped and played hopscotch and marbles.

But life slowly changed as Jews began facing restrictions and were given a yellow star as a brand of sorts.

Soon, both families were forced to go into hiding, with a Dutch family offering a cordoned off portion of their home to Schloss and her family.

"We were not allowed to go out," Schloss recalled. "We were not allowed to make any noises. We could not go to school. We could not meet friends. But at least it kept us safe."

That safety lasted for two years. In May 1944  on her 15th birthday  soldiers came and rounded up her family.
Yeas: Walker, Budd

Yemen and intelligence gathering: The House has passed an amendment to a bill to require the withdrawal of U.S. soldiers from Yemen. The amendment would exempt intelligence gathering and sharing activities from the withdrawal requirement. The vote, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, was 252-177.

Yeas: Walker, Budd

Intervention in Yemen: The House has passed a bill to require the removal from Yemen, within 30 days, of U.S. soldiers stationed there, barring congressional authorization of the use of force in Yemen. The vote, on Wednesday, Feb. 13,was 248-177, with one voting present.

Nays: Walker, Budd

Database on legal settlements: The House has passed the Settlement Agreement Information Database Act to require the establishment of a public database with information about legal settlements reached by federal government agencies that involve agency allegations of violations of federal civil or criminal law. The vote, on Wednesday, Feb. 13, was unanimous with 418 yeas.

Yeas: Walker, Budd
Personally, for me, Im OK with it, Hightower said of the current format. Some may see it as disruptive and rude, but I see it as passion.

She observed that she regularly spoke out at such meetings before she was elected to the council: I have been on the other side of that microphone. Did I yell and scream? I got a little loud probably.

She said residents have no reason to fear coming down to City Hall and telling the council exactly what they think.

What are they scared of? Its one of the safest places you can be in public in the city, Hightower said, noting that numerous police officers are on hand at each meeting and that everybody in the audience is checked with a metal-detecting wand before they enter the council chambers.

Its also a myth that the town hall audience is nasty to people who express opposing views, said Marcus Hyde, an advocate for the homeless who speaks regularly at council town halls.

I remember one blatantly racist rant someone gave that got shouted down, Hyde said. I dont remember anybody else getting shouted down when they were speaking about playgrounds or anything else.
The councils range of requests this time around included providing greater flexibility in laws governing police body-camera evidence, help in collecting an estimated $2 million in unpaid city parking tickets and making it easier for firefighters to qualify for disability payments.

Several City Council members told the legislators that they need more leeway to tell the public what they have seen after reviewing police bodycam video.

Current state law requires the members to sign confidentiality agreements that prevent them from revealing to constituents what they have seen, for example, in situations where police brutality has been alleged.

Mayor Nancy Vaughan told the legislators it made no sense for council members to review such tapes if they cannot describe what they have seen to anyone.

Whats the point? We have to be able to tell our constituents what happened in the video, Vaughan said.

Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson said such information can be valuable in keeping residents from jumping to a wrong conclusion.

When they see that police are doing what they are supposed to do and that the person they thought was being wronged was not, it dissipates a lot of tension and conflict, Johnson said.
In 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates during the First Barbary War.

In 1948, NBC TV began airing its first nightly newscast, The Camel Newsreel Theatre, which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.

In 1959, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a-half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

In 1968, the nations first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Alabama, as the speaker of the Alabama House, Rankin Fite, placed a call from the mayors office in City Hall to a red telephone at the police station (also located in City Hall) that was answered by U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill.

In 1988, seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, California, by a man obsessed with a co-worker who was wounded in the attack. (The gunman is on death row.)

In 2001, the United States and Britain staged air strikes against radar stations and air defense command centers in Iraq.
Because the district expects to have all testing and makeups done at each school before that school's graduation ceremony, officials believe they are in compliance with a state directive on when graduations can start.


Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Note: We've recently updated our online systems. If you can't login please try resetting your password. You must login with an email address. If you don't have an email associated with your account email circulation@skagitpublishing.com for help creating one.
Goshen, IN (46526)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 79F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 2 to 3 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Neal said when they advertise for new volunteers, the search is already difficult without adding in race as another dimension. The amount of time and training required to start volunteering often gives people pause, not to mention what they see on a call.

One, you got to be a special type of person to do it no matter what color you are, and, two, you got to have the skills, and, three, you got to give up a lot of your own time, Neal said as he listed the requirements for a volunteer.

The process starts out with a four-page application and a background check before committing to about 180 hours of training over the course of a few months, he said.

If you got the heart and stamina and are willing to give, I dont care what color you are, said Neal.

Currently, none of the fire chiefs or EMS captains are African-American and several squads dont have any African-Americans on the roster.

Miller said he believes some of the hesitation from African-American community has been a result of perceived exclusivity within the squads. But he thinks that mindset is beginning to shift with the younger generation.
Typically well get a call from the hospital then we will jump in, Mondul said. Finding people is a challenge... we will exhaust all resources.

Locating a family member is tough, and many are not able to pay for their relatives burials. Others simply do not want to. But, Mondul said, the two are not mutually exclusive.

They go hand-in-hand almost every time, being indigent and unclaimed, he said. These are the sad cases somebody has to deal with it.

If a blood relative cannot be found, Mondul has to get an order from the court giving him the authority to identify the body and proceed with its disposition, effectively assuming the legal role of next of kin.

The sheriffs office, Mondul noted, does not transport the body. That falls to Swicegood, which takes the bodies to the medical examiner or its crematorium in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, office manager at the home Wendy Brannock said.

The ashes are then returned to the funeral home in Danville.

From there, they are either claimed or not. Brannock said a funeral ceremony could cost as much as $10,000. Oftentimes, Brannock said, relatives do not appear until weeks after the cremation has been done.
Gloucester, MA (01930)

Today

Showers early, then cloudy in the afternoon. High 67F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

A few clouds. Low 63F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Ukrainian Official Charged With Ordering Anticorruption Activist's Killing

By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service February 15, 2019

KYIV -- A high-ranking regional official suspected of organizing the killing of Ukrainian anticorruption activist Kateryna Handzyuk last year has been arrested.

The Shevchenko district court in Kyiv at about 3 a.m. on February 15 ordered that Vladyslav Manher, head of the regional council in the southern region of Kherson, be held in pretrial detention until March 3 or pay a 2.5 million-hryvnya ($91,000) bail. He has been charged with organizing a contract murder with "special cruelty."

Manher was transferred to a detention center. His lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.

The Prosecutor-General's Office announced on February 11 that Manher was a suspect in the high-profile case.

Handzyuk, a 33-year-old civic activist and adviser to the mayor of the Black Sea port city of Kherson, died in November -- three months after she was severely injured in an acid attack.

WATCH: Kateryna Handzyuk died six weeks after making an impassioned video from her hospital bed, in which she listed dozens of attacks on civic activists that police have failed to resolve.

The killing outraged Ukraine, with activists accusing the authorities of failing to complete the investigation or identify the mastermind.

Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko said on February 11 that prosecutors had obtained enough testimony from witnesses about Manher's alleged role in Handzyuk's death, adding that the attackers had received "no less than $4,000."

According to a document posted by Lutsenko on Facebook, Manher felt "personal enmity" toward Handzyuk because of her efforts to expose "illegal deforestation" in the region.

If convicted, the 48-year-old Manher could face up to life in prison.

Manher said earlier this week in a televised interview that he had nothing to do with the deadly attack.

Five suspects, including a police officer, were detained last year on suspicion of involvement in the attack on Handzyuk.

Two of them have been placed in pretrial detention, and the others are under house arrest.

Handzyuk's death came amid a wave of attacks on Ukrainian civic activists. Human rights activists have accused law enforcement agencies of failing to thoroughly investigate the cases and even of possible complicity in some of the attacks.

The United States and the European Union have called the attacks unacceptable and urged the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-official -charged-with-ordering-anticorruption- activists-killing/29772010.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.
Sources Say EU Ready With Sanctions Over Russia's Detention Of Ukraine Seamen

By RFE/RL February 15, 2019

BRUSSELS -- EU diplomats have agreed to impose asset freezes and visa bans on a number of Russians involved in the capture and detention of 24 Ukrainian seamen during an incident near the Kerch Strait in November, several sources familiar with the negotiations who are not authorized to speak on the record have told RFE/RL.

The exact number of people to be sanctioned has not been established yet, but it is believed to be around eight individuals who are either officers who were involved in the Kerch Strait incident or Russian judges who oversaw the subsequent detention of the Ukrainians.

The incident occurred on November 25 when Russian Coast Guard vessels fired on and then captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels and their crews while they were on their way to the Ukrainian port of Mariupol. Moscow accuses them of illegally entering Russian territorial waters.

The Kerch Strait, near the Ukrainian region of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, is a narrow passage that connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

A push to adopt the sanctions in December floundered due to French, German, and Italian opposition. However, according to diplomats, the continued detention of the crews by Russia has brought the EU together on the matter of additional measures.

EU foreign ministers will discuss Ukraine when they meet in Brussels on February 18, but the sanctions are expected to be approved by EU ambassadors later this month.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/sources-say-eu- ready-with-sanctions-over-russia-s-detention-of- ukraine-seamen/29772244.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.
Taiwan to talk with Google over exposed missile position

ROC Central News Agency

2019/02/15 21:06:11

Taipei, Feb. 15 (CNA) National security authorities will talk with Google over satellite imagery showing the exact locations of Taiwan's Patriot missiles on Google Map, Minister of National Defense Yen De-fa () said Friday.

The American multinational technology company's widely used search engine recently began posting 3D images of Taipei, New Taipei, Taoyuan and Taichung cities as part of its new map services, but netizens soon discovered that the National Security Bureau (NSB), Military Intelligence Bureau (MIB), and the country's Patriot missile installation in Xindian district, all classified venues located in the greater Taipei area, were exposed in detail.

Speaking to reporters at the Legislative Yuan on Friday, Yen assured the public that relevant authorities will soon negotiate with Google over the issue.

"The site of a military base does not equally mean its fixed position during wartime," he said, as he tried to assure the public that the exposure will not affect Taiwan's military operations.

Protection from being revealed by Google's mapping project may be viable under the Vital Area Regulations, but whether the scope of the law covers the concealment of military sites across the country requires further discussion, the defense minister said.

A defense official who asked not to be named told CNA Friday that Google's satellite imagery of Taiwan's Patriot missile location are most likely outdated, because the military routinely shifts its defense facilities to conceal them and deceive the enemy.

The Patriot missile is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system and highly mobile. It is primarily used by the United States' military and several of its allied nations.

The official said the missile platforms shown on Google Map are likely to be old images.

Kevin Cheng (), editor-in-chief of Asia-Pacific Defense Magazine, agreed that Patriot missile platforms are largely mobile and that there is not a fixed site for launching, especially during wartime.

(By Matt Yu, Wang Yang-yu and Ko Lin)

Enditem/cs
New UN special envoy hopes to convene Syrian constitutional committee soon

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 01:51PM

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen hopes to convene the first session of a UN-sponsored Syrian Constitutional Committee in the Swiss city of Geneva "as soon as possible" in a bid to begin a viable peace process to the country's nearly eight-year-old conflict.

"I think we have identified the challenges and we have agreed on how we should move forward and that I see as a very, very positive sign," Pedersen told reporters on Friday.

The Norwegian diplomat, who took over from Staffan de Mistura in January, added, "My hope (is) that they will be able as soon as possible to have the constitution committee to meet in Geneva."

Pedersen further highlighted that he could not specify the time frame for a meeting of the committee, but he said his discussions with relevant parties had made good progress.

The senior UN official went on to say that his main goal was to negotiate an agreement between the two parties involved in the conflict.

"To be able to get to a situation, where you can say that we have been able to put eight years of conflict behind us and that we as Syrians agree that we will begin the process of creating a future for coming Syrians, that... would be the definition that we have been successful," Pedersen commented.

He underlined that he saw the constitutional committee as "a potential door opener" for the political process to the crisis.

Pedersen said work was also needed on other issues, expressing hope to secure more cooperation from both the incumbent Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad as well as the Saudi-backed Syrian National Coalition (SNC).

The UN envoy for Syria also hoped to see more prisoner exchanges, and clarity on missing persons in the wake of a swap between the government and Takfiri militant groups in the northwestern city of al-Bab.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said each side had released 20 prisoners.
30 Years Later, Russia Aims To Rewrite The Soviet War In Afghanistan

By Matthew Luxmoore February 15, 2019

When a legislative body formed in the reformist Gorbachev era gathered in Moscow in December 1989 to reflect on the U.S.S.R.'s failed war in Afghanistan, its assessment of the military effort that had left 15,000 Soviet troops and millions of Afghans dead was unequivocal.

"The Congress of People's Deputies of the U.S.S.R. holds that the decision deserves moral and political denunciation," read the statement condemning the December 1979 invasion that commenced a near-decade-long campaign and hastened the Soviet Union's demise in 1991.

But on the 30th anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the public mood in Russia is much changed, and Russian legislators have stepped out in support of an initiative to overturn the 1989 resolution and pronounce the invasion as a just and necessary move.

Yet despite widespread expectations that the State Duma would approve a defiant draft resolution reversing that earlier judgement, the timing was apparently not right.

While reports indicated that the measure had support from on high, the vote on the measure appears to have been delayed. On February 15, the Kommersant daily reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was among the officials who urged the resolution be postponed.

Analysts believe that a resolution justifying the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan would jeopardize Russia's role as a peace broker in the region, amid ongoing talks in Moscow between the Taliban and the Afghan opposition.

"I think they decided to temporarily mute this topic, at least until these talks with Afghanistan are over," Vyacheslav Polovinko, a political analyst for the independent newspaper Novaya gazeta, told RFE/RL. "They'll likely find another excuse, another moment to pass it."

But it is clear that efforts to rewrite the experience of the Afghan war -- along with other aspects of Soviet history brought into the open during the cathartic 1990s -- are not going away. The trend of public opinion, at least, seems to be on the legislators' side.

In a survey by state-run pollster VTsIOM, timed to coincide with the Soviet withdrawal anniversary, 42 percent of respondents said the Soviet Union should not have sent troops into Afghanistan, while 31 percent supported the move.

Only five years ago, another poll by the independent Levada Center found that 68 percent condemned the decision to invade, and only 9 percent backed it. In 1991, a Levada survey showed a gap of 88 percent against to 3 percent in favor.

Russian officials have seized on the changing mood.

On November 21, veteran Duma deputy Nikolai Kharitonov stood up to address fellow lawmakers at a special session of the Russian parliament devoted to the anniversary. For years, he told them, the Duma had been too soft on the question of Afghanistan -- the time had come to change the narrative.

Dismissing the December 1989 resolution as "inconsistent with the principles of historical justice," he challenged his colleagues.

"Is there anyone in this auditorium who agrees?" he asked, referring to the 1989 resolution condemning the war. "I expect that the deputies of the Duma's seventh convocation, who regularly adopt polar opposite stances depending on their political views, will be united on this question."

His proposal resulted in the draft resolution, approved during the November session by representatives of all parties in the Duma, that was expected to be passed on February 15.

Critics call the effort to restore the original Soviet arguments for invading Afghanistan a brazen attempt to justify other wars the Kremlin is involved in today, amid falling public approval ratings for the Russian government.

In Syria, Moscow is propping up the regime of Bashar al-Assad, and in eastern Ukraine it has provided military and personnel assistance to pro-Russia separatists fighting Ukrainian forces. Both campaigns have dragged on for years.

"The Afghan war was one of the greatest mistakes made by the communist regime. Justification of that war is justification of the war in Syria," Andrei Zubov, a historian critical of the Russian government, told RFE/RL as the Duma mulled the draft resolution. "Society's support for Putin and his foreign policy is dropping, and what's happening in Syria and Ukraine is provoking an increasingly negative reaction. In this situation, the parliament is trying to compensate for that."

In an interview with state news agency RIA Novosti , Gorbachev, now in his late 80s, condemned the effort to discredit the original resolution his government passed in 1989.

"I consider the proposal totally unacceptable and irresponsible. What facts, what arguments do its authors cite? How can you deny that the decision was made by a close circle of people, skirting the constitution and going against the opinions of the experts and military leadership? Or that it led to huge loss of life? Or that thousands of families lost their sons, fathers, and brothers?" he said. "This immoral initiative should be decisively rejected. I believe the country's leadership should make its views clear."

When queried about the draft resolution on February 15, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied, "I'll leave that without comment," according to TASS. "Our main task is to remember the heroes who discharged their duty."

Included in the draft resolution is a pledge to continue subsidies for those who fought in Afghanistan.

Back then, "Afghan syndrome" became a popular diagnosis for crippled soldiers struggling to adapt after the war; today, many of them feel historical justice is gradually beginning to triumph.

"We returned and they didn't notice us at all. It wasn't a figure of speech when they said, 'We didn't send you there.' They said it to us openly, directly in the eyes," Andrei Kuznetsov told RFE/RL.

Kuznetsov was an 18-year-old conscript with six months of military training when he was dispatched in May 1987 to Bagram, Afghanistan, as part of the 345th airborne division of the Soviet Army. A year and eight months later, he returned to "a totally different country."

Today, he works as a groundskeeper at Vnukovo airport outside Moscow and subsists on a meager salary. He rejects the parallels some make between the Afghan war and today's campaigns in Syria and Ukraine, and supports the Duma's resolution. He only wishes it had come sooner.

"It's high time they reassessed that war. They should have done it a long time ago," he said.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/years-later- russia-aims-to-rewrite-the-soviet-war-in afghanistan/29772557.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.
$920M UN Appeal Aims at Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis

By Lisa Schlein February 15, 2019

U.N. aid agencies are seeking $920 million to provide lifesaving aid for more than 900,000 Rohingya refugees who fled violence and persecution in Myanmar and crossed into Bangladesh.

The money also will be used to assist more than 330,000 vulnerable Bangladeshis hosting them near the border in the Cox's Bazar region.

Most Rohingya refugees are living in cramped, squalid conditions in Kutupalong, the largest refugee camp in the world. Bangladeshi authorities have been praised for their generosity in hosting the large refugee population. But Bangladesh's state minister of foreign affairs, Shahriar Alam, has acknowledged the difficulties involved.

Repatriation is objective

Alam said the key to resolving the problem is repatriation, and that Bangladesh has been exploring this option with U.N. agencies. Last year, the U.N. and the government of Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the repatriation of Rohingya refugees.

"But unfortunately, the situation in Myanmar is still not conducive for a voluntary, safe and dignified return," Alam said. "So, we are urging the international community to put pressure on Myanmar and engage with them constructively so, as a responsible and responsive member of the United Nations, they take their citizens back without further delays."

In the meantime, he said, action must be taken to support and protect the refugees. Alam said his government had spent about $250 million to get one of the nearby islands ready to relocate and shelter up to 100,000 Rohingya.

"Because the place where they are staying is vulnerable to heavy rain and cyclones," he said. "This is one of the biggest worries that we had from 2018." He said the monsoon and cyclone season was approaching, and he hoped the preparations made so far "will be enough for this year for a safe stay of the Rohingya people."

The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, said that in the coming weeks, work must be accelerated to protect the Rohingya from the ravages of the next monsoon season.

Grandi said he was optimistic that the money to fund the operation would be forthcoming. He added that several countries attending a donor conference had pledged $132 million and that several other major donors said they would announce pledges in the coming weeks.

"So, I think this figure will quickly rise," Grandi said. "And I think for this type of exercise, having a result immediately like that is not bad. It is a sign, I hope, of continued support for a situation that unfortunately gets protracted."

The U.N. said more than half of the funding would go for food, water, sanitation and shelter. Other key sectors of the appeal include health, site management, and protection for children and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.

The director general of the International Organization for Migration, Antonio Vitorino, said addressing the critical needs of the Rohingya refugees was the biggest challenge. At the same time, he said, the impact of the refugees on the host communities in Bangladesh must be addressed.

"The two things go together  that at the same time we address the needs of those who are displaced, we minimize the impacts that the massive displacement of people has in the host communities," Vitorino said.

Competition for resources and jobs has raised tensions between the Rohingya and host communities.

Mahadi Muhammad is divisional director for the group Action Against Hunger on behalf of the organization NGO Platform of Social Action, a consortium of 104 nongovernmental organizations that work in Cox's Bazar. Muhammad told VOA that the platform has some social cohesion programs aimed at easing conflicts between the Rohingya and local residents.

Focus on who is vulnerable

"Most of the programs we have not only for the Rohingya community, but also for the Bangladeshi community who are affected due to this Rohingya crisis," Muhammad said. "Whenever we go for any kinds of program implementation, we focus on the vulnerability, not the ethnicity, whether it is the Rohingya or the Bangladeshi. We always focus on the vulnerability."

U.N. agencies have succeeded in lessening environmental degradation, reducing the prevalence of acute malnutrition, increasing child immunizations and securing other benefits.

They note the situation of the Rohingya remains precarious. Until the root causes of displacement in Myanmar are addressed and the refugees can go home, they say, international support will remain crucial.
United States Announces New Humanitarian Assistance at the Launch of the Joint Response Plan for Bangladesh

Media Note

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 15, 2019

Today in Geneva, the United States announced $60 million in humanitarian assistance at the launch of the 2019 UN Joint Response Plan for Bangladesh. This funding will help address the emergency needs of more than 900,000 refugees in Bangladesh, most of whom are Rohingya women and children from Burma, and the related needs of Bangladeshi host communities. The beneficiaries include Rohingya who have taken refuge in Bangladesh since August 2017, when Burmese security forces began committing atrocities, including ethnic cleansing, against Rohingya villagers across northern Rakhine State in Burma.

The United States remains the leading contributor to the humanitarian response to this crisis in Burma and Bangladesh, having provided nearly $449 million since the outbreak of violence in August 2017, of which nearly $406 million is for programs inside Bangladesh. We continue to call on others to join us in contributing to this humanitarian response.

U.S. assistance provides protection, emergency shelter, food, water, sanitation, health care, psychosocial support, and education for people affected by the crisis, including Bangladeshi host communities and people displaced inside Burma and in the region. U.S. assistance also supports the efforts of humanitarian organizations and the Government of Bangladesh to improve camp infrastructure and shelter ahead of the monsoon and cyclone seasons.

The United States commends the Government of Bangladesh's generosity in responding to this humanitarian crisis and appreciates its continued efforts to ensure assistance reaches the affected population.

We continue to call on Burma to create the conditions that would allow for voluntary, safe, dignified, and sustainable returns, based on the informed consent of those who have been forcibly displaced.
Okinawa set for referendum on US base relocation

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 07:15AM

Official campaigning has kicked off in Japan's Okinawa for a referendum on a controversial plan to relocate a US airbase, which has long been a source of concern for residents on the tiny island.

Campaigning began on Thursday for the non-binding vote, which is due to be held on February 24.

Voters will be offered three choices to answer in the referendum; they should answer "yes," "no" or "neither" to a question if the support the relocation of the US Marine Corps. Futenma Air Station to remote coastal region of Henoko.

The relocation plan, backed by the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, offers the closing of the base, currently located in the densely-populated part of the island and opening of a replacement facility some fifty kilometers away at Nago district.

The plan, however, is not supported by the officials in Okinawa.

Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki denounced the central government move, saying he hopes the referendum will offer Okinawans an opportunity to voice their opposition to the move.

Though the vote is not legally binding, Tamaki offered campaigning against the plan.

"This is an important opportunity to directly express your own will. I hope Okinawa residents will cast their precious votes," he told reporters on Thursday.

Local media reported on Thursday that those opposed to the plan took to the streets to voice their opposition.

People also held rallied in the capital of Naha and Henoko to call on people to vote "no" in the referendum.

An ordinance on the referendum says the governor must notify Prime Minister Abe and US President Donald Trump following the outcome of the vote.

The local government must "respect" the outcome of a referendum if it's approved by at least a quarter of eligible voters.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday that the government offered the plan to "ease the burden on the Okinawan people in a clearly transparent way," saying Tokyo has no plans to halt the relocation plan.

The plan was first agreed between Tokyo and Washington back in 1996, but it has been stalled by local politicians so far.

Okinawa hosts more than half of the nearly 47,000 American military service members stationed in Japan.

While Tokyo insists that the base is necessary on the island, residents oppose the presence of US forces in the homeland. They argue that moving the base to another part of Japan is not a solution, since it would still pose an environmental threat.

Okinawa residents have long demanded that the US base be totally removed from the island citing allegations of sexual abuse by the American soldiers.

Anti-US sentiments have even been on the rise after a US serviceman was found guilty in December 2017 for rape and murder of a 20-year-old Okinawa woman.

Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, who worked at the Kadena air base in Okinawa, admitted to charges of rape resulting in death of Rina Shimabukuro in April 2016.

Late last year, a high court in Japan upheld a lower court's ruling that sentenced Shinzato to life in prison.
Japan scrambles jets as Russian bombers fly by

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 04:49PM

Russian nuclear-capable bombers have carried out a routine flight over international waters in the Sea of Japan, with Tokyo nevertheless responding to that passage.

Japan scrambled fighter jets to accompany the Russian bombers for parts of their flight over the Sea of Japan, according to the Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday.

The Russian bombers also flew over the Sea of Okhotsk and the eastern parts of the Pacific Ocean.

The ministry said two Russian Tupolev-95MS strategic bombers  escorted by Russian Sukhoi-35S fighters  flew more than 15 hours in the air and carried out in-flight refueling.

Russia's strategic bombers regularly carry out flights over the international waters of the Arctic, the Atlantic Ocean, the Black Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, according to the Tass news agency.

The Defense Ministry said that all such flights were in strict compliance with international law and without any violation of other countries' airspace.

Russia and Japan are locked in a decades-long dispute over a group of Pacific islands claimed by both sides. The islands have been a bone of contention since the conclusion of World War II.
Transatlantic Rift Laid Bare as US Rebukes EU Allies Over Iran Deal

By Henry Ridgwell February 15, 2019

The United States has called on Europe to abandon the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Washington pulled out of last year.

At a two-day conference in Warsaw, attended by more than 60 nations Thursday, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused European allies of trying to break American sanctions against what he called "Iran's murderous revolutionary regime."

"The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the security, peace and freedom they deserve," Pence said at a news conference.

Pompeo adds pressure

Also attending the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said global pressure was mounting on Tehran.

"No country spoke out and denied any of the basic facts that we all have laid out about Iran, the threat it poses, the nature of regime. It was unanimous," Pompeo said.

Unanimous, perhaps, among those countries attending the conference. Some U.S. allies, however, were notable for their absence, including the foreign ministers of France and Germany. Britain's representative left the summit early.

All three allies have voiced strong support for the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and have launched a payment system to bypass U.S. sanctions on Tehran in an attempt to keep the agreement alive.

US-European divide

Warsaw-based analyst Piotr Buras of the European Council on Foreign Relations says summit host Poland and some other European states appear closer to Washington's approach and the United States sees an opportunity.

"I have the feeling that the Trump administration doesn't care much about Europe's unity, or even more perhaps it really tries to exploit some divisions within Europe, or even deepen them," he said.

Jonathan Eyal of Britain's Royal United Services Institute argued Washington's approach is in fact aimed at bridging transatlantic divides with European allies.

"The United States is willing to re-engage with them on a Middle East policy, especially on a very sensitive issue like the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran where the gulf between Europe and the U.S. is very big," he sad. "And secondly it is also another attempt by the State Department to remind the White House that the friends in Europe are irreplaceable when it comes to most of America's foreign policy objectives."

The summit was attended by Israel and several Sunni Gulf states. Qatar, Turkey and Lebanon declined to take part. Iran, which did not attend the meeting, dismissed it as "dead on arrival."
UN Security Council condemns 'in strongest terms' attack on IRGC forces

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 10:59AM

The United Nations Security Council has condemned "in the strongest terms" a "heinous and cowardly" terrorist attack in southeastern Iran, which killed 27 IRGC personnel and wounded 13 others Wednesday.

Council Members expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the government and families of the 27 victims on Thursday and wished a "speedy and full recovery" to the 13 injured.

"Terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security," reaffirmed the Council.

It also underlined the need to hold "perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice."

In this regard, they urged all states, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, "to cooperate actively" with the Iranian government in the aftermath of the attack, and all relevant authorities.

"Any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed," reiterated the Security Council members.

It reminded all states to combat "by all means", in accordance with the UN Charter and other international law obligations  including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law  threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.

On Wednesday, an explosives-laden car rammed into a bus carrying the IRGC personnel on a road between the cities of Zahedan and Khash. The so-called Jaish ul-Adl terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing.

Iran has so far received dozens of messages of condemnation and condolences from many countries and international bodies in the world, including the European Union. However, the US and its regional allies have kept silent so far toward the deadly attack.

The US and Persian Gulf Arab countries on Thursday gathered in the Polish capital of Warsaw to attend an anti-Iran conference ironically entitled "Peace and Security in the Middle East."

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was not coincidental that terrorists attacked on the same day that the anti-Iran summit organized by the United States kicked off in Poland.

The Jaish ul-Adl is said to be a Saudi-backed terrorist group operating against Iran in Sistan and Baluchestan province along the Pakistani border.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday called on Iran's neighboring countries  Pakistan in particular  to fulfill their legal obligations within the framework of the principle of good neighborliness and prevent the terrorist groups from using their soil to launch attacks against their neighbors.

"Should such a trend continue and they (the neighboring countries) fail to contain the terrorists, it is clear under international law that we have certain rights and will [act to] restore them in due time," he said.

The IRGC has also vowed a strong response to those behind the bloodshed.

In a message on Friday, Commander of IRGC Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour condemned the "cowardly" crime, saying that it was committed by Takfiri terrorists upon their masters' order.

"There is no doubt that the comrades of these martyrs  at the IRGC Ground Force will take a hard revenge from the perpetrators and sponsors of this inhumane crime," he vowed.

Earlier, IRGC Chief-Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari urged Pakistan to beef up security measures along its border with Iran.

"The brotherly government of Pakistan and the country's security bodies and army are expected to step up security measures and tactics on the common border."

Islamabad should engage in such actions to tighten the grip on "Takfiri mercenary terrorists, who are the enemies of both nations, and decisively confront them to rob them of any chances to take any action, which could compromise security or pose danger," he added in a statement Thursday.
Hanoi Summit Sparks Optimism, But Called Moment of Truth

By Steve Miller February 15, 2019

The second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in roughly two weeks is being seen by some as cause for optimism, but also as a moment of truth.

Park In-hook, the president of the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, said during the organization's inaugural trilateral conference on China, U.S., and South Korean issues, there's a lot of emphasis on the February 27-28 talks in Hanoi "because there is some phobia that this might be the last chance."

Real results expected in Hanoi

Former U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Joseph Yun said the international community had the right to expect results from the Hanoi summit.

"The first meeting (Singapore summit) succeeded in breaking a barrier, [the] second meeting must show results [there] are two underlying issues. One is denuclearization and a second is building a peace process," said Yun.

He added there is a fear in the United States that getting into a peace track might lead to the acceptance of nuclear weapons in North Korea.

"Many people in Washington are worried about this concept of denuclearization through peace, because that seems to most Americans... backwards. It should be denuclearization first, then peace," said Yun.

Recently, U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun spent nearly three days engaged in talks with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Hyok Chol, in Pyongyang. While Biegun called the discussions "productive," he also noted that much work still needed to be done.

"President Trump has made clear, both to North Korea as well as to our team, that he expects significant and verifiable progress on denuclearization -- actions that are bold, and real to emerge from that next summit," said Biegun.

Robert Einhorn, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the Trump administration is "getting a lot more realistic" about what's needed for serious negotiations to take place in Hanoi.

"We are unlikely to learn whether Kim Jong Un is really willing to give up his nuclear weapons," Einhorn said. He added that he "strongly doubts" the Trump administration can secure a commitment from North Korea to completely denuclearize.

But he added there is an alternative course of action than returning to a "strategy of squeezing the North Koreans economically, deterring North Korea's aggressive behavior, and eventually bring about its fundamental transformation or collapse."

"Negotiate an interim agreement that would cap, and perhaps reduce, North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities," he said.

It's something Einhorn believes would allow North Korea and the United States to continue negotiations toward the goal of complete denuclearization, but without a deadline.

Such a deal would have some disadvantages, he said, but it could also limit Pyongyang's weapons development progress and open channels of communication that could be used to pursue confidence-building measures to reduce tensions and avoid dangerous miscalculations.

Can the process move forward?

Despite a general sense of optimism surrounding the upcoming summit, there is still the possibility of continued "stagnation," or the status quo, said Zhang Fangming, chairman of the Academic Committee of the Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the China Foundation for International Strategic Studies.

He said this may happen if "[North Korea] refuses to make a nuclear declaration in any form at the current stage or does not accept verification of its declaration."

Another scenario that may perpetuate the status quo revolves around the U.S. Congress' response to the summit and if they refuse to gradually lift sanctions against Pyongyang without it first comprehensively abandoning its nuclear program or making a comprehensive declaration.

Zhang said the "only correct choice is to jointly make [a] long term and worthy effort for the full denuclearization of the Korean peninsula."

But Kim Sung-han, South Korea's former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said President Trump may agree to "something attractive to the U.S. for the easing of sanctions on North Korea."

"President Trump could choose a part of the North Korean nuclear problem like ICMBs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) because they are the most threatening to the safety of U.S. citizens," said Kim.

But the problem, according to Kim Sung-han, is that if, after two summits, Trump and Kim do not come to an agreement where Pyongyang declares its nuclear capability, then the United States would be acquiescing to North Korea's tactics.

Handong Global University professor Kim Joonhyung said both Kim Jong Un and President Trump are aware of the criticisms.

He said the Hanoi meeting is very much a "moment of truth."

"If this [summit] fails," he said, he doesn't think there will be future meetings between the two leaders.

He added that the big question for the upcoming summit is, "How much sanctions relief Trump is willing to offer in exchange for [partial denuclearization.]"
Sources Say EU Set To Extend Belarus Arms Embargo

By RFE/RL February 15, 2019

BRUSSELS -- EU officials have agreed to extend for another year the bloc's arms embargo against Belarus, several sources familiar with the negotiations who are not authorized to speak on the record told RFE/RL on February 15.

Hungary initially wanted to link the extension of the embargo to the swift adoption of the Belarus Partnership Priorities, an EU document outlining the bloc's future relationship with Minsk in areas such as people-to-people contacts, environmental issues, economic cooperation, and human rights that has been under negotiation for two years.

The Partnership Priorities document was close to being signed in 2018, but Lithuania insisted on including several safeguards regarding the Astravyets nuclear power plant that is being built with Russian assistance in Belarus just 50 kilometers from the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.

Under pressure from the other 27 EU member states, Budapest backed down on the demand to formally link the two issues, but there was an agreement that Belarus would host what sources call "a high-level event" within the framework of the Eastern Partnership in October.

The Eastern Partnership is a multiprong initiative aimed at bringing Belarus and five other former Soviet republics closer to the EU without implying future EU membership.

The embargo, which has been extended annually since its introduction in 2011, is expected to be approved by the bloc's ambassadors next week and officially extended just before the February 28 deadline, together with the visa bans and asset freezes imposed on four individuals believed to have played key roles in the unresolved disappearances of four Belarusians in 1999 and 2000.

During the rollover process in the last two years, Hungary managed to exempt biathlon rifles and other arms used in sports.

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/sources-say-eu-set-to-extend- belarus-arms-embargo/29771842.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.
NATO Chief Rules Out Moving New Nuclear Arms to Europe

Sputnik News

00:22 16.02.2019

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday ruled out pulling more nuclear weapons to Europe even as the INF nuclear control treaty seems to be on its last legs.

"We want Russia to return to compliance but we are preparing for a world without the INF treaty and a world with more Russian missiles in Europe. NATO has already started this work and I will not predict the outcome but what I can say is that [] NATO has no intention of deploying new land-based nuclear weapons in Europe", he said at the Munich Security Conference.

Similarly, NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller said Wednesday that the Alliance is not planning to deploy new ground-based nuclear weapons in Europe even after the INF Treaty becomes invalid.

The United States suspended this month its participation in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) citing Russia's alleged noncompliance, a claim denied by Moscow. In particular, Washington has claimed that the range of Russia's 9M729 missile allegedly violates the treaty's limits, but Moscow has denied the allegations, calling them unsubstantiated. Russia, in turn, has said that US defense systems in Europe were equipped with launchers capable of firing cruise missiles at ranges prohibited under the INF Treaty.

On 2 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow also suspended its obligations under the treaty in response to the US move.

European leaders have called on Moscow and Washington to preserve the Cold-War era treaty, which banned all ground-launched missiles with ranges of 310 to 3,400 miles. Moreover, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who signed the INF Treaty, has also repeatedly called on the US to engage in dialogue with Russia for the sake of preventing destabilization of the global security situation.

However, US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday that NATO is united in supporting the United States' withdrawal from the treaty.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said last week that Moscow has done everything possible to preserve the treaty, adding that Russia would take sufficient measures to guarantee its security following the US withdrawal from the INF. However, Russia is open for dialogue if the United States changes its stance, Ryabkov said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Moscow had offered unprecedented transparency measures to US partners, which go far beyond Russia's obligations under the INF treaty, stressing that Russia had tried to do everything to save the treaty considering its importance to maintaining strategic stability in Europe and globally.

Meanwhile, US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard introduced Friday a new bill to prevent the Trump administration from withdrawing the United States from INF Treaty.

"The act would ensure that our country remains complaint with the INF Treaty", Gabbard said. "This is one step that Congress can and must take now I urge Congress to take quick action". Gabbard also stressed that action must be taken to end what she termed as a new Cold War and to walk back from the abyss of nuclear war.

 Sputnik
US Officials to Join Military Flight Delivering Aid to Venezuela - Statement

Sputnik News

01:34 16.02.2019

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Officials from the State Department and US Agency for International Development (USAID) will be aboard a military aircraft that the United States is sending to the Venezuelan border on Saturday to deliver aid to the crisis-torn country, the department's Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said.

"On February 16, the Department of State, USAID, and the Department of Defense, in a cooperative effort, will deliver aid ready for distribution within Venezuela to Cucuta, Colombia", Palladino said in a statement on Friday. "Department of State and USAID officials will join the flight of humanitarian assistance leaving Miami on February 16".

Palladino said the Department would be represented by Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Julie Chung.

In Cucuta, the US officials will be joined by their Colombian counterparts, as well as representatives of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido to welcome the arrival of the aid, Palladino said. He added that the supplies would "augment aid already pre-positioned" at Guaido's international humanitarian assistance center.

"This assistance will address the greatest needs for the most vulnerable populations in Venezuela", Palladino said.

The announcement comes on the heels of a visit by Colombian President Ivan Duque to the United States.

Washington and Bogota are determined to work together to resolve the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela and provide humanitarian aid to the Latin American country, Donald Trump and Ivan Duque Marquez said in a joint statement after a bilateral meeting at the White House on Thursday. At the meeting, the presidents promised to send a "tremendous" amount of humanitarian aid to Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon spokesperson told Sputnik on Friday the DoD would soon reveal details on new humanitarian assistance to Venezuela and US military logistic support for its delivery to the crisis-torn country.

The issue of humanitarian aid to Venezuela has reportedly become a matter of controversy in recent days amid concerns that foreign countries could use such deliveries as a cover to achieve political or military objectives.

On Tuesday, Guaido told his supporters that US humanitarian aid would be delivered on 23 February. The Venezuelan government headed by President Nicolas Maduro so far has refused to accept aid that the United States has delivered to neighboring Colombia, blasting it as a ploy to topple his government.

Christoph Harnisch, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Columbia, has said his organization would not assist in delivering the goods to Venezuela because the ICRC does not consider the US assistance to be humanitarian aid. Earlier this month, the ICRC warned US officials against politicizing humanitarian assistance and delivering aid without the consent of local authorities.

Tensions in Venezuela escalated on 23 January, when Guaido declared himself interim president, disputing Maduro's re-election. Guaido was almost immediately recognized by the United States and its allies. Russia, China, Mexico, among other nations, voiced support for constitutionally elected Maduro, who, in turn, accused Washington of orchestrating a coup in the country.

UN spokesman Stephen Dujarric warned last week against politicizing humanitarian aid, saying any actions to assist the people of Venezuela must be independent of political, military or other objectives.

 Sputnik
Pompeo Calls Nigerian Candidates Ahead of Election

By VOA News February 15, 2019

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Nigeria's two leading candidates for president ahead of Saturday's election and "underscored U.S. support for the Nigerian goal of free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections."

Pompeo spoke by telephone Friday with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his main challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, and welcomed their pledges to accept the results of a credible election process, according to a State Department statement.

Pompeo noted the "deep and long-standing partnership" between the United States and Nigeria, Africa's most populous democracy and the continent's largest economy, and said the United States wants to see elections that reflect the will of the Nigerian people.

He welcomed both candidates' signing of a peace pledge and public commitment to renounce violence, according to the State Department release.

Possible delay

On Friday, two diplomats and a government source said voting could be delayed in parts of the country, due to difficulties in transporting electoral materials in some areas, Reuters news service reported.

Nigerians are to vote Saturday for a president and legislature, returning two weeks later to pick state governors and local representatives.

The Independent National Electoral Commission was holding a late-night meeting and could not immediately be reached for comment.

Violence in Kaduna state

Also Friday, authorities in Nigeria's Kaduna state reported at least 66 deaths in a wave of violence ahead of the election. State officials said the victims included 22 children.

Kaduna is an area known for its ethnic tensions, Christian-Muslim violence and election-related unrest.

Hundreds of people were killed in the region in 2011 when then-opposition candidate Buhari, a Muslim former military ruler from the north, lost to Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south.

Buhari, 76, who beat Jonathan in a rematch in 2015, is running for re-election Saturday against main challenger Abubakar, a 72-year-old businessman and former vice president.

Nigerian authorities increased security across much of the country on Friday ahead of the elections. Along with ongoing violence in Kaduna, Nigeria is dealing with the decade-long Boko Haram Islamist insurgency in the northeast and banditry and kidnappings in the northwest.
India's Modi: 'Terrorists Will Pay' for Kashmir Bombing

By Anjana Pasricha February 15, 2019

Speaking Friday about the car bombing in Indian Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi the "terrorists and their patrons have committed a big mistake and will pay a big price for this."

At least 41 paramilitary soldiers were killed Thursday in Indian Kashmir when a bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into a convoy.

The attack, the deadliest targeting security personnel in Kashmir, occurred as 70 vehicles traveled on a main highway near Kashmir's summer capital, Srinagar.

The assault has inflamed tensions with India's archrival Pakistan, which New Delhi accuses of sheltering and supporting militants that carry out violence in Kashmir.

India's foreign ministry said in a statement: "We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries."

India's finance minister Arun Jaitley said India is working to ensure "the complete isolation" of Pakistan following the attack. This will include withdrawing the most favored nation status India had given Pakistan under World Trade Organization rules.

Jaish-e-Mohammad claims responsibility

Within hours of the attack, India blamed the attack on the Pakistan-based Islamist Jaish-e-Mohammad group.

Pakistan condemned the attack as a matter of grave concern and called on India to investigate it before pointing fingers at Islamabad.

"We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the state of Pakistan without investigations," the foreign ministry said.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad, which took responsibility for the attack in a statement sent to a local news agency, said a locally recruited fighter had carried out the suicide bombing.

Massive explosion

The brunt of the attack was borne by one bus that had about 44 personnel on board, but the massive force of the explosion also impacted other vehicles in the convoy, in which hundreds of paramilitary personnel were traveling.

Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force whose convoy was targeted, called it a "very powerful explosion" and said the bus had been completely shredded. Video showed twisted remains of charred metal. Witnesses said the explosion was heard several miles away.

The toll could rise because several soldiers are critically injured, according to officials.

Thursday's attack is the first using a car bomb in nearly two decades. Most militant attacks in Kashmir are carried out by gunmen.

Terror listing

Prime Minister Modi called the attack "despicable." In a tweet, he said, "I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain."

In a statement, the foreign ministry demanded that "Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory." It said the government is "firmly and resolutely committed to taking all measures to safeguard national security."

Indian officials appealed to the international community to support the proposal to list the radical cleric who heads the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Maulana Massod Azhar, as a designated terrorist. The move is backed by the United States and other countries, but blocked by China.

The attack was deadlier than one in 2016 that killed 19 soldiers, when four heavily armed terrorists raided an army camp in Kashmir. Relations between India and Pakistan had plummeted in the wake of that attack. New Delhi had said it carried out strikes in Pakistani territory to take out militant camps.

The governor of Jammu and Kashmir state, Satya Pal Malik, said Thursday's attack seems to be "guided from across the border," a reference to Pakistan.

The Muslim-majority region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Militant groups fighting in the region either want the territory's independence or its merger with Pakistan.

Analysts said that the latest attack will put pressure on Modi, who faces elections in less than two months, to take a tough stand against Pakistan.
India Promises Strong Response to Kashmir Attack

By Anjana Pasricha February 15, 2019

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed a strong response to a deadly attack on security personnel in Indian Kashmir as New Delhi said that there was "incontrovertible evidence" that Pakistan had a "direct hand" in the assault and called for its complete isolation.

After meeting his security advisers on Friday, Modi promised that those behind the attack will pay a "very heavy price" and said security forces will be given a free hand to respond to the terrorists.

"If our neighbor thinks such attacks can destabilize us, their plans will not materialize," the prime minister said at an event in New Delhi. "I assure the country that the forces behind the attack, the culprits behind this attack  they will definitely be punished for their actions."

The Pakistan-based Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammad has taken responsibility for the suicide car bombing that targeted a paramilitary convoy on Thursday and killed at least 40 soldiers  the worst attack in the restive region in decades.

India accuses Pakistan of providing sanctuary to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and has demanded Islamabad stop supporting terror groups operating from its territory.

Islamabad has rejected any link to the attack. In a statement, the Pakistan foreign ministry said that "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the State of Pakistan without investigations."

Finance Minister Arun Jaitely said New Delhi would take all possible diplomatic steps to "ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident." He said India is revoking Delhi trade privileges granted to its neighbor in 1996.

Removing trade privileges is seen as a symbolic response -- with trade at a paltry $2 billion between the two countries, it will not have any significant impact.

India accuses the Jaish-e-Mohammad of carrying out some of the deadliest attacks in the country, including an assault on its parliament in 2001 that brought the two countries to the brink of war. The group has been designated a "terrorist" organization by the United Nations, United States and several other countries.

Kashmir, which lies at the heart of a bitter dispute between India and Pakistan, is divided between the two countries. While India accuses Pakistan of supporting militant groups that carry out attacks in Indian Kashmir, Pakistan accuses India of human rights abuses in its only Muslim-majority region.

The latest attack comes more than two years after a militant raid on an army camp in Indian Kashmir killed 19 soldiers and prompted India to mount surgical strikes on militant camps in Pakistan.

That has raised speculation about how New Delhi will respond to Thursday's assault. But even as it takes a tough posture, analysts point out that India does not have many options.

Security analyst Manoj Joshi at the Observer Research Foundation says any action "must be strong enough to reflect India's anger at this attack, but it should be below a certain threshold so that it does not trigger other problems. It is not an easy thing."

Analysts also point out that the surgical strikes in 2016 had no deterrent effect on militant attacks in India.

The latest attack has been condemned by many countries including the United States, which called "on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region."
B-52s lead joint training across Hawaiian Islands

U.S. Pacific Air Forces Public Affairs / Published February 15, 2019

JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) -- Air and ground force elements came together across the Hawaiian Islands this week to jointly participate in close air support (CAS) training with U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress bombers from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam.

Conducted on Feb. 11 and 13, the training involved USAF joint terminal air controllers, the bombers and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs, along with U.S. Marine Corps AH-1Z helicopters and U.S. Army forward observers operating on Oahu and Hawaii's Pohakuloa Training Area.

In addition to strengthening the skills of the Airmen, Marines and Soldiers in the field and sky, the missions tested JBPH-H's 613th Air Operations Center's (AOC) ability to command and control joint forces over a large geographic distance.

"These are dynamic missions with multiple, unique moving parts," said Col. Jason Rueschhoff, 613th AOC commander. "It is a testament to the professionalism and skill of our joint AOC warriors that they orchestrate all of these forces together from an initial planning cell to the operations floor for execution. This training enabled U.S. Air Force and Joint Forces a realistic, multi-domain approach to tackle complex and emerging challenges."

The bombers flew to the Hawaiian Islands from Guam as part of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's Continuous Bomber Presence initiative. In addition to increasing the capabilities of the aircrew, these sorties demonstrate U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's ability to mitigate the geographical challenges of distance unique to the Indo-Pacific region.

"The integration of the B-52 into this exercise creates training opportunities for everyone involved," said Maj. Christopher "DASH" Curtis, 23rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron (EBS) liaison officer. "The B-52 brings unique capabilities to the CAS fight. Flying a long duration sortie across the Pacific to deliver weapons in a CAS scenario highlights just one of those capabilities. This exercise provides an effective training environment for the Bomber Barons but maybe more importantly it demonstrates the unique capability of the B-52 to deliver effects anywhere at any time".

The 23rd EBS is currently deployed from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, in support of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command's Continuous Bomber Presence operations, which have been ongoing since March 2004. This recent mission is consistent with international law and United States' long-standing commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
'Maintain calm' and 'exercise patience' UN envoy urges, as Nigeria heads to polls

15 February 2019 - As Nigerians get ready to head to the polls on Saturday, the Head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), described the pre-election period as "largely, peaceful and participatory", and called for that spirit to prevail through election day and beyond.

In a statement on Friday, Mohammed Ibn Chambas, who is also the Secretary-General's Special Representative for West Africa, encouraged all Nigerians to "continue to maintain calm and to exercise patience and restraint throughout the voting process and the announcement of the final results".

As President Muhammadu Buhari aims to extend his time in office, after victory four years ago  when, for the first-time ever, an opposition candidate defeated a sitting president  former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has emerged as his main challenger, according to news reports.

Mr. Chambas welcomed the candidates' signing on Wednesday of the second National Peace Accord, which aims to keep the vote peaceful and ensure a non-violent transfer of power, and urged them to "seek redress of any grievances they may have through legal and constitutional means".

He pressed the candidates to "mobilize" their supporters to "adhere to the tenets of free, fair, transparent, inclusive and credible elections, devoid of hate and denigration of each other".

"Firmly reject all undemocratic and negative voices that may seek to disrupt the elections and promote conflict between Nigerians", he said, while encouraging voters in Africa's most-populous democracy to exercise their civic responsibility and come out "in numbers" to peacefully cast their votes.

The Special Representative said that success at the polls was "the responsibility of all Nigerians and relevant Nigerian institutions, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agencies, political parties, candidates, religious leaders, civil society".

While calling on all participants to "prioritize the interest of the country", the UNOWAS head expressed his hopes that the continent's largest economy will successfully conduct free, fair and transparent elections that will "set an example for the elections coming up in West Africa and Africa, and underscore Nigeria's leadership in the region".
'Endemic' sexual violence surging in South Sudan: UN human rights office

15 February 2019 - A surge in sexual violence in South Sudan's Unity state targeting victims as young as eight years old, has prompted a call from the UN human rights office, OHCHR, for urgent Government measures to protect victims, and bring perpetrators to justice.

Despite the signing of a peace deal between belligerents last September, UN investigators found that at least 175 women and girls have been raped or suffered other sexual and physical violence between September and December 2018.

If we go by the main road we are raped, if we go by the bush, we are raped. I was raped among others in the same area repeatedly  testimony to UN investigators

The actual level of violence is likely to be considerably higher, OHCHR spokesperson Rupert Colville told journalists in Geneva on Friday.

"Obviously (it is) not the whole picture, but they found 175, women and girls who had been either raped, gang-raped or sexually assaulted or physically harmed in other ways," he said. "And 49 of those girls who were raped, were children."

According to a joint report by OHCHR and the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), attacks against women have decreased significantly since the peace accord was signed on 12 September.

Nonetheless, it warns that such incidents are "endemic" in northern Unity state, on the border with Sudan, creating a sense among communities that it is normal to be a victim of sexual violence.

Victim's testimony recalls recurring attacks

Citing the testimony of one victim, Mr. Colville explained that many women are raped while fetching firewood, food or water - often more than once  as they lack any protection.

"She said, 'If we go by the main road we are raped, if we go by the bush, we are raped. I was raped among others in the same area repeatedly on three separate occasions."

The surge in conflict-related sexual violence is attributed to many factors including the breakdown in the rule of law, the destruction of livelihoods, forced displacement and food insecurity, after years of civil war.

Large numbers of armed young men, a 'toxic mix'

But one of the main reasons is the large number of fighters in the area, who have yet to be reintegrated into the national army, according to the peace deal.

Most of the attacks are reported to have been carried out by youth militia groups and elements of the pro-Taban Deng Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition, SPLA-IO (TD), as well as South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF).

In a few cases, attacks were perpetrated by members of the group affiliated with reinstated Vice President and peace deal participant, Riek Machar, Sudan People's Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO (RM), the UN report says.

"Particularly in this area, there are essentially three main groups whoare involved in these rapes, including the National Government force," said Mr. Colville. "And a lot of these young men who are heavily armed, are just waiting aroundThis is a very toxic mix, and there are also youth militia which some of these official groups ally with and you don't know exactly who they are; they've been heavily involved as well."

Rule of law 'just not applied'

A key challenge is tackling the prevailing impunity throughout Unity state, which is linked to the volatility of the situation across the country, OHCHR maintains.

"There's been very little accountability in South Sudan for what is chronic, endemic problem of sexual violence against women and girls," Mr. Colville said. "Virtually complete impunity over the years, as a result, very little disincentive for these men not to do what they're doing. The rule of law has just not been applied."

Mobile courts provide glimmer of hope for victims

Among the practical measures taken to a bid to help vulnerable communities in Unity state, UNMISS has cleared roadsides to prevent attackers from hiding from potential victims.

A mobile court system is also operational in towns, including Bentiu, which has had "some success" in bringing perpetrators to trial, OHCHR's Mr. Colville said, noting nonetheless that "this is just a drop in the ocean".

"There are thousands and thousands of perpetrators, there are officers involved, there are commanders who've got command responsibility who instead of being investigated and brought to bookhave been promoted, and are still in charge of groups operating in this area who are still raping women," he concluded.
Two States 'side-by-side' is the 'peaceful and just solution' for Israel-Palestine conflict: Guterres

15 February 2019 - A "peaceful and just solution" to the Israel-Palestine conflict can "only be achieved" through two States "living side-by-side in peace and security", United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated on Friday

In his address to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1975, Mr. Guterres said on Friday that "based on relevant UN resolutions, long-held principles, previous agreements and international law", Jerusalem should be the capital of both States.

"Unfortunately, over this past year, the situation has not moved in that direction", he continued, pointing to protests that began along the border fence with Gaza last year that left hundreds dead and thousands wounded by Israeli security forces.

He also cited "security incidents and provocations by Hamas and other militants in Gaza", including the launching of rockets and incendiary kites that dangerously escalated the situation.

"Thanks to UN and Egyptian mediation efforts, a major escalation was avoided", he continued, appealing to Hamas authorities in Gaza to "prevent provocations". The UN chief said that under International Humanitarian Law, "Israel, too, has a responsibility to exercise maximum restraint", except as a last resort.

Mr. Guterres underscored that the UN firmly supports Palestinian reconciliation and "the return of the legitimate Palestinian Government to Gaza", as "an integral part of a future Palestinian State".

Spelling out that the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza must be "immediately addressed", he detailed that some two million Palestinians "remain mired in increasing poverty and unemployment, with limited access to adequate health, education, water and electricity", leaving young people with "little prospect of a better future".

"I urge Israel to lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which also hamper the efforts of the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies, without naturally jeopardizing legitimate security concerns," the Secretary-General stated.

Lauding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for its "critical work" in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and across the region, he called on the international community to "significantly" increase efforts to revitalize Gaza's economy.

Turning to the "risk of further unrest in the West Bank", the UN chief flagged that Israeli construction and settlement plans have expanded, including in East Jerusalem.

"Settlements are illegal under international law" he asserted. "They deepen the sense of mistrust and undermine the two-State solution".

Mr. Guterres said he regretted Israel's decision not to renew the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, saying: "I hope an agreement can be found by the parties to preserve this long-standing and valuable arrangement."

"Palestinians have endured more than a half-century of occupation and denial of their legitimate right to self-determination" with both sides continuously suffering from "deadly cycles of violence", said the Secretary-General.

He indicated that leaders bore the responsibility to "reverse this negative trajectory and pave the way toward peace, stability and reconciliation" and praised the Committee for keeping the focus on the ultimate objective of a "peaceful solution with two States coexisting in peace and security" as the only way to achieve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

"As I have said repeatedly, there is no Plan B", concluded Mr. Guterres.
Treasury Sanctions Officials Aligned with Former President Nicolas Maduro and Involved in Repression and Corruption

U.S. Department of the Treasury

February 15, 2019

Treasury continues to target security and oil officials undermining democracy and human rights

Washington  Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated five officials aligned with illegitimate former President Nicolas Maduro, who continue to repress democracy and democratic actors in Venezuela and engage in significant corruption and fraud against the people of Venezuela. This action, pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13692, targets the head of the Venezuelan National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, and SEBIN's First Commissioner, Hildemaro Jose Rodriguez Mucura; the Commander of Venezuela's Directorate General of Military Counter-Intelligence, Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala; and the Director of the Venezuelan National Police's Special Actions Force (FAES), Rafael Enrique Bastardo Mendoza. Additionally OFAC designated the illegitimate President of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA), Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez.

"Treasury continues to target officials who have helped the illegitimate Maduro regime repress the Venezuelan people. We are sanctioning officials in charge of Maduro's security and intelligence apparatus, which has systematically violated human rights and suppressed democracy, including through torture and other brutal use of force," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "We are intent on going after those facilitating Maduro's corruption and predation, including by sanctioning the President of PdVSA and others diverting assets that rightfully belong to the people of Venezuela."

As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of these individuals, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by such individuals, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons.

U.S. sanctions need not be permanent; sanctions are intended to bring about a positive change of behavior. The United States has made clear that we will consider lifting sanctions for persons designated under E.O. 13692 or E.O. 13850 who take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order, refuse to take part in human rights abuses, speak out against abuses committed by the government, and combat corruption in Venezuela.

The following five individuals designated today have been determined to be current or former officials of the Government of Venezuela:

Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala (Hernandez) is the Commander of illegitimate former-President Maduro's Presidential Guard, or Guardia de Honor Presidencial, a position he was appointed to in January 2014. Additionally, Hernandez is Commander of Venezuela's Directorate General of Military Counter-Intelligence, or Director General de Contrainteligencia Militar, more commonly known as DGCIM. The DGCIM, in addition to SEBIN, is responsible for serious human rights abuses and the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition. DGCIM has detained and tortured Venezuelan military members suspected of plotting against the government, and has detained and tortured family members of some of those suspects in order to gain information. Abuses reportedly carried out by the DGCIM and SEBIN include brutal beatings, asphyxiation, cutting soles of feet with razor blades, electric shocks, and death threats. Under his command, DGCIM members have often used excessive force against detainees. Hernandez was promoted to the rank of Major General on July 5, 2018.

is the Commander of illegitimate former-President Maduro's Presidential Guard, or Guardia de Honor Presidencial, a position he was appointed to in January 2014. Additionally, Hernandez is Commander of Venezuela's Directorate General of Military Counter-Intelligence, or Director General de Contrainteligencia Militar, more commonly known as DGCIM. The DGCIM, in addition to SEBIN, is responsible for serious human rights abuses and the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition. DGCIM has detained and tortured Venezuelan military members suspected of plotting against the government, and has detained and tortured family members of some of those suspects in order to gain information. Abuses reportedly carried out by the DGCIM and SEBIN include brutal beatings, asphyxiation, cutting soles of feet with razor blades, electric shocks, and death threats. Under his command, DGCIM members have often used excessive force against detainees. Hernandez was promoted to the rank of Major General on July 5, 2018. Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera (Cristopher) is the Director General of the Venezuelan National Intelligence Service, or Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, more commonly referenced to as SEBIN. Cristopher replaced Gustavo Gonzalez Lopez, who was designated by OFAC pursuant to E.O. 13692 on March 9, 2015, who occupied that position from March 9, 2015 until October 30, 2018. Prior to his role with SEBIN, Cristopher was President, with the rank of Director General, of the Centro Estrategico de Seguridad y Proteccion de la Patria, or Strategic Center of Security and Protection of the Homeland, the Venezuelan government organization responsible for the unification of information related to defense, intelligence, internal order, and external relations. According to an official of the Venezuelan opposition party, Justice First, or Primero Justicia, Cristopher oversees mass torture, mass human rights violations, and mass persecution against those who want democratic change in Venezuela.

Hildemaro Jose Rodriguez Mucura (Mucura) is the First Commissioner of SEBIN. On January 11, 2019, Mucura, along with three other SEBIN officers, detained Interim President of Venezuela and President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido. Mucura directed the detainment of Guaido, and was one of 12 SEBIN officials later arrested for their association with Guaido's temporary detainment.

is the First Commissioner of SEBIN. On January 11, 2019, Mucura, along with three other SEBIN officers, detained Interim President of Venezuela and President of the Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido. Mucura directed the detainment of Guaido, and was one of 12 SEBIN officials later arrested for their association with Guaido's temporary detainment. Rafael Enrique Bastardo Mendoza (Bastardo) is the Commander of a Venezuelan National Police Unit commonly referred to as the Special Actions Force, or Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales (FAES). Additionally, Bastardo was promoted to the position of Lieutenant Colonel on July 5, 2018, as a member of the Venezuelan National Guard. FAES has been branded as Maduro's "extermination squad," known for its brutal methods and masked appearances, carrying out nighttime raids throughout Caracas. Since Guaido assumed his position as Interim President, FAES has been accused of dozens of extrajudicial killings targeting the opposition. On January 31, 2019, in the middle of Guaido's news conference on his economic plans, Guaido said that FAES were in his home threatening his family.

is the Commander of a Venezuelan National Police Unit commonly referred to as the Special Actions Force, or Fuerzas de Acciones Especiales (FAES). Additionally, Bastardo was promoted to the position of Lieutenant Colonel on July 5, 2018, as a member of the Venezuelan National Guard. FAES has been branded as Maduro's "extermination squad," known for its brutal methods and masked appearances, carrying out nighttime raids throughout Caracas. Since Guaido assumed his position as Interim President, FAES has been accused of dozens of extrajudicial killings targeting the opposition. On January 31, 2019, in the middle of Guaido's news conference on his economic plans, Guaido said that FAES were in his home threatening his family. Manuel Salvador Quevedo Fernandez (Quevedo) is the current President of Venezuelan state-owned oil company, PdVSA, which he has continued to represent even after OFAC designated PdVSA pursuant to E.O. 13850 on January 28, 2019. PdVSA is Venezuela's primary source of income and foreign currency, and has long been used as a vehicle for significant government corruption. Government officials and businessmen alike devised schemes to launder billions of dollars stolen and embezzled for their personal gain. Quevedo is also the illegitimate Minister of Petroleum and Mining aligned with former President Maduro, a position he has served in since November 26, 2017. Quevedo previously served in numerous government positions, including as the Minister of Housing and Habitat, and as a Brigadier General and head of Regional Command number 5, located in Greater Caracas.

For information about the methods that Venezuelan senior political figures, their associates, and front persons use to move and hide corrupt proceeds, including how they try to exploit the U.S. financial system and real estate market, please refer to FinCEN's advisories FIN-2017-A006, "Advisory on Widespread Public Corruption in Venezuela," and FIN-2017-A003, "Advisory to Financial Institutions and Real Estate Firms and Professionals."

Identifying information on the individuals designated today.

####
U.S. Sanctions on Venezuelan Individuals and Entities

Press Statement

Robert Palladino

Deputy Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 15, 2019

The United States remains steadfast in its support of Venezuelan Interim President Juan Guaido, the transitional government, and the Venezuelan people. We will continue to use the full weight of U.S. economic and diplomatic power to press for the restoration of Venezuelan democracy.

Today, the United States took action to continue to hold corrupt officials of the former illegitimate Maduro regime accountable by imposing sanctions on five current or former officials of the illegitimate Maduro regime. The corrupt officials include individuals of the Cuban-sponsored Venezuelan intelligence forces (SEBIN), the military counter-intelligence (DGCIM) unit, and the brutal special actions force (FAES). Additionally, the United States is taking action against the current President of Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PdVSA).

These actions are in addition to the visa restrictions and revocations announced February 7 on members of the illegitimate Constituent Assembly, which usurped many of the constitutional powers of the legitimate National Assembly, and in addition to the visa restrictions and revocations announced on February 13 on members of the illegitimate Supreme Court, for undermining Venezuela's democracy.

While the United States is holding certain officials responsible for their actions repressing the Venezuelan people and subverting their democracy, we reiterate our calls for the recognition of Juan Guaido as Interim President and call on all Venezuelan officials, including military and security forces, to help return Venezuela to the democratic country its citizens demand and deserve.

U.S. sanctions need not be permanent; they are intended to change behavior. The United States will continue to take appropriate action to respond to the situation in Venezuela as it develops.
Venezuelan Supreme Court Annuls Opposition's PDVSA, Citgo Board Appointments

Sputnik News

03:14 15.02.2019

CARACAS (Sputnik)  Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice nullified the appointment by the country's opposition of new board members of the state-owned PDVSA energy company and Citgo oil refiner, owned by it, and blocked these individuals' bank accounts, prohibiting them from leaving the country.

"The constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court notes that the analyzed directive, issued by the National Assembly, is absolutely null and void and has no legal effect", judge Juan Jose Mendoza Jover said at the court session as aired by the Telesur broadcaster on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the opposition-controlled National Assembly endorsed members for the special board of directors of PDVSA whose only goal would be to appoint new directors for US-based Citgo and its subsidiaries.

The US office of opposition leader Juan Guaido, who proclaimed himself Venezuela's interim president, subsequently announced Citgo's new board of directors.

Constitutionally elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has accused Guaido of acting at the instructions of the United States, saying that Washington sought to get hold of Venezuela's oil assets, has promised to bring to trial those who would recognize the new appointments.

PDVSA, whose assets worth $7 billion were blocked by the United States amid the political crisis in Venezuela, has called opposition-appointed board of directors of Citgo an attempt to "steal the wealth of the people".

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters that by blocking PDVSA assets, the United States was taking care of this company in the interests of the Venezuelan people.

On 23 January, the political crisis in Venezuela took a new turn when the speaker of the opposition-led Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, declared himself interim president amid ongoing anti-government protests. Guaido's declaration was almost immediately recognized by the United States and some of its allies. EU member states were expected to issue a joint statement recognizing Guaido, but Italy vetoed the motion, according to a Sputnik source.

Russia, along with China, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay and several other countries, has voiced support for Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela.

Venezuela is one of the biggest oil producers in the world. The oil exports currently stand at way below 1 million barrels daily, which is a more-than 10 percent drop from December and a less than half decline from Venezuela's oil production 18 months ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.

 Sputnik
Maduro Reveals Venezuelan Foreign Minister Secretly Met With US Envoy

Sputnik News

09:40 15.02.2019(updated 09:41 15.02.2019)

The two diplomats reportedly had two meetings recently, despite US President Trump's hostile rhetoric and a round of sanctions imposed on Venezuela's national oil company.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has said in an interview that his foreign minister Jorge Arreaza secretly met with the US special envoy to Venezuela, despite Donald Trump's public calls for Maduro to step down.

According to the Venezuelan president, Arreaza was in New York recently, where he invited US Envoy Elliott Abrams to come to Venezuela "privately, publicly or secretly". He said the two officials had two meetings that lasted for several hours.

His revelations have been confirmed by two Venezuelan sources not authorised to discuss the matter, an AP report reads. The sources disclosed that the first meeting took place on 26 January, and the second happened on 11 February. Both meetings happened at the request of the US, the sources said.

The sources said the first meeting happened in a hostile tone, with Abrams threatening Venezuela with t he deployment of US troops and berating Venezuela for being allied with Cuba and Russia. The second meeting, which took place four days after Abrams said that "the time for dialogue with Maduro has long gone", was reportedly less tense, despite Abrams insisting that US sanctions will oust Maduro even though he enjoys the support of the military.

Despite the hostile rhetoric, the Venezuelan side reportedly saw the meeting as a sign that there is room for discussion.

Speaking in an interview, Maduro attacked Donald Trump for his confrontational stance towards Venezuela's socialist government, but nevertheless expressed a readiness to meet the US president to solve the ongoing crisis. An unnamed US source admitted that US officials were willing to meet with "former Venezuela officials, including Maduro himself, to discuss their exit plans".

In other remarks, Maduro blamed the ongoing hardships of his country on what he called Donald Trump's "infected hand" that is "hurting Venezuela" and praised the support the country enjoys from Russia and China.

The US has imposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry, effectively banning any oil purchases by American companies from Venezuela. Therefore, the Latin American country, which sits atop the world's largest oil reserves has turned its gaze towards Asia and especially India, where the head of national oil company PDVSA was this week negotiating new sales, AP reports.

On 23 January, the speaker of the opposition-led Venezuelan National Assembly, Juan Guaido, declared himself interim president amid ongoing anti-government protests. Guaido's declaration was almost immediately recognised by the United States and some of its allies. EU member states were expected to issue a joint statement recognising Guaido, but Italy vetoed the motion, according to a Sputnik source.

 Sputnik
New Delhi Summons Pakistani Envoy Following Attack on Indian Military - Source

Sputnik News

13:41 15.02.2019(updated 14:10 15.02.2019)

A suicide attack on an Indian military convoy on Thursday left dozens dead in Indian-controlled Kashmir. According to police, all 44 people in one of the buses in the convoy were killed in the attack, with another person from another vehicle also being killed in the blast, the IANS news agency reported.

The head of the diplomatic mission of Pakistan in New Delhi, Sohail Mahmood, was summoned on Friday to the Indian Foreign Ministry, sources told Sputnik on Friday.

According to the Hindustan Times, Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale told the Pakistani diplomat that Islamabad has to take "immediate and verifiable measures" against Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the terror group which claimed responsibility for the recent deadly attack in the district of Pulwama.

The Pulwama attack is the most serious in Kashmir in recent years. A previous JeM attack occurred in September 2016 near Uri, where terrorists, armed with hand grenades, broke into an Indian Army base and killed at least 19 people.

New Delhi has repeatedly accused Islamabad of sponsoring militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir; however, Pakistan has denied its involvement in the attacks.

 Sputnik
There is No Need to Create EU Army - Swedish Defence Minister

Sputnik News

20:55 15.02.2019(updated 20:57 15.02.2019)

STOCKHOLM (Sputnik) - Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist said Friday he did not support the idea of creating a unified pan-European army, which was earlier proposed by some European politicians.

"In-depth partnership with NATO and transatlantic ties are important to Swedish defence and security policy. Sweden supports close cooperation between the EU and NATO, but I do not see the need to create an EU army or any expansion of EU military headquarters", Hultqvist said in a statement.

The European Union and NATO share a majority of their members. Nevertheless, European countries are also seeking to strengthen their defence cooperation within the European Union.

The idea of an EU army has been floated around by a number of top EU politicians, including French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The latter suggested that this joint force could be a complement to NATO.

However, EU foreign policy and defence chief Federica Mogherini denied building one in November, just as NATO head Jens Stoltenberg warned that EU efforts should not compete with the alliance, which he called the bedrock for European security.

 Sputnik
Kosovo's Thaci Sees 'Good Momentum' For Serbia Deal Despite Disputes

By RFE/RL February 15, 2019

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci says he sees "good momentum" in efforts to reach a deal this year to normalize relations with neighbor and rival Serbia despite their differences, according to an interview published on February 14 by the Associated Press.

Thaci is scheduled to participate in a Security in Southeast Europe panel on February 16 with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic as part of the Munich Security Conference in the German city.

Tensions remain high between the Balkan neighbors, two decades after their bloody war ended. Western states, including the United States, have urged the two sides to move to normalize relations.

Kosovo was a province of Serbia in 1999 when NATO launched air strikes to stop the killing and expulsion of ethnic Albanians by Serbian forces during a two-year war. To this date, landlocked Kosovo, with a population of 1.8 million people, is still guarded by NATO troops.

Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008. Although 116 countries recognize Kosovo, Serbia and Russia do not.

Thaci and Vucic have made efforts to normalize relations, but several difficult issues continue to divide the two sides.

Kosovo angered Serbia in December when its parliament voted to transform its lightly armed security force into a full-fledged army.

Vucic called on the UN to "curb" and "tame" Kosovo and also dismissed what he said was the "so-called sovereign right" of Kosovo to form its own military.

Vucic said he was "very much worried, very much concerned and even a bit afraid" about the implications of a Kosovar army.

The United States has expressed support for Kosovo's move to create a national army, while NATO said the move was "ill-timed." UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also expressed concerns.

Russia vehemently opposed the Kosovo move, with UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya saying expanding the army was a "blatant violation" of Security Council resolutions and called the creation of the army "illegal.

Kosovo has also imposed a 100 percent tariff on Serbian imports, saying the levy will stay until Serbia recognizes Kosovo's sovereignty and reaches a normalization agreement with its neighbor.

Belgrade responded by saying the tariff is hurting its businesses and that it will not participate in further dialogue until the measure is lifted.

Tensions could arise this weekend, as Kosovo traditionally marks its declaration of independent from Serbia on February 17 in the capital, Pristina.

With reporting by AP and European Western Balkans

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/kosovo-thaci-serbia -vucic-normalization-talks-munich -conference/29771210.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.
Front-Runner For EU Prosecutor Questioned By Controversial Romanian Agency

By RFE/RL February 15, 2019

Romania's former chief anticorruption prosecutor was questioned on February 15 by a controversial investigative agency, hours before flying to Brussels for an interview for the newly established job of EU public prosecutor.

Laura Codruta Koevesi headed Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) for five years until last year, when she was dismissed by the leftist government in what many observers say was an attempt to sideline her after the DNA's conviction rates for high-level graft jumped across the political spectrum during her tenure, drawing EU praise.

Koevesi has now emerged as the front-runner to get the newly established job of head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office, due to become operational at the end of 2020.

The new EU agency will tackle financial fraud across the European Union.

On February 12, just days after it was revealed that Koevesi was the leading contender for the new EU post, the newly established and much-criticized Section for the Investigation of Criminal Offenses in the Romanian judiciary subpoenaed her for hearings on February 15 as a suspect in a corruption case.

The agency said she is accused of demanding a bribe to pay for the repatriation several years ago of a Romanian accused of corruption who had fled the country.

Koevesi said the the summons was "clearly an attempt to stop my candidacy for EU prosecutor."

The accusation against her, the agency says, was registered based on a denunciation made by another fugitive former Romanian politician and businessman who has fled to neighboring Serbia, despite the fact that Romanian police officially admitted they had paid for the repatriation of the accused.

Koevesi left for Brussels later in the day after being questioned by the agency.

Several hundred people rallied in her support on February 15 outside the government headquarters in Bucharest, the scene of huge anticorruption protests in 2017 and 2018.

The European Commission and the U.S. Embassy have warned the investigative agency in Bucharest that its actions were being closely watched.

With reporting by g4media.ro, Reuters, and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/front-runner-for-eu-prosecutor-questioned-by- controversial-romanian-agency/29772763.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 Blames Pakistan, Demands Action After Kashmir Attack

By RFE/RL February 15, 2019

India has demanded that Pakistan crack down on terror groups operating from its territory after a deadly suicide bombing claimed by a Pakistan-based Islamist group killed 44 Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir.

Hours after the February 14 attack, the Indian Foreign Ministry called on Islamabad to "stop supporting terrorists and terror groups" who use Pakistan as a base and "dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries."

The Kashmir bombing, claimed by the Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e Mohammad (JeM), was the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in the disputed region.

The Indian Foreign Ministry accused the Pakistani government of providing the militant group with a safe haven and allowing its leader, Masood Azhar, "to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity."

"I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet.

Arun Jaitley, a senior minister in Modi's cabinet, told a live TV broadcast on February 15 that India would retaliate, asserting that New Delhi had "incontrovertible evidence" of Pakistan's involvement in the attack.

He said India will take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure "complete isolation" of Islamabad in the international community. Those responsible will have to "pay a heavy price," he added.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry on February 15 called the attack a matter of "grave concern," but it said it strongly rejected "any insinuation by elements in the Indian government and media circles that seek to link the attack to the State of Pakistan without investigations."

Security officials said a militant rammed an explosive-filled van into a convoy of paramilitary police, targeting a bus that was carrying at least 35 personnel. At least 20 people were wounded, many critically.

Muneer Ahmed Khan, a senior police official, said the convoy was hit as it reached the southern town of Lethpora near the larger city of Srinagar. The targeted bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged, he said.

Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, said the explosion was "so powerful that one cannot recognize whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain of the vehicle."

The White House issued a statement also urging Pakistan "to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil."

It added that the tragedy would serve to strengthen U.S. resolve to heighten counterterrorism cooperation with India.

India has long accused Pakistan of supporting militants in Muslim-majority Kashmir, a Himalayan territory divided between the two nuclear archrivals but claimed in full by both since independence from British colonial rule in 1947. The countries have fought two wars over the region.

Pakistan denies the allegations, saying it only provides diplomatic support to the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self-determination.

The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016, when militants that New Delhi said came from Pakistan raided an Indian Army camp in Uri, killing 20 soldiers. Islamabad denied any involvement.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/india-demands- pakistan-action-after-kashmir-terror -attack/29771257.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.
U.S. General Says 1,000 Troops Expected To Be Withdrawn From Afghanistan

February 15, 2019

The U.S. military is expected to trim troop levels in Afghanistan by more than 1,000 soldiers, a U.S. general told Reuters on February 15.

U.S. President Donald Trump told Congress this month he intended to reduce U.S. forces in Afghanistan as negotiators make progress in talks with Taliban insurgents.

However, U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, said the decision to reduce some of the 14,000 American forces in Afghanistan was not linked to those negotiations.

Instead, he said it was part of an efficiency drive by the new commander, Army General Scott Miller, who took over in September, to make better use of U.S. resources.

"This is something that he started as he got into the position here and was looking at how we [can] be as efficient and as effective as we can be on the ground," Votel told Reuters during a trip to Oman.

Asked whether Miller would likely cut more than 1,000 troops from Afghanistan under the efficiency drive, Votel said: "He probably will."

The U.S.-Taliban talks are aimed at finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war.

The United States has been attempting to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table with officials in Kabul.

The Afghan government has been absent from the U.S.-Taliban talks, prompting anger and frustration in Kabul.

The Taliban considers the Kabul government a Western puppet and has so far refused to directly negotiate with it.

Based on reporting by Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/u-s-general -says-1-000-troops-expected-to-be-withdrawn- from-afghanistan/29772412.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.
US preparing for military action in Venezuela: Cuba

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 01:37AM

The United States is moving its special forces closer to Venezuela as part of a covert plan to stage military intervention in the South American country, which has been engulfed by unrest over the past weeks.

Cuba said in a "Declaration of the Revolutionary Government" on Thursday that recent events in Venezuela, where US-backed opposition Juan Guaido has been challenging the leadership of President Nicolas Maduro, amounted to an attempted coup that had so far failed.

US President Donald Trump's administration has refused to rule out direct military action against Maduro to force him step down and hand over power to Guaido, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly.

Havana said that Washington has been expanding the presence of its forces in neighboring countries.

"Between February 6 and 10 military transport aircraft have flown to the Rafael Miranda Airport of Puerto Rico, the San Isidro Air Base, in the Dominican Republic and to other strategically located Caribbean islands, probably without knowledge of the governments of those nations," the declaration said.

"These flights originated in American military installations from which units of Special Operations and Marine Corps operate, which are used for covert actions," it added.

Tens of thousands of Venezuelans have thronged the streets of Venezuela over the past weeks, holding rallies in support and against Maduro, who began his second six-year term in office last month.

The clashes began after Guaido proclaimed himself "interim president" and urged Maduro to resign.

The US rushed to support Guaido, announcing sanctions on the country's oil industry.

According to the Havana declaration, the drastic sanctions imposed by the US were causing damage "1,000 times greater" than the aid Washington was reportedly trying to force on the country.

US special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams dismissed the Cuban announcement as "a new lie."

The Dominican Republic's foreign minister, Miguel Vargas, also reiterated support for a peaceful solution and said no US military transport planes had landed in his country.

Besides the US, other major Western powers such as the UK, France, Spain and Germany have recognized Guaido as president.

Russia, China, Iran and Turkey are some of the countries that have thrown their support behind Maduro.

In a recent interview with CBS, Trump said military action against Maduro remained "an option."

Other US officials have also doubled down on the possibility of military action, with National Security Adviser John Bolton going as far as warning the Venezuelan military to join Guaido and take his "amnesty" before they lose the chance.

However, Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, made it clear on Wednesday that the US Congress won't allow Trump tp launch a military intervention in Venezuela.

Under US law, Congress must approve foreign military action and the president doesn't have the power to act on his own.
India summons Pakistan envoy, vows revenge after Kashmir bombing

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 08:39AM

India has summoned Islamabad's ambassador after a Pakistani-based militant group took responsibility for a deadly car bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

An Indian government source said that Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale called Pakistan's ambassador to New Delhi Sohail Mahmood on Friday, and "issued a very strong demarche in connection with the terrorist attack in Pulwama yesterday."

This came after the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the Thursday attack, which killed at least 44 Indian paramilitary troops near the main city Srinagar.

Islamabad condemned that attack and denied any involvement.

Harsh response

Earlier in the day, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed a strong response to those behind the attack.

"I want to tell the terrorist groups and their masters that they have committed a big mistake. They have to pay a heavy price," he said after an emergency cabinet meeting.

New Delhi accused Islamabad of harboring militants behind the Thursday's attack, which was the deadliest bombing in three decades of bloodshed in Indian-controlled Kashmir. India says it has incontrovertible evidence of Pakistan's involvement, a charge Islamabad dismisses.

"We will give a befitting reply, our neighbor will not be allowed to de-stabilize us," Modi said on Friday.

Shortly after the attack, India's cabinet minister Arun Jaitley said New Delhi will take all possible diplomatic steps to ensure the "complete isolation" of Pakistan.

The first step, he said, would include India removing most favored nation (MFN) trade privileges given to Pakistan.

"The ministry of external affairs will initiate all possible steps, and I am here referring to all possible diplomatic steps which have to be taken to ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan," Jaitley said.

Islamabad hit back immediately, saying it "strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations."

Jammu and Kashmir is a disputed region located between India and Pakistan. The two nuclear-armed rivals have fought four wars since their partition in 1947, three of them over Kashmir.

New Delhi has deployed hundreds of thousands of special military and police forces to crack down on pro-independence protesters opposed to Indian rule over the Muslim region. It has long accused Pakistan of funding and arming pro-independence fighters in Kashmir.

Islamabad, however, denies the allegations, saying it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiris fighting for self-determination.
US general says America not 'winning' in Syria

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 01:36PM

The US general in charge of special operations forces has cautioned against talk of "winning" against the Daesh terrorist group in Syria, contradicting President Donald Trump's claim that the group had been defeated.

General Raymond Thomas, who heads US Special Operations Command, made the comments Thursday during a US Senate hearing after lawmakers asked him what winning in Syria would look like.

"I'd be hesitant to use the term winning, as opposed to the objective," Thomas told the Senate's Armed Services Committee.

That "objective is to reduce the threat in that area and to be able to maintain persistent capabilities so that an external threat cannot emanate from that in the future," he added.

Republican Senator Josh Hawley asked Thomas if he was satisfied the US was at that point. "I do not think we're there yet," Thomas said.

"This has been one of the most complex challenges that our force has dealt with in quite a while," he told lawmakers.

Trump declared victory over Daesh in December, saying the US had "beaten them badly" and "won". He also announced he would withdraw the 2,000 or so American troops -- most of them special forces commandos -- from Syria.

Since Trump's announcement, US officials have rejected the idea of a clear victory over Daesh, stressing the group will remain indefinitely as an insurgency after they have lost control of the area they once claimed.

Trump's announcement resulted in the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Washington's anti-Daesh coalition envoy Brett McGurk and Pentagon chief of staff Rear Admiral Kevin Sweeney, who disapproved of the president's decision.

Trump apparently gave in to pressure to slow down the troops pullout, granting the US military up to four months to withdraw.

Foreign-backed militants and Takfiri terrorists started a campaign of bloodshed and destruction against Syria in 2011.

The US deployed troops and equipment to Syria in 2014 as part of a Washington-led coalition purportedly fighting Daesh without authorization from the Damascus government.

The terror group is widely reported to be financed by Saudi Arabia and partially trained and protected by American forces in Syria to support the terror campaign against the Syrian government and ordinary citizens.

Iran and Russia, on the other hand, have been respectively lending military advisory support nd aerial backup to the Syrian military in its battle against those groups.
US 'may pull some 1,000 troops from Afghanistan'

Iran Press TV

Fri Feb 15, 2019 04:24PM

The United States may reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan by at least 1,000, a US general says, attributing the decision to an efficiency drive by a new commander of NATO forces in the Asian country.

US Army General Joseph Votel, the head of the US military's Central Command, said the decision to cut some of the roughly 14,000 American troops in Afghanistan would be part of an effort by Army General Scott Miller  who assumed command of NATO forces in Afghanistan last September  to make better use of US resources.

"This is something that he (Miller) started as he got into the position here and was looking at how we (can) be as efficient and as effective as we can be on the ground," Votel said in an interview with Reuters during a trip to Oman on Friday.

The decision comes as the US has been holding talks with the Taliban militant group aimed at putting an end to the war in Afghanistan, which began with the US-led invasion in 2001.

The Taliban have claimed the US has promised them to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan, although the timing for that purported pullout has not been finalized.

According to Votel, though, the decision about the 1,000 forces is not linked to the talks with the Taliban.

Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump told Congress that he intended to bring home US forces from Afghanistan as negotiators made progress in talks with the Taliban militants.

Votel did not give a specific estimate of exactly how many forces may be withdrawn, but he answered a question of whether Miller would likely cut over 1,000 troops from Afghanistan under the efficiency drive by saying, "He probably will."

He also said some forces could be moved "over the horizon," supporting the war effort from overseas.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 and overthrew a Taliban regime in power at the time. But US forces have remained bogged down there through the presidencies of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and now Donald Trump.
Preparedness, Practical Training Highlighted as NDW Wraps Up Citadel Shield/Solid Curtain

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190215-04

Release Date: 2/15/2019 9:58:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jason Amadi, Naval District Washington Public Affairs

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- Naval District Washington (NDW) concluded its participation in exercise Citadel Shield-Solid Curtain (CS-SC) 2019, Feb. 15.

CS-SC is a two-week anti-terrorism and force protection (ATFP) exercise conducted by Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC) and U.S. Fleet Forces Command (USFF) on all Navy installations in the continental United States.

During the first week of the exercise, Citadel Shield, the six NDW installations - Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Naval Support Activities Annapolis, Bethesda, South Potomac and Washington - took part in active shooter, bomb threat, hostage barricade, entry control point penetration, mass casualty and surveillance scenarios.

"NDW conducted another successful CS-SC exercise throughout the region," said Matt Brown, NDW training and exercise director. "These two weeks allowed for both NDW region headquarters and our installations to push their forces to their limits from an ATFP perspective."

During the second week of the exercise, Solid Curtain, the major training scenario involved Navy Operational Support Center (NOSC) Baltimore, which was a new challenge for the region.

"For us within NDW, the Solid Curtain exercise appeared to concentrate predominantly on off-installation activities," said Jeff Sanford, NDW emergency management program director. "I think you can trace much of the angst back to the Chattanooga incident a few years back, where recruiters were engaged and then later a NOSC was attacked. As far as installations scenarios go, we've been practicing those for quite a while now. Within the region, we work closely with our off-installation activities and civilian partners, and including them in this year's exercise was a win-win for everyone."

"I believe we performed very well, but I think there is always opportunities for improvement. It's far better to learn these lessons when the scenario isn't real, than to learn them when the threat is real."
SPAWAR Fosters Innovation, Industry Engagement at WEST 2019

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190215-11

Release Date: 2/15/2019 2:57:00 PM

By Elisha Gamboa, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (NNS) -- Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) joined 10 other Navy commands at the U.S. Navy Information Warfare (IW) Pavilion to demonstrate the critical teamwork required in today's information driven environment during WEST 2019, Feb. 13-15, at the San Diego Convention Center.

The Navy's IW pavilion at the conference, co-hosted by the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) and Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), showcased the Navy's role in the information domain through the use of speakers, panels, subject matter experts and capability displays.

As part of the speaker series, SPAWAR Commander Rear Adm. Christian Becker stressed the command's mission of delivering information capabilities to the fleet from seabed to space to protect the Navy and the nation from attack, promote prosperity, and preserve strategic influence.

"The proliferation of advanced technologies makes staying ahead of the competition a constant challenge," said Becker. "To outpace our adversaries we must take every opportunity to innovate, lead and drive new ways to speed delivery of advanced capability to the warfighter now and into the future."

Emphasizing information as a key domain of warfare, Becker also announced that SPAWAR will be changing the names of its Echelon III systems centers, SPAWAR Systems Center Atlantic and SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific, to Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic and Naval Information Warfare Center Pacific respectively, effective Feb. 18.

"While the centers' mission will remain the same, the new names reflect the centers' focus, core capabilities, and importance in the full spectrum of warfighting," Becker said during his address to the industry on Feb. 13. "The names also improve clarity of mission and purpose with our stakeholders across the fleet and industry and throughout the broader Information Warfare Community and Naval Research and Development Enterprise."

To provide attendees with a comprehensive understanding of the Navy's information warfare community, this year's Navy IW pavilion featured three ways for industry to engage with Navy IW professionals  the Navy IW theater speaking series, the Navy IW engagement zone and Navy IW technology demonstrations.

The speaker series covered topics focused on the evolution and present state of the information warfare domain ranging from rapid prototyping, enabling 'compile to combat in 24 hours,' cybersecurity, military intelligence, enhancements in military training and technology, and extensive insight into the IW community status and mission areas.

In an effort to foster innovation, an engagement zone meeting area provided a platform for attendees to connect with more than two dozen program managers, business portfolio managers and subject matter experts from multiple IW commands.

"WEST provides a terrific opportunity to meet with industry experts on a wide range of technology areas to accelerate learning in support of PEO C4I's Information Warfare mission outcomes" said Capt. Kurt Rothenhaus, program manager of the Navy's Tactical Networks Program Office (PMW 160), at the Program Executive Office Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I).

Surrounding the engagement zone, the IW pavilion also hosted 18 technology demonstrations spotlighting various systems and capabilities that support and facilitate information warfare, from seabed to space.

Highlighting innovation in acquisition was SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific's rapid prototyping exhibit, demonstrating some of the latest tools available to defense acquisition professionals to deliver capability to the warfighter at the speed of relevance.

"SSC Pacific has a long, proud history as first-adopters of disruptive, information-based technologies and novel engineering methods," said Carly Jackson, SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific's director of prototyping-Information Warfare. "Our world class scientists and engineers have been at it again  emboldened by the urgency of calls from our fleet commanders  thriving in the power and complexity of the cresting waves of technology and innovation, and setting new standards for speed, scale, and rigor as we rapidly prototype and field capabilities to our Nation's Sailors and Marines."

Also popular with attendees was the SPAWAR Systems Center Pacific additive manufacturing exhibit, demonstrating modern technology developments in 3D printing of antennas for Naval applications.

PEO C4I demonstrated the Consolidated Afloat Networks and Enterprise Services (CANES), the Navy's next generation tactical afloat network. CANES will take advantage of the new business model of open architecture, Service Oriented Architecture, and rapid commercial off-the-shelf insertion, in order to bring fiscal savings to the Navy, as well as operational agility to the warfighter.

To encourage and facilitate industry connections and partnerships, SPAWAR also had representatives from the command's Office of Small Business Programs on hand to provide information on how to do business with SPAWAR.

"The IW Pavilion provides a platform for us to inform our small business industry partners about current and future requirements needed to support SPAWAR's mission," said Mark McLain, SPAWAR Office of Small Business Program director. "SPAWAR recognizes that small businesses drive innovation and the creation of new industries, and tapping into their specialized capabilities and experience will assist in growing our industrial base of capable companies that can provide innovative, agile, and affordable solutions for today's and tomorrow's Navy."

Other displays ranged from unmanned under water vehicles used for operational decision making, cutting-edge position, navigation and timing technologies, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications, military satellite and nanosatellite communication systems, research and development of commercial cloud services and more.

The premier naval conference and exposition on the West Coast, WEST is now in its 29th year of bringing military and industry leaders together. Co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute, WEST is the only event in which the makers of platforms and the designers of technologies can network, discuss and demonstrate their solutions in a single location.

SPAWAR identifies, develops, delivers and sustains information warfighting capabilities supporting naval, joint, coalition and other national missions. SPAWAR consists of more than 10,000 active duty military and civil service professionals located around the world and close to the fleet to keep SPAWAR at the forefront of research, engineering and acquisition to provide and sustain information warfare capabilities to the fleet.
NAVIFOR Participates in WEST 2019

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS190215-15

Release Date: 2/15/2019 4:22:00 PM

By Lt. Cmdr. Megan Shutka,

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- Vice Adm. Brian B. Brown, commander, Naval Information Forces (NAVIFOR), discussed the importance and formation of the Information Warfare Enterprise (IWE), Feb. 13 at the WEST 2019, San Diego Convention Center.

Brown's participation in WEST 2019 began with a panel session "What Are the Major Naval Warfare Communities Doing Differently to Restore Readiness and Build a More Lethal Force?" in which all the Naval Type Commands (TYCOMs) were represented and fielded questions from both the moderator and audience.

"Information Warfare is a warfighting discipline, a set of warfighting capabilities, and an enabler for all Navy mission areas," said Brown. "It's the backbone of what we all do in the Navy in every warfighting domain from sea to land to air to undersea to cyber to space and how our Navy will fight in an ever changing, asymmetrical muti-domain battlespace. We have 57,000 people in IW worldwide and 19,000 just within NAVIFOR. The IW Commander, responsible for all Information Warfare functions on the carrier strike groups, has been a great success, so we're moving IW readiness even further with the standup of the Information Warfare Enterprise."

Later in the afternoon, Brown delivered remarks from the IW Pavilion to further define the Information Warfare Enterprise as it relates to the "Great Power Competition," described in the National Defense Strategy, where both China and Russia have directly and indirectly challenged national boundaries as well as the economic, diplomatic and security sovereignty of their respective neighbors.

"Our mission is clear. The National Security Strategy directs us to protect America, to promote American prosperity, and to preserve peace through strength, and advance American influence throughout the world," said Brown during his opening remarks at the IW Pavilion. "Our Navy is uniquely positioned to support all elements of national power outlined in this strategic plan and in the National Defense Strategy. One of the major initiatives Naval Information Forces, as the IW TYCOM, has undertaken since last year's WEST conference to achieve the goals for the Navy the Nation Needs is the establishment of the Information Warfare Enterprise.

The IWE will advance, align, deliver, support and sustain IW capabilities that enable combat-credible forces today and into the future."

The construct for IWE is built upon three strategic pillars: to ensure IW readiness, advance IW capabilities, and align and integrate IW. IW readiness enables the warfighter to manage combat risk and win against current and future threats by including Sailors as part of IW systems; ensuring Main, Train and Equip (MTE) provisioning, system resiliency and security while optimizing support, sustainment and modernization.

Advancing IW capabilities delivers agile and effective IW capabilities that outpace the threat at the speed of relevance. Delivery is about integrating relevant capabilities across Sailors, platforms and domains  wholeness and enabling both adaptability and agility. Align and integrate IW ensures alignment internally across IW capability areas, stakeholders, platforms and prioritized requirements, and externally, integrates IW capability across multiple warfare domains with other Naval Enterprises.

"The Naval Information Warfighting Development Center [NIWDC], Information Warfare's advanced training organization led by Rear Adm. Jeff Scheidt, is making tremendous strides in improving warfighting by centralizing IW advanced training across the community, bringing together efforts to update and develop new IW tactics, techniques and procedures, serving as a catalyst for maturing the IW training continuum and developing IW Warfare Tactics Instructors," Brown said in the IW Pavilion.

Warfare Tactics Instructors are focused on revolutionizing IW training, reinforcing accountability and professionalism and measuring competence in a more direct way. NIWDC is well on its way in developing new Warfare Tactics Instructors and NAVIFOR's goal in 2019 is to get a Warfare Tactics Instructor expert on each deploying carrier strike group this year. So far, NIWDC has put 26 officers, enlisted and civilian students through the IW baseline course in 2018.

"This year, we will pilot an IW officer/director on the newly formed 2nd Fleet staff in addition to an O-5 officer to serve as the IW Commander on the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group," Brown said. "I am certain both will be resounding successes, and the demand to fully implement across all MOCs and ARGs will be rapidly forthcoming."

In March 2018, the Information Warfare Training Group (IWTG) was established and has been led by Capt. Christopher Slattery. In its first year, IWTG quickly aligned IW community training functions that previously fell under Naval Information Operations Command (NIOC) Norfolk, NIOC San Diego, the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and NAVIFOR HQ. IWTG led the rewrite portions of the Surface Forces Training and Readiness Manual that will enhance the importance of IW training to the fleet. Brown stated IWTG will continue to build its unit level training scope in Electronic Warfare, Cryptology and Cyber and also expand its training to incorporate Intel, communications and space mission areas.

"We are fortunate to have talent in our ranks to deliver what the nation and our Navy needs in this warfare area," Brown concluded. "I'm excited to be a part of the IW team and the IWE. I believe our governance structure, strategic objectives and supporting initiatives will help us realize a more agile, a more capable and more lethal Navy."

The IW Pavilion showcases some of the most recent efforts to improve cybersecurity and technology in the fleet. The venue creates a platform for conversations on the IW role in strengthening naval power from the sea and in developing a more agile naval surface force as the Navy navigates this new era of competition in the maritime domain and works to build "the Navy the Nation Needs."

Naval Information Forces Force Master Chief David B. Carter joined Brown to interact and engage with Sailors within the IW Pavilion.

"This is a great opportunity to see Sailors from the deck plates interacting with industry members and Navy leadership to talk about and showcasing their IW areas of expertise," said Carter while walking through the IW Pavilion.

West 2019 is the premier naval conference and exposition on the West Coast, held Feb. 13-15. The conference brings together leaders in military, industry and academia to discuss information warfare, integrated warfare, near-peer challenges, and associated creative and agile solutions. WEST 2019 is co-sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) International and the U.S. Naval Institute (USNI).

Brown and Carter also took the time to visit and tour the USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) to meet with the ship's Sailors and leadership while in the San Diego area.

NAVIFOR's mission is to provide naval and joint operational commanders with combat-ready Information Warfare forces to execute missions in support of U.S. interests worldwide.
Speech by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Munich Security Conference

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

15 Feb. 2019

(As delivered)

Thank you so much. It's really a great pleasure to be back here at the Munich Security Conference, especially because the focus this year is on the need for global institutions, for global order.

And we all know that these institutions, this rules-based order is under pressure. And therefore we also know that when these institutions are under pressure, we also see more uncertainty and more unpredictability.

And therefore today, I will actually focus a bit on how we can deal with that unpredictability and the more uncertain security environment that surrounds us.

I will do that of course out of the perspective of NATO. And I will also do that knowing that one way of dealing with uncertainty is to try to predict the future.

At the same time, we know that to predict the future is extremely difficult.

We were not able to predict the fall of the Berlin Wall.

We were not able to predict the 9/11 attacks.

And we were not able to predict the rise of ISIS.

And I can also confess to you that I know it's not only in the realm of international security that it is hard to predict the future.

Because for many years  well, not so many years  but in my first job, as an economist in the Central Bureau of Statistics in Norway, we tried to predict the oil price.

And we were wrong all the time.

So to predict the future is not easy.

What is therefore needed is not only to try to predict the future, but to develop strategies to deal with uncertainty, to be prepared for the unexpected.

And when it comes to security, there are at least three essential things we need to address when we try to develop a strategy to deal with and be able to tackle uncertainty.

One is strong multilateral frameworks;

Second, strong defence;

And third, strong transatlantic cooperation.

All of these help us to reduce risks.

And to cope with surprises when they happen.

And they will happen.

So first, we need strong and effective multilateral frameworks.

After the destruction of World War Two, visionary leaders created institutions that enabled countries to compete and cooperate peacefully.

That covered everything from European security and arms control.

To monetary policy and international trade.

They protected the weak from the strong.

They ensured our peace and prosperity.

And they have benefitted us all, and they have been incredibly effective in meeting the needs of the people they served.

Yet today, these institutions are under pressure.

If we want them to remain effective.

We need to continue to reform and modernize them.

That is why one of my main objectives in NATO has been reform.

To make sure the Alliance remains fit for the future.

One important framework that has served us all very well is the nuclear arms control regime.

Which, over many decades has dramatically reduced the number of nuclear weapons.

In the early 1990's, the United States and the Soviet Union each deployed 12,000 long-range strategic nuclear warheads.

Today there is a limit of 1,550 warheads for each country.

There were also almost three thousand intermediate range nuclear weapons in Europe.

The INF Treaty banned them all,

And brought that number down to zero.

But now, the whole nuclear arms control regime is under assault.

Russia has deployed several battalions of its new SSC-8 missile system, in breach of the Treaty.

These missiles are mobile.

Easy to hide.

And nuclear-capable.

They can reach European cities, like Munich, with little warning.

They lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons in a conflict.

It was on this very stage, at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, this was the place that President Putin first publically expressed his desire for Russia to leave the INF Treaty.

A treaty that is only respected by one side will not keep us safe.

Then it is just a piece of paper.

That is why, with the full support of all NATO Allies, the United States has announced its intention to withdraw from the Treaty.

This will take effect in six months.

So Russia still has a window of opportunity to return to compliance.

We call on Russia to take that opportunity.

And to verifiably destroy its intermediate range missiles.

The clock is ticking.

We want Russia to return to compliance.

But we are also preparing for a world without the INF Treaty.

And a world with more Russian missiles in Europe.

NATO has already started this work.

And I will not predict the outcome.

But what I can say is that we will do this as an Alliance.

United and measured.

And that NATO has no intention of deploying new land-based nuclear weapons in Europe.

NATO will always take the necessary steps to provide credible and effective deterrence.

While we remain determined to avoid a new arms race, we cannot afford to be complacent, and we cannot afford to be naive.

And that brings me to my second point, the second thing we must do to deal with uncertainty.

To continue investing in our defence.

For centuries in Europe, conflict was our constant companion.

The last 70 years of peace have been the exception, and not the rule.

We must never take peace for granted.

After the Cold War, NATO Allies cut their defence budgets.

And that was understandable, as tensions had fallen.

But today, tensions are increasing again.

And so for the first time in many years, we have started to significantly increase our defence budgets.

This is the right thing to do to keep our people secure in today's world.

Since 2016, NATO allies in Europe and Canada have spent an additional 41 billion dollars on defence.

And by the end of next year, that will rise to one hundred billion US dollars.

The money matters.

And what we do with that money matters too.

We have deployed combat-ready troops in the eastern part of the Alliance for the first time.

Increased the readiness of our forces.

Modernised our command structure.

Stepped up in the fight against terrorism.

And we are doing more to address hybrid and cyber threats.

By doing all this, we ensure we can continue to protect all Allies against any threat.

Not to provoke a conflict, but to preserve the peace.

Europe and North America are doing this together, through NATO.

And the unprecedented cooperation between NATO and the European Union also contributes to our security and to transatlantic burden-sharing.

And we just had a Defence Ministerial meeting in Brussels, and High Representative Federica Mogherini was there, as she always is. Showing that we are working more and more closely together, NATO and the European Union.

Therefore, the third essential element to manage uncertainty is strong transatlantic cooperation.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, Europe and North America brought the Cold War to an end without a shot being fired on European soil.

We underpinned stability and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic.

We helped bring peace to the Balkans.

And fought side-by-side against terrorists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

The bond between our two continents is historical, cultural and personal.

But the real reason this bond endures is even more fundamental.

Standing together is in our shared interest.

It is in the national interest of each and every one of our nations.

The cooperation between North America and Europe is more important than ever.

As the balance of power is shifting.

A key driver for this shift is the rise of China.

There is genuine potential for partnership and political dialogue.

NATO and China have already worked together to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia.

And our militaries are in regular contact.

But China's rise also presents a challenge.

One example is of course the concern many Allies have expressed about China's increasing investment in critical infrastructure, such as 5G.

We have to better understand the size and the scale of China's influence,

What it means for our security.

And we have to address it together.

Europe and North America are stronger together  economically, politically and militarily.

We represent almost one billion people.

Half of the world's economic might.

And half of the world's military might.

A strong NATO is good for global security.

It is good for the security of Europe.

And it is good for the security of North America.

NATO provides the United States with 28 friends and Allies.

And many more partners across the globe.

Nobody else can count on that.

Indeed, as you all know, the only time that we have invoked Article 5, our collective defence clause, was after the 9/11 attacks on the United States.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of troops from European Allies and Canada have served alongside America in Afghanistan.

And more than a thousand have paid the ultimate price.

The strength of a nation depends on the size of its economy.

And the size of its military.

But it also depends on the number of its friends.

So it is vital that we continue to stand together to maintain our security in an uncertain world.

If we maintain robust and relevant international institutions;

If we continue to invest in our defence;

And if we remain united,

We will be ready to face the future.

Whatever the future may bring.
NATO Secretary General attends the Munich Security Conference

NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

15 Feb. 2019

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg joined other world leaders in Germany on Friday (15 February 2019) to participate in the Munich Security Conference. He addressed the conference on the importance of strong multinational institutions and agreements, deterrence and defence, and transatlantic cooperation. The Munich Security Conference follows the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels where Allies discussed a wide range of security issues, including Russia's violation of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.

On Friday, the Secretary General met President Petro Poroshenko to discuss NATO's strong support for Ukraine and the situation in the region. With President Ashraf Ghani, he discussed prospects for a peaceful settlement in Afghanistan and the importance of NATO's training mission. He also met Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to discuss Croatia's contributions to NATO and the situation in the Western Balkans. In his meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Secretary General discussed the situation in and around Ukraine, the INF Treaty, transparency and risk reduction, as well as the need to support Ambassador Khalilzad's peace efforts in Afghanistan.

The Munich Security Conference is one of the world's leading foreign and security policy gatherings. More than 35 heads of state and government are expected to attend, as well as 50 foreign ministers and 30 defence ministers.
Feb. 15, 2019

News

By Jim Garamone

Defense.gov

Engagement With African Nations Must Matter to Americans

WASHINGTON -- "Africa matters."

This is the simple, direct and crucial message that Michelle Lenihan, the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, wants to get across to Americans: What happens in Africa is important and affects the world.

Underlying everything on the continent is the fact that it is not a monolith. Africa is a diverse area with 54 countries and hundreds of languages. "Africa is a continent of enormous challenges and opportunities, with the possibility of moving in either direction depending on how they are managed," Lenihan said in a recent interview.

U.S. Engagement

The United States needs to remain engaged on the continent to help the countries of the continent develop and prosper. There are more than 1 billion people on the continent. "The population is projected to more than double by 2050," she said. "It will constitute about a quarter of the world's population. What is also striking is that over 60 percent will be under 25 years old."

Americans can look at this and discuss whether the glass is half full or half empty with regards to the continent. Half-full people will see massive markets and opportunities for commerce to proceed and ingenuity to flourish. Half-empty people will look at this demographic wave as a security challenge exacerbated by youth unemployment, climate trends, corruption and ungoverned or little-governed areas.

DOD's Supporting Role

The Defense Department has a role in the continent, but it is a support role, Lenihan said. In concert with interagency partners, U.S. Africa Command is the combatant command with responsibility to implement U.S. defense strategy on the continent. "We have a by, with and through approach to Africa and underlying that is a focus on partnership," she said. "We partner with African and other countries, with international and regional organizations and subregional organizations."

U.S. service members work in bilateral engagements with various countries to strengthen the security aspect of the nations and to demonstrate how a military functions in a democracy. Other service members work with increasingly important and effective regional organizations to encourage cooperation across national borders. "A lot of the threats are transnational in nature and countries are realizing they have shared interests and they need to work together," she said. "You see some countries in the past who would not have worked with a neighbor, now partnering."

International Alliances, Partnerships

Another example is in reply to the terror threat posed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and al-Qaida affiliates. The G5 Sahel alliance  comprised of Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad  is a response to transnational terror. U.S. service members work with the countries individually and as an alliance to improve security capabilities including intelligence sharing.

The United States also works with troops contributing countries involved in African Union Mission in Somalia  AMISOM. Somalia was a failed state that is taking steps to re-establishing itself as a nation. U.S. civilian agencies  including the U.S. Agency for International Development  are back in Mogadishu. Lenihan said she is encouraged by developments in the region, but realizes there is a long road ahead before Somalia is stable.

Institution-Building

Aid and advice runs the gamut from teaching African service members the basics of combat reconnaissance and infantry training to building institutions at the defense ministries.

"Defense institution building is a huge priority for us, recognizing you can't train and equip your way out of developing these capabilities, you really have to focus on these institutions so the foundations are there so they can sustain themselves," she said. "In some countries, we work through the security governance initiative to make this happen."

These are not easy things to do and results will not be apparent overnight, Lenihan said. "This is a multi-tiered effort that looks to build capabilities," she said.

Added to this are U.S. military educational programs. For not a lot of money, there is a large effect, with thousands of African military leaders receiving instruction at American military schools. "This works to instruct the leaders, but also to professionalize African forces," Lenihan said. "The personal contacts established through this are also invaluable."

Competition

Great power competition with China and Russia continues for the United States in Africa. Russia is the major arms supplier to some nations in Africa.

China has a more long-term strategy on the continent. "They have a lot of partnerships in Africa," she said. "President Xi [Jinping] was recently there and they definitely have strong diplomatic and economic interests. U.S. government involvement in Africa is more transparent and focused on building capacity. It is very much shared interests and shared goals."

It is in the security interest of the U.S. to help develop nations so their populations can thrive and not become places where extremists find havens, Lenihan said, noting that transparent motives are best for addressing the problems on the continent.

"What I am worried about is the corrosive effects of some of the practices that nations can apply," she said. "The United States is trying to encourage strong, functional governments [and] trying to encourage free markets and business development. There are certain countries that have policies that undermine that, and that is problematic for the security and stability of Africa."

Lenihan specifically highlighted the contributions of the National Guard's State Partnership Program. "The program has a really positive effect on our bilateral engagements," she said. "This is an enduring partnership between the nation and the state National Guard organizations."

Guardsmen, who often stay with the same units for years, build long-term connections with partner nations and often bring the skills and knowledge they develop in civilian jobs to the efforts on the continent. "Every country I know that has a state partnership values it," Lenihan said. "It is such a positive element for this type of partnership."
Feb. 15, 2019

News

By Jim Garamone

Defense.gov

Acting Secretary Pleased With Progress of Coalition to Defeat ISIS

WASHINGTON -- Acting Defense Secretary Patrick M. Shanahan said he is pleased with the progress of the coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and he reiterated America's steadfast support for the effort.

Shanahan spoke following a meeting of coalition defense ministers in Munich this morning.

"As a 79-member team, our coalition has taken a strong and united stand against the ISIS threat globally with a particular emphasis on Iraq and Syria," he said. "The United States appreciates every coalition member's unique contribution to the collective D-ISIS efforts. Together, we have eliminated the group's hold on over 99 percent of the territory it once claimed as its so-called caliphate."

It has not been an easy fight. Iraqi troops took Mosul back from ISIS in particularly bitter fighting. Syrian Democratic Forces wrested the ISIS capital of Raqqa back after months of fighting. The final remnants of the terror group are now under tremendous assault in the Middle Euphrates River Valley.

"We have destroyed its ability to mass forces," Shanahan said. "We have eliminated most of its leadership and significantly diminished its resources."

U.S. Committed to Fight

U.S. service members in northeast Syria are heading home. Still, "The United States remains committed to our coalition's cause: The permanent defeat of ISIS both in the Middle East and beyond," the acting secretary said. "As we make this tactical change, we remain a stabilizing force for peace in the Middle East alongside our may allies and partners."

Shanahan said the U.S. military will maintain counterterrorism capabilities in the Middle East and will continue to support local partners as those forces wipe up the remnants of the terror group.

The defense ministers used the Munich meeting to look to the future of the coalition. "I for one envision an even bigger coalition going forward -- one that has evolved to meet the global threat posed by ISIS's offshoots and its murderous ideology," he said.

Shanahan said he sees a coalition going after the group's malign influences in Afghanistan, the Philippines, the African Sahel region, the Sulu Sea and elsewhere. These strategies must be tailored for the region and threat, he said. "Our coalition is addressing the threat in each region and what is required from us to meet these threats," he said.

Shanahan emphasized that the defeat ISIS effort involves the whole of government, and though this meeting was among defense ministers, they realize that a military solution is not the only solution. Coalition militaries will play a part, but diplomatic, economic and political efforts may be the best solutions depending on the region.
Feb. 15, 2019

News Release

Press Operations

Release No. NR-032-19

Readout of Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan's Meeting with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze and Defense Minister Levan Izoria

Pentagon Spokesperson Eric Pahon provided the following readout:

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan met with Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze and Defense Minister Levan Izoria today at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, to reaffirm U.S. commitment to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and our strong defense relationship.

The leaders discussed a broad range of defense issues, including the Russian occupation of Georgian territory, support for Black Sea security and progress toward defense reform. They agreed to continued security cooperation to heighten the combat readiness and NATO interoperability of Georgian defense forces.

Secretary Shanahan thanked both Ministers for Georgia's overwhelming commitment to NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan, citing the country as the top per-capita, and fourth overall troop contributor in Afghanistan.

https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/1759029/
Letter From Bulgarian Intelligence Refutes Talk That 'Umbrella Murder' Victim Georgi Markov Was A Spy

By Dimitar Kenarov, Pete Baumgartner February 15, 2019

SOFIA -- A Bulgarian historian has uncovered a document contradicting communist-era rumors that exiled dissident Georgi Markov worked as an agent abroad for Bulgarian foreign intelligence before his 1978 assassination.

Markov was a celebrated Bulgarian novelist and playwright who defected to become one of that country's most famous dissidents for his stinging criticism of communist society and its leaders.

He was poisoned in London in the infamous "umbrella murder," ascribed to an agent or operative of the Bulgarian communist regime's repressive secret police, the Committee for State Security (also known as State Security, or DS).

Rumors that Markov was a State Security agent or informer, or even a double agent, have persisted, fueled mostly by communist-era reports after his defection in 1969 and interviews and books about him by secret-service veterans.

"We concluded that the writer Georgi Markov did not belong to the [Bulgarian foreign] service's undercover apparatus and there were no contacts with him on an agent-operational or other basis," said the 1990 response to an internal State Security request for an investigation into whether Markov had worked with its First Main Directorate, responsible for foreign intelligence.

The Markov killing, in the heart of a Western capital, represented an audacious blow by a Cold War foe that resonated within Soviet-era dissident circles and still stings the Bulgarian national consciousness.

His killer has never been identified, and historians and journalists continue to pore over vast archives that could turn up new clues to that and other crimes.

Historian Valery Katsunov, a member of the state Commission for the Archives of the Communist Secret Police from 2007-18, provided the State Security letter to RFE/RL contributor Dimitar Kenarov.

Dated December 17, 1990 -- one year after the communist government fell -- it was a response from the First Main Directorate's successor, the National Intelligence Service, to questions about a possible inquiry.

It was signed by Dimitar Kendimenov, a former secret-service officer who was in Britain when Markov was killed; the head of the intelligence service's archive, Radko Todorov; and Major General Rumen Toshkov, the head of the reconstituted National Intelligence Service.

There were suggestions by Soviet-era security sources -- possibly aimed at discrediting Markov or shifting suspicion to Western intelligence agencies but mostly dismissed among serious scholars -- that the former chemical engineer and award-winning writer secretly worked for Bulgaria's State Security or its foreign directorate after fleeing the country in 1969.

As an emigre, Markov worked for the BBC and Deutsche Welle and contributed to RFE/RL, where he produced a series of satirical programs called Personal Meetings With Todor Zhivkov, that skewered Bulgaria's communist leadership.

Zhivkov led the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1954-89.

In 1978, Markov was on his way to the BBC offices on Zhivkov's birthday, September 7, when he felt a sting in his right leg while waiting for a bus on London's Waterloo Bridge. He turned around to find a man picking up an umbrella.

"I'm sorry," Markov, on his deathbed, recalled the man saying in a foreign accent. The man then hurriedly crossed the street and hailed a taxi.

Four days later, Markov was dead of what doctors said was poisoning by ricin, traces of which were found in a tiny pellet embedded in his leg.

Ten days before Markov was attacked, Bulgarian emigre journalist Vladimir Kostov had been struck as he rode an escalator on the Paris Metro by a ricin-filled pellet identical to the one that felled Markov. He survived that poisoning.

Bulgarian officials began an investigation into Markov's killing shortly after the 1989 fall of Tidor Zhivkov's communist government. It was closed in 2013 having failed to identify, charge, or arrest any suspects, and cited the destruction of many documents in Markov's file.

Former Soviet KGB officers Oleg Kalugin and Oleg Gordievsky claimed separately that the KGB was involved in the Markov killing, and even described how ricin-filled pellets were loaded into umbrellas used to carry out assassinations.

Multiple journalistic investigations have incriminated a Dane of Bulgarian origin, Francesco Gullino, code-named "Piccadilly," in Markov's assassination. Gullino, who acknowledges having worked as a Bulgarian foreign agent for many years, has denied the charge.

"I'm sorry. I wish I could give you a straight answer...but think for a moment: If I was, if I were the murderer, [do] you think I should, I [should] just say it?" he told an investigative reporter in Wels, Austria, in 2013.

Written by Pete Baumgartner based on reporting by RFE/RL contributor Dimitar Kenarov and RFE/RL Bulgarian Service Director Ivan Bedrov

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/no-agent-bulgarian-spies- letter-refutes-talk-of-umbrella-murder -victim-markov-as-spy/29772449.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.
Sat Saturday

84 /58

Mix of sun and clouds. Highs in the mid 80s and lows in the upper 50s.
Thugs stole Rs 1 crore worth Xiaomi smartphones in Andhra: Cinema style heist News oi-Vivek The truck was carrying smartphones from Sri City to Kolkata

Xiaomi is the number one smartphone brand in India from six quarters, and the company is now gearing up for the launch of the Redmi Note 7 in India, which will be the first budget smartphone to launch with a 48 MP primary camera.

Now, a new report states that the company has lost Xiaomi/Redmi smartphones in India worth Rs 1 crore. The robbery has taken place a day after the announcement of the Redmi Note 7 launch, which will be unveiled in India on the 28th of February.

Cinematic incident

According to the report from Times of India, the company has shipping smartphones worth Rs 1 crore in a convoy truck, and the truck was stopped in the middle of a highway in Andhra Pradesh. Later on, the driver was tied to a tree on the 13th of February, where the thugs have stolen Xiaomi smartphones worth Rs 1 crore.

Well planned heist

The robbers hit the truck when it was moving from Sri city to Kolkata, and the thugs have driven the vehicle till Gowravaram village and abanded the vehicle by stealing the smartphones inside the truck and moving them into a new truck.

The company has immediately lodged a complaint with the local police and police have started to investigate. According to the preliminary findings, it looks like a well-planned heist, where an insider has helped these robbers to plan the heist. The report also suggests that the truck contains smartphones worth between Rs 6,000 to Rs 14,000.

What next?

Police will be able to track those smartphones using the special ID (IMEI number) if the devices get activated. Until them, police has to look forward to the unsuspicious selling and buying of the Xiaomi smartphones in and around the place of incident. Similarly, the company can also lock these smartphones, so that the thugs cannot use these smartphones what so ever.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications
Flextronics, Foxconn, and Samsung contribute more than 50% of Indias mobile manufacturing News oi-Priyanka Dua There is a clear momentum with all top five major smartphone players, including the likes of Xiaomi, OPPO, and VIVO ramping up their SMT capacities

Top three firms Flextronics, Foxconn, and Samsung - account for more than 50 percent of the country's local production, according to a new report from CyberMedia Research (CMR).

As per the report, the share of Completely Knocked Down (CKD) manufacturing increased by 43 percent from Q1 to Q4 2018, to end at 57 percent. On the other hand, Semi Knocked Down (SKD) manufacturing declined by half from 61 percent in Q1 2018, ending at around 38 percent in Q4 2018.

"SMT manufacturing in India is currently smartphone-centric. There is a clear momentum with all top five major smartphone players, including the likes of Xiaomi, OPPO, and VIVO ramping up their SMT capacities. When it comes to Indian players, its only Lava that's showing promise," said Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst-IIG, CMR.

"Beyond the likes of Samsung and Lava, we anticipate the entry of other major featurephone players into SMT Manufacturing," added Narinder.

The report pointed out that there was a 20 percent YoY decline in the approximate number of SKUs. In comparison, there was a mere 7 percent sequential decline in SKUs in CY2017.

Overall mobile handset shipments to top 345 million in CY2019, with smartphones growing at 10-15 percent YoY, while 2G feature phones are anticipated to decline by around 12-15 percent YoY.

"Smartphone shipments will see growth in the year ahead. We anticipate 2019 to be the year of radical smartphone innovation, with a major evolution in form factors. On the other hand, while 2G feature phone shipments decline, we anticipate 4G feature phones will remain steady," added Swati Kalia, Analyst-IIG, CMR.

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications
Mi Pay standalone app arrives with MIUI 10 Global Beta ROM: Reports News oi-Karan Sharma Mi Pay 2.0 has arrived with the latest MIUI 10 Global Beta ROM update. All you need to know about the new app.

Back in December last year Xiaomi announce that the company is going to start testing its payments service in India. Xiaomi took this step to take on Google Pay and other similar services. The company has also joined hands with ICICI Bank and PayU to launch its Mi Pay services in the country. The company confirmed that it has also got clearance from National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for testing the Mi Pay for large groups.

Now it has been reported that the Mi Pay 2.0 has arrived with the latest MIUI 10 Global Beta ROM update. In the initial testing the feature was integrated into Settings option, but now the latest beta update brings Mi Pay 2.0 in the form of a standalone app.

The Mi Pay arrives with latest MIUI 10 Global Beta ROM and it was first reported by FoneArena. According to the report, "Mi Pay has a basic UI unlike PhonePe or Google Pay and it requires Phone, Contacts and SMS permissions to run. Users have an option to transfer money to UPI address and Bank Account directly. As of now, there are no rewards/promotions on the app unlike PhonePe and Google Pay. Mi-Pay is available only for Indian users and the device should not be rooted for Mi Pay to work on it."

The Mi Pay is still in the testing phase and it might bring rewards and promotions once it gets launched commercially. You can download the apks from here if you want to test the app before the actual launch.

Recently, RBI came up with a new rule. According to the same, the digital payment services in the country have to save the user data in the country itself. Eventually, WhatsApp Payments faced an issue that delayed its widespread rollout. Given that Xiaomi has its office in the country, we can expect the Mi Pay service to be introduced without any delay for this reason.

Source

Best Mobiles in India

Facebook, To stay updated with latest technology news & gadget reviews, follow GizBot on Twitter YouTube and also subscribe to our notification. Allow Notifications
Gillette, WY (82718)

Today

Mostly cloudy with light rain this morning. High 72F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies. Low around 50F. Winds NNW at 10 to 20 mph.
Honey - 5500-year history and its role in Georgian culinary - GeorgianJournal
10 Reasons to buy an apartment in the suburbs - GeorgianJournal
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
The Rev. James E. Daniels is founder and chairman of the Eagles Nest Community Organization and lives in Texas City.
The plant matter is expensive, the ceramic pots are expensive, shipping is expensive because you need height, he explained.

But Van Wingerden wanted to start his own business and he had a simple idea that he thought would help people overcome the fear that they wont be able to care for their delicate-looking, exotic plants.

The stigma is a shame, he said. Every orchid grower is trying to come up with the easiest way to break the stigma.

Van Wingerdens patented idea is the SimpleShot glass. Each plant is sold with a plastic shot glass and the instructions to give the plant one shot of water per week.

Its an easy way for people to remember how to care for them and it draws people in, rather than having the instructions just written down on a card, he said. Its an easy, fun gimmick.

Water is all orchids need. They are epiphytes, meaning they grow on the surface of other plants and derive all the nutrients they need from water and air, rather than from soil. In tropical and subtropical climates, such as where they originated in India, China, southeastern Asia and Australia, they can be found growing on trees.
A Spotsylvania County man was arrested this week after he and two others were apprehended following a high-speed chase involving a stolen car, police said.

Spotsylvania Sheriff's Maj. Troy Skebo said deputies went to the 11000 block of Roosevelt Road at 2:45 a.m. Tuesday. The homeowner was getting ready to leave for work when he noticed that his 2012 Honda sedan was missing from the driveway.

Deputies began searching the area and within minutes spotted the stolen vehicle being driven in the neighborhood, Skebo said. The vehicle took off at a high rate of speed after the occupants realized they'd been spotted by deputies.

Deputies pursued the vehicle through the neighborhood and through several business properties along the State Route 3 (Plank Road) corridor. The vehicle crashed in the 4200 block and the three occupants got out and fled in different directions.

All three were apprehended. The driver, identified as 27-year-old De'Jon Tyrone Carr, was charged with receiving stolen property, fleeing from law enforcement and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Skebo said the investigation is ongoing and charges are pending against a 26-year-old woman who was in the back seat and a 17-year-old boy who was the front-seat passenger.

Court records show that Carr served six months in prison last year after being convicted of being on child care property as a registered sex offender. He was previously convicted of abducting a minor in Prince William in 2011 and failing to register as a sex offender in Spotsylvania in 2015.

Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
McCarrick was a globe-trotting diplomat, representing the Vatican abroad, advocating for human rights and religious freedom. He was the de facto lead spokesman among U.S. cardinals when the abuse crisis first exploded in the early 2000s, and he helped draw up new rules in the United States for how the church would handle abuse - rules that provided zero tolerance for predator priests but did little to improve oversight of bishops or cardinals. McCarrick served as archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006 and even afterward regularly testified before Congress and attended White House meetings.
We welcome your letters and columns!

Use the button below to send us your thoughts.

Remember:

Letters must include your real name, town of residence and daytime phone number, which we use for verification. We do not accept anonymous letters or letters written under a pseudonym. Letters should be no more than about 400 words. Those of no more than 200 to 300 words are more likely to be published.

Submit
Two men who were being questioned in connection with an attack reported by "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett have been released without charge, the Chicago Police Department said Friday.
SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina)  Students at an Upstate school hold a special remembrance for a boy on what would have been his 12th birthday. Ethan Rubenzer was hit by a suspected drunk driver on Highway 9 in Boiling Springs last Friday when he and his mother were driving to school. He died from those injuries at Spartanburg Medical Center two days later.

Friday at High Point Academy in Spartanburg students from Ethans 6th grade class and school-wide remembered Ethan wearing his favorite color, pink. Ethan, an organ donor, loved Boy Scouts, fishing, camping and volunteering.

Along with the High Point Academy family, his 18 year old sister, Grace Rubenzer and his paternal grandparents from Wisconsin were in attendance. Members of the EMS unit that responded to the scene of the car crash were also there.

Several students and teachers spoke about what made him special and shared their favorite memories. Ethan was described as a very friendly and outgoing kid who wasnt afraid to be himself. Students blew bubbles in his honor and prior to the ceremony they planted a weeping cherry tree that stands in front of the school in his memory.

I think it was a joy for our students to be able to celebrate Ethan today, says his English Language Arts teacher, April Purser, Just something to help them through this process. This has been a tough week for our 6th grade students and staff and everyone at High Point.

The group wore pink as part of the special remembrance.

The family members also wore pink to a court hearing for Michael Kelly Friday morning, during which Kelly's lawyers asked the judge to set bond. The solicitor asked that the judge deny bond and also revoke bond for unrelated charges that are also pending against Kelly. The judge did not make a ruling during the hearing.

Ethan's sister, Grace Rubenzer, spoke after the event at High Point Academy. She said it's important to make people aware that what happened to Ethan was avoidable.

"This happened because of a choice an individual made," Grace said. "Ethan's death didn't need to happen. He was just on his way to school."

MORE:
GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) - Troopers with the South Carolina Highway Patrol said one person has died and another is in the hospital after a crash in Greenville County.
Marc Poulos, a spokesman for Fight Back, also declined to say who was funding the organization but said the group was motivated by billionaire hedge fund CEO Ken Griffins recent $1 million contribution to Daley. Griffin, Illinois wealthiest man, donated $36 million to Rauners political committee including a $20 million check, which is believed to be the largest single donation from an individual to a candidate in U.S. history.
ASHEVILLE, NC (FOX Carolina)- The North Carolina Department of Public Safety says that the Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice is searching for an offender that was serving part of his sentence outside of prison
Please either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Memphis, TN (WREG) -- A Memphis man says he believes his mother was one of dozens of women murdered by a serial killer decades ago, after seeing a sketch on social media this week that bears a striking resemblance to her.

Samuel Little has confessed to 90 murders, and drew sketches for investigators of some of his victims who have never been identified.

After seeing one of those sketches, Anthony Jones says he believes the woman pictured is his mother.

The last time he saw his mother was Christmas Eve 1996, when he was 15.

She was like, I love you son Im gonna see you for Christmas tomorrow. Im like, Yes maam, Ill see you tomorrow. Next day comes, nobody heard from my mama. Day after that, nobody heard from my mama, he said.

Nearly two weeks later, Priscilla Baxter-Jones was found dead in the Mississippi River.

The 36-year-old prostitute had been raped, stabbed and strangled, Anthony said.

It always been on his mind heavy about what happened to his mom, said Jones wife, Erica Wells-Jones. He always said that he wished the killer would come forward or that he could find the killer in some type of way.

Then this week, more than two decades later, Erica saw something that might finally bring the closure theyve been waiting for  a sketch of a woman on our Facebook page drawn by serial killer Samuel Little of a woman he says he murdered in Memphis during the same time frame.

We put those pictures side by side and you know, like, thats her, she said.

And not only did Anthony recognize who he believes without a doubt is his mother, he says he immediately recognized the killer, too.

He believes his mom and Little possibly knew each other for months before her murder, and that he even met him.

I just seen the older picture first and I automatically knew who he was cause I dont forget faces. Thats just me. I cant forget faces, he said. My mamas killer just popped up outta the blue, and he drew a sketch of my mama.

Investigators say Little drew sketches of at least 16 of his unidentified victims, and admitted to strangling the woman drawn in this sketch, putting her in the back of his car and dumping her body in the Mississippi River.

Anthony and his wife says they know they cant bring his mother back, but they hope that by coming forward, theyll be able to help keep Little in prison.

For him to sit there and do the stuff that he did and talk about the way he treats people, that aint right, Anthony said.

It would be a big weight off him and his brothers shoulders to know that this man is off the street, Erica added.

We put the family in contact with Memphis Police and detectives are now looking into possible connections to the serial killer.

It's worth noting that the family says Jones was stabbed and investigators say Little did not stab any of his victims.

If you have information on the identity of the woman in this drawing, investigators with the Memphis Police Department Homicide Bureau are asking for your help. Please contact: Sgt. Joe Stark, (901) 636-3300, joe.stark@memphistn.gov Sgt. J.K. Smith, (901) 636-3300, jamesk.smith@memphistn.gov

The-CNN-Wire &  2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
AUBURN, Ala. -- Auburn Police on Saturday afternoon released the name of the officer who was shot and seriously injured during a traffic stop of a robbery suspect Friday night.

And we're learning more about a suspect in the case who died in a fire Friday night. That man had a connection to Alabama's Gulf Coast.

The wounded officer is Justin Sanders, 30, from Auburn, who was shot while in the 1100 block of Opelika Road.

APD says Sanders is a five-year veteran of law enforcement and is assigned as a patrol officer.

The officer was shot multiple times. Sanders was initially transported by ambulance to the East Alabama Medical Center, police said. He was later transported to UAB Medical Center in Birmingham, where he remains in stable condition and recovers from his injuries, police said.

Meanwhile, two suspects died in an apartment fire that followed, after the suspects fled and an ensuing manhunt tracked them to a nearby apartment complex.

The Lee County coroner on Saturday issued an update on their deaths via Facebook.

It was about 9:30 p.m. Friday when Auburn police officers and multiple federal, state and local law enforcement agencies from surrounding areas encountered two suspects that were being sought in the shooting of the Auburn police officer and a robbery attempt.

The coroner's update on Facebook reads as follows:

"Officers confronted the two suspects, 38-Year-old Christopher James Wallace and an unknown female subject in the 1100 block of Stonegate Drive off Wire Road. When officers engaged the two suspects, they ran into an apartment. As officers were trying to get the suspects from the apartment, gunfire was exchanged between officers and the suspects. Two individuals that were believed to be relatives of the suspect exited the apartment and were taken into custody. A fire broke out in the apartment and Auburn Fire responded to extinguish the blaze. After the fire was out police, fire and members of the coroners office located two deceased persons in a back room of the apartment. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris pronounced both subjects dead at the scene at 11:55 PM. The bodies of the two subjects, a white male, believed to be Christopher James Wallace and an unknown white female, were removed from the fire rubble. The bodies will be taken to the medical examiners office at the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences in Montgomery for a postmortem examination to determine the cause of death and positive identification. The SBI of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is in charge of the investigation at Auburn Police request. The State Fire Marshalls office was on scene and will assist to determine the cause of the fire."

The case remains under investigation by the Auburn Police Division, Opelika Police Department, ALEAs State Bureau of Investigation and the State of Alabama Medical Examiners Office.

The Opelika-Auburn News reports the incident began about 5:30 p.m. Friday. The Auburn officer stopped a vehicle that fit the description of one driven by the suspects. As the officer approached, police say the man opened fire, striking the officer at least four times.

Police Capt. Lorenza Dorsey says gunfire erupted as officers surrounded the apartment building where the suspects fled. Officers tossed canisters of tear gas into the apartment, which caught fire. The two suspects refused to exit. Authorities say their bodies were later found in the rubble.

While authorities believe Wallace was living in Eufaula at the time of the shooting, they say his driver's license has a Spanish Fort address. Baldwin County jail records show Wallace was arrested in 2006 on a charge of driving with an expired licence, and a Loxley address was listed for him at the time.

WRBL-TV reports that Eufaula law enforcement authorities considered Wallace a person of interest in the 2012 disappearance of his wife, Lisa Altimari-Wallace.

Officer Sanders is a native of the Auburn Community and a graduate of Auburn High School.

We are thankful for the staff at East Alabama Medical Center for all they did to save Officer Sanders," Auburn Police Chief Paul Register said for a news release. "We are very proud of the bravery he displayed in attempting to arrest someone dangerous to this community. We are humbled by the outpouring of public support; we are also very proud and appreciative of the dozens of law enforcement personnel who responded within minutes to aid in preventing further violence by those responsible. More than anything, we are thankful that Justin will recover."
Captain Lorenza Dorsey with the Auburn Police Department confirmed that shooting suspect Christopher James Wallace died in an apartment fire, along with a unidentified female suspect Friday night.

Wallace, 38, along with the female, were wanted in connection to the shooting of an Auburn police officer.

According to Dorsey, the officer was shot several times after he pulled over a vehicle suspected to be involved in a robbery. In a press briefing shortly before 11 p.m., Dorsey said the officer is in stable condition.

Reading from a prepared statement, Dorsey told the press:

"With the assistance of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the main suspect, Christopher James Wallace and an unidentified female suspect were determined to be located at a relatives residence in Auburn. While attempting to make a tactical entry into the residence, the suspect shot at officers who returned fire. Two uninvolved occupants exited the residence uninjured and were detained. After being ordered to exit the apartment, the suspects failed to do so and tear gas and distraction devices were deployed into the residence. However, the suspects refused to exit. Shortly afterwards, a fire erupted inside the apartment; officers continued to secure the area however, the suspects never emerged from the apartment which became fully engulfed in fire. The suspects are believed to have perished in the fire. The investigation is ongoing."

While authorities believe Wallace was living in Eufaula at the time of the shooting, they say his driver's license has a Spanish Fort address.

This is a developing story.
Dropkick pride,

Welcome to our forum and thank you for your service to our nation. I got sisters throughout NE Ohio, I left back in 79 and limit my visits to the Summer time. Did 30 consecutive years in the Navy as a Seabee with no regrets and if I had to do it over, I'd do everyday. Want to congratulate on your nice find, although I don't own any diesel pick-up trucks, my nephew back in Ohio has three of them, suppose that's why he's my favorite nephew plus and his work ethic helps solidify my feeling toward him (desired traits). I really like your front bucket seats and sourced a pair for my 95 F-150 Eddie Bauer, traded a Sailor straight across for his. He owned a 1992 F-250, which was the only year Ford offered that weave style fabric. He preferred the seats in my 95 F-150, so we were both happy.

Agree W/your plan, going back toward stockish. On a similar note, last August 2018 when I visited my sister, I spent an hour at the local junk yard just to look see their inventory, I was shocked to see the rusted decay in the 92-96 generation Ford pick-up, kind of forgot how bad and rapid the vehicles deteriorate throughout the rust belt region.
Samples analyzed so far suggest that on some days the air monitors are registering other, unknown sources of ethylene oxide, Wehrum said, meaning the agency needs more time to assess the dangers, determine the extent of Sterigenics responsibility and figure out how to limit future emissions. He also said there is no doubt that Sterigenics is responsible for alarming levels of the chemical in the community.
If you think the marijuana industry is delivering incredible growth now, then you haven't seen anything yet. According to a report from Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics, worldwide weed sales are slated to grow by 38% in 2019 to $12.8 billion, with investment firm Cowen Group projecting an even more aggressive surge in global sales to $75 billion by 2030.

Some of this growth is expected to be organic, with Canada's recreational weed industry in the early stages of ramping up. Within a few years, once growers are producing near their peak capacity and regulatory red tape issues have been resolved, Canada could very well be on its way to nearly $6 billion in annual pot sales.

But a good portion of this future revenue to come is going to be the result of new legalizations. The U.S. federal government changing its tune on cannabis would certainly roll out the red carpet to the largest cannabis market by projected annual sales in the world. Unfortunately, there's no telling if or when Capitol Hill will change its mind, despite the American public being overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing marijuana, according to an October 2018 Gallup poll.

Rather, investors may have to look beyond the borders of the United States to find the next great cannabis growth story. And where might that be, you ask? According to a recent Forbes interview with this country's former president, Mexico could be a sleeping marijuana giant that's about to waken.

America's other neighbor could be a cannabis powerhouse

Although former Mexican President Vicente Fox has his differences with current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the legalization of cannabis is an area in which the two leaders agree. And that's interesting, because during Fox's term as president between 2000 and 2006, he voiced strict opposition to cannabis legalization.

But understand that President Obrador and former President Fox aren't alone in their desire to see recreational marijuana legalized. Mexico's majority political party is also in favor of legalization as a means to generate revenue and "put the hurt," so to speak, on drug cartels operating out of Mexico and Central America. Plus, Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled five times since 2015 that the imposition of a ban on recreational marijuana is unconstitutional. Under Mexican law, if the Supreme Court reaches five similar decisions on an issue, it becomes the court standard and is applied throughout the country.

As the icing on the cake, Mexico gave the green light to medical marijuana back in June 2017, so the infrastructure and regulatory oversight have already been laid for the cannabis industry. It would simply be a matter of expanding them to suit Mexico's adult-use industry.

What would make Mexico particularly attractive to investors is its population of around 132 million, which is more than triple the population of Canada. Even taking into account Canada's higher annual GDP and individual wages, Mexico's sheer population advantage could lead to a market that Fox believes will outpace California, which is itself the fifth-largest economic entity by GDP. Some estimates call for California to hit $11 billion in annual pot sales by 2030, which gives you some idea of what Mexico might be capable of in terms of weed sales.

Say what? Legal marijuana exports to the U.S. from Mexico?

However, it wasn't Fox's support for legal cannabis, or even the progress that's being made in Mexico to push toward adult-use legalization, that really stood out from his interview. Rather, it was the former president's candid discussion that, for a NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) partner, cannabis would become a globally exported commodity like other products. Or, to dig beneath the surface, Vicente Fox foresees a future in which his home country of Mexico becomes an exporter of cannabis to the United States.

Yet to date, we've seen very little in the way of acceptance from the U.S. in allowing marijuana from outside sources to enter the country. Israel had been planning to become an exporter of cannabis to the U.S., but when Israeli officials learned that President Trump had soured on the idea, it was abandoned.

Rather, the only recorded cannabis exports to the U.S. to date include Tilray's cannabinoid formulation in September that contained cannabidiol and tetrahydrocannabinol for a clinical study at the University of California, San Diego, and Canopy Growth's (NASDAQ:CGC) export of medical cannabis to a U.S. research partner in October.

Check out the latest Canopy Growth earnings call transcript.

The U.S. federal government has agreed to take a hands-off approach to state-level legalizations, but it's still exceptionally strict with the idea that marijuana be grown and stay within a legal state's borders. Essentially, the ability to track the product from seed to sale is important to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and federal government, and that can't always be done with product that's being grown in foreign countries and imported into the United States.

But if there is a cannabis grower with an inside track to U.S. exports, it'd be Canopy Growth. Having completed the first-ever dried cannabis export following an OK from the DEA, Canopy already has its foot in the door. Plus, with the company being awarded a hemp growing and processing license in New York State, Canopy is entrenching itself in the U.S. market.

In other words, despite Fox's commentary, I wouldn't be counting on Mexico shipping marijuana to the U.S. anytime soon. I would, however, look for our southern neighbor to possibly become the third country worldwide, aside from Canada and Uruguay, to legalize recreational pot sometime this year.
Marijuana investors have looked forward to this moment for a long time, as major companies in the cannabis sector are finally telling them how one of the most important events in the budding industry's history has affected their businesses. In particular, Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC) has drawn a lot of attention because of its high-profile moves to build capacity and its major partnership with beer and spirits giant Constellation Brands.

Coming into Thursday's fiscal third-quarter financial report, Canopy investors were optimistic about how the company would perform in Canada's rollout of recreational cannabis. Canopy's numbers were impressive, but even more encouraging was management's discussion about the company's strategic intentions. Shareholders look excited about the news, and there's plenty of potential for further growth in Canopy's future.

Canopy gets a big lift

Canopy Growth's fiscal third-quarter results gave investors most of what they were looking for. Revenue net of excise taxes came in at 83 million Canadian dollars ($62.5 million), which was up a whopping 282% from the year-ago quarter and well higher than the CA$23.2 million that Canopy brought in just three months ago. Net income soared to CA$74.9 million, and that translated to earnings per share of CA$0.22, which was well above consensus expectations for a loss of CA$0.17 per share.

Many of Canopy's fundamental business numbers showed amazing growth. The company quadrupled its sales volume for the quarter, selling more than 10,100 kilos of cannabis compared to just 2,330 a year ago. At the same time, Canopy was able to boost its pricing for several of its sales categories, with average selling price for its medical marijuana products in Canada picking up 19% to CA$9.77 per gram. Similar success came internationally, with prices climbing 5% to CA$13.28 per gram. As expected, recreational cannabis pricing was more competitive, and selling prices of CA$6.96 per gram were lower than the corresponding medical marijuana products. That brought Canopy's overall per-gram average selling price down 12%, but given the change of sales mix to incorporate recreational products, the company wasn't unhappy with that result.

Cannabis-derived oils remained a key focus area for Canopy. The company reported that 33% of product revenue came from oils, with its landmark Softgel capsule products faring quite well.

Yet one thing that Canopy investors need to understand is that much of the bottom-line performance for the company came from adjustments related to changes in the value of outstanding financial commitments. In particular, because the fair value of senior convertible notes and other financial assets fell during the most recent measuring period, Canopy reported more than CA$220 million in upward adjustments on its income statement. Without those adjustments, Canopy would've seen substantial losses, as expenses during the period rose dramatically. Total operating expenses rose nearly fourfold from year-earlier levels, as big boosts in sales and marketing, research and development, and overhead costs all hit Canopy's bottom line. Stock-based compensation expenses were also much higher.

Co-CEO Bruce Linton has the long haul in mind. "Our successful first full quarter with recreational sales in Canada," Linton said, "reinforces our long-held strategy of making meaningful investments early in order to secure market share." The CEO went on to note that the company is "capturing consumers' attention" with its first wave of products in Canada to meet recreational demand.

Can Canopy keep dominating?

Canopy has much more ambitious future plans. The legalization of hemp will play a key role, and Linton expects that Canopy "will continue to expand by making strategic production investments in regions with federally permissible paths to market for our cannabis and hemp offerings."

Other strategic moves include the following:

new supply agreements with multiple companies to extract greater quantities of cannabis oil

adding the Tokyo Smoke retail channel to complement its existing Tweed brand

completing the commissioning of key growing facilities that have been under construction

exploration of intellectual property opportunities related to innovative growth techniques

Check out the latest Canopy Growth earnings call transcript.

Most importantly, Canopy remains in a great position to consider massive investment in its business for the foreseeable future. Thanks to the big investment that Constellation Brands made, Canopy has more than CA$4.1 billion in cash and equivalents available for potential spending. That puts the marijuana company in a great position to take its pick from investment opportunities available in the industry without fear of getting outspent by less well-capitalized rivals.

Canopy investors were happy with the report, sending the stock price up 5% early Friday following the announcement. With so many opportunities for prosperity, it's not surprising that shareholders are more excited than ever about the potential that Canopy Growth has heading into 2019.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) has been awarded $43 million to construct four large unmanned submarines for the U.S. Navy. The deal's a small one for the aerospace giant but a big step in the right direction for a defense unit that has faced significant criticism over the past two years.

The Navy is ordering test vessels based on Boeing's 50-foot-long Echo Voyager unmanned design, a diesel electric-powered vessel able to dive to 11,000 feet and reach a maximum speed of eight knots. The finished product, which the Navy calls the Orca Extra Large Unmanned Undersea Vehicle (XLUUV), is designed to have a modular frame with a large and flexible payload bay.

Boeing beat out Lockheed Martin for the award. In 2017, both companies were awarded about $42 million apiece to develop and design a new autonomous submersible. Boeing's Orcas are expected to be delivered for evaluation by 2022.

Boeing is working with shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls on the project, with the government award document saying that more than 25% of the work on the Orca will be done at Virginia Beach, Virginia, where Huntington runs the massive Newport News shipyard.

A versatile workhorse

The Navy is experimenting with a number of different unmanned ships and submersibles, hopeful to see the same sort of dramatic expansion of capabilities the Air Force has experienced since first introducing drones over the battlefield in the 1990s. The Orca should stand out from other robot sub designs due to its size and its capabilities.

While most so-called UUVs launch from the side of a ship or submarine and have to stay within range of its mother ship to operate, the Navy wants the Orca to be able to leave home port and travel thousands of nautical miles without returning to port. The Navy envisions a wide range of potential missions for the sub, including spy and reconnaissance work, tracking enemy vessels, or even deploying mines or weapons in a combat situation.

Ideally, a relatively inexpensive fleet of Orcas and other drone ships could be available for missions deemed too dangerous for crewed ships or be used to overwhelm enemy detection systems and help better camouflage and protect crewed vessels. The sub can carry about 2,000 cubic feet of cargo and can also support payloads mounted on its outer hull.

A (small) addition to the bull case

The contract is by no means a blockbuster win for Boeing, which generated $23.2 billion in defense revenue alone in 2018. The Navy would have to buy thousands of Orcas for this program to move the needle.

But it's an important victory for a unit that usually plays second fiddle to Boeing's commercial aircraft business and which, just a year ago, was going through organizational upheaval in an attempt to save its reputation after facing a public scolding from a key Air Force official. Autonomous is a large and growing part of the Boeing Defense playbook, and the company is assembling an impressive roster of crewless aircraft and vessels able to cater to the Pentagon's wish list.

Check out the latest Boeing earnings call transcript.

Eventually, the remarkable multi-year surge in commercial jet sales will come to an end, and Boeing's defense business will be asked to pick up some of the slack. With each win like the Orca competition, the outlook for defense is steadily improving.

The Orca contract isn't a reason to buy Boeing shares. But it is a reason for Boeing owners to sleep easy keeping the shares in their portfolios for the long haul.
Yes, it's the right time

No, the state should have waited a while longer

The economy should have been reopened a long time ago

Vote

View Results
Google is currently testing a new feature on its Canary version of the browser and this new feature will allow users to share links to specific sections of web pages, even with those pages that dont have anchor links.

This feature will enable a user to highlight a section of the text on the web and then create a custom URL that points directly to that section. Google is calling this Scroll to Text, it would load the URL as usual and scroll to a specific section of the article on that page automatically. Since the code commit related to Scroll to Text just appeared, so it will be a while before it makes it to the Canary build of Google Chrome.

If the testing turns fruitful for Google, the company will release it to the beta version of the Chrome, and then, hopefully, to the final stable build eventually. The flag description reads: Enables scrolling to text specified in URLs fragment. The flag is named Enable Text Fragment Anchor Since it is in testing, it might be a while before it rolls out to everyone.

Source | Via
One day that April, according to the petition, she heard a knock on her apartment door at 4:30 a.m. and heard him say, (Expletive), I can hear you. Another morning, she went to her car and found her windshield shattered. When she came home one day and parked her car, he walked to her doorstep and sat in front of the entryway. He called her a slur and asked why she didnt get out of the car.
The National Prosecution Authority of South Africa decided on Thursday to scrap the arrest warrant issued last February for Jacob Zuma loyalist Ajay Gupta, who was considered a fugitive from justice after leaving for Dubai a year ago.

Johannesburg: Lack of conclusive evidence was the reason South African authorities decided to drop the arrest warrant against India-born businessman Ajay Gupta, a close aide of scandal-hit former president Jacob Zuma, an official has said.

The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) decided on Thursday to scrap the arrest warrant issued last February for Ajay, who was considered a "fugitive from justice" after leaving for Dubai a year ago.

Gupta and his younger siblings Atul and Rajesh are accused of attempted state capture and corruption through alleged irregular contracts running into billions of rands by using their close relationship to President Zuma.

Ajay was accused of offering the then Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas a bribe of 600 million-rand (USD 42.6 million) to take on the post of Finance Minister in Zuma's Cabinet.

In return, Jonas was expected to give priority to the Gupta businesses in the IT, mining and media sector for government tenders.

But with reports that Jonas himself is now uncertain whether it was Ajay or Rajesh Gupta who had made the alleged offer, the NPA has withdrawn the charge, leaving Ajay free to return to South Africa. Although there was no word from him or his legal representatives on when and whether he would do so.

The decision was taken "so that we can give more credence into the ongoing investigation as well as to make sure that the team that is working on the other matters that been presented to the Hawks, country's elite police force, so that they are able to deal with them," NPA spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi told the media on Friday.

He said lack of conclusive evidence was the reason behind scrapping the fugitive status of the India-born businessman.

"Once everything has been done, I think it is the decision of the NPA to be able to see whether that matter will still go on or not," he said.

Mulaudzi was referring to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture which is still going ahead, where a number of allegations have been made against the Gupta family, who have consistently denied the charges and have sought a right of reply.

This NPA decision follows the one taken by it last month not to prosecute Duduzane Zuma, son of the former president, who allegedly was the link between Jonas and the Guptas.

According to analysts, this left the prosecutors with little choice but to provisionally withdraw the charges against Ajay.

Questions are now being asked whether Ajay will appear before the Commission since he no longer faces the threat of arrest if he sets foot on South African soil.

Commission head Judge Raymond Zondo has refused to allow any Gupta testimony at the Commission via video link, citing that this would amount to preferential treatment, but agreed to personal submissions.

In an earlier interview with the New York Times, Ajay said he would return to the Commission to clear his name and that of his family.

The Gupta family arrived in South Africa from Saharanpur in the 1990's as the new democracy under former President Nelson Mandela opened up opportunities to establish the Sahara IT company. They soon expanded their empire to other sectors.

The Gupta family owns a range of business interests, including computing, mining, air travel, energy, technology and media.

Their media company comprising The New Age daily and the TV Network ANN7 was controversially sold through vendor financing to an associate, who was forced to shut them down within months of taking over.

A number of Gupta-owned mining companies are either in business rescue or facing closure.

The three brothers are known friends of former President Zuma and his son, daughter and one of the president's wives reportedly worked for the family's firms.

The Gupta brothers have been accused of wielding enormous political influence in South Africa, with critics alleging that they have tried to "capture the state" to advance their own business interests.

Zuma's links to the Guptas are one of the reasons he resigned before the 2019 general election. The Guptas and Zuma have denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
The Saudi Crown Prince was scheduled to reach Pakistan's Islamabad on Saturday but due to a slight change, he will arrive on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office.

Islamabad: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's arrival in Pakistan on his first official visit to the country has been delayed by a day. He was scheduled to reach Islamabad on Saturday but due to a slight change, he will arrive on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office.

However, the programmes of his stay in Pakistan will remain unchanged, it said.



Prince Mohammad, who is also the deputy prime minister and minister of defence, will be conferred with Nishan-e-Pakistan  the highest civilian award  during his visit to the country, the Express Tribune reported.

A top official said that the arrival has been delayed by a day for "unknown reasons".

Preparations have been made to give an "unprecedented warm welcome" to the prince who will be received personally by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members at the Nur Khan Airbase, the report said.

Abdul Razzak Dawood, advisor to the prime minister on trade, said investment deals worth $10-15 billion dollars would be signed during the trip. On the top of the list is an agreement to set up an oil refinery in Pakistan.

Elaborate security arrangements have been planned during the visit of the powerful heir to the Saudi throne.
(Reuters) - Police arrested a suspect in a shooting on Friday at a manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois, but the area remained under lockdown, city and law enforcement officials said on Twitter. A witness said he saw people bleeding

(Reuters) - Police arrested a suspect in a shooting on Friday at a manufacturing plant in Aurora, Illinois, but the area remained under lockdown, city and law enforcement officials said on Twitter. A witness said he saw people bleeding.

"We have an active shooter incident at 641 Archer Av. This is an active scene. Please avoid the area," the Aurora Police Department said earlier in a tweet.

The city later tweeted that a suspect had been arrested.

"EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m. THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down! More information will be provided soon," the city said.

Video footage on local media showed numerous police cars surrounding a large commercial building in Aurora, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) west of Chicago.

Witness John Probst told CNN in an interview that he saw the gunman, a co-worker, running down an aisle of the manufacturing facility with a pistol equipped with a laser sight. Probst told the network that he saw people bleeding.

West Aurora School District 129 said on Twitter that all students in the district were being held in a "soft lockdown" on direction of the county sheriff.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Lanre Ola MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria bolstered security in much of the country on Friday on the eve of a presidential election in Africa's largest democracy where past ballots have been marred by violence, voter intimidation and vote rigging. The two leading candidates in Saturday's vote are President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015, and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007. The country, which has Africa's largest economy, is dealing with pockets of instability: authorities are trying to tackle a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast and communal violence between farmers and nomadic cattle herders in central states, along with banditry and kidnappings in the northwest.

By Lanre Ola

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (Reuters) - Nigeria bolstered security in much of the country on Friday on the eve of a presidential election in Africa's largest democracy where past ballots have been marred by violence, voter intimidation and vote rigging.

The two leading candidates in Saturday's vote are President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in 2015, and Atiku Abubakar, a businessman who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007.

The country, which has Africa's largest economy, is dealing with pockets of instability: authorities are trying to tackle a decade-long Islamist insurgency in the northeast and communal violence between farmers and nomadic cattle herders in central states, along with banditry and kidnappings in the northwest.

Dozens of combat policemen and members of other security forces were deployed from police headquarters in Maiduguri, capital of Borno state that has been worst hit by Boko Haram and its off-shoot, Islamic State in West Africa Province (ISWAP).

"There are about 14,000 security personnel deployed for the election purpose. This deployment also includes 11,000 policemen," said Borno's police commissioner, Damian Chukwu.

Military vehicles and soldiers were seen moving toward volatile parts of the state, which has seen an uptick in attacks by ISWAP in recent months.

The group said it carried out an attack on the convoy of Borno's governor earlier this week.

In an outbreak of violence in the northwestern state of Kaduna 66 people were killed by gunmen on Friday, including 22 children and 12 women, the Kaduna government said.

The killings did not appear to be election-related. The state government gave no motive for the attack but local residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was a reprisal attack following violence last year.

The United Nations ordered its staff not to travel to the parts of Kaduna affected by the violence.

In neighbouring Kano, a hotly contested state that is the economic hub of the north, police said at least 15,000 officers would be deployed for the election with a further 5,000 from other services. That compares with just over 10,000 officers on duty on a normal day.

Muhammad Wakili, commissioner of police for Kano state, promised a "violence-free" poll.

Kano is the most populous state in the northwest, a region that accounts for nearly a quarter of Nigeria's voters. It has been a Buhari stronghold in the last three elections and his posters outnumber those of Atiku.

In Adamawa, Atiku's northeastern home state where he will vote, a police spokesman said more than 7,500 officers had been deployed, significantly more than the usual number on the streets.

Atiku spent much of the day in meetings with members of his party in Yola, the state capital of Adamawa.

Buhari worshipped at a mosque in Daura, his hometown in the northwest, which sits near the border with Niger.

(Additional reporting by Aaron Ross in Kano, Paul Carsten in Daura, Garba Muhammad in Kaduna, Nneka Chile in Abuja, Percy Dabang and Abraham Achirga in Yola; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by James Macharia and Frances Kerry)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Five people were killed and multiple police officers shot on Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area at Aurora on the outskirts of Chicago, the latest mass shooting to hit the United States.

Chicago: Five people were killed and multiple police officers shot on Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago, the latest mass shooting to hit the United States.

The shooting took place at approximately 1:28 pm, at a giant manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinois, a small suburb 65 kilometres west of central Chicago.

Police said officers engaged in a firefight with the suspect, thought to be an employee, before he was shot dead. He was identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said five police officers were shot. Two were air lifted to Chicago-area trauma centers.

"The other officers on the scene located gunshot victims inside the building," Ziman told a news conference, putting the death toll at five people.

Police did not release information on the officers' conditions or identify the victims.

Police said they do not know the motive for the shooting, but witnesses told local media that the gunman was a disgruntled employee.

Witnesses said they locked themselves into nearby buildings as the gunman began firing off rounds.

Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as officers with shields entered the complex.

John Probst, who was in the building as the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it," he said. "We were just scared."

Nancy Caal, an employee of a nearby repair workshop, told the Daily Herald newspaper she and three others had heard numerous emergency sirens, and so "went and shut the front gate and locked all of the doors."

The local school district put campuses on lock down, but students were released later in the day.

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police lauded the wounded police officers who "willingly ran into harm's way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price."

The White House said President Donald Trump had been monitoring the situation.

"Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!," Trump tweeted.

The shooting comes just a day after the first anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former pupil killed 14 students and three staff.

Nearly 1,200 children lost their lives to gun violence in the year since and there have been 37 mass shootings -- those with at least four victims, not including the assailant -- recorded already in the US this year.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said Friday's shooting was part of an epidemic of gun violence.

"Tomorrow, the families of the victims will be less than whole. They join a group that should not exist, and yet continues to grow," Pritzker said.

"There are no words I can offer to lessen the pain."

A coalition of gun control advocacy groups also condemned the shooting, saying it was the 198th mass shooting in the last 10 years.

"This is a horrifying reminder of how hard we have to work to prevent gun violence. Our hearts go out to every family affected by this shooting," Holly Blastic with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said in a statement.

In a presidential message Thursday to mark the Parkland anniversary, Trump had recommitted to "ensuring the safety of all Americans."

"Let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe," Trump said.
Washington is struggling to convince allies to stay on in Syria after it leaves and Angela Merkel warned of the risks of leaving a vacuum in the region.

Munich: German chancellor Angela Merkel warned Saturday that Washington's plan to swiftly pull its soldiers out of Syria risks allowing Russia and Iran to boost their role in the region. Islamic State group fighters have been boxed in to a scrap of land in the battle for their last remaining territory in northeastern Syria and their final defeat is expected imminently. Once they are defeated, US forces are set to soon withdraw after President Donald Trump in December announced the pullout of around 2,000 troops.

Washington says it will maintain a presence in the region, with Vice-President Mike Pence pledging to carry on the fight. "The United States will continue to work with all our allies to hunt down the remnants of Islamic State wherever and whenever they rear their ugly heads," Pence said. But Washington is struggling to convince allies to stay on in Syria after it leaves and Merkel warned of the risks of leaving a vacuum in the region.

"Is it a good idea for the Americans to suddenly and quickly withdraw from Syria? Or will it once more strengthen the capacity of Iran and Russia to exert their influence?" Merkel said at the Munich Security Conference. Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan on Friday pledged ongoing backing for the fight against Islamic State: but kept allies guessing as to how that would be achieved once US forces pull out.

Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders said the US had told partners in the global anti-Islamic State coalition that its soldiers would leave in "weeks rather than months". The decision has stunned allies including France, which contributes artillery and about 1,200 troops in the region, including soldiers who train Iraqi forces. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian asked why the US would create a vacuum in Syria that could benefit its enemy Iran, calling the approach a "mystery".

And the US has won no solid pledges of support for a proposed observer force to stay on in northeast Syria when the US pullls out to ensure the safety of Syrian Kurdish fighters. A French government source criticised the Trump administration's approach to the withdrawal as "we're leaving, you're staying". "They're trying to manage the consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility," the source said, adding that coalition members were united in rejecting the idea of staying on in Syria when the US leaves.
By Joshua Schneyer, Andrea Januta and Deborah Nelson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deeply troubled by military housing conditions exposed by Reuters reporting, the U.S. Army's top leadership vowed on Friday to renegotiate its housing contracts with private real estate firms, test tens of thousands of homes for toxins and hold its own commanders responsible for protecting Army base residents from dangerous homes.

By Joshua Schneyer, Andrea Januta and Deborah Nelson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Deeply troubled by military housing conditions exposed by Reuters reporting, the U.S. Army's top leadership vowed on Friday to renegotiate its housing contracts with private real estate firms, test tens of thousands of homes for toxins and hold its own commanders responsible for protecting Army base residents from dangerous homes.

In an interview, the Secretary of the Army Mark Esper said Reuters reports and a chorus of concerns from military families had opened his eyes to the need for urgent overhauls of the Armys privatised housing system, which accommodates more than 86,000 families.

The secretarys conclusion: Private real estate firms tasked with managing and maintaining the housing stock have been failing the families they serve, and the Army itself neglected its duties.

Youve brought to light a big issue that demands our attention, Esper said on Friday morning at the Pentagon. It is frankly unconscionable that our soldiers and their families would be living in these types of conditions when we ask so much of them day in and day out.

The Reuters reporting described rampant mould and pest infestations, childhood lead poisoning, and service families often powerless to challenge private landlords in business with their military employers. Many families said they feared retaliation if they spoke out. The news agency described hazards across Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps base housing communities.

"Its encouraging to see the Army taking action," said Eryn Wagnon, a director at non-profit the Military Officers Association of America. "We hope to see a collective solution come together consistently across the military services."

Other military branches didn't elaborate on their plans on Friday, though the Navy said it would announce further actions soon.

The reports have already spurred a raft of reforms and investigations. On Wednesday, U.S. senators pledged more action to come during Senate Armed Services Committee hearings.

Two days after those hearings, the Army outlined to Reuters its immediate and longer-term plan of reform.

Our instinct is this is bigger even than whats been reported, and we want to get to the bottom of it, get to the bottom of it fast, said General Mark Milley, the Armys Chief of Staff.

To do so, the Army said it will conduct an extensive survey of its family housing across the country to define the scope of potentially hazardous conditions. Reports in the past, provided by the private industry companies themselves, painted a false picture, Milley said.

Army leaders singled out mould infestations as the leading cause of health concerns. On Thursday, the Army ordered its private partner at Marylands Fort Meade, Corvias Group, to conduct air quality testing in the nearly 2,800 homes it operates there, and report back within 60 days. The Army expects Corvias to cover the costs, up to $500 per home. The directive came after Army leaders visited Meade, hearing first-hand about pervasive mould and maintenance lapses.

An earlier Reuters report described Meade families suffering from mould-related illnesses, ceilings collapsing in childrens bedrooms, and maintenance neglect leaving families unprotected from hazards.

In addition, the Army said it will begin renegotiating the 50-year housing contracts it has with its seven private housing partners, including Corvias. As Reuters reported, Corvias stands to earn more than $1 billion in fees and other compensation from six of the 13 military bases where it operates. Its fees continued flowing even as maintenance lapses plagued service families.

"Providing housing for our armed service members is a privilege and Corvias is making changes to meet the expectations," the Rhode Island-based company said in a statement.

When unsafe conditions persist, the Army will seek to reduce or withhold fees from its private partners. It is also examining ways to give service families more avenues to stop rent payments if problems are not quickly addressed, Milley said.

The re-negotiation process could begin as early as next week, when Army Secretary Esper will start holding regular meetings with the CEOs of its private housing partners.

Another problem the Army acknowledged: Military commands across the country, many times relying on the word of private partners, allowed housing hazards to fester. Now, Milley said, Army commanders will be tasked with greater oversight.

"My son will not 'be all that he can be,' as the Army likes to say," said Darlena Brown, a colonel's wife whose son's development was stunted by lead poisoning in a Fort Benning home, and whose story was one of those profiled by Reuters. "But I believe Army leaders will do the right thing and now recognise how the housing has failed some of us."

The Military Housing Privatisation Initiative, the largest-ever corporate takeover of federal housing, began in the late 1990s in an effort to rebuild an aging military housing stock by enlisting private developers and property managers.

Just because someone said its privatised, Milley said, doesnt wash our hands of the responsibility to take care of our soldiers and their families.

Esper added: We are acting now. More to follow.

The Army statements come on the same day that President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to obtain billions of dollars in funding for a border wall, a plan that could divert money from military construction budgets, including funds earmarked for government-owned military family housing.

While the recent concerns have focused on privatised base housing, some lawmakers warned Trump's plan could exacerbate a housing crisis for military families.

"They will be forced to remain in 'poor' or 'failing' conditions," Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, said in a statement on Friday.

The Army said it awaits details on how any shift in military construction funding would affect the largest armed service branch.

(Additional reporting by M.B. Pell in New York. Editing by Ronnie Greene and Sonya Hepinstall)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
tech2 News Staff

The Xiaomi Mi 9 is perhaps the company's worst kept secret after the company official himself outed official photos of the phone on his Twitter account. Several other confirmations have also come about the device since then and the latest one concerns the price of the device.

As per a Weibo post, which shared a promotional poster of the device, it seems that the Mi 9 is going to be priced starting at a price of CNY 3,499 (approx Rs 35,000). A transparent back version of the device is said to be priced at CNY 5,999 (approx Rs 60,000). It still isn't clear if the device has any plans of making it to India given that the Mi 6 and Mi 8 has not come to the country.

Xiaomi is all set to launch the Mi 9 in China on 20 February. CEO Lei Jun and brand ambassador Wang Yuan did state recently on a casual chat that the phone is very powerful when it comes to internals.

As per a report by GizmoChina, the Xiaomi duo returned in another chat video today to confirm that the Mi 9 will be powered by a Snapdragon 855 SoC.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 is expected to feature a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 5 protection, a triple rear camera setup  with the primary sensor being a 48 MP sensor  and also 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage.
Reuters

U.S. investigators pursuing a long-running criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange have dug into the websites activities going back years, people who have been in contact with witnesses in the case say.

American investigators are gathering information and pursuing witnesses involved in both recent WikiLeaks disclosures and the websites large-scale postings of U.S. military and diplomatic messages over several years from 2010.

Officially, U.S. authorities have issued no public comments about the status of Wikileaks-related investigations.

But a document which U.S. authorities said was mistakenly filed in open court in an unrelated case last November alluded to a sealed U.S. criminal complaint against Assange, though the document does not provide specifics regarding which laws U.S. prosecutors believe Assange violated.

U.S. prosecutors have not officially confirmed an Assange indictment but the existence of secret charges against him also has not been explicitly denied.

A spokesman for the U.S. prosecutors office in Alexandria, Virginia declined to comment.

A source who met Assange inside the Ecuadorean Embassy said that the WikiLeaks founder believes that among the subjects upon which he suspects an American indictment would be based would be WikiLeaks publication in March 2017 of a trove of hacking tools developed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which WikiLeaks called Vault 7.

Federal prosecutors in New York last year indicted a former CIA employee, Joshua Schulte, for that hack. Schulte has pleaded not guilty.

Another source in regular contact with Assange said U.S. investigators have been pursuing potential witnesses connected to earlier WikiLeaks disclosures, including the websites publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military reports related to the Afghan and Iraq wars and U.S. diplomatic cables.

A former U.S. Army soldier, Chelsea Manning, was charged and convicted for leaking the reports and cables to WikiLeaks but was released from a lengthy prison term after her sentence was commuted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Obama Administration officials said that the former presidents administration decided not to prosecute WikiLeaks because its activities were too similar to those of the media, whose activities are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

However, even though candidate Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign for making public documents hacked from the Democratic Party and aides to his rival Hillary Clinton, top Trump presidential aides have expressed deep hostility to WikiLeaks.

Ecuadors new president, Lenin Moreno, has expressed an interest in dislodging Assange from his countrys London Embassy, where he has taken refuge since 2012. But British government sources said U.K. officials presently had no reason to believe an Ecuadorean move to throw Assange out of the London Embassy is imminent.

An Ecuadorean Embassy official in London said the Embassy had no comment.
Overdrive

Skoda has teased the Vision iV ahead of its unveiling next month. Although the concept is so far on the drawing board expect the Vision iV to be in flesh at the Geneva Motor Show which will be held between 5 March to 17 March 2019. The upcoming debutant will be based on a MEB platform, borrowed from the parent company Volkswagen.

In its teaser sketch, the Vision iV displays an aggressive fascia which is similar to the Skoda Scala, however, this time the styling elements are more prominent. The vertically slated grill in the centre with sharp headlamps makes the concept car look appealing. The lines flow from the front to the back which adds a sporty essence to the stance. On the side, the wing mirrors are replaced with cameras and are housed in a fin-like design. The roofline of the car slopes down giving it a four-door crossover like an appearance. The concept car sits on 22-inch wheels which Skoda claims to be aerodynamically optimised.

Moving to the rear, the concept car has striking styling bits such as a sharp angular design for the tail lamp and a light strip which runs along the diffuser of the car. The boot lid has the manufacturer's name embossed on it and would light up in red under braking. The rear bumper is bumper and quarter panel carry aggressive styling too, but only time will tell how loyal does the production car stay to the teased concept.

There are no details of the powertrain of the concept car, however, in the year 2017, Skoda showcased the Vision E crossover at the Shanghai Motorshow. The Vision E crossover was equipped with two electric motors in an all-wheel-drive layout. The motor produces 305PS and will have a range up to 500 kilometres with a top speed of 180km/hr. The same drivetrain with specifications is expected on the Skoda Vision iV.

Over the next four years, SKODA will invest two billion euros in alternative drive systems and new mobility services and will have introduced more than ten electric models by the end of 2022.

Internationally, the hybrid Skoda Superb is expected to debut later this year and the Vision iV would make it to production by early 2020. The Czech manufacturer also states that an all-electric version of the Skoda Citigo hatchback will debut this year. Expect the EV Citigo to be showcased at the Geneva Motor Show as well.
A tow truck was ordered for his vehicle, and he was checked out by responding Chicago Fire Department personnel, though its unclear why he needed medical attention. But when authorities went to place some of Borowski-Besztas belongings in his trunk, police said, they saw at least one bag with a large amount of marijuana, methamphetamine and cocaine. Authorities said they also found in his possession about 20,000 pills of Xanax, a powerful depressant.
The fresh blow to the BJP came within a month of former chief minister Gegong Apang's quitting the saffron party.

Itanagar: Two senior BJP leaders on Saturday returned to the Congress' fold ahead of the elections, three years after joining the saffron party.

The fresh blow to the BJP came within a month of former chief minister Gegong Apang's quitting the saffron party, citing unhappiness with its functioning. The former state ministers  Atum Welly and Tatar Kipa  resigned from the primary membership of the BJP and joined the Congress at a function organised at Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan.

Gegong Apang is yet to join any political party as of now.

The two senior BJP leaders alleged that the saffron party was not following norms and procedures in selecting candidates for the upcoming Assembly polls.

Both Welly and Kipa, in similar letters to state BJP president Tapir Gao on Thursday, said that they were tendering their resignations from both the primary and active memberships of the party and from all portfolios assigned to them because the party had violated the norms and procedures by announcing the MLA candidates in advance and not following the resolution taken in the party's state executive meeting.

Both Welly and Kipa were ministers in the Congress government in the state.
A large number of Shia Muslims have paid their allegiance to the outfits owned by BJP and RSS.

Since the much-anticipated alliance between Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party was announced last month, many are awaiting a change in the political equation against BJP.

The root of such equations lies in the by-elections held last year, especially Kairana, where votes from scheduled castes as well as Muslim communities went single-handedly in favour of SP-BSP-RLD alliance, resulting in the defeat of BJP.

So, does this mean that such a strong consolidation of Muslim votes will defeat BJP in upcoming Loksabha elections? Shia Muslims of Uttar Pradesh do not think so.

Since Yogi Adityanath took oath as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, a large number of Shia Muslims have paid their allegiance to the outfits owned by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Shias are actively joining BJP, making the rift within the Muslim community even wider.

Soon after the crowning of Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh Shia Waqf Central Board was reconstituted, and the motive was that Shia Waqf Board will take care of the Shia Waqf properties across the state. Waseem Rizvi was appointed the chairman of Shia Waqf board.

With his statements and subsequent proposals, Rizvi made it clear that the Shia Waqf board will polarise the politics further. Soon after taking up charge, Rizvi proposed that a Ram Temple should be built at the disputed site in Ayodhya as Babri Mosque was a Shia mosque, and Shias want a Ram Temple.

Rizvi said, We (Shia Muslims) were basically untouchables in the Muslim community. Rest of the community, which can be easily bribed for votes, did not give us the representation we deserve. They did not listen to us, nor let us speak.

But BJP truly understood our power. There is no shame in accepting that since BJP came to power at the Centre and in UP, Shias got to say about their expectations and agendas, said Rizvi.

Rizvi has recently directed-produced a feature film named Ram Janmbhoomi and has acted in the same as lead. The poster features a Muslim man with a skull cap, with an SMG in his hands, looking at the Ram Temple. The trailer of the film is equally controversial.

Rizvis remarks have been very popular on social media as well. Starting from gifting silver arrows to the Ram statue in Ayodhya to flattening the Humayuns tomb in Delhi for making a hospital, Rizvi makes sure that his remarks are controversial enough to make it up to the charts. He said, What we have been saying is the truth. We are asking for a more inclusive and peaceful society, and it can only happen when we give Hindus what they deserve.

He once also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for closing all madrassas across the country.

Bukkal Nawab is another such Shia leader who has devoted himself fully towards the party operations. Nawab, once a veteran leader of Samajwadi Party and close aide of Mulayam Singh Yadav, officially joined BJP in 2017 and was elected as MLC last year.

Now, Nawab is so important a figure in BJP that his poster decorates the entrance of BJP office in Lucknow.

What I have noticed about BJP that it is actually working on its motto of Sabka saath, sabka vikas. And irrespective of the criticism, they have really taken a large sect of Muslims with them as well," he said.

Nawab may not represent the Muslim community as a whole, but it is sure that his voice is creating a rift between Muslims of the state.

Gurfan Ali, a 42-year-old businessman from Barabanki, said, I am Shia, and I feel connected to BJP. Not only because I see many of the Shia leaders connecting with BJP and getting top positions, but also because Sunni sect has sold itself for appeasement politics. And they dont feel that the Muslim community is feeling ashamed of this act.

When questions about whether this is also appeasement are raised, Ali responded, I think no. Because we are getting platforms to speak, and even if this is, it could be a good one because we were not appeased before.

Bukkal Nawab tried to explain, The good thing with BJP is that it does not ask for votes from Muslims, but it gives importance and positions to Muslims. And now, Muslims should also try to come into the mainstream, enough of this shallow and low-scale politics they are pursuing.

India has a vast legacy of Shia Muslims. Ranging from Nawabs of Awadh  to which Bukkal Nawab belongs  and Nawabs of Rampur, many of the artists and writers including Kaifi Azmi, Bismillah Khan, Kamal Amrohi, Syed Haider Raza and Maqbool Fida Hussain.

Earlier, the Shias were independent and artisans. Now, most of them are aligned with either BJP or its different organisations. BJP has most such leaders on key positions, including Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The party is likely to gain momentum on some seats of Uttar Pradesh, where Shia Muslims form a deciding factor. Mohammad Imran, a 41-year-old contractor based in Lucknow, said, There is no doubt that a large part of Muslims has been voting for BJP, but that voting has been dismal. If the current trend of attracting Shia would continue, we could see a large scattering of Muslim votes on many seats.

But for Navaid Hamid, the president of All India Majlis-e-Mushawarat  the biggest Islamic organisation in the country  these factors do not count. He said, I cannot comment on where Muslims should vote and where they should not. This is totally on them. But I am certain that RSS and BJP can daydream if they can consolidate Muslim votes in their favor.

If only Shias would go to vote in favour of BJP in large numbers, BJPs core vote bank along with Shia votes will certainly give it a lead which it is hoping for. Yasoob Abbas, the spokesperson of Shia Personal Law Board, said, Many Shia figures could be aligning with BJP, and it is totally their prerogative. But the fact must be taken into account that they dont have any vote bank behind them.

Abbas further said, Their remarks have only created a rift within the Muslim community, and now, new secular political equations are emerging, the road is much tougher for them.
Jind results offer other clues to these changes. In 2014, INLD got around 31,000 votes, of which 23,000 were in villages, neatly conforming to the partys identification with the Jat community and farmers.

In September 1657, news of Shah Jahans illness triggered a battle of succession. Aurangzeb imprisoned his father and killed his brothers to wrest the Mughal crown. Over three centuries later, another ugly dynastic battle is playing out, this time in Haryana.

Former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, serving a 10-year sentence in Tihar Jail for illegal recruitment of teachers, chose younger son, Abhay, to be his heir. It was assumed that Abhays sons, Karan and Arjun, would be the Generation Next thus shifting the line of succession from older to the younger son.

But, Abhays older brother Ajay, who, too, is in jail in the teacher scam, broke from the Chautala family-run Indian National Lok Dal (INLD). He floated the Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) with his sons, Member of Parliament from Hisar, Dushyant and Digvijay, who leads the partys youth wing.

The family feud is beginning to tell.

In Januarys Jind Assembly bypoll, the last test of the ballot in Haryana before the country votes for a new government, both INLD and JJP lost.

Sitting in his 18 Janpath office in Delhis power district, 30-year-old Dushyant laughs off the comparison with the Mughal dynasty whose family battles led to its dissipation. "I think we were successful in the Jind bypoll. Within 50 days of floating a new party, we went from zero to 38,000 votes. Even the BJP considers us its main opponent in Haryana," Dushyant says. Brother Digvijay was the Jind candidate.

Dushyant rules out truce with his estranged uncle and cousins. "We are politically different entities now and its better to stay away from INLD," he says. Two months ago, Ajay, Digvijay and he were thrown out of INLD by Chautala. The Jind election was a test of who the inheritor was - and the crown has slid off Abhay and landed with Ajays side of the family.

Heres how: with 37,000-plus votes, JJP couldnt win the seat earlier held by INLDs Hari Chand Middha. Middhas son Krishna, caught in the middle of the family feud, chose to shift to BJP and won. This is the first time that BJP has won Jind. But JJP, too, made gains. INLDs voters shifted to the Ajay faction. INLDs Umed Singh Redhu barely secured 3,500 votes despite Chautala speaking in his favour.

Dushyant and Digvijay have come out on top for a reason. They resonate with the rising aspirational class among Jatsperhaps even non-Jats.

Both were educated in leading residential schools and Dushyant also has a university degree from abroad. Yet, they arent alienated from their roots. Their supporters find their political style akin to that of their great-grandfather, Devi Lal. Their personality bridges the divide between tradition and modernity, which is in tune with the larger trend in the state.

Haryanas youth are embracing change, catalysed by smartphones and social networking. Even some Jat khaps have tried to appeal to these aspirations by launching Twitter and Facebook accounts. Karan and Arjun, contrarily, represent Haryanas rustic element - theyre closer to their grandfather in style and substance.

Jind results offer other clues to these changes. In 2014, INLD got around 31,000 votes, of which 23,000 were in villages, neatly conforming to the partys identification with the Jat community and farmers.

This time, JJP got 24,000 rural votesjust 1,000 more. However, its urban tally nearly doubled. Traditionally, INLD never crossed 8,500 votes in cities but JJP got 16,000 urban votes. "Were not a Jat party but represent all sections," says Dushyant.

In the bypoll, even BJP made inroads into villages, bagging 14,000 rural votes. Arguably, these are the Congress partys voters, who have migrated to the ruling BJP. This is because typically, Congress and INLD supporters dont transfer their loyalties. With JJP, now there are three parties that represent Jat interests in Haryana, limiting the communitys political appeal.

"We were initially nervous when Congress fielded Kaithal legislator Randeep Surjewala, a strong Jat candidate, in Jind. We thought hed lure our Jat voters. Instead, Congress voters migrated to BJP," says a JJP leader, who closely tracked the Jind election.

Voters also migrated to BJP because of the backlash against Haryanas Jat dominance. When an established community loses hegemony, it leads to consolidation of others, says Prof Pramod Kumar, director, Institute for Development and Communication, Chandigarh. Hes referring to Haryanas 26 per cent Jats, who have traditionally voted INLD, and their conflict with other communities, particularly Punjabis. People may now be drawn to Khattar for his clean image, he says of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Jats are also considered dabangaggressivean image that was reinforced when in 2013 businesses and properties owned by Punjabis were destroyed as the Jat community demanded quota in jobs and education.

"Jats dont want to be out of power but non-Jats want a share in power too. They resent Jats for wanting only Jat chief ministers," says M Rajivlochan, who teaches history at Panjab University, Chandigarh.

INLD and JJP need a larger pan-Haryana identity. Dynastic succession has placed Dushyant and Digvijay in the limelight but they need political allies to come to power. Dushyants Diwali meeting with Rao Inderjit, a BJP Member of Parliament who enjoys the support of Gurgaons Yadav community, came a cropper.

In Jind, the INLD-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance fared badly, prompting the BSP leader Mayawati to ask the Chautalas to resolve their dispute. Dushyant, however, rules out a compromise. "On expansion, Ill only say that more MLAs will join us soon," the JJP founder says. Another possibility is that the Aam Aadmi Party and JJP will ally for the assembly polls eight months on, banking on their urban-centric appeal.

"One cannot rule INLD out because such parties have strong local roots and are skilled at political maneuverings even after losing their ability to form majorities," says Harish Puri, who taught political science at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar.

JJP and INLD have to consolidate Jat votes, find allies across Haryanas social groups or support another party in future elections. Jind marks the first battle in the war of succession afoot in the Chautala dynasty, with round one decisively going in favour of the Dushyant-Digvijay duo.
The Supreme Court's verdict on the turf war between the Delhi government and the Centre has been a dampener for the former.

The Supreme Court's verdict on the turf war between the Delhi government and the Centre has been a dampener for the former. While there is some validity to the AAP government's argument that an elected government must be allowed additional powers, it falls flat in the face of the constitutional provisions guiding the relationship between the two governments. Is the present apex court ruling the final word on the debate? The split verdict indicates that the last word is to be uttered yet. The Delhi government may still hope for a better deal.

Firstpost spoke to constitutional expert SK Sharma to get clarity on the subject. Sharma is a former secretary of the Delhi Assembly besides being the former secretary in Lok Sabha and author of nine books, including Inside Delhi Assembly and Polity and Governance in Delhi.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

The turf of each government is clearly defined. On what basis did the AAP government feel it could have a different outcome, while criticising the Supreme Court verdict?

Unfortunately, AAP feels that it forms a full-fledged state government, which it does not. The Delhi government's powers under the constitutional scheme are not unlimited. Two important checks on its powers are  first, it cant legislate on certain subjects like land, police, public order and services. Second, when it passes a bill on any subject having financial implication or needing extra expenditure from consolidated fund of Delhi, its mandatory that it refers such a bill to the central government through the L-G. The bill can only be passed by the Assembly, after getting Centres nod.

During the tenure of four former chief ministers from 1993 onwards, in all, 202 bills were passed and in each case, this procedure was followed. But, when AAP formed the government for the first time in 2013, it refused to follow these checks. As a result, the government fell in 49 days. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had refused to follow the Transaction of Business Rules and refer his Jan Lokpal Bill to the Centre.

Even in the past, AAP MLAs have goofed up in the House, provided incorrect information. It resulted in the suspension of 21 MLAs in the incident of parliamentary secretaries.

The court's job is to interpret the law. The law itself needs to be changed if Delhi wants more power and its the job of the Parliament. Should the Delhi government not have approached the court on the issue?

Yes, the AAP government should not have gone to court because ours is a written Constitution  the lengthiest and bulkiest in the world. Constitutional provisions are further supplemented by a parliamentary law called GNCT Act and Transaction of Business Rules. Everything has been clearly laid down and operated upon by previous incumbents from 1993 onwards. The fact remains that unlike any other state such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh or West Bengal, Delhi is not a state but a territory of the Union of India.

The Delhi chief minister has also criticized the Supreme Courts order that the Anti-Corruption Branch (ACB) will be under Centres jurisdiction and not under the elected government

ACB, in fact, is a police station and police doesnt come under Delhi government. Its a reserve subject with the L-G. According to the fundamental principle of the Constitution, legislative power co-exists with executive power. As Delhi Assembly doesnt have the power to legislate on police, it doesnt have executive power on this subject. This approves the decision of the Supreme Court.

Let me cite an example  in 1994, the ACBs office used to be inside Delhi Assembly, next to mine and it was headed by an IPS officer of the rank of assistant commissioner of police.

Why cant Delhi government constitute an inquiry commission?

Under the Commission of Inquiry Act, an appropriate government can constitute an inquiry commission on a matter of general public interest; but in the case of Delhi, the appropriate government is central government and not the government of National Capital Territory (previously Union Territory). The state governments have the power to constitute an inquiry commission, but not UTs.

As you had charted the rules of Delhi Assembly, whats your opinion on AAP governments demand to grant statehood to Delhi?

Theres no chance of Delhi becoming a state. This demand had been raised several times in the past and discussed in several committees and commissions. Delhi is the headquarters of the federal government.

Wholl grant statehood to Delhi? The president, prime minister and Supreme Court cant. It can only be done through a constitutional amendment and only Parliament can do it with two-thirds majority. Neither the UPA government had it nor does the present NDA have it.

The AAP government wants Delhi to be a state, so that cash-rich and prime departments like police, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi Municipal Corporation and land come under them, and their MPs and MLAs can get richer and become baahubalis (powerful)'. But, how is it going to benefit the common man? They are already enjoying all the facilities in Delhi. If Delhi becomes a state, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament, Supreme Court, high commissions, embassies, headquarters of three defence services, airports, etc  all will be under the state government. Will the central government become a tenant of Delhi government?

As you said, the AAP MLAs violated rules in the case of 21 parliamentary secretaries, but the high court revoked the suspension and restored them as MLAs. Now, where does the fault lie?

The 21 MLAs, who were parliamentary secretaries, moved the high court with a plea that they werent given a hearing by the Election Commission. The high court felt that natural justice warrants these MLAs be heard and it asked the Election Commission to hear them. So, the disqualification order was revoked and their status was changed from ex-MLAs to MLAs.

Its a matter of time that these 21 MLAs are disqualified.

The Election Commission is now hearing these MLAs one by one. As theres no new evidence in this case, the EC is not likely to change its previous decision which was based on the evidence provided to it by these legislators. They will eventually be disqualified; its only a matter of time.

What evidence are you referring to that would lead to the disqualification of 21 MLAs?

According to the Supreme Court, if you are entitled to certain facilities, but even if you havent used them, it legally amounts to holding office of profit. It happened in the case of Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan. Though she didnt use the facilities, it amounted to office of profit and she was disqualified as Rajya Sabha MP.

In the case of 21 MLAs, they were given office rooms, furniture worth Rs 14 lakh was purchased, etc, which the Speaker had admitted to in a reply to an RTI application. The Speaker admitted the same, when asked by the L-G office. But, when the Election Commission asked the chief secretary about the facilities given to these parliamentary secretaries, the latter said no facilities were provided.

The hearing before the Election Commission is a judicial proceeding and providing wrong information by telling lies and misleading the Election Commission amounts to punishment under law.

What will happen, if it is proved the Election Commission was misled?

It is a case of perjury. By furnishing false evidence, a crime has been committed. According to Section 193 of the Indian Penal Code, whosoever intentionally furnishes false evidence for use of official proceedings shall be punished with imprisonment for a maximum period of seven years and fine.

If the Election Commission, petitioner or interveners (Congress and BJP) having locus standi in the matter, move court under Section 340 of Code of Criminal Procedure, these legislators may be in deep trouble. The Election Commission has already commented in paragraph 38 of its inquiry findings to the President of India that Delhi Assembly Speaker took one stand in the RTI reply and before the L-G, and just the opposite before itself.

The offence, being criminal in nature, is not time-barred. Prosecution in this case is possible even when they cease to be legislators.
The Profane is Delhi-based Satyajit Sarnas first collection of poetry and has poems of heartbreak and disillusion, of loneliness and mortality, but also of passion for life on earth, in all its mud and glory.

Editor's note: Writer's Room is a new books column, curated by Krupa Ge along with 15 writers across India. The column seeks to introduce new works as well as allow a peek into the writer's studio, accompanied by recordings of book readings.

***

The Profane is Delhi-based Satyajit Sarnas first collection of poetry and has poems of heartbreak and disillusion, of loneliness and mortality, but also of passion for life on earth, in all its mud and glory. Satyajit is also the author of the novel The Angels Share (HarperCollins, 2012). The poems in this volume deal with a diverse range of subjects that were written mostly over a period of five years but some go back as far as ten years.

Speaking of his journey with poetry, Satyajit says, I think of poems I wrote before that, as I am sure I will think of these later, as embarrassing juvenilia. When I first started writing poetry, in my late teens, it felt like I had been given a window into something beyond me  I still think of poetry as something that is first received. I wrote down everything as it came, on little scraps of paper torn from notebooks meant for something more useful. Those were compiled into a short manuscript. I then took them to a major publishing house  I was actually so ignorant and self-important as to think one walked through the front door of a publisher, and announced at the reception that one had A Book of Poems. As you may imagine, this did not take me far. I was taken into a small dimly lit room by someone who basically told me to come back when I had A Novel. No one reads poetry. Eight years and one novel later, I approached my publishers with a new manuscript of poems. Poetry is very, very hard to get anyone interested in, but they were kind enough to consider it. Even so, since so few books of poems are published by mainstream presses, it took more than three years to come to market. I am very thankful to my publishers for taking a chance on me though. The wisdom in publishing is very much that poetry does not sell, and for a publishing house to still bring out a book is to clearly believe against better knowledge.

In Ozymandias in Doubt, a poem in this new collection, Satyajit writes about the insecurity that creators must grapple with, inspired by Shelleys Ozymandias.

A cold fear grips me.

What if the mustachioed man

Of 3026 finds your journals

When mine are dust and water

Writing poetry, he says, feels like it comes from a whole different universe than writing fiction. A short story or novel is written in warm contemplation, and it feels like a nice reliable engine is humming under you. Poetry is written in red hot white-hot heat; your job is to go with it, to hang with the torrent, and not to lie to yourself about what is coming forth. The good poems at any rate.

The first thing I can recall writing, I think I was about five or six, was a sort of Boys First Adventure Story, he says. There was the building of a raft, and the crossing of a river. A horse played some part. This was not the worlds most eventful plot, I feel. I wrote things, little things, through school, sometimes for the joy of it. What I do remember doing, though, is reading, all through school. Reading like my life depended on it, like there was nothing more to the whole world. I read so much crap. So many thrillers, so much very average science fiction and fantasy, all plot driven. I would have read the operating manual for a tractor back then, if I had to. Now that I look back (with guilt), there may not have been a single female writer or female first-person protagonist in the whole lot of it. They just did not exist in my universe. It was a strange blinkered sort of reading. But it was reading, thank god, he says.

Death lingers around a lot of the poems in this collection. It does. I think about it a lot, he says, I cant say why. But it is one of the big human questions  how we deal with death, and more importantly, how we deal with life in the shadow of death. What do we leave behind? What is it worth, after we are gone? What does it mean to inherit and to transmit? In No Mas (For Chris Conell, aged fifty-two), he says,

Some night when I say

I want to die,

I mean it.

In Shirts, Satyajit writes,

I dont doubt it  Death lived with her, caressed her hair,

held her for some time before they found her lying cold.

In The Mourners, he says,

Comforting the bereaved is like juggling with daggers.

And even in the Renaissance painter Botticellis version of the famous Annunciation (in which the archangel Gabriel descends to tell the virgin that she will bear the Christ) Satyajit sees the inevitable.

You will raise a soldier, he will die;

Your arms will hold his bird-bones, they will roll

Off your lap, into the ground, and his soul into the sky.

In Botticellis Annunciation, I was thinking about how futile that holy message could have seemed to any one of us, how hollowing. No one wants to be a mother to a martyr. But that is the nature of miracles for those who have faith he says.

The political is also personal in The Profane, with poems like National Anthem and I Dreamt of a Lynching. Both poems, reflections of our times, use death in a manner that is markedly different from the others. But the most chilling of poems of this kind is Martyrdom (In 1984, when it happened, it begins), and describes the killing of a man

he went up in a curtain of flame,

dancing for them, screaming, until the fires tongue

had kissed his lungs, spinning like a dervish

At what point do you feel like a piece is done, I ask and Satyajit says, I dont know. Its a big question  a lot of poets struggle with it. Valery of course famously said that a poem is never finished, only abandoned. There is probably a point where your changes to a thing change it without necessarily improving the thing in itself. And we are all always improving, always learning more about truth and life and the craft. Robert Lowell, for example, did not hesitate to write and rewrite poems, and republish them consequently. There is a certain attraction to chipping away and polishing for ever and ever. On the other, here we are, imperfect, getting bent ever further out of shape as creatures. Yet we have this miraculous, this demiurgic ability, to create things, so to speak, ex nihilo  art and music and poems. So beyond a point, even imperfect, it is okay to release our children into the world, as soon as we are comfortable they can survive. It frees their creator.

There's a certain sensitivity in a lot of the poetry that is about people, and relationships, in this book. Poetry that is personal involves putting yourself out there. Does that worry this writer? Oh definitely! Publishing poetry is scary, it feels like taking off one's clothes in public. If it is good, if it can speak to anyone, it necessarily has an element of that nakedness to it. We live in an age of emotional exhibitionism  it would have been mad twenty years ago for anyone to get up in front of a thousand people they know, and tell them an intimate anecdote, or confess that they are feeling blue. Yet, we often do now, across platforms. Our personal is very public. But our very personal, our truly secret, seldom creeps onto our feeds. Thats where the good confessional poetry lives  alone under the one light, in front of strangers. But whats magical is that you are not the only person to feel this way, not the only person to share those anxieties and fears and furtive joys. That element of empathy makes the personal universal.

Satyajit whos currently reading Mary Beards SPQR, a very readable history of the rise of Rome, Frantz Fanons The Wretched of the Earth, his seminal clarion call for the decolonisation of minds and lands, rereading an old favourite, Umberto Ecos The Name of the Rose, and Zeina Hashem Becks collection of poems, Louder than Hearts, says he is also working on something that feels like a very large, nameless, shapeless thing right now. What I can say is that I'm trying to stay true to the prime directive  write the book you would really, really enjoy reading.
The Narendra Modi governments plan to build two new caves of strategic petroleum reserves in Odisha and Karnataka will take crude oil stock to 87 days of demand by 2020.

"The inevitable never happens.

Its the unexpected always."

 John Maynard Keynes

Psychologists describe hoarding as an emotional syndrome when people find it difficult to part with things. A sense of eternal fear of running out of things is overwhelming as also the need to pile up goods, irrespective of value or utility, resulting in a disorderly existence.

Thats not the quite the case with every class of accumulator though. Deep inside the earths surface, in neat, uncluttered subterranean coastal caverns, many governments are quietly stocking up something that they fear may soon run out: oil.

About 700 million barrels of oil currently lie in 60 underground caves located in four inconspicuous locations in the United States, which has been building its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) since 1970. There are now many other huge oil stockpiles peppered across the globeJapan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, China and many otherswith governments pumping in billions of dollars into creating such facilities. China has developed a vast network of strategic reserve facilities at multiple locations that hold an estimated 275 million barrels as of mid-2017.

India is a relatively recent entrant to the club building its oil stocks to deal with potential fuel supply disruptions and price shocks. On June 27, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a Cabinet meeting to approve a plan to build two new caves of SPRs which, when complete and tanked up, will create additional capacity to maintain supplies for up to 11.5 days oil needs in an emergency. This will raise Indias crude oil storage capacity to equivalent of 87 days of demand by 2020, which include 67 days worth of commercial stocks held by refineries (apart from the armed forces stocks).

One of the new caves will be built at Chandikhol, in Odisha, to store up to 4.4 million tonnes of crude oil; the other will be a 2.5-million tonne facility at Padur, Karnataka. This is besides the three SPRs India already has in Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur. The Visakhapatnam and Mangauluru facilities have been built to meet roughly 2.5 days of requirement each while Padur can meet 4.5 days of oil needs. These facilities can store up to 1.33 million tonnes, 1.5 million tonnes (Manguluru) and 2.5 million tonnes (Padur).

The Cabinets decision in June to build new SPR caverns came exactly 45 days after a container ship carrying the first consignment of 2 million barrels of crude oil set sail from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Mangaluru SPR.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC)the only one to partner with India on its crude oil reserve programme till datehas tied up with Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) (see interview) to store around 5.86 million barrels of crude oil in at the Mangaluru SPR at its own cost.

This agreement was signed during Modis visit to the UAE in February last year. In November, ADNOC signed another agreement with ISPRL to store oil in half of the Padur strategic oil reserve site. The agreement will allow ADNOC to sell oil to local refiners but give the government of India the first right to the oil in the case of an emergency. India on its part will save on costs for importing crude to store while retaining the first right of access in an emergency. In November, the government had approved a plan allowing foreign oil companies to store oil in Padurs strategic storage, which it estimates will help cut costs by `10,000 crore.

India first decided to construct SPRs in 2004 as part of a broader strategy to deal with growing demand, stagnating domestic production, soaring global crude costs and dependence on the unsteady West Asian region for imports.

Globally, though, there is increasing talk of breaking the piggy bank. The US SPR, an institution born of the first international oil supply shock of 1973, is being raided for cash.

At its peak in 20092011, the reserve held about 727 million barrels of crude oil. This is now down to about 700 million barrels. Since 2015, the US Congress has enacted five pieces of legislation calling for the sale of SPR oil.

Taken together, these authorised sales will reduce the size of the SPR to around 410 million barrels by the end of 2027.

Indias approach has long been tied to oil prices, as it is a net oil importer, and rising prices are set to hit its economy. Despite the governments stated intention to reduce dependence on oil imports, oil will remain in demand for the next few decades, said Shebonti Ray Dadwal, senior fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, in a recent paper Strategic Petroleum Reserves: Stocking Oil for Rainy Days.
I have long argued that the answer to Pakistan's use of asymmetric means is not for the government to approve the army's formal counter-strike proposals, which to-date have proved futile in deterring ISI from waging a covert war

It is funny how, and with what ease and confidence, Islamabad time and again reduces India to a blabbering mess. Over 40 CRPF men get blown up by a suicide bomber who rams his RDX-laden Scorpio into a bus on Route 44 and, as if on cue, the Indian media screams for action, demands demarches and what not, television cameras zoom in on grieving families demanding badla, bickering politicians turn sober and cluck in feigned sadness, a cowering Home Minister promises a fitting response and the Prime Minister, more magisterially, assures the people that the death of the latest lot of martyrs won't go unavenged. And, in the background, are heard murmurs of telling punitive action in the offing. Meanwhile, in GHQ, Rawalpindi, the generals have a quiet chuckle seeing the same tamasha across the border being replayed for the umpteenth time.

Pakistan government knows it is on to a good thing. As co-legatees of Chanakayan statecraft Pakistani decision-makers, I have long argued, are better practitioners of kuttayuddha (covert war) than their Indian counterparts, who are handicapped by the idea of doing the right thing in the right way and according to, what else, international law and accepted practice which no self-respecting country, incidentally, observes when its vital interests are on the line. India is the sole exception. Because covert warfare is necessarily dirty and prosecuted without scruples, it is apparently beyond this countrys ken to engage in. In the event, it is left hoping that, other than the regulation bombast emanating non-stop from Indian news channels, that international denunciation will bring Islamabad to heel. Well, good luck!

Pakistan is no amateur at this game. It was party to managing (with an assist from the US Central Intelligence Agency) the proxy fight using the Afghan mujahideen to push the mighty Soviet state out of Afghanistan in the 1980s without seeding enduring enmity with Moscow. It is a far lesser task to use radicalized Kashmiris to discomfit India that acts as a punching bag of a nation. Pakistan is emboldened because theres China as a backstop to Pakistani terrorist ventures, ready to blunt any international opprobrium. Never mind that its own restless Uyghur population in Xinjiang is susceptible to the Islamist virus, and the sunni hotheads in Jaish could, in a slightly altered context, be the medium to stoke Uyghur militancy.

So, how do you deal with the pestilence called Saeed Hafiz, Azhar Masood and others of that ilk and their scrofulous followers bent on attempting  albeit materially and infrastructure-wise supported and encouraged by their minders in the Pakistan Armys Inter-Services intelligence (ISI)  the impossible? Loosening Indias hold on Jammu And Kashmir is no easy thing to try and do for Pakistan. But that's not what ISI hopes to accomplish. It is intent and itching to draw the Indian military and the state into a brawl with the natives, not get Delhi so riled up that it overcomes its self-imposed inhibitions. Equally, India  big in every way and enjoying a huge margin of safety and of error, seems unable to summon the necessary nerve and the gumption to do anything remotely incautious.

All the talk of air/missile strikes, more surgical strikes, etc "to teach Pakistan a lesson" is a lot of hot air because if the Modi government had it in mind to actually unleash an aerial strike, for instance, it would have done so instantaneously after the suicide attack, not informed the media about the ruling party contemplating such actions. Moreover, the standard operating procedure on the other side is that as soon as a big terrorist operation is mounted, the Pakistan military firms up its forward lines, puts its SILLAC air defence system out of Sargodha on 24/7 radar sweeps to detect any aerial approach by India, and field formations assume a war-ready posture, prepared for any affray that an angry, perennially reactive, India may care to launch. Which is to say such Indian response has zero prospects.

I have long argued that the answer to Pakistan's use of asymmetric means is not for the government to approve the army's formal counter-strike proposals, which to-date have proved futile in deterring ISI from waging a covert war, leave alone cowing GHQ, Rawalpindi, into restraining itself on this count. But rather that time is nigh to physically target and eliminate trouble-makers like Hafeez and Azhar Mahmood.

Two options have always been readily available to Delhi. One is the sniper solution  a designated covert team infiltrated into Pakistan around Muridke in Pakistani Punjab, HQrs of Jaish, say, with one or two master marksmen to take out these terrorists, and for this team to be exfiltrated after the deed is done. The trouble here, again, is that the Pakistan army is besting India in this department, meaning that either Pakistan army sharp shooters or a few Kashmiri natives rigorously trained for sniper shoots have been making life miserable for the Indian armed forces  army and para-military for many years now. Their use of the Chinese Zijiang M99 Sniper Rifle, rated as one of best five of its kind in the world, has been exemplary. Its ability to precision hit targets at 1,800 metre range, ie, almost 2 kilometers, has played havoc with Indian troops in the Valley and elsewhere. It is something the army, para-military and the J&K and Indian governments do not acknowledge. The Indian army snipers, on the other hand, make do with a dated Russian piece  the Dragunov SVD when the newer, more advanced, Chukavin, with 1,600 metre range, is in the market. Worse, the Dragunov ammo stock is so low at only 25 percent of requirement that Indian snipers get to fire just 4 or 5 rounds for practice per year! This is a joke.

The other, more effective, option is right in the National Security Adviser Ajit Dovals supposed area of expertise  activating RAW and other sleeper cells in Pakistan for attacks to execute Sayeed, Mahmood, et al. If successful, it will put the fear of God into these miscreants without disturbing the general tenor of bilateral relations. The Pakistan government cannot publicly object to their killing because it does not own up to sponsoring them in the first place. Moreover, there are lots of ways to make their elimination look like accidents. This is the very essence of kuttayuddha that the Indian government, intelligence and military are distanced from, but which Islamabad has grasped. It is also the only thing that will, in fact, work.

The author is a Professor Emeritus for National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, and author of 'Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and Indias Global Ambition'. He blogs atwww.bharatkarnad.com
The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles

Islamabad: Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal Pulwama terror attack even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it. Forty-two CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. Qureshi, in a recorded a video message from Germany where he is attending the Munich Security Conference, claimed that India, without investigation, in a knee-jerk reaction, blamed Pakistan for the attack.

"It is easy to blame Pakistan but it will not solve the problem and the world will not be convinced," he said in the message which was released by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on its official Twitter account.

He said nobody can browbeat Pakistan by blaming it for he attack. "We know how to defend ourselves. We can also present out point of view across the world. Our message is peace and not conflict," Qureshi said. In a strong warning to Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday declared those responsible will pay a "very heavy price" and said the security forces have been given a free hand to decide on the timing, place and nature of their response to the carnage. "A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons," Modi asserted.

Qureshi said Pakistan was ready to fully cooperate with India if it shares evidence. "If India has any evidence (about involvement of elements in Pakistan in the Pulwama attack), it should share with us. We will investigate with full honesty and see if it was right. And I say with full confidence that we will cooperate. Because we do not want disturbance," he said. Condemning the incident, the foreign minister said, "Violence neither was, nor is our policy."
Volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and India was recorded at $2.03 billion in 2016-17.

Islamabad: As India announced it will revoke the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, Pakistani authorities as well as exporters believe the move is unlikely to disturb Pakistan, given the volume of bilateral trade between the two South Asian states.

Volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and India was recorded at $2.03 billion in 2016-17. While Pakistan imported goods worth $1.70 billion from India, volume of its exports to its neighbour remained at $334 million. The $1.36-billion trade imbalance was in favour of India.

Ijaz A Khokhar, former chairperson of Pakistan Readymade Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, says India has never been a favourable destination for Pakistani goods, and hence, high tariff or revoking MFN status will have little impact on Pakistani exports.

Revoking of MFN status isnt bad news for Pakistani exporters. Volume of bilateral trade between two neighbours is too low. Also, balance of bilateral trade favours India. In any case Indias withdrawal of MFN status isnt bad news at all, Khokhar says.

A senior official in Pakistans ministry of trade and industries says India was yet to inform them about its decision of revoking MFN status to Pakistan.

Pakistan government has not yet reacted to Indias withdrawal of MFN status. Abdul Razak Dawood, advisor to the prime minister on commerce, textile, industry and production, and investment, declined to comment when approached.

While the neighbouring country may not see much of an impact of withdrawal of MFN status, the move will hurt exporters of leather hides and cheaper fertiliser variants to India. Likewise, Pakistans cotton industry will also feel the heat in absence of cotton yarn and other raw textile material exported by India. Lack of cheaper varieties of pharma products and machinery can tease Pakistan as sourcing these goods from elsewhere will not be cost effective.

Pakistans textile industry may be in a fix if India imposes ban on export of cotton bales to Pakistan. But, it can find alternative easily, claims Khokhar.

Data collected from Pakistans Bureau of Statistics reveals that Pakistans top exports to the world include home textiles ($3.95 billion), cotton fabrics ($3.49 billion), knitted garments ($2.51 billion), woven garments ($2.46 billion), cereals ($1.75 billion), articles of leather ($0.631 billion), sugar and confectionary ($0.511 billion), medical and precision equipment ($0.410 billion), fish ($0.406 billion) and cement ($0.385 billion).

The above-mentioned products make 80.46 percent of Pakistans total exports. Indian market has never been a good destination for Pakistan goods. Despite the odds, like skirmishes across border and diplomatic constraints, Pakistani textile products make way to Indian market. Among Pakistans exports to India, home textiles stood at $1.18 million, cotton fabrics at $1.13 million, knitted garments at $1.29 million, woven garments at $2.69 million, articles of leather at $0.920 million, sugar and confectionary at $0.819 million, medical and precision equipment at $11.78 million, fisheries at $0.166 million and cement at $87.18 million.

According to Pakistans bureau of statistics, bilateral trade between Pakistan and India had increased by 6 percent in 2017-18 to $2.4 billion, with $1.9 billion imports from India. Goods worth $500 million were exported to India.

Currently, majority of trade between India and Pakistan is routed through UAE. Singapore is another route. According to independent media reports, volume of trade between Pakistan and India either through the UAE or Singapore stands at $3 billion.

Following withdrawal of MFN status, trade diversion is likely to increase.

A World Bank report revealed last year that Pakistan and India could increase volume of bilateral trade to $37 billion by removing barriers. Given the escalated tension between the two South Asian neighbors following Pulwama attack, this volume is likely to go down.

I dont see improvement in bilateral ties between Pakistan and India. Volume of bilateral trade is expected to decrease in such a hostile environment, says Sohail Iqbal Bhatti, an Islamabad-based expert of economy and finance.

India had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996. Since then, Pakistan has been enjoying benefits of lower tariffs on its exports (mainly on textile, leather and fertiliser products) to India. Ironically, it continues to impose higher tariffs on its imports from India than it charges other countries while also restricting trade through land routes.

Following the Uri terror attack in 2016, India had reviewed the MFN status to Pakistan. However, it refrained from withdrawing it.

(Author is an Islamabadbased freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters.com.)
Despite the curfew, a mob attacked Kashmiris staying in the Janipur area of Jammu. Local residents also reported clashes in the Khatika Talab and Gujjar Nagar areas.

The killing of at least 40 CRPF personnel in Thursdays militant attack in Pulwama has triggered violence in the Jammu region, with mobs torching vehicles and attacking Kashmiri Muslims staying there.

Despite the curfew, a mob attacked Kashmiris staying in the Janipur area of Jammu. Local residents also said that there were clashes between Hindu and Muslims groups in Khatika Talab and Gujjar Nagar areas of the city. Several vehicles were torched in Gujjar Nagar in the past two days, while vehicles were also damaged in Janipur.

On Friday and Saturday, a mob pelted stones on quarters where Kashmiri employees live in Janipur. Ghulam Rasool Mir, president of Civil Secretariat Employees Union, said that the employees quarters were attacked by a large stone-pelting mob. He said, At least five vehicles of the employees were also damaged. Vehicles of some of our employees were also burnt in Gujjar Nagar." Mir also claimed that the violence took place despite the presence of police personnel.

He further said, We will try to move back to Kashmir as soon as possible. The employees who are putting up at hotels are feeling threatened. There are also employees who are putting up in quarters at over ten places in Jammu, including Muthi and Panjtirthi. They, too, are afraid."

Vivek Gupta, Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu, however, said that the situation is normal in Jammu. He said, We have deployed the army and police at different places and curfew has been imposed to avoid any untoward incident. Police presence has been increased in Janipur.

A Kashmiri who lives in a rented house in Janipur said, "Our family was deeply disturbed after the violence. I live in Jammu, and my parents are deeply worried. They want me to come back to Kashmir. But we are unable to do so as the Jammu-Srinagar highway remains blocked."

Besides government employees, a large number of other Kashmiri Muslims are staying at different places in Jammu, having moved to the region during the winter to escape the cold wave conditions in Kashmir.

In a development that could increase problems for Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik's administration, several government employees have threatened to go on strike and move back to Kashmir.

Both mainstream and separatists politicians in the state have raised the issue of protection for Kashmiri Muslims in the Jammu region, as also other states. Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Saturday tweeted, "Deeply distressed by reports of attacks on Kashmiris in Jammu and other places by communal goons. Those in charge are obliged to ensure the safety and security of Kashmiris is not compromised at a time when anti-Kashmir rhetoric has been ratcheted up.

Omar Abdullah also tweeted:

My earnest appeal to @rajnathsingh ji to please issue directions to all state governments to take special care in areas/colleges/institutions where Kashmiris are residing/studying. They are soft targets in a surcharged atmosphere.  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 15, 2019

After the Pulwama attack, people protested in Srinagar's business hub of Lal Chowk and traders' bodies called for a Kashmir bandh on Sunday. The strike call was given by Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Forum (KTMF) and Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA).

While shopkeepers in Lal Chowk took out a protest march, demonstrations were also held in Anantnag in south Kashmir.

Ashiq Hussain, president of Shia Federation Jammu, said that on Friday, clashes were witnessed between groups of Hindu and Muslim youth in the Khatika Talab area of the city. He appealed for the restoration of peace in the region" and stressed on the need for maintaining communal harmony.
A Cook County judge denied his requests for emergency protective orders. His case is up again March 5. The former server said she, too, will seek to get an order of protection from the judge against Davis at the same hearing. She said her reason for contacting Band of Bohemia owners was to protect other women working with him, but Davis attorney said he did nothing wrong.
In Kashmir, the idea of suicide bombing has never gained social sanction as a means of political struggle. This perhaps explains why even the new age militants, mostly homegrown, have stayed away from it.

In Kashmir, the idea of suicide bombing has never gained social sanction as a means of political struggle. This perhaps explains why even the new age militants, mostly homegrown, have stayed away from it. That is also the reason why the Lethpora attack is only the second ever suicide car bomb attack carried out by a Kashmiri, in the history of conflict in Valley.

There have been IED blasts in Kashmir since then, but not a car bomb attack. In most of other Fidayeen attacks, which were mostly carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad, all the attackers were Pakistani natThis perhaps explains why even the new age militants, mostly homegrown, have stayed away from itionals.

"Kashmir cant sustain this kind of violence, which we see in places like Afghanistan," said Noor Mohammed Baba, a Srinagar-based political analyst. "But unfortunately the discourse of violence, and the way Kashmir has been dealt with in recent years, has worsened the situation."

After the armed insurgency erupted in late eighties, Kashmir based militants, despite their numbers running into thousands, hardly carried out any suicide attack, which usually culminate in massive casualties for security forces and civilians. Then Jaish-e-Mohammad arrived on the scene after its founder, Masood Azhar, was released from an Indian prison in 1999. The first man who drove a Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) was also the Valleys first human bomb. Aafaq Shah, a resident of Srinagar, made the deafening announcement of the arrival of Jaish-e-Mohammad in Kashmir by detonating his car ahead of the Badami Bagh Cantonment in 2000.

Then in 2001, the last time a car bombing of such magnitude happened, a Jaish-e-Mohammad militant carried out a suicide bomb attack outside the Srinagar Assembly killing 38 people and injuring 40 others. The attack was also condemned by Pakistan, showing how JeM may have slipped under its control.

In the third such attack, a British born Muslim, Abdullah, drove a Maruti car fitted with explosives, to attack the headquarters of the Indian Army. But this attack, like the one in 2000, failed to cause much damage. However, Thursday's attack is the biggest in the history of Kashmir insurgency in terms of the casualties it inflicted on security forces.

But the family of the attacker, Abdul Rashid Dar, who was a 22-year-old youth staying just 10 kilometres away from the site of attack, is unable to make sense of the tragedy.

"If you want me explain why he did this, I have no answer. Suicide is unIslamic. I am unable to understand why he did this," Abdul Rashid Dar, who sells chicken for living and is the uncle of Pulwama suicide bomber, Aadil Ahmad Dar, said

Rashids elder son, Manzoor Ahmad Dar, had also taken up militancy and was killed by forces on 30 June 2016 by security forces. Fifty one days later, Aadil, the suicide bomber, had received a bullet in his leg during the 2016 street protests in Kashmir.

"If you ask me if it was revenge, I dont think so. Because Islam doesn't permit revenge and killings are unacceptable; it doesn't matter who kills whom," he added.

However, security forces fear that the 'success' of the Lethpora attack may attract youth towards Jaish-e-Mohammads suicide squad, which has managed to inflict maximum number of casualties on security forces in Kashmir. Militant outfits like Jaish-e-Mohammad are ready to tap into them. Dar, the Lethpora bomber, waited for a year before carrying out Thursday's attack.

Last year 250 militants were killed by forces, but not a single group of militants managed to inflict any major casualty on the security forces beyond few deaths. But looking at the devastation caused by Thursdays bombing, militants may use the same path to inflict heavy casualties on the other side, a police officer based in south Kashmir. "It will attract other young men. And unfortunately this terror group would get emboldened," the officer said.

However, many Kashmiris wonder if this was the right way to carry forward a political movement.

"Is this happening in Kashmir? Where are we going? It looks like Afghanistan? We should condemn every single killing of innocents. This is horrible," said Javed Nabi, a Kashmiri in a Facebook post.

Suicide bombing is a low-cost, highly effective operation which guarantees heavy casualties. Unlike other attacks carried out by militants, there is an advantage in suicide bombing that a militant doesn't have to map his exit routes. The only way out is death.

Surprisingly, like Aadil, who carried the Lethpora bombing, Shah, the first Kashmiri suicide bomber, too was very shy and introverted when he killed himself at the age of 17. He was studying to become a doctor. He, however, failed to inflict any casualties on the army.

"It is really a chilling incident I still cant believe he could pull this kind of attack. But this is Kashmir. Anything is possible now," Ashiq Ahmad, a resident of GandiBagh in Kakpora area of Pulwama, from where Aadil hails, said during his in-absentia funeral on Thursday.

"We saw his video and we knew it was him," Rashid, Aadils uncle, said.
Sobbing family members on Saturday lit the funeral pyres of the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack, joined by other mourners.

Lucknow/Jaipur: Sobbing family members on Saturday lit the funeral pyres of the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack, joined by other mourners who at places gathered in their thousands.

In an Uttarakhand village, a three-year-old child lit his father's pyre. At another cremation in Rajasthan, a two-month baby was made to symbolically touch the torch used for the last rites.

Traders downed shutters and people lined the streets at many places as caskets carrying the remains of the jawans arrived at their native villages and towns across the country, amid the chanting of slogans  some of them anti-Pakistan.

Union ministers flew down from New Delhi to join ministers from the states to lay wreaths on the caskets of many of the 40 jawans killed in the suicide attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday.

In most cases, the coffins draped in the tricolor arrived from Delhi at the nearest airport, and were then taken by road to the jawans' villages for state funerals.

In a village in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, three-year-old Rehan lit his father Virendra Singh's funeral pyre.

Union Minister of state for Textiles Ajay Tamta and Uttarakhand minister Yashpal Arya were at the cremation, where CRPF jawans fired three rounds in the air as a salute to their fallen colleague.

Shopkeepers in nearby Khatima, Chakarpur and Jhankat downed shutters. People taking part in a procession in Khatima shouted anti-Pakistan slogans.

In Ghalauti Khurd in Punjab's Moga district, Jaimal Singh's five- year-old-son Gurprakash lit the pyre. Rohitash Lamba's two-month son was made to symbolically touch the torch that lit his pyre in Shahpura town near Jaipur.

Thousands of people, including Union minister Jitendra Singh, attended the burial of head constable Naseer Ahmad at Dudasunballa village in the border district of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officers from the Central Reserve Police Force and the Army also visited the village to pay homage, promising to take care of the jawan's family which includes his wife and two children, officials said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the coffin of C Sivachandran at Tiruchirappali airport, where his body had been flown on the way to his village.

As Pankaj Tripathi's body reached Harpur Bailhiya in Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district, the villagers broke out in slogans hailing him as a martyr, and also chanting Pakistan murdabad.

Taking the cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarks, Union minister Shiv Pratap Shukla, who attended the funeral, said, India will give a befitting reply to the cowardly act of Pakistan.

He announced that the local primary school will be renamed after the jawan.

"My son was coming soon to meet me, but it seems that something else was written in my fate, his mother told reporters.

Uttarakhand's Trivendra Singh Rawat, Himachal Pradesh's Jai Ram Thakur and Odisha's Naveen Pathak were among the chief ministers who paid homage as the remains of soldiers from their states arrived.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal turned pallbearer when head constable Maneswar Basumatari's body arrived in Guwahati, flown in by the Indian Air Force.

The nation will fight unitedly to protect the sovereignty of our country. Basumatari's sacrifice, along with that of the other CRPF jawans, will not go in vain, he told reporters.

In Deoria district, Vijay Maurya's wife Vijay Laxmi demanded that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should visit the family before the cremation takes place.

UP minister Anupama Jaiswal and other leaders were trying to persuade her to go ahead with the last rites.
That the Jaish was able to pull off the Pulwama attack means several people other than the suicide bomber who took part in the attack are still around and want to harm us.

Jaish-e-Mohammad means army of Muhammad. This is strange because the Prophet of Islam had no ambitions of conquest. Arab expansion began under the Caliphs, particularly Umar, after Muhammads death. The Jaish is a Pakistani entity and its recruits are mostly rural Punjabis. It is much smaller than Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and has a different ideology. Suicide bombing is not preferred by the LeT because in its particular belief of Islam, which is called Salafi, suicide is a grave sin.

Instead, the LeT calls its terrorist acts fidayeen attacks, in which the individuals keep fighting till they are killed. The Uri camp attack and the Mumbai terrorist attack of 2008 were probably conducted by LeT, though the organisation denied it was responsible.

The Jaish is a Deobandi organisation. This does not mean that they have an association with the Darul Uloom madrasah in Uttar Pradeshs Deoband town. But they follow the same fundamental teachings, which accept the jurisprudence of the 8th Century scholar Abu Hanifa, but also consider Sufism and shrine worship, which the majority of the subcontinents Muslims do, to be wrong.

The Jaish is associated with the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, both of which are Punjabi organisations which have murdered Pakistani Shias. Jaish wants Pakistan to be governed under full Shariah law (Pakistan has a legal system that is not very different from Indias). It also wants the US out of Afghanistan.

Jaish was formed in 2000 and most of the followers of the group Harkatul Mujahideen joined it. Its leader Masood Azhar was caught in India, but freed by Atal Bihari Vajpayees government and was one of three jailed militants whom Jaswant Singh escorted to Kandahar where an Air India plane was hijacked. In 2002, Jaishs Omar Saeed Shaikh, a Britisher who was also freed with Azhar, kidnapped and savagely murdered The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi.

Jaish was banned along with LeT by then president Pervez Musharraf in 2002 after the fidayeen attack by four men on Parliament in December 2001, for which India blamed both groups. LeT, which has a big headquarters in Muridke town in Punjab and several associated organisations and charities, changed its name and continued. Some Pakistani analysts believe that the control of the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence was greater over Jaish than over LeT. Jaish emptied its bank accounts before they were frozen and distributed its assets among its lower cadre and thereby survived. In 2003, Jaish then organised two suicide bombings against Musharrafs convoy, though he survived both.

The first suicide bombing in Kashmir occurred on 19 April, 2000, when a Jaish militant attacked the Indian Armys 15 Corps headquarters at Badami Bagh. In October 2001, Jaish bombed the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, killing 38. Since 2013, the group has been less active, particularly after the crackdown by the Pakistanis, who by now had suffered blowback from the same forces they created and backed. However, Pakistan thinks Masood Azhar is very valuable. We know this because it has managed successfully (though Chinas veto) to prevent the United Nations Security Council from declaring him a global terrorist.

Sadly, the attack on the CRPF may be a sign of things to come. Organising a suicide bombing requires extensive support and coordination of a high level. The explosives have to be smuggled in or transported, the technical know-how has to be brought in and the device assembled, local assistance is needed for intelligence on troop movement and logistical support (like arranging for the car). Local support is also needed for training and storage. That the Jaish was able to pull off this attack means several people other than the suicide bomber who took part in the attack are still around and want to harm us. The fact that a rural Kashmiri boy was successfully indoctrinated and brainwashed into killing himself and others means that exists an active programme which does such recruiting and there are potentially other such individuals out there.

One sad reality is that because of the rift created in the relationship between religious communities, it is difficult for us to get informers (khabris). RAW, our spying agency, does not hire Muslims as an unwritten policy and we have very little ability to penetrate the Kashmiri social networks. The Intelligence Bureau has a handful of Muslims. Not many senior intelligence officials in India can even read Urdu. When the Akshardham Temple in Ahmedabad was attacked by two fidayeen in September 2002 (30 people were killed in the terrorist act, which claimed to be avenging the Godhra riots), their note had to be read out to police by a local Gujarati imam.

The Mumbai Police faced a similar problem after the 1993 riots and bomb blasts. They no longer have good local networks of khabris. Jaish was banned by Musharraf under pressure from Atal Bihari Vajpayee who mobilised the army on the Rajasthan border after the Parliament attack angered our nation. Something similar is possibly being planned now if we are to go by the statements made by the Modi government. It will have to calibrate how to do this because India does not want interference from the world in its dealings with Pakistan. However, when two nuclear powers are on the brink of war, the world will naturally want to interfere. For Kashmiris, this event will worsen their lives. Already under central rule, they will see their civil liberties further curtailed as the government toughens its position.
Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited, has expressed its readiness to assume full responsibility of the education and subsequent employment of the children of the 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans who were killed in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.

Reliance Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Reliance Industries Limited, has expressed its readiness to assume full responsibility for the education and subsequent employment of the children of the 40 Central Reserve Police Force jawans who were killed in the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.

The foundation has also offered to provide livelihoods to the families of the slain jawans.

Reliance Foundation reaches out to families of Pulwama CRPF Martyrs #MediaRelease pic.twitter.com/nBttJmf6Iy  Flame of Truth (@flameoftruth) February 16, 2019

The jawans were killed after a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kilograms of explosives into their bus on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora. The convoy consisted of 78 buses in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

"If necessary, our hospital is ready to provide the best possible treatment to the injured jawans. We shall also deem it to be our duty to shoulder any other responsibility the government may place upon us in service to our beloved Armed Forces," a statement issued by the organisation said.

The standard amount of ex-gratia given to the families of men and women in the forces who lose their lives in Jammu and Kashmir is between Rs 10 lakhs and Rs 15 lakhs. Several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan, have promised additional amounts to the families of those slain jawans who hailed from these respective states.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke on the same lines as he had in New Delhi on Friday, repeating that his government would not let the "sacrifice of the jawans" be in vain. "The martyrs' sacrifice will not be for nothing. The sin of terrorism cannot be hidden, the perpetrators will be punished," he said at Yavatmal in Maharashtra, a state where two jawans died.

An all-party meeting convened by home minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi took a similar stand and unanimously passed a resolution to stand with the security forces.

Follow LIVE updates of the aftermath of the Pulwama attack here

(Disclosure: Reliance Industries Ltd is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd)
A group of protesters on Saturday blocked the railway tracks at Nalasopara station in Palghar to protest against the terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, officials said.

Mumbai: A group of protesters on Saturday blocked the railway tracks at Nalasopara station in Palghar district of Maharashtra to protest against the terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, officials said.

The protesters got onto the tracks around 8.20 am and started raising slogans against Pakistan, the officials said, adding that train services on the route were affected due to the protest.

In a tweet, the Western Railway (WR) said, "Several protesters have blocked the tracks at Nallasopara due to which train movement has been affected at Nallasopara and beyond. GRP, RPF are making efforts to convince the people and evacuate the tracks and normalise the train movement."

#WATCH Mumbai: Police baton charge to disperse protesters at Nallasopara railway station, protesting against #PulwamaAttack. Some protesters were demonstrating at railway tracks of the station earlier today affecting services. Services now resumed at Virar, Nallasopara&Bhayandar pic.twitter.com/lKJ4kuKoX7  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Chief spokesperson of the Western Railway, Ravinder Bhakar, said the protest started at 8.20 am when people came on the railway tracks and stopped the movement of trains. "Trains are not operating between Nallasopara and Virar stations, while services between Vasai to Churchgate are normal. Forces have been called in to disperse the agitating crowd," he said.

Maharashtra: Protesters stage demonstration on the railway tracks at Nallasopara railway station in protest against #PulwamaAttack. Train movement affected at Nallasopara and beyond. pic.twitter.com/BzFLDzyi6z  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

The protesters shouted slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai'. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack and demanded action against the neighbouring country for sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terror groups, another official said. "The agitation is likely to affect the schedule of the long-distance trains as well," he added.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kilograms of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
Pulwama terror attack aftermath LIVE updates: One Indian Army major has been killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Nowshera district.

Auto refresh feeds

In the meeting, the Centre is expected brief the Opposition leaders about the action being taken to tackle the situations after the attack, sources said. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 am in the Parliament library.

The all-party meeting, called by the Centre following the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday, began on Saturday. Party leaders will deliberate upon the situations arising out of the Pulwama terror attack.

ANI quoted Ramesh Kumar, DC Jammu as saying, "the situation is under control but as a precautionary measure, we have continued with the curfew. We will decide whether to continue it or not by evening, after assessing the situation."

A curfew was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, and has not been lifted thus far as a precautionary measure.

Massive anger has erupted across the nation over the ghastly attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans. While many paid tributes to the slain jawans by holding candlelight vigils, many others staged demonstrations against Pakistan, with demands to take action against the neighbouring country for its "continuous support to terror groups."

Amid slogans of "Pakistan Murdabaad", the mortal remains of the CRPF personnel, who were killed in Thursday's suicide bombing, were brought to their respective native places on Saturday.

India on Friday also summoned Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood to his South Block office and issued a very strong demarche over the attack in which at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrived in the National Capital on Saturday for consultations with senior officials and leadership over the Pulwama terror attack, sources said.

The all-party meeting, convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, among others, reported News18.

Besides the rail roko, shops and commercial establishments in Virar also downed their shutters on Saturday morning, the report said. A few Vasai civic buses were forced to halt at Virar, as part of the protests.

Rail traffic between Virar, Vasai and Nalasopara was affected on Saturday morning, as commuters staged a rail roko to protest the Pulwama terror attack, Hindustan Times reported. Stone pelting at trains was also reported at Nalasopara.

Meanwhile, Union minister Babul Supriyo has arrived at Kolkata airport to receive the bodies of two CRPF jawans from West Bengal who were killed in the attack.

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will reportedly hold a candlelight march in Kolkata at 4 pm on Saturday. A few ministers are also expected to join to the march, reports have said.

ANI quoted police sorces as saying that further details can only be given once the forensic and NIA teams complete their investigation.

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday morning arrived at the site of the Pulwama attack for further investigation. According to CNN News18, the Jammu and Kashmir police has detained overground Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) workers, which sources told the news channel are "routine".

We have differences with the government on a number of issues but at this juncture - we are standing with the government for ending terrorism. Militancy has to end," he said.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, speaking to reporters after Saturday's all-party meeting, said: We had asked the Home Minister to convey to the Prime Minister that he should call a meeting of presidents of all parties. We have communicated to the government what Rahul Gandhi said in his press conference, that the country is in mourning and is angry. Since 1947, apart from a war, this is for the first time a terror attack has claimed so many lives.

The resolution stated, "We strongly condemn the dastardly terror act of 14 February, 2019 at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it across the border."

According to the news channel, Ibrahim was also one of the hijackers in the IC-814 incident.

In addition, it was reported that the attack was planned to avenge the deaths of two of Azhar's nephews.

CNN News18 reported that Thursday's suicide bombing in Pulwama was planned by Ibrahim, the younger brother of Masood Azhar, the founder and leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist group. Two other men were also the co-conspirators behind the attack, and the Jammu and Kashmir police have launched a massive operation to nab the three men, the news channel reported.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu and tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation and condolences," He wrote.

Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah took to Twitter on Saturday to express his displeasure with the resolution that was unanimously passed in the all-party meet in Delhi.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack, for which Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility.

Pakistan will not make any "emotional decisions" following India's announcement about the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to the country and will respond to it after due deliberation, PTI reported.

After official wreath-laying ceremony, the mortal remains of the slain CRPF soldiers were on Saturday brought back to their hometowns in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a rally in Maharashtra on Saturday, reiterated that the "sacrifice" of the security forces would "not go in vain". After the official wreath-laying ceremony, the mortal remains of the slain CRPF soldiers were on Saturday brought back to their hometowns in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

RAW chief AK Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA Ajit Doval on Saturday afternoon arrived at Home Minister Rajnath Singh's residence for a high-level meeting to discuss the next course of action of the Pulwama attack.

Sources told CNN News18 that it was unclear whether the IED blast was perpetuated from across the border.

One Indian Army major has been killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

"The entire nation is grieving the loss of the brave CRPF Jawans. In their saddest hour, we stand by the bereaved families. Expressing our deepest sympathies, we extend ex gratia of Rs. 5 Lac each, to the families of the martyrs," ANI quoted him as saying.

N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the CRPF jawans from Andhra Pradesh who lost their lives in the attack.

Several political leaders have taken to Twitter to demand that the cricketer-turned-politician be sacked from the Punjab Cabinet as well. #SackSidhuFromPunjabCabinet became the top trend on Twitter shortly after.

After the Twitterati began demanding that Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu be sacked from The Kapil Sharma Show over his remarks on Pakistan's role in the Pulwama attack, political leaders joined the conversation.

Mortal remains of Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur, hailing from Masaurhi in rural Patna and Bhagalpur respectively, besides Vijay Soreng who belonged to Gumla in Jharkhand, were brought here in a special aircraft.

"It was an unprecedented incident. Response is inevitable. Its nature and severity have to be decided. But the prevailing mood in the nation calls for stern action," the chief minister said.

Kumar was replying to questions from journalists at the airport in Patna where three slain CRPF personnel  two from the state and another from neighbouring Jharkhand  were given the ceremonial guard of honour.

The Pulwama terror attack was unprecedented and the prevailing mood in the country calls for stern action, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday.

Malik allegedly shared some images posted by a news channel after the attack and captioned it 'The real surgical attack' on his Facebook page, police said.

Following a complaint by Vishwa Hindu Parishad office bearer Girish Bharadwaj, a case was registered on Friday against Abid Malik under relevant sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, for a post he wrote on Facebook.

A Kashmiri youth was booked in Bengaluru on Saturday for allegedly posting derogatory remarks on a social networking site in the wake of the Pulwama terror assault that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, police said.

"We offer to treat the CRPF troopers injured in the terror attack till recovery and rehabilitation at any of our hospitals across the country," said Apollo Hospitals Chairman Prathap Reddy in a statement.

Delhi's Apollo Hospital on Saturday offered to treat free injured troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who survived the terror blast near Awantipora in Kashmir.

Bihar: Visuals from Ratanpur, Bhagalpur as mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur are being brought to his home. His father (Pic 4) had said after the #PulwamaAttack , "I will send my other son as well to fight. But Pakistan must be given a befitting reply" pic.twitter.com/3d7gy9xGaw

His father had said after the Pulwama attack, "I will send my other son as well to fight. But Pakistan must be given a befitting reply"

Large crowds thronged Bihar's Ratanpur and Bhagalpur as the mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur were brought back to his home.

J&K #Police has established a #helpline for the #assistance of #Students / #generalpublic who are presently staying outside J&K in case they find any difficulty. You can call us for any kind of assistance on 0194-2451515. @JmuKmrPolice

The Jammu and Kashmir police has set up a helpline to assist students and other residents of the state "facing any difficulty."

Sources told CNN News18 that it was unclear whether the IED blast was perpetuated from across the border.

One Indian Army major has been killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near the Line of Control (LoC) in Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district.

The Major-rank army officer was killed while defusing the IED, which had been planted by terrorists, ANI reported. The officer is from the Corps of Engineers. The IED was planted 1.5 kilometres inside the LoC.

Pulwama terror attack aftermath LATEST updates: One Indian Army major has been killed in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Nowshera district.

Delhi's Apollo Hospital on Saturday offered to treat free injured troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) who survived the terror blast near Awantipora in Kashmir.

"We offer to treat the CRPF troopers injured in the terror attack till recovery and rehabilitation at any of our hospitals across the country," said Apollo Hospitals Chairman Prathap Reddy in a statement.

A Kashmiri youth was booked in Bengaluru on Saturday for allegedly posting derogatory remarks on a social networking site in the wake of the Pulwama terror assault that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, police said.

Following a complaint by Vishwa Hindu Parishad office bearer Girish Bharadwaj, a case was registered on Friday against Abid Malik under relevant sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, 1967, for a post he wrote on Facebook.

The Pulwama terror attack was unprecedented and the prevailing mood in the country calls for stern action, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday. Kumar was replying to questions from journalists at the airport here where three slain CRPF personnel  two from the state and another from neighbouring Jharkhand  were given the ceremonial guard of honour. "It was an unprecedented incident. Response is inevitable. Its nature and severity have to be decided. But the prevailing mood in the nation calls for stern action," the chief minister said. Mortal remains of Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur, hailing from Masaurhi in rural Patna and Bhagalpur respectively, besides Vijay Soreng who belonged to Gumla in Jharkhand, were brought here in a special aircraft.

After the Twitterati began demanding that Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu be sacked from The Kapil Sharma Show over his remarks on Pakistan's role in the Pulwama attack, political leaders joined the conversation.

Several political leaders have taken to Twitter to demand that the cricketer-turned-politician be sacked from the Punjab cabinet as well. #SackSidhuFromPunjabCabinet became the top trend on Twitter shortly after. Punjab BJP leader Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga led the charge against Sidhu.

After official wreath-laying ceremony, the mortal remains of the slain CRPF soldiers were on Saturday brought back to their hometowns in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.

N Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the CRPF jawans from Andhra Pradesh who lost their lives in the attack.

"The entire nation is grieving the loss of the brave CRPF Jawans. In their saddest hour, we stand by the bereaved families. Expressing our deepest sympathies, we extend ex gratia of Rs. 5 Lac each, to the families of the martyrs," ANI quoted him as saying.

CNN News18 reported that Thursday's suicide bombing in Pulwama was planned by Ibrahim, the younger brother of Masood Azhar, the founder and leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist group. Two other men were also the co-conspirators behind the attack, and the Jammu and Kashmir police have launched a massive operation to nab the three men, the news channel reported.

In addition, it was reported that the attack was planned to avenge the deaths of two of Azhar's nephews.

According to the news channel, Ibrahim was also one of the hijackers in the IC-814 incident.

The all-party meeting on Saturday passed a unanimous resolution condemning the Pulwama attacks, News18 reported. The resolution stated, "We strongly condemn the dastardly terror act of 14 February, 2019 at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir. We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it across the border."

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, speaking to reporters after Saturday's all-party meeting, said: We had asked the Home Minister to convey to the Prime Minister that he should call a meeting of presidents of all parties. We have communicated to the government what Rahul Gandhi said in his press conference, that the country is in mourning and is angry. Since 1947, apart from a war, this is for the first time a terror attack has claimed so many lives.

We have differences with the government on a number of issues but at this juncture - we are standing with the government for ending terrorism. Militancy has to end," he said.

A team of National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday morning arrived at the site of the Pulwama attack for further investigation. According to CNN News18, the Jammu and Kashmir police has detained overground Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) workers, which sources told the news channel are "routine".

The exact number of detentions was unclear.

The Centre has called an all-party meeting on Saturday to deliberate upon the situations arising out of the Pulwama terror attack, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday.

In the meeting, the Narendra Modi-led government will brief the Opposition leaders about the action being taken to tackle the situations after the attack, sources said. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 am in the Parliament library. Modi will chair the meeting.

Amid slogans of "Pakistan Murdabaad", mortal remains of slain Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel draped in the Indian flag were brought to their respective native places on Saturday. Teary-eyed locals of Tofapur village in Varanasi received the mortal remains of CRPF jawan RameshYadav.



The mortal remains of CRPF jawan Rohitash Lamba were brought to his native place in Govindpura, Jaipur.



The daughter of deceased CRPF ASI Mohan Lal paid last tributes to her father.



Massive anger has erupted across the nation over the ghastly attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans. While people paid tributes to the martyrs by holding candlelight vigils, demonstrations were held at many places against Pakistan with demands being put forth to take action against the neighbouring country for its "continuous support to terror groups."

On Friday, agitators in Ahmedabad thrashed posters of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar during a protest against the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama.

Condemning the suicidal attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday warned Pakistan by saying, "The forces behind this act of terrorism and those responsible for it, will be definitely be punished."

The Narendra Modi government has called an all-party meeting on Saturday to hold consultations with the opposition parties in the wake of Pulwama terror attack. Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, other political leaders and Chiefs of Indian security forces paid their tributes to all 40 brave hearts at the Palam Airport on Friday.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, over 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed a vehicle carrying over 100-kilograms of explosives into their bus on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora. The convoy consisted of 78 buses in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

JeM, a terror outfit based in Pakistan and led by Masood Azhar, has carried out several terror attacks in India including the attack on Pathankot airbase in 2016. Masood was released by the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in exchange for hostages on board flight IC-814 in December 1999. India has approached the United Nations to list Masood as a global terrorist, but China always vetoes New Delhis bid in this regard.

On Friday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi extended support to the Centre and said that the terror attack was an assault on India's soul. He also said that the Congress, as well as the entire Opposition, was fully supportive of the government and the security forces.

No amount of hatred or anger can do anything to the love and affection that India is built on, Rahul said at a press conference. There is going to be no other discussion from the Congress party over the next couple of days other than the fact that "our most beloved people have been killed, their families need us, and we are going to stand with them," he asserted.
Indias objectives are to mollify public anger, send a message to Pakistan that its depredations will no longer be tolerated), and finally, tell the world that India is a strong confident power capable of protecting its people

If theres anything that can be learned from media debates by "experts" in the past 24 hours is that no one has a clue on how India should react to the Pulwama terror attack. Emotion has given way to logic, as commentators looking to remake themselves as media personalities wondered why India is not attacking immediately across the Line of Control (LoC), across the International Border, or indeed attacking anything anywhere. However, in the middle of this confused response is genuine anger, and some bewilderment from the public as to why India has not got a ready response to such attacks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left it to the military to decide its options, even while promising that Pakistan will pay, and pay hard. That is as it should be. The prime minister gives the direction and the military has to decide how to carry it out. What is not said explicitly is that all such options will be seen through the prism of Indias objectives.

From first to last therefore, Indias objectives are to mollify public anger (the internal aspect), send a message to Pakistan that its depredations will no longer be tolerated (bilateral aspect), and finally, tell the world that India is a strong confident power capable of protecting its own people (the external aspect).

Within all these is one main caveat. Any action cannot endanger Indias future growth and status as an investment destination. Investors shy away from war and the costs it imposes. Nor do they like craven governments. In sum, the Indian growth story has to be sustained, and its fighting spirit projected. Its a very very delicate balance indeed.

So here is a dose of realism as to what options India can consider within the parameters of what is possible and what is desirable. First off, a repeat of the surgical strike could be conducted with a slightly notched up strike force. That means either going in further into Pakistani territory with its attendant risks, or moving laterally across more points along the LoC. Both are entirely possible, but is unlikely to address any of the objectives above, least of all a seething public baying for blood.

A second option is a full on air strike against 'militant camps' in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This is feasible since it is essentially a strike into your own territory, not legally part of Pakistan. A public announcement after the event that the strike was a one-off, and that India has no intention of escalating further would be necessary to prevent Pakistan from using this to its advantage. Such a strike has the advantage of, for the first time, putting PoK on notice that anyone sheltering terrorist will incur a heavy cost.

It could also pitch already hostile locals further against terrorists, and make it that much more difficult for Pakistan to operate its jihadi machinery from the vital jump-off points located in the area. The disadvantages here are two. First, is that Pakistan will most certainly portray camps that are hit as civilian institutions ( like schools) . Second, there is a very real risk of collateral damage. Most of the larger terrorist camps  which include transit facilities, offices and other units  are placed very deliberately close to civilian habitation. The timing here is crucial, as also real time imagery to prove terrorist presence using drones.

A third option is all out war, with hazy objectives. It could however be conjoined with the above, in terms of retaking PoK. Pakistan will naturally not oblige in keeping this as a operation limited to the LoC. Escalation is therefore inevitable. On the face of it however, such an operation is military within the bounds of possibility. The larger problem is the costs of holding on to the territory. This is likely to be sticky, apart from which it could be hugely expensive. India could portray this as a reunification of Kashmir and ensure good governance and development delivery to clamp down on dissidence. That is like asking for a slice of the moon.

The third option is the most feasible. A covert war directed against significant terrorist leaders, particularly the Jaish head Masood Azhar, would deliver most of the desired objectives with one caveat: such an operation takes months to prepare. The public, in an election year, wants revenge now, not down the line. A compressed timeline for an operation is possible, but far more risky.

The last option is one that seems to be in operation. That is, to threaten war even while using diplomatic muscle to isolate Pakistan. The word isolate in this case would mean that the international community should not provide Pakistan economic or military aid until it eliminates terrorist sanctuaries. To give this teeth, it also requires a quietly articulated position that India will give preference to those not engaging with Pakistan when it buys weapons, civilian aircraft or nuclear reactors.

That is a huge clout, given the extent of the projected defence buys. It loses its glamour however when the inevitable delays due to scams are factored in. This option requires an all of government approach, complicated signalling which could even include a governmental exercise on debating whether or not to designate Pakistan a terrorist State and will put on notice countries such as the US, Russia and even Japan. Selectively leaked, this option could deliver on all objectives.

However, these very paraphrased options come up against one very real fact: Indias armed forces have been denied funds for years, and are barely hanging on. Poor defence management, vested interests, and a poor record of reform adds to this. Theyre still in better shape than their counterparts in Pakistan, but thats not saying much. The sum of the story is that political messaging also requires military clout to an extent where the adversary hesitates to take a retrograde step for fear of severe reprisal. Therefore, it may also be true that winning in the political space  whether in elections or otherwise  requires a strong and confident military capable of drawing up its own plans and strategies and using available resources to the best benefit. Altogether quite a large order for an ossified military and civilian bureaucracy accustomed to shifting decision making. Therefore the final lesson: pull up or put up.
While the Pakistan foreign office did officially condemn the attack, their intention was to send a message to the world saying India blames Pakistan for its own flawed policies in Jammu and Kashmir

Islamabad: Pakistans reaction to the recent Pulwama attack that killed 42 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldiers has been defensive, as its foreign office urged New Delhi not to point fingers at Islamabad without investigations, while calling the militant attack a matter of grave concern.

While the foreign office did officially condemn the attack, their intention was to send a message to the world saying India blames Pakistan for its own flawed policies in Jammu and Kashmir. Their official statement did not mention the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM)  who claimed responsibility the attack  whose leadership is not only rooted in Pakistan, but which also allegedly has ties to the militarys intelligence.

The narrative Islamabad is looking to peddle has been evident across local media, with the attack being dubbed a brave act in the struggle for freedom and the perpetrator being glorified as a "freedom fighter". This narrative has been reinforced by the all-powerful military, which has completely taken over the medias strings under the current regime, by squeezing media houses financially.

An editor working with a leading English daily, speaking on the condition of anonymity, revealed how the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) is micromanaging editorial policies. A prominent example of the militarys control over many media houses is the absolute blackout of the Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement, and complete censoring of dissent in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, including the Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Indian Kashmir has to be clearly written as Indian-occupied Kashmir  not even Indian-held or Indian-administered. The attack in Kashmir cant be called a terrorist attack. Meanwhile, we have also been instructed that any Pakistani security official killed anywhere is to be called a martyr, she explained.

Even so, while the military maintains a firm grip on the media, the stance showcased by Islamabad in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack has popular support across Pakistan. The attacks launched by Kashmiri militants were wholeheartedly welcomed by the general public, a sample of which can be seen in the reactions across social media:

Kal bhe marete aur aj bhe hum marenegy jo karsakty ho karlo . Go India Go . Kashmiri banega Pakistan . Shuhadai Kashmir gashi Muhammad zindabad pakistan paendabad . pic.twitter.com/s72Y2Z0MkT  Sajjad Ali (@SajjadA13361081) February 16, 2019

Kashmir Bane ga Pakistan  india tu aise roye ga tarape ga maray ga Kashmir ka Har Bacha Jeshe Mohammad Banega InshAllah https://t.co/NDStBDmfMb  LiyaKarachiKings (@Liyaempire) February 16, 2019

Kashmir ki azadi tak India ki barbadi tak ye Jung jari rahi gi

India Kai tokre ho Kar rahe gai

Kashmir bane ga Pakistan  arshad tanoli (@arshadtanoli1) February 16, 2019

This opinion has been reinforced across by Islamist parties that endorse jihad in Kashmir. As recent as last year, after the Pakistani government issued a fatwa (decree) against terrorism entitled Paigham-e-Pakistan, Islamist parties united in urging the State to announce jihad in Kashmir.

These Islamist groups and the rallies they orchestrate to promote jihad in Kashmir often see the participation of members from proscribed groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed. While Islamabad has issued a firm denial to Indias allegations, there are concerns among officials about the global reaction to Pakistan, particularly at a time when the State is accused of harbouring terrorists.

Previously supported by China  which has vetoed Indias move to declare JeM chief Masood Azhar a terrorist at the United Nations  Islamabad is concerned about Beijing backing out in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack. This is especially true given the attack comes days before Islamabad is to explain the functioning of Hafiz Saeed-led groups in the country at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting in Paris.

China backed out of supporting us at the FATF last year, after the US initiated the process to grey-list us, saying that there is little point in backing us since we were bound to be put on the watchlist. And given the allegations from countries around the globe, China might back out from its veto on Masood as well, said a government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, who was a part of the Pakistani delegation at the FATF.

Where many express concern about the reaction of global powers, others point to the electoral benefits for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in India. Shamshad Ahmed, former foreign secretary of Pakistan, said, With the general elections in India coming up in a few months, obviously the Narendra Modi regime will look to use the attack to help facilitate its election bid. This is the regime that falsely claimed it carried out surgical strikes in Pakistan, so its obvious that they will increase the anti-Pakistan rhetoric.

Analysts in Pakistan largely place the blame on Indian policies in Kashmir, maintaining that their use of violence is enhancing militancy in the Valley. Sure, this attack bears all the hallmarks of a typical jihadi hit, but the Modi administration is guilty of employing a very oppressive militant State policy on indigenous Kashmiris throughout its tenure, said leading geopolitical analyst and Pakistan Todays opinion editor Shahab Jafry, referring to the governments widely-debated use of force, including pellet guns, against civilians.

As for [Pakistans] jihadi policy, whatever its current position is, or whether or not there is a partial or complete rollback; these measures will be incorporated away from the public eye. Friends like China have been pushing for a change for a while, but in this particular instance the Indians have also hurt their own position somewhat, he added.

Analysts also maintain that given the verbal hostility expressed by India, should a military option be exercised by New Delhi in any way, Islamabad will be willing to reciprocate. Exercising the military option would mean entering into a zone which is filled with escalation trigger. If there was a military response from India such as surgical strikes, Pakistan should be expected to retaliate, said Umair Jamal, a professor of International Relations at Lahores FC College & University and a correspondent for The Diplomat.

The author is an-Islamabad based reporter and a member of 101Reporters
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans from the state who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

Bhubaneswar: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for the kin of the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans from the state who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The chief minister also urged all the educational institutions in the state to observe two minutes silence on Saturday at 11 am.

The two soldiers from the state who were killed in the terror attack were identified as Manoj Kumar Behra and PK Sahoo.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a bus carrying them on Thursday. The bus was extensively damaged in the blast.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

Soon after the attack, Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which is based in Pakistan and backed by Islamabad, claimed the responsibility for the attack, saying the attack was carried out by its suicide bomber.
Kurtz added that she had heard about the shooting at work before the gunman was identified, and was surprised to return home in the evening to see caution tape lining the perimeter of her building and a helicopter hovering overhead. She was able to enter her unit and said a law enforcement officer in a camouflage uniform knocked on her door and told her she was safe, but she should be prepared to evacuate soon.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday reiterated the Centre's tough stand against terrorism after the attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama claimed lives of at least 40 personnel and left several injured.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke on the same lines as he had in New Delhi on Friday, repeating that his government would take a tough stand against terrorism after the attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama claimed the lives of at least 40 personnel. The prime minister, who was addressing the crowds after launching development projects in Maharashtra's Yavatmal, said indirectly that Pakistan had become "synonymous" with terror.

While Modi spoke, an all-party meeting called by his government, to deliberate the course of action in the Pulwama attack's aftermath, was underway in New Delhi. Modi, asserting that he had already issued a warning against the perpetrators of the attack and terror, said, "(The) terror organisations who have committed this crime, no matter how much they try to hide, will be punished. Security forces have been given full freedom."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Yavatmal, Maharashtra: Terror organisations who have committed this crime, no matter how much they try to hide, they will be punished. Security forces have been given full freedom. #PulwamaAttack pic.twitter.com/ULPOSUH3w2  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

Making a reference to the two CRPF personnel from Maharashtra who lost their lives in the attack, Modi stated that the "sacrifices" of the deceased "would not go in vain". He said, "I know we are all in immense pain, I understand your anger."

"A nation that came into existence after the Partition of India, which gives a free reign to terror and is on the verge of bankruptcy, has become synonymous with terrorism," Modi said, urging the public to be patient and "trust the security forces of the country".

"The soldiers will decide how, when, and where the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack are punished," he added.

Modi is also scheduled to visit Dhule district in the state, to launch more projects, according to reports. The prime minister is likely to inaugurate several transport projects and benefits under the housing and education schemes of the government.

With inputs from agencies

Follow LIVE updates on the aftermath of the Pulwama attack here
The MEA has responded to Pakistan's rejection of allegations of its involvement in the terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which caused the death of at least 40 personnel and left several injured.

The terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, which caused the death of at least 40 personnel and left several injured, has elicited a strong response from the Centre which has promised that the perpetrators of the attack "will pay the full price" for their actions.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad took responsibility for the attack soon after the incident on Thursday, as a video recorded by the suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar surfaced. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the sacrifice of the jawans "would not go in vain" and that the "neighbouring country" should remember that this is a "new India".

The MEA on Thursday urged Pakistan to tackle the terror networks being given "freedom" to function in the country. "We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," the statement said.

However, on Friday, the Pakistan Foreign Secretary rejected the allegations and said that it would not accept accusations without "due investigation". India has slammed its neighbour for stating that it had no role in the attack, saying that Islamabad could not claim that it was unaware of the presence of terror groups on its soil as the links of such outfits to the country were "there for everyone to see."

Here is the full text of the statement by the Ministry of External Affairs:

February 15, 2019

On Pakistan Foreign Secretary's briefing rejecting Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack and Pakistan following a constructive approach, the Official Spokesperson said,

"JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack. The organization and its leadership are located in Pakistan. LeT and other terror groups have welcomed the news of the attack. These groups are also based in Pakistan. Pakistan cannot claim that it is unaware of their presence and their activities. They have not taken any action against these groups despite international demands, especially against groups and individuals proscribed by the UN and other countries. The links to Pakistan are clear and evident for all to see. Its own Ministers have shared the same podium with UN proscribed terrorists.

Furthermore, the demand for an investigation is preposterous when there is a video of the suicide bomber declaring himself a member of the JeM. There are also other audio-visual and print material linking JeM to the terrorist attack. We have therefore no doubt that the claim is firmly established.

We have not seen any constructive approach from Pakistan on relations with India. What we have noticed, however, are claims to offer dialogue on the one hand, while sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terrorist organizations such as JeM on the other. We demand Pakistan take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control to create a conducive atmosphere in the region free of terror."

The full text has been taken from the official website of the Ministry of External Affairs. It has not been edited for content or style by Firstpost staff.
The suggestion that we isolate defence and security issues from the rough and tumble of politics illustrates the complete disconnect between the establishment and the defence needs of a mature democracy

There will, most certainly, be collateral damage in the political war raging over Rafalebiggest casualty will be the Indian Air Force, its resources already depleted to near-breaking point. The IAF proposal to buy MiG-29s from Russia, made from incomplete hulks fabricated in the 1980s, reflects the seriousness of its capability erosion. This is music to the ears of Indias adversaries.

Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa has voiced a warriors anguish when he argues that while he will optimally exploit what he has, he doesnt have enough to concurrently secure the nations frontiers, protect its interests and expand its influence in pursuit of its objective of emerging as a power of consequence.

The Rafale fallout has led some to argue that defence and security issues should be separated from politics. This argument in fact stands the problem on its head. We must stop politicising national security issues but, more than ever, we need a political establishment that understands war and the elements of the instruments of force.

Politics of national security

The suggestion that we isolate defence and security issues from the rough and tumble of politicsmade recently, among others, by former defence secretary G Mohan Kumarillustrates the complete disconnect between the establishment and the defence needs of a mature democracy. The argument is a well-known one: these are, proponents say not matters to be discussed openly in the streets or subjected to the glare and searing heat of media debates.

But defence and security decision-making structures can only evolve from an informed and decisive political direction that comes from the presence of a bipartisan constituency of politicians who take the lead in creating and running a strong strategic and security establishment.

Their mandate must also include sensitising citizens by engaging in meaningful debates in Parliament. These discussions must also be informed by public debate, conducted through media and academia.

Embedded within this political structure must also be adequate checks and balances through oversight committees and ombudspersons to prevent corruption, brinkmanship and centralised decision-making.

Put simply, Indias defence is too serious a business to be left to bureaucrats. It cannot be conducted without a political system capable of guiding its course.

A multi-domain structure

When was the last time we heard a serious debate in Parliament on the challenges that China poses or on the resolution of the impasse between India and Pakistan on the Line of Control? Or, on what ails our defence manufacturing and innovation industry or reverse engineering capability?

As global interest in Indias security challenges grow, ideas on streamlining and restructuring organs of national security should be discussed seriously. However, introspection by leading political parties, looking at matters of security as a national mission, and not point-scoring, has been conspicuous by its absence.

On paper, there are already structures in place to enable multi-domain discussions, involving practitioners, technocrats, academics and information specialistsfor example, the National Security Council, its associated secretariat and the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB).

However, they operate suboptimally because of the reluctance of a powerful bureaucracy and a comfortably cocooned military to open the management and direction of defense and securityto make it inclusive and knowledge-centric rather than power-centric and obsessively secretive.

Body blow to synergy

For these reasons, I find arguments for delinking defence and security from politics as regressive and unmindful of the complicated geopolitical and security environment we live in. The current system enables the creation of fiefs designed for pursuit of power rather than synergy and interoperability.

These fiefs will come in the way of efforts to improve integration within the defence ministry and the three services -- army, navy, and air force. They will also stall progress in creating synergies between intelligence agencies and the structures associated with external and internal security.

Parliament and defence

My prognosis involves clearing the cobwebs that have ensnared acquisition of platforms and weapon systems, the creation of a vibrant indigenous defence manufacturing ecosystem, restructuring of higher defence organisation and improving coordination between various stakeholders of national security.

It is my belief that the next step that India needs to take to punch its weight in the international arenaafter alleviating poverty and raising its Human Development Indexis to usher in a bipartisan political approach to national security that embraces intellectual capital and conveys intent and consistency.

Once that happens, India will be on track to emerge as a leading power and not merely a power with promise and potential.

That Rafale has become a tool for political skulduggery reflects the lack of substance within the current political debate ahead of the general election. But, it also underlines the need for a bipartisan approach on defence and security matters.

The author is a retired air vice-marshal, a military historian and a strategic commentator
As imperial Britains cantonments swelled with men raised from across the country, with artillery, with Baker and Brunsfield rifles, they swelled, too, with an army of prostitutes

"The high-noon of the sepoy army, one military historian called it. Those decades of the late-18th and early-19th centuries when the East India Company swept aside the Marathas, Mysore, northern Indias princes, the Gurkhas and the Sikhs. Ambala, Delhi, Kanpur, Meerut, Rawalpindi, Sialkot  imperial Britains cantonments swelled with men raised from across the country, with artillery, with Baker and Brunsfield rifles. And they swelled, too, with an army of prostitutes. The Queens Daughters, historian Ratnabali Chatterjee calls them, housed and medically treated at the governments expense.

Indian mores were considerably more relaxed than those of sexually-repressed Victorian England. Heterosexual and homosexual relations were open. Concubines were common. The army, perhaps the most regimented of institutions, saw the consequences for its teenage recruits, and responded as only armies could.

The Lal Bazaars

In 1850s, there were 75 military districts and in each of these, prostitution was supervised by authorities. The doctors of the Indian Medical Service were responsible for regulating the brothels. All prostitutes had to be registered; none under the age of 15 could be enrolled. The women were provided with living quarters that were regularly inspected. A brothel in Lucknow had 55 rooms.

Young British soldiers, largely volunteers from impoverished sections of England and Ireland, made up the bulk of the demand for Indian prostitutes. In spite of their prudish Christian ideological leanings, officials conceded access to sex had a bearing on the health and vigour of the soldiers. The awareness became more acute after the 1857 revolt, as a strong British army came to be regarded as the precondition for a stable empire, Chatterjee says.

Women with sexually transmitted diseases were removed till they recovered. The concern for the health of soldiers was a military decision to keep the fighting machine fit to protect colonies. In 1864, the Contagious Diseases Act was passed in Britain; it also applied to other parts of the empire. The Act was also translated into different regional languages. A guide book for prostitutes in Bengali shows the women were instructed to fill out forms; brothel keepers and pimps were brought in as subsidiaries to police this system of prostitution.

Both Indian and European soldiers used these bazaars, but Indian sepoys were discouraged from visiting prostitutes preferred by European soldiers. British soldiers visited prostitutes more often than sepoys. British soldiers were not married, while sepoys were usually married men.

These bazaars were called Lal Bazaars, or the red markets, perhaps a local word for red-light areas. British regiments spent several years in India and many a times children were born of such relationships.

Going Native

In the 18th and early 19th century, officers married among the local elite. Most Company employees, both civil and military, joined the service at 16. Several factors such as a young age, prolonged stay in India with limited home leave, posting to a far-off station with little contact with Europeans led to complete nativisation of some Englishmen.

In late 17th and 18th century, many Europeans had concubines and also married local women. They were kept in a separate house named Bibi Ghar. Some Englishmen retained their religion while others converted to Hinduism or Islam and went native. Some children of such unions straddled the two worlds comfortably while others drifted to one side.

Historian William Dalrymple has documented these ties extensively in his book White Mughals. The British Resident, or ambassador, in Delhi Sir David Ochterlony lived like a nawab. He had 13 Indian consorts, the most famous being Mubarak Begum.

Major General Charles Stuart became, for all practical purposes, a Hindu. Nicknamed Hindu Stuart and General Pandit, Stuart was buried in a Christian cemetery in Calcutta but with his Hindu gods.

Cultural differences sometime plagued such ties. Hercules Skinner, a soldier of fortune, married a Hindu Rajput lady and several children were born to them. The wife, however, committed suicide when Skinner tried to bring their daughters out of purdah to be educated and married to Englishmen.

Their son, James Skinner, raised the famous irregular cavalry regiment Skinners Horse, precursor to Indias senior-most cavalry regiment, the Ist Lancers. James had 14 Hindu and Muslim wives and consorts. He lived like a Muslim but later in life regularly read the Bible and was buried in St. James Church in Delhi.

End of the affair

Evangelical Christian activity and the flow of European ladies to India severely restricted such encounters. By the middle of 19th century, such relationships had all but disappeared.

The British were apprehensive about Indians interacting with English women. This unease was at play during World War I as well. Indian soldiers came in contact with women when they fought on the Western front. Some Indians, especially Sikhs and Pathans, had sexual relations with local French women. There were marriages as well, alarming the British who didnt allow the soldiers to bring these women back to India.

Some deserter Pathans, mainly trans-frontier Afridis, married German women and a handful brought back their wives. The Khyber political agent files kept track of such people. There is a record of an Afridi staying back in Germany after the war and running a tobacco shop in a town.

Companys gender no bar policy

Homosexual relations werent uncommon  and were quietly accepted. Lovers of boys got themselves posted to the Piffers, or the Punjab Irregular Frontier Force, which guarded the North-West Frontier, or the scouts. Ethnic-Pashtun culture, like so many others around the world, was not judgmental about homo-erotic relationships, and for gay officers from England, this opened a world of sexual opportunity unavailable at home.

But officers posted to regiments with significant Pathan element or scouts faced unique headaches. There were times where a young recruit would put a bullet in the head of an old subedar to ward off unwanted advances.

Then there was a problem of discipline. A subedar might, for example, extend special favours to his young lad by keeping him at the headquarters and giving him easy duties instead of sending him to remote posts. At other times, two young sepoys would insist they be posted together for night patrol or to an outpost where they would be together for days.

Early on, it is often forgotten, race was not an ironclad barrier in the colonial army. Large bodies of troops, John Kaye wrote in his History of the Sepoy War in India, 1857-1858, were sometimes despatched on hazardous enterprises under the independent command of a native leader, and it was not thought an offence to a European soldier to send him to fight under a black commandant.

The black commandant was then a great man in spite of his colourA brave man or a skilful leader, Kaye concluded, was honoured for his bravery or skill as much under the folds of a turban or a round hat.

But the nature of these sexual relationship changed with the status of British in India  from traders and soldiers for hire to rulers.

Hamid Husain is a chronicler of the British Indian Army
The Centre has called an all-party meeting on Saturday to deliberate upon the situations arising out of the Pulwama terror attack, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday.

New Delhi: The Centre has called an all-party meeting on Saturday to deliberate upon the situations arising out of the Pulwama terror attack, said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday.

In the meeting, the Narendra Modi-led government will brief the Opposition leaders about the action being taken to tackle the situations after the attack, sources said. The meeting is scheduled to take place at 11 am in the Parliament library. Modi will chair the meeting.

India on Friday also announced the withdrawal of most favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. New Delhi had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but Pakistan never reciprocated.

The Central government has also stepped up diplomatic efforts to mount pressure on the Government of Pakistan to take action against those who are indulged in exporting terror to India. For long, India has sought the help of the global community in fighting against Pak-sponsored terrorism.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed a vehicle carrying over 100-kilograms of explosives into their bus on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora. The convoy consisted of 78 buses in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

JeM, a terror outfit based in Pakistan and led by Masood Azhar, has carried out several terror attacks in India including the attack on Pathankot airbase in 2016. Masood was released by the government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in exchange for hostages on board flight IC-814 in December 1999. India has approached the United Nations to list Masood as a global terrorist, but China always vetoes New Delhis bid in this regard.

On Friday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi extended support to the Centre and said that the terror attack was an assault on India's soul. He also said that the Congress, as well as the entire Opposition, was fully supportive of the government and the security forces.

No amount of hatred or anger can do anything to the love and affection that India is built on, Rahul said at a press conference. There is going to be no other discussion from the Congress party over the next couple of days other than the fact that "our most beloved people have been killed, their families need us, and we are going to stand with them," he asserted.
The members of Gujjar community called off their agitation on Saturday after getting a written assurance from the Rajasthan government that it will stand by them if the bill giving five percent reservation to the community faces legal hurdles.

Jaipur: The members of Gujjar community called off their agitation on Saturday after getting a written assurance from the Rajasthan government that it will stand by them if the bill giving five percent reservation to the community faces legal hurdles.

The agitation lasted for eight days as Gujjars and four other communities blocked railways tracks and highways in Rajasthan to demand five percent quota in jobs and educational institutions.

"We are thankful to the chief minister for looking into the concerns of the community. We have received a written assurance from the government that it stand by the community if the bill passed by it faces legal hurdles," Vijay Bainsla, the son of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla told PTI.

Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla: The agitation concludes today in the interest of the nation. I request that all the blockades across Rajasthan be removed immediately. pic.twitter.com/X1JGpGHzxc  ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

State Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh on Saturday met the representatives of the community to end the deadlock. He had met a Gujjar delegation on Friday as well but the talks remained inconclusive as they demanded a written assurance that necessary steps would be taken if their demands face legal hurdles.

Over a week-long dharna led by Kirori Bainsla on railway tracks and highways had inconvenienced travellers. As per a North Western Railway spokesperson, 64 trains were cancelled, 71 diverted and 32 partially cancelled in the last eight days. A West Central Railway spokesperson said 148 trains were cancelled, 143 diverted and 52 short terminated.

Bainsla and his supporters began their sit-in on the railway tracks in Malarna Dungar area of Sawai Madhopur district on 8 February, demanding five percent quota for Gujjar, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and Gadaria communities in jobs and education.

The Rajasthan Assembly on Wednesday had passed a bill giving five per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutes to the Gujjars and four other agitating communities.
After the BJP dropped the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the Opposition in the North East may have been deprived of the only issue it had.

The BJP on Wednesday dropped the Citizenship Amendment Bill, 2019, which had sparked protests in the North East. It would now be interesting to see how politics plays out in the region ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

After this move, the Opposition may have been deprived of the only issue it had to initiate a political narrative against the BJP.

Anyone who has observed politics in the region in the past few years knows that the BJP has made a long list of compromises with its ideology in order to assimilate itself with the region's unique political culture. It has sought to distance itself from the Hindutva agenda that it espouses in the Hindi heartland.

In 2016, BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sharma, responding to a question on the party's policy on cow slaughter, said, "The BJP is not going to decide on what meat the people of Assam should eat.

It is significant to note that in many states of the North East, beef is a staple food.

The BJP's policy on cow slaughter in the region remained soft even as cow vigilantism saw a mercurial rise in other parts of the country.

A significant bit of news which was lost in the cacophony of the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill was the BJPs compromise with the indigenous Muslims in Assam. The 2019-20 budget of the Assam government announced a separate development council for indigenous Muslims, with an allocation of Rs 100 crores.

This can be seen as another attempt by the BJP to fit into the Assamese sub-nationalist narrative, which is inclusive of all the indigenous ethnic groups and tribes.

Assamese Muslims share warm relations with local Hindus for historical reasons. In fact, many Hindus view Assamese Muslims as an integral part of regional pride. Like Ahom General Lachit Borphukan, Ismail Siddiqui (also known as Bagh Hazarika) is also a revered war hero in Assam. Siddiqui had played a crucial part in defending Assam from a Mughal invasion during the historic battle of Saraighat in the 17th century.

Given the recent moves by the BJP, it is no wonder that the Opposition does not have enough ammunition for a powerful narrative against the saffron party.

While the Congress has derived political mileage by siding with various groups struggling against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, the BJP is likely to play up its decision to drop the proposed legislation.

The Congress in the region can only claim credit for ensuring that the Bill was not passed in the Rajya Sabha,

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Ripun Bora said It was our party (Congress) and the party president Rahul Gandhi who have clearly said that the Congress has always been against the Bill. Had the Bill been tabled in the Rajya Sabha, we were determined to scrap it after coming to power."

But the reality is that neither the Congress nor the BJP are likely to gain any electoral mileage out of the issue of illegal immigrants.

The widespread opposition to illegal Bangladeshi immigrants in the North East is irrespective of their religion.

On one hand, the BJP, through the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2019, established its credentials as a party which favours Hindu Bangladeshis. On the other hand, the Congress has long been seen as a party which favours Bangladeshi Muslims.

In fact, the roots of this issue lie in the reluctance of the Congress government in Assam in 1979 to accept that names of illegal immigrants were included in the voters list illegally.

It was only after six years of protests led by the All Assam Students Union that an accord was signed with the Centre in 1985 on identifying and deporting illegal immigrants.

The Congress had also passed the controversial Illegal Migrants Determination (Tribunal) Act, which was seen by indigenous people as protecting illegal immigrants. The law was declared null and void in the apex court in 2005 after a prolonged legal battle. Assams present chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal was the litigant in that case.

The parties which are likely to gain from the controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill are BJP's allies in the North East who had threatened to review their tie-up if the Bill were to be passed.

Conrad Sangma, Meghalaya's chief minister and the leader of the Nationalist Peoples Party, had said, The NPP has decided that if the Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha, the party will break its ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)."

He had also convened a meeting in Guwahati with 11 other political parties, most of whom are NDA allies, to mount pressure on the BJP. The parties present at the meeting had unanimously opposed the Bill. The credibility of these parties has shot up.

The BJP is likely to give these parties more importance in seat-sharing arrangements. For the saffron party, allying with them has become a necessity to prove that all is well in the alliance, and the past is behind them.
WHY DONT YOU READ THESE?
The all-party meeting called by the Narendra Modi-government on Saturday, to deliberate upon the situations arising out of the Pulwama terror attack, saw political differences being laid to rest as parties unanimously passed a resolution to stand with the security forces.

The all-party meeting called by the Narendra Modi-led government on Saturday, to deliberate upon the situations arising out of the Pulwama terror attack, saw political differences being laid to rest as parties unanimously passed a resolution to stand with the security forces.

All participants at the meeting condemned terrorism in all forms and recognised that Pakistan had a role to play in perpetuating and supporting such situations of terror, reported News18. After the meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that Rajnath had been asked by the attendees to convey to Modi that he should call a meeting of the presidents of all parties.

"We have communicated to the government what Congress chief Rahul Gandhi told at a press conference on Friday, that the country is in mourning now and is angry. Since 1947, apart from a war, this is the first time a terror attack has claimed so many lives. We have differences with the government on a number of issues but at this juncture we are standing with the government for ending terrorism. Militancy has to end," he said.

The meeting was attended by Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, among others, reported News18.

Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba had briefed Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who has returned from his trip to Jammu and Kashmir to convene the meet, before it started.

Significantly, Modi himself was absent from the meeting and was at Yavatmal in Maharashtra, where he inaugurated a number of infrastructural projects. Addressing the crowds there, he made mention of the two jawans from Maharashtra who died in the attack. "The martyrs' sacrifice will not be for nothing. The sin of terrorism cannot be hidden, they will be punished," he said.

The all-party meeting was the first-of-its-kind organised by the ruling National Democratic Alliance government and is a significant event considering sharpened differences between parties ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In the days following the terror attack there has been very little bickering along political lines, with most politicians putting up a unique show of togetherness. Congress president Rahul Gandhi said he and his party would support the government and firmly shut down questions on political controversies, saying it was not the time or place, reported News18.

The government is understood to have briefed Opposition leaders about the action being taken in the aftermath of the attack, in the course of the meeting.

One of the key issues that were reported to have been discussed in the meeting was the security cover of Hurriyet leaders and whether India would continue providing that.

Another issue was the international isolation of Pakistan and the diplomatic steps that need to be taken to make sure that the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the United Nations  something which has been pending for over three decades,  is now adopted at the earliest.

China, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council and a close ally of Pakistan, has repeatedly foiled India's bid to blacklist Jaish-e-Mohammad founder Maulana Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, citing that he is not a terrorist as per the global guidelines. The USA has supported India in its push for blacklisting Azhar. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced the meeting after the meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday.
The chain of events in the sedition case against AMU students are themselves a compelling case for deletion of the offence of sedition from the statute book.

Earlier this week, around 14 office bearers of the Aligarh Muslim University Students Union, both present and past, saw their names published in a First Information Report registered by the Uttar Pradesh Police. The worrying part was that the offences alleged included sedition, which is defined under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code. Like every criminal offence, there are two sides to the story. Members of the AMU Students Union state that one Ajay Singh, who is also a student at the university, and stood for a post during students elections, decided to stage a dharna as a mark of protest against the AMU Students Union reaching out to the controversial Asaduddin Owaisi. Union members state that Owaisi had confirmed that he was not even visiting the university, despite which the dharna had not been called off. Only one private news channel, Republic TV (surprise surprise), chose to cover the dharna, and crew members of the news channel are alleged to have unauthorisedly entered the university premises, introducing AMU as a hotbed of terrorist activity. This is said to have resulted in heated exchanges between the crew members supported by some students on one hand, and the students union members on the other.

The FIR in question came to be registered in the evening, allegedly on the complaint of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), narrating a wholly different set of facts. The complaint stated that anti-national slogans were raised in the AMU campus, with the predictable Bharat murdabad, Pakistan zindabad refrain, including an altercation with crew members of Republic TV. However, two days after the registration of the FIR, media reports have indicated that charges of sedition may be dropped, due to lack of evidence in the case.

The offence of sedition was originally not a part of the Indian Penal Code, as drafted by Lord Macaulay, enacted in the year 1860. It came to be introduced by way of an amendment in the year 1898. The earliest reported case involving the offence of sedition, as available on a widely used online legal database, is the case of Emperor v. Bhaskar Balvant Bopatkar, which related to an article being published in a vernacular newspaper by the name of Bhala, entitled A durbar in hell, which attempted to bring into hatred or contempt, or attempted to excite disaffection towards the government established by law in British India. The following paragraph from the judgment is preternatural, given the context that it was rendered in, and the context of present day India:

The effect of an article may not be serious to those who can reason and think, but you must remember that articles which are published in vernacular papers are not always read by reasonable men, that there is always a residuum in every community of disappointed poor men who go through life in a state of discontent and who in ignorance are often prejudiced and prepared to accept allegations made against the Government. Those who are in a state of gross ignorance might be injuriously affected by such writings.

Are we therefore in a state of discontent, and prepared to accept allegations made against the government or the nation? It certainly seems like the generation before us, or that of our grandparents was not. Data would suggest this. So would the test of applicability of sedition rendered by courts, as evidenced by a change from mere exhortation to violence against the state being culpable, to actual violence pursuant to such a call, or a call against the state backed by an imminent threat of violence.

Present day Indians, however, are quick to offend, and even quicker to get offended. Individuals who have chosen to be offended closely around the release of a movie incessantly hound Bollywood, and quick back-room settlements almost always involving exchange of monies have quelled such discontent. From perpetrators of innocent winks that have gone viral, to creators of not entirely true-to-history depictions of historical characters, have all faced their brother Indians trying to have FIRs registered against them.

What is worrying though, is that a quick search of the word sedition in the same widely used online legal database, indicates that there are around 175 cases that show up prior to 1950, around 172 cases between 1950 and 2009, and 91 cases between 2010 and 2019. This means that the past nine years have seen more than half of the number of cases involving the offence of sedition as compared to over 59 years between 1950 and 2009. If these statistics are not worrying, lets consider some more data that would alarm the armchair liberal  58 reported cases involving sedition have been reported between 2014 and 2019. That is, the years that coincide with NDA rule at the Centre have seen more reported cases involving sedition than twenty years between 1950 and 1970 (49). One would wonder if these statistics indicate a growing trend of quick-to-offend Indians, or whether the Indian populace faces a government that holds no qualms in seeking to stifle any expressions of dissent.

The recent chargesheeting of JNU students by the Delhi Police for sedition has also been in the news because of the police not having obtained sanction of the government for such prosecution. The procedural requirement for sanction under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, is in fact a substantive provision that often results in dropping of prosecution. In pith and substance, it means that no prosecution for offences against the state can commence before a court of law, after investigation, without the go-ahead of the state government. The logic is simple  offences against the State must indicate that the State agrees with the report of the police  that in fact, someone has committed an offence by which the State has been aggrieved.

There exists a body of law that indicates that when judges direct registration of First Information Reports that involve offences requiring prior sanction, such sanction should be obtained prior to even the direction for registration of FIR and commencement of investigation (Anil Kumar v. MK Aiyappa, which involved sanction to prosecute a public servant). Some would say that applying the same principle to sedition would help prevent frivolous prosecutions initiated on complaints of private persons, and would end impasses such as the one between the Delhi Police and the Delhi government on the JNU sedition case. Not only has investigation in the JNU case spanned over 2 years, involving several hours of time spent by police officials, but it had also resulted in the arrest of students. The violence in the Patiala House court in February 2016 also took place on a day that the accused in the case were being produced in court.

Applying sedition to the facts that played out in AMU not only displays the pressure that members of the political party in power in the state can exert on the police, but also the wanton ease with which the police can prima facie charge a citizen for sedition. It is no joke that the offence is punishable with imprisonment for life with fine. It is a joke, however, that you can get arrested for sedition for challenging the might of the state, without the mighty state in fact believing that you have committed an offence against it.

These events are themselves a compelling case for deletion of the offence of sedition from the statute book.
The politicians have money. Their kids have money. Theyll all retire soon, some to Florida, where theyll eat the grouper sandwiches, sit out on the lanai, read my column and check their phones to see how much snow has fallen back home.
Political WhatsApp groups, run by sympathisers and workers of political parties, saw a flood of disinformation within hours of the Pulwama attack.

While morphed photos of Congress president Rahul Gandhi standing alongside Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Ahmed Dar were called out for being fake, this might just be the tip of the disinformation iceberg.

An investigation reveals that political WhatsApp groups, run by sympathisers and workers of political parties, saw a flood of disinformation within hours of the attack. From systematic warmongering through similar messages in multiple groups calling for nuclear strikes to circulating fake videos of Congress workers chanting Pakistan zindabad, WhatsApp groups are abuzz with hypernationalistic text, videos, photos and memes. All this content largely revolves around similar themes: while many blamed Pakistan-sympathisers in India, others invoked the tukde tukde gang and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students.

Amidst all this, one crucial message constantly made the rounds: a request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to go to war with Pakistan as fitting retribution for the Pulwama attack. This message was spotted in various groups. The request ends with an assurance to Modi that the country would reward him for the war by giving him 400 seats in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

This investigation accessed several WhatsApp groups, named after both the BJP and the Congress, in order to understand the content shared. The names of these groups are not being made public to secure the identity of the sources who gave us access to these closed groups.

#IndiaNeedsNuclearStrike

There was a significant chunk of messages being shared by users in all seven groups, demanding war against Pakistan as the only befitting response. There were certain messages which were common in all groups, many of them asking for 400 Pakistani heads for the 40 killed in Pulwama. One message, asking Modi to go ahead with the war, asking him to repeat Gujarat in Pakistan.

These messages appeared in multiple groups, indicating the possibility that they were being aggressively shared by many.

Disinformation as a response to the terror attack

What is striking is that most of this content, especially the doctored videos and the misleading memes, were created within hours of the Pulwama attack.

For instance, on one of these groups, named after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), at 10.24 pm, close to seven hours after the Pulwama attack, a user posted a screenshot purportedly of a WhatsApp group named Kashmir Live News, celebrating the attack. The source of the screenshot was not shared. Instantly, other users started sharing communally-charged posts.

Memes demanding that Kashmiri protesters who pelt stones must be shot dead and Uri 2 should be conducted are circulating.

Close to midnight, messages emerged blaming the Congress for the attack. This, clearly, was only the beginning.

By the morning, the machinery was in full swing. Early morning, videos started doing the rounds showing a Congress leader from Jammu and Kashmir, Sagheer Saeed Khan, saying that the family members of those falsely killed in the state will get Rs 1 crore each if the party comes to power. While Khan indeed made the statement, he did so nearly two months ago. However, the video was packaged as a statement made in response to the Pulwama attack, accusing the Congress of being 'sympathetic to terrorists'.

Soon after came another set of videos showing Congress workers being lathi-charged by police officials. The text accompanying these videos alleged that these Congress workers were caught chanting Pakistan Zindabad by the police and were thrashed for their crime. A day before the Pulwama attack, Boom Live called out these videos as fake. It found that the videos were from Chhattisgarh last year where Congress workers, protesting against the then BJP government, were lathi-charged by the police. But after the Pulwama attack, these videos seem to have reemerged and were shared in multiple groups by different users.

There were even website links being shared showing a right-wing social media activist exposing the role of the Congress in orchestrating the Pulwama attack.

There were multiple memes being circulated targeting various leaders of the Congress, including the party president for ostensibly checking his phone, at a function to pay the final respects to the CRPF soldiers killed in the Pulwama attack. Similarly, there were attacks on Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, with memes being created of his photos with Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and the army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Almost all this rhetoric veered towards a sense of hypernationalism, there was also a strand of content blaming the people of Jammu and Kashmir for the attack and proposed a boycott of the state. Messages called for tourists to impose a self-ban on visiting the state for the next five years and to boycot the Amarnath Yatra as a form of retribution against the people in the state for their support to terrorist activities.

Not surprisingly, on Saturday, media reports and social media posts surfaced about Kashmiris being assaulted in Jammu and heckled in some other parts of the country.

Why this is dangerous

Even as Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley asked his partys spokespersons to not indulge in war-mongering and the Opposition parties announcing their support to the government, the opaque world of political campaigning on WhatsApp stands in stark contrast.

Last year, a BBC study pointed out how such nationalism was a major driving force behind peoples sharing of disinformation on social media platforms. Facts, the study said, were less important than the overwhelming emotional desire to bolster national identity. This conclusion ties in with the content this investigation accessed on at least seven different WhatsApp groups, with users posting similar messages across various groups.

India has already witnessed the tragic consequences of disinformation spreading through closed social media platforms like WhatsApp, with the deaths of over 30 people after being publicly lynched by people who believed the rumours that reached them on the app. Last year, the company said it had over 200 million users in India. This figure is bound to have gone up. In July, a Lokniti-Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) study found WhatsApp usage rapidly increasing, especially in rural communities.

The repercussions of such disinformation in sensitive times like these will only be clearer in the days to come.
The RAR also identifies several other lapses and regulatory breaches in various areas of Yes Bank's functioning and the disclosure of just one part of the RAR is viewed by RBI as a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, the RBI said.

New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has warned Yes Bank Ltd of regulatory action for disclosure of nil divergence report in violation of the confidentiality clause, the private sector lender said Friday. Yes Bank, in a press release earlier this week, had said RBI has not found any divergence in the asset classification and provisioning done by the lender during 2017-18.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, Yes Bank said it has received a letter from the RBI which noted that the Risk Assessment Report (RAR) was marked "confidential" and it was expected that no part of the report be divulged except for the information in the form and manner of disclosure prescribed by regulations.

"Therefore, the press release breaches confidentiality and violates regulatory guidelines. Moreover, NIL divergence is not an achievement to be published and is only compliance with the extant Income Recognition and Asset Classification norms," the RBI said in its letter.

"The issuance of the Press Release has, therefore, been viewed seriously by the RBI and could entail further regulatory action/s," the letter added.

The RAR also identifies several other lapses and regulatory breaches in various areas of the bank's functioning and the disclosure of just one part of the RAR is viewed by RBI as a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, the central bank said.

The RBI conducted its first asset quality review (AQR) of banks in 2015 in order to find corporate loan accounts with severe financial weakness which were still classified as standard accounts on the books of the lenders.

Post-this review, RBI found a large divergence of Rs 4,176 crore in the reported gross NPAs in the books of Yes Bank for 2015-16.

Further, the RBI judged gross NPAs at 8,373.8 crore for Yes Bank for 2016-17 against the declared gross NPAs of Rs 2,018 crore. Thus, there was a divergence of Rs 6,355 crore or three times the reported amount.
By Laila Kearney NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2 percent to their highest this year on Friday after an outage at Saudi Arabia's offshore oilfield boosted expectations for tightening supply, while progressing U.S.-Sino trade talks strengthened demand sentiment. The international Brent crude benchmark rose $1.68, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $66.25 a barrel, its highest since November. U.S.

By Laila Kearney

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose more than 2 percent to their highest this year on Friday after an outage at Saudi Arabia's offshore oilfield boosted expectations for tightening supply, while progressing U.S.-Sino trade talks strengthened demand sentiment.

The international Brent crude benchmark rose $1.68, or 2.6 percent, to settle at $66.25 a barrel, its highest since November.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled up $1.18, or 2.2 percent, at $55.59 a barrel, and hit their highest this year in post-settlement trade at $55.80.

For the week, Brent ended more than 6 percent higher and WTI gained more than 5 percent, partly on tightening supplies since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies led by Russia started voluntary production cuts last month.

The partial closure of Saudi Arabia's Safaniya, the world's largest offshore oilfield, occurred about two weeks ago, a source said on Friday. Safaniya has production capacity of more than 1 million barrels per day. It was not immediately clear when the field would return to full capacity.

"It's another factor that is raising concerns about the availability of crude," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group in Chicago. "All of a sudden you don't have to worry just about OPEC cuts. Now you have a problem with Saudi Arabia's ability to actually produce as much oil."

Leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday it would cut an additional half a million bpd in March more than it previously pledged.

Supply has also been curbed by U.S. sanctions on Venezuelan and Iranian crude and reduced Libyan output because of civil unrest. Security threats could threaten Nigerian production after general elections this weekend.

Growing confidence that the United States and China will resolve their ongoing trade dispute also supported prices. Those talks will restart next week in Washington, with both sides saying this week's negotiations in Beijing showed progress.

"Optimism surrounding a potential trade deal has really been the big issue here in the United States the last couple days," said Bob Yawger, director of energy futures at Mizuho.

However, prices pared gains after a report showed U.S. energy firms this week increased the number of oil rigs operating for a second week in a row due to concerns that crude supplies will swamp global demand as U.S. output keeps growing from record levels. [RIG/U]

U.S. oil drillers added three oil rigs this week, General Electric Cos Baker Hughes energy services firm said..

(Reporting by Laila Kearney in New York, additional reporting by Noah Browning in London, Henning Gloystein in Singapore and Colin Packham in Sydney; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Matthew Lewis)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Arjun Panchadar and Debroop Roy (Reuters) - Mattel Inc on Friday issued a disappointing 2019 forecast and said demand for its iconic Barbie doll was slowing, triggering an 18 percent drop in its shares, their worst day in nearly two decades. The forecast comes barely a week after the company said strong holiday sales of Barbie drove a surprise fourth-quarter profit, which sent its shares up 23 percent the following morning. On Friday, the El Segundo, California-based toymaker said gross sales for 2019 would be flat on a constant-currency basis, with weakness in Thomas & Friends and American Girl offsetting comparatively stronger sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels

By Arjun Panchadar and Debroop Roy

(Reuters) - Mattel Inc on Friday issued a disappointing 2019 forecast and said demand for its iconic Barbie doll was slowing, triggering an 18 percent drop in its shares, their worst day in nearly two decades.

The forecast comes barely a week after the company said strong holiday sales of Barbie drove a surprise fourth-quarter profit, which sent its shares up 23 percent the following morning.

On Friday, the El Segundo, California-based toymaker said gross sales for 2019 would be flat on a constant-currency basis, with weakness in Thomas & Friends and American Girl offsetting comparatively stronger sales of Barbie and Hot Wheels.

Even then, Barbie and Hot Wheels won't sell as much as they did in 2018, Chief Financial Offer Joe Euteneuer said in an investor presentation https://mattel.gcs-web.com/static-files/228b066f-34c4-4952-8ff1-a32df7f98721.

Both Mattel and rival Hasbro Inc have continued to be haunted by the collapse of Toys "R" Us as they have failed to find newer avenues to sell their toys. They also face pressure as more children shun traditional toys to play games on tablets and mobile phones.

For the first quarter, Mattel said it expects lower gross sales, blaming the liquidation of the world's biggest toy retailer and currency fluctuations.

It also expects adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)of $350 million to $400 million for 2019, below estimates of $480.18 million, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

Gross profit margins for 2019 are expected to come in the "low 40s" range, while analysts were expecting margins of 44.2 percent.

Mattel has been aiming to cut at least $650 million in net costs by the end of 2019 through job cuts and other means.

The company said it expects to keep reducing manufacturing costs, the benefit of which will be first seen in 2020.

The company's shares closed at $13.82.

(Reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Heather Somerville and Joshua Franklin SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lyft Inc will pitch investors on its fast growth in the United States as it seeks to beat out Uber Technologies Inc to become the first publicly listed ride-hailing company, according to people familiar with the matter.

By Heather Somerville and Joshua Franklin

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lyft Inc will pitch investors on its fast growth in the United States as it seeks to beat out Uber Technologies Inc to become the first publicly listed ride-hailing company, according to people familiar with the matter.

Lyft plans to tell investors its U.S. market share is approaching 40 percent, up from 35 percent in early 2018, the people said. The company has pushed aggressively into smaller and mid-sized cities. Lyft currently serves more than 600 American and Canadian cities, three times more than in early 2017.

San Francisco-based Lyft is under pressure to sell investors on its prospects as it races neck-and-neck with Uber to an initial public offering (IPO) that could come as early as the second quarter of 2019.

If Lyft gets to list first, it would avoid being judged by the valuation given to its larger rival.

Uber remains the undisputed king of ride-hailing in terms of size. Its revenue for the third quarter of 2018 was $2.95 billion, up 38 percent from the prior year. It operates in about 70 countries and also has businesses in freight hauling, autonomous driving, food delivery, air taxis and artificial intelligence research.

In contrast, Lyft is available only in the United States and Canada. And it has stayed tightly focused on its core ride-hailing service. Lyft has kept its financials secret.

It is estimated to be worth between $20 billion and $30 billion, compared to Uber's prospects for a valuation of up to $120 billion. So Lyft will be seeking to assure IPO investors it represents an attractive bet compared to its more established competitor, people familiar with its marketing strategy said.

Lyft has benefited from a spate of scandals that rocked Uber in 2017, including allegations of sexual harassment made by its female employees, the forced resignation of its chief executive officer and its use of illicit software to deceive regulators. A #DeleteUber campaign surged on social media. The negative publicity helped Lyft attract new drivers and riders without spending much on marketing.

Given that both Uber and Lyft are still losing money, investors will be focused on their growth and potential for future profitability. Lyft has prepared some earnings metrics it hopes will persuade investors that it will not be in the red for long, the people familiar with its strategy said.

These include its overall growth in ride bookings, the total number of rides per passenger, the commissions it earns from drivers, and the percentage of rides across its different ride types, particularly its growing carpooling service, the people said.

Lyft declined to comment.

"The IPO market will be focused on growth," said Jim Williams, chief investment officer of Creative Planning Inc, a wealth and investment manager in Overland Park, Kansas. His firm advises clients who already own shares in Lyft and Uber as well as those considering buying stock in the companies.

Investors will be assessing the companies based on the number of new riders and total rides, Williams said.

They will want to know, "Are these companies expanding?" he said.

(For a graphic on global growth projections for ride sharing, see: https://tmsnrt.rs/2V51lqr)

UBER TOUTS DIVERSIFICATION

Uber reported sharply slower global bookings growth in the third quarter of 2018; that figure slid to 6 percent over the previous quarter in a business that had routinely been expanding by double-digit percentages.

People familiar with management's thinking say Uber executives are concerned that if investors judge the company by the same yardstick as Lyft -- focusing on the number of rides it sells as opposed to its other initiatives -- its valuation could suffer in an IPO.

Uber plans to portray itself to IPO investors as a global logistics and mobility platform, and will spend less time on metrics specific to its core ride-hailing business, the people said.

Uber declined to comment.

Over the last year, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has sought to direct investor attention to food-delivery business Uber Eats, whose revenue grew 150 percent in the third quarter over the previous year.

Uber and Lyft continue to diverge, offering different financial opportunities to IPO buyers, according to Anna-Marie Wascher, CEO and founding partner at Flat World Partners, an investment management firm that made an early Lyft investment.

"With Uber, you will invest in Uber Eats and global expansion," Wascher said. "Lyft will get investors betting on the U.S. ride-hailing market."

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin in New York and Heather Somerville in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Carl O'Donnell and Jessica DiNapoli in New York; Editing by Greg Roumeliotis and Marla Dickerson)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Following the Pulwama terror attack, India on Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from Pakistan.

New Delhi: Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India on Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 percent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.

The decision would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18 as it would drastically increase the prices of its goods here.

"India has withdrawn MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning imports from Pakistan, official sources said.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country invoked a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. Both the countries are member of this organisation.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.

Items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores, finished leather, processed minerals, inorganic chemicals, cotton raw, spices, wool, rubber product, alcoholic beverages, medical instruments, marine goods, plastic, dyes and sport goods.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not reciprocated.

Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

In 2012, Pakistan had committed to giving the MFN status to India but retracted later due to domestic opposition. Instead of MFN, Pakistan said it was working on granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India but that also was not announced.

Total India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to USD 2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against USD 2.27 billion in 2016-17. India imported goods worth USD 488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth USD 1.92 billion.

During April-October 2018-19, India's exports to Pakistan stood at USD 1.18 billion, while imports were USD 338.66 billion.

India mainly exports raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, manmade yarn and dyes to Pakistan.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kgs of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.
(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc said on Friday its Chief Executive Michael Corbat will get a 4.35 percent raise, bringing his total compensation for 2018 to $24 million. Corbat's total compensation included a base salary of $1.5 million plus cash bonuses of about $6.75 million, equity awards of nearly $7.88 million, and a long-term performance based pay worth $7.88 million

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc said on Friday its Chief Executive Michael Corbat will get a 4.35 percent raise, bringing his total compensation for 2018 to $24 million.

Corbat's total compensation included a base salary of $1.5 million plus cash bonuses of about $6.75 million, equity awards of nearly $7.88 million, and a long-term performance based pay worth $7.88 million.

Members of the board said they considered the bank's earning operating performance, and market levels of pay when deciding his compensation.

A year earlier, Corbat enjoyed a 48 percent raise for a total annual compensation of $23 million as the bank grew adjusted profit by 4 percent.

In 2018, the bank exceeded its goal for returns on investment but fell short of its efficiency target due to revenue pressure at the end of the year.

The bank reported a 2018 efficiency ratio of 57.4 percent, shy of Corbats 57.3 percent goal. Its ROTCE of 10.9 percent last year was above the 10.5 percent target.

A lower efficiency ratio means a bank is better at managing its costs relative to revenue, while ROTCE is a widely watched measure of how well a bank uses shareholder money to generate profits.

Citi has been under pressure from investors to prove it can grow its underlying businesses rather than simply returning capital through share buybacks.

During 2018 its shares declined more than 30 percent despite returning more than 100 percent of its profits through dividends and buybacks. Earnings per share jumped 26 percent due to fewer shares outstanding while revenue edged up 1 percent.

Earlier this month, Bank of America Corp disclosed CEO Brian Moynihan's annual compensation rose 15 percent to $27 million.

In January, Morgan Stanley said CEO James Gorman's overall pay rose 7 percent to $29 million, and JPMorgan Chase & Co CEO's compensation rose 5 percent to $31 million, according to filings.

(Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Marguerita Choy)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
CALGARY, ALBERTA / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2019 / Bird River Resources Inc. (CSE: BDR) is pleased to provide this operations update for oil and gas operations through its wholly owned subsidiary High Point Oil Inc. ('High Point').

High Point continues to produce approximately 150 (75 net) barrels of oil per day ('bopd'). Except for November and December 0f 2018, this level of production is adequate to meet High Point's operating costs and contribute to capital development. The November and December prices were $28.00 and $18.00 per barrel respectively, as compared to $73.00 per barrel for September production. The severity of this situation was unexpected by the Alberta oil and gas industry and the Alberta government. It was caused by a critical lack of pipeline capacity and the fact that oil storage facilities in Alberta were completely full. As a result, the government of Alberta imposed production restrictions on Corporations producing in excess of 10,000 bopd. High Point's production was not affected by these imposed production restrictions. With production cuts in place and with a recovery in world crude prices in January it is expected that January production will be sold for in excess of $50.00 per barrel. This past December, High Point drilled a fourth well in central Alberta on a 50/50 basis with its partner. Well log and petrophysical analysis shows significant oil in place and completion operations on this well began in January 2019. As a result of recent extreme cold weather covering Alberta, completion operations have been suspended until temperatures moderate.

Update on Technology Division - The initial feasibility study of the Cogeneration project resulted in the transmission company declining the original planned 0.8 Gigawatts facility (expandable to 3.5 Gigawatts). Instead, insisting that the full 3.5 Gigawatt facility be built from the outset. This would result in an increase in project costs from $850,000 to $4.5 million. Given the much higher than forecast construction cost, the Company has elected to have no further involvement in the project and has written off the $120,000 investment made to date. The Crypto currency joint venture has operated at a slight loss. This was caused by the rapid decline in Crypto currencies and by higher electrical costs resulting from additional Alberta Government environmental levies. As a result, the Company has decided to sell its interest in the Crypto currency joint venture to its partner for approximately $64,000.

About Bird River Resources Inc.

Established in 1958, Bird River Resources Inc. is a Canadian natural resources company focused on the energy sector. Additional information on the Company is available on its websites at birdriverresources.com and highpointoil.net and on SEDAR at sedar.com.

For further information, contact:

Jon Bridgman CEO, Bird River Resources Inc..

Tel: 204-589-2848 jonbirdriver@gmail.com

Mr. Ty Pfeifer

CEO, High Point Oil Inc.

Tel: 403-614-9907 ty@highpointoil.net

This news release is for information purposes only and no statement herein should be considered an offer or a solicitation of an offer for the purchase or sale of any securities and may contain forward looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs as well as a number of assumptions about future events and words such as may, should, could, will, expect, anticipate, estimate, believe, intend, project should not be taken out of context. NEITHER THE CSE NOR ITS MARKET REGULATOR (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE CSE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS PRESS RELEASE.

SOURCE: Bird River Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535569/Bird-River-Resources-Provides-Operations-Update
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / February 15, 2019 / Thunderbird Resorts Inc. ("Thunderbird" or "Group") (Euronext Amsterdam: TBIRD and Frankfurt: 4TR) reports the following results of the Company's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders held in La Mesa, California on February 15, 2019:

On the matter of election of the board of directors, the shareholders voted 99% in favor of electing Salomon Guggenheim, George Gruenberg, and Stephan Fitch to serve on the board for the ensuing year.

Baker Tilly was appointed as auditors for the ensuing year and the Board of Directors was authorized to affix their remuneration.

The shareholders received and considered the financial statements together with the auditor's report thereon for the financial year ended December 31, 2017.

Following the meeting of shareholders, the Board of Directors appointed the following persons as officers for the ensuing year:

Salomon Guggenheim, President and Chief Executive Officer

Chief Executive Officer Albert W. Atallah, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Corporate Secretary Peter LeSar, Chief Financial Officer

Based on the recommendations made by the Nominating Committee, the Board approved the following committee members:

Audit Committee

Stephan Fitch (Chairman)

George Gruenberg

Advisory member: Peter LeSar

Compensation Committee

George Gruenberg (Chairman)

Stephan Fitch

Salomon Guggenheim

Nominating and Governance Committee

Stephan Fitch (Chairman)

George Gruenberg

Salomon Guggenheim

Investment Committee

Stephan Fitch (Chairman)

Advisory members: Salomon Guggenheim, Peter LeSar and Albert Atallah

ABOUT THE COMPANY:

We are an international provider of branded casino and hospitality services, focused on markets in Latin America. Our mission is to "create extraordinary experiences for our guests." Additional information about the Group is available at www.thunderbirdresorts.com.

Contact:

Peter LeSar, Chief Financial Officer

Email: plesar@thunderbirdresorts.com

Cautionary Notice: This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the securities laws and regulations of various international, federal, and state jurisdictions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including without limitation, statements regarding potential revenue and future plans and objectives of the Group are forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Group's forward-looking statements include competitive pressures, unfavorable changes in regulatory structures, and general risks associated with business, all of which are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Group's documents filed from time-to-time with the AFM and other regulatory authorities.

SOURCE: Thunderbird Resorts Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/535567/Annual-General-Meeting-of-Shareholders-Results-and-Election-of-Officers-and-Committee-Members
Nexa Resources S.A. (NYSE: NEXA) (TSX:NEXA) has published 2018 and 4Q18 Results in its website. For full details, please visit our Investor Relations webpage at: http://ir.nexaresources.com/resultscenter

CEO Message Tito Martins

"2018 was a very dynamic year for Nexa and we are proud to have delivered what we promised to the market in the first full year following our IPO. Among our achievements, we met our production guidance for all metals, updated mineral reserves and resources with significant growth in reserves, and obtained approval for the construction of a new greenfield project, Aripuana. On the financial front, we have renegotiated part of our debt to extend maturities at lower costs and returned capital to our shareholders by distributing an US$80 million share premium in addition to recently announcing a US$30 million share buyback program. Also, as a result of the robust operating cash generation in 2018, we are announcing a dividend payment of US$70 million on March 28, 2019.

While fundamentals remained strong, market confidence was impacted by the continuous trade war between China and the US, reflecting on LME prices. On the production side, we were able to deliver solid results, with a mining plan that was diligently executed along the year. Despite certain operating challenges in Cerro Lindo during mid-2018, we were able to recover production during the last quarter. We are also satisfied with our smelting segment's strong performance as we were able to reach the top of our guidance range in terms of sales volume.

In our existing operations, we are confident that, during 2019, we will be able to reap the benefits from the mining development initiatives carried out during 2018 in Cerro Lindo to support higher production guidance range provided for 2019. We will also continue investing in exploration efforts to increase reserves and find new resources in order to extend the life-of-mine of our brownfield operations. In our greenfield pipeline, we are also excited to have started the construction of the Aripuana project this year.

We maintain our focus on financial discipline and a solid capital structure, with low leverage, that will support current and future growth. Most important, Nexa is continuously embracing best practices in terms of environment, emissions, water, dams and safety standards while supporting the development of our local communities."

About Nexa's Compliance with GDPR Nexa is adapting to the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. Please check our Privacy Notice on the link below:

http://ir.nexaresources.com/privacypolicy

About Nexa Resources S.A. Nexa Resources S.A. is an integrated zinc producer with over 60 years of experience developing and operating mining and smelting assets in Latin America. The Company operates and owns five long-life underground mines, three located in the Central Andes of Peru and two located in the state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. For more details, please access:

http://ir.nexaresources.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190215005574/en/

Contacts:

Nexa Resources Investor Relations

Leandro Cappa

E-mail: ir@nexaresources.com
The Constitution provides that things like taxes and appropriations are Congress to approve or deny. Moreover, tax bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Why? Because its members are closer to the people at large, their districts generally being much smaller than those of senators. So presumably their sense of whether or not the publics money is being well spent is closer to ground level than that of the senators.
For The Uninitiated, Heres What Kangana Had Said:

While speaking to Pinkvilla, Kangana Ranaut said, "People like Shabana Azmi calling for halt on cultural exchange, they are the ones who promote Bharat tere Tukade honge gangs.... why did they organize an event in Karachi in the first place when Pakistani artists have been banned after Uri attacks and now they are trying to save face."

Shabana Azmi Reacts To Kanganas Remarks

While speaking to In.com, Shabana Azmi said, "You really think at a time like this a personal attack on me can be of any significance when the entire country stands as one in our grief and in condemning this dastardly Pulwama attack? May God bless her."

While Slamming Shabana Azmi, Kangana Has Also Rooted For Pakistans Destruction

"Film industry is full of such anti-nationals who boost enemy's morals in many ways but right now is the time to focus on decisive actions. Pakistan ban is not the focus, Pakistan destruction is."

Kangana Has Further Added..

"Pakistan has not only violated our nation's security they have also attacked our dignity by openly threatening and humiliating us, we need to take decisive actions or else our silence will be misunderstood for our cowardice."

Kangana Has Also Slammed People Lecturing About Peace

"Bharat is bleeding today, killing of our sons is like a dagger in our gut, anyone who lectures about non-violence and peace at this time should be painted black, put on a donkey and slapped by everyone on the streets."
Sara Hits The Gym

Sara Ali Khan is a fitness conscious person and is very committed to her fitness regime as she is regularly snapped heading to the gym. On Saturday afternoon, the paparazzi snapped Sara after her gym session. She was wearing a black t-shirt and grey gym shorts, with yellow flip flops. Yesterday, Sara was at the Cine & TV Artists Association's Act Fest which was attended by many other celebs such as Manoj Bajpayee, Johnny Lever, Manoj Joshi and others.

Mira Rajput Snapped After Sweating It Out At The Gym

Mira Rajput was also snapped after sweating it out at the gym on Saturday afternoon. Mira sported a black t-shirt and printed leggings and smiled at the cameras as she was clicked.

Jacqueline Fernandez Looks Pretty In A Maxi Dress

Jacqueline Fernandez was snapped looking lovely in a floral maxi dress. She let her hair loose and headed to dinner, and was all smiles as she clicked by the paps. Jacqueline was last seen in Salman Khan's Race 3. She will next be seen in the action film Drive, which is a remake of a Hollywood movie with the same name.

Malvika Raaj's Casual Saturday Look

Malvika Raaj, the actress who played young Poo in Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gham, looked pretty in a casual avatar when she was snapped at a popular club in Juhu by the paps on Saturday afternoon. Wearing a white t-shirt and denim paper bag shorts, Malvika checked all things we consider a casual cool Saturday avatar. Malvika will next be seen in Emraan Hashmi's Captain Nawab.
Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-Category
President Trump is an adversary of NATO. But he is alone and the message of the U.S. Congress is clear. America stands with its transatlantic partners. A guests contribution.

In the United States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organizations 70th anniversary year was marked by a bipartisan vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to protect Nato, but the adversary in mind was not a foreign actor  it was the President of the United States.

It is no secret why the House took this unprecedented step toward barring the president from unilaterally withdrawing from Nato. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked the Alliance and its members since his campaign days. Yet, even as China and Russia increasingly look to bolster each other against the West, it is likely that the President will continue to defy his own National Security Strategy and threaten to go it alone.

Fortunately, the U.S. government is not a monolithic entity controlled by one man. The U.S. Congress, which includes the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and Republican-controlled Senate, is a separate but co-equal branch of the U.S. government. This separation of powers, which the Constitutions framers deliberately designed, will help preserve Natos rightful place as a key body in the U.S. security apparatus.

In order to understand where the United States stands, European leaders should take a closer look at what congressional members across both parties and chambers are saying and doing on Nato. They may be surprised to find that since President Trump took office, Congress has regularly backed Nato through clear, indisputable actions. In 2017 and 2018, Congress took more votes in support of the United States enduring commitment to Article 5 and Nato than at any other time since the last major Nato anniversary in 2009, and perhaps, going back even further to the fall of the Soviet Union.

As referenced earlier, the House voted to restrict the President from withdrawing from Nato in the first month of 2019. Wary of a long-standing debate on presidential authorities (or lack thereof) on treaties, the Senate, too, has armed itself with similar bipartisan proposals. While no bills have been signed into law, they can move at any point, including in the yearlong period that, according to the Nato Founding Treaty, must precede the actual withdrawal of a member.

Congress has demonstrated its support for Nato by participating actively in the Nato Parliamentary Assembly and by reviving the bipartisan Senate Nato Observer Group, after sitting dormant for over two decades. This years Nato 70th anniversary celebrations, coupled with another expected enlargement round, will invigorate and rally Members of Congress to, once again, travel to Europe and Canada and discuss efforts to strengthen Nato. In fact, pending budget discussions in the United States, this years Munich Security Conference is expected to host a record number of congressional members.

And perhaps, most importantly, Congress reflects views of U.S. voters who overwhelmingly support Nato. The Chicago Council on Global Affairs has recorded a steady increase in Nato favorability across generations of Americans. Even millennials, the generation born between 1981 and 1996 and now, the largest voting bloc in the United States, value alliances, and 72 percent back Nato. Boosted by these numbers, Congress will continue to allocate significant levels of funding to help Europe deter threats emanating from Natos eastern and southern flanks  already, having provided 6.5 billion Dollar in the last year alone.

In many ways, the debate on Nato in the United States is barely a debate at all. Most members of President Trumps own administration are staunch advocates of the Alliance and work with Congress to further Nato objectives and initiatives. Therefore, European leaders should incorporate Congress reassuring actions into their assessments of the future of Nato, and not simply focus on the Presidents divisive  and widely unpopular  declarations.

Despite President Trumps criticism of the Alliance, Nato nations understand the growing threats facing the transatlantic community. Like Congress, they have stepped up to meet these challenges. Allies have halted defense spending cuts and increased investments in Nato by 41 billion Dollar. This increase is expected to reach 100 billion Dollar in 2020. In addition, critical new Nato commands are forming in Germany and the United States, and capabilities to counter hybrid threats and terrorism are rapidly developing.

We stand with you

While it would certainly be preferable for President Trump to tout these successes, a Nato leaders rhetoric does not outweigh the importance of concrete and consistent action. Allies must now continue to encourage one another to commit funding where needed, build readiness, resilience and adaptability across their militaries, and promote the Alliance to domestic audiences, whenever possible.

Beyond making the right investments, Nato countries should continue to embrace Nato as an alliance of values that, according to the North Atlantic Treaty, is founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law. As such, members must look within and halt the creeping influences of authoritarianism, corruption, and weak and inefficient governance structures that plague some of even the most ardent allies.

By remaining focused on strengthening the Alliance, Europe can best prepare Nato against real, long-term threats like those emanating from China, the Kremlin and terrorist organizations. President Trumps rhetoric, in comparison, is only as threatening as European leaders allow it to be. It is certainly not reflective of the entire U.S. government, or even American public sentiment on their unyielding commitment to Nato and the collective security of its members.

So, Europe, please dont let late-night tweets or sweeping proclamations distract you. We stand with you.

Read the German version here.
Everyone's favorite storm trooper John Boyega also shared his feelings about the film's conclusion writing, "That's a wrap on 'Star Wars episode 9' and the end to a chapter of my life that I couldn't be more thankful for. What a process! It really has been a joy to be in these movies surrounded by amazing people. I personally want to thank @jjabramsofficial for giving me a chance to make my dreams come true."
The following companies are subsidiares of Laboratory Co. of America: 1957285 Ontario Inc. dba Quality Underwriting Services, 2089729 Ontario Inc., 2248848 Ontario Inc., 3065619 Nova Scotia Company, 3257959 Nova Scotia Company, 896988 Ontario Limited, 9279-3280 Quebec Inc., Accupath Diagnostic Laboratories Inc., Alpha Medical Laboratory LLC, Assets of Pathology Inc, Beacon LBS IPA Inc., Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions Inc., CannAmm GP Inc., CannAmm Limited Partnership, Center for Disease Detection International, Center for Disease Detection LLC, Centrex Clinical Laboratories Inc., Clearstone Central Laboratories (U.S.) Inc., Clearstone Holdings (International) Ltd., Clipper Holdings Inc., Colorado Coagulation Consultants Inc., Colorado Laboratory Services LLC, Correlagen Diagnostics Inc., Covance Inc., Curalab Inc., Cytometry Associates Inc., Czura Thornton (Hong Kong) Limited, DCL Acquisition Inc., DCL Medical Laboratories LLC (DE), DCL Medical Laboratories LLC (FL), DCL Sub LLC, DIANON Systems Inc., DL Holdings Limited Partnership, Decision Diagnostics L.L.C. (aka DaVinici/Medicorp LLC), Diagnostic Services Inc., DynaLifeDX, Dynacare - Gamma Laboratory Partnership, Dynacare Company, Dynacare G.P. Inc., Dynacare Holdco LLC, Dynacare Laboratories Inc., Dynacare Laboratories Limited Partnership, Dynacare Northwest Inc., Dynacare Realty Inc., DynalifeDX Infrastructure Inc., Endocrine Sciences Inc., Esoterix Genetic Counseling LLC, Esoterix Genetic Laboratories LLC, Esoterix Inc., Execmed Health Services Inc., FirstSource Laboratory Solutions Inc., GDML Medical Laboratories Inc, Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratories GP Inc., Gamma Dynacare Central Medical Laboratory Limited Partnership, HHLA Lab-In-An-Envelope LLC, Health Trans Services Inc., Home Healthcare Laboratory of America LLC, IDX Pathology Inc., Impact Genetics Corp, Impact Genetics Inc., Kaleida LabCorp LLC, Lab Delivery Service of New York City Inc., LabCorp BVBA, LabCorp Belgium Holdings Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Canada) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (China) Inc., LabCorp Central Laboratories (Singapore) Pte., LabCorp Development Company, LabCorp Employer Services Inc., LabCorp Health System Diagnostics LLC, LabCorp Indiana Inc., LabCorp Japan G.K., LabCorp Limited, LabCorp Michigan Inc., LabCorp Nebraska Inc., LabCorp Neon Ltd., LabCorp Neon Switzerland S.a.r.l., LabCorp Specialty Testing Billing Service Inc., LabCorp Specialty Testing Group Inc., LabCorp Staffing Solutions Inc., LabCorp Tennessee LLC, LabCorp UK Holdings Ltd., LabWest Inc., Laboratoire Bio-Medic Inc., Laboratory Corporation of America, Lifecodes Corporation, LipoScience Inc., Litholink Corporation, MEDTOX Scientific Inc., Medical Neurogenitics LLC, Medtox Diagnostics Inc., Medtox Laboratories Inc., Monogram Biosciences Inc., Monogram Biosciences UK Limited, NWT Inc., National Genetics Institute, New Brighton Business Center LLC, New Imaging Diagnostics LLC, New Molecular Diagnostics Ventures LLC, Orchid Cellmark Ltd., Orchid Cellmark ULC, PA Labs Inc., Path Lab Incorporated, Pathology Associates Medical Lab LLC, Pee Dee Pathology Associates Inc., Persys Technology Inc., Pixel by LabCorp, Princeton Diagnostic Laboratories of America Inc., Protedyne Corporation, ReliaGene Technologies Inc., SW/DL LLC, Saint Josephs-PAML LLC, Sequenom Biosciences (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine LLC, Sequenom Inc, Sequenom Inc., Southern Idaho Regional Laboratory, Tandem Labs Inc., The LabCorp Charitable Foundation, Tri-Cities Laboratory LLC, Viro-Med Laboratories Inc., and Yakima Medical Arts Inc..
Ad Investing Trends 1,285 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
"Superhero movies get the level of attention that is nothing like any film I've done. You cast the 14th lead in these movies and the internet goes crazy," Affleck told USA Today in a 2017 interview. "I understand and embrace that. That's part of the pressure that comes with doing it. That's why I am not going to do it, unless I really feel confident about it."
GREENWICH  He traveled regularly and took photos of his excursions around New York City, Washington, D.C., and Latin America. He wore his hair long, with a cropped beard, giving him the look of an urban hipster. He came from Venezuela and overstayed his visa, got a job in New York City and made it clear he did not want to return to the country where he came of age.

Now, Javier Da Silva Rojas  Javi to his friends and numerous followers on social media  is facing the possibility of life in prison or even death in the case of an ex-girlfriend, Valerie Reyes, who was found stuffed in a suitcase off a road in Greenwich. Friends and relatives of the victim, as well as investigators, are seeking clues about how a young man who loved travel and nature photography allegedly turned into a brutal killer.

Da Silva, 24, was working in a coffee shop in New York City at the time of his arrest, according to a friend. His social acquaintances from Latin America said this week they were surprised he was arrested in connection with a murder.

According to his social media profile, Da Silva grew up in Venezuela and also holds Portuguese citizenship. He appears to come from comfortable circumstances in a suburban community near Caracas, with ample opportunity to travel regularly to the United States, and attend college. In 2017, he came to New York and overstayed his visa, according to immigration authorities.

News of his arrest came as a surprise to Oriana Mangenelli, a friend and college classmate of Da Silva at the Universidad Catolica Santa Rosa in Caracas, where he studied

journalism.

But  that cannot be possible, she said over Facebook messenger. Javi is such a kind soul. Da Silva left Venezuela to escape dictatorship, Mangenelli said, as the country deteriorated under the rule of an autocratic socialist regime.

He even tried to help me get out of here, Mangenelli said.

Mangenelli said Da Silva attempted to help her with cancer treatment in the U.S. in 2017. He wanted to buy me a plane ticket so I could have better medical attention with my lumps, she said. Thats why Im in shock. He couldnt be capable of doing such things like killing someone.

The two hadnt kept in touch as much since last year, Mangenelli said, but the last she heard Da Silva was working in a coffee shop in New York. The last time she spoke to Da Silva, his dad and brother were visiting him in the U.S., she said.

But recently, another portrait of Da Silva has emerged  a far more sinister one.

Da Silva was charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with kidnapping resulting in death this week. Federal authorities said he was responsible for the death of Valerie Reyes and the transportation of her body to a quiet residential street in Greenwich. Reyes was found Feb. 5 stuffed in a suitcase in a wooded area beside Glenville Road. Her hands and feet were constrained with tape and twine, and she had suffered a severe injury to her head, according to federal court documents. When confronted by law enforcement, the court papers state, Da Silva gave them an account that the victim fell to the floor and hit her head.

They had dated for several months in 2017, after apparently meeting through a dating website, but broke up about a year ago, according to her mother. He took photos of New Rochelle, Larchmont and Pelham in Westchester County in 2018, indicating a familiarity with the northern suburbs outside New York City.

Da Silva appeared capable of manipulation, said Reyes mother, Norma Sanchez. She said Reyes took pity on Da Silva when he claimed his mother in Venezuela was dying of cancer.

She said, Mami, his mother has cancer and I just want to be there for him a little more. She was an angel. She just wanted to support him more, Sanchez told Channel 2 News this week. It was unclear whether Da Silvas mother was actually ill.

Sanchez told Greenwich Time that Da Silva was controlling and would not take no for an answer.

Da Silvas social media accounts have been filling up in recent days with insults and derogatory comments. The Reyes murder has drawn widespread interest from the public, along with Reyes supporters and friends, and outrage has followed the news of her death and his arrest.

Your new home (behind bars) is where you belong. Away from society where you can no longer victimize the innocent, wrote one commenter on Instagram. Cage this monster and throw away the key, wrote another.

According to the criminal complaint filed by federal agents, Da Silva may have taken steps to cover his tracks after killing Reyes.

On the afternoon of Jan. 28, Da Silva was seen on video leaving his Queens apartment wearing dark clothing. When he returned to his residence on the morning of Jan. 29, he was wearing a different outfit  a tan overcoat  and carrying a duffel bag, the criminal complaint states.

Meanwhile, the death of Reyes, 24, described by family and friends as a creative and kind woman who worked at Barnes & Noble, was causing anguish among her family and friends.

A former boyfriend went to her grave Thursday to place flowers, and pay Valentines Day respects.

Couldnt believe it when you told me no one ever gifted you flowers. I went to shower you with flowers and love when you told me. You were looking forward to Valentines Day, and so I stand here, still giving you the endless love you deserve. Happy Valentines Day, Val, the friend, Justin Orda, said on social media.
Contributed Photo / Contributed Photo

BRIDGEPORT  Two adults and four children are being helped by Red Cross in relocation efforts after a fire in the city late Saturday afternoon.

The fire broke out at a 2.5-story residence in the 100 block of Bond Street. Multiple calls to 911 were made about a fire on the second floor of the building, possibly in the rear of the house, dispatch reports indicated.
GREENWICH  Students in one Greenwich Public school could become taste-testers for meals from tantalizing turkey tacos to spicy sushi rolls that one outside provider promises will satisfy even the pickiest eaters.

We want to have improved quality of food  food that the kids will eat, said Lauren Rabin, a school board member and Food Services Committee representative.

Town officials working to improve the school districts Food Services Department say the program has two shortcomings: First, students are not buying the meals, and second, the meals are unhealthy. The school administrators and town representatives calling for change believe a third-party food provider specializing in healthy, kid-friendly meals could solve both problems.

Fewer school lunches are being purchased in Greenwich schools, despite increases in both enrollment and the number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. In a districtwide survey in 2017, parents and children criticized the food for poor quality and the program for lacking healthy options.

In the context of declining participation and dissatisfied clients, the Board of Education will, for the first time, discuss letting No Fuss Lunch, a New Jersey-based food service provider, serve food at one or two schools this Thursday, said Rabin. They will vote on a pilot program at a meeting in March.

Theres a link between nutrition and academic performance: The schools with the highest (participation in) free and reduced-price lunch have lower academic performance, Rabin said. There are a whole lot of factors that go into that, but if we can improve what theyre eating in school, that will make a difference.

Currently, the department buys food, prepares meals at Greenwich High School and distributes them to the schools across the district in accordance with the guidelines of the National School Lunch Program. The state of Connecticut and the federal government reimburse the town for every breakfast and lunch it gives out for free or sells at a reduced price.

But since 2014-15, participation in the food services program has declined, Rabin said.

More Information These are the schools with lowest rate of participation in school lunches from September to December 2018: International School at Dundee has a school population of 370 students, but sold 72 meals a day on average, earning $4,800. North Street School has a population of 420 students, and sold an average of 117 meals a day, earning $24,700. Riverside has a school population of 485 students, but sold an average of 132 meals a day, earning $27,00. Glenville School has a population of 405 students, but sold an average of 127 a day, earning $8,600. See More Collapse

The survey found more than half of parents want better lunch options and more organic fruits and vegetables, and more than 80 percent want a basic lunch that includes a healthy snack or dessert, rather than their kids buying extra chips, cookies and ice cream. Sixty percent of parents would be willing to pay more for healthier options.

In response, the Food Services Department vowed to improve its program. It swapped some snack options across grade levels, and is reducing the number of daily choices at elementary schools to focus on preparing and serving better products.

John Hopkins, director of the Food Services Department, did not wish to answer questions before the Board of Education meeting.

Board members are interested in exploring if the third-party provider could increase buy-in from parents and provide the healthy meals to students that the department has not.

No Fuss Lunch

Gabriella Wilday founded No Fuss Lunch in 2012 to bring healthy, tasty food to school lunches and she now works with 60 towns and cities in New Jersey and New York.

Her kitchen feeds kids an entree with whole grains, grass-fed beef or cage-free poultry, a fresh vegetable with dip, fresh fruit, a small treat and purified water. Parents and children preorder their meals on the No Fuss Lunch Website, and the meals arrive in time for children to eat.

People think school lunch is really complicated, she said. Its simple.

The ingredients are organic, non-GMO meals, free of white flour, white sugar, high fructose corn syrup and MSG.

Wildays company does not work in schools that receive government subsidies because, according to its founder, the national guidelines place limits on ingredients and innovation.

Every town she works in has a population of students who qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, however. To make sure these children can afford these meals, she started a nonprofit that uses community and corporate fundraising to subsidize meal costs for families who qualify.

The school chosen to pilot No Fuss Lunch would go off the National School Lunch Plan. The board-level discussion of finances will consider whether the food service provider and the town could, together, sustain the growing population of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

In 2018, 31 percent of students were automatically enrolled in subsidized meals, up from the 25 percent or 26 percent of families who have applied since 2013.

When schools enroll in Wildays program, families receive an account that children and parents use to preorder the meals they would like to eat that day or week.

Were better prepared to serve children on a given day, she said. Food is waiting for the children as soon as they get to the cafeteria.

The system cuts back on food waste, and when children have a say in what they order, they are more likely to eat it, Wilday said.

Long lines in the lunchrooms could also be alleviated. Currently, many students bring their own food because they do not want to stand in line for most of their lunch break. By ordering ahead, students wait in line for less time.

Rabin and her fellow board members will review a timeline of the food services committee, the state of food services today, and go over the parent and student survey, which has been glossed over, she said.

The school board will discuss whether students would have equal access to good food if the district was no longer on the national school lunch program, and the financial ramifications of taking this step.

Greenwich High School went off the national school lunch program, and the income there absorbs the lack of revenue from the students who receive free or reduced-price lunch. Rabin hopes that this would also occur at the pilot school they choose, one that has low participation rate and a small population of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches.

Lunch averages from September, October, November and December 2018 indicate International School at Dundee, North Street, Riverside, and Glenville have the lowest rates of participation in the school lunch program.

Any those schools could be candidates, but the district cannot  in the long-term  have some schools off the National School Lunch Program and use No Fuss Lunch while others continue on the current model.

Its not something we can do at some schools and not others permanently, Rabin said. But we can think about piloting it and see what we learn.

jo.kroeker@greenwichtime.com
BRIDGEPORT  Alfanso Anderson was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity last February.

And Feb. 15, 11 days before the one-year mark of the 48-year-olds homicide, Bridgeport police charged 25-year-old Glenn Pettway, of East Main Street in the city, in connection with the killing.

Pettway was charged with murder, felony murder, criminal possession of a pistol, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal use of a firearm and attempted first-degree robbery. He was arraigned Tuesday and held in lieu of $1 million bond.

The Bridgeport Police Department had a total of 11 murders to investigate last year. Including Pettway, there have now been arrests made in five of the cases.

Even sometimes when theyre solved, they still bother us, Police Chief Armando Perez said last week. It shows the inhumanity. How can you kill another human being? And for what  for money, for drugs, in some cases for respect?

Andersons homicide is one that struck detectives, Perez said, because it was a horrible case of mistaken identity.

Pettway allegedly mistook Anderson for a man who owed a debt to a prostitute, Police Lt. Chris LaMaine said following Pettways arrest. He said an investigation showed Anderson had no connection to Pettway, the prostitute or any illicit activity.

Perez said of the homicides city police investigate, People dont realize, these things stay with us.

More Information 2018 HOMICIDE ARRESTS: 1. Francine Nyanzaninka was stabbed to death on Feb. 19, 2018. She was the city's third homicide victim of the year. Richard Segabiro was charged. 2. Anderson Alfanso was shot to death on Feb. 26, 2018. He was the city's fourth homicide victim of the year. Glenn Pettway was charged. 3. William Nance was shot to death on May 24, 2018. He was the city's fifth homicide victim of the year. Shardel Ragin was charged. 4. Emily Todd was fatally shot on Dec. 9, 2018. She was the city's 10th homicide victim of the year. Brandon Roberts was charged. 5. Clinton Howell was fatally shot on Dec. 18, 2018. He was the city's 11th homicide victim of the year - and the youngest at the age of 12. Tajay Chambers, 18; Alexander Bolanos, 16; a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old were charged. See More Collapse

The chief mentioned a few killings from 2018 that haunted him  including the citys first slaying of the year and the double homicide on Halloween night.

Jawuan Green stopped to buy a cigar from The Snack Shop on Newfield Avenue on Jan. 16, 2018. After stepping out of the store, he was shot in the chest. He was driven to Bridgeport Hospital by a private vehicle where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Green, who lived on Read Street and turned 21 a few days before his death, was a regular customer at the store, a store clerk said the morning after his killing.

Id really like to see that homicide solved, Perez said of Greens killing. There are some that just really tug at your heart and this is one of them.

Just two weeks after Greens homicide, on Jan. 30, 2018, 19-year-old Eric Heard was shot in the head on Price Street. Heard was initially on life support at a local hospital, but died on Jan. 31, 2018.

Police arrested people on several homicides over the next few months, but are still working on a homicide that happened on Aug. 13, 2018.

Len Allen Smith, 25, and an unidentified woman were waiting in a car while a friend ran into a nearby store on Union Avenue, police said. A shooter shot Smith and the woman, leading to Smiths death. The woman recovered. Police said the two were not the intended victims.

Friends of Smith were shocked to hear of the fatal shooting and repeatedly said he wasnt involved in any illicit activities.

In late October, the city saw a double homicide, one that took the life of a woman who one family member described as a beautiful soul.

On Oct. 31, 2018, 41-year-old Myoshi Bagley and 28-year-old David Belle were walking down Howard Avenue when they were gunned down. Bagley was not the intended victim, police said. She died that night. Belle died in the hospital six days later.

A video of a possible suspect vehicle was released by police in mid-November.

Edwin Jeremy Mangual was killed on Nov. 27, 2018, when he was shot in the torso and neck on Laurel Avenue.

Were still investigating all of these cases, Perez said. We want to see them all solved, to see arrests for all of them ... We want to bring their families justice.

Anyone with information about any of these homicides can contact the Bridgeport Police Departments tip line at 203-576-TIPS.
BRIDGEPORT  If a resident of Fairfield, Stratford and Milford had a burglary of their home last year, police say it may well have been done by the Martinez brothers.

Police said the two brothers, Yadriel and Drimal, were responsible for more than 50 home burglaries in the area between December 2017 and April 2018. And there may be many more as police continue their investigation.

On Friday, the two Bridgeport brothers pleaded not guilty to numerous burglary charges in Superior Court for just some of the cases.

We are going to wait until police have completed their investigations before proceeding to evaluate the case and possibly resolve it, Judge Robert Devlin told each brother as they were brought separately into the courtroom.

He continued the case to March 22.

Police said the modus operandi was the same.

One of the brothers would throw a rock through a window or rear sliding door of a home, a security light on the outside of the home would be removed or damaged, and then the brothers would ransack the home taking jewelry and other high-value items, police said.

Technology may have been their Achilles heel.

Police said in many of the burglaries, Yadriel Martinez acted as lookout for his brother, alerting him by cellphone to any police or homeowner activity.

The cellphone information for the area and times of the burglaries was collected. Police said they were able to determine that Yadriel Martinez made brief calls on his cell phone in the area and at the time of burglaries.

Once they had the names of their suspects, police said they found out that both brothers had previously been arrested in Florida for five similar burglaries.

When officers later raided Yadriel Martinezs Cowles Street apartment, police said, they found numerous pieces of jewelry that had previously been reported stolen and two guns, one which had been stolen from a police officers home.
STAMFORD  After a tense two days of discussion, the Board of Education approved a budget for the 2019-20 school year with only four members voting in its favor.

The $286,480,806 spending plan represents a 5 percent increase over the previous years $274.7 million budget.

With board member Antoine Savage absent from the meeting, only eight people were present to vote. Board member Frank Cerasoli voted down the budget, while Jackie Pioli, Betsy Allyn and Jennienne Burke abstained from voting. Nicola Tarzia, Mike Altamura, board President Andy George and Jackie Heftman voted in its favor.

The board unanimously approved a $30,528,276 grants budget as well.

The operating budget raised questions about the use of student activity funds, money going to charter schools and the sustainability of the rising costs of special education, transportation and health care.

I just want to sound a cautionary note after looking through the budget, Cerasoli said. In looking through the budget, I found three areas here  transportation objects, health care and special education  those three items added together make up about a third of the budget right now.

Special education has been a focus since Superintendent Earl Kim presented his budget last month. In his original budget presentation, Kim said while Stamford has room for improvement when it comes to managing special education costs, the cost spent per special education student is decreasing.

The rest of the increase is largely due to the creation of in-district programs rather than placing new students out of district, Kim said to Cerasoli. All I can say is given the increase in our special needs population (due to increased identification rates) ... we would expect our special education costs in aggregate to rise. Weve been trying to manage the special education cost per pupil.

Kim added the district is in a five-year transportation contract which calls for a 7 percent increase in the last three years; and that health care costs seem high because they were low the year prior.

2019-2020 budget votes Yes: Mike Altamura, Andy George, Jackie Heftman, Nicola Tarzia No: Frank Cerasoli Abstain: Betsy Allyn, Jennienne Burke, Jackie Pioli Absent: Antoine Savage See More Collapse

Some board members pushed for adjustments to Kims spending plan. In a last minute resolution proposed by Allyn, the board unanimously voted to move $80,000 from a student activities fund. Five thousand of that will go toward helping students at Rippowam Middle School pay for lighting for their spring musical; the rest will be used to help food insecure students across the district.

They dont have an equitable auditorium to other middle schools, said Allyn who had a child in the theater program at Rippowam and has been vocal about the poor quality of the auditorium in the past.

Pioli tried to pass a motion to reallocate funds in the amount of $450,000 from Stamford Academy and Trailblazers Academy, both charter schools, toward creating two new central office positions and two reading teacher positions. The central office positions would include a chief information officer and someone to do data analytics.

Kim said if the motion passed, he would like a note on the budget saying it was not recommended by the superintendent.

While the motion failed to pass with only Allyn and Pioli voting in favor, other board members said they liked the concept, but felt the timing was not right.

Ive long thought we shouldve had a chief information officer position and I still think we should have one, Burke said. Maybe now is not the time, but Id to consider that as an option if we do look at (budget) reallocation.

erin.kayata@stamfordadvocate.com; (203) 964-2265; @erin_kayata
STAMFORD  The last defendant charged in connection with the murder of a Stamford man in 2016 pleaded guilty Friday to a charge that will land him in jail for just six months, news reports indicate.

Max Gemma, 31, pleaded guilty in Manhattan court to one count of hindering the prosecution, according to the NY Post.

In court, Gemma confessed to trying to help cover up the killing of Joseph Comunale, 26, of Stamford  whose body was found in a shallow grave in New Jersey on Nov. 16, 2016.

The co-defendants, James Rackover and Larry Dilione, were already convicted of killing the Stamford resident. Rackover was convicted of murder and sentenced to 28 and two-third years to life in prison. Dilione was sentenced to serve 23 years after he pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.

Accordign to the NY Post, Rackover and Dilione beat Comunale on Nov. 13, 2016, during an argument sparked by their supply of cocaine running out inside an apartment on East 59th Street in New York City.

You, Max Gemma, lied to police and concealed that you witnessed Mr. Rackover and Mr. Dilione attack and beat Joseph Comunale? Justice James Burke asked Gemma, according to the NY Post. You also concealed that you believed that they had killed Joseph Comunale shortly after that assault?

Yes, replied Gemma, according to the NY Post.

Gemma will be formally sentenced April 12.

News reports indicate Comunales body was thrown from a fourth-floor window that night, put into the trunk of a car and brought to Dilione and Gemmas hometown of Oceanport, NJ. Then, they pour gasoline over Comunales body and lit the body on fire before burying his remains in the shallow grave.

Gemmas lawyer, Mark Bederow, told the NY Post: He took responsibility today, but its important to know that the plea relates to statements made to the police after the crime, and he has not been convicted of anything related to the horrible violence committed inside the apartment by Rackover and Dilione.

Gemma had be indicted on two counts of hindering the prosecution and one count of tampering with evidence, the NY Post reported, adding that Gemma was accused of watching his friends beat Comunale.

When police tracked Gemma down on Nov. 15, 2016, the NY Post reported, he said there had been no arguments and that Comunale was gone by the time he left Rackovers NYC apartment that night.

Trial testimony indicated Comunale was stabbed more than 15 times before Rackover tried to dismember him in the bathtub, the NY Post reported.

Now that Max Gemma has admitted his guilt, its time he finally tells the whole truth about what happened and acknowledge all the people who helped him and his co-defendants attempt to get away with this crime, Robert Abrams, Comunales familys lawyer, told the NY Post.
It was the light of dawn, a rainbow on a rainy day, a show of strength, an expression of freedom and democracy in an environment that has seen a lack of discipline and appreciation for what a country means.

Yes, those beautiful ladies  Democrats and Republicans  displayed what many of us feel but have no voice in what is now transpiring in D.C. The acknowledgment of those ladies dressed in white was a great tribute, even though the one who singled out the women was responsible for the ladies coming together and demanding a voice in the future of our country.

God bless America.

D.M. Lopez

Where Beto failed

With the list of Democratic candidates for our presidency growing almost daily, I hope one politician doesnt join the group.

Beto ORourke has lost me as a voter. Call me an old fogey  or is that too old a label? Then call me something else, but he said a word that perhaps, symbolically, reinforces my general conception of Democrats.

Its simple. We just shouldnt unnecessarily offend anyone in our presence, and that includes a TV audience. The F-word has no place in political, public discourse. Its simply good manners, and moral  not that the current president is any role model.

Is ORourke 46 years old? I thought he was younger. Much younger.

Thomas W. McNair, San Marcos

Because I can

This is America, and dont you forget it. So dont tell me not to speak Spanish, Chinese or any other language I want. The U.S. Constitution protects this right.

Thank you (gracias). Bye (adios).

Frank C. Lozano

Guns a birthright

Re: NRAs influence is showing signs of decline, Nation, Feb. 3:

This article says that law professor Adam Winkler notes, in part, that the Second Amendment gives Americans the right to keep and bear arms.

This is incorrect and shows a lack of understanding of where our basic human rights originate. It is also the same misunderstanding I hear quite often from those who wish to abolish or restrict our right to keep and bear arms.

Our right to keep and bear arms  indeed, all of our rights, including those specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights  are ours by right of birth and predate the founding of the United States of America. This is actually mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.

One of the functions of our Constitution, as amended, is to protect our rights from intrusion by our government in order to prevent us from being enslaved by those who wish to control us for their own benefit. Any high school graduate should be able to tell you that the granting of rights is not in any way associated with any function of our government. If somehow the Second Amendment were to be abolished, our right would still exist but would no longer be protected. That would be a very sad state of affairs, in my opinion.

It is important for all of us to understand this as we debate what we like or dislike about our society today. Our freedoms were paid for by the sweat and blood of our ancestors at the beginning of our history, as well as by those who have defended our country through the years. They should not be so easily misunderstood or given up by anyone.

Robert E. Thornburgh III, Canyon Lake

Civil rights attacked

Re: Voter purge branded as witch hunt, front page, Jan. 30:

Wilson County undoubtedly has received its voter purge list from the Texas attorney general and secretary of state. It will be interesting to learn what is done with it.

The Wilson County chief tax appraiser has notified us that shes denying our near decade-old homestead exemption essentially because our mailing address happens to be a UPS store in Bexar County and does not match our homestead address.

Her baseless, uneducated conclusion is that we dont reside in Wilson County. When we attempted to show her proof by the address on our drivers licenses, she refused the mere courtesy of coming out of her office.

Yes, were Hispanic. In truth, basic civil rights are under attack on many fronts for spurious reasons by those who believe they wield the power. Kudos to LULAC for pursuing legal recourse.

Faustina Castillo, Floresville

A political bomb

Re: Question turns the census into a political weapon, Feb. 3:

The census commentary by Robert Brischetto was very interesting.

Like the title of his piece, I do not know if his motivation was political, but the suggested census sans citizenship question becomes a political weapon.

I think, if we are not careful, policies that hide illegal immigration and reinstate voting rights to convicted felons runs the risk of disenfranchising law-abiding citizen voters. A public who truly believes their voice doesnt matter is a political atomic bomb.

Steven Goetsch

All those -isms

There are a lot of terms being tossed around lately, so I would like to share some definitions I came across years ago.

Socialism: You have two cows, and give one to your neighbor.

Communism: You have two cows, the government takes both and gives you the milk.

Fascism: You have two cows, the government takes both and sells you the milk.

Fair dealism:  have two cows, the government takes both, shoots one, milks the other, and throws away the milk.

Capitalism: You have two cows, you sell one and buy a bull.

There. That should clear things up.

Judith Howse
Re: In El Paso, Trump and ORourke go head-to-head over wall, Monday:

How does one determine the effects of the wall on crime statistics when you dont know if the suspects of those crimes are citizens or illegal aliens? And you dont know if those illegal aliens got to El Paso before or after the wall was built. And you definitely dont know the true crime rate because crimes committed on illegals by illegals are not reported for fear of being arrested and/or deported.

Lets face it: If we cant take care of the illegals who are already here, then what would be the advantage of having more coming here and overwhelming our already overwhelmed social services and our school districts?

Why are some other countrys problems now becoming ours? And why do the Democrats seem to not understand this problem? Is it because they dont want President Donald Trump to have any political victories?

Robert M. Louie

Build another wall

The longer I listen to Donald Trumps endless demand for a border wall, the more convinced I am that building it is somehow connected to his personal view of his own masculinity. Since the majority of Texans do not want to give away a large portion of our land and a shared river to Mexico, Id like to propose that Trump get a wall built on the eastern side of the Mississippi.

He can use eminent domain to take at least a 150-foot stretch of land from every landowner along the river. Then he can build his wall high enough to keep air traffic on the East Coast from coming to the West Coast. This should keep him out of Texas, plus give him bragging rights on building the tallest wall in the world.

Hopefully, this would satisfy his ego while leaving us in one piece.

Katherine Hess

Let statues stand

Re: Of all ways to honor ones heritage, compassion the best, by Mike Brown, Opinion, Feb. 10:

Mr. Brown believes Confederate monuments should be taken down. On the contrary, they should be used as portals for learning.

Those who support the take down opinion always refer to slavery as the primary cause of the war. Not true. Look at the changes the Confederacy made to the Constitution to explain secession: a one-term limit of six years for the president; no protective tariffs for any industry; elimination of cost overruns by granting no extra compensation to any public agent; giving the president line-item veto on any bill; every bill had to relate to one subject; no riders the post office must pay its own way; and Congress had no authority to appropriate money for internal improvements, later termed earmarks or pork.

These are the main reasons the Confederacy left the U.S., mostly poor financial management by the government, which continues today.

Yes, slavery remained legal in the Confederacy, just like in the Union throughout the entire war. The Confederacy did not create slavery, nor did its soldiers (black, Hispanic, Native American and white) fight and die for four years for the 4 percent in the South who owned slaves.

Leave the monuments where they are. Discuss the issues they represent, and lets make our country better.

Richard Brewer

Ask Houston

Re: Citys long-term scooter solutions have promise, Feb. 7:

My wife and I were in Houston last weekend, during which we walked in a number of areas in and around downtown and the museum district.

Interestingly, we did not once find the sidewalks blocked by lines of scooters, and we did not have to constantly be aware of scooter riders coming at us from every direction. We did not round a corner only to have to dodge oncoming scooters, and none of the pictures we took are marred by the sight of scooters jumbled up in confusion in front of every building.

I have no idea what the regulations of Houston are in this matter, but clearly the plague of scooters that has visited San Antonio was neither inevitable nor unpreventable. I was encouraged by this editorial describing steps that are finally being taken by our City Council, but they seem too little too late. Perhaps they should look to Houstons example.

Finis Nabors
EDMUND D. FOUNTAIN /NYT

Texas has been waiting and waiting and waiting on the federal government to release more than $4 billion dedicated for Hurricane Harvey relief.

The funds are supposed to assist low-income and moderate-income Texans with repairs to their storm-damaged homes. The funds are supposed to mitigate damage when future hurricanes strike. But the funds have not been released and the next hurricane season is approaching. There is doubt the funds will be released on time.
Just outside Bexar Countys new Justice Intake and Assessment Center, where bail hearings take place and people are either locked up pretrial or released, an eye-catching sign from the bond industry has appeared.

In bright red letters against a white backdrop, it says, Say no to P.R.!!!

This is a reference to personal recognizance bonds, meaning a defendant is free pretrial without paying a cash bond. Defendants still face criminal charges, and there might be conditions with pretrial release to ensure public safety, which is why the sign goes on to say:

Why take weekly drug tests, pay weekly fees plus check-in person.

The sign is an absurd reminder of why civic leaders on the political right and left have questioned why wealth, as opposed to risk, should determine someones release from jail. As Mary Schmid Mergler of the nonprofit Texas Appleseed, which focuses on social and economic justice, wrote in an email, the sign is a falsity.

The bail bond industry has been claiming that they are effectively supervising people released on surety bond, and that PR bonds threaten public safety through the lack of supervision. In fact the opposite is true, she said.

For this reason, and others, judges in Harris County have moved to eliminate cash bail for nonviolent misdemeanors, and criminal justice reform is one of the top issues for lawmakers in Austin. Lawsuits have upended the use of cash bail for nonviolent misdemeanors across the country  and some Bexar County officials are acutely aware of the possibility of a lawsuit here.

Yet many Bexar County officials are inured to inherent inequities of the system, resisting local calls for bail reform, just as they resisted the expansion of the public defenders office and representation for defendants at bail hearings.

This go-along-to-get-along mentality is reflected in recent comments by County Court at-law Judge John Longoria. As administrative judge, he speaks for the county courts, which handle misdemeanors. But lately he has been speaking in defense of cash bail  even though he is aware of the problems with it.

It was Longoria who co-authored a letter last month with Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff calling for talks about bail reform for nonviolent misdemeanors here.

We are concerned that some people may be detained only because of cash bond requirements in Bexar County, they wrote. Some may lose their jobs, get expelled from school, or lose parental rights. We are also concerned that some may plead guilty just to get out of jail.

A week later, Longoria hit a different note, writing to Wolff: The Constitution does not require immediate release of indigent misdemeanor arrestees.

In other words, cash bail will remain for nonviolent misdemeanors in Bexar County.

It will remain even though Longoria also said in an interview, We dont want anyone to remain in jail because of money.

It will remain even though officials have identified 130 people in jail on nonviolent misdemeanors simply because of money.

It will remain even though Janice Dotson-Stephens, a grandmother with schizophrenia, spent five months in jail on a $300 bond for a nonviolent misdemeanor. She died in jail in December.

Officials have said there is no evidence Dotson-Stephens court-appointed attorney, Jerry Valdez, made any attempt to see her. Have Longoria and the other misdemeanor judges considered some kind of sanction?

Actually, I am a little embarrassed that we havent looked into it for more detail, he said.

If our judges cant be bothered with this basic question, no wonder they are so incurious about bail reform.

This is not some outlandish policy. The state of New Jersey has generally scrapped cash bail, and the sky did not fall.

Peter McAleer, director of communications for the New Jersey Administrative Office of the Courts, said, New crime has not gone up. Violent crime has not gone up. But the jail population has dropped.

In an email interview, Shima Baradaran Baughman, a law professor with the University of Utah College of Law and author of The Bail Book, echoed these points, but she also added this:

There are more than 13 million misdemeanor crimes that flood our courtrooms each year. These individuals should be released because it is actually more detrimental to incarcerate them, as they are more likely to recidivate if they are jailed for 3 or more days.

Are there alternatives to cash bail?

Personal recognizance bonds work great, she wrote. So does pretrial release with supervision for people who are risky.

In other words, the very bonds and policies the bail industry and Bexar Countys judges oppose.

jbrodesky@express-news.net
If San Antonio Democrats get burned this time, it wont be because of complacency.

The party is riding a three-game losing streak when it comes to special elections involving legislative seats, and the last one  a September 2018 victory by Republican retired game warden Pete Flores in a Senate district that Dems had controlled since Reconstruction  stung the most.

So when Tuesday nights special election in House District 125  the seat Justin Rodriguez left to join the Bexar County Commissioners Court  set up yet another Democrat vs. Republican runoff, the Democratic Partys heavy hitters wasted no time in lining up behind their candidate.

That candidate, former Councilman Ray Lopez, launched his runoff campaign Saturday morning in Leon Valley with all eight members of San Antonios Democratic legislative caucus in attendance.

My campaign team is all in, said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, the organizer of Saturdays demonstration of delegation unity. Were raising money for him, were raising votes, were raising bodies for him. We will do whatever it takes to make sure that Ray is sitting next to us in middle to late March, representing you.

This show of solidarity and political muscle is a concession to the fact that Democrats dont do special elections very well in Bexar County. Over the past three years, theyve allowed three solid blue seats to flip, out of some combination of apathy and intra-party animosity.

Take the January 2016 special election to fill the House seat that opened up when kidney disease forced Joe Farias to step down.

A classic South Side turf war erupted between the two leading Democrats in that special election: Farias son Gabe and veteran Harlandale trustee Tomas Uresti. When Uresti made the runoff against Republican contender John Lujan, Farias did not support Uresti.

With South Side Democrats divided, Lujan walked away with the runoff.

The scenario played out on a grander scale last September with Flores.

State Rep. Roland Gutierrez and former Congressman Pete Gallego relentlessly slugged it out with each other, all but ignoring Flores.

By the time Gallego made it to the runoff, his candidacy had been badly bruised. In addition, Gutierrez did not endorse him in the runoff.

Flores upset win produced a special kind of election bitterness for local Dems.

After all, when Lujan flipped his House seat, Democrats knew that if they took care of business later that year in the general election, he wouldnt get the chance to serve during a legislative session.

That August, when independent Laura Thompson won a special election for a House seat vacated by East Side icon Ruth Jones McClendon, it merely meant that Thompson would be a placeholder rep for five months while the Legislature was inactive.

But Flores win meant at least two and a half years with a Republican in a Senate seat that Democrats had come to take for granted. It also gave the GOP the crucial final vote it needed to preserve its supermajority, and control the floor, in the Senate.

In House District 125, Republican Fred Rangel has the campaign guidance of the man who carried Flores to victory: Austin political consultant Matt Mackowiak.

Rangel also demonstrated Flores-esque strength in Tuesdays election, garnering nearly 38 percent of the vote and practically doubling the vote total of Lopez, his closest competitor.

At the same time, there are key ways in which this race differs from the Flores and Lujan upsets.

For one thing, there is no lingering bad blood between Lopez and his fellow Democratic candidates. Coda Rayo-Garza, the progressive activist who narrowly missed the runoff, has not yet offered Lopez an unequivocal personal endorsement, but she has made it clear that she wants the district to stay in Democratic hands.

We dont want it to end up flipped, she told me Friday. We definitely need to make sure it remains a Democratic seat.

In an important symbolic statement, Rayo-Garza made a brief appearance at Lopezs Saturday rally and posed for pictures with her fellow Democrats.

There is also the fact that House District 125 is simply a deeper shade of Democratic blue than the seats captured by Flores and Lujan.

In the 2016 presidential election, Flores Senate district went for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by a margin of 11 percentage points over Republican candidate Donald Trump. The House district won by Lujan went to Clinton by 15 percentage points. But Clinton carried House District 125 by 28 percentage points over Trump (61.6 percent to 33.7 percent).

This is a very different situation than youve seen with those other seats, said Christian Anderson, who managed the campaign of Tuesdays fourth-place finisher, Art Reyna. This is a very Democratic seat. Numerically, this is the sort of seat that should elect a Democrat in the runoff.

Which means that its not yet time for Democrats to panic. On the other hand, a little bit of panic might be their most effective antidote for complacency.

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
As difficult as it is, Patti Koo reads every word she can about priests and pastors who sexually abused children and adults in places that should have been safe, in houses of worship where perpetrators found protection and victims werent believed.

Shes a survivor of such abuse. Her pastor and Bible study teacher in the Rio Grande Valley groomed and manipulated her when she was at her most vulnerable  when she was in counseling with him, where he sexualized religious notions and ultimately assaulted her.

He was a popular preacher, had a religion column in the local newspaper, the McAllen Monitor, and enjoyed the support of congregants. They didnt believe Koo and blamed her instead. We lost a lot of friends, she said.

Its why many survivors never report the abuse, says Candace Christensen, who specializes in gender-based violence prevention in the Department of Social Work at the University of Texas in San Antonio. Thats especially true in cases where the stories around the abuse are complicated and not as clear-cut as the rape of a child.

She calls those who come forward heroic.

Over the span of 18 months, beginning in 2000, Koos Baptist-ordained Presbyterian preacher Kenneth Perry Wood sexually abused and assaulted her. She was 44 then, and a physicians assistant.

I should have known better, she recalls thinking over and over again. Her journey included a suicide attempt. She knew the risks of going public.

It took all she had to tell her husband. It took far more to tell her children. Then she and her husband went to the police.

Mission Presbytery, the San Antonio-based regional authority of the denomination, discouraged the McAllen church from hiring Wood over questions of financial malfeasance. At one point, it ordered him to stop preaching, teaching or offering pastoral care.

Koo was empowered by seeing her complaint through the judicial system. Wood was charged with sexual assault by a mental health professional and convicted of a second-degree felony. He received deferred adjudication. He didnt serve time but got five years probation and has to register as a sex offender.

Helping others has been part of Koos own healing. Shes a volunteer peer counselor for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. SNAP has been busy as dioceses make public their files on credible accusations of sexual abuse by priests going back more than 75 years.

More victims are stepping forward by such reports. This past week the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News published an investigation exposing hundreds of Southern Baptist pastors for similar crimes, forcing the denomination to take some ownership of its complicity.

Koo encourages survivors to go to the police and contact the district attorney even if their abuse is decades old, even if their abusers are dead. Despite statutes of limitations, officials are waiting to see an outpouring, she says.

Koo discourages victims from filing reports with church officials, at least not first nor only with a church authority. Shes distrustful because theyve worked to keep the abuse secret.

Some social workers dont think reporting will necessarily be healing. Some of them point to other forms of non-punitive justice called restorative and transformative.

Koo is the SNAP volunteer who gets chased out of church parking lots, where she passes out flyers. That happened last fall outside a Catholic church in Canyon Lake, where a priest was removed because he was credibly accused of the sexual abuse of a minor in the 1980s.

At 62, Koo feels healed, at least most of the time.

In a second, something could happen, and youre back to it, she says. It can be something small. Something circles back to it. Somewhere in your brain, it collects.

She ticks off what she wants survivors to know: Her support group meets every second Monday in San Antonio. She speaks Spanish. Her email address is snappkoo@gmail.com.

On his Facebook page, Wood lists himself as a former associate pastor, counselor, newspaper columnist and youth minister, among other titles.

His biblical missives and stories of faith always begin with Thinking Allowed. Most are mundane. A few contain odd sexual overtones like this one: Christianity without resurrection is like making love in long johns.

Koo now attends a Methodist church.

Elaine Ayala is a columnist covering San Antonio and Bexar County. Read her on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | eayala@express-news.net | Twitter: @ElaineAyala
Following a national trend, Clear Channel Outdoor America, one of the worlds largest outdoor advertising providers, has agreed with the city of San Antonio to take down nearly 300 of its old-fashioned billboards if it gets a green light to add screens to some of its digital ones.

Its not a done deal yet. Mayor Ron Nirenberg said it would require a change to a city ordinance, but the presence of eight of the City Councils 11 members at a press conference this week suggests the prospect of near-certain approval.

Nirenberg expects an April vote on the sign code change. Clear Channel would have 18 months to remove its signs. It would be allowed to place digital ads on the back of a dozen of its existing digital billboards.

This will lead to the largest single reduction in billboards in the citys history, Nirenberg said. It will immediately reduce visual clutter from our roads and neighborhoods.

The company released a short statement saying it looked forward to working with the city on the proposed agreement and noting, As part of this community, weve responsibly operated digital and printed billboards in this market for decades under existing regulations.

Since the mid-1980s, the city has had a moratorium on the construction of any new billboards, said Mike Shannon, director of the citys development services department. During that time almost 1,000 billboards have either deteriorated and were removed or companies took them down in a two-for-one replacement program that allowed them to relocate a billboard if they retired two old ones.

This is happening all over the country, especially in more progressive cities, said Dave Westburg, publisher of BillboardInsider.com. The companies have lower expenses and generate more revenue with their digital boards, maybe six times as much as a static billboard.

The initial cost of a digital sign may be as high as $150,000, said Westburg, but it can serve as many as eight advertisers, while a static sign only displays one at a time. San Antonios sign code requires the digital ads not to change or flip more frequently than every 10 seconds and to not have flashing lights or be unusually bright.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did research that concluded digital signs werent more distracting than traditional ones,and the government allows them in certain areas along interstate highways, Westburg said.

Well continue to look at the issue of distracted driving to see if theres any negative effect (of digital boards), Shannon said. But there does not appear to be any significant concern compared to, say, your cell phone.

Flashing on premise signs one might see at restaurants, car dealerships or strip shopping centers, however, continue to generate plenty of complaints from citizens, he said.

The Clear Channel proposal includes the companys agreement to remove four square feet of existing static signage for every one square foot of new digital display that will be permitted. But no new digital structures are allowed.

Many communities would like to see that ratio at six-to-one or eight-to-one, but this is what the forward-looking cities are doing, Westburg said. Every once in a while a stupid city will ban digital altogether and so none of their existing billboards will be coming down. San Antonio did a good deal.

In the first quarter of 2018, Clear Channel had some 1,228 digital display billboards across the United States, and BillboardInsider quoted the companys CFO, Rich Bressler, as saying they pay for themselves in significantly less than five years.

Nirenberg said he would like a robust discussion of the proposed tweaking of the citys sign code and invited citizens to express their sentiments on SASpeakUp.com

bselcraig@express-news.net
Mays municipal elections are set, and one thing is clear: The showdown between Mayor Ron Nirenberg and City Councilman Greg Brockhouse will  predictably  take center stage.

After a watershed election in 2017 that seated six freshmen on the 10-member City Council, those who watch the political scene in San Antonio say the lead-up to this years filing deadline has been quieter than usual, leaving most incumbents on the council with a relatively clear path to re-election. Candidates had until 5 p.m. Friday to file to appear on the May 4 ballot.

District 1 Councilman Roberto Trevino will likely face the toughest challenge  eight people have filed to run against him  as he seeks a third full term. Candidates will also vie for three open seats: the East Sides District 2, the Southwest Sides District 4, and the West Sides District 6.

But the mayors race is expected to bring the most fireworks. Nirenberg, who two years ago became the first sitting council member in nearly two decades to challenge a mayor, now has his own challenger from within.

Ron Nirenberg and I are going to have a great conversation, Brockhouse, who has served one term as the District 6 councilman, said on a recent episode of the San Antonio Express-News Puro Politics podcast. I fully anticipate him becoming the political dirty attack dog.  And well just have to litigate that when that time comes.

Nirenberg said he would run on issues, adding, If Councilman Brockhouse wants to make it divisive, thats his choice, and it wouldnt be any different than what weve expected from him as a council member.

Brockhouse made his bid official at an Old Highway 90 launch party last weekend, and it hardly came as a surprise. He has been a constant thorn in Nirenbergs side since both were elected to their posts two years ago. He has railed against the operating procedures of City Hall, calling out closed-door deals and requesting more council hearings be held in public view.

Meanwhile, the mayor has brushed aside Brockhouses tactics as political theater. The men agree on at least one thing: The election will present a relatively clear choice for voters; there wont be much overlap.

Nirenberg has championed causes such as an ambitious framework for modernizing San Antonios transportation system, a $25 million investment for the first phase of an affordable housing expansion, and a climate plan to make the city carbon-neutral by 2050. He touts what he calls the economic momentum of the city and statistically full employment.

People have a very clear choice between maintaining the momentum the city is experiencing along with the prosperity the city is achieving  versus the chaos that is iconic of Councilman Brockhouse, Nirenberg said.

Brockhouse said he will focus on jobs and wages, transparency and public safety. He said he fundamentally disagrees with the mayors affordable housing plan and would instead reduce fees on construction to help make homes more affordable, in addition to putting more money in residents pockets. He cites figures from 2018 that showed the slowest job creation in San Antonio in a decade.

You cant have the worst job creation in 10 years after saying youre going to have the best job creation, it makes no sense, Brockhouse said on the podcast.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio struggled to add jobs in 2018, and 2019 isnt looking any better

But perhaps nowhere have the men sparred more than in the citys contentious relationship with the San Antonio Professional Firefighters Association. Brockhouse, who was a contractor for the union before his election, has been its staunchest ally on the council.

The fire union led an initiative in the Nov. 6 election on three charter amendments challenging City Hall. Brockhouse was the only council member to support all three amendments, and Nirenberg led the campaign against them. Voters approved two of the three items.

Does the fact that two amendments passed mean Nirenberg is in trouble?

Thats for the political prognosticators to figure out, the mayor said. Were going to run on the issues that people care about.

On ExpressNews.com: In secret recording, Steele lays out San Antonio firefighter unions plans

Heres a breakdown of the candidates running for office in May.

Mayor : Seven lesser-known candidates will join Nirenberg and Brockhouse in vying for the citys top job. They are community activist Tony Diaz, psychologist John Velasquez, political scientist Matt Pina, Toyota inspector Carlos Castanuela, middle school teacher Tim Atwood, retired Air Force Col. Bert Cecconi and Michael Commander Idrogo, who listed federal officer Navy commander veteran as his occupation.

District 1 : Councilman Roberto Trevino, first appointed in December 2014, drew the most robust competition of any incumbent in his bid for re-election.

Justin Holley, who chaired the San Antonio Hotel and Lodging Association, has been collecting money for a run since August, bringing in more cash (roughly $30,000) than Trevino ($20,000).

Other candidates for the downtown seat include contractor Brad Kessler, retired military educator Alan Dennis Inchaurregui, retiree Raymond Zavala, attorney Lauro Bustamante, barista Colton Unden, international trade specialist Oscar Magana and retiree Richard Gonzales, who is disabled.

District 2 : Ten people are vying for the East Side seat left vacant by William Cruz Shaw, who resigned to become an associate juvenile judge. Art Hall, who was appointed in January to fill his term, said he wouldnt run in May.

The roster includes Jada Andrews-Sullivan, a disabled veteran who was among the finalists for the appointment; Dereck Hillyer, a retired firefighter who also applied for the appointment and whose troubling work history was revealed in a city memo; and Keith Toney, who narrowly missed a runoff for the seat in 2017.

Also running are student Walter E. Perry Sr., artist and teacher Denise Gutierrez-Homer, student Richard Anthony Ramey, seasonal laborer Joseph Powell, program coordinator Ruben I. Arciniega, retiree Aubry Lewis and self-employed Salena Santibanez Guipzot.

On ExpressNews.com: Retiring San Antonio firefighter's past likely will disqualify him for council seat he seeks

District 3 : Councilwoman Rebecca Viagran is hoping to win her fourth term for the Southeast Side seat, which would be her last before term limits force her off the council.

Liz Campos, a business owner and former chief of staff to former state Sen. Carlos Uresti, is the only candidate challenging the incumbent.

District 4 : Because of term limits, Rey Saldana will not represent the Southwest Side for the first time in eight years.

The field to succeed him is former Ethics Review Board chair Adriana Rocha Garcia, retiree Johnny Arredondo, political activist Genevieve Trinidad, salesman Joel Mendoza and Samantha Sami Sanchez, a quality and proposal specialist.

District 5 : Like Viagran, Councilwoman Shirley Gonzales is seeking her fourth and final term, representing parts of downtown and the West Side. Shell face Jill Davila, who is self-employed, business owner Anthony Gres, repeat candidate Nazirite Ruben F. Perez and Farooq FH Malik, who works in finance.

District 6 : Melissa Cabello Havrda, who narrowly lost a runoff to Brockhouse for the seat two years ago, is back and will face accountant Andy Greene, after-school specialist Mario Adame and federal government worker Robert Herrera.

District 7 : Councilwoman Ana Sandoval is one of four freshmen seeking re-election. The engineer and urban planner will have three challengers: Will McLeod, a conservative who ran for mayor in 2017; self-employed Kimberly Grant; and public relations professional Trevor Whitney. The district covers parts of the West and Northwest sides.

District 8 : Councilman Manny Pelaez will face two challengers in his bid for a second term in the Northwest Side district. Frankie Gonzales-Wolfe, a political consultant, announced in November that she would run. If elected, she would become the first transgender person on a city council in Texas.

Tony Valdivia, who unsuccessfully ran for state Senate as a Libertarian last year, filed Friday to run, as well.

District 9 : Councilman John Courage, who had run for various offices as a Democrat in the past, will seek to hold his seat in one of the citys most conservative districts. He faces three challengers on the North Side: Patrick Van Dohlen, a social conservative who finished 3 percentage points behind Courage in the 2017 election; personal trainer Richard Reza Versace; and software developer Nicholas Balderas.

District 10 : Councilman Clayton Perry, a conservative and frequent dissenter at City Hall, drew four challengers for his Northeast Side seat: self-employed Maria Perez, pediatrician Elise Kibler, real estate investor Reinette King and Linda Montellano, who does unemployment claims for the Texas Workforce Commission.

Dylan McGuinness covers City Hall and local politics in San Antonio. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | dylan.mcguinness@express-news.net | Twitter: @DylMcGuinness
Trustee hopefuls are running for seats on the Harlandale Independent School District board in the May election despite a cloud of uncertainty caused by a Texas Education Agency report that recommended a state takeover of the district and a possible criminal investigation.

By the filing deadline Friday, eight candidates, including one incumbent, two former trustees and a former candidate who ran unsuccessfully, had submitted paperwork to seek three trustee positions.

Running for Place 5 are Elaine Anaya-Ortiz, 54, an administrative support specialist for the federal government, and former trustee Tomas Uresti, 58. Incumbent Jesus Tejeda, who filled the remainder of Urestis term after the state legislator resigned in 2016, is not seeking re-election.

In Place 6, the candidates are Jesse Diaz, 47, a technology trainer and talent management system leader for the Alamo Colleges District, Lorenzo Gonzalez, 31, an insurance broker, and Elizabeth Limon, 58, a substitute teacher in the district who ran unsuccessfully in 2015. Incumbent Carlos Quezada resigned in December after being elected to a judgeship.

Running for Place 7 are Jesse Jay Alaniz, 65, a former board president, Lee Martinez Jr., 24, a San Antonio Police Department 911 call taker, and incumbent Ricardo Moreno, 33, a middle school teacher in the Northside Independent School District. Moreno unseated Alaniz in 2015.

In November, the TEA informed the Harlandale board that it had concluded a more than yearlong investigation into complaints about governance, contract procurement and conflicts of interest, among other matters. The report recommended replacing the elected trustees with a board of managers appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.

On ExpressNews.com: TEA report slams Harlandale ISD leaders

The district filed a response in December seeking to rebut the findings. A TEA spokeswoman at the time said a final decision could be handed down in mid-January, but the agency has been silent in the weeks since.

On ExpressNews.com: Harlandale ISD board votes to extend superintendents contract

Meanwhile, the board has conducted business as usual. Trustees voted in late January to extend the contract of Superintendent Rey Madrigal.

Similar situations have played out in recent years at Edgewood and Southside ISDs, both of which were placed under state-appointed managers but have held elections, with candidates knowing it could be years before winners could take their places on the boards.

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
A gunman killed five people and wounded five police officers Friday afternoon after opening fire inside of a warehouse in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois, police say.

Aurora Police Chief Kristin Zimen said the suspected gunman, 45-year-old Gary Martin, was killed in an exchange of fire with police after shooting several employees of the Henry Pratt Co. and officers who rushed to the company's warehouse.

Zimen said during a brief news conference that officers were "fired upon immediately" upon responding to the 29,000-square-foot warehouse at about 1:30 p.m. Central time. Police believe Martin was an employee at the warehouse.

Now Playing: City officials report an active shooter situation at an industrial park in Aurora, Illinois. Local media reporting multiple people injured. (Feb. 15) Video: Associated Press

The company had fired Martin on Friday before the shooting, police said.

Police say the five wounded officers were taken to local hospitals, and two were then transferred to trauma centers. A sixth officer suffered a knee injury. Police did not take questions but scheduled a second news conference Friday night. Police did not specify if any others were injured, or how many.

Gabriel Gonzales, an Iraq War Marine veteran who can see the Henry Pratt warehouse from his front yard, said the number of police vehicles, flashing lights and armored cars Friday afternoon were giving him flashbacks.

"When you are a combat zone, you expect it," said Gonzales. "I've never seen this many police officers anywhere."

He was watching his grandchildren, who were mesmerized by the activity unfolding through the window, and worrying about their brother Anthony, whose school was put under lock down.

"My grandson had a school lock down at 8 years old. I mean, can you believe that?" Gonzalez said. "Back when I was a kid, it was just tornadoes."

At the news conference, Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin said the shooting marked "a sad day in the city."

"For so many years we've seen similar situations throughout our nation," he said. "To experience it firsthand is even more painful."

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D, lauded the efforts of law enforcement officers and first responders before lamenting the "epidemic of gun violence that continues to ravage so many communities."

The victims' families, he said, "join a group that should not exist, yet continues to grow."

Tiffany Probst, 38, a legal assistant, said her best friend saw a post on Facebook about the shooting and started texting "that your dad might be inside!"

Her father, John, has worked as a machinist in the building for more than 40 years. He has three grown children and has five grandchildren. She raced down to the warehouse but was blocked by police.

"I knew there was no way to call him because he's old-school and never has a cellphone," she said. But then she heard from friends that her father was giving television interviews and talking with the police.

"He's safe and talking to the news," she said. "He's not much of a talker, but when it comes to this, I can tell by his voice he's real shaken up. We are looking forward to giving him a hug."

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., tweeted Friday that she was following the situation. "This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans," Duckworth wrote. "Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter."

"My heart breaks for Aurora," Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., tweeted. "I'm tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency."

Nancy Caal, who works at Erwin's Truck Repair near the scene of the shooting, told The Post that she heard the din of sirens as police cars and ambulances rushed to the building behind hers.

She and two others put the shop on lockdown when they saw armed officers heading toward the adjacent Henry Pratt warehouse.

News reports of an active shooter there confirmed their fears shortly after.

"We are kind of nervous," Caal said. "It looks like something big is going on out there."

- - -

The Washington Post's Mark Berman and Julie Tate contributed to this report.
this news is not available
Despite widespread infection, some frog populations are surviving a deadly disease that is the equivalent of mankind's Ebola virus. The reason --genetic diversity.

That's the finding of a new study published this week in the journal Immunogenetics. Anna Savage, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Central Florida, is the lead author of the study.

The research is important because frogs are facing what may be a mass extinction as a result of disease, Savage says.

"If you have more genetic variation, you have more potential to respond and adapt to anything," Savage says.

However, protecting frog habitats from destruction and pollution is critical, she says.

"Don't destroy habitats, maintain large population sizes -- these simple things are the best actions to implement, given whatever limited information we have, to give populations the chance to rebound," she says.

The virus Savage and her colleagues studied is called Ranavirus. It affects cold-blooded animals, such as amphibians, reptiles and fish. It causes a tadpole's internal organs to fill with blood and explode, much like the Ebola virus does in humans. It is one of the top two pathogens causing worldwide amphibian decline.

Researchers suspect that Ranavirus and other similar pathogens have long been in the environment, but they are exploring why the pathogens are now causing so many disease outbreaks.

"Certainly, the rise of these infectious pathogens coincides with the period when global temperatures started to significantly increase," she says. "There are a lot of biologists working on studies trying to tease apart the relationship between climate and amphibian health and how that might translate to some of these global disease problems."

It is important to study frogs because of the roles they play, Savage says. They help control diseases by eating insects that can infect humans and also are an essential part of the food chain.

"If we lost them, there would be this major energetic crisis where we wouldn't have a food source for many other animals that depend on them to survive," Savage says.

In the study, researchers collected tail clippings from tadpoles in 17 randomly selected ponds in Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland over the course of two years. Tail clipping is a minimally invasive and nonlethal method for tissue collection. The clippings were used to analyze and determine the presence and severity of Ranavirus in the tadpoles. The team also checked for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which can help a tadpole's immune system fight off disease.

They found Ranavirus infection in 26 percent of the 381 tadpoles they sampled and that the presence of a particular combination of MHC genes was associated with decreased severity of the virus.

"There was evidence that this combination of immune genes was helping those individuals limit how bad the viral infection can get," she says. "To our knowledge this is the first study that shows that this group of immune genes is actually important for Ranavirus susceptibility."

The findings could have implications for frog species in Florida, as Ranavirus is a disease that threatens frogs in the state, including the American bullfrog, the southern leopard frog and the endangered Gopher frog.

"These immune genes aren't completely different across different species," she says. "We actually see a lot of the same variants shared at the level of the entire genus or even the whole family. So, some of the work we've done is showing that we're finding the same genetic variants in wood frogs as in other frogs, including species in Florida."

###

Co-authors of the study were Carly R. Muletz-Wolz, a research scientist with the Center for Conservation Genomics at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; Evan H. Campbell Grant, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; Robert C. Fleischer, a senior scientist and head of the Center for Conservation Genomics at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; and Kevin P. Mulder, a joint doctoral student in the Savage Lab, at the Research Center for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources of the University of Porto, and a pre-doctoral fellow at the Bell lab of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Savage's lab studies disease genomics in amphibians and reptiles, and she is a member of UCF's Genomics and Bioinformatics Cluster. She received her doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University. She joined UCF in 2015.

The study was funded by an Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Grant Fund award and the U.S. Geological Survey Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.

Founded in 1963 with a commitment to expanding opportunity and demanding excellence, the University of Central Florida develops the talent needed to advance the prosperity and welfare of our society. With more than 68,000 students, UCF is one of the nation's largest universities, offering more than 220 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations in Central Florida and online. For more information, visit ucf.edu.
Matto Mildenberger, University of California Santa Barbara explains how perceived experiences with climate change in the United States can be linked to political shifts in Congress, culture and society. He will demonstrate how partisan opinions about the prevalence and dangers of climate change in each of the 50 states and 435 congressional districts in the United States can change policymaking by Congress.

Announcing the 2018 Partisan Climate Opinion Maps

We are pleased to announce our new estimates of Democrats and Republicans who hold particular beliefs, attitudes, and policy preferences about global warming. These estimates cover both states and US congressional districts. The visualize the distribution of climate and energy beliefs among US Democrats and US Republicans.

This new data release will be made available shortly at: http://climatecommunication. yale. edu/ visualizations-data/

About the Partisan Climate Opinion Maps

Even as US partisan polarization shapes climate and energy beliefs and attitudes, substantial heterogeneity in climate opinions still exists among both Republicans and Democrats. To date, our understanding of this partisan variability has been limited to analysis of national or less commonly, state-level opinion poll subsamples. The Partisan Climate Opinion Maps provide new data about how Republican and Democratic climate and energy opinions vary across all 50 states and all 435 congressional districts. They reveal new spatial patterns with policy-relevant implications for the trajectory of US climate change policy reforms. These maps have now been updated through to 2018, and give new information about the state of partisan climate and energy beliefs in the current political context.

The public opinion estimates were generated using a statistical model that combines nationally representative survey data gathered by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason Center for Climate Change Communication between 2008 and 2016 with voter registration, U.S. census, and geographic data. Party registration data is available for 32 states, and is imputed in the remaining states (i.e., in Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin).

###

Details about the methods can be found here:

Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., Howe, P.D., & Leiserowitz, A. (2017) "The spatial distribution of Republican and Democratic climate opinions at state and local scales," Climatic Change. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s10584-017-2103-0 .

Additional information can be found in Howe, P., Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., and Leiserowitz, A., "Geographic variation in opinions on climate change at state and local scales in the USA," Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/nclimate2583.

Can I use the data?

Yes. We encourage you to explore the maps and use the results in your own work. The data are available on our Data Download tab at the top of this page so that you can do your own analyses and create your own visualizations. If you publish an academic paper using these data please acknowledge the source by using the following citation:

Mildenberger, M., Marlon, J.R., Howe, P.D., & Leiserowitz, A. (2017) "The spatial distribution of Republican and Democratic climate opinions at state and local scales," Climatic Change. https:/ / doi. org/ 10. 1007/ s10584-017-2103-0 .

If you publish a news article, visualization or blog post using these data, please include a link back to the Partisan Climate Opinion Maps website.
CHICAGO--On February 16, the Art Institute of Chicago announced the results of significant new research on five terracotta sculptures--so named Bankoni after a village in present-day Mali where they were found. The objects date from between the 12th and 15th centuries. This places them "among the oldest surviving sculptures from sub-Saharan Africa and among the oldest works of African art in the Art Institute's collection beyond Egypt," according to Constantine Petridis, Chair of the Arts of the Americas and Africa and Curator of African Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

The Art Institute's Bankoni figures are exceptional, not only for their large size and fine detail, but also for the fact that they have remained as a group throughout history (whereas others have been dispersed). The group's inclusion in a major traveling exhibition, Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa, presented the Art Institute's Conservation & Science department with an unprecedented opportunity to expand on previous scientific analysis using cutting-edge technology made possible by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine.

"Thanks to our long-standing relationship with Dr. Michael Vannier, a radiologist at the University of Chicago School of Medicine, we were able to use computed axial tomography or CT scanning--which is basically an X-ray but in 3D--to closely examine the ceramic," said Rachel Sabino, Objects Conservator in the Department of Conservation & Science at the Art Institute of Chicago. "As each figure went through the scanner we were able to see immediately that they had all been created with the exact same clay and with the exact same fabrication methods. This confirmed for us that our five were conceived as a group from the start and that they aren't figures from different places or different potters."

The results also verified that the sculptures were not "pastiches" made from unrelated fragments of the appropriate age, as is sometimes discovered to be the case with ancient ceramics. Additionally, 3D models generated from the CT data helped pinpoint locations for sample sites to use in thermoluminescence (TL) testing, a specialized technique for dating ceramics. The TL results revealed that the objects were fired between 500 and 800 years ago, older than previous testing had indicated.

These types of collaborations between museums and hospitals have expanded the conservator's toolkit by giving them access to the most advanced technologies and to equipment that would be otherwise unavailable. Their medical partners' specialized knowledge guarantees that conservators have the best instrumental protocol available to find answers to their questions and that the results will be interpreted accurately.

"The encyclopedic collection at the Art Institute of Chicago serves as a reference standard for both scholars and the general public, so it's crucial that the objects on display in service to a museum's educational and social mission be what they purport to be. To that end, we are absolutely thrilled at the extent to which this partnership has allowed us to see just how ancient, how unique and how exceptional our figures really are," said Sabino.

###

The Art Institute of Chicago's Bankoni figures will be on view in the traveling exhibition Caravans of Gold, Fragments in Time: Art, Culture and Exchange Across Medieval Saharan Africa at the following dates and locations:

The Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL

Jan 26, 2019 to July 21, 2019

Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada

Sept 21, 2019 to Feb 23, 2020

Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC

Apr 8, 2020 to Nov 29, 2020

Image:

Bankoni. Equestrian and Four Figures. Mali. 1175-1500. Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment
The Italian striker failed to score in 10 games for Nice this season, and questions were raised about whether he was match fit when Marseille signed him last month. But he's turned the talk into whether his goals can help Marseille push for third place in the French league, and a spot in the Champions League qualifying rounds.
Software- and computer-based works of art are fragile--not unlike their canvas counterparts--as their underlying technologies such as operating systems and programming languages change rapidly, placing these works at risk.

These include Shu Lea Cheang's Brandon (1998-99), Mark Napier's net.flag (2002), and John F. Simon Jr.'s Unfolding Object (2002), three online works recently conserved at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, through a collaboration with New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Fortunately, just as conservators have developed methods to protect traditional artworks, computer scientists, in collaboration with time-based media conservators, have created means to safeguard computer- or time-based art by following the same preservation principles.

"The principles of art conservation for traditional works of art can be applied to decision-making in conservation of software- and computer-based works of art with respect to programming language selection, programming techniques, documentation, and other aspects of software remediation during restoration," explains Deena Engel, a professor of computer science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Since 2014, she has been working with the Guggenheim Museum's Conservation Department to analyze, document, and preserve computer-based artworks from the museum's permanent collection. In 2016, the Guggenheim took more formal steps to ensure the stature of these works by establishing Conserving Computer-Based Art (CCBA), a research and treatment initiative aimed at preserving software and computer-based artworks held by the museum.

"As part of conserving contemporary art, conservators are faced with new challenges as artists use current technology as media for their artworks," says Engel. "If you think of a word processing document that you wrote 10 years ago, can you still open it and read or print it? Software-based art can be very complex. Museums are tasked with conserving and exhibiting works of art in perpetuity. It is important that museums and collectors learn to care for these vulnerable and important works in contemporary art so that future generations can enjoy them."

Under this initiative, a team led by Engel and Joanna Phillips, former senior conservator of time-based media at the Guggenheim Museum, and including conservation fellow Jonathan Farbowitz and Lena Stringari, deputy director and chief conservator at the Guggenheim Museum, explore and implement both technical and theoretical approaches to the treatment and restoration of software-based art.

In doing so, they not only strive to maintain the functionality and appeal of the original works, but also follow the ethical principles that guide conservation of traditional artwork, such as sculptures and paintings. Specifically, Engel and Phillips adhere to the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works' Code of Ethics, Guidelines for Practice, and Commentaries, applying these standards to artistic creations that rely on software as a medium.

"For example, if we migrate a work of software-based art from an obsolete programming environment to a current one, our selection and programming decisions in the new programming language and environment are informed in part by evaluating the artistic goals of the medium first used," explains Engel. "We strive to maintain respect for the artist's coding style and approach in our restoration."

So far, Phillips and Engel have completed two restorations of on-line artworks at the museum: Cheang's Brandon (restored in 2016-2017) and Simon's Unfolding Object (restored in 2018).

Commissioned by the Guggenheim in 1998, Brandon was the first of three web artworks acquired by the museum. Many features of the work had begun to fail within the fast-evolving technological landscape of the Internet: specific pages were no longer accessible, text and image animations no longer displayed properly, and internal and external links were broken. Through changes implemented by CCBA, Brandon fully resumes its programmed, functional, and aesthetic behaviors. The newly restored artwork can again be accessed at http://brandon. guggenheim. org .

Unfolding Object enables visitors from across the globe to create their own individual artwork online by unfolding the pages of a virtual "object"--a two-dimensional rectangular form--click by click, creating a new, multifaceted shape. Users may also see traces left by others who have previously unfolded the same facets, represented by lines or hash marks. The colors of the object and the background change depending on the time of day, so that two simultaneous users in different time zones are looking at different colors. But because the Java technology used to develop this early Internet artwork is now obsolete, the work was no longer supported by contemporary web browsers and is not easily accessible online.

The CCBA team, in dialogue with the artist, analyzed and documented the artwork's original source code and aesthetic and functional behaviors before identifying a treatment strategy. The team determined that a migration from the obsolete Java applet code to the contemporary programming language JavaScript was necessary. In place of a complete rewriting of the code, a treatment that art conservators would deem invasive, the CCBA team developed a new migration strategy more in line with contemporary conservation ethics, "code resituation," which preserves as much of the original source code as possible.

###

About the CCBA

A longtime pioneer in the field of contemporary art conservation, and one of the few institutions in the United States with dedicated staff and lab facilities for the conservation of time-based media art, the Guggenheim established the Conserving Computer-Based Art initiative in 2016. The first program dedicated to this subject at the museum, this multiyear project was created to research and develop better practices for the acquisition, preservation, maintenance, and display of computer-based art. By addressing the challenges of preserving digital artworks, including hardware failure, rapid obsolescence of operating systems, and artists' custom software, CCBA is tasked with the conservation of 22 computer-based artworks in the Guggenheim collection to ensure long-term storage and access to the public. The CCBA initiative is an opportunity for the Guggenheim to facilitate cross-institutional collaboration towards best-practice development, and CCBA integrates the museum's ongoing work with the faculty and students of the Department of Computer Science at NYU's Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences.

Conserving Computer-Based Art is supported by the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Art Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, Christie's, and Josh Elkes.

About the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937 and is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of modern and contemporary art through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim international constellation of museums includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; and the future Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. In 2019, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum celebrates 60 years as an architectural icon and "temple of spirit" where radical art and architecture meet. To learn more about the museum and the Guggenheim's activities around the world, visit guggenheim.org.

About the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences

New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences is a leading center for research and education in mathematics and computer science. The Institute has contributed to domestic and international science and engineering by promoting an integrated view of mathematics and computation. Faculty and students are engaged in a broad range of research activities, which include many areas of mathematics and computer science as well as the application of these disciplines to problems in the biological, physical, and economic sciences. The Courant Institute has played a central role in the development of applied mathematics, analysis, and computer science, and its faculty has received numerous national and international awards in recognition of their extraordinary research accomplishments. For more information, visit http://www. cims. nyu. edu/ .

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Lauren Van Natten

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

212.423.3840

pressoffice@guggenheim.org
The promises of quantum computing are abundant: for years we've heard how it will break cryptography, make drug discovery a cinch and speed up database search. Researchers around the world have successfully made quantum computers with dozens of quantum bits, but in order to deliver on the promises, they'll need many more.

Debbie Leung, a fellow in CIFAR's Quantum Information Science program and a faculty member at the University of Waterloo's Institute for Quantum Computing, will discuss the challenges of scaling quantum computing at the AAAS meeting on 16 February. She will focus on the ingredients required for accurate quantum computing operations and discuss recent progress with error-correcting codes. According to Leung, there are significant challenges ahead, but there are also many good reasons to be optimistic.

###

Talk:

Saturday 16 February, 10:00am-10:30am, Marriott Wardman Park - Virginia Suite

Debbie Leung - Making Quantum Information Processing Scalable

Part of Building Quantum Computers: Why and How session, 10:00am-11:30am
Every hoarse cry for purity coming from the BJP in fact signifies the contamination of democracy.

With the momentum for opposition unity building up, the unease in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) camp is becoming apparent. This is evident from the shrill statements that are being repeatedly made by its top leadership. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently derided the opposition unity and its efforts to form what he called a milavati sarkar (adulterated government). Amit Shah also mocked at the prospect of a coalition government formed by these opposition parties by saying that such a government would have a new Prime Minister every day. In his speech on the last day of the parliamentary session of the outgoing Lok Sabha, Modi himself harped on the need to have a majority government for stability, which, according to him, has enhanced Indias global stature. The BJP and its supporters are defending the partys claims of national leadership by constantly attempting to question who will be the leader of the opposition unity. This is also consistent with its political design to raise the bogey of a milavati opposition with the intention to put in the minds of the electorate that the BJP is the only homogeneous party that can offer a stable government to the country. Even though the message to the electorate to be aware of this milavati sarkar stems from the BJPs failure to ask for votes on the strength of its own performance, its obsession with stability and homogeneity is fundamentally antithetical to democracy.

The opposition unity striving to form an alternative government has to be understood in terms of the political reality that the electoral process does involve multiple and disparate political parties, which will have to work together. This is the genuine political expression of the diverse, but legitimate aspiration of social groups. However, such democratic assertions against an authoritarian party make such government adulterated or contaminated according to the BJP. However, what is adulteration or milavat from BJPs monolithical perspective is in fact a way to come to terms with the diverse and uneven social reality of India. The coming together of disparate political forces underscores the federal character of polity and the imminent failures of the current governments centralising and homogenising tendencies. Various opposition parties that are coming together against the BJP/National Democratic Alliance (NDA) represent diverse social forces, regions, and identities that cannot be claimed to be represented by one single party. Therefore, a coalition government is necessary to accommodate multipleat times contradictoryviews and interests. The element of compromise that is involved in ensuring this process of accommodation is, in fact, a guarantee of stability at the centre, as against the unadulterated unilateralism practised by the current government which only widens social fissures.
US general backsteps on remark over Korea troop pullout

Top US soldier in South Korea stirs controversy by suggesting American troops will stay until there is a peace treaty.

The American general heading US troops in South Korea tried on Friday to play down his earlier statement regarding a possible withdrawal of US forces from the country.

"Presence of US Forces Korea is not related to any potential declaration of an end to the Korea War or peace treaty," South Korean news agency Yonhap quoted Commander Gen. Robert Abrams as saying in a statement.

"THERE IS NO PLAN ABOUT A WITHDRAWAL"

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hinted in an interview Tuesday that President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may announce an end to the 1950-1953 Korean War in their upcoming summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, later this month.

The American general had stirred controversy after his statement to a congressional committee that "there was a possibility of the US troop withdrawal -- or drawdown -- in the event that a peace treaty is signed with Pyongyang".

Abrams statement had generated concerns in Seoul.

"The presence of US Forces Korea is an alliance matter to be decided by separate dialogue between Seoul and Washington," Seoul said Thursday. "There have been no discussions or any plan about a withdrawal or any troop curtailment in connection with the signing of a peace treaty."
Spanish prime minister calls snap elections for April 28

Pedro Sanchez of Spain called for a snap general election in April, opening a new chapter of national turmoil as the territorial conflict over Catalonia continues to weigh on the countrys politics.

The Spanish President Pedro Sanchez has called general elections on April 28. The announcement has come after the Governments defeat to approve the General State Budgets last Wednesday when the Congress rejected the so-called "more social budgets" of recent years.

BUDGET ATTEMPT HAD FAILED

The meeting comes after two Catalan separatist parties that had supported his Socialists (PSOE) in the Madrid parliament voted against his budget for the current fiscal year.

New elections loom as opposition parties focus the ire of conservative-minded Spaniards on Sanchezs policy of reaching out to separatist politicians in Catalonia who tried to split the region from Spain in 2017. Sanchezs attempt to pass his budget for 2019 failed on Wednesday when it was rejected in parliament after talks to broker the support of Catalan pro-independence parties broke down.
Parliament defeats Theresa May again

Prime Minister Theresa May suffered a defeat on her Brexit strategy on Thursday that undermined her pledge to European Union leaders to get her divorce deal approved if they grant her concessions.

In a show of muscle, hardline Brexit supporters in her Conservative Party decided to abstain, handing her an embarrassing, albeit symbolic, defeat as she tries to renegotiate her deal with the EU.

While it will not deter May from trying to secure changes on the most contentious issue of the deal - the Irish backstop - the vote does show that her pro-Brexit lawmakers are a major obstacle to passing any agreement.

NO DEAL NO BREXIT

May was absent from the House of Commons for the debate and the outcome of the vote, which deepened the sense of political crisis over Britains departure, more than two years after voters opted to leave the bloc by a margin of 52 percent to 48.

The crunch vote is now expected to come on Feb. 27, when May is due to return to parliament - and lawmakers who fear leaving without a deal could try to seize control of Britains departure from the EU.

The latest twist in the two-year negotiation to leave the EU underlines the rifts in parliament over how, or even whether, Britain should leave the bloc, its biggest political and trade policy shift in more than 40 years.

THE TRUST TO MAY IS AT AN ALL-TIME-LOW

It increases the possibility of Britain leaving without a deal, a nightmare scenario for many businesses, but also of Brexit being delayed or potentially never happening at all. Mays spokesman said she still believed parliament wanted her to keep pressing for changes to the Brexit deal: The government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on 29th March.





EU leaders, meanwhile, have repeatedly said there can be no substantive change to the legally binding withdrawal agreement containing the backstop, a guarantee that there can be no return of border controls between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU-member Ireland. With trust in the prime minister at an all-time low, one Conservative pro-Brexit lawmaker said the government could no longer ignore eurosceptics views.

With many Conservative lawmakers abstaining, the government defeat on its motion reaffirming support for Mays strategy was a heavy one, at 303 votes to 258.
"We had the chance with the second penalty to put it away, but Masip played superbly and we had to sweat it out until the end," Valverde said. "We needed to pass the ball more quickly in the first half. But if we generate the scoring opportunities like we had in the second half they will eventually go in."
Enid, OK (73701)

Today

Windy with thunderstorms this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 99F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms early, then mainly cloudy overnight with thunderstorms likely. Low 69F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
John Timothy Hudson, 62, of Elkmont, Alabama, died Monday, June 21, 2021, at his residence. Visitation is from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Friday at Spry Funeral Home in Athens. There will be a private graveside service at Limestone Memorial Gardens. Mr. Hudson was born July 3, 1958, in Decatur, Al
Giraffe to raise awareness of ocean pollution

A two metre high giraffe made from flip flops will be on display at The Strand Shopping Centre, to raise awareness of ocean pollution.

The colourful giraffe was created by charity Ocean Sole and made from 500 discarded flip flops collected from Kenyan shores.

It is estimated that around 700,000 flip flops are found off the beaches of Kenya every year, with the charity employing over 150 Kenyans to convert the flip flops into fun art to remind everyone that the ocean needs our help.

The giraffe has made its way to the Isle of Man thanks to the support of Standard Bank, who hope that the artwork will raise awareness of local flip-flop and beach pollution, something which is regularly encountered by the charity Beach Buddies.

Beach Buddies have adopted a similar approach this year, with the mission of turning rubbish collected from beaches into a giant piece of art. A large wire basking shark, selected because it lives in local waters, is to be filled with plastic waste found on Isle of Mans shores and displayed as part of the Islands first Environment Festival in May.
Police praise Bus Vannin and Braddan Primary School

Isle of Man Constabulary has thanked Braddan Primary School and Bus Vannin for their help following a collision.

Braddan Road was closed yesterday afternoon following a collision involving a female pedestrian and car.

Investigation work meant the main entrance to the school could not be accessed by parents to pick their children up.

A joint effort between the police, school and Bus Vannin saw children ferried by bus to a nearby car park to be picked up.

Bus Vannin provided two double-decker buses at short notice. Over 150 children were transported to Vagabond Rugby Club to be picked up by wating parents.

Bus Vannin also rerouted school buses to ensure that those children that got a bus home were unaffected.
Elkhart, IN (46516)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms - a few could contain very heavy rain, especially this afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 78F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Low 69F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Effingham, IL (62401)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High around 85F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Scattered thunderstorms during the evening, with mostly cloudy skies after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low around 75F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
The Russian military is taking measures to protect the residents of a remote Arctic settlement from a mass of polar bears, German press agency DPA reported.

The move comes after regional authorities declared a state of emergency over the weekend after sightings of more than 50 bears in the town of Belushya Guba since December.

The military's official newspaper, Krasnaya Zvezda (or "Red Star"), reported Friday that the Defense Ministry has teamed up with the local administration and environmental experts to protect the village inhabitants from "the aggressive behavior of polar bears."



One of the actions to prevent future invasions include converting an open dump into a waste incineration site within the next two years so it will no longer attract hungry bears, the report stated.

Video footage and photos posted to social media show the animals eating garbage from a trash dump, appearing near school grounds and entering buildings and residential homes.



"It is impossible to run away from a polar bear!" Belushya Guba administrators said in a statement quoted by DPA. "Due to a deficit of food, polar bears can turn their attention to any potential source of food, including a human."

Polar bears are considered an endangered species in Russia, so killing them is prohibited. But officials said that if non-lethal means cannot drive away the marauders, they might have no choice but to cull them, the BBC reported.



A polar bear uses sea ice as a platform to catch its favored prey, ringed and bearded seals. But the rapidly warming Arctic has broken up sea ice and has forced bears to spend more time on land to search of food, like in the Russian settlement, experts have theorized.

A group of scientists from the national natural resources agency have recently been sent to the area to help disperse the animals, according to the Associated Press. They are equipped with the tools and training to properly sedate and relocate the bear.



"That's just an option; at the moment it is being considered, but there's no 100-percent guarantee it will be applied," Alexander Gornikh, regional head of the natural resources agency, told the AP.

Fortunately, the military said in Krasnaya Zvezda's report that there is hope that the bears will go away on their own, as ice cover has formed amid falling temperatures.
If you're interested in submitting a Letter to the Editor, click here.

Submit
Legislators turn to public on cap and trade

Over the past two weeks, industry leaders and economists have given testimony on a massive proposal that would change Oregons economy
Where are the best places to shop? Who gives the best haircut? Who cooks the best burger? Join our readers in selecting the "Best of Windham."

Make your picks!
Bernard Murnaghan, Castletowncooley, Riverstown, passed away peacefully on December 23, 2018, in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital following a long illness.

He taught for 42 years in the Friary National School Dundalk during which time he filled the roles of Vice-Principal and Acting Principal.

He had prior to entering hospital resided under the dedicated and loving care of the staff in Dealgan House Nursing Home where he spent many happy days.

Aged 71, Bernard was originally from Rathcor, Riverstown, one of seven children of the late Peter and Kathleen Murnaghan.

After attending Rathcor NS he went on to Dundalk CBS before continuing his education at third-level in Saint Patricks College, Drumcondra for primary school teaching.

Bernard then enjoyed a long and distinguished career in Saint Malachys Boys National School (Friary) until his retirement in 2009.

Never a person for the limelight he was a quiet gentleman, respected by pupils and teachers alike and had a strong work ethic.

He worked diligently for the young minds in his care and always sought to get the best out of the children.

Whats more, Bernard was very vigilant and a keen observer to spot if something was wrong, be it a child getting bullied or a pupil coming to school late, and perhaps in need of a cup of tea and some breakfast.

He always had their best interests at heart.

Also, Bernard was instrumental in setting up the Stay Safe programme in school.

He was involved at board level in the Friary as well as Bush Vocational School.

Away from school, Bernard had a major interest in politics and was a member of Fine Gael.

At different times he served as secretary and treasurer of the Cooley/Carlingford branch of the party.

In Dundalk, he worked with Saint Vincent De Paul and sat on the Travellers Committee, further examples of his care and compassion for others.

Bernard also played a valuable role in the STOP (Stop Terror Oppression and Pain) rally in Cooley in 1991.

He was secretary/treasurer of Mullaghbuoy Community Centre for many years.

From a farming background, Bernard was an avid attender of cattle sales, and enjoyed going to Gunnes mart on The Quay in Dundalk.

He was known to have a keen eye for a good bullock, and kept a number of the animals.

He loved poetry, the works of Seamus Heaney, Patrick Kavanagh and WB Yeats his favourites.

The Irish Language too was close to his heart and he had a great flair for it; and likewise, photography.

Bernards interests also extended to rugby and from time-to-time he would attend Ireland internationals in Dublin.

Following retirement, he spent many happy days in Cooleys mens shed.

Very good with his hands he participated in woodturning, while the mens shed was another outlet for his photographic skills.

He relished the camaraderie there until ill-health intervened in 2015.

More of a listener than a person who watched a lot of television, Bernard enjoyed tuning into Lyric FM and general news stations.

He married Marian Grant in 1983, and they had two sons, Peter and Brian. He was a devoted husband and father.

Bernard and Marian enjoyed travelling together, visiting a number of European cities as well as America.

After reposing at home, his remains were removed on Christmas Day to Saint James Church, Grange where the funeral Mass was celebrated by parish priest Father Malachy Conlon.

Readings were given by son, Brian and, as Gaeilge, by niece, Sheila, while nieces, Jennifer, Julie, Anne and Clare led prayers of the faithful.

Symbols representing Bernards life were brought to the altar by brothers, Seamus and Martin and sister, Mary.

These included a book of poetry by Seamus Heaney, travel books and his pioneer pin.

He was a pioneer all his life and possessed a gold pin for 50 years membership.

His wife, Marian and sister, Anne participated in the offertory procession, and a refection was given by son, Peter.

Music was provided by organist, Veronica Boyle, violinist, Zoe Conway and Frank McCann who sang.

Burial took place afterwards in the adjoining cemetery.

Bernard is survived by his wife, Marian, sons, Peter and Brian, sisters, Anne, Margaret, Celia and Mary, brothers, Martin and Seamus, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends.
Where was Dundalk's Tholsel?

A Tholsel in Irish medieval towns was a hall where the Corporation met on regular dates, mainly to fix tolls or taxes on goods and livestock sold within the town's boundaries. The Dundalk Tholsel was in Church Street, originally known as Shop Street, near the Town Cross, which stood at about where the junction of Church Street, Clanbrassil Street and Yorke Street is today.

It was also used as a courthouse and it was here that St. Oliver Plunkett first faced charges of treason in 1680, before his martyrdom at Tyburn, London, on July 1 of the following year.



After whom is O'Hanlon Park named?

Built in 1935, this Demesne housing estate was named, not after the famous Armagh 17th century raparee Count Rory O'Hanlon but in honour the I.R.A. Volunteer Bernard O'Hanlon, aged just 18, from Dundalk who was killed in Pearse Street, Dublin, during the War of Independence on the evening of March 14, 1921.

O'Hanlon was shot dead when taking part in an ambush, in what was then known as Great Brunswick Street, of a party of British Auxiliary forces, staged as part of I.R.A. reprisals for the hanging of six I.R.A. volunteers at Mountjoy Jail that morning.

What Saint is the Patron of the Irish Christian Brothers School at Chapel Street?

This primary school, built in 1939, is dedicated to St. Aloysius Gonzaga, an Italian aristocrat who became a Jesuit and died aged just 23, while working for the victims of a plague in Rome in 1591. He is the patron saint of young students.

Where is Traffic Place?

This is the name of the road that leads from Ardee Road to the Clarke Railway Station, now an exit route from the lower car park at the Station. It got its name from the first railway Station on the Junction line from Dublin to Belfast built here in the 1840s. The first Dundalk Station Master (then called a Station Agent) lived there. The old buildings were later used a headquarters for the G.N.R. Bus Service in the region until about 30 years ago.

The old platforms behind them can still be seen on both side of the main lines.
Missed Delivery?

If missed delivery or wet paper please call our office 909-628-5501 ext 110 Leave a detailed message with name, address, and phone number. Readers must call before 1 p.m. on Saturday. Re-deliveries are available for Chino residents until 1 p.m. Saturdays.

Click Here
ADA [ndash] Services for Virginia Ruth Spann, 73, of Ada, will be 10 a.m. Saturday, June 26, 2021, at the Byng Free Will Baptist Church, Rev. Roger Arter will officiate. Burial will follow at Oakman Cemetery. Mrs. Spann died Monday, June 21, 2021, at her home. See criswellfh.com website for 
Discuss this article with your neighbors or join the community conversation.

Click here to get access
A Houston County Sheriffs Captain said authorities this week put a dent in local methamphetamine traffic with the arrest of a Dothan woman.

Christy Danielle Creamer, 34, of Dothan, was arrested Thursday and charged with trafficking methamphetamine. Capt. Donovan Arias said the arrest was part of a lengthy investigation that ramped up recently. Arias said deputies performed a traffic stop on a vehicle Thursday on Cecil Varnum Road in Hodgesville. About 7 ounces of methamphetamine was recovered. Later, a search warrant executed at a residence on Harper Joy Road resulted in the confiscation of an additional two ounces of methamphetamine along with two pistols, a rifle and a shotgun.

Arias said authorities believe Creamer is higher up the chain in the drug trafficking hierarchy. He said the investigation has not uncovered exactly where the methamphetamine recovered came from, but he said his experience as a law enforcement officer leads him to believe the drugs did not originate here.

There arent meth labs here capable of producing that much, Arias said. We dont know where these specific drugs came from, but super labs in Mexico are producing mass amounts of meth.

Arias said the meth confiscated had a street value of more than $4,500.
With the assistance of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, the named suspect, Christopher James Wallace, and an unidentified female suspect were determined to be located at a relatives residence in the 1000 block of Stonegate Dr in Auburn, AL. While attempting to make a tactical entry into the residence, the suspect shot at officers, who returned gunfire. Two uninvolved occupants exited the residence uninjured and were detained. After being ordered to exit the apartment, the suspects failed to do so. Tear gas and distraction devices were deployed into the residence; however the suspects refused to exit. Shortly after, a fire erupted inside the apartment. Officers continued to secure the area; however, the suspects never emerged from the apartment, which became fully engulfed in fire. The suspects are believed to have perished in the fire.
One of the areas most prominent financial institutions will be growing soon as Army Aviation Center Federal Credit Union is merging with Wiregrass Federal Credit Union.

Wiregrass FCU members approved the merger proposal by a wide margin  682 to 79  during a meeting Tuesday, according to Wiregrass FCUs website. Army Aviation Center FCU members will gain access to Wiregrass three branches  one on Honeysuckle Road in Dothan, one in Andalusia and one in Marianna, Florida with the merger.

Wiregrass members will garner access to AACFCUs 21 branches and its products  including better online banking products and a cooperative system that allows use of shared branch services and a many ATMs nationwide. Additionally, Wiregrass members will receive access to in-house mortgage products instead of having to use third parties.

Support Local Journalism Your subscription makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

While the merger will be finalized on March 1, the melding of financial systems will not happen until May 20.

Wiregrass FCU board members recommended the merger given AACFCUs similar culture and commitment to superior service and employee loyalty. The board also noted regulatory burdens had become challenging for the small credit union.
I love making people look good by creating something they like from their ideas and thoughts, Mount expounded. I need some direction up front, he added, but its not about money. I have found when I really listen to the customer, I get them what they need. I love a challenge, Mount continued. As he spoke it was clear the wheels of his imagination were turning and coming up with more memorable logos and displays. I love promoting businesses in a way that people will never forget, Mount explained.

Not only does Mount love his work, but he loves his customers. I have been very blessed, he explained. My customers return and word of mouth has been my best advertisement. Mount has created designs for the City of Marianna Public Works and Police Department, Jackson County Dive Team, and many businesses.

In his spare time this creative genius loves the community and repurposing antiques with his wife Cara. They enjoy traveling and working in their yard. Mount also loves giving back to the community. After the storm he helped neighboring businesses with their signage.
A district court judge has effectively ruled that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, or the vet, as he upheld an appeal from a Donegal veterinary surgeon against a decision of the Veterinary Council of Ireland to deny him a certificate to practice.

The Council refused to give veterinary surgeon Lucian Podariu, Bunbeg Crossroads, Bunbeg the certificate to practice last year because he had inserted the word beauty in the title of his practice.

The full title is Animal Beauty and Care Clinic, but the Council said the term beauty could be equated with some unacceptable cosmetic surgery taking place, the court heard.

The Council argued that this might lead the public to think that something untoward was taking place.

Mr Podiaru appealed the decision at Tuesdays sitting of Dungloe District Court against The Veterinary Council of Ireland, 53 Lansdowne Road, Dublin

His counsel Dean Regan said it was a case that centred on the definition of the word beauty.

Mr Regan said the Council was suggesting that the word beauty was trying to modify an animals appearance and was unethical.

He said it was unreasonable for the Council to suggest that beauty was linked with some sort of mutilation of an animal.

Counsel for The Veterinary Council of Ireland Hugh McDowell said that for the appeal to succeed it must be shown that the Council erred in law or acted unreasonably.

President of the Council Peadar OScannail told the court that if ever a blade was taken to an animal to beautify it, that is a red line for the Veterinary Council.

He said there were other cases of dogs having their tails cut for cosmetic reasons and that was not allowed.

Mr O Scannail said there was a danger that the public might draw an inference that something untoward was happening.

Judge Paul Kelly read guidelines from some veterinary practices which provided for dog grooming.

Among the services were nail clipping paint on highlights and anal gland expressing.

The judge asked what the difference was between dog- grooming and beauty?

He also asked why animal grooming and beauty could not be the same thing?

At one stage the Oxford Dictionary was produced, and the definition of beauty read out during the case which lasted an hour and twenty minutes.

In finding for the appellant, Judge Paul Kelly said the veterinary premises should not contain any elements that are offensive to the public. This was the reason behind the Councils concerns, a fear that the use of the word beauty might mislead the public into thinking something untoward was taking place.

I dont think that arises, the judge said.

He said there was no basis for this and no basis for believing that cosmetic surgery would be carried out. He said he had no doubt that the Council would be very quick to stop that happening.

The word beauty did not suggest that that any illegal surgery was taking place.

The judge allowed the appeal and ordered that the Council grant a certificate to practice to the appellant.

But he did not award the appellant his costs as he said the matter might well have been settled had the appellant engaged more fully with the Council.
Information for Aliens and Employers on Immigration Cases

Types of immigration cases that may be heard by an ALJ, BALCA or the ARB

The Secretary of Labor is responsible under the Immigration and Nationality Act for administering labor certification and attestation programs which are generally designed to ensure that the admission of foreign workers into the United States on a permanent or temporary basis will not adversely affect the job opportunities, wages, and working conditions of U.S. workers.

ETA, Division of Foreign Labor Certification Cases

The Secretary's determination whether to grant a labor certification has been delegated to the Division of Foreign Labor Certification (DFLC), of the Employment and Training Administration. DFLC has extensive information on the various programs it administers on its Web page at http://workforcesecurity.doleta.gov/foreign/. The programs DFLC administers include

Permanent labor certifications [immigrant workers]

Temporary labor certifications: [non-immigrant workers] H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 [Specialty (professional) workers] H-1C [Temporary foreign workers employed as Registered Nurses (visa type expired in 2004)] H-2A [Agricultural labor or services of a temporary or seasonal nature] H-2B [Unskilled nonagricultural work, which may be one-time, seasonal, peak load or intermittent] D-1 [Longshore work at U.S. ports by crewmembers on foreign vessels]



Many of these programs permit the employer to appeal a DFLC determination adverse to its interests to an administrative law judge (ALJ) or to the Board of Alien Labor Certification Appeals (BALCA). The DFLC determination letter will provide notice of how and where to file the appeal. Appeals of denials of H-2B visa cases go to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) of the Department of Homeland Security, and not to the Department of Labors OALJ, BALCA or the Administrative Review Board (ARB). See 8 C.F.R.  214.2(h).

The DFLC is where an employer needs to go for information about filing for labor certification and status of its application prior to any request for hearing or review by an adjudicatory agency. The OALJ or BALCA will have information about the status of an employer's case only after appeal or request for hearing has been docketed.

ESA, Wage and Hour Division Cases

Enforcement actions relating to immigration matters are the responsibility of the Wage and Hour Division of the Employment Standards Administration. Information about immigration-related compliance matters is found at www.dol.gov/whd/immigration/index.htm

To file a complaint that an employer is not complying with the attestations made on a Labor Condition Application under the H-1B, H1B1 and E-3 programs, see www.dol.gov/whd/forms/fts_wh4.htm

If a complaint is timely filed and the Wage and Hour Administrator determines that there is reasonable cause to believe that there is a violation, the Wage and Hour office will conduct an investigation and the Administrator will issue a determination regarding the complaint. Any "interested party," including the H-1B non-immigrant, may request a hearing before an administrative law judge on the Wage and Hour Administrator's determination. Generally speaking, the H-1B non-immigrant may participate in the hearing as either the prosecuting party, or as the Administrator's witness in a case that has been appealed by the employer. Appeals from a final OALJ decision may be made to the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board.

Translation

If a party calls as a witness a person who has trouble speaking or understanding the English language, the presiding ALJ will generally permit the parties to supply a translator. The expense of the translator is generally borne by the party calling the witness. If a translator is going to be used at a hearing, the parties should discuss this with the presiding ALJ beforehand. See also 29 C.F.R.  18.604 (interpreter may be required to be qualified as an expert and to be administered an oath or affirmation to make a true translation).

Documents submitted into evidence in a permanent labor certification proceeding either shall be in the English language or shall be accompanied by a written translation into the English language, certified by the translator as to the accuracy of the translation and his/her competency to translate. See 20 C.F.R.  656.20(e).

Change of Address or Change of Status

If you are a party and are a foreign national, and you have a change of address, you should send the DOL adjudicatory agency a copy of the Form AR-11 you are required to complete by USCIS. For more information on reporting a change of address with USCIS, see https://egov.uscis.gov/crisgwi/go?action=coa

If you are an alien named in a labor certification appeal pending before BALCA, and you obtain permanent status by another means, please have your attorney, representative or employer notify the Board so that the appeal can be dismissed. Doing so may assist other aliens who are still waiting for a labor certification.

Additional Information
Buena Vista, CO (81211)

Today

Partly cloudy skies in the morning will give way to cloudy skies during the afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 72F. Winds W at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy in the evening. Increasing clouds with periods of showers after midnight. Low 46F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
Published : 2019-02-15 - Updated : 2019-03-02

Author : AccessAble - Contact: AccessAble.co.uk Synopsis: AccessAble App providing detailed accessibility information and access guides to places across the UK and Ireland is now available in Apple and Google Play Stores.

Main Digest

A new App, AccessAble, has officially launched into the Apple and Google Play Stores. Developed by a national disability organisation, it aims to transform the quality and availability of accessibility information.

AccessAble, originally called DisabledGo, is a national disability organisation and UK's Accessibility Guide. AccessAble was set up in 2000 by Dr. Gregory Burke as a result of his own experiences as a wheelchair user and disabled walker. Today they cover 10,000s of places and their guides are available free at www.AccessAble.co.uk and on the AccessAble App.

Speaking about the need for the App Disability Blogger, Lucy Wood said;

"The word 'Day Trip' has always made me anxious and when I go out it can feel like a military operation. It's vital to do loads of research in advance; I don't feel I can be spontaneous, when I have to trawl through websites to find accessibility information. For Disabled People, finding the practical stuff is vital - can I get in, can I use the toilet! Very few venues have this much detail online, this is why the AccessAble App is so exciting. Being able to get the level of detailed information that I need on an app in my pocket, knowing I can trust it, means I can get this information quickly and takes away the need to plan. It is a revolutionary step forward for disabled people in the UK, and I can't wait to go on my next adventure!"



Screenshot of the AccessAble App showing some of the informative accessibility symbols used.

The App provides Detailed Access Guides to 10,000s of places across the UK and Ireland. These Guides aren't personal reviews, but step by step descriptions of what accessibility is like at a particular place - they are 100% facts, figures and photographs. Crucially each Guide is created having been visited by an AccessAble Surveyor, who can collect over 1,000 piece of information for just one venue. The type of information collected is all driven by AccessAble's 35,000 strong user community.

Speaking about the App Anna Nelson, Executive Director of AccessAble said;

"This App is all about getting detailed, reliable information to the 20 million + people in the UK with accessibility requirements. We want people to be able to use the App while they are out, filtering by the accessibility requirements that are important, to find the places that work for them. Growing up as a carer I spent hours ringing up and asking about accessibility, nothing was spontaneous and we were nearly always disappointed when we arrived. This App is a practical solution to that very real problem".

The need for the App has been further highlighted by the Accessibility and You Survey. Of 845 respondents 99% said they wanted to know about accessibility before visiting a new place and 98% searched for accessibility information in advance. Of those who found information only 14% got the information they needed and 80% said the information they found was inaccurate. 845 people responded to the 'Accessibility and You' survey. This is one of the largest and most comprehensive accessibility surveys in recent years. The survey was carried out in the summer of 2018 and took on average 20 minutes to complete.

The App is available free for IoS and Android; users can create a profile, save their favourites and set their own preferences using AccessAble's Accessibility Symbols.

Watch to learn more about the AccessAble App's features: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNBMLfI-d78

Giveaway

AccessAble has a 50 iTunes/Google Play gift card to give away to one lucky winner. To enter, simply download the AccessAble App, leave a review in the app store and email hello@AccessAble.co.uk with your iTunes or Google Play username. Closes at midnight on 28th February. Winner will be randomly selected.

Source/Reference

AccessAble App Takes the Chance Out of Going Out in the UK | AccessAble (AccessAble.co.uk). Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith. Content may have been edited for style, clarity or length.

You're reading Disabled World. See our homepage for informative disability news, reviews, sports, stories and how-tos. You can also connect with us on social media such as Twitter and Facebook or learn more about Disabled World on our about us page.

Disclaimer: Disabled World provides general information only. Materials presented are in no way meant to be a substitute for professional medical care by a qualified practitioner, nor should they be construed as such. Any 3rd party offering or advertising on disabled-world.com does not constitute endorsement by Disabled World. View our Advertising Policy for further information. Please report outdated or inaccurate information to us.
Highlights:

Xiaomi Mi 9 will be the first triple-camera phone by Xiaomi.

The phone will come with a telephoto camera, a wide-angle camera and a standard camera.

The primary camera is the Sony IMX586 48MP sensor.

Xiaomi is expected to announce the flagship Mi 9 in China on February 20, the same day Samsung is hosting the global launch of the Galaxy S10 smartphones in San Francisco. But the company seems to be in no mood to keep things secret before launch. The phones camera specs were outed by the companys own CEO, Lei Jun in a post on Weibo.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 will be the companys first triple camera phone, confirming previous leaks. Lei Jun shared the phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 and will be able to shoot macro, portrait, super wide-angle, and standard photos. There is also a camera on the front, and going by previous renders it will be housed in a water-drop notch.

The primary camera on the back is the Sony IMX586 48MP sensor with f/1.75 aperture lens. Its a large 1/2-inch sensor thats also there on the Honor View20. The second camera is a 12MP f/2.2 sensor with 2x optical zoom. The sensor will be used for depth sensing for portrait photos. The third camera is a 16MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 117-degree wide viewing angle. Lei Jun said the wide-angle camera also doubles up as a macro lens, similar to what happens on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

On the front, the Xiaomi Mi 9 will rock a 20MP sensor housed in a waterdrop notch. It will have Xiaomis beauty AI mode which offer filters and effects for your selfies and portraits.

Lei Jun also gave a glimpse of what the cameras can do with a few camera samples in the post.

Related Reads:

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun confirms Mi 9 with Snapdragon 855 SoC

Xiaomi Mi 9 renders reveal triple camera setup, 6.4-inch display with waterdrop notch
Highlights:

The Samsung one UI is making its way to the Galaxy Note 8

One UI is Samsungs redesign of its UI and is based on Android 9 Pie

The update is 2GB in size

According to XDA developers, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in India is receiving the Android 9 Pie based One UI update. The update is about 2GB in size and brings with it Samsungs latest UI along with the February security patch. The One UI update has already been available for the Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus smartphones.

Samsungs One UI brings the much needed change to Samsungs custom UI running on smartphones. The UI is also targeted towards easier one handed usage by making menus, tasks and more easy to reach with one hand. With smartphones becoming bigger and bigger the one thing that suffered in single handed operation. This is what Samsung is addressing with the One UI. It isn't the first time we have seen this happen. In the past, you could shift the dialer to one side for easy access with one hand.

With One UI, Samsung has revamped the basic layout on its phones including the settings. There is also a system-wide dark theme and content has been reorganised to help users focus on the task at hand. Interactive elements have been moved to the bottom so that they can be easily accessed, similar to what Google did with the Android 9 Pie update. Additionally, the new One UI is based on Android Pie and it brings improvements to Always On Display, Settings, Samsung DeX, Bixby, Notifications, Samsung Keyboard, Device Care, Contacts, and Samsung Health.

Also read:

Samsung leaks its entire new wearable lineup on official app

Samsung Galaxy S10 launch event teased on Flipkart

New and upcoming 48MP camera phones in India
SANDY  Contaminated drinking water sickened a 3-month-old baby and several other people in an area of Sandy where a no-drink order is in place pending lab results on levels of copper and lead.

The Utah Division of Drinking Water urged Sandy city officials all last week to hasten sampling and completion of results that would indicate the extent of possible lead or copper contamination stemming from an inadvertent release of undiluted fluoride on Feb. 6.

As a result of delays, division director Marie Owens said the city was cited for failing to notify the public adequately about potential contamination, along with a citation for exceeding safe fluoride levels.

"We have been pushing Sandy City for metals results since early last week. I am frustrated it took a full week to get those metal results to us," said Marie Owens, director of the Utah Division of Drinking Water.

"I am not sure if they had the results sooner."

Sandy city officials issued an advisory Saturday for people in the affected area from 10600 South to 11400 South and 700 East to 2000 East to not drink water or use it for cooking until lab results determine the amount of lead and copper concentrations. That reversed a city-issued advisory less than 24 hours earlier that said the water was OK to drink as long as systems have been adequately flushed.

Owens said the impacted area has expanded in size twice since the initial discovery and now includes as many as six schools, care centers and a recreation center. More than 450 households are impacted.

Late Saturday, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert released a statement on the contamination.

"I am deeply concerned about the health of those families who have been affected by this contamination. That is why I have directed our Utah Departments of Environmental Quality, Health and Public Safety to work closely with Sandy City and the Salt Lake County Health Department to ensure that every precaution is taken to protect the safety and health of our citizens," it read.

Meanwhile, state regulators are working in conjunction with the city and area schools to make sure all the facilities are adequately flushed by the time children return on Tuesday, Owens said.

Residents were being advised Saturday not to boil the water because boiling actually increases metal concentrations. City representatives were going door to door delivering water and will individually test each home, business and facility in the impacted area, Tom Ward, the city's director of public utilities, said on Saturday.

Ward said Saturday the pump sent undiluted high concentrations of fluoride into the system for about 36 to 48 hours.

The system was flushed immediately after the city began getting complaints, he said, and again when the latest test results came back on copper and lead. "That became a new event for us. We are going through a different protocol."

Multiple people have reported becoming sick as a result of ingesting the water, including an infant Owens said was consuming the water in formula.

Nate Roe, the father of 3-month-old Henry, said he talked with multiple city employees by phone after the infant vomited his formula twice on Wednesday. His wife was sick as well, and the water tasted metallic.

A city worker visited his home and suggested the problem was a malfunctioning water softener.

Roe said he doesn't have a water softener.

Workers told him to repeatedly flush his system and call the Utah Poison Control Center to report medical issues, but assured him the water was safe to drink.

The center, however, could not advise him of what to do unless he knew the level of fluoride exposure. He said the city later told him it was 150 times what it should be.

When the city declared the water safe to drink, the Roe family resumed using tap water in their home by Feb. 11.

"Then we found out yesterday (Friday) from a news article that there is lead and copper in the water," he said. "It is infuriating. Nobody told us about copper. Nobody told us about lead."

A Sandy City mother, who asked for her name to be withheld to protect her 3-year-old daughter's identity, said the girl tested "high" for levels of lead her pediatrician's office and they were referred for a full blood screening at a hospital lab for lead and copper.

Dr. Mike Moss, medical director of the Utah Poison Control Center, said multiple calls came after the initial burst of fluoride hit the drinking water system and they are still fielding calls from residents concerned over potential lead or copper exposure.

The center is available 24 hours a day at 800-222-1222.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, there are no safe levels of lead for children because it is absorbed at a faster rate than by adults. Lead poisoning can damage children's nervous systems, brains and other organs. It can also lead to additional health, learning and behavioral problems.

The EPA does not have a health-based standard for lead or copper, but instead sets an "action" limit on when water providers should act and flush systems.

The action limit for lead is 15 parts per billion. The action limit for copper is 1,300 parts per billion.

Owens said the results from metals testing when Sandy flushed its system initially came in at 394 parts per billion for lead and 28,800 parts per billion for copper.

"There is no health-based standard for lead or copper," she said. "What we do know is these levels are high, substantially higher than anything we would ever consider safe."

Sandy set up a staging area Saturday in a parking lot across from Fire Station 34, located at 10765 S. 700 East, to hand out bottles of water and had an emergency operations command center at City Hall.

Just before 4 p.m., the city announced on Twitter it had made more than 54,000 water bottles available and had more on the way. A later tweet advised water would be available at the old Reams location until 8 p.m., and after that residents could go to the public utilities division at 9150 S. 150 East.

Owens said she was expecting to get updated results Saturday, but that did not happen. As a result, the no-drink advisory will remain in effect into Sunday until information comes in that the water is safe.

"We have been told they completed samples yesterday," Owens said.

Bryant Weber, a Sandy resident who lives in the area closest to the initial site of the contamination, said crews flushed the system, and by Feb. 8 mailed a letter advising residents the problem was solved.

"They said they had it under control," he said. Then he learned of the no-drink water restrictions issued this weekend.

"We have all been drinking the water this last week."

He said a friend and neighbor who is a chemist ran a pH test on the tap water that came back at 3.89, which is extremely acidic.

A measurement of seven is neutral, and the EPA recommends public drinking water systems measure between 6.5 and 8.5.

"That is low enough to dissolve metal," he said. "Doesn't the city have a pH tester?"

A private lab in Sandy has been notified of the urgency of the matter. It can deliver results in about a day's turnaround, with Owens adding the city has been directed to accelerate collection of about 100 samples this weekend.

Sandy city officials learned of a problem with its drinking water on Feb. 6 when residents started calling, Owens said.

City workers took samples Feb. 7 and the state was notified Feb. 8.

Following the heavy snowstorm that hit the Salt Lake Valley early in the month, a fluoride feeder had flushed chemicals into a portion of the delivery system undiluted. Owens said what would follow is a leech of lead and copper, but officials couldn't be sure until metals testing was conducted.

Those results came back Friday, which is when Sandy city officials first notified residents there could be lead and copper in their water.

"I believe they could have erred on the side of more communication than they did," Owens said.

"I suspected that lead and copper might be a problem, but we had no evidence that it was until we got the results Friday," she added.

Roe said the city bungled how it handled the water contamination from the outset.

"They hold a press conference Friday evening after hours when there is no one in the office to take a phone call and release it to the press," he said. "Whoever is pulling the strings totally botched this. It is embarrassing."
HEBER CITY  A woman was severely injured Friday evening after a home explosion and fire, officials said.

Crews were called about 6:30 p.m. to the cabin in a gated community on Lake Pines Drive in Timber Lakes, which is just east of Heber City, said Wasatch County Fire spokeswoman Janet Carson.

A family had just arrived at the cabin to spend the weekend. The woman opened the garage door and smelled gas while her kids were still in the car. That's when the explosion happened, Carson said.

A retired firefighter who has a cabin nearby rescued her from the house, according to Carson. She was taken to Heber Valley Hospital and later transferred to the University Hospital burn unit in serious but stable condition.

When firefighters arrived, the home was engulfed, Carson said. Crews took a "defense attack" as "there wasn't any saving" the home.

As of about 10 p.m., firefighters were still working to keep the fire from spreading. Because of strong winds and snowy conditions, fire trucks on scene needed to be switched out with four-wheel drive firetrucks, Carson said.

The area is rural, Carson said, no other homes were threatened.

The cause of the explosion was unknown.
LAYTON  Prosecutors have chosen not to file charges against a Democratic Utah House leader who got into a physical altercation with a Republican state senator in a Senate building hallway.

Last October, Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, and House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, got into an argument that was captured by surveillance cameras.

After the incident, Thatcher pursued criminal charges against King. Citing a conflict of interest, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office passed the case along to the Layton City Attorney's Office to screen charges.

This week, according to Layton officials, attorneys met with investigating officers and determined that, although "Brian King's physical contact with Dan Thatcher was inexusable and offensive," the evidence didn't rise to a level where a conviction would be likely at trial.

In the 42-second video clip, King is shown walking down a corridor away from the surveillance camera when Thatcher comes from another hallway and puts his hand on King's shoulder.

King places his hands just below Thatcher's armpits and shoves him toward a wall. Thatcher braces himself with one foot against the wall and pushes back. The two men stand face to face with King pointing his finger at Thatcher's chest but does not appear to make contact. Thatcher puts an arm up twice as King apparently lectures him for a few seconds and walks away.

Others in the hallway appear oblivious to the confrontation, including a Utah Highway Patrol trooper who glances at the two men down the hall as he passes by.

King admits he made contact with Thatcher, but not in the manner Thatcher has described. He said he didn't touch Thatcher after the initial push.
SALT LAKE CITY  It looks like lawmakers will wait until next session to take on Proposition 4, the Better Boundaries ballot initiative passed by voters last November that creates an independent redistricting commission.

"It doesn't need to be addressed this session," House Majority Leader Francis Gibson, R-Mapleton said Friday. "We'll just wait and see. We'll look at it in interim and see what happens next session."

Senate President Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said there have been talks about what to do about Proposition 4, billed as a safeguard against gerrymandering  the manipulation of political boundaries to favor one party or candidate over another.

"I'm not sure what's going to happen," Adams said. He said new boundaries for legislative, congressional and State School Board districts won't be redrawn until 2021, after the next once-every-10 years census in 2020.

"We've got this year, next year and maybe the 2021 session so I think there's a lot of discussion," the Senate president said. "The timing of when it runs is probably unclear."

Several participants in those backroom conversations between lawmakers and backers of the initiative described the tone as "positive" and said retaining the advisory commission is part of what's been considered.

But without a push from the Legislature's GOP leadership, those talks appear to be on hold.

Better Boundaries, the group behind Proposition 4, is waiting to see what happens.

"We are closely monitoring the process and it's our understanding the Legislature has not decided whether they intend to address Prop 4 this session," Jeff Wright, the Republican co-chairman of Better Boundaries, said in a written statement.

"From our perspective the Legislature stands to benefit from Proposition 4 because the essence of the law is about good government," Wright said in the statement.

The Legislature has already replaced the two other ballot initiatives approved by voters  Proposition 2, which legalized medical marijuana, in a special session last year, and Proposition 3, full Medicaid expansion, in the first weeks of this session.

While there were many groups behind the changes made to Proposition 2, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Utah Medical Association, supporters of full Medicaid expansion fought limitations imposed by lawmakers.

Their efforts included TV commercials urging lawmakers and Gov. Gary Herbert to respect the will of Utah voters. Faith leaders signed a letter to legislative leaders and the governor and a few tried to block the entrance to the House before a vote.

But a GOP plan extending Medicaid to a smaller group of people and requiring those left out of the plan to buy federally subsidized insurance policies has already been signed into law by the governor.

Senate Minority Caucus Manager Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake, said Democrats "recognize that there's a role for the Legislature to play in cleaning up any initiative or making it better."

But Kitchen said it's also important to "keep the spirit alive" of what voters approve.

"We're aware that after cannabis and after Medicaid that there's a sentiment in the community that the Legislature doesn't respect democracy," he said. "When we talk about redistricting, we have to be extra-sensitive and aware of those feelings."
SALT LAKE CITY  That older snowplow rumbling down the interstate to keep the roads clear is helping safeguard motorists from the weather, but it is also spewing harmful pollutants.

One snowplow in the Utah Department of Transportation's fleet that is older than model year 2007 puts enough pollution in the air to equal 69 cars, according to state officials.

Rep. Steve Handy, R-Layton, is hoping his colleagues are willing to spend $26.5 million in one-time money to replace 238 vehicles in the state fleet, including 105 snowplows, in nonattainment areas for federal clean air standards.

The others are light duty vehicles such as half-ton trucks.

The lawmaker made his pitch earlier this week to members of the intergovernmental appropriations subcommittee.

"There is a lot of negotiating going on," he said, adding that the numbers behind the request are doing a lot of the talking.

The state estimates that replacing the vehicles would reduce 3,168 tons of emissions over the vehicles' expected life at a cost of $8,366 per ton  a bargain in the world of pollution cost strategies.

Handy, vice chairman of the Clean Air Caucus, worked with Alan Matheson, executive director of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, and Marilee Richins, deputy director of the Utah Department of Administrative Services, to determine which vehicles need to be replaced.

Richins said the pre-2007 model vehicles in Utah's nonattainment areas for clean air standards represent less than 5 percent of the fleet, but contribute signficantly to area emissions.

"UDOT already had a plan to replace them, but without this money, it would take 10 years. This way, we would see an immediate impact," Richins said.

The state, too, normally offers its older trucks and other vehicles at a public auction for surplus items.

"These are great teenager cars," she said.

Richins, however, said it would make little sense for the state to shed itself of the polluting vehicles only to offer them to the public to drive.

Some of them will be permanently disabled.

"They are 15 years or older and on their last legs," she said.

Richins is hopeful that if the funding comes through, the state of Utah will be more effective at nudging other fleet managers to take similar pollution cutting steps.

"With these state projects we want to walk the walk and set an example," she said. "It is much easier to reach out to the private business sector and say 'Do as we do' instead of Do as we say.'"

Another funding request up for consideration is one promoted by Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, for $6 million in a state teleworking initiative.

The bulk of the money would be used for repurposing state office buildings for more shared workspace and provide voice-over-internet protocol retrofits to enable more teleworking.

The teleworking tried thus far by state employees has been extremely effective, said Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox, testifying before the committee in support of the effort.

Cox said 134 workers teleworked the last four months at least three days a week, or even full time.

"This is keeping cars off the road, which is a big deal," he said.

He added that five of those workers hail from rural Utah, which is important to him, and among all workers, productivity rose by nearly 23 percent.

The telework pilot program will roll out for employees in the Cannon building in its next phase, with Cox adding that the repurposing of work space will help extend the life of many state office buildings, some of which are approaching that "end of life" phase.

Lawmakers also heard a request to fund 468 electric vehicle charging stations at state office buildings for both employees and the public, as well as a $1.6 million request for Tier 4 backup generators at the new prison, rather than using Tier 2 generators.

That upgrade of generators would reduce lifetime emissions by 161 tons.
HERRIMAN  Cougar sightings near homes have caused some anxiety among residents in northern Utah this winter.

Friday morning, a cougar sighting in a residential area caused two elementary schools to shelter in place, officials said.

Blackridge Elementary in Herriman and Foothills Elementary in Riverton sheltered in place for more than an hour before the cougar left the area, said Sandra Riesgraf, Jordan School District spokeswoman.

Before the cougar reportedly departed, multiple people told police they spotted it near Foothills Elementary, Herriman police said, asking residents to "please be vigilant of your surroundings."

Scott Root, spokesman for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, also confirmed the sighting, saying the division saw videos of the big cat. The division also encouraged people to be "vigilant."

Reisgraf said Friday's wasn't the only cougar sighting in the area near a school recently. On Jan. 11, one was sighted near Sunset Ridge Middle School, but the school was not required to shelter in place.

While Friday's cougar sighting ended peacefully, another sighting in January did not.

A cougar that had been spied lurking around neighborhoods in Eden, Weber County, was tracked down and shot by a hunter, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said. According to the division, the hunter had the required permits but fired his gun too close to homes and receiving warnings from the state as a result.

Trevor Doman, a conservation officer with the division, said the hunter had reported the cougar was dragging dead deer near homes and "causing havoc" in the area.

But he said though cougars can pose a risk, they aren't cause for panic and should not "all be killed just because they're near us."

"There are always incidents with cougars, because cougars are in the foothills and people are building homes in the foothills," Doman said.

But what should you do when you come face to face with one of the big cats?

The answers may be surprising.

Don't run, according to the division. Running will evoke the cougar's prey response and could prompt it to chase you.

You should also "make yourself look intimidating," the division says. Make eye contact with the animal, which the animal will see as a threat.

"Make yourself look big by opening your jacket, raising your arms and waving them. Speak loud and firm to the cougar," wildlife officials say.

If children are with you, pick them up before they "panic and run," according to the division. While doing so, try not to bend over or turn your back on the cougar.

Finally, if the animal attacks you, fight back, officials say.

"Protect your head and neck, as the neck is the target for the cougar. If the cougar thinks it is not likely to win its fight with you quickly, it will probably give up and leave."

For more information about cougars in Utah, visit the Division of Wildlife Resource's website.

Contributing: AP
SALT LAKE CITY  A majority of Senate Republicans aren't behind a hate crimes bill to enhance the punishment for targeting victims because of race, religion, sexual orientation or other characteristics, Senate President Stuart Adams said.

Adams, R-Layton, said Friday he had hoped there would be more support for SB103, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Thatcher, R-West Valley City, because of changes he helped make at the beginning of the session to add new categories of victims.

Those including targeting someone because of where they attend college, Adams said, so a hate crime against a University of Utah student wouldn't be treated differently than the same offense against a Brigham Young University student.

"With those categories, Im fine with the bill personally," Adams said. "However, I found out that me being fine with it doesn't mean the rest of the caucus is. So right now, I think, last we checked there doesn't appear to be enough votes."

Thatcher struggled to come up with a reason why Senate Republicans are split on his bill.

"You'd have to ask them individually, but most of them say, 'I just don't like it.' And how do you overcome that?" he asked. "If you can give me a specific concern you have, then I can point out how we circumvent that issue."

Already, Thatcher said he's been willing to add "absolutely every single thing that was brought to me as a concern. There's age. There's color. There's blindness. There's familial status. Marital status. Homelessness" and law enforcement.

"Really, whatever somebody wanted to get them to yes, we put it in there, as long as it is constitutional, enforceable and does not exclude anyone," he said of what will be a substitute version of his bill. "Let's get something passed."

Sen. Jerry Stevenson, R-Layton, said his concern about hate crimes legislation is having "a broad enough base that we're not creating select classes.  There's a lot of hate crimes. Let's make sure we have a bill that covers all of them."

Senate Majority Assistant Whip Ann Milner, R-Ogden, agreed.

"This is really hard," Milner said. "Sometimes it's really easy to just say, Let's focus on a minority group and not say it's important that the same protection may lead to a majority group.'"

Thatcher, who has tried to pass hate crimes legislation in past sessions, wasn't expecting it to be so difficult this year after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints indicated it would not stand in the way of hate crimes legislation.

"If the church really was the holdup the whole time, then why am I still having to work so dang hard to get votes?" Thatcher asked. "Some people just fundamentally have an issue with treating crimes differently."

Marty Stephens, the church's director of government and community relations, told the Deseret News just before the session started in late January that he wanted to make it clear that the church does not oppose hate crimes legislation.

"We think this is an issue that the Legislature should rightfully wrestle with and come up with good public policy so that people are protected, whatever the Legislature feels is the best way to do that," Stephens said then.

Thatcher said the 23-member GOP Senate caucus is divided nearly evenly, although several of his colleagues are "on the fence" and still may be persuaded to back the bill.

He said if can win over a majority of the caucus, he'll ask that the bill finally get a hearing after being assigned to a committee more than two weeks ago. If the bill is heard, Thatcher gives it a strong chance of passing the Legislature.

Rep. Lee Perry, R-Perry, said he'll sponsor the bill in the House if it can get through the Senate.

"Conceptwise, I think there's support for it," Perry said, especially given the church's statements. "I believe that helps. And we're seeing more and more of it.  We can't have the targeting. It's just not acceptable."

Republicans hold a supermajority in both the House and the Senate.

Senate Minority Caucus Manager Derek Kitchen, D-Salt Lake City, said all six Democrats in the Senate back Thatcher's bill.

"This is an important bill to our constituents, and to myself personally, and to a number of people in my community," said Kitchen, the only openly gay member of the Utah Legislature.

Earlier this week, a pride flag hanging outside the Salt Lake City restaurant owned by Kitchen and his husband, Moudi Sbeity, was vandalized.

"These things happen every day in our community," Kitchen said, and send a message.

"In high school, you might see something written on your locker. That might be the first step toward being beat up in the parking lot. We need to be mindful of these elevated offenses for people who are targeted for who they are," he said.

Utahns, Kitchen said, "by and large, support individualism and the belief that we can all live our own life as we desire to and we can present ourselves as we choose. As long as we're not hurting anyone else, then live and let live."
SALT LAKE CITY  Mykol Clark, a high school student from St. George, loves to attend the theater and watch plays. But she is visually impaired, something that makes enjoying plays difficult if theaters don't offer accommodations.

Mykol and 14 other visually impaired students are learning how to address setbacks like this at Accessible Arts Academy, a program for visually impaired students statewide offered through Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

"It's helped me learn how to advocate for not just me, but the visually impaired community and the blind," she said. "It's helped me learn how much us blind people really need accessibility with the arts and how important it really is to us."

Mykol sent emails to a local theater in St. George about using audio description, a technology used to help the visually impaired better enjoy visual shows, and hoped to hear back soon.

"How can you participate in it as a person with a vision impairment, and if you can't or you find barriers because of accessibility, well then how can we provide solutions instead of just identifying problems?" asked Robbin Clark, expanded core curriculum coordinator for the Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

"We want to teach students to find solutions because problems don't create change, solutions create change."

The three-week educational program is aimed at teaching visually impaired students about the arts and how to work with communities they live in to make arts more accessible to everyone.

"This isn't an extracurricular activity, this is part of the education needs of students with vision impairments," Clark said.

Saturday, the final day of the program, students are attending the only "Wicked" performance offering audio description at the Eccles Theater in downtown Salt Lake City.

From dancing to painting, the group's had a lot of chances to explore the arts and find what interests them.

On Thursday, students were at Spy Hop, a Salt Lake nonprofit youth media arts education center and one of the school's community partners, for the pilot program.

"I'd love to see a bunch of these kids become audio engineers and become beat makers," said Adam Sherlock, community program director for Spy Hop. "I think that it's great."

Staff taught students how to use Ableton Push, a beat making software.

"There's something really tactile about this where you can utilize that surface without ever having to actually read anything on the screen," Sherlock said.

The push boards light up when a button is pushed so the user can track progress. For those with low vision, this isn't helpful, so Spy Hop's audio instructor came up with the idea to use a grid inspired by the Battleship board game to help the students navigate the board.

"All of a sudden it became really, really accessible for these kids to make this stuff, which is really what we want to see at the end of the day," he said.

Using terms like "turn on B-3" was a good way to get the students familiar with the board, he said. Braille stickers were also placed on the buttons for students to create their own personalized shortcuts, according to Sherlock.

Students created their own original pieces with the push boards.

"It's been fantastic," he said. "These kids, they're are all so creative."

One reason the school partners with organizations, according to Clark, is to expose people to the visually impaired community.

"People get to see the ability before the disability," she said.

Hannah Hart, a visually impaired student from Gunnison, said she enjoyed learning about tools that help visually impaired people better enjoy the arts.

"Because we can do anything  a bunch of sighted people think we can't  but we can do anything," she said. "There's more technology coming out in the world for visually impaired people to do stuff too."

As part of the program, students were able to video chat with Blessing Offor, a musician who is blind and a former contestant on Season 7 of NBC's "The Voice," for a mentoring session  something Casey Reyes, from Murray, said inspired him to pursue his dream of a career in music.

"He's helped me want to actually try and do it," Casey said. "Because this thought of music in the back of my mind was just that  in the back of my mind. But it's helped me really want to go and strive toward it."

Casey is a senior in high school and plans to study music in college. Having the chance to hear from a visually impaired musician inspired him.

"And it's just great to hear the insight and perspective of a visually impaired person, what I want to be essentially," he said.

Since being on the show, Offor, now based out of Nashville, is a career musician and has released two albums. He said he loves being able to give time to kids in any way he can.

"Because when I was a kid I decided on music pretty early and I was obnoxious about just hounding anybody I could to you know teach me something," he said. "For me, it's really about paying it forward."

Casey said Offor recommended starting small and playing gigs anywhere available, something he said he will do to launch his career in music.

"I didn't know about trying to establish myself in my local community," he said. "But Blessing kind of opened my eyes, so to speak, to doing that and just a bunch of other great advice."

Offor said he's happy the mentoring session made a difference to Casey.

"I love hearing that," he said. "If that helped him and is going to continue helping him, then awesome and that's all we want."

Being a blind musician isn't all that different from being a sighted musician, Offor noted.

"More than anything what I think I always hope to do is to communicate that what makes them similar to the next guy who's out playing music who isn't blind, there's more similarity than difference," he said. "My worries and my concerns are 94 percent the same as the next guy."

He also emphasized the importance of focusing on the music.

"More than thinking of themselves as a blind musician, just be a great musician and your skill set will take you further than anything else," he said.

For the students, they had a message for anyone who doubts their abilities: "It's not about what we can see it's about what we do."
SALT LAKE CITY  A Denver man accused of causing a ruckus inside a Moab charter school has been formally charged.

Charles Gregory Gee, 56, was charged Friday in Grand County's 7th District Court with being a restricted person in possession of a gun, a third-degree felony; possession of a gun on school property, a class A misdemeanor; drug possession, a class B misdemeanor; disrupting a school, a class B misdemeanor; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.

On Wednesday, police say Gee entered Moab Charter School, 358 E. 300 South, right before an after-school event was to take place in the cafeteria and proceeded to "trash" the room, according to a Grand County Jail report.

He took several mats that were set up in the cafeteria and "made a circle around himself," the report states.

Gee was escorted out of the school while Moab police, the Grand County Sheriff's Office and Utah Highway Patrol responded to the area. He was spotted around the corner from the school.

Police found a gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the bag he was carrying, according to the report. After later searching Gee's vehicle, still in the school parking lot, and his hotel room, a second gun was recovered, the report states.

Police said Gee never brandished a gun inside the school and no one was harmed. While his motive was still unknown Friday, investigators said there was no evidence to suggest that Gee had plans to harm anyone in the school, which he has no connection to.
SALT LAKE CITY  Rep. Chris Stewart wants to combat what he sees as a rise in socialism in the United States.

To that end, the Utah Republican has formed the Anti-Socialism Caucus to inform lawmakers and the public on the dangers of socialism and to stop the advancement of socialist policies and legislation.

"Socialism is a folly. Not only is it doomed to fail wherever it rears its head, it leaves a wake of destruction in lives and freedoms lost," he said.

Stewart said so much time has passed since the fall of the Iron Curtain that many have internalized or never experienced socialism's "ultimate price."

"If we fail to recall those dangerous times, the primitive appeal of socialism will advance and infect our institutions," he said.

Stewart cites a recent poll that shows 53 percent of American millenials favor a socialist society over a capitalist one, compared to only a quarter of Americans over age 55.

The four-term congressman also quoted a Feb. 14 article in The Economist that says after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, socialism became a "byword for economic failure and political oppression." But "today, 30 years on, socialism is back in fashion.

U.S. adversaries want to destroy freedom, democracy and the rule of law because they represent an existential threat to their existence, according to Stewart.

"How can President (Vladimir) Putin justify his despotic hold on power when his people can look west and see that our democracy has given people freedom and opportunity? How can President Xi (Jinping) justify the repression of his own people if they are able to see our example and want the same thing?" Stewart asked.

Stewart said the Anti-Socialism Caucus will play a part in "how we will defeat socialism once again."
SALT LAKE CITY  The Disney Plus original series "High School Musical: The Series" announced its cast on Friday.

The cast includes:

Olivia Rodrigo ("Bizaardvark")

Kate Reinders ("Modern Family," Broadway's "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical")

Sofia Wylie ("Andi Mack")

Matt Cornett ("Bella and the Bulldogs")

Dara Renee ("Freaky Friday")

Julia Lester ("Mom")

Frankie Rodriguez ("Modern Family")

Larry Saperstein ("Fan Girl")

Mark St. Cyr ("Doomsday")

Filming for the show has begun in Salt Lake City.

The storyline begins 15 years after the original Disney Channel movies. The show will be filmed at East High School, which is where the show takes place.

The story will follow a group of teens who prepare for their first-ever production of, well, "High School Musical."

"The challenge we handed the creative team was Herculean. How do you recapture the joy and the magic of the original 'High School Musical' movie  and simultaneously reimagine it completely?" said Gary Marsh, president and chief creative officer, Disney Channels Worldwide, in a statement. "That's like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded. And Tim and Oliver  and this amazingly talented and diverse cast and crew  have done exactly that!"

"We are truly excited about this extremely talented cast and the fresh and contemporary take on this globally beloved franchise," said Agnes Chu, senior vice president of content for Disney Plus. "From the music and dance, to the characters and hilarious meta references, there is something here for fans of the originals, as well as people who are new to East High. It's going to be an unforgettable viewing experience for Disney+ subscribers."

The Utah Film Commission announced back in October 2018 that the Governor's Office of Economic Development board had approved filming for the new show, according to the Deseret News.

The series will run for 10 episodes.
SALT LAKE CITY  A bill that would outlaw abortions solely based on a Down syndrome diagnosis cleared the Utah House of Representatives on Friday.

Unlike a version of the bill that died after the clock ran out during last year's legislative session, HB166 includes a provision that its sponsor, Rep. Karianne Lisonbee, R-Clearfield, said addresses concerns that the bill would be unconstitutional and result in millions of taxpayer dollars spent to defend it in court.

"This bill is not unconstitutional," Lisonbee said on the House floor, noting it includes a "trigger" provision that specifies the abortion ban provision would not take effect until a court ruled on its constitutionality.

A legal challenge is now before the U.S. Supreme Court over a similar ban in Indiana.

While presenting the bill to her colleagues in the House, Lisonbee repeated her arguments in an earlier House committee, comparing abortions of babies with Down syndrome to "eugenics."

"America has long repudiated the horrors of eugenics and the eugenics movement, but social engineering is alive and well in Utah's abortion clinics and doctor's offices today as we see the eradication of babies with Down syndrome," Lisonbee said.

She said she's heard "unfathomable" stories from parents telling of how doctors told them they "must abort this baby" after they discovered the unborn child may have Down syndrome.

The House voted to advance the bill to the Senate with a 54-15 vote along party lines.

While Lisonbee's fellow Republicans supported the bill, Democrats voiced opposition, questioning the state's role to restrict parents' personal decisions.

Just as it's "wrong" for a doctor to tell a mother she "must abort this baby," House Minority Leader Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, said it's "also wrong for us as a Legislature to say, 'You cannot have an abortion.'"

In her closing statements, Lisonbee choked back tears before asking her fellow lawmakers to support the bill.

"We must send a message to the world that Utah values everyone," she said.

The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
On the same page is a regular series that features Utah book clubs.

Editors note: If you have a book club and you are interested in being featured, please contact us at features@deseretnews.com. Please include your name, your contact information and one or two sentences describing your book club.

SALT LAKE CITY  At the Grandview Book Group's first meeting, only a couple of women attended and one of them, Loye Bertelson, didnt consider herself as much of a reader. But after 17 years, the Provo-based group is going strong, and Bertelson has gained a love for reading and found many treasured friends within the group.

Every book has its good points, Bertelson said. I have a hard time writing (even) a thank you note, so to see someone be able to write with such beautiful prose in such a way that they can combine the whole story and everything. Every book is kind of a joy for me to read and learn from.

Deseret News: How did your book group start?

Loye Bertelson: We started as a ward Relief Society (in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and then the ward was divided twice. We're on Grandview Hill in Provo so it's the Grandview Book Group.  As far as we can we can figure out it, was in 2002 that I was put on the Relief Society committee and we had passed sheets around asking sisters for different ideas of what they would like to do during the year. The book group was on there as one of the choices.  So we were at a meeting just deciding who would do what and the leader just looked at me and she said, "Loye, will you be in charge of book club?" And I said, I've never been to one before. I'm not that much of a reader, but I'll do my best.

DN: What are the members of your group like?

LB: Pretty much we have 12 to 14 people that come (regularly). Sometimes people move in and out of the ward, new ones come and there are some mothers who actually have their daughters come now too, their married daughters. I think the oldest one of us is 80. She's very hard of hearing and has worked very hard her whole life on a farm, (but) she loves to come. She says it's just so fun to be with ladies.

DN: What does a typical book group meeting look like?

LB: We have it at 10 o'clock in the morning and we have lunch so whoever hosts it has some kind of lunch that has become part of our tradition.

It's left up to the person who's going to be doing the presenting as to what books she will do  it's not something that she's assigned.  We look up the author and try to find out what we can about them and any reasons why they wrote the book, or kinds of things behind the scenes.  We've learned over the years it's not too much about reviewing the whole book. It's more about asking questions about it (like), "What would you have done in that situation?" or "What did you think of this character?"

DN: Do you have any traditions as a group?

LB: In December we have a book exchange. We don't do a report and we don't read a book in December, but we bring one and just do that game where you pick one up and somebody gets numbers, that kind of thing. And everybody gets to get a book and then somebody can go steal the book from somebody else.

What we have decided to do at that time is any of the books that were exchanged that day, if theres one that people are interested in, we go ahead and choose that as the book that we would like to read.

DN: What are some of your favorite memories with the book group?

LB: Sometimes books have a lot of emotion and there are people who die and suffer (in them), and people who triumph and win, (so) to be able to sit there and liken that to ourselves, we get  where we're all sitting there crying and becoming quite emotional from what we talked about.

There was one book we read  I'm trying to think of the name of it  it was about a mother and how she was a bit domineering and things had to be done her way.  Afterwards, the leader just went around and asked us to each talk about our own mothers. That was very powerful because we just kind of see a friend as they are now and then when you hear about what they dealt with or had to do to help their parents, (you see) in some ways (they) have (had) a lot of sadness in their life, too.  Because of our ages, we've seen a lot of life and relate on some things. And we laugh. We've become very good friends.

The Grandview Book Group's recommendations:

"Before We Were Yours," by Lisa Wingate, Penguin Random House, 345 pages (f)

"The Help," by Kathryn Stockett, Penguin Random House, 464 pages (f)

"The Elephant Whisperer" by Lawrence Anthony and Graham Spence, Macmillan Publishers, 381 pages (nf)

"The Queen of Water," by Laura Resau and Maria Virginia Farinango, Penguin Random House, 370 pages (f)

"The Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin Random House, 333 pages (f)
At a news conference at the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Thursday, the Martha Hughes Cannon Statue Oversight Committee announced Ben Hammond has been selected to sculpt a bronze statue of Cannon for the National Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C.

In 2018, the Utah Legislature voted to replace Utah's statue of TV inventor Philo T. Farnsworth with one of Cannon. The statue will be funded through private donations and in-kind support. It's estimated the statue will arrive in Washington, D.C., in August 2020 to mark the 100th anniversary of 19th Amendment, the West's role in the suffrage movement, and to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Utah being the first place in the nation where women were able to cast a ballot. Hammond, who has an art gallery in American Fork, is the recipient of numerous awards including the Gloria Medal and the Beverly Hoyt Robertson Memorial Award.

See the world through the eyes of award-winning photojournalists. Click through the gallery above to view the unique images our visual storytellers captured. Follow the official Deseret News Instagram account for more photographs and videos from the staff.
SALT LAKE CITY  The Deseret News spent the past six months investigating the present and future of religious freedom.

We combed through 140 state-level bills, highlighting policy developments related to LGBT rights, health care and campus life. We explored a potentially precedent-setting lawsuit in Michigan, where faith-based adoption agencies are fighting to stay open. We visited Arizona State University to expose the dangers of a world where people no longer know how to civilly disagree.

The stories revealed rising tensions and a few glimmers of hope. A growing number of lawmakers and community leaders are seeking compromise in high stakes religious freedom debates, but they're still outnumbered by those with a winner-take-all mentality.

Now, we're turning to top faith leaders, policymakers and religious freedom advocates to understand where to go from here. Americans once rallied around protections for people of all faiths and no faith. Will that ever be the case again?

These responses were edited for length and clarity.

President Dallin H. Oaks

First counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

_

_

Today's religious freedom debates are different than in the past. They've increased in breadth and intensity.

Religious freedom has gotten political. It's dividing people along lines different than before.

In the 1950s and 1960s, religious freedom debates were about issues like whether or not the federal government should give aid to Catholic parochial schools.

But over the years, new divisions emerged. We see people who believe in God in contests with people who don't, or people who value religion and recognize that religion holds society together in contests with people who reject this.

Fewer and fewer people believe in God. And if you don't believe in God, you don't believe in absolute right and wrong, and you don't see any benefit to society by giving a special place to religion or religious preachers or activities.

That's probably not a popular view, but it's where I come from and why I have a continuing interest in religious freedom. I care about it not just because of my position in the church, but because of my position as a citizen and as a former judge and as a believer in the law and right and wrong.

People who make light of religious freedom forget the history of the things that made this country great. The abolition of slavery was brought about by religious preachers. The civil rights movement was brought about by religious preachers. Other great moral advances in Western civilization came about through public preaching changing people's hearts, not through secular arguments.

Listen to the First Amendment. It begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." That's the first thing said in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and it, along with the associated freedoms of speech and the press, is fundamental to our society. These rights are not negotiable. We can't stand still and see them weakened.

People of faith do need to be more sensitive to people with different points of view. They need to be talking expressly about how religion benefits not just believers, but all of society. The First Amendment is, in the long run, what's going to help us solve serious problems like racism and discrimination in our society.

Johnnie Moore

Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, member of President Donald Trump's evangelical advisory board, ordained Southern Baptist pastor

_

_

There's a ton of energy right now around peaceful coexistence, which I think is the nearest neighbor to religious freedom. In some very unlikely places, people are willing to have open conversations about what needs to change and ways to change.

This year, I've made two visits to Saudi Arabia. I've been to Indonesia. I've been in dialogue with Egyptians and Jordanians.

Through those experiences thinking about religious freedom in an Islamic context, I've become less of a religious freedom activist and more of an advocate. I'm taking a more humble approach. Instead of walking into meetings and wagging my finger, I'm sitting down at the table and saying, 'Help me understand.'

As a Christian, I do not have permission to not love someone. Every single human being is made in the image of God. I have to engage with people who are like me and who aren't like me, people who think like me and don't think like me, people who have my religion and don't have my religion.

You don't fully understand your own position until you understand other perspectives. I think everyone is too quick to point fingers.

Religious freedom makes building trust and understanding easier. People aren't fearful of sharing their point of view.

I'm focused on building trust within the religious freedom landscape. Rather than scream at each other and have big public fights, people need to sit down in good faith around the table and consider how to move forward. People should not be discriminated against, but religious freedom cannot be compromised.

Let's sit down around the same table and let's negotiate about acceptable, lawful solutions. Let's stop playing zero-sum games.

Robin Fretwell Wilson

Law professor and director of the family law and policy program at the University of Illinois, consultant on state religious freedom legislation, including the 2015 Utah laws balancing LGBT and religious rights

_

_

Everybody is trying to follow their convictions. We haven't found the answers that will allow everyone to be treated fairly.

At the end of the day, kids are trapped in these debates. They're the least powerful people, even though the entire system is supposed to be about them.

My focus in 2019 is taking children out of the culture war around adoption.

We have competing discrimination claims playing out across the country. There are a set of states saying we can't discriminate against LGBT persons seeking to adopt or foster children. Other states say we can't discriminate against the religious adoption agencies turning LGBT persons away.

It's a tragedy to watch the teetering possibility of agency closures. And the teetering possibility that really good people who want to take care of children won't be treated well.

But I do feel a sense of optimism. There are a lot of people who are trying to bridge divides between communities. The key is to not shoot down compromise efforts just because they don't align 100 percent with your singular self-interest.

We've had a paucity of imagination on culture war issues. Nobody is trying very hard to find answers. Instead they're thinking, 'I have this interest and every other thing needs to cede to it.' They're dropping a bomb that levels everything in its path.

When the LGBT community or faith community feels like they have the wind at their back, they act like they don't need to be at the table talking. But we're stuck with each other.

What would be nice is if we paused for a moment and maybe just asked ourselves if there were better ways to navigate shifting political winds so that securing civil rights didn't seem like a game of Pong. It bothers me that we're teaching our children that securing rights is all about power.

What our lawmakers need is the cover to go do a brave thing. We have to start saying, 'Hey, what's been happening is unacceptable.' We have to find a way to be well together and recognize each other for who we are.

Montserrat Alvarado

Vice president and executive director of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

_

_

Religious freedom is about deeply held convictions. No two people, even if they go to the same church or ascribe to the same deity, believe the same thing in exactly the same way.

These are heated debates that are hard to find concrete agreements on because they are related to who we are at our core as human beings. We may agree on general things, but we're always going to have disagreements.

Our cases are about government power, about how much the government should be involved in your religion. Some people think there's a degree of involvement you need. That's where it becomes sticky. We go back and forth and try to find balance that weighs what is necessary for the common good against the inalienable human rights of all Americans.

Any time a debate involves power and morality, it won't be easy to solve. That's been the case since this country's founding.

Our society grows and changes and we debate the guidelines that govern it. That's a privilege. As an immigrant, I will say that's part of the beauty of living in America. We get to have these conversations.

In 2019, we're working on an interesting smattering of new issues and old issues.

There are cases about adoption and foster care services in Michigan and Pennsylvania. There's been a lack of willingness to yield to common-sense solutions that have existed for years.

There are also money issues, like whether ministers can have a housing allowance or if historic preservation grants can go to churches. We're working on cross cases, which ask whether you can have a memorial in the shape of a cross on public land. It would cost more money to tear those down than to keep them in place.

We constantly have to be vigilant. Our work is never done.

Even if we win a Supreme Court case, Congress can come up with something that affects the outcome. I don't think I'm going to be out of a job for a while. But if that day comes when religious freedom for all is protected, I would welcome it. I really would.

Rachel Laser

President and CEO of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State_, an advocacy organization seeking to protect religious freedom by reducing government entanglement with faith groups_

_

_

There's an unprecedented emphasis on religious freedom right now by government leaders. At the same time, there's an increase in discrimination and attacks on religious minorities in the name of religion.

We are witnessing the weaponization of religious freedom. It's been turned from a shield protecting religious people who are vulnerable to a sword that's licensing discrimination and harm.

Just this year, we saw the Trump administration release rules allowing any boss to deny their employee access to affordable birth control because of the boss' religious beliefs. We've witnessed an evangelical advisory board and religious liberty task force given unprecedented access to the White House. The Obama administration's faith advisory council was intentionally diverse.

In state legislatures, we've been battling bills on foster care and adoption, which would allow discrimination in the name of religion. After the midterm election, states like Georgia and Iowa are in a position to pass harmful new religious freedom laws.

And on the courts, we really need to brace ourselves. There are a number of cases the Supreme Court could hear soon that will have serious effects on church-state separation.

We don't have true religious freedom when one narrow set of religious beliefs is foisted on the rest of us. True religious freedom is about everybody's right to believe what they want to believe, to choose their own spiritual brew and maybe change their beliefs throughout their lifetime. It's not about using religion as a tool to justify harm to other people.

When the Religious Freedom Restoration Act became law 25 years ago, it brought an amazing range of people together across political divides and across different religions. They promised to find shared values around the cherished principles of religious freedom for all. They never anticipated that it would be twisted and misused to license discrimination and harm.

Rabbi David Saperstein

Senior adviser for strategy and policy with the Union for Reform Judaism and former U.S. ambassador at-large for international religious freedom

_

_

In the United States, people are able to worship as they wish and organize their religious lives and institutions as they wish. They're able to publish the books they want to publish and create the religious camps they want to send their children to.

At the same time, there are heartfelt differences that exist on a handful of issues. Most particularly, how do we balance religious freedom claims against civil rights claims?

This is a very important, vexing and challenging issue. But I pray for the day when, on the global scene, the most challenging religious issue is whether or not corporations have religious freedom rights.

In too many countries, people face persecution or imprisonment for their peaceful religious practices. They suffer torture and brutality and too often death. They are afflicted by group hatred, ethnic cleansing and genocidal activity.

On those global issues, all of us on both sides of the debates in the United States, across partisan divides and religious differences, stand together to say that nobody should be oppressed, discriminated against or persecuted because of their religious identity.

Domestic religious freedom issues are still of deep significance. People are fearful of being forced by the state to engage in activities that violate their core religious beliefs. On the other side, victims of discrimination are fearful that if religious exemptions to civil rights laws are broadly available then we'd be gutting the entire structure of civil rights protections in America.

So these debates are vitally important. But we have to remind people how much more dangerous, perilous and larger in scope the problems are elsewhere. Several billion people face religious discrimination and persecution across the globe.

Asma Uddin

Senior scholar at the Religious Freedom Center_, author of a forthcoming book on Islam and religious freedom titled "_When Islam is Not a Religion"\

_

_

American politics has become more polarized. The culture wars have always been there but, in recent years, they've gotten worse.

We've seen a trend toward religious freedom claims related to gay rights, abortion and contraception. Religious liberty as a phrase has become politicized. It's seen as discrimination against women and LGBTQ individuals.

I think that's a worrying trend. When people think about religious liberty, they're thinking about culture wars instead of attacks on religious minorities.

President Donald Trump has given so much attention to religious liberty as it's championed by conservative religious groups. He's given so much space and support to traditional, religious concerns. At the same time, there's been top-down rhetoric against a range of minorities, including Muslims.

I'm trying to highlight what's happening to American Muslims. Propagandists are generating fear about this community, which then motivates people to engage in hate crimes. They're depriving Muslims of religious liberty, impeding their ability to build houses or worship or wear religious garb.

I think a lot of people are stuck in this frame of thinking of Muslims in terms of violence and extremism. But when you weaken constitutional protections for one group, you also weaken them for yourself.

Our law is based on precedent. Once we decide religions we don't agree with or beliefs we don't understand deserve less protection, we create a really dangerous precedent.
You are the owner of this article.
Education

DCCC expansion efforts look at former Prendie building
Riyadh: Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives during his visit to Pakistan on Sunday, in an effort to broker an end to Afghanistans 17-year-old civil war, Pakistani government sources said.

Pakistan has been playing an increasingly vital role in the Afghanistan peace talks, which have been gathering momentum in recent months amid a growing US desire to pull out its troops.

Along with other Gulf countries, Saudi Arabia has been part of the peace negotiations and is seen to have some sway over the Afghan Taliban militants due to Riyadhs historical ties with the hardline Islamist group and the kingdoms religious clout as the birthplace of Islam.

Two senior Pakistani officials said the prince was likely to meet Afghan Taliban representatives in Islamabad, where the militants, fighting to restore strict Islamic rule in Afghanistan after their 2001 ouster, say they are due to meet US representatives and Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan.

Though it is top secret so far, there are strong indications representatives of the Afghan Taliban will meet Prince Salman during their visit of Pakistan on February 18, one Pakistani official in Islamabad said.

A senior Taliban leader in Qatar said no decision had been made on whether they would meet the crown prince.

Actually meeting Prince Salman is not in the plan so far but we can discuss it when we are in Islamabad, said the Taliban representative.

Pakistans foreign office and Saudi Arabias government did not respond to requests for comment.

The prince is expected to leave Pakistan on Monday after signing a raft of investment agreements in the energy sector for more than $10bn. But his trip, which Islamabad is treating as the biggest state visit in years, risks being overshadowed by escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following a militant attack on Indian forces in Kashmir.

India said Pakistan had a hand in the attack by a JeM based in Pakistani soil.
The Hague: India will ask the UNs top court on Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court. The court ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague.

The rare foray into the international courts for the nuclear-armed rivals could be another flashpoint after Thursdays suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops.

New Delhis lawyers will present their arguments on Monday to the court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, followed by Pakistans on Tuesday. Jadhav is a former Indian navy officer accused of working for the Indian intelligence services.
In June last year, the Vatican tribunal convicted Monsignor Carlo Capella of possession and distribution of child porn and sentenced him to five years in prison.

Paris: The Paris prosecutors office has opened an investigation into alleged sexual aggression by Luigi Ventura, the Vaticans envoy to France, according to a French judicial official.

Confirming a report published by Le Monde newspaper on Friday, the official said the investigation targeting the Apostolic nuncio will be conducted by Paris police following an alleged incident inside the French capitals town hall.

The official was not authorised to speak publicly because the investigation is ongoing. According to Le Monde, Ventura, who has been holding the post within the Holy Sees global diplomatic corps since 2009, is suspected of having sexually molested a young male employee at the City Hall during a ceremony of wishes on January 17.

Paris City Hall did not immediately respond to a message seeking comments. Ventura is the third Vatican diplomat accused of sexual wrongdoing. In June last year, the Vatican tribunal convicted Monsignor Carlo Capella of possession and distribution of child porn and sentenced him to five years in prison.
London: The UK government on Friday condemned the terrorist attack in Pulwama, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans in Kashmir, as a "senseless and brutal act". Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

"Shocked by today's senseless and brutal act of terror in Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims' families. We stand with India," UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said on Twitter.

Shocked by todays senseless and brutal act of terror in India-administered Kashmir. I offer my sincere condolences to the victims families.



We stand with India.  Jeremy Hunt (@Jeremy_Hunt) February 14, 2019

His statement came amid a widespread outpouring of support for India in the wake of the attack, with a number of British MPs taking to social media to condemn the terror strike.

"I am deeply saddened by the terrorist attack in Kashmir. Thoughts are with the Indian security personnel killed and injured by this appalling crime, said Conservative Party MP Tom Tughendat, who is chairing the ongoing parliamentary Global Britain and India inquiry.

Another Tory MP and leader of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Hindus, Bob Blackman, also took to Twitter to say it was time for India to isolate Pakistan. "Pulwama attack: India will 'completely isolate' Pakistan. We stand with India. Time to isolate & proscribe the terrorists responsible for this atrocity, he said.

Pulwama attack: India will 'completely isolate' Pakistan. We stand with India. Time to isolate & proscribe the terrorists responsible for this atrocity. https://t.co/RpGNSgZOvu  Bob Blackman (@BobBlackman) February 15, 2019

Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma condemned the attack and called on the UK government to reconsider the reference to "India-administered Kashmir".

"I was pleased to see the British Foreign Secretary, Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, has offered his sincere condolences to the victims' families, and stated that 'we stand with India', but I am concerned that he used the phrase 'India-administered Kashmir'," he said.

Sharma said he has written to the Foreign Secretary to reiterate that Kashmir is an integral part of the Indian state and has been since it formally acceded in 1947.
Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him. (File Photo)

Ankara: Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"We haven't given all the elements we have at our disposal," the Turkish head of state said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel. After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Turkish woman Hatice Cengiz.

Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who allegedly helped them dispose of the body, which has not been found. Riyadh has arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder.

Khashoggi, Washington Post contributor, was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any involvement in the murder. Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case.
Describing the Pulwama terrorist attack as a despicable act of violence, top US lawmakers have rallied behind India's effort to fight terrorism. (Representational Image)

Washington: Describing the Pulwama terrorist attack as a despicable act of violence, top US lawmakers have rallied behind India's effort to fight terrorism and said that such heinous crimes will not weaken the resolve of its people. So far, more than 70 American lawmakers including 15 Senators have condemned the attack.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The "terrorist attack against Indian paramilitary police is a despicable act of violence, however, I know it will not weaken the resolve of the Indian people," said Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate India Caucus.

"The American people and the American government stand fully behind our ally India and their fight to defend their democracy and end the threat of violent extremism," he said.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee and Senate India Caucus, Tillis said he remains committed to strengthening the national security alliance between the two nations.

"What a terrible terrorist attack in India. America stands with our Indian friends and allies against this despicable atrocity. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families," Senator Bill Cassidy said.

"I condemn the terror attack yesterday in Jammu and Kashmir. My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones in this horrific attack," said Senator Sherrod Brown.

Other US lawmakers also took to Twitter to condemn the attack. "I strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Kashmir, one of the deadliest attacks in the region in decades. My prayers are with the families of the victims," Senator Cory Booker tweeted.

My heart is with the loved ones of the victims of the horrific shooting in Aurora, Illinois that has left 5 people dead and more injured.



But we know our thoughts and prayers are not enough. Congress must take action to prevent gun violence. https://t.co/qogz1MZgWJ  Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 16, 2019

"My sincere condolences to the Indian people after the horrific terrorist attack yesterday in Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India in the face of terrorism. We must work together to fight this evil," Senator Marco Rubio said.

"The Kashmir terror attack yesterday was a horrific and devastating act of terrorism. These cowardly terrorist acts have no place in our world. The United State stands in solidarity with India in condemning this attack," Senator Rob Portman said.

The #KashmirTerrorAttack yesterday was a horrific and devastating act of terrorism. These cowardly terrorist acts have no place in our world. The United State stands in solidarity with #India in condemning this attack.  Rob Portman (@senrobportman) February 15, 2019

The terror attack against Indian forces in Kashmir resulting in over 40 deaths and seriously injuring many more was despicable, said Congressman Bill Johnson.

"Terrorism cannot be accepted in any part of the world, and Pakistan must end the support and safe haven for any terrorists groups operating in its country," Johnson demanded.

The terror attack against Indian forces in Kashmir resulting in over 40 deaths +seriously injuring many more was despicable. Terrorism cannot be accepted in any part of the world, and Pakistan must end the support and safe haven for any terrorists groups operating in its country.  Bill Johnson (@RepBillJohnson) February 16, 2019

"Deeply saddened to learn of the cowardly terrorist attack on an Indian Central Reserve Police Force in Kashmir yesterday. The United States stands firm with our Indian partners in condemning the Kashmir terror attack. We must fight against terrorism in all of its forms," Congressman Steve Stivers said.

This heinous terrorist attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir is a devastating tragedy and must be vehemently condemned, said Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence.

This heinous terrorist attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir is a devastating tragedy and must be vehemently condemned. I extend my sincere condolences to the victims and their families and loved ones. https://t.co/hWuy75O3Xn  Brenda Lawrence (@RepLawrence) February 15, 2019

"I extend my sincere condolences to the victims and their families and loved ones," Lawrence said. The United States stand with its ally India in coping with this barbaric act of terrorism, said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

"Saddened and angered by today's terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Tammy and I are keeping the victims' families in our prayers during this difficult time. New Jersey stands with India against the threat of terrorism," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said.

My thoughts are with the victims and their families today. America stands with the Indian people and strongly condemns this senseless violence. https://t.co/8clraU67Fg  Ami Bera, M.D. (@RepBera) February 14, 2019

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families today. America stands with the Indian people and strongly condemns this senseless violence," Indian-American Congressman Dr Ami Bera said.
Washington: Exuding confidence ahead of his high-profile meeting with Kim Jong-un later this month, US President Donald Trump has said the second summit will be a "very successful one" as he has established a "very good" relationship with the North Korean leader.

President Trump and Chairman Kim are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27 and 28. The two leaders had met on June 12 last year in Singapore for the first summit.

Trump described his first-ever historic meeting with Kim as "really fantastic" and said they had agreed to sign an unspecified document after their "very positive" summit, aimed at normalising ties and complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

"I hope we have the same good luck as we had in the first summit. A lot was done in the first summit. No more rockets going up. No more missiles going up. No more testing of nuclear (weapons). Got back our remains, the remains of our great heroes from the Korean War. We got back our hostages," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.

"We hope we are going to be very much equally as successful. I'm in no rush for speed. We just don't want testing," he said. Noting that the sanctions against North Koreans remain in place, Trump said both China and Russia were helping the US and he was also working closely with South Korea and Japan.

"But China, Russia, on the border, have really been at least partially living up to what they're supposed to be doing," he said.

"So we will have a meeting on the 27th and 28th of February, and I think that will be a very successful one. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim. We have also established a very good relationship, which has never happened between him or his family and the United States. They have really taken advantage of the United States. Billions of dollars has been paid to them. And we won't let that happen," said the US President.

Trump said North Korea had tremendous potential as an economic force. "Their location between South Korea and then Russia and China - right smack in the middle - is phenomenal. We think that they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future. So I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim in Vietnam," he said.

"A lot has been accomplished. We're dealing with them, we're talking to them," he said. The US president had said after the first summit that he believed he and Kim will "solve a big problem, a big dilemma" and that by working together, "we will get it taken care of".

The summit at Singapore's Sentosa island - the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader - had marked a turnaround of relations between Trump, 72, and Kim, 36, after a long-running exchange of threats and insults.

"When I came into office, I met right there, in the Oval Office, with President Obama. And I sat in those beautiful chairs and we talked. It was supposed to be 15 minutes. As you know, it ended up being many times longer than that," he said, recollecting his first conversation with his predecessor Barack Obama.

"I said, "What's the biggest problem?" He said, By far, North Korea" And I don't want to speak for him, but I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war. In fact, he told me he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea. And where are we now? No missiles. No rockets. No nuclear testing. We've learned a lot," he said.

"But much more importantly than all of it - much more important - much, much more important that that is we have a great relationship. I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un," Trump said ahead of his meeting.

The US insists it will accept nothing less than complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
It said that Bolton supported India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism and offered all assistance to India. (File Photo)

Washington/New Delhi: In the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports India's right to self-defence as both sides vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe heaven for JeM and other terror groups.

Doval and Bolton held a telephonic conversation on Friday evening during which they resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under the UN resolutions and remove all obstacles to designate Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, the External Affairs Ministry (EAM) said in New Delhi.

It said that Bolton supported India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism and offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice. The call was initiated by the US side to express condolence and outrage over the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terrorist group JeM.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a JeM suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

"I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed the US' condolences over the terrorist attack," Bolton told PTI.

He said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. "We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis," the US NSA said.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security," Pompeo said on Twitter. In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack.

Pakistan-based JeM has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

"The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.
Students can install the platform on their mobile, or access the desktop version and register to get access to high-quality content and learning material to be ready for a dynamic industry.

Infosys announced the InfyTQ, a next-generation digital platform to offer the best learning and engagement experiences for engineering students in India. InfyTQ is a free platform open to all engineering students in their third and fourth year across India. The platform encourages holistic development by imparting technical as well as professional skills and help them become industry ready.

InfyTQ will be available on both mobile and desktop and is equipped with a plethora of content, courses, and news to establish talent readiness at an industry level through online assessments and certification. With InfyTQ, students will benefit from the always-on, anytime, anywhere learning, catered through a continuous transfer of digital skills and expertise from the Infosys innovation ecosystem. The platform will also assist students to stay connected with the organization, keep up with the latest happenings, and familiarize themselves with Infosys culture and value system.

The learning courses will be centered around conceptual and practical aspects of technology to ensure a thorough understanding of the fundamental building blocks. This includes extensive hands-on learning to aid the intelligent application of concepts in the real world. The platform will evolve and offer advanced learning materials and enable virtual programming environments for certain sets of students to further hone their technical skills. In addition, the platform also offers courses on professional skills to help students navigate the art of effective contextual response, inter-personal relationships, communication and email, etiquette among others.

Students can install the platform on their mobile, or access the desktop version and register to get access to high-quality content and learning material to be ready for a dynamic industry.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
The all-party meeting chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Saturday, to take stock of the situation arising out of the Pulwama terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy on Thursday, appears to have been a routine and barren affair. It was noteworthy for the absence of a proper discussion on what the home ministers initial assessments were after his trip to Srinagar on Friday, and discussions with top security officials and the state governor. The resolution passed at the meeting was essentially a reiteration of the condemnation of terrorism, and solidarity expressed by the Opposition parties with the security forces and the government for any retaliatory action that may be contemplated.

A caveat may be entered at this stage, however. Since the Lok Sabha polls are fast approaching, retaliatory action nearer the polling date is apt to be misunderstood as a partisan exercise in the event it is successful. If there are snags, the governments opponents may be drawn into a posture of criticism. Either way, the national solidarity being expressed at the present juncture may come under a cloud. Every care needs to be taken to avoid this pitfall.

In his media interaction in Srinagar, the home minister made three key points. In view of disturbing news from Jammu over communal action by groups seen as close to the ruling party, he had been categorical that such activity must stop forthwith in order to project the nations unity in the face of the worst single incident of terrorism in Kashmir.

An assurance from the home minister at the all-party meeting that all communal elements would be dealt with severely would have bolstered the sense that the country is one in dealing with terrorism and any external threat. This was all the more necessary since curfew was clamped on Jammu for the second consecutive day on Saturday in view of untoward events continuing to occur. But Mr Singh missed the opportunity.

In Srinagar, his remaining two observations betray a lack of familiarity with the ground realities. He hinted that security being given to separatist leaders could be withdrawn. He didnt pause to think why the Hurriyat leaders were given security in the first place. They are Indian citizens and an integral part of the political landscape. Should they come to harm, especially someone like the Mirwaiz, who is institutionally the Valleys chief priest, there could be a public backlash with negative implication for the security situation.

Lastly, the home minister suggested banning all civilian traffic when the security forces' convoys move. As convoys move all the time, this can lead to considerable public disaffection and would psychologically bring back the militancy years. The CRPF convoy came under attack, it needs to be remembered, because laid-down protocols were not observed, and not due to the movement of civilian vehicles.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had asked Mr Reddy to join hands for the Federal Front at the national level.

Hyderabad: The YSRC will not have a pre-poll alliance for the Lok Sabha or the AP elections. Shaking hands with the TRS was only for the Federal Front and was not about an alliance, a senior party leader said.

The Federal Front is an understanding of parties with the same ideology. When they can be a UPA and NDA, why not a Federal Front? There is a need for a non-BJP, non-Cong-ress front, he said.

The YSRC has no tie-up with any party ahead of the elections but there may be one after the results are declared, he said. The party will definitely not tieup with the BJP or the Congress given that both have betrayed the state by not allocating special status under the AP Reorganisation Act, he said.

Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had asked Mr Reddy to join hands for the Federal Front at the national level. However, it is in the preliminary stage. The issue may turn crucial after the elections, the leader said.

Asked why the party had initiated talks with the TRS, which it had opposed during the statehood agitation, a leader said that it was because the TRS MPs had repeatedly advocated for special status for AP in Parliament.

Even K. Kavitha has raised the issue several times in the Lok Sabha and K. Kesava Rao in the Rajya Sabha, he said.

The Congress and the BJP have betrayed us. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised at Tirupati he would accord special status but now the people feel cheated, he said.
Hyderabad: The YSR Congress is confident of coming to power in Andhra Pradesh after the Assembly elections, as anti-incumbency was likely to play a key role in turning the ruling partys fortunes.

The party was also confident that its chief Mr Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddys 341-day Praja Sankalpa Yatra would boost the partys winning chances.

Sources said the party chief was of the opinion that not having anti-incumbency against Telugu Desam chief Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, as he was in Opposition for 10 years, and the euphoria of Mr Narendra Modi in 2014 had helped the TD-BJP combine in the last Assembly polls. He added to that the effect of Jana Sena president Mr Pavan Kalyan and farmers loan waiver scheme.

Party leaders now believe that Mr Reddys padyatra has helped him create a strong bond with the people, and the direct interaction between him and the people should go on till the end of the election.

In his 3,648-km yatra, Mr Reddy has covered 2,516 villages in 134 constituencies out of 175 segments in the state and he now plans to go on a bus yatra to cover the remaining 41 constituencies. Sources said Mr Reddys mother Ms Vijayamma and sister Ms Sharmila will campaign in the polls though they wont themselves contest.

Party leaders also said that Mr Naidus last-minute sops, replicating the YSRCs promises of Navaratna, would not work as people were realising that the announcements were merely a step to distract them from the YSRC.

They are confident that people will not believe the TDs claim about the YSRC having a tacit understanding with the BJP. Instead, they are citing a Maharashtra ministers wifes continuation on the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Trust Board as evidence of continuation of ties between the TD and the BJP, even after Mr Naidu announ-ced in March 2018 about ending ties with the BJP.

The party leaders feel that Mr Pavan Kalyan is also working for the TD, as was evident from his tours confined to the coastal districts. They are saying that Mr Kalyan is not even attempting to visit Rayalaseema, as the TD wants the Balija community, which is said to have been with the TD since its beginning, to not get distracted.

YSRC leaders strongly believe that the murderous attack on the party chief at Visakhapatnam airport had exposed the TDs conspiracy to eliminate him and this has had a strong impact on peoples minds.

Another reason they feel confident of their partys prospects in the polls is the Rythu Bharosa scheme, one of the promises of Navaratna, which, they feel, will help them win in the coming elections. The party has announced Rs 12,500 in financial assistance to each of the states 85 lakh farmers during pre-sowing season.

They claimed that the TDs announcement to give Rs 4,000 to each farmer apart from the Rs 6,000 assistance under the PMs Kisan Sampada Yojana was a means to cheat the farmers.
Hyderabad: YSRC president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy now plans to go on a bus yatra to cover the 41 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, which were left out during his recently-concluded 3,648-km padayatra.

Mr Reddy had covered 2,516 villages in 134 constituencies out of 175 segments in the state. The 341-day Praja Sankalpa Yatra would boost the partys winning chances, YSRC sources said.

The party is confident of coming to power in Andhra Pradesh after the Assembly elections, as anti-incumbency was likely to play a key role in turning the ruling partys fortunes.
Banerjee said, ' it is an intelligence failure. Why were so many vans going together when there is a security threat?' (Photo: File)

Howrah: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hit out at the intelligence department as she expressed her grief over the demise of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama terror attack on Thursday.

Addressing the media, she said: People are asking what was NSA and intelligence doing? This is an intelligence failure. Why were so many vans going together when there is a security threat?

Banerjee condemned the attack and asserted that if Pakistan is involved in it then strong action should be taken against it.

We condemn any terror attack. I dont want to discuss foreign affairs. But if Pakistan has done something, strong action should be taken, she added.

Elaborating upon the measures taken by her government to help the families of the deceased security personnel she stated, I spoke to one of the two family members of the deceased personnel and also sent my ministers to their house. We will give them necessary support for employment.

Around 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain jawans personnel were travelling in a bus which came under the terror attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, has claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged.
In May 2017, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Jadhav's execution till adjudication of the case. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Amid the escalating tension between India and Pakistan following the ghastly Pulwama terror attack, India on Monday to ask the United Nations top court to order Pakistan to take Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, off death row.

Former India Naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by Pakistan in a Field General Court Martial on April 10, 2017 after three-and-a-half months of trial.

He has been accused of espionage and working for the Indias external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

Challenging the execution, India moved to Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ). In May 2017, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Jadhav's execution till adjudication of the case.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from Balochistan on March 3, 2016 after he allegedly 'entered from Iran'.

However, India maintains it claim that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests.

On Monday, India's lawyers will present their side of argument in front of the top UN court. India is asking International Court of Justice to order Islamabad to annul the death sentence given by the military court of Pakistan.

In the case, India has also highlighted Islamabad's repeated violation of the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access and by breaking the international human rights law.

Hague-based International Court of Justice was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes.
Anna Hazare, an octogenarian, ended his six-day fast over the demand of appointment of anti-corruption watchdog Lokpal on February 5. (File Photo)

Mumbai: Social activist Anna Hazare, who is currently hospitalised following his fast, said Friday that he still had enough strength to drive a military truck.

Anna Hazare, who was once an Army driver, was reacting to the terrorist attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir in which at least 40 jawans were killed.

"I can not pick up the gun because of my old age, but if the need be, I can surely hold the steering wheel to ferry supplies to our armymen fighting for the country," a close aide of Anna Hazare quoted him as saying from the hospital bed.

Anna Hazare, an octogenarian, ended his six-day fast over the demand of appointment of anti-corruption watchdog Lokpal on February 5.

Suffering from certain health issues, he is now admitted to a hospital in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.

Before he attained national fame as anti-corruption crusader, Kisan Baburao Hazare, fondly known as Anna, joined the Army in 1960 as a truck driver. He served in the Khem Karan sector during the Indo-Pak war of 1965.
Uddhav Thackeray said, 'In the whole country, people should come together to tell Pakistan that our country will not bend and we will teach them a lesson. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: The Pulwama terror attack has shown that it is now time to penetrate into Pakistan directly, said Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday.

"This is not just a terrorist attack but an incursion of our intelligence agencies. If India had no prior information about such a major attack, then the question arises. What is the role of the intelligence agencies? If an intelligence failure led to the terrorist attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy then those who were in charge should be removed," Uddhav Thackeray said while speaking to media persons on the ghastly terror attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Jammu, and Kashmir.

"After surgical strikes of 2016, it is now time to penetrate into Pakistan directly," he added.

Appealing the whole nation to stand together against Pakistan, Thackrey said: "In the whole country, people should come together to tell Pakistan that our country will not bend and we will teach them a lesson. Those who are in powers, if they do not understand what they are doing then they should be removed from their positions. We had made surgical strikes in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir but now have to penetrate into Pakistan directly."

"Elections and every other thing is secondary but it is most important to give a tit-for-tat response to Pakistan," he added. As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were traveling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain CRPF personnel were traveling in a bus which came under the terror attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, has claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged.
Family members of slain CRPF jawan Sanjay Kumar Singh pay their last respects before his funeral procession, at Masaurhi, in Patna on Saturday. (PTI)

New Delhi: Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India on Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.

The decision would significantly hit Pakistans exports to India, which stood at $488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18 as it would drastically increase the prices of its goods here.

India has withdrawn MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect, finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan, official sources said.

Meanwhile, a dossier, nailing the culpability of Pakistan in the terror attack in Pulwama, will be given to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international terror financing watchdog, to expose the neighbouring countrys links with terrorism and seeking its blacklisting, officials said.

The FATF blacklist means the country concerned is non-cooperative in the global fight against money laundering and terrorist financing.

If the FATF blacklists Pakistan, it may lead to downgrading of the country by multilateral lenders like International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, EU and also a reduction in risk rating by Moodys, S&P and Fitch.

The Paris-headquartered FATF will also be told through the dossier how the Pakistani agencies are providing funds to the JeM, the official said.

In the next meeting of the FATF, India will also press for the blacklisting of Pakistan so that that action can be taken against the country, another official said. The FATF plenary and working group meetings will be held in Paris next week.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country invoked a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. Both the countries are member of this organisation.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may face a CBI probe in connection with Muzaffarpur shelter home case.

Senior lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha said, the special POCSO court has ordered the CBI to examine the role of Bihar Chief Minister and others after a petition was filed by one of the accused in case.

He said one of the accused, Ashwani Kumar, who was arrested in November last year for injecting sedatives to girls at the Muzaffarpur shelter home in his petition had requested the court to order investigating agencies to probe close links of main accused Brajesh Thakur with top politicians of the state including the Bihar Chief Minister.

In his four-page petition, Kumar said that if CBI investigates Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, principal secretary of the social welfare department Atul Prasad, and former Muzaffarpur district magistrate Dharmendra Singh and other officials then their role can also be exposed in the case.

The petition and courts observation in the case may cause rumblings in political circles here. Sources said that the Opposition may use the issue as an agenda against the NDA in the elections.
KOCHI: Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Markendaya Katju says the Union Government should not be guided by a Vietnam Syndrome like situation in Kashmir by talking only in the language of revenge against the killing of CRPF Jawans in a terrorist attack at Pulwama in the state. The Vietnam Syndrome refers to American forces punishing whole villages in retaliation to Viet Cong guerilla ambushes which led to the entire population turning against US forces in Vietnam.

The tendency of punishing ordinary people in the name of fighting insurgency and the culture of revenge and retaliation will only help to convert non-militants to militants. The situation in Kashmir is becoming very much similar to the Vietnam Syndrome, Justice Katju, said and cautioned against ordinary people being targeted in the name of fighting insurgency following the suicide attack.

The stupid policies followed by the political leaders in the past few decades has made majority of the people in Kashmir to turn against India. We have to face this truth, the former judge, a native of Kashmir said. He said a solution for Kashmir problem is the unification of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh as a single country.

Justice Katju has also opposed the majority judgment of the Supreme Court bench permitting women of reproductive age group to enter Sabarimala Temple. Stating that he is an atheist with no faith in any religion or God. Justice Katju however, said min-ority judgment of Justice Indu Malhotra was the correct in connection with Sabarimala Case.

Religion is a matter of faith and not of reason, he said. Article 14 of the Constitution that guarantee right to equality has to be read along with article 25 providing the right to religion, he added. He also dismissed the attempt to equate Sabarimala verdict with abolition of the custom Sati by saying that the practice of Sati amounted to subjecting a woman to a brutal death by burning while denial of menstruating women to enter Sabarimla is not having any such horrible practices.

Justice Katju berated the Supreme Court for its failure to quash the prosecution of activists in the Bhima-Koregaon case. Citing two of his own judgments when he was in Supreme Court he said such cases have to be decided according to the principle of imminent lawless action test used by the US Supreme Court in Brandenburg Vs State of Ohio in 1969.

The imminent lawless action test will show argument of the prosecution in the case have no merit and the same deserved to be quashed. Saying that regional parties will emerge as decisive forces in the forthcoming parliament elections he said BJP is likely to win 125 seats only.
As part of sub- conventional conflict like a surgical strike, IAF demonstrated its ability to insert and extricate troops from hostile territories.

New Delhi: As Indian establishment is looking for a befitting reply to strike back after Pulwama attack, over 81 fighter jets from Indian Air Force were in action on Saturday at the Western border with Pakistan.

The top Indian fighter jets Mirage 2000, MiG 29, Jaguar and Su 30 among others were participating in Vayu Shakti exercise at Pokhran air to ground range in Rajasthan which demonstrates capability of Indian Air force to detect targets at ground, hit them with precision and completely neutralise enemy assets.

It is a showcase of lethality of Indian Air Force.

With talks of precision air strike by military experts across the border after Pulwama attack, Pakistan will be at alert about an exercise involving over 140 aircraft (fighter jets, transport aircraft and helicopters among others) near the border which are battle ready and can hit targets at a short notice.

IAF is prepared to deliver appropriate response as assigned by our political leadership and will always remain at the forefront in executing its missions, said Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa at Vayu Shakti.

He said that on behalf of IAF he assures the nation of the airforces capability in meeting national security challenges and defending the sovereignty of the country.

We are showcasing our ability to hit hard, hit fast and hit with precision, hit during day, hit during night and hit under adverse weather conditions through our autonomous bombing capability, said Air Chief Marshal.

As part of sub- conventional conflict like a surgical strike, IAF demonstrated its ability to insert and extricate troops from hostile territories.

During exercise, various simulated enemy targets on ground and in air were targeted and destroyed employing a variety of missiles.
Sharanagouda, on Wednesday, had filed a police complaint against the BJP leaders over an alleged audiotape. (File Photo)

Bengaluru: BS Yeddyurappa, Preetham Gowda, Shivanna Gowda, and Marakal on Saturday got bail in the case registered by Sharanagouda, son of Gurmitkal MLA Naganagouda Kandkur, over an alleged call made to him by Yeddyurappa.

The bail granted by City Civil Special Court also asked all the four to pay Rs 1 lakh each as bond.

Sharanagouda, on Wednesday, had filed a police complaint against the BJP leaders over an alleged audiotape released by Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

The controversial audio clip allegedly contains a conversation between BJP state president Yeddyurappa and Sharanagouda. Kumaraswamy alleged that Yeddyurappa was purportedly trying to lure a JD(S) MLA.

The complaint was filed at Devadurga police station under Section 506 of IPC (Punishment for criminal intimidation).

This comes after the Karnataka Assembly on February 14 witnessed uproar as BJP legislators walked up to the Well of the House in protest against the formation of SIT into the audio tape matter.

Yeddyurappa said: We demand a house committee to probe into the matter. We will not get any justice through SIT investigation as it will be under the Chief Minister. I am going to discuss in detail with the Speaker.

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy, on the direction of the Speaker, had constituted a SIT to probe into the audio clip incident. He ordered that the probe in the matter should be finished within 15 days.
Dhule: Lauding security forces for their dedication in serving the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the entire nation is mourning the killing of CRPF jawans, who lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack.

All tears will be answered, Prime Minister Modi said while addressing a rally here. Today, I have come here at a time when the entire nation is angry over the terrorist attack on our jawans in Pulwama. On one side the country is angry, on the other, all eyes are numb, he said.

Even Maharashtra has lost a few of its children...Our soldiers have selflessly worked for the nation. This is the time for being restraint and mourning. But I want to assure all the families of slain soldiers that all their tears will be answered, said Prime Minister Modi.

India is a country of new customs and new policies. The world is experiencing this. Our security forces do not forgive any culprit. This has been the policy of India that we do not tease anybody. But I want to make it clear that we don't forgive anyone also if someone tries to tease us, he said.

Prime Minister Modi is in Maharashtra to launch various development projects.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, over 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Pulwama district on Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under the terror attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.
RTHK: Arms treaty must include China: Merkel

China must be involved in international disarmament efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, amid rising concern about Beijing's missile arsenal and the suspension of a key US-Russia arms treaty.

Fears that the web of agreements limiting the proliferation of nuclear warheads and other weapons could be in jeopardy have grown since Washington and Moscow announced their withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty.

But Merkel's call to launch a fresh push for disarmament and to include rising military power China met with a brisk rebuff from a top Beijing official -- and was simply ignored by senior US and Russian figures.

"Disarmament is something that concerns us all and we would of course be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe and Russia but also with China," Merkel told the Munich Security Conference.

Washington began pulling out of the INF treaty this month in response to Moscow's deployment of a new missile system the US and NATO say violates the accord, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal.

Neither US Vice President Mike Pence nor Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded to Merkel's call in their speeches at the conference.

Unless Washington or Moscow changes course, the INF -- which banned ground-launched missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometres -- will cease to function in August.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said he had seen no indication Russia might be willing to back down in talks he held with Lavrov on Friday.

The alliance has been urging Russia to save the treaty by abandoning the controversial 9M279 missile system, which officials say can hit capital cities throughout Europe as far as London.

While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have also voiced concern that the INF does nothing to constrain China's rapidly growing military power.

"For several years, the Pentagon has been concerned about the imbalance, according to it, between Chinese and North Korean ballistic and cruise missiles and American resources in the region," France's Foundation for Strategic Research said in a recent report.

Germany is organising an international conference in Berlin next month to start talks about how to create an arms control regime to replace the one forged in the bipolar Cold War era.

But it will be difficult to persuade China to give up or restrict what represents an important part of its military capability.

According to a new report by the Institute for Strategic Studies, up to 95 percent of China's arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles would be in breach of the INF if Beijing were party to it.

Given this, "it is difficult to envision a scenario under which China would today enter a regime such as the INF Treaty," the report said.

And Yang Jiechi, a senior Chinese foreign policy official, unequivocally confirmed Bejing's unwillingness to submit to the INF.

"China develops its capabilities strictly according to its defensive needs and doesn't pose a threat to anybody else," Yang told the conference. "So we are opposed to the multilateralisation of INF."

The peril the INF faces has raised concerns about another major US-Russia arms control treaty, New START, which limits strategic nuclear weapons and will expire in 2021.

Lavrov recalled that President Vladimir Putin has said Russia is "ready to start negotiations on the extension of this treaty", but the minister warned that "time flies fast".

"So far we were not offered any meaningful consultations, but we keep trying," Lavrov said. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
'Pakistan might take unilateral measures against India or revoke concessions under the South Asia preferential trade agreement (Sapta) and might take up the issue in the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation,' Dawn quoted Razak Dawood. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi/ Islamabad: A day after India withdrew Pakistan special trade status, Islamabad on Saturday said it will consider "all available option" to retaliate against Delhi.

"Pakistan might take unilateral measures against India or revoke concessions under the South Asia preferential trade agreement (Sapta) and might take up the issue in the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation," Dawn quoted Razak Dawood, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan advisor on Commerce as saying.

New Delhi withdrew Most Favoured Nation status from Islamabad after 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Pakistan-sponsored JeM mediate suicide terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

This is the first time that India has revoked the special status that was accorded to Pakistan in 1995.

Earlier in 2016, after a terror attack on Uri army base camp in Jammu and Kashmir, India had reviewed Pakistan's MFN status but decided to not withdraw it.

According to the experts, the impact of status removal on trade is unlikely to be substantial given the low volume- under US dollar 2.5 billion bilateral trade between two countries.

Notably, Pakistan has never given India an MFN status. In addition to that, it only allows import of 138 items from India.

Pakistan and India currently use three stations for tr

ade  trade across LoC, the Wagah border and Port Qasim, Karachi.

On Thursday, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed after a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with explosives into a bus carrying them on Thursday.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.
Prime Minister was speaking in reference to Thursdays suicide bombing at Pulwama in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

Yavatmal: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched a scathing attack at Pakistan without naming it and said that it had become a synonym for terrorism.

A country that was formed after Indias partition, which gives shelter to terrorism and which is on the verge of bankruptcy has today become a synonym for terrorism, the PM said at a public event at Yavatmal in Maharashtra.

Terror organisations who have committed this crime, no matter how much they try to hide, they will be punished. Security forces have been given full freedom. I know that we are all in immense pain after what happened in Pulwama, I understand your anger. Two sons from Maharashtra lost their lives in the attack, their sacrifice wont go in vain, Modi added.

Prime Minister was speaking in reference to Thursdays suicide bombing at Pulwama in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.
Kerala Tourism launched a coffee table book, a first-of-its-kind visual odyssey of the Jews who decided to make Kerala their home before several of the diasporic community going back to Israel, their fatherland.

KOCHI: For the first time, Kerala Tourism participated in the International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) in Tel Aviv, foraying into the largely untapped Israeli market in a bid to substantially increase footfalls from the Middle East country and forge durable bonds with its tourism sector.

Tourism director P Bala Kiran led the state delegation at the two-day IMTM 2019, the annual professional tourism fair of its kind in the eastern Mediterranean and the official and only professional exhibition for the tourism trade market in Israel.

Kerala Tourism launched a coffee table book, a first-of-its-kind visual odyssey of the Jews who decided to make Kerala their home before several of the diasporic community going back to Israel, their fatherland. The book was launched by Indian Ambassador to Israel Pavan Kapoor, who also visited the Kerala stall at the event.

Tourism minister Kadakampally Surendran said Kerala needs to scout for new markets abroad to attract tourists in the highly competitive global marketplace. "Our participation in IMTM will act as a trigger to meet that objective," he said.

The minister said there is a direct flight from Tel Aviv, the second most populous city in Israel, to Delhi and Mumbai.

"Now a new direct flight will be launched this September from Tel Aviv to Kochi by Arkia Israeli Airlines, which will be a major boost to tourism in India in general and Kerala in particular," he added. As many as 15,339 Israeli tourists visited Kerala in 2018, an increase of 29 per cent as compared to 11,892 in 2017 and 10,922 in 2016, while it registered a surge of over 15 per cent in terms of tourist arrival from that country during 2013-18.
At one instance, the Child Help Desk team rescued a three-month old toddler and her eight-year old sister from a train.

Kochi: The lack of a dedicated government-run shelter home for boys in the district is affecting rehabilitation of rescued children. A total of 154 minor children who ran away from their homes were rescued by the Railway Child Help Desk team at Ernakulam South railway station in the last six months. Among them were 130 boys and 24 females.

"In some cases, no one comes forward to claim the rescued children while in others, it takes some time for reuniting them with their parents as we've to do a proper verification and collect document proofs. Often this calls for their rehabilitation," said a CWC councillor on condition of anonymity.

The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) also provides such children with educational opportunities.

"We're able to extend accommodation and educational facilities to the rescued girls, thanks to Girls' Home at Kakkanad. However, when it comes to boys, we're forced to send them to the shelter homes in Kottayam or Thrissur which are functioning with near full capacity," the official said.Almost half of the rescued children at the Ernakulam South railway station are from the state itself. In majority of cases, the children left their houses due to family issues.

At one instance, the Child Help Desk team rescued a three-month old toddler and her eight-year old sister from a train. "We rescued them from a drunkard man who claimed they were his children. However, no one came forward to take them back despite our efforts to find out their relatives. Now the baby and her sister are doing well at the shelter home," the official said.
owever, despite mounting protest the state government refuses to take a call on the proposed plant.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Despite widespread protest by Peringamala natives against setting up of a decentralised waste management plant, the state government has left them hanging without taking a final call on the project.

The protest by the residents of Peringamala have reached 231 days and the action council is planning to carry out a couple of surveys on wildlife including fish, dragonflies in the coming week to bring the attention of the government on the importance to protect the ecologically sensitive.

Photographer Sali Palode, an active member of the action committee against the waste plant, said that in the recent budget, the state government has announced two major tourism projects in the Peringamala Panchayat.

"A farm tourism project has been announced in the budget. The government plan to set up the waste-t0-energy plant is also at the same farmland," said Mr Sali Palode.

He said that the action council is planning to launch a survey on the dragonflies in the Peringamala area. "We are totally against violence and other methods of protests. We want the world to know how ecologically rich is this place. We are planning for more surveys on the wildlife including fish, bats and other wildlife," said Mr Sali Palode.

The entire residents of Peringamala had taken out a march to protest the setting up of the plant. However, despite mounting protest the state government refuses to take a call on the proposed plant.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday asked party activists not to celebrate his birthday on February 17 as a mark of respect to the CRPF jawans martyred in Thursdays terror attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

In a press communique from the Chief Ministers Office, Mr Rao condemned the terror attack and said he was extremely moved by the grave loss of lives and the injuries sustained by many CRPF personnel in the ghastly incident.

The Chief Minister conveyed his condolences to the family members of the martyrs and wished that the injured personnel recover from their injuries.

Mr Rao stated that the entire nation was in a state of mourning and in this hour of grief he desired to cancel all celebrations on account of his birthday on February 17. He appealed to TRS leaders and workers not to celebrate the birthday in any form.
The meeting was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation.(Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: An all-party meeting, called by Modi government concluded on Saturday about the Pulwama terror attack and security situation in Kashmir.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Congresss Ghulam Nabi Azad said, We stand with the government for unity and security of the nation and security forces. Be it Kashmir or any other part of the nation, Congress party gives its full support to the government in the fight against terrorism.

As per our knowledge barring wars, this is the first time that such a large number of personnel have died since 1947. All parties and countrymen, from all religions and regions are mourning. At a time like this, our party has decided that we are with the security forces and the local police in J&K, Azad added.

Azad said that there are many disagreements with the government, but for the sake of our country, security of all, we will stand with the government to end terror.

Photo: ANI | Twitter

A resolution was also passed at the all party meeting condemning the dastardly attack of 14th February 2019 at Pulwama.

We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border, the resolution said.

Parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that during the meeting, the home minister took a firm stand on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and said that the security forces have a free hand.

The home minister said we will rid Jammu and Kashmir of terrorism. He said security forces have a free hand. We have had a zero tolerance for terror and this attack is in response to this, Tomar quoted the home minister as saying.

The meeting was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation. It was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.
Jagdalpur: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday hit out at the Modi government, saying that while it doled out crores of rupees to industrialists such as Anil Ambani and Vijay Mallya, it promised just Rs 3.50 per day to farmers.

Gandhi was speaking at a convention of tribals here in Chhattisgarh.

"Lakhs and crores of rupees have been given to the people like Anil Ambani, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi, Vijay Mallya and Lalit Modi, but farmers will get just Rs 3.50 per day," he said, referring to the Centre's Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme, under which farmers cultivating up to two hectares (five acres) will get direct cash support of Rs 6000 annually. "When the announcement of Rs 6,000 for farmers was made in the Union Budget, BJP MPs were thumping their desks in Lok Sabha," Gandhi said.

"Is this a joke?" he asked. He promised that if the Congress was voted to power after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, a minimum income guarantee would be given to the poor and the money would be deposited directly into their bank accounts.

"The poll promises (made by Modi) regarding transfer of Rs 15 lakh into everyone's bank account and providing two crore jobs have not been implemented," he said.

"The decision of demonetisation made you to stand on queues (outside banks). If it was a fight against black money then why all honest people had to stand on queues," Gandhi asked.
However, Hooda opined that India cannot be completely dependent on the international community. (Photo: ANI)

Panchkula: Retired Lieutenant General DS Hooda on Saturday stressed the need for India to engage with China to declare Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a "global terrorist".

We need to engage China much more on this. There is obstinacy in China to try and defend who we know as a global terrorist," he told ANI.

Nearly 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday in an attack orchestrated by JeM.

A day later, the Centre announced the withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation status granted to Pakistan.

Withdrawing MFN status is right but I dont think it is going to hurt Pakistan. It is clear that the attack has been launched by Jaish-e-Mohammad. The organization is based in Pakistan and it is completely supported by ISI, an intelligence agency of Pakistan, said Hooda.

He also said that "some action" will be witnessed along the Line of Control (LoC) in the coming weeks.

In the wake of the attack, 48 countries extended support to India.

However, Hooda opined that India cannot be completely dependent on the international community.

The US has made a strong statement. There are limits to how much the US can pressurise Pakistan particularly at a time they want to exit from Afghanistan. They want Pakistans help to bring the Taliban on the negotiating table. We cant completely depend on the international community, he said.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora on February 14.
The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. (Photo: File)

Srinagar: National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Saturday expressed disappointment over a resolution passed in an all-party meeting in Delhi for not including in it an appeal to maintain calm in the wake of violence in Jammu and tension in other states over the Pulwama terror attack.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border.

Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences," Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences. https://t.co/psxKrwDBu8  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. People took to the streets to denounce the terror strike and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in it.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicles were torched and damaged.

The curfew in Jammu city continued on Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

In Uttarakhand, some Kashmiri youths studying in the state capital of Dehradun have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.
Coimbatore: The famous wild tusker Chinna thambi was captured again after darting on Friday and relocated to the Varagaliyar elephant camp where it will undergo a couple of months training with the help of a mahout and released along with tamed elephants in Kozhikamuthi near Top Slip.

According to Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) field director, V. Ganesan, arrangements were kept ready to dart Chinna thambi on Thursday evening. However, the elephant remained inside sugarcane fields without giving a chance for darting.

Efforts made by forest staff to enter the swampy sugarcane fields by sitting on top of kumkis to dart Chinna thambi failed as the kumkis refused to enter the slushy terrain. The elephant walked out only on Friday morning.

The first shot by veterinarian Dr Ashokan with a combination of ketamine zylozine was around 7.15 am, but missed. The second shot was by former ranger Thanga Raj Paneerselvam and successfully made on the leg of Chinna thambi. The latter ran inside the sugarcane field and hid himself once again. The third shot also missed but the fourth shot succeeded.

With the help of two kumkis, Chinna thambi was loaded into a specially designed forest department truck that was brought from Waynad in neighboring Kerala. Under the supervision of rangers Murugesan and Dhanabal along with 200 forest staff and police guided by ATR field director V. Ganesan and Tirupur DFO Dileep, the operation was successfully executed.

Chinna thambi has started its journey towards the elephant camp in Varagaliyar, where it will be kept in the krawl and will undergo a couple of months training. Later on it will be freed in the Kozhikamuthi tamed elephant camp in ATR as there are no plans now of making it a kumki as submitted to the Madras High court, added the official.
Wang Yi's message to Swaraj said, 'countries in the region should enhance cooperation, jointly address the threat of terrorism and maintain regional peace and security'. (Photo: PTI | File)

New Delhi: More than 48 countries condemned and extended support to India over Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF men. Among other countries, China too expressed "deep sympathies" but did not make mention of Pakistan.

The condolence message by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to his counterpart Sushma Swaraj stressed on terrorism as a common enemy of mankind and that the "Chinese side resolutely opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism".

The statement nowhere makes reference to Pakistan, despite the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed taking the responsibility of the terror attack.

"Countries in the region should enhance cooperation, jointly address the threat of terrorism and maintain regional peace and security," Wang Yi's message to Swaraj said.

India has said it had "incontrovertible evidence" of Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack. The Pakistan government, however, has denied involvement, calling the attack a matter of "grave concern."

In the wake of Pulwama attack, the centre has already decided to remove "Most Favoured Nation" privilege given to Pakistan. Centre also made emphasis on isolating Pakistan globally.

India had also appealed to members of the international community to back the naming of Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in a clear reference to China which has been blocking all efforts to ban Azhar at the United Nations.

Though countries like the US, the UK, Russia, and France have asserted that they stand with India in combating terrorism, China still refuses to change its stand on Masood Azhar.

On Thursday afternoon, a suicide bomber detonated a car-load of explosives next to a large convoy of 78 CRPF buses with over 2,500 personnel traveling on the highway from Jammu to Srinagar.

At Pulwama, the car with 60 kg of explosives blew up, killing 40 personnel reporting to duty after leave.
KOCHI: The defeat of the Congress candidate in the by-election in the Vyttila Janata ward council of Kochi corporation will intensify the group fighting in the district unit of the party.

LDF candidate Biju Thottally won the seat with a majority of 58 votes, defeating Shelby Antony of the Congress in the election in which 3,811 of the 5,650 voters voted. The by-election was necessitated following the death of the sitting member M. Premachandran of the Congress.

The non-action on critical civic issues by the Kochi Corporation headed by Soumini Jain will be the focus of attention as many Congress leaders in Ernakulam are openly critical of the functioning of the civic body and its failure to live up to the expectations of the people. The alleged arrogance shown by the mayor towards the party workers is also cited as a reason for the defeat.

The jubilant CPM and the LDF have already demanded the resignation of mayor taking the moral responsibility of the defeat. The defeat of the UDF candidate in a ward considered a traditional stronghold of the Congress is the reflection of the protest and anger of the people of Kochi against the misrule of the Congress-led council, opposition leader in the corporation K.J. Antony and LDF parliamentary party leader V.P. Chandran said.

The two leaders listed a series of incidents to highlight the failure of the corporation including the lack of online services to the people despite being a metro city, total failure in handling the waste issue and the failure to complete the list of beneficiaries for social security pension. The immediate problem for the ruling front is the composition of the standing committee on finance. The ruling front which had six members in the 10-member council has now lost its majority with the loss in the by election.

A section of the Congress leaders blamed the party local leadership for the defeat and pointed out that the UDF has maintained its upper hand in the district by winning elections in three other local bodies.
PM Modi on Friday warned that those responsible for the attack had made a 'big mistake' and would pay a 'very heavy price'. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The bodies of the soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama, which were brought to Delhi on Friday evening, have started reaching their respective hometowns.

At the homes of the 40 jawans who died in the attack on Thursday, people lined up to pay their last respects with flowers and national flags.

In Uttar Pradeshs Unnao, the body of Ajit Kumar Azad was received by his family at around 7 am. The 35-year-old is survived by two daughters and a wife. The funeral will take place at Ganga ghat with full state honours.

In Varanasi, people gathered to pay tribute to Ramesh Yadav, whose body was brought to his native village Tofapur around 8:30 am.

Photo: ANI

The mortal remains of CRPF personnel Rohitash Lamba was brought to his home in Govindpura in Jaipur around 8:40 am. People from the city were united with the soldiers family.

Photo: ANI

At Tirva Kannauj, thousands of people paid rich tributes to jawan Pradeep Kumar, whose body reached his home town around 9am today.

In Agras Kehrai village, the anger was visible as 48-year-old Kaushal Kumar Rawats body reached home and the villagers gathered together and raised anti-Pakistan slogans. Rawats cremation will be held at a location near his paternal house.

In Punjabs Moga, the body of Jaimal Singh, who was driving the CRPF bus when it was blown up in the suicide bombing, has reached home. His cremation is scheduled to take place in the afternoon.

Photo: ANI

Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, other political leaders and Chiefs of Indian security forces paid their tributes to all 40 brave hearts at the Palam Airport on Friday.

Shock, grief and outrage have engulfed the country after the deadly attack on Thursday in which a terrorist rammed buses in a security convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway with a car carrying 60 kg of explosives.

PM Modi on Friday warned that those responsible for the attack had made a big mistake and would pay a very heavy price. PM Modi said security forces had been given a free hand to act against terror.
Chennai: The case of the missing schoolgirl and the discovery of her skeleton inside the school uniform buried in a canal in Venkatapuram village near Tiruttani on February 11 has unfolded into a gory tale of gang rape and brutal rape.

It has been found that the fifteen-year-old girl was abducted and kept captive at a motor pump room in a mango farm where she was raped by five men over five days before being killed. The five rapists have been arrested.

The girl had gone missing five months back and the police closed the family's complaint saying she could have eloped with a lover.

Tiruvallur district SP Ponni ordered the reopening of the case and constituted special investigation teams after a few persons working in a sugarcane field found the skeleton.

When police officials took the main accused in the case Shankaraya to recreate the crime scene, he told the police how they gagged her, tied her up and plastered her mouth as she raised noise during her confinement. Police sources said the youth was angry with the girl after she did not respond to his overtures. When on her way to school on September 7, she went to mango grove to deliver milk to one Baskar inside the grove.

Shankaraya allegedly threatened and sexually assaulted her. The owner of farm Nathamuni (50) and his friend Krishnamurthy, who witnessed the incident, instead of trying to rescue the victim, they also assaulted her. They took her to a nearby motor pump room where the girl was confined for five days.

During the course of five days, Shankaraya also brought two of his friends to rape her, police said.

After the prolonged sexual assault, the culprits, apprehending that she would inform police and her family, murdered her using a blunt object.

Shankarayas accomplices gave Rs 4,000 each to him to not to disclose the crime. Fearing the police, the accused dug up the body again and buried it on the banks of a canal.

But, skeleton remains of the girl surfaced in the canal. Shankaraya and four others were apprehended by the police.
Pakistan government and ISI do the entire planning. They provide arms and ammunition to these terrorist groups said SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. (Photo: File)

Moga: Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said it is "high time" that India responds to attacks by Pakistan, calling the neighbouring country the "nursery of terrorism".

Badal made these remarks after paying floral tributes to the mortal remains of Pulwama terror attack victim sub-inspector Jaimal Singh here.

Speaking to media persons, Badal said, It is a very tragic incident and we have lost so many brave soldiers. This is a direct attack on the country and it is high time to answer back to Pakistan. Pakistan thinks that they are fighting against India in disguise through terrorist organisations, but the whole world clearly knows that it is Pakistan which is the nursery of terrorism. Pakistan government and ISI do the entire planning. They provide arms and ammunition to these terrorist groups. The government of India can no more wait and as much as I know, Prime Minister Modi is very clear and decisive and will definitely do something now.

He also criticised Congress leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for his statement on the Pulwama terror attack and accused him of preferring his "friends" over the nation.

Navjot Singh Sidhu should be ashamed and he should decide who his friends are and who his enemies are. I am shocked at Sidhu's statement. He prefers his friends over his nation. Nothing can happen in Pakistan without the permission of army and ISI, said Badal.

As the mortal remains of CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama are being taken to their native regions, politicians cutting across party lines and scores of common citizens are pouring in to pay their last respects to the deceased personnel.

In Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav paid tributes to Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha of CRPF who lost their lives in the attack.

In Dehradun, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat paid tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal who had lost his life in Pulwama Attack.

Massive anger has erupted across the nation over the ghastly attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.
The accused has a website publishing Lakshadweep tour package offers, which looks like an authorised website.

KOCHI: Kadavanthra police arrested a person on charge of cheating people by offering them holiday package to Lakshadweep.

The accused Abdul Salaam, 44, of Kaloor, was picked up from near the South railway station on late Thursday.

The victims, nearly 10, had earlier filed a complaint with the city police commissioner. According to police, the accused had proper license to work as a tour operator in the past, but he no longer has the license. However, he continued to operate as a freelance operator.

The accused has a website publishing Lakshadweep tour package offers, which looks like an authorised website.

He used to collect money from tourists, who landed in his net. He is suspected to have collected around Rs. 12 lakh and returned a part of the amount to people. Police suspects that more people might have been cheated along similar lines.

The accused has been charged with Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the IPC.

He was later produced before the court and remanded.
Hyderabad: The police here on Friday busted a counterfeit currency racket and held two persons with fake Rs 2,000 notes with a face value of Rs 3.98 lakh.

Anjani Kumar, Commissioner of Police Hyderabad (city) said, "We've arrested two people involved in an inter-state fake currency racket. Fake currency notes of Rs 3.98 Lakh and a two-wheeler have been seized from them."

The duo accused have been identified as Mohd Ghouse alias Bomb Ghouse, 48, who has been on the police records since 1991, and Rabiul Shekh, 22, a resident of Malda district in West Bengal. Ghouse and Rabiul Sekh were trying to exchange FICN in Hashamabad area under Chandrayanagutta PS limits, they were apprehended by South Zone Task Force and Chandrayangutta Police on Friday.

Ghouse has been circulating fake notes since 2011. The police have arrested him 12 times since. His last arrest was by the Charminar police in 2016. While in Jail, he facilitated circulation of fake currency through a man named Ameenul Rehman.

He was released on bail on 12 January 2019. Immediately after his release from Jail, Ghouse again planned to start his business of circulating fake currency. As he had lost contact with Ameenul Rehman (main supplier of fake currency), he went to Rajahmundry Central Jail on 19 January 2019 and met with a Suraj Shaik, co-accused in the fake currency racket case and accessed Ameenul Rehman's number.

Thereafter Ghouse immediately contacted Rehman and fixed a fresh deal for supplying Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN). As per the deal, Rehman sent Rs 4 lakh worth FICN through his trusted aid Rabiul Sekh.
One suspect has been detained for questioning in connection with the incident. (Photo: Representational)

Labhpur: A local BJP leader's daughter has been allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint from her residence by a gang of people in West Bengal's Birbhum district, a senior police officer said on Friday.

One suspect has been detained for questioning in connection with the incident, Superintendent of Police Shyam Singh said.

Suprabhat Batyabyal, who switched to the BJP from the TMC around five months ago, was not home when the unidentified people broke into his house at Labhpur area and kidnapped his 22-year-old daughter, according to his brother.

Before joining the TMC, Suprabhat Batyabal was a district committee member of the CPI(M).

"Five miscreants barged into the house around 8 pm, on finding out that Suprabhat was not home. First, they confined us in a room and locked it from outside. Then, at gunpoint, they dragged my niece out and forced her into a car, which was parked near our home, and drove off," Sujit Batyabal said.

The SP said that the police haven't found any political motive behind the incident so far.

"We are investigating into the incident from all seconds. Prima facie, we haven't found any political motive behind the kidnapping, but no possibility can be ruled out," Singh added.

The incident has sparked panic among the local people, who gheraoed the Labhpur police station and blocked the Suri- Katwa road in the district on Thursday night, demanding that the girl is traced immediately, police sources said, adding that situation was tense in Labhpur.
This is not the first time that Staudenmaier has tried his luck at such attention seeking gimmicks. (Photo: Instagram/@jstaudenmaier)

Washington: Jacob Staudenmaier, a 19-year-old student has launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign to host this years Oscars. While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have already confirmed there will be no host for the 2019 Oscars on February 24, Staudenmaier still figures he has a fighting chance to be declared the host, revealed The Hollywood Reporter.

Staudenmaier, in a student of the Loyola Marymount University has posted a video titled Let Jacob Host the Oscars 2019 in which he can be seen walking the streets of Los Angeles, with a sign reading, @ACADEMY: LET ME HOST THE OSCARS."

The clip sees him making a case for himself as to why he is the right man for the job and he is hoping that others agree with him.

Not only does he have the video, Staudenmaier has also launched a Change.org petition as well. His plea reads, Here is my official bid for the 2019 Oscars Host. #LetJacobHost - The Oscars are in chaos and I truly believe, I'm the only person that can save them at this point. Share this with your friends, your family, your animal friends, your associates from past jobs, your local Denny's employees, anyone that runs an antique store, and more. Shout-out to Clara Gil and Julia Hilbert for helping film me on Hollywood Blvd. and down in Venice. It's been fun.

This is not the first time that Staudenmaier has done something like this. Back in 2017, he went viral with an extravagant, La La Land-themed video asking Emma Stone to his high school prom, which, she politely declined.

While Staudenmaier may never actually find his name on the Academy's potential host list, Alex Honnold, the professional rock climber who stars in the Oscar nominated documentary Free Solo, can be seen in the video holding Staudenmaiers sign. In the video, Honnold asks if Staudenmaier actually thinks hell host. Honestly, no, says Staudenmaier.
A Monarch butterfly rests on the forehead of a man, at the Amanalco de Becerra sanctuary, on the mountains near the extinct Nevado de Toluca volcano, Mexico. (Photo: AP)

Amanalco de Becarra, (Mexico): For years, park rangers and conservationists working around Mexico's Nevado de Toluca volcano chased rumours of a monarch butterfly colony that wintered high in a forest of oyamel firs in some corner of the 132,000-acre national reserve.

Local woodsmen would report seeing some of the butterflies fluttering about and scouting teams would scramble to trek into the forest. They eventually narrowed their search to a swath of communal lands more than 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) above sea level on the northwestern side of the park, but still couldn't find the colony.

"It was like an urban legend," said Gloria Tavera Alonso, a regional director with Mexico's agency for protected natural areas. Just a few days before Christmas though, a handful of communal landowners were on a routine patrol of their forest when they discovered the monarchs on a steep mountainside bisected by a dirt track far from the volcano's iconic crater. The butterflies were hidden in plain sight.

In towering firs, they hung in massive clumps on sagging boughs, their brilliant orange and black colours concealed by the pale underside of their closed wings. Jose Luis Hernandez Vazquez, a local forester, said landowners initially worried about announcing the find. "We didn't make a big deal," he said.

Instead, he contacted the agency for protected natural areas and other government stakeholders, who came to confirm the existence of the colony in mid-January.

At the end of last month, Mexican officials announced that the overall population of monarch butterflies wintering in central Mexico was up 144 per cent over the previous year. Researchers found the butterflies occupying 15 acres of pine and fir forests in the mountains of Michoacan and Mexico states, compared to only 6 acres the winter prior.

The monarch butterfly population, like that of other insects, fluctuates widely depending on a variety of factors, but scientists say the recoveries after each big dip tend to be smaller, suggesting a decline in the number migrating from Canada and the United States. This winter's population figure, however, was the largest since 2006-2007.

Officials also want to protect the habitat where butterflies have found the ideal combination of climate, fresh water and flowers to spend the winter and mate. While some colonies are open to the public, government officials say the newly registered colony in Nevado de Toluca won't be.

Mexico has had success with recent efforts focused on illegal logging in the butterflies' habitat. But logging is still visible within the park, even though officials say it is carefully regulated and mainly aimed at removing diseased or wind-downed trees.
The school is dedicated to encouraging the children towards both so that these become lifelong habits .The curriculum at Redwood provides for both,Ms Madhura explains. (Representational Image)

Chennai: The Redwood Montessori philosophy goes beyond the realm of education from books. Striving to present the best environment for the kids, the school enables an atmosphere in which the child can make independent choices for body and mind. The exemplary approach is evident at the school that is fast gaining a name for not only educating children but also teaching them the best life choices early.

As the Montessori environment is set up, the child will make the right choices overseen by a teacher; so too choice for the body or meals for our children were paramount as a part of their education. These meals for us were synonymous with pesticide free, chemical free ingredients. Children can eat cookies and cakes but why give them processed options only? asks Ms Madhura Kumar Visweswaran, chairperson, Redwood Montessori, which started seven years ago with a mission.

Elaborating further, Ms Madhura said, In fact, parents and grandparents have to set an example. They can't advise children at home to eat right and eat healthy while they themselves snack on potato chips or junk food. The school philosophy has to extend to home too.

Redwood makes the point that food and exercise play a large role in the early years of every child. The school is dedicated to encouraging the children towards both so that these become lifelong habits .The curriculum at Redwood provides for both, Ms Madhura explains.

The remarkable thing at Redwood is children eat the local cuisine, with fresh organic ingredients and fruit and/or soup is always the snack provided, every day.

Children are exposed to every indigenous vegetable and fruit so that this becomes the choices they make as they are adults. All our students eat papaya and they like it. This is what we like to inculcate from a very young age so that they learn what is good for them and make 'eat righta lifelong habit, Ms Madhura says.

Avoiding processed food is a major mission the school has undertaken and seeing all the health reports from the USA about the link between ultra-processed foods and cancer and cardiac illnesses, it is easy to understand how useful this idea of teaching them young is.

As the school grew, so too did our drive to promote an awareness of healthy, natural and organic choices at school which could then be carried to home, Ms Madhura says.

The school is hosting an organic fair on Saturday (February 16) with the aim of spreading the message further. The school's aim in conducting this fair is as supply increases with demand, the showcasing of more vendors would lead to their having direct contact with customers to carry the movement forward. The seventh such fair at the school will take forward the thinking that a healthier lifestyle for our children will always mean as an extension to the entire community.

The fair will be on between 4 pm and 7 pm today at the Redwood Montessori School on Arundale Beach Road, Besant Nagar.
Pope Francis greets young detainees before leaving Las Garzas youth detention centre on the outskirts of Panama City, during his visit to Panama for World Youth Day. (Photo:AFP)

Vatican City: Pope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal, American Theodore McCarrick, over accusations that he sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said Saturday.

McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican's College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse. He was found guilty in January by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with no further recourse, according to the statement.

The announcement marks a spectacular fall from grace for the previously influential cardinal and comes ahead of a Vatican conference from February 21-24, which will bring together bishops from around the world to discuss protecting children within the Church sex abuse scandals from around the globe.

Most recently cases of child sexual abuse from the United States and Chile have shaken the church, with Pope Francis promising a policy of "zero tolerance" even for high-ranking church members.

McCarrick, former archbishop emeritus of Washington, was barred from practising as a priest in July last year, after which he resigned his honourary title of cardinal. He currently lives in Kansas. The Vatican in 2017 asked the New York archbishopric to investigate the powerful cardinal after a man accused McCarrick of having abused him in the 1970s.

McCarrick was known for having sex with adult seminarians before he was accused of sexually abusing at least one teenager. Prosecutors in the US state of Pennsylvania last year discovered that around 300 priests were involved in child sexual abuse since the 1940s, crimes that were covered up by a string of bishops.
The Tamil film Ratsasan (2018), which was lauded for its structured and engaging screenplay, is all set to be remade in Telugu with director Ramesh Varma helming the project.

Produced by Satyanarayana Koneru and starring Bellamkonda Sai Sreenivas, the film will go on the floors this month.

Apparently, Ramesh Varma saw the Tamil film and was impressed with its content. He then recommended it to Satyanarayana, who eventually bagged the Telugu remake rights.

A source says, Ramesh Varma was supposed to team up with producer Satyanarayana Koneru for a love story. He even readied the script, but just when things were set for the production, he chanced upon the remake of Ratsasan.

Rakul Preet Singh is tipped to play the leading lady of the film, although the actress has still not signed on the dotted line.
Its been nearly five years since Sai Dharam Tej made his debut with Pilla Nuvvu Leni Jeevitham. And although it seemed that his fourth film Supreme would establish him as a star, the actor has had to contend with six continuous flops at the box-office.

Taking a break

Sai Tej admits that he took some time off in the US to reflect and recover from his injuries. I took a break to revive myself physically and also think about my career. After sustaining injuries while filming Winner and Jawan in 2017, I needed physiotherapy too, says Tej, as he adds, In these five years, I have had to take breaks in between, but its all part of the process.

Motivation

Sharing that his mother, brother and a few college friends are his biggest sources of support, the actor says, They always encouraged me even when my films failed. That apart, I am a self-motivated person who knows how to handle failure. But I have to be more careful in the future.

Learning from mistakes

Tej agrees that he has committed a few mistakes. I did a few films because I had given them my word, but I dont want to blame anyone. I knew the story and signed those films, so I have to take the blame myself. But mistakes are the best teacher and one can learn a lot from them, he says, even as he admits that his immaturity was also to blame.

Sometimes, the story is good on paper, but it doesnt translate well on screen, explains the actor, adding, Some things are not in our hands and once you commit to a film, you have to complete it regardless.

No plan B

Sai Tej admits that he has no backup plans. I only know acting and will continue in it. There are frustrations, but I need to move forward. I dont have any Plan B or Plan C if my films fail, says the actor, as he confidently adds, One Friday can change everything.

I compete with myself

Acknowledging that every actor feels pressure before their film releases, Tej says, Pressure is always there, but I compete only with myself. I watch all the films and feel happy when new talent comes in to the industry. But I only want to better myself from one film to the next.

He adds that the Mega Stars name helps for only one film. For any actor in our family, Chiranjeevi garus image helps for the debut film and the openings. After that, its each to his own,says the Tej I Love You actor.

Enjoying single status

After parting ways with his college sweetheart four years ago, the actor reveals, Now I am single and very happy with my single status. As for rumours of him dating Regina Cassandra, Sai Dharam Tej simply says, Saiyami Kher and Regina will always be special to me as both of them acted in my first two films.

Passionate about bikes!

The actor admits that he prefers to ride a bike whenever he goes out in the city. Yes, I have a passion for bikes and already own a Royal Enfield and an RX100. In fact, I want to collect vintage bikes,says Tej, who is currently shooting for Chitralahari directed by Kishore Tirumala.

Strong comeback

Describing Chitralahari as an emotional entertainer, the actor says, The story revolves around a father and son. Many of the unemployed youth will definitely connect to this film, which is sure to answer all my critics. Interestingly, he will be seen with a beard for the first time.

Best friend

Tejs best friend is Naveen, senior actor Naresh's son. We are both childhood friends from Chennai and even today, we meet regularly to share so many things. Naveen is not just my best friend, he is like family, says the actor as he signs off.
In a heartening move, the actor-producer issued an official statement to offset the losses incurred by his recent film, NTR Kathanayakudu

Nandamuri Balakrishna, who produced his film NTR: Kathanayakudu, has decided to share the losses arising out of the films debacle, and issued an official statement to that effect. Balakrishna will share up to one third of the losses of Kathanayakudu and will also share 40 per cent of the revenues of the second part to compensate all the buyers with every penny, read the statement, which officially puts an end to rumours about how the actor will compensate people associated with his film. This puts an end to the rumours surrounding the NTR  Mahanayakudu release. Balakrishna personally held talks with the buyers and distributors to make sure they are on the safer side, added the statement. Naturally, the actors assurance has made all of them extremely happy, with many expressing their gratitude for the same.

NTR: Mahanayakudu is slated for release in the third week of February.
The teaser of the fantasy Tamil-English bilingual titled Mayan, featuring Vinod and Priyanka, was released recently. Rajesh Kannan who directs it says that Mayan is also based in reality.

On the film he revealed, When you say Mayan, people think of Mayan culture and civilisation developed in Mexico. But that culture is over 3,000 years old. If you look at the history of Tamil civilisation, it is over 25,000 years old. More importantly, the term Shivan goes back even before that. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, Shivan is Mayan. And the film also precisely about Lord Shiva.

On making it in English and Tamil he says, The reason is because the story and screenplay of this film is bound to suit any geographical territory in this world. Be it China, Mexico or Los Angeles, this will appeal to global audiences. We thought the salient features of Tamil culture and civilisation must be taken to the outside world.

He adds, Under certain circumstances, what if one of the oldest yogis, Lord Shiva, thinks for a moment as to why he created humans? What will its resultant outcome be? That is Mayan. I wanted to show Shiva stylishly. Therefore, I chose Vinod, who appeared to be apt for the role.
Mumbai: On Thursday, Pakistan based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) did a cowardly Pulwama suicide attack in Jammu and Kashmir in which around 44 Indian soldiers were killed. After this act, Shabana Azmi and her husband Javed Akhtar decided to decline the invitation to join the two-day literary event on her father Kaifi Azmi in Karachi, Pakistan as a sign of protest. The duo had got much praise for their actions, however, their act didn't seem to impress 'Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi' actress Kangana Ranaut.

Shockingly, Kangana called the veteran actress anti-national, In a statement Kangana quoted as saying DNA, "People like Shabana Azmi calling for halt on cultural exchange -- they are the ones who promote Bharat Tere Tukde Honge gangs... why did they organise an event in Karachi in the first place when Pakistani artistes have been banned after Uri attacks? And now they are trying to save face? The film industry is full of such anti-nationals who boost enemies' morals in many ways, but right now is the time to focus on decisive actions... Pakistan ban is not the focus, Pakistan destruction is."

From her side, Kangana too cancelled her film, Manikarnika's success bash as a sign of protest. Mentioning about that, Kangana stated, "Pakistan has not only violated our nations security they have also attacked our dignity by openly threatening and humiliating us. We need to take decisive actions or else our silence will be misunderstood for our cowardice... Bharat is bleeding today, the killing of our sons is like a dagger in our gut; anyone who lectures about non-violence and peace at this time should be painted black, put on a donkey and slapped by everyone on the streets."

The 'Queen' actress' statement about Shabana Azmi was quite shocking for all. However, the veteran finally reacted to Kangana's statement. In an interview with In.com, she said, "You really think at a time like this a personal attack on me can be of any significance when the entire country stands as one in our grief and in condemning this dastardly Pulwama attack? May God bless her. Shabana Azmi.
Mumbai: Actress Kriti Sanon who's all set with her four releases this year took to her social media and gave warm wishes to her Panipat director Ashutosh Gowarikar.

Kriti Sanon took to her Twitter handle where she wrote, "Happiest birthday to the calmest director ever! @AshGowariker sir, im so glad that I got this opportunity to work with you and know you! Thank you for all the warmth, smiles and encouragement every single day on the set!! Wish this is the best year youve ever had #Panipat".

Happiest birthday to the calmest director ever! @AshGowariker sir, im so glad that i got this opportunity to work with you and know you!Thank you for all the warmth,smiles and encouragement every single day on the set!!Wish this is the best year youve ever had #Panipat pic.twitter.com/H8VLvvPLQa  Kriti Sanon (@kritisanon) February 15, 2019

After acknowledging Kriti Sanon's post director Ashutosh Gowarikar thanked the actress and he all praised his leading lady where he was all praises Kriti how she is an excellent actress and he's more than happy to witness her work during the shoot of Panipat.

The Panipat director replied on the same and he wrote, "Thank you so much @kritisanon! I am calm because my actress is bloody damn good. In not only acting but horse-riding and sword fighting too! Thank you for giving me Parvati, more than I have envisioned her!".

Thank you so much @kritisanon !

I am calm because my actress is bloody damn good.

In not only acting, but horse-riding and sword fighting too!

Thank you for giving me Parvati, more than I have envisioned her! https://t.co/mWNTc3fLCb  Ashutosh Gowariker (@AshGowariker) February 15, 2019

Busy bee Kriti Sanon is currently juggling with promotions for her upcoming film Luka Chhupi also shooting for her first period-drama Panipat. Last night it was director Ashutosh Gowarikar's birthday and actress Kriti Sanon celebrated his birthday on the sets of Panipat along with the crew of the film. Kriti Sanon gave big shout out to her director of Panipat on the occasion of his birthday.

Kriti Sanon has a gigantic fan falling across the nation and worldwide as well. Ever since the Luka Chhupi trailer has come out fans are praising Kriti's small-town character from the film. Before Luka Chhupi Kriti had nailed the small town character in Bareilly Ki Barfi and now Kriti is all set to blow our minds with her new character Rashmi from Luka Chuppi.

Kriti Sanon has a hectic schedule ahead with her 4 films releasing this year and multiple brand shoots on which the actress is working on simultaneously.

The actress is doing to and fro from Karjat where she is shooting for her next and then to locations of the other projects which Kriti has in her kitty.

Over the years, Kriti is known to portray characters that have resonated with her audience. The actress' last outing Bareilly Ki Barfi garnered a lot of critical acclaim and love from her viewers.

Only 4 films old, actress Kriti Sanon has an exciting film line up to look forward to with projects like Housefull 4, Luka Chuppi, Panipat and Arjun Patiala. The young actress is leaving no stone unturned to treat her fans with her versatile performances in varied genres of films.
Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar. (Photo: PTI)

Jaipur: The Rajasthan government on Saturday revised the ex-gratia to the family members of CRPF jawans from the state who were among the 40 killed in the Pulwama terror attack to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh.

The government has also announced jobs to family members of the slain jawans.

Five CRPF personnel soldiers from Rajasthan were killed in Thursday's attack, one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir, when a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with over 100 kg explosives into a CRPF bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot revised the ex-gratia and relief package for the family members of the five slain soldiers who were from Rajasthan.

"The brave soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice while securing the country, and state government is with the family of martyrs in this hour," Gehlot said in his message.

He said the government has revised the ex-gratia to the families of soldiers killed in military or para-military operations. The government will provide either Rs 50 lakh cash or Rs 25 lakh cash and 25 bigha land on the Indira Gandhi Canal Project or Rs 25 lakh with a housing board residence, he added.

The state government will continue to provide a government job to a dependent of the martyr, scholarship for children and Rs 3 lakh to parents, besides other facilities, he said.

Gehlot prayed for peace to the departed souls and courage to the family members. He also wished speedy recovery to those who were injured in the deadly terror attack.
FTIL, now rechristened as 63 Moons Technologies, had tendered an unconditional apology, but Bombay High Court refused to accept it. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: Bombay High Court has issued a notice to National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) for illegally diverting Rs 31 crore to its parent company Financial Technologies India Limited (FTIL) in mid-2018.

NSEL and FTIL have been asked to submit their response by February 22. FTIL, now rechristened as 63 Moons Technologies, had tendered an unconditional apology, but the court refused to accept it.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has accorded approval to Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) to prosecute as many as 71 individuals and firms for their complicity in Rs 5,600-crore NSEL scam, including 63 Moons Technologies and its founder Jignesh Shah.

NSEL had received Rs 31 crore from National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED), which was to be paid to investors who lost due to the scam. The Centre and the Maharashtra state government want small investors to be compensated soon.

Under an arbitration award, NAFED has deposited an amount of Rs 32 crore in the Delhi High Court, which asked NAFED to seek directions from a court of competent jurisdiction on whether this amount should be paid directly to NSEL, or transfer it to an escrow account, or kept under a competent authority's jurisdiction.
The IT firm said its scheme of amalgamation is pending for sanction of the NCLT. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Markets regulator Sebi on Friday granted certain exemptions to Wipro from the buyback norms in case of the IT firm's proposed share repurchase programme, according to an order by the watchdog.

Wipro in November 2018 had filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to seek exemption from the strict enforcement of the buyback norms for the merger of its four wholly-owned subsidiaries with itself.

The IT firm said its scheme of amalgamation is pending for sanction of the NCLT (National Company Law Tribunal) and considering the backlog of cases at NCLT, there could be delays and the firm cannot anticipate the time that it may take to complete the merger process.

Under regulation 24 (ii) of buy back norms, the firm cannot make public announcement for buy back during the pendency of any scheme of amalgamation. Therefore, Wipro asked for exemption from such norms so that it can place a proposal for buyback of equity shares for the consideration of its board of directors.

Sebi has granted "exemption/relaxation to the company, viz Wipro, from ensuring compliance with the requirement of Regulation 24(ii)of the buyback Regulations 2018", according to the order.

However, the exemption will be subject to certain conditions like the proposed buyback, if approved by the company's board of directors will be in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Companies Act and buy back Regulations, Sebi said.

The IT firm, in its submission, contended that proposed buy back will be in the interests of investors especially small shareholders as the shareholders of the company will benefit from return of surplus cash through the buy back programme.

The merger is merely an internal re-organisation with its group of companies and there will not be any material impact from the perspective of consolidated financial statements of the company, Wipro said.
Earlier this year, Infosys had announced a buyback offer of Rs 8,260 crore. Persistent Systems' Board had also approved a buyback offer of up to Rs 225 crore in January this year. (Photo: YouTube screen grab).

New Delhi: IT firm Tech Mahindra Saturday said its board will meet on February 21 to consider a share buyback proposal.

However, the company did not disclose any other details of the proposal.

"...the Board of Directors of the company at their meeting scheduled on Thursday, February 21, 2019 shall inter-alia consider a proposal to buy-back the fully paid-up equity shares of the company," Tech Mahindra said in a BSE filing.

Cash-laden Indian IT firms have been returning surplus cash on their books to shareholders by way of dividends and buybacks.

Earlier this year, Infosys had announced a buyback offer of Rs 8,260 crore. Persistent Systems' Board had also approved a buyback offer of up to Rs 225 crore in January this year.
Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription and are still unable to access our content, please link your digital account to your print subscription If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
What do you think a damaged copy of the "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" might be worth?

We know of one that was worth $4,000.

The book had been given to a charity sale in Phoenix. Volunteer Cathy McAllister was sorting donated books when she found $4,000 in cash stuffed into a cavity that had been cut out of the interior.

Luckily, the owner also left a letter and an address label inside the volume as well, so sale organizers were able to contact the family.

We do love a book with a happy ending.
When the news of Kay Fryes death on Wednesday reached me, I was filled with sadness upon the passing of my friend and colleague. Two thoughts
A state worker, who provided the internal messages on the condition of anonymity, said Olivers follow-up letter defending himself satisfied some employees but did little to ease concern from others who considered his remarks out of bounds.

In Olivers original letter, he drew a distinction between anti-black bias and racism, stating that the vast majority of whites are not explicitly racist.

Racist and stereotype views of Black people were pervasive in the state and in the country, the letter stated. Moreover, the events of August 2017 in Charlottesville demonstrate that white supremacist views still hold sway among some Americans of European descent. Thankfully, only a small minority of whites hold such racist views.

Some employees mistakenly thought I was calling all whites racist, Oliver said in an email to Capital News Service. I wasnt, and I made it clear that I was talking about unconscious biases.

Oliver said unconscious bias also is shared by a significant number of African-Americans.

What do we mean when we say someone is a racist? Oliver wrote in his follow-up message to employees.
Initially, Northam acknowledged he was in the photo and apologized. The next day, he said he was not in the photo but that he had worn blackface for a Michael Jackson costume for a dance contest in 1984. State and national Democratic leaders called on Northam to resign. Northam said he plans to stay in office and use his time as governor to focus on racial reconciliation.

Demonstrators question Northams ability to lead that discussion.

Bellamy pointed to two children in the crowd who came to protest with their father.

When I look into the eyes of that young lady and young man in the back, in 20 years from now when they are 25 and 30 years old, what will we tell them that we did when our governor decided to make fun of our people? Bellamy asked.

Chelsea Higgs Wise, a community organizer, spoke at the event and presented a list of demands from the groups Justice RVA and Virginia Black Politicos.

I want my elected officials, specifically my black elected officials, to keep to their word, and hold Ralph accountable, Wise said.
At a Tuesday meeting of the CRB, attorney Denise Lunsford, on behalf of the police association, presented a letter in which she accused Turner of using her position on the CRB in an inappropriate and threatening manner. She requested that Platania and City Attorney John Blair investigate the incident and remove Turner from the CRB.

Though Platania said Turner did not violate the Conflict of Interests Act, he did advise that identifying oneself as a member of the CRB at a legitimate traffic stop does little to promote an organizational reputation of objectivity towards law enforcement.

In an interview with The Daily Progress, Turner agreed with Platanias assessment of the incident, noting that she had never complained about her sons ticket, just the number of police officers present.

Why do you need four officers just for someone who ran a stop sign? she said. I just dont understand why so many were necessary.

Turner said that once the officer ran her sons name through the system, he summoned backup. She recalls at least three police vehicles were present on the scene, though Platanias letter only mentions he reviewed body-cam footage from multiple officers.
Nearly twice as many African-Americans were stopped in December by Charlottesville police officers than were white people.

The Charlottesville Police Department released data on investigative detentions for January, commonly called stop-and-frisk, on Friday.

The report shows the second-straight month that more African-Americans were stopped than were white people in the city since data was first published in September.

Since September, 311 people have been stopped by police. Of those, 163 were black and 146 were white.

Based on the citys 17 percent African-American population, the data show that black people are disproportionally more likely to be stopped by officers, and that white people are more likely to be arrested after a stop.

Forty-eight percent of white people, or 71 people, stopped were arrested and 38 percent of black people, or 62 people, stopped were arrested.

In January, officers stopped 51 people across 40 encounters in the city. Of the 51 people encountered, 31 were black, 19 were white and one was Asian.
Near the end of Thursdays discussion, Haas told board members that he was getting impatient and would like some direction. He asked for permission to come up with a plan.

I feel a lot of times like Im sitting on my hands, waiting for some direction from the board, he said.

Haas said his plan would include frequent updates at board meetings on how many students are found to be wearing these images and how the school handles it.

Id like to have this be operational, so when school starts again in August, this is just part of what we do, he said in an interview Friday.

The changes could be ready to roll out across the division by the first week of March, Haas said. Division staff will work with principals next week to explain the move and how to deal with situations.

Haas said he thinks allowing Confederate images in the schools could be having a negative effect on student achievement, though causality would be hard to determine, he conceded.
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrived here on Saturday for consultations with senior officials and leadership over the Pulwama terror attack, sources said.

The Indian envoy has been called for consultations at a time when the government is looking at options for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan over the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

In the wake of the attack, the Centre on Friday announced its decision to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted unilaterally to Pakistan while asserting that there is "incontrovertible evidence" about Islamabad's involvement in the gruesome terror attack.

"Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan stands withdrawn," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday.

India will also make all possible efforts to ensure "complete isolation" of Pakistan in the international community and work for early adoption of the long-pending Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), which is pending before the United Nations, he added.

India had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but Pakistan never accorded the same status to India.

Under the international trade rules, MFN is a treatment accorded to a trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between two countries.

A CRPF convoy, while moving from Jammu to Srinagar, was attacked by a suicide bomber in Lethpora area on the national highway at around 3.15 pm on Thursday.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

-ANI
SolarWinds Corporation provides information technology (IT) infrastructure management software products in the United States and internationally. It offers products to monitor and manage network, system, desktop, application, storage, database, and website infrastructures, whether on-premise, in the public or private cloud, or in a hybrid IT infrastructure. It provides a suite of network management software that provides real-time visibility into network utilization and bandwidth, as well as the ability to detect, diagnose, and resolve network performance problems; and a suite of infrastructure management products, which monitor and analyze the performance of applications and their supporting infrastructure. It also offers suite of application performance management software that enable visibility into log data, cloud infrastructure metrics, applications, tracing, and web performance management; and service management software. In addition, the company provides cloud-based software solutions to enable managed service providers (MSPs) to support digital transformation and growth in small and medium-sized enterprises; and service management software that provides ITIL-compliant service desk solutions for various companies. Further, it offers remote monitoring and management solutions for the performance of networks and devices, and automation of policies and workflows; security and data protection products for network and systems infrastructure, applications, and end user devices; and business management solutions for professional services automation, and password and documentation management. The company markets and sells its products directly to network and systems engineers, database administrators, storage administrators, DevOps professionals, and managed service providers. The company was formerly known as SolarWinds Parent, Inc. and changed its name to SolarWinds Corporation in May 2018. The company was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Austin, Texas.

Read More
Photo: CTV News

Vancouver Coastal Health says it's facing an "outbreak" of measles with nine cases in the city this month.

The number of confirmed cases more than doubled from four earlier on Friday, when the health authority said all the infections involved three French schools.

Two of the schools are connected by a door and the schools use the same bus company.

Medical health officer Dr. Althea Hayden says most of the new confirmed cases are linked to one of the French schools.

She says eight cases were confirmed this week and another unrelated case was confirmed last week, bringing the total to nine this month.

Hayden says many of the people exposed have already been vaccinated, but she's asking anyone who may be at risk to get checked out.

Health Minister Adrian Dix has urged people to get vaccinated to protect themselves from the highly infectious disease.

Dix says it's the responsibility of parents to ensure their children are vaccinated and to also think of other people's kids who could be infected.

He says vaccination rates could be higher, and anyone who needs more information should contact their local health authority.
Vanuatu turns the Corner LETS USE THIS AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR THE FUTURE
The following companies are subsidiares of PerkinElmer: Analytica of Branford, Applied Biosystems, Arnel Inc., ArtusLabs, Beijing Huaan Magnech Bio-Tech Co. Ltd., Beijing Longrun Bio-Tech Co. Ltd., Beijing Meizheng Bio-Tech Co. Ltd., Beijing Meizheng Testing Lab Co. Ltd., Beijing OUMENG Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Bio Evolution SAS, Bioo Scientific Corporation, Biosense Picolabs Inc., Biosense Technologies Pvt Ltd., Caliper Life Sciences, Caliper Life Sciences Inc., Cambridge Research & Instrumentation Inc., CambridgeSoft, Ceiba Solutions, Chengdu PerkinElmer Medical Laboratory Co. Ltd., Chromo G.A. SAS, CisBio US Inc., Cisbio Asia Pacific Ltd, Cisbio Bioassays SAS, Cisbio China Ltd., Cisbio Group SAS, Cisbio KK, Cisbio.com, DNA Laboratories Sdn. Bhd., Dani Analitica S.r.l., Dexela, EUROIMMUN (Hangzhou) Medical Laboratory Diagnostics Co. Ltd., EUROIMMUN (South East Asia) Pte Ltd., EUROIMMUN (Tianjin) Medical Diagnostic Technology Co. Ltd., EUROIMMUN AG, EUROIMMUN Brasil Medicina Diagnostica Ltda., EUROIMMUN Diagnostics Espana S.L.U., EUROIMMUN France SAS, EUROIMMUN Italia Diagnostica Medica S.r.l., EUROIMMUN Japan Co. Ltd., EUROIMMUN Medical Diagnostics (China) Co. Ltd., EUROIMMUN Medical Diagnostics Canada Inc., EUROIMMUN Medical Laboratory Diagnostics South Africa (Pty) Ltd., EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, EUROIMMUN Polska Spolka z o.o., EUROIMMUN Portugal Unipessoal Lda., EUROIMMUN Schweiz AG, EUROIMMUN Turkey Tibbi Laboratuar Teshisleri A.S., EUROIMMUN UK Ltd., EUROIMMUN US Inc., EUROIMMUN US Real Estate LLC, Geospiza, Guangzhou EUROIMMUN Medical Diagnostic Products Co. Ltd., Hangzhou EUROIMMUN Medical Diagnostic Products Co. Ltd., Horizon Discovery, Integromics S.L., Jiangsu Meizheng Bio-Tech Co. Ltd., LabMetrix Technologies, Labtronics, ManCell SAS, NovaScreen Biosciences Corporation, Opto Technology, Orchid Biomedical Systems Pvt Ltd., Oxford Immunotec, Pediatrix Medical Group - Newborn Metabolic Screening Business, Perkin Elmer Chile Ltda., Perkin Elmer Italia SpA, Perkin Elmer Sdn. Bhd., Perkin Elmer Yuhan Hoesa, Perkin Elmer de Mexico S.A., Perkin-Elmer Argentina S.R.L., Perkin-Elmer Instruments (Philippines) Corporation, PerkinElmer (Hong Kong) Ltd., PerkinElmer (India) Pvt Ltd., PerkinElmer (Ireland) Ltd., PerkinElmer (Schweiz) AG, PerkinElmer (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund L.P., PerkinElmer (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Co. Ltd., PerkinElmer (UK) Holdings Ltd., PerkinElmer Analytical Solutions B.V., PerkinElmer Automotive Research Inc., PerkinElmer BVBA, PerkinElmer CV Holdings LLC, PerkinElmer Cellular Technologies Germany GmbH, PerkinElmer Danmark A/S, PerkinElmer Diagnostics Global Holdings S.a r.l., PerkinElmer Diagnostics Holdings Inc., PerkinElmer Espana S.L., PerkinElmer Finance Luxembourg S.a r.l., PerkinElmer Finland Oy, PerkinElmer Genetics Inc., PerkinElmer Germany Diagnostics GmbH, PerkinElmer Global Diagnostics S.a r.l., PerkinElmer Global Financing S.a r.l., PerkinElmer Global Holdings S.a r.l., PerkinElmer Health Sciences (Australia) Pty. Ltd., PerkinElmer Health Sciences B.V., PerkinElmer Health Sciences Canada Inc., PerkinElmer Health Sciences FZ-LLC, PerkinElmer Health Sciences Inc., PerkinElmer Health Sciences Pvt Ltd., PerkinElmer Healthcare Diagnostics (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PerkinElmer Holding Luxembourg S.a r.l., PerkinElmer Holdings Inc., PerkinElmer Holdings Pty. Ltd., PerkinElmer IVD Pte Ltd., PerkinElmer Inc., PerkinElmer Informatics Inc., PerkinElmer Instruments (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., PerkinElmer International C.V., PerkinElmer Investments Ky, PerkinElmer Israel Ltd., PerkinElmer Japan Co. Ltd., PerkinElmer LAS (Germany) GmbH, PerkinElmer LAS (UK) Ltd., PerkinElmer Life Sciences International Holdings, PerkinElmer Limited, PerkinElmer Ltd., PerkinElmer Management (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., PerkinElmer Nederland B.V., PerkinElmer Norge AS, PerkinElmer Oy, PerkinElmer Polska Sp z o.o., PerkinElmer Pty. Ltd., PerkinElmer SAS, PerkinElmer Saglk ve Cevre Bilimleri Ltd., PerkinElmer Shared Services Sp z o.o., PerkinElmer Singapore Pte Ltd., PerkinElmer South Africa (Pty) Ltd., PerkinElmer Sverige AB, PerkinElmer Sweden Health Sciences Holdings AB, PerkinElmer Taiwan Corporation, PerkinElmer VertriebsgmbH, PerkinElmer chemagen Technologie GmbH, PerkinElmer do Brasil Ltda., Perten Instruments, Perten Instruments (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Perten Instruments AB, Perten Instruments France SASU, Perten Instruments GmbH, Perten Instruments Italia S.r.l., Perten Instruments of Australia Pty Ltd., RHS Ltd, RayAl Ltd., Shandong Meizheng Bio-Tech Co. Ltd., Shanghai Haoyuan Biotech Co. Ltd., Shanghai Spectrum Instruments Co. Ltd., Shanghai Spectrum Instruments Co. Ltd., Signature Genomic Laboratories, Solus Scientific Solutions Inc., Solus Scientific Solutions Ltd., Surendra Genetic Labs, Suzhou PerkinElmer Medical Laboratory Co. Ltd., Suzhou Sym-Bio LifeScience, Suzhou Sym-Bio Lifescience Co. Ltd., Tulip Diagnostics, Tulip Diagnostics Pvt Ltd., Vanadis Diagnostics, Vanadis Diagnostics AB, ViaCell, ViaCord LLC, VisEn Medical, VisEn Medical Inc., Wallac Oy, Wellesley B.V., Xenogen Corporation, ZeLab SAS, and chemagen Biopolymer-Technologie AG.
Chelsea Powrie

Businesses in Penticton are feeling the pinch after a lengthy closure of Highway 97 near Summerland and ongoing restrictions on large trucks using the Callan Road detour.

"It's almost like we've had a snow day for the last two weeks because the road has slid and nobody knows what to do," said Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce board director Daryl Clarke.

Trucks over 3.8 metres in width can only use the Callan Road detour around the rockslide site from midnight to 5 a.m. Otherwise, they are forced to use far longer service road detours.

This inconvenience combined with over a week of full closure on the highway has been a headache for local businesses, and a huge cost.

"Everything that comes to Penticton comes in a truck, and unfortunately when they stop those trucks they stop commerce and trade, the stores can't restock, we can't ship our products, it's a problem," Clarke said.

He said during the shut down, one member of the chamber had to house 27 workers in town because they could not get home.

Other businesses struggled with staff shortages, since so many workers commuted from up the valley.

"It's causing huge issues for everything that happens here in town," Clarke said.

In response, the chamber is urging people to shop locally, to help alleviate some of the financial stress put on these businesses. They are promoting a "Penticton First" campaign through social media.

"The Penticton First campaign is trying to promote Penticton businesses in times like this, when things are hard," Clarke said. "This summer we had smoke, right now we have road closures. We need to promote it, we need to enjoy it, to make all of us prosper here."

Using #PentictonFirst on social media posts about shopping locally will enter participants in a draw for a prize pack in April, including a free weekend getaway at Chute Lake Lodge.
Penske Automotive Group, Inc., a diversified transportation services company, operates automotive and commercial truck dealerships. The company operates through four segments: Retail Automotive, Retail Commercial Truck, Other, and Non-Automotive Investments. It operates dealerships under franchise agreements with various automotive manufacturers and distributors. The company engages in the sale of new and used motor vehicles, and related products and services comprise vehicle and collision repair services, as well as placement of finance and lease contracts, third-party insurance products, and other aftermarket products; and wholesale of parts. It also operates a heavy and medium duty truck dealership, which offers Freightliner and Western Star branded trucks, as well as a range of used trucks, and maintenance and repair services. In addition, it imports and distributes Western Star heavy-duty trucks, MAN heavy and medium duty trucks, buses, and Dennis Eagle refuse collection vehicles with associated parts in Australia, New Zealand, and portions of the Pacific. Further, the company distributes diesel and gas engines, and power systems. The company operates 304 retail automotive franchises, including 142 franchises located in the United States and 162 franchises located outside of the United States; 17 used vehicle supercenters in the United States and the United Kingdom; and 25 commercial truck dealerships in Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, Utah, and Idaho, the United States, as well as Canada. Penske Automotive Group, Inc. was incorporated in 1990 and is headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Read More
Suncor Energy Inc. operates as an integrated energy company. The company primarily focuses on developing petroleum resource basins in Canada's Athabasca oil sands; explores, acquires, develops, produces, transports, refines, and markets crude oil in Canada and internationally; markets petroleum and petrochemical products under the Petro-Canada name primarily in Canada. It operates in Oil Sands; Exploration and Production; Refining and Marketing; and Corporate and Eliminations segments. The Oil Sands segment recovers bitumen from mining and in situ operations, and upgrades it into refinery feedstock and diesel fuel, or blends the bitumen with diluent for direct sale to market. The Exploration and Production segment is involved in offshore operations off the east coast of Canada and in the North Sea; and operating onshore assets in Libya and Syria. The Refining and Marketing segment refines crude oil and intermediate feedstock into various petroleum and petrochemical products; and markets refined petroleum products to retail, commercial, and industrial customers through its other retail sellers. The Corporate and Eliminations segment operates four wind farm operations in Ontario and Western Canada. The company also markets and trades in crude oil, natural gas, byproducts, refined products, and power. The company was formerly known as Suncor Inc. and changed its name to Suncor Energy Inc. in April 1997. Suncor Energy Inc. was founded in 1917 and is headquartered in Calgary, Canada.

Read More
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.

Read More
Photo: BC Gov't

B.C.'s health minister is urging people to get vaccinated to protect themselves from measles after a fourth case of the disease was confirmed in Vancouver.

Adrian Dix says it's the responsibility of parents to ensure their children are vaccinated and to also think of other people's kids who could be infected with the contagious disease.

He says vaccination rates could be higher and anyone who needs more information should contact their local health authority.

Vancouver Coastal Health says three measles cases were confirmed this week and the first person who tested positive acquired the infection outside of North America.

It says all the cases involve three French schools, two of the schools are connected by a door and all of them use the same school-bus company.

The health authority says a case of measles confirmed last week is unrelated to the current cases and not linked to outbreaks in neighbouring Washington state or Europe.
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.

Read More
Photo: The Canadian Press

The Daily Telegraph is reporting police in England are investigating a sexual assault complaint made against former B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell.

The London-based newspaper says the alleged groping of a female embassy worker occurred in 2013 when Campbell was serving as Canadian High Commissioner to Britain, a role he served from 2011 to 2016.

A representative for Campbell told the Telegraph the former Premier denies the allegation, and the complaint was transparently disclosed and became the subject of a full due diligence investigation at the time by the government of Canada and was found to be without merit.

The alleged victim, a 54-year-old Dutch-Canadian mother of three named Judith Prins, went on-the-record with the Telegraph about the alleged encounter, claiming she felt completely violated by the incident.

She said she made a formal complaint in 2014, which was resolved by terms shes barred from discussing.

Prins filed a complaint with London police last month, spurred on by the MeToo movement.
The following companies are subsidiares of Lennar: 360 Developers LLC, Alliance Financial Services Inc., Ann Arundel Farms Ltd., Aquaterra Utilities Inc., Arbor Mill Veteran Project 2018 LLC, Asbury Woods L.L.C., Astoria Options LLC, Autumn Creek Development Ltd., Aylon LLC, Azusa Associates LLC, B2 Milpitas LLC, BB Investment Holdings LLC, BCI Properties LLC, BMR Communities LLC, BMR Construction Inc., BMTD LLC, BPH I LLC, Bainebridge 249 LLC, Bay Colony Expansion 369 Ltd., Bellagio Lennar LLC, Belle Meade LEN Holdings LLC, Belle Meade Partners LLC, Black Mountain Ranch LLC, Blue Horizons Estates LLC, Bonterra Lennar LLC, Bramalea California Inc., Bressi Gardenlane LLC, Breton Park Lennar LLC, CAP IL 1 LLC, CL Ventures LLC, CML INACTIVE LLC, CML-MO HAF LLC, CML-MO HAF PARKING LLC, CP Block 6aS LLC, CP Block 8aS LLC, CP Block 9aS LLC, CP Center Apartments LLC, CP Center Garage LLC, CP Red Oak Partners Ltd., CP Vertical Development Co. 1 LLC, CP/HPS Development Co. GP LLC, CP/HPS Development Co.-C LLC, CPFE LLC, CPHP Development LLC, CalAtlantic Financial Services Inc., CalAtlantic Group, CalAtlantic Group Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Arizona Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Georgia Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Texas Inc., CalAtlantic Homes of Washington Inc., CalAtlantic Mortgage Inc., CalAtlantic National Title Solutions LLC, CalAtlantic Title Agency LLC, CalAtlantic Title Group LLC, CalAtlantic Title Inc., CalAtlantic Title LLC, CalAtlantic Title of Maryland Inc., Camarillo Village Park LLC, Cambria L.L.C., Candlestick Retail Member LLC, Cardiovascular Medical Specialists LLC, Carolina Blue LLC, Carson 175 LLC, Cary Woods LLC, Casa Marina Development LLC, Central Park West Holdings LLC, Cherrytree II LLC, Club Bonterra Lennar LLC, Coco Palm 82 LLC, Colonial Heritage LLC, Columbia National Risk Retention Group Inc., Commonwealth Incentive Fee LLC, Concord Station LLP, Coventry L.L.C., Creekside Crossing L.L.C., Crest at Fondren Investor LLC, DBJ Holdings LLC, DCA Financial LLC, DTC Holdings of Florida LLC, Darcy-Joliet L.L.C., Durrell 33 LLC, EL Ventures LLC, EV LLC, Eagle Bend Commercial LLC, Eagle Home Mortgage LLC, Estates Seven LLC, Evergreen Village LLC, F&R QVI Home Investments USA LLC, FLORDADE LLC, Faria Preserve LLC, Fidelity Guaranty and Acceptance Corp., Fidelity Land LLC, Fox-Maple Associates LLC, Friendswood Development Company LLC, GDI MANAGER LLC, Garco Investments LLC, Greystone Construction Inc., Greystone Homes of Nevada Inc., Greystone Nevada Holdings LLC, Greystone Nevada LLC, Greywall Club L.L.C., HCC Investors LLC, HPS Development Co. LP, HPS Vertical Development Co. LLC, HPS Vertical Development Co.-B LP, HPS Vertical Development Co.-D/E LLC, HPS1 Block 1 LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-1B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-2B LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3A LLC, HPS1 Block 48-3B LLC, HPS1 Block 50 LLC, HPS1 Block 51 LLC, HPS1 Block 52 LLC, HPS1 Block 53 LLC, HPS1 Block 54 LLC, HPS1 Block 55 LLC, HPS1 Block 56/57 LLC, HSP Arizona Inc., HTC Golf Club LLC, Hammocks Lennar LLC, Harbor Highlands Group LLC, Harveston LLC, Haverton L.L.C., Heathcote Commons LLC, Heritage Pkwy East Holdings LLC, Heritage of Auburn Hills L.L.C., Hewitts Landing Trustee LLC, Hingham Properties LLC, Huntley Venture L.L.C., Inactive Companies LLC, Independence L.L.C., Independence Orlando LLC, Isles at Bayshore Club LLC, KMC Real Estate Investors LLC, Kendall Hammocks Commercial LLC, Kentuckiana Medical Center LLC, Kingman Lennar LLC, LB/L  Duc III Antioch 330 LLC, LCD Asante LLC, LCI Downtown Doral Investor LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor GP LLC, LCI North DeKalb Investor LP LLC, LEN - Belle Meade LLC, LEN - OBS Windemere LLC, LEN - Palm Vista LLC, LEN BPT Investor LLC, LEN Mirada Investor LLC, LEN Notarize Investor LLC, LEN OT Holdings LLC, LEN Paradise Cable LLC, LEN Paradise Operating LLC, LEN-CG South LLC, LEN-Cypress Mill LLC, LEN-Ryan 1 LLC, LEN-Touchstone LLC, LENH I LLC, LENNAR HOMES OF TENNESSEE LLC, LFS Holding Company LLC, LH Eastwind LLC, LHI Renaissance LLC, LMC 10th & Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 144th and Grant Investor LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Holdings LLC, LMC 2401 Blake Street Investor LLC, LMC 360 Acoma Holdings LP, LMC 410 S Wabash Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Holdings LLC, LMC 808 Gateway Investor LLC, LMC 8th Avenue Apartment Investor LLC, LMC 990 Bannock Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Holdings LLC, LMC Axis Westminster Investor LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Holdings LLC, LMC Berry Hill Lofts Investor LLC, LMC Block 42 Holdings LLC, LMC Build to Core III Investor LLC, LMC Build to Core III LLC, LMC Burnside Holdings LLC, LMC Burnside Investor LLC, LMC Chandler and McClintock Holdings LLC, LMC Charlestowne Holdings LLC, LMC Charlotte Ballpark Developer LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Holdings LLC, LMC Cityville Oak Park Investor LLC, LMC Cobalt Holdings LLC, LMC Costa Mesa Holdings LP, LMC Crest at Park West Holdings LP, LMC Denver Gateway I Investor LLC, LMC Denver Gateway II Holdings LLC, LMC Development LLC, LMC Downtown Doral South Holdings LLC, LMC Durham Gateway Holdings LP, LMC Evans School Holdings LLC, LMC Gateway Investor LLC, LMC Gateway Venture LLC, LMC Gilman Square Investor LLC, LMC Horton Street Holdings LLC, LMC Huntington Crossing Holdings LLC, LMC Inactive Companies LLC, LMC Lakeside Holdings LP, LMC Leya Holdings LLC, LMC Living Illinois LLC, LMC Living Inc., LMC Living LLC, LMC Living TRS LP, LMC Millenia Investor II LLC, LMC NE Minneapolis Lot 2 Holdings LLC, LMC New Bern Investor LLC, LMC North Park Holdings LP, LMC Parkfield Holdings LLC, LMC Parkfield Investor LLC, LMC Righters Ferry Holdings LLC, LMC River North Holdings LLC, LMC Spring Street Investor LLC, LMC Stonewall Station Investor LLC, LMC Triangle Square Investor LLC, LMC Venture Developer LLC, LMC Verbena Holdings LLC, LMC West Loop Investor LLC, LMCFX Investor LLC, LMCPNW Marymoor Holdings LLC, LMI - Jacksonville Investor LLC, LMI - South Kings Development Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle Holdings LLC, LMI - West Seattle Investor LLC, LMI - West Seattle LLC, LMI Cell Tower Investors LLC, LMI City Walk Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale Investor LLC, LMI Collegedale LLC, LMI Contractors LLC, LMI Glencoe Dallas Investor LLC, LMI Lakes West Covina Investor LLC, LMI Largo Park Investor LLC, LMI Las Colinas Station LLC, LMI Naperville Investor LLC, LMI Pacific Tower LLC, LMI Park Central Two LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners Investor LLC, LMI Peachtree Corners LLC, LMI-JC Developer LLC, LMI-JC LLC, LMV 1640 Broadway REIT-DC LP, LMV 1701 Ballard REIT-DC LP, LMV 19H REIT-DC LP, LMV 2026 Madison REIT-DC LP, LMV 85 South Union REIT-DC LP, LMV ATown REIT-DC LP, LMV Annapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Apache Terrace REIT-DC LP, LMV Block 42 REIT-DC LP, LMV Bloomington REIT-DC LP, LMV Bolingbrook REIT-DC LP (DE), LMV Central at McDowell REIT-DC LP, LMV East Village I REIT-DC LP, LMV Edina REIT-DC LP, LMV Fremont WS I REIT-DC LP, LMV Glisan REIT-DC LP, LMV Grand Bay REIT-DC LP, LMV II Grand Bay Pod V Holdings LP, LMV II Kierland Holdings LP, LMV II NoMo Holdings LP, LMV II Venture Developer LLC, LMV II Wynwood Holdings LP, LMV Kirkland REIT-DC LP, LMV Little Italy REIT-DC LP, LMV M Tower REIT-DC LP, LMV Millenia II REIT-DC LP, LMV Milpitas REIT-DC LP, LMV NE Minneapolis REIT-DC LP, LMV Oak Park REIT-DC LP, LMV One20Fourth REIT-DC LP, LMV QR Build to Core Manager LLC, LMV Rio Bravo REIT-DC LP, LMV Scottsdale Quarter REIT-DC LP, LMV Tysons REIT-DC LP, LMV Vallagio III REIT-DC LP, LMV Victory Block G REIT-DC LP, LMV Warren Street REIT-DC LP, LNC Communities II LLC, LNC Communities IV LLC, LNC Communities V LLC, LNC Communities VI LLC, LNC Communities VII LLC, LNC Communities VIII LLC, LNC Pennsylvania Realty Inc., LNC at Meadowbrook LLC, LNC at Ravenna LLC, LS College Park LLC, LS Terracina LLC, LV Opendoor Investor LLC, LV Opendoor JV LLC, LW D'Andrea LLC, Lagoon Valley Residential LLC, Lakelands at Easton L.L.C., Legends Club LLC, Legends Golf Club LLC, Len - Little Harbor LLC, Len FW Investor LLC, Len Paradise LLC, Len-Angeline LLC, Len-Hawks Point LLC, Len-Land LLC, Len-Land West LLC, Len-MN LLC, Len-Verandahs LLP, LenCom LLC, LenFive LLC, LenFive Opco GP LLC, LenFive Sub III LLC, LenFive Sub LLC, LenFive Sub Opco GP LLC, Lenalto CMBS LLC, Lencraft LLC, Lennar Aircraft I LLC, Lennar Arizona Construction Inc., Lennar Arizona Inc., Lennar Associates Management Holding Company, Lennar Associates Management LLC, Lennar Avenue One LLC, Lennar Berkeley LLC, Lennar Bevard LLC, Lennar Bridges LLC, Lennar Buffington Colorado Crossing L.P., Lennar Buffington Zachary Scott L.P., Lennar Carolinas LLC, Lennar Central Park LLC, Lennar Central Region Sweep Inc., Lennar Chicago Inc., Lennar Cobra LLC, Lennar Colgate Urban Renewal Development LLC, Lennar Colorado LLC, Lennar Colorado Minerals LLC, Lennar Commercial LLC, Lennar Communities Development Inc., Lennar Communities Inc., Lennar Communities Nevada LLC, Lennar Communities of Chicago L.L.C., Lennar Concord LLC, Lennar Construction Inc., Lennar Cory Road LLC, Lennar Courts LLC, Lennar Developers Inc., Lennar Ewing LLC, Lennar Financial Services LLC, Lennar Flamingo LLC, Lennar Fresno Inc., Lennar Gardens LLC, Lennar Georgia Inc., Lennar Greer Ranch Venture LLC, Lennar Heritage Fields LLC, Lennar Hingham Holdings LLC, Lennar Hingham JV LLC, Lennar Homes Holding LLC, Lennar Homes LLC, Lennar Homes NJ LLC, Lennar Homes of Arizona Inc., Lennar Homes of California Inc., Lennar Homes of Indiana Inc., Lennar Homes of Texas Land and Construction Ltd., Lennar Homes of Texas Sales and Marketing Ltd., Lennar Homes of Utah Inc., Lennar International Holding LLC, Lennar International LLC, Lennar Lakeside Investor LLC, Lennar Layton LLC, Lennar Living LLC, Lennar Lytle LLC, Lennar MF Holdings LLC, Lennar MPA LLC, Lennar MPA WIP LLC, Lennar Mare Island LLC, Lennar Marina A Funding LLC, Lennar Massachusetts Properties Inc., Lennar Middletown LLC, Lennar Monmouth Redevelopers LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture GP Victory Block G Mezz LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II GP Subsidiary LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture II Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture LP LLC, Lennar Multifamily BTC Venture Manager LLC, Lennar Multifamily Builders LLC, Lennar Multifamily Communities LLC, Lennar Multifamily Venture DC LP, Lennar New Jersey Holdings LLC, Lennar New Jersey Properties Inc., Lennar New York LLC, Lennar Northeast Properties LLC, Lennar Northwest Inc., Lennar OHB LLC, Lennar PI Acquisition LLC, Lennar PI Property Acquisition LLC, Lennar PIS Management Company LLC, Lennar Pacific Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Inc., Lennar Pacific Properties Management Inc., Lennar Plumsted Urban Renewal LLC, Lennar Point LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core GP LLC, Lennar QR Build to Core LP LLC, Lennar Realty Inc., Lennar Reno LLC, Lennar Riverwalk LLC, Lennar Sacramento Inc., Lennar Sales Corp., Lennar Sierra Sunrise LLC, Lennar Spencer's Crossing LLC, Lennar Sun Ridge LLC, Lennar Texas Holding LLC, Lennar Ventures LLC, Lennar West Valley LLC, Lennar Winncrest LLC, Lennar at Franklin LLC, Lennar at Jackson LLC, Lennar at Marlboro 79 LLC, Lennar at Monroe LLC, Lennar.com Inc., Longleaf Acquisition LLC, Lori Gardens Associates II LLC, Lori Gardens Associates III LLC, Lori Gardens Associates L.L.C., Lorton Station LLC, Lyons Lennar Farms LLC, Madrona Ridge L.L.C., Madrona Village L.L.C., Madrona Village Mews L.L.C., Majestic Woods LLC, Maple and Broadway Holdings LLC, Menifee Development LLC, Mid-County Utilities Inc., Miralago West Lennar LLC, Mission Viejo 12S Venture LP, Mission Viejo Holdings Inc., Motomic Diagnostics LLC, Multibank 2009-1 CML-ADC Venture LLC, Multibank 2009-1 RES-ADC Venture LLC, NC Properties I LLC, NC Properties II LLC, North American Asset Development LLC, Northbridge L.L.C., OHC/Ascot Belle Meade LLC, One SR L.P., PD-Len Boca Raton LLC, PG Properties Holding LLC, POMAC LLC, PT Metro LLC, Pace Drive Holdings LLC, Palm Gardens At Doral Clubhouse LLC, Palm Gardens at Doral LLC, Palm Springs Classic LLC, Palm Vista Preserve LLC, Patuxent Infrastructure Inc., Pioneer Meadows Development LLC, Pioneer Meadows Investments LLC, Plaza Condominium Ventures LLC, Portside Marina Developers L.L.C., Portside SM Associates L.L.C., Portside SM Holdings L.L.C., Portside Shipyard Developers L.L.C., Prestonfield L.L.C., Quail Roost Lennar LLC, RCCF GP II LLC, RCCF GP III LLC, RCCF GP IV LLC, RCCF GP LLC, RES-FL EIGHT LLC, RES-FL SEVEN LLC, RES-FL VISION ONE LLC, RES-FL VISION TWO LLC, RES-GA CASCADE LLC, RES-GA DIAMOND MEADOWS LLC, RES-GA KAP LLC, RES-GA SOUTHERN PLANTATION LLC, RES-GA THIRTEEN LLC, RES-GA TWELVE LLC, RES-GA WEST LLC, RES-IL ONE LLC, RES-NC ONE LLC, RES-PA LSJ LLC, RES-PA POM LLC, RES-TX BOULEVARD LLC, RH Insurance Company Inc., RH MOA BBCMS 2017-C1 LLC, RH MOA CF 2017-C8 LLC, RH MOA LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C4 LLC, RH MOA U 2017-C6 LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 CLASS B LLC, RIAL 2014-LT5 LLC, RL BB FINANCIAL LLC, RL BB INACTIVE LLC, RL BB-AL LLC, RL BB-FL ALHI LLC, RL BB-GA LLC, RL BB-GA RMH LLC, RL BB-IL LLC, RL BB-IN AA LLC, RL BB-IN KRE LLC, RL BB-IN KRE OP LLC, RL BB-IN KRE RE LLC, RL BB-MS LLC, RL BB-NC LLC, RL BB-OH LLC, RL BB-SC BROOKSA LLC, RL BB-SC CLR II LLC, RL BB-SC CLR III LLC, RL BB-SC CLR IV LLC, RL BB-SC CLR LLC, RL BB-SC CRRC LLC, RL BB-SC RACEDAY LLC, RL BB-TN BRISTOL LLC, RL BB-TN LLC, RL BB-TN RACEDAY TOWER LLC, RL BB-TX LLC, RL BB-WV LLC, RL CMBS Holdings LLC, RL CML 2009-1 Investments LLC, RL REGI ARKANSAS LLC, RL REGI Alabama LLC, RL REGI FINANCIAL LLC, RL REGI Florida LLC, RL REGI GEORGIA LLC, RL REGI INACTIVE LLC, RL REGI KANSAS LLC, RL REGI MISSISSIPPI LLC, RL REGI MISSOURI LLC, RL REGI NORTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI SOUTH CAROLINA LLC, RL REGI TENNESSEE LLC, RL REGI VIRGINIA LLC, RL REGI-AL HP LLC, RL REGI-AL VRC LLC, RL REGI-FL CRC LLC, RL REGI-FL ESH LLC, RL REGI-FL FT. PIERCE LLC, RL REGI-FL GDL LLC, RL REGI-FL ITALIA LLC, RL REGI-FL MRED LLC, RL REGI-FL RDI LLC, RL REGI-FL SARASOTA LLC, RL REGI-FL TPL LLC, RL REGI-FL VARC LLC, RL REGI-GA DRAD LLC, RL REGI-GA HAY DB LLC, RL REGI-GA MHU LLC, RL REGI-GA MPD LLC, RL REGI-GA RLR LLC, RL REGI-MO GMB LLC, RL REGI-MO MOSCOW MILLS LLC, RL REGI-MS Double H LLC, RL REGI-MS OCEAN SPRINGS LLC, RL REGI-NC CIL LLC, RL REGI-NC LITTLE WING LLC, RL REGI-NC MLD LLC, RL REGI-NC Mland LLC, RL REGI-NC RALEIGH LLC, RL REGI-NC SUGARM LLC, RL REGI-NM LLC, RL REGI-SC CTL LLC, RL REGI-SC LAKE E LLC, RL REGI-SC TDG LLC, RL REGI-SC TIG LLC, RL REGI-TN OAK LLC, RL REGI-TN SEVIERVILLE LLC, RL RES 2009-1 Investments LLC, RMF Alliance LLC, RMF Commercial LLC, RMF PR New York LLC, RMF Partner LLC, RMF SUB 1 LLC, RMF SUB 2 LLC, RMF SUB 3 LLC, RMF SUB 4 LLC, RMF SUB 5 LLC, RMV LLC, Raintree Village II L.L.C., Raintree Village L.L.C., Ral-Len BM LLC, Ral-Len LLC, Rannel Capital WeWork Series D LLC, Rannel Holdings LLC, Rannel Interests LLC, Rannel Investments LLC, Rannel Mortgage Investments LLC, Rannel Proprietary Investments LLC, Renaissance Joint Venture, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove II LLC, Reserve @ Pleasant Grove LLC, Reserve at River Park LLC, Reserve at South Harrison LLC, Rialto Commercial Mortgage Securities LLC, Rialto Credit Partnership GP LLC, Rialto Mezz Partners GP LLC, Rialto Mortgage Finance LLC, Rialto Partners GP II LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Debt LLC, Rialto Partners GP III - Property LLC, Rialto Partners GP LLC, Rialto RSSF GP LLC, Riverwalk at Lago Mar LLC, Rocking Horse Minerals LLC, Rutenberg Homes Inc. (Florida), Rutenberg Homes of Texas Inc., Rye Hill Company LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada Holdings LLC, Ryland Homes Nevada LLC, Ryland Homes of California Inc., S. Florida Construction II LLC, S. Florida Construction III LLC, S. Florida Construction LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve LLC, SC 521 Indian Land Reserve South LLC, SPIC CPCO Inc., SPIC CPDB Inc., SPIC CPRB Inc., SPIC Del Sur LLC, SPIC Dublin LLC, SPIC Mesa LLC, SPIC NC Fremont LLC, SPIC Otay LLC, SPIC Springs LLC, San Felipe Indemnity Co. Ltd., San Lucia LLC, San Simeon Lennar LLC, Schulz Ranch Developers LLC, Seminole/70th LLC, Siena at Old Orchard L.L.C., Sierra Vista Communities LLC, Silver Springs Lennar LLC, South Development LLC, Southbank Holding LLC, Spanish Springs Development LLC, St. Charles Active Adult Community LLC, St. Charles Community LLC, Standard Pacific 1 Inc., Standard Pacific Investment Corp., Standard Pacific of Colorado Inc., Standard Pacific of Florida, Standard Pacific of Florida GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Las Vegas Inc., Standard Pacific of Orange County Inc., Standard Pacific of Tampa GP, Standard Pacific of Tampa GP Inc., Standard Pacific of Tonner Hills LLC, Standard Pacific of Walnut Hills Inc., Standard Pacific of the Carolinas LLC, Stoney Holdings LLC, Storey Lake Club LLC, Storey Park Club LLC, Strategic Holdings Inc., Strategic Technologies LLC, Summerfield Venture L.L.C., SunStreet Energy Group LLC, SunStreet Manager LLC, TCO QVI LLC, TICD Hold Co. LLC, TIH Hold Co. LLC, Talega Associates LLC, Temecula Valley LLC, Terra Division LLC, Terra/Winding Creek LLC, The Baywinds Land Trust, The Bridges Club at Rancho Santa Fe Inc., The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe Sales Company Inc., The LNC Northeast Group Inc., The Oasis Club at LEN-CG South LLC, The Preserve at Coconut Creek LLC, The Vistas Club at LEN-CG South LLC, Titlezoom Company, Treasure Island Holdings LLC, Treasure Island Member LLC, Treviso Holding LLC, Two Lakes Lennar LLC, U.S. Home Corporation, U.S. Home Realty Inc., U.S. Home of Arizona Construction Co., U.S. Insurors Inc., U.S.H. Realty Inc., UAMC Holding Company LLC, UB 2018C14 MOA LLC, USH - Flag LLC, USH Equity Corporation, USH LEE LLC, USH Leasing II LLC, USH Leasing LLC, UST Lennar HW Scala SF Joint Venture, VII Crown Farm Investor LLC, Venetian Lennar LLC, Vineyard Land LLC, Vineyard Point 2009 LLC, Vista Palms Clubhouse LLC, WCI Communities, WCI Communities Inc., WCI Communities LLC, WCI Towers Northeast USA Inc., WCI Westshore LLC, WCP LLC, WIP Lennar OHB LLC, Waterview at Hanover LLC, West Lake Village LLC, West Seattle Project X LLC, West Van Buren L.L.C., Westchase Inc., Westchase Ltd., Westfield Homes USA Inc., White Course Lennar LLC, Wild Plum JV LLC, Willowbrook Investors LLC, Winncrest Natomas LLC, Woodbridge Multifamily Developer I LLC, Wright Farm L.L.C., and YLRichards4Acres 2015 LLC.
Adtalem Global Education Inc. provides educational services worldwide. It operates through two segments, Medical and Healthcare and Financial Services. The Medical and Healthcare segment operates Chamberlain University, which provides a pre-licensure bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program, registered nurse (RN)-to-BSN degree completion option, and graduate programs. The Chamberlain University offers educational services through its 22 campuses and online. This segment also operates medical and veterinary schools, such as American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Ross University School of Medicine, and Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. The Financial Services segment provides test preparation, certifications, conferences, seminars, memberships, and subscriptions to business professionals in the areas of accounting, anti-money laundering, banking, and mortgage lending. It operates an Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists that provides membership services, certified anti-money laundering specialist certification, conferences, risk assessment, training, and publications; and Becker Professional Education that prepares candidates for the Certified Public Accountant and Certified Management Accountant certification examinations, as well as professional education programs and seminars in accounting and finance. This segment also offers compliance training, mortgage licensure preparation, continuing education, and professional development in the banking and mortgage industries; and online and classroom programs in the areas of finance, accounting, and analytics. The company was formerly known as DeVry Education Group Inc. and changed its name to Adtalem Global Education Inc. in May 2017. Adtalem Global Education Inc. was incorporated in 1987 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Read More
Photo: Contributed A program to manage the wild cat population has been renewed.

A program to cut down on the population of feral cats in the province has been renewed for a 7th year.

An explosion in the number cats has had negative impacts on songbird populations, the primary prey for the felines.

The BC SPCA community animal spay-neuter grant program is accepting applications for grant funding to address cat overpopulation in communities across B.C.

The program has seen demonstrable impacts in seven years, including decreased colony sizes, increased community partnerships and improved health for the cats currently in colonies.

In 2018 it provided funding for grantees across the province, resulting in 830 fixed community cats and cats on First Nation lands, and 52 fixed dogs on First Nation lands - the biggest year for the program to date.

Its been exciting to see the results and hear the long-term impact from former grantees, said Marieke van der Velden, BC SPCA outreach specialist. Not only do the animals get the spay/neuter surgery but they also receive veterinary care that helps them have a better life.

As part of the program requirements, free-roaming cats are assessed for sociability and any cats who could live in homes or barns end up being adopted out through rescues and sheltering agencies.

This year the program will continue to target and impact community cats across British Columbia. The program supports non-profit community organizations, veterinarians, First Nation communities and regional and municipal governments working to address pet overpopulation in their local areas.

Funding will be distributed to projects that better the welfare of a communitys most vulnerable companion animals and ensure there is a long-term impact. The application deadline is March 15, 2019. To learn more or apply for a grant, click here.
The following companies are subsidiares of Fidelity National Information Services: 11601 Roosevelt Boulevard Realty LLC, AGES Participacoes Ltda., Advanced Portfolio Technologies Inc., Advanced Portfolio Technologies Ltd., Aircrown Limited, Aquarius Particpacoes S.A., Armed Forces Financial Network LLC (50%), Automated Securities Clearance LLC, Birza Limited, C&E Holdings Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Card Brazil Holdings Inc., Card Brazil LLC, Central Credit Services Limited, Certegy Canada Company, Certegy Card Services B.V., Certegy Card Services Limited, Certegy Check Services Inc., Certegy Dutch Holdings B.V., Certegy EziPay Ltd., Certegy France Limited, Certegy SNC, Certegy UK Holdings B.V., Chex Systems Inc., Clear2Pay, Clear2Pay (Shenzhen) Co., Clear2Pay APAC Pte. Ltd., Clear2Pay APAC Pty Ltd., Clear2Pay Americas Inc., Clear2Pay Beijing Co., Clear2Pay Belgium NV, Clear2Pay China Limited, Clear2Pay France SAS, Clear2Pay Germany GmbH, Clear2Pay Integri NV, Clear2Pay Limited, Clear2Pay NV, Clear2Pay Nanjing Co., Clear2Pay Nederland BV, Clear2Pay Polska s.p.z.o.o, Clear2Pay Scotland Holdings Limited, Clear2Pay Scotland Limited, Clear2Pay Spain S.l., ClearPark N.V., ClearTwoPay Chile SpA, Complete Payment Recovery Services Inc., Compliance Coach, Credit Management Solutions, Decalog (1991) Ltd., Decalog (UK) Limited, Decalog N.V., F.I.S. Systems (Middle East) Limited, FAME Information Services (Asia Pacific) Pte Ltd, FIRM I LLC, FIRM II LLC, FIS (Benelux) N.V., FIS (Switzerland) SA, FIS (Tunisia) I SARL, FIS (Tunisia) II SARL, FIS Apex (International) Limited, FIS Apex (UK) Limited, FIS Asia Pacific Inc., FIS AsiaPacRim Holdings Ltd., FIS Australasia Pty Ltd., FIS AvantGard LLC, FIS Bilgisayar Hizmetleri Ticaret Limited Sirketi, FIS Brokerage & Securities Services LLC, FIS Business Integration (UK) Limited, FIS Business Integration AG, FIS Business Integration GmbH, FIS Business Systems LLC, FIS Card Processing Services (Chile) S.A., FIS Card Services (Thailand) Co. Ltd., FIS Card Services Caribbean Ltd., FIS Computer Services LLC, FIS Consulting Services (Ireland) Limited, FIS Consulting Services (UK) Limited, FIS DIS Inc., FIS Data Systems Inc., FIS Derivatives Utility Services (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Derivatives Utility Services (UK) Limited, FIS Derivatives Utility Services LLC, FIS Energy Solutions (Italia) S.r.l., FIS Energy Solutions Limited, FIS Energy Systems Inc., FIS Financial Solutions Canada Inc., FIS Financial Strategies LLC, FIS Financial Systems (France) SAS, FIS Financial Systems LLC, FIS Foundation Inc., FIS GCS LLC, FIS Global Business Solutions India Private Ltd. (99%), FIS Global Execution Services Limited, FIS Global Holdings S.a.r.l, FIS Global Recovery Services India Private Limited, FIS Global Solutions Philippines Inc., FIS Global Trading (Belgium) N.V., FIS Global Trading (Deutschland) GmbH, FIS Global Trading (Hong Kong) Limited, FIS Global Trading (Iberica) S.L. Unipersonal, FIS Global Trading (Nederland) B.V., FIS Global Trading (Portugal) Unipessoal Lda, FIS Global Trading (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Global Trading (Suisse) SA, FIS Global Trading (UK) Limited, FIS Healthcare Trustee Limited, FIS Holdings (Cayman Islands) Ltd., FIS Holdings (Germany) GmbH i.L., FIS Holdings Limited, FIS Holdings Mauritius, FIS Insurance Services Limited, FIS International Subsidiaries Holdings Inc., FIS Investment Systems (UK) Limited, FIS Investment Systems LLC, FIS Investment Ventures LLC, FIS Investor Services LLC, FIS Italy S.r.l., FIS Japan KK, FIS Kingstar Cayman Islands Limited, FIS Kiodex LLC, FIS Korea Ltd., FIS Management Services LLC, FIS Management Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., FIS Pakistan (Private) Limited, FIS Payment Solutions & Services India Private Limited, FIS Payments (Ireland) Limited, FIS Payments (UK) Limited, FIS Public Sector AG Limited, FIS Reference Data Solutions LLC, FIS Risk and Security Services Inc., FIS Romania SRL, FIS SG (Italia) S.r.l., FIS SG International Holdings LLC, FIS SG Systems Philippines Inc., FIS Securities Finance LLC, FIS Shareholder Systems LLC, FIS Sherwood Systems (Netherlands) B.V., FIS Sherwood Systems Group Limited, FIS Sherwood Systems Limited, FIS Solutions (India) Private Limited, FIS Solutions LLC, FIS Solutions Software (India) Private Limited, FIS Systeme GmbH, FIS Systems (Hong Kong) Limited, FIS Systems (Luxembourg) S.A., FIS Systems (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., FIS Systems (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., FIS Systems Canada Inc., FIS Systems International LLC, FIS Systems Kenya Limited, FIS Systems Limited, FIS Systems NZ Limited, FIS Systems Pty Limited, FIS Systems South Africa (Pty) Limited, FIS Systems de Colombia S.A.S., FIS Technology (Beijing) Co. Limited, FIS Technology Services (New Zealand) Limited, FIS Technology Services (Poland) Sp. z.o.o., FIS Technology Services (Tunisia) SARL, FIS Technology Services Singapore Pte. Ltd., FIS Treasury Systems (Europe) Limited, FIS Treasury Systems (UK) Limited, FIS UK Holdings Limited, FIS Vietnam LLC, FIS Wealth Management Services Inc., FIS Workflow Solutions LLC, FIS eProcess Intelligence LLC, FIS iWORKS LLC, FIS iWORKS P&C (US) Inc., FIS-SG Holding Corp., FNIS Holding Brasil Ltda., FNIS Istanbul Danismanlik Limited Sirketi, FNX India Software Private Limited, Fidelity Holding Ltda., Fidelity Information Services (France) SARL, Fidelity Information Services (Hong Kong) Limited, Fidelity Information Services (Iberia) S.L.U., Fidelity Information Services (Israel) Ltd., Fidelity Information Services (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd., Fidelity Information Services (Thailand) Limited (99.9%), Fidelity Information Services Front Arena AB, Fidelity Information Services GmbH, Fidelity Information Services Holdings B.V., Fidelity Information Services India Private Limited, Fidelity Information Services International Holdings Inc., Fidelity Information Services LLC, Fidelity Information Services Limited, Fidelity Information Services Operations GmbH, Fidelity Information Services Slovakia s.r.o., Fidelity Information Services de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fidelity International Resource Management Inc., Fidelity National Card Services Inc., Fidelity National Global Card Services Inc., Fidelity National Information Services (Netherlands) B.V., Fidelity National Information Services C.V., Fidelity National Information Services Inc., Fidelity National Participacoes e Servicos de Informatica Ltda., Fidelity National Servicos de Tratamento de Documentos e Informacoes Ltda., Fidelity Participacoes e Servicos Ltda., Fidelity Processadora S.A., Fidelity Servicos e Contact Center S.A., Financial Insurance Marketing Group Inc., GL Settle Limited, GL Trade (South Africa) (Proprietary) Limited, GL Trade Americas Inc., GL Trade CMS (Thailand) Limited, GL Trade Software DOO, GL Trade Solutions CMS (Thailand) Limited, Glesia S.r.l., Information Services Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Integrity Treasury Solutions Europe Limited, Integrity Treasury Solutions Inc., Integrity Treasury Solutions Limited, Integrity Treasury Solutions Pty Limited, Level Four Americas LLC, Link2Gov Corp., Memento, Metavante Corporation, Metavante Leasing LLC, Metavante Payment Services LLC, Metavante Technologies Inc, Metavante Technologies Limited, Minorca Corporation NV, Monis Management Limited, Monis Software Inc., Monis Software Limited, NYCE Payments Network LLC, Oshap Software Industries Ltd., Oshap Technologies Ltd., PREFCO VI LLC, PT Fidelity Information Services Indonesia, PT. FIS Systems Indonesia, Panther GP 1, Panther GP 2, Panther Holdco 2 Inc., Panther Holdco Inc., Panther Sub LLC, PayNet Payments Network LLC, Payment Brasil Holdings Ltda., Payment Chile S.A. (99.99%), Payment South America Holdings Inc., Penley Inc., Platform Securities Holdings Limited, Platform Securities International Limited, Platform Securities International Nominees Limited, Platform Securities LLP, Platform Securities Nominees Limited, Platform Securities Services Limited, Reech Capital Limited, Reliance Financial Corporation, Reliance Integrated Solutions LLC, Reliance Trust Company, Reliance Trust Company of Delaware, Sanchez Computer Associates Pty Limited, Secondco Limited, Sherwood US Holdings Limited, Solutions Plus Consulting Services Limited, Stratix Technologies Inc., SunGard, SunGard Ambit (Australia) Pty Ltd, SunGard Ambit Holdings Pty Ltd, SunGard Data Systems Beijing Co. Ltd., SunGard Global Services (Tunisia) III, SunGard Global Trading (Australia) Pty. Ltd., SunGard India Sales Private Limited, SunGard Kingstar Data System (China) Co. Ltd., SunGard Pensions Limited, TP Technologies N.V., Transax Limited, Trax N.V., Valuelink Information Services Limited, Valutec Card Solutions LLC, WildCard Systems Inc., Worldpay, eFunds Corporation, eFunds Holdings Limited, eFunds IT Solutions Group Inc., eFunds International Limited, i DLX International B.V., and mFoundry Inc..
Ad Investing Trends 1,191 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
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.

Read More
Cpl. Shawn Vinson, a police department spokesman, said the department was not aware of any particular trend or reason behind the increase in aggravated assaults last year. He said people should be aware of their surroundings, call 911 if they see anything suspicious and not display any valuables on their person or in parked vehicles.
Fortis Inc. operates as an electric and gas utility company in Canada, the United States, and the Caribbean countries. It generates, transmits, and distributes electricity to approximately 433,000 retail customers in southeastern Arizona; and 98,000 retail customers in Arizona's Mohave and Santa Cruz counties with an aggregate capacity of 3,233 megawatts (MW), including 59 MW of solar capacity. The company also sells wholesale electricity to other entities in the western United States; owns gas-fired and hydroelectric generating capacity totaling 65 MW; and distributes natural gas to approximately 1,048,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in British Columbia, Canada. In addition, it owns and operates the electricity distribution system that serves approximately 572,000 customers in southern and central Alberta; owns 4 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 225 MW; and provides operation, maintenance, and management services to five hydroelectric generating facilities. Further, the company distributes electricity in the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador with an installed generating capacity of 143 MW; and on Prince Edward Island with a generating capacity of 130 MW. Additionally, it provides integrated electric utility service to approximately 67,000 customers in Ontario; approximately 270,000 customers in Newfoundland and Labrador; approximately 31,000 customers on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and approximately 15,000 customers on certain islands in Turks and Caicos. The company also holds long-term contracted generation assets in Belize consisting of 3 hydroelectric generating facilities with a combined capacity of 51 MW; and the Aitken Creek natural gas storage facility. It also owns and operates approximately 91,000 circuit Kilometers (km) of distribution lines; and approximately 49,500 km of natural gas pipelines. Fortis Inc. was founded in 1885 and is headquartered in St. John's, Canada.

Read More
Ad Investing Trends 1,158 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
Ad Investing Trends 1,261 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
Community Bank System, Inc. operates as the bank holding company for Community Bank, N.A. that provides various banking and other financial services to retail, commercial, and municipal customers. It operates through three segments: Banking, Employee Benefit Services, and All Other. The company offers various deposits products, such as checking, savings, and money market deposit accounts, as well as time deposits. It also provides loans, including consumer mortgages; general purpose commercial and industrial loans, and mortgages on commercial properties; paycheck protection program loans; installment loans that are originated through selected dealerships and are secured by automobiles, marine, and other recreational vehicles; personal installment loans and lines of credit for consumers; and home equity products. In addition, the company offers broker-dealer and investment advisory; cash management, investment, and treasury services; asset management; and employee benefit services, as well as operates as a full-service insurance agency that offers personal and commercial lines of insurance, and other risk management products and services. Further, it provides contribution plan administration, employee benefit trust, collective investment fund, retirement plan administration, fund administration, transfer agency, actuarial and benefit consulting, VEBA/HRA, and health and welfare consulting services. Additionally, the company offers wealth management, retirement planning, higher educational planning, fiduciary, risk management, trust, and personal financial planning services; and investment alternatives, including stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and advisory products, as well as master recordkeeping services. As of January 25, 2021, it operates approximately 230 customer facilities across Upstate New York, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts. Community Bank System, Inc. was founded in 1866 and is headquartered in Onondaga, New York.

Read More
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company discovers, develops, licenses, manufactures, and markets biopharmaceutical products worldwide. The company offers products in hematology, oncology, cardiovascular, and immunology therapeutic classes. Its products include Revlimid, an oral immunomodulatory drug for the treatment of multiple myeloma; Opdivo for anti-cancer indications; Eliquis, an oral inhibitor indicated for the reduction in risk of stroke/systemic embolism in NVAF, and for the treatment of DVT/PE; and Orencia for adult patients with active RA and psoriatic arthritis, as well as reducing signs and symptoms in pediatric patients with active polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The company also provides Sprycel for the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia; Yervoy for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic melanoma; Abraxane, a solvent-free protein-bound chemotherapy product; mpliciti for the treatment of multiple myeloma; and Reblozyl for the treatment of anemia in adult patients with beta thalassemia. In addition, it offers Onureg for the continued treatment of adult patients with AML; Zeposia to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis; Vidaza for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome subtypes; Baraclude, an oral antiviral agent for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B; and Breyanzi, a CD19-directed genetically modified autologous T cell immunotherapy for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. The company sells products to wholesalers, distributors, pharmacies, retailers, hospitals, clinics, and government agencies. It has collaboration agreements with Pfizer, Inc.; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.; Nektar Therapeutics; AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Huyabio; and DarwinHealth, Inc. The company was formerly known as Bristol-Myers Company. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company was founded in 1887 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Read More
The following companies are subsidiares of Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft: 87 Leonard Development LLC, ABFS I Incorporated, ABS MB Ltd., Acacia (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Accounting Solutions Holding Company Inc, Alex. Brown Financial Services Incorporated, Alex. Brown Investments Incorporated, Alfred Herrhausen Gesellschaft mbH, Amber Investments S.a r.l., Ambidexter GmbH, Ambidexter GmbH i.L., Argent Incorporated, BHW - Gesellschaft fur Wohnungswirtschaft mbH, BHW Bausparkasse Aktiengesellschaft, BHW Holding GmbH, BHW Kreditservice GmbH, BNA Nominees Pty Limited, BT Globenet Nominees Limited, BTAS Cayman GP, BTD Nominees Pty Limited, Baincor Nominees Pty Limited, Bainpro Nominees Pty Ltd, Baldur Mortgages Limited, Bankers Trust Investments Limited, Barkly Investments Ltd., Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc, Bayan Delinquent Loan Recovery 1 (SPV-AMC) Inc., Berkshire Mortgage Finance, Betriebs-Center fur Banken AG, Biomass Holdings S.a r.l., Birch (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Blue Cork Inc, Blue Cork Inc., Borfield Sociedad Anonima, Breaking Wave DB Limited, Cape Acquisition Corp., CapeSuccess Inc., CapeSuccess LLC, Cardales UK Limited, Cardea Real Estate S.r.l., Career Blazers LLC, Career Blazers Management Company Inc, Career Blazers Management Company Inc., Career Blazers Personnel Services Inc, Career Blazers Personnel Services Inc., Career Blazers Personnel Services of Washington D.C. Inc. Washington D.C., Caribbean Resort Holdings Inc, Caribbean Resort Holdings Inc., Carpathian Investments Designated Activity Company, Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Advisory (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Cathay Asset Management Company Limited, Cathay Capital Company (No 2) Limited, Cedar (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Centennial River 2 Inc., Centennial River Corporation, Chapel Funding, Charlton (Delaware) Inc, China Recovery Fund LLC, China Recovery Fund LLC, Cinda - DB NPL Securitization Trust 2003-1, City Leasing (Thameside) Limited, City Leasing Limited, Consumo S.p.A., Consumo Srl in Liquidazione, Cyrus J. Lawrence Capital Holdings Inc., Cyrus J. Lawrence Capital Holdings Inc., D B Investments (GB) Limited, D&M Turnaround Partners Godo Kaisha, D.B. International Delaware Inc., D.B. International Delaware Inc., DAHOC (UK) Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DAHOC Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DB (Barbados) SRL, DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Asing) Sdn. Bhd., DB (Malaysia) Nominee (Tempatan) Sendirian Berhad, DB (Pacific) Limited, DB (Pacific) Limited New York, DB (Pacific) Limited New York, DB Abalone LLC, DB Alex. Brown Holdings Incorporated, DB Alps Corporation, DB Aotearoa Investments Limited, DB Asia Pacific Holdings Limited (in voluntary liquidation), DB Asset Finance I S.a r.l., DB Asset Finance II S.a r.l., DB Aster II LLC, DB Aster III LLC, DB Aster Inc., DB Aster LLC, DB Beteiligungs-Holding GmbH, DB Boracay LLC, DB Capital Investments Sarl, DB Capital Markets (Deutschland) GmbH, DB Capital Partners Inc., DB Capital Partners Inc., DB Cartera de Inmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Cartera de Inmuebles 1 S.A.U., DB Chestnut Holdings Limited, DB Commodity Services LLC, DB Consorzio S. Cons. a r. l., DB Corporate Advisory (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., DB Covered Bond S.r.l., DB Credit Investments S.a r.l., DB Delaware Holdings (Europe) Limited, DB Direkt GmbH, DB Elara LLC, DB Energy Commodities Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DB Energy Trading LLC, DB Enfield Infrastructure Holdings Limited, DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equipment Leasing Inc., DB Equity Limited, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Finance (Delaware) LLC, DB Finance International GmbH, DB Ganymede 2006 L.P., DB Global Markets Multi-Strategy Fund I Ltd., DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology Inc., DB Global Technology SRL, DB Group Services (UK) Limited, DB HR Solutions GmbH, DB Holding Fundo de Investimento Multimercado Investimento no Exterior Credito Privado, DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB Holdings (New York) Inc., DB Holdings (South America) Limited, DB IROC Leasing Corp., DB Immobilienfonds 1 Wieland KG, DB Immobilienfonds 2 KG i.L., DB Immobilienfonds 4 KG i.L., DB Immobilienfonds 5 Wieland KG, DB Impact Investment (GP) Limited, DB Impact Investment Fund I L.P., DB Impact Investment Fund I L.P., DB Industrial Holdings Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, DB Industrial Holdings GmbH, DB Intermezzo LLC, DB International (Asia) Limited, DB International Investments Limited, DB International Trust (Singapore) Limited, DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Managers Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Partners Inc., DB Investment Resources (US) Corporation, DB Investment Resources Holdings Corp., DB Investment Services GmbH, DB Io LP, DB Litigation Fee LLC, DB London (Investor Services) Nominees Limited, DB Management Support GmbH, DB Managers LLC, DB Municipal Holdings LLC, DB Nexus American Investments (UK) Limited (in members'voluntary liquidation), DB Nexus Investments (UK) Limited (in members' voluntary liquidation), DB Nominees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB Nominees (Singapore) Pte Ltd, DB Omega BTV S.C.S., DB Omega Holdings LLC, DB Omega Ltd., DB Omega S.C.S., DB Operaciones y Servicios Interactivos Agrupacion de Interes Economico, DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Finance Delaware Inc., DB Overseas Holdings Limited, DB PWM, DB Portfolio Southwest Inc., DB Print GmbH, DB Privat- und Firmenkundenbank AG, DB Private Clients Corp., DB Private Wealth Mortgage Ltd., DB RC Holdings LLC, DB Re S.A., DB Service Centre Limited, DB Service Uruguay S.A., DB Services Americas Inc., DB Services Americas Inc., DB Servizi Amministrativi S.r.l., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Strategic Advisors Inc., DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Derivative Products LLC, DB Structured Finance 1 Designated Activity Company, DB Structured Finance 2 Designated Activity Company, DB Structured Holdings Luxembourg S.a r.l., DB Structured Products Inc., DB Structured Products Inc., DB Trustee Services Limited, DB Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, DB U.S. Financial Markets Holding Corporation, DB UK Bank Limited, DB UK Holdings Limited, DB UK PCAM Holdings Limited, DB USA Core Corporation, DB USA Corporation, DB Valoren S.a r.l., DB Value S.a r.l., DB VersicherungsManager GmbH, DB Vita S.A., DBAB Wall Street LLC, DBAH Capital LLC, DBAH Capital LLC, DBCIBZ1, DBCIBZ2, DBFIC Inc., DBFIC Inc., DBNZ Overseas Investments (No.1) Limited, DBOI Global Services (UK) Limited, DBOI Global Services Private Limited, DBR Investments Co. Limited, DBRE Global Real Estate Management IA Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management IB Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management IB Ltd., DBRE Global Real Estate Management US IB L.L.C., DBRMS4, DBRMSGP1, DBUK PCAM Limited, DBUKH No. 2 Limited, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ1 LLC, DBUSBZ2 S.a r.l., DBUSBZ2 S.a r.l., DBX Advisors LLC, DBX ETF Trust, DBX Strategic Advisors LLC, DBO Vermogensverwertung GmbH, DEBEKO Immobilien GmbH & Co Grundbesitz OHG, DEE Deutsche Erneuerbare Energien GmbH, DEUFRAN Beteiligungs GmbH, DEUKONA Versicherungs-Vermittlungs-GmbH, DEUTSCHE BANK A.S., DG China Clean Tech Partners, DI Deutsche Immobilien Treuhandgesellschaft mbH, DIB-Consult Deutsche Immobilien- und BeteiligungsBeratungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., DISCA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, DNU Nominees Pty Limited, DSL Portfolio GmbH & Co. KG, DSL Portfolio Verwaltungs GmbH, DTS Nominees Pty Limited, DWS Alternatives France, DWS Alternatives Global Limited, DWS Alternatives GmbH, DWS Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, DWS Beteiligungs GmbH, DWS CH AG, DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Distributors Inc., DWS Far Eastern Investments Limited, DWS Group GmbH & Co. KGaA, DWS Group Services UK Limited, DWS Grundbesitz GmbH, DWS International GmbH, DWS Investment GmbH, DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment Management Americas Inc., DWS Investment S.A., DWS Investments Australia Limited, DWS Investments Hong Kong Limited, DWS Investments Japan Limited, DWS Investments Shanghai Limited, DWS Investments Singapore Limited, DWS Investments UK Limited, DWS Management GmbH, DWS Real Estate GmbH, DWS Service Company, DWS Trust Company, DWS USA Corporation, De Heng Asset Management Company Limited, De Meng Innovative (Beijing) Consulting Company Limited, DeAM Infrastructure Limited, Deloraine Spain S.L., Delowrezham de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Deposit Solutions, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Capital Holdings New Zealand, Deutsche (Aotearoa) Foreign Investments New Zealand, Deutsche (Mauritius) Limited Port, Deutsche (New Munster) Holdings New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Access Investments Limited, Deutsche Aeolia Power Production Societe Anonyme, Deutsche Alt-A Securities Inc., Deutsche Alt-A Securities Inc., Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (France) SAS, Deutsche Alternative Asset Management (UK) Limited, Deutsche Asia Pacific Holdings Pte Ltd, Deutsche Asset Management (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Asset Management (Japan) Limited, Deutsche Asset Management (Korea) Company Limited, Deutsche Asset Management S.A., Deutsche Asset Management S.G.I.I.C. S.A., Deutsche Australia Limited, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, Deutsche Bank (Chile), Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (China) Co. Ltd., Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, Deutsche Bank (Suisse) SA, Deutsche Bank (Uruguay) Sociedad Anonima Institucion Financiera Externa, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Americas Holding Corp., Deutsche Bank Bauspar-Aktiengesellschaft, Deutsche Bank Capital Finance LLC I, Deutsche Bank Capital Finance Trust I, Deutsche Bank Europe GmbH, Deutsche Bank Financial Company, Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency Incorporated, Deutsche Bank Insurance Agency of Delaware, Deutsche Bank International Limited, Deutsche Bank Investments (Guernsey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A., Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A. - Fiduciary Deposits, Deutsche Bank Luxembourg S.A. - Fiduciary Note Programme, Deutsche Bank Mutui S.p.A., Deutsche Bank Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple, Deutsche Bank Mexico S.A. Institucion de Banca Multiple, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Deutsche Bank National Trust Company Los, Deutsche Bank Nominees (Guernsey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Nominees (Jersey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Polska Spolka Akcyjna, Deutsche Bank Representative Office Nigeria Limited, Deutsche Bank S.A. - Banco Alemao, Deutsche Bank S.A. - Banco Alemao Sao, Deutsche Bank SPEARs/LIFERs Series DBE-8011 Trust, Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Limited, Deutsche Bank Services (Jersey) Limited, Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Espanola, Deutsche Bank Sociedad Anonima Espanola, Deutsche Bank Societa per Azioni, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, Deutsche Bank Trust Company Delaware, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Company National Association, Deutsche Bank Trust Corporation, Deutsche CIB Centre Private Limited, Deutsche Capital Finance (2000) Limited, Deutsche Capital Hong Kong Limited, Deutsche Capital Management Limited, Deutsche Capital Markets Australia Limited, Deutsche Capital Partners China Limited, Deutsche Cayman Ltd., Deutsche Colombia S.A.S., Deutsche Custody N.V., Deutsche Domus New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Equities India Private Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 1 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 2 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 3 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance Co 4 Pty Limited, Deutsche Finance No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Foras New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilien-Leasing mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Immobilien-Leasing mit beschrankterHaftung, Deutsche Global Markets Limited, Deutsche Group Holdings (SA) Proprietary Limited, Deutsche Group Services Pty Limited, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Deutsche Grundbesitz Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Deutsche Grundbesitz-Anlagegesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Deutsche Holdings (BTI) Limited, Deutsche Holdings (Grand Duchy), Deutsche Holdings (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., Deutsche Holdings (Malta) Ltd., Deutsche Holdings Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 2 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 3 Limited, Deutsche Holdings No. 4 Limited, Deutsche Immobilien Leasing GmbH, Deutsche India Holdings Private Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services (Ireland) Limited, Deutsche International Corporate Services Limited, Deutsche International Custodial Services Limited, Deutsche Inversiones Dos S.A., Deutsche Inversiones Limitada, Deutsche Investments (Netherlands) N.V., Deutsche Investments India Private Limited, Deutsche Investor Services Private Limited, Deutsche Knowledge Services Pte. Ltd., Deutsche Leasing New York Corp., Deutsche Mandatos S.A., Deutsche Master Funding Corporation, Deutsche Mexico Holdings S.a r.l., Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Limited, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell Group Public Limited Company, Deutsche Mortgage & Asset Receiving Corporation, Deutsche Mortgage Securities Inc., Deutsche Mortgage Securities Inc., Deutsche Nederland N.V., Deutsche New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Nominees Limited, Deutsche Oppenheim Family Office AG, Deutsche Overseas Issuance New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Postbank, Deutsche Postbank Finance Center Objekt GmbH, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC I, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC II, Deutsche Postbank Funding LLC III, Deutsche Private Asset Management Limited, Deutsche Securities (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Securities (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited, Deutsche Securities Asia Limited, Deutsche Securities Australia Limited, Deutsche Securities Inc., Deutsche Securities Israel Ltd., Deutsche Securities Korea Co., Deutsche Securities Mauritius Limited, Deutsche Securities Menkul Degerler A.S., Deutsche Securities S.A., Deutsche Securities S.A. de C.V. Casa de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities S.A. de C.V. Casa de Bolsa, Deutsche Securities Saudi Arabia, Deutsche Securities SpA, Deutsche Securities Venezuela S.A., Deutsche Securitisation Australia Pty Limited, Deutsche Services Polska Sp. z o.o., Deutsche StiftungsTrust GmbH, Deutsche Strategic Investment Holdings Yugen Kaisha, Deutsche Trust Company Limited Japan, Deutsche Trustee Company Limited, Deutsche Trustee Services (India) Private Limited, Deutsche Trustees Malaysia Berhad, Deutsche Wealth Management S.G.I.I.C. S.A., Deutsches Institut fur Altersvorsorge GmbH, Durian (Luxembourg) S.a r.l., EC EUROPA IMMOBILIEN FONDS NR. 3 GmbH & CO. KG i.I., Elba Finance GmbH, Elizabethan Holdings Limited, Elizabethan Management Limited, Emerald Asset Repackaging Designated Activity Company, Erste Frankfurter Hoist GmbH, European Value Added I (Alternate G.P.) LLP, Exinor SA, FARAMIR Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH, FRANKFURT CONSULT GmbH, Fiduciaria Sant' Andrea S.r.L., Finanzberatungsgesellschaft mbH der Deutschen Bank, Franz Urbig- und Oscar Schlitter-Stiftung Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-037, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-039, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-040, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-041, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-043, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-044, Freddie Mac Class A Taxable Multifamily M Certificates Series M-047, Funfte SAB Treuhand und Verwaltung GmbH & Co. Suhl "Rimbachzentrum" KG, G Finance Holding Corp., G.O. IB-US Management L.L.C., G918 Corp., GAC-HEL Inc., GWC-GAC Corp., Galene S.a r.l., Gemini Technology Services Inc., German American Capital, German American Capital Corporation, Gladyr Spain S.L., Global Markets Fundo de Investimento Multimercado, Global Markets III Fundo de Investimento Multimercado - Credito, Greenwood Properties Corp., Grundstucksgesellschaft Frankfurt Bockenheimer Landstrae GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Kerpen-Sindorf Vogelrutherfeld GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Leipzig Petersstrae GbR, Grundstucksgesellschaft Wiesbaden Luisenstrae/Kirchgasse GbR, HTB Spezial GmbH & Co. KG, Hollandsche Bank-Unie, IOS Finance EFC S.A., ISTRON Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs-GmbH, IVAF I Manager S.a r.l., IVAF I Manager S.a r.l., Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben I GbR, Immobilienfonds Buro-Center Erfurt am Flughafen Bindersleben II GbR, Immobilienfonds Mietwohnhauser Quadrath-Ichendorf GbR, Immobilienfonds Wohn- und Geschaftshaus Koln-Blumenberg V GbR, J R Nominees (Pty) Ltd, Joint Stock Company Deutsche Bank DBU, Jyogashima Godo Kaisha, KEBA Gesellschaft fur interne Services mbH, Kidson Pte Ltd, Konsul Inkasso GmbH, Kradavimd UK Lease Holdings Limited, LA Water Holdings Limited, LAWL Pte. Ltd., Latitude Australia Secured Personal Loans Trust, Leasing Verwaltungsgesellschaft Waltersdorf mbH, Leonardo III Initial GP Limited, Lindsell Finance Limited, London Industrial Leasing Limited, MEF I Manager S. a r.l., MEF I Manager S. a r.l., MHL Reinsurance Ltd., MIT Holdings Inc., MIT Holdings Inc., MPP Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Maher Terminals Holdings (Toronto) Limited, Morgan Grenfell & Company, MortgageIT, MortgageIT Inc., MortgageIT Inc., MortgageIT Securities Corp., Motion Picture Productions One GmbH & Co. KG, NCW Holding Inc., Navegator - SGFTC S.A., Navegator - SGFTC S.A., New 87 Leonard LLC, Nordwestdeutscher Wohnungsbautrager Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, OOO "Deutsche Bank TechCentre", OOO "Deutsche Bank", OPB Verwaltungs- und Beteiligungs-GmbH, OPB Verwaltungs- und Treuhand GmbH, OPB-Holding GmbH, OPB-Nona GmbH, OPB-Oktava GmbH, OPB-Quarta GmbH, OPB-Quinta GmbH, OPB-Septima GmbH, OPPENHEIM Capital Advisory GmbH, OPPENHEIM Flottenfonds V GmbH & Co. KG, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Manager GmbH, OPPENHEIM PRIVATE EQUITY Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, OPS Nominees Pty Limited, OVT Trust 1 GmbH, OVV Beteiligungs GmbH, Opal Funds (Ireland) Public Limited Company, PADUS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, PARTS Funding LLC., PB Factoring GmbH, PB Firmenkunden AG, PB International S.A., PB Spezial-Investmentaktiengesellschaft mit Teilgesellschaftsvermogen, PBC Banking Services GmbH, PCC Services GmbH der Deutschen Bank, PT Deutsche Sekuritas Indonesia, PT. Deutsche Verdhana Sekuritas Indonesia, Pan Australian Nominees Pty Ltd, Peruda Leasing Limited, Plantation Bay Inc., Plantation Bay Inc., Postbank Akademie und Service GmbH, Postbank Beteiligungen GmbH, Postbank Direkt GmbH, Postbank Filialvertrieb AG, Postbank Finanzberatung AG, Postbank Immobilien GmbH, Postbank Immobilien und Baumanagement GmbH, Postbank Immobilien und Baumanagement GmbH & Co. Objekt Leipzig KG, Postbank Leasing GmbH, Postbank Service GmbH, Postbank Systems AG, QR Tower 2 LLC, Quantiguous, R.B.M. Nominees Pty Ltd, REO Properties Corporation, RREEF, RREEF America L.L.C., RREEF China REIT Management Limited, RREEF European Value Added I (G.P.) Limited, RREEF Fund Holding Co., RREEF India Advisors Private Limited, RREEF Management L.L.C., RTS Nominees Pty Limited, Reference Capital Investments Limited, RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., RoPro U.S. Holding Inc., Route 28 Receivables LLC, Route 28 Receivables LLC, SAB Real Estate Verwaltungs GmbH, SAGITA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SAPIO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SCUDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SEDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SENA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Kamenz KG, SIFA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SOLIDO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, SP Mortgage Trust, SPINO Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., SPV I Sociedad Anonima Cerrada, SPV II Sociedad Anonima Cerrada, STATOR Heizkraftwerk Frankfurt (Oder) Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, Sal. Oppenheim, Sal. Oppenheim Alternative Investments GmbH, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. AG & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Beteiligungs GmbH, Sal. Oppenheim jr. & Cie. Komplementar AG, Sechste Salomon Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Sechste Salomon Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., Service Company Four Limited, Sharps SP I LLC, Singer Island Tower Suite LLC, Somkid Immobiliare S.r.l., Stelvio Immobiliare S.r.l., Structured Finance Americas LLC, Structured Finance Americas LLC, Swabia 1. Vermogensbesitz-GmbH, Suddeutsche Vermogensverwaltung Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung, TAKIR Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TELO Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, TEMATIS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., TERRUS Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH i.L., TESATUR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Halle I KG i.L., TESATUR Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt Nordhausen I KG i.L., TOSSA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TRIPLA Grundstucks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH, TRS Aria LLC, TRS Leda LLC, TRS Maple II LTD, TRS Oak II LTD, TRS SVCO LLC, TRS Scorpio LLC, TRS Tupelo II LTD, TRS Venor LLC, TRS Walnut II LTD, Tagus - Sociedade de Titularizacao de Creditos S.A., Tasfiye Halinde Deutsche Securities Menkul Degerler A.S., Tempurrite Leasing Limited, Thai Asset Enforcement and Recovery Asset Management Company Limited, Tianjin Deutsche AM Fund Management Co. Ltd., Treuinvest Service GmbH, Triplereason Limited, UKE Beteiligungs-GmbH, UKE Grundstucksgesellschaft mbH, UKE s.r.o., Ullmann - Esch Grundstucksgesellschaft Kirchnerstrae GbR, Ullmann - Esch Grundstucksverwaltungsgesellschaft Disternich GbR, Ullmann Ullmann Krockow Krockow Esch GbR, VCJ Lease S.a r.l., Vesta Real Estate S.r.l., VOB-ZVD Processing GmbH, WEPLA Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, WEPLABeteiligungsgesellschaftmbH, Wealthspur Investment Ltd., Whale Holdings S.a r.l., World Trading (Delaware) Inc., World Trading(Delaware)Inc., Zumirez Drive LLC, db PBC, and norisbank GmbH.
THUMBS UP: The new Mission of Mercy mobile dental clinic made its Taneytown debut on Feb. 6, showcasing a $400,000, 40-foot, state-of-the-art Winnebago/dentist office that offers services for patients who might not be able to afford dental insurance or dental work on their own. A faith-based nonprofit that provides free health care to those in need in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Mission of Mercy had already been offering free medical and dental care at six clinic sites, including Taneytown. But setting up and taking down the improvised clinic takes about two hours. The mobile unit frees up time to see more patients and also offers greater capacity. It has two dental suites and one prep chair, allowing two dentists to work simultaneously. They hope to go from about seven patients a day to 15. Phillip Uffer, a dentist who practices in New Windsor and volunteers with Mission of Mercy, said the conditions in the mobile unit are much better than at the improvised clinics. He said the mission is critical. Everybody is doing stuff overseas, which is great. But we have enough people in our backyard we should be helping. This gives me a platform where I can do that. For more information on Mission of Mercy and the organizations dental and medical clinics, visit www.amissionofmercy.org.
Ad Investing Trends 1,209 Recent Views

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
British Prime Minister Theresa May is to return to Brussels within days to meet European Union (EU) officials in a bid to rescue her Brexit deal.

Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, said in a radio interview on Friday that May will go to Brussels in the coming days to continue negotiations, but no timetable was stated.

Referring to the Thursday night vote, when MPs were asked to re-endorse May's Brexit deal, Leadsom said the defeat in the vote was more of a hiccup than a disaster, Xinhua news agency reported.

May's proposed cross-channel excursion follows a humiliating defeat Thursday fuelled by a rebellion by 60 of her own Conservative MPs who voted against endorsing the EU deal she has already agreed.

May's hope is that EU negotiators will present her with enough wriggle-room over the Northern Ireland border issue to win backing from lawmakers in a looming showdown.

Political commentators and some leading politicians are describing the expected showdown in the House of Commons on February 27 as a "high noon" for May, just four weeks before Britain's planned departure from the bloc.

Former attorney-general Dominic Grieve said in the Times newspaper that a dozen or more government ministers could quit during the so-called high noon round of Brexit votes on February 27.

The resignations are being threatened if it appears likely that Britain faces crashing out of the EU without a deal, say observers.

In media interviews, Grieve said that if May failed to remove the threat of no deal, there could be resignations on a scale that might bring down the government.

May will present the latest version of her deal to MPs on February 27, but political experts say she is likely to face a number of amendments, including demanding a delay in Britain's departure date, a guarantee that a no-deal Brexit will be ruled out, or calls for a second referendum or "people's vote" on her deal.

Until now, the EU has insisted that there can be no changes to the so-called backstop, a measure designed to ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of no deal being agreed.

Ambassadors from EU member states met the Brexit Secretary in London Friday to brief them on Britain's latest position.


Aparna Basus Gandhis Vision: Freedom and Beyond takes a leaf out of Mahatma Gandhis life and gives readers a sense of the thoughts and actions that led India to Independence and built a base for social development. An excerpt:

The Swadeshi Movement was a result of the Partition of Bengal by Lord Curzon in 1905. Conceived as an administrative readjustment of boundaries, it was overshadowed by political considerations. The movement formally began on August 7 at the historic Town Hall meeting in Calcutta, presided over by Maharaja Mahindra Chandra Nandi and addressed by Surendranath Banerjee. The protest took the form of boycott of foreign goods and the patronage of indigenous products popularly known as swadeshi. All classes of people  zamindars, professional groups such as lawyers, teachers, journalists, doctors, students and women joined the movement.

Rabindranath Tagore announced his plan in September 1905 to observe Rakshabandhan on October 16, the Partition day, and women took part in it. Another rite observed on this day was arandhan, suggested by Ramendrasundar Trivedi, asking women not to cook. Women organised swadeshi bhandars and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani, niece of the Rabindranath Tagore, opened Lakshmi Bhandar which sold only swadeshi products. Women gave up using imported cloth and smashed their bangles (churis). Bipin Chandra Pal addressed womens meetings during his tour of East Bengal in 1907 and the women of Tangail gave a big reception to Surendranath Banerjee when he visited Mymensingh later that year. A womens meeting was organised in the house of the eminent physician Dr Nilratan Sircar to honour the revolutionary Bhupendranath Duttas mother. A number of women in Barisal gave their savings to the Swadeshi Bhandar Samiti.

Secret societies had started earlier In Maharashtra, and in Bengal, revolutionary organisations began to develop, mainly owing to the efforts of Aurobindo Ghose. The most important of these was the Anusilan Samiti founded in 1897. It received active help and encouragement from Sister Nivedita. Among others connected with the growth of revolutionary societies were Barindra Ghose (brother of Aurobindo) and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani. Women circulated revolutionary leaflets and helped in maintaining liaison between different revolutionary leaders.

As the movement spread over Bengal, mass meetings were organised where the creed of swadeshi was preached. Bonfires of foreign goods were held and students boycotted Government schools and colleges. Bande Mataram, the sacred mantra of Bankim Chandra, became the rallying cry and inspired people with a new sense of patriotism and national consciousness. The president of the Indian National Congress, at its 1906 session held in Calcutta, expressed the demand for swaraj. Aurobindo Ghose declared the attainment of complete freedom as the goal of the national movement. The demand for national education was also a part of the Swadeshi movement. National schools were started and a technical college was opened in Jadavpur. With the annulment of the Partition in 1911, the Swadeshi movement, which had been largely centred in Bengal, petered out.

THE HOME RULE LEAGUE,

TILAK AND ANNIE BESANT

Before Gandhi, Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the most widely known Indian political leader. Unlike his contemporary Maharashtrian Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Tilak was a radical nationalist but conservative in his views on social reform. In 1897, plague broke out in Poona and the Government had to undertake segregation and house search. Tilak organised his own relief measures, but criticised the Government for its harsh measures. As a result, he was arrested under Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code on the charge of sedition. He was once again arrested in 1908 on the charge of writing polemical articles intensifying racial animosity between Indians and the British. In June 1914, he was released after spending six years in prison, most of which he had spent in Mandalay in Burma.

On his return, he found the political situation in India very different. Aurobindo Ghose had given up politics for a spiritual life in Pondicherry. Lala Lajpat Rai was away in USA. To conciliate the moderates and avoid any political confrontation, Tilak started the Home Rule League asking, like the Irish Home Rulers, for administrative reforms and not for overthrow of the Government. Annie Besant, an Irish ex-suffragette, an advocate of Free Thought, Fabianism and Theosophy came to India in 1893 to work for the Theosophical Society. She entered Indian politics in 1914 and founded the Home Rule League. She realised that for her movement to succeed, she had to get the support of the Indian National Congress, of both the Moderates and the Extremists. She launched a campaign through her two papers, New India and Commonweal and organised public meetings and conferences demanding that India be granted self-government on the lines of Britains White colonies after the War. In 1917, the Government of Madras placed Mrs Besant and her associates BP Wadia and George Arundale under arrest. There was nation-wide protest and many Moderate leaders like Madan Mohan Malaviya, Surendranath Banerjee and MA Jinnah joined the Home Rule League to show their support to Annie Besant. Tilak advocated the use of passive resistance if the Government did not release her. At Gandhijis instance about a thousand signatures were collected of men who were prepared to defy the internment order and march to the place where Besant was interned. The new Secretary of State, Lord Montagu was much more sympathetic and conciliatory and Besant was released. She was elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1917.

The announcement of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms divided the ranks of the supporters of Home Rule and the movement gradually lost its strength. In any case, its popularity had been mainly among the urban, English educated intelligentsia. However, it had generated a widespread nationalist atmosphere and created a group of individuals who played an important role in the national movement of the succeeding years, when under the leadership of Gandhi, it became a mass movement.

SEEDS OF SATYAGRAHA AND CIVIL

DISOBEDIENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

It was in South Africa where Gandhi spent twenty years, and evolved a method of political protest which he called satyagraha, which literally means truth force or the struggle for truth. Gandhi described it as a force which is born of truth and love or non-violence. For him, it was the end of a quest for a moral equivalent of war. Satyagraha was not passive resistance, but active opposition to any form of injustice. Martin Luther King Jr read intensively into the Gandhian philosophy as a new and powerful weapon against injustice. But the opposition had to be non-violent.

In his own words, Non-violence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction. King recognised Gandhis legacy of non-violence for the effectiveness of his own campaigns for racial integration. He became Gandhis greatest disciple by embracing satyagraha as a method of struggle for the emancipation of blacks in America. The Transvaal Government introduced the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance which required every Asian man, woman or child above the age of eight to register his or her name with the Registrar of Asiatics. Failure to do so was a criminal offence. In response to the Black Act, a public meeting was held in the Empire Theatre in Johannesburg in September 1906, attended by about 3000 Indians who took a vow to defy the law in a non-violent manner.

Excerpted with permission from Aparna

Basus Gandhi's Vision: Freedom and

Beyond, Niyogi Books, Rs 1,500
The NATO-Russia Council Summit demonstrates the misunderstanding about each other still exists and is accentuating a hostile strategic climate in and around Eurasia

The deadlock between Russia and NATO in the NATO-Russia Council Summit in Brussels has once again exposed the perpetual fissures and this may jeopardise both Eurasian security and global peace.

The Cold War-era global conflict which veered around NATO-Warsaw antipathy to each other is once again resurfacing even after the collapse of the Soviet Union 28 years back. This is happening despite the fact that there is no more a Warsaw bloc. The mutual hostility between NATO and Russia (as a lead member of the former Warsaw pact in the form of inheritor of the former Soviet Union) was fully reflected in the latest NATO-Russia Council meeting which took place in Brussels on January 25, 2019.

The mutual antipathy towards each other has also reflected in the tone and tenor of the Brussels Summit. As reported in the Russian press, lack of unanimity in the Council meeting came to fore when the Russian delegates stated that the United States is keen to accelerate its infamous Star War programme.

The Russian delegates urged that it will accelerate arms race at a global scale putting the security of Global Commons at nadir. Another contentious issue which got much attention in the NATO-Russia Summit meeting was on the issue of Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces also known as (INF). The Brussels meeting as expected from many quarters failed to evolve a consensus on the future of nuclear arsenals. The failure of the coordination council of both the adversaries is also generating a lot of hypothetical questions relevant to international security. These are:

a) Is NATO going to tame an assertive Russia in near future?

b) Whether NATO will continue its policy of encirclement of Russia?

The antagonism between NATO-Russia which has its roots in the Cold War period took a new turn in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union and emergence of the Russian Federation as its successor. To an utter surprise, the new leadership under Boris Yeltsin guided by the pro-Atlancists forces tried to mend fences with the erstwhile foe and got engaged with the NATO bloc.

In fact the admission of Russia into the NATOs outreach Programme of Partnership for Peace (PFP) along with some other former Soviet Union (FSU) States like Azerbaijan, Moldova and Uzbekistan showed inclination of FSU States to mend fences with their Cold War adversary.

Soon the honeymoon between these two fell to a low level and Moscow tried to give a new impetus to its external policy in the form of distancing itself from the Western bandwagon. The stand-off between these two reached to a new low when the latter reignited the soft tinderbox of Eastern Europe.

The subsequent NATO onslaught on Kosovo alarmed the strategic thinkers of Russia that the United States may use NATO to orchestrate a Cold War type crisis to checkmate Russia. Subsequent change of leadership in Russia which saw emergence of Vladimir Putin as the new President has had a profound impact on policy towards the West. Unlike his predecessors inconsistent policy as some analysts put it towards the West (especially in the Yeltsins first term), Putin, in his foreign policy orientation gave a new teething.

The 9/11 incident, however, brought the two into a common platform to fight against radicalist and terrorist forces in Afghanistan. This resulted in the creation of this institutional forum NATO-Russia Council in 2002. The Council was created as stated in the NATO website for building bridges with Russia.

The short-lived bonhomie between these two soon faded into oblivion (Russia-NATO) when West started showing its real intention in the FSU States. Directly or indirectly it propped up the so-called Colour Revolution in some of the FSU States like Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan. By propping up its own regimes in three above-mentioned strategically important States reflected the true intention of the United States to bring this space into its orbit. In this venture it used NATOs military might to frighten Russia. Along with this move their real intention was also to get a firm foothold in the natural resources like energy.

Nervousness on the part of Russian leadership to the question of NATOs expansion in the Russian periphery strongly reflected in the Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation 2008. The Concept paper published in the Russian Foreign Ministry website mid.ru highlights that bringing the NATO military infrastructure closer to the Russian borders on the whole... violates the principle of equal security.

Giving a strong rebuttal to the NATOs expansionist policy in its sphere of influence, as reflected in the Foreign Policy Concept paper, Russia took firm measures which resulted in Russia-Georgia war in 2008 and this contributed to South Ossetias declaration of independence. This gave a sever jolt to NATOs expansionist policy. Another major flashpoint which contributed to the further deterioration of relations between NATO and Russia was over NATO initiated project, Northern Distribution Network (NDN), to deliver humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

By bringing some of the Russian allies like Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, in the NDN fold along with beefing up of the NATO-Ukrainian council, NATO tried to get an upper hand in the Eurasian geopolitics.

However in the post-2014 era the hide and seek game between these two strategic competitors took an ugly turn when Russia annexed Crimea. Calling it as an act of aggression by Moscow, NATO tried to frighten the former by stationing its troops across its bases in Eastern Europe, Central Europe and Baltic states. The deployment of missiles by NATO in the periphery of Russia propelled analysts to predict the return of Cold War syndrome in the global geopolitics. NATOs apprehension of Russias action was clearly manifested in the Warsaw Summit of NATO which took place in 2016. The Summit meeting as quoted in the NATO website stated, Russias aggressive actions are a source of regional instability.

Using regional instability (discussed above) as a precursor, NATO is strategising its policy towards the post-Soviet space. NATO member States despite their own internal rift are quite vociferous in demanding stricter action against Russia as evident from recent speech of President of Ukraine. In spite of internal rift (by the European member states and the United States in NATO over generating fund) which threatened the very existence of this military bloc, this Western body  as reported in the London-based newspaper Telegraph dated January 27, 2019  is mulling to spend around $100 billion for member states security. This demonstrates NATOs preparedness to indulge in perpetual hostility with Russia. NATOs intention of taking on Russia militarily can be evident from the fact that it is conducting a series of military exercises in the periphery of Russia to demonstrate its war preparedness.

Another contentious issue which got attention in the NATO-Russia Council Summit was the reduction of INF. It may be recalled here that the Council for Foreign Relations (CFR) study titled The Ailing INF Treaty: What to Know published on January 28, 2019 states that Russia is enjoying an tactical advantage over the United States in the possession of INF warheads.

The data of CFR study said, Moscow has around 6,850 warheads and Washington has only 6,550 of the same. The failure of Brussels Summit resulted in both the United States (being part of NATO) and Russia deciding to withdraw from the INF treaty as stated by policy makers from both the countries. However this may trigger a new kind of security dilemma in global politics.

The NATO-Russia Council Summit demonstrated that the misperception of both the sides is still there and accentuating a hostile strategic climate in and around Eurasia as evident from recent moves in Ukraine.

Similarly for a sustainable peace both NATO and Russia should take steps that might reduce mutual hostility.

(The author teaches in the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed officials to ensure compensation to victims affected by loss of lives, deaths of cattle and house collapse due to inclement weather within 24 hours. He warned officials against any laxity in this regard and stressed that callousness would invite stringent action.

The financial assistance was to be provided as per rules and guidelines of State Disaster Relief Fund. Dependants of victims killed in natural calamity will be given Rs 4 lakh financial assistance immediately.

Yogi also directed District Magistrates to immediately assess the losses to crops in respective districts and assess individual losses of farmers within 48 hours. He also said that farmers losing more than 33 per cent of sown crop be given financial assistance. Demand of money allocation for this have to be sent to the state government as soon as possible.

A government spokesman said on Saturday that most UP districts had been affected by untimely rains and hailstorm over the past few days. As per forecast, there is a likelihood of recurrence of such weather in the days to come. Keeping this in mind, local officials have been directed by the Chief Minister to be vigilant and provide timely relief.

The spokesman further said that District Magistrates had also been instructed to ensure that in case funds were not available in any district, the officer concerned should draw money under Treasury Rule 27 and provide relief to the affected. A proposal for adjustment of this amount should be sent to the state government.

In recent duststorm, hail, rains and lightning, 26 persons were killed, five injured and nine cattle heads perished.
Strongly objecting to the post-poll alliances with the sole objective of grabbing power by any means, social activist Sanjay Kumar has filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC). Addressing the media persons here on Saturday, he said that his objective is to draw the public attention to the very important issue.

He said that all the political parties should go for pre-poll alliances and make the arrangements under which they have forged the alliances clear to the people.

Sanjay Kumar further said that the election commission should cancel the recognition of the political party which breaks away from the pre-poll alliance.

He added that he in his petition has requested the SC to direct the political parties to refrain from making populist promises. These parties should also mention how and from which resources they would fulfil the promises they roll out to the people.

Besides, the funds collected by the political parties should be brought under the purview of the Right to Information ( RTI), he added.
Leaders and workers of Rashtriya Lok Dal paid tributes to CRPF jawans who were martyred in the Pulwama attack on Wednesday by taking out a candle march and holding condolence meetings across the state on Saturday. They also shouted slogans against Pakistan and burnt effigies of Pakistan and terrorism at different places on Saturday.

At the Lucknow-based RLD headquarters, state RLD chief Masood Ahmad, national spokesman Anil Dubey, national general secretary Shiv Karan Singh and hundreds of workers burnt effigies of Pakistan and raised anti-Pakistan slogans. Thereafter, they held a condolence meeting and paid tributes to martyred jawans.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for State and Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel met the family of martyred CRPF jawan Mahesh Yadav in Tudihar village of Praygraj and expressed condolences on Saturday. Assuring all help to the bereaved family, the Union minister also announced to donate one months salary to the family.

Patel said that the people of the country were angry over the Pulwama attack, wherein 40 CRPF jawans were martyred. She said the attack was made at the instance of Pakistan and was deplorable. We demand from Prime Minister to take the strictest possible action against terrorists, she said.
The last rites of Mohan Lal Raturi, martyred in the suicide bomb attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, were performed with full State honours at Kharkhari cremation grounds on Saturday. The mortal remains of the martyr wrapped in the Indian flag were brought through a procession from his Dehradun residence to Haridwar on Saturday morning in a CRPF vehicle. The mourners who gathered in a large number at Kharkhari sloganeered against Pakistan and demanded deterrent action against the neighbouring country.

The State Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj paid homage to the martyr. Among those present were the Assembly Speaker Prem Chand Agarwal, Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik and Haridwar MP Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank. The last rites were performed by his eldest son Shankar Raturi amidst the ceremonial rituals.

Notably, Mohan Lal Raturi was a resident of Bankot village of Chinyalisaur of Uttarkashi district. He was the assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in the 76th battalion of CRPF. The family of Mohan Lal comprises his wife, three daughters and two sons who are at present living at Vidhya Vihar Colony, Kargi Chowk.

Earlier, the CRPF personnel gave Guard of Honour to the martyr.

DIG CRPF, Dinesh Uniyal, said that Pakistan must be stopped by any means from engineering such terror attacks. No one would be spared. The perpetrators of the dastardly attack which killed so many brave jawans would be acted against, he averred.

There was profound grief as well as palpable anger hanging in the atmosphere of the cremation ground. As the funeral pyre was lit, all eyes turned moist. Many of those present raised retaliatory cry and said that such an act must be avenged in an appropriate manner.

While condoling the death with the loved ones of the martyr, Satpal Maharaj said that the whole country was standing like a rock by the bereaved and also behind the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this hour of deep grief and crisis. The armed forces are weighing options to teach the perpetrators lessons as the PM has given them full freedom to act in accordance with the imperative of the developing situation, he said.
Traders in Dehradun and other areas of the State voluntarily kept their shops and establishments closed to express solidarity with the families of the martyrs of the Pulwama terror attack on Saturday. Hindu organisations, including Bajrang Dal, had given a call for Bandh on the day to condemn the ghastly attack on the CRPF convoy on Thursday in Pulwama in which 43 soldiers had lost their lives.

The supporters of the Bandh started roaming around the markets since the morning and requested the shopkeepers to close their shops. However, at most of the places, the shopkeepers voluntarily downed the shutters.

Essential services like hospitals and schools were kept out of the purview of the shutdown. Some members of Bajrang Dal and other Hindu organisations burned an effigy of Pakistan at Dhammawala market to vent anger against the neighbouring country for aiding and abetting the terrorists. On that sad occasion, the Bajrang Dal leaders said that the time has come when the Government instead of engaging in mere verbosity should retaliate hard.

Meanwhile, different organisations and employee associations continue to come forward to offer financial help to the families of the martyred soldiers.

On Friday, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had said that all the Ministers and the MLAs would donate one months salary for the cause.

On Saturday, the top officers of Uttarakhand police held a meeting at police headquarters during which the attack on CRPF personnel was condemned. The meeting, chaired by the director general (DG) police Anil K Raturi, decided to raise an amount for the martyr families by mutual contribution. It was decided that 50 percent of this amount would be sent to the CRPF headquarters while the remaining amount would be handed over to the family members of two martyrs from Uttarakhand.

Similarly, the staff of the Government Doon Medical College (GDMC) Hospital decided to contribute salary of one day for the families of the martyrs.
The International Gita Mahotsav, being organised at Port Louis, Mauritius concluded on Saturday with a resolve that both India and Mauritius will popularise and spread the message of Bhagwad Gita in the entire world.

According to a statement issued here, Acting President of Mauritius, Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory, Minister Mentor of Mauritius Anerood Jugnauth, Minister of Arts and Culture Prithvirajsing Roopun, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal, saints, social, religious and other organizations participated in this programme.

Anerood Jugnauth expressed faith that the cultural relations between India and Mauritius would be further strengthened in the coming generations. He said that last year they got an opportunity to hold Hindi Sammelan and this year we are fortunate enough to organize first International Gita Mahotsav outside India.

He also threw light on the significance of Gita and expressed gratitude to the State Government, Kurukshetra Development Board, Gio Gita, India-Mauritius Trade and Culture Forum and all other organizations for the successful organization of this event.

Chief Minister, Manohar Lal assured the people of Mauritius that Haryana would continue giving all out support and cooperation for the organization of International Gita Mahotsav here. We called those cities in India as mini India in which people of different states resides but he is getting to see a mini India outside India as the people living here are connected with maximum states of India.

He said that Gita is a detailed and comprehensive scripture and is solution to all problems. Many problems-one solution and that is Gita, he said adding that similarly many question-one answer and that is Gita.

Swami Gyananand said that this Gita Mahotsav in Mauritius would not be the last such programme but it would form the base of further promoting it in other countries.

He said that this programme is being concluded with the Aarti of holy Ganga and Gita as the people of Mauritius has immense faith in Ganga and Gita. It has been the tradition of people coming here from India that they after getting Gangajal (holy water of Ganga) from India immersed the same in the holy Ganga Talab of Mauritius.

Those present on this occasion included High Commissioner of India in Mauritius Tanmaya Lal, Director General of Information, Public Relations and Languages Department Sameer Pal Srow, Member Secretary of Kurukshetra Development Board Vijay Singh Dahiya and other dignitaries.
Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajoy Kumar has demanded from the Government to take the compensation announced to the Pulwama suicide attack martyr Vijay Soreng up to Rs 50 lakh from existing Rs 10 lakh.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, the day when the mortal remains of the CRPF man arrived in Ranchi, Ajoy Kumar also urged the government to provide all the assistance to the aggrieved family.

The compensation declared by the Government is too little. The martyr family should be given at least Rs 50 lakh. Also the Government should ensure job to a dependent along with proper education and care to the family members and children, said PCC president after he paid tribute to the martyr by reaching the airport.

Later in the day, the party organised an induction programme where hundreds of activists joined the Congress in the presence of Ajoy Kumar, Congress Legislative Party leader Alamgir Alam, former MP Rameshwar Oraon and several others.

Congress does not believe just in grabbing power and instead wants to take all sections together. That is why so many persons are opting to the Congress party and want to work as per the ideology of the party, said he.

The party under its project Sakti felicitated those leaders and activists who had made more than 5000 members. The PCC president on the occasion appealed party workers to work hard since only 56 per cent of the polling booths in the State have so far being covered under the project Shakti.
Digambara Patra, an Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry, American University of Beirut, thanked Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for announcing the Government Autonomous College Bhawanipatna (GACB) a Unitary University during his visit to Kalahandi on Saturday.

Indeed, the GACB has always kept high standard of education practice in KBK-Kandhamal region. It was among the countrys first 52 colleges, the States first three colleges and the KBK regions first college to receive Potential Center of Excellence (PCE) by the University Grant Commission (UGC). The other two colleges that had received the PCE were the Ravenshaw College, Cuttack and the GM College, Sambalpur.

He said while Cuttack-Bhubaneswar-Khordha region has already many national and State institutions including IIT, NISER, IIIT, AIIMS, five Government universities, five private universities, Brahmapur has multiple numbers of Government institutions, including two universities and the IISER. NIT at Rourkela and IIM in Sambalpur boost number of national institutions in Sambalpur-Rourkela region, which has four Government universities. North Odisha has also two State Universities in Balasore and Baripada.

In contrast, the KBK region comprising 30 per cent of Odishas geography and 20 per cent of its population has only one Central University of Orissa (CUO) at Koraput.

The two new universities, Rajendra University in Balangir and Bhawanipatna University in Kalahandi would serve the interest of KBK region in this regard, he said.

He demanded that the Chief Minister look into the issue of illegal encroachment of 9.1 acres of Government land given to GACB in 1960s that is hindering development work in the college campus now. Now, transferring of newly built 300-bed Womens Hostel to the college authority is pending by the district authority due to illegal encroachment, he mentioned.

During his visit, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik dedicated the Ret Medium Irrigation project built at a cost of Rs 768.46 crores in Kalahandi district. The project would benefit 79 villages.

He inaugurated and laid foundation stones for 38 developmental projects worth Rs 1,346 crore.

He also announced that the Bhawanipatna Womens College will have Science Stream, Science lab and other infrastructure facilities for which Rs 5 crore has been sanctioned.

The CM also released Rs 15,000 each to 11,122 women Self Help Groups (SHGs) as seed money, Rs 25 lakhs each to 14 block-level Mahasanghs, Rs 3,000 each to 9,836 SHGs as digital empowerment assistance under the ongoing Mission Shakti programme.
Shahjahanabad police registered a case of breach of trust against former Chairman of Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board Shaukat Mohammed Khan and two others posted at senior positions in the Waqf Board.

Police said that the accused are alleged to rent Waqf property at very low price leading to loss of lakhs rupees to Waqf Board. The case has been registered on the complaint of CO of the Board.

CSP Shahjehanabad police Nagendra Pataria said that there are three accuses who have been booked under section 409 of the IPC.

Former Chairman of Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board Shaukat Mohammed Khan and two others have been booked who have been alleged by senior member of Waqf Board of renting property at low rates to his close ones causing loss of around Rs 40 lakh to the Waqf Board.

In his complaint Mohammad Ahmed Khan, CO of Wafq Board stated that former Chairman of Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board Shaukat Mohammed Khan and former secretary Furqan Ahmed Khan and Deputy Secretary Mohd zubeir Khan had rented around 8 shops at lower rates than collector guidelines rates and lead to loss of Rs 40 lakh, he added.

The police have registered a case and started further investigation.

Earlier, also allegations have been levelled against Shaukat for installing mobile towers over Jehangirabad cemetery and granting permission to develop mall over cemetery in Indore.
On 72nd Raising Day, all ranks in Delhi Police along with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal paid tribute to the martyrs of Pulwama terrorist attack and expressed solidarity with the families of bravehearts in the Kingsway Camp on Saturday.

Mentioning the attack, L-G Baijal said, This undoubtedly is an irreparable loss for the country and there is need to strengthen police frame work to deal with internal security challenges.

In his address, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik reiterated that fighting terrorism is the topmost priority of Delhi Police and that they are well prepared to thwart any threat. He also stated that heinous crime in Delhi is down by 12 percent compared to the year 2017.

The parade comprised of contingents of the anti-riot squad, armed police, women police, police commandos, dog squad, mounted police, traffic squad, and women constables on bicycle, mobile cyber lab, PCR squad, Special Weapon and Tactics (SWAT) and Rakshak Vajra. Contingents of Maharashtra Police, Uttar Pradesh police and Haryana police also took part in the parade.
Based on inputs of Special Operation Cell, Amritsar, sleuths of UP Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) netted a Khalistan conduit from Muzaffarnagar late on Friday night. The accused said to have supplied weapons to Khalistan supporters was later handed over to Amritsar police who took him to Punjab to produce in a local court.

As per an ATS communique released on Saturday, Special Operation Cell of Amritsar police tipped off that a Muzaffarnagar resident was involved in the supply of arms and ammunitions to Khalistan supporters and criminals.

A few days back, the Amritsar police nabbed two Khalistan supporters Daljeet Singh alias Babloo of Jandiyal (Amritsar) and Satnam Singh aka `Manni of Sultanpurvind (Amritsar) and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunitions. Both were closely associated with a movement demandinga separate Khalistan.

During interrogation, the duo revealed their arms supplier as Sanjay Rathi alias Guddu of Itawa village of Budhana (Muzaffarnagar). The input was subsequently passed on to ATS of UP.

Acting on it, an ATS team raided a place in Budhana area and netted Guddu and recovered two pistols of .32 calibre, three magazines and nine live cartridges. Rathi illegally sold more than three dozen pistols, revolvers and other ammunition to Daljeet Singh and Satnam Singh. He also supplied 30-35 pistols to a number of criminals in Amritsar and to underworld operatives in UP. Rathi was being quizzed further.
All political parties on Saturday spoke in one voice and backed the Government in its efforts to fight terrorism following Thursdays deadly attack at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy at Pulwama in Kashmir and expressed their solidarity with the security forces.

The resolution adopted at the all-party meeting here, however, did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country.

The meeting called by the Government was chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh who briefed political parties on his visit to Kashmir on Friday in the aftermath of the suicide bomber attack that killed at least 40 CRPF personnel.

At the meeting, political parties put up a united face as they underlined Indias determination to fight terrorism and resolved to stand in solidarity with the security forces, defending the countrys unity and integrity.

The resolution adopted at about two-hour meeting said, India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges.

The resolution condemned the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Senior leaders of the Opposition extended support to the Government in tackling the challenge.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked the Home Minister to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of the presidents of all major national and regional parties, a view supported by Derek OBrien of the Trinamool Congress and D Raja of the CPI.

The resolution passed after deliberations said, India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India.

The draft resolution shared by the Government spoke of parties standing with security forces and efforts of the central and State Governments but the mention of Central and State Governments was dropped from its final copy at the suggestion of Opposition parties.

Sanjay Raut, a member of BJP ally Shiv Sena, sought the government to draw inspiration from former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and hit Pakistan directly.

He told reporters that an incident like Pulwama terror attack would not have happened if surgical strikes, which the Army had carried out across the Line of Control in 2016, had made an impact. Sena had earlier also called for a joint session of parliament to discuss the issue.

In his opening remarks, Rajnath briefed the leaders about the attack and his visit to the state on Friday. The government is determined to take its fight against terrorism to the logical conclusion. The sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain. The people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and are with us, but there are some elements supporting the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups, he said. The morale of security forces is high and they have been given a free hand, he asserted.

The meeting was also attended by Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay (TMC), Jithendra Reddy(TRS), Farooq Abdullah(National Conference) and Ram Vilas Paswan( LJP) among others. Naresh Gujral(Akali Dal), Sanjay Singh( Aam Aadmi Party), Upendra Kushwaha(RLSP) and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav(RJD) were among others who attended the meeting.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters that parties extended their support to the government, as he read out from the resolution. Sanjay Singh said political parties told the government that they will support any action it takes following the terror attack in Pulwama.

The issue of alleged harassment of some Kashmiri students outside the Valley was raised by National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. The home minister assured him that nobody will be allowed to vitiate communal harmony, and the central government is issuing an advisory in this regard to state governments.

In one of the most dastardly attacks targeting the security forces since Independence, a car bomb strayed on the way of a CRPF convoy killing at least 40 and injuring many other Jawans at Pulwama in Kashmir on Thursday afternoon.

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the blast which invited all round condemnation from across the country and internationally including that of China. Resolving to give a response to the attack at the time and place of its choice, India has hastened its diplomatic efforts to isolate Pakistan in the international community. India has already removed the Most favoured Nation status to Pakistan following the terror strike.
LeT no. 2 allowed to deliver anti-India sermons, virtues of jehad at educational institutions

In what could further vitiate the security environment in the Indian subcontinent, the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Government has allowed open access to Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) Number 2 and 26/11 conspirator Abdul Rahman Makki in the universities and schools as a motivational speaker to deliver anti-India sermons and virtues of jehad and radicalise the youngsters at a young age. The radicalisation and recruitment of highly educated youths will significantly enhance the strike capabilities of the Pakistani terror groups.

Agencies here apprehend the move will lead to creation of a network of terror facilitators in the region for furthering the larger anti-India terror agenda.

In addition to the latest tactic of the Pakistan Government-Army combine, the duplicity of the US that hosts common servers for the Pakistan Army and its terror proxies like LeT and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has further compounded the security situation in the country. The common server of the Pakistan army and its terror affiliates are a clear link between the two. The US has only done lip service towards the Pakistan-directed terror in India but has always been comforting Islamabad by reiterating that it is a permanent ally. The US has also failed in conducting drone strikes against the LeT and JeM masterminds who have a free run in furthering terror in the region especially against India. Due to the terror hits by the Pakistani jehadi groups, India is one of the top 10 terrorism-hit countries in the world.

The idea of allowing access to Makki to the technical institutes and other educational facilities is to catch them young. Pakistan Armys terror proxies like the LeT and JeM will get a pool of educated students and engineers for inflicting more and more terror hits with an ever evolving sophistication, a senior security official said.

Counter-terrorism expert Dr Rituraj Mate said, This is a dangerous trend emerging in Pakistan which has implications for not only India but also for countries like UAE where a lot of Pakistanis travel with work visas besides the US and the UK where they go for higher education. The radicalised professionals and students will continue with their mindset even while pursuing their vocations in the respective countries.

Till now, only the terror outfit used to get recruits largely from the uneducated or madrasa-educated sections of the Pakistani society or those from the deprived sections of the refugee community like the Rohingyas of Myanmar, Mate added.

In videos available in Pakistan, Makki is seen castigating Russia and the US for their role in Afghanistan where they had to bite the dust. Makki is also seen exhorting the students to work with a mindset of jehad against India.

Makki is a designated terrorist by the US State Department but in the absence of any credible action by the US against the anti-India terror groups, he has emerged as one of the most popular motivational speakers.

The students radicalised by Makki will go on to become future army officers and join other sections of the Pakistani Government. These radicals will continue to perpetuate the hatred and insidious agenda against India.

Some of the radicalised technicians and engineers will subsequently go to the Western countries for jobs and will continue to live with their jehadi mindset. The terror groups will have trained technicians and engineers to devise sophisticated IEDs and other weapons for terror attacks.

The students radicalised by Makki will subsequently join the firms operating in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and will even seek to radicalise the Chinese manpower. In addition, the Pakistani radical professionals can also seek technical knowhow from the nuclear ancillary units being set up by China in the CPEC.

Sources said Makki had recently met leaders of the Pakistan-provoked Khalistani conspirators of the Referendum 2020.

Pakistan has already branded LeT chief Hafiz Sayeed as a democrat by allowing him to float a political party during the last federal elections. Sayeed is the main mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack that took a toll of 166 lives and is wanted in the case.

The Pakistani terror groups are actively engaged in terror agenda in not only India but also in ASEAN countries and even Europe.
Thousands of Muslims from south Mumbai joined the wide-spread protests staged by several groups and political parties across the metropolis against Thursdays Pulwama terror attacks which left 44 CRPF personnel dead, even as the Maharashtra Government announced an ex-gratia of Rs 50 lakh each to the next of kin of two jawans from the state killed in the attack.

Muslims, carrying the Indian Tricolour, banners, placards and raising anti-Pakistan slogans, took out a massive procession along the busy Mohammed Ali Road in downtown south Mumbai.

The slogans like Pakistan Murdabad, LeT Murdabad, Down with Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed and JeM Murdabad rented the air, as the Muslims staged protest marches in localities of Saifee Jubilee Street, Handiwala Mosque, Sunni Bilal Mosque. Most of these areas observed a spontaneous bandh.

In a related development, the BJP-led by Ram Kadam, Raj Purohit and others staged protests against the Pakistani-sponsored terror strike in different parts of the metropolis.

The Maharashtra and Mumbai Congress units orgainsed special condolence meetings at the state, city and district party headqua

We are all one who mourned the death of live under and all are sons of BharatMata! We should not think of caste,a ligion or faith. We are the followers of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam, Fadnavis said, while describing the Pulgama terror strikes as an absolute cowardly and condemnable act.

Ruling Shiv Sena, MNS and the NCP organised similar protests and demonstrations at various parts of the city other parts of the state, while the MNS activists burnt the Pakistan flags in Mumbai and Thane.

The Bharat Diamond Bourse, Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council and Mumbai Diamond Merchants Association also held a joint condolence meeting for the martyred troopers at the BDB Complex in Bandra Kurla in north-central Mumba.

The city also witnessed protests outside major suburban railway stations where lakh home-bound commuters raised slogans against Pakistan and the perpetrators behind the Pulgama attacks

Meanwhile, Maharashtra mourned the death of two Army jawans  identified as Sanjay Rajput (45) and Nitin Rathod from Buldhana district in eastern Maharashtra  in the attacks.

While Sanjay Rajput is originally from Malkapur, Nitin Rathod belonged to Chorpangra village in Buldhana district.

Sanjays brother Rajesh said that his brother is survived by wife Sushma Rajput and two sons Jai (13) and Shubham (11). Sanjay said his brother had left Nagpur on 11 February for his new posting with the 115th battalion in Srinagar.  I called him morning of the day of the incident, around 9.30 am, when he told me he had left Jammu at 3.30 am to join his new posting, Rajesh said..

Nitin (36) is survived by wife Vandana, who said has a new couple have two minor children  Jeevan (8) and Jivika (5).
On February 7, Rahul Gandhi met the State in-charges and General Secretaries of the party. Two days later, he called a meeting of State Presidents, leaders of MLAs in States, and Chief Ministers. In the two meetings, Rahul discussed the preparations and strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha Elections. Among other things, the formula for ticket distribution was also decided in the meetings.

It is being said that during the course of discussions, it was decided that the Rajya Sabha MPs would not be given tickets for the Lok Sabha polls. MLAs, too, would not get a chance to fight the Lok Sabha Elections, say sources. The leaders who had fought the Assembly Elections would also be kept out of the race, as will the kin of leaders. Interestingly, there is a catch in this: The final decision rests with Rahul. This effectively means that if Rahul deems right, he may tweak this formula in select cases.

Now the question is how much of this formula will be implemented? Leaders present in the meetings, who did not oppose the formula at the time, are now calling it impractical. Will this strategy send all known faces into oblivion? Will the Congress be able to counter the challenges posed by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah with novices? Sources in the party say many Rajya Sabha MPs are trying to get LS tickets either for their wives or children. The kin of many CMs, former CMs, and State Presidents are gearing up for the upcoming polls. Relatives of many big leaders, such as Kamal Nath, Siddaramaiah, Ashok Gehlot, and Sheila Dikshit, might stake a claim for tickets. Barring some, this is almost certain that almost all relatives of big leaders would get tickets, as will some MLAs.

JYOTIRADITYAS BIG PLANS

What will be next plan of action of the in-charge of western UP, Jyotiraditya Scindia? People are saying that his wife, Priyadarshini Raje, is gearing up to fight the Lok Sabha Elections from Gwalior. Scindia is an MP from Guna, but Gwalior has been his familys stronghold for the longest time now. His wife has started appearing in public functions and people are desperate to know whether both the husband and wife will contest the elections. However, that would seem highly unlikely since Jyotiraditya will be busy working alongside Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in UP.

Meanwhile, there is buzz right from Madhya Pradesh to Delhi that Jyotiraditya has his eyes set on the CMs chair and that is why he doesnt want to fight the LS polls. It is being said that soon after the elections, his role in State politics will gain prominence. Quite possibly, he will fight the Assembly Elections after ensuring the resignation of a loyal MLA. However, some are of the opinion that he might be sent to the Rajya Sabha or be given the party command in the State. Perhaps, Kamal Nath is apprehensive of a possible upheaval, which is why he has conveyed to the party high command his decision to not leave the Chhindwara seat. Kamal Nath might rope in his son, Nakul Nath, to fight from here. Kamals wife, Alka Nath, has also been an MP from this seat.

SACHIN PILOTS STRATEGY

The Congress State President of Rajasthan and Deputy CM, Sachin Pilot, has announced that nobody from his family will fight the Lok Sabha Elections. The current MLA from Tonk was defeated in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections from Ajmer. Later, when byelections were held in Ajmer, he didnt contest. This seat is vacant. Raghu Sharma, who had won the byelections, has become an MLA and is now a Minister in the Gehlot Cabinet.

However, Pilot has clarified that nobody from his family will fight from this seat. He is said to be eyeing the CM post, which explains his strategy. His mother, Rama Pilot, has been an MP from Dausa. This time also, people were saying that she might contest from Ajmer. Pilots wife, Sara, is also from a political family; she is Farooq Abdullahs daughter and Omars sister. It wont come as a surprise if she too jumps on the political bandwagon. If only Sachin hadnt tried to stand out among other party leaders and announced that no one from his family would contest. Its likely that he will start pressure politics soon after the elections.

BIG DILEMMA IN CONGRESS

It seems that Rahul Gandhi has appointed State in-charges and General Secretaries without any deliberations or a thought about the future. Many General Secretaries are likely to contest elections, prompting several questions. General Secretaries and State in-charges are worried for their seats and the big question looms large: Who will lead the elections in States which have been assigned to them? There is no cause for worry in areas where Rajya Sabha MPs have been given charge, but what will happen in States whose in-charges are themselves in the Lok Sabha poll race?

RPN Singh is in-charge for Jharkhand and has to fight the Lok Sabha Elections. State President of Jharkhand, Ajay Kumar, and chairman of the campaign committee, Subodh Kant Sahay, are also set to contest. Who will guide the party there? Umang Singhar  co-incharge of the party in Madhya Pradesh and a Minister in the Kamal Nath Cabinet  might be told to look after election preparations in Jharkhand. In the same manner, Rajiv Satav, an MP from Hingoli in Maharashtra, has been given the responsibility of Gujarat. He also has to take care of his own seat along with Gujarat.

The biggest issue is of KC Venugopal, the MP from Alappuzha seat in Kerala. Earlier, he was in-charge for Karnataka and is now the General Secretary of the organisation. He will fight the Lok Sabha Elections along with the double responsibilities. In-charge of Assam, Harish Rawat, and in-charge of Maharashtra, Mallikarjun Kharge, also have to contest. In contrast, the BJP has appointed such leaders as State in-charges who dont have to fight the Lok Sabha Elections.
Last week Parliament felt like the final days of the school academic year. Everyone, but particularly the Lok Sabha members, was in both a reflective and celebratory mode. Celebratory because the assigned work was finally over  at least for the time being  and reflective because there was no knowing whether they would pass or fail the re-election test in the summer. The Rajya Sabha was unendingly disrupted and did no work because Opposition parties competed among themselves to demonstrate their anti-Government credentials and stall all pending legislation. But even here, there was a note of both concern and anticipation. No one was really sure of the future.

In 2014, when the old Lok Sabha finished its term, there was certainty on one count: that the incumbent Government wasnt coming back to power. Most people expected a fractured Parliament with the BJP having an edge but only the most optimistic expected it to muster a majority on its own.

This week the mood is both similar and different. Conventional wisdom  and the extra bounce in the steps of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party MPs suggest that it is going to be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the BJP to replicate its spectacular 2014 showing in Uttar Pradesh, when it won 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats. The SP-BSP members and their Trinamool Congress hangers-on believe that the BJP will be completely decimated in Indias largest State. The Congress, on the other hand, seems a little more circumspect. It is confident it will do well and much better than 2014 but there is no certainty about numbers. The euphoria over Priyanka Gandhi performing an electoral miracle isnt reflected in the conversations in Central Hall.

It is the BJP mood that is more interesting. If the media is to be believed, the ruling party is on the backfoot and agonising over the imminent loss of power at the Centre. Certainly there are MPs who are worried but the concern is less over the election outcome than with the prospects of securing re-nomination by the party. In 2014, the BJP was a bit casual with giving tickets in seats it considered unwinnable. This was particularly so in Uttar Pradesh. However, thanks to the fierce Modi wave, nearly all of them won. Some have turned out to be good constituency MPs but others have under-performed. This time, to minimise the effects of local anti-incumbency, the party may select new candidates. Predictably, that worries many sitting MPs, although they try and put up a brave face and appear unconcerned.

Apart from the uncertainties over ticket distribution, the BJP morale seems quite upbeat. Over the past month, the Prime Minister has been travelling incessantly and speaking at public meetings all over the country. At almost each of his meetings, the crowds have been spectacular and the numbers seem to be swelling each week. Maybe the fact of Narendra Modi drawing big crowds isnt news any longer. However, those who monitor the meetings  and live internet feeds make the task easier  will see that the PMs connect with his audience is immediate and real. His appeal seems intact and, unlike 2014 when he was still an unknown quantity in large parts of India, almost every Indian has a view of him.

So far Modi has been quite unsparing in his attacks on the very idea of the mahagathbandhan and the leadership of the Congress. His assault on the entitlement culture of the dynastic parties is savage. In places such as West Bengal, he has struck a chord by targeting overbearing Chief Ministers such as Mamata Banerjee. Modi has also paid emphasis on his Governments achievements, particularly its record in creating the architecture of a welfare state. Women are being specially targeted by Modi using swachchh Bharat and the cooking gas schemes as ammunition. Anti-corruption is also one of Modis battering rams against leaders with a reputation for being casual over corrupt practices.

However, there is one aspect of the Modi messaging that still seems deficient. It is still not entirely clear what hope he is holding out for the future. A successful campaign has to sell a big dream  sometimes even a catchphrase such as achchhe din. As of now the idea of New India isnt being backed up by anything more than a commitment to build on the foundations created over the past five years. Maybe this is something the PM is keeping till the time the formal electioneering begins but this is a gap in the campaign that has to be rapidly addressed.

As of now, I see no reason to revise my belief that this is going to be a presidential election.
"This was a dynamic, chaotic event that led to a very brief but furious gunbattle between the killer and the lawmen," he said. "Sgt. Helus and the CHP officer both knowingly and willingly went into what can only be described as a combat situation, risking their own lives to save others ... They were ambushed almost immediately."
The challenge of Pulwama is not the first one that Narendra Modi is faced with. The first such test was on July 26, 2008  when 21 serial blasts conducted by Pak-sponsored terrorists of the Indian Mujahideen (IM) killed 56 people and injured another 200 in Ahmedabad, shaking the entire country.

The atmosphere in Gujarat on that particular night was one of shock and despair. But Modi and his then-minister of state (Home), Amit Shah, showed fortitude and the Gujarat police under their leadership cracked the case in just 21 days, arresting a jihadi maulvi from Azamgarh and flying him to Ahmedabad in a special plane, thus setting a great example of quick investigation.

It was in fact the investigation of the Gujarat police, under the bold leadership of Amit Shah, that finally enabled India to uncover in full several Pak-sponsored plots, including one by Indian Mujahideen that led to terror attacks in several Indian cities during 2005-2008, Faizabad, Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Bangalore amongst other places.

The atmosphere in Gujarat on July 26, 2008, was one of shock and despair. (Photo: India Today)

The 2008 Batala House encounter in Delhi, soon after the Ahmedabad blasts, virtually brought an end to terror attacks in the country  the tip-off for the Batala House encounter was provided by Gujarat police. Except for the Mumbai blasts in November 2008, no major blast has taken place since then in the country in the past nine years. This is because the terror networks were virtually smashed by the police of UP, Maharashtra and other states, following clues provided by the Gujarat police.

Interestingly, as soon as the blasts started in Ahmedabad, one after another, the normally elusive Shah, after a quick consultation with his chief Narendra Modi, took over command and started speaking to various news channels in swift succession. It was seen as a brave act as the blasts were still on while Shah was hopping from one channel to another and telling people to observe calm, even telling some channels that the perpetrators will be brought to justice.

It reminded me of George Bushs statement in Delhi in 2006, when terrorists carried out bomb blasts in Pakistan on the eve of his visit. Bush openly warned the terrorists while taking off for Pakistan from Delhi, with the words, We are not going to come under any pressure. Do whatever you want but we are not going to relax our war on terror in our quest to dismantle the entire terror network.

How things unfolded in the 2008 Ahmedabad blasts is interesting.

From the very next day the blasts took place, Shah started meeting senior Gujarat police officials every day. The meetings would go on for three to four hours wherein he would reportedly discuss various options. After about four days, the officers apparently got tired of the long meetings without realising what was on Shahs mind. One officer told me: Nothing is going to come out of these meetings. We have to act rather than hold meetings. However, the same officer admitted to me after the case was cracked: Those long-drawn meeting of Amit Shah to discuss various options to zero in on the perpetrators actually gave us the breakthrough.

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah ensured the Gujarat police got the support it needed to crack the case in 21 days. (Photo: PTI)

The first clue came within days of the serial blasts when the police flashed pictures of two suspected cars used by the terrorists that had come from around Mumbai and passed through a toll point.

As soon as the pictures were flashed on television, a Muslim businessmen, incidentally following the orthodox Wahabi stream of Islam, came running to the crime branch of the Ahmedabad police which was investigating the case and informed Abhay Chudasama, then a DCP, now an IG with Gujarat police, that the drivers of the two cars had stayed as paying guests at his home on the very date they had passed through the toll point.

Soon things started unfolding. Another clue came from an Ahmedabad youth, hailing from the moderate Sufi stream, whom the local conspirators had allegedly tried to involve but who had wriggled out as soon as he came to know that he was being drawn into a terror plan. Eventually, one of the Ahle Hadis (a Wahabi stream) maulvis, reportedly named Mufti Abu Bashar, who was apparently involved with the terror training camps, was traced out at Azamgarh.

Bashar was arrested in Azamgarh  and Modi sent a Gujarat government plane from Ahmedabad to Lucknow to bring him to Ahmedabad. This happened at the end of the third week of the blasts and it was perhaps the first time that a state government had used a plane to ferry a terror suspect. It showed the alacrity with which Modi and Shah worked. The maulvi was not the main conspirator but a radicalizer of youths. He was still an important conduit of information.

The Gujarat investigators found through Bashar about four training camps held by inter-connected ultra-Wahabi groups in Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. The maulvi told Gujarat police that a conspiracy was hatched apparently to exact revenge for the 2002 anti-Muslim Gujarat riots that had started soon after the killing of Hindus in Godhra.

Within a month, the entire conspiracy had unfolded, its details including the local involvement of workers of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) who had banded themselves together as Indian Mujahideen, and the role of Pakistan.

Eventually, around 75 Wahabi youths (following the tanzims of Deoband and Ahle Hadis) were arrested, including about two dozen from Gujarat and the rest from various states, including the coastal town of Bhatkal in Karnataka which is known for ultra-Wahabism and from where the Pakistan-based terrorist Riaz Bhatkal originally comes.

Bhatkal was found to be one of the key conspirators in the case.

Apart from Abhay Chudasama, Ashish Bhatia too played a key role in cracking the case, along with young IPS officer Himanshu Shukla  now the SP of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist squad  who flew in Bashar from Azamgarh in 2008. Says Bhatia: That investigation by Gujarat police is very crucial in the terror history of India because it played a key role in smashing the terror networks in the country and bringing peace. It is proved by the fact that no major terror strike has taken place in India  minus Kashmir  in the past nine years. The political will demonstrated by the Gujarat government in 2008 played a very significant part.

However, the situation created after the Pulwama tragedy is now more serious than 2008 because India is dealing with a nuclear-powered Pakistan.

But theconduct of Modi and Shah in 2008 does show the way they could combat such situations, a fact again underlined by the manner in which the Prime Minister has conducted himself after Pulwama, showing a firm, resolute and mature manner.

The Pulwama terrorist strike presents a similar challenge, where intelligence and courage must go hand in hand. (Photo: PTI)

Interestingly, the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror group of the Bahawalpurbased terrorist Maulana Masood Azhar  the mastermind behind the Pulwama attack  follows the Deobandi brand of Wahabi Islam while Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) chief Hafiz Sayed (both global terrorists) follows the Ahle Hadis brand of Wahabi Islam. In terms of tenets, there is very little difference between the two as both follow an exclusive brand of Islam and both condemn Sufism.

The madrasa syllabus of the two tanzeems is also very similar. For example, a radical book titled Taqwiat-ul-Imaan (Strengthening the Faith) that teaches an exclusive brand of Islam, preaching hatred for Sufism and customs of non-Islamic religions, is reportedly taught in the madrasas of both the tanzims across South Asia. Incidentally, the book, written by an Indian Wahabi maulvi called Shah Ismail Shaheed in the 1820s, is also very popular among radicals in Saudi Arabia and in fact, ultra-Wahabis across the world.

Significantly, a Sufi organisation named Paswan-E-Watan from Uttar Pradesh is reportedly to soon file a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a ban on Taqwiat-ul-Iman along with three other books taught in Wahabi Madrasas.

Also read: Maulana Masood Azhar: The man India freed after the 1999 IC-814 hijack is behind Pulwama
A man who killed five co-workers at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse brought his gun to a meeting in which he was going to be sacked, authorities said.

Another employee and five police officers were injured in the incident in Aurora involving warehouse worker Gary Martin.

Police chief Kristen Ziman said that because Martin brought his gun to the meeting at the sprawling Henry Pratt Co warehouse in the town, he likely knew it was possible he was about to lose the job he had held for 15 years.

She said that as soon as he was sacked, he pulled his handgun and began shooting. Three of the five co-workers he killed were in the room with him and the other two were just outside, she said.

Officers arrived on the scene within minutes after frantic emergency calls started pouring in.

Martin fired on the officers when they arrived, striking one outside and another near the buildings entrance. The other three wounded officers were shot inside the building. None of their wounds are considered life-threatening.

All of the officers who were wounded were shot within the first five minutes of police arriving at the scene. Martin then hid inside the 29,000-square-foot building and a search ensued. He fired on an officer about an hour later and police fired back, killing him.

Gary Montez Martin, who police say killed multiple people at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse (Aurora Police/AP)

Police identified the five killed workers as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin; human resources intern and Northern Illinois University student Trevor Wehner of DeKalb; plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego; mould operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; and stock room attendant and fork lift operator Vicente Juarez of Oswego.

Martin had been arrested six times in Aurora over the years, including for domestic battery, Ms Ziman said.

He was able to buy the Smith and Wesson .40-calibre handgun he used in the attack because an initial background check did not catch that he had a prior felony conviction in Mississippi.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman (AP)

Martin was issued a firearm owners identification card in January 2014 after he passed the initial background check, and he bought the gun in March 11 of that year.

It was not until he applied for a concealed carry permit five days later and went through a more rigorous background check that uses digital fingerprinting that his 1995 felony conviction in Mississippi for aggravated battery was flagged and his firearm owners ID card was revoked, Ms Ziman said.

The shooting has shocked the city of 200,000 people, which is about 40 miles west of Chicago.
The European Union is in no mood to sacrifice Irelands interests to get a Brexit deal, Irelands Foreign Affairs Minister has claimed.

Simon Coveney also hit out at Westminster, saying it is incredible that the UK Parliament has allowed the Brexit process to get to its current state.

Speaking before the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee, Irelands deputy leader also said that regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland should be the default position in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The UK is leaving the European Union (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The impact of a no-deal Brexit on Ireland would be severe.

It is incredible that the British parliament has allowed it come to this, he said.

Mr Coveney was addressing questions about the impact of the UK crashing out of the EU at the end of March.

It is going to put Ireland and the UK under a lot of strain, it will damage the economy.

We have a lot of contingency plans in place to mitigate against the damage.

The EU wants a deal, they want to manage Brexit and they are watching in astonishment in terms of how the debates progress in Westminster.

But I dont believe the EU is in any mood to sacrifice Irelands interests to get a deal.

The solidarity on this issue, Ive never experienced anything like it in my political life.

Its really quite extraordinary the solidarity we have and I think it will hold.

The Tanaiste also said he hoped the British Government will find a way of backing the Withdrawal Agreement.

We had a deal, the British signed up to it, he added.

There is a strong majority in Westminster that dont want a no-deal Brexit and want to avoid it but I cant say that for sure.

Any sane person who looks at the consequences for Britain and Ireland, I dont believe that will happen but it could.

Simon Coveney (Niall Carson/PA)

It will dramatically change the commerce and trading environment.

He said he believes that pressure from Westminster has forced Prime Minister Theresa May to take a different political direction.

One of the big mistakes in London is the perspective that the EU needs a deal as much as we need a deal, thats factually just not true, he added.

Those commitments (from Britain) still stand and we cant just wipe the slate clean and have people make farcical arguments like well you dont want a border, we dont want a border, the EU doesnt want a border, so lets just pretend its not a problem.

Thats kindergarten stuff.

In fairness to the Prime Minister I think she has faced down that type of thinking.

He told the committee that Brexit is costing Ireland hundreds of millions of euros in terms of working capital facilities, loans, upgrading ports and other incentives.

Ive to virtually fill half of my day every day on Brexit issues, he added.
Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri has described Paulo Dybala as one of the best players out there ahead of restoring him to the starting line-up for Fridays Serie A clash with Frosinone.

Having netted 22 times last season, Dybala has registered just two league goals so far this term, failing to score in his last 10 appearances in all competitions.

He came off the bench late on in the 3-0 win at Sassuolo last time out, having been an unused substitute for the 3-3 draw with Parma the previous weekend.

At his pre-match press conference on Thursday, Allegri confirmed Dybala would start Fridays match at Allianz Stadium alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, who has scored 18 league goals since his summer switch from Real Madrid.

And he added: Paulo has impressive numbers in the Juventus shirt: he has played 168 games scoring 74 goals.

There may be a period where he scores fewer goals but hes one of the best players out there. This year he has different players at his side to challenge him, but he is crucial for us.

Paulo Dybala has not scored in his last 10 games (John Walton/PA)

Allegri also revealed Leonardo Bonucci would play in the top-against-second-bottom clash after missing the last three games.

Fellow defender Giorgio Chiellini, out for the last two, may also feature although midfielder Blaise Matuidi looks set to miss out.

Allegri, quoted on Juventus official website, said: (Wojciech) Szczesny will be between the posts, with Bonucci in defence. Chiellini will be a doubt but if he has the chance he will play.

(Andrea) Barzagli has been out for a while so he is unlikely to play. (Daniele) Rugani trained separately and had a little discomfort so he will be evaluated. If he does not recover, (Martin) Caceres will play.

The wide positions will be played between (Leonardo) Spinazzola, (Mattia) De Sciglio and (Joao) Cancelo. In the midfield, I still have to decide however Matuidi will most likely be out.

Dybala and Ronaldo will be in attack.

This week Juve announced the news that Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey will join the club in the summer.

Allegri said: (He) is a great player, however well talk more about him in a few months.

And amid talk about his own future, the 51-year-old  currently contracted until 2020  said: Ive been fine here at Juventus for five years and Im happy, but right now Im focused on the tasks at hand.

The champions head into Fridays contest 11 points clear at the top and yet to lose in the league this term, with 20 wins from 23 games.

They face a Frosinone side who have won two of their last three matches, 4-0 at Bologna and then 1-0 at Sampdoria.

Frosinone boss Marco Baroni, whose men are two points adrift of safety, was quoted on the clubs official website as saying: Its a complicated game.

Juve and Allegri are doing something extraordinary. We will have to find in the beauty of this challenge the desire to go to the field and make an extraordinary performance.

Juventus is a difficult opponent to stem but for us this game must represent a growth.
A man has died days after being involved in a car crash which left him needing treatment in hospital.

The 69-year-old sustained minor injuries in the crash on the A912, south of the junction leading to the disused Balcanquhal Quarry in Perthshire, at 7.40am on Sunday.

He was the passenger in a Toyota Yaris and was taken to Perth Royal Infirmary by the Scottish Ambulance Service for treatment with the 71-year-old female driver.

They were later released but police say the man died in the early hours of Thursday morning at an address in Glenrothes.

An investigation has been launched and officers are appealing for witnesses to Sundays crash.

Sergeant Ewan Pearce, of Fife Divisions Road Policing Unit, said: This is a tragic incident and our thoughts are with the gentlemans family at this time.

An investigation has been launched and officers are appealing for witnesses to Sundays crash (David Cheskin/PA)

We are now investigating this collision and I would ask anyone who was on A912, near to the disused Balcanquhal Quarry, on Sunday, February 10, and has any information that can assist our inquiries, to please get in touch with us as soon as possible.

The 35-year-old male driver of the silver Mercedes Sprinter that was also involved in the incident was uninjured.

Those with information can contact 101, quoting incident number 1310 of February 10, or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
A Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifle has been handed in to Kent Police as part of a firearms surrender.

The deactivated AK-47 was passed to officers on January 24 together with a magazine and some dummy rounds.

A total of 172 firearms and 3,857 rounds of ammunition were seized, including three Italian starting pistols and a Walther PPK blank firing replica pistol along with some blank rounds.

The surrender ran between Monday January 21 and Wednesday February 6, allowing people to hand over unwanted or illegally held weapons or ammunition.

A Colt New Service .445 calibre revolver handed in as part of the firearms surrender initiative (Kent Police/PA)

Police officers obtained a range of interesting items as part of the initiative including shotguns, revolvers and rifles.

During the first day, officers received a Colt New Service .445 calibre revolver, a firearm forged in 1898, used by British and Commonwealth forces up until the end of the Second World War.

On January 22, 12 firearms were handed in at North Kent station, with three revolvers  a Hopkins and Allen, a Webley service revolver and a Colt revolver  all capable of firing.

The Webley .380 calibre service revolver was said to have been used in the First World War and may have been used in the Second World War.

Residents have handed in more than 170 firearms and nearly 4,000 rounds of ammunition during our campaign  read more - https://t.co/phSOqRTOHD #Kentgunsurrender2019 pic.twitter.com/FqbKoTvGpl  Kent Police (UK) (@kent_police) February 14, 2019

Detective Chief Inspector Patrick Holmes said: We had an excellent response to this years surrender.

Many firearms are held innocently with owners unaware of their illegality, or are overlooked heirlooms forgotten in peoples homes.

The initiative gave residents the chance to hand in unwanted firearms ensuring that they were safely removed off the streets and preventing them from being acquired and distributed by criminal networks.

Every firearm off the streets is another weapon which has been prevented from being potentially used in criminal activity and potentially another life which has been saved, so I would like to thank all those residents who used the surrender as an opportunity to hand in their unwanted or illegally held firearms and ammunition.
Three people have been found guilty after a man was found murdered in a Glasgow flat.

The body of 49-year-old Haider Hayat was discovered within the property in Raithburn Road, Castlemilk, on April 3 last year.

Muhammed Rauf, 42, Shahida Abid, 33, and Saima Hayat, also 33, were found guilty of murder at the High Court in Glasgow on Thursday.

Abid and Hayat were also found guilty of attempting to defeat the ends of justice.

The trio will return to the court to be sentenced on March 19.

Detective Inspector Steven Watson said: Haider was viciously attacked and suffered a sickening and violent death at the hands of Rauf, Abid and Hayat.

The trio will be sentenced on March 19 at the High Court in Glasgow (John Linton/PA)

This is something he did not deserve. This was a brutal and senseless murder and such crimes are unacceptable in our society.

The actions of those now convicted were compounded by the fact that there were children present in the house at the time of this despicable act.

I welcome the verdict today, which may go some way to giving comfort to Haiders family and my thoughts have remained with them throughout this incredibly difficult time.

I am grateful for the commitment of the Police Scotland team who worked on this harrowing inquiry and would like to publicly thank the community who came forward with the vital information which helped bring those convicted today to justice.
Pressure is growing on police in Northern Ireland after it emerged the service failed to disclose significant information relating to a notorious loyalist mass shooting.

Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire found that significant, sensitive information around a mass shooting at a bookmakers in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

His office said the material in question has opened new lines of inquiry in its investigation into the Ormeau Road shootings, as well as activities of loyalist paramilitaries in the north-west between 1988 and 1994; and its investigation into the murder of teenager Damien Walsh at a coal depot in west Belfast in 1993.

Police did not disclose sensitive troubles related information: Police Ombudsman

https://t.co/2n1acH2kXU  Police Ombudsman NI (@PONIPressOffice) February 14, 2019

Reports outlining the findings of these investigations, which had been due to be published in the coming weeks, will now be delayed.

Dr Maguire has contacted the Department of Justice to ask that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) faces a review of how it discloses information.

Five people were killed on February 5 1992, when members of the Loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) opened fire on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop on the lower Ormeau Road.

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin has apologised on behalf of the police, and said they never sought to withhold the information from the ombudsman investigators, putting the incident down to human error.

He has also offered to give Ombudsman investigators full and unfettered access to police legacy systems.

Marian Walsh with Relatives For Justice case worker Mary McCallan (PA)

However Marian Walsh, the mother of teenage murder victim Damien Walsh, said she does not accept his apology, and accused police of a sham and excuses.

How come one person was able to find it and yet all these other ones couldnt, she questioned.

Relatives for Justice, a victims group which represents many of those affected by the material, has backed Dr Maguires call for a review, and said it should begin as a matter of urgency.

Democratic Unionist MLA Mervyn Storey said Northern Irelands Policing Board has written to PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton asking for a detailed report into the incident, and that a committee of the board will be examining what happened.

It raises a number of issues in relation into how the police actually process a lot of material, and we are talking here about millions of pieces of information, he said.

I think its to be welcomed the fact that police have taken the proactive stance they have taken with regards to asking the Ombudsman to come in and have access to those processes, but clearly there is an issue with regards to how this information is processed within the police service.

Damien Walsh with his nephew Conor when he was 17 (Family handout/PA)

However he shied away from calling for a review or inquiry into the matter.

Lets remember the PSNI is one of the most scrutinised police services in Europe, it had a variety of organisations that look into it and investigate it. I think what we need to do is to ensure police have the resources to be able to do what needs to be done to manage and process this information, he said.

The Policing Board and the Ombudsman are there in terms of oversight bodies. In terms of a review, that is an issue for police.

The SDLP has called for an inquiry, with MLA Dolores Kelly saying it staggers belief that this information wasnt disclosed.

Of course the Chief Constable and other police commanders responsible should appear before the board. The Policing Board needs to do much more.

For that reason I will be tabling a motion for the Policing Board to request a full report from the Chief Constable about the situation and that the board should conduct a proper inquiry into what has transpired, she said.

The revelations that the police failed to disclose key information to investigations by the Police Ombudsman into dozens of killings by loyalist death squads is appalling and unacceptable.

We have sought urgent meeting with Chief Constable and will meet with the Ombusman https://t.co/9otvAehjMy  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) February 14, 2019

Meanwhile Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said it is not enough for the PSNI to say they are sorry.

This is a revelation which has shocked right across the victims and survivors community, he said.

I dont think it is enough for the PSNI to say they are sorry.

Confidence in policing is diving to its lowest level in many years. Immediate action is needed.
Labour has failed in an attempt to stop Theresa May running down the clock to a no-deal Brexit, after MPs voted down the partys demand for the Prime Minister to bring her Withdrawal Agreement back to the Commons by February 27.

But the PM was facing probable defeat in another dramatic night for Brexit, after eurosceptic Tory backbenchers announced they would abstain on a key Government motion.

They said that the motion tabled by Mrs May would amount to an effective endorsement of efforts to rule out a no-deal Brexit.

A Labour amendment, requiring the Government to stage a second meaningful vote on its Brexit deal by February 27 or give Parliament control over the next steps, was defeated by 322 to 306.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned that European leaders would be watching for "any sign that our resolve is weakening" (House of Commons/PA)

Ahead of the votes, Government ministers urged MPs to back Mrs May, arguing that defeat for the Prime Minister would undermine the UKs chances of securing concessions from Brussels on the controversial backstop arrangements for keeping the Irish border open.

But members of the European Research Group of Leave-backing Conservatives emerged from a last-minute meeting in a Westminster committee room to say that they would abstain.

The PMs motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the stance taken by MPs in the last round of Brexit votes on January 29.

On that date, MPs voted not only to authorise the PM to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop, but also for a non-binding amendment to block EU withdrawal without an agreement.

In a day of debate in the Commons ahead of the Valentines Day votes, senior Brexiteers voiced reluctance to lend their support to anything which appeared to endorse ruling out no-deal.

Although Downing Street insisted no-deal would remain firmly on the table, former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said he was struggling with the idea of backing the Government motion.

And veteran eurosceptic Sir William Cash said he could not vote for a piece of doublethink which would further undermine public trust.

(PA Graphics)

Opening the days debate, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned that European leaders would be watching the evenings votes for any sign that our resolve is weakening.

And International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told the BBC: Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make  concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that.

A Scottish National Party proposal to delay Brexit for three months beyond the scheduled date of March 29 was defeated by 315 to 93.

Pro-EU Conservative Anna Soubry indicated she would not force a vote on her cross-party amendment, which would have required the Government to publish its latest advice on the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit.

Ms Soubry was offered a meeting with the effective deputy prime minister David Lidington to discuss which documents could be released.

Government has agreed to meet to identify and then publish the relevant papers detailing the devastating effect a #NoDeal #Brexit will have on businesss and trade. No need to push my amendment to a vote & if Govt does none of the above Ill be back on Feb 27 ...  Anna Soubry (@Anna_Soubry) February 14, 2019

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer told MPs that deep down he did not believe Mrs May was ready to take the UK out of Europe without a deal on March 29.

He maintained she was taking the Brexit debate to the wire in order to be able to confront MPs with a last-minute choice between her deal or no-deal.

He confirmed Labour will back a cross-party plan from backbencher Yvette Cooper  expected to go to a vote on February 27  which would force the Government to conclude its deal by March 13 or allow MPs to vote on no-deal or a second referendum.

It is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to  she is pretending to make progress while running down the clock, said Sir Keir.

A non-update every other week to buy another two weeks of process, inching ever closer to the March 29 deadline in 43 days. We should not be fooled.

Peoples Vote supporters wearing blindfolds and carrying placards in Parliament Square ahead of the Brexit debate (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The latest Brexit showdown came as Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

But Mrs Mays spokesman said Number 10 disagrees entirely with Mr Ruttes stance, adding: Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May held phone calls on Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, prime minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden and Portuguese premier Antonio Costa.

Peoples Vote protesters seeking a second EU referendum gathered outside Parliament to demonstrate against what they termed a blindfold Brexit.

And pro-Brexit campaigners from the Leave Means Leave movement delivered a Valentines Day card for the Prime Minister to Downing Street.
Chris Eubank Jnr has dismissed suggestions James DeGale is a fighter in decline, believing that will be demonstrated when they finally fight next week.

Their long-term rivalry is to be settled on February 23 at Londons 02 Arena, in what appears increasingly likely to be DeGales last bout.

George Groves retirement ended DeGales hopes of a rematch and left him with few lucrative options to pursue regardless of whether he secures victory. Equally significant is that he has recently struggled to impress.

In three fights, including a defeat, since a dramatic draw against Badou Jack in January 2017, the Olympic gold medallist has shown signs of a punishing career.

Eubank Jnr, though, is convinced the best of DeGale will again be on show as motivation within the 33-year-old will have returned to prove himself against an opponent four years his junior.

Hes the type of fighter who rises to the occasion, Eubank Jnr, 29, told Press Association Sport.

Chris Eubank Jnr is expecting the best James DeGale to show for their forthcoming fight. (Peter Byrne/PA) Wire.

If hes got someone he doesnt respect or fear, then that shows in his performance. He respects me and knows whats coming, so hes going to be on form.

Hes had some hard fights, thats for sure. Its one of those things  a fight like this especially against me  could be career ending.

Im relentless, I dont stop. Volume, speed, power, its all a dangerous combination, and he knows that.

But the fact he knows that is why were going to see the best James DeGale weve seen for a long time.

He knows Im a livewire and that Im dangerous; he knows being ill-prepared is dangerous for his health. I dont think hes going to put himself in that position.

DeGale has said the loser of next weeks fight will have no choice but to retire.

Eubank Jnr, a year on from being convincingly beaten on points by Groves in the only other fight of his career that has been similarly high-profile, insists he will fight on for years regardless.

Im not thinking about retiring, about losing, he said. If he wants to use it as a slogan for a fight, The retirement fight, thats up to him. Im 29, and Ill be fighting until Im 35, minimum, because I live the life.

My career can be long; I dont really get hit, I dont take a lot of punishment. He can talk all he wants about retirement, Ive just got to go in there and do what Ive been working on with Nate (Vasquez, my new trainer) for the last three, four, five months.
I think all we can do now is make our concerns known, but there is an awful lot of momentum, said Fowler. This is an issue that's come before the General Assembly for the past however many years. This is something really put together in the interim, and unions are behind this, so its got a lot momentum  but on the other side, a lot of people came out opposed to the bill as well.
The Duchess of Cornwall was once asked by an oblivious taxi driver what she thought of herself, she has revealed.

The duchess made the comments at an event celebrating the London Taxi Drivers Charity for Children (LTCFC), of which she is patron.

She told the Buckingham Palace reception: I was very pleased to ride in a taxi here today, I have not had a ride in a taxi for a very long time.

The Duchess of Cornwall arrives in a low emission taxi (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

She said she loved riding in taxis before her marriage to the Prince of Wales, because drivers tell you exactly whats happening.

Recalling one encounter with a chatty unaware cabbie, she added: One taxi driver once asked me what I thought about myself.

At Thursdays event, the duchess thanked the charity for their work, which includes annual day trips to the seaside and other outings for children.

She said she was proud () to be a patron of this wonderful charity.

The Duchess of Cornwall speaks to members of the London Taxi Drivers Charity for Children at a reception at Buckingham Palace in London (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Asked about what the duchess patronage means to the charity, cab driver and volunteer Angela Gorman said: It makes you feel proud to be a London cab driver.

Linda Jackson, another LTCFC volunteer agreed, and said she relishes giving children new experiences.

She explained: You get to give so much back; its the joy.

Some of these children have never been in a black cab before.

The Duchess of Cornwall in front of six low emission taxis (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

Their screams, it gets you; it brings a tear to your eye.

Jason Clauson, 56, was a Metropolitan Police officer for 30 years before he sat his Knowledge test and became a black cab driver.

He believes his work with LTCFC helps him to give back to the community: Everyone has to work for money, but its nice to give something back and help people less fortunate than yourselves.
A military statue has been found vandalised in a Glasgow park with one of the soldiers feet cut off.

Damage was also found on the face and other foot of the Boer War memorial in Kelvingrove Park.

The statue depicts a Highland Light Infantry soldier and was erected in the early 1900s shortly after the conflict ended.

An inscription on the memorial reads: To the memory of the officers, non-commissioned officers and men of the Highland Light Infantry who fell in the South African War, 1899, 1900-01-02, erected by comrades and friends.

Police believe it was damaged by two teenagers wearing dark clothing between 11pm and 11.20pm on Tuesday.

Police are appealing for information after the statue was vandalised on Tuesday night (Bill Mackintosh/PA)

Officers are now appealing for information and hope any dog walkers in the area at the time can help.

A Police Scotland statement said: Officers are appealing for information after a military statue was vandalised in Kelvingrove Park on Tuesday February 12 2019.

Officers believe the Highland Light Infantry statue was damaged between 11pm and 11.20pm and are appealing for anyone who may have been in the park around the time of the incident to contact them.

Officers believe the two suspects are in their late teens and wearing dark clothing.

Its possible someone was out walking their dog and may have seen these two teenagers near the statue or in the surrounding area.

Officers are continuing enquiries and are appealing for anyone with information to contact them at Partick Police Station via 101.
A London GP has been recognised for her support for victims of terrorism.

Dr Jennie Read helped a number of survivors of blasts such as the IRA bomb which devastated London Docklands in 1996, killing two people and injuring scores of others.

The Docklands Victims Association (DVA) presented Dr Read, of the Limehouse Practice in London, with the award as she prepares to retire.

She was described as instrumental in helping those suffering from PTSD across her 27-year career, and has also raised money for severely disabled orphaned children in Thailand.

London GP Dr Jennie Read receives an award from the Docklands Victims Association in recognition of her work helping survivors of terrorism from DVA president Jonathan Ganesh. (Jonathan Ganesh/PA)

Two men in a nearby newsagents, shop owner Inam Bashir, 29, and employee John Jeffries, 31, were killed on February 9 1996 and more than 100 people were injured following the Docklands bombing.

Jonathan Ganesh, who was severely injured in the blast, said Dr Read had helped him to cope with the trauma he survived.

Our community and the NHS have been very fortunate to have retained a GP whose compassion for others has undoubtedly alleviated suffering, he said.

As a victim of terrorism I shall never forget the help she gave me and others during this very difficult period.

Ihsan Bashir, who lost his brother Inam in the bombing, added: I commend Dr Read for her dedication. She is a credit to the NHS and is an illustration that GPs can be instrumental in helping victims of terrorism.

Ihsan Bashir (left) with Jonathan Ganesh, head of the Docklands victims campaign group (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Dr Read was also praised by other victims of terrorism, including Joe Holbeach who was severely injured in the IRA attack on a Remembrance service in Enniskillen on November 8 1987, in which 12 people died.

Having developed PTSD I attempted to take my own life. I appreciate the support that GPs can extend to victims of terrorism, he said.

I felt very touched to learn of the work of Dr Read in her community. She has helped so many victims of PTSD.

I hope all GPs will learn from her remarkable example.

Susanne Dodd, whose father, a Metropolitan police inspector, was killed in the IRAs bomb attack on Harrods on December 17 1983, also paid tribute to Dr Read.

The police operation outside the Harrods store following a car bomb blast in which five people died (PA Archive)

As a member of the DVA awards committee and having lost my dad due to a despicable attack of terrorism I feel very moved to learn of Dr Reads support which she extended to help those affected by acts of terrorism, she said.

Previous recipients of a DVA award include Dr George Legg of Kings College London, artist Lucy Harrison, MP Laurence Robertson and Hunna Ihsan of Marymount School for their outstanding service to humanity.
The mother of a teenager murdered by loyalists in a case impacted by information which police failed to release to a watchdog said she does not accept an apology from the Deputy Chief Constable over the matter.

Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire found that significant, sensitive information around a notorious loyalist mass shooting at the Sean Graham bookmakers on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

The material also sheds new light on investigations into a number of other murders, including the killing of 17-year-old Damien Walsh by Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) gunmen on March 25 1993 as he worked at a coal and fuel depot.

Damien Walsh, 17, whose murder was referred to the Historical Enquiries Team in 2007 (Family handout/PA)

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologised to the families impacted by the information.

But Mr Walshs mother Marian told the Press Association that she does not accept his apology.

The case of her sons murder is the longest running on the Police Ombudsmans books, ongoing since 2004 when Mrs Walsh first approached the watchdog.

It was referred to the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) in 2007 when it was first set up.

The HET found the Army had been watching the shopping centre because it had been frequented by the IRA and they had information that bomb-making material was being stored there. The HET report found that Mr Walsh had no paramilitary involvement and had not been the intended target of the loyalist gunmen.

The Police Ombudsman continued its investigation into how the police murder investigation was carried out.

Mrs Walsh had been due to receive the report following that investigation.

But instead, this week she was told that police had handed over material to a civil case which it had previously said did not exist.

I thought the report must have been ready, but then I was told it wasnt ready again, she said.

This morning, when I saw it all in print, I just broke down.

I just thought, I am so tired now, I have just got so old, so sick and I dont know how I am going to go on with this. And then I rallied and thought, I have no choice, I have to keep going to see this through.

Mr Martin told a press conference the PSNI never sought to deliberately withhold this information, adding police deeply regret that researchers had previously been unable to find it.

He said the error emerged when a different researcher preparing material for a civil case found it.

He didnt apologise to me personally, I just heard he apologised somewhere to somebody, Mrs Walsh said.

It is just a sham, and excuses. How come one person was able to find it and yet all these other ones couldnt.

Damien had been working on a Youth Training Programme at a fuel store at the back of a supermarket at the Dairy Farm shopping centre close to Twinbrook when he was attacked. He died in hospital the following morning.

No-one has been brought to justice for his murder.

Mrs Walsh, who has been diagnosed with PTSD after fighting for justice for her son for 26 years, said she did not feel hopeful anyone ever would.
The Duke of Sussex may have been many miles from the UK but two British servicemen on winter weather training in the Arctic Circle ensured the duchess was never far from Harrys mind on Valentines Day.

A tiny makeshift igloo dug into the fresh Norwegian snow was just large enough to fit framed images from Harry and Meghans wedding, while candles and soft music also welcomed the duke as he edged his way inside the Quincey Shelter to meet Lance Corporal Lee Lovack and air engineering technician Kevin Burns.

The royal, spending his first Valentines Day as a married man with hundreds of British military personnel at the Bardufoss training base, laughed as he spotted the mementos.

Harry was invited into the Quincey Shelter as he spent Valentines Day in Norway (Victoria Jones/PA)

You weirdos, he joked.

Its very kind of you to invite me into your private shrine or whatever you want to call it.

And the music, is that part of it? Romantic isnt it.

Speaking afterwards, AET Burns, 36, from Inverness, said: We took him (the duke) through the structure of the shelter, how its made.

He is used to the weather, I think, because he said about exercises he had been on, he looked around at the shelter with the pictures and candles and he said we were weirdos.

Harry spent three hours in the icy wilds of northern Norway, meeting hundreds of servicemen undergoing the gruelling Exercise Clockwork.

The temperature when the Duke of Sussex arrived in Norway was minus 2C (28.4F) - much milder than the minus 35C (minus 31F) servicemen and women can expect (Victoria Jones/PA)

The duke, who is due to become a father for the first time when the Duchess of Sussex gives birth later this year, arrived by private plane with temperatures just below freezing  much milder than the minus 35C many can expect to experience at the Bardufoss air station, some 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle.

Harrys visit marked the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to Bardufoss, where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions and gain experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

The Duke of Sussex, Captain General @RoyalMarines, meets deployed ranks at Exercise Clockwork, 200 miles inside the Arctic Circle in North Norway  where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the extreme cold weather #ExerciseClockwork pic.twitter.com/E6KqJFx6Oc  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 14, 2019

The duke, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, also viewed an Apache AH1 helicopter similar to the one he used to pilot  an experience he said he missed.

Major Huw Raikes, of the Army Air Corp, 34, from London, said: He misses flying the aircraft. He was reminiscing about his experiences, asking what life was like back in Suffolk (where the duke was once based) and reminiscing about a few people we know.

I was suggesting he would be able to start it (the helicopter) up, it all comes back very quickly.

He misses the aircraft, he misses the exercises he had while flying it.

It was a fun period for him  he had a focus, a job and a role. He misses that brotherhood.

Harry shared his experiences flying Apache helicopters (Victoria Jones/PA)

Harry cut a birthday cake marking the 50th anniversary with a sword, and thanked those present for their work.

He said: Its really nice to see you all and know youre having a good time out here. I think most of you would be somewhere else, Salisbury Plain or somewhere miserable, this gives you an opportunity to get out there and use every single day as an experience.

The royal is expected to arrive back at Kensington Palace in time to spend Valentines Day evening with his wife.

The Duke of Sussex is expected to be back in the UK this evening (Victoria Jones/PA)

Warrant Officer 1st Class Adrian Shepherd, who has served with CHF for 27 years, said: This is the first time His Royal Highness has visited Joint Helicopter Command since becoming Captain General and it is great that he is doing the visit while were in Norway.

He was able to get a good look at what we do and how we operate in these harsh conditions. He saw the amount of training that goes into it and why it is so important that we do this exercise every year.

It is good for the people out here to see their hard work recognised during a significant year for the exercise.
The father of one of the three Bethnal Green runaway girls has said she represents no threat to the UK and urged the British Government to allow her to return to the country.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Hussen Abase, father of Amira Abase, said his daughter made a mistake when she left Britain aged 15 with Shamima Begum and Kadiza Sultana to join Islamic State.

In July 2018, Amira was reportedly feared dead after her mother Fetia Hussen told the paper she had lost contact with her daughter a year prior.

Mr Abase said: As a father I would say to the British government please let the girls back into the country and give them some kind of teaching.

They were just teenagers when they left. They should be allowed to learn from their mistakes. They are no threat to us.

Mr Abase came to Britain as a refugee from Ethiopia in 1999 and now lives in Stepney, east London.

Amira Abase (Metropolitan Police/PA)

He added: Im very happy the British government gave me refuge here. I hope they will let my daughter back in if she is still alive. Its been very hard these past few years without her.

She was always a good daughter and a good student. She was also very charitable and soft when she saw someone in need or saw something on the news. But I was shocked when she left.

Mr Abase said he has not seen or heard from his daughter since she left for school in 2015.

As a father of course I want her to come home. I think about her every day.
The prospect of defeat for Theresa May in the latest round of Brexit votes appeared to be receding, as leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was highly unlikely that Eurosceptic Tories would rebel.

Members of the backbench European Research Group (ERG) had threatened to vote down a motion tabled by Mrs May which they said effectively endorsed efforts to block a no-deal Brexit.

But ministers warned that defeat for the PM would send the wrong signal to Brussels about the possibility of Parliament uniting behind the revised Withdrawal Agreement which Mrs May is seeking.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told potential rebels Parliament was not an internal debating society and European negotiators would be watching to see if MPs were showing consistency.

What we say is looked at and listened to by those that we are negotiating with, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

They will be looking to see whether Parliament is showing consistency because in the debates and the votes we had recently there were two things: one was that Parliament said we dont want there to be no deal, and that we will sign up to the Prime Ministers deal if we are able to get changes to the Irish backstop.

Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make those concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that.

But former Brexit minister Steve Baker said Conservatives should not be associated with anything that seems to take no deal off the table.

Members of the ERG have been lobbying Downing Street for two days to amend the wording of Mrs Mays motion for the Valentines Day vote, which asks the Commons to reiterate its support for the approach approved in an earlier set of votes on January 29.

Could the ERG rebellion be over?



Jacob Rees-Mogg tells @PaulBrandITV why he thinks it's 'highly unlikely people will be voting against' the government Brexit motion: https://t.co/qItFAoAL06 pic.twitter.com/Q5sVvtDaUQ  ITV News (@itvnews) February 14, 2019

MPs voted on that date to send Mrs May back to Brussels to seek an alternative to the backstop provisions in her EU Withdrawal Agreement which are intended to ensure the Irish border stays open after Brexit.

But they also gave a majority the same day to a non-binding amendment calling on the Government to rule out a no-deal outcome.

Some Eurosceptics would welcome no deal, while others believe it must be kept as a weapon in the Governments armoury to ensure maximum leverage in extracting concessions from the EU.

Speaking as Downing Street confirmed it would not amend the wording of the motion, backbencher Lee Rowley told the Press Association: The Government is essentially asking me to vote for something tonight  taking no deal off the table  which isnt Government policy.

We are all genuinely scratching our heads this morning asking what on earth they are doing. Instead of putting forward badly worded motions, the Government should be properly focusing on the Malthouse compromise  the one and only option which brings together Leavers and Remainers and, vitally, will command a majority in Parliament.

ERG members declined to confirm whether there would be a rebellion or speculate on possible numbers involved.

And Mr Rees-Mogg, the groups chairman, signalled three hours before voting was due to take place that the potential revolt was off, telling ITV News: This is a secondary issue, rather than a primary one, and that is why I think it is highly unlikely people will be voting against this motion.

(PA Graphics)

Mrs Mays official spokesman told reporters: It is important that MPs support the Prime Minister today in order to send another clear message to Brussels on the need to address Parliaments concerns about the backstop, so we can leave on time with a deal on March 29.

Commons Speaker John Bercow selected only three of the 10 amendments tabled for debate on the floor of the Commons.

MPs are set to vote on a Labour amendment demanding that Mrs May hold a meaningful vote on her plan by February 27 or hand power to Parliament to decide the next steps.

Also selected were an SNP amendment calling for a three-month extension to Brexit negotiations and a demand from pro-EU backbenchers led by Tory Anna Soubry for the publication of the latest official assessments of the likely economic impact of no deal.

The latest showdown comes as Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

But Mrs Mays spokesman said Number 10 disagrees entirely with Mr Ruttes stance, adding: Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening.

She held further phone calls on Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, prime minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden and Portuguese premier Antonio Costa.

Peoples Vote supporters wearing blindfolds and carrying placards in Parliament Square ahead of the Brexit debate (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

Peoples Vote protesters seeking a second EU referendum gathered outside Parliament to demonstrate against what they termed a blindfold Brexit.

And pro-Brexit campaigners from the Leave Means Leave movement delivered a Valentines Day card for the Prime Minister to Downing Street.
Edinburghs trams should be fitted with louder warning horns, investigators probing the death of a pedestrian have said.

Carlos Correa Palacio, 53, was struck by a tram near the Saughton stop on September 11 last year.

The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) issued the urgent safety advice on Thursday, saying the level of sound of the vehicles warning horns did not meet industry guidance.

It advised operator Edinburgh Trams to increase the sound level and in the meantime consider measures to mitigate risks at locations where audible warnings may be required.

Carlos Correa Palacio died after being hit by a tram in Edinburgh on Tuesday (Police Scotland/PA)

Mr Palacio was using a footpath crossing between the Balgreen and Saughton tram stops when he was hit by a vehicle travelling from the city centre towards Edinburgh Airport at around 12.10pm.

The RAIB said the driver saw him and used the brake while sounding repeated warnings using the trams bell.

The driver then operated the emergency brake, automatically activating the warning horn, but the tram was too close to be able to stop before hitting the pedestrian.

The trams speed at the time of the collision was around 50kph where the maximum line speed was 70kph.

RAIB officials took a number of measurements and concluded: Both the bell and the warning horn are not sufficiently discernible above the level of background noise at this footpath crossing to indicate the approach of a tram at a full service braking distance from the crossing at line speed.

The warning horn produces a lower sound pressure level than the bell and can therefore be regarded as quieter.

The RAIB are aware that at the time that the trams were procured and commissioned there were no specified numeric requirements for the sound pressure levels for tram audible warning devices.

However, guidance existed at the time of procurement, and continues to exist, which states that there should be two levels of audible warnings  the lesser level for on-street use and the greater for off-street sections and emergencies.
The death of a man whose body was found in a burning car is being treated as suspicious by police.

The vehicle was found on fire near Greenhall Park in Blantyre, South Lanarkshire on Monday evening.

Police said it is proving challenging to identify the man as the car was completely burnt out but they hope to establish his identity soon.

Following a post-mortem his death is being treated as suspicious.

Police have released an image of a car like the one that was found on fire (Police Scotland/PA)

Police investigations have established the car, a black Mercedes GLE, was stolen from Oxgangs Road in Edinburgh on Thursday January 24.

They are appealing for information from anyone who saw the vehicle in the intervening days as they try to piece together what happened.

Detective Chief Inspector David Scott, of the major investigation team, said: Enquiries carried out so far indicate the circumstances surrounding the death of the man to be suspicious and we are appealing for the assistance of the public to help with our ongoing investigation.

We are working to identify the deceased who was found within the car.

Enquiries so far suggest the man is likely to be under 40 years of age.

The recovery of the mans body and subsequent efforts to identify him are proving challenging given that the car was completely burnt out, however, we have significant forensic testing underway and are hopeful well be able to identify him soon.

The car involved was a black Mercedes GLE, which we know was stolen from the Oxgangs Road area of Edinburgh on Thursday 24 January 2019.

We have established that the car was in the Morningside area of Edinburgh for several days.

However, on the morning of Monday February 11, the Mercedes was near East Kilbride town centre before being found on fire near Greenhall Park, Blantyre, later that evening.

He said they are working closely with officers in Edinburgh and East Kilbride to try to establish the vehicles movements and called on anyone who has any information on a car of that type being seen in the areas of Morningside, East Kilbride and Blantyre to come forward urgently.

He added: East Kilbride town centre is usually busy with pedestrians and motorists.

I would ask people to think back and consider if they saw this car and the occupants within. Any small piece of information could be significant.

Similarly, I would ask the residents in Morningside, Edinburgh, to think back to the days after Thursday January 24, could you provide any information to police that might help?

We need to know where that car was between January 24 and February 11. Please come forward with any information you might have.
The Dutch government has enlisted a new ally in its campaign to prepare businesses for Britains departure from the European Union  a hairy, blue Brexit monster.

A tweet posted on Foreign Minister Stef Bloks Twitter feed showed the monster, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the word Brexit in red capital letters, lying across a desk.

Heb jij al gecheckt welke gevolgen Brexit voor jou of je bedrijf heeft? Doe de Brexit Impact Scan op https://t.co/eytAlAwphK of kijk op https://t.co/U64nYectmE. Zorg dat Brexit jou niet in de weg zit....of ligt. pic.twitter.com/LWKOLnLPQl  Stef Blok (@ministerBlok) February 14, 2019

The tweet has links to the governments online Brexit portal and a Brexit Impact Scan that helps inform businesses about the possible consequences when Britain leaves the EU on March 29.

This is all to raise awareness, said foreign ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij. We have said this a lot in debates and now we are saying it with humour.

The monster quickly scared up plenty of action. Mr Vermeij said that by mid-afternoon on Thursday some 4,000 businesses had done the impact scan.

Prior to the monsters intervention, the scan had attracted about 63,000 businesses in a year.

Foreign Minister Stef Blok stands behind the hairy blue Brexit monster (Aad Meijer/Netherlands Foreign Ministry/AP)

The online scan is a website that takes business owners through the range of possible changes they will have to master depending on the terms under which Britain completes its divorce from the EU.

It gives tailored advice about new procedures likely to come into play for importers and exporters such as customs procedures, possible new tariffs and taxes and other issues.
Not his first time working with the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Casey previously served for three years on the organizations board of directors for the Maryland, Delaware, Washington D.C., New Jersey and New York region, according to the release.
This map shows where we dont want to be when SHTF as big US cities already in a state of decay are transformed into post-apocalyptic wastelands

In this important new story by Michael Snyder over at The End Of The American Dream that the Drudge Report linked to on Wednesday, quite literally knocking Snyders website offline for several hours, he reports upon the worsening state of affairs in cities all across America which are quickly becoming uninhabitable hellholes even before the globalists end game is carried out.

(Article by Stefan Stanford republished from AllNewsPipeline.com)

With public defecation in the streets along with open drug use and homeless numbers increasing daily, leading to tent cities popping up in various cities nationwide, Snyder reports that rats and fleas are running the halls of the Los Angeles City Hall while the zombified hordes of homeless people living in Seattle and San Francisco, two of the wealthiest cities in the nation, are simply too drugged out to care that the worst parts of major western cities are beginning to look like post-apocalyptic wastelands.

And a quick visit over to Wikipedia finds that of the 50 biggest US cities, the mayors of 34 of them are Democrats, 13 are Republicans and 3 are Independents. Is it just a coincidence that cities turning into hellholes such as Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Baltimore and others are governed by Democrats? In fact, a look back at the history of many of those cities finds that theyve had Democratic mayors going back several decades or even more. Just a sad coincidence?

Weve long argued that getting as far away from the big cities as possible during a real national emergency is one of the single most important decisions one can make in a survival situation and well take a look within this story at more signs that those still living within the cities should be thinking about getting out before theyre stuck fighting along with hundreds of thousands or millions of others to get out with cities sure to quickly turn into death zones in any real SHTF scenario.

Mother Nature's micronutrient secret: Organic Broccoli Sprout Capsules now available, delivering 280mg of high-density nutrition, including the extraordinary "sulforaphane" and "glucosinolate" nutrients found only in cruciferous healing foods. Every lot laboratory tested. See availability here.

map

And besides the fact that most big cities are governed by Democrats, the rapidly maddening leftist masses also tend to congregate within the big cities with Hillary Clinton taking a huge percentage of the vote in many big cities as this December of 2016 story over at City Lab reported as also seen in theat the top of this story.

As well see in the next graphic below, nearly every large metropolitan area across America voted for Hillary by very large margins and while President Trump had taken several large metro areas as well such as Birmingham, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and the Dallas area, the overall population numbers of those areas are absolutely dwarfed by the population numbers of the large cities and metro areas that overwhelmingly voted for Hillary.

And with Trump derangement syndrome sure to get worse in the coming weeks as the left, whove long been hoping for news that will lead to the impeachment of President Trump, continue to get news that there was no Russian collusion afterall and theyve been lied to once again by the mainstream media, the opportunities for more and more incidents will continue to grow with some even warning of inevitable civil war upon the horizon.

And as this February 13th story over at News Web Order reports, any kind of civil war in America in 2019 or 2020 will be sure to bring with it food riots and starvation and a global food shortage with big US cities particularly hard hit. From their story.:

Any national chaos would disable the system of seed production that allows farmers to plant the millions of acres in the U.S. It would also disable the production and distribution of fuels and fertilizers that farmers depend on to plant, grow and harvest.

The only way the food production system would continue operating is if the government or a corporate entity seized control of the large tracts of farmland in the Midwest and continued to operate them. Given the executive orders now on the books this is always a possibility. It is also likely that if that happened, food would be used as a weapon against those areas of the country in rebellion against government rule.

forecast

As Susan Duclos reported on ANP on February 9th about Seattles recent snowpocalyse that saw grocery store shelves emptied of food and supplies and general chaos, while residents of the city were worried about getting food for the weekend, they should be more concerned about preparing for a lengthy interruption of our food supply system and for grocery store shelves to remain empty with a global food shortage beinglargely due to fatal cold this winter as Ice Age Farmer reported in this January 28th story

Read more at: AllNewsPipeline.com
Irelands premier has denied being complacent over the UK crashing out of the European Union.

Leo Varadkar said the Irish Government has put in enormous preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

Following reports that the Taoiseach said he expects the UK to leave the EU by the end of March with an agreement, Mr Varadkar said on Thursday that no one can be absolutely sure a Brexit deal will be agreed.

Speaking at the official sod-turning ceremony for a new second runway at Dublin Airport, he said: As we are not certain, we have put enormous preparations into making sure that Ireland is as ready as we can be for a no deal, so this is not complacency, but it is competence.

Ireland certainly wants an orderly Brexit, rather than an disorderly one. The UK does too, so does the EU.

When everybody wants that to happen we will work extremely hard to achieve that, but dont think for a second that is complacency at all. We are making all the preparations for a no deal.

(PA Graphics)

We will have the legislation at Cabinet on Tuesday, publish it next week, making the adjustments we have to make here at Dublin Airport, Dublin Port and Rosslare.

Lots of other things are happening to prepare the country for no deal.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has stood by his description of Sir Winston Churchill as a villain.

The Labour heavyweights comment sparked a furious reaction from Churchills admirers, with Sir Nicholas Soames  the grandson of the wartime prime minister  dismissing it as foolish and stupid, and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson demanding a retraction.

Prime Minister Theresa May declared her admiration for the strong leadership, determination and unwavering personality shown by her predecessor, whose portrait hangs on her study wall at 10 Downing Street.

But Mr McDonnell said that he welcomed the attention which his remark had drawn to Churchills role in sending in troops to break a miners strike in Tonypandy, South Wales, in 1910.

Despite the furore prompted by his comment, he told ITV News he would give the same answer again, adding: You dont want to upset people but you want to be honest.

If its prompted a more rounded debate about Churchills role, well I welcome it.

John McDonnell said he viewed Sir Winston Churchill as a `villain (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

In a sequence of quick-fire questions from the Politico website, streamed live on the internet on Wednesday, Mr McDonnell was asked: Winston Churchill. Hero or villain?

He responded with two words: Tonypandy  villain.

Many on the left see Churchills reputation as tarnished by events in Tonypandy, where nearly 80 police and 500 civilians were injured and one miner died.

The then home secretarys responsibility for the clashes is a matter of fierce historical debate, but Mr McDonnells response made clear that he held the former PM to blame for deploying soldiers to assist police dealing with riots.

Mr Johnson  the author of a book on Churchill  said Mr McDonnell should be ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith.

If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. JM should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith 2/2  Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) February 14, 2019

Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable, the former foreign secretary said.

If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives.

Tory former minister Robert Halfon called for a Commons statement on Sir Winstons achievements, telling MPs: Far from being a villain, Winston Churchill was not only our greatest prime minister but a wonderful social reformer and a man who defeated Nazi tyranny.

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom replied: Someone calling Sir Winston Churchill a villain is, in effect, denigrating the achievements of a man who led this country to potentially its greatest ever contribution to global peace, and its a great shame that he was described in this way.

Tory MP Sir Nicholas told The Daily Telegraph: I think my grandfathers reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate Poundland Lenin. I dont think it will shake the world.

The statue of Winston Churchill stands outside the House of Commons in Parliament Square (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Mrs Mays official spokesman said the public will reach its own judgment on this characterisation of Sir Winston Churchill.

He noted that Churchill was voted historys greatest Briton in a 2002 poll.

And he added: The Prime Minister has quoted and referenced Sir Winston Churchill on many occasions and acknowledged him as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century.

She has a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill hung on the wall of her study in Number 10.

His strong leadership, determination and unwavering personality inspired our country through our darkest hour and helped Britain protect those values of peace and freedom that we hold so dear today.

Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too. pic.twitter.com/UEFCc7QWwv  Ian Austin (@IanAustin1965) February 13, 2019

Labour MP Ian Austin voiced his disagreement by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.

Mr Austin said: Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too.

Mr McDonnell told ITV News that Churchill was obviously a hero during the Second World War.

But he added: In the teaching of history, weve got to impress upon people that youve got to look at individuals in the round.

Undoubtedly a hero during the Second World War, but also look at the other aspects of his life as well. Tonypandy was a disgrace  sending the troops in, killing a miner, trying to break a strike and other incidents in his history as well.

Mr McDonnell said it was interesting that Churchill was voted out in the 1945 general election because voters didnt believe that he was the right leader to rebuild the country in peace time.

Labour backbencher Chris Williamson said it was people like his parents who won the Second World War, rather than Churchill.

The Derby North MP agreed with the shadow chancellor that Churchill was a villain, as he criticised his record before and after the war.

Mr Williamson said: He was in the right place at the right time but it was people like my mum and dad that actually won the war for Britain, not Winston Churchill.
Green Party co-leader Sian Berry will run for London Mayor in the 2020 elections, it has been announced.

Ms Berry, who has twice before stood for the job, pledged to give people who live in the capital a say on land use.

In a speech in Bermondsey, Ms Berry said the Greens are the only party Londoners can trust to deliver on their promises to tackle the housing crisis.

She said: The Green Party has a proud history of getting results for London. When we make Londoners a promise, we deliver, and have made real changes even when we are not mayor.

In 2016 we promised to give power to residents whose homes faced demolition, and we delivered on that promise. Now we pledge to give Londoners a say on land use in their city.

London Greens listen to what Londoners need and we act on it. Thats why we believe everyone in London should have an affordable, secure and warm home.

Sian Berry pledged to give people who live in the capital a say on land use (Anthony Devlin/PA)

But across the capital, empty buildings like office blocks and car parks are left unused, while Londoners struggle to pay the rent or wait for years to get social housing.

That isnt right, and we have to start planning now for how we bring these underused spaces and empty land back into use.

A Green Mayor would give Londoners control over how our city develops to provide the homes we need with a Peoples Land Bank, which would empower communities to find land and buildings currently going to waste and choose how to bring it back into use.

The Green Party has the answers to Londons biggest problems and were the only party Londoners can trust to deliver on its promises.

Ms Berry came third in the race to become Mayor of London in 2016 and was elected a London Assembly Member the same year. She has been a Camden councillor since 2014.
There was nothing to be achieved from prosecuting the Duke of Edinburgh over his car crash, a royal commentator has said.

Hugo Vickers insisted there was no chance that Philip would have been fined or endured more serious sanctions for the accident involving a mother and a baby.

The Crown Prosecution announced on Thursday that the 97-year-old duke, who voluntarily surrendered his driving licence, would face no further action over the collision on the A149 near Sandringham, Norfolk.

The Duke of Edinburgh at the Braemar Royal Highland Gathering in 2017 (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Royal biographer Vickers told the Press Association: If the police think hes a dangerous driver, what is the outcome they want?

They want to get him off the road. Hes off the road  fine, finished.

That would happen to anyone. I think if I was 97 and I voluntarily surrendered my licence, they would say Well, thank you very much  thats it, thats all we ask you to do.

What else are they going to do? Are you going to fine him? Are you going to put him in prison? Its ridiculous. The outcome is satisfactory.

Royal writer Hugo Vickers (right) with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the unveiling the Jubilee Walkway panoramic panel in 2007 (Shaun Curry/PA)

The duke has apologised for his part in the crash on January 17.

His Land Rover Freelander collided with a Kia carrying a baby, leaving two women needing hospital treatment, after he was dazzled by the low sun as he pulled out a driveway on the Sandringham estate.

Philips vehicle flipped over and he was trapped before being rescued by a passing motorist.

Glass and car parts on the side of the A149 near to the Sandringham Estate where the Duke of Edinburgh was involved in a road accident (John Stillwell/PA)

The nine-month-old baby boy in the other car was unhurt, but both women were treated in hospital, and passenger Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist, called for Philip to be prosecuted if found to be at fault.

Vickers described the duke as a very sensible and practical man, who had done the correct thing by giving up his licence.

He is a practical man and he will have been very shocked by what happened, Im sure, because it could have been very, very serious, the writer said.

He added: Theres nothing possible to be achieved from prosecuting him or sending him on a dangerous driving course.

The Queen and Philip at Balmoral Castle (David Cheskin/PA)

While Philip can no longer drive on public highways, he is allowed behind the wheel on private roads.

He can still drive around the estates at Sandringham and Windsor, Vickers said.

He was never driving in London anyway. He was only driving locally at Balmoral and things  but, unlike many of us, he has got people who can drive him round if need be, such as his police protection officer.

At that age it must be disappointing because its another step towards the curbing of your independence which nobody likes  least of all him.
The Duke of Cambridge talked about the difficulties he had changing nappies as he told new fathers they should expect sleepless nights after the birth of their children.

William said the hardest bit is the buttons, as he talked about how fragile newborn babies were, saying: You do feel like if you move them around too much they are going to break.

The duke joined a session called Future Dads, run by the charity Future Men which aims to prepare adults for fatherhood, as he discussed fathers mental health.

Onto the all important nappy change.

Its never straightforward, says The Duke of Cambridge.

@WorkingWithMen1 new dads are given practical session to help get them ready for fatherhood. #futuremen pic.twitter.com/8C9HDsegSi  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 14, 2019

During the visit to the Abbey Centre in Westminster on Thursday, the duke was shown a nappy-changing tutorial where he joked about his personal troubles getting to grips with the process.

Its not straightforward, the hardest bit is the buttons, he said.

Its very daunting how tiny they are when they first arrive.

They are so fragile, tiny little fingers and toes. You do feel like if you move them around too much they are going to break but they dont.

Wait until theyre nine months, and theyll be off.

William also spoke to the charitys chief executive Christopher Muwanguzi and stressed that guys can feel left out sometimes after the birth of their children.

A lot of the time you havent caught up with whats going to happen, he said.

We had a laugh, we talked about parenthood, our partners & more importantly how every dad particularly those that need it most can be reached through our #Futuredad course. What a great guy, and what a great father & man that genuinely cares about men in this country. #futuremen pic.twitter.com/AgMuI2183q  Christopher Muwanguzi (@iammuwa) February 14, 2019

The group then gathered for a discussion on mental health with new fathers.

Once the lack of sleep starts setting in, the stress levels go up, the duke  who asked questions and gave some advice from his own experiences  told the group.

From a young age youre taught to have a vision, have a plan, have a career and all of a sudden babies come along and you have to start thinking about a lot more.

I think ladies are a lot more giving, a lot more generous but guys, to make a success of whatever were going to do, we get into a rhythm.

Its such a change, your whole life goes one way and suddenly youre told to stop in your tracks.

William spoke to the group about his own experiences of fatherhood and mental health (Stuart Wilson/PA)

He then heard from the new fathers who brought their babies along to discuss how the scheme had helped them adapt.

William said: What concerns me is that the guys who dont know about this programme.

Their circumstances may be much more complicated, maybe not as well educated, it must be very daunting.

Thats what worries me about new fathers health.

This morning The Duke also visited a programme called Future Dads, set up by the charity Future Men (@WorkingWithMen1). #Futuremen pic.twitter.com/uoL7wU2UBM  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 14, 2019

Paul McDaniel, 53, who is a coordinator for the scheme, said: We spoke about the practical skills of looking after a baby so being able to do those confidently but competently.

He spoke quite a lot about his personal experiences of raising his children, so that was really positive to hear and also providing some tips to the dads.

He told them to be more aware of their feelings and that new dads can struggle with the basics of fatherhood.

Another father who attended the course, Richard Parry, 35, said William was interested in the mechanics of the nappy change and commented about how with two its going to be double the trouble.

In the group we were talking about different ways of recognising mental health, he said.

In terms of his own experiences he told us to expect sleepless nights.
Vice President Mike Pence has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to break US sanctions against Iran.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Mr Pence called on European nations to join the US in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

He criticised the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it last year and reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The criticism threatened to further chill US-European ties which have already been badly strained, including over the Iran focus of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the US and Poland.

Vice President Mike Pence criticised European countries (Michael Sohn/AP)

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the foreign minister-level meeting and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away.

Mr Pence was especially critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling last month a new financial mechanism that US officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions.

He praised other nations for complying with the sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports but said the Europeans fell short.

Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative, Mr Pence said. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions.

He said the mechanism, known as the special purpose vehicle, is an effort to break American sanctions against Irans murderous regime.

Its an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States.

Mr Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement.

The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve, he said.

Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran the top security threat to the Middle East, and said confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Mr Pompeo, who met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session of the conference, said pushing back against Iran was central to dealing with all the regions other problems.

You cant achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. Its just not possible, Mr Pompeo said.

The US and Poland say the conference is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Middle East and discussing issues such as Syria, Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cyber crime and terrorism.

The conference was attended by representatives from numerous Arab countries but notable absences include Russia, China and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran circus aimed at demonising it.
Scotland centre Huw Jones has been ruled out for the rest of the Guinness Six Nations due to the knee injury sustained against Ireland last weekend.

Jones, 25, started Scotlands first two matches at outside centre, in the opening 33-20 win against Italy and last Saturdays 13-22 defeat to Ireland.

Huw Jones has started the first two Six Nations matches (David Davies/PA)

Scotland centre Huw Jones is unlikely to play any further part in the 2019 Guinness Six Nations, Scottish Rugby said in a statement.

The Glasgow Warriors midfielder sustained knee ligament damage in the national teams round two defeat to Ireland at BT Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday, with scan results suggesting the injury recovery time would likely be beyond the reaches of the current campaign.

SQUAD UPDATE | Centre Huw Jones is expected to miss the remainder of Guinness Six Nations with a knee injury, while full-back Stuart Hogg remains in the joint care of the Glasgow Warriors & Scotland medical teams.



 https://t.co/QDjPOaYx1X pic.twitter.com/9TZZKTncLz  Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) February 14, 2019

Scottish Rugby said Jones had returned to Glasgow Warriors for treatment, while team-mate Stuart Hoggs shoulder injury was still being assessed.

Full-back Stuart Hogg damaged shoulder ligaments early in the first-half of the same game and is now under the joint care of the Glasgow Warriors and Scotland medical teams, with his rehabilitation progress and review ongoing, Scottish Rugby added.

Scotland are third in the Six Nations table behind leaders England and Wales and their next match is against France in Paris on Saturday, February 23.
The head of GCHQ said his agency has saved countless lives and shortened wars as the Queen celebrated the 100th anniversary of the intelligence, security and cyber organisation.

The Queen has been receiving intelligence from the agency for much of its existence  but she joked how her father King George VI would become frustrated with his scrambler phone, modified by GCHQ to make his calls secret.

GCHQs director Jeremy Fleming, speaking at the agencys former London home, told the Queen and invited guests: Our work is not often glamorous or easily portrayed in film.

But over the last 100 years it has saved countless lives, shortened wars, given Britain an edge, and solved or harnessed some of the worlds hardest technology challenges.

Today @GCHQ tackles the most serious cyber, terrorist, criminal, and state threats as one of Britains three intelligence agencies.



The Queen with Director of @GCHQ Jeremy Fleming, Chief of #MI6 Alex Younger and Director General of #MI5 Andrew Parker pic.twitter.com/yf93LaKHdr  The Royal Family (@RoyalFamily) February 14, 2019

Among the guests for the Queens unannounced visit were Alex Younger, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and known as C, and Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, the Secret Service.

Mr Fleming added: Its clear to us all that the world is changing at an unprecedented rate. Its more interconnected than ever before.

And this is driving extraordinary opportunity, innovation and progress. Its also unleashing amazing complexity, uncertainty and risk.

To keep up in this digital era  to optimise the potential of technologies like artificial intelligence and quantum computing  we know we need to keep reinventing.

The Queen during the visit to Watergate House (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

During her visit to the nondescript office block near Charing Cross station, the Queen met Ruth Bourne, 92, a former Bletchley Park code breaker.

When the subject of scrambler phones  used to keep important conversations confidential  was mentioned, the Queen said: I remember my father had one, he used to get so cross when it didnt scramble.

Took some time to heat up and then work.

The machines used valves, today replaced by transistors, which needed time to warm up before the equipment would work.

The Queen, who was attending her first public engagement of the year, asked the spy bosses when she first arrived: I expect youre busy and Alex Younger, MI6s chief, replied: We are, but delighted to do this.

GCHQ, originally known as the Government Code & Cypher School (GC&CS), was established on November 1 1919 as a peacetime cryptanalytic unit with staff from the Admiralty and War Office.

During the Second World War the agency moved staff to Bletchley Park where Alan Turing was instrumental in breaking Enigma-encrypted communications, making a significant contribution to the Allied victory.

Investment firm BGF (Business Growth Fund) took over GCHQs former building a few years ago and has made a feature of its architectural details from its intelligence agency heyday.

In the companys boardroom, named after Turing, the Queen chatted to the grandchildren of the agencys first head Alastair Denniston, and when she met Ruth Bourne, 92, who had worked in a Bletchley Park satellite base, she praised Turing saying: He was an amazing man.

The Queen meets Bletchley Park veteran Ruth Bourne (Hannah McKay/P{A)

The Queen also said: Its the thing that fascinates me about Bletchley, the people who work there never speak about it.

Mrs Bourne, who operated the Turing Bombe  an early form of computer that speeded up the deciphering of the Nazi messages  said later she had not talked about her work for decades after the war or realised its significance.

She said: We didnt know how important it was, because we didnt know how difficult the code was to break, therefore probably for the reasons of security we were only given a small piece of information about what we were doing.

The 92-year-old added: We were just presented with this amazing machine and told to get on with it and dont ask any questions, and we are breaking German codes was the only sentence I was ever given which indicated what I was doing.

Artefacts from GCHQs history were shown to the Queen, from Margaret Thatchers mobile scrambling phone that encrypted her conversations during the Falklands War period, to an original Enigma machine used by Nazi forces to encrypt their messages.

A code book used by the Royal Household in 1947 which contained the pseudonym 2519 for the Queen, when she was Princess Elizabeth, was also on display.

The Queen ended her visit by unveiling a plaque containing two secret, hidden messages  a nod to the code-breaking minds who established the agency.

The plaque, which features certain letters or numbers with a dot or line under them, says: 1919  1921. The first home of GCHQ. The UKs intelligence security and cyber agency. Known then as GC&CS, formed from the Admiraltys Room 40 and the War Offices MI1(b).
At least 33 Indian soldiers were killed and 20 others wounded in a car bomb attack on a convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Officials said a local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into the convoy, targeting a bus carrying at least 35 soldiers.

Senior police officer Muneer Ahmed Khan said the attack occurred as the convoy reached southern Lethpora town on the outskirts of the main city of Srinagar.

He said a bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles were damaged by the blast, which was one of the deadliest car bombings in the disputed regions history..

The explosion in Pampore, in Indian-controlled Kashmir, left soldiers dead and wounded (Dar Yasin/AP)

Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for Indias paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, said many of the injured were in a critical condition.

The blast was so powerful that one cannot recognise whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain of the vehicle, he said.

The Greater Kashmir newspaper reported that militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed claimed responsibility for the attack. It quoted a local news gathering agency as saying a militant rammed an explosive-laden car into the convoy.

A pre-recorded nine-minute video, circulated on social media sites, showed the purported attacker in combat clothes and surrounded by guns and grenades. He was identified by local news sites as a Kashmiri rebel named Adil Ahmed from the southern Pulwama area.

Later on Thursday, thousands of people, chanting slogans such as Brother Adil: your blood will bring revolution and Go India, go back, marched to the militants village in solidarity.

Indian army soldiers leave after inspecting the site of the explosion in Pampore (Dar Yasin/AP)

Government forces tried to stop the villagers from gathering, leading to clashes as groups of young people hurled stones at the troops, who fired tear gas.

Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik accused Pakistan of guiding the attack.

Visibly it seems to be guided from across the border as Jaish-e-Mohammed has claimed responsibility, Mr Malik said. Such actions will not deter the resolve of our security forces  we will finish these inimical forces to the last.

Videos circulated by local news groups showed ambulances rushing to the site and people running as smoke billowed from the damaged vehicles.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi condemned the attack in a tweet on Thursday evening. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain, he said.

Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 14, 2019

Kashmir experienced many car bombings from 2000 to 2005 which inflicted high casualties on Indian troops. The attacks forced Indian authorities to procure bomb-proof armoured vehicles for soldiers operating in Kashmir.

Indian soldiers are seen everywhere in Kashmir and local residents make little secret of their fury towards their presence in the Himalayan region.

India and Pakistan each claim the divided territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian control since 1989.

Many Kashmiris support the rebels demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown.
Jofra Archers Hobart Hurricanes saw their hopes of reaching the Big Bash League final ended as Melbourne Stars secured an shock six-wicket victory at Bellerive Oval.

The Hurricanes, who were beaten finalists last year, had topped the group standings with 10 wins from their 14 matches but could only manage 153 for seven after being put into bat, Daniel Worrall taking four wickets.

In reply, the Stars never looked like they would struggle to reach the modest victory target, as Peter Handscomb weighed in with 35 before captain Glenn Maxwell (43 not out) and Seb Gotch (33 not out) saw them home.

Glenn Maxwell led from the front to guide his Stars home in the run chase!



Watch: https://t.co/qTAVzdRgjn #BBL08 pic.twitter.com/eRjVK5D1RU  KFC Big Bash League (@BBL) February 14, 2019

Hurricanes veteran George Bailey suffered what looked to be a serious shoulder injury when trying to stop a boundary from Maxwell. The 36-year-old former Australia T20 captain called for medical assistance before being helped off the pitch and assessed by the match doctor.

Earlier, opener DArcy Short made 35 before Ben McDermott added a rapid 53 and Bailey weighed in with 37 to help steady the Hurricanes innings following a fine display from Worrall, who could yet find himself in the Ashes squad to tour England.

Worrall had claimed two wickets during the second over, removing captain Matthew Wade (two) from his first delivery and then bowling Caleb Jewell (one) to leave the Hurricanes at five for two.

Jofra Archers hopes of reaching the Big Bash League final were dashed (Anthony Devlin/PA)

We've toppled the ladder leaders to book our place in the #BBL08 Final with a 6 wicket win!



Franky Worrall set it up with the ball, then Maxi, Pete and Gotchy steered us home  #TeamGreen #BBLFinals pic.twitter.com/xUh68go76I  Melbourne Stars (@StarsBBL) February 14, 2019

Archer, the Barbados-born fast bowler who is soon set to qualify for England, finished seven not out as the Hurricanes lost three wickets in the closing three overs.

Despite Archer removing opener Ben Dunk (nine) in the second over and an impressive three for 33 from 18-year-old Afghani leg spinner Qais Ahmad midway through Melbournes reply, the total never looked set to be enough.





Thank you Tasmania for all of your support this season, you really are #TasmaniasTeam.



We'll have news on George Bailey as soon as it comes through.#BBL08 pic.twitter.com/KmKJ48etme  Hobart Hurricanes BBL (@HurricanesBBL) February 14, 2019

Gotch secured the winning runs with a big six through cover, as the Stars finished 157 for four with more than an over left to play.

Fridays semi-final sees Melbourne Renegades take on Sydney Sixers.
But Ulysses S. Grant's bloody spring campaign to capture Richmond began in early May. Suddenly, the 7th Maryland found itself in the desperate fighting at Spotsylvania Court House, Virginia, on May 10 and 11. Charles was shot in the forearm and admitted to Emory Hospital in Washington a week later. After nine days, he was sent on to Summit House Hospital in Philadelphia where a report said, "Patient very much debilitated upon admission." His arm was never amputated, a drastic procedure, but one which Civil War surgeons found could prevent the often deadly infections in leg or arm wounds. By July 1, Charles was dead and laid to rest in a cemetery in Philadelphia. Francis, however, survived the rest of the war with no mention of injury or illness and left the military at the age of 16 with the U.S. government owing him five months of back pay and $160 in bounty money.
British holidaymakers have responded angrily after a Romanian airline cancelled flights from Liverpools John Lennon Airport, reportedly due to uncertainty over Brexit.

Dozens of passengers expecting to fly to Rome and Alicante complained that their flights with Blue Air had been cancelled on Wednesday night but tickets were still available to buy online.

A spokesman for John Lennon Airport said the Brexit impasse had left the carrier unable to receive the necessary clarity around its ability to operate flights between the UK and countries other than Romania.

While Blue Air will continue to operate flights between the two countries, services from the UK to any other country could be affected if the UK leaves the EU without a continuation of current EU legislation.

Blue Air flights between Luton and Turin are also expected to be affected.

We can confirm that Bucharest and Bacau from Liverpool can be purchased from the end of March 2019. We regret that you will need to speak directly to Blue Air for further information on other routes.  Liverpool Airport (@LPL_Airport) February 14, 2019

Blue Air also did not respond to requests for comment but the airlines official Twitter account has blocked at least one angry customer on the social network.

Some passengers said their flights had been cancelled (Peter Byrne/PA)

The man, who declined to give his name, said he received an email on Wednesday saying his flight to Rome on March 6 had been cancelled for operational reasons.

On replying asking for a refund I got an automated response which asked to fill in a form which I think was in Romanian, he told the Press Association.

Seats for the flight are still available to buy online.

Tickets for an Alitalia flight to Rome operated by Blue Air, listed to depart at exactly the same time, are also available but for more than double the price.

The man continued: It was my Xmas present and I go on my birthday so I need to get there somehow, even if it means Ive now spent an extra 160 to get there and took another day off work.

So @BlueAirWeb you can tweet about valentine's but not respond to myself about my flight in march that you've just cancelled?  Jodi  (@_wixxxs95) February 14, 2019

Sara Kavanagh, 27, was due to fly to Rome for her wedding anniversary on March 18 but also received a cancellation email.

The marketing manager from Manchester said: Weve looked online and they have two other flights available but for three times the price we paid in January.

My flights were before March 29 so really Brexit shouldnt be an issue here, she added.

Daniel Northover, 46, from Liverpool, was due to fly with Blue Air to Alicante for his mothers birthday on March 2 but has had to find new flights after his were cancelled.

He said: I can understand it but we havent left yet if their response is true, its potentially the first clear manifestation of Project Fear being identifiably real.

A spokesman for John Lennon Airport said: Blue Air has successfully operated its based aircraft for two years in Liverpool serving a wide range of routes.

Unfortunately, as a Romanian Air Operator Certificate (AOC) holder, the current Brexit impasse means that the carrier has been unable to receive the necessary clarity regarding their ability to operate seventh freedom services which are currently possible under EU Open Skies.

The carrier will continue to serve Liverpool John Lennon Airport and will increase flights this summer to Bucharest and Bacau.

Seventh freedom services under the EU Open Skies agreement refer to flights between countries which are not an airlines home country.

A Department for Transport spokeswoman said: We are committed to ensuring that flights between the UK and EU continue, and the European Commission has published a proposal to make sure this happens.

This clearly shows that in the event of no deal, both sides are committed to maintaining connectivity.
Entry requirements for some of Scotlands most prestigious universities will be lowered to increase the number of students from diverse backgrounds, it has emerged.

The University of Edinburgh has introduced a new Access Threshold programme ahead of the new academic year, which lowers the grades required by prospective students hoping to gain a place.

Applicants for its law degree will be required to have one A and three B grades at Scottish Higher level for entry  below the five A grades typically required.

Similarly for applications to medicine, pupils will be required to gain three A grades and two B grades  below the expected four As and one B.

A spokesman for the University of Edinburgh said applications would be considered based on a range of factors and not just on grades earned.

He said: The university is committed to widening access and welcomes applications from students from diverse backgrounds, while ensuring we support every student throughout their academic journey.

Several Scottish universities indicated their commitment to widening access (Danny Lawson/PA)

Our contextualised admissions process allows us to make offers to Widening Participation applicants, who meet the minimum academic requirements, using our Access Threshold  which takes into account a range of factors other than academic qualifications.

The 2019-20 Access Threshold for each degree is published on our online degree finder.

We continue to explore opportunities to further adjust our requirements.

Figures published earlier this year by the Higher Education Statistics Agency indicated more than 15% of students entering university in Scotland last year were from the countrys most deprived areas.

The Scottish Government has set a target that 16% of students entering university will be from the most deprived backgrounds by 2021, with that figure increasing to 20% by 2030.

The University of Glasgow and the University of Aberdeen have also published two sets of entry requirements for each course.

A spokesman for the University of Glasgow said: The University of Glasgow is committed to widening access to higher education and we have a proud history of outreach programmes, of which contextualised offer-making to applicants from varied backgrounds is an important part.

Those contextualised offers have been made since the 1980s via our Summer School programme.

Our widening access programmes currently cover the 120 secondary schools in the west of Scotland and areas of disadvantage across the country.

Combining effective outreach with evidence-based contextualised admissions is the key to our success.

While were delighted with the progress weve made, we are constantly working to bring equity of opportunity to all widening access participants.

Alastair Sim, Universities Scotland director, said universities are making the move because it is the right thing to do.

He said: Universities have planned their move to set minimum entry requirements very carefully based on judgements about the course content and what it takes to graduate.

This is not about ticking boxes for universities  its about giving people chances they have worked very hard to earn, often with the odds stacked against them, with the confidence to know they have as much potential to get as good a degree as their peers.

Every student that gets a place at university through this new system will fully deserve their place, thats a responsibility that universities have to all applicants and one they take very seriously.

Scottish Labours education spokesman, Iain Gray, said: Contextualised admissions are an important part of efforts to widen access to university and level the playing field.

However, to avoid unintended consequences they must be backed by a relaxation of the student cap and sustainable funding of our universities.

The current draft budget cuts university funding, and the Scottish Government has refused to review the cap for many years.

SNP ministers must back our universities as they try to deliver the governments own policy.
Theresa May has suffered another humiliating Commons defeat after MPs again voted down her latest Brexit plans.

On another dramatic day at Westminster, MPs voted by 303 to 258 against the motion endorsing the Governments approach.

The defeat came after the pro-Brexit Tory European Research Group announced they had taken a collective decision to abstain.

Heres the latest from Westminster:

6.40pm

Jeremy Corbyn reacts to MPs voting down the Governments motion.

6.35pm

Following the vote, a Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister would continue with her strategy to secure changes to the backstop.

Jeremy Corbyn yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest  and yet again, by voting against the Governments motion, he is in effect voting to make no deal more likely, the spokesman said.

While we didnt secure the support of the Commons this evening, the Prime Minister continues to believe, and the debate itself indicated, that far from objecting to securing changes to the backstop that will allow us to leave with a deal, there was a concern from some Conservative colleagues about taking no deal off the table at this stage.

The motion on January 29 remains the only one the House of Commons has passed expressing what it does want  and that is legally binding changes to address concerns about the backstop. The Government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on March 29.

6.30pm

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said: The vote this evening demonstrates a complete failure of Theresa Mays Tory Government and Parliaments rejection of more reckless time-wasting as they drag us closer and closer to the cliff edge.

Theresa Mays brinkmanship may seem to her as a clever tactic in trying to force MPs to support her deal, but tonight Parliament rejected this ploy. The reality is the Prime Ministers political game in refusing to take no deal off the table is having a serious effect on peoples day-to-day lives.

The Liberal Democrats have campaigned for a peoples vote for over two years. Tonights defeat of the Government makes clear it is long overdue that the Prime Minister took no deal off the table, and offered the public a final say on Brexit with the option to remain in the EU.

6.22pm

Pro-Europe Tory Anna Soubry told the Press Association: This is a serious blow to the credibility of the Prime Minister.

We are in such a mess, Im afraid, that Parliament is going to have to take back control of this.

It is a symbol, Im afraid, of the profound lack of leadership, actually, in both political parties.

6.20pm

Asked if the defeat weakened the PM in Brussels, Justice Minister Rory Stewart told the Press Association: Im not so sure about that.

I think either Brussels wants to get a deal through, or make a concession, or they dont.

6.15pm

6.05pm

Picture

Leading Tory eurosceptic Sir Bernard Jenkin described the outcome of the votes as a fiasco for the Government.

Sir Bernard told Sky News: Its an unfortunate fiasco that the Governments clumsiness created.

I dont know why the Government doesnt consult a bit more widely before they table these motions. There are 110 eurosceptic Tory MPs who helped defeat the Withdrawal Agreement  not one of us was consulted.

He played down the significance of the result, saying: We dont attach much significance to it. What matters is the votes in a fortnights time when the Government has continued to pursue changes to the backstop.

6.02pm

Speaker John Bercow replied: It is not obligatory for the Prime Minister to be present on this occasion  other representatives of the Treasury bench are here and if the Secretary of State for Exiting the EU wants to take to the despatch box its open to him to do so, but hes not obliged to do so, or if the Government Chief Whip wants to do so chuntering from a sedentary position.

Both Stephen Barclay and Julian Smith declined to answer to shouts from the opposition benches.

Mr Bercow added: Its not incumbent upon them, theyve been invited but they are not obliged to do so.

6pm

To shouts of where is she?, Jeremy Corbyn called for the Prime Minister to work with him to prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.

Its surprising the Prime Minister is not even here to hear the result of this vote, he said.

I was going to ask her to come to the despatch box now and admit her strategy has failed and bring forward to the House a coherent plan.

A coherent plan that can deal with the stresses and anxieties that so many people all over over this country are feeling that can be brought to this House so we can make some progress forward to bring people together and prevent a catastrophic no-deal Brexit on 29th March.

5.57pm

Picture

Labour MP David Lammy, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign for a second referendum, said: This is a Valentines Day massacre for the Government and a damning indictment of the Prime Ministers Brexit plan.

As well as enjoying another humiliating defeat, the Government has been forced into publishing its no-deal advice. Now we wait to see what these papers contain.

No doubt, having been kept in the dark until now, they give further weight to the mountain of evidence that leaving the EU without a deal will be an economic, security and political catastrophe.

The Prime Minister has nowhere left to hide. Her threats to throw the country off a cliff-edge if MPs do not vote for her deal will be exposed as deeply cynical by a leader more concerned with the future of her party than her country.

She should now rule out no-deal and put her deal to a public vote with the option of remaining in the EU.

5.55pm

Following the result, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn demanded the Prime Minister, who was absent from the Chamber, come back to MPs with a coherent plan.

He said: Tonights vote shows theres no majority for the Prime Ministers course of action, and yet again her Government has been defeated.

The Government cannot keep on ignoring Parliament or ploughing on towards 29th March without a coherent plan.

She cant keep on just running down the clock and hoping that something will turn up that will save her day and save her face.

5.45pm

Picture

MPs have rejected a motion to endorse the Governments approach to Brexit by 303 votes to 258  majority 45.

(PA Graphics)

5.40pm

Labours amendment was defeated by 16 votes.

5.30pm

Picture

MPs defeated the SNP amendment to extend the Article 50 period.

They rejected amendment I by 315 votes to 93, majority 222.

(PA Graphics)

5.25pm

Anti-Brexit protesters in Westminster (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

5.15pm

Picture

MPs have defeated Labours proposal to push Theresa May to either put her Brexit deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or give Parliament the opportunity to take control of the process.

They rejected amendment A by 322 votes to 306, majority 16.

(PA Graphics)

5.10pm

Pro-EU Conservative Anna Soubry confirmed she would not push her Brexit amendment to a vote in the House of Commons, but said she would be ready to table it again in a fortnights time if the Government failed to meet her demand to publish advice it has received on the economic impact of no-deal.

Government has agreed to meet to identify and then publish the relevant papers detailing the devastating effect a #NoDeal #Brexit will have on businesss and trade. No need to push my amendment to a vote & if Govt does none of the above Ill be back on Feb 27 ...  Anna Soubry (@Anna_Soubry) February 14, 2019

5.05pm

Picture

European Research Group deputy chairman Steve Baker said there has been a collective decision by the group to abstain on the main Brexit motion if it is unamended.

4.45pm

Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street ahead of the Commons vote (Steve Parsons/PA)

4.30pm

.

Theresa May has a scared duty not to deliver Brexit, but to prevent it, former Attorney General Dominic Grieve said.

He also said that if the PM fails to stop behaving in this absolutely crazy fashion, then: There is going to become a time, when my ability to support this Government is going to run out completely.

The MP for Beaconsfield said his party leader talks about her sacred duty over Brexit, but he dismissed it as a pretty profane matter.

He said: To plunge us into a national crisis, it seems to me that we have a scared duty to prevent it  and I am therefore really alarmed that I find that she does not appear to understand that.

4.20pm

Away from the Commons, Mrs May has had further phone calls with EU leaders in a bid to keep lines of communication open.

She has spoken with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Austrias Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, prime minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden and Portuguese premier Antonio Costa today, after conversations with French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening.

4pm

MPs are debating a number of amendments to the Prime Minister's motion on leaving the European Union, but what are amendments and how do they work?



We asked Liam Laurence Smyth, the Commons Clerk of Legislation, to explain#BrexitNextSteps pic.twitter.com/Gy40gCMS0g  UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) February 14, 2019

3.40pm

Picture

Tory Brexiteer Sir William Cash (Stone) said he could not vote for the Government motion, which he labelled doublethink and said further undermines public trust.

He said: Were now truly entering the world of George Orwells Ministry of Truth.

In his book 1984 Orwell said doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in ones mind simultaneously and expecting both of them.

This double motion is doublethink in action and I cannot possibly vote for it.

3.15pm

Protests continue outside Parliament while MPs debate.

2.50pm

Labour MP Yvette Cooper (Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford) confirmed she will table an amendment to extend Article 50 in the event of no deal, which she said was vital to avoid living in a fantasy world where no deal could be avoided in another way.

Ms Cooper, who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee, said: If we dont do something sensible like this its like were just all living in a fantasy world in which we talk about alternative arrangements we say something is going to come along and sort it out and it just doesnt.

Its as if were all standing around admiring the finery of the Emperors new clothes and actually the Emperor is running around stark naked and everyone is laughing at us  or at least they would be if it wasnt so sad.

So I really hope the Government will show some responsibility, I hope they will end up supporting this Bill and I hope they will end up frankly sorting it out even before we get to that point, before it is too late.

2.40pm

Tory former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab indicated he may not support the Government in tonights vote.

Mr Raab said: We have heard nothing about whether (the Malthouse Compromise) has been formally tabled with our EU friends and partners.

I understand it has been raised and discussed with Michel Barnier but has a document, a written version of this, actually been shared? This was the basis on which the Brady amendment was adopted and I think it is a legitimate question to ask.

At the moment I am struggling with the idea of voting for the principled motion but I will listen very carefully to the further assurances ministers will give in winding up because I would rather be in a position of supporting the Government.

2.20pm

European Research Group chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was highly unlikely that eurosceptic Tories would vote against the Government in Thursday evenings votes.

Mr Rees-Mogg told ITV News: Todays business is not fundamentally important. It is all about where the Government is going.

This is a secondary issue, rather than a primary one, and that is why I think it is highly unlikely people will be voting against this motion.

Could the ERG rebellion be over?



Jacob Rees-Mogg tells @PaulBrandITV why he thinks it's 'highly unlikely people will be voting against' the government Brexit motion: https://t.co/qItFAoAL06 pic.twitter.com/Q5sVvtDaUQ  ITV News (@itvnews) February 14, 2019

2.15pm

(Tom Honan/PA)

Meanwhile in Dublin, Irish premier Leo Varadkar denied being complacent over the UK crashing out of the EU.

He said: As we are not certain we have put enormous preparations into making sure that Ireland is as ready as we can be for a no-deal, so this is not complacency, but it is competence.

Ireland certainly wants an orderly Brexit, rather than an disorderly one, the UK does too, so does the EU.

When everybody wants that to happen we will work extremely hard to achieve that but dont think for a second that is complacency at all. We are making all the preparations for a no-deal.

2pm

Picture

Sir Keir said MPs must now put a hard stop to running down the clock and so Labour will back the Yvette Cooper amendment later this month calling for an extension to Article 50 in the event of no deal being agreed by mid-March.

The simple fact is this, we cant declare that we are against a no-deal outcome and then do nothing, he said.

The Government is failing to act so we must act, hence the next step is to ensure a hard stop to running down the clock to ensure that on 27th February the Prime Minister must either put her deal or allow Parliament to decide what happens next.

I would hope that anyone who genuinely opposes no deal would see that an extension by that date, 13th March, is unavoidable.

1.45pm

Sir Keir Starmer came under pressure from his own party colleagues to confirm holding another referendum on the Brexit deal would now be the next step for Labour.

Labour MP Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) urged him to act sooner rather than later and said: The Government has clearly rejected Labours offer of a less damaging Brexit and to wait until the end of March to activate our unanimously agreed conference policy in favour of a public vote would be far, far too late.

Sir Keir admitted the Prime Minister had been non-committal but said discussions continued, although he refused to disclose details as they were confidential.

He added: There must come a point where the options are clarified and reduced, then voted upon, and I agree with that proposition and it needs to be done before the end of March.

1.40pm

Peoples Vote supporters assemble in Parliament Square (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

1.20pm

Wallasey Labour MP Angela Eagle intervened in Sir Keirs speech, saying: Is he not as astonished as I am that we have a Prime Minister and a Government that are willing to play this kind of reckless gamble with the future prosperity of our country just to keep their rotten party together.

Sir Keir replied: Well it is a gamble.

He added: The plan is to put essentially the same deal back to this House as a binary choice, my deal or no deal. Perhaps with some additional words which the attorney (general) can say have real significance, but it will be essentially the same deal. That is not holding your nerve, that is plain reckless and we have to say no.

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer addresses MPs (House of Commons/PA)

1.20pm

Sir Keir drew on his past dealings with the PM as he said he did not think Mrs May would take the UK out of the EU without a deal because of her deep sense of duty.

The former Director of Public Prosecutions said he had worked with Mrs May when she was Home Secretary, saying she had a deep sense of duty, adding: And deep down I do not think that this Prime Minister will take us out of the EU on the 29th of March, and thats the basis that we should be having this conversation.

Sir Keir also suggested the likelihood of getting an improved deal which fixes the issues some MPs have with the backstop before we are due to exit the EU are slim.

The shadow Brexit secretary said: The simple and painful truth is this; if there had been a viable alternative to the backstop there would never have been a backstop.

1.15pm

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer urged MPs not to be fooled the Prime Minister was continuing to negotiate in earnest.

He said: It is obvious what the Prime Minister is up to  she is pretending to make progress while running down the clock.

A non-update every other week to buy another two weeks of process, inching ever closer to the 29th March deadline in 43 days. We should not be fooled.

Shadow Brexit Secretary, @Keir_Starmer is speaking in favour of @jeremycorbyn's amendment to the #BrexitNextSteps motion, Amendment (a).



We asked why this amendment has been put forward. pic.twitter.com/EcEYfGXuBv  UK House of Commons (@HouseofCommons) February 14, 2019

1.10pm

Mr Barclay said the Malthouse Compromise had been taken forward with the EU and raised with the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, who had initial concerns.

Tory MP Charlie Elphicke (Dover) asked if the so-called alternative arrangements were now Government policy and asked will he take a fully worked up proposal to the EU as part of negotiations.

Mr Barclay said: We have taken it forward with the EU  I have raised it with Michel Barnier and I will be discussing it again with him.

The Malthouse Compromise contains two choices to be offered to the EU: one for how the UK will leave with a deal, and one for how it will leave without. Plan A is similar to the current Withdrawal Agreement, but with changes to the Irish backstop and the implementation period. Plan B assumes that agreement on the Withdrawal Agreement is not possible and creates a transitional standstill period.

1pm

Referring to the position of European leaders, Mr Barclay said: If the EU were to make changes to the backstop, whether that would enable a deal to pass That is why its important a clear message is sent from this House as part of those negotiations.

Colleagues should be in no doubt that the EU will be watching our votes tonight carefully for any sign that our resolve is weakening.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay speaking in the House of Commons (House of Commons/PA)

12.50pm

Mr Barclay said the desire for a deal was shared by many across the EU because they recognise that no deal is in neither sides interests. They recognise that no deal is disruptive.

DUP Westminster leader Nigel Dodds intervened: Of course we want to get a deal with the EU, but isnt it the case that if you take no deal off the table thats the surest way of ensuring the other side dig in on their current position?

So those who call for no deal to be taken off the table are actually playing into the hands of the possibility of a no deal.

No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse. pic.twitter.com/8vcDlAJeAn  Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 13, 2019

12.40pm

Opening the debate the Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said Theresa May must be given more time to take Parliaments mandate for a deal to the EU.

He said: On the 29th of January a majority of honourable and right honourable members told this House, and our country, that they would support a deal.

But this support was conditional, that members were prepared to compromise on issues but not on the overriding issue of the backstop.

Mr Barclay said todays motion confirms the Commons support for Sir Graham Bradys amendment which was passed last month, which in effect gives this Government an instruction which has been taken to our European partners.

He added it is clear the priority is to address the indefinite nature of the backstop.

(PA Graphics)

12.20pm

Commons Speaker John Bercow has selected three amendments for consideration:

 Amendment A, Labours proposal to push Theresa May to either put her Brexit deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or give Parliament the opportunity to take control of the process.

 Amendment I, the SNP push to extend the Article 50 period.

 Amendment E, Tory former minister Anna Soubry, joined by colleagues and MPs from other parties, with a proposal for the Government to publish within seven days the most recent official briefing document, relating to business and trade, on the implications of a no-deal Brexit presented to Cabinet.
Prime Minister Theresa May has made clear her admiration for her predecessor Sir Winston Churchill, after shadow chancellor John McDonnell branded him a villain.

A spokesman said the Prime Minister regarded Churchill as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century and had personally selected a portrait of him from the Governments art collection to hang on the wall of her study at Downing Street.

The Labour heavyweights comment has sparked a furious reaction from Churchills admirers, with Sir Nicholas Soames  the grandson of the wartime prime minister  dismissing it as foolish and stupid, and former foreign secretary Boris Johnson demanding a retraction.

If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. JM should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith 2/2  Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) February 14, 2019

Mr McDonnell made the comment during a sequence of quick-fire questions in an interview with the Politico website streamed live on the internet.

Asked Winston Churchill. Hero or villain? he responded with two words: Tonypandy  villain.

Churchills reputation has long been tarnished for some on the left by events in the South Wales town of Tonypandy in 1910, when troops were sent to help police deal with riots by striking miners.

His decision, as home secretary, to deploy a detachment of Lancashire Fusiliers to support police was followed by confrontations in which nearly 80 police and 500 civilians were injured and one miner died.

Churchills responsibility for the events is a matter of fierce historical debate, but Mr McDonnells response made clear that he held the former PM to blame.

Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said he viewed Sir Winston Churchill as a `villain (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

Mrs Mays official spokesman said the public will reach its own judgment on this characterisation of Sir Winston Churchill. He noted that Churchill was voted historys greatest Briton in a 2002 poll.

And he added: The Prime Minister has quoted and referenced Sir Winston Churchill on many occasions and acknowledged him as one of the great prime ministers of the 20th century.

She has a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill hung on the wall of her study in Number 10.

His strong leadership, determination and unwavering personality inspired our country through our darkest hour and helped Britain protect those values of peace and freedom that we hold so dear today.

Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too. pic.twitter.com/UEFCc7QWwv  Ian Austin (@IanAustin1965) February 13, 2019

Mr Johnson  the author of a book on the wartime prime minister  said Mr McDonnell should be ashamed of his comment.

Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable, the former foreign secretary said.

If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives.

John McDonnell should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith.

Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames told the Daily Telegraph: Frankly, its a very foolish and stupid thing to say, surely said to gain publicity.

I think my grandfathers reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I dont think it will shake the world.

And Labour MP Ian Austin voiced his disagreement by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.

Mr Austin said: Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too.

Tory former minister Robert Halfon called for a Commons statement on Sir Winstons achievements, telling MPs: Far from being a villain, Winston Churchill was not only our greatest prime minister but a wonderful social reformer and a man who defeated Nazi tyranny.

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom replied: Someone calling Sir Winston Churchill a villain is, in effect, denigrating the achievements of a man who led this country to potentially its greatest-ever contribution to global peace, and its a great shame that he was described in this way.
The Duke of Sussex has arrived in snow-covered Norway to meet British servicemen and women undertaking winter weather training.

Harry arrived on a private jet at the remote Bardufoss air station shortly after 11.15am local time (10.15am GMT), where he was greeted by UK ambassador to Norway Richard Wood.

The Duke of Sussex arrives for a visit to Exercise Clockwork in Bardufoss, Norway (Victoria Jones/PA)

The duke is spending his first Valentines Day as a married man in one of the planets harshest climates, although the temperature of minus 2C (28.4F) was much milder than the minus 35C (minus 31F) servicemen and women can expect.

Harrys trip marks the 50th anniversary of Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying to the remote base, where military personnel are taught how to survive, operate and fight in the sub-zero conditions, as well as gaining experience of operating aircraft in severe cold weather and mountainous environments.

Harry is briefed on the history and context of Clockwork during the visit (Victoria Jones/PA)

The multinational Exercise Clockwork, hosted by the Norwegian armed forces, comprises environmental flying qualifications, cold weather survival, and snow and ice driving courses.

The duke, in his role as Captain General Royal Marines, will spend the afternoon meeting military personnel living and training at the base.

The Duke of Sussex (centre) was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in December 2017 (Victoria Jones/PA)

He will also see field tents, snow vehicles and a Quincey Shelter, a makeshift shelter built of snow in which the elite forces are able to camp.

Harry was appointed Captain General Royal Marines in December 2017, taking over the role from his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, who held the appointment for 64 years.

Harry took part in ski training in Novo, Antarctica, in 2013 (Walking With The Wounded/PA)

He already has experience of colder climates, facing temperatures as low as minus 35C (minus 31F) on charity expeditions.

Harry took part in treks to the North Pole in 2011 and South Pole in 2013 with Walking With The Wounded.

Harrys visit to Exercise Clockwork in Bardufoss, Norway, marks the 50th anniversary of the Commando Helicopter Force and Joint Helicopter Command deploying for extreme cold weather training (Victoria Jones/PA)

Lieutenant Colonel David West, officer commanding Exercise Clockwork, said: We are celebrating 50 years of Exercise Clockwork today and are honoured to be able to welcome the Captain General of the Royal Marines to Bardufoss to mark the occasion.

Harry is used to rigours of harsh climates and so will fully understand the dangers of trying to live and operate in such an extreme environment.

Clockwork continues to deliver vital training for our people.

The temperature when the Duke of Sussex arrived in Norway was minus 2C (28.4F) - much milder than the minus 35C (minus 31F) servicemen and women can expect (Victoria Jones/PA)

It provides essential experience in flying and surviving in the extreme cold hundreds of miles inside the Arctic Circle.

For 50 years Commando Helicopter Force and its predecessors have operated in this region and the skills learnt here are more relevant than ever.
A sordid and petty criminal has been handed a 15-year prison sentence for killing a 100-year-old Nazi prison camp survivor in a street robbery.

Self-confessed heroin addict Artur Waszkiewicz attacked Zofija Kaczan from behind as she was walking to church  knocking her to the ground, snatching her handbag and leaving her bleeding in the road on May 28 last year.

Polish-born widow Ms Kaczan survived the unimaginable horror of a prison camp and even imminent execution at the hands of the Nazis in her home country  but her life was instead ended by the drug addict who needed 20 to buy heroin.

Polish-born Zofija Kaczan died after suffering multiple injuries in an attack in Derby on May 28 (Stacia Fitzsimmons/PA)

Ms Kaczan, who had prayed for the mugger shortly after the robbery, suffered multiple injuries including a fractured neck and cheekbone  something a judge described as a crime of the meanest, most despicable type.

She died from pneumonia in hospital on June 6  a condition brought on by the injuries from the attack close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherds Bush, west London, was unanimously convicted of manslaughter and robbery by a jury at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday.

Artur Waszkiewicz was found guilty of killing frail widow Zofija Kaczan in a street robbery (Derbyshire Police/PA)

As the 40-year-old was sentenced on Thursday, Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, bowed his head throughout the sentencing hearing flanked by one dock officer.

The muggers latest convictions have been added to a series of other offences  including battery, shoplifting, creating fake identity documents and motoring offences.

After striking Ms Kaczan from behind, Waszkiewicz then snatched her green handbag with so much force that the handle was ripped off and the pensioner was left with severe bruising on her arm.

Zofija Kaczans injuries after the attack by Artur Waszkiewicz (Derbyshire Police/PA)

Jailing Waszkiewicz, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: In this trial, you demonstrated the arrogance of the cowardly petty criminal you are.

The evidence you faced overwhelmingly showed you to have been the man who attacked Zofija Kaczan on May 28 last year, soon after her 100th birthday.

True to your nature as a petty criminal and heroin addict, this was opportunist crime of the meanest, most despicable type.

The judge continued: You are a coward. Of course, you did not know that Mrs Kaczan was as old as 100 years, but you certainly knew she was elderly, and you could see that she was diminutive  she was vulnerable and that you knew full well when you chose to attack her.

You pushed her from behind with considerable force and at the same time you snatched her handbag, again with considerable force.

All this for modest gain and for you to satisfy your craving for heroin.

There is tragic irony in the fact that Mrs Kaczan had survived the unimaginable horror of a Nazi concentration camp and slave labour, as well as imminent execution  only to meet her end because of the cowardly and sordid actions of a petty criminal and drug addict on the streets of Derby.

The judge added: Mrs Kaczan would not have wanted her life to be defined by the circumstances of her death. She had prayed for and forgiven her attacker which is testament to the good person she was.

Ms Kaczan had been separated from her family during the war but had managed to find peace with her husband when she moved to Derby in 1948.

Friends said she did not want to celebrate her 100th birthday because the day marked the same date she had been sentenced to death by the Nazis.

Police arrested Waszkiewicz after finding his fingerprint on a receipt in the handbag and spotting his Seat Leon car on CCTV at the scene at the time of the attack.

Artur Waszkiewiczs Seat Leon car was seen close to the scene where 100 year-old Zofija Kaczan was attacked (Derbyshire Police/PA)

He attempted to cover his tracks in the days following the robbery  cleaning his car, drastically altering his appearance and changing the insurance details on the car.

Despite his efforts, the killer was arrested after he was found hiding under a bed at his mothers address in Shepherds Bush.

When questioned by police, Waszkiewicz originally said he was too unfit to be interviewed due to his withdrawal from heroin.

His trial heard he was so desperate to find cash for drugs that he had tried to sell his dog, and asked neighbour John Shinners for money.

He needed an easy target to steal from and decided to pick on small, vulnerable Ms Kaczan.

Zofija Kaczan, 100, had left her home to walk to the St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church before she was attacked on May 28 (PA)

The muggers defence barrister David Nathan QC told the court: Mr Waszkiewicz did not simply rob Ms Kaczan of her handbag, he robbed her of her life.

I would respectfully submit he is not a monster.

No doubt over the last few months in custody he will have realised what he has thrown away.

After Waszkiewiczs conviction, a spokeswoman for the Polish community of St Maksymilian Kolbe, the church Ms Kaczan attended, said: She had a very difficult early life. Coming to Derby in 1949, she had found a degree of stability and tranquillity. That tranquillity was shattered by the brutal events of May 28 2018.

Despite the pain and suffering that she was in for the last week of her life, she had the capacity to pray for her attacker before she died. We believe she has found peace in the arms of her Heavenly Father.
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo will attend Emiliano Salas funeral in Argentina on Saturday.

The 28-year-old had signed for Cardiff in a club-record 15million move from Nantes last month, but was killed when the private plane carrying him crashed in the English Channel near Alderney.

Salas body was recovered from the wreckage last Thursday. Pilot David Ibbotson remains missing, with funds being raised to continue the search, to which Cardiff owner Vincent Tan has made a personal donation of 50,000.

A club spokesman told Press Association Sport that Warnock and Choo will be part of a Cardiff delegation attending the funeral in the town of Progreso in the Argentinian province of Santa Fe.

Cardiff do not have a game this weekend as they are out of the FA Cup, and the club delegation is expected to be back in south Wales on Sunday or Monday.

Salas body will be repatriated to Argentina on Friday ahead of a wake at boyhood club San Martin de Progreso the following day.

San Martin de Progreso posted an emotional tribute on Facebook, saying: We are waiting for youlike the first day you left but this time to stay with us forever.

You went and you are an example for everyone. Eternally in our hearts.

Ouest France have reported that Salas former club Nantes will be represented at the funeral by central defender Nicolas Pallois and general secretary Loic Morin.

Pallois, a close friend of Sala, will miss Nantes Ligue 1 game at Monaco on Saturday to attend the funeral.

Tributes have been laid to Emiliano Sala outside the Cardiff City Stadium (Aaron Chown/PA)

Cardiff have pledged to continue working with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch to establish how the single-engine Piper Malibu aircraft came down in the English Channel on June 21.

In a statement released last week, Tan said: Cardiff City will continue to work with the AAIB and investigators to find out how the crash happened and to assist Emilianos family.

We have offered to them to arrange to take Emiliano back to rest with his family in Argentina.

Even though he will be there his soul will always be in our hearts. We feel a tremendous loss but the biggest loss is borne by Salas family. 
The Duke of Edinburgh hit the headlines early in the new year when he miraculously escaped serious injury in a car crash involving a mother and a baby.

The 97-year-old had been quietly enjoying his retirement before becoming embroiled in the road accident and ensuing PR disaster.

The Duke of Edinburgh driving from Sandringham Parish Church in 2002 (Haydn West/PA)

On the afternoon of January 17, the Land Rover Freelander Philip was driving was hit by another vehicle when he pulled out of a driveway on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk on to a busy A road, after being dazzled by the low sun.

The dukes car flipped over and he was trapped, and had to be rescued through the sun roof by a passing motorist.

Philip, who was driving without a protection officer, was left very shocked and shaken.

He reportedly said Im such a fool as he was pulled from the wrecked car by witness Roy Warne.

Buckingham Palace said well-wishes had been exchanged with the occupants, but Ms Fairweather said she had only received a message from her police family liaison officer saying: The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you.

She described her upset that no-one from the royal family had contacted her to offer an apology.

Shortly before her newspaper interview was made public, a lady-in-waiting for the Queen called and left a voicemail.

The duke was given a precautionary check-up in hospital the day after the crash, and was said to have no injuries of the concern.

The Queen talking to the Duke of Edinburgh during the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Windsor Castle in Berkshire (Steve Parsons/PA)

Criticism was levelled at Philip for driving at the age of 97.

But AA president Edmund King said GP and family advice is more significant than a persons age when it comes to how long someone should keep driving.

The dukes brand-new replacement Land Rover was delivered to the Sandringham estate just hours after the incident.

He was then seen driving without a seatbelt 48 hours after the crash.

Ms Fairweather branded Philip highly insensitive and inconsiderate, and he was accused by the chairman of the British Safety Council of sending the wrong message to the rest of us by not wearing his seatbelt.

Police spoke to the duke about the legal requirement to wear a belt and he also underwent an eyesight test, which he passed.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh (Steve Parsons/PA)

Author Gyles Brandreth wrote in The Oldie magazine: What the pictures of the prince back behind the wheel  show is that he wants to live the rest of his life his way and is determined to do just that.

The duke eventually got in touch with those involved in the accident in the days that followed, writing in a letter to Ms Fairweather: I would like you to know how very sorry I am for my part in the accident at the Babingley crossroads.

He added of her broken arm: I am deeply sorry about this injury.

I wish you a speedy recovery from a very distressing experience.

Three weeks after the crash, Buckingham Palace announced that Philips driving days on public roads were finally over.

After careful consideration the Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving licence, the palace said.

Norfolk Police confirmed that a file on the investigation into the crash had been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which, five days later, announced that Philip will face no further action.

Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East of England, said the level of culpability, the dukes age and his surrender of his driving licence had been taken into account, and it had been decided it is not in the public interest to prosecute.
Further questions remain after it emerged police in Northern Ireland failed to disclose significant information relating to a notorious loyalist mass shooting, politicians have said.

Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire found that significant, sensitive information around a mass shooting at a bookmakers in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

Five people were killed on February 5 1992 when members of the loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) opened fire on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop on the lower Ormeau Road.

Police did not disclose sensitive troubles related information: Police Ombudsman

https://t.co/2n1acH2kXU  Police Ombudsman NI (@PONIPressOffice) February 14, 2019

The ombudsmans office said the material in question has opened new lines of inquiry in its investigation into the Ormeau Road shootings, as well as activities of loyalist paramilitaries in the north west between 1988 and 1994; and its investigation into the murder of teenager Damien Walsh at a coal depot in west Belfast in 1993.

Reports outlining the findings of these investigations, which had been due to be published in the coming weeks, will now be delayed.

Dr Maguire has contacted the Department of Justice to ask that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) faces a review of how it discloses information.

Tommy Duffin, whose father Jack was killed in the Ormeau Road shooting, told the BBC that it was an absolute disgrace.

Mark Sykes, who was injured in the loyalist attack, said he felt sick, angry and lied to.

To be told yesterday that there were documents withheld from him was sickening, he said.

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin has apologised on behalf of the police, and said they never sought to withhold the information from the ombudsman investigators, putting the incident down to human error.

Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologised on behalf of the police (Rebecca Black/PA)

He has also offered to give ombudsman investigators full and unfettered access to police legacy systems.

Democratic Unionist MLA Mervyn Storey welcomed the apology from police, but said a thorough review is needed to ensure that there is no impediment to justice.

We need to recognise that the police worked to gather information during a terrorist campaign, he said.

Evidence-gathering took place in an often dangerous and difficult environment.

That terrorist campaign resulted in brutality and the loss of many innocent lives.

Today there are families who are still looking for answers and justice. Therefore it is important that any new information is fully investigated.

I will be raising this matter during our discussions at a Policing Board level.

We welcome the police apology. Further questions remain. A thorough review is needed to ensure that there is no impediment to justice.

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said he is seeking an urgent meeting with Chief Constable George Hamilton over the matter.

The revelations that the police failed to disclose key information to investigations by the Police Ombudsman into dozens of killings by loyalist death squads is appalling and unacceptable.

We have sought urgent meeting with Chief Constable and will meet with the Ombusman https://t.co/9otvAehjMy  Michelle ONeill (@moneillsf) February 14, 2019

We will also be meeting the Police Ombudsman to discuss this latest failure to disclose information to his investigations and will be raising this at the Policing Board, he said.

The continued denial of truth and justice to victims of the conflict reaffirms the need for an end to the delays in implementing the legacy structures agreed by the two governments and the political parties at Stormont House in 2014.

The PSNI or the British Government saying sorry is not enough. Confidence in policing is diving to its lowest level in many years. Immediate action is needed.
The Duke of Edinburgh is to face no further action over his Sandringham car crash, the Crown Prosecution Service has said.

Philip, 97, voluntarily surrendered his driving licence on Saturday.

He has apologised for his part in an accident on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk when his Land Rover Freelander collided with another car carrying a baby last month, leaving two women needing hospital treatment.

Some 48 hours after the crash he was pictured driving without a seatbelt, prompting criticism.

Broken glass and car parts on the side of the A149 (John Stillwell/PA)

Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS East of England, said it had been decided it was not in the public interest to prosecute.

The CPS has carefully reviewed material submitted by the police in relation to a traffic collision on the A149 on 17 January this year, he said.

We took into account all of the circumstances in this case, including the level of culpability, the age of the driver and the surrender of the driving licence.

We have decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute.

All those involved in the collision have been informed and provided with a full explanation in writing.

The Queen and the duke at Princesss Eugenies wedding (Alastair Grant/PA)

The decision was made after considering all the evidence submitted by the police and in accordance with the two-stage test in the Code for Crown Prosecutors.

A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: The Duke of Edinburgh respects the decision taken by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Philip is believed to have remained at Sandringham, where he is spending much of his retirement, when the Queen returned to London this week following her annual winter break on the Norfolk estate.

He was left shocked and shaken by the crash on the busy A149, which happened when he pulled out of a driveway after being dazzled by low sun on January 17.

The Crown Prosecution Service has decided that no further action should be taken against a driver involved in a collision on the A149 at Sandringham https://t.co/FusGDMpFxl  CPS (@cpsuk) February 14, 2019

His car flipped over and he was trapped before being rescued by a passing motorist.

The nine-month-old baby boy in the other car was unhurt, but both women were treated in hospital, and passenger Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist, called for Philip to be prosecuted if found to be at fault.

In a TV exclusive we talk to Emma Fairweather - who was in the car which collided with Prince Philip's Land Rover - to explain how the accident unfolded pic.twitter.com/4pco9wDVgb  This Morning (@thismorning) January 21, 2019

The duke faced criticism for taking too long to contact the occupants of the other car and for being seen driving without his seatbelt in the days that followed.

Although Philip has given up driving on public roads, he is still legally allowed to drive around private royal estates.
I saw that the Weather Channel was forecasting a major nor'easter and that rain would continue for several days. We had been in the grips of an early fall heat wave with 90-degree weather and humidity ... a mini-drought, if you could call it that. Over the next 24 hours things were about to change, and do so drastically. I made plans.

With temperatures to drop, cloud cover to increase and winds to pick up, I figured my best chance to make a decent catch was to fish ahead of the front, before any substantial rain and falling temperatures would cause a complete washout. I had four hours - time to make a move.

With a couple of plastic containers of worms and a pair of ultra-light spinning outfits, I made my way to one of my favorite central Maryland public fishing lakes in quest of panfish action. Just to see if the fish might turn on and make it a good outing, I pitched out a simple bobber/worm rig and let it bounce along naturally with the chop of the wind. I was not ready for what would happen.

The short story went like this: 118 total fish, mostly bluegills, red-ear sunfish, catfish and crappies. Many were small, but along with the pile of marginal panfish was a mix of 14 largemouth bass, seven of which exceeded 4 pounds, and two were around 5. My top five fish would have been around 22 pounds. All were caught on diminutive gear and 2- and 4-pound test. All were caught from the shore and everything was released.

It was one of the most incredible days of fishing I had ever had, the kind of day you never forget.

My question is this, was the weather THAT critical in the ultimate outcome of this trip?

Had the falling barometer had so much effect on these fish as to turn everything on in the lake?

Or, was I just lucky, never to have this happen again?

Clearly, weather influences and affects fish behavior in very strong ways. There is a ton of internet reading devoted to the subject, much of which deals with barometric pressure and its immediate effect on fish life. Many scientist believe that even slight drops in barometric pressure triggers fish into feeding activities, as the swim bladders adjust to pressure changes within the underwater atmosphere. It certainly wasn't the first time I had a wild, crazy fishing just before a major front had moved in, and I hope it won't be the last!

An interesting article by fisheries biologist Ralph Manns on the In Fisherman website, entitled "Barometric Pressure and Bass," tries to explain what major, oncoming fronts do, and do not do, to fish behavior.

In short, Manns' biological crews conducted underwater observations in a series of Texas lakes to determine the fish behavior during the climatic changes. Additionally, Manns felt that the drop in barometric pressure was just one of several factors that contributed to feeding frenzies at the onset of major weather changes. His studies observed fish close to the shorelines, mid-depth and open water (schooling) bass.

He concluded that a percentage of bass from all environs were, in some way affected by the change in barometer. He felt that other associated factors with frontal passages ... cloud cover, wind and noticeable temperature drop, were at least as much of the puzzle piece as the barometric pressure changes.

Traditionally, dropping barometric pressure is associated with deteriorating weather conditions, much as what we just experienced with the coastal north east storm that dumped a bunch of rain on us and dropped air temperatures dramatically.

On the East Coat of the United States, these "coastal lows" tend to put barometric pressures lower than in , say, mid-west storm fronts that are not associated with tropical events like we see here.

Coupled with increased cloud cover, diminished sunlight penetration and surface wave action, fish get plenty of signals that a major change in the weather is about to happen and that environmental activity will slow down and all but come to a halt during a storm event. However, just before the onslaught, it is time to party.

Scientists have yet to understand completely the total picture here. But obviously, there is often a dramatic increase in fish feeding behavior just prior to major frontal movements, nationwide.

Most serious anglers have experienced it first hand, and can recall one, if not several, trips where fish were wildly feeding despite the impending bad weather that was forecasted. This phenomena even occurs with the ice fishing crowd in the upper Mid West, as one storm front after the other can trigger, then subdue, a walleye or panfish bite through 20 inches of ice. Crazy!

So what does this mean to us average guys that just want to take advantage of a hot bite?

Well, if at all possible, get out ahead of the storm, and worry about milk, bread and toilet paper on the way home from one of the greatest fishing trips you'll ever have, just ahead of the storm!


Foster carers are desperately needed at a time of unprecedented pressure on Northern Irelands care system, a senior social worker has said.

There are more than 3,000 children in care, with around 16 young people newly admitted each week in the 2017-18 year.

Finding a bigger range of carers who can look after children with different needs is a priority, said Colm McCafferty, assistant director of corporate parenting with the Southern Trust.

There has never been a higher number of looked after children in Northern Ireland, he said.

Colm McCafferty has worked in social care for 25 years (Southern Trust/PA)

Theres unprecedented pressures on the foster care system to meet the needs of children coming in.

Friday marks the fourth annual care day, celebrating children who have had experience of the care system, and their carers.

As of March 2018, there were 3,109 children in care  a figure which increased by almost a quarter since 2011, according to the Department of Health.

The Southern Trust had the largest proportion of admissions across all of Northern Irelands five trusts in the 2017-18 year.

Mr McCafferty, who has been a social worker for 25 years, said while the trust is successful in placing around one in three children with their extended family, the rest need other placements.

He said foster carers who can take in siblings, look after young people with disabilities, and carers from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds are particularly welcome.

He said: Every child is unique, every foster carer is unique. Every foster carer has his or her own priorities whether its to their own family or, in many circumstances, to the foster children theyre already committed to, so we would desperately want to have a broader pool of carers to enable us to get that match right from the outset.

The greater number of children in need is a reflection of significantly increased complexities in society including the effects of austerity on vulnerable families, he said.

I think vulnerable families are less equipped to deal with pressures, he said.

Going back maybe a generation, I think there were more sophisticated extended family support networks whereas a lot of the children that now come in to the care system dont have that extended family network.

While fostering is a challenging experience, it is also a very rewarding one, said Mr McCafferty, whose own parents became foster carers.

He said: Fostering can be a really, really rewarding and positive experience.

The vast majority of those children (in care in the Southern Trust) are in very settled, long-term foster placements and become very, very ingrained into that family.

Its a two-way relationship. I certainly know foster carers who see the benefits and see a child making progress. Its exceptionally rewarding.

Care Day takes place across the UK on February 15, celebrating the rights and experiences of young people who are or have been in care.

A gala show, organised by Northern Ireland charity Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC), is due to be held at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Friday evening.

To find out more about fostering, visit www.adoptionandfostering.hscni.net or contact the Regional Fostering Service on 08000720137.
A new way of delivering neonatal care is being tested at four Scottish hospitals, with the aim of improving maternity services for mothers and babies.

The focus of the new model is continuity of care and making sure newborns with specialist requirements get the best start possible.

Expectant mothers will receive care from a primary midwife alongside a small team for their whole maternity journey, the Scottish Government said, while support will be on hand to help parents with babies in neonatal units.

The new package of measures, backed with 12 million of Government cash, is being tested at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.

Babies needing the most specialist care will be treated at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow before returning to their local neonatal unit.

The model will also be trialled between Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh later this year.

The government is testing a new neonatal care model backed by 12 million investment (Katie Collins/PA)

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: These steps to transform our maternity services will ensure mums, babies and other family members are all supported from pregnancy to birth and after.

To achieve this, we are looking at community maternity services right through to the care for the most premature babies, where we know outcomes are improved when they are in a unit with a higher throughput of cases and where support services, such as surgery, are nearby.

The new model follows recommendations made in the report The Best Start: A Five Year Forward Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Care, published in January 2017.

There are around 55,000 babies born each year in Scotland, according to Government figures, with about 6,500 admitted to neonatal care.

Of these babies around 1,500 are admitted to neonatal intensive care.

Professor Hazel Borland, nurse director at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: Our maternity and neonatal teams are dedicated to providing the best possible care to babies and their mums in the safest and most appropriate environment.

A particular focus for us has been striving for continuity of midwife during pregnancy, and implementing transitional care. This change in working aims to keep babies who need a higher level of care and their mums together.
MPs have the opportunity to express their views on Brexit in a series of Valentines Day votes in the House of Commons.

The greatest threat to the Prime Ministers majority appears to come on her own motion, with Conservative eurosceptics threatening to rebel over fears it could commit Theresa May to ruling out a no-deal Brexit.

A variety of amendments have been tabled, with Commons Speaker John Bercow selecting which go to a debate and vote. Votes on amendments will not be legally binding on the Government.

Here are the proposals on the order paper:

 Government motion

This apparently innocuous motion asks the House to welcome Mrs Mays statement on Tuesday, setting out progress in Brexit talks, note that talks on the Irish backstop are ongoing and reiterate its support for the approach to negotiations agreed the last time MPs voted, on January 29. The problem for the Government is that MPs voted that day not only to authorise the PM to go back to Brussels and seek a replacement for the controversial Irish backstop, but also for a non-binding motion which would rule out a no-deal outcome. Leave-supporting backbenchers from the European Research Group fear that this would effectively mean signing up to a bar on no-deal.

 Labour amendment

Tabled by Jeremy Corbyn and his frontbench, this would require the Government to either call a vote on its withdrawal plan by February 27 or hand control to Parliament to decide the next steps. Liberal Democrats have tacked on their own amendment to this proposal, calling for a second referendum as endorsed by the Labour Party conference.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is seeking a meaningful vote by February 27 (House of Commons/PA)

 Alternative vote

A cross-party amendment tabled by the Father of the House, veteran Tory europhile Kenneth Clarke, would allow MPs to vote on their preferred Brexit outcome. Any Brexit option which secures the signatures of 50 or more MPs would be included on a ballot paper, and MPs would be asked to rank them in order of preference. Using an alternative vote system, the least popular option would be excluded and second-preference votes redistributed until one outcome has more than half the votes. There would then be a vote in the Commons on this option. This proposal has the backing of senior Labour backbenchers including Harriet Harman and Jack Dromey as well as Tory Remainers Dominc Grieve and Anna Soubry.

Father of the House Kenneth Clarke wants MPs to vote on Brexit options (Chris McAndrew/UK Parliament/PA)

 Revoke Article 50

Tabled by the Scottish National Partys Angus MacNeil and backed by Mr Clarke, this amendment calls on the Government to revoke the letter informing the European Council of the UKs intention to leave the EU under Article 50 of the treaties, thus ending the Brexit process and allowing Britain to remain a member of the EU.

 Publish the papers



This amendment  backed by 60 critics of Brexit from across the House  instructs the Government to publish its most recent official briefings on the implications of a no-deal Brexit for business and trade. Tablers Anna Soubry and Chuka Umunna believe the papers presented to Cabinet paint a chilling picture of the damage which no-deal will do.

 Indicative votes

This calls for a series of votes on February 26 on various Brexit options including the PMs Withdrawal Agreement, no-deal, renegotiation of the backstop, a Canada-style deal, Norway-style membership of the EEA and a second referendum. If only one option wins a majority, Mrs May would be required to ask for an extension to Article 50 beyond its March 29 deadline to pursue that outcome. If two or more won majorities, the PM would be required to hold a public vote on those options. If none commanded a majority of MPs, Mrs May would have to call a second referendum with the options of her deal or Remain. Tabled by Conservative Remainer Sarah Wollaston, the proposal has backing from opponents of Brexit across the House.

 Plaid Cymru option

Backed by the Welsh nationalist partys four MPs, this requires the Government to extend Article 50 to provide time for a referendum on Mrs Mays deal or Remain. If no extension is allowed by the EU, the Government would be required to commit itself to a referendum at the end of the transition period in 2021 on whether the UK should rejoin the EU.

 Close alignment

An amendment signed by a small group of Labour and Plaid MPs, and tabled by Swansea Wests Geraint Davies, would require an extension of Article 50 and a commitment from the PM to seek a deal  subject to ratification in a referendum  which leaves the option open for future governments to adopt Labours current vision for post-Brexit relations with the EU, including a customs union and close alignment with the single market.

 SNP option

Tabled by the SNPs Westminster leader Ian Blackford, this would require the Government to negotiate an extension of at least three months to the Article 50 process.

Liberal Democrats are seeking a second referendum (Gareth Fuller/PA)

 Liberal Democrat amendment

Liberal Democrats led by Sir Vince Cable are proposing an extension to Article 50 beyond March 29 to allow time for a second referendum with Remain on the ballot paper.

 Three-option referendum

Tabled by Labour backbencher Roger Godsiff, this would require any withdrawal agreement approved by Parliament to be put to the public in a referendum. The ballot paper would have three options  to accept the agreement, leave with no deal or remain in the EU  and voters would be asked to rank them in order of preference under the alternative vote system.
Tory MPs have been warned against rebelling in a key Commons vote on the Prime Ministers EU withdrawal stance as it could send the wrong signal to Brussels.

Eurosceptic Conservatives are threatening to oppose the Governments motion when the Commons votes again on Brexit options on Thursday evening.

Tory critics insist the motion effectively means Theresa May is abandoning a no-deal exit option.

But International Trade Secretary Liam Fox told potential rebels Parliament was not an internal debating society and European negotiators would be watching to see if MPs were showing consistency.

What we say is looked at and listened to by those that we are negotiating with, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme.

They will be looking to see whether Parliament is showing consistency because in the debates and the votes we had recently there were two things: one was that Parliament said we dont want there to be no deal, and that we will sign up to the Prime Ministers deal if we are able to get changes to the Irish backstop.

Our European partners will be watching our debate and listening today to see if they get the impression that if they were to make those concessions, Parliament would definitely deliver on that.

Dr Fox added: I think that theres a danger that we send the wrong signals, and I think that we need to understand that the public want us to leave the European Union but they would prefer us to leave the European Union with a deal.

And therefore Parliament has got a duty to ensure that we send the correct signals that represent those views of the British people and represent them to those we are negotiating with.

But former Brexit minister Steve Baker said Conservatives should not be associated with anything that seems to take no deal off the table.

Members of the European Research Group of Leave-backing Tories have been pressing the Government for two days to amend the wording of the motion to avoid any suggestion that it endorsed a block on no-deal. But Downing Street confirmed on Thursday morning that it would not be changed.

ERG sources said conversations would continue over the course of the day and declined to put any figure on the size of any potential rebellion.

(PA Graphics)

But Eurosceptic backbencher Lee Rowley told the Press Association: The Government is essentially asking me to vote for something tonight  taking no deal off the table  which isnt Government policy.

We are all genuinely scratching our heads this morning asking what on Earth they are doing. Instead of putting forward badly-worded motions, the Government should be properly focusing on the Malthouse compromise  the one and only option which brings together Leavers and Remainers and, vitally, will command a majority in Parliament.

Mrs Mays official spokesman told reporters: It is important that MPs support the Prime Minister today in order to send another clear message to Brussels on the need to address Parliaments concerns about the backstop, so we cna leave on time with a deal on March 29.

The latest showdown comes as European Council president Donald Tusk expressed frustration at a lack of progress in London.

No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse. pic.twitter.com/8vcDlAJeAn  Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 13, 2019

He tweeted: No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse.

Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

Mrs Mays spokesman said that the PM had been clear about her position in talks with EU leaders including Mr Tusk over the past fortnight.

I dont think the Prime Minister had left her fellow leaders in any doubt as to what is necessary in order for Parliament to support the deal, he said.

Responding to Mr Ruttes comment, the PMs spokesman added: I disagree entirely. Employment is at a record high, exports are at a record high, companies are continuing to invest in the UK.

Deloitte named the UK as Europes leading destination for foreign direct investment and London as the worlds top city for investment just last month.

In a bid to keep lines open with EU leaders, Mrs May spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening and is expected to make further phone calls over the course of Thursday.

But she faces an immediate threat in the Commons as Tory Brexiteers have expressed concern over part of the Government motion.

Many back the fact it reiterates support for the direction agreed on January 29, when MPs supported an amendment authorising Mrs May to return to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

But members of the backbench European Research Group (ERG) say it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs that day, which rules out no deal but is not binding on the Government.

Though Mrs May is expected to be able to weather a defeat on the Government motion, such an outcome would be embarrassing as she seeks to get the EU to agree to changes regarding withdrawal proposals.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Corbyn is facing up to 10 resignations from Labours top team if he fails to push the case for a new Brexit referendum, according to The Guardian.

Jeremy Corbyn (House of Commons/PA)

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has insisted that the option of a new Brexit poll remains on the table as he admitted Labours preferred scenario of a snap general election is looking unlikely.

Labour has tabled an amendment to the Government motion requiring Mrs May to either put her deal to a Commons vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

The Labour leadership is also set to back a proposal from backbencher Yvette Cooper, expected to be debated on February 27, that would require a vote by the middle of March on delaying Brexit.
Airbus hoped the A380 would revolutionise passenger air travel when the aircraft began flying in 2007, but strong demand failed to materialise.

The strategy was based on a belief that airlines would crave the superjumbos to move customers between hub airports.

Passengers give strong satisfaction ratings for the double-decker aircraft, which carry around 500 to 600 people.

With the delivery of 800 commercial aircraft in 2018, Airbus sets another record with deliveries up for the 16th year in a row. Last year's 747 net orders bring our backlog to 7,577 aircraft, an industry record. https://t.co/9GCP4oHJwk pic.twitter.com/4idJilXxCy  Airbus (@Airbus) January 9, 2019

But the development of smaller, long-range planes that are more fuel-efficient and can connect smaller airports led to its demise.

Rival aircraft manufacturer Boeing has also struggled to find customers for its first double-decker plane, the 747.

Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways parent company IAG, has described the asking price of the A380 as outrageous.

A British Airways Airbus A380 plane flying with the RAFs Red Arrows (Steve Parsons/PA)

The A380 programme was delayed and over budget, and did not turn a profit as Emirates was the only carrier to place significant orders.

As of last month, Airbus had received 313 orders for the aircraft. A reasonable target was believed to be around 600.
Cake chain Patisserie Valerie has been bought out of administration by an Irish private equity firm, safeguarding nearly 2,000 jobs.

Dublin-based Causeway Capital Partners has snapped up 96 Patisserie Valerie sites. However, the deal does not include outlets belonging to sister brands Philpotts and Baker & Spice.

In a separate deal, food wholesaler A.F. Blakemore & Son has picked up all 21 Philpotts stores and an announcement regarding Baker & Spice will be made imminently.

Patisserie Valerie, which was chaired by businessman Luke Johnson, was put up for sale last month after collapsing following the discovery of fraudulent activity in its accounts.

Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley subsequently submitted a bid for the chain, but later withdrew it, complaining that he had been locked out of the process by KPMG, which is managing the administration.

Causeway Capitals Matt Scaife said on Thursday: Patisserie Valerie is heritage brand, much loved by its loyal customers. This investment should mark the end of a turbulent period for customers and suppliers alike.

Patisserie Valerie has been bought out of administration (:auren Hurley/PA)

The cake firms parent company, Patisserie Holdings, has been grappling with the fallout of the accounting fraud since October.

Last month the firm said the extent of fraud meant it was unable to renew its bank loans with HSBC and Barclays and it did not have sufficient funding to continue trading, leaving it with no option but to appoint KPMG as administrator.

KPMG has already closed 70 stores, resulting in 920 redundancies.

Patisserie Valerie chief executive Steve Francis said: We are delighted to welcome Causeway Capital as our partners in Patisserie Valerie, ending a disruptive period of uncertainty for the business.

The affection and loyalty for the brand among our customers and employees, and Causeway Capitals enthusiasm and support for the business, creates for us the foundations for an exciting future for the business. 
Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has called on shadow chancellor John McDonnell to withdraw his description of wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill as a villain.

The Labour heavyweight made the comment in response to a sequence of quick-fire questions in an interview with Politico streamed live on the internet, one of which asked: Winston Churchill. Hero or villain?

His response made clear that he held the former PM to blame for sending in troops to help police deal with striking Welsh miners when home secretary in 1910.

Mr McDonnell answered with two words: Tonypandy  villain.

If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. JM should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith 2/2  Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) February 14, 2019

Churchills reputation has long been tarnished for some on the left by events in the South Wales town of Tonypandy more than a century ago.

His decision to deploy a detachment of Lancashire Fusiliers to support police dealing with riots was followed by confrontations in which nearly 80 police and 500 civilians were injured and one miner died. His responsibility for the events is a matter of fierce historical debate.

Winston Churchill seated at his desk in the No 10 Annexe Map Room, May 1945 (Imperial War Museums/PA)

The shadow chancellors judgment on the man voted the greatest Briton in a BBC poll in 2002 sparked immediate controversy.

Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of the former Conservative prime minister, told the Daily Telegraph: Frankly, its a very foolish and stupid thing to say, surely said to gain publicity.

I think my grandfathers reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I dont think it will shake the world.

And Labour MP Ian Austin voiced his disagreement by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.

Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too. pic.twitter.com/UEFCc7QWwv  Ian Austin (@IanAustin1965) February 13, 2019

Mr Austin said: Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Johnson  the author of a book on the wartime prime minister  said: Winston Churchill saved this country and the whole of Europe from a barbaric fascist and racist tyranny and our debt to him is incalculable.

If John McDonnell had the slightest knowledge of history he would be aware that Churchill also had an extraordinary record as a social reformer who cared deeply for working people and their lives. JM should be utterly ashamed of his remarks and withdraw them forthwith.
Police in Papua New Guinea are searching for scores of high-end cars that went missing after an international summit last year.

About 275 cars are still unaccounted for in the impoverished Pacific nation since it hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) summit in November.

Many residents denounced the country at the time for buying 40 expensive Maseratis to ferry around world leaders, cars which it later planned to sell. Although the Maseratis are now accounted for, other cars are not.

Police Superintendent Dennis Corcoran said he was hoping to pick up one of the missing cars, which somebody had tried to sell.

Mike Pence was among the dignitaries at the summit (Michael Sohn/AP)

The thief had disappeared, he said. The driver absconded. But we got the vehicle.

Mr Corcoran would not elaborate much on the operation due to delicate sensitivities around his work.

Since the summit, soldiers and police have blockaded government buildings and stormed parliament in an ongoing pay dispute over Apec security work.

With so many pressing needs in the nation of seven million people, many were dismayed at the amount of money spent on the summit, hosting leaders that included US vice president Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Xi Jinping (Oli Scarff/PA)

Mr Corcoran is heading a new police unit tasked with recovering all the state assets purchased for Apec in the three years leading up to the summit.

In a statement this week announcing the formation of the unit, he said he would address the ongoing misuse and abuse of state assets that were bought using the peoples money.

He said the goods had been purchased by government agencies and then claimed by certain individuals through unlawful means.

He asked people to return the cars and other assets immediately and for the public to provide information to help the police.

Officers also announced this week that they had arrested one Apec officer who had used his position to enter the Port Moresby wharf to pry open the fuel caps of parked Apec cars and siphon petrol from them.

Port Moresby, the capital, has been described by the World Bank as among the worlds most violent cities due to high unemployment and brazen criminal gangs known as raskols.

Basic medicines are scarce in Papua New Guinea and polio, eliminated from most countries, has returned.
An east London schoolgirl who left Britain as a 15-year-old to join the Islamic State group is now heavily pregnant and wants to come home.

Shamima Begum was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria where she is now 19-years-old, the bride of an Islamic State fighter, nine months pregnant and has had two infant children who are dead. Her husband is in captivity.

Stating that I dont regret coming here, she told The Times: Im not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

She also told the paper: The caliphate is over.

There was so much oppression and corruption that I dont think they deserved victory. I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online. But I just want to come home to have my child. Thats all I want right now. Ill do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child.

The three girls as they left the UK to meet up with IS (Met Police/PA)

She was one of three schoolgirls  along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase  from Bethnal Green Academy who left their homes and families in February 2015 to join a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl in Syria who had left London they year before. They each married an Isis foreign fighter, according to The Times.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an airstrike on Raqqa in May 2016, while Ms Begum has recently heard second-hand from other people that Miss Abase, and the other schoolgirl who left Britain in 2014, may still be alive.

When she arrived, Miss Begum was put in a house where jihadist brides-to-be waited to be married, she said.

Ms Begum was married 10 days after arriving in Raqqa in 2015 to a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. She claims her husband was later arrested, charged with spying and tortured.

She left Raqqa in January 2017 with her husband but her children, a girl aged a year and nine months old and a three-month-old boy, both died in the recent months. Her son had an unknown illness worsened by malnutrition, The Times said.

She said she had a mostly a normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff.

She told the paper: But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didnt faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam. I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance.

The family went to Baghuz and she left there two weeks ago along a three-mile long corridor east of the town. Her husband surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and she has not seen him since, according to The Times.

Renu, eldest sister of Shamima Begum holds her sisters photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard in 2015 (Laura Lean/PA)

The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place.

Security minister Ben Wallace said: The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger.

Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security.

There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas and we can also use Temporary Exclusion Orders to control an individuals return to the UK.

Mr Wallace later told BBC Radio 4s Today programme that he would not put British officials lives at risk to rescue people like Ms Begum from Syria.

He said: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state  theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

Times war correspondent Anthony Loyd, who found Ms Begum, told Today she was two things: She is the 15-year-old schoolgirl who was groomed and lured to the caliphate, and four years later, with that background, she is an indoctrinated jihadi bride.

Loyd added: She didnt express regret, she said she had no regrets, she was calm and composed but she was also in a state of shock  she had just come out of a battlefield, nine months pregnant, many of her friends dead and shes gone through air strikes and all the rest of it  so I wouldnt want to rush to judge her too harshly.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls families after they ran away, said he was glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe.

He told the Press Association the authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howes position at the time of their disappearance.

The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadnt committed any further offences while they are out there, he said.

Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls families, who had expressed the position that they want time and space to process whats happened.

Bethnal Green and Bow MP Rushanara Ali said: At the time, when Shamima Begum and two other girls disappeared and it was feared they were heading for Syria via Turkey, I made representations to the then home secretary Theresa May and the head of counter-terrorism at the Metropolitan Police.

I appealed to them to work with the Turkish authorities to prevent the girls from crossing the border into Syria.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of the UK authorities, the girls did get into Syria and as subsequent reports suggest, they joined IS.

If it is the case that Shamima Begum is trying to return to the UK, it is now a matter for the UK police, security services and the Foreign Office, who will rightly need to consider public safety and our national security in cases such as these.
Unions have expressed bitter disappointment at news that Airbus is to cease production of its superjumbo A380 aircraft.

Unite, which represents workers at Airbus sites in Broughton, North Wales, and Filton, near Bristol, and those in supply chain companies such as GKN, said it would be seeking assurances on jobs and future work.

A few hundred staff in the UK work on the aircraft, mainly at Broughton, but it is hoped they can be redeployed.

The firm said it had made the painful decision after struggling to sell the worlds largest passenger jet and after Emirates chose to slash its A380 order book by around a quarter.

Following a review of its operations and in light of developments in aircraft and engines, @Emirates agrees with Airbus to

 reduce its A380 order book by 39 aircraft

 order 40 #A330neo & 30 #A350

As a result, A380 deliveries will cease in 2021

Release: https://t.co/hCyvPElB1O pic.twitter.com/S8t2KI3Ge4  Airbus PRESS (@AirbusPRESS) February 14, 2019

Due to the reduction and a lack of orders from other airlines, Airbus said it would end deliveries of the record-breaking plane in 2021, 14 years after it first entered commercial service.

Emirates is yet to take delivery of 14 of the double-decker aircraft, which has wings, engines and landing gear made in the UK.

Airbus said it would start discussions with its social partners in the next few weeks regarding the 3,000 to 3,500 positions potentially impacted over the next three years.

It makes wings for the A380 in the UK, employing 6,000 staff at Broughton and 3,000 at Filton.

The firm said an increase in production of its A320 model would offer a significant number of internal mobility opportunities.

The Airbus A320 (Steve Parsons/PA)

Airbus chief executive Tom Enders said: The A380 is not only an outstanding engineering and industrial achievement. Passengers all over the world love to fly on this great aircraft. Hence todays announcement is painful for us and the A380 communities worldwide.

But, keep in mind that A380s will still roam the skies for many years to come and Airbus will of course continue to fully support the A380 operators.

Nearly 240ft long and with space for more than 500 passengers, the A380 took the title of worlds largest passenger jet from the Boeing 747 when it took its maiden commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney on October 27 2007.

The giant aircrafts first commercial flight to Europe  a Singapore Airlines service  arrived at Heathrow on March 3 2008.

According to Airbus, the plane has flown more than 500,000 revenue flights and carried over 190 million passengers, with more than 300 commercial flights a day.

However concerns over the future of the superjumbo began to appear and in 2016 Airbus announced a drastic cut in production, reducing the build rate by half.

(PA Graphics)

Unite national officer for aerospace Rhys McCarthy said: This is a sad day for Airbuss dedicated UK workforce, who have made the iconic A380s wings since it entered service in 2007. It is a much-loved aircraft manufactured by a highly skilled workforce.

Unite will be seeking urgent assurances from Airbus that there will be no job losses because of the decision to end production of the A380.

We are of the firm belief that with a full order book in single-aisle planes, such as the A320, that our members affected can be redeployed on to other work in Airbus.

Our members in the supply chain making many of the parts for the A380 are also our key concern. Over the coming days we will be engaging closely with companies such as GKN to ensure any impact is minimal as we offer our full support to some of the best aerospace workers in the world.

Airbus declined to give details of the number of jobs that could be impacted.

Incoming chief executive Guillaume Faury told a media conference: We are in the phase of analysing the situation and will have consultations with our partners.

In a media conference following the announcement, outgoing chief executive Mr Enders said: Its certainly painful to take the decision after all the effort, after all the money, after all the sweat that many, many thousand employees, and the CEO occasionally, have poured into that programme.

But in business, you have to base your decisions not on emotions or wishful thinking, but on facts.

After Emirates decision to reduce their orders, we simply dont have enough backlog to carry on much longer.

What were seeing here is the end of the large four-engine aircraft.

There has been speculation for years that we were 10 years too early, but probably we were 10 years too late, or more. In retrospect, its all easy.

We are talking about the end of production of the A380, not the end of the programme.

Airbus will support these 200/230 aircraft as long as our customers want to operate these aircraft.

Mr Faury said: We will work on securing the phase-out and we will do this in close co-operation with our social partners and in a very responsible manner.

Airbus confirmed it hopes to redeploy a significant number of impacted staff to other aircraft programmes.

On the impact on British jobs, Mr Enders said: It needs to be evaluated. Its clear we make a lot of wings in Britain and a few wings for the A380. Hopefully we can redeploy a significant number of our employees there and re-use also the infrastructure.

On Brexit, Mr Enders said he was a little more optimistic about a deal being reached.

He said: The reason for hope is that we are getting signals  and Im not going into details  that make me a little more optimistic that the worst can be prevented and that well see a more orderly Brexit.

Mr Enders added that the firm intends to plan for the worst as much as we can and hope for the best.
And 2020 could place more pressure on the school calendar, Mosier said. Labor Day falls on Sep. 7 that year, so schools will open four days later than they did this academic year. Election Day will mark another school closure. To make up for lost days, schools will not close for parent-teacher conferences or Yom Kippur, and spring break will be pared back to two days  Good Friday and Easter Monday.
A teenager who ran away from Britain as a 15-year-old schoolgirl to join the Islamic State group now wants to return home.

Heavily pregnant with her third child, Shamima Begum, now 19, was tracked down by The Times to a refugee camp in northern Syria.

Here are some key questions her case raises:

 What action might she face if she is allowed to return to the UK?

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace has said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police.

This will determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to national security.

There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas, he said.

Home Office Minister Ben Wallace said everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police (John Stillwell/PA)

 How should Ms Begum be treated by UK authorities?

Ms Begum was a pupil at Bethnal Green Academy in east London when she ran away to Syria in February 2015 with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, who also attended the school.

Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the girls families after they disappeared, told the Press Association that British authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howes position at the time.

Lord Hogan-Howe said that the girls would be treated as victims so long as they had not committed any further offences while in Syria.

Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick Airport before catching a flight to Turkey with Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum (Metropolitan Police/PA)

 How many British women and girls joined IS and how many have returned?

An absence of public Government data has led experts to warn the number of women and minors linked to IS thought to have returned has been significantly underestimated.

An estimated 850 people have travelled from the UK to support IS in Iraq and Syria, including 145 women and 50 minors, according to a report by Kings College London released last year.

Of the 425 who have returned, only two women and four minors were listed.

 Do they pose a threat?

Joana Cook, a senior research fellow at KCL who co-authored the study, said the researchers considered the women to be potential security threats based on several factors.

She said: (These include) the physical security roles and related training that women have undertaken in IS-held territory, and the potential to transfer or apply these skills in other locations, or to pass these on to other people including other women and their children.

 What is left of Islamic State?

When Ms Begum left for Syria in 2015, IS had taken control of large tracts of northern Syria and northern Iraq.

Millions of people were living in territory controlled by the terrorist group, which had declared the creation of a caliphate.

Four years later, following a massive military campaign by regional forces assisted by foreign powers including America, Britain and Russia, IS territory has dwindled to a small village in eastern Syria.

Earlier this week, US-backed Syrian forces launched an operation to clear Baghuz where, according to Ms Begum, Ms Abase and a fourth Bethnal Green schoolgirl, Sharmeena Begum, remain.
British Airways celebrated Valentines Day by ensuring all cabin crew on a 14-hour flight were couples who work for the airline.

Five couples worked on board flight BA245 from London Heathrow to Buenos Aires, which touched down on Wednesday.

Their schedule meant they could enjoy a romantic getaway in the Argentine capital after their shift.

Cabin crew couple Carl Bloor, 37, and Nathan Weekes, 42, from Bristol, joined the airline four years ago and got married in November.

Three of the couples met while working at the airline (Andrew Matthews/PA)

Mr Bloor said: Weve been together for 13 years and we work well together in every aspect of our lives, so working as colleagues on board is no different.

Were over the moon to be showing our customers some British Airways love on this very special flight.

The pair have travelled all over the world together.

While working for British Airways they have visited New York, the Caribbean, Turkey, Spain and Florida.

Aimee Anders, 21, and Christopher Coyne, 26, met while working for the airline and got engaged in December.

They have worked together on 17 flights and enforce a rule of no plane talk at their home near Heathrow.

Ms Anders advised other couples who travel for work to stay in contact through video calls and remember to make time for each other on your days off.

She added: We absolutely love working together and our jobs have afforded us some amazing opportunities.

Weve been on a horseback safari in Johannesburg, to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, to Niagara Falls in Toronto and wine tasting in Santiago.
Survival rates for people diagnosed with heart failure have shown only small improvements in the last 18 years, research suggests.

The Government has failed to focus on the condition, which affects more than 920,000 people in the UK, in favour of prioritising other areas, such as cancer, experts said.

The new study, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), examined data for 55,959 people aged 45 and over with a new diagnosis of heart failure from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2017.

Researchers also looked at data for healthy people alongside figures on causes of death from hospitals and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The research found that, overall, survival rates had increased modestly over the period.

For example, one-year survival rose by 6.6%, from 74.2% in 2000 to 80.8% in 2016, and 10-year survival rose by 6.4%, from 19.8% in 2000 to 26.2% in 2007.

Heart failure is costing too many lives, researchers say (Lynne Cameron/PA)

The study found that survival was worse for people who needed admission to hospital around the time of their diagnosis, and for those who were among the most deprived.

The authors, from Oxford and Birmingham universities, said there were gradual improvements in survival rates over time, which is encouraging but called for more to be done.

They said: Heart failure has not been a priority area in government policy or funding, and other serious conditions, such as cancer, have seen a much greater improvement in survival over time.

The lack of substantial progress in improving heart failure survival rates should alert policy makers to the need for further investment in heart failure services.

The experts said GPs should have access to the most up-to-date tests for heart failure and noted that patients could benefit from a rapid two-week referral for specialist care, as is currently the case with cancer.

Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: Heart failure is a cruel and debilitating illness affecting hundreds of thousands of people in the UK.

Research funded by the BHF has shown a worrying increase in people being diagnosed with heart failure in hospital, rather than it being spotted by their GP. The later youre diagnosed, the worse your outlook becomes.

This study adds to this concerning picture of heart failure care in the UK, but identifying the shortfalls is the first step towards addressing them.

We need the communication between hospitals and primary care providers to make sure patients with heart failure are diagnosed and treated earlier to prevent the need for hospital admissions, whilst those who are admitted receive that all-important follow-up care after they leave hospital.

Heart failure occurs when the heart stops effectively pumping blood around the body.

It is a long-term condition that often gets worse over time.

Symptoms include shortness of breath, feeling tired and weak and swollen feet, ankles, stomach and lower back.
Tackling the root causes of mental health issues by working with young children, schools, parents and carers, is vital, the Duchess of Cambridge has said.

In a speech to the 100 Women in Finance Gala Dinner in aid of Mentally Healthy Schools, the duchess said: The root causes to some of our most challenging experiences in adulthood such as poor mental and physical health, addiction, homelessness, crime and family breakdown, can so often be traced right back to the very earliest years of someones life and often over generations.

We therefore need to look at prevention of some of these issues  before they take hold and become a problem.

The Duchess of Cambridge addressed the 100 Women in Finance Gala Dinner at the V&A Museum in London (Chris Jackson/PA)

The duchess, who was speaking at the V&A Museum, in central London, added: In my Early Years work, I am looking at how best we can support parents and families.

However we must remember that teachers, school leaders and school staff also play a vital role in shaping who our children become and how they develop.

We all need to start understanding the importance of childhood development, and tackling this from home and from school, through parents and teachers , if we are to help raise the next happier, healthier generation of adults.

Kate wore a pink Gucci evening gown to the event (Chris Jackson/PA)

Kate, who wore a pink Gucci dress, met privately with the board members of 100 Women in Finance and other VIP guests before giving her speech to around 300 guests in the Raphael Gallery.

She is a patron of 100 Women in Finances Philanthropic Initiatives and net proceeds from the gala dinner will be given to The Royal Foundations Mentally Healthy Schools Programme.

The programme, launched by the duchess at the beginning of 2018, gives schools access to a website which provides practical resources for staff to support childrens mental well-being.

It is one of the legacy programmes from Heads Together, a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation which aims to help people of all ages to start conversations about their mental health.
Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio were on target as Real Madrid secured a 2-1 win over Ajax in the Champions League last-16 first leg in Amsterdam.

But the reigning champions, seeking a fourth straight title, were given a major scare by the only team left in the competition who had to come through qualifying.

Four-time winners Ajax, in the knockout stages for the first time in 13 years, dominated for long spells.

In a vibrant display they hit the woodwork, tested Thibaut Courtois frequently and had a goal ruled out by the video assistant referee before Benzema struck.

Hakim Ziyech then equalised for Ajax, only for substitute Asensio to grab the winner three minutes from the end.

Real travelled to Holland full of confidence after a 3-1 win against Atletico Madrid at the weekend, their sixth victory in a seven-game unbeaten run.

Gareth Bale made a return to the Real Madrid line-up (Peter Dejong/AP)

Gareth Bale was back in their starting line-up and the Welshman was teed up for an early chance by Luka Modric, but curled his shot straight at Ajax keeper Andre Onana.

Moments later Ajax threatened and Noussair Mazraoui was played in by Dusan Tadic only to screw his shot across goal and wide.

Onana was in action again after 15 minutes to tip over a fierce angled drive from Brazilian teenager Vinicius Junior.

Dusan Tadic beat Thibaut Courtois but saw his effort hit the post (Peter Dejong/AP)

But Tadic came agonisingly close to breaking the deadlock when he held off Sergio Ramos only to see his shot come back off the foot of a post.

Ajax were by now well on top and another slick passing move put Ziyech through on goal but Courtois came out well to block.

The hosts thought they had taken a deserved lead when, from the corner, Courtois made a mess of claiming a header and Nicolas Tagliafico nodded in the rebound.

Nicolas Tagliafico thought he had given Ajax the lead only to be denied by VAR (Peter Dejong/AP)

However, a lengthy VAR review eventually ruled out the goal with Tadic, marginally offside, standing in front of the Real keeper as the ball looped in.

Early in the second half Benzema tested Onana with a low shot on the tun, before Ajax broke down the other end and David Neres fired too close to Courtois.

But just before the hour mark Benzema made the breakthrough with his 60th Champions League goal on his 450th Real appearance.

Karim Benzema gives Real Madrid the lead (Peter Dejong/AP)

Vinicius chased a ball over the top down the left wing and cut inside before finding Benzema, who sent an unerring finish across Anona and high into the net.

Ajax were not finished, though, and with 15 minutes left they sliced Real open again with Ziyech converting a low cross from Neres.

However, Asensio converted the winner when he met a stunning delivery from Dani Carvajal at the far post.
A virtual GP service has been given the green light to expand to a second major city after health leaders dropped their objections.

NHS England confirmed it had found a solution to previous concerns around access to immunisation and screening programmes for GP at Hand patients and lifted its objections to it expansion.

The decision paves the wave for the service, created by healthcare technology firm Babylon Health, to launch in Birmingham.

But senior medics branded the decision disappointing and premature and said it was inappropriate to allow GP at Hands expansion before an independent evaluation of it is published.

GP at Hand offers a GP consultation via a smartphone 24 hours a day to patients who live or work in various locations in London, with the promise of a video consultation within two hours of booking.

If a patient needs a face-to-face appointment, they must travel to clinics in commuter hubs.

Undated Babylon Health handout photo of a smartphone using Babylon Healths app that puts a GP in your pocket, and allows users to have consultations and organise specialist treatment without having to leave home. (Babylon Health/PA Images)

It is hosted by Hammersmith and Fulham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Babylon Health said more than 40,000 people were registered to use GP at Hand.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has previously described GP at Hand as revolutionary and said: I want to see GP At Hand available to all, not based on their postcode.

But the service has proved controversial since it was launched in the capital last year, and has been accused of cherry-picking healthy patients.

Birmingham and Solihull CCG has previously objected to the expansion of GP at Hand into the city, raising concerns about fragmentation of care and patient safety.

Plans to expand the scheme to Birmingham were initially blocked by NHS England due to concerns about patient access to screening, but NHS England has now confirmed a solution had been found.

NHS England said it will work with GP at Hand, Hammersmith and Fulham and Birmingham and Solihull CCGs and national screening services to launch the new service and agree a start date.

A spokeswoman added: As set out in the Long Term Plan, the NHS will see an increasing use of digital technology and from 2021 every patient in England will have access to online and video consultation  if they choose it  and this practice is just one of the ways of providing that.

But the British Medical Association said it was wholly inappropriate to allow the expansion before an independent evaluation of GP at Hand had published its findings.

Dr Richard Vautrey, BMA GP committee chair said: We are incredibly disappointed with this decision, which is not only premature, but flies in the face of place-based care delivered by practices embedded in local communities, which the recent changes in the GP contract are committed to deliver.

The independent evaluation into GP at Hand is yet to publish its findings, so it is wholly inappropriate to allow this services expansion with no assurances over its safety and effectiveness.

But a Babylon GP at Hand spokesman said the service meets and exceeds all standards in the NHS GP contract.

He added: People have a right to choose the NHS practice that best fits with their lifestyles and the needs of their families.

Vested interests will always try to stop innovation, but what matters is the needs and desires of patients.

The NHS England decision to allow Babylon GP at hand to expand to Birmingham underlines and supports this.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has branded Winston Churchill a villain.

The Labour heavyweight made the comment in reference to the the way Mr Churchill dealt with striking Welsh miners while home secretary in 1910.

Mr Churchills decision to send troops to support police quelling riots in Tonypandy has long been a subject of historical debate.

In a question and answer session with the Politico website, Mr McDonnell was asked: Winston Churchill, hero or villain?

The shadow chancellor said: Tonypandy  villain.

Mr Churchill ordered 200 Metropolitan Police officers into Tonypandy, with a detachment of Lancashire Fusiliers held in reserve in Cardiff.

Winston Churchill seated at his desk in the No 10 Annexe Map Room, May 1945 (Imperial War Museums/PA)

Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too. pic.twitter.com/UEFCc7QWwv  Ian Austin (@IanAustin1965) February 13, 2019

The soldiers were eventually called into the Rhondda Valley village to help deal with the situation.

The wartime leader, who was later knighted, was voted the greatest Briton in a BBC poll in 2002.

Tory MP Sir Nicholas Soames, grandson of the former Conservative prime minister, told the Daily Telegraph: Frankly its a very foolish and stupid thing to say, surely said to gain publicity.

I think my grandfathers reputation can withstand a publicity-seeking assault from a third-rate, Poundland Lenin. I dont think it will shake the world.

Labour MP Ian Austin made it clear he disagreed with Mr McDonnells comments by posting a picture on social media of a figurine of the wartime leader he keeps at home.

Mr Austin Tweeted: Look who takes pride of place on my mantelpiece in Dudley: a real British hero, the greatest ever Briton, the man who motivated Britain to defeat the Nazis and fight not just for our liberty but the worlds freedom too.
A rare black leopard has been captured on camera in Kenya.

The big cat, also known as a black panther, was pictured by remote cameras in Laikipia County which were set up to study the dynamics of leopard populations after reports of sightings in the area.

I grew up in Koija, which borders Loisaba Conservancy, and elders in my community had told me about black leopards being common in the Laikipia Plateau, said Ambrose Letoluai, a research assistant for the leopard conservation program.

Its exciting to see black leopards on our cameras  and more research into their melanism is needed, so we can understand why they occur here.

The sightings in arid Laikipia County are particularly significant as black panthers have previously been spotted more commonly in dense forest, where the darker leopards camouflage would appear to be most effective.

Black leopards are a result of a genetic mutation called melanism.

(San Diego Zoo)

It causes the animals coat to appear completely black in daytime, though their distinctive pattern is visible in infrared footage.
Police have arrested a man in connection with the disappearance of university student Joy Morgan.

Welwyn Hatfield Chief Inspector Tannis Perks described the search for Ms Morgan, who was last seen in Ilford, east London, on December 26 as a complex missing person investigation.

The Hertfordshire University student, of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, was reported missing to police on February 7.

A 40-year-old man from London has been arrested and released on bail while inquiries continue.

Our colleagues @HertsPolice have made an arrest and are renewing appeals for information to find #missing Joy Morgan. She has links with #Ilford and #Battersea https://t.co/7ucLQCO00Z  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) February 13, 2019

Tuesday was Ms Morgans 21st birthday.

She is black, of slim build, around 5ft 5in tall, with black afro-style hair which she often covers with a scarf.

She also wears glasses.

Her family have issued appeal, saying: We love you, we miss you.

Wherever you are, text or call so that we know you are alright.

Missing university student Joy Morgan (Hertfordshire Police/PA)

It doesnt matter what has happened, just come home.

Ms Morgan has links to Ilford, Battersea and Cricklewood in London, as well as Bedfordshire.

Ms Perks said: This is a complex missing person investigation and we are working hard to establish the circumstances surrounding Joys disappearance.

Understandably her family are extremely worried about her and are desperate to know that she is OK.

I would like to appeal to Joy to get in touch to let us know that she is safe.

If you have information about Joys whereabouts please get in touch on 101.

For immediate sightings, call 999 straight away.
Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald has accused Prime Minister Theresa May of playing a game of chicken with Irish interests over Brexit.

Speaking after a meeting with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Westminster, Ms McDonald insisted that a no-deal Brexit would trigger a border poll referendum on Irish unity.

Ms McDonald said: We are very disheartened at the manner in which Mrs May, it seems to us, is playing down the clock.

And therefore playing a game of chicken with Irish interests.

We are here to say again that Ireland wont be the collateral damage in a Tory Brexit.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, centre right, and Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald, right, at a meeting in Westminster (@moneillsf handout/PA)

Describing talks with Mr Corbyn as extensive, the Sinn Fein leader said: We are of one mind in terms of protecting the Good Friday Agreement. In terms of the need for a backstop.

We have said to him that there is a backstop. It is the backstop. It is the only backstop that there is. And that it represents the bottom line for us.

He has heard that message very, very clearly.

We have also set out for him that in the event of a crash, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, that the Irish question will loom even larger in British politics.

Because in those circumstances there will be a democratic imperative to reach for the Good Friday Agreement and to trigger the referendum provision in that agreement and to put the issue of the border and Irish unity to the people.

Asked if the Labour leader agreed with Sinn Feins stance on a border poll, Ms McDonald said: He understands that clearly as does Mrs May, that Im making statements of fact here.

It is a fact that the Good Friday Agreement provides a mechanism for a democratic decision on the border and on Irish unity.
I am deeply disturbed by the senseless gun violence that struck the Aurora community today. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. While we wait for more details, its clear we owe a debt of gratitude to law enforcement and the first-responders who rushed into harms way to protect innocent people. Our country needs to take immediate action to stop what has become an epidemic of gun violence in our nation. I, along with the majority of Americans, refuse to accept this fact as a normal part of our way of life at work, schools, and in our communities. Every person deserves the right to go to work or school without the threat of violence.
Police in Northern Ireland failed to disclose significant information relating to a notorious Loyalist mass shooting to a police watchdog.

Ombudsman Michael Maguire has now contacted the Department of Justice to ask that the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) faces a review of how it discloses information.

Dr Maguires office had found that significant, sensitive information around a mass shooting at a bookmakers in south Belfast was not made available to his investigators.

Masked Ulster Freedom Fighters (Ulster Freedom Fighters) men. (PA Archive)

Some of the information relates to covert policing, the Ombudsmans office added.

Five people were killed on February 5, 1992, when members of the Loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) opened fire on the Sean Graham bookmakers shop on the lower Ormeau Road.

A victims organisation, Relatives for Justice, which represents the families of those killed in the atrocity has backed Dr Maguires review call, adding it should begin as a matter of urgency.

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin has apologised on behalf of the police, and said they never sought to withhold the information from the ombudsman investigators, putting the incident down to human error.

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin has apologised on behalf of the organisation for failing to disclose information about a notorious 1992 Loyalist shooting. (Rebecca Black/PA)

He has also offered to give Ombudsman investigators full and unfettered access to police legacy systems.

The Ombudsmans office said the material in question has opened new lines of inquiry in its investigation into the Ormeau Road shootings as well as activities of Loyalist paramilitaries in the north west between 1988 and 1994; and its investigation into the murder of teenager Damien Walsh at a coal depot in west Belfast in 1993.

Reports outlining the findings of these investigations, which had been due to be published in the coming weeks, will now be delayed.

Police Ombudsman Michael Maguire said it appeared that information which police told them did not exist has now been found.

My staff became aware that police were preparing to disclose a range of material as part of impending civil proceedings, he said.

Following a request from this office, police released this material to us which helped identify significant evidence relevant to a number of our investigations.

Following on from this, police have now also identified a computer system which they say had not been properly searched when responding to previous requests for information.

In that instance, it would seem information which police told us did not exist has now been found.

Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire has requested that how the PSNI discloses information is reviewed (Police Ombudsman/PA)

Dr Maguire added: It is right and proper that we examine the material which has now become available to ensure that our work provides as complete a picture as possible for these families, for the public and for the police.

The public must have confidence that, when asked, police provide all the relevant information they hold on given matters, whether it be to this office or to other legal authorities.

Mr Martin said the PSNI regularly and routinely discloses information to the Ombudsman, and regrets that it was not done so in this case.

PSNI never sought to deliberately withhold this information from PONI and we deeply regret that the researchers responding to the PONI request were unable to find and disclose it, he said.

This error became apparent when, in line with our commitment to maximum transparency, a different researcher working elsewhere in the PSNI found the material while preparing for disclosure in response to civil litigation.

The fact that one part of the organisation was able to find the information while the other did not is a result of a number of issues including the differing levels of experience and knowledge of our researchers, the sheer volume of the material involved and the limitations of the archaic IT systems.

We entirely agree with the Police Ombudsman, that the effective disclosure of information is central to any system for dealing with the past.
Recurring urine infections could mask the symptoms of bladder or kidney cancer, researchers have warned.

Doctors may assume a patient is suffering yet another urinary tract infection (UTI) rather than investigating for potential cancer, they said.

A study presented at Cancer Research UKs early diagnosis conference in Birmingham examined data from 24 studies of more than 100,000 people in eight high-income countries.

It found that up to two thirds of people with blood in their urine  a UTI symptom and a possible sign of cancer  had no further examination in the six months after their first visit to a doctor.

Researchers found that repeated UTIs were associated with a diagnostic delay in detecting cancer, and women were more likely to experience this diagnostic delay than men.

Dr Yin Zhou, lead author from the University of Cambridge, said: Detecting cancer early is vital for giving patients the best treatment options and improving survival.

Researchers found repeated UTIs were associated with a `diagnostic delay in detecting cancer (Queens University Belfast/PA)

This research is an important step towards improving our understanding of why some people are diagnosed later than others.

Although UTIs are the second most common condition that GPs are prescribing antibiotics for, in some people, symptoms of a UTI may be masking symptoms of bladder or kidney cancer.

Only a small number of patients with persistent symptoms and recurring UTIs will go on to develop cancer, but its important that we dont miss them.

The next step will be to find a way to detect these patients earlier.

The study suggests that patients with ongoing symptoms could be flagged up electronically on a GP system.

More than 10,500 people are diagnosed with kidney cancer each year in England, while about 8,500 people are diagnosed with bladder cancer.

Of these, about 3,400 are diagnosed with late-stage kidney cancer and 1,800 with late-stage bladder cancer, which lowers the chance of survival.

The NHS website says urinary infections, which affect more women than men, can often be treated with a long course of antibiotics if they keep coming back.

Sara Hiom, director of early diagnosis at Cancer Research UK, said: Early stage cancers may not always display obvious symptoms, but this research highlights the importance of tracking persistent symptoms and ensuring ongoing problems are not ignored.

We continue to use the latest evidence to find new ways to support GPs and practices to ensure all patients receive an accurate diagnosis as swiftly as possible  this can make all the difference to their experience and outcome.

Dr Richard Roope, Cancer Research UKs GP expert, said: GPs see many patients with symptoms suggestive of a urinary infection  thankfully the vast majority will never go on to develop kidney or bladder cancer.

But this research shines a light on the importance of taking a step back to consider what might be causing any recurrence of symptoms, rather than assuming the diagnosis is the same as it has been before.

Theres no easy way to know which patients need to be referred or seen again.

All GPs want the best for their patients so research like this, highlighting where improvements need to be made, such as arranging a review, is very useful.
A mugger has been convicted over the death of a frail 100-year-old Nazi prison camp survivor following a street robbery.

Self-confessed heroin addict Artur Waszkiewicz knocked Zofija Kaczan to the floor, took her handbag and left her to bleed in the middle of the road as she made her way to church on May 28 last year.

Polish-born widow Ms Kaczan survived a Nazi labour camp during the Second World War in which she was forced to work in factories and was even sentenced to death on her birthday.

Zofija Kaczan, 100, had left her home to walk to the St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church before she was attacked on May 28 (PA)

She suffered multiple injuries in the attack, including a fractured neck and cheekbone.

Ms Kaczan died from pneumonia in hospital on June 6  a condition brought on by the injuries she sustained in the attack.

A jury of seven men and five women at Derby Crown Court found Waszkiewicz guilty of killing her close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

Zofija Kaczan died in hospital (Stacia Fitzsimmons/PA)

They deliberated for just over two hours before unanimously convicting Waszkiewicz of manslaughter and robbery.

The defendant, wearing a black velvet jacket and velvet slipper shoes, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered.

Addressing the jury, the judge said: The sentence will inevitably be one of lengthy imprisonment. Mr Waszkiewicz knows that.

The 100-year-old sustained injuries that brought on her pneumonia condition which she later died from (Derbyshire Police/PA)

The centenarian had been separated from her family in Poland during the war, but had managed to find peace with her husband after coming to Derby in 1948.

Friends said she did not want to celebrate her 100th birthday because they day marked the same day of the year she had been sentenced to death by the Nazis.

Waszkiewicz was caught on CCTV driving a Seat Leon car he bought from his father minutes before robbing Ms Kaczan  slowing down as soon as he saw a small, vulnerable woman on her own.

Waszkiewiczs Seat Leon car seen close to the scene where 100 year-old Zofija Kaczan was attacked (Derbyshire Police/PA)

His trial heard he needed an easy target to steal from so he could meet a drug dealer a short time later to buy 20 of heroin.

The force he used in the attack ripped the handle off the handbag, inflicting significant bruising on Ms Kaczans arm.

Opening the case, prosecutor Kate Brunner QC said: She was attacked, she was thrown to the ground and her handbag was snatched from her.

She was small, on her own, vulnerable  an easy target for a man desperate for money.

He attacked Ms Kaczan, yanking her handbag from her and leaving her injured in the road and driving off.

Police arrested Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, after his fingerprint was recovered from a receipt in the bag.

Artur Waszkiewicz was convicted at Derby Crown Court on Wednesday (Derbyshire Police/PA)

He fled the city and hid under a bed at his mothers house in London to try to avoid arrest.

He drastically altered his appearance by cutting his long hair and changed the insurance details on his car.

The jury heard he was so desperate for cash that he had tried to sell his dog, and asked neighbour John Shinners for money.

The trial was told the 40-year-old had a number of previous convictions including shoplifting, creating false identification documents and one offence of battery.

He denied both charges, saying he had found the green handbag in the middle of the road, picked it up, and disposed of it at a well-known fly-tipping area because there was no cash.

A spokeswoman for the Polish community of St Maksymilian Kolbe, the church Ms Kaczan attended, said: We would like to thank all the people who have been involved in bringing the perpetrator of the crime against Zofija Kaczan to justice.

Mrs Kaczan was an active member of our community, who although she had reached the milestone of 100 years, enjoyed her life going to church, shopping, having her hair done and attending the lunches at the Polish Centre followed by bingo.

She had a very difficult early life. Coming to Derby in 1949, she had found a degree of stability and tranquillity. That tranquillity was shattered by the brutal events of May 28, 2018.

The spokeswoman added: Despite the pain and suffering that she was in for the last week of her life, she had the capacity to pray for her attacker before she died. We believe she has found peace in the arms of her Heavenly Father.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherds Bush, west London, will be sentenced at the same court on Thursday.
A 19-year-old woman is facing charges for allegedly throwing two chairs off a 45th-storey balcony on to a busy street in central Toronto.

The incident was shown in an online video that has sparked widespread outrage.

Detective Todd Higo said Marcella Zoia turned herself in and will appear in court.

A widely viewed video shot from the apartment balcony shows a woman throwing one of the chairs, which plummets to the street below.

Woman to ID in Mischief - Endanger Life investigation for throwing chair over balcony onto roadway below. Image of woman attached. Info contact Toronto Police 416-808-5200 or anonymous Crime Stoppers tips 1-800-222-8477 #GO264141 ^sm pic.twitter.com/hFYvJGSllh  Toronto Police (@TorontoPolice) February 11, 2019

Investigators launched a public appeal to identify her.

Zoia is charged with mischief endangering life, mischief endangering property and common nuisance.

The incident occurred in Toronto (Danny Lawson/PA)

The chairs landed near the front entrance of the towering building.

There were no reports of injuries.

Constable David Hopkinson said the apartment was being used as a short-term rental.
Changes to police call centre pay and conditions threaten the stability and morale of staff, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has warned.

Proposed changes, including reducing allowances for night shifts and new pay scales, could result in call centre staff losing thousands of pounds from their salary, it is claimed.

Mr Rennie has now written to the chairman of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), the Justice Secretary and the chief constable of Police Scotland to express his concerns.

In the letter, he mentioned the inquiry into the fatal M9 crash in 2015 when police failed to respond for three days after it was first reported, which has still not happened.

It would therefore be ill-advised to further threaten the stability and morale of the service centres by dramatically reducing the shift allowance, Mr Rennie warned, adding morale is at rock bottom.

Police staff take non-emergency calls from members of the public (Ben Birchall/PA)

He said: Call centre staff have undergone considerable upheaval since the rushed centralisation of the service centres.

These proposals will further threaten the stability and morale of staff.

The deal on the table for call centre staff is a poor one and skilled staff may be lost to the service all together if the proposed changes go ahead.

I hope that the Scottish Police Authority and the Government will negotiate for additional funds to enable an adequate deal to be agreed.

A letter to police call centre staff giving details of the changes said the proposal needed to be affordable and sustainable in future years and acknowledged people feel let down after being placed at the bottom of new pay scales.

Unions are due to ballot members about the proposals and staff have been warned that if they are rejected a recognition payment  compensation for a delay in implementing new salaries  will be withdrawn.

Mr Rennie wrote of his disappointment at this threat and urged the SPA chairman to push for more funding from the Scottish Government.

Jude Helliker, director of people and development at Police Scotland said: The staff pay and reward modernisation project will deliver common terms and conditions of employment for all staff, who are our most important asset.

The project removes inequalities and anomalies in pay and conditions inherited from predecessor forces.

The proposals represent a significant investment in the region of 23 million, with over 70% of staff receiving an increase in basic salary and/or shift reward.

For those whose salary is to be reduced, the proposed employment package offers a two-year period of protection of pay and allowances.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: Good progress has been made in the negotiations to harmonise police staff pay and conditions.

We understand that the proposed employment package would directly benefit the majority of police staff and offers a two-year period of protection of pay and allowances for others. Having organisation-wide pay scales allowances and terms and conditions will deliver equity and fairness for police staff.

The HMICS review of call handling in 2018 found that a number of improvements have been made and that overall performance remains strong.
Police have released CCTV images of missing man James Cornforth as they continue to investigate his disappearance.

The 36-year-old was last seen leaving a cinema in Ocean Terminal shopping centre in Leith shortly after 3pm on Tuesday, February 5.

Police released CCTV of missing man James Cornforth (Police Scotland/PA)

It is understood that he then returned to an address in the Waterfront Avenue area for a short period of time, but has not returned home or been in contact with anyone since.

Inquiries established that Mr Cornforth attended a Tesco Express store on Queensferry Road at around 5.40pm later that day.

Police in Edinburgh have released two CCTV images of James Cornforth in their efforts to trace him (Police Scotland/PA)

Mr Cornforth is described as white, around 5ft 10ins tall, medium build with short light-brown hair.

He is said to speak with a local accent, and he has a tribal sleeve tattoo on his right arm from his shoulder to his elbow.

He has a coloured thistle tattoo on his right ankle and was last seen wearing a grey hoodie, blue cotton jogging bottoms, trainers and a black waist-length jacket.

Police say that Mr Cornforth has links to the Granton area of the city and may be seeking to travel to the Isle of Skye or Glencoe areas.

Inspector David Hughes, Police Scotland, said: As time passes we are becoming increasingly concerned for Jamess welfare and this is out of character for him not to be in contact with anyone for this length of time.

We believe James may using public transport or travelling on foot, and would ask anyone who may have seen, or spoken to him, since Tuesday (February 5) to contact us as soon as possible.

Anyone who may have any information that can help our inquiries and trace James is asked to get in touch immediately.
Car giant Ford has warned that leaving the European Union without a deal next month would be catastrophic for the UKs auto industry.

The company did not confirm a newspaper report that it was stepping up preparations to move production out of the UK.

A Ford spokesman said: We have long urged the UK Government and Parliament to work together to avoid the country leaving the EU on a no-deal, hard-Brexit basis on March 29.

Such a situation would be catastrophic for the UK auto industry and Fords manufacturing operations in the country.

We will take whatever action is necessary to preserve the competitiveness of our European business.

The Times said Ford told Prime Minister Theresa May during a telephone call with business leaders that it was preparing alternative sites abroad.

Ford workers check the bodywork of Transit vans (PA)

The car industry has been warning about the impact of a no-deal Brexit, with some already cutting back on jobs and production plans.

Nissan said last week it would no longer build its X-Trail car in Sunderland, Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans to cut 4,500 jobs in the UK and Ford could cut about 1,000 jobs, mainly at its Bridgend engine plant.

Unite national officer Des Quinn said: This latest warning from Ford underlines the catastrophic consequences of a no-deal Brexit on the UKs world leading car industry, its integrated supply chain and wider manufacturing communities.

Ministers and MPs must stop gambling with the futures of UK workers and their families. They now must do what is best for the country by taking a no deal, hard Brexit off the table and securing the tariff-free, frictionless trade with Europe through a permanent customs union on which our manufacturing success depends.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, Shadow Business Secretary, said: Fords decision to step up preparations to shift production overseas will risk thousands of highly skilled jobs in Bridgend, Dagenham, Halewood and Dunton.

Businesses have lost confidence in the Governments ability to handle Brexit. It is high time the Prime Minister heeds the numerous warnings by car manufacturers and gives businesses the certainty they desperately need. She must rule out no deal.
The Duchess of Cambridge has said she was very naive as a parent about the importance of a childs early development for their future.

She made the remark during a round table discussion at the Mental Health in Education conference on Wednesday, hosted by The Royal Foundation, at Mercers Hall, East London.

She said: I was very naive myself as a parent, of really just how important particularly the early years are for childrens futures.

And how critical it is, everyone looking after children at a critical time, teachers, parents, and everyone whos caring for them, how important it is that we get it right.

Schools throughout the UK have started to use https://t.co/F2JyfL6d16 to help them talk #MentalHealth in the classroom. The Duchess is meeting Head Teachers from some of these schools. #MHinEducation pic.twitter.com/QnZV6W2Ule  Heads Together (@heads_together) February 13, 2019

The conference focused on what more could be done to tackle mental health issues in schools and support teachers in the process, bringing together experts from across the mental health and education sectors.

The duchess, wearing a boucle tweed Dolce and Gabbana skirt suit, was introduced by host and broadcaster Kate Silverton, who praised all the work Kate has done in the field of education.

Kate told the conference she had been `very naive myself as a parent (John Stillwell/PA)

As you will know, [she] has been a great driving force behind The Royal Foundations work supporting children in their earliest years, she said.

Kate Silverton said the duchess has been `a great driving force behind The Royal Foundations work supporting children in their earliest years (Chris Jackson/PA)

In an impromptu speech to the conference, the duchess said: Over the last eight years working with charities, Ive met some of our leading experts in mental health, addiction, family breakdown, homelessness and education.

They have taught me over and over again that the root cause of so many of todays social problems can be traced right back to the very earliest years of a persons life and often over generations.

The scientific and other evidence is clear, the first few years of a childs life are more pivotal for development, and for future health and happiness, than any other single moment in our lifetime.

And as we have heard today, it is therefore vital that we support teachers with their own wellbeing so that they can find the best level of care for all children, in their schools and communities in which they work.

A key barrier to teachers feeling best equipped to support the mental health of their pupils and themselves is a lack of formal training.



The Duchess of Cambridge joined a meeting to discuss the importance of #MHinEducation training, and the challenges of implementation. pic.twitter.com/k22EmdDU6D  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 13, 2019

During a round table focused on mental health training for teachers, the duchess asked if the importance of early child development is part of teacher training.

She said: I wonder what the base level of the importance of childs early development is for teachers at the moment. Is that part of the current existing teacher training at all?

I know from a parents perspective its certainly not discussed, the importance of childhood development, and I know thats a different challenge.

But also the importance of relationship building, empathy and resilience can also be taught and monitored at home as well.

Kate asked questions about the current training for teachers around a childs early development (Chris Jackson/PA)

Peter Fonagy, chief executive of The Anna Freud Centre for Children and Families, said the problem was that traditionally there has been a discontinuity between the world of the school and the world of home.

He added: I feel indeed making teachers solely responsible for that is wrong, is clearly wrong. I think its our shared responsibility, responsibility of community, to support the schools, to support the teachers, to support the children.

In a private meeting before joining the conference, the duchess spoke with teachers who are trialling the Mentally Healthy Schools programme, which she launched in 2018.

The programme is a free-to-access website for schools offering more than 600 mental health resources, such as lesson plans and guides for handling specific issues like bereavement.
A mugger has been convicted of killing a frail 100-year-old widow in a street robbery.

Self-confessed heroin addict Artur Waszkiewicz knocked Zofija Kaczan to the floor, took her handbag and left her to bleed in the middle of the road as she made her way to church on May 28 last year.

Polish-born Ms Kaczan, who survived a Nazi camp during the Second World War, suffered multiple injuries, including a fractured neck and cheekbone.

Zofija Kaczan had left her home to walk to St Maksymilian Kolbe Polish Church (PA)

She died from pneumonia in hospital on June 6  a condition brought on by the injuries she sustained in the attack.

A jury of seven men and five women at Derby Crown Court found Waszkiewicz guilty of killing her close to the junction of St Chads Road and Empress Road in Normanton, Derby.

The jury deliberated for just over two hours before unanimously convicting Waszkiewicz of manslaughter and robbery.

The defendant, wearing a black velvet jacket and velvet slipper shoes, looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered.

He was caught on CCTV driving a Seat Leon car he bought from his father minutes before robbing Ms Kaczan  slowing down as soon as he saw a small, vulnerable woman on her own.

Waszkiewiczs car was seen close to the scene (Derbyshire Police/PA)

Waszkiewicz needed an easy target to steal from so he could meet a drug dealer a short time later to buy 20 of heroin.

The force he used ripped the handle off the handbag, inflicting significant bruising on Ms Kaczans arm.

Opening the case, prosecutor Kate Brunner QC said: She was attacked, she was thrown to the ground and her handbag was snatched from her.

She was small, on her own, vulnerable  an easy target for a man desperate for money.

He attacked Ms Kaczan, yanking her handbag from her and leaving her injured in the road and driving off.

Zofija Kaczans green handbag was stolen when she was attacked (Derbyshire Police/PA)

Police arrested Waszkiewicz, who was also born in Poland, after his fingerprint was recovered from a receipt in the bag.

He fled the city and hid under a bed at his mothers house in London to try to avoid arrest.

He drastically altered his appearance by cutting his long hair and changed the insurance details on his car.

The jury heard he was so desperate for cash that he had tried to sell his dog, and asked neighbour John Shinners for money.

The trial was told the 40-year-old had a number of previous convictions including shoplifting, creating false identification documents and one offence of battery.

He denied both charges, saying he had found the green handbag in the middle of the road, picked it up, and disposed of it at a well-known fly-tipping area because there was no cash.

Waszkiewicz, of Hilary Road in Shepherds Bush, west London, will be sentenced at the same court on Thursday.
A yoga teacher has appealed for help after his ex-partner vanished with their three-year-old daughter in the wake of a family court dispute.

Peter Uhd, 57, has urged anyone who knows where Victoria McKay, 43, and Ruby McKay-Uhd might be.

He made an appeal after a High Court judge raised the alarm.

Mr Justice Keehan, who is analysing the case at hearings in the Family Division of the High Court in London, said on Tuesday that he was very concerned about Rubys welfare.

Ruby has been at the centre of family court proceedings in Melbourne, Australia, involving her mother and father, the judge said.

She was wrongfully brought to the UK by her mother, who is also a yoga teacher, in September and a family court judge in Melbourne had ordered her return to Australia.

Mr Uhd is Australian, Ms McKay was born in Birmingham but had been living in Australia for more than 20 years, and Ruby was born in Australia, lawyers say.

The case had been analysed at private hearings but Mr Justice Keehan lifted an identity bar in the hope that publicity would help find the youngster and her mother.

Family Court signage (Nick Ansell/PA)

He also authorised the publication of photographs.

Lawyers representing Rubys father had asked to judge to allow Rubys disappearance to be revealed.

They said all other efforts to trace her and Ms McKay had failed.

Lawyer James Netto, who is representing Mr Uhd and is based at law firm Dawson Cornwell, said Ms McKay and Ruby were thought to be living in a blue Renault Trafic camper van, registration E527 HPC.

He said Ms McKay had one relative in Birmingham and others in the Littlehampton area of West Sussex.

Mr Netto said she had also spoken of possibly travelling to Scotland.

He said Ms McKay also used the surnames Booty and Garrick.

Mr Netto said Ms McKay and Ruby might be living on campsites, caravan parks or farms.

Rubys father remains exceptionally concerned for her welfare as a result of Ms McKays very transient lifestyle.

He wishes to make it clear that Ms McKay is not in any sort of trouble.

He is simply seeking for Ruby to be found safely, and for her to return to her home in Melbourne.

He asks that anyone who sees her or Ruby to get in touch with us as soon as possible.
But the bill quickly ran into problems in the Senate, after the Comptrollers Office predicted the complex changes would cause Maryland to lose hundreds of millions of tax dollars it was already collecting. A Senate committee decided to scrap Hogans bill and, instead, approved two bipartisan tax cut bills: one that increased the standard deduction by $250 for individuals and $500 for married couples, which provided a small tax cut but not enough to make all taxpayers whole; and a second that allowed some young, low-income working adults who dont have dependents to benefit from the state Earned Income Tax Credit. Together, those bills provided an estimated tax cut to various taxpayers totaling $100 million.
Theresa May has pressed the BBC to fund free TV licences for over-75s, amid calls for the Government to retake control of the scheme.

The Prime Minister added that taxpayers want to see the corporation use its substantial licence fee income in an appropriate way to deliver fully for UK audiences.

Currently, households with people over 75 are entitled to a free TV licence.

But the Government-funded scheme, which is expected to cost 745 million by 2021-22, comes to an end in 2020 and it will be for the BBC to decide whether to continue it, and in what form it will exist.

Opposition MPs and campaigners have warned that hundreds of thousands of over-75s will lose out if the free scheme is ended, blaming the Government for devolving responsibility to the BBC.

Speaking at Prime Ministers Questions, Labour MP Rosie Cooper said: Despite her partys manifesto promise, nearly 7,000 pensioner households in my West Lancashire constituency could lose their free TV licences  often thats their only source of company.

Currently, households with people over 75 are entitled to a free TV licence (Clara Molden/PA)

Is the Government going to keep their manifesto promise by taking back the responsibility theyve outsourced to the BBC to ensure that older people keep their TV licences?

Mrs May replied: I recognise the value that people across the country place on having a television, and for many elderly people the connection that brings with the world  and thats why the free licences for the over-75s are so important.

We want and expect the BBC to continue free licences when they take over responsibility for the concession in 2020.

I think taxpayers rightly want to see the BBC using its substantial licence fee income in an appropriate way to ensure it delivers fully for UK audiences.
Health workers in Scotland will apply the same treatment guidelines for women suffering from painful endometriosis as those in place south of the border.

Public health minister Joe Fitzpatrick has confirmed that the recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) guidance on dealing with the condition is applicable in Scotland too.

In a letter to Labour MSP Monica Lennon, the convener of Holyroods cross party group on womens health, the minister stressed the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring everyone with endometriosis is able to access the best possible care and support.

The condition is caused by tissue similar to the lining of the womb growing in places such as the ovaries and fallopian tubes.

Ms Lennon, who also serves as the Labour health spokeswoman, said: The application of the Nice guideline on endometriosis in Scotland will make a massive difference to women with this condition.

I look forward to working with MSPs and the Scottish Government on the implementation of the guidelines so that women in Scotland start to experience a quicker and more effective journey to diagnosis, treatment and support.

Monica Lennon welcomed confirmation the guidelines will also apply in Scotland (Mark Runnacles/PA)

Great news for those in Scotland today! The @scotgovhealth Minister for Public Health has confirmed that the @NICEcomms #endometriosis guidelines are applicable in Scotland. We now look forward to working with the Government to ensure this commitment becomes a reality.  Endometriosis UK (@EndometriosisUK) February 13, 2019

She added: Endometriosis is a relatively common condition affecting 1 in 10 women, yet many women report challenges in getting a diagnosis and effective treatment.

The average time taken to diagnosis is 7.5 years and women who attended our event in parliament had waited even longer  one women said her diagnosis had taken 13 years.

Campaigners at Endometriosis UK also welcomed the confirmation, with chief executive Emma Cox stating: Women with endometriosis, regardless of location, deserve the best access to treatment and we are delighted that the Scottish Government has taken the first step to make sure this happens.

If implemented correctly, the Nice guidelines would ensure women receive quicker diagnosis and those with complex endometriosis have access to specialist centres.
Portraits of a prominent Holocaust survivor that were daubed with swastikas in Paris this week have been restored by the artist who made them.

An unknown person attacked images of Simone Veil, the survivor of Nazi death camps and a European Parliament president who died in 2017, on Monday.

They were painted on postboxes near a town hall in the south east of the French capital.

Artist Christian Guemy, who also goes by the name C215, tweeted a photo of the restored images.

He said: Simone Veil is back  stronger than the barbarity of anonymous people.

According to French authorities, registered incidents of anti-Semitism rose to 541 last year from 311 in 2017, an increase of 74%.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo watches street artist Christian Guemy cleaning the vandalised postboxes (Michel Euler/AP)

Christian symbols have also been targets in France recently.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe condemned damage done by vandals to five churches last week, and urged the French to respect religion.

In our secular Republic, we respect the places of worship. These acts shock me, he said.

Mr Philippe said he will relay this message to representatives of the Catholic Church during a meeting in Paris.
A Bafta-nominated director has been cleared of sexually assaulting an actress in her west London flat.

Stephen Fingleton, 35, from Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, wept in the dock as he was found not guilty of attacking the woman after they had lunch on October 27, 2017.

He looked at the jury and said thank-you as the verdict was delivered.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had claimed the director pulled her head towards his crotch as she hung washing.

A jury of six men and six women at Isleworth Crown Court found Mr Fingleton not guilty of one count of sexual assault after deliberating for eight hours and six minutes.

The trial previously heard the woman had made up an untrue Harvey Weinstein-type allegation.

The pair had arranged the lunch after exchanging numbers at a British Film Industry event.

Mr Fingletons barrister Orla Day told the trial the woman lied about the attack after becoming upset that he did not like a film she made.

In cross-examination, Ms Day said the woman hoped showing Mr Fingleton the film would help you on your way to becoming famous.

She added: Instead he effectively told you that he didnt think very much of your film and he wasnt interested in working with you.

Were you concerned that your meeting had been a total disaster and you had embarrassed yourself?

Did you decide in the heat of the moment to make an untrue Harvey Weinstein-type allegation against him?

The director was cleared after a trial at Isleworth Crown Court (PA)

You know full well that the allegations you have made against him are lies.

Giving evidence to the jury, Mr Fingleton said the decision to meet the woman alone was terrible.

He said the allegation came at a time when he was on the point of becoming successful but caused him to lose his attachment to an American film.

Mr Fingleton said: I would say I had some success but I was not well known.

I was on the point of becoming successful. At the time of the allegation I was attached to an American film that was to shoot the next year.

That was with well-known actors, it was kind of a turning point. Its gone now.
The pilot whose plane crashed during the Shoreham Airshow, killing 11 men, has dismissed claims he ever had a cavalier attitude to flying.

Speaking for the first time in public since the 2015 crash, Andrew Hill stood in the witness box as he gave evidence at his trial in the Old Bailey on Wednesday.

The 1950s Hawker Hunter fighter jet plunged to the ground and exploded in a fireball on the A27 in West Sussex after Hill attempted a loop on August 22. The 54-year-old, of Sandon, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, denies 11 counts of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Prosecutors previously told the court the crash was due to pilot error and although Hill was normally considered careful and competent, he had taken risks in the past, suggesting he sometimes played fast and loose with the rules and may have had a more cavalier attitude to safety than was appropriate.

Andrew Hill outside court (Jonathan Brady/PA)

Karim Khalil QC, defending, asked Hill if he was a cavalier pilot.

Dressed in a black suit, white shirt and dark blue tie, he replied: I would say I was probably one of the least people that applied to, in the sense that there are ways to be cavalier and some people are, some people are not.

I believe I took a very structured, disciplined approach to it (display flying).

The jury of seven women and four men listened as he told the court he sometimes held back from flights he was not comfortable with carrying out, adding: We have our strengths and weaknesses.

Referring to Hills final display which ended with catastrophic consequences, Mr asked if he intended to cause risk to anybody.

Hill replied: Absolutely not, for a multitude of reasons.

It was the primary aim of the display to avoid risk.

Before being called to give evidence, the defendant  who gave his full name as Andrew Grenville Hill  spent much of the morning bending down in the dock, moving around and making notes.

(PA Graphics)

As he began speaking in his defence Hill paused before telling the court his current state of health was good.

The jury previously heard of three incidents in 2014, a year before the crash, when there were concerns over Hills flying, according to the prosecution.

But some witnesses described him as safety conscious and an absolute gentleman.

During a practice display for the Duxford airshow in Cambridgeshire, Hill flew over the crowd line, prosecutors said. The jury were also told he twice flew over the M11 much lower than permitted  but this assertion was later withdrawn.

Tom Kark QC, prosecuting, said he had flown over the Duxford Museum  which was regarded as a serious infringement.

Giving evidence, Hill said he had no concerns about the manner in which he was flying, adding: I was in total control.

Relatives of the crash victims and Hills family sat in the packed courtroom quietly listening to his evidence.

Hill said he believed he is known for his planning and preparation before displays  drawing his routines in diagrams before walking through the manoeuvres.

Footage from another airshow at Shannon Airport, Co Clare, Ireland, just over a month before the crash was shown to the jury in which Hill carried out the same bent loop stunt in the same aircraft without issue.

Hill claims to have experienced cognitive impairment shortly before the crash and does not remember what happened.

He was thrown from the burning plane and told medics he blacked out in the air after he was found with blood on his face lying in undergrowth beside the cockpit.

Emergency services on the A27 after the crash (Steve Parsons/PA)

The trained Royal Air Force instructor, who was a British Airways captain at the time, was taken to hospital with serious injuries and placed into an induced coma.

He had a fractured nose, ribs and part of his lower spine, a collapsed lung, and serious bruising among other injuries.

Hill had passed medical checks before the crash. Tests and scans carried out afterwards did not show any sign of a medical condition  including cognitive impairment  which may have affected his health leading up to the crash, the court heard.

Describing himself in court as an A-grade student, he grew up in Kent where he attended Tonbridge School  the private boarding school which counts Norman Heatley who turned penicillin into usable medicine among its alumni.

Telling the court he was reasonably academic, Hill was then able to enrol at Cambridge University without taking the entrance exam and studied at Christs College. He began studying engineering and then transferred to computer science, graduating with an honours degree in 1985.

He went straight into the RAF, winning a competition when flying a Jet Provost and was ranked a top performing student so was selected  or as he called it creamed off the top  to become an instructor.

Training in combat, he took part in active service for a month in the 1990s monitoring no-fly zones in northern Iraq.

Hill also started to fly a Harrier  capable of vertical take-off and landing  and won an award for his work and ideas on improving aircraft safety procedures, the court heard.

Then he went into civil aviation, becoming a commercial pilot starting with Virgin Atlantic before moving to British Airways and progressing to the most senior position of captain.

The trial continues.
Downing Street has denied that Theresa May is taking a no-deal Brexit off the table.

Eurosceptic Tories are threatening to rebel in a key Brexit vote on Thursday over a motion tabled in the Prime Ministers name which they claim would commit her to avoiding EU withdrawal without a deal.

The motion asks the House to reiterate its support for the approach agreed on January 29, when the Commons backed an amendment authorising Mrs May to go back to Brussels to renegotiate the controversial Irish backstop.

But members of the backbench European Research Group say that it effectively endorses another amendment approved by MPs the same day, which rules out no-deal but is not binding on the Government.

Leading ERG member Mark Francois told the BBC: We cannot vote for this as it is currently configured because it rules out no-deal and removes our negotiating leverage in Brussels.

The Prime Minister, if she went through the lobbies for this tomorrow night, would be voting against the guarantees she has given in the Commons for months. It is madness.

Mrs Mays official spokesman told reporters at a Westminster media briefing: What the motion reflects is the position the Prime Minister set out after those votes, which is the Parliament wants the UK to leave with a deal, but in order to do so it requires us to secure legally-binding changes in relation to the backstop.

He added: No-deal is an eventuality we wish to avoid, but one we continue to plan for. Does no-deal remain on the table? The answer is yes.

The spokesman declined to discuss reports that senior negotiator Olly Robbins was overheard in a Brussels bar saying that Mrs May planned to wait until the end of March before confronting MPs with a choice between her deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit.

Olly Robbins was reportedly overheard speaking to colleagues in a Brussels hotel bar (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

But he rejected suggestions that the backstop arrangement  designed to keep the Irish border open in the absence of a wider trade deal  was being treated as a bridge to a future UK/EU relationship, insisting instead that it is an insurance policy that is never intended to be used.

There were howls of anger from Eurosceptics over Mr Robbinss reported comments, with former Ukip leader Nigel Farage calling for him to be sacked for treachery and incompetence.

But Conservative vice-chairman Chris Philp said: What a civil servant might speculate in a bar after a few drinks is frankly not that important.

Answering questions in the House of Commons, Mrs May insisted the Governments position concerning the Article 50 withdrawal process had not changed.

No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse. pic.twitter.com/8vcDlAJeAn  Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 13, 2019

We triggered Article 50  in fact this House voted to trigger Article 50. That had a two-year timeline. That ends on March 29, she told MPs at Prime Ministers questions.

We want to leave with a deal. That is what we are working for.

Mrs May spoke with French president Emmanuel Macron and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday evening, Downing Street said.

European Council president Donald Tusk appeared to express frustration with Londons stance.

He tweeted: No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse.

And Dutch PM Mark Rutte told the Financial Times the Netherlands is already benefiting from businesses relocating from a diminished Britain.

Meanwhile, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour was committed to preventing Mrs May from pursuing a reckless policy of running down the clock to the point where MPs may be faced with a choice between her deal or no-deal with just days to go to the March 29 deadline.

Labour has tabled an amendment for debate in the Commons on Thursday which would require the Government to either put her deal to a vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

Sir Keir was meeting Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and the effective deputy prime minister David Lidington for talks on Wednesday.

What the Prime Minister is up to is obvious, Sir Keir told the Today programme.

Shes coming to Parliament every other week, pretending theres progress and trying to buy another two weeks, edging her way towards March 21, when the next EU summit is, to try to put her deal up against no-deal in those final few weeks.

Parliament needs to say Thats not on.

He declined to say whether Labour MPs would be disciplined for disobeying the whip in upcoming Brexit votes.

A series of frontbenchers who defied orders to back an earlier Cooper amendment kept their jobs.
A woman missing with her three-year-old son has not responded to a High Court judges Twitter plea to come home, lawyers say.

Mr Justice Williams appealed nearly two weeks ago to Ellie Yarrow-Sanders, who disappeared with Olly Sheridan in July after becoming embroiled in family court litigation with ex-partner Patrick Sheridan.

The judge, overseeing the case in hearings at the Family Division of the High Court in London, delivered his plea in a tweet posted on the Judicial Office account using the hashtag #comehomeolly.

#comehomeolly High Court Judge, Mr Justice Williams, and Ellie Yarrow-Sanders mother and sister have made a direct appeal to Ellie to bring missing toddler Olly Sheridan home, with reassurances as to how she will be treated and given a voice in court. https://t.co/flhGVskVEi  Judicial Office (@JudiciaryUK) February 1, 2019

Lawyers representing Mr Sheridan on Wednesday told the judge that Miss Yarrow-Sanders, who is from Basildon, Essex, and in her mid-20s, had not come forward and Olly was still missing.

Mr Justice Williams, who was analysing legal issues at a further hearing, reiterated his plea.

He said everyone involved wanted Miss Yarrow-Sanders to return and voluntarily take part in proceedings.

Ellie Yarrow-Sanders with Olly Sheridan

Lawyers believe Mr Justice Williams is the first judge to make such use of Twitter.

Miss Yarrow-Sanders mother and sister had also urged her to return.

Her mother Donna, 47, and sister Maddie, 22, made a joint plea with Mr Sheridan, who is in his mid-40s, on February 1 and said Olly needed to come home to his normal life.

Mr Justice Williams initially raised the alarm about Olly and Miss Yarrow-Sanders at a hearing in December, saying he was gravely concerned for the boys welfare.

Miss Yarrow-Sanders disappeared with Olly a few weeks before she was due to give evidence in a critical family court hearing, according to lawyers.

Journalists had been barred from identifying anyone involved in the litigation, but Mr Justice Williams lifted the bar in the hope that publicity would help find Olly and Miss Yarrow-Sanders.

He said family members could be named and photographs published.

Essex Police have also urged anyone with information to get in touch.
Haulage firms could go out of business overnight because of a lack of permits which may be needed in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a trade association has warned.

Applications were made for 11,392 of the licences to enter the EU, with 984 made available.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said the companies that had missed out were really angry.

If you cant go to Europe and your business is based on going to Europe, youre out of business overnight, he told the Press Association.

What have you got to fall back on?

The Department for Transport (DfT), which is responsible for distributing the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) permits, said it had secured additional annual and short-term versions.

Haulage firms could go bust because of a lack of permits in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the Road Haulage Association has warned (Gareth Fuller/PA)

It was also confident that UK hauliers would not actually need the documents to continue operating in the EU.

The DfT noted that the European Commission had proposed that UK firms could continue carrying goods into the EU for nine months in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Existing bilateral agreements with individual EU states would also come into force if there was no arrangement with the bloc as a whole.

Mr Burnett warned that the European Commissions plan had not yet been ratified by the European Parliament.

He said: If youre a haulier that wants to get to Europe, you dont know how youre going to do it.

You have no clarity over the process. At the moment the only guarantee is with ECMT permits.

Mr Burnett explained that he met Transport Secretary Chris Grayling over a year ago and told him hauliers needed a contingency plan so they could continue to operate if the UK withdrew from the EU without an agreement.

He recalled that Mr Grayling told him theres nothing to worry about and well get a deal.

Mr Burnett said: His track record so far means that we as an industry have no confidence at this stage that were going to get what we need. That is really concerning.

A DfT spokesman said: The Government continues to work towards a deal which maintains the current, liberalised access we enjoy. This is very much in the interest of the EU as well as the UK.

We are confident that hauliers should not need an ECMT permit to continue operating in the EU.
The Irish president has called for Britain and Ireland to build on their links as he hailed the extraordinary connection Liverpool has with his country.

Michael D Higgins and wife Sabina visited the Liverpool Irish Centre on Wednesday on the final day of their visit to England.

More than 200 people turned out to see the president as he made a speech and posed for photos.

In President Higgins first term in office, his first official visit overseas was to #Liverpool.



Now, on his first official visit of his second term, President Higgins is back in the same city.https://t.co/zkMhmfxXg7 pic.twitter.com/AXT7VWenux  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) February 13, 2019

He said: Irrespective of whatever happens in proximate political events its so important that we build on those important links of interaction we have.

He praised the commitment of people at the centre in their care for the community.

Mr Higgins spoke about the contribution Irish people had made to the infrastructure of Merseyside, including the building of the Manchester Ship Canal, roads and houses, after hundreds of thousands emigrated to Liverpool in the 1800s.

Eileen Walsh, left, originally from Co Cavan, meets Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina in Liverpool where shes lived since 1951 (Maxwell Photography/PA)

He said Ireland could claim three of the Beatles, adding: I think Ringo is the only one who gets away.

There is no area of life into which we will not find this, he said.

This is what is happening in the best of worlds when people share life together.

He said the relationship between England and Ireland had reached a point of maturity and commented on the countries shared history.

He said: We have moved to a new place in which we are able to walk in the shoes of each other and be able to concentrate on the present and future.

Liverpool, this most Irish of cities, has such an extraordinary connection with Ireland.

Mr Higgins said he was glad to be back at the centre, which he first visited in 2012 shortly after he had been elected for his first term.

He began his visit to England in Birmingham on Monday, and on Tuesday met the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall at Liverpools Victoria Gallery and Museum.

The president was shown more of Liverpools Irish connections on Wednesday afternoon as he visited the citys Central Library.

Catherine Morris, the librarys first writer in residence, showed him documents from the archives including a workhouse register and letters from Irish children who were sent abroad by the Catholic Emigration Association.

Among those included in the workhouse register was a 12-year-old Michael Higgins, who had arrived at the citys Clarence Dock from Ireland and was put in the workhouse with his family in 1897.

Mr and Mrs Higgins also visited Liverpools World Museum, where they viewed Aztec manuscript the Codex Fejervary-Mayer.
The Prince of Wales told children he hopes they will make a real difference to the future of this country as he visited a school affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

In a visit to the Kensington Aldridge Academy (KAA), Charles also suggested the children would be the next generation of cyber security experts, during a special assembly featuring a choir and a dance routine.

This came after the prince spoke to five pupils affected by the Grenfell disaster, telling them they were lucky to have the opportunities of enrichment the school offered.

It is students second term back in the building in west London after it was forced to relocate following the June 2017 blaze.

The Prince meets @KAA_Intrepidus pupils who were affected by the Grenfell Tower fire.



The Academy is located just yards from the foot of the Tower. The school lost five students in the tragedy in June 2017, and many staff and pupils had to be rehoused as a result. pic.twitter.com/afX2x5C7sP  Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) February 13, 2019

We were a bit nervous because hes royalty, from royal blood. We thought hed be sterner but he was really sweet, said Yusra Ali, a year 11 student.

He said we were good ambassadors for the school after the tragedy in 2017.

The Prince of Wales

We were discussing enrichment opportunities at this school, which include music, debates and sports.

Jake Ayling, in year 9, told of the difficulties he faced after the disaster in 2017.

Last year we were in the temporary building, after the fire we stayed in Portakabins as we couldnt stay in this building.

He told us that we now have good opportunities in this school and for the future.

Earlier on Wednesday morning around 200 pupils welcomed the prince, waving flags and cheering.

This morning, The Prince of Wales is visiting @KAA_Intrepidus, a secondary school in the heart of North Kensington. pic.twitter.com/vQoj0PNoDL  The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) February 13, 2019

During an assembly with a choir performance and dance, headmaster David Benson thanked Charles for visiting, and said the school had been through difficult times.

The prince took a front row seat as around 40 children sang What About Us  a song they learned while they were in temporary accommodation last year. Afterwards he was handed a pot of local honey by the music teacher.

Giving an impromptu speech, the prince told students: If I may say so, I hope you have the greatest possible success in the future.

It isnt always easy, there are a lot of appalling challenges out there, but I hope your experiences here will help you a little bit to cope with those challenges and make a real difference to the future of this country.

Because we are going to rely on so many of you, and many of you, Im sure, are going to be frighteningly clever computer engineers and people helping to sort out all these cyber security issues (that) I dont understand, but Im sure many of you will help to make sure we can do our best.

So best of luck all of you, and as I said to some of you, you can always blame me if you dont pass the exams.

After the visit, Mr Benson said: The Prince of Wales was definitely aware of the recent history of the school, he knew about Grenfell, he knew about the way the school had been impacted, he knew about the displacement to the temporary school.

Actually, today, what he wanted to talk about was the achievements of the students, how happy and settled they are now to be back in their home, about their ambitions. He talks to students a lot about the universities they are applying to.

I think he was very aware but also, for him, I think this was about a positive visit, it was about celebrating the achievement of the students.

His Royal Highness meets representatives from @TeachFirst, of which HRH is Patron, and those who have helped support the school in recent months. pic.twitter.com/8z9FpbSFg6  The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) February 13, 2019

Charles is patron of Teach First, a fast-track teacher training charity which places staff in disadvantaged areas.

Around 20 teachers trained with Teach First at KAA.

The prince spoke highly of the charity as he entered the building and greeted Mr Benson, a Teach First graduate, and other senior representatives.

The Prince of Wales watches a history lesson at @KAA_Intrepidus.



In 2017, Ofsted graded the school not only outstanding in all areas but exceptional and in 2018, the school was named the TES secondary school of the year. pic.twitter.com/U3u4oeCkt9  The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall (@ClarenceHouse) February 13, 2019

During the visit Charles sat in on history and geography lessons and also spent time in the schools library.

Youd better get on with it otherwise it will be my fault if you dont pass your exams, he joked in the geography lesson.

Good luck, he added as he left the room.
I know that its not a perfect bill. Its a complex bill. Its really hard to keep track of some of these things. Its complaint driven. But were open to talking about amendments to the bill as long as the impact is there, Pittman said at the meeting. Ultimately we would like to have a public finance option in the county so we can get our task force to look at that, but thats going to take some time and some revenue.
A man who claims he was forced to squirt acid on a three-year-old boy has told a jury he felt terrible when he found out the victim was burned.

The youngster, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, suffered serious injuries to his face and arm at the Home Bargains store in Worcester on July 21 last year.

A 40-year-old man, the boys father, has denied a charge of conspiring to spray sulphuric acid on the boy between June 1 and July 22, 2018 with intent to harm.

He is on trial at Worcester Crown Court accused of plotting the attack alongside a woman and five other men, including Adam Cech.

(PA Graphics)

Cech, who has accepted he squirted the boy, told the jury on Wednesday he did not know it was acid and discovered that fact only when he saw reports on the news later that day.

The father-of-two has also claimed another of the co-accused, Norbert Pulko, forced a bottle containing the acid into his hand after threatening him with a gun, moments before the shop attack.

Cech, when asked by his barrister how he felt on hearing he had burned the child, replied: Terrible.

He claimed Pulko had been driving him to London when he came across a news report of the attack.

I asked him what was in that bottle  how was it possible that I have harmed this boy,' Cech added.

The 27-year-old, of Farnham Road, Birmingham, has pleaded not guilty to being part of the conspiracy, alongside co-accused Jan Dudi, 25, of Cranbrook Road, Birmingham, and Pulko, 22, of Sutherland Road, London.

Martina Badiova, 22, of Newcombe Road, Handsworth, Birmingham; Jabar Paktia, 42, of Newhampton Road, Wolverhampton, and Saied Hussini, of Wrottesley Road, London, have also denied the same charge.

Jurors have previously heard the injured child repeatedly screamed I hurt after being struck, at about 2.16pm.

Adam Cech admitted to jurors on Tuesday `its me squirting acid on the boy in CCTV footage of the attack (West Mercia Police/PA)

The Crown has alleged the father enlisted others to attack the youngster in a bid to win a custody battle, after his wife walked out on him with the children in 2016.

It is also alleged an aborted attempt was carried out on July 13, eight days before the shop attack.

Jurors have already heard a claim, made through Hussinis barrister, that the boys father had been willing to pay up to 3,000 for private investigators to follow his wife and children.

On the second day of his evidence, Cech claimed he was scared of going to the police about Pulko after an incident at the mans London home involving a gun.

Cech said: He was holding the gun, and while he was talking, he was waving it about.

The jury have seen a BB gun, found by police in Pulkos bedroom, which Cech has claimed was also used to threaten him into carrying out the attack moments before it happened.

Footage of Cech, right, with a man said to be Dudi, left, and Pulko, far left, entering the Home Bargains store just before the attack (West Mercia Police/PA)

Following his arrest, however, Cech gave a no comment interview to police.

His barrister Andrew Copeland asked: Why didnt you tell the police then?

Cech replied: I was scared, frightened, and it was the first time Ive ever been in a police station.

He was also asked to bear his left wrist in court in order to show he was not an alleged guinea-pig to prove the acids strength ahead of the attack.

Mr Copeland showed an image of a mans left forearm, with a red acid-type injury, which had been recovered from Hussinis mobile phone.

However, when Cech rolled back his sleeve, it showed a heavily tattooed limb  unlike the one in the photograph.

A different angle apparently showing Cech squirting the boy in the attack (West Mercia Police/PA)

Earlier this week, during the fathers evidence, prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC claimed he had been handing over acid in a pub car park to a man alleged to be Pulko just hours before the attack.

The Crowns barrister asked him: I suggest you are an arrogant and selfish man, arent you?

You planned this acid attack on your three-year-old son.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: This is not the truth, I would never do this.

The trial continues.
A council which approved a groundbreaking policy to support employees who are victims of domestic abuse has been praised for leading the way.

South Ayrshire Council unanimously approved the plans to give workers up to 10 days paid safe leave, allowing them time to get help and support for themselves and their families.

It cites New Zealands world leading Victims Protection Bill that was introduced last year and requires employers to give victims of domestic violence leave that is separate from annual holiday and sick leave.

It is thought to be the first local authority in Europe to do so.

Elizabeth, a survivor of domestic abuse who did not wish to be identified, said the policy was vital.

She detailed her own experiences which left her feeling shattered and explained the importance of having the safe leave policy in place.

The 26-year-old from South Ayrshire said: I was going out with someone for a few years. I lived with them previously so straight off we were living together.

A couple of years into the relationship I realised how bad things had got, I had a bit of an epiphany moment and was like wow.this is not okay.

If you are spending a long time trying to get away from an issue like this by the time you get out youre absolutely shattered.

You are worried youre going to lose your job, worried about moving home, losing all of the friend groups youve set up and the stigma thats still attached to it.

Youre worried about trying to fit in your doctors appointments, counsellors, therapists. Trying to sort out your life basically and get your life back and on top of all that youre absolutely shattered.

Having some time off and knowing youve got that ahead of you gives you some security that youve got that time to do what you need to do to get your life back on track again.

The leave can be used however the employees require, allowing victims to get medical help and counselling, attend legal proceedings, seek support or look for safe accommodation.

Councillor Brian McGinley, Hazel Bingham of South Ayrshire Womens Aid, Gillian Farrell, Councillor Peter Henderson and Councillor Laura Brennan-Whitefield (South Ayrshire Council/PA)

South Ayrshire Womens Aid, which moved to a more private location in the town centre three years ago, has welcomed the move and is to help with the training aspect.

Service manager Hazel Bingham said: The council have embraced this legislation on the back of what happened in New Zealand and passed this into their own policies as well which is amazing because its so important that people who are subjected to domestic abuse are able to have time off paid.

Wed like to see every council in Scotland taking this up and not just councillors  wed like to see every employer looking at their policies.

We will be training managers, whoevers got the responsibility where an employee would go to to ask for this leave, we will train those people to fully understand the complexities of domestic abuse.

It is hoped the policy will come into effect from as early as Monday.

Councillor Laura Brennan-Whitefield, one of the representatives to put forward the motion, said other organisations as well as Womens Aid were very pleased at the policys roll-out.

She said: For me that it was unanimously agreed at full council shows that this issue is now on peoples radar.

In my moving of the motion I talked a lot about psychological abuse, mental abuse which is often hidden and isnt connected in the same way physical abuse has been over the years.

People associate domestic abuse with physical violence so I think the fact were now engaging our managers in this process is really positive.

Im very proud were the first council to do it as well, I feel like were leading the way and hopefully other organisations follow and that theres a momentum around this.
The parents of missing student Libby Squire have released new photographs of their daughter nearly two weeks after she disappeared.

Lisa and Russ Squire said the 21-year-old has a big heart and is much loved by her three younger siblings as they issued the pictures through Humberside Police.

Fifty detectives and hundreds of uniformed officers have been working around the clock to try to find the University of Hull student, who was reported missing on February 1.

Libby Squire in Paris in May 2017 (Humberside Police.PA)

On Wednesday, Mr and Mrs Squire, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, said: Libby is a much-loved big sister to her three younger siblings. They all really look up to her and she always expects them to behave.

Libby has a big heart. She is always happy and having fun. She laughs a lot. She is a real family person and loves spending time at home with them.

The new photographs show Miss Squire at home on Christmas Day last year and in Paris in May 2017 when she visited with friends during a gap year.

Find out more details about our search for Libby Squire in Hull so far here: https://t.co/BDeQKOJtHM Hundreds of officers including approx 50 detectives have been looking for Libby. We have had incredible support up to now. Thank you #HelpFindLibby pic.twitter.com/IXsNYdaLaN  Humberside Police (@Humberbeat) February 12, 2019

The search for Miss Squire entered its 13th day on Wednesday and saw police divers from the regional marine and underwater search unit searching beneath the surface of the pond at Oak Road Playing Fields, near her home on Wellesley Avenue, in Hull.

Other search teams continued an operation to cut back undergrowth near the pond.

Miss Squire is believed to have taken a taxi from The Welly nightclub on Beverley Road, about one and a half miles from her home, after she was refused entry on the evening of January 31.

CCTV footage obtained by the Press Association showed the student outside the club at about 11.20pm that night.

Police said she was dropped off by the taxi near her home at about 11.29pm and was then seen near a bench on Beverley Road about 10 minutes later, when a motorist offered her help.

More CCTV footage, released last week after it was obtained by ITV News, showed a man getting in and out of a car, minutes after the last sighting of the philosophy student.

Police search Oak Road Playing Fields in connection with the disappearance of Libby Squire (Owen Humphreys/PA)

In the video, the unidentified man is seen opening the front passenger door before getting back into the car and driving away at about 12.09am on February 1.

The investigation has seen teams from a range of organisations helping with the search.

Large digital posters displaying the face of the missing student have been placed around Hull city centre and petrol stations and local businesses have put up posters on their premises.

Digital screens have been showing Libby Squires face (Humberside Police/PA)

A police spokesman said: Please continue to help us with our search for Libby. Please contact us with any new information you may have.

Last week Pawel Relowicz, of Raglan Street, Hull, was arrested and questioned on suspicion of abduction in connection with Miss Squires disappearance and police said the 24-year-old remains under investigation.

Residents living on and around Raglan Street have received letters asking if they saw or heard anything unusual on the night the student went missing.

Relowicz was charged with a number of offences unrelated to Miss Squires disappearance and appeared at Hull Magistrates Court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to charges of voyeurism, outraging public decency and burglary.
The Duke of Cambridge marked becoming royal patron of a homeless charity by serving lunch to its clients  and quipped he was on trial for a job.

Wearing an apron, William dished out spaghetti bolognese to men and women who had patiently queued for the free lunch made by staff and volunteers.

The duke has become the figurehead of The Passage, an organisation which has helped more than 130,000 people in crisis over almost 40 years through its resource centre, homelessness prevention projects and innovative accommodation services.

Williams mother Diana, Princess of Wales first took him and younger brother Harry to the charity in December 1993, and as a young man the duke has made numerous public and private trips to the organisation.

Helping to chop carrots for lunch, the duke joked: I feel Mary Berry is going to pop out in a minute and tell us were too slow.

Mick Clarke, chief executive of The Passage, later joined William as he ladled the meat sauce on to pasta and joked to a client: Were giving him a trial.

The duke, who was visiting the charitys St Vincents Centre in Westminster, laughed and replied: Yes, see how I get on.

The Duke helps serve lunch alongside Malcolm (on the right), whos been volunteering at the @PassageCharity for 21 years. pic.twitter.com/QGyR01T3Bn  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (@KensingtonRoyal) February 13, 2019

First in the queue for lunch was Taffy, who had been sleeping rough for almost 25 years before getting permanent accommodation five years ago, but he still returns to The Passage for some meals.

He said he had joked with William about his title: I said to him youre the duke of Cambridge? and he said yes, and I said Im from Cambridge, I was born in Cambridge.

The 60-year-old was not fazed by being served by the duke, saying: It doesnt mean nothing, I just wanted to meet him. Hes just another geezer to me.

Lunch is prepared for around 150 people a day but the charity has reported a significant rise during the past 12 months in the number of rough sleepers visiting its St Vincents Centre, with numbers increasing by almost 50% to more than 3,200.

When William joined the volunteers and staff preparing lunch, he first washed his hands and then made his way to a work surface with a chopping board and large box carrots.

The duke serves lunch to homeless people (Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA)

The duke joked: Im cutting carrots with an enormous bread knife, this isnt going to go well.

He was then shown a quick way to peel and chop up the vegetables by the charitys chef Nour Dakoba.

When Mr Clarke told the duke that a volunteer was thinking about bringing out a cookbook to mark its 40th anniversary next year, the royal quipped: You dont want any of my recipes, thats for sure, theyre not worth being written in a book.

And theyre not very healthy either, a few burgers and pizzas.

The conversation later became more serious and the duke told volunteer Kyle Simon: Ive been thinking recently about all the cold weather, I always worry when I hear theres snow forecast.

William last visited St Vincents with wife Kate in the run-up to Christmas, when he spoke out against the drug spice after hearing about its devastating effect on the capitals homeless.

He brought up the subject again on Wednesday when he told how he had come across users while a pilot with the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

William was tasked with peeling a mountain of carrots (Ian Vogler/Daily Mirror/PA)

He said: We went to a few people who had taken spice with the air ambulance, and that whole process was very challenging, very sad seeing the destruction it has had on peoples lives.

William ended his tour by meeting participants in the charitys Home for Good project, a befriending scheme where trained volunteers are matched with a former homeless person becoming independent and living in their own accommodation.

After hearing one mans successful battle against addiction and how he is forging a new life with support from his charity partner, William mentioned his work as patron of Centrepoint, a charity that tackles youth homelessness, but said young people face different issues like relationship problems.

He added: Coming here really does open my mind to how the older you are, the more likely addiction is going to get hold of you, and how difficult it is to tackle.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is likely to be Scotlands next first minister, her deputy has said.

Jackson Carlaw insisted it was perfectly possible, if not in fact now likely that she would lead the next Scottish Government.

The Tory MSP, who is acting as interim leader while Ms Davidson is on maternity leave, also likened the current SNP administration at Holyrood to the end of the Conservatives 18 years in power at Westminster, under Margaret Thatcher and then John Major.

With the SNP having been in power in Scotland since 2007, Mr Carlaw said there was now more of a sense of entitlement setting in.

He told Holyrood magazine: The second SNP administration  and this one too  reminds me a little bit of the period of the Major years as they wore on, where, after 18 years of Conservative government, there was more of a sense of entitlement setting in, and a sense among people that this is how it now is in the ordered way of politics and nothing is ever really going to change that.

Well, we found out very rudely in 1997 that the electorate is very capable of deciding when its time for a change and it can decide for a change in a way that you would never have thought possible, even five years before it happened.

Scottish Conservative interim leader Jackson Carlaw (Jane Barlow/PA)

Asked if he could see the Conservatives  who lost all their MPs in Scotland in 1997  forming the next government at Holyrood, Mr Carlaw stated: Yes, I can. And I can do that because Ive been around as long as I have. Ive understood the stark changes that can take effect in an election.

I very much believe that in the publics mind at the moment there are only two candidates to be First Minister of Scotland: Nicola Sturgeon or Ruth Davidson.

And if the momentum continues to build towards the idea that we need a change because things arent working well, I think there will be people  because of that authenticity and because the agenda Ruth will build up around that  who will look at what we offer and say, actually, you know, I think I can see Ruth Davidson as the FM of Scotland.

I believe that its perfectly possible, if not in fact now likely.

He said Ms Davidson was looking forward to coming back to work after the birth of her son Finn in October 2018, saying she would come back recharged and ready.
Brexit has raised tensions on the island of Ireland and complicated progress towards a lasting peace, one of the authors of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) has told MPs.

The former premier of the Republic of Ireland, Bertie Ahern, said people were worried that a no-deal UK withdrawal from the EU would be the start of a slippery slope to a hard border, with checkpoints and troops.

He said the UKs 2016 vote to leave the EU was the reason why the Northern Irish institutions created by the GFA remain suspended after more than two years.

He told a House of Commons committee the Irish Government would not give up on the controversial backstop arrangements in Theresa Mays Withdrawal Agreement, as they were viewed as the only way of ensuring with certainty that we have a soft border.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Ahern, who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, poured cold water on any suggestion that Dublin would accept Mrs Mays proposals for the backstop to be time-limited or replaced with technological solutions.

While the technology to avoid border checkpoints may be developed in the dim and distant future, it is not currently available, he said, and checks at a distance from the border would not be seen by Ireland as compliant with the GFA.

He told the Commons Leaving the EU Committee: There is no possibility of the Irish Government or the Irish people saying the backstop could be time-limited. There is no hope of that, Im afraid.

I dont see the EU changing on the Withdrawal Agreement, I dont see them changing on the backstop, I dont think the Irish Government are going to change on that.

Mr Ahern said continued membership of the EU for both Britain and Ireland was taken as an absolute given when he was negotiating the Good Friday Agreement with Tony Blair and was a key element on which the 1998 pact was built.

Mr Ahern gave evidence to the Exiting the European Union Committee (PA)

He said he felt like Rip Van Winkle waking up after 20 years asleep when he heard opponents of the backstop argue that Northern Ireland must be treated the same as other parts of the UK, when the agreement made clear that both sides accepted the constitutional position was different.

Mr Ahern said: Most people remember the border and remember sitting in long queues.

They fear that any infrastructure at the border equals trouble, disagreement, Army, soldiers, police. Some of it might be exaggerated but there is that fear of the slippery slope. It is something that really worries people.

Brexit has raised tensions again, it has brought back a lot of the rhetoric of the past, its brought back a lot of the issues of the past, he said.

Its my view that if it wasnt for Brexit, the institutions in Northern Ireland would have been up and running a year ago. Brexit has stopped that. It wasnt the reason that brought them down but it is the reason they are not back up.

Asked whether it was helpful for current Taioseach Leo Varadkar to talk about sending troops to the border in the case of a no-deal Brexit, Mr Ahern replied: Rhetoric from anybody at any time isnt helpful.

He denounced as irresponsible suggestions that Brexit should lead to an early poll on Irish reunification, saying this should wait until new arrangements have had time to bed in and the institutions are restored.

He told MPs: The open and invisible border we have today is an achievement of the (peace) process and of our shared membership of the EU.

No-one wants to see a hardening of that border and anyone familiar with life in Northern Ireland and the border counties would see the prospect of any infrastructure checks or controls  with enormous concern, and in my view they would be right.

While London, Dublin and Brussels had all voiced their determination not to erect physical infrastructure along the border in any circumstances, Mr Ahern said World Trade Organisation rules would force them to do so if the UK left without a deal.

The Irish Government say they dont want it, the British Government say they dont want it, the EU say they dont want it, he said. I think most Irish people think, Well then, we will definitely have it.

We want to keep the relationship between Britain and Ireland in the same close and hugely positive place it has been over the last two decades. But just because we all want that doesnt mean we dont need a plan to make that happen.

Mr Ahern said a no-deal Brexit would be devastating for Ireland, particularly for small businesses and farms, with surveys forecasting 40,000 job losses and a 4% cut in GDP.

But he said the threat of a hard border would take precedence over economic issues for a large majority of its people.

He said there was almost total unanimity in the Republic behind Mr Varadkars insistence on the backstop, which is designed to keep the border open by keeping the UK in the EUs customs union and Northern Ireland observing certain single market rules until a wider trade deal is agreed.

Brexit is disruptive, full stop, he said. Whatever way you look at it  from the UK, from the Irish point of view, from the island of Ireland point of view, North and South  it badly affects us. Theres very few plus sides  I cant think of any  in UK withdrawal from Europe.
A woman who a murder accused blames for killing a six-year-old girl has told a court she had nothing to do with the crime.

Toni McLachlan, 18, was giving evidence at the High Court in Glasgow at the trial of a 16-year-old boy accused of raping and murdering schoolgirl Alesha MacPhail.

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the charges and has lodged a special defence blaming Ms McLachlan, Aleshas fathers girlfriend.

Toni McLachlan outside court with Aleshas father Robert MacPhail (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Asked if she had anything to do with Aleshas murder, Ms McLachlan replied: No.

She told the court: I loved her to pieces.

Alesha was spending the start of her school holidays with her father and grandparents in the house they shared on the Isle of Bute.

The court heard Ms McLachlan and her partner would deal cannabis to the accused, who phoned them in the early hours of the day Alesha was allegedly taken from her bed at her grandparents house, where the couple also stayed.

Her body was found in woodland on the island hours after she was reported missing on July 2 last year.

Ms McLachlan said she returned the accuseds call at around 6.30am after being woken up to search for Alesha.

Call logs showed he messaged around 9am that day saying sorry doesnt matter with two laughing crying emojis.

The court heard Ms McLachlan asked him to keep an eye out for Alesha since she had gone missing and he replied: Oh damn am sure shes not went too far.

She said she first had a bad feeling about the call and thought it was dodgy looking but after the messages this went away.

Questioned on how it felt to be accused of murder, Ms McLachlan said: Horrible, especially when it is somebody that you do love so much.

But she knew I loved her and thats what Im trying to keep in my head just now.

She added that she was sad, hurt and angry.

The court heard she had been in an on-off relationship with Aleshas dad for about two years.

In response to questioning from the accuseds lawyer, Brian McConnachie QC, Ms McLachlan denied being jealous of Alesha or threatened by her.

She also denied the suggestion she had been in a sexual relationship with the accused for several months between autumn 2017 and early 2018.

Mr McConnachie suggested she messaged the accused on the night Alesha went missing asking him to meet for a cigarette, they then went to a shed and had sex using a condom she provided, which she denied.

He said she then went into Aleshas room, took her to the woods where she was found attacked and brutalised her and planted the accuseds semen from the condom, then murdered her, all of which Ms McLachlan denied.

The court also heard from Jorge Williams, who found Aleshas body.

Jorge Williams outside the High Court in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr Williams, 30, from Bute, said he did not know her but went out to search for her after seeing a Facebook message about her going missing.

He found her in woodland having searched the surrounding areas and phoned the police after finding no pulse, later flagging down a police car and showing officers to her body.

Judge Lord Matthews praised Mr Williams for his actions and said he was salt of the earth.

The accused denies raping and murdering Alesha, and attempting to hide evidence.

The case continues.
A lawyer famous for winning extremely rare acquittals in Japan has been hired to defend Nissans former chairman Carlos Ghosn as he battles charges of false financial reporting and breach of trust.

The move to recruit Junichiro Hironaka underscores Ghosns determination to prove his innocence.

The odds are against him: in Japanese courts, 99% of cases get guilty verdicts.

Ghosn thanked his former legal team for their tireless and diligent work and courage during the interrogation phase, but said he wanted to hire a different lawyer for the trial.

As we begin the trial phase, I have decided to engage Hironaka-sensei as my legal counsel, Ghosn said in a statement, referring to Mr Hironaka with the honorific for teacher, often used in Japan for lawyers.

Junichiro Hironaka (Kyodo News via AP)

I look forward to defending myself vigorously, and this represents the beginning of the process of not only establishing my innocence but also shedding light on the circumstances that led to my unjust detention, said Ghosn, who has been held at a detention centre since his arrest on November 19.

Motonari Ohtsuru, the lawyer who had initially headed his defence, resigned as of Wednesday.

Mr Hironaka has won some high-profile cases, including the acquittal in 2012 of a senior politician, Ichiro Ozawa, who was charged with false accounting in a land deal.

Lawyer Hiroshi Kawatsu, an expert in judicial reform who has studied and done research in the US, has also joined Ghosns defence team, Mr Hironakas office said.

The two do not share Mr Ohtsurus background as a former star Tokyo prosecutor.

In Japan, lawyers who are former prosecutors are thought to have an edge thanks to their deep understanding of prosecutors work.

But Mr Ohtsuru and Ghosn have appeared at odds over his defence strategy, with Ghosn strongly asserting his innocence from the start through his own statements, as well as those of his other lawyers, family members and representatives.

Motonari Ohtsuru (Koji Sasahara/AP)

Ghosn has tried without success to gain release on bail, offering to wear an electronic monitoring device and hire security guards acceptable to the authorities.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, lawyer Akira Kitani, a former judge praised for handing down innocent verdicts, said he thought Ghosn should replace Mr Ohtsuru, and the sooner the better.

He suggested Mr Ohtsuru had not been forceful enough in asserting his clients innocence.

Unlike in the US, in Japan prosecutors can appeal to a higher court if a suspect is found innocent.

Japanese prosecutors also tend to have more influence with judges.

The Tokyo District Court, prosecutors and Ghosns lawyers were scheduled to meet on Thursday to work on preparing for his trial.

Trials in Japan take much preparation and the meeting does not mean it will start soon.

In France, car maker Renault said it will not pay former chairman Ghosn compensation following his resignation.

Renault said in a statement that its board unanimously decided to waive Ghosns non-compete commitment and, consequently, not to pay the corresponding compensation equal to two years fixed and variable compensation.

The car maker also cancelled shares granted to Ghosn from 2015 to 2018, which were subject to his continued presence at Renault.

The board noted that such condition is not met, thereby triggering the loss of Mr Ghosns rights to the definitive acquisition of such shares.
A no-deal Brexit would lead to a major dislocation to the Scottish economy, according to the countrys chief economist.

In a State of the Economy report published on Wednesday, Scotlands chief economic adviser, Gary Gillespie, indicated that disruptions to logistics, supply, trade, investment, migration and market confidence could cause a significant structural change in the economy.

The analysis suggested that although the country had experienced a positive year economically, with growth in areas such as exports and high labour market performance, uncertainty around the UKs withdrawal from the EU remained a live risk.

 Scotlands Chief Economist @Garygillespie42 has published his State of the Economy Report today warning that intensifying #Brexit uncertainty is causing concern and is already impacting key economic indicators in Scotland.



https://t.co/R5m332WryY pic.twitter.com/yEAKvjK2Gy  Scot Gov Economy (@scotgoveconomy) February 13, 2019

The report highlighted business activity softening towards the end of 2018, with business confidence also becoming weaker, attributed to growing uncertainty over Brexit.

It also pointed to forecasts that the Scottish economy is expected to grow by between 1% and 1.5% over 2019, although indicated that these would need to be reconsidered in the absence of an orderly departure from the EU.

The UK is expected to leave the EU on March 29, however Prime Minister Theresa May has not been able to gain sufficient support from MPs to support her deal.

A state of the economy report was published on Wednesday (Jane Barlow/PA)

Last month, MPs in Westminster voted against a proposal put forward by Labours Yvette Cooper to delay Brexit in order to prevent the UK leaving without a deal.

An amendment by Conservative MP Sir Graham Brady was backed by MPs however, with Theresa May urging colleagues to support it.

The amendment granted the Prime Minister a mandate to return to Brussels and re-open negotiations in order to secure a change to the Irish backstop.

The Scottish Governments Economy Secretary, Derek Mackay said: Scotlands economy continues to perform well with further growth and record low unemployment.

But we cannot ignore the fact that this is being put at risk by the increasing uncertainty associated with Brexit, and in particular the risk of a no-deal scenario.

Brexit, in whatever form, will cost jobs, make people poorer, damage our society and undermine the democratic decision of the people of Scotland to remain in the EU.

It is vital that the UK Government takes immediate and urgent steps to rule out a no-deal Brexit, which threatens to have devastating consequences for our economy and extend the Article 50 process.

Our first priority is staying in the EU, in line with the overwhelming vote in Scotland to remain, and we support another referendum on EU membership.

Short of that, the least damaging option is to remain in the customs union and European single market of 500 million people, eight times larger than the UK market alone.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: The Scottish economy is fragile, with low growth and businesses and consumers worried about the future.

Conservative neglect and Labour compliance has taken us to the brink of a no-deal Brexit which would devastate the Scottish economy.

Its clearer than ever that we need a Peoples Vote and an exit from Brexit.

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said: This report shows the urgent need for Theresa May to take the threat of a no deal Brexit off the table, but also that our economy needs fundamental change.

Productivity is critical yet the Scottish Government is nowhere near the targets it set itself.

Labour will put power, wealth and opportunity back into the hands of people by boosting their wages and giving them more control in our economy, with an industrial strategy to drive growth.

A UK Government spokesman said: The best way to avoid no deal is for parliament to agree a deal.

Our deal is the best deal available for jobs and the economy across the whole of the UK, allowing us to honour the referendum and realise the opportunities of Brexit.
A loan scheme for GPs to borrow interest-free money to help run their surgeries has been given another 20 million in funding from the Scottish Government.

GPs are able to take out long-term loans towards owning practices, with 172 GP practices successfully applying since the scheme was rolled out with 30 million of Government backing last year.

Under the initiative, funding is available for up to 20% of the practices value and is repayable when the premises are no longer used for providing primary care for the NHS, or when they are sold.

Introduced in November 2018 in response to concerns raised by the British Medical Association (BMA), the policy aims to ease the financial burden associated with owning a practice.

The Scottish Government say almost half of all eligible surgeries have been approved to receive the money so far.

Speaking at Allander Surgery in Glasgow, which is set to benefit from the scheme, Scottish Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: The Scottish Government greatly values the contribution the GP profession makes to the nations health, and thats why we want to make sure they have the support they need.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman has announced a further 20 million for a loan scheme to allow GPs to borrow money (Andrew Cowan/Scottish Parliament/PA)

Both the BMA and individual GPs have raised concerns with us about the financial risk of owning premises. So we have responded directly, and this scheme helps to de-risk general practice and reduce some of the upfront costs GPs can face when joining a practice.

We are at the Allander Surgery in Glasgow this morning, where @AndrewBuist17 will be joining @JeaneF1MSP to make an announcement about support for GPs with the costs of premises... more details when the visit gets underway.... pic.twitter.com/daQuOH2rFd  BMA Scotland (@BMAScotland) February 13, 2019

In doing so, I hope this will make becoming a GP partner more attractive, making it easier to recruit new GPs to a practice.

This in turn will contribute to our commitment to increase the number of GPs in Scotland by at least 800 over the next decade.

Dr Andrew Buist, chair of BMA Scotlands Scottish General Practitioners Committee, said: At the heart of the new GP contract introduced last year was a clear aim to make becoming a GP a more attractive career choice and encourage more people into working in this part of the profession.

Key to that is reducing risk and financial burdens around choosing to be a GP.

This funding is a great example of this principle in action  and the practical benefits that the contract has secured for GPs.

I am sure it will make a real difference for GPs across Scotland, as the popularity of the scheme has shown.

While there is still much work to do to transform what it means to be a GP, I believe that through the new contract we are finally restoring hope to the profession.

Dr Carey Lunan, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland, said: We welcome any investment into general practice that makes the profession more attractive as a career. It is encouraging that Scottish Government has seen how direct investment is likely to improve recruitment and retention.

RCGP Scotland has shown how the country will be 856 whole time equivalent GPs short by 2021. The Scottish Government has an aim to provide an extra 800 headcount GPs by 2027.

Clearly, anything that helps us gain more GPs, and hold on to the ones we have, is to be supported. As these workforce figures show, however, more needs to be done as a matter of urgency.

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary Miles Briggs said: The SNPs record on General Practice speaks for itself: fewer GP practices, larger patient lists, longer waiting times.

The SNP has presided over a crisis in General Practice which today sees a predicted shortage of 900 GPs by 2021 as well as a record number of GPs handing back the keys to their surgeries to local health boards.

It is little wonder GP practices are closing across the country, unable to cope with the financial pressures.

Scotlands GPs are at the forefront of our NHS  if we as a country cant get General Practice right and working to deliver health services across Scotland then the rest of our NHS will continue to be destabilised.
Keep supporting your mom because it is hard when someone you love doesnt know who you are. Encourage her to do reminiscing activities with him, especially those that involve pictures from their earlier years. Keep in mind that you need to erase the phrase do you remember  from your vocabulary. If he relays a memory that didnt really happen, dont correct him. Go with the story. In the long run, it doesnt really matter.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has rejected suggestions that the Government has ruled out a no-deal Brexit.

Senior negotiator Olly Robbins was reported to have been overheard in a Brussels bar saying that Theresa May planned to wait until the end of March before confronting MPs with a choice between her deal or a lengthy delay to Brexit.

But Mr Barclay insisted that it remained the agreed position of the Cabinet to work to secure a favourable deal but plan for the possibility of no-deal.

Asked whether Mr Robbinss reported comments reflected Government policy, the Brexit Secretary told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: No. The Prime Minister has been very clear that we are committed to leaving on March 29.

In the Commons, Mrs May insisted the Governments position concerning the Article 50 withdrawal process had not changed.

We triggered Article 50  in fact this House voted to trigger Article 50. That had a two-year time line. That ends on March 29, she told MPs at Prime Ministers questions.

We want to leave with a deal. That is what we are working for.

Mrs May is facing a potential confrontation with Eurosceptic Conservatives, who have warned they will not back a motion she has tabled for debate on Thursday, which they believe effectively endorses a policy of ruling out no-deal.

The motion asks the Commons to reaffirm its decisions in an earlier debate on January 29, when amendments were passed requiring the PM to go back to Brussels to replace the controversial Irish backstop, but also rejecting a no-deal outcome.

MPs voted on January 29 to send Mrs May back to Brussels to renegotiate the backstop (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA)

One member of the Leave-backing backbench European Research Group (ERG) told the BrexitCentral website: We told the Government very clearly last night that we will not support this motion and in fact we urged them, indeed pleaded with them at senior level, to withdraw it yesterday  but they took absolutely no notice. Frankly, we despair.

Meanwhile shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said Labour is committed to preventing Mrs May from pursuing a reckless policy of running down the clock to the point where MPs may be faced with a choice between her deal or no-deal with just days to go to the March 29 deadline.

Labour has tabled an amendment for debate in the Commons on Thursday which would require the Government to either put her deal to a vote by February 27 or allow Parliament to take control of the process.

Im clear what my job is on this, and that is to get amendments down that stop the Prime Minister doing what shes doing, because it is actually a reckless policy, said Sir Keir.

What the Prime Minister is up to is obvious. Shes coming to Parliament every other week, pretending theres progress and trying to buy another two weeks, edging her way towards March 21, when the next EU summit is, to try to put her deal up against no-deal in those final few weeks.

Parliament needs to say Thats not on.

Downing Street declined to comment on reports of the remarks supposedly made by Mr Robbins to colleagues in a Brussels hotel bar.

Olly Robbins is said to have warned of a long delay to Brexit unless MPs back a deal (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

ITV News said the official who heads the UKs negotiation team was heard saying that if MPs do not vote for a deal, the EU would probably grant an extension to the two-year Article 50 withdrawal process, but it would be a long one.

He was quoted as saying: The issue is whether Brussels is clear on the terms of extension. In the end they will probably just give us an extension.

Got to make them believe that the week beginning end of March Extension is possible but if they dont vote for the deal then the extension is a long one

Conservative party vice-chairman Chris Philp later dismissed the report, telling BBCs Newsnight: What a civil servant might speculate in a bar after a few drinks is frankly not that important.

However the comments reinforced suspicions among MPs that Mrs May is trying to run down the clock in an attempt to force them to back her agreement.

Tory Brexiteer Andrea Jenkyns tweeted: If true, the PM should stop ignoring the wishes of the British people and disregarding her own red lines.

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Mr Robbins was part of the civil Service fifth column and called for him to be sacked for his combination of treachery and incompetence.

However ERG deputy chairman Steve Baker said it is the view of the Prime Minister which counts.

Officials advise. Ministers decide. If the PM decides we are leaving on March 29, deal or no deal, that will happen, he said.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that MI6 chief Alex Younger is expected to stay on beyond his retirement date to guide the secret intelligence service through Brexit.

Downing Street declined to be drawn on a report that officials want Mr Younger, 55, who is due to retire in November, to carry on for 12 months to two years after Britain has leaves the EU.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's foreign minister says sabotage by the U.S. is a possible reason for Tehran's failed attempts to launch two satellites in recent months.

Mohammad Javad Zarif said Friday in an interview with NBC News in Munich, Germany, that it's possible there is a U.S. sabotage campaign against Iranian satellite launches. He confirmed that Iran suffered two failed attempts to launch satellites over the past two months.

"It's quite possible. We don't know yet," he said. "We need to look into it very carefully."

Both attempts took place despite U.S. criticism that Iran's space program helps the country develop ballistic missiles. Iran denies the charge.

In January, the country launched a satellite, but authorities said it failed to reach the "necessary speed" in the third stage of its launch.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The Latest on the sentencing of a man for a race-based shotgun attack on three African-Americans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (all times local):

2:35 p.m.

A white man who spewed racial epithets before and after a shotgun attack on three black men amid the chaotic aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Fifty-six-year-old Roland Bourgeois (BOOH'-jwah) Jr. was sentenced Thursday by a federal judge, resolving one of the last high-profile court cases arising from violence that followed the 2005 storm.

Defense attorneys sought a shorter sentence for Bourgeois, noting the chaotic atmosphere in New Orleans and saying some trained police officers believed they had permission to shoot at looters at will.

But a prosecutor noted that the victims weren't looters but people trying to evacuate. She called the actions of Bourgeois a racially motivated pre-meditated attempt to kill.

Bourgeois pleaded guilty to two federal criminal counts in October.

___

9 a.m.

A drawn-out case of race-based gun violence amid the devastation of Hurricane Katrina is nearing its resolution in New Orleans.

A federal judge was set Thursday to sentence a 56-year-old white man, Roland Bourgeois (BOOH'-jwah) Jr., for a 2005 shotgun attack on three black men. It happened days after levee failures during Katrina flooded most of New Orleans.

Prosecutors said Bourgeois fired a shotgun at three black men, wounding one seriously. They say he had used racial epithets while talking about shooting black people and defending his neighborhood from "outsiders" after the storm.

Bourgeois was indicted in 2010. Numerous delays and hearings in the case were related to his physical and mental health.

He pleaded guilty to two federal criminal counts in October. Prosecutors said they would seek a 10-year sentence.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Officials in Israel say a deputy cabinet minister is being investigated for ethics violations.

Israeli media reported that the inquiry involved suspicions that Deputy Health Minister Yaacov Litzman obstructed justice by attempting to prevent the extradition of a woman accused of sex crimes in Australia.

Litzman's office confirmed that police summoned him for questioning Thursday.

Australia wants Malka Leifer extradited for allegedly abusing children while she was a teacher. Israel's state prosecution says Leifer is feigning mental illness to dodge extradition.

Police would not elaborate, but Israeli media reported that Litzman is suspected of trying to falsify psychiatric medical evaluations that would bar Leifer from extradition.

An Israeli court previously halted extradition proceedings after determining Leifer was not fit to stand trial.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - A woman refusing to take her handbag off a seat on a crowded train has sparked outrage among fellow New Jersey Transit riders.

NJ.com reports the unidentified woman was captured on video refusing to move her bag on a Trenton-bound line Wednesday after a conductor and other passengers asked her to.

The woman could be heard calling another passenger "disgusting" and saying she didn't want anyone sitting next to her.

NJ Transit spokeswoman Lisa Torbic says police asked the woman to exit the train at Newark Penn Station. But Torbic says the woman declined to speak with police but left on her own.

Thaedra Frangos, who recorded the confrontation, praised NJ Transit's handling of the situation.

Frangos says people were irritated with the woman's "inability to act like a normal person."
NAMPA, Idaho (AP) - An Idaho woman who refused to report her husband's yearslong sexual abuse of young relatives and instead prayed for "the demon" to leave him was ordered Thursday to spend a year in a prison treatment program.

Judge Christopher Nye said that if Sarah Kester, 51, fails to successfully complete the program, she will serve at least four and up to 10 years in prison, the Idaho Press reported.

Prosecutors say her husband, Lester Kester Jr., molested five children over two decades. He pleaded guilty in October to five felony charges of lewd conduct with a minor in exchange for prosecutors not pursuing charges of possession of child pornography.

The couple is affiliated with the Followers of Christ Church, whose members eschew medical care for themselves and their children in favor of "faith healing" because they believe that prayer and rituals can sufficiently treat even catastrophic illnesses.

The church has a prominent following in parts of southwestern Idaho and Oregon, and the congregation has been accused of allowing dozens of children to die from a lack of basic medical care. Idaho's child injury law, however, includes a religious exemption that has long allowed church members to act without state intervention.

After Sarah Kester's July 11 arrest, she said she had known of the abuse for the past 17 years, according to the Canyon County Sheriff's Office.

"Sarah Kester told detectives that she didn't report the abuse because it was against her belief system to involve agencies such as law enforcement, child protection services, or counseling services into personal matters," the agency said in a press release. "Instead, she said she attempted to protect ... children through praying for 'the demon' to leave Lester and attempting to keep him busy with other tasks."

Sarah Kester's defense attorney said at sentencing that her client grew up in an isolated community and experienced her own trauma.

"She did everything that she knew to do to take care of them," attorney Bethany Harder Haase said.

Sarah Kester cried as she addressed the court.

"I should've paid attention to all the rumors going around," she said. "I feel so devastated. I should've got out of marriage right there and then."

Three of the victims, now in their teens and 20s, also gave statements, saying Sarah Kester called them offensive names and blamed them for her husband's actions.

The Associated Press isn't identifying the victims or their relationship to the Kesters.

Sarah Kester entered in October a modified guilty plea, in which she maintained her innocence but acknowledged there was enough evidence to convict her. Lester Kester is set to be sentenced Feb. 26.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A panel of judges has given final approval to a redrawn map for the Virginia House of Delegates in a protracted racial gerrymandering case.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the panel's 2-1 ruling Thursday ordered the state to adopt a map created by a court-appointed special master.

The redrawn map was submitted last month by University of California Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman. The map could help shift six Republican-held districts toward Democrats and increase the Democratic Party's chances of gaining control of the House in this year's elections.

The judges ordered a new map in June after ruling that lawmakers had racially gerrymandered eleven House districts by packing black voters into them.

Republicans are appealing the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Arguments are scheduled for next month.

___

Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.richmond.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Steven Spielberg, Lady Gaga, Spike Lee and Glenn Close have a message for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Get well soon.

They and three dozen Hollywood A-listers, from Bradley Cooper to Quincy Jones, have signed a card that's being overnighted to Ginsburg on Thursday. The 85-year-old Ginsburg has missed a month of Supreme Court arguments as she recovers from the lung cancer surgery she had in December.

In the card, Lee refers to Ginsburg as the "Judge of Brooklyn." Regina King wrote that she is the true, "Super Diva" in reference to a shirt Ginsburg wears in the documentary "RBG." Laura Dern wrote, "You are our grand reminder to use voice + fight for truth."

Director Barry Jenkins even stopped to do a plank in honor of Ginsburg's famed workouts after signing.

Other signatories include Amy Adams, Ron Howard, Ted Danson, Helen Mirren, Stephen Colbert and Meredith Vieira.

The card was spearheaded by "RBG" filmmakers Julie Cohen and Betsy West, who toted it along with them to starry awards season events over the past few weeks including the Directors and Producers Guild Awards, the Oscar nominees luncheon, BAFTA and the Critics' Choice Awards.

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2018 file photo, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg appears at an event organized by the Museum of the City of New York with WNET-TV held at the New York Academy of Medicine in New York. Filmmakers from the Oscar nominated "RBG" film have been collecting signatures and get-well notes from Hollywood A-listers to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is recovering from lung cancer surgery. (AP Photo/Rebecca Gibian, File)

"After Justice Ginsburg's surgery in December, pretty much every actor or filmmaker we met would ask us to pass on their personal good wishes to her," Cohen and West said in a statement. "We know RBG is a huge movie buff - from big Hollywood epics to small indie films - so we thought she'd get a kick out of a get well card from some of the biggest names in the film world."

"RBG" is up for best documentary at the Academy Awards on Feb. 24.

___

Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
TOWSON, Md. (AP) - A university student who's accused of putting a conversation with a Maryland congressman's staffer on Facebook Live without consent has been charged with illegal wiretapping.

State Prosecutor Emmet Davitt announced the charge Thursday against 20-year-old Jake Burdett, a Salisbury University student.

Prosecutors say Burdett, an advocate for Maryland Marijuana Justice, took part in a rally in front of Rep. Andy Harris' office in Salisbury in October, then he and others met with a member of the congressman's staff in his office.

Harris' staff told the group not to record the meeting, citing office policy, but prosecutors say Burdett recorded and streamed it on Facebook Live without the staffer's consent. Burdett is charged with illegally recording the staffer and distributing it.

Burdett didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Attorney Michael Avenatti has agreed to give up financial control of his former firm's accounts after another lawyer accused him of hiding millions of dollars from a federal bankruptcy court.

Avenatti, the lawyer for porn actress Stormy Daniels, agreed to have a receiver appointed to take possession of the bank accounts, case files and other assets of his former firm, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.

The deal came after Avenatti's former law partner Jason Frank made the request Tuesday to block the firm Eagan Avenatti from draining its assets.

Frank, who has been seeking to collect on a $10 million judgment against the firm, alleged that Avenatti moved money around when the firm was under federal bankruptcy protection to hide millions from its creditors.

"This includes brazen acts of bankruptcy fraud," Scott H. Sims, Frank's lawyer, wrote in court papers.

Avenatti is best known for representing Daniels in her lawsuit against President Donald Trump over an alleged affair that he denies.

FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2018 file photo, Michael Avenatti, lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels, speaks outside court Michael Cohen's sentencing in New York. Avenatti has agreed to give up financial control of his former firm's accounts after another lawyer accused him of hiding millions of dollars from a federal bankruptcy court. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Avenatti has denied any wrongdoing in the bankruptcy and said there was no fraud.

"Every dollar has been properly accounted for and reported as required and as previously set forth in numerous accountings," Avenatti said. "This is much to-do about nothing."

Frank on Wednesday agreed to withdraw court papers alleging bankruptcy fraud and Avenatti and his firm accepted the receivership.

In court filings, Frank had alleged that Avenatti opened six bank accounts during the bankruptcy proceedings that were not included in required monthly reports on the firm's income and spending.

After a settlement involving ticket holders who sued the NFL, a lawyer told Avenatti in an email that he would transfer $1.4 million to the firm and Avenatti sent back wiring instructions splitting the money between an account that was known to the bankruptcy trustee and an account that was not disclosed, according to the court papers.

Avenatti said he and the firm were entitled to reimbursement for more than $1 million in out-of-pocket expenses related to the case.

The dispute between Avenatti and Frank is scheduled to be discussed in federal court in Santa Ana on Thursday as the former firm is scheduled for a judgment debtor exam.

Avenatti now works under a firm named Avenatti & Associates.

___

Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
A North Fort Myers man remained in the Lee County Jail Friday afternoon after police say he violated an injunction for stalking by breaking into a womans home in the dead of night to wish her a happy Valentines Day.

James Timothy Karabes-Boening, 38, of 253 Mongoose Lane, was charged with violation of injunction, occupied burglary, aggravated stalking, resisting officer without violence, giving a false name to LEO, and having an outstanding warrant, a release from the Cape Coral Police Department issued Friday states.

The arrest came after Cape Coral police responded to a report of a burglary in progress shortly after 2 a.m. Feb. 14.

The victim reported that a man was inside of her home who she has an active injunction against for stalking, identifying him as Karabes-Boening, the release states.

Officers determined that the intruder had made entry into the womans home and went into her bedroom where he stood at the foot of the bed.

She told police she was awakened by Karabes-Boenings voice where he wanted to wish her a Happy Valentines Day.

The victim was able to convince James to leave the room and she immediately called 9-1-1, officials said. A records check did show an active injunction against James that he was not to be within 500 feet of the victims residence.

Karabes-Boening reportedly left before police arrived but was located driving a green Honda Civic.

His vehicle was seen driving off of Chiquita Blvd S into a dead end where an officer initiated a traffic stop, the release states. James drove away from the traffic stop after being given verbal commands. The Honda was located a short time later abandoned where James had fled on foot. An aviation unit and K9 responded to the scene.

At approximately 5:34 a.m., an officer parked on Chiquita Boulevard S noticed a white male matching Karabes-Boenings description.

The officer made contact with the male who gave the name of David Lawerence and he was just out for a walk, the release states. The male was identified to be James and arrested.

He was later transferred to the Lee County Jail.

Source: CCPD
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Authorities took a man straight from a rehabilitation center into custody Thursday as they arrested him in the shooting death of a Birmingham police officer last month.

Jeremy Elwin Owens, 31, rode in a wheelchair as he left the treatment center to face charges in the killing of Birmingham police Sgt. Wytasha Carter.

Speaking at a news conference, Police Chief Patrick Smith said Owens was arrested using Carter's handcuffs.

"The whole purpose is delivering justice for the Carter family and also Sgt. Carter," Smith said.

Carter and another officer, Lucas Allums, were shot while investigating a series of late-night car break-ins on Jan. 13. Owens was being charged with capital murder, attempted murder and receiving stolen property, plus gun and drug offenses, authorities said.

Injured in the confrontation with police, Owens was first treated at a hospital and then the rehabilitation center following the shooting. He didn't respond to questions seeking comment, and court records don't show whether he has a defense attorney.

Smith said authorities had built a "very strong case" against Owens but would not discuss details.

Records show Owens pleaded guilty to robbery in 2012 and was sentenced to serve three years in prison. He was released on Jan. 1, 2015.
NEW YORK (AP) - E-commerce giant Amazon ditched plans to build a new headquarters in New York City, citing opposition from some state and local officials. Amazon has a market cap of about $800 billion and is run by Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man. The opposition partly stemmed from plans to give the company nearly $3 billion in tax incentives.

Here's what people are saying about the decision:

Amazon's Statement on its decision:

"For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City."

Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City:

"You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity," the mayor said. "We have the best talent in the world and every day we are growing a stronger and fairer economy for everyone. If Amazon can't recognize what that's worth, its competitors will."

Deborah Axt, co-executive director of the anti-poverty group Make the Road New York.

"This announcement marks a landmark victory for our communities and shows the power of the people, even when taking on the world's richest man."

George Miranda, president of Teamsters Joint Council 16.

"New Yorkers made it clear that Amazon wasn't welcome in our city if it would not respect our workers and our communities. Apparently, the company decided that was too much to ask."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Democratic Representative for New York's 14th congressional district

"Anything is possible; today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world."
SEATTLE (AP) - A research vessel funded by the late Seattle billionaire Paul Allen has discovered the wreckage of an American aircraft carrier sunk in the South Pacific during World War II.

Allen's Vulcan Inc. announced this week that an autonomous submarine sent by the crew of the research vessel Petrel found the USS Hornet nearly 17,500 feet (5,400 meters) deep near the Solomon Islands.

The Hornet was best known for its part in the Doolittle Raid in April 1942, the first air attack on Japan.

The ship suffered severe damage from Japanese dive-bombers and torpedo planes during the Battle of Santa Cruz Island in October 1943. Most of the crew of 2,170 men had been evacuated by the time it sank.

The Vulcan project has located about 20 vessels to date.
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Officials in an Oregon county agreed Thursday to lower the number of inmates crammed into a single cell and take other actions after a woman filed a lawsuit saying she was jailed under inhumane conditions.

Under the settlement in U.S. District Court, staff at the Douglas County jail in Roseburg - once known as the timber capital of America - must document the procedures so advocates can ensure they're being followed.

Kelly Simon, an American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon lawyer who represented plaintiff Terri Carlisle, said the documentation is necessary because such settlements can be used to pull back a "steel curtain" hiding conditions in overcrowded jails across America that often operate with little to no oversight.

Carlisle was locked up in 2015 for driving under the influence. She says a jailer accused her of hoarding her medication for a nerve disorder and punished her by moving her to a hot, stinking cell for six days crammed with other female inmates with one open toilet.

Some cellmates were menstruating and denied hygiene products, the lawsuit says, adding that at least one woman had an open sore but received no medical attention and another woman was vomiting.

Conditions were so grim in the jail's general population that one inmate had another break her arm so she could get out for medical treatment, Carlisle said.

FILE - In this Wednesday, May 24, 2017 photo, Terry Carlisle looks at the Douglas County Jail in Roseburg, Ore., where she was incarcerated under what she describes as horrific conditions in 2015 for drunken driving. After being sued by a woman who was jailed under conditions she described as inhumane, officials in an Oregon county have agreed to lower the number of inmates crammed into a single cell, allow them showers twice a week and provide menstruating prisoners with hygiene products. (AP Photo/Andrew Selsky, File)

The settlement also allows inmates to shower twice a week and provides menstruating prisoners with hygiene products.

County Commissioner Chris Boice, who signed the settlement, declined to comment. Sheriff Jon Hanlin, named as a defendant, was unavailable for comment, his office said. A department spokesman didn't return a call.

Nationwide, jails log 12 million admissions a year, mostly low-income people arrested for minor offenses who can't afford bail, according to the Vera Institute of Justice, an organization based in New York that seeks to improve the justice system. It says many jails are crowded, with poor sanitation.

"Lawsuits can help stop counties from crowding people into jail cells without meeting their basic needs," said Jacob Kang-Brown at the institute. "But because litigation has constraints, we need to have a larger conversation about oversight across the U.S. that can ensure incarcerated people's rights are respected."

Carlisle's civil rights were violated under the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene in May 2017 by the ACLU of Oregon and the Criminal Justice Reform Clinic at Lewis and Clark Law School.

It claims medicine to relieve her peripheral neuropathy was withheld as punishment, causing sharp pains.

Under the settlement, no inmate can have prescription medicine discontinued without medical review; the jail commander will meet with medical staff at least once a week with the meetings documented; and the holding cell, where up to a dozen women had been held, will be limited to nine inmates.

The suit also names Correct Care Solutions, headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, which contracted to provide medical care for inmates, and Dr. Steven Blum, identified as the physician responsible for providing medical care to the inmates. They did not join the settlement and litigation against them continues.

Eric Neiman, an attorney representing Blum and Correct Care Solutions, said Thursday he does not comment on pending litigation.

Simon credited Carlisle, a former health care worker, for standing up for her rights.

"I don't think we have change without people like Terri Carlisle who have the courage to raise their voices and say 'enough is enough,' to have the courage to claim their dignity in the face of people who want to treat them like animals," Simon said.

Carlisle said she hopes the county adheres to the settlement.

"I'm concerned about accountability," Carlisle said in a phone interview. "Who's going to make sure that they're holding up their end of the bargain?"

Under the settlement, Douglas County also agreed to pay Carlisle's attorney fees of $25,000.

___

Andrew Selsky is on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andrewselsky
ANDOVER, Kan. (AP) - A Kansas public library has rejected a request to move three children's books with LGBT characters out of the children's section.

The Andover Public Library board of directors voted Wednesday to keep children's books "George," ''Lily and Dunkin" and "I am Jazz" in the juvenile section. All the books included characters that are transgender.

Andover resident Marci Laffen had asked the board to move the books to the adult section because of their content. In her written challenge to the books, Laffen argued the books were part of a "sexual revolution agenda, indoctrination of children."

The Wichita Eagle reports there was little discussion before Wednesday's vote. About 55 people attended a January meeting to discuss the issue.

___

Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on the request by the city of Chicago for a judge to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to stop the Obama Presidential Center from being built in a public park (all times local):

12:05 p.m.

A federal judge says he'll issue a ruling Tuesday on a city of Chicago request to toss a lawsuit aimed at stopping construction of Barack Obama's $500 million presidential center in a lakeside park.

Judge John Robert Blakey heard arguments Thursday from lawyers for the city and for a parks-advocacy group that says the project violates laws barring development in public parks hugging Lake Michigan.

Oral arguments focused on questions about whether Protect Our Parks has proper standing to sue. Blakey asked that it show it has members who are local taxpayers.

Obama picked Chicago for the center over other proposals, including from Hawaii.

FILE - This illustration released on May 3, 2017 by the Obama Foundation shows plans for the proposed Obama Presidential Center with a museum, rear, in Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side. This view looks from the south with a public plaza that extends into the landscape. Odds still favor the eventual construction of Barack Obama's $500 million presidential museum and library in a park along Chicago's lakeshore. A judge hears arguments Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, on a city motion to toss a parks-advocacy group's lawsuit that argues the project violates laws barring development in lakeside parks. (Obama Foundation via AP, File)

One spectator at Thursday's hearing, Erin Adams, hopes the suit is dismissed. She fears the Obamas will get frustrated by the litigation and build the center elsewhere.

___

12:30 a.m.

Odds still favor the eventual construction of Barack Obama's $500 million presidential museum and library in a public park along Chicago's lakeshore. But it's no longer a sure thing in the face of a formidable legal challenge by a parks-advocacy group.

A federal judge in Chicago hears arguments Thursday on a city motion to toss the group's lawsuit that argues the project runs afoul of laws barring development in parks hugging Lake Michigan.

A ruling for Protect Our Parks could signal the Obama Presidential Center is in real trouble.

Recent Chicago history illustrates such suits can kill blockbuster projects, even ones proposed by VIPs with enormous influence.

Three years ago, a lawsuit brought by Friends of the Park helped scuttle a $400 million plan by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas for a museum on Chicago's lakefront. It's now under construction in Los Angeles.
NEW YORK (AP) - The flu vaccine is doing a relatively good job this season, protecting about half the people who got it, U.S. health officials said Thursday.

Preliminary figures suggest the vaccine is 47 percent effective in preventing flu illness severe enough to send someone to the doctor's office. Health officials are generally pleased if a flu vaccine works in 40 to 60 percent of people.

"These are early estimates, but they are encouraging," said Dr. Alicia Fry of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Somewhere between 10,000 and 16,000 people have died from flu and its complications so far this season, according to new estimates released Thursday.

Last winter was dominated by a nasty kind of flu, and the vaccine's weakness against it was one reason it was the deadliest flu season in at least four decades. An estimated 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications.

This winter, in most parts of the country, most illnesses are being caused by a somewhat milder virus that vaccines tend to perform better against.

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2018 file photo, a nurse prepares a flu shot from a vaccine vial at the Salvation Army in Atlanta. Preliminary figures released Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 suggest this winter's vaccine is 47 percent effective overall in preventing flu illness severe enough to send a patient to the doctor's office - an improvement from the previous year. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Overall, flu is widespread in 47 states, according to the most recent CDC data. Health officials don't know if flu season has peaked yet, Fry said.

They also are seeing evidence that a more severe flu virus is spreading to more states.

It's unusual to see a later surge of nastier illnesses in a season initially dominated by a milder flu bug, and it's not clear why that's happening, said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University infectious diseases expert.

The early estimates on the vaccine's potency offer only a fuzzy picture. For example, there weren't enough sick patients of different ages to produce a reliable estimate of how it did in the elderly, who are at greater risk from flu and its complications.

Some other types of vaccines - like the one against measles, mumps and rubella - are far more effective in preventing people from getting sick than the flu vaccine. But experts say flu is a quick-changing and elusive target.

A flu vaccine that works around half the time "is the best that science can produce at the current time," Schaffner said.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - An autopsy shows that a Kenyan rights activist, missing for six days before her body was discovered in a city morgue, died from a botched abortion.

Many had feared that Caroline Mwatha's disappearance and death had to do with her work at the Dandora Social Justice Center which has been documenting illegal police killings and other violations.

Dr. Peter Muriuki, who conducted the autopsy for Mwatha's family, said she died of excessive bleeding both internally and externally. He said it was a result of a medical intervention removing the fetus.

Police asked a court Thursday to hold six people for 14 days to investigate Mwatha's death. They include the owner of the clinic where she died. Abortion is illegal in Kenya unless it's an emergency to save the mother.
LONDON (AP) - The Latest on Britain's exit from the European Union (all times local):

5:45 p.m.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has suffered an embarrassing parliamentary defeat on Brexit as lawmakers remain resistant to her EU divorce plan.

The House of Commons voted 303 to 258 on Thursday against a motion reiterating support for May's approach to Brexit - support expressed by lawmakers in votes just two weeks ago.

The defeat is symbolic rather than binding stresses how weak her hand is as she tries to secure changes to her divorce deal from the EU in order to win backing for it in Parliament.

The government was defeated when the members of a pro-Brexit faction in the governing Conservatives, the European Research Group, abstained because they feel the government is effectively ruling out the threat of leaving the EU without a deal.

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

May is struggling with little sign of success to win backing for her deal from both pro-Brexit and pro-EU lawmakers in Parliament, which rejected the agreement by a whopping 230 votes last month.

The U.K. is due to leave the EU on March 29.

___

9:25 a.m.

Britain's prime minister is scrambling to avoid another defeat on her Brexit strategy amid opposition from members of her own party who fear she is moving in the wrong direction in efforts to overcome the impasse blocking a deal.

Hard-line pro-Brexit lawmakers say a measure to be voted on Thursday rules out the threat of leaving the European Union without an agreement on future relations, undermining Britain's bargaining position. Prime Minister Theresa May has previously ruled out a "no-deal" Brexit as she attempts to win concessions from the EU after Parliament rejected her deal last month.

European Council President Donald Tusk has reiterated his frustration with Britain, tweeting "No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse."

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Remain in the European Union supporters wear blindfolds as they take part in a protest event organised by the People's Vote Campaign, which calls for a second referendum on Britain's EU membership, in Parliament Square, London, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Campaigners gathered together Thursday to call for Members of Parliament not to vote for a deal they say provides no closure and no clarity, while British Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to avoid another vote defeat Thursday on her Brexit strategy. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

European Council President Donald Tusk, right, shakes hands with European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier prior their meeting at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (Francois Walschaerts/Pool Photo via AP)

Anti-Brexit protestors wave flags outside Britain's parliament in London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May urged lawmakers this week to give her more time to rework the Brexit agreement with the EU, with time ticking down to the March 29 deadline for a Brexit split from Europe. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA via AP)

Detail of badges on an anti-Brexit protestor's hat during protests outside Britain's parliament in London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May urged lawmakers this week to give her more time to rework the Brexit agreement with the EU, with time ticking down to the March 29 deadline for a Brexit split from Europe. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA via AP)

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay speaks to lawmakers in the House of Commons ahead of a Brexit vote, in London, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Barclay told lawmakers that "the only way to avoid 'no-deal' is either to secure a deal on the terms the prime minister has set out" or to cancel Brexit - something the government says it won't do. (House of Commons TV via AP)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A man who says he was unlawfully detained on his wedding day by a Pennsylvania judge who wrongly suspected he was in the United States illegally filed a federal lawsuit Thursday, alleging violations of his constitutional rights.

Alexander Parker sued Camp Hill-based District Judge Elizabeth S. Beckley, two court entities and an unidentified court officer who, Parker says, told him he was not free to leave.

The federal lawsuit claims Guatemala-born Parker and his fiancee went to Beckley's court office to get married in May 2017, but Beckley's suspicions prompted her to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

He had provided a valid identification issued through the Guatemalan consulate, but Beckley told him that was not sufficient, the lawsuit said.

Parker, now 22, says that after hours of being detained, federal investigators arrived and confirmed he is a lawful permanent resident of the United States.

Beckley told the couple "she was sorry Mr. Parker had been detained, but she immediately insisted she was justified in suspecting that Mr. Parker was not lawfully present in the United States," according to the lawsuit. Beckley subsequently married the couple. The couple learned they were expecting a daughter days after they married.

Beckley did not return messages seeking comment.

The lawsuit said the court officer, who was armed and in uniform at the time of the wedding, will be named once Parker's lawyers obtain his identity. The other defendants are Beckley's district court and the wider state court system judicial district in which it is located. A spokeswoman for the state court system offered no immediate comment.

The Parkers now live in Kissimmee, Florida, where Parker works in landscaping, lawn care and debris removal.

Parker's lawsuit said he "felt disrespected and diminished and was offended and disturbed that Beckley thought he was subject to deportation because he is Latino, dark-skinned and was born in Guatemala."

Parker's complaint says his mother gave him up for adoption as an infant, and he was brought to New Jersey as a prospective adoptee. He has never returned to Guatemala and does not speak Spanish.

During his teen years, the couple that had intended to adopt him relinquished their custody, and by the time he graduated from high school, he was in the custody of Bucks County Children and Youth Services, the lawsuit said. The couple, whom Parker said never formalized their adoption of him or two other children, did not obtain an ID card for him confirming his legal status, the lawsuit said.

Because of that, he said, he could not acquire a Pennsylvania-issued photo identification, so with the help of his Bucks County caseworker, he obtained a consular ID card from the Guatemala consulate in April 2017.

Parker is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, fees and costs.
To the editor:

According to a 2017 analysis by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), illegal immigration costs American taxpayers $116 billion annually. FAIR estimates illegal immigration costs the State of Florida at least $3.8 billion annually. The radical left-wing California Legislature proposes punishing state and local government employees from aiding federal immigration enforcement. In May 2018, a Washington Times article reported 564 states and municipalities refuse some level of cooperation with federal immigration authorities. These efforts to undermine federal immigration enforcement are commonly known as Sanctuary cities. It is time for the Florida Legislature to immediately act to stop this lawless trend.

Illegal immigration is a serious problem facing the United States and Florida. Illegal immigrants take jobs from lower skilled American workers as well as depress overall wages. In 2017, the Center for Immigration Studies reported a disproportionate number of illegal immigrants committed federal crimes. Data regarding illegal immigrants in Florida State Courts simply does not exist. However, as a former state prosecutor and current criminal trial attorney for 20 years in Southwest, Florida, I personally witnessed thousands of illegal aliens appear in felony court on a host of serious criminal charges.

The Miami Herald report in 2017 that South Florida now has 450,000 unauthorized immigrants making the Southeast metropolitan area with the fifth largest illegal alien population in the United States. State policy encouraging unlimited illegal immigration is leading to chaos in California, which now has the highest poverty rate in the United States. Business, entrepreneurs and the middle class are fleeing California in record numbers. California has numerous Sanctuary Cities and the state legislature proposed making California a sanctuary state.

The Center for Immigration Studies now lists two Florida counties, Clay and Alachua, as sanctuaries for illegal aliens. West Palm Beach County also has some form of sanctuary for illegal aliens, through restricting local law enforcement from sharing information with federal deportation authorities. There have been issues regarding both West Palm Beach and Miami-Dade potentially losing federal grant money for refusing to cooperate with federal deportation authorities. More locally, in 2013 Southwest Florida prosecutors office allowed an illegal alien and known gang member, Jose Escamilla, to escape justice to avoid deportation, State v. Escamilla, Glades County Circuit Civil Case 09-CF-87. In July of 2017, an article titled, Some Prosecutors Offer Plea Deals to Avoid Deportation of Noncitizens. The Wall Street Journal reported extensively about county prosecutor offices throughout the country allowing illegal aliens to avoid felony criminal charges, so as to avoid the resulting deportation actions by federal authorities. It is clear in many instances certain local government agencies are dedicated to left-wing activism for sanctuary cities and not fully committed to the rule of law.

Florida Senate Bill 168 reads, prohibiting sanctuary policies; requiring state entities, local governmental entities, and law enforcement agencies to comply with and support the enforcement of federal immigration law. The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Joe Gruters from Sarasota, is known as the Rule of Law Adherence Act and has the support of Gov. DeSantis. It simply mandates that state and local authorities fully cooperate with federal deportation authorities. I have no issues with proper legal immigration, as my grandmother was born and raised in Ireland, but it is time for the Florida legislature to take action. Urge your Florida state representatives and senators to support and pass the Rule of Law Adherence Act.

Chris Crowley

Fort Myers
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The federal government outlined an ambitious, potentially costly new plan to restore Atlantic salmon in the United States, where rivers teemed with the fish before dams, pollution and overfishing decimated their populations.

The Atlantic salmon has declined in the U.S. to the point where the last remaining wild populations of in the U.S. exist only in a handful of rivers in Maine. But the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are offering a new recovery plan to bring back those fish, which are listed under the Endangered Species Act.

The plan would take decades to fully implement, and it focuses on strategies such as removals of dams, installations of fish passages and increasing the number of salmon that survive in the ocean. It states that the estimated cost is about $24 million per year, not including money federal departments already spend on salmon recovery work.

How that money would materialize at this point is unclear. But the plan gives the species a roadmap to recovery, said Peter Lamothe, program manager for the Maine fish and wildlife complex for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"It gives all of the partners involved in this what to shoot for - what we collectively need to achieve to recover the species," Lamothe said. "It gives us a path forward."

Atlantic salmon are readily available to seafood consumers because of extensive aquaculture, but the wild fish have been declining in the Gulf of Maine since the 19th century.

FILE - In this April 2, 2012 file photo, a 4-year-old Atlantic salmon is held at the National Fish Hatchery in Nashua, N.H. The federal government outlined an ambitious, potentially costly new plan to restore Atlantic salmon in the United States, where rivers teemed with the fish before dams, pollution and overfishing decimated their populations. The Atlantic salmon has declined in the U.S. to the point where the last remaining wild populations of in the U.S. exist only in a handful of rivers in Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

Back then, 100,000 adult salmon returned annually to Maine's Penobscot River, which remains the most important river for the species in America.

By 2017, just over 1,000 salmon returned to Maine rivers, and 849 of them came back to the Penobscot. That constituted about an average year in the modern era, said Dan Kircheis, a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The fish are born in rivers, head to the sea as they mature and return to rivers to spawn.

Atlantic salmon was so popular that a tradition started in 1912 in which the first salmon hauled from the cold river waters each spring was sent to the president. With the fishery imperiled, that tradition ended after a salmon was presented to then-President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Efforts to restore Atlantic salmon to East Coast rivers have proven difficult in the past. Biologists decided to abandon a salmon restoration program in the Connecticut River in 2012 because not enough adult fish were returning to the river to reproduce. In Maine, natural spawning of returning salmon is supplemented by a hatchery program, the federal agencies said.

The new recovery plan takes the place of a 2005 plan and expands the scope of recovery of the salmon to include all the remaining wild populations from the Androscoggin River, which runs from New Hampshire into western Maine and leads to Merrymeeting Bay, to the Dennys River, near the Canadian border. Its goals include improving connectivity between the fish's ocean and freshwater habitats, maintaining the genetic diversity of populations over time and increasing the number of spawning adults, the federal agencies said.

The U.S. fishery for wild Atlantic salmon is long closed, but the fish are still harvested off of Greenland. A successful conservation program could make up for that loss of salmon by improving their survival in rivers, said John Burrows, director of New England programs for the Atlantic Salmon Federation.

"Our biggest sources of mortality happen before Greenland," he said. "And if we can improve our rivers, we can in many ways compensate for that loss in the ocean."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Memory and thinking skills naturally slow with age but now scientists are peeking inside living brains to tell if depression might worsen that decline - and finding some worrisome clues.

Depression has long been linked to certain cognitive problems, and depression late in life even may be a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's. Yet how depression might harm cognition isn't clear.

One possibility: Brain cells communicate by firing messages across connections called synapses. Generally, good cognition is linked to more and stronger synapses. With cognitive impairment, those junctions gradually shrink and die off. But until recently, scientists could count synapses only in brain tissue collected after death.

Yale University scientists used a new technique to scan the brains of living people - and discovered that patients with depression had a lower density of synapses than healthy people the same age.

The lower the density, the more severe the depression symptoms, particularly problems with attention and loss of interest in previously pleasurable activities, Yale neuroscientist Irina Esterlis said Thursday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She wasn't studying just seniors but a range of ages including people too young for any cognitive changes to be obvious outside of a brain scan - on the theory that early damage can build up.

"We think depression might be accelerating the normal aging," she said.

FILE - In this May 19, 2015 file photo, a nuclear medicine technologist makes a PET scan of a patient at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington. Depression has long been linked to certain cognitive problems, and now researchers at Yale University are using PET scans to study key brain connections and try to find out why. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Her studies so far are small. To prove if depression really worsens that decline would require tracking synaptic density in larger numbers of people as they get older, to see if and how it fluctuates over time in those with and without depression, cautioned Jovier Evans, a staff scientist at the National Institute on Mental Health.

Esterlis is planning a larger study to do that. It's delicate research. Volunteers are injected with a radioactive substance that binds to a protein in the vesicles, or storage bins, used by synapses. Then during a PET scan, areas with synapses light up, allowing researchers to see how many are in different regions of the brain.

Esterlis said there are no medications that specifically target the underlying synapse damage.

But other brain experts said the preliminary findings are a reminder of how important it is to treat depression promptly, so people don't spend years suffering.

"If your mood isn't enough to make you go and get treated, then hopefully your cognition is," said Dr. Mary Sano, who directs the Mount Sinai Alzheimer's Disease Research Center in New York and wasn't involved in the new research.

Still, she cautioned that normal cognitive aging is a complicated process that involves other health problems, such as heart disease that slows blood flow in the brain. It might be that depression, rather than worsening synaptic decline, just makes it more obvious, Sano noted.

With depression "at any age, there's a hit on the brain. At an older age the hit may be more visible because there may already be some loss," she explained.

Indeed, another way the brain ages: The blood-brain barrier, which normally protects against infiltration of damaging substances, gradually breaks down, Daniela Kaufer of the University of California, Berkeley, told the AAAS meeting. That triggers inflammation, setting off a cascade that can cause cognitive impairment. Her lab found a specific molecular culprit and is developing, in studies with mice, a way to block the inflammatory damage.

The University of Toronto's Etienne Sibille is developing a compound to target yet another piece of the puzzle, brain receptors that are impaired with both aging and depression. Mouse studies showed it could reverse stress-induced memory loss, he said. Any human testing is at least several years away.

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate has unanimously passed legislation that designates lynching as a federal crime.

The anti-lynching legislation's chief Democratic backers, Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California, are both seeking their party's presidential nomination in 2020. The Senate passed the bill in December, but the House did not act in time to send the measure to President Donald Trump's desk. This year, the Democratic-controlled House is more likely to advance the legislation with more time left in the congressional session.

Sponsors of the bill, also backed by GOP Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, have tallied nearly 200 past failed attempts to approve anti-lynching legislation over the past several decades.
PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) - The president of Kosovo said Thursday he thinks there is "good momentum" to reach an agreement this year to normalize ties with Serbia.

Kosovo commemorates its 2008 declaration of independence on Feb. 17 each year. It is recognized as its own country by 116 nations, but not by the one from which it unilaterally separated, Serbia.

Kosovo is a success story, President Hashim Thaci told The Associated Press in an interview.

"Kosovo's independence has brought more peace and stability in the Western Balkans," he said.

Thaci mentioned strong support from the United States and the European Union, and Russia's pledge to accept a Pristina-Belgrade agreement.

Many challenges lie ahead, all of which should be resolved through the EU-facilitated dialogue with Serbia that started in 2011, he said.

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 21, 2019 file photo, Kosovo president Hashim Thaci gestures during a press conference in Kosovo capital Pristina. Kosovo's president is very hopeful they will reach an overall deal to normalize ties with Serbia in 2019. On Sunday, Feb. 17 Kosovo celebrates its 11th anniversary of independence it declared in 2008, nine years after it came under U.N. and NATO administration following the 1999 NATO-led air war that halted a crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu, File)

The talks are stalled, however.

Last year Kosovo decided to set a 100 percent import tariff on Serb goods until Belgrade recognized its sovereignty and stopped preventing it from joining international organizations.

Serbia has said the tariff is costing a lot to its businesses and it won't take part in the dialogue until the measure is lifted.

Thaci urged his government to temporarily suspend the tariff, but also said Serbia should not make it a condition of resuming dialogue.

Both Washington and Brussels have urged an end of the tariff. Pristina has not responded so far.

Kosovo's stubbornness seems to have angered Washington, Kosovo's biggest strategic partner. An army general who was due to visit Kosovo for the 11th independence anniversary canceled his trip.

"But there is no coldness (from U.S.) toward Kosovo as a country or its population," Thaci said.

The European Union has told Serbia and Kosovo they need to settle their differences before joining the EU.

___

Llazar Semini contributed from Tirana, Albania.

___

Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lsemini
SAO PAULO (AP) - The leader of Brazil's biggest and most powerful organized crime group has been transferred to a high-security federal penitentiary from a Sao Paulo state prison, authorities said Thursday.

The press office of the Sao Paulo state justice department said Marcos Willians Camacho and 21 other leaders of the First Capital Command gang were transferred Wednesday to federal prisons in the capital of Brasilia and two other states in northern Brazil.

Authorities use transfers seeking to sever prisoners' ties to gang members on the outside.

First Capital Command, widely known by its Portuguese initials PCC, was founded in 1993 by hardened criminals inside Sao Paulo's Taubate Penitentiary to pressure authorities to improve prison conditions. It quickly started using its power to direct drug dealing and extortion operations on the outside.

Police have said that PCC is responsible for instigating violent confrontations with other prison gangs and for killing or disappearing people in several parts of the country.

The transfer was ordered after a planned PCC breakout was frustrated last year.

FILE - Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, center, is escorted by police in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in this Nov 7, 2005 file photo. Officials said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that Marcos Willians Herbas Camacho, the leader of Brazil's biggest and most powerful organized crime group, has been transferred to a high-security federal penitentiary from a Sao Paulo state prison. (AP Photo/Jorge Santos-AGENCIA ESTADO, File)

Such moves are sometimes followed by violence in Brazilian prisons.

In 2006, PCC unleashed a wave of attacks and prison uprisings in Sao Paulo state that police said was a response to the transfer of several imprisoned PCC leaders.
MOSCOW (AP) - The Bellingcat investigative organization says it has established the identity of an alleged Russian military intelligence officer who was in Britain when a Russian former double agent and his daughter were poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok.

Bellingcat on Thursday identified the man as Denis Sergeyev, a graduate of the Military Diplomatic Academy, a training ground for intelligence officers.

The group said the man was also in Bulgaria in 2015 when a businessman there was poisoned by an unidentified substance.

Britain has named two alleged Russian military intelligence agents as suspects in the poisoning last year of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Authorities have not identified a third suspect and Bellingcat acknowledged: "It is unclear what (Sergeyev's) role may have been, if any, in the preparation and execution of the poisoning operation."

The poisoned Bulgarian businessman survived, as did his son who fell ill days later with less-severe symptoms, suggesting poisoning.

An official of Bulgaria's ruling party said this week that an investigation into the alleged Russian agent's activities would be conducted.

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor of Bellingcat's Russian reporting partner The Insider, told The Associated Press that he "We are almost 100-percent sure he was a key figure in the Skripal operation - he is linked to the Bulgarian poisonings."

Russia has vehemently denied any connection to the Skripal poisonings. The events set off a wave of recriminations between Britain and Russia, prompting the expulsions of scores of diplomats, from Russia, the U.K. and Britain's allies.
WASHINGTON (AP) - When Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced he would bring the Green New Deal forward for votes he thought it would put Democrats - especially 2020 presidential contenders - on the spot.

But on Thursday, Senate Democrats said they welcome the opportunity for a debate on climate change, and the proposal from freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. They say it's an issue Americans care about, and one Republicans have ignored.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, joined by colleagues on the Senate floor, said: "Bring it on."

"We actually believe that we need to do something about climate change" and added: "Do Republicans?"

McConnell announced this week that the Senate will vote soon on the Green New Deal resolution. It calls for dramatic steps to virtually eliminate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and has been mocked by critics as unrealistic and veering into socialism. Republicans almost universally oppose it.

President Donald Trump slammed it as not much more than "a high school term paper."

FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2019, file photo, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-New York) waves to the crowd after speaking at Women's Unity Rally in Lower Manhattan in New York. Democrats including Ocasio-Cortez of New York and veteran Sen. Ed Markey of Mass. are calling for a Green New Deal intended to transform the U.S. economy to combat climate change and create jobs in renewable energy. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

But for Democrats, the Green New Deal instantly emerged as something of a litmus test, particularly for candidates seeking the White House in 2020, as an issue that resonates with voters - even though more centrist voices in the party panned it.

So far, most of the senators seeking the Democratic nomination for president back it, including Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who's likely to enter the Democratic primary soon, is also a supporter.

But a seventh potential candidate in 2020, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, declined to attach his name to it this week and dismissed liberal activists' contention that he has to support the Green New Deal in order to prove his commitment to the issue.

Senators on Thursday said the upcoming debate will provide an opportunity to showcase the two parties' approach.

"If you don't like the Green New Deal, what's your plan?" said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I. "I hope this actually turns into a breakthrough moment in which there are some serious conversations."

Said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, "We have never been more fired up."

Spearheaded by Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, and Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the nonbinding resolution sets a goal to meet "100 percent of the power demand in the United States through clean, renewable and zero-emission energy sources," including nuclear power.

The plan goes far beyond energy to urge national health care coverage and job guarantees, as well as high-quality education, affordable housing and a high-speed rail network.

It also calls for upgrading all existing buildings in the United States to be energy-efficient.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The ranking Democratic on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday called on the Trump administration to turn over all documents related to the killing of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo requesting records about whether any senior Saudi official or member of the royal family, including Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was responsible for his death.

Despite international outrage, Trump decided not to impose harsher penalties on the crown prince over the October death and dismemberment of The Washington Post columnist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The columnist, who lived in Virginia, had written articles critical of the kingdom, but Saudi Arabia insists the crown prince did not order the killing.

The Trump administration pushed back Monday against allegations that it was trying to cover up the killing when it failed to send Congress a report determining who was responsible for his death.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - An inquest in Kenya says five police officers are liable for the death of a six-month-old baby who was hit by baton-wielding police during skirmishes following the disputed 2017 presidential election.

Magistrate Beryl Omollo recommended Thursday that the director of public prosecutions treat 46 other police officers as persons of interest.

She said the five should be held responsible for the baby's death based on the principle of command responsibility in the National Police Service as they were in charge of the operation on the night of August 11, 2017.

At least 92 people died in clashes with police during protests over President Uhuru Kenyatta's win in the August 2017 election and repeat election in October after the Supreme Court nullified the first poll citing illegalities and irregularities.
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - A political party in Mali that monitors security says more than 1,200 people died in violence last year.

Tiebile Drame, head of the Parena party, released the 2018 figures Thursday adding that among the dead were 697 civilians, 85 Malian soldiers and four soldiers from international forces.

The spokesman for Mali's Minister of Internal Security, Amadou Sangho, disputed the figures, saying they were exaggerated although many had died.

Mali's extremist violence started in the north and since 2015 has spread to central Mali, a hotbed of tension where Mali's army is facing attacks by jihadist groups linked to al-Qaida. Insecurity since 2017 has also grown to include intercommunal conflict. Ethnic groups including the Fulani are accused of supporting extremists, while others are believed to be loyal to Mali's army.
Comment Policy Calaveras Enterprise does not actively monitor comments. However, staff does read through to assess reader interest. When abusive or foul language is used or directed toward other commenters, those comments will be deleted. If a commenter continues to use such language, that person will be blocked from commenting. We wish to foster a community of communication and a sharing of ideas, and we truly value readers' input.
House Democrats propose OPEN BORDERS in 2019 homeland security budget

Even as Leftists Democrats continue to insist that providing proper funding for a border wall between the United States and Mexico would somehow be wasteful and immoral, theyre simultaneously pushing for open borders  which costs the U.S. around $155 billion annually, or 31 times the cost of the wall  as part of the 2019 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) budget.

According to new reports, the draft budget being proposed by House Democrats offers a measly $1.75 billion to President Trump for extra border spending, while provisioning absolutely nothing for the border wall. However, these same House Democrats made sure to provision for hundreds of millions of dollars in funding in their proposal to help more migrants illegally cross the border, as well as find jobs once they are in the U.S.

The Democrats want to limit the governments ability to keep people out of the country, stated Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies, about the ridiculous proposal. Enforcement would be weakened and people abroad would very quickly learn of that, and then illegal immigration would dramatically increase, especially of people with children.

Illegal aliens in the U.S. drive down wages for law-abiding Americans

In addition to draining taxpayer coffers, the illegal aliens that House Democrats are calling migrants end up putting enormous strain on our countrys job pool. Since theyre willing to work for far less than the average American, wages drop significantly for everyone, driving more people  both illegal and legal  towards welfare programs that put even more strain on the system.

Sponsored solution from the Health Ranger Store: The Big Berkey water filter removes almost 100% of all contaminants using only the power of gravity (no electricity needed, works completely off-grid). Widely consider the ultimate "survival" water filter, the Big Berkey is made of stainless steel and has been laboratory verified for high-efficiency removal of heavy metals by CWC Labs, with tests personally conducted by Mike Adams. Explore more here.

Back in 2017, some 400,000 illegal aliens were given work permits to compete against law-abiding Americans for work  all thanks to provisions previously put in place by Obama that favored illegal aliens over taxpaying Americans.

Not only does the new budget proposal by House Democrats seek to further these anti-American loopholes for illegal aliens put in place by Obama, but they further seek to expand them by blocking President Trumps efforts to both deny asylum for more illegal aliens and end the disastrous catch-and-release program that puts more illegal aliens on the streets of America.

House Democrats want to reopen Obama pipeline for bringing more Central American illegals into the U.S.

And remember all those buses that Obama set up to bring illegal Central American youth to cities all across the country? House Democrats want to reopen this pipeline of illegals as well, allowing cartel coyotes to traffic children, drugs, and who knows what else into American communities under the cover of darkness.

The proposed budget would also reauthorize the EB-5 law, allowing wealthy Chinese and Indian families to purchase green cards  effectively cutting to the front of the immigration line  if they agree to lend cash to American real estate developers. This so-called citizenship-for-sale program is strongly supported by both New York Senator and Democrat Chuck Schumer, as well as Texas Senator and Republican John Cornyn.

And finally, instead of apportioning money for proper border security, the Democrats proposal seeks to divert this funding towards pork-barrel spending projects in Democratic districts, allowing corrupt Democrats to purchase aircraft, invest in various construction projects, and fund other pet projects at their discretion.

It is becoming increasingly mainstream on the left to reject the concept of immigration controls, Krikorian adds. Not that criminals should be let in, or terrorists, but the principle [they support] that everyone has the right to move here  unless there is some specific reason to keep them out  is now at the center of the Democratic Party.

Our elites are increasingly dangerous  they are a danger to the health of their society, he contends.

For more news about how Leftists hate America and want to see it destroyed through endless illegal immigration, be sure to check out LiberalMob.com.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

Breitbart.com
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - The massacre that left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School pushed students, parents, officials and others into the national limelight, something most never sought. A look at where some of the most prominent are today:

STUDENTS

EMMA GONZALEZ -- Gonzalez, 19, became known for her "We Call B.S." speech criticizing politicians who accept money from the National Rifle Association, which she gave days after the shooting during a Fort Lauderdale rally. She, David Hogg and other March for Our Lives founders were featured on the cover of Time magazine. They spent the summer as part of the "Road to Change" tour, which registered young voters around the country. She is attending Florida's New College.

DAVID HOGG -- Hogg, 18, became the most prominent spokesman for March for Our Lives, a group he and other Stoneman Douglas students founded that is pushing for stronger gun laws. It won the International Children's Peace Prize. His activism led to significant criticism, including death threats. He and his younger sister, Lauren, wrote a book, "#NeverAgain: A New Generation Draws the Line." He will be attending Harvard in the fall.

KYLE KASHUV -- The Stoneman Douglas senior has become the most prominent conservative voice among the students, meeting with President Donald Trump, Republican members of Congress and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Kashuv was a member of Gov. Ron DeSantis' transition team and is high school outreach director for Turning Point USA, a conservative group.

PARENTS

FILE - In this Aug. 23, 2018, file photo, David Hogg, 18, center right, a survivor of the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla., walks in a planned 50-mile march in Worcester, Mass. Hogg, became the most prominent spokesman for March for Our Lives, a group he and other Stoneman Douglas students founded that is pushing for stronger gun laws. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)

ANDREW POLLACK -- Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow died in the shooting, became the most outspoken critic of school and law enforcement officials among the victims' parents and a force in Florida conservative politics. He has met with Trump, and was on DeSantis' transition team. He is pushing for the removal of Broward school Superintendent Robert Runcie and is suing suspect Nikolas Cruz, the Broward school district and sheriff's office and former Broward sheriff's Deputy Scot Peterson, who was on duty at the school during the shooting but did not enter the building to confront the shooter.

FRED GUTTENBERG -- Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed, has become an outspoken advocate for gun control and liberal causes. He drew national attention when he approached new Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing and extended his hand, only to have Kavanaugh walk away. Guttenberg was part of the transition team for new state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, Florida's only statewide Democratic officeholder.

RYAN PETTY -- Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina died, was appointed to the state commission investigating the shooting's causes. His comments tended to hit at police and school system failures he perceived. He lost a bid for the Broward County school board, but was also part of DeSantis' transition team.

MAX SCHACHTER -- Schacter, whose 14-year-old son Alex died, became the emotional voice of the parents as a member of the state commission and founder of the group, "Safe Schools for Alex." He has traveled extensively looking at school security systems.

LORI ALHADEFF -- Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was killed, won a school board seat representing Parkland in August. She tried hiring a Runcie critic as her secretary, but the superintendent said the woman, a college instructor who holds a doctorate, was unqualified because she didn't have related experience. Alhadeff has pushed Runcie to set a timeline for implementing school security projects.

TONY MONTALTO -- Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed, is president of "Stand with Parkland," a group of parents and spouses of the victims. The group has pushed for enhanced school security measures, better mental health screening programs and universal background checks for gun purchases.

MANUEL OLIVER -- Oliver, whose 17-year-old son Joaquin died, is an artist who has created projects honoring his son and condemning gun violence. He recently took on comic Louis CK, who mocked the victims during a December performance. At his website, changetheref.org, Oliver poses as a standup comedian and in the form of a joke he tells about dropping his son off the day he died. No one laughs.

OFFICIALS

ROBERT RUNCIE -- The Broward County school superintendent remains in office over the objection of the victims' families, as he has the backing of a majority of the nine-member school board. DeSantis has hinted he would like to suspend Runcie, but state law won't allow it as Runcie is an appointed official, not elected.

SCOTT ISRAEL - DeSantis suspended the Broward County sheriff on Jan. 11, saying he "repeatedly failed and has demonstrated a pattern of poor leadership." Before the shooting, Israel had changed his department's policy to say deputies "may" confront shooters from "shall." Critics say that gave eight deputies an excuse for not confronting the gunman when they arrived during the shooting but stayed outside. Israel's attorneys say he intends to challenge the suspension. He intends to run again next year.

SCOT PETERSON -- Peterson, a longtime Broward sheriff's deputy assigned to school, retired shortly after the shooting. Security video showed he drew his gun but did not enter the three-story freshman building where the killings took place. Instead, he took cover nearby and stayed there for about 50 minutes. In interviews with the "Today" show and The Washington Post, he said he did not know where the shots were coming from. He was subpoenaed to testify before the state investigative commission, but invoked his Fifth Amendment right to silence after it was announced he is under criminal investigation. The commission concluded that he lied about not knowing the location of the shooter, and several members called him a coward. He is collecting a pension of more than $100,000 annually.

SUSPECT AND FAMILY

NIKOLAS CRUZ -- Cruz, 20, remains jailed in Broward County, charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder. His attorneys have said the former Stoneman Douglas student would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. No trial date has been set. In November, he was charged with attacking a jail guard who investigators say told him not to drag his sandals while walking. The guard fended off the attack, investigators said.

ZACHARY CRUZ -- The suspect's 18-year-old brother pleaded no contest in March to trespassing at the school 33 days after the shooting. He was re-arrested weeks later for violating probation for driving without a license and for driving near a school, but was quickly released. He has moved to Virginia, and has shown up at some of his brother's court hearings.

FILE- In this Nov. 15, 2018, file photo, Broward County Public Schools Superintendent Robert Runcie speaks before the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission in Sunrise, Fla. Runcie remains in office over the objection of the victims' families, as he has the backing of a majority of the nine-member school board. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 18, 2015, file frame from video from Broward County Public Schools, school resource officer Scot Peterson talks during a school board meeting of Broward County, Fla. Peterson, a longtime Broward sheriff's deputy assigned to school, retired shortly after the shooting after security video showed he drew his gun but did not enter the three-story freshman building where the killings took place, instead taking cover nearby and not moving for about 50 minutes. (Broward County Public Schools via AP, File)

FILE- In this Jan. 11, 2019, file photo, suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, center, leaves a news conference surrounded by supporters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after new Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him, over his handling of last February's massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Before the shooting, Israel had changed his department's policy to say deputies "may" confront shooters from "shall," which critics say gave eight deputies who arrived during the shooting but stayed outside an excuse for not confronting the gunman. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

FILE - In this June 7, 2018, file photo, Ryan Petty asks a question during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission Meeting in Sunrise, Fla. Petty, whose 14-year-old daughter Alaina died, was appointed to the state commission investigating its causes. His comments, usually delivered coolly and to the point, tended to hit at police and school system failures he perceived. He lost a bid for the Broward County school board, but was also part of Gov. Ron DeSantis' transition team. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 16, 2018, file photo, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, foreground, talks with Max Schachter, left, father of Alex Schachter, who was killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, as they arrive for a meeting of the Federal Commission on School Safety in the Indian Treaty Room of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. "After 9/11, we hardened the cockpits and the airports," Schachter testified during that day's commission hearing. "The reasons these monsters are still attacking our schools is because they're extremely soft targets. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2019, file photo, Parkland school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz is escorted into the courtroom for a status hearing at the Broward Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Cruz remains jailed in Broward County, charged with 17 counts of first-degree murder. His attorneys have said the former Stoneman Douglas student would plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence, but prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. No trial date has been set. In November, he was charged with attacking a jail guard who investigators say told him not to drag his sandals while walking. The guard was able to fend off the attack, investigators said. (John McCall/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2018, file photo, Broward County School Superintendent Robert Runcie walks to the podium to testify during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission in Sunrise, Fla. The 15-member commission issued a report in January after meeting periodically for nine months to investigate the massacre's causes and examine how future school shootings can be prevented. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2018, file photo, Andrew Pollack, center, the father of Meadow Pollack talk during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Commission meeting in Sunrise, Fla. Pollack, whose 18-year-old daughter Meadow died in the shooting, became the most outspoken critic of school and law enforcement officials among the victims' parents and a force in Florida conservative politics. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, Pool, FIle)

FILE- In this Aug. 9, 2018, file photo, Tony Montalto, father of Gina Rose, a victim of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, speaks during a news conference in Sunrise, Fla. Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was killed, is president of "Stand with Parkland," a group composed of parents and spouses of the victims. Despite political differences among the members, the group has been able to stay together and has pushed for enhanced school security measures, better mental health screening programs and universal background checks for gun purchases. (Taimy Alvarez/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP, File)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - President Donald Trump's senior Middle East adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, said Thursday that the Trump administration would unveil its much-awaited Mideast "Deal of the Century" after Israeli elections on April 9.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Kushner briefed participants at a security conference in Poland about the anticipated plan but would not go into details for fear of it leaking. Netanyahu told reporters that he looked forward to "seeing the plan once it is presented."

Netanyahu said he heard nothing new from Kushner besides a reference to a 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative, which offered full Arab recognition of Israel in return for a withdrawal from territories it captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Netanyahu said Kushner said the plan may have made sense at the time but was no longer relevant.

"It is not appropriate for today. The reality has changed," Netanyahu said.

He wouldn't comment on any concessions Israel would have to make under any U.S.-backed proposal.

A diplomat who watched Kushner's presentation quoted him as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian "file" to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement "a shot." Despite the long odds, he said he believed "privately, people are much more flexible" than their public positions, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity according to protocol.

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner attends at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected the plan, accusing the Trump White House of being unfairly biased in favor of Israel. The apparent rejection of the Saudi peace plan is likely to deepen their belief that the plan will fall far short of their longstanding goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

"There will be no peace and stability in the Middle East without a peaceful solution that leads to a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as a capital," said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Palestinians skipped Thursday's conference and asked Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation. Some 60 countries took part in the gathering, including five Arab foreign ministers that made a rare public appearance alongside Netanyahu.

Kushner has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years but has yet to release any details, and the release of his plan has been repeatedly delayed.

U.S. officials had said Kushner would make some comments in Warsaw about the conflict. But Netanyahu said ahead of time he didn't expect any discussion of the peace plan, with the focus of the conference on participants' shared concern over Iran and its growing influence in the region.

The diplomat quoted Netanyahu joking at some point to Kushner that "having this file" is a "tough one."

"But, if you are crazy enough, and I think you might just be, you can come up with new ideas," he quoted Netanyahu as saying.

Netanyahu also urged all interested parties, particularly the Palestinians, to wait for the plan to come out before reacting to it or rejecting it.

U.S. officials have signaled the plan will be heavily focused on Palestinian economic development. They also have refused to endorse the concept of a Palestinian state - a goal that has enjoyed wide international backing for the past two decades.

The U.S. recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital, along with the cancellation of hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to the Palestinians, have prompted the Palestinians to cut off ties with the White House and pre-emptively reject the peace plan.

While facing Palestinian resistance, the plan could also run into Israeli opposition.

Netanyahu's governing coalition is comprised of religious and nationalist hardliners who oppose serious concessions to the Palestinians. With Netanyahu seeking re-election and pledging to form a similar coalition if he wins, it is unlikely that he would make any concessions, particularly before the April 9 vote.

Kushner, according to the diplomat, said the history of the Middle East had shown that "pessimists" about Israeli-Palestinian peace were "usually right." But he stressed that "it's the optimists that bring the change."

With the Palestinians sidelined, Netanyahu has tried to use the Warsaw conference to get closer to other Arab nations aligned with it against Iran.

Netanyahu has long boasted of clandestinely developing good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Bringing such contacts out into the open would mark a major diplomatic coup and put a seal of approval on his goal of improving Israel's standing in the world, and particularly with Arabs.

On Wednesday, Netanyahu met with Oman's foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, and they issued a joint video statement. At Thursday's opening session he was seated next to the foreign minister of Yemen, Khaled al-Yamani, as representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and others looked on.

Asked on the sidelines of the conference if Netanyahu could expect an invitation to his country, Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa: "I will leave matters to when it happens."

Briefing reporters later, Netanyahu declined to say whether he had met any other Arab leaders or what was discussed. But he did say the atmosphere at Thursday's gathering was "unfathomable" as far as the like-mindedness of the participants involved. He said when he spoke, the Arabs in the room listened intently, with some expressing very similar sentiments regarding the threat posed by Iran.

"Something amazing is happening here," he said. "There is a real change here ... we spoke about Iran, Iran, Iran."

Even as Gulf Arab states have dropped some of their traditional antipathy toward Israel, it remains unlikely they will fully normalize relations with Israel without some progress on the Palestinian front.

"I never said we'd reach a peace agreement with the Arab countries before we solve the Palestinian issue. But I have said that the policy I am leading will move toward normalization," Netanyahu said. "We can wait for the Palestinians from here till tomorrow, but I don't condition that on normalization with the Arab world."

____

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacts during a bilateral meeting with United States Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner attends at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner is pictured at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

RETRANSMISSION TO ADD A NAME -- First roe from left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, former Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, right, attend a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, right, talks to the media during a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - A court within the two British military bases in Cyprus has sentenced a Palestinian man to six months in prison after finding him guilty of trying to illegally bring two men into a base from the island's Turkish Cypriot breakaway north.

A bases statement said Thursday that Mohammed Aljaro was arrested as he tried to drive through a checkpoint last month.

Two other men who were detained attempting to cross into the base on foot admitted to officials that they agreed to pay the Palestinian to drive them into the internationally recognized Cyprus Republic in the south.

Traffickers are increasingly using the north of Cyprus as a way into the European Union, bringing people across the porous U.N. buffer zone and through the British base that borders the north.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Some students around the country marked the anniversary of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, with moments of silence Thursday or somber vigils while others sought to find threads of positivity in the fabric of tragedy.

Boardman High School in northeast Ohio had a "legacy lockdown" including an active-shooter drill, a chime ringing once for each of the 17 victims from Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and an opportunity to applaud local emergency responders.

It repeated an event they did weeks after the Florida shooting: Students practiced hiding during the drill, then lined the hallways to clap and cheer as dozens of police and other responders walked through the school.

Seventeen-year-old senior Jack Pendleton, who helped plan that as a non-political response to what happened, said it's a way to help students feel safer and responders feel more appreciated.

"We turn away from the dread and have to look more toward who's helping us," he said.

Near Washington, a group of students advocating for stricter gun control displayed 671 white T-shirts outside Bethesda Chevy Chase High School as a "Memorial to Our Lives," with each bearing the name and age of a teenage victim of gun violence from 2018. That, too, expands on a display they initiated last year after the Parkland shooting.

Boardman High School students clap as Officer Daryn Tallman and his K-9, Sumo, walk the halls after a lockdown drill, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Boardman, Ohio. Some students around the country marked the anniversary of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, with moments of silence Thursday or somber vigils while others sought to find threads of positivity in the fabric of tragedy. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Emily Schrader, an 18-year-old senior, said the display conveys outrage and loss, but the students who hung up the shirts Thursday morning also felt hopeful about demonstrating solidarity with victims of gun violence.

"Bringing it back to our school may be a way to allude to the student activism for the past year but also to keep the focus of the day on the victims and make sure that the stories and lives of the victims are being told," Schrader said.

Students in suburban Kansas City sent kids in Parkland thousands of notes of encouragement written on labels affixed to chocolate candy bars, which were delivered to the high school earlier this week, The Kansas City Star reported .

Educators were remembering, too. In New York, the Buffalo Teachers Federation encouraged people to wear orange - as hunters do for gun safety - and join with others nationwide dedicating a moment of silence to mark the shooting.

Leaders of the nation's largest teachers' unions, the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association, issued statements remembering the Parkland victims, honoring survivors and urging legislation to reduce gun violence and improve school safety.

In Parkland, the 14 students and three staff members who died were being honored quietly through an interfaith service and service projects by students.

A Facebook page set up for mobilizing Stoneman Douglas alumni urged people to participate in an online vigil by posting pictures of lit candles with the hashtag #17Eagles. Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo was among the alumni tweeting in remembrance of the victims.

How to sensitively commemorate school tragedies is part of broader guidance the National Association of Secondary School Principals is working to put together this year to help principals in the aftermath of such situations, NASSP spokesman Bob Farrace said. It will be based on conversations with school leaders who have dealt with shootings over the past two decades, he said.

___

Follow Franko on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kantele10

___

Find all The Associated Press' coverage marking one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at: https://apnews.com/ParklandFloridaschoolshooting .

Students clap for first responders as they walk the hallway at Boardman High School after a lockdown drill, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Boardman, Ohio. Some students around the country marked the anniversary of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, with moments of silence Thursday or somber vigils while others sought to find threads of positivity in the fabric of tragedy. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Boardman high school principal Cynthia Fernback checks classroom doors to make sure they are locked during a lockdown drill, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Boardman, Ohio. Some students around the country marked the anniversary of the school massacre in Parkland, Florida, with moments of silence Thursday or somber vigils while others sought to find threads of positivity in the fabric of tragedy. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Suzanne Devine Clark, an art teacher at Deerfield Beach Elementary School, places painted stones at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the one-year anniversary of the school shooting, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Parkland, Fla. A year ago on Thursday, 14 students and three staff members were killed when a gunman opened fire at the high school. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

A plaque for Jaime Guttenberg, one of the victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting is shown at a memorial outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the one-year anniversary of the shooting, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. A year ago on Thursday, 14 students and three staff members were killed when a gunman opened fire at the high school. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
Under pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday it would move toward setting safety limits for a class of highly toxic chemicals contaminating drinking water around the country. Environmentalists, congressional Democrats and state officials countered that the agency wasn't moving fast enough.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler released an "action plan" for dealing with the long-lasting substances, which have been linked to health threats ranging from cancer to decreased fertility. The perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, have turned up increasingly in public water systems and private wells.

Wheeler said the agency's plan would help communities monitor, detect and address PFAS pollution.

But environmentalists and some members of Congress said the strategy wasn't aggressive enough on dealing with the chemicals, which are found in firefighting foam, nonstick pots and pans, water-repellent clothing and many other household and personal items.

"This is a non-action plan, designed to delay effective regulation of these dangerous chemicals in our drinking water," said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch.

Former EPA chief Scott Pruitt described PFAS contamination as a "national priority" and pledged swift action last May. Wheeler has served as the EPA's acting head since Pruitt's resignation in July amid ethics scandals, and the agency's handling of PFAS contamination was raised as an issue in Wheeler's confirmation hearings.

Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Under strong pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Scientific studies have found "associations" between the chemicals and cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis and other health issues.

Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, the top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, said the EPA plan doesn't include a commitment to set safety limits for the chemicals in drinking water and prolongs the evaluation for at least another year.

"It has taken the EPA nearly a year to just kick the can even further down the road," Carper said. "While EPA acts with the utmost urgency to repeal regulations, the agency ambles with complacency when it comes to taking real steps to protect the water we drink and the air we breathe."

David Ross, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Water, said the agency intends to set the standards. Doug Benevento, head of the EPA regional office representing a number of Western states, tweeted: "We are moving through the regulatory process required under the Safe Water Drinking Act before we make a determination."

Speaking at a news conference in Pennsylvania, Wheeler said Americans "count on EPA every time they turn on their faucet" and that the agency's plan provides a comprehensive approach to dealing with PFAS.

But Mark Favors, a New York City resident who attended the event and was critical of the plan, said members of his family had been affected by PFAS contamination from an Air Force base in Colorado. Military installations are among the leading generators of the pollutants because of their extensive use of firefighting foam in training exercises.

"My cousin, he did two tours in Iraq. His children drank PFAS for the entire time he was there for the U.S. Army," Favors said. "For an administration that touts that they go above and beyond for the military, I find this a bit underwhelming."

The EPA strategy focuses largely on two of the oldest and most common PFAS chemicals, both of which have been phased out by manufacturers but remain widespread in the environment.

By the end of this year, the EPA will "propose a regulatory determination" for those chemicals, known as PFOS and PFOA, the next step toward establishing limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Wheeler said.

Sen. John Barrasso, a Wyoming Republican and chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, described the plan as "a first step" but said the EPA "must be willing to take decisive action where it is warranted."

The EPA also is moving toward listing PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances, which could make them eligible for cleanups under the Superfund program, and will issue interim groundwater cleanup recommendations for contaminated sites, Wheeler said. The agency will propose adding PFAS chemicals to a drinking water monitoring program and develop new methods for detecting them in water, soil and groundwater.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have pressed him to establish mandatory limits for PFAS in public water systems.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, whose state of West Virginia was one of the first where PFAS contamination was linked to health problems, said she voted for Wheeler's nomination in committee this month only after he privately assured her the EPA would tackle the problem.

Capito was one of 20 senators who wrote to Wheeler demanding ceilings on two phased-out types of PFAS chemicals.

Thousands of distinct PFAS chemicals, which resist heat and repel grease, water and oil, have been in production since the 1940s. They've been labeled "forever chemicals" because they break down slowly, if at all. Testing of water systems around the nation has turned up varying levels of the compounds.

The EPA has established a nonbinding "advisory level" of 70 parts per trillion for the two older versions, PFOA and PFOS, which the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has described as too weak. Some states have imposed tougher limits.

Michigan, one of the states that have used the EPA level and looked to the agency for guidance, said it was "concerned that the timeline for federal action on PFAS standards and regulations is not more aggressive."

___

Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan, and Knickmeyer from Washington, D.C. AP writer Mike Casey in Concord, New Hampshire and AP photographer Matt Rourke contributed to this report..

FILE- In this Oct. 16, 2017, file photo Ted Ryfiak shows a clump of resin and scraps found in his backyard along House Street NE in Belmont, Mich. Ryfiak and his neighbors along House Street NE have had their water polluted with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS compounds. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. (Nic Antaya/The Grand Rapids Press-MLive.com via AP)

FILE - In this June 18, 2018 file photo, equipment used to test for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, in drinking water is seen at Trident Laboratories in Holland, Mich. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File)

FILE- In this Aug. 14, 2017 file photo, a couple kayak on the Rogue River adjacent to where Wolverine World Wide's tannery once stood, in Rockford, Mich. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is investigating the connection between old waste drums in the area and an old Wolverine World Wide tannery waste dump nearby. Some private wells in the area have tested positive for elevated levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS. (Neil Blake /The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Trump administration lashed out at some of America's closest traditional allies Thursday, accusing Britain, France and Germany of trying to bust U.S. sanctions against Iran and calling on European nations to join the United States in withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear deal.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence slammed the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the landmark 2015 agreement after President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year and re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The harsh criticism threatened to further chill U.S.-European ties that are already badly strained on many issues, including trade and defense spending. And it underscored the stark two-year trans-Atlantic divide over Iran that manifested itself again ahead of the Warsaw conference co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland.

France and Germany declined to send their top diplomats to the ministerial-level meeting. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away due to concerns it would become an anti-Iran vehicle. Britain, France and Germany, along with the rest of the EU, continue to support the nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.

At the close of the conference, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz both noted differences of opinion over policies toward Iran. But, they said all participants agreed on the threat posed by the country, which is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution this week.

"There was not a defender of Iran in the room," Pompeo said, adding that the U.S. and Europe were still capable of working together on the issue.

United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, right, shake hands prior to a meeting at the Chacellery in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Czaputowicz said the U.S. and Europe "share the same diagnosis of the situation," which is "the negative role played by Iran." But he also noted that the U.S. and Europe differ on how to approach the matter.

In his earlier speech, Pence showed just how sharp that difference is.

He was harshly critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling a new financial mechanism last month that U.S. officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions. Pence praised other nations for complying with U.S. sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports, but he said the Europeans fell short.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

He said the mechanism, a barter-type payment system that is designed to allow businesses to skirt direct financial transactions with Iran, is "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous regime."

"It's an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," the vice president said.

Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement altogether, making explicit a demand that Trump administration officials had previously only hinted at.

"The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve," he said.

Niels Annen, a German deputy foreign minister who participated in the conference, told reporters after Pence spoke that Europe has a common position on the need to preserve the nuclear deal, and he dismissed U.S. concerns about the new financial mechanism. He said Germany believes both pressure and nuclear deal need to be maintained.

"We believe we need both," he said. "We need pressure on Iran ... but we also need cooperation on the basis of this international agreement and we will continue to pursue this together."

Germany, Britain and France have vigorously defended the new payment system as necessary to preserve the Iran accord, under which Tehran was granted billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.

They are also highly unlikely to withdraw from the agreement, a signature foreign policy achievement of the Obama administration. Their governments have repeatedly expressed support for it since Trump declared the U.S. would pull out.

The U.N.'s atomic watchdog and Trump's own intelligence chiefs have said Iran remains in compliance with the agreement despite the U.S. withdrawal.

Pence, however, said Iran's adherence to the deal's terms is irrelevant. He said the accord was fatally flawed to begin with as it does not prevent Iran from obtaining the technology or material to eventually develop a nuclear weapon over time.

"Compliance is not the issue; the deal is the issue," he said, calling Iran the "single greatest threat" to security in the Middle East.

Iran was not invited to the Warsaw conference and called the event a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" the country.

Because of European reluctance to attend a conference focused only on Iran, Pompeo and other U.S. officials had sought to broaden the scope to include other Middle East topics. The schedule included sessions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syria, Yemen, cybercrime and terrorism.

"No one country will dominate the discussion today, nor will any one issue dominate our talks," Pompeo said at the opening of the conference,

But Pence's comments, as well as earlier remarks by Pompeo, made clear the meeting was largely focused on isolating Iran.

Before the event opened, Pompeo met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said, "You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible."

Netanyahu's office released a video from a closed session of the conference in which Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid Al Khalifa tells an audience that he grew up believing the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is "the most important issue" in the region.

But later, he said, "we saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran."

Pence opened his keynote address by lauding the Trump administration's commitment to fighting "radical Islamic terrorism," a term he used in some form at least seven times.

He hailed gains made against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, where the extremists are being ousted from their last remaining areas of control. Despite Trump's abrupt decision to withdraw American troops from Syria, Pence said the U.S. would remain in the region to ensure the militant organization does not return.

"We will continue to hunt down the remnants of ISIS wherever and whenever they rear their ugly head," he said.

No matter what the conference yields on Syria, the future of the country was more likely to be determined at a Thursday meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the presidents of Iran and Turkey

The three leaders were in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss a Syria peace settlement as expectations mount for an imminent and final defeat of IS ahead of the U.S. pullout.

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a statement in front of the 'Warsaw Uprising Monument' in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attend a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

RETRANSMISSION TO ADD A NAME -- First roe from left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, former Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, right, attend a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a statement in front of the 'Warsaw Uprising Monument' in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives for a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, talk to the press on the sidelines of a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center left, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, center right, talk to the press on the sidelines of a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a statement in front of the 'Warsaw Uprising Monument' in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, 2nd right, and Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, right, attend a wreath-laying ceremony at the 'Warsaw Uprising Monument' in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence talks to the media during a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, right, talks to the media during a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkey's state-run news agency is quoting a police report suggesting that the Turkish fiancee of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi may have escaped being a second victim of the killing.

Citing an annual report by Istanbul police on Thursday, Anadolu says Khashoggi's killers were most likely not informed that his fiancee Hatice Cengiz was waiting for him outside the Saudi Consulate, where he was killed on Oct. 2. Cengiz had alerted Turkish authorities over his disappearance.

The report also suggests that the journalist's dismembered body may have been disposed of in a cooking furnace on the grounds of the Saudi consul's residence, Anadolu reported. Khashoggi's remains have not been found.

The Washington Post columnist had written critically about Saudi Arabia's crown prince.

Turkey has called for an international inquiry.
PARIS (AP) - A former French boxer who was filmed attacking riot police officers during the yellow vest protests has been convicted of assault.

Christophe Dettinger, a former French champion in the light heavyweight category, was given a one-year prison sentence on Wednesday night.

The judge brushed aside calls for a tougher sentence and gave the 37-year-old lenient terms that will allow him to work during the day.

The videos from the Jan. 5 incidents went viral on social media, triggering an outpouring of comments either praising Dettinger as a hero of the yellow vest movement or lambasting him as a vicious attacker.

Dettinger has been in custody since turning himself in after the attack.

Clashes hit Paris during the 13th straight week of yellow vest protests Saturday.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The Dutch government enlisted a new ally Thursday in its campaign to prepare businesses for the impending departure of Britain from the European Union - a hairy blue Brexit monster.

A tweet posted on Foreign Minister Stef Blok's official Twitter feed showed the monster, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the word Brexit in red capital letters, lying across a desk.

The tweet has links to the government's online Brexit portal and a Brexit Impact Scan that helps inform businesses about the possible consequences when Britain leaves the European Union on March 29.

"This is all to raise awareness," said foreign ministry spokesman Dirk-Jan Vermeij. "We have said this a lot in debates and now we are saying it with humor."

The monster quickly scared up plenty of action.

Vermeij said that by mid-afternoon some 4,000 businesses had done the impact scan on Thursday alone.

This image made available by the Netherlands Foreign Ministry on Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, shows Foreign Minister Stef Blok and a hairy blue Brexit monster on a desk in The Hague, Netherlands. The Dutch government has enlisted a new ally in its battle to prepare businesses for the impending departure of Britain from the European Union, a hairy blue Brexit monster. A tweet posted Thursday on Foreign Minister Stef Blok's official Twitter feed shows the monster, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the word Brexit in red capital letters, lying across a desk. (Aad Meijer, Netherlands Foreign Ministry via AP)

Prior to the monster's intervention, the scan had attracted about 63,000 businesses in around a year.

The online scan is a website that takes business owners through the range of possible changes they will have to master depending on the terms under which Britain completes its divorce from the EU.

It gives tailored advice about new procedures likely to come into play for importers and exporters such as customs procedures, possible new tariffs and taxes and other issues.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the Environmental Protection Agency's plan for dealing with long-lasting chemicals known as PFAS (all times local):

1:05 p.m.

Environmental groups are criticizing the Trump administration's plan for dealing with highly toxic chemicals in drinking water, saying it's too little and too slow.

Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter says it's a "non-action plan designed to delay effective regulation" of the chemicals known collectively as PFAS, which are found in nonstick pans and other household items.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday in Philadelphia announced its "action plan" for dealing with PFAS in drinking water. The EPA calls the plan "comprehensive" and says it includes short- and long-term actions.

But the Sierra Club environmental organization says it will take years to carry the actions out.

FILE- In this Aug. 14, 2017 file photo, a couple kayak on the Rogue River adjacent to where Wolverine World Wide's tannery once stood, in Rockford, Mich. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is investigating the connection between old waste drums in the area and an old Wolverine World Wide tannery waste dump nearby. Some private wells in the area have tested positive for elevated levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS. (Neil Blake /The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File)

Environment America clean-water advocate Bart Johnsen-Harris says the EPA plan lacks a clear, health-based limit on PFAS compounds in water supplies.

The National Ground Water Association industry group says the plan is an important step toward providing leadership on PFAS.

___

10:35 a.m.

The chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee says a plan outlined by the Environmental Protection Agency is only a first step toward protecting the public from highly toxic chemicals in drinking water.

GOP Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming says the panel will conduct a hearing this spring on the blueprint announced Thursday by Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.

Barrasso says the agency must "speak clearly" about risks posed by a class of chemicals known as PFAS and must be willing to take "decisive action" where warranted.

Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire says the plan "falls short of delivering the certainty" that people exposed to PFAS contamination deserve. She says it lacks a commitment to develop enforceable drinking water standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water.

___

9 a.m.

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler on Thursday in Philadelphia was announcing the agency's first nationwide plan for dealing with long-lasting contaminants known as PFAS.

The contaminants have been detected in many public drinking water systems and private wells around the country. The chemicals are used in firefighting foam and a variety of nonstick, water-repellent products.

Wheeler is proposing "a regulatory determination" for two common forms of the compounds. That's a first step toward a threshold at which treatment to remove the contaminants would be required.

___

5:35 a.m.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them.

So-called forever chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, pose "a very important threat," acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in an interview with ABC News Live ahead of a scheduled briefing Thursday in Philadelphia.

Wheeler said the agency was moving forward with the process under the Safe Drinking Water Act that could lead to new safety thresholds for the presence of the chemicals in water, but he did not commit in the interview to setting standards.

The chemicals are found in consumer products ranging from fabrics, rugs and carpets to cooking pots and pans, outdoor gear, shampoo, shaving cream, makeup and even dental floss. Increasing numbers of states have found them seeping into drinking water supplies.

FILE- In this Oct. 16, 2017, file photo Ted Ryfiak shows a clump of resin and scraps found in his backyard along House Street NE in Belmont, Mich. Ryfiak and his neighbors along House Street NE have had their water polluted with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS compounds. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. (Nic Antaya/The Grand Rapids Press-MLive.com via AP)

FILE - In this June 18, 2018 file photo, equipment used to test for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, in drinking water is seen at Trident Laboratories in Holland, Mich. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File)

FILE- In this June 18, 2018, file photo equipment used to test for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, in drinking water at Trident Laboratories in Holland, Mich. The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. (Cory Morse/The Grand Rapids Press via AP, File)

Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler walks from the podium after a news conference in Philadelphia, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Under strong pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler, right, and Mid-Atlantic Region administrator Cosmo Servidio, listen to a question during a news conference in Philadelphia, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Under strong pressure from Congress, the EPA said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler speaks during a news conference in Philadelphia, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Under strong pressure from Congress, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday that it will move ahead this year with a process that could lead to setting a safety threshold for a group of highly toxic chemicals in drinking water. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler walks to a podium a news conference in Philadelphia, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The EPA is expected to announced a plan for dealing with a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid complaints from members of Congress and environmentalists that it's not moved aggressively enough to regulate them. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Dakota graduated from Bret Harte in 2013 and went to Davidson College, NC where she earned a bachelor's degree in Arab studies. After spending time studying in the Middle East and Europe, she is happy to be home, writing about the community she loves.

Follow Dakota Morlan Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst, her brown hair now hidden underneath a mandatory hijab, stood before an Iranian ayatollah as a television camera filmed behind her.

It was 2012 and Monica Elfriede Witt offered Ayatollah Hadi Barikbin the pledge of faith all Islam converts must recite: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is His messenger."

Yet amid congratulations for her conversion, Witt - who once held a top secret security clearance - allegedly had a dark secret: She was being recruited by Iran's Revolutionary Guard to betray her country, according to federal prosecutors.

The 39-year-old El Paso native has since defected, disappearing into the Islamic Republic, allegedly to support the Guard with her counterintelligence knowledge to target American military officials. The unveiling of federal charges this week now links her to hackers with alleged ties to the Guard, a powerful paramilitary force within Iran answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Years before the charges became public, however, Witt's own journey into Iran became the subject of television segments and news articles.

The image Iran offered of Witt changed over time, a function of the funhouse-mirror coverage prevalent among Iran's state-run broadcasters and news agencies linked to its intelligence services. They initially described her as an Occupy Wall Street activist, a left-wing protest movement linked to an encampment at New York's Zuccotti Park. Iranian state media, always eager for anything highlighting social problems in the U.S., trumpeted the demonstrations.

This image provided by the FBI shows part of the wanted poster for Monica Elfriede Witt. The former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (FBI via AP)

Witt, who had left the Air Force in 2008 and later worked for a defense contractor, arrived in Iran in February 2012 to attend the New Horizon Organization's "Hollywoodism" conference. The group at the time described the conference as calling into question Hollywood's representation of Iran and Muslims. However, the Anti-Defamation League has referred to the conference as "promoting classical anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel while giving legitimacy to a rogue's gallery of conspiratorial anti-Semites and anti-Zionists."

On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned New Horizon, accusing it of being a front for the Guard's expeditionary Quds, or "Jerusalem," Force. Nader Talebzadeh, a cultural activist and one of the conference's organizers, told the semi-official Fars news agency the sanctions came only because America was angered by the summit's guests, which included whistleblowers.

State television also that year appears to have quoted Witt as a "former consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense" on sexual harassment in the American military.

"The boy's club atmosphere is reinforced with a false belief that men are allowed to act inappropriately and that the command is condoning their behavior," state TV's English-language Press TV quoted her as saying.

State TV's Young Journalist Club in 2012 also referred to her as an "American soldier in the Iraq war." Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to countries in the Middle East.

"I understand how the Western media are trying to show an unrealistic image of Iran and Islam after seeing the clear realities of Iran and Islam by myself," she was quoted as saying.

She also told the semi-official International Quran News Agency that a friend encouraged her to come to Iran and embrace Shiite Islam.

"I was a Christian, though I was not a religious person and never went to church. . During my mission in Iraq, I decided to learn more about the people's beliefs and religion," she reportedly said. "I believed it would help me to better confront the enemy. I got a copy of the Quran and started reading it."

It remains unclear who encouraged Witt to travel to Iran. Federal prosecutors in her indictment refer only to that person as "Individual A," who they describe as a dual U.S.-Iranian citizen who served as a "spotter and assessor on behalf of the Iranian intelligence services." The person also hired Witt to work as an assistant on a film later aired in Iran.

The description could fit Marzieh Hashemi, a dual national who works as a PressTV anchorwoman and was recently detained for days on a material witness warrant in the U.S. That warrant involved the same judge assigned to Witt's case. Hashemi also reportedly had a role in organizing elements of the "Hollywoodism" conferences.

Hashemi, who since her testimony was released and allowed to return to Iran, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday from The Associated Press.

Since disappearing after defecting to Iran, Witt allegedly has received free housing and computer equipment from Iran. Prosecutors allege she supplied Iran with information about a classified Defense Department program and has assembled "target packages" research she conducted into the lives, locations and missions of former colleagues.

She has not appeared on television recently, as she did during his conversion some seven years ago. She took the name Narges, or "daffodil," in Farsi.

"I congratulate you because you have chosen the religion of Islam, and I must say when you chose the name of Narges for yourself, now you should follow the Islamic rules," Barikbin, the ayatollah, told her then.

This 2012 photo released by the Department of Justice shows Monica Elfriede Witt. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced an indictment against Monica Elfriede Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013 and is currently at-large. (Department of Justice via AP)
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - Prosecutors applying for the post of European chief prosecutor must be treated fairly, the European Commission said Thursday, after Romania moved to block one of its own nationals.

Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Brussels is following the case closely adding it is crucial that candidates put forward by an independent selection panel are "treated fairly."

He spoke after Romanian Justice Minister Tudorel Toader wrote to EU justice ministers accusing Laura Codruta Kovesi, the former chief anti-corruption prosecutor, of signing "secret and anti-democratic pacts" with the intelligence agency in corruption and national security probes. Kovesi has been shortlisted to lead the European Public Prosecutor's Office, due to become operational at the end of 2020.

Toader removed Kovesi from her post last year, citing mismanagement and asserting she overstepped her authority. Some viewed the dismissal as politically motivated. During her five-year tenure at the National Anti-Corruption Directorate, Kovesi successfully prosecuted hundreds of officials including ministers, mayors and state company directors.

Separately, Kovesi is suing Romania's government in the European Court of Human Rights over her firing. She says she was dismissed unfairly and had her rights violated when she was denied the right to appeal a Constitutional Court decision that ordered her firing based on the minister's recommendation.

On Wednesday, Kovesi said prosecutors are probing her for official misconduct and bribery. She denies wrongdoing. She says she will fly to Brussels Friday for a European Parliament hearing about the post.

FILE - In this file photo dated Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, Romania's chief anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi, who heads the country's anti-graft agency (DNA), sits after presenting the unit's annual report, at the Military Circle, in Bucharest, Romania. Kovesi has been shortlisted to lead the European Public Prosecutor's Office in 2020, but The European Commission said Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that Romania's Justice Minister Tudorel Toader has moved to block Kovesi's appointment. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, an opponent of the government, voiced concern about the development Thursday, saying probes of prosecutors and magistrates shouldn't be used as "a political instrument" or to intimidate prosecutors. He called for "the law to be strictly respected," in Kovesi's case, and the situation "rapidly clarified."

Kovesi herself said: "It's clear that ... somebody is trying to stop this procedure," in a radio interview Wednesday. "They're trying to stop me getting this post as ... I am the favorite for the job."

Romania's ruling Social Democracy Party embarked on a contentious judicial overhaul two years ago, sparking protests. Critics, including the EU and the U.S., claimed the changes would undermine the independence of the judiciary and efforts to combat high-level corruption.

Iohannis reiterated those concerns Thursday, telling the government to "stop taking even more steps backward and taking Romania off its European path, as a democratic state."
BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on developments related to Syria (all times local):

6:55 p.m.

The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran have discussed the planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Hasan Rouhani said at a news conference after Thursday's talks in Sochi that the Syrian government must take over the regions where U.S. troops are currently deployed.

Putin emphasized that if the pullout announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in December happens, "the only right solution will be to transfer those territories under the Syrian government's control."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the U.S. pullout should not lead to a "power vacuum" and reaffirmed Turkey's intention to create a "safe zone" in northeastern Syria to secure the Turkish border from the Syrian Kurdish militia that Ankara calls "terrorists."

___

4:40 p.m.

The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran say they have agreed on the need to take further steps to stabilize Syria's Idlib province.

Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Iran's Hassan Rouhani said after Thursday's talks in Sochi they agreed on the need to counter attempts by al-Qaida-linked militants in Idlib to expand their sway.

In September, Russia and Turkey struck a de-escalation deal on Idlib that averted a Syrian army offensive on the last remaining rebel stronghold. The agreement created a security zone free of heavy weapons to be monitored by Turkey, and Russia has since voiced concern about continuing attacks by the militants.

Erdogan said Turkey has worked "extraordinary hard to preserve the calm in Idlib" and expects the Syrian government to abide by the cease-fire.

___

3:55 p.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told the leaders of Turkey and Iran that militants in Syria's Idlib province must be "eradicated."

Three-way talks on a peace settlement in Syria kicked off Thursday in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi amid Russia's increasing concerns about militants in Idlib.

Russia, a key backer of President Bashar Assadk, and Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, last year brokered a cease-fire for Idlib, the last remaining rebel stronghold that averted a major government offensive. But the deal has been strained as al-Qaida-linked militants seized towns and villages in the area.

Putin said at the beginning of the talks on Thursday that he wants to reach an agreement to "ensure a lasting de-escalation" in the region. He said that he supports the cease-fire deal but added that "this doesn't mean that we're going to put with the presence of terrorist groups" in Idlib and called on Turkey and Iran to "consider concrete steps" to destroy "the hotbed of terrorists."

___

3 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the territorial integrity of Syria can only be preserved if Kurdish militia forces are driven out of the northern city of Manbij and regions east of the Euphrates River.

The Kurdish forces allied with the United States against the Islamic State group helped to rout Islamic extremists from much of northern and eastern Syria. Turkey considers the Kurdish fighters terrorists because of their links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.

Erdogan, who is in Russia's Sochi for three-way Syria talks with the presidents of Russia and Iran, said Thursday in opening remarks at his meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Syria's "territorial integrity cannot be ensured" without the Kurdish military "cleared" from Manbij and from the east of the Euphrates. He did not elaborate.

Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, is getting increasingly impatient about militants in the Idlib province.

Russia and Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, had brokered a cease-fire for Idlib, the last remaining rebel stronghold that averted a major government offensive but that deal has been strained as al-Qaida-linked militants seized towns and villages in Idlib.

___

11:50 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting the leaders of Turkey and Iran for talks about a Syria peace settlement as expectations mount for an imminent and final defeat of the Islamic State group.

The talks are expected to kick off in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday.

Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, is getting increasingly impatient about militants in Syria's Idlib province.

Russia and Turkey, which supports the Syrian opposition, had brokered a cease-fire for Idlib, the last remaining rebel stronghold that averted a major government offensive but that deal has been strained as al-Qaida-linked militants seized towns and villages in Idlib.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Russia is going to raise its concerns at the talks about the presence of "terrorists" there.
CAIRO (AP) - The Latest on developments in Egypt (all times local):

2:45 p.m.

Egypt's Parliament has overwhelmingly approved constitutional changes to remove term limits for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, allowing him to stay on power possibly until 2034.

The changes are part of a package of amendments that will be further examined before final approval in the chamber and a national referendum.

On Thursday, 485 lawmakers in the 596-seat body backed the amendments.

Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Al said they would now be discussed by the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for 60 days before being put to a referendum.

Members of Egypt's Parliament meet to deliberate constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034, in Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. Wednesday's session will lead to a vote later in the evening or on Thursday, after which the text of the amendments would be finalized by a special committee for a final decision within two months. El-Sissi's current second term expires in 2022. (AP Photo)

The national referendum will likely take place before early May, the start of the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan.

___

1:15 p.m.

Egypt's Parliament has begun voting over constitutional amendments to allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in power, possibly until 2034, and further enshrine a role for the military in state affairs.

The voting was announced on state media on Thursday, after three rounds of discussions among lawmakers that started the previous day, although the 596-seat chamber is packed with el-Sissi loyalists.

The amendments are almost certain to pass, allowing el-Sissi 12 more years after his second term expires in 2022.

Once passed, amendments must be finalized by a special legislative committee for a final decision within two months, followed by a nationwide referendum, likely before early May.

Critics of the move argue Egypt is slipping back into authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule.
BAGHDAD (AP) - A roadside bomb north of Baghdad killed nine members of the Iraqi security forces on Thursday, including a counter-explosives official and a commander in a militia headed by populist Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, authorities said.

The blast, which took place on a road in the Makhoul mountains approximately 60 miles (96 kilometers) north of the capital, killed Col. Ghalib Dawri, head of counter-explosives operations in Salahuddin province, said Member of Parliament Muthana al-Samarraie.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and officials did not identify any suspects.

Eight members of the Saraya al-Salam militia, or the Peace Brigades, were also killed, including commander Hussein Attiyeh, according to a security official and a militia spokesman, who both spoke on the condition of anonymity, in line with media regulations.

The militia manages security for the nearby holy city of Samarra, home to the al-Askari Shrine, revered by Shiite Muslims. It is a part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias that has been incorporated into the country's security apparatus.

Al-Sadr, the cleric in command of Saraya al-Salam, is also a leading political figure. His political coalition came in first in parliamentary elections last year.

But the blast is the latest in a string of bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, and targeted assassinations along roads and in villages in areas north and west of Baghdad. The Islamic State group has claimed many of them. The Iraqi government claimed victory over the organization in late 2017 after four years of war.
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) - An oral surgeon in North Carolina accused of sexually assaulting anesthetized patients, including minors, has been charged with additional offenses.

The Wilmington StarNews reports 55-year-old Michael Lee Hasson was arrested Wednesday on charges including indecent liberties with a child. He was arrested last month on charges of sexual battery and forcible sexual assault.

Wilmington police say the Wilmington Oral Surgery worker is accused of sexually abusing female patients between 2009 and 2018. Police said last week that his known victims were between 17 and 21 years old at the time. Police didn't release additional victim ages Wednesday.

The state Board of Dental Examiners suspended Hasson's license and anesthesia permit last week after his arrest on the initial charges.

___

Information from: The StarNews, http://starnewsonline.com
MILWAUKEE (AP) - A man accused of fatally shooting a Milwaukee police officer who was serving a search warrant for drugs and weapons has pleaded not guilty.

Jordan Fricke entered the pleas to three charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, Thursday in a Milwaukee County courtroom packed with law enforcement officers. The court appearance comes a day after thousands of people honored slain Officer Matthew Rittner during a funeral in nearby Oak Creek.

The 26-year-old Fricke is accused of shooting Rittner as the officer's police unit executed a warrant for suspected illegal guns and drugs at a Milwaukee duplex last week.

Fricke waived his right to a preliminary hearing, which was set to determine probable cause. He has been jailed on $1 million bond. A trial was scheduled for July 8.

Jordan P. Fricke appears in intake court and is charged in the murder of Milwaukee Police Officer Matthew Rittner, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019, in Milwaukee. A court commissioner found probable cause to hold Fricke for further proceedings. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 14. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Milwaukee police officers arrive with the public at Oak Creek Assembly of God Church for the public visitation for slain Milwaukee Police Officer Matthew Rittner, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in suburban Milwaukee. Rittner was killed while serving a search warrant a week ago. Rittner was a U.S. Marine veteran who served two tours in Iraq. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Timothy Nelson holds an American flag in front of Oak Creek Assembly of God Church in Oak Creek, Wis., showing support for the first responders on the day of Officer Matthew Rittner's funeral, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Rittner was killed in the line of duty Feb. 6. It is the sixth first-responder funeral that Nelson, who works at a senior care facility, has attended in the past 12 months. (Adam Rogan/The Journal Times via AP)

A line of police vehicles escort the funeral procession of Milwaukee Police Officer Matthew Rittner to Krause Funeral Home in Brookfield, Wis., from Oak Creek Assembly of God Church as they heading east along E. Rawson Ave. Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Oak Creek in suburban Milwaukee. Rittner was killed while serving a search warrant a week ago. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)

Timothy Nelson, of Oak Creek, Wis., places small flags in a bouquet near a squad car adorned with flowers as a memorial for fallen Milwaukee Police Officer Matthew Rittner at the Neighborhood Task Force police building in Milwaukee on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019. Police are collecting evidence at a Milwaukee home where a police officer was fatally shot while serving a warrant. Investigators say 35-year-old Officer Matthew Rittner was killed Wednesday as members of Milwaukee's Tactical Enforcement Unit served the warrant on someone suspected of illegally selling firearms and drugs. (Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP)
MIRAMAR, Fla. (AP) - Police have charged Florida rapper YNW Melly with killing two of his close friends who were also rising rap stars, and trying to make it appear they died in a drive-by shooting.

On Wednesday, Miramar police arrested 19-year-old YNW Melly, whose legal name is Jamell Demons, on first-degree murder charges in October deaths of 19-year-old Christopher Thomas Jr. and 21-year-old Anthony Williams.

The rapper's 20-year-old friend Cortlen Henry also was arrested, in Houston last month, and extradited to Florida on Tuesday in connection with the killings.

Demons was booked into Broward County Jail on Wednesday night.

Investigators said the victims were killed early in the morning of Oct. 26 and driven in a Jeep Compass to the emergency room entrance of Memorial Hospital Miramar, which is 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Fort Lauderdale. Both were dead of multiple gunshot wounds, police said.

In a news release, Miramar police said Demons shot the men, who were his lifelong friends, and Henry drove the vehicle to the hospital. According to investigators, Demons and Henry staged the Jeep to make it appear as though the victims died in a drive-by shooting.

Henry's statement to investigators didn't match the evidence discovered during the preliminary investigation, police said.

The victims were last seen alive around 3:20 a.m. on Oct. 26 in Fort Lauderdale, records show.

The Sun Sentinel reports the victims had recently moved from Vero Beach to Miramar and were trying to forge their own rap careers. Thomas went by the stage name YNW Juvy while Williams was known as YNW Sakchaser. Both were featured in the "Melly" documentary video posted to YNW Melly's YouTube page. The text at the end of the video notes that four days after the film was completed, "YNW Melly and his friends were the target of a drive-by shooting..."

In a post Wednesday on YNW Melly's official Instagram, he said "a couple months ago I lost my two brothers by violence and now the system want to find justice."

YNW Melly's first official studio album "We All Shine" was released last month. He had also recently collaborated with Kanye West.
NEW DELHI (AP) - Ex-Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said Thursday that the country is seeking to reduce the more than $3 billion he estimates it could owe China, some of which he said came in the form of "ill-gotten wealth" for the previous government of President Yameen Abdul Gayoom.

A close adviser to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and candidate for parliamentary elections in April, Nasheed spoke to The Associated Press at a climate change lecture in New Delhi, a day after Maldives' top prosecutor charged Yameen with money laundering.

The charges are linked to $1 million allegedly found in Yameen's bank account from a shady government deal to lease islands for tourist development in the Maldives, which is famous for its luxury resorts.

Yameen lost last September's presidential election after a five-year term during which he was accused of corruption and misrule.

Nasheed, who became the Maldives' first democratically elected president in 2008, said an investigation of Yameen for suspected international money laundering is continuing.

"We don't think that we have seen $3.4 billion of assets created," he said, "so therefore it will be very difficult for us to pay that back."

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed takes a seat before delivering a lecture on climate change in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. In an interview to The Associated Press Thursday after giving a climate change lecture, Nasheed said the Indian Ocean archipelago nation is seeking tenders for renewable energy projects to help lessen the burden of foreign debt. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Nasheed, long an outspoken critic of the "debt trap" resulting from Chinese loans to the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, said an audit will determine "what actually came into the country."

Since Solih's surprise September win, the Maldives government has begun a shift away from China and toward its traditional ally, India, which allocated more than $80 million in aid to the Maldives in its interim 2019-2020 budget.

During Yameen's rule, Nasheed spent a year in prison on a terrorism conviction for ordering the detention of a top judge when he was president in 2012. He was given medical leave to travel to Britain, where he received political asylum.

Since returning home after Yameen's defeat, Nasheed, who held an underwater Cabinet meeting while president to draw attention to the threat posed by climate change to the Maldives, has helped steer the Solih government's low-carbon development strategy.

On Thursday, he said the government was soliciting bids for renewable energy projects, and that the country would not install any more diesel-powered generators for utilities.

The low-lying Maldives is also exploring technology to generate new growth of coral reefs, which protect the islands from storm surges and nurture fisheries.

"We are really not prepared to die," Nasheed said. "The Maldives have no intention of becoming some of the first victims of the climate crisis. Instead we are going to do everything in our power to keep our coral reefs intact and our heads above the water."

Former Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed arrives to deliver a lecture on climate change in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. In an interview to The Associated Press Thursday after giving a climate change lecture, Nasheed said the Indian Ocean archipelago nation is seeking tenders for renewable energy projects to help lessen the burden of foreign debt. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Latest on the Middle East meeting taking place in Warsaw (all times local):

7:50 p.m.

Russian U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia says Moscow didn't participate in the Middle East security meeting in Warsaw co-hosted by Poland and the United States "because we don't see a value added in the conference."

He told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that "to build coalitions against somebody, against countries, and in this case particularly against Iran, will not help to solve numerous issues which confront the Middle East."

Nebenzia said: "This is the wrong way to do it."

At Thursday's close of the conference, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Polish counterpart Jacek Czaputowicz both noted differences of opinion over policies toward Iran. But, they said all participants agreed on the threat posed by the country.

White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner is pictured at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

___

7:30 p.m.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office has released a video from a closed session at the Warsaw security summit in which Bahrain's foreign minister says Iran is a bigger threat to Mideast security than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In the video, Bahrain's foreign minister, Khalid Al Khalifa, tells an audience that he grew up believing that the Israeli-Palestinian dispute is "the most important issue" in the region. But later, he said, "we saw a more toxic one, in fact the most toxic in our modern history, which came from the Islamic Republic, from Iran."

Netanyahu often boasts of warming behind-the-scenes ties with Arab leaders. But very rarely are they seen in public.

It was unclear whether Bahrain Thursday agreed to leak the video, which bore the insignia of Netanyahu's office.

___

6:50 p.m.

Poland's foreign minister says the European Union shares the view of the United States that Iran currently plays a negative role in the Middle East but have differences on what should be done about it.

Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz said Thursday at the end of an international Middle East conference Poland co-hosted with the United States that Iran wasn't the focus of the event.

But he said it became clear during debates the "EU and the United States share their diagnosis of the situation, see Middle East problems in a similar way, including - let's say it openly - the negative role of Iran." but came up during debates.

Czaputowicz says where EU members and the U.S. differ are the appropriate "mode of action" to contain any threat Iran poses, especially 2015 Iran nuclear deal the Trump administration withdrew from.

He said he hoped the conference would lead to a Middle East peace process.

___

3:20 p.m.

The Trump administration says it will unveil its much awaited "Deal of the Century" after the Israeli election on April 9.

Trump's senior Middle East adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, briefed participants at a Mideast conference in Poland Thursday about the plan. A diplomat who saw the presentation said Kushner wouldn't go into details but said the plan would be released sometime after Israel's election.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity according to protocol.

The diplomat quoted Kushner as saying that Trump had given him the Israeli-Palestinian "file" to give the long-elusive goal of a peace agreement "a shot." Despite the long odds, he said he believed "privately, people are much more flexible."

The Palestinians have preemptively rejected the plan, saying the Trump administration is biased toward Israel.

--By Aron Heller

___

3:05 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have laid wreaths at the monument to the heroes of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising to pay tribute to the Jewish fighters who opposed German Nazi troops.

They were accompanied Thursday by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, as Poland and the United States were co-hosting an international conference in Warsaw on security in the Middle East.

In April 1943, hundreds of young Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto took up arms against the Nazi German army and fought for their dignity but also to liberate Poland from the occupying Germans.

The revolt ended in death for most of the fighters, yet left behind an enduring symbol of resistance.

___

2:45 p.m.

Poland's prime minister says the Middle East security conference that Poland is co-hosting with the United States will be a success if participants openly discuss their views on how to bring peace to the region and if it produces a working group that will be further addressing the issues.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Thursday addressed participants at the conference in Warsaw that the sponsors say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran.

Morawiecki said he will consider the meeting a success if it brings together governments "that do not agree on all things" and if it becomes a "place of open debate and exchange of arguments for peace for the region."

He said he hoped it will start a working group that will be "addressing all issues mentioned here today."

The issues included fighting extremism, including cyberattacks, forging an approach toward Iran and stopping conflicts in the region that are driving millions of people from their homes.

___

1:15 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence is calling for America's European allies to join it in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal and stop efforts he said are designed to evade U.S. sanctions.

Speaking at a Middle East conference in Poland, Pence accused Iran of being the world's greatest state sponsor of terrorism. He lamented that Britain, France and Germany created a special financial mechanism that Washington believes is aimed at "breaking" tough U.S. sanctions on Iran. Those sanctions were eased by the Obama administration under the terms of the nuclear deal but were re-imposed after President Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement last year.

U.S. and European divisions over Iran led France and Germany to opt against sending their top diplomats to the Warsaw conference.

___

8:55 a.m.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says the world "can't achieve peace and security in the Middle East without confronting Iran."

Pompeo spoke Thursday before the opening session of a Middle East security conference in Warsaw. Appearing next to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pompeo says "pushing back" against Iran is central to dealing with all the region's other problems. Several high-profile Arab dignitaries are also attending.

The U.S. and Poland are sponsoring the conference, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran "circus." Russia has said it will not attend, and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also skipping the event.

United States Vice President Mike Pence with his wife Karen, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki with his wife Iwona and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his wife Sara, from right, leave the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes during a wreath laying ceremony in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United State Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, from left, stand on a podium at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
ISTANBUL (AP) - Turkey's state-run news agency says authorities have detained four people in connection with the collapse of an eight-story apartment building in Istanbul that killed 21.

Anadolu Agency said the building's project officer, construction engineer, safety inspector and a technical officer were taken into custody. They face possible charges of negligence.

The building in Istanbul's mostly-residential Kartal district, on the Asian side of the city, collapsed on Feb. 6. Rescuers pulled out 14 other people from the debris with injuries.

Authorities have said the building's top three floors were illegally built.

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 file photo, people watch rescue workers searching for survivors in the rubble of an eight-story apartment building which collapsed in Istanbul's mostly-residential Kartal district, on the Asian side of the city. Turkey's state-run news agency said Thursday Feb. 14, 2019 authorities have detained four people in connection with the collapse of the building that killed 21. Authorities have said the building's top three floors were illegally built. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, file)

FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 8, 2019 file photo, rescue workers use Pasha, a sniffer dog, as they search for survivors in the rubble of an eight-story apartment building which collapsed in Istanbul's mostly-residential Kartal district, on the Asian side of the city. Turkey's state-run news agency said Thursday Feb. 14, 2019 authorities have detained four people in connection with the collapse of the building that killed 21. Authorities have said the building's top three floors were illegally built. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, file)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - The Latest on Nigeria's upcoming elections(all times local):

8:55 p.m.

Nigeria's president is vowing "safety and full protection" for foreign election observers, diplomats and others as Africa's most populous country goes to the polls on Saturday.

President Muhammadu Buhari's government has been under pressure over recent comments criticizing so-called foreign interference in the vote.

While the previous election was one of the most peaceful in Nigeria's history, others have been marred by deadly violence along religious and regional lines.

Buhari in his nationally televised address Thursday night urged Nigerians not to let differences "drive us to desperation" and urged youth to not let themselves be used for violence.

A Supporter of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attends an election campaign rally on the street in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

He seeks a second four-year term on Saturday.

___

5 p.m.

Nigeria's leader says he has assured former U.S. President Bill Clinton of his commitment to "free, fair and credible elections" on Saturday and beyond.

A statement by President Muhammadu Buhari's office says the two leaders spoke by phone on Wednesday night after Clinton was not able to come to Nigeria and witness the signing of a peace accord by presidential candidates. The candidates pledged to contribute to an election free of the violence that has often followed past votes.

The statement says Clinton wished Nigeria well as Africa's most populous country, with 190 million people, goes to the polls. The previous vote in 2015 has been described as one of the most peaceful in the country's history.

There has been some tension over what some Nigerian officials have called foreign interference in this election, notably after the U.S., the UK and European Union expressed concern over Buhari's recent suspension of the country's Chief Justice.

___

2:25 p.m.

SITE Intelligence Group says the Islamic State's West Africa Province has claimed responsibility for an attack on a convoy carrying a Nigerian governor in the country's northeastern Borno state, which occurred days before the country's elections.

The U.S.-based monitoring group says that IS West Africa Province released a statement Wednesday saying the attack on Kashim Shettima's convoy, and clashes with security forces killed 42 people. However, the government of Borno State said Thursday that only three people were killed.

The IS West Africa Province is a splinter group from the Nigeria-based jihadist group Boko Haram.

A member of a local defense group, who spoke on anonymity for security reasons, said some of the attackers were dressed as soldiers when they ambushed the convoy near Dikwa.

He said two civilians and a soldier were killed and the attackers left with eight vehicles and some hostages.

___

1:10 p.m.

Nigeria's opposition says there are more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register head of Saturday's presidential election.

Uche Secondus, the chairman of the opposition People's Democratic Party, told a news conference in the capital, Abuja, on Thursday that the electoral commission "did not in fact do a cleanup of the register of voters" before publishing it.

He also alleged "a coordinated approach to register foreigners" as voters.

The People's Democratic Party, whose presidential candidate is Atiku Abubakar, is Nigeria's main opposition party.

A spokesman for the electoral commission did not respond to requests for a comment.

The electoral commission says 84 million people are registered to vote.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and his top challenger, Abubakar, renewed a pledge for a peaceful poll on Wednesday.

Nigerian women attend an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Nigerian women attend an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Nigerian woman attends an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Nigerian woman attends an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A supporter of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, wearing a sticker of Buhari and and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, stands for the national anthem at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, gestures to supporters as he speaks at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
KANO, Nigeria (AP) - Nigeria surged into the final day of campaigning ahead of Saturday's election, as President Muhammadu Buhari made one last pitch to stay in office while top challenger Atiku Abubakar shouted to supporters: "Oh my God! Let them go! Let them go!"

A day after the candidates pledged before diplomats, election observers and the nation to contribute to a peaceful vote in Africa's most populous country, the scene in Abubakar's home state of Adamawa on Thursday was raucous, with supporters echoing some of the dire warnings his party continues to issue.

"Buhari wants to kill us," said Abubakar supporter, Mohamed Abubakar, as others rallied in the dusty streets and clung to moving vehicles in one last show of force. "We need change!"

Abubakar's party also charged that Nigeria's election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, again raising fears of vote rigging.

"A sick narrative has emerged, one of systemic and systematic rigging, manipulation of the true record of the voters' register," party chairman Uche Secondus told a news conference in the capital, Abuja.

He also alleged "a coordinated approach to register foreigners" as voters. A commission spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attend an election campaign rally on the street in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Such talk threatens to raise the temperature in what is seen as a close contest between Abubakar, a former vice president, and Buhari, a former military dictator who took office again in 2015 while calling himself a reformed democrat. "I have to do things differently," he tweeted on Thursday, noting his "young and rather ruthless" past.

Buhari ruled the country from 1983 to 1985.

While the 2015 election was one of the most peaceful in Nigeria's history, others have been marred by deadly violence along religious and regional lines in the country of more than 190 million people.

Buhari, like Abubakar a Muslim from the north, made a call for calm in a final televised address to the nation ahead of the vote.

The president vowed "safety and full protection" for foreign election observers, diplomats and others. His government has been under pressure over recent comments criticizing so-called foreign interference, including a comment by one governor of sending people home in body bags.

Buhari urged Nigerians not to let differences "drive us to desperation" and made a special plea to the booming youth population, hurt especially by widespread unemployment, to not let themselves be used for violence.

Nigeria's more than 84 million registered voters now must choose between Abubakar, who pledges to wrest certain powers away from the federal government but is dogged by corruption allegations, and Buhari, who talks up agriculture and infrastructure but faces criticism for his performance on security and the economy.

The president's address dismissed what Nigerians call "stomach infrastructure," the handouts of rice and other basics for a cheap win while failing to deliver on substantial promises of change.

"Choose wisely," Buhari warned.

In the northern city of Kano, not far from Buhari's home state of Katsina, some of his supporters appeared almost serene in contrast to the street chaos on Abubakar's last day of campaigning.

"He is not that kind of person who believes in do-or-die elections. He is a free man with a good heart," said one Buhari supporter, Abdulaziz Maidubji.

He dismissed the idea that violence might follow if the president is defeated.

"Nothing will happen in the north," he said. "We are people of faith."

___

Muhumuza reported from Abuja. Associated Press video journalist Joe Mwihia in Yola contributed.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

A Nigerian policeman provides security at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Counter-terror and regular police provide security at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A Supporter of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attends an election campaign rally on the street in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

A Supporter of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attends an election campaign rally on the street in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

An electoral worker carries electoral materials past stacks of the papers to be used for recording results, at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party run after being chased by local security during an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Youth cheer as they ride on the back of a truck returning from a rally of the ruling All Progressives Congress party, near the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A man is wounded during a presidential rally of the People's Democratic Party candidate Atiku Abubakar, at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attend an election campaign rally on the street in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election.(AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attend an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party waves to his supporters during an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

An electoral worker prepares identity card and biometric verification readers, at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

An electoral worker prepares identity card and biometric verification readers, at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, center, of the People's Democratic Party waves during an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, foreground, of the People's Democratic Party attends an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attends an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attend an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

A Nigerian policeman provides security at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attend an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian women attend an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party run after being chased by local security during an election campaign rally at the Ribadu Square in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Electoral worker Zainab Aliyu, right, prepares boxes of identity card and biometric verification readers, at the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A manual laborer pulls a cart of hay as men drive past on a motorcycle, near the offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Kano, northern Nigeria Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party attends an election campaign rally on the street in Yola, Nigeria, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Nigeria's main opposition party charged Thursday that the election commission has kept more than 1 million ghost voters on the national register, raising fears of vote rigging ahead of Saturday's presidential election. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Nigerian women attend an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Nigerian woman attends an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A Nigerian woman attends an inter-faith prayer rally organized by the Freedom and Justice Party in Abuja, Nigeria, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is to face opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakarin on Saturday, Feb. 16 in Nigeria's general election. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

A supporter of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, wearing a sticker of Buhari and and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, stands for the national anthem at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, gestures to supporters as he speaks at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The South African government is reporting progress in the fight against rhino poaching.

The environmental affairs ministry said Wednesday that poachers killed 769 rhinos last year, a 25 percent decrease from the number killed for their horns in 2017.

Authorities attribute the decrease to better security and other nationwide efforts to protect rhinos. The new data shows fewer rhinos killed in most provinces in South Africa, home to most of the world's rhinos.

However, some conservationists speculate that the killing in past years has reduced poaching opportunities for traffickers.

Vietnam and China are key illegal markets for rhino horn. Some consumers believe it cures illnesses if ingested in powder form, although there is no evidence that the horn, made of the same substance as human fingernails, has medicinal value.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - A Pakistani court has ordered the release of opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif on bail, months after he was arrested over alleged links to a multi-million dollar housing scam.

Thursday's court order was announced in the eastern city of Lahore.

Sharif was arrested in October on charges that he abused power during his tenure as the chief minister of Punjab from 2013 to 2018.

Pakistan's anti-graft body claims he influenced authorities to award contracts for a housing program for low-income citizens to a company with which he had political connections.

Sharif, who is leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, or lower house of parliament, denies any wrongdoing.

He is the younger brother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who was disqualified from office in 2017 over corruption charges.
CAIRO (AP) - Egyptian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to extend term limits for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi until 2034, part of a package of constitutional amendments also set to further enshrine the military's role in politics that will now face a national referendum.

Of the 596-seat Parliament, 485 lawmakers backed the amendments, which could see the former general ruling for the length of four U.S. presidential terms, in addition to the nearly five years he's already spent in office.

Critics of the move argue that Egypt is slipping back into authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocrat Hosni Mubarak's three-decade rule, and nearly six years after el-Sissi led a popular military overthrow of the country's first freely elected but divisive Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, after protests against his rule.

With Parliament and state institutions packed with fervent el-Sissi supporters, the amendments focusing on him are almost certain to survive any scrutiny, allowing the general-turned president 12 more years of potential rule after his second term expires in 2022.

Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Al said the motion would now be discussed by the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee for 60 days before returning to Parliament for a final vote followed by the referendum, likely to take place before early May, the start of Ramadan.

Despite the overwhelming support, a group of politicians, public figures and authors of the current 2014 constitution immediately launched an open letter rejecting the amendments as a power grab by el-Sissi, calling for signatures and describing the move as illegal.

Egypt's Parliament meets to deliberate over constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034, in Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. Wednesday's session will lead to a vote later in the evening or on Thursday, after which the text of the amendments would be finalized by a special committee for a final decision within two months. El-Sissi's current second term expires in 2022. (AP Photo)

"The essence of the proposed constitutional amendment process is to enable the current president to continue ruling for more than two terms, in violation of the current constitution, concentrating all powers in his hand and tightening the executive's grip on judicial bodies," the initial 200 signatories wrote.

It added that the move would ruin any chances of a future peaceful transfer of power and halt Egypt's progress toward becoming a modern democratic state.

Thursday's vote followed three rounds of discussions among representative lawmakers that started the previous day. Very few opposed openly the amendments focusing on el-Sissi or the military. Abdel-Al's statement mentioned neither specifically.

Since taking office, el-Sissi has led an unprecedented crackdown on dissent, opposition and civil liberties, justifying his unique leadership as necessary to bring stability and economic growth.

Human Rights Watch says the amendments would undermine judicial independence and expand executive powers that are already being abused in Egypt. The group says over 15,000 civilians, including children, have been referred to military prosecution in Egypt.

Rights researchers broadly agree that Egypt holds tens of thousands of political prisoners - mostly Islamists but also some secular liberals - under a penal system widely condemned as cruel and sloppy. El-Sissi denies the charges categorically.

In general terms, the amendments only extend a president's term in office from four to six years. But they include a special article that only applies to el-Sissi and allows him to run two more times for six-year terms - possibly having his rule end up bridging three decades.

El-Sissi was elected president in 2014, and re-elected last year after all potentially serious challengers were either jailed or pressured to exit the race.

The amendments also include clauses allowing the president to appoint top judges and bypass judiciary oversight in vetting draft legislation before it is voted into law. They declare the country's military "guardian and protector" of the Egyptian state, democracy and the constitution, while also granting military courts wider jurisdiction in trying civilians.

___

Follow Brian Rohan on Twitter: twitter.com/Brian_Rohan
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Albania's parliament on Thursday suspended a session on neighbor North Macedonia's accession to NATO after an opposition lawmaker threw ink at the prime minister.

Lawmakers were to vote to ratify North Macedonia's NATO accession. But the session was disrupted when Lulzim Basha, main opposition center-right Democratic party leader, harshly criticized the leftist government for corruption.

As Socialist Prime Minister Edi Rama admonished him, opposition lawmaker Edi Paloka threw ink at Rama.

Paloka was asked to leave the hall and suspended for 10 days from parliament.

Lawmakers later voted unanimously in favor of the NATO accession protocol for North Macedonia.

Talat Xhaferi, visiting Macedonian speaker present in the hall, thanked Albania for that "solemn act."

The opposition is planning a rally Saturday asking for a transitory Cabinet before municipal elections in June.

Albania, a NATO member since 2009, is expecting a positive answer form the European Union to launch full membership negotiations.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has sent condolences to the families of the victims of a suicide car bombing that struck a bus carrying Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard troops, killing at least 27 people.

An al-Qaida-linked group, Jaish al-Adl, claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack in Iran's restive southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province. Tehran linked the bombing to an ongoing U.S.-led conference in Warsaw largely focused on Iran.

Khamenei's letter, published on his website, Khamenei.ir, claimed the perpetrators had links to spy organizations of countries in the region and beyond.

President Hasan Rouhani asserted that the U.S. and Zionism are at the root of "terrorism in the region" and urged neighboring countries to help "stop terrorist attacks."

Pakistan's foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal said Pakistanis were "shocked and grieved."
MADRID (AP) - A former Catalan official accused by Spanish prosecutors of leading a violent rebellion to create an independent republic testified at a top court in Madrid on Thursday that he considers himself "a political prisoner."

Oriol Junqueras, who was the vice president of the Catalan Cabinet that went ahead with a banned secession referendum in October 2017, was the first of a dozen separatist leaders to testify in the much anticipated Supreme Court trial.

With ex-Catalan president Carles Puigdemont avoiding prosecution by fleeing to Belgium, Junqueras is the highest-ranking official prosecuted in the case. He faces up to 25 years behind bars if found guilty for rebellion and misuse of public funds.

Gesturing vividly with his hands and answering questions only from his lawyer, Junqueras emphatically rejected the charges and made a strong defense of the Catalan independence movement as non-violent.

"Any noble goal can be immoral if the mechanisms to achieve it are indecent," he said. "This is valid for the Catalan republic, for the Spanish monarchy, for Europe or anything else."

The leader of the Catalan left-wing pro-republic party had begun his testimony by telling the panel of seven judges that he is "being accused for my ideas and not for my deeds." He also declined to answer questions by prosecutors because he regards the trial as a "political" one.

Catalan regional Vice-President, Oriol Junqueras, center, next to Catalan former Cabinet member Raul Romeva, left, during the trial at the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Spain is bracing for the nation's most sensitive trial in four decades of democracy this week, with a dozen Catalan separatists facing charges including rebellion over a failed secession bid in 2017. (J.J. Guillen/Pool via AP)

"I consider myself a political prisoner," he said.

Previously, and responding to allegations made by the Catalans' defense attorneys, presiding Judge Manuel Marchena said that questioning during the trial would only be allowed to focus on facts, not ideology.

The judge accepted some of the allegations by the defendants. He allowed them to answer questions in their Catalan mother tongue.

Court officials had said that publicizing the trial with full transparency was crucial to disarming the Catalan separatists' arguments that the proceedings were impartial and tainted by politics.

Junqueras chose to speak in Spanish. He said that gave him the opportunity to address the Spanish public after one year and a half in preventive custody, which he called "a forced silence."

The 2017 referendum led to an independence declaration, but no action was taken to implement it and no countries recognized the new Catalan republic. A little less than half of voters in the region of 7.5 million support pro-independence parties, results of the last regional election show.

The dramatic events led to a political crisis still reverberating in Spain's political life. Catalan separatist parties that last year supported a national Socialist administration with minority backing in parliament have dropped their cooperation this week after the prime minister refused to open talks on the region's self-determination.

The dispute has put the Spanish leader, Pedro Sanchez, under pressure to call an early general election.

__

For full coverage of Spain-Catalonia: https://apnews.com/Catalonia

A Spanish National Police van, allegedly carrying Catalonian politicians and activists, arrives at the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. A politically charged trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders began Tuesday in Spain's Supreme Court amid protests and the possibility of an early general election being called in the country. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
ROME (AP) - Pope Francis is urging global decision-makers in both the public and private sectors to help address poverty and hunger in rural areas by engaging the local population as "responsible architects" of progress.

Francis was addressing an annual session Thursday of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, a U.N. agency based in Rome dedicated to eradicating poverty and hunger in rural areas of the developing world.

The pope said "today more than ever we need to unite our efforts, reach consensus and reinforce our connections. The challenges we face are so intricate and complex that we cannot continue to confront them in an occasional way, with emergency resolutions."

He praised IFAD for results it has achieved by decentralizing its projects, encouraging regional cooperation and diversifying financial sources.

Pope Francis addresses the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis addresses the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis attends the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Pope Francis addresses the Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency, in Rome, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Whether we have two of them on the field, all three of them on the field, well get creative and have some fun with it," defensive coordinator Joe Barry said.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) - North Macedonia observed the first of two days of national mourning Thursday after a bus drove an embankment and overturned, a crash that killed 14 people and left 30 others injured.

The bus was carrying mostly students and office workers from Skopje to the western city of Gostivar on Wednesday night when it went down the 5-meter (16-foot) embankment and rolled into a field 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) west of the capital.

Witnesses said several people were thrown out of the bus and passengers' belongings were strewn at the accident scene. Excavators formed a circle around the wrecked bus to provide light while rescuers pulled survivors from the vehicle.

Health Minister Venko Filipchev visited a hospital where most of the injured passengers were taken and said seven were in critical condition.

Declaring the two days of mourning, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and President Gjorge Ivanov attended a memorial service for the victims in Gostivar, where most of them were from.

The accident happened the day after the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia officially changed its name to North Macedonia as part of an agreement to end a decades-old dispute with Greece. In return for the name change, Greece lifted its objections to its small northern neighbor joining NATO.

A bus lays overturned at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

The Greek Foreign Ministry said it was "deeply saddened by tragic road accident."

The deal also could enable North Macedonia to become a European Union member. The EUc commissioner who oversees negotiations with potential members, wrote on Twitter: "Deeply saddened by last night's tragic accident in North Macedonia."

Police officers and investigators are silhouetted at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

A bus lays overturned at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

Police and investigators stand near the bus wreckage at the crash site at the village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

Police officers stand near the bus wreckage at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

Police and investigators stand near the bus wreckage at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
MOSCOW (AP) - When the last Soviet tanks rumbled back home across a bridge on the border with Afghanistan 30 years ago, the withdrawal was hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire.

Since then, Moscow's view of the war has changed radically.

As Russia prepares to mark Friday's anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. Just like the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria, the Afghan war is widely perceived as a legitimate action against U.S.-backed militants.

And in a twist of history, Russia also has emerged as an influential power broker in Afghanistan, mediating between feuding factions as it jockeys with Washington for influence in a country where a U.S.-led coalition has been fighting for more than 17 years.

Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 2004-2018, attended a meeting last week in Moscow that brought together former Afghan officials, opposition figures and the Taliban.

"I don't think that Russia would like to repeat what it did in the past. It's totally different today," Noor said in an interview with The Associated Press. "On the other side, there have been 40 years of war in our country, and the Afghan people are all tired of war. People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace."

In this photo taken on Feb. 15, 1989, people and relatives greet Soviet Army soldiers driving on their armored personnel carriers after crossing a bridge on the border between Afghanistan and then Soviet Uzbekistan near the Uzbek town of Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on this day, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

The statement carries particular weight coming from a man who played a key role in defeating the Soviet army, was badly wounded in combat, and proudly recalls how his mujahedeen fighters destroyed countless Red Army tanks and dozens of warplanes.

After the long U.S. involvement, Afghans are deeply critical of the coalition forces. Even those who fought in the 1980s give grudging credit to Moscow for leaving a legacy that outshines Washington's. They point out that Russian left behind a strong and disciplined army and a 400-bed military hospital that is still among the country's best health facilities. Some note that while communist President Najibullah's government was ruthless, it was not wracked by the widespread corruption that has plagued Afghanistan's U.S.-backed government.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, driven by fears that the U.S. could try to establish a foothold next to Soviet republics in Central Asia after losing Iran in the Islamic Revolution. Moscow's initial plans for a quick operation were derailed by fierce rebel resistance, and in the years of fighting that followed, the Soviet Union lost more than 15,000 troops, according to official data. Estimates of civilian casualties in that period vary widely, from more than 500,000 up to 2 million.

The Soviet intervention drew strong international condemnation and imposed a heavy burden on the struggling Soviet economy. Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev ordered the pullout amid his efforts to conduct liberal reforms and end confrontation with the West. Afghanistan's communist government held for three more years, collapsing shortly after the December 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union.

Nikita Mendkovich, a Moscow-based expert on Afghanistan, said Russia's economic meltdown after 1992 resulted in the abrupt termination of fuel supplies to Afghanistan, triggering the fall of Najibullah.

"The tragedy of Afghanistan was one of many other tragedies caused by the Soviet breakup," he said.

Mendkovich emphasized the changing public perception of the war, saying that it's now widely seen as "painful, but necessary and even inevitable."

Many Russian officials and lawmakers argue that the U.S. performance in Afghanistan has been far less successful than that of the Soviet Union.

"The army trained by the Soviet Union could stand alone for three years," said Zamir Kabulov, President Vladimir Putin's envoy for Afghanistan. "As for this one trained by the Americans, you listen to the Afghans. They aren't sure about even one month."

He acknowledged that the Soviet Union made many errors in Afghanistan, driven by communist dogmas and ignoring local conditions.

"The Soviet leadership has become hostage of its own decision," he said. "They wanted to look at Afghanistan as a new socialist state. That was a mistake."

In one example, he recalled how Soviet advisers stubbornly tried to conduct a socialist-style land reform, distributing tracts that belonged to tribal leaders to farmers, who then turned it back to original owners.

Kabulov charged that the U.S. ignored the Soviet lessons and made the same mistake in trying to foster the creation of a Western-style democracy in Afghanistan.

"It's a pity that our American colleagues don't learn history; they prefer to make history," Kabulov said with a sardonic smile.

He noted that the U.S. support for the mujahedeen played a key role during the Soviet war, adding that the U.S. later paid the price for backing insurgents like Osama bin Laden who was among those who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan.

"They (the Americans) were obsessed with building Vietnam for the Soviet Union," Kabulov said. "They believed everything is good to crush bloody Russians, so they got it back now."

Afghanistan veteran Sergey Zhidkov recalled that in the early stages of the Soviet war, clashes were rare and roads were relatively safe, but the rebels quickly strengthened and ambushes became routine.

"We were escorting convoys of fuel trucks to cover them from attacks," he told the AP. "The most painful thing was losing comrades. It was like we were sitting and talking, and then bang and he's dead."

Noor, who joined the mujahedeen when he was 19 and became a top warlord with 20,000 men under his command, recalled formations of Soviet helicopter gunships sweeping overhead like "flocks of birds." He described one Soviet air raid that destroyed a village of 500 families, killing most of the residents.

Noor said the deliveries of U.S. Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the mujahedeen played a significant role, allowing them to strike Soviet jets. He noted that his fighters downed more than 20 Soviet aircraft, including three big Antonov military transport planes.

He said he was badly wounded while leading his fighters to break through the Russian cordons.

"There was only one way out, but a tank regiment was blocking that way," he said, describing how he fired a weapon at a Soviet tank just as another one hit his position.

"I wanted to see how the tank burned when I fired. That is when the other tank fired at me," Noor said with a smile. "I got hit with 32 pieces of shrapnel, and those 32 scars are still on my body."

Noor described the Soviet pullout as a source of pride for Afghans.

"The withdrawal of the Soviet Union was a historic day," he said. "A poor nation with lots of problems, we defeated a superpower."

In Russia, many veterans blame Gorbachev for a hasty pullout that squandered the hard-fought gains, and they hold Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, responsible for the demise of Najibullah.

"We could have done many things differently. We could have done better to minimize losses," said Frants Klintsevich, a veteran who serves as a lawmaker in Russia's upper house. "And in the end we just gave up everything and also ruined the Soviet Union."

___

Iuliia Subbotovska contributed to this report.

In this photo taken on Feb. 15, 1989, Soviet Army soldiers with their war-dogs line up after their unit crossed a bridge on the border between Afghanistan and then Soviet Uzbekistan near the Uzbek town of Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on this day, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 1989, Soviet Army soldiers ride armored personnel carriers after their unit crossed a bridge on the border between Afghanistan and then Soviet Uzbekistan near the Uzbek town of Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken on Feb. 15, 1989, Soviet Army soldiers help each other to catch a train home after crossing a bridge on the border between Afghanistan and then Soviet Uzbekistan near the Uzbek town of Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on this day, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken photo taken in September 1984, Soviet Army soldiers stand atop of a tank at a outpost during sunset in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Feb. 15 1989, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken on Feb. 15, 1989, Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov, left, with his son Maxim, walk across a bridge over the Amy Darya River, at Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Vyacheslav Kiselev)

In this photo taken on Feb. 15, 1989, Soviet Army soldiers wave their hands as their unit crosses a bridge on the border between Afghanistan and then Soviet Uzbekistan near the Uzbek town of Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Feb. 15 1989, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (Leonid Yakutin/Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken on Feb. 15, 1989, Lt. Gen. Boris Gromov, sits atop of an armored personnel carrier driving from Afghanistan across a bridge over the Amy Darya River, at Termez, Uzbekistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (Leonid Yakutin/Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this photo taken on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia. Many Russian officials and lawmakers argue that the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan has been far less successful than that of the Soviet Union. "The (Afghan) army trained by the Soviet Union could stand alone for three years," Kabulov said. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019, Afghanistan veteran Sergey Zhidkov speaks during his interview to The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia. Zhidkov recalled that in the early stages of the Soviet war, clashes were rare and roads were relatively safe, but the rebels quickly strengthened and ambushes became routine. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 2004-2018, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia. After 40 years of war in Afghanistan, he said, the people are tired of the conflict. "People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace." (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, Ata Mohammad Noor, a former warlord who fought Soviet troops and served as governor of the northern Balkh province from 2004-2018, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Moscow, Russia. After 40 years of war in Afghanistan, he said, the people are tired of the conflict. "People would support any country that would step forward to bring peace." (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

FILE - In this file photo taken April 2, 1989, an Afghan guerrilla stands on top of one of the Soviet-made army tanks captured near Jalalabad, in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Feb. 15, 1989, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Joe Gaal, File)

FILE - In this late April 1988, file photo, Soviet soldiers observe the highlands, while fighting Islamic guerrillas at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. As Russia prepares to mark the Feb. 15, 1989 anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/Alexander Sekretarev, File)

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, Frants Klintsevich, a veteran who serves as a lawmaker in Russia's upper house, gestures while speaking during a news conference in Moscow, Russia. "We could have done many things differently. We could have done better to minimize losses," said Klintsevich about the Soviet Union's involvement in Afghanistan. "And in the end we just gave up everything and also ruined the Soviet Union." (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

FILE - This file photo taken on April 1, 1984 shows mujahedeen tribesmen at border camp near Wana in Afghanistan. As Russia prepares to mark the Feb. 15, 1989 anniversary of the Soviet withdrawal, many see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. Just like the ongoing Russian campaign in Syria, the Afghan war is widely perceived as a legitimate action against U.S.-backed militants. (AP Photo/Christopher Gunness, File)

In this undated photo, Soviet paratroopers take part in fighting in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Feb. 15, 1989, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (Leonid Yakutin/Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

In this undated photo, Soviet soldiers get fresh newspapers and mail while a convoy stoped somewhere in Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Feb. 15, 1989, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (Leonid Yakutin/Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

FILE - In this Dec. 27, 1979, file photo, rebel Muslim fighters inspect a Soviet tank captured in fighting with the Kabul government forces on near Asmar, Afghanistan. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, driven by fears that the U.S. could try to establish a foothold next to Soviet republics in Central Asia after losing Iran in the Islamic Revolution. (AP Photo/Steve McCurry, File)

FILE - In this file photo taken on Jan. 1, 1988, an Afghan rebel armed an anti-aircraft machine gun gets ready to fire at position in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan. When the Soviet Union completed its troops withdrawal from Afghanistan on Feb. 15, 1989, it was widely hailed as a much-anticipated end to a bloody quagmire, but public perceptions have changed and many Russians now see the 10-year Soviet war in Afghanistan as a necessary and largely successful endeavor. (AP Photo/David Stewart-Smith, File)
CAIRO (AP) - Sudanese police fired tear gas Thursday to disperse anti-government protesters marching to the presidential palace in the capital, activists said, the latest in two months of street protests seeking autocrat President Omar al-Bashir's ouster.

The protests erupted in December, initially over surging prices and a failing economy, but quickly turned into calls for al-Bashir's resignation after nearly 30 years in power.

Thursday's march was called for by an umbrella of independent professional unions, backed by opposition parties. Thousands gathered in the United Nations square before heading to the presidential palace on in central Khartoum.

Online video footage shows protesters chanting, "Freedom, peace, justice and the revolution is people's choice."

Police descended on the protesters with tear gas and batons, not allowing them to reach the palace as in previous marches. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Elsewhere, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the Zamzam refugee camp the country's troubled Darfur region on Thursday, shouting against al-Bashir's rule.

On Wednesday, Sudan's main opposition groups held in a joint press conference in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, their first since the wave of unrest, calling for a four-year transitional government followed by elections.

"We have decided on a program that would take place after the fall of the regime, and (we will) hold a constitutional dialogue conference at the end of the transitional period to decide how Sudan will be ruled," said Mohamed Mokhtar al-Khatib, a senior leader of the Communist Party.

Sudanese police have used tear gas, rubber bullets, live ammunition and batons to quell the unrest. They have imposed emergency laws and night-time curfews in some cities, and have suspended classes in schools and universities in others. They have arrested opposition leaders, doctors, journalists, lawyers and students along with some 800 protesters.

The country's intelligence and security officials, along with al-Bashir, insist that the rallies are the work of what they describe as "evil" foreign powers, and have vowed to stop them.

Last month, authorities ordered the release of all protesters who were detained since Dec. 19. But Human Rights Watch said only 186 were reported released and that video evidence showed signs of torture on released detainees.

Activists say at least 57 people have been killed in the protests. The government's latest tally stands at 30 killed, but figures have not been updated in days.

Al-Bashir, who seized power in an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989, insists that only elections, which he intends to take part in, will result in change. Wanted for genocide by the International Criminal Court over the fighting in Darfur, he has repeatedly warned that the protests could plunge Sudan into the kind of chaos convulsing other countries in the region.
MOSCOW (AP) - The Kremlin is looking into reports of alarmingly high pollution levels in a town in the Urals emanating from a decommissioned copper mine.

Carbon dioxide levels in Sibay, about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) east of Moscow, skyrocketed earlier this month and peaked over the weekend when they were recorded as 12 times higher than the maximum allowed. Locals recorded a video message for President Vladimir Putin, asking for help.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that the Kremlin is assessing the situation.

High carbon dioxide levels were first recorded in Sibay late last year after an outburst of noxious gases from the abandoned mine.

Local officials said at the time it would take a couple of months to deal with the oxidation of the copper ore which caused the pollution.
CAIRO (AP) - Libya's U.N.-backed government says that joint Libyan and U.S. forces have bombed alleged al-Qaeda militants in a southern desert town.

Tripoli-based government spokesman Mohammed al-Salak said late Wednesday the bombing took place in the town of Ubari, about 950 kilometers, or 590 miles, south of the capital, Tripoli

He said that "this joint work coincided with a meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Foreign Minister Mohamed Sayala at the Global Coalition to Defeat meeting last week" in Washington.

Al-Salak did not elaborate. The U.S. military's Africa Command said it was not involved in the raid.

Islamic extremists expanded their reach in Libya after the country was plunged into chaos following the 2011 uprising that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
BEIJING (AP) - U.S. and Chinese negotiators opened talks Thursday on a sprawling trade dispute as Beijing reported its January exports rebounded despite President Donald Trump's tariff hikes.

Trump said earlier the talks could help decide whether he escalates the fight over China's technology ambitions by going ahead with more penalty duties March 2 on $200 billion of Chinese goods.

The battle between the two biggest economies has fueled fears it will drag on weakening global growth. China's economy grew at its slowest pace in three-decades last year, adding to pressure on communist leaders to reach a settlement.

Both sides have expressed optimism but released no details. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier Liu He, shook hands at the start of the meeting at a government guesthouse but said nothing to reporters.

The U.S. delegation also includes Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and David Malpass, a Treasury undersecretary who is Trump's nominee for World Bank president.

On Tuesday, Trump said that while he is not inclined to extend the deadline, he might let it "slide for a little while" if talks go well. Earlier, the White House called March 2 a "hard deadline."

From left, Chinese Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator Liu He, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pose for a photo before the opening session of trade negotiations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

Economists and business groups say the planned two days of negotiations allow too little time to reach a final settlement, but Beijing hopes to persuade Trump enough progress is being made to forestall the new tariff hikes.

There was no indication whether negotiators are making progress on the thorniest dispute: U.S. pressure on Beijing to scale back plans for government-led creation of Chinese global leaders in robotics and other technologies.

A Ministry of Commerce spokesman, Gao Feng, told reporters at a regular weekly briefing that he had no details on the status of the talks.

Meanwhile, customs data released Thursday showed Chinese exports in January rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier, recovering from December's 3.5 percent decline.

Exports to the United States sank 2.4 percent, squeezed by Trump's tariff hikes on billions of dollars of Chinese products. Imports of American goods plunged 41.2 percent, reflecting retaliatory Chinese duties and orders to importers to find other suppliers.

The fight reflects growing frustration among Beijing's trading partners over official plans to subsidize and promote fledgling Chinese technology industries. Washington, Europe, Japan and other governments say those violate Beijing's market-opening obligations. Some American officials worry they might erode U.S. industrial leadership.

Trump raised tariffs in July over complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology. The dispute includes cyber-spying traced to China, the country's multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the United States and support for state industry.

Beijing has offered to narrow its trade surplus by purchasing more American soybeans, natural gas and other exports. But the government has resisted pressure to cut back development plans it sees as a path to prosperity and global influence.

A deal on changes in Chinese industrial and market regulations might be possible in three months, said Yu Miaojie, a Peking University economist. But he said Beijing likely will insist it is entitled as a developing country to retain protection for its industries.

"It is hard to reach an agreement within a short time on structural reforms if the United States demands too much," Yu said. He said his own view is that China "already has offered too much," given its relatively low state of development.

"It is equivalent to the U.S. demanding China define itself as a very advanced and perfect economy, which is not true," he said. "China is a developing country and its reforms need to take place step by step."

While the January trade data were stronger than expected, Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said global demand for Chinese exports is weakening.

"The broad trend in shipments still appears to be pointing down," he said in a report.

Chinese officials reject complaints that foreign companies are required to hand over technology. But business groups and foreign governments point to rules they say compel companies to disclose trade secrets or share technology with state-owned partners.

Chinese officials also balk at U.S. pressure to accept an enforcement mechanism to monitor whether Beijing carries out its promises.

Beijing has tried to deflect pressure by emphasizing China's growth as an export market. It has announced changes over the past year to open finance and other fields, including allowing full foreign ownership in its auto industry for the first time.

___

AP researcher Yu Bing contributed.

Chinese Vice Premier and lead trade negotiator Liu He, right, reaches to shake hands with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer before the opening session of trade negotiations at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

A security official escorts journalists from the opening session of trade negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade representatives at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

Chinese staffers adjust U.S. and Chinese flags before the opening session of trade negotiations between U.S. and Chinese trade representatives at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)
LONDON (AP) - A pregnant British teenager who ran away from Britain to join Islamic State extremists in Syria four years ago has said she wants to come back to London, but her path home is not clear.

Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday that she is nine months pregnant and worried about the health of her unborn child.

"In the end, I just could not endure anymore," she said, describing the death from illness and malnutrition of her first two children. "Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

The 19-year-old Londoner was found by the newspaper in a refugee camp in northern Syria. She was one of three schoolgirls from the Bethnal Green neighborhood who went to Syria to join IS in 2015 at a time when the group's online recruitment program lured a number of teenage girls to its self-proclaimed caliphate.

They went to join a fourth teen from Bethnal Green who had already joined the extremists. Begum told the newspaper all four married Islamic State extremists in Syria.

One of the four is believed to have died in an airstrike. Begum says the other two were alive as of two weeks ago.

This undated photo issued by the Metropolitan Police shows Shamima Begum. A pregnant British teenager who ran away from Britain to join Islamic State extremists in Syria four years ago has said she wants to come back to London, but her path home is not clear. Shamima Begum told The Times newspaper in a story published Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, that she wants to come back to London. (Metropolitan Police via AP)

She told the newspaper she didn't regret joining the group and wasn't troubled the first time she saw the severed head of one of its execution victims - comments that will likely make it more difficult for her to convince British authorities she is ready to rejoin civilian society.

U.K. Security Minister Ben Wallace told Sky News it was "worrying" that Begum did not express remorse. He said she would have known what she was getting into when she left London for Syria.

He said the British public would be concerned about someone returning to a country that "they apparently hate" and stressed that "actions have consequences."

It is possible she could face criminal charges if she returns to Britain. It is an offense to actively support a banned group such as Islamic State.

She could also ultimately benefit from a government program designed to de-radicalize former extremists and help them integrate into society.

She told Times reporter Anthony Loyd she knows she may face a hostile reception in Britain.

"I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online," she said. "But I just want to come home to have my child. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child."

British officials believe roughly 900 Britons went to Syria to join the extremists' cause. Of those, they believe around 20 percent died and about half of the survivors have returned to Britain.
LONDON (AP) - British Prime Minister Theresa May suffered an embarrassing defeat by lawmakers Thursday in a vote that left her bid to secure a European Union divorce deal stuck between an intransigent EU and a resistant U.K. Parliament - with Brexit just six weeks away.

A rebellion by hard-core Brexit backers saw the House of Commons vote by 303 votes to 258 against a motion reiterating support for May's approach to Brexit - support expressed by lawmakers in votes just two weeks ago.

The defeat is symbolic rather than binding, but shows how weak May's hand is as she tries to secure changes to her divorce deal from the EU in order to win backing for it in Parliament. It is likely to leave EU leaders wondering whether May can win support for any kind of Brexit deal, given Britain's political instability.

May tried to put a positive spin on the result. The prime minister's office said in a statement that "while we didn't secure the support of the Commons this evening," the government believed Parliament still wanted May to seek changes to the Brexit deal that lawmakers could support.

"The government will continue to pursue this with the EU to ensure we leave on time on 29th March," it said.

Others were blunter.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May leaves the Houses of Parliament in Westminster following a Brexit vote in the House of Commons, in London, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. May suffered an embarrassing defeat by lawmakers Thursday in a vote that left her bid to secure a European Union divorce deal stuck between an intransigent EU and a resistant U.K. Parliament _ with Brexit just six weeks away. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)

"What an absolute fiasco this is," said pro-EU Conservative lawmaker Anna Soubry. A leading pro-Brexit colleague, Bernard Jenkin, used the same word: "Fiasco."

The vote is the latest outbreak of Brexit-driven chaos that is roiling Britain's Parliament and imperiling Britain's orderly exit from the EU.

Two weeks ago, Parliament sent a contradictory message, voting to send May back to Brussels to seek changes to a section of the withdrawal agreement intended to ensure an open border between the U.K.'s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland after Brexit.

But lawmakers also voted to rule out a "no-deal" exit, though without signaling how that should happen.

On Thursday the government was defeated on an uncontroversial-sounding motion reiterating the earlier decision, when hard-line pro-Brexit lawmakers in the governing Conservatives abstained, accusing the government of effectively ruling out the threat of leaving the EU without an agreement on departure terms and future relations, a move they say undermines Britain's bargaining position.

"Conservative MPs (members of Parliament) really ought not to be associated with anything, express or implied, which seems to take 'no deal' off the table," Brexit-backing Conservative lawmaker Steve Baker tweeted before the vote.

Pro-EU lawmakers in Britain's divided Parliament feel the opposite. They fear time is running out to seal a deal before Britain topples off a "no-deal" cliff, with economically devastating results. But the Commons on Thursday rejected two amendments from the opposition that sought to postpone Brexit or steer the U.K. away from the cliff edge.

Lawmakers intent on averting a "no-deal" Brexit are gathering their strength to make a push in a new series of votes on Feb. 27 to force the government's hand.

By then, Brexit will be only a month away.

May is struggling with little sign of success to win backing for the divorce deal she struck with the EU from both pro-Brexit and pro-EU lawmakers in Parliament, which rejected the agreement by a whopping 230 votes last month.

May has refused take a "no-deal" Brexit off the table as she attempts to win concessions from the bloc. Most businesses and economists say the British economy would be severely damaged if the country crashed out of the EU on the scheduled Brexit date of March 29 without a deal, bringing tariffs and other impediments to trade.

Jeremy Corbyn, who heads the main opposition Labour Party, accused May of sitting on her hands, "hoping that something will turn up that will save the day and save her face."

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay told lawmakers that "the only way to avoid 'no-deal' is either to secure a deal on the terms the prime minister has set out" or to cancel Brexit - something the government says it won't do.

The remaining 27 EU nations insist that the legally binding withdrawal agreement struck with May's government in November can't be renegotiated.

Leaders of the bloc have expressed exasperation at Britain's desire for last-minute changes, and its failure, amid seemingly endless wrangling in the U.K. Parliament, to offer firm proposals.

European Council President Donald Tusk, who chairs summits of EU leaders, tweeted: "No news is not always good news. EU27 still waiting for concrete, realistic proposals from London on how to break #Brexit impasse."

Labour lawmaker Yvette Cooper said some British politicians were "living in a fantasy world" by believing a solution would magically appear.

"It's as if we're all standing around admiring the finery of the emperor's new clothes and actually the emperor is running around stark naked and everyone is laughing at us - or at least they would be if it wasn't so sad," she said.

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Remain in the European Union supporters wear blindfolds as they take part in a protest event organised by the People's Vote Campaign, which calls for a second referendum on Britain's EU membership, in Parliament Square, London, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Campaigners gathered together Thursday to call for Members of Parliament not to vote for a deal they say provides no closure and no clarity, while British Prime Minister Theresa May is trying to avoid another vote defeat Thursday on her Brexit strategy. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Anti-Brexit protestors wave flags outside Britain's parliament in London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May urged lawmakers this week to give her more time to rework the Brexit agreement with the EU, with time ticking down to the March 29 deadline for a Brexit split from Europe. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA via AP)

Detail of badges on an anti-Brexit protestor's hat during protests outside Britain's parliament in London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May urged lawmakers this week to give her more time to rework the Brexit agreement with the EU, with time ticking down to the March 29 deadline for a Brexit split from Europe. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA via AP)

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay speaks to lawmakers in the House of Commons ahead of a Brexit vote, in London, Thursday Feb. 14, 2019. Barclay told lawmakers that "the only way to avoid 'no-deal' is either to secure a deal on the terms the prime minister has set out" or to cancel Brexit - something the government says it won't do. (House of Commons TV via AP)

This image made available by the Netherlands Foreign Ministry on Thursday Feb. 14, 2019, shows Foreign Minister Stef Blok and a hairy blue Brexit monster on a desk in The Hague, Netherlands. The Dutch government has enlisted a new ally in its battle to prepare businesses for the impending departure of Britain from the European Union, a hairy blue Brexit monster. A tweet posted Thursday on Foreign Minister Stef Blok's official Twitter feed shows the monster, wearing a white T-shirt emblazoned with the word Brexit in red capital letters, lying across a desk. (Aad Meijer, Netherlands Foreign Ministry via AP)

An anti-Brexit demonstrator wears a hat adorned with anti Brexit statements as she protests outside the Palace of Westminster in London, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. British lawmakers are holding another series of votes on Brexit legislation Thursday. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Halima Usman is part of a booming new generation in Nigeria, voting for the first time in a presidential election Saturday after being raised during the country's two decades of civilian rule.

A majority of eligible voters in Africa's most populous nation are now 35 or younger, a demographic that will help double the continent's population by 2050.

Yet the 23-year-old Usman is visibly frustrated. She and other young voters across Africa chafe under leadership that is two, three, even four times their age. President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, has spent months of his term overseas for medical treatment. His top challenger, Atiku Abubakar, is 72. Between them, they have run for president nine times.

"Buhari and Atiku are older than Nigeria itself," Usman told The Associated Press, with zero irony: The candidates were born more than a decade before Nigeria's independence in 1960. "These old people, they don't want to leave these possibilities for us."

Now a movement is making room for youthful voters like Usman in Nigeria's rough-fisted electoral process, where so-called godfathers in major parties often dictate who runs with maximum payoffs in mind. Meanwhile, Africa's largest economy limps along on crumbling infrastructure as money is drained away by graft.

"Old, recycled politicians," sniffed presidential candidate Kingsley Moghalu, a former Central Bank of Nigeria official who, at 56, is young enough to pitch himself to the rising generation. He has been endorsed by Nobel laureate and playwright Wole Soyinka, who dismisses Buhari and Abubakar as "worthy of absolute rejection."

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party, attend an election campaign rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, in Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

At a nationally televised town hall, Moghalu laid out the grim landscape for young Nigerians. Youth unemployment at 54 percent, nearly double the overall rate. Three million people entering the job market each year. A three-month strike, now suspended, by university academics that he called "a national tragedy."

This political shift toward wooing Nigeria's youth began in May when Buhari signed a bill lowering the ages of candidates for president, governorships and lawmakers. Now a 35-year-old can run for president instead of waiting another half-decade. It has opened the doors to several presidential candidates under 40, though a few have withdrawn. More than 70 candidates are chasing the presidency in all.

The bill followed a nearly 10-year push by a movement calling itself Not Too Young to Run, which has inspired a global campaign by the United Nations.

"This is the youngest continent in the world," executive director Samson Itodo told the AP. "When you look at democracy, it's about the majority. You cannot continue to exclude your largest bloc in decision-making. Young people are angry. We are fed up with this ruling elite who do not care about the people."

Some National Assembly lawmakers, trying to protect the status quo, made a last-minute effort to persuade colleagues to vote against the bill, he said. The youth movement, fueled by social media, quickly turned old school, printing fliers overnight explaining its benefits. By the time the bill passed, lawmakers were jostling to take selfies with the fliers to show young constituents back home, Itodo said.

The victory followed what researchers have called a breakdown in the social contract between generations. Youth in Nigeria once avoided criticizing their elders, who guided them in life, but that older generation increasingly is seen as not fulfilling its role.

"In the next couple of years, if Nigeria is not able to deal with this, we are going to be in a long-lasting conflict which of course will be built on existing fault lines," warned Idayat Hassan, director of the Center for Democracy and Development in Abuja. Youth gangs, once associated with universities as violent campus mafias, have moved into the streets, she said.

"There cannot be peace in the country unless we're able to ... actively engage with youth," Hassan said.

Itodo, of Not Too Young to Run, pointed to signs of progress, including at least 14 million young voters registered since 2017. "Nigerian youths! There is no polling unit on social media," wrote the movement this week, reminding young voters that they cannot vote online but must go to actual polling stations.

And on Sunday, Nigerians watched an extraordinary televised debate featuring five of the youngest presidential candidates, all 40 or under. They pitched a Nigeria with 24-hour working electricity, good education and elected officials with a "true, selfless plan" for the people.

Those are soaring ideals in a country where children herd cattle along the capital's highways, hawk in roadside markets and beg, and where government buildings in the capital, Abuja, a city built in the 1980s, are already rotting away.

The young candidates, though polished and enthusiastic, remain the longest of shots in Nigeria, where millions of dollars are needed for a serious presidential run.

"I put in almost $1 million of my own resources," 38-year-old candidate Emmanuel Etim said Wednesday after joining Buhari and other contenders in signing a pledge to pursue a peaceful election.

Etim was skeptical of Buhari's seeming embrace of Not Too Young to Run, saying the president had made no effort to engage with young challengers on a "neutral platform," offering access only to those who step aside and endorse him.

Then again, Wednesday's event went far better than a similar one in December, Etim said.

At that time, Buhari "was shocked that a young person was even in the race," he said. "He literally giggled at me."

Now, Etim added, "I think he's taking us more seriously."

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, left, shakes hands with opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar after signing an electoral peace accord at a conference center in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari sing and dance in advance of his arrival at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A street seller sells his wares by the side of the road next to a campaign poster for opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, at a busy intersection near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A supporter of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari wears sunglasses with a photo of Buhari and the initials of his All Progressives Congress (APC) party, at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A youth supporter of President Muhammadu Buhari tries to escape police as they attempt to control a crowd of rowdy supporters waiting at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, holding a poster of Buhari and and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, cheer as he arrives at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A supporter of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, wearing a sticker of Buhari and and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, stands for the national anthem at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, gestures to supporters as he speaks at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari gestures to supporters at a campaign rally in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
BRUSSELS (AP) - The United States will not reduce its troop presence in Afghanistan unilaterally, the top Pentagon official said Thursday, pledging that any moves will be fully coordinated with its allies.

"There will be no unilateral troop reductions," Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan told reporters after his first meeting with NATO defense chiefs. "That was one of the messages: It will be coordinated. We're together."

Frustrated with America's longest war, President Donald Trump has said he wants out of Afghanistan, raising doubts about NATO's Afghan troop training operation in the strife-torn country. Around 14,000 U.S. troops are deployed there, just over half with NATO and the rest doing counterterror and combat operations.

Shanahan made clear that if U.S. troop cuts are made, either in connection with peace negotiations with the Taliban or in other circumstances, Washington will consult with NATO to ensure coordination.

"What we talked about was, how do we double down on support for Afghan national defense and security forces to put even more pressure on the Taliban," Shanahan said.

Were U.S. troops to leave the NATO operation, countries like Germany and many smaller allies wouldn't be able to do their job as they rely on American air support.

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, right, talks to NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, centre, and Britain's Defense Minister Gavin Williamson during the second day of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

NATO's top military officer, U.S. General Curtis Scaparrotti, said that he has not been asked to plan for any drawdown.

"I don't have the direction to do it, or the guidance to do it, or the decision to drive it," he told reporters.

The U.S. and NATO troops are mostly advising and training, but when requested they assist Afghan forces in battles with the Taliban, who carry out near-daily assaults on Afghan soldiers and police. More than 17 years after they were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition, the Taliban control, influence or hold sway over nearly half the country, and the conflict is at a stalemate.

NATO is wary of setting any timeline for a possible withdrawal as the Taliban have been content to wait international forces out in the past.

Still, NATO knows that the Taliban want foreign forces off Afghan soil and that its possible departure could be a powerful bargaining chip in any peace talks. NATO, though, would not leave empty handed. It would want guarantees that the Taliban will live up to any promises in those talks, and perhaps would even want to stay to monitor the peace moves.

For the moment though it is too early to tell. Upcoming elections in Afghanistan will further complicate the picture for NATO, as those polls decide what parties should be involved in peace moves.

"We are in this mission together and we will take decisions regarding the future of the mission together. And of course our military commanders are constantly assessing our posture," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said after chairing Thursday's meeting.

U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is meeting with the Taliban and others to try to end the conflict, and the results of those talks could help determine the future of NATO's mission. However, the Afghan government is not yet involved in the political moves to set up peace talks.

"I think it is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated into the peace process," Stoltenberg said. "We need the Afghan government playing a key role, because without that, there will be no lasting peace."

Envoys from the 29 NATO nations will discuss the Afghan operation again next Wednesday.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg talks to journalists during a press conference at the second day of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan talks to journalists during a press conference at the second day of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Spain's Defense Minister Margarita Robles, left, shakes hands with NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during the second day of a NATO defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan, left, talks to German's Defence Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen during a bilateral meeting at the second day of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

German's Defense Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen looks at her papers during the second day of a NATO defense ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. NATO defense ministers are discussing the future of the alliance's operation in Afghanistan and how best to use its military presence to support political talks aimed at ending the conflict. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
BANGKOK (AP) - A Thai court said Thursday that it will decide whether to dissolve a political party that broke tradition by nominating a member of the royal family as its candidate for prime minister in next month's general election.

The Constitutional Court made the announcement a day after the Election Commission recommended that the Thai Raksa Chart Party be dissolved for its Feb. 8 nomination of Princess Ubolratana Mahidol.

King Maha Vajiralongkorn issued a royal order hours after his sister's nomination, stating that the nomination was inappropriate and unconstitutional because the monarchy was above politics. The party responded by professing its loyalty to the monarch and accepting his order.

Dissolving the party would likely increase already sharp political divisions and deepen concerns about the fairness of next month's poll.

The Constitutional Court said in a statement that the charges are being forwarded to the party, which will have seven days to respond. It scheduled the next hearing for Feb. 27.

The Election Commission said the party should be dissolved because its candidate was "in conflict with the system of rule of democracy with king as head of state."

Pedestrians walk past an election poster promoting members of the Thai Raksa Chart political party in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. The Thai Raksa Chart party, which took the unprecedented and ultimately unsuccessful step of nominating a member of the royal family as its candidate for prime minister, is fighting for its political life as the Election Commission says it has recommended that it be dissolved. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Ubolratana's bid to become prime minister was particularly notable because she allied herself with Thai Raksa Chart, part of the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup and is loathed by many royalists and others in the country's traditional establishment, who accuse him of corruption and disrespect for the monarchy.

Thai Raksa Chart's chief strategist, Chaturon Chaisaeng, said the party is ready to show it acted with good intentions in nominating Ubolratana.

Ubolratana's candidacy could have pitted her against the preferred candidate of the pro-royalist military, junta leader and current Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led the 2014 coup that overthrew an elected government led by Thaksin's sister.

The unprecedented nomination and the fallout from its failure have reignited longstanding political tensions in Thailand, which has experienced more than a dozen years of political strife that has sometimes spilled into street violence. Following the 2014 coup, the junta used strict laws against protests and political activity to keep the tension from bubbling to the surface.

The March 24 election will be the first since the coup.

Prayuth is considered the front runner, largely because election laws enacted under his government skewed the odds against any party without the backing of the military and the conservative royalist establishment. Under the military-drafted constitution, the junta appoints all of the upper house, which along with the lower house gets to vote for the prime minister.

The Constitutional Court is one of the most conservative institutions in Thailand and has consistently ruled against Thaksin and his allies.

If Thai Raksa Chart is dissolved, its board members could be banned from politics for 10 years or more.

Although a royal order does not carry the full weight of law, the great respect given to the monarchy means that failure to abide by an order would be difficult to defend in the courts, which are conservative and generally seen as defenders of the throne.

Paul Chambers, a political scientist at Naraesuan University, said Ubolratana's quick political disqualification was an example of the monarchy's influence over the Thai bureaucracy.

"The extremely quick and formalized political disqualification of the royal eldest sister by the Election Commission and its equally rapid recommendation to dissolve Thai Raksa Chart party tell us that traditionally slow-moving bureaucratic forces in Thailand have no bearing on issues touching the monarchy," Chambers said in an email.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Trump administration lashed out at some of America's closest traditional allies on Thursday, accusing Britain, France and Germany of trying to "break" U.S. sanctions against Iran and calling on European nations to join the United States in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.

In an unusually blunt speech to a Middle East conference in Poland, Vice President Mike Pence slammed the three countries and the European Union as a whole for remaining parties to the agreement after the Trump administration withdrew from it last year and re-imposed tough sanctions on Iran.

The harsh criticism threatened to further chill U.S.-European ties, already badly strained, including over the Iran focus of the Warsaw conference, co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland. France and Germany had declined to send their top diplomats to the foreign minister-level meeting and E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also stayed away.

Pence was especially critical of Britain, France and Germany for unveiling last month a new financial mechanism that U.S. officials believe is intended to keep the nuclear deal alive by evading American sanctions. Pence praised other nations for complying with the sanctions by reducing Iranian oil imports but said the Europeans fell short.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative," Pence said. "In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions."

He said the mechanism, known as the "special purpose vehicle," is "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous regime." ''It's an ill-advised step that that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the E.U., and create still more distance between Europe and the United States."

From left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attend a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Pence then called for Europe to abandon the nuclear agreement.

"The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and join with us as we bring the economic and diplomatic pressure necessary to give the Iranian people, the region and the world the peace security and freedom they deserve," he said.

Earlier, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran the top security threat to the Middle East, and said confronting the country is key to reaching peace in the entire region.

Pompeo, who met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before the opening session of the conference, said "pushing back" against Iran was central to dealing with all the region's other problems.

"You can't achieve peace and stability in the Middle East without confronting Iran. It's just not possible," Pompeo said.

The U.S. and Poland say the conference is aimed at promoting peace and security in the Mideast and discussing issues such as Syria, Yemen, the fight against the Islamic State, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, cybercrime and terrorism.

The conference was attended by representatives from numerous Arab countries, but notable absences include Russia, China, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin was meeting the presidents of Iran and Turkey on Thursday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi to discuss a Syria peace settlement, as expectations mount for an imminent and final defeat of the Islamic State group ahead of the U.S. pullout.

In Warsaw, Netanyahu lauded the participation of high-profile Arab dignitaries at the conference, saying it marked a "historical turning point" that signaled a shift in regional priorities.

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers and representatives of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity, and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," Netanyahu said. "I think this marks a change, an important understanding of what threatens our future."

While Pompeo said in his opening remarks that "No one country will dominate the discussion today nor will any one issue dominate our talks", his earlier comments and Pence's keynote speech made clear that the conference was largely focused on isolating Iran.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran "circus" aimed at "demonizing" it.

RETRANSMISSION TO ADD A NAME -- First roe from left, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Yemen's Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, former Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende and White House Senior Advisor Jared Kushner, right, attend a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, arrives for a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle east in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, right, talk to the press on the sidelines of a session at the conference on Peace and Security in the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
WEDOWEE, Ala. (AP) - A high school teacher in Wedowee, Alabama, is accused of repeatedly raping a 15-year-old student.

Al.com reported Wednesday that 30-year-old David Brenton Burkhalter has been arrested on charges including second-degree rape and sodomy. Wedowee police say they learned of allegations against the Randolph County High School algebra and geometry teacher last week. It's unclear who reported the allegations to authorities.

Police say a multi-agency investigation determined the allegations were credible, and charging documents say the female student was raped by Burkhalter as recently as last month.

Burkhalter was being held at the Randolph County Jail. His bail has been set at $1 million. Court records do not show whether Burkhalter has a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

___

Information from: The Birmingham News, http://www.al.com/birminghamnews
PARIS (AP) - In its first results since the downfall of former chairman Carlos Ghosn, French carmaker Renault reported a 35 percent slump in profits last year and warned about the impact to business if Britain crashes out of the European Union next month without a deal.

Renault said Thursday that sales last year declined by 2.3 percent to 57.4 billion euros ($64.9 billion), which contributed to a sharp fall in net profit to 3.45 billion euros, compared to 5.3 billion euros the previous year. A lower contribution from partner Nissan also hit profits - Renault has a 43.4-percent stake in the Japanese firm.

Chief Executive Thierry Bollore said growth this year was likely to be moderate with the company targeting an operating margin of around 6 percent.

"We expect the worldwide market and, the European market to remain stable, on the condition there is no hard Brexit," Bollore said. "But we're making simulations, we are getting prepared."

The French car maker said the downturn in sales was mainly due to a withdrawal from the Iranian market and to the decline in diesel sales. The company noted that the loss in revenue was because of differences in exchange rates.

Ghosn, the face and driving force for the alliance among Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, has been detained in Tokyo since November. He has been charged with falsifying financial reports in under-reporting compensation and breach of trust in having Nissan Motor Co. shoulder investment losses and paying a Saudi businessman.

Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard waves upon arrival at Haneda international airport in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Senard, who recently replaced Carlos Ghosn, is expected to meet Renault's alliance partner Nissan's Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa for merging the two automakers under one holding company. (Akiko Matsushita/Kyodo News via AP)

His arrest has rocked the alliance, which is reshaping its management. Renault's new chairman, Jean-Dominique Senard, is set to meet with Nissan CEO Hiroto Saikawa during a trip to Japan this week to discuss the future of their partnership. Asked by a reporter, Bollore did not say whether Renault is pushing to have Senard - who is likely to join the Nissan's board -appointed Nissan's new chairman.

Also asked whether Nissan should get more say in their future relationship as Nissan is making more in profit than Renault, Bollore said the alliance "should benefit each company. We are not reasoning in terms of relative weight."

Bollore made only a few comments on the former chairman's situation but said he is regularly catching up on Ghosn's news. He added Renault's internal investigation on Ghosn's past activities is nearly completed.

"We are going to let people work, it will take a few weeks and then we will find out whether irregularities took place within our company."

Renault said earlier this week it won't pay Ghosn millions of euros in compensation. Renault also canceled shares granted to Ghosn from 2015 to 2018, which were subject to his continued presence at Renault. The board noted "that such condition is not met, thereby triggering the loss of Mr. Ghosn's rights to the definitive acquisition of such shares."

A spokeswoman from Renault said around 450,000 shares will be canceled. At the current share price of around 57 euros ($64), that is worth almost 26 million euros ($30 million).

Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard waves upon arrival at Haneda international airport in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. Senard, who recently replaced Carlos Ghosn, is expected to meet Renault's alliance partner Nissan's Chief Executive Hiroto Saikawa for merging the two automakers under one holding company. (Akiko Matsushita/Kyodo News via AP)
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) - A Papua New Guinea police superintendent on Thursday was hot on the trail of one of the many high-end cars he's trying to recover after an international summit.

About 275 cars are missing or overdue in the impoverished Pacific nation since it hosted the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in November. Many denounced the country at the time for buying 40 expensive Maseratis to ferry around world leaders, cars which it later planned to sell.

Although the Maseratis are accounted for, other cars are not.

When The Associated Press spoke to police superintendent Dennis Corcoran by phone, he said he was heading to pick up one of the missing cars, which somebody had tried to sell.

The thief had disappeared. "The driver absconded," Corcoran said. "But we got the vehicle."

Corcoran wasn't eager to elaborate much on his operation due to the "delicate" sensitivities around his work, referring further comment to Finance Secretary Ken Ngangan, who couldn't be immediately reached.

In this Nov. 17, 2018, photo, a selection of Maserati cars, part of the 2018 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum transportation, are seen in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. About 270 cars are missing after the Nov. 2018 event or overdue. All 40 of the Maserati models have been accounted for. (Mick Tsikas/AAP via AP)

Since the summit finished, soldiers and police have blockaded government buildings and stormed Parliament in an ongoing pay dispute over APEC security work.

With so many pressing needs in the nation of 7 million people, many were dismayed at the amount of money spent on the summit, hosting leaders that included U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Corcoran is heading a new unit in the police tasked with recovering all the state assets purchased for APEC in the three years leading up to the summit.

In a statement this week announcing the formation of the unit, Corcoran said he would address "the ongoing misuse and abuse of state assets that were bought using the people's money."

He said the goods had been purchased by government agencies and then "claimed by certain individuals through unlawful means." He asked people to return the cars and other assets immediately and for the public to provide information to help the police.

Police also announced this week that they'd arrested one APEC officer who had used his position to enter the Port Moresby wharf to pry open the fuel caps of parked APEC cars and siphon gasoline from them.

Port Moresby, the capital, has been described by the World Bank as among the world's most violent cities due to high unemployment and brazen criminal gangs known as "raskols." Basic medicines are scarce in Papua New Guinea and polio, eliminated from most countries, has returned.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said Thursday it has restructured planned airplane purchases from both Airbus and Boeing as the government-owned carrier struggles through serious financial turbulence.

Once making headlines in 2013 for fleet purchases valued at $67 billion, Etihad has seen its strategy of rapidly buying stakes in other airlines to expand its global footprint expose it to major losses.

In its last two reported financial years alone, the airline hemorrhaged nearly $3.5 billion in losses. Full-year results for 2018 for the company are expected in the summer.

In its statement, Etihad said that it will take delivery of five Airbus A350-1000, 26 Airbus A321neos and six Boeing 777-9 aircraft "over the coming years." The airline said it also will continue to accept its orders for Boeing 787 Dreamliners, without elaborating.

It said its remaining orders will be affected by "rescheduling, restructuring or reduction." In its 2013 purchase, Etihad made orders for 87 Airbus and 56 Boeing aircraft. Etihad currently has a fleet of 108 aircraft.

"This will enable the airline to further progress its transformation and adjust to its new operating model," the airline said. "By restructuring a large portion of its previous orders, Etihad can now concentrate on the phased introduction of new aircraft types, enabling an efficient rationalization of its fleet and building a network that connects Abu Dhabi to the world."

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2014, file photo, an Emirati man takes a selfie in front of a new Etihad Airways A380 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it has restructured planned airplane purchases from Airbus and Boeing as the government-owned carrier faces financial turbulence. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

Etihad made its announcement amid news from Airbus that the European plane manufacturer would stop producing its iconic double-decker A380 jumbo jet.

Emirates, which operates from Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international travel that's only 115 kilometers (70 miles) away from Abu Dhabi, meanwhile announced a $21.4 billion-valued deal with Airbus.

Abu Dhabi's rulers launched Etihad in 2003. Last year, Etihad began loaning pilots to Emirates under a new program.

The two Mideast carriers have seen business hurt by President Donald Trump's travel bans affecting Muslim-majority nations and stricter rules on electronics in cabins.

Emirates and Etihad are both government-owned airlines in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula. Both compete in the long-haul carrier market, using their nation's location between East and West to their advantage.
CHICAGO (AP) - Odds may still favor the eventual construction of former President Barack Obama's $500 million museum and library in a public park along Chicago's lakeshore, but it's no longer a sure thing in the face of a formidable legal challenge by a parks advocacy group.

U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey heard oral arguments Thursday on a key motion by city attorneys to toss a lawsuit by Protect Our Parks that aims to halt the Obama Presidential Center from ever being built in the selected location. Blakey said he'll issue a ruling Tuesday.

Recent Chicago history indicates lawsuits like the one filed by Protect Our Parks can stymie and even kill blockbuster projects, even ones proposed by VIPs with enormous financial and political influence.

A lawsuit brought by Friends of the Park helped scuttle a $400 million plan by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas to build a museum on public land next to Chicago's lakefront. That suit, like the Obama-project complaint, argued the project ran afoul of laws dating back to the 1800s barring new developments in a 26-mile (42-kilometer) chain of parks hugging Lake Michigan.

As the litigation wound through federal court in 2016, Lucas ditched the Chicago plans. The museum is now under construction in Los Angeles.

Many of the oral arguments Thursday focused on questions about whether Protect Our Parks has standing to sue. A ruling in favor of the group could signal that the Obama Presidential Center is in real trouble.

FILE - This illustration released on May 3, 2017 by the Obama Foundation shows plans for the proposed Obama Presidential Center with a museum, rear, in Jackson Park on Chicago's South Side. This view looks from the south with a public plaza that extends into the landscape. Odds still favor the eventual construction of Barack Obama's $500 million presidential museum and library in a park along Chicago's lakeshore. A judge hears arguments Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, on a city motion to toss a parks-advocacy group's lawsuit that argues the project violates laws barring development in lakeside parks. (Obama Foundation via AP, File)

A look at the project and some of the key legal issues:

Q: WHAT ARE THE PLANS?

A: If backers of the center prevail, it would be built 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of downtown Chicago in Jackson Park, named after President Andrew Jackson. The park, landscaped in the 1800s and a site for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It's near low-income neighborhoods where Obama once worked as a community organizer. It's also just blocks from the University of Chicago, where Obama was a law professor and near where the Obamas lived until he won the presidency in 2008.

The center would comprise 20 acres (8 hectares) of the 500-acre (202-hectare) park. Its centerpiece building would be a 225-foot (69-meter) museum tower, with a cluster of lower buildings around it, including a 300-seat auditorium. The center's website says the complex will be "a world-class museum and public gathering space that celebrates our nation's first African American President and First Lady (Michelle Obama)."

It was originally slated to open in 2021, though ground hasn't yet broken because of the lingering litigation.

Q: WHAT'S THE AGREEMENT WITH CHICAGO?

A: The Obama Foundation, a private nonprofit, would pay $10 to the city for use of the park land for 99 years. The foundation would pay the costs of constructing the complex and be responsible for covering operating costs over the length of the 99-year deal. Once built, however, the Obama Presidential Center's physical structures would be transferred to the city for free. So the city would formally own the center but not control what happens there.

Among the steps taken to make the park available for the project, the Chicago Park District first sold the land to the city for $1. Illinois legislators - at the city's urging - also amended the state's Illinois Aquarium and Museum Act to include presidential libraries as an exception to the no-development rules if there's a compelling public interest. The Chicago City Council approved the project by a 47-to-1 vote last May.

City lawyers conceded Thursday that the cost to the city of reconfiguring roadways to manage traffic around the center would be an estimated $175 million.

Q: WHAT'S THE CORE OBJECTION?

A: In its 2018 suit , which names the city and park district as defendants, Protect Our Parks accused the city of illegally transferring park land to a private entity, The Obama Foundation. They say city officials manipulated the approval process and tinkered with legislation to skirt long-standing laws designed to ensure residents had unobstructed access to lakeside parks.

"Defendants have chosen to deal with it in a classic Chicago political way ... to deceive and seemingly legitimize an illegal land grab," the lawsuit says. It also described the city as "gifting" prized land to a Chicago favorite son.

"They are essentially giving (property) to Obama ... for 10 cents a year for 99 years," parks advocacy lawyer Mark Roth said Thursday.

Obama remains hugely popular in the heavily Democratic city and most Chicagoans back the project.

But in a friend-of-the-court brief , legal scholar Richard Epstein said public-trust doctrine places extra burden on authorities to prove overwhelming public benefit when they offer the use of public parks to such popular, well-connected figures as Obama.

"Obama is one of the most powerful and influential personages in Chicago life, with deep ties to Mayor Rahm Emanuel (Obama's former White House chief of staff)," Epstein wrote. "His enormous clout cries out, not for deference, but for searching scrutiny."

Among other assertions in the lawsuit is that the center would interfere with migrating butterflies and birds.

Q: THE CITY'S DEFENSE?

A: City lawyers say Protect Our Parks misread the law , has misrepresented how the approval process played out and exaggerated potential environmental disruptions. They say planners have done all they can to blend center facilities into the surrounding nature, including by planting more than 400 trees.

City lawyers say the center will provide significant benefits, including bringing a major economic boost to poor local minority communities. Backers estimate it will create 5,000 jobs during construction and over 2,500 permanent jobs. An estimated 760,000 people could visit each year.

A friend-of-the-court brief submitted by 11 existing Chicago museums said the center in Jackson Park would "be a cultural and economic treasure for Chicago."

Obama picked Chicago over other places, including Hawaii where he was born. Erin Adams, a Chicago resident who attended Thursday's hearing, said she worries that frustration over the lawsuit and the delays it has caused will lead Barack and Michelle Obama to rethink their selection.

"I'm fearful," she said outside the court, "that at some stage the Obamas will say to themselves: 'Maybe we should consider Hawaii after all.'"

___

Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm
TOULOUSE, France (AP) - The Latest on Airbus' announcement that it will stop making the superjumbo A380 (all times local):

6:20 p.m.

Germany's economy minister says it's now up to Airbus to find new jobs for German workers who are affected by the end of production of the A380.

Peter Altmaier told reporters in Berlin that the company's decision to end manufacture of the superjumbo "doesn't come as a surprise."

He cited competition from Airbus' own, smaller models.

Altmaier said "that's why Airbus has a responsibility to find socially acceptable solutions, especially replacement jobs, for the affected employees in Germany."

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2014, file photo, an Emirati man takes a selfie in front of a new Etihad Airways A380 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it has restructured planned airplane purchases from Airbus and Boeing as the government-owned carrier faces financial turbulence. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

He said he expects the company to hold talks with staff and unions on the issue now.

Airbus also has A380 production sites in France, Spain, Britain, Turkey and South Korea.

___

5:30 p.m.

Germany's economy ministry says airplane manufacturer Airbus hasn't yet repaid all of the loan it received to develop the A380.

In a statement Thursday, the ministry indirectly confirmed a report by German business daily Handelsblatt that part of the 1.1 billion euro loan from 2002 is still outstanding.

Neither the paper nor the ministry specified how much still needs to be repaid.

The economy ministry said it was informed by Airbus ahead of the public announcement to end production of the world's biggest passenger plane.

It added that officials will examine the consequences of Airbus' decision and discuss them with the company.

The ministry said about 1,000 jobs in Germany could be affected by the move but the aim should be to ensure they are redeployed to production sites for other models.

___

3:40 p.m.

Germany's IG Metall union says it's confident there's enough work for Airbus employees in northern Germany despite the company's plan to end production of the A380 superjumbo.

Meinhard Gerken, who represents the union's chapter along the country's north coast, said it was "a shame about this nice plane" but added that the company's decision was "understandable, because the A380 didn't sell."

Gerken said in a statement that the increase in production for other models, such as the A320, A330 and A350 means "employees at sites in northern Germany have plenty of work."

Airbus has A380 production facilities in Hamburg, Bremen, Buxtehude and Stade.

Gerken said labor contracts with Airbus prevent any job losses in Germany before the end of 2020, but the union will seek to ensure there are no lay-offs after that date.

___

12:30 p.m.

One of the Airbus A380's original test pilots says the giant plane will be remembered for pushing the technological barriers of aviation like the supersonic Concorde.

Claude Lelaie was a co-pilot aboard the maiden flight of the superjumbo in 2005, 101 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

Speaking Thursday to The Associated Press, Lelaie said he was "feeling a bit sad" after Airbus announced the end of the A380 program.

But he also expressed understanding, saying: "That's business, you have to ensure the success of the company."

The now-retired pilot said that despite its huge size and weight, the A380 was a "very nice aircraft to fly" and not that different from other Airbus models in the way it handled.

He said technological advances from the A380 then fed into other models, including the A350. The A380 and the now also retired Concorde, he said, "both made history and allowed progress, technological progress."

Unions decried Airbus' decision to abandon the A380 amid worry about possible job losses as a result.

___

11:50 a.m.

Airbus says that a recent data breach appeared to target its intellectual property.

Guillaume Faury, the head of Airbus commercial aircraft and future CEO of the Airbus group, said Thursday that the company is working on technical and legal tools to combat this kind of cyberattack.

He said "we are constantly under attack, this is the new world we are living in."

He said what was different in the recent attack is that personal data was sought, and "at this stage of the investigation it seems that some IP was targeted." He would not elaborate while the investigation is ongoing.

Airbus said in late January that hackers broke into its information systems but the breach had no impact on commercial activities. The perpetrators obtained access to data that included the professional contacts and identification details of some Airbus employees in Europe.

___

9:45 a.m.

The head of European aviation manufacturer Airbus says he's optimistic that Britain and the EU can find a solution for a smooth divorce instead of a chaotic cliff-edge Brexit next month.

Airbus CEO Tom Enders has threatened to move its U.K. operations out of Britain if there's no deal spelling out future trade relations.

While Airbus is stockpiling parts on both sides of the Channel in case of a no-deal Brexit, Enders said Thursday that "I'm still optimistic that a solution can be found, that the forces of reason will finally prevail" in London and in Brussels.

France-based Airbus is particularly vulnerable because its airplane parts are made in several countries, including at 25 facilities in Britain. Tariffs between the U.K. and EU would be a huge blow.

___

7 a.m.

Airbus has reported a 29 percent rise in profits for 2018 despite losses of 899 million euros ($1 billion) from its troubled A380 superjumbo jet and A400M military transporter plane.

The company reported Thursday net profit of 3.1 billion euros over last year, up from 2.4 billion euros in 2017. Revenues were up 8 percent to 63.7 billion euros, including from its defense business.

Airbus announced earlier Thursday that it will stop making the iconic A380 plane and reported a charge of 463 million euros related to that decision. In addition the plane maker reported a charge of 436 million euros on the A400M, used by several European militaries.

Airbus said it forecasts similar profits in 2019 in line with growth in the world economy and air traffic.

___

6:35 a.m.

The long-haul carrier Emirates says it has struck a deal valued at $21.4 billion with Airbus, while saying it is sad to see the end of production of the double-decker A380 jetliner.

Emirates made the announcement Thursday at the same time that Airbus in Toulouse, France announced the end of the iconic airliner's production.

The Dubai government-owned airline, based out of the world's busiest airport for international travel, had the A380 as the backbone of its fleet.

Emirates says it will receive 14 more A380s until the end of 2021, taking its total A380 orders to 123. The airline will purchase 40 A330-900 aircraft and 30 A350-900s.

___

6:15 a.m.

European aviation giant Airbus says it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 after struggling to sell the world's biggest passenger jet.

Airbus said in a statement Thursday that Emirates is cutting back its orders for the plane and as a result "we have no substantial A380 backlog and hence no basis to sustain production."

The decision is a boon for rival Boeing and a blow for Airbus. Airbus had hoped the A380 would squeeze out Boeing's 747 and revolutionize air travel as more people take to the skies.

Instead, airlines have been cautious about committing to the costly plane, so huge that airports had to build new runways and modify terminals to accommodate it. The double-decker planes started flying in 2008 and seat more than 500 passengers.
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - The award-winning head of a Philippine online news site that has aggressively covered President Rodrigo Duterte's administration was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case.

National Bureau of Investigation agents served the warrant against Maria Ressa late Wednesday afternoon and escorted her from the Rappler Inc. office to NBI headquarters, where she stayed overnight in an office. The move against Ressa, who was one of Time magazine's Persons of the Year last year, was denounced by her outfit, Rappler Inc., and media watchdogs as a threat to press freedom. Duterte's government said the arrest was a normal step in response to a criminal complaint.

"What we're seeing is death by a thousand cuts of our democracy," Ressa told reporters after posting bail in the Manila regional trial court that issued a warrant for her arrest.

She accused the government of abusing its power and of using the law as a weapon to muzzle dissent. "I'm appealing to you not to be silent ... you have to express outrage."

Duterte has openly lambasted journalists who write unfavorable stories about him, including about his anti-drug campaign that has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead.

Rappler's 2012 article included allegations that a businessman was linked to illegal drugs, human trafficking and a murder case, citing an unspecified intelligence report. The story also said a car registered in his name had been used by the country's chief justice, who was later ousted in an impeachment trial.

Maria Ressa, the award-winning head of a Philippine online news site Rappler, talks to the media after posting bail at a Regional Trial Court following an overnight arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents on a libel case Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Manila, Philippines. Ressa was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Wilfredo Keng denied the allegations in a statement and welcomed the justice department's indictment of Ressa and a former Rappler researcher, Reynaldo Santos Jr., adding he was determined to see the legal battle through. He said he has no criminal record.

"Rappler, Ressa and Santos continue to hold themselves high above any accountability to provide credible and justifiable reason for why they continue to harass an ordinary private citizen and businessman despite having absolutely no basis for their claims," Keng said in a statement.

"With one click of a button, they destroyed my reputation and endangered my life," Keng said.

Santos has not commented on the allegations.

Amnesty International Philippines said Ressa's arrest was based on a "trumped up libel charge."

"This is brazenly politically motivated, and consistent with the authorities' threats and repeated targeting of Ressa and her team," it said.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the arrest was "merely part of any criminal procedure." Duterte's spokesman said the charge against Ressa was based on facts which she should simply answer and had "nothing to do" with press freedom.

Rappler is one of several local and international news agencies deemed critical of Duterte's policies.

Duterte had already banned a Rappler reporter from his news briefings after a government watchdog found that the news site violated a constitutional prohibition on foreign ownership of media when it received money from an international investment firm. Rappler, founded in 2012, rejected the ruling.

In its selection of Ressa as a Person of the Year, Time magazine cited her and several other journalists as "guardians" in what it said was an effort to emphasize the importance of reporters' work in an increasingly hostile world.

Ressa, who has worked with CNN, also last year received a Press Freedom award from the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, and the International Center for Journalists' Knight International Journalism Award.

Maria Ressa, center, the award-winning head of a Philippine online news site Rappler, listens to a reporter's question after posting bail at a Regional Trial Court following an overnight arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents on a libel case Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Manila, Philippines. Ressa was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Maria Ressa, center, the award-winning head of a Philippine online news site Rappler, is escorted into the court room to post bail at a Regional Trial Court following an overnight arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents on a libel case Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Manila, Philippines. Ressa was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Maria Ressa, center, the award-winning head of a Philippine online news site Rappler, waves at a well-wisher as she arrives to post bail at a Regional Trial Court following an overnight arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents on a libel case Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Manila, Philippines. Ressa was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Maria Ressa, center, the award-winning head of a Philippine online news site Rappler, talks to the media after posting bail at a Regional Trial Court following an overnight arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents on a libel case Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Manila, Philippines. Ressa was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Maria Ressa, center, the award-winning head of a Philippine online news site Rappler, talks to the media after posting bail at a Regional Trial Court following an overnight arrest by National Bureau of Investigation agents on a libel case Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Manila, Philippines. Ressa was freed on bail Thursday after her arrest in a libel case. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)
TOULOUSE, France (AP) - To passengers, the A380 feels immediately different - spacious, smooth and oddly elegant for a jet so gargantuan. Yet to Airbus, it's become a burden so super-sized that the European manufacturer is ending its production for good.

The A380 is simply too big to sell. With funereal faces, Airbus CEO Tom Enders and other executives made a stunning yet long-anticipated admission Thursday that it was the wrong product at the wrong time, created to feed a demand for 800-seat jets that never materialized.

Less than 14 years after its maiden flight, barely a decade after it started carrying passengers, the A380 is being mothballed.

Just 17 more of the planes will be completed, wrapping up in 2021. Emirates, its last and most loyal customer, said Thursday it's switching to smaller planes instead.

Distraught fans - even within Airbus' own ranks - decried the decision. Unions in Britain, Spain and France fear for the 3,500 jobs Airbus says it might threaten.

One of the jetliner's first test pilots took a more philosophical view. While he's "feeling a bit sad" about the news, Claude Lelaie says the giant plane will be remembered for pushing the barriers of aviation, like the supersonic Concorde.

FILE- In this July 13, 2010, file photo Nadine Schumacher, center, works at the bar in the first class section on board Airbus A380 passenger plane of Emirates Airline during the International Air Show ILA at Schoenefeld airport in Berlin. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, File)

"Both made history and allowed progress, technological progress," he told The Associated Press from the southern French city of Toulouse, the cradle of Airbus' worldwide operations. "That's business - you have to ensure the success of the company."

This isn't how things were supposed to pan out for the world's biggest passenger jet.

Development talks for the plane began in 2000, meant to be Airbus' 21st-century answer to rival Boeing's 1960s-era 747, and one of the most ambitious endeavors in aviation. Its Rolls Royce engines were quieter than ever, far out on the extra-long wings. Carbon-fiber technology was used for the body to make it lighter and easier to maneuver. Its double-decker construction allowed room for bars, duty-free shops and even showers.

Lelaie was a co-pilot aboard the maiden flight of the superjumbo in 2005, 101 years after the Wright brothers' first flight.

Despite its huge size and weight, he called the A380 a "very nice aircraft to fly" - even on special low-speed flights when they deliberately stalled the plane to test its reactions.

Then French President Jacques Chirac hailed the plane as "a symbol of what Europeans can do together." Airbus' then chief salesman, John Leahy, called it "game-changing" for the industry.

Yet to detractors, the A380 smacked of hubris, a vanity project by managers who saw bigger as better despite an uncertain market for a plane so huge that airports had to modify their runways and gates.

It faced repeated production setbacks and cost overruns. Order cancellations led to a restructuring at Airbus that saw thousands of job cuts.

One emblematic problem: a standoff between German and French engineers over which software to use to design the cockpit. The company lost a quarter of its market value in a single day in 2006 when the resulting delays became public.

Enders says the A380 wasn't a flight of folly but a carefully studied gamble.

"We didn't stumble into it," he said. "Little did we know how the world would look in 2010, in 2019."

Airlines in fact seemed more interested in mid-size planes for regional routes, notably in Asia, where travel within the region has boomed in recent years. Even on longer routes, airlines seemed to prefer smaller planes that were easier to fill.

Salesman Leahy spent much of the 2000s trying to persuade customers not to cancel orders. The last major order was in 2013, from trusted Emirates.

Enders said he was "knee-deep" in the A380, and personally suffered from its failures, but the only way to get out of this "trap" was to say good-bye.

"The 380 may have just been too large of a step for the market to handle," said Rob Watts, CEO of aviation consulting company Aerotask.

The end came Thursday, as Airbus and Emirates announced that the airline had decided to transfer existing orders for A380s to smaller A350s and A320s.

The chairman and CEO of Emirates, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, said: "While we are disappointed to have to give up our order, and sad that the program could not be sustained, we accept that this is the reality of the situation."

The A380 has been the backbone of the Emirates fleet, based out of Dubai, the world's busiest airport for international travel.

The pall of grief at Airbus headquarters was tinged with a hint of relief, after years of straining to keep the A380 alive.

Airbus quietly prepared for the decision a year ago, building in the 463 million euros ($522 million) in losses the A380 cost the company last year into its 2018 financial results, announced Thursday. The company posted a jump in profit and upbeat forecast for the coming year despite a slew of challenges, including Britain's pending exit from the European Union without a new trade deal.

Even though the A380 wiped billions off Airbus profits in its development phase, Chief Financial Officer Harald Wilhelm says the company is expecting to break even on the overall program before it's scrapped.

Airbus, which has some 130,000 employees worldwide, is focusing on its many other planes, made in facilities from Mobile, Alabama, to Tianjin, China.

Among those who foresaw the A380's demise was analyst Richard Aboulafia of Washington-based Teal Group.

"But thanks to the strength of the market right now, and the strength of Airbus's other products, the damage will not have a huge impact on the industry," he told the AP. "For Boeing, it has been a very long time since they needed to worry about the A380 as a competitive factor."

The A380 is still among the youngest aircraft in the skies, and Airbus will maintain the more than 230 planes currently in service for years to come. Guillaume Faury, who takes over from Enders as CEO in April, promised: "It will continue to fly."

___

Associated Press writers John Leicester in Paris and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

FILE - In this June 26, 2011, file photo, an Airbus A380 performs during a demonstration flight at the 49th Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport, east of Paris. Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 it will stop making A380 superjumbo jets in 2021 after struggling to win clients. (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - This Feb. 10, 2013 file photo shows the first class section of an Emirates airlines Airbus A380 at the Dubai airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

FILE- In this March 19, 2007, file photo the interior stairs that connect the two passenger decks of an Airbus A380 are shown during a press tour of the new plane at New York's Kennedy International Airport. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE- This Sept. 1, 2010, wide angle file photo shows a first class cabin is seen on an Emirates A380 airplane at Manchester Airport after the plane's arrival on a flight from Dubai, in Manchester, England. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)

FILE- In this July 21, 2010, file photo a visitor, lower left, walks out from an Airbus A380 on display at the Farnborough International Airshow, Farnborough, England. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Sang Tan, File)

FILE- In this Nov. 13, 2007, file photo a lounge area await guests in the second floor business class of passenger plane, the Airbus A380, that landed at Orlando International Airport on a test flight and world tour in Orlando, Fla. European plane maker Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2014, file photo, an Emirati man takes a selfie in front of a new Etihad Airways A380 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, that it has restructured planned airplane purchases from Airbus and Boeing as the government-owned carrier faces financial turbulence. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)

An Airbus A 380 of Lufthansa airline approaches the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The European plane manufacturer Airbus said Thursday it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

FILE - In this March. 29, 2018, file photo, a double-decker Airbus A380 plane lands at the Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon. Airbus said Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 it will stop making A380 superjumbo jets in 2021 after struggling to win clients. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)

Airbus CEO Tom Enders, left, CFO Harald Wilhelm and president of Airbus Commercial Aricraft Guillaume Faury, thumb up before the presentation of Airbus 2018 results in Toulouse, southern France, Thursday, Feb.14, 2019. The European plane manufacturer Airbus said Thursday it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)

Airbus CEO Tom Enders speaks before the presentation of Airbus 2018 results in Toulouse, southern France, Thursday, Feb.14, 2019. The European plane manufacturer Airbus said Thursday it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers, abandoning the world's biggest passenger jet and one of the aviation industry's most ambitious and most troubled endeavors. (AP Photo/Fred Scheiber)
CULIACAN, Mexico (AP) - U.S. officials are hailing the conviction of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman as a victory for the Mexican people, but in the drug lord's home state of Sinaloa, cradle to his powerful cartel, many residents say they don't expect violence and trafficking to abate.

As news that the Sinaloa Cartel kingpin will likely spend the rest of his life in a U.S. prison headlined Wednesday's newspapers in the state capital of Culiacan, most people took it in stride - though Guzman's family members in the mountains were said to be angered by the verdict.

"For the crimes he committed, life in prison seems pretty fair. ... I mean, it's not going to end the problem of narco-trafficking," said Mario Rodriguez, adding that he feels "very unsafe" in his city.

Sinaloa regularly posts homicide rates among the highest in Mexico, including 43.89 killings per 100,000 residents in 2017 - well above the national average. The violence is often localized and often involves conflicts between rival gangs over street-level drug dealing.

"I think this is going to continue with or without him," Rodriguez said. "I think there are certain kinds of people, with a certain way of dressing, with certain kinds of vehicles that one avoids, because even though it seems like prejudice, they could be involved in something like that."

Guzman gained notoriety in Mexico and abroad for twice pulling off brazen escapes from maximum-security prisons in Mexico, presumably with the help of corrupt officials. Ballads known as "narco-corridos" were composed extolling his exploits as he evaded Mexican justice for years.

FILE - In this Sept. 30, 2016 file photo, police investigators examine the site where a military convoy was ambushed with grenades and high-powered guns, killing five soldiers in the city of Culiacan, Mexico. Local military commander Gen. Alfonso Duarte said it is very probable that the attack was carried out by the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. (AP Photo/Hector Parra, File)

But many in Culiacan reject the outlaw myth associated with Guzman.

"'El Chapo' is not a persona. He is a criminal," said Tania Venegas, also from Culiacan. "That's why drug trafficking will always exist, people see it as the easy path."

Guzman now stands to spend decades behind bars in a supermax prison south of Denver, and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador saw in him a cautionary tale.

"Let this serve as a lesson to show that money doesn't buy true happiness," Lopez Obrador said Wednesday at a news conference. He mused that "happiness is having a clear conscience and being at peace with one's self and others."

Lopez Obrador, who took office Dec. 1, says his anti-cartel strategy will not focus on hunting down kingpins, and he has launched a campaign aimed at persuading people not to break to the law. Its slogan is: "We're all going to behave."

On Thursday, Lopez Obrador said he would visit Guzman's home municipality of Badiraguato to announce the creation of a university specializing in the "promotion of forestry activity" and a planting program that he says will generate some 20,000 permanent jobs.

He said his administration is also committed to finishing a highway that would connect Badiraguato with Guadalupe y Calvo in the state of Chihuahua, becoming the only paved road through a region where drug cartels hold sway and farmers grow opium poppies.

Meanwhile, in the Sinaloa mountains where Guzman was born and which he long used as a stronghold and hideout, news of the conviction spread quickly even in remote communities.

"Here there is no cellphone signal in many places, much less internet," said Pedro Cazarez, a resident of Temeapa, Sinaloa. "I heard about it when I got home. But by word of mouth, it's already known everywhere."

Miguel Angel Vega, a journalist for the publication Riodoce who visited the mountains recently, said the news had reached Guzman's family members.

"I have been in contact with some of his relatives and they tell me they are outraged by the verdict," Vega said.

In Badiraguato, home to about 31,000 people and nestled in the drug-producing Golden Triangle region of northwestern Mexico, it's practically impossible to find anyone who hasn't had direct contact with Guzman or knows someone who has.

"El Chapo" is known to have provided jobs in the community, and locals say the municipality's economy has collapsed since his most recent capture in 2016 and subsequent extradition.

"Very little movement of money ... you see a lot of poverty," said Jaime Laija, who runs a small kitchen on the main highway between Culiacan and Badiraguato.

Vega said Guzman's sister confirmed to him that last week people in and around the town of La Tuna were organized to pray for an acquittal. In 2014, hundreds of people marched in Culiacan to urge Mexico not to extradite Guzman to the United States, but there was no similar protest this week.

Sinaloa police chief Joel Ernesto Soto noted Guzman has been out of the state and in custody for several years, saying his conviction "will not directly have repercussions for us."

An initial succession battle involving Guzman's sons and a rival faction is said to have fizzled with the arrest of the faction's father-and-son leaders, but in Culiacan, resident Javier Bastidas still worries.

"The people closest to (Guzman) are going to be angry," Bastidas said. "For as many as they catch and catch, more criminals appear."

In this Jan. 19, 2017 photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, authorities escort Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, center, from a plane to a waiting caravan of SUVs at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, N.Y. The notorious Mexican drug lord was convicted of drug-trafficking charges, Tuesday, Feb. 12 2019, in federal court in New York. (United States Drug Enforcement Administration via AP)

FILE - In this July 22, 2015 file photo, a man sells jewelry, many of it with narco-culture imagery, in downtown Culiacan, Mexico. U.S. officials hailed the conviction of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman as a victory for the Mexican people, but in the drug lord's home state of Sinaloa, cradle to his powerful cartel, many residents said they don't expect the violence and trafficking to abate. (AP Photo/Fernando Brito, File)

FILE - In this July 20, 2015 file photo, Guadalupe Tadeo de Valenzuela prays to folk-saint Jesus Malverde, to heal her sick daughter in the saint's chapel in Culiacan, Mexico. Jesus Malverde is also worshipped by many drug traffickers in this region which is also known as the the cradle of drug trafficking in the country. (AP Photo/Fernando Brito, File)

FILE - In this June 29, 2017 file photo, the body of a man who was shot dead lies on a road in Navolato, on the outskirts of Culiacan, Sinaloa state, Mexico. U.S. officials hailed the conviction of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman as a victory for the Mexican people, but in the drug lord's home state of Sinaloa, cradle to his powerful cartel, many residents said they don't expect the violence and trafficking to abate. (AP Photo/Enric Marti, File)

FILE - This Feb. 11, 2004, file photo provided by the Bureau of Prisons shows the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence, Colo. Clockwise from lower left is the minimum security Federal Prison Camp, the high security United States Penitentiary, the maximum security United States Penitentiary and the Federal Correctional Institution. Experts say the drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who will be sentenced on June 25, 2019 for smuggling enormous amounts of narcotics into the U.S and having a hand in dozens of murders, seems the ideal candidate for the federal government's maximum security, "Supermax," prison, also known as ADX for "administrative maximum," a facility so secure, so remote and so austere that it has been called the "Alcatraz of the Rockies.". (Bureau of Prisons via The Gazette via AP, File)

In this 1994 file photo, federal corrections officer William Brown stands in the doorway of a typical cell in a general population unit at the US Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Security facility in Florence, Colo. Experts say the drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who will be sentenced on June 25, 2019, for smuggling enormous amounts of narcotics into the U.S. and having a hand in dozens of murders, seems the ideal candidate for the federal government's "Supermax" prison in Florence, Colo., also known as ADX for "administrative maximum," a facility so secure, so remote and so austere that it has been called the "Alcatraz of the Rockies." (Mark Reis/The Gazette via AP, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2007, file photo, guard towers loom over the administrative maximum security federal prison called Supermax near Florence, Colo. Experts say the drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who will be sentenced on June 25, 2019, for smuggling enormous amounts of narcotics into the U.S and having a hand in dozens of murders, seems the ideal candidate for "Supermax" prison also known as ADX for "administrative maximum," a facility so secure, so remote and so austere that it has been called the "Alcatraz of the Rockies." (Chris McLean/The Pueblo Chieftain via AP)

Emma Coronel Aispuro, wife of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leaves federal court in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. On Tuesday, Mexico's most notorious drug lord was convicted of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation after a three-month trial packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
BEIJING (AP) - China's January exports rebounded from a contraction amid a tariff battle with Washington while Chinese purchases of U.S. goods plunged.

The data were announced Thursday as Chinese and U.S. negotiators began talks President Donald Trump says might decide whether he escalates a fight over Beijing's technology ambitions by going ahead with a March 2 tariff hike on $200 billion of imports.

Total exports rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier to $217.6 billion, an improvement from December's 3.5 percent decline, customs data showed. Imports declined 1.5 percent to $178.4 billion.

Exports to the United States sank 2.4 percent to $36.4 billion, squeezed by Trump's tariff hikes.

Imports of American goods plunged 41.2 percent to $9.2 billion, reflecting retaliatory Chinese duty increases and orders to importers to find other suppliers.

The talks in Beijing this week may decide whether Trump allows another increase on $200 billion of imports from China to go ahead March 2.

FILE- In this May 21, 2018, file photo, container ships are unloaded at the Port of Oakland in Oakland, Calif. China's exports rebounded in January from a contraction late last year amid trade tensions with Washington, but imports declined. Global exports rose 9.1 percent over a year earlier while imports contracted 1.5 percent. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Weakness in global demand for Chinese goods has increased pressure on the ruling Communist Party to make peace with Washington at a time when Beijing is trying to reverse an economic downturn. The government has warned Chinese exporters the global environment is "complicated and severe."

"The downbeat outlook for global growth means that this year is likely to be challenging for Chinese exporters, even if the ongoing U.S.-China trade negotiations culminate in a deal," said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report.

Chinese trade data early in the year are disrupted by the Lunar New Year holiday, which comes at different times in January or February each year. Factories rush to fill orders and then close for up to two weeks.

China's global trade surplus for January was $39.2 billion. The surplus with the United States was $27.3 billion.

Exports to the United States held up through much of 2018 despite Trump's tariff hikes, but fell 3.5 percent in December as the impact of the increases began to depress demand. Forecasters say American orders should slump this year.

Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on Dec. 1 to postpone additional tariff hikes by 90 days while they negotiated. But penalties of up to 25 percent already imposed on billions of dollars of each other's goods remain in place, raising the cost for American and Chinese buyers of soybeans, medical equipment and other goods.

Trump is pressing Beijing to roll back plans for state-led creation of Chinese global competitors in robotics and other tech fields. Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain such policies violate its market-opening obligations.

Chinese leaders are trying to reduce reliance on trade and nurture self-sustaining economic growth based on domestic consumer spending. But their plans call for keeping exports stable to avoid politically dangerous job losses.

Some companies have shifted production of goods bound for the United States out of China to avoid Trump's tariffs. Others are lining up non-Chinese suppliers of industrial components.

___

General Administration of Customs of China (in Chinese): www.customs.gov.cn

FILE - In this March 29, 2018, file photo, a cargo truck drives amid stacked shipping containers at the Yangshan port in Shanghai. China's exports rebounded in January from a contraction late last year amid trade tensions with Washington, but imports declined. Global exports rose 9.1 percent over a year earlier while imports contracted 1.5 percent. (AP Photo/File)
DENVER (AP) - Denver teachers went on strike to improve their pay, but the fight wasn't that simple.

Emboldened by teacher activism nationwide and struggling to live in a rapidly growing city, Denver educators challenged one of the nation's oldest incentive pay systems, which was originally endorsed by the teachers union and education reform advocates.

The system known as Professional Compensation, or ProComp, allows teachers to add on to their base salary by earning bonuses of up to $3,000 a year for working in a hard-to-staff position or high poverty school or if their schools improve.

Administrators and teachers on Thursday reached a tentative deal for better pay that ended a three-day walkout. But the union compromised on a $3,000 bonus for teachers who work in the district's most challenging schools that it said wasn't helping keep educators in those schools. Both sides agreed to study teacher turnover and revisit whether to eliminate that incentive.

Teachers say the bonus system is complicated and can leave them guessing at what their earnings will be.

Sarah Olsen, a third-grade teacher at Maxwell Elementary School, said she was already living on a tight budget when she lost a chunk of her paycheck. The number of students getting free and reduced-price lunch - a measure of poverty - dipped below the threshold for getting an incentive for a school ranked as "hard to serve."

FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, file photo, a teacher holds up a sign during a rally for striking Denver Public Schools instructors in Civic Center Park in Denver. The strike is the first for Denver's teachers since 1994. Denver teachers say that the district's pay incentive system is too complicated and unreliable. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

She also said the district cut the promised bonus to teachers at the school for improved test scores.

"There's just no consistency with the incentives," she said Wednesday. "They can be taken away at any time. They can be reduced."

With the use of incentive pay rising among districts and states, here's a look at the discussion:

IS INCENTIVE PAY WIDELY USED?

"We've seen a tremendous increase in the number of schools, districts and states that are experimenting with incentive pay programs across the country," said researcher Matthew Springer, who has studied the widely varying programs for 20 years.

Springer, distinguished professor of education reform at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, said an influx of federal funds through programs like Race to the Top and the Teacher Incentive Fund have encouraged more states to explore the idea.

Most states now allow for some sort of incentive pay, whether it's offering bonuses to teach in high-needs schools or subjects or basing raises on student or teacher performance.

Nine states require districts to consider performance in teacher pay and at least 11 states allow it, according to the nonprofit National Council on Teacher Quality, a research and policy organization. A majority of states incentivize pay for high-needs schools and subjects.

WHAT DO TEACHERS DISLIKE ABOUT IT?

Market-driven recruiting and retention bonuses are generally accepted, but bonuses linked to student and teacher performance are more controversial. Teachers say it's not fair to pay them based on standardized test scores that are affected by factors beyond their control, like poverty.

Teachers also say they are self-motivated and not driven by bonuses the way a salesperson may be, for example. Many would rather see funding used to increase the base pay of all teachers, not awarded in a way that can create friction and competition within a school.

"Performance pay has become just another way of nickel-and-diming educators because erratic bonuses are no substitute for sustainable living wages, especially as costs keep rising," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said. "This just injects more instability into a profession that's becoming ever more precarious."

In Denver, the main sticking point over bonuses was how much extra to pay teachers who work in high-poverty schools and in one of 30 struggling schools. The district sees those bonuses as key to helping improve the academic performance of low-income students. It says it also needs to honor the will of voters to spend tax revenue worth about $33 million a year on incentive pay.

"There is not one school district in the country that is going to look at Denver and think, 'Oh, I think I'll try that,'" National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia said after joining picketing Denver teachers this week.

THEN WHY USE IT?

There are a lot of reasons for incentive systems, Springer said, including the idea that teachers should be compensated for results in the classroom, not just years of service.

"One of the things that I think is important about these systems, particularly well-designed ones, is it's getting us to a point where we can pay our highest-performing educators a six-figure salary," Springer said. "And I think our best and brightest educators deserve a six-figure salary. But unfortunately, the single salary schedule is never going to let us get there."

An incentive pay program also may be less expensive than a general pay raise and an easier sell for districts in need of taxpayer support, he said.

DO BONUSES FOR TEACHERS HELP STUDENTS?

A 2017 analysis of more than 30 studies on merit pay found that it has a modest positive effect on student test scores. The academic gains were roughly equivalent to adding three weeks of learning to the school year, said Springer, who co-led the study while a professor at Vanderbilt University.

An unpublished University of Colorado study of ProComp that compared test scores in Denver with those of nearby districts between 2001 and 2016 found the bonuses may have helped increase student achievement.

The study by assistant professor Allison Atteberry, which is being peer-reviewed, also found that the district retained teachers at higher rates who were rated as more effective based on their students' test score growth than those ranked as less effective since the incentive system began.

The study did not find evidence that the bonuses caused teachers to transfer into high-poverty or top-performing schools. But there was some indication that the rate of teachers leaving hard-to-serve schools slowed.

WHERE ELSE IS THIS BEING DISCUSSED?

Florida's teachers union contended in a 2017 lawsuit that the state's bonus program is discriminatory. It relies in part on college entry exam scores. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis this month proposed reforming the program, and no longer tying it to exams. He said nearly 45,000 highly effective teachers would be eligible for bonuses exceeding $9,000.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won applause in his State of the State address when he raised the idea of rewarding successful teachers with incentives that could help them earn a six-figure salary. But union leaders said the state test shouldn't be the measure of teacher success.

"The governor gives offense to Texas teachers every time he and his education commissioner claim to want more pay for the so-called best teachers," Louis Malfaro, president of the Texas AFT union, said in a statement. "The implication being that the hundreds of thousands of women and men who teach and support the 5.4 million students in Texas' public schools are unworthy of being paid decently for the hard work they do every day."

___

Thompson reported from Buffalo, New York.

An instructor carries a placard as she marches to Denver Public Schools headquarters to deliver Valentine Day cards Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Denver. Teachers walked off their jobs Monday, the first strike by teachers in Denver in 25 years. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
A Minnesota sheriff says a dog named Donald Trump wasn't shot and killed over a political rivalry, despite false claims circulating on social media that have spurred "violent threats" against some county residents.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office concluded the person who shot Donald Trump the dog Sunday was "legally protecting their livestock" on private property. The shooter has not been identified.

"Facts have been misrepresented on social media sites," Sheriff Shawn Haken's office said in a statement about the dog's death. "Unfortunately, people are now posting multiple threats of violence towards citizens in the area and justifying the threats based on these inaccurate posts on social media."

The dog's owner, 59-year-old Randal Thom of Lakefield, is an avid supporter of the president who has attended 46 of his rallies. Trump signed Thom's photo of the dog at one of the rallies. The Alaskan Malamute was born in 2016, the same year Trump was elected, inspiring the name.

Some social media users claimed a neighbor, who they believed to be a Democrat, intentionally killed Thom's dog because of the namesake. Thom said he's "heartbroken" over Donald Trump's death but did not think politics motivated the dog's shooting.

"We have had some words back and forth about political stuff, whether he actually did it out of spite or not, I won't subscribe to that totally," Thom said of the neighbor he believes shot the dog. Thom found the dog late Sunday night after demonstrating at Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar's presidential launch event in Minneapolis.

This undated photo provided by Randal Thom, shows his dog named Donald Trump in Jackson County, Minn. The Jackson County Sheriff's Office says the dog named Donald Trump wasn't shot and killed over a political rivalry, despite false claims circulating on social media that have spurred "violent threats" against some county residents. (Randal Thom via AP)

Neighbors have lodged 14 complaints about Thom's dogs running loose, killing animals and attacking a person, according to the sheriff. Thom was convicted on a petty misdemeanor of "dogs and cats at large" in 2015, according to Minnesota court records. Thom said he owns seven other dogs and installed fencing around his land last year to keep the dogs from leaving the property.

Lakefield is about 160 miles (257 kilometers) southwest of Minneapolis.

___

This version of the story removes Fact Check from the slug.
TOKYO (AP) - Thirteen gay couples filed Japan's first lawsuit challenging the country's rejection of same-sex marriage Thursday, arguing the denial violates their constitutional right to equality.

Six couples holding banners saying "Marriage For All Japan" walked into Tokyo District Court to file their cases against the government, with similar cases filed by three couples in Osaka, one couple in Nagoya and three couples in Sapporo.

Plaintiff Kenji Aiba, standing next to his partner Ken Kozumi, told reporters he would "fight this war together with sexual minorities all around Japan."

Aiba and Kozumi have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalize same-sex unions.

That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. So they decided to act rather than waiting.

"Right now we are both in good health and able to work, but what if either of us has an accident or becomes ill? We are not allowed to be each other's guarantors for medical treatment, or to be each other's heir," Kozumi, a 45-year-old office worker, said in a recent interview with his partner Aiba, 40. "Progress in Japan has been too slow."

In this Jan. 28, 2019, photo, Kenji Aiba, left, and his partner Ken Kozumi laugh during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. Kozumi and Aiba have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating that Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalize same-sex unions. That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. On Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, Valentine's Day, the couple is joining a dozen other same-sex couples in Japan's first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country's rejection of same-sex marriage. (AP Photo/Toru Takahashi)

Ten Japanese municipalities have enacted "partnership" ordinances for same-sex couples to make it easier for them to rent apartments together, among other things, but they are not legally binding. Japanese laws are currently interpreted as allowing marriage only between a man and a woman.

In a society where pressure for conformity is strong, many gay people hide their sexuality, fearing prejudice at home, school or work. The obstacles are even higher for transgender people in the highly gender-specific society. The Supreme Court last month upheld a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents.

The LGBT equal rights movement has lagged behind in Japan because people who are silently not conforming to conventional notions of sexuality have been so marginalized that the issue hasn't been considered a human rights problem, experts say.

"Many people don't even think of a possibility that their neighbors, colleagues or classmates may be sexual minorities," said Mizuho Fukushima, a lawyer-turned-lawmaker and an expert on gender and human rights issues. "And the pressure to follow a conservative family model, in which heterosexual couples are supposed to marry and have children, is still strong."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ultra-conservative supporters have campaigned to restore a paternalistic society based on heterosexual marriages. The government has restarted moral education class at schools to teach children family values and good deeds.

"Whether to allow same-sex marriage is an issue that affects the foundation of how families should be in Japan, which requires an extremely careful examination," Abe said in a statement last year.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has repeatedly come under fire for making remarks deemed discriminating against LGBTQ people. In January, party veteran Katsuei Hirasawa said "a nation would collapse" if everyone became LGBTQ. Last year, another ruling lawmaker, Mio Sugita, was condemned after saying in a magazine that the government shouldn't use tax money for the rights of LGBTQ individuals because they are "not productive."

But while the law and many lawmakers lag behind, public acceptance of sexual diversity and same-sex marriage has grown in Japan. According to an October, 2018 survey by the advertising agency Dentsu, more than 70 percent of the 6,229 respondents aged 20-59 said they support legalizing same-sex marriage.

Some companies have adopted policies to extend employee benefits to their same-sex partners. A few women's universities have announced they will start accepting male-to-female transgender applicants, and some schools are allowing both boys and girls to choose between trousers and skirts. Increasingly, genderless public toilets are becoming available for "everyone."

Aiba said he feels a bit "scared" to go public and is worried about possible repercussions. But he and Kozumi decided to act on behalf of all their peers "who are too afraid of coming out because of discrimination and prejudice that we still face."

"It will be our dream comes true if our marriage certificate is accepted one day," Aiba said. "We want to make that happen."

Pressures for change are mounting.

Japan's refusal to issue spouse visas to partners of same-sex couples legally married overseas is a growing problem, forcing them to temporarily live separately. A group of lawmakers is lobbying the Justice Ministry to consider a special visa for them.

In August, The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan, and its counterparts from Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, called for legalizing same sex marriages, , saying Japan' loses out because talented LGBTQ people choose elsewhere to work.

The primary goal of the lawsuit filed Thursday is to win marital equality for same-sex couples. But transgender people are also hoping for such a change, which would eliminate the need for anyone to be sterilized just so they can get married.

___

Associated Press journalist Kaori Hitomi contributed to this report.

Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi

FILE - In this May 7, 2017, file photo, participants pose on a float before the Tokyo Rainbow Pride parade celebrating the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Tokyo. Thirteen same-sex couples are filing Japan's first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country's rejection of same-sex marriage on Valentine Day, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

Plaintiffs speak to journalists before they file lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country's rejection of same-sex marriage, near Tokyo District Court in Tokyo Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. The Valentine Day lawsuits argue the law violates same-sex couples' constitutional rights to equality. (Chika Ohshima/Kyodo News via AP)

FILE - In this July 27, 2018, file photo, people protest in front of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo against the party lawmaker Mio Sugita. Sugita was condemned after saying in a magazine that the government shouldn't use tax money for the rights of LGBTQ individuals because they are "not productive." Thirteen same-sex couples are filing Japan's first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country's rejection of same-sex marriage on Valentine Day, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Tokyo. (Iori Sagisawa/Kyodo News via AP, File)

In this Feb. 4, 2019, photo, Mizuho Fukushima, a Social Democratic Party lawmaker, speaks at her office during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo. Thirteen same-sex couples are filing Japan's first lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the country's rejection of same-sex marriage on Valentine Day, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019 in Tokyo. "Many people don't even think of a possibility that their neighbors, colleagues or classmates may be sexual minorities," said the lawyer-turned-lawmaker and an expert on gender and human rights issues. (AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort intentionally lied to investigators and a federal grand jury in the special counsel's Russia probe, a judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson's decision was another loss for Manafort, a once-wealthy political consultant who rose to lead Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and now faces years in prison in two criminal cases brought in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation.

The four-page ruling hurts Manafort's chance of receiving a reduced sentence, though Jackson said she would decide the exact impact during his sentencing next month. It also resolves a dispute that had provided new insight into how Mueller views Manafort's actions as part of the broader probe of Russian election interference and any possible coordination with Trump associates.

Prosecutors have made clear that they remain deeply interested in Manafort's interactions with a man the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. But it's unclear exactly what has drawn their attention and whether it relates to election interference because much of the dispute has played out in secret court hearings and blacked out court filings.

In her ruling Wednesday, Jackson provided few new details as she found there was sufficient evidence to say Manafort broke the terms of his plea agreement by lying about three of five matters that prosecutors had singled out. The ruling was largely a rejection of Manafort's attorneys' argument that he hadn't intentionally misled investigators but rather forgot some details until his memory was refreshed.

The judge found that Manafort did mislead the FBI, prosecutors and a federal grand jury about his interactions with Konstantin Kilimnik, the co-defendant who the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence. Prosecutors had accused Manafort of lying about several discussions the two men had including about a possible peace plan to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict in Crimea.

Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing, walk to federal court Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

During a sealed hearing last week, Mueller prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said one of the discussions- an Aug. 2, 2016, meeting at the Grand Havana Room club and cigar bar in New York- went to the "larger view of what we think is going on" and what "we think the motive here is."

"This goes, I think, very much to the heart of what the Special Counsel's Office is investigating," Weissmann said, according to a redacted transcript of the hearing. He added: "That meeting and what happened at that meeting is of significance to the special counsel."

The meeting occurred while Manafort was still in a high-ranking role in the Trump campaign. Rick Gates, Manafort's longtime deputy and also a Trump campaign aide, attended. And prosecutors say the three men left separately so as not to draw attention to their meeting.

Weissmann said investigators were also interested in several other meetings between Kilimnik and Manafort including when Kilimnik traveled to Washington for Trump's inauguration in January 2017. And Manafort's attorneys accidentally revealed weeks ago that prosecutors believe Manafort shared polling data with Kilimnik during the 2016 presidential campaign.

On Wednesday, Jackson found that in addition to his interactions with Kilimnik, there was sufficient evidence that Manafort had lied about a payment to a law firm representing him and about an undisclosed Justice Department investigation.

But she found there wasn't enough evidence to back up two other allegations. The judge said prosecutors failed to show Manafort intentionally lied about Kilimnik's role in witness tampering or about Manafort's contacts with the Trump administration in 2017 and 2018.

Kilimnik, who lives in Russia, was charged alongside Manafort with conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He has yet to appear in a U.S. court to face the charges.

Manafort's sentencing is set for March 13. He faces up to five years in prison on two felony charges stemming from illegal lobbying he performed on behalf of Ukrainian political interests.

Separately, he faces the possibility of a decade in prison in a federal case in Virginia where he was convicted last year of tax and bank fraud crimes. Sentencing in that case was delayed pending Jackson's ruling in the plea-deal dispute.

___

Read the order: http://apne.ws/NFRmWXy

___

This story has been corrected to show the name of the club is the Grand Havana Room, not the Grand Havana Club.

Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing, walk to federal court Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Kevin Downing, defense attorney for Paul Manafort, walks to the entrance of federal court on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Kevin Downing, Paul Manafort's defense attorney, right, walks to the entrance of federal court on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 in Washington. At left is attorney Tim Wang, another member of the defense team for Manafort. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

Kevin Downing, Paul Manafort's defense attorney, walks towards the entrance of federal court on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A jury ruled Wednesday that an Iowa prison warden discriminated against a transgender employee by denying him the use of men's restrooms and locker rooms in a verdict that advocates call "historic."

Jurors also found that the state executive branch discriminated against Jesse Vroegh by offering medical benefits that would not cover his gender reassignment surgery. After making those findings, the eight-member jury awarded $120,000 in damages for emotional distress to Vroegh, 37, a former nurse at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville.

The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing Vroegh, said the lawsuit was the first related to transgender rights that's been filed since lawmakers amended the Iowa Civil Rights Act in 2007 to bar discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation. ACLU lawyer Melissa Hasso said the verdict marks "an historic day for transgender Iowans, their friends and families."

Vroegh began working at the women's prison Mitchellville as a registered nurse in 2009. Vroegh was considered a female at work and used the women's bathrooms and locker rooms, even though he had long presented as male in clothing and hair style. In 2014, Vroegh informed his boss that he would be begin a social transition at work from female to male after being diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Beginning in 2015, Vroegh requested that he be able to begin using men's bathrooms and locker rooms and that the prison develop a policy to accommodate the rights of transgender employees.

Prison Warden Patti Wachtendorf denied Vroegh's requests, saying she was concerned about the rights of male employees who may be uncomfortable sharing facilities with him. Instead, Wachtendorf designated two single-occupancy bathrooms as gender neutral for Vroegh to use and ultimately told him no policy would be adopted.

This photo provided by the American Civil Liberties Union shows former Iowa prison nurse Jesse Vroegh. An Iowa jury on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 ruled that a warden discriminated against Vroegh, who is transgender, by refusing to let him to use men's bathrooms and locker rooms at work. The verdict is the first of its kind in Iowa. (Veronica Fowler/ACLU of Iowa via AP)

Vroegh argued in the lawsuit that the prison's accommodation amounted to discrimination because, unlike other male employees, he had to walk outside to another building and pass through security whenever he needed to use the restroom. He also argued that the accommodation meant that his male gender identity wasn't accepted.

Around that time, Wellmark, which offers the health insurance plan for state employees, refused to cover a chest surgery that had been recommended by Vroegh's doctors to treat his gender dysphoria. Wellmark said its plan did not cover any gender reassignment surgery. That benefit was later covered for state employees beginning in 2017.

Jurors ruled the Iowa Department of Corrections and Wachtendorf, now the warden at the Iowa State Penitentiary, discriminated against Vroegh on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in denying his use of the men's bathrooms. And they found that the Department of Administrative Services, which administers benefits for state employees, discriminated against him by denying his insurance benefits.

Vroegh thanked jurors for their verdict in a statement distributed by the ACLU.

"It makes me happy and proud that they recognized that I should be treated equally by my employer and with health care coverage," he said. "This whole lawsuit process has been difficult and emotionally very trying ... But I do it because it's important for all the transgender Iowans who come after me."

Department of Corrections spokesman Cord Overton said the agency is working with state lawyers to evaluate the verdict and review its options, which could include an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Hasso told The Associated Press that the trial showed many prospective jurors had experience around transgender people and that Vroegh was supported by his co-workers. But she said the trial also revealed that the state failed to train supervisors on protections for transgender individuals enshrined in the Iowa Civil Rights Act, and she called on Department of Administrative Services Director Janet Phipps to make such training mandatory instead of voluntary.

"It's a continuous frustration when the state is not enforcing its own civil rights laws," Hasso said. "Moving forward, we would expect any transgender employee be allowed to use the restroom, locker room and any other single-sex facility consistent with their gender identity if that's what they choose to do."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency says it is moving forward with a response to a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants amid criticism from members of Congress and environmentalists that the agency has not moved aggressively enough to regulate them.

Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler was expected to announce the plan during a briefing Thursday in Philadelphia.

In an interview with ABC News Live, Wheeler called the so-called forever chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS, "a very important threat."

Wheeler said the agency was moving forward with the process under the Safe Drinking Water Act that could lead to new safety thresholds for the presence of the chemicals in water, but he did not commit in the interview to setting standards.

The chemicals are found in consumer products ranging from fabrics, rugs and carpets, cooking pots and pans, outdoor gear, shampoo, shaving cream, makeup and even dental floss. Increasing numbers of states have found them seeping into water supplies.

Scientific studies have found "associations" between the chemicals and cancer, thyroid disease, ulcerative colitis and other health issues.

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2019, file photo, acting Environmental Protection administrator Andrew Wheeler arrives to testify at a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. The EPA says it is moving forward with a response to a class of long-lasting chemical contaminants, amid criticism from members of Congress and environmentalists that it has not moved aggressively to regulate them. In an interview with ABC News Live, Wheeler calls the chemicals commonly referred to as PFAS, "a very important threat." (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

With communities around the country finding PFAS in their drinking water, Republican and Democratic lawmakers pressed Wheeler on PFAS during his confirmation process.

Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, whose state of West Virginia was one of the first where PFAS-contaminated water systems were linked to health problems in people, voted for Wheeler's appointment in committee earlier this month only after Wheeler privately assured her the EPA would tackle the problem.

Capito was one of 20 senators writing Wheeler this month to demand mandatory limits on two phased-out versions of PFAS. They pressed Wheeler for other "immediate actions" to protect the public from other versions of the industrial compounds

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded earlier this month that the EPA set legal limits for PFAS in drinking water. If EPA balked, Wheeler "didn't deserve" to be EPA head, Schumer said.

Environmental groups expect the EPA response to do little to move the agency forward from its 2018 pledges to tackle PFAS.

Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group said that without firm action and deadlines, he expected the EPA announcement to be no more than a "plan to plan."

In the ABC interview, Wheeler also indicated that the agency would target those communities most affected.

"We know where the chemicals were manufactured, and we know a lot of the areas where they were actually used, so we're going into those communities to see whether or not the water in those communities are contaminated, he said.

Betsy Southerland, a former science and technology director in EPA's Office of Water, told The Associated Press that Wheeler's plan appeared designed to delay the process and encourage states to set their own standards. That would create more uncertainty about the proper threshold for requiring water treatment for PFAS, said Southerland, who resigned in 2017 to protest the Trump administration's environmental policies.

"It allows industry and federal agencies that should be actively cleaning up to sit back and say, 'It's a big mess, no one knows what the correct number is, so we won't take any action until the confusion is settled,'" she said.

___

Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a Satanic Temple member's religious challenge to a state law that requires one of the nation's longest waiting periods for abortion and mandates that women be offered an ultrasound first.

At issue is Missouri's "informed consent" law that says women must wait three days to receive an abortion and requires those seeking abortions to be provided with a booklet that says "the life of each human being begins at conception." Under the law, abortion providers also must give women a chance to view an ultrasound and hear the fetal heartbeat.

But Supreme Court judges wrote in their ruling that the plaintiff, an anonymous member of the Satanic Temple listed as Mary Doe in the court documents, failed to show that her religious rights were violated because Missouri law does not require women to read the booklet, receive an ultrasound or listen to a heartbeat.

"It simply provides her with that opportunity," the judges wrote.

The woman's attorney, James MacNaughton, said Wednesday that they're disappointed. However, he added, there might be "some small measure of vindication" if the court ruling means women can turn down ultrasounds and still receive abortions.

He said whether that's allowed under the law was unclear over the course of the court challenge.

Planned Parenthood's St. Louis clinic is the only one that currently provides abortions in Missouri. A Planned Parenthood spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

The woman bringing the challenge traveled from southeastern Missouri to St. Louis in 2015 for an abortion at Planned Parenthood. The woman did eventually receive an abortion, but in a letter to her doctors included in court documents, she wrote that some of the state's restrictions on abortion conflict with her beliefs to follow scientific understanding of the world.

The Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple doesn't believe in a literal Satan but sees the biblical Satan as a metaphor for rebellion against tyranny.

The group has waged religious battles around the U.S. in recent years, including pushing unsuccessfully to install a statue of the goat-headed, winged creature called Baphomet outside the Arkansas and Oklahoma state capitols as counterpoints to Ten Commandments monuments. Members also proposed "After School Satan Clubs" in elementary schools from Oregon to Georgia where evangelical Christian "Good News Clubs" are operating.

Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt's spokesman, Chris Nuelle, said in an email that the office applauds the ruling. Nuelle said the measure is "designed to protect women from undue pressure and coercion during the sensitive decision of whether or not to have an abortion."

Twenty-seven states require a waiting period for an abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a national research group that supports abortion rights. Missouri is one of five states with the longest waiting period - 72 hours - in effect.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois House committee approved a measure Wednesday that would hike the state's minimum wage to $15 within six years, setting up the legislation for an immediate floor vote and delivery to a receptive Gov. J.B. Pritzker by next week.

The Labor and Commerce Committee voted 19-10 along party lines to advance Rep. Will Guzzardi's plan. It would bump the $8.25-an-hour rate to $9.25 on Jan. 1. After moving to $10 on July 1, 2020, it would increase $1 each Jan. 1 until 2025.

"Anyone in this state who is working for that wage will tell you they're not being compensated fairly," Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat, testified. "They're being kept in poverty by being paid a wage that is less than the value of the dignity of the work that they put in every day."

The Senate approved the legislation last week. Pritzker, a Democrat, made a $15 minimum a centerpiece of his successful campaign last fall. He has instructed Democrats who control the General Assembly to send him a bill he can sign into law before his Feb. 20 address to unveil his budget proposal.

Major business interests oppose the pace of the phase-in. They have pushed a tiered approach with lower hourly rates in regions outside Chicago that have lower costs of living. The Illinois Retail Merchants Association has suggested phasing in to a $15 base wage in Chicago, $13 in its suburbs and $11 in the rest of the state.

"Small businesses across the state of Illinois are concerned that our local economies are being perceived as comparable to the bustling Chicago, Illinois," said Karen Conn, whose family owns central Illinois hospitality businesses. "I live here, work here, play here, every single day, and I'm here to tell you that Springfield is nowhere comparable."

Illinois state Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, testifies before the Labor and Commerce Committee Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 on his proposal to increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2025. (AP Photo/John O'Connor )

Pritzker opposes regionalization. He said last week that it would be unfair for workers doing the same jobs in different cities would be paid different wages.

___

The bill is SB1 .
WASHINGTON (AP) - House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Wednesday that many of the answers that Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker gave his committee in a hearing last week were "unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by other evidence," and he is asking for further clarification.

In a letter sent to Whitaker, Nadler said he will call him in for a formal deposition if he isn't able to reach a "reasonable accommodation" with the Justice Department on additional answers. Nadler said he has asked his staff to work with Whitaker's staff, and "we are available to meet in the coming days for that purpose."

It's unclear if Whitaker would return to Capitol Hill to clarify his answers. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

The letter comes as Whitaker could have less than a day left in office. The Senate is expected to hold a confirmation vote on President Donald Trump's permanent pick for attorney general, William Barr, on Thursday.

Nadler said Whitaker didn't offer clear responses about his communications with the White House and was inconsistent in testifying about the department's policy on discussing ongoing investigations.

In one instance, Nadler pointed to Whitaker's answers to questions about whether Trump "lashed out" at him after Trump's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and campaign finance violations. News reports said Trump did lash out at Whitaker, but Whitaker said he did not.

In this Feb. 8, 2019, photo, acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler says many of the answers that Whitaker gave his committee in a hearing last week were "unsatisfactory, incomplete or contradicted by other evidence" and is asking for further clarification. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Nadler said the committee "has identified several individuals with direct knowledge of the phone calls you denied receiving" from the White House.

"As a result, we require your clarification on this point without delay," Nadler wrote.

He said Whitaker was also inconsistent on whether he had discussed special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation with the president, or with anyone at the White House or in Trump's circle, before Whitaker worked at the Justice Department. He said he did not, but also noted he had interviewed to be a White House counsel dealing with the Russia probe.

Nadler said that claim was made "somewhat incredulously."
DETROIT (AP) - President Donald Trump is hailing a renaissance in U.S. auto manufacturing that has not happened. The industry is chugging along without the "massive numbers" of car companies that he says are setting up shop in the country.

Always eager to claim a manufacturing revival, Trump in recent weeks has spread the notion that car makers are rushing to produce in the country. It's become a leading justification for his apparent evolution on legal immigration, although whether he's really changing on that subject is suspect, too. He now says the U.S. needs more foreign workers to keep up with the demand. But he's misrepresenting the state of the auto industry.

A look at his comments:

TRUMP: "A lot of car companies are coming back to the United States. " - Cabinet meeting Tuesday.

TRUMP: "We're most proud of the fact - you look at the car companies, they're moving back, they're going into Michigan, they're going into Pennsylvania, they're going back to Ohio, so many companies are coming back." - El Paso, Texas, rally Monday.

TRUMP: "We have massive numbers of companies coming back into our country - car companies. We have seven car companies coming back in right now and there's going to be a lot more." - remarks to reporters Feb. 6.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association Joint Conference in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

THE FACTS: There's no such discernible influx.

Since Trump took office in 2017, auto manufacturing employment has risen by about 51,000 jobs to just over 1 million, according to the Labor Department. That's a 5 percent increase over two years.

There have been new factory announcements, but excluding those that were planned before Trump took office, they don't add up to seven.

Last month, Volkswagen announced plans to expand manufacturing in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Toyota is building a new factory in Alabama with Mazda, and Volvo opened a plant in South Carolina last year, but in each case, that was in the works before Trump took office.

Fiat Chrysler also has nebulous plans to return some pickup truck production from Mexico to suburban Detroit next year, and it may reopen a small Detroit factory to build an SUV. At least one Chinese automaker wants to build in the U.S. starting next year but hasn't announced a site.

Against those uncertain and limited gains, GM is laying people off and plans to close four U.S. factories. Both GM and Ford also are letting go of white-collar workers in restructuring efforts.

As for legal immigration, Trump asserted in his State of the Union address last week: "I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever but they have to come in legally."

Although he has talked about switching to a merit-based, instead of family-based, immigration system, his policy proposals to date do not reflect a wish for more legal entries. He's proposed sharp limits on the ability of citizens and permanent residents to bring in family, slashed the number of refugees the U.S. will accept for two years, proposed eliminating diversity visas and taken steps to limit asylum seekers - all paths for legal entry.

___

Woodward reported from Washington.

__

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A Republican lawmaker in Arkansas, which has some of the strictest abortion prohibitions in the country, wants the state to go even further with a measure that would prohibit the procedure 18 weeks into a pregnancy.

The proposed 18-week ban filed this week would further prohibit abortions in a state where the procedure is already banned at 20 weeks. The latest measure includes an exception for medical emergencies, but not for rape or incest.

"We need to make a statement that life is precious...We're well into the second trimester, so I think this is a way to say, wait, we can pull this back a little bit," Republican Rep. Robin Lundstrum, who sponsored the measure, said Wednesday.

Other states have enacted measures that ban abortion earlier than Arkansas' proposed 18-week ban, but those restrictions have been blocked by courts. Mississippi and Louisiana last year both enacted measures banning abortions at 15 weeks. Mississippi's ban has been blocked by a federal judge. Louisiana's ban will only take effect if Mississippi's law is upheld. An Iowa law banning abortions at six weeks was struck down by a state judge last month.

Arkansas lawmakers in 2013 approved a measure banning abortions at 12 weeks, but that prohibition was later struck down by federal courts. The state's 20-week ban was also enacted in 2013 and has not been challenged in court, though similar prohibitions in two other states have been struck down.

The bill is among several restrictions the majority-Republican Legislature is considering during this year's session. The House on Thursday plans to vote on a Senate-backed measure that would ban most abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 decision legalizing the procedure nationwide. The ban would also take effect if the U.S. Constitution is amended to allow states to prohibit the procedure.

Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota and South Dakota have similar triggered bans on the books.

Abortion rights supporters said the 18-week ban would add even more restrictions in a state where they say women already face tremendous barriers.

"This extreme and dangerous political ideology continues to attack women's health and chip away at Arkansans' basic right to control our own bodies," Gloria Pedro, the Arkansas lobbyist for Planned Parenthood Great Plains Votes said in a statement.

Other abortion measures lawmakers are considering this session include a measure prohibiting abortions because of a Down syndrome diagnosis. Another proposal would increase the waiting period for an abortion from 48 hours to 72 hours.

___

Follow Andrew DeMillo on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ademillo
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Frustration is growing among more than 1,600 Central American migrants penned up for more than a week inside a disused factory turned shelter in the northern Mexico border city of Piedras Negras.

Joe Rivano Barros, of the Texas-based refugee advocacy group Raices, said emotions were running high Wednesday after police and soldiers guarding the shelter didn't allow migrants to leave to go to nearby shops.

Rivano, who was outside the shelter, said people were frustrated and confused because they felt trapped and no one was telling them what was happening.

Coahuila state security officials did not respond to requests for comment. In a statement, they conceded there had been complaints by some migrants and said they would be attended to.

The majority hope to cross the border to request asylum in the U.S.
Excerpts from recent editorials in the United States and abroad:

___

Feb. 12

Chicago Tribune on drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman:

El Chapo's murderous Sinaloa drug cartel was based in Mexico, but for years its American nerve center was Chicago. His henchmen from the Little Village neighborhood, twin brothers Pedro and Margarito Flores, turned the city into a conduit for as much as 1,500 kilos of cocaine and heroin each month that would be distributed throughout the U.S. and Canada. Often, drugs sent to American cities were stashed behind fake walls or in crates of frozen fish or avocados shipped in boxcars and tractor-trailers.

The twins from Chicago were business partners with the notorious drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, but they also were his undoing. They flipped on him, secretly recording him and other cartel members. "Amigo!" Guzman said to one of the Flores brothers in Chicago in a recording of an intercepted phone call. "Here at your service."

Once atop a drug smuggling operation that spanned four continents, Guzman, 61, now faces spending the rest of his life in prison after his conviction Tuesday in a Brooklyn federal courtroom. The 5 1/2-foot kingpin's "bloody reign," said Richard Donoghue, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, "has come to an end, and the myth that he could not be brought to justice has been laid to rest."

A declaration universally welcomed, but particularly in this city. A share of those drug shipments that came through Chicago stayed in Chicago. El Chapo's evil stoked street violence and ruined the lives of countless youths here.

In 2013, the Chicago Crime Commission branded Guzman "Public Enemy No. 1," a designation the commission had used just once before - for Al Capone. His fate sealed, Guzman now can don a different number, the inmate kind, that comes with an orange jumpsuit.

Online: https://www.chicagotribune.com/

___

Feb. 13

The Baltimore Sun on border security and keeping the government open:

Americans can be excused for not celebrating in the streets Wednesday when word leaked out that President Donald Trump will not be vetoing the border security agreement recently negotiated in Congress, which means that a second shutdown of the federal government appears to have been averted. It simply isn't customary to toast common sense. The avoidance of a crisis that was, in retrospect, so easily avoided isn't something Washington should be any more excited about than we are about our leaders' choice not to start each morning by pouring scalding hot coffee over their heads. Who expects congratulations for that?

But there is an important lesson here. And not just that House Democrats under Speaker Nancy Pelosi are going to have a lot of influence on what happens over the next two years. Or that border security - especially related to Central American refugees daring to seek a decent, safe life beyond their borders - is the most hyper-inflated domestic issue of our time. Rather, it is that President Trump can be corralled into making the correct choices even on an issue where his all-important political base is so emotionally invested. When Democrats in the House and Republican leaders like Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby in the Senate work together, they can, for lack of a better description, fence the president in.

Oh, the border security debate isn't over yet and probably won't be for the remainder of Mr. Trump's time in office. We have little doubt about that. White House advisers have already let it be known that they continue to scheme to find ways President Trump can divert federal dollars into wall funding whether it means stealing from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or picking the pocket of the U.S. Treasury's forfeiture account or perhaps diverting military construction funds. Some but not all of those manipulations may require him to declare a national emergency. And those efforts, should they materialize, will have to be dealt with on their own terms.

But take a moment to appreciate how thoroughly the legislative branch - and most especially GOP leadership - boxed Mr. Trump in. Lawmakers showed no stomach for a second shutdown. They recognized that Speaker Pelosi, in particular, had little incentive to capitulate and that Democrats won their House majority on the strength of their opposition to Mr. Trump's extremist immigration stand. They signed onto a deal that results in less border security funding than the president could have had last year when the Senate approved funds for that purpose. And what did they do when they saw the arrangement would result in no more than 55 miles of new "barrier?" Leadership spoke out in one voice to announce what a great victory their team had achieved.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy described Democrats as having caved on border wall funding. "You have to remember where (Speaker) Pelosi was - she who said no money for a wall," he observed during an appearance earlier this week on CNBC. "That's not the case. The Democrats have now agreed to more than 55 miles of new barrier being built." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell publicly urged Mr. Trump to support the measure, telling reporters on Tuesday that the president got "a pretty good deal." You could practically hear the wheels turning in their heads: "No shutdown, no shutdown, no shutdown."

It's possible, of course, that this moment of sanity will come and go and Washington will return to the Trump approach to governance with its trademark fear-mongering and nationalism, outrageous behavior, tirades and scandals, erratic foreign policy and decision-making by whim. Or, maybe, just maybe, members of Congress will recognize that on issues of importance they can sit down and talk turkey, compromise and come to agreement and then force a reasonable course of action on a president who may recognize that his re-election chances in 2020 are greater the more he's in "executive time" and the less he's caught sticking his foot in his mouth.

That kind of Congress-built wall would be infinitely more useful than any barrier to be built on the Southwest border. Meanwhile, if Mr. Trump is serious about doing something about drug smuggling, he can surely find money to pay for more drug-sniffing dogs instead of bricks and mortar. It was, after all, a tractor-trailer carrying cucumbers that produced the largest-ever seizure of fentanyl by U.S. Customs and Border Protection last month in Arizona. The president would get universal applause for that action as well.

Online: https://www.baltimoresun.com/

___

Feb. 13

China Daily on a Middle East conference:

The two-day Middle East conference that started in Poland's capital Warsaw on Wednesday proclaims it will help promote peace and stability in the region. But it is sailing against the wind if it wants to yield any substantial result. There will likely be "all thunder and no rain" - as the Chinese saying goes - given the deep divisions between the United States and its European allies on such key issues as the Iran nuclear deal, as well as the diverse agendas being pursued by the participating countries.

The foreign ministers and senior officials from 60 countries are attending the conference. But the absence of Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, and the foreign ministers of key European powers such as Germany and France suggests Europe is not going to fall in line behind the US on the Middle East, especially after Washington last year unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal - the EU still wants to save the deal - and its decision to withdraw US troops from Syria, which Europe considers too hasty.

And the fact that Iran was not even invited, and its ally Russia declined to attend, suggests the meeting will be more like a trial by default against Iran - Washington has already accused Tehran of destabilizing the region and supporting terrorism, and vowed to change its "behavior" - rather than a platform for relevant parities to come together and find a solution to the problem they face through consultations and negotiations.

Tehran has already dubbed the conference an "anti-Iran circus" and has firmly protested at Poland hosting the event.

But even though Poland is lobbying the US for a permanent US base on its territory as part of its efforts to strengthen the Polish-US alliance against Russia, and thus wants to keep in Washington's good books, it has sought to emphasize that Iran is not the sole focus of the conference.

And though the US may want the focus to be on Iran, other participants also appear to have different priorities. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, for instance, said he primarily wants to use the event to address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

The attendees will also be keen to hear the US plans for promoting peace between Palestinians and Israelis, which is also on the agenda, although the controversial decision by the White House to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last year has basically made it impossible for the US to continue playing its role as a peace intermediary.

The Palestinian government - which has called the Warsaw meeting an "American conspiracy" - has refused talks with the US until it implements a more balanced policy.

The quest for peace in the Middle East shall never cease, but unfortunately the Warsaw meeting despite its claim to be in pursuit of that purpose is unlikely to serve that end.

Online: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/

___

Feb. 12

The Washington Post on the scandals entangling Virginia's governor and his lieutenant:

Neither Gov. Ralph Northam nor Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, each embroiled in scandal, gives any indication they are considering leaving office despite the broad consensus of Virginia's political establishment that they do so. That doesn't absolve the two Democrats of the obligation to address unanswered questions. To the contrary, the need is all the more urgent given that they have shaken the trust of even many ardent supporters.

For Mr. Northam, who spun heads by denying he'd appeared in a racist yearbook photograph less than 24 hours after admitting it, the questions mainly concern his credibility. How does he intend to repair it?

In the days after the damning photo surfaced, and following the disastrous news conference in which he made a hash of trying to explain it, the governor's aides let it be known that he planned to hire a private investigator to get to the bottom of the image's provenance. Fine, but there has been no further word from Mr. Northam on that - although he did hire a D.C. crisis-management agency. Eastern Virginia Medical School, in whose 1984 yearbook the photo appeared, has undertaken its own inquiry, led by a former Virginia attorney general, Richard Cullen.

But it is primarily the governor's responsibility to explain. If neither of the figures in the photo is the governor, how and why did it land on his medical school yearbook page? There has been no adequate account of that, nor of why Mr. Northam's nickname as an undergraduate at Virginia Military Institute was "Coonman." Who coined that appellation, and why?

The questions for Mr. Fairfax arise in part from his intemperate responses to accusations by two women that he sexually assaulted them. He has referred to the accusations as a "smear" and called them a "coordinated" conspiracy against him, while dismissing as "demonstrably false" the allegation by the second accuser, Meredith Watson, that he raped her while both were undergraduates at Duke University in 2000.

Mr. Fairfax, a lawyer and former federal prosecutor, understands the meaning of words. So on what does he base his assertion that the accusations against him are "coordinated"? And if the rape allegation is "demonstrably" untrue, as he said, in what way can he demonstrate it? And if he really believes the two women have invented spurious stories to "smear" him, why does he think they would do that?

Mr. Fairfax has also said his encounters with both Ms. Watson and another woman, Vanessa Tyson, now a college professor, were "consensual." As Post columnist Karen Tumulty has asked, how did he draw that conclusion?

Mr. Northam and Mr. Fairfax may believe they can weather the storm by holding tight and uttering platitudes about reconciliation and respect. The reality is that there are factual issues to be addressed. Both men had better address them, if they can. If they do not or cannot, their remaining terms in office, nearly three years, will be irreparably impaired.

Online: https://www.washingtonpost.com/

___

Feb. 12

USA Today on critiques of President Donald Trump by people who've worked with or for him:

President Donald Trump likes to say that he hires only the best people and that his White House operates like a well-oiled machine.

But a steady stream of insider accounts flowing out of the West Wing suggests there's more madness than method to the president and his administration.

The most recent entries are two books that just hit best-seller lists, one by former White House aide Cliff Sims, the other by ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a onetime Trump adviser.

Sims dishes about Oval Office back-stabbing in his explicitly titled "Team of Vipers." Christie's "Let Me Finish" laments Trump's choice of "amateurs, grifters, weaklings, convicted and unconvicted felons ... hustled into jobs they were never suited for."

The authors join a pantheon of disgruntled leakers or tattling ex-staffers telling tales of incompetence at the highest executive levels. Last week, someone handed Axios three months of Trump's daily schedule, revealing in mortifying detail how the president spends more than half of his workday in "executive time" activities such as watching TV, tweeting and making calls.

The consistent and growing evidence of internal dysfunction is growing increasingly difficult to ignore or explain away. Remember, these accounts aren't coming from Democrats or anti-Trump pundits. They're from people who have worked inside the administration and seen White House operations up close and personal:

- A senior Trump administration official, writing an anonymous column in The New York Times, characterized the president as "impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective," with decisions that are "half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless."

- Journalist Bob Woodward, in his best-selling book "Fear," diagnosed a White House suffering a "nervous breakdown," with aides stealing papers off Trump's desk to deter bad policy. Former Chief of Staff John Kelly was quoted as saying: "We're in Crazytown."

- "Fire and Fury" by writer Michael Wolff and "Unhinged" by Omarosa Manigault Newman, the ex-White House aide and former television reality star, questioned the president's mental well-being.

Sprinkled throughout these tell-all tomes are unflattering assessments of the president by some of his top-drawer executives. Ex-Defense Secretary James Mattis, according to Woodward, said Trump comprehends like a "fifth- or sixth-grader." And former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has never denied multiple reports that he labeled Trump a "moron."

Trump and his supporters have questioned the credibility of some writers, or dismissed their accounts as sour grapes. But you have to wonder how so many aides who were hailed as brilliant choices on their way into the administration suddenly became incompetent hacks on their way out.

With more books in the pipeline, the Trump campaign is eager to try to enforce nondisclosure agreements signed by ex-staffers. What doesn't the White House want the public to know?

People who've served inside the Trump administration keep trying to warn the world that something is terribly awry. Americans ignore them at their peril.

Online: https://www.usatoday.com/

___

Feb. 13

Tampa Bay Times on a year since 17 people were killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida:

Florida has been forever changed by the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. In the 12 months since 17 people were killed by a troubled former student firing a semi-automatic assault rifle, there have been modest new gun controls, enhanced security at schools and an increase in civic activism by young people. The challenge on the one-year anniversary of the shooting is to remain focused on meaningful changes to make our schools and communities safer - and for Floridians of all ages to remain involved in the discussion.

To their credit, then-Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature reacted with remarkable speed following the shooting. Within three weeks, a new law raised the age to buy all guns from 18 to 21, applied the three-day waiting period for buying handguns to rifles and outlawed bump stocks that have been used in other mass shootings and enable guns to fire more rapidly. Florida became one of a handful of states to establish a red flag law that enables law enforcement to seek a court order to take guns away from people who are a threat to themselves or others. Schools are being hardened, and at least one armed guard is required now at every school.

Yet there is much more to be done. A state commission chaired by Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri recommends increasing spending on mental health, requiring "hard corners" in every classroom where students and teachers cannot be seen by shooters in hallways or outside and locked door policies. Many of the commission's prudent proposals, including a review of campus hardening efforts and standardized school security assessments, are included in legislation passed Tuesday by the Senate Education Committee. In the meantime, many school districts have to step up their efforts to comply with the requirement that every school have behavioral threat assessment teams to identify students showing concerning behavior.

If the Florida Legislature was less beholden to the National Rifle Association, it would take more aggressive measures. It would expand the red flag law to empower family members, not just law enforcement officers, to ask a judge to take firearms away from someone who is a danger to themselves or others. It would close the so-called gun show loophole so every gun sale would require a background check. It would ban semi-automatic weapons like those used at Stoneman Douglas and the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. Of course, that is not likely to happen in Tallahassee until voters send more gun-control advocates to the Legislature.

What really shouldn't happen is allowing some classroom teachers to carry guns, no matter how well they are screened or how much training they receive. The commission chaired by Gualtieri supports that change, and so do Gov. Ron DeSantis and key Republican legislators. Gualtieri, who changed his thinking during the commission's study, suggests at least one teacher could have shot and stopped the Stoneman Douglas shooter if he had been armed. But the commission also documented a series of systemic failures. The school district mishandled Nikolas Cruz's issues over a long period. Campus monitors at Stoneman Douglas failed to sound the alarm when Cruz walked on campus carrying a rifle bag. And armed police officers failed to immediately enter the building after Cruz started shooting. More guns in schools is not the answer.

Ultimately, school safety is about money. The Florida Legislature should continue to invest in mental health services, better communications systems within schools and hardening campuses. If there is a compelling need for more armed security, the state should provide school districts with enough money to hire more police officers or licensed security guards with law enforcement backgrounds.

Online: http://www.tampabay.com/
EDMOND, Okla. (AP) - Despite dying in December, the then-mayor of an Oklahoma City suburb has advanced to the general election following a Facebook campaign supporting him.

Former Edmond Mayor Charles Lamb's name will be on the April 2nd general election ballot with former Mayor Dan O'Neil after Lamb finished second to O'Neil in complete, but unofficial results from the three-person race Tuesday .

"It's sort of an awkward election," O'Neil said Wednesday. "Mr. Lamb was a fixture in Edmond for a long time ... I will continue doing what he did," O'Neil said.

If Lamb is elected, the City Council would appoint a mayor.

"There are people advocating for his election for their political reasons ... they want to be mayor," according to O'Neil, who served one term as mayor from 2007-2009 before losing re-election to former Mayor Patrice Douglas.

The Facebook campaign was led by Michelle Schaefer of Edmond, who referred questions to Councilman Nick Massey, who Schaefer has said she hopes is appointed mayor.

FILE - In this Nov. 29, 2010, file photo, Charles Lamb, Mayor Pro Tem and Council Member for the city of Edmond, Okla., answers a question at a news conference in Oklahoma City. Lamb, the late mayor of the Oklahoma City suburb, who died in December, has advanced to the general election following a Facebook campaign supporting him. Lamb's name will be on the April 2nd general election ballot with former Mayor Dan O'Neil, after Lamb finished second to O'Neil in the three-person race Tuesday. If the late Lamb is elected, the City Council would appoint a mayor. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Massey also called the situation awkward and said he would have run for mayor had Lamb not sought re-election, but that the filing period had closed when Lamb died. He said he would be "honored" to accept the appointment, but would not campaign for people to vote for Lamb in the general election.

"I think I prefer to sit back and let the citizens do what they think is right. I don't expect to do any active campaigning," Massey said. "If you like the direction the city has been taking over the last six, seven, eight years, you might consider voting for Charles and let the City Council decide who to appoint" to lead the city of nearly 92,000 .

When Lamb died it was too late to remove his name from the ballot or to add anyone else, according to city spokesman Casey Moore.

Although O'Neil received nearly 56 percent of the more than 6,200 votes cast, both he and Lamb, who received about 33 percent, will appear on the April ballot, which is not a runoff, but a general election, said Moore.

"Under the city charter, if there are more than two candidates for a seat then there's a primary, and from the primary the top two vote-getters in that primary advance, regardless of (vote) totals," Moore said.

Erik Lamb, the son of the late mayor, said he, his sister and his mother learned of the planned social media campaign and discussed it before it became public.

"We were approached by outside people who asked if they would have our blessing and we gave it to them to go ahead and continue," Erik Lamb said.

Lamb said his family has not taken part in the campaign and has no plans to do so. He declined comment about O'Neil.
PHOENIX (AP) - The Latest on a case of alleged excessive force by police in Phoenix (all times local):

3: 45 p.m.

A prosecutor who declined to file charges against police officers in a case of alleged excessive force outside Phoenix now says "further investigation is warranted."

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery changed course Wednesday after Gov. Doug Ducey said the probe into the officers' conduct seems to have been "whitewashed" and should be reopened. Video of the encounter has recently been released and widely shared online.

Montgomery says he sent materials to the Phoenix office of the FBI.

Ducey's comments about the investigation were a rare rebuke of police and prosecutors for a governor who counts law enforcement as strong allies. Montgomery is seeking an appointment from Ducey to the Arizona Supreme Court.

Anya Chapman wipes away tears as attorney Marc J. Victor speaks to the media concerning Chapman's husband, Johnny Wheatcroft, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Chandler, Ariz. Victor has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wheatcroft claiming the Glendale, Ariz. police dept. used excessive force against Wheatcroft during his arrest in 2017. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Montgomery says a review by an outside agency will help ensure the public's confidence in future decisions about the use of force by police.

___

2:45 p.m.

Arizona's governor says an excessive force investigation into police in a Phoenix suburb seems to have been "whitewashed" and should be reopened.

The comments Wednesday were an extremely rare rebuke of police and prosecutors for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey.

He was reacting to newly released body-camera video showing Glendale police officers repeatedly using a stun gun on a handcuffed man.

Johnny Wheatcroft has sued, saying one officer kicked him in the groin while another stunned him in the testicles during the July 2017 encounter.

Prosecutors declined to file charges. One officer was suspended for three days.

Ducey says prosecutors should "get to the bottom of what happened and hold people accountable."

Representatives for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and Glendale police didn't immediately comment.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - An Iowa hotel has settled a lawsuit with a New Jersey woman who was raped and battered after the front desk gave the attacker her room key.

Attorneys for Cheri Marchionda say the operators of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Des Moines agreed to a settlement before she was set to testify Wednesday. Terms were not disclosed.

According to court records, Marchionda was staying at the hotel as part of a business trip and was in the hotel's bar when a man, later identified as Christopher LaPointe of New York, approached her. She rejected LaPointe's advances.

She later awoke to find LaPointe in her hotel room touching her leg. He then battered and sexually assaulted her over several hours.

Police later learned that LaPointe had asked the front desk for and been given a key to Marchionda's room, without being asked to show proof that he was registered to the room or even a hotel guest. When he had trouble getting in because Marchionda had engaged the door's safety latch, LaPointe convinced a maintenance worker to disable it, telling the worker he had had a fight with his "girlfriend" and she had locked him out of the room.

Investigators say the maintenance worker let LaPointe in unaccompanied and left.

The Associated Press typically does not name victims of sexual assault, but Marchionda's attorney, Peter Villari, said she is revealing her name in hopes of serving as an advocate for hotel safety and sexual assault victims.

A Des Moines attorney for Hammons Inc. and Atrium TRS III, the operators of the hotel, did not immediate return a phone message left Wednesday. The Embassy Suites franchise and Hilton Worldwide had earlier been dismissed from the lawsuit.

Villari said his client suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder from the attack, causing her to lose her executive sales job. Her doctor says she'll need a minimum of six months treatment for her PTSD before she can begin working again.

"It's been a long fight for this woman," Villari said. "She's very happy that it's been resolved."
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - With Virginia's top Democrats mired in scandal, the fourth man in line to become governor is keeping a low profile even as his status rises.

Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox, a soft-spoken retired public school teacher, could play a key role in determining the fates of the three highest-ranking Democrats in state government. And their misfortune could help strengthen Cox's shaky hold on a Republican majority in a state that's been tilting blue under President Donald Trump.

He's called on all three to resign but said his focus is the more mundane work of getting a state budget and other legislation passed. And he's made clear that although he wants a part in addressing black leaders' concerns about racial inequality, he's not seeking a starring role.

"I certainly need to be part of that conversation; I need to be at the table. I would never presuppose I should lead in that arena," Cox said in an interview with The Associated Press, adding he thinks Gov. Ralph Northam will have a difficult time leading as well.

Northam has been the subject of national ridicule after a bumbling response to a racist photo in his medical school yearbook. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax has lost staff and been placed on leave at his law firm after two women accused him of sexual assault, which he denies. And Attorney General Mark Herring has all but disappeared after admitting to dressing in blackface in college, an admission that came days after condemning Northam for similar behavior.

In addition, the state's top Republican senator, Tommy Norment, is facing questions about a yearbook he helped put together in college 50 years ago that included racial slurs and blackface.

Speaker Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, listens to debate during the floor session of the House of Delegates chamber inside the State Capitol in Richmond, Va., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Cox said Wednesday that he's open to the idea of a General Assembly-led investigation into sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, but he believes any such effort would be "very slow" and "very deliberate.". (Bob Brown)./Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP)

The speaker, who is white, began his teaching career at a predominantly black middle school in Petersburg and enjoys close ties with several black lawmakers.

Northam and Herring have defied calls to resign and are looking for ways to rebuild trust with the black community. African-American leaders have said they want the governor and attorney general to advocate on specific issues - including the removal of Confederate statues and decriminalizing marijuana - that have previously been rejected by the GOP-controlled General Assembly.

Cox said House Republicans have a long record of promoting issues important to the black community and there's "certainly" room to improve. But he gave no indication he's weighing any dramatic gesture - like pushing for the removal of Confederate statues - that would help Northam and Herring's cause.

Cox also has a major say on if and when the legislature decides to investigate the allegations made against Fairfax. A lawyer for one of his accusers asked Cox and other legislative leaders Tuesday to ensure that Fairfax's accusers have a venue to tell their side of the story. Cox said it's too soon to say what the legislature's best course of action is, but has not entirely ruled out some kind of impeachment proceedings.

"We need to proceed with caution," he said.

Before scandals plagued the Capitol, Cox was focused on trying to broaden the GOP's appeal to suburban voters who have fled the Republican Party in the Trump era. He showed a willingness to make deals on kitchen table issues like curbing teen smoking and improving water quality.

His pragmatism took center stage last year, when his party took a drubbing in the 2017 elections and saw its once formidable advantage in the House of Delegates reduced to a razor-thin 51-49 majority.

Then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe had tried in vain for four year to expand Medicaid, but the Republican speaker at the time, Bill Howell, was uninterested in striking a deal.

Cox, on the other hand, saw his party's precarious position and quickly began talks with Northam. A small group of Republicans joined with Democrats to pass Medicaid expansion after securing concessions to include work requirements for recipients.

All 140 legislative seats will be up for election later this year, and what once looked like an uphill climb for Republicans now seems like more favorable terrain. With their top leaders politically wounded, Democrats will have a harder time raising money and energizing their base.

Cox said he's not sure if the Democrats' scandals will help in November but Republicans won't take anything for granted.

"It's our obligation to get into those communities and earn those votes," he said.

For their part, black lawmakers have made clear they're open to working with Republicans to advance their agenda.

"We need both sides of the aisle," said Del. Lamont Bagby, chairman of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The director of Homeland Security's cybersecurity agency says officials are working to secure the 2020 presidential election.

Christopher Krebs says he's trying to shift focus from what happened in 2016 with Russian interference to what could happen next. He's trying to get election security officials to think ahead and prepare for possibilities.

But he also says even the threat of a disruption can sow discord, and the government is working to better inform Americans.

Krebs was testifying Wednesday before the House Homeland Security Committee, now under Democratic control.

Intelligence officials last week gave President Donald Trump a classified report on the 2018 midterm election that said no evidence was found that efforts by Russians or other foreign groups affected election or campaign infrastructure. But the details remain classified.
ROME (AP) - Police say Italy's three big organized crime syndicates are increasingly infiltrating Rome's economy, sometimes collaborating for efficiency.

The semi-annual report of the national anti-Mafia investigative police agency DIA offers a grim analysis of how the Sicilian Mafia, Naples-area Camorra and Calabria-rooted 'ndrangheta invest illegal revenues heavily in Rome hotels, restaurants and stores, often aided by complicit lawyers and accountants.

DIA analysts say mobsters from the three crime syndicates based in southern Italy blend into Rome's populous neighborhoods. They say the mobsters often set up companies run by professionals to infiltrate public contract bidding. They also warn of the mobsters' ability to corrupt local officials.

Separately, authorities said Wednesday they suspect Rome authorities and local mobsters colluded to demand payoffs from street vendors for permission to operate near major tourist attractions.
CHICAGO (AP) - Actor Jussie Smollett says he's "pissed off" that some have doubted his claims about being attacked outside his Chicago apartment last month.

The actor who stars in the Fox drama "Empire" made the comments during an interview with ABC News that's set to air Thursday on "Good Morning America." A preview clip from the interview was posted online Wednesday.

Smollett says he was attacked Jan. 29 by two masked men who shouted racial and homophobic slurs at him. Chicago police have made no arrests and said they have not found surveillance video that shows the attack.

The 36-year-old Smollett, who is black and openly gay, tells ABC News that he wonders how people could doubt him, adding that what he reported was the truth.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Union reached a tentative breakthrough deal late Wednesday on copyright issues in the digital age, which it claims will better reward authors, artists and journalists and empower them in their relations with internet giants.

The late evening deal between member states and European Parliament legislators will seek to make sure that internet platforms pay more for the use of creative work and better protect press publishers from unauthorized digital reproduction and distribution. The agreement also says memes and GIFs can be shared freely.

"Freedoms and rights enjoyed by internet users today will be enhanced, our creators will be better remunerated for their work, and the internet economy will have clearer rules for operating and thriving," EU Commissioner Andrus Ansip said.

Christian Borggreen, vice president of the Computer & Communications Industry Association, said the deal "could harm online innovation, scale-ups, and restrict online freedoms in Europe."

After the political agreement, the member states and the EU parliament still need to officially approve the deal, but no major problems are expected after Wednesday's breakthrough.

The publishing industry felt it was on the cusp of victory after a two-year legislative tussle.

"Quality journalism is at the heart of our democracies and if we want a future for professional journalism in the European Union, we must take action to support the press and to redress an unbalanced ecosystem," the group of Europe's press publishers said in a statement.

Many EU officials and legislators felt YouTube, Google News and other major internet companies hold an undue edge in the digital marketplace.

"This deal is an important step toward correcting a situation which has allowed a few companies to earn huge sums of money without properly remunerating the thousands of creatives and journalists whose work they depend on," said Axel Voss, a Christian Democrat member of the European Parliament.

With the new rulebook, Voss said, "it helps make the internet ready for the future, a space which benefits everyone, not only a powerful few."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ivanka Trump has met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill to discuss paid family leave.

The White House says the president's daughter and senior adviser met Wednesday with Republican senators Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah.

In a news release from Cassidy's office, Ivanka Trump called it a "productive" session.

Ivanka Trump has said paid leave is an administration priority. The Republican president mentioned it in his State of the Union address. But advancing a bipartisan policy will be a challenge in the divided Congress.

The Family and Medical Leave Act gives employees at larger businesses up to 12 weeks of unpaid time after the birth or adoption of a child or for caregiving. Four states currently offer paid leave.
DALLAS (AP) - One of the 17 black women elected as Houston-area judges last year as part of a "Black Girl Magic" campaign has died at age 57.

Judge Cassandra Hollemon's daughter, Brandy Hollemon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her mother died Monday, about a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Hollemon said her mother, who presided over the Harris County Criminal Court at Law No. 12, started feeling ill in mid-December but kept going to work until she was hospitalized on Jan. 23.

"She was an awesome, very strong woman," Brandy Hollemon said.

Brandy Hollemon said her mother loved being part of the "Black Girl Magic" campaign during last year's election . The campaign debuted over the summer with a viral photo that featured the 17 women and two other sitting Harris County judges inside a courtroom. Although those two judges lost their bids for seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, they retained their local judgeships.

Brandy Hollemon said that her mother was still mourning the December 2017 death of her own mother as she campaigned last year.

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Harris County Democratic Party shows a group of 17 African-American women who are part of an effort dubbed the "Black Girl Magic" campaign, in Houston. Front row, leaning against the podium from left, are Maria Jackson and Ramona Franklin. Back row, from left, are Lucia Bates, Erica Hughes, Sandra Peake, Cassandra Hollemon, Germaine Tanner, Ronnisha Bowman, Linda Marie Dunson, Angela Graves-Harrington, Dedra Davis, Shannon Baldwin, Latosha Lewis Payne, Tonya Jones, Sharon Burney, Michelle Moore, Lori Chambers Gray, Toria Finch and LaShawn Williams. One of the 17 black women elected as Houston-area judges in 2018 as part of a "Black Girl Magic" campaign has died at age 57. Judge Hollemon's daughter, Brandy Hollemon, told The Associated Press on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, that her mother died Monday, about a week after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. (Christin Mcqueen/Harris County Democratic Party via AP, File)

"The other judges would have to console her on the campaign trail, but she wouldn't stop, she kept going - just endless hours, up late at night at different functions, campaigning and speaking. She just wouldn't stop," Brandy Hollemon said.

The Harris County Democratic Party put the "Black Girl Magic" campaign together as part of an effort to broaden the diversity of the area's judiciary. The victory by the 17 black women was part of a Harris County rout by the Democrats, who won almost all of the nearly 70 local judicial races and ousted a popular Republican from the county's top elected office.

The Harris County Democratic Party said the election increased the number of black female judges in Harris County from eight to 25.

Brandy Hollemon said her mother gave birth to her at the age of 15 and married her father. She said when her father died in 1992, her mother, who was going to law school, became a single mother to her and her brother.

"She continued to go to law school and she studied endless nights. She had a table she would sit at with a little lamp and just study all night long, and she was working a full-time job," said Brandy Hollemon, who said her mother then practiced law for more than 20 years.

Cassandra Hollemon's funeral is set for Saturday.

The Harris County Commissioners Court will appoint someone to fill her spot, said Douglas Ray, a special assistant Harris County attorney.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Fresh off jumping into the 2020 presidential race, Sen. Elizabeth Warren had plans to meet voters in Las Vegas. The only problem: a government shutdown roiling Washington.

The Massachusetts Democrat had to decide whether to keep her plans last month in a critical early voting state or stay in Washington in case her vote was needed in the Senate to end the impasse. She ultimately decided to remain in the capital and will make up for the cancellation by visiting Las Vegas on Sunday.

The episode illustrates the challenge facing the nearly half-dozen senators running for the White House. Dysfunction in Washington makes it difficult for them to make plans. Republicans in control of the Senate are poised to force politically sensitive votes. And candidates must maintain a relentless travel schedule to build support in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada without missing a beat on Capitol Hill, where a missed vote could come back to haunt them.

"This schedule is going to be very different," Democratic presidential contender and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said in an interview. "I'll be working every weekend, which is just different. And that's why this was a very important family decision that we had to spend time thinking long and hard about over the holidays."

Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat who was his party's 2016 vice presidential nominee, said the intensity will only grow.

"If you're going to run, you've got to be very single-minded about it. And so over the long haul, it's really a hard balancing act," he said. "I didn't run for a year or run for two years, but even the 105-day version of it was tough."

In this Feb. 10, 2019, photo, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., speaks to local residents during an organizing event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The nearly half-dozen Democratic senators also seeking their party's 2020 presidential nomination are facing a juggling act, crisscrossing the country while keeping an eye on their constituents and making it to votes in Washington. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., signaled this week that he will make the task harder for Democratic presidential hopefuls by holding a vote on a sweeping climate change proposal known as the Green New Deal in an effort to drive a wedge between the candidates and their liberal base.

Five top-tier Democratic presidential contenders who also serve in the Senate are backing the Green New Deal. A sixth high-profile backer, Vermont independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, is likely to enter the presidential race in the coming weeks. It's not clear whether they all will support the ambitious, still-symbolic plan when McConnell tees up a vote on it.

But before that measure comes up, they'll have to cast a challenging vote this week on a new government funding bill with more than $1 billion for constructing new barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border - less than President Donald Trump pushed for, but still more than many on the left support.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a longtime GOP leader, predicted in a recent interview that Democratic senators running for president would face a "pretty bumpy" time given that his party controls the chamber's schedule.

"This is the job they got elected to, so they need to do their day job that the taxpayers pay them for," Cornyn said, adding, "I assume they're going to miss votes."

So far, the Senate schedule has only rarely interrupted planned campaign trips for Democratic candidates, and Warren has yet to miss a Senate vote this year, according to publicly available tallies. Sanders and Sen. Kamala Harris of California have each missed one vote so far this year, while Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has missed two votes, Gillibrand has missed three and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey has missed four. Another Democratic candidate, Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, has missed nine House votes so far this year.

Presidential candidates can take heat for their absentee records. During the 2016 Republican primary, which featured three sitting senators, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio faced particular scrutiny for missed votes and committee hearings during his presidential bid. Then-candidate Trump derided him for "the worst voting record there is today," and a political action committee linked to another rival ran a TV ad slamming him for the truancy.

Then-Sen. Barack Obama faced criticism for missing votes during his 2008 presidential primary against fellow Democratic Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York, Joe Biden of Delaware and Chris Dodd of Connecticut. The financial crisis that engulfed the country that year also forced Obama and Sen. John McCain, then the Republican presidential nominee, to return to the Senate to cast dramatic votes on a bailout of the banking system.

The balancing act was especially acute for Dodd, who spent 2007 campaigning for president and chairing the Senate Banking Committee, responsible for oversight of the looming financial crisis. He dropped out of the campaign in early 2008.

That double act required "a tremendous amount of time and juggling," Dodd said in a recent interview. When it came to his voting attendance, he recalled, "I tried to be careful about it. You leave yourself very vulnerable with your constituents back home if you're not careful."

"On several occasions" during the 2008 campaign, Dodd added, he shared charter flights with his longtime friend Biden when more front-running candidates had their own aircraft.

But if Biden joins the packed primary field for 2020, running from outside the Senate for the first time, he won't need to share.

___

Associated Press writer Juana Summers contributed to this report.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - A judge may require prosecutors to disclose more information about former national security adviser Michael Flynn's role in a case accusing his former business partner of illegally lobbying for Turkey.

At a hearing Wednesday in Alexandria, Judge Anthony Trenga ordered prosecutors to disclose to defense attorneys the names of any unindicted co-conspirators whose statements will be used at the upcoming trial of Bijan Kian.

Kian is charged with illegal lobbying as part of a campaign to pressure the United States to expel a Turkish cleric. The indictment says Kian worked closely with Flynn, but Flynn is only named in the indictment as "Person A."

Defense lawyers argued they're entitled to know the identity of any unnamed co-conspirators to prepare their defense.

Trenga also set a July 15 trial date.
Think of it as decontaminating yourself. Hospitalized patients who harbor certain superbugs can cut their risk of developing full-blown infections if they swab medicated goo in their nose and use special soap and mouthwash for six months after going home, a study found.

It's a low-tech approach to a big problem: About 5 percent of patients have MRSA - antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria - lurking on their skin or in their noses, putting them at high risk of developing an infection while recovering from an illness or an operation. These can affect the skin, heart, brain, lungs, bones and joints, and most of them land people back in the hospital.

The hygiene steps that researchers tested trimmed that risk by nearly one third.

"It's a very simple solution. You don't have to swallow a medicine, you just have to clean the outside of your body for a little while longer," said Dr. Susan Huang of the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. She led the federally funded study, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

A lot has been done to curb infections in hospitals and attention is shifting to what happens after patients leave. Nine states - California, Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey - require that hospitals test the most vulnerable patients, such as those in intensive care, for MRSA. Many other places do it voluntarily.

The study involved more than 2,000 patients at hospitals in southern California who were found to carry MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. All were given information on ways to avoid infection, and half also got special products - mouthwash, liquid soap containing an antiseptic and an antibiotic ointment to swab in the nose. They were told to use these Monday through Friday, every other week for six months.

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo provided by Dr. Susan Huang of the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine, researcher Raheeb Saavedra demonstrates how to use a medicated ointment for a study on preventing superbug infections. Hospitalized patients who harbor superbugs can cut their risk of developing full-blown infections if they swab medicated goo in their nose and use special soap and mouthwash for six months after going home, a study published on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 finds. (Susan Huang via AP)

A year later, 6 percent of those in the deep-clean group had developed a MRSA infection versus 9 percent of the others. They also had fewer infections from other germs. Doctors estimated that 25 to 30 people would need to be treated to prevent one case.

There were no serious side effects; 44 people had dry or irritated skin, and most continued using the products despite that.

Heather Avizius was one. The 41-year-old nanny has had MRSA infections in the past and entered the study after severe complications of Crohn's disease landed her in St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, California, eight years ago.

"I took the regimen very, very seriously" and has not had MRSA since, she said. "I felt cleaner and safer" and less worried about spreading germs to her children, she said.

Nearly half dropped out of the study early or couldn't be found for follow-up.

"Many people may think 'I feel fine, I don't really need to do this,'" said Dr. John Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But "the risk doesn't end once you go home."

Federal grants paid for the products. They would cost $150 to $200 for six months otherwise, Huang said. The antiseptic soap was a 4 percent chlorhexidine solution sold in many drugstores.

Other soaps, even ones labeled antibacterial, "may not have the active ingredients to remove MRSA," said Dr. Robert Weinstein, another study leader and an infections specialist at Cook County Health and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

It's worth it for patients to do whatever they can to prevent an MRSA infection, he said.

"You left the hospital, you don't want to go back."

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

___

The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) - El Salvador's president-elect says he will make improving relations with the United States a priority, in part to try to avoid Washington forcing tens of thousands of Salvadorans now living in the U.S. to return home.

The 37-year-old Nayib Bukele easily won the presidency early this month in the first round of voting, breaking a three-decade hold on that office by the Central American country's two dominant parties.

Wearing his usual jeans and leather jacket, Bukele told The Associated Press in an interview that poor relations with the U.S. are one of the mistakes of the outgoing administration that he plans to correct after taking office June 1.

Nearly 200,000 Salvadorans have lived in the United States for years under temporary protected status, a renewable designation that allows them to live and work legally in the U.S. They are a fraction of all the Salvadorans living in the U.S., a total estimated to be around 2.5 million.

Last year, the Trump administration announced it was ending temporary protected status, known as TPS, for citizens of El Salvador and several other countries. But in October, a federal judge in San Francisco temporarily blocked ending the status for four countries, including El Salvador. The injunction remains in effect.

"With people carrying signs saying 'Yankee Go Home' at party events or burning the United States flag, it is very difficult to go and negotiate a way out," Bukele said. "But if we send them the right signals, I believe that we can negotiate a resolution to the common problem we have with TPS."

Salvadoran President-elect Nayib Bukele, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in San Salvador, El Salvador, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Bukele, a youthful former mayor of the capital, easily won El Salvador's presidency, getting more votes than his three rivals combined to usher out the two parties that dominated politics for a quarter century in the crime-plagued Central America nation. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

Bukele recently met with U.S. Ambassador Jean Manes and said he emerged feeling that the two governments can arrive at a "win-win" solution. They also spoke about combatting corruption - a central pillar of Bukele's campaign platform - and decreasing migration through economic development.

"El Salvador needs to be friends with the United States. It is an imperative for us," Bukele said.

Finding friends among his own lawmakers could be more challenging.

Bukele, a former mayor of El Savlador's capital, began in politics with the leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, the current governing party, but he was expelled for his persistent criticism of its leaders. He was elected president Feb. 3 as the candidate for the conservative Grand Alliance for National Unity, which has only 10 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly.

That means Bukele will need help to get his initiatives passed, but he said he is not interested in making deals in the way politics has worked for years. That is what voters wanted to eradicate when they elected him, he said.

"I believe that the way politics has been done in the country is wrong," he said. "It has always been based on alliances that don't have the well-being of the people as their first priority."

"They make alliances in the (Legislative Assembly) based on things that aren't ideological, like money under the table, business, group interests," he said.

Lawmakers will have to decide whether they will vote for initiatives that will be good for the people, Bukele said.

One of those proposals is creating an international commission to investigate corruption, similar to a United Nations-backed effort in Guatemala.

But Bukele conceded there is "scarce political support" for the endeavor in El Salvador. He said that if lawmakers block it, "the people, who are wise, intelligent and informed, are going to say who are those opposed to and blocking the creation."

"The people are going to be able to judge for themselves who is supporting corruption and who is against it," he said.

Salvadoran President-elect Nayib Bukele, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in San Salvador, El Salvador, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Bukele, a youthful former mayor of the capital, easily won El Salvador's presidency, getting more votes than his three rivals combined to usher out the two parties that dominated politics for a quarter century in the crime-plagued Central America nation. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)

Salvadoran President-elect Nayib Bukele, autographs a T-shirt after an interview with The Associated Press in San Salvador, El Salvador, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Bukele, a youthful former mayor of the capital, easily won El Salvador's presidency, getting more votes than his three rivals combined to usher out the two parties that dominated politics for a quarter century in the crime-plagued Central America nation. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Mississippi is working toward enacting one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation, in a race with other states to push a legal challenge to the more conservative U.S. Supreme Court.

The Republican-controlled Mississippi House and Senate passed separate bills Wednesday to ban most abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six weeks into pregnancy. Efforts to pass similar bills are underway in Florida, Kentucky, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee.

"I see in this country that we protect sea turtle eggs and we protect other endangered species of animals with a greater degree of scrutiny and zealousness than we protect a child in the womb," Republican Sen. Angela Hill, a sponsor of the Mississippi bill, said as she fought back tears during a debate.

Anti-abortion legislators and activists believe President Donald Trump has strengthened their cause with his appointments of conservative Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Abortion opponents foresee the possibility that the high court might either reverse Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling establishing a nationwide right to abortion, or uphold specific state laws that would undermine Roe.

Mississippi enacted a law last year to ban abortion after 15 weeks. The only abortion clinic in the state filed a lawsuit and a federal judge declared the law unconstitutional. The state has asked a federal appeals court to overturn the ruling.

The House and Senate must agree on a single version to send to Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, who is in his final year in office. He said he would sign it.

As images of fetuses scroll across monitors in the Senate chamber, Miss. Sen. Joey Fillingane answers questions during a debate of S.B. 2116, also known as the Heartbeat Bill, presented by Fillingane. Jackson, Miss. Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. (Sarah Warnock/The Clarion-Ledger via AP)

"I've often said I want Mississippi to be the safest place for an unborn child in America," Bryant said Wednesday on Twitter.

This is an election year in Mississippi, with all legislative seats and statewide offices on the ballot.

"Other than election-year political pandering, why did you bring this bill to the House of Representatives? Because you know it is going to be overturned by the courts," Democratic Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville asked the House Public Health Committee chairman, Republican Rep. Sam Mims of McComb.

Mims said that he and some other House members "feel strongly that life begins at conception."

In a November 2011 statewide election, Mississippi voters rejected a proposed "personhood" state constitutional amendment that would have defined life as beginning at fertilization.

The bills advancing Wednesday say abortions could be allowed after a fetal heartbeat is found if a pregnancy endangers a woman's life or one of her major bodily functions. Both chambers rejected efforts to allow exceptions for pregnancies caused by rape or incest.

Democratic Rep. Chris Bell of Jackson said an early ban hurts women: "Can you imagine one of your loved ones being raped and having a child that looks like the rapist?"

Democratic Sen. Deborah Dawkins of Pass Christian said many women may not know they are pregnant by six weeks. She also said a transvaginal probe might be needed to detect whether a woman has passed the cutoff point for abortion to be a legal option.

"For a rape victim, a transvaginal ultrasound becomes another intrusion into their already violated body, and there are no provisions for the physician or health care provider to opt out of this invasive medical procedure," Dawkins said. "Who thinks it is the role of the Mississippi Legislature to direct medical treatment methods for patients?"

An Iowa judge struck down a similar law in that state last month.

____

Associated Press writer David Crary in New York contributed to this report.
PHOENIX (AP) - Amberkatherine DeCory carried photos of her daughter's birth certificate in her diaper bag in case she had to prove that the lighter-skinned girl was really hers. Cydnee Rafferty gives her husband a letter explaining that he has permission to travel with their 5-year-old biracial daughter.

Families like theirs were not surprised when they heard that Cindy McCain had reported a woman to police for possible human trafficking because the widow of Sen. John McCain saw her at the airport with a toddler of a different ethnicity. Officers investigated and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Parents whose children have a different complexion say they regularly face suspicion and the assumption that they must be watching someone else's kids.

"This is a problem that, to be frank, well-meaning white people get themselves into," said Rafferty, who is African-American and whose husband is white. "They think, 'If it doesn't make sense to me it must not be right."

After McCain's report, Rafferty posted to Twitter a selfie of her with her two children, ages 5 and 5 months.

"I know they don't look like me, but I assure you, I grew them in my belly," Rafferty wrote to McCain.

This undated selfie shows Amberkatherine DeCory with her daughter, Mila DeCory. Until her daughter could speak, Decory, a police officer who lives outside Minneapolis, carried her birth certificate and even a photo of her giving birth, just in case the African-American and Native American had to prove that her light-haired, blue-eyed child was truly her own. Families like theirs were not surprised when they heard that Cindy McCain reported a woman to police for possible human trafficking because McCain saw her at the airport with a toddler of a different ethnicity. (Amberkatherine DeCory via AP)

Earlier this month, McCain claimed on Phoenix radio station KTAR that the woman was waiting for a man who bought the child to get off a plane and that her Jan. 30 report to police had stopped the trafficking. She urged people to speak up if they see anything odd.

"I came in from a trip I'd been on," McCain said. "I spotted - it looked odd - it was a woman of a different ethnicity than the child, this little toddler she had. Something didn't click with me. I tell people 'trust your gut.'"

She said she spoke about her suspicions with police "and they went over and questioned her. And, by God, she was trafficking that kid."

Phoenix Police Sgt. Armando Carbajal confirmed that McCain requested a welfare check on a child at the airport, but said officers found "no evidence of criminal conduct or child endangerment."

McCain has declined interview requests and has not said if anything besides the difference in ethnicity led her to suspect trafficking. A spokesman for the McCain Institute for International Leadership at Arizona State University said McCain was "only thinking about the possible ramifications of a criminal act, not the ethnicity of the possible trafficker."

After police debunked her claim, McCain reiterated the importance of speaking up when something looks wrong.

"I apologize if anything else I have said on this matter distracts from 'if you see something, say something,'" she wrote on Twitter.

Rafferty, a 38-year-old New Yorker, was surprised that McCain, who adopted a daughter from Bangladesh, would make the same something's-not-right assumption that mixed-race families grapple with constantly. It's not always summoning the police. Other, more common ways of calling out the differences sting too.

For Rafferty, the questions are frustrating and offensive: "Whose baby is that?" from a woman in the grocery store. "Where's her beautiful golden skin and curly hair?" from a client at the office, who had a distinct idea of how a biracial child should look. "You're the ...?" followed by a pause for her to fill in the blank with "mom."

And if she pushes a stroller on Manhattan's Upper West Side, everyone assumes she's the nanny. At the park, neither the mothers nor the caregivers know whether to embrace her in their camp.

DeCory, a 38-year-old police officer outside Minneapolis who has African-American and Native American ancestry, said the anxiety between mom and baby is a constant challenge for mixed-race families that isn't talked about enough.

She recalls being haunted by a terrifying vision she couldn't shake: Someone would question whether she was truly the mother of her daughter, and she wouldn't be able to prove it. She'd imagine her daughter, Mila, being placed between her and a white woman while someone in authority watched to see which way she crawled.

Until her daughter could speak, DeCory carried her birth certificate and even a photo of her giving birth, just in case she had to prove that her light-haired, blue-eyed child was truly her own. As Mila has gotten older, her hair has darkened. She's now 11.

DeCory didn't face the same anxieties with her other two children, who have darker skin closer to her own.

"I would get anxiety going out with her in public," DeCory said. "I was very reluctant to breastfeed her in public or do anything that would draw attention to me."
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Puerto Rico's Department of Education said Wednesday that a U.S. judge issued an arrest warrant for the agency's boss but later withdrew it after officials pledged to submit documents related to a federal investigation.

The department said the unidentified documents sought by the court are from 2011 to 2013, before Julia Keleher was appointed education secretary in December 2016. The documents are being sought as part of an investigation into a school tutoring program, officials said.

The department's statement contradicted an earlier interview published by the newspaper Primera Hora that quoted Pedro Fortier of the U.S. Marshals Service as saying an arrest warrant was not issued. Fortier did not return messages for comment.

Lymarie Llovet, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office, also had said that an arrest warrant was issued. She added that the documents in the case are sealed and that she had no further details.
PHOENIX (AP) - A prosecutor who declined to charge police officers after they repeatedly shot a handcuffed man with a stun gun said Wednesday that more investigation is warranted.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery changed course hours after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said the original investigation was "whitewashed" and should be reopened.

Montgomery said he sent materials to the FBI in connection with the July 2017 encounter between Glendale police officers and Johnny Wheatcroft, who alleges in a lawsuit that one officer kicked him in the groin while another stunned him in the testicles.

"After having personally reviewed all available video evidence, I have determined further investigation is warranted," Montgomery said. "In order to ensure the public's confidence in any future determination of whether the use of force was lawful, review by an uninvolved agency is appropriate."

Montgomery did not say what prompted the shift a day after his office defended the decision, saying prosecutors did not charge the officers because they determined they couldn't convict.

Ducey's comments were a rare rebuke of police and prosecutors from a governor who is a Republican like Montgomery and a strong ally of his. Montgomery is seeking an appointment by Ducey to the Arizona Supreme Court.

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2019, file photo, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey gives a speech at the state Capitol in Phoenix. Arizona's governor says an excessive force investigation into police in a Phoenix suburb seems to have been "whitewashed" and should be reopened. The comments Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, were an extremely rare rebuke of police and prosecutors for Republican Gov. Doug Ducey. He was reacting to newly released body-camera video showing Glendale police officers repeatedly using a stun gun on a handcuffed man. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri, File)

"What I saw was completely unacceptable," Ducey told reporters. "And it seems to me that the investigation was whitewashed. I'd love to see the county attorney's office reopen the investigation and get to the bottom of what happened there and hold people accountable."

Montgomery did not say whether the materials he sent to the FBI constitute the entire case file.

The FBI doesn't confirm specific investigations as a matter of policy, but spokeswoman Jill McCabe noted the agency is responsible for enforcing civil rights laws.

"Any time civil rights violations are brought to the attention of the FBI, the FBI collects all available facts and evidence and will ensure that they are reviewed in a fair, thorough, and impartial manner," McCabe said.

Body-camera video of the encounter surfaced on local TV. It shows Glendale police officers repeatedly shooting Wheatcroft with a stun gun during an encounter in a motel parking lot that began with a traffic stop. The Glendale Police Department has acknowledged its officers used stun guns on Wheatcroft and that an officer kicked him during a struggle.

But the agency denied the allegation that Officer Matt Schneider shot Wheatcroft in the testicles with the stun gun, saying the officer zapped Wheatcroft in the thigh. The agency said Wheatcroft wasn't following officers' commands and that Wheatcroft's wife hit an officer in the head with a plastic bag containing full soda cans, knocking the officer to the ground.

Glendale police Sgt. John Roth said Monday the department's policy allowed nearly all of Schneider's stun-gun use, though the officer received a three-day suspension for using it on Wheatcroft at a point when he was cuffed and not resisting officers.

Wheatcroft was charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest, but the case was later dismissed at the request of prosecutors.

___

Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud contributed.

Anya Chapman wipes away tears as attorney Marc J. Victor speaks to the media concerning Chapman's husband, Johnny Wheatcroft, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, in Chandler, Ariz. Victor has filed a lawsuit on behalf of Wheatcroft claiming the Glendale, Ariz. police dept. used excessive force against Wheatcroft during his arrest in 2017. (AP Photo/Matt York)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - Saying that parents remain frustrated with school officials' responses to last year's Valentine's Day massacre, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday called for a statewide grand jury to investigate whether school districts are following laws enacted in the wake of the attack that left 17 dead.

If the Republican governor's request is approved by the Florida Supreme Court, the 18-member grand jury would have the power to call witnesses and ultimately return indictments. It would mark yet another probe launched in the aftermath of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Parents of some of the students who were killed had been calling for the removal of the Broward County school superintendent and some of the local school board members. DeSantis had previously said he has concluded he does not have the legal authority to remove the appointed superintendent, but he said the grand jury would bring needed accountability to the tragedy.

"A lot of the parents here have been frustrated ... it seems like locally here which is ground zero there hasn't been the same sense of urgency," DeSantis said during a media conference.

The parents of the victims stood solemnly behind DeSantis, many with tears in their eyes, some with their heads down.

"When your child is murdered in school, you expect to get some answers. You don't really expect a cover-up," said Andy Pollack, whose daughter Meadow was murdered.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. DeSantis ordered a statewide grand jury investigation on school safety. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

He praised the governor's efforts along with several other parents.

"I've been fighting for accountability. We gave the school board and the superintendent, they've had a year to fix Broward County and make our schools safe. This is ground zero and they continue to fail us ... finally I think that we're going to be able to make these schools safe," said Max Schacter, whose son Alex was killed.

Shortly after the shooting, legislators in Florida passed a sweeping bill that included some gun restrictions, but also set aside millions for school districts to put in armed security at school campuses. The head of a commission set up to investigate the Parkland tragedy has testified recently that some districts are not following some of the mandates included in the law.

DeSantis said he wants the grand jury to review compliance with the new law and whether districts are diverting money from initiatives intended to improve school safety. He also wants to look at whether districts are underreporting incidents of criminal activity.

The governor earlier on Wednesday also announced that he wants the Department of Education to audit any school discipline diversion programs set up by school districts. He also said that districts should get a second chance to tap into millions of unused money associated with the guardian program that allows for schools to train and hire armed guards instead of relying on school resource officers. Only slightly more than a third of school districts have set up guardian programs.

The grand jury probe would be the fourth investigation associated with the Parkland tragedy. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement launched an investigation last year into how local law-enforcement agencies responded to the shooting but that probe is still under way.

___

Find all The Associated Press' coverage marking one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at https://apnews.com/ParklandFloridaschoolshooting .

Tony Montalto hugs his son Anthony as they attend a news conference by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. DeSantis ordered a statewide grand jury investigation on school safety. Montalto is the father of Gina Montalto, who was killed during the Parkland school shooting. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Ilan and Lori Alhadeff, center, the parents of Alyssa Alhadeff, who was killed in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, hold hands as they listen to Florida governor Ron DeSantis as he speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. DeSantis ordered a statewide grand jury investigation on school safety. At left is Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Joined by officials and family members of victims of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a news conference, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. DeSantis is calling for a statewide grand jury to look at whether the state's 67 school districts are following school safety laws enacted in the wake of a high school massacre. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Andrew Pollack, center, father of Meadow Pollack, who was killed in the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, speaks during a news conference with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, left, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. DeSantis ordered a statewide grand jury investigation on school safety. At right is Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - The Latest on former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry's sentencing (all times local):

4:25 p.m.

A former West Virginia Supreme Court justice at the center of an impeachment scandal has been sentenced to two years behind bars.

A federal judge in Charleston, West Virginia, sentenced Allen Loughry on Wednesday. He was also ordered to pay $12,000 in fines, restitution and court costs.

Loughry is scheduled to report to prison by April 5.

His lawyer, John Carr, told the court that Loughry has agreed to surrender his law license and not seek public office again.

FILE - In this Sept. 11, 2018 file photo, West Virginia Supreme Court justice, Allen Loughry, left, sits in the Senate chambers with his attorney John Carr, right, during a pre-trial impeachment conference in the West Virginia State Senate chambers at the Capitol in Charleston, W.Va. The former West Virginia Supreme Court justice at the center of an impeachment scandal is due in federal court for sentencing for using his office for his own benefit. Loughry is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in U.S. District Court in Charleston. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

Loughry was found guilty of 11 counts at his October trial. Most involved mail and wire fraud involving his personal use of state cars and fuel cards. The judge last month threw out a witness tampering conviction.

Loughry repeatedly denied benefiting personally from trips he took when he became a justice in 2013.

___

1:30 a.m.

A former West Virginia Supreme Court justice at the center of an impeachment scandal is due in federal court for sentencing for using his office for his own benefit.

Allen Loughry is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

Loughry was found guilty of 11 counts at his October trial. Most involved mail and wire fraud involving his personal use of state cars and fuel cards. The judge last month threw out a witness tampering conviction.

Loughry repeatedly denied benefiting personally from trips he took when he became a justice in 2013. Federal prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum this week that Loughry had an "unbridled arrogance" on the court.

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence above the guideline range of 15 to 21 months along with a fine between $7,500 and $75,000.
Young teachers are caught up in a possible strike in Oakland, California, that's giving new life to the long-simmering tension between traditional public schools and the education reform program Teach for America.

The push by career educators for better pay and conditions in the classroom is clashing with the influx of temporary teachers who lack formal training but promise new energy and innovation. While supporters tout Teach for America for infusing new ideas in struggling U.S. schools, veteran teachers say their experience is indispensable.

The tensions came to a head this week when hundreds of Teach for America alumni criticized the educator placement program for suggesting corps members who strike in Oakland would lose thousands of dollars promised to them at the end of their two-year service commitment.

Teach for America said there was a misunderstanding on the guidance it provided about the strike that could start next week. It said it gave the same message to other members facing recent strikes, including in Los Angeles.

"There's a lot of skepticism about Teach for America and their role in supporting public education as opposed to dismantling public education and being disruptive," said veteran Oakland teacher Payton Carter, who is a 1999 Teach for America alumnus. "A lot of people have said TFA explicitly is a union-busting organization, and this proves that."

Teach for America launched nearly three decades ago as a radical teacher recruitment and preparation model, placing high-achieving college graduates without formal education training into short-term jobs in low-income communities. The nonprofit vets its recruits, but they're employed by school districts, and many join unions.

Teacher Will Corvin poses for photos at his home in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Corvin, who is in the second year of his Teach for America stint, said he and all the corps members at his Oakland high school see the value of the union as an avenue for change given that the district has a teacher turnover crisis. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The program has been credited with alleviating teacher shortages in difficult-to-hire schools and building a dedicated force of education policy and school leaders.

But the nonprofit has faced skepticism, both for its design and its perceived alliance with charter schools - another reform effort competing with the public school model for funding.

Teach for America has billed itself as a leadership program, rather than just a teaching organization. It says 34 percent of its alumni remain teachers, with a significant number working in charter schools.

Critics say its existence contradicts the teaching establishment, which values experience and longevity. Bob Bruno, a professor of labor and employment at University of Illinois who closely follows teacher issues, said skipping the typical developmental steps shows that Teach for America isn't dedicated to the profession.

"It was designed, frankly, in a way that immediately made it hostile to teachers," Bruno said. "Teachers who've gone through teacher colleges, who did apprentice programs and student teaching programs, the TFA model thumbs its nose at all of that."

Many education reform leaders are Teach for America disciples who have championed school choice to transform major public school systems, from Louisiana Superintendent John White to former District of Columbia Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee. She has been a leader in pushing to end teacher tenure, arguing that unions protect ineffective educators that plague perpetually failing schools.

But the program also has produced a number of "traditionalist" career teachers who have become its chief critics as well as union leaders. They have led some of the teacher uprisings that started in West Virginia last year.

The Los Angeles union leader who led a six-day teacher strike last month for pay raises and more support staff in the nation's second-largest school district was part of Teach for America's inaugural class in 1990.

The program's guidance against picketing didn't deter Teach for America members, and the union would defend teachers facing retaliation, United Teachers Los Angeles President Alex Caputo-Pearl said.

The Denver union this week is leading the first teacher strike in 25 years, but more than 40 percent of educators have showed up for work. The district has a reform-friendly reputation and robust Teach for America contingent.

Also this week, more than 450 alumni urged Teach for America to stop "pressuring" its 58 corps members in the Oakland Unified School District with threats of losing their ties to AmeriCorps, which offers award money at the end of their service and bans striking. District administrators have been silent on the issue.

Teach for America spokesman Jack Hardy said it was considering supplementing the AmeriCorps award at stake but said there was a misunderstanding on the guidance it sent about the rules of the federal service program.

AmeriCorps said in such circumstances, it's up to Teach for America to decide how to handle picket lines. Hardy said the nonprofit doesn't take a position on union activity.

"We cannot hinder or prohibit them from participating in a strike," he said. "And what we're trying to do is find the best options for them. We recognize that it's a personal decision for them."

Will Corvin, who is in the second year of his Teach for America stint, said he and all the corps members at his Oakland high school see the value of the union as an avenue for change given that the district has a teacher turnover crisis. The history teacher said crossing the picket line would feel like betraying his colleagues and the profession he hopes to stay in.

Corvin said he considered traditional teacher training as a student at Northwestern University but saw Teach for America as an easier way to get into the classroom. He laments how the program underprepared him for teaching and the dynamics of a school system. Now, he's also upset with its leadership for forcing a decision on him that could ultimately undermine the profession itself.

"I'm frustrated they say they are politically neutral, when not participating in the strike is a political decision," Corvin said.

___

Ho reported from Seattle. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_SallyHo .

Teacher Will Corvin poses for a photo at his home in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Corvin, who is in the second year of his Teach for America stint, said he and all the corps members at his Oakland high school see the value of the union as an avenue for change given that the district has a teacher turnover crisis. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Teacher Will Corvin poses for a photo at his home in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Corvin, who is in the second year of his Teach for America stint, said he and all the corps members at his Oakland high school see the value of the union as an avenue for change given that the district has a teacher turnover crisis. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2014 file photo, AmeriCorps volunteers take a pledge as President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton mark the 20th anniversary of AmeriCorps, which promotes volunteerism and community service, on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington. Hundreds of Teach for America alumni are slamming the educator placement program for telling members to cross the picket line during a potential teacher strike in Oakland, California, or risk losing thousands of dollars at the end of their service. In partnership with the AmeriCorps, Teach for America members can apply for an education award at the end of their service to help pay off student loans. An AmeriCorps spokeswoman couldn't immediately provide comment but said striking is prohibited. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) - It's not just about President Donald Trump's border wall.

The border security issues that sparked a 35-day government shutdown are but one element of a massive $330 billion-plus spending measure that wraps seven bills into one, funding nine Cabinet agencies, including the departments of Justice, State, Agriculture and Commerce. End-stage fights over unrelated policy provisions produced a deadlock, so efforts to extend soon-to-expire laws like the federal flood insurance program were dropped.

Highlights of the measure, which runs 1,768 pages of legislative text and explanation, include:

___

BORDER SECURITY, BUT NOT JUST BARRIERS

There's nearly $1.4 billion for 55 miles of new barriers in Texas' Rio Grande Valley, well less than the $5.7 billion Trump wanted but only slightly below Trump's original $1.6 billion request for 65 miles. There would be curbs on where construction could occur to protect environmentally sensitive areas.

Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, center, is joined by, from left, House Republican Conference chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., as she talks about the bipartisan border security compromise needed to avert another government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Granger was a member of the committee that worked out the compromise. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The bill funds an average of 45,000-plus detention spaces for immigrants entering and living in the U.S. illegally, with flexibility to house even more. There's more than $1 billion for other forms of border security, including improvements in surveillance equipment, hiring 600 additional customs officers, more immigration judges and $414 million in humanitarian aid for unauthorized immigrants who are detained.

___

A BILLION HERE, A BILLION THERE

Most of the bill deals with spending minutia such as a $1 billion increase to gear up for the 2020 census, an almost 4 percent budget increase for NASA and an $11.3 billion budget for the IRS. Most agencies are kept relatively level compared to last year, and the measure rejects big spending cuts - such as a $12 billion cut to foreign aid and the State Department - proposed by Trump.

It funds a new $435 million Homeland Security Department office to counter weapons of mass destruction, $550 million for rural broadband service, $468 million to combat the opioid epidemic above what was passed in legislation last year, $6 billion to combat HIV/AIDS overseas, and Israel's annual $3.3 billion military aid package. There's $3 billion to help state and local law enforcement, money for the Coast Guard's first new icebreaker in four decades, increases for roads and mass transit, and money for clean air and water projects.

___

FEDERAL EMPLOYEE PAY

Trump has proposed a pay freeze for civilian federal employees, but the measure would guarantee those workers a 1.9 percent increase. The military got a 2.6 percent increase in legislation that passed Congress last year.

___

'EXTENDERS'? NEVER MIND

Lawmakers in both parties eyed the measure to renew the government's troubled federal flood insurance program through Sept. 30, but it and a full menu of expiring laws collectively known as "extenders" went unaddressed in the end. That meant a host of miscellaneous provisions were dropped in the final stages.

A drive by Senate Republicans to extend the Violence Against Women Act was blocked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who feared it would undercut efforts to update the law this spring.

Meanwhile, an extension of a Medicaid provision on home- and community-based nursing care, grants for the poor under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and fixes to a trust fund that finances dredging and maintenance or ports and harbors will also have to advance later.

A bid by Pelosi to win back pay for federal contractors laid off during the recent shutdown was blocked by the White House.

___

BIG TRUCKS

For fans of the truly obscure, there's a provision to exempt sugar beet trucks in rural Oregon from length limits. It would also add exemptions to federal truck weight rules in the state of Kentucky.
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian news reports say police in Moscow suspect a British dancer with the renowned Bolshoi Ballet of possessing cocaine.

Channel REN TV said officers stopped Oscar Frame in the Russian capital on Monday. The channel's report said the officers became suspicious the dancer had drugs on him when he allegedly headed in another direction after spotting them.

The Bolshoi declined to comment to The Associated Press on Wednesday night. It wasn't clear if Frame was in custody.

Frame is one of the few non-Russians in the Bolshoi's ballet corps. Russian media describe him as a promising performer.

He graduated from the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg in 2017.
RENO, Nev. (AP) - The Latest on accusations of sexual misconduct against former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias (all times local):

1 p.m.

The longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the sixth woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct.

Carina Black said in an interview this week that Arias boxed her against a wall inside an elevator at the university in 1998 and then tried to kiss her.

The 52-year-old professor says it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university.

She says she "smacked him in the face and pushed him away."

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, Carina Black sits in her office in Reno, Nev., holding an April 6, 1998 photo of herself with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, center, and Richard Siegel, a former University of Nevada political science professor. Black, the longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno, is the latest woman to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes)

At least six women have made accusations against the Nobel Peace Prize laureate ranging from unwanted advances to alleged assault.

The Associated Press interviewed three people Black said she told about Arias' behavior shortly after she said it occurred, including her husband.

____

8:45 am.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and two-time Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has met with prosecutors to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse.

Arias appeared at the prosecutor's office wearing a blue suit and tie and accompanied by his lawyer. He denied the first accusation when it surfaced last week but has declined further comment as more allegations have emerged.

Arias told journalists Wednesday he has always answered their questions during 50 years in public life, but "on this occasion my lawyer has requested I not make statements."

At least six women have made accusations against Arias ranging from unwanted advances to alleged assault.

FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2015 file photo, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and two-time Costa Rican President Oscar Arias looks at the media during the opening ceremony of the XV World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates at the University in Barcelona, Spain. The director of an international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the latest woman to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct. Carina Black said in an interview that Arias boxed her against a wall inside an elevator in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, Carina Black poses in her office in Reno, Nev., holding a photo album containing dozens of photos of a dinner she attended where Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias spoke on April 6, 1998. Black, the longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno, is the latest woman to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes)

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, Carina Black sits in her office in Reno, Nev. Black, the longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno, is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes)

A woman holds up a sign with a line drawing depicting Costa Rica's ex-President Oscar Arias and a message that reads in Spanish: "WANTED: Oscar Arias Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Violator", during a protest by women activists under the slogan "Yo te creo," or "I believe you," in San Jose, Costa Rica, Friday Feb. 8, 2019. At least five women have accused Arias of actions ranging from unwelcome fondling or sexual innuendo to sexual assault. (AP Photo/Carlos Gonzalez)

Former Miss Costa Rica 1994, Jazmin Morales, walks after filing a complaint against former President Oscar Arias, in San Jose, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nobel Peace Prize laureate and two-time Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has met with prosecutors to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Carlos Gonzalez)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):

8:05 p.m.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is calling a meeting between Donald Trump and Colombian leader Ivan Duque a "feast of hate against Venezuela."

Trump and Duque met Wednesday in the Oval Office and said many countries want to help crisis-ridden Venezuela. Trump also said Maduro's refusal to accept humanitarian aid is a "terrible mistake" and hinted at future action by the U.S. and its allies against Venezuela's socialist leader.

Maduro has blocked humanitarian aid from the U.S. and other countries, saying it is part of an effort to oust him. Venezuelans are suffering severe shortages of food and more than 2 million have fled the country.

The U.S. and dozens of other nations have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader. Maduro called Guaido a U.S. "puppet."

President Donald Trump meets with Colombian President Ivan Duque in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

___

3:55 p.m.

Venezuela's self-declared President Juan Guaido says that the congress has appointed executives to a transitional board for its PDVSA state-owned oil company and its U.S. subsidiaries, including Houston-based refiner Citgo.

The South American nation sits on the world's largest proven petroleum reserves, but oil output has been plummeting for years. Controlling the industry that is the backbone of its economy is key to the transitional government of Guaido. The congressional leader proclaimed himself interim president on Jan. 23, arguing that the re-election of socialist President Nicolas Maduro was fraudulent.

Venezuela currently pumps just a third of the 3.5 million barrels a day it did when the late Hugo Chavez took power in 1999. The country's refining capacity has partly declined because of poor maintenance and lack of skilled staff. That has left it reliant on Citgo to refine the oil and send gasoline back to Venezuela to meet domestic needs. Officials at PDVSA and Citgo could not be immediately reached for comment.

___

12:30 p.m.

The Netherlands says it will set up a humanitarian aid hub for crisis-torn Venezuela on its Caribbean island of Curacao.

Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister Stef Blok said on Twitter Wednesday that the collection point will be launched in "close cooperation with Venezuelan interim-president (Juan) Guaido and the United States."

Details weren't released. Curacao is about 55 miles (90 kilometers) off the Venezuelan coast.

About 60 countries, including the U.S., have recognized opposition leader Guaido as the interim president of Venezuela.

Guaido on Tuesday set a Feb. 23 deadline to bring badly needed food and medicine into Venezuela. The humanitarian aid has been warehoused on the Colombian border since last week. Guaido also announced a second collection point for aid across the border in Brazil.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio authorities confiscated three fake handguns, drawings of handguns, and a fake explosive device at a maximum-security prison in what they're calling "a very serious and unique situation."

An investigation continues of the incident that unfolded Tuesday night at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, said prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith.

The first item found was a fake explosive device, located in a hole in a shower stall frame, and constructed of grout shavings, copper wire from ear buds, batteries, and a small radio, said Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

The weapons, made to resemble Glock handguns, were made of bars of soap, pieces of eye glasses, battery casings, and carbon paper from legal kits provided to inmates, she said. Parts of a fourth gun were also found.

Events leading to the search began after an inmate called The Associated Press Tuesday afternoon, warning of a potential hostage-taking plot in the works.

The AP contacted the State Highway Patrol, which investigated along with prison authorities.

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, fences line the exterior of the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, in Lucasville, Ohio. Ohio authorities have confiscated several fake handguns and a fake explosive device at the prison in what they're calling "a very serious and unique situation." Prisons spokeswoman JoEllen Smith says contraband drawings of handguns were also confiscated Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, file)

The inmates involved were placed in restrictive housing and the facility was back to normal Wednesday, said Smith.

"This was a very serious and unique situation," she said in an email. "We take very seriously any information that suggests there may be weapons within our facilities and immediate actions are taken to ensure the safety and security of the staff and inmates."

Prisoners with fake weapons can pose the same kind of threat as robbers who claim to have guns in their pockets, whether real or not, said Richard Lichten, a Los Angeles-based jail and police practices expert.

"It's no different in jail or prison," he said. "If somebody manufactures a weapon that's thought to be real, then that's an issue."

Compounding the problem are scattered examples of real weapons being smuggled into correctional facilities, said Lichten.

As a high-security prison, Lucasville holds many inmates who have racked up discipline problems in other facilities.

A 2016 legislative prison inspection committee found that Lucasville has traditionally had high assault statistics in part because of gang-affiliated prisoners.

An 11-day riot at the prison in 1993 was one of the country's longest and deadliest, leaving nine inmates and a guard dead by the time it ended.

Two former Lucasville inmates currently face charges in Scioto County for stabbing a guard 32 times last year near a prison infirmary.

One of those inmates has also been charged in a 2017 knife attack on four other inmates who were shackled to a table and unable to defend themselves.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned Wednesday after a two-year tenure in which he managed the response to historic wildfires and major hurricanes but was dogged by questions over his use of government vehicles.

Brock Long said in a letter to FEMA employees that he was resigning to spend more time at home with his family. His last day is March 8.

He did not mention the investigation by the agency's watchdog that found he had used government vehicles without authorization, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said last fall that Long would repay the government and would not lose his job.

Nielsen said Long led the agency admirably. "I appreciate his tireless dedication to FEMA and his commitment to fostering a culture of preparedness across the nation," she said in a statement.

His deputy, Pete Gaynor, will become acting head of the agency.

Word leaked of the internal probe in September, just as Hurricane Florence was landing in the Carolinas. Homeland Security officials said there had been a longstanding practice of FEMA administrators using government vehicles to ensure they could remain connected during a crisis. But the use of government vehicles for home-to-work travel was not officially authorized, and that practice was eliminated in April.

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2018, file photo President Donald Trump shakes hands with FEMA Administrator Brock Long after visiting areas in North Carolina and South Carolina impacted by Hurricane Florence at Myrtle Beach International Airport in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Long has resigned from FEMA on Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

The report by Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General also found Long used government vehicles for non-official reasons. It said this cost taxpayers $94,000 in staff salary, $55,000 in travel expenses and $2,000 in vehicle maintenance.

The House Oversight Committee had also been looking into the allegations.

Long said he accepted full responsibility for the unauthorized use of the vehicles.

He took over FEMA in June 2017, presiding over a particularly grueling hurricane season that included Irma, Harvey and Maria, plus wildfires in California that were the deadliest ever for the state. The response to Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico, has been heavily criticized, and Long has said FEMA learned lessons on how to better prepare.

FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2017, file photo, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Brock Long delivers update on federal actions to support Hurricane Irma response in Washington. Long has resigned it was announced on Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Investigators in Kentucky say a woman taken from an Ohio college campus was fatally shot with a weapon carried by the man suspected of abducting her.

Kentucky State Police Commissioner Richard Sanders spoke Wednesday about the Monday afternoon shooting in Oldham County, Kentucky.

The shooting occurred after a police chase. Authorities say 24-year-old Ty'rell Pounds stopped his vehicle and a trooper fired after hearing gunfire from the vehicle.

Sanders says it wasn't until Tuesday night that police determined 20-year-old Skylar Williams was shot by the weapon carried by the suspect. Williams was a student at Ohio State's Mansfield campus.

Pounds was fatally shot by Trooper Joey Brown, a five-year veteran of the state police. Sanders said Brown is on administrative leave while the investigation continues.

Sanders said it's not clear when Williams was shot.
ATLANTA (AP) - A federal labor union says some of its members found what it called a "racist book open and on display" in a Republican Georgia congressman's Washington office.

The American Federation of Government Employees said in a news release that its members were visiting the offices of U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson on Monday when a political coordinator for the union says he saw the book "Gen. Robert Edward Lee: Soldier, Citizen, and Christian Patriot" in the lobby of the office.

The union said the 1897 book that glorifies Confederate history was open to a page that read: "The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, societally, and physically. The painful discipline they are undergoing is necessary for their instruction as a race."

Ferguson said in a statement that his staff had decorated the office and he did not know the book was there.

"When my staff learned about it, they removed it and apologized to the individual who was upset by it," Ferguson said.

But the AFGE pushed back on that description saying in the news release that, when asked about the book, Ferguson's staff "ignored the question and instead pointed (union members) to look at General George Washington's hair that was also on display."

FILE - This March 17, 2017, file photo shows Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., on Capitol Hill in Washington. A federal labor union says some of its members found what it called a "racist book open and on display" in the Republican Georgia congressman's Washington office. The American Federation of Government Employees said in a news release that its members were visiting the offices of Ferguson on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, when a political coordinator for the union says he saw the book "Gen. Robert Edward Lee: Soldier, Citizen, and Christian Patriot" in the lobby of the office. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

AFGE National President J. David Cox called the display "utterly despicable."

Democratic state Sen. Elena Parent took to the floor of the Georgia Senate on Wednesday to condemn Ferguson.

Parent called on Ferguson to publically apologize to "all of his constituents and the state of Georgia."
DALLAS (AP) - Flights at two major airports in North Texas were temporarily halted Wednesday after air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate a building because of smoke, and the resulting flight delays were expected to continue for hours.

Lynn Lunsford, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said smoke was reported in the Terminal Radar Approach Control Center at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. The smoke may have come from a nearby construction project, he said.

"The controllers are back in position and the airspace is back to full capacity," Lunsford said by email. "It will likely take some time to work through the delays."

The control center is separate from the airport tower and directs air traffic across a much broader region. That means flights were also disrupted at Dallas Love Field about 15 miles (24 kilometers) away.

Two American Airlines flights and two Southwest Airlines flights en route to the Texas airports were diverted to Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, Arkansas, Clinton airport spokesman Shane Carter said.

Dallas Love Field was for years the primary airport for the city before D-FW began operations in 1973. Love Field is in the city while D-FW is just northwest of Dallas.

Jets line up on the tarmac at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Flights at Dallas' two major airports were temporarily halted after air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate a building because of smoke, and the resulting flight delays are expected to continue for hours. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

A spokeswoman for D-FW was not able to immediately say just how many flights were delayed Wednesday. A spokeswoman at Dallas Love Field did not return a message seeking the same information.

But the online flight tracker Flight Aware shows more than 300 flight delays at D-FW and 17 cancellations. Love Field had more than 70 cancellations and about 80 flights delayed.

Smoke rises behind an air traffic control tower on west side of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Flights at Dallas' two major airports were temporarily halted after air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate a building because of smoke, and the resulting flight delays are expected to continue for hours. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Jets line up on the tarmac at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Dallas, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Flights at Dallas' two major airports were temporarily halted after air traffic controllers were forced to evacuate a building because of smoke, and the resulting flight delays are expected to continue for hours. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
PARIS (AP) - King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain have started a two-day official visit in Morocco.

The couple, guests of King Mohammed VI, arrived late Wednesday afternoon at Rabat airport, where they have been greeted by the Moroccan royal family before heading to the royal palace for an official ceremony.

Moroccan authorities said the two kings would use the visit to sign bilateral agreements.

Felipe and Letizia had postponed a planned trip to Morocco several times since they last visited the North African country in July 2014.

Spain is Morocco's top trade partner and the two countries share close diplomatic ties.
ROME (AP) - Italian news agency ANSA says a monsignor who had worked as a senior Vatican accountant has been convicted of corruption in connection with a failed cash-smuggling plot.

ANSA said a Rome appeals court Wednesday convicted the Rev. Nunzio Scarano of corruption and sentenced him to three years in prison.

In 2016, a lower court had acquitted Scarano, who had worked for years at a Vatican office that handled Holy See investments. Italian prosecutors in 2013 accused him of plotting to smuggle 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland aboard an Italian government plane.

Scarano's lawyer has said friends asked the monsignor to help them recover funds given to a broker to invest. But the alleged scheme never was realized, purportedly when the broker reneged on the arrangement.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's administration has postponed a reception to celebrate Black History Month as the governor continues to deal with the fallout from a racist yearbook photo.

Northam spokeswoman Ofirah Yheskel said the reception has been moved from Wednesday to later this month. She said the administration is thinking through better ways to honor Black History Month. Black leaders said Monday that they would stage a large protest outside the reception.

Northam has ignored calls to resign. A photo of a man in blackface standing next to someone in Ku Klux Klan robes surfaced in his 1984 medical school yearbook. He denies he's in the photo, but admitted to wearing blackface in 1984.

Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Chairman Del. Lamont Bagby says it would be "poor timing" to have the reception now.
Is it love? Maybe not.

The FTC announced this week that romance-related scams have surged recently and generated more losses than any other consumer fraud reported to the agency last year. The number of these romance scams reported to the agency jumped from 8,500 in 2015 to more than 21,000 in 2018. And the amount lost by victims has quadrupled over that period - reaching $143 million last year. The median reported loss for victims was $2,600, about seven times more than other fraud tracked by the FTC.

Romance scams vary but criminals typically find their victims online, though a dating site or social media. Scammers create a phony profile, often building a believable persona with the help of a photo of someone else and direct communication. They woo the victim, building affection and trust until they see an opportunity to ask for money.

The reason for the request can run the gamut but money to pay for a medical emergency or travel costs for a long-awaited visit are common. Some victims report sending money repeatedly for one false crisis after another, according to the FTC. The money is often wired or given as gift cards, which allow the criminals quick and anonymous access to cash that cannot be easily tracked.

Anyone can be a victim, experts warn. But FTC data found reported romance scams happened most often to those in the 40 to 69 age group. Those 70 and older paid out the most to scammers, with median losses per person of $10,000.

"It can happen to you. Whatever you think, whatever you believe, you could be a victim," said Alan Brill, senior managing director of the cyber risk practice at Kroll, a risk management company.

A pedestrian passes Valentine's day stuffed animals for sale ahead of the holiday in Philadelphia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Federal Trade Commission announced this week that romance-related scams have surged recently and generated more losses than any other consumer fraud reported to the agency last year. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

The criminals are "masters of manipulating human emotion" and are targeting victims when their defenses are down, Brill said.

While romance-related scams have been around for ages, they've become more common and successful as people spend more time socializing and finding dates online.

It's become so common that the AARP recently launched an educational campaign that urges consumers to recognize the warning signs of a fraudster. These include: professing love too quickly, reluctance to meet in person, requests for money and photos that look more professional than an ordinary snapshot. Other warning signs include your suitor pressing you to leave the dating website or other forum to communicate via email or instant messaging.

Romantic scams have an emotional and financial toll. But criminals may seek more - sometimes asking for personal information that can facilitate identity theft. This may be done under the guise they need a birthdate, Social Security number or bank information to help complete a Visa application, travel information or other lie.

If you are a victim, don't be too embarrassed to report the crime. And if you believe a friend or family member may be falling for a fraudster, speak up.

"You are not the first or last to fall for this," Brill said. "It's happening a lot ... be willing to admit to yourself that it happened and then report it to law enforcement." Reports should be made to the FBI's Internet Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or call your local FBI office. You can also file a complaint with the FTC at www.ftc.gov/complaint.

Reporting will help law enforcement track down criminals and sometimes help victims move on with their lives.

"You have to remember the scammers are out there and they are very good at what they do," Brill said. He urges people to think critically about what is being told to and asked of them. "The person responsible for your cybersecurity comes down to you."

___

Follow Sarah Skidmore Sell on Twitter @sarahssell

If you have personal finance questions, email the Associated Press at apmoney@ap.org
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - A federal jury on Tuesday convicted a man on kidnapping charges after authorities say he took two sisters from a Texas home where their mother was later found dead.

The verdict was handed down against Terry Allen Miles, 45. Investigators say he was living with the woman in Round Rock, north of Austin, to help look after her two daughters when they disappeared in December 2017.

An officer found their 44-year-old mother dead from blunt-force injuries while doing a welfare check after she didn't show up at work. Investigators allege Miles repeatedly struck the woman with a flashlight, though he hasn't been charged in the death.

Miles and the girls were found days later when sheriff's deputies made a traffic stop near La Vera, Colorado, a remote area in the southern part of the state. The girls were 7 and 14 at the time and they were found in the car owned by their mother.

The jury this week deliberated about two hours before also finding Miles guilty of transporting a minor with intent to engage in sex and of interstate travel with intent to engage in sex with a minor.

Round Rock police Chief Allen Banks said after the verdict that testimony during the two-week trial by the older girl was vital in determining what happened to their mother.

The girl testified that she saw Miles punch her mother and knock her to the floor on the day she died, the Austin American-Statesman reported. She said Miles later came to her with blood on his clothing.

Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick said Wednesday that his prosecutors must review trial transcripts, various evidence and see what federal sentence Miles receives in April, when he could be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, before determining whether to file a state charge in the death of the woman.

Miles was charged with federal crimes because those were the strongest charges prosecutors could bring at the time of his arrest, Dick said.

Prosecutor Michelle Fernald told jurors that Miles met the older girl earlier in 2017 when she was visiting her father in Louisiana, the American-Statesman reported, and groomed her to be a sexual assault victim by paying special attention to her and making her feel important. After returning to Texas, the girl exchanged nearly 1,000 phone calls and texts with Miles from August to September.

Fernald said Miles convinced her mother to allow him to move into their home to serve as a nanny of sorts for the girl, who was being home-schooled, and her sister, according to the newspaper. Prosecutors say he engaged in sexual relations with the older girl over a five-month period.

Miles' attorney, Jose Gonzalez-Falla, told jurors that Miles did not kill the girls' mother and took the girls to Colorado to protect them from the unidentified person responsible for her death.
In gun-controlled Mexico, the murder rate is nearly 500% HIGHER than in the USA

As U.S. border agents crack down on organized crime, drugs, and human trafficking at the southern border, the Mexican government has no choice but to deal with and pay for the crime that their country fosters. Mexicos homicide figure for 2018 was 33,341  far surpassing the 2017 tally of 29,168. Violence is rising in Mexico as the country absorbs their own crime problem, deflected back to them due to assertive border policies enforced by ICE and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The major cartel groups that once ran drugs into the U.S. are rapidly being broken up into smaller factions. The splintering of the cartels has given rise to smaller, competing factions. This has made gun violence more prevalent in Mexico as a greater number of cartels fight for control over their region. Experts predict that cartel struggles will continue on into 2019 as they fight over territory. Because Mexico has strict gun control laws, many are unable to defend themselves from cartel violence.

Mexicos gun control laws encourage organized crime that the U.S. must address at the border

The Mexican government feeds the homicide problem because they have strict gun control laws, prohibiting law abiding citizens from adequately protecting themselves. The cartels grow and become more violent because they know they can get away with organized crime. There is no challenge from the citizenry. There is no armed republic poised to hold them accountable.

As defined by Mexicos Article 11 of the Federal Law of Firearms and Explosives, firearms are for exclusive use of the military and strictly forbidden for civilian possession. Civilians are granted a license to lawfully carry a firearm outside their homes under limited circumstances. Civilians are only allowed to have firearms within their home dwelling, and they are limited in caliber and capacity. Additionally, to own more than two weapons, a civilian must justify the need.

The Mexican government sponsors drug cartels and their violence because of the countrys strict gun control laws. The murder rate in Mexico is 500 percent higher than in the USA. In 2018, Mexicos homicide rate was approximately 27 per 100,000 people. Conversely, Americas homicide rate was more than five times lower (5 per 100,000 people.) Because Americans are free to protect themselves and their property, the homicide rate is kept in check. The U.S. homicide rate is 11 times lower than Honduras (about 56 per 100,000) and 15 times lower than El Salvador (about 82 per 100,000).

Granted, there are certain places in America where the murder rate is high. Not surprisingly, these murder hubs share many of the same gun control laws that Mexico has. Liberal utopias such as Chicago are homicide hot spots because gun control fanatics run the city. Just like Mexico, organized crime and human trafficking runs rampant in this U.S. city. The founders of the U.S. were right, and they didnt even have modern data to prove it: A well-armed and well-trained militia is necessary to the freedom and security of the state.

Gun control laws help give rise to drug cartel dominance

Over the past half decade, the Mexican drug cartels have rapidly changed the way they do business. Instead of relying on producers to traffic cocaine, many have begun making methamphetamine themselves so they can reap the most profit. Instead of raising poppies and processing opium gum into heroin, the cartels are producing more synthetic opioids. Opioids such as fentanyl are more profitable than heroin and are often concealed as heroin. The low cost of fentanyl has also collapsed the price of opium gum, making it cheaper to obtain.

As the cartels are fractured, with no lethal force to hold them accountable, criminal gang activity increases. Abductions, extortion, and theft are all on the rise. Today, the gangs target cargo and fuel supplies, stealing massive amounts of resources. Helpless, unarmed and under-armed Mexican citizens have no choice but to surrender or be shot dead.

The U.S. should not only build a wall to defend its own country from criminal enterprises emanating from Mexico, but the U.S. should also pressure the Mexican government to stop crime at the source. Mexico should help pay for the damage that drug addiction and drug-related violence does to families. Mexico should own up to their crime-sponsoring gun laws, which create victims out of law-abiding citizens, while spreading organized crime and its violence into the great United States of America, where armed citizens must be more vigilant and on watch.

Sources include:

MexicoNewsDaily.com

NaturalNews.com
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Lawmakers in at least seven states have introduced legislation to address the unsolved deaths and disappearances of numerous Native American women and girls.

The legislation calls for state-funded task forces and other actions amid deepening concerns that law enforcement agencies lack the data and resources to understand the scope of the crisis .

On some reservations, federal studies have shown Native American women are killed at more than 10 times the national average.

"This is not about a trend that is popular this year," said state Rep. Derrick Lente, a Democrat who is co-sponsoring a measure in New Mexico. "It's really to bring to light the number of indigenous people who are going missing."

An Associated Press review of the bills found that mostly Native American lawmakers in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Montana, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona have sponsored measures on the issue.

In AP interviews last year, families described feeling dismissed after initially reporting cases of missing female relatives to police. An examination of records found there was no single government database tracking all known cases of missing Native American women.

FILE - In this Jan. 19, 2019 file photo Rene Ann Goodrich, of Superior with Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, leads the procession though the streets of St. Paul during the Women's March at the State Capitol in St. Paul, Minn. Lawmakers in at least seven states have introduced legislation to address the unsolved deaths and disappearances of numerous Native American women and girls. (Anthony Souffle/Star Tribune via AP, file)

In Montana, a bill named for Hanna Harris - a 21-year-old found slain on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in July 2013 - proposes that state authorities hire a specialist responsible for entering cases into databases.

Under Hanna's Act, the state Department of Justice employee would also serve as a liaison for tribal, federal and state authorities and families after a Native American is reported missing.

"To us we've seen study bill after study bill," said Rep. Rae Peppers, a Democrat. "Why waste money on a study bill when the issue was right in front of us?"

Peppers, whose district spans the Northern Cheyenne and Crow reservations, lives in Lame Deer, a small community where Harris' body was found days after she was first reported missing.

Peppers said she and other lawmakers decided to name the measure for Harris in part because her mother had led an early push for more awareness of the cases.

Other cases in Peppers' rural district include the death of 14-year-old Henny Scott. Her body was found by a search party two weeks after she went missing in December.

Harris and Scott's families complained authorities were slow to search for the victims after they were reported missing.

"It's always been this way. We've always had missing women and children," Peppers said. "The voices are just louder now."

In New Mexico, Lente said his measure would call for the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department to lead a task force joined by authorities across jurisdictions.

The legislation was welcomed by Meskee Yatsayte, an advocate in New Mexico for families with missing loved ones on the Navajo Nation. She said she hoped lawmakers and officials would include victims' families and advocates in their discussions.

"It's a good step forward," Yatsayte said. "But it can't be something where they meet and then nothing is done about it."

Bills in South Dakota and North Dakota include mandates for law enforcement training programs on conducting investigations.

Rep. Tamara St. John, a South Dakota Republican and member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, said she's co-sponsoring the measure to put a spotlight on the cases.

Rep. Gina Mosbrucker, a Washington state Republican, introduced a bill signed into law last year that requires the Washington State Patrol to provide an estimate by June of how many Native women are missing in the state. That measure paved the way for similar legislation in other states.

This year she proposed another measure that would require the state patrol to have two liaisons on staff to serve tribes seeking information about cases.

"I truly believe this is an intense emergency and we have to put this on the front burner," Mosbrucker said in a committee hearing late Tuesday. "What we learned is we didn't want to wait."

___

Associated Press reporter James Nord in Pierre, South Dakota, contributed to this report.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Latest on two dead after kidnapping, police chase in Missouri, Illinois (all times local):

1:20 p.m.

Authorities say a 33-year-old woman is in critical condition after she and her 10-year-old daughter were abducted in Missouri and driven to Illinois before they managed to escape.

Police in Illinois said in a news release that 39-year-old Leslie Austin kidnapped the woman and their child Tuesday night in Jefferson City, Missouri. The woman was shot multiple times during the abduction. Law enforcement pursued Austin into Illinois, when the woman and girl were able to escape after the vehicle was slowed by tire-deflating "stop sticks."

The release says the woman was taken to a hospital, but the girl wasn't hurt.

Austin fatally shot another man while attempting to carjack his vehicle. He died after exchanging gunfire with police. It wasn't immediately known if Austin shot himself or was shot by officers.

___

9:40 a.m.

Authorities say two people are dead following a kidnapping, attempted carjacking and lengthy police chase that started in Missouri and ended in southern Illinois.

Police allege 39-year-old Leslie Austin kidnapped his girlfriend and their child Tuesday night in Jefferson City, Missouri. The woman was shot during the abduction but survived.

She was able to escape with her child after Austin drove into Illinois, where Austin then fatally shot a 67-year-old man during an attempted carjacking.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Austin died after exchanging gunfire with police who stopped his vehicle by using "stop sticks" along a roadway in Greenville, Illinois, about 175 miles (282 kilometers) from Jefferson City. It wasn't immediately known if Austin shot himself or was shot by officers.

Police say the woman was being treated at a hospital Wednesday. Her condition hasn't been released.

___

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Israel has refused to allow the U.N. Security Council to visit the territory that the Palestinians claim for a future independent state, U.N. diplomats said Wednesday.

Last week, the council authorized Its current president, Equitorial Guinea's U.N. Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba, to consult the Israel and Palestinian ambassadors about a trip.

Palestinian Ambassador Riyad Mansour immediately responded, saying a council visit would be viewed "in the most positive way."

But Kuwaiti Ambassador Mansour Al-Otaibi said Ndong Mba reported to a closed council meeting Wednesday that "Israel categorically refused the council visit," though Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon said the government would welcome visits to Israel by individual ambassadors.

A council visit requires support from all 15 council members and approval by the countries concerned. Several other members confirmed Danon's rejection.

Al-Otaibi, the Arab representative on the council, said he expressed regret that the visit won't take place, noting there have been many requests for the U.N.'s most powerful body to visit the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as their capital - all unsuccessful.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said there is no record of the Security Council ever visiting Palestinian areas.

"We want to continue our consultation," Al-Otaibi said. "Hopefully we reach a consensus, because we said this issue has been on the council agenda for decades."

"We want an official trip - this is what we asked for, not to go illegally or not to be invited as tourists," Al-Otaibi said.

Equatorial Guinea's deputy ambassador, Job Obiang Esono Mbengono, told reporters: "We're still working on it."

The Security Council asked the council president to meet the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to discuss a visit after the United States blocked an Arab-backed Security Council statement put forward by Indonesia and Kuwait expressing regret at Israel's suspension of an international observer mission in the West Bank city of Hebron.

The Temporary International Presence in Hebron was established in 1994 following Israeli settler Baruch Goldstein's massacre of 29 worshippers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in the West Bank city, which triggered riots across Palestinian areas. The mosque is located at the site that is also revered by Jews as the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

Israel's Danon accused the Hebron mission of acting as "a violent, biased" force, which its members strongly denied.
DECATUR, Texas (AP) - The Latest on Texas children found in dog cage (all times local):

1:15 p.m.

Bond has been set for two parents charged with child endangerment after authorities found two children locked in a dog cage and two more smeared with excrement in a North Texas barn.

The Wise County Sheriff's office says Andrew Joseph Fabila's bond was set at $60,000 on four child endangerment charges. Bond for Paige Isabow Harkings was set at $75,000 for the endangerment charges and another charge of aggravated assault. Both are 24 and being held in the county jail.

Sheriff's deputies arrested the pair after finding three boys, ages 5, 3 and 1, and a 4-year-old girl at a property near Rhome, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Fort Worth.

___

This aerial image provided by KDFW-FOX4 News shows part of the property where deputies found two young, malnourished children locked together in a dog cage near Rhome, Texas about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Fort Worth. A Texas sheriff says, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, deputies responding to a domestic disturbance at a home discovered two young, malnourished children locked together in a dog cage while two others also were found malnourished. (AP Photo/KDFW-FOX4 News)

11:15 a.m.

Four malnourished children are in foster care after authorities found two of them locked in a dog cage and two more smeared with excrement in a North Texas barn.

A Texas Department of Family and Protective Services official says the children were released from a hospital Tuesday night. Law enforcement found the children earlier in the day on the property near Rhome, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Fort Worth.

Spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales says the three boys, ages 5, 3 and 1, and a 4-year-old girl, are "doing OK," but declined to share details.

Paige Isabow Harkings and Andrew Joseph Fabila, who are both 24, have each been charged with four counts of criminal child endangerment.

Harkings, the children's mother, and was also charged with aggravated assault.

This undated photo provided by the From Wise County Sheriff's Office shows Paige Isabow Harkings. Deputies on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, discovered two malnourished children crammed into a locked dog cage and two more smeared with feces and urine in a barn in North Texas, in what a sheriff described as the worst case of child abuse he has ever seen. Joseph Fabila and Harkings, the mother of the four children, have been jailed without bond after the children were found at their rural home. (From Wise County Sheriff's Office via AP)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - A kidnapped and slain 13-year-old North Carolina girl likely died of suffocation or strangulation, but her cause of death couldn't be determined conclusively, according to an autopsy released Wednesday.

The state's Office of the Chief Medical examiner ruled that Hania Aguilar died of undetermined violence. The autopsy found she most likely died of asphyxia because other causes of death were ruled out.

Officials examined evidence that she was abducted and sexually assaulted before her body was concealed under water. The autopsy found evidence of sexual assault.

"Due in part to limitations imposed by decomposition, the autopsy did not elucidate a specific mechanism of death," the autopsy report said. "However, the totality of the circumstances and findings ... indicate death by homicidal violence."

The medical examiner's report said that her unclothed body was found in late November face down under a folding plastic table that was also weighed down by a tire in a water-filled pit, about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from her home.

Hania disappeared Nov. 5 from a mobile home park when she went outside to start a relative's SUV before school. Authorities believe Aguilar was forced into the SUV and driven away. The SUV was later found several miles away.

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2018 file photo, Michael Ray McLellan sits in court for his first appearance on charges of kidnapping and murder of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar in Lumberton, N.C. Aguilar likely died of suffocation or strangulation, but her cause of death couldn't be determined conclusively, according to an autopsy released Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP, File)

Scores of people joined an intensive search that garnered national attention.

Michael Ray McLellan faces rape, murder and other charges in Hania's death. The public defender's office didn't immediately respond to an email asking if one of its lawyers was representing McLellan and could comment.

The handling of evidence in a related case prompted an internal sheriff's office probe and the departure of two investigators.

Former Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt has said that before Aguilar's disappearance, DNA evidence linked McLellan to a 2016 rape. Britt said a DNA match from that rape was given to the sheriff's office, but deputies apparently didn't follow up before Aguilar was killed.

The sheriff's office announced in January that one investigator was fired and another had resigned after both were suspended due to the internal investigation.

___

Follow Drew at www.twitter.com/JonathanLDrew

FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2018 file photo, Celsa Maribel Hernandez Velasquez, mother of Hania Aguilar, stares at Michael Ray McLellan during his first court appearance in Lumberton, N.C., as he faces first degree murder and other charges in the death of the 13-year-old girl. The young teenager likely died of suffocation or strangulation, but her cause of death couldn't be determined conclusively, according to an autopsy released Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (Andrew Craft/The Fayetteville Observer via AP, File)
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia's two Roman Catholic dioceses on Wednesday published lists of 58 priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors, joining other dioceses around the country in answering calls to make public the names of abusive clergy.

The diocese of Richmond said each of the 42 priests on its list had a "credible and substantiated" allegation of sexual abuse against a child. The names of 16 priests appeared on a list released by the diocese of Arlington.

Both dioceses said the lists were published after independent reviews of all clergy personnel files. The bishops of both Richmond and Arlington said none of the clergy whose names appear are currently in active ministry. Both bishops apologized to victims in letters that accompanied the lists.

"To those who experienced abuse from clergy, I am truly, deeply sorry," Richmond Bishop Barry Knestout wrote. "I regret that you have to bear the burden of the damage you suffered at the hands of those you trusted. I am also sorry that you must carry the memory of that experience with you."

Knestout said publishing the list "can help bring about healing" and "heighten the awareness of this tragic situation."

The move comes as dioceses in more than two dozen states around the country have taken similar action since a grand jury report released in August alleged that more than 300 priests abused at least 1,000 children over seven decades in Pennsylvania.

FILE - This Jan. 12, 2018, file photo shows Bishop Barry Knestout during his installation as the 13th bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Richmond, Va. Virginia's Catholic Diocese of Richmond on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, published a list of 42 priests with a "credible and substantiated" allegation of sexual abuse against a child. (Mark Gormus/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP, File)

On Wednesday, New Jersey's five Roman Catholic dioceses listed more than 180 priests who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors over a span of several decades.

Thirteen of the 42 priests on the Richmond list are now deceased. Six have been criminally convicted. That list covers allegations dating from the 1950s to the most recent substantiated allegation in 1993, said Deborah Cox, a spokeswoman for the diocese. The list doesn't include details about the allegations or what parishes the priests were serving in at the time.

Cox said Knestout does not know of any priests or deacons currently serving in ministry or in any other capacity with a credible and substantiated allegation of sexual abuse against them. Cox said that if victims come forward with allegations against any clergy in active ministry, Knestout "will respond in accordance with our commitment to addressing allegations of sexual abuse."

One of the priests listed by the Richmond diocese is the Rev. John P. Blankenship, who pleaded guilty in 2002 to sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 1982 while the boy and his mother went to the Church of the Sacred Heart in Prince George County to do housekeeping chores. Blankenship was given supervised probation and avoided a prison sentence. He was removed from ministry in 2002 and dismissed from the priesthood in 2007.

Eight of the priests on the Arlington list are deceased.

"The publishing of this list will bring a range of emotions for all of us. Embarrassment, frustration, anger and hurt are all natural emotions to experience in a time such as this. I share those emotions," Bishop Michael Burbidge of the Arlington diocese wrote.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said in October that his office and state police were investigating possible clergy sexual abuse of children and whether any church officials may have covered up or "abetted any such crimes."

Herring set up a hotline and an online reporting form for any victims to report abuse.

A spokesman for Herring did not immediately return a call seeking comment Wednesday.

After the clergy sex abuse crisis exploded in Boston in 2002, U.S. bishops adopted a series of reforms, including stricter requirements for reporting allegations to law enforcement. Since then, abuse allegations have been reported in dioceses around the country.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A New Hampshire law that will make residency a condition of voting in the state unconstitutionally restricts students' right to vote, the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday in a lawsuit.

Under current law, New Hampshire is the only state that doesn't require residency. The federal lawsuit filed against Secretary of State William Gardner and Attorney General Gordon MacDonald was brought on behalf of two Dartmouth College students. They say the law, which takes effect July 1, burdens their right to vote by requiring new voters to shift their home state driver's licenses and registrations to New Hampshire.

"Under this law, I have to pay to change my California license to be a New Hampshire one," one of the students, Maggie Flaherty, said in a statement. "If I vote and don't change my license within 60 days, I could even be charged with a misdemeanor offense with up to one year in jail.

"Make no mistake - this is meant to deter young people from participating in our elections, and students are an important voting bloc here," Flaherty said of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state.

Gardner said he sees the issue as "everyone who votes ought to vote under the same standards. There should not be different classes of voters."

The current law allows college students and others to vote who consider the state their "domicile," that is, counting the state as their place of residence "more than any other place." That doesn't carry the requirements of "residency," which has people get driver's licenses and vehicle registrations if they are staying "for the indefinite future," language that's no longer in the new law.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu initially expressed concerns about the constitutionality of the law, which was passed by the then-Republican controlled Legislature last year. He requested an advisory opinion from the state Supreme Court. The court said that eliminating the distinction between "residency" and "domicile" for voting purposes would be constitutional, siding with Republicans who argued that out-of-state college students who vote in New Hampshire should be subject to the same requirements as everyone else.

Sununu, who signed the bill into law in July, had said it "restores equality and fairness to our elections." Democrats argued it amounts to a poll tax and would deter students from voting. In its ruling, the court said that even if removing the distinction between residency and domicile creates a burden on them, the state has a compelling reason for making the change.

"We have received the complaint filed today," said Senior Assistant Attorney General Anthony Galdieri, chief of civil litigation. "It is the Attorney General's duty to vigorously defend the laws of our state and our office will do so in this case."

Deputy Secretary of State David Scanlan had spoken in favor of the bill last year. He emphasized that neighboring states require those who vote in their states to become residents, subject to motor vehicle and other laws.

"Just being domiciled here and not being a resident is an absurd result," he said.

A separate lawsuit brought by the New Hampshire Democratic Party and the League of Women Voters challenges a 2017 law requiring additional documentation from voters who register within 30 days of an election. Supporters argue it will increase trust in elections by requiring people to prove they live where they vote, but opponents argue it is confusing, unnecessary and intimidating.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Israel's prime minister on Wednesday sent out a belligerent rallying cry to his Arab partners at a U.S.-backed Mideast conference, saying he planned to focus on the "common interest" of confronting Iran.

Netanyahu made the comments during an off-the-cuff interview with reporters on a Warsaw street, shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister.

He has long used tough language against Iran. But his latest comments, which appeared to include a call for war, went beyond his standard rhetoric. Netanyahu's office later issued a clarification, saying his remarks had been mistranslated.

The meeting with Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi was a rare public appearance by an Arab leader with Netanyahu, who frequently boasts of warming behind-the-scenes ties with the Arab world.

"From here I am going to a meeting with 60 foreign ministers and envoys of countries from around the world against Iran," Netanyahu said.

"What is important about this meeting - and this meeting is not in secret, because there are many of those - is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran," he added.

Front from left, United States Vice President Mike Pence, Poland's President Andrzej Duda, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, pose for a group photo at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Although Netanyahu used the Hebrew word "milchama," or war, his office later changed its official translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran."

The U.S. has billed the conference in Warsaw as a meeting about peace and security in the Middle East. But Israel and the Gulf Arab countries are eager to keep the focus on their shared foe, Iran.

Netanyahu considers Iran to be Israel's greatest threat, citing its frequent calls for Israel's destruction, its suspect nuclear program and support for militant groups across the region. Israel has been active in recent months attacking Iranian targets in neighboring Syria.
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee sheriff says a man has fatally shot his wife at the dentist office where she worked.

Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy told news outlets that a bystander at David A. Guy Dentistry in Kingsport then shot the man and held him until officers arrived. Cassidy said the bystander was legally licensed to carry a weapon. He called him a hero who "took care of the situation until police officers arrived."

The sheriff said the woman was taken to a hospital after Wednesday's shooting and pronounced dead. The man was being treated at a hospital, but his condition wasn't immediately available. Police have not released any identities.

News outlets report investigators were interviewing multiple patients and employees who were at the practice when the shooting happened.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP) - A bus carrying workers in North Macedonia crashed into a ravine outside the capital of Skopje Wednesday, killing 14 people and injuring about 30, officials said.

Venko Filipce, the newly renamed European nation's health minister, said seven people were pronounced dead at the scene and the rest died after being taken to a hospital. Six of those injured had life-threatening conditions.

Prime Minister Zoran Zaev declared two days of national mourning.

The bus was carrying about 50 people when it veered off a highway linking Skopje with the western town of Tetovo and plunged 10 meters (30 feet) into a small ravine, landing upside down. The cause of the crash, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Skopje, wasn't yet known.

Firefighters and residents of a nearby village rushed to the scene of the crash to help pull survivors, including the driver, from the wreckage.

Witness Samet Musliu told private Telma TV that rescuers had to cut open the bus to reach the injured.

Police and investigators stand near the bus wreckage at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

"There was a strong smell of gasoline and we were afraid the bus would explode," he said.

The bus had been carrying workers back from Skopje to the town of Gostivar, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the capital, where most of them lived, said Gostivar Mayor Arben Taravari.

A bus lays overturned at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

Police officers stand near the bus wreckage at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

A bus lays overturned at the crash site at village of Laskarci, west of Skopje, North Macedonia, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Macedonia's health minister says some have died and many are injured in the bus crash, carrying workers on a highway west of the capital, Skopje. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)
Police are worried that drugs still remain a problem among students despite their continuous public education campaigns, and efforts to curb this problem.

The Botswana Police Service (BPS) is now looking at taking their fight against illegal possession and use of drugs a notch higher, and using social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook, in the hope of reaching more youth. This was revealed by Officer Commanding: Narcotics, Fauna & Flora, Senior Superintendent Musa Oteng in an interview with this publication this week. He revealed that in recent times they have recorded some worrying numbers where students were found in possession of drugs. In 2017, they recorded 14 cases involving 24 students. In 2018, the number increased to 22 cases involving 37 students.

We have observed that there are some adverts on these platforms talking about the benefits of using drugs such as Dagga hence we want to use them, he explains. The most commonly used drug by students at both Junior and Secondary schools, he says is Dagga. Other drugs that students use include CAT (Methcathinone), which is predominant amongst students at tertiary institutions as they have money to access it. In 2018, police recorded two cases of CAT. He explained that most of these numbers were recorded at Senior and Tertiary schools. The majority of the students start using drugs at Junior schools, and some as early as Primary schools.

Dagga dominates especially at Junior and Senior schools, he explained. Police use continuous public education campaigns to educate and sensitise students about the illegal use of drugs. In 2017, they reached out to 17 000 students at both Junior, Senior and Tertiary schools. The following year, they reached out to close to 21 000 students at these learning institutions.

Concerning charges for those found in possession of drugs, he explained that they normally engage social workers for underage students, but those of legal age, can be charged for unlawful possession of drugs (less than 60 grams) which attracts either a fine of P20, 000 or jail sentence not exceeding three years, or both if the offender is a recidivist. Media Coordinator of Botswana Substance Abuse Support Network (BOSASNet), Wazha Dambe explained that the most commonly used substances are cigarettes, alcohol and dagga. Other substances include cough syrups, and hard drugs such as CAT, and Cocaine, as well as emerging drugs which are a mixture of drugs, and other creations such as ARVs, and Faeces. This is why we are saying that this is a growing problem, he said.

He said on average they get 20 plus clients in a month seeking their many services that include specialised counselling to individuals and families dealing with issues related to substance abuse and dependency. But the numbers vary according to periods of the year. For example, they have a lot of clients coming through in January seeking help for issues such as health or finances.

Quizzed on whether he was aware about a new drug that allegedly trades under the name Snow, he said that it could just be a name given to a drug that was already available in the market, or that it could have been an old drug or a new mixture, and is trading under a new name. Snow, allegedly is a mixture of a number of drugs. The drug names also differ according to location, he explained. He said that they also offer counselling services on a one on one basis, family sessions, as well as parent support groups.
OCILLA, Ga. (AP) - Grammy-nominated rapper 21 Savage was released Wednesday from an immigration detention center in south Georgia, his lawyers said.

The rapper, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, was released on $100,000 bond, immigration lawyer Tia Smith said in an email. He had been held in the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla.

Abraham-Joseph was arrested early Feb. 3 in a targeted operation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has said. An immigration judge on Tuesday granted him bond.

ICE has said the British citizen overstayed his visa and has an October 2014 felony conviction in Fulton County.

His lawyers have said the 26-year-old rapper was brought to the U.S. when he was 7 and his legal status expired in 2006 through no fault of his own. They've disputed that he has a felony conviction, and immigration attorney Charles Kuck said ICE lawyers backed off that claim during Tuesday's hearing.

ICE spokesman Bryan Cox said Wednesday he had no further comment.

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2018, file photo, 21 Savage poses in the press room at the MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall in New York. A lawyer for 21 Savage says Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, that the Grammy-nominated rapper, whose given name is She'yaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, has been released on on $100,000 bond from the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Ga. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Abraham-Joseph applied for a new visa in 2017, and that case remains pending, Kuck said.

"If it follows the normal trajectory, it could go on for two or three years," Kuck said, adding that, in the meantime, "he gets his life back."
NEW YORK (AP) - Federal authorities have charged a Rikers Island correctional officer with smuggling drugs into the New York City jail.

Court records unsealed this week show 23-year-old Simon Gordon faces bribery and drug charges following an investigation by the city's Department of Investigation.

Gordon was released Monday on $25,000 bail. His defense attorney declined to comment Wednesday.

Court records show authorities reviewed jailhouse phone calls in which an unnamed inmate discussed bribing a guard.

Authorities confronted Gordon one day last summer as he was reporting for work.

Prosecutors say he handed over a package of marijuana he had concealed in his crotch.

They said the narcotics had been coated with nail polish in an effort to mask the odor.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Asserting congressional authority over war-making powers, the House passed a resolution Wednesday that would force the administration to withdraw U.S. troops from involvement in Yemen, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump's alliance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the military intervention.

Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and skeptical of the U.S. partnership with that coalition, especially in light of Saudi Arabia's role in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the royal family.

Passage would mark the first time Congress has relied on the decades-old War Powers Resolution to halt military intervention. It also would set up a potential confrontation with the White House, which has threatened a veto. The House voted 248-177 to approve the measure, sending it to the Senate, where a similar resolution passed last year.

"We have helped create, and worsen, the world's largest humanitarian crisis," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., during the debate. "Our involvement in this war, quite frankly, is shameful."

The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said the vote represents "Congress reclaiming its role in foreign policy."

Senate approval would set up a showdown with the administration - a veto would be Trump's first - over the president's shifting approach on foreign policy.

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2018, file photo, tribesmen loyal to Houthi rebels hold up their weapons as they attend a gathering to show their support for the ongoing peace talks in Sanaa, Yemen. Asserting Congress' authority over war powers, the House is debating a resolution to force the Trump administration to withdraw U.S. troops from involvement in Yemen. It's a rebuke of the president's alliance with Saudi Arabia and prompted veto threat from the White House. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

Lawmakers are quick to point out that Trump wants to withdraw troops from the wars in Syria and Afghanistan as part of his "America First" approach, but he has shown less interest in limiting the U.S. role in Yemen.

The White House says the House resolution is "flawed" because U.S. troops are not directly involved in military action in Yemen, where the coalition is fighting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war involving the Mideast's dominant regional players.

Since 2015, the administration says, the U.S. has provided support to the coalition, including intelligence and, until recently, aerial refueling, but it has not had forces involved in "hostilities."

Congress has not invoked the War Power Resolution, which requires approval of military actions, since it was enacted in 1973. Lawmakers approved more sweeping authorizations for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that some argue are being used too broadly for other military actions.

Newly emboldened Democrats in the House, eager to confront Trump on foreign policy, and Republicans in both chambers have shown a willingness to put a legislative check on the president's agenda.

In the House, 18 Republicans, including members of the GOP's libertarian-leaning wing and Trump allies in the conservative Freedom Caucus, joined Democrats in passing the Yemen measure.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who drafted the legislation, said there's an emerging bipartisan alliance that's skeptical of military intervention without congressional oversight.

"It's not just about Yemen. It's about the Congress taking a stand and every future president having to think twice about whether to authorize a military intervention without congressional approval," Khanna said in an interview.

The Senate version is from independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and backed by Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.

Before Wednesday's vote, the House overwhelmingly agreed to add an amendment offered by Republicans who are seeking to expose emerging Democratic divisions over support for Israel.

The amendment reaffirms the U.S. commitment "to combat anti-Semitism around the world" and says it's in the national security interest to oppose boycotts of Israel. That's a reference to the Boycott, Divest and Sanction movement that has gained support of some lawmakers.

First-term Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., one of the Muslim-American women elected to Congress, came under criticism this week for her comments against the Israel lobbying organization AIPAC that raised anti-Semitic stereotypes. She later apologized.

The House added another GOP amendment that would allow continued intelligence sharing, which drew fire from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU warned it gives the president broad authority to provide the Saudis and others with U.S. intelligence information about Yemen, and the group said the package, overall, is now weaker than originally proposed.

Now the Yemen measure goes to the Senate, where a similar resolution on removing U.S. involvement in the war was approved with Republican support late last year.

At the time, Congress was eager to send a message to both the president and the Saudis after the October murder of the U.S.-based journalist Khashoggi at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. The U.S. has sanctioned 17 Saudi individuals for their involvement in the killing, and U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, must have at least known of the plot. Trump so far has decided not to impose harsher penalties on the prince. The kingdom insists he did not order the killing.

The outcome of the legislation is uncertain. Republicans control the Senate, 53-47, and a simple majority is needed to pass.

Trump has yet to veto any measures from Congress. If he did veto the Yemen resolution, it's unclear whether lawmakers would have enough support to override him.
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Coming off a big night at the Grammys, Donald Glover and his alter-ego Childish Gambino were nominated Wednesday for five NAACP Image Awards.

Glover is nominated for his acting and directing on "Atlanta." The FX show itself is nominated for best comedy series. On the music side, Childish Gambino is nominated for top male performer, and his song "This Is America" is nominated for best video and song. Glover won four Grammys including record and song of the year on Sunday night.

The nominees were announced Wednesday at the Television Critics Association winter meeting by "Black Panther" actor Winston Duke and "Dear White People" actress Logan Browning, both of whom learned as they made the announcements that they were among the nominees. Browning teared up after seeing her name.

"Black Panther" was nominated for 14 awards, with star Chadwick Boseman and director Ryan Coogler nominated for entertainer of the year along with Beyonce, LeBron James and Regina King.

The film was also nominated for best motion picture along with "BlacKkKlansman," ''Crazy Rich Asians," ''If Beale Street Could Talk" and "The Hate U Give."

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters will receive the NAACP Chairman's Award for public service.

Winston Duke, left, and Logan Browning announce nominations for the 50th annual NAACP Image Awards during TV One's Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

The 50th NAACP Image Awards honoring entertainers and writers of color will be held March 30 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and aired live on TV One.

___

Online: http://www.naacpimageawards.net .

Logan Browning, right, reacts as Winston Duke announces her as a nominee for the 50th annual NAACP Image Awards during TV One's Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Logan Browning, right, reacts as Winston Duke announces her as a nominee for the 50th annual NAACP Image Awards during TV One's Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Pasadena, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
VATICAN CITY (AP) - The Vatican says it is teaming up with Microsoft on an academic prize to promote ethics in artificial intelligence.

Pope Francis met privately on Wednesday with Microsoft President Brad Smith and the head of a Vatican scientific office that promotes Catholic Church positions on human life.

The Vatican said Smith and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia of the Pontifical Academy for Life told Francis about the international prize for an individual who has successfully defended a dissertation on ethical issues involving artificial intelligence.

The winner will receive 6,000 euros ($6,900) and an invitation to Microsoft's Seattle headquarters.

The Vatican says Smith discussed artificial intelligence "at the service of the common good" during the papal meeting.

The theme of the Pontifical Academy' of Life's s 2020 plenary assembly is AI.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on congressional border security negotiations and President Donald Trump (all times local):

12:30 a.m.

Congressional bargainers have completed a bipartisan border security compromise that gives President Donald Trump less than a quarter of the $5.7 billion he wanted to build a wall with Mexico.

Summaries of the legislation say that besides nearly $1.4 billion to build new barriers, there's over $1 billion for other border security programs.

That includes money for inspection equipment for border ports of entry. There is more than $400 million in humanitarian aid for detained migrants plus funds to buy aircraft and to hire 600 more customs officers and additional immigration judges.

The measure would begin reducing the number of unauthorized immigrants the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency can detain.

President Donald Trump speaks at the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association Joint Conference in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The bill would prevent a partial federal shutdown that would begin Saturday. Congressional approval is expected Thursday and Trump's signature is considered likely.

___

4:45 p.m.

U.S. active-duty troops from dozens of units around the country are flowing to the southern border, as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to beef up surveillance and install more wire barriers.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire barriers along the border, and plans to put in another 140 miles of concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

Many of the troops who have been serving on the border mission are going home. As of Monday, there were a bit more than 2,000 active-duty forces there. That number is expected to go up to more than 4,300.

___

4 p.m.

President Donald Trump says the wall he envisions in some places along the southern border would be harder to scale than Mount Everest.

Even by Trump standards of exaggeration, that's a huge leap.

The estimated height for some proposed barriers runs as high as 30 feet. Mount Everest stands nearly 30,000 feet high.

Trump made the claim during a speech Wednesday to a conference of the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association.

He says the wall is "very, very on its way" and says people will have to be in extremely good physical shape to scale it. He says migrants trying to cross illegally "would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier."

___

1:05 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he and his aides will be "looking for land mines" when they review the final text of a border security agreement. The deal would keep the government open, but provide just a fraction of the money Trump has been demanding for his border wall.

Asked by reporters whether he planned to back the deal, Trump said Wednesday he would be taking "a very serious look," but declined to tip his hand.

He says, "we're going to look at the legislation when it comes and I'll make a determination."

Still, Trump reiterated his desire to avoid another government shutdown, following the 35-day partial closure that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks, saying another closure "would be a terrible thing."

Trump is also insisting that, no matter what, "We're going to have a great wall."

___

12:10 a.m.

President Donald Trump says he's not expecting the government to shut down again, a signal that he's leaning toward accepting a budget deal that denies him most of the money he's sought for a southern border wall.

Trump says he isn't happy with the compromise and has yet to say he will sign the tentative deal if it passes Congress as expected. A budget bill must be signed into law by midnight Friday to avoid a second shutdown this year.

Lawmakers from both parties have reached a deal that would provide nearly $1.4 billion for border barriers. That's about one-fourth of the money Trump demanded for a wall separating the U.S. and Mexico.

Trump says he's looking to supplement border wall funding with money from other parts of the government.
A man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and dumping her body in a suitcase in Connecticut is a citizen of Portugal who has been in the U.S. illegally for more than a year, federal authorities said Wednesday as the victim's loved ones gathered for her funeral.

Javier Da Silva Rojas, who had been living in New York City, was taken into custody Monday and charged with kidnapping resulting in death in the killing of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes, of New Rochelle, New York. The charge carries the possibility of the death penalty.

Da Silva, also 24, entered the U.S. on May 8, 2017, through the Visa Waiver Program and was required to leave by Aug. 5, 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

The agency on Wednesday filed a detainer for Da Silva, meaning he will be deported immediately after his criminal case is complete and any sentence is served.

Susanne Brody, a lawyer for Da Silva, declined to comment Wednesday.

The Visa Waiver Program allows citizens from 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa. Of the nearly 22.5 million people who entered the U.S. under the program and were supposed to leave in the 2017 fiscal year, about 131,000 remained in the country illegally, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Pallbearers carry the casket of homicide victim Valerie Reyes into her funeral mass at St. Gabriel's Church in New Rochelle, N.Y. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Reyes, 24, of New Rochelle, N.Y., was found in a suitcase in Greenwich, Conn. on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Police arrested Javier da Silva, of Queens, N.Y., in connection with the killing. (Tyler Sizemore/Heast Connecticut Media)

Also Wednesday, family and friends of Reyes attended her funeral at St. Gabriel's Church in New Rochelle. They cried and hugged outside, with some wearing sweatshirts with her photo and wording saying, "In Loving Memory of our beautiful soul Valerie. You captured so many hearts."

"She was just silly and just a free soul, beautiful soul. She's going to be missed," her cousin, Desiree Rodriguez, said Wednesday. "We're devastated, but we're happy that the person was caught so she gets to go in peace. It kind of brings us a little more peace, too, to let her go."

Reyes was buried in a green casket adorned with flowers at a cemetery in nearby Rye, New York, as family and friends held white balloons.

Reyes worked at a bookstore and aspired to become a tattoo artist, co-workers and friends said. She was last seen on Jan. 29 and relatives reported her missing the next day. Town workers in Greenwich, Connecticut, found her body in a suitcase in a wooded area on Feb. 5.

Investigators focused on Da Silva after police said he used Reyes' ATM card to withdraw cash multiple times after her death.

In a videotaped interview at the New Rochelle Police Department, Da Silva told investigators that Reyes fell to the floor and hit her head after they had sex on Jan. 29 at her home, federal authorities said. They said he indicated he put packing tape over her mouth, bound her legs and hands, and put her in a suitcase that he put in a forest after driving for some time.

Friends and family of homicide victim Valerie Reyes attend her funeral mass at St. Gabriel's Church in New Rochelle, N.Y. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Reyes, 24, of New Rochelle, N.Y., was found in a suitcase in Greenwich, Conn. on Tuesday, Feb. 5. Police arrested Javier da Silva, of Queens, N.Y., in connection with the killing. (Tyler Sizemore/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The Taliban will hold a previously unexpected round of peace talks with the United States in Pakistan on Monday, ahead of scheduled meetings in the Middle Eastern state of Qatar a week later, the insurgent group said in a statement Wednesday.

The talks are aimed at finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war. The Qatar meeting is expected to include a collection of prominent Afghan figures, many of whom attended a similar gathering in the Russian capital earlier this month.

U.S. Peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad did not attend the Moscow meeting but was expected to head the U.S. team in Pakistan. He met earlier this week with NATO and European Union officials.

There was no immediate explanation for the previously unscheduled talks but Pakistan has been under considerable pressure to use its influence over the Taliban to press the insurgents into direct talks with Afghanistan's government.

The Taliban's top leadership is believed to be in Pakistan, despite repeated denials from Islamabad, which also says its influence over the insurgent force is overstated.

Until now, the Taliban has refused to talk directly to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's government but pressure is mounting to bring them into an expanding circle of participants.

FILE - In this July 15, 2018, file photo, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a press conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan government has fired its election commission, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. The move by Ghani's administration comes more than three months after chaotic parliamentary elections -- the results of which have still not been announced -- and ahead of July's controversial presidential vote. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

The unexpected talks in Islamabad will come on the heels of a two-day visit to Pakistan by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In January, Saudi Arabia offered to host direct talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government but the insurgents refused to attend.

Meanwhile, Ghani this week chafed at the Moscow meeting saying an intra-Afghan dialogue would be better suited to Saudi Arabia, where Islam's two holiest sites of Mecca and Medina are located than the Russian capital.

While Pakistan's economy is likely to dominate Islamabad's talks with the Saudi Crown prince, accelerated efforts to find a negotiated end to Afghanistan's 17-year war were also expected to find its way into the discussions.

The newly announced 14-member Taliban negotiation team is also expected to meet Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during the one-day visit "to hold comprehensive discussions about Pak-Afghan relations and issues pertaining to Afghan refugees and Afghan businessmen," the statement said. About 1.5 million Afghan refugees still live in Pakistan.

Since his appointment last September, Khalilzad has stepped up efforts to find an eventual end to America's longest war.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Donald Trump on Wednesday called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's refusal to accept humanitarian aid a "terrible mistake" and the decision an example of what can happen when the wrong government holds power.

Trump seemed also to hint at future action by the U.S. and its allies against Maduro, who has blocked shipments of food and other assistance sent by the U.S. and other countries for the people of Venezuela. Political and economic turmoil has led to vast shortages of basic goods, forcing many Venezuelans to flee to neighboring Colombia or participate in massive street protests in an attempt to pressure Maduro to leave office.

The U.S. and other nations favor that outcome and have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's rightful leader.

Asked if he had a backup plan should Maduro retain power, Trump said: "I always have Plan B. And C and D and E and F. ... A lot of things are happening in Venezuela that people don't know about."

During an Oval Office appearance with Colombian President Ivan Duque, Trump said many countries want to help Venezuela.

"We'll be seeing a lot over the next few weeks," he said.

President Donald Trump walks with Colombian President Ivan Duque to a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Maduro has blasted the humanitarian aid as part of a U.S.-led coup to topple him. Trump said Maduro made the wrong call in denying his people the assistance, noting that Maduro has blocked the bridge closest to where the aid is being warehoused on the Colombian border, but not other crossings.

"I think he's making a terrible mistake by not allowing" the aid to be distributed, Trump said. "It's showing bad things and, really, we're trying to get food to people that are starving. You have people starving in Venezuela, and it just shows what can happen with the wrong government."

Guaido said this week that he will try to run caravans of the badly needed food and medicine into Venezuela, starting Feb. 23.

Duque publicly committed Wednesday to making sure the supplies get into Venezuela.

"Obstructing the access of humanitarian aid is a crime against humanity," the Colombian leader said.

Russia, which backs Maduro, has said Venezuela should be allowed to solve its issues internally and peacefully, a sentiment that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a telephone conversation Wednesday, according to Lavrov's office.

Trump repeatedly has said he has not ruled out any option, including military action, for dealing with the turmoil in Venezuela.

Asked Wednesday whether he would send in U.S. troops, Trump replied, "We'll see." But Elliot Abrams, the president's special representative for Venezuela, was more direct during an appearance Wednesday on Capitol Hill, telling House lawmakers military action "is not the path that the U.S. is pursuing."

Several members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said they would oppose U.S. military intervention. Abrams said he believed increasing international pressure and the pain of sanctions against Venezuela will eventually lead to Maduro's ouster.

On another top concern, Trump chastised Duque over illegal drugs during the public portion of their meeting. Colombia is the world's largest exporter of cocaine and the steady growth of its coca crop in recent years has tested relations with the United States.

"We are working together so that Colombia eradicates some of what they're growing in Colombia," Trump said. "I wouldn't say that at this moment you're ahead of schedule, but hopefully you will be at some time in the near future."

Duque defended his administration, asserting that more cocaine has been eradicated in the first four months of his term than during the eight months before he was sworn into office in August 2018. He said the administration has a "moral duty" to rid Colombia of illegal crops and narcotrafficking.

"We have to deliver. We will deliver, because it is our moral duty," Duque said.

___

Associated Press writer Luis Alonso Lugo contributed to this report.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

President Donald Trump meets with Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump meet with Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez and his wife Maria Juliana Ruiz Sandoval in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Colombian President Ivan Duque listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
ATLANTA (AP) - U.S. House Democrats are bringing a voting rights inquiry to Georgia as they look into allegations of voter suppression during the 2018 elections.

A House subcommittee will hold a Feb. 19 field hearing in Atlanta on "voting rights and election administration in Georgia."

Peter Whippy is communications director for the Committee on House Administration. He said Wednesday that the hearing would focus on issues like purging of voter rolls and poll closings.

Voting rights became a flashpoint in last year's gubernatorial race between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp, who won.

Abrams accused Kemp, who was then Georgia's secretary of state, of using his position as the state's chief elections officer to suppress minority votes. Kemp vehemently denied the charge and said he was merely following state law.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The Latest on the release of names of clergy members with credible accusations of sexually abusing minors in New Jersey (all times local):

12:30 p.m.

New Jersey's five Roman Catholic dioceses have released the names of more than 180 priests they say have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.

The names were released Wednesday by the dioceses of Camden, Trenton, Metuchen and Paterson and the archdiocese of Newark.

Many priests on the lists are deceased, and others have been removed from ministry.

The dioceses didn't list the numbers or types of allegations against the priests.

New Jersey is one of more than two dozen states where dioceses have released the names of abusive clergy members since a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August identified over 300 predator priests.

___

10:15 a.m.

The Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, has released a list of 63 Roman Catholic clergy members they say have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors dating to 1940.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop, made the names public Wednesday.

All the clergy on the list are described as deceased or having been removed from ministry. About half are believed to be responsible for multiple victims.

New Jersey is one of more than two dozen states where dioceses have released the names of abusive clergy since a Pennsylvania grand jury report in August identified over 300 predator priests.

New Jersey's four other dioceses are also expected to release names soon of clergy suspected of abusing minors.

Newark's list includes Theodore McCarrick, a former Newark archbishop who served as Washington, D.C., archbishop from 2000 to 2006. McCarrick was removed from public ministry last June.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) - A girl who was the first at a Kansas City hospital to walk while on an invasive form of life support has died, less than two weeks after returning to her Wichita home.

The mother of Zei ("Zay") Uwadia said her daughter died Tuesday after returning home on Jan. 31. She had recently returned to Wichita after a 457-day stay at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, The Kansas City Star reported .

"On behalf of the countless doctors, nurses and staff who cared for Zei and were inspired daily by her fighting spirit, all of us at Children's Mercy were heartbroken to learn of her passing," the hospital said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with her family and friends and everyone who loved her."

Uwadia was hospitalized in 2017 after her lungs failed without explanation. Last year, she became the hospital's first patient to walk while on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which bypassed her lungs and pulled blood from her body, oxygenated it and pumped it back in. She survived on the machine for 190 days. Before her, no one at Children's Mercy had used the machine longer than three months.

Thousands of people watched YouTube videos of her walking the halls as friends, family and hospital employees cheered her on.

Zei, who turned 17 the day after she returned home, had said she wanted to go hom. She was smiling and walking when about 50 of her Wichita North High School classmates, teachers and friends lined the sidewalk and cheered her return home.

In this Jan. 31, 2019 photo, Zei Uwadia, second from left, is greeted by supporters as she returns to her Wichita, Kan., home, after spending the last 457 days at Children's Mercy hospital in Kansas City following her collapse from a lung condition. Uwadia died in her home on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, her mother said. She was 17. (Travis Heying/The Wichita Eagle via AP)

"This was a big goal for us, and it was a little difficult for us to achieve," Kerschen said after Zei returned home. "We had lots of ups and downs in the past month and it finally came to the point where we just had a frank conversation with the physicians and said it's time, we need to touch home. And they made it happen."

"I'm excited to have more freedom," Zei had said of returning home. "I won't be confined to this room or the hospital halls. I can go outside. I'll feel more normal. Not completely normal, but more."

But as she walked up the steps of her home, her legs gave out and she fell. She also needed a tracheostomy, a tube in her neck to help her breathe. She remained on oxygen but was no longer on ECMO.

Her doctors expressed concern about her returning home. Normally, before patients are discharged, they rely on machines for only 30 percent of the work of inhaling and exhaling. Zei was still at 40 percent.

"There's nothing I can do about it," Zei said. "Just be and live as best I can and try to get off of all these machines."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

___

Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration envoy to Venezuela says he believes increasing international pressure will eventually lead to the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro.

Special envoy Elliot Abrams did not predict when Maduro would step down. But Abrams said "a storm is brewing" inside his government and the Venezuelan leader "will not be able to weather it much longer."

Abrams testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, about a month after the U.S. took the unusual step of recognizing opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president.

He told lawmakers that U.S. oil sanctions are starting to bite the economically devastated country and are expected to cause oil production to be cut in half by the end of the year.

Abrams urged Venezuelan security forces to rise up against Maduro.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A much-criticized national database that checks if voters are registered in multiple states wasn't used last year in Kansas, the state that administers it, the official overseeing the state's elections told lawmakers.

Kansas Elections Director Bryan Caskey said his office under former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach also chose not to make $20,000 in security upgrades to the Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck Program. It didn't use the program during last year's election cycle and likely won't again this year after a Homeland Security audit discovered vulnerabilities.

Twenty-eight states exchanged 98 million registration records when Crosscheck was last used in 2017.

Kobach, a longtime champion of strict voter registration laws, was vice chairman of President Donald Trump's now-disbanded commission on election fraud. Kansas voters elected Scott Schwab, also a Republican, to replace him after Kobach ran for governor and lost to Democrat Laura Kelly.

Caskey told the House Elections Committee that Schwab has ordered a review of Crosscheck to determine whether to entirely abandon the program, the Topeka Capital-Journal reports .

Crosscheck compares voter registration lists among participating states to look for duplicates. The program is aimed at cleaning voter records and preventing voter fraud, but it has drawn criticism for a high error rate and lax security.

In this Feb. 12, 2019 photo, Bryan Caskey, elections director for the Kansas secretary of state's office, testifies before the Kansas House Elections Committee at the Statehouse in Topeka, Kansas. Caskey has told legislators that a much-criticized national database that checks if voters are registered in multiple states wasn't used in 2018 in Kansas, which administers it. (AP Photo/John Hanna)

Crosscheck compares registration lists and analyzes voters' first and last names and date of birth to determine whether a person is registered in multiple states, but critics say most of the hits are false matches.

The program identified 141,250 possible duplicate voter registrations in Kansas in 2017, but it is unclear how many were purged because the system doesn't track that data, Caskey said.

"I acknowledge that, yes, there are some false positives," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas alleged in a lawsuit filed last year that "reckless maintenance" of the program has exposed sensitive voter information. Kobach has called that lawsuit "baseless," citing the U.S. Supreme Court last year in an Ohio case dealing with maintenance of voter rolls.

A federal judge earlier this month rejected the state's argument that the lawsuit should be dismissed because voters have no right to privacy for the information in their registration record.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Crabtree ruled he was rejecting that argument "because its basic premise is wrong."

Caskey told lawmakers that Kansas could use some of the $2 million in federal funds untouched by Kobach to instead access the Electronic Registration Information Center, or ERIC as it is better known. The initial cost to use ERIC would be $25,000. It uses encrypted voter information along with Social Security Administration death records, driver license information and U.S. Postal Service change-of-address data.

Twenty-six states now use the ERIC system, according to its website. ERIC, based in Washington, D.C., is a non-profit corporation governed by a board of directors made up of member states.

Voting rights activist Davis Hammet said it should be a no-brainer to switch from Crosscheck to ERIC, which was developed by the Pew Charitable Trust with data scientists.

"If we are going to try to do this to clean our rolls, everyone seems to be in agreement that this is the way to do it," Hammet said.

___

Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. (AP) - Life-sized statues of Harriet Tubman and former Secretary of State William Seward are set to be installed in upstate New York after their initial molds were destroyed in a fire.

The Times Union reports the statues symbolize the little-known friendship between Tubman and Seward, who also served as New York governor.

Seward sold some of his property in Schenectady to Tubman in 1859 and helped her set up a homestead there.

Dexter Benedict was working on statues of the pair when a fire destroyed his foundry and sculpture studio in 2017.

Frank Wicks, who paid half of the commission fee for the statues, says he's grateful Benedict decided to start over again.

A dedication ceremony for the remade bronze statues is scheduled for May 17 at the Schenectady County Library.

___

Information from: Times Union, http://www.timesunion.com
MALE, Maldives (AP) - The prosecutor's office of the Maldives says that it has charged the country's former president with money laundering.

In a Twitter message Wednesday the prosecutor general's office says that it has filed the charges against Yameen Abdul Gayoom at the country's criminal court.

This follows police investigations into $1 million allegedly coming through a shady deal from leasing islands for tourist resort development being found in Yameen's bank account. Police completed investigations last week and asked the prosecutor general to press charges.

Yameen lost the presidential election last September after a five-year term during which he was accused of corruption, misrule and curtailing freedoms.

Maldives is known for its expensive island resorts.
BARRON, Wis. (AP) - A 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who spent 88 days in captivity after a violent abduction is thanking supporters from around the world.

Jayme Closs was taken in October in an attack that included the shotgun slayings of her parents, James and Denise Closs, at the family's home. A 21-year-old man is charged with kidnapping and murder.

Jayme is living with an aunt. In a statement, she and the Closs family expressed their "deepest gratitude for the incredible gifts and generous donations" that she's received. The statement says the many kind words Jayme has gotten "have been a source of great comfort to her."

A criminal complaint says suspect Jake Patterson told police he decided to "take" Jayme after he saw her getting on a school bus near her home. Arraignment is set for March 27.

___

For more stories on Jayme Closs' abduction and her parents' deaths: https://apnews.com/JaymeCloss
BEIRUT (AP) - The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says the group's staff "will convene all our energy" to preserve all services through 2019 despite funding cuts.

Pierre Krahenbuhl told reporters Wednesday that the UNRWA was able to keep all schools and health centers in camps around Lebanon open last year despite the cuts.

The United States, once the agency's largest and most generous donor, withdrew its support for the agency in 2018. That resulted in an abrupt loss of $300 million in funding for the organization.

Last month, UNRWA appealed for $1.2 billion to fund their services this year, aiming to maintain the same amount of money the agency received from donors in 2018.

The U.N. agency assists 5.4 million registered Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The Latest on suicide bombing targeting elite Revolutionary Guard (all times local):

10:15 p.m.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is linking a suicide bombing targeting the country's elite Revolution Guard to an ongoing, U.S.-sponsored Mideast meeting in Warsaw.

Zarif tweeted Wednesday night: "Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that (hashtag)WarsawCircus begins? Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots?"

Zarif added that the "US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results."

___

9:45 p.m.

Iranian state media have blamed the al-Qaida-linked Sunni extremist group Jaish al-Adl for a bus bombing that killed at least 20 members of Iran's elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and wounded 20 more.

Other semi-official news agencies also reported Jaish al-Adl, or "Army of Justice," had claimed the attack.

The attack Wednesday struck Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province, where the group has launched other attacks.

The bombing comes on the day of a U.S.-led conference in Warsaw that included discussions on what America describes as Iran's malign influence across the wider Mideast.

___

8:30 p.m.

A state-run news agency in Iran is reporting a suicide bombing in the country's southeast has killed at least 20 elite Revolutionary Guard personnel and wounded 20.

The IRNA news agency reported the toll in the bombing Wednesday in Sistan and Baluchistan province.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The province, which lies on a major opium trafficking route, has seen occasional clashes between Iranian forces and Baluch separatists, as well as drug traffickers.
DECATUR, Texas (AP) - Four malnourished siblings, all aged 5 or younger, have been placed in foster care after authorities found them hungry and thirsty in a North Texas barn, two locked in a dog cage and the others smeared with excrement, authorities said Wednesday.

Law enforcement found the children Tuesday morning while responding to a domestic disturbance call at a property near Rhome, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Fort Worth.

The three boys and girl were released from a hospital Tuesday evening and placed into foster care, a Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said. The agency did not say if the children have been placed together or split up.

Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said deputies found the oldest two kids locked in a 3-by-3 foot (90-by-90 centimeter) cage and the other two were filthy and only partially clothed. Akin called it the worst case of child abuse he has seen in his 44-year career.

Paige Isabow Harkings and Andrew Joseph Fabila, who are both 24, were each charged with four counts of criminal child endangerment and were being held in the Wise County Jail.

Harkings, who was also charged with aggravated assault, is the mother to all four children, while Fabila is the father of one, authorities said.

This undated photo provided by the From Wise County Sheriff's Office shows Paige Isabow Harkings. Deputies on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, discovered two malnourished children crammed into a locked dog cage and two more smeared with feces and urine in a barn in North Texas, in what a sheriff described as the worst case of child abuse he has ever seen. Joseph Fabila and Harkings, the mother of the four children, have been jailed without bond after the children were found at their rural home. (From Wise County Sheriff's Office via AP)

The 4-year-old girl and the boys, aged 5, 3 and 1, are "doing OK," according to Department of Family and Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales. She declined to share details of their condition and treatment.

Akin said the children were starving and that a plentiful supply of food had been locked inside cabinets and a refrigerator in the barn.

Law enforcement and Department of Family and Protective Services staff are still investigating the case, Gonzales said.

The sheriff did not immediately respond to a call and email Wednesday.

This undated photo provided by the From Wise County Sheriff's Office shows Andrew Joseph Fabila. Deputies on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, discovered two malnourished children crammed into a locked dog cage and two more smeared with feces and urine in a barn in North Texas, in what a sheriff described as the worst case of child abuse he has ever seen. Fabila and Paige Isabow Harkings, the mother of the four children, have been jailed without bond after the children were found at their rural home. (From Wise County Sheriff's Office via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) - A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Witt had been on the FBI's radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but told agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran, prosecutors say. She was not arrested at the time.

"Once a holder of a top secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran - a country which poses a serious threat to our national security," said FBI executive assistant director Jay Tabb, the bureau's top national security official.

Tabb said "she provided information that could cause serious damage to national security," though he did not provide specifics.

Witt remains at large in Iran, as do the four hackers, who prosecutors say were acting on behalf of the country's powerful, government-linked Revolutionary Guard. That group, a branch of Iran's armed forces, has previously been designated by the U.S. government as a terrorism supporter.

This 2012 photo released by the Department of Justice shows Monica Elfriede Witt. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced an indictment against Monica Elfriede Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013 and is currently at-large. (Department of Justice via AP)

The indictment was unsealed the same week as Iran celebrates the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution and as the country denounced a Middle East security conference in Warsaw co-hosted by the U.S. and Poland. Officials said the indictment's timing was unconnected to the meeting.

Witt served in the Air Force between 1997 and 2008, where she was trained in the Farsi language and was deployed overseas on classified counterintelligence missions, including to the Middle East. She later found work as a Defense Department contractor. The Texas native defected to Iran in 2013 after being invited to two all-expense-paid conferences in the country that the Justice Department says promoted anti-Western propaganda and condemned American moral standards.

The Treasury Department on Wednesday sanctioned the New Horizon Organization, which organized the conferences Witt attended and hosts events that American officials say promote Holocaust denial, conspiracy theories and also serve as a platform to recruit and collect intelligence from attendees.

Witt first traveled to a "Hollywoodism" conference in 2012, when she appeared in Iranian television videos in which she was identified as a former U.S. service member with critical views of America. She was then warned by FBI agents that she was a potential recruitment target for Iranian intelligence.

"She chose not to heed our warning that travel to Iran could potentially make her susceptible to recruitment," Tabb said. "She continued to travel."

Later that year, she was hired by an individual - who is not named in the indictment but who professed to have ties to high-level officials - to help in the filming of an anti-American propaganda commercial.

She returned to another conference in 2013 and remained in Iran. This time, with free housing and computer equipment, she went to work for the Iranians, supplying information about a classified Defense Department program and assembling into "target packages" research she conducted into the lives, locations and missions of former colleagues, the indictment said.

The accused hackers exploited that research, contacting Witt's former colleagues through impostor Facebook and email accounts. Their goal was to induce the targets to click on links and attachments containing malicious software that, if opened, could compromise their computers and networks.

The case was unsealed soon after the Justice Department freed from custody an American-born Iranian television anchorwoman who'd been detained for days by the FBI as a material witness in an unspecified criminal investigation in Washington, where the Witt indictment was filed. Marzieh Hashemi works for the Press TV network's English-language service. She has not been charged with any crimes. Justice Department officials wouldn't say if the investigations were connected.

The indictment includes snippets of dialogue between Witt and the person who hired her, identified only as Individual A.

In 2012, for instance, the person wrote her, "should i thank the sec of defense...u were well trained. Witt replied with a smiley emoticon, "LOL thank the sec of defense? For me? Well, I loved the work, and I am endeavoring to put the training I received to good use instead of evil. Thanks for giving me the opportunity," the indictment says.

Using a typed smiley-face, Witt wrote in a later message, "If all else fails, I just may go public with a program and do like Snowden" - a reference to Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor who leaked classified U.S. information.

Officials would not elaborate on why the indictment was brought six years after her detection, except to say they had to move classified intelligence into an unclassified format for use in a criminal case.

"Our intelligence professionals swear an oath to protect our country, and we trust them to uphold their oath. With good reason," said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, the head of the Justice Department's national security division. "But every great while, one of these trusted people fails us."

____

Associated Press writer Jamie Stengle in Dallas and AP researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

This 2013 photo released by the Department of Justice shows Monica Elfriede Witt. The Justice Department on Wednesday announced an indictment against Monica Elfriede Witt, who defected to Iran in 2013 and is currently at-large. (Department of Justice via AP)

This image provided by the FBI shows part of the wanted poster for Monica Elfriede Witt. The former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (FBI via AP)
TROY, Mich. (AP) - In his final days in office, Gov. Rick Snyder wiped out the felony drunken-driving conviction of a man who pleaded for a pardon so he could seek a promotion as the next president of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants.

Jim Jagger's application for a pardon sailed swiftly: He filed in late October, got a hearing in December and won Snyder's blessing before Christmas, despite opposition from the Oakland County prosecutor, who vigorously claimed it was "special treatment" for a "career drunk driver," according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

"The average Joe out there is not going to get a pardon" for the same crime, prosecutor Jessica Cooper told the AP. "Nor should they."

A pardon is an extraordinary tool in the state constitution that makes a conviction disappear. During Snyder's eight years as governor, people filed more than 4,000 applications for a pardon or commutation, which shortens a prison sentence. He granted fewer than 100.

It's not publicly known why the governor or his aides were so interested in helping Jagger, who makes $144,000 a year as a vice president at the CPA group. But with Snyder's term nearing an end, his staff put the case "at the top of the stack and said, 'Process this one,'" said Chris Gautz, a spokesman at the Corrections Department, where pardon files are screened.

Jagger, 54, of Royal Oak, had four drunken-driving convictions from 1989 to 2007. It's typically a misdemeanor, but he faced a felony charge after the last arrest because of his repeat offenses. No one was injured in the incidents. Judge Michael Warren sentenced him to 135 days in jail after an assistant prosecutor called Jagger a "danger to the public."

In this Jan. 23, 2018, former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder delivers his State of the State address at the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich. In his final days in office, Snyder erased the felony drunken-driving conviction of Jim Jagger who pleaded for a pardon so he could seek a lucrative promotion as the next president of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants. (AP Photo/Al Goldis)

Jagger served his sentence, but the pardon means the felony is off the books.

He and his lawyer, Bill Urich, didn't respond to AP's multiple requests for an interview. Nor did Peggy Dzierzawski, the current president of the CPA group. Snyder, who is a CPA, left office on Jan. 1. An aide, Allison Scott, said he was away and unavailable to answer questions.

Jagger's desire for a pardon is detailed in documents obtained by the AP under a public records request.

He explained it during a Dec. 12 hearing with the Michigan parole board, which makes recommendations to the governor and voted in Jagger's favor. Since 2016, he has been senior vice president and chief marketing officer at the Michigan CPA organization. The Troy-based group serves 18,000-plus members by offering career workshops, monitoring industry trends and influencing laws and accounting rules in Lansing.

Jagger said he's a "leading candidate" to succeed Dzierzawski as president in 2019 but that a felony conviction on his record would put him "down on the ladder" and probably spoil his chances with the board of directors, according to a transcript. He said Dzierzawski was the only person at work who knew about his past.

"I have a limited window of earning potential left, and I'm trying to maximize that. ... But even if it's not that opportunity, there will be other opportunities or I could actively pursue a job," Jagger said of the benefits of a pardon.

He said he hasn't had a drink since the 2007 arrest.

"The me of 14, 15 years ago wouldn't imagine that I would have the life that I have now," said Jagger, who is married and has two children. "So regardless of the outcome of this, I'm a fairly lucky, blessed person."

The parole board recommended a pardon, 9-1, saying Jagger wanted to enhance his career and volunteer at his children's school without the burden of a felony. Chairman Michael Eagen told Snyder that Jagger had made an "exemplary adjustment in the community."

Gautz of the Corrections Department said the board was "never pressured" by Snyder's office about what to recommend.

"The board's vote doesn't matter because the governor can pardon anyone he wishes," Gautz said.

It wasn't the first time that Snyder, a Republican, had used his power to clear a drunken driver. In 2014, he pardoned Alan Gocha , a $250,000-a-year lawyer with political connections to Republicans. Gocha said the misdemeanor was making it harder to work and to travel outside the U.S.

On its website , the CPA organization said it had an "impeccable relationship" with Snyder. Rich Baird, a Snyder confidant who was his personal trouble-shooter around Michigan, appears in a video on the website, praising the association for being a "steadfast partner in so many of the things that we've done."

Jagger spent $24.70 in October to send his pardon application overnight to Lansing. A background investigation by the Corrections Department began immediately, records show.

Cooper, the Detroit-area prosecutor, smelled favoritism. She said Jagger's "standout features" appeared only to be his "high income job and his apparent connections."

"The term 'justice is blind' is meant to reaffirm the core concept of the criminal justice system; that all people are equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of how rich or poor they are, and regardless of how powerful or powerless they are in society," Cooper said in a Nov. 28 letter to the parole board. "Granting Mr. Jagger's pardon request ... would make a mockery of this concept."

Separately, the attorney general's office also objected.

Cooper told the AP that her office in 2018 filed felony charges against nearly 700 people who were repeat offenders like Jagger.

"I'm sure they would all like to petition and be excused," she said. "I'm a prosecutor. We have strong opinions because we see the devastation, the families destroyed, the people who might never walk again" because of drunken driving.

___

Follow Ed White at http://twitter.com/edwhiteap
LA PLATA, Md. (AP) - A federal appeals court has ruled that a Maryland high school's lesson on Islam during world history class didn't violate a Christian student's Constitutional rights.

News outlets report the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that La Plata High School wasn't endorsing any particular religion with a lecture on Muslim beliefs during the 2014-2015 school year. While Caleigh Wood received a lower grade for refusing to complete the lesson, it didn't affect her final grade.

Wood's attorney, Richard Thompson, leads a national Christian nonprofit law firm and plans to seek review. He says the lesson led to "forced speech of a young Christian girl."

The judges' opinion said court interference would endanger academic freedom. Charles County schools attorney Andrew Scott says religion is crucial to understanding history.
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - More than two-and-a-half years after 49 people were massacred at a gay nightclub in Florida, a prosecutor said Wednesday that no clubgoers were hit by responding officers' bullets and each time responding officers fired their weapons was reasonable and justified.

State Attorney Aramis Ayala said at a news conference that she had issued letters of clearance to the 14 law enforcement officers who fired more than 180 shots during a more than three-hour standoff with gunman Omar Mateen at the Orlando's Pulse nightclub in June 2016. Mateen pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.

Ayala released the findings a day before the one-year anniversary of another Florida mass shooting - the massacre of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

The six-month review of the Pulse nightclub massacre included 350 witness statements, police radio traffic, officers' body and dash cameras, footage from cameras inside the club and 911 calls, according to Deborah Barra, the state attorney's chief assistant, who led the review.

"No civilians were struck. Each time law enforcement pulled the trigger, it was reasonable and justified," Barra said.

Dozens of other clubgoers were wounded during the massacre but lived. None of them was hit by law enforcement bullets, although there was a near-miss when two officers fired at a club patron who had come out of a bathroom during the standoff, crouching low and peeking around a corner. Officers commanded the patron to show his hands, and when the clubgoer didn't comply, they fired. Bullets hit a mirror and either part of a door or wall but not the patron, Barra said.

Orange circuit Chief Assistant State Attorney Deborah Barra describes the actions of the shooter in the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre, during a briefing Wednesday, February 13, 2019, in Orlando, Fla., to announce the results of a review of all shots fired by police in the mass shooting that left 50 dead. State Attorney Aramis Ayala says no clubgoers were hit by responding officers' bullets and each time responding officers fired their weapons was reasonable and justified. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel via AP)

Mateen fired 186 times with an assault weapon and 22 times with a handgun. At one point, his assault weapon jammed, based on a spent shell found in the weapon, Barra said.

"That is significant because that actually saved lives," she said.

At another time during the standoff, SWAT team members punched a hole through what they thought was a bathroom where clubgoers were trapped, but it ended up being a hallway. They later opened a hole through which patrons in the bathroom could escape.

The prosecutor's office concluded that responding officers and deputies engaged with Mateen five separate times. Mateen was hit seven times during the fourth engagement and killed during the fifth engagement. Even though he was down after being shot, he appeared to have wires protruding from him and his handgun was just an inch or two from his reach. Fearing he had explosives, a SWAT team member shot him in the head to ensure he was no longer a threat, Barra said.

The wires turned out to be from an exit sign that had fallen.

Mateen's wife was acquitted last year of aiding and abetting him and lying to FBI agents during a federal trial, and much of the evidence used in the review couldn't be evaluated until afterward.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina, who was Orlando's police chief at the time of the massacre, said officers were relieved by the prosecutor's findings.

"I'm relieved for the officers and deputies, the brave men and women who went inside there and risked their own lives," Mina said. "They now have final closure and relief that they weren't responsible for the death of any victim."

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP
CAIRO (AP) - An international rights group says Egypt has executed three Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced to death following torture and beatings to extract confessions.

Wednesday's statement from Amnesty International says the executions brought the total number of Islamists executed in Egypt to six within a span of two weeks.

The three were convicted of killing a police officer in Cairo in Sep. 2013.

The other three were executed last week. They were convicted last year for the 2014 killing of a judge's son in the Nile Delta town of Mansoura.

Amnesty's Najia Bounaim says the developments "mark an alarming escalation in executions so far this year," and the six executed were sentenced "based on confessions they said were extracted under torture."

There was no immediate comment from authorities.
RENO, Nev. (AP) - The longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct.

Carina Black said in interviews this week that Arias boxed her in against a wall inside an elevator at the university in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university.

"I just smacked him in the face and pushed him away," Black said. "Then the elevators doors opened, and I left."

Arias, 78, met with prosecutors in Costa Rica on Wednesday to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse, but he has declined to provide any specific public comment since he denied the initial complaint last week.

At least six women have made accusations against him ranging from unwanted advances to alleged assault. The Associated Press interviewed three people Black told about Arias' behavior shortly after she said it occurred, including her husband.

Black was 31 at the time and new to her job at the Northern Nevada International Center she helped found. She recalled struggling throughout the day because of what she described as Arias' overly intrusive demeanor leading up to the misconduct in the elevator.

FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2015 file photo, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and two-time Costa Rican President Oscar Arias looks at the media during the opening ceremony of the XV World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates at the University in Barcelona, Spain. The director of an international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the latest woman to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct. Carina Black said in an interview that Arias boxed her against a wall inside an elevator in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)

Now 52, Black said he repeatedly tried to hold her hand and invited her to visit him in Costa Rica but that she tried to ignore the moves she found offensive, not wanting to be rude, because the 1987 Nobel laureate had been invited to the university and was a guest of honor.

"I was constantly trying to be polite because he's a person of authority," Black said.

Arias was twice elected Costa Rica's president and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work to end protracted and bloody civil wars in Central America.

Black said she decided to come forward to support the woman who launched the first criminal complaint last week against Arias in Costa Rica.

Arias on Wednesday appeared at the Costa Rica prosecutor's office with his lawyer and told reporters he has always answered questions during 50 years in public life but declined to do so, saying "on this occasion my lawyer has requested I not make statements."

In the first criminal complaint filed, Arias is accused of groping, kissing and penetrating a female peace activist with his fingers at his home in 2014. A former Miss Costa Rica lodged a second complaint, saying Arias grabbed, groped and kissed her against her will at his home in 2015.

"We almost always think that it is our fault that we encourage these kinds of situations," Black said. "Unless we come out and say something to the contrary, this will continue to happen to other women."

Arias denied wrongdoing after the initial complaint, saying he "never disrespected the will of any woman" and has fought for gender equality during his career. As more allegations emerged, his lawyer Erick Ramos has declined to comment further.

Black said she became aware of the allegations Arias faces last week when a friend at the U.S. State Department with whom she had given a presentation on sexual harassment sent her a news article about the initial accuser.

"I feel so much sympathy for this woman in Costa Rica. She went to all these lawyers who apparently told her they won't take her case because he is so powerful," she said. "I'm protected by both distance and the rule of law here in the United States, so I don't have as much to fear as all of these women who are in much closer proximity to him."

University of Nevada spokeswoman Kerri Garcia confirmed Black was working at the university when Arias visited on April 6, 1998. Black helped found the center that year to facilitate visits for prominent international figures like Arias. He was one of her first official guests, who also included Desmond Tutu.

She said she kept a photograph album of a banquet for Arias attended by other dignitaries, including then-U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan and then-Nevada Gov. Bob Miller, as well as photos of Black and Arias posing together.

Looking at it for the first time more than 20 years later "just made me gag," she said.

A student adviser who helped organize the event, Josefine Durazo, said in an interview that Black called her shortly after the Arias event and said, "You're not going to believe what happened."

Black told her what Arias did in the elevator and "was really upset at the time, infuriated," said Durazo, who now works for the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Richard Siegel, a retired university political science professor who appeared in a picture with Arias at the banquet, said Black told him about it a day or several days later.

"I remember her telling me what happened, her version of it - being accosted on the elevator," Siegel said in an interview.

Black's husband, Greg, said his wife told him after she returned home from the event that night.

Greg Black said he encouraged his wife to speak out to set an example for their four daughters, to lend credibility to Arias' first accuser "and let her know she is not alone."

Costa Rica's National Liberation Party last week announced Arias was leaving the party pending an outcome of the first criminal case.

____

Hajela reported from New York. Associated Press writer Javier Cordoba contributed to this report from San Jose, Costa Rica.

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, Carina Black sits in her office in Reno, Nev., holding an April 6, 1998 photo of herself with Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, center, and Richard Siegel, a former University of Nevada political science professor. Black, the longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno, is the latest woman to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes)

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, Carina Black poses in her office in Reno, Nev., holding a photo album containing dozens of photos of a dinner she attended where Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias spoke on April 6, 1998. Black, the longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno, is the latest woman to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes)

A woman holds up a sign with a line drawing depicting Costa Rica's ex-President Oscar Arias and a message that reads in Spanish: "WANTED: Oscar Arias Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Violator", during a protest by women activists under the slogan "Yo te creo," or "I believe you," in San Jose, Costa Rica, Friday Feb. 8, 2019. At least five women have accused Arias of actions ranging from unwelcome fondling or sexual innuendo to sexual assault. (AP Photo/Carlos Gonzalez)

In this Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 photo, Carina Black sits in her office in Reno, Nev. Black, the longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno, is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct. (AP Photo/Tom R. Smedes)

Former Miss Costa Rica 1994, Jazmin Morales, walks after filing a complaint against former President Oscar Arias, in San Jose, Costa Rica, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nobel Peace Prize laureate and two-time Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has met with prosecutors to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse. (AP Photo/Carlos Gonzalez)
DENVER (AP) - The Latest on the Denver teachers' strike (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

The Denver school district says 58 percent of teachers did not report for work during the third day of an educator strike over pay.

The total issued Wednesday by Denver Public Schools is consistent with its reports from the strike's first two days. About 4,700 teachers work in the district.

Teachers again picketed outside schools before marching en masse to the district's central office in downtown Denver, carrying signs and chanting.

Teachers and school officials have said they are hopeful they can reach a deal to end the walkout. Negotiations continued into the evening on Wednesday.

Liz Myers, center, a teacher at High Tech Elementary School, joins a chant during a rally for striking Denver Public Schools instructors in Civic Center Park Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, in Denver. The strike, which is in its second day, is the first for Denver's teachers since 1994. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Schools staffed by administrators and substitute teachers have remained open but classes for 5,000 pre-school children were canceled. There are 71,000 students in district-run schools.

____

2:10 p.m.

Denver school administrators and teachers are making progress as they try to end a three-day strike but still must address a major hurdle regarding educators' pay.

The bargaining team representing teachers agreed Wednesday afternoon with much of the school district's proposal regarding how teachers can increase their pay based on experience, education and training over time.

There is still no agreement yet on a top district priority: Bonuses for teachers in high-poverty schools and other schools the district prioritizes.

Teachers want lower bonuses to free up money for better overall salaries.

Teachers said retention data from those schools shows that bonuses alone will not help keep educators there. They suggested smaller class sizes, improved leadership and a focus on student services will have a larger impact.

____

10:50 a.m.

Denver school administrators and teachers have returned to the bargaining table as they try to end a strike over pay.

Teachers remained on the picket lines for a third day as the negotiations got underway Wednesday morning.

Teachers wearing red filled the negotiating room at Denver's main library and left gifts of food and drinks for members of the union's bargaining team. The audience clapped and cheered as the union representatives entered the room.

Initial discussion on Wednesday focused on how teachers can advance in pay based on experience, education and training.

The two sides also disagree on pay increases and bonuses for teachers in high-poverty schools and other schools the district prioritizes. Teachers want lower bonuses to free up money for better overall salaries.

____

9:30 a.m.

Denver teachers are on strike for a third day but teachers and school officials say they are hopeful they can reach a deal to end the walkout.

Negotiations are set to resume Wednesday morning following talks that lasted into the night on Tuesday.

Union president Henry Roman (Ro-MAHN') and superintendent Susana Cordova say in a statement the proposals both sides exchanged have moved both sides closer together.

Teachers are striking to raise their pay and reduce their reliance on earning bonus pay.

One of the main sticking points is the size of bonuses for teachers in high-poverty schools and other schools the district prioritizes.

____

11 p.m.

Denver teachers are set to extend their strike into a third day after negotiations with district leaders ended Tuesday night without a deal.

Tuesday's talks came a day after more than half of the city's teachers walked off the job amid a pay dispute. The negotiations, which are set to resume Wednesday, began with discussions over changing Denver's pay system to more closely resemble those in other districts that make it easier for teachers to advance in pay based on experience, education and training.

The two sides also disagree on pay increases and bonuses for teachers in high-poverty schools and other schools the district prioritizes. Teachers want lower bonuses to free up money for better overall salaries.

The teachers' union and district leaders alternated meeting publicly and then took time to discuss proposals in private.

Ryan Short, a teacher at Denver's East High School, holds up a sign during a rally for striking Denver Public Schools instructors in Civic Center Park Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, in Denver. The strike, which is in its second day, is the first for Denver's teachers since 1994. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, center, talks with teachers during a rally for striking Denver Public Schools instructors in Civic Center Park Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, in Denver. The strike, which is in its second day, is the first for Denver's teachers since 1994. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
ATLANTA (AP) - One of Georgia's largest universities is investigating a series of racist social media posts that prompted fears of racial violence.

It apparently started last week with a message shared in the GroupMe app showing a black student in class at Kennesaw State University with the caption "need to call the klan to solve this issue." Others then shared it on Twitter, demanding that the university take action to protect them.

A friend alerted Kennesaw State senior Elijah John to the Ku Klux Klan reference on a photo of him, which had been posted by a fellow student in his information systems class, he said.

"My first reaction was like, what the heck is this, who would do something like this and why?" John, 22, recalled in an interview Wednesday. "This was completely random."

Other students vented online for days as rumors spread, including one on Tuesday that racists were coming to the campus to shoot black students.

Kennesaw State spokeswoman Tammy DeMel reiterated that campus police have found "no credible threats" to the campus. She pointed to a university statement that campus police are investigating and have increased patrols.

John said no one from the police department had contacted him as of Wednesday afternoon, though other university employees have.

He said he alerted his professor shortly after seeing the photo, and administrators in the school's Office of Institutional Equity have since been in contact with him. That office works to make sure Kennesaw State complies with laws and policies regarding discrimination, according to the school's website. John said he was told that the student had voluntarily switched classes. That's not enough, he said.

"I want him to be expelled or suspended, at a minimum," John said.

Minorities now represent about 45 percent of the 35,000-student population at KSU, whose main campus is in a northwest suburb of Atlanta.

"As shocking as they seem, they're not isolated incidents," said Carlynn Sharpe-Ehui, a graduate student who said she's seen other instances of hate speech on the campus in recent years.

"They're evidence of the very toxic, polarizing climate that has been festering," she said.

Sharpe-Ehui helped create KSUnited, which has pushed for several changes including new university policies dealing with hate speech.

In 2015, the group believed it had a commitment from university leaders to create an anti-racist education center that would open by 2018. But that center still doesn't exist, she said.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - The man who led President Donald Trump's inaugural committee has said America is in no moral position to criticize Saudi Arabia over the killing of Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi.

"Whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal, or worse," Tom Barrack said Tuesday at the Milken Institute MENA Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. His remarks were reported by Dubai's daily English newspaper, Gulf News. The report said Barrack strongly defended Saudi Arabia, saying the kingdom is misunderstood by the West.

Following a barrage of criticism on social media, Barrack apologized Wednesday, saying in a statement to The Associated Press that he should have made clear that Khashoggi's killing was "atrocious" and "reprehensible."

"I feel strongly that the bad acts of a few should not be interpreted as the failure of an entire sovereign kingdom," Barrack said. "I have always believed and continue to believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world but our history and our policies in the Middle East have been confusing at times. I believe that as a nation we do constantly work to lead by example, and I believe that we still do."

Despite international outrage, Trump decided not to impose harsher penalties on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the October death and dismemberment of the Washington Post columnist inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The columnist, who lived in Virginia, had written articles critical of the kingdom, but Saudi Arabia insists the crown prince did not order the killing.

Critics in Congress and high-ranking officials in other countries accused Trump of ignoring human rights and giving Saudi Arabia a pass for economic reasons, including its influence on the world oil market. Barrack, a real estate developer and private equity investor, expressed support for the crown prince, who is pursing reforms in the kingdom. He said Western countries don't understand the internal dynamics of Saudi Arabia.

"The West is confused, it doesn't understand the rule of law in the kingdom, it doesn't understand what succession in the kingdom is, it doesn't understand how there can be a dilemma with a population that has 60 percent of people under the age of 20," Barrack said, according to Gulf News.

Trump also has disparaged the United States rather than condemn a foreign leader he admires. During the election campaign, Trump was questioned about his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who the interviewer noted "kills journalists that don't agree with him."

Trump responded: "Well, I think that our country does plenty of killing, too."
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) - The parents of a Bosnian student whose unresolved death inspired months of anti-government protests say they want to exhume their son's remains and rebury them outside the country.

Davor Dragicevic and Suzana Radanovic said Wednesday they have filed a formal exhumation request in the main Bosnian Serb town of Banja Luka.

David Dragicevic died last March in Banja Luka in what police first described as suicide, but the family insisted he was murdered. Prosecutors later opened a homicide investigation which is ongoing.

Dragicevic's parents led months of protests demanding the truth about their son's death. They have alleged an official cover-up, saying they won't let their son's remains stay in Bosnia.

The protests have reflected wider popular discontent with widespread corruption and poor living standards long after the 1992-95 war.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sees the conviction of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman as a moral lesson.

Lopez Obrador said Wednesday: "Let this serve as a lesson to show that money doesn't buy true happiness."

Guzman was convicted in New York Tuesday of drug trafficking and may be sentenced to life.

Lopez Obrador mused that "happiness is having a clear conscience and being at peace with one's self and others."

The president has launched a campaign aimed at convincing people not to break the law, under the slogan, "We're all going to behave."

It is not clear if the raids that resulted in Guzman's capture would occur under Lopez Obrador, who recently said "the strategy is no longer to carry out raids to capture capos."
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The late American jazz great Urbie Green and three other accomplished trombonists who died in 2018 will be remembered Saturday at a musical event in Cleveland.

Living trombone stars Jiggs Whigham and John Marcellus will be featured at the Memorial Trombone Festival at Case Western Reserve University, a concert by some 20 trombonists gathered from around the city.

The half-day event begins with a warm-up led by Case trombone professor Paul Ferguson, who is the artistic director of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the event's organizer. A rehearsal and a master class with Whigham and Marcellus will be followed by the culminating afternoon performance.

Whigham is the jazz orchestra's weekend guest, Ferguson said, and the festival started with the idea of paying tribute to Whigham's friend Allen Kofsky, a 39-year veteran of the Cleveland Orchestra who died in June at age 92. Kofsky had played under such renowned conductors as George Szell, Lorin Maazel and Christoph von Dohnanyi.

But sad news continued to greet the trombone world.

Respected trombonist and band leader Bill Watrous, who had redefined trombone technique during a 50-year career that included performances with Quincy Jones, Prince and Frank Sinatra, died in July. Edwin Anderson, a bass trombonist with the Cleveland Orchestra from 1964 to 1985 and later an Indiana University professor, followed in October. Then, on Dec. 31, the legendary Urban Clifford "Urbie" Green ended trombonists' year on its final sad note, dying at age 92.

FILE - In this July 5, 1960, file photo, Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, right, plays the saxophone during a jam session with legendary jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman, left, drummer Gene Krupa, second left, and trombonist Urbie Green in New York. The trombone world lost several greats in 2018 and a half-day event in Cleveland is planned to mark their legacies. Living trombone stars John Marcellus and Jiggs Whigham are headlining the Memorial Trombone Festival Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019, at Case Western Reserve University. Trombonists being memorialized are: Allen Kofsky, Edwin Anderson, Bill Watrous and Urban Clifford "Urbie" Green. (Bureau of the Royal Household via AP, File)

"I can't think of any other year when we've lost so many, in what turned out to be a seven-month period," Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the versatility of the trombone shows in the breadth of the four trombonists' careers, which spanned classical, jazz and pop.

Revered by fellow musicians for the warm, mellow tone he could maintain even into the instrument's highest registers, Green was perhaps the best known of the bunch. He played with most of the major jazz artists of the 1950s and 1960s, touring with Woody Herman and Gene Krupa. He played on more than 250 recordings and released more than two dozen solo albums.

Ferguson, also principal trombonist and arranger for the Cleveland Pops, said the trombone choir that will assemble to honor Green, Kofsky, Watrous and Anderson will include students from Case and the Cleveland Institute of Music and members of the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and the Cleveland Trombone Collective.

Whigham, a Cleveland native, is considered one of the premier jazz trombonists of the last half century, according to Ferguson. He splits his time between Cape Cod and Bonn, Germany. After his weekend in Cleveland, he travels to Columbus for a performance Monday.

Marcellus, a trombone professor at the Eastman School of Music from 1978 to 2014, will be traveling in for the Cleveland event from his home in Chautauqua, New York.
The exclusion of countries, peoples or individuals from high-profile summits and conferences often says much about the events themselves.

As the Mideast conference in Poland convenes with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shaping the narrative in Warsaw as part of the Trump administration's global push to isolate Iran and promote Israeli interests, it's no surprise that Tehran is not invited.

Iran has denounced the conference as an American anti-Iran "circus."

The Palestinians have boycotted the conference and urged others to do the same. Notable absences are those of senior officials from France, Germany and Russia as well as various non-Gulf Arab nations.

Here's a look at some major summits and conferences over the years which have seen key players excluded or refusing to attend.

THE PALESTINIANS: CAMP DAVID TO MADRID

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 1918 photo provided by the White House, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, left, President Jimmy Carter, center, and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat begin their second day of peace talks at Camp David, Md. While Carter, Sadat and Begin cemented the Camp David peace accord with a three-way handshake at the White House before the world's cameras, the Palestinians were markedly absent. They hadn't been included and references to the West Bank and Gaza did nothing to mollify anger among the stateless seeking a state. (AP Photo/Official White House Photo, File)

While President Jimmy Carter, Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin cemented the Camp David peace accord in 1978 with a three-way handshake at the White House before the world's cameras, the Palestinians were markedly absent.

They hadn't been included and references to the West Bank and Gaza did nothing to mollify anger among the stateless seeking a state.

In 1991 in Madrid, the Palestinians were represented but only as part of the Jordanian delegation in a contentious and acerbic Mideast conference that saw Syria and Israel openly trading insults.

Two years later, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat shook hands with his Israeli counterpart Yitzhak Rabin with President Clinton beaming alongside them. The Palestinians were now much more so on diplomacy's world stage, but a quarter of a century later they are no closer to their elusive goal of independence.

SOUTH KOREA'S MOON: DMZ BUT NOT SINGAPORE OR VIETNAM

North Korea's dynastic leaders, as much by design and desire as exclusion, were always on the outside of international gatherings looking in from afar. That changed in a series of seismic events for the Korean Peninsula in 2018, following a year where threats of nuclear Armageddon were at the fore.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is preparing for his second summit with President Donald Trump in two weeks in Vietnam. This follows the mind-boggling spectacle of their first encounter in Singapore last year. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been a key driving figure with determined plans and aspirations for engagement with Pyongyang.

Moon himself held historic summits with Kim at the Demilitarized Zone on the border between the two nations. Now Moon finds himself excluded again as Trump and Kim take center stage.

There is speculation about a possible four-way meeting, also including Moon and Chinese President Xi Jinping, to declare a formal end to the Korean War, which stopped with an armistice and left the peninsula still technically at war.

DAYTON AND THE BOSNIAN SERBS

A city in Ohio became the byword for ending Europe's worst conflict since World War II.

The Dayton Accords ended the Bosnian War which had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced more than 2 million people as former Yugoslavia broke apart in a frenzy of communal violence.

The grim-faced presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were all in attendance in Dayton in 1995 and for the official signing in Paris the following month.

But absent were the group blamed by many for some of the worst bloodshed and persecution in the war, the Bosnian Serbs. Serbia President Slobodan Milosevic, himself an international outcast, represented his fellow Serbs' interests in Dayton.

The Bosnian Serb wartime leader, Radovan Karadzic, by then already an indicted war criminal was a fugitive evading justice. He was finally captured in 2008.

___

Tamer Fakahany can be followed on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TamerFakahany

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 1993 file photo President Clinton presides over White House ceremonies marking the signing of the peace accord between Israel and the Palestinians with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, right, in Washington. In 1978, While President Jimmy Carter, Egypt's Anwar Sadat and Israel's Menachem Begin cemented the Camp David peace accord with a three-way handshake at the White House before the world's cameras, the Palestinians were markedly absent. They hadn't been included and references to the West Bank and Gaza did nothing to mollify anger among the stateless seeking a state. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

FILE - In this June 12, 2018 file photo, North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump shake hands at the conclusion of their meetings at the Capella resort on Sentosa Island Tuesday, June 12, 2018 in Singapore. Kim Jong Un is preparing for his second summit with President Donald Trump in two weeks in Vietnam. This follows the mind-boggling spectacle of their first encounter in Singapore last year. South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been a key driving figure with determined plans and aspirations for engagement with Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, Pool, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2018 photo, South Korean President Moon Jae-in, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hold the documents after signing at the Paekhwawon State Guesthouse in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim Jong Un is preparing for his second summit with President Donald Trump in two weeks in Vietnam that doesn't include South Korean President Moon Jae-in. (Pyongyang Press Corps Pool via AP, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 1, 1995 file photo, President of Bosnia Alija Izetbegovic, left, shakes hands with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, right, as Franjo Tudjman, President of Croatia watches on as the Proximity Peace Talks began at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. The grim-faced presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were all in attendance in Dayton in 1995 and for the official signing in Paris the following month. But absent were the group blamed by many for some of the worst bloodshed and persecution in the war, the Bosnian Serbs. Milosevic, himself an international outcast, represented his fellow Serbs' interests, but the Bosnian Serb wartime leader, Radovan Karadzic, by then already an indicted war criminal was a fugitive evading justice. (AP Photo/Joe Marquette, pool)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - A suicide car bomber claimed by an al-Qaida-linked group attacked a bus carrying members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard paramilitary force Wednesday, killing at least 27 people and wounding 13 others, state media reported.

Tehran immediately linked the attack in Iran's restive southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province to an ongoing U.S.-led conference in Warsaw largely focused on Iran, just two days after the nation marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The bombing also raised the specter of possible Iranian retaliation targeting a Sunni militant group called Jaish al-Adl that claimed the attack, which largely operates across the border in nuclear-armed Pakistan. Recent militant assaults inside Iran have sparked retaliatory ballistic missile strikes in Iraq and Syria.

The bombing Wednesday night struck the bus traveling on a road between the cities of Khash and Zahedan, a mountainous region along the Pakistani border that is also near Afghanistan. Images after the blast published by semi-official news agencies showed the explosion tore the bus apart, as passers-by used the light of their cellphones to illuminate the debris.

The state-run IRNA news agency, citing what it described as an "informed source," offered initial casualty figures of 20 dead and 20 wounded. The Revolutionary Guard later reported on its website that 27 were killed and 13 wounded.

The Guard, which answers only to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, issued a statement saying a vehicle loaded with explosives targeted a bus carrying border guards affiliated with its force.

Sistan and Baluchistan province, which lies on a major opium trafficking route, has seen occasional clashes between Iranian forces and Baluch separatists, as well as drug traffickers.

However, in recent months, there's been an uptick in assaults by the Sunni extremist group Jaish al-Adl, or the "Army of Justice." Since its founding in 2012, it has abducted or killed border guards in hit-and-run assaults from its havens in Pakistan. It kidnapped 11 Iranian border guards in October. Five later were returned to Iran and six remained held.

Jaish al-Adl claimed Wednesday's bombing in a statement online. Iranian state-run and semi-official media also blamed the group for the attack.

While Iran has been enmeshed in the wars engulfing Syria and neighboring Iraq, it largely has avoided the bloodshed plaguing the region. However, attacks have happened.

In 2009, more than 40 people, including six Guard commanders, were killed in a suicide attack by Sunni extremists in Sistan and Baluchistan province. Jundallah, a Sunni extremist group whose members have joined Jaish al-Adl, claimed responsibility for that attack.

In the case of Jundallah, Pakistan assisted Iran in apprehending its leader, whom Tehran executed in 2010. Iran has sought the cooperation of Pakistan in recent cases involving Jaish al-Adl as well.

However, a bombing like this inside of Iran likely will draw an immediate reaction from the Guard, a massive paramilitary organization that both controls Iran's ballistic missile program and vast chunks of its economy.

Iran fired ballistic missiles into Syria over a bloody Islamic State attack on Tehran targeting parliament and the shrine of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 2017 that killed at least 18 people. In September, Iran fired missiles into Iraq targeting a base of an Iranian Kurdish separatist group after an attack on a border post.

The Revolutionary Guard also launched six ballistic missiles as well as drone bombers in October toward eastern Syria, targeting militants it blamed for an attack on a military parade that killed at least 24 people.

Iran increasingly has blamed the militant attacks targeting it on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for instance in a 2017 interview suggested the kingdom knew it was a "main target of Iran."

"We are not waiting until there becomes a battle in Saudi Arabia, so we will work so that it becomes a battle for them in Iran and not in Saudi Arabia," he said then. Prince Mohammed is due in Pakistan, a major recepient of the kingdom's largess, in the coming days.

The U.S.-led conference in Warsaw is the work of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord last May. Since then, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though Iranian officials have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.

Amid the new tensions, Iran's already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washington's maximalist approach to Tehran.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif directly linked the meeting to the attack Wednesday.

"Is it no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day that (hashtag)WarsawCircus begins?" Zarif wrote on Twitter. "Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with (Twitter) bots?"

Khamenei, who earlier approved President Hassan Rouhani's outreach to the West during the nuclear deal negotiations, dismissed any future dealings with the U.S.

"About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm," Khamenei said in a statement.

Zarif earlier predicted the Warsaw summit would not be productive for the U.S.

"I believe it's dead on arrival or dead before arrival," he said at a news conference before the bombing.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Aron Heller in Warsaw, Poland, contributed to this report.
HOUSTON (AP) - A woman who called Houston's non-emergency dispatch line after discovering a tiger inside a cage at an abandoned home told the shocked dispatcher: "I'm not lying."

The Houston Chronicle obtained a recording of the call after animal rescue workers found the well-fed animal resting on a bed of hay Monday inside a cage they said could be easily opened.

Police say a group of people looking for a place to smoke marijuana happened across the tiger on Monday. The woman told the dispatcher: "It's pretty big." Authorities say the animal weighed 350 pounds (159 kilograms).

Investigators have leads into who owned the tiger but say it may not be the person who owns the property.

The tiger has been moved to an animal sanctuary in Texas. The tiger was nicknamed "Tyson" after the movie "The Hangover."

In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019 photo, a tiger that was found in a Southeast Houston residence awaits transport to a rescue facility at the BARC Animal Shelter and Adoptions building in Houston. A woman who called Houston's non-emergency dispatch line after discovering a tiger inside a cage at an abandoned home told the shocked dispatcher: "I'm not lying." Police say a group of people looking for a place to smoke marijuana happened across the tiger on Monday, Feb. 11. (Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle via AP)

This undated photo shows a tiger in Houston. Houston police say some people who went into an abandoned home to smoke marijuana found a caged tiger. They called the city on Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, and the major offender animal cruelty unit and animal shelter volunteers arrived on the scene. (Lara Cottingham/Administration & Regulatory Affairs Department via AP)
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - The Missouri Department of Natural Resources says crews are still working to clean up and identify the cause of an oil pipeline leak in suburban St. Louis.

Agency spokesman Brian Quinn said contractors for the pipeline company, TransCanada Corp., were assessing an excavated segment of the Keystone pipeline Wednesday to pinpoint the problem.

The leak was discovered last week near St. Charles.

The department estimates the leak at about 43 barrels, or 1,800 gallons (6,800 liters). It says oil didn't reach any waterway.

Quinn says about 31 barrels of oil have been collected, and crews have removed more than 1,000 cubic yards of soil.

The department is working to identify nearby wells for groundwater testing.

A TransCanada spokesman says the pipeline remains closed from Steele City, Nebraska, to Patoka, Illinois.
MEDFORD, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts university is condemning the posting of what some are calling anti-Semitic flyers outside a campus Jewish organization.

The Tufts Daily student newspaper reports that more than two dozen flyers depicting militarized pigs were found posted on the exterior of the Granoff Family Hillel Center at Tufts University on Tuesday.

One featuring cartoon images of pigs holding guns called for the destruction of the "Israeli Apartheid Forces."

Many of the images date to the 1960s and the Black Panther Party, but Rabbi Naftali Brawer says some were posted on Hillel windows facing inward and "we were clearly targeted as a Jewish center." They were found nowhere else on campus.

Tufts President Anthony Monaco called the posters "profoundly disturbing and hurtful" and says the university is investigating.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - The Latest on relations between the U.S. and Iran (all times local):

8:25 p.m.

The International Court of Justice says it has jurisdiction to hear part of a case brought by Iran against the United States that seeks to claw back around $2 billion worth of frozen assets the U.S. Supreme Court awarded to victims of a 1983 bombing in Lebanon and other attacks linked to Iran.

At hearings last year, the United States raised five objections to the court's jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case, which Iran filed in 2016.

On Wednesday, the United Nations' highest court upheld one U.S. objection to its jurisdiction, but it rejected another and said that the third objection should be discussed at a later stage in the case. The judges also rejected two U.S. objections to the admissibility of the case.

The case will likely take months or years to complete.

___

3:50 p.m.

Iran's supreme leader says negotiations with the U.S. "will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm" - remarks that come ahead of an American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw.

The comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are part of a seven-page statement that was read out word-for-word on Iranian state television on Wednesday.

Currently, tensions between Iran and the U.S. are high after President Donald Trump pulled America out of the nuclear deal last year.

Khamenei says: "About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm."

The Warsaw summit, which starts Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation.
TIRANA, Albania (AP) - Albanian police say a Kosovo citizen has been arrested on suspicion of participating in terror groups.

A statement Wednesday said that the 32-year-old suspect, identified as F.D., was arrested while trying to leave Albania with a false Macedonian passport at the Vlore port.

The statement said that Kosovo police had issued an international arrest warrant accusing the suspect of organization and participation in terror groups, without giving details.

Kosovo authorities claim no citizens have joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq in the past three years or so. About 160 Kosovo citizens are still with the groups there.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - Brazil's president has been released from a hospital after 17 days of treatment related to a stabbing he suffered during the campaign.

Government spokesperson Otavio Rego Barros said Wednesday the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo had given the green light for the president to leave his hospital room. Television images showed him walking to his plane without trouble, accompanied by his wife.

Bolsonaro has been working from hospital after undergoing a colostomy reversal surgery on Jan. 28.

The 63-year-old president suffered serious internal bleeding and nearly died on Sept. 6 after he was stabbed in the abdomen at a campaign rally in the city of Juiz de Fora.

In this photo released by Brazil's Presidential Press Office, President Jair Bolsonaro arrives at the Brasilia Air Base, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. President Bolsonaro has been released from a hospital after 17 days of treatment related to a stabbing he suffered during the campaign. (AP Photo/Marcos Correa/Brazil's Presidency)

In this photo released by Brazil's Presidential Press Office, President Jair Bolsonaro is welcomed by Vice President Hamilton Mourao, as he arrives at the Brasilia Air Base, in Brasilia, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. President Bolsonaro has been released from a hospital after 17 days of treatment related to a stabbing he suffered during the campaign. (AP Photo/Marcos Correa/Brazil's Presidency)
Xem them

...

Tin bai cuoi cung

Khong con du lieu e load
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - New Jersey's five Roman Catholic dioceses listed more than 180 priests Wednesday who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors over a span of several decades, joining more than two dozen other states that have named suspected abusers in the wake of a landmark grand jury report in Pennsylvania last year.

The lists released Wednesday identified priests and deacons who served in the dioceses of Camden, Trenton, Metuchen and Paterson and the archdiocese of Newark. Many priests on the lists are deceased, and others have been removed from ministry.

Cardinal Joseph Tobin, the archbishop of Newark, which listed 63 former priests, said in a statement that he hoped the disclosure "will help bring healing to those whose lives have been so deeply violated."

Camden's diocese listed 56 priests and one deacon; Trenton's diocese named 30 priests; the Paterson diocese listed 28; and Metuchen's diocese named nine plus two others who are currently the subject of civil investigations.

State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal formed a task force in the fall to conduct a criminal investigation into sexual abuse by clergy in the state, shortly after a Pennsylvania grand jury report identified over 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 victims in that state.

"While this is a positive first step towards transparency and accountability, I hope this spirit of openness continues during the course of our ongoing investigation and in response to our requests for records and information," Grewal said in a statement Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, Virginia's Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond published a list of 42 priests with a "credible and substantiated" allegation of sexual abuse against a child.

Newark's list includes Theodore McCarrick, a former Newark archbishop who served as Washington, D.C., archbishop from 2000 to 2006. McCarrick was removed from public ministry in June.

The lists released by the diocese don't include details about specific allegations or when they are alleged to have happened; rather, any details about the named priests and the crimes of which they are accused come from court records or previously published reports.

Several priests who served in the Newark archdiocese have been accused of molesting boys as part of their volunteer work with Boy Scout troops, according to published reports. Others named in the release were arrested, convicted or pleaded guilty and were returned to service after probation or treatment, according to court records and published reports.

Carmen Sita changed his name to Gerald Howard after being sentenced to probation and receiving treatment and began serving as a priest in the Jefferson City, Missouri, diocese where he was assigned to a parish attached to a school. He was later accused of abusing teenage boys and was convicted a second time. The Missouri diocese reported Howard is currently incarcerated.

Former priest Richard Mieliwocki, who was convicted and sentenced to probation, disappeared after starting counseling and resurfaced when he was accused of molesting teenagers as a counselor in an in-patient substance abuse program.

Another priest named Wednesday, Manuel Gallo Espinoza, was indicted by a grand jury in 2016 after admitting to at least one allegation of abuse. He fled to Ecuador, and a warrant was issued for his arrest.

The lists don't include religious order priests, such as Jesuits, who may serve in parishes or schools but are not ordained by the diocese. A victims' compensation fund announced this week in New Jersey also won't cover claims against religious order priests.

Mitchell Garabedian, an attorney who has represented alleged victims in New Jersey, said the release of names isn't enough.

"Given the vast number of priests named as sexual abusers and the span of time in which the sexual abuse took place, it is fair to state that the Archdiocese and Dioceses in New Jersey have forgotten how to be moral and kind with children," he said in a statement.

Nearly 2,000 accused clergy members and others nationwide have been identified since and including the Pennsylvania grand jury report, a review by The Associated Press found.

___

Lauer reported from Philadelphia. Associated Press writer Mike Catalini in Trenton contributed to this report.
SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) - The Latest on California's Dixie School District considering a name change (all times local):

6:45 a.m.

The Dixie School District in the California city of San Rafael has voted against changing its name that some have said is linked to the Confederacy and slavery but agreed to revisit the issue later.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the five-member school board late Tuesday voted no on petitions for 13 possible new names after more than five hours of public testimony from both sides.

A majority of board members said they supported changing the name, but that the process seemed rushed and included too little community input.

The board said it will decide on the process for a name change at its next meeting.

The issue has pitted parents against each other in weeks of testy online exchanges.

Name change supporters say the 150-year-old school district was named on a dare by Confederate sympathizers.

Name change opponents say the 1,700-student district was named for a Miwok Indian woman, Mary Dixie.

___

12:00 a.m.

The Dixie School District in San Rafael is considering whether to change its name after some parents say it's linked to the Confederacy and slavery.

Hundreds of people packed the school board meeting Tuesday in the San Francisco Bay Area city, which is wealthy and considers itself progressive.

The board could postpone a decision, keep the name or change it to one of 13 proposed alternatives.

The issue has pitted parents against each other in weeks of testy online exchanges. Promoters claim the 150-year-old district was named on a dare by Confederate sympathizers. Opponents say the 1,700-student district was named for a Miwok Indian woman, Mary Dixie.

The board heard hours of public comment but hadn't reached a decision as of late Tuesday night.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - A jury has begun deliberations in the second in a series of trials for inmates charged in a deadly Delaware prison riot.

News outlets report jurors began deliberations Tuesday afternoon. The four defendants in this trial - Obadiah Miller, John Bramble, Kevin Berry and Abednego Baynes - are charged with first-degree murder, assault, kidnapping, riot and conspiracy in the 2017 riot. Prison guard Steven Floyd was killed, and three other staffers were taken hostage.

Defense attorneys have focused on differing accounts of the riot from witnesses. But in his rebuttal, Deputy Attorney General Brian Robertson argued that the flaws in their statements show they're genuine.

The first trial, of three inmates, resulted in one murder conviction.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - A recently unsealed court document says a former contestant on both "American Idol" and "Fear Factor" worked as a courier for a drug ring and was trying to deliver nearly 2 pounds (830 grams) of fentanyl when she was arrested last year.

The Virginian-Pilot reports 32-year-old Antonella Barba was back in custody Monday, following a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Barba was originally arrested last October in Norfolk Virginia.

She was previously charged with shoplifting in New York and has a felony marijuana case pending in Kansas.

Barba, of New Jersey, reached the top 16 on "American Idol" in 2007, the year Jordin Sparks won. She competed on "Fear Factor" in 2012.

Her public defender didn't immediately respond to the newspaper's request for comment.

___

FILE - In this Oct. 16, 2010, file photo, Antonella Barba arrives to the 10th Anniversary of TAO restaurant in New York. A recently unsealed court document says the former contestant on both "American Idol" and "Fear Factor" worked as a courier for a drug ring and was trying to deliver nearly 2 pounds (830 grams) of fentanyl when she was arrested last year. The Virginian-Pilot reports Barba was back in custody Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, following a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, heroin and fentanyl. Barba was originally arrested last October in Norfolk. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, File)

Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - A Kenyan police official says a small plane has crashed in the country's west killing all five people on board, including three Americans.

Kericho County Commander James Mugera said Wednesday the Cessna plane crashed at Kamwingi area in Londiani in western Kenya. Photographs of the crash site show a single engine plane.

He said the names of the dead are not being released until their families are informed.

Mugera said the plane was heading to Lodwar town in the country's north with the pilot and four tourists. Police said the pilot was Kenyan and the nationality of one of the passengers on board has not yet been established.

Small plane crashes have become more frequent in Kenya, but many are not fatal.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Latest on a gunman's attack on a San Diego restaurant (all times local):

6:50 a.m.

Police have arrested a man suspected of using a rifle to shoot up a San Diego restaurant.

A police statement says officers responding to the Tuesday night shooting got a description of how the man was dressed and arrested the suspect for investigation of nine counts of attempted murder. His name has not been made public.

The shooting happened at the Asian Bistro in the city's Hillcrest neighborhood.

Customers and employees were inside when the man opened fire but no one was hit.

Police say the man then lowered the rifle and calmly walked away.

___

5:53 a.m.

Police say amazingly no one was hurt when a gunman fired multiple rounds from an assault rifle-caliber weapon at a restaurant in San Diego.

The shooting happened about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday outside Asian Bistro in the city's Hillcrest neighborhood, according to media reports.

Police detained a man matching the gunman's description but it's unclear whether he was the suspected shooter.

Police also recovered the weapon and at least 19 shell casings.

Lieutenant Andra Brown told Fox 5 that "the business was the only thing that was hit" but "there were no people inside that were hit."
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - The murder trial of a Connecticut woman charged with killing her two children in 2015 is getting underway.

The New Haven Register reports that LeRoya Moore is scheduled to go on trial Wednesday.

The 39-year-old East Haven woman has been held on $2 million bail since she was arrested June 10, 2015, eight days after her children were found dead in the family's home.

Autopsies determined that 6-year-old Aleisha Moore and 7-year-old Daaron Moore died from acute intoxication of an antihistamine found in over-the-counter medications.

Police say they also found a note written by Moore that said "I don't know the reason why, but we were meant to die today."

Moore's current public defenders declined to comment on the case, but a previous public defender said an insanity defense was planned.

___

Information from: New Haven Register, http://www.nhregister.com
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's Central Council of Jews is calling for action following a report showing a rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the country.

The Tagesspiegel newspaper reported Wednesday that preliminary government figures provided at the request of the Left Party to parliament showed 1,646 anti-Semitic crimes registered in 2018, up from 1,504 in 2017. Violent crimes rose to 62 from 37.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer says the government's position "is fully clear - that anti-Semitism has no place in Germany."

But Central Council of Jews president, Josef Schuster, called for a "stronger commitment" from police, politicians and the judiciary.

"The latest numbers are not yet official but they reflect a trend, and that's alarming," he said. "What Jews had already felt subjectively has been confirmed by the statistics."
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) - Liberian officials say five bodies were recovered Wednesday and 40 are still trapped in a collapsed gold mine.

Officials fear those still in the pit mine in northeastern Liberia, which collapsed on Saturday, may also be dead, although some survivors have been rescued.

Nimba County superintendent Dorr Cooper said miners are searching for survivors with their bare hands. He said no excavating equipment is available and such heavy machinery could accidentally kill those trapped below.

He said the Tappita area has more than 100,000 self-employed miners and is rife with "uncontrolled and illegal" mining.

"The place is lawless and there is no control," Cooper said.

Authorities have recently attempted to close the gold mine out of safety concerns, but with Liberia's faltering economy, miners risk death to feed their families.
PARIS (AP) - French wine and spirits exporters say they are in a "total fog" over Brexit.

With less than two months before Britain's scheduled departure from the European Union, the head of the French federation of exporters of wines and spirits warned Wednesday of the damage that an exit without an agreement would cause.

"It could simply destroy the purchasing power of the consumers," Antoine Leccia told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a news conference. "There could be a fall of the pound, and we know that in our sectors, the currency fluctuation can have an impact on sales."

The federation said French wine and spirits exports to Britain amounted to 1.3 billion euros in 2018, down 0.6 percent from the previous year. Revenue from exports overall continued to rise, reaching a record of 13.2 billion euros.

British Prime Minister Theresa May urged lawmakers this week to give her more time to rework a divorce agreement with the EU. If no deal is approved by the British and European parliaments before March 29, the U.K. faces a messy sudden Brexit.

"We are in the total 'fog', that's the appropriate word," Leccia said. "We don't know where we're heading to, nobody knows what can happen."

Leccia said a hard Brexit would slow some 200 trucks crossing the Channel every day and hurt trade. He also warned about new import taxes that could be implemented.

"If tomorrow we restore the borders, customs fees will have to be paid by the wine industry," he said.

According to the federation, Britain is France's second biggest market for spirits and wine exports and France imports a large quantity of British spirits.

___

Catherine Gaschka in Paris contributed to this report.
Text of the proclamation signed by President Donald Trump declaring a national emergency on the US-Mexico border:

Declaring a National Emergency concerning the southern border of the United States by the president of the United States of America.

A Proclamation:

The current situation at the southern border presents a border security and humanitarian crisis that threatens core national security interests and constitutes a national emergency. The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. The problem of large-scale unlawful migration through the southern border is long-standing, and despite the executive branch's exercise of existing statutory authorities, the situation has worsened in certain respects in recent years.

In particular, recent years have seen sharp increases in the number of family units entering and seeking entry to the United States and an inability to provide detention space for many of these aliens while their removal proceedings are pending. If not detained, such aliens are often released into the country and are often difficult to remove from the United States because they fail to appear for hearings, do not comply with orders of removal, or are otherwise difficult to locate.

In response to the directive in my April 4, 2018, memorandum and subsequent requests for support by the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense has provided support and resources to the Department of Homeland Security at the southern border. Because of the gravity of the current emergency situation, it is necessary for the Armed Forces to provide additional support to address the crisis.

Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 201 and 301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), hereby declare that a national emergency exists at the southern border of the United States, and that section 12302 of title 10, United States Code, is invoked and made available, according to its terms, to the Secretaries of the military departments concerned, subject to the direction of the Secretary of Defense in the case of the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force.

To provide additional authority to the Department of Defense to support the Federal Government's response to the emergency at the southern border, I hereby declare that this emergency requires use of the Armed Forces and, in accordance with section 301 of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1631), that the construction authority provided in section 2808 of title 10, United States Code, is invoked and made available, according to its terms, to the Secretary of Defense and, at the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, to the Secretaries of the military departments. I hereby direct as follows:

Section 1. The Secretary of Defense, or the Secretary of each relevant military department, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, shall order as many units or members of the Ready Reserve to active duty as the Secretary concerned, in the Secretary's discretion, determines to be appropriate to assist and support the activities of the Secretary of Homeland Security at the southern border.

Sec. 2. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and, subject to the discretion of the Secretary of Defense, the Secretaries of the military departments, shall take all appropriate actions, consistent with applicable law, to use or support the use of the authorities herein invoked, including, if necessary, the transfer and acceptance of jurisdiction over border lands.

Sec. 3. This proclamation is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand nineteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-third.

Donald J. Trump
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) - Gov. Larry Hogan has abandoned talks to persuade the Washington Redskins to build its next stadium on a Maryland site currently owned by the federal government.

Spokeswoman Amelia Chasse told news outlets Tuesday that Hogan will proceed with acquiring state control of the 300-acre tract near MGM National Harbor. In December, Hogan acknowledged negotiating a nonbinding land swap that could have cleared the way for a 60,000-seat stadium. That plan drew concern from surprised local politicians and those worried about environmental and financial impact.

Hogan's decision and Virginia's disinterest leaves Redskins owner Daniel Snyder with one suitor - the District of Columbia. His first choice is Washington's RFK Stadium site, but he now has fewer bargaining chips.

The Redskins can't leave FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland, until September 2027.
SAN DIEGO (AP) - A gunman opened fire with an assault rifle at dinner time into a San Diego restaurant, but no one was hurt in what police said was an "amazing" outcome.

Police recovered at least 19 shell casings after the shooting Tuesday outside the restaurant in the city's Hillcrest neighborhood.

"It's quite a blessing when that much, that hail of gunfire that went out, there was nobody hit," police Lt. Andra Brown told the San Diego Union-Tribune .

It's "amazing that nobody was hurt," she said.

Police detained a suspect about 20 minutes later and found the discarded gun nearby. A motive had not been determined.

The attack occurred in a busy area of bars and restaurants.

Police said they did not have the exact number of patrons inside the restaurant at the time of the shooting. Some people reported being hit by shattered glass.
STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - A college professor avoided talking directly about her accusation that Virginia's lieutenant governor sexually assaulted her, but she talked in detail about her research and thoughts on the growing number of women reporting abuse.

"One thing that I notice with sexual violence is that there are many people who would like to glance away from this," Vanessa Tyson told a Stanford University symposium. "It's one of the ugliest parts of humanity. Trust me."

Tyson, appearing Tuesday night as one of two panelists at the event called "Betrayal and Courage in the Age of #MeToo", was making her first public appearance since she accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of assaulting her in 2004. Tyson is a political science professor at Southern California's Scripps College who is spending a year at Stanford as a research fellow.

Fairfax said he recalled the encounter, which he said was consensual, and denied assaulting or coercing Tyson.

"Perhaps we have to reshape how we understand consent and how we teach it to society as a whole," Tyson said during her talk, which also included her experience with students who were sexually assaulted confiding in her, and the difficulty victims have when institutions don't appear to take their claims seriously.

"Speaking as a professor at a women's college, sometimes you have to lead by example," Tyson said. "No matter how hard it is."

This image taken from video from Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, shows Vanessa Tyson speaking at a Stanford University symposium on Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019 in Stanford, Calif. Tyson, appearing as one of two panelists at the event called "Betrayal and Courage in the Age of #MeToo," was making her first public appearance since she accused Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of assaulting her in 2004. Tyson is a political science professor at Southern California's Scripps College who is spending a year at Stanford as a research fellow. (CASBS/Stanford University via AP)

Tyson left the event without talking to reporters. During the question-and-answer session, symposium organizers refused to read written submissions from the audience referencing Tyson's accusation. The audience had been admonished earlier not to bring up the matter at the request of Tyson and her lawyers.

Camera crews greeted audience members arriving at the reception and symposium at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, a usually quiet location tucked high on a hill about a mile from the main campus. The 100 audience members crammed in the main room greeted Tyson with a standing ovation. Dozens more watched a video feed in a nearby room.

She told the audience she was "deeply disturbed" by attempts to discredit victims' credibility. Tyson recounted how she and Stanford colleagues watched on television as Christine Blasey Ford testified in Washington, D.C., during Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearing.

"As she shook, we shook with her," she said. "As she told her story, we felt the pain she so visibly demonstrated."

Tyson is now represented by the same legal team that represented Blasey Ford.

"When we hear someone else's story, there's a beauty in it knowing you aren't alone," she said. "Don't be afraid to see survivors for who they are. The beautiful parts, the ugly parts. All of them. They didn't deserve what happened to them."

Tyson was joined on stage by fellow center researcher Jennifer Freyd for the talk moderated by law school professor Paul Brest to discuss "the underlying dynamics of sexual violence and institutional betrayal" according to symposium literature.

Tyson is an associate professor of political science at Scripps College about 30 miles (50 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. She is spending the year at Stanford in part researching "the political discourse surrounding sexual assault," according the center's website.

Tyson's accusation became public last week after a friend shared a private Facebook message Tyson sent that named no names, but alluded to the possibility of Fairfax becoming governor if the current Gov. Ralph Northam was forced to resign because of a racism scandal. That message was posted on a conservative political website that follows Virginia politics.

The Associated Press typically does not identify those who say they were sexually assaulted. Tyson identified herself in a statement last week.

In the statement, Tyson said Fairfax held her head down and forced her to perform oral sex in his hotel room at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004. Tyson has not otherwise commented publicly and hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Later in the week, a second woman issued a statement accusing Fairfax of raping her 19 years ago while they were students at Duke University. Meredith Watson also publicly identified herself.

Fairfax has emphatically denied both accusations and called for authorities to investigate the women's claims.

___

This version corrects the quote in the 2nd paragraph, 'with sexual violence is that there are many people who would ... ', not 'about sexual violence is that a lot of people would ... '

Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax is prepped for the Senate session at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Vanessa Tyson, a college professor who has accused Fairfax of sexual assault, will appear Tuesday at a long-planned Stanford University academic symposium on that topic. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
PARIS (AP) - French car maker Renault won't pay former Chairman Carlos Ghosn millions of euros in compensation following his resignation.

Renault said in a statement Wednesday its board unanimously decided to waive Ghosn's "non-compete commitment and, consequently, not to pay the corresponding compensation equal to two years fixed and variable compensation."

Ghosn has been detained in Tokyo since November. He has been charged with falsifying financial reports in under-reporting compensation and breach of trust in having Nissan Motor Co. shoulder investment losses and paying a Saudi businessman.

Renault also canceled shares granted to Ghosn from 2015 to 2018, which were subject to his continued presence at Renault. The board noted "that such condition is not met, thereby triggering the loss of Mr. Ghosn's rights to the definitive acquisition of such shares."

A spokeswoman from Renault said some 450,000 shares will be canceled. At the current share price of around 57 euros, that is worth almost 26 million euros. The actual value of the compensation scheme would reflect the share price's variation over several years.

Renault said its board will decide next month on Ghosn's remuneration for the 2018 financial year.
BEIRUT (AP) - The American Embassy in Lebanon says the United States has delivered laser-guided rockets valued at more than $16 million to the Lebanese army.

In a statement, it says the rockets delivered Wednesday are a key component for a fleet of A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft previously delivered. The delivery demonstrates the U.S. government's "firm and steady commitments" to support the Lebanese military in its capacity as the "sole, legitimate defender of Lebanon."

The reference appeared to be aimed at the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which has an arsenal that rivals that of the Lebanese army and dominates the country's politics.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offered his country's military aid to Lebanon during a visit this week, but said the Lebanese government had to show "a desire" to accept it first.

In this photo provided by the American Embassy in Lebanon, a U.S. Air Force plane carrying weapons and equipment for the Lebanese army, arrives at a Lebanese air force base, in Beirut airport, Lebanon, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The American Embassy in Lebanon said Wednesday, that the United States has delivered laser-guided rockets valued at more than $16 million to the Lebanese army. The statement said the rockets delivered Wednesday are a key component for a fleet of A-29 Super Tucano attack aircraft previously delivered. (American Embassy in Lebanon via AP)
WETUMPKA, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama church damaged by a tornado is returning a $25,000 donation from a casino because it doesn't support gambling.

The pastor of the First Baptist Church of Wetumpka, James Troglen, tells WSFA-TV that church members voted Sunday to return the contribution from Wind Creek Casinos.

Troglen says church members were "extremely moved" by the donation. But Troglen says he doesn't support legalized gambling and church members who share his beliefs thought it would be a conflict to keep the money.

Troglen says members hope the money will go to others affected by the tornado.

The church was damaged by a twister that roared through the town north of Montgomery on Jan. 19. The casino says it also made donations to another church and the town's police department.
PARIS (AP) - Street portraits of a prominent Holocaust survivor that were graffitied with swastikas have been restored by the artist who painted them on mailboxes in Paris.

The images of Simone Veil, who survived the Auschwitz death camp and went into government and politics in France, were found defaced near a town hall in the southeast of the French capital.

Veil died in 2017. The tagger of the mailboxes bearing her image has not been located.

Artist Christian Guemy, who also goes by the name C215, tweeted a photo of the restored portraits on Tuesday.

"Simone Veil is back ... stronger than the barbarity of anonymous people," Guemy wrote.

During a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced an "intolerable increase" of anti-Semitic incidents, according to comments reported by government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux.

French street artist Christian Guemy, known as C215, cleans the vandalized mailboxes with swastikas covering the face of the late Holocaust survivor and renowned French politician, Simone Veil, in Paris, Tuesday Feb.12, 2019. According to French authorities, the total of registered anti-Semitic acts rose to 541 in 2018 from 311 in 2017, a rise of 74 percent. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

"We will be inflexible toward those who commit such acts", Macron said.

France 541 registered incidents of anti-Semitism last year compared to 311 in 2017, according to the Interior Ministry. Properties associated with other religions also have been targeted.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe condemned the vandalism of five churches last week and urged people in a country where secularism is written into the constitution.

"In our secular Republic, we respect the places of worship. These acts shock me," he said.

French street artist Christian Guemy, known as C215, cleans the vandalized mailboxes with swastikas covering the face of the late Holocaust survivor and renowned French politician, Simone Veil, in Paris, Tuesday Feb.12, 2019. According to French authorities, the total of registered anti-Semitic acts rose to 541 in 2018 from 311 in 2017, a rise of 74 percent. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
CAIRO (AP) - Sudan's security forces arrested more than a dozen academics who joined a protest outside Khartoum University in the Sudanese capital, calling for embattled President Omar al-Bashir to step down, activists said Wednesday.

Sudan has been gripped by nationwide protests since Dec. 19. The demonstrations, which show no sign of abating, were triggered by rising prices and shortages but quickly turned to calls for autocratic President Omar al-Bashir to step down.

The activists said police arrested at least 14 academics while they protested Tuesday. Their whereabouts remained unknown, they added.

The detained academics were added to opposition leaders, doctors, journalists, lawyers and students along with some 800 protesters who have been arrested in two months of protests.

Last month, authorities ordered the release of all protesters who were detained since Dec. 19. But Human Rights Watch said Monday only 186 were reported let go and that video evidence showed signs of torture on released detainees.

The activists spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. A government spokesman did not immediately respond to phone calls and messages seeking comment.

FILE - In this Jan. 9, 2019 file photo, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir addresses supporters at a rally in Khartoum, Sudan. On Tuesday, Feb 12, 2019, hundreds of demonstrators are gathering in different Sudanese cities, protesting against autocratic al-Bashir. The demonstrations, were called by the Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of independent professional unions. Video footage shows demonstrators gathering at intersections chanting "just fall," and calling for a "people's revolution." (AP Photo/Mahmoud Hjaj, File)

A network of Sudanese journalists said Wednesday that police forces detained for hours at least 17 journalists who joined a protest on Tuesday in front of Information Ministry in Khartoum. It said in a statement the detained journalists were released late Tuesday.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Tuesday in different Sudanese cities including the capital, Khartoum. Video footage showed demonstrators gathering at intersections chanting "just fall," and calling for a "people's revolution."

The protests, called for by professional and opposition groups, are part of a wave of unrest over a failing economy that has transformed into demands for the resignation of the autocratic al-Bashir, an Islamist who has run the country for nearly 30 years but brought little improvement to his people.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella group of independent professional unions, which organizes the protests, called for another march on Thursday to the presidential palace to demand the ouster of al-Bashir.

The country's intelligence and security officials, along with Bashir, insist that the rallies are the work of what they describe as "evil" foreign powers, and have vowed to stop them.

Al-Bashir, who seized power in an Islamist-backed military coup in 1989, insists that only elections, which he intends to take part in, will result in change. Wanted for genocide by the International Criminal Court, al-Bashir has repeatedly warned that the protests could plunge Sudan into the kind of chaos convulsing other countries in the region.

Activists say at least 57 people have been killed in the protests. An estimated 2,000 protesters have also since been wounded, many shot in the eye with birdshot and some losing limbs from live ammunition, according to activists, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The government's latest tally stands at 30 killed and about 400 wounded, but these figures have not been updated in days.
FLINT, Mich. (AP) - The city of Flint has agreed to use a scientific model to determine which homes likely have lead or steel water lines as officials try to comply with a 2017 agreement to replace the pipes following the city's lead water crisis.

The updated deal was filed Tuesday but needs a federal judge's approval.

The nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council is concerned about Flint's performance, saying more than 80 percent of excavations in 2018 were at homes with copper pipes. Roughly 8,000 lines have been replaced but thousands remain.

Water lines are being replaced as a result of lead-tainted water discovered in 2014. Lead began leaching from pipes after Flint tapped the Flint River for drinking water without properly treating it to reduce corrosion.

The new agreement says Flint will use a model developed by scientists at the University of Michigan and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - Authorities say two women sitting in a car were shot and wounded in northeastern Pennsylvania.

But it's not yet known what sparked the shooting in Wilkes-Barre, which occurred around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Authorities say the victims - identified only as two Scranton residents ages 19 and 20 - were found in a car that was stopped in the roadway near a gas station. Both had been shot in the back.

One of the women was unresponsive while the other was conscious and alert. Both were being treated at hospitals, but further details on their injuries and conditions were not disclosed.

The shooting remains under investigation. No arrests have been made.
The College is the affordable go-to choice of county residents for higher education, College President Dr. James Ball said in statement. We are so pleased to open our campus to high school students and their parents, and provide a comprehensive look at our programs, especially those designed to prepare students for the jobs of the future.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Police in Nashville, Tennessee, say improper behavior by three police supervisors may have led to a shooting that killed a black man and wounded an officer.

The Tennessean reports Chief Steve Anderson said Monday that an internal investigation determined the supervisors didn't follow policy.

Authorities have said officers responding to an October assault found a man matching the suspect's description. The investigation says Sgt. Harold Wells, Lt. Viviyonne Lee and Sgt. James Boone didn't immediately head to the scene.

It says that when she arrived, Lee, instead of calling for SWAT, opened a door to the apartment the suspect was in, leading to 31-year-old Sershawn Martez Dillon fleeing and firing his weapon. Dillon was fatally shot in the back and Officer Samuel Galuzzi was wounded.

Lee, Wells and Boone face possible suspension or demotion.

___

Information from: The Tennessean, http://www.tennessean.com
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Latest on the international conference on the Middle East (all times local):

7:30 p.m.

Israel's prime minister says he plans on working with Arab countries at a U.S.-backed Mideast conference in Warsaw to focus on the "common interest of war with Iran."

Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to reporters Wednesday shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, on the sidelines of the conference.

Netanyahu said the meeting was significant because it was a rare, open gathering with Arab representatives "that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran."

The belligerent comments went further than Netanyahu's usual warnings about Iran. Officials in his office didn't return messages seeking clarification.

FILE - In this July 29, 2018 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. A Mideast conference, which begins Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Poland offers Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes -- his country's improved relations with Arab countries. Several Gulf dignitaries are expected to attend in a potential show of force against uninvited Iran. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, Pool, File)

The U.S. has billed the conference as a gathering about regional peace and security. But Netanyahu and Gulf countries are eager to focus on Iran.

___

6:30 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has accused Russia of seeking to divide the Western alliance with its energy reserves, nuclear weapons and "its efforts to meddle in elections across Europe and around the world."

Pence made his remarks Wednesday in Warsaw, where he began a four-day visit to Europe. Earlier in the day he met with hundreds of Polish troops and U.S. soldiers serving in the country.

The visit comes as Poland is seeking a permanent U.S. base on its soil due to fears of a resurgent Russia.

In remarks to reporters after a meeting with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Pence acknowledged Polish fear, saying that "no threat looms larger in Poland than the specter of aggression from your neighbor to the east."

He said: "Moscow seeks to divide our alliance, with its oil and gas reserves, with its new arsenal of nuclear weapons, and with its efforts to meddle in elections across Europe and around the world."

___

5:25 p.m.

Iran says a U.S.-sponsored conference taking place in Warsaw is an attempt by the United States "to demonize" the country's role in the Middle East and to undermine the U.N. Security Council..

The Iranian government issued what it called a "non-paper" on Wednesday that said the Trump administration's "malicious intentions" for the ministerial meeting were clear even though a high-ranking Polish representative assured Tehran the gathering is not intended "to be targeting Iran."

Iran's U.N. Mission shared the paper with The Associated Press.

It says the meeting's "intended goals and biased agenda" are likely to escalate "the distrust, chaos, crisis and conflict in the region, which is already deeply suffering from multiple tragic catastrophes."

The conference is starting amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver.

The Trump administration initially billed it as an Iran-focused meeting. Organizers have broadened the scope to include issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the fight against the Islamic State group.

___

4:25 p.m.

Israel's prime minister has held a rare public meeting with the foreign minister of the Gulf Arab state of Oman at a U.S.-sponsored Mideast conference in Poland.

In a video released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, the Omani foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi, said people in the Middle East have "suffered a lot" because they stick to the past. He said Wednesday's meeting reflects a "new era" for the region.

Netanyahu paid a surprise visit to Oman in November, calling it a "courageous decision" by the country's sultan to invite him.

Netanyahu frequently boasts of warming behind-the-scenes contacts with Arab leaders, who very rarely appear in public with the Israeli prime minister.

Netanyahu said "many" are following Oman's lead, "and, may I say, including at this conference."

___

3:10 p.m.

U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer and former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani has called on a conference on the Middle East to take a "firm stance" on Iran to press its government to adopt a democratic course.

Giuliani spoke Wednesday in Warsaw to a few hundred participants at a protest by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, an Iranian exile group. He spoke just hours before an international conference on the Middle East opens in Warsaw.

He said he hoped the conference, just like the U.S. government, will be firm on Iran "so that we don't do business with them, so that we isolate them, so that we do the best that we can to get them to change their policies, and if they don't change their policies, to change the regime."

He stressed to reporters he was speaking in a personal capacity.

___

2 p.m.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has arrived in Poland, starting a four-day visit to Europe in which he will take part in international conferences and visit the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz.

He landed at Warsaw airport in the early afternoon on Wednesday and was to meet in a hanger there with American and Polish troops.

In Warsaw, he will visit historic sites associated with World War II and take part in a conference Thursday on the Middle East. He will visit Auschwitz Friday and will then head to the Munich Security Conference.

His stop in Poland comes as Poland lobbies Washington for a permanent U.S. base on its soil.

___

12:30 p.m.

The United States and Poland are kicking off an international conference on the Middle East amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver.

Initially it was billed by President Donald Trump's administration as an Iran-focused meeting. The organizers have significantly broadened its scope to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, Syria and Yemen. The shift was designed in part to boost participation after some invitees balked at an Iran-centric event when many in Europe are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year's U.S. withdrawal.

Yet the agenda for the discussions contains no hint of any concrete action that might result. Many of the roughly 60 countries participating will be represented at levels lower than foreign minister.

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a joint statement as part of a meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Poland's President Andrzej Duda, right, shake hands after a joint statement as part of a meeting at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

RETRANSMISSION TO ADD MORE DETAILS ON RALLY PARTICIPANTS -- President Donald Trump's attorney and former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani addresses a rally of a few hundred members of Iranian opposition ahead of an international conference on the situation in the Middle East, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Giuliani addressed a rally organized by an Iranian exile group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, a one-time Marxist group later pushed out of Iran after its 1979 Islamic Revolution that later sided with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The group has paid tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to American politicians. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

RETRANSMISSION TO ADD MORE DETAILS ON RALLY PARTICIPANTS -- People take part in a rally in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, chanting for democratic change in Iran. The United States and Poland are kicking off an international conference on the Middle East on Wednesday amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver. Initially it was billed by President Donald Trump's administration as an Iran-focused meeting, but the organizers significantly broadened its scope. The rally organized by an Iranian exile group called the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, a one-time Marxist group later pushed out of Iran after its 1979 Islamic Revolution that later sided with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The group has paid tens of thousands of dollars in speaking fees to American politicians. The woman in their signs is Maryam Rajavi, the group's leader.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence arrive at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, 2nd left, speaks during a meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda, 4th right, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, 2nd from left, and his wife Karen Pence, left, stand together with Poland's President Andrzej Duda, 2nd from right and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, in front of soldiers in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, center, holds a speech in front of soldiers from the United States and Poland at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Polish and United States flags are placed together for the arrival of United States Vice President Mike Pence in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP) - Islamic State group militants, many of them foreigners, surrendered to U.S.-backed fighters in eastern Syria on Wednesday, bringing the Kurdish-led force closer to taking full control of the last remaining area controlled by the extremists, a Kurdish official and activists said.

Ciyager Amed, an official with the Syrian Democratic Forces, confirmed that a number of IS fighters who had been holed up in Baghouz gave themselves up, without giving numbers. He said most of those remaining were Iraqis and foreigners and that few civilians remained in the tiny area still controlled by IS, although women and children continued to trickle out of the enclave.

The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the end of a devastating four-year global campaign against the extremist group. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the group is all but defeated, and announced in December that he would withdraw all American forces from Syria.

Amed said the operation was slowed down due to the militants' use of civilians as human shields.

Mustafa Bali, an SDF spokesman, said hundreds of women and children came out Wednesday.

Bali also said the fighters who remained appeared to be among the IS elite who have lots of experience and are fighting "fiercely.'

This frame grab from video provided Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019, by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, that is consistent with independent AP reporting, shows U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighters looking at smoke rising from a shell that targeted Islamic State group militants, in the village of Baghouz, Deir El-Zour, eastern Syria. Fighting between U.S.-backed fighters and IS inflicted more casualties among people fleeing the violence in eastern Syria Tuesday where the extremists are on the verge of losing the last area they control. (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights via AP)

"They also don't have other options. Either to surrender or die," he said. He said the women and children coming out are treated as civilians "even if they are families of Daesh." He used an Arabic acronym to refer to the group.

Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Syria war monitor, and Omar Abu Laila, who runs the DeirEzzor 24 group that monitors developments in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour where the fighting is ongoing, said more than 200 IS fighters, many of them foreigners, surrendered.

"The mostly foreign fighters were put in seven trucks and taken away" by the U.S.-led coalition and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, Abdurrahman said.

Abu Laila said "the battle is almost over in eastern Syria with SDF fighters almost in full control of the last pocket held by Daesh."

The SDF began its final push to recapture the last sliver of territory controlled by IS on Saturday. Hundreds of mostly foreign IS fighters were believed to be making a final stand there, after months of fighting. They have been fighting back with suicide car bombs, sniper fire and booby traps, and have used civilians as human shields, according to the SDF.

The latest fighting caused an exodus of around 20,000 civilians from Baghouz and nearby areas, many of them the foreign wives and children of Islamic State militants. The SDF is holding hundreds of foreign fighters it says are a burden on the force, but their own countries don't want them back.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq will repatriate Iraqi IS members held by SDF in Syria as well as thousands of their family members.

Abdul-Mahdi told reporters late Tuesday that families of those fighters will also be brought back and that tent settlements will be prepared to host them. Abdul-Mahdi's comments came after a meeting he held in Baghdad with acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan.

A senior Iraqi intelligence official said up to 20,000 Iraqis, including IS fighters, their families and refugees will be brought back home by April where many of them will live in a tent settlement in western Anbar province.

The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said IS members will be interrogated by Iraqi security agencies.

Abdul-Mahdi's announcement came a week after the U.S. called on other nations to repatriate and prosecute their citizens who traveled to Syria to fight with IS and who are now being held by Washington's local partners.

The SDF say they detained more than 900 foreign fighters during their U.S.-backed campaign against IS in northeastern Syria.

The SDF has warned they may not be able to continue to hold the IS fighters after the withdrawal of American forces from Syria ordered by President Donald Trump in December.

A U.S. State Department official said last week that if the fighters can't be repatriated, though, the detention center on the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could be used to hold them "where lawful and appropriate."

A U.S. official said Guantanamo is the "option of last resort." The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. has identified about 50 people among the more than 900 held by Syrian forces as "high value" suspects that could be transported to Guantanamo if they are not repatriated.

Sending Islamic State prisoners to Guantanamo would open up new legal challenges, according to experts.

Last month, France's Interior Minister Christophe Castaner told French media that a handful of French jihadis had already returned home and more would follow soon after the departure of American troops. Britain refuses to take back citizens who joined IS and has reportedly stripped them of their citizenship. Other European countries have remained largely silent about the fate of men and women whom many see as a security threat.

Since the latest push began on Baghouz and nearby area, 19 SDF fighters and 27 IS gunmen, including eight suicide attackers, have been killed, according to the Observatory.

More than 20,000 people have left the IS-held area and most of them have been moved to al-Hol camp settlement in Syria's northeastern province of Hassakeh, where human conditions are miserable and more than two dozen children have died in recent weeks.

____

Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.
BERLIN (AP) - Human rights groups on Wednesday hailed the arrests in Europe of three suspects in bloody secret police crackdowns on Syrian opposition activists, including a senior figure in the Syrian security service alleged to have run a facility where detainees were systematically tortured.

The Tuesday arrests in Germany and France were the first major breakthroughs of international investigators who are trying to track down individuals they think are responsible for atrocities committed on behalf of the Syrian government during the country's eight-year civil war.

Police in Berlin arrested 56-year-old Anwar R., a high-ranking member of Syria's General Intelligence Directorate, Officers in Germany's southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate arrested 42-year-old Eyad A., who was part of a unit that operated a checkpoint in the region around Damascus.

Federal prosecutors said both are accused of carrying out or aiding crimes against humanity. The men's surnames weren't published in line with German privacy rules.

A third man, alleged to have been a subordinate of Anwar R., was arrested in France, German prosecutors said. French authorities confirmed a Syrian citizen whose name they did not release was picked up in the Paris area and placed in custody Tuesday.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, or ECCHR, a Berlin-based non-governmental organization that works to assist survivors of torture in Syria, said the arrests eventually could mark a milestone.

The center said the detention of suspects could lead to the world's first criminal trial examining the responsibility of senior members of the Syrian intelligence agencies of President Bashar al-Assad for crimes of torture."

The Commission for International Justice and Accountability, a European nonprofit that claims to have collected and smuggled out of Syria hundreds of thousands of government documents detailing the word of the security services and smuggled out of the country, also hailed the police actions.

"These arrests are the most important and promising developments with regard to accountability in Syria to date," Deputy Director Nerma Jelacic, told The Associated Press.

Evidence provided to German prosecutors by the group included witness statements from insiders and victims at the two branches of the GID secret police headed by Anwar R., as well as documents bearing his signature, Jelacic said.

German prosecutors accuse Anwar R. of participating in the abuse of detainees at a prison he oversaw in the Damascus area between April 2011 and September 2012. As lead investigator, he allegedly ordered the use of systematic and brutal torture during the interrogation of anti-government activists at the GID's al-Khatib facility, also known as "Branch 251."

The second man, Eyad A., is accused of "assisting in the killing of two people as well as the torture and physical abuse of at least 2,000 people" between July 2011 and January 2012, prosecutors said.

Eyad A.'s task was to conduct identity checks in order to find "deserters, demonstrators or people who were otherwise suspicious," prosecutors said. This involved operating a checkpoint where about 100 people were arrested each day and taken to the prison overseen by Anwar R., where they were tortured.

Eyad A.is alleged to have later participated in the searching of homes and the violent crackdown on a demonstration in the fall of 2011. Protesters who weren't able to flee were arrested and taken into detention, prosecutors said.

Both men left Syria in 2012. It wasn't immediately clear how and when they came to Germany. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have claimed asylum in Germany since 2012, many of them alleging persecution in their home country.

The scale of the Syrian government's brutal crackdown was graphically exposed by a Syrian forensic photographer - codenamed "Caesar" - who smuggled thousands of images of torture victims taken between 2011 and 2013 out of Damascus.

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, said German prosecutors interviewed six torture survivors for their investigation.

"Should the suspect (Anwar R.) go on trial, the survivors of torture will join the case as private parties," the center's general secretary, Wolfgang Kaleck, said in a statement.

Kaleck praised Germany for pursuing the cases.

"It sends a very important message to survivors of Assad's system of torture," he said. "Without justice, there will be no lasting peace in Syria."

___

Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis has reportedly written to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro indicating conditions aren't ripe for the Vatican to step in and help mediate in the country's dramatic political crisis.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday quoted from a letter it said Francis wrote to Maduro on Feb. 7, several days after the socialist leader said in an interview that he had written to Francis to ask the pontiff's help in launching talks with the opposition.

A Vatican spokesman, Alessandro Gisotti, said the Holy See "doesn't comment on the letters of the Holy Father, which, obviously, are private in character."

Massimo Franco, the Corriere columnist who wrote the article, showed The Associated Press of copy of the letter he said Francis sent to Maduro.

On Monday, a delegation representing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido met at the Vatican with Holy See officials.

The Argentine-born Francis has lamented that Venezuelan bishops were frustrated in their efforts to help defuse political and social tensions in the country, where much of the population lacks adequate food and medicine. The letter to Maduro indicated the pope also felt frustrated by what he described as an inadequate government response to the willingness by church officials to facilitate dialogue aimed at achieving reconciliation in Venezuela.

Reproduction of a three-page letter that Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported was written from Pope Francis to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in Rome, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Pope Francis has written a letter to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro indicating conditions aren't ripe for the Vatican to step in and help mediate in the country's political crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Lamentably, the letter said, all intentions aimed at reconciliation begun in recent years were effectively thwarted since, despite various meetings, "there was no follow-up with concrete gestures" to implement agreed-upon measures.

Francis has said he favors dialogue, but only when it places the common good over all other interests and when it is aimed at achieving unity and peace.

Despite the diplomatic language in the letter, Francis is "quite tough in saying, 'Yes, I can be a mediator, but at my conditions,'" Franco told the AP in an interview.

In the letter, Francis appears to acknowledge Maduro is no longer recognized as president by many countries following a heavily criticized 2018 presidential election. The salutation refers to the Venezuelan as "Mr. Nicolas Maduro" and not as "president."

Maduro, paying a call on the pope at the Vatican in 2013, a few months after Francis became pontiff and shortly after the Venezuelan was elected president, received the pope's blessing.

___

Associated Press journalist Paolo Santalucia contributed to this report from Rome.

Corriere della Sera journalist Massimo Franco reads a copy of a letter that was reportedly written from Pope Francis to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, during an interview with The Associated Press, in Rome, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported that Pope Francis has written a letter to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro indicating conditions aren't ripe for the Vatican to step in and help mediate in the country's political crisis. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

FILE - In this June 17, 2013 file pool photo, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, left, gives Pope Francis a statuette of Venezuela's Jose' Gregorio Hernandez, a popular figure amongst Venezuelans whom Maduro expressed hope for his canonization, on the occasion of their private audience at the Vatican. Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 quoted from a letter it said Francis wrote to Maduro on Feb. 7, saying Francis indicated conditions aren't there for dialogue a few days after the socialist leader said in an interview that he had asked the pope to help launch talks to end the country's political crisis. (Andreas Solaro, pool photo via AP, file)
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Eight people have died of measles in Ukraine since the start of the year, already half as many as died in the whole of 2018, authorities said on Wednesday.

The Health Ministry said in a statement that two deaths from the extremely contagious viral disease have been recorded since Saturday. Last week alone, more than 3,100 people went down with measles, half of them children.

The World Health Organization's data show that Ukraine logged 53,000 confirmed measles cases last year, accounting for more than half of all cases in Europe.

Skyrocketing measles rates in Ukraine are believed to be due to vaccine refusal as well as a temporary breakdown in vaccine orders by the government a few years ago.

Ukraine's efforts to battle the outbreak are also hampered by political infighting less than two months before the presidential election.

Health Minister Ulana Suprun was stripped of her ministerial powers earlier this month after a lawmaker filed a lawsuit against her in what was seen as a political vendetta.

Suprun, who was in charge of profound reforms of the crumbling Ukrainian health sector, remains acting minister while the court hears her appeal but her powers are significantly limited. She told reporters earlier on Wednesday that the government has recently purchased measles vaccines for the military but that she is unable to sign the documents to send them to military bases.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Although it is absent from the stage, Iran is nevertheless taking the spotlight at a Middle East security conference co-hosted by the United States and Poland that has highlighted deep divisions between the U.S. and some of its traditional allies.

Amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver, the conference opened late Wednesday in Warsaw with some 60 nations in attendance. Yet, in an apparent test of U.S. influence and suspicions in Europe and elsewhere over the Trump administration's intentions in Iran, many countries aren't sending their top diplomats and will be represented at levels lower than their invited foreign ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence attended along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Russia and China aren't participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is this week celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, denounced the meeting as a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" it.

In a bid to encourage better participation, Pompeo and others sought to broaden what was initially advertised as an Iran-centric meeting to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, and the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. That effort produced only mixed results, particularly with longtime European allies who are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year's U.S. withdrawal.

And, while the agenda gives no hint of any concrete actions that might result beyond creating "follow-on working groups" on a variety of common concerns like terrorism and cybersecurity, comments from several participants belied the underlying theme: countering Iran.

Front from left, United States Vice President Mike Pence, Poland's President Andrzej Duda, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, pose for a group photo at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Pence will address the conference on a range of Middle East issues, Pompeo will talk about U.S. plans in Syria following President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops and Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and his peace partner, Jason Greenblatt, will speak about their as-yet unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.

Greenblatt, whose portfolio extends only to the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort, said Iran is the top priority and derided the Palestinians for their boycott and insistence that their case is the region's most important issue.

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Greenblatt said the Palestinian position "impedes nations from countering the common enemy of Iran."

"Iran is the primary threat to the future of regional peace/security," he said. "That's what Palestinian leaders don't grasp; as a consequence of being detached from new realities, we see Palestinians increasingly left behind/more isolated than ever."

On his way to Warsaw Netanyahu made clear the conference is centered on Iran.

"It is a conference that unites the United States, Israel, many countries in the world, many countries in the region, Arab countries, against Iran's aggressive policy, its aggression, its desire to conquer the Middle East and destroy Israel," he told reporters.

Netanyahu sent out a belligerent rallying cry to his Arab partners, saying he planned to focus on the "common interest" of confronting Iran. He made the comments during an off-the-cuff interview with reporters on a Warsaw street, shortly after meeting Oman's foreign minister.

Although Netanyahu used the Hebrew word "milchama," or "war," in his comments, his office later changed its official translation and said he was referring to a "common interest of combatting Iran."

Pompeo has predicted that the conference will "deliver really good outcomes" and has played down the impact of lower-level participation. "We think we will make real progress," Pompeo said. He didn't, however, offer any details about specific outcomes.

Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz, the conference co-host, also steered clear of describing potential results. And, even he could not paper over the differences between the U.S. and Europe, including Poland, over the Iran nuclear deal.

"We consider this to be a valuable element on the international arena," Czaputowicz told a joint news conference with Pompeo on the eve of the conference.

In a joint opinion piece published Wednesday by CNN, Pompeo and Czaputowicz said they didn't expect all participants to agree on policies or outcomes but called for an airing of unscripted and candid ideas.

"We expect each nation to express opinions that reflect its own interests," they wrote. "Disagreements in one area should not prohibit unity in others."

In fact, three of Washington's main European allies, Britain, France and Germany, have unveiled a new financial mechanism that the Trump administration believes may be designed to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran. British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt is attending the Warsaw conference, but his main interest is in a side meeting on the conflict in Yemen, according to diplomats familiar with the planning.

Analysts and former officials associated with the Obama administration that forged the nuclear deal as a signature foreign policy achievement questioned the value of the conference, particularly the signs of disunity it will present.

"The result of this conference ideally would be a demonstration of Iranian isolation and unity amongst American allies in Europe and the Middle East," said William Wechsler, senior adviser for Middle East programs at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

"It's another example of what we've seen of countries in Europe demonstrating - sometimes subtly and sometimes not - their differences with the American administration," he said. "If at the end of the day it looks like America is being isolated from its partners, then it's not as successful as you want it to be."

And Ned Price, President Barack Obama's former national security spokesman, said European nations downgraded their delegations because they believed the Trump administration was going to use the summit as an "anti-Iran pep rally."

"Time and again, this administration had found itself drunk on its own Kool-Aid, isolated from our friends, and belatedly forced to scramble to save face," Price said, adding that not a single country in the EU endorsed Trump's pullout from the Iran nuclear deal.

The Trump administration has repeatedly denied allegations that it is seeking regime change in Iran. And yet, mixed messages continue to come from Washington.

Earlier this week, Trump's national security adviser John Bolton released a short video on the anniversary of the Iranian revolution in which he called Iran "the central banker of international terrorism" and accused it of pursuing nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them. It ended with a not-so-veiled threat to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "I don't think you'll have many more anniversaries to enjoy."

Khamenei, meanwhile, denounced the United States in a speech on Wednesday.

"About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm," Khamenei said. He described any possible future negotiations as an "unforgiveable mistake" that would be like "going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf."

___

Associated Press writers Aron Heller in Warsaw and Deb Reichmann in Washington contributed.

United States Vice President Mike Pence, front left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, front right, shake hands as Pence arrives for a group photo at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, 2nd left, speaks during a meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda, 4th right, in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

States Vice President Mike Pence, right, waves as he and his wife Karen Pence, 2nd right, are welcomed by Poland's President Andrzej Duda, left, and his wife Agatha Kornhauser-Duda, 2nd right, at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, 2nd from left, and his wife Karen Pence, left, stand together with Poland's President Andrzej Duda, 2nd from right and his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda, right, in front of soldiers in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a joint statement as part of a meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Soldiers from Poland and the United States wait in front of flags for United States Vice President Mike Pence at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

States Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Poland's President Andrzej Duda, right, shake hands after a joint statement as part of a meeting at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Poland's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jacek Czaputowicz, left, gives flowers to Karen Pence, right, wife of United States Vice President Mike Pence, center, after they arrived at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence arrive at the airport in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

Polish Foreign Affairs Minister Jacek Czaputowicz,right, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shake hands at a news conference at Lazienki Palace, Warsaw, Poland, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, left, and Poland's President Andrzej Duda, right, shake hands after a joint statement as part of a meeting at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a joint statement as part of a meeting with Poland's President Andrzej Duda at Belvedere palace in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

United States Vice President Mike Pence, front left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, front right, shake hands as Pence arrives for a group photo at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)

From left, United States Vice President Mike Pence, Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu talk after a group photo at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. The Polish capital is host for a two-day international conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's supreme leader said Wednesday that any negotiations with the U.S. would "bring nothing but material and spiritual harm" in remarks before an American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw.

The comments from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were part of a seven-page statement read word-for-word on Iranian state television and heavily promoted in the run-up to its release. They also come two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington.

"About the United States, the resolution of any issues is not imaginable and negotiations with it will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm," Khamenei said.

The supreme leader went on to describe any negotiations as an "unforgiveable mistake." He also said negotiations would be like "going on your knees before the enemy and kissing the claws of the wolf."

That tone is a long way from 2015, when Khamenei approved of talks between Iran and the United States that resulted in the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. The deal saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

However, that deal came under the administration of former President Barack Obama.

In this picture released on Jan. 12, 2019, by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei takes notes during a meeting in Tehran, Iran. In a statement released on Wednesday Feb. 13, Iran's supreme leader said negotiations with the U.S. "will bring nothing but material and spiritual harm" - remarks that come ahead of an American-led meeting on the Mideast in Warsaw. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Khamenei said the U.S. must deal with Iran's influence in the Middle East and "preventing the transference of sophisticated Iranian weapons to resistance forces," a reference to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah and other anti-Israel armed groups.

The statement by Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, suggests more restriction by the current administration on engagement with the West.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, echoed Khamenei's remarks, saying: "If the Iranian nation surrenders to the United States, it should surrender until the end."

He said, however, that "Iran is about negotiation, but we are not ready to accept imposition, bullying, pressure and the trampling of our national rights."

President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a promise of tearing up the nuclear accord, withdrew the U.S. from the deal last May. Since then, the United Nations says Iran has kept up its side of the bargain, though officials in Tehran have increasingly threatened to resume higher enrichment.

Amid the new tensions, Iran's already-weakened economy has been further challenged. There have been sporadic protests in the country as well, incidents applauded by Trump amid Washington's maximalist approach to Tehran.

However, some have suggested Iranian leaders meet with Trump in a summit, much like North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Amir Mousavi, a former Iranian diplomat, has claimed that Trump sent a message to President Hassan Rouhani last week requesting direct talks. Mousavi, speaking with Lebanese television station al-Mayadeen, said Trump is ready to visit Tehran and had sent several messages through intermediaries in Oman.

There has been no acknowledgment of such a request from Washington.

The Warsaw summit, which started Wednesday, was initially pegged to focus entirely on Iran. However, the U.S. subsequently made it about the broader Middle East, to boost participation.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif predicted the Warsaw summit would not be productive for the U.S. "I believe it's dead on arrival or dead before arrival," he said.
BRUSSELS (AP) - Taking aim at Russia, NATO's civilian chief said Wednesday the alliance is studying a range of options to counter Moscow's alleged missile treaty violations, and America's top diplomat accused the Russians of having "grand designs" to dominate Europe.

In remarks at the outset of a NATO defense ministers meeting, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the military alliance is considering ways to counter Russian missiles without sparking an arms race. He called the missiles "a significant risk" to Europe.

In Poland, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Moscow's efforts to divide the European Union and NATO and disrupt western democracies must be countered through boosting NATO's presence.

"Russia has grand designs of dominating Europe and reasserting its influence on the world stage. Vladimir Putin seeks to splinter the NATO alliance, weaken the United States and disrupt Western democracies," he said.

"Russia's invasions of Georgia and Ukraine, its unprovoked attack on Ukrainian naval vessels this past November and its ongoing hybrid warfare against us and our allies are direct challenges to our security and to our way of life," he added.

Pompeo made the comments while visiting a NATO forward position in northeast Poland about 70 kilometers from the border with the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gestures during a news conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Because of Russia's ongoing involvement in Ukraine, the U.S. and others take seriously the possibility that Moscow may try to open a new front along Europe's eastern flank, Pompeo said. He said that threat underscores the indispensable nature of NATO - a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for the past 70 years but the target of harsh criticism by President Donald Trump, who has cast the allies as freeloaders unwilling to foot the bill for their own defense.

Also throwing U.S. support behind NATO, Vice President Mike Pence told hundreds of Polish and U.S. troops in Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday, "We must stand together in defense of our alliance and all that we hold dear."

Against the backdrop of rising Western tensions with Russia, the NATO meeting in Brussels focused initially on the expected demise of the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces treaty, known as the INF treaty. The U.S. signed the pact with the Soviet Union in 1987. The allies are considering how to respond collectively to what they say are Russian violations of the treaty.

The United States on Feb. 2 launched the six-month process of leaving the INF treaty, insisting that a new Russian missile system violates the pact. Russia denies it is in contravention and has announced that it will pull out, too.

The INF bans production, testing and deployment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers (310 to 3,400 miles). European NATO allies insist that the pact is a cornerstone of continental security, although after Pompeo announced earlier this month that Washington was beginning the formal process of withdrawal, NATO publicly endorsed the move.

Speaking at NATO headquarters, where defense ministers are discussing what to do if the imperiled treaty is abandoned, Stoltenberg said: "This is very serious. We will take our time."

"Our response will be united," he said. "It will be measured, and it will be defensive because we don't want a new arms race. And we don't have any intention to deploy new nuclear land-based weapon systems in Europe."

Later, in remarks made alongside Pat Shanahan, the acting U.S. secretary of defense, Stoltenberg said, "We need to plan for a world without the treaty and with more Russian missiles."

Shanahan said he planned to brief his fellow ministers on his talks earlier this week in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he met with U.S. commanders and government leaders. NATO has roles in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Shanahan, attending his first NATO meeting, said he also looked forward to talking to his colleagues about the future of the NATO alliance.

"We need to talk more about our vision and what we can accomplish in a world that has so many changing threats," he said.

NATO allies have little insight into Shanahan's views, whereas they felt confident that Jim Mattis, who resigned as defense secretary in December, was an unwavering supporter of the alliance. Mattis implied in his resignation letter that President Donald Trump's disrespect for traditional allies was among policy differences that compelled him to quit after two years in the job.

With regard to the expected termination of the INF treaty in August, Stoltenberg said that NATO has "a wide range of options, conventional and other options," but he declined to list them, warning that any speculation "would just add to the uncertainty."

U.S. officials have said there is no plan to deploy in Europe a nuclear-armed INF-class missile. They have said only non-nuclear options are under consideration and that decisions are not imminent.

The Pentagon believes that Russia's ground-fired Novator 9M729 cruise missile - known in NATO parlance as the SSC-8 - could give Moscow the ability to launch a nuclear strike in Europe with little or no notice. Russia insists it has a range of less than 500 kilometers. It claims that U.S. target-practice missiles and drones also break the treaty.

European NATO members are especially keen to avoid any nuclear build-up and a repeat of the missile crisis in the 1980s. NATO allies decided to deploy U.S. cruise and Pershing 2 ballistic missiles in Europe in 1983 as negotiations with Moscow faltered over its stationing of SS-20 missiles in Eastern Europe.

--

AP Diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Poland.

Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, centre, arrives for a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Acting US Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan, left, shakes hands for the media with Britain's Defence Minister Gavin Williamson, before their bilateral meeting during a NATO defence ministers meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - Nigeria's president and his top challenger in Saturday's election renewed a pledge for peace on Wednesday ahead of a vote marked by accusations that have alarmed some observers, while some of their supporters kept the heated rhetoric flowing.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who seeks a second term, and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar vowed to contribute to a free and fair election in Africa's most populous country and refrain from "religious incitement" or ethnic profiling.

Past elections in the country of 190 million people have been marked by deadly violence, though the vote in 2015 was relatively calm. It saw the first defeat of an incumbent and first democratic transfer of power between parties, giving some Nigerians hope that a new era had begun.

"We'll vote according to parties but in the end the only real party is Nigeria, our country," Buhari told a crowd of diplomats, civil society members, observers and others.

Hours later, however, a speaker at the president's final rally in the capital, Abuja, spoke in inflammatory rhetoric, warning that Nigeria had only two choices: the ruling party or "those who want to kill us."

Challenger Atiku at the peace pledge event quoted former President Goodluck Jonathan, saying that "my ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian."

A supporter of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party, attends an election campaign rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, in Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

Mindful of the already tense atmosphere, the chair of the National Peace Committee urged all of the presidential candidates, more than 70 of them, not to "do anything to make a bad situation worse."

With just a few days left before the vote, troubles have multiplied.

Gunmen opened fire Wednesday on a convoy carrying the governor of Borno state, killing at least three people, a passenger in the convoy told AP. Boko Haram, Nigeria's homegrown Islamic extremists, are suspected of the attack in the troubled northeast, near Maiduguri.

A fire burned an electoral office, with more than 4,600 smart card readers meant to be used in the voting "destroyed in the inferno," said Nigeria's electoral commission. It was the third such fire in the past two weeks.

Several people were crushed to death in a stampede on Tuesday during a ruling party rally in Rivers state in the south, widely seen as a potential hotspot of election violence. A video obtained by The Associated Press showed at least seven bodies lying amid abandoned clothes and shoes.

The push for candidates to publicly renew their peace pledge, first made in December, picked up in recent days after the governor of Kaduna state declared on television that anyone who came to Nigeria to intervene in the election "would go back in body bags."

Another spat followed a statement by the U.S. ambassador warning that anyone inciting violence would be held to account. The ruling party objected, saying strong political speech is allowed in the U.S. but the ambassador wanted Nigerians to act "in accordance with their vision of well-behaved Africans."

At stake in the election is a vibrant country of some 190 million people, including more than 84 million registered voters, that is Africa's largest economy and oil producer. And yet the sluggish economy is still recovering from recession and excessive dependence on crude oil exports. High unemployment, corruption and poor infrastructure continue to hamper Nigeria's vast potential.

After Atiku's party accused authorities of hampering their efforts to hold a final campaign rally in the capital, scores of supporters gathered at campaign headquarters on Wednesday for what they called "a national day of prayer" over alleged plans to rig the election in favor of Buhari.

"If God can intervene, the rigging mechanism put in place cannot stand," said Bonaventure Chimee, head of the prayer support group. "The essence is to pray for total victory."

The opposition and some election observers have expressed concern about military deployments in part of southeastern Nigeria where separatists are active.

Ez Onyekpere with the Abuja-based Center for Social Justice told The Associated Press that the deployments are likely to intimidate voters in a region where Buhari is widely unpopular.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, arrives to sign an electoral peace accord with opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, at a conference center in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, left, shakes hands with opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar after signing an electoral peace accord at a conference center in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, and opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, right, stand for a group photo with other candidates after signing an electoral peace accord at a conference center in Abuja, Nigeria Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, center, arrives to sign an electoral peace accord with incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, at a conference center in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, center, arrives to sign an electoral peace accord with opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, at a conference center in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters of Nigerian presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, of the People's Democratic Party, attend an election campaign rally at the Tafawa Balewa Square, in Lagos, Nigeria, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria goes to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)

FILE - In this Monday, July. 24, 2017 file photo, a man reads a story about Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari after the government released a photo of Buhari more than two months after he left for London for medical treatment, in Lagos, Nigeria. In Nigeria and other African countries fighting fake news is vexing and divisive, especially as major elections loom. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

The face of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is seen on a campaign poster fixed to the pillars of a highway bridge near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Street sellers sell their wares by the side of the road next to a campaign poster for opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, at a busy intersection near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The faces of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo are seen on partially-ripped campaign posters fixed to the pillars of a highway bridge near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A street seller gestures to the camera as he sells his wares by the side of the road at a busy intersection near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

The face of incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari is seen on a partially-ripped campaign poster, next to an advertisement seeking workers of the type many of which are scams, fixed to the pillars of a highway bridge near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

A street seller sells his wares by the side of the road next to a campaign poster for opposition presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar, at a busy intersection near Nyanya, on the eastern outskirts of the capital Abuja, Nigeria Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Supporters discuss next to a campaign banner showing incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, left, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at a party campaign office in the capital Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2019. Nigeria is due to hold general elections on Saturday, Feb. 16. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
A development team now working on the site  just to the west of the Central Enoch Pratt Free Library and the National Shrine of the Basilica of the Assumption  wants to put an apartment building in the 400 block of Park Avenue. The developers are proposing to save a group of former Asian restaurants on the block, as well as an old Baltimore Gas and Electric substation that faces the Tyson Street alley.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - At least 25 high school students were injured by an explosion in their classroom in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, police and medics said.

The blast occurred in a 10th grade classroom in a school in the southern Kakapora area, said senior police officer S.P. Pani. He said police are investigating the explosive and how it got into the classroom.

Medics at two hospitals said they treated at least 25 injured students, and that most have since been discharged. They said none had life-threatening injuries.

"We heard a blast and we thought an electrical transformer blew up," school principal Javaid Ahmed told reporters. "Suddenly we saw students crying and calling out for help."

In the past, some civilians, mainly young boys, have died or been injured while playing with explosives found at the sites of gunbattles between rebels and Indian troops in the disputed Himalayan region.

India and Pakistan each claim Kashmir in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting against Indian control since 1989.

A wounded student is brought on a stretcher for treatment at a hospital in Srinagar Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Police and medics say at least 25 high school students have been injured by an explosion in their classroom in Indian-controlled Kashmir. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)

Most Kashmiris support rebel demands that the territory be united, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown.

A wounded Kashmiri student is brought for treatment at a hospital in Srinagar Indian controlled Kashmir, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Police and medics say at least 25 high school students have been injured by an explosion in their classroom in Indian-controlled Kashmir. (AP Photo/ Dar Yasin)
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will arrive in Islamabad later this week on an official visit that is expected to include the signing of agreements for billions of dollars of investment in the South Asian country.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said the prince would meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan during the two-day visit, which begins Saturday. It will be the crown prince's first visit to Pakistan since he was appointed heir to the throne in 2017.

Pakistan voiced support for the prince during the international outcry after the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. The kingdom has long provided aid to Pakistan, and signed an agreement for a $6 billion assistance package after Khan attended an investment conference in October that saw a wave of cancellations linked to the Khashoggi killing.

Pakistan is in the grip of a major debt crisis, and is seeking a multi-billion-dollar bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Khashoggi, who had written critically about the prince, went missing on Oct. 2 after entering the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. After denying any knowledge of his death for weeks, Saudi authorities eventually settled on the explanation that he was killed in an operation aimed at forcibly bringing the writer back to the kingdom. Saudi prosecutors say the plan was masterminded by two former advisers to the crown prince.

The kingdom denies the crown prince knew of the plot. The U.S. Senate, however, passed a unanimous resolution in December saying it believes the crown prince is to blame for the murder.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi briefs journalists about the upcoming visit by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince to Pakistan, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Pakistan said Wednesday that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will arrive in Islamabad later this week on an official visit that is expected to include the signing of agreements for billions of dollars of investment in Pakistan. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

At a news conference Wednesday evening, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said he hoped Saudi Arabia will make "a huge and extraordinary investment in Pakistan as a result of this visit." He said Pakistan's relations with Saudi Arabia have witnessed improvement in recent months.

Khan's adviser for commerce, Abdul Razzak Dawood told reporters he expects a $7 billion Saudi investment in the country in the next two years and that agreements will be signed between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia when the Saudi crown prince visits Pakistan.

Pakistan has close ties to neighboring Iran, Saudi Arabia's main regional rival, and maintains a balancing act between the two.

Qureshi said retired Pakistani Gen. Raheel Sharif, who heads a 39-member Saudi-led military alliance, told him ahead of Prince Mohammad's visit that the coalition was not formed against any particular region or country.

Pakistan declined to join the Saudi-led coalition waging war on Iran-aligned rebels in Yemen.
MADRID (AP) - The Latest on political developments in Spain (all times local):

3:15 p.m.

The Spanish prime minister's office says Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez plans to announce Friday whether he will call an early election after his government lost a key budget vote.

The Moncloa Palace said Sanchez's decision will be announced after a weekly Cabinet meeting.

Two officials in the ruling Socialist party have told The Associated Press the best date for an election at the moment is April 28, less than one month before local, regional and European Parliament elections set for May 26.

The officials weren't authorized to be named in media reports. One of them said that despite losing a budget vote in parliament on Wednesday, the Socialist party and the government were still considering "all options."

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez touches his face, at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Sanchez became prime minister in June 2018 when Catalan separatist parties joined other parties in backing a no-confidence vote against his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy.

-By Aritz Parra

___

2:45 p.m.

Spain's opposition is urging Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election as soon as possible after his government's budget was defeated in a key parliamentary vote.

Pablo Casado, head of the conservative People's Party, said "We want elections now" to "stop separatism and unite Spaniards."

He added that the ruling socialists' defeat on Wednesday was "a de facto confidence vote against Pedro Sanchez."

The People's Party and the center-right Citizens party both held a recent rally in Madrid attended by members of an emerging far-right party, Vox, to call for Sanchez to step down.

Meanwhile, separatist Catalan lawmakers whose votes were key in rejecting the government's budget blamed the political crisis on the Socialists' refusal to negotiate over self-determination in Catalonia.

Sanchez has said that self-determination is a red line for his government because that right is not included in the Spanish constitution.

___

1:50 p.m.

Spain's finance minister says that the country's prime minister will decide if and when to call a general election after parliament defeated the socialist administration's 2019 spending plan.

The 191-158 vote Wednesday in the lower house has exposed the weakness of the center-left minority government of Pedro Sanchez.

Maria Jesus Montero, the cabinet member in charge of the budget proposal, says the government had already said that Sanchez's term would be shortened if the spending plan didn't overcome the lower house's vote.

But she told reporters that the date for a new general election is "a prerogative that falls on the prime minister."

___

11:50 a.m.

Spain's lower house has rejected the ruling Socialist government's 2019 spending proposal, paving the way for the possible calling of early elections by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

Catalan separatist lawmakers joined Spain's center-right and conservative opposition parties in voting against Sanchez's budget plan. The six blanket objections put forward by various parties received the backing of 191 lawmakers in the 350-seat Congress of Deputies.

The Catalan parties had refused to back Sanchez's national spending plan unless the government opened the door to negotiations on the northeastern region's self-determination issue. The government has said the country's Constitution doesn't allow that.

Sanchez became prime minister last year when the Catalans joined the anti-austerity Podemos and other smaller parties in backing a no-confidence vote against his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy.

___

11:30 a.m.

A prosecutor in the Spanish Supreme Court is accusing attorneys for Catalan separatist leaders of trying to turn their trial into an examination of the Spanish state and judiciary.

Opening the second day of proceedings on Wednesday, Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza called "ridiculous" and "unjustified" the arguments made the day before by defense lawyers who said the trial is politically motivated and aims to eliminate dissent in the troubled northeastern region.

"They are trying to sit the state on the defendants' bench," said the prosecutor, adding that the trial's role is "to defend Spanish democracy and the constitutional order."

Twelve Catalan politicians and activists face years behind bars if they are convicted of rebellion or other charges for having pushed ahead with a unilateral independence declaration that opened an unprecedented political crisis in Spain at the end of 2017.

___

10:10 a.m.

Spain's prime minister could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatists reject, as expected, the minority socialist government's 2019 budget in a crucial parliamentary vote.

Barring a last minute deal that touches on the sensitive issue of Catalan self-determination, the separatist lawmakers will join Spain's right-wing opposition in voting against the ruling socialists' spending plan on Wednesday.

Pedro Sanchez became prime minister last year when the Catalans joined the anti-austerity Podemos and other smaller parties in backing a no-confidence vote against his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy.

But Sanchez's socialist party holds only 84 seats in the 350-seat lower house.

Negotiations with the new separatist coalition that took power in the northeastern Catalonia region after the 2017 independence push broke down last week when Sanchez's government refused to accept self-determination talks.

A Spanish National Police van, allegedly carrying Catalonian politicians and activists, arrives at the Spanish Supreme Court in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. A politically charged trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders began Tuesday in Spain's Supreme Court amid protests and the possibility of an early general election being called in the country. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

The Spanish Supreme Court, left, in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. A politically charged trial of a dozen Catalan separatist leaders began Tuesday in Spain's Supreme Court amid protests and the possibility of an early general election being called in the country. (AP Photo/Andrea Comas)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is photographed at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
LONDON (AP) - On the eve of more divisive votes in Parliament over Brexit, the British government on Wednesday downplayed a report that it plans to offer lawmakers a choice between backing Prime Minister Theresa May's unpopular divorce deal and a delay to the U.K.'s exit from the European Union.

An ITV News correspondent, Angus Walker, said he overheard negotiator Olly Robbins in a Brussels bar saying the government would ask Parliament in late March to back her agreement, rejected by lawmakers last month, or seek an extension to the Brexit deadline.

May told lawmakers that Parliament had approved a two-year countdown to Brexit, and "that ends on the 29th of March. We want to leave with a deal, and that's what we're working for."

She told parliamentarians not to set much store in "what someone said to someone else as overheard by someone else in a bar."

Lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected May's Brexit deal with the EU last month, and she is now trying to secure changes before bringing it back for another vote.

The EU insists it won't renegotiate the legally binding withdrawal agreement, though it is still holding talks with Britain about potential tweaks to a non-binding political declaration that accompanies it.

In this image made from video, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. (House of Commons/PA via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that the EU wanted to "do everything for a deal, but it certainly it has to be a fair deal ... and there we unfortunately still have a bit of work ahead of us."

If a deal is not approved by the British and European parliaments before March 29, the U.K. faces a messy sudden Brexit that could cause severe economic disruption.

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said the government wants to secure a deal, but is also preparing for a "no-deal" Brexit.

Opposition politicians have accused May of trying to fritter away time as the clock ticks down, in order to leave lawmakers with a last-minute choice between her deal and no deal.

Britain's Parliament on Thursday will hold the latest in a series of debates and votes, in which pro-EU lawmakers will try to change the government's course, ruling out a "no-deal" Brexit and aiming for close post-Brexit ties with the EU.

The votes are not legally binding, and a House of Commons split between Brexit-backers and EU supporters has so far sent contradictory messages. In previous votes on Jan. 29, lawmakers voted to rule out a "no-deal" exit - without signaling how that should happen - and also told May to seek changes to her Brexit agreement from the EU.

On Tuesday, May urged lawmakers to give her more time, promising Parliament yet another series of votes on the next steps in the Brexit process on Feb. 27 if she has not secured changes to the Brexit deal by then.

"What the prime minister is up to is obvious," Labour Party Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said Wednesday. She's coming to Parliament every other week, pretending there's progress and trying to buy another two weeks, edging her way toward March 21, when the next EU summit is, to try to put her deal up against no-deal in those final few weeks.

"Parliament needs to say 'That's not on.'"

___

David Rising in Berlin contributed to this story.

___

Follow AP's full coverage of Brexit at: https://www.apnews.com/Brexit

Anti-Brexit protestors wave flags outside Britain's parliament in London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. British Prime Minister Theresa May urged lawmakers this week to give her more time to rework the Brexit agreement with the EU, with time ticking down to the March 29 deadline for a Brexit split from Europe. (Kirsty O'Connor/PA via AP)

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street in London, to attend Prime Minister's Questions at the Houses of Parliament, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

In this image made from video, Britain's opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, Wednesday Feb. 13, 2019. (House of Commons/PA via AP)
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's Parliament began deliberations Wednesday over constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034 - 12 more years after his current, second term expires in 2022.

The development comes amid concerns that Egypt is slipping back into authoritarianism, eight years after a pro-democracy uprising ended autocratic President Hosni Mubarak's nearly three-decade rule. The amendments also boost the power of the military, already the dominant force in Egyptian politics.

Lawmakers are expected to vote on Thursday, after which the text of the amendments would be finalized by a special legislative committee and sent back to the assembly for a final decision within two months.

The 596-seat assembly, which is packed with el-Sissi's supporters, already gave its preliminary approval to the changes last week. The amendments are almost certain to be overwhelmingly approved by the legislature, but will also need to be put to a national referendum to become law.

The referendum is likely to take place before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to start in early May this year.

Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Al opened Wednesday's session, telling lawmakers in the packed chamber that there will be a "national dialogue" and that "all opinions and trends will be included in the discussions."

Egypt's Parliament meets to deliberate over constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034, in Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. Wednesday's session will lead to a vote later in the evening or on Thursday, after which the text of the amendments would be finalized by a special committee for a final decision within two months. El-Sissi's current second term expires in 2022. (AP Photo)

Wednesday's parliament session was not broadcast on TV although by evening several videos emerged on social media showing lawmakers speaking for or against the amendments.

Human Rights Watch said the amendments would undermine judicial independence and expand executive powers that are already being abused in Egypt.

"These amendments reinforce efforts of President el-Sissi's military-backed government to stifle people's ability to challenge those in power," said Michael Page of the New York-based group. "If the amendments are passed, there is a clear risk that they will formally give the armed forces unchecked authority."

The vote had initially been scheduled for next week, but was moved up. A coalition of nearly a dozen opposition parties has come out against the amendments, but on their own they will not be able to block them.

El-Sissi, who previously held the office of military chief, led the military's 2013 overthrow of the freely elected but divisive Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, after protests against his rule. El-Sissi was elected president the following year and has since presided over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent. He was re-elected last year after all potentially serious challengers were jailed or pressured to exit the race.

Along with extending a president's term in office from four to six years, the amendments include a special article that applies only to el-Sissi and allows him to run for two more six-year terms after his current term expires in 2022.

The amendments also envisage the office of one or two vice presidents, a revived Senate, and a 25 percent quota for women in parliament. They call for "adequate" representation for workers, farmers, young people and people with special needs in the legislature.

The president would have the power to appoint top judges and bypass judiciary oversight in vetting draft legislation before it is voted into law. The amendments declare the country's military "guardian and protector" of the Egyptian state, democracy and the constitution, while also granting military courts wider jurisdiction in trying civilians.

In the last three years, over 15,000 civilians, including children, have been referred to military prosecution in Egypt, according to Human Rights Watch.

Members of Egypt's Parliament meet to deliberate constitutional amendments that could allow President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034, in Cairo Egypt, Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019. Wednesday's session will lead to a vote later in the evening or on Thursday, after which the text of the amendments would be finalized by a special committee for a final decision within two months. El-Sissi's current second term expires in 2022. (AP Photo)

FILE - In this June 2, 2018 file photo provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi addresses the chamber after he was sworn in for a second four-year term in Cairo, Egypt. On Wednesday, Feb 13, 2019, Egypt's Parliament began deliberations over constitutional amendments that could allow el-Sissi to stay in office till 2034 - 12 more years after his current, second term expires in 2022. (Egyptian Presidency Media office via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez is declaring a major victory ahead of the 2020 presidential election, with the help of one of his most well-known predecessors.

Howard Dean, the one-time presidential candidate, former Vermont governor and ex-DNC chairman, is set to head a new data exchange operation that Democrats hope puts them back on par with Republicans in the never-ending race to use voter data to drive Americans to the polls.

State party leaders on Wednesday approved the arrangement hammered out by DNC officials, state party leaders and Democratic consultants. The vote ends more than 18 months of internal party wrangling that has dogged Perez amid fights over money and control.

"This is game-changing for how we do business for years to come across the Democratic Party ecosystem," Perez told The Associated Press.

Dean called it "a big breakthrough" that will match what Republicans have established. "I'd sort of given up that we could get it done," Dean said.

The arrangement would allow the national party, state parties and independent political action groups on the left to share voter data in real time during campaigns. That means, for example, that a field worker for a congressional campaign in Iowa and another for an independent political action committee knocking on doors in Florida could update a master voter file essentially as they work. When a presidential campaign spends big money on consumer data to update voter profiles, the new information would go into the central file as well. And all participating organizations would have access to the latest information.

FILE - In this July 29, 2016, file photo, Howard Dean participates in "The Contenders: 16 for 16" panel during the PBS Television Critics Association summer press tour in Beverly Hills, Calif. Dean is back. The one-time presidential candidate and former Democratic National Committee chairman is set to return to party prominence the head of a new data operation that Democrats hope puts them back on par with Republicans in the never-ending race to maximize the use of voter data to coax Americans to the polls. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

Parties, campaigns and PACs use that kind of voter data to decide which voters to call and who to visit in person or to determine which voters receive targeted digital ads on platforms such as Facebook and YouTube, among other things.

Currently, political action groups on the left must gather, update and use data independently from the party.

Guy Cecil, who runs the leading Democratic super PAC Priorities USA, confirmed his group plans to join the exchange. Perez said he envisions adding organized labor groups and Planned Parenthood, along with PACs tied to Democratic congressional leaders.

Perez made a Democratic data exchange a top priority after Republicans used their own version to help Donald Trump win the White House in 2016.

"We were fighting elections with one hand tied behind our back," Perez said. But the chairman ran into resistance from state parties that have long controlled their own voter files and used them as a revenue source by selling them to candidates.

Party officials say the new model still allows state parties to withhold certain data from the central exchange if they choose and to sell their files to campaigns. And Democrats at party headquarters and in the states say Dean's participation helped allay concerns.

Dean, who ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 before becoming chairman, has established relationships with national party heavyweights, including Perez. He enjoyed special prominence among state parties because of his "50-state strategy" while leading Democrats during President George W. Bush's second term.

"He's really a unique person in the DNC," said Mary Beth Cahill, a top Perez lieutenant who led the negotiations and who managed John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign that defeated Dean. "He seems like one of the best signals we could send" to get everyone on board.

Perez called Dean a "known commodity," but he also singled out Cahill for praise, saying she pulled party factions together to cement a deal.

The new exchange will operate as an independent for-profit enterprise led initially by Democratic strategist Jen O'Malley Dillon, once a top adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

Martin and Perez would chair a party committee that would license the party's voter files to O'Malley Dillon's group, which would establish its own agreements with PACs and other groups. Dean would chair the governing board of the new outfit, and once assembled, that board will hire staff to run the operation.

Republicans' data trust was a key achievement of then-GOP Chairman Reince Priebus, who wanted an answer to President Barack Obama's use of data in his two national victories.

The Republican National Committee's work caught Democrats off guard in 2016 amid widespread scoffing at Trump's open mockery of using data to target voters. But Democrats ignored that Republican machinery had been building GOP voter files for years with help of other organizations on the right and that Democrats' 2008 and 2012 successes had been Obama's, not the party's.

The GOP's independent group and the Democrats' planned exchange are necessary to comply with Federal Election Commission rules that bar coordination among independent groups, campaigns and certain party organizations.

The FEC didn't waive that ban but blessed the GOP model, arguing that the exchanges simply allow various organizations to share data without knowing which organizations have gathered which piece of information. Certain organizations are still banned from coordinating how they use that data. So a super PAC can't confer with a presidential campaign on which advertising they are running in which swing state, but the groups can make separate decisions with the same dataset.

"This is the single best thing we can do for the nominee" in 2020, Cahill said.

___

Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP
MADRID (AP) - Catalan separatist and right-wing lawmakers in the Spanish parliament's lower house rejected Wednesday the ruling Socialist government's 2019 budget plan, likely paving the way for Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call an early election.

The 191-158 vote, with one abstention, opened a new crisis in Spanish politics. Members of Sanchez's Cabinet had signaled that a defeat in the budget vote would lead to a fresh general election.

The only other time a Spanish government lost a budget vote, in 1995, the Socialists were forced to dissolve the parliament and call an election.

The prime minister's office said Sanchez plans to announce his decision after the weekly Cabinet meeting Friday.

Opposition leader Pablo Casado, head of the conservative People's Party, said Wednesday's vote was "a de facto confidence vote against Pedro Sanchez."

Catalan deputies from pro-independence parties had demanded to open talks on the northeastern region's self-determination in exchange for supporting Sanchez's spending proposal, but the center-left minority government rejected the demand.

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

The socialist party holds only 84 seats in the 350-seat lower house. Its votes and those of the anti-austerity Podemos party weren't enough to counter a majority of center-right, conservative and smaller parties voting in favor of six blanket objections.

Sanchez became prime minister in June when the Catalans joined the anti-austerity Podemos and other smaller parties in backing a no-confidence vote against his conservative predecessor, Mariano Rajoy.

Without parliamentary support, Sanchez's government can't pass significant legislation and would need to prolong Rajoy's 2018 spending plan. That leaves the center-left administration without funds for social policies that are key to retaining Podemos' support.

Sanchez rushed out of the lower house's chamber shortly after the vote, dodging questions by reporters.

His finance minister, Maria Jesus Montero, said it made sense for Sanchez's term in office, which normally would end next year, to shortened with the budget rejection - but that it was up to the prime minister himself to decide if and when to call an election early.

"We want elections now," Albert Rivera, leader of the center-right Citizens party, said after the vote.

Talks between Sanchez's government and a new separatist coalition that took power in Catalonia after 2017's failed independence push broke down last week when the government refused to accept self-determination talks.

"Sooner or later we will have to negotiate a solution, a democratic solution," said Joan Tarda, a prominent Catalan pro-independence lawmaker.

The People's Party and Citizens party, along with members of the emerging far-right party Vox, have urged Sanchez to step down for relying on support from separatist Catalan lawmakers to remain in government.

The trial of a dozen politicians and activists who drove a breakaway attempt in Catalonia in the fall of 2017 opened Tuesday. Their prosecution has angered many supporters of the region's independence from Spain.

On the second day of the politically charged trial, a Supreme Court prosecutor criticized what he said were defense lawyers' attempts to turn the proceedings into an examination of the Spanish state and judiciary.

Prosecutor Javier Zaragoza called the arguments made a day earlier "ridiculous" and "unjustified." Defense lawyers said Tuesday the case was politically motivated and an attempt to eliminate dissent in Catalonia.

The 12 Catalan politicians and activists face years behind bars if they are convicted of rebellion or other charges for having pushed ahead with a unilateral independence declaration that opened an unprecedented political crisis in Spain.

__

AP's coverage of tensions between Spain and its northeastern Catalonia region here: https://apnews.com/Catalonia

Follow Aritz Parra on Twitter: @aritzparra

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is photographed at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez arrives at the Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attends Spanish parliament in Madrid, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. Spain's minority socialist government could be forced to call an early general election if Catalan separatist parties carry out their threat to reject the 2019 national budget in a crucial parliamentary vote Wednesday. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - In Nigeria fake news can be so outlandish, yet widely believed, that the president recently felt compelled to declare that he had not died and been replaced by a Sudanese body double.

"It's (the) real me, I assure you," President Muhammadu Buhari said late last year, to dispel the story that was viewed more than 500,000 times on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Nigeria's fake news can also be lethal.

The stakes are high in Nigeria ahead of Saturday's presidential vote marked by widespread discontent over unemployment, poverty and insecurity in some parts of the country. Officials warn that fake or outdated pictures depicting communal violence trigger retaliatory killings.

Many were killed in reprisal killings sparked by horrific, but false, photos purporting to depict deaths in the conflict between herdsmen and farmers in central Nigeria last year, said Tolu Ogunlesi, a media assistant to Nigeria's president.

"Fake news kills people. We have seen a lot of things like that," he said. "Some of the deadly clashes in Nigeria were sparked off by fake news." He suggested that "the naming and shaming of members that peddle fake news" could stem the problem.

FILE - In this Monday, July. 24, 2017 file photo, a man reads a story about Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari after the government released a photo of Buhari more than two months after he left for London for medical treatment, in Lagos, Nigeria. In Nigeria and other African countries fighting fake news is vexing and divisive, especially as major elections loom. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba, File)

Africa's most populous country is so awash in falsehoods posted on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube that 16 media outlets have been collaborating on a fact-checking initiative, CrossCheck Nigeria, to research suspect election claims circulating online.

Some of the stories CrossCheck Nigeria recently discredited include allegations the first lady wants Nigerians to vote against her husband, as well as a suggestion that U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar. Such allegations almost always appear on social media and sometimes are published by news websites.

The project is similar to Africa Check, which calls itself the continent's first fact-checking organization and has operated since 2012.

In the United States the term 'fake news' became frequently used after the 2016 election, which was marked by a Russian misinformation campaign. But in Africa fake news has long been a contentious matter, fueled in part by illiteracy and government secrecy even as the continent's 1.2 billion people rapidly acquire mobile handsets and gain internet access. The issue is now urgent: more than 24 percent of people on the continent were online last year, the strongest growth in the world, according to the U.N. agency International Telecommunication Union.

Some African governments want to make publishing fake news a crime, a step too far for journalists in countries where the press already is censored and reporters can be jailed for critical stories.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta last year signed a cybercrimes bill that calls for fines and prison sentences for people convicted of spreading fake news. The law followed a disputed 2017 presidential election marred by online misinformation campaigns that raised political tensions in a country known for deadly post-vote violence along ethnic lines.

In Uganda, where there has been a surge in false news seen as portraying the government negatively, authorities warn that perpetrators face charges under a 2011 law prescribing criminal penalties for the misuse of a computer.

But activists warn that countering misinformation with legislation could be used to censor the press. The Committee to Protect Journalists opposed Kenya's law over concerns it would stifle press freedom. In Uganda there also has been resistance from the courts.

A Ugandan opposition activist was jailed last year on charges that he falsely accused the government of trying to kill pop star and politician Bobi Wine. A magistrate ordered the activist, Moses Bigirwa, freed in January, ruling that publishing fake news was not a crime.

Some governments in Africa have been accused of spreading misinformation themselves or maligning reports that were true. Authorities in Nigeria frequently challenge the veracity of reports of alleged abuses by military officers during campaigns against militants. They also have fiercely disagreed when human rights watchdogs, citing witnesses on the ground, report higher death tolls than the government's official ones.

Reports by Amnesty International's Nigeria office on the conduct of Nigerian troops fighting Islamic extremist group Boko Haram have created conflicts with the military, which has accused the local branch of the human rights group of publishing false accounts.

"Fake news has become like a cliche and ticket for demonizing the journalist, the media and the NGOs," Amnesty International Nigeria spokesman Isa Sanusi said, noting that false news spreads quickly in Nigeria because public officials often are not open with government information.

"The only thing that is fueling it is the fact that information is not available," he said. "The solution to stopping fake news in Nigeria is transparency, particularly from the side of the authorities."

False reports spread on social media so fast and frequently that some people who are the subjects of it simply have to laugh.

Nigerian writer and Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka said during a BBC-hosted conference on the spread of false news in Nigeria that he enjoyed reading the regular obituaries of his death.

Underscoring the severity of the problem, however, Soyinka warned that "if we are not careful, World War III will be started by fake news, and that fake news will probably be generated by a Nigerian."

___

Olukoya reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

___

Follow Africa news at https://twitter.com/AP_Africa

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2017 Tweet from the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi calls out a alleged embassy document as being fake. In Nigeria and other African countries fighting fake news is vexing and divisive, especially as major elections loom. (U.S. Embassy Nairobi/Twitter via AP, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2018 file photo, Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari waves to the crowd during the 58th anniversary celebrations of Nigerian independence, in Abuja, Nigeria. In Nigeria fake news can be so outlandish, yet widely believed, that the president recently felt compelled to declare that he had not died and been replaced by a Sudanese body double. (AP Photo/Olamikan Gbemiga, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 2017 file photo, Kenyans read the newspaper and talk in front of a pub that has been tagged with graffiti calling for peace in the Kibera area of Nairobi, Kenya. In Nigeria and other African countries fighting fake news is vexing and divisive, especially as major elections loom. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)
BOSTON (AP) - A federal judge will now decide whether Harvard University intentionally discriminates against Asian-American applicants, an allegation made in a 2014 lawsuit that was debated in a final round of arguments Wednesday.

Lawyers for both sides clashed at Boston's federal courthouse, largely recapping cases they made during a trial that ended in November. The case will be decided by U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs, although any ruling is expected to be appealed.

The case carries implications for other U.S. schools that consider race in admissions decisions as a way to bring a diverse mix of students to campus. It has added fuel to a national debate about whether and how race should influence admissions.

The lawsuit argues that Harvard's admissions office holds Asian-Americans to a higher standard and uses a subjective "personal rating" to limit their admission to the elite Ivy League school.

Students for Fair Admissions, the group behind the lawsuit, says students of Asian descent have the strongest academic records yet receive the lowest scores on the personal rating, which scores applicants on traits including "courage" and "likability."

Harvard says it uses race only as one of many factors to choose from more than 40,000 applicants a year. It says race can only help, never hurt, an applicant's chances of getting in.

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2018 file photo, the John Harvard statue looks over Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. A final round of arguments is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in federal court in Boston in a trial alleging racial bias in the university's admissions system. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

On Wednesday, lawyers for Students for Fair Admissions argued that Harvard's admissions officers aren't "evil" and may simply have "fallen prey to racial stereotyping," but the group said their treatment of Asian-Americans still amounts to intentional discrimination.

Adam Mortara, a lawyer representing the group, said Harvard's own admissions records show that students of Asian descent are treated differently from how students of other races are, yet the school has failed to provide any explanation.

"Harvard has yet to come up with any race-neutral explanation for the Asian penalty in the personal rating," he said. "No Harvard admission officer was willing to come here and testify as to why this is happening."

Harvard's lawyers countered that the group failed to provide any direct evidence of discrimination. They noted that no students came forward during the trial to say they were wrongly rejected from the school.

"It's not just that SFFA has failed to provide a smoking gun, they failed to find evidence of a single victim of discrimination," said Seth Waxman, a lawyer for Harvard.

Students for Fair Admissions has previously said its 20,000 members include some Asian-Americans who were unfairly denied admission from Harvard, but none were called to testify at trial.

The Virginia-based group is led by Edward Blum, a legal strategist who unsuccessfully fought against the use of race in admissions at the University of Texas, and who is now leading a similar lawsuit against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

In deciding the case, Burroughs will have to weigh complex and competing statistical evidence presented by both sides.

Students for Fair Admissions built its case around a Duke University professor's analysis of Harvard admissions records. It concluded that the university's personal rating works against Asian-Americans while favoring black and Hispanic students.

Harvard provided a dueling analysis from a University of California, Berkeley economist who studied the same admissions records but found no evidence of discrimination.

Burroughs, the judge, is not expected to make a decision immediately. Speaking to one of Harvard's lawyers during the hearing Wednesday, she suggested that both sides have weaknesses in their arguments.

"They have a no-victim problem," Burroughs said, referring to Students for Fair Admissions, "but you have a personal rating problem."

___

Follow Collin Binkley on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cbinkley
WASHINGTON (AP) - Democratic lawmakers challenged top executives of T-Mobile and Sprint on Wednesday over their pledge not to raise prices for wireless services or hurt competition if their $26.5 billion merger goes through.

At a hearing by a House committee, the two executives defended the deal, which would combine the nation's third- and fourth-largest wireless companies and create a behemoth about the size of industry giants Verizon and AT&T.

Committee members from both parties fretted about the potential impact of a T-Mobile-Sprint merger on rural customers and carriers in rural areas that strike deals with major wireless companies. Many of the lawmakers on the Energy and Commerce subcommittee represent rural areas and small towns, and they voiced concern over jobs that could be lost in the merger in the companies' call centers and other facilities.

T-Mobile has committed to federal regulators, who must approve the deal, not to raise prices for three years following the merger.

But Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of the full Energy and Commerce Committee, said he isn't sure that Trump administration regulators would be willing to hold T-Mobile to that promise.

"How can we be sure that consumers who can least afford to pay more are not harmed by the merger?" Pallone asked.

Sprint Corporation Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure, left, speaks with T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere during the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Congress doesn't have authority to rule on the merger, but lawmakers can ask pointed questions and raise concerns to regulators who are reviewing it. Now that Democrats control the House of Representatives and the Energy and Commerce Committee, they have convened the panel's first merger-review hearing in eight years.

T-Mobile US CEO John Legere and Marcelo Claure, Sprint Corp.'s executive chairman, defended the merger and said American consumers would get more and pay less. Legere said T-Mobile's analysis shows that consumers would save $7 billion to $13 billion a year by 2024.

"We can take competition to new levels," he testified. "We will offer a much faster, broader and deeper network, and new services at lower prices. This will force our rivals - AT&T, Verizon and the cable monopolies - to improve their services, increase their own capacity and lower prices even further."

"Rural America will disproportionately benefit," Legere assured the lawmakers.

Complicating the executives' argument is the fact that urban consumers are paying 22 percent less for cellphone service following AT&T's failed bid to acquire T-Mobile in 2011, a combination rejected by federal regulators as anticompetitive. That data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics price index for wireless telephone service.

T-Mobile subsequently launched aggressive promotions and made consumer-friendly changes such as ditching two-year contracts and bringing back unlimited data plans, moves that its rivals soon copied. Merger opponents claim those benefits will disappear if T-Mobile and Sprint no longer competed against each other.

Unions worry about job losses.

"Let's tell it like it us. This merger would kill American jobs," insisted Chris Shelton, president of the labor union Communications Workers of America, who also testified to the panel.

The CWA's analysis found that job cuts could number up to 30,000 mostly because T-Mobile would close thousands of overlapping stores.

Legere said the merger would deliver some 5,600 new jobs by 2021. They would include positions in five new "customer experience centers" around the country.

At least one Democrat, Rep. Anna Eshoo, a Democrat from California whose district includes Silicon Valley, said she supports the merger.

The deal faces reviews by the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission. U.S. wireless carriers had been unable to get a merger deal through under President Barack Obama. But after President Donald Trump's election, a more business-friendly FCC deemed the wireless market "competitive" for the first time since 2009, a move that some experts believe could make it easier to win approval for a merger.

The companies also say the combination would allow them to better compete - not only with Verizon and AT&T, but also with Comcast and others as the wireless, broadband and video industries converge.

The combined company, to be called T-Mobile, would have some 127 million customers. Among wireless carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile have the largest numbers of low-income customers, who are frequent users of prepaid phone plans - another area of concern expressed by lawmakers.

Some analysts see T-Mobile's offer to keep a lid on prices as a signal that the deal isn't likely to be approved. Analysts at New Street Research say the Justice Department may not be buying T-Mobile's argument that combining with Sprint will bring lower consumer prices. Moreover, the head of Justice's antitrust division doesn't like merger conditions requiring regulators to keep an eye on the combined company's behavior for years after.

T-Mobile and Sprint also say the deal would help accelerate their development of faster 5G wireless networks and ensure that the U.S. doesn't cede leadership on the technology to China.

T-Mobile's German parent Deutsche Telekom would own about 42 percent of the new company, while Japan's SoftBank, which controls Sprint, would own 27 percent.

___

Arbel reported from New York.

FILE - This April 30, 2018, file photo shows signage for a Sprint store in New York's Herald Square. The top executives of T-Mobile and Sprint are making the case to Congress that their proposed $26.5 billion merger wouldn't hurt competition and jack up the prices consumers pay for wireless service. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

FILE - This April 30, 2018, file photo shows signage a T-Mobile store in New York. The top executives of T-Mobile and Sprint are making the case to Congress that their proposed $26.5 billion merger wouldn't hurt competition and jack up the prices consumers pay for wireless service. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Communications Workers of America President Chris Shelton testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Information Technology and Innovation Foundation Director of Broadband and Spectrum Policy Doug Brake testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere accompanied by Sprint Corporation Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure, left, testifies during the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on at Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Sprint Corporation Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Sprint Corporation Executive Chairman Marcelo Claure testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

T-Mobile US CEO and President John Legere testifies before the House Commerce subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Ryan Schroeder was visiting Baltimore for a business conference when he fell into the frigid waters near the Barnes & Noble. Two passersby called 911 in the early morning hours of Feb. 1, but Schroeder struggled in the water for roughly 40 minutes before rescue workers pulled him out. He was pronounced dead at Maryland Shock Trauma that morning.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - The Mideast conference in Poland that started Wednesday offers Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes - his country's improved relations with some Gulf Arab nations.

Several Gulf dignitaries are expected to attend in a potential show of force against uninvited Iran. But the Palestinians are urging a boycott of the conference, and it remains to be seen whether Arab officials will make any public overtures to Netanyahu without a major concession to the Palestinian cause, which still animates the Arab public.

The United States and Poland are sponsoring the conference in Warsaw, which they say is aimed at promoting peace and security in Mideast but appears to be mainly focused on isolating Iran.

Iran has denounced the gathering as an American anti-Iran "circus." Russia has said it will not attend, and the European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, is also skipping the event.

For the Trump administration, it is a high-profile occasion to gather all its Middle East allies. For Poland, it offers a chance to strengthen ties with Washington as it seeks greater protection from Russia.

But the real winner could be Netanyahu, who has repeatedly stated that Israel has clandestinely developed good relations with several Arab states, despite a lack of official ties. Bringing such contacts out into the open would mark a major diplomatic coup, put a seal of approval on his goal of improving Israel's standing in the world and provide a powerful photo-op for his re-election campaign ahead of the April vote in Israel.

FILE - In this Feb. 21, 2018 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in Jerusalem. A Mideast conference, which begins Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, in Poland offers Netanyahu an opportunity to flaunt in public what he has long boasted about happening behind the scenes -- his country's improved relations with Arab countries. Several Gulf dignitaries are expected to attend in a potential show of force against uninvited Iran. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)

Netanyahu's office released a video Wednesday showing him meeting Oman's foreign minister, Yusuf bin Alawi. Netanyahu, who visited Oman last October, called the invitation to the Gulf state "courageous" and said "many" countries are following Oman's lead, hinting that additional meetings would take place during the conference.

Bin Alawi said people in the Middle East have "suffered a lot" because they stick to the past and said Wednesday's meeting reflected a "new era."

Before departing for Poland, Netanyahu told reporters on Tuesday the focus of the conference will be Iran, an issue he said "unites Israel, the United States, many countries in the world."

Danny Danon, Israel's U.N. ambassador, said his private contacts with Arab officials are far warmer than what is said in public.

"As of now, they are already cooperating with us," he told reporters in Jerusalem recently. "We ask them to recognize us and not to be ashamed for using our technology or our defense systems."

Israel has signed peace accords with Egypt and Jordan, but other Arab nations have refused to publicly improve relations without significant progress being made toward ending Israel's half-century occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state.

But as shared concerns about Iran have overshadowed the Palestinian issue in recent years, ties that have long lingered in the shadows have begun to emerge.

Days after Netanyahu's visit to Oman, two of his Cabinet ministers headed to the United Arab Emirates last fall for a security conference and to cheer on an Israeli delegation at a judo tournament - where the Israeli anthem was played after an Israeli competitor won gold.

Saudi Arabia, long rumored to have backdoor ties to Israel, lifted a decades-long ban on the use of its airspace for flights to Israel last spring. The leaders of the small Gulf nation of Bahrain have also expressed willingness to normalize relations.

Gulf Arab states have given less voice to their traditional antipathy toward Israel as they have grown increasingly fearful of Iran over its involvement in various regional conflicts and its support for various armed groups. Getting closer to Israel also helps them to curry favor in Washington.

But with Arab public opinion still strongly against normalization with Israel, this week's conference is unlikely to produce warm engagement right away, said Yoel Guzansky, a senior researcher at Israel's Institute for National Security Studies.

"Covert meetings already exist, and the 'under-the-table' relations are the world's worst kept secret, so I don't see what the Arabs would gain from shaking hands," he said. "The point is to see everyone in the same room as a united front against Iran. But the Arab street is still nowhere near where the elites are regarding Israel, and too strong an embrace could draw fire."

The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE are scheduled to attend and meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It is unclear what their level of engagement will be with the Israeli delegation.

Netanyahu recently visited the Muslim-majority African nation of Chad to officially restore relations after 50 years and promised there would be more such visits and announcements soon.

President Donald Trump's senior Mideast adviser, son-in-law Jared Kushner, has been working on an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan for close to two years, but has not yet released details. U.S. officials say Kushner is expected to make some comments in Warsaw about the conflict, but Netanyahu said he doesn't expect any discussion of the peace plan.

The Palestinians have pre-emptively rejected the plan, accusing the Trump White House of being unfairly biased toward Israel. They've also asked Arab countries to boycott or downgrade their representation at the conference in Poland.

"We view the Warsaw conference as a plot against the Palestinian cause," Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki said this week.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met with Saudi King Salman on Tuesday, who expressed his "permanent stand" in favor of a Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, according to the official Saudi news agency.

Further tempering expectations, an Israeli TV channel obtained what it said was a secret Foreign Ministry report concluding it was very unlikely Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel without a major concession to the Palestinians. The report, aired on Israel's Channel 13 news, quotes a senior official as saying the narrow window for a breakthrough with the Saudis had closed.

___

Follow Heller at www.twitter.com/aronhellerap
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - A former West Virginia Supreme Court justice who had a $32,000 blue suede couch in his office and was at the center of an impeachment and corruption scandal was sentenced to two years in federal prison Wednesday.

"I have not seen evidence of remorse," U.S. District Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. told former justice Allen Loughry in sentencing him for using his job for his own benefit and lying to investigators.

Loughry also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and more than $2,200 in restitution and court costs.

His lawyer, John Carr, asked the court for probation and said Loughry has agreed to surrender his law license and not seek public office again.

Copenhaver said he wanted a sentence length "that promotes respect for the law. The public needs protection from further criminal conduct on your part."

Loughry, who wrote a 2006 book while he was a Supreme Court law clerk about the history of political corruption in the state, was removed as chief justice last February. He was then suspended from the bench in June and resigned in November.

Former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry, right, emerges with his lawyer John Carr from the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse after his sentencing, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 in Charleston, W.Va. Loughry, a former West Virginia Supreme Court justice who had a $32,000 blue suede couch in his office and was at the center of an impeachment scandal has been sentenced to two years behind bars. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)

State lawmakers and others have said public trust in the state's court system was broken by the actions of Loughry and others, and Copenhaver said he recognized "the strong public concern in this matter."

U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart called the sentence fair.

"It's a day where we begin to retrieve that confidence in the Supreme Court," Stuart said. We've been working toward that end. I look at this as a decision of renewal for the people of West Virginia."

Carr and Loughry declined comment on the sentence.

In court, Loughry said, "I am fully aware of the seriousness of this matter" and "I do not wish to minimize or trivialize any of this. This situation has changed my life forever."

Loughry was told to report to prison April 5. He was found guilty of 11 of the 22 charges at his October trial. Most of the charges involved mail and wire fraud involving his personal use of state cars and fuel cards. Copenhaver last month threw out a witness tampering conviction.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Wright said Loughry lied on seven occasions during the trial.

Loughry denied he benefited personally from trips he took when he became a justice in 2013. He said he used state-owned vehicles made available to the justices for what he said was a variety of reasons, including public outreach.

But Wright said records showed Loughry took a government car to a wedding, four signings for his book, and "loads it up with Christmas presents" to visit relatives. A neighbor testified she saw Loughry pack presents in a car with a state government license plate around the holidays.

Loughry also was convicted of lying to federal investigators by saying he was unaware about the historical significance and value of a $42,000 state-owned desk that he had transferred to his home. He returned the desk and a green leather couch owned by the state after media reports appeared about those items.

Loughry repeatedly denied involvement in renovations to his office, which cost $353,000 and included the blue suede couch and a $7,500 wood-inlay floor map of West Virginia. He blamed the spending on former court administrator Steve Canterbury, whom he fired in January 2017.

But a state Judicial Investigation Commission complaint said Supreme Court records show Loughry had a significant role in the renovations.

Loughry and justices Margaret Workman, Robin Davis and Beth Walker were impeached in August over questions involving the lavish office renovations that evolved into accusations of corruption, incompetence and neglect of duty. Some of the justices were accused of abusing their authority by failing to rein in excessive spending.

A week later a temporary panel of justices ruled the impeachment efforts violated the separation-of-powers doctrine and that the Legislature lacked jurisdiction to pursue the trials. The process was officially derailed when the presiding judge didn't show up to Workman's Senate trial because of the decision.

Copenhaver said that while Loughry alone was not responsible for the Supreme Court's scandal, his "conduct has contributed mightily to it."

Davis and Justice Menis Ketchum retired last summer. Ketchum pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony fraud count related to his personal use of a state vehicle and gas fuel card. He faces sentencing later this month.

Judicial elections in West Virginia became nonpartisan in 2016, but the court's impeachment scandal stirred political attacks. Some Democrats argued the court's shake-up was a power grab by Republicans.

Two Republican former lawmakers were appointed in the place of Ketchum and Davis and later won election to complete their terms. Republican Gov. Jim Justice appointed a lifelong friend to replace Loughry until a 2020 special election.

Former West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Allen Loughry, right, emerges with his lawyer John Carr from the Robert C. Byrd United States Courthouse after his sentencing, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019 in Charleston, W.Va. Loughry, a former West Virginia Supreme Court justice who had a $32,000 blue suede couch in his office and was at the center of an impeachment scandal has been sentenced to two years behind bars. (Craig Hudson/Charleston Gazette-Mail via AP)
PARKLAND, Fla. (AP) - Last February, Matt Deitsch was living his dream studying at a California university. His brother, Ryan, was about to graduate from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and head to college, the natural next step for the middle child of a family in an affluent suburb. Sister Sam was halfway through her freshman year at the Parkland school.

Since the shooting, the brothers have put college on hold and moved into the national spotlight as they helped organize March for Our Lives, sparking a national conversation about gun control. The three siblings have crisscrossed the country speaking about assault rifles bans and universal background checks and visiting college campuses to register young voters.

Matt, now 21, flew to South Africa to accept the International Children's Peace Prize. He and Ryan worked with "Avengers" actor Mark Ruffalo to write a public service announcement encouraging youth to vote.

"I don't think anyone can truly explain the political journey we've been thrust onto. I feel like we have a better understanding of our nation's politics than most of our politicians" Ryan said.

Last Valentine's Day, Stoneman Douglas alumnus Matt was working with a startup T-shirt company that student Joaquin Oliver was going to model for three days later. Instead, Deitsch attended Oliver's funeral that Saturday.

Ryan, a senior at the time, was hiding in a closet in his journalism class and emerged to grab footage for the school newspaper.

In this, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo, Ryan Deitsch, right, speaks as his sister Sam, center, and brother Matt, left, look on during an interview with The Associated Press at their home in Parkland, Fla. The three siblings spent much of the past year spearheading the March for our Lives movement aimed at voter registration and gun control. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Sam, then a freshman, lost a close friend: 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg. She's spent the year in therapy and giving speeches about gun violence. She turns Sweet Sixteen on Thursday, the anniversary of the day her friend and 16 others died.

All three siblings found comfort in advocacy and one another.

Just hours after the shooting, the high school students became impossible to ignore- riding their bikes to TV interviews, trolling politicians on social media and rallying around the cry of "Never Again." Gun-rights advocates also have emerged from Stoneman Douglas students, with Kyle Kashuv the most prominent.

Almost overnight, students like Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg became household names. Behind the scenes, more than a dozen others - among them the three red-headed Deitsch siblings - worked to launch what would become a longer term grassroots campaign.

Matt helped write many of the talking points "so that we could counterpunch what was being used against us which was incredibly more aggressive than we could ever imagine."

In one of the organization's first real stabs at the National Rifle Association and politicians that support it - a live town hall with CNN - Ryan hammered Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, asking "Why do we have to march on Washington just to save innocent lives?"

These days, he helps to run the organization's content committee, making sure the message is on point whether it's a video or merchandising. He has deferred college for now, drawing a meager salary from March for Our Lives, saying he made more money as a waiter and food delivery driver.

Matt, director of strategy, runs the day-to-day operations along with Jaclyn Corin.

"I work 110-plus hours a week. I've been on three national tours, around the country in the last 10 months. I've been to 41 states plus DC. ... This work doesn't stop," he said.

Days after the shooting, Ryan and Sam headed to Tallahassee with busloads of students to push state lawmakers for gun reform. Discouraged that Florida lawmakers voted not to consider a proposed ban on assault rifles, they organized a trip to Washington with a handful of students, including Delaney Tarr and Alex Wind. They met with 200 lawmakers in two days.

The brother said the meetings were disappointing: Lawmakers made excuses, misquoted the constitution and treated them coldly.

"If they had pretended to be competent and that they were fighting for our lives, that they were working to protect us, March for Our Lives would have never existed. We would have hit the brakes," Matt said.

The students had glimpsed the inner workings of the Legislature and decided it wasn't working for them.

"That started the fire in our eyes on a whole other level," Matt said.

The Deitsch siblings express anger as they retell their story during a recent interview in their home. But they also frequently burst into laughter. It's their panacea.

When Sam is overcome by grief and missing her friend, the brothers pull out silly memes from social media to coax a smile. She says they've gotten closer since the shooting. They laugh about counterprotester antics and bond over what being at the epicenter of a movement is like.

"This year has been really, really hard for me and my mental health, and when I think how I have to live for (Jaime) ... ," Sam said, her voice trailing off in tears.

Looking ahead, March for Our Lives is already focusing on the next election. The group has said it is encouraged by impressive youth turnout in midterm elections and the growth of nearly 100 local chapters around the country. This year's goal is to find creative ways to engage with disinterested youth.

"We had hundreds of thousands of students stand up and become politically active for the first time in their lives," Matt said. "And every day there's more of us."

___

Find all The Associated Press' coverage marking one year since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, at https://apnews.com/ParklandFloridaschoolshooting .

In this, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo, Matt Deitsch, center, hugs his sister Sam, left, and mother Elizabeth, as Elizabeth prepares to take Sam to the airport on for a speaking engagement in Washington, from their home in Parkland, Fla. Matt, Sam and their brother Ryan have crisscrossed the country helping to register young voters and advocate for stricter gun laws. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo, Ryan Deitsch, speaks as his sister Sam, center, and brother Matt, left, react during an interview with The Associated Press at their home in Parkland, Fla. The three siblings spent much of the past year spearheading the March for our Lives movement aimed at voter registration and gun control. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo, Ryan Deitsch, right, chats with his brother Matt at their home in Parkland, Fla. Matt, a 21-year-old Marjory Stoneman Douglas alum, Ryan, a senior at the school at the time of the shooting and their sister Sam, who was a freshman, crisscrossed the country helping to register young voters and advocate for stricter gun laws. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo, Sam Deitsch hugs her dog Misty at her home in Parkland, Fla. Sam, a freshman during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, lost a close friend 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg. She's spent this year in therapy and giving speeches about gun violence. She turns sweet sixteen on Thursday. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

In this, Thursday, Feb. 7, 2019 photo, Sam Deitsch shows off a bracelet that she wears in honor of her friend Jaime Guttenberg, 17 killed in the 2018 school massacre, during an interview with The Associated Press at her home in Parkland, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has missed a month of Supreme Court arguments as she recovers from lung cancer surgery. But she's not the first justice to be away for a while and her absence hardly compares with those of some of her predecessors.

The day before the Supreme Court began its term in October 1949, Justice William Douglas broke 14 ribs and suffered a punctured lung when he was thrown from his horse on a trail in the Cascade Mountains in Washington. He didn't return to the bench for nearly a half year, and his long recovery caused delays in several cases, including challenges to segregation.

Like much of what goes on away from public view at the Supreme Court, how the justices deal with a colleague's absence can be opaque. The individual justice decides whether to rule on cases even if she has missed arguments. Indeed, Chief Justice John Roberts already has announced that Ginsburg is participating in the cases she missed.

And only the justice can decide when an injury or illness is so severe that retirement is the only option. A quarter century after his riding accident, Douglas suffered a serious stroke, but refused to retire for months. His weakened state caused a backlog in the court's work and the other justices refused to issues decisions in cases where Douglas had provided the fifth, majority-making vote.

"There aren't any rules about this and so much is left to the individual justice," said Erwin Chemerinsky, who argued a case during Ginsburg's absence.

The 85-year-old Ginsburg could be back on the bench when the court next meets on Tuesday, and even as she has been away, she has not missed any votes.

FILE - In this Nov. 30, 2018 file photo, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg sits with fellow Supreme Court justices for a group portrait at the Supreme Court Building in Washington. Ginsburg has missed a month of Supreme Court arguments as she recovers from lung cancer surgery. But she's not the first justice to be away for a while and her absence hardly compares with those of some of her predecessors. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In some state court systems, including California, the highest court can essentially borrow a judge from a lower court to temporarily replace an absent member, said Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Supreme Court has no similar arrangement. The nine justices are there for as long as they wish, and neither a retired justice nor an appellate judge can fill a void.

The 25th Amendment to the Constitution sets out what happens if a president is incapacitated, but refuses to relinquish power. In Congress, the absence of a single lawmaker is not likely to make a lasting difference, while the absence of a single justice on the nine-member court can be significant. Also, elected officials have terms of office that last six years at most, in the case of senators.

The most recent example of a justice missing substantial time was in 2004 and 2005, when Chief Justice William Rehnquist was suffering from thyroid cancer and was not on the bench for 44 arguments over five months. Justice John Paul Stevens, the longest-serving justice at the time, presided when Rehnquist was away, except for the day in late February 2005 when Stevens' flight from Florida was canceled and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor ran the show.

Still, Rehnquist voted in most of the cases for which he did not attend the arguments. He returned to the court in late March and made it through the end of the court's term in late June before dying on Sept. 3 at the age of 80.

Douglas' accident occurred in steep terrain more than a mile above sea level, just after he stopped to adjust the girth on his horse's saddle. He fell an estimated 50 feet down a rocky hillside where his boyhood friend and riding partner, Elon Gilbert, found him lying on a ledge, according to The Associated Press' report from the time.

Douglas, then 50, was a noted outdoorsman who hiked and rode extensively. While he recuperated, he was photographed in his hospital bed and then astride a horse when he took his first ride after the accident.

There's a suggestion in news accounts that the other justices were irritated by the length of his absence. He came back to the court in time to hear Thurgood Marshall argue that Texas' refusal to accommodate a black student in its whites-only law school was unconstitutional. Marshall, then the nation's most prominent civil rights lawyer, prevailed in a unanimous decision.

Douglas already had become the court's longest-serving justice by the time of his stroke on the last day of 1974. Though unable to walk and generally weakened by the stroke, Douglas refused to retire. Because of his illness, the court ordered a new round of arguments in eight cases in the spring of 1975, an unusually large number.

"They agreed to take away his vote because they thought he was incompetent," historian David Garrow said.

When the new term began that October, Douglas was still on the court. At arguments, Douglas "had moments of lucidity and energy followed by near incoherence and sleep," authors Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong wrote in "The Brethren," their book about the court.

By November, Douglas had had enough and reluctantly submitted his resignation after more than 36 years as a justice.

FILE - In this Oct. 2, 1049, file photo, volunteers from a nearby picnic area carry Supreme Court Justice William Douglas down a trail in the rugged Cascade Mountains near Yakima, Wash., after he was thrown from his horse. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has missed a month of Supreme Court arguments as she recovers from lung cancer surgery. But she's not the first justice to be away for a while and her absence hardly compares with those of some of her predecessors. The day before the Supreme Court began its term in October 1949, Douglas broke 14 ribs and suffered a punctured lung when he was thrown from his horse. He didn't return to the bench for nearly a half year, and his long recovery caused delays in several cases, including challenges to segregation. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressional bargainers formally completed a bipartisan border security pact late Wednesday and President Donald Trump labored to frame it as a political win, even though it contains only a fraction of the billions for a "great, powerful wall" that he's been demanding for months.

Trump is expected to grudgingly accept the agreement, which was completed just before midnight. The measure - 1,768 pages of legislation and explanation - would avert another government shutdown and give the president what Republicans have been describing as a "down payment" on his signature campaign pledge.

Earlier in the day, Trump said he was still waiting to learn what its final language would be before making a decision. But he's not waiting to declare victory, contending at the White House on Wednesday that a wall "is being built as we speak."

Indeed, work on a first barrier extension - 14 miles in Texas' Rio Grande Valley - starts this month, approved by Congress about a year ago along with money to renovate and strengthen some existing fencing. But that's a far cry from the vast wall he promised during his campaign would "go up so fast your head will spin."

Sounding like he was again in campaign mode, he told a law enforcement group on Wednesday, "It's going to be a great, powerful wall. ... The wall is very, very on its way."

Carried away by his own enthusiasm, perhaps, he added, "You are going to have to be in extremely good shape to get over this one. They would be able to climb Mount Everest a lot easier, I think."

President Donald Trump speaks at the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association Joint Conference in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Trump has a history of balking at deals after signaling he was on board. But barring White House discovery of any objectionable provisions, he was expected to acquiesce, according to White House officials and other Republicans close to the White House who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Trump and his aides have also signaled that he is preparing to use executive action to try to secure additional money for the wall by tapping into existing federal dollars without any congressional sign-off so he can show supporters he's continuing to fight. That could lead to resistance in Congress or federal court.

But assuming there are no surprises in the final text, "I think he's going to sign it," conservative Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a close ally of the president, said Wednesday. He warned, though, that "it would be political suicide" if Trump signed the deal and then failed to take action to secure additional funding for the wall using his executive powers.

Swallowing the deal would mark a major concession by Trump, who has spent months insisting the situation at the southern border represents a national security crisis that demands an impregnable wall. He also had insisted he would accept nothing less than $5.7 billion for the barrier - a demand that forced the 35-day partial shutdown that left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without paychecks and Republicans taking the brunt of the blame. There is no appetite for a repeat.

The deal, which lawmakers reached this week, would provide less than $1.4 billion for border barriers while keeping the government funded through the end of September. While some conservatives, Fox News commentator Sean Hannity among them, have balked at the deal, other allies of the president have urged him to sign it and move on.

In private conversations since the deal was first announced, Trump has complained, calling the committee members poor negotiators, said a person familiar with the conversations who was not authorized to speak publicly. He has also made clear that he wanted more money for the wall and has expressed concern the plan is being framed as a defeat for him in the media.

There is also little doubt the deal will pass Congress, barring eleventh-hour surprises, with "no" votes most likely coming from liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans. Democratic leaders are selling it as solid compromise that will keep the government open.

The White House has long been laying the groundwork for Trump to use executive action to bypass Congress and divert money into wall construction. He could declare a national emergency or invoke other executive authority to tap funds including money set aside for military construction, disaster relief and counterdrug efforts.

The legislation would push Immigration and Customs Enforcement to gradual reduce the number of unauthorized immigrants it detains - currently 49,000 - though this year's figure would remain higher than last year's.

New barriers could only be built using existing technology, not solid concrete or steel walls that have been proposed and Trump has favored since his presidential campaign. Barriers would be curbed along certain portions of the border.

The measure also provides money to upgrade monitoring and surveillance equipment at border ports of entry and between them. There would be funds to hire more customs agents and immigration judges, improve conditions for detained immigrants and humanitarian aide to Central American countries to help stem the flood of migrants.

Facing opposition from Trump, Democrats lost their bid to make sure employees of federal contractors receive back pay for wages lost during the last shutdown. Federal workers have been paid for time they were furloughed or worked without paychecks.

Also not making the bill was a simple extension of the Violence Against Women Act. Democrats say this will give them a chance later this year to rewrite the law by including protections for transgender people.

Trump kept his cards close, telling reporters he would be taking "a very serious look" at the final text once the White House receives it and watching for any "land mines."

Lawmakers need to pass some kind of funding bill by midnight Friday to avoid another shutdown.

Meanwhile, active-duty troops from dozens of U.S. military units around the country are flowing to the southern border as part of the latest plan to send 3,750 new forces to help with surveillance and install more wire barriers.

As of this week, the military had installed about 105 miles of wire along the border and planned an additional 140 miles of the concertina wire. The bulk of that will be in California and Arizona, in locations between ports of entry that are identified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as vulnerable.

___

Associated Press writers Zeke Miller, Jonathan Lemire and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., joined at right by Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, the top Republican on the House Appropriations Committee, speaks to reporters about the bipartisan border security compromise needed to avert another government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President Donald Trump speaks at the Major County Sheriffs and Major Cities Chiefs Association Joint Conference in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - In this March 5, 2018, file photo, boys look through an older section of the border structure from Mexicali, Mexico, alongside a newly-constructed, taller section, left, in Calexico, Calif. A federal appeals court has rejected arguments by the state of California and environmental groups who tried to block reconstruction of sections of the U.S.-Mexico border wall. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday, Feb. 11, 2019, that the Trump administration did not exceed its authority by waiving environmental regulations to rebuild sections of wall near San Diego and Calexico. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
NASA rover finally bites the dust on Mars after 15 years

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - NASA's Opportunity, the Mars rover that was built to operate for just three months but kept going and going, rolling across the rocky red soil, was pronounced dead Wednesday, 15 years after it landed on the planet.

The six-wheeled vehicle that helped gather critical evidence that ancient Mars might have been hospitable to life was remarkably spry up until eight months ago, when it was finally doomed by a ferocious dust storm.

Flight controllers tried numerous times to make contact, and sent one final series of recovery commands Tuesday night, along with one last wake-up song, Billie Holiday's "I'll Be Seeing You," in a somber exercise that brought tears to team members' eyes. There was no response from space, only silence.

Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA's science missions, broke the news at what amounted to a funeral at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, announcing the demise of "our beloved Opportunity."

"This is a hard day," project manager John Callas said at an auditorium packed with hundreds of current and former members of the team that oversaw Opportunity and its long-deceased identical twin, Spirit. "Even though it's a machine and we're saying goodbye, it's still very hard and very poignant, but we had to do that. We came to that point."

___

US says ex-intel official defected to Iran, revealed secrets

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former U.S. Air Force counterintelligence specialist who defected to Iran despite warnings from the FBI has been charged with revealing classified information to the Tehran government, including the code name and secret mission of a Pentagon program, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The Justice Department also accused Monica Elfriede Witt, 39, of betraying former colleagues in the U.S. intelligence community by feeding details about their personal and professional lives to Iran. Four hackers linked to the Iranian government, charged in the same indictment, used that information to target the intelligence workers online, prosecutors said.

Witt had been on the FBI's radar at least a year before she defected after she attended an Iranian conference and appeared in anti-American videos. She was warned about her activities, but reassured agents that she would not provide sensitive information about her work if she returned to Iran. She was not arrested.

"Once a holder of a top secret security clearance, Monica Witt actively sought opportunities to undermine the United States and support the government of Iran - a country which poses a serious threat to our national security," said FBI executive assistant director Jay Tabb, the bureau's top national security official.

Tabb said "she provided information that could cause serious damage to national security," though he did not provide specifics.

___

Highlights of the $330 billion-plus bill to avoid shutdown

WASHINGTON (AP) - It's not just about President Donald Trump's border wall.

The border security issues that sparked a 35-day government shutdown are but one element of a massive $330 billion-plus spending measure that wraps seven bills into one, funding nine Cabinet agencies, including the departments of Justice, State, Agriculture, and Commerce. It also contains a variety of other provisions, touching on Medicaid, pesticides and even the permitted length of sugar beet trucks in rural Oregon.

While full details haven't been released, highlights are expected to include:

___

A BILLION HERE, A BILLION THERE

___

Authorities say suspect in suitcase death is in US illegally

A man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and dumping her body in a suitcase in Connecticut is a citizen of Portugal who has been in the U.S. illegally for more than a year, federal authorities said Wednesday as the victim's loved ones gathered for her funeral.

Javier Da Silva Rojas, who had been living in New York City, was taken into custody Monday and charged with kidnapping resulting in death in the killing of 24-year-old Valerie Reyes, of New Rochelle, New York. The charge carries the possibility of the death penalty.

Da Silva, also 24, entered the U.S. on May 8, 2017, through the Visa Waiver Program and was required to leave by Aug. 5, 2017, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

The agency on Wednesday filed a detainer for Da Silva, meaning he will be deported immediately after his criminal case is complete and any sentence is served.

Susanne Brody, a lawyer for Da Silva, declined to comment Wednesday.

___

In House's Yemen vote, Congress reasserts war-making powers

WASHINGTON (AP) - Asserting congressional authority over war-making powers, the House passed a resolution Wednesday that would force the administration to withdraw U.S. troops from involvement in Yemen, in a rebuke of President Donald Trump's alliance with the Saudi-led coalition behind the military intervention.

Lawmakers in both parties are increasingly uneasy over the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and skeptical of the U.S. partnership with that coalition, especially in light of Saudi Arabia's role in the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the royal family.

Passage would mark the first time Congress has relied on the decades-old War Powers Resolution to halt military intervention. It also would set up a potential confrontation with the White House, which has threatened a veto. The House voted 248-177 to approve the measure, sending it to the Senate, where a similar resolution passed last year.

"We have helped create, and worsen, the world's largest humanitarian crisis," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., during the debate. "Our involvement in this war, quite frankly, is shameful."

The chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said the vote represents "Congress reclaiming its role in foreign policy."

___

Nevada woman is the 6th to accuse Arias of sexual misconduct

RENO, Nev. (AP) - The longtime director of the international center at the University of Nevada in Reno is the latest woman to accuse Nobel Peace Prize winner and former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias of sexual misconduct.

Carina Black said in interviews this week that Arias boxed her in against a wall inside an elevator at the university in 1998 and then tried to kiss her. She said it happened after she spent a day escorting Arias to meetings and an evening speaking engagement at the university.

"I just smacked him in the face and pushed him away," Black said. "Then the elevators doors opened, and I left."

Arias, 78, met with prosecutors in Costa Rica on Wednesday to give a statement in two criminal complaints against him alleging sexual assault and sexual abuse, but he has declined to provide any specific public comment since he denied the initial complaint last week.

At least six women have made accusations against him ranging from unwanted advances to alleged assault. The Associated Press interviewed three people Black told about Arias' behavior shortly after she said it occurred, including her husband.

___

Strangers' suspicions rankle parents of mixed-race children

PHOENIX (AP) - Amberkatherine DeCory carried photos of her daughter's birth certificate in her diaper bag in case she had to prove that the lighter-skinned girl was really hers. Cydnee Rafferty gives her husband a letter explaining that he has permission to travel with their 5-year-old biracial daughter.

Families like theirs were not surprised when they heard that Cindy McCain had reported a woman to police for possible human trafficking because the widow of Sen. John McCain saw her at the airport with a toddler of a different ethnicity. Officers investigated and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Parents whose children have a different complexion say they regularly face suspicion and the assumption that they must be watching someone else's kids.

"This is a problem that, to be frank, well-meaning white people get themselves into," said Rafferty, who is African-American and whose husband is white. "They think, 'If it doesn't make sense to me it must not be right."

After McCain's report, Rafferty posted to Twitter a selfie of her with her two children, ages 5 and 5 months.

___

Absent Iran takes center stage at Mideast talks in Poland

WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Although it is absent from the stage, Iran is nevertheless taking the spotlight at a Middle East security conference co-hosted by the United States and Poland that has highlighted deep divisions between the U.S. and some of its traditional allies.

Amid uncertainty over its aims and questions about what it will deliver, the conference opened late Wednesday in Warsaw with some 60 nations in attendance. Yet, in an apparent test of U.S. influence and suspicions in Europe and elsewhere over the Trump administration's intentions in Iran, many countries aren't sending their top diplomats and will be represented at levels lower than their invited foreign ministers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence attended along with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his counterparts from numerous Arab nations. But France and Germany are not sending Cabinet-ranked officials, and European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini is staying away.

Russia and China aren't participating, and the Palestinians, who have called for the meeting to be boycotted, also will be absent. Iran, which is this week celebrating the 40th anniversary of its Islamic Revolution, denounced the meeting as a "circus" aimed at "demonizing" it.

In a bid to encourage better participation, Pompeo and others sought to broaden what was initially advertised as an Iran-centric meeting to include the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the fight against the Islamic State group, and the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. That effort produced only mixed results, particularly with longtime European allies who are trying to save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after last year's U.S. withdrawal.

___

FEMA head Brock Long, investigated over vehicle use, resigns

WASHINGTON (AP) - The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency resigned Wednesday after a two-year tenure in which he managed the response to historic wildfires and major hurricanes but was dogged by questions over his use of government vehicles.

Brock Long said in a letter to FEMA employees that he was resigning to spend more time at home with his family. His last day is March 8.

He did not mention the investigation by the agency's watchdog that found he had used government vehicles without authorization, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said last fall that Long would repay the government and would not lose his job.

Nielsen said Long led the agency admirably. "I appreciate his tireless dedication to FEMA and his commitment to fostering a culture of preparedness across the nation," she said in a statement.

His deputy, Pete Gaynor, will become acting head of the agency.

___

Cleaning routine shows promise in curbing superbug infection

Think of it as decontaminating yourself. Hospitalized patients who harbor certain superbugs can cut their risk of developing full-blown infections if they swab medicated goo in their nose and use special soap and mouthwash for six months after going home, a study found.

It's a low-tech approach to a big problem: About 5 percent of patients have MRSA - antibiotic-resistant Staph bacteria - lurking on their skin or in their noses, putting them at high risk of developing an infection while recovering from an illness or an operation. These can affect the skin, heart, brain, lungs, bones and joints, and most of them land people back in the hospital.

The hygiene steps that researchers tested trimmed that risk by nearly one third.

"It's a very simple solution. You don't have to swallow a medicine, you just have to clean the outside of your body for a little while longer," said Dr. Susan Huang of the University of California Irvine School of Medicine. She led the federally funded study, published Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.

A lot has been done to curb infections in hospitals and attention is shifting to what happens after patients leave. Nine states - California, Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, Illinois, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maine and New Jersey - require that hospitals test the most vulnerable patients, such as those in intensive care, for MRSA. Many other places do it voluntarily.
The late Spanish Salesian priest Antonio Cesar Fernandez (back, 3rd from R) appears in this 2015 picture taken in Korhogo, Ivory Coast

A Spanish priest and four customs officers were killed in separate attacks by suspected jihadists in Burkina Faso, which is struggling with a radical Islamist insurgency, local sources said.

"The Spanish Salesian Antonio Cesar Fernandez was assassinated during a jihadist attack between Togo and Burkina Faso," around 3:00 pm local time on Friday," the Salesians of Don Bosco order said in a statement posted Friday on Twitter.

Fernandez and two others were returning from a meeting in the Togolese capital Lome when they "were attacked by gunmen after crossing the border between Togo and Burkina Faso", the head of the order, Jose Elegbede, said in a statement.

"After searching the car, they pulled Cesar from the group and the men shot him," Elegbede added.

The group's chauffeur, Fabrice Aziawo, said the gunmen captured them at a checkpoint.

"Armed men took us into the forest, Cesar and me. I heard shots. They told me to turn around and I saw Cesar lying on the ground."

Cesar Fernandez, 72, had been working in Africa since 1982, said his order, the Salesians of don Bosco, in a statement on Twitter.

In a separate attack, gunmen targeted customs officers who set up a mobile post in Nohao, near the border with Togo on Friday evening, killing four of them, a security source told AFP.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez offered his condolences to the family and colleagues of the priest.

"I am absolutely revolted by this attack and my respect to those... who risk their lives to work in conflict zones," he added on Twitter.

A local security source said the attack was carried out by "a group of around 20 gunmen who then fled into a wooded zone".

More than 300 people have been killed in the country in four years of jihadist attacks, according to an AFP count.
The Oromos are the largest of Ethiopia's some 80 ethnic groups

Ethiopia has said some 1,000 fighters with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel group have given up arms and entered rehabilitation camps, according to state media.

Popular among the largest ethnic group, the Oromo, the OLF fell out with the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 1992 and soon began launching armed attacks.

Last year, reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed removed the OLF from a list of terror organisations, and its exiled leadership made a triumphant return home.

A large crowd in September 2018 celebrated the return of members of the formerly banned Oromo Liberation Front at Mesquel Square in Addis Ababa

"Parts of Oromia regional state, which had been suffering from unrest, are returning to normalcy, with OLF fighters giving up their arms and re-integrating back to their local communities," Admasu Damtwe, head of communications for Oromia, told state media on Thursday evening.

"The insecurity in parts of Oromia where OLF fighters used to operate had led to the suspension of basic government services including education, but now with OLF fighters abandoning armed struggle, the government can focus now on development works," he added.

His claim has not been confirmed by the OLF.

The deal between the government and OLF has run into trouble recently, with Addis Ababa deploying soldiers against armed members of the group it claimed were robbing banks and attacking residents in the remote west of the country.

A woman participates in celebrations for the return of the Oromo Liberation Front members in Addis Ababa in September 2018

The OLF denied this, and has accused the government of failing to meet its promise of integrating its combatants into the armed forces.

The Oromos are the largest of Ethiopia's some 80 ethnic groups, with 35 percent of the nation's nearly 80 million inhabitants.

After the fall of Ethiopia's Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, the OLF was part of the country's transitional government.

But after numerous disputes with the leadership it quit and demanded the creation of the independent state of Oromia.
When Caroline Mwatha went missing, Amnesty International raised the alarm given her work lobbying against extra-judicial killings by police

A Kenyan rights activist who died in circumstances her family deemed suspicious, fell victim to a botched abortion, said an independent autopsy Thursday which corroborated a police version of events.

Caroline Mwatha went missing last Wednesday, prompting Amnesty International to raise the alarm given her sensitive work lobbying against extra-judicial killings by police.

Police said Tuesday her body had been found at a Nairobi mortuary, and that investigations revealed "the intended abortion of a five-month old pregnancy".

Abortion is illegal in Kenya unless the life of the woman is in danger.

On Wednesday, Mwatha's family had questioned the police explanation.

"We have never seen Caro with a pregnancy, she was not pregnant, how can she have been aborting?" her father Stanslus Mbai told journalists at the mortuary.

"It is puzzle to us. Very strange because I have looked at the body. She has a deep cut on the thigh and stomach, is that abortion?"

Mbai said he had received a missed call from his daughter's number during the time she was reportedly already dead. "A lot is not adding up, this is a cover up," he said, while demanding an independent post mortem.

On Thursday, the pathologist who carried out the autopsy, told journalists Mwatha had been about five- to six months pregnant.

"Cause of death is bleeding due to ruptured uterus due to surgical interference which was not successful in removing the foetus," said Peter Muriuki Ndegwa.

He had been hired at the family's request by the Independent Medico Legal Unit, a non-government organisation that offers free legal aid to victims and lobbies against extrajudicial police killings.

The family, Ndegwa added, "is satisfied with the autopsy" result.

According to Marie Stopes International, which provides contraception and safe abortion services worldwide, seven women die of botched abortions in Kenya every day.
Boat accidents are tragically common on the Niger River, a major transport artery

Rescuers, fishermen, navy experts and police combed the Niger River Thursday looking for 42 people, including children, missing after an overloaded boat capsized while bringing them to a market, authorities said.

The vessel foundered as it was battered by powerful winds in Sambera district in southwest Niger, near the border with Benin, early Wednesday morning, going down just 200 metres (656 feet) from its destination.

"Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered," Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

The corpse of a woman was later recovered.

The victims had been aboard a canoe travelling from Gorou-Beri in Benin to Ouna in Niger, according to Hassane.

The vessel was transporting a large consignment of cereals and about a hundred traders from Benin and Niger, as well as children, Hassane said.

In Benin, Moussa Mouhamadou, prefect of the northern district of Alibori, gave a similar toll.

"Sixty-four people were saved," he told Radio Benin.

"We discovered about 40 pairs of shoes at the site (of the accident), and linked them to the people who are missing."

"The survivors went home last night and are well. They are being given medical and psychological support," said Mouhamadou.

Most of the passengers were from Benin, said the country's Interior Minister Sacca Lafia.

"In accordance with the law, the navigators of the vessel have been arrested for not following the safety instructions... We hope that this never happens again," he said.

- Never again -

The Niger River, a busy transport artery in West Africa, broke its banks about two weeks ago, causing major damage to crops. While the flooding has subsided, the river's level remains high.

An official of Niger's gendarmerie told public radio the canoe sank "about 200 metres (yards)" from the jetty it was headed for.

According to Mouhamadou, navy and police members and fishermen on the scene started the search for survivers survivors directly after the sinking, and divers from the fire brigade in the commercial capital, Cotonou, were making their way to the scene Thursday.

Boat capsizes are common on the Niger River, which carries hundreds of canoes every day. Many are operated by companies that ignore security standards.

Steering is "often given to teenagers to do," a Nigerian security source told AFP.

In October 2017, 17 people were confirmed drowned after a boat carrying about 60 passengers sank on a trip from northwestern Nigeria to Niger.

A month earlier, 56 people perished when an overcrowded boat carrying 150 people, mainly Niger traders, sank in the state of Kebbi, Nigeria.

Many of the passengers of these boats are merchants of livestock and grain traded between Niger, Benin, and Nigeria.

There are only three bridges spanning the river along the 550-kilometre (342-mile) stretch of its flow through Niger, a poor, landlocked country that depends heavily on imports from the port of Cotonou.
A Muslim man was kneeling for his evening prayers in the back room of a corner store when a bullet, allegedly fired by Carter, came through the wall and struck him in the head. He died instantly. Prosecutors said two people were killed by Carter  the other was shot through his neck while walking down the street. In addition, several others were wounded, they said.
(CNN)  India said there was "incontrovertible evidence" that Pakistan had a "direct hand" in a bomb attack on a convoy that killed at least 40 people in Indian-administered Kashmir.

After a Cabinet Committee on Security meeting on Friday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a statement that India would initiate "all possible diplomatic steps" to "ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan, of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident."

Jaitley added that India would downgrade diplomatic relations by withdrawing its "most favored nation status" to Pakistan  a largely symbolic title.

Thursday's attack on a convoy of Indian soldiers killed 40 and wounded five, said M. Dhinakaran, deputy inspector general of the Central Reserve Police Force. It was deadliest attack on security forces since the beginning of the insurgency in the late 1980s.

The Indian government has blamed Pakistan-based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed for the attack.

"We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," India's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a warning to terrorist groups, saying that the "the blood of the people is boiling."

"I want to tell the terrorist organizations and their supporters that have made a huge mistake. They will have to pay a very heavy cost for this. I give assurance to the nation that the forces behind the attack, the culprits behind this attack  they will definitely be punished for their actions," he said at an event in New Delhi.

Pakistan responds

Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement hours after the attack, describing it as "a matter of grave concern."

"We have always condemned acts of violence anywhere in the world," the statement said. It continued: "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations."

Jaish-e-Mohammed, which translates to the Army of the Prophet Mohammed, is a Pakistan-based group that operates on both sides of the border of the disputed state and seeks to unite the Indian-controlled area of Kashmir with Pakistan.

The group was listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department in 2001, but the effort to include its leader, Masood Azhar, as an "internationally designated terrorist" at the United Nations was vetoed by China in 2017.

Azhar founded Jaish-e-Mohammed with support from Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban and several other extremist organizations, accordingto the UN. The group has been implicated in multiple attacks in India, including the 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament in New Delhi that killed nine people, and on the Jammu and Kashmir legislative assembly building that killed at least 31 people.

Thursday's attack took place in the Pulwama district  about 15 miles (25 kilometers) from Kashmir's capital, Srinagar.

The convoy of 78 vehicles, which was transporting 2,550 paramilitary soldiers, was on the national highway when it was struck by the blast, said Muneer Khan, director general of police.

"One vehicle which was part of the convoy carrying the CRPF personnel bore the brunt of the blast resulting in multiple casualties," a police statement said.

Indian PM condemns 'dastardly attack'

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted support for soldiers in the state.

"Attack on CRPF personnel in Pulwama is despicable. I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain. The entire nation stands shoulder to shoulder with the families of the brave martyrs. May the injured recover quickly," he wrote.

On Friday, Modi reiterated his comments, warning Pakistan that India will not be divided.

"If they (Pakistan) think that the kinds of things they are doing, the conspiracies that they are concocting  that they will be successful in creating instability in India, then they should abandon that dream. They will never be able to do it."

Modi has taken a stronger stand toward terrorism in the state since he came to power almost five years ago. In 2018, 253 terrorists were killed by Indian security forces  more than double the number of terrorists killed in 2015, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Kashmir has had a tumultuous history since the India-Pakistan partition resulted in a predominantly Hindu India and a Muslim Pakistan.

After India gained independence in 1947, Kashmir has been bitterly contested by both nations, resulting in three wars and numerous other skirmishes.

The latest attack comes more than two years after armed militants entered an army base in the garrison town of Uri, about 63 miles (102 kilometers) from Srinagar  killing at least 18.

Separatist violence in the region has killed more than 47,000 people since 1989, although this toll doesn't include people who have disappeared due to the conflict. Some human rights groups and nongovernmental organizations put the death toll at twice that amount.

This story was first published on CNN.com "Kashmir attack: India says Pakistan had 'direct hand' in deadly convoy strike"
The global demand for energy is "set to increase significantly driven by increases in propserity in the developing world," said BP in its Energy Outlook 2019

Global energy demand will surge by a third over the next two decades on advancing prosperity, but Indian demand growth will eclipse that of flagging giant China, Britain's BP forecast Thursday.

"The demand for energy is set to increase significantly driven by increases in prosperity in the developing world," BP said in its Energy Outlook 2019 for the industry.

"This improvement in living standards causes energy demand to increase by around a third over the outlook."

China and India will together account for more than half of the growth in energy consumption during the forecast period, according to BP.

However, Chinese demand growth will be hit by the superpower's economic slowdown and is expected to be outpaced by India.

"China's transition to a more sustainable pattern of economic growth means that by the mid-2020s India surpasses China as the worlds largest growth market, accounting for over a quarter of the growth in global energy demand over the outlook," it said.

China and India will together account for more than half of the growth in energy concumption, though China will remain the largest market

"Even so, China remains the largest market for energy: roughly double the size of India in 2040."

China will remain the largest source of growth in energy supplies, driven by rapid expansion in renewables and nuclear power, but its appetite will be sapped partly by efficiency measures.

BP added: "Some of this decline (in Chinese energy growth) stems from policy efforts to improve the efficiency of existing industries.

"In addition, it reflects the continuing transition of the Chinese economy away from energy-intensive industrial sectors towards less-intensive service and consumer-facing sectors."

World oil demand growth was meanwhile set to grow for the first part of the outlook, met by booming US shale oil production.

However, it was then expected to plateau as US shale output declines and OPEC oil production recovers, according to BP.

Oil production and consumption by region and selected countries from 1965 to 2017, according to data from BP statistical review

Global gross domestic product was expected to more than double by 2040, aided by growing prosperity.

BP stressed however that two thirds of the world's population will still live in nations where average energy consumption per head is relatively low, highlighting the need for more energy.
Trump will then have 90 days to decide whether to move ahead with tariffs

A US Commerce Department report has concluded that American auto imports threaten national security, setting the stage for possible tariffs by the White House, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The investigation, ordered by President Donald Trump in May, is "positive" with respect to the central question of whether the imports "impair" US national security, said a European auto industry source.

The report, which is expected to be delivered to the White House by a Sunday deadline, has been seen as a major risk for foreign automakers.

Trump has threatened to slap 25 percent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

Trump will then have 90 days to decide whether to move ahead with tariffs.

The White House has used the national security argument -- saying that undermining the American manufacturing base impairs military readiness, among other claims -- to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

Trading partners have sometimes reacted with outrage at the suggestion their exports posed a threat to American national security.

Automakers, including from the United States, have criticized tariffs as a tool that could hit auto sales and damage the employment picture throughout the industry.

"If tariffs go up, it's not good for the consumer it's not good for our dealer network it is not good for the economy in total," said Bernhard Kuhnt, CEO of BMW North America, told CNBC on Wednesday.

"I'm not a politician but we'll deal with the consequences," he added.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (L) and US President Donald Trump are due to meet for a second high-profile summit, in Hanoi

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo underlined the need for different foreign policy approaches to Iran and North Korea in comments published Thursday, describing Tehran as more "destabilizing" than Pyongyang.

"We've made very clear that these situations are very different. We take each of them where we find them," he told US television station CBS in excerpts of a transcript released by the State Department.

Washington set 12 tough conditions on talks with Iran, yet President Donald Trump made almost no stipulations on meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last year and the White House has had follow-up contacts with the regime.

"North Korea today has weapons, nuclear weapons, capable of reaching the United States of America," Pompeo said.

"This is a threat that President Trump said we needed to take on now and take on immediately. The president's chosen to meet with Chairman Kim."

Trump and Kim are due to follow their landmark first summit in Singapore last June with a meeting in Hanoi from February 27 to 28.

"North Korea behaves very differently. They're not destabilizing Yemen. They're not destabilizing Syria. They're not conducting enormous assassination campaigns," Pompeo said.

"These countries' behaviors are different, therefore, the way America is approaching resolving this."

The US administration has repeatedly accused North Korea in recent years of destabilizing its East Asian neighbors with its nuclear arms race and missiles pointed toward Seoul.

The North's posture is the biggest reason for American military presence in South Korea and Japan -- to help protect allies against the North Korean threat.

Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile tests led Washington to demand ever-firmer sanctions until late 2017. In November of that year, the United States placed North Korea back on its list of state sponsors of terror.

"In addition to threatening the world by nuclear devastation, North Korea repeatedly supported acts of international terrorism including assassinations on foreign soil," Trump said at the time.

The US also pointed to the murder in Malaysia of Kim's half-brother and potential rival Kim Jong Nam, using nerve agent.

Trump accused the North of having tortured American student Otto Warmbier, who was detained by Pyongyang and died after being repatriated from the hermit state while already in a coma.

Kim's regime is also described in State Department reports as one of the worst violators of human rights.
Sudanese protesters take part in an anti-government demonstration in Khartoum, as the government threatened legal action against the movement leaders

Sudan on Thursday threatened to take legal action against campaigners spearheading nationwide protests against the government of President Omar al-Bashir, accusing them of threatening national security.

The warning by acting Information Minister Mamun Hassan came a day after some of the leaders of the protest movement vowed to push on with their "uprising" against Bashir's rule of three decades.

"The government will take legal action against those who are calling for violence, threatening national security and pushing the country into danger," he said in a statement.

On Wednesday protest campaigners held their first news conference since deadly protests erupted in December, at the offices of the main opposition National Umma Party.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) that is spearheading the protests and its allies ruled out negotiations with Bashir's government and called on other political groups to join their movement by signing a "Document for Freedom and Change".

The text outlines a post-Bashir plan including rebuilding Sudan's justice system and halting the African country's dire economic decline, the key reason for nationwide demonstrations.

Protests first erupted in December 2018 after a government decision to triple the price of bread, but quickly escalated into near-daily demonstratsion across cities and towns

"It is confirmed what we always said that this Freedom and Change group is calling for violence," Hassan said.

The National Umma Party, which has thrown its weight behind the protests, also pledged to push on with the movement that has held nationwide rallies for almost two months.

"We will continue our uprising until this regime is overthrown," said Sara Najdullah, the party's general secretary, at Wednesday's news conference.

Party leader Sadiq al-Mahdi, a former prime minister whose government was the last one to be democratically elected in Sudan before it was toppled by Bashir, last month called for the president to step down.

Protests first erupted on December 19 in the farming town of Atbara after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

But they quickly escalated into near-daily demonstrations across cities and towns that analysts say pose the greatest challenge to Bashir's rule since he took power in a 1989 Islamist backed coup.

Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence so far, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed.
Amazon dropped its plans for a new headquarters in New York City following a series of protests including this one on November 26

Amazon announced Thursday it was abandoning plans for a new headquarters site in New York City, citing opposition from local politicians angry at the huge subsidies being offered to one of the world's most successful companies.

The New York neighborhood of Long Island City had been one of two locations Amazon selected last year after a long search for a second headquarters or "HQ2." The online giant promised the sprawling complex would create 25,000 new jobs -- in exchange for nearly $3 billion in state and city incentives.

"While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project," Amazon said in a statement.

"We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion -- we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture -- and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents."

Amazon said it would "continue growing" its workforce in New York which includes some 5,000 people.

Amazon said it would not reopen the bidding process but would "proceed as planned" with a headquarters site in Northern Virginia and a logistics center in Nashville, Tennessee.

It added that it "will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the US and Canada."

The New York plan had been endorsed by Mayor Bill De Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, but ran into fierce opposition from some local politicians and community activists, including newly elected Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose district borders the New York site.

In addition to complaints about the scale of the incentives, critics voiced concerns that the promised jobs could inflate an already overpriced housing market and strain infrastructure.

Amazon, the dominant online retail giant which also operates services in cloud computing, streaming media and artificial intelligence, began seeking a new headquarters, saying it was outgrowing its current home in Seattle, Washington.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa denied claims by a former comrade in arms that he sold out fellow anti-apartheid activists to the secret police in the 1970s

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Thursday denied claims by a former comrade that he sold out fellow anti-apartheid activists to the secret police in the 1970s.

Defending his role in the struggle against white minority rule, Ramaphosa told parliament he had "refused" under "vicious" interrogation to give evidence against struggle companion Mosiuoa Lekota and others.

Lekota, a fellow anti-apartheid activist who later defected from Ramaphosa's ruling African National Congress (ANC) to form an opposition party, told lawmakers Wednesday that the president had given information to the secret police to avoid being sent to jail on Robben Island.

Ramaphosa never went to Robben Island, unlike Nelson Mandela, Lekota, and other anti-apartheid campaigners.

He was detained twice: once held in solitary confinement for 11 months in 1974, and then jailed for six months in 1976.

"I was arrested and transported to Pretoria central prison," Ramaphosa said of his first arrest in 1974.

"They started to interrogate me, which was quite vicious. They wanted me to give evidence against (Lekota). I refused. My neighbour (in prison) went and gave evidence."

Ramaphosa said he told his father, a policeman, that "I am not going to do it -- I will never betray the comrades I was working with."

Ramaphosa added that when he was re-arrested in 1976, police warned he would "go and break rocks on Robben Island like Nelson Mandela."

"I said: 'In the end, I'd rather go and break rocks and I will never, ever betray my people'," Ramaphosa told parliament, to applause from the ruling ANC benches.

Lekota said that Ramaphosa had written to the special branch police to accuse him and others of being communists -- a punishable offence at the time.

"You condemned us... The special branch rewarded you... and they sent you home," Lekota charged.

"We should have travelled together to the island to serve years for the struggle of our people."

Ramaphosa was born in Soweto and was a student activist before becoming an trade union leader.

He was a key negotiator in talks in the early 1990s between the white minority National Party and the anti-apartheid movement, which led to the end of South Africa's system of legalised racial oppression.

He was widely seen as Mandela's chosen successor but instead became a wealthy businessman before returning to politics.

Ramaphosa became president last year after the ousting of his predecessor, Jacob Zuma, who faces a multitude of corruption allegations.
Boat accidents are tragically common on the Niger River, a major transport artery

Rescue teams, fishermen, navy and police experts were searching Thursday for 43 people, most from Benin, missing after an overloaded boat bringing them to a market capsized in the Niger River, authorities said.

The vessel foundered as it was battered by powerful winds in Sambera district, southwestern Niger early Wednesday morning, sinking just 200 metres (yards) from its destination.

"Sixty-two people were saved and 43 others are missing, judging from the number of shoes that have been recovered," Sambera Mayor Oumarou Hassane told AFP.

They were aboard a canoe travelling from Gori-Beri in Benin to Ouna in Niger, he said.

The vessel was transporting a large consignment of cereals and about a hundred traders from Benin and Niger heading to the market in Ouna, Hassane said.

In Benin, Moussa Mouhamadou, prefect of the northern district of Alibori, gave a similar toll.

"Sixty-four people were saved," he told Radio Benin.

"We discovered about 40 pairs of shoes at the site (of the accident), and linked them to the people who are missing."

"The survivors went home last night and are well. They are being given medical and psychological support," said Mouhamadou.

The Niger River, a popular transport artery in West Africa, broke its banks about two weeks ago, causing major damage to crops. While the flooding has subsided, the river's level remains high.

An official of Niger's gendarmerie told public radio the canoe sank "about 200 metres (yards)" from the jetty.

According to Mouhamadou, navy and police members and fishermen on the scene started evacuating survivors directly after the sinking, and divers from the fire brigade in the capital, Cotonou, were expected to join the search Thursday.

Boat capsizes are common on the Niger. Many are operated by companies that ignore security standards.

Steering is "often given to teenagers to do," a Nigerian security source told AFP.

In October 2017, 17 people drowned and 26 disappeared after a boat carrying about 60 passengers sank on a trip from northwestern Nigeria to Niger.

A month earlier, 56 people perished when an overcrowded boat carrying 150 people, mainly Niger traders, sank in the state of Kebbi, Nigeria.

Many of the passengers of these boats are merchants of livestock and grain traded between Niger, Benin, and Nigeria.

There are only three bridges spanning the river along the 550-kilometre (342-mile) stretch of its flow through Niger, a poor, landlocked country that depends heavily on imports from the port of Cotonou.
The number of leopards in Africa has plunged 40 percent in Africa in recent years

Four children and their teacher were injured when a leopard roamed into their primary school in a rare attack in Chad on Thursday, witnesses said.

Five people were hurt when the big cat entered an army colonel's house at around 7:00 am, said Moussa Issa, who lives nearby.

It then headed to the school where the other injuries occurred, another local resident said.

Security forces killed the leopard after it wandered close to a military base, Moussa Issa said.

The leopard was a "domestic animal" owned by an army official, said residents in the Amsinene area in the capital N'Djamena.

Leopards are a "vulnerable" species, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

Wildlife conservation group Panthera says the number of leopards in Africa has plunged 40 percent in recent years. The exact number of leopards in the world is not known.
Fully veiled women and children gather after fleeing from the Baghouz area in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor on February 12, 2019 during an operation by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) against the Islamic State group

As the net closes on remaining Islamic State group diehards in eastern Syria, the fate of captured foreign fighters and their families has grown into a major international headache.

Many countries remain reluctant to repatriate their jihadist citizens, due to public opposition, the cost of prolonged detentions and concerns that they could pose a security threat.

But pressure is rising on governments to take responsibility for those captured, especially after US President Donald Trump declared in December that American troops will be withdrawn from Syria, leaving local allies facing a struggle to keep prisoners in detention.

North African states Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria have between them seen thousands leave to join jihadist groups in recent years and each has grappled with the issue in its own way.

Tunisia has been one of the key sources of foreign fighters heading to conflicts around the world, with the UN in 2015 saying that some 5,000 citizens had flocked to mainly Syria and Libya.

Under the country's constitution the authorities say they have an obligation to accept those who come home of their own accord, and at least 800 jihadists were either detained or placed under surveillance after making their own way back by late 2016.

A fighter with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) keeps watch near women who fled Islamic State group territory in Baghouz

But while it has been willing to let people in if they come themselves, the government has categorically rejected helping organise the return of those captured abroad.

Rights activists say this has left children paying a heavy price.

Approximately 200 children and 100 women claiming Tunisian nationality "have been held abroad without charge for up to two years", mostly in Syria and Libya, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report this week, citing Tunisian government figures.

"Legitimate security concerns are no license for governments to abandon young children and other nationals held without charge in squalid camps and prisons," said HRW researcher Letta Tayler.

- DNA tests -

Tunisia's government worries that repatriating children will only accelerate the return of their jihadist parents, according to a local rights group, the Rescue Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad.

"The Tunisian state does not have a strategy to take care of these troubled children, who are on average between four and six years old," complained campaign group head Mohamed Iqbel Ben Rejeb.

Women and children loaded into the back of a truck on February 11, 2019 after fleeing IS' shrinking pocket of territory in Syria

But a Tunisian government source insisted that the authorities have made efforts to bring children home, citing a list of 43 children of IS fighters in Libya that was compiled in 2017.

Three on the list were repatriated that year, the source said, but difficulties in legal cooperation with Tripoli have since bogged down the process, and confirming the nationality of children can be a challenge.

In late January, Tunisian forensic police travelled to Libya to take DNA samples from six children whose parents were killed in Sirte, an ex-IS stronghold, according to the local Red Crescent.

A Tunisian government source said a forensics team confirmed the the children's nationalities and they were then repatriated.

But Human Rights Watch says no Tunisian nationals have so far been brought home from Syria or Iraq.

- 'Majority are dead' -

Fellow North African nations Morocco and Algeria have seen fewer of their citizens tempted into the ideology of foreign jihad.

In 2015, the number of Moroccans in the ranks of extremist groups in Iraq and Syria was estimated at more than 1,600.

Since then, some have been killed "in suicide attacks" or by the international coalition fighting IS, while others have fled towards third countries, according to Abdelhak Khiam, the head of Morocco's Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations.

Any returnees are systematically arrested, interrogated, and brought to justice, Khiam said.

An AFP journalist near Baghouz -- where IS is making its last stand in Syria -- said on Thursday that several Moroccan families had left the group's holdout in recent days.

Abdelhak Khiam, director of Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ)

After a short on-the-spot interrogation in the middle of the desert, those detained were set to be transferred to prisons run by US-backed forces.

While there is no official data for the number of Algerians who have gone to fight abroad, a judicial source told AFP that 205 Algerians were wanted for terrorism abroad in late 2017.

"The majority are (presumed) dead in Libya and the Sahel countries, (and) around sixty in Syria and some in Iraq", she said.

There is no official Algerian data on the return of fighters.

But authorities do not look to recover these jihadists and those that try to come back are sent "directly" to prison, said one security source, who did not want to be named.

burs/dwo/del
Fromer acting FBI director Andrew McCabe says he moved quickly in May 2017 after the firing of his predecessor James Comey to put the Russia probe on a solid footing in case President Donald Trump tried to shut it down

The former acting director of the FBI has said that President Donald Trump's firing of his predecessor James Comey set off alarms of a threat against the Russia meddling investigation and sparked discussions of invoking the Constitution to remove Trump.

In an interview with the CBS investigative program "60 Minutes," Andrew McCabe said he moved quickly to shore up the Russia investigation after Comey was sacked on May 9, 2017, in case Trump then fired him to shut down the probe.

"I think the next day, I met with the team investigating the Russia cases," McCabe said in an excerpt of the interview released Thursday.

"I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly and reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace."

According to 60 minutes correspondent Scott Pelley, McCabe also confirmed previous reports that senior officials of the FBI and Justice Department discussed using the US Constitution's 25th Amendment to remove Trump.

McCabe, Pelley said, told CBS that "They were counting noses," how many Cabinet secretaries would back such a move.

Those meetings also discussed whether they could have Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein wear a secret wire to record his discussions in the White House with Trump, who they feared could possibly have been compromised by Russia.

"This was not perceived to be a joke," Pelley said, countering Rosenstein's own previous efforts to downplay the issue.

"McCabe in our interview says 'no', it came up more than once and it was so serious that he took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss it."

McCabe was interviewed by "60 Minutes" in advance of the launch next week of his book "The Threat," recounting his encounters with Trump and his broader career at the FBI.

He was eventually fired in March 2018 for "lack of candor" in an internal investigation into the FBI's handling of a 2016 probe into Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump dismissed the McCabe interview Thursday on Twitter, referring to his firing.

"Disgraced FBI Acting Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a 'poor little Angel' when in fact he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax - a puppet for Leakin' James Comey," Trump wrote.
First, Alivia smoothed the sheet of dough flat against the table. Then she imagined a line running down the very center of the dough. Just over the line, she placed heaping spoonfuls of the ricotta filling about three inches apart. Then, the girls folded the long end of the dough over the short end and pressed the edges together. With a pastry crimper, they cut the dough into square pockets with a ricotta lump in the middle.
US President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed

Washington will not unilaterally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pentagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be brought into US peace talks with the Taliban to end the country's 17-year war.

Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and support mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the Islamists announcing Wednesday a fresh round of meetings in Islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more delay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

US President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that Washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan said Washington would not act alone.

"There will be no unilateral troop reduction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. It will be coordinated. We work together," he said after the meeting, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"I feel as though we're creating the diplomatic leverage Ambassador Khalilzad needs. We really need to talk about the possibility for peace. This may be our moment."

- German welcome -

Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

Washington held talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- ousted from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Shanahan's commitment was welcome news to Germany, which has been a frequent target for US criticism since Trump came to power, particularly over its defence spending.

German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said it was important that "there will be no unilateral decisions by the Americans, but that every step, every strategic step in Afghanistan will be discussed within the circle of NATO defence ministers".

Ghani himself has vented frustration at talks going on without him about the future of Afghanistan and warned against rushing into a deal.

"It is very important that the Afghan government as soon as possible becomes fully integrated in the peace process," Stoltenberg said.

"Without that there will be no lasting peace and no strong institutions to make sure any peace agreement is fully enforced."

The militants last week held separate talks in Moscow with a senior delegation of Afghan politicians -- including some of Ghani's leading rivals.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was re-elected in March 2018 with over 97 percent of the vote

Egypt's parliament on Thursday gave preliminary approval to constitutional changes that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to stay in power after his second term ends in 2022.

A total of 485 lawmakers out of 596 "endorsed in principle the constitutional amendments after three consecutive sessions that lasted more than 10 hours," a statement on parliament's website said.

It did not say how many MPs voted against but Haitham al-Hariri, a member of a small opposition group, said 16 MPs opposed the proposals.

The amendments will now be submitted to parliament's legislative commission which must draft them into legislation and return them to parliament within 60 days for a final vote.

If the vote is passed by a majority of two thirds, parliament will then hold a referendum in line with the conditions of the 2014 constitution.

Backers of Sisi, a former army chief who was re-elected president in March 2018 with over 97 percent of the vote, have been pressing parliament to repeal an article in the constitution limiting presidents to two consecutive four-year terms.

The key amendment endorsed Wednesday calls for extending the president's term in office from four years to six, parliament said on its website.

But critics of this amendment have cried foul.

Egypt's Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal chairs a plenary session on February 14, 2019 on proposed constitutional amendments that would allow President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to remain in office after his second term ends in 2022

"We are placing absolute powers in the hands of one person... at a time when the people were expecting us to give them 'bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity'," lawmaker Ahmed Tantawi said on Wednesday in a rare criticism of the government, using the slogan of the 2011 uprising that ousted veteran president Hosni Mubarak.

Eleven non-governmental rights groups have also said they reject the amendments, namely the one that would extend Sisi's presidency and another that would empower the army "to defend the constitution".

The "proposed amendments threaten stability and sanction (the) lifelong presidency" of Sisi, they warned in a joint statement released Wednesday by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS).

"These amendments... exercise unprecedented unilateral authority; while granting custodianship over Egypt's constitution and democracy to the military establishment, despite the military's utter disrespect for both since Sisi's ascension to power," it said.

Signatories included the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights and the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms.

Sisi led the army's overthrow of Mubarak's successor, Mohamed Morsi, in 2013 following mass protests against the Islamist leader's rule.

Sisi won his first term as president the following year.

His government has been widely criticised by rights groups over the repression of dissidents.

As well as a crackdown on dissent, Sisi has overseen a military campaign against Islamic State group-linked militants in the Sinai Peninsula.
JPMorgan Chase unveiled a prototype for a system that permits cryptocurrency transactions among clients.

JPMorgan Chase on Thursday unveiled a prototype for a digital coin system using blockchain, a first among major banks in the fast-changing cryptocurrency world.

The system, called JPM Coin and which for now is only at the prototype stage, would permit institutional clients to make instantaneous payments with other bank clients.

Customers would receive JPM Coins that could be transferred to other customers, who are then free to redeem the sum. The system is based on US dollars but could be expanded to other currencies, the bank said.

The framework employs the digital ledger technology known as blockchain and is being tested with a small number of institutional clients, with plans to be expanded into a pilot program later this year, the company said on its website.

The system is designed for business-to-business transactions and not for individuals at this point.

"JPM Coin is currently a prototype," the bank said. "As we move towards production we will actively engage our regulators to explain its design and solicit their feedback and any necessary approvals."

In announcing the system, JPMorgan becomes the first major bank with concrete plans to permit clients to transact in cryptocurrencies.

JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has famously dismissed the cryptocurrency bitcoin as a "fraud," even as the bank has continued to work on blockchain technology, which is the founding mechanism for bitcoin.

"We have always believed in the potential of blockchain technology and we are supportive of cryptocurrencies as long as they are properly controlled and regulated," the bank said.

"Ultimately, we believe that JPM Coin can yield significant benefits for blockchain applications by reducing clients' counterparty and settlement risk, decreasing capital requirements and enabling instant value transfer."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) shakes hands with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on the sidelines of an international conference co-hosted by Washington in Warsaw and dominated by their shared hostility to Iran

Israel's prime minister's office has quitely toned down talk by Benjamin Netanyahu of a shared interest with Arab states in "war" with Iran, replacing the word with "combating" in its English-language transcript.

Netanyahu made the comments on Wednesday on the sidelines of an international conference in Warsaw organised by Washington to discuss Iran and the region, and attended by the foreign ministers of a raft of Gulf Arab states.

Netanyahu and his US ally have sought to play up the rare public appearance of senior Arab officials at a common forum with an Israeli prime minister.

Both have highlighted the shared hostility towards Iran of Israel -- which regards Iran as its biggest foe -- and Saudi Arabia -- which sees it as the main challenger to its influence in the Middle East.

In video footage of his comments that remained on his official Twitter account on Thursday, Netanyahu clearly speaks of a shared interest in war with Iran, using the Hebrew word milhama.

"What is important about this meeting -- and this meeting is not in secret, because there are many of those -- is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran," he said.

The prime minister's office also used the word "war" in its first English-language translation of his comments.

But two hours later, it published a "reissue" of its transcript, altering the English translation of the final phrase to "combating Iran."

It gave no explanation for the change when asked by AFP.

Netanyahu has repeatedly pledged to use all means at his disposal, including military, to prevent Iran acquiring advance bases on Israel's doorstep.

In recent months, he has broken with the conventional ambiguity of Israeli leaders about military operations to speak openly of Israel's air war against Iranian targets in neighbouring Syria.
A tug of war between the Venezuelan government and opposition has erupted over whether humanitarian aid will be allowed into the economically crippled country

The Netherlands will set up a hub for humanitarian aid for Venezuela in the Caribbean island of Curacao, off the coast of the troubled South American country, the government said.

Dutch authorities would work with the United States and Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on the measure, Foreign Minister Stef Blok tweeted late Wednesday.

The Venezuelan opposition and western nations have been demanding that President Nicolas Maduro allows in US aid shipments to the oil-rich country, whose economy is in meltdown.

"The Venezuelan people need humanitarian aid," Blok said on Twitter.

"Therefore, the Netherlands and Curacao have decided to facilitate a humanitarian aid hub in Curacao, in close cooperation with Venezuelan interim-president Guaido and the United States."

Soldiers loyal to President Nicolas Maduro blocked the Tienditas bridge on the Colombian border in early February to stop US aid from getting into Venezuela

The Netherlands is one of around 50 countries that have recognised Guaido as interim president.

Blok did not say when the hub would start operating, saying in a letter to parliament that "the exact modalities will be further elaborated".

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton said the Dutch decision to open the hub would "benefit the people of Venezuela", and also welcomed a one-million-euro ($1.1-million) aid donation to the Red Cross announced by the Netherlands earlier in the week.

At a huge opposition rally on Tuesday, Guaido vowed that humanitarian aid would enter the country on February 23.

US aid sitting on the Colombian side of the border with Venezuela has become the latest flashpoint in a US-led push to topple Maduro, whose socialist government is bolstered by the military and backed by Russia and China.

Maduro accuses the United States of using the blocked aid shipments as pretext for an invasion.
Celebrations broke out in parts of northeast India after it became clear a controversial nationality bill would not be tabled

Celebrations have erupted in northeast India after a contentious nationality law put forward by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government failed to pass.

The proposed changes to the 1955 Citizenship Act would have given Indian nationality to Hindus and other minorities emigrating from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The legislation -- passed by the lower house of parliament in January -- sparked angry protests in India's northeast, long riven by tensions between local tribal and indigenous groups, and settlers from outside.

Modi's ruling alliance failed to present the bill in the upper house, which adjourned on Wednesday after its final session before general elections due by May.

Local media reported that celebrations broke out in some half a dozen northeastern states after it became clear the bill would not be passed.

"It is a historic victory for the people of northeast (India). The people of the seven states in the region stood together in opposing the bill forcing the country's ruling party to give in," Samujjal Bhattacharyya from the powerful All Assam Students' Union told AFP.

"We are very firm in our opposition and are going to oppose the bill if the BJP government comes to power" in the future, he added.

The region has been plagued by decades of tensions between local tribal and indigenous groups and settlers from outside, including many Muslims and Hindus from nearby Bangladesh.

While some groups there want to block all outsiders, human rights activists also condemned Modi's Hindu nationalist government for excluding Muslims in the proposed legislation.

They say it will be the first time religion has been a criteria for nationality in India, which is officially secular.
Police denied excessive use of force in clamping down on protesters following the announcement of the election results

A Kenyan inquest on Friday found five police commanders liable in the death of a six-month-old baby who was killed in a crackdown on election protests in August 2017.

The baby, Samantha Pendo, became a symbol of unchecked police brutality during a drawn-out and disputed presidential election in which at least 92 people died over four months in 2017, according to rights groups.

Her parents said police had forced their way into their home during protests in western Kisumu, raining blows on the couple while the mother held Samantha in her arms.

"I have evaluated the entire evidence presented before me and I am satisfied that the deceased did not die as a result of natural consequences but due to severe head injury caused by blunt force trauma inflicted on her by the police," said Beryl Omollo, the magistrate in the Kisumu court.

An autopsy had shown that Pendo had suffered acute head injuries, her scalp cracking as a result of brutal force by the police.

Omollo found five senior officers "liable" for the death, based on the principle of command responsibility, and called on the director of public prosecutions to arraign them.

Rights groups condemned the behaviour of police during protests that followed the announcement of election results in August and the ensuing months after the Supreme Court overturned the result and called for a second election.

Police denied excessive use of force in clamping down on protesters.

Extra-judicial killings are rife in Kenya, and justice is rare with few examples of police being held to account.
A memeber of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) stands guard in Srinagar on August 15, 2012

At least 12 Indian soldiers were killed on Thursday in the deadliest attack on government forces in Indian-administered Kashmir in more than two years, police said.

They died when an improvised explosive device (IED) went off as a convoy of military vehicles drove on a highway some 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the main city of Srinagar.

"An IED went off as a CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) convoy passed by," senior police officer Munir Ahmed Khan told AFP.

"We have 12 CRPF fatalities. We are evacuating the injured from the site and don't have their number at the moment."

The Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency put the death toll at 18.

Local media reports said the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group had claimed responsibility for the attack.

A spokesman for the group said "the suicide attack" was carried out by Aadil Ahmad, alias Waqas Commando, in a statement sent to local newspapers.

Unconfirmed photos showed the charred remains of at least one vehicle littered across the highway, alongside blue military buses.

It is the deadliest attack on Indian forces in that part of Kashmir since September 2016 when 19 soldiers were killed in a pre-dawn militant raid on the Uri army camp.

India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers in Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan and riven by unrest since the end of British rule in 1947.

Rebel groups have been fighting for an independent Kashmir, or a merger with Pakistan, since 1989.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of fuelling the insurgency that has left tens of thousands of civilians dead.

Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only provides diplomatic support to Kashmiris' right to self-determination.
Anna Lindstedt, the ambassador at Sweden's embassy in China, pictured, has been recalled to Stockholm over the alleged meetings she set up with Gui Minhai's daughter

Sweden's ambassador to Beijing has been recalled after claims she brokered an unauthorised meeting over the fate of detained Chinese-Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai, Stockholm said Thursday.

The Hong Kong-based dissident -- known for publishing gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders -- disappeared in 2015 before resurfacing in mainland China. He was arrested on a train to Beijing in January last year while travelling with two Swedish diplomats.

In an online post this week, Britain-based Angela Gui said ambassador Anna Lindstedt had arranged for her to travel to Stockholm to meet businessmen "with connections to the Chinese Communist Party", who claimed they could help negotiate her father's release.

The Swedish foreign ministry admitted Thursday it knew nothing about the meetings until after they had taken place -- and was not even aware Lindstedt was in Sweden at the time.

She was now subject to an internal investigation "due to the information we've received concerning incorrect actions in connection with certain events in January", Rasmus Eljanskog, a foreign affairs press officer, told AFP.

Angela Gui said that in exchange for her father's release, she was told she would have to "be quiet" and "stop all media engagement" on her father's treatment.

She also said Lindstedt was present at the meetings and had promised to appear on Swedish television and "speak of the bright future of Sweden-China relations" if Gui was released.

When asked about Gui's allegations, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Thursday she "did not know the latest news" on Gui's situation.

Last week, the Chinese embassy in Sweden released a statement dismissing the detained bookseller's daughter's claims.

"The Chinese side has never authorised and will not authorise anyone to engage with Gui Minhai's daughter," the statement read.

"The result of the Gui Minhai case is to be decided by China's law, instead of the so-called 'China's representative' claimed by Gui Minhais daughter or the press."
Political passion: Nigerians vote in presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday

Nigeria's presidential candidates wrapped up their election campaigns on Thursday, making a final pitch to voters before Africa's most populous country heads into the polls.

Two days before election day, President Muhammadu Buhari headed to his home state of Katsina in the northwest, while his main challenger, Atiku Abubakar, returned to his base in Adamawa, in the northeast.

Both were due to address supporters at their final rallies before voting in their villages on Saturday.

Buhari, 76, is seeking a second, four-year term of office but is facing a strong challenge from Abubakar, 72, who has campaigned largely against the president's record in office.

There has been little or no reliable opinion polling but observers expect a close race. In 2015, results were announced some 48 hours after polls closed.

In what he called a "state-of-the-nation address", Abubakar said Buhari had failed to address insecurity, led a one-sided anti-corruption campaign and weakened the economy.

"Nigeria cannot survive another four years of this misdirection and maladministration," he said, declaring that Buhari's re-election would spell "disaster" for Nigeria.

Despite his age, Abubakar, a former vice-president representing the Peoples Democratic Party, has portrayed himself as a pro-business, modern and tech-savvy candidate.

In particular he has appealed to the 18-35 age group that make up just over half of the 84 million registered voters, including by publishing a manifesto entirely in emojis.

Buhari is "better left to take a long rest (to) attend properly to his health", he added, referring to the president's illness that saw him spend months abroad.

The former military ruler, from the All Progressives Congress (APC), conceded his time in office "has not been an easy journey".

But he maintained the government had made "great progress".

Preparing the vote: Empty ballot boxes at an Independent Nigerian Electoral Commission (INEC) office in Umuahia, a stronghold of the Biafran separatist movement in southeast Nigeria

"Some of these achievements are visible for everyone to see. Some are still in the works," he said in a video message, asking for support "to consolidate" the progress so far.

- Port Harcourt clashes -

Buhari, Abubakar and some 70 other presidential candidates on Wednesday signed a "peace accord", promising a peaceful vote and to accept the result.

Security was expected to be tight across the country, given Nigeria's long history of election-linked violence.

On Thursday, APC supporters in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt clashed with police.

Protesters carrying placards tried to storm the local offices of the election commission, calling for APC candidates to be put on the ballot for parliamentary and governorship votes.

Police fired teargas and the crowd dispersed, an AFP correspondent said.

Men in masks perform during a rally in Port Harcourt by the governor of Rivers state, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike

A factional split in the state APC saw two separate primaries held for candidates and competing court cases to determine the legitimacy of one or the other.

The Supreme Court has since ruled that neither was valid. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says the deadline has passed for the submission of candidates

Rivers state, of which Port Harcourt is the capital, has long been a flashpoint for political violence: in 2015, there were APC protests at the election results and claims of rigging.

On a national level, there have been warning that both main parties could try to rig by buying biometric cards needed by voters to cast their ballot.

Concerns have also been expressed about the ability to vote of some of the 1.8 million people made homeless by the Boko Haram conflict in the northeast.

Nigerian presidential election: key candidates

Ten polling stations have set up for the displaced in Borno state while three sites will be open for "IDP (internally displaced people) voting" in neighbouring Adamawa, INEC said.

No timeframe has been given for when the results will be unveiled. In 2015, they were announced some 48 hours after polls closed.

ola-cs-joa-phz/ri
Gipson said she was proud of Prout. You really dove in to this and made sure you got the most of it, she told him. She said his community service was notable in that it was the first restorative justice case that the Anne Arundel County NAACP has taken on. She said she hoped it would not be the last.
About 100 students in Surabaya city protested against Valentine's day, saying it promoted Western decadence and casual sex

Valentine's Day wasn't getting much love in the world's biggest Muslim majority nation Thursday as Indonesian authorities urged amorous couples to call it quits and carried out raids to quash any wayward gift-giving.

About 100 students in the second-biggest city, Surabaya, demonstrated against the chocolates-and-flowers celebration, saying it promoted Western decadence and casual sex.

"Say no to Valentine's now!" chanted the high schoolers, most of them teenaged girls in hijab head coverings. Some held placards with phrases like "Sorry Valentine's Day, I am Muslim".

School principal Arief Himawan warned that couples giving each other chocolates or other treats can quickly lead to sin.

"We want to remind our young generation not to be caught up in Western culture," he told AFP.

Authorities conducted raids in Surabaya, and Makassar city on Sulawesi island to snuff out any celebrations.

In conservative Aceh province -- the only place in Indonesia that imposes Islamic law -- a fresh Valentine's prohibition was issued, citing religious norms.

People are publicly whipped in the region for a wide range of offenses including selling alcohol and gay sex and similar bans have been ordered in previous years.

While Valentine's was off the cards for some, many Indonesians practise a moderate form of Islam and celebrate the day with chocolates and flowers for their loved ones.

Meanwhile in India, more than 10,000 schoolchildren, some as young as six, made a Valentine's Day pledge not to marry without their parents' consent.

The vast majority of Indian marriages are arranged by families and couples who defy tradition to marry outside caste and religion face a severe and sometimes deadly backlash.

Some 10,000 pupils aged six to 17 and even some teachers took a vow at 25 schools to "love and respect their parents till eternity" in the western state of Gujarat -- the stronghold of Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I will always respect their decision because no one in the world has sacrificed for me like them," said student Samadrita Banerjee.

People in swifty-changing but still largely conservative India also often frown upon unmarried couples who can find themselves being abused and harassed in public places.

Elsewhere, a school association in the southern state of Karnataka alerted teachers and parents to ensure children did not celebrate Valentine's Day by bunking classes to go to shopping malls or the movies, The Times of India newspaper reported.
British teenagers (L-R) Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana and Shamima Begum caught on camera leaving Gatwick Airport in February 2015

An unrepentant British teenager who joined the Islamic State group in Syria said in an interview Thursday that she wanted to come home, highlighting the challenge for Western governments on how to deal with returning jihadist supporters.

Shamima Begum, who ran away from London with two school friends in 2015, spoke to The Times newspaper from a refugee camp in eastern Syria after fleeing the collapse of the IS group's "caliphate".

Now 19, she expressed no regrets about joining the jihadists but said that two of her children were dead and she was now about to give birth again.

"I just could not endure any more," she told the newspaper.

She added: "I was also frightened that the child I am about to give birth to would die like my other children if I stayed on.

"So I fled the caliphate. Now all I want to do is come home to Britain."

The jihadists have staged a last stand in Baghouz in eastern Syria, near the Iraqi border

Begum made headlines around the world when, aged just 15, she left to join the jihadists with her two friends from Bethnal Green in east London. Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, from the same school had run away the year before.

Of the four girls, Kadiza Sultana who travelled to Syria with Begum, has since been reported killed.

Begum said the other two, Sharmeena Begum -- no relation -- and Amira Abase, stayed in Baghouz where IS fighters are making a final stand against US-backed forces.

"They were strong. I respect their decision," Begum said of her friends.

She added: "I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don't regret coming here."

- 'Challenge for all of us' -

The British authorities estimate around 900 Britons travelled to Syria and Iraq to join the conflict, of whom around 300-400 have since returned -- and 40 have been prosecuted.

As of last month, around 200 were believed to still be alive and in the region.

Speaking to Sky News, Security Minister Ben Wallace said it was "worrying" that Begum had not expressed regret about going to Syria.

He also noted the difficulties faced by many governments of how to deal with those returning from abroad.

"It is a challenge for all of us," he told BBC radio.

"Some of them were groomed... when they were young but are now adults and some of them are hardened fighters.

Begum made headlines around the world when she left to join the jihadists, aged just 15

"We have successfully prosecuted a number of them in the last few years when they have come back and the others should expect the same if they return."

The United States had said it is ready to help countries repatriate IS jihadists detained in Syria but it is up to their home governments to come up with solutions.

Under new anti-terrorism legislation, British nationals spending time in Syria face arrest and up to 10 years in prison on their return.

The law toughens previous legislation that required authorities to prove returning nationals had engaged in terrorist activities while abroad.

A lawyer who represented the families of Begum and her two friends four years ago, Tasnime Akunjee, told The Times he was "thankful she's alive".

He noted that when they ran away, "there was an understanding that as long as they had committed no further offence they will not be prosecuted and be seen as victims".

Abase's father Hussen said the girls had been young when they ran away, at an age when they could be "easily tricked".

"Twisted minds can be straightened by teamwork of the government, with the parent," he told Sky News.

- 'My first severed head' -

Begum married a Dutch fighter soon after arriving in Syria.

"Mostly it was normal life in Raqqa, every now and then bombing and stuff," she told The Times.

"But when I saw my first severed head in a bin it didn't faze me at all. It was from a captured fighter seized on the battlefield, an enemy of Islam.

"I thought only of what he would have done to a Muslim woman if he had the chance."

Syria

Begum fled with her husband, but he surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters allied to the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.

"The caliphate is over," she said, adding that "there was so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory".

She acknowledged her notoriety but said: "I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child."
A Warsaw conference jointly organised by US President Donald Trump's administration lacks credibility as it aims to "normalise" the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, a Palestinian official said in remarks published Thursday.

"By fully siding with the Israeli government, (the Americans) have tried to normalise the Israeli occupation and the systematic denial of the Palestinian right to self-determination," Nabil Shaath, an adviser to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, wrote in a column published by Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

The two-day conference, which convened for its main session in the Polish capital on Thursday, is officially devoted to security in the Middle East, with a strong emphasis on Iran.

But Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is expected to offer hints of the US administration's proposals for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Shaath said the Palestinians had refused to go to the conference.

"The Warsaw conference is part of this context," he wrote.

"A peace process cannot be turned into an attempt to obtain amnesty for war crimes or to make one of the parties surrender its basic rights under the UN charter."

The Palestinians have refused to talk to the Trump administration since the US leader recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017.

The Trump administration has since dealt a series of harsh blows to the Palestinian Authority, including cutting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Palestinians.
Maurice Kamto says he was cheated out of the presidency in last October's elections, when Cameroon's president Paul Biya, 86, was re-elected for a seventh term

More than 150 people have been charged with "hostility to the homeland" and "insurrection" for their role in anti-government protests in Cameroon, the vice-president of the country's main opposition party said.

The president of the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) opposition party, Maurice Kamto, was among those charged on Wednesday in a crackdown criticised by human rights campaigners.

He and around 150 other people were arrested in late January and have been held for nearly three weeks by police in the capital Yaounde.

They have gone before a judge in groups, starting with Kamto overnight Tuesday to Wednesday. He was charged with "rebellion, insurrection" and "hostility to the country".

Around twenty of those detained have been released on bail, MRC's vice-president Emmanuel Simh told AFP.

"Hostility to the country" is punishable by the death penalty in theory, but the penalty has not been carried out in Cameroon for more than 30 years.

Maurice Kamto says he was cheated out of the presidency in last October's elections, when Cameroon's President Paul Biya, 86, was re-elected for a seventh term.

Around 200 people were arrested in subsequent protests, the MRC said.

Amnesty International said the wave of detentions "signals an escalating crackdown on opposition leaders, human rights defenders and activists."
South Africa's utility giant Eskom is rationing electricity as it struggles with breakdowns at its coal-fired plants

Power outages across South Africa this week have blown up into the biggest political threat facing President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ruling ANC party three months away from elections, analysts say.

Utility giant Eskom unexpectedly imposed highly-unpopular power rationing on Sunday, with rotational cuts now scheduled every day -- plunging shops, offices, factories and home into darkness for hours.

So-called "load-shedding" returned with a vengeance, reaching levels of severity not seen for four years.

This week the government confirmed that troubled state-owned Eskom, which generates more than 90 percent of the country's energy, was "technically insolvent".

Eskom is buried under a mountain of 420 billion rand ($30 billion) in debt. Unless it receives another cash bailout, it is officially forecast to collapse by April.

With national elections in May, the blackouts have shaken the African National Congress party, which has held power since the end of apartheid in 1994.

"This is probably the biggest political nightmare for the ANC at the moment," analyst Daniel Silke told AFP.

"The real opposition for the ANC is load-shedding more than it is the opposition political parties.

"The only option for ANC is a Band-Aid. It's going to have to throw cash at Eskom."

- 'Highly damaging' -

For many critics of the ANC, the Eskom blackouts have come to symbolise the price that the public pays for alleged corruption and mismanagement.

Ramaphosa told parliament on Thursday that government would have to step in to save Eskom, Africa's largest power utility.

Details of the rescue plan will be unveiled in next week's budget statement.

"It has become clear that indeed Eskom does need to be assisted by the state so that it can stabilise its finances, because doing so also means that we are stabilising the economy of our country," Ramaphosa said.

Eskom requires "urgent attention," he said, but cautioned: "There just is no one silver bullet."

Ramaphosa, who took power after scandal-tainted Jacob Zuma was ousted last year, has tried to draw a line after his predecessor's reign, but with limited success.

If the power cuts persist into the campaign season, plaguing everyday life and suffocating the economy, the president could face tricky polls despite the ANC remaining forecast to win the vote.

"(The) fiasco at Eskom is highly damaging for the ANC ahead of the election," said Ben Payton of a London-based consultancy, Verisk-Maplecroft.

The main opposition Democratic Alliance has jumped at the chance to make gains ahead of the polls.

"The future of Eskom is of fundamental importance to every one of us," it said. "Only one party can put an end to the corruption and mismanagement that has brought South Africa to the edge of the cliff."

Ramaphosa is widely seen as an electoral asset for the ANC after nine years of Zuma's rule, and his moderate, pro-business record has boosted investor confidence.

The party itself has been keen to pass the blame for the energy crisis.

The power blackouts were "an act of sabotage," claimed ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa.

- Reforms challenged -

Eskom's woes started in 2007 when it began building two new coal stations to replace ageing plants.

But the highly-touted Medupi and Kusile plants "were badly designed and badly constructed and are not performing to optimum levels," said Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan, brought in by Ramaphosa to reform South Africa's state-owned companies.

The plants have suffered long commissioning delays and nearly six-fold cost overruns, and now suffer regular breakdowns, forcing engineers to ration power. The outages are posted in advance on the internet, to help people to prepare.

Privatising Eskom would put the ANC at loggerheads with its trade union allies, say analysts

Restructuring Eskom will not be easy and will face opposition from within the ANC and from trade unions -- the party's traditional allies -- who fear privatisation and job losses.

But Ramaphosa assured the restive unions that the Eskom restructuring plan is "not a path to privatisation"

And unless it keeps the lights on, ANC government will face an angry electorate on May 8.

"I just had my hair cut, but I can't have it blow-dried because there is no power," said physiotherapist Judy Price as she walked out of Tangles hair salon in Johannesburg's suburb of Rosebank, her hair soaking wet.

"My tax gives me no service. You feel let down by your government. How do you re-elect a government that's not providing for the people?"
Pham Ngoc Canh (R) and Ri Yong Hui had to keep their cross-border love secret for decades

A handkerchief, illicit letters and secret visits -- the first three decades of love between a Vietnamese man and his North Korean sweetheart were counted out in stolen moments and small tokens of devotion.

But now this love story is being lauded as an example of the two countries' amity in the lead-up to this month's much anticipated second summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi.

The communist state is thrilled to be hosting the high-profile event in Hanoi, an opportunity for Vietnam to boost its diplomatic gravitas on the world stage.

But for the couple, their hopes for peace on the Korean peninsula also carry personal motivations.

"I wish... we can go back for visits more easily," 69-year-old Vietnamese Pham Van Canh told AFP.

He first met his future wife Ri Yong Hui in 1971 at a Pyongyang fertiliser factory, where she was working.

Canh was one of hundreds of Vietnamese sent to fellow communist nation North Korea to study how their country could rebuild after the devastating war with the US.

"I asked others for her name, trying to meet her," he said. "At that time, both Vietnamese and North Koreans were not allowed to love each other."

His first token of affection was a handkerchief.

Their courtship included secret visits to her hometown, which were cut short in 1973 when he had to return to Vietnam.

Canh gave Ri 20 envelopes with his mother's work address at the State Bank of Vietnam already written out so she could send letters, skirting North Korea's monitoring of correspondence.

Still the couple sent only two or three letters a year to avoid notice. Mostly, they kept to safe subjects like health and work, in case the envelopes were opened by others.

"We were in love and she had even told me to die together, to commit suicide. But I told her, 'We are in love, why die? Wait for me and I will come back.'"

As the years ticked by, he kept an eye on the two countries' relationship, as Vietnam outpaced North Korea in economic growth.

Meanwhile, he set up a friendship club between the countries and organised fundraising to donate rice to the Korean peninsula as its leadership isolated itself from the outside world.

He also appealed to Vietnam's Foreign Ministry, who brought the couple up in bilateral talks to their North Korean counterparts as "a humanitarian matter", he told AFP.

Then in 2002, Canh's efforts paid off.

He was allowed to return to Pyongyang to hold a small wedding ceremony and then take Ri back to Hanoi on the condition she remained a North Korean citizen.

Today, 70-year-old Ri says she has a good life in Hanoi where she lives with Canh in a modest apartment.

But the couple have managed to visit Pyongyang only three times because of its isolation.

"I always have my homeland on my mind," she told AFP.
Locals will have more control over their territory and see an influx of government cash for development projects

Dozens of communities won approval to join a new Muslim-led territory in the Philippines' south, results showed Thursday, yet the exclusion of a key rebel stronghold raised concerns about the peace process in the restive region.

The results are from the second and final round of a landmark referendum that was the culmination of a decades-long process seeking to halt Muslim separatist violence that has claimed some 150,000 lives since the 1970s.

Voters had already overwhelmingly approved last month the so-called Bangsamoro region, which is centred on the island of Mindanao in the majority Catholic nation's south.

Locals will have more control over their territory and see an influx of government cash for development projects aimed at breaking the cycle of poverty and violent extremism.

The second round of voting on February 6 focused on whether a string of smaller communities would get approval from the municipality or region that surrounds them to join the Bangsamoro.

Official results released Thursday by the Philippines' electoral commission showed 63 of 67 villages in the North Cotabato region would join.

However, in an expected outcome, voters in the majority-Christian region of Lanao del Norte refused to allow six local towns to become part of the Bangsamoro.

The result is that at least one major rebel camp belonging to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, whose peace deal with Manila prompted the vote, won't be inside the boundaries of the Bangsamoro.

That is important because the rebels are supposed to lay down their arms and transition into leading the newly formed territory.

Official results by the Philippines' electoral commission showed 63 of 67 villages in the North Cotabato region would join

Experts said it is unclear what impact the Lanao del Norte vote will have on long-term peace prospects as fighters under the MILF should still give up their weapons even outside the Bangsamoro.

A key commander of those forces is also in line for a high-level job in the Bangsamoro's new government, which was widely seen as an effort to keep him and his troops in the fold.

Still, Zachary Abuza, a security expert at the National War College in Washington, told AFP some fighters would surely be unhappy with the vote's result and could be a threat to peace.

"I think it's a very delicate situation," he said. "If it's mishandled it could be bad."
Civilians flee the Islamic State group's crumbling last holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria

Islamic State group jihadists using tunnels and suicide bombers were mounting a desperate defence Thursday of their last square kilometre in eastern Syria.

Kurdish-led forces closed in on the small town of Baghouz where IS fighters and their relatives were hunkered down and met famished and dishevelled people turning themselves in.

"The fighting is fierce," said Adnan Afrin, a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces, the Kurdish-Arab outfit that has spearheaded the campaign against IS with backing from a US-led coalition.

"There is significant resistance," he told AFP in Al-Omar oil field, the main staging base for the SDF's offensive against the very last shred of the original IS "caliphate".

Women and children are among those fleeing the Islamic State group's embattled holdout of Baghouz in eastern Syria

The few hundred fighters of various nationalities holding out in their last bastion by the Iraqi border have launched bruising counter-attacks in recent days, Afrin said.

The jihadists are clinging to about one square kilometre in the town's built-up area, as well as to an adjacent camp, where a number of civilians are believed to be gathered.

Afrin said it was impossible to provide accurate figures but he estimated the total number of fighters, men and women, at around 1,000.

- Tunnels -

"There are many tunnels in Baghouz now. This is why the operation is dragging on. There are many suicide bombers attacking our positions, with explosives-laden cars and motorbikes," he said.

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces are spearheading the campaign against the jihadists with backing from a US-led coalition

Afrin said two such suicide attacks were carried out by women on Tuesday but he would not provide any figures on casualties among SDF ranks.

People continued to trickle out of the last IS redoubt every day, trudging up a dirt road to a collection point where SDF fighters and volunteers provide first aid and carry out a first screening.

The major influx of the past few days slowed to a trickle on Thursday but it was unclear how many civilians remained trapped inside the jihadists' last redoubt.

David Eubank from the Free Burma Rangers volunteer medical group said he saw around 60 to 70 civilians exiting the last IS pocket on Thursday, one of the lowest numbers since December.

Many of those who snuck out had to sleep outside in the cold to reach the SDF, where a lucky few get tents while the rest were spread out on cheap blankets.

"The kids were crying all night from the cold," said Fatima, an Iraqi woman from Baghdad who fled Baghouz with her four children, all under 15.

IS group's last bastion in eastern Syria

"This is the second night we sleep outside. There was so much bombing in Baghouz that it was safer for us to sleep in the open," she told AFP.

The SDF has restricted media access to the front line since an Italian journalist was wounded earlier this week.

The US-led coalition is carrying out air strikes on the area while its forces are also present on the ground, sifting through the displaced for wanted jihadists.

Afrin said SDF forces tuning their walkie-talkies on the jihadists' frequencies "can hear them speak in Arabic but also in Turkish, French and English."

Once the adult men have been separated from their families, foreign and SDF officers thumb through pictures on smart phones to ask new arrivals about wanted IS leaders.

- Baghdadi -

IS's elusive Iraqi-born supremo, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is not believed to be among the last jihadist leaders holed up in Baghouz.

Several known jihadist figures have emerged from the dregs of the "caliphate" in recent days however, including German Martin Lemke and Frenchman Quentin Le Brun.

A rift appears to have grown between foreign members of IS who have nowhere to hide and local fighters who are attempting to blend back into the population as the organisation goes underground again.

US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces hold a position during fighting against Islamic State group jihadists in eastern Syria on February 13, 2019

The "caliphate" Baghdadi proclaimed in mid-2014 once spanned territory the size of the United Kingdom and administered millions of people.

It printed its own schoolbooks, produced oil, collected taxes and minted its own currency, in a brief but unprecedented experiment in jihadist statehood.

Successive offensives in Iraq and Syria have shattered the proto-state, which lost its key cities one after the other and had since late 2017 been confined to its traditional strongholds in the Euphrates River valley.

An official declaration of victory against IS is expected in the coming days, a move of mostly symbolic value that will go down as the death certificate of the "caliphate".

While surviving IS fighters on both sides of the border will no longer hold fixed positions, the jihadist organisation will remain a threat.

The United States is due to pull its troops out of Syria within weeks, creating a vacuum that risks allowing IS to rebuild and project new ambitions.

The Kurds are also afraid they will have to squander the autonomy they acquired and be left exposed to a military offensive by their archfoe Turkey.
Thai Raksa Chart party leader Preechaphol Pongpanit expressed public contrition for selecting Princess Ubolratana as candidate for prime minister

Thailand's constitutional court on Thursday said it would hear a case to dissolve the party which proposed a princess for prime minister, an ill-fated candidacy which threatens to sink the election strategy of the powerful Shinawatra clan.

The Thai Raksa Chart party nominated Princess Ubolratana for premier last Friday, a bombshell move bringing Thai royalty to frontline politics for the first time since the 1932 establishment of a constitutional monarchy.

Hours later the princess's brother -- Thailand's powerful king Maha Vajiralongkorn -- scuttled her political ambitions, hitting out at the attempt to bring her into politics as "highly inappropriate" and against royal traditions.

In the days since, chaos has enveloped Thai Raksa Chart, which falls under the tutelage of Thaksin Shinawatra, a divisive billionaire ex-premier who sits at the heart of Thailand's bitter political schism.

On Wednesday the Election Commission (EC) handed the case for dissolution of Thai Raksa Chart to the constitutional court on the grounds the party had taken "action considered hostile to the constitutional monarchy".

The court "unanimously agreed to accept the request by the Election Commission", it said in a statement.

The next hearing is on February 27.

Party officials fear the case is being hustled through ahead of the March 24 election, which is already stacked in favour of the ruling junta, whose leader Prayut Chan-O-Cha wants to return as a civilian premier.

"We feel the case has been irregularly expedited," Thai Raksa Chart key member Chayika Wongnapachant, who is a niece of Thaksin Shinawatra, told AFP before the court delivered its statement.

- 'Loyalty and respect' -

"Without Thai Raksa Chart in the play, I believe it is going to be hard for the people to win a majority in parliament," she said, adding the loss of the party's 278 candidates could land a hammer blow to the aspirations of anti-junta parties.

The party acted in good faith, with "loyalty and respect... and we hope the court sees that," she added.

Thai Raksa Chart aimed to add to the vote bank of the bigger Shinawatra electoral vehicle, Pheu Thai, in an election where secondary parties are targeting seats via a party list system.

After five years of junta rule Thailand remains a deeply divided kingdom.

Parties affiliated with Thaksin -- who is adored by the rural poor but loathed by the Bangkok-based establishment -- have won every election since 2001, but their governments have been battered by two coups and a barrage of court cases.

The junta wants to embed its influence after elections, scripting a charter that created a fully appointed upper house and limits the number of constituency seats up for grabs in elections.

Thaksin and his sister Yingluck, who was toppled by a 2014 coup, both live abroad to avoid convictions they say are politically motivated.

Thais have struggled to unpick the meaning behind Princess Ubolratana's fleeting foray into politics, but have been left open-jawed by the rare sight of palace intrigue playing out in public.

Ubolratana renounced her royal titles to marry an American, but is still treated by Thais as member of the revered royal family.

burs-apj/je
Ahn Hee-jung, a former South Korean presidential contender of the ruling Democratic Party,was jailed after being found guilty of nine charges, including sexual intercourse by abuse of authority

A coalition of more than 150 South Korean women's and rights groups slammed the wife of a jailed politician involved in the nation's highest profile #MeToo case on Thursday, after she claimed her husband never raped the victim.

Min Joo-won is the wife of former presidential contender Ahn Hee-jung, who was jailed earlier this month in an appeal trial stemming from allegations he repeatedly raped his female aide, Kim Ji-eun.

Ahn, who before the scandal was seen as a strong candidate to replace President Moon Jae-in when his term ends in 2022, is by far the highest-profile individual to be named in the country's ongoing #MeToo movement.

On February 1 he was found guilty of nine charges, including sexual intercourse by abuse of authority -- a move welcomed by women's activists, who were infuriated by his acquittal by a lower court last year. He was sentenced to three and a half years in jail.

But late Wednesday Min Joo-won claimed in a Facebook post that the case involving her husband was "not a #MeToo case" but one of "an extramarital affair".

She further argued that she and her children are the "biggest victims" of the situation.

"I cannot acknowledge Kim Ji-eun as a victim," Min wrote.

"I cannot forgive Ahn Hee-jung and Kim Ji-eun. Those two people destroyed my family."

Her post was endorsed by more than 1000 people as of Thursday afternoon.

Min made similar arguments when she testified at a hearing at the Seoul Western District Court last year.

The #MeToo movement has grown in South Korea, where previously women were reluctant to come forward after being sexually assualted

Ahn has also insisted that the sex was consensual.

Some 158 human rights and women's groups in the country released a statement asking Min to "stop causing secondary victimisation" of Kim.

"What Min is doing is causing another set of trauma to Kim," said an activist who did not wish to be named.

"Min is using all the tactics of victim blaming -- questioning the victim's credibility and motives, and framing the case as an instance of 'affair'. This should stop," she said.

Kim welcomed the appeal court's decision earlier this month, saying she can now say goodbye to the "painful past when I lived like a witch being burnt at the stake".

"I also send my message of solidarity to other victims of sexual violence whose voices were ignored in spite of speaking up."
A Glen Burnie man faces manslaughter and drunk driving charges after police say two cars collided head-on in Laurel early Saturday morning, killing one driver, police said.

Anne Arundel police wrote in a release Christopher Thomas, 39, faces felony and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges and driving under the influence offenses in the death of Raymond McCarter Jr., 33, of Bowie.

Police said the two were driving in the area of Route 32 and Route 198 when their vehicles collided head-on in the eastbound lanes.

Investigators believe Thomas caused the crash, saying that Thomas was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes in his 2002 Ford F-150 truck when he crashed into McCarters 2012 Toyota Camry.

Police were called to the scene around 2 a.m. Saturday and McCarter was pronounced dead at the scene. Thomas was not injured, police wrote, and there was no one else in either vehicle.

A preliminary investigation found Thomas at fault, police said, and wrote the use of alcohol appears to have contributed to this crash.

Police charged him with vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving charges after conferring with the Anne Arundel County States Attorneys Office about the investigation.

The manslaughter charges came a few hours after police began investigating the crash.

Other fatal crash investigations have taken up to a year before prosecutors pursue manslaughter charges. Prosecutors waited until only days before the one-year anniversary of a fatal Christmas Eve crash in Churchton before charging a 31-year-old man with manslaughter.

At the time, the head of the county polices Traffic Safety Section said crash investigations can take up to a year to complete.

It is unclear whether Thomas has retained an attorney as Marylands online court records are expected to be down while officials integrate Baltimore County records into the system this weekend.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to The Capital today 
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greets participants before a dinner at a conference in Warsaw on the Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed Thursday as historic a Warsaw meeting where he is joining Arab states, saying they stood united against Iran and voicing hope that cooperation extends to other areas.

The opening dinner Wednesday night of the two-day, US-organised conference marked "a historical turning point," Netanyahu told reporters.

"In a room of some 60 foreign ministers representative of dozens of governments, an Israeli prime minister and the foreign ministers of the leading Arab countries stood together and spoke with unusual force, clarity and unity against the common threat of the Iranian regime," he said.

"I think this marks a change and important understanding of what threatens our future, what we need to do to secure it, and the possibility that cooperation will extend beyond security in every realm of life."

At the opening dinner at Warsaw's Royal Castle, officials said that Netanyahu spoke around the same table as senior officials of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain -- none of which have relations with Israel but all of which share Netanyahu's hawkish stance on Iran.

Israel only has diplomatic relations with two Arab states, neighbouring Egypt and Jordan.

Netanyahu also met one-on-one in Warsaw with Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah of Oman, where he travelled late last year. Oman has sought friendly relations with all regional players including Iran.

US Vice President Mike Pence and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both attending the conference co-hosted with Poland, which is eager for strong ties with Washington in the face of the threat of Russia.

But most European powers are sending low-level representation, wary of the hawkish line on Iran by President Donald Trump who withdrew from an international accord on curbing Tehran's nuclear programme.
In drive hunting, fishermen force dolphins into a cove where the panicked animals get tangled in nets, suffocate and drown

Environmental campaigners have filed an unprecedented lawsuit in a bid to halt the so-called "drive hunting" of dolphins in Japan, arguing the practice is cruel and illegal.

In drive hunting, fishermen force dolphins into a cove by beating on boats to disorient them. The panicked animals often get tangled in nets, suffocate and drown.

Activists say some dolphins smash into rocks and die of injuries, while others are killed by fishermen who thrust a long metal rod repeatedly into the body just behind the blowhole to damage the spinal cord.

In the suit filed last week, the plaintiffs are demanding the governor of western Wakayama prefecture revoke a three-year drive hunting permit in the port town of Taiji.

The practice was filmed in the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove", which sparked controversy when it thrust the annual hunt into the global spotlight.

Many in Japan felt it unfairly targeted the town's fishing community, but others were horrified by the disturbing footage.

The lawsuit is the first-ever legal challenge to the hunt in Taiji, according to a lawyer involved in the filing.

It argues that the hunting method violates Japan's animal welfare act, which stipulates animals shall not be abused or killed unnecessarily and that -- when they must be killed -- their pain must be minimised.

The town of Taiji in Japan where a three-year dolphin 'drive hunting' permit was granted

"Many Japanese see dolphins as fish and mistakenly believe the animal welfare act does not apply to them," said Ren Yabuki, head of an environmental NGO, who brought the action along with a Taiji resident who asked for anonymity.

"I've seen many times that half-killed dolphins are taken away on small boats, thrashing about in pain," Yabuki said, adding it can take dozens of minutes for the animals to die.

The suit challenges the way the hunt is carried out, rather then all kinds of dolphin hunting.

It also claims fishermen are catching more dolphins than allowed by legal caps.

No immediate comment was available from Wakayama officials on the lawsuit.

Dolphins are traditionally caught for meat in Japan, and defenders of the hunt say it is an important part of local culture and point out that dolphins are not endangered.

Nowadays, an increasing number of dolphins are being trapped and sold live for aquariums rather than killed, as demand rises from China or elsewhere, Yabuki said.

Japan has strongly defended its hunting of dolphins and whales, a rare piece of provocative diplomacy for the country, which has generally pursued an uncontroversial foreign policy since its World War II defeat.

It sparked outrage in December when it decided to withdraw from the International Whaling Commission, saying it would return to commercial whaling as part of its cultural heritage.
Iranians mourn the victims of a suicide attack on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran

President Hassan Rouhani vowed revenge Thursday against the "mercenary group" behind a suicide bombing which killed 27 troops in southeastern Iran and accused the US and Israel of supporting "terrorism".

"We will certainly make this mercenary group pay for the blood of our martyrs," the official IRNA news agency quoted the Iranian president as saying in response to Wednesday's attack.

"The main root of terrorism in the region is America and Zionists, and some oil-producing countries in the region also financially support the terrorists," he added.

Rouhani was speaking at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport before leaving for the Russian resort of Sochi for a summit with his Russian and Turkish counterparts Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the future of war-battered Syria.

The scene of the suicide attack on February 13, 2019 on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran

The bombing was claimed by the jihadist Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by Iran, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

The organisation was formed in 2012 as a successor to Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before being severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Tehran in 2010.

In comments reported by state television, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack's perpetrators were certainly linked to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries."

The coffins of the victims were brought by plane to Isfahan, some 400 kilometres south of Tehran

The European Union condemned the attack, saying "there can be no justification for such an outrageous act of terror," and expressing condolences to the families of the victims.

The bombing, which targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, was one of the deadliest attacks on Iranian security forces in years.

It came just days after Iran held more than a week of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah.

- 'Horrific' attack -

Lebanon's Iran-backed Shiite movement Hezbollah also denounced the attack, saying it was in retaliation for "the Iranian nation's huge turnout in rallies" marking the anniversary.

"The takfiri (Sunni extremist) and terrorist gangs behind this horrific suicide attack were nurtured, financed and supported by the US, 'Israel' and their regional allies," Hezbollah said.

The troops killed were aged from 21 to 52 and belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division, the Tasnim news agency reported.

Iran's long border with Pakistan, which is straddled by the large, mainly Sunni Muslim Baluchi minority, has long made the southeast a flahspoint

The bomber struck as they were returning from a patrol mission on the border with Pakistan, where Baluchi separatist and jihadist groups have rear bases, the Guards said in a statement.

Sistan-Baluchistan is home to a large ethnic Baluchi community, who straddle the border and are mainly Sunni Muslims, unlike most Iranians who are Shiites.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was formed in April 1979 at the order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to protect the Islamic revolution from foreign and internal threats.

A special farewell ceremony for those killed is planned for Friday evening and the funerals will follow on Saturday, Tasnim said.

- Warning to neighbours -

Rouhani called on Iran's neighbours to assume their "legal responsibilities" and not allow "terrorists" to use their soil to prepare attacks.

"If this continues and they cannot stop the terrorists, it is clear -- based on international law -- that we have certain rights and will act upon them in due time," he said, without elaborating.

The attack came on the same day as the United States gathered some 60 countries in Poland for a conference on the Middle East and Iran which it hoped would increase pressure on Tehran.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says it is "no coincidence" Iran was hit by a suicide bombing on the same day that an international conference co-hosted by Washington opened in Warsaw with the goal of stepping up pressure on Tehran

Iran quickly linked the attack to the Warsaw conference, where supporters of the formerly armed opposition People's Mujahedeen plan a second day of protests on Thursday.

Dubbing the meeting the "WarsawCircus", Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was "no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day" that the talks began in the Polish capital.

"Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

Sistan-Baluchistan has been hit by previous deadly attacks in recent months.

Map of Iran locating the city of Zahedan.

On January 29, three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it.

And in early December, two people were killed and around 40 wounded in an attack in the strategic port city of Chabahar, on the province's Arabian Sea coast, which Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists".

In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border, five of whom were later released and flown home after Pakistani intervention.
Junichiro Hironaka, Carlos Ghosn's new lawyer is known as "the acquitter" in Japanese legal circles

By changing his lead attorney from a former prosecutor known as "the breaker" to a hotshot trial lawyer nicknamed "the acquitter", Carlos Ghosn plans a defence in his own image -- combative and media-savvy, experts say.

In the chaotic aftermath of Ghosn's stunning arrest last year on financial misconduct charges, the appointment of Motonari Otsuru -- an ex-head of the elite prosecution team investigating the case -- seemed a shrewd move by the auto tycoon.

Who better than a former prosecutor, who won his nickname by extracting confessions from suspects, to navigate the sometimes arcane Japanese legal system and predict what authorities would throw at them?

But the reality is that legal triumphs have been few and far between for the former Nissan chief, who has been in a Tokyo detention centre for three months with little prospect of release before a trial that could take months to materialise.

Otsuru can only point to one surprise victory -- where the court refused to extend Ghosn's detention -- but he has twice failed to win bail for his client and eventually threw in the towel, resigning on Wednesday.

"From the beginning, Ghosn needed a lawyer capable of taking on the prosecutors and that is not Otsuru," said Japanese attorney Nobuo Gohara.

"Even after becoming a (defence) lawyer, he never criticised the prosecutors," Gohara told AFP.

Indeed, at his only public appearance, Otsuru surprised many Western observers with his demeanour -- cutting a rather passive and academic figure far removed from the sort of adversarial defence lawyer seen in the US or Britain.

He declined to agree with foreign criticism of Ghosn's detention conditions or the Japanese legal system that allows suspects to be held almost indefinitely, appearing to side with the authorities against his own client.

Otsuru also said Ghosn was unlikely to win bail, describing it as "very difficult" before a trial he said could take as many as six months to organise.

According to legal expert Gohara, Otsuru himself probably did not believe in his own bail requests -- knowing from his experience as a prosecutor they stood little chance of success.

"However, it is possible that if the requests were filed with good arguments, they might have been accepted," said Gohara.

- 'Fighting talk' -

Another lawyer, Yasuyuki Takai, told AFP that Otsuru and Ghosn -- who have spent hours together over the past three months -- were probably incompatible.

"I think that Ghosn, given his personality, did not do what his lawyer told him and that would be difficult to accept for Otsuru, who wants the client to listen to him," said Takai.

Carlos Ghosn

Otsuru is also unlikely to have welcomed Ghosn offering media interviews -- including to AFP -- from his cell, or the release of several statements via PR firms.

In one of these statements Ghosn offered to wear a tracking bracelet as part of his bail conditions, apparently unaware they were not used in Japan.

With such tactics Otsuru "probably felt dishonoured" within the legal profession, said Takai, with his resignation a "logical" consequence, according to Gohara.

"It seems that the two personalities were not compatible and for Ghosn, there was little benefit of continuing with Otsuru."

The new man in charge, Junichiro Hironaka, has an enviable record of securing acquittals for high-profile clients -- beating the odds in a system where almost every trial ends in a conviction.

Hironaka may also be more inclined to follow his client's instructions, according to Takai.

After the appointment, Ghosn issued a typically bullish statement saying the shake-up was "the beginning of the process of ... establishing my innocence".

That was "fighting talk", said Gohara and "it should be followed up by fierce lawyers" using the media on the prosecutors at every opportunity.

Gohara said the team was now "well constructed", with Hironaka "a lawyer who has really had to fight to the end in many cases" -- including securing the acquittal of a high-profile politician in 2012 of election finance fraud charges.

Hironaka's wingman will be Hiroshi Kawatsu, who has voiced criticism of the Japanese legal system where defence lawyers are not present at their clients' interrogation and receive documents only late in the case.
The base is currently located in a densely-populated part of the southern island, and has caused frictions with local residents over everything from noise to accidents

Campaigning began Thursday ahead of a referendum in Japan's Okinawa on the controversial relocation of a US military base to a remote part of the island.

The non-binding vote will be held on February 24, with Governor Denny Tamaki campaigning against the relocation of the Futenma airbase.

The base is currently located in a densely-populated part of the southern island, and has caused frictions with local residents over everything from noise to accidents.

In a bid to resolve the long-running tensions, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has backed a plan to move the base to a coastal area, reclaiming land for part of the proposed new site.

But residents opposed to the move want the base moved out of Okinawa altogether, arguing that the region bears a disproportionate burden when it comes to hosting US military troops in the country.

Okinawa accounts for less than one percent of Japan's total land area, but hosts more than half of the approximately 47,000 American military personnel stationed in Japan.

Noise, accidents, and crimes committed by military personnel and civilian base employees have long angered Okinawans, many of whom want other parts of the country to house bases instead.

But the archipelago's location near Taiwan has long been viewed as having huge strategic importance for US forward positioning in Asia.

And Abe's government has shown little sign of willingness to consider relocating Futenma to another part of the country or otherwise changing the spread of US military forces in Japan.

- 'Precious ballot' -

Tamaki, elected in September after campaigning against the relocation plans, has urged residents to vote.

"It is a very significant opportunity for people in Okinawa prefecture to directly show their will. Please go to polling stations and cast a precious ballot," he told reporters earlier Thursday.

The governor is required to "respect" the vote's outcome if approved by at least a quarter of eligible voters -- around 290,000 votes.

But the referendum is not binding on the central government, and spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that there were no plans to halt the relocation plan.

Suga declined to comment directly on the referendum and repeated the government's position that it was trying to "ease the burden on the Okinawan people in a clearly recognisable way."

The referendum was initially planned as a yes-no vote on the move, but a "neither" option has been added to the ballot after opposition from several cities with close ties to the central government.

Those cities had threatened to opt out of the vote altogether, but the addition of the "neither" option means the referendum will be held across Okinawa.

The closing of Futenma and opening of a replacement facility at Nago, 50 kilometres (30 miles) away, was first agreed in 1996 as the US sought to calm local anger after US servicemen gang raped a schoolgirl.

But it has been bogged down ever since with local politicians blocking the move in a bid to reduce the American footprint.

Another referendum was held in 1996, with nearly nine in 10 people agreeing that US bases should be "reduced" in the area.
Philippine journalist Maria Ressa talks to the press at the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) before posting bail in Manila

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa was freed on bail on Thursday following an arrest that sparked international censure and allegations she is being targeted over her news site's criticism of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ressa, 55, spent a night in detention after authorities arrested the veteran reporter at her Manila office Wednesday in a sharp upping of government pressure on her and her website Rappler.

The site and Ressa have been hit with tax evasion charges and now a libel case after clashing repeatedly with Duterte over his deadly crackdown on narcotics that has killed thousands.

"The message that the government is sending is very clear... be silent or you're next," an emotional Ressa told reporters outside a Manila court.

She stumped up a bond of 100,000-pesos ($1,900), the sixth time since December she has paid bail on a government case.

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa and her website have been hit with tax evasion charges and now a libel case

"I am appealing to you not to be silent, even if -- and especially if -- you're next," added Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalism.

International condemnation from dignitaries, press freedom and human rights groups has poured in since plainclothes agents appeared at Rappler to serve an arrest warrant.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland tweeted she was "deeply troubled" by Ressa's arrest Wednesday.

"A free press is a bedrock of democracy. Canada reiterates its call for due process to be respected and for journalists to be free from harassment and intimidation," Freeland added.

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, tweeted in support: "The arrest of journalist @mariaressa by the Philippine government is outrageous and must be condemned by all democratic nations."

- Duterte attacks on media -

The libel case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.

The legal foundation of the case is a controversial law aiming to crack down on online offences ranging from harassment to child pornography.

Ressa was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalism

Ressa's team has argued the legislation did not take effect until months after the story was published and is not retroactive, however the government countered that it is fair game because the story was updated in 2014.

"In essence in the contemplation of the law it is a new article because of the modification, republication," Markk Perete, spokesman for Department of Justice prosecutors, told AFP. "That is deemed as a new article."

Rappler concedes the story was updated, but notes it was to fix a typo and no substantive changes were made.

Ressa's lawyer JJ Disini said he will formally ask the court within the week to dismiss the case as the publication and the modification were made more than a year ago.

He argues the maximum period set by law for a legal action to be brought has already lapsed.

"That's disincentive for people to speak out," Disini told reporters, "I think there would be grounds to raise these issues in the Supreme Court."

The businessman who accused Rappler, Wilfredo Keng, on Thursday welcomed the charges, saying the website "destroyed my reputation and endangered my life".

Duterte said late Thursday he did not know Keng or his motive for filing the case, and dismissed allegations the suit was part of a media crackdown.

"Far from it, actually," he told reporters, saying he had never prosecuted the press during his more than 20 years as a government official.

Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.

He threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network's franchise renewal application.

Some of the drug crackdown's highest-profile detractors have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her.
Armando Guevara, who works at Andromeda Studio 33 tattoo parlor in New York's East Village is not against face tattoos -- he has several of them -- but he warns clients to think carefully before getting one

Face tattoos, once limited to only a very small group of people, have gained new popularity thanks to today's rappers -- but some artists are reluctant to make such a permanent change to a client's appearance.

In New York's East Village, some of the would-be customers entering tattoo parlors are still teenagers -- some of them have never even had any body art, but nevertheless want to indelibly inscribe something on their face.

"Of late, it has become a very big trend because of what they see on TV," said Armando Guevara, who mans the reception desk at Andromeda Studio 33, which also does piercings.

What young people are seeing on television are people like Grammy-nominated rapper Post Malone, the current poster boy of so-called mumble rap, also called SoundCloud rap or emo rap.

Shaggy Johnsen got Bugs Bunny tattooed on his face, and admits he got the ink after being influenced by his favorite rappers

The popular sub-genre is characterized by its trap beats and lyrics that often touch on mental health problems and their consequences -- drugs, meds and lots of sex. Words are slurred and sometimes sung.

From Malone to the controversial 21 Savage, Lil Uzi Vert and the late XXXTentacion, nearly all mumble rappers have face tattoos -- breaking with their elders who had little interest in the look.

And when the Mondial du Tatouage, the World Tattoo Expo, opens in Paris on Friday, the trend will certainly be on full display.

Shaggy Johnsen, a 22-year-old New Yorker who had Bugs Bunny inked on his temple, admits he was influenced by his favorite rappers.

Adam Alonso says face art is a "mask" that he can hide behind

"I'm an artist myself," Johnsen said, explaining he's a "freestyle" rapper.

"It's all about how you promote yourself -- how you bring yourself out."

Since getting face ink, Johnsen says he's only gotten positive reactions.

"Everybody likes it," he said, adding that he loves cartoon characters, and he might next go for Tweety or the Tasmanian Devil.

Adam Alonso says face art is a "mask" that he can hide behind.

Armando Guevara says that for months, he drew on a huge tattoo inspired by pre-Columbian art that covers about a quarter of his face to be sure he wanted it; then he got inked

"I've been hurt in the past so I don't want to be hurt no more so I keep a wall up so people on the streets won't even talk to me," the model and rapper told AFP.

The word AGONY is written under his right eye in large ornate letters.

Alonso insists the tattoos have not hurt him professionally.

"People think that when you tattoo your face, you're not going to make money. But nothing's impossible. I still make money," he said.

"It is to prove I can do the impossible and if I can do it, anyone can do it."

- Looking for those who are 'not ready' -

Twin (R) and Shaggy Johnsen (top) sit outside the Andromeda Studio 33 tattoo parlor in the East Village -- the shop does not accept minors as clients

Guevara is not against face tattoos -- he has several of them, including a huge one inspired by pre-Columbian art that covers about a quarter of his face.

But he advises clients to be extra cautious before taking the leap.

"If you're going to do something on your face that is permanent, think about it. Try it out," says the 40-something Guevara, who is of Nicaraguan descent.

Every morning for months, he drew his planned tattoo onto his face, to get used to it and gauge reactions, before he went under the ink needle.

Many younger customers do not realize the implications of what they are asking for, according to Guevara.

"They don't really know that it's a lifetime thing, that it will deeply impact their life. We turn them away," he says, explaining that minors are not welcomed at Andromeda.

"You're going to have a lot of people that are going to discriminate against you, a lot of places that won't give you housing, that won't give you employment," Guevara said, adding he had been the victim of discrimination over his body art.

"When people see a tattoo on their face, they feel that the person is careless, angry, antisocial or very anarchist," he said. "I'm a good person, hard worker, very intelligent -- but that's not what people see."

Guevara dispelled the notion that face tattoos can be easily removed with lasers, saying such a procedure takes numerous procedures, isn't cheap and can leave scarring.

At Andromeda, those who want face tattoos are required to answer questions about why they want to do it, and how they see it affecting their life.

"If we feel that they're not ready for it, we turn them away," Guevara says.

Some studios refuse to do them on principle, like Fineline Tattoo, which claims to be the oldest parlor in New York -- it opened in 1976, even though tattoos were officially banned in the city from 1961 to 1997.

Mehai Bakaty, the owner of the shop and an artist, says face tattoos were long reserved for gang members and prison inmates who had "given up" on mainstream society.

"You almost wonder, especially in America, if young people are attracted to that sort of things for similar kinds of reasons," Bakaty said.

"They don't have hope of becoming anything more than a checkout clerk," he lamented.

"I think that's kind of the point that these young rap people are trying to make, but I just see the whole scenario as completely irresponsible."
A years-old conflict in Yemen has killed thousands of civilians

The US House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to end American involvement in Saudi Arabia's war effort in neighboring Yemen, dealing a rebuke to President Donald Trump and his alliance with Riyadh.

The chamber voted 248 to 177 to approve historic legislation that would direct the president within 30 days to "remove United States armed forces from hostilities in or affecting the Republic of Yemen," where a years-old conflict has killed thousands of civilians.

Eighteen Republicans joined all voting Democrats in supporting the measure, a striking curtailment of presidential war powers.

The vote puts pressure on the Senate to act. The Senate easily passed a similar measure late last year condemning the administration's defense of the Saudi kingdom, but it died as the last Congress ended with the then Republican-controlled House not bringing it to a vote.

Today the House is under Democratic control, and the measure moved swiftly on the floor.

"With my resolution passing the House, we are closer than ever to ending our complicity in this humanitarian catastrophe," House Democrat Ro Khanna, who has spent years opposing US military interventions, said on Twitter.

And with Senator Bernie Sanders helping lead the way on the legislation in the Senate, Khanna said, "a War Powers Resolution will pass through both chambers of Congress for the first time in history."

Sanders, who is weighing a 2020 presidential run, applauded the House move.

"The Senate must quickly pass this resolution and finally reassert Congress' constitutional authority over war," he said.

The resolution is a reminder that Congress was given the legal ability to compel the removal of US military forces, absent a formal declaration of war.

Should the Senate pass the resolution, it could force Trump to issue the first veto of his tenure.

Bipartisan anger has simmered in Congress since the murder last October of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by commandos from Riyadh.

The White House's apparent embrace of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has caused lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle to push back.

Republicans notably have also registered their dissatisfaction over other foreign policy controversies, including the president's plan to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan.
Lyndon LaRouche, who ran for US president eight times as a fringe candidate, has died at the age of 96

Lyndon LaRouche, an eight-time candidate for US president whose conspiracy theories attracted a small but devoted following, has died at the age of 96.

LaRouche's political action committee, LaRouche PAC, announced his death on their website.

LaRouche PAC said he died on Tuesday but did not say where or provide a cause of death. LaRouche had lived in recent years in a heavily fortified compound in Leesburg, Virginia.

LaRouche was a controversial and fringe figure in US politics for decades.

He first ran for the White House in 1976 as a candidate for the US Labor Party, which he founded.

He sought the Democratic Party nomination in every presidential election after that -- through 2004 -- but never even came close to securing it.

In 1988, LaRouche was convicted of mail fraud and tax evasion and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

He ran for president from jail in 1992 and was released two years later.

LaRouche was born on September 8, 1922 in New Hampshire and grew up in a Quaker family. He was a conscientious objector in the early years of World War II but eventually joined the US Army and served in Asia.

LaRouche's political career saw him move over the years from the extreme left to the extreme right and carried the stamp of his own enigmatic ideology.

A self-taught economist, LaRouche was frequently accused of espousing anti-Semitic views -- a charge he denied.

In speeches, he railed against the "British Empire" and the International Monetary Fund as tools of world domination.
US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad

The Taliban said Wednesday that its negotiators would meet US envoys for talks this month in Islamabad, and also sit down with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss Afghanistan.

While Islamabad did not immediately confirm the talks, Washington said it had "noted" the announcement, which comes after weeks of meetings between the US and Taliban officials.

"We are not going to negotiate in public," a US State Department spokesperson told AFP, adding that the US had not received a formal invitation to any talks.

"This is the beginning of a long process which we continue to work through private diplomatic channels."

The announcement comes as America's chief negotiator tours the globe shoring up support for a peace process to end its longest war.

Zalmay Khalilzad, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, held extensive talks with the militants last month in Qatar, where the Taliban have an office.

More talks are slated for later in February.

The Taliban's statement said separate meetings would be held first on February 18 in Islamabad "by the formal invitation of the government of Pakistan".

Talks in Doha would follow a week later on February 25, the statement read.

Khalilzad is heading a large delegation on a tour of Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, Afghanistan and Pakistan to boost the peace process and bring all Afghan parties to the table.

He has expressed cautious hope for a deal before Afghan presidential elections slated for July, but says the Taliban must come to the table with the Kabul government, which the insurgents consider a US puppet.

President Ashraf Ghani -- who has expressed frustration at being sidelined from recent talks -- flew to Munich on Wednesday to attend an international security conference, his office said.

The Taliban also announced a meeting with Prime Minister Khan in Islamabad for "comprehensive discussions" about bilateral affairs with Afghanistan.

News reports in Pakistan last month had suggested Islamabad was open to hosting the next round of talks with the insurgents.

- Souring ties -

In January, as he travelled the region building support for the peace process, Khalilzad met Khan in Pakistan -- one of just three countries that recognised the Taliban regime before their ousting by US-led forces in 2001.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said in December that President Donald Trump, who is pushing to end the 17-year war in Afghanistan, wrote to Khan seeking Islamabad's support for peace efforts.

Ties between Washington and Islamabad have soured recently.

US officials have repeatedly accused Pakistan of turning a blind eye to, or even collaborating with, the Afghan Taliban, which launch attacks in Afghanistan from alleged havens along the border between the two countries.

The White House believes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban, and believe a Pakistani crackdown on the militants could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war.

Pakistan has long denied the claims, saying thousands of its citizens have been killed in its long struggle with militancy.
Ziman said she knows Martin was called in. She says he might have been speculative of what might happen, since he was already armed with a firearm. She is unsure what was communicated to him beforehand. Several were shot in the room with him, and there was another employee who was shot on another level of the building.
According to the Vallejo Police Department, the shooting took place after employees at a Taco Bell called to report a Mercedes parked in the drive-thru line with a man slumped over in the driver's seat

Police in northern California are conducting a probe following outrage over the fatal shooting of 21-year-old rapper Willie McCoy, who was found sleeping in his car outside a Taco Bell.

According to the Vallejo Police Department, the February 6 shooting took place after employees at the fast-food outlet late that evening called to report a Mercedes parked in the drive-thru line with a man slumped over in the driver's seat.

In a statement, police said officers responded to the call and as they approached the locked vehicle, they noticed that the driver was unresponsive and had a gun on his lap. They added that the car's transmission was in drive.

As police assessed the situation and tried to prevent the vehicle from moving forward, the statement said, things turned deadly.

"The driver... suddenly began to move," the police report said. "The officers told the driver to keep his hands visible, however the driver quickly reached for the handgun on his lap.

"In fear for their own safety, the officers discharged their weapons at the driver."

It was unclear how many bullets were fired.

McCoy was pronounced dead at the scene.

His family has challenged the police version of events, describing the shooting as an "execution" and a clear case of racial profiling.

"There was no attempt to try to work out a peaceful solution," Marc McCoy, Willie's older brother, told the Guardian. "The police's job is to arrest people who are breaking the law -- not take the law into your own hands. You're not judge, jury and executioner ... We're never going to get over this."

McCoy's shooting follows a string of similar incidents of alleged police brutality in the US in recent years.

And this is not the first time the Vallejo Police Department has come under scrutiny following complaints of excessive force.

In 2017, a video of an officer straddling a man on the ground and punching him in the face several times prompted an uproar.

Another video last year showed a Vallejo police officer repeatedly hitting a man with his flashlight as he was being restrained and handcuffed by another officer.

Vallejo police did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the McCoy case and McCoy's family could not be immediately reached.
US and Chinese officials will hold trade talks in Beijing this week, as they aim to build on progress made in Washington last month

US and Chinese negotiators are set to kick off two days of official trade talks in Beijing Thursday as the world's top two economies try to patch up their festering economic dispute.

Pressure to seal an accord ahead of a March deadline lessened before the talks as US President Donald Trump indicated Tuesday in Washington he was open to extending a trade truce, depending on progress in Beijing.

Trump in December put on hold sharp tariff hikes on $200 billion of Chinese imports to allow time for negotiators to work out a resolution to the thorny spat.

The two countries have already slapped tariffs on more than $360 billion in two-way trade, which has weighed on their manufacturing sectors and shaken global financial markets.

US officials including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin will meet with China's top economic czar Liu He and central bank governor Yi Gang as the two sides aim to build on progress made in Washington last month.

Lower level officials arrived earlier for what the White House called preparatory meetings starting Monday.

Expectations for a trade deal have grown as China faces pressure from slowing economic growth and swooning global markets rattle Trump and his economic advisors.

Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to meet with top US officials in Beijing this week, a report in the South China Morning Post said Wednesday, bolstering hopes for the talks and markets in Asia.

Trump also said he expects to meet with Xi "at some point" to clinch a trade deal.

"Markets will continue to watch -- and react -- closely to the ups and downs of the negotiations," said Trey McArver of Trivium Research.

"But Sino-US relations are all about the two leaders, and it will ultimately be up to Xi and Trump to come to a deal -- or not," he wrote Wednesday in a newsletter.

The two sides said major progress was made in talks last month in Washington, but a wide gulf remains on some issues.

The US is demanding far-reaching changes to Chinese practises that it says are unfair, including theft of US technology and intellectual property, and myriad barriers that foreign companies face in the Chinese domestic market.

Beijing has offered to boost its purchases of US goods but is widely expected to resist calls for major changes to its industrial policies such as slashing government subsidies.

The International Monetary Fund warned on Sunday of a possible global economic "storm" as world growth forecasts dip, citing the US-China trade row as a key pivot point.
Boko Haram fighters ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying the governor of Borno state, Kashim Shettima - seen here in November 2018 - in northeast Nigeria

Four people were killed and an unknown number of others were kidnapped in a Boko Haram attack on a convoy of vehicles carrying the governor of Borno state in northeast Nigeria, sources said on Wednesday.

A civilian militia member travelling with Kashim Shettima said jihadist fighters staged an ambush near the town of Dikwa at about 6:30 pm (1730 GMT) on Tuesday.

The area, near the town of Gamboru and the border with Cameroon, is a known area of activity of the Boko Haram faction loyal to long-time leader Abubakar Shekau.

Shettima, who is stepping down as governor after a maximum of two four-year terms, has been campaigning for a seat in the Senate in elections on Saturday.

He was travelling with the governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) party, Babagana Umaru.

This January 2018 picture taken from a video released by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram shows factional leader Abubakar Shekau (C)

Both escaped unhurt and were able to continue to Gamboru, where they spent the night before returning to the state capital, Maiduguri, on Wednesday.

There was no immediate comment from either but a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force said the attack targeted the tail end of the convoy after Shettima had passed.

"There was heavy fighting between the attackers and the soldiers and CJTF," he told AFP on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

"Many vehicles managed to turn back, however two soldiers were killed and two other civilians. An unknown number of party supporters were kidnapped along with their vehicle.

"The bus they were travelling in got stuck in the sand while the driver was trying to manoeuvre and turn back towards Dikwa.

"All the people in the bus were rounded up and taken into the bush. Another truck belonging to CJTF, which also got stuck, was taken away but the occupants were able to flee."

Ngari Kalla, an APC supporter who was also part of the convoy, corroborated the account and said the victims' bodies were taken to Maiduguri.

"We still don't know the fate of several of our supporters who were abducted during the fight," he added.

Nigerian Air Force personnel prepare to bury comrades who died when their helicopter crashed as Boko Haram militants ambushed a military base in Borno State in early January 2019

"Their vehicle was stuck and before they could get out the gunmen surrounded them and took them away. This is a major concern to us."

Borno state has been the epicentre of the nearly 10-year conflict, which has killed more than 27,000 and left some 1.8 million others homeless.

President Muhammadu Buhari was elected in 2015 on a promise to defeat the Islamist militants but despite initial gains attacks persist.

In recent months, soldiers have come under increasing attack from the self-styled Islamic State West Africa Province of Boko Haram, prompting fears of a resurgence.

President Muhammadu Buhari, who was elected in 2015 on a promise to defeat the Islamist militants, is seeking re-election in the February 16, 2019 vote

The group, which is backed by the Islamic State, split from the Shekau faction over objections to his indiscriminate targeting of civilians.

Shekau has used kidnapping as a weapon of war and thousands of people have been abducted during the conflict, many of them women and young girls.

Ambushes of traffic escorted by the military in rural areas have also been common.
Supporters of Sudan's main opposition Umma Party attend a press conference in the capital Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman on February 13, 2019

Sudanese campaigners spearheading demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir's iron-fisted rule vowed Wednesday to press on with their protests until the regime is overthrown.

Deadly protests have rocked Sudan since December, with protesters calling for an end to Bashir's three decades in power.

In its first news conference since demonstrations erupted on December 19, the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) and its allies ruled out negotiations with Bashir's government.

"This regime has to go. This is our goal," said Mohamed Yusuf, a spokesman for the SPA, an umbrella group of unions for doctors, engineers and teachers.

"There is no way of holding any dialogue with this regime," he told reporters at the offices of Umma, Sudan's main opposition party, as supporters chanted anti-government slogans outside.

The Umma Party, which has thrown its weight behind the protests, also pledged to push on with the movement that has held nationwide rallies for almost two months.

"We will continue our uprising until this regime is overthrown," said Sara Najdullah, the party's general secretary.

"We also call on the international community and human rights groups to help us in investigating the crimes of this regime."

Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence so far, while Human Rights Watch says at least 51 people have been killed.

Yusuf called on political groups and activists to join the protest movement by signing the "Document for Freedom and Change".

The text outlines a post-Bashir plan including rebuilding Sudan's justice system and halting the African country's dire economic decline.

"There are no conditions for signing the document. It is open for everyone," he said.

Protests first erupted in the farming town of Atbara after a government decision to triple the price of bread.

Mohamed Yusuf, a spokesman for the Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) that is leading anti-government protests, speaks during a press conference

But they quickly escalated into near-daily demonstrations across cities and towns that analysts say pose the greatest challenge to Bashir's rule since he took power in a 1989 Islamist backed coup.

Anger that had been mounting for years over growing economic hardship and deteriorating living conditions has boiled over onto the streets, under the slogan: "Freedom, peace, justice!"

Bashir has remained defiant, insisting the ballot box is the only way to change the government and vowing to stand for a third term in an election scheduled for next year.
A view of the cluster of corrugated iron huts that make up Australia's Camp Four for refugees on the Pacific island of Nauru

A Sudanese refugee held in one of Australia's offshore migrant detention sites for six years was on Wednesday awarded the world's most prestigious human rights prize.

Abdul Aziz Muhamat, 26, was hailed by the Martin Ennals Award organisers for his "extraordinary tenacity and courage" in protesting the Australian government's "inhumane practices".

For years Canberra has sent asylum-seekers who try to enter the country by boat to Manus Island or Nauru in the Pacific for processing, with those found to be refugees barred from resettling in Australia.

The harsh policy is meant to deter people embarking on treacherous sea journeys, but the United Nations and rights groups have harshly criticised the camps' conditions and long detention periods.

Protesters chant in Sydney in November 2017 call on the government to bring back 600 refugees from the Manus Island refugee camp

"The conditions that we are living there are absolutely indescribable, ... inhumane and cruel," Muhamat told reporters in Geneva ahead of Wednesday's award ceremony.

"We have been treated very badly, (worse) than an animal," he said, pointing out that refugee residents of the camps are referred to only with a number.

"My number is QNK002, that's how I'm known to the system."

Muhamat described how he fled the violence in Darfur, first to Khartoum and later making his way to Indonesia.

He said he attempted three times to reach Australia by boat, losing five of his closest friends en route.

Then, in 2013, Australian authorities intercepted the boat he was on and forcibly transferred him to Manus, where he has been held ever since with hundreds of other men.

- Deprivation and violence -

"The conditions that we are living there are ... inhumane and cruel," said Sudanese refugee activist Abdul Aziz, here in a handout photo from the Martin Ennals Foundation

"He never stopped raising his voice for those who have been stripped of their most basic rights together with him," Dick Oosting, chair of the Martin Ennals Foundation said in a statement.

He said he had been permitted to leave after being granted a Swiss visa to attend the Martin Ennals awards ceremony, but that he hoped to return to the island to continue his advocacy there.

He described a situation of deprivation, harassment, humiliation and violence, pointing out that the camp is staffed by former military men and mercenaries who bark orders at the detainees and only give them food through a chain-link fence.

Twelve people have died so far in the camps on Manus and Nauru, including one man who was beaten to death, several suicides and people who died due to lacking medical treatment, he said.

Jury member Philip Lynch, who heads the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) organisation, told reporters the decision to hand the prize to Muhamat was "significant", and that he hoped it would help put pressure on Australia to halt the practice of offshore detention.

"It is the first time in the history of the award that it is being conferred upon someone who is advocating in relation to rights violation perpetrated by a Western liberal democracy," he said.

This November 2017 picture released by the Australian activist group GetUp shows asylum seekers (R) at Australia's Manus Island regional refugee processing centre in Papua New Guinea

The two other finalists for this year's prize were also honoured at Wednesday's ceremony.

Marino Cordoba Berrio was hailed for his decades of campaigning against the illegal logging and mining of his Afro-Colombian community's land in the Pacific region of Colombia.

Turkish human rights activist Eren Keskin was meanwhile recognised for speaking out for decades against sexual violence and torture, as well as for Kurdish, women and LGBTI rights.

She had to appear via video link at the ceremony since she has been barred from leaving Turkey.

The Martin Ennals foundation is named after the first secretary general of Amnesty International and the 30,000 Swiss franc ($30,000, 26,000 euros) prize is judged by the London-based rights group, along with Human Rights Watch and other leading organisations.

The other finalists were awarded 10,000 Swiss francs each from the foundation.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Gaza in August 2017 but several proposed Security Council visits to the Palestinians territories have been blocked

Israel has told the UN Security Council that it opposes a planned visit by the top UN body to the Palestinian territories for a close-up look at the situation, Kuwait's ambassador said Wednesday.

Kuwait and other council members proposed the visit to the occupied territories during a meeting last week on Israel's decision to end the international observer force in the West Bank city of Hebron.

During a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, the council president briefed members on talks held with Israel and the Palestinians on the proposal for a visit.

"He said Israel categorically refused the council visit," Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi told reporters after the meeting.

"They don't want to receive a visit by the Security Council" even though they are prepared to welcome delegations from countries on the council, he added.

"We expressed our regret that this visit will not take place because it has been raised many times by the council."

The Israeli mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The visit would have come at a tumultuous time: Israel is headed for elections in April and the United States is reportedly putting the finishing touches to its much-awaited peace proposals.

The Security Council has adopted several resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process that call for a two-state solution and holds monthly meetings on the conflict.

Israel maintains that the UN body is biased in favor of the Palestinians.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Israel and the Palestinian territories in August 2017 but the Security Council has never traveled on a mission to that region.

In 1979, envoys from the top UN body went to Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt as part of a special mission.

Over the past years, several proposals for a visit to Gaza and the occupied territories have been quashed by the United States, a veto-wielding member of the Security Council.

The council later Wednesday travels to Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast and is planning a trip to Mali in March. Last year, it made a high-profile visit to Myanmar and Bangladesh to meet with Rohingya refugees.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says the tech giant will invest some $13 billion this year for expansion in the United States

Google said Wednesday it will invest $13 billion in US data centers and offices this year as the internet giant continues to expand across the country.

The spending will build on more than $9 billion in US investments in the past year and should create the potential for tens of thousands of new jobs, according to chief executive Sundar Pichai.

"This growth will allow us to invest in the communities where we operate, while we improve the products and services that help billions of people and businesses globally," Pichai said in an online post.

"Our new data center investments, in particular, will enhance our ability to provide the fastest and most reliable services for all our users and customers."

Investments this year will focus outside of Silicon Valley where Google has its home, and give the company outposts in 24 states.

This will be the second year in a row that Google will "be growing faster outside the (San Francisco) Bay Area than in it," Pichai said.

Google last year hired more than 10,000 people in the US, according to the company.

The internet giant is also making significant investments in renewable energy to power US operations, Pichai said.

The move follow major investments or expansions from other US tech giants including Apple and Amazon, both moving beyond their existing headquarters.

Google's parent company Alphabet last year said it was investing more than $1 billion to set up a new campus in New York City.
The scene of the suicide attack on February 13, 2019 on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran

A suicide attack Wednesday on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran killed at least 20 people and left 20 more wounded, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"The suicide attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel bus happened on the Khash-Zahedan road," IRNA said.

"This terrorist act happened a short time ago and according to reports at least 20 have been martyred and 20 have been wounded," an informed source told IRNA.

A picture released by the Fars news agency showed a hulk of twisted metal lying by the side of a road, unrecognisable as a bus.

The Guards issued a statement confirming the attack. It said the troops were returning from the border.

"In this suicide attack a car filled with explosives blew up besides a bus carrying a unit of the Guards ground forces causing the martyrdom and wounding of a number of the protectors of our Islamic homeland's border."

The attack took place in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan which has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community straddling the border with Pakistan.

Fars said the attack was claimed by Jaish al-Adl, a jihadist group formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency against Iranian targets over the past decade.

The Jaish al-Adl "has issued a statement officially taking responsibility for the terrorist attack," Fars reported. The group is blacklisted as a "terrorist group" in Iran.

The attack came on the same day as the United States gathered some 60 countries in Poland for a conference on the Middle East and Iran which they hoped would increase pressure on Tehran.

Dubbing the meeting in Poland the "WarsawCircus", Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was "no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day" that the talks began in the Polish capital.

"Especially when cohorts of same terrorists cheer it from Warsaw streets & support it with twitter bots? US seems to always make the same wrong choices, but expect different results," Zarif wrote on Twitter.

- 'US obsession' -

He earlier blasted the two-day conference being co-hosted by Washington in Warsaw as "dead on arrival".

"It is another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded," Zarif told a Tehran news conference.

Map of Iran locating the city of Zahedan.

Sistan-Baluchistan has been the scene of other attacks.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in its capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December last year two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, in an attack which Zarif at the time blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

The bloodiest attack in recent times to have hit Iran took place in September when assailants killed 24 people at a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

In July at least 10 members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed when insurgents attacked one of their bases along the border with Iraq.
The Parkland survivors, pictured at a vigil the day after the massacre, rejected the usual outpourings of sympathy offered by politicians

On Valentine's Day of last year, a 19-year-old armed with a military-style assault rifle walked into his old high school in Parkland, Florida and slaughtered 17 people.

That spasm in America's epidemic of gun violence gave new impetus to the debate on controlling firearms, prompting marches across the country and a fresh round of hand-wringing in cable news studios.

Many of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School survivors such as David Hogg and Emma Gonzalez remain national figures a year on -- a testament to their tenacity in keeping the atrocity in the headlines -- yet concrete reform has remained limited and local.

Meanwhile America risks becoming inured to the carnage: four months before Parkland a gunman killed 58 people at a festival in Las Vegas while, 16 months earlier, a massacre at a gay night club in Orlando left 49 dead.

Nearly 1,200 children lost their lives to gun violence in the year since Parkland, according to a report from McClatchy newspapers and The Trace, a non-profit that chronicles firearms issues. More than 200 teen journalists banded together to profile the young victims for the report.

And with 37 mass shootings -- those with at least four victims, not including the assailant -- recorded already in the US this year, it is tempting to conclude that almost nothing has changed.

The Parkland students, pictured at the 2018 Time 100 Gala in New York on April 24, 2018, remain national figures a year on from the shooting

The inertia on gun control endures despite the best efforts of the Parkland students, who rejected the usual outpourings of sympathy offered by politicians and launched a nationwide movement seeking tougher regulation on sales.

"So many shootings have happened and you get 'thoughts and prayers' and then nothing happens," said Ryan Servaites, who survived the shooting.

"It's an absolute shame that our government has done absolutely nothing about it. So you know, we're fed up," Servaites, 16, told AFP.

- 'Our childhood ended' -

A month after the shooting, the student activists brought together hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Washington, under the "March for Our Lives" banner.

The Parkland survivors have launched a petition to trigger a referendum on banning assault rifles in Florida

The teenagers toured 26 states, visiting schools and talking with lawmakers. They published a book, took part in an HBO documentary and, most importantly, caused state laws to be changed.

"In just 11 minutes, our childhood ended," Hogg and Gonzalez wrote in November in The Washington Post.

Florida is governed by Republicans and posed a major challenge for the student activists. But they successfully pushed for passage of state laws opposed by the powerful US gun lobby, the National Rifle Association.

Among other changes, a "red flag" law was passed allowing judges to order the seizure of guns from people deemed to be mentally unstable and the minimum age for purchasing a gun was raised to 21.

Student survivors of the Parkland massacre light candles around a cross at a candlelight memorial for the victims

The sale and possession of devices known as bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic weapons to fire as fast as illegal machineguns, and which were used to such deadly effect in Las Vegas, were also banned.

In December, President Donald Trump barred them at the national level.

After Parkland, 26 states and US capital Washington approved 67 laws related to gun control, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

In a report last December, the center said the movement for gun safety in America "experienced a tectonic shift in 2018."

- Big plans for 2019 -

Sir Paul McCartney joined thousands of people, many of them students, in the march against gun violence in Manhattan during the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018

Yet significant nationwide reform to slash gun deaths has largely eluded the activists, who have vowed to entrench their campaign in 2019.

On Friday last week lawmakers from both parties presented Congress with a bill that would require universal background checks prior to gun purchases.

Under current laws, licensed dealers must carry out background checks on would-be buyers, but loopholes allow people to avoid such checks if they buy from a private seller, at gun shows or over the internet.

Defenders of the Second Amendment to the US Constitution, which establishes the right to bear arms, will fight the bill.

The NRA said such a law would not dissuade criminals, who will always find some way to acquire a firearm.

"These bills attack law-abiding gun owners by placing further burdens on gun ownership and use," its website states.

Tom Palmer, a gun rights supporting political scientist and vice president of free-market think tank Atlas Network, told the Miami Herald the two sides in the gun debate could not be more polarized.

"The gun control people see their opponents as people who don't care about human life, and the gun rights people see their opponents as people who don't care about human freedom," Palmer said.

Also worth noting: in a closely contested race for Florida's governorship in last November's mid-term elections, NRA-endorsed Republican Rick DeSantis beat Democrat Andrew Gillum, who backed stricter gun controls.

Undeterred, a group of Parkland survivors launched a petition on Monday which, if it garners the almost 800,000 signatures needed, will trigger a referendum on banning military-style assault rifles in Florida.

Meanwhile Nikolas Cruz, the defendant in the Parkland shooting, awaits his day in court. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty on 17 counts of pre-meditated murder and 17 counts of attempted murder.
US Vice President Mike Pence, Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left to right) speak at the opening of a conference on the Middle East in Warsaw

US and Israeli leaders gathered Wednesday in Warsaw for a conference they hope will pile pressure on Iran, just as the country's elite Revolutionary Guards were hit by one of the deadliest attacks in years.

Opening with a dinner at the Royal Castle in Warsaw's old town, the two-day meeting looks to promote a US-led vision of the Middle East but is as notable for its absences as its attendees.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Vice President Mike Pence will headline the conference Thursday but few prominent European officials have come amid unease with the strident US line on Iran.

Just as talks were getting underway, a suicide car bombing in southeastern Iran killed 27 troops of the elite Revolutionary Guards who were returning from patrol, according to the force.

Iran quickly linked the attack to the Warsaw conference, where supporters of the formerly armed opposition were rallying in the streets.

Dubbing the meeting in Poland the "WarsawCircus", Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it was "no coincidence that Iran is hit by terror on the very day" that the talks began.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tells a news conference that the Warsaw conference on the Middle East is 'dead on arrival'

But an extremist group from the Sunni Muslim minority claimed responsibility for the attack in the volatile southeastern Baluchistan region bordering Pakistan.

Sunni militants were also held responsible for a major assault on a military parade in southwestern Iran in September.

The latest violence as well as the conference come just as the Shiite clerical regime was celebrating 40 years since the Islamic revolution that overthrew the pro-US shah.

- Growing US pressure on Iran -

Leaders pose for a family photo at the start of a conference in Warsaw on the Middle East

Iran has been comparatively stable in a turbulent region in recent years. But President Donald Trump has boasted of growing unrest and economic insecurities after he slapped on biting sanctions.

Trump walked away from what he called a "terrible" 2015 deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama in which Iran constrained its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Outside of the United States, Israel and Iran's Arab rivals, virtually the whole world still supports the agreement, with which UN inspectors say Iran is complying.

Even Poland -- always eager to please the United States as it fears a resurgent Russia -- has gone to pains to say that it still backs the 2015 agreement alongside other European members.

Poland and the United States toned down the conference to a vague goal of seeking stability in the Middle East without specifically mentioning Iran.

Netanyahu has been unflinching in his criticism of Iran's leaders, who do not recognise Israel's right to exist.

Speaking as he headed to Warsaw, Netanyahu said that Israel launched new military strikes Monday against Iranian-linked sites in Syria, where the Jewish state is adamant about eliminating the presence of Tehran and its ally Hezbollah.

- Guarded hopes on Yemen -

Several million people are on the brink of starvation in Yemen

The sole senior official from a major European power to attend is British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who said he wanted to focus on ending the crisis in Yemen.

Several million Yemenis are on the brink of starvation and the country has suffered one of the worst cholera outbreaks in modern times as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- backed by the United States -- seek to bomb and blockade Iranian-linked Huthi rebels into surrender.

Hunt -- whose country is also a major arms supplier to Riyadh -- met Tuesday evening in Warsaw jointly with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior officials from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

In a joint statement, the four countries said they hoped to expand on a seven-week ceasefire that has largely held in the crucial port city of Hodeida but accused the Huthis of presenting obstacles.

"The ministers agreed that there is a window of opportunity to end the conflict in Yemen and to redouble their efforts to reach a political solution," they said.

- Trump ally seeks regime change -

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani speaks during a rally in Warsaw of supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, demanding tougher policy on Iran

The Trump administration has insisted that it wants changes in Iran's policies in the Middle East but that it is not looking to topple the regime.

Yet former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani -- who serves as Trump's personal lawyer but does not represent the US government -- openly called for regime change at a rally in Warsaw with Iran's exiled opposition.

"We shouldn't be doing business with a nation that supports terrorism," Giuliani told the rally of the People's Mujahedin, a formerly armed group close to US conservatives that was classified by Washington as a terrorist movement until 2012.

"I know we're united in that we want to see a regime change in Iran, so that there's a regime that is democratic, that's lawful," Giuliani said.
The physical evidence is that she began to raise the shotgun, Corporal Ruby believed she was about to fire the shotgun, which could have injured members of his team stationed in the hallway, Norman wrote. Corporal Ruby was not required to be absolutely sure of the nature and extent of the threat Gaines posed.
Former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan took over at the Pentagon after serving as deputy, thrust onto the world stage when his predecessor Jim Mattis quit after disagreements with Trump

Washington's new acting defence chief took part in his first NATO gathering Wednesday meeting allies unsure about his interim status and wary after recent spats with his boss President Donald Trump.

Former Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan took over at the Pentagon after serving as deputy, thrust onto the world stage when his predecessor Jim Mattis quit after long-running disagreements with Trump.

His first appearance for the cameras at NATO headquarters in Brussels, a routine "grip and grin" handshake with alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, drew unusual interest, with Shanahan's every word and gesture picked over for meaning.

"It's a pleasure to be over to spend time with you and especially in a such a nice facility," said Shanahan, after a tour that has taken in Kabul and Baghdad as well as Brussels in just a few days.

"One of the other things that I am looking forward to during the time that we are together is to talk about the future of NATO, the capabilities that we can further develop."

With nerves still jangling in Europe after July's tumultuous summit, when Trump reportedly threatened to "go it alone" unless allies boosted their defence spending, Shanahan's reference to "the future of NATO" sent some journalists into a spin.

"Really? They want to start dismantling NATO?" exclaimed one.

US officials said Shanahan was simply referring to upcoming NATO initiatives to fight terrorism and emerging threats to alliance security, which will be discussed at a leaders' meeting in London in December.

At his press conference later in the day, Stoltenberg said Shanahan was "very well received by all allies".

"It was a very strong and a very clear message about the US ironclad commitment to NATO... also the very strong personal commitment he has to NATO," Stoltenberg said.

- European doubts -

Mattis was highly regarded in NATO and in the run-up to his departure there was anxious talk in Europe about what might happen if he quit.

Former NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer described Mattis as "one of the last men standing" in a Washington increasingly dominated by Trump's "America first" ideology.

European doubts linger about Trump's commitment to alliances generally and NATO in particular

A diplomat from a European country said they would be "listening carefully" to Shanahan to see if he would follow in the footsteps of Mattis or toe the president's line.

Former Marine general Mattis quit after clashing with Trump over the president's abrupt decision to pull US forces out of Syria, and referred to NATO twice in his resignation letter.

"Our strength as a nation is inextricably linked to the strength of our unique and comprehensive system of alliances and partnerships," he wrote.

"NATO's 29 democracies demonstrated that strength in their commitment to fighting alongside us following the 9-11 attack on America."

NATO insists Washington's commitment to the alliance is not in doubt, pointing to increased US investments of troops and resources in Europe.

But European doubts linger about Trump's commitment to alliances generally and NATO in particular -- fuelled by a recent New York Times article suggesting the president has repeatedly told aides he does not see the point of NATO and thinks the US should withdraw.

"We don't know if Shanahan will become the new defence secretary or if he will follow Mattis's approach," said the European diplomat.

Another said: "I hear he is very close to Mattis and said he will follow this basic path. On the other hand, he has to look at the president."
Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera has reached out to Russia to help shore up his forces battling armed militias across the country

The United Nations has asked authorities in the Central African Republic to take action after Russian soldiers or mercenaries were accused of detaining and torturing a man for five days, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The victim, Mahamat Nour Mamadou, told UN investigators that he was held by a group of Russians in the central city of Bambari last month on suspicion of belonging to an armed militia. He said he was severely beaten and had a finger cut off.

The UN mission in the Central African Republic investigated the case and produced a detailed report that was seen by AFP.

"Based on statements and physical evidence, the UN mission can confirm that the victim has been ill-treated and tortured," said UN spokeswoman Vannina Maestracci.

"The mission has informed officially the relevant Central African authorities and shared all supporting documents requesting follow-up action," she added.

The United Nations does not have authority to arrest individuals in a country where it has peacekeepers and has turned to Bangui to ensure the perpetrators of the serious crime are held responsible.

In an interview with AFP in the capital Bangui on Tuesday, Mahamat Nour Mamadou -- who said he was a market trader -- described the ordeal and said he feared for his life.

"They tortured me from 8am to 5pm. They hit me with chains, iron batons, they cut me in the foot with a knife, and also on the arms and the shoulder. They broke a tooth with a brick," Mamadou said.

- 'Cut off my finger' -

Mamadou said he was detained on January 11 by soldiers of the Central African Armed Forces (FACA) after a crowd falsely accused him of belonging to the Seleka militia -- a mainly Muslim rebel movement which rose up in 2012 in the north of the country.

"They took me to the town hall where the FACA and the Russians are based. The Russians questioned me, they asked me if I was a Seleka, if I had weapons," he said.

In 2013, the Seleka overthrew President Francois Bozize, a Christian, plunging the country into crisis before the group was forced from power.

"They tied my hands and covered my head with a jacket, they punched me. They tied me up during the night. Then they took me to their base," said Mamadou.

"They took a big knife and cut off my finger. They slashed my other fingers too, then they strangled me with a chain," he said, adding that there was one FACA interpreter and several Russians.

Mamadou was released on January 15 after internal security forces intervened, according to the UN.

It remained unclear if the Russians were part of the private military outfit Wagner, with the UN describing the suspected torturers as "non-UN uniformed individuals of Russian nationality."

Russia's influence in CAR has been growing since the UN-backed government there called for help to fight militias rampaging through the country.

Moscow has already supplied weapons, military officers, at least 170 military "trainers" and a security adviser to work with President Faustin-Archange Touadera.
These portaits were drawn by confessed serial killer Samuel Little and released by the FBI in an effort to identify his victims

The FBI has released 16 chilling portraits drawn by a man who may be the most prolific serial killer in US history in an attempt to identify some of his victims.

Samuel Little, a 78-year-old drifter, has confessed to 90 murders committed between 1970 and 2005 and law enforcement authorities have corroborated more than 40 of them so far.

Little, a 6ft 3in (1.9m) former boxer also known as Samuel McDowell, is serving a life sentence for murder in a Texas prison.

Little mainly targeted drug addicts and prostitutes during his decades-long coast-to-coast murder spree and many of his victims were never identified.

Little usually strangled his victims, the FBI said, and many of the deaths were not investigated as homicides but were attributed to drug overdoses, accidents or natural causes.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday published the 16 portraits drawn by Little from memory in his prison cell and asked the public for help in identifying them.

The drawings include details such as the color of a victim's eyes or hair or the blue headscarf she was wearing when she was abducted.

One picture, for example, depicts a white woman with green eyes and brown hair aged between 20 and 25 years old who was killed in Maryland in 1972.

Another is of a black woman between 23 and 25 years old with bright red lipstick and red earrings. She was killed in 1984 in Georgia and may have been a college student.

Another is of a black woman with purple hair aged between 25 and 28 years old who was killed in Houston, Texas, decades ago.

- Nomadic life -

Bobby Bland, the district attorney in Ector County, Texas, told AFP in December that the total number of confirmed killings attributed to Little is now more than 40.

Convicted serial killer Samuel Little, who has confessed to at least 90 murders during a decades-long murder spree

"He's talking about things, cases that happened up to 50 years ago, and he's giving details on all these different murders, and none of the statements he's made have proven to be false," Bland said.

The FBI has been working with federal, state and local agencies to match Little's confessions to unsolved murders across the country.

If all 90 confessions are confirmed, Little would be the most prolific known US serial killer.

The deadliest known US serial killer is believed to be Gary Ridgway, the so-called "Green River Killer" convicted of 49 murders who is serving a life sentence in Washington state.

Little was arrested at a homeless shelter in Kentucky in 2012 and extradited to California to face drug charges.

Once there, DNA evidence linked him to three cold cases and he was convicted in 2014 of murdering three women in Los Angeles between 1987 and 1989.

All three had been beaten and strangled.

Sentenced to life in prison, Little was transferred to Texas in connection with the investigation into another murder.

Little grew up in Ohio, dropped out of high school and lived a "nomadic life," shoplifting or stealing to buy alcohol and drugs, according to the FBI.

His criminal record dates back to 1956 with arrests for shoplifting, fraud, drugs and breaking and entering.

He was accused of murdering women in Mississippi and Florida in the early 1980s but was not convicted.
Cull: Zambia plans to slaughter 2,000 hippopotamuses

Zambia plans to slaughter 2,000 hippopotamuses to control overpopulation, officials said Wednesday, as conservationists lashed the scheme as a ploy to make money from trophy hunters.

An official at the tourism ministry, who did not want to be named, said a five-year cull of hippos in a park in eastern Zambia would start in May.

"Currently the hippo population in the South Luangwa National Park stands at over 13,000, but Luangwa can only cater for 5,000 hippos," he said.

"The population is higher and poses a danger to the ecosystem."

The Born Free conservation group called on the government to call off the cull, which it said was being staged to lure money from hunters.

"The justifications for this cull -- which is being openly marketed to paying trophy hunters -- are like a sea of shifting sand," said Born Free's president, Will Travers.

"Originally, it was to prevent an outbreak of anthrax. Then it was because the water levels in the Luangwa River were precariously low. Now it is because there is a perceived hippo over-population.

"None of these 'justifications' stand up to scrutiny."

He said the cull -- which was postponed in 2016 -- could generate $3.3 million (2.9 million euros) for trophy-hunting organisers and the government.

"Hippo lives are on the line in order to line the pockets of a few hunting operators and government officials," he said.

Hippos, which are herbivorous, semiaquatic mammals, are classified as "vulnerable" in the Red List compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

About 130,000 remain in the wild, in central and southern Africa.
The scene of the suicide attack on February 13, 2019 on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran

A suicide attack on Wednesday on a Revolutionary Guards bus in southeastern Iran killed at least 20 people, the official news agency IRNA reported.

"The suicide attack on an Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps personnel bus happened on the Khash-Zahedan road," IRNA said.

"This terrorist act happened a short time ago and according to reports at least 20 have been martyred and 20 have been wounded," an informed source told IRNA.

A picture released by the Fars news agency showed a hulk of twisted metal at the scene.

The Guards issued a statement confirming the attack. It said the troops were returning from the border.

"In this suicide attack a car filled with explosives blew up besides a bus carrying a unit of the Guards ground forces causing the martyrdom and wounding of a number of the protectors of our Islamic homeland's border."

The attack took place in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan which has a large, mainly Sunni Muslim ethnic Baluchi community which straddles the border with Pakistan.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in Zahedan, the capital of Sistan Baluchistan province, were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December last year two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan Baluchistan, in an attack which Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif at the time blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

The bloodiest attack in recent times to have hit Iran took place in September when assailants killed 24 people at a military parade in the southwestern city of Ahvaz.

In July at least 10 members of the Revolutionary Guards were killed when insurgents attacked one of their bases along the border with Iraq.
The FBI's Missing Person page for Monica Elfriede Witt, a former US Air Force counterintelligence officer charged with spying for Iran

The US Justice Department charged a former Air Force intelligence official Wednesday with spying for Iran, saying she exposed a fellow US agent and helped the Revolutionary Guard target her former colleagues for cyber attacks.

US officials said Monica Witt, who worked for years in US Air Force counterintelligence, had an "ideological" turn against her country and defected in 2013, turning over information on US intelligence operations against Tehran.

"It is a sad day for America when one of its citizens betrays our country," said Assistant Attorney General John Demers, announcing the indictment.

"This case underscores the dangers to our intelligence professionals and the lengths our adversaries will go to identify them, expose them, target them, and, in a few rare cases, ultimately turn them against the nation they swore to protect," he said.

The US also indicted four Iranians working for the Revolutionary Guard who, using information Witt provided them, targeted her former colleagues in US intelligence with malware and other hacking tools in hopes of accessing their computer networks.

The Justice Department has issued arrest warrants for Witt and the four Iranians, who all remain at large.

Witt served in the US Air Force from 1997 to 2008, becoming a special agent in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, its counterintelligence unit.

After leaving the Air Force, she worked as a defense and intelligence contractor, but by 2012 her politics had begun to turn.

That year she travelled to Iran to attend an anti-America conference sponsored by the Revolutionary Guard-related New Horizon Organization.

She returned to Iran the next year and began disclosing classified information to Iranian officials, including on her former colleagues in the US intelligence community.

She revealed to the Iranians a "highly classified intelligence collection program" as well as the true identity of a US intelligence officer, Demers said.

According to an undated FBI missing persons declaration regarding Witt, she had not been in contact with anyone since 2013.

The announcement, which also included sanctions on the New Horizon Organization, organization officials, and a company tied to the hacking effort, came on the opening day of a US-led international conference in Warsaw, Poland aimed at boosting pressure on Tehran.
An Iranian woman walks past a mural depicting the Statue of Liberty, painted on the wall of the former US embassy in the capital Tehran on August 7, 2018

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled Wednesday that Iran can proceed with a bid to recover billions of dollars in frozen assets the United States says must go to victims of attacks blamed on Tehran.

Judges of the UN's top court rejected US claims that the case should be thrown out because Iran had "unclean hands" due to alleged links to terrorism, and that the tribunal in The Hague did not have jurisdiction in the lawsuit.

The court will hold further hearings to decide whether Iran can get back $2 billion frozen by the US Supreme Court in 2016.

Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, the chief judge at the ICJ, said the court "unanimously rejects the preliminary objections to admissibility raised by the United States of America".

The court also "finds that it has jurisdiction" to rule on the case, which was filed by Iran in 2016, Yusuf said at the end of an hour-long reading of the judgment.

Iran said the freezing of the funds breached the 1955 Treaty of Amity with the United States, an agreement signed before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution severed relations between the countries.

The US Supreme Court had said Iran must give the cash to survivors and relatives of victims of attacks blamed on Tehran, including the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut.
A Palestinian stands amidst the rubble of the building housing the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television station in Gaza City which was destroyed by an Israeli air strike on November 12, 2018

Hamas is using coded television messages to instruct recruits in the occupied West Bank to carry out anti-Israeli attacks, Israel's Shin Bet security agency alleged on Wednesday.

A statement by the agency said this was the "key factor" behind a November 12, 2018 Israeli air strike which destroyed the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa television station in Gaza City.

Shin Bet and the Israeli army "are aware that operatives of Hamas's military wing use Al-Aqsa TV for terrorist purposes" by broadcasting "secret messages" to the West Bank, it said.

The security agency said "Al-Aqsa TV anchors and reporters pass on hidden messages on behalf of Hamas's military wing in the channel's broadcasts.

"Their purpose is to convince recruited Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) residents that the activity to which they were enlisted is indeed guided by operatives of Hamas in Gaza Strip," it added.

Shin Bet alleged these recruits had been told in advance when to watch the channel to see "when the anchor would put down his cup in the beginning of the programme".

"By watching the programme, the recruit received a confirmation of the Gaza-based operative's claims," it said.

According to Shin Bet, the Islamist Palestinian movement Hamas recently recruited four West Bank residents and an Israeli national from east Jerusalem.

"The recruits were intended to carry out terrorist activity against Israel."

Hamas, which seized control of Gaza from the West Bank-based government in a 2007 near civil war, has fought three wars with Israel since 2008.
South Africa's jobless rate is near a record at 27 percent despite higher levels of education

Thousands of South African workers staged nationwide demonstrations on Wednesday to protest against high unemployment and government policies they say have failed to create jobs and are deepening poverty.

Workers dressed in red t-shirts, showing their loyalty to the trade union movement, gathered in the eastern port city of Durban, Johannesburg and other locations for open-air rallies three months ahead of the country's general election.

Companies in South Africa, notably in the mining sector, have shed tens of thousands of jobs in recent years in what unions have termed a "jobs bloodbath" as the economy of Africa's most industrialised nation struggles for growth.

South Africa has a near-record 27 percent unemployment rate, and trade unions say that 9.3 million employable people need jobs.

Zingiswa Losi, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), led the march in Durban, which was attended by about 6,000 people.

"Today's march is a national strike and we are marching to (say to the) government and the private sector, we cannot afford to lose jobs in this country," Losi told reporters.

About 2,000 people attended the Johannesburg rally.

Singing anti-apartheid songs such as "Senzeni na" ("What have we done?"), workers marched through the city centre dancing and "toyi-toying", a protest move synonymous with the struggle against apartheid.

Carrying banners that read "we demand decent jobs", "no to job losses" and "no to outsourcing and privatisation", marchers were undeterred by drizzling rain.

"Today black children are educated but there is no work," union member and domestic worker Gloria Sithole, 58, told AFP.

- Power cuts -

Marcher Ben Venter, deputy general secretary of the South African Society of Bank Officials, told AFP that President Cyril Ramaphosa needed to act on initiatives that would set employment on "an upward trend".

"The South African economy can't afford job losses," Venter said.

Official statistics released on Tuesday showed that the unemployment rate dropped marginally to 27.1 percent in the last quarter of 2018 from 27.5 percent in the previous quarter.

The drop was largely due to casual workers being hired over Christmas holiday period.

South Africa's economy grew less than one percent last year and is currently subjected to its worst electricity cuts in years.

Also among the union's demands was an end to state corruption and mismanagement.

The continent's largest energy utility Eskom, plagued by debt and mismanagement, plunged the country into darkness this week with periodic black-outs imposed as demand outstripped supply.

South African unions fear that restructuring the troubled energy company Eskom will lead to further job cuts

The ailing state-owned company is grappling with 419 billion rand ($30 billion) of debt.

Ramaphosa announced last week that the utility would be divided into three divisions, but unions have rejected the move, saying it would lead to further job cuts.

COSATU, which represents about 1.9 million members, called for a halt to any plans of privatising Eskom.

It has been a key ally of the ruling ANC party, which is seeking to revive its flagging popularity ahead of elections on May 8, when Ramaphosa is expected to retain power.

The trade union's leadership continued to throw its weight behind the ANC.

"We are in no way abandoning our ally," COSATU official Amos Monyela told AFP.

"We will mobilise our members to vote for the African National Congress but we will always challenge policy uncertainty that affects workers."
In 2018, 769 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa, the government said

The number of rhinos killed by poachers in South Africa for their horn fell sharply last year, though more than 750 were still slaughtered, the government announced Wednesday calling for further efforts to end the "scourge".

In 2018, 769 rhinos were killed by poachers, down from 1,028 killed in 2017. It was the first time in five years that the number dipped below 1,000 as conservationists battle against insatiable demand for rhino horn in Asia.

"Although we are encouraged by the national poaching figures for 2018, it is critical that we continue to implement collaborative initiatives to address the scourge of rhino poaching," environment minister Nomvula Mokonyane said in a statement.

A total of 421 rhinos were poached in the famous Kruger National Park in 2018 -- 16.5 percent less than the 504 poached in 2017.

The ministry said the "significant progress" was due to dedicated staff on the ground and improved domestic and international cooperation.

Last year, 365 alleged rhino poachers and 36 alleged rhino horn traffickers were arrested in South Africa, most of them in or near Kruger, a global hotspot for game watchers and safari holidaymakers.

The number of rhinos killed climbed steeply in the past decade from just 13 in 2007, reaching a peak of 1,215 in 2014, according to the Traffic wildlife trade monitoring group.

South Africa is home to 80 percent of the world's remaining rhinos.

Most of the demand emanates from China and Vietnam, where the horn is coveted as a traditional medicine, an aphrodisiac or as a status symbol.

According to Traffic, criminal networks of Chinese origin work in South Africa processing rhino horn into beads, bracelets, bangles and powder to evade detection and supply wealthy, middle-class urban consumers in Asia, mainly in China and Vietnam.

Rhino horn is composed mainly of keratin, the same substance as in human nails.

It is often sold in powdered form as a supposed cure for cancer and other diseases.
US President Donald Trump is said to be ready to sign a border security funding deal

President Donald Trump is ready to sign a border security funding deal, despite failing to get anywhere close to the money he sought for a US-Mexico border wall, US media reported Wednesday.

CNN and NBC television quoted sources close to the president saying that Trump has resigned himself to the deal crafted by his Republican Party and the Democrats in Congress.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders would not confirm or deny the reports, but said Wednesday that "there are positive pieces" in the deal.

"We want to see the final piece of legislation," she told reporters.

Trump had demanded $5.7 billion for a dramatic extension of fences and walls along the Mexican border, claiming that the United States faces an "invasion" of criminals and illegal immigrants.

Democrats refused, accusing him of exagerating the situation for political gain.

Trump retaliated in December by cutting funding to swaths of government in a five-week shutdown. He had threatened to trigger a new shutdown this Friday if his demands were not met.

The deal worked out in Congress this week will provide less than $1.4 billion for wall construction.

On Tuesday, Trump said he was not happy with the deal but "I don't think you're going to see a shutdown."

Trump says he can still add to that from other sources not requiring congressional approval, although he has been vague about how this would work.
Three Syrians, believed to be former secret service officers, have been arrested in Germany and France, federal prosecutors in the German city of Karlsruhe say

Three alleged former Syrian secret service officers have been arrested in Germany and France on suspicion of participating in torture and crimes against humanity, prosecutors in both countries said Wednesday.

All three were arrested on Tuesday in a "coordinated" operation by German and French police, the federal prosecution in the German city of Karlsruhe said.

Anwar R., 56, and 42-year-old Eyad A. were detained in Berlin and Rhineland-Palatinate state, prosecutors said. Both left Syria in 2012.

The same day, another Syrian was detained in the Paris region for "acts of torture, crimes against humanity and complicity in these crimes", the Paris prosecutor's office said.

The suspect, who is in his 30s, is accused of participating in acts of violence against civilians from March 2011 until 2013 when he worked for Syria's mukhabarat, or secret service, a source familiar with the case said.

The Syria conflict began in March 2011 with a series of mass protests demanding civil liberties, prompting a harsh crackdown by the regime which quickly began using "brutal force" against anti-government protesters, German prosecutors said in a statement.

"The Syrian secret services played an essential role in this. The aim was to use the intelligence services to stop the protest movement as early as possible."

Anwar R. allegedly led a secret service division that operated a prison in the Damascus area, and had participated in the torture and abuse of prisoners from April 2011 to September 2012.

"As head of the investigative department, Anwar R. directed and commanded prison operations, including the use of systematic and brutal torture," it said.

- Torture, death in custody -

Eyad A., a former officer who had manned checkpoints and hunted protesters, had allegedly aided and abetted two killings and the physical abuse of some 2,000 people between July 2011 and January 2012.

In the summer of 2011, he manned a checkpoint near Damascus where around 100 people per day were arrested then jailed and tortured in the prison headed by Anwar R.

More than 360,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict with millions more displaced.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 60,000 people have died from torture or harsh conditions in regime custody since the conflict began.

Several other legal cases are now pending in Germany against the Assad regime.

Last year, German prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for Jamil Hassan, a top Syrian official who headed the notorious airforce intelligence directorate and is accused of overseeing the torture and murder of hundreds of detainees.

Although the alleged abuses did not happen in Germany, the case has been filed under the legal principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows any country to pursue perpetrators regardless of where the crime was committed.

The Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights has also joined with torture survivors to file criminal complaints against 10 high-ranking Syrian officials, accusing them of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
Former president Abdulla Yameen has been accused of embezzlement and money laundering

The Maldivian government urged its citizens to support its anti-corruption drive Wednesday after it launched a website to help trace millions of dollars reportedly stolen during the former regime.

The whistleblower site went live on Tuesday, days after the government sought international help to find millions of dollars allegedly siphoned off by former president Abdulla Yameen, who faces embezzlement and money laundering charges.

Launching the portal, President Mohamed Ibrahim Solih called on government employees and ordinary citizens to anonymously lodge reports of corruption, an official in his office told AFP.

"The campaign is to assure the community that his administration will not tolerate corruption at any level," the official said.

Users were encouraged to access the whistleblower site through proxy servers to ensure anonymity.

Maldivian police have said their investigations found evidence linking Yameen and his justice minister Azima Shakoor to the theft of state funds and money laundering.

In December, courts in the tourist paradise froze some $6.5 million in accounts allegedly linked to Yameen who suffered a shock defeat in elections in September.

The authorities believe millions of dollars could be stashed abroad and talks were underway with foreign entities to repatriate any cash found.

Yameen, who came to power in 2013 and jailed many of his opponents or forced them into exile, has also been accused of receiving close to $1.5 million in illicit payments during his failed bid for re-election.

The country's monetary authority lodged a police complaint over alleged donations made into a private account held by Yameen in the runup to the polls.

The former strongman president, who has been questioned but not detained, has denied the allegations.

Yameen remains politically active. But since his downfall, almost all key dissidents have returned to the country and been cleared of convictions against them.
The European Commission proposed adding seven countries including Saudi Arabia to the EU's money-laundering blacklist of governments that do too little to thwart the financing of terrorism and organised crime

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed adding seven countries including Saudi Arabia to the EU's money-laundering blacklist of governments that do too little to thwart the financing of terrorism and organised crime.

The move comes as tensions between Riyadh and European capitals are heightened over the murder last year of the columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

The proposal must now be approved by the European Parliament and the 28 member states, with France and Britain against the new list.

The new countries targeted by the commission, including Saudi Arabia and Panama, would join another 16 already on this register -- such as Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Ethiopia and North Korea.

Inclusion on the list does not trigger sanctions, but it does oblige European banks to apply tighter controls on transactions with customers and institutions in those countries.

"We have put in place the highest standards in the world in the fight against money laundering," said European Commissioner for Justice Vera Jourova.

"But we must ensure that dirty money from other countries does not end up in our financial system," she told a press conference at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg.

"Dirty money is the driving force behind organised crime and terrorism," Jourova continued, urging countries on the list to "quickly remedy their shortcomings".

A diplomat said objections to the new list were not linked to fallout from the Khashoggi murder and a desire to appease Saudi Arabia.

There is not "an opposition to the addition of a particular country", but concerns over the "methodology" used.

MEP Eva Joly, a former investigating judge, welcomed the new list but suggested the commission "publish the country assessments in order to increase the transparency of the process and avoid accusations of political bargaining."

European countries such as Cyprus or the United Kingdom should also be on the list, she said.
Huge crowds and high emotions have marked Nigeria's presidential election campaign -- polling takes place on Saturday

Fifteen people were killed in a stampede at an election campaign rally by President Muhammadu Buhari in southern Nigeria, health officials said Wednesday.

The deaths are the latest on the campaign trail before Saturday's election, at which Buhari is seeking a second, four-year term of office.

Kem-Daniel Elebiga, spokesman for the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, said "a total of 15 bodies were brought in" on Tuesday.

Three were men and the rest women, he added.

Twelve injured people were also brought in, nine of whom remained in hospital Wednesday. "They are all responding well to treatment," said Elebiga.

Police in Rivers state, of which Port Harcourt is the capital, earlier gave a toll of four dead and four injured, while Buhari's office said only that "several" people lost their lives.

Conflicting death tolls are not unusual in Nigeria, although the authorities often provide lower numbers.

Local media and eyewitnesses said the stampede happened when panic broke out at the end of a rally held in the city's Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium.

Crowds tried to force their way through a locked exit.

"Those from behind were pushing and putting pressure on those in front, leading to some persons falling on the ground and being trampled upon," said journalist Egufe Yafugborhi, of the Vanguard newspaper.

- Bloody aftermath -

Blood-stained clothes, discarded shoes, and belongings remained strewn at the site Wednesday.

Eyewitness Catherine Omokiniovo told AFP: "I was outside the gate selling popcorn when people started coming out.

"All of a sudden we started hearing cries of those who had fallen and could not get up because they had been trapped. There was confusion everywhere.

"Over 20 bodies were taken away in ambulances," she said, adding one of the victims was a pregnant woman and another a woman whose wedding was just months away.

Other witnesses gave a similar account. "The police blocked a section of the entrance with their vehicles, preventing free flow of movement after the rally," said one.

In Rivers, police spokesman Nnamdi Omoni said an investigation has been opened to determine the cause of the stampede.

"We are also evolving measures to improve on crowd control at such events," he added.

Crowd safety has been a concern at campaign rallies, with fanatical party supporters typically held back by inadequate fencing and ill-equipped security officials.

Last Thursday, two people were reported to have died during a crush at a Buhari rally in the northeastern state of Taraba.

On January 21, several people were injured in the northeastern city of Maiduguri when a platform collapsed during a visit by Buhari.

Rivers, home to the oil and gas industry, is a key battleground in the election between the ruling All Progressives Congress and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party.

Tensions typically mount between supporters of the two sides before, during, and after elections. Already, there are claims of attempts to rig the vote.

Five APC members were shot and killed Sunday during weekend clashes with PDP followers near the oil city of Warri, in Delta state.
Philippine journalist Maria Ressa managed to speak to reporters at the National Bureau of Investigation after her arrest in Manila

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, whose news site has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested at her Manila office on Wednesday in what press freedom advocates branded an act of "persecution".

Her detention on a charge of "cyber libel" is a dramatic escalation in government pressure bearing down on Ressa and her website Rappler, which was already facing tax evasion charges that could shut it down.

It comes after Duterte has cracked down on high-profile critics in the press and legislature who dared oppose his signature anti-drug campaign that has killed thousands.

"She's been arrested and she's been read her rights," Rappler co-founder Beth Frondoso told AFP.

President Rodrigo Duterte has cracked down on high-profile critics in the press and legislature who dared oppose his signature anti-drug campaign that has killed thousands

Later, Rappler announced in a tweet that Ressa would have to spend the night at the National Bureau of Investigation, the unit which detained her, as lawyers tried to find a court to post bail.

Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalism, left the Rappler offices with plain-clothes officers and surrounded by cameras.

"The case is ridiculous and the fact that they issue an arrest warrant is a travesty of justice," Ressa told journalists after her arrest.

"This is what journalists in the Philippines now have to go through," she added.

Rappler has drawn the administration's ire since publishing reports critical of Duterte's so-called war on drugs that critics say has targeted the poor and could amount to crimes against humanity.

- 'Forcibly silence critical media' -

Rappler employees hard at work in the online portal's main newsroom in Manila in January 2018

However, the new case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.

Philippine journalists immediately attacked the surprise serving of the warrant at Rappler headquarters.

"The arrest of ... Ressa on the clearly manipulated charge of cyberlibel is a shameless act of persecution by a bully government," said the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines.

"The government ... now proves it will go to ridiculous lengths to forcibly silence critical media," it added.

Amnesty International also swiftly condemned the arrest as "brazenly politically motivated".

"In a country where justice takes years to obtain, we see the charges against her being railroaded," the group said in a statement.

Philippine journalists and their supporters accused Duterte (as a clown in the poster) of trampling on press freedom in a January 2018 street protest when Rappler faced state-enforced closure

A UN spokesman told reporters in New York they were trying to get "a bit more detail" but that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "has always stood strong for freedom of the press and for governments to allow journalists to do their work in a way that is unharassed."

The Philippines tumbled six places last year in Reporters Without Borders rankings of press freedom to 133rd out of 180, with the body noting the government has pressured and silenced critics.

Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.

Inmates at Manila's city jail stand next to a portrait of President Duterte, who has been condemned around the world for widespread rights abuses

He had threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network's franchise renewal application.

Some of the drug crackdown's highest-profile detractors have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her.

Ressa insists the site is not anti-Duterte, saying it is just doing its job to hold the government to account.

The law that forms the foundation of the case takes aim at various online offences, including computer fraud and hacking.

Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said the cases against Ressa had nothing to do with her work as a journalist.

"This has nothing to do with freedom of expression or the press," he told broadcaster ABS-CBN. "Regardless of who commits any crime, he or she will be charged in accordance with the law."

In the tax case, the government accuses Rappler Holdings Corp., Ressa and the site's accountant of failing to pay taxes on 2015 bond sales that it alleges netted gains of 162.5 million pesos ($3 million).

The Philippine justice system is notoriously overburdened and slow, with even minor cases taking years to be judged.
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has faced weeks of protests in the big cities against his three-decade rule, tells paramilitary units 2019 will be the "year of peace" in the country's war-torn regions

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has faced weeks of protests against his three-decade rule, pledged to promote peace in the country's war zones in an address to paramilitary units on Wednesday.

"I assure you that the year 2019 will be the year of peace in Sudan," the president told members of the Popular Defence Force (PDF), a paramilitary unit that has been widely used to fight longstanding rebellions in Darfur and in regions near the South Sudan border.

"We want to keep our guns completely silent," said Bashir, wearing military uniform.

His remarks came weeks after he extended ceasefires in Blue Nile and South Kordofan states, where troops and paramilitaries have been battling rebels with pre-independence links to South Sudan.

"We want you to go to the war zones, not for fighting but for building schools and health centres," Bashir said.

The paramilitaries of the PDF are civilians, many of them young students. Before South Sudan broke away in 2011, they played a major role in the brutal decades-long civil war against the independence movement.

The PDF has also fought in Sudan's western region of Darfur, where ethnic minority rebels took up arms in 2003, drawing a scorched response from the government that prompted war crimes charges against Bashir from the International Criminal Court.

The president has repeatedly denied the charges, which also include genocide and crime against humanity.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the three conflicts and millions displaced, despite the longstanding deployment of a UN-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Since December, the 75-year-old Bashir has faced near-daily protests in the Sudanese heartland calling for his resignation, that analysts say pose the greatest challenge to his iron-fisted rule since he took power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989.

Officials say 30 people have died in protest-related violence. Human Rights Watch has said at least 51 people have been killed.

Anger that had been mounting for years over growing economic hardship and deteriorating living conditions has boiled over onto the streets, under the slogan: "Freedom, peace, justice!"

Bashir has remained defiant, insisting the ballot box is the only way to change the government and vowing to stand for a third term in an election scheduled for next year.
The detention of Ressa on a charge of "cyber libel" is a dramatic escalation in the legal pressure bearing down on the Rappler CEO and her website

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, who has repeatedly clashed with President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested in her Manila office on Wednesday in what rights advocates called an act of "persecution".

Her detention on a charge of "cyber libel" is a dramatic escalation in the legal pressure bearing down on Ressa and her website Rappler, which was already facing tax evasion charges that could shut it down.

"She's been arrested and she's been read her rights," Rappler co-founder Beth Frondoso told AFP. "Fingers crossed -- we'll try to post bail tonight."

Ressa, who was named a Time Magazine "Person of the Year" in 2018 for her journalistic work, left the Rappler offices with agents from the National Bureau of Investigation and surrounded by cameras.

Rappler has drawn the administration's ire since publishing reports critical of Duterte's signature anti-drug crackdown that has killed thousands of alleged users and pushers since 2016.

However, the new case against Ressa and former Rappler reporter Reynaldo Santos, Jr. stems from a 2012 report written about a businessman's alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

While investigators initially dismissed the businessman's 2017 complaint about the article, the case was subsequently forwarded to prosecutors for their consideration.

Philippine journalists immediately attacked the surprise serving of the warrant.

"The arrest of... Ressa on the clearly manipulated charge of cyber libel is a shameless act of persecution by a bully government," said the National Union of Journalists' of the Philippines.

"The government... now proves it will go to ridiculous lengths to forcibly silence critical media," it added.

Duterte has lashed out at other critical media outfits, including the Philippine Daily Inquirer newspaper and broadcaster ABS-CBN.

He had threatened to go after their owners over alleged unpaid taxes or block the network's franchise renewal application.

Some of the drug crackdown's highest profile critics have wound up behind bars, including Senator Leila de Lima, who was jailed on drug charges she insists were fabricated to silence her.

The law that forms the foundation of the case takes aim at various online offences, including computer fraud and hacking.

Under the tax case, the government accuses Rappler Holdings Corp., Ressa and the site's accountant of failing to pay taxes on 2015 bond sales that it alleges netted gains of 162.5 million pesos ($3 million).

The Philippine justice system is notoriously overburdened and slow, with even minor cases taking years to be judged.
Indian cyber experts have warned of a bitter social media war between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the main opposition Congress party ahead of a general election due by May

Two Indian ministers were left red-faced Wednesday after their attempts to glorify Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government on Twitter backfired spectacularly.

Critics have accused Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of running a relentless propaganda campaign on social media to increase its base of supporters.

Media reports have suggested the party employs a "backroom army of trolls" to attack its rivals and run smear campaigns.

On Wednesday Railway Minister Piyush Goyal shared a video purportedly showing India's first semi high-speed train zipping past at lightning speed, in order to trumpet Modi's pet "Make in India" initiative.

But it turned out to be a digitally altered video with the speed of the train enhanced by two times, prompting a backlash from Twitter users.

"Massive respect for Piyush Goyal. He just made the video 2X times faster and called it semi-high speed train when he could have made it 6X times faster and called it super high speed train," wrote one user.

Goyal has yet not commented on the video, which can still be seen on his timeline.

India's junior minister for finance and shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan also found himself at the receiving end after inadvertently criticising his own government in multiple tweets.

The minister retweeted posts with the hashtag #ModiforNewIndia without reviewing the content.

"#Modi4NewIndia Working for the middle class is low on the agenda of Modi govt," read one of his tweets.

"Modi govt started the process of online tracking of applications for environmental approvals, bringing down approval time from 600 days to 1,800 days," read another.

Hundreds of other accounts loyal to Modi and the BJP retweeted Radhakrishnan's posts verbatim. Some of the tweets have since been deleted.

Pratik Sinha, co-founder of fact-checking website Alt-News, on Wednesday said he had edited a shared Google document that exposed how the BJP's social media army churned out propaganda on a daily basis and was picked by government loyalists.

"How do you get a union minister to tweet what you want? Well, you go and edit the trending document made by BJP IT cell, and then you control what they tweet," wrote Sinha.

Indian cyber experts have warned of a bitter social media war between the ruling BJP and the main opposition Congress party headed by Rahul Gandhi ahead of a general election due by May.

India's right-wing groups recently accused Twitter of a "left-wing bias", saying the network was suspending accounts supportive of the BJP.

On Monday, a 31-member panel headed by a BJP lawmaker, summoned Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to appear before it on February 25.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif gestures during a press conference in Tehran and says that a 60-nation conference being co-hosted by Washington in Warsaw on Iran and the Middle East is "dead on arrival"

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Wednesday that a two-day conference being co-hosted by Washington in Warsaw on Iran and the Middle East was "dead on arrival".

"It is another attempt by the United States to pursue an obsession with Iran that is not well-founded," Zarif told a Tehran news conference.

"The Warsaw conference, I believe, is dead on arrival."

Zarif said not even Washington had any interest in the conference as a forum for an exchange of views among the 60 participating countries.

"I think the fact that they are not aiming to issue any agreed text but rather are just attempting to use their own statement on behalf of everybody else shows they don't have any respect for it themselves," he said.

"You usually don't bring 60 countries and states together in order to speak for them. That indicates to you that they don't believe they have anything to gain from this meeting."

Zarif said most of the states going to the conference were doing so due to pressure from the United States.

"They used their money, they used their influence, they used the military might of the United States," he said.

"They used the leverage they have with various countries in order to attract more people to this conference.

"Many (countries) going there have told us that (they) don't have any other choice," the foreign minister added.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also spoke out against the conference, citing it as an example of US failure against the Islamic republic.

"Today they feel they need a coalition of dozens of hostile or daunted states to confront the Islamic republic politically and militarily," his official website quoted him as saying, adding that they would fail.

Much of the schedule for the conference remains vague amid deep divisions over policy towards the region, where Washington has adopted the deep hostility towards Iran of its allies Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Washington will be represented by both Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, but major European allies are sending low-profile delegations amid unease over President Donald Trump's strident calls to strangle Iran's economy.

The main session will take place on Thursday when Pence, Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are all scheduled to address the conference.

Netanyahu, who has vowed to keep striking Iranian forces until they leave war-torn Syria and has not ruled out a military strike to destroy Iran's remaining nuclear facilities, is likely to deliver a fiery address.

But outside of Israel, Iran's Arab rivals and the Trump administration, nearly all countries still back an accord negotiated under previous US president Barack Obama under which Iran agreed to accept tight limits to its nuclear activities in return for the easing of crippling economic sanctions.
A Syrian Democratic Forces fighter keeps watch during an operation to expel hundreds of Islamic State group jihadists from their last redoubt

Jihadist fighters made a desperate last stand in eastern Syria on Wednesday, while their wives and children fled the final, blood-soaked implosion of the Islamic State group's "caliphate".

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces on Saturday launched a final push to expel IS fighters from the sole remaining morsel of the proto-state they declared in 2014 across parts of Syria and Iraq.

Thousands of people have flooded out of the so-called "Baghouz pocket" near the Iraqi border in recent days -- mostly women and children, but also suspected jihadists.

Several dozen people fled Baghouz on Wednesday afternoon, walking to an SDF-held position four kilometres (two miles) away from the village.

IS group's last bastion in eastern Syria

As they approached, the SDF rushed down to filter out the men. They separated 15, all with long beards, and took them one by one behind a rock to search them.

Afterwards, they loaded them into a truck to take them to a gathering point where coalition troops were present.

In an open field serving as the main civilian reception location, about 300 women and children, almost all of them Iraqi, sat in small groups.

After fleeing Baghouz on foot on Tuesday afternoon, most had spent the night out in the open.

"I tried to go get a blanket for my kids but there weren't enough," said Umm Ayham, a young Syrian woman from the northern province of Raqa.

"Some people had lit a fire, burning plastic they found on the ground and baby diapers, so I went by it to get warm."

- Retina scan -

Smoke billows as fighters with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces keep watch in the Baghouz area in eastern Syria on February 12, 2019 during an operation to expel hundreds of Islamic State group jihadists from the region

Hundreds of people fled the IS holdout in the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said.

Inside on Wednesday, the Kurdish-led SDF fighters were advancing slowly against hundreds of jihadists.

"We have retaken positions lost in a counterattack launched two days ago by IS. We have progressed and taken new positions," Bali said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said the SDF fighters were making painstaking progress.

"There are mines throughout the sector," said Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor.

"The SDF are firing rockets," he said, and both sides were locked in heavy clashes on the edges of Baghouz village.

Since December, more than 38,000 people, mostly wives and children of IS fighters, have fled into SDF-held areas, the Observatory says.

That figure includes around 3,500 suspected jihadists detained by the SDF, according to the monitor.

In SDF-held territory earlier Wednesday, two dozen members of the coalition forces searched men who had escaped.

A fighter with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces helps women and children who fled the Islamic State group's last pocket of territory in eastern Syria on February 12, 2019

About five waited in line to be patted down, including one man in a rickety wheelchair.

A coalition force member led one of the younger men to a subsequent point for a retina scan.

Further on, those that had been searched were kneeling on the ground with coalition troops circling around them.

The alliance launched a military offensive to expel IS from the eastern banks of the Euphrates in the oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor in September.

Since then, more than 1,300 jihadists as well as 650 SDF fighters have been killed, while more than 400 civilians have lost their lives, the Observatory says.

- Foreign jihadists -

A fighter with the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces keeps watch on February 12, 2019 near women who fled the Islamic State group's last enclave in eastern Syria

SDF spokesman Bali said at the weekend that up to 600 jihadists could remain inside the pocket, most of them foreigners.

US President Donald Trump on Monday said the coalition may declare victory over IS in Syria within days.

A victory in Baghouz would allow the United States to withdraw all its 2,000 troops from Syria, as announced by Trump in December.

The pullout announcement shocked Washington's allies, as well as US military commanders.

In a report last week, the US Department of Defence warned that without sustained counterterrorism pressure, IS could resurge within months.

Syria's Kurds hold hundreds of suspected foreign IS fighters and have long urged their home countries to take them back, but these have been reluctant.

Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan on Tuesday made an unannounced visit to Baghdad.

A senior Pentagon official told reporters travelling with Shanahan that Washington was pressing its allies to repatriate their nationals.

"We think coalition members need to take responsibility for their citizens who are fighters. It's been a message we've delivered time and time again. And we are seeing hopeful progress," he said.

Syria's civil war has killed 360,000 people since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

It has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers and jihadists.
The animal protection group Humane Society International saved about 200 dogs at a dog farm in Hongseong, 150 kilometres south of Seoul

A rescue operation to save hundreds of dogs in South Korea from the slaughterhouse began Wednesday, as pressure mounts on the country to end its custom of killing canines for meat.

About one million dogs are eaten a year in South Korea, often as a summertime delicacy, with the greasy red meat -- invariably boiled for tenderness -- believed to increase energy.

But the tradition has earned criticism abroad and has declined as the nation increasingly embraces the idea of dogs as pets instead of livestock, with eating them now something of a taboo among young South Koreans.

The two-week rescue operation by animal protection group Humane Society International (HSI) will save about 200 canines at a dog farm in Hongseong county, 150 kilometres south of Seoul.

The dogs will be sent to Canada and the United States for rehoming

The dogs will then be sent to Canada and the United States for rehoming.

"These dogs are no different from any other dogs. Once they receive some tender loving care that they deserve and that they need," Kelly O'Meara, an HSI official, told AFP.

The farm was the 14th complex shut down by the group since 2015.

The organisation said it has rescued around 1,600 dogs during that time, with farmers given support to move into other lines of work. One transformed his dog meat business into a blueberry farm.

According to a survey in 2017, 70 percent of South Koreans do not eat dog, but far fewer -- about 40 percent -- believe the practice should be banned

Lee Sang-gu, the owner of the Hongseong farm, said he decided to change his business because it was "not profitable anymore", noting even his family members were against eating dog.

According to a survey in 2017, 70 percent of South Koreans do not eat dog, but far fewer -- about 40 percent -- believe the practice should be banned.

It also found 65 percent support raising and slaughtering dogs under more humane conditions.

The country's largest canine slaughterhouse complex in Seongnam city, south of Seoul, was dismantled in November. Activists who visited found electrocution equipment and a pile of dead dogs abandoned on the floor.

There are currently no laws on how to treat or slaughter canines for meat in South Korea. While farmers have urged Seoul to include dogs under livestock welfare regulations, animal rights groups oppose doing so, seeking complete abolition instead.
Rescuers worked to move the wreckage of the Cessna plane that crashed

A Kenyan pilot and four foreigners -- including three Americans -- have died after a small plane carrying them from Kenya's Maasai Mara nature reserve crashed in the west of the country, police said Wednesday.

"There were five occupants in the plane and they did not survive," said Edward Mwamburi, police chief for the Rift Valley region.

He said the Cessna plane was heading from the famed Maasai Mara to Lodwar, near Lake Turkana, which is also popular with tourists.

"There was a Kenyan pilot on board and four foreign nationals," said James Mugera, commander with the Kericho police.

Three of the foreigners were identified as Americans -- two women and a man -- while one remained unidentified, a police source told AFP on condition of anonymity.

In June last year, a plane belonging to the FlySAX airline crashed on the edge of the Aberdares mountain range, leaving 10 people dead.

The Cessna plane was heading from the Masai Mara nature reserve, one of the most popular tourism destinations in Kenya

Kenya has a vibrant airline industry, with national airline Kenya Airways operating internationally and locally alongside successful low-cost airlines and charter companies.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in 2014, some 130,000 planes land and take off from Kenya each year, and the country has 35 operating airlines.

The IATA said Kenyas air transport infrastructure quality ranks 6th out of 37 countries surveyed in Africa.

In October 2017 five passengers were killed when a helicopter crashed into Lake Nakuru, while in 2012 a helicopter carrying internal security minister George Saitoti crashed, killing all six passengers on board.

Kenya's worst crash in recent years took place in 2007, when a Kenya Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi via Douala crashed into a swamp after take-off, killing all 114 passengers.

In 2000 another Kenya Airways flight from Abidjan to Nairobi crashed into the Atlantic Ocean minutes after take-off, killing 169 people while 10 survived.
Carlos Ghosn has been held in a Japanese detention centre since November

French carmaker Renault said Wednesday it would block a major payout for detained former boss Carlos Ghosn as the group seeks to avoid the prospect of an embarrassing "golden parachute".

A month after Ghosn resigned from Renault, the company's board announced it would not pay the equivalent of two years of salary to the 64-year-old under a non-compete clause in his contract, estimated to be worth four million euros ($4.5 million).

The board also said Ghosn would miss out on stock options issued between 2015 and 2018 because they were "subject to his presence within Renault".

Company sources speaking to AFP said the stocks were only convertible after Ghosn had spent four years with the company, meaning this year he could have claimed those issued in 2015.

The combined value of the non-compete clause and the 2015 shares was estimated at 10 million euros.

Ghosn has been held in a Tokyo jail since his stunning arrest in Tokyo in November on charges of under-reporting his salary as head of Nissan, Renault's partner in an alliance Ghosn built up into the world's top-selling auto group.

Ghosn faces three charges of financial misconduct

Renault's move came shortly after the humbled former auto boss shook up his top legal team as he vowed to prove his innocence and forcefully defend himself against the charges.

He replaced former prosecutor Motonari Otsuru with hot-shot lawyer Junichiro Hironaka, who has a history of taking on high-profile cases and enjoys an enviable acquittal rate in a country where almost every trial results in a guilty verdict.

"I look forward to defending myself vigorously, and this represents the beginning of the process of not only establishing my innocence but also shedding light on the circumstances that led to my unjust detention," the Franco-Brazilian-Lebanese executive said.

The surprise shake-up came on the eve of an expected first meeting between the Tokyo District Court, prosecutors, and defence lawyers to discuss the outlines of Ghosn's eventual trial.

- Salary controversy -

The French state, which is a major shareholder in Renault, has said it would do its utmost to avoid a "golden parachute" for the 64-year-old that would have proved highly controversial.

In 2018, Ghosn was forced to accept a 30-percent pay cut from Renault under pressure from the French state following a public outcry about the seven million euros he was paid annually.

In 2016, the man known as "le cost-killer" for slashing outlays and jobs took home a combined 15.4 million euros from his roles at Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi in a mix of fixed payouts and performance-linked bonuses.

As part of his Renault pay package, Ghosn was eligible to receive 100,000 company shares every year, but they could only be cashed after four years, as long as he was with the company.

Ghosn was therefore unable to claim the shares from 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, the company said in its statement.

It did not mention other payouts Ghosn could be entitled to after he formally resigned last month, having been at the helm of Renault since 2005.

Shareholder advisory group Proxinvest estimates he could be eligible for an annual pension payout of 765,000 euros a year.

Renault's board said it would decide on Ghosn's pay for the 2018 financial year on March 15.

- 'Unjust detention' -

Ghosn has been behind bars since November 19 on three charges of financial misconduct and has seen two bail requests refused, with the court judging him a flight risk.

He faces charges of under-reporting his income between 2010 and 2015 to the tune of five billion yen ($46 million), and continuing to do so for a further three years.

Ghosn also stands accused of a complex scheme to try to pass off personal foreign exchange losses to Nissan and using company funds to reimburse a Saudi contact who stumped up collateral for him.

Junichiro Hironaka (C) is a veteran defence lawyer who was involved in the successful defence in 2012 of influential politician Ichiro Ozawa

He told AFP in January that the allegations against him and his arrest were "a story of betrayal," insisting "there is not one yen that I have received that was not reported".

Hironaka, Ghosn's new lawyer, is a veteran defence lawyer who was involved in the successful defence in 2012 of influential politician Ichiro Ozawa, a shrewd election strategist accused of playing a role in misreporting political funds.

There had been no public sign of a rift between Ghosn and his lead lawyers, though neither the executive nor the attorney have spoken much publicly since the arrest.

hih-sah-ric-js/mlr
Relations between the US and Iran have been strained by President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of an international nuclear deal with Tehran and reimpose sanctions

An international court Wednesday ruled Iran can proceed with a bid to unfreeze assets in the United States, rejecting Washington's claims the case must be halted because of Tehran's alleged support for international terrorism.

Washington had argued that Iran's "unclean hands" -- a reference to Tehran's suspected backing of terror groups -- should disqualify its lawsuit to recover $2 billion in assets frozen by the US Supreme Court in 2016.

The International Court of Justice in The Hague threw out some of the US challenges, and said it had the right to hold full hearings at a later date as to whether Tehran will get the money back.

Chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said the UN's top court "unanimously rejects the preliminary objections to admissibility raised by the United States of America".

The court also "finds that it has jurisdiction" in the case, Yusuf said at the end of an hour-long reading of the decision.

Washington, however, called the court's ruling a "significant victory" for America because it threw out a key issue pertaining to Iran's claims of sovereign immunity.

The case is one in which "the Iranian regime seeks to misuse legal process and distort principles of international law," the State Department said.

Tehran said the United States had illegally seized Iranian financial assets and those of Iranian companies -- and with Iran's clerical regime facing economic difficulties after sanctions and a fall in its currency, resolving the case remains crucial.

The US Supreme Court had said Iran must give the cash to survivors and relatives of victims of attacks blamed on Tehran, including the 1983 bombing of a US Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia.

Iran said the freezing of the funds breached the 1955 Treaty of Amity with the United States, an agreement signed before Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution severed relations between the countries.

The United States announced in October that it was pulling out of the Treaty of Amity after the ICJ in a separate case ordered Washington to lift nuclear-related sanctions on humanitarian goods for Iran.

The ICJ is the top court of the United Nations and was set up after World War II to resolve disputes between member states. Its rulings are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no means of enforcing them.

- 'Unclean hands' -

Tensions between Tehran and Washington are high around the 40th anniversary of the Iranian revolution and a Middle East meeting in Warsaw where the United States aims to pile pressure on Iran.

Long-fraught relations had already been further strained by US President Donald Trump's decision last year to pull out of a "terrible" international nuclear deal with Iran and reimpose sanctions.

The 2015 nuclear deal had unblocked billions of dollars in other Iranian funds.

Iran first lodged the lawsuit in June 2016, accusing Washington of breaking the decades-old amity treaty dating from the time of the Shah, who was deposed in the revolution.

Judge Yusuf noted that at the last hearing on Iran's funds in October, the United States had argued "that Iran's 'unclean hands' preclude the court from proceeding with this case."

But he added that "even if it were shown that (Iran's) conduct was not beyond reproach, this would not be sufficient" on its own to throw out the case.

He also said the fact that the US had now pulled out of the amity treaty with Iran "has no effect on the jurisdiction of the court" and that it now needed to hold detailed hearings.

US officials including US National Security Advisor John Bolton have previously called the ICJ's legitimacy into account, and were incensed by October's ruling by the court that Washington must drop sanctions on humanitarian goods.

In Poland this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is seeking to use a two-day conference of foreign ministers to try to rally the world behind increasing pressure on Iran and supporting Israel.

The Trump administration has found itself at odds with its European allies over the nuclear deal, with EU powers launching a mechanism to bypass sanctions.
US President Donald Trump is mulling a deal reached in Congress to resolve the long-running row over funding for US-Mexico border wall construction

President Donald Trump indicated Tuesday that he will walk back his threat to shut the government even if he does not get all the money he has demanded for building a wall along the US-Mexican border.

Although Trump left enough wiggle room to keep the country guessing, he appeared to be edging toward accepting a deal struck in Congress that would give him significantly less money for the much-maligned barrier.

"I can't say I'm happy, I can't say I'm thrilled," Trump said. But he also told a cabinet meeting in the White House: "I don't think you're going to see a shutdown."

He was responding to a deal struck by Republican and Democratic lawmakers to offer nearly $1.4 billion for wall construction, as well as other border security measures.

This was far less than the $5.7 billion Trump wanted, but it was presented as a workable deal to satisfy both sides and allow Trump to shelve his threat to shut down large portions of the government on Friday.

Trump said he would manage to "add" to the congressional funds, though he did not explain how.

US workers build the border wall between El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on February 5, 2019

Lawmakers, including from his own Republican Party, pressured Trump to take what was on the table.

Senator Richard Shelby, the top Republican negotiator, called it "a pretty good deal."

Late Tuesday, Trump tweeted to thank Republicans for their work "dealing with the Radical Left on Border Security."

"Not an easy task, but the Wall is being built and will be a great achievement and contributor toward life and safety within our Country!," he said.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said the compromise would be voted on and likely passed, ready for Trump's signature.

"The deal is the way it's going to be written, and it will be filed, I suspect, tomorrow night," he said.

- Border dispute -

Trump says he wasn't "happy" with a preliminary deal by US lawmakers to provide only a fraction of the funding he sought for a border wall with Mexico

The funds would finance 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) of new walls along the border.

Hundreds of miles of barriers already run along the US-Mexican border, but Trump says far more are needed to bring what he often calls an "invasion" of migrant criminals under control.

Democrats say Trump vastly exaggerates the crime problem and uses the issue to whip up his right-wing voter base.

In December, Trump tried to pressure Congress into approving the $5.7 billion by refusing to sign off on funding large parts of government that have nothing to do with the wall, putting 800,000 jobs, from FBI agents to airport security, on hold for five weeks.

The Democrats refused to budge and Trump was forced into an embarrassing retreat, allowing new negotiations to open with a new deadline of this Friday.

Trump supporters cheer during a rally in El Paso, Texas on February 11, 2019

This time, Republicans appear desperate to avoid a second shutdown, leaving Trump with less political cover.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the compromise deal was "certainly good news."

"Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources," Trump tweeted about the deal. "Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security. Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!" he added, without providing further explanation about his figures.

- Election ploy -

Anti-Trump activists protest during the president's rally in El Paso, Texas

Although there's little doubt that organized Mexican drug crime and people smugglers present a threat along the US border, Trump's fixation on wall building has polarized Americans to the point where the left and right can barely discuss the issue.

For Trump, chants of "build the wall" were crucial to his surprise 2016 election victory. At a rally in El Paso, Texas, on Monday he introduced a new slogan for his coming 2020 re-election bid: "Finish the wall."

The thousands of devoted Trump fans, many of them wearing his red "Make America great again" campaign hats, cheered at the dire warnings about Mexican criminals and calls for bigger and longer walls.

"Walls save lives, walls save tremendous numbers of lives," Trump told them.

There was a counter-message a short distance from where Trump spoke when rising Democratic star Beto O'Rourke -- a possible challenger in 2020 -- held his own rally.

A former congressman who excited grassroots Democrats in November with an against-the-odds near upset of Republican Senator Ted Cruz, O'Rourke is from El Paso.

"Tonight, we will meet lies and hate with the truth and a positive, inclusive, ambitious vision for the future from the US-Mexico border," he said.

Trump dismissed O'Rourke as "a young man who's got very little going for himself except he's got a great first name."

Making fun of what he said was O'Rourke's much smaller crowd, Trump said: "That may be the end of his presidential bid."
A host of events are scheduled for Galentine's Day, celebrated on the day before Valentine's Day -- the St Regis hotel in Washington is serving a special afternoon tea complete with themed pastries

For some people, facing the onslaught of Valentine's Day flowers, candy and marketing can be overwhelming if you are single. For Riya Patel, it's a reason to celebrate love -- platonic love -- even by long distance.

Welcome to the American phenomenon of Galentine's Day, feted on February 13th -- a "holiday" gaining in popularity with each passing year, and also gaining in terms of its message of female empowerment.

"I've organized this giant group FaceTime with all my closest girlfriends. All of us are going to get on the phone and celebrate each other," says Patel, a 22-year-old research analyst from the US capital.

"And then I'll just celebrate me. That's probably going to end up being some restorative yoga in my bedroom and then making something with bourbon in it."

Galentine's Day was born in 2010 during an episode of the American sitcom "Parks & Recreation," when main character Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) hosts a brunch on February 13 for her best gal pals.

It was conceived as a defiant response to Valentine's Day -- a statement that the traditional romantic love is not the only kind worth honoring.

"Women are just so pummeled throughout their upbringing with this idea of romantic love imagery, and what it means to be in love," said Olivia Dillingham, a brand consultant for women in New York.

"That does create this sense of unworthiness and failure when you come around to Valentine's Day and you don't have someone to go to dinner with."

Galentine's Day has grown from being a semi-joke to a semi-serious holiday -- and it's generating big money.

There is also a lot of pink, a lot of gold and a lot of glitter.

Galentine's Day cards are displayed at a Target store in Falls Church, Virginia

Many businesses have started selling themed products -- cards, wine glasses, candies, cookies. Big box stores have dedicated sections for the event.

Bars and restaurants are organizing happy hours and parties.

In Washington, whisky bar Jack Rose Dining Saloon is hosting a special cocktail hour. The luxury St Regis Hotel has planned an afternoon tea with an exclusive pop-up jewelry boutique.

"We did it a little playful, with colorful girl colors," said Heather Dobson, the hotel's head pastry chef, displaying an array of small pastries decorated with candy hearts, chocolate lips and rose petals.

Clothing retailer Madewell is staging a promotional sale, encouraging shoppers to view the clothes purchased with a 20 percent discount as their new "BFFs" -- best friends forever.

A search on the hashtag "#galentinesday" on Instagram reveals thousands of photos of pink balloons or ladies' brunches.

Dillingham, 24, hosted a Galentine's Day party last year: she and other female friends cast "love spells" on themselves, exchanged flowers and traded compliments.

"Having a really strong solid support system and having support in yourself is so important," she said.

"And it's just a good excuse to bring friends together."

- Time for reflection -

Ursula de Bergevin, owner of Fleurs DC, looks through flowers for a Galentine's Day event as her young daughter Chloe sits in the stroller -- Galentine's Day has grown from being a semi-joke to a semi-serious holiday, and it's generating big money

Only 51 percent of Americans plan to celebrate Valentine's Day in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation -- a decrease of more than 10 percentage points over the past decade.

But Galentine's Day sales are predicted to bring in a 20 percent total revenue increase over the next three years, according to an estimate by NPD retail analyst Marshal Cohen.

For Patel, Dillingham and others, the holiday goes beyond rebelling against Valentine's Day and partying to also include a time of personal reflection -- more than just "ovaries before brovaries," as Leslie Knope would say.

"It started out as very shallow," Patel said. But now, "it feels bigger than just celebrating female friends. It's a day to reflect on people who support you in your life."

Some businesses are working to embrace that deeper message.

In Washington, the luxury St Regis Hotel has planned an afternoon tea complete with themed food and an exclusive pop-up jewelry boutique

Arley Arrington, the owner of Arley Cakes in Richmond, Virginia, has made alternative "conversation" heart cookies since 2016 -- instead of "I love you" and "Be mine," they say things like "Flawless" and "Be my equal."

Although she doesn't market them specifically for Galentine's Day, the 29-year-old baker says most of the orders come from women planning to give the goodies to their female friends.

Her inspiration? The annual Beyonce-themed Galentine's Day dinner she hosted with her friends in Charlottesville before she moved to Richmond.

"People get excited when they're able to confront or think about those more challenging things in a cute format," Arrington said.

Sara Phillips, a 37-year-old Washington perfume-maker who is co-hosting a Galentine's Day workshop, says she is on board with the holiday's message -- even if she had not heard of it before this year.

"It's really all about women's empowerment and women helping each other out and encouragement," she said.

Patel agrees: "I think that's the special part, celebrating how women are supporting each other."
It's hoped the good fortunes of Chinese New Year will flow for hundreds of Victorian paddlers in the water for one of 39 traditional dragon boat races.

Fifteen clubs from across Victoria will head to Melbourne to compete in one of China's oldest and most revered traditions from Sunday morning.

Four authentic boats in each of the 39 races will compete for glory, marking the final event on the 16-day Chinese New Year Festival Melbourne calendar for the year.

The regatta symbolises luck and prosperity to a city, the organisers say.

"One of our city's favourite events ... unites families and friends to celebrate Chinese culture and traditions across the city," Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said of the festival.

Victorians can also enjoy cultural performances and a lion dance in the afternoon.
Sydney detectives are appealing for public assistance to identify the driver of the getaway car used in the shooting murder of bikie boss Mick Hawi a year ago.

Yusuf Guney Nazlioglu, 37, and fellow Lone Wolf outlaw motorcycle gang member Ahmad Doudar, 38, are accused of murdering Hawi, who was shot in car outside a Rockdale gym exactly 12 months ago.

The pair were charged with murder in mid-August.

A third man, 36-year-old Moustafa Salami, has been charged with being an accessory after the killing.

Police however have not been arrested the driver of the getaway car and have released CCTV images they hope will help identify the man.
Victoria's police chief says the public can trust the force as a royal commission begins into a supergrass lawyer whose information helped convict hundreds of gangland criminals and drug traffickers.

The royal commission will hold an introductory hearing on Friday into the 'Lawyer X' scandal, which has opened a window of appeal for some of Victoria's most serious criminals including drug lord Tony Mokbel.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton said the use of the defence barrister as a human source dated back two decades and the public could trust modern-day police.

"The way we record matters, the way our evidence is gathered, the way we manage investigations, has undergone a lot of reform in the last couple of decades," he told ABC radio.

"These hearings will highlight the differences between how we do things now and how we did things then."

The royal commission's scope was widened after police revealed Lawyer X - also known as informer 3838 - was first recruited in 1995, not 2005 as previously thought, and a number of other lawyers were also used as informants.

Mr Ashton said police provided information to the corruption watchdog IBAC about six people who held obligations of confidentiality, but they were not all lawyers.

Lawyer X's role as a police informant first became public in 2014, leading to an independent inquiry that found negligence of a high order in the management of human source information by Victoria Police.

The $7.5 million royal commission was announced in December last year, after the High Court and Victoria's Court of Appeal publicly released decisions over Lawyer X.

The High Court labelled Lawyer X's actions an appalling breach of the barrister's legal obligations and the conduct of Victoria Police as reprehensible and atrocious.

Part of the royal commission's job is to determine how many cases were affected by Lawyer X's conduct as a police informant, which ended in 2009.

In a 2015 letter to police, Lawyer X said the information the barrister provided during Melbourne's gangland war led to at least 386 people being charged and the seizure of more than $60 million in property and assets.
Coalmine dust disease victims are planning to confront BHP to ask for a fund to be established for black lung and silicosis sufferers.

The Mine Dust Diseases Victims Group wrote to BHP but have not received a response, so will go directly to executives in Brisbane, a spokesman says.

Jim Pearce, a former coalminer and Queensland MP, says more than 100 mineworkers in the state have been diagnosed with mine dust diseases such as black lung and silicosis.

The group fear the number is rising and that there may be many more undiagnosed cases, particularly among workers at labour hire companies that supply the big miners.

"Sadly, many workers are frightened to get tested for mine dust diseases because they are frightened of being sacked and losing their livelihoods," Mr Pearce says in a statement.

The group says doctors are reluctant to pinpoint where a disease may have been contracted, making it extraordinarily difficult for sick workers to get compensation.

A fund, they say, would help.

"It's unfair that they should have to be just left to die quietly in the corner of their home and not have the mining companies accept some responsibility," Mr Pearce says.

The Mine Dust Disease Victims Support Group wants a one cent per tonne, per week levy on coal produced to go into the fund for sick workers and their families.

"This ask is not radical or unreasonable. In the US, coal companies pay a $US1.10 per tonne levy on each tonne of coal produced to assist mine disease victims."
A vote calling for a disability royal commission appears set to succeed when federal parliament resumes next week, after being delayed by the longest question time on record.

The Senate on Thursday voted again for a royal commission into the disability sector and Labor wanted to bring on a lower house vote it may have won.

But the prime minister, who usually promptly ends question time at the earliest opportunity, allowed it to run two-and-a-half hours - well past the previous record of 126 minutes set under Kevin Rudd in February 2009.

He said a royal commission should be called in the proper way, not through an unexpected vote in parliament.

"I'm not afraid of losing a vote in this house, I lost one on Tuesday," Mr Morrison told parliament on Thursday.

Despite the government running down the clock on parliament on Thursday, the vote appears likely to succeed when parliamentarians return to Canberra next week for further sittings.

The opposition's chief tactician Tony Burke has confirmed Labor has spoken with every crossbencher about the issue.

"We would not have gone to such lengths today, were we not confident we could form a majority," he told reporters afterwards.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said Labor decided two years ago to have a disability royal commission.

"Labor is committed to implementing a royal commission to protect people living with a disability from abuse," he told parliament.

Greens senator Jordon Steele-John had raised the issue in the upper house and came into the House of Representatives chamber on Thursday and shouted "do the right thing" before being told off.

The coalition, despite voting against his motion in the Senate, hasn't ruled out backing the vote itself.

"I will remain open to every single option there is to provide support to people with disabilities," the prime minister said.
A Victorian magistrate is set to hear more details about the jail yard stabbing which left convicted drug lord Tony Mokbel in hospital fighting for life.

The 53-year-old remains in a serious condition in Royal Melbourne Hospital on Friday, when two men are due to face Geelong Magistrates Court over the attack.

Teira Bennett and Eldea Teuira, both 21, are charged with Mokbel's attempted murder.

The pair also faces allegations of intentionally causing serious injury and causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence against Mokbel and another inmate, named as 31-year-old Steven Logan.

Monday's attack at the maximum-security Barwon prison allegedly involved the use of makeshift knives.

The incident occurred a day after a newspaper report that Mokbel intervened in a standover racket run by Pacific Islander inmates.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton brushed off notions of a gangland hit.

"That's a bit of a stretch to jump to gangland hit in that case. At this stage, the most likely theory is around inter-prison feuding," he told ABC radio on Thursday.
Firefighting crews appear to have scored crucial victories against three bushfires raging in the north of NSW but hot weather could spell the end of the reprieve.

The Tingha fire, which was downgraded to an advice level on Thursday night, has destroyed at least nine homes and damaged one other, the NSW Rural Fire Service said in a statement.

About 18 outbuildings such as sheds have been destroyed in the 19,000-hectare fire.

It is now being controlled and backburning is taking place.

Meanwhile, another fire allegedly started in a backyard rubbish bin at Tabulum on the NSW-Queensland border destroyed 10 homes.

It also razed 23 outbuildings and damaged a further six homes as it burned through 4000 hectares.

Less than 50 kilometres west of Tabulum, another massive fire at Wallangarra has burned through 28,000 hectares.

Firefighters will take advantage of favourable weather over the next few days in a bid to extinguish the fires though it could take days to fully contain the blazes and they don't have time to ease.

While temperatures will range from the high-20s in coastal areas to mid-30s inland throughout Friday, they are again tipped to climb into the high-30s in the northern regions by early next week.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to break his silence in the wake of the investigation into an election rorts scheme that exonerated 16 state Labor politicians.

Mr Andrews is due to face questions on Friday from the media about the outcome of the probe linked to the state's 2014 election, during which taxpayer funds were used to pay electorate officers campaigning for Labor, came to a head a day earlier.

On previous occasions, he has avoided where possible, speaking about the investigation.

"I don't intend to be a commentator on those matters. I just don't think it's appropriate," Mr Andrews told reporters last August.

Even as news of the exonerations broke on Thursday, it was left to Police Minister Lisa Neville to face the cameras on behalf of the government.

"This is over for MPs. It means MPs, as they always have done, remain focused on delivering for Victorians," Police Minister Lisa Neville told reporters in Ballarat.

Ombudsman Deborah Glass previously found 21 past and present Labor MPs systematically misused public money during the party's successful campaign, with $388,000 in taxpayer funds approved for electorate officers who instead worked as campaign staff.

She also found their actions were "in good faith, depriving no personal benefit".

But the news wasn't so good for former Labor treasurer John Lenders who is expected to be questioned by police over his involvement in the scheme.

An unnamed electorate officer will also answer questions over the so-called "red shirts" scandal.

Labor has already repaid the $388,000.
A soldier has been arrested and charged with raping a teenage girl at barracks in Brisbane.

The man, aged in his 20s, was taken into custody on Wednesday after he reportedly assaulted the 16-year-old girl at the Enoggera Army Base barracks.

Queensland Police said the alleged incident occurred on January 14 and resulted in an investigation.

The Australian Defence Force confirmed the soldier was taken into custody in relation to a sexual assault allegation and released on bail.

"Defence is assisting Queensland Police Service with their inquiries," a spokesperson told AAP in a statement.

"As the matter is under investigation by the Queensland Police Service it would be inappropriate for Defence to comment."

The man was ordered to appear at Brisbane Magistrates court on February 26.
The Northern Territory Government will invest $22 million tackling domestic violence over three years including working with perpetrators as it faces rates at least triple the rest of the country.

The money will be invested in domestic violence prevention, perpetrator intervention programs, and safety and recovery services for victims.

Katherine Women's Crisis Centre executive officer Jo Gamble said programs that involved working with men who were perpetrators were new.

"That's why prevention and intervention is really great, there needs to be a focus looking at attitudes, how we see the drivers and working on those is really important," she told reporters.

"I think it's a national problem, we all need to work on that."

Rates of domestic, family and sexual violence in the NT were three times higher than any other Australian jurisdiction, with more than 60 reported incidents to police every day, Territory Families Minister Dale Wakefield.

"We will be focusing our efforts in making sure that we are not only intervening early when someone is in a domestic and family violence relationship, but making sure we are preventing those relationships in the first place," Ms Wakefield told reporters.

"Show young people what a strong, healthy relationship looks like ... an equal relationship between both parties."

There has been a national focus on the NT in the last year, following the rape of a two-year-old girl in the outback town of Tennant Creek, which prompted the Children's Commissioner Colleen Gwynne to investigate and criticise government workers for not preventing it.

Domestic violence was estimated to cost the federal budget $3 billion a year and the NT's own health budget was significantly affected by the issue, Ms Wakefield said.

Poverty in remote and indigenous NT communities contributed to what was a problem around the world, she said.

The new programs would include the first-ever sexual violence prevention and response strategy, including screening tools, practice development and professional development such as additional training, she said.

The money is on top of the $25 million annual budget for domestic, family and sexual violence services.
Corporate crooks would face 15 years' jail and dodgy companies could be fined more than $500 million under Labor amendments to a government bill which has passed the Senate.

The opposition successfully changed the coalition's bill on Thursday night, raising the penalties from 10 years' behind bars and $210 million in fines.

The amendments still face scrutiny in the lower house, where the government has a tenuous grip on the numbers.

Senators didn't debate the amendments or the legislation on Thursday after both major parties agreed to rush through a number of bills with the Senate only scheduled to sit for two more days before the election.

The lower house will sit next week, while Labor and crossbench senators will put the blowtorch on bureaucrats and government ministers at Senate estimates.

The opposition has argued the stronger penalties were needed after shocking revelations in the banking royal commission.

The Morrison government has warned against hasty action, rebuffing calls for extra parliamentary sittings to deal with commissioner Kenneth Hayne's recommendations.
Some Liberals think they have found a turning point.

Just as "stopping the boats" worked in 2001 and 2013, the coalition is clinging to a slim hope it will work in 2019 too.

They think Labor's changes to medical transfers for asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru can be the unravelling of Labor's charge towards a May election win.

But in their excitement, some coalition MPs are just making things up.

"Under Labor, it's get on a boat, get to Nauru, get sick and get to Australia," Tony Abbott tweeted.

Actually, getting on a boat, going to Nauru and getting sick doesn't guarantee anyone a trip to Australia.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton said a suspected terrorist on Nauru could get to Australia under the new laws.

"The doctor can Skype from Tasmania or wherever the doctor might be, all they need to say is that the person needs to come here for a consultation," Dutton told 2GB radio.

Actually, Dutton could use his explicitly spelled out national security powers to ban a terror suspect from coming to Australia for medical treatment.

The coalition's desperation to stoke fears about border protection meant Prime Minister Scott Morrison faced multiple questions about whether he will tell Australia about any boat arrivals.

When Morrison was immigration minister he stopped revealing boat arrival numbers, referring to them as "on-water matters".

"You can expect Operation Sovereign Borders to maintain all of its aspects and integrity on my watch," he told reporters this week.

But the temptation to publicise any boat arrivals will be huge.

The coalition has a perverse incentive for a boat to arrive. It would back up their argument that Labor's changes have given the green light to people smugglers.

So Morrison was asked to send people smugglers an explicit message that the rule changes would not apply to any new arrivals.

He wouldn't do it in a press conference but he promised people smugglers would know his thoughts.

"I'll be engaging in some very direct messaging as part of Operation Sovereign Borders with people smugglers and with those who might be thinking of getting on boats," Morrison said.

Bill Shorten walked a tight line on the medical transfers and wobbled on Tuesday morning after he received a briefing from security agencies which had already warned the legislation would weaken border security.

But the opposition leader regained his strong stance as the Greens refused to substantially weaken the laws.

Where the coalition hopes this will be a turning point, Labor hopes it will shore up voters concerned about the plight of refugees.

It is not the end of offshore detention many on Labor's left want but some will see it as a start.

It is also undeniably a risk for Shorten.

He's spent the last five years shoulder-to-shoulder with the coalition on border protection and this is the first real crack between the two.

That Monday night and Tuesday morning wobble back towards the coalition position underlined just how fraught this issue is for Labor.

But the 2013 election was not won on border protection alone and the 2019 election will be the same.

Voters in 2013 were sick of two leadership spills in six years, sick of broken promises on climate and energy, sick of infighting factions within the Labor government.

They were sick of a minority government that felt like it was in chaos and couldn't control the parliament.

It all sounds stunningly familiar.

If the polls hold true, Morrison is headed for a solid defeat. He's already in minority and set to lose even more seats.

The attack on Labor's franking credits policy was an attempt to claw back older voters who might otherwise abandon the coalition.

Now the border protection rhetoric is an effort to scare voters about another rush of boats.

"They are weak and their weakness will infect this nation," Morrison thundered in question time, as he scrambled to avoid losing another vote.

The coalition isn't out selling its own policies at the moment - it is scratching back against Labor's.

Stopping the boats worked before because there were boats to stop. This turning point might be a false dawn if the seas remain clear.
A family injured when a 112-year-old jetty on Rottnest Island partially collapsed are seeking legal advice.

A 48-year-old British mother, her 11-year-old son and a female relative, 63, from Perth were injured when a slab of concrete gave way on the Army Jetty in October.

Lawyer Lachlan Palmos is advising the Perth-based family about a possible damages claim, saying they suffered significant injuries and were still recovering.

Meanwhile, an independent inquiry tabled in parliament on Thursday found the Rottnest Island Authority could only provide evidence of one inspection of the jetty from October 2014 until the incident, when it was directly responsible for maintenance.

"Further, any inspections conducted over the Army Jetty during the review period were largely limited to visual in nature," KPMG found.

"Risk management activities did not adequately capture and respond to Army Jetty risk."

KMPG also found that from June 2010 until the incident there were additional occasions where the condition of the jetty was raised and the RIA could have addressed risk-based issues and recommendations.

"These do not appear to have been adequately responded to via demonstrable remediation actions."
A child has died in an accident at a Darwin playground.

The Wanguri Primary School boy died in a nearby playground on Wednesday night.

Northern Territory Police are investigating what they described as a non-suspicious death that enquiries so far indicated was a result of misadventure.

The school principal had been in contact with the family to offer support, the Department of Education said in a statement.

Counsellors were also working at the school for students and staff.

"Our thoughts and condolences are with the family during this difficult time," the statement said.

Police investigations were continuing and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
Retiring senator Jacinta Collins has declared Labor's socially conservative faction is not a dying breed, insisting the group still wields serious influence in the party.

Senator Collins belongs to the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association-linked faction known as the "Shoppies".

Some have suggested the Shoppies' influence has waned in recent years, with Labor increasingly adopting progressive social stances on issues like same-sex marriage.

"I do not represent a dying breed in the Labor Party. Those who come to our great party - or broad church - from a base of Christian social principles are not disappearing," Senator Collins told parliament.

"In some respects, we are stronger than during some periods over which I've served over the past two decades - just look at the recent euthanasia debate."

In August, she combined with faction allies Don Farrell, Helen Polley, Chris Ketter, and Deborah O'Neill to defeat legislation which would have given territories the right to make assisted-suicide laws.

"It serves the interest of some of those on the far-left and the far-right of politics to dismiss and diminish us, but I thank the many people over a wide spectrum who do not," Senator Collins said.

Senator Collins, who is leaving politics after first entering parliament in 1995, will be replaced by SDA union official Raff Ciccone.

She pointed to Labor's commitment to protecting religious freedoms in schools, as further evidence her grouping could still advance their interests.

In her final speech to parliament on Thursday, Senator Collins also welcomed the passage of the refugee transfer bill earlier in the week.

"I believe Australians are fair and decent people and that has come through ultimately in spades through my two decades here," she said.

"Australians do not want to see refugees languishing forever."

Senator Collins will reportedly be unveiled as the new head of the powerful National Catholic Education Commission after she formally quits politics on Friday.
The first week of Queensland's parliament for the year began with sexual harassment allegations against the Whitsunday MP who wasn't even there.

It ended with Labor and the Opposition debating rubbish.

The week started with all eyes on a chair newly assigned to Jason Costigan among Queensland's other independent MPs.

But it was notably empty.

Mr Costigan had been dumped from the Liberal National Party earlier this month after a complaint that he had harassed and frightened an 18-year-old at her grandparents' home in rural Victoria.

While the MP, who insists it is lies didn't turn up, some his former LNP colleagues didn't hold back, revealing the details under parliamentary privilege.

Parliament and the press then turned to asking what and when the LNP knew about this, and whether the teen's family had allowed the complaint to be revealed.

LNP leader Deb Frecklington didn't say, merely repeating that she's been in constant contact with them.

The single chamber got down to business too with reforms introduced, intended to speed up investigations into police who do the wrong thing.

MPs revealed personal stories in debate before voting to make it a crime, with a maximum three years in jail, to threaten or send intimate material of individuals without their say so.

The new law applies to pictures and videos of anyone engaged in a sex act they wouldn't normally do in public, their bare breasts, their genital or anal region either bare or covered only by underwear, and photoshopped images.

Sharing them or threatening to share them on any platform without permission, even if the person in them agreed for them to be taken, will carry a maximum three-year prison term.

Then parliament turned to death, particularly, medically-assisted dying.

The government is for the first time taking a look at voluntary euthanasia and wants to hear from people for and against the practice.

A committee tasked to examine the vexed issue has released its issues paper and is taking written submissions until April 15.

The week came to a close with Labor and Opposition members debating rubbish.

Where it's coming from, how much of it there is, where it's being thrown out and who should be paying for it.

Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of trash are being hauled from NSW and into Queensland landfills because it is cheaper to dump it here.

The government has proposed a $70-a-tone levy to stop the stream of interstate trucks, and has the numbers to pass its plan through parliament on Thursday.
Farmers in far western NSW warned the government they could be left without water if the Menindee Lakes were drained and now some are bracing for their first year without a harvest.

When the Murray-Darling Basin Authority ordered the lakes drained in 2017, citrus and grape grower Rachel Strachan urged them to stop, arguing producers on the Lower Darling would be left high and dry in the case of drought.

Her family, who live south of Pooncarie, now have only four months of water left.

"This is the first year we could lose our crop," she told AAP on Thursday.

"Unless the government embargoes the water up north, our crops will start to die."

The Menindee Lakes were meant to be an oasis for communities on the Lower Darling but locals argue they haven't seen the water they were promised.

Ms Strachan says more water is going to upstream irrigators and downstream to South Australia.

"You can't sacrifice us for the needs of the north and then, once we get water, we're sacrificed again for the needs of South Australia," she said.

A series of mass fish deaths over the summer in Menindee has put the health of the Darling River back in the spotlight.

Locals blame mismanagement of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan for the deaths of millions of fish.

Ms Strachan claims the plan prioritises upstream irrigators over the health of the river and town water supplies too.

"The health of the river has been forgotten in this," she said.

"The basin plan was meant to provide a healthy river, flows and fish passages and if you've got that - then you provide allocations to irrigators on top of that."

Murray Davies has vineyards on a nearby property and says the lack of secure water flows means stressful conversations at the family dinner table.

"The river has always been a part of my life and I've never seen or heard of it like this," he told AAP.

NSW Regional Water Minister Niall Blair is looking into the operation of Menindee Lakes which are only under the control of the state government when they drop below 480 gigalitres.

When the volume of water exceeds 640 gigalitres - like it did in 2017 - the Murray-Darling Basin Authority manages releases.

Mr Blair said he'd be more than happy to consider moving the lakes into NSW's control.
WHAT IS THE GREATER BLUE MOUNTAINS WORLD HERITAGE AREA?

* One million hectares of national parks west of Sydney, stretching 250 kilometres north-to-south

* Comprises sandstone plateaus, eucalyptus forest and mountains

* Contains 1500 plant species including more than 90 types of eucalypt "significant" in understanding the evolution of plant life following the isolation of the Australian continent

* Home to rare and ancient plant species including the Wollemi pine and Blue Mountains pine and more than 400 animal species, many unique or endangered

* Home to the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater

* Significant Aboriginal cultural and artistic sites for six language groups

* Eight conservation areas comprising seven national parks and the Jenolan Karst Conservation Reserve

* The GBMA was added to the UNESCO world heritage register in 2000 for its "outstanding universal value"

* UNESCO is concerned that raising the nearby Warragamba Dam wall by 14 metres could have "negative impacts"

* The NSW government's environmental impact statement on the proposal is expected to consider endangered species including the honeyeater and Aboriginal cultural value

Source: UNESCO, NSW Environment and Heritage, NSW National Parks.
NSW government officials have faced a deluge of questions from frustrated residents in the state's far west concerned about the state of the Darling River.

More than a dozen residents attended a meeting in Pooncarie on Thursday held by the industry department and WaterNSW concerning the management of the river system.

Residents questioned the release of water from Menindee Lakes in 2017 with some suggesting the mass fish deaths this summer wouldn't have happened if the lakes were full.

"We had water but instead of allowing some to get to us on the Lower Darling to allow the fish to breathe you sent it out to South Australia," farmer Margaret Healy told the meeting.

"We wouldn't have this problem and we wouldn't have these fish kills if that water wasn't wasted."

Ms Healy accused the government of not listening to the people on the Lower Darling.

Pooncarie farmer Rachel Strachan called on the departments to do more for the far west.

"The northern irrigators were concerned the fish kills would impact their water allocations and were told that wasn't the case," she said at the meeting.

"So, the department has a lot it can do for us."

Mitch Isaac from the department's water division said any change to the operation of Menindee Lakes would come from the top levels of government.

He said the recent fish deaths had focused minds.

"If anything is going to prompt or force change, it will be what's happened this year," he said at the meeting.

The department's Michael Wrathall said managing the Menindee Lakes and the Murray-Darling system was "challenging" given how many people relied on the water.

"There's a whole lot of competing users," he told AAP after the meeting.

"We have had an unprecedented drought and haven't been getting the inflows. There's no silver bullet in the face of drought."
A Sydney council is "confident" it can stop the NSW government demolishing and rebuilding Allianz Stadium at Moore Park after a judge agreed to expedite a court hearing.

Waverley Council is challenging the government's $730 million proposal in the Land and Environment Court on the basis Planning Minister Anthony Roberts approved the new stadium without first determining it would exhibit "design excellence".

The council on Wednesday was granted an expedited hearing to be held concurrently with a separate case brought by Local Democracy Matters.

The community group launched its legal case against the government earlier in February also claiming the government botched the approval process.

Waverley's Labor mayor John Wakefield says the council wants the court to declare the minister's consent "invalid and of no effect".

"I'm confident we have a very solid case and we are defending the principles of law, the process of law and the interests of the community," Mr Wakefield told AAP on Thursday.

The council has named the SCG Trust, Infrastructure NSW and developer Lendlease as respondents along with the minister.

Lendlease on Thursday confirmed it has agreed not to undertake any hard demolition until after the hearing.

The three-day hearing is scheduled to commence on February 20.
A teenage boy has been arrested and charged with stalking women around Sydney's Belmore railway station two months after he allegedly tried to drag one victim from a dark street.

A 31-year-old woman noticed a man was walking close behind her on Leylands Parade in Belmore about 11pm on December 8.

She managed to run away but, two days later on December 10, the same man allegedly grabbed her on the same road.

He covered her mouth and attempted to drag her into a nearby unit complex but she broke free and called for help.

Police launched an investigation and say they found CCTV footage which shows the same suspect stalking another unidentified woman the same day he grabbed his victim.

She managed to escape by seeking refuge in the front yard of a house.

"The man walks past the house, before turning back and heading towards the station," police said in a statement on Wednesday, as they released the footage in a bid to track down the suspect.

Police alleged the same man was seen following a number of other women in the area over two hours on December 22.

The 17-year-old handed himself into Bankstown Police Station on Thursday and was charged with common assault and two counts of stalking with intent to cause fear of physical or mental harm.

He was given conditional bail to appear in a children's court on March 7.
A motorcyclist has died after being hit by a car that had been involved in an on-and-off police chase for about 40 minutes in Perth.

Police first attempted to stop the car about 11.45pm on Wednesday in Seville Grove, but found it crashed into a pole on Leach Highway in Welshpool about 12.25am on Thursday.

They say the alleged driver, a 35-year-old woman, ran into bushland but was arrested after a short foot chase and is now under police guard in hospital with injuries that are not believed to be serious.

Police say the woman hit the man, who was aged in his 20s, just before she crashed into the pole.

Officers provided emergency first aid to him and he was taken to hospital but later died.

Internal affairs are investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash, including whether the car was being pursued at the time of the collision.
South Australian Water Minister David Speirs has survived a no-confidence motion in state parliament over his handling of negotiations for water flows down the Murray.

Opposition Leader Peter Malinauskas called on the minister to resign after failing to stand up to other states in protecting South Australia's interests.

Mr Malinauskas said the upstream states knew that all they had to do was hold the line on their own demands and Mr Speirs would "sell us up the river".

"The upstream states of NSW and Victoria saw him coming," Mr Malinauskas told parliament speaking to his motion on Thursday.

The opposition also pointed to criticism of the minister in the recent report of the royal commission into the Murray-Darling Basin Plan.

In his report, Commissioner Bret Walker was scathing of Mr Speirs in relation to a meeting in December, where South Australia joined with other states to agree to terms on how environmental water would be returned to the basin.

The meeting agreed to return up to 450 gigalitres of extra water to the environment, provided it did not have a negative socio-economic impact on river communities.

In return, South Australia received $70 million of federal funding to help rehabilitate the Coorong wetlands.

Mr Walker found that the agreement was against the state's interests and was almost certainly a breach of the ministerial code of conduct.

But Premier Steven Marshall told the parliament there had been no breach of the code and rejected suggestions Mr Speirs had not acted in SA's best interests.

Mr Marshall said the minister considered the situation South Australia was faced with, consulted with government officials and had the unanimous support of state cabinet.

"So, far from being a kneejerk reaction this was a carefully considered decision and, I might say, a decision we would make again," the premier said.

The opposition motion was defeated along party lines, 25 votes to 16.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 16)  More explosions have been reported from Sulu.

A statement released by Lieutenant Colonel Gerald Monfort, spokesperson of joint task force (JTF) Sulu, reported that the Abu Sayyaf group (ASG) fired mortars at a medical mission intended for residents of four barangays in Patikul, Sulu.

According to reports, the 6th Special Forces Battalion with various local government and non-government agencies were providing basic medical and dental services to 2,000 residents when the ASG fired 3 rounds of 60mm mortar that landed 200 meters away from the engagement site. Government forces in the Civic Action Activity immediately secured the area to ensure the safety of all civilians, Monfort said.

No casualties have been reported from the military or the residents.

In an interview with CNN Philippines Newsroom, Monfort added that the pursuit operations against the ASG will continue.

Ongoing pa rin ang ating pursuit operations, Monfort said.

Strict security measures will be implemented in the area.

This is the third mortar attack from the Abu Sayyaff since it fired at a military command post in Barangay Buhanginan, Patikul, Sulu two days ago. Later the same day, the Abu Sayyaf shot another round that killed one soldier and seven cows.
Healthscope's final first-half profit as a standalone company has rocketed to $236.6 million on the sale of its Asian pathology business.

Australia's second largest private hospital operator, which is in the midst of a $4.5 billion takeover by Canadian investment firm Brookfield, sold the business for $166.9 million in August.

Stripping out the effect of the sale, revenue for the six months to December 31 rose 3.0 per cent and net profit fell 6.7 per cent to $66.9 million on increased depreciation and amortisation costs.
Doctors, nurses, paramedics, GPs and health leaders are meeting in Adelaide in a bid to stop ambulance ramping at the city's public hospitals.

Central Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Lesley Dwyer says no-one thinks it's a good thing to have patients waiting in ambulances outside emergency departments.

"Ramping is not the cause of the problem, it is the symptom of a system that isn't working properly and we need everyone to be part of the solution," Ms Dwyer said on Thursday.
A woman has been arrested following a fatal crash at De-Rose Hill in South Australia's far north.

Police say a man was struck by a car as he was walking along the Stuart Highway, north of the Indulkana turn-off, early on Thursday.

The 41-year-old from the state's APY Lands died at the scene.

The driver of the car, a 38-year-old woman also from the APY Lands, has been refused bail to appear by video in Port Augusta Magistrates Court, where she is expected to be charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
A six-month-old baby boy has allegedly been murdered in the NSW Hunter region, with police charging a man over his death.

Emergency services were called to a home in New Lambton on Saturday following reports the boy had gone into cardiac arrest.

The baby was rushed to John Hunter Hospital in a critical condition but died later that day.

A post-mortem determined the boy died as a result of a "traumatic head injury", police said in a statement on Thursday.

Detectives on Wednesday arrested a 28-year-old man in Budgewoi and charged him with murder and reckless grievous bodily harm.

He was refused bail to appear in Wyong Local Court on Thursday.
A Melbourne home targeted in a shooting last year has links to motorcycle gangs, police say.

Two adults and a one-week-old baby escaped injury when a number of shots were fired into the Frankston home shortly before 5am on May 31 last year.

One shot hit a neighbour's home where a family with two children under four were sleeping, but no one was hurt.

Police hoping to crack the case have released CCTV footage showing two men getting out of a vehicle, and one firing shots from what appears to be a high-powered gun.

About 10 minutes after the shooting, a Mitsubishi Lancer was set on fire 5km away in what police believe was a linked attack.
United Australia Party Senator Brian Burston and One Nation adviser James Ashby have been involved in an altercation at Parliament House in Canberra.

The Australian newspaper published images showing the pair in a physical clash on Wednesday night, after Senator Burston had earlier accused One Nation leader Pauline Hanson of sexually harassing him.

Senator Burston told News Corp Australia Mr Ashby ran up to him as he and his wife were leaving a dinner function and Mr Ashby put a phone close to his face.

An image supplied by Senator Burston appeared to show his hand with blood on it from cuts the senator said happened when he tried to grab Mr Ashby's phone.

""I told him to f*** off," Senator Burston told News Corp, adding that he tried unsuccessfully to grab the phone.

Senator Burston said Mr Ashby pursued him and his wife.

"I lost it," the senator said.

"I grabbed him and I pushed him up against the wall."

Senator Burston said he had reported the incident to Australian Federal Police.

He denied involvement with bloody marks that were found on Ms Hanson's office door.

Mr Ashby said the senator's claims were false and he had been trying to take images of Senator Hanson leaving the same function when Senator Burston attacked him.

Senator Hanson had in parliament on Tuesday accused an unnamed senator of sexually harassing at least six staff, and using taxpayer funds for payouts to keep some of the women silent.

Senator Burston said on Wednesday he was the man referred to, telling News Corp Australia it was "bull***" and one of the reasons he left One Nation was because of sexual harassment from Senator Hanson over two decades.

"Right back when we had our first One Nation AGM at the Rooty Hill RSL (in 1998), that was the first time she hit on me," he said, of the unwanted attention.

He claimed Senator Hanson "rubbed her fingers up my spine" while listening to the national anthem and she'd propositioned him after he was elected in 2016 at her home in Queensland and Canberra.

But Senator Hanson denied all claims.

"I wouldn't go near him with a barge pole," she said.
Northern Territory Treasurer Nicole Manison has denied responsibility for the awarding of a $10 million-plus taxpayer-funded grant to a bottled water company shortly before it went broke.

The NT government has been under pressure in parliament this week to explain why the now defunct Infrastructure Development Fund it set up gave $10.5 million in taxpayer money to the company, NT Beverages.

The grant that was made 12 months ago is being presented in parliament by Opposition Leader Gary Higgins as an example of fiscal mismanagement and why the government is facing a "financial crisis".

A report late last year showed the government was borrowing over $1.5 billion this year, or $4 million a day more than its income to meet costs.

Independent MP and former NT Treasurer Robyn Lambley threatened on Wednesday to take the matter to the NT Independent Commission against Corruption unless Treasurer Ms Manison launched an investigation.

The treasurer conceded the IDF had failed but said her Labor government was merely following through on the previous CLP government's vision for it, which included it making independent decisions.

"When it came to NT Beverages, that investment decision was independently made by the independent board (of NT IDF)," she told parliament.

"It raises some very big questions with regards to some of those decisions that were made there.

"Very prominent people sat on that board."

However Ms Manison and NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner have so far refused to investigate or try to recoup the $10.5 million.

The NT's most powerful public servant, chief minister's department CEO Jodie Ryan was on the board of the IDF until it was shut down late last year.

Ms Ryan has blamed fund manager Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG) for the investment decision, which Mr Higgins said in parliament had also received $1.5 million from the government.

Former Labor deputy chief minister Marion Scrymgour said Ms Ryan should resign on Wednesday.

The other directors included chairman and ICG director Les Fallick, former Future Fund managing director Mark Burgess, former Macquarie Bank boss Bill Moss and James Paspaley, the head of the pearling giant Paspaley.
The first week of hearings at the royal commission into aged care has heard of widespread issues across the sector, including overuse of psychotropic drugs, poor nutrition among residents and problems retaining nursing staff.

The commission sat for three days in Adelaide this week, taking evidence from a range of witnesses including the wife and son of a man who died after being mistreated and over-medicated at the infamous Oakden nursing.

It heard that drugs including antidepressants and sedatives are too often used as the first resort to treat dementia patients with about 80 per cent on at least one form of the medication.

Nursing industry representatives also told the inquiry that many nurses were leaving aged care because of the increasingly high workloads which were becoming unsafe and untenable.

Issues were also raised with the home care sector, with evidence from the Older Persons Advocacy Network that waiting times for care packages had blown out to as much as two years.

In his evidence on Monday, Clive Spriggs, whose father Bob was a resident at Oakden, called for a national register of aged care workers to prevent abusers from simply moving between homes or between states.

His mother Barb also called for a simpler way for people to raise problems with care after her concerns were repeatedly ignored.

The commission will sit for another five days in Adelaide next week when it will hear from a range of witnesses including aged care providers, health union officials and medical groups.

Further hearings will follow in other capital cities and in some regional centres.
Labor insists it has got the balance right over asylum seeker laws, as the government prepares to pump millions of dollars into steps it says are needed to counter a possible surge in people smuggling.

The Senate on Wednesday endorsed a bill to make it easier for asylum seekers currently held on Nauru and Manus Island to get medical treatment.

The government has advice from security and intelligence chiefs that the amendments, which it opposed, could send a signal to people smugglers that Australia's border security policies are being relaxed.

Labor leader Bill Shorten says the fact that it only applies to those on Manus and Nauru, and not any new arrivals, means the law changes won't send the wrong signal.

"We want strong borders," he says.

"We don't want the vile people smuggler trade .. but also want to make sure that for people who've been in our care, detained, for over five-and-a-half-years in most cases, they are subject to humane treatment."

But Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says Labor is wrong and criminals are already using the law changes in their marketing.

"It should come as no surprise to people that people smugglers have heard what is going on (in parliament)," Mr Dutton said.

As part of the response, the government will quickly reopen the Christmas Island facility which was mothballed in October 2018.

Mr Dutton said any new arrivals would go to Nauru.

But it was possible medical transferees could end up on Christmas Island, he said.

"That is a possibility, yes," he told Sky News.

Christmas Island's local council warned its small regional hospital is not set up to handle asylum seekers with complex medical needs, if people are transferred to it.

Local council chief executive David Price said the hospital was so small it made more sense to send sick asylum seekers straight to the mainland.

Operation Sovereign Borders and other parts of the government's border security operations will be beefed up, with more than $1.4 billion earmarked to be spent over four years.

But no details have been publicly released about what specific steps will be taken.

Under the new laws, the home affairs minister can reject medical transfers if the person poses a threat to the Australian community.
A Queensland council is exploring what protocols can be put in place if Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan visits schools following allegations of harassment by multiple young women.

Mr Costigan is now an independent after being booted from the Liberal National Party over an allegation of harassment involving an 18-year-old girl on a rural Victoria property last month.

His former leader, Deb Frecklington, has referred additional accusations to Speaker Curtis Pitt, and asked him to investigate Mr Costigan for workplace misconduct.

Whitsunday Regional Council on Wednesday voted to ask Education Minister Grace Grace what, if any, systems could be put in place if Mr Costigan visits a school.

"I want the education minister to be able to have policies and procedures in place that he's escorted around and you know, he's not pinning badges on young students," councillor Michael Brunker told AAP.

"We've got parents that are concerned, we've got teachers that are concerned."

An Education Department spokesperson said school visits are subject to the consideration of individual principals.

AAP has sought comments from Mr Costigan.

Under parliamentary privilege on Tuesday, Leader of Opposition Business, Jarrod Bleijie, made public details of an initial complaint received by the LNP.

He also detailed under privilege allegations made by another four women since Mr Costigan was expelled from the party.

Mr Bleijie said the teenager in the first complaint feared she would be raped by Mr Costigan during an encounter last month.

He told parliament her family had complained that a "half naked" Mr Costigan followed the teenager into a bedroom and closed the door behind them.

Mr Bleijie said Mr Costigan had touched her back and hair, told her he liked young girls, offered to pay for her to visit him in his Whitsunday electorate.

Mr Costigan insists these allegations are sickening lies.
Drug kingpin Tony Mokbel is still recovering in hospital after being attacked in prison.

Mokbel, 53, remains in a serious condition at a Melbourne hospital three days after a fellow inmate duo allegedly stabbed him at Victoria's maximum-security Barwon prison.

He was jabbed with makeshift knives with one reportedly hidden in a zucchini.

The attack occurred a day after a News Corp Australia newspaper reported the 53-year-old had intervened in a standover racket run by Pacific Islander inmates.

Mokbel had just seen a visitor when he walked past other inmates celebrating a birthday when the attack occurred, the outlet reported.

A second victim, aged 31, is back in Barwon after spending Monday night in hospital.

Corrections Commissioner Emma Cassar said it was too early to say what prompted the assault, including whether there was a powerplay within the jail.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the government would not rule out changes to prison operations in the future pending the outcome of a probe into what happened.

The alleged attackers are due to face Geelong Magistrates Court on Friday on charges of attempted murder, intentionally causing serious injury and causing serious injury intentionally in circumstances of gross violence.
Boosting mining exploration through an agreement with the states and territories is part of the federal government's plan to ensure Australia's mining industry has a rosy future.

So too is building confidence in the mining sector among the community.

Both are included in what the coalition says is Australia's first national resources plan in two decades, which Resources Minister Matt Canavan will detail on Thursday.

"The government's vision is to have the world's most advanced, innovative and successful resources sector which delivers sustained prosperity and social development for all Australians," he said in a statement.

"Our work starts now."

Some elements of the plan will be achieved in collaboration with the states and territories at the Council of Australia Governments Energy Council.

That will include an agreement to establish a new critical minerals work program to increase exploration.

The COAG group will also develop a data strategy to remove risk from investment decisions and build community confidence in the sector.

Under the plan, the federal government' will promote a national resources brand to market Australia as an investment destination to the world.

It will also support the development of new resource basins and exploration surveys and improve data in the sector.

The plan comes after Labor leader Bill Shorten vowed to create an Australian Future Mines Centre if his party wins the next election.

The centre would co-ordinate exploration work, lead scientific research and develop the technology needed to explore under deep cover, he told a Minerals Council event earlier on Wednesday.

"The centre will generate the knowledge and know-how to lift the success rate of minerals exploration possibly back to the rates and levels we enjoyed 30 and 40 years ago," he said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also a mining event on Wednesday night said Australia must counter the "noisy voices" that want to shut the industry down.

"We want you to succeed, I want you to succeed, because a stronger mining industry means a stronger Australia, and a weaker mining industry means a weaker Australia," he said

The announcements comes as new research shows more than a third of mining jobs will be redesigned in five years time as a result of new technologies and a further 42 per cent will be more productive.

But almost a quarter of jobs could potentially be automated because of new technologies, according to the study conducted by Ernst and Young and commissioned by the Minerals Council.

The study also found the industry could be 23 per cent more productive in five years time with the help of new technologies, but that will come at a cost of between $5 billion and $12.8 billion.
Today's Birthday, February 14: Warren Ellis, musician and composer, (1965 - )

Warren Ellis, the Australian-born composer and long-time collaborator of Nick Cave, now resides with his family in France, but is still credited with heading up the distinct sounds of Aussie bands.

Some of his most acclaimed work includes writing the film score for high-profile movie The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, and the award-winning score for The Proposition.

Over the years he's teamed up with several musicians, including Marianne Faithful and Cat Power, while remaining a regular fixture in bands Grinderman, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Dirty Three.

Ellis was raised in the Victorian town of Ballarat where he learned how to play classical violin and the flute while at school.

Hailing from a working class background, he won a scholarship to a Melbourne university where he studied music, English and mathematics.

Upon finishing he left for Europe in 1988, where he busked on the streets with fellow musicians.

In 1992 he formed Dirty Three with guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White.

One of his first studio experiences was playing violin on the 1994 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds album Let Love In.

The music he wrote for Deniz Gamze Erguven's Turkish film Mustang won a Cesar Award for Best Original Music in 2016.

Ellis described his process on the Oscar-nominated movie as "brutal".

"I just cut and throw things down....It's very much like a razor blade and a bit of sticky tape," Ellis told The Guardian in 2017.

For the low-budget Australian drama Bad Girl, he wrote the score from his hotel room while on tour with the Dirty Three. Using just synthesisers and a laptop, he mixed the final cut on a plane from Australia back home to Paris.

Along with helping Nick Cave with the music for The Proposition (2005) and Lawless (2012), both also written by Cave, the two have worked on several more films including Wind River and Netflix's War Machine starring Brad Pitt (2017).

The duo are currently working on new music for an HBO series inspired by true-crime podcast Serial.
Efforts to close the health and education gap for indigenous Australians will be revised and broadened to get more input from the people they're meant to help.

Just two of the seven Closing the Gap targets are on track to be met, more than a decade after the original report.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison will deliver the 11th annual Closing the Gap report on Thursday, detailing proposed changes to how it works.

The report shows efforts to get more indigenous children into early education are on track, but improving life expectancy, infant mortality and employment status were not.

Mr Morrison will say the targets need to be revised to make states and territories more accountable, and give indigenous Australians more ownership of them.

"The Closing the Gap targets have been well intentioned but 'top down', so it was always doomed to fail in both its ambitions and also its process," Mr Morrison will say on Thursday.

"It didn't genuinely bring on board states and territories in making sure they have accountabilities and sharing the objective and process with indigenous Australians."

Mr Morrison says the current way of measuring the targets masks progress, discouraging further efforts.

For instance, child mortality among indigenous Australians has decreased 10 per cent since 2008 - but the target is not on track because the non-indigenous figure has declined at a faster rate.

The "refresh" of the Closing the Gap targets, announced in 2016, will ask indigenous Australians to develop the targets.

It will also hold different levels of government to account, and include new priorities on housing, employment, family violence and land and water rights.

The draft targets include an effort to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in detention by 11 to 19 per cent, and adults held in incarceration by at least five per cent by 2028.

CLOSING THE GAP TARGETS

* Early education: 95 per cent of all indigenous four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025. ON TRACK.

* Year 12 attainment: Halve the gap in Year 12 attainment by 2020. ON TRACK.

* Life expectancy: Close the gap in life expectancy between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians within a generation by 2031. NOT ON TRACK.

* Child mortality rates: To halve the gap in mortality rates for indigenous children under five within a decade, by 2018. NOT ON TRACK

* Employment: Halve the gap in employment by 2018. NOT ON TRACK

* Reading and Numeracy: Halve the gap in reading and numeracy for indigenous students by 2018. NOT ON TRACK

* School attendance: Close the gap in school attendance within five years, by 2018. NOT ON TRACK
It's easy for anonymous online denizens to overreact to the smallest things, as Andy Cohen was reminded on Friday.

The 50-year-old Watch What Happens Live host had to calm his fans after they worried that his dog Wacha was jealous of his new son Benjamin, who was born via a surrogate.

The Bravo boss previously scolded the dog on his Instagram stories after it destroyed the baby's stuffed Torah toy.

Take a chill pill: Andy Cohen, 50, had to calm his fans after they worried that his dog Wacha was jealous of his new son Benjamin, who was born via a surrogate

The saga of the shredded Torah began when the late night host discovered Wacha lying on his side surrounded by a cloud of stuffing.

'Did you just eat my son's stuffed Torah that the rabbi gave him?' he asked aloud.

'And now you're exhausted?' Andy joked as the guilty-looking pooch barely moved.

'Did you wanna explain to my son what you did?' he continued. 'And what do I tell the rabbi?'

Guilty face: The saga of the shredded Torah began when the late night host discovered Wacha lying on his side surrounded by a cloud of stuffing

In big trouble: 'Did you just eat my son's stuffed Torah that the rabbi gave him?' he asked aloud. 'And now you're exhausted?' Andy joked as the guilty-looking pooch barely moved

Getting a talking to: 'Did you wanna explain to my son what you did?' he continued. 'And what do I tell the rabbi?'

Of course, as with all harmless things, people online lost their minds and worried about the dog or faulted Andy's parenting.

'OK, flooded with DMs from people saying I have a big problem on my hands, Wacha's jealous of my son,' Andy said in a subsequent video.

'Wacha didn't know that the Torah toy  we're talking about a Torah toy  belonged to the baby,' the exasperated reality TV personality explained.

'He just had his eye on this purple f***ing toy and he wanted to rip it apart. It's not that deep, stand down, everything's fine in the West Village.'

Overreactions: 'OK, flooded with DMs from people saying I have a big problem on my hands, Wacha's jealous of my son,' Andy said in a subsequent video

Leave doggy alone: 'Here's what: Wacha didn't know that the Torah toy  we're talking about a Torah toy  belonged to the baby,' the exasperated reality TV personality explained. 'He just had his eye on this purple f***ing toy and he wanted to rip it apart. It's not that deep, stand down, everything's fine in the West Village'

Doesn't get it: Andy couldn't help but post an overly-serious article that ran with his dog's perfectly normal behavior and treated it as a sign of jealousy for baby Benjamin

Andy couldn't help but post an overly-serious article that ran with his dog's perfectly normal behavior and treated it as a sign of jealousy for baby Benjamin.

'I can't!' he wrote in huge block letters over the screenshot, accompanied by a shrugging man and various puzzled and laughing emojis.

Andy returned in a final video with the contrite-looking pup to complain about the fans who rushed to find fault with the dog.

'Hey, I've been a dad for 12 days,' he began, staring at Wacha, who proceeded to lick his face. 'People are judgy as f**k. We gotta be careful, OK?'

'Sometimes a Torah toy's just a Torah toy, everybody! Right?'

Wrap up: Andy returned in a final video with the contrite-looking pup to complain about the fans who rushed to find fault with the dog

Dad drama: 'Hey, I've been a dad for 12 days,' he began, staring at Wacha, who proceeded to lick his face. 'People are judgy as f**k. We gotta be careful, OK?'

Just a toy: 'Sometimes a Torah toy's just a Torah toy, everybody! Right?'

Despite having concluded the cycle of public shaming, the Real Housewives executive had to pop back in for one final Instagram story after someone drastically misinterpreted his videos.

He posted a screenshot of a message from a user who thought they had seen an errant sex toy in one of the videos.

'Just a warning...I believe there may be a d**** in the story with wacha. By his but. Hopefully just a dog toy but it looks like a d****,' they wrote.

'It's a plastic chicken bone that he gnaws on....' Andy replied. He wrote, 'Just to close another loop....' over the awkward message.

Whoops: Despite having concluded the cycle of public shaming, the Real Housewives executive had to pop back in for one final Instagram story after someone thought they had seen an errant sex toy in one of the videos

Andy has documented Wacha's acceptance of the new baby on his Instagram and a page devoted to the dog.

He previously posted pictures of the dog on a bed before little Benjamin had arrived, and on Valentine's Day he posted a picture of himself holding the baby with Wacha at his side.

'TWO Valentines! Lucky me,' he wrote.

On the same day, Wacha's page featured a sweet photo of the dog watching Benjamin as he was swaddled in his cradle.

Looks excited: Andy has documented Wacha's acceptance of the new baby on his Instagram and a page devoted to the dog

His two loves: He previously posted pictures of the dog on a bed before little Benjamin had arrived, and on Valentine's Day he posted a picture of himself holding the baby with Wacha at his side. 'TWO Valentines! Lucky me,' he wrote
She was the star of one of the biggest hit comedies of the 90s.

But Courteney Cox's daughter couldn't be less impressed about her mom's star power, as she fell asleep watching her play Monica in Friends.

The 54-year-old actress shared an Instagram post of 14-year-old Coco, who had nodded off in front of the screen, on Friday.

Gonna be this way: Courteney Cox's daughter Coco couldn't be less impressed, as she fell asleep watching her mom in Friends

Momma love: She shares daughter Coco (pictured October 15 2017) with her actor ex husband David Arquette

Courteney - who played Monica Geller in the long-running comedy - captioned: '#fbf awww...I put her right to sleep,' as she took it with good humor.

She shares Coco with ex-husband David Arquette, from whom she split in 2010 after 11 years of marriage.

The dark-haired beauty is possibly missing the teen as she is currently in Cabo, Mexico, with BFF Jennifer Aniston.

Best friends: Courteney took to Instagram on Monday to wish her BFF Jennifer Aniston a happy 50th birthday after attending her star-studded birthday bash over the weekend - the pair were involved in a scare involving their private jet on Friday

The pair departed by private jet on Friday but were involved in a scare when the aircraft lost a tire on take-off and had to undergo an emergency landing in Ontario, California.

For more than two and a half hours, the plane circled over the airport to burn fuel prior to its safe landing, and the stars changed to a different aircraft.

Actress Amanda Anka, wife of actor Jason Bateman, and writer Molly Kimmel, wife of late night host Jimmy Kimmel, were also on the Gulfstream Aerospace IV aircraft, as well as eight more of Aniston's pals.

Hilarious: Courteney played Monica Geller (centre) in the long-running comedy

The group eventually departed on a separate flight Friday afternoon, according to TMZ.

The actress revealed earlier this month on The Ellen DeGeneres show that she and Snow Patrol musician Johnny McDaid had called off their engagement, but remain in a relationship.

'He's not my fiance, we were engaged to be married but now we're just together,' Courteney said on the chat show.

'We broke off our engagement and he moved to England, then we got back together and it's actually better than it was before. Everything's better.'

Johnny and Courteney started dating in late 2013 and announced their engagement in June 2014.

They broke their engagement in December 2015, but reconciled six months later.
They've always had a close relationship with their mother Suzanne Wells, often posting snaps of her on Instagram.

And Sam and Billie Fairs proved just how much she meant to them as they threw her a lavish surprise 50th birthday party at the The Ivy on Friday.

Taking to Instagram, The Mummy Diaries stars gave fans a glimpse inside the glitzy bash at The Ivy in Tower Bridge, London, which was created with the help of Elari events.

Surprise: Sam and Billie Faiers surprised their mother Suzanne Wells with a lavish art deco themed 50th birthday party at The Ivy in London's Tower Bridge on Friday

Age-defying Suzanne looked delighted as she enjoyed her art deco themed party which oozed glamour with a white and gold colour scheme.

Sharing snaps from the special night, Sam wrote on Instragram: 'S U R P R I S E what a fantastic night. Billie & I surprised mum with a party with all of her nearest & dearest. you deserve it Mummy we love you soo much. Heres to another 50 years.'

With her family and friends, including ex TOWIE star Ferne McCann, on hand to give her a huge surprise, Suzie was heard on Sam's Instagram stories expressing her shock .

She exclaimed: 'I feel like I'm having a heart attack or something. I'm having palpitations. I cant believe it.'

Birthday girl: Defying her years, Suzie looked sensational in a black one-shouldered dress and matching black heels as she clutched a glass of champagne

Celebrate: Former TOWIE star Ferne McCann was on hand to help Suzie celebrate her 50th birthday at the glamorous bash

And it seemed that no expense was spared at the glamorous bash, which featured a giant five-tiered white and gold birthday cake served on a vintage style dinner trolley.

Adding to the Great Gatsby theme, the event was decorated with elaborate balloon displays, delicate white flowers and large feathers.

The party guests also enjoyed a delicious dinner, with the dinner table laden with a beautiful white and gold and candles.

Stunning: Suzie's brown locks were styled into loose curls with hung loosely on her shoulders, while she accentuated her features with bold eye make-up and a slick of red lipstick

Big shock: A stunned Suzie was heard on Instagram stories exclaiming: ''I feel like I'm having a heart attack or something. I'm having palpitations. I cant believe it'

Sam and Billie also added a personal touch to their mother's big night, with Polaroids of various periods in her life strung up with twinkling fairy lights.

Pictures also showed birthday girl Suzie posing in front of a giant illuminated number 50 as she clutched a glass of champagne at the bash.

Defying her years, Suzie looked sensational in a black one-shouldered dress and matching black heels.

Lavish theme: It seemed that no expense was spared at the glamorous bash, which featured a giant five-tiered white and gold birthday cake served on a vintage style dinner trolley

Beautiful: Adding to the Great Gatsby theme, the event was decorated with elaborate balloon displays, delicate white flowers and large feathers

Fine dining: The party guests also enjoyed a delicious dinner, with the dinner table laden with a beautiful white and gold and candles

Her brown locks were styled into loose curls with hung loosely on her shoulders, while she accentuated her features with bold eye make-up and a slick of red lipstick.

Meanwhile, her daughters went all out for their mum's big night, with The Mummy Diaries stars looking jaw-dropping in chic silver ensembles.

Sam, 28, showed off her slim frame in a semi-sheer lace blazer worn over a simple white slip.

She flashed a hint of her enviable legs in shimmering brocade trousers paired with vertiginous heels.

Her brunette tresses were styled in a chic updo while she accessorised with sparkling earrings and a cream handbag.

Family gathering: Age-defying Suzanne looked delighted as she enjoyed her art deco themed party which oozed glamour with a white and gold colour scheme

Personal touch: Sam and Billie also added a personal touch to their mother's big night, with Polaroids of various periods in her life strung up with twinkling fairy lights

Billie, 29, who is gearing up for her wedding, donned a silver pearl-embellished bodycon dress, which made the most of her ample cleavage and hourglass curves.

She completed the ensemble with silver stiletto sandals.

The glamorous shindig comes after Sam and Billie shared heartfelt tributes to their mother earlier that day on Instagram.

Sam kicked off the tributes by posting a series of pictures to her social media page with the caption: 'Happy 50th to my beautiful Mummy.

'We all love you soo much. Kind, funny, caring & the best super nan, you dont look a day over 40 Mumma. Soo excited for this weekend to celebrate, lets do this [sic]'.

Celebrating: Sam kicked off the tributes by posting a series of pictures to her social media page with the caption: 'Happy 50th to my beautiful Mummy

Triplets: Billie, 29, shared a series of throwback pictures to commemorate the big day including one with Suzanne looking like she could be a third Faiers sister

She shared a sensational picture of Suzanne from the family's trip to Maldives earlier this year showing off a very youthful physique in a peach and white bikini with the caption: 'How are you 50 #gilf?'

And Sam later took to her Instagram Story to share an adorable picture of herself as a tot sitting on her mum's lap.

She captioned the sweet picture: 'Happy 50th birthday my beautiful Mummy. I love you with all my heart'.

Dressed up: Sam kicked off the tributes by posting a series of pictures to her social media page with the caption: 'Happy 50th to my beautiful Mummy'

She added: 'We all love you soo much. Kind, funny, caring & the best super nan, you dont look a day over 40 Mumma. Soo excited for this weekend to celebrate, lets do this [sic]'

Throwback: Sam later took to her Instagram Story to share an adorable picture of herself as a tot sitting on her mum's lap as she told her how much she loves her

Grandma: Suzanne is a doting nanny to her four grandchildren, (pictured with Nelly and Paul)

Youthful: Billie told her mother she could pass for someone two decades younger: 'Happy 50th birthday to my beautiful mumma'

Billie continued the comments about her mum's age and told her she could pass for someone two decades younger, saying: 'Happy 50th birthday to my beautiful mumma.

'Thank you for being the most amazing mum and nanny, you truly are so special to us all, you go above and beyond for all of us and I will forever be grateful for that.

'I cannot wait to celebrate with you this weekend, my beautiful mumma, I love you lots P.S you dont look a day over 30'.

Family: She added: 'Thank you for being the most amazing mum and nanny, you truly are so special to us all, you go above and beyond for all of us and I will forever be grateful for that'

Fun: Billie continued: 'I cannot wait to celebrate with you this weekend , my beautiful mumma , I love you lots P.S you dont look a day over 30'

Wow: She posted this sensational snap of Suzie who boasts a youthful figure and toned abs belying her true age

Twins: Billie posted a picture of her mum holding Nelly, four, alongside herself with fans struggling to spot an age difference between the two

Adorable: Billie's daughter Nelly also showed off her playful side by holding her breakfast up to her face as her mother wrote 'eye spy it's nanny's birthday'

Like her sister Billie, 29, took to Instagram to share a series of throwback pictures including one with Suzie looking like a dead ringer for a third Faiers sister as the trio donned matching silk pyjamas.

She also shared a picture of herself as a baby being held by a very colourful Suzanne while looking like daughter Nelly's twin.

Billie took to Instagram Stories later in the day to share an adorable video of her 23-month-old son Arthur singing Happy Birthday to his grandma while chomping down on his breakfast.

And later when Suzanne entered the house the family shared a singalong to Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder.
She's known for her stylish and unique ensembles.

And Olivia Buckland made sure she stood out during a street style photo-shoot outside Freemasons' Hall in London on Saturday.

The Love Island beauty, 25, looked effortlessly chic in a pair of white flared trousers which she teamed with a fitted cape style blazer.

Chic: Olivia Buckland made sure she stood out during a street style photo-shoot outside Freemasons' Hall in London on Saturday

Accessorising her look she added a pair of nude heels with a matching coloured Yves Saint Laurent clutch bag.

Olivia also added a collection of necklaces and dramatic pendant earrings to complete her ensemble.

The reality star styled her blonde locks into a sleek blow-dried hairdo, she added a slick of glamorous make-up and her signature nose ring.

Olivia knew how to work her best angles as she posed up a storm outside Freemasons' Hall on Saturday.

Stylish: The Love Island beauty, 25, looked effortlessly chic in a pair of white flared trousers which she teamed with a fitted cape style blazer

Only recently, the model, who is married to fellow Love Islander Alex Bowen, 26, shared an emotional tweet revealing how Love Island changed her life.

She said: 'Life can really change. Around three years ago I had to sell my sofa to be able to afford food.

'I got myself in stupid debt, hated my job, hated myself & hated the idea of being vulnerable & relying on anyone let alone a man. Its so crazy what can happen.'

Olivia and Alex tied the knot in a romantic ceremony in September, a little more than two years after they met on the show.

Sweet: Only recently, the model, who is married to fellow Love Islander Alex Bowen, 26, shared an emotional tweet revealing how Love Island changed her life

Earlier this month, Olivia recalled her big day in an exclusive interview with MailOnline and insisted she has 'no regrets' over the boozy antics that followed after the pair's romantic ceremony.

Her husband Alex revealed the couple were 'drunk' in their wedding pictures that were printed in OK! magazine, with Olivia insisting 'there's nothing better than a drunk bride'.

She told MailOnline: 'I didn't want it to end! I wish I'd had a two day wedding... it's just having fun and letting your hair down.'
They enjoyed a romantic trip to Paris earlier this week to celebrate Valentine's Day.

And Brooklyn Beckham's relationship with model girlfriend Hana Cross is clearly stronger than ever as she revealed her beau's sister Harper made her breakfast in bed.

Hana, 21, took to Instagram on Saturday morning to share a snap of the adorable meal made by the seven-year-old youngest member of the Beckham clan with caption: 'Breakfast in bed from harper I love you [sic]'.

City of love: Brooklyn Beckham's relationship with model girlfriend Hana Cross is stronger than ever as she revealed her beau's sister Harper made the pair breakfast in bed

The Beckham's are famously close so Hana is no doubt delighted to be welcomed into the fold and having befriended Harper.

Proving her expertise in the kitchen, the picture showed the tot had whipped the pair up a meal of pancakes, chocolate syrup and strawberries.

The adorable show of affection comes as Hana has proved shes a bonafide member of the Beckham family in recent months as she's been spotted out and about with her beau's parents on many occasions.

And Brooklyn's mum has been using the stunner to model her latest collection.

Doting: Brooklyn's adorable sister Harper, seven, proved she's taken her brother's girlfriend into the family as she made the couple an adorable breakfast of pancakes and strawberries

Family: Hana, 21, took to Instagram on Saturday morning to share a snap made by the youngster with caption: 'Breakfast in bed from harper I love you'.

Happy days: The Beckham's are famously close so Hana is no doubt delighted to be welcomed into the fold and having befriended Harper

Designer Victoria, 44, shared a picture of Hana wearing a camouflage jacket from the collection, as well as a white T-shirt and patent leather trousers.

Victoria wrote: '@hancross looking great at the @britishgq car awards in my #VBPreSS19 camo jacket, chain tee, and my fave leather pants, x VB.'

Spice Girl Victoria has also released a collaborative line with Reebok and Hana has also thrown her support behind that label.

Part of the crew: Hana has proved shes a bonafide member of the Beckham family in recent months as she's been spotted with her beau's parents (pictured January 2019)

Model material: And Brooklyn's mum has been using the stunner to model her latest collections including her collaborative line with Reebok

On Thursday she and Brooklyn packed on the PDA when they documented their trip to Paris on Instagram as part of their Valentine's Day celebrations.

Brooklyn shared a heartfelt post on his Instagram page of the couple on the Eiffel Tower with caption: 'Me and my girl. Luckiest man in the world. Love you baby.'

A loved-up Hana followed suit as she wrote: 'Thank you for making me the happiest girl in the world. I love you! Happy Valentine's Day xx'
They were first linked together in October.

And Nick Grimshaw and Meshach Henry looked more loved-up than ever as they attended Ashley Williams' London Fashion Week show on Friday.

The Radio 1 personality, 34, and dancer, 22, who is 12 years his junior, walked hand-in-hand as they attended the star-studded catwalk.

Smitten: Nick Grimshaw and Meshach Henry looked more loved-up than ever as they attended Ashley Williams' London Fashion Week show on Friday

Nick looked stylish in a black Stella McCartney hoodie and black and yellow chequered trousers.

He completed his look with a bottle green shirt over the top and beige Converse trainers.

Meanwhile, Meshach looked dapper in a pair of black trousers with a tight-fitting white t-shirt.

Loved-up: The Radio 1 personality, 34, and dancer, 22, who is 12 years his junior, walked hand-in-hand as they attended the star-studded catwalk

Stylish: Nick looked stylish in a black Stella McCartney hoodie and black and yellow chequered trousers

He layered his ensemble with a black tailored coat, with a red velvet lapel, and a collection of necklaces.

Nick and Meshach were first spotted at the Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire in October.

At the time, a source told The Sun: 'Nick has found dating quite tough in recent years because of his job.

Dapper:Meanwhile, Meshach looked dapper in a pair of black trousers with a tight-fitting white t-shirt, he layered his ensemble with a black tailored coat, with a red velvet lapel

Treats! Grimmy will be looking forward to the BRIT Awards on Wednesday, and took to his Instagram story on Monday to share snaps of his spectacular invitation box from Warner Music

'But he met Mesh a few months ago and although its still early days they are really enjoying their time together. They are taking things easy and not putting any pressure on anything.

'Nick really likes him, and his friends are thrilled he has found someone who makes him happy.'

They have since gone 'Instagram official' with their romance and enjoyed a romantic New Year's holiday to the Maldives with the likes of Rita Ora joining them.

Party time: The DJ delved through the goodies in a short video as he was treated to a selection of gifts ahead of the Warner Music house party at the Chiltern Firehouse Hotel

Talented: Warner Music have numerous artists nominated at this year's ceremony, including Anne-Marie, Cardi B, Clean Bandit, Dua Lipa, Gorillaz, Jess Glynne, Lily Allen, and Rita Ora

Grimmy will no doubt be looking forward to the BRIT Awards on Wednesday night, and took to his Instagram story on Monday to share snaps of his spectacular invitation box from Warner Music.

The DJ delved through the goodies in a short video as he was treated to gifts from Gwyneth Paltrows Goop, The Light Salon, The Face Gym, Swarovski and Ray Ban ahead of the Warner Music house party at the Chiltern Firehouse Hotel.

Warner Music have numerous artists nominated at this year's ceremony, including Anne-Marie, Cardi B, Clean Bandit, Dua Lipa, Gorillaz, Janelle Monae, Jess Glynne, Lily Allen, Mahalia, Rita Ora, Rudimental and Twenty One Pilots.

'Instagram official': Nick and Meshach were first spotted at the Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire in October (pictured together in the Maldives in January)
She ruled runways all over with the world during the 2000s before taking a break from the modelling industry after struggling with mental health issues.

Now, Gemma Ward has reflected on her journey through those struggles, and the new openness she's developed in discussing them.

The 31-year-old told Sunday's issue of Stellar: 'There's still a lot more to be said. Everyone can benefit from reflecting on their experiences, to move forward and have a more positive future.'

'Everyone can benefit from reflecting on their experiences': Model Gemma Ward (pictured) discuses her mental health struggles after taking a break from the fashion industry

The beauty also revealed that she is sharing more about her struggles with her family, friends, and eventually the public.

'Sometimes it does need to happen slowly. It's nice to be at a place where I can just talk about it,' the Perth-born beauty added.

Last year, Gemma told W Magazine that she was ready to return to modelling after seeking help for her anxiety and depression.

'It's nice to be at a place where I can just talk about it. There's still a lot more to be said. Everyone can benefit from reflecting on their experiences, to move forward' she revealed

Stunning: In the accompanying photo shoot, blonde beauty modelled a range of ensembles including a dark green blazer

'It's amazing even to be sitting here, going, "Wow, I actually got through it." Because I did get trapped in a cycle until I finally got help, which people should be aware that they can get. Thank God I was - otherwise I might not be here anymore,' she said.

Gemma returned to Australia to walk the runway for the David Jones Autumn/Winter collection launch in Tasmania earlier this month.

She strutted her stuff on the cat walk alongside David Jones ambassadors, Cameron Robbie and Victoria Lee, as well as her good friend Jessica Gomes.

Runway stars: Gemma (centre) returned to Australia to walk the runway for the David Jones Autumn/Winter collection launch in Tasmania earlier this month. She strutted her stuff on her good friend Jessica Gomes (left), Cameron Robbie and Victoria Lee

After several years in Down Under she and her family, husband David Letts and their children, daughter Naia, six, and son Jet, two, recently relocated to trend Tribeca, in New York City.

Speaking about the move, the beauty said: 'I'm always reinvigorated when I [go] back to New York. I love the walking culture, that's my favourite thing.'

In the accompanying Stellar photo shoot, blonde beauty modelled a range of chic ensembles, including a sheer outfit with sequined sleeves and a light grey coat.

She also went braless as she modelled a loose-fitting teal suit, which was buttoned up to create a plunging neckline.
Gemma Collins is reportedly in talks with TV producers to land her own reality show, after winning an army of new fans on Dancing On Ice, according to The Sun.

A source told the publication that the TOWIE star has been bombarded with big money deals after being eliminated from the skating show, but is taking some time off before making a decision.

It comes after Gemma's boyfriend James 'Arg' Argent also confirmed that he would be open to appearing on a reality show with her, as he makes a return to TV following a stint in rehab.

New venture: Gemma Collins is reportedly in talks with TV producers to land her own reality show, after winning an army of new fans on Dancing On Ice, according to The Sun

The source said 'Gemma has been inundated with big money offers for different shows. She's spent the last couple of weeks weighing up her options and deciding what the next step is in her career.

'Shes hoping to film in Essex, London, Marbella and even Los Angeles to visit close pal Jonathan Cheban.'

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Gemma Collins for comment. Gemma won a whole new army of fans as she showcased her outrageous personality in Dancing On Ice.

Impassioned: A source told the publication that the TOWIE star has been bombarded with big money deals after being eliminated from the skating show

Despite plenty of support from fans on social media, her lacklustre skating resulted in the GC consistently finishing bottom of the leaderboard, and she was sadly voted off the show last week.

Speaking after her elimination, Gemma admitted she was looking forward to a couple of weeks off before returning to work.

The Essex beauty spoke openly in the past about her determination to lose weight while training to the show, with the hope that it will help her and boyfriend Arg to have a baby.

Amazing: Gemma previously took centre stage in the one-off special Gemma Collins: Diva Espana last year, but despite fans campaigns it is yet to spark a full series

Gemma previously took centre stage in the one-off special Gemma Collins: Diva Espana last year, but despite fans campaigns it is yet to spark a full series.

Arg also recently revealed that he would be open to appearing in a show with his girlfriend, as he also hinted at a return to TOWIE this year.

He told The Sun: 'I'm ready to start working again now; in 2019 I will get back into TV work again.

'I'm going to start meeting the bosses at ITV and Lime Pictures from January and then we will be making a plan  whether that be me going back to TOWIE or Gemma and I doing our own show together.'
She recently attended the Sydney premiere of Destroyer with the film's star, her aunt Nicole Kidman.

But Lucia Hawley has revealed she won't be following in her famous aunt's footsteps, but rather her mother, Antonia's career path.

'It won't be show business, probably journalism more,' the 20-year-old told Confidential.

Going her own way! Nicole Kidman's niece Lucia Hawley (pictured) has revealed the career path she's chosen. 'It won't be show business, probably journalism more,' the 20-year-old said

Antonia, Nicole's younger sister, began her career as a journalist and researcher on Channel Nine's Today show, before moving to Newcastle to be a reporter at NBN.

'I am thinking about what I want to do. I am loving uni, it is fantastic, like the best years of your life,' Lucia said.

The brunette beauty also revealed to the publication that she would be leaving the nest soon.

Growing up: The brunette beauty also revealed to the publication that she would be leaving the nest soon. 'I am moving out now so things are about to get real,' she added

'I am moving out now so things are about to get real,' she added.

Lucia is Antonia's eldest child with her late husband Angus Hawley, followed by Sybella, 12, and sons Hamish, 18, and James, 16.

Back in 2018, Lucia spoke about the loss of her father Angus in 2015 from a heart attack in New York.

Family affair: Lucia is Antonia's eldest child with her late husband Angus Hawley, followed by Sybella, 12, and sons Hamish, 18, and James, 16. Pictured: Nicole Kidman with her mother Janelle Ann and niece Lucia at the 2018 AACTA Awards

'The loss was excruciating. At 16 years old, processing this was tough,' she said as reported by The Daily Telegraph, at the renaming of the UTS mental health unit - now called the Kidman Centre after her late grandfather Antony Kidman.

She also spoke of the loss of her psychologist grandfather Antony back in 2014, in Singapore from a heart-attack saying she was 'totally traumatised', the publication reported.

Antonia remarried Singapore-based businessman Craig Marran in 2010 and together share Nicholas and Alexander.
She's a Home And Away star and a regular on the social scene.

So it was no surprise to see Sam Frost attend the world premiere of Sydney SailGP in Kirribilli on Saturday.

The 29-year-old offered a glimpse of her toned tummy in a flirty two-piece, at the event that also saw model Samantha Harris in attendance.

Top of the crops! Sam Frost, 29, offered a glimpse of her toned tummy in a flirty two-piece, as she attended a VIP sailing event in Sydney on Saturday

Sam put her best foot forward as she posed for photos in front of the media wall.

The actress sported an abstract beige midriff and a coordinating maxi-skirt.

Adding tan heeled sandals and statement drop earrings, Sam styled her blonde locks into an elegant chignon at the nape of the neck.

The former Bachelor and Bachelorette star finished off the look with a flawless visage and bold brows.

Two-piece ensemble: The actress wore an abstract beige midriff and coordinating maxi-skirt, teamed with tan heeled sandals and statement drop earrings

Designer accessory: Model Samantha Harris, 28, drew attention to her legs in a white blazer dress, and added black ballet flats and a Gucci handbag to the look

Also in attendance was model Samantha Harris, who drew attention to her legs in a white blazer dress.

The 28-year-old opted for comfort with black ballet flats and carried her belongings in a black gold-chained Gucci handbag.

Samantha's brunette locks flowed freely around her face and shoulders, and her makeup palette included a light coating of foundation and a nude lip.

Sally Fitzgibbons, 28, and former ironman turned sailor Ky Hurst, 37, happily posed for photos.

Familiar faces: Sally Fitzgibbons, 28, posed for photos with former ironman Ky Hurst, 37, who has recently turned his hand to sailing

Professional surfer Sally cut a chic figure in a striped grey and white frock, accessorised with a trendy black fedora.

Ky wore the sailing team's white slim-fit T-shirt, cap, and hung a pair of tinted sunglasses on the neckline of his shirt.

The athlete, who has won 30 Australian surf lifesaving titles and competed in the Olympic Games twice for open water swimming, has now turned his hand to sailing.

Prior to competing at Saturday's Sydney SailGP, Ky told The Daily Telegraph that the new sport still requires him to train hard.

'I still train as hard as I used to. I don't cut corners. I want to ensure I am the fittest guy on the water,' he said.
Love Island star Malin Andersson has revealed she is being treated in hospital for a mystery illness just a week after tragically laying her four-week-old daughter to rest.

The reality TV personality, 26, took to Twitter on Friday to share an image of her arm, which appeared to be connected to a drip, while adding the caption: 'Greatest year ever. Not. When will it end?... Back in hospital but for me this time.'

Her post comes after she paid tribute to her 'ultimate Valentine', boyfriend Tom Kemp, by telling her followers the couple had been 'absolute messes' in the wake of their devastating loss as she posted a sweet selfie to her page on Thursday.

Shock: Love Island star Malin Andersson has revealed she is being treated in hospital for a mystery illness just a week after tragically laying her four-week-old daughter to rest

Alongside the poignant image, Malin simply wrote: 'Been absolute messes. But here is my ultimate Valentine.'

Shortly after sharing her Valentine's tribute, she posted the shocking hospital image which was met with floods of support from her devoted followers.

The couple laid their newborn baby girl to rest last week after she passed away following complications when she was born seven weeks early on December 23.

After an understandable silence on social media, Tom honoured his girlfriend on Valentine's Day with a sweet tribute earlier on Thursday. Uploading a photo of the two in happier moments, the caption simply read: 'My valentine'.

Mourning: Her post comes after she paid tribute to her 'ultimate Valentine', boyfriend Tom Kemp, by telling her followers the couple had been 'absolute messes' in the wake of their devastating loss as she posted a sweet selfie to her page on Thursday

Consy's funeral was held on February 6, with Malin returning to social media herself on Tuesday, shared a photograph of herself gazing forwards with a sparkle filter.

Malin's last post to social media was on Twitter at the start of the month, when she heartbreakingly revealed when she would be laying her daughter to rest.

She wrote: 'So tomorrows the day I bury my daughter and lay her to rest free from pain. I love you unconditionally baby girl. None of this makes sense. CONSY-GLORIA.'

Touching: After an understandable silence on social media, Tom honoured his girlfriend on Valentine's Day with a sweet tribute earlier on Thursday

Malin tragically announced she had lost her newborn daughter last month after she she had been hospitalised since her premature birth in December.

Shortly after the loss of her daughter, Malin shared a touching poem about loss.

Malin posted the sweet words, written by Amy Farquhar on her Instagram stories on as she paid tribute to her little girl.

Heartbroken: She told her followers the couple had been 'absolute messes' in the wake of their devastating loss (baby Consy, pictured)

Heartbreaking: Consy's funeral was held on February 6, with Malin returning to social media herself on Tuesday, shared a photograph of herself gazing forwards with a sparkle filter

The lovely words included: 'I know how much that I am wanted/ I feel so very blessed/ Of all the mummy's in all the world/ I got the very best!'

Earlier the same day day, Malin revealed the sad news about her daughter on Instagram.

Consy had been treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital after suffering 'complications' since birth.

Malin wrote: 'Completely in love with you.. and my Mum just wanted you to be with her. Your time wasnt ready yet. Mummy loves you. I stayed with you each day...

'You opened your eyes one last time for me and I saw those beautiful big brown eyes. Im so sorry I couldnt do anymore.

'Go be with grandma Consy. My angel. Rest in peace CONSY GLORIA EMMA ANDERSSON-KEMP 23/12/18-22/01/19.'

'Lay her to rest free from pain': Malin's last post to social media was on Twitter at the start of the month, when she heartbreakingly revealed when she would be laying her daughter to rest

Heartache: Malin tragically announced she had lost her newborn daughter last month after she she had been hospitalised since her premature birth in December

After sharing the message on Instagram, she then shared the same image on Twitter with the simple message: 'RIP my angel', alongside a sad face Emoji.

She revealed in a tweet in January that she was yet to hold her beloved daughter, as she wrote: '3 weeks and I still havent held her.. keep praying for my girl'.

Malin, who appeared on series two of the reality show in 2016, gave birth seven weeks early on December 23, breaking the news to her fans on New Year's Day as she revealed the infant was being cared for at Great Ormond Street hospital.

Saying the couple are 'totally in love' with their daughter, Malin also confirmed their name choice - Consy, after her late mother.

She penned in the accompanying caption in her original announcement: 'Happy New Year.. Tom and I are so happy to let you all know that our baby girl CONSY arrived in this world 23rd December 2018, seven weeks early...

Pain: Malin revealed in a tweet in January that she was yet to hold her beloved daughter, writing: '3 weeks and I still havent held her.. keep praying for my girl'

'She is so beautiful, we are totally in love with her and feel so blessed that she is here but unfortunately due to complications, she is currently being cared for at Great Ormond Street...

'We have received a number of messages over the past week and there has been a lot of speculation and so we wanted to share our news with you so you could hear from us first hand.'

Just a week before her daughter's death, Malin shared an image of the tot's hand with a caption reading: 'All your prayers, messages, healing.. it means the world to us. Baby Consy is still in intensive care, and fighting each day...

'This has been the most difficult time I have ever gone through. I just want to hold her.. Its different to my mum last year.

'My mum was ready to go.. my little girl isnt. She has given me the ultimate purpose in my life and Im not prepared to let her go.'

Beloved: Consy's name is a tribute to Malin's late mother (pictured), following her passing in November 2017 after losing her battle with breast cancer

Consy's name is a tribute to Malin's mother following her sad passing in November 2017.

The reality star's mum battled breast cancer twice since 2001 before the cancer spread for a third time.

Tragically, Malin's father died from skin cancer after battling the disease twice.

Sharing a moving tribute to her mother at the time, wrote: '2am last night Heaven took you.. You didn't deserve the pain you were in, cancer 3 times.. It wasn't fair on you. I watched you take your final breath...

'I stayed with you right until the very end and you looked so peaceful. You're with Dad now.. just know I love you unconditionally. RIP.'

Heartache: Malin documented her mother's painful cancer battle and subsequent passing on social media

EXPLAINED: PREMATURE BIRTH AND ITS RISKS TO BABIES Around 10 per cent of all pregnancies worldwide result in premature labour - defined as a delivery before 37 weeks. When this happens, not all of the baby's organs, including the heart and lungs, will have developed. They can also be underweight and smaller. Tommy's, a charity in the UK, says this can mean preemies 'are not ready for life outside the womb'. Premature birth is the largest cause of neonatal mortality in the US and the UK, according to figures. Babies born early account for around 1,500 deaths each year in the UK. In the US, premature birth and its complications account for 17 per cent of infant deaths. Babies born prematurely are often whisked away to neonatal intensive care units, where they are looked after around-the-clock. What are the chances of survival? Less than 22 weeks is close to zero chance of survival

22 weeks is around 10%

24 weeks is around 60%

27 weeks is around 89%

31 weeks is around 95%

34 weeks is equivalent to a baby born at full term Advertisement

Malin has been a staunch campaigner for mental health awareness and uses her Twitter account to discuss grief and urge others to do the same.

In June last year, Malin's Love Island co-star Sophie Gradon was found dead in her home, after which then-pregnant Malin took to Twitter to honour her while also discussing mental health awareness and the post-show assistance given to stars.

In the midst of a string of Twitter messages, Malin beseeched bosses to pull the latest episode from schedules, as she honoured her friend by penning: NOT ENOUGH AFTERCARE TONIGHT SHOULD NOT AIR'.

Malin posted an image of the pair together with the added caption: 'My beautiful girl. Rest in Heaven now. Nothing has sunk in, and I have no words to say Im speechless.

'I met you on Love Island and you brought such laughter into my life, up until now. Your smile is one of a kind and you have always been a beautiful soul inside and out. All I know is that youre an Angel up there and in a better place.

'This world is cruel. MENTAL HEALTH IS SERIOUS. TROLLING IS SERIOUS, DEPRESSION IS SERIOUS. THINK WHAT YOU SAY BEFORE YOU SAY IT. YOU DONT KNOW WHAT ANYONE IS BATTLING.'

For support with child bereavement, contact The Lullaby Trust charity on 0808 802 6868, or email support@lullabytrust.org.uk

For support with premature birth, contact Little Miracles charity on 01733 262226
Tammy Hembrow created her active wear brand Saski Collection for to combine her passion for fitness and fashion in 2017.

And on Friday, the 24-year-old launched her range Neon at The Pink Hotel Coolangatta on the NSW north coast.

Her cropped top showcased her taut torso while the mini skirt hugged her pert derriere and showed off trim pins which she accentuated with high heels.

Scroll down for video

Fringe benefits! Tammy Hembrow (pictured) flaunted her fine form in a tassel outfit at the launch party for her range Neon at The Pink Hotel Coolangatta on the NSW north coast

She also posed for a photo with her sisters Emilee, Amy, Starlette who attended the brand in support of Tammy.

Meanwhile, the Saski Collection official Instagram took fans of the brand on a tour of the 18-room boutique hotel decorated in neon to coordinate with the colours from the new collection.

The outside of the 1950s style hotel was decorated with neon balloon arrangements adorning the building.

Bright: The Saski Collection official Instagram took fans of the brand on a tour of the 18-room boutique hotel The outside of the 1950s style hotel was decorated with neon balloons

Cabana: The roof top featured cabana lounges for guests to sit and relax on

The roof top featured cabana lounges for guests to sit and relax on, as well as bathtubs filled with beverages.

Attendees were also treated to cupcakes with neon icing, a photo booth and a Dance Dance Revolution machine to dance on.

DJ Mollie Rose to play tunes for guests looking to let loose on the dance floor including host Tammy.

Cheeky treats: Attendees were also treated to cupcakes with neon icing, a photo booth and bathtubs filled with beverages

Party time: DJ Mollie Rose to play tunes for guests looking to let loose on the dance floor

Shaking it! Even host Tammy got down on the dance floor with her guests

Tammy, who is a mother-of-two, launched Saski Collection back in 2017 to combine her passion for fitness and fashion.

At the time, she spoke to Business News Australia about captialising on her social media following to develop her business.

'Social media is a tool that is evolving and more companies are embracing the opportunities it has presented,' she told the publication.

'I saw these opportunities early on when I started to build my online community, you need to be smart with your brand. I always suggest being transparent and honest because people can relate to that,' she added.
Friends co-stars Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox finally made it to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a birthday trip Friday after a scary incident during their initial flight to the luxe locale.

Aniston, 50, and Cox, 54, were snapped at the airport after they touched down there, as earlier in the day, a flight on a private jet departing from LAX was rerouted to Ontario International Airport for an emergency landing after a rear tire blew out, an FAA spokesperson told E! News.

For more than two and a half hours, the plane circled over the airport to burn fuel prior to its safe landing, officials said.

Scroll below for video

Solid ground: Jennifer Aniston, 50, made it to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for a birthday trip Friday after a scary incident during her initial flight to the luxe locale with a group of friends

Actress Amanda Anka, wife of actor Jason Bateman, and writer Molly Kimmel, wife of late night host Jimmy Kimmel, were also on the Gulfstream Aerospace IV aircraft, as well as eight more of Aniston's pals. The group eventually departed on a separate flight Friday afternoon, according to TMZ.

It's been a tumultuous week for the actress, who turned 50 on February 11.

She was reunited with her former husband Brad Pitt at birthday bash thrown in her honor in Los Angeles Saturday.

Aniston, who was married to Pitt from 2000 until 2005 until he began seeing now-ex-wife Angelina Jolie, had 'debated back and forth with friends if she should invite' the Fight Club star, sources told People.

There for her: Aniston's confidante Cox, 54, donned glasses and a white top after the group touched down

The perennial A-lister ultimately decided to invite him - as he 'was a very important part of Jen's life' for many years - and 'was very happy that he showed up,' the source said.

The former couple 'hugged and chatted for a bit, but Jen was busy making sure all of her other guests had an amazing time.'

Other notable names at the birthday bash included Ellen DeGeneres, Reese Witherspoon, and another one of Pitt's exes, Gwyneth Paltrow.

Safe: Pilots took nearly three hours to run out the gas in the plane to make a safe landing
During the first five seasons of Married At First Sight 34 couples were matched by 'relationship experts'.

But only one of them is still going strong today.

Erin Bateman, 29, and Bryce Mohr, 33, recently celebrated their third anniversary and the pair looked the picture of domestic bliss as they unloaded furniture from a Melbourne removals truck on Saturday.

Still going strong! Married At First Sight's ONLY lasting couple Erin Bateman and Bryce Mohr were pictured moving in to a new Melbourne home... three years after they were matched on the show

At least the 'experts' got one right! Erin and Bryce are the only last couple from the first five seasons of Married At First Sight. They are pictured on their 'wedding day' in 2016

The twosome, who were matched on the second season of the reality show, appeared to be moving into a new home together.

Erin and Bryce largely keep their 'marriage' out of the public eye and rarely share any details of their relationship on their respective social media accounts.

The low-key pair provided no details of their move, and instead went about their business quietly.

Domestic bliss! Bryce and Erin looked loved-up as they unloaded furniture from a removals truck

Is that the secret to their success? Erin and Bryce largely keep their 'marriage' out of the public eye and rarely share any details of their relationship on their respective social media accounts

Private: The low-key pair provided no details of their move, and instead went about their business quietly

Erin cut a casual figure for her day of domestic duties, wearing a check flannel shirt and a pair of black leggings.

The fashion blogger added a pair of sensible white running shoes complete with a pair of eye-catching pink laces.

The starlet shaved off her brunette tresses last February for charity, and her hair is currently in the process of growing back.

Laid-back: Erin cut a casual figure for her day of domestic duties, wearing a check flannel shirt and a pair of black leggings

A spring in her step! The fashion blogger added a pair of sensible white running shoes complete with a pair of eye-catching pink laces

Erin left her pixie haircut unstyled, and she went make-up free for her moving day.

Meanwhile, business analyst Bryce also looked laid back in a black active wear ensemble.

Last year, the loved-up couple spoke with New Idea about officially tying the knot and having babies, with Bryce saying: 'Erin would make an amazing mum!'

Effortlessly beautiful: Erin left her pixie haircut unstyled, and she went make-up free for her moving day

Doing the heavy lifting! Meanwhile, business analyst Bryce also looked laid back in a black active wear ensemble
After claiming he was approached by Channel 10 to be last year's leading man on The Bachelor, Jason Dundas has ruled himself out of appearing on the dating show.

Speaking with Confidential on Saturday, the former MTV presenter confirmed he 'was in discussions to do that' but added: 'I'm not interested anymore. It was a one moment thing.'

Dundas made headlines for taking a swipe at recent Bachelor, Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins last year, by saying he lost out on the gig to 'some rugby player'.

'I'm not interested anymore': Jason Dundas (pictured) has ruled himself out of appearing on The Bachelor dating show, after claiming he was approached by Channel last year

Dundas has been focused on building his LA-based digital media company, Dundas Media, which he said has 'gone gangbusters'.

'Being on X Factor I saw the demise of TV ratings first-hand. It was clear to me this is a shifting landscape,' he said.

Since losing his hosting gig when the show was axed in 2017, Dundas has focused his energy into his business, which also produces his segments for Channel 9 travel and lifestyle show Getaway.

Oh dear: The former X Factor host took a swipe at recent Bachelor, Nick 'Honey Badger' Cummins (pictured), by saying he lost out on the gig to 'some rugby player'

New focus: Dundas has been focused on building his LA-based digital media company, Dundas Media, which he said has 'gone gangbusters'

This season will be Dundas' 13th year presenting for the popular travel show and he hasn't ruled out other TV hosting gigs in Australia.

But he has said being on TV for 15 years made it hard for him to find someone genuine.

Jason has reportedly been single since parting ways with fashion assistant Rey-Hanna Vakili in 2014.

Up and down: Jason has said being on TV for 15 years made it hard for him to find someone genuine. 'It is hard to find someone who doesn't look at you as that guy on TV,' he said

'I've been on TV for 15 years in Australia so it is hard to find someone who doesn't look at you as that guy on TV,' Dundas complained during a chat on Page Six TV.

'They [producers] said to me, 'this is an environment where there's a bunch of amazing girls we've hand-picked for you and they have no influence from the outside world, they can't Google, social media, ask their friends'.

'They said it's a great, controlled environment to find true love.'

He admitted he would have 'actually would have done it' but was beaten out for the role by Nick, 30.
Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale has become a symbol of modern third-wave feminism.

But now, the author, 79, has poignantly said she refuses to label herself a 'feminist' as she does not follow a 'doctrine of ideas' of any kind.

On Saturday, Margaret praised the importance of independent critical thinking when she spoke to Good Weekend magazine ahead of the book's sequel.

'I don't follow a doctrine': The Handmaid's Tale author Margaret Atwood, 79, has revealed why she refuses the 'feminist' label during an interview with Good Weekend magazine

Explaining her comments, Margaret said it was important as a writer to not be beholden to established sets of ideas.

'I don't think you can be a novelist and have a doctrinaire set of ideas, [it means] you are just going to write propaganda,' she said.

'It's very annoying for some people,' she added, hinting at the pressure to embrace labels that might make her otherwise feel uncomfortable.

Poignant: 'I don't think you can be a novelist and have a doctrinaire set of ideas, [it means] you are just going to write propaganda': The Canadian born-writer said during the interview

Margaret continued: 'There are so many different types of feminists, why is why I refuse to answer the question: Are you a feminist?'

Born in Canada, Margaret's landmark book is set in fictional Gilead, with it first hitting the best-seller list after it was published in 1985.

The novel climbed back up the list after a Hulu series of the same name and the election of Republican President Donald Trump in 2016.

Handmaid's tale: Margaret's landmark book is set in fictional Gilead, with it first hitting the best-seller list after it was published in 1985. A Hulu series has since been made

Controversial: 'We aren't there yet': Margaret Atwood said of comparisons between her best-selling novel and the US. She then added: 'It could be a lot worse'

Despite being critical of U.S. President Donald Trump in the past, Margaret has rubbished comparisons to Gilead and the current state of America.

'We aren't there yet,' she said, before controversially adding: 'It could be a lot worse,' of the current state of play for American women.

Margaret will now release a follow-up novel to The Handmaid's Tale called 'The Testaments,' which will be a sequel to the book.

The novel will be set 15 years after original narrator Offred's final scene in 'The Handmaid's Tale,' and rely on three narrators.
There's been reports the winner of this year's Australian season of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! has already celebrated in a filmed finale.

But while filming officially wrapped in South Africa earlier this week, Sydney Confidential revealed on Saturday that public votes will still count towards selecting their 2019 king or queen of the jungle.

According to the publication, Channel Ten have recorded TWO alternate endings for the program, with the winner's version to air on Sunday.

Your votes still count! I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! has pre-recorded TWO alternate endings ahead of the 'live finale' after officially wrapping the production in South Africa

It's not the first time a Channel Ten show has used this tactic, with MasterChef's judge Matt Preston admitting to it in 2017.

'We re-create the final reveal of the scores, complete with the same scorecards, so they actually stand there with their loved ones and get to watch the real thing unfold,' he said at the time, noting it was 'one of the hardest things to do'.

Over the years, I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! viewers across the world have become accustomed to nail-biting live finales.

The news of the alternate endings contradicts industry websites TV Blackbox and TV Tonight, who have suggested the winner has already been decided.

It's been done before! It's not the first time a Channel Ten show has used this tactic, with MasterChef's judge Matt Preston (right) admitting to it in 2017

So it's still anyone's game? The news of the alternate endings contradicts industry websites TV Blackbox and TV Tonight , who have suggested the winner has already been decided. Pictured: Frontrunner Richard Reid

By recording the show early, producers are risking the possibility of spoilers leaking to the media during the four days before transmission.

The identity of the winner is apparently known by industry insiders, with former Channel 10 executive Robert McKnight claiming he knows who it is.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel 10 for comment.

Risky business! By recording the show early, producers are risking the possibility of spoilers leaking to the media during the four days before transmission. Pictured: Shane Crawford, who is tipped to place second in the competition

According to online bookmakers Sportsbet, the favourite to win this year's season is gossip reporter and Studio 10 personality Richard Reid.

As of Wednesday, his odds were sitting at $1.40.

Former AFL star Shane Crawford was tipped for runner-up with $4.00 odds, with Gogglebox star Yvie Jones in third place at $5.50.

Leaks: The identity of the winner is apparently known by industry insiders. Pictured: Gogglebox star Yvie Jones, who will likely place third according to Sportsbet odds

It comes after Luke Jacobz and Angie Kent were both eliminated from the show on Tuesday in a double elimination.

Love Island's Justin Lacko had previously been sent home on Monday's episode.

I'm A Celebrity's finale airs Sunday at 7:30pm on Channel 10
American model London Goheen, 21, was recently slammed by fans for fuelling her own pregnancy rumours.

And on Thursday, the new girlfriend of Tammy Hembrow's ex-fiance, Reece Hawkins shared a loved-up photo with the father-of-two.

Reece was seen caressing London's stomach, as she showcased her lithe figure in a racy black lingerie set.

'My Valentines baby': Reece Hawkins touches girlfriend London Goheen's stomach in racy lingerie post... amid the model's pregnancy rumours

She simple captioned the photo with her man: 'My Valentines baby.'

Earlier in the week, London was slammed by fans for fuelling her own pregnancy rumours by removing negative comments about herself on Instagram, but leaving ones congratulating her on a suspected 'pregnancy'.

'She's playing along so people give her attention,' one fan speculated on the social media platform.

'She's playing along': Fans accused Reece Hawkins' girlfriend London Goheen (pictured here) for fueling her OWN pregnancy rumours... after claiming she's bloated in a recent Instagram photo

'Everyone calm down. It's unlikely that she is pregnant. I was trying to prove the exact point you lovely ladies and gents have come to on this fine post here. London is thirsty for any and all attention,' another Instagram user penned.

Another joined in, writing: 'Notice how she responds to a pregnancy comment but doesn't answer the question,' while one skeptical fan said: 'Interesting her choice of what comments to keep.'

'I love how she purposely avoided the question. She replied to another comment so she definitely saw it. And we all know she loves monitoring her comments lol (sic),' one fan pointed out.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted London for comment.

'Notice how she responds to a pregnancy comment but doesn't answer the question,' Fans called out the American model for removing negative comments about herself on Instagram, but leaving ones congratulating her on a suspected 'pregnancy'

The comments were prompted after London shared a 'bloated' snap to her Instagram Stories in recent weeks.

In the photo, the stunner was see arching her back and holding onto her belly whilst clad in a racy swimwear ensemble.

'Bloated af anyone know any good tips to help me debloat? Dm me! (sic)' she wrote beside the picture.

'Bloated': The comments comes after London shared this 'bloated' snap to her Instagram Stories in recent weeks, which began to fuel rumours about a pregnancy

Following the post, fans deliberated whether the model was expecting, with many flooding the comment section claiming she is 'pregnant'.

'Pregnant,' one user wrote on a photo London shared to Instagram, while another penned: 'Omg congrats on the pregnancy. Sass and Wolf are going to be the cutest big siblings. Blended families are such beautiful families!'

'Cutest lil baby bump ever (sic),' another fan stated, as a few others deliberated, writing: 'Is she pregnant?'

Comments: Some fans continued to deliberate whether the 21-year-old is pregnant, penning questions in each of London's recent Instagram photos

Going strong: Meanwhile, the social media model has been dating entrepreneur Tammy Hembrow's ex-fiance Reece Hawkins since October last year

Meanwhile, the social media model has been dating entrepreneur Tammy Hembrow's ex-fiance Reece Hawkins since October last year.

Things certainly appear to be moving fast for the couple, with London having already met Reece and Tammy's two children: Wolf, four, and Saskia, two.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia at the Boohoo x Afterpay House of Summer party last month, London said she was smitten with Tammy's Insta-famous kids.

'Yes, they're sweet,' she said. 'They're lovely. They're really sweet, I liked them a lot.'

Tammy, who is the daughter of Australian film director Mark Hembrow, announced her split with Reece in June last year.
Her marriage with Colin Firth made headlines when it was revealed she had dropped stalking charges against her former lover to prevent details about their affair being exposed.

But Livia Firth appeared to have put their difficult few months behind her, as she attended the Eco Age In Conversation during London Fashion Week on Friday.

The film producer, 49, put on an elegant display in a black velvet skirt which was adorned with gorgeous white and blue sequins in a floral design.

Demure: Livia Firth put on an elegant display in a flared top and velvet sequinned skirt as she attended an Eco Age event during London Fashion Week on Friday

Keeping to her chic theme, Livia paired her skirt with a black long-sleeved top which had flared sleeves for a glamorous flair.

Livia pulled her brunette locks back into a bun and styled her hair with a middle parting, while she added a touch of glitter with a pair of dangling jewel earrings.

The Italian native is the Creative Director of sustainability consultancy for Eco-Age, who hosted the event.

Chic: The film producer, 49, put on an elegant display in a black velvet skirt which was adorned with gorgeous white and blue sequins in a floral design

Livia has been happily married to Colin since 1997, and they share sons Luca, 17, and Matteo, 15.

The film producer has been keeping a low profile since it was revealed in July last year she had dropped stalking charges against her former lover.

She reported Italian journalist Marco Brancaccia to the police, claiming she was living in terror. She later admitted she had embarked on a year-long affair during a brief separation with Firth, 57.

Brancaccia, 55, allegedly bombarded her with threatening phone calls and text messages after the relationship ended, as well as emailing compromising photographs to Firth.

Family life: Livia has been happily married to Colin since 1997, and they share sons Luca, 17, and Matteo, 15

The journalist, who works for Italian news agency Ansa, is a childhood friend of film producer Livia, 48. He was said to have started harassing her in September 2016 because he could not face being cut out of her life.

The journalist also threatened to write compromising articles about the couple, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Livia said she was living in terror and thought Brancaccia might be following her.

She reported him to police after their relationship ended in 2016. Prosecutors said he subjected them to a terrifying ordeal after Miss Giuggioli went back to her husband.

The court case in Rome was halted by a last-minute deal, The Sun reported.

Glamorous: Livia pulled her brunette locks back into a bun and styled her hair with a middle parting, while she added a touch of glitter with a pair of dangling jewel earrings

In a joint statement, the couples lawyers said: In the best interests of their families, the parties have agreed a private settlement. The parties have asked the court for a postponement of the preliminary hearing in order to formalise the agreement.

This agreement precludes any further public statement by any of the parties about this matter.

An anonymous source told the Sun that Brancaccia wanted to clear his name.

According to the source, it is also believed that Colin and Livia did not want any of their private details made public in court.

Italy introduced a law against stalking in 2009 following an increase in women being harassed and murdered, sometimes by former partners. If found guilty, Brancaccia could have faced up to four years in jail.

Livia has been married to Firth for more than 20 years and the pair have two sons.

Doing her bit: The Italian native is the Creative Director of sustainability consultancy for Eco-Age, which she also founded and hosted the event

She is an Oxfam ambassador and has travelled to Ethiopia, Kenya, Bangladesh and Zambia, and is a founding member of Annie Lennoxs The Circle, a womens advocacy group.

She also founded Eco-Age, a consultancy that advises fashion companies on environmental sustainability. Her husband thanked her for putting up with my fleeting delusions of royalty in his Oscar acceptance speech for his role in The Kings Speech.

Firth began to learn Italian after he started courting Livia and speaks the language fluently. He applied for Italian citizenship after describing Brexit as a disaster in an interview with an Austrian newspaper in 2016.
He rose to fame on the first season of The Bachelor.

And Tim Robards was spotted soaking up the sunshine at Bondi Beach on Friday in a pair of tight swim shorts.

The handsome 36-year-old flaunted his chiseled chest and impressive abs as he took a dip in the ocean at Sydney's iconic locale.

Scroll down for video

Ripped tide! Tim Robards flaunts his incredibly-fit physique in a pair of red swim shorts while enjoying an ocean dip at Sydney's Bondi beach

The chiropractor has clearly been working out, as he showed off his adonis-like body while walking through the shallows of the water.

The former reality star-turned-actor was clearly in his element as he walked up the soft sand to his towel to dry off.

It comes only a day after he celebrated Valentine's Day with wife Anna Heinrich at a boutique hotel in picturesque Mollymook, on the NSW south coast.

Pumped up: Tim courted plenty of attention as he walked along the sandy beach, flaunting his muscular torso in a pair of swimshorts that sat on his hips

To celebrate the milestone the couple shared several sweet snaps of them cuddling-up on the beach together clad in their swimwear.

Sharing a video collage of their snaps to Instagram, Tim wrote: 'First Valentine's as a married couple! To many more salty hair selfies with you babe!'

The couple also appeared in a hilarious Virgin Australia video, posted to the brand's Facebook account, which showed 'do and don'ts' of an in-flight proposal.

'To many more salty hair selfies with you babe!' Tim and Anna Robards celebrated their first V-Day as a married couple at a luxury beach resort in Mollymook, on the NSW south coast

Tim and Anna demonstrated three ways to propose, including surprising your girlfriend mid-flight, putting a ring in a glass of wine and on the PA system.

In the video, Tim first strolled onto a Virgin Australia flight before he quipped to camera: 'I'm here to show you how to land the perfect proposal at 40,000 feet.'

The chiropractor then proved himself to be quite the love doctor, with his first tip being to 'book extra keeling room' for the proposal.

He's the love doctor! Tim (L) and Anna (R) also celebrated their love with a hilarious video of him showing how to propose mid-air on a flight

The Sydney-based reality star then offered a second tip, which was to surprise your girlfriend with an engagement ring in a glass of wine.

While the third was to make sure the plane's PA system is clear, in order for your girlfriend to hear your cute admission of love.

Tim and Anna tied the knot in a fairytale wedding in Italy after falling in love on the first season of The Bachelor.

They were the first couple from the Australian reality TV franchise to marry, but were followed by Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski who were married in November.
Married At First Sight's 'golden couple' Martha Kalifatidis and Michael Brunelli have been inseparable since appearing on the series.

But it seems Martha has been spending time with other male companions.

In a recent clip shared to Instagram Stories by a friend appeared to be called Theo, Martha dances with an unidentified, long-haired man in Los Angeles.

Scroll down for video

Are they on the rocks? Married at First Sight's Martha Kalifatidis spotted partying in Los Angeles with mystery man while her 'husband' Michael Brunelli works out back in Sydney

Old loves: The video was filmed by a man who appears to be called Theo, pictured in 2013

The trio were out in the exclusive bar Delilah in West Hollywood.

Martha and the long-haired man put on an affectionate display as they danced closely with one another, and appeared to be enjoying some alcoholic beverages.

The stunning makeup artist looked every inch the glamazon as she posed for the video wearing a black leather jacket and full face of makeup.

Daily Mail Australia has has reached out to Martha for a comment.

X-files: In a recent clip shared to Instagram Stories, Martha is dancing with an unidentified, long-haired man in Los Angeles

Getting cosy: The pair were seen putting on an affectionate display as they danced closely with one another

While Martha enjoyed her fun night out, her husband Michael was nowhere in sight.

Taking to his Instagram, Michael posted a photo of himself working out alone at home in Sydney.

The hunky P.E teacher showed off his muscular physique as he flexed his biceps using a resistance band in a park.

'Bit of band play,' he wrote alongside the hashtags, 'workout,' 'gym'' and 'fitness.'

Not together? While Martha enjoyed her fun night out with a mystery male and her ex-boyfriend, her husband Michael was back home working out alone

The cracks began to show in their relationship during the 'yes week' episode, where Michael had full control of what Martha would wear, eat and do for the week.

Martha lashed out at TV husband for confiscating her makeup.

Throwing a tantrum as she was forced to leave the house completely barefaced, the makeup artist shouted: 'You can't come back from this. It's done!'
Claire Holt has candidly revealed that her 'devastating' miscarriage last year was the hardest thing she's 'ever dealt with' as she plans to welcome her first child.

The 30-year-old actress, appearing Thursday on Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancy Podcast, spoke candidly about the series of events that led to the discovery, as she prepares to welcome her first child with husband Andrew Joblon, 35.

During the chat, Claire revealed that she and her husband discovered they had miscarried during an 11 week scan, but the news came as a shock as she had suffered no prior complications.

Tough: Claire Holt has revealed that her 'devastating' miscarriage last year was 'the hardest thing I've ever dealt with,' as she spoke on Dr. Berlin's Informed Pregnancy Podcast

Claire, who plays Rebekah Mikaelson on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, said: 'I think it was the hardest thing I've ever dealt with in my life.

The Pretty Little Liars star added that the feeling was comparable to tenfold the death of loved ones, 'with the guilt of, "I couldn't do this."'

Claire said that during her first pregnancy, she and Andrew conceived relatively quickly, as her period had returned six months after she ceased using birth control.

Six weeks into the pregnancy, she saw a heartbeat flicker, but two weeks later, doctors warned her not to publicly announce the pregnancy via Facebook, as 'the babys measuring small.'

Blooming: The Pretty Little Liars star explained that news of a miscarriage came as a shock at an 11 week scan, when she first fell pregnant last year

The Aquarius actress said the news 'was so shocking to' her and Joblon as she asked doctors a series of questions to ascertain how serious the situation was.

'I had no idea what that meant - "Is that okay? Do some babies measure small? What do you mean, 'Don't put it on Facebook?' Do you mean wait because everyone should wait? Is there a problem - does this mean something? What's the heart rate?"'

She said she and Joblon 'were both so shocked and confused because we had no reason to believe something was going wrong.

'I had no bleeding, I had no cramping,' said the actress, who told the podcast she began feeling like she was personally responsible for what was happening.

'I just remember feeling this sense of, "Oh my God, what have I done? Have I done something? Was this my fault? Should I not have gone running? Did I eat something bad? Was it because I wore perfume? Is it because I had a glass of wine two days before I found out I was pregnant?"' she said. 'I really had to focus on getting out of that place and trying to hope that things would be okay.'

Loved-up: Claire and Andrew tied the knot in August last year, after announcing their engagement in December 2017

Claire said the tragic news came during the 11-week appointment, which coincided with Andrew's birthday.

'Immediately, there was no flicker, and I saw it straightaway. The first thing I said was, "Where's the flicker? Where's the heartbeat?"' Holt said, adding that it was 'devastating' when the heartbeat could not be heard.

In opening up about her current pregnancy, Holt said, 'We get the children that we're meant to have ... I feel I wouldn't have met this little guy if that pregnancy had gone ahead and there must be a reason for that.'

Claire said she's 'gotten to a place' where she believes there was a reason for the miscarriage, 'as awful as it was, I wouldn't change it.'

She added: 'It's really hard to say that because I don't mean in a way like, "I didn't want that baby" or "I didn't want that life" but I've learned so much and can now, hopefully, help other people through [their] journey.'

In announcing her current pregnancy last October, Holt wrote, 'These past few months have been filled with excitement, anxiety, tears, joy, uncertainty but most of all gratitude.'

She referenced the miscarriage in saying, 'You never forget the deep pain of loss. It dims with time but it informs many of your experiences.

'Our loss earlier this year was the darkest moment of my life. Yet, it made me infinitely more thankful for the precious baby growing inside me today.'
Emotions reached breaking point in Friday night's episode of EastEnders as beloved character Harold Legg passed away.

Dr Legg, played by actor Leonard Fenton, 92, had reached 98 years of age on the soap but unfortunately lost his battle with pancreatic cancer in scenes shown at the end of the episode.

Harold returned to Albert Square to spend his final moments with none other than his longtime friend Dot Cotton, played by June Brown, 91.

Farewell: Emotions reached breaking point in Friday night's episode of EastEnders as beloved character Harold Legg, portrayed by Leonard Fenton, passed away

Dot realised the end was in sight for Dr Legg when he was brought back to the square and she saw the frail state he was in.

Hoping to make him think back on his younger days, Dot played him a DVD documentary of The Battle of Cable Street, a protest in London's East End in 1936 that he was said to have been involved in.

Sharing touching moments as Harold drifted away, the doctor held his father's pendant in his hand before his grip loosened and he passed away.

Emotional: Dr Legg had reached 98 years of age on the soap but unfortunately lost his battle with pancreatic cancer

Old friend: Harold returned to Albert Square to spend his final moments with none other than his longtime friend Dot Cotton, played by June Brown, 91

Fragile: Dot realised the end was in sight for Dr Legg when he was brought back to the square and she saw the frail state he was in

Viewers quickly took to social media to praise the acting abilities of Leonard while also expressing happiness that Dr Legg would be reunited with his late wife Judith.

One fan wrote: 'Leonard Fenton take a bow. You were always the only Walford doctor.

'They tried to replace you many times but never could. RIP Dr Leggs. A legend.'

Reaction: Viewers took to social media to praise the emotional scene of Dr Legg's passing

Another said: 'Beautiful episode tonight - rest in peace Dr Legg and reunite with Judith for eternity.'

One viewer wrote: 'RIP Dr Legg! Such an emotional episode' while another said: 'powerful storytelling in the scenes with Dr Legg & Dot - so sad.'

One of the show's original characters, Leonard portrayed the medical doctor in regular and recurring roles up until 1997, before appearing in short cameos in the early 2000s.

Family: Sharing touching moments as Harold drifted away, the doctor held his father's pendant in his hand before his grip loosened and he passed away

Goodbye: Dot made sure her friend's eyes were closed as she bid him farewell

Gushing over his surprising return, the star said: 'I am very happy to be back at EastEnders and am looking forward to working with June and the rest of the cast and crew again.'

He briefly returned to the show for the funerals of Ethel Skinner and Mark Fowler in 2000 and 2004.

On working with Leonard again when he rejoined the show last year, June, 91, said: 'It's been eleven years since Dot last visited her favourite doctor, Doctor Legg, and it's an utter delight to be working with Leonard Fenton again.'
After mounting pressure from Academy members, The Motion Picture Academy announced it has reversed an earlier decision to cut four award presentations from the live Oscars telecast.

With the move, all 24 categories will be shown live during the upcoming broadcast - as has been done in previous years.

In a statement on Friday, the officers of the Academy's board of governors said it 'has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscar presentation of four awards  Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling,'

Backlash heard: The Motion Picture Academy reversed an earlier decision and will now air all 24 award presentations during the upcoming Oscars broadcast

It continued: 'All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday, February 24.'

Earlier this week, the Academy announced that the winning speeches for the four categories would be presented during commercial breaks and aired in a shortened video later in the broadcast in an effort to reduce the show to three hours.

Ratings drops, including last year's Oscars, was said to be the main reason that the Academy wanted four rotating categories cut from the live show starting this year.

Strength in numbers: Academy members sent an open letter in opposition to cutting four categories from the live telecast in order to get the show to three hours: picture from 2018

But backlash grew fast and fierce.

By Wednesday an open letter, signed by some of the most prominent filmmakers and actors, that harshly criticized the move was sent to the Academy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It read in part: 'When the recognition of those responsible for the creation of outstanding cinema is being diminished by the very institution whose purpose it is to protect it, then we are no longer upholding the spirit of the academy's promise to celebrate film as a collaborative art form.'

Some of the more high-profile names that signed the letter included directors Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, Alfonso Cuaron and Christopher Nolan; cinematographers Roger Deakins, Emmanuel 'Chivo' Lubeski and Robert Richardson; editors Tom Cross, William Goldenberg and Mary Jo Markey.

Some of the actors who added their names included George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Elizabeth Banks, Peter Dinklage and Kerry Washington.

Wasting little time, the Academy responded with a letter to members defending the decision and blamed 'a chain of misinformation' on the backlash.

The Academy also tried to assure members that 'no award category at the 91st Oscars ceremony will be presented in a manner that depicts the achievements of its nominees and winners as less than any others.

The 91st Academy Awards ceremony will take place at the Dolby Theatre in the heart of Hollywood on Sunday, February 24 on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
She's the former Home and Away star who went on to make a name for herself in Hollywood films Mulholland Drive and Down With Love.

And now, after a tumultuous few years battling a high-profile custody case with her French ex Jean David Blanc, actress Melissa George is back on the small screen.

On Saturday, the actress spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald about her new all-female driven series, Bad Mothers.

'Women are completely feared by men': Actress Melissa George, 42, talked 'good women' and 'bad women' ahead of her return to Channel Nine female-driven series Bad Mothers

Discussing women in the #MeToo era, Melissa was candid in her remarks about how strong women are often feared by men.

'I think women are feared because we're so layered and mysterious and could be good or bad,' the Perth-born actress said.

'When we're bad we should be good, and when we're good it's like, why isn't she bad?', she added.

Mysterious: 'When you're a woman, and you're walking through life as a female, you know we just can't win': Melissa spoke about the double standard often faced by women

Melissa went on to say it often meant women can't win, with it being a confusing standard when compared to men.

'When you're a woman, and you're walking through life as a female, you know we just can't win,' she added.

Melissa explained her comments by saying women are able to be 'polite, rude, bit**y and can wear a dress or can wear pants, which men find fearful'.

Women are multi-layered: Explaining her comments, Melissa said women can be 'polite, rude, bitchy and can wear a dress or can wear pants' which makes men scared of them

The actress will play strong-willed Charlotte Evans in the new series, with the actress going on to say she portrays a woman who has it all but remains unhappy.

The series follows five women dealing with the pressures of love, their careers, infidelity and- most intriguingly- murder.

Melissa spent ten days in Melbourne filming the series last year, away from her home in the French capital Paris.

In early 2017, Melissa and French entrepreneur Jean David Blanc were convicted of assaulting each other following an alleged domestic dispute in 2016.

Chic: Melissa spent ten days in Melbourne filming the series last year, away from her home in the French capital Paris. Pictured here at the Schiaparelli show last month in Paris

The break-up then turned particularly bitter with a protracted custody dispute over the couple's two sons Raphael and Solal, which saw her stay in Paris.

Addressing her highly-publicised custody dispute, she told Whimn in 2017: 'My heart is with my children and that's where I have to be right now.

'I have the personality where I make the most of everywhere I am. I don't want to live being forced to stay somewhere and not really maximising any element of joy in that place.'

Custody battle: 'My heart is with my children and that's where I have to be right now': Melissa was in a high profile custody battle with ex Jean David Blanc (pictured). Here in May, 2016

Back in 2012, Melissa famously told The Sydney Morning Herald that she wouldn't return to Australia because she was sick of local media being 'disrespectful' by mentioning her role on Home And Away.

'I don't need credibility from my country any more, I just need them all to be quiet. If they have nothing intelligent to say, please don't speak to me any more,' she said.

'I'd rather be having a croissant and a little espresso in Paris or walking my French bulldog in New York City.'

Melissa was previously married to Chilean film director Claudio Dabed.
The Real Housewives of Sydney star announced her 17-year marriage to former politician David Oldfield was officially over earlier this month.

And Lisa Oldfield, who has been threatening her estranged husband with a divorce for years, appears to be moving on.

A close friend of Lisa has claimed to The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday: 'She's lost 15kgs and is dating a nice man who is extremely kind, gentle and fun.'

She's moving on! Real Housewife of Sydney Lisa Oldfield is 'dating' and 'never been happier'... after her bitter split with estranged husband David

'I've never seen her looking so good or sounding so good  she laughs now when she calls me,' friend Bryan Wiseman added, noting she's 'never been happier'.

Bryan, who has been life-long friends with Lisa, is an Australian actor who played Dr John Wilson on Australian drama Home and Away, between 1998 and 2003.

He explained that he believes this time the split between the controversial pair is final, and that she's back to the old Lisa he used to know.

It's over: It seems life couldn't be better for Lisa Oldfield, following her a split with former politician David, after a friend admitted she's 'dating' and 'never been happier' (Pictured: David and Lisa Oldfield)

'She's outgoing, she's not the depressed Lisa I have known her to be,' he said.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Lisa Oldfield for comment.

Earlier this month, Lisa announced that her marriage to David was officially over in a Facebook post to friends and family.

'She's lost 15kgs and is dating a nice man who is extremely kind, gentle and fun,' a friend Bryan Wiseman told The Sydney Morning Herald on Saturday (Pictured with six-year-old Bert, eight-year-old Harry and estranged husband David)

'Dear friends and family, it's with a very heavy heart that I am announcing this. David and I will be getting a divorce,' she said.

'We aren't sure what that looks like right now, but we do know that we are going to be the most epic divorced parents ever. Henry and Albert will remain our top priority.

'We aren't interested in being ugly about any of the details that go along with this kind of thing. Please: We ask for your kindness, prayers, and love as we work this out together.'

'I've never seen her looking so good or sounding so good  she laughs now when she calls me,' he added

She added: 'If you have something to say, please let it be out of love and words of encouragement. This is a very tough time. We aren't interested in trying to bash each other and we ask the same from you. You don't have to pick sides. Thank you.'

The Oldfields have made no secret of the fact their 17-year marriage has faced significant troubles in the past.

Last year, Lisa confessed to self-medicating with alcohol to deal with anxiety and checked herself into rehab to address the problem.

'She's outgoing, she's not the depressed Lisa I have known her to be,' he said. (Pictured: Lisa with fellow Real Housewife cast member Matty Samaei)

Lisa and David - who share two sons, six-year-old Bert and eight-year-old Harry - have often complained about each other publicly.

They had bitter arguments while on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2018, leaving the other contestants visibly uncomfortable.

After being evicted from the jungle, Lisa actually vowed to divorce the former One Nation politician - but later backpedalled on her remarks.

Earlier this month, Lisa announced that her marriage to David was officially over in a Facebook post to friends and family

'He's a t**t,' she told I'm A Celebrity hosts Dr Chris Brown and Julia Morris at the time.

'I will be speaking to a divorce lawyer. I feel like David is a boat anchor around my neck and after 17 years I've had a revelation.'

News of the split comes after it was confirmed Lisa's Foxtel show Real Housewives of Sydney would not be returning for a second season.

Foxtel's executive director of television Brian Walsh told TV Tonight last week: 'Sydney won't happen again. Once bitten twice shy.'
For the most part, soaps never get right the nature of grief and the lifelong effect it has on ones life. There are exceptions.

Coronation Streets David Neilson, as Roy, has been extraordinary in his portrayal of a son experiencing mixed emotions following the death of his vile mother; likewise, grieving widower David, for whom the murder of his wife Kylie continues to impact on a life so complicated, it needs Google Maps to navigate it.

But in most cases, soaplands grieving process is like a Bank Holiday: people dont think about it from one day to the next but are allowed to indulge themselves when it comes around  though only until the pubs close.

How long will EastEnders mourn Dr Legg, I wonder? They barely acknowledged him when he was alive (how many years did he go unseen in his surgery cupboard?), so six feet under he stands no chance.

As for Emmerdale, the corpse roll call is so long, people barely have time to finish the vol au vents at a wake before the next funeral buffet comes along, so grieving would be something of a luxury.

Unlike in life, death in soapland wipes the memory clean.

Tyrone discovers his Valentine's card was from Ruby, the pair invite Mary (pictured left) over for tea in this week's Coronation Street

CORONATION STREET: MASSAGING THE FACTS

Mary is never better than when she is thwarted in love (which is often), and it was amusing to think she had a crush on Tyrone (in your dreams, mate).

All is clear when Mary offers him a massage (waaay too much information) and he broaches the subject of the Valentines card, which it transpires was from Ruby.

They put the awkward situation behind them when Tyrone and Ruby invite Mary over for tea  presumably a euphemism for We cant cope and need a slave.

Whats the news on Hope(less) and her stint at the school for behavioural problems, by the way? It seems to be out of sight, out of mind.

Expect to hear that the school has burnt down very shortly.

Tracy is in feisty mode when she offers Tyler 5,000 to leave Amy and the baby alone.

Done deal, I imagine, though it should be him handing over cash, begging to be left out of it.

When Amy goes in search of Bethany during a family row, will the pregnant teenager take matters into her own hands?

Peter still suspects Carla of having set fire to the boat, which she denies.

Lets just be grateful its gone  not since Noah has anyone banged on so tediously about a boat.

EASTENDERS: FALLOUT FROM TIFF

People turn to the most unlikely sources for advice, and when Tiffany learns that Bernadette has been exploring online dating, she chooses to hang out with her rather than Evie.

Troublemaker Evie isnt happy, but Tiffany is determined to help her friend with a date.

Evie (pictured left) is unhappy when Tiffany chooses to spend time with Bernadette who has begun exploring online dating in EastEnders

Anything that keeps Bernadette away from that wretched chessboard is OK by me, but Im not sure Tiffany is the best person to bolster ones confidence.

Just a glance at her wardrobe is a lesson in What Not To Wear.

Her chequered romantic history isnt inspiring, either.

Remember her kiss with Evie in the Vics toilets? No, I cant un-see it either.

As expected, the dating experience does not get off to a flying start, when Bernadette mistakenly thinks newcomer Habiba is her date.

Mortified, will she again retreat to the safety of the chessboard (please, no), or will guardian angel Tiffany come to the rescue again?

Habiba and sister Iqra are Masoods nieces, who claim to have come to look after the restaurant while hes away.

Masood is suspicious  will he still leave for Australia? How do people in soapland up sticks and emigrate with such ease?

Is Masood planning to go down under on a skilled migrant visa (good luck proving any skill other than cooking a mean masala)?

How many failed businesses has he clocked up?

Does he have the necessary funds in his bank account? The mans never earned more than 3.50 in a week.

Rhona's life is put in danger when Pete's tractor swerves into the barn as the brakes fail in Emmerdale

EMMERDALE: JUST AN UDDER DAY

Everything happens at the barn. Kidnappings, illicit liaisons, even a wedding.

Now its potentially the last known resting place for Rhona, whose life is in danger when Petes tractor swerves into the barn as the brakes fail.

Poor Rhona.

All she was there for was to check the cows, and was struggling to find them.

How hard can it be to lose a herd of cattle? Expect to see a beef special all week on the Woolpack menu.

Its not a good time for Dawn who, on a date with Ryan, is harassed by ex-punter Leon.

Later she catches Ryans old friend Gail trying to kiss him. Thats just greedy.
Advertisement

They are fascinating, shocking  and heart-breaking.

These images show Edinburgh and Glasgow in the late 1950s and early 1960s at a time when the nation was on the cusp of change, when traditional industries were struggling to survive and historic buildings were making way for modern designs.

Some capture Glasgow's poverty-stricken Gorbals slums, where despite the grim surroundings, children play gleefully in the street. Others show the cheery bustle of the city's shopping streets - and its last remaining trams. There are also shots of people travelling across the Firth of Forth in a ferry - one of the few ways to cross the river back then. And the Forth Road Bridge being built in 1964.

The incredible pictures were snapped by photographer Allan Hailstone, from Coventry, during several trips to Scotland. He told MailOnline Travel: Edinburgh was not the tourist destination it has since become, and its blackened buildings held a great atmosphere. And I do not think that many people considered Glasgow in those days to be a tourist destination, but the city had hidden depths. Glasgow and Edinburgh are chalk and cheese.

The slum Gorbals area, which I photographed, was extraordinary and has passed into legend. Hundreds of children, playing and sitting around in the street, characterised its unique ambience. Glasgow was, and is, a tough city without pretensions and a terrific place.

Scroll down  and step back in time

Glasgow

The former St Enoch Underground Station in Glasgow, which photographer Allan Hailstone snapped on a visit to the Scottish city in April 1960. The building is no longer a station - it's now a branch of Caffe Nero

 Slide me  Shoppers wander along Argyle Street in the centre of Glasgow on April 19, 1960. Glasgow Central Station can be seen below the Schweppes sign. Today, the buildings on both sides of the street no longer exist. Today you'll find a Wetherspoons pub on the left and a Radisson hotel on the right

A snap taken in April 1960 showing Glasgow's busy Sauchiehall Street before it was pedestrianised in 1972. A bus and a tram can be seen travelling up the road and on the left is a branch of high street chain Boots

The late 1950s and 60s proved to be a time of huge change in Glasgow as its traditional shipbuilding industry on the River Clyde began to decline.

This was due to cheap labour becoming more readily available abroad, meaning companies could save money by having vessels built elsewhere.

At the same time, a new generation of high rise tower blocks and large housing estates - known as schemes - started springing up in a bid to replace the tenement slums.

Many were built outside of Glasgow in new towns such as Cumbernauld and East Kilbride - meaning many people moved away from the city.

Others, meanwhile, saw their houses demolished to make way for the brand new M8 motorway.

A Mark One Coronation class tram makes its way along Argyle Street in Glasgow city centre in April 1960. Glasgow had one of the largest urban tramway systems in Europe, with over 1,000 municipally owned trams serving the city. The system closed in 1962 and was one of the last to be operated in the UK

A tram packed full of passengers makes its way up Arygle Street in central Glasgow in April 1960. It is a number 26 service heading towards Farme Cross in the Rutherglen area of the city as well as Partick on the north bank of the River Clyde

 Slide me  Workers make their way home along Buchanan Street in Glasgow city centre in April 1960. To the left is a peculiar looking taxi, which appears to have no front door

Two boats bob up and down on the River Clyde close to Clyde Street in Glasgow. The river was important for Glasgow's ship building industry, which by 1960 was starting to decline

During his visit to Glasgow, Mr Hailstone visited the Gorbals, pictured. In the 1960s, the Gorbals was one of the most densely populated areas of the city with many people living in tenement buildings. Pictured are some boys climbing up a lampost on to a truck carrying barrels

Children play in one of the streets on a sunny day in the Gorbals area of Glasgow in April 1960. At the time, many families were attracted to the city due to the employment opportunities in the shipyards on the Clyde

Two young boys wander around the streets of the Gorbals, playing with their bow and arrows, in April 1960. The Gorbals is located on the south side of the River Clyde

Children play among the rubbish in the streets in the Gorbals in April 1960. Overcrowding in the area was standard and sewage and water facilities were inadequate. Residents would often live four, six or even eight to a room, 30 to a toilet or 40 to a tap. Mr Hailstone said: 'The Gorbals area was extraordinary and has passed into legend. Hundreds of children, playing and sitting around in the street, characterised its unique ambience. Glasgow was, and is, a tough city without pretensions and a terrific place'

A little girl uses a broom to sweep up outside while other children look on in the Gorbals in April 1960. In the 60s many of the tenement buildings in the area were pulled down and replaced with modern tower blocks

A group of four children gather around a pram with a doll inside in an image captured by Mr Hailstone in the Gorbals in April 1960. It has so far had 6,500 views on Mr Hailstone's Flickr account

In a dangerous shot to capture, Mr Hailstone snapped punters inside an illegal betting shop in Glasgow in April 1960. He said: 'I obtained this photo by looking behind a door where I saw suspicious characters entering and leaving. If I had been noticed, no doubt my camera would have been taken from me'

The clean-up operation after the Cheapside fire in Glasgow, which broke out on March 28, 1960. Mr Hailstone snapped this picture almost three weeks later on April 19. The fire broke out at a whisky warehouse and the temperatures caused the alcohol to explode. A total of 19 firefighters were killed in the blast

Passengers wait for their flights at Renfrew Airport in Glasgow in April 1960 next to an Aer Lingus sign. Other airlines serving the airport included Scottish Airways and British European Airways. It was a domestic airport serving the city of Glasgow until it was decommissioned in 1966

Passengers disembark a British European Airways flight at Renfrew Airport in April 1960. Mr Hailstone later boarded this aircraft on an evening flight back to Birmingham Airport

A sign urging residents in Paisley to contribute to World Refugee Year, pictured left. Pictured right is the distinctive Canongate Tolbooth building in Edinburgh's Old Town on the Royal Mile snapped in April 1960. Today the building is 'The People's Story' museum detailing the history of Edinburgh

A shot over the rooftops of Glasgow's modern day city centre, almost 60 years on from when Mr Hailstone first visited

Buchanan Street in the middle of Glasgow city centre has been pedestrianised since 1978

Many of the shipyards that were once located on the River Clyde have now closed. This part of the river is now home to Glasgow's finance district

Edinburgh

Like Glasgow, the late 50s and early 60s saw a huge slum clearance programme in Edinburgh, causing the Old Town's population to plummet.

However, traditional industries such as insurance, banking, printing and brewing, continued to prosper.

And it was also around this time that the city began to capitalise on its history - with tourists beginning to visit in huge numbers to admire Edinburgh's grand buildings.

Meanwhile, just outside the city on the banks of the Firth of Forth, the Forth Road Bridge, a massive project to link North and South Queensferry, neared completion.

The need for a new bridge, which would provide a crossing between Edinburgh and Fife, was needed due to a massive spike in private car ownership.

 Slide me  A colour picture showing Princes Street in Edinburgh looking east. Included in the snap is the Scott Monument and what was the North British Hotel. In the distance is Calton Hill. The picture on the right shows a modern-day Princes Street

An overview of the city of Edinburgh taken by Mr Hailstone in April 1960. The Calton Hill Observatory can be seen on top of the hill in the background of this image

A couple walk down Princes Street in the Scottish capital in April 1960. In the background is the Scott Memorial, while the statue the couple are walking past is of the Duke of Wellington outside Register House, which houses the national records of Scotland

Passengers walk down to catch the ferry across the Firth of Forth at South Queensferry in April 1960. In 1960 in this area the only other way of crossing the river was by train, along the Forth Bridge

Passengers stand on the deck of a ferry alongside their cars as they travel from South to North Queensferry in April 1960. The city of Edinburgh is on the south side of the river while the historic county of Fife is on the north side

A shot showing the huge scale of the Forth Bridge rising up above the houses on the North Queensferry side. Mr Hailstone noted that nobody can understand why there is a pram left in the middle of the road

 Slide me  While on a trip on the ferry in March 1964, Mr Hailstone was able to capture this incredible image of the Forth Road Bridge under construction. It opened in September 1964. With the opening of a new Queensferry crossing in 2017, the Forth Road Bridge now only carries pedestrians, cyclists and public transport (right)

Cars drop off passengers inside Waverley Station in Edinburgh in April 1960. Pictured on the left is a porter, who would help passengers with any luggage they had

A lone car on a cobbled street by The Mound in Edinburgh in November 1958. During the 1950s, the city underwent huge regeneration

The streets are virtually empty in this snap by Mr Hailstone of the Grassmarket area of Edinburgh in November 1958. Now it is home to many of the Scottish capital's bars and restaurants

The view over the current day Princes Street in Edinburgh, taken from Calton Hill - a popular climb for tourists

Present day: The cobbled Royal Mile that leads to and from Edinburgh Castle through the city's Old Town
A Canadian theme park has revealed it will unveil the world's tallest, fastest and longest dive roller coaster that will reach a top speed of 80mph.

Canada's Wonderland in Ontario announced that the white-knuckle ride named Yukon Striker, will open next year.

The designers say that the roller coaster will take riders on an exhilarating journey along its 3,625 feet of mountainous track where they will get a spectacular view of the Toronto skyline.

Scroll down for video

An artist's impression of the new Yukon Striker roller coaster that is to be unveiled at Canada's Wonderland theme park

The attraction will be the world's tallest, fastest and longest roller coaster that will reach a top speed of 80mph

The coaster features a hold and dive element where riders will feel as though they are hanging on the edge of their seats, on one of three wide, floorless trains, awaiting the 90-degree, 245-foot drop.

Once released, the coaster dives from zero to 130 kilometres per hour straight down into an underwater tunnel.

It will then soar up over steel track, propelling riders through four dynamic inversions and gravity-defying weightlessness.

The roller coaster has been designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, who say the Yukon Striker will claim several world records.

It will be located in the theme park's new Frontier Canada area and will be the country's first dive rollercoaster.

The coaster features a hold and dive element where riders will feel as though they are hanging on the edge of their seats, awaiting a 90 degree drop

The roller coaster will also soar up over steel track, propelling riders through four dynamic inversions and gravity-defying weightlessness

The ride is believed to have a late 1800s gold rush theme.

This is because travellers poured into the Yukon territory at this time in search of fast wealth.

Canada's Wonderland covers 330 acres of land in Vaughan, a suburb about 25miles of Toronto and opened in the early 1980s.

It has been the most visited seasonal theme park in North America for several consecutive years and last year,more than 3.5million visitors passed thought the gates.
Police in Spain have revealed how vendors who sell cocktails to holidaymakers on the beach are storing their ingredients down filthy drains.

The sellers tout for business on beaches in resorts such as Barcelona and Benidorm selling drinks for around 5.

But shocking footage has showed how bottles, straws, ice and glasses are being stored underneath manhole covers in disgusting conditions.

Scroll down for video

A policeman opens up a man hole cover to reveal cocktail ingredients stored under a drain

A bag full of ingredients is pulled out of a drain. It is believed to have been put there by a street vendor

And now holidaymakers are being urged to only buy drinks from nearby bars so they don't run the risk of becoming ill.

It is thought that the vendors sell the drinks such as Pina Coladas and Mojitos by telling beach-goers they are from nearby bars.

But a video report posted on Facebook showed police officers lifting the covers of drains to show where the vendors are keeping their equipment.

The officers also alleged that some of the drinks are then mixed on dirty surfaces and even in bathrooms, while the fruit that goes in the cocktails is washed under beach showers.

A bottle of a pre-mixed drink is pulled out from the drain. Officers also alleged that some of the drinks are then mixed on dirty surfaces and even in bathrooms

Dirty glasses, straws and ice are also stored down the drains in resorts such as Benidorm and Barcelona

Meanwhile travel blogger Lauren Bate, a Brit who lives on the Costa Blanca, has also warned holidaymakers about the drinks.

Writing on her blog the Diary of a Spanglish Girl, she said: 'Nothing says summer like sipping a cocktail in the sun, kicking back. Relaxation mode on.

'Do it wrong, you could end up spending the rest of your holiday with your head down the toilet, or hospitalised. Not quite summer goals or summer vibes.

'Dont put your life at risk for an Instagrammable beach photo this year. Its not worth it.'

Holidaymakers are being urged to only buy drinks from nearby bars so they don't run the risk of becoming ill

Last week it was also reported that a group of 20-year olds from the West Midlands had been hospitalised after drinking alcohol thought to be mixed with methanol on a Greek party island.

The seven friends from Coventry - and two other tourists also visiting the island - were hit by the dangerous concoction that made them violently ill.

One of the sick party-goers said that he'd been warned by reps about a few of the bars in Laganas - Zante's busiest and most notorious resort.
Advertisement

Lonely Planet has a lot of travel writers - and around 200 of them contributed to the guide's new Epic Hikes of the World book.

They were asked to describe their favourite hikes and the answers were distilled into a wonderful tome brimming with mesmerising pictures that will have travellers everywhere reaching for their compasses, walking boots and Thermos flasks.

The book includes the thrilling 14 peaks of Snowdonia (33 miles) hike, the Ring of Steall in Scotland (10 miles), Angels Landing in Utah (five miles) and the John Muir trail in California (215 miles), as well as walks in Iceland, Morocco and Australia. Lonely Planet has kindly allowed MailOnline Travel to reveal a sneak peek of the book's jaw-dropping contents, so scroll down and allow wanderlust to envelope you.

The Laugavegur trail, Iceland

The Laugavegur trek in Iceland is tipped as one of the best ways to see the otherworldly landscape with it covering a distance of 48 miles and ending in the village of Skogar. Pictured are a group of hikers going up the path at Landmannalaugar

Lonely Planet's Epic Hikes of the World book notes that Iceland's back country 'feels like an elemental place ruled by elves and Arctic energy, and a walk between its volcanoes and glaciers is a symphony of wind, stone, fire and ice'.

The Laugavegur trek is tipped as one of the best ways to see the otherworldly landscape with it covering a distance of 48 miles and ending in the village of Skogar.

There are 'no-frills huts' and camping sites to stay at along the way and July to mid-September are recommended as the best months to go.

Mount Toubkal, Morocco

Mt Toubkal is the highest peak in North Africa, standing at 13,671ft high. The Lonely Planet book notes that trekkers can get up and down the mountain in just two days, if summiting is the only aim. Pictured is Mount Toubkal National Park

Mt Toubkal is the highest peak in North Africa, standing at 13,671ft high.

The Lonely Planet book notes that trekkers can get up and down the mountain in just two days, if summiting is the only aim.

But those who want to spend a little longer acclimatising and getting a 'greater insight into local Berber culture' should opt to take a longer circuit. The trek, which covers 45 miles, traditionally starts and ends from the small village of Imlil in the high Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

The Great South West Walk, Australia

A multi-day hike through southwest Victoria in Australia promises to offer 'lush landscapes of forest, river, beach and bush'. Above, the Petrified Forest at Discovery Bay

This multi-day hike through southwest Victoria in Australia promises to offer 'lush landscapes of forest, river, beach and bush'.

The Great South West Walk is a looped trail that starts and ends in the city of Portland and covers 155 miles. The trek usually takes around 11 to 14 days at a gentle pace.

Points of interest include the colossal sand dunes near Swan Lake on Discovery Bay and the Petrified Forest, which features a bizarre mix of stump-like rock formations that are the result of weather erosion, not fossilised trees as originally thought.

The Choquequirao trail, Peru

Choquequirao in Peru (pictured) is described as a 'citadel so far up in the Andes of Peru that archaeologists have only freed about 30 per cent of it from the jungle'

The Lonely Travel experts note that some 500 people hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu daily, yet a smaller path nearby leads to an even larger 'lost city' of Peru that 'remains remarkably untouched'.

Choquequirao is described as a 'citadel so far up in the Andes of Peru that archaeologists have only freed about 30 per cent of it from the jungle'.

A trek to the ancient site, which starts and ends in Cachora, covers 28 miles and visitors are advised to hike from May to October during the dry season.

A trek up to Angels Landing, Utah

Angels Landing in southwestern Utah's Zion National Park takes hikers up an exposed rocky ridge with the round-trip hike taking around five hours to complete

The Lonely Planet book notes that the arduous trek is well-worth it, as the 'views are spectacular, with rust-red mesas and buttes towering above a stippling of cottonwood trees, junipers and pinyon pines below that seem almost thirst quenchingly green in the arid surroundings'

Angels Landing in southwestern Utah's Zion National Park takes hikers up an exposed rocky ridge with the five-mile round-trip hike taking around five hours to complete.

The Lonely Planet book notes that the arduous trek is well-worth it, as the 'views are spectacular, with rust-red mesas and buttes towering above a stippling of cottonwood trees, junipers and pinyon pines below that seem almost thirst quenchingly green in the arid surroundings'.

Hiking through the rocky valley during the summer is said to be a 'sweaty affair', so it's best to visit during the spring and autumn months. The nearest major airport is Las Vegas.

Hiking to the Kalinga villages, Philippines

To experience remote living, the Lonely Planet book recommends trekking to the Kalinga villages in the Philippines, where headhunting was practiced until the 1960s

To experience remote living, the Lonely Planet book recommends trekking to the Kalinga villages in the Philippines, where headhunting was practiced until the 1960s.

Accommodation is available in local homes, with sweet coffee on offer and traditional rice and bean dishes cooked over a wood fire.

A two-day round trek, which starts and ends in the area of Tinglayan, will take you through 'terraced rice fields' and 'villages of rickety wooden homes, wandering pot-bellied pigs, chickens and laughing children'.

Mt Kinabalu, Borneo

Legs of steel? This one's for you.

The Lonely Planet book says of scaling 13,435ft Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia: 'Incorporating tangled jungle, granite ridges and barren plateaux, traversing Borneo's highest and holiest mountain is a task that requires nerves - and legs - of steel.'

Although it's a short climb - just over five miles from the national park gates to the summit - it is an extremely steep ascent, with a 7,874 elevation gain. Travellers are recommended to hit the slopes from February through to April and to pack thermal base-layers as it can get cold on the peak at night.

Zambian walking safari

The Lonely Planet book says that one of the best ways to experience the raw African bush is to go on a walking safari and Zambia is highlighted as an ideal spot.

It notes that a stroll through the savannah with an experienced guide promises 'electrifying encounters with elephants, lions and buffalo - and facetime with countless smaller species'.

Most treks cover around 7.5miles a day and June to October are the recommended months, during the cooler dry season when animals emerge to seek out water.

The Gold Coast Hinterland Great Walk, Australia

For a fill of fascinating wildlife, waterfalls and ancient rainforest, head on a three-day walk through two national parks in southern Queensland

For a fill of fascinating wildlife, waterfalls and ancient rainforest, head on a three-day, 34-mile walk through two national parks in southern Queensland.

The Lonely Planet book notes that Lamington National Park is home to more than 900 plant species, 200 bird species and 60 mammal species, alongside 100 species of reptiles and amphibians.

Using it as a starting point, trek through 'dense rainforest, airy eucalyptus and even grasslands' until you eventually reach Springbrook National Park, which is said to be equally as beautiful. There is accommodation along the way, with lodges and campsites available to book. June, July and August are highlighted as the best months to visit.

Mt Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

For 'the greatest high without crampons', the Lonely Planet book advises trekkers to head to Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

For 'the greatest high without crampons', the Lonely Planet book advises trekkers to head to Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

At 19,341ft, the snow-capped beauty is the highest peak in Africa and the world's biggest free-standing summit, 'rising isolated and enormous from the Tanzanian plains'.

The 37-mile trek traditionally starts at the Machame Gate and ends at the Mweka Gate, with it usually taking people six to seven days to complete. January to March and June to October are highlighted as ideal times to go, with drier weather making it a more pleasant experience.

The 14 peaks of Snowdonia, Wales

Climbing all of Wales's 3,000ft peaks in a day is described as 'an unforgettable challenge', but spreading them over a long weekend is better advised if you're looking to experience the real beauty of Snowdonia

Climbing all of Wales's 3,000ft peaks in a day is described as 'an unforgettable challenge', but spreading them over a long weekend is better advised if you're looking to experience the real beauty of Snowdonia.

The area was used as a training ground for Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay before their 1953 summit of Mt Everest and it remains popular with trekkers today.

Hikers are advised to start at the youth hostel in the village of Rowen before starting out on a 33-mile journey to Pen-y-Pass. Weather in the area is known to change quickly, and the summer months are best with longer days providing better visibility.
Horse riding is a great way to explore scenic vistas.

Whether you are a keen novice or a seasoned eventer, there is an equestrian adventure to suit all levels and experience.

Scroll down for our guide to the best horse-riding holidays...

A VERY STATELY RIDE

Grandeur: Pictured above is Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire

Dont miss the new and unique chance to spend two days and nights in the private apartments of the magnificent Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, as guests of the Marlborough family.

Enjoy a three-course candlelit dinner and a tour of the state rooms (including the bedroom where Winston Churchill was born) before mounting up on to safe, smart horses for escorted rides over the 2,000 acres of historic park. Ride among ancient oak woods, lakes and bridges  all landscaped by Capability Brown  with a picturesque lunch break and, of course, arrive back in time for afternoon tea.

WHEN: April to October, 2019.

DETAILS: Prices on application, depending on numbers, statelyrides.co.uk, 07590 456714.

TASTE FOR ADVENTURE

Starting and ending in the historic mountain town of Kolasin, this is eight days riding Montenegros spectacular national parks, canyons and mountain passes on sure-footed and fit horses, led by former champion jockey and Grand National winner Richard Dunwoody. There will even be a chance to raft the Montenegrin Colorado river.

Lodging with farmers on remote homesteads and in eco-cabins, as well as camping, youll be in the saddle for four or five hours a day and should be canter-confident, in groups no bigger than 12.

WHEN: June 8 to 15, 2019.

DETAILS: 1,895 per person (with every booking, a donation is made to The Injured Jockeys Fund), wildfrontierstravel.com, 020 8741 7390.

THERAPEUTIC ESCAPE

Pinetrees Riding is a prestigious equestrian centre, open year-round, thanks to being bang in the middle of the Algarve. Disabled and able-bodied riders of all levels and ages are well catered for, with riding kit, mounting ramps and a Riding for the Disabled Association qualified instructor with decades of experience in the therapeutic value of riding.

The horses, from Welsh ponies to Lusitanos, are all chosen for their temperament. Theres direct access into the forest of the Ria Formosa nature reserve, too.

WHEN: All year, any start date.

DETAILS: Three nights full-board including five hours riding, from 514, farandride.com, 01462 701110.

HELP INJURED ANIMALS

Saddle up: Horse riding is a great way to explore scenic vistas

The 40 horses  mainly Percherons and Boerperds  kept on the South African family-run Newhampshire Farm, in the Eastern Cape, were all rescued from neglect, injury or abuse and are in serious need of TLC.

Theres so much satisfaction in helping with daily feeding, grooming and assessing each horses condition that it wont feel like work.

Theres plenty of time to ride and assist on the bush and beach trails, too (the magnificent Indian Ocean coastline is a few miles away), and all levels of experience are welcome.

WHEN: All year round.

DETAILS: 895 per person, excluding flights, responsibletravel.com, 01273 823700.

EXPLORE DARTMOOR

Inspired by Genghis Khans 1224 Mongolian postal route and African safaris, this is just 50 miles, exploring beautiful Dartmoor with long canters and river crossings.

Riding in small groups, you will be guided by experienced locals and glamping in luxurious yurts.

Founder Elaine says its ideal for those who hate trotting in circles and for cramming six months of once-a-week riding into one action-packed long weekend. Plus, you can bring your own horse if you prefer.

WHEN: September 20 to 23, 2019.

DETAILS: 1,995 per person sharing a three-person yurt, or 1,695 with your own horse, liberty-trails.com, 01822 851 463.

TAKE THE REINS

Youll need to be competent (with both a horse and a map) and up for six or seven hours in the saddle every day to make the most of the only self-guided ride in the UK.

Your reward is covering 100 of the thousands of glorious miles of detailed mapped and described trail networks in remote Welsh hills.

The horses are fit and friendly and youll tether them outside the pub for lunch, moving on from one B&B to another through the week.

WHEN: Flexible, from April 18 to October 20, 2019.

DETAILS: 1,460 per person, excluding lunches and evening meals, free-rein.co.uk, 01497 821 356.

STEP INTO DRESSAGE

Bring out your inner Charlotte Dujardin CBE at this rural Cheshire riding centre. With indoor and outdoor schools, youll be taught by BHA-approved instructors on the owners beautifully trained dressage horses currently in competition of up to Grand Prix level.

All levels of riders are welcome for a tailor-made holiday. Accommodation in local B&Bs or four-star spa hotels. The Tudor streets of Chester are a short drive away, too.

WHEN: All year round.

DETAILS: From 325 per person, 01829 781123, equestrian-escapes.com.

SWIMMING WITH HORSES

Unforgettable: Swimming with horses at Half Moon resort in Jamaica

Many of the horses at the equestrian centre of the luxurious Half Moon resort on Jamaicas Montego Bay are former racehorses.

Used to swimming as part of their former fitness and therapy regimen, all the animals have been trained to enjoy a dip in the sea. So, after an island ride (turf), you can swim with them in the warm seas (surf).

Stable owner Trina says: Learning to trust your horse, seeing how much the horses enjoy the swim and looking back at the shore is an experience that you will never forget.

WHEN: All year round.

DETAILS: Rooms from 351 per night B&B (excluding tax), Turf and Surf 109, halfmoon.com, +1 876-953-2211.

NEW ROUTES AT THE RANCH

The Fox family has run Bitterroot, a largely self-sufficient working cattle ranch in Wyoming, in the U.S., for more than 40 years. Plenty of the horses are homebred and youll ride in small groups of matched ability across peaceful country so vast, youll never ride the same route twice.

Sleeping in cosy log cabins, youll have the chance to go full cowboy with an end-of-week team competition sorting yearlings. Its so authentic, youll even see Butch Cassidys canyon hideout.

WHEN: May 26 to October 1, 2019.

DETAILS: From 1,650 for four nights, bitterrootranch.com, +1 800-545-0019.

FAMILY FAVOURITE

In the foothills of the Cretan Dikti mountains, the family-run Country Hotel Velani has its own stables, with sure-footed Arab, Andalusian and warmblood horses, all chosen for their temperament and stamina.

Children as young as four can try their hand with ten-minute lessons and there is a programme for eight to 12-year-olds. Older kids can join the adults for up to five-hour trail rides though the Langada valley. And everyone can still be back in time to reconvene with non-riding family members by the pool.

WHEN: All year round.

DETAILS: Childrens Programme with six hours riding and full-board, 364 for seven nights. Adults Programme with 22 hours riding and full-board, 848 for seven nights, inthesaddle.com, 01299 272997.
It is nigh on impossible to watch the summer blockbuster Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again without wishing you, too, were jetting off to enjoy the crystal-clear seas and azure skies of the Greek islands.

So for anyone inspired by the hit movie, this exclusive new ten-night holiday is the ultimate way to discover the wonders of Greece while also enjoying the relaxing delights of a cruise around the Aegean Sea.

After a night in Athens, your very own Greek odyssey will begin with a seven-night, full-board cruise on the Star Flyer, a magnificent four-mast, full-rigged ship which is as spacious and elegant as it is luxurious.

Sailing in style: The Star Flyer (above) is a magnificent four-mast, full-rigged ship

Ancient wonders: The Acropolis (above) in Athens is one of the highlights of the trip

Your island-hopping cruise includes stops at Skiathos and Skopelos, two of the irresistible places where the original Mamma Mia! was filmed.

Relaxed and revitalised after your luxury cruise, you will then enjoy a further two-night stay in the extraordinary city of Athens, where you will be joined by our special guest: the popular historian and TV presenter Professor Michael Scott.

Michael, who presents his latest series of Ancient Invisible Cities on the BBC next month, will accompany you to the Acropolis and will also give an exclusive private talk and Q&A.

I cant wait to share with you my love of Athens  both ancient and modern, he says. Join me as we delve into the city where democracy was born, and where artistic and architectural treasures still rank among humanitys greatest creations.

OUR SPECIAL GUEST Join Michael (above) on this exclusive cruise Michael Scott is a professor in Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick and the author of several books on the ancient Mediterranean world, as well as ancient global history. Michael, right, has written and presented a range of popular TV and radio documentaries for the BBC, National Geographic, the History Channel and ITV. His latest series, Ancient Invisible Cities, which explores Cairo, Istanbul and Athens, will be screened next month on BBC2. Advertisement

REASONS TO BOOK

Sail on the Star Flyer

There is no better way to enjoy the Aegean than on Star Flyer, a stunning four-mast, full-rigged ship that combines the luxury and glamour of the golden age of travel with the comfort and first-class facilities of a private yacht.

Relive the magic of Mamma Mia!

During your seven-night cruise around the Aegean, you will enjoy stops at idyllic destinations including Skiathos and Skopelos, the two beautiful Greek islands where the original Mamma Mia! movie was filmed.

Meet Michael Scott

After your wonderful cruise on Star Flyer, you will be able to discover all the delights  ancient and modern  of Athens. During your stay, Prof Scott will give an exclusive private talk that will help unravel the secrets of the ancient Athenians, after which you will also have the opportunity to ask Michael your questions.

Exclusive Acropolis tour

You will also enjoy an expert guided tour of the spectacular Acropolis and the fascinating Acropolis Museum, which will be accompanied by Prof Scott. Who better to give context to the dramatic story of Athens than the presenter of the BBCs Ancient Invisible Cities?
Teddy the barman confides wistfully that he just missed the chance to serve a rum punch to Marilyn Monroe back in 1957.

He joined the staff of Jamaica Inn in Ocho Rios shortly after her visit, but he has shaken a cocktail for supermodel Kate Moss and former Prime Minister Sir John Major.

Teddy is a legend here, having notched up almost 60 years working at one of the most famous hotels in the Caribbean.

Paradise: The view from a Jamaica Inn cottage pictured above

The hotels owner, Peter Morrow, however, can remember watching Marilyn being photographed with her new husband Arthur Miller beside the beach at Jamaica Inn. She posed just here, says Peter, pointing to the spot.

The then most famous couple in the world had spent several days on the island on honeymoon at Moon Point, the luxurious villa of Lady Pamela Bird, an English aristocrat, before returning, via Jamaica Inn, to New York.

Jacket and tie were then obligatory at this last vestige of colonial-style entertaining in the Caribbean. Jamaica Inn is still traditional but with a definite modern twist, as ageing rock stars now slip into view alongside dowagers and American grandes dames, who have been coming back for the past 30 years. Think cucumber sandwiches at tea time, yet also young surfers among the guests.

High spirits: Teddy has been serving cocktails at the popular beach bar for almost 60 years

Jamaica Inn evokes tranquillity and calm with its white-painted cottages, as well as old-school charm (the waiters wear white jackets in the evenings). There are no TVs in the rooms but modern touches include a holistic spa.

Peter sits on the terrace and muses how the island has more churches per square mile than anywhere in the world.

For such a small place, Jamaica has had a massive influence on the world. It celebrated 50 years of independence in 2012, and evokes passion and affection even in those who have never visited, and brings a dreamy nostalgia to those who have.

Our day starts at breakfast with sergeant fish being fed titbits in the turquoise sea just below the terrace. The tables feature pink tablecloths and white napkins  a wonderful contrast to the cobalt-blue sky. The croquet lawn is just yards from the sea, offering the reassuring click of Jaques mallets on ball. Actor Rupert Everett is reputed to beat all-comers.

Sepia photographs in the library feature Sir Winston Churchill and Ian Fleming  further proof of the hotels glamorous past  while backgammon boards still sit on the tables. Jamaica Inn has undergone evolutionary change and reinvented its high standards without trying to become gourmet or seeming stuffy. Guests meander up from their waterside cottages past almond and Ethiopian apple trees to Teddys Bar, where the dirty banana cocktails are truly lethal. Meanwhile, the food here is fresh, simple and truly delicious.

For those who want a wonderful close-up sight of the natural world, visit at the right time of year and youll be able to spot turtles hatching on the beach.

Honeymoon: Marilyn Monroe (above) at Jamaica Inn in January 1957

At the time of our visit, there were reports that Jamaica was unsafe after a burst of gun crime in the capital, Kingston. But the city is far from the north coast, and the only thing remotely dangerous in Ocho Rios was the amount of rum being dispensed by Teddy at his bar.

Leaving the resort one day, we headed to the nearby Dolphin Cove, a place where people can see and swim with dolphins. Our journey took us past banana trees, orange groves, mystic mountains and hawkers in the street selling Jamaican flags and toy guitars made from bamboo.

Entering the water, I quickly discovered that the gun-metal grey nose of a dolphin is hard and smooth, almost synthetic.

These delightful creatures are sleek and engaging, and somehow perfectly behaved. They jumped, barked, glided, and appeared to smile and laugh as they cavorted with us in the water.

We swam with them in a roped-off area and got so close to the dolphins that we were able to shake hands with their flippers. It was a little like touching the rubber casing of a watch.

We have lift-off: A show at Dolphin Cove where people can swim with dolphins

Fifteen minutes from the cove is GoldenEye, which began life as a spartan bungalow on a clifftop, and is where Ian Fleming wrote some of his James Bond books.

A few years ago, GoldenEye was transformed into a luxurious resort with extraordinary lagoon villas  you can even stay in the room where Flemings original writing desk remains.

There is a beachside pool and lively beach bar where songs from the Island Records back catalogue  the famous label was formed on the island  play night and day.

For those who like music at the bar and do not in the least want complete tranquillity, this is the place to be.

After our lively outing, it was good to return to the more stately Jamaica Inn and the comfort of our cottage, with its huge lounge and veranda overlooking the sea.

We also had our own plunge pool, which can be heated. This might seem an unnecessary luxury in the Caribbean, but it is a surprisingly good idea as it means you can swim late at night or early in the morning and never feel the slightest chill.

After a refreshing dip, there was only one thing to do: head back to Teddys for an early evening cocktail and listen to more fascinating stories from his past.
Tuscanys hilltop towns steal the headlines. Its cities are among the finest in Europe.

But stay on the coast  around 155 miles in length  and you can have the best of both worlds, dipping in and out of the sea and in and out of the culture.

Its far easier to get around than the more famous Amalfi Coast, but you can still enjoy those hilltop towns because the dramatic Apuan Alps rear up behind the beaches to the north.

Marble mountains: The Apuan Alps (above) on Tuscanys northern coast are stunning

Were staying in Villa Gilda near Massa, around a 50-minute drive north of Pisa, and ten minutes from Tuscanys northern coast. The hotels owner, Hilda, was born here and, straight away, we feel like family members.

Hildas 84-year-old mother still works in the kitchen and Nonnas (grandmothers) cake is served at breakfast. Their chic (though pricey) beach club could be in Nantucket and, of course, the restaurant serves delicious seafood. Only in Italy does it seem right to eat spaghetti in a swimsuit.

Up the coast, in Liguria, are the famous Cinque Terre villages, now so crowded that you need a pass to hike between them. Instead, we take a hop-on-hop-off speedboat from La Spezia, a 40-or-so-minute drive from Villa Gilda, to Porto Venere (20 per person return).

Its pretty, with tall peach, pale blue and terracotta houses along the harbour.

Above them is St Peters Church, which has a long list of couples hoping to wed with the Ligurian Sea as a backdrop. Higher still is a castle ruin.

The same boat will take you to the opposite island, Palmaria, which is scruffier, with an army base, a derelict feel and parched rocky interior. We like it. But for a few walkers, we have the pebble beach to ourselves. Drop in to the walled town Sarzana on the way back, which has a lovely big square where you can catch the last of the evening light with an aperitivo.

St Peter's Church (above) in Porto Venere has a long list of couples hoping to wed there

The Apuan Alps, which rise up behind the coast, are famous for marble. It is so commonplace, youll see blocks parked by the side of the road. Even the kerbs are crafted from the stone.

From a distance, the mountains look snow-dappled. Closer up, in the village of Colonnata, you can see where the stone has been cut. One old lady tells me this is the most beautiful view in all of Italy. She may be biased, but it is quite something.

Tuscany is jammed full of historic art, but Pietrasanta, a 20-minute drive from Massa, attracts contemporary artists.

LOCAL KNOWLEDGE Michelangelo chose his stones on-site from the marble quarries in Carrara and Pietrasanta and even helped plan the roads that were needed to transport them. Advertisement

Henry Moore worked here and the Colombian artist Botero (he of the bloated figures) has a house on the hill above it. Boteros sculpture The Warrior is right outside our hotel, Palazzo Guiscardo  a good location from which to enjoy the town on their bikes (10 a day). We pedal to Forte dei Marmi, a spot favoured by Russian visitors, which is full of designer shops and has a huge Wednesday market.

Then its on to the only public beach on this stretch, where you have to supply your own shade and resist the hawkers.

Its not smart, but it is still blissful to sit in the evening sun as it turns everything Aperol spritz orange.
Knowing that this was a mega-opening following an 80 million transformation of Cambridges oldest hotel (The University Arms was established in 1834), I booked two months in advance and was told bed-and-continental-breakfast in a classic room would be 359.

It seemed absurd, but the place was the talk of the town. Perhaps I was lucky to secure a berth at all.

A week before our stay, I checked on the website and found the same room for less than 300. Anna in Reservations did her best to explain that rates go up and down while agreeing that it was nonsense. But her computer would not budge  until I got cross. We finally agreed that if I joined the Marriott loyalty scheme, I could stay for 287.

Grand ambition: The Unviersity Arms (above) has undergone an 80 million refurbishment

This was a dampener, but pulling up on Regent Street to be greeted by a man in tweeds and whisked through huge doors into a high-ceilinged reception displaying a wonderful photo of Churchill wearing dungarees was a thrill.

The hotel backs on to Parkers Piece, a 25-acre park. There are 192 rooms, a ballroom, library, restaurant designed by Martin Brudnizki (who has worked on Soho House), sassy bar and a legion of staff.

For the price, our room was small, without an armchair or bath. But there was no faulting the quality, especially the sumptuous pillows and duvet.

Not many hotels offer historic tours of their buildings  but this one does, at 6.30 each evening. Oh, and a visit to the loos is enhanced by Alan Bennett narrating The Wind In The Willows.

Theres a palpable buzz about the place, helped by the hugely talented chef Tristan Welch and the omnipresence of the sharp-suited GM, who roams here and there, puffing up cushions.

The University Arms might not yet be fully in its stride, but Cambridge has a top-notch hotel of which to be proud.

Elegance: Pictured above is one of the Classic Rooms at The University Arms
Samsung is taking on Apple with a brand new tablet.

The Korean tech giant on Friday took the wraps off of the Galaxy Tab S5e, its lightest and thinnest-ever tablet that's also equipped with the Bixby voice assistant for the first time.

The Tab S5e starts at $399 and goes on sale later this year.

Scroll down for video

The Tab S5e is Samsung's lightest and thinnest-ever tablet that's also equipped with the Bixby voice assistant for the first time. It starts at $399 and goes on sale later this year

GALAXY TAB S5E SPECS 10.5-inch screen

2,560 x 1,600 super AMOLED display

Snapdragon 670 processor

4gb of RAM

64gb of storage

Far-field microphones and quad AKG speakers

13-megapixel rear-facing camera

8-megapixel front-facing camera

MicroSD slot

Bixby 2.0 virtual assistant Advertisement

The Tab S5e features a 10.5-inch screen with an ultra-thin, super light metal casing that's 5.5mm thick and weighs just 400g, or less than 1lb.

These specs make the Tab S5e Samsung's lightest and thinnest tablet yet, according to the firm.

By comparison, the Galaxy S9+ is 8.5mm thick, while the latest iPad Pro is 5.9mm thick.

With these specs, Samsung says The Tab S5e creates an 'unprecedented 81.8 percent sreen-to-body ratio...that will bring your content to life.'

Additionally, the Tab S5e can last up to 14.5 hours on a single charge and is equipped with fast charging technology.

The device comes with 4gb of RAM and 64gb of storage.

It also runs the latest version of Android's mobile operating system, Pie.

The Tab S5e features a 10.5-inch screen with an ultra-thin metal casing that's 5.5mm thick and weighs just 400g, or less than 1lb. The firm says it's the thinnest Samsung tablet yet

The Tab S5e can last up to 14.5 hours on a single charge and is equipped with fast charging technology. The device also comes with 4gb of RAM and 64gb of storage

Samsung says the Tab S5e is equipped to handle DeX, which lets users connect a compatible device to their desktop computer.

DeX, first released in 2017, essentially enables users to interact with a tablet or smartphone on a desktop computer.

Aside from its ultra-thin design, the standout feature is the Tab S5e's Bixby integration.

For the first time, Samsung has brought its voice assistant to its Galaxy tablet.

The firm envisions the device as being another way for users to control and interact with their smart home or other smart devices.

'As the first Samsung tablet to feature the new Bixby 2.0, the Tab S5e offers a smarter and more convenient way to interact with your device, and serves as an ideal hub to control your connected home devices,' Samsung said in a statement.

Aside from its ultra-thin design, the standout feature is the Tab S5e's Bixby integration. For the first time, Samsung has brought its voice assistant to its Galaxy tablet

'Switch on your TV and your lights at the same time with Quick Command, which allows you to customize several actions under one commandmaking voice control of your home environment even quicker, simpler and more tailored to you.'

The Tab S5e is also equipped with far-field microphones so that users can even control their smart devices with the tablet from across the room.

For now, it's only available with WiFi connectivity, but a version with cellular connectivity is due to launch later this year.

The Tab S5e comes in three different colorways, including silver, black and gold.

It comes as Samsung is slated to reveal its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S10, possibly alongside its first-ever folding phone, at its Unpacked event in San Francisco next week.

Among the other rumored releases are a Galaxy watch, fitness wearable and wireless earbuds.
Shamima Begum presents this country with a terrible dilemma.

Yes, she is a British citizen who made her decisions at an impressionable age.

But we cannot close our eyes to the evidence that she is unrepentant, or pretend that she, and others like her, do not present a serious threat to Britain.

Begum travelled to a war zone when she was 15, and stayed for four years.

She went in 2015 when the bloody reality of Islamic State (IS) was already well established.

It was after the Yazidi genocide and the enslavement of thousands of women.

Shamima Begum, 19, is pleading with the Government to allow her back into the country to have her baby but admits she'll miss her jihadist husband

She says the sight of decapitated heads didnt shake her belief in the fundamental correctness of the ideal, if not the practice, of a theocratic Islamic state. Her only regret appears to be that her dream became a nightmare. Make no mistake, many women played a full part in the barbarity.

They played a leading role in the mistreatment of Yazidis, for example, convinced that it was religiously proper for their husbands to purchase and rape female captives. Some women were responsible for the violent enforcement of Islamic States vicious legal code on a terrified Syrian population. Others helped in the online recruitment of individuals, or provided support and comfort to fighters.

In the final stages of the war, some women were trained to fight. It would be foolish to close our eyes to the potential dangers that returnees, male or female, pose.

Some will return determined to bring the horror they wrought on the streets of Raqqa to Britain.

Two of the terrorists who perpetrated the Bataclan massacre in 2015 had previously fought in Syria, as had Mehdi Nemmouche, who murdered four at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.

The fall of IS has not resulted in the final collapse of the networks that first induced British citizens to join it. Banned jihadist group Al-Muhajiroun is reportedly once again preaching on our streets. Meanwhile, hate preachers, who spent years proclaiming the virtues of creating a theocratic totalitarian Islamic state, remain in pulpits. It is also certain that organisations such as Cage, who advocate for those convicted of terrorist offences and once called Jihadi John a beautiful man, will use the return of those who joined the Islamic State to peddle unjustified tales of grievance towards our country. Although those who have made it back to Britain are currently silent and are not presently being feted by their supporters, tours of universities and community centres could well take place in future.

She went in 2015 when the bloody reality of Islamic State (IS) was already well established

Worryingly, they will be used to promote the ideology that underpinned the so-called Caliphate. It is vital the intelligence services are alert to this. For all the dangers, I believe it is right that Begum be returned to Britain. Quilliam was founded by former Islamists who now work to fight extremism, so I know that rehabilitation is possible.

The organisations President, Noman Benotman, was once a senior member of the Al Qaeda-aligned Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. He was friendly with Osama Bin Laden, and fought alongside him in Afghanistan. Now, he devotes his life to disrupting terrorist groups. No one is beyond redemption.

Quilliam has found certain individuals are open to being persuaded that they have a personal obligation to repair the damage that they have helped create.

Investigating conduct and prosecuting crimes will require resources and expenditure, of course. I accept we will need to keep returnees under surveillance for many years, and that too will cost money.

Many understandably feel we shouldnt have to foot the bill.

But there is also the question of justice. We must demonstrate, clearly, that Britain does not allow its citizens to commit terrible crimes and get away with it.

So, however unpopular it might be, Begum should be readmitted to Britain if she presents herself at our borders.

Facebook picture of Dutch ISIS fighter Yago Riedijk (now aged 26 and detained in Syria) and husband of Shamima Begum from 2011

WHEN a smirking IS recruit shreds their British passport, it is a declaration that Britain has no authority over them. We must expose that for the lie it is.

I believe we should view Begum and others like her as potential war criminals. Building a case against them will not be easy and some will be assessed as having committed no crime.

However, social and personal media will provide a wealth of evidence against others.

There are many things that Britain should be exporting, but terrorists are not one of them. We cannot treat the rest of the world as a dumping ground for the very worst our country has to offer.

But we are a nation that justly prides itself in respect for the rule of law. That is one of the things that makes Britain a greater, and stronger country than the Islamic State. Let us demonstrate that this is so.
It was past midnight, and even at Chernobyl, the vast nuclear power plant overshadowing the quiet Ukrainian town of Pripyat, there was little sign of life aside from two off-duty workers fishing in the darkness on the concrete banks of a cooling pond.

Their lines were still sunk in the warm outflow from the nuclear reactors when a thunderous boom engulfed them, an explosion so loud it sounded like an aircraft breaking the sound barrier.

The ground trembled. They were struck by a shock wave. And they watched as a plume of black smoke and hot debris arced upwards from the ruined plant.

Later, when the smoke had cleared, a shimmering pillar of ethereal blue-white light reached straight up into the darkened sky, disappearing into infinity.

A guard stands by a sign at a closed off road leading to Chernobyl where an explosion occurred on April 26, 1986

Delicate and strange, the phosphorescence was created by the radioactive ionisation of air  an almost certain sign of an unshielded nuclear reactor open to the atmosphere.

The explosion at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, remains the worst catastrophe in the history of nuclear power. About 30 workers and members of the emergency services died of acute radiation sickness soon afterwards.

The lives of the families living in its shadow were changed for ever, too. But the disaster went far beyond Pripyat.

Blown high into the atmosphere, radioactive debris from the newest of Chernobyls four reactors spread across Earths entire northern hemisphere, from Czechoslovakia to Japan.

A mile-high plume of the most deadly isotopes passed north and west, sweeping round Scandinavia, Snowdonia, Scotland and the Lake District.

In the three decades since the explosion, thousands of people are thought to have died of various cancers, with the estimates ranging from 4,000 upwards to  according to some projections  hundreds of thousands.

The explosion at Chernobyl on April 26, 1986, remains the worst catastrophe in the history of nuclear power

After years of work in archives around the world and interviews with scores of eyewitnesses, I have pieced together what really happened on that April night and in the terrible days that followed.

There were many episodes of selflessness and courage.

But the destruction at Chernobyl revealed the incompetence, corruption and moral decay that ultimately helped destroy the USSR from within.

The immediate causes were design flaws and a series of human errors made within the space of just a few terrifying minutes.

In some circumstances, the reactors built at Chernobyl were susceptible to a runaway chain reaction  the same process at the heart of an atomic bomb.

Indeed, there had already been a partial meltdown in Leningrad in 1975, where a confidential study made it clear that accidents were not merely possible, they were terrifyingly likely  even in the course of day-to-day operations.

The immediate causes were design flaws and a series of human errors made within the space of just a few terrifying minutes

Yet for more than a decade, the USSRs nuclear establishment kept these design faults a deadly secret.

In truth, the cataclysm was born of the planned economy and communist bureaucracy itself.

For this was an empire of falsified statistics, of unattainable deadlines easily beaten by corner-cutting, sullen indifference to individual responsibility, terror at conveying bad news to superiors and chains of toadying yes-men clinging to their comfortable party privileges. They made the disaster at Chernobyl almost inevitable.

The control room for the fourth reactor at the plant was a large, windowless box, about 60ft by 30ft with a polished stone floor and low suspended ceiling. Beneath the sickly fluorescent strip lights, a rancid haze of cigarette smoke hung in the air.

It was 11.55pm on Friday, April 25, 1986, and the mood was tense. A time-consuming safety test scheduled to finish that afternoon had not yet begun.

It was designed to check whether the water pumps that cooled one of the four reactors could be kept running in the event of a total power blackout.

In such a dangerous situation, the electricity for pumps that kept water circulating through the core would be cut and, although emergency generators would kick in, it would take time  potentially long enough for catastrophic overheating and a core meltdown to begin.

The test should have been carried out before the reactor was commissioned in December 1983 but, anxious to meet state-imposed deadlines, officials skipped it. Now it was to take place during a scheduled shutdown for maintenance.

The controls were manned by a team of four, a shift foreman at the back and three operators who sat at panels festooned with switches, buttons, gauges, lamps and alarms.

Yet for more than a decade, the USSRs nuclear establishment kept these design faults a deadly secret

Just two months into the job, he was about to pilot the reactor through a shutdown for the first time in his life  an extraordinary responsibility

It was past midnight when electricity grid officials in Kiev gave the go-ahead and the control room began slowly to reduce the amount of power the reactor was generating so the test could take place.

Stepping up to the instruments on the reactor control desk was 25-year-old Leonid Toptunov.

Just two months into the job, he was about to pilot the reactor through a shutdown for the first time in his life  an extraordinary responsibility.

The test sounded simple enough: operators would press a button cutting power to the cooling water pumps, simulating a power blackout. Moments later, emergency diesel generators would start and the pumps would circulate water through the reactor core once again.

But then, at 12.28pm, Toptunov made a critical mistake and the computer began reducing the power beyond his control.

A series of alarms sounded, but Toptunov couldnt stop the numbers from falling.

Within two minutes, the display was almost at zero  he had all but shut down the reactor before the test had even begun.

It should have been abandoned there and then, but it was not. Instead the order was given that the power should be increased once again ready for the procedure  leaving the reactor now disastrously unmanageable.

It was 1.22am. The control room was calm. It would all be over in seconds. But, by now, Chernobyl Reactor Number Four was a pistol with the hammer cocked.

Then, as the test began, every one of the design flaws moved into a deadly confluence.

Water passing through the core moved slower and grew hotter, and more and more of it turned to steam; reactivity increased further, releasing more heat and creating more steam.

But then, at 12.28pm, Toptunov made a critical mistake and the computer began reducing the power beyond his control

Inside the plant, the surviving workers were met with an apocalyptic sight. Broken glass, shattered concrete panels, tumbled blocks of graphite and lumps of metal lay everywhere

After just 36 seconds, the test was complete, and the order came to shut down the reactor.

But it was too late. Deep inside the reactor, the chain reaction was already out of control. The process leading to meltdown had begun.

A frightening succession of alarms began to sound. Warning lamps flashed red. Electric buzzers squawked angrily. Toptunov shouted a warning: Power surge!

There was a roar and the building started to vibrate. The reactor was destroying itself. Within three seconds, its power leapt to a hundred times maximum. There was a loud bang. The uranium fuel pellets were melting.

The temperature inside the reactor rose to 4,650C  almost as hot as the surface of the sun.

A blast equivalent to 60 tons of TNT demolished the upper walls of the reactor hall and tossed the vast 2,000-ton steel and concrete lid of the reactor into the air like a flipped coin.

Almost seven tons of uranium fuel, together with pieces of zirconium and radioactive graphite, were hurled into the sky, together with a mixture of gas and aerosols containing some of the most dangerous substances known to man iodine 131, neptunium 239, caesium 137, strontium 90 and plutonium 239.

Inside the plant, the surviving workers were met with an apocalyptic sight. Broken glass, shattered concrete panels, tumbled blocks of graphite and lumps of metal lay everywhere.

A few dazed operators ran here and there through showers of sparks and geysers of scalding steam.

A few dazed operators ran here and there through showers of sparks and geysers of scalding steam

The gigantic steel water tanks had been torn apart like wet cardboard, the ends of fractured pipework hung in mid-air and, above the wreckage, where the roof of the huge reactor building had once been, there were only stars. Reactor Number Four was gone.

When the first ambulances filled with firemen and workers from the plant pulled up at Medical-Sanitary Centre Number 126 in the early hours of Saturday morning, the staff were quickly overwhelmed.

At first, no one understood what they were dealing with. The faces of some victims were a terrible purple; others, a deathly white.

Soon all of them were retching and vomiting, filling wash basins and buckets until they had emptied their stomachs, and even then unable to stop. The triage nurse began to cry. By morning, 90 patients had been admitted.

When the first ambulances filled with firemen and workers from the plant pulled up at Medical-Sanitary Centre Number 126 in the early hours of Saturday morning, the staff were quickly overwhelmed

The worst affected would later be taken to Moscows Hospital Number Six. They had been attacked by radiation from both inside and out.

As their white blood cell counts collapsed, infection crawled across the skin of the young operators and firemen. Thick black blisters encrusted their lips and the inside of their mouths. The skin of their gums peeled back, leaving them the colour of raw meat.

Unlike heat burns, which heal slowly over time, radiation burns grow gradually worse  expanding from wherever radioactive material had touched them, eating into the tissue below.

The mens body hair and eyebrows fell out, and their skin darkened  first red, then purple, before finally it became a papery brown-black and curled away in sheets.

Inside their bodies, the radiation ate away the lining of their intestines and corroded their lungs.

As the scale of the crisis became clear, the Soviet authorities reacted with calls for patriotic sacrifice  and secrecy.

When an official at Chernobyl said the 50,000 inhabitants of Pripyat should be warned, the director of the station cut his telephone lines.

As the scale of the crisis became clear, the Soviet authorities reacted with calls for patriotic sacrifice  and secrecy

The town knew something was wrong for sure by nightfall when even the radio speaker boxes in every apartment remained silent

Nuclear engineers on the morning shift tried to warn their families. Some managed to reach them by phone and told them to stay indoors, even though they knew the KGB was listening.

One packed his family into the car to take them to safety, only to be turned back by armed police. The city had been sealed off.

The town knew something was wrong for sure by nightfall when even the radio speaker boxes in every apartment remained silent.

These radio points hung on the walls of homes throughout the Soviet Union, piping in propaganda just like gas and electricity.

But it was a full 32 hours after the accident before the order was given to evacuate, at 10am on Sunday, April 27.

By then Pripyat had already been dusted with nuclear fallout. (Apartment blocks in Kiev  110 miles away  where the residents of Pripyat were rehoused, were later found to have hundreds of times the normal level of radiation.)

And there was no official statement from the Politburo until Monday evening, almost three days after the event.

An accident has taken place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, said an announcer from Radio Moscow. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences.

But it was a full 32 hours after the accident before the order was given to evacuate, at 10am on Sunday, April 27

The cloud of contamination had continued north and spread west to envelop Scandinavia, before drifting south over Poland and forming a wedge that moved down into Germany

The following evening, the Soviet Council of Ministers conceded that two people had been killed, that a section of the reactor building had been destroyed, and that Pripyat had been evacuated. There was no mention of a radioactive release, yet there was no escaping it, either.

The cloud of contamination had continued north and spread west to envelop Scandinavia, before drifting south over Poland and forming a wedge that moved down into Germany.

Chernobyl was headline news in the West.

Supported by the KGB, the Soviet nuclear industry was determined to suppress the truth  that the Chernobyl disaster was the conclusion to years of lying and ingrained incompetence.

Initially, the Soviets stated that it was the result of an all-but-impossible coincidence of events.

Then, three months later, following a secret commission of inquiry, the Politburo issued its verdict: The accident had been caused by a series of gross breaches of the operational regulations of the reactor by workers at the atomic power station.

In other words, the workers were to blame. Court proceedings followed and the control room officials who had somehow survived the blast and radiation sickness were sent to prison camps.

There was no mention of any design faults in the reactor. But behind closed doors, Gorbachev and the Politburo already knew the facts  and that the Soviet nuclear industry had been hiding a terrible secret.

They had known since 1975 and the Leningrad accident that one of their reactors was likely to explode  and with unspeakable consequences.

Constructed as giant cylinders of graphite, the Chernobyl reactors were more than 20 times the size of Western equivalents and capable of producing so much electricity that each one could power at least a million modern homes  a tribute to the Soviet obsession with colossal architecture and engineering  gigantomania.

The USSRs evangelical nuclear scientists had proclaimed this model the national reactor and rushed it into production at stations planned from the Gulf of Finland to the Caspian Sea. They didnt even bother with a prototype.

Yet, for all the boasts about the power of the red atom, the design of the massive Chernobyl reactors was hopelessly flawed. They were unstable and capricious, particularly at low power.

Initially, the Soviets stated that it was the result of an all-but-impossible coincidence of events

They had known since 1975 and the Leningrad accident that one of their reactors was likely to explode  and with unspeakable consequences

It is a particular irony that by spring 1986, Chernobyl was, officially, one of the best-performing nuclear stations in the Soviet Union, and scheduled to receive the Order of Lenin, the states highest honour.

Even the destruction unleashed by Reactor Number Four could not match the explosive political consequences that would follow.

Gorbachevs personal reputation in the West as a reformer had been tarnished.

Now, on the third floor of a gloomy Kremlin office block, he accused the Soviet nuclear establishment of presiding over a secret state.

For 30 years, you told us that everything was perfectly safe. You assumed we would look up to you as gods, he said. Thats the reason why all this happened, why it ended in disaster.

It was devastating assessment. Even the Soviet nuclear bureaucracy had been undermined by secrecy, incompetence and stagnation. He knew now that the entire Soviet apparatus was rotten, and it intensified his drive for reform.

The Soviet public, too, began to discover just how deeply it had been misled.

Chernobyl finally shattered the illusion that the Soviet Union was a global superpower armed with technology that led the world.

Even the most faithful citizens faced the realisation that their leaders were corrupt and that the communist dream was a sham.

 Adam Higginbotham, 2019

Adapted from Midnight In Chernobyl: The Untold Story Of The Worlds Greatest Nuclear Disaster, by Adam Higginbotham, is published by Bantam Press, priced 20. Offer price 16 (20 per cent discount, with free p&p) until February 24. Order at mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery.
Baroness Falkender, whose death at the age of 86 has been announced, was one of the most powerful women in the country when she worked as Harold Wilsons private and political secretary from 1956 to 1983.

But her closeness to the two-time Labour Prime Minister led to controversy with one of the main scandals surrounding the notorious Lavender List of resignation honours.

Here, Wilsons Press Secretary Joe Haines, at war with Falkender during his time at No 10, writes a trenchant account of the woman he knew...

Fifty years ago, Marcia Williams was perhaps the most powerful unelected figure in British politics, with more influence than any Cabinet Minister.

To call her Harold Wilsons secretary was to grossly underestimate her. She was, for a while, his driving force. But, ultimately, she damaged his life, his political career and his reputation.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson is seen preparing notes for the Labour Party conference with Marcia Williams - later Lady Falkender - in October, 1972

She had a brilliant political mind in her early days. But she would later have her head turned by power, celebrities and money. Such was her influence that she successfully forced Wilson to make her a peer in 1974, becoming Baroness Falkender, a move greeted as much with incredulity as respect. At least that was how I viewed it.

Employed on a salary of 5,000 a year, Marcia Williams was indeed Wilsons secretary  though a lousy one. Operating from the sidelines, she was rarely seen in the office. Appointed to Wilson from Jim Callaghans private office in 1956, she insisted that all the mail be delivered to her home each day.

She would dictate answers to each letter and send them back to Downing Street to be typed, before they had to be couriered back to her for a signature and then returned. It took up to nine days to answer a letter.

If basic administration was beneath her, manipulation was not. Her hostility to any Cabinet Minister was a Black Spot foretelling their political demise.

When George Wigg, the Minister in charge of Britains intelligence services, once called on Wilson in his study and asked that Marcia should leave because he wasnt going to discuss secret matters in front of a secretary he was writing his own death warrant.

Lady Wilson (right) with Lady Marcia Falkender at a thanksgiving service for Lord Wilson at Westminster Abbey

Shortly afterwards, he was despatched to become chairman of the Horserace Betting Levy Board, with a placatory seat in the House of Lords.

She was undoubtedly responsible for my own appointment as Press Secretary to Wilson and the sacking of my predecessor. But my time in her favour was also short-lived.

After nine months, she demanded that I, too, should be sacked for attending a tea party given by another secretary and to which Marcia had not been invited. For once, Wilson resisted, but it was not the last time she sought my removal.

She terrified junior civil servants and would alter table plans for official dinners at No 10 if she was not sitting next to someone famous. She was obsessed with theatrical celebrities. Thats why Lew Grade and his brother, Bernard Delfont, were awarded peerages. She left another official dinner without excuse or apology to fetch Frank Sinatra and his wife and bring them to the after-dinner reception.

Daily life was a constant struggle against her tantrums and tirades. She mocked Wilson and called him Walter Mitty and a little man.

Appallingly, she told his wife, Mary, that she had been to bed with him half a dozen times in 1956 and it wasnt satisfactory. Wilson told me that story himself, minutes after he had left Mary in distress. Many years later in 2007, when the BBC aired a docudrama based on my book which included these allegations, she successfully sued them for 70,000 for repeating the insulting suggestion.

The truth was that BBC lawyers had been willing to fight the case but were ordered from on high to concede. She certainly never sued me  simply because she knew I would fight the case.

Lady Marcia Falkender (pictured aged 85) has died at the age of 86. She was one of the most powerful women in the country when she worked as Harold Wilsons private and political secretary from 1956 to 1983

The great mystery was why she had such a hold over Wilson. She regularly threatened to destroy him, the threats spat out while tapping her handbag. What was in it? Now, perhaps, we shall never know.

The greatest humiliation inflicted upon him was undoubtedly the Resignation Honours List of 1976  the notorious Lavender List  after he retired as Prime Minister when a number of puzzling, dubious or even crooked figures were rewarded. By then, he was tired and ill and Marcia imposed her wishes, despite what she told this newspaper when it published the handwritten notes for the first time last year. She maintained she had only written down the names Wilson told her to include, but I dispute that.

After her elevation to the peerage she became a devoted member, sitting in the House of Lords for 40 years and regularly drawing her 300-a-day attendance allowance despite never making a speech.

Although she accepted the Labour Whip, she secretly approached Margaret Thatcher offering her help to defeat Jim Callaghan in the 1979 General Election  a monumental treachery. Only her connection with Wilson saved her from being expelled from the party.

In the end, her influence had waned spectacularly. But whatever did pass between Wilson and his secretary, its effects lasted a lifetime.
Much of Corbyns Islington North constituency was made up of white English and Irish workers alongside immigrants. Most inhabited either unrepaired private houses or dilapidated council estates. They suffered bad schools, stretched health services and one of the most corrupt Labour councils in the country.

But Corbyn never issued press releases about local issues. His frequent publicity flyers were about Palestine, Ireland, the Western Sahara or Nicaragua. He seemed oblivious to Islington being ranked as Londons worst borough for social services, housing, education and street maintenance.

Under Margaret Hodge, the council leader between 1982 and 1992, the Peoples Republic of Islington boasted a red flag fluttering above the town hall and a bust of Lenin inside.

Despite levying Londons highest council tax, nearly half of its residents lived in 35,000 council houses plagued by crime, drugs, damp and dilapidation because Islingtons unionised labour force refused to undertake repairs.

Jerry MacLochlainn of Sinn Fein (left) with Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Sinn Fein Councillor Franis Molloy, during a demonstration march which marked 20 years since Bloody Sunday

Yet while Hodge regularly received complaints from Chris Smith, the Labour MP for Islington South, she never heard from Corbyn. Preoccupied by the needs of immigrants and foreign conflicts, he appeared uninterested in the many woes of his constituents.

Most shamefully, he didnt seem to care about the systematic sexual abuse of vulnerable children in Islingtons residential homes, all of which were staffed by council employees, members of his old union, NUPE.

Horrifying evidence of sex orgies run from a hot house on Islingtons Elthorne estate was exposed.

Children had been rented out from a brothel to paedophiles.

A newspaper clipping (pictured left and right) from the Islington Gazette in 1988

Among the many victims was Vivian Loki, a 17-year-old girl whose decomposed body was discovered on the estate six months after her murder by a paedophile.

Further north, at Gisburne House, another Islington home, children were being abused on an industrial scale. All this, Islington social worker Liz Davies discovered, was happening on Corbyns doorstep. He knew all about it because it was raised by [Conservative MP] Geoffrey Dickens in the Commons.

In October 1992, five Islington council social workers, led by Liz Davies, confronted Corbyn in his office at the Red Rose Community Centre.

By then, dozens of drugged, hungry and distressed young people of both sexes living in 12 council homes were being routinely raped by council employees.

Gisburne House (pictured above) was one of the homes where the abuse is said to have taken place

Paedophile gangs were rampant across the borough, and at least 30 employees who were suspected of crimes had been allowed to quietly resign.

Peter Righton, founder of the pro-paedophile group the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), had been given authority by the Home Office to brief council social workers to place vulnerable children with known sex offenders. Having set out this appalling scenario, the social workers told Corbyn that their complaints to Margaret Hodge had been ignored.

After Londons Evening Standard newspaper published a detailed expose of Islingtons employment of known paedophiles, and the officials shredding of documents to cover up the crimes, the council accused the paper of gutter journalism.

The council employees meeting with Corbyn lasted 90 minutes, during which he pronounced

Ive heard similar issues from other constituents, and then said little else.

As usual when confronted with complicated or unpalatable facts, he retreated into his shell, mumbling and smiling but offering no meaningful replies.

At the end, he promised to speak to Virginia Bottomley, the Health Minister, but she does not recall any such conversation having taken place.

We heard nothing more from Corbyn, Liz Davies recalled.

We dont know whether he did anything to help us.

I told Corbyn bad things happened to me 2 months before child sex scandal in his constituency was exposed...so why did he stay silent?

Jeremy Corbyn is facing damaging questions over claims he failed to respond to repeated warnings about a paedophile scandal in his constituency.

The Labour leader attended three meetings where shocking evidence of abuse in care homes in the North London borough of Islington was detailed, yet stands accused of taking no action.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has unearthed new details of the meetings which took place in the early 1990s, around the time that newspapers were beginning to expose the scandal of the widespread rape and sexual abuse of vulnerable children dating back to the 1970s.

In a devastating attack on the Labour leader, whistleblowers accuse him of remaining silent and failing to challenge the Labour-controlled council as it sought to cover up the scandal.

Demetrious Panton (pictured above at his home in Whitechapel, London) says he was subject to appalling abuse during the late 1970s while living at a children's home in Islington Council

1 Elwood Street (pictured above) where the alleged abuse is said to have occurred

Our investigation revealed that:

A man abused from the age of ten by two council employees told Mr Corbyn in August 1992  two months before the scandal broke in the media  that very bad things had happened to him at a council care home;

Five social workers met the Labour MP just weeks later and he promised to raise the matter with Virginia Bottomley, the then Tory Health Secretary  but this weekend she said she had no memory of any such approach;

Fearing a council cover-up, an investigative journalist who exposed the vile abuse urged Mr Corbyn to speak out, only to be brushed off with a bland statement that the council were doing everything that needs to be done  although it later emerged that they were actually destroying vital evidence at the time.

Demetrious Panton was just 10-years-old when the abuse started at the home in Islington (pictured above, 10 years old)

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured above) is facing damaging questions over claims he failed to respond to repeated warnings about a paedophile scandal in his constituency

A string of sexual predators infiltrated Islingtons care system from the 1970s and their sickening activities are now regarded as among Britains darkest child abuse scandals. Abusers  including paedophiles, pimps and child pornographers  had been employed at each of the councils 12 childrens homes, but staff who raised concerns were accused of racism and homophobia.

At least 26 workers linked to abuse were allowed to leave their jobs without being investigated, but when the London Evening Standard first revealed the scandal in October 1992, Margaret Hodge, the then-leader of Islington Council and now Labour MP for Barking, described its report as a sensationalist piece of gutter journalism.

She has subsequently apologised for what she described as the councils shameful naivety in ignoring victims voices.

In the aftermath, Mr Corbyns only public intervention was a short comment to the Evening Standard, saying: These allegations are extremely serious and must be properly investigated.

Margaret Hodge (pictured above) had described a report into the abuse as 'a sensationalist piece of gutter journalism'

Yet Demetrious Panton, who was one of the many abuse victims in Islington, believes that inaction by local politicians, including Mr Corbyn, may have allowed some of the paedophiles to escape justice.

None of the alleged abusers is thought to have been prosecuted and at least three of the ringleaders, including Bernie Bains who abused Mr Panton, fled abroad.

I never heard him [Mr Corbyn] say anything, said Mr Panton, 51, now an employment law adviser.

I dont think I fitted into a political paradigm.

Mr Panton was ten when he went into care in 1978. His mother died when he was a baby and his father was unable to cope. Yet instead of finding safety, he was abused at the hands of Bains, who ran the home in Elwood Street in Highbury.

When Mr Panton revealed his plight to a health worker in 1979, Bains was allowed to resign. He later fled to Morocco, where he was jailed for child abuse, and killed himself 18 years ago in Thailand.

Shockingly, Mr Panton was later abused by another staff member.

From the age of 14, Mr Panton wrote letters detailing the abuse to Islington Council. I still have copies, he said. I demanded a proper investigation, to save other kids, but they all just told me, in writing, to move on with my life.

Remarkably, he did. After gaining a polytechnic degree, he won a place to study a PhD at the University of Hull but was denied funding by Islington Council. In August 1992, he met Mr Corbyn at his constituency office at the Red Rose Community Centre to ask him to support his funding application. During the meeting, he told the MP that he had been in care in Islington and that very bad things had happened to him at a home.

Victim of Islington care home horror on the first of Labour leaders THREE missed chances to raise alarm over paedophiles Chance one: Abuse survivor Demetrious Panton, told Jermy Corbyn that very bad things happened to him in care  but says the MP never spoke up about his case, even when victims accounts were being dismissed. Chance two: After social workers told Corbyn of 61 possible victims, he vowed to raise the issue with Virginia Bottomley, the Tory Health Secretary at the time. But she says she has no memory of him doing so. Chance three: The reporter who exposed the scandal confronted Corbyn with all the evidence and begged him to act. But she says he just repeated the platitudes of the council  while they were destroying vital files. Advertisement

He was behind a desk and there were papers everywhere. It was like being in a room with one of your university lecturers, said Mr Panton, who had not even confided in close friends at that point.

He told Mr Corbyn that he felt the council had a duty to help him because of his terrible experiences in homes that they ran. Mr Corbyn did write a letter in support for Mr Pantons funding bid, but does not appear to have acted on Mr Pantons very bad things comment  even after the Evening Standard revealed the abuse scandal weeks later.

When the story broke, I never heard him say anything, Mr Panton said. The problem that I have is this: for about four years, Islington Council was denying it and Margaret Hodge was calling it gutter journalism. He could have said, No, actually its not because an individual came to my surgery. 

Mr Panton believes that, had more pressure been put on the council, some abusers may have been prosecuted. With a more robust response from Islington, helped by a more robust response from the politicians who represented Islington, perhaps those individuals might have been brought to justice, who knows?

Just weeks after the scandal broke in the media, the Red Rose Community Centre was the venue for another meeting involving Mr Corbyn and a delegation of five social workers, led by Dr Liz Davies. They had identified at least 61 potential abuse victims and, for more than an hour, detailed their evidence. Mr Corbyn assured them that he would talk to Virginia Bottomley, the then Health Secretary.

However, Baroness Bottomley has no recollection of any contact. Having worked in a child guidance unit for ten years and chaired the Lambeth Juvenile Court, I had significant expertise in this field, she told The Mail on Sunday. It is inconceivable that I would ignore any such approach. But I have no memory of it whatsoever.

Dr Davies was surprised when she received no further contact from Mr Corbyn. No letter. No phone call. I never, ever saw him speak about it, she later recalled.

In early 1993, Mr Corbyn met Eileen Fairweather, one of the Evening Standard reporters who had revealed the scandal, at the Commons. There, she begged him to speak out publicly and warned that Nicholas Rabet, a former care home manager and suspected child abuser, was still running a childrens activity centre in Sussex.

Rabet, 56, would later kill himself in Thailand while awaiting trial after being charged with molesting 30 underage boys.

I went to plead with him, Ms Fairweather told The Mail on Sunday. We sat in a corner and I took him through the strength of the evidence. I said, This is really serious, youve got to do something. He listened very politely. He promised to make enquiries.

But she heard nothing until she rang him several weeks later. He said, I have made some enquiries and I have been reassured that everything that needs to be done is being done, she recalled.

It emerged later, however, that crucial documents were being destroyed by Islington Council at that very time.

Last night, a lawyer who acts for abuse victims urged Mr Corbyn to make his position clear. His response to allegations of abuse in Islington raises very serious questions, said Richard Scorer, from law firm Slater and Gordon. If he wants to command confidence on these issues, he needs to acknowledge if and when mistakes were made.

Islington Council has agreed a compensation package of 2.1 million for victims of the abuse scandal and said that it provides personal and psychological support to those affected.

Its current leader, Richard Watts, said: Were very sorry for Islington Councils past failure to protect vulnerable children in its care. The council today is a very different place, and protecting children from harm is our top priority.

Last night a Labour spokesman said: The claim that Jeremy Corbyn failed to speak out about child sexual abuse is false.

In October 1992 he publicly demanded a full investigation into abuse of children in care in Islington. He is on the record describing the allegations as extremely serious and demanding they be properly investigated. 

A source insisted that Mr Corbyn had raised allegations with Islington Councils director of social services at the time, and believes he raised Dr Daviess issues with Baroness Bottomley.




The civilians able to escape have fled. Now there are just an estimated 500 fighters, many of them foreigners, making the last stand of the Islamic States caliphate in a remote Syrian hamlet near the Iraqi border. They include some of the groups most battle-hardened veterans, many wearing suicide vests and using civilians for human shields as they attempt to resist the surrounding forces using tunnels drilled through the walls of houses in Baghouz.

Once these feared jihadis ruled eight million people in an area the size of Britain, relying on savagery to impose their medieval creed, and social media to woo recruits from Britain and around the globe.

But they have been pushed back into a fast-shrinking 840 square yards pocket beside the Euphrates River  and within days, perhaps hours, Islamic State will be declared dead after five bloodstained years of carnage, chaos and fear.

Civilians fleeing the Islamic State's group embattled holdout of Baghouz walk in a field on February 13, 2019 during an operation by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Force

Ciya Furat, a commander with the Kurdish-led attackers, said yesterday in eastern Syria that his group will very soon bring good news to the whole world.

The stage has been built to hail this momentous victory. We have won, Donald Trump has already declared on Twitter, while Vice-President Mike Pence says the terror group has been defeated.

Similar bold statements were made 14 months ago in Iraq after troops reclaimed the lost one-third of the country, including its second city Mosul. This was the biggest victory against the forces of evil and terrorism, proclaimed Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister.

Yet listen to the tale told to me on Friday  in a refugee camp filled with families from Mosul in neighbouring Iraq  by Hamida Mohammad Taher about a neighbour who worked for the Baghdad government in the recaptured city.

Every day he would go to work and their three daughters went to school. One month ago a group came to their house when just his wife was at home. They killed this woman and wrote on the walls in her blood and brains, This will be the same fate for you. 

That was her chilling reply when I asked if IS was still active.

Later, she described the horror of being forced to watch another woman being stoned to death as punishment for failing to cover up correctly.

And it was echoed by other families from the region and senior officers in the Peshmerga, the Kurdish military who spearheaded much of the fighting against IS, aided by Western special forces and aircraft. In daytime the ground is controlled by Iraqi troops but at night Daesh [IS] returns, said one Kurdish colonel, a claim I heard echoed by villagers who spoke of jihadists coming after dusk to demand food and money.

A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) armored vehicle drives through destroyed streets near the frontline on February 10, 2019 in Bagouz, Syria

Some laughed when I asked if the group was finished.

These people told me of ethnic cleansing, of kidnappings, of burned homes, of brutal beatings, of revenge missions by militia forces and of scores settled with accusations of collaboration  even in one case in a spat among two suitors over the same woman.

Others spoke of a toxic sense of despair when there is no work and no schooling for children, with homes left destroyed and hopes of peaceful normality crushed. It is like living in a film with different episodes but the same storyline, said one middle-aged man.

He was lamenting the loss of Saddam Hussein, whose ousting led US President George Bush to naively declare Mission Accomplished 16 years ago after the US-led invasion of Iraq that sparked so much of the misery across this region. The fear among analysts is that Bushs brash successor in the White House will promote a similar myth, confusing the crushing of a despicable caliphate with defeat of their deadly ideology that drew in devotees from around the world.

Among them was Shamima Begum, the London teenager who crossed a continent with two friends to become a jihadi bride. Now 19, and pregnant for the third time, her request to return to Britain last week sparked fresh debate over the repatriation of such recruits.

Begum was one of an estimated 900 Britons who flocked to join the fanatics. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, has vowed to block her return to Britain, or try her for terror offences if she comes back. It is thought at least 21 female recruits have already returned.

Ian Birrell was told of ethnic cleansing, of kidnappings, of burned homes and of brutal beatings

The former Bethnal Green schoolgirl was found in al-Hawl, a camp with 39,000 displaced people including many IS family members. As the groups control weakened in recent months, thousands have flooded out  more than 1,200 from Baghouz in the past week alone  swamping efforts to screen them.

Lina Khatib, head of the Middle East division at Chatham House think tank, said land loss would not definitely mean the demise of IS. The groups foreign fighters remain mostly at large because they have nowhere else to go as they face trials in their countries of origin.

IS will try to offset territorial losses with insurgency attacks to prove it is still relevant and, as long as socio-economic and political grievances continue in Syria and Iraq, IS will take advantage of them to try to attract people to its ranks.

Certainly much of the infrastructure remains in ruins. More than 50,000 homes and 62 schools were destroyed in Mosul alone  as I saw amid the final skirmishes for liberation  and one year later more than eight million tons of debris still needs to be cleared.

Almost two million people are displaced inside Iraq in camps such as Hasansham U2, about 20 miles from Mosul, which I reached last week after driving through ghost villages filled with stray dogs but few people.

Khaled Abd, 38, a shopkeeper, told me he had tried to return home. I was searching every day for work but there was nothing. So I called people in the camp to return since we were slowly starving. All we want is a decent life. Bassam Mohammad, 26, said he was whipped for selling cigarettes under IS, yet still dare not go home due to attacks by government troops and militia. They demand money or take people away with no evidence. They are the same as Daesh but in different uniforms.

One weeping old woman told me her husband had been locked up for IS membership and others spoke of sons, cousins and friends imprisoned. Several thrust scraps of paper at me with names of arrested men scrawled on them.

All denied their detained family members supported the group or said they joined in desperation for cash and, amid the chaos, with ten-minute trials and allegations of routine torture, it is hard to establish truth.

My son was in a camp and returned home with his family, said Fathia Abdullah, 55. He was arrested with 25 other people by militia after another man was made to confess. The judge said my son must stay in jail for life.

Shamima Begum, 19, is pleading with the Government to allow her back into the country to have her baby but admits she'll miss her jihadist husband

Another man showed me video on his mobile phone from inside a Mosul jail, with dozens of men crammed into one cell in hideously crowded conditions. I was told it would cost $4,000 to free my brother, said a woman as people gathered round to voice complaints.

Several did not know the whereabouts of family members. My son was 17 when he joined IS because we had no money, said Awd Zaydan, a farm labourer. They sent him to the mountains near an oil refinery and Ive no idea if he is alive, dead, arrested or kidnapped.

This is fertile terrain to find recruits for fresh insurgency and IS indicated it was switching back to guerrilla assaults rather than full-scale military combat as its caliphate began to crumble.

In the first ten months after declaration of victory in Iraq, there were 1,271 attacks and 148 assassinations of local leaders there alone.

Zryan Sheikh Wassani, a senior Kurdish general, said Abadi was lying when declaring the IS defeat and he showed me film footage from a firefight in the mountains taken on the same day.

I pointed out the bodies, he said. We killed eight of them and lost one Peshmerga.

He said the terror group was moving around empty zones between Kurdish and Iraqi forces  in some places, quite openly in cars.

It is worse than before because they do small daily operations and then they go back into hiding. You cannot find them as easily. Although the general was wounded in deadly chemical attacks launched by Saddam on the Kurds in 1988, he said Islamic State was a more dangerous opponent.

He showed me his car riddled with bullet holes from a recent ambush that killed a bodyguard  then said two other bodyguards had been killed, three disabled and 18 wounded in three years of fighting.

A recent report by Hassan Hassan, a Washington-based analyst, highlighted how IS has returned to the strategy of attrition adopted after it was nearly defeated by the US surge in 2007. He said the groups own publications had drawn comparisons with this time.

The push hit the terror group so hard it was down to 700 fighters in 2008 but it rebuilt so fast that only six years later it shocked the world by seizing Mosul and launching attacks in European cities. By the end of last year, it was still thought to have up to 30,000 operatives.

They have disappeared overground but moved back underground, said Abdel Bari Atwan, a prominent journalist who interviewed Osama Bin Laden and has written a book on IS. They did not have the experience to run a state with health and education.

Atwan fears this only makes them more dangerous. They will be in small cells which are cheap to run and easy to move. They will turn to terrorism again and look to take revenge.

Meanwhile, a breakaway faction holds control of an enclave around the Idlib province in Syria, home to about three million people and an estimated 50,000 jihadi fighters. Armed militant groups from Nigeria to the Philippines have also declared loyalty.

In its birthplace of Iraq, there are renewed fears the insurgency will be fuelled also by rising sectarianism and tribal tensions, something I heard from senior Kurdish soldiers and, above all, among displaced people from places such as Mosul and nearby Tal Afar.

For these people are Sunni  the branch of Islam that is a minority in Iraq and supported Saddam, whose ousted officers were key figures in the formation of IS. But the Baghdad government is dominated by Shia, who also make up gangs of roving militia in the region.

Our homes have been burned down so we are terrified to return, said one man, who said he was scared to be identified.

They are even beating the children because they want us to leave our villages. There are lots of revenge attacks.

Zakia Dawood, a mother-of-nine, said she was afraid to return to her village of Tamart, near Tal Afar, since her brother had been arrested and most of the young people killed. My family is still living there but gangs break the windows and beat them the whole time.

No wonder many experts and citizens fear this maelstrom of mayhem and murder is far from over, despite the death of an estimated 60,000 IS fighters and looming end of their self-declared caliphate with its beheadings and barbarity.

If Trump goes ahead with his threatened pullout of US forces, which led to the resignation of his defence secretary and dismay among senior military officials, there could be a fresh eruption of conflict if Turkey attempts to drive out Kurdish forces from their Syrian terrain.

We just want safety and justice and jobs, said one farmer, sadly. But I fear this problem is never-ending. We had Saddam, we had Daesh, now we have this.'
Sebastian Corbyn (pictured above) is profiting from a former social housing flat that he purchased in 2016

Jeremy Corbyns son and adviser is profiting from a former social housing flat he rents out for 150 a night on Airbnb, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Sebastian Corbyn, who works for Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, bought the two-bedroom apartment in East London in 2016 for just 162,500  significantly below the market rate of other properties in the luxury development. Other two bedroom flats in the same building have been sold for 650,000.

Tories blasted him as a hypocrite given Labours stance against housing associations selling off their stock and demanding a tough clampdown on Airbnb.

Despite that position, Mr Corbyn has rented the flat out on at least 47 separate occasions. Some of his tenants have stayed for weeks on end, and Mr Corbyn personally meets new arrivals, sources have told this newspaper.

His mother Claudia Bracchitta, Jeremy Corbyns second wife, also helps him maintain the flat.

Sebastian Corbyn boasts his property is a beautiful, newly renovated contemporary flat, perfectly located in the heart of trendy East London... a stones throw from all the bars, restaurants and street markets Shoreditch has to offer.

The stylish property in Shoreditch, London, is listed on AirBNB

Renters can enjoy super-fast fibre optic broadband, a 59in HDTV and Mr Corbyns book collection, including biographies of Tony Blair and Mussolini.

The flat was previously owned by the Paddington Churches Housing Association  now part of the Notting Hill Genesis group, a major social housing supplier to poorer Londonders. It was sold off on a 125-year leasehold in 2010, and Mr Corbyn purchased it six years later with the help of a mortgage from Santander.

Last night he declined to comment how he was able to get the flat at such a low price, nor address the charge of hypocrisy. But after by The Mail on Sundays inquiries, the property was withdrawn from Airbnbs listings.

Sebastian Corbyn is employed by John McDonnell (pictured above) who has previously said the sale of social housing units is 'scandalous'

John McDonnell has said social housing units being sold off... is scandalous when we have such a severe housing crisis.

Housing campaigners have said that the selloffs are fuelling overcrowding and homelessness, and undermining efforts to tackle the housing crisis.

Labour MP Karen Buck has also attacked Airbnb saying short-term lets were contributing to housing shortages and called for new laws to combat professional landlords using the service. Jeremy Corbyn has taken aim at Airbnb in the past, too, calling for such digital platforms to be taken out of private hands and into cooperative ownership.

He also attacked a lack of affordable housing last year, saying: Luxury flats proliferate across our big cities, while social housing is starved of investment. When housing has become a site of speculation for a wealthy few, leaving the many unable to access a decent, secure home, something has gone seriously wrong.

James Cleverly (pictured above) branded Sebastian Corbyn a hypocrite

We need to restore the principle that a decent home is a right owed to all, not a privilege for the few. And the only way to deliver on that... is through social housing.

Conservative vice-chairman James Cleverly branded Sebastian Corbyn a hypocrite. He said: The Labour leadership has condemned affordable homes being sold into the private sector and been critical of sharing economy companies like Airbnb.

It looks like rank hypocrisy for Mr Corbyn to be benefiting from an affordable home sell-off and from Airbnb. One rule for them and one rule for everyone else.

An earlier version of this article attributed a comment to Shelter which was not, in fact, made by the charity.
A British jihadi bride allowed to return to the UK after joining Islamic State (IS) has escaped prosecution  despite being told by a judge she is too dangerous to raise her daughter.

Described in court documents seen by The Mail on Sunday as an extremist who lied about her views, the woman spent two years living with her husband at the heart of the terror groups so-called caliphate in Syria.

But this newspaper can reveal she is now at large in East London where it is understood she has been given a council flat at taxpayers expense.

She remains at liberty because anti-terror police failed to find enough evidence for a prosecution. Yet during a High Court custody battle, the woman was told she posed a serious threat to her child, who is now living with her grandmother.

Shamima Begum, 19, is pleading with the Government to allow her back into the country to have her baby but admits she'll miss her jihadist husband

The judge at the hearing said the toddler was at risk of significant harm from the mothers extremist ideology.

Astonishingly, the womans Twitter account still carries a banner picture of a crowd of women raising black IS flags.

Her case bears remarkable similarities to that of pregnant teenager Shamima Begum who is begging to come home despite having no regrets about her four years with IS.

Like Begum, the woman, who is in her 20s and cannot be named for legal reasons, has expressed no remorse for her actions. She is desperate, however, to raise her two-year-old daughter in Britain.

On arrival back in the UK in 2017, she was immediately arrested on suspicion of terrorist offences. Weeks later she was told the case had been dropped.

The Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act makes it an offence punishable by up to ten years in jail for anyone to enter a designated area abroad unless they can provide a reasonable excuse. But it has only recently become law and it cannot be applied retrospectively to the woman.

The sentence for being a member of IS, or supporting the group, is up to ten years in jail.

Another Jihadi bride has returned to the UK, despite showing no remorse - just like Shamima Begum

The womans British husband, a Muslim convert who was born a Christian, is being held by authorities in Turkey and is apparently awaiting trial.

At the High Court hearing, Mrs Justice Gwynneth Knowles called the womans views very troubling indeed. Ruling that her toddler should be raised by her non-Muslim grandmother, the judge said she feared the mother would radicalise her daughter and take her to an unsafe location.

Details of the case emerged as:

l Fears grew that about 60 more jihadi brides are planning to flee Syria and return to the UK;

l Home Secretary Sajid Javids pledge to block Begums return was undermined by the head of MI6 who said British citizens have a right to come to the UK.

According to the judge, the mother was once a happy sociable girl who enjoyed sport and going to the cinema with friends. She later worked in a clothes shop and briefly as a receptionist.

Facebook picture of Dutch ISIS fighter Yago Riedijk (now aged 26 and detained in Syria) and husband of Shamima Begum from 2011

But she then grew increasingly religious and isolated before marrying her husband in secret within a week of meeting him.

Days later they slipped out of Britain on an easyJet flight from Gatwick. For the journey, the couple swapped Islamic clothes for Western attire, with the woman abandoning her veil and the man shaving his beard.

The couple spent eight months in Raqqa, the Syrian city that was once the terror groups de facto capital. Then they moved to a border town, where in 2016 they had their baby daughter, identified as J in court documents.

In early 2017, with the rout of IS forces under way, the couple left for Turkey and surrendered themselves to the authorities.

The father was charged with terrorism-related offences, but the mother was allowed to return to the UK where her daughter was put in foster care.

During the court hearings, the judge said the womans evidence was inadequate and dishonest. She said: The mothers Twitter banner was a picture of a number of females several of whom were carrying the IS-associated black flag with its white seal.

She told me that she had no idea that the flag was being carried by some of these women was associated with IS

I have concluded that the mothers explanation was a lie because she realised her Twitter banner was the clearest evidence of her having an extremist mindset.

The court also heard that in 2014 her husband was already talking of martyrdom and was planning to fight in Syria. He told a friend on social media he was not planning on getting old.

Last night, it emerged that Tower Hamlets Council is already making urgent contingency plans to prepare for 19-year-old Shamima Begums return to the UK.

It will have to provide the necessary care to Begum as she is a native of the borough.

The MoS understands that part of the contingency plans include deciding whether to provide the young mother with any kind of accommodation once she arrives.

Last night, the Foreign Office said that Begum, who married a Dutch jihadi called Yago Riedijk, 27, in Syria, has not been provided with any consular assistance as Syria was too dangerous for its diplomats to visit.

The Home Office declined to comment on the Begum case.

Meanwhile, Begums relatives claimed Mr Javid was pandering to the public by vowing to block her return.

Her brother-in-law Mohammed Rahman, 36, said: He is reacting to his personal emotions and what he thinks the public wants.

Its better to have her in this country, prosecuted, then at least we, her family, know where she is. If it were to transpire that she did come back and was jailed then the family would take care of the baby.We are just a normal family  the baby wouldnt grow up radicalised. Her immediate family are not even particularly religious.
Jeremy Corbyn is facing damaging questions over claims he failed to respond to repeated warnings about a paedophile scandal in his constituency.

The Labour leader attended three meetings where shocking evidence of abuse in care homes in the North London borough of Islington was detailed, yet stands accused of taking no action.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has unearthed new details of the meetings which took place in the early 1990s, around the time that newspapers were beginning to expose the scandal of the widespread rape and sexual abuse of vulnerable children dating back to the 1970s.

In a devastating attack on the Labour leader, whistleblowers accuse him of remaining silent and failing to challenge the Labour-controlled council as it sought to cover up the scandal.

Demetrious Panton (pictured above at his home in Whitechapel, London) says he was subject to appalling abuse during the late 1970s while living at a children's home in Islington Council

1 Elwood Street (pictured above) where the alleged abuse is said to have occurred

Our investigation revealed that:

A man abused from the age of ten by two council employees told Mr Corbyn in August 1992  two months before the scandal broke in the media  that very bad things had happened to him at a council care home;

Five social workers met the Labour MP just weeks later and he promised to raise the matter with Virginia Bottomley, the then Tory Health Secretary  but this weekend she said she had no memory of any such approach;

Fearing a council cover-up, an investigative journalist who exposed the vile abuse urged Mr Corbyn to speak out, only to be brushed off with a bland statement that the council were doing everything that needs to be done  although it later emerged that they were actually destroying vital evidence at the time.

Demetrious Panton was just 10-years-old when the abuse started at the home in Islington (pictured above, 10 years old)

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured above) is facing damaging questions over claims he failed to respond to repeated warnings about a paedophile scandal in his constituency

A string of sexual predators infiltrated Islingtons care system from the 1970s and their sickening activities are now regarded as among Britains darkest child abuse scandals. Abusers  including paedophiles, pimps and child pornographers  had been employed at each of the councils 12 childrens homes, but staff who raised concerns were accused of racism and homophobia.

At least 26 workers linked to abuse were allowed to leave their jobs without being investigated, but when the London Evening Standard first revealed the scandal in October 1992, Margaret Hodge, the then-leader of Islington Council and now Labour MP for Barking, described its report as a sensationalist piece of gutter journalism.

She has subsequently apologised for what she described as the councils shameful naivety in ignoring victims voices.

Margaret Hodge (pictured above) had described a report into the abuse as 'a sensationalist piece of gutter journalism'

In the aftermath, Mr Corbyns only public intervention was a short comment to the Evening Standard, saying: These allegations are extremely serious and must be properly investigated.

Yet Demetrious Panton, who was one of the many abuse victims in Islington, believes that inaction by local politicians, including Mr Corbyn, may have allowed some of the paedophiles to escape justice.

None of the alleged abusers is thought to have been prosecuted and at least three of the ringleaders, including Bernie Bains who abused Mr Panton, fled abroad.

I never heard him [Mr Corbyn] say anything, said Mr Panton, 51, now an employment law adviser.

I dont think I fitted into a political paradigm.

Mr Panton was ten when he went into care in 1978. He lost his mother when he was a baby and his father was unable to cope. Yet instead of finding safety, he was abused at the hands of Bains, who ran the home in Elwood Street in Highbury.

When Mr Panton revealed his plight to a health worker in 1979, Bains was allowed to resign. He later fled to Morocco, where he was jailed for child abuse, and killed himself 18 years ago in Thailand.

Shockingly, Mr Panton was later abused by another staff member.

From the age of 14, Mr Panton wrote letters detailing the abuse to Islington Council. I still have copies, he said. I demanded a proper investigation, to save other kids, but they all just told me, in writing, to move on with my life.

Remarkably, he did. After gaining a polytechnic degree, he won a place to study a PhD at the University of Hull but was denied funding by Islington Council. In August 1992, he met Mr Corbyn at his constituency office at the Red Rose Community Centre to ask him to support his funding application. During the meeting, he told the MP that he had been in care in Islington and that very bad things had happened to him at a home.

Victim of Islington care home horror on the first of Labour leaders THREE missed chances to raise alarm over paedophiles Chance one: Abuse survivor Demetrious Panton, told Jermy Corbyn that very bad things happened to him in care  but says the MP never spoke up about his case, even when victims accounts were being dismissed. Chance two: After social workers told Corbyn of 61 possible victims, he vowed to raise the issue with Virginia Bottomley, the Tory Health Secretary at the time. But she says she has no memory of him doing so. Chance three: The reporter who exposed the scandal confronted Corbyn with all the evidence and begged him to act. But she says he just repeated the platitudes of the council  while they were destroying vital files. Advertisement

He was behind a desk and there were papers everywhere. It was like being in a room with one of your university lecturers, said Mr Panton, who had not even confided in close friends at that point.

He told Mr Corbyn that he felt the council had a duty to help him because of his terrible experiences in homes that they ran. Mr Corbyn did write a letter in support for Mr Pantons funding bid, but does not appear to have acted on Mr Pantons very bad things comment  even after the Evening Standard revealed the abuse scandal weeks later.

When the story broke, I never heard him say anything, Mr Panton said. The problem that I have is this: for about four years, Islington Council was denying it and Margaret Hodge was calling it gutter journalism. He could have said, No, actually its not because an individual came to my surgery. 

Mr Panton believes that, had more pressure been put on the council, some abusers may have been prosecuted. With a more robust response from Islington, helped by a more robust response from the politicians who represented Islington, perhaps those individuals might have been brought to justice, who knows?

Just weeks after the scandal broke in the media, the Red Rose Community Centre was the venue for another meeting involving Mr Corbyn and a delegation of five social workers, led by Dr Liz Davies. They had identified at least 61 potential abuse victims and, for more than an hour, detailed their evidence. Mr Corbyn assured them that he would talk to Virginia Bottomley, the then Health Secretary.

However, Baroness Bottomley has no recollection of any contact. Having worked in a child guidance unit for ten years and chaired the Lambeth Juvenile Court, I had significant expertise in this field, she told The Mail on Sunday. It is inconceivable that I would ignore any such approach. But I have no memory of it whatsoever.

Dr Davies was surprised when she received no further contact from Mr Corbyn. No letter. No phone call. I never, ever saw him speak about it, she later recalled.

In early 1993, Mr Corbyn met Eileen Fairweather, one of the Evening Standard reporters who had revealed the scandal, at the Commons. There, she begged him to speak out publicly and warned that Nicholas Rabet, a former care home manager and suspected child abuser, was still running a childrens activity centre in Sussex.

Rabet, 56, would later kill himself in Thailand while awaiting trial after being charged with molesting 30 underage boys.

I went to plead with him, Ms Fairweather told The Mail on Sunday. We sat in a corner and I took him through the strength of the evidence. I said, This is really serious, youve got to do something. He listened very politely. He promised to make enquiries.

But she heard nothing until she rang him several weeks later. He said, I have made some enquiries and I have been reassured that everything that needs to be done is being done, she recalled.

It emerged later, however, that crucial documents were being destroyed by Islington Council at that very time.

Last night, a lawyer who acts for abuse victims urged Mr Corbyn to make his position clear. His response to allegations of abuse in Islington raises very serious questions, said Richard Scorer, from law firm Slater and Gordon. If he wants to command confidence on these issues, he needs to acknowledge if and when mistakes were made.

Islington Council has agreed a compensation package of 2.1 million for victims of the abuse scandal and said that it provides personal and psychological support to those affected.

Its current leader, Richard Watts, said: Were very sorry for Islington Councils past failure to protect vulnerable children in its care. The council today is a very different place, and protecting children from harm is our top priority.

Last night a Labour spokesman said: The claim that Jeremy Corbyn failed to speak out about child sexual abuse is false.

In October 1992 he publicly demanded a full investigation into abuse of children in care in Islington. He is on the record describing the allegations as extremely serious and demanding they be properly investigated. 

A source insisted that Mr Corbyn had raised allegations with Islington Councils director of social services at the time, and believes he raised Dr Daviess issues with Baroness Bottomley.

Children were being abused on an industrial scale on Corbyn's doorstep... yet he did nothing

Much of Corbyns Islington North constituency was made up of white English and Irish workers alongside immigrants. Most inhabited either unrepaired private houses or dilapidated council estates. They suffered bad schools, stretched health services and one of the most corrupt Labour councils in the country.

But Corbyn never issued press releases about local issues. His frequent publicity flyers were about Palestine, Ireland, the Western Sahara or Nicaragua. He seemed oblivious to Islington being ranked as Londons worst borough for social services, housing, education and street maintenance.

Jerry MacLochlainn of Sinn Fein (left) with Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn (centre) and Sinn Fein Councillor Franis Molloy, during a demonstration march that marks 20 years since Bloody Sunday.

Under Margaret Hodge, the council leader between 1982 and 1992, the Peoples Republic of Islington boasted a red flag fluttering above the town hall and a bust of Lenin inside.

Despite levying Londons highest council tax, nearly half of its residents lived in 35,000 council houses plagued by crime, drugs, damp and dilapidation because Islingtons unionised labour force refused to undertake repairs.

A print clipping from the Islington Gazette from January 15 1988 reporting on the disappearance of Vivian Loki

Yet while Hodge regularly received complaints from Chris Smith, the Labour MP for Islington South, she never heard from Corbyn. Preoccupied by the needs of immigrants and foreign conflicts, he appeared uninterested in the many woes of his constituents.

Most shamefully, he didnt seem to care about the systematic sexual abuse of vulnerable children in Islingtons residential homes, all of which were staffed by council employees, members of his old union, NUPE.

Horrifying evidence of sex orgies run from a hot house on Islingtons Elthorne estate was exposed.

Children had been rented out from a brothel to paedophiles.

Among the many victims was Vivian Loki, a 17-year-old girl whose decomposed body was discovered on the estate six months after her murder by a paedophile.

Further north, at Gisburne House, another Islington home, children were being abused on an industrial scale. All this, Islington social worker Liz Davies discovered, was happening on Corbyns doorstep. He knew all about it because it was raised by [Conservative MP] Geoffrey Dickens in the Commons.

In October 1992, five Islington council social workers, led by Liz Davies, confronted Corbyn in his office at the Red Rose Community Centre.

By then, dozens of drugged, hungry and distressed young people of both sexes living in 12 council homes were being routinely raped by council employees.

Paedophile gangs were rampant across the borough, and at least 30 employees who were suspected of crimes had been allowed to quietly resign.

Peter Righton, founder of the pro-paedophile group the Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE), had been given authority by the Home Office to brief council social workers to place vulnerable children with known sex offenders. Having set out this appalling scenario, the social workers told Corbyn that their complaints to Margaret Hodge had been ignored.

After Londons Evening Standard newspaper published a detailed expose of Islingtons employment of known paedophiles, and the officials shredding of documents to cover up the crimes, the council accused the paper of gutter journalism.

Gisbourne House (pictured above) where children were being abused on an industrial scale

The council employees meeting with Corbyn lasted 90 minutes, during which he pronounced

Ive heard similar issues from other constituents, and then said little else.

As usual when confronted with complicated or unpalatable facts, he retreated into his shell, mumbling and smiling but offering no meaningful replies.

At the end, he promised to speak to Virginia Bottomley, the Health Minister, but she does not recall any such conversation having taken place.

We heard nothing more from Corbyn, Liz Davies recalled.

We dont know whether he did anything to help us.
Almost one in 50 prisoners is transgender, according to a survey of inmates conducted by the official jail watchdog.

Inmates at notorious top security male prisons such as Belmarsh, Long Lartin and Wakefield said they identified as female or non-binary.

Transgender prisoners are allowed to choose whether they are kept in a male or female jail and can receive other perks, including showering alone. Critics fear that some inmates are falsely claiming to be transgender to win privileges.

The survey numbers are far higher than those published by the Government. Ministry of Justice statistics published last year found only 139 prisoners said they were transgender.

Karen White was born Stephen Wood, and had previously been jailed for rape but was transferred to New Hall womens prison in West Yorkshire last year after changing his name and starting to wear wigs and womens clothing

But extrapolated across the entire prison population, the new survey figures would suggest there are more than 1,400 transgender inmates.

It can also be revealed that special wings for transgender prisoners have been set up across the UK, while Ministers are still considering whether or not to make it official policy.

The MoJ is urgently rewriting the rulebook on how transgender prisoners should be treated as their numbers surge.

Convicted as a man, jailed with women Karen White was born Stephen Wood, and had previously been jailed for rape but was transferred to New Hall womens prison in West Yorkshire last year after changing his name and starting to wear wigs and womens clothing. While there on remand for a stabbing, White sexually assaulted two female inmates. She was jailed for at least eight years after a judge branded her a highly manipulative predator. Advertisement

It is under pressure to stop transgender criminals being able to move to female jails after the scandal last year when rapist Karen White  born a man, Stephen Wood  sexually assaulted two women behind bars.

A year ago, HM Inspectorate of Prisons quietly inserted questions about gender identity into the surveys it gives to inmates when it goes into jails in England and Wales.

For the first time, the questionnaire now asks all adults behind bars: What is your gender? It gives the options male, female, non-binary  those who do not identify as either male or female  and other.

It also includes the question: Do you identify as transgender or transsexual?

Analysis by this newspaper shows that of the 6,667 people questioned in 43 different prisons, 118 said they were transgender  1.77 per cent of the total or about one in 57. In male prisons, the proportion of transgender inmates is higher still at 116 out of 6,263  1.85 per cent, or one in 54.

Within the entire 82,567 prison population, HMIP figures would suggest there are as many as 1,461 transgender inmates. Internal MoJ documents seen by this newspaper admit the number of transgender prisoners may have been under-estimated. Last night, the MoJ said: We do not recognise these survey figures, which use a less robust methodology than our statistics.

Convicted as a woman, jailed with men Tara Hudson has lived as a woman all her adult life Tara Hudson has lived as a woman all her adult life but was sent to a male prison after she admitted head-butting a barman. While in HMP Bristol, she claims she was kept in her cell like a zoo animal while other inmates were allowed to go to the gym or take courses. During the week-long ordeal, Hudson, above, said she was groped and also abused by baying male prisoners. After an outcry, she was moved to Eastwood Park womens jail in Gloucestershire. Advertisement

Ministers and civil servants are looking at setting up separate units for transgender prisoners instead of the controversial rule that allows them to choose whether they are sent to a male or female jail. But this newspaper has established that four such clusters are already in operation in male sex offender jails  Whatton in Nottinghamshire, Littlehey in Cambridgeshire, Isle of Wight and the privately-run HMP Parc in Bridgend, South Wales.

An insider said: The term informal clusters refers to a wing where more than one transgender offender resides. There will be other residents who arent transgender on this wing.

It is thought that as well as allowing transgender prisoners to spend more time in each others company, the measure also makes it easier for staff to let them shower or wash clothes away from other inmates.

Sources say that five transgender inmates who had been in female jails have been moved back to male prisons in the wake of the White case.

A Whitehall source said: We are reviewing our policy so that it strikes the right balance between protecting transgender prisoners and their rights, and the safety and wellbeing of all prisoners, including some extremely vulnerable women.

Victims rights campaigner Harry Fletcher said: It is a real issue that significant numbers of sex offenders are identifying as female. The purpose could be to continue abusing vulnerable women. It is imperative they are properly risk-assessed before any transfer.
With more than seven million users in Britain and tens of millions more across the world, Tinder has become the go-to place for a generation of digitally-savvy singletons looking for love.

But those using Tinder and other popular dating apps are being left at shocking risk of being preyed upon by murderers, sex offenders, fraudsters and paedophiles.

An investigation by The Mail on Sunday has discovered how online dating sites are:

Used as a hunting ground by convicted rapists and sex attackers to target more women;

Exploited by criminals who create fake profiles and rob those they trick into dates;

Targeted by fraudsters and scammers who extort money from innocent victims;

Infiltrated by paedophiles who use a lack of age verification checks to target children as young as eight;

Pocketing vast profits, yet have failed to introduce safety features in Britain that they agreed to in America.

Launched in 2012, Tinder allows users to like or dislike other users by swiping either right or left on their profiles. Those who like each other can then chat and, if they wish, agree to meet.

Around 1.6 billion swipes are made globally on the app each day and Match Group, which owns Tinder and a string of other dating sites including Plenty Of Fish and OK Cupid, last year announced annual profits of 1.3 billion.

Joshua Stimpson killed Molly McLaren by stabbing her 75 times. They had met on Tinder seven months earlier. Convicted rapist Patrick Nevin signed up for Tinder, then raped and assaulted three women he met on the app

Duarte Xavier was jailed for 15 years for posing as a woman on Tinder and tricking four men into having sex. Paedophile Gary Dickinson was returned to prison after defying a ban to use apps Tinder and Plenty Of Fish

Manuela Radeva claimed on Tinder to be a banker. She was ordered to pay back 182,000 to an older man. Jonathan Frame was given 18 months after using Tinder to swindle lonely women out of thousands of pounds

But victims groups are increasingly concerned that Match is failing to adequately protect its millions of users in the UK.

Tinders terms and conditions reveal it does not conduct routine criminal records checks, adding: You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users.

Meanwhile, Match Groups apps do not require any proof that those signing up are providing their real name, date of birth, profile photograph and gender.

This absence of checks will be particularly distressing for the fiance of a woman who says she was attacked by double rapist Brian Davey. Davey set up a Tinder profile in which he described himself as easy going and looking for the same. Unsuspecting women had no idea that the 27-year-old from Bangor, Northern Ireland, had been jailed in 2013 for raping a student. He was sent back to prison in 2016 after being accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl while out on licence.

Hes a convicted rapist. Now hes on dating apps potentially meeting victims who have no idea who he is, said the man, whose fiancee claims she was raped by Davey, although he was not prosecuted. The guys a predator. Hes going to do it again. Its only a matter of time.

Tinder at a glance: How dating app now has 57 million users in 190 countries Users of Tinder are shown profiles of people who are in the same town or city and they can swipe right to like the person or swipe left to pass them.

If both users like each other, a match is made and they can then start chatting through the app.

There are 57 million Tinder users in 190 countries. The app is available in 40 languages.

Active Tinder users log in four times a day on average.

Tinders parent company Match Group last year reported global profits of 1.3 billion.

Tinder is the most popular dating app among 18-24 year olds, who make up 27 per cent of the apps UK users. Advertisement

Another serial sex offender, Patrick Nevin, 37, used Tinder to target victims, despite having been convicted of rape and aggravated rape in Denmark. He was able to register on Tinder despite his conviction and went on to sexually assault and rape three women he met on the app.

Police believe Nevin could have raped up to a dozen other women, and his trial last year heard how he boasted of having had thousands of matches on Tinder and meeting up with hundreds of women.

Another shocking case involved Duarte Xavier, who masqueraded as a woman to trick four straight men into having sex with him.

Last summer, Mandy Ginsberg, chief executive of Match, announced in a blaze of publicity that her intention as a mother of two daughters was to do what I can so that future generations dont have to live in fear of sexual assault.

She unveiled the firms #MeToo-inspired sexual advisory board to protect women, along with checks of American users of its sites against the US sex offenders register.

However, Match said last night it has no plans to create a similar sexual advisory board in the UK, nor a system for screening British users. Unlike America, the British sex offenders register is not publicly available. According to the National Crime Agency, reports of sexual offences in Britain related to dating apps have risen from 33 in 2009 to 184 in 2014  the latest available figures.

Anne Coffey, the Labour MP for Stockport, who has campaigned for greater protections on dating apps, said: I dont see why the standards of safety should be any different for British women than American women.

Katie Russell, from the charity Rape Crisis, added: Surely such a powerful dating company could liaise with the British Government for access to be given to the sex offenders register privately? But rape is not the only crime to which users of dating apps have fallen victim.

Earlier this year, it emerged that British backpacker Grace Millane, 22, who was found dead in New Zealand, allegedly met the 26-year-old man accused of her murder on Tinder. Another shocking case involved student Molly McLaren, 23, who was murdered in 2017 by her ex-boyfriend Joshua Stimpson, 26, who she had met via Tinder. Stimpson, who had a history of stalking women, followed Molly before carrying out a frenzied knife attack in which he stabbed her 75 times after she got into her car at a shopping centre in Kent.

Another shocking case involved student Molly McLaren, 23, who was murdered in 2017 by her ex-boyfriend Joshua Stimpson (pictured together), 26, who she had met via Tinder

Stimpson, who had a history of stalking women, followed Molly before carrying out a frenzied knife attack in which he stabbed her 75 times after she got into her car (pictured) at a shopping centre in Kent

Meanwhile, childrens charities are worried by the rise in the number of young people being groomed and sexually abused by people they meet on dating apps.

Children and teenagers are easily able to bypass the apps minimum age requirement of 18 and set up profiles by simply lying about their age.

Figures from police forces across the UK reveal that detectives have investigated 30 incidents of child rape related to dating websites since 2015 and 60 further cases of crimes against children, including grooming, kidnapping and violent sexual assault. The youngest victim was aged just eight.

One youngster, Ruby, who contacted the childrens charity Barnardos for help, described how she began using dating apps in her early teens and was soon sending explicit pictures of herself to adults she met online. She was 14 when she met one of the men from the app and had sex with him.

We met again in a local park a few weeks later. He tried to pull my jeans down. I said No but he kept undressing me, she said.

Thats when I realised that I was in danger and started to panic and cry. He let go and left. I was scared but it didnt stop me from meeting people from the internet.

Another predator, Gary Dickinson, was sent back to prison after being caught using Tinder and Plenty Of Fish in 2017 to target children. He was given a 16-month prison term for breaching a sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2013 after he was given six years in jail for raping a 13-year-old girl he had met online.

An NSPCC spokesman said: Dating apps require their users to be 18 years and over but its easy for children to download and use them. These sites dont enforce their rules adequately and we are undertaking research to better understand the risks and what enhanced protections are needed.

Businessman Marcel Kooter, 57, said he was blinded by attraction when he agreed to transfer 182,000 to Manuela Radeva (pictured posing by a Ferrari), believing she was an investment banker at Citibank

Action Fraud, the police helpline for victims of scams, reported last week that more than 4,500 British users were duped out of a total of 50 million last year by fraudsters they had met through online dating.

The news came as an oil industry consultant who handed over 180,000 to a girlfriend he met on Tinder won a court order forcing her to pay back the money. Businessman Marcel Kooter, 57, said he was blinded by attraction when he agreed to transfer 182,000 to Manuela Radeva, believing she was an investment banker at Citibank.

Another conman, Jonathan Frame, 32, from Swinton, Greater Manchester, was jailed for 18 months in 2017 for using Tinder to swindle lonely women out of thousands of pounds.

Police are also alarmed by the rise in sextortion, in which users are tricked into sending nude pictures to people who then blackmail them. The number of reported cases rose from 55 in 2013 to 412 in 2015, but police believe it is the tip of the iceberg.

Launched in 2012, Tinder allows users to like or dislike other users by swiping either right or left on their profiles. Those who like each other can then chat and, if they wish, agree to meet

Surrey Police also warned users to be aware after a man was robbed by another man he had met through an app.

Match Group said: We take the safety, security and well-being of our users very seriously. We spend millions of dollars annually to prevent, monitor and remove people who engage in inappropriate behaviour.

We also work with law enforcement officials during an investigation. We will reach out to UK-based experts on issues of sexual assault to identify an additional member of our advisory council who can bring a UK perspective to our discussions.

Too easy for predators to find their next victim

By Rachel Horman, National Stalking Advocacy Service chief

The secret of Tinders success is obvious: online dating apps can provide a greater chance of finding love than real life attempts. You dont need to pay for an expensive night out because many dating apps are free to use and you can also browse dozens of potential suitors before even making contact with them.

Perhaps most importantly, you dont have to risk chatting to a stranger in a bar when you are a bit tipsy and can instead sit in the safety of your own home, happily swiping left or right trying to find the one.

But that same convenience is available to the sexual predators and criminals who also use the apps to find their next victim.

Behind the innocent search for a soulmate lie dark forces who exploit the lack of checks on dating apps, which do not require users to verify who they really are.

It means that instead of finding love, innocent women  and most victims are women  innocently invite dangerous men into their lives, all too often with horrifying consequences.

The secret of Tinders success is obvious: online dating apps can provide a greater chance of finding love than real life attempts

As The Mail on Sunday has found, stalkers, serial sex attackers, murderers and fraudsters are all abusing these sites.

It should serve as a wake-up call to the technology giants which cream vast profits from Tinder and similar apps.

As a lawyer, I can foresee a case being brought in the near future in which a woman sues Tinder because she has been stalked by a serial offender who she met on the app.

Sadly, it might take that before these firms start taking the issue seriously.

That was the case in America where Match Group, which owns several dating sites including Tinder, agreed to carry out background checks on members in order to settle a lawsuit brought by Carole Markin. She was raped by a man she met on one of its other dating sites.

The man had six previous convictions for sexual offences.

In America, users are cross-referenced with the sex offenders register. While that is less simple in Britain because the equivalent register isnt publicly available, Match Group has chosen not to introduce any meaningful controls here.

Instead, a predator can sign up to Tinder without giving their real name.

All they need is an email address and a phone number, both of which can be obtained anonymously.

Even if you dont agree to meet them, these dangerous men can stalk dozens of women remotely by collecting information about their identity and personal details through exchanges on Tinder.

Around 1.6 billion swipes are made globally on the app each day and Match Group, which owns Tinder and a string of other dating sites including Plenty Of Fish and OK Cupid, last year announced annual profits of 1.3 billion

Its all too easy to match up a photo profile to a Facebook profile and then identify the area where they live by checking local restaurants that they have liked, for example. By adding that to other snippets of information, a predator can soon obtain a home address.

As the chairman of Paladin  the National Stalking Advocacy Service  there is not a day that I dont hear about a woman who has been stalked or abused by someone she has met online.

My organisation is campaigning for a serial stalker and domestic abuser register to monitor and impose conditions on perpetrators in the same way as the sex offenders register does for sex attackers.

Despite this being recommended by the Home Affairs Select Committee, the Government has unfortunately not yet included this in its domestic abuse bill.

Those who operate dating apps have a responsibility to make it more difficult for predators to use their sites.

A GOOD initial step would be to force dating app users to upload their passport or driving licence to prove who they are. This would also prevent offenders from having multiple profiles on the sites.

For those who worry about privacy, remember that you have to provide identification to join the library, so why not to use a dating app? Im sure most people would feel more comfortable if the app at least had a record of who it was they were communicating with.

Because if nothing changes, predators will continue to use them to snare unsuspecting victims.
Corbyn in 2009 ahead of demonstrations across Britain against Israeli military action on Gaza

With no degree and two rotten A-levels, when it came to hunting for his first real job, Corbyn aimed low.

An ad placed by the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers for an assistant in its research department attracted just one reply  Corbyns  and he got the job.

Intriguingly, given the torrent of anti-Semitism claims the Labour leader faces today, this was the post that gave him his first encounter with Jews.

Corbyns boss was Alec Smith, who in 1973 was negotiating with employers at the Retail Bespoke Tailoring Wages Council. Working under Smith was Mick Mindel, a Jewish communist who articulated his members passionate support for Israel.

Most of their employers were also Left-wing Jews  like Mindel, they looked to communism to abolish injustice and prejudice, including anti-Semitism.

Corbyn has boasted of how, although only an assistant in the research department, he personally challenged employers to recover members unpaid wages after their bosses had mysteriously gone bankrupt just before Christmas, owing their workers a lot of wages.

Scumbags, actually. Crooks was how Corbyn described the bosses. My job was to try and chase these people through Companies House and so on.

According to Corbyn, he examined the companies accounts in order to verify phoney bankruptcies. But that notion is contradicted by his old boss, Alec Smith, and also by the unions well catalogued records, which do not reveal any issues about unscrupulous employers, or refer to any member complaining about being unpaid.

Smith is certain that Corbyn never had any contact with our members. He just sat in at meetings passing me information.

Corbyn, not for the first time reshaping the truth to improve his self-image, conjured a tale of a brave personal fight against exploitative Jewish employers of sweatshop labour. Parochialism and fantasy led to him forming his views about the malign collective power of Jews.

Thirty years later he boasted how, at the end of one Wages Council meeting, a Jewish tailor had offered to make him a suit if he provided the cloth. Corbyn had spurned the offer. Imagine trying to bribe a union official, he laughed.

'Freedom for Humanity' - a street art graffiti work by artist Mear One on Hanbury Street near Brick Lane. It was removed as the characters depicted as bankers have faces that look Jewish. In March 2018, the issue of the mural resurfaced as Corbyn, in a Facebook post in 2012, asked Mear One why the mural was to be buffed and likened its removal to Nelson Rockefeller's destruction of Diego Rivera's Man at the Crossroads fresco in 1934

Immersed in an alien world, the young Corbyn had no time for those seeking self-improvement  to fulfil the dream of moving from East End slums to North Londons suburbs.

Since he disdained materialism, culture and anything spiritual, he was an empty vessel, uneasy with a race complicated by its history of survival over 2,000 years of persecution.

Jews in London were the victims of discrimination by all classes, including the working class  a truth that did not quite fit Corbyns Marxist theory of history.

Few Labour MPs were more troubled by Jeremy Corbyn than Louise Ellman, elected in 1997 for Liverpool Riverside. A soft-spoken mother-of-two, she had joined the party at 18.

For years, it was seldom mentioned that Ellman was Jewish: at Westminster and in her constituency, her religion was irrelevant. That changed after Corbyns election in September 2015.

The membership of her constituency soared from 500 to 2,700, and at meetings the Corbynistas harangued her about Israel and Zionism. Older party members were disgusted by the anti-Semitic abuse. Its pretty nasty, Ellman reported to party headquarters in London. She blamed the revived Militant faction, now reincarnated as Momentum, for plotting to deselect her. No one at headquarters acknowledged her concern, which did not surprise her.

Few Labour MPs were more troubled by Corbyn than Louise Ellman (pictured), elected in 1997 for Liverpool Riverside. A soft-spoken mother-of-two, she had joined the party at 18. For years, it was seldom mentioned that Ellman was Jewish. That changed after Corbyns election in September 2015. The membership of her constituency soared from 500 to 2,700, and at meetings the Corbynistas harangued her about Israel and Zionism

Ellmans predicament had begun soon after the creation of the Stop The War Coalition in 2001. She was among the first to protest against its anti-Semitism.

The criticism of Israel and Zionism was couched in language markedly similar to the myths parroted over the previous 2,000 years about Jewish wealth dominating the world.

Corbyn had been seen at Stop The Wars annual Al-Quds (the Arab name for Jerusalem) event opposing Israels existence, mingling among Palestinians distributing magazines featuring cartoons portraying Jews with large noses pulling the strings of puppet politicians, media moguls and bankers.

Just before Christmas 2003, Ellman addressed an empty Commons about the rising tide of anti-Semitism. She named the leaders of the Muslim Association of Britain, all of whom were connected to Hamas or other terrorist organisations, for promoting the image of a Jewish global conspiracy.

The reaction to her speech shocked her: I was regarded as a freak. Letters in The Guardian denounced her for identifying Muslims as anti-Semitic. At Westminster, several MPs shunned her. Corbyn was heard by a member of his staff mocking Ellman as the Honourable Member for Tel Aviv  an allegation he later denied.

The truth is that Corbyns antagonism towards Zionism is one of the most consistent  and toxic  lines of his career. To him, Jews arent victims of racism and oppression but rather racist oppressors themselves.

For years, hed noisily voiced his outrage at the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza at countless public meetings  never drawing a distinction between the terms Jew and Zionist which were interchangeable to many on the Left.

On those occasions he effortlessly lapsed into anti-Semitic language, convinced a backbenchers prejudice would not attract attention beyond his loyal audience.

And for years it didnt. Nor did the fact that he consistently invited anti-Zionists to the Commons, without ever offering Jews a similar privilege. Among his most appalling guests was Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which had described Jews as monkeys and bacteria. Salah had been convicted in Israel for saying that Semites had drunk the blood of non-Jewish babies, and used childrens blood to bake bread.

Once he thrust himself into the national spotlight by standing as Labour leader, Corbyn was shocked and angered by the medias investigation of his past alliances.

The horrors werent hard to find  there were so many they spilled out at regular intervals throughout the first three years of his leadership, each sparking new revulsion.

Anyone who wanted to know how Corbyn thought just needed to examine his words  or look at the company he kept.

On March 3, 2009, he said in a speech: It will be my pleasure and my honour to host an event in Parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. I have also invited our friends from Hamas to come and speak.

In the lexicon of terrorists, few groups were more medieval than Hamas and Hezbollah and Corbyn later had to apologise for calling them friends.

In August 2015 it was revealed he accepted 2,000 from Ibrahim Hamami, a London GP and a Hamas sympathiser, who applauded the stabbing of Jews. Corbyn registered the donation with the surname wrongly spelt as Hamam  and refused to explain what he did with the money.

Also that year he accepted an invitation from Ibrahim Hewitt, senior editor of a news organisation called Middle East Monitor, to speak at the groups annual conference. Hewitt, another Hamas supporter, not only approved stoning adulterers to death and lashing gay men, but sharply criticised Jewish influence at Westminster.

At the conference, British Palestinian political activist Dr Azzam Tamimi spoke about suicide bombers as noble martyrs. Hewitt said of Tamimi: I consider him to be a very good friend.

As the evidence of anti-Semitism among Labour supporters grew, so did public unease. One formidable opponent was Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Most people in the Jewish community cant trust Labour, he said.

Reluctantly, Corbyn agreed to meet Arkush and the Board of Deputies, complaining to his staff that inviting the bourgeois Arkush was unfair. Josh Simons, a policy adviser in Corbyns office, noticed that, as the staff prepared for the meeting, the mood was one of flippant disdain.

The Board of Deputies leaders arrived at Corbyns office on April Fools Day, 2016. Uncertain how to address them, he relied on a script given to him to read, and thereafter directed their questions to his Marxist spin doctor, Seumas Milne. Ignoring that pass-off, Arkush asked Corbyn: What do you expect the Jewish community to feel when you meet people who are blatantly racist?

Jews in London were the victims of discrimination by all classes, including the working class  a truth that did not quite fit Corbyns Marxist theory of history,

Corbyn hesitated, then finally replied that he would reflect. But he refused to express any regret about associating with Hamas or Hezbollah. Positioned to one side of the room, Milne was seething.

In the presence of Jews, his body language had visibly changed. His language did not. Replying to the deputies questions, he refused to say anti-Semitism, only anti-Zionism. His blatant anti-Semitism, said one of the visitors, was frightening. Giving power to Seumas Milne is fearful.

One of the ties that most strongly binds Corbyn and Milne is their unremitting hostility to Israel.

After spending a gap-year holiday in Lebanon in the early 1980s, witnessing ferocious battles between Israelis and Palestinians, Milne regarded Zionism as evil, without qualification.

He shared Corbyns belief that the Islamic attacks of 9/11 were explicable as acts of resistance. He described the murder of Lee Rigby, a British soldier hacked to death on a London street by two Muslims in May 2013, as not terrorism in the normal sense of an indiscriminate attack on civilians, because Rigby had served in Afghanistan.

In 2016, Labours General Secretary, Iain McNicol, suggested Corbyn ask Jan Royall, the Labour peer trusted by the Jewish community, to report on whether the party had a wider problem.

But Corbyn rejected her, and a more suitable candidate was soon found. Shami wants to come and help, Corbyn announced to his office, referring to Shami Chakrabarti, the former head of Liberty, the civil rights group.

Chakrabarti took a call from Seumas Milne while standing on the tarmac at Heathrow, where she was about to board a flight for Dublin. Milne told her that the solution to the partys problems was an inquiry, and she instantly accepted his offer to undertake the face-saver.

By the time she landed in Ireland, she had agreed that she would not investigate individuals accused of anti-Semitism, but would instead conduct a thematic review of the partys broader culture. Perhaps to make it palatable to party members, she would also include complaints about Islamophobia, even though that was not a problem anyone was highlighting.

In addition, to avoid any complaints that she was personally hostile to Labour, she would join the party. Her membership was completed on an app at Dublin Airport.

At Milnes suggestion, she agreed that she would not recommend any disciplinary action. Blandness was required, and Chakrabarti was content to oblige.

The public assumption that the respected lawyer would remain staunchly independent was undermined by her own decision not to undertake a judicial-style inquiry, but to be as partial as she deemed necessary.

Over the following weeks, Chakrabarti listened to hours of harrowing testimony from Jews, not least from female Labour MPs describing the anti-Semitic abuse they had suffered from party members.

As the evidence accumulated, she made no attempt to appear independent. Regularly, said an eyewitness, Seumas Milne got calls from Shami. He gave her guidance about what he and Corbyn expected.

At that moment, few understood the extent to which Corbyn himself was the issue.

Rather than draining the swamp, he had brought it with him.

Among the many stains blighting his past was his subscription between 2013 and 2015 to Palestine Live, a Facebook page popular among Holocaust deniers.

Corbyn has been seen at Stop The Wars annual Al-Quds (the Arab name for Jerusalem) event opposing Israels existence, mingling among Palestinians distributing magazines featuring cartoons portraying Jews with large noses pulling the strings of puppet politicians, media moguls and bankers

Noted for its vicious anti-Semitic statements, it was just one of 40 virulently anti-Zionist accounts Corbyn was following.

Towards the end of her inquiry, Chakrabarti interviewed Corbyn. I put to Jeremy the list of people he had met and shared platforms with in the past, she would say, and he had good answers. He was searching for peace.

She concluded that his anti-Zionism was not anti-Semitic, but only passionately supportive of Palestinian rights.

Faced with accusations by Luciana Berger and many other Jewish MPs that her inquiry was biased, she would reply that, while she would not judge Berger, she did not know if she was conflating.

It was an odd choice of word. Berger could have accused Corbyn of anti-Semitism, Chakrabarti was suggesting, just because she disliked Corbyn. In other words, she was weaponising anti-Semitism.

As she was writing her report, Chakrabarti discussed her conclusions with Milne  but she would deny that he vetted or influenced her.

In Shamis opinion, recalls an insider with the authority of a witness, she had delivered what Milne required to end the dispute. But she had failed to grasp the seriousness of the Jews despair. She was out of her depth.

Either way, her investigation was over, her job done. Corbyn has nothing to fear.

On June 30, near the Aldwych in Central London, Corbyn stood beside Chakrabarti as she introduced her report to a hall packed with his supporters. Watching from the side were Milne and members of Momentum.

Corbyn had good reason to be relieved. Chakrabarti had reported that, although there was occasionally a toxic atmosphere, Labour was not overrun by anti-Semitism. She absolved Corbyn of any responsibility, recommended any future suspensions from the party be kept secret, ruled out lifetime membership bans, and declared that Labour Party members guilty of anti-Semitism should not be disciplined.

At the end of her brief speech, Corbyn spoke. Our Jewish friends, he said, are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those self-styled Islamic State organisations.

It was a shocking comparison, deliberately made, and before Corbyn had finished speaking, the former chief rabbi Lord Sacks accused him of spouting pure anti-Semitism, adding it shows how deep the sickness is in parts of the Left of British politics today. Corbyn later apologised for comparing Islamic State to Israel.

Among those seated in the hall was Ruth Smeeth, the Jewish Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, while standing in the aisle nearby was Marc Wadsworth, a Momentum member.

Wadsworth was handing out a press release calling for the deselection of MPs  traitors  opposed to the leadership. He refused to give a copy to Smeeth, as in his opinion she ranked among the partys enemies.

Her treachery was proven when she asked a Daily Telegraph journalist seated next to her to read out the press release. To Smeeths surprise, Wadsworth snapped at her that was she working hand-in-hand with the Right-wing media. Smeeth burst into tears. As the hapless MP visibly struggled with her emotions, the insult was compounded when, at the end of his presentation, Corbyn walked through the audience and greeted Wadsworth.

I outed Smeeth, Wadsworth told him proudly. Bloody talking to the Torygraph. Glancing at Smeeth, Corbyn saw that she was in tears, shared a laugh with Wadsworth, and walked out of the hall.

Corbyns antagonism towards Zionism is one of the most consistent  and toxic  lines of his career. To him, Jews arent victims of racism and oppression but rather racist oppressors themselves

In the days following that incident, Smeeth received thousands of abusive messages, including death threats. In his own defence Corbyn said that he had been misunderstood. Beyond Parliament, within hours of the reports publication, Chakrabartis reputation was being shredded, partly on account of her failure to consider that Corbyn had not vocally opposed the forced segregation of Muslims at party meetings. She had also ignored male Muslim officials refusing to allow women to be selected as Labour candidates in at least two constituencies.

And still the anti-Semitic skeletons kept tumbling out of Corbyns closet. In 2012, a large mural had appeared on a wall in Tower Hamlets, East London. Painted by American artist Kalen Ockerman, it portrayed Jewish financiers playing Monopoly on a board supported on the naked backs of the worlds oppressed  mostly blacks.

Even after a brief glance, no one could fail to grasp the familiar caricature of grotesque-looking Jewish bankers engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to manipulate subjugated slaves.

Responding to protests, Tower Hamlets Council ordered the mural to be scrubbed out.

But looking at the mural on his computer, Corbyn saw rich white Jews, international powerbrokers, exploiting oppressed blacks. Immediately he protested against the murals removal on the grounds of free speech. He also wrote to Ockerman Youre in good company, referring to the removal of a mural by Diego Rivera in New York back in 1934: Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Vieras [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.

Screenshots of his Facebook post emerged last spring, prompting yet another toxic row. Another was quickly to follow.

Soon after he had approved Ockermans mural, Corbyn spoke without inhibition at a meeting of the Palestinian Return Centre.

In an unusually light-hearted manner, he addressed the difficulty British Zionists experienced in coping with an alien culture.

So clearly two problems, he summarised. One is that they dont want to study history and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they dont understand English irony either so I think they need two lessons which we can help them with.

From his own mouth came the declaration that Zionists, alias Jews, were not genuinely British  remarks that sparked a cacophony of outrage when they came to light last summer. Corbyn, said former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, was a supporter of racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map. The Labour leaders remarks were the most offensive since Enoch Powells Rivers of Blood speech in 1968. Corbyns office openly mocked Sackss comparison.

The former chief rabbi, it seems, was just another wailing Jew.

Dangerous Hero: Corbyns Ruthless Plot For Power, by Tom Bower, is published by William Collins on February 21 at 20. Offer price 16 (20 per cent discount) until February 24. Pre-order at mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery.
The anti-Semitism storm engulfing Jeremy Corbyn deepened last night after the Labour leader was linked to the official at the centre of allegations about the racist bullying of a pregnant Jewish MP.

Luciana Berger  who has been dubbed a dirty little Zionist rat by pro-Corbyn activists  is thought to be so disgusted by Labour anti-Semitism she is on the brink of leaving to form a breakaway party.

Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal previously undisclosed links between Mr Corbyn and Alex Scott-Samuel, who has led the drive to force out Ms Berger.

Luciana Berger (pictured)  who has been dubbed a dirty little Zionist rat by pro-Corbyn activists  is thought to be so disgusted by Labour anti-Semitism she is on the brink of leaving to form a breakaway party

Alex Scott-Samuel posted this image on his Twitter page meeting Jeremy Corbyn. Now The Mail on Sunday can reveal previously undisclosed links between Mr Corbyn and Dr Scott-Samuel, who has led the drive to force out Ms Berger

Dr Scott-Samuel even met the Labour leader to discuss what he considered the victimisation of anti-Zionist Corbynistas like himself.

This newspaper today also publishes more devastating extracts from Tom Bowers bombshell biography of Corbyn, detailing the full extent of the anti-Semitism scandal on his watch.

Revelations that will further rock the Labour leadership include:

Bowers account of how Mr Corbyns anti-Zionism has its roots in his first job as a union official, where he came to believe in the malign collective power of Jews;

Bowers expose of the mood of flippant disdain among Mr Corbyns staff before a summit with the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who protested that the Labour leader associated with people who were blatantly racist;

How Mr Corbyns own constituency chairwoman dismissed the anti-Semitism scandal as baseless smears which have been orchestrated by Israeli fifth columnists;

An admission by Labour MP John Mann that Jew-haters are among us and the lack of action is undoubtedly emboldening them.

Meanwhile, the Government has provocatively tabled a Commons debate for Wednesday on anti-Semitism in modern society designed to embarrass the Opposition front bench.

Earlier this month Ms Berger, who is due to give birth in under a fortnight, fought off a constituency motion of no confidence following an outcry by moderate MPs.

Dr Scott-Samuel posted these images on his Twitter page (left and right). He even met the Labour leader to discuss what he considered the victimisation of anti-Zionist Corbynistas like himself

It had been approved by Dr Scott-Samuel, chairman of her Liverpool Wavertree constituency party, on the grounds that her campaign against anti-Semitism amounted to disloyalty to Mr Corbyn.

She has since endured vitriolic trolling on local party websites, being called an Israeli attack dog, a dirty little Zionist rat and worse.

Dr Scott-Samuel met Mr Corbyn in 2016 over what he claimed was the victimisation of anti-Zionists in the party, saying as much on Twitter.

He was also given a centre-stage position as Mr Corbyn took to the stage at last years Labour Party Conference in Liverpool  during which Ms Berger needed an armed guard to protect her against militant Corbynistas.

Mr Corbyn was photographed warmly greeting Dr Scott-Samuel as he stepped on to the podium.

A friend of Ms Bergers said: Luciana could justifiably fear that the entire party apparatus from London to Liverpool is sinisterly acting in concert to prevent her stamping out this cancer. It would be bad enough at any time, let alone when she is about to give birth.

Ms Berger issued a statement this weekend which appeared to put Mr Corbyn on a final warning to sort out the anti-Semitism problem  or face a split in his party.

She said: I have been deeply disturbed by the lack of response from the leadership to the anti-Semitism that stains our Party. I and my colleagues have been calling on the leadership for months to put in place proper measures to tackle this issue.

The sad, frustrating, deeply disappointing fact is that I do not believe the leadership is properly dealing with anti-Semitism. I believe we have a serious problem. I will not be a bystander to anti-Semitism.

Ms Berger issued a statement this weekend which appeared to put Mr Corbyn on a final warning to sort out the anti-Semitism problem  or face a split in his party

'I will continue, unapologetically and with the support of the vast majority, to call out anti-Semitism wherever it rears its ugly head.

This weeks extracts from Mr Bowers book, Dangerous Hero: Corbyns Ruthless Plot For Power, trace Mr Corbyns anti-Zionist beliefs to his first job as a researcher for the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.

The author says that Mr Corbyns campaigns on behalf of low-paid workers against exploitative Jewish employers convinced him of the malign collective power of Jews.

Mr Bower adds: The truth is that Corbyns antagonism towards Zionism is one of the most consistent  and toxic  lines of his career. To him, Jews arent victims of racism and oppression but rather racist oppressors themselves.

For years, hed noisily voice his outrage at the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza... never drawing a distinction between the terms Jew and Zionist which were interchangeable to many on the Left.

The author says that Mr Corbyns campaigns on behalf of low-paid workers against exploitative Jewish employers convinced him of the malign collective power of Jews

The author also describes the mood of flippant disdain in Mr Corbyns office before a crisis summit with the Board of Deputies of British Jews over anti-Semitism, and the complaint from Jonathan Arkush, its president, that Mr Corbyn associated with people who were blatantly racist.

The Mail on Sunday has also established that Corbyns own constituency chair has been spreading material condemning the Israel lobby for its undue influence on British politics.

Alison McGarry claims that the baseless smears of the anti-Semitism scandal have been orchestrated by the Israels UK Embassy, and has called for ambassador Mark Regev to be removed, claiming he is a hardcore Zionist.

Ms McGarry has also campaigned against the expulsion of Labour member Jackie Walker, who is awaiting a judgment for saying that Jews were the chief financiers of the slave trade.

Ms McGarry has shared a number of petitions on the issue, including one last year which said that the baseless smears and slurs against Jeremy Corbyn have been relentlessly orchestrated by the Israeli Embassy and the Labour Friends of Israel and described Israel supporters as a dangerous fifth column.

The Commons debate on anti-Semitism has been timed by the Government to coincide with a resurgence of anger among Labour MPs over the partys failure to crack down on the problem.

The Mail on Sunday has also established that Corbyns own constituency chair has been spreading material condemning the Israel lobby for its undue influence on British politics

Basetlaw MP John Mann, a leading campaigner against anti-Semitism, told this newspaper: We expect Labour members to be above reproach when it comes to racist discrimination and abuse. [But] its fairly clear that Jew-haters are among us and the lack of action is undoubtedly emboldening them.

The sooner we make our members clear that anti-Semitism is not and will never be tolerated, the sooner we can start becoming the antidote to anti-Semitism on the Left, rather than the culture from which it can grow.

Jonathan Goldstein, chair of the Jewish Leadership Council, said: Labours leadership is now increasingly seen to hold views at odds with British values.

Ms Berger refused to comment last night on Mr Corbyns meetings with Dr Scott-Samuel, who has made regular appearances on the Richie Allen Show, an online current affairs show aired on conspiracy theorist David Ickes website.

There he has aired his controversial views  including blaming the 9/11 terror attacks on the UK, America and Israel and saying the wealthy Jewish Rothschild family were behind a lot of the neo-liberal influence in the UK.

Dr Scott-Samuel has defended his decision to approve a no-confidence motion against Ms Berger on the grounds that he is himself Jewish adding that any suggestion the local party executive is party to bullying and anti-Semitism is a slanderous accusation.

Last night he said: Im hurt and offended by the allegations in the media that I am anti-Semitic or a conspiracy theorist.

Labour said: We take all complaints of anti-Semitism extremely seriously and we are committed to challenging and campaigning against it in all its forms. All complaints about anti-Semitism are fully investigated and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.

'Blatantly anti-Semitic': That's what Britains most senior Jews called Team Corbyn. How did it come to this? In the final part of his explosive book unmasking the real Corbyn, TOM BOWER traces the roots of his anti Zionism to his very first job

By Tom Bower

With no degree and two rotten A-levels, when it came to hunting for his first real job, Corbyn aimed low

With no degree and two rotten A-levels, when it came to hunting for his first real job, Corbyn aimed low.

An ad placed by the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers for an assistant in its research department attracted just one reply  Corbyns  and he got the job.

Intriguingly, given the torrent of anti-Semitism claims the Labour leader faces today, this was the post that gave him his first encounter with Jews.

Corbyns boss was Alec Smith, who in 1973 was negotiating with employers at the Retail Bespoke Tailoring Wages Council.

Working under Smith was Mick Mindel, a Jewish communist who articulated his members passionate support for Israel.

Most of their employers were also Left-wing Jews  like Mindel, they looked to communism to abolish injustice and prejudice, including anti-Semitism.

Corbyn has boasted of how, although only an assistant in the research department, he personally challenged employers to recover members unpaid wages after their bosses had mysteriously gone bankrupt just before Christmas, owing their workers a lot of wages.

Scumbags, actually. Crooks was how Corbyn described the bosses. My job was to try and chase these people through Companies House and so on.

According to Corbyn, he examined the companies accounts in order to verify phoney bankruptcies.

But that notion is contradicted by his old boss, Alec Smith, and also by the unions well catalogued records, which do not reveal any issues about unscrupulous employers, or refer to any member complaining about being unpaid.

Smith is certain that Corbyn never had any contact with our members. He just sat in at meetings passing me information.

Painted by American artist Kalen Ockerman, it portrayed Jewish financiers playing Monopoly on a board supported on the naked backs of the worlds oppressed  mostly blacks

Corbyn, not for the first time reshaping the truth to improve his self-image, conjured a tale of a brave personal fight against exploitative Jewish employers of sweatshop labour. Parochialism and fantasy led to him forming his views about the malign collective power of Jews.

Thirty years later he boasted how, at the end of one Wages Council meeting, a Jewish tailor had offered to make him a suit if he provided the cloth. Corbyn had spurned the offer. Imagine trying to bribe a union official, he laughed.

Immersed in an alien world, the young Corbyn had no time for those seeking self-improvement  to fulfil the dream of moving from East End slums to North Londons suburbs.

Since he disdained materialism, culture and anything spiritual, he was an empty vessel, uneasy with a race complicated by its history of survival over 2,000 years of persecution.

Jews in London were the victims of discrimination by all classes, including the working class  a truth that did not quite fit Corbyns Marxist theory of history.

Few Labour MPs were more troubled by Jeremy Corbyn than Louise Ellman, elected in 1997 for Liverpool Riverside. A soft-spoken mother-of-two, she had joined the party at 18.

For years, it was seldom mentioned that Ellman was Jewish: at Westminster and in her constituency, her religion was irrelevant. That changed after Corbyns election in September 2015.

The membership of her constituency soared from 500 to 2,700, and at meetings the Corbynistas harangued her about Israel and Zionism.

Older party members were disgusted by the anti-Semitic abuse. Its pretty nasty, Ellman reported to party headquarters in London.

She blamed the revived Militant faction, now reincarnated as Momentum, for plotting to deselect her. No one at headquarters acknowledged her concern, which did not surprise her.

Ellmans predicament had begun soon after the creation of the Stop The War Coalition in 2001. She was among the first to protest against its anti-Semitism.

The criticism of Israel and Zionism was couched in language markedly similar to the myths parroted over the previous 2,000 years about Jewish wealth dominating the world.

Corbyn was heard by a member of his staff mocking Ellman as the Honourable Member for Tel Aviv  an allegation he later denied

Corbyn had been seen at Stop The Wars annual Al-Quds (the Arab name for Jerusalem) event opposing Israels existence, mingling among Palestinians distributing magazines featuring cartoons portraying Jews with large noses pulling the strings of puppet politicians, media moguls and bankers.

Just before Christmas 2003, Ellman addressed an empty Commons about the rising tide of anti-Semitism.

She named the leaders of the Muslim Association of Britain, all of whom were connected to Hamas or other terrorist organisations, for promoting the image of a Jewish global conspiracy.

The reaction to her speech shocked her: I was regarded as a freak.

Letters in The Guardian denounced her for identifying Muslims as anti-Semitic. At Westminster, several MPs shunned her.

Corbyn was heard by a member of his staff mocking Ellman as the Honourable Member for Tel Aviv  an allegation he later denied.

The truth is that Corbyns antagonism towards Zionism is one of the most consistent  and toxic  lines of his career. To him, Jews arent victims of racism and oppression but rather racist oppressors themselves.

Jeremy Corbyn in the 1980s. Corbyn was heard by a member of his staff mocking Ellman as the Honourable Member for Tel Aviv  an allegation he later denied

For years, hed noisily voiced his outrage at the treatment of Palestinians in Gaza at countless public meetings  never drawing a distinction between the terms Jew and Zionist which were interchangeable to many on the Left.

On those occasions he effortlessly lapsed into anti-Semitic language, convinced a backbenchers prejudice would not attract attention beyond his loyal audience.

And for years it didnt. Nor did the fact that he consistently invited anti-Zionists to the Commons, without ever offering Jews a similar privilege.

Among his most appalling guests was Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which had described Jews as monkeys and bacteria.

Salah had been convicted in Israel for saying that Semites had drunk the blood of non-Jewish babies, and used childrens blood to bake bread.

Once he thrust himself into the national spotlight by standing as Labour leader, Corbyn was shocked and angered by the medias investigation of his past alliances.

The horrors werent hard to find  there were so many they spilled out at regular intervals throughout the first three years of his leadership, each sparking new revulsion.

Anyone who wanted to know how Corbyn thought just needed to examine his words  or look at the company he kept.

On March 3, 2009, he said in a speech: It will be my pleasure and my honour to host an event in Parliament where our friends from Hezbollah will be speaking. I have also invited our friends from Hamas to come and speak.

Once he thrust himself into the national spotlight by standing as Labour leader, Corbyn was shocked and angered by the medias investigation of his past alliances

In the lexicon of terrorists, few groups were more medieval than Hamas and Hezbollah and Corbyn later had to apologise for calling them friends.

In August 2015 it was revealed he accepted 2,000 from Ibrahim Hamami, a London GP and a Hamas sympathiser, who applauded the stabbing of Jews.

Corbyn registered the donation with the surname wrongly spelt as Hamam  and refused to explain what he did with the money.

Also that year he accepted an invitation from Ibrahim Hewitt, senior editor of a news organisation called Middle East Monitor, to speak at the groups annual conference.

Hewitt, another Hamas supporter, not only approved stoning adulterers to death and lashing gay men, but sharply criticised Jewish influence at Westminster.

At the conference, British Palestinian political activist Dr Azzam Tamimi spoke about suicide bombers as noble martyrs. Hewitt said of Tamimi: I consider him to be a very good friend.

As the evidence of anti-Semitism among Labour supporters grew, so did public unease. One formidable opponent was Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews. Most people in the Jewish community cant trust Labour, he said.

Reluctantly, Corbyn agreed to meet Arkush and the Board of Deputies, complaining to his staff that inviting the bourgeois Arkush was unfair.

Josh Simons, a policy adviser in Corbyns office, noticed that, as the staff prepared for the meeting, the mood was one of flippant disdain.

The Board of Deputies leaders arrived at Corbyns office on April Fools Day, 2016. Uncertain how to address them, he relied on a script given to him to read, and thereafter directed their questions to his Marxist spin doctor, Seumas Milne.

Ignoring that pass-off, Arkush asked Corbyn: What do you expect the Jewish community to feel when you meet people who are blatantly racist?

Corbyn hesitated, then finally replied that he would reflect. But he refused to express any regret about associating with Hamas or Hezbollah. Positioned to one side of the room, Milne was seething.

In the presence of Jews, his body language had visibly changed. His language did not.

Replying to the deputies questions, he refused to say anti-Semitism, only anti-Zionism. His blatant anti-Semitism, said one of the visitors, was frightening. Giving power to Seumas Milne is fearful.

One of the ties that most strongly binds Corbyn and Milne is their unremitting hostility to Israel.

After spending a gap-year holiday in Lebanon in the early 1980s, witnessing ferocious battles between Israelis and Palestinians, Milne regarded Zionism as evil, without qualification.

He shared Corbyns belief that the Islamic attacks of 9/11 were explicable as acts of resistance.

He described the murder of Lee Rigby, a British soldier hacked to death on a London street by two Muslims in May 2013, as not terrorism in the normal sense of an indiscriminate attack on civilians, because Rigby had served in Afghanistan.

In 2016, Labours General Secretary, Iain McNicol, suggested Corbyn ask Jan Royall, the Labour peer trusted by the Jewish community, to report on whether the party had a wider problem.

But Corbyn rejected her, and a more suitable candidate was soon found. Shami wants to come and help, Corbyn announced to his office, referring to Shami Chakrabarti, the former head of Liberty, the civil rights group.

Chakrabarti took a call from Seumas Milne while standing on the tarmac at Heathrow, where she was about to board a flight for Dublin.

Milne told her that the solution to the partys problems was an inquiry, and she instantly accepted his offer to undertake the face-saver.

By the time she landed in Ireland, she had agreed that she would not investigate individuals accused of anti-Semitism, but would instead conduct a thematic review of the partys broader culture.

Perhaps to make it palatable to party members, she would also include complaints about Islamophobia, even though that was not a problem anyone was highlighting.

In addition, to avoid any complaints that she was personally hostile to Labour, she would join the party. Her membership was completed on an app at Dublin Airport.

At Milnes suggestion, she agreed that she would not recommend any disciplinary action. Blandness was required, and Chakrabarti was content to oblige.

The public assumption that the respected lawyer would remain staunchly independent was undermined by her own decision not to undertake a judicial-style inquiry, but to be as partial as she deemed necessary.

Over the following weeks, Chakrabarti listened to hours of harrowing testimony from Jews, not least from female Labour MPs describing the anti-Semitic abuse they had suffered from party members.

As the evidence accumulated, she made no attempt to appear independent. Regularly, said an eyewitness, Seumas Milne got calls from Shami. He gave her guidance about what he and Corbyn expected.

At that moment, few understood the extent to which Corbyn himself was the issue.

Rather than draining the swamp, he had brought it with him.

Among the many stains blighting his past was his subscription between 2013 and 2015 to Palestine Live, a Facebook page popular among Holocaust deniers.

Noted for its vicious anti-Semitic statements, it was just one of 40 virulently anti-Zionist accounts Corbyn was following.

Towards the end of her inquiry, Chakrabarti interviewed Corbyn. I put to Jeremy the list of people he had met and shared platforms with in the past, she would say, and he had good answers. He was searching for peace.

She concluded that his anti-Zionism was not anti-Semitic, but only passionately supportive of Palestinian rights.

Faced with accusations by Luciana Berger and many other Jewish MPs that her inquiry was biased, she would reply that, while she would not judge Berger, she did not know if she was conflating.

It was an odd choice of word. Berger could have accused Corbyn of anti-Semitism, Chakrabarti was suggesting, just because she disliked Corbyn. In other words, she was weaponising anti-Semitism.

As she was writing her report, Chakrabarti discussed her conclusions with Milne  but she would deny that he vetted or influenced her.

In Shamis opinion, recalls an insider with the authority of a witness, she had delivered what Milne required to end the dispute. But she had failed to grasp the seriousness of the Jews despair. She was out of her depth.

Either way, her investigation was over, her job done. Corbyn has nothing to fear.

On June 30, near the Aldwych in Central London, Corbyn stood beside Chakrabarti as she introduced her report to a hall packed with his supporters. Watching from the side were Milne and members of Momentum.

Corbyn had good reason to be relieved. Chakrabarti had reported that, although there was occasionally a toxic atmosphere, Labour was not overrun by anti-Semitism.

She absolved Corbyn of any responsibility, recommended any future suspensions from the party be kept secret, ruled out lifetime membership bans, and declared that Labour Party members guilty of anti-Semitism should not be disciplined.

At the end of her brief speech, Corbyn spoke. Our Jewish friends, he said, are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu government than our Muslim friends are for those self-styled Islamic State organisations.

It was a shocking comparison, deliberately made, and before Corbyn had finished speaking, the former chief rabbi Lord Sacks accused him of spouting pure anti-Semitism, adding it shows how deep the sickness is in parts of the Left of British politics today. Corbyn later apologised for comparing Islamic State to Israel.

Among those seated in the hall was Ruth Smeeth, the Jewish Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, while standing in the aisle nearby was Marc Wadsworth, a Momentum member.

Wadsworth was handing out a press release calling for the deselection of MPs  traitors  opposed to the leadership. He refused to give a copy to Smeeth, as in his opinion she ranked among the partys enemies.

Her treachery was proven when she asked a Daily Telegraph journalist seated next to her to read out the press release.

To Smeeths surprise, Wadsworth snapped at her that was she working hand-in-hand with the Right-wing media. Smeeth burst into tears.

As the hapless MP visibly struggled with her emotions, the insult was compounded when, at the end of his presentation, Corbyn walked through the audience and greeted Wadsworth.

I outed Smeeth, Wadsworth told him proudly. Bloody talking to the Torygraph. Glancing at Smeeth, Corbyn saw that she was in tears, shared a laugh with Wadsworth, and walked out of the hall.

In the days following that incident, Smeeth received thousands of abusive messages, including death threats.

In his own defence Corbyn said that he had been misunderstood. Beyond Parliament, within hours of the reports publication, Chakrabartis reputation was being shredded, partly on account of her failure to consider that Corbyn had not vocally opposed the forced segregation of Muslims at party meetings.

She had also ignored male Muslim officials refusing to allow women to be selected as Labour candidates in at least two constituencies.

And still the anti-Semitic skeletons kept tumbling out of Corbyns closet. In 2012, a large mural had appeared on a wall in Tower Hamlets, East London.

Painted by American artist Kalen Ockerman, it portrayed Jewish financiers playing Monopoly on a board supported on the naked backs of the worlds oppressed  mostly blacks.

Even after a brief glance, no one could fail to grasp the familiar caricature of grotesque-looking Jewish bankers engaged in a worldwide conspiracy to manipulate subjugated slaves.

Responding to protests, Tower Hamlets Council ordered the mural to be scrubbed out.

But looking at the mural on his computer, Corbyn saw rich white Jews, international powerbrokers, exploiting oppressed blacks.

Immediately he protested against the murals removal on the grounds of free speech.

He also wrote to Ockerman Youre in good company, referring to the removal of a mural by Diego Rivera in New York back in 1934: Rockerfeller [sic] destroyed Diego Vieras [sic] mural because it includes a picture of Lenin.

Screenshots of his Facebook post emerged last spring, prompting yet another toxic row. Another was quickly to follow.

Soon after he had approved Ockermans mural, Corbyn spoke without inhibition at a meeting of the Palestinian Return Centre.

In an unusually light-hearted manner, he addressed the difficulty British Zionists experienced in coping with an alien culture.

So clearly two problems, he summarised. One is that they dont want to study history and secondly, having lived in this country for a very long time, probably all their lives, they dont understand English irony either so I think they need two lessons which we can help them with.

From his own mouth came the declaration that Zionists, alias Jews, were not genuinely British  remarks that sparked a cacophony of outrage when they came to light last summer.

Corbyn, said former chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks, was a supporter of racists, terrorists and dealers of hate who want to kill Jews and remove Israel from the map.

The Labour leaders remarks were the most offensive since Enoch Powells Rivers of Blood speech in 1968. Corbyns office openly mocked Sackss comparison.

The former chief rabbi, it seems, was just another wailing Jew.

An earlier version of this article included an allegation that the Palestinian Return Centre blamed the Jews for the Holocaust. The PRC has pointed out, and we accept, that this allegation stems from misreporting of comments by an individual at a meeting it hosted in 2016. This person was not speaking on behalf of the PRC (or its head, Mr al-Zeer) who have strongly condemned his comments. Tom Bower and his publisher Harper Collins have therefore acknowledged the PRC's justifiable complaint and withdrawn the allegation. We also withdraw the allegation against the PRC and Mr al-Zeer and apologise.

Dangerous Hero: Corbyns Ruthless Plot For Power, by Tom Bower, is published by William Collins on February 21 at 20. Offer price 16 (20 per cent discount) until February 24. Pre-order at mailshop.co.uk/books or call 0844 571 0640; p&p is free on orders over 15. Spend 30 on books and get FREE premium delivery.
Advertisement

Barrack and Michelle Obama's eldest daughter Malia took time out of her busy school schedule to revel in the sunshine at a beach in Miami on Saturday.

The Harvard student swapped out Massachusetts' chilly 40 degree temperatures for some southern Florida sunshine with three friends for the President's Day holiday weekend.

Her British beau Rory Farquharson wasn't anywhere to be seen, but the former First-Daughter didn't seem to be too lovesick as she smiled and posed for photos beneath her beach umbrella.

Malia took time out of her busy Harvard schedule to enjoy some southern Florida sunshine over the President's Day holiday weekend

Dressed in a white bikini, the 20-year-old swapped out Massachusetts' chilly conditions for Miami's 70 degree heat on Saturday

Malia posed for photographs with her pals under the shade of their beach umbrella

Clad in a stylish white bikini, the 20-year-old held two cold drinks in her hands in the scorching 70 degree heat.

Since her family left the White House, Malia has traveled around Bolivia and Peru, as well as working as an intern at The Winestein Company film studios in New York.

In August, she was pictured snuggling up to her boyfriend of more than a year in a London Underground station, having met at college.

She commenced her second year at Harvard in the fall, and her younger sister Sasha will soon be heading off to college too.

A coy photograph posted to Sasha's Instagram story suggested she won't be following in Malia's Ivy League footsteps, and is instead set to enroll at the University of Michigan later this year.

The 20-year-old drank two cold drinks simultaneously to cool herself in the unrelenting heat

Her English beau Rory Farquharson wasn't anywhere to be seen, but the former First-Daughter didn't seem to be too lovesick

The eldest daughter of Barrack and Michelle, Malia has enjoyed her freedom since her family left the White House, embarking on a number of trips
Advertisement

Nearly 3,000 people came together to break a world record for the most human Smurfs in one place.

In total, 2,762 blue-painted and white-capped participants met in Lauchringen on the Upper Rhine, Germany to break the record that had previously belonged to students in Wales.

Three years ago, there was an initial attempt to break the record, which was set in 2009 and stood at 2,510, but it failed.

Today, organisers were delighted to announce they had surpassed the old mark with children and adults all taking part.

The ever-popular Smurfs were created by Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford in 1958.

And today's event showed that the cartoon characters are still loved by many, as the near-3000 strong crowd enjoyed the sun in an array of Smurf-inspired outfits.

Participants talk to the press during a gathering of people dressed as Smurfs to be counted as part of a world record attempt

The young and the old came together at the Smurf gathering in Lauchringen, Germany to break the world record that had stood for a decade

Five smiling women painted blue and dressed as Smurfettes pose for a photo during the gathering of nearly 3000 people

2,762 blue-painted and white-capped participants met in Lauchringen on the Upper Rhine, Germany to break the record

Three years ago, there was an initial attempt to break the record, which was set in 2009 and stood at 2,510, but it failed

However, delighted event organisers confirmed that this year they had managed to surpass the record as thousands descended on the village in Germany

All sorts of costumes were on display at the gathering, with beer flowing as the participants milled about and enjoyed themselves

The passionate participants went all the way, painting their skin to blue so that they resembled the popular cartoon characters

As the day went on, some of the blue paint began to fade - though eager helpers were on hand to help some participants top up when they needed to

Participants wave from a lift in excitement as they take in the near-3000 people who took part in the Smurf event in Germany

Enterprising stall owners also took part in the event, selling food and beer to the swelling crowds throughout the day

The event wasn't just open to adults, with hundreds of children also taking part, despite the Smurfs being older cartoons

Some Smurf fans loved the cartoons so much that they made the event a family affair, turning up with young children and babies in push chairs

This group of friends co-ordinated their costumes and posed happily for a photo, with the group even plumping for long white beards

Hot date! This couple even got themselves a Smurf tail each as they joined in with their fellow thousands of cartoon fans
Parliament has spent 19,000 on a lifesize Lego model of a suffragette, above. The 5ft 6in Lego model, named Hope, has provoked ridicule

They were brave women who risked their lives fighting for the female vote in the early 1900s.

But a century later, Parliament has provoked ridicule by honouring those courageous suffragettes  with a Lego model.

One critic said it was unlikely modern women would feel empowered by a toy statue made of 35,000 bricks and weighing 15st.

The 5ft 6in model, named Hope, cost 19,000 and is touring Britain after appearing at the Commons.

But not everyone is convinced its a good use of public money.

One Twitter user said: Why does it take a corporate tie-in with a completely unrelated brand to commemorate this?

The statue is pictured inside the House of Commons. Parliament has provoked ridicule by honouring those courageous suffragettes with the Lego model, which will tour the country

Chloe Westley at the TaxPayers Alliance told The Mail on Sunday: I dont think many women will feel empowered by having their money wasted on a Lego statue in Parliament  20,000 for a toy statue sounds rather excessive.

Last night, a Parliamentary spokesman said: The model is expected to have a lifelong legacy as it will be loaned to organisations and schools across the UK.
At first, I thought the commotion outside my house was caused by revellers pouring out of the local pub.

It wasnt long before Christmas and, as I got ready for bed, I assumed the raised voices came from too much seasonal goodwill rather than anything more sinister.

It was only when the flashing blue lights of an ambulance lit up my bedroom that I pulled back the curtain.

There, sprawled on the pavement outside my house was a teenage boy. A paramedic was bent over him, trying to staunch the blood I could clearly see flooding from his abdomen.

The boy looked so young and vulnerable as he was placed on a stretcher and carried to the ambulance, an oxygen mask over his face. Deeply shaken, I watched the ambulance speed off, wondering if he would survive.

As a former news reporter who worked amid the violence of the former Yugoslavia as it fell apart, this was not the first time I had seen a young man bleeding from a terrible wound

Later, when a police officer rang my doorbell to ask if Id seen anything useful, he told me it was the second attack on a teenager he had attended in the area in 24 hours. That night I couldnt sleep.

As a former news reporter who worked amid the violence of the former Yugoslavia as it fell apart, this was not the first time I had seen a young man bleeding from a terrible wound.

But this wasnt the Balkans. It had happened on my doorstep, outside the house where I raised my own son, on the streets where he once walked to and from school every day.

Shepherds Bush is a mixed area of West London. Large, run-down council estates lie a stones-throw from smart streets inhabited by journalists, broadcasters and a few well-known actors.

Of course, Id been concerned for my son during his school days, worried he might be mugged for his mobile phone.

But stabbings, on the other hand, had seemed to be another matter  a horror confined to rival drugs gangs, probably in different parts of London.

Like everyone else, Id seen the disturbing reports showing that the number of fatal stabbings in England and Wales is soaring  in fact, they have just recently reached their highest level since records began in 1946.

97 likes: Glorifying a series of violent assaults in London shops, this film was uploaded with the hashtags #ukdrill #lol. Drill is slang for shooting and stabbing

Until that night before Christmas, however, gang stabbings didnt intrude on my comfortable middle-class existence. Only then was I jolted into paying real attention.

Like many parents, I had no idea at all. It was my grown-up son, who is studying sociology and has an interest in youth crime, who explained the shocking way that social media now dominates the lives of our teenagers.

Perpetrators film their attacks and post the videos on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube, glorying in the violence and using the attention they receive from their followers  particularly the votes of approval in the tally of likes  to score points with their rivals.

And it is projected directly into homes of all types  rich, poor, middle-class  via their mobile phones and tablets.

Our teenagers are stabbing each other to death for likes.

I started watching videos made by gangs in my area, including the W12 and MDP, which  according to some  stands for Money, Drugs, Power. Others say it stands for something still more disgusting.

145 likes: This horrific sequence taken from CCTV footage at a North London shop shows a knife being plunged into a victims chest during a gang robbery

The clips show them rapping about how tough they are, boasting about their violence and goading rivals.

Filmed on the walkways of local housing estates, I saw groups of teenage boys wearing black balaclavas and sportswear, gesturing as if shooting a gun and making stabbing motions as they name their victims.

My son explained the meanings of the street slang they use. I now know that guns are waps or spinners, knives are shanks and rambos. Shootings or stabbings are referred to as drillings.

The message was rammed home when I tried to find out what had happened to the boy on my doorstep.

It didnt take long before my screen was filled with articles about similar bloodshed in my area  clippings posted triumphantly on social media by the thugs responsible. All this, just a few clicks away from my own kitchen.

Fortunately, the boy had survived and, although his condition was judged critical at first, he has since recovered and has been safely discharged from hospital. No arrests have been made.

But my sons request on Facebook for more information turned up another disturbing story.

We learned there had been another recent stabbing just a couple of streets away  and this time the victim was someone we knew, a 16-year-old who had been at the same West London state primary school as my son. His older brother had been a close friend.

1.9k likes: Brazenly showing off a machete and other knives, this home-made drill music video features the notorious 410 gang from Brixton, South London

There was a time, in fact, when I knew the family relatively well.

Id been to their home, chatted with their mother at the school gates and attended the same childrens birthday parties. Wed eventually lost touch, but I remembered the boy in question from a decade earlier  a dark-haired, rosy-cheeked six-year-old with a mischievous grin.

Now he had been badly wounded as he walked home one evening with his older brother and I decided to make contact with his mother once again, if only to say how sorry I was about what had happened.

We met in a local cafe. In a calm, soft voice, she told me about the night her son was stabbed: the icy fear that went through her when she got the call and the anxious hours that followed as her son lay on the operating table while surgeons repaired his punctured lung.

Virginia (not her real name) told me that her son was recovering physically but the whole family were still in a state of shock.

She insisted that he wasnt involved in drugs and that he was not a member of a gang.

He had been at a local secondary school but was not at all academic and was excluded aged 15, a few months before his GCSEs. Today, she is particularly critical of the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) where he and other excluded pupils were sent instead of normal schools.

PRUs have gained a reputation for being little more than dustbins, breeding grounds for violence and criminality. Students consigned to them have a 99 per cent academic failure rate.

And during our conversation, I was acutely aware that my own son might have ended up in the same situation.

Hed been diagnosed with numerous learning difficulties, including attention deficit disorder and dyslexia. But I was fortunate enough to be able to afford to send him to a private school that provided the learning support he needed.

Virginia is a devoted parent, but today she is at her wits end. She knows that her son needs guidance to get his life back on track, but she doesnt know where to start. And how would she, when so much of teenagers lives is led online  and imagery of violence is everywhere?

Virginias family have been helped by a youth advocate, Nathaniel Levy, who confirms that social media is one of the key drivers behind the spate of violence.

Local authority cuts to youth services are one thing, but social media is warping the minds of our young people, he told me.

Nathaniel, who turned his back on a thriving property business after his younger brother was murdered, set up the Robert Levy Foundation with his parents, an organisation that tries to help young people at risk of violence through its mentoring programmes.

The attitude behind the violence is extremely territorial  more so even than in the past.

Where it used to be a case of one postcode against another, now its one block of flats or one side of the street against another. Its known as reppin your block.

If anyone from outside your area comes in, you have to attack them. The gangs operate a point-scoring system. If you stab someone you get points or reps; youre known as a bad boy who has repped his block.

Last year, a former gang member told The Mail on Sunday that children as young as nine play a game called Scores with gangs boasting of their attacks on social media in a bid to outdo their rivals.

The bigger the crime, the higher the points, the more and more you do something the more and more rep [reputation] you get, the more you get ranked up, said Chris Preddie, who grew up alongside gang members but has been awarded the OBE for his work with young offenders.

Yet the situation is far from hopeless. Now 20, my son is at university in Glasgow.

Once the murder capital of Europe, the city has managed to cut knife crime by more than half in the past 15 years by treating it not just as a police issue but a public health priority. Schools, hospitals and social workers have been asked to work together.

I recently spoke at a fundraising dinner for the charity Leap Confronting Conflict, which offers training to young people to help them reduce violence in their communities.

There, I met young people who had benefited from the programme, including a 17-year-old boy who had been left needing a colostomy bag after being stabbed.

They told me that without adult supervision, and with nowhere to go, they were left with no choice but to spend their time on the streets around their homes.

The danger surrounding them meant they felt forced to join gangs out of fear. We needed to protect ourselves, and that was the only way we could do it, they told me.

The Metropolitan Polices gangs unit has identified 32 gangs operating in the borough of Hackney alone. They estimate that most of them are just groups of young boys who have banded together and are carrying knives to protect themselves or rep their block.

Only six to seven of the gangs are making serious money from drugs but they dont tend to carry knives because they dont want to attract the attention of the police. Its bad for business.

Levy agrees that, for all the publicity, drug dealing is just a small part of the picture.

Many of these kids are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he said.

Theyve seen friends injured or killed or faced death themselves. How can we expect these teenage boys to cope with this kind of trauma on their own?

Theyre not learning social skills. The parents arent there for them because of pressures of work or because theyre also on their phones. If kids are left to raise themselves, their behaviour becomes extreme.

Knife crime touches lives far beyond those involved in the illegal drugs trade. Its affecting increasing numbers of very ordinary young people, black and white, who feel abandoned, see no prospects for themselves and are turning to aggression to boost their self-esteem. Or live in terror of becoming victims themselves.

One chilling aspect of Instagram and other social media platforms is their users often know an attack is due to take place. And they will know the identity of the perpetrators  terrifying spectres from their online worlds. But snitching is a dangerous business.

If you wont tell the police who stabbed you or your friends, the only reprisal you have is revenge, says Levy.

If we dont invest time and resources in our young people, these levels of lawlessness will continue to spiral out of control. Its like Lord of the Flies out there.

And, as I discovered, its far closer to home than we might think.
More than 11,000 has been raised to help support the family of missing student Libby Squire

More than 11,000 has been raised to help support the family of missing student Libby Squire.

GoFundMe and JustGiving pages were set up to relatives of the 21-year-old Hull University student as police continue their search.

Miss Squire is believed to have taken a taxi from The Welly nightclub on Beverley Road, about one and a half miles from her home, after she was refused entry on the evening of January 31.

A friend in her hometown of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, set up a page on GoFundMe to help support the family while they remain in Hull during the investigation.

The page reads: 'This is a fundraiser for the family to help them in this hard time. For them to use on whatever they need whether hotels, bills or any support they need. The community is here for you.'

So far, over 270 people have helped to raise more than 4,500.

One donator commented: 'Deepest sympathies to the family and friends of missing Libby at this unfathomably difficult time. All of us in Hull are with you. Be strong.'

Another said: 'I can't imagine how you must be feeling. I hope these donations will help to alleviate some of your stress at this difficult time. Praying she is found soon.'

Photographs released by Miss Squire's family show her at home on Christmas Day last year (left) and in Paris in May 2017 (right) when she visited with friends during a gap year

A map of Hull shows the second year philosophy student's movements on the night of January 31 in Hull before she vanished and the areas police have searched

Another page on JustGiving, set up by fellow Hull University student Craig Hopkins, has raised more than 6,500 from more than 500 supporters.

He said: 'They must be going through such a terrible ordeal and this is such a challenging time, so it would be great if we could ease at least one pressure on the family.

'Staying in Hull will have financial implications for them, with hotels and food, so it would be great if we could come together as a community and help them.'

Miss Squire was last seen in the early hours of Friday, February 1, on a bench on the corner of Haworth Street and Beverley Road. She remains missing.

A Humberside Police search is now beyond its second week, with officers seen investigating areas close to Miss Squire's residence in Hull.

The pages have raised more than 11,000 so far for the family of missing student Libby Squire

Police searching Oak Road Playing Fields in Hull in connection with the disappearance of 21-year-old student Libby Squire

Detective Superintendent Martin Smalley confirmed in a press conference on Thursday that more work would be done behind the scenes than in public view but that the investigation is 'very much active'.

Police searching for Miss Squire recently admitted that she 'may have come to some harm'.

Fifty detectives and hundreds of uniformed officers have been working around the clock to try to find her.

Last week Pawel Relowicz, of Hull, was arrested and questioned on suspicion of abduction in connection with Miss Squire's disappearance and police said the 24-year-old remains under investigation.

Relowicz was charged with a number of offences unrelated to Miss Squire's disappearance and appeared at Hull Magistrates' Court on Monday, where he pleaded not guilty to unrelated charges of voyeurism, outraging public decency and burglary.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters has called upon people across the country to hold rallies in protest of what she calls President Donald Trump's 'fake emergency powers.'

'It's time for everybody to stand up. All hands on deck to refuse this president these fake emergency powers that he would like the have,' Waters said on Friday in an interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes.

'And so I'm urging everybody get together rally in every community across this country all this weekend, send a message to Washington, D.C., 'No, Mr. President, we're not going allow you to do this,'' the California Democrat continued.

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency along the southern border, in a move to secure more money for his long-promised wall.

'It's time for everybody to stand up. All hands on deck to refuse this president these fake emergency powers that he would like the have,' Waters said on Friday to MSNBC

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency along the southern border, in a move to secure more money for his long-promised wall

Since 1979, there have been 58 national emergency declarations, and 31 are still in effect, including a 1996 measure regulating boat traffic near Cuba.

Speaking with Hayes, Waters predicted that even Trump's supporters would find his emergency declaration a bridge too far.

'I really expect we're going to have a growing number of Republicans that are going to join with us in this disapproval,' she said.

'Yes, they're concerned if a Democratic president gets elected then they can use emergency powers to do a lot of the things they don't like.'

She also reiterated her call for Trump's impeachment. 'This president has committed obstruction of justice right before our very eyes,' she said. 'He is dishonorable. He does not deserve to be president of the United States.'

Waters said that Trump 'loves Putin' and that 'they conspired to get Trump elected' so that Russia could 'drill into the Arctic.'

People hold signs that read 'Abolish I.C.E.' in front of Trump International Hotel on Friday in New York City. The group is protesting Trump's declaration of a National Emergency

As of Saturday, it was unclear whether Waters had inspired Americans across the nation to take to the streets in protests.

On Friday night, there were protests outside of the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan, which bears the President's name but is owned by other investors.

Protesters outside the Columbus Circle hotel held signs with slogans such as 'Abolish I.C.E.' and 'Trump Is The Emergency.'

Several people were arrested, but the NYPD wasn't immediately able to say how many people were taken into custody.

Video shows protesters going peacefully with their hands zip-tied behind their backs as officers lead them to police vans. They'll likely be charged with disorderly conduct and blocking traffic.

Protesters of President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration gather outside Trump International Hotel & Tower on Friday in Manhattan

Protesters blocked traffic near Columbus Circle while rallying against the emergency

Court battles are anticipated over the emergency declaration, which Trump predicted his administration would successfully defend before the Supreme Court.

The American Civil Liberties Union announced its intention to sue less than an hour after the White House released the text of Trump's declaration.

Nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen filed suit later, urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to 'bar Trump and the U.S. Department of Defense from using the declaration and funds appropriated for other purposes to build a border wall.'

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and several Democratic state attorneys general already have said they might go to court.
Frustrated passengers have been left stranded across Europe today after the collapse of British airline Flybmi.

The budget airline went into administration yesterday blaming rising fuel costs and Britain's uncertain future after Brexit, throwing holiday plans into chaos as schools break up for the February half term.

Some passengers only heard the news after checking in for their flights and clearing security while others are having to book expensive tickets on other airlines to get home.

Passenger Andrew Holmes took this photograph of one of the final Flybmi flights which left Brussels on Friday night for Newcastle

Hannah Price, pictured, from Portishead, Somerset has been left stranded in Brussels by the collapse of Flybmi. She has been forced to rebook a ticket and faces a seven-hour journey as she must go to Amsterdam to catch her new flight to Bristol tomorrow morning

Ms Price, pictured, said this situation has made it more difficult for her to run her business

Hannah Price from Portishead, Somerset said the airline's collapse is 'highly stressful and very frustrating'

Hannah Price from Portishead, Somerset, said she faces a seven-hour journey to get home after being stranded in Brussels.

She has been forced to travel to Amsterdam in order to get back to Bristol.

She has been visiting Brussels for business, since Monday (February 11) and was due to catch a Flybmi flight home tomorrow (Monday February 18).

But Ms Price, whose trip to Brussels has been spent sourcing goods for her clothing company, Willowknd, will now fly with Brussels Airlines.

Ms Price paid 130 for her original ticket and has still heard nothing from Flybmi about a refund.

She said: 'If I am not in the UK my business can't run. It's highly frustrating.

'It could have had a catastrophic effect on my income.

'I did panic but I'm not surprised. Brexit was one of the reasons for them saying they've gone into administration.

'It is incredibly sad to see this happen to our country.'

Bristol Airport has seized an Embraer EMB-145 belonging to Flybmi. The airport said the airline owes it money and cannot move the jet until the bill is settled. The airline has been warned the airport might sell the aircraft to recover its cash

Flybmi passengers have been warned the airline will be unable to book them alternative flights

Accountant Richard Edwards, 47, was left stranded with his wife Charlotte, 44, and their three children Millie, 16, Fin, 14 and Bo, 12.

The family from Midhurst, West Sussex were planning to fly from Bristol to Munich when their flight was cancelled after they passed through security.

He tweeted: 'Great start to our holiday; en route with @Charlot53066691 and the family by taxi to Heathrow as our @flybmi from Bristol to Munich (which had previously been changed from Southampton) was cancelled with no explanation after we had gone through security!'

One Flybmi customer informed the airline on Twitter that they and their father were stuck in Karlstad, a city in Sweden, because of the company's collapse

Another frustrated passenger said she had been left stuck in Belgium, costing her 150

David Morgan said he had been due to travel from Derry to London when the airline collapsed

Civil Engineer Danny McLaughlin had booked 14 flights with Flybmi over the next seven weeks. The 46-year-old father-of-two commuted on a weekly basis from the City of Derry Airport to London Stansted.

He said the airline's collapse means he might not be able to make it into work on Monday.

A total of 376 employees based in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Belgium are employed by Flybmi, although Ryanair has announced it will have recruiters at East Midlands Airport tomorrow morning.

The airline's collapse had not been anticipated by the government who announced they were guaranteeing two years' additional subsidies for Flybmi's route between City of Derry Airport and Stansted.

Stranded passengers who arrived at airports posted photographs showing the cancelled flights, with one describing it ironically as 'Project Fear'

Richard Edwards and his family were due to fly from Bristol to Munich when their flight was cancelled. They had cleared security and were due to board the aircraft when the airline collapsed

Passengers appeared to heed Flybmi's advice and stayed away from the airport if they had not been able to rebook their flights with an alternative carrier. No staff or passengers were seen this morning at Flybmi's check-in area at its East Midlands airport base

The airline, which was based at East Midlands Airport, warned customers against turning up for their flights unless they managed to book travel with an alternative carrier.

Some passengers received text messages warning their flights had been cancelled.

Customers who had booked tickets that were codeshares with other airlines might still be able to travel with the second carrier.

A spokesperson for FlyBMI said: 'It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement.

'The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs, the latter arising from the EU's recent decision to exclude UK airlines from full participation in the Emissions Trading Scheme.

'These issues have undermined efforts to move the airline into profit.

'Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around BMI's ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe.'

Flybmi said uncertainty over Brexit and rises in fuel and carbon costs precipitated its collapse

Passengers took to social media to express their frustration with being stuck

Caroline Stewart said she lost 800 on flights for her Grandad's 88th birthday and her best friend's wedding

Gregor Steward expressed his disappointment at the airline's collapse this weekend

The statement added: 'Additionally, our situation mirrors wider difficulties in the regional airline industry which have been well documented.

'Against this background, it has become impossible for the airline's shareholders to continue their extensive programme of funding into the business, despite investment totalling over 40 million in the last six years.

'We sincerely regret that this course of action has become the only option open to us, but the challenges, particularly those created by Brexit, have proven to be insurmountable.

'Our employees have worked extremely hard over the last few years and we would like to thank them for their dedication to the company, as well as all our loyal customers who have flown with us over the last six years.'

Some people took the opportunity to blame Brexiteers and Nigel Farage after the company cited uncertainty over Britain's departure from the European Union as a contributory factor

British Airline Pilots' Association (Balpa) general secretary Brian Strutton said: 'The collapse of FlyBMI is devastating news for all employees.

'Regrettably Balpa had no warning or any information from the company at all.

'Our immediate steps will be to support FlyBMI pilots and explore with the directors and administrators whether their jobs can be saved.'

The airline has partnerships with companies including Brussels Airlines, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines.

British regional airline Flybmi has cancelled all flights and entered administration, file photo

Earlier this week, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling predicted that flights between the City of Derry airport and Stansted run by Flybmi would continue because of government subsidies

It delivers passenger flights to 24 destinations in the UK and Europe but says fuel costs and Brexit uncertainty means it has to cease all operations

East Midlands airport was far less busy this morning as passengers due to fly with Flybmi heeded the airline's advice and stayed away from the terminal unless they were successful in travelling with an alternative carrier

Flybmi said it would not be able to purchase, rearrange or reschedule any flights on behalf of customers.

Andrew Holmes was on the last flight from Brussels to Newcastle on Flybmi. His return journey on Monday has been cancelled.

However, his luggage has gone missing.

He told MailOnline: 'Flybmi lost my bag on the flight and now there's no one to take any responsibility for it.

'I know the bag is at Brussels, but it's in no man's land at the moment as it's in the ownership of Flybmi.

'Furthermore, my flight Monday to Brussels 18th is obviously cancelled and again, no information is available from anyone!'

Labour MP Mary Creagh expressed sympathy for the airline's workers and families as well as those who have been stranded following the carrier's collapse

One instagram user posted a photograph of a Flybmi jet parked on the ramp this morning

Ryanair announced it would be recruiting former Flybmi staff from tomorrow at East Midlands Airport. The airline said they are looking for engineers and pilots as well as specialist roles

Mayank Khurana tweeted: 'What options now we have as we on holidays and suppose to fly tomorrow evening.'

Soy Kien Soy wrote on Facebook: 'No wonder, I tried to book a trip online this morning and one of the flights was with bmi, and the booking wouldn't go through.'

Lee Robertson said: 'So angry - took my booking only days ago - they were planning this, which they must have been, they should not have been taking bookings.'

One angry passenger called Tom wrote on Twitter: ' Hi @flybmi, have you got any tips on how I should break it to my girlfriend that our child is now not seeing his grandparents for the first time since he was born because you can't sort your finances?'

Passenger Erica Fairs who is stuck in Edinburgh told The Sun: 'My children are with my ex-husband and I need to be back on Monday to pick them up.

'I have heard nothing from FlyBMI and I'm going to have to book some flights with another airline.

'What was really weird is this week I have been trying check-in online for my return flight without success. It let me check in for my outbound but not my inbound one.'

Irish low-cost airline Ryanair announced it would be recruiting former Flybmi staff at East Midlands Airport on Monday.

The airline said it was sorry to have cancelled flights to its 25 destinations

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said travellers should contact their insurance provider as their policy may include cover for scheduled airline failure.

It advised passengers whose flights were part of a package holiday to contact the travel firm they booked with.

If the firm holds an ATOL (Air Travel Organiser's Licence), it is responsible for flight arrangements and must either make alternative flights available so the trip can continue or provide a full refund, the CAA said.

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said: 'Where alternative travel plans are made, any existing travel insurance policy can usually be transferred to cover the new arrangements.'

However, the ABI said standard travel insurance policies may not cover the failure of the air carrier and said passengers should check their policy.

Some passengers were able to rebook flights with alternative airlines such as British Airways

The airline said it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights last year.

However, Flybmi's sister airline Loganair insisted the collapse of the Midlands-based company would not have an impact on its operation.

In a statement, Loganair management said: 'The two airlines are separate businesses, operating separate aircraft fleets on their own distinct route networks.

'As such, the closure of bmi Regional - which flew Embraer Regional Jet aircraft on routes throughout 12 European countries - has no impact on Loganair's continued operation, which predominantly uses turboprop aircraft on routes within the UK and in particular to, from and within the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

Football fans attending the Bristol City v Wolves match today noticed Flybmi was still advertising at the stadium

'The same challenges that have led to bmi Regional ceasing operations, including uncertainty around intra-European traffic rights post-Brexit, do not impact Loganair's business.'

Loganair also stressed it was in good shape.

'Loganair expects to return to profit in the current financial year, is carrying record passenger numbers on many of its routes and is in a strong financial position,' said Managing Director Jonathan Hinkles.

'We are actively working on options to offer employment to a number of bmi Regional staff members whilst at the same time monitoring developments elsewhere in the UK regional airline sector which could present opportunities for Loganair.'

Loganair also announced it will be expanding its services from Aberdeen, providing flights to Bristol, Oslo and Esbjerg.

Loganair said it would provide daily services Monday to Friday between Aberdeen and Esjberg - which is Denmark's fifth largest city - making this the airline's first service to the country.

Meanwhile, flights between Aberdeen and Oslo and the service from Aberdeen to Bristol will operate on weekdays as well as Sundays.

Loganair already operates 50 flights a week from Aberdeen Airport.

A spokesman added: 'Our three new routes from Aberdeen complement our existing activity across a distinct geographical area, acting as a logical fit with our network - while also markedly increasing the airline's presence in Aberdeen.'

Derry City and Strabane District Council said it was working to find an immediate replacement to provide a service from the local airport to London.

Flybmi operated two flights a day to Stansted Sunday to Friday with a single flight on Saturday.

Loganair and Ryanair are currently the only airlines which serve City of Derry Airport.

Civil engineer stranded after booking 14 flights with Flybmi over the next seven weeks Civil engineer Danny McLaughlin, 46, booked 14 flights with Flybmi over the next seven weeks between the City of Derry Airport and Stansted to commute to work from Co Donegal to London The news of flybmi's collapse is a cause of major concern for a father living along the Irish border who used the airline frequently for work. Civil engineer Danny McLaughlin said it is the first direct effect he has felt living in 'Brexitland'. The 46-year-old father-of-two had 14 flights booked through his job over the next seven weeks between City of Derry Airport and London Stansted. Mr McLaughlin, who lives near Buncrana in Co Donegal, said he was shocked when he received a text message telling him of the airline's demise. 'I'm a bit stunned to be honest with you,' he said. 'I know airlines and things have been saying this for quite a while but it just came as a bolt out of the blue. 'I feel sorry for the staff. I haven't reached the angry stage yet, I probably will. I probably will get a bit annoyed as the weekend goes on. And on Monday morning when I can't get to work.' The airline said uncertainty around Brexit was partly to blame for it cancelling flights and filing for administration. Mr McLaughlin said it is the first personal inconvenience he has felt from Brexit and added that he has concerns about what lies ahead. He said: 'I'm really in Brexitland, I'm three miles from the border. I've been across the border six times today already, and that's a normal Saturday - going to the shop, taking my son to get a haircut and to rugby. 'For me personally it's the first thing really that's affected me. And then, in 41 days' time we just don't know what's going to happen three miles up the road. 'If there's going to be no deal, and it looks that way at the minute, this area here, we're going to be hit the worst. 'I was sitting in traffic today just at the bottom of my road getting onto the main road and there was a line of cars coming both directions, and it was 50 per cent Northern Ireland registrations so it's going to affect all those people as well.' The City of Derry Airport said that following flybmi's news it is 'reviewing options' to resume a route to Stansted. Last week, Transport Secretary Chris Grayling confirmed the UK Government would continue to provide funding for a flight between City of Derry Airport and London for a further two years. Advertisement
Georgia representative Lucy McBath took to her Twitter on Saturday to tribute her son, Jordan Davis, on what would have been his 24th birthday

Representative Lucy McBath posted a touching tribute on Saturday to her son Jordan Davis on what would have been his 24th birthday, just days after she worked to pass the first gun violence legislation in years.

The Georgia lawmaker's post included a photo of the mother and son and their family pooch.

'Jordan - you are my strongest ally, and will forever be my best friend. Today you turn 24, but the impact of your story will last forever,' McBath said in the post.

Davis, was killed in Jacksonville in 2012 by a white man who was angry over the loud music the black teen and his friends had been playing in their car.

Michael Dunn used the 'stand-your-ground' law in his defense, but was convicted and is serving a life sentence.

On Wednesday night, the House Judiciary Committee passed the HR 8 bill that would require federal background checks for all gun purchases.

'Jordan - you are my strongest ally, and will forever be my best friend. Today you turn 24, but the impact of your story will last forever,' McBath said in the post

Davis (left), was killed in Jacksonville in 2012 by a white man - Michael Dunn (right) who was angry over the loud music the black teen and his friends had been playing in their car

Not only did the bill's passing occur the day before the first Parkland anniversary, but McBath was also in attendance days before her son's birthday.

'I said I supported this bill in the name of my son but also all the other survivors and families I have worked with over the years that are depending on Congress to do right by them in keeping them safe,' she said, according to CNN.

McBath hugged Representative Ted Deutch and was seen crying after the bill made it through. Deutch is a Florida Democrat who represents the district where the Parkland shooting took place.

On Wednesday night, the House Judiciary Committee passed the HR 8 bill that would require federal background checks for all gun purchases

'I had been working on this legislation with other legislators and activists and survivors for six years,' McBath declared. 'I can recall all the times that I sat on the other side of that dais, you know, being in the audience watching amendment after amendment be shot down, so to speak. It was very surreal and very bittersweet.'

The panel also passed HR 1112, which would extend the background check period from three to 10 days.

The two background check bills will go to the House floor for a vote, one McBath is choosing to remain optimistic about.

'I believe there are senators on the Republican side who know we are doing the right thing,' she said. 'People have to be aware of what the constituency expects of them. When numbers of people understand they could have a parkland at any time in their communities. I think people are beginning to stand up and say, this just makes sense. It's common sense.'
Syrian regime bombs have killed 18 civilians including eight children in the last major jihadist-controlled region in the past two days.

Artillery and rocket fire launched by government forces also took the lives seven women and three men in the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The deadly bombardment hit the towns of Maaret al-Noman and Khan Sheikhun, according to the British-based group.

A Syrian man helps a wounded woman covered in dust following bombardment in the town of Khan Sheikhun in the jihadist-held Idlib region on February 15

Idlib region is mainly controlled by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Syrian group led by former Al-Qaeda fighters, after they last month pushed back smaller, Turkey-backed rebel outfits.

Since September, the region has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a ceasefire deal brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But sporadic regime bombardment has continued to hit the region, and hundreds of missiles rained down on Maaret al-Noman, Khan Sheikhun, and other areas on Friday and Saturday.

Almost eight years into Syria's grinding civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's regime controls around two-thirds of the country.

His army and allied fighters have made great gains against rebels and jihadists since Russia's military intervened on the side of Damascus in 2015.

The war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, and has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers that has killed more than 360,000 people.

How ISIS was defeated after an devastating and relentless air and ground offensive

Friday and Saturday's deadly bombardment comes as the world waits for US-backed forces to expel the Islamic State group from a final holdout in eastern Syria, marking the end of the jihadists' self-declared 'caliphate'.

Rampaging ISIS fighters were just an hour from Baghdad when a fleet of US Apache attack helicopters were scrambled to check their devastating advance with a hail of bullets and bombs.

The army of bloodthirsty jihadhis had routed the far from fearless Iraqi forces in a lightning fast and cruel campaign that saw them take a swathe of key towns including Mosul and Kirkut in less than two weeks.

Just days later on 29 June 2014, elusive Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, showing disdain for the $25m US bounty on his head, appeared in public at the Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Mosul to announce a Caliphate in Iraq and Syria
Prosecutors say this 1st Century BCE coffin of Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis, was looted from Egypt

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return an ancient gilded coffin to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined that it had been looted from that country, the museum said.

The museum had purchased the prized coffin, dating from the first century BCE, in July 2017 from a Paris art dealer for a price of nearly $4 million.

But the Manhattan district attorney's office determined that the mummy-shaped golden coffin had been sold with fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license.

It was not clear what had sparked the district attorney's investigation.

The statement Friday quoted Met CEO Daniel Weiss as apologizing to the Egyptian people and specifically to Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany.

'After we learned that the Museum was a victim of fraud and unwittingly participated in the illegal trade of antiquities, we worked with the DA's office for its return to Egypt,' Weiss said.

The museum said it would 'consider all available remedies to recoup the purchase price of the coffin' and would commit itself 'to identifying how justice can be served, and how we can help to deter future offenses against cultural property.'

The coffin's documentation was faked including a forgery of a 1971 Egyptian export license, according to the Manhattan district attorney

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, colloquially known as 'the Met,' paid $4 million for the artifact and had made it a major centerpiece of an exhibition

The Met vowed to 'review and revise its acquisitions process.'

The elaborately decorated coffin, viewed by nearly a half-million visitors since it was made the centerpiece of a major exhibition in July, is sheathed in gold, which the ancient Egyptians associated with the gods.

It is inscribed with the name of Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis.

The Met took the coffin off view this week to deliver it to the district attorney's office for its eventual return to Egypt.
A mass evacuation has been ordered following the discovery of an unexploded bomb that was dropped on Paris during one of the most devastating Allied air raids of the Second World War.

Michel Delpuech, the French capital's police prefect, said it has been 'impossible to diffuse' the 1000lb bomb and so emergency measures were needed.

It was discovered earlier this month by workmen on a site at Porte de La Chapelle (Chapel Gate) close to the Eurostar hub at Gare du Nord.

The railway's station will be shut for at least six hours on Sunday, as the bomb is finally blown up after 75 years.

French authorities said the bomb was likely to have been dropped in April 1944 (pictured: Ateliers de Saint-Ouen, April 22, 1944)

The bomb was discovered earlier this month by workmen on a site at Porte de La Chapelle (Chapel Gate) close to the Eurostar hub at Gare du Nord (pictured)

Some 2000 local people, including hundreds of migrants living on the street, will be told to leave an area that covers a two-mile radius around the bomb.

Gyms and community centres nearby will be opened for the hundreds of who have to abandon their homes for the day.

'It will be an unprecedented evacuation,' said Mr Delpuech, who added that the bomb was first detected on February 4, when it was initially thought to be harmless.

Part of the A1 Paris to Calais motorway will be shut, along with the capital's ring road, while Metro and other train services will also shut down.

The French authorities said the bomb was likely to have been dropped in April 1944, when RAF and U.S. Airforce planes were attacking Paris in the run up to D-Day Normandy landings.

RAF and U.S. Airforce planes were attacking Paris in the run up to D-Day Normandy landings

On the night of April 20 the RAF despatched 247 Lancaster bombers and 22 Mosquitos to destroy the Porte de la Chapelle freight yard.

Some 2000 bombs were dropped on the key installation in occupied Paris, killing up to 670 people, many of them civilians, and wounding hundreds of others.

Precision bombing ensured that mainly industrial targets were destroyed, but stray ordnance also reached famous districts including Montmartre.

The death toll was comparable with those inflicted by the Luftwaffe during the London Blitz, and higher than the worst night of the wartime attacks on Coventry.

Between 1940 and 1945, British and U.S. air forces dropped some 2.7million tons of high explosives on Europe.

This contributed hugely to the 390,000 French civilians being killed by military activity in France during the war.

Five trains between London and the French capital have been cancelled, one will be diverted and others are expected to be delayed (file photo)

This figure is higher than the number of British and British Empire troops who lost their lives during the same conflict.

Ordnance from the war is still regularly uncovered in France, especially by builders and farmers. It is part of an 'Iron Harvest' that also includes shells and other munitions from the First World War.

Five trains between London and the French capital have been cancelled, one will be diverted and others are expected to be delayed.

Roads and domestic train services in Paris will also be disrupted while the operation to make the device safe is carried out.

Eurostar said in a statement: 'We are sorry for the impact this will have on our customers and would strongly advise anyone scheduled to travel with us between London and Paris this weekend to consider changing their plans.'

Free refunds or exchanges are being offered for all passengers booked to travel on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
HR Intern Trevor Wehner, 22, was killed on his first day on the job

Police have identified the five victims who were killed in a workplace shooting in a factory in Aurora, Illinois.

Shooter Gary Martin, 45, opened fire on Friday, shortly after he was terminated from his job of 15 years at the Henry Pratt Co. industrial valve manufacturing plant, police said. Martin died in a police shootout.

Slain were Human Resources Manager Clayton Parks, HR Intern Trevor Wehner, mold operator Russell Beyer, stockroom attendant and forklift operator Vincente Juarez, and plant manager Josh Pinkard.

Wehner, the intern, was a 22-year-old student at Northern Illinois University.

He was starting his first day at Henry Pratt when he was killed, according to a family friend.

Trevor Wehner was a 22-year-old student at Northern Illinois University. He was starting his first day at Henry Pratt when he was killed and is seen above with his girlfriend Winter Lane

Human Resources Manager Clayton Parks, seen with his family, was killed when an employee opened fire the moment he was told he was being let go from the job

Josh Pinkard, the plant manager at the Henry Pratt Co. industrial valve manufacturing plant, was also killed when the shooter opened fire

Vincente Juarez (second from left) was a stockroom attendant and forklift operator

Russell Beyer's sister Dawn posted a moving tribute after he was confirmed among the dead

Russell Beyer's sister, Dawn, confirmed his death with an emotional post on Facebook.

She wrote: 'My brother Russell was not one of the lucky ones. Please be patient with my parents and brother as this is the worst nightmare possible for my family.

'Hug your loved ones because tomorrow is not promised. I wished to God I could tell you RussellI love you one more time!'

The ages of the other victims were not immediately clear. A sixth male employee at the plant was also injured in the shooting.

All of the victims were found dead at the scene in the same close area of the plant, according to police.

Six police officers were also injured in the shooting, but none of their injuries are life-threatening. The six wounded officers ranged in age from 23 to 54.

Martin likely knew he was about to be fired and brought a gun into the meeting, opening fire on all present as soon as he was given the news, Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said Saturday.

She said she doesn't know exactly what he had been told or why he was fired.

Ziman says Martin pulled the gun and began shooting right after he was fired. She says three of the five Henry Pratt Co. co-workers he killed were in the room with him and the other two were just outside.

Police say that Gary Martin, 45, opened fire the moment he was told that he was being let go from the plant. He had a felony record and should not have been able to buy a gun, but did

An aerial photo of police and emergency vehicles parked in a lot adjacent to a warehouse at the scene of a mass shooting involving multiply casualties in Aurora, Illinois on Friday

The chief also released new details about Martin's criminal background and the weapon in the shooting.

Martin should have been legally barred from purchasing a gun due to his felony record. He had a 1995 conviction for aggravated assault for stabbing a woman in Marshall County, Mississippi.

However, in January 2014, Martin applied for and was issued an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification (FOI) card, which is required to own or purchase a gun in Illinois.

On March 6 2014, Martin applied to purchase a handgun at a licensed dealer in Aurora. Five days later, he took possession of a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber revolver, the same type of gun described as the weapon in Sunday's shooting.

Martin (left and right) was not legally allowed to own the gun he used in the shooting

Law enforcement officials search the apartment of Gary Martin, believed to be responsible for a workplace shooting at the Henry Pratt Company, in Aurora, Illinois on Friday

On March 16 2014, Martin applied for a Concealed Carry permit in an unknown location. He was fingerprinted during the background check, and his prior felony conviction came to light during the background check.

At the discovery, Martin's CCW application was rejected, and his FOI card was revoked. He apparently retained possession of the handgun, however.

Ziman was unable to explain why the felony conviction did not prevent Martin from obtaining a FOI card in the first place, merely saying it was possible that it would not have been discovered until the more rigorous CCW check.

Martin's latest arrest was in 2017 in Oswego, Illinois, on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property.

He had a history of six arrests in Aurora, where he lived, police said.

The charges in Aurora included traffic and domestic battery-related incidents. His most recent arrest in Aurora was in 2008 for violating an order of protection.
An amended wrongful death lawsuit claims Patrick Frazee (shown) murdered his fiancee Kelsey Berreth over gaining custody of their one-year-old daughter, Kaylee

The parents of the missing Colorado mom Kelsey Berreth introduced a potential motive for her murder in an amended wrongful death lawsuit brought against Kelsey's former fiance Patrick Frazee.

Kelsey Berreth, 29, was last seen alive on Thanksgiving Day at a grocery store in Woodland Park, Colorado.

According to the updated language of the suit submitted on Friday by attorney Angela Jones, 'Frazee had motive to kill Kelsey in that he wanted full custody' of their one-year-old daughter Kaylee.

When Kelsey's mother Cheryl Berreth called Frazee on December 2 to find out if everything was 'okay,' Frazee allegedly responded with 'here's the story...' before launching into what the lawsuit describes as 'false statements, misrepresentations, and/or calculated omissions.'

A judge ruled that Cheryl Berreth (above with Kelsey and Kaylee) and her husband would maintain temporary custody of the baby with a hearing set for April

Cheryl alleges that Frazee told her that the couple had broken up on or around Thanksgiving, meeting at a Cracker Barrel restaurant on Thanksgiving Day itself.

He claimed that Kelsey left Kaylee with him while she 'figured out what she was going to do' and that they both agreed to a 50/50 split in custody.

The lawsuit also listed what it considered to be untrue statements Frazee made to the press, including a claim by the accused murderer that Kelsey had 'issues' that would warrant him 'getting full custody.'

During that phone call with Cheryl, Frazee allegedly complained about Kelsey's behavior saying that their relationship had gone bad, that she kept 'putting him down' in front of their daughter and that she often would not return home immediately after work to go have dinner with co-workers.

Cheryl Berreth, seen here, recalled conversations with Patrick Frazee that in hindsight appeared to be 'calculatingly manufactured' in order to smear Kelsey Berreth

He suggested that Kelsey may have even 'flown somewhere with friends or co-workers' as an explanation for her disappearance.

The Berreth's lawsuit states the family now believes that Frazee 'calculatingly manufactured' these descriptions of her behavior that they found were 'uncharacteristic of Kelsey.'

The 16-month-old is temporarily in the custody of her maternal grandparents ahead of Frazee's murder trial.

The family shared an image of her to social media just days before he is due back in court.

Cheryl and her granddaughter Kaylee are seen making a visit to the victim's former place of employment, Dos Aviation, as the happy little one poses on the wing of an airplane.

Kaylee and her maternal grandmother pose for a photo at Kelsey Berreth's former place of employment

Frazee has been accused of murdering his fiancee Berreth. His mistress Krystal Lee Kenney has agreed to testify against him in court (Frazee leaving court in December)

The family shared the image to social media just days before Patrick Frazee is due back in court after being accused of murdering his fiance.

Frazee's court appearance next week will be his first since his mistress Kenney came forward to accuse him of murdering Berreth.

Krystal Lee Kenney came forward last week to accuse him of murdering Kelsey after she confessed to destroying the victim's cell phone.

'I learned that Patrick Frazee has committed a homicide on approximately Nov. 22, 2018 in Teller County. I knew that law enforcement would be investigating that crime,' the nurse said on Friday, reading from a prepared statement.

'I moved the victim's cell phone with the intent to impair the phone's availability in the investigation. I had no right or authority to move the victim's cell phone. That occurred between November 24 and November 25, 2018. In Teller County.'

Krystal Lee Kenney, Patrick Frazee's mistress, leaving court after testifying she destroyed Kelsey Berreth's cell phone

She will be sentenced after Frazee's trial for her own involvement after pleading guilty to one felony count of tampering with evidence.

Frazee was last in court two weeks ago for a custody hearing, arriving in a ballistics vest and surrounded by a small team of police and security, who hurriedly shuffled him into a courtroom after getting him out of a police cruiser.

At the same time, press was ordered out of the courtroom for the hearing, which was held in response to Frazee's mother requesting custody of his daughter Kaylee.

Berreth's body has still not been found.
A Utah mother was rescued from a cabin explosion with burns and broken bones Friday, after neighbors, including a retired firefighter, responded and pulled her from underneath a fallen beam.

The woman arrived at the house to spend the weekend with her family after three weeks away and could smell gas when she opened the garage door.

She went inside to investigate and left her four children outside in a car, according to authorities.

A Utah mother was rescued from cabin explosion with burns and broken bones. The woman left her four children in a car at her vacation property Friday while she went inside

A retired firefighter heard the explosion and was one of two men who pulled her from underneath a fallen beam. Fire crews were called before 7pm and still battled flames at 10pm

Shortly before 7pm neighbors spotted an inferno at the property and reported flames coming from the side of the house.

A former Salt Lake City emergency worker was said to be among two men who pulled her from debris and got her to safety.

The mom had to be treated at the scene after EMS was informed that air transport had been grounded due to a severe snow storm.

She was transported to Heber Valley Hospital and later by Life Flight ground transportation to the University Hospital burns unit in Salt Lake City.

The woman was said to be in stable but serious condition and the youngsters were not injured in the gated community Timber Lakes incident.

Striking images show the fire roaring as strong winds encouraged flames to spread.

The woman smelled gas at the cabin as she opened the garage door and went to investigate

Neighbors saw the fire that broke out three weeks after family had last been to the Timber Lakes home

None of the children in the car were injured in the explosion made worse by a snow storm

Wasatch County Fire spokeswoman Janet Carson said when fire crews arrived they took a 'defense attack' because 'there wasn't any saving' the cabin.

Flames in the rural area, east of Heber City, were so huge that additional fire trucks were needed on Lakes Pines Drive.

'Upon arrival of fire units the home was fully engulfed and they began fighting the fire in defense mode from above the home with the aerial apparatus, as well as with hose lines from several points surrounding the structure,' Wasatch County Fire Rescue said. 'The severe storm that had been forecast hit as crews were working the fire with heavy snow and wind causing low visibility and extreme road conditions.

'Wasatch County Fire has several 4x4 apparatus that remained on the scene and other units were released.'

#BREAKING: reported house explosion in Heber. Posted by KUTV 2News on Friday, 15 February 2019

They thanked local maintenance crews and snow plows that kept the roads open for accessibility during the night's extreme weather.

One witness noted on Facebook that the crew did an impressive job.

'I made the initial 911 call...y'all made it so far up the canyon in record time. Thank you. Thank you for your service and thank you for your quick action,' Mary Hammond commented.
A Texas woman was awarded $37.6million by a jury after she sued Honda for their seat belt system that left her paralyzed after a 2015 car crash.

Sarah Milburn, 27, sued the automaker for its seat belt design after an Uber she was riding in ran a red light in Dallas. The Honda Odyssey she was riding in was struck broadside by a pickup truck and sent Milburn's vehicle rolling over onto its side.

'Probably the worst ride of my life,' Milburn explained to NBC New York. 'I believe I was put in this (wheel) chair for a reason; to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone ever again.'

Sarah Milburn, 27, sued the automaker for its seat belt design after an Uber she was riding in ran a red light in Dallas in 2015

The Honda Odyssey (stock) she was riding in was struck broadside by a pickup truck and sent Milburn's vehicle rolling over onto its side

According to the woman's lawyer, Jim Mitchell, Milburn suffered a broken neck and is now a quadriplegic. The lawyer also blasted the seat belts of the Honda Odyssey as being poorly designed.

The design for the minivan's third row consists of a two-part system that the lawyer claimed multiple people would struggle with. That section of the vehicle is where Milburn had been sitting.

Milburn's attorneys conducted a study where they said 50 out of 53 people failed to put the seat belt in the proper vessel

'Specifically, the seat belt is a two-part system requiring the user to grasp a detachable shoulder strap from the van's ceiling, anchor it to the seat and then pull the belt across the user's hips and buckle it,' Mitchell said in a statement on Thursday. 'In independent testing, an expert showed the jury that fewer than 10 percent of people who were unfamiliar with the van's two-part seat belt system were able to use it properly.'

Milburn's attorneys conducted a study where they said 50 out of 53 people failed to put the seat belt in the proper vessel. They also determined that 'wearing it that way was actually more dangerous than having no seat belt at all'

'What Honda said is, we met all federal regulations, and guess what? They did,' said Charla Aldous, another lawyer representing Milburn. But this jury found that those federal regulations were not sufficient.'

Honda released a statement on Friday stating that Milburn failed to wear the seat belt properly and that their design meets federal standards.

A Texas jury awarded her with $37million for the suit

Honda plans to 'vigorously appeal' and claim that Milburn did not wear her seat belt properly

'Honda is disappointed with the verdict in Milburn v. AHM and intends to vigorously appeal. The design of the seat belt system for the middle passenger in the third row seat in the 2011 Odyssey complies with all applicable federal safety standards and is similar in design to virtually all comparable minivans of this vintage. If it had been worn properly in this crash, the plaintiff would have suffered no serious injuries,' the company said.

Milburn's family hopes that the case will help in establishing the creation of 'Sarah's Law.' The law would force automakers to change their seat belt systems if they use that type of design.

'We will change the seat belt system, ' said Aldous. 'This needs to be outlawed!'

Milburn added: 'It's not about the money for me. It's about the fact that, you know, this could have been someone else. It could have been a child and they probably wouldn't have come out as lucky. I'm in a chair, but I can still talk. I can still move my arms. I can still smile, so I have to be thankful for what I have every day.'
Nearly a year in space put astronaut Scott Kelly's immune system on high alert and changed the activity of some of his genes compared to his Earth-bound identical twin, researchers said Friday.

Scientists don't know if the changes were good or bad but results from a unique NASA twins study are raising new questions for doctors as the space agency aims to send people to Mars.

Tests of the genetic doubles gave scientists a never-before opportunity to track details of human biology, such as how an astronaut's genes turn on and off in space differently than at home.

One puzzling change announced Friday at a science conference: Kelly's immune system was hyperactivated.

Scott Kelly, right, crew member of the mission to the International Space Station, stands behind glass in a quarantine room, behind his brother, Mark Kelly, also an astronaut, in 2015 after a news conference in the Russian-leased Baikonur, Kazakhstan cosmodrome

Mark Kelly speaks on stage at LocationWorld 2016 Day 1 at The Conrad on November 2, 2016 in New York City with his twin brother Scott in the background

The International Space Station (ISS) photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking, Oct. 4, 2018

'It's as if the body is reacting to this alien environment sort of like you would a mysterious organism being inside you,' said geneticist Christopher Mason of New York's Weill Cornell Medicine, who helped lead the study. He said doctors are now looking for that in other astronauts.

Since the beginning of space exploration, NASA has studied the toll on astronauts' bodies, such as bone loss that requires exercise to counter. Typically they're in space about six months at a time. Kelly, who lived on the International Space Station, spent 340 days in space and set a U.S. record.

'I've never felt completely normal in space,' the now-retired Kelly said in an email to The Associated Press, citing the usual congestion from shifting fluid, headaches and difficulty concentrating from extra carbon dioxide, and digestive complaints from microgravity.

But this study was a unique dive into the molecular level, with former astronaut Mark Kelly, Scott's twin, on the ground for comparison. Full results haven't yet been published, but researchers presented some findings Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Scott Kelly (left ) reacts to being aboard the International Space Station after the hatch opening of the Soyuz spacecraft March 28, 2015

Scott Kelly gives himself a flu shot on September 24, 2015. The vaccination is part of NASA's Twins Study, a compilation of multiple investigations that took advantage of a unique opportunity to study identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly

One-year mission crew members Scott Kelly of NASA (left) and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos (right) celebrated their 300th consecutive day in space on January 21, 2016

A number of genes connected to the immune system became hyperactive, Mason said. It's not a change in DNA but in what's called 'gene expression,' how genes turn off and on and increase or decrease their production of proteins.

Mason also spotted a spike in the bloodstream of another marker that primes the immune system. Yet at the same time, Kelly's blood showed fewer of another cell type that's an early defense against viruses.

It's not a surprise that gene activity would change in space  it changes in response to all kinds of stress.

'You can see the body adapting to the change in its environment,' Mason said.

Scott Kelly accompanied by his brother Mark Kelly, right, walks before the launch of the Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian-leased cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan on October 8, 2010

The good news: Most everything returned to normal shortly after Kelly got back on Earth in March 2016. Those immune-related genes, however, 'seemed to have this memory or this need to almost be on high alert' even six months later, Mason said.

'On the whole it's encouraging,' said Craig Kundrot, who heads space life and science research for NASA. 'There are no major new warning signs. We are seeing changes that we didn't necessarily anticipate' but don't know if those changes matter.

From four Russians living in space for more than a year, NASA already knew prolonged time off Earth is possible, Kundrot said, adding, 'We also aim for more than just possible. We want our astronauts to do more than just survive.'

Ultimately, the twin study gives NASA a catalog of things to monitor on future missions to see if other astronauts react the same way. Astronauts on future missions will be able to do some of this testing in space instead of freezing samples for scientists back home, Mason said.

Scott Kelly is seen inside the Cupola, a special module which provides a 360-degree viewing of the Earth and the International Space Station. Kelly was one of two crew members spending an entire year in space

Immune issues sound familiar to Dr. Jerry Linenger, an American astronaut who spent more than four months on the Russian space station Mir. He said he was never sick in orbit, but once he came back to Earth 'I was probably more sick than I was in my life.'

Astronauts launch into orbit with their own germs and get exposed to their crewmates' germs and then after a week with nothing else new in the 'very sterile environment' of a space station 'your immune system is really not challenged,' Linenger said.

A human mission to Mars, which NASA hopes to launch in the 2030s, would take 30 months, including time on the surface, Kundrot said.

Radiation is a top concern. The mission would expose astronauts to galactic cosmic radiation levels higher than NASA's own safety standard. It's 'just a little bit over,' he said.

On Earth and even on the space station, Earth's magnetic field shields astronauts from lots of radiation. There would be no such shielding on the way to Mars and back, but tunnels or dirt-covered habitats could help a bit on Mars, Kundrot said

Kelly, who turns 55 next week, said he'd go to Mars. He said a trip that long 'wouldn't be worse than what I experienced. Possibly better. I think the big physical challenge, radiation aside, will be a mission where you are in space for years.'
Empire star Jussie Smollett has hired Michael Cohen's high-powered criminal defense attorney, as the police investigation into the attack he reported last month took a sudden shift amid allegations of a hoax.

Attorney Michael Monico, a former federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Illinois, revealed in a radio interview on Thursday in Chicago that he is representing Smollett.

Monico, speaking on WGN's The Roe Conn Show, did not reveal how long he has been representing Smollet or in what capacity. Monico last month took over as co-counsel for Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer.

It came as police in Chicago suddenly released two Nigerian extras on Smollett's show, who had previously been described as suspects in the attack, saying that 'new evidence' had emerged in their interrogations that requires further detective work.

Empire star Jussie Smollett (above) has hired Michael Cohen's high-powered criminal defense attorney, as the police investigation into the attack he reported last month took a sudden shift

Michael Monico (above) revealed in a radio interview on Thursday that he is Smollett's lawyer

Brothers Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo, 27, and Abimbola 'Abel' Osundairo, 25, were cut loose from police custody late on Friday. They had been held since Wednesday, after being picked up at O'Hare Airport while disembarking a flight from Nigeria.

'Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete,' Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Friday night.

The Osundairo brothers' attorney, Gloria Schmidt, spoke briefly to reporters after their release, hinting that Smollett's legal future could hold difficulties.

'There's so many moving parts to this that will come out in time,' Schmidt said when asked if her clients had helped Smollett stage the attack. 'I'm going to let them tell their story when the time is right.'

Smollett made international headlines after reporting the attack on January 29, in which he said two white men assaulted him at 2am on a Chicago street, shouting vile racist and homophobic slurs.

The actor said that he fought back bravely as the two men shouted 'this is MAGA country,' poured bleach on him, and looped a noose around his neck.

Abimbola 'Abel' (left) and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo (right) were arrested on Wednesday night at Chicago O'Hare airport, as they returned from a trip to visit family in Nigeria

Chicago PD confirmed on Thursday that the pair seen in this image from surveillance footage around the time of the attack on January 29 (above) were Abel and Ola Osundairo

Smollett has vigorously denied speculation that details of the attack were fabricated or staged, speaking out in an interview that aired on Wednesday just hours before the Osundairo brothers were detained.

It is unclear at this time what the Osundairo brothers told police that would alter the course of the investigation.

Late on Friday, police sources said that cops had seized a bottle of bleach from Smollett's apartment, according to Fox News correspondent Matt Finn.

Meanwhile, new information surfaced about the Osundairo brothers, who in the course of 48 hours went from 'potential persons of interest' to 'potential suspects' to being under arrest because investigators had 'probable cause that they were involved in a crime' to being set free.

Police said that the brothers were the two men who were seen on a surveillance image released to the public, and Smollett positively identified the two men in the image as his attackers in a televised interview.

The two brothers are both strongly opposed to President Donald Trump and fervently pro-LGBT, fellow Empire cast and crew members tell TMZ. Both men are said to be loyal fans of former President Barack Obama.

Smollett is said to be close with the brothers and would frequently approach them on set to discuss health and fitness.

Colleagues on the tight-knit Empire set said they had a hard time imagining that the Osundairo brothers could have been involved in the kind of homophobic and bigoted attack that Smollett described.

Abimbola, pictured, was booked on DUI and speeding charges in July 2015 according to Chicago arrest records. The brothers were picked up at Chicago O'Hare Airport on Wednesday

Police initially said that they tied the brothers to the reported attack using meticulous investigative efforts, including surveillance videos and information from ride-sharing companies.

Although Smollett said he did not know who attacked him, both brothers are known to the actor and he follows them on social media.

Their shared Instagram account also features a video of them working out at the private gym in Smollett's luxury apartment block.

The brothers are known to have left Chicago for Nigeria hours after the attack.

Their shared apartment was also raided by police, who took away bottles of bleach, electronics, a red hat and a pair of Nike shoes.

The FBI is also involved in the investigation after Smollett reported receiving hate mail. Federal investigators have taken the lead on the mail case, and are supporting Chicago police in the investigation into Smollett's report of an assault.

Police have been cautious in their official public statements about the case. At last report, investigators still officially considered Smollett a victim in the case.

Smollett has continued to angrily denounce any speculation that the attack did not occur as he described, ascribing racist motives to skeptics and saying that no one would doubt him if he had reported being attacked by non-white assailants.

'I will never be the man that this did not happen to,' he told ABC on Wednesday. 'I am forever changed.'
A New York woman has been charged with the Friday murder of a 70-year-old Army Veteran she labelled 'racist' before allegedly stabbing him to death in a Bronx grocery store.

Surveillance footage from inside the shop shows a woman who appears to be Madelyn Tamerez, 31, launching herself at victim who was buying coffee around 12.20pm and shoppers pulling her off the man who lived nearby at the New Era Veterans Home.

The suspect  who witnesses said was known to carry a kitchen knife and appeared intoxicated at the time - left the supermarket but then returned 15 minutes later with a weapon and stabbed him in the torso three of four times before fleeing.

Madelyn Tamerez, 31, (center) was charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon in the Friday killing of a 70-year-old Army veteran (left)

Surveillance footage from a New York grocery store shows the suspect attacking the unidentified man (pictured center in black cap), leaving for 15 minutes and returning to stab him

'He was a good guy. I know him long time. He would come to the store every day and relax, drink coffee, talk,' Sam Aden, whose father owns the store, told Pix 11.

A weapon with a blue handle was pictured in the street following the incident that began with a verbal dispute.

Store co-owner Abdo Kaid, 29, said there was blood all over the bodega and on the pavement outside.

Calling the suspect a 'problem to everybody,' Kaid said she got into an argument with the victim  whose name was not released - inside the store on Westchester Ave. near Commonwealth Ave. in Parkchester.

'He was in the store buying coffee. He comes in a lot,' Kaid told the New York Daily News about the customer of 17 years. 'She comes in and says "You racist. You blah blah blah." So he spits twice in her face. But I yell at her, "Get out of the store. Leave. Buy something or leave."'

Witnesses said she was known to carry a kitchen knife and appeared intoxicated

The suspect was seen walking backwards out of bodega and waving a kitchen knife

The victim was recorded clutching his arm and falling to the ground outside

Surveillance footage shows that after the suspect returns, she walks backwards out of the premises waving the weapon.

The victim is then seen clutching his arm as he exits the deli and falls to the ground.

Tamerez didn't get far and was arrested at the scene.

The victim was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center but was declared dead at the hospital. He did not have family in New York and law enforcement kept his identity confidential while waiting to notify them.

It's not clear whether the victim and suspect knew each other.

However several locals told stories of negative experiences with her.

The store was covered in blood and a weapon was pictured in the bloodied street

The victim was rushed to Jacobi Medical Center but was declared dead at the hospital. He did not have family in New York and law enforcement kept his identity confidential

'The same time last year she comes over and I tell her to leave my stuff alone and she showed me the knife,' an anonymous man who works in a nearby tax preparation office told NYDN. 'So I said get that s**t out. And she ran off.'

In another video the suspect is seen urinating on the floor of Westchester Grocery & Candy.

Kaid's brother, Idris, who works in the store said: 'Last week she came in here to fight with my worker she takes the magazines and she threw (them) outside. She came back to fight with him again and you see the video, she takes her pants down.'

Another employee said she gave him a scar near his left eye: 'She's on drugs. One time she came in here sniffing something. So I kicked her out. And she came back and scratched me right here in my face.'

Tamerez was charged with murder, manslaughter and criminal possession of a weapon.

At the scene of the crime, employee Al Hedie told ABC 7 about the victim: 'He's a good dude, he don't bother nobody and the girl... when she's drunk she's no good, she bothers everybody.'
Presley Stockton (pictured with his grandfather) died just a day after arriving at the four-star Paradise Park hotel in Los Cristianos for a family holiday

A British four-year-old who drowned in a Tenerife hotel swimming pool had his armbands removed after complaining that he couldn't eat properly, an inquest heard.

Presley Stockton died just a day after arriving at the four-star Paradise Park hotel in Los Cristianos for a family holiday.

The 'much-loved' youngster was pulled out of the pool after being spotted face down by a lifeguard on September 19 last year.

Paramedics and the air ambulance were called to the hotel complex at around 3.40pm but were unable to resuscitate him despite their best efforts.

A post-mortem examination conducted at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital found that Presley, from Hindley near Wigan, Greater Manchester, died from drowning.

An inquest heard Presley had been 'very excited' about going away with family and friends, especially his mother Kirsty Jolley and dad Peter Stockton.

Relatives didn't attend the hearing, which consisted entirely of written statements from police, medical staff and members of Presley's family.

A post-mortem examination conducted at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital found that Presley, from Hindley near Wigan, Greater Manchester, died from drowning

The 'much-loved' youngster was pulled out of the hotel pool after being spotted face down on September 19 last year

Evidence read out at the inquest said the youngster had been 'particularly excited' about swimming in the hotel's pool area.

In a written statement, Mr Stockton said: 'He was bought some armbands to wear around the pool and other items to play with by his family.

'On September 19, Presley and his family had been around the pool, where he played wearing his armbands.

'At lunchtime, in the early afternoon, he had something to eat.

'He complained that he couldn't eat properly with the armbands on so they were taken off.'

A short time later, the inquest heard, the youngster headed for the pool with a group of young friends who he had been playing with nearby.

Evidence read out at the inquest said the youngster had been 'particularly excited' about swimming in the hotel's pool area

Senior coroner Alan Walsh said: 'Suddenly his father heard one of the children shouting "Presley".

'It was discovered that he had gone in the pool. He was rescued and attempts were made to resuscitate him, but sadly he had died at the hotel.'

It was claimed by family members that the one lifeguard on duty that afternoon had been 'chatting to the girls around the pool' when Presley fell into trouble.

The hotel has since insisted that two lifeguards were on duty at the time.

Senior coroner Mr Walsh concluded that Presley's death was accidental.

He said: 'I am satisfied that precautions were taken. He had been playing around the pool wearing armbands.

'The problem seems to have arisen when he had something to eat.

'They were taken off for a short time and during that short time he was with his friends around the pool, he went in and sadly became unresponsive.

'I accept that it was a sudden, unexpected event with unintended consequences.

'I am greatly saddened by the tragedy of a four-year-old excited about his holiday and being with family and friends.

'There were precautions taken with the exception of that very short period. It's unimaginable to me that this should occur in this moment.'

Presley, known to his family Little P, had just started school.

An inquest heard Presley had been 'very excited' about going away with family and friends, especially his mother Kirsty Jolley (Pictured left with Presley) and father Peter Stockton

At the time of his death, Nicola Green, headteacher at St Peter's CE Primary School in Hindley, wrote an emotional tribute to the 'bubbly' youngster.

She said: 'Presley had only been with us a short time but was already a part of St Peter's family.

'He will always be part of our school community and remembered by us all for his bubbly personality.'

Since his death, the family - in particular, Presley's grandad Mike Jolley - have campaigned to raise the importance of swimming lessons for youngsters.

Mr Jolley, 49, said his grandson had been taken to the swimming baths as an infant - but had never properly learned how to swim.

He said: 'When I was a child it was compulsory to take swimming lessons, even at nursery. It should be like that now.

Paramedics and the air ambulance were called to the hotel complex at around 3.40pm on September 19 but were unable to resuscitate him despite their best efforts

A post-mortem examination conducted at Royal Manchester Children's Hospital found that Presley, from Hindley near Wigan, Greater Manchester, concluded he died from drowning

'There should be more funding for youngsters of pre-school age. I want to do this for Presley. I want to make people more aware of the importance of learning how to swim.'

Mike is hoping to lobby the Government to provide more funding for preschool swimming lessons.

His campaign has been backed by Makerfield MP Yvonne Fovargue, who said: 'This would be a fitting tribute to the memory of Presley.

'Swimming is a vital life skill that helps to keep people fit and healthy but also teaches children how to stay safe in and around water.'
A lawyer for the kidnapped mistress of Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman has urged judges to be lenient with the 29-year-old beauty queen who faces a lifetime behind bars.

El Chapo's wife Emma Coronel Aispuro, 29, attended her husband's trial and watched from the public gallery. She was not charged with any offence and is considering returning to Mexico following her husband's trial in New York.

However, his mistress, Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez, 29, who was kidnapped by El Chapo's Sicarios on the crime lord's orders, is facing a life sentence.

Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez, pictured, was kidnapped on the orders of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman after he saw her in a magazine while he was on the run. He forced the 29-year-old beauty queen to become his lover. She now faces life in prison having been convicted of being involved in his massive drug operation

Emma Coronel Aispuro 29, who is married to El Chapo, attended his trial in New York She is expected to return to Mexico as her husband faces a life behind bars

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, pictured following his arrest in 2014, faces a life in jail in a federal super max prison after his was convicted of operating a massive drugs network in New York

Ms Sanchez' lawyer Heather Shaner told The Times: ' While [Guzman] was in hiding he would look at photographs of beauty queens in magazines and then send his henchmen to kidnap them and hold them so that he could have his way with them.'

Ms Shaner said Ms Sanchez had been brainwashed after being kidnapped by the gang.

Her colleague Carmen Hernandez said she hoped the judge would consider her client's upbringing and her kidnap when it came to sentencing.

Guzman was convicted in New York of running an international drug smuggling operation following a three-month trial.

The evidence was packed with Hollywood-style tales of grisly killings, political payoffs, cocaine hidden in jalapeno cans, jewel-encrusted guns and a naked escape with his mistress through a tunnel.

Guzman faced a drumbeat of drug-trafficking and conspiracy convictions that could put the 61-year-old escape artist behind bars for decades in a maximum-security US prison selected to thwart another of the breakouts that embarrassed his native country.

New York jurors whose identities were kept secret reached a verdict after deliberating for six days, sorting through what authorities called an 'avalanche' of evidence gathered since the late 1980s that Guzman and his murderous Sinaloa drug cartel made billions in profits by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the US.

During the trial, El Chapo, in the sketch, waved to his wife who was in the public galllery

Evidence showed drugs poured into the US through secret tunnels or hidden in tanker trucks and railway carriages passing through legitimate points of entry  suggesting a border wall would not be much of a worry.

The prosecution case against the diminutive Guzman, whose nickname translates to 'Shorty', included the evidence of several turncoats and other witnesses.

Among them were Guzman's former Sinaloa lieutenants, a computer encryption expert and a Colombian cocaine supplier who underwent extreme plastic surgery to disguise his appearance.

One Sinaloa insider described Mexican workers getting contact highs while packing cocaine into thousands of jalapeno cans  shipments that totalled 25 to 30 tons of cocaine each year.

Another said Guzman sometimes acted as his own sicario, or hitman, punishing a Sinaloan who dared to work for another cartel by kidnapping him, beating and shooting him, and having his men bury the victim while he was still alive, gasping for air.

The defence case lasted just half an hour. Guzman's lawyers did not deny his crimes as much as argue he was a fall guy for government witnesses who were more evil than he was.

Defence lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman urged the jury in closing arguments not to believe government witnesses who 'lie, steal, cheat, deal drugs and kill people'.

El Chapo, pictured here in a Mexican jail cell, was extradited to the United States for trial

Deliberations were complicated by the trial's vast scope. Jurors were tasked with making 53 decisions about whether prosecutors had proven different elements of the case.

The trial cast a harsh glare on the corruption that allowed the cartel to flourish. Colombian trafficker Alex Cifuentes caused a stir by testifying that former Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto took a 100 million dollar bribe from Guzman.

Mr Pena Nieto denied it, but the allegation fit a theme: politicians, army commanders, police and prosecutors, all on the take.

The tension at times was cut by some of the trial's sideshows, such as the sight of Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, showing up in matching burgundy velvet blazers in a gesture of solidarity.

Another day, a Chapo-size actor who played the kingpin in the TV series Narcos: Mexico came to watch, telling reporters that seeing the defendant flash him a smile was 'surreal'.

While the trial was dominated by Guzman's persona as a near-mythical outlaw who carried a diamond-encrusted handgun and stayed one step ahead of the law, the jury never heard from Guzman himself, except when he told the judge he would not give evidence.

The sketch artist drew El Chapo's wife as she sat waiting for the jury's verdict

One of the trial's most memorable tales came from girlfriend Lucero Guadalupe Sanchez Lopez, who said she was in bed in a safe house with an on-the-run Guzman in 2014 when Mexican marines started breaking down his door.

She said Guzman led her to a trap door beneath a bath that opened up to a tunnel that allowed them to escape.

Asked what he was wearing, she replied: 'He was naked. He took off running. He left us behind.'

The defendant had previously escaped from jail by hiding in a laundry bin in 2001. He then got an escort from crooked police officers into Mexico City before retreating to one of his many mountainside hideaways.

In 2014, he pulled off another jail break, escaping through a mile-long lighted tunnel on a motorcycle on rails.
Pamela Ramsey Taylor, the woman who made headlines in 2016 when she made a racist remark about then-First Lady Michelle Obama, pleaded guilty on Monday to defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The 57-year-old Clay County woman falsely registered for FEMA benefits that were meant for those who were impacted by the June 2016 floods that killed 20 people along the Elk River.

She managed to snatch up more than $18,000, according to the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

Pamela Ramsey Taylor, 57, pleaded guilty to defrauding FEMA of more than $18000 on Monday

The Clay County woman falsely registered for FEMA benefits that were meant for those who were impacted by the June 2016 floods that killed 20 people along the Elk River

A news release from U.S. Attorney Mike Stuart's office stated that the woman had been claiming that her primary residence was damaged in the flood and that she was living in a rental property.

In the plea agreement, Taylor explained that she registered with FEMA around July 2016 while at Clay County High School.

Her plea deal dictates that she must pay restitution of $18,149.04 and she also faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000

The woman told FEMA that her primary address was on Main Street while her 'permanent residence' on the Elk River in Procious had been damaged by flooding.

In actuality, Taylor actually lived in Bickmore. The area was not impacted by flooding.

Taylor and her husband do own the Procious property, but no one was living inside at the time.

The woman told authorities that her work address for the Clay County Development Corporation was her primary address.

Her plea deal dictates that she must pay restitution of $18,149.04. Taylor also faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.

She will be sentenced on May 30 by U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger.

Taylor was removed from the nonprofit, which helps low-income and aged people in Clay County, following an agreement with its board of directors and after her November 2016 Facebook post.

Taylor was removed from the nonprofit, which helps low-income and aged people in Clay County, following an agreement with its board of directors and after her November 2016 post.

'It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a [sic] Ape in heels,' Clay County Development Corporation director Pamela Ramsey Taylor wrote in a diss to former First Lady Michelle Obama

'It will be refreshing to have a classy, beautiful, dignified First Lady in the White House. I'm tired of seeing a [sic] Ape in heels,' Taylor wrote after Donald Trump was elected as president.

The racist post wasn't the first time Taylor, who had worked at the CCDC since the late '90s and became director in 2007, had seen trouble there.

She was dismissed in 2002 after being accused of taking fundraising money, but then hired back again shortly after, according to a lawsuit deposition seen by the Gazette-Mail.
Elana Mugdan, a 30-year-old from Little Neck, Queens, has the chance to win $100,000 from Vitaminwater

A New York millennial has won the opportunity to attempt life without a smartphone for a year in order to receive $100,000 from Vitaminwater.

The Twitter video contest entry by Elana Mugdan, a 30-year-old from Little Neck, Queens, rose above more than 104,000 others to earn her the shot at spending a year writing her fantasy book series, according to PIX11 News.

'I want to focus on my writing,' the author said. 'I want to have a real human interactions, not digital fake ones that are a poor substitution.'

Vitaminwater began the contest in December of last year, asking entrants to post on Twitter or Instagram 'explaining how you would use your year if you took a break from your smartphone' with the hashtags #NoPhoneforaYear and #contest.

Mugdan, a filmmaker with multiple IMDB credits, created a video entry that wowed the beverage brand with a faux infomercial selling the reality of life without her mobile device.

Elana Mugdan, 30, of Queens, will live without a smartphone from February 15, 2019 to February 15, 2020 in order to win the $100,000 Vitaminwater contest

Mugdan's smartphone will be kept in a plastic cage provided by Vitaminwater, though she will still have use of an old-fashioned flip phone

'The time I spend on my phone can be put to better use. Life would improve!' she tweeted. 'I'd finish writing my 5-book fantasy novel series, get back in shape, & reconnect with old friends. But don't take my word for it - watch my infomercial testimonial!'

The next phase, before she can collect the prize money, now bars her from using a smart phone or tablet for a year, even if it's somebody else's device. Her own smartphone will be placed in a plastic cage provided by Vitaminwater.

Mugdan can still operate laptop and desktop computers, and she can use a throwback flip phone on which she's permitted to text.

On top of that, Mugdan will have to complete monthly check-ins with the contest judges and will have to pass a lie detector test.

Mugdan's winning video entry used infomercial tropes to wow the judges in the contest

In Mugdan's video entry, she talks up her plans to participate in real life - while drinking from Vitaminwater bottles

'I have big plans for the money,' Mugdan said. 'I'm a broke starving artist, writing a book series and going on a book tour.'

Mugdan's 'Dragon Speaker,' the first book in her Young Adult Fantasy series called The Shadow War Saga, is available on Amazon with the second book, 'Dragon Child' set to come out in May.

According to her author biography, she is residing in New York 'living a quiet but eccentric life with her pet snake, Medusa.'
The former Canadian High Commissioner to Britain has been accused of sexually assaulting an embassy worker by grabbing her bottom.

Gordon Campbell, who served as the Mayor of Vancouver and the Premier of British Columbia, allegedly groped Judith Prins, 54, as she climbed the main staircase of Canada House in January 2013.

The former embassy worker said she felt 'humiliated and disrespected' when Mr Campbell reportedly put his hand on her backside as he followed closely behind her, the Telegraph reported.

Gordon Campbell, who served as the Mayor of Vancouver and the Premier of British Columbia, allegedly groped Judith Prins

Scotland Yard is now investigating the allegation after it was reported last month - and the complaint has since been passed to the Foreign Office.

In a complaint submitted to the Canadian embassy, Ms Prins said: 'I distinctly remember this hand went up my backside. It was significant. It wasn't, "Oops, sorry I brushed you." It was definitely someone having a feel.'

Scotland Yard is now investigating the allegation after it was reported last month (Pictured, Gordon Campbell inside Canada House)

Ms Prins said Mr Campbell then 'carried on as if it was business as usual' and paid 'no regard' for what he had done.

The embassy worker raised the issue a few weeks later with Mark Fletcher, the consul general.

But it was in November that the 54-year-old decided to put forward a formal complaint against the former Premier - after she saw him on television laying a wreath on the Cenotaph alongside the Queen.

The complaint allegedly contained details of further incidents involving Mr Campbell in which he made comments about her appearance and engaged in non-sexual touching which made her 'uncomfortable'.

Ms Prins then entered into a settlement agreement and her complaint was withdrawn, reports say.

The former embassy worker said she did not contact the police at the time as she was unaware his alleged actions were a criminal offence.

But she eventually lodged a formal allegation of sexual assault by touching against Mr Campbell in January this year.

The Foreign Office is now speaking to Canadian officials over the matter.

A spokesman for Mr Campbell said: 'This complaint was transparently disclosed and became the subject of a full due diligence investigation at the time by the government of Canada and was found to be without merit.'

Ms Prins decided to put forward a formal complaint against Gordon Campbell (Pictured with the Queen and Prince Philip) after she saw him on television laying a wreath on the Cenotaph

Metropolitan Police said told CBC: 'A 54-year-old woman contacted police on 3 January 2019 and alleged she had been sexually assaulted at an address in Grosvenor Square.'

The force confirmed no arrests have been made. It said it was unable to comment on whether or not Mr Campbell was the subject of the allegation.

A spokesperson said: 'The [Metropolitan Police] does not identify any person who may, or may not be, subject to an investigation.'
Philip Hammond will not visit China this weekend amid reports that Beijing pulled out of trade talks after Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson threatened to deploy a warship in the Pacific.

The Chancellor was expected to meet Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua, but Treasury sources said the trip was never confirmed.

It follows reports in the Sun newspaper that Mr Hu scrapped the plans hours after Mr Williamson announced that he would be sending HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific region.

The HMS Queen Elizabeths first operational mission will take in the Pacific region

The Chancellor was expected to meet Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua, but Treasury sources said the trip was never confirmed

The paper said China had been expected to lift its bans on British poultry and cosmetics not tested on animals, which could have opened up access to markets worth around 10 billion over five years.

But a Treasury spokeswoman said: 'The Chancellor is not travelling to China at this time. No trip was ever announced or confirmed.'

A source suggested the visit would be rescheduled when possible.

Mr Williamson confirmed this week that HMS Queen Elizabeth's first operational mission will take place in the Pacific region, where Beijing has been involved in a dispute over navigation rights and territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson

Tory former chancellor George Osborne accused Mr Williamson of engaging in 'gunboat diplomacy' as he said it was important for ministers to not send mixed messages.

'I think it's very difficult to work out what the British Government's China policy is at the moment,' he told BBC Radio 4's Week In Westminster.

'You've got the Defence Secretary engaging in gunboat diplomacy of a quite old-fashioned kind, at the same time as the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary are going around saying they want a close economic partnership with China.

'Ultimately it's the responsibility of Theresa May as Prime Minister to sort this out because at the moment it looks all at sea.'

Elsewhere, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov hit back at Mr Williamson, calling him the 'minister of war', after the frontbencher told the Munich Security Conference that Russia was trying to 'goad the West into a new arms race'.

Mr Lavrov said Moscow was interested in knowing how the western alliance saw its mandate in the Arctic, and said: 'If you listen to some people like minister of war  or, sorry, minister of defence of the United Kingdom, then you might get an impression that nobody except Nato has the right to be anywhere other than in their own borders.'
Federal ethics officials believe President Donald Trump's lawyers provided false information about the $130,000 payment to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels after she alleged she had sex with Trump, the chairman of the House oversight committee said Friday.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said internal documents from the Office of Government Ethics described that Trump's personal lawyer, Sheri Dillon, and former White House attorney Stefan Passantino provided false information and 'evolving stories' about the payment.

In a letter to White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Cummings requested the White House turn over documents as part of the committee's investigation into whether Trump failed to properly report the payments as his 2016 campaign expenditures.

The chairman of the House oversight committee says ethics officials believe President Donald Trump's lawyers provided false information about buying the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniels (pictured October 11, 2018)

The President's financial disclosure statement for the period between January 2016 and April 2017 made no mention of Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

But Cohen pleaded guilty last November to campaign finance violations connected to the payments. He said Trump personally directed him to make them.

Real estate development company, The Trump Organization, paid Cohen $420,000 in monthly installments of $35,000 throughout 2017, after Cohen sought reimbursement for the hush-money payment to Daniels and other expenses, according to court documents.

Prosecutors alleged he used 'sham' invoices to try to conceal the true nature of the payments.

Cohen previously said the Trump Organization didn't reimburse him for the payments, while Trump has said Cohen was reimbursed through a retainer agreement in order to stop 'false and extortionist accusations'.

In internal notes obtained by the committee, one ethics official described the changing explanations from Trump's legal team as 'evolving stories,' the chairman said.

Sheri Dillon (left in January 2017) and Stefan Passantino (right) said all payments were 'in connection with legal services,' like 'routine vendor payments'

Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings (pictured March 2017) said they provided false information

'It now appears that President Trumps other attorneysat the White House and in private practicemay have provided false information about these payments to federal officials,' Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said in the letter.

'This raises significant questions about why some of the presidents closest advisers made these false claims and the extent to which they were acting at the direction of, or in coordination with, the president.'

At first, Dillon told the ethics officials that Trump didn't owe Cohen any money. In communication between March 22 and April 26, 2018, she said that she confirmed with Trump that Cohen wasn't owed any money in 2016 or 2017.

The letter says that in one of the notes, the officials summarized the position of Trump's lawyers: 'Michael Cohen did not loan Pres Trump $.'

After Trump tweeted in May 2018 that the hush-money agreement was paid using a monthly retainer agreement, the ethics officials went back to Dillon and were told that all the payments were 'in connection with legal services,' and compared them to 'routine vendor payments,' according to the letter.

Passantino made the same argument, saying the payments were for legal fees charged on a monthly basis, according to the letter.

Michael Cohen (pictured December 2018) pleaded guilty last November to campaign finance violations connected to the payments saying the President personally told him to make them

After ethics officials asked to see the retainer agreement, Dillion denied the request and said it was privileged, Cummings wrote.

Cummings argues that it is even more critical for the White House to produce the requested documents in light of the statements made to the ethics officials. He asked the White House to respond by next week about whether they intend to voluntarily comply with the request.

Neither Dillon nor Passantino immediately responded to emails seeking comment on Friday. The White House had no immediate comment.

The Republicans on the committee, who are in the minority, said in a statement that Cummings' letter is 'merely retreading an old and tired story intended to embarrass the President.'

The statement chastised Cummings for using 'cherry-picked confidential deliberations' in order to 'smear' Trump.

The House oversight committee is also seeking similar documents from the Trump Organization.
A deranged Tinder stalker who stabbed his ex-girlfriend 11 times and doused her in petrol left a message scrawled on the victim's bathroom mirror minutes before the attack.

Paul Dennis Lambert, 36, was shot dead by police after he violently attacked Dr Angela Jay at her home in Port Macquarie, on the New South Wales Mid North Coast, in 2016.

An inquest into Lambert's death on Friday revealed he wrote the message 'I love Paul' on Dr Jay's mirror in the lead up to a horrific sequence of events.

Paul Dennis Lambert, 36, was shot at the end of a high-speed police pursuit after he stabbed his ex-girlfriend and doused her in petrol at her Port Macquarie home in NSW in 2016

Dr Angela Jay (pictured) managed to break free from his grasp and she fled to her next door neighbour's house screaming for help

According to court documents seen by The Sydney Morning Herald, Lambert broke into Dr Jay's home and stashed duct tape, cable ties and knives in her bedroom drawer on November 3, 2016.

The 36-year-old then hid in a cupboard and waited for Dr Jay, who arrived home for dinner about 5pm.

When she walked into her bedroom, Lambert sprung from the cupboard and launched his attack, while clamping his hand over her mouth.

The terrified woman tried to break free, but Lambert reached for a knife, which he plunged into her chest, arms and legs, before he doused her in fuel.

The slipperiness of the fluid enabled Dr Jay to eventually break free from his grasp and she fled to her next door neighbour's house screaming for help.

Following the attack, Lambert fled the scene and drove north before he called Dr Jay's phone and spoke to paramedics.

When the ambulance officer answered the phone, Lambert asked 'how is she?' and said 'I didn't mean to do it'.

In a series of follow-up messages and calls to other family members and police, Lambert said he had stabbed Dr Jay, tried to set her alight, and threatened self-harm.

Police eventually caught up with Lambert after a high speed car chase on the Pacific Highway near Coffs Harbour.

Former workmates of Lambert said the man had struggled with mental illness, and described him as 'not right in the head' and said he told them he had been 'hearing voices'

Police managed to force Lambert off the Pacific Highway near Coffs Harbour after chasing him 150km along the stretch of road (pictured, Angela Jay)

A dramatic six-minute stand-off ensued, which came to a bloody end when Lambert lunged at officers and they shot him dead.

The traumatised policeman who shot dead Lambert later said he wished he could have swapped places with the knifeman.

Acting State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan ruled shooting Lambert was unavoidable given his actions and said it 'deeply affected' the officers who pulled the trigger.

'Senior Constable Damien Buckley said he reflects on the death every day and desperately wishes that there could have been a different outcome and that he could have ''sent Paul home'' to his family,' the judgement read.

'He even said he wishes he could have ''swapped spots'' with Mr Lambert.'

The NSW coronial inquest found police had no choice but to shoot dead the 'toxic' Tinder stalker.

'I do not consider there was any available alternative to lethal force,' Coroner O'Sullivan said.

'Senior Constable Damien Buckley (pictured in purple) said he reflects on the death every day and desperately wishes that there could have been a different outcome and that he could have ''sent Paul home'' to his family,' the judgement reads

Acting State Coroner Teresa O'Sullivan ruled shooting Lambert was unavoidable given his actions and it 'deeply affected' the officers who pulled the trigger, the coroner found

Lambert was on parole at the time of the attack after he assaulted his previous partner in Queensland.

Coroner O'Sullivan said the only other way Lambert could have been stopped from attacking Dr Jay is if communication was better between Queensland and NSW.

She said Lambert had been in breach of his parole conditions when he lived in NSW.

Had Queensland Police issued an arrest warrant, Lambert could have been arrested when he was pulled over for speeding only a few days before the attack happened against Dr Jay.

Though Coroner O'Sullivan said it wasn't her role to examine the state's parole system.

Lambert began dating the mid north Coast doctor long-distance after matching with her on Tinder in August 2016.

The relationship, which lasted less than two months, deteriorated after Lambert became 'controlling and possessive', threatened suicide, lied about deaths and created a false identity, findings by the NSW Coroner released on Friday reveal

Included in his history of brief dates was Emmy award-winning TV reporter Brittany Ann Keil, 32

The relationship, which lasted less than two months, deteriorated after Lambert became 'controlling and possessive', threatened suicide, lied about deaths and created a false identity, findings by the NSW Coroner released on Friday reveal.

But Lambert's 'insidious' manipulations were part of a much larger history of abuse against women, Coroner O'Sullivan found.

Included in his history of brief dates was Emmy award-winning TV reporter Brittany Ann Keil, 32.

Though his 'erratic' behaviour forced Keil to end the short-lived relationship.

He was the subject of 10 apprehended violence orders from five separate women, including his former wife.

Lambert broke into Dr Jay's home at Port Macquarie (pictured), ambushing and stabbing her 11 times in the chest, arms and legs days later on November 3

He was deported from the United States in 2015 for extorting a woman he dated while married.

He claimed diagnoses of psychological disorders including multiple personalities - up to nine at once - including 'evil Paul'.

Former workmates of Lambert said the man had struggled with mental illness, and described him as 'not right in the head' and said he told them he had been 'hearing voices'.

'When he was sacked he wrote an email to everyone apologising and saying he was trying to get help,' they said.

'He was so polished at work, it was only when you saw him regularly that you could see through it.

'He was always someone who really thought things through from every angle. He was non-stop thinking up plans and schemes, always thinking ten steps ahead. He was pretty intelligent but always a bit weird.

'He'd just rant about a topic and turn it inside out, like he'd been trapped in a room thinking about it.

A NSW coronial inquest found police had no choice but to shoot dead the 'toxic' Tinder stalker

'He was professional at work and made us lots of money, but in private he struggled to relate to people and make true friends.'

Lambert abused his wife throughout their divorce back in Queensland and was convicted of assault but paroled immediately.

He then moved to Sydney and met Dr Jay.

His escalating violence against Dr Jay reached fever pitch in late-2016 when he rented a room at a hotel near her hospital to stalk her.

'It went from intense to feeling very uncomfortable and then it turned into feeling a bit more afraid,' Dr Jay said at an earlier hearing.

In one text message Lambert warned Dr Jay 'I need you to understand that this is my good side right now. The good side won't last long.'

In one text message Lambert warned Dr Jay 'I need you to understand that this is my good side right now. The good side won't last long'

A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia Dr Jay remained calm as she explained to him and another neighbour what needed to be done to stop her from bleeding out.

'I heard a scream and initially thought someone had hurt themselves, I checked my family and then went outside,' the neighbour recounted.

He said even when he saw stab wounds on her arms and legs it 'took a while to click'.

'She was over at the [other] neighbours when I got there... even when I saw the bleeding I still didn't register what had happened.'

Dr Jay's neighbour recalled seeing stab wounds on her arms and one on her leg with her attacker nowhere to be seen.

'He was either gone or hiding by the time we were helping her,' the neighbour told Daily Mail Australia.

Angela Jay still has the emotional and physical scars (pictured) from the harrowing attack

Coroner O'Sullivan said the combination of Dr Jay's skills and her neighbour's bravery and assistance saved the woman's life.

Lambert fled the scene and sent messages to his mother where he spoke about the attack in third-person.

'He's fighting his way out and I can only hold on so long,' he wrote.

Police gave chase and used road spikes to stop his car on the Pacific Highway.

Surrounded, Lambert ignored officers' requests for him to surrender. When he lunged at an officer with the knife they shot him dead.

In Lambert's rental car investigators found his passport, traffic fines, personal effects and a note.

'Your (sic) all now at peace and free to live happy lives without me f***ing it up and being a toxic blight on this world and to you all,' the note ends.

Coroner O'Sullivan recommended NSW Police continue to explore non-lethal options for knife-wielding offenders including shields.

She also recommended NSW Police consider implementing information sharing systems to stop people with outstanding AVOs purchasing knives without a check.

A neighbour told Daily Mail Australia Dr Jay (pictured) remained calm as she explained to him and another neighbour what needed to be done to stop her from bleeding out
A real estate agent made a grim discovery when they found the body of a man, believed to be a squatter, in the backyard shed of a rental property.

The deceased male, discovered at about 11.30am on Friday afternoon in Mandurah, Western Australia, was thought to be asleep before it was realised he was dead.

Authorities are treating his death as suspicious.

Neighbours have told of how police were seen at the address on Cooper Street days before the discovery.

A real estate agent made a grim discovery when they found the body of a squatter, 23, in the backyard shed of a rental property (cordoned-off scene pictured)

The person who discovered the body is understood to have been a real estate agent who was visiting the property, Channel 9 reported.

'At this stage it's too early to comment on injuries (that the deceased suffered) but that is a part of the investigation that's underway,' WA Police Acting Inspector Kareene Santoro said.

Forensic officers and detectives were present at the scene on Saturday, which remained cordoned off.

Police know the man's identity, WAtoday reported, but have yet to name him.

'It makes us feel unsafe in this street,' neighbour Wayne Hocking said.

WA Police Acting Inspector Kareeme Santoro said the person who made the discovery was not known to the man who had died (forensic officers at scene pictured)

'Something like this makes people feel so insecure. I feel sorry for the parents and those that live in the street.'

Police are calling for those who were in the area on Friday morning, or have dashcam footage, to come forward.

Those with information should call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Blog Archive June 2021 (16) May 2021 (18) April 2021 (15) March 2021 (22) February 2021 (17) January 2021 (16) December 2020 (14) November 2020 (17) October 2020 (16) September 2020 (12) August 2020 (14) July 2020 (12) June 2020 (11) May 2020 (14) April 2020 (7) March 2020 (13) February 2020 (9) January 2020 (15) December 2019 (16) November 2019 (18) October 2019 (20) September 2019 (20) August 2019 (23) July 2019 (28) June 2019 (23) May 2019 (25) April 2019 (26) March 2019 (25) February 2019 (26) January 2019 (31) December 2018 (30) November 2018 (28) October 2018 (28) September 2018 (30) August 2018 (31) July 2018 (31) June 2018 (30) May 2018 (32) April 2018 (31) March 2018 (32) February 2018 (30) January 2018 (31) December 2017 (33) November 2017 (31) October 2017 (34) September 2017 (30) August 2017 (32) July 2017 (33) June 2017 (34) May 2017 (33) April 2017 (32) March 2017 (31) February 2017 (29) January 2017 (31) December 2016 (37) November 2016 (31) October 2016 (36) September 2016 (37) August 2016 (35) July 2016 (36) June 2016 (36) May 2016 (35) April 2016 (32) March 2016 (31) February 2016 (31) January 2016 (35) December 2015 (35) November 2015 (35) October 2015 (38) September 2015 (37) August 2015 (36) July 2015 (36) June 2015 (38) May 2015 (43) April 2015 (38) March 2015 (38) February 2015 (32) January 2015 (33) December 2014 (40) November 2014 (38) October 2014 (43) September 2014 (40) August 2014 (34) July 2014 (30) June 2014 (39) May 2014 (33) April 2014 (29) March 2014 (31) February 2014 (33) January 2014 (32) December 2013 (32) November 2013 (40) October 2013 (33) September 2013 (37) August 2013 (35) July 2013 (39) June 2013 (30) May 2013 (31) April 2013 (26) March 2013 (40) February 2013 (32) January 2013 (35) December 2012 (37) November 2012 (36) October 2012 (33) September 2012 (31) August 2012 (44) July 2012 (37) June 2012 (42) May 2012 (42) April 2012 (47) March 2012 (41) February 2012 (47) January 2012 (43) December 2011 (36) November 2011 (43) October 2011 (45) September 2011 (45) August 2011 (41) July 2011 (44) June 2011 (41) May 2011 (41) April 2011 (38) March 2011 (40) February 2011 (38) January 2011 (42) December 2010 (49) November 2010 (40) October 2010 (42) September 2010 (38) August 2010 (44) July 2010 (43) June 2010 (37) May 2010 (45) April 2010 (33) March 2010 (38) February 2010 (30) January 2010 (37) December 2009 (33) November 2009 (33) October 2009 (41) September 2009 (42) August 2009 (40) July 2009 (34) June 2009 (33) May 2009 (34) April 2009 (35) March 2009 (40) February 2009 (39) January 2009 (37) December 2008 (37) November 2008 (40) October 2008 (33) September 2008 (38) August 2008 (44) July 2008 (45) June 2008 (39) May 2008 (43) April 2008 (33) March 2008 (35) February 2008 (36) January 2008 (11)
Advertisement

Authorities have identified 45-year-old Gary Martin (above) as the gunman who opened fire Friday afternoon at the Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, fatally shooting five coworkers and injuring several others. When police arrived he fired multiple shots at officers before hiding inside the warehouse. He was found about an hour later and shot dead in a gun battle

The gunman who killed five at a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois before dying in a police standoff has been described as a troubled loner by neighbors and family members.

Shooter Gary Martin, 45, was terminated from his job of 15 years at the Henry Pratt Co. industrial valve manufacturing plant on Friday, shortly before he opened fire, police said.

'He kept to himself a lot, and he was always on his porch,' Jeremy Sherman, a neighbor of Martin's at Acorn Woods Condominium Complex, about 40 miles west of Chicago, told Daily Beast website.

'Even when he wasn't doing nothing, he'd be out there sitting. I'd be out there, sometimes one, two in the morning and he'd be there just sitting all in the dark, [in the] shadows.'

Sherman described his neighbor as a loner with whom he sometimes chatted and smoked marijuana, without ever learning anything about Martin's work life or his past.

'I'd say something to him sometimes and he'd be like "rorh rorh rorh," mumbling under his breath. I don't know if he heard me orI don't know. He seemed a little off the wall, a little off his rocker, you know? Not like mentally crazy, but something about him was just a little bit different,' Sherman said.

Sherman said he never saw Martin with weapons - or with guests.

He said that Martin could often be found outside playing with his remote-control toy cars and drones.

Another neighbor, Jennifer White, said that she often saw Martin playing with his drones near the apartment complex.

'He would wave at us or stare at us. Kinda creepy,' White told WBBM-TV. 'He always kept to himself.'

Martin's mother told the Chicago Sun-Times that her son had been 'way too stressed out' recently.

Public records showed Martin had a criminal past, a 1995 conviction for aggravated assault for stabbing a woman in Marshall County, Mississippi.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said authorities did not know if he had legally purchased the gun he used, a Smith & Wesson revolver. Convicted felons are barred from buying firearms.

Suspected shooter Gary Martin is seen in an undated mugshot. His most recent arrest was in 2017 on charges of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property

A neighbor said that Martin was always sitting in the shadows on his porch in their apartment complex (above)

Officials search the apartment of Gary Martin, believed to be responsible for a workplace shooting in Illinois

A police officer enters a bomb disposal van as officials search the apartment of Gary Martin, believed to be responsible for a workplace shooting at the Henry Pratt Company, in Aurora, Illinois

Authorities search the apartment complex where suspected shooter George Martin lived in Aurora, Illinois on Friday

In Illinois, Martin's record included minor offenses, including illegally altering car speakers and squealing his tires, the Sun-Times reported. He was also sued by a landlord.

Police say Martin opened fire inside the warehouse just before 1.30pm local time Friday, fatally shooting five people and injuring multiple others.

A fellow employee and eyewitness John Probst told CNN that Martin fired his pistol with a green laser sight at fellow workers. 'What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it,' he said.

Police responding to reports of the shooting were met with a hail of gunfire in which five officers were shot and wounded.

Martin then hid inside the 29,000-square-foot warehouse. When police finally located him 90 minutes later, a gun battle ensued and Martin was shot dead.

Chief Ziman revealed what details investigators have been able to confirm at two press conferences on Friday evening. Another press conference is scheduled for 10am CST Saturday.

Ziman said it is unclear whether Martin's attack was premeditated, but that initial reports suggest he may have been motivated by his firing.

The gunman's sister Tameka Martin told WBEZ that Martin had worked at Henry Pratt Co. for about 20 years before losing his job about two weeks ago.

His mother, Felicia Martin, told WGN: 'My heart goes out to all the victims and their families.'

It is unclear how many civilians were wounded in the shooting, but early reports indicated that a dozen had been shot. None of the victims, all of whom were said to be male, have been identified pending notification of family members.

Relatives of Martin (above) said he had worked as a large valve assembler at Henry Pratt Co. for about 20 years before losing his job about two weeks ago. Police have not yet determined a motive in Friday's shooting

Witnesses described how Martin walked down an aisle of the warehouse shooting 'everybody' with a pistol

Police responding to reports of the shooting were met with a hail of gunfire in which five officers were shot and wounded

Employees at the 29,000-square-foot industrial complex are seen being led outside by law enforcement after the shooting

It is unclear how many civilians were wounded in the shooting, but early reports indicated that a dozen had been shot. None of the victims, civilian nor police, have been identified

According to witnesses, Martin had arrived for work at 7am like he would on other day. Things took a horrific turn after lunchtime when he walked down an aisle of the warehouse shooting 'everybody' with a pistol that had a laser scope attached to it.

One witness who spoke to ABC said: 'I saw a guy running down the aisle, with a pistol, I recognized him as a co-worker and he was shooting everybody.'

The man added: 'One of the guys was up in the office, he said this person was shootin', and, he come running down and he was bleeding pretty bad, and the next thing you know he was walking back and forth, I heard more shots, and we just left the building.'

Chief Ziman said police received multiple calls about an active shooter at the sprawling warehouse at 641 Archer Ave around 1.24pm. Four officers arrived on the scene within four minutes and were fired upon, injuring two of them.

Additional officers who arrived on the scene shortly after were also fired upon, leaving a total of five officers shot and wounded. Two were airlifted to trauma centers. A sixth officer was being treated for a knee injury.

As of 9pm local time, Ziman said none of the officers had life-threatening injuries.

'Thank you for your selfless act,' the police chief said to officers and other law enforcement officials involved in the shooting.

'Thank you for running towards gunfire and putting your lives in danger to protect those inside the business.'

Ziman said the active shooter situation lasted roughly one hour and 35 minutes, but noted that no shots were fired during the 90 minute period that Martin was hiding inside the warehouse.

She said all five of the victims killed were dead when emergency responders arrived. It was unclear whether Martin had targeted any of them specifically.

Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin addressed the media after Ziman, saying: 'It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country.

'It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life. But we as a society cannot allow these horrific acts to become commonplace.'

Gov JB Pritzker also spoke at the news conference and expressed that there was no way for him to prepare for such a shocking event, the first tragedy of his administration.

President Donald Trump tweeted his condolences after the White House was briefed on the shooting

'There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams and their futures,' he said. 'There are no words to express our gratitude to the officers who were wounded in the line of duty as they responded to the gravest kind of danger they could face.'

President Trump reacted to the shooting on Twitter Friday evening, writing: 'Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!'

Hundreds of law enforcement officials from local agencies in addition to SWAT teams, FBI agents and ATF officers remained on the scene hours after the shooting.

By 7pm Friday evening police had taped off a Chicago apartment unit where Martin was believed to have lived. Local media outlets reported that it did not appear anyone was home when officers arrived.

Neighbors could be seen huddled on the sidewalk near Martin's unit, speculating about whether they had ever crossed paths with the suspected shooter.

'This is a strange thing to come home to,' resident Mary McKnight remarked as she arrived at the complex and saw the massive law enforcement presence, according to the Associated Press.

Hundreds of law enforcement officials from local agencies in addition to SWAT teams, FBI agents and ATF officers were dispatched to the scene of the shooting

Authorities announced that the scene had been secured at around 3.30pm, two hours after the first reports of gunfire

The Henry Pratt Co. warehouse is near several schools and a university, which were both placed on lockdown until the active shooter situation was diffused.

West Aurora School District 129 said on its website that officials were 'holding all district students in place for their safety' and that 'teaching will continue with reduced movement'.

The district said it had been advised by the county sheriff to go into a soft lockdown situation.

President of the District 129 school board Bob Gonzalez, who lives and works about 50 feet from Henry Pratt Co., told the Chicago Tribune he and his twin four-year-old grandchildren were at home when they heard sirens and squad cars fly by.

Gonzalez said he initially assumed it was a fire, but became more concerned as countless other law enforcement vehicles flooded into the area.

As soon as he learned that a shooting had taken place, Gonzalez locked the doors to his office, closed the blinds and took his grandchildren to a bathroom in the rear of his home, warning them to stay away from the window.

He said he tried to stay calm and answer their questions without raising alarm, but admitted: 'I was very scared at the same time.'

Gonzalez said he hasn't experienced anything like this in the 31 years he's lived in Aurora.

'It's kind of unsettling,' he told the Tribune. 'It just makes me wonder, here, the door to my office is always unlocked, I see my clients come in, I know my clients, but it makes me wonder whether now I should have some kind lock that I can lock from the inside and keep my door locked at all times. It's very scary.'

'I've seen it on the news happening someplace else,' he said. 'But never here in Aurora.'

The shooting took place around 40 miles from Chicago, in the suburb of Aurora

Police armed with rifles patrol the scene at the Henry Pratt Co. water valve manufacturing plant after Friday's shooting
The scientist pictured on the new plastic 50 note must not be white, MPs have urged.

They want the Bank of England to use someone from an ethnic minority to ensure that wider diversity is represented.

MP and Tory vice-chairman Helen Grant wrote to Bank governor Mark Carney about the fact there has never been a non-white face on a bank note.

Campaigners are urging the Bank of England to consider Mary Seacole or Charles Kuen Kao as the face of the new 50 note. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the final decision would be made in the summer

Treasury minister Robert Jenrick, pictured, said: 'The new 50 note should symoblise our values as a country'

The Bank has a duty to ensure wider diversity is represented on our currency, she said.

There have only been four women in history on bank notes and no ethnic minorities.

Undoubtedly, the absence of ethnic minorities from UK bank notes sends a damaging message that they are invisible and have done nothing of significance in our history.

Treasury minister Robert Jenrick told the Daily Telegraph: The new 50 note should symbolise our values as a country.

Potential contenders include Mary Seacole, a British-Jamaican nurse in the Crimean War and Charles Kuen Kao, the godfather of fibre optics.

Mr Carney will choose the scientist to feature on the note from a shortlist. The name will be announced in the summer.

The Bank said it takes its commitment to diversity seriously.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said the announcement of the new face on the bank note would be made over the summer
Ivanka Trump is said to be working hard behind the scenes in Washington DC to implement her paid family leave initiative - and she certainly didn't shy away from the spotlight in Munich this week either.

The President's daughter delivered a rousing speech at the 55th annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

Accompanied by Vice President Mike Pence, and her husband, Jared Kushner, Ivanka schmoozed with world leaders at the summit discussing a wealth of topics such as trade and international security, as well as the the future of NATO.

With Husband Jared in-tow, Ivanka arrives at the 55th annual Munich Security Conference in Germany, on Saturday

Ivanka seemed to strike a particular accord with Angela Merkel, telling Bild she admired her 'leadership on the world stage', as well as her 'company and sense of humor.'

'The Chancellor's dedication to vocational education and the economic empowerment of women are just two areas in which we share common goals and interests,' she added.

In one of her speeches, Ivanka sought to dismiss interpretations that her father's 'America First' rhetoric is both divisive and isolating.

'America first doesn't mean America alone,' Ivanka retorted. 'We're proud of our heritage.'

Kushner could be seen watching on and smiling at his wife of 10 years as she delivered the lines.

Also on Saturday, Pence rebuked European powers over Iran and Venezuela in a renewed attack on Washington's traditional allies, rejecting a call by Germany's chancellor to include Russia in global cooperation efforts.

In speeches and in private talks at the Munich Security Conference, Pence and Merkel laid out competing visions for how the West should address world crises.

'America is stronger than ever before and America is leading on the world stage once again,' Pence told European and Asian officials in Munich, listing what he described as U.S. foreign policy successes from Afghanistan to North Korea, and urging support from American allies.

'America First does not mean America alone,' he said, hailing the results of Donald Trump's presidency as 'remarkable' and 'extraordinary', and calling on the EU to follow Washington in quitting the Iran nuclear deal and recognising the head of Venezuela's congress, Juan Guaido, as the country's president.

Alongside Mike and Karen Pence (left), Ivanka listened to world leaders address global security issues

Ivanka delivered her own rousing speech in front of world leaders at the annual meeting

Addressing an audience that included Trump's daughter Ivanka, Pence's speech was the latest attempt by a Trump administration official to put the president's 'America First' agenda into a coherent policy plan.

European leaders are troubled by Trump's rhetoric, which they say is erratic and disruptive, citing his decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal as undermining an arms control agreement that prevented Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb.

But Pence - who last week accused Britain, Germany and France of undermining U.S. sanctions on Iran - repeated his demand for European powers to withdraw from the deal.

'The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the disastrous Iran nuclear deal,' he said, and later pressed Merkel over the issue in bilateral talks.

He also reiterated to her Washington's opposition to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline under construction between Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea. 'We cannot strengthen the West by becoming dependent on the East,' Pence said.

Merkel, who made a robust defence of Germany's foreign trade relations and ties with Russia during her speech, said later it was unreasonable to assume that Russia would be an unreliable energy supplier.

Ivanka's speech was met with a much warmer reception than Mike Pence's yesterday, after sending the President's regards was met with a five second silence

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde (right) seemed to take a shine to the 37-year-old

Speaking before Pence, Merkel questioned whether the U.S. decision to leave the Iran nuclear deal and withdrawal from Syria was the best way to tackle Tehran in the region.

During a question-and-answer session, she added that it would be wrong to exclude Russia politically, but Pence said Washington was 'holding Russia accountable' for its 2014 seizure of Ukraine and what the West says are efforts to destabilise it through cyber attacks, disinformation and covert operations.

'Geostrategically, Europe can't have an interest in cutting off all relations with Russia,' Merkel said.

Pence, who used his trip to Europe to push Trump's policy of favouring sovereign states as opposed to alliances and blocs, took aim at the EU over Venezuela's political crisis.

'Today we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom and recognize Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president of Venezuela,' he said, calling President Nicolas Maduro a dictator who must step down.

Ivanka also held a lengthy chat with the Chairwoman of Germany's Christian Democratic Union party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer

The mother-of-three was all smiles on her Instagram story too, as a lunchtime break turned to sight seeing

Back to business, Ivanka shared a laugh with Germany's defense minister Ursula von der Leyen (right)
The Strait of Malacca may be one of the biggest trade routes by sea in the world, but the narrow corridor has a history so dark it will leave you with nightmares.

From ghost ships to unexplained disappearances to sunken treasure, the stretch of sea is both horrifying and intriguing.

The Strait of Malacca separates Malaysia and Indonesia and stretches for 890km, connecting the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Each year, nearly 120,000 boats pass through the narrow corridor - which is only 3km wide at its most narrow - making it a billion dollar ship superhighway.

The Strait of Malacca may be one of the biggest trade routes by sea in the world, but the narrow corridor has a history so dark it will leave you with nightmares

Dutch vessel SS Ourang Medan (pictured) was sailing along the corridor in 1948 when it supposedly sent out one last chilling message before it went missing

'The strait is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, accounting for a third of the world's trade and half of its oil shipments,' according to the Stanford Journal of International Relations.

Though global trade aside, the water corridor is known for its much darker history.

The stretch of sea is known for countless ships going missing and the terrible tales surrounding it.

Dutch vessel SS Ourang Medan was sailing along the corridor in 1948 when it supposedly sent out one last chilling message before it went missing.

'All officers including the captain are dead, lying in chartroom and bridge. Possibly whole crew dead  I die.'

Though crew from a nearby Silver Star ship managed to board the ship after answering the distress call.

And what they found was a floating graveyard.

Eyeballs popped from the sockets, mouths were agape and arms were outstretched as if the corpses were trying to reach for help.

What's more, there were no signs of injuries on the bodies.

A fire broke out on board the ship and it sank into the depths of the water before it could be towed back to port.

Surprisingly no evidence of the ship has been dredged up, casting doubt as to whether it existed at all.

And the coast guard mysteriously didn't report on it until May 1954.

Some argue the rescue never happened as there was no log on the Silver Star detailing the rescue attempt.

Others say several countries worked in tandem to cover up the spooky tragedy.

But the theories don't stop there, with a 'top secret' CIA document airing the possibility 'something from the unknown' was present at the time.

Jump back to 1511, when Portuguese vessel Flor de la Mar sank to the bottom of the sea

During the Battle of the Malacca Strait during World War II the Japanese cruiser Haguro was sunk in the naval battle (stock picture)

Assistant to the director of the CIA Allen Dulles, C.H. Marck J penned the letter to an unknown recipient in 1959.

'I feel sure that the SS Ourang Medan holds the answer to many of these aeroplane accidents and unsolved mysteries of the sea,' he wrote.

And that's only where the history of fatality along the Strait of Malacca begins.

During the Battle of the Malacca Strait during World War II the Japanese cruiser Haguro was sunk in the naval battle.

More than 900 people went down with the ship.

Then in December 2018, bodies were found floating in the waters off Bengkalis Island, Rau.

'Based on our probe, we estimate that the bodies had been floating in the waters for more than a month,' a Bhayangkara Police Hospital spokesperson told local media at the time.

While police found some of the victims were of Indonesian workers who had been killed on a ship when it crashed into a huge wave and sunk earlier in the month, they still haven't been able to determine where the other bodies came from.

Most famous perhaps of all the mysteries is the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.

And if undiscovered treasure and ghost ships wasn't enough to scandalise this stretch of wate, pirates are a very real threat (pictured, pirate vessel)

Defence radar last detected the plane turning back across Malaysia, heading northwest up the Strait of Malacca then disappearing out of range just north of Sumatra.

Besides tragedy, the Strait of Malacca is also said to be the resting place of bountiful treasure.

Jump back to 1511, when Portuguese vessel Flor de la Mar sank to the bottom of the sea.

The ship had a run in with bad luck when it hit a reef off the coast of Sumatra during a storm. Not only did it take with it 400 people to the bottom of the sea, but also $3 billion worth of treasure.

More than 60 tonnes of gold objects and 200 gem-filled chests with diamonds and rubies.

In one case, pirates took $2.6 million worth of fuel from the Orapin 4 tanker on its path from Singapore to Borneo

All of which had been stolen from the sultan's palace in Malacca.

The wreckage has never been found. Neither the treasure.

And if undiscovered treasure and ghost ships wasn't enough to scandalise this stretch of wate, pirates are a very real threat.

A 2014 Time article called the Strait of Malacca 'the most dangerous waters in the world'.

In one case, pirates took $2.6 million worth of fuel from the Orapin 4 tanker on its path from Singapore to Borneo.

Ten armed men stormed the ship and locked crew below deck.

They managed to siphon more than 3,700 metric tonnes of fuel from the ship to another boat.

Forty-one per cent of the world's pirate attacks happened in southern Asia between 1995-2013.

Forty-three violent reports were made in the waters around Indonesia in 2017 alone.
An apprentice brick-layer who was allegedly coward punched during a night out says he is still suffering regular migraines as a result of the attack.

Mohamad - who wished to withhold his surname - was outside the Library nightclub at Northridge in Perth last month when he was allegedly assaulted, The West Australian reported.

The 22-year-old fell face-first into the concrete.

Mohamad - who wished to withhold his surname - was outside the Library nightclub at Northridge in Perth last month when he was allegedly assaulted from behind

He was immediately rushed to Perth Royal Hospital where he received treatment.

Mohamad suffered bleeding on the brain and required 10 stitches to close the wound that had opened on his forehead.

'It's actually to the bone  you can see the skull,' he said.

Mohamad added doctors had told him he was lucky to be alive. They said people in those situations usually ended up one of two ways.

'They're either paralysed or they're dead,' Mohamad said.

A 16-year-old teenager was charged over the assault and remains behind bars charged with grievous bodily harm.
Prince Harry racked up a bill of over 30,000 during an infamous stay at a hotel in Las Vegas but never had to pay it, claims a royals biographer.

Katie Nicholl, who wrote Harry: Life, Loss, and Love, said that the billionaire owner of the hotel, Steve Wynn, simply waived the bill when the Prince went to settle it.

Appearing in the Channel 5 documentary, Spending Secrets of the Royals, Nicholl claimed that during his 2012 stay at The Wynn Hotel, the Prince ran up the bill.

She said: 'Steve Wynn, the owner of the hotel Harry was staying in, just wiped the slate clean.'

Prince Harry reacts after trying some rum at a street party in Belmopan, Belize March 2, 2012

It was here, where suites can cost more than 700-a-night, that the Royal was pictured naked in photos leaked to the press.

The royal expert told of another time that big-spending Harry had a bill waived for him after another night of partying.

Harry was this time partying in glitzy Mayfair, London when he 'racked up a pretty sizeable bar bill' alongside his then-girlfriend Chelsea Davy and friends.

Steve Wynn, the owner of the hotel Harry was staying in (pictured), waived the Prince's bill

The Prince pictured in 2012, leaving a party at 1.30 am before heading to a bar in Mayfair

'The barman called for the manager to see exactly what to do about this transaction and the bill was waived,' said Nicholl after revealing that Harry had tried to pay with his Army ID card.

The amounts accrued on those two nights of partying paled in insignificance to what is likely to be the largest bill ever footed by Prince Harry.

'Harry and Meghan's wedding cost over 32million,' Nicholl said on the Channel 5 show.

Steve Wynn, CEO of Wynn Resorts, apparently footed Prince Harry's huge bill in 2012

Prince Harry on a 2006 night out at the Cuckoo Club in London

No stranger to splashing out on booze, the alcohol at the wedding alone cost nearly 200,000 according to the biographer.

Breaking down the cost of Royal Wedding last May, she said: 'The majority would have gone on security, which was the biggest single expenditure.

'286,000 or thereabouts was spent on catering for the evening event, 193,000 on drink alone, a further 100,000 on the flowers which beautifully adorned St George's Chapel and then 387,000 on Meghan's wedding dress.'

She added that the total for the wedding was 'over 32million.'

The documentary also reveals that the Queen Mother also lived extravagantly during her years at Clarence House, leaving behind an overdraft with Coutss bank of 4m.

Katie Nicholl added that this 'was left to the Queen to clear.'
Pope Francis has defrocked a former US Cardinal after the church found him guilty of sexually abusing minors.

Theodore McCarrick, 88, who once led the Archdiocese of Washington and was a powerful figure within the Catholic Church in the U.S., was accused of sexually abusing three minors and harassing adult seminarians and priests.

He was also found guilty by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of soliciting sex while hearing confession, the Holy See said in a statement on Saturday.

An investigation last year detailed settlements paid to men who had complained of abuse when McCarrick was a Bishop in New Jersey in the 1980s.

It also revealed that some church leaders had long known of the allegations against him, The New York Times reported.

Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing confession against minors and adults

Defrocking means McCarrick, 88, who now lives in a friary in Kansas after he lost his title of Cardinal last year, can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments or be addressed by any religious title.

The judgement was recognized by the Pope to be of a 'definitive nature,' and cannot be appealed, a Vatican statement said.

The Pontiff accepted McCarrick's resignation from the College of Cardinals in July and he was suspended from all priestly duties.

He was first removed from ministry in June, after a church panel proved a claim that he had abused an altar boy almost 50 years ago.

McCarrick had previously denied the allegations, saying he had 'absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse.'

He had appealed his penalty, but doctrinal officials earlier this week rejected it and he was notified of the decision on Friday, the Vatican said.

The allegations that McCarrick had sexually abused seminarians and an altar boy decades ago have raised questions among Church leaders and victim advocacy organizations as to why he was allowed to remain in a powerful position.

McCarrick became a Cardinal in 2001. He then led the Archdiocese of Washington until 2006 and frequently met political leaders, becoming an influential figure in American politics.

An attorney for the former altar boy who made an accusation against McCarrick said last June that his client was abused twice, once in 1971 and again in 1972.

Pope Francis (pictured) became implicated in the decade-long McCarrick cover-up after a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. accused him rehabilitating the cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI

Both alleged incidents happened at St. Patrick's Cathedral as his client was being fitted for a cassock for Christmas Mass, his attorney Patrick Noaker told CNN.

'McCarrick started measuring him, then he unzipped his pants, stuck his hand in and grabbed his genitals,' Noaker said.

He claimed that his client, who was about 16 when the incident occurred and a student at a Catholic high school in New York, pushed McCarrick away.

Noaker said: 'One thing he distinctly remembers is that McCarrick told him not to tell anyone about it.'

An investigation by the Archdiocese of New York found the allegations by the altar boy were 'credible and substantiated.' It then handed the case over to law enforcement last year.

The Vatican said in a statement that he was dismissed from a clerical state after he was tried and found guilty of several crimes.

These included 'solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.'

James Grein, (pictured), one of McCarrick's accusers, said he was 'glad the Pope believed me.' He testified to church officials that the cleric had groped him during confession

The officials 'imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state.'

McCarrick, when he was ordained a priest in his native New York City in 1958, took a vow of celibacy, in accordance with church rules on priests.

'Today I am happy that the pope believed me,' said one of McCarrick's chief accusers, James Grein.

In a statement issued through his lawyer, Grein also expressed hope that McCarrick 'will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus' church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children.'

Grein had testified to church officials that, among other abuses, McCarrick had repeatedly groped him during confession.

Saying it's 'time for us to cleanse the church', Grein said pressure needs to be put on state attorney generals and senators to change the statute of limitations. 'Hundreds of priests, bishops and cardinals are hiding behind man-made law,' he said.

Defrocking means McCarrick, 88, who now lives in a friary in Kansas after he lost his title of cardinal last year, can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments

Pope Francis reaches out to hug McCarrick after the Midday Prayer of the Divine at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in September, 2015

Francis is set to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world to help the church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy. He is seen here meeting McCarrick during a visit to the 9/11 memorial in September 2015

The archdiocese of Washington, D.C. said in a statement it hoped that the Vatican decision 'serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse, as well as those who have experienced disappointment or disillusionment because of what former Archbishop McCarrick has done.'

McCarrick, a one-time 'prince of the church', as cardinals are known, becomes the highest-ranking churchman to be laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state.

It marks a remarkable downfall for the globe-trotting power-broker and influential church fundraiser who mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called 'Uncle Ted' by the young men he courted.

The scandal swirling around McCarrick was even more damning to the church's reputation in the eyes of the faithful because it apparently was an open secret that he slept with adult seminarians.

The Vatican summit, which runs from February 21-24, draws church leaders from around the world to talk about preventing abuse.

It was called in part to respond to the McCarrick scandal as well as to the explosion of the abuse crisis in Chile and its escalation in the United States last year.

Despite the apparent common knowledge in church circles of his sexual behavior, McCarrick rose to the heights of church power.

He even acted as the spokesman for U.S. bishops when they enacted a 'zero tolerance' policy against sexually abusive priests in 2002.

Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation determined that an allegation he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

It was the first known allegation against McCarrick involving a minor - a far more serious offense than sleeping with adult seminarians.

Patrick Noaker (pictured) said one his clients was 16 when he wasabused by McCarrick at St. Patrick's Cathedral as he was being fitted for a cassock for Christmas Mass

But Francis himself became implicated in the decade-long McCarrick cover-up after a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. accused the pope of rehabilitating the cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI despite being told of his penchant for young men.

Francis hasn't responded to the claims. But he has ordered a limited Vatican investigation.

The Vatican has acknowledged the outcome may produce evidence that mistakes were made, but said Francis would 'follow the path of truth, wherever it may lead.'

McCarrick moved from his Washington retirement home to a Kansas religious residence after Francis ordered him to live in penance and prayer while the investigation continued.

It wasn't immediately clear if he would continue to live in a religious residence.

Vatican watchers have compared the McCarrick cover-up scandal to that of the Reverend Marcial Maciel, perhaps the 20th-century Catholic Church's most notorious pedophile.

Maciel's sex crimes against children were ignored for decades by a Vatican impressed by his ability to bring in donations and vocations. Among Maciel's staunchest admirers was Pope John Paul II, who later became a saint.

Like Maciel, McCarrick was a powerful and popular prelate who funneled millions in donations to the Vatican.

He apparently got a calculated pass for what many in the church hierarchy would have either discounted as ideological-fueled rumor or brushed off as a mere 'moral lapse' in sleeping with adult men.
Meghan Markle's desire to borrow from the Princess Diana playbook has backfired now her father has leaked an intimate five-page letter, a royal biographer claims.

Andrew Morton, who previously penned a biography about the Princess of Wales, says that by allowing friends to speak to a magazine on her behalf, the Duchess of Sussex inadvertently goaded her father into making further humiliating revelations.

Princess Diana, who also faced accusations of being difficult and felt gagged by strict royal protocol, allowed friends to anonymously address rumours in the press.

The Duchess of Sussex and Princess Diana both faced frosty coverage as they entered the royal household

Taking a leaf straight from Diana's book, five of Meghan's friends spoke to People magazine this week, in which they addressed the accusations of her being a bossy bride and, crucially, made stinging remarks about her father, Thomas Markle.

Mr Markle, who in the run up to the Royal wedding consorted with tabloids and made a series of humiliating gaffes, then leaked the five-page letter sent to him last August, which describes how his behaviour had 'broken her into a million pieces'.

Royal biographer Andrew Morton examines the comparison between the two royals and says Meghan should not have allowed her friends to speak to the press on her behalf

Mr Morton claims the letter, which also pleads with the retired lighting director to stop speaking to the media, would never have been leaked had her friends not made comments about him in People.

Penning a comparison between the two royals in a Daily Telegraph write-up, Mr Morton says Meghan needn't be a 'Diana 2.0', she can more accurately be described as a 'Meghan 1.0'.

Also during his piece, Mr Morton examines how both the Duchess of Sussex and Princess Diana were blamed for the departure of royal staff.

At the end of 2018, it emerged that personal aide to Meghan, Samantha Cohen, was leaving her job.

Also last year, it was revealed that Meghan Markle's personal assistant Melissa Touabti was quitting her job just six months after the Royal wedding last May.

Mr Morton writes that sudden departures so soon after her marriage to Prince Charles also led to Princess Diana falling under scrutiny too.

Meghan Markle was criticized after two royal staff quite their jobs soon after her wedding

After her marriage to Prince of Wales, Princess Diana was blamed for the sudden departure of her husband's private secretary, valet and Scotland Yard bodyguard along with other long-serving staff.

Princess Diana was also pitted against Sarah Ferguson when it came to her fashion style in the same way Kate and Meghan have writes Mr Morton.

In the same way Princess Diana was initially portrayed as being difficult, so too has Meghan Markle faced her fair share of criticism concerning her conduct.

In the run up to the royal wedding claims of her being difficult began to surface over accusations of a disagreement she had with Kate Middleton over the Princess Charlotte dress.

Writing on her frosty relationship with her father Mr Morton added: 'Don't think for a moment that this family feud is going to end any time soon'

In spite of performing more than 100 engagements and showing her support for survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire and ecological clothing manufacturers, Meghan Markle has not received the recognition she may have wanted continues Mr Morton.

This was a similar 'state of play' for Diana Mr Morton writes, adding that the late princess once told him she 'never got a 'well done' or a pat on the back.'

Writing on Meghan Markle's frosty relationship with her father Mr Morton added: 'Don't think for a moment that this family feud is going to end any time soon.'
Armed and masked members of Venezuela's 'Death Squad' have killed more than 200 people over the last year, according to the country's leading rights' group.

President Maduro established the Bolivarian National Police's Special Action Forces (FAES) in 2017, ostensibly to tackle emergency situations such as terrorism and hostage-taking.

But rights groups say the uniformed squad, who possess elite military training and weapons, are responsible extra-judicial killings of hundreds of people in non-extraordinary situations.

FAES officers are accused of targeting petty criminals in poor areas and opponents of President Maduro, to whom they remain loyal. Photographs on social media show them drawing weapons and transporting a lifeless man

Members of the Bolivarian National Police Special Forces Group (FAES), which has been accused of functioning as a 'death squad' deploy during an operation against criminal groups at Petare neighborhood in Caracas

According PROVEA, a Venezuelan NGO, the 1,300-strong FAES set their sights on petty criminals last year and have since killed hundreds of people in low-income neighborhoods without any subsequent investigations.

And the National Police contingent, which remains loyal to the beleaguered Maduro, have reportedly targeted and killed more than 40 demonstrators at anti-government rallies that erupted across the country earlier this year.

Marino Alvarado, PROVEA's investigations coordinator, says in total the FAES have killed 205 people.

'Every time they got involved, it ended in a fatality,' he told Fox News. 'They massacred about four or so people every week.'

The uniformed squad have elite military training and weapons, and were set up to tackle national emergencies. But rights groups say they are responsible for the extra-judicial killings of hundreds of people in non-extraordinary situations.

'Here was a military-level elite unit theoretically created to save lives, but the reality is that they extinguish lives,' Alvarado said. 'Their mission now is to take up arms against the Venezuelan people, against those who express dissent.'

Venezuela was plunged into deep political crisis after opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself the interim President at a rally against Maduro in January.

His legitimacy has since been recognised by around 65 countries, including the U.S.

Yesterday the Trump administration issued new Venezuela-related sanctions against five individuals as it ratchets up pressure on Maduro to quit.

According to the U.S. Treasury, one of those targeted is FAES director Rafael Enrique Bastardo Mendoza.

'Treasury continues to target officials who have helped the illegitimate Maduro regime repress the Venezuelan people,' Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

'We are sanctioning officials in charge of Maduros security and intelligence apparatus, which has systematically violated human rights and suppressed democracy, including through torture and other brutal use of force.'

FAES officers detain a group of men during an operation against criminal groups at Petare neighborhood in Caracas. The FAES are loyal to the beleagured President, who is under increasing pressure to resign but has so far clung to power

Venezuelan rights group PROVEA says the 1,300-strong FAES - who are armed with Russian and Chinese weapons - have illegally set their sights on petty criminals and anti-government demonstrators

Explaining the decision to issue sanctions against Bastardo, the agency press release said: 'FAES has been branded as Maduros extermination squad, known for its brutal methods and masked appearances, carrying out nighttime raids throughout Caracas.

'Since Guaido assumed his position as Interim President, FAES has been accused of dozens of extrajudicial killings targeting the opposition.

'On January 31, 2019, in the middle of Guaidos news conference on his economic plans, Guaido said that FAES were in his home threatening his family.'

Even as Maduro desperately clings to power in the face of the tightening sanctions the FAES has proclaimed its loyalty to his government.

'These are extremely difficult moments, moments when we have to show which of us are loyal, and which of us are disloyal,' Bastardo said in a speech posted on the units Instagram account.

The FAES has denied accusations it is a 'death squad' on social media, saying: 'Our struggle is against all criminals that ravage our communities. If you fear the FAES it's because you're a criminal.'

The FAES faces allegations of extreme brutality and extra-judicial killings, for which no investigations have yet been launched

And Maduro ally Diosdado Cabello - himself a target of U.S. sanctions - said the accusations of overreach and extra-judicial killings are lies being manufactured and spread by political opponents.

Cabello, who is leader of the ruling socialist party, said on his talk show on Wednesday: 'The European Union should worry about its own affairs.

'They've got plenty of human beings they've allowed to drown in the Mediterranean, plenty of human rights violations that occur in their countries and to which they close their eyes.'

Yet the allegations of brutality are backed up by pictures and footage posted on social media, which appear to show the FAES transporting lifeless bodies and drawing their weapons on protesters.

The FAES has denied accusations that it is a 'death squad' - saying only criminals have anything to fear

On January 24, several dozen FAES officers drove into the Caracas slum of Jose Felix Ribas in armoured vehicles and on motorcycles.

The officers, clad in black military uniforms and masks, stopped 27-year-old Yohendry Fernandez at gunpoint and asked if he had a criminal record, according to family and friends.

When he replied yes, they dragged him into an alley and killed him with two bullets in the chest.

The previous day, tens of thousands of Jose Felix Ribas residents left their hillside homes to join mass protests against Maduro, who they blame for an economic crisis in a country with the world's largest oil reserves.

The devastating economic collapse has left the poorest Venezuelan's without water, power, medicines and food and three million people have since fled the country since 2014.

Some 15 per cent of children have malnutrition and a basic basket of shopping costs 16 times the minimum wage.

Venezuelas chief prosecutor, Tarek Saab, vowed earlier this month that the government would investigate any officials who carry out extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detentions. No FAES officers are thought to have been arrested so far.
The Russian scientist who invented deadly nerve gas Novichok is under police investigation over child sex allegations, he has revealed.

Vladimir Uglev, 71, who also accused Russia of a 'state-level' hit against Britain in the Sergei Skripal nerve agent attack, strongly denies any wrongdoing and so far no charges have been laid against him.

Posters have appeared in his home city of Anapa accusing him of paedophilia and he has faced police searches and questioning in recent days.

In what he claims is a smear, the flyers stated: 'ATTENTION! PAEDOPHILE!'

Vladimir Uglev, 71, k, strongly denies any wrongdoing and has not been charged with anything

'His name is Uncle Vova (Vladimir) and he meets kids around schools, offers toys. Later he contacts them through VK (social media) and asks for intimate photographs.

'Uglev, Vladimir Ivanovich - 20.09.1946. He lives ( address hidden ). Know a paedophile by sight!' the read.

Uglev is seen as having upset the Russian authorities by publicly admitting that the deadly nerve agent was likely to have been used to poison ex-spy Sergei Skripal, 67, and his daughter Yulia, 34, in Salisbury.

The married scientist has openly spoken to Western journalists on the chemical weapon.

'I am 99 per cent sure it was A-234 - I know it like a mother knows her child,' he said last year

He also claimed of the Salisbury attack last March: 'This was a state-level hit.

In what Uglev claims is a smear, flyers have been put up, stating: 'ATTENTION! PAEDOPHILE!'

'You really couldn't think of a more serious act of terrorism - and one committed against a permanent member of the UN.'

In April, soon after he first went public, Uglev was hit by a car at a pedestrian crossing, suffering head injuries in a mysterious accident in Anapa.

Uglev, the first Soviet chemical weapons expert to synthesise odourless liquid A-234, said he was forced to resign from a laboratory job involving chemical treatments for wood after the child sex claims surfaced.

He claimed posters were hung at his laboratory door and near the private company where he worked.

Police told him they were acting on concern from residents about him.

'They allegedly they received an oral appeal about me from local citizens,' he said.

Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The Former Russian spy and his daughter were critically ill after they were poisoned last year

'Then the police came to my house from the department for combating crimes against the sexual inviolability of minors.'

He said: 'They looked at the apartment, took pictures, checked my computer and tablet.'

He was ordered to go to a police station to be fingerprinted.

'They took fingerprints, fingers, complete palms, everything,' he said.

He has not been given details of any accusations against him and he denies being a paedophile.

Mr Uglev suffered bruises to his head, right arm and right leg after he was hit by a car in April last year shortly after suggesting Russia was behind nerve agent attack on the Skripals

Police have confirmed an investigation but not commented.

The action came as online investigators Bellingcat this week named the alleged real identity of the 'third man' believed to have travelled to Britain at the time of the Skripals' poisoning.

Denis Sergeev - who used the cover name Sergey Fedotov - arrived at Heathrow on March 2 last year hours before Alexander Mishkin and Anatoly Chepiga - the two lead suspects in the Salisbury poisoning.

Sergeev, 45, is a high ranking officer in Russia's GRU military ntelligence.

Uglev earlier spoke publicly about the Skripals' poisoning, initially confirming the nerve agent could have come from Russia.

He made clear that the British would be able to determine where the Novichok was made - and by whom.

'The British are excellent chemists who can with one hint do what in Moscow is classified as top secret,' he said.

He confirmed how Novichok could have been carried to Britain before being unleashed in Salisbury.

'Agents should be transported in a container suitable for combat use,' he said.

'It is likely that within this container the chemical agents were put on some kind of carrier - cotton balls, powder, ready-made poisonous elements.

Members of the military work in the Maltings shopping area, close to the bench where Russian former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found critically ill

'All of the container's external surfaces must be covered in a degassing solution and wiped with a solvent.'

'In this way the attacker is protected,' he said.

And he backed the theory that the fatal poisoning of Dawn Sturgess, 44, was from the same source as poisoned the Skripals, dismissing Russian claims it could be a leak from Porton Down science park near Salisbury.

It was in 1975 that Uglev first synthesised Novichok.

The development programme was at a secret laboratory complex at Shikhany in Saratov region.
by Melani Manel Perera

Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando: "It is useless to reintroduce capital punishment, hate generates hatred". The government has canceled a moratorium in force for 43 years. The provision after a meeting with his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte. A nun proposes alternative penalties to hanging.

Colombo (AsiaNews) - The President of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena, "claims to be a fervent Buddhist, but does not seem to have understood the message of the Buddha": Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando (photo 1), well-known human rights activist and expert on socio-political phenomena.

The priest, formerly chaplain of the Young Christian Workers Movement, comments with AsiaNews about the head of state's decision to resume capital executions.

Last January 31, Sirisena announced that his government has canceled a moratorium in force for 43 years. While officials are already engaged in the search for two executioners, the first to risk death by hanging are drug dealers and drug traffickers held in prisons on the island.

The president's choice, by his own admission, matured after a meeting with his Filipino counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte. He is the promoter of a fierce war on drugs, which in the Philippines has so far caused over 5,000 official deaths (but for the activists the victims are more than 12 thousand).

"Hatred generates hatred and the reintroduction of the death penalty will not stop the drug trade", says Fr. Fernando. "In this way a just society will not be created. It is sad to note that the leaders of many religious denominations seem to support its provision. Perhaps, these are not up to their founders in solving this crisis ".

Sr. Jesmin Fernando (photo 2), provincial superior of the Holy Family Association, also expressed her disappointment at the announced resumption of the death penalty. "I disagree," says the nun. "Every life has value in itself, there is always the possibility to go back and start a new life. There must be a way to punish those involved in trafficking and drug dealing. In my opinion, this could be the detention in an isolation regime and under strict surveillance for a certain period of time. Furthermore, the properties or money earned by inmates in their illicit activities could be used for their rehabilitation. Finally, they should publicly admit that their wrong actions and the people behind them".
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 15)  Rappler chief executive officer and executive editor Maria Ressa maintained that her arrest was marred with irregularities, but Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said otherwise.

Both speaking to CNN Philippines' On the Record on Thursday, Ressa said there was an "intent of malice" in the service of the arrest warrant on her on Wednesday in connection with a cyber libel case, but Panelo said everything about the arrest was above board.

"The officers had 10 days to serve it. They didn't have to serve it after court was closed yesterday., They did not have to detain me, in fact that's an infraction of my rights. This case that is ludicrous to begin with, is actually a case where I have the right to bail. It's not debatable," Ressa said.

But Panelo told Ressa that she just wanted to be treated differently from other people who are served arrest warrants.

"The warrant of arrest says a peace officer, police officer, has to effect the arrest immediately ... You want to be treated differently. That cannot be done, Maria. The law is not a respecter of social stance," he said.

Ressa, however, insisted that since the arrest warrant did not indicate the amount of her bail bond and did not have the information sheet, the arrest was "anomalous" and "delivered in a way that was meant to keep me detained inside the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation)."

But Panelo said these are not irregularities, as the court could set bail even without the prosecutor recommending the amount for bail.

READ: Ressa 'making mountain out of molehill,' enjoying libel charge  Panelo

"Something is wrong with the way your lawyers handled your case. Because your lawyers could have argued to the court, your honor, our client is entitled to bail, it's the court that will determine the amount of bail you will post," he said. Ressa said her lawyers did that.

Following her arrest in Rappler's Pasig City office as courts were closing for the day, Ressa had to spend a night in NBI detention as she was unable to post bail until the next morning. Her lawyers attributed this to the absence of the information sheet, which contained the recommended bail amount.

"For the accused in the case to exercise her right to bail, the judge needs to know how much bail has been set. It became a sort of Catch 22. The judge can't issue, there's not enough information," Ressa's lawyer JJ Disini told CNN Philippines' The Source yesterday.

Authorities have maintained that there was nothing anomalous about the service of the arrest warrant on Ressa as NBI agents had to consider "logistical and operational requirements."

Panelo said if Ressa still finds anything fishy about the cases she is facing and the manner of her arrest, she can always head to the courts to question these.

"You can always ask for a reconsideration, you can file, your lawyers know how to handle the case. But you cannot be blaming the government for perceived irregularities which are not irregularities," he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte has denied that he had anything to do with Ressa's arrest, even saying that he was unaware of it.

Ressa has repeatedly said that the cases she and Rappler are facing mirror the present administration's "abuse of power" and the "weaponization of the law" against its perceived enemies.

"I'm not your enemy, Secretary Panelo. I am a journalist doing my job," she said.

The cyber libel case which Ressa was arrested for stems from a Rappler article published months before the enactment of the Cybercrime Prevention Act, which penalizes libel done through electronic means, like the Internet.

In finding probable cause to charge her for cyber libel, the Justice department conceded that the original publication of the story could not be prosecuted under the Cybercrime Prevention Act, but its 2014 update  which Rappler said corrected typographical errors  could.

Ressa said this is the sixth time she has posted bail in the past two months.

"It is not normal to be filing, to be posting bail six times within two months. It does not scare me. It does not stop Rappler from reporting. We'll continue to ask the tough questions," she said.

Ressa, along with other journalists, was named as Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2018. Others who were cited were slain Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and detained Reuters correspondents Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo.

She was a longtime CNN bureau chief of Manila and Jakarta before founding Rappler.

The online news site has earned the ire of President Rodrigo Duterte following its publication of reports critical of his administration. He and other government officials have accused it of publishing fake news and of being owned by foreigners.
Swiss actor Bruno Ganz who played Adolf Hitler in the 2004 movie Downfall has died aged 77.

Ganz, who died at his home in Zurich, had a distinguished career on screen and stage before his 2004 appearance in 'Downfall', which unfolds over the final, suffocating days inside Hitler's bunker.

For many critics his nuanced portrayal of the fascist tyrant that veers between explosive and sombre was unparallelled.

It had previously been reported that Ganz had been diagnosed with colon cancer.

Swiss actor Bruno Ganz who played Adolf Hitler in the 2004 movie Downfall has died aged 77

Ganz's depiction of Hitler was hailed by critics, although many German-speaking actors are reluctant to play the part. Ganz said being Swiss acted as a buffer for him

Hitler is a figure that German-speaking actors had historically been reluctant to take on and the Zurich-born Ganz conceded that being Swiss provided a necessary buffer.

'It helped me also that I am not German, because I could put my passport between Hitler and me,' Ganz told The Arts Desk website in 2005.

Downfall spawned thousands of internet memes from a memorable scene in the Fuhrer's bunker where he starts shouting at several generals when he finally realises the war is lost.

Ganz shows Hitler's weakness during his final hours in the critically acclaimed performance

Bruno Ganz (left) and Willem Dafoe (right) in So Close! Faraway - 1993

Bruno Ganz (pictured above) sat at a table in a scene from the 2000 film Bread and Tulips

Bruno Ganz (pictured above) filming The American Friend, directed by Wim Wenders

The film had previously been crowned the winner of the BBC Four World Cinema Award, as well as having been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Since then the film has become most famous for making waves on social media, where users have continuously created parodies and memes of different scenes in the movie.

Despite the film having propelled his fame further, he had starred in a number of other hits.

Ganz first started his theatre career in 1961 where he gained a reputation as an exceptional stage actor. However, his film career started in 1960, where he played 'The Gentlemen' in the Black Derby.

Bruno Ganz (pictured above) during a scene in Circle of Deceit

Bruno Ganz also played Professor Stanciulescu in Youth without Youth

Bruno Ganz (left) and Blair Brown (right) filming Strapless

Bruno Ganz Wings Of Desire / Der Himmel Uber Berlin - 1987, directed by Wim Wenders

In 1979 he then appeared in Werner Herzog's Nosferatu the Vampyre, as well as playing an angel in Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire in 1987 and then its sequel Farawat, So Close! in 1993.

His career spanned various genres and included The American Friend in 1977, as well as science fiction movie The Boys from Brazil in 1978, which also starred Sir Laurence Olivier.

Ganz and the memes his portrayal of Hitler inspired Downfall, called Der Untergang in German, was arguably one of the most famous films Ganz had starred in. It told the story of Hitler's final days in his Berlin bunker. It grossed 71.3m at box offices around the world when it was released. However, what made the film even more notorious was a scene where the fuhrer becomes furious. This then spawned a host of memes which included Hitler discovering there was no toilet paper, to being told his pizza had arrived late. Clips from the movie formed serious fodder for those wanting to poke fun at Hitler and his rant and other memes included showing Hitler becoming upset about topical issues such as Brexit and other gossip soon emerged. Advertisement

In 2018 he starred in The Baader Meinhof Complex, with his last role being in Lars von Trier's The House that Jack Built, in 2018.

One of his biggest achievements was receiving the Iffland-Ring in 1996.

The award is seen as one of the most prestigious for German-speaking actors. Traditionally the bearer of the award would keep the ring until death and passes it on by will to the male actor which he considers the best in German-language theatre.

It is not known at present who and if the award has yet been passed on.

Ganz was born in 1941 and grew up in Zurich. His father was a Swiss factory worker and his mother was Italian.

Earlier today German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas offered his condolences to Ganz's family and friends, via Twitter he said: 'Bruno Ganz is dead. One of the most important actors of our time goes, his brilliant work remains. We mourn with the family and friends of #BrunoGanz.'

After Ganz's most famous film Downfall was released, the actor revealed that he had fully immersed himself into character, to such an extent that it started to affect his off screen personality.

He once told reporters: 'I tend to identify with my roles to such an extent that I appear to be totally convinced about certain statements that, in real life, I would never believe in.'

However, in a 2005 interview with The Guardian, he said he spent four months preparing for the part but highlighted that he could 'never begin to understand Hitler'.

'I cannot claim to understand Hitler. Even the witnesses who had been in the bunker with him were not really able to describe the essence of the man.

'He had no pity, no compassion, no understanding of what the victims of war suffered.'
Emmanuel Macron is set to give Theresa May a legally-binding assurance that the Irish Brexit backstop is only temporary.

The French President has reportedly softened his line following an eleventh-hour bid by the EU to help get the withdrawal agreement finalised next month.

Attorney general Geoffrey Cox, whose previous legal advice suggested the backstop could be used to keep Britain in the customs union could, crucially, be persuaded to change his view if enough legal assurances are given, senior EU diplomats believe.

Scroll down for video

Emmanuel Macron is set to give Theresa May a legally-binding assurance that the Irish Brexit backstop is only temporary. The French President has reportedly softened his line following a last-ditch bid by the EU to help get the withdrawal agreement finalised next month

'There will be sufficient changes to allow Mr Cox to give a pass to the agreement,' a veteran European ambassador told The Times.

Mr Cox and Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay are expected in Brussels on Monday for talks with Michel Barnier, the EU's lead negotiator.

While the prime minister will then engage is more talks with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president.

However, a senior government source said an imminent breakthrough is unlikely, and indicated Theresa May would instead ask for more time when the Commons debates Brexit on March 1.

'There is progress being made and we would hope to be able to show signs of it by then,' the source told The Times. 'But any agreement is unlikely to be ratified.'

Despite it's willingness to negotiate a new legally binding assurance, diplomats did urge that there are limitations on what could be offered because of the risk to the Irish prime minister's minority government.

Attorney general Geoffrey Cox, whose previous legal advice suggested the backstop could be used to keep Britain in the customs union, could crucially be persuaded to change his view if enough legal assurances are given, senior EU diplomats believe

The discussions come amid a fear within the Conservative Party of an influx of Ukip voters - dubbed 'a Purple Momentum'.

Former ministers Nick Boles and Anna Soubry said a purple Momentum was gaining control of some local Conservative associations and leaving their sitting MPs facing the threat of deselection.

It came as Theresa May was warned that a dozen ministers will resign by the end of the month unless she agrees to postpone Brexit to prevent a No Deal scenario.

Miss Soubry yesterday said the Conservative Party was broken as the Prime Minister struggles to reconcile the warring factions.

Anna Soubry said a purple Momentum was gaining control of some local Conservative associations and leaving their sitting MPs facing the threat of deselection

Meanwhile U.S. trade with Britain will rise 'very substantially' after Brexit, President Donald Trump has said.

Speaking at the White House on Friday, Trump signalled Washington welcomed a new trade agreement with Britain and said 'we are agreeing to move forward'.

His comments will be seen as a boost for Brexiteer hopes that Britain's departure from the EU will enable successful free trade deals around the world.

The President had previously warned that Theresa May's plans for close alignment with Brussels could 'kill' the prospect of a transatlantic deal.

'We're agreeing to move forward and preserve our trade agreement,' Trump said in Washington today.

'You know all of the situation with respect to Brexit and the complexity and the problems, but we have a very good trading relationship with the UK and that's just been strengthened.

U.S. trade with Britain will rise 'very substantially' after Brexit , President Donald Trump said at a press conference at the White House today (pictured)

'With the UK we're continuing our trade and we're going to be increasing it very substantially as time goes by.

'We expect that the UK will be very substantially increased as it relates to trade with the United States. The relationship there also is very good,' he said.

Washington's ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, backed up the President's comments saying a new deal would 'increase our trade substantially'.

'It will be great for jobs and prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic,' he said.

International Trade Secretary Liam Fox said Trump had made clear there was a 'special trade relationship and real ambition on both sides of the Atlantic to enhance this,' according to a CNN reporter at the White House press conference.
Ant McPartlin has hit back at Piers Morgan in a strongly worded email after he accused the Good Morning Britain co-host of 'belittling' his recovery from addiction issues.

A source told The Mirror that Ant sent the email to his fellow ITV star after he felt Morgan belittled his journey to recovery, as well as insulting people struggling with mental health issues.

Piers, 53, recently asked on Good Morning Britain why the Saturday Night Takeaway host was up for an award at the National Television Awards - when he had been walking the dog for a year' and 'sitting on his backside'.

Piers, 53, recently asked on Good Morning Britain why Ant McPartlin was up for an award

Piers was referring to the aftermath of Ant's highly publicised fallout from a drink-driving conviction in April last year.

Ant, who co hosts with Declan Donnelly, checked into rehab after the incident, pulling out of the Britain's Got Talent live shows and I'm a Celeb in the process.

During his recovery from booze problems and prescription drug addiction, he was often pictured walking his Labrador, Hurley in the parks near his home.

A source told The Mirror that Ant sent the email to his fellow ITV star after he felt Morgan belittled his journey to recovery

Piers Morgan (middle) with Ant McPartlin (left) and Declan Donnelly at the NTA's in 2016

Ant is understood to have credited the Labrador with helping him through his well-documented struggles with alcohol and substance abuse issues, even receiving cards filled with the dogs paw prints.

Despite this absence from television, he and Donnelly won the hosting award for the 18th year in a row.

Piers, who lost out on the award to the pair, said: 'They'll win. Even though Ant's basically been sitting on his backside, from what I can see walking his dog for the last year. He's got an award.'

Anthony McPartlin walking his dog Hurley near his home in London in 2017

A source told The Mirror that Ant hit back, saying he 'didn't appreciate' Piers 'belittling him'.

The source said: 'Ant sent him an email saying he takes his recovery very seriously and he didn't appreciate Piers belittling it by saying all he has done is walk the dog.

'Ant did work last year  he presented nearly the whole series of Takeaway and all the audition shows of BGT.

'He then worked hard on his recovery. To suggest that all he did was walk the dog insults everyone who is in recovery or suffering from mental health issues.

'Ant pointed this all out to Piers.'

Piers also said before Ant and Dec scooped the gong, that if the pair won, he would 'take the day off every day and walk his dog' next year.

The controversial Good Morning Britain host had previously criticised Ant for branding new girlfriend Anne-Marie Corbett his rock - instead opting to back Ants estranged wife Lisa Armstrong, 42.

The pair split in January last year and Piers said Armstrong must be 'hurt' by Ant's new relationship.
British high-tech firm Dyson has moved 100 back office jobs to India and the Czech Republic in advance of the firm's decision to move its headquarters to Singapore.

The company, owned by Brexit-supporting businessman James Dyson, announced last month that he was pulling the company's headquarters out of Britain ahead of the country's departure from the European Union.

The decision to transfer the firm's headquarters to Singapore means it will no longer be a British registered company and the low-tax city state will become its tax base.

Brexiteer James Dyson, pictured, moved 100 back room jobs from the UK to India ahead of his controversial decision to transfer the firm's headquarters to Singapore

The Financial Times claimed the firm has also made more than 150 people redundant

The firm's chief executive Jim Rowan dismissed claims the decision to move to Singapore was due to Brexit or Singapore's low-tax regime.

He said: 'The move is nothing to do with Brexit or tax, 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.'

However, according to the Financial Times, staff at the company's base in Malmesbury were warned in July that their jobs were at risk as a result of restructuring plans.

Some 150 people were made redundant with 100 of those roles outsourced to India. Several positions were moved to the Czech republic.

As part of the plan to move the company's headquarters, two senior executives will transfer to Singapore.

The company, best known for its vacuum cleaners and other domestic appliances, is working on developing an electric vehicle in the Asian nation.

The firm said in a statement: '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.'

But having one of Britains most successful manufacturers quit the UK comes at a sensitive time, with several car makers including Nissan, Ford and Toyota warning about the rising prospects of a no-deal Brexit, which would jeopardise their operations in the country.

Dyson was keen to stress its commitment to Britain, pointing out that it is investing 200 million in new buildings and testing facilities at its campus at Hullavington Airfield.

The company bought the disused airfield two years ago and has already renovated two hangars at the 517-acre site.

The announcement was made alongside Dysons full year results for 2018, when profits topped 1 billion for the first time.

Turnover rocketed 28 per cent to 4.4 billion and profits jump 33 per cent to 1.1 billion, with Mr Rowan pointing to the success of products such as its Supersonic hairdryer.

A spokesman for Dyson told MailOnline: 'Dyson ended 2018 with more people in the UK than ever before and we continue to grow here.

'However, as a increasing proportion of our sales are outside the UK - currently 96 per cent - it is natural to reassess how we best support our global operations.

'We have restructured some roles with this in mind.'
One of Britains biggest private providers of probation services has collapsed into administration.

The collapse of Working Links, which owns three Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) delivering probation services in Wales, Avon and Somerset, and Devon and Cornwall, should be a 'wake-up call' for the Government, unions said.

It comes amid a disastrous period for former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling - who overhauled the arrangements for managing offenders in 2014 - following the Brexit ferry controversy as well as the train timetabling issues in his current role as Transport Secretary.

The collapse of Working Links, which owns three Community Rehabilitation Companies (CRCs) delivering probation services in Wales, Avon and Somerset, and Devon and Cornwall, should be a 'wake-up call' for the Government, unions said

GMB, the union for probation workers, added that private companies' involvement in the sector was an 'expensive waste' and 'disastrous'.

Under the former Justice Secretary there was partial privatisation known as Transforming Rehabilitation. The National Probation Service was created to deal with high-risk cases, while remaining work was assigned to 21 CRCs.

GMB national officer Kevin Brandstatter said: 'The failure of three community rehabilitation companies in the South West of England and Wales should serve as a wake-up call to the Ministry of Justice.

'There are 18 other contracts, including a number held by Interserve - a company which totters from financial crisis to financial crisis.

'The involvement of private companies in the justice sector is an expensive waste; services remain undelivered while thousands of jobs are sacrificed in an attempt to deliver profits.'

Under former Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, ministers overhauled the arrangements for managing offenders in 2014 in a partial privatisation known as Transforming Rehabilitation

It comes as a 'deeply troubling' report by Dame Glenys Stacey, HM Chief Inspector of Probation, revealed that staff at one of the companies was 'under-recording the number of riskier cases because of commercial pressures'.

Devon and Cornwall was the first CRC to be rated inadequate by HM Inspectorate of Probation in 2018-19, last November, when it was also found that staff were completing sentence plans to meet performance targets, without meeting the offender involved.

Dame Glenys said: 'The professional ethos of probation has buckled under the strain of the commercial pressures put upon it here, and it must be restored urgently.'

The Government has agreed that Seetec, owner of Kent, Surrey and Sussex CRC, will take over the Working Links CRCs.

Napo, a union campaigning for probation services to be returned to public ownership, said it had repeatedly warned the Government of the situation.

General secretary Ian Lawrence said: 'This is exactly what we warned the Government about from day one of this disastrous privatisation programme that has seen an award-winning service fall into total chaos in just four years.

'They admit it has failed and are ending the contracts early but the situation with Working Links is beyond the pale.

'They are avoiding their responsibility to staff and the public by not intervening and allowing the company to go bust rather than bring it back into public ownership and step up the liabilities of their own making.'

Justice Secretary David Gauke said Dame Glenys's report was 'damning' and it was 'unacceptable' if offenders were being classified on the basis of trying to meet a target.

'The actions there clearly unacceptable, it is right that ... Working Links have gone into administration and their position is being taken over by another company that will be running that.

'But clearly it's not acceptable what we've seen and it is important that we make changes in this individual case, which I think is particularly bad, but we also stepped in in the summer to make changes to bring these contracts to an end and to reform them.

'We've consulted on that and we're considering our response to that consultation.'

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon said the system was 'clearly broken', adding: 'This is yet another public service severely damaged by Chris Grayling and the Conservatives' obsession with privatisation.

'We need a probation system that prioritises keeping the public safe rather than boosting the profits of private companies.'
Roberta Williams has offered another insight into her life with husband and crime boss Carl, sharing never-before-seen photos taken in the midst of the Melbourne gangland war.

The outspoken wife of the murdered drug kingpin dug out the photos from old family albums and shared them on Instagram this week.

Pictures of a newborn Dhakota with her sisters and late father are peppered with newer pictures of a gold-plated Rolex and a diamond ring.

Roberta Williams has shared a myriad of photographs of late gangland boss Carl Williams

One photo shows a newborn Dhakota flanked by her sisters Danielle and Breanne

A still image taken from the couple's wedding day shows a beaming Roberta and Carl Williams

In one image, a shirtless Carl can be seen clutching a sleeping Dakhota to his chest as he smiles gleefully to the camera.

The photo's caption is accompanied by the hashtag 'best dadda ever'.

Another photo of the same strain taken only weeks apart shows Carl with the baby under the caption: 'What an amazing daddy you were to our princess.'

Roberta's children feature prominently in the series of photographs, with a shot of Dakhota, flanked by her stepsisters Breanne and Danielle.

Roberta fondly remembered how the older sisters would 'mummy' their youngest around, calling it an 'unbreakable bond'.

The matriarch also shared a photo of her and Carl on their wedding day.

A grainy still taken from the controversial couple's marital video shows a smiling Carl, with long hair, and Roberta, donning a tiara.

'Stills from our wedding video. Missing you doesn't get easier time just gets further away from when we lost you, and the pain gets longer and harder,' the caption reads.

Nearly all of the photos have the hashtag 'MissingU'.

One shows Roberta kissing a baby Dhakota on the cheek as the infant points to the camera

Many of the photographs show Carl embracing a young Dhakota Williams, who is now 18

The widow also shared a photo of her diamond-encrusted Rolex and a 3-carat diamond ring

The caption from a still of the couple's wedding day calls it the 'best day ever' and 'happy times'

A second series of photos shared only a week earlier offer another glimpse into the Williams' family life.

One of the images continues the theme of Carl being a constant parental figured, holding a young Dhakota in his arms as he kisses her on the cheek.

'Daddy's princess,' Roberta captioned the photo.

The image, taken in late-2001 at Dhakota's christening at Melbourne's Crown Casino, could have depicted any father and his daughter.

But the toddler's baptism was by no means a normal one.

Many of the photos show Dhakota, who is now 18 years old (pictured) as an infant

Infamous gangster Carl Williams (right) hugs his young daughter Dhakota (left) in never before seen photos posted on Instagram by the family's matriarch Roberta

A young Dhakota smiles happily in one of the images as she plays with her father Carl's right-hand man Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin (right)

'I miss my life': Of this photo of Carl Williams (left), Andrew 'Benji' Veniamin (centre), George Williams (right) and Dhakota Williams (front), only the teenage girl is still alive

Not only did it cost $150,000 and feature popstar Vanessa Amorosi as the major act, the crowd was littered with some of Melbourne's most serious criminals - at a time when the deadliest gangland war Australia has ever seen was being waged.

Chief among them were Williams - who was convicted of murdering four men during the 12-year war - and his trusted right-hand man Veniamin, who's suspected of killing a total of seven people.

One photo shows Dhakota smiling happily as she plays with Veniamin, while another captures the toddler poking her tongue out at the camera as she sits in the hitman's arms.

'Your faces tell the story. How happy we were,' Roberta wrote alongside the photo.

Veniamin features in several more images, firstly alongside the family matriarch.

Veniamin, who was shot dead by fellow crime heavyweight Mick Gatto in 2004, was believed to have been responsible for murdering seven men during Melbourne's 12-year gangland war

''What an amazing team we were. I will love you forever': Roberta Williams (right) poses next to her husband's most trusted adviser Veniamin at daughter Dhakota's christening in late-2001

Another photo from the event shows Veniamin (left) and Danielle Stephens (right), the child of Roberta Williams and her first husband Dean Stephens

Carl Williams kisses his daughter after being granted bail in December 2003, as wife Roberta watches on smiling

'What an amazing team we were. I will love you forever,' Roberta wrote.

Danielle Stephens, the daughter Roberta had with her first husband Dean Stephens, also appeared in the photo album alongside the killer.

'She was your shadow and you loved it. Where you went she was, no matter what, nothing came before her,' the photo was captioned.

Veniamin died on March 23, 2004, after he was shot dead following a struggle with fellow crime heavyweight Mick Gatto.

Gatto was charged with his murder, but later cleared on self-defence grounds.

Also appearing at the extravagant christening was popstar Vanessa Amarosi, who at the time was one of the leading acts in Australia.

Amarossi could be seen in one photo holding a young Dhakota as she sang on-stage at the Casino for the crowd.

Australian popstar Vanessa Amorosi holds a young Dhakota (pictured) as she performs for the large crowd gathered at the $150,000 event, held at Melbourne's Crown Casino

Dhakota controversially returned to the casino last year and was allowed into the exclusive Mahogany Room, despite being aged just 17

Carl and Roberta Williams are pictured outside court during one of his many appearances in the early 2000s

Carl Williams (pictured) was convicted of murdering four men during the 12-year underworld war, but in 2010 he was killed just inside Barwon Prison where he was serving a life sentence

Roberta (left) and Dhakota (right) arrive at the Supreme Court in Melbourne in December 2018

'It was absolutely amazing,' Amorosi told radio station Nova in 2009 of the party.

'They had a room in the casino all done up. I remember during the show thinking no one will get up and dance and if I start singin' bad I'm just gonna get shot.

'I was like, "Let's make sure it's a killer show, guys, or it could be a killer ending".'
An anti-terrorism police officer raped a teenager in her home after tracking her down using a social media app , a court heard.

Peter Drummond, 38, allegedly drove to the 14-year-old girl's home twice, and on one occasion climbed through her bedroom window before raping her.

Drummond, from Berkshire, appeared at Truro Crown Court in Cornwall for a trial.

Peter Drummond, from Berkshire, appearing at Truro Crown Court in Cornwall for a trial

During the hearing, the jury heard how Drummond was able to find his victim's address through Snapchat mapping.

The defendant is faced with three charges of rape and three alternative charges of sexual activity with a child.

Four of the charges relate to October 26 of 2017 while two date to November 17, 2017.

He has denied all the charges.

Fiona Elder, prosecuting, said Drummond allegedly befriended the girl on social media, using Kik messenger and Snapchat.

Addressing the jury, she said: 'There are two allegations that he travelled from his home to Cornwall and raped her in her bedroom at her parents' home.

'You may think the dangers of social media are highlighted in this case where a child finds herself in a situation that they do not understand and they do not want.

Truro Crown Court (pictured) also heard how the girl received 30 from a bank account in the name of Drummond

'You may think, having heard the evidence in this case, that this is what happened on this particular occasion.

'He had come to her house using Snapchat mapping. There is no dispute that she did go through a sexual experience.

'As you will hear, Mr Drummond admits having sexual intercourse with her on these occasions.'

She said Drummond allegedly told the girl to tell the police that she had said she was 17 years old.

She said the girl told police: 'He knew my age. I told him the first time I met him. He told me to say I was 17.'

Ms Elder added: 'Pushed for details, she said sex had occurred and she did not want it.'

She said the girl later described how she allegedly asked Drummond to stop but he ignored her.

She said evidence of Drummond's DNA was allegedly found in the girl's bedroom.

The court also heard how the girl received 30 from a bank account in the name of P Drummond, which the prosecution allege was the defendant's account.

The court heard Drummond has worked as a specialist anti-terrorism police officer with the Ministry of Defence since 2006.

The trial continues.
Advertisement

The country will feel a little chillier today than it did on Friday as a cold fog and low cloud begin to emerge over the UK.

The low cloud and patches of fog will see temperatures drop to 6-7C today, with much of the country expected to remain dry and mild throughout the day.

However as chilly fog moves northwards into Wales and northern England, Britain can expect to enjoy milder weather and highs of 54F (12-13C), with the highest temperatures expected in North Devon.

As the fog clears, patches of drizzle are expected to move mainly to the west and some patchy fog may remain in the southeast.

Early signs of spring were this week at Wallington Hall, near Morpeth in Northumberland, as snowdrops covered the woodland floor in a beautiful white carpet

Two people walk though Colesbourne Park in Gloucestershire today as the country wakes up to a chilly fog and mist

A dog walker enjoys a spot of sunny weather as she takes a stroll through Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire today

Yesterday a squirrel was spotted amongst snowdrops in Hyde Park in London as the UK braces itself for fog and mist

Stags are spotted locking their antlers at Ashton Court estate in Bristol, as god and mist emerge over the country

Satellite images show patches of sunshine across parts of the UK while other areas brace themselves for cloud and drizzle

Satellite images from the Met Office show patches of sunshine across parts of the UK while other areas brace themselves for cloud and drizzle.

This week hundreds will flock to Wallington Hall, near Morpeth in Northumberland, to plant an extra 100,000 bulbs in the grounds of the stately home.

The annual event, which is in its fifth year, sees families visit from all over the country to help add to the already plentiful array of delicate spring flowers.

Head gardener Simon Thompson said: 'What's great about snowdrops is they perpetuate themselves, and more will grow out of one single flower.

'I like to tell children if they return to Wallington in their eighties the snowdrops they planted will still be here.

'I try to get them to remember where they plant the flowers, so they can return and see how they are doing in the future.

'Bulbs are usually planted in the autumn and flower in springtime. But we plant the snowdrops once they have already flowered as they do better that way.

'It's great because you see the results straight away. They really are a beautiful sight.'

The bulbs set to be planted are the common variety of snowdrop - galanthus nivalis - and 100,000 have cost National Trust owned Wallington Hall 7,000.

Rarer varieties such as galanthis sandersii, which are indigenous to Northumberland and have yellow markings instead of green, can also be spotted in the woodland.

A dog enjoys the early signs of spring during a walk through Welford Park as snowdrops cover the woodland floor

People enjoy a stroll through Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire, today as Britain wakes up to chilly fog and mist

A person takes a picture of the snowdrops at Colesbourne Park, Gloucestershire, today as forecasters warn the UK will feel slightly chillier this weekend

The country will remain mostly dry this weekend as the clouds and fog spread northwards towards northern England and Wales

Low cloud will start the weekend with occasional sunshine and chances of rain in northern parts of the country

The public are invited to National Trust owned Wallington Hall over the nine days of the February half term school holiday, starting today (SAT), and planting starts at 11am through to 3pm.

The mostly frost-free weather will see temperatures remain mild all round with outbreaks of sunshine across most of the UK.

However forecasters have also predicted that winds will pick up in the north and west of England as we head into Sunday afternoon.

Northern Ireland and Scotland are also expected to see patches of rain and breezy winds.
Advertisement

With weapons drawn, camouflaged troops leaped out of amphibious assault craft while explosions sounded and parachutists glided in from above as the annual Cobra Gold war games took over a placid Thai beach Saturday.

Now in its 38th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of forces from the United States, Thailand and seven other countries come together for 11 days of training on Thai shores.

This year's drill includes some 2,000 US Marines, 1,000 US soldiers and hundreds from the country's Navy and Air Force.

On Saturday, American, Thai and South Korean forces descended on Namsai beach in Chonburi province in a joint drill intended to simulate securing the territory.

Now in its 38th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of forces from the United States, Thailand and other countries together for 11 days of training

U.S. soldiers take part in the Amphibious Assault Demonstration during the Cobra Gold multilateral military exercise on Hat Yao Beach

Captain Melvin Spiese told AFP the goal was to 'bring power from ship to shore' and be ready for 'any kind of future crisis we might need to respond to with our Thai counterparts.'

Helicopters buzzed overhead and fighter jets roared across the skies.

Cobra Gold exercises span air, land and sea and feature a jungle survivalist session where participants take turns drinking blood from a severed cobra and snack on insects and scorpions.

Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia also took part in the war games.

US soldiers land with an amphibious assault vehicle and secure the beach head on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, eastern Thailand, Saturday

The exercises feature a jungle survivalist session where participants take turns drinking cobra blood and snacking on insects and scorpions

A US Marine holds a tarantula during jungle survival training with Thai soldiers

A Thai soldier handles snakes while US Marines observe during jungle survival training

At the opening ceremony to the exercises in the northern Thai province of Phitsanulok on Tuesday, Peter Haymond, acting head of the US diplomatic mission in Thailand, said that the aim of the exercise, first held in 1982, is to strengthen cooperation and interoperability.

The ceremony was attended by Thai Chief of Defense Forces Gen. Pornpipat Benyasri and the commander of the US Army First Corps, Lt. Gen. Gary J. Volesky, representing the US Indo-Pacific Command.

'We have witnessed that this Thai-American initiative has become a significant milestone of military collaboration that has expanded to the regional level,' a statement issued by the exercise quoted Pornpipat as saying.

Thai soldiers parachute down during the ongoing Cobra Gold U.S.-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach in Chonburi province, eastern Thailand, Saturday

Marines rest after amphibious assault training at a military base in Chonburi province, Thailand

Marines in action during amphibious assault training on Saturday

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington and the kingdom tilted towards China with high-profile arms buys.

But US military sales continued and the two countries have upped their engagement under President Trump, who has stepped back on human rights issues and invited junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha to the White House.

Prayut, who led the 2014 coup, is standing for prime minister in elections set for March 24.

A ball of fire from explosives rises during the ongoing Cobra Gold U.S.-Thai joint military exercise on Hat Yao beach

Marines haul landing craft up the beach after an amphibious landing in Chonburi
Conor McGregor's partner, Dee Devlin, has posted a loving picture of the pair on Valentine's Day.

The Instagram post titled 'Lols with my valentine' shows the couple putting on a united front as they share a heartwarming moment with each other during a holiday in the U.S.

The photo comes amid claims that the Irish UFC featherweight and lightweight champion, 30, fathered a love child with another woman- allegations which he denies.

The Instagram post titled 'Lols with my valentine' shows the couple sharing a heartwarming moment with each other while on holiday

It follows a series of pictures Irish fighter McGregor posted of the pair on Valentine's Day

The posts come amid claims that the Irish UFC featherweight and lightweight champion fathered a child with another woman

The pictures posted by McGregor came with the message: 'Happy Valentine's Day my Queen'

The romantic post which captures the couple laughing together as they lounge on a sofa has already gathered more than 295,000 likes on social media.

It follows a series of public pictures that the fighter posted to partner Dee Devlin with the message: 'Happy Valentines Day my Queen.'

The romantic pictures show the couple lounging on a bed and laughing with each other.

Earlier this year, 26-year-old Terri Murray claimed that she and McGregor had slept with each other in 2017 and that he was the biological father to her daughter Clodagh.

One photo shows the couple lounging together on a bed as they enjoy quality time with each other

The couple have son Conor Jr (pictured) together and also daughter Croia who was born last month

Earlier this month Ms Murray told The Mirror: 'I dont want his money. I just want to prove he is Clodaghs dad and Im not lying.'

However the professional fighter denied the shocking accusations and claimed that Ms Murray had in fact slept with one of his friends.

In spite of the accusations, McGregor and Ms Devlin, who have been together since 2008, have put on a united front and last month welcomed daughter Croia.

The couple also have son Conor Jr, who was born in May 2017.

Ms Devlin has refused to comment on the accusations.
by Nirmala Carvalho

The Christian cultural center Vishwa Jyoti Communications organizes a pilgrimage from Nepal to Uttar Pradesh. The stages are rich in symbolic meanings, and recall the message of harmony and compassion of the Buddha. Fr. Anand: "Jesus challenges me to love my neighbor and his enemy".

Mumbai (AsiaNews) - From Nepal to Uttar Pradesh (India), to reaffirm the need for peace, harmony and non-violence: this is the aim of the Yatra [pilgrimage, ed.] Called "From Buddha to Kabir", a march for peace left February 14 from Lumbini and directed to Magahar, where it is due to arrive tomorrow. The event is an initiative of the Christian cultural center Vishwa Jyoti Communications, which has already organized similar pilgrimages in the past.

Yesterday, the participants' journey set out from Kushinagar. Before returning to their journey, the pilgrims paid tribute to the soldiers killed in Kashmir two days ago, victims of an attacker affiliated to a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist group.

Speaking to AsiaNews Fr. Anand Mathew, director of the center, said: "The tribute lasted about 90 minutes, in honor of the martyred soldiers who lost their lives to ensure the safety of this nation. Let us pray for the eternal peace of the fallen and ask God to give comfort to their families ".

What happened in Kashmir, the priest continues, "makes us understand that the time has come to engage in the fight against external and internal terrorism, and to work in favor of composite culture, peace and harmony. Every attempt to impose uniformity and exclusivity leads to violence ".

Later civil society figures, school students and other intellectuals lit candles and placed them on the Buddhist stupa Ramabhar of Kushinagar. Meanwhile, the artists of the Prerana Kala Manch, the theater company of the center, sang patriotic songs.

The places where the march stops are very symbolic: Lumbini, in Nepal, is the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, the historical Buddha, an example of peace, compassion and non-violence; Magahar, in Uttar Pradesh, is instead the place where Kabir Das, the great Indian poet of "composite culture", is buried. Throughout the trip, attended by about 500 people of every culture and religion, the theater group stages performances on the long tradition of love and respect for Indian culture.

Fr. Anand explains: "I take part in this Yatra as a believer of Jesus, who challenges me to love his neighbor and his enemies, regardless of their origin. Jesus also challenges me with these words: 'For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?' (Mt 5:46) ". Finally, he affirms: "Even Pope Francis inspires me to meet people of different faith and bring unity and harmony among all. This is why I spend so much of my time promoting the composite culture ".
A young mother who was believed to have driven to a suburban beach and vanished has been found.

The sister of Perth woman Hayley Scates issued an emotional plea to help track her down in a social media post and gave her car's registration details on Saturday.

'My sister Hayley has gone missing,' Kym Kennedy wrote.

A young mother who was believed to have driven to a suburban beach and vanished has been found

The sister of Perth woman Hayley Scates (pictured) issued an emotional plea for help tracking her down in a social media post and gave her car's registration details

Shortly after posting the appeal on Facebook, Ms Kennedy said she was about to board a plane and fly back home to Perth.

She said Ms Scates phone had been turned off since 12.30pm when she left Joondalup.

One friend said they had already driven past beaches in Perth's northern suburbs searching for the young woman, including Quinns Rocks, Jindalee and Burns Beach.

The alert, posted to Ms Kennedy's Facebook page at about 6pm, was later updated to say she had safe and well.
Tareena Shakil (pictured) was the first British woman to be jailed for joining Islamic State and has now been released from prison

The family of an ISIS bride who is back on Britain's streets after she was jailed for joining Islamic State say she feels she has been 'victimised.'

Tareena Shakil, nicknamed the Towie jihadi, fled to Syria with her toddler son in October 2014.

The only British woman to be jailed for joining Islamic State is now living in Birmingham after she was released from prison last summer, it has emerged.

But her mother Mandy, 52, told the Sun her daughter is 'keeping her head down' and said 'You won't be able to find her' when asked to comment further.

A family source also claimed Shakil felt 'victimised' after attention was placed back on British jihadis due to Shamima Begum - a teenage bride who begged the British Government to allow her to return to the UK to give birth.

They said: 'The family feel that they are victims of the fallout of the girl in Tower Hamlets and they want to be left alone. They think it's all being dragged up.

'Tareena has been out of prison for a considerable amount of time and has been signing on at the police station as required.'

Shakil (pictured) was shown posing with weaponry and wearing an Islamic State balaclava

A CCTV image of Tareena Shakil at East Midlands Airport with her toddler before the pair boarded a flight to Turkey en route to Syria

The former student, now 29, from Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, told her family she was going on a package holiday to Turkey in October 2014 when she fled to northern Syria with her infant son.

She was arrested by British police at Heathrow Airport in February last year after arriving back on a flight from Turkey.

When returning to the UK to face justice, she told jurors she escaped Islamic State after tricking a minder into allowing her on a bus to visit a non-existent husband.

Shakil took her young son to Syria and was jailed for six years for becoming a member of the terrorist group

The mother then claims she paid a taxi driver to take her close to the Turkish border and ran across a field to safety with her son in her arms.

Shakil, whose mother, Mandy, is a white English Muslim convert, was convicted of joining IS and jailed for six years in February 2016.

Her conviction came a year after she was arrested after touching down at Heathrow. She was released on licence in July, relatives said yesterday.

One said: 'I've seen her a few times since then, including at Christmas. She has put all that radicalisation behind her and just wants to live a normal life now. She no longer wears a headscarf.'

The relative said Shakil had some 'supervised contact' with her son, but he was not in her custody.

Shakil's father, Mohammed, 47, and brother, Tareem, 25, were jailed last November for running a county lines drug racket.

Shamima Begum one of three schoolgirls at Gatwick Airport as she left the UK to marry a foreign fighter for ISIS

Kadiza Sultana, then 16, Amira Abase, then 15 and Shamima Begum, then 15, (left to right) in images released by police in 2015 after they ran off to Syria

Britain could be forced to take back dozens of other jihadi brides.

Ministers yesterday vowed not to risk UK lives to rescue pregnant teenager Shamima Begum, who is begging to come home despite having 'no regrets' about her four years in Syria.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid said last night he would use all available powers to prevent Begum from returning to the UK, while security sources told The Times she would be treated as a 'national security threat' if she returned to British soil.

But if Begum, 19, makes it across borders to a British consulate, officials will have little choice but to allow her home so the NHS can care for her baby.
A mother-of-two was tasered and arrested after she allegedly verbally abused police officers, spat and threw a television at them.

Michelle Jane Marsh was on bail when she allegedly attacked the officers at her home in Woollomooloo in Sydney.

Just before 11pm on Friday, officers from Kings Cross Local Area Command went to her Dowling Street home to ask about stolen property.

A mother-of-two was tasered and arrested after she verbally abused police officers, spat at them and threw a television at them

Once they arrived, the 29-year-old allegedly verbally abuse them before spitting on the face of a male senior constable.

When the officers attempted to arrest Ms Marsh, she allegedly slammed her apartment door on a female officer, causing a cut to her head.

Marsh then allegedly threw a television at police before running directly at one of them.

To stop the mother-of-two, the police officer pulled out a taser and stunned Ms Marsh before arresting her at the scene.

The 29-year-old appeared in Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday where she cried as Magistrate Annette Sinclair said Ms Marsh was close to being locked up over the incident, The Daily Telegraph reported.

'I hope you appreciate you have gone within a hair's breadth of being refused bail,' Magistrate Sinclair told the young mother.

The 29-year-old appeared in Parramatta Bail Court (pictured) on Saturday where she cried as Magistrate Annette Sinclair said Ms Marsh was close to being locked up

Marsh was charged with one count of assaulting police and another of resisting police.

The 29-year-old's Legal Aid lawyer told the court she had to be granted bail so she could look after her two children - a 10-year-old boy and five-year-old girl.

'To refuse bail would cause extreme hardship to the children,' the lawyer said.

The police prosecutor attempted to fight the bail by arguing police were injured while on-the-job.

Marsh was charged with one count of assaulting police and another of resisting police (stock image)

Magistrate Sinclair granted the young mother's bail, despite the fact she was already on bail of charges related to 'matters of violence'.

She said the car and needs of the children were an important factor, as well as protecting the community.

Marsh is due to face Downing Centre Local Court on March 12.
A Thai restaurant chain is serving up a seriously spicy version of a traditional dish that costs next to nothing - but not many can finish the tasty meal.

The Do Dee Paidang restaurant chain is well regarded for fiery fare, but their new take on the humble Tom Yum soup has taken the dish to all new levels of spiciness.

The soup is usually made with prawns, lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaves and a healthy dose of chilli, but the chain's version is so spicy locals say it's the hottest in town.

The Do Dee Paidang restaurant chain (pictured) is well regarded for fiery fare, but their new take on the humble Tom Yum soup has taken the dish to all new levels of spiciness

The soup (pictured) is usually made with prawns, lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaves and a healthy dose of chilli, but the chain's version is so spicy that locals say its the hottest in town

Foodies who dare to try the flaming broth can choose from seven levels of spiciness that range from 'Monster' and 'Lava', to 'Super Volcano' and 'Super Nova'.

The fiery broth also comes with your choice of noodles, meat, fresh green vegetables, a fish ball and crispy wonton skins.

Already, the soup has amassed a loyal following of food enthusiasts in Sydney and Melbourne who can't seem to get enough of the spicy dish.

Fans in search of a spicy fix frequently take to social media to share photos of their Tom Yum bowls, showing off their attempted heat level.

Despite being a red hot success with foodies, many people have reported they are unable to make it all the way through their meal.

One fan who can't seem to get enough is Damian Tran, who this month shared a photo of his Level 6: Super Volcano Tom Yum, with the caption: 'love at first sight'.

Fans in search of a spicy fix frequently take to social media to share photos of their Tom Yum bowls, showing off their attempted heat level

Foodies who dare to try the flaming broth can choose from seven levels of spiciness that range from 'Monster' and 'Lava', to 'Super Volcano' and 'Super Nova'

'In fact it was a raging, burning love that made me sweat uncontrollably, develop strong stomach cramps and getting the chills hours later,' he wrote.

Mr Tran stated he ordered a large bowl of the fiery 'boat noodles', which were so hot the flavour experience was unlike anything he had ever had before.

While the noodles were the best Mr Tran has ever had, he issued words of caution to anyone with a less experienced palate.

'Warning: if you're not serious about eating spicy food, your best choice is to go no-spice,' he wrote.

The Do Dee Paidang restaurant chain is serving up seriously intense Tom Yum soups from $7.50 onwards
Meghan Markle will employ the ancient Chinese technique feng shui when decorating her new home at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor.

Feng shui - literally meaning 'wind-water' - is influential in many parts of Asia, where people adjust their lives and carefully position items in offices and homes to maximise their luck and wealth.

The Duchess of Sussex is reportedly a fan of the 3,500-year-old philosophy, which says that all events are dictated by the varying balances in the five elements that make up the universe: metal, wood, water, fire and earth.

Frogmore Cottage will be decorated by renowned Soho House designer Vicky Charles who will make use of feng shui

The cottage where Harry and Meghan will move later this year looks out onto the stunning grounds of Frogmore House (pictured)

Protective covering is placed over Frogmore House (pictured above) as the renovations works continue on the new home of Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex

She will incorporate its ideas when renovating Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, reports The Sun.

Meghan previously noted the merits of feng shui on her new-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig, writing: 'The ancient Chinese art of feng shui has been practised for nearly 3,000 years.

Meghan, 37, is a fan of the ancient Chinese art and will employ its techniques when decorating Frogmore Cottage

'With so many layers of tradition and technicality, it may seem daunting to introduce to your home aesthetic and ethos.

'However, the core of feng shui is about making you feel comfortable and at ease in your home so that it can translate into every aspect of your life  so fret not.'

Examples of feng shui that the Duchess might employ include positioning the bed so that your sleeping direction faces the door, keeping all clutter out of sight and allowing as much natural light as possible.

She and Prince Harry will move into the Grade II-listed cottage later this year with their new baby who is due in the at the end of April or beginning of May.

The couple's builders plan to add fireplaces, staircases, and a floating floor, but will keep the original floorboards and shutters.

As well new additions, the royal couple are also set to go green and install a 50,000 energy unit that will provide heat, hot water and electricity.

The cottage is just 200 yards from the publicly accessible Long Walk, meaning it will require upgrades to ensure the family have privacy and security.

The newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, leaving Windsor Castle after their wedding to attend an evening reception at Frogmore House

A map shows the couple's new home in the grounds of the Windsor Estate in relation to nearby landmarks and public walkways. There are major concerns about security, with the cottage located just 200 yards away from the Long Walk

Last month it emerged that Meghan had hired the top designer of the Soho House clubs, Vicky Charles, to oversee the renovations.

Ms Charles has overseen the design of Soho House branches in Malibu, Chicago and Barcelona.

She has also worked with the Beckhams and George and Amal Clooney, who are friends of Harry and Meghan.

Harry's late mother Princess Diana was also thought to be a believer in the power of feng shui.

A 1994 letter, which sold for 640 at auction in 2010, hinted at the the Princess of Wales' admiration for the art; she wrote that a feng shui expert visited her home in Kensington Palace and that she had subsequently rearranged her bedroom and sitting room according to his advice.

She wrote: 'I had a fascinating time with him as he travelled around my 'stressed out' environment.'
Two men have been rushed to hospital after the pair got involved in a vicious late-night brawl at a McDonald's.

The pair got into a fight in the car park of Craigieburn in Melbourne's north on Friday night.

Police have said the two victims were approached by two unknown males in the car park at 2.30am.

Two men have been rushed to hospital after the pair got involved in a vicious late-night brawl at McDonald's

The unknown men assaulted the two victims before fleeing the scene in an unknown vehicle, Nine News reported.

The two people suffered non-life threatening injuries and were both taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The victims are both believed to be in their 20s.
An Indonesian people smuggler has warned there will be an influx of boat people to Australia following the passing of the Labor-backed medevac bill.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison criticised the laws for weakening Australia's borders - and it has now been revealed 50 boat people at Manus Island and Nauru have been red-flagged by the government as a security risk.

The bill, which will make it easier for asylum seekers to get medical treatment in Australia, passed the parliament this week.

An Indonesian people smuggler has given an ominous warning about an influx of boat people to Australia following the passing of the Labor-back medevac law (stock image)

The legislation in the House of Representatives was passed by 75 votes to 74 after Labor were joined by the Greens and all independents except Bob Katter.

A Pakistan-based people smuggler said his former bosses were encouraged by the prospect of a Bill Shorten-led government.

'People know the big politicians are different: Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison, and of course they know (Bill Shorten),' he told The Sydney Morning Herald.

'They want to push it. They want to send five, six, seven boats every week - I think it will be hard for the Australian government to handle it.

'All of a sudden 1,000 people, or 2,000 in a month or two.'

The 50 'complex' cases earmarked by the Department of Home Affairs were revealed as part of nearly 800 people who are yet to have their security screening completed.

The prime minister also announced plans to reopen the Christmas Island detention centre to guard against the feared influx in asylum-seeker boats

About 300 asylum seekers who activist doctors are believed to be trying to bring to Australia were chosen for priority assessment, The Saturday Telegraph reported.

The assessment would give the Immigration Minister David Coleman necessary information to block transfers - which he can do within three days.

As the fiercely-contested new laws passed the senate on Wednesday, the prime minister warned changes could restart the people-smuggling trade.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right) criticised the laws for weakening Australia's borders - but Mr Shorten (left) said Mr Morrison's vocal criticism of the medevac bill would actually encourage people to try getting to Australia by boat

'My job now is to do everything within my power, and in the power of the government, to ensure that what the parliament has done to weaken our borders does not result in boats coming to Australia,' he said.

The prime minister also announced plans to reopen the Christmas Island detention centre to guard against the feared influx in asylum-seeker boats.

But Mr Shorten said Mr Morrison's vocal criticism of the medevac bill would actually encourage people to try getting to Australia by boat.

The opposition leader added the laws would only apply to those who were already in offshore detention centres - and not new arrivals.

The 50 'complex' cases earmarked by the department of home affairs were revealed as part of nearly 800 people who are yet to have their security screening completed (stock image)

Scott Morrison said "people smugglers know they won't get through me and Peter Dutton" but would "have a crack" if Bill Shorten became prime minister.

It is the latest message from the prime minister, who is trying to highlight differences between the Coalition and Labor on border security amid fears of an increase in boats.

Mr Morrison told reporters on Saturday the government had "increased the strength, resource and capability again of Operation Sovereign Borders" after the medevac legislation passed parliament this week.
An Iraqi refugee who spent nearly three years behind bars for encouraging his cousin to rape a woman has won an appeal to have his visa cancellation overturned.

The 25-year-old, who arrived in Australia in 2008, had been detained in the Villawood Detention Centre, New South Wales, since December 2016 when he was released from prison.

He had been jailed for watching his cousin sexually assault a woman he had brought to a motel room.

A 25-year-old Iraqi refugee will have his visa reinstated after being detained at the Villawood Detention Centre (pictured)

The 25-year-old's case was read before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal on Saturday afternoon, the Daily Telegraph reported.

They heard that the man and his cousin had gone to a motel where he and a woman had consensual sex.

But later in the same evening, the cousin 'physically forced himself' on the victim and raped her.

The man had advised his cousin not to wear a condom, saying it 'feels better without one', while also laughing as the woman cried for help.

The court heard he told her: 'Don't worry, you'll like it.'

The 25-year-old was jailed for nearly three years over his involvement in the rape of a woman at the hands of his cousin (image of Villawood Detention Centre used)

At the time of sentencing in 2016, the court deemed the man's cousin as the primary offender, though also considered the man as being in a situation where he could have controlled or dissuaded his cousin.

He was jailed and subsequently detained in the Detention Centre, with the Tribunal noting he had shown remorse for his actions and 'limited empathy' for the victim.

The Tribunal decided the man was at a 'limited risk of offending'.

Senior member Milton Griffin, QC, said the 'correct' decision would be to reinstate the man's visa, saying he posed no threat to the Australian community.

'The primary consideration of the protection of the Australian community ultimately weighs in the Applicant's favour,' he said.
Two men who allegedly stole a luxury car during a test drive have been arrested by police following a high speed car chase.

Police were on Saturday called to a home in Glenorie, northwest of Sydney just before 11.30am after they received reports of a Mercedes E55 being stolen.

The owners of the vehicle alleged two men stole the car - which had been advertised for private sale - after they took it for a test drive in the local area.

NSW Police Inspector Karl Stone (pictured) said two men arrived at the Glenorie address in a Toyota Corolla before one of the men took the Mercedes for a test drive

The Mercedes Benz was a short time later stopped by police in Paton Street (pictured), Merrylands West

NSW Police Inspector Karl Stone told reporters the two men arrived at the Glenorie address in a Toyota Corolla before one of the men took the Mercedes for a test drive.

The man allegedly took off in the luxury car while the other man followed him in the Toyota Corolla and the pair didn't return to private residence.

When the car was reported stolen, police and POLAIR commenced a search of the local area for the vehicle and the two men.

Inspector Stone said police first spotted the Mercedes on Windsor Road, around the Box Hill area, and further backup was called for to assist with the search.

'Both vehicles were spotted - and followed - driving next to each other on route towards Merrylands,' Inspector Stone said.

Officers from Cumberland Police Area Command managed to catch up with the Toyota Corolla, leaving the Merdedes to drive on and be pursued by POLAIR.

Police alleged the 30-year-old driver of the Toyota Corolla - who was later arrested - was driving the car with stolen number plates.

The Mercedes Benz was a short time later stopped by police in Paton Street, Merrylands West.

Inspector Stone said both men were taken to Granville Police Station (pictured) where they are assisting police with their inquires

The Mercedes Benz was eventually stopped by police in Paton Street, Merrylands West

Cumberland Police Area Command officers and Traffic and Highway Patrol Command closed in and arrested the 32-year-old driver of the luxury car.

Inspector Stone said both men were taken to Granville Police Station where they are assisting police with their inquires.

He said the alleged theft serves as a reminder for anyone selling a car to always get the details of prospective buyers.

Police investigations are continuing.
A police officer shot in an ambush at a Dallas Black Lives Matter protest is suing social media giants including Facebook, Twitter and Google for radicalizing shooter Micah Xavier Johnson.

Jesus Retana, 34, was one of nine cops injured when the 25-year-old Army reservist opened fire in July 2016. Five others were killed in the deadliest attack on U.S. law enforcement since September 11, 2001.

Now Retana, who was shot in the arm, has filed a lawsuit, along with his husband Andrew Moss claiming Hamas was able to use the sites 'as a tool for spreading extremist propaganda' which reached Johnson.

Johnson had no confirmed links to Hamas but Retana's attorney Keith Altman told CBS: 'Hamas' ability to reach into the United States has been greatly enhanced, it's been greatly enhanced by using social media.'

Jesus Retana, left, was injured when army reservist Johnson, right, opened fire in July 2016. He claims Hamas used Facebook, Twitter and Google 'as a tool for spreading propaganda'

Johnson's activity online suggests he became interested with black militant groups. On Facebook, he identified himself as a black nationalist, and his profile picture showed him wearing a dashiki and holding a clenched first in the air like a Black Panther

Altman added: 'Right now, they are basically doing nothing. They absolutely know that the terrorists are using their sites. This is not the dark web.

'Mentally, he's just not the same person. He has nightmares, sweats. It has a tremendous impact on his life and his husband's. They suffer every single day from what happened.

'If you ask my clients, their goal is no more funerals. No one should lose a loved one or friend to a terrorist attack. And no company should help fund terrorist attacks.'

A similar lawsuit filed by Altman in 2017 for another officer Sgt. Demetrick Pennie was dismissed by a judge.

The judge said the plaintiffs did not 'plausibly allege a connection between Hamas and the Dallas shooting.'

The Star Telegram reports Altman has also represented clients against social networks over the 2015 Paris attack, the Pulse nightclub shooting and the Bastille Day attack in France.

Dallas police officers Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Krol, Lorne Ahrens and Michael J. Smith, as well as DART Officer Brent Thompson were all killed in the massacre.

Officers, from left, Michael Krol, Brent Thompson, Lorne Ahrens, Michael Smith and Patrick Zamarripa, were killed in the ambush at a Dallas Black Lives Matter protest

Dallas Police Chief David Brown prays during a a vigil at Thanks-Giving square in Dallas in 2016

Johnson's activity online suggest he became interested with black militant groups. On Facebook, he identified himself as a black nationalist, and his profile picture shows him wearing a dashiki and holding a clenched first in the air like a Black Panther.

Johnson 'liked' pages related to the Nation of Islam, the Black Riders Liberation Party, the New Black Panther Party and the African American Defense League.

Facebook and Google did not responded to requests for comment, CBS Dallas reports. Twitter told the network it isn't commenting.

DailyMail.com has contacted Facebook, Twitter and Google for comment.
The Jewish community is not recognized among the official religions and its activities are considered "illegal". The persecution increases after the launch of the new regulations on religious activities. The Jewish community of Kaifeng dates to the 10th century and is made up of about 1000 members. The project to rebuild the synagogue has been blocked by the government

Kaifeng (AsiaNews) - The small Jewish community of Kaifeng (Henan) is suffering persecution along with all other religions in China.

In an article published yesterday in the "Jerusalem Post", Lela Gilbert, a member of the Hudson Institute and author of several books on persecution, writes: "The harsh treatment of Chinas miniscule Jewish population is emblematic of the Godless CCPs massive suppression of religious faith. And the Kaifeng Jews vulnerability is both ominous and all-too-familiar to millions of Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and Chinese Christians".

The Jewish community of Kaifeng has less than 1000 members, but it is subjected to heavy controls, police raids, obstacles of various kinds, especially after the February 2018 launch of new regulations on religious activities.

"During a raid - says Gilbert - government agents reportedly tore loose a metal Star of David from the entryway and tossed it on the floor. They ripped Hebrew scriptural quotations off the walls. They filled up a well that had served as a mikveh (ritual bath) with dirt and stones. And all foreign plans to build up and support the Jews of Kaifeng were summarily canceled.

The problem is that the Chinese government recognizes only five religious communities: Taoists, Buddhists, Muslims, Protestant Christians and Catholics. The other religions - including the Jewish one - are considered illegal and suffer a fate similar to that of the underground communities. In Henan, many Catholic and Protestant churches have been forced to close and prohibit entry for young people under 18.

The Jewish community of Kaifeng has a history dating back to the 10th century, when Jews from Persia arrived in China. The first synagogue in Kaifeng was built in 1163. After several events over the centuries, in recent years the community has succeeded in establishing relations with Jewish world and has created a small center of Jewish culture. Some benefactors are ready to support the reconstruction of the synagogue. But, since February, this project has been blocked.
A man has gone missing after he went swimming at a popular beach on the NSW far north-coast on Saturday morning.

The Northern Star is reporting a Ballina man in his 60s did not return home from his regular morning swim off Lighthouse Beach, sparking a mass search.

'Just after 10.15am emergency services were called,' NSW Police said.

Rescue services (pictured) make their way into the surf at Lighthouse Beach on the far NSW north coast after a man went missing on Saturday morning

Helicopters joined the search after a man went missing on Saturday morning on the NSW far north coast

'Witnesses have said a man entered the water and had not been seen since.'

Local police, marine area command, SES, ambulance, surf lifesavers, and marine rescue are all taking part in the search.

Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopters from Sydney also took part up above the beach.

At 1pm, the rescue helicopter had been flying for over 90 minutes before having to refuel at Ballina Airport.

Local surf life savers (pictured) prepare the jet skis to help locate a missing man on Saturday
It was meant to be the family holiday of a lifetime.

An African safari loaded with lions, cheetahs, giraffes and hippopotami was the trip the Browne family had been saving for years.

But within just 48 hours of touching down in Cape Town, South Africa, the holiday of their dreams had turned into the holiday from hell.

When Kate Browne finally had enough service to check her internet banking, it was apparent very quickly that something had gone astray - to the tune of $12,000.

An African safari loaded with lions, cheetahs and giraffes was meant to be the trip of a lifetime for the Browne family - but on day two hackers stole their debit card details, and $12,000

When fater 12 days Kate Browne (pictured) finally had enough internet service to check her bank balance she noticed she had lost $1,000-a-day

'I was conscious of not using my Visa debit card too much but we started in Cape Town, a big international city,' Ms Browne told News.com.au.

'I used my card at the airport, the hostel and a big shopping centre in the big tourist area.'

On the second day of their trip, at one of the previously mentioned locations across Cape Town, Ms Browne's debit card details had been skimmed.

For the next 12 days the criminals were able to steal a daily maximum of $1,000 until finally running Ms Browne's card empty.

The mother-of-two only discovered the theft when her card finally declined close to two weeks after the initial theft, by which stage they had travelled to Namibia.

'When I went online to check every cent was gone from my account. It was a massive hit,' she said.

If having her bank account drained of vital funds wasn't bad enough, what happened next was enough to leave her in a 'panic'.

After contacting the emergency overseas number for her bank, Ms Browne was told there was nothing her institution could do until she returned home.

Ms Browne said she and her partner (pictured) had been saving up for the trip and were left devastated when they noticed they'd lost everything

As the family moved from South Africa to Namibia and then on to Botswana, Ms Browne said she battled with her bank to get any of the money back - with the finances only returning when she called in a favour from a friend

Ms Browne said she advises travellers to cover their PIN number when at an ATM, have cash or another type of finances and to complain to banks on social media for a quicker response

That advice then changed to her being told she could fill out a form online, but that it would take 30 days to go through.

With the family now moving around Botswana, Ms Browne - the managing editor of finance comparison site Finder.com.au - called in favours from some senior friends.

Knowing that not everyone can call in a favour in their time of need, Ms Browne said it was frustrating that banks did not take credit/debit card fraud more seriously.

'When it's the bank's money it's in their best interest to get it back ASAP and when it's a debit card, the sense of urgency from the bank is a lot lower,' she said.
America's former spy boss has warned of possible off-shore interference in Australia's upcoming federal election.

Admiral Mike Rogers, who was head of the National Security Agency up until last year, says China may be seeking to meddle in Australia's democratic process.

After US President Donald Trump recently accused China of seeking to interfere in their mid-term elections, Mr Rogers says Australia may now also be at risk.

Admiral Mike Rogers, who was head of the National Security Agency up until last year, says China may be seeking to meddle in Australia's democratic process

Mr Rogers, who was a key player in the Russia scandal during the 2016 US presidential election, told The Australian he would tell every democracy out there to be mindful.

'Thirty years ago no nation needed to worry about the idea of using cyber, social media and other tools to attempt to manipulate or influence (democratic) outcomes, but the digital age and social media have taken this to a new level, whether there is more means by nation states and individual actors to manipulate or influence.'

Chinese and Australian relations had a rollercoaster year in 2018 with the Government passing controversial legislation limiting the influence of overseas players in Australian affairs, ABC reported.

In August the ABCs website was blocked from Chinese servers after the Australian Government announced rules that stopped two Chinese Telecommunications companies from participating in the 5G infrastructure network rollout.

As Australians head to the voting booths, Admiral Mike Rogers, who was head of the National Security Agency up until last year, has warned of prudence towards China

This came after leaks over China's attempts to interfere with federal politicians, but the Government said the laws were not aimed at Beijing.

Mr Rogers warnings come as Australian prepare to head to the polls in May.

Mr Rogers was the head of US Cyber Command and has become more involved in Australian intelligence after being appointed to the US advisory board Australia-US Dialogue.

He said the US had become more vocal over concerns with China to ensure confidence in the democratic process.
Two men who were arrested over the attack on Empire star Jussie Smollett in Chicago have been released without charge,cops announced late on Friday.

Brothers Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo, 27, and Abimbola 'Abel' Osundairo, 25, had been picked up by Chicago police on Wednesday night amid unsubstantiated claims from local media that Smollett had staged the attack, because he was being written off of Empire.

The two are bodybuilders who use the gym in Smollett's luxury apartment building and are said to know the Empire star.

They were arrested on suspicion of battery but police said they are being released due to 'new evidence'.

Scroll down for video

Brothers Abimbola Osundairo, 25, and Olabinjo Osundairo, 27, were released Friday night without having been charged after having been questioned by Chicago police amid unsubstantiated claims from local media that they may have helped Empire actor Jussie Smollett stage last month's racist, homophobic attack

The actor, pictured, wept as he said 'who the f*** would make that up' when addressing the skepticism surrounding his version of events. Smollett told Good Morning America he was heartbroken that his story was being questioned

The Osundairo brothers were collared on Wednesday night at Chicago OHare airport, as they returned from a trip to visit family in Nigeria.

Their shared apartment was also raided by police, who took away bottles of bleach and a pair of Nike shoes.

Although the property is shared with other family members, there was no answer when DailyMail.com visited the home earlier today  although evidence of the police raid could be seen in the badly dented door.

The two men had flown to Africa the day after the January 29 attack on Smollett which took place close to his apartment building on East Water Street.

Smollett, 36, initially said the attack appeared to be racially motivated and claimed his assailants shouted this is MAGA-land as they punched and kicked him.

He also told police he did not recognize his attackers. Cops later released a grainy video showing two men, now understood to be the Osundairo brothers, walking away from the crime scene.

Although Smollett said he did not know who attacked him, both brothers are known to the actor and he follows them on social media.

Their shared Instagram account also features a video of them working out at the private gym in Smolletts luxury apartment block.

Both have also made cameo appearances in Empire, as well as on cop show Chicago PD. They now produce bodybuilding videos while Olabinjo also works as head of security at local bar Whiskey Business, according to his social media profiles.

Abimbola 'Abel' (left) and Olabinjo 'Ola' Osundairo (right) were collared on Wednesday night at Chicago OHare airport, as they returned from a trip to visit family in Nigeria

Chicago PD confirmed on Thursday that the pair seen in this image from surveillance footage around the time of the attack on January 29 (above) were the two people in custody. DailyMail.com can confirm that those people are Abel and Ola Osundairo

According to court documents obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com, Olabinjo was sentenced to two years probation and fined $674 in September 2012 after pleading guilty to a single count of aggravated battery in a public place.

The 27-year-old was originally charged with attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, one of aggravated battery with an air rifle, two of aggravated battery in a public place and one of unlawful restraint.

All charges except one of aggravated battery were thrown out, according to a disposition document.

Younger brother Abimbola, 25, is also no stranger to the law and was booked on DUI and speeding charges in July 2015 according to Chicago arrest records.

According to court documents obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com (above), Olabinjo was sentenced to two years probation and fined $674 in September 2012 after pleading guilty to a single count of aggravated battery in a public place

Olabinjo, 27, pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated battery in 2012

The bodybuilder had faced a number of charges, including attempted murder

Abimbola, 25, was also booked on a DUI and speeding charges in July 2015

PIO Anthony Guglielmi said the pair spent Friday morning being interrogated in the presence of their attorney Gloria Schmidt.

He also revealed that cops are yet to find video documenting the alleged attack on Smollett but insisted that the department have found no evidence of a hoax and that the actor continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect.

Guglielmi added: 'Detectives have probable cause that they may have been involved in an alleged crime and we are working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues.'

On Thursday, Schmidt told CBS Chicago that her clients were baffled by their arrest and had been left 'horrified' by the attack on Smollett.

She added: 'When they first learned what happened to him [Smollett], they were horrified. This is someone they know.

'This is someone theyve worked with, so they don't want to see somebody go through that. They are really baffled why they are people of interest.

'They really don't understand how they even got information that linked them to this horrific crime, but they are not guilty of it.'

Abimbola, left, was booked on DUI and speeding charges in July 2015 according to Chicago arrest records. The brothers were picked up at Chicago O'Hare Airport on Wednesday

Police damaged the door when they raided the property on Wednesday night

The damaged door to the apartment of Olabinjo and brother Abimba Osundair
A Tennessee man whose mother was raped, stabbed and strangled 23 years ago in an unsolved case believes he has identified his lost loved one in newly-released sketch by serial killer Samuel Little.

Anthony Jones last saw his mother Priscilla Baxter-Jones in 1996 on Christmas Eve, when he was only 15.

He recalled in a sit-down interview this week with KFVS 12 about her last words to him: 'I love you son Im gonna see you for Christmas tomorrow.'

Jones said: 'Next day comes, nobody heard from my mama... day after that, nobody heard from my mama.'

Baxter-Jones, a prostitute, was found dead found in the Mississippi River in January 1996.

Little, 78, already convicted of three California murders and long suspected in numerous other deaths, claimed in November he was involved in about 90 killings nationwide spanning nearly four decades.

Little targeted mainly drug addicts and prostitutes across the country, according to the FBI.

Jones said he recognized Little's face at first glance - and believes he met the confessed serial killer when he was a child. Police in Memphis are investigating Jones' claims.

Tennessee man Anthony Jones, whose mother Priscilla Baxter-Jones (pictured right) was raped, stabbed and strangled 23 years ago in a case that remains unsolved, believes a sketch (left) by serial killer Samuel Little is his lost loved one

Jones said he recognized Little's face at first glance - and believes he met the confessed serial killer when he was a child

'I just seen the older picture first and I automatically knew who he was because cause I don`t forget faces... thats just me. I cant forget faces,' Jones added.

Jones' wife, Erica Wells-Jones, told the station her husband has been searching for answers in his mom's murder ever since.

'It always been on his mind heavy about what happened to his mom,' Wells-Jones said.

'He always said that he wished the killer would come forward or he could find the killer in some type of way.'

Investigators already have corroborated more than a third of those, a Texas prosecutor said Thursday.

Jones (pictured) sat down for an interview with KFVS this week when he spoke about the shocking sketch

Ector County District Attorney Bobby Bland said Little was booked into jail in November following his indictment in the 1994 death of a Texas woman.

Investigations are ongoing, but Little has provided details in more than 90 deaths dating to about 1970, Bland said.

Little was brought to Texas in September, and investigators with law enforcement agencies in several states traveled to speak with him about unsolved homicides.

If the number of killings Little claims to have committed proves true, it would make him one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history.

Ted Bundy confessed to 30 homicides from about 1974 to 1978. John Wayne Gacy killed at least 33 boys and young men in the 1970s.

Arguably one of the deadliest globally was an English general practitioner named Harold Shipman, who an investigative panel determined was responsible for the deaths of 250. He was convicted in 2000 in the deaths of 15.

Sherri Nelson holds a picture of her late sister, Audrey Nelson, who was murdered by Samuel Little, during a news conference at Los Angeles Superior Court Thursday, Sept . 25, 2014

In this March 12, 2013 photo, Brenda Gordon looks at photos of her mother, Carol Alford, at her apartment in Los Angeles. Alford was murdered by Samuel Little in 1987

During his 2014 trial in Los Angeles, prosecutors said Little was likely responsible for at least 40 killings since 1980.

Authorities at the time were looking for possible links to deaths in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio and Texas.

Bland said Little recently provided details to Texas Ranger James Holland that showed Little was in Odessa, Texas, when Denise Christie Brothers was last seen in 1994.

Her body was found about a month later in a vacant lot. Holland eventually elicited a confession from Little and admissions to dozens of other killings from about 1970 to 2005, Bland said.

Little listens as he is sentenced to three consecutive terms of life in prison without parole for murdering three women in the late 1980s, in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014

Little, 74, shouted out in court during his 2014 sentencing hearing that he didn't commit the killings and said he hoped for a new trial. His lawyer has filed a notice of appeal

The rangers are an elite team of investigators within the Texas Department of Public Safety. DPS did not respond to requests Thursday to speak with Holland.

Little was being held without bond Thursday in the Ector County jail on a murder charge relating to Brothers' death.

Jail records don't indicate whether he has an attorney. He has a court appearance scheduled for Nov. 26.

Little was brought to Texas for questioning in the case from California, where he was convicted in 2014 in the deaths years earlier of the three women in Los Angeles County. He murdered Carol Alford, 41, Audrey Nelson, 35, and Apodaca, 46.

DNA evidence collected from old crime scenes was used to match samples of his stored in a criminal database.

Los Angeles cold-case detectives at the time suspected Little was a serial killer, a transient and former boxer who traveled the country preying on drug addicts, troubled women and others.

If the number of killings Little (right) claims to have committed proves true, it would make him one of the most prolific killers in U.S. history. Ted Bundy (left) confessed to 30 homicides from about 1974 to 1978. John Wayne Gacy (center) killed at least 33 boys and young men in the 1970s

His criminal history includes offenses committed in 24 states spread over 56 years - mostly assault, burglary, armed robbery, shoplifting and drug violations.

Those detectives determined that Little often delivered a knockout punch to women and then proceeded to strangle them while masturbating, dumping the bodies and soon after leaving town.

Little, who often went by the name Samuel McDowell, grew up with his grandmother in Lorain, Ohio. His criminal history shows his first arrest came at age 16 on burglary charges.

For years he had denied to investigators in different states that he was responsible for any killings.

Bland speculates that he finally confessed after the appeals to his life sentence in California were ultimately rejected and he no longer had any reason to hide his role.

'People for years have been trying to get a confession out of him and James Holland is the one who finally got him to give that information,' Bland said.
This is the shocking moment a Tesla zooming at 128mph in Florida runs a red light and violently crashes into an SUV, nearly slicing it in half.

Basil Holness Jr was driving for Lyft in his black Infinity SUV along MacArthur Causeway in Miami Beach when he was T-boned by the speeding Tesla.

He had a green light and was attempting to make a U-Turn when the Tesla quick as lightening appeared and crashed head-on into his car on October 21, 2018 just after 1am.

The crash impact was so strong the SUV soared in the air, flipped on its roof and chunks from both sides of the vehicle flew off. Cops say the SUV was nearly cut in half in the collision.

Lyft driver Basil Holness Jr (left) was driving his SUV for work along a Miami Beach Highway when Jose Soto, 38, (right) crashed into him by speeding at 128mph in his Tesla. The crash impact was so strong the SUV flipped over and was nearly cut into two

Jose Soto, 38, was behind the wheel of the Tesla in the violent crash that left Holness and two passengers in his car suffering traumatic injuries.

Soto surrendered to authorities and was arrested on January 25 and charged with three counts of reckless driving that caused serious bodily injury.

Police say Soto sped through the traffic light six seconds after it turned red and hit the brake 1 1/2 seconds before the crash, according to Local10.

Holness had to be hospitalized for nearly four weeks and suffered traumatic brain injuries, brain bleeding, and fractures to his spine and ribs.

'I am alive and God was with me. I cant believe it. I dont remember what happened. I dont remember the car flipping over. When I look at it right now I cant believe it,' Holness said incredulously as CBS Miami showed him video of the vicious collision.

Holness, a father to two young children, is still recuperating from his serious injuries but says every day is a challenge.

'I was left with traumatic brain injuries and had bleeding on the brain and I was in a coma for a few weeks and I am just now getting back to work,' Holness said. 'I had spinal and rib fractures and a lacerated liver. I am just now getting back but I must tell you that every day is a struggle.'

Footage released by Miami Beach Police shows Holness' black SUV above attempting to make a U-turn on October 21, 2018 just after 1am as he was driving for Lyft

Soto in his white Tesla (above) runs a red light at 128mph and T-bones into the black SUV

The crash impact was so strong the SUV flew into the air, flipped on its roof, and was nearly cut into two pieces

The Tesla continued to drive as pieces of the SUV flew in two different directions

Basil Holness Jr and his two Lyft passengers suffered traumatic injuries in the crash. Holness was hospitalized for nearly four weeks following the collision

'I thank God that I am alive and I thank God for my life. To this driver I dont know what to say. I heard he was arrested. This was unbelievable,' he said.

One of the backseat Lyft passengers suffered four fractured lower lumbar vertebrae, four fractured ribs on the right side, a partially collapsed right lung, a fractured right clavicle, two fractures on the right side of his pelvis and numerous cuts and bruises over his body, according to the police report.

The second passenger suffered a fractured arm and a traumatic brain injury.

It's not clear why Soto was speeding as he drove down the highway at 1:05am and blew the red light. His lawyer said he had not been drinking and didn't consume any chemicals or controlled substances.

'Its a shocking video of the crash that resulted after a Tesla traveling at top speed, 128 miles per hour, along the McArthur Causeway,' Officer Ernesto Rodriguez said on the shocking video.

'At the moment of impact, after he pressed his brakes, it was a 93 mile per hour impact,' he added.

Soto's attorney Robert Reiff released a statement following the publication of the crash video, saying his client didn't commit a criminal offense.

'This is certainly a tragic accident. However, we do not see where there is any evidence where this is a criminal act on Mr. Soto's behalf. He was not drinking and had not consumed any chemicals or controlled substances,' he said.

'As such, we do not see the basis for criminal charges, as opposed to civil infractions. However, at this early stage in the investigation, we will await further information and the opportunity to have our own experts analyze the evidence,' he added.
The owners of a bakery chain linked to a string of salmonella cases have been forced to temporarily close their stores.

There have been at least 15 cases of food poisoning caused by salmonella found in Vietnamese pork rolls in Adelaide over the past week.

Owner of the stores at the centre of the outbreak, Lakhina Eung, said they will close three Angkor bakery stores to be thoroughly cleaned.

The owners of a bakery chain linked to a string of deadly salmonella cases have been forced to temporarily close their stores

Owner of the stores at the centre of the outbreak, Lakhina Eung, said they will close three Angkor bakery stores to be thoroughly cleaned

She told Yahoo News the stores will also be renovated and staff will be retrained on safe food handling.

The three stores that will close are at Springbank Plaza in Burton, Hollywood Plaza in Salisbury Downs and Blakes Crossing in Blakeview.

Ms Eung said the doors should reopen next week.

A sign posted on the door of the stores reads: 'There has been an unexpected incident regarding out Asian meat rolls. We sincerely apologise for what has happened.

'We have no intention of harming anyone. For those who have been affected, no words can say how bad we feel about this incident and the impact it has on any families.

'We are working together with the council and SA health to investigate the root cause of this, and we are working toward preventing this incident from happening again.'

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nicola Spurrier has said early investigations suggested the cases could be linked to raw egg butter, pate or BBQ pork ingredients.

South Australia Health said they are investigating a cluster of salmonella cases linked to three Angkor Bakery stores in Adelaide's northern suburbs

'The businesses complied with a council request on Tuesday to cease using these ingredients and, from today, the businesses have agreed to cease selling all Vietnamese rolls until the source has been identified,' she said.

'Cleaning and sanitising procedures have also been assessed and improved, and will continue to be monitored.'

Those who have come into contact with the contaminated food may experience the symptoms between six and 72 hours after exposure.

The symptoms can last for three to seven days.

Symptoms can include fever, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, headache, stomach, cramps, nausea and vomiting.

More severe symptoms may present in young children, older people, pregnant women and people who are immunocompromised.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has revealed it is in the possession of evidence that Roger Stone communicated with Wikileaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic Party emails.

In a court filing on Friday, Mueller's office said it had gathered that evidence in a separate probe into Russian intelligence officers who were charged by the special counsel for hacking the emails during the 2016 presidential campaign and staging their release.

Stone responded to reports about the communications by saying the evidence was merely 'innocuous Twitter direct messages' that have already been disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee and 'prove absolutely nothing'.

The longtime adviser to President Donald Trump was indicted last month for lying to Congress about his communications with other parties about the hacked emails. He pleaded not guilty.

Stone previously acknowledged having had brief exchanges with both WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, but maintains that he never had advance knowledge about the emails' release.

Mueller had not disclosed the evidence of communications with WikiLeaks until Friday.

Scroll down for video

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office is in possession of evidence that Roger Stone communicated with WikiLeaks regarding the release of hacked Democratic Party emails ahead of the 2016 presidential election, prosecutors revealed in a court filing on Friday. Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, responded to reports about the communications by saying the evidence was merely 'innocuous Twitter direct messages' that have already been disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee and 'prove absolutely nothing'

'The government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release,' Mueller's team wrote in the latest filing in the US District Court in Washington, DC.

'Several of those search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stone's communications with Guccifer 2.0 and with Organization 1.'

Organization 1 is a reference to WikiLeaks, while Guccifer 2.0 is a hacker persona US intelligence agencies say was a cover name used by Russian military intelligence.

WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 each published emails and other documents from the Democratic Party in 2016 in an operation that Mueller alleges was part of a Kremlin-backed effort to tip the election in favor of then Republican nominee Trump.

WikiLeaks has previously denied any ties to or cooperation with Russia.

Stone was indicted last month for lying to Congress about his communications with other parties about the hacked emails. He pleaded not guilty. The judge overseeing his case no Friday barred him from making statements on the courthouse steps that might prejudice a jury

Also on Friday, the federal judge overseeing Stone's case barred him from making statements on the courthouse steps that might prejudice a jury or witness in his case.

The order, by Judge Amy Berman Jackson, further gagged lawyers on both sides from statements that might impact the case.

'Counsel for the parties and the witnesses must refrain from making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case,' Jackson wrote.

But in the case of Stone, who has been ubiquitous in the media since his indictment, her order was narrower, prohibiting him from making his case to the public or the media while on the courthouse steps or nearby.

WHAT ROBERT MUELLER CHARGED ROGER STONE WITH One count of obstruction: Mueller says Stone denied to Congress that he had emails and documents about WikiLeaks related contacted Maximum possible sentence: 20 years Five counts of lying to Congress: Mueller details specific statements Stone made to Congress which the Special Counsel alleges are each lies Maximum possible sentence for each count: Five years One count of witness tampering: Mueller alleges Stone tried to convince comedian Randy Credico to either lie to Congress or plead the Fifth by threatening him Maximum possible sentence: 20 years Advertisement

All parties, including Stone and potential witnesses, must refrain from certain statements about the case when they 'are entering or exiting the courthouse, or they are within the immediate vicinity of the courthouse'.

The prohibition applies to statements to the media or the public that 'pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case or intended to influence any juror, potential juror, judge, witness or court officer or interfere with the administration of justice'.

Stone, who has blasted the FBI and the Mueller probe since his indictment, while hawking his book and wearing 'Roger Stone Did Nothing Wrong' t-shirts, will now have be conscious of where he is when he speaks.

As if anticipating a potential gag order, Stone gave a series of TV interviews immediately following his arrest, and took a somewhat lower profile after his court hearing in Washington where a potential gag was discussed.

Stone has made efforts to bash the prosecutors who charged him, railing against 'Gestapo' tactics in his arrest, which included use of armed agents, and according to Stone 'frog men' positioned in a canal behind his Ft Lauderdale home.

He has not said publicly that he is seeking a pardon from President Trump, saying the only person he is seeking relief for is Marcus Garvey. Although the judge mentioned the potential for prejudice  influencing a jury that might hear the case  Stone had other reasons to talk.

He regularly complains about his mounting legal debts, and relies on his attacks on adversaries and the mainstream media to raise funds.

Since those statements have been in TV interviews and online appearances, they do not appear to be impacted by the current order  although it could be modified later. The order stated there will be no additional resrtictions 'at this time.'

In a recent appearances on 'Infowars,' he called CNN host Anna Navarro, 'porquita,' blasted CNN host Don Lemon, and railed against 'leftist retards.'

He is in a prolonged public spat with Mueller witness Jerome Corsi over the chain of events and WikiLeaks contacts during the campaign. Stone is accused of witness tampering by launching online threats against comedian Randy Credico, including threatening his dog, according to the government.
A British family detained in Syria for links to Islamic State have begged for the chance to return to the UK and live a normal life.

Mother Safiya Zaynab, 51, and daughters Shabina Aslam, 29, and Alireza Sabar, 17, from Didsbury, Manchester, say they miss their independence.

The family, who left Britain in 2014, was interviewed by Channel 4 last month but their identities were only revealed last night by the Daily Telegraph.

Shabina Aslam, 29, and Alireza Sabar, 17, from Didsbury, Manchester, say they miss their independence

We all miss our life before, we miss freedom, independence, no fear, Aslam told Jana Andert, a freelance journalist for Channel 4, after being were picked up by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) near the town of Hajin.

We want to go back to England, back to my family, I want my children to have a normal life.

Both Aslam and Sabar had children of their own while living inside the so-called caliphate.

Aslam, whose husband was killed a year ago, spoke of the difficulty of living where she did.

She said: You cant trust anyone, we asked the Syrians and Iraqis to leave but no one wanted to help us. The culture was completely different.

The Arabs never help the women, they just pushed them towards marriage.

Mrs Aslam added that they never knew they were going to Syria and that they thought they were going to Turkey on holiday.

She said: I dont regret anything because we came on a holiday, which then turned into this.

October 13, 2018, shows hospital equipment placed in the courtyard of the National Hospital building in the northern Syria city of Raqa (file photo)

I dont know how, its never been explained to me.

Zaynabs husband Sabar Aslam, still living in Didsbury, told the Telegraph last night that he split from his wife in 2014 and that he thought the family were in Saudi Arabia.

Mr Aslam, who claimed he didnt recognise his wife and daughters in the Channel 4 video, said: They left me four years ago and thats the end of the story. She wasnt happy with me.

They are not brave people they are very soft people. I dont think they would be joining something like Isil.

The police have interviewed me many times. They asked me questions about them but they never said they were in Syria.

I thought she had gone to Saudi Arabia as all the time Safiya was talking about it. I thought she went there.
Lady Falkender was in Harold Wilson's inner circle for many years

Harold Wilson's former private and political secretary Baroness Falkender has died, her family said last night.

Lady Falkender came to prominence after Mr Wilson's abrupt resignation as prime minister in 1976, when there were claims she wrote the first draft of his resignation honours list.

The document, which was known as the 'lavender list' because it was written on lavender-coloured paper, included the names of actors and several businessmen.

Lady Falkender, who was known as Marcia Williams before being given her peerage in 1974, died on February 6. She worked for Mr Wilson between 1956 and 1983, and handled his private business until his death in 1995.

As his private and political secretary throughout his tenures as prime minister in the Sixties and Seventies, Lady Falkender was reputed to be the 'most powerful woman in British politics'.

The 'lavender list' did lasting damage to Mr Wilson's reputation. The claim that Baroness Falkender wrote it was made by Joe Haines, Mr Wilson's press secretary.

Names on the list included the financier Sir James Goldsmith, Lord Kagan, later convicted of fraud; and Eric Miller, who committed suicide while under investigation for fraud.

There were also rumours that the baroness and Mr Wilson had an affair, which was the subject of a docudrama made by the BBC in 2006. This led to her successfully suing the corporation for libel.

Lady Marcia Falkender (at age 85) at home in Oxfordshire. The Baroness died on February 6

Pida Ripley, founder of WomenAid, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Marcia Falkender, Baroness Falkender

Harold Wilson Prime Minister remained friends with Lady Falkender until he died in 1995

Lady Falkender (Marcia Williams) was the private and political secretary for Harold Wilson

In an interview last year, she said: 'I did not sleep with the prime minister. It is a ludicrous idea and an insulting one, which is why I successfully sued the BBC. If you knew him, you wouldn't think that. You couldn't think that, and nobody did.'

Of the infamous list, she said: 'The names were not my idea. It was Harold's list.'

The Daily Mail reported in 2014 that Lady Falkender, who suffered a stroke 20 years ago, had not spoken in her entire 40 years in the House of Lords. She claimed the 300 attendance allowance 66 times over a four-year period.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith co him guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, one of the most prominent and for decades among the most influential people in the US Catholic Church, has been dismissed from the clerical state.

A decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published today declares him guilty of "solicitation in confession and violations of the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue with minors and adults, with the aggravating circumstance of the abuse of power". McCarrick, formerly Archbishop of Washington, had been stripped of his position as Cardinal last July 2018, after allegations had been made against him of having abused a minor.

Here is the text of the statement of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

"On 11 January 2019, the Congresso of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the conclusion of a penal process, issued a decree finding Theodore Edgar McCarrick, archbishop emeritus of Washington, D.C., guilty of the following delicts while a cleric: solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power. The Congresso imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state. On 13 February 2019, the Ordinary Session (Feria IV) of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith considered the recourse he presented against this decision. Having examined the arguments in the recourse, the Ordinary Session confirmed the decree of the Congresso. This decision was notified to Theodore McCarrick on 15 February 2019. The Holy Father has recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accord with law, rendering it a res iudicata (i.e., admitting of no further recourse). ".

The McCarrick case has long divided the Church of the United States. As early as the 1990s, when he was archbishop of Newark, rumors circulated about his homosexual behavior toward seminarians and priests. Many Catholic laypeople in the US wonder why such a distinguished personality has been able to "make a career" by becoming archbishop of Washington (in 2000) and cardinal (in 2001).

Retiring in 2006, he continued to influence the bishops' nominations in the US and on the international politics of the Holy See, particularly in relations with China.

A dossier published by former Nuncio Carlo Maria Vigano states that Benedict XVI had imposed sanctions on McCarrick, but they were never applied. In response Card. Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, said that those of Benedict XVI were not "sanctions", but recommendations.

Last June, McCarrick was publicly accused of raping a teenager 45 years earlier. Following this he was removed form the college of cardinals and was dismissed from every public ministry. Last December, he was also accused of molesting an 11-year-old boy during a confession. From July 2018, at the suggestion of Pope Francis, the former cardinal has the obligation to live confined to "a life of prayer and penance". At present McCarrick is located in the convent of St. Fidelis in Victoria (Kansas), where he lives together with five Capuchins and a friar.
A woman has been sexually assaulted while walking home along a popular Sydney beach after a night out.

The woman, 22, had earphones in when she was tackled by a man as she walked along the sand at Manly Beach shortly after 2.10am on Sunday, February 10.

She had been drinking with friends at Daniel San bar before she left to walk home.

The woman, 22, had earphones in when she was tackled by a man as she walked along the sand at Manly Beach (pictured) shortly after 2.10am on Sunday, February 10

Detective Senior Constable Alf Lombardo told The Daily Telegraph the attack happened about 10 metres from the water.

'The woman, who was affected by alcohol, was captured on CCTV leaving Daniel San and crossing the road to walk north along the promenade. At some point she walked down onto the beach.

'She told police that she had her earphones on and that she was tackled from behind by a man.'

After the assault the woman walked to North Steyne, where she caught a taxi and was taken to Manly Police Station.

The attacker was wearing a dark singlet, dark shorts has dyed blonde hair.

Police are urging anyone who may have information in relation to the attack to get in contact on 9976-8164.

The woman had been drinking with friends at Daniel San bar (pictured) before she left to walk home.
Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to impose a strict prison sentence for President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort.

The 69-year-old last year convicted by a jury on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.

In their sentencing memo filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecutors said Manafort deserves between 19.6 and 24.4 years in prison and a fine of between $50,000 and $24 million.

Friday's court filing in Virginia came just days after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Manafort had breached his plea agreement in a parallel case by lying to investigators despite a pledge to cooperate.

A jury last year convicted former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort on eight counts of bank and tax fraud

That finding earlier this week by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia could have a direct impact on how Manafort is sentenced in the Virginia case.

Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, had planned to sentence Manafort on Feb. 8, but he later postponed that until after Jackson's ruling, saying it "may have some effect on the sentencing decision in this case."

The 69-year-old now faces 19.6 and 24.4 years in prison and a fine of between $50,000 and $24 million

Manafort was one of the first people in Trump's orbit to face criminal charges as part of Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 presidential election in his favor.

Trump has denied colluding and called the probe a witch hunt, while Russia has denied meddling in the election.

None of the charges Manafort faced related directly to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

In the Virginia case, prosecutors accused Manafort of hiding from U.S. tax authorities $16 million he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, money he used to fund an opulent lifestyle.

Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to impose a strict prison sentence

Later, when his lobbying work started to dry up following the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, prosecutors said Manafort began lying to banks to secure $20 million in loans to keep his lifestyle afloat.

After almost four days of deliberations, a 12-member jury found Manafort guilty on two counts of bank fraud, five counts of tax fraud and one charge of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.
There was no hiding Theresa Mays fury on Thursday night  it was visible all over her face.

Ive never seen her look so angry, said one MP who saw her after the result came in.

When MPs votes were counted on a motion endorsing her negotiating strategy, she had lost by 303 to 258.

Mrs May, who wasnt in the Commons to witness the defeat, had been beaten principally because 57 hardline Brexiteers in her own party had defied her and abstained. As MPs filed out of the Commons chamber, the PMs chief whip, Julian Smith, turned to the green benches where these ultras sit and he glared.

The consequences of Mrs Mays latest parliamentary defeat should not be underestimated. Little over two weeks ago, she had a spring in her step. She had unified her party after MPs voted to approve her EU Withdrawal Bill on condition she could negotiate changes to the Irish backstop. Crucially, the DUP had been won over.

Almost for the first time since the Brexit negotiations began, she could see a point on the horizon when she would be able to command enough votes in Parliament to finally get a deal through.

Finally, she had put the pressure back on the EUs negotiators in Brussels. But after Thursday evenings vote, Tory unity is once again in pieces and, more significantly, Mrs Mays hopes of winning concessions from the EU are seriously damaged.

When she next talks to Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker or any of the leaders of the other 27 EU countries, they will  with some justification  say there is no concession they can give her which will satisfy her own MPs. Last night the EUs chief negotiator Michel Barnier declared the vote showed Mrs Mays Brexit strategy had failed.

Theresa May was beaten principally because 57 hardline Brexiteers in her own party had defied her and abstained

The blame for this shambles does not lie entirely with the hardline Tory Brexiteers in the European Research Group (ERG). Eleven Tory MPs on the Remain side also rebelled, an equally unbiddable and uncompromising faction determined to force a second referendum and stop Britain leaving the EU.

Arguably, tactical mistakes were made, too, on the Government side, in not recognising and trying to avert the rebellion.

But in the final analysis, it was ERG votes which have hobbled Mrs May at this critical juncture and undermined her prospects of securing the very thing these MPs claim to want: a better deal for Britain.

So why did they do it?

This potentially self-defeating act of sabotage was sparked to a large degree by comments made by Mrs Mays chief Brexit negotiator, Olly Robbins. He was overheard in a Brussels bar this week by journalists who said he remarked that Mrs May would opt for a long delay rather than leaving the EU without a deal. The Tory rebels also believed  despite protestations to the contrary from ministers  that the Commons motion on Thursday explicitly took No Deal off the table.

The ERGs shop steward, Steve Baker, desperately attempted yesterday to defend the indefensible by portraying his and his fellow hardliners position as one of pragmatism and compromise, insisting he had put an enormous amount of effort into uniting the party.

Really?

In truth, if this intransigence continues, they risk tearing the Tory Party apart and  more importantly  increasing the chances of an even softer Brexit, a delay, or both. As one senior source told me: The ERG are going to burn the house down. Its not a question of if, but when.

The allusion to arson is a very powerful one. Although there are not yet any big flames, the touch-paper has been lit. Of course, not all ERG members hold the same views, and not all deserve the kamikaze or nihilist labels some of their colleagues privately attach to them. Indeed, what has been described as a party within a party is itself riven with division.

Hardline Tory Brexiteers in the European Research Group (ERG) are making Theresa May's job hard. Pictured: Jacob Rees-Mogg

There is a chance Mrs May can yet win over some who are looking for a ladder to climb down.

Others may be biddable as they are cynically positioning themselves for the next party leadership contest and will see how the chips fall before making their move.

A small minority, however, cling on to the belief that they can force through No Deal  and to hell with the economic consequences.

Tory Euroscepticism hasnt always been so red-bloodedly radical. Various members of the ERG have, in the past, publicly backed staying in the Customs Union (David Davis) or a gradual transition (Owen Paterson), while ERG chairman Jacob Rees-Mogg once floated the idea of a second referendum after the negotiation was complete. How grimly ironic that now, as the prize of Brexit is within their sights, this pragmatism has been abandoned.

One Tory MP told me this week he thought some of the most zealous Brexiteers, who have spent their entire political careers trying to get Britain out of the EU, now perversely dont want Britain to leave because they would have nothing left to fight against. This interpretation may be going too far.

Of course, the unhelpful arithmetic of Commons votes is the result of Mrs May losing the Tories majority in the 2017 general election. As a result, she has been unable to take a harder line with Brussels.

Theresa May is battling both remainers and her own back benchers who seek to stand in her way

But her calamitous miscalculation of calling an election three years before it was necessary led to a Remain-dominated Parliament.

For their part, Tory opponents of No Deal arent prepared to sit on their hands much longer, and Thursday nights antics by their ERG colleagues simply enraged them further.

To date, they have heeded entreaties from the likes of Chancellor Philip Hammond to hold their nerve and give Mrs May more time. But with Brexit just 41 days away, they are running out of patience.

The next crunch point in the Parliamentary calendar is February 27. If Mrs May hasnt got a deal accepted by then, expect dozens of Tory MPs  among them several ministers  to ally with Labour in an attempt to seize control of the Brexit timetable to avert what they see as a No Deal catastrophe.

If that happened, the prospect of Brexit happening on March 29 would all but vanish, and with it Mrs Mays room for manoeuvre.

These are the darkest fears of those closest to the Prime Minister. Summing up her mood, one tells me: Sometimes she thinks itll be ok . . . but sometimes she just despairs.
A spectacular row broke out between Paul Hollywood's estranged wife and his new 23-year-old lover while both were shopping in Marks & Spencer, it has been reported.

Alex Hollywood, 54, is alleged to have hurled foul-mouthed insults at Summer Monteys-Fullam when the two bumped into each other at a store in Canterbury, Kent on Tuesday.

That's according to The Sun, which has claimed that witnesses heard Alex - who married baker Paul in 1998 - throwing insults including 'sl*t' and 'wh*re' at the 52-year-old's new lover.

Alex and Paul (pictured in 2015), who have a 16-year-old son together, announced their split in November 2017

Speaking to the paper, one witness claimed to have heard Alex telling Summer: 'Do you know how much you've hurt my son?'

While a stunned onlooker is reported to have said: 'I was totally disgusted by the language. She called the younger woman a sl*t and wh*re.

'It's just not the sort of behaviour you expect at Marks and Sparks.'

The Marks & Spencer fracas is even alleged to have resulted in police being called, having initially started at the checkout before spilling out into the car park.

With a friend of Alex telling The Sun: 'The other women started verbally abusing her. Alex was shaken and called the police.'

Hollywood began dating Summer Monteys-Fullam (pictured), who was 23 at the time, after meeting her in the pub where he was planning a birthday party for his wife

Kent Police confirmed to the newspaper that it had been sent to reports of a disturbance, with a spokesman saying: 'Enquiries were carried out in which all parties involved were given words of advice.'

The Sun also reported that a spokesman for Alex had confirmed an 'unpleasant incident' at a supermarket, and that one for Paul had declined to comment.

Alex and Paul, who have a 16-year-old son together, announced their split in November 2017.

In an interview with today's Daily Mail Weekend magazine, Alex said it was 'hard to stay married these days' because modern couples do not treat the union with as much sanctity as their parents' generation.

The cookery writer, whose recipes feature in today's Weekend magazine, revealed that she stood by her husband after his first affair for the sake of their teenage son.

But in her first newspaper interview since the breakdown of her marriage to the Bake Off judge, she admitted his second affair  with a local barmaid  was too much to forgive.

Speaking to Weekend magazine's Jenny Johnston, she said: 'That one was different. It happened again and it was a done deal, my marriage was over. From the minute I knew, it was over. It is over. There is nothing.'

Great British Bake Off judge Paul Hollywood was seen for the first time with his new love interest Summer Monteys-Fullam while on a boat

Hollywood began dating Summer Monteys-Fullam, who was 23 at the time, after meeting her in the pub where he was planning a birthday party for his wife.

Soon enough, she said, their entire village knew about his indiscretion. 'Everyone knows me. They all knew Paul. It's a small community. Everyone knows what went on,' she said.

Within weeks of their relationship coming to light, Hollywood and his young girlfriend were spotted on a romantic holiday together.

'It's such a big thing to comprehend, to end a marriage,' Mrs Hollywood said. 'But I had to do the right thing, and to have self-respect as well...

'Any marriage is about respect and loyalty and friendship. Also self-respect, and I respect myself.'

They married in 1998, but in 2013 he had an affair with Marcela Valladolid, 34, his TV co-star on the US version of Bake Off.

Mrs Hollywood said she stayed with her husband for the sake of their son Josh, and because she 'believed I was doing the right thing'. 'I think everybody's entitled to one mistake,' she said.

She said she has since started making bread because she finds it 'therapeutic', but admits she 'never really needed to' before last year.

'I think it's so hard to stay married these days,' she added. 'Everything is so moveable, so transient. People don't take things... well, they think of marriage in a different way than they did in my parents' time.

'I just think it's sad, because there's an awful lot more to marriage than just two people hooking up because they like each other. It's about friendship.'

But she said that despite the public humiliation of her husband's relationship with his much younger girlfriend, she refused to blame herself.

'Look, I did everything I felt I could,' she said. 'What you've got to hold on to is the reality, which is that the affair is not about the person who is not having the affair  it's about the one who is.'

She added: 'A lot of people go through divorce and it's horrible. Splitting up is awful. But you can survive it, you can get through. You can start saying, 'I'm still here. I'm me. I have a life. I'm 54. Life's not over yet'.'
One of the men arrested by Chicago police in connection with the attack on Empire star Jussie Smollett has previously been convicted on assault charges, DailyMail.com can disclose.

Olabinjo Osundairo, 27, was sentenced to two years probation and fined $674 in September 2012 after pleading guilty to a single count of aggravated battery in a public place.

Bodybuilder Osundairo was originally charged with attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, one of aggravated battery with an air rifle, two of aggravated battery in a public place and one of unlawful restraint.

All charges except one of aggravated battery were thrown out, according to a disposition document obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

Younger brother Abimbola, 25, is also no stranger to the law and was booked on DUI and speeding charges in July 2015 according to Chicago arrest records.

Police said on Friday that they are being released due to 'new evidence'.

Abimbola, left, and Olabinjo Osundairo, right, are the two brothers questioned over the Jussie Smollett attack whose home was raided in Chicago on Wednesday

Abimbola, left, was booked on DUI and speeding charges in July 2015 according to Chicago arrest records. The brothers were picked up at Chicago O'Hare Airport on Wednesday

The brothers arrived back in America after visiting family in Nigeria to be questioned over the January 29 attack involving the star. They were arrested on suspicion of battery

The two siblings denied any involvement in the attack and say they were horrified to hear of it with the rest of the world when it grabbed headlines last month

The Osundairo brothers were collared on Wednesday night at Chicago OHare airport, as they returned from a trip to visit family in Nigeria.

Their shared apartment was also raided by police, who took away bottles of bleach and a pair of Nike shoes.

Although the property is shared with other family members, there was no answer when DailyMail.com visited the home earlier today  although evidence of the police raid could be seen in the badly dented door.

Smollett is pictured in the hospital after a friend called the police to report the attack

The two men had flown to Africa the day after the January 29 attack on Smollett which took place close to his apartment building on East Water Street.

Smollett, 36, initially said the attack appeared to be racially motivated and claimed his assailants shouted this is MAGA-land as they punched and kicked him.

He also told police he did not recognize his attackers. Cops later released a grainy video showing two men walking away from the crime scene.

Although Smollett said he did not know who attacked him, both brothers are known to the actor and he follows them on social media.

Their shared Instagram account also features a video of them working out at the private gym in Smolletts luxury apartment block.

Both have also made cameo appearances in Empire, as well as on cop show Chicago PD. They now produce bodybuilding videos while Olabinjo also works as head of security at local bar Whiskey Business, according to his social media profiles.

Court documents relating to previous convictions of Olabinjo Osundair. Olabinjo and brother Abimba Osundair, from Nigeria, were questioned over the incident involving Empire star Jussie Smollett in Chicago

Olabinjo, 27, pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated battery in 2012

The bodybuilder had faced a number of charges, including attempted murder

Abimbola, 25, was also booked on a DUI and speeding charges in July 2015

They were arrested on suspicion of battery but police said they are being released due to 'new evidence'.

PIO Anthony Guglielmi said the pair spent the morning being interrogated in the presence of their attorney Gloria Schmidt.

He also revealed that cops are yet to find video documenting the alleged attack on Smollett but insisted that the department have found no evidence of a hoax and that the actor continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect.

The actor, pictured, wept as he said 'who the f*** would make that up' when addressing the skepticism surrounding his version of events. Smollett told Good Morning America he was heartbroken that his story had been questioned

In a June 2018 Instagram video, one of the brothers is seen walking on his hands on a treadmill inside the private gym in Smollett's luxury apartment building

The brothers' lawyer said on Thursday that they worked out with the actor and were friends

The damaged door to the apartment of Olabinjo and brother Abimba Osundair

Police damaged the door when they raided the property on Wednesday night

On Thursday, Schmidt told CBS Chicago that her clients were baffled by their arrest and had been left horrified by the attack on Smollett.

She added: When they first learned what happened to him [Smollett], they were horrified. This is someone they know.

'This is someone theyve worked with, so they dont want to see somebody go through that. They are really baffled why they are people of interest.

'They really dont understand how they even got information that linked them to this horrific crime, but they are not guilty of it.'
Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were spotted walking hand-in-hand in Germany after a working dinner with a large congressional delegation attending the Munich Security Conference.

The loved-up pair seemed carefree and happy as they smiled for cameras and walked through crowds flanked by their security detail.

The annual Munich event was started to help European powers share tactics for maintaining their national security as Cold War threats metastasized in the wake of World War II.

Today it brings together leaders and their proxies from 70 countries, including nations like the U.S., Russia and China that are at loggerheads over national security, trade and military arms races.

Kushner and Ms. Trump, like the bipartisan group of lawmakers, left behind the squabble over President Donald Trump's emergency declaration on Friday.

While the president's base is largely behind him, relieved that he has at last chosen a course of action on his long-promised border wall, protest groups have been out in force while the Munich conference moves forward.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were photographed leaving a restaurant Friday night after a working dinner with about 30 members of Congress in Munich, Germany after attending the Munich Security Conference

The couple couldn't help but smile as they left the dinner

Hand-in-hand they walked through the cobblestone streets of Munich, Germany

Ivanka gushed earlier in the day about leading discussions at the Munich Security Conference where she met with leaders from across the globe

Furious protesters rioted outside Trump Tower in New York, shouting 'No Wall No Way' and 'Trump is the emergency.'

At the same time the clamor against her father was coming to a head, Ivanka looked carefree as she went out to dinner with her husband at the famed Bavarian restaurant Spatenhaus.

Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence made a poignant visit a day earlier to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration complex where Nazis executed hundreds of thousands of Jews and other targeted populations three-quarters of a century ago.

Kushner and Ms. Trump, accustomed to paparazzi after four years as an international power couple, looked star-eyed and in love as they headed out for dinner through the cobblestone streets of the historic city.

Still inside the restaurant were South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, Delaware Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw and more than two dozen other members of Congress.

Earlier on Friday the presidents daughter met with world leaders and hda a bilateral one-on-one meeting with Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid.

Ivanka gushed about the conference on Twitter, boasting about her productive meetings.

'Today I convened an intimate discussion w/ private sector, gov & NGO leaders who offered their perspectives on the implementation of our new whole-of-government approach to #WomensEconomicEmpowerment  the Womens Global Development + Prosperity initiative. Great discussion!' she tweeted Friday afternoon.

The conference started on Friday and will end on Sunday.

Kushner and Ms. Trump, along with members of Congress from both parties, left behind in the U.S.

Cheesing! The duo held hands as they enjoyed the night air

They enjoyed a fancy dinner at Spatenhaus, a famous Bavarian restaurant in Munich, along with a bipartisan delegation from Congress

On Friday the president sparked outrage when he proclaimed a national emergency on the border after he signed a bill that would avoid a second government shutdown, but it didn't give him the funds to build his dream wall.

It was a calculated move that would allow him to spend $8 billion on building his wall.

'We're going to be signing today, and registering, national emergency. And, it's a great thing to do, because we have an in of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people, and it's not acceptable,' the president said on Friday.

Congress appropriated $1.375 billion that Trump can use for 'bollard' fencing in a spending bill that has not reached the president's desk, yet, but is expected to make its way to him before funding for a host of federal agencies runs out at midnight.

As a result, rioters flocked to the president's Trump Tower property in Manhattan on Friday night.

Angry protesters took to the streets of New York with signs advocating for a 180-degree turn including the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

Meanwhile in New York, protesters were rioting outside the Trump Tower

Angry protesters took to the streets of New York with blaring signs that read 'No Wall No Way' and 'Abolish I.C.E.'

The protesters milled outside the Trump International Hotel & Tower in Manhattan on Friday
The Church of England has edged closer to the appointment of its first woman Archbishop.

A sweep to remove potential barriers from the path of any woman promoted to the highest leadership of the CofE is to be carried out by the Churchs parliament later this month.

Among changes set to be approved by the General Synod are legal rules which refer to the two Archbishops of Canterbury and York as men.

The alterations to the 50-year-old constitution of the Synod come as the job of Archbishop of York, second in the hierarchy of the Church, is about to fall vacant.

The Most Reverend John Sentamu is to step down in the summer of 2020. While the process for choosing a successor has yet to begin, the selection of a female candidate is considered highly likely.

The Archbishop of York The Most Reverend Archbishop of York John Sentamu could be replaced by a female in 2020

The CofE has picked a string of female bishops since the doors to the episcopacy were opened to women in 2014. Legal wording that could be interpreted as excluding women from the two most senior posts is contained in clauses of the Synod constitution that set out Archbishop powers.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby. Women could soon take the roles of Archbishop after legal changes to the Church of England rules

One passage gives Archbishops the right to take charge of Synod proceedings. It states: The Archbishops of Canterbury and York shall be joint Presidents of the General Synod, and they shall determine the occasions on which it is desirable that one of the Presidents shall be chairman of a meeting of the General Synod.

Another clause says Synod voting procedures can be simplified by permission of the chairman.

The removal of the male-only language is to be put before the Synod as one point of a bundle of new Church laws. Billed as the replacement of outdated terms, it says the words chairman and vice-chairman should be changed to chair and vice chair.

The CofE yesterday said language in new documents has been modernised to include gender-neutral terms since 2004, and older documents are updated where opportunity presents itself.
The only two women who survived the deadly mass shooting in Kalamazoo, Michigan that left six dead in 2016 are speaking out on 20/20.

In a special that will air this Friday, Tiana Carruthers and Abigail Kopf detail the terrifying day back in February 2016 that they encountered Jason Dalton for the first time, and almost lost their lives.

Carruthers recalls the disturbed and deranged Uber driver at one point by stating: 'The devil is alive.'

Dalton told investigators after he was arrested that a 'devil figure' on Uber was controlling him when he killed six people in between driving passengers for the app.

He was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.

Scroll down for video

Terror: Tiana Carruthers (above) and Abigail Kopf detail the terrifying day back in February 2016 that they encountered Jason Dalton during his massacre in Michigan

Miracle: The women were only the two survivors of Dalton's rampage through Kalamazoo which left six dead

'I just kept hearing bullets, just bang, bang,' says Carruthers in a preview of the episode obtained by DailyMail.com.

She later breaks down in tears while recalling how she was forced to will herself to stay alive.

'I just kept telling myself, "god you're going to make it. You can make it,' says the mother.

Later that day another mother was praying as well that he daughter would defy the odds and come back from the dead.

'I almost died, and my mom was a basketcase,' remembers Kopf, whose heart had stopped beating before she suddenly came back to life.

Dalton, 48, pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder last month, just as jury selection was about to begin in his trial.

Michigan has no death penalty, so he was guaranteed to receive the mandatory life sentence at Tuesday's hearing in a Kalamazoo County court.

Dalton admitted shooting eight people in three locations in between picking up passengers for Uber.

Four women were killed in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant: Barbara Hawthorne, Dorothy "Judy" Brown, Mary Lou Nye and her sister-in-law, Mary Jo Nye.

Rich Smith and his 17-year-old son, Tyler Smith, were fatally shot while looking at a pickup truck in a dealer's lot.

'I see pain in your hatred,' Carruthers said to Dalton during the hearing, as she tried to get him to look at her.

She later told the man who almost ended her life: 'I hate myself for hating you.'

Dalton was deemed competent to stand trial and had dropped an insanity defense just before his trial was scheduled to start.

He has never explained why he randomly shot eight people.

The father-of-two had worked as an insurance adjuster and had no criminal record before the shootings.

A gun shop owner said Dalton bought a jacket with an inside pocket designed to hold a gun just hours before the rampage.

He said Dalton was 'laughing and joking' at the time, and even offered up a 'one-armed hug' to the manager before making the purchase.

The Deadly Ride will air air on 20/20 at 9pm on Friday, February 22.
Four young girls have been released from hospital after overdosing on prescription drugs while at school.

The Southport State High School students, three aged 13 and one 12-year-old, were rushed to hospital on Friday morning after becoming unwell.

The exact substance the girls ingested is not yet known, however, detective inspector Marc Hogan told The Courier Mail it was a Valium-type substance.

The Southport State High School students, three aged 13 and one 12-year-old, were rushed to hospital on Friday morning after becoming unwell

The exact substance the girls ingested is not yet known, however, detective inspector Marc Hogan said it was a Valium-type substance

Students said there were reports on social media that the girls had taken Xanax  a prescription drug used to treat anxiety.

Three of the girls were discharged from Gold Coast University Hospital by Friday night.

One girl was kept at the hospital overnight but she had been discharged by Saturday morning.

The police investigation is ongoing.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the school for comment.

The incident comes almost a year after seven students overdosed on a Russian designer drug similar to GHB at another Gold Coast school.

The Saint Stephen's College students posted their horror experience to Snapchat, and five boys were rushed to hospital.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came under fire Friday after it emerged she has given her boyfriend Riley Roberts a congressional email account.

The congressional newcomer was forced to defend her actions on Twitter and insisted it's only so he can look at her calendar.

Political consultant Luke Thompson tweeted a picture of his official House email address, which quickly went viral.

He tweeted: 'While you were having a nice Valentine's Day, @AOC decided to put her boyfriend on staff - drawing a salary on the taxpayer's dime. Nice to see her adapting to the swamp so quickly.'

But AOC hit back, writing: 'Actually this cal designation is a permission so he can have access to my Google Cal. Congressional spouses get Gcal access all the time.

'Next time check your facts before you tweet nonsense.'

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi performs a ceremonial swearing-in for US House Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She was joined by Riley Roberts, sixth from left

Political consultant Luke Thompson tweeted a picture of his official House email address

But Ocasio-Cortez hit back and insisted it's only so he can look at her calendar

Her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti also posted to Twitter, defending the account

WHO IS RILEY ROBERTS? Riley Roberts is the head of marketing at HomeBinder.com, according to Marie Claire. He also works with tech startups. Riley from is Boston, Massachusetts and is reported to have gone to uni there, too. He was pictured at her swearing in, telling the New York Post it was 'a really incredible day, really special'. They lived together in the Bronx before moving to Washington D.C. Advertisement

Her chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti also argued the move was normal for a spouse or partner.

He wrote: 'He's not paid. We have no volunteers in the office. He's not doing any government work. He can see her calendar just like spouses/partners/family members in other congressional office.

'Spouses and partners normally get http://mail.house.gov e-mail addresses for the purpose of getting calendar access.'

And spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer, David O'Boyle, told Fox News: 'From time to time, at the request of members, spouses and partners are provided House email accounts for the purposes of viewing the member's calendar.'

As news of her boyfriend's email was shared online Jason Chaffetz, former chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told Fox: 'It's totally naive and inappropriate  you wouldn't allow it in most companies, let alone the House of Representatives. There should be real consequences.

'When I was in the House, my scheduler would forward my wife my schedule once a week. But you're not allowed unfettered access. And he isn't even her spouse. It should be referred to the ethics committee for further investigation.'

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, remained outspoken on the deal since its announcement in November. Now Amazon blame her rhetoric for foiling their plans

It comes on the day Amazon hit-out at Ocasio-Cortez and her Democratic peers for creating an unjust hostile 'environment' that led to the withdrawal of their New York headquarters plan.

The online retailer announced on Thursday that they were pulling the plug on their proposal to create a second headquarters in New York's Long-Island City.

Speaking out about the withdrawal on Friday, Amazon's head of policy communications, Jodi Seth, pointed blame at Ocasio-Cortez and her anti-Amazon rhetoric.

Seth said it wasn't 'any one incident' but months of vitriolic political discourse - perpetuated by the likes of AOC - that ultimately resulted in the company's decision to look elsewhere for a new branch to its Seattle base.
13 of the 21 Christians massacred by the jihadists in Sirte in 2015 were from town of El-Aour, in Upper Egypt. The area has become a destination for pilgrimages and site of mysterious healing. Fr. Rafic: "simple" people who believe in these "signs of heaven". Caution and in-depth studies are needed.

Cairo (AsiaNews) - The 2015 martyrdom of the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians, beheaded by the Islamic State (IS, ex Isis) on the beaches of Sirte, in Libya, is today a source of miracles for the Christian community of the Pharaohs' Country, in their sacrifice finds even more strength and vigor in the faith.

Four years after the barbaric execution of Christian workers kidnapped by jihadists, whose images have been shared around the world, their memory is still alive in Upper Egypt and their town of origin has become a place of miracles and a destination for pilgrimages.

The massacre was perhaps the culmination of jihadist barbarism, with the Caliphate militiamen who controlled most of the territory in Iraq and Syria and reaped victims and violence in Afghanistan, Egypt and Libya. The inhabitants of El-Aour, the town of origin of 13 of the victims, proudly recount the "martyrdom" of their illustrious inhabitants today venerated as saints by the Coptic Church.

"Crossing Upper Egypt does not seem to be in a majority Muslim country," observes the German writer Martin Mosebach to the Christian Post, after visiting El-Aour.

He spoke with relatives and relatives of workers killed by ISIS, who reported stories of miracles resulting from the faith and sacrifice of their martyrs.

Mosebach collected the testimonies and drafted a book entitled "The 21 - A Journey to the Land of Coptic Martyrs". "A poor and dirty village" he recalls, but full of people "rich in faith". "In the spirituality of the Copts - he adds - the miracles are an essential component" and among the inhabitants "they all speak of miracles".

One such episode regards one the son of one of the Coptic martyrs. The boy fell from the third floor of the building where he lives, passing out on impact and breaking his arm in several places. Upon awakening he told of having dreamed of his father who took him during the fall; a few days later, an x-ray revealed that there was no wound and even the fractures in the arm had healed. The common thought, explains the writer, is that "the martyrs have thaumaturgical powers".

Speaking to AsiaNews Fr. Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Egyptian Catholic Church, confirms the stories of miracles, including healings without scientific explanations or "icons that are weeping" in some houses of relatives of the martyrs.

"Of course - he warns - we must be careful and not proclaim something a miracle, even if they are simple people who want to believe in these signs of heaven. Perhaps they are also right - he adds - but we must use caution and wait for studies and confirmation, as happens in the Catholic Church which has a more cautious approach than the Coptic one ".

The fact remains that El-Aour, from a poor and primitive village, has become a land of pilgrimages and the cathedral of the martyrs is full of faithful coming from every corner of the country to every function. Some of these also travel hundreds of kilometers to pay homage to the modern heroes of the faith.

In recent years, Egyptian Copts have been the target of attacks and persecution at the hands of Islamic extremist movements. Egypt ranks 16th in the world for anti-Christian violence. Nevertheless, they do not consider themselves victims and do not seek revenge; the faith in Saint Mark, patron of the community, remains strong and firm and under the presidency of al-Sisi - in office since 2014 - the general perception of security seems to have strengthened.
Criminals will be tracked by satellite to reduce the use of short prison terms.

The GPS tags, which provide 24/7 location monitoring, will allow more offenders to serve sentences in the community.

Officials say it will also help protect victims in domestic abuse or stalking cases. An alert will be triggered if a tagged individual is found in an exclusion zone.

Talking about the measures, Justice Secretary David Gauke said: I am confident that this important new technology will become a vital tool to increase public protection and strengthen options for tougher community sentences

Those in breach of their restrictions face being recalled to prison or brought before the courts. Justice Secretary David Gauke said: I am confident that this important new technology will become a vital tool to increase public protection and strengthen options for tougher community sentences.

The GPS tags could be used to monitor individuals on court bail or those serving community orders and suspended sentences. Offenders released under home curfew or on licence might also be tracked.

Existing tag technology confirms whether an offender is at a particular address at a particular time. The new tags record information on whereabouts at all times.

Officials expect a maximum of 1,000 tags to be in use at any one time. They said trials in three regions had proved positive.
Medical experts are pushing for a Minister for Loneliness amid claims being alone is an epidemic killing Australians.

While elderly people have typically faced the burden of being alone, statistics have revealed people of all ages suffer at the hands of loneliness.

People living on their own has skyrocketed in recent years and the number of divorces have continued to increase as community culture, such as church gatherings, seems to decline.

Medical experts are pushing for a Minister for Loneliness amid claims being alone is an epidemic killing Australians (stock image)

The director of Public Health for the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Simon Tatz suggested the government needed to do more to battle crippling loneliness.

'While some may scoff at the idea of a Minister for Loneliness or a Minister for Social Inclusion, it certainly has merit,' Mr Tatz told The Courier-Mail.

Tony Bartone, the Federal President of AMA, said a portfolio directed at loneliness would help all areas that have impact such as infrastructure, community planning, research and data connection.

The UK appointed a Minister for Loneliness in January 2018 following a report from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness which revealed more than nine million people often felt lonely.

Dr Bartone referred to the measures adopted in the UK, claiming that Australia needed to 'keep all eyes on' to see how they tackle the serious health problem.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Harry Nespolon said GPs were facing increased cases of extreme loneliness and the epidemic needed recognition.

While elderly people have typically faced the burden of being alone, statistics have revealed people of all ages suffer at the hands of loneliness (stock image)

'Over the years, cities have become very lonely places. The aged, young mums, even people who are in relationships can all be lonely,' Dr Nespolon said.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics projects a 43 per cent rise in number of singles in Brisbane over the next 15 years.

Demographer Bernard Salt said social connection was impacted by the reliance on technology.

'My research has told me that people who are working in big offices surrounded by co-workers are lonely. We don't connect like we use to, messages are sent via phones and computers. Add that to the increasing aged population and I would suggest that by 2020 we will be facing a very serious problem of isolation, loneliness and possibly depression that we are not prepared for,' Mr Salt said.

Labor spokeswoman for Ageing and Mental Health, Julie Collins, said the party had been working with academics and organisations to understand the wrath of loneliness across the country.

Ms Collins told The Courier-Mail the Opposition party was dedicated to take loneliness seriously as a social policy and public health priority.

The director of Public Health for the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Simon Tatz suggested the government needed to do more to battle crippling loneliness (stock image)

Relationships Australia released research on loneliness based on the findings from 16 waves of Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia survey data from 2001-2016 in September 2018 - which highlighted the breadth of the problem.

The research, launched by the Assistant Minister for Children and Families the Hon Michelle Landry MP, reveals that one in 10 Australians lack social support and one in six is experiencing emotional loneliness, highlighting the breadth of the problem.

'Our research reveals that poverty, unemployment and poor relationships are significantly associated with loneliness and lonely people make greater use of the health system,' said the National Executive Officer with Relationships Australia, Alison Brook.

'Single parents, particularly single fathers, are most likely to experience a lack of social support with almost 40 per cent of younger fathers reporting a lack of social support and more than 40 per cent reporting emotional loneliness.

'Widowed men and women under 65 years of age also report high rates of loneliness.'

Relationships Australia released research on loneliness in September 2018 - which highlighted the breadth of the problem (stock image)

Ms Brook said the number of people moving in and out of loneliness was consistently high over the last decade.

'There is no doubt that a significant number of people in our community are experiencing loneliness,' she said.

'Relationships Australia believes there is a compelling case for a national discussion about the health and social risks posed by loneliness.'

'Loneliness needs to be treated as a significant public health and social policy issue.

In 2016, a Lifeline survery found that eight out of 10 respondents believed loneliness was increasing.

Over 3100 people responded to the survey and 60 per cent said they 'often feel lonely' and 82.50 per cent said loneliness was increasing in society.

The survery was inconclusive as to whether social media was to blame for the increasing number of people feeling lonely in Australia.
The price of death certificates will almost treble from today, adding to snowballing costs for grieving families.

The 175 per cent increase means it now costs 11 to print a certificate at registration, up from 4 a copy.

It comes a week after MPs were accused of sneaking through a stealth death tax by increasing probate charges. From April, some families will face bills of up to 6,000 to secure legal control over a deceased relatives estate.

Yesterday lawyers and funeral directors said the death certificate price rise was unfair and highly inappropriate.

The 175 per cent increase means it now costs 11 to print a certificate at registration, up from 4 a copy (stock image)

Families often need up to 20 death certificates to send to different authorities. Life insurance companies, banks, building societies and investment firms can all ask for them to confirm a former customers death.

The increase means those who need 20 certificates will have to spend 220, up from 80.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said last night: This all adds to the cost of death and it prolongs the misery of people going through the most difficult times of their lives. There is no justification for almost tripling the costs of death certificates. The cost of ordering a death certificate online from the General Register Office has also increased from 9.25 to 11.

Companies will often insist on originals and refuse photocopies. Relatives also need to supply original certificates when applying for probate.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said last night that the increase will 'prolong the misery of people going through the most difficult times of their lives'

Christina Blacklaws, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, said: The decision to treble the cost of death certificates comes hot on the heels of the Governments proposed increases to probate fees.

With probate fees set to increase, it seems unfair to raise the cost of death certificates as well, particularly when people have no choice but to register the death of their loved ones and apply for probate.

Terry Tennens, of the National Society of Allied and Independent Funeral Directors, said: In these times of austerity, we think this is highly inappropriate.

A Home Office spokesman said: The changes to the civil registration certificate fees are the first increase since 2010.

The fees are set at cost recovery levels only, and registration officers have the power to waive or reduce fees on grounds of compassion or hardship.
Jennifer Aniston and her Friends co-star Courteney Cox were jet-setting to Mexico for a birthday trip but were forced to make a terrifying emergency landing on Friday.

The two actresses were in Anistons private jet bound for Cabo San Lucas around 11am when the plane lost a wheel during take-off at LAX airport, according to the FAA.

The plane made it all the way down to Mexican airspace but turned around back to Ontario, California after crew members deemed it wasn't safe to land.

Aniston, who just turned 50 on February 11, was with 54-year-old Cox, actress Amanda Anka, screenwriter Molly Kimmel, and eight others on board the Gulfstream Aerospace IV plane.

They were stuck aboard the grounded aircraft for about two and a half hours after landing in Ontario.

Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox's private jet trip to Mexico on Friday was forced to make an emergency landing after the aircraft lost a tire during take-off

Finally around 4pm PST, after the plane was sitting on the tarmac for two hours, a woman appeared to exit the faulty plane (left) and board another bigger private jet (right)

The 12 ladies on board covered their heads with hats and umbrellas to fight off the drizzling rain at the airport on Friday evening

The plane diverted and emergency landed at Ontario International Airport just after 2pm, about 60 miles away from Los Angeles.

According to FlightAware, the aircraft touched down at 2:05pm PST, three hours after taking off.

The aircraft was forced to circle in the area for roughly three hours in order to burn off enough fuel to land the plane safely, according to Fox11.

The trip continues: Their new flight is also bound for Cabo San Lucas, meaning the birthday festivities can continue

Although the women weren't recognizable, a dozen exited the faulty private jet to board the new one on Friday evening

Birthday plans: Aniston and her entourage are pictured boarding their new flight

And we're off! By 4.26pm PST, the new aircraft took off bound for Cabo San Lucas to continue the birthday festivities

They were a total of 12 passengers, all women, on the aircraft, according to TMZ. The plane has the tail number N729TY.

The City of Ontario Police and Fire Departments speedily responded to the airport to assist the plane in landing, according to airport officials.

By Friday afternoon the aircraft was still stationed at the Ontario airport and a tire was brought out, seemingly to replace the missing one.

Then airport crew speedily removed the luggage from the faulty private plane and transferred it onto another bigger private jet.

The women finally touched down at 7.23pm Mexico time in Cabo San Lucas

Let's get the party started! after the emergency landing scare the group arrived in Mexico

Courteney Cox is seen arriving with Aniston's entourage in Mexico Friday evening

Finally around 4.03pm PST, the Aniston and her friends disembarked the private jet while hiding under umbrellas and hats and boarded the other plane.

According to flight trackers for the new aircraft, with the tail number N958BX, the women are still en route to Cabo San Lucas.

By 4.26pm PST, the new aircraft took off and the birthday festivities continued.

Aniston celebrated her 50th birthday on February 11.

The plane emergency landed at Ontario International Airport in California just after 2pm after circling for hours to burn off fuel

This flight track shows the trajectory of the private jet flight that left LAX airport, headed down to Mexico, then diverted and emergency landed in Ontario, California
It is one of the countrys most famous views, attracting millions of visitors from across the world each year.

But it could soon be lost for ever unless action is taken to shore up sea defences.

These old coastguard cottages in front of the white cliffs have featured in dozens of films including Atonement and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And this month the sight was recognised as Britains Best View in a competition in the Daily Mail.

But the land on which the hamlet of cottages has stood for 200 years near Cuckmere Haven, East Sussex, is slowly disappearing due to coastal erosion.

Britain's Best View under threat? The Coastguards Cottages at Cuckmere Haven in Sussex are on land which is quickly eroding

For decades the descendants of the original coastguards have worked with officials to maintain the sea defences and stop the cottages being swept away.

But in 2011 a new policy of managed coastal retreat was introduced by the Government, which meant the Environment Agency no longer has responsibility for shoring up sea defences. Residents have lodged a planning application with the South Downs National Park Authority to extend a sea wall but say they are being held back by bureaucracy.

They say that unless they get help, the scheme could stay in the planning phase for years and the view could be lost.

Carolyn McCourt, 59, an artist who has lived in one of the cottages for nearly 30 years, said: To get wrapped up in red tape and do nothing to save this view would be an unforgivable act of vandalism. Each time a storm hits the shore, it causes a little bit more damage.

Michael Ann, 81, and wife Kitty, 72, who own nearby Cable Hut  from where a telegraph cable was laid across the Channel to France  said: We need to sort out planning permission and funding for a sea wall that will give lasting protection.

Building the sea wall in 1947. The cottages are under threat 70 years on over coastal erosion

Resident Carolyn McCourt with dog Greta. The residents want more to be done but Government changes have left them needing help from the Environment Agency which is not provided

Residents in the cottages on the coastline want a flood defence system to include a sea wall stretching across the front of the cliffs

The South Downs National Park Authority said an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required and it is now awaiting a request from the applicant to determine the scope of the EIA.

The five cottages  now converted into three homes  were built around 1820 for coastguards employed to help tackle smugglers after the Napoleonic wars.

The campaign group Cuckmere Haven SOS aims to raise an initial 200,000 towards sea defences. Readers can donate at www.cuckmerehavensos.org.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed Congress freshman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claiming she's 'out of touch' and is failing to be a 'progressive' leader after she helped push Amazon out of New York.

The liberal mayor took aim at the Democratic-Socialist Congresswoman, who boasts herself as a progressive voice, in politics in an interview with The Brian Lehrer Show radio show on Friday.

'As a progressive my entire life  and I aint changing  Ill take on any progressive anywhere that thinks its a good idea to lose jobs and revenue because I think thats out of touch with what working people want,' the mayor said on the WNYC radio show.

Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday during a radio interview with The Brian Lehrer Show saying 'I'll take on any progressive that thinks it's a good idea to lose jobs' after she supported Amazon cancelling their plans to build a headquarters in NY

AOC fired back on Twitter on Friday morning saying, 'Come for me all you want, but my job is to make sure that people are protected in society'

The Mayor spoke on his dismay that Amazon derailed their plans and heavily criticized Ocasio-Cortez for gloating about the cancellation by calling it a victory against 'corporate greed'.

'I came up watching the mistakes of progressives of the past, unfortunately what happened in this city when it almost went to bankruptcy in the 1970s. I saw all the times progressives did not show people effective governance and all the times progressives made the kinds of mistakes that alienated working people,' De Blasio said.

'Working people are very smart and very discerning. They want jobs, they want revenue, they want the kinds of things that government can do for them. They understand they have to be paid for,' he added.

Tempers boiled on Thursday when Amazon pulled out of their plans to build a headquarters campus in Queens, New York.

De Blasio, alongside Govenor Andrew Cuomo had long-lobbied for Amazon to build a campus to the city, which would have brought 25,000 jobs.

But the plans angered politicians like Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Michael N. Gianaris for the city's promise to give Amazon $3billion in tax breaks and incentives.

On Thursday Amazon announced it was cancelling its plans to build a headquarters in Queens, New York. The plan would have brought 25,000 to New York

Amazon announced their stunning reversal plan on Thursday, citing disagreements between local politicians as a concern. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos above

Following de Blasio's attacks, Ocasio-Cortez fired back on Twitter.

'Come for me all you want, but my job is to make sure that people are protected in society,' she tweeted on Friday afternoon.

'Someones got to look out for the people our system is leaving behind - esp now, when most of the wealth created is going to fewer people, those left behind are the majority of Americans,' she added.

On Thursday after Amazon announced their stunning reversal plan, Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter writing: 'Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.'

Amazon announced they were pulling the plug on their plans to build a headquarters in Long Island City, Queens citing a lack of agreement among local politicians.
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter pounced on President Donald Trump for his 'capitulation' on the border after the president said he 'barely knows her.'

Trump got asked at his press conference about the influence of outside conservative voices, and brought up Coulter, whose opposition to a prior budget deal is credited with helping pressure him toward a shutdown.

After gushing about Rush Limbaugh and Fox New host Sean Hannity, Trump repeatedly dismissed Coulter in his response. 'Ann Coulter, I don't know her. I hardly know her. I haven't spoken to her in way over a year,' Trump said.

'But the press loves saying Ann Coulter,' Trump complained. 'Probably if I did speak to her she would be very nice. I just don't have the time to speak to her,' Trump claimed.

'The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot,' commentator Ann Coulter said

'But she's off the reservation but anybody that knows her understands that. I haven't spoken to her, I don't follow her, I don't talk to her,' he concluded.

Coulter responded on Twitter: 'He seems to think 'the reservation' is HIM, not his campaign promises.'

One online follower posted a picture of Coulter speaking a Trump rally in Iowa during the campaign. She retweeted the image, writing: 'THANK YOU, Mr. President for admitting that your total capitulation on campaign promises has nothing to do with me.'

Coulter has complained that Trump is yielding to pressures to provide eventual 'amnesty' to illegal immigrants. She said he is 'just fooling the rubes with a national emergency,' which will be contested in court.

In 2016, she authored the book: ''In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome!.'

'Ann Coulter, I don't know her. I hardly know her,' said Trump

Coulter has gone from backing Trump to arguing he violated his main campaign promise. She said he is 'just fooling the rubes with a national emergency'

'But the press loves saying Ann Coulter,' Trump complained. 'Probably if I did speak to her she would be very nice. I just don't have the time to speak to her,' he claimed

In another slight, she wrote: ' No. 1 trending topic on Twitter: 25th Amendment'  a reference to the constitutional provision for removing a president from office if he is unable to fulfill his duties.

Coulter also blasted him on KABC radio, the DailyBeast reported. She said 'the country is over' and was appreciative that Trump 'relieved me any responsibility for what he's been doing' by putting distance between them.

'Forget the fact that he's digging his own grave,' Coulter said. 'The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot,' she said.
A cashed up property developer who flaunts the yellow Lamborghini he bought his glamorous blonde wife has been met with strife after blocking access to 700 car spaces with a three-storey garage.

Jean Nassif, who works for Toplace, is in a row with the City of Parramatta council, in Sydney's western suburbs, after building the basement the company did not have approval for.

Amid the construction, residents and visitors have been locked out of 700 CBD parking spaces which they were previously entitled from a previous agreement with Toplace, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

Jean Nassif (left with wife) is in a row with the City of Parramatta council, in Sydney's western suburbs, after building the basement he did not have approval for

Mr Nassif has since been met with more controversy after he shared a video of the luxurious yellow Lamborghini he bought his wife Nissy Nassif

The property developer has since met with more controversy after he shared a video of the luxurious yellow Lamborghini he bought his wife Nissy Nassif on social media.

Mr Nassif welcomed the vehicle into the family home and said to his wife 'Congratulations Mrs Nassif you like?'

The couple were quickly mocked for their materialistic display with a number of meme videos popping up on social media.

Wheelie bins, toy trucks, or washing up gloves were swapped out for the car and the pranksters joked whether Mrs Nassif would like the replacements.

Mrs Nassif, fed up with the meme videos, took to Instagram to respond to her haters.

'Social media is great, but instead of focusing on other people's lives and count their blessings and spending all day checking out indecent footage, focus on your own future and how you can provide a good luxurious life for yourselves, your wives, children and loved ones,' she wrote on Instagram.

The couple were quickly mocked for their materialistic display with a number of meme videos popping up on social media

Toplace was given approval to build a 30-storey apartment block, containing 425 apartments and 715 parking spots for public use, at 189 Macquarie Street in late 2015

Wearing a Gucci belt, she stood beside the prominent vehicle, blowing kisses to her followers.

Toplace was given approval to build a 30-storey apartment block, containing 425 apartments and 715 parking spots for public use, at 189 Macquarie Street in late 2015.

But Toplace went against their grant and decided to dig two extra levels of car parking under the site and an additional level to hold a hydraulic tank pumping out water.

The City of Parramatta said it was 'no longer in litigation' with Toplace and that the 'parties are working together to complete the project' but the details have not been disclosed.

But Toplace went against their grant and decided to dig two extra levels of car parking under the site and an additional level to hold a hydraulic tank pumping out water

LEC commissioner Sarah Bish determined Toplace had shown 'blatant disregard regarding compliance' for approval of the extra floors

There is currently no indication on what will happen to the illegally dug floors - which were not waterproofed - and who will pay to fix them.

In the Land and Environment Court (LEC) in late 2017, the issue was discussed on whether the floors should be retro-fitted with waterproofing, or whether they should be pumped.

Toplace hired a water expert who thought waterproofing the floors would be 'prohibitively expensive and impractical'.

LEC commissioner Sarah Bish determined Toplace had shown 'blatant disregard regarding compliance' for approval of the extra floors.

She could not satisfy the 'structural integrity' of the building and ordered a halt to any construction at the site.
The Houston officer who led a deadly raid in which a couple were killed and five cops were injured lied to get a search warrant, according to the city's police chief.

Lead investigator Gerald Goines alleged an informant bought heroin at the house of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, the day before the January 28 raid. The informant had also allegedly seen a handgun in the home.

But according to an affidavit filed as part of the ongoing investigation into the raid and made public Friday, the informant told investigators he or she had not bought any drugs at the home and had not been involved in any work leading up to the raid.

After the raid, police said they found several firearms at the home, along with marijuana and cocaine but no heroin. The heroin allegedly bought at the home had been obtained elsewhere, according to the affidavit.

The informant had allegedly been working with the lead investigator in the case, who was identified in the affidavit as Officer Gerald Goines. He now faces criminal charges.

Rhogena Nicholas, 58, and Dennis Tuttle, 59, were killed during a shootout with officers who were serving a search warrant at an alleged 'drug house' in southeast Houston

In the search warrant that was used to justify entering their home, officers with the Houston Police Department's narcotics unit had alleged that a confidential informant had bought heroin at the house the day before the raid

Investigators spoke with informants who had previously worked with Goines and all said they had not bought drugs at the home of Nicholas, pictured, according to the affidavit

The heroin allegedly bought at the home, pictured, was obtained elsewhere, the affidavit says

Goines prepared the search warrant and has been with the police department for more than 30 years, according to investigators.

They also spoke with several other informants who had previously worked with Goines and all said they had not bought drugs at the home, according to the affidavit.

Goines was one of the four officers who were shot in the gunfight. A fifth officer injured his knee during the shooting.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said the ongoing investigation into the drug raid appears to have uncovered 'some untruths or lies' in the search warrant. He called this 'unacceptable.'

Acevedo said: 'When we prepare a document to go into somebody's home it has to be truthful, it has to be honest, it has to be absolutely factual. So, we know already there's a crime that's been committed. A high probability there will be a criminal charge.'

Acevedo said his department's investigation has yet to determine what charges Goines could face.

Goines, who remains hospitalized, could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. The president of the Houston Police Officers' Union did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

In the hours after the raid, Acevedo had praised Goines as being 'tough as nails'.

The police chief had said officers announced themselves as Houston Police before entering, and as they opened the front door they immediately came under fire from either one or two suspects, and one officer was attacked by a pit bull.

But speaking Friday Acevedo said Goines has now been suspended. Another officer involved in the drug raid had previously been suspended.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said a lead investigator lied in a warrant justifying a drug raid on a Houston home in which two residents were killed and four officers were injured

Police are can be seen responding to reports of the shooting at what authorities had described as a 'drug house' on Harding Street in southeast Houston

Officers announced themselves as Houston Police before entering, but as they opened the front door they immediately came under fire from either one or two suspects, reports say

Boards cover the front of the home in Houston where Rhogena Nicholas and Dennis Tuttle were shot to death during a police raid

Authorities still believe Tuttle and Nicholas were involved in criminal activity, but Acevedo said the case now is undermined.

Local community activists have been critical of the raid and neighbors have portrayed Tuttle and Nicholas as a disabled couple who seemed law abiding. The Greater Houston Coalition for Justice was set to hold a town hall meeting about the raid on Monday.

Acevedo said authorities will conduct an extensive internal review of Goines' prior cases as well as other cases by the agency's narcotics division.

'We have 5,200 officers and I would ask that nobody paint our department with a broad brush. This is not indicative of the greater work that goes on here,' Acevedo said.

During a news conference, Acevedo repeatedly said the problems related to the search warrant were discovered through the ongoing investigation and his agency is not trying to hide anything.

'We're going to get to the truth. We will report back the good, the bad and the ugly,' he said.
A father and his four young daughters have all died in a devastating New York house fire after he stayed in the home to try and save them.

Hundreds of people gathered in Watertown for a vigil Friday night to Aaron Bodah, 38, and daughters Skylar, Erin, Alexa and Merissa.

A fifth daughter, Hailey, 13, survived after running for help on the instruction of her dad, who went from the first floor to the second of the home to try and help his other children.

Police chief Dale C. Herman said Bodah showed 'normal paternal instinct' and added: 'He could potentially have escaped.'

Aaron, 8 year old Alexa and Skylar, four, were the first confirmed casulties from the fire. Merissa, 14, and 6-year-old Erin died later in Syracuse hospital.

Hundreds gathered in Watertown for a vigil Friday night to Skylar, Erin, Alexa and Merissa, pictured. Hailey, 13, believed to be second from left, survived the blaze

Aaron Bodah, pictured, stayed in the home to try and save his girls. Police chief Dale C. Herman said Bodah could 'potentially have escaped'

Hailey had run to her neighbor's home barefoot and wearing shorts and t-shirt on the instruction of her dad, who stayed in the home 'to try to get the other family members out', police said.

Watertown Police Detective Lt. Joe Donoghue told 7 News: 'With our interview with Hailey, she had told us that her father had directed her to...go to the neighbors and try to alert them to call 911.'

Neighbor Bill Bellis, who called 911, told CNY Central: 'We were awakened by a young child pounding on the door, screaming frantically that there was a fire at her house and that her four sisters and dad were inside.

'I kicked in the front door, but with the super heated fumes and toxic stuff, I couldn't get in the front door.

'I walked around the side and the back to see if I could see anybody trying to jump out. After that, I went back to the road and instantly, law enforcement was here.'

Investigators say it appears the fire started in the kitchen around 1:30 a.m. Thursday

They said pots were left on the electric stove and smoke detectors had no batteries

Aaron Boda and Merissa in a photo posted in June last year. Family said: 'There was nothing he wouldn't do for those girls'

Aaron Bodah's sister Ashley and mother Dora have paid tribute to their family killed in the fire

Hundreds of people gathered in Watertown for a vigil Friday night to pay tribute to the girls and their dad.

Mourners placed flowers at a makeshift memorial and released balloons and a Go Fund Me has been set up in an effort to collect donations for Hailey.

Paying tribute to her son and four granddaughters Dora Bodah said: 'They were so happy, they were so loved. I just can't believe he's gone, can't believe they're gone. I don't understand how anything like this can happen.'

Hailey's aunt Heather Bodah said they 'all are gonna stay strong' for the teen. Aaron's sister, Ashley, added: 'There was nothing he wouldn't do for those girls. Those girls had a smile on their face every day and loved being with their father.'

Investigators say it appears the fire started in the kitchen around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. They said pots were left on the electric stove and smoke detectors in the rental home had no batteries.

Authorities say Aaron Bodah's brother lived in the house and was at work when the fire started.
Erdogan said Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him. (File Photo)

Ankara: Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"We haven't given all the elements we have at our disposal," the Turkish head of state said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel. After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Turkish woman Hatice Cengiz.

Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who allegedly helped them dispose of the body, which has not been found. Riyadh has arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder.

Khashoggi, Washington Post contributor, was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any involvement in the murder. Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case.
A young father-of-three was so heartbroken by the breakup of his family that he snuck out of a hospital and took his own life.

Brieze Montiero, 31, died alone is his flat in Perth on Monday having not seen his sons, aged 11 and 12, and nine-year-old daughter since Christmas.

'He felt like he had lost everything and was living a nightmare that was never going to end,' his grieving mother Beverley Bell told Daily Mail Australia.

Brieze Montiero, 31, was so heartbroken by the breakup of his family that he snuck out of a hospital and took his own life

Two weeks earlier he sent a series of messages to his new girlfriend Sarah Smith (left) with instructions on what to do after his death

Mr Montiero even sent a haunting series of late-night messages to his new girlfriend, Sarah Smith, two weeks before his death, giving her instructions for his funeral and begging her not to tell anyone he planned to kill himself.

His death highlights the heightened risk of suicide among men following relationship breakdowns.

Preliminary findings from new research by Griffith University indicate more than 60 per cent of male suicides can be traced back to breakups.

Ms Bell said her son's marriage ended a year ago when he returned home from his job on an oil rig.

'He worked extra to pay for a new pool for his kids. He got back on New Year's Day,' she said.

'It crushed him. He tried to work on it, but not even a month later he tried to kill himself.'

The messages gave her instructions for his funeral and begging her not to tell anyone he planned to kill himself

Mr Montiero became despondent about how little time he was able to spend with his children as a result of his marriage breaking down

Mr Montiero survived that suicide attempt after days in the ICU, and after months of depression finally moved on and found love with Ms Smith in mid-2018 and began to enjoy life once again.

However, he became despondent about how little time he was able to spend with his children as a result of his marriage breaking down.

'He spiralled quickly from there,' Ms Bell said.

In January when he was working away he emailed his ex-wife to begin divorce proceedings as he had just signed a lease to move in with Ms Smith.

On January 28 he sent a series of alarming messages to Ms Smith declaring that he was going to kill himself after he returned and saw his children one last time.

'Once I say goodbye to my kids I'm gone, can't take the pain,' he wrote at 3.41am.

But he would never see his children again.

Mr Montiero begged Ms Smith not to tell anyone he planned to kill himself until he saw his children one last time, but he never got the chance

A tattoo of her son's name Ms Bell has on her wrist, which will act as a reminder of his life to her

After Ms Smith sent Ms Bell the messages, the desperate mother spoke of her pain and fears for her son on social media.

'Parents of adult children who do have a suicidal child, my heart bleeds for you. The pain of waiting for the phone call is unbearable,' she wrote.

Mr Montiero got home on February 6 and on the morning of the day he died sent a series of messages to Ms Smith as if to say goodbye.

Ms Smith got increasingly worried and told him she would tell his parents what he was saying if he didn't stop and reassure her he wouldn't do anything stupid.

But Mr Montiero's last messages were even darker: 'I won't be sleeping tonight, not in this world. Sorry for ruining your life.'

Ms Smith contacted her boyfriend's parents and asked for help, after which Ms Bell called triple-0 and emergency services found him and took him to hospital about 10am.

Ms Bell, living 500km away in rural WA, pleaded with police and hospital staff to keep an eye on him, concerned he would sneak away and harm himself.

Mr Montiero sent Ms Smith a series of Facebook messages as if to say goodbye on the morning of the day he died

Ms Smith got increasingly worried and told him she would tell his parents what he was saying if he didn't stop and reassure her he wouldn't do anything stupid

A psychiatrist saw him about 5pm and agreed he needed to be hospitalised, but there were no beds available in the psychiatric ward that day so he would have to wait in triage overnight.

'The police took his restraints off and left and he went outside for a cigarette, but then he came back, took his clothes, and left,' she said.

'He called his kids to say goodbye and no one ever heard from him again.'

After a frantic search, police knocked down the door to his flat in an effort to save him - but they were too late.

Ms Bell on Wednesday drove six hours to Perth to collect her son's body and organise his funeral, with his sister arriving from the U.S. on Friday.

'It don't think it's properly hit me yet that he's gone, and won't until I see his body. I still feel like he's just away at work and will come back,' she said.

Ms Smith (left) sent his mother the messages, who arranged for emergency services to intervene

After a frantic search, sparked by Ms Smith and Ms Bell, Mr Montiero was found dead

Ms Bell earlier shared a touching tribute to her son the day after his death, apologising for not being able to mend his broken heart.

'You were my one and only son. You were precious, loved, adored by so many people. I'm so sorry your kids now have to deal with this pain,' she wrote.

'Your Dad, your sister, myself and your beautiful children will miss your voice, your laughter, your trying to sing, we will remember your smile.

'I am sorry we couldn't fix the damage that was done. Sleep my boychild, rest, you gave your all, no one will ever say your heart was not full of love, you will be my first thought in the morning and last thought at night.'

Ms Smith also wrote a heartfelt tribute mourning the life together they never got to have, but was too distraught to speak to Daily Mail Australia other than to confirm Ms Bell's version of events.

'Words can not even begin to explain how heartbroken I am. You quickly became my whole world and the love of my life,' she wrote.

'You made me feel so happy and I will forever be grateful for all of the amazing memories we got to share together.

Ms Bell (pictured with her son) drove six hours to Perth to collect her son's body and organise his funeral

Mr Montiero with his mother and sister, who is flying in from the U.S. on Friday ahead of his funeral

'You never failed to put a smile on my face. I will forever love you Brieze and will hold you in my heart for the rest of my life.

'Although we weren't together for that long, it had been the best 6 months of my life and I will forever be thankful that you showed me I could love again.

'We had such big plans for the future and I was so excited to show you what true love felt like and to start a family together so that you could get the life you always deserved.

'I wish this was all just a bad dream. Rest In Peace Brieze, I hope that one day I will get to see you again.'

Pete Nicholls, chief executive of Parents Beyond Breakup, said men separating from their partners were among the most at risk of suicide.

'Feelings of isolation and hopelessness are two of the biggest drivers of suicide, and you often get both at once in a breakup,' he said.

'They've lost their partner and home at once and usually aren't able to see their children very much.'

Ms Smith wrote a heartfelt tribute mourning the life together they never got to have

Australian Men's Health Forum chief executive Glen Poole said the vast majority of male suicide stemmed from life events rather than mental health conditions.

'Men often feel shame and grief from their relationship failing and worry about what it will mean for the relationship with their children,' he said.

'It's like a living bereavement - they have gone from living with them and seeing them every day to often long periods with little contact.

'Men feel a lack of control over their life and of how much they will be able to see the most important people in their life (their children) - it's a rollercoaster.'

Mr Poole said men feared getting help because of a legitimate worry that any mental health history could hurt them in custody proceedings.

'Sometimes it's just too much for them to cope with and men are very solution-based and either can't see a way out of their situation, or see suicide as the best option,' he said.

'Often they see it as a selfless act because they feel like a burden, but they need to realise they are valued and needed.'



For confidential support call the Lifeline 24-hour crisis support on 13 11 14
Jeremy Corbyn remained silent last night amid mounting calls for one of his key allies to be thrown out of the Labour Party over disgusting comments about Jews.

Peter Willsman was caught on tape calling some members of the Jewish community Trump fanatics and suggesting they were making up problems about anti-Semitism in the party.

Jewish leaders joined Labour MPs to demand the party expels him for the sickening remarks.

Labour's Peter Willsman called some members of the Jewish community 'Trump fanatics'

They also asked why Mr Corbyn and Labour general secretary Jennie Formby, who were at the meeting of Labours ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) where Mr Willsman spoke, didnt intervene.

Last night, Mr Willsman, one of Momentums candidates in this months NEC elections, apologised and said he had put himself forward for equalities training.

But he defiantly insisted anti-Semitism was not widespread in Labour.

Party leaders refused to take action against him last night as Mr Corbyns office declined to comment.

As Labours anti-Semitism problems spiralled out of control:

It emerged that comments by some Momentum candidates for election to the NEC raised questions about the Lefts commitment to tackle anti-Semitism;

The Campaign Against Anti-Semitism referred Labour to the Equality and Human Rights Commission over its failure to adopt in full the global definition of anti-Semitism;

Labour deputy leader Tom Watson said Mr Willsman disgusts him;

An investigation was launched after a Labour councillor shared a Facebook post comparing Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

Labour former cabinet minister Yvette Cooper yesterday said Mr Willsmans remarks were appalling and urged Mr Corbyn to ask him to stand down as a candidate for the NEC.

She told BBC Radio 4s The World At One: We do need action. It would be very helpful if Jeremy Corbyn could ask Pete Willsman to stand down from those elections because that would help us make clear that the Labour Party is going to take seriously anti-Semitism in future.

First the outburst, then the abject 'apology' What Willsman told the Labour National Executive on July 17: Some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump, they are Trump fanatics and all the rest of it. So I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up information without any evidence at all. So I think we should ask the 70 rabbis, Where is your evidence of severe and widespread anti-Semitism in this party? Extracts from apology he issued yesterday: I am sorry for my behaviour in the last meeting of Labours NEC... I am of course aware of appalling instances of anti- Semitism within our party, and am wholly determined to rooting it out... I do not believe anti- Semitism is widespread in the party, and that was what my comments were trying to refer to, but we do have a problem which needs stamping out. In diminishing the experiences of those who face anti-Semitism, I showed a lack of sensitivity... I will be referring myself [for] equalities training so I can better understand how to approach discussions of such issues in a respectful way. Advertisement

Fellow Labour MP Luciana Berger, chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, said the comments were sickening.

Labour MP Ian Austin  who faces disciplinary action for criticising the partys leadership over its failure to tackle anti-Semitism  said: What Pete Willsman said is just disgusting. He obviously shouldnt be on the NEC.

The key point is Jeremy Corbyn promised to be a militant opponent of anti-Semitism, but sat in a room whilst these awful things were said and didnt say a word.

Karen Pollock, of the Holocaust Educational Trust, added: It is horrifying  not only for its content, but by the fact that the Labour leader and general secretary witnessed these disgusting, indefensible comments and said nothing. It is impossible not to recognise Mr Willsmans contempt for the Jewish community, but even when it is staring him in the face, Mr Corbyn seems unfazed. To remain silent is complicit. This is unacceptable and terrifying.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews  made up of almost 300 deputies directly elected by synagogues and community organisations  said Labour had let Mr Willsman off lightly by not taking disciplinary action against him.

President Marie van der Zyl wrote: Now Peter Willsmans disgusting rant against Jewish community and rabbis has been made public... he should be expelled. Was Jeremy Corbyn there? If so, what form did his professed militant opposition to anti-Semitism take when he heard it?

In the audio clip, acquired by the Jewish Chronicle, Mr Willsman can be heard criticising 68 rabbis who wrote to The Guardian saying anti-Semitism within sections of the Labour Party had become severe and widespread.

Jeremy Corbyn is facing pressure to act following Mr Willsman's comments

Mr Willsman said: Some of these people in the Jewish community support Trump, they are Trump fanatics... so I am not going to be lectured to by Trump fanatics making up information without any evidence at all.

Tom Watson makes his move by saying Peter Willsman disgusts him Labour deputy leader Tom Watson Labour deputy leader Tom Watson exposed the splits at the very top of the party by tweeting that Peter Willsman disgusts him. He made his revulsion at Mr Willsman quite clear just hours after the recording of his comments about Jews was made public. Mr Watson tweeted: For the avoidance of doubt: Peter Willsman is and always has been a loud-mouthed bully. He disgusts me. By contrast, Jeremy Corbyns office stayed silent last night. Mr Watson was elected as deputy leader on the same day Mr Corbyn became leader but is from Labours moderate wing. He has been silent on anti-Semitism in recent days and did not comment on Labours threat to suspend MPs Margaret Hodge and Ian Austin over their criticism of party leadership. But he has been vocal in his disgust at Labour anti-Semitism in the past. In April Mr Watson symbolically gave up his seat on the frontbench to sit next to Jewish Labour MPs on the backbenches during an anti-Semitism debate. And last year he said the party would investigate how the party gave a platform at a conference fringe event to a speaker who said people should be allowed to question whether the Holocaust happened. Advertisement

We should ask the 70 rabbis, Where is your evidence of severe and widespread anti-Semitism in this party? A senior source close to the Labour leadership said last night that Mr Willsman did not break any party rules, but he needed equalities training.

Yesterday, Mr Willsman apologised, saying: I am sorry for my behaviour in the last meeting of Labours NEC, which I deeply regret. Having sat on the NEC for many years, I am of course aware of appalling instances of anti-Semitism within our party, and am wholly determined to rooting it out of our movement.

I do not believe anti-Semitism is widespread in the Labour Party, and that was what my comments were trying to refer to  but we do have a problem which needs stamping out. I will be referring myself to receive equalities training so I can better understand how to approach discussions of such issues in a respectful way.

Mr Willsman is one of nine Momentum candidates for the NEC. One of them accused Labour moderates of inflaming fears of anti-Semitism out of all proportion to the scale of the problem. Another wrote that Israel was guilty of apartheid, while a third spoke at an event alongside a professor who has claimed the UK is controlled by Zionists.

Tory chairman Brandon Lewis said such shocking comments... expose Labours systemic problem with anti-Semitic racism.

Last night, the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism referred Labour to the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

It also claimed that Mr Corbyn hosted a 2010 event in Parliament where speakers compared Israeli actions in Gaza to the slaughter of Jews during the Holocaust and the Labour leader failed to intervene.

Chairman Gideon Falter said it was beyond doubt that Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite and Labour has become institutionally anti-Semitic.

But a Labour spokesman said: False and partisan attacks like this undermine the fight against anti-Semitism.

Hard-left zealot who even his own side call an embarrassment

By Andrew Pierce

Hard-Left firebrand Peter Willsman has got a reputation not just for long, ill-judged outbursts, but also for being highly critical of the leadership of the Jewish community

Few people in the crowded meeting of Labours ruling National Executive Committee were surprised to hear hard-Left firebrand Peter Willsmans hate-filled rant.

Hes got a reputation not just for long, ill-judged outbursts, but also for being highly critical of the leadership of the Jewish community.

One trade unionist member of the NEC  which is made up of 40 party members who act as Labours governing body and oversee party policy  once reportedly joked that they must have done something terrible in a past life to end up spending eight hours in a small room with Willsman.

In his diatribe this month  at which Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was present  Willsman blamed claims of anti-Semitism within the party on Trump fanatics from the Jewish community.

His claim never to have seen any anti-Semitism in Labour was particularly inflammatory given that he is a member of the NECs disputes committee, which has a backlog of around 70 alleged complaints of anti-Semitism.

Willsmans position on the committee gives him an unrivalled insight into the gravity of the problem engulfing his party  and makes his denials of any evidence of a problem all the more despicable.

But then Peter Willsman has form on this highly divisive and controversial topic.

When former London mayor Ken Livingstone caused outrage in 2016 by saying that Zionists  who support the existence of a Jewish state  had collaborated with Hitler there were immediate calls for him to be expelled from the party.

But Livingstone, a close ally of Corbyn, was merely suspended. For two years, Labour came under sustained pressure from Jewish leaders and many of Labours own MPs to eject Livingstone. And who was his doughtiest defender on the NEC? Step forward Peter Willsman.

Willsman, 74, secretary of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy  a grassroots group that follows the hard-Left doctrine of the late Tony Benn, who was Corbyns political mentor  urged his members to rally behind Livingstone.

In the end, the pressure on Livingstone to go became so strong that he quit Labour of his own accord. But right to the end Willsman, an old friend and political ally, was fighting to keep him in the party. Now, hes done even more damage.

When former London mayor Ken Livingstone caused outrage in 2016 by saying that Zionists  who support the existence of a Jewish state  had collaborated with Hitler there were immediate calls for him to be expelled from the party

Though he apologised late yesterday, several high-profile party members called for him to step down as a candidate in the current NEC elections.

But for now he has survived  and may yet be re-elected to the NEC committee when the ballot papers are counted.

If so, it will be in large part because he is one of the chosen candidates of the Momentum movement, which targets any perceived enemies of Jeremy Corbyn aggressively. Thanks to Corbyns hard-Left takeover of the party, Momentum now has a majority of members on Labours NEC.

When more than 70 Labour council leaders wrote an open letter in January criticising the disproportionate influence of the NEC, it was Willsman who was the most outspoken.

Our esteemed council leaders seem to be a little rusty in relation to our rule book and the all-encompassing powers it gives to the NEC. Perhaps I should propose to the NEC that the leaders are all sent a copy of the bright red 2018 rule book that has just been published, he wrote.

It does seem to be the case that our partys hard-Right (self-defined as moderates) and the hostile Tory Press have an unholy alliance to smear Momentum relentlessly. Everything this motley crew are critical of is all down to Momentum.

Theres no doubt Willsman  who was elected for stints on the NEC in 1998, 2005, and 2015  is one of Corbyns staunchest supporters. He argued strongly after Labours 2015 general election defeat that Corbyn should be on the ballot paper for the next Labour leadership election.

When Corbyn was duly nominated, Willsman  in another typically toxic intervention  said: I want the party to split so we can get rid of the Blairites. Even hard-line Corbynites who may have privately shared the same view resisted saying it in public.

The garrulous Willsman went even further at an NEC meeting last autumn when he attacked Labour MPs who had the temerity to be critical of Corbyn. He stopped the meeting in its tracks by saying that some of the MPs deserve to be attacked.

NEC chairman Glenis Willmott intervened, saying angrily: Thats not appropriate, one of our MPs was killed. But despite the warning over the murder of Jo Cox 15 months earlier, Willsman repeated the remarks.

A Labour member since his teens, Peter Willsman was born in Andover, Hampshire.

An only child, his father Rupert, who worked in a shop, died when he was nine. His mother Violet never remarried.

In 1972, Willsman married a woman named Susan Rudland, but the union was short-lived and they had no children.

It was through his work as a research officer for the public- sector union NUPE in 1979 that he first met Jeremy Corbyn, who also worked for the union before he became an MP in 1983. They became close friends, along with Ken Livingstone and the current shadow home secretary Diane Abbott.

After NUPE, Willsman worked for the union Unison, and since his retirement has served on several Labour committees.

He owns a run-down, 300,000 terraced house in Plumstead, south-east London, which is rented out to tenants, and lives in a basement flat in Oxford.

In private, colleagues on the NEC mock the fact that Willsman wrote a guide for Labour candidates and party members on how to make speeches, which included the advice to be brief, to speak to listeners and not at them and never to harangue.

One fellow Corbynite said last night that it was a pity Willsman never followed his own advice. His very presence on the NEC damages Jeremy and makes our job of winning the next election even more difficult.

He is embarrassment, a bore and self-opinionated windbag.

An embarrassment, undoubtedly, but he is also the true face of Labours deep and worsening anti-Semitism problem  one it seems that Jeremy Corbyn, who was deafeningly silent yesterday, is simply unable, or unwilling, to stamp out.
This is the incredible moment a mini tornado blew a parked van straight into a wall in the midst of the UK's ever-changing weather.

'Freaky' footage shows a van parked in an industrial car park slam into the wall in Norfolk.

The eerie black and white clip was taken on CCTV last Saturday and demonstrates the sheer force of the gust.

The 'freaky' moment a white van was pushed in to a brick wall by a mini tornado was capture on CCTV vision

Eerie black and white clip captures the moment a white van is pushed in to a brickwall by a mini tornado in the UK

It shows the two vans completely still in a relatively empty car park.

Suddenly, in a scene that could be taken from a horror film, a huge gust of wind hits one of the vans.

The birds perched atop of the white van flee as it is pushed away.

One seagull can't escape the sheer force of the gust and is whisked into the air and then pinned to the ground.

The CCTV footage captured the parked van rolling back and in to the brick building in the car park

The tornado pushed the car in to the wall with sheer force it smashed the rear lights. The brick wall was also damaged from the impact

The vehicle then hits the brick in one swift movement and remained resting on the at wall until the owner came back.

Damage to the van was excess of 1,200.

The Managing Director of the workplace where the van was parked told MailOnline: 'We came across our car park at work, moved a long wheel base transit style van and crashed it into a wall. Freaky.

'Seagulls also got caught up in the wind and one was pulled under the van,' they said.

Seagulls resting atop the van are whisked in to the air and pushed on to the ground as the white van is pushed backwards

The vehicle then hits a brick wall in one swift movement and remains completely resting on the brick wall

The UK have an average of 30 tornadoes reported each year. Despite the fact they are weaker than tornadoes in the states - they occur more frequently.

Most tornadoes last for less than ten minutes but larger, more powerful tornadoes can last up to 30 minutes.

They usually form when different temperatures and humidity meet.
Donald Trump Jr. is complaining that Aziz Ansari is being offered a 'second chance' despite a sexual-misconduct allegation, while Roseanne Barr's sitcom was cancelled over her racist tweet.

'I'm sure they're chomping at the bit to give Rosanne and other conservatives a second chance... right?' Don Jr. tweeted on Monday, sharing a Vanity Fair story which revealed that Netflix's head of original content would be 'happy' to make another season Ansari's Master of None.

'Yet another example of the rules only applying one way. At least they're consistent. Take note.'

Donald Trump Jr. slammed Netflix executives for saying they'd giving Aziz Ansari (left) another despite a sexual-misconduct allegation, while Roseanne Barr's (right) sitcom reboot was cancelled over her racist tweet

Ansari has kept a low profile since he was accused of sexual misconduct during a date with an unidentified 23-year-old photographer.

She claimed that, she went back to the comedian's apartment after their date, and he ignored her verbal and non-verbal cues and allegedly 'pressured' her to have sexual intercourse, which they didn't, and to perform oral sex, which she did.

Ansari denied anything but consensual acts occurred, but the allegations - which were made at the height of the Me Too movement - sparked huge debate around the modern definition of sexual assault and how comfortable we are discussing it.

Donald Trump Jr. tweeted claiming the networks' decisions were political

Many also defended the comedian, arguing his behavior on the date did not equate to assault or misconduct, and the allegations did not belong with the Me Too movement.

Months later, Cindy Holland, a programming executive for the streaming service, said at a critic's meeting on Sunday there's been thought given to a third season for the comedy starring and co-created by Ansari.

She added that Netflix would 'certainly be happy' to make another 'Master of None' season with Ansari, but didn't commit to it or indicate what the production or release timeline might be. The show about a young, single actor in New York last aired in 2017.

But some conservatives, including Trump Jr., have found it hypocritical that Netflix is offering Ansari another series, while Barr's eponymous sitcom reboot was cancelled in May over her comments.

Aziz Ansari was accused of sexual assault in January that sparked public debate

Barr was widely condemned for her tweet comparing African American, former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, to an ape.

Several of her costars threatened to quit before ABC cancelled the show on May 29.

That hasn't stopped Barr from tweeting and making excuses for her racist tweet, claiming she was tweeting on sleeping pill Ambien and that she thought Jarrett was white. She finally apologized if Jarrett had found the tweet racist.

She has also attacked the media coverage calling it 'an attack on the Midwest,' but said 'I think people see through it.'

The revived show had a more political slant that saw Barr become a Trump supporter.

ABC has since announced a spinoff from Roseanne, called The Connors, which won't feature the disgraced star. Barr is now planning her own talk show for her YouTube channel.

But Trump Jr. argues the networks' decisions were political.

She was fired on May 29, the same day she tweeted that Obama's former adviser Valerie Jarrett looked like 'Muslim Brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby'

Speaking on The View, Jarrett seemed unperturbed by the tweet saying: 'In all seriousness...I'm fine. I am just fine.'

Roseanne Barr's sitcom (pictured) was cancelled in May when she tweeted comparing an African American ex Obama adviser to an ape

In fact, Netflix have fired liberal stars in the past when they have been accused of misconduct.

House of Cards star Kevin Spacey was fired after at least 24 men accused him of sexual misconduct or assault.

The final series was rewritten around Robin Wright's character, wife to Spacey's politician.

Holland also revealed that the future of Arrested Development was in doubt.

The series stars Jeffrey Tambor, who was fired from another show, Transparent, after an actress and Tambor's assistant accused him of inappropriate touching and sexual propositions - allegations that the actor has denied.

Holland said there's been no discussion about whether there will be another season of 'Arrested' or if Tambor would be involved, she said.
A former special education teacher in Connecticut, awaiting trial for having sex with two male students, was found by police with one of her alleged victims.

Laura Calladio Ramos was pulled over on June 22 for using her cellphone while driving when police noticed the alleged victim also in the vehicle.

Last year, the 32-year-old was charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault after police said she admitted to having sex with a special education student, at-the-time 18, a 'handful of times.'

Laura Calladio Ramos was pulled over on June 22 for using her cellphone while driving when Waterford police noticed a 19-year-old man in her vehicle who was the protectee of a protective order against Ramos

The educator - who resigned from her position at Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut - was charged with another sexual assault charge after another relationship with a student was discovered.

Freed on $50,000 bond, the woman had been instructed not to have contact with the alleged victims.

When Ramos was pulled over, a 19-year-old man was said to be in the passenger seat. He was said to be the protectee of a protective order while Ramos was the subject, Fox 61 reported.

Ramos was detained and spent an hour in jail before she was hit with a $250,000 bond by an irate Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin.

Last year, the 32-year-old was charged with three counts of second-degree sexual assault of two students from Central High School in Bridgeport

'Honestly, what is going on here?' Devlin asked Ramos at her hearing, according to the New York Post. 'You were going to the beach with a boy who was a subject of your case. That is completely reckless.'

The woman's attorney, Edward Gavin, apologized thrice for her 'lapse in judgement.'

'You were going to the beach with a boy who was a subject of your case. That is completely reckless,' said Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin, while setting the woman's new bond at $250,000

'We acknowledge this is a severe violation of the court's order and I have impressed upon her how serious it is,' Gavin added.

Devlin ordered that Ramos be confined to her home while not working as a waitress. He also demanded that she wear a GPS monitor ahead of her trial.

She was also charged with distracted driving and criminal violation of a protective order.

Ramos had been accused of sexually assaulting the teen and another student from December 2016 until April 2017 at a restaurant in Shelton.

A student had shared with police that they had sex in the electrical room at the restaurant after Ramos had shared that her now ex-husband was refusing to have sex with her.

The student also told police that Ramos sent him text messages to the teen telling him that that was the best sex she ever had.

Prosecutors believe other students may have been taken advantage of.
A parking meter technician allegedly stole more than $300,000 in coins from city meters before depositing the money into his personal account - all in coins.

Slavko Kalic, 49, allegedly ran the amateur scam across Melbourne's CBD with three other people between 2011 and 2017.

Over those years he allegedly made more than 200 trips to the bank and would deposit thousands of dollars in coins at one time, The Herald Sun reported.

A parking meter technician (not pictured) allegedly stole more than $300,00 in coins from city meters and deposited every cent into his personal account, police say (stock image)

Police allege that on some days he would deposit up to $3,000 and visit the bank several times.

It is thought that Mr Kalic allegedly stole $339,078 but sources have said that could just be the tip of the iceberg.

Because there is no way of auditing the parking meters Mr Kalic allegedly raided it is impossible to know how exactly how much money was stolen in the scam.

Police have charged Mr Kalic over the deposits linked to his personal bank account.

However, Mr Kalic's lawyer George Balot, will seek to prove some of the coin deposits were legitimate.

Mr Kalic was at work carrying out repairs on metres for Citywide, a council run company, when he was arrested in November last year.

A parking meter technician allegedly stole more than $300,000 in coins (stock)

His work meant he was in charge of the maintenance and had to carry a key to access the the parking meters.

He was not authorised to access the cash boxes, which can hold $1000 in coin at one time.

Citywide, who Mr Kalic had worked for since 1998, started to suspect that the money was being taken after several meters had less cash inside than expected.

Mr Kalic was allegedly captured by a surveillance team removing the cash boxes form the meters and emptying them into a van.

He was also allegedly filmed depositing cash into an ATM.

He will reappear in court in September.
The man accused of murdering Larissa Beilby previoulsy forced a loaded gun into the mouth of another woman, police will allege.

The 32-year-old Queensland woman came forward to police this week claiming she was seriously assaulted by Zlatko Sikorsky, 34, in June.

Detectives said the woman was allegedly threatened with a gun while she was at a service station at Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane, the Courier Mail reported.

Zlatko Sikorsky (pictured) has been charged with attempted murder and torture of a second 32-year-old woman in June after she made the claims to police earlier this week

The 34-year-old was charged over 16-year-old Larissa Beilby's (pictured) death in Queensland on Sunday

Sikorsky allegedly punched the 32-year-old repeatedly in the head and pushed her into a car window near the Gateway Motorway.

The woman, who was reportedly known to Sikorsky, allegedly suffered serious swelling and bruising to her face.

Sikorsky was charged with attempted murder and torture of a second woman.

The second set of charges are unrelated to the murder charge over the death of the 16-year-old girl in Queensland.

The accused was charged on Sunday with the murder, torture, deprivation of liberty and interfering with a corpse after Larissa's body was found in a barrel in the back of a ute on the northern Gold Coast last week.

Sikorsky was arrested after an intense 28-hour siege on Saturday night where he was hit with the charges over his teenage girlfriend's death.

The manhunt was sparked after a corpse was found in a barrel in the back of a stolen utility truck.

Ms Beilby's body was found in a barrel in back of a ute near Brisbane last week (pictured)

Sikorsky (pictured covering his face) allegedly punched the 32-year-old repeatedly in the head and pushed her into a car window near the Gateway Motorway, Brisbane, in June

Detectives said the woman was allegedly threatened by Sikorsky with a firearm while she was at a service station at Daisy Hill, south of Brisbane, before he allegedly beat her

Sikorsky allegedly sped away from the police in the ute and dumped it at a gated community.

He allegedly offered a woman $2000 to let him inside her home before she saw a 'dead arm' hanging out of the vehicle.

Armed with weapons, Sikorksy eventually holed himself up at the apartment block and began making demands of police until he gave himself up to police at about 6.30pm Saturday.

Sikorsky could be seen covering his face with his tattooed hands as he was taken to a Maroochydore police station following the standoff at the apartment block on the Sunshine Coast.

The 34-year-old faces another 16 charges as well as the new charges over the alleged assault towards the 32-year-old woman.

Sikorsky (far right) was arrested after an intense 28-hour siege on Saturday night where he was hit with the charges over his teenage girlfriend's death

Police alleged Sikorsky was in possession of a shotgun and a handgun, as well as fake vehicle registration plates with spray-painted letters and numbers, according to court documents.

On Wednesday, detectives investigating Larissa's death put out a fresh call for information about a vehicle of interest.

They're searching for a 2014 silver Holden Commodore sedan with a sunroof and Queensland registration plates 966 WKB which may have since been removed or replaced.

Joseph Geiger, 38, was charged with being an accessory to the teenager's alleged murder and a woman was also charged with accessory after the fact to murder.

Sikorsky is due to appear in court in September.
Brian Benenhaley, 44, says that he always knew he was different growing up in Sumter County

A new book written by two researchers has confirmed that a small community in South Carolina known as the Turks is indeed originated from what is today Turkey.

The Turks are an isolated group of people that live in Sumter County, South Carolina.

They trace their origins back to Joseph Benenhaley, a man who came to America from what was then the Ottoman Empire just after the American Revolution.

Benenhaleys descendants were darker in complexion than their white neighbors, which condemned them to a life of segregation.

The community never numbered more than a few hundred, according to The New York Times.

Still, because they looked somewhat different, they were made to attend Turkish-only public schools, sit at Turkish theaters, and be treated in Turkish hospital beds.

For over two centuries, it was thought by the locals that the Turks fabricated their Middle Eastern origin because they did not want to be lumped in with other non-whites, who were victims of far worse discrimination in the Deep South.

Some Turks even doubted their communitys own narrative to the point where they became convinced that they were Native American.

But a new book says that the Turks are indeed real.

Benenhaley (seen above with his family) traces origins back to Joseph Benenhaley, a man who came to America from what was then the Ottoman Empire just after the American Revolution

The book, South Carolinas Turkish People: A History and Ethnology, was written by Glen Browder, a white man from Sumter County who once served as a member of Congress; and Terri Ann Ognibene, a high school teacher of Turkish descent from the Atlanta area.

Weve learned the true history of the Turkish people, solving a 200-year mystery, said Browder.

The critics that dismiss the claims about their narrative as pure racism, they were pretty much off target.

One of Benenhaleys descendants, Brian Benenhaley, 44, says that he always knew he was different growing up in Sumter County.

He says white people looked down on him and his family, which only gave him more motivation to prove that he belonged.

But people in his community are sharply divided as to whether their roots are in the Middle East or among the Native American tribe of Cheraws.

A new book written by two researchers has confirmed that a small community in South Carolina known as the Turks is indeed originated from what is today Turkey

They dont have any documented proof about Joseph Benenhaley, Ralph Oxendine, the chief of the Cheraw, said.

In 2013, some of the Turks were recognized by the government of South Carolina as Cheraw, a move that sharpened the divisions.

The links to Native American ancestry likely stem from the fact that a number of Turks did marry into Native American families.

But the authors say that letters and documents show that Joseph Benenhaley was referred to as an Ottoman bounded by the Spanish at sea.

DNA reports from that period which were obtained by the authors show that Benenhaleys descendants were predominantly Mediterranean/Middle Eastern/North African ancestry - with slight European markers and that there was no evidence of Native American or sub-Sahara African blood.

Still, despite the researchers' work, Turks are still unsure of what to call themselves.

Said Benenhaley: 'Even to this day I still feel confused, on forms, about how to mark what my race is.'
Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has secretly backed amnesty for IRA killers as the price for ending the witch-hunt of British troops serving in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

He wants Theresa May to give UK troops who served in Northern Ireland a pardon to stop hounding them.

But he wrote 'so be it' if IRA terrorists were included, in a shocking letter to the Prime Minister seen by The Sun.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson wants Prime Minister Theresa May to give UK troops who served in Northern Ireland a pardon to stop hounding them

Mr Williamson wrote to Theresa May: 'If that means a wider amnesty, so be it.' 'Veterans need the protection of a statute of limitations for Troubles-related offences.

'In the public mind, the Good Friday Agreement, 'On the Run' letters and the apparent disproportionate focus of the investigation on security forces amount to a de facto terrorists' amnesty.' All 302 killings by troops during 30 years of the conflict in Ulster are being reviewed.

Some date back 40 years and critics say they are traumatising veterans now in their 70s and 80s.

Government lawyers warned protecting veterans from prosecution would fall foul of European Human Rights laws.

Last night Tory MP and former soldier Tom Tugendhat told The Sun: 'The Government's been clear - soldiers served in legal units, not terror gangs.

'To equate them would be wrong and deny justice to the many murdered by the IRA over decades of violence.' Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley and the PM say a let-off for Provos is 'unacceptable'.

One of Mr Williamson's allies said: 'The system is patently unfair.

'The odds are stacked against our forces, who have become a soft target for hounding. Gavin is doing everything he can to stop the witch-hunt.' Last month a drying Army veteran facing prosecution over a killing during The Troubles told last night how 18 police officers were sent to arrest him for attempted murder.

Frail Dennis Hutchings, 77, revealed he was quizzed 26 times over four days in custody as his world was turned upside down.

As he cooked breakfast, a knock at the door of his Cornwall home saw the former soldier confronted with a deployment of officers.

Suffering from serious heart, kidney and prostate problems, he was arrested on suspicion of murder and saw his house searched in front of his bemused family.

Mr Hutchings was then whisked off to Belfast for questioning.

The former Regiment Corporal Major has said his arrest and interrogation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland 41 years after the killing was 'a form of torture'.

Mr Hutchings made a plea to No 10 to intervene last month after he found himself hauled to court to face attempted murder charges over the fatal shooting of John-Pat Cunningham, 27, in June 1974.

If found guilty, he could be sentenced to a maximum 16 years in prison.
A Korean-American rapper claimed that he was booted from a JetBlue flight to Minnesota because the flight attendant didn't like 'Asian with tattoos.'

Last week, rapper Jin Gates posted a video on Instagram claiming he had to cancel a show in Minnesota because the flight attendant didn't 'feel safe on the plane.'

'Minnesota I'm sorry not my fault... @JetBlue DONT LIKE ASIAN WITH TATTOOS.... we got kicked off the plane because the flight attendant said she don't feel safe on the plane with us,' Gates said on the post, along with a video from inside the plane.

Scroll down for video

Last week, rapper Jin Gates posted a video on Instagram claiming he had to cancel a show in Minnesota after JetBlue booted him from a flight

'As u can see even when i got kicked off I was still respectful. The main supervisor asked everyone around us if we did something wrong or if they heard me being disrespectful all the passengers said I did nothing wrong!!!!'

Videos shows Gates confronting security and asking if he is being removed from the flight.

'I don't want them to get mad at me because I can't make my show in Minnesota, you know what I'm saying?' he says to the the crew member, 'Crazy.'

'Minnesota I'm sorry not my fault... @JetBlue DONT LIKE ASIAN WITH TATTOOS.... we got kicked off the plane because the flight attendant said she don't feel safe on the plane with us,' Gates said on the post, along with a video from inside the plane

Videos shows Gates confronting crew and asking if he is being removed from the flight

As he makes his way off the flight, Gates grabs his things and exits with little to no resistance.

Gates is verified on Instagram and has more than 263k followers. His music video 'My Girl' has more than 1.2million views.

Most took to his post to voice their words of support but their were a few that were skeptical about what actually happened on the flight. The post has been viewed just under 100k times.

Gates is verified on Instagram and has more than 263k followers. His music video 'My Girl' has more than 1.2million views

JetBlue released a statement to Fox News stating that a verbal altercation led to Gates removal from the flight.

'The decision to remove a customer from a flight is not taken lightly,' the statement read. 'In this instance, after the customer started a verbal altercation with our crewmember, our team determined the situation risked escalation during flight. The team asked the customers to deplane and their fare was refunded.'
Pakistani have suspended the registration of a school here after some students danced to an Indian song and waved India's national flag.

Karachi: Pakistani authorities have suspended the registration of a school here after some students danced to an Indian song and waved India's national flag during a cultural event, hurting the country's "national dignity".

A show-cause notice was issued to the school's owner on Wednesday to appear before the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (DIRPIS).

The last week's incident came to light after a video of the function went viral on social media, facing severe criticism from people, The News International reported.

The registration of the 'Mama Baby Care Cambridge School' has been suspended for allegedly promoting Indian culture, the report said. The DIRPIS has formed a three-member committee to probe into the school's function in which students were dancing on an Indian song and waving national flag of India in the background, it said.

According to DIRPIS registrar Rafia Javed, "promoting Indian culture in educational institutions was against Pakistan's national dignity which could not be tolerated in any circumstances".

The action was taken when the directorate came to know that the school had deliberately arranged such a function. The owner of the school was asked to explain his stance about the matter within three days after receiving the notice else his school's registration would be cancelled.

However, the school's owner neither responded to the directorate nor appeared before the officials to clear his position, leading to the suspension of the registration.

Javed said that it was a very sensitive matter that possibly could trigger public anger. The school's vice-principal Fatima said that last week, the school management arranged an event for the students to make them aware about cultures of different countries.

It was an event in which students presented the cultures of Saudi Arabia, the US, Egypt, Pakistan, India and other countries. However, some reporters twisted the matter and picked only a specific part of the programme to target the school, she said.
Longtime Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz said a woman at a Martha's Vineyard cocktail party said she would 'stab him through the heart' for his frequent TV defenses of President Trump.

Dershowitz, a longtime liberal who jumped to fame during the O.J. Simpson trial, complained in an op-ed he was being cast out of society on tony Martha's Vineyard due to his views.

He pushed the story forward in an appearance on Tucker Carlson's show on Fox News, where he has provided TV advice to Trump and defended him from special counsel Robert Mueller's encircling Russia probe.

'People talk about parties as if that's something serious. I don't care about parties. I'm invited to too many,' Dershowitz told the host, the Hill reported.

Alan Dershowitz said a woman at a cocktail party said if he were there she would 'stab him through the heart'

'But at a party this week on Marthas Vineyard, a woman said, "If Dershowitz were here tonight, Id stab him through the heart,' he recounted. He didn't name the source of his information or the woman.

He continued: 'Another Martha's Vineyarder, a professor at MIT, professor Nicholas Negroponte ... he's leading the campaign to try to get other people to shun me in every way and not to engage with me.'

'Now they're losing because the vast majority of people, even in Martha's Vineyard and in Chilmark, can't stand people who try to stop speech and try to stop debate. So it's backfiring,' he said.

Dershowitz took a drubbing online after he penned an op-ed in The Hill complaining about being shunned in the tony New England getaway destination.

He tweeted July 3 that he was 'reveling not whining.'

I AM AN ISLAND: Dershowitz says people are shunning him on Martha's Vineyard

Dershowitz says he has been shunned in social circles for defending Trump

Dershowitz has been a fixture on Fox News defending President Trump

'Im proud of taking an unpopular, principled position that gets me shunned by partisan zealots. Its not about me. I couldnt care less about being shunned by such people. Its about their unwillingness to engage in dialogue,' he said.

Dershowitz said his defense of Trump from the Russia probe had nothing to do with his stance on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who intelligence officials believe ordered hacking during the 2016 presidential election.

'I hate Vladimir Putin. I hate what he stands for. I hate tyranny anywhere in the world. I am not doing the bidding of Donald Trump,' Dershowitz said on Fox.

He complained in his original column that his past support for liberal causes 'is not good enough for some of my old friends on Marthas Vineyard. For them, it is enough that what I have said about the Constitution might help Trump. So they are shunning me and trying to ban me from their social life on Marthas Vineyard.'

He likened his party banishment to McCarthyism.
Settling for a soft Brexit could cost the Conservatives the next election, Theresa May was warned last night.

The Prime Minister faced down a revolt by Cabinet Eurosceptics at Chequers yesterday to reach an uneasy agreement on a 12-point compromise, which could see Britain tied to some EU rules forever.

But the summit came as a poll showed a swathe of Tory voters will abandon Mrs May if she waters down Brexit too much  with two-thirds warning that they would rather walk away without a deal.

After nine hours of bruising talks, Brexiteer ministers last night appeared to have accepted a so-called third way deal with Europe, despite some threats to walk out.

Nevertheless some pro-Brexit MPs suggested privately that the Prime Minister will face open mutiny if the plan is as bad as it looks  with some even threatening to vote down the Budget, plunging the Government into chaos.

Following the crunch meeting at her country retreat, Mrs May issued a statement saying her warring Cabinet had agreed our collective position for the future of our negotiations with the EU.

Theresa May has summoned the people tasked with decided the future of Brexit to the Chequers country residence

In a significant shift, which looks certain to enrage some Eurosceptics, Mrs May said ministers had agreed to abide by EU rules for industrial goods and farm products in order to ease the burden on business.

The move could limit the UKs ability to strike trade deals with countries like the United States.

In a statement last night, Downing Street said the proposals represented a substantial evolution of the Governments position which was designed to ensure frictionless trade with the EU.

Members of the cabinet gather at Chequers, the Prime Minister's official country residence for today's crunch Brexit talks, which are running into tonight

It added it was the Governments firm view that striking a comprehensive trade deal was the best option.

But, with time running short, ministers also agreed that contingency plans for coping with a no-deal exit should be stepped up.

The 12-point blueprint drawn up by Whitehall yesterday also pledged there will be no delay in Britains exit from the EU in March next year and no compromise on the end to free movement.

And in a nod to the Leave campaigns promise to take back control, the PM said Parliament would have to approve all new EU regulations after Brexit.

Mrs May also pledged to end the jurisdiction of the European courts  but it was unclear how this would work if the UK agrees to follow a common rulebook.

Sources last night said the move meant no individual or business in the UK will be able to take a case to the European Court of Justice.

Theresa May was battling to keep her Cabinet together ahead of today's crunch Brexit showdown (pictured) at her country retreat Chequers

Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns described the surveys findings as a real wake-up call for the Cabinet and all Conservative MPs, and urged Mrs May to pursue a clean Brexit.

Miss Jenkyns, who quit the Government last month to speak out on Brexit, told BBC Look North she would 100 per cent be willing to sign a letter to trigger a leadership challenge to Theresa May.

She said: I am a blunt northerner. I speak as I find... I am standing up for the 17.4million people who wanted these red lines.

Yesterdays Chequers summit began with Mrs May issuing an ultimatum to ministers that they would have to accept her proposals or resign.

Downing Street let it be known that the PMs top team had war-gamed the possibility of big name resignations and had already lined up replacements.

As ministers gathered for the meeting, one source said: Collective responsibility will be asserted at the end of the day.

A select number of ego-driven, leadership-dominated Cabinet ministers need to support the PM in the best interests of the UK  or their spots will be taken by a talented new generation of MPs who will sweep them away.

Sources said Government Chief Whip Julian Smith had sounded out a string of pro-Brexit junior ministers about the possibility of stepping up if cabinet big beasts like David Davis or Boris Johnson chose to walk out.

In an extraordinary move, officials even left cards for a local minicab firm in the Chequers lobby to drive home the point that anyone tempted to storm out would lose their ministerial car and have to make the mile-long walk up the driveway on foot before trying to get a lift home.

Ministers spent yesterday morning discussing the available outcomes in light of the EUs current position  with Chancellor Philip Hammond giving a gloomy analysis of the likely impact of the economy.

Number 10 released pictures showing the room in which Prime Minister Theresa May and ministers thrashed out their strategy

After a buffet lunch of barbecued chicken, salad and scones, the Prime Minister led the discussion on the 120-page White Paper on Britains future relations, which she hopes to publish next week.

Ministers were required to hand in their phones on arrival for the duration of the summit. The precaution was ostensibly for security reasons, but also served to stem the flow of toxic leaks that has characterised the run-up to the summit.

After reaching an uneasy agreement yesterday evening, the Cabinet broke for a dinner of smoked salmon, beef fillet and leeks, followed by marmalade bread and butter pudding, before resuming talks on how to communicate the UKs vision to parliament, the public, Brussels and the Conservative Party.

One senior MP last night said Eurosceptics could wreck Government business in the Commons  and even vote down the Budget - if Mrs May betrays their vision of Brexit.

The source said the mood among backbenchers was so ugly that some MPs had to be talked out of voting against the governments spending plans on Tuesday this week.

If they go down this route, they will need Labour votes to get the Brexit deal through, the source said. And if they do that Im not sure they will be able to govern.

The poll, commissioned by pro-Brexit group Change Britain, found that a quarter of voters said they would be less likely to vote Tory if the final deal left the EU with some power to limit the UKs ability to strike new trade deals  as it appeared to do.

What Mrs May's Brexit plan means 1. Theresa May is ruling out any extension to the process of negotiating with Brussels under Article 50, which governs the process of leaving the EU. 2. Makes clear that immigration remains a red line which will not be bargained away. 3. The 10billion which goes to Brussels coffers every year will be slashed. 4. This is the PMs attempt to put a positive gloss on her third way customs plan, under which the UK will collect EU tariffs on Brussels behalf for a small proportion of imports. Eurosceptics dont like this  but business leaders say is essential. 5. Eurosceptics will hate this element, which suggests Britain will maintain regulatory alignment with EU rules  but it is strongly backed by big corporations and the CBI business lobby group. 6. Britain will guarantee that it wont sign trade deals that will allow sub-standard produce to be imported. 7. An important measure, which will see MPs get a vote every time we sign up to a new EU trade rule, rather than the rules automatically coming into force as at present. 8. It means Britain will be able to strike its own path on farming and will also be able to guarantee a greater catch for British trawlermen. 9. Ending the supremacy of the European Court of Justice is a red line for Cabinet Eurosceptics, but it is unclear how this will work alongside the pledge to follow EU rules. 10. The latter clause is the most significant: it is a guarantee to the Democratic Unionist Party MPs who prop up Mrs Mays Government that they will not give in to Brussels demands for a border in the Irish Sea. 11. Mrs May is determined to get a deal which allows European agencies to work together to fight terrorism and crime. 12. Britain will take back full control of its foreign affairs. Advertisement

And almost two-thirds said Mrs May needed to be ready to turn down a bad deal and walk away rather than pursue endless compromises.
Miami police were caught on camera unlawfully seizing guns, drugs and nearly $20,000 in stripper tips, during a traffic stop that they later boasted about to local media.

Ras Cates, 33, and his wife Lizmixell Batista, 20, were pulled over for cutting off a patrol car in Miami on May 25 when officers searched the couple's car without permission.

In the trunk they found six guns, including three assault rifles, $19,934 that Batista, a stripper, had earned in tips at Cheetah Gentleman's Club in Hallandale Beach, suspected marijuana oil and several bottles of codeine cough syrup.

The couple were charged with multiple felonies including armed drug dealing, but quickly moved to have the charges thrown out by saying the evidence was obtained illegally, according to the Miami Herald.

The entire traffic stop was caught by an officer's bodycam, which led prosecutors to dismiss the case.

A court has ordered the Miami-Dade Police Department to return the glittery cash and pay the couple's $3,000 legal bill.

Scroll down for video

A court has determined Miami police unlawfully seizing guns, drugs and nearly $20,000 in stripper tips during a traffic stop recorded by a bodycam on May 25

The driver, 33-year-old Ras Cates, left, and passenger, 20-year-old Lizmixell Batista, right, were arrested and charged with multiple felonies including armed drug dealing

The bodycam footage shows Batista explaining to police that the large amount of cash in her purse came from her job as a stripper. The department has been ordered to return the money after authorities determined that there was no probable cause to search the car

The incident in Miami's West Little River neighborhood has garnered significant media attention in part because the department had boasted about the seizure by sharing photos of the guns with a local TV station.

'It's amazing how something as simple as a traffic stop can lead us to crack a lot of cases,' a police spokesman told CBS4.

'A lot of serial killers are behind bars because of traffic stops.'

A defense attorney for Cates and Batista, Jude Faccidomo, said: 'What is most disturbing is that immediately following the arrest, the department went on TV and engaged in incendiary speculation without knowing the facts or even acknowledging the rampant violations of my clients' constitutional rights.'

Based on the bodycam footage, prosecutors agreed with the defense.

'Search of the trunk was illegal,' prosecutor Johnathan Nobile wrote in a memo explaining why the state didn't press charges.

The Miami Dade Police Department boasted about the seizure by sharing photos of the guns and alleged codeine syrup and marijuana oil with a local CBS TV station

In the video obtained by DailyMail.com an officer can be seen commanding Cates to open the trunk - where they found the bounty of potentially illegal items.

Cates told the officers that he legally owned the six guns and had a valid concealed-weapons permit, which authorities have confirmed.

Neither defendant admitted to owning the marijuana - and it is still unclear if the alleged codeine syrup - which was never tested - was obtained illegally or with a prescription.

The nearly $20,000 in bills was discovered in Batista's purse.

The video shows the 20-year-old telling the officers: 'I was supposed to go the bank to deposit the money.

'We got bills to pay, sweetie.'

Batista explained that the money was earned at her cash-only job.

A fellow stripper named Haley Heath testified that Batista earned 'significant cash tips' at the Cheetah club at a hearing.

However, the department has requested to keep the money for investigation after a police dog indicated that the cash had been 'in close proximity' to large amounts of narcotics.

'I felt that the glitter on the seized cash was compelling evidence, but apparently the police department disagreed,' defense lawyer Faccidomo quipped.

Because there was no probable cause for seizing the money, Judge Rodney Smith ordered that it be returned to the couple.
A shamed Labour MP has been using taxpayers money to pay a Labour councillor thousands of pounds in rent for his constituency office while suspended from the party.

Jared OMara had the whip removed last October over sexist and homophobic comments made on social media and for calling a woman an ugly bitch at the Sheffield bar he used to run.

But, while suspended, he continued to serve as MP for Sheffield Hallam, the seat he won in June last year from former Lib Dem leader Sir Nick Clegg.

Labour MP Jared O'Mara, who has spent most of his parliamentary career without his party whip has been reinstated this week after receiving a warning about his conduct

O'Mara, 37, has been renting a constituency office, pictured, from a Labour Party councillor

Mr OMara, 37, was reinstated by the Labour Party last week after receiving a formal warning.

Now it has emerged that his Sheffield office is owned by a company whose sole directors are Abdul Khayum, a Labour councillor in the city, and Mr Khayums brother, Dr Amir Afzal, a Sheffield GP. Parliamentary records show Mr OMara has been claiming 780 a month in rent for the offices, at Redlands Business Centre, in the Tapton area of Sheffield, in a neighbouring constituency to his own.

The offices are the base for his constituency staff and case work  but neighbouring tenants said they have rarely seen him.

Mr OMara has already faced stinging criticism for his failure to meet community groups, communicate with constituents or to speak in Parliament. He has yet to make a maiden speech after 13 months. He took time off with an undisclosed illness last year, but in January he said he was returning to work.

The taxpayer has been paying the rent on O'Mara's constituency office - even though it is just outside the area he represents

Mr OMara only attended votes on 25 days in the 12 months to the end of June. Last Saturday he turned up to a drop-in constituency event at a library wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, with keys clipped to the waistband. The event, to discuss equality, is believed to be his first engagement for some weeks where members of the public were able to meet him without booking an appointment.

Lord Scriven, former Lib Dem council leader in Sheffield, said: He doesnt even have his office in his constituency. Its in the neighbouring Central constituency and owned by a Labour councillor, who has been profiting from the taxpayer funding given to Jared to run his office. Mr Khayum said: All tenants at Redlands Business Centre have a tenancy agreement with RBC, and they are required to pay a fixed amount of rent for the offices they rent. During the time when he was suspended, Mr OMaras staff continued to use the office.

Mr OMara, who is paid 77,000 a year, said: Its a great honour to represent the constituency I grew up in and the city as a whole. He has pledged to remain in the job now he has been allowed to re-join the Labour Party.

He said he has been in Parliament more times than voting records show, and had not wanted to make his maiden speech while suspended.

Under parliamentary rules, MPs outside London, such as O'Mara, left, can claim up to 24,880 for the rent and running costs of a constituency office - excluding staff

Under rules set by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, MPs offices are supposed to be within their constituency, unless based within their home. But Mr OMaras office is just a few streets outside the constituency boundary and he has argued that he had to find an office at short notice.

Asked about why he was renting from a Labour councillor in an office outside the constituency, he said: It was the only office we could find unfortunately.

MPs outside London can claim up to 24,880 a year for the rent and running costs of their constituency office, excluding staff.
Kye Aaron Dunbar was arrested in November 2014 after being found in his 24th floor room at the Mandalay Bay hotel with six guns including a rifle that was positioned at the Las Vegas strip

A Mandalay Bay housekeeper found a guest with a haul of semi-automatic weapons including one which was pointed out of the window towards the strip three years before the October 2017 massacre which killed 59 people.

The prior incident occurred on November 29, 2014. Kye Aaron Dunbar, a convicted felon with a long history of drug and gun offenses, was caught with two semi-automatic rifles, two pistols, a bolt action rifle and a revolver in his room on the 24th floor.

One of them was positioned at the window and was pointed 'out of his hotel room window at the Mandalay Bay and towards the Las Vegas Strip,' according to documents from his 2014 sentencing.

In the months beforehand, he posted frequently on Facebook about his dislike of President Obama and said he did not believe ISIS beheadings were real.

When he was caught with in his Mandalay Bay hotel with the guns, he told police he wanted to carry out target practice in the desert.

He was charged with firearms offenses and pleaded guilty, agreeing to a 40 month prison sentence.

The 2014 incident was revealed on Friday as part of a lawsuit filed by survivors of the 2017 massacre against the hotel.

They say that it serves as proof that the hotel knew a mass shooting could happen from one of its rooms and that they were negligent in not implementing more security measures after the 2014 incident to stop other guests from bringing guns into their rooms.

They say that it should have been more prepared for Stephen Paddock, the gunman who brought dozens of weapons into his room on the 32nd floor, to carry out mass murder on October 1, 2017.

To argue their case, they submitted the documents from Dunbar's 2014 case. DailyMail.com obtained a copy on Friday afternoon.

The documents reveal that in his room, Dunbar had a Spikes Tactical model SL15 .223 caliber semi-auto rifle, a Smith & Wesson revolver, another semi-automatic, two semi-automatic pistols and a bolt action rifle.

Dunbar's weapons included a scoped rifle which was positioned at the window. Above, a photograph of a weapon that he posted on Facebook in the months before his arrest

Another photograph of a weapon which Dunbar posted online months before his arrest. He told police he had the guns with him because he wanted to carry out target practice. He had driven from California at the time and had prior gun offenses but was always let off on probation

He had driven to Las Vegas from California and was not alone when he was found. After being caught, his excuse for the stash of weapons was that he wanted to carry out target practice.

But in a document which was part of the sentencing phase, prosecutors said he should be considered dangerous and they alluded to a more sinister reason for why he may have so many weapons.

'The offense conduct strongly suggests that the Defendant was not merely in possession of these weapons to engage in target shooting.

'The Defendant had apparently positioned a scoped rifle so that it was pointed out of his hotel room window at the Mandalay Bay and towards the Las Vegas Strip.

'One of the items recovered in the room was a homemade suppressor, commonly referred to as a 'silencer'.

'It should also be noted that the defendant built one of the firearms himself, despite obviously being on notice that he could not possess firearms since he was a convicted felon. He transported them across state lines,' it reads.

Dunbar was never charged with attempted murder or conspiracy to commit murder.

In October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock murdered 59 people from his room on the 32nd floor of the hotel. He had smashed out the windows to rain bullets down on the crowd at a music festival below him

Paddock's room had dozens of weapons scattered over the beds and in the bathroom

He remains in custody and last year, was jailed for an additional 10 months for his role in a defrauding scheme in California in the months before the Mandalay Bay incident.

In that case, he and his wife Lynnsi Dunbar defrauded the trucking company she worked for out of $268,000 between March 2014 and October 2014, a month before his arrest at the Mandalay Bay hotel.

A spokesman for Mandalay Bay declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com on Friday.

The hotel is fighting the lawsuit, claiming it could never have foreseen what Paddock was planning.

The survivors from October's shooting say the 2014 incident serves as proof that the hotel knew it was possible for a guest to create a sniper's nest in their room and that they ought to have done more to prevent people from bringing guns in afterwards. Above, the smashed out window on the 32nd floor where Paddock shot from on October 1

Robert Eglet, the lawyer representing hundreds of victims from the shooting, told DailyMail.com that Dunbar's arrest proves that the hotel had an opportunity to put stricter security measures in place but didn't.

'He went unnoticed, smuggling guns into his room to set up a sniper's nest,' he said.

Eglet said he was skeptical about Dunbar's claim that he was there to perform target practice.

'Why do 40 months in prison for target practice?' he said. He added that the case had come to his attention in the last several weeks and that he planned to continue to look into it.

Stephen Paddock killed himself before police could get to him

In an astonishing coincidence, one of Dunbar's relatives survived the October 2017 massacre.

Candy Dunbar and her husband Jason were at the festival when Paddock opened fire.

In a Facebook post afterwards, she described running away from the gunfire and said she had 'survivor's guilt' for those who died.

Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against the hotel since the 2017 massacre in which 59 people were killed.

Paddock killed himself before police could get to him inside his room on the 32nd floor.

Once inside, they found his enormous stash of weapons scattered all over his suite. There is still no clear motive for the killing. Paddock was an avid gambler and had racked up debt in the months before he died.
For nearly 30 years, the United Nations has recognized World Population Day as an annual awareness day.

The event is put together to spread information about population-related issues around the world. Those issues can be related to overpopulation, underpopulation, populations growing too fast and so on.

Each year, World Population Day is given a theme. This years theme recognizes the implementation of legislation that definitively stated that women and girls had the right to avoid exhaustion, danger and depletion from too many pregnancies too close together if they felt it the best route for them.

The 38th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council meet in Geneva on July 2, 2018

World Population Day continues to be an important event around the world. Heres what you need to know to get involved.

What is World Population Day?

Per the United Nations World Population Day webpage, World Population Day seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. It was first established in 1989.

When is World Population Day?

World Population Day is always observed on July 11. This year, that date falls on a Wednesday.

World Population Day slogan

This years slogan, or theme, for World Population Day, is Family Planning is a Human Right.

The slogan is a direct response to 50-year-old legislature that stated, for the first time, that women and girls could opt to avoid multiple pregnancies too close together if they wanted.

Chart on World Population Day

There are several charts related to World Population Day online. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) website has charts from 2016 up.

It does not appear theyve put charts for 2018 on their site yet.

What is the world population?

The current world population is about 7.6 billion people and growing, according to Worldometers.
Officials have put a plan in place if the Loch Ness Monster is ever caught.

The Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) created the 'partly serious, partly fun' code of practice in 2001 during a time of intense interest in Nessie.

And this year's attention to the creature has grown again with scientists recently gathering DNA from the loch, which has sparked an interest in the guidelines once again.

The original Loch Ness Monster sighting: Officials have put a plan in place if the Loch Ness Monster is ever caught

Scotland's first minister Nicola Sturgeon also said she believes that the monster exists in the water.

So if Nessie was discovered, SNH said it would 'dust off' the plan.

The code of practice was created to offer protection to new species discovered in the loch, which also includes a monster.

It states that a DNA sample should be taken from any new creature, so that scientists can study it.

Then it should be released back into the loch with measures put in place to make sure it is not disturbed - as it would be an extremely rare species needing conservation.

Nick Halfhide, of SNH, the organisation that promotes Scottish wildlife and natural habitats, said the 17-year-old code of practice remained relevant today.

He said: 'There was a lot of activity on the loch at the time about Nessie.

'So, partly serious and partly for a bit of fun, we drew up a contingency plan about how we would help Nessie if and when she was found.

The code of practice states that a DNA sample should be taken from any new creature, so that scientists can study it (pictured is a sunset over Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands)

'Some of the lessons we learned then have been relevant when we have reintroduced species like sea eagles, and were used when, a couple of years ago, four new species were found in the sea off the west coast.'

However he added that if Nessie were to be discovered today the plan would need to be updated, while communities and businesses near the shores of Loch Ness would need to be consulted.

VisitScotland said the Nessie phenomenon is worth millions to the Scottish economy, with hundreds of thousands of visitors travelling to Loch Ness and Drumnadrochit every year to catch a glimpse of the mythical monster.

The 1,452-year-old mystery of Nessie Irish missionary St Columba is first said to have encountered a beast in the River Ness in 565AD. Among the most famous claimed sightings is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson. The image was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged. Other sightings include James Gray's picture from 2001 when he was out fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray's blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933. Many have tried to explain the sightings, including 'Nessie expert' Steve Feltham, who has spent 24 years watching the Loch. In 2015 he said he thought it was actually a giant Wels Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe. In April a scientist from New Zealand revealed plans to DNA test the waters of Loch Ness in another bid to determine if Nessie exists. Professor Neil Gemmell from the University of Otago will look for traces of unusual DNA by gathering water samples from before analysing them using police forensic techniques. According to Google, there are around 200,000 searches each month for the Loch Ness Monster, and around 120,000 for information and accommodation close to Loch Ness. The monster mystery is said to be worth 30million to the region. Advertisement

If Nessie were to be discovered, this would lead to a boom in tourism to the loch, which brings in around 400,000 visitors a year from around the world.

The code of practice was created to offer protection to new species discovered in the loch, which also includes a monster

Last month, a global team of scientists, known as the Super Natural History team, will use environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling of the waters to identify tiny DNA remnants left behind by life in the Highlands loch.

The study was led by Professor Neil Gemmell of the University of Otago, New Zealand.

He said he would be surprised if there is any evidence of DNA sequences similar to those likely to come from a large extinct marine reptile, the so called 'Jurassic hypothesis', but is open minded about what they might find.
Advertisement

The future of the country is today being decided at a lavish country mansion under the watchful gaze of monarchs who have guided Britain for hundreds of years.

Theresa May gathered her Cabinet to discuss her Brexit trade plan at Chequers in Buckinghamshire, which has previously welcomed US president Richard Nixon as well as genocidal dictator Robert Mugabe.

Pictures released by Number 10 show ministers in deep discussion at the 16th-century mansion as they talk next to the piano beside which Winston Churchill used to unwind.

Numbered in blue - the people tasked with guiding Britain's exit from the European Union: 1. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt 2. Brexit Secretary David Davis 3. Mrs May's communications director, Robbie Gibb 4. Environment Secretary Michael Gove 5. International Trade Secretary Liam Fox 6. International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt 7. Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson 8. Europe Unit Policy Director Catherine Webb 9. Ed de Minckwitz of the Europe Unit. 10. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson 11. Home Secretary Sajid Javid 12. Europe Unit Director Jonathan Black 13. HMRC Permanent Secretary Jim Harra 14. Education Secretary Damian Hinds 15. Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley 16. Chancellor Philip Hammond 17. Business and Energy Secretray Claire Perry 18. Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes 19. Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey 20. Transport Secretary Chris Grayling Numbered in red - the artwork that graces Chequers' walls: 1. Portrait Of A Lady by George Geldorp (15951665) 2. Sir William Russell by Mary Beale (1633  1699) 3. Lady Croke, nee Brigette Hawtrey, last of the Hawtrey family, attributed to Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger in the 1500s 4. The Children of Charles I by Henry Stone (died in 1653) 5. Sir Henry Croke (1588  1659), Clerk of the Pipe, thought to be by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger 6. Bridget Cromwell (1624  1660) by Cornelius Johnson (1593  1661) 7. Master Franklin by 'British School of Artists' 8. The grand piano that used to entertain Winston Churchill 9. Henrietta Maria (16091669) with Prince Charles (16301685) by Anthony van Dyck (15991641)

Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a cabinet meeting at Chequers, the Prime Minister's official country residence near Ellesborough

Theresa May was battling to keep her Cabinet together ahead of today's crunch Brexit showdown (pictured) at her country retreat Chequers

Members of the cabinet gather at Chequers, the Prime Minister's official country residence for today's crunch Brexit talks, which are running into tonight

Mrs May addresses ministers at Chequers as the country retreat serves as the venue for talks on Brexit and the UK's future relationship with the European Union

The retreat (pictured) has found itself at the centre of controversy numerous times, for example it emerged David Cameron cost the taxpayer nearly 690,000 during his final year as Prime Minister

Police officers check cars arriving at the entrance to Chequers, the Prime Minister's official country residence, near Aylesbury

Downing Street have released pictures of the room at Chequers in which Prime Minister Theresa May is meeting with ministers to decide on a Brexit plan

The retreat has found itself at the centre of controversy numerous times, for example it emerged David Cameron cost the taxpayer nearly 690,000 during his final year as Prime Minister using the 16th century country pile.

And disgraced News of the World editor Andy Coulson stayed as a guest of the Tory Prime Minister's after he had been forced to resign from his job as Director of Communications in Downing Street.

But tonight's conversations will be less-than-leisurely to say the least - as phones were confiscated from ministers upon entry earlier today.

They are expected to thrash out a strategy into the night after gathering in the house earlier today. Situated 41 miles from 10 Downing Street, it sits within 1,500 acres of land and boasts 190 pieces of artwork including a 1937 painting by Churchill.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson sits with US President Richard Nixon during talks at Chequers soon after the Republican's arrival in Britain on his European tour

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher are pictured at Chequers today, when the African dictator stopped off for brief talks on his way back from the United Nations General Assembly in New York

The building took its present form 1565 after being built by the High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, William Hawtrey. Some historians claim a manor house has been on the site since the Roman period.

The property was gifted to the nation by Lord and Lady Lee in 1917, since when it has been at the disposal of prime ministers.

Lee filled the property with relics including Napoleons dispatch case and Nelsons pocket watch along with Elizabeth I's ring.

Prime Minister David Cameron hosts a trilateral meeting with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan at Chequers

David Cameron hosts a trilateral meeting , with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan (left) and President Asif Ali Zardari (right) of Pakistan as the three descend the retreat's steps

Royal Assent was given to The Chequers Act of 1917 December 20 and established the house as the country residence of the Prime Minister.

Landed aristocrats who already owned country retreats wouldn't have use for the site, but politicians who came from backgrounds of lesser means found the estate invaluable when hosting foreign dignitaries.
An emerging potential 'compromise' pick to win President Trump's nomination to serve on the Supreme Court has Midwest roots lauds people who drink beer 'straight out of the bottle.'

Some conservatives pushing for Judge Raymond Kethledge, a judge on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals who lives in Michigan and bonded with Trump in a one-on-one interview.

Allies are pitching Kethledge as the Midwest counterpart to D.C. Circuit Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who like Kethledge also clerked for retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy.

Kethlege went to the University of Michigan Law School, a top program, while every sitting Justice attended either Harvard or Yale law.

Raymond Kethledge testifies during his confirmation hearing for the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court on Capitol Hill in Washington in 2008. Allies are pitching the Michigan native as the Midwest alternative

His camp has honed a pitch that seems designed to appeal to Trump, who has telegraphed that how he gets along with the person will be part of the decision.

'Unlike many people, he's not a D.C. insider,' Kethledge friend Christopher Yoo, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania told Politico.

'He doesn't belong to the kind of circles of power that other former clerks are often drawn to. What's quite telling is his love of Michigan, his love of outdoors,' Yoo added.

'One of the highest compliments he can give about a person is they aren't afraid to drink beer straight out of the bottle,' Yoo added, without specifying whether Kethledge also prefers beer that way.

But for heartland bonafides, Kethledge isn't working at an auto-plant. He lives in Ann Arbor, a liberal mecca, and cofounded the law firm of Bush, Seyferth & Kethledge, which is now named Bush, Seyferth & Paige.

President Donald Trump touted his Supreme Court selection, which he says he will announce Monday in prime time

This photo of Brett Kavanaugh and his wife is said to be the type of image that appeals to Trump

Amy Coney Barrett would appeal to the president's base but their interview reportedly didn't go well

Yoo said he sometimes writes from a cabin in Northern Michigan. 'What's quite different about him is he is a citizen of middle America,' according to Yoo.

Kethledge's interview with Trump went 'exceptionally well,' abovethelaw.com reported. He also met separately with Vice President Mike Pence, who is flying to Mar-a-Lago this weekend as the decision and rollout are completed.

Part of the heartland appeal for Kethledged is an attack on the insider status of Kavanaugh, who sits on the prestigious D.C. Circuit. Kethledge, 53, grew up in Washington and is admired by conservatives, although some have been pointing to his Bush connections.

He helped represent Georg W. Bush during the 2000 recount (Kennedy was among those awarding victory and the presidency to Bush). He also was a top deputy to Kenneth Starr during the Clinton impeachment. He has a long paper trail, which can be a hindrance to a nominee.

He worked in Bush's White House counsel's office.

Trump said Thursday en route to Montana: 'I think I have it down to four people. And I think of the four people I have it down to three or two.'

Another leading contender is Amy Coney Barrett. She is a member of a controversial religious group that asks members to take a lifetime loyalty 'covenant' and encourages female submission to husbands, and is being pushed by some evangelical leaders.

Trump plans to reveal his selection in a prime time announcement Monday night  setting up a rollout similar to the scripted made-for-TV unveiling of Neil Gorsuch, who Republicans successfully installed on the high court by invoking the 'nuclear option' and ending Supreme Court filibusters.

'As you know there is now a vacancy on the Supreme Court,' Trump teased a crowd at a campaign rally in Montana Thursday night.

'And if you turn in Monday at 9 o'clock, I think you're going to be extremely happy with the selection, right?' Trump said.

'And they're all great. They're all great,' he said of his selections, without tipping his hand.
A man suspected of gunning down a father-of-four in Brooklyn on Father's Day as part of a months-long dispute over a parking spot turned himself in to the police on Thursday, after three weeks on the lam.

David Hall, 46, a married father-of-two, is expected to be arraigned on charges of murder and weapons possession in the June 17 shooting death of 33-year-old William Fernandez.

Hall reportedly had been nursing a grudge against Fernandez since January, when the younger man took his parking spot on Forest Street in Bushwick, where the suspect lived with his wife, teenage son and daughter.

Case closed: David Hall (left), 46, has been arrested on charges of murder and weapons possession in the June 17 killing of 33-year-old William Fernandez in Brooklyn (right)

Fernandez was shot once in the chest while being chased by Hall on Stanwix Street (Pictured: a makeshift memorial honoring the victim)

The two men had words and nearly got into a physical altercation, reported the New York Daily News.

In April, Hall found the tires on his car slashed and reportedly came to suspect Fernandez of being the culprit.

At 12.20am on June 17, six months after their initial clash in Bushwick, Hall allegedly confronted Fernandez on Stanwix Street, armed with a gun.

According to police, the 46-year-old married dad opened fire on his nemesis while chasing him around the neighborhood.

The bullet struck Fernandez in the chest and he later succumbed to his wound at Wyckoff Hospital, just hours before he was set to spend Father's Day with his three young sons and a daughter.

Its petty. Its a parking spot. Its a public parking spot. Its stupid, Fernandez's sister Jasmine told the Daily News.

Wanted: Hall (pictured in a 'wanted' poster) turned himself in to police on Thursday, after nearly three weeks on the lam

Jasmine Fernandez, Williams' sister (right) has vowed to be on hand for Hall's court hearings

Father figures: Fernandez (left) is survived by three sons and a daughter. Hall (right is married and has a teenage son and daughter of his own

After nearly three weeks on the run, Hall surrendered to police at the 83rd Precinct on Thursday. His arraignment was scheduled to take place on Friday.

Jasmine Fernandez, who has been sharing Hall's 'wanted' poster on her Facebook page for the past week, celebrated his arrest with a strongly worded status update.

'Rot in jail you mother ****er!!!!!!!! she gleefully wrote, referring to Hall. I'm so overwhelmed with emotions. JUSTICE HAS BEEN SERVED!!!!!!! We got him William Lefty!!! I love you so much bro REST IN PARADISE.'

The victims sister has vowed to be on hand for all of Hall's court appearances.
At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir.

Describing the Pulwama terrorist attack as a despicable act of violence, top US lawmakers have rallied behind India's effort to fight terrorism. (Representational Image)

Washington: Describing the Pulwama terrorist attack as a despicable act of violence, top US lawmakers have rallied behind India's effort to fight terrorism and said that such heinous crimes will not weaken the resolve of its people. So far, more than 70 American lawmakers including 15 Senators have condemned the attack.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The "terrorist attack against Indian paramilitary police is a despicable act of violence, however, I know it will not weaken the resolve of the Indian people," said Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate India Caucus.

"The American people and the American government stand fully behind our ally India and their fight to defend their democracy and end the threat of violent extremism," he said.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee and Senate India Caucus, Tillis said he remains committed to strengthening the national security alliance between the two nations.

"What a terrible terrorist attack in India. America stands with our Indian friends and allies against this despicable atrocity. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families," Senator Bill Cassidy said.

"I condemn the terror attack yesterday in Jammu and Kashmir. My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones in this horrific attack," said Senator Sherrod Brown.

Other US lawmakers also took to Twitter to condemn the attack. "I strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Kashmir, one of the deadliest attacks in the region in decades. My prayers are with the families of the victims," Senator Cory Booker tweeted.

My heart is with the loved ones of the victims of the horrific shooting in Aurora, Illinois that has left 5 people dead and more injured.



But we know our thoughts and prayers are not enough. Congress must take action to prevent gun violence. https://t.co/qogz1MZgWJ  Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) February 16, 2019

"My sincere condolences to the Indian people after the horrific terrorist attack yesterday in Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India in the face of terrorism. We must work together to fight this evil," Senator Marco Rubio said.

"The Kashmir terror attack yesterday was a horrific and devastating act of terrorism. These cowardly terrorist acts have no place in our world. The United State stands in solidarity with India in condemning this attack," Senator Rob Portman said.

The #KashmirTerrorAttack yesterday was a horrific and devastating act of terrorism. These cowardly terrorist acts have no place in our world. The United State stands in solidarity with #India in condemning this attack.  Rob Portman (@senrobportman) February 15, 2019

The terror attack against Indian forces in Kashmir resulting in over 40 deaths and seriously injuring many more was despicable, said Congressman Bill Johnson.

"Terrorism cannot be accepted in any part of the world, and Pakistan must end the support and safe haven for any terrorists groups operating in its country," Johnson demanded.

The terror attack against Indian forces in Kashmir resulting in over 40 deaths +seriously injuring many more was despicable. Terrorism cannot be accepted in any part of the world, and Pakistan must end the support and safe haven for any terrorists groups operating in its country.  Bill Johnson (@RepBillJohnson) February 16, 2019

"Deeply saddened to learn of the cowardly terrorist attack on an Indian Central Reserve Police Force in Kashmir yesterday. The United States stands firm with our Indian partners in condemning the Kashmir terror attack. We must fight against terrorism in all of its forms," Congressman Steve Stivers said.

This heinous terrorist attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir is a devastating tragedy and must be vehemently condemned, said Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence.

This heinous terrorist attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir is a devastating tragedy and must be vehemently condemned. I extend my sincere condolences to the victims and their families and loved ones. https://t.co/hWuy75O3Xn  Brenda Lawrence (@RepLawrence) February 15, 2019

"I extend my sincere condolences to the victims and their families and loved ones," Lawrence said. The United States stand with its ally India in coping with this barbaric act of terrorism, said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

"Saddened and angered by today's terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Tammy and I are keeping the victims' families in our prayers during this difficult time. New Jersey stands with India against the threat of terrorism," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said.

My thoughts are with the victims and their families today. America stands with the Indian people and strongly condemns this senseless violence. https://t.co/8clraU67Fg  Ami Bera, M.D. (@RepBera) February 14, 2019

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families today. America stands with the Indian people and strongly condemns this senseless violence," Indian-American Congressman Dr Ami Bera said.
Furious shoppers have gone off their trolley over the plastic bag ban - threatening to boycott Coles and Woolworths and claiming the supermarket giants are more interested in making money than protecting the environment.

Few could have anticipated the red-hot anger when single-use plastic bags were banned at the start of July - forcing shoppers to bring their own bags or buy a reusable one for around 15 cents.

But the national outcry just goes to show it's the little things that count in people's lives.

While supermarkets tried to argue the ban was all about protecting the environment, skeptical shoppers across the country slammed the move as nothing more than a money-grabbing initiative.

Coles and Woolworths banned single-use plastic bags at the start of July - forcing shoppers to bring their own bags or buy a reusable one for around 15 cents

While supermarkets touted the ban as eco-friendly, skeptical shoppers have slammed it as nothing more than a money-grabbing initiative

Some shoppers complained that staff have refused to pack bags they brought because they were branded with competitors' labels or were 'too dirty'

And the problems with the roll out didn't stop there.

Some shoppers complained that staff were even refusing to pack bags they brought because they were branded with competitors' labels or were 'too dirty'.

Joanne Dalton was among the shoppers to threaten a boycott. She wrote on Twitter: '@woolworths you have totally botched this plastic bag thing and I bet @Coles will be no better. Wherever and whenever possible I will no longer shop with you.'

Samuel Jones called the scheme a scam and said: 'Saving money is their stick.'

Many other shoppers, however, supported the ban that has been sold by the supermarkets as protecting the environment by reducing plastic waste.

Both supermarkets insisted proceeds from the bags would go to charity, but refused to comment on how much money would be donated or how many bags are expected to be purchased.

A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the company was making 'no profit' from bag sales and the money made from bags would be donated to a charity.

Using ten 15-cent bags for a weekly food shop would cost around $80 per year.

Reports last year suggested the major supermarkets could pocket an extra $1million a year through bag sales.

Others threatened a boycott, claiming the scheme was a scam from the supermarket chains to drum up extra profits

A Woolworths spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the company was making 'no profit' from bag sales and the money made from bags would be donated to a charity

When the ban kicked in, customers accused Woolworths of refusing to pack groceries into competitor-branded bags.

One user claimed her father had gone to the supermarket prepared with reusable bags but was told he couldn't use them because they weren't Woolworths-branded.

'There was no mention or offer whatsoever of these so called complimentary bags that are supposedly available until 8th July,' they said.

Another customer claimed supermarket staff refused to fill her reusable bags because they were dirty and had holes in them.

'I knew there would be a catch. The bag still worked so why not use it?' the customer asked.

But a spokesperson for Woolworths rubbished allegations staff were being selective with the types of reusable bags they chose to fill groceries with.

'Customers are welcome to bring in any bags they like when they shop at Woolworths, so long as they're clean and hygienic for our team to handle,' the spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia in a statement.

Coles has been contacted for comment.

One disgruntled customer even took matters into his own hands by stowing an entire shopping trolley in the boot of his car.

Some customers are taking matters into their own hand by bringing plastic tubs to the supermarket with them

Footage of the stunt, filmed in Sydney's western suburbs and uploaded to Facebook, shows the shopping trolley sitting in the back of the man's car.

'No bag, no problem - we'll take the trolley,' he says.

One woman has opted for a slightly more practical approach by taking a plastic tub to the supermarket to put her groceries in.

Meanwhile, journalist Lisa Mayoh has sung the praises of the eco-friendly initiative - but expressed concern at how much extra plastic she received with a recent online order.

'After all the hype and anticipation, I have a house full of plastic wrapping to get rid of and a huge bundle of plastic bags to store somewhere until the next time I have to use them,' she wrote in a piece for News.com.au.

Ms Mayoh said after her shopping arrived she was 'quite surprised' to see how many bags there actually were.

One woman expressed concern at how much extra plastic she received with a recent online order

Other shoppers are deriding the supermarket chains for failing to practice what they preach, as numerous items in the fresh produce section remain clad in plastic packaging.

Meanwhile, another 10 Australian companies have been added to a global investment hit list pressuring the world's biggest polluters to take action on climate change.

Qantas, AGL, Origin and Woolworths are among 61 organisations added to the Climate Action 100+ initiative involving hundreds of global investors.

The new companies join mining giant BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Westfarmers on the list, which debuted at the French government's One Planet climate summit in December.

Other shoppers are deriding the supermarket chains for failing to practice what they preach, as numerous items in the fresh produce section remain clad in plastic packaging

Single-use plastic bags have been banned since the start of July, with shoppers having to bring their own bags or buy a reusable one for around 15 cents

The project is backed by 289 investors with $30 trillion in assets, including five Australian superannuation funds and some of the country's biggest investment funds including AMP Capital, Australian Ethical Investment and Colonial First State.

Investors who hold shares in the listed companies will write to their boards and senior management asking them to clearly set out the board's accountability and oversight of climate risk and to start cutting emissions.

Since the program began, 18 per cent of focus companies have supported or committed to implementing climate-related financial risk disclosures and 22 per cent have set or committed to setting science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets beyond 2030.
A radical Islamist preacher who has said he 'does not believe in democracy' and is 'not obedient' to secular law is working as an expert witness to British courts, MailOnline can reveal.

Dr Imran Waheed, 41, a psychiatrist working for the NHS and Bupa in Birmingham, offers his services as an expert witness in a range of civil and criminal cases assessing defendants' psychological reliability.

For many years he was a key figure in the UK branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which campaigns for an Islamic state run by Sharia law. In an interview he said: 'I've got no respect for any law other than Allah's... I don't care for the law of any man.'

Scroll down for video

Imran Waheed organised a rally calling for Muslims to abandon the Western way of life

Imran Waheed, left and right, at a Hizb ut-Tahrir meeting at the Royal National Hotel, London

The disclosure has sparked fears that the justice system is vulnerable to Islamist entryists who wish to 'take control from within'.

Dr Waheed told MailOnline that he had since left the group and changed his views.

But in November he appeared in the organisation's official internet broadcast extolling the virtues of a caliphate.

According to his website, Dr Waheed gives British courts psychiatric assessments of a defendant's 'dangerousness', fitness to hold a firearm licence and fitness to stand trial.

He also treats mentally ill patients and lectures university medical students on subjects including 'cultural and ethnic aspects of mood disorders'.

In a BBC interview he said: 'I've got no respect for any law other than Allah's, so I don't care about the law to be honest I care for the law of Islam. I don't care for the law of any man.'

When questioned by MailOnline he said that these statements were 'not reflective of his current views'.

The revelations raise concerns about Dr Waheed's involvement in cases relating to Islamic law or extremism. He said he has not done such work and 'does not provide expert evidence where any conflict of interest may arise'.

Despite claiming to be no longer 'affiliated' with Hizb ut-Tahrir, Dr Waheed preached on the organisation's official broadcast in November alongside three of its most senior British leaders.

In the sermon he reiterated his longtime demands for a caliphate and said he aimed to 'liberate man from enslavement to man and the systems of man', calling into question his role in the British justice system.

Imran Waheed, seated at the far left of the table, in his former role as Hizb ut-Tahrir spokesman

Imran Waheed, left, in his former role as spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir, speaks to the press

When questioned about this by MailOnline he claimed he was speaking 'in the context of the occupation of Palestine'.

Fiyaz Mughal OBE, founder of Faith Matters and anti-extremism expert, said: 'It is sinister because this is exactly how Hizb ut-Tahrir operatives work.

'They deny legitimacy of secular man-made laws. Yet they try to get into those systems and structures to effectively damage them from within, or take them over from within.'

There is no suggestion that Dr Waheed is engaged in entryism, a charge that he denies.

In the BBC Hard Talk appearance in 2007  his most extensive interview to date  he said: 'My obedience is not to any law. My obedience is to the law of my creator.

'I don't care about the laws of Pakistan where my parents were born or the laws of Britain. I care for the laws of my creator.'

He added: 'We don't believe in democracy. Democracy means you can change the laws from one time to another. Our laws are constant and unchanging.'

Dr Waheed told MailOnline that these statements are 'not reflective of his current views'.

While working for the NHS Dr Waheed compiled a list of military attaches working in the embassies of Arab countries in London and distributed it to fellow extremists.

At the time he was accused of trying to 'target and recruit' military support for establishing Islamic rule, though he denied this.

In the past he organised a rally at the London Arena calling on Muslims to abandon the Western way of life.

He was deported from Indonesia where he was due to speak at an extremist rally in 2007. Hizb ut-Tahrir was subsequently outlawed in the country.

The group has also been banned in a number of other countries including Germany, Russia, China, Turkey and most of the Arab world. It is also barred from Birmingham Central mosque.

Dr Waheed told the BBC: 'In democracy and in Western capitalism, man in the one who decides what is right and wrong. In Islam, we believe our creator Allah has decided what is right and wrong.'

He added: 'We feel we're on the brink of establishing this [Islamic] state.'
Beleaguered grocer Ocado is to ditch its familiar green and purple branded vans for its new rapid delivery service and instead use a French courier firm.

The Hertfordshire company has signed up Stuart Delivery  a subsidiary of French postal giant La Poste  to operate Zoom which promises grocery orders to the doorstep within the hour.

The launch using a third party is likely to raise eyebrows among customers and investors as Ocado prides itself on fine service and precision technology.

Time for a change: Ocado is to ditch its familiar green and purple branded vans for its new rapid delivery service

Deliveries will be sent from Ocado's giant distribution centre in Erith, South East London, to a smaller 'mini-hub' at a location near Chiswick, West London, before being handed over to Stuart's drivers.

The trial beginning next month coincides with growing questions about the Ocado business model, some of which may not be answered until fire chiefs discover the cause of a blaze a fortnight ago at its massive warehouse in Andover, Hampshire.

The complex  one of the firm's three main robot-operated facilities from which it delivers Waitrose products alongside its own  was burnt to the ground.

Ocado insists its high-tech model is superior to those operated by supermarket rivals such as Tesco and Sainsbury's which rely heavily on staff selecting groceries from stores or warehouses.

It has sold the idea to other retailers including Morrisons and has held recent talks with Marks & Spencer, as revealed by The Mail on Sunday last month.

Ocado's value hit more than 6 billion after it revealed deals with supermarkets including Kroger in the US which wants 20 warehouses.

But several retailers  including Morrisons, French supermarket Monoprix and Sobeys in Canada  have just one warehouse, which could mean lengthy suspensions of delivery services if there is a repeat of the Andover disaster.

Insiders insist that a trial of the Zoom service, which was first revealed to City analysts in a surprise announcement only hours after the Andover fire started, is still on track to launch next month.

A City source warned last night: 'There's an inherent risk when you outsource a service normally taken care of by your own trained staff to a third party  no matter how competent your partner.'

Ocado has been speaking to M&S about a tie-up that could mean replacing its supply deal with Waitrose. Sources estimate the loss of the contract could reduce Waitrose profits by a quarter.

The founder of Ocado, Tim Steiner, who recently bought a 25 million yacht, has refused to comment.
Stobart Group yesterday celebrated a High Court win against its former chief executive and rebel shareholder Andrew Tinkler.

A High Court judge found Tinkler, 55, had breached his duties as a director at the Southend Airport operator on four counts.

These included criticising the board's management in front of other significant shareholders and improperly sharing confidential information with retail tycoon Philip Day.

Judge Jonathan Russen also ruled the logistics company's dismissal of Tinkler from the board last year was 'lawful and valid'.

Hit hard: A High Court judge found Tinkler had breached his duties as a director at the Southend Airport operator on four counts

The trial, held in November, saw a parade of other big-name City figures including Edinburgh Woollen Mill owner Day and star fund manager Neil Woodford take the stand.

Tinkler, who was Stobart's chief executive from 2007 to 2017, denied all wrongdoing and in a set of counter-claims had asked the court to rule that his sacking was not valid.

Another charge against Tinkler  that he improperly used company funds with lavish expenses  was withdrawn during the trial.

The judge also ruled that four Stobart directors, including chief executive Warwick Brady and chairman Iain Ferguson, breached their duties by arranging a share transfer to the Employee Benefit Trust ahead of the AGM.

Speaking to the Mail, Tinkler said: 'Even though I breached my duties they breached theirs  which I believe is more serious.

'It's sad but at the end of the day I'm strong enough  I'll move on.'

Tinkler said the trial will cost him between 3million-4million of his own cash on legal fees. He is considering appealing the ruling.
In charge: Barclays boss Jes Staley

The New York Stock Exchange had never had to be shut down before, which was hardly surprising.

For over 200 years, the imposing, neoclassical building in lower Manhattan has been the proud symbol of America's global economic dominance.

Short of The White House and The Pentagon, there are few more heavily guarded buildings on the eastern seaboard.

That was until an enterprising young HIV activist breached the main balcony, armed with bogus credentials and a set of handcuffs, and began showering the place with fake $100 bills and angry leaflets which read '**** your profiteering.'

Down on the trading floor, amidst the ensuing chaos, JP Morgan broker Jes Staley turned to his colleagues with a puckish grin and announced proudly: 'That's my brother up there.'

The year was 1989 and I mention this salty tale because the plight of Jes's younger brother Peter  gay; HIV; recovering addict  appears to have had a formative effect on the Barclays chief's career.

He was a big champion of women in the board room and so-called LBGT issues way before it became fashionable.

Last year Staley survived a scandal which would have sunk lesser bankers. When a whistle-blower wrote to the bank making allegations about an employee's past, wholly unrelated to his professional capabilities, Staley went berserk and launched a witch hunt into the identity of the whistle-blower, a huge no-no in banking.

It was a thoroughly stupid thing to do. But was it motivated by some sort of sense of injustice, an urge to protect a colleague in need of empathy? It's hard not to think so.

Admittedly Staley doesn't look one of life's diversity champions. Built like a Dallas Cowboy line-backer, one would assume he was the embodiment of Wall Street machismo. In his spare time he likes sailing on his yacht Bequia.

Born in Boston, raised in Philadelphia, his prosperous father ran a chemicals firm. 'James' as he was christened, joined JP Morgan straight out of college in 1979.

As a trainee, he and his peers studied the case of W T Grant stores, the Wal-Mart of its day, which filed for the second-largest bankruptcy in American history in 1976. Awkwardly for Staley, the man responsible for running it into the ground was his grandfather Edward.

Different: Banking's certainly had a few iffy chiefs in recent years. But Barclays' Jes Staley isn't one of them

Working in the bank's South American division, the job took him to Brazil in 1982.

It was there that Jes met his wife Deby, an interior designer.

At the end of 80s he was recalled to New York to run the equities department. Stints running the asset management branch, then the private bank division followed. In 2009, JP's all-powerful chief executive Jamie Dimon handed Staley the keys to the investment bank, effectively making him the de facto number two.

His relationship with Dimon appears to have been strong. But like several execs before him, it became clear to Staley that Dimon was going nowhere. In 2013, after 30 years at America's largest bank, Staley departed to work for hedge fund Blue Mountain Capital as managing partner. When he arrived at Barclays two years later, replacing the hapless Antony Jenkins, MPs were wary.

After the high octane years of Bob Diamond they were determined to make Barclays a dull, safe-as-houses lender again. Here was another investment banker, they warned, who would want to turn it back into a Las Vegas casino.

Those fears, thus far, have proved unfounded. But last year was rocky. Staley scraped through the whistle-blowing scandal with a 650,000 personal fine, loose change from his 4.5million remuneration, and there was an embarrassing incident when he fell victim to an email prank purporting to be from his chairman John McFarlane.

He has a chance to make amends next week when Barclays announces its yearly results next week. Bob Diamond; Fred Goodwin; James Crosby. Banking's certainly had a few iffy chiefs in recent years. But Barclays' Jes Staley isn't one of them.
Profits at Royal Bank of Scotland more than doubled to 1.6billion last year  paving the way for a bumper dividend pay-out.

The bailed-out lender's army of retail investors will get out 13p per share in total for 2018, the first year they have been handed any cash since the financial crisis struck a decade ago.

Around 977million will go to the Treasury, which owns 62 per cent of the bank  a legacy from its 46billion rescue by taxpayers in 2008.

Bonanza: Chief executive Ross McEwan said RBS is finally moving beyond the legacy of the financial crisis

Chief executive Ross McEwan said RBS is finally moving beyond the legacy of the financial crisis after paying more than 20billion in fines and compensation for past wrongdoing, shutting 1,380 branches and axing 159,000 jobs.

He said: 'This is a good performance in the face of economic and political uncertainty, with bottom line profits more than double what we achieved the previous year.'

Profits jumped to 1.6billion from 752million in 2017, which was the lender's first in the black since its state rescue.

The bank set aside an extra 1.3billion in 2018 for misbehaviour that took place before its near-collapse a decade ago, including extra cash for victims of PPI mis-selling and 1billion to pay a fine for selling toxic mortgages during the financial crisis.

It also spent 1billion on restructuring, axing jobs, improving creaky IT systems and ditching unprofitable parts of its business to try and become a more healthy bank.

Both costs are expected to start falling over the next few years  leaving the lender in a position to throw off more and more cash to investors.

The bank faces criticism for a gender pay gap which sees women earn nearly 37 per cent less than men, with bonuses that are on average 66.7 per cent less. This is because many lower-paid jobs at the bank, which do not have a bonus attached, are done by women.

Bad sign: More than 430 branches were shut during the year but RBS has pledged not to close any more until 2020 at the earliest

More than 430 branches were shut during the year but RBS has pledged not to close any more until 2020 at the earliest.

The Treasury wants to have sold all of its stake in the lender by 2024. RBS shares have fallen 52 per cent since its bailout, meaning taxpayers face a multi-billion pound loss.

Although the bank may be past the worst of its fines and lawsuits its reputation remains badly damaged. It has faced criticism over a business turnaround unit called the global restructuring group which was meant to keep troubled small companies afloat during the financial crisis but instead loaded them up with massive fees.

The Treasury has been dragged into the GRG row, amid claims Whitehall officials gave instructions on lending decisions. McEwan rejected claims that the business could face fresh legal action due to the latest revelations, saying: 'There may be some who will try it, but I don't think they will succeed.'

The 61-year-old, who was paid 3.6million last year, 91,000 more than in 2017, warned turmoil over Brexit is having a negative effect on the economy, and urged MPs to back a deal with the European Union.

He said: 'If this goes on for a long period we're going to see the economy slowing down more than the Bank of England suggested.'
Rusty Hutson, another oil veteran, is co-founder of Diversified Gas & Oil, which buys unwanted gas and oil wells from shale specialists.

When Midas first recommended Diversified in June 2017, the shares were 71p and the company produced the equivalent 11,000 barrels of oil a day. Today, following a series of acquisitions, daily production has surged to about 70,000 barrels and the stock price is 1.13.

The stock has done well but not well enough, according to Hutson and his co-founder Robert Post.

They already owned 20 million shares each but recently bought another 450,000 shares between them, when the price was 1.10. Other directors followed in their wake.

Existing  and new  investors should take note. Diversified reports 2018 results at the end of this month and sales are expected to rocket from $42 million (33 million) to $276 million, rising to $451 million in the current year.

Profits are soaring too and the company is highly focused on generous dividends so brokers forecast a pay out of 11.1 cents (8.6p) for 2018, rising to 13.5 cents for this year.

Dividends are declared in dollars but paid out in sterling and the stock is now yielding about 7.5 per cent.

Diversified is based in the Appalachian Basin, a centre of America's shale revolution. Including states such as Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia, the area produces more natural gas than any Opec country  and estimates of oil reserves are increasing fast as well.

Drilling for shale gas and oil is costly and specialist explorers and developers are often strapped for cash. This is where Diversified comes into its own.

The group buys wells that already produce gas and oil  frequently by conventional drilling  but they have often been neglected. With a little care and attention, Diversified can increase production, improve efficiency and drive profitability.

Looking ahead, Hutson is very ambitious. Shale firms remain keen to offload wells and the more Diversified buys, the more it achieves economies of scale. Institutional shareholders are supportive too, so Hutson knows he can raise funds from them, provided acquisitions are well priced and make strategic sense.

Midas verdict: Diversified's share price has risen nearly 60 per cent since mid-2017. That is an impressive run but it does not fully reflect the transformation of the business or its prospects. The stock remains attractive.

Traded on: Aim Ticker: DGOC Contact: dgoc.com or 001 205 408 0909
A crucial aspect of accumulating wealth is to protect what you already have. But grey areas of investing make this harder than it should be. For example, sellers using their professional credentials to insinuate a financial product is safe, when in fact it is the complete opposite.

It is a bit like a trusted supermarket brand promoting potentially poisonous food.

But this is what is happening right under our noses, across the financial services industry.

Fool's gold: Firms are exploiting their 'regulated' status to promote unregulated investments

Firms are exploiting their 'regulated' status to promote unregulated investments such as mini-bonds, precious stones and certain property deals. Evidence of this malpractice has been uncovered by the regulator that awards companies their endorsements  the Financial Conduct Authority.

It recently distributed a 'Dear CEO' letter to bosses of regulated firms, reminding them of their responsibilities.

This is a warning shot to companies that advertise risky products online and via social media, implying security because they have a permit from the City watchdog.

So, a company can officially be allowed to sell insurance, but it cannot legally promote a side-hustle in Bitcoin investments using its regulated status as a way of reassuring customers. It is the financial equivalent of a pharmacist using its licence to distribute prescription medicine as a badge of confidence for selling recreational drugs.

Jonathan Davidson, of the Financial Conduct Authority, calls it 'unacceptable' behaviour by regulated firms.

He says: 'We are committed to stamping out such misleading practice and recommend that customers ask firms whether what they are being sold is regulated.'

WHY DOES THE FCA REGULATION MATTER?

Buying regulated investments  such as shares and funds  from an authorised business provides a comfort blanket for customers.

So, if a firm goes bust, investors can apply for money back from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Compensation limits for investments are up to 50,000 per person, per authorised firm. This rises to 85,000 from the start of April.

The scheme also kicks in if an adviser gives bad advice or steals money. But it does not cover losses arising from a poorly performing investment fund or if one of the underlying companies within a fund goes belly-up. That is the risk people take when they invest.

Dealing with an authorised firm also gives investors the right to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if they feel a company has not dealt with a complaint fairly. The service can award compensation if they side with a complainant.

An authorised business is allowed to sell an unauthorised product, but they cannot market it to consumers in a misleading way.

Claire Walsh, personal finance director at investment company Schroders, says: 'The Financial Conduct Authority regulates advisers and providers, rather than products. So, there isn't always a straightforward way to check the credentials of a specific financial product.'

She adds: 'Unregulated investments can only be 'proposed' to those who certify themselves as sophisticated or high-net-worth  not the typical investor.' These schemes should be treated with extreme caution  even if sold by a legitimate and authorised business. Here are some prime examples of unregulated products that have turned investors into financial victims:

Some 14,000 investors are currently out of pocket after mini-bond provider London Capital and Finance went into administration last month

MINI-BONDS, MAJOR CRISES

Small businesses often issue so- called mini-bonds to investors as a way of raising capital to expand.

The annual interest offered will be generous to reflect the risk of the company failing, in which case there is no guarantee customers will get their money back.

While inherently risky, many bonds are perfectly legitimate and have proved successful investments, others less so.

Some 14,000 investors are currently out of pocket after mini-bond provider London Capital and Finance went into administration last month. In December the FCA ordered the company to withdraw its promotions and cease regulated activity.

It was an authorised business selling unauthorised products. Although technically allowed, the regulator was concerned about how the business was promoting its mini-bonds  as secure and Isa-eligible when they were neither.

Renewable energy bonds  promoting investment in 'green' projects  should also be treated with caution. They too are unregulated mini-bonds but are typically packaged as 'secure' and even 'ethical'.

STORAGE PODS: STORING NOTHING BUT TROUBLE

There is a sound business case for owning space that can be rented to store people's belongings. In theory it is a provider of a steady stream of income. Yet it has attracted charlatans and criminals.

People of modest wealth are approached by phone, email or online to invest in storage 'pods'  usually by supposed pension companies. They suggest better investment returns are available if pension money is transferred to a flexible self-invested personal pension plan.

This, so the sales patter goes, allows freedom to choose from a broad range of investments including high-yielding storage pods. These spaces will then be rented out, providing annual returns.

Although property always seems like a win-win for British investors, many of these storage schemes have provided nothing but losses.

For example, Capita Oak Pension and Henley Retirement Benefit were both investigated by the Serious Fraud Office and shut down.

More than 1,000 people transferred workplace savings into pensions run by these companies with storage pods the main investment vehicle. The pods failed to deliver the yields promoted and were scams.

CRYPTO-CURRENCY: A HAVEN FOR SCAMMERS

Bitcoin has become a popular dinner-party topic of conversation. For some it is a fun and exciting aspect of finance that many people  young and old  want to talk about.

So when social media adverts suggest that ordinary folk should dabble in the likes of Bitcoin, Ether or Ripple, and back it up with endorsements from well-known celebrities, people are tempted to take a punt.

Investment in crypto-currency is high risk. But even worse is the abundance of scams profiting from all the hype. Victims who succumb to a scam soon discover that the celebrity endorsements are fake and the investment fraudulent. They paid criminals and never owned any of the virtual coins.

Further confusion arises with 'contracts for difference'  a type of bet on the price movement of an asset without a customer ever actually owning it. These 'CFDs', as they are known, are regulated  even if they track the price of crypto-currencies like Bitcoin, which isn't. But the majority of investors still lose their money with CFDs.

Investors are often sold diamonds at a huge mark-up. Sellers can inflate valuations for the stones and are prone to producing misleading certificates

DIAMONDS: FOREVER RISKY

These precious stones maintain widespread appeal among jewellery-wearers and investors. Diamonds can be a profitable alternative investment when a buyer has done their research and purchases from a reputable broker.

Shares of diamond mining companies are also listed on leading world stock exchanges and are often found in commodity investment funds, which are regulated.

But this does not make all diamond investments a safe bet.

Investors are often sold diamonds at a huge mark-up. Sellers inflate valuations for the stones and are prone to producing misleading certificates describing their characteristics. Diffraction Diamonds, selling fake coloured diamonds, was wound up following an investigation by the Insolvency Service, as was broker the Coloured Diamond Exchange. With the latter, some investors had been told the company was FCA-registered which it was not.

DEVELOPMENT LAND: BUILDING BOGUS CLAIMS

Buying shares in companies that build properties or hotels on unused land both at home and overseas can appear a plausible investment proposition. But this straightforward-sounding arrangement has led to significant investor losses.

For example, more than 170 people lost 2.8 million after buying shares in a company that said it owned development land on the island of Madeira. Bosses claimed to have the backing of both a worldwide hotel chain and major British bank. These claims were lies and the company fraudulent. Many elderly, vulnerable British victims lost their life savings as a result.

How to start investing or be a smarter investor Investing has proven to be the best way to beat inflation and grow your wealth over the long-term, but how do you get started? And if you do already invest but feel youve lost track of your goals or ended up with a jumble of investments, how can you improve things? In this podcast, Simon Lambert and Georgie Frost dive into how to be a smarter investor. They bust the jargon and look at why people should invest, how to get started, what investments you can choose and how to find the right ones for you. Press play above or listen (and please subscribe if you like the podcast) at Apple Podcasts, Acast, Spotify and Audioboom or visit our This is Money Podcast page.

HOW TO CHECK AN INVESTMENT IS LEGITIMATE

When making investment decisions, it pays to carry out due diligence. The first step is to check the firm you are dealing with is authorised and what it is permitted to sell.

You can do this using the FCA's financial services register. It lists authorised firms and spells out what they are able to do. Visit register.fca.org.uk. It also provides company addresses and any other trading names the business might be using.

Beware of 'cloned' firms. These are scammers that imitate a genuine company by using a similar name. Many such firms are included on the register along with prominent warnings. Next, investigate the deal you are being offered. Unregulated products also include those linked to wine, hotels and student accommodation.

For a more comprehensive list visit the FCA's ScamSmart website. Finally, consider taking professional advice. Respected financial advisers not only help people build wealth, but protect it.

Of course, individuals need to select an adviser that is authorised. Use websites such as unbiased and VouchedFor to find one and check their name appears on the financial services register.

Do not be bashful. Ask the adviser whether the products recommended are regulated.

A FINAL WARNING

A golden tip from Wealth is that if any firm  regulated or not  promotes an unbeatable and time-limited 'opportunity' to invest in crypto-currencies, storage units, parking spaces or graphene, let it pass. And never bet the farm.

Limited wealth is better than none at all.
You will find it difficult to pick a sector less loved by investors than the once-mighty British banks.

Humbled by the financial crisis, bailed out by taxpayers and weighed down by PPI, our High Street lenders have been unpopular for the best part of a decade now.

But  as their financial reporting season begins, with Royal Bank of Scotland announcing annual results yesterday and its major rivals due to follow suit next week  some onlookers believe it is time for a rethink.

Time for a re-think? How Britain's big banks fared in 2018

Ian Gordon, a banking analyst at Investec, says: 'Banks are generating higher earnings and higher dividends, and I expect a raft of share buy-backs in the coming weeks and months.'

They certainly look like they could be a bargain. Most have endured precipitous share price falls since the start of 2008, before the crisis reached its nadir, with RBS down 94 per cent, Lloyds 82 per cent, Barclays 67 per cent.

Barclays and RBS are both at steep discounts to their 'book value,' meaning the value the stock market is putting on their shares is lower than the assets they own.

There have been hundreds of thousands of job cuts, waves of branch closures and massive fines for everything from money laundering on behalf of Mexican drug lords to selling toxic mortgages.

PPI compensation alone has cost the industry 33.6billion  enough to pay for the first moon landing, with change left over to buy two new British aircraft carriers. But there are signs the worst of the pain is over, with a deadline for PPI complaints in August, which should bring payouts to an end.

All change: Lloyds escaped from the taxpayer's clutches in 2017 and is slowly regaining its reputation as a dividend-producing machine

Meanwhile, impairments  losses from bad loans that customers cannot afford to repay, the scourge of the banking industry  are not an issue at present.

'Unemployment is at a 43-year low with scope to move lower this year, and that in turn should keep impairments lower for longer,' Gordon says.

Taxpayers still own 62.3 per cent of RBS, a legacy of its 46billion bailout in 2008 after years of mismanagement, but the Treasury has pledged to cut this to zero by 2024.

The bank made a profit of 1.6billion in 2018, its second year in the black after a run of losses, and boss Ross McEwan is increasingly positive about the future.

Lloyds, meanwhile, escaped from the taxpayer's clutches in 2017 and is slowly regaining its reputation as a dividend-producing machine.

It doled out an interim payment of 1.07p per share last year and is yielding almost 5.3 per cent  still down from the pre-crisis levels of 6.7 per cent.

Lloyds is heavily tied to the economy so could suffer if there is a Brexit downturn.

In the money: HSBC is expected to post a 32 per cent rise in profits to 17.5billion next week

However, the biggest risk for investors might be that ambitious targets set by boss Antonio Horta-Osorio could lead to a return to the hard-driving culture that sparked past mis-selling scandals.

Experts expect a profit of 8.4billion when it unveils 2018 results on Wednesday, up 58 per cent on the previous year.

At Barclays, bosses have made a virtue of the lender's strong US presence and its investment banking arm.

But shares remain stubbornly below where the board  which has been disrupted by activist investor Ed Bramson  would like them to be. Boss Jes Staley has even suggested that the bank needs another economic downturn to restore confidence in its ability to weather the storm.

Profits of 5.6billion, up 57 per cent on 2017, are expected when results are unveiled on Thursday.

HSBC  which is due to report results on Tuesday, with an 32 per cent rise in profits to 17.5billion expected  stands slightly apart from rivals because more than half of its income is earned in Asia, where it is the dominant Western bank.

The lender is more of a play on the fast-growing Chinese economy than on Britain.

For the other three big lenders, the main concern is that Brexit uncertainty continues and takes a toll on the economy, hitting their profits.

Fierce competition in the mortgage market is also holding back returns, and spending on new technology is likely to ramp up as they fight off new online-only rivals such as Starling and Monzo.

And just because bank share prices look low, that doesn't mean they'll recover any time soon.

Russ Mould, of stockbroker AJ Bell, says banks 'pass all the stress tests to check financial stability which central banks can throw at them, but the share prices don't want to rise'.

So banks remain  as they have done for more than a decade now  an unloved group of stocks.

But for those willing to wait for a rethink, there may be an opportunity to bag a bargain  and enjoy chunky dividend payouts too.
Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday's ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.

Mrs M.G. writes: Mike Carter, the director of Guardian Legal Limited, came to our house in July 2017 to discuss mirror wills, children's trusts and lasting powers of attorney.

As his office was closed, he insisted we pay 3,619 by cheque, rather than by card the next day. Subsequently, after some research, we changed our minds and cancelled within the allowed 14-day cooling-off period.

Confusion: Guardian Legal's Mike Carter (pictured) lived near Alicante

Guardian Legal said we would be repaid on September 7, 2017, but no repayment arrived on that day or on any day since.

You have had an extraordinary battle to try to get your money back. You and your husband travelled to Guardian Legal's head office in Huntingdon, only to find that it was not really there. The address was a maildrop.

You contacted the company's registered office at Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, but that turned out to be just the address of accountants who acted for Guardian. You sued Guardian and won a court order instructing the company to pay you a total of 4,084. Yet you have still not received a penny.

What can anyone think, when a firm that holds itself out as being part of the legal profession ignores a court order? On Facebook, Guardian is described as an 'estate planning solicitor in Huntingdon'. But it is neither a firm of solicitors nor is it in Huntingdon.

The fact is that Guardian is yet another example of the unregulated legal sector inhabited by firms that carry out work that needs no qualifications. Anyone can draft a will, a trust deed, or a power of attorney. They can charge what they like  often far more than someone who is legally qualified.

I contacted Mike Carter last month. His company currently says on its website that its offices are in Peterborough, but in fact they are 90 miles away in Scunthorpe. On his own page on the LinkedIn business website, Carter says that he lives in Spain, where he runs a property firm.

Carter told me: 'We have never portrayed ourselves as being solicitors.'

He cannot change his company's Facebook page that claims this, because the staff member who had the login details has left. As for living in Spain, he explained: 'I am surprised you think I live there.' He has been back in Britain since 2013, he added.

Yet on LinkedIn, he says he 'now owns and runs Benimar Villas', and that he lives 'about 30 minutes south of Alicante'. Perhaps the staff member who wrote this for him has also quit, taking the login details too. No matter. Carter assured me that he acknowledges the debt. Guardian suffered a huge downturn in its finances, he told me, but he has turned things around. 'I expect the refund to be in place by the end of January,' he said confidently.

Well, you and I waited, and the end of January came but the refund did not. Carter now says: 'The past debts of the company, including the payment to Mr and Mrs G, are part of a Company Voluntary Arrangement currently being arranged. I had thought this repayment system would have started by the end of January, sadly it has been delayed a few weeks.'

Of course, this is nothing like his pledge to repay you by the end of January. A CVA is an attempt to keep a company trading when it is insolvent. It needs creditors owed at least 75 per cent of the company's debts to agree to be paid in instalments.

Guardian has failed to file accounts that were legally due months ago, so I have no idea how bad its financial situation might be. But even if creditors do accept a CVA, there is a risk that Guardian will then take on more clients and use their up-front fees to pay off older creditors.

Carter is no stranger to this situation. He worked for a very similar company called Indeed Law Limited, which went bust two years ago. Indeed Law itself took over from an earlier company, Direct Law 4U.

In 2015, I reported the collapse of Direct Law 4U and warned that Indeed Law was its successor. Nothing has changed since then. The legal merry-go-round continues and the victims continue to fall into the clutches of the overpriced and under-qualified.

Four years ago I wrote: 'Sooner or later, some official, somewhere, must surely clamp down on this.' Along with every other consumer in the country, I am still waiting.

10.26 call fee...to talk to NO ONE at Ryanair

R.L. writes: I phoned Ryanair on 0871 246 0003, the number shown on its website. The phone rang but nobody answered, so I connected to a web chat with a Ryanair adviser while still attempting to make contact by phone.

I terminated the phone call after 36 minutes and assumed there would be no charge, but my BT bill shows I was charged 10.26p.

Last call: The charge starts as soon as a recorded message answers

You have told me that you protested to BT but were told that charges would have begun as soon as the phone rang at Ryanair. I would be surprised if this was the case. Ryanair says: 'Calls to our UK lines are charged at 13p per minute (0871 number) or local rates (0330 number). Calls are only charged while the caller is in the queue to speak to an agent.'

I called the 0871 number twice, just to test it, and my call was answered each time with a recorded message to say I was held in a queue. The phone company has done its job and the call has been connected.

It is then up to the caller to decide whether to stick it out and pay while waiting for a human being, or to hang up.

Why is our bill for 'the Occupier'?

Mrs M.H. writes: We have received a bill from Npower, sent to 'The Occupier' at our address.

It demands 16, and although we are Npower customers, the account number is not ours.

We complained previously about Npower, and you intervened, but now we seem to be back to square one.

Back to square one?: Npower merged two accounts and accepted you were really 249 in credit

You and your husband contacted me late last year, after receiving a demand for 794. You had paid Npower over 1,000 but your account had only been credited with 350.

I wrote in December about Npower's explanation that because of confusion over when you moved into your bungalow in 2017, the company had opened an account in the name of 'The Occupier'. This was where your payments had gone, but Npower was also issuing demands in your actual name.

Npower merged the two accounts and accepted you were really 249 in credit. That should have solved the problem, but now the confusion has continued. Npower has just told me that the 16 is due from the person who lived in the bungalow before you. In a further attempt to draw a line under this mess, the company is writing it off and closing the account.
He also said that he has established a 'very good' relationship with the North Korean leader.

Washington: Exuding confidence ahead of his high-profile meeting with Kim Jong-un later this month, US President Donald Trump has said the second summit will be a "very successful one" as he has established a "very good" relationship with the North Korean leader.

President Trump and Chairman Kim are scheduled to meet in Hanoi, Vietnam on February 27 and 28. The two leaders had met on June 12 last year in Singapore for the first summit.

Trump described his first-ever historic meeting with Kim as "really fantastic" and said they had agreed to sign an unspecified document after their "very positive" summit, aimed at normalising ties and complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

"I hope we have the same good luck as we had in the first summit. A lot was done in the first summit. No more rockets going up. No more missiles going up. No more testing of nuclear (weapons). Got back our remains, the remains of our great heroes from the Korean War. We got back our hostages," Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.

"We hope we are going to be very much equally as successful. I'm in no rush for speed. We just don't want testing," he said. Noting that the sanctions against North Koreans remain in place, Trump said both China and Russia were helping the US and he was also working closely with South Korea and Japan.

"But China, Russia, on the border, have really been at least partially living up to what they're supposed to be doing," he said.

"So we will have a meeting on the 27th and 28th of February, and I think that will be a very successful one. I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim. We have also established a very good relationship, which has never happened between him or his family and the United States. They have really taken advantage of the United States. Billions of dollars has been paid to them. And we won't let that happen," said the US President.

Trump said North Korea had tremendous potential as an economic force. "Their location between South Korea and then Russia and China - right smack in the middle - is phenomenal. We think that they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future. So I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim in Vietnam," he said.

"A lot has been accomplished. We're dealing with them, we're talking to them," he said. The US president had said after the first summit that he believed he and Kim will "solve a big problem, a big dilemma" and that by working together, "we will get it taken care of".

The summit at Singapore's Sentosa island - the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader - had marked a turnaround of relations between Trump, 72, and Kim, 36, after a long-running exchange of threats and insults.

"When I came into office, I met right there, in the Oval Office, with President Obama. And I sat in those beautiful chairs and we talked. It was supposed to be 15 minutes. As you know, it ended up being many times longer than that," he said, recollecting his first conversation with his predecessor Barack Obama.

"I said, "What's the biggest problem?" He said, By far, North Korea" And I don't want to speak for him, but I believe he would have gone to war with North Korea. I think he was ready to go to war. In fact, he told me he was so close to starting a big war with North Korea. And where are we now? No missiles. No rockets. No nuclear testing. We've learned a lot," he said.

"But much more importantly than all of it - much more important - much, much more important that that is we have a great relationship. I have a very good relationship with Kim Jong Un," Trump said ahead of his meeting.

The US insists it will accept nothing less than complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.
Although Kensington High Street in London is a popular destination for tourists, it is not without its struggles. Retailers come and go all the time, more so now than ten years ago.

The road, thankfully, still has its fair share of banks and cash machines, which cannot be said of all high streets up and down the country.

Most of the banks appear busy whenever I stroll past at lunch-time although I have still yet to quite fathom out what goes on inside Studio B, a digital-focused branch owned by CYBG, owner of Virgin Money.

Futuristic: What goes on inside Studio B, a digital-focused branch owned by CYBG, owner of Virgin Money?

Precious little from what I have witnessed so far. Does anyone out there know  staff or customers?

Santander's branch, all machines, is also about as welcoming as an invitation to a morgue while Lloyds houses its cashiers upstairs rather than on ground level.

It is as if the bank doesn't want you to know they are there. 'Use the machines please.' The same goes for HSBC. Upstairs, staff. Downstairs, machines. Automation here we come.

Yet even moneyed Kensington High Street is now beginning to lose its banks. Royal Bank of Scotland has just shut up shop, showing its contempt for the high street by ripping out the two cash machines in the branch's frontage and covering the holes with white plasterboard.

I am sure many of Kensington's well-heeled residents will be singularly unimpressed with the horrible scars the bank has left behind. Contemptible behaviour from a bank we helped save from ruin a decade ago  and that last Friday said it doubled profits in 2018 to 1.6 billion.

RBS may be the first to walk away, but for sure it won't be the last. Unless Studio B is transformed into a Virgin Money branch, its days must surely be numbered.

Painful though it is to see bank branches close, I don't really have a problem with RBS deserting Kensington.

Indeed, I would rather see fewer banks on Kensington High Street if it meant there were more (or just one) in towns where all the banks have long run for the hills.

In recent weeks I have visited two towns whose banking fortunes have gone in opposite directions.

In Ambleside, Cumbria, there is no longer a bank on the high street despite the fact that the town is the busy gateway to the South Lakes and is always heaving with tourists.

Many local businesses are cash-based and need a bank to deposit their takings. Ambleside has become a banking wasteland. This is illogical, is wrong on all levels and it should never have been allowed to happen.

By way of contrast, Wokingham, a thriving Berkshire town dealing with a raft of new housing and a major shopping development on the way, is currently awash with banks  even though some branches are not particularly proud of how they present themselves to the public (NatWest's signage last weekend lit up as NatWes).

Like Kensington High Street, Wokingham seems overbanked. Last week, in a parliamentary debate on Santander's decision to close 140 branches this year (Kensington is not on the hit list), Conservative MP Paul Scully said he supported the creation of 'banking hubs'  where all the big banks come together to provide banking facilities under one roof. This idea is not a new one. Far from it. For years, The Mail on Sunday waved the flag for new- style community banks (banking hubs) that would ensure no town would be left without a banking presence.

The Campaign for Community Banking Services, run by former NatWest banker Derek French, tirelessly promoted the project.

But it was stonewalled at every turn  by the banks and successive Governments who preferred instead to bolster the Post Office's high street presence so it could accommodate the needs of people not keen on banking online.

The campaign has now died a death while French has decided retirement, slippers and cocoa are preferable to banging his head up against a proverbial brick wall.

Scully is right to support community banks, but I fear he will end up merely chasing shadows. As French did.
The first big test for former MP Andrew Tyrie as chairman of the Competition & Markets Authority is expected next week when the merger enforcer issues preliminary findings on the proposed 12billion tie-up between Sainsbury's and Asda.

It is a deal which would touch every household in Britain and the behemoth created would leap above Tesco to become the biggest grocer in Britain. The creation of the super-sized chain will also have a big impact on suppliers.

Sainsbury's-Asda have made a compelling case for the deal based around the radical changes taken place in food retailing.

Challenge: The first big test for Andrew Tyrie as chairman of the CMA is expected next week

They argue it is necessary to deliver the best prices to consumers in the face of the challenge of the German no-frills retailers Aldi and Lidl, web-based entrants to the market, notably Ocado and Amazon, as well as the rise of online food delivery services such as Just Eat and Deliveroo, which are reshaping the ready-made meals market.

Sainsbury's won a court victory over the CMA late last year when the regulator demanded a huge data drop in double quick time. But the risk is that the grocer's combativeness could have alienated the panel looking at the deal.

The changing shape of the High Street is demonstrated by data which shows 49.7 per cent of Aldi customers do their main shop there against just 23.6 per cent in 2010.

The widespread assumption is the CMA may well give the deal a tentative green light. The final outcome won't be known until April when everyone has had a chance to have their say again.

What will determine whether or not the merger advances will be the remedies proposed.

The CMA is almost certain to demand Sainsbury's-Asda dispose of perhaps hundreds of branches (some analysis has put the figure as high as 400) a requirement which would almost certainly kill the deal stone dead.

The CMA also has concerns about the impact on producers. Sainsbury's-Asda claims the deal would be 'an opportunity for suppliers'.

Rapid growth: The changing shape of the High Street is demonstrated by data which shows 49.7 per cent of Aldi customers do their main shop there

Judging from the past behaviour of the supermarkets when it comes to bullying smaller firms and changing credit terms, it is hard to see how that will stand up to scrutiny.

Unilever may be capable of giving some margin back to the merged group on Dove products, but small scale cheddar producers will have no such luxury.

Sainsbury's-Asda has done well in shifting informed opinion on the good sense of the deal. But arguments against the deal, irrespective of remedies, remain as robust as ever. Reducing the number of home-grown supermarket chains from three to four can only, over time, increase the pricing power of remaining players.

The pledge of everyday lower prices on a basket of goods will eventually be dismantled. The online threat to fresh food sales almost certainly has been overdone as the US experience of Asda-owner Walmart shows.

Here in Britain it requires a food basket of at least 100 before online delivery becomes mildly profitable.

Big mergers use buckets of management time, create huge cultural and systems dissonance and cast a shadow over the workforce. It took years for the last big supermarket merger of Morrisons-Safeway in 2003 to pay its way. The Co-op purchase of Somerfield was among the factors which almost destroyed the historic Co-operative movement in Britain. One doesn't blame Mike Coupe at Sainsbury's and his old mucker Roger Burnley at Asda for giving it a whirl.

They may end up 'in the money', as Coupe unwisely was heard to sing. But investors, suppliers, customers and communities will have little reason to celebrate.

Royal flush

Ross McEwan has doggedly stuck to the task of nursing Royal Bank of Scotland back to health through more crises than you could throw a stick at.

These range from rotten US mortgage securities, to the ghastly squeeze put on businesses by the bank's GRG recovery unit to broken computer systems.

Finally, Brexit notwithstanding, the sunny uplands are in sight with the bank expecting to be an earnings gusher by 2020.

The biggest task now is getting the Government to sell down its 62.5 per cent stake so as to ensure that Churchill-hater John McDonnell never gets his hands on the tiller.

Tories are terrified at the political fallout from selling the Government stake at a loss to the taxpayer. But that would be as nothing if an anti-capitalist Labour government took control.
Broadband customers are being warned to be on their guard against a new scam designed to panic them by claiming there is a problem with their internet service.

Customers who take the wrong action can be tricked out of serious sums of money.

Fraudsters are using two main ploys to catch out householders.

Scammed: Customers who take the wrong action can be tricked out of serious sums of money (picture posed by model)

TRICK 1: THE BOGUS WARNING MESSAGE

The first ploy is to send an automated message to a household's landline.

This urgent message is seemingly from the home's internet provider or even the telecoms regulator Ofcom, telling householders their broadband connection is about to be cut off.

I was almost tricked into pressing 1 Sehra Choudhry, from Greater Manchester, had a close shave last week when she received a rare call to her landline. The 46-year-old mother of three says: 'When I answered there was an automated message telling me our BT broadband was about to be cut off and that I needed to press 1 to stop this happening  or 2 to speak to someone. 'I was worried as like all families we depend on the internet. The only reason I hung up is that my husband is the account holder and that normally BT will only talk to him.' Sehra immediately rang husband Ash as she was worried their broadband would be cancelled. She says: 'Fortunately, he was suspicious this wasn't a genuine call so we didn't take it any further. 'But now I'm nervous about picking up the phone in case it is someone trying to scam me.'

They are told to 'press 1' on their phone keypad to speak to customer services. But what they are not told is that customer services is, in fact, fraudsters posing as their internet service provider.

A sham employee then sneakily puts time pressure on the customer asking them to act speedily to avoid being disconnected.

The impersonator then goes on to use 'social engineering' methods to extract personal details, usually telling the householder that this is necessary to stop their internet from being cut off.

Some conmen take this information and use it to commit fraud later. Others hook in victims immediately by encouraging them to sign on to their computer to check their internet connection is working.

This is when the scammers begin the serious work of taking control of the computer remotely. With a few more crafty questions they are able to drain a bank account.

Similar scams  where callers pretend to be the police, from a utility company or Government department  cost victims 37 million in the first half of last year, according to banking trade association UK Finance.

Some fraudsters turn into blackmailers. They freeze a computer from afar and then demand a fee to unlock it.

TRICK 2: THE PREMIUM RATE CALLBACK

The second broadband ruse is where scammers leave a voicemail informing the recipient of snags with their phone or broadband service and urging them to call back immediately to discuss the pressing issue.

But this results in victims being connected to a high-cost premium number where they will be kept hanging on the line  the charge for which will later appear on their phone bill.

Such premium numbers can cost up to 3.60 a minute  so 36 for a ten-minute call. This is in addition to a landline provider's usual 'access charge' of perhaps 15p a minute.

Callers who see a suspicious charge and number on their bill should contact their telecoms operator immediately and query it.

The number  and more importantly the company behind it  can be checked at the website of the Phone-paid Services Authority (psauthority.org.uk) which regulates the market.

If the company is legitimate, householders will need to contact the firm directly to query the bill. If it turns out to be a scam, you should log a complaint with the PSA which can fine and shut down firms in breach of its code of conduct.

A spokesman for industry watchdog Ofcom says: 'Customers should never hand over personal details or press a button to continue a call.'

If you fall victim to a premium text scam, here's what to do For those unlucky enough to fall victim to a premium text scam there is no single, simple solution. In theory, premium text service providers should offer you an 'opt out' option on the text, but that is not always the case. You can simply hit the reply button and text 'STOP', but mobile phone network operators admit this doesn't always work. Your mobile phone company can also offer to block premium text numbers, but operators admit this is not always effective. A good first port of call is the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) website. You can tap in the text number via its search facility and it should give you the contact details of the service provider. With that you can call or email the company and call a halt to charges, but they may insist on proof of payment. If you do remit them a bill it would be wise to blank out your address. If you want to recover your money, you may well have to be prepared for a fight. Threatening to complain to the PSA may work but online forums suggest this is not a given. If the PSA decides to pursue an action against the provider because there is a wider problem then you may be eligible for a refund. If you think you have been the victim of criminal activity you should go to the police. But this appears to be a grey area legally  from personal experience  because how consent was given remains opaque. Have you been caught out by a charge for an incoming premium text? Email personalfinance@mailonsunday.co.uk.

AVOID THE SCAMS: SLAM DOWN THE PHONE

David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, says: 'The only sure way to avoid falling for such scams is to slam down the phone.'

He would like to see more action from broadband providers to protect customers.

He adds: 'We are concerned that whilst any organisation the general public deals with takes great care to verify who we are when we call them, there is no easy way of doing the same when they call us.

'For this reason, we urge organisations to come up with a clear policy on how they may approach us by telephone.

'The principle should be to ensure that no genuine telephone call is unexpected or unverifiable. This should help in preventing us being scammed.'

BT says customers should always be wary of any call arriving out of the blue.

Flashback: Our story last July about how a scam victim lost 7,800

It adds: 'Even if someone quotes your account number, if the call wasn't one you were expecting, then you shouldn't trust them with personal information.'

Another tip is to hang up and then call the genuine customer service number of the company that is apparently asking for access to your computer or your personal information.

A call from BT about a bill will usually be from either 0800 328 9393 or 0800 028 5085.

No broadband provider will ever call a customer to ask for remote access to their computer or ask for bank details, especially from an unknown number.

Victims of this 'Press 1' scam should alert Action Fraud, the national reporting centre that collects data on such crimes. Visit actionfraud.police.uk

OUCH! HOW I WAS HIT BY A 'FIRST AID' TEXT MESSAGE TRICKSTER

Discovering you have been the victim of a premium text scam can plunge you into an Alice in Wonderland world where nothing quite adds up  least of all your mobile phone bill, writes Adam Luck.

For three successive weeks I received a text each Friday in the early hours simply stating 'PayForIt Charge'. I assumed there would be a charge if I replied so ignored it.

I was wrong. Each text from 300 900 09 cost 4.50. I was annoyed and began to wonder who was taking my money.

Wounded: Tap2Bill allows you to buy goods or services on your mobile at the click of a button without using card details and is approved by all major mobile networks

When I called my network provider Tesco Mobile, I was told a 'payment platform' called Tap2Bill had debited my account, but precious little else.

The regulator, the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA), referred me to its search database where all premium content providers have to lodge their details.

Alarmingly this gave me the wrong company but in the meantime I discovered that Tap2Bill was the brainchild of IMImobile, a large telecommunications company.

Tap2Bill allows you to buy goods or services on your mobile at the click of a button without using card details and is approved by all major mobile networks.

When I contacted IMImobile it said the provider that had charged me was actually J1Media for a service called 'Learn First Aid'. Records, it said, showed I had given my consent.

I've never heard of J1Media, never received a service called 'Learn First Aid' and never knowingly provided my consent.

When I tried to contact J1Media using the PSA's registered helpline contact details I could never get through.

Company records show that J1Media is owned by 28-year-old David Flood. A cursory online check shows that J1Media has a reputation as a scam merchant, allegedly relying on people clicking on internet pop-ups to generate its income. When I emailed Flood, he said he would stop the charges and offered me 27 compensation, but declined to answer what services they gave me for my money  or how I had given consent.

Nor would he comment on the claim that his company is a scam. So far I have been unable to claim the compensation offered. A curious aspect to all this is that the PSA made it clear no blame attaches to IMImobile, even though the company admits it took a cut of my money.

The PSA refused to reveal how many complaints it had received about Tap2Bill, but a Freedom of Information request revealed there had been 13,000 complaints about services operating via Tap2Bill since the beginning of 2016.

For 2017 and 2018, J1Media was the subject of 230 complaints.

IMImobile admits it has a commercial relationship with these premium providers but declined to reveal what cut they got of my 4.50. It said Tap2Bill 'contributed less than 1.5 per cent of the consolidated revenues' of the group which last year totalled 111 million.

It also confirmed that it conducted due diligence on all merchants it worked with and took 'immediate action' if either the PSA code or mobile operator codes of practice were broken  or where consumer harm was discovered.

This month the PSA took firm action against two companies for charging customers without their consent.

Xplosion Ltd, which we reported on last October after it was fined more than 1 million, has been banned from the market for eight years.

Global Awareness, which charged up to 4.50 a week for a 'glamour' video subscription service, has been banned for five years.

Last week, in response to my issue, the PSA insisted it is 'a regulator, not an ombudsman or consumer advice service'. It added: 'It is not our role to champion individual consumer cases.'

For all my staring through the looking glass, I am none the wiser about what I was getting for my payment and how I gave consent.
Lenders remain tough on loan to value deals

First-time buyers and homeowners with only a small amount of equity in their property who want to move or remortgage should have greater choice after the launch of new loan deals. But the cost of mortgages is still high for those without a large deposit.

Saffron Building Society last week launched a two-year fixed rate at 5.89 per cent that is available to borrowers with at least a ten per cent deposit.

Cheltenham & Gloucester, part of Lloyds TSB Group, also introduced a two-year tracker loan and a two-year fix for borrowers with a ten per cent deposit or more. But the rates are high at 6.99 per cent to fix and a starting pay rate of 5.99 per cent on the tracker. The deals are not available for those who want to remortgage their homes.



Only two lenders offered Craig Ashton a mortgage on a low deposit



There are other new deals that are aimed at borrowers with little equity in their homes who need to remortgage. Abbey, owned by Spanish bank Santander, has said it will offer lower rates to Abbey and Alliance & Leicester current account customers who have held an account for more than six months.

The deals go up to 90 per cent loan to value (LTV) for those taking fixed rates. Nationwide, which last week reported a sharp plunge in half-year profits, has also said it will lend up to 90 per cent LTV on fixed and tracker deals to those borrowers who have its FlexAccount current account.

Coventry Building Society has also said it will help existing mortgage customers who have to move house, for example because of a job change to another area.

They will be able to borrow up to a maximum of 125 per cent LTV. However-the deal has many restrictions and borrowers must have an excellent credit history.

David Black, mortgage expert at financial data analyst Defaqto, says that moves by lenders to improve deals at higher LTVs are a positive sign. But he warns that the market remains tough.

'Hopefully, there will now be a domino effect, with other lenders launching more competitive rates for those with only a small deposit at their disposal,' he says.

'Lending volumes remain low, so things are still tough out there for borrowers. And rates are much higher for those with little equity.'

Melanie Bien, director at mortgage broker Savills Private Finance, says tactics such as offering special mortgage deals to existing bank customers, such as those introduced by Abbey and Nationwide, make good business sense for the lender because they tie the borrower in.



They could also help many struggling homeowners. 'Borrowers who opt for one of these deals may face some hassle in moving their current account, but if it means you can get a mortgage when you would not otherwise be able to, it may be worth doing,' she says.

David Hollingworth, mortgage expert at broker London & Country Mortgages in Bath, Somerset, says the difference in mortgage rates at 60 per cent LTV and 90 per cent, for example, has never been wider (see report, above).

He says: 'There is still a price gulf between deals depending on a borrower's level of equity.

'It is not surprising that more borrowers have stuck with a lender's standard variable rate after finishing a fixed-rate deal because high LTV rates are simply not attractive.'

Craig Ashton, 34, a project managerfor a credit card company, bought his first home with his wife, Jane, 30, in May. The couple say they were frustrated by the lack of mortgage choice available to them because they had only a 15 per cent deposit, but they managed to secure a fixed rate at less than six per cent.

'There were just two lenders willing to offer us a mortgage,' says Craig, whose new home is in Grassendale, Liverpool. 'We wanted to fix for peace of mind, but we paid a premium because our deposit was small.'

Craig and Jane decided on a twoyear fixed rate at 5.89 per cent with Cheltenham & Gloucester, part of Lloyds TSB, and paid a 1,094 fee for the loan. C&G's rates at 85 per cent LTV are now higher.
Downfall of Mr McPoison: How Gordon Brown's king of the dirty tricks was sent spinning out of No10



Out: Spinner McBride fell on his sword after becoming 'the story'

When Gordon Brown swept into Downing Street promising to govern without spin, all those who knew his ruthless right-hand man Damian McBride allowed themselves a wry smile.

It was not for nothing that Cambridge-educated McBride was known to friends and enemies alike as Mad Dog. Others called him McPoison.



He was hard-drinking, hard-working and obsessed with advancing the cause of his boss; Mr Brown had come to depend utterly on his young adviser's mastery of the dark arts of media manipulation.



Though McBride and Alastair Campbell disdained each other, McBride had many similarities to Tony Blair's former spin doctor, who subjugated the civil service with scant regard for its long-cherished impartiality.



McBride was given a virtually free hand in both the Treasury and Downing Street to bully journalists seen to have stepped out of line, plant stories with those in favour and - most crucially - destroy Mr Brown's enemies.



Those who displeased him could expect abusive text messages and phone calls at any hour of the day or night.



'I just wish for once you'd try to get past your cynical, Tory, halfwit Harold Lloyd schtick to try and be a genuine journalist,' read a typical text to the chief political correspondent of The Times, Anthony Browne, who had the temerity to question Mr Brown's record on pensions shortly before leaving to run Policy Exchange.



'It's presumably cos of your inability to do so that you're off to earn a crust at some Tory think-tank instead. Pathetic.'

McBride became a Treasury civil servant after graduating from Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he is remembered as academically brilliant but already politically obsessive.

Nick Perry, a Cambridge contemporary who is now contesting the Parliamentary seat of Hastings for the LibDems, remembers beating McBride's candidate in an election for the Junior Common Room in the mid-1990s.



'Afterwards I got two pages of abuse from him written in red ink - two sheets of tiny, spidery writing,' Perry said.



'It was quite shocking. Peterhouse is a small college and quite close knit, and lots of people in my year wouldn't give him the time of day after that. It was sad.'



McBride came to Mr Brown's notice when, in 2000, he masterminded the Treasury's response to the fuel protests.

Friends: Draper, his wife Kate Garraway and McBride

His performance was impressive and he went on to become head of communications at the Treasury and then Mr Brown's special adviser.



In Downing Street, he was rewarded with the plum position of the Prime Minister's press and political spokesman - one of the most powerful positions in No 10.



Despite his taxpayer-funded status as a civil servant, McBride - like all those in Mr Brown's obsessively close-knit inner circle - demanded absolute loyalty to the Brownite 'cause'.



'You were either with them or you were against them,' said one senior Labour figure.



'There were no shades of grey. Once you'd stepped out of line, you were out for ever, and they'd stop at nothing to destroy you.'





McBride and other members of Mr Brown's coterie came to be blamed by ministers for picking off perceived rivals to the Labour crown one by one.



Friends of David Miliband, for example, had little doubt who orchestrated attacks on the 'disloyal' Foreign Secretary when he stepped out of line last summer.



'Anybody who was potentially a rival to Gordon would suddenly find lots of negative stories about them in the press,' said one insider.



'Whether it was David Blunkett, Alan Milburn or John Reid, and then David Miliband, a lot of people would say those stories have come from Damian.'



According to lobby journalists, McBride would also boast privately of 'destroying' the careers of civil servants or special advisers working for ministers who displeased Mr Brown.



Embarrassing details would find their way into the pages of friendly newspapers until the offending party had little choice but to look for a new job.



'He used to speak about "doing people in" and how it was most effective when they didn't even realise what was happening to them,' said another figure familiar with McBride's tactics.



'The tragedy was he was much better at attacking people on our own side than he ever was at getting a handle on Cameron and Osborne, as this puerile stuff that has now emerged demonstrates.'





For the dwindling rump of Blairites, McBride became public enemy number one.



They never forgave him for masterminding the war with Tony Blair that was designed to force him from No 10 in favour of Mr Brown.



Friends of Mr Blair complained bitterly that McBride and Mr Brown's other henchmen would stop at nothing in their campaign to undermine the then Prime Minister.



One contentious example came when, at the height of controversy over Mr Blair's stubborn refusal to say if his son Leo had had the MMR jab on the grounds of medical privacy, Treasury sources provocatively let it be known that Mr Brown had had his child vaccinated.



Journalists who were seen as having been too close to Mr Blair were also left in little doubt that they would not prosper under a Brown regime.



Despite his high-profile role in Downing Street, McBride, whose girlfriend is also a Whitehall press officer, proved reluctant to abandon the shadowy techniques he had perfected at the Treasury.



Contacts were invited to long lunches or big-screen viewings of his beloved Arsenal in Westminster hostelries, where they were drip-fed information the Brown machine wanted disseminated.



Before this weekend's furore, he was seen by many as a brilliant operator, able to defuse controversy by deploying alternative stories to shift the attention of the media.



Labour insiders believe Mr Brown's public image would be much worse without McBride's advice; the magazine PR Week put him in the top ten of Britain's spin doctors, alongside Matthew Freud and Max Clifford.



So trusted was he by the Prime Minister that he was asked to deal with personal PR of his wife, Sarah Brown, and had been responsible for a campaign to raise her profile to try to boost Mr Brown's flagging popularity.





The beginning of the end came last autumn at Labour's party conference in Manchester, when speculation about a Cabinet rebellion against Mr Brown's leadership was at its pitch.



With rumours whirling about the intentions of Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly, McBride chose to pre-announce her resignation to bleary-eyed-hacks at 3.15am in a hotel bar.



It was seen as a 'controlled explosion' by many Labour insiders, an attempt to flush out a minister who might otherwise have been persuaded to quit as part of a coordinated attempt to force Mr Brown from office.



The late-night briefing was the last straw for several ministers, who demanded McBride's head.



By that stage, he had become a lightning conductor for frustrations with the Prime Minister and was attracting blame for briefings which did not originate from him at all, but from other Brown partisans.



Reluctantly, Mr Brown removed him from the front-line.



But rather than dismissing him, he quietly shunted him into a prized backroom role in charge of strategy and planning.



It was in that job that, with taxpayers footing the bill for his six-figure salary, he embarked on the catastrophically ill-judged smear campaign against the Tories that was to cost him his job and leave Downing Street in crisis.



Insiders fear the exposure of dirty tricks and 'black ops' at the heart of Mr Brown's inner circle will fatally undermine the Prime Minister's attempts to claim the moral high ground over the Tories in his handling of the financial crisis.



It has also shone a spotlight on the smear tactics of Mr Brown's most trusted confidants - and voters are unlikely to like what they see.




If you have a problem, email z.west-meads@you.co.uk. Zelda reads all your letters but regrets that she cannot answer them all personally

My daughters wont talk to each other

I am at my wits end. My two daughters, both in their early 30s, are at war with each other. I divorced when they were only five and six, and I did my best to bring them up, but even when they were little they fought a lot. They now both have good jobs and are married with children. I have tried my hardest to support them but so often I am piggy in the middle. I have begged them to talk to each other to no avail. I feel that their terrible relationship is all my fault. They say dreadful things to each other and both insist that they are right. They need professional help  how can I persuade them to get it?

This must be very upsetting for you but please stop blaming yourself. Your daughters may fight but both are successful at work and happily married. You clearly love them and have done your best. Sometimes siblings are just very different. Same-sex siblings in particular can be jealous of each other and will fight whatever you do. In your longer letter, you say you have written to them, explaining how much you love them and how painful it is to see them argue. This is exactly what I would have advised. If you keep gently talking to them, I hope they will gradually start to soften towards each other. Family counselling  or individual counselling at first  could definitely help. Can you enlist the aid of their husbands? Perhaps between the three of you, you could persuade them both to go to Relate (relate.org.uk) or find a family therapist through the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (bacp.co.uk).

All he does is work and we never see him

My husband works long hours to support me and our two children, aged eight and ten. But I work part time to contribute to the household budget too and combine this with looking after the children. I love my husband, but not as much as I used to. It feels as though Im a single parent as he does so little with them and I feel emotionally neglected. My resentment is making me angry. He says he loves me, but if this situation continues the marriage will suffer more. He is a kind, caring, intelligent man and I dont want us to break up or to inflict divorce on our children.

If you and your husband love each other, it is a good basis to try to resolve your problems. What you dont say is whether you have tried talking to him about how lonely you are and whether you have felt able to express your anger or if it is just seething away inside you. You need to talk to him about it. Anger never achieves anything, so calmly explain how much you appreciate him working so hard to support you all, but that you feel neglected and you are starting to resent it. You should tell him that you need to feel close emotionally as well as sexually for the marriage to thrive. I expect that he is probably exhausted with all the long hours he works, so perhaps you need to agree that he has some downtime at weekends, but that you also have time doing fun things as a family. I recommend joint counselling with Marriage Care (marriagecare.org.uk).

I want to leave my husband of 40 years

I have been with my husband for more than four decades. It was OK at the beginning but weve had our ups and downs and now just tolerate each other. I dream of leaving but I cant afford it. We have two grown-up children who still live at home and our house is paid for. Many years ago my husband had an affair which resulted in a son, but he came back to me. He doesnt talk about his son and has never explained it to our children. Now I dont know what to do. I would like to find a partner who makes me happy.

It sounds as though your love for your husband has completely died. It must have been very difficult for you all these years to know that he has a son with another woman. You will need to get some legal advice. Contact Citizens Advice (citizensadvice.org.uk) for help finding an affordable solicitor. You dont say how old you both are or whether either of you is still working, but you may be entitled to maintenance or a share of his pension and half of the house. This might enable you to buy somewhere smaller. It would be an upheaval for your children as they are still living at home, but I hope they would help out and want you to be happier. Do you think they could afford to leave home? Or, if there was room for them to live with you in a new house or flat, would they contribute to their living costs? If they chose to move out, or stay with their father, would you consider taking in a lodger or working part time to help you afford to live separately? I am sorry that you have been unhappy for all these years and I hope that you manage to find a way to leave him.
Whats the secret of serial seducer Boris Johnsons allure? Having followed his career for years  and been on the receiving end of his stripping stare  journalist Tanya Gold knows exactly why the unlikely lothario, and would-be PM, makes women go weak

Everyone says its the hair that makes some women swoon; but I think its the voice. Its deep, rich and immensely posh. Boris Johnson isnt actually that posh. He is really upper middle-class. His background, as I shall explain, is more interesting than posh, so the voice, which comes from Eton and Oxford, has an edge of satire already; as if he cant really believe he is saying what he does. It says: this is a joke; Im a joke, but youre in on it, too.

Its not a joke. I have followed Boris, 54, for years as a reporter and columnist and have written about him many times; theres his lust for power, and his most interesting trait: the urge to self-destruct. If you read the man, not the policies, he is the most fascinating politician there is. Boris knows the power of laughter. Its his most cherished weapon. He doesnt do serious, or, rather, he is never serious for long. He gets bored and he acts the fool for a crowd. He does it with women, too. He is a married Conservative MP who plays the clown: Bojo on a bike, with his messy moptop, dangling from zip wires holding two Union flags. He has a generous frame and dresses like a man who doesnt really know how to get dressed. Yet Boris has been a serial seducer for years, despite his fame and seemingly stable marriage.

A certain type of voter cheers as Boris pulls another gorgeous bird and, seemingly, gets away with it. Do they ever wonder what impact a man who doesnt really know what he wants will have if he is PM?

Then last month, soon after he resigned from the Foreign Office, Boris and his QC wife Marina Wheeler, 54, announced they were getting a divorce. The trigger was said to be a rumoured affair with Carrie Symonds, 30, who used to be communications director for the Conservative Party, but apparently left due to her closeness to Boris. She is just the latest woman to be linked with him, but it was the end for Marina. She asked him to leave.

He has had many mistresses. Some of them thrived after it all became public; others didnt. But whatever their experience, the exposure of the affairs has not harmed him politically  not where it matters, with the party faithful. A certain type of voter cheers as Boris pulls another gorgeous bird and, seemingly, gets away with it. Do they ever wonder what impact a man who doesnt really know what he wants will have if he is PM? He has already delivered Brexit, and some people question whether he even meant to. For a long time, it didnt seem to harm him personally either as, after a period of reflective exile, he would be admitted back into the 4 million family home in Islington. Then he would do it again.

From a distance, it can be hard to divine his charm. Hes fat! squeaked a friend when she heard I was following him on his second mayoral campaign in 2012. Get him to sign my teddy! said another, who said she found him sweet  and she is a Liberal Democrat! I am on both sides. I love him because I think hes very smart, and vulnerable. I also think hes a monster  and none of this is boring. Hes got what a Jilly Cooper character would call a stripping stare  a very direct, intimate gaze. Most men dont have the nerve to look at women like that, although they try to teach it in US dating workshops. I got it once, 15 years ago at a Spectator lunch (Boris was editor from 1999 to 2005), at what I presumed was eight per cent of its full force. That was enough. He has a gift for making some women fall over.

I saw it again on the 2012 campaign. It looked, to me, like a compulsion indicating a desire to be loved. Dont ever vote for anyone else, he told one elderly woman, who was almost palpitating with the intensity of the encounter. She was out for her morning shop, and here comes a scruffy Mr Rochester, begging for her vote and offering her the world with his eyes. Its the direct gaze again. You feel stripped naked. You are the only woman in the world. Et cetera. The other side of it is there, too. He is, say those who know him, equally good at freezing people out when he has no further use for them.

His mistresses come from the professional and upper classes  for discretion, and nearness of reach. Boris hates talking to the press about his romances. He thinks it is none of our business; that its a prurient interest, sparked by jealousy, and has nothing to do with his fitness for office. Hes right about the first and wrong about the second. And its interesting that few of the women romantically involved (or rumoured to have been) with Boris will speak about their affair on the record. He keeps their loyalty.

His poor wife Marina cannot be surprised by his behaviour. Her marriage began in adultery. When they started dating, Boris was married to the artist Allegra Mostyn-Owen, now 54, and was living with her in Brussels, while reporting on the EU. They met at Oxford University, where she was already a semi-mythical being: a cover girl on Tatler magazine. His family were itinerant intellectuals with mixed ancestry  German, Turkish, English, French and Russian. His father Stanley worked for the World Bank and the EU and later became an environmentalist. Boris is the oldest of four  his siblings are journalist Rachel, Tory MP Jo and sustainability guru Leo  and his childhood was unsettled. His father was unfaithful and his mother Charlotte, an artist, suffered from depression. They divorced when Boris was 15 and at Eton. Allegra helped his election to president of the Oxford Union and they married at 23. He famously lost his wedding ring on his wedding day. The marriage lasted six years.

As the relationship collapsed, Boris began an affair with Marina, a former schoolfriend, and the daughter of the BBC journalist Charles Wheeler and his wife Dip Singh. Boris doesnt trust easily, and he is drawn to people he has known for a long time. He has many acquaintances but few friends. The three were often together, says his biographer Andrew Gimson, the author of 2006s Boris: the Adventures of Boris Johnson. Despite being married to Allegra he pursued Marina mercilessly.

Allegra rarely speaks about the break-up of her marriage, but her mother, the Italian writer Gaia Servadio, told The Mail on Sunday in 2008: [He] needed someone very obedient and silent, who would be willing to stay in the background and create a soothing home life, while giving him space to build a glittering career My daughter wasnt that person. In the end she did not like the competitive world he so enjoyed.

By October 1992, Marina was pregnant and engaged to Boris, who was still married. But by March 1993 his divorce from Allegra was finalised, and just 12 days later he and Marina wed. Servadio has said: The divorce was very painful, and Allegra suffered greatly. It took her a long time to regain her confidence, but she has since found happiness in her work as a ceramicist and painter. Boris has told friends he still feels guilty about Allegra.

Boriss other biographer Sonia Purnell, who wrote 2012s Just Boris: a Tale of Blond Ambition, says that Boris was drawn to Marinas steady career, sense of purpose and quiet steeliness. If he was chaotic, she was not. By taking responsibility for household affairs, she facilitated his incredible rise: to the editorship of The Spectator in 1999; to MP for Henley in 2001; to Mayor of London in 2008; to the architect of Brexit; to Foreign Secretary; to pretender seeking Mays crown. Marina allowed him to thrive while she juggled a career as a barrister with raising their four children. She invested in his success. (She is allegedly a fanatic Brexiteer.) They appeared happy and in love, but he had another life, too.

The first romantic scandal was in 2004 when Boris was shadow arts minister under Michael Howard. It was revealed that hed had a four-year affair with Spectator columnist Petronella Wyatt, and she had terminated a pregnancy while they were together. Petronella, the daughter of the late Labour grandee Woodrow Wyatt, is stylish, clever and was his subordinate at work. That is normal for him. They apparently had screaming fights at the office and would ride around St Johns Wood in a taxi, listening to a tape of Petronella singing Puccini. He apparently hinted he would leave Marina for her.

Boris dismissed rumours of the affair as an inverted pyramid of piffle, but after Petronellas mother confirmed the relationship, Michael Howard fired Boris from the front bench for lying. Like Allegra, Petronella, who is now 50, has never had children, and, unlike Allegra, who finally wed in 2008, she has never married.

For Boris, the whole affair was a disaster, but he didnt stop. He is apparently prolific in his loves. When intent, his strategy is to throw everything at the romance: texts, phone calls, declarations of love. But not costly gifts or meals, unless they are freebies. That is not his way. He is thrifty. What is amazing, says one friend, is how few women say no to him, and how loyal they remain. He makes them laugh, she says, and he is never cruel. When women turn him down, I am told, they feel flattered, not angry. He makes friends with his lovers, and he is fun to be with. He likes nice women and he doesnt care for being hated. It is a grand passion, and then hes gone, which is fine if youre not in love with him, and dreadful if you are.

The next alleged affair (it hasnt been publicly acknowledged or denied) was with journalist Anna Fazackerley, who interviewed him for the Times Educational Supplement in 2005, when he was shadow education minister. She was then 29 to his 41. More serious was his 2009 relationship with Helen Macintyre, an art consultant, when he was mayor. They had known each other for 15 years. She was pregnant with his child, but it was Macintyres partner who paid for the babys birth at a private hospital  they soon split up. Macintyre told Tatler in 2010 that neither her father nor I will speak publicly about their child.

BORIS'S WOMEN Marina Wheeler: The daughter of BBC journalist Charles Wheeler and his wife Dip Singh, Marina was educated at the European School of Brussels, where she first met her future husband Boris. Petronella Wyatt: In 2004, it was revealed that Boris and Spectator columnist Petronella had had a four-year affair. He dismissed the news that she had become pregnant by him as absolute rubbish. The relationship cost Boris his job as Conservative arts spokesman. Ann Sindall: Boriss long-term personal assistant Ann says his ability to make people laugh means its impossible to stay mad at him  and he gets bored without a crisis. Helen MacIntyre: Dubbed a bloody good bloke with bosoms and a brain, arts consultant Helen first met Boris as a student at Edinburgh. Their romance, 15 years later, resulted in the birth of a daughter. Anna Fazackerley: The journalist allegedly became close to Boris while he was a shadow education minister. In 2006, the News of the World pictured him emerging from her flat. She is now happily married. Carrie Symonds: The former Tory aide became close to Boris while he was foreign secretary. There was talk of dinners and smiles caught on camera as they emerged from a fundraising ball. Hes said to have promised to protect her from the furore. Advertisement

Boris, meanwhile, told a friend he was traumatised by what he had done to his long-suffering wife. He moved out, but Marina still saw that his laundry was done, and he was soon allowed home. Friends say Marina knew he was not like other men when she married him. According to Purnell, she coped because she knows he loved her, and she found the publicity harder than the affair.

There is one woman, though, who he has always been faithful to  Ann Sindall, his PA of many years. Boris calls her the be all and Sindall. She is a wit. She once asked Peter Mandelson to spell his name when taking a telephone message. We can all hate his guts, she has said of Boris. We want to kill him but then he can get us laughing again. She offered Gimson a great insight into his character: If he hasnt got a crisis, hell sit and say hes bored. He edited The Spectator on a knife edge. He couldnt do it otherwise.

Some say that Boris chases women when under pressure, as stress relief. Others think that he would really like more than one wife, or at least have a wife willing to tolerate an established mistress. He wrote with envy of the financier James Goldsmiths three families. Goldsmith said that when you marry your mistress you create a vacancy. He wrote in defence of Bill Clinton, too. Who wouldnt stray, he asked, when Monica Lewinsky lurked by the door in a low-cut dress?

Why is he like this? His risk-taking in journalism (he was fired from his first job at the Times in 1988 for inventing quotes) and politics are connected to his risk-taking in romance. Kate Figes, the author of Our Cheating Hearts, calls adultery, an addiction to the knife edge of risk  the adrenaline of danger, rather than the sex itself. Its the thrill of that edge which makes people feel more alive. Male infidelity is so often excused by their supposed greater libidos, but the need for more or varied sex is in my view often just a smokescreen for other motives  the need for narcissistic attention, unhappiness or disappointment with an existing relationship and the need to escape from it.

Boris, last year, with Natos Jens Stoltenberg, Theresa May and Donald Trump

People sometimes talk about an emotional wound inside him, for he needs always to win, to charm, to be accepted  with all his faults. He told Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs that he was very deaf as a child  because of glue ear  and he thinks that gave him a certain evasiveness because often really I couldnt follow what was going on at all. Hes a paradox, then. Purnell calls him a comic turn, yes, but also the result of a heartbreaking childhood. He is a hugely ambitious figure yet one who occasionally surrenders to a sort of professional death wish. A manic self-promoter, he also longs to be alone.

The final charge for the job he has coveted all his life  Prime Minister  is before him, and he will have to do it without his wife. Perhaps, if he wins, it will soothe him. Or perhaps not.
Late In The Day

Tessa Hadley

Jonathan Cape 16.99

Rating:

Twenty or 30 years ago, there was a genre of literature referred to, generally with a sneer, as the Hampstead novel.

Even if it wasnt always set in that particular area of north London  famous for its analysts and its champagne socialists  the Hampstead novel tended to involve, as Professor John Sutherland put it, middle-class orgasms, delicatessen food and high thought.

The characters  lecturers and actors and gallery owners, as well as a disproportionately high number of novelists  tended to argue over avocado and prawns about the meaning of life and art. They would then sneak off to pursue an affair, generally with their spouses best friend, and this would set them up nicely for eight paragraphs of angsty self-recrimination in the next chapter. Malcolm Bradbury once began a parody of this sort of book with the words Flavia says that Hugo tells her that Augustina is in love with Fred.

The Hampstead novel tended to involve, as Professor John Sutherland put it, middle-class orgasms, delicatessen food and high thought

After a while, this type of fiction went into decline, to be succeeded by something more fashionable  remember magic realism?  which would in turn go out of fashion, making way for Scandi-noir, or dystopian novels, or novels about earthy folk in the British countryside, battling against the elements.

Late In The Day is not, strictly speaking, set in Hampstead, but in and around Clerkenwell, an area of London that nowadays has the trendy, arty, cutting-edge aura that Hampstead once did. Its principle characters include a gallery owner, a poet-turned-teacher and a painter, giving rise to the odd breathless sentence such as: Hannah from the gallery was with them that evening too, and Zacharys younger brother Max, and Nathan Kearney, Zachary and Alexs old friend from university days.

These characters all read books, look at pictures and discuss films, in a way that sometimes seems designed to make the less rarefied reader flinch. Ive loved other Tarkovsky, interjects the lead character at one point, but isnt it a cliche, because the man is pursuing meaning and art and truth, and the woman only wants love and happiness?

Nevertheless, reading Tessa Hadleys new book made me nostalgic for the Hampstead novel, particularly for its interest in conveying the inner and outer lives of intelligent, articulate characters.

Though she confines herself to a small canvas of a handful of people, Hadley examines profound areas of life  friendship, marriage, parenthood, grief, love  with a delightful precision, hitting different nails on the head over and over again. Towards the end, one of her characters reflects: You could not have everything: the whole of life amounted to that. Whatever you had, was instead of something else. Her novel is full of these piercing little moments of revelation.

It begins with a sudden death. Zachary, the ebullient gallery owner, has a fatal heart attack. In many ways, the novel is an examination of the impact of death on the living  in this case, on Zacharys wife Lydia, and their two oldest friends, Alex and Christine. Hadley is wonderfully sharp on the brains refusal to countenance the death of a close friend. Its impossible. When I saw him at the weekend he was fine. How many of us have said this sort of thing at these most painful of times?

The friends assemble. Lydias shock gives way to fear of forgetting. Im forgetting him already. Something else is taking his place: the whole idea of his death, which is so improbable. He wasnt the dying type. Death is crowding out the real sensations of what he was.

Someone must tell the daughter, Grace. Alex agrees to drive up to Scotland, where she is at university. He arrives there in the early morning, and, after knocking on various doors, finally discovers where she has been spending the night. Hadley has a keen, witty eye, just this side of malice, for incidental settings like student houses, the morning after the night before.

She was asleep on a mattress on the floor in a little cramped room, with the duvet pulled over her head; the thick mop of her black curls gave her away. She and her boyfriend from the night before were sleeping without touching, backs turned to each other, the boys back raw with acne. The room stank oppressively of their bodies and of cigarette smoke and sex. A thick curtain was pulled across the closed window Who is this? the boy said, putting a hand out to Grace supportively, so that Alex saw he wasnt important. He was clearly a mistake, with his whiskery gingery beard, blundering out of his depth.

Though it is a comparatively short novel, a chamber piece set in two or three locations, and revolving around just four central characters, Late In The Day is far more ambitious than many more self-consciously panoramic works. Successive chapters go back and forth in time, so that, by the end, one has become familiar with these four friends through schooldays, courtship, parenthood and middle age.

The characters are often affected by music, and there is a musical quality, too, to Hadleys portrait of lives changing as the years pass, personalities altering and relationships mutating: it is, if you will, a dance to the music of time.

Lesser novelists depict characters that are drawn so firmly as to be immutable, but Hadleys characters change with circumstances. An abandoned wife, for instance, is wrenched with misery, but then, only a short while after, recognises, with a jolt, that the pain has eased. The cruel truth was, Christine thought, that when she got past the pain and humiliation of their parting, she had no more use for Alex. The pain was a phantom, crying out in longing for something that was no longer part of her.

Years ago, I read a novel by Iris Murdoch, called A Severed Head, which is, I suppose, an early example of the Hampstead novel. It follows a group of people over a number of years, all of whom, by the end, have had an affair with each other. Id guess that Hadley has read it, because her plot works along similar lines. But whereas in the end A Severed Head seems farcical, even ludicrous, Late In The Day remains firmly grounded in the limitations and possibilities of real life. If you like, the characters remain consistent in their inconsistency. At no point did I ever find myself exclaiming: But that would never have happened!

IT'S A FACT The village of Hampstead has more millionaires within its boundaries than any other area of the United Kingdom. Advertisement

This is partly to do with the crispness of Hadleys narrative, and the wisdom of her observations: you trust her. It is also buoyed up by an occasional comic waspishness, which stops her from slipping into the airy-fairy. Of the ageing of a minor, unpleasant character, she writes: She was still slight and energetic, but it was difficult to recognise the gypsy looks of the young Juliet behind the doctor with her stony features and pragmatic short haircut, her repertoire of exasperated expressions, through fraught to grimly resentful.

By the end, I was completely won over. My only irritation  very minor  lies in Hadleys use of the dash instead of the inverted comma. In an interview, she once said that she sees the inverted comma as a corset, and I can see its limitations. But her chosen substitute  the dash  can be more muddling, particularly as its easily confused with the conventional dash, which she also employs.

But this is only a quibble. Even if Late In The Day could be seen as a revival of the Hampstead novel, it has none of its self-satisfaction, or its so-what-ish-ness. Instead, it shows a small group of people struggling with grief, and passion, and the passing of time, and it does so with a touch of genius.
Diane Arbus: In The Beginning

Hayward Gallery, London Until May 6

Rating:

In her breakthrough exhibition, at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art (Moma) in 1967, gallery staff had to clean the glass covering Diane Arbuss photographs at the end of each day. Why? Because of the huge number of visitors whod spat on them.

Arbuss speciality was imagery of societys oddballs and outsiders: giants, dwarfs, nudists, Siamese twins, etc. Judging by the reaction at Moma, many New Yorkers were affronted by what they saw.

Fast-forward half a century, though, and Arbus is now widely regarded as having been one of the greats of US photography. A new exhibition at the Hayward Gallery arrives in London with much fanfare, only half of its 100 photos having been shown in Europe before. It focuses on the little-known, early years of Arbuss career, between 1956 and 1962.

A new exhibition dedicated to Diane Arbus at the Hayward Gallery arrives with much fanfare, only half of its 100 photos having been shown in Europe before. Above: Lady On A Bus, 1957

It was a period marked by tentativeness. Initially, Arbus hid around corners to get her shots and kept a distance from her subjects. She often worked in the dark too, clearly  and quite understandably  lacking the confidence shed have later.

The resulting images, such as two cha-cha dancers performing, and of a 42nd Street cinema audience, are grainy and imprecise.

As the years passed, however, Arbus got much closer to her subjects. Her photos became a frank exchange. In one of her most famous shots  of a boy in Central Park wielding a toy hand-grenade, in 1962  the lad stared directly at her with a look that mixes youthful clowning and primal aggression.

Focusing on the little-known, early years of her career, the show is innovatively laid out, each photograph displayed on its own freestanding column. Above: Jack Dracula At A Bar, 1961

Part of the change was down to her growing assuredness; part to a change of camera. In the early Sixties Arbus began using a twin-lens Rolleiflex  which was held to the chest rather than raised to the eye, allowing constant eye contact with her subject.

As time passed, the eccentric characters started to appear too, like the man at the circus in The Human Pincushion with pins stuck all over his body.

The exhibition is innovatively laid out, each photograph being displayed on its own freestanding column.

Diane Arbus committed suicide in 1971, aged 48. Her career had lasted only 15 years, and this exhibition does a fine job of charting its beginnings. Above: Taxi Driver, 1956

Encountering them replicates for us the sense of Arbus roaming the streets seeking her next shot.

Diane Arbus committed suicide in 1971, aged 48. Her career had lasted only 15 years, and this exhibition does a fine job of charting its beginnings. It lets us witness a master of American photography in the making.

ALSO WORTH SEEING

Fausto Melotti: Counterpoint

Estorick Collection, London Until April 7

Rating:

The Estorick Collection in Islington is one of the gems of Londons art scene. Kept in a Grade II-listed Georgian townhouse  which was converted into a gallery 20 years ago  it specialises in Italian art from across the 20th century.

On the first and second floors there are long-term displays featuring work by greats such as Giorgio Morandi. On the ground floor you find the space for temporary exhibitions, which is currently devoted to little-known sculptor Fausto Melotti.

The abstract pieces from early in his career might be seen as a rejection of the propagandistic, figurative sculptures of this period supporting Mussolini. Alas, much of Melottis pre-war work was destroyed when his Milan studio was hit by Allied bombing in 1943.

The Estorick Collection's exhibition on the little-known Italian artist Fausto Melotti contains a number of fascinating abstract pieces from early in his career, such as The Lion Friend (above)

On this shows evidence, it was in the Sixties and Seventies that he hit his peak. Brass sculptures such as The Lion Friend and The Uneasy Conscience are highly playful. The latter is a feather-light, human figure, with a rectangular mirror where wed expect a face. The uneasy conscience of the title is our own.

The Lion Friend, meanwhile, looks nothing like a king of the jungle. This sad-faced creature has a stick-figure anatomy, with a pair of weighty testicles the only body part of substance.

The Uneasy Conscience (left) is a feather-light, human figure, with a rectangular mirror where wed expect a face. But the lack of information on the works is frustrating. Right: Orpheus

Melotti has featured in group shows at British institutions over the years, but this is his first solo exhibition.

His work engages throughout. Which makes it all the more frustrating that so little information is provided on the context in which Melottis sculptures were made  especially on their relation to other 20th-century Italian art, so many fine examples of which are on show at the Estorick upstairs.

One leaves Islington wanting to see more  and know more.
A Private War Cert: 15, 1hr 50mins

Rating:

Awards season finally comes to a close next weekend with the Oscars, but it has not been a kind one for Rosamund Pike. It got off to an encouraging start with a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress but since then nothing. No Bafta nod, no Oscar nomination, nothing.

Which is a shame and something of an injustice, as Pike is fabulously good as the ferociously unbiddable war correspondent Marie Colvin in A Private War. Its a part that almost instinctively you feel Pike wouldnt be right for  too young, too pretty, too refined  and yet she rises to every one of its many considerable challenges, cleverly avoiding the potential for overplaying at every impressive turn. And what potential there is.

Not only did the passionately committed Colvin sport a piratical eye-patch (her left eye was badly damaged by a rocket-propelled grenade in Sri Lanka in 2001), but throughout a career that took her to all the worlds major trouble spots  Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and, finally and tragically, Syria  she was hot-tempered, alcoholic and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Casual sex was another of her chosen anaesthetics.

Rosamund Pike is fabulously good as the ferociously unbiddable war correspondent Marie Colvin (above with Jamie Dornan as photographer Paul Conroy) in A Private War

Given that sort of material, lesser actresses might have gone wildly over the top; Pike, however  even mastering Colvins deep, guttural semi-American growl  pitches it just right. Many years from now, when she looks back at her career, this is one of those roles she can be rightly proud of. So why hasnt the film made a bigger impact with award voters?

One reason might be the simple passing of time. Its almost exactly seven years since the New York-born but London-based Colvin was killed by a Syrian artillery shell in the besieged enclave of Homs, and memories fade unfairly quickly.

That said, it was only last month an American court provided a very timely reminder, ruling that the Syrian government had been responsible for her death and ordering the Assad regime to pay her family $300 million in damages.

Although this is that strange thing  a serious film guilty of taking itself too seriously. The main casualty of this is the normally excellent Tom Hollander (above) who plays Colvin's editor

Then theres the fact that these sorts of films do seem to struggle. Three years ago, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, the story of journalist Kim Barker, battled to make a profit, let alone win awards, despite starring Tina Fey and Margot Robbie and being played for more laughs than are on offer in A Private War.

Any film that gets under way, as the latter does, with the caption 2001, London, England, 11 years before Homs is clearly not out to amuse.

The film is directed by Matthew Heineman, who has a reputation as a documentary-maker but has never made a feature film before. He does so with a screenplay inspired by a Vanity Fair article but written by Arash Amel, who wrote the screenplay for the execrable Grace Of Monaco.

While it does a good job of capturing Colvin's complex character, the film is full of cliches, and hampered by an overly-complicated structure. Above: Pike with Raad Rawi as Colonel Gaddafi

On paper, thats not the most promising sounding combination but, in fairness to both, they do a pretty good job of capturing the complexities of Colvins character, telling her story and recreating the tragedy of her death. But they also serve up an awful lot of cliches, spring little in the way of surprises and at key moments get bogged down in a structure that has become too complicated for its own good.

There are moments when war-zone footage is battling for screen time with the fog of an alcoholic breakdown in London, interspersed with nightmarish visions that existed only in Colvins understandably wounded mind. Its all just a little bit too much and damaging in the same way as the decision to have Colvins own reportage read  portentously and self-importantly  over more war-zone footage.

This is that strange thing  a serious film guilty of taking itself too seriously. The main casualty of this is the normally excellent Tom Hollander, who doesnt do anything technically wrong as Colvins long-suffering London-based boss but equally doesnt really convince as any sort of editor Ive ever known. Newspaper journalism is funnier, crueller and more chaotic than this.

But as a portrait of a badly damaged woman who was out of control by the end, it succeeds. Colvin was 56 when she was killed; Pike has just turned 40. But she convinces throughout

Jamie Dornan, by contrast, is more plausible as Colvins photographer colleague, Paul Conroy, although whether this is because I dont know many war photographers or because of his likable low-key performance is hard to say.

But its also a portrait of a badly damaged woman who had been traumatised by what she had seen, became addicted to war and who, by the awful end, had lost all sense of self-preservation and was out of control. Colvin was 56 when she was killed; Pike has just turned 40. But she convinces from beginning to end, and A Private War is worth seeing both for her and the extraordinary Colvin too, of course.

ALSO OUT THIS WEEK

The Kid Who Would Be King (PG)

Rating:

Joe Cornish  once of TVs The Adam And Joe Show  has spent the past decade putting together an ever more impressive film career. With The Kid Who Would Be King, a modern take on the story of King Arthur, he both writes and directs.

And great fun it is too, helped by strong visual effects, some very funny moments and cracking performances by  Patrick Stewart and Rebecca Ferguson notwithstanding  its mainly youthful cast.

Move over Dad: Louis Ashborne Serkis (yes, son of Andy) shines in The Kid Who Would Be King, a likeable modern take on the story of King Arthur

The impressive Louis Ashbourne Serkis (yes, son of Andy) plays Alex, the brave but bullied schoolboy whose life is magically transformed when he pulls an unlikely looking sword out of a reinforced concrete pile. Suddenly hes got a slightly camp Merlin as his spiritual guide and everyones off to Tintagel.

It starts off looking like telly but gets better in likeable leaps and bounds.

Instant Family (12A)

Rating:

You cant argue with the message  the world needs more generous-hearted people to foster and adopt children  but you can certainly question the execution. This is a film with the story, sentimentality and humour turned up to 11.

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne (above, with Margo Martindale) are nice enough, but Instant Family is only modestly funny and relies heavily on tasteless gags

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne are nice enough as the childless couple who decide to foster three siblings, including a preciously mature 15-year-old (Isabela Moner). But for every modestly funny moment there is something over-shrill or lacking in taste.

Happy Death Day 2U (15)

Rating:

Not only does this sequel arrive barely 16 months after the original, its actually better. That, you may recall, was about Tree (Jessica Rothe), a student trapped in a Groundhog Day-style time loop that saw her waking up day after day knowing only that she would be murdered (again).

This only really gets going when the geek-gang tinkers with the space-time continuum again and suddenly poor Tree is back in the time-loop of the original. Its funnier, cleverer and, for a while, even quite moving.

Piercing (18)

Rating:

This is the unsettling story of a new father who leaves his wife and baby for a business trip. But his real aim is to engage in sado-masochistic sex with a prostitute and then to murder her.

But then Mia Wasikowska turns up and it seems the power games have only just begun. Nasty but stylishly executed.
Symantec announced Email Fraud Protection, an automated solution to block fraudulent emails.

Symantec announced Email Fraud Protection, an automated solution that helps organizations block fraudulent emails from reaching enterprises, ensuring complete brand reputation and sender trust. Email Fraud Protection drastically reduces workload for IT departments and eliminates the need to manually manage email security configurations while combatting Business Email Compromise (BEC) attacks.

Email is a vulnerable access point for hackers who are continuously developing new and advanced strategies to expose critical data. As such BEC, or impersonation emails from trusted senders, are a major threat to organizations. According to the FBI, BEC attacks grew 136 percent over the past two years, with reported attacks totaling $12.5 billion. Symantec Email Fraud Protection takes a multi-layered approach to stopping fraudulent emails that target employees, partners and customers, and protecting brands reputations from hackers who impersonate company leadership.

Not only are email threats costly, but manually enforcing email authentication standards including SPF, DKIM or DMARC can be time-consuming and require highly technical resources to accurately identify third-party email senders without false positives that block important emails. Email Fraud Protection removes the need for administrators to manually set and maintain email sender parameters, instead email authentication standards are met by automatic monitoring of approved third-party senders.

"It's not easy to find a solution that can stop email impersonation through DMARC, especially in a business world where you have multiple legitimate senders for a domain. Symantec Email Fraud Protection is that solution, said James Charlton, IT security manager at MS Amlin  Global Specialty Insurer and Reinsurer.

Email Fraud Protection integrates with Symantec Email Security to support email authentication standards and help block platform threats on-premises or in the cloud, such as spam, malware, and phishing attacks. It can also integrate with Symantec Email Threat Isolation to minimize the risk of spear phishing, credential theft, account takeover, and ransomware attacks.

Symantec is focused on delivering business value to customers through our Integrated Cyber Defense Platform. Email Fraud Protection is a great addition to Symantec Email Security, ensuring enterprises are equipped with an automated and comprehensive email security solution, said Patrick Gardner, senior vice president, email security, Symantec. Our goal is to give businesses and IT departments time and money back that can be spent elsewhere in the organization.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 15

Good Morning Britains TV doctor Hilary Jones runs an unofficial surgery for the shows hypochondriac presenters. I cant clear my throat very well, I told him today.

Does it get worse the more you think about it? Hilary asked.

Yes!

You have globus hystericus.

I laughed. He was serious. Thats its name. Its a mild stress-related reflux condition.

Flicking through the papers, I noticed a photo of James Bond star Daniel Craig carrying his new daughter in a papoose.

Flicking through the papers, I noticed a photo of James Bond star Daniel Craig carrying his new daughter in a papoose. Oh 007 not you as well?!!! I tweeted

Last week, I got into a lively debate with Susanna Reid over these baby slings, which I think look ridiculous on men.

This was the final straw.

Oh 007 not you as well?!!! I tweeted, with the hashtag #emasculatedBond.

Instantly, indignant papoose-loving fathers across the planet erupted with their own form of globus hystericus, led by Captain America movie superstar Chris Evans, who raged: You really have to be so uncertain of your own masculinity to concern yourself with how another man carries his child. Any man who wastes time quantifying masculinity is terrified on the inside.

Captain America would never wear one, I retorted.

Nor, Im equally certain, would James Bond  can you imagine Moneypennys crushed face if he appeared in Ms office with a papoose?

Yet Susanna, who once told me her ideal man would be 6ft 2in, tattooed and military, insisted with a straight face: Ive never seen James Bond look sexier! Papooses set womens ovaries in motion! Oh pur-lease.

As with all Twitter storms, I was soon accused of being sexist for implying only women should wear papooses and racist for using the word papoose at all because it was first coined by Native Americans.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16

Papoose-gate has exploded across the worlds mainstream media.

The Washington Post, the paper that broke Watergate, declared: Piers Morgan mocked Daniel Craigs baby carrier. Twitter gave him a lesson on modern manhood. No, Twitter just shrieked like a baby.

The most read story on the BBC News website today was about papooses, not Brexit.

Newsnight did a mocked-up montage of macho men with papooses, from Marlon Brando and Sean Connery to Muhammad Ali and Clint Eastwood  all of course looking absurd.

Even NBC Nightly News  Americas most prestigious news programme  ran a two-minute piece on the debate, prompting BBC Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen to ponder when I posted it on Instagram: Power of social media or the power of Piers Morgan?

Kirstie Allsopp, who regularly tweeted controversial (and invariably correct) statements, then quit Twitter when everyone went bonkers, emailed: Youre right, there is something a bit ugh about it. Its what a certain type of Im all over my kids and want everyone to know it dad does. Anyhow, getting a pasting is never fun, so sending you supportive hugs.

Thanks, I replied, but Im loving the pasting. And I was, as the faux fury grew increasingly comical.

Bette Midler, Hollywoods most demented Trump-basher, inevitably brought the President into the debate, tweeting me to seethe: Yes, if only he [Craig] could sport badly dyed cotton-candy hair painstakingly swirled like a cinnamon bun to cover scalp surgeries  AND IF ONLY he could lie countless hours on a tanning bed to keep his complexion a bright, crispy orange. Then  and only then  would he be a real man.

I knew exactly who to turn to for a PC-devoid perspective. You should do a papoose gag in your show, I messaged Ricky Gervais, it sends people NUTS.

He replied: How about: I went back to my old estate in Reading. So rough. I was shocked to see one of the hoodlums carrying a baby in a papoose but relieved to find out it was just because it was cheaper than a stab vest. 

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17

Ross Kemp came on GMB to furiously defend papooses, wearing one with a teddy bear inside. It shows you care, Piers! he exclaimed. No mate, it shows youve lost your marbles.

Comedian Harry Hill was also a guest, ostensibly to teach Susanna and me how to make large custard pies. Of course, he promptly pied me in the face, after declaring: This is for Ross Kemp, for Daniel Craig, for all the guys who wear papooses!

You OK? asked giggling Susanna, with fake concern. So I pied her, and then Hill. It was a suitably farcical end to a barmy few days.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18

Craigs wife, Rachel Weisz, was asked about Papoose-gate on the red carpet of her new film The Favourite. What is a papoose? she replied, bemused.

I find this encouraging  perhaps she has no idea Daniels been sneaking out in one.

Ive never said a man caring for his child is emasculating, only that wearing a papoose is. My final thought is this: male kangaroos dont have pouches. Do the maths

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19

Scotlands topical comedy show Breaking The News noted my opposition to papooses was rather ironic given the ability to carry a screaming, temperamental child is the reason Susanna Reid got the job as his co-presenter.

Ironically, after a globally hysterical week, my globus hystericus has cured itself.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21

Apprentice star Karren Brady has whacked me for supposedly suggesting it was sissy or demeaning for a man to care for his baby, and thus damaging the battle for gender equality. But Ive never said a man caring for his child is emasculating, only that wearing a papoose is. After all, Ive carried my own four children for years  with my own arms, and on my own shoulders.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22

Daniel Craig has been snapped again in New York, this time carrying his baby without a papoose. He looked magnificently manly  I rest my case. My final thought is this: male kangaroos dont have pouches.

Do the maths.
Nothing wrong with Sauvignon Blanc. In fact, I cracked a bottle of Kevin Judds Greywacke Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand this week and its still as mind-blowing as ever. Best in the world? Maybe. But fatigue sets in whenever theres too much of a good thing, and while Sauvignon Blanc hasnt quite plummeted in popularity as Chardonnay once did, there are plenty of zesty alternatives.

The reliable way to hunt zippy thrills in your vino is by choosing wine from vineyards embracing cool coastal breezes. Decent examples include Godello and Albarino from Galicia in Spain or Muscadet and Picpoul de Pinet from northern and southern France respectively, as well as other cool climate areas such as our homegrown wines right here in Great Britain.

You can also find pockets in warmer places. Im thinking of Txakoli from the Basque country, and Clare Valley Riesling in Australia, both of which are generally stellar in their bone-dry, laser freshness.

Another way to the font of the Zing Spring is to choose grape varieties that are prone to similar zest that you find in Sauvignon Blanc. Italy has a wealth of these, but my two go-to grapes this summer have been Vermentino and the little-known Passerina  Ive found a cracker to recommend from Tesco this week.

If you want to travel deep into little-known grape varieties, look out for Grasevina from Croatia, Assyrtiko from Greece or Arinto from Portugal. Two grape varieties that are chameleons capable of making sweet or very zesty wines are Furmint and Harslevelu, which you can find in Hungarian wines  Ive found a stunning Slovenian Furmint this week on the shelves in Waitrose. But sometimes the unexpected can deliver a dose of unparalleled deliciousness. Ever tasted a white Tempranillo from Rioja? Appley and refreshing as a glacier of frosted Granny Smiths. Or try Sauvignon Gris  a slightly richer and more tropical risk-free way to expand your personal flavour frontier beyond the borders of Sauvignon Blanc.
Paul McCartney Egypt Station Capitol, out Fri

Rating:

More than any other living soul, Paul McCartney has written songs that stand the test of time. But he wants you to hear his new stuff too. He wants it so badly that hes willing to spend a whole day with James Corden.

Behind the bonhomie of McCartneys Carpool Karaoke, it wasnt hard to detect the deal: sure, Ill go to Liverpool and do some Beatles songs, as long as you play my new single. And so Come On To Me has racked up 31 million views on YouTube, as against 1.4 million for its lyric video. Even a living legend can do with a helping hand.

Sir Paul is 76 now. Will he still need us when hes 84? On past form, he probably will. He loves writing songs and he longs to see them being loved by the public.

Sir Paul is 76 now. Will he still need us when hes 84? On past form, he probably will. He loves writing songs and he longs to see them being loved by the public

Egypt Station, his first album of new material for five years, could equally well be called Life In The Old Dog. Spanning 57 minutes and 16 tracks, it overflows with energy. Where Ed Sheeran wrote only one song by himself on his last album, and drafted in 21 co-authors, McCartney writes 15 alone and uses just the one co-author.

He plays the bass and the piano, as ever. And he pops up on acoustic and electric guitar, drums, bongos, harmonium, harmonica, harpsichord, synthesiser, tom-toms, Wurlitzer, Brennel guitar tape loops, triangle, congas, handclaps, foot stomps, ankle bells and bird recording. He even painted the sleeve.

McCartney writes 15 alone and uses just the one co-author. He even painted the sleeve

If all this sounds a bit one-man-band-ish, he also deploys his touring band, an orchestra, a choir and the Muscle Shoals Horns (take them on tour, Paul). And the songs, like the instruments, demonstrate his astonishing range.

He dishes up rock, pop and folk, ditties and diatribes, lullabies and experiments, songs about sex and songs about Trump, songs that could have been sung 100 years ago and songs that could only have come along today. One track, Fuh You, is a co-write with Ryan Tedder, who co-wrote Beyonces Halo; the rest are co-produced by Greg Kurstin, who co-wrote Adeles Hello.

The results are always stimulating but not always satisfying. McCartney, who once had sounding boards from heaven in John Lennon and George Martin, is no great editor of his own work.

Back in the day, a few of these tracks would have been jettisoned, to bob up again as B-sides. The good bits, though, are very good. I Dont Know is a classic McCartney piano ballad, effortlessly elegant, with a twist  raw vulnerability. What am I doing wrong? he sings. I dont know. His voice is ragged, and even his hair is now showing its true colours.

The punchiest numbers, Come On To Me and Fuh You, are rock-solid. The commentary on Trump, Despite Repeated Warnings, combines the subtlety of Blackbird with the intricacy of Live And Let Die. The other political track, People Want Peace, is a lovable anthem.

But the greatest pleasure here is McCartneys keyboard playing, especially on Do It Now and Hand In Hand. Whether playing the piano or the harpsichord, he delivers delicious chords, perfectly paced. When the muse is with him, Macca still has the magic.

GIG OF THE WEEK

St Vincent Edinburgh Playhouse

Rating:

St Vincent is the Texan-born art-rocker who has as much stage presence as any pop superstar  more than Taylor Swift, about the same as Beyonce.

Appearing at the Edinburgh International Festival, she attracted a packed house that was described by a friend in the stalls as half middle-aged men, half young lesbians.

In London last autumn, St Vincent performed alone, commanding the stage at the Brixton Academy but leaving many fans frustrated with her prefabricated slabs of electro-pop.

In Edinburgh, she brought a band  another stylish woman, and two men, not stylish at all, in brown overalls and Boris Johnson wigs.

St Vincent herself wears very little and she wears it well. But the band turn out to be a mixed blessing, supplying energy while rather swamping their bosss delicate vocals.

At the end, she sings two or three songs alone, and they are glorious. In her bold staging, you can see the influence of her friend and mentor David Byrne, but he would surely advise her to let her voice ring out more often.

THIS WEEK'S CD RELEASES

By Adam Woods

Paul Simon In The Blue LIght Out Fri

Rating:

Evidently not heading for retirement after his final tour concludes this month, Paul Simon has reworked ten tracks from his solo catalogue  including four from 2000s Youre The One. His voice holds up amazingly well at 76, and the songs have been tweaked and subtly orchestrated to create something warm, wise and new

Troye Sivan Bloom Out now

Rating:

The second album by South African-born, Australia-raised teen-pop idol and vlogger Troye Sivan is stylish, confiding dance-pop of a gentle kind. The Robyn-ish title track, Ariana Grande duet Dance To This and synth-pop strum-along The Good Side stand out in pleasing but sometimes slightly anonymous company

Spiritualized And Nothing Hurt Out Fri

Rating:

Jason Pierces eighth album as Spiritualized lets rip more sparingly than previous releases, with extravagant, jazz- and gospel-infused clouds of guitars, strings and choirs making way for lullaby melodies. But the grand crescendo of Im Your Man and the psychedelic garage-rock of On The Sunshine show he can still blow the roof off

Neil & Liam Finn Lightsleeper Out now

Rating:
First she dished up Fleabag, the TV comedy about a young woman struggling with modern life. Now British comedian and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives us Killing Eve, an eight-part series about a bored, deskbound MI5 operative, Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh, Greys Anatomy) and glamorous Russian assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer, Doctor Foster). Eve is assigned by her boss Carolyn (Fiona Shaw) to track the psychotic Villanelle and becomes obsessed with her target. But when Villanelle realises shes being watched she becomes equally fixated with Eve. The two begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game  falling in espionage love as Waller-Bridge puts it  that takes them all over Europe.

Jodie Comer as Villanelle. Killing Eve is not for the fainthearted. The murders are all coolly executed by Villanelle

007 meets Nikita

Writer Waller-Bridge based the series on the four Codename Villanelle books by Luke Jennings, seen as a cross between Luc Bessons film Nikita and Ian Flemings James Bond stories. Its suspenseful, dark, cruel, sexy, glamorous, dirty, clinical, epic and immediate all at the same time. Villanelle captured my imagination completely.

Lady Thrillers

Killing Eve is unusual in that its two lead roles are played by women. Key supporting roles are also now women, though both parts were written as men in the books. The decision wasnt universally welcomed. There was a meeting where someone said, We cant have too many women, meaning it will look unbelievable, says Waller-Bridge. I said, What are you talking about? Not if its written well and shot well. 

Walther PPK? No, a toilet brush!

Sandra Ohs Eve is not an ass-kicking agent. She cant do a backflip, pull out a gun and shoot three people with one bullet, says Waller-Bridge. She barely knows which way round to hold a gun when this thing starts. When Eve and Villanelle finally meet halfway through the series and the tension hits a peak, Eve picks a toilet brush as her weapon of choice.

British comedian and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives us Killing Eve, an eight-part series about a bored, deskbound MI5 operative, Eve Polastri

Its coming home

Its a BBC America series, made by a UK production company, with a mainly British cast and has been filmed in London and Europe. But Killing Eve debuted in America (to universally rave reviews) five months ago. Variety predicted it would be the must-watch series of the year. Sandra Oh has been nominated for best actress at this years Emmys and a second series is filming now.

Shes Cruella de Villanelle

Jodie Comer says Villanelle is a woman people can relate to, despite the murders she commits. Of course shes not to be trusted  she enjoys killing, she says. But I found myself on her side. I dont want her to be disliked even though what she does is so awful. I want people to be excited by what shes going to do next.

Itll slay you

Though theres a seam of black, deadpan humour running through it, which wont be a surprise to those whove seen Fleabag, Killing Eve is not for the fainthearted. The murders are all coolly executed by Villanelle  a psychopath and assassin with a melodramatic vein. In the pilot theres one murder thats so excruciatingly creepy it elicits an admiring cool from Eve. Another is even more graphic and involves a hairpin and an eyeball.

What, no Phoebe?

Having appeared in Broadchurch, starred in Fleabag and gone on to win herself a role in the recent Star Wars spin-off movie, Solo, Waller-Bridge has taken a step back behind the cameras, though she really wanted to make an appearance. She says, I wanted to be brutally murdered  but the schedule meant I couldnt do it. I would have liked to have been blown up or something.

Killing us softly with its songs

The soundtrack plays against type in a thriller format. At moments of extreme tension youre as likely to hear a love song as a typical dramatic score. Modern pop hits such as Julia Michaels Issues are mixed in with French songs from the Sixties.

Shes dressed to thrill

Villanelle has a weakness for designer fashion and is often seen swanning about in Chanel or Dior. Sandra Oh as Eve, however, has swapped the white doctors coat she wore in Greys Anatomy for something even more dreary: trainers, shapeless trousers and uninspiring cardigans.

Sandra Oh as Eve. Sandra Oh has been nominated for best actress at this years Emmys and a second series is filming now

It couldnt happen... could it?

Unlike Lisbeth in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Villanelle looks like someone who wouldnt scare you if you sat beside her on a train. The series of murders she commits are all connected, with her handler Constantin (Kim Bodnia from The Bridge) seemingly under the control of a shady, powerful group known as The 12. Producers insist its founded in fact: they spoke to the BBC security correspondent Gordon Carrera and NBCs chief global correspondent Bill Neely for information on how and why people around the world are bumped off.

Killing Eve will be shown on BBC1 and BBC3 from mid-September
It is a baking hot day on a run-down side-street in the 20th arrondissement of Paris, and in front of me is a scene that has become all too familiar in recent years: the road is in lockdown as armed police surround the door to an apartment. Im crouched behind an armoured personnel carrier as men with automatic weapons burst in to the building. Just as quiet descends, there is a huge explosion.

But this isnt a terrorist atrocity, its the new Amazon series Jack Ryan being shot on location. Filming is taking place not long after real terrorist attacks in Paris, so its hardly surprising to see local residents peaking anxiously through shutters. Ironically, its the sight of American actor John Krasinski (husband of one of Hollywoods hottest stars, British actress Emily Blunt) exiting the building with his gun drawn that calms local nerves.

John Krasinski as Jack Ryan. Author Tom Clancys ten original Ryan novels sold more than 50 million copies and spawned five feature films grossing in excess of $800 million

Krasinski plays Jack Ryan, and hes the fifth high-profile actor to take on one of the most popular characters in modern fiction. Author Tom Clancys ten original Ryan novels sold more than 50 million copies and spawned five feature films grossing in excess of $800 million, as Ryan went from marine to CIA analyst to field agent to US President. Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Alec Baldwin have all played the Ruskie-bashing action hero.

Krasinski is massive in his black flak jacket and boots. He comes from a military family and, with the training hes undergone for the role, hes believable as a former marine. But hes also a little goofy and relatable, as anyone who saw him playing Martin Freemans character in the US version of The Office would know. Not content with a British wife and starring in the remake of a classic British comedy, Krasinski admits that his new drama also echoes our most famous secret agent. Jack Ryan is kind of like our James Bond, says the American actor. And he might be our Bond  with a lot less sex, which is a little disappointing  but certainly in our show its a much more realistic scenario.

The Clancy novels were set in the twilight of the Cold War and the world today is a very different place. The task of rebooting the novels for a big-budget TV series fell to Carlton Cuse and Graham Roland, the team behind the hugely successful TV series Lost.

A still from the TV series. The new Jack Ryan starts as a CIA analyst stuck behind a desk. When he notices a series of transactions that suggest there is a new Islamic terrorist kingpin in the Bin Laden mould at large

One of the critical components of the Clancy franchise was that he wrote these geopolitical thrillers that were very much of the moment, says Cuse. If Tom Clancy was alive right now what would he be writing about? And absolutely he would be writing about terrorism.

The new Jack Ryan starts as a CIA analyst stuck behind a desk. When he notices a series of transactions that suggest there is a new Islamic terrorist kingpin in the Bin Laden mould at large, Ryan passes the information on to his superiors. His super-power, at least at first, is not his sharp shooting but his intelligence, and it was this that made Krasinski interested in the role.

The pitch to me was, The reason why were not doing another movie and were doing a series instead is because the character has never been fully investigated. The two-hour movies are entertaining and fun. I loved Harrison Ford in The Hunt For Red October, which I saw before I read any of the books. But the truth is that when you read those books the Jack Ryan character is very rich and very deep. And in an eight-hour series were going to get a chance to learn all about him.

Krasinski heads back to the set. The scene is played several different ways but always with one outcome  unlike some action heroes, in this instance he doesnt get his man or the girl. The operation flounders. Confusion reigns. Scene complete.

They shot on location wherever possible, filming in five cities on three continents over six months. (They asked to shoot in the St Denis area of Paris where the real raids took place in the aftermath of the Bataclan atrocity but were told it was too sensitive.) And they tried to avoid racial and religious stereotypes. You can get the impression in other shows that all Islamic characters are bad, says Graham Roland. Thats not true. A couple are terrorists but a number of our Islamic characters are heroic.

John Krasinski is the husband of one of Hollywoods hottest stars, British actress Emily Blunt

If youre worried that the new Jack Ryan is going to be so cerebral that therell be no excitement, dont: as Krasinski bursts from the building once more, he stands a head taller than the crowd and reaches for his gun. Theres no doubt that this Jack Ryan is still our hero.

Theres a machismo to it, says Krasinski. And that side to it is a blast. When I was a little kid my dad asked me, If you could click your fingers what would you be? I said, A Navy Seal that could play the guitar. I dont know what that means  Im sure somebody could analyse that to death. But its true. These guys are true heroes and the image of what we all hope to be. Working out for a role, getting to wear a gun, running through the streets and doing all these crazy things? Its awesome. The fact that hes this highly intelligent guy who happens to be hopping on helicopters, thats the best thing of all.

Jack Ryan starts on August 31 on Amazon Prime
Anybody who has spent time on a film set will know that the word wrap, shouted at the end of a days filming, invariably signals a scramble for the exit. But it wasnt like that at White Waltham aerodrome in Berkshire last autumn when filming was under way for the new Second World War film Hurricane. Instead of the usual sprint for the doors, the entire crew would gather to watch the star of the film head serenely off to her temporary lodgings.

Before doing their own thing, everyone would just wait to watch her go, says Simon OConnell, the films aerial coordinator. Id never seen anything like it. Theyd just quietly stand there in total awe. Which is pretty amazing as she is over 80 years old.

The star in question was a magnificent Hawker Hurricane fighter, a surviving stalwart of the Battle of Britain and painstakingly reconstructed over several years by Anglia Aircraft Restoration. Wed spent the week before she arrived filming around a full-sized replica of a Hurricane, recalls the films director, David Blair. When we saw the real thing we realised it had been like working with a stuffed parrot. Suddenly we were confronted with this incredible piece of machinery. She was just wonderful.

The star of the film is the Hawker Hurricane fighter, a surviving stalwart of the Battle of Britain and painstakingly reconstructed over several years by Anglia Aircraft Restoration

The Hurricane may be the unquestioned star of the picture but at its heart, the story is a human one. This is the true tale of the RAFs hastily assembled No.303 (Polish) Fighter Squadron. Put together in the summer of 1940, as Britain faced the most concerted military threat in its history, this was a unit made up almost exclusively of Polish airmen. After failing to stop the Nazis overwhelm their homeland, about 150 Polish pilots (in 303 and 302 Squadron) and ground crew made their way across the Channel in order to continue their war. Initially they were treated with scepticism, but as the shortage of experienced British airmen became critical, they were soon corralled into frontline duty and supplied with Hurricanes.

I had no idea about their story, says Iwan Rheon, who plays Jan Zumbach, a devil-may-care Polish adventurer who ended up, after the war was over, flying as an aerial mercenary in Africa. At school what we learned of the Second World War was all about D-Day and Dunkirk. So it was really fascinating to discover what these guys did. Their contribution was nothing short of miraculous. The fact is they helped to save Britain.

Rheon is not exaggerating. 303 Squadron turned out to be among the most productive flying units in the RAF, responsible for downing some 126 Luftwaffe aircraft in just six weeks during the Battle of Britain. Zumbach alone was responsible for eight confirmed German kills and one probable.

The incredible thing about Zumbach was he didnt need to be there, says Rheon, best known for his role as Ramsay Bolton in Game of Thrones. He had a Swiss passport, he could have gone to a neutral country and sat out the war. But he got himself to England and deliberately sought out battle.

As Witod Urbanowicz, the most senior of the Polish pilots, played in the film by Marcin Dorocinski, puts it: We dont beg for freedom, we fight for it.

303 Squadron turned out to be among the most productive flying units in the RAF, responsible for downing some 126 Luftwaffe aircraft in just six weeks during the Battle of Britain

To assimilate the role of Zumbach, Rheon, who grew up speaking Welsh, was obliged to learn another language: Polish. Well, almost.

Im bilingual, which is supposed to make new languages easier, he smiles. But theres very little connection with English or Welsh, so little to grasp on to. In the end I didnt learn it, I just learned the lines.

The insistence on Polish was part of Blairs search for authenticity. Speaking in broken English among themselves, he reckoned, would not sufficiently communicate a sense of how these foreigners were set apart from British life. Not least by the man who was put in command of the squadron, a Canadian pilot named Johnny Kent, played in the film by Milo Gibson, son of Mel. Reading up about the guy theres no doubt he was initially very apprehensive about taking on a bunch of Poles, says Gibson, the star of Hackshaw Ridge. But as he got to know the guys, as he realised the struggle they had come from, and as he saw them in action, he began to grow in appreciation. He came to call them his brothers.

At the heart of Blairs quest for truth was his venerable lead: the Hurricane itself. The aircraft used in the film was on its first sortie after being freshly restored. This was not a cheap operation: the three arms of the propeller alone cost 20,000 apiece.

When it was on set, the plane was filmed constantly by helicopters, tracked by drones or recorded in flight by other aircraft. On the ground it was under relentless scrutiny from lens and microphone. Just once one morning, a bit like most 80-year-olds tend to do, she was reluctant to start first thing, he says. Other than that she was a real trouper.

She needed to be. A huge amount of footage had to be accrued because this was the only Hurricane the film-makers had at their disposal. We wanted to do everything as authentically as possible, explains Blair. Unfortunately, there was only one plane available, so we couldnt fly it in formation or start destroying it in a dog fight. Instead we fed the footage we had into special effects software.

Ultimately though, all of those involved in the film are anxious that it is the pilots rather than the plane that are memorable. In a prescient echo of current times, of the Windrush scandal and the Brexit fallout, it is what happened to the Poles after the war was won that, from a British perspective, is the least distinguished part of their story.

Iwan Rheon and Milo Gibson in Hurricane. After the war the courage of the Polish pilots went unrecognised, both at home and in Britain

One thing that blew my mind was that the Polish airmen were not allowed to march in the victory parade on VE Day, says Gibson. These were men whose bravery had helped save Britain and here they were being told, now theyd done their job, they werent wanted. And it wasnt just that they werent recognised for what they did, at the end of the war a lot of them were told to leave. When they went back to Poland, they were regarded as traitors, ill-treated, some were even executed. These are heroes who went completely unnoticed.

Until now. And, like the amazing aircraft they flew, it is high time they were remembered.

Hurricane will be released in cinemas and on Rakuten TV from September 7, uk.rakuten.tv
LATE IN THE DAY by Tessa Hadley (HarperCollins 16.99, 288 pp)

LATE IN THE DAY

by Tessa Hadley (HarperCollins 16.99, 288 pp)

Hadleys latest is an old-fashioned Hampstead novel about the insular, complicated passions between two couples over 30 years.

Chris is an artist, her husband a second-generation Czech emigre, schoolteacher and failed poet. Her best friend Lydia does very little, and is married to Chriss first boyfriend Zachary  an affable and very affluent art gallery owner who occasionally exhibits Chriss work.

When Zachary dies unexpectedly in his 50s from a heart attack, latent desires between the remaining three split open the marital carapace.

These are privileged, gilded people who talk intelligently about art and politics over languid, delicious meals and seem always to be listening to exquisite music or standing in awe before a beautiful painting.

Hadleys wisdom, however, and her shaded, exacting prose both expose and redeem her characters self-absorption in a clever, compassionate novel that sings to the possibility of renewal in late middle-age.

ADELE by Leila Slimani (Faber, 12.99, 224 pp)

ADELE

by Leila Slimani (Faber, 12.99, 224 pp)

The French-Moroccan novelist Leila Slimani likes to unearth the danger in the domestic: her headline-grabbing second novel Lullaby, published in 2016, wasnt only about a nanny who murders two small children but, more subtly, about maternal ambivalence in a French middle-class family.

This, her superior first novel, centres on Adele, a Parisian wife, mother and half-arsed journalist who for years has sought oblivion and exhilaration in violent, vodka-fuelled one-night stands.

Her kind, trusting husband, a doctor, cares for her materially, but when he discovers whats been going on he exacts revenge in a way that is both eminently reasonable and ruthless.

Adele is a modern-day Hedda Gabler, bucking furiously against the constraints of her life and, Slimani hints, a damaged childhood, yet lacking the imaginative capacity to find a way out that isnt wholly destructive. Its to the credit of this ferociously resonant novel that you simultaneously condemn Adele a bit for this, and weep for her, too.

WHERE REASONS END Yiyun Li (Hamish Hamilton, 12.99, 192 pp)

WHERE REASONS END

Yiyun Li (Hamish Hamilton, 12.99, 192 pp)

What words do you use to go on living after your teenage son commits suicide?

The books narrator decides words are all she has, and so, reeling from Nikolais death, constructs in the following weeks a series of conversations with him, wherever he is. They retain the same intellectual vitality that defined their talks when he was alive.

Among the things they talk about (avoiding why he did what he did) is language itself, with Nikolai regularly taking his mother, an academic, to task for her clumsy use of metaphor.

She finds herself scouring the dictionary in search of the etymological provenance of horribly common words that for her are now emptied of meaning: grief, memory, suffering.

Li has written before in her memoir about the consolations of fiction during times of acute trauma, and this novel is a response to the death of her own son, Vincent, at the age of 16. The writing is unsentimental, brave and beautiful. An absolutely monumental book.
GIRL, BALANCING by Helen Dunmore (Windmill 8.99)

GIRL, BALANCING

by Helen Dunmore (Windmill 8.99)

When Helen Dunmore died last year, her readers mourned the loss of the novels that she might have written.

But her posthumously published collection of short stories, edited by her son Patrick Charnley, is a reminder of what a tender and perceptive writer she was.

Patrick writes that one reason for publishing this collection was to share this work with Mums readers, many of whom must feel that their enjoyment of Mums writing has been cut short.

Her keen eye for unheard voices, and the strength concealed by fragility, shines through. In the title story, a lonely girl uses a trick learned in childhood to outwit an attacker.

Portrait Of Auntie Binbag, With Ribbons, reveals the unsuspected talent of an eccentric aunt, while the final story, Writ In Water, is a moving account of John Keatss death, as told by the friend who was with him at the end.

MOSCOW CALLING

MOSCOW CALLING by Angus Roxburgh (Birlinn 9.99)

by Angus Roxburgh (Birlinn 9.99)

As the BBC Moscow correspondent from 1991 to 1997, Angus Roxburgh was a familiar figure on TV, reporting the historic events as Gorbachev was overthrown, Boris Yeltsin took over and capitalism came to Russia. Roxburghs love affair with the country began when he was a teenager in 1970s Edinburgh, twiddling the knobs on a Pye valve radio in search of the Russian station, radio Motherland. Although he had no idea what was being said, I luxuriated in the euphony of the language ... the music of its intonations. Having studied Russian at university, he landed a job as a translator for a Moscow publishing house, and acquired an intimate knowledge of the then USSR. Set against a backdrop of political drama and the complex reality of everyday Russian life, this vivid memoir is an intimate account of a passionate love-hate relationship with an infuriating but captivating country.

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO by Helen Walmsley-Johnson (Picador 8.99, xxpp)

by Helen Walmsley-Johnson (Picador 8.99)

Helen Walmsley-Johnson traces the origins of her memoir to Radio 4s long-running soap opera, The Archers, which had recently notoriously explored the coercive control of Helen Archer by her partner, Rob Titchener. As she listened to Helens story, Walmsley-Johnson began to feel an overwhelming compulsion to set something down about what had happened to me.

She, too, had experienced coercive control, first by her husband, and again two decades later when, by now divorced, she met a charming French businessman, Franc, on a blind date. At first Francs masterful behaviour  editing her wardrobe, insisting that she go to the gym  seemed evidence that he cared for her. But a far darker pattern of abuse quickly emerged. Her account of their relationship makes harrowing reading, but she concludes that something good came out of it: [Franc] taught me how to protect myself.
THE ANGRY SEA by James Deegan (HQ 14.99, 512 pp)

THE ANGRY SEA

by James Deegan (HQ 14.99, 512 pp)

This second offering from retired SAS Regimental Sergeant Major Deegan MC again features former SAS man John Carr  fearless, resourceful and only too aware of political realities.

This time, he is caught up in a terrorist attack in southern Spain that sees an exceptionally well-financed and organised group of fanatics kidnap the lawyer daughter of a female British prime minister and spirit her away to the badlands of Libya, demanding a ransom of $25 million. Carr is recruited by an old friend of the PM at MI6 to run a covert operation to get her back unharmed and to eliminate the terrorists.

He and three former SAS colleagues take a hazardous journey through Tunisia and across into Libya.Packed with authentic detail about the defence and intelligence communities, it rattles along at a furious pace, never taking its foot off the accelerator. A terrific story splendidly told.

RELATED ARTICLES Previous

1

Next RETROS PICTURE THIS Share this article Share

OUT OF THE DARK by Gregg Hurwitz (Michael Joseph 12.99, 448 pp)

OUT OF THE DARK

by Gregg Hurwitz (Michael Joseph 12.99, 448 pp)

This fourth novel focusing on Orphan X, Evan Smoak  the boy taken from his foster home and put into a top-secret U.S. programme that trained him to become a lethal weapon  is even more compelling than its predecessors.

It starts with the assumption that the U.S. President  a smooth-talking, persuasive former member of the Department of Defence  is in fact a traitor who has ordered Smoaks assassination. This is because of a secret Smoak knows about a clandestine operation in Eastern Europe in 1997.

Orphan X decides there can be only one response: to kill the President. But how, when he is the most protected individual on the planet, with an enormous detail of secret service agents keeping him alive?

Hollywood screenwriter Hurwitz uses every ounce of his exceptional skill to describe the elaborate plans that exist to protect the most powerful man in the world and how they might be circumvented.

Gripping, powerful and only too believable. Dont miss it.
BOOK OF THE WEEK

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: MORE LETTERS FROM HISTORY

(The National Archives 25, 304 pp)

The chief reason I wanted to be a writer is that I have always loved the paraphernalia of writing: the fountain pens and Waterman inks, creamy ruled paper, typewriter ribbons, carbon sheets, envelopes and postcards to pop into a pillar box.

This has practically vanished today, as communication has become increasingly virtual. Texts, tweets and emails are impermanent. Files and attachments are invariably lost or deleted.

Documents covering my early career, going back to school reports, are safe in the attic.

Everything for the past 15 years, however, has gone with the wind.

The National Archive has released a new book featuring a series of letters from history including one written by Ronnie and Reggie Kray's father (Pictured: London Gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray)

Charles Kray (pictured right alongside his son Charlie Kray) wrote to the Home Secretary using cheap Biro asking for lenience for Ronnie and Reggie

So there will never be a 21st-century equivalent of In Their Own Words, with its lavishly produced examples of Queen Elizabeth Is calligraphy, Lucian Freuds green crayon messages, and the Kray Twins father Charless letter in cheap Biro to the Home Secretary.

He said of Ronnie and Reggie: Nobody could ask for a more kindly lad and his brother, and added: Please be lenient.

All these examples of letters from history come from The National Archives in Kew, where, it would seem, anything jotted down and sent to a government department was salvaged for posterity.

Here we have parchment scrolls from medieval times, when King John made out a bulletin about the murder of his nephew, Arthur of Brittany, a possible claimant to the English throne.

Henry VIIIs daughter, Elizabeth, writes nervous letters to her stepmothers, Catherine Parr and Anne of Cleves  in those days, no ones head was safe.

Its always fascinating to see the elaborate courtesy of messages from the olden days, as if the writers had all the time in the world. General Gordon pleads for reinforcements at Khartoum but, by the time the authorities in London have finished reading his dispatch, in January 1885, the city has fallen, the garrison and the inhabitants have been massacred and Gordon is decapitated.

The National Archive's new book also features a letter written to Queen Victoria from Abraham Lincoln (pictured) in copperplate

Abraham Lincoln writes to Queen Victoria (Great and Good Friend) in elaborate copperplate with flourishes and loops. It must have taken all morning. Gandhis uncompromising demands for Indian independence are made with a spidery hand and led to the slaughter of Partition in 1947.

How much more sensible and considerate the generals had been during World War I, when Kitchener ensured Hindu and Muslim troops in the Indian Army were provided with separate water supplies and arrangements were quietly made for the different forms of funeral rites.

We are shown a letter from Oscar Wildes sister-in-law wanting her husbands waistcoat back  Oscar had borrowed his brothers garment to wear at his trial.

Also preserved is Nelson Mandelas reading list, typed when he was an unknown prisoner  how did anyone think to keep it?

In World War II, Churchill wrote about everything from apes on the Rock of Gibraltar (They should not be allowed to die out) to the Final Solution: The greatest and most horrible crime ever committed in the whole history of the world. And who can fail to be moved by the Foreign Office telegrams about Edith Cavell, a nurse who, during World War I, had treated British and German casualties alike.

Gandhis (pictured) request for India's independence which led to the slaughter of Partition in 1947 is written with a spidery hand in the book

She was shot by the Germans in Brussels in 1915 for wanting to save lives behind the enemy lines. Another emotional tale is that of the Barnardos children sent to Canada between 1882 and 1939. The feelings of the youngsters were never considered, nor were the parents allowed a voice, as they were not only impoverished, but mostly unmarried.

I was surprised to receive a letter telling me you were sending my little girls to Canada, which I do not approve of . . . I shall never be able to save the money for them to come back, writes a father.

As infants were banished to the Dominions, our Colonial subjects flooded into Southampton. The arrival of the Windrush ship from the Caribbean created fears about mass immigration. An influx of coloured people is likely to impair the harmony, strength and cohesion of our public life, the Labour Party wrote to Clement Attlee in 1948.

Public life was already under dire threat from cuddling and canoodling. The London Public Morality Council wrote to HM Office of Works in a bid to stamp out immorality in Hyde Park, where hand-holding and kissing had been witnessed.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: MORE LETTERS FROM HISTORY (The National Archives 25, 304 pp)

One of the proposed solutions was to enforce nationwide sobriety by watering down the beer, restricting licensing hours and making it an offence punishable by six months imprisonment to buy a large round.

We also have a sample of Princess Margarets pen-pal correspondence with Margaret Thatcher: More power to your policy of nuclear power stations . . . Ive been advocating this since I was 20!

In Thatchers missives to Mikhail Gorbachev, she declares: Together we really did contribute to changing our world. They only brought down the Berlin Wall, reunited Germany and ended the Cold War.

This book makes the point that a growing level of literacy commenced in about 500 BC, when marks were first inscribed on tree bark or papyrus. Then animal skins and parchment came in, along with scribes and printing presses.

As paper-making machines were invented, learning to read and write became essential for maintaining long-distance relationships, for recording laws and literature, and for having a voice. What is replacing it? All I detect are grunts, silence, social media mob rule and stupidity.
The game is available for $19.99, exclusively on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch.

With unparalleled graphics, nine unique classes to master, loads of customizable skills and weapons, thrilling 12-player online battles, and a story mode that pits players against terrorists around the world, Modern Combat Blackout brings an unbridled action to Nintendo Switch.

Gameloft announced that Modern Combat Blackout, from the mobile FPS defining franchise, is now available on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch.

With unparalleled graphics, nine unique classes to master, loads of customizable skills and weapons, thrilling 12-player online battles, and a story mode that pits players against terrorists around the world, Modern Combat Blackout brings an unbridled action to Nintendo Switch including:

CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE CLASS: Find the playstyle that suits you among nine customizable classes that players can level up across single and multiplayer, including Assault, Heavy, Recon, Sniper, Support, Bounty Hunter, Sapper, X1-Morph or Kommander.

HIGH-POWERED MULTIPLAYER: Deploy for epic clashes in Team Battle and Free-For-All matches online.

INTENSE SOLO CAMPAIGN: Play the challenging Spec-Ops missions for a real adrenaline rush. Fast-paced story missions with various challenges will take players from Tokyo to Venice.

UNIFIED PROGRESSION: Character progress in any mode carries over to the others, so play solo or multiplayer and watch abilities expand.

PERSONALIZED CONTROLS: Intuitive, highly customizable controls allow players to battle just the way they want for a true console experience.

Modern Combat Blackout is available for $19.99, exclusively on the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo Switch.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, February 14)  It's official: the list of areas which will make up the new Bangsamoro autonomous region is now set.

Nearly all barangays (villages) in North Cotabato which took part in the February 6 plebiscite will join the new Bangsamoro autonomous region, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) confirmed Thursday.

In total, 63 out of the total 67 villages will form part of the new region.

Based on the final, official tally from the Comelec en banc sitting as the National Plebiscite Board of Canvassers, all barangays from the towns of Carmen, Kabacan, Midsayap, and Pigkawayan got double majority "yes" votes.

Two villages in Aleosan and 22 villages in Pikit will also be included in the new Bangsamoro.

However, Barangay Galidan-- the only village which petitioned for inclusion in Tulunan town-- failed to get enough "yes" votes.

The villages will form part of the soon-to-be-established Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), which will comprise the provinces in the current Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (except Isabela City, Basilan) as well as Cotabato City.

READ: Comelec announces ratification of Bangsamoro law

In its final canvass, Comelec also confirmed that the six Lanao del Norte towns which also participated in the second plebiscite failed to get double majority of "yes" votes needed for them to break away and join the new entity.

President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to appoint members of the Bangsamoro Transition Authority, which will include incumbent officials of the regional government.

CNN Philippines Correspondent Triciah Terada contributed to this report.
MEMOIR

NINE LIVES

by Aimen Dean (Oneworld 18.99, 480 pp)

ABU al-ABBAS  slightly built, bespectacled and, at just 27, a veteran al-Qaeda terrorist who flitted between Afghanistan and Europe as a go-between for the murderous organisation  was on holiday in Paris between assignments.

Relaxing among tourists on a pleasure boat on the Seine, he heard his mobile phone buzz and saw an urgent message on the screen.

Brother, go into hiding, it read. There is a spy among us.

His blood ran cold. He knew full well that there was a spy in the organisation. It was him.

For almost eight nerve-shredding years, he had risked his life as an undercover agent for the British secret service, penetrating the ranks of al-Qaeda, from Osama bin Laden at the top, to sinister recruiting agents and rabble-rousers such as hook-handed Abu Hamza in the Finsbury Park Mosque in London.

Aimen Dean who once pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden (pictured hiding in Afghanistan in 2001) recalls the time he spent spying on al-Qaeda for the British Secret Services in a new book

Now, it looked as if his cover had been blown  outed in an act of crass stupidity by his presumed friends in the West.

The text message urged him to look at the website of Time magazine, where he found an article by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist detailing how the CIA had been able to thwart a plot for a deadly poison-gas attack on the New York subway, thanks to an inside informant.

He was not named, as such, but enough of the story was true for al-Qaeda to put two and two together and identify him.

Not only was he done for as a spy, but his life was in serious danger.

He was swiftly in touch with his MI5 and MI6 minders and raced to London, where he was put in a safe house and given a new name.

But his days providing vital information about an organisation dedicated to bringing terror to the everyday lives of innocent people around the world were over.

It wasnt his minders fault. They had shared with the Americans the secret information he had unearthed and someone in George W. Bushs White House  bragging about how they were getting on top of the terror threat  had blabbed to a reporter.

It was a typical careless blunder in the Wests war against terror  another wasted opportunity.

Such cack-handedness  shooting ourselves in the foot, rather than the enemy  is, sadly, far too prevalent, according to Abu al-Abbas, writing under his new name of Aimen Dean in this frankly chilling memoir.

From the Iraq invasion onwards, too many armed interventions and retaliations have served merely as recruiting sergeants for jihadists in their holy war. Each time, more hearts and minds are lost, yet, argues al-Abbas/Dean, it is only by winning over the Muslim majority to a peaceful interpretation of their faith, rather than a violent one, that a resolution will be found.

The route he recommends is one he himself has taken.

Aimen (pictured) began secretly working for MI5 and MI6 from 1999 onwards after witnessing more than 200 people be killed at the hands of suicide bombers in 1998

Brought up in Saudi Arabia and schooled in the Koran, which he knew word for word, he started out as an extremist at the age of 16, committing himself to defending Muslim people from attack.

He fought in Bosnia and then went to Afghanistan, where he pledged his allegiance to Bin Laden in person.

However, he began to doubt the cause when he saw a psychopathic blood lust among some of his fellow fighters that was alien to his own reading of Islamic texts and his understanding of Islam as a compassionate faith. The slaughter of more than 200 people by suicide bombers in 1998 in an attack on the American embassy in Kenya was the final straw for him.

Such indiscriminate killing just wasnt right.

How much money did Bin Laden leave in his will? 29 Millions of dollars left by Bin Laden in his will to be spent on jihad Advertisement

But it would have cost him his head to disclose his misgivings, so he chose to defect, slipping out of Afghanistan quietly.

He made contact with British intelligence and, from 1999 onwards, secretly worked for MI5 and MI6 as an undercover agent  one of just a handful actually operating inside Bin Ladens organisation.

He had no trouble in infiltrating the radical Islamic community in Britain.

In the basement of the Finsbury Park Mosque, he met rows of impressionable young Muslims sleeping on the floor as they waited to be shipped as recruits to Afghanistan.

All the while, using the code name Lawrence (after Lawrence of Arabia), he passed on information stored in his photographic memory  about routes, camps, personnel, bank accounts, networks and even Bin Ladens private phone number.

It was all gold dust for the intelligence services as they struggled to play catch-up with a threat that, in those last years of the 20th century, they were only just beginning to comprehend.

NINE LIVES by Aimen Dean (Oneworld 18.99, 480 pp)

He visited mosques all over the country and was depressed when he saw young second and third-generation Muslims being seduced by the extremes of holy war and martyrdom.

He feared  rightly  that here was a ready-made supply of suicide bombers and felt that little was being done by politicians or the authorities to draw them away from their murderous intentions.

But other plots got through, such as the London bombings of 2005 that killed 52 people and injured more than 700.

He was still monitoring sinister activity  now more urgently than ever  when, the following year, that leaked disclosure in the American Press unmasked him and abruptly ended his undercover career.

A fatwa inevitably followed  any one of the faithful was licensed to kill him  and is apparently still in force.

He has gone to ground, now makes a living as an anti-terrorist consultant, has married and lives as quietly as he can.

He retains his faith, following what he calls an Islam of private contemplation, spiritual reflection and study.
At 19, Sheku Kanneh-Mason has already played the gig of his life. While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed the register at Mays Royal Wedding, the superstar cellist thrilled the congregation in Windsors St Georges Chapel and a TV audience of hundreds of millions with his playing. It was, he would later reveal, not just a massive musical moment but also the first wedding hed ever been to.

His save the date instruction arrived in the form of a letter from Buckingham Palace saying the Duchess of Sussex wanted to get in touch. It didnt come as a total surprise when she rang. She told me shed been listening to my album and we talked about some ideas for what I could play: I suggested a couple of pieces, so did she.

At 19, Sheku Kanneh-Mason has already played the gig of his life. While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed the register at Mays Royal Wedding, the superstar cellist thrilled the congregation in Windsors St Georges Chapel and a TV audience of hundreds of millions with his playing

The result was that he played two favourites of his own, Sicilienne by Maria Theresia von Paradis and Apres un Reve by Faure, as well as Ave Maria, the personal choice of the bride. The final selection was made after a top secret try-out with Harry and Meghan in the chapel weeks before the wedding. They were really friendly. It was great to talk to them and see how much they cared, says Kanneh-Mason.

Sheku's Proms First Prom Last year, with Chineke! (Europes first Black And Minority Ethnic orchestra). Dream Prom To play Elgars Cello Concerto. Its such a fantastic piece. Tips for this year Go to as many as you can! Advertisement

On the day, he beguiled thousands of new fans with a coolly brilliant performance. His achievement was all the more significant because he had not been able to tune or warm up.

I dont get nervous playing the cello, he says. To me it was an amazing opportunity to be able to perform for so many people. The Royals were delighted and wrote to tell him so. I received a lovely thank-you letter from the Duke and Duchess a few days after they got back from honeymoon. I was very touched, he says.

A month later he bagged two awards at the Classical Brits, alongside established performers such as Michael Ball and Alfie Boe. He dedicated them to his parents who raised him, one of seven music-mad children, in Nottingham. Kanneh-Mason is eager to bring his extraordinary musicianship to the Proms. Hell be playing a concert to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the BBCs Young Musician competition, which he won in 2016. He made history as the first black person to do so, and has said: Going to watch orchestras, seeing very few black faces, meant it could be difficult to see yourself doing something you see no one else like you do. Thats one of the challenges in classical music.

I dont get nervous playing the cello, Sheku says. To me it was an amazing opportunity to be able to perform for so many people.

Kanneh-Masons debut album is called, fittingly, Inspiration. It mixes pieces by Shostakovich with Leonard Cohens Hallelujah and his arrangement of Bob Marleys No Woman, No Cry. Its there because I love reggae.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is one of 21 BBC Young Musician Alumni performing in the BBC Young Musicians Prom on July 15

Jazz, gospel and rock at the Proms? Radio 3 presenter Georgia Mann tells Event why shes all for a musical mash-up

Radio 3 breakfast presenter Georgia Mann-Smith has much to smile about: the station that is the home of The Proms is stealing listeners from rivals with its very modern mash-up, blending old and new classical music, and a bit of jazz and folk too.

Its innovative attitude is mirrored by a 2018 Proms season that will see Mann-Smith heading up to a Drill Hall in Lincolnshire to present Stravinskys A Soldiers Tale and introducing a Havana Meets Kingston musical fusion prom.

Radio 3 breakfast presenter Georgia Mann-Smith has much to smile about: the station that is the home of The Proms is stealing listeners from rivals

In recent years, she points out, there have also been Ibiza, gospel and urban music proms, the latter presented from a car park in Peckham, south London, with the sound of trains trundling in and out of Peckham Rye station providing a percussive backdrop.

Its all a long way from the traditional Union Jacks in the Albert Hall image of the festival but then Mann-Smith, 37, is one of the new wave of young and glamorous classical music presenters that includes Myleene Klass, Clemency Burton-Hill and Katie Derham.

Shes apt to describe Vivaldi as the Jimmy Hendrix of the Baroque era, and is currently re-learning the piano so she can accompany herself as she sings Nina Simone standards.

There are all the big tunes such as O Fortuna, Saint-Saens Carnival Of The Animals and Holsts The Planets  music that exists in the ether of Britain  and Dvoraks New World Symphony, which, of course, everyone knows as the Hovis advert music. But then there are also Chamber Proms in the Cadogan Hall, each of which features a specially commissioned new piece from a modern female composers  The Proms cross the whole musical gambit.

We live in a news-saturated society, we are being continually bombarded with information whereas Radio 3 gives people the headspace they need, says Mann-Smith. Radio 3 loves to throw up interesting things so for example if you put some jazz next to Handel you can see the parallels. Theres a real sense of discovery around station but some things dont change and for us summer wouldnt be summer without the Proms.
This flu season is far from mild, with 19,000 deaths already recorded this season, public health officials warned today.

There is less panic this year than last, when an aggressive strain killed 80,000 people  more than were killed in the entire Vietnam War  and the vaccine proved to be just 30 percent effective.

But experts fear a sense of ease will cause a drop in people getting the flu shot, which they warn is already having dire consequences.

'This year there have been 19,000 deaths due to influenza, and most of us wouldn't consider that to be mild,' Dr Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's center for immunization and respiratory diseases, said at the world's biggest science conference on Saturday.

This year's flu shot is 47 percent effective against the dominant strain, according to new data released this week. But officials say that is no reason not to get it

On Saturday, Dr Messonnier and other leaders in the field raised the alarm, saying the flu is 'much harder to prevent than measles' but insisted that even the least effective vaccines save lives.

'Last year's vaccine prevented seven million illnesses, four million doctor visits, 10,000 hospitalizations, and 8,000 deaths,' Dr Messonnier said.

This year's flu shot is 47 percent effective against the dominant strain, according to new data released this week.

But that is no reason to skip it, said Dr Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the NIH.

'I want to say this very clearly: it's important to get vaccinated, even if the stated vaccine is 30 or 40 percent effective. It is always better to get vaccinated than not,' Dr Fauci said.

When it comes to viral infections and diseases, the flu vaccine is one of the most complicated - even compared to something like Ebola.

The Ebola virus has not changed since NIH researchers first examined Ebola survivors from Kikwit in 1995. It means there have been no mutations in the virus that would threaten ongoing efforts to build a vaccine - even as the virus resurges in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Measles is another virus that we have cracked, Dr Fauci said, in a thinly-veiled dig at the anti-vaccination movement driving an outbreak in the US.

'The measles vaccine is a one-and-done,' he said. 'We need a measles-like vaccine for influenza.'

When it comes to the flu vaccine, 'pandemics occur, and we are always behind the 8-ball when they happen,' Dr Fauci said, including last year's season, which was 'off the charts.'
The glossy adverts promise life-changing liberation and freedom from glasses and contacts. In just two quick and easy 20-minute procedures, lens replacement surgery can restore near-perfect vision to the severely short or long-sighted.

During the procedure  also known as refractive lens exchange (RLE)  the lens, which sits just behind the front part of the eye, is removed and replaced with a man-made one. It has been used successfully for decades to treat cataracts in the elderly.

But now these tiny implants, which cost about 3,000 per eye, are increasingly being offered by private clinics (they are not available on the NHS) to correct the vision of those who are short or long-sighted, and whose problems are too severe to be successfully helped by standard laser treatment. As the natural lens is removed, clinics promise the added bonus that a cataract will never form.

An estimated 100,000 Britons have now had a RLE procedure in an effort to get rid of their spectacles. And, undoubtedly, the vast majority  including the celebrity ambassadors of the various companies involved  are delighted with the results.

However, Mike Burdon, president of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, says: About one in a thousand people who undergo lens replacement surgery for any reason is left with permanent vision loss due to complications such as infection or bleeding into the eyeball.

Research suggests one in 20 report some kind of problem, such as temporarily seeing halos around points of light, and one in 100 needs the lenses replaced due to complications. There are also those who say they wish they had never started a process which left them with permanent vision loss and seriously out of pocket.

Undergoing RLE is a serious decision. And there have also been worrying claims about the effectiveness of implanting artificial lenses to treat more serious eye conditions.

Harley Street eye surgeon Bobby Qureshi, of the London Eye Hospital, is facing allegations of dishonesty and misconduct after he allegedly told patients in their 70s and 80s that a type of implantable lens could help their age-related macular degeneration, a leading cause of blindness in the elderly.

In fact, there is limited evidence that implantable lenses do any such thing, and despite paying up to 25,000 for the operation, some patients complained they were no better off or even that their vision worsened. The General Medical Council is due to rule on Mr Qureshis case next month and could strike him off or suspend him. He denies the allegations.

Implantable lens surgery, including RLE, is a strikingly successful operation. But with a large number of clinics, and a wide range of procedures and types of implant of offer, how can you tell which one is right for you? And how can you ensure you are getting the best treatment?

WORTH THE RISK?

Figures suggest that one in 500 patients who have RLE still ends up with vision worse than the driving standard  being able to read a car number plate from 20 metres  in one of their eyes.

For those with cataracts  a clouding of the lens due to a combination of genetics and ageing  the benefits definitely outweigh the risks. These patients are routinely offered the procedure on the NHS.

But its a closer call for those who want to correct short or long-sightedness. People generally over the age of 50, who are dependent on glasses and are near or far-sighted, could reasonably consider RLE, says Bruce Allan, a consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. Your prescription should also be higher than the normal range for laser surgery.

My vision was deteriorating - now it's crystal clear Waking up with 20:20 vision is still a thrill for Susan Harrison, who now doesnt need glasses or contacts lenses since having implants last month. I cant believe it when I first open my eyes in the morning. I keep thinking I must have left my contact lenses in by mistake, says the civil servant, who recently underwent RLE at Moorfields Eye Hospital. Susan Harrison, who now doesnt need glasses or contacts lenses since having implants last month Ive been short-sighted all my life but I noticed in the last 18 months my vision was getting worse. My optician said I had the beginning of a cataract in my right eye, but not bad enough to get NHS surgery. So I paid to see an ophthalmic surgeon who said I was a good candidate for an implant. After discussing options with her surgeon, Susan chose 8,000 multifocal lenses. I do read a lot, and I use a computer at work. I also want to be able to have good long-distance vision so that I can drive safely. She adds: Minutes after the procedure, I could see perfectly. There was no pain and the world was crystal clear. It was amazing. Ive just had a check-up and Ive been told everything is fine. Advertisement

Typically, surgeons will not do laser surgery if someone has vision outside the moderate range of minus 10 to plus 4 dioptres, the measurement of lens power. That means not being able to read a computer screen or even the largest letters on an eye chart from six metres.

The older you are, the more likely you are to start developing cataracts, so an artificial lens can prevent that happening.

In comparison, anyone over 18 who has a mild or moderate vision error (up to plus or minus 5 dioptres) can typically get laser surgery, which involves changing the curvature of the cornea in front of the eye to correct the focus.

Guidance states that all patients should be able to understand the risks and benefits, and be able to decide if surgery is right for them. As safe as it is, most people experience at least some side effects, albeit usually temporary, after some lens-implantation procedures. These may include seeing halos around points of light, and while these are normally resolved over time, about one person in 20 still experiences problems three to four months after surgery. Another replacement may be necessary.

Patients who are thinking about RLE should be assessed carefully and given the information they need to make the right decision for them, says Mr Allan. An initial consultation will allow the surgeon to recommend the right procedure, based on what the patient wants to achieve. There should also be a week-long cooling-off period.

Risk aside, its not cheap and private medical insurance doesnt cover it because its not seen as a medical necessity.

WHICH LENS IS RIGHT?

The natural lens is a transparent flexible biconvex structure  the same shape as an Smartie sweet  which helps focus light on to the vision cells in back of the eye.

It sits behind the cornea, the clear dome on the front part of the eye, and is surrounded by muscles. When these muscles contract and relax, they change the shape of the lens, allowing the eye to focus on near or far objects. As we get older, the lens stiffens and doesnt change shape as easily, hence difficulties in seeing near or far objects.

Intraocular lens implants, or IOLs, are made from acrylic plastics and they replace natural lenses. They come in a variety of types and the operations are sold under a variety of brand names including Alcon, Clarivu, Carl Zeiss and Fine Vision. But generally they all fall into the following categories:

Monofocal  at just 140 a pair, these are the simplest lenses with the least side effects. That is because they are closest to the natural lens and focus light on a single point. These offer the sharpest, clearest distance vision but patients may still need reading glasses.

Multifocal  costing about 3,000 per eye, these are shaped to create two or three distinct points of focus; near for reading, intermediate for screen work and far for driving. Four out of five patients do not need glasses afterwards but these lenses produce more side effects, including halos around bright lights, and reduce how much light can enter the eye, so it can be hard to see well in dim conditions or at night. Anyone whose job requires working in low-light conditions or at night should not choose multifocal lenses because of the glare and loss of contrast that can occur.

Extended depth of focus IOLs, including the brand Tecnis Symfony, give sharp vision over a wider range, allowing patients to see objects clearly at different distances. These have less glare and a smaller halo effect than multifocal lenses. They are suitable for people who want excellent medium-range vision, such as those who work at computers for long periods. But they come at a premium  about 4,000-plus per eye.

Accommodating lenses, which are more flexible than normal IOLs, making it easier to focus on close objects.

CHECK YOUR CLINIC

All eye clinics are expected to comply with professional standards for surgery drawn up by the Royal College of Ophthalmologists. Mr Allan urges patients never to choose a clinic based on what they read in a magazine or leaflet: Scrutinise impartial patients advice on lens-replacement surgery available on the College website, compiled by a panel of experts, then see if this matches clinics claims. If you find a claim that is over the top or different, this should ring alarm bells unless the clinic can show you published clinical results.

Check when clinics were last inspected by the Care Quality Commission watchdog, and always choose one that offers all three main types of eye surgery  laser, RLE and phakic intraocular lens implantation. Under the latter, doctors leave the natural lens in place but put an extra one in front of it, behind the iris. This is usually used for younger patients who still have flexible clear lenses of their own.

Those clinics which only offer one or two procedures may attempt to make the patient fit the wrong procedure simply because they dont want to lose the business, warns Mr Allan. Make sure prices are fixed and transparent, and, crucially, whether they cover the cost of aftercare and any revisions that may need to be made.

DONT GO IT ALONE

Take a friend or partner to your appointment. There is a lot to take in and a second pair of ears helps to highlight areas of doubt or inconsistencies. Read the consent form and sign it only after you have made your decision to go ahead.

Some patients have complained that they were asked to sign the consent form before they had even met their surgeon. It should state that you have read and understood the procedure information, received satisfactory answers to your questions, and been given adequate time to consider it all before going ahead.

IF YOURE NOT HAPPY

Don't be afraid to call the clinic and demand to see the surgeon again. For most types of surgery, any revisions should be free of charge within the first two years. After that, you may be asked to pay.

Every clinic should have a complaints handling procedure but if you do not feel this is getting anywhere, take your complaint to the CQC, which monitors standards, the GMC (which registers all doctors and surgeons in the UK) or the NHS Ombudsman.
For a few months, while applying make-up Id look to the right of the bridge of my nose and think: That annoying zit is still there.

Or Id suddenly be plagued with an intense itch in the corner of my right eye. Id curse, apply some eye drops, and carry on my day. The new, dark mole on my abdomen, on the other hand, was approached with the same hypochondria as most of my other health ailments.

I never miss a check-up, even embarrassing ones, and Im first in line for a flu shot. Every ache and pain has me calling my GP, convinced that its cancer.

I am particularly vigilant with the splattering of freckles and moles on my body, largely because I am a pale Australian.

Australia has been dubbed the skin-cancer capital of the world, with two-thirds of the population diagnosed with some form of the disease before they reach 70.

Year-long sunshine and the pasty complexions of our colonial European ancestors are to blame for the astronomical rates, as well as pitiful turnouts to skin cancer screenings.

Jo Elvin, the You magazine editor, had a cancerous mole on her nose which needed to be removed

For my parents and plenty of friends back home, removing lesions and skin cancers is as routine as getting a haircut.

Im also aware I havent helped my poor genetic predisposition by spending my teenage years doused in coconut oil, baking my skin to a crisp. I was desperate to have the bronzed body of my friends.

Even if my skin didnt turn mahogany, anything was better than my natural ghostly white. So when I noticed the raised mole on my stomach expanding ever so slightly, I raced to The Mole Clinic, a private dermatology service in Central London.

The nurse was unconcerned. Im not worried about it, but keep watching it for any changes, she advised.

But before I could celebrate being cancer-free, something on my face caught her eye. Has that little bump in the corner of your eye always been there? she asked.

Oh no, I said casually. A few weeks, but Im not really sure what it is.

She gave me a stern look and said: We need to get that checked out.

The bump looked nothing like a mole. It was pale pink, half the size of a pea and almost identical to a pimple, although, in hindsight, it was harder, more unyielding than a zit. A forensic check with a microscope confirmed the damage. I had a basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the least risky type of all skin cancers but a skin cancer nonetheless.

BCC is one of two types of common non-melanoma skin cancer  the other being squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). These slow-growing tumours originate in the epidermis, the uppermost of the skins three layers, and account for 95 per cent of all skin cancers.

BCCs typically appear as a tiny lump or discoloured patch that persists for a few months. While SCCs appear similar to BCCs, they are scaly, crusty and can bleed.

Melanoma, on the other hand, is more rare and concerning. These tumours originate in pigment cells known as melanocytes and look like moles. Melanoma spreads quickly to other parts of the body.

As BCCs and SCCs usually stay confined to the upper layer of skin, in 90 per cent of cases they are cured with a short operation to chop them out.

But if left untreated, SCC can eventually grow through the skin and spread to elsewhere in the body. Although I knew my BBC wasnt serious, I still recoiled in terror at the sound of the C word.

Thankfully, I was promptly referred to a plastic surgeon who whipped it out within minutes under local anaesthetic, and stitched me back up in about 15 minutes.

Jo Elvin following her operation to remove the cancerous mole on her nose

An immediate biopsy confirmed the diagnosis. It felt rather odd that less than an hour after having my cancer removed, I was in a taxi heading home as if nothing had happened. Then the painkillers wore off and I could barely think straight for the throbbing, so I dozed on the couch.

I woke, pain dulled, just in time for an early-evening glass of wine that was heartily recommended by the surgeon.

On Friday I received word that they think they got it all. But as sometimes more is left than is visible to the surgeons eye, theyve recommended I get a bit more cut out just to be sure.

The British false sense of security when it comes to sun damage is now all the more frightening.

When the sun decides to make a fleeting appearance, we recklessly offer up every inch of our skin to its perilous rays.

I had no idea a skin cancer could look so innocuous, despite my hypochondria.

In a bid to prompt others to inspect their lumps and bumps, I posted a picture of my post-surgery, sliced face on social media. More than 3,000 likes later, its one of my most popular posts.

And while we berate social media for its damage to our health, this particular post might just save a life.
We will, in years to come, look back and wonder how we could have been so foolish  so incredibly blind to the dangers of cannabis.

We will be horrified at our reckless disregard for young minds. We will berate our liberally-minded politicians for their weakness, and the police for allowing, what is, in effect, its decriminalisation.

And we will feel justifiable fury towards those who demanded the liberalisation of drug laws; who denied the mountain of evidence that this is a highly damaging intoxicant with a profound effect on the structure and function of the brain, and a gateway to other illegal drugs.

Its a bitter irony that, just as we are becoming more understanding about mental illness and showing greater concern for sufferers, we are ignoring the risks of a drug directly responsible for destroying mental health [File photo]

As the Mail reported this week, a new study undertaken by researchers at Oxford University shows that cannabis increases the risk of depression in teenagers by a staggering 40 per cent.

To healthcare professionals  doctors, nurses, counsellors  this will come as no surprise. We really dont need to read any more studies showing its link to depression, anxiety, lack of motivation and psychosis, because every day we see the consequences of societys increasingly blase attitude to cannabis.

We are frontline witnesses to those whose lives are blighted by mental illness because of their habit, so I make no apologies for how strongly I feel about this.

What Id like to see right now is a major public education campaign that tells youngsters the truth about cannabis and spares them none of its horror. We owe it to the generations to come [File photo]

Over the years, Ive seen too many patients like Robert. Blank-eyed and impassive, he was brought into the clinic barely an hour after he tried to hang himself, with the ligature marks around his neck painfully visible.

It had been pure luck she arrived home when she did, his mother told me. Just a minute later and  Her voice trailed off.

Robert was 18. Hed been a hard-working A-level student and was planning to study engineering at university. Then he stopped socialising, became increasingly withdrawn and his school work deteriorated. As he spiralled into depression, his family barely recognised their once-lively boy.

It all began, his mother told me, when he started dabbling with cannabis. As his habit grew, they pleaded with him to stop  but a vicious cycle was established.

The more dope he smoked, the more depressed he was. So he smoked even more to escape his despairing mood.

Robert is just one of countless young people Ive seen over 15 years of working in mental health, their minds broken by cannabis.

I am sickened by campaigners and politicians who tell us that the only way to deal with this scourge is to decriminalise the drug, as several U.S. states have done. And this despite reports of increasing violence and of a mental health crisis thats followed in the wake of liberalisation.

In Japan and Singapore, where the possession and sale of cannabis is dealt with severely, its use is practically unheard of. We could do the same here, but theres no political will for it [File photo]

What we should be doing here in Britain is clamping down ever harder  with tough sentences for those who break the law.

The sorry reality, though, is that cannabis is already effectively decriminalised. Few now bother even to conceal their habit. Walk down any city street and you can smell it. Users appear confident that no one will take action.

We are losing the war on drugs, comes the cry, so whats the point of involving the courts.

Yet there was never a real war on drugs because the law wasnt truly enforced in the first place.

In Japan and Singapore, where the possession and sale of cannabis is dealt with severely, its use is practically unheard of.

We could do the same here, but theres no political will for it. Instead, we play Russian roulette with the mental health of millions  and especially of teenagers, whose immature brains are extremely vulnerable.

Its a bitter irony that, just as we are becoming more understanding about mental illness and showing greater concern for sufferers, we are ignoring the risks of a drug directly responsible for destroying mental health.

I am sickened by campaigners and politicians who tell us that the only way to deal with this scourge is to decriminalise the drug, as several U.S. states have done [File photo]

As for those smug, ageing, liberals who smoked their way through the Sixties and Seventies and claim that a daily spliff or three did them no harm, well, they are supremely ignorant of the type of cannabis  super-strong skunk  thats on the streets today.

We are facing the worst possible scenario. Parents, teachers and healthcare professionals who try to steer their children away from cannabis are entirely unsupported by the justice system. But, equally, the authorities wont openly legalise it, when at least the level of potency could be monitored and sales regulated.

I dont believe this is the answer by any means, but the current fudge helps no one.

What Id like to see right now is a major public education campaign that tells youngsters the truth about cannabis and spares them none of its horror. We owe it to the generations to come.

Fasting is a hot new trend. Neil Jones, one of the professional dancers on Strictly Come Dancing, has just gone four days without eating  and told everyone about it on social media.

But this is not a new fad. For centuries, people have endured periods of abstinence from food and drink, often for religious reasons. Now its so they can brag about it on Twitter!

Fasting might make you feel good (as all my anorexic patients tell me), because starvation triggers the release of a chemical in the brain that has a similar effect to the drug ecstasy.

It also gives you a sense of control over your body. But dont ever kid yourself its healthy!

Doctor Digital isnt the remedy

Ive no doubt that Health Secretary Matt Hancock cares deeply about the NHS and wants to secure its future. However, his prescription for achieving this seems to be misguided.

Whatever problem the NHS faces, his answer is Dr Digital. So yet more technology, be it apps, emails or websites. Hes a man obsessed.

This week he was banging on about it again, telling GPs they must email patients rather than sending them snail mail (letters).

One of the reasons we still use faxes (although not for much longer, as Mr Hancock (above) has banned them) is because theyre more reliable than the rackety old PCs we have access to [File photo]

Which is all very well until you talk to GPs, who complain their computers are so antiquated that half the time they cant even log on to the internet, let alone send an email.

They routinely have problems with the existing electronic records and prescription system, while expensive iPads sit unused because the software wont integrate with NHS systems.

One of the reasons we still use faxes (although not for much longer, as Mr Hancock has banned them) is because theyre more reliable than the rackety old PCs we have access to.

The Health Service is beset by IT problems. Can we sort this out as a priority, please?

And, Mr Hancock, please remember that all most people want is to be able to get an appointment to see a GP. A follow-up letter or email would be a bonus!

Disgrace of ageism

Too many older people are being prescribed antidepressants, according to a study by University College London and Bristol University.

Four in ten people over the age of 75 have depression, yet fewer than four per cent are referred for the talking therapies that we know are effective (such as cognitive behavioural therapy).

This is disgraceful. It is a clear example of the ageism that is rife in the NHS.

I worked in one clinic dedicated to geriatric mental health where we didnt have a single psychologist. Antidepressants were our only recourse.

This attitude is based on the belief that old people wont change their thinking to boost their mental health.

Yet theres good evidence this age group responds just as well to therapy  and its their right to access it.

Dr Max prescribes...

Volunteering in the NHS

An incredible 33,000 Mail readers signed up to start six-month volunteering placements thanks to the Mails Hospital Helpforce campaign in December.

Now, new research shows that the support of volunteers can allow patients to return home earlier, help prevent malnutrition and falls on wards and alleviate loneliness.

This is exactly what the NHS needs, so lets keep it going. If you havent already signed up, you can still do so at www.helpforce.community.
Race is not a legitimate category to use in medicine, top scientists declared at the world's biggest science conference this week.

In the US, African Americans are told to watch out for hypertension, white people for multiple sclerosis, Asians for heart disease, Hispanics for diabetes, and so on.

But on Friday, leading biologists said those general warnings are based on 'bad science' and do no more than fuel 'racial prejudice'.

Among them, anthropologist Keith Hunley of the University of New Mexico presented a new map of genomes around the world, finding few differences between the clusters of racial groups that are often cited in medical research.

By lumping people into distinct broad categories, he and others warned, we risk 'hyping' certain inherited health risks for some and underestimating them for others - while sewing division, stereotypes and ignorance within society.

Researchers presented papers at a conference this week on race and genetics. This graph, presented by Brian Donovan at BSCS Science Learning says we often see race as disparate circles in a Venn diagram. Actually, he and other say, it's more like circles on top of eachother

'We have this notion that there are variants that are unique to certain groups, that there are genes that are unique to certain groups. And that's almost never the case,' Dr Hunley said as he described his presented his paper at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference.

'When you're looking at a trait that all humans have they're just variable in frequency. There's also variation among groups in their ability to metabolize certain drugs.'

The debate over the genetics of race started in 1972, when geneticist Richard Lewontin found differences between racial groups were 'of virtually no genetic or taxonomic significance.'

He made his statement after studying blood samples of people from seven racial groups, and found 85 percent of the differences in genes was seen within groups, and only 15 percent between groups.

In 2011, Stanford University geneticist Noah Rosenberg mapped out the data we have into pie charts, which suggested racial groups barely differ in their genetic make-up.

Rather than a Venn diagram with many separate circles and a few overlaps, it looks more like a series of circles laid on top of each other, with a few edges that jut out.

There are staunch critics of this view, including geneticist Professor David Reich, who says there are average genetic differences between racial groups that cannot be denied. What's more, they argue, there's not much we can do about it: in an ideal world we will all have access to our genetic profile to see our precise risks, but right now that's not feasible.

However, fuel was added to the fire at this year's AAAS conference in Washington, DC, which featured four new papers decrying race as a biological factor.

'Race is not biological,' said Dr Amelia Hubbard, a biological anthropologist with a new paper on how we teach race and genetics in schools.

'We have to think about how we as Americans, especially those teaching in classrooms, think about race,' Hubbard added at a press briefing with Hunley and other biologists.

'It is tied to social and cultural norms.'

Dr Hubbard, of Wright State University in Ohio, claims this debate has been settled by research, but 'old ideas' still linger within mainstream medicine.

DO SCHOOL BIOLOGY BOOKS FUEL RACISM? SCIENTIST CALLS TO END TEACHING ABOUT GENETIC RISK FACTORS FOR HEALTH According to Brian Donovan, a science education researcher at BSCS Science Learning in Colorado, there is a sinister implication to this dragged-out debate. His latest research, presented at AAAS, suggests student who learn about racial 'clusters' of genes tend to assume race determines much more than it does. Investigating it in classrooms, he gave all of the students text books on heritable disorders, sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis. Half the room received text books that mentioned sickle cell anemia is common in African Americans and cystic fibrosis is common in Caucasians. The other half's books had no mention of race. Afterwards, he asked them broad questions about race and genes in general. Those who'd had books that did mention race were more likely to say that they thought race influenced intelligence. 'It's concerning,' he said. 'There are two common misconceptions: that people of the same racial group are genetically uniform in their DNA, and that racial groups categorically differ in their DNA. 'Both could affect the development of stereotyping and racial prejudice because it implies that all people in all groups are the same. 'In reality, while they do differ, they don't differ as drastically as people may think.' He adds: 'We don't want to throw Mendel out with the bathwater,' referring to Gregor Mendel, who first described genes, genetic groups and genetic inheritance. 'But Mendel does an exceedingly poor job of explaining a lot of the nuance.' Advertisement

Calcium supplements, for example, are marketed to white patients, who are believed to have a higher risk of osteoporosis.

'If you look on the FDA label on calcium supplements there's still a really old disclaimer sort of statement about the research that was done in 1971,' Dr Hubbard said.

'And if you look into the research, it wasn't complete. It basically puts people of different races into different kinds of risk based on a study of cadavers of people of two races.

'It wasn't even good science in the first place, and it was a long, long time ago, but it has continued to be perpetuated.'

There are medical conditions that are more common among some racial groups than others. Uterine fibroids, for example, are more common in African American and Hispanic women, while bladder cancer is more common in Caucasians.

But Dr Joseph L Graves Jr, a firebrand evolutionary biologist and author of The Race Myth, said many of the differences we do see are not driven by genetics but by environmental factors - including distress from racial stereotyping.

'Take, for example hypertension,' Dr Graves said. 'I looked at the genes associated with hypertension in genetic variants and showed that they were actually in higher frequency in persons of European descent, as opposed to persons of African descent.

'And so, if your model was genetic, you would expect that Europeans would have greater incidences of hypertension. In fact we see the opposite.'

Above all, he points to racism and the stress of racial tensions as a factor driving that difference.

He uses himself, an African American man at the top of his academic field, as an example of how society can affect health.

'There are numerous examples about how institutional racism kills people. In African American people of higher incomes are more likely to die from stroke than people of lower incomes - the exact opposite of persons of European descent.

'Because people do not expect me to be there, I take home a much higher burden of stress every day.'

He says he attends more funerals now that he is working at a 'minority university', North Carolina A&T State University, with a higher proportion of African American faculty.

'Every day there is another person, and when I was at a majority [university] that never happened.'

Dr Hubbard agreed.

[We need to be] teaching not only why race is not biological but how the perception does impact people.

Theres a ton of scientific lit demonstrating that the effects of racism through stress and epigenetic tagging is being carried through generations.

By remaining silent youre not really remaining neutral.
Jamie Oliver has admitted he has 'never written an authentic recipe in his life' after he was forced to defend himself against accusations of 'cultural appropriation' over his 'punchy jerk rice'.

The 43-year-old Essex-born celebrity cook also revealed that after the Twitter and social media storm over the new produce, the 2.35 bag of microwave rice 'sold out'.

The row was sparked by London MP Dawn Butler, who is of Jamaican descent, who tweeted him saying 'your jerk rice is not ok' - jerk is a traditional Jamaican recipe.

Mr Oliver, who has five children with wife Jools, told Hello! magazine: 'I've never written an authentic recipe in my life', adding 'authenticity' is a word that should be used 'very carefully as most of the things we love... are not what we think they are'.

Explaining, he added that the Cumberland sausage is originally German and the popular Indian dish chicken tikka masala was invented in Britain.

Scroll down for video

TV chef Jamie Oliver, 43, has told Hello! that very few dishes are authentic after being accused of cultural appropriation over his 'jerk rice' - a traditional Jamaican recipe

He added that when he's trying to 'nudge' people to 'try something new' he 'edits' original dishes for his recipes.

Mr Oliver defended the name of the ready meal in a statement last month after Caribbean cook Rustie Lee claimed the recipe has 'nothing to do with jerk'.

Oliver told Sky News at the time: 'I've worked with flavours and spices from all over the world my whole career, learning and drawing inspiration from different countries and cultures to give a fresh twist to the food we eat every day.

'When I named the rice my intention was only to show where my inspiration came from.'

The TV chef argued the Cumberland sausage is originally German and 'Indian' dish chicken tikka masala was in fact invented in Britain, as he explained that his recipes are edits of authentic dishes (pictured Jamie's ready-made rice)

After remaining relatively quiet on the row, Jamie took to Twitter in August to give LBC radio host Steve Allen the reason behind his recent social media silence, saying he has 'been quiet as you can't give oxygen to daftness'.

He previously told Sky News: 'I've worked with flavours and spices from all over the world my whole career, learning and drawing inspiration from different countries and cultures to give a fresh twist to the food we eat every day.

'When I named the rice my intention was only to show where my inspiration came from.'

Last week he tweeted: 'Morning @steveallenshow I'm still here mate, been listening everyday though out my family holiday in Cornwall, come back to work and the worlds gone mad?! So I've been [silence emoji] quiet as u can't give oxygen to daftness joxx'.

Jamie (pictured left) was accused of cultural appropriation last month after he launched a 'jerk rice' that members of the Caribbean community claim 'doesn't have jerk in it' including London MP Dawn Butler (pictured right)

The celebrity cook, 43, wrote on Twitter at the time that 'the world has gone mad' after MP Dawn Butler started the debate

The row started on the 18th August when London MP Dawn Butler tweeted him saying 'your jerk rice is not ok'.

The shadow equalities minister, who describes herself on social media as 'the UK's first elected female African-Caribbean Government Minister', wrote: '#jamieoliver @jamieoliver #jerk I'm just wondering do you know what #Jamaican #jerk actually is?

'It's not just a word you put before stuff to sell products. @levirootsmusic should do a masterclass. Your jerk Rice is not ok. This appropriation from Jamaica needs to stop.'

After Ms Butler's tweet, TV chef Levi Roots appeared on Good Morning Britain with fellow Caribbean cook Rustie Lee to discuss the row further.

Jamie Olivier's new jerk rice contains chilli, aubergine and beans, which Rustie Lee claims are 'nothing to do with jerk'

Levi Roots (pictured with the product while appearing on GMB last month) branded the rice a 'mistake' and accused the chef of 'getting on a band wagon'

Roots admitted to hosts Jeremy Kyle and Kate Garraway: ' I do think it was a mistake by Jamie, either by him or by his team.'

But Lee appeared more infuriated by the row, saying: 'It is an insult. Jerk is from the Caribbean. And as much as I love Jamie. The point is it's getting on a band wagon.'

Roots, who took part in a televised 'jerk masterclass' in London a few years ago, was less incensed.

He said: 'I don't think its that serious. I think for Caribbean food to go get to where we want it to get to, we have to change things and I'm a big one for that.

Jamaican TV chef Levi Roots appeared on Good Morning Britain with fellow Caribbean cook Rustie Lee (pictured together) to discuss the cultural appropriation row further

'But you've got to know what jerk is. Jerk is a method of cooking and it is the actual marinade. If it doesn't have certain ingredients in it, it's not jerk.

'Not a lot of people watching this actually know what jerk is. They think it's just a word but it's a flavour. If you don't have these flavours in the food it's not jerk.'

What is jerk? Jerk is a seasoning for meat and fish that originated in Jamaica. The first jerk recipes can be dated back to slavery and the year 1655. It comes in two forms, a dry seasoning that is rubbed onto meat or fish, or a wet marinade used in the same way. The two key ingredients are allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers. Other ingredients include: ginger, sat, brown sugar, garlic, thyme, cloves, scallions, nutmeg and cinnamon. Advertisement

But Lee insisted that his use of marketing was offensive to her community, saying: 'Why didn't he call it pukka rice? He's taken jerk to try and be funny. It's a bit of an insult to Caribbean people.'

She added that Oliver's rice, which is made with aubergine, chilli and beans, is 'nothing to do with jerk'.

Trying to intervene, host Jeremy Kyle read out one definition of cultural appropriation.

He said: 'Cultural appropriation is 'the adoption of elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture.

'It is distinguished from an equal cultural exchange due to an imbalance often as a by-product of colonialism and oppression.'

But then exclaimed: 'It's a bowl of rice!'

Asked why it mattered by co-presenter Kate Garraway, Lee responded: 'It does matter.

'It matters because Jerk chicken, pork and fish originates from Jamaica. And the people who have this, it's their thing. Will they be offended? They would be offended.

'She [Dawn Butler] chose a word that made us talk. Would we have been here talking about it [otherwise]?'

'At the end of the day, I've tasted it and it tastes like Caribbean rice and beans with flavours in it.

'The jerk part of it is barbecue and you can't barbecue rice. Jerk chickengoes onto meat, it doesn't go onto rice.'

Jamie Oliver did not respond to GMB requests for comment. MailOnline has contacted one of his representatives.
Hailey Bieber attended the launch of Aritzias expanded Canadian flagship in Toronto on Wednesday, February 13.

The 22-year-old beauty has been a longtime fan of the label founded in 1984 in husband Justin Bieber's native country.

While wearing an oversize puffer coat and looking sexy is no small feat, the key to styling them the right way lies in Hailey's latest off-duty ensemble: keeping the rest of the look figure flattering.

Hailey Bieber attended the launch of Aritzias expanded Canadian flagship in Toronto on Wednesday, February 13

The 'Drop The Mic' co-host showed off her enviable physique by teaming a black ribbed Babaton crop top with Wilfred Free faux-leather leggings.

She elevated the overall look of the ensemble by trading in her everyday casual sneakers for a pair of pointy high-heel black boots.

To stay warm in frigid temps, Hailey topped the skin-baring look with Tna's yellow goose-down puffer jacket.

The 'Super Puff' and the vast assortment of stylish puffer coats available at Artizia is something the Canadian brand has become known for.

Engineered to deliver warmth to -30C / -22F, and made from an innovative Japanese ripstop fabric that's water repellent, the 'Super Puff' is the ultimate cold weather jacket.

To stay toasty and look chic in a puffer, take a tip from Hailey and opt for a shorter silhouette, and pair it with body-hugging garments. Snow bunny sexy!

Snow bunny: The 22-year-old beauty looked smoking hot in a puffer coat and separates from the brand

STEAL HAILEY'S OUTFIT:

Left: The Perfect Crew by Tna, $60; aritzia.com. Right: Arjun Knit Top by Babaton, $58; aritzia.com
A British company has released a luxury new wallpaper made of silk covered in hand-embroidery and sprayed with 18 carat gold dust.

French crystal house Lalique and British wallpaper specialist Fromental have joined together to launch the silk 'wallcovering' which comes with hand-embroidered flowers and crystal adornments.

It consists of a highly decorated chinoiserie pattern in a winding composition with 3D swallows and dahlias set in a satin finish crystal.

A British company has released a luxury new wallpaper made of silk covered in hand-embroidered accents and sprayed in either gold dust or brushed with iridescent pearl

French crystal house Lalique and British wallpaper specialist Fromental have launched a silk wallcovering with hand-embroidered flowers and crystal adornments - costing 2,000 a sq/m

For the Fromental collaboration, Lalique recreated the brand's classic dahlia design in gold lustre and sprayed it with 18 carat gold dust.

The design has as silk background brushed with iridescent pearl that the company claims 'mimics the soft shimmer of frosted crystal'.

The flowers are also hand painted and embroidered to give them 'a sense of movement, depth and growth' and the pieces are then embellished with Lalique's signature dahlias.

Each dahlia is individually signed by hand and then sprayed with 18 carat gold dust to get a champagne lustre colour.

An embroidered flower, crystal dahlia and swallow details on Fromental and Laliques silk chinoiserie wallpaper. For every crystal dahlia sprayed with 18-carat gold dust the customer pays an extra 340 to 560, and for every crystal swallow 590

The brand also offers gold velvet wallpaper (pictured) which is surprisingly warm

The hand-painted silk chinoiserie with iridescent pearl version costs 630 a square metre, while one with hand-embroidered flowers comes in at 1,300 a square metre.

For every crystal dahlia sprayed with 18-carat gold dust the customer pays an extra 340 to 560, and for every crystal swallow 590.

A square-metre panel similar to one the companies will put on display at the launch party later this month would cost nearly 2,000 to recreate at home.

Sharon Lillywhite, co-founder of the interior-design house Oliver Burns, told The Times: 'Our clients want hand-painted silks and embroidery.

Rivalk brand De Gournay also creates luxury wallpaper - and price is on application

'They want something that is a work of art in its own right. Out of five projects at the moment, four feature silk wallcoverings. There is a real resurgence.

'At the top end, people want something that is absolutely special; they want something that is bespoke, whether that is a rug, piece of furniture or wallpaper. Personalisation is crucial.'

Frederick Fischer, managing director, Lalique UK said: 'Both Lalique and Fromental share a common passion for creative excellence, with nature a fertile source of inspiration.

'At our first meeting Tim told me he had always admired Rene Lalique's drawings and his creation of crystal objets d'art.

'We are proud to propagate our know-how learned over some 130 years through collaborations with contemporary artists such as Fromental.'
Human rights groups and activists are urging Apple and Google to remove Absher from their app stores.

Men in Saudi Arabia have the right to the countrys guardianship laws which mandates every woman to have a male guardian to make critical decisions in their life on their behalf.

Human rights groups are pressurizing tech companies Apple and Google to remove a particular app that helps men track down and control women. Groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, are urging Apple and Google to remove Absher from their app stores, reported Mashable. The app in question is a tracking app that is used by men to track and control women.

Absher, an app created by the Saudi government features tracking and monitoring abilities which are used by the men to control their women who are under their guardianship, which include their wives and unmarried daughters.

Men in Saudi Arabia have the right to the countrys guardianship laws which mandates every woman to have a male guardian to make critical decisions in their life on their behalf. The guardian could be either her husband, father, brother or son. This app permits men to approve, allow or control things such as passport applications, studying abroad, travelling out of the country or even get married. The system was already in place before the app was announced, but the app is now making controlling the women even more efficient.

Absher was launched in 2015.

Mashable also reported that a woman, who was seeking asylum, stated that she was trying to flee the country without being tracked by the app. If any woman needs to travel, she has to be granted permission through the app. Most women cannot get as far as the guardian is always alerted every time they make a travel attempt.

While human rights groups have urged the two companies to ban the said app, columnist Mona Eltahawy stated that the app removal will not eliminate the main problem against women. She said that banning the app is not the solution and ending male guardianship is required. However, activists say that the banning through Apple and Google would send a strong signal to the Saudi government.
Dear Bel,

Im 28, married, no children, and have just accepted a job in London. My husband is looking for jobs, too, and were planning to move.

We live in a quiet village in Oxfordshire (both of us from the North, with families still there), but now we want something more.

We know London life can be challenging, but feel excited about the prospect. The only problem is my mum. She is very unsupportive of this decision and is being difficult and hurtful. Two years ago, I finished my PhD and wanted to become a university lecturer. Thats hard, so I joined a charity as a researcher, then moved into local government.

Thought of the week Love is not love Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove: O no; it is an ever-fixed mark, That looks on tempests, and is never shaken. From Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare Advertisement

My eyes have been opened to the various career opportunities that exist outside academia. The job Ive been offered is in the Civil Service  the pay is excellent, with brilliant career opportunities. However, my mum cant let go of my dream to become a lecturer.

Before Christmas my parents came to visit and it was horrible. She got mad, saying she thought it was my ambition to be a lecturer and that I was wasting my life.

She said six years ago I said I couldnt imagine living in London  and tried to blame my husband, saying hes controlling and Im being manipulated. This was particularly hurtful, as hes the most wonderful, supportive man  and accepting this London job was a joint decision, affecting his career also.

She said that everything was about him and what I wanted should come first.

She wont listen to my reasons and has started to be very snappy on the phone. Ive spoken to my dad, who says shes not angry, she just doesnt understand me. Thats not an excuse to be hurtful, is it?

She doesnt understand about the job and our wanting more of a social life, or why Im enjoying being out of academia or why we dont want to move back up North. I feel her reaction is childish. Ive just made a decision she doesnt like.

Her reaction really hurts. My brother says I shouldnt apologise as I have done nothing wrong and I should just leave her to come around. If that happens, I know when the time comes Ill want an apology.

The root of my problem is: how do you accept your parents arent perfect? When they hurt your feelings, do you stand your ground in the same way you might with a friend? How can we respectfully call out their negative behaviour? Or, as a child, should you just accept their views, even if they hurt?

I dont want to fall out with Mum, but I dont know how to move on.

ROSE

This week Bel advises a reader whose mum cant let go of her dreams to become a lecturer and says she's wasting her life

Regular readers wont be surprised to know Im completely on your side. Of course, its difficult for any parent to witness a child taking a course of action you believe to be a mistake.

If advice is asked, you should be frank  but tactful. If it isnt asked, you can murmur, Have you thought this through? and state your position.

In the end our (adult) children have to make their own mistakes, especially once married. If it turns out, in the end, that you were right, you should never say, Told you so, but be ready with tea, sympathy and quiet suggestions (if required) on ways forward.

Knowing its hard to find an academic job (too many over-qualified postgrads chasing them) you decided on an alternative and succeeded. How admirable: your mother should be proud of your prospects.

Did she have a poor education, as it appears that shes so over-impressed by academic jobs? If thats the case, perhaps it will help you to understand her  even if she doesnt understand you.

It might also assist your husband to forgive her for being so hostile to him. Her remarks are unacceptable, but we can often find the unacceptable easier to bear if we deconstruct it a little. Your main question is so interesting. One year ago, my daughter Kitty and I had a massive falling-out.

Were very close and have worked happily together on mother-daughter articles, so it was extremely painful.

It happened because I expressed an opinion about a choice she was making that she didnt want to hear. She called me out in a less than respectful manner and I made it worse by firing off a furious, unpleasant email.

Not wise behaviour by an advice columnist!

Ultimately, my unwelcome opinion proved right, but that didnt excuse the lack of control. She had to accept the imperfection of her role model mum and I had to realise it was my job (as the grown-up) to apologise. We both learned a lot from the unhappy experience and promised it would never happen again.

I agree with your brother, but it wouldnt harm you simply to let her know you regret disappointing her.

Then continue to plan the exciting life you and your husband are building, be ready for its challenges and email her with cheerful news regularly. Dont waste time expecting an apology because that will do you no good.

The only way forward is to prove her wrong, focus on work, and enjoy life with your husband. We all have to accept our parents imperfections  just as one day (maybe) you will hope your own children will accept yours.

What if I have a stroke and I'm alone?

Dear Bel,

AT 65, I feel fit(ish) and healthy, but live alone. I have high cholesterol  my father died after a stroke at 84 and my brother of a heart attack aged 71.

My mother died quite young, of ovarian cancer, aged 52. I was 13 at the time. Because of this experience I brought my children up to be loved, but independent. At the back of my mind I was always asking the question: what if I were to die young, too?

So they have grown up to be very independent, leading their own lives. We dont phone each other every week.

Ten years ago, I divorced. As I grow older, I wonder  and fear  what if something happened to me like a stroke or heart attack, and Im all by myself?

I do have friends nearby, but I cant help considering how long I would lie here before someone thought I might be in trouble or even dead.

I recall a newspaper report asking: When did you last speak to your mother? It made me think. I dont want it to be every day, but it does make me sad to think that my children might answer: I cant remember.

I used to be such a positive person, but can now only think of negative things. Please help me (and others who read your column) to make sense of these thoughts.

JILL

A week ago, I was sitting with an old friend discussing death. Were both fascinated by the Mexican Day of the Dead, when families celebrate relatives who have died.

Both of an age, Sue and I agreed its perfectly healthy to be aware of the skull beneath the skin and at the same time rejoice in the present moment.

Theres no contradiction. To acknowledge that our time on earth is limited and we have no idea how long we have is an incentive to enjoy life without wasting time grieving because its passing. Indeed, Im writing this with a banner of Day of the Dead skulls above my head. They remind me, cheer me and galvanise me.

So I dont believe there is anything wrong with thoughts Id describe as potentially positive, not negative.

Your father and brother had reasonable portions of time; your mother not so. The shock and grief suffered by your 13-year-old self remains  and affected your parenting.

At the root of your problem is not so much the fear of dying alone (although that is very powerful) as wistfulness for a closer contact with your adult children. But to be practical, even if your children phoned you every day, the stroke or heart attack you fear may still happen, and nobody would know. It could afflict me (close as I am to my family) one day when my husband is out of the house.

This is one of lifes what ifs and maybes which to dwell on is a waste of precious time. To alleviate your anxiety, you should be sure you always have your mobile phone on you, with the numbers of your local friends easily accessed.

So what can you do? You say you have high cholesterol and, given your family history, you must address it. There is plenty of advice online. Theres no excuse not to follow it.

Do you exercise? Try walking groups or Pilates, tai chi or keep-fit classes, as that way you will meet people, too. You have to get yourself moving and engaged for the sake of your physical and mental health.

It is not too late to shift the relationship you have with your children. Have you thought of actually talking to them about it? Confiding the truth exactly as you have told it to me?

We change as we grow older, so why not admit you would appreciate a more regular chat with each of them? Do you invite them to stay or visit them?

Stop brooding and become proactive.

And finally...Sometimes tough love is the answer

Im often asked if Im ever contacted by those whose letters have featured in the column. Yes, quite often. It always gratifies me (even if they protest a little!) because journalism is about communication and we need feedback.

But it was especially pleasing to hear from the writer of last weeks main letter Althea.

Her dying husband having ended their marriage, Althea wrote a very long email exploding with anger as well as hurt. She was very unforgiving. It was a sad story  but I was fairly tough on this rejected wife.

Bel answers readers questions on emotional and relationship problems each week. Write to Bel Mooney, Daily Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT, or email bel.mooney@dailymail.co.uk. A pseudonym will be used if you wish. Bel reads all letters but regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Advertisement

Now (to my slight astonishment) she sends me beautiful, brave thanks: You told me exactly what I needed to hear. I am blown away by your insight, particularly when you said, It sounds as if he wants peace  to ready himself for death. His own words almost exactly.

He said to me, I just want some peace for whatever time I have left. Wow! I have read your reply many times, and will continue to read it, and to take strength from your words, each time I feel the anger creep up on me.

You were quite right to point out how my sense of rejection is overwhelming everything else, and that I must try not to be so unforgiving towards him. I have allowed the cancer situation to over-write the map of our marriage, and perhaps that has been my mistake.

Friends and family have been supportive, but I needed someone to rap me on the knuckles, and that is exactly what you have done.

I needed to hear your words, your advice to move beyond my own self-absorption to be able to sympathise with him  which I thought I did, but I will now try harder.

To that I will echo her Wow! This receptive readers response is an essential reminder that sometimes people in pain need to be honoured with truth, not soft-soap stroking.

Althea is generous to allow herself to be healed and to tell me so. Truly, Im grateful.
Two divorcees who fell head over heels in love received dramatic ambush makeovers on Valentine's Day ahead of their upcoming wedding.

For the special edition of the Today show segment, couples from around the country were asked to submit their love stories for a chance at scoring two head-to-toe makeovers with celebrity hairstylist Louis Licari and Today fashion expert Jill Martin.

Gail Morgan, 62, and Andy Foster, 65, from Manchester, Vermont, wowed the Today show team with the heartwarming story of how their love quickly blossomed after their first meeting.

Scroll down for video

His and hers! Gail Morgan, 62, and Andy Foster, 65, from Manchester, Vermont, received stunning ambush makeovers on the Today show Thursday in honor of Valentine's Day

Before: Gail and Andy wowed the Today show team with their love story, prompting them to get chosen for the special edition of the popular makeover segment

Before the couple unveiled their new looks, the two opened up about how they went from being acquaintances to an engaged couple over the course of four years.

'I first met Gail through my work as a contractor. I found her to be effervescent, smart, and incredibly attractive,' Andy explained in a voiceover.

Gail was also drawn to Andy, who charmed her with his sweet nature.

'Andy has this way about him  always cheerful, always kind. I could see it in his face,' she recalled.

During their trip down memory lane, Andy revealed that Gail was the one who made the first move when she called and asked him out four years ago.

Making the first move: The two divorcees fell head over heels in love four years ago after Gail called up Andy and asked him out

Aww! Gail, who had been divorced for nearly 18 years, knew 'he was it' for her after they shared their first meal together

Incredible story: 'I fell in love, simple as that,' Andy said, explaining that he proposed to Gail in October

'I was divorced and wasn't looking for a relationship or even a date,' he admitted, 'but I decided to give it a shot.'

Gail, meanwhile, had been divorced for nearly 18 years, but she knew 'he was it' for her after they shared their first meal together.

Andy felt the same way, explaining: 'I was done looking. I fell in love, simple as that.'

This past October, he took his beloved on a beach getaway where he popped the question during a romantic sunset.

'He is my sunshine, my best friend, and the love of my life,' Gail said. 'When they say good things are worth the wait, I truly know what they mean.'

Ahead of their makeovers, Andy and Gail chatted with Jill about their expectations before they met with their glam squads.

Motivation: Both of them had different reasons for wanting ambush makeovers; Gail was celebrating a 60lb weight loss (right)

Goal: Andy, meanwhile, was ready to change up his look for their wedding day

Then and wow! Gail looked utterly glamorous in an open-shoulder sequin top and palazzo pants when she stepped on stage

'It's going to be very entertaining,' he said. 'I'm really interested to see what you guys come up with.'

Gail stressed that she loved Andy 'just the way he is,' but she thought their his-and-hers makeovers were 'exciting' and 'something different to do on Valentine's Day.'

Both of them had different reasons for wanting ambush makeovers; Andy was ready to change up his look for their wedding day, while Gail was celebrating a 60lb weight loss and getting a new job after 35 years.

Gail was the first to come out to show off her new look to the delight of her sister Judy, sister-in-law Ann, and friends Andrea, Allison, and Donna.

She looked utterly glamorous as she sashayed across the stage in a sultry sequin top and black dress tops.

Her friends screamed when they saw her 'beautiful' makeover, and Gail was just as impressed when she turned around and looked at herself in the mirror.

Stunning: Gail's hair was cut into a modern shag and her color was given a boost with a deeper base and some highlights

For real? Gail was stunned when she saw Andy's new look for the first time

Mr. GQ: The contractor looked dashing with his trimmed beard and sleek suit

'Oh my gosh!' she yelled, clapping her hands with joy.

Louis explained that Igor Musayev gave Gail's fine hair a boost with a modern shag haircut, telling her: 'It looks so pretty on you.'

He, meanwhile, gave her blonde locks a 'deeper base' and 'added a few highlights' so her 'hair color would pop.'

As for her stylish outfit, Jill said Gail's shimmering open-shoulder top and palazzo pants by Clara Sunwoo were the first things that she tried on. The stylist topped off the look with statement earrings and leopard print heels.

Before Andy came on stage, Gail was asked to turn around and face the wall ahead of his big reveal.

Although she was unable to see him, Gail had to know that her fiance looked good. When he walked across the stage sporting a navy suit and a newly-trimmed beard, Today host Kathie Lee Gifford called him 'Mr. GQ.'

Look of love: 'You're beautiful,' Andy told Gail, presenting her with the bouquet of red roses that he was holding

Too cute: The two shared a sweet kiss that warmed viewers' hearts

Gail was stunned when she turned around and ran over to give her beau a hug.

'You're beautiful,' he told her, presenting her with the bouquet of red roses that he was holding.

'You look hot,' anchor Hoda Kotb told him when he turned around to see his new look for the first time.

'He went from hippie to hipster,' Louis said, explaining that Andy's hair and beard were cut by Igor while he gave the contractor's color a naturally-looking boost with some subtle hair dye.

Jill, meanwhile, said she took Andy to Men's Wearhouse the night before to do a whole fitting to get him his Kenneth Cole suit.

The couple was all smiles as they happily posed together after showing off their incredible makeovers.
Peter Egan, 72, and his wife Myra Frances moved to their home in Surrey three years ago, he shared the items of personal significance inside their living room

1 LUCKY US

I moved here with my wife Myra Frances three years ago.

I met Myra in 1972 when we were both in TV drama The Organization.

This photo was taken at our wedding reception in Surrey on Friday 13 February 1976  fortunately neither of us is superstitious.

She was an actress for many years, doing the first lesbian kiss on British television in a drama called Girl with Alison Steadman, who Ive recently appeared with in Hold The Sunset.

2 PRIDE

My father Michael was a Dubliner and would have been proud of this award I received from the citys Irish Post for my contribution to theatre.

My dad moved to England in the 30s and settled in what was called County Kilburn in north London  so I grew up in an all-Irish household with lots of family.

My dad was fond of the amber nectar, but after a stroke was told to give up drinking.

He sort of lost the will to live and died aged 72 in 1978.

3 FURRY FRIEND

Im an ambassador for Animals Asia, a remarkable charity that works to rescue moon bears, now endangered, from farms in China and Vietnam.

They extract their bile, a cruel and painful procedure, for use in Chinese medicine.

Ive always loved bears and adopted this bear in the photo, named Peter Bear in my honour.

It now roams in safety at the charitys 125-acre sanctuary in China.

The sculpture on the table is by Suzie Marsh.

Peter treasures this award from the Irish Post for his contribution to theatre

4 LIVING 'UPSTAIRS'

I thoroughly enjoyed playing Lord Shrimpie Flintshire, father of Lady Rose, in Downton Abbey.

It was great to work with so many old friends  Penelope Wilton [Isobel Crawley] and I were both in the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles 30 years ago!

People think Im a public schoolboy because I learnt to speak proper, so Im always cast upstairs in TV dramas, even though my family would have been downstairs.

My late mum Doris was a charlady.

5 MY BIG BREAK

Being in Ever Decreasing Circles with Richard Briers and Penelope (pictured) in the late 1980s changed my life.

It was the first time I really made any money in the business and it opened up the doors of commercial theatre.

Id appeared in a play with Richard in the West End a few years earlier and his wife Ann recommended me for the part of Paul, the neighbour.

The show ran for four seasons and after making it, Richard  now sadly departed  and I became great friends.

I admired him enormously, he was such fun to be with and wed regularly meet up for a curry.

6 GIVE A DOG A HOME

Im a great dog lover and my ten-year-old black Labrador Cassie, sitting with me here, is one of our five rescue dogs.

I also have a German shepherd cross, a Staffordshire bull terrier and two Staffie crosses, all of which were abandoned and wouldve been put down if we hadnt given them a home.

We moved here from London three years ago so we could walk the dogs in the country.

If you want a dog, I recommend you visit your local rescue centre  there are so many abandoned dogs out there that need a loving home.

As told to York Membery. Peter Egan is UK ambassador for the Animals Asia Foundation (animalsasia.org); and a patron of Saving Suffering Strays (savingsufferingstrays.com)
A devastated woman whose husband was jailed for the possession of thousands of child pornography images has admitted that she still loves him in spite of his crimes.

Helen, 62, first discovered that her husband of 44 years, Robert, was watching child porn when police came to their house to arrest him. He would go on to serve 16 months in prison for the crime.

Channel 4's Married to a Paedophile features audio recordings of Helen and another woman, Kate (whose names have both been changed), recorded over the course of 12 months as they come to terms with their husbands being convicted, with their real voices lip synced by actors in the documentary.

While Kate refuses to forgive her husband, Alex, for downloading child porn, Helen attempts to support Robert after his release from prison by setting him up in a flat and allowing him to visit her in the house they had shared.

Revealing she has no plans to divorce him, she says: 'I've loved him for 44 years, you can't just switch that off.'

She decided to choose her grandchildren over her marriage to Robert as her daughter-in-law didn't want them to see their grandfather. Pictured: Abigail McKern portraying Helen

The programme recounts how police came to the couple's house in the middle of the night and Robert answered the door. When her husband didn't return to their room Helen came downstairs to find him collapsed on the floor and apologising.

Helen visited her husband in prison three times a week - something she admitted she came to view as 'dates' - and would send him emails and pictures of the chickens they owned together.

Despite her horror at what her husband has done, Helen says she still feels love for him.

'I do love him. You can't just switch off those feelings,' she adds.

In the documentary she admits that she can't 'switch off' her feelings for her husband and still loves him. Pictured: Actors playing the couple

Helen, 62, decides to stand by her ex husband Robert after he is jailed for downloading thousands of child pornography images. Pictured: Abigail McKern portraying Helen in Channel 4's Married to a Paedophile

Lucy refuses to forgive and splits up with her husband Alex after he is convicted of a similar cime. He moves out straight away. Pictured: Sinead Keenan portraying Kate

Helen sets Robert up in a flat after the end of his 16 month stint in prison, during which she would visit weekly and email him with updates on their chickens. Pictured: Abigail McKern portraying Helen emailing her husband

WHAT ARE THE STATISTICS ON CHILD PORNOGRAPHY? Sharing a sexual image of someone under the age of 18 can result in a maximum prison term of 10 years. However, fewer than one in four of the 2,528 people sentenced at crown court last year received a jail sentence for the crime. Police believe that the actual number of people viewing illegal material is over 100,000. There are thought to be up to 80,000 paedophiles operating in the UK online. Government figures released last year revealed a 700 per cent increase in the number of indecent images reported to police since 2013. Source: Married to a Paedophile on Channel 4 Advertisement

When she would go and visit him she made a special effort to get ready, likening prison visits to a 'date'.

She says: 'I have felt like that before when I've gone to the prison and I've made an effort and got dressed up a bit, shaved my legs and things like that.

'It does sometimes feel a little bit like [a date].'

In the documentary Helen explains that she had no idea that he was in possession of child porn, and assumed he was watching regular adult films.

But police searched their home and discovered thousands of images of child sex abuse, some featuring children the same age as the couple's own two pre-school age grandchildren.

One of the videos that Robert looked at was of a baby being breastfed that was then taken from his mother to be abused.

Robert was sentenced to two years in prison and served sixteen months.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a sexual offences prevention order, which means his use of the internet is monitored and he is subject to random spot checks by the police.

Although they are separated, Helen helped Robert rent a flat near to their marital home and she stills sees him daily. They have no plans to divorce.

Helen says that sometimes she treated her prison visits like a date with Robert and would get dressed up to go and see him. Pictured: Abigail McKern portraying Helen getting ready to meet Robert from prison

Robert is legally allowed to see their two grandchildren but the pair's daughter-in-law refuses to let it happen because she is 'horrified' by the details of some of the films he watched.

Helen says: 'We are now fully separated, we're still friends but we're separated, and every day I have to remind him of that, he's gradually coming round to it.

'I felt I had to choose between my husband and the grandchildren and I've chosen the grandchildren. He's never really accepted what happened and he'd like to pretend that it didn't happen.'

Also in the documentary is Kate, whose husband Alex was handed a 12 month community supervision order and ordered to attend weekly counselling sessions as punishment for downloading child pornography.

Helen and Robert are now separated but they have no plans to get divorced and she still sees him daily. Pictured: Abigail McKern portraying Helen in the documentary

Kate, who is now in a relationship with another man, says she refuses to forgive her husband, who moved out of their six bedroom house a week after he was arrested to live in a caravan in a field.

One morning when she was coming downstairs for breakfast four police knocked at the door and arrested their husband.

They seized all of the computers in her home, including her own personal laptop to look for evidence.

She says: 'It's pretty upsetting and shameful to have to go to a police station and beg for my stuff back. What are they thinking? Are they thinking I'm somehow associated with this crime?

'I could feel my stomach going, it was the place where everything I was certain of was taken from me.'

Helen says she didn't know that her husband was watching child pornography and assumed it was regular adult films. Pictured: Abigail McKern portraying Helen

Kate's husband Alex (right, played by Nicholas Gleaves with Kristy Philipps playing their daughter Jess) said he started watching child porn when his addiction to porn got more extreme

After his arrest she was called into the police station so Alex could tell her what he was being charged with.

She continued: 'He kept talking about how he'd seen things and I got really angry with him, no you haven't just seen things you went looking for it, it was an active process.

'I'm really angry that he would want to look at that stuff when he had me, what was wrong with me? Why not stick to what was right, what he should have been looking at, which was me?'

The documentary also hears Alex's own explanation for his crime, as he reveals he became so addicted to watching porn that his viewing habits gradually got more extreme.

The couple's daughters have decided to stay in touch with their father, believing his crimes were symptom of a mental illness. Pictured left anr right: Nell Barlow portraying Lucy and Kristy Philipps portraying Jess

Kate, who has a new partner, said she was 'angry' with Alex that she wasn't enough for him. Pictured: Sinead Keenan portraying Kate

He says: 'I always tried to stop but I always went back when things went wrong with work or other parts of my life. If I make excuses it sounds as if I'm not taking responsibility for my actions but I've got to try and find an explanation because if I am the immoral person it'll be very hard to live with myself.'

Alex's children Jess and Lucy (names have also been changed), who are both young adults, have continued to speak to him as they view what he did as a symptom of a mental illness.

Lucy says: 'There was a lot of confusion... I feel sorry for him, I empathise with him and [yet] I'm angry with him.

'There's always going to be a part of me that doesn't understand. I understand becoming addicted to a thing but it's very hard to understand becoming addicted to that.'

Married to a Paedophile airs tonight at 9pm on Channel 4
A wife has discovered that her 99 Argos wedding ring sold as 18ct gold is fake - and could actually be made from brass.

The woman, 55, from Headington, Oxfordshire - who did not wish to be named - has worn the ring with pride since she married her husband back in 2004.

However, the ring snapped when she took it to a jeweller for re-sizing in June, leading to the discovery that the ring was likely not made out of gold.

One test suggested that the metal appeared to be brass, while another report found the metal was 'no better than 9ct yellow gold'.

The woman said that she and her husband contacted Argos, gaining a written apology and offer of a refund.

A woman, 55, has discovered that her 99 Argos wedding ring (pictured after it snapped) sold as 18ct gold is fake - and could actually be made from brass

She explained: 'I really feel this is Argos selling fool's gold, because that's how I feel: a bit of a fool.

'When they said the ring was brass I laughed - I thought they must have made a mistake.

'People might say "it's a cheap ring, what do you expect?" but I expect it to be what it says it is. It's a reputable company.

'No matter how much you pay or where you bought it from, if it's got a UK hallmark you expect it to be what it said.'

The woman, from Headington, Oxfordshire, explained how she had taken the ring to a jewellers to be re-sized, when it snapped

The jewellers tested it and suggested the ring was actually made from brass. A second expert said the metal was 'no better than 9ct yellow gold', and had been incorrectly stamped, or that the stamp (above) was fake

One of the jewellers who tested the ring said the metal had been incorrectly stamped or that the marks are false.

It comes after Argos issued a product recall in 2001 after fears that gold hallmarks had been illegally faked.

The woman said: 'This is not the first time [this has happened] - for it to happen again is really concerning.

'They don't appear to be making any effort. I think they should really think about recalling the batch of jewellery.'

The pair have been back and forth with Argos, tracing credit card records to prove the purchase of the 99 ring, and gaining a written apology and offer of a refund.

However, they say it is not enough and suspect others could be unwittingly wearing false rings.

The woman said the 5mm band was 'more than just a ring' to her, meaning she doesn't want to refund it. However, she added that the ring is no longer wearable and is 'beyond repair'

The woman said the 5mm band was 'more than just a ring' and the offer of simply refunding the 99 item was 'taking the Mick'.

She added: 'My ring is worthless, beyond repair and not wearable. It's fool's gold, it's just a lie.

'It feels like I am missing a part of me - it's about the blessing of the ring and the significance. That ring would have been left to my daughter.'

The pair believe buying the same ring in today's market would cost hundreds of pounds, and a ceremony to have new rings blessed will be extra.

She added: 'I'm very disappointed with the response. Something on this level should be taken more seriously - it's a crime to put a stamp on the wrong quality of gold or silver.'

An Argos spokesperson said: 'We are investigating this with the customer.'
GMB host Susanna Reid shared a make-up free selfie with her 220,000 Instagram followers to reveal what she looks like without her 'TV warpaint'.

The 47-year-old mother-of-three posted the candid snap online as she prepared to return to work as the co-host of the morning news show, following a 'life changing summer' during which she had deliberately stayed off social media to avoid the cycle of 'compare-and-despair'.

Adding the hashtags #patchytan, #flaws, #blemishes and #imperfect to her bare-faced and filter-free photo, Susanna said it showed how she looked 'before I get my glam on'.

Fans seemed thrilled by her natural look, with many posting replies to say the TV personality is 'flawlessly beautiful' with or without make-up.

GMB host Susanna Reid, 47, shared a make-up and filter-free selfie on Instagram as she prepared to return to work, and told fans it had been a 'life-changing summer'

The TV star and mother of three told fans she had deliberately stayed away from social media over the summer break in a bid to avoid 'baiting' or 'compare-and-despair'

Susanna, who co-presents Good Morning Britain with Piers Morgan, was back on screens this morning with her trademark glossy blow-dry and artfully applied make-up firmly in place.

She had told fans on Instagram on Sunday night: 'This has been a life-changing summer for me. I've been lucky enough to spend lots of time with my family and good friends.

'For the most part I stayed off social media & this really helps to minimise the distractions you allow into your world when you don't need them.'

Susanna, who has three sons, Sam, Finn and Jack with her former partner Dominic Cotton, said avoiding Twitter 'cuts down on the baiting', while stopping scrolling Instagram 'removes the compare-and-despair we can all get sucked into'.

'TV warpaint': Susanna returned to Good Morning Britain on Monday following the summer break, revealing her more familiar glossy mane and artfully applied make-up on set

The journalists fans were wowed by her natural look, with one, @mlisbo61, writing that the 'natural beauty' was 'so hot my keyboard melted'.

'You don't need make up,' said another admirer, while a third suggested Good Morning Britain should do a 'no make up day'.

Another fan said simply: 'Mega gorgeous.'

Susanna's devoted fans insisted she has no need for makeup, with many posting comments praising her natural beauty

Susanna shared the candid selfie with her some 220,000 Instagram followers on Sunday night, as she prepared to return to studio lights and heavy make-up after a summer off screens

The TV personality didn't shun make up entirely over the summer break - she put in a glamorous red carpet appearance at a charity performance of the hit musical Hamilton on Wednesday night.

She was there to watch the performance hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at London's Victoria Palace Theatre, in aid of Prince Harry's Sentebale charity, which works to support young people affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana.
With just a month to go until the big day, Princess Eugenie will be having her wedding dress fitted and finished to perfection.

But despite the speculation the bride-to-be, 28, is determined to keep the name of the designer under wraps ahead of the ceremony at Windsor Castle on 12 October.

She told British Vogue: 'I'm not telling anyone who is making it, but I can say it is a British based designer,' and added: 'As soon as we announced the wedding, I knew the designer, and the look, straight away.'

Now style experts at society bible Tatler have suggested three British designers who could be in the running to design the wedding gown.

They speculate whether the green-thinking princess might favour committed environmentalist Stella McCartney, rely on royal favourite Erdem Moraloglu or turn to Vivienne Westwood, who designed the dress she wore to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011.

Here, FEMAIL takes a closer look at each of the candidates...

Stella McCartney

Inspiration? Princess Eugenie, 28, has kept her wedding dress designer under wraps but did reveal they are based in Britain. Style experts at Tatler speculated whether she has followed the lead of the Duchess of Sussex, 37, and chosen a gown by Stella McCartney. Pictured, Meghan in McCartney, her second dress, at her wedding to Prince Harry in Windsor in May

Princess Eugenie has taken inspiration from the Duchess of Sussex for her wedding venue - and might have done the same for her gown.

While she is unlikely to have enlisted the help of Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy - who designed Meghan's first showstopping down - she might have turned to Stella McCartney, who created the duchess's second gown for the big day.

McCartney, 46, was widely praised for the flattering floor-length gown, which Meghan, 37, memorably wore as her and her new husband Prince Harry, 33, left hand-in-hand for their second wedding reception at Frogmore House.

The British designer also uses only sustainable materials, which fits in with environmentally-minded Eugenie's approach to her big day.

She explained recently: 'My whole house is anti-plastic now...and Jack and I want our wedding to be like that as well.'

Vivienne Westwood

Fashion risk: Vivienne Westwood's unconventional designs would be something of an unusual choice for a royal bride - but Eugenie is certainly not afraid to take a fashion risk. Pictured, a creation from the he Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood Spring 2019 Bridal collection

Precedent: Eugenie dazzled in a Vivienne Westwood creation for the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011 and she might well call on the designer's services for her own big day. Pictured, Eugenie with father Prince Andrew at the royal wedding

Eugenie dazzled in a Vivienne Westwood creation for the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in April 2011 and she might well call on the designer's services for her own big day.

Known for her unconventional designs Westwood, 77, would be something of an unusual choice for a royal bride - but Eugenie is certainly not afraid to take a fashion risk.

The Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood Spring 2019 Bridal collection, unveiled in New York earlier this year, was true to the brand's aesthetic, with feathers, rubber and plates of armour all featuring.

There is no doubt the bride would turn heads if she was to select one of the label's creations for the big day.

Erdem

Royal favourite: Erdem is one of Kate Middleton's favourites and Meghan has also delighted fans in his creations. A dress by the designer would be a bold and feminine choice for Eugenie

Tried and tested: Eugenie selected a 950 flowery frock by Erdem for her engagement announcement with Jack Brooksbank, pictured, which enhanced her figure

Erdem Moralioglu is a favourite of the royals and red carpet alike and has dressed stars including Lily James, Jessica Chastain and Gillian Anderson.

The Duchess of Cambridge is so enamoured she donned his dresses on consecutive nights during her visit to Sweden in January and it was widely rumoured that the Duchess of Sussex had chosen Erdem for her own wedding day.

Crucially Eugenie is also known to be a fan, selecting a 950 flowery frock for her engagement announcement, which made her look stylish and enhanced her figure.

The princess was also snapped in Erdem for her recent British Vogue photo shoot, taken in the grounds of the Royal Lodge at Windsor.

With his bold prints and love of florals, Erdem has been dubbed a 'Marmite' designer - making him a fitting choice for a royal who enjoys pushing style boundaries.
Quadruplets who were conceived without IVF have defied medical odds to start pre-school.

Mother Grace Slattery, 35, of Caherconlish, County Limerick, Ireland, was offered an abortion for two of her children as doctors considered them to be 'high risk'.

But she and husband James, 37, decided to let 'fate decide' and welcomed Amelia, Lily-Grace, Mollie and Lucas, in May 2014, with each baby weighing between 2lbs and 4lbs.

Now the quadruplets have donned their matching uniforms for their first day of pre-school.

Parents Grace and James Slattery, of County Limerick, Ireland, struggled with fertility issues and suffered four miscarriages before conceiving quadruplets without IVF. Now (pictured left-right at home with their mother) Amelia, Mollie, Lily-Grace and Lucas are starting pre-school

Mr and Mrs Slattery were offered an abortion for two of their babies as they were deemed 'high risk' pregnancies but declined and decided to let 'fate decide'. The couple welcomed Amelia, Lucas, Lily-Grace and Mollie in May 2014, pictured, with each weighing between 2lbs and 4lbs

The odds of conceiving quads without fertility treatment is one in 700,000.

Mrs Slattery said: 'They are definitely little miracles and we still can't believe we got four babies all at once.

'All of them love school and as they wear a uniform now it makes it a lot easier as trying to think of four outfits for them every day takes a long time.

'They are going to be in the same classes at school and they are inseparable when together.'

Mr and Mrs Slattery had struggled for three years with fertility problems and suffered four miscarriages before being given the shocking news that they were pregnant with quadruplets.

Mrs Slattery, pictured while pregnant with her quads, explained she and her husband struggled with fertility but could not afford IVF. They were shocked to be told they had conceived quadruplets without treatment, beating odds of roughly 1 in 729,000

Siblings Amelia, Lily-Grace, Mollie and Lucas Slattery, pictured as babies, are inseparable and will be in the same pre-school classes together, their mother revealed

The babies were carried to 32 weeks and, despite Amelia being born with her organs in the wrong place, all four are now thriving. Pictured, Amelia, Lily-Grace, Lucas and Mollie as babies

What are the odds of having quadruplets? There is a one in 700,000 chance that someone can conceive quadruplets without any help from IVF or other fertility treatments. The most common way for quadruplets to be conceived is if there are four separate eggs that are fertilized by four different sperm. But, it is also possible for embryos to split to form multiple babies. A mother carrying four children is at higher risk of miscarrying at least one baby. Premature birth is always a risk factor when the mother is carrying multiple babies in her womb. The babies are also more likely to be born at a lower than average weight. Advertisement

'We couldn't afford IVF and when tests showed nothing was wrong I was baffled as to why we couldn't have children,' the mother-of-four said.

'I was over the moon when the quadruplets were born in May 2014, and despite being offered to abort two of them before they were even born as they were classed as high risk, we decided to let fate decide.'

The babies were carried to 32 weeks and, despite Amelia being born with her organs in the wrong place, all four are now healthy and thriving.

Mrs Slattery told how each of the children has their individual personalities, with Lucas being slightly more reserved than his sisters.

She added: 'Life is hectic with quadruplets but we wouldn't change it for the world even though it had made us realise that our family is now complete.

The Slattery child (l-r) Lily-Grace, Amelia, Mollie and Lucas are now all starting school together

Mother Grace told how her children (pictured l-r at home in County Limerick) Lucas, Amelia, Mollie and Lily love their school uniforms and enjoy sporting their sunglasses

The parents are now preparing for school life and have bought 10 school uniforms to ensure the children have enough to last them each week.

Mrs Slattery added: 'I will miss them when they go back to school but it will be nice to get some peace and quiet after the summer.

'The school run will be fun as it's almost impossible to keep my eye on all four but the quadruplets love making new friends so I know they'll love it.'

The family have bought 10 school uniforms to ensure there are plenty to keep up with the busy children. Pictured (l-r): Lucas, Amelia, Mollie and Lily-Grace's school bags and shoes

Mother Grace Slattery, pictured with her children (l-r) Lily-Grace, Amelia, Mollie and Lucas admitted the school run is going to be 'fun' as they're almost impossible to keep an eye on
A charity worker who helps to deliver a staggering 1,400 guide dog puppies each year as described her job as the 'best in the world'.

Nicole Bottomley, 58, from Morton Morrel in Warwickshire, part of a specialist team at Guide Dogs UK that welcomes over a thousand dogs each year, has revealed a glimpse into her day to day life as she marks 40 years with the charity.

The mother of two, whose husband Matthew Bottomley is head of breeding operations at Guide Dogs UK, has been working for the organisation since she was 18, after falling for the adorable puppies she saw out and about training near the centre in Leamington Spa while growing up.

Nicole said being there to see the puppies born was the 'best bit', and that knowing they would grow up to be guide dogs who would change the lives of their owners makes 'every day amazing'.

Nicole Bottomley, 58, from Warwickshire, is part of a specialist team at Guide Dogs UK in Leamington Spa that welcomes over a thousand dogs each year, before they are trained to help the blind

Guide dogs are trained to assist blind and visually impaired people by avoiding obstacles, stopping at kerbs and steps, and safely negotiating traffic.

Speaking about what inspired her to work for the charity, Nicole - who became brood bitch supervisor three years ago at the Guide Dogs' National Breeding Centre, said: 'I grew up in the town, so I used to see the dogs out in training in and around the area.

'Even when I was at school, I knew I wanted to work with them. There weren't any vacancies at that point though, so I worked for a short while at a veterinary practice, before progressing to Guide Dogs UK, where I have been ever since.

'The dogs are very rewarding and I love supporting our volunteer families. It's amazing bringing these little puppies into the world. knowing they are, hopefully, going to go on and become life changers.'

After three decades of working for the charity, the supervisor has shared a glimpse at her working day, explaining that knowing she is helping to change lives makes every moment 'amazing' (a litter of puppies are pictured)

Nicole helps deliver a staggering 1400 guide dog puppies each year and has described her job as the 'best in the world' (One of the puppies Nicole helped to deliver)

Starting out as a kennel assistant for the charity, Nicole, who herself has a grand basset griffon vedene dog called Gavin, worked her way up to become the manager, before moving over to the breeding centre, as dog care manager.

Taking a break to have her children Jack, now 24, and Grace, 20, she returned part-time, soon becoming full-time again, when she joined her current team - in which she visits dogs at volunteers' homes where they are being cared for, and helps to deliver puppies.

Nicole explained: 'We are there every step of the way, from the time the bitch is mated. We go after four weeks and conduct an ultrasound scan to confirm that she is pregnant and get an estimate of the size of her litter. An average is seven to eight puppies. After that, we visit weekly.'

Nicole shares children Jack, 24, (right) and Grace, 20, (second left) with husband Matthew Bottomley, head of breeding operations (seen left)

Nicole - who became 'brood bitch supervisor' three years ago at the Guide Dogs' National Breeding Centre, said she wanted to work for the charity since she was in school (seen weighing a puppy)

Starting out as a kennel assistant for the charity, Nicole worked her way up to become the manager, before moving over to the breeding centre, as dog care manager (puppy seen)

Speaking about how the puppies are trained to become guide dogs, she continued: 'Once she has her puppies, we do litter visits during the weeks that the pups are out in the nest, before bringing them back to the breeding centre at six weeks, when we vaccinate and microchip them, then settling them into kennels.

'They are here for a week before they move on to their puppy walking homes, which can be anywhere around the country.'

The dogs are given basic training with their puppy walker - learning to to walk ahead on the lead and understand commands like sit, stay, down and come.

They are also taken to cafes and shops to help them to get used to social situations.

Nicole weighs and checks on the puppies in the first few weeks of their lives

Starting training school at a year old, puppies learn to walk in a straight line, unless there is an obstacle and to stop at kerbs and wait for the command to cross or turn left or right - being matched with an owner when they graduate, who they then train with for another four weeks

Starting training school at a year old, puppies learn to walk in a straight line unless there is an obstacle, and to stop at kerbs and wait for the command to cross or turn left or right.

They are then matched with an owner when they graduate, with whom they are supported through a further four weeks of training.

Nicole added: 'Being there when the dogs are giving birth is really the best bit.

'Most births go smoothly, with no problems. We are there to support if there are complications.

'Last year, we had one mum who was very poorly after the birth. She had six puppies and we ended up having to split them and they were fostered by two other mums. It can be a lot of thinking on your feet and can be quite stressful, but I love it.'

While the delivery is a team effort for her and the other midwives, Nicole said the volunteer families are crucial to the whole process- pictured: One of the puppies Nicole delivered

While the delivery is a team effort for her and the other midwives, Nicole said the volunteer families are crucial to the whole process.

She said: 'We have so many wonderful volunteers that I get to meet. They do an absolutely fantastic job.

'At the moment, we have about 1,400 puppies a year. We have 280 bitches and about 90 studs. That's a lot of puppies and the aim is for as many as possible to become guide dogs.

Nicole with her children Jack and Grace and husband Matthew (seen left to right)

While the delivery is a team effort for her and the other midwives, Nicole said the volunteer families are crucial to the whole process (Nicole seen with one of the puppies)

'For some, it doesn't suit their temperament but they are redirected to other UK charities or rehomed as family pets.

'We are constantly looking for new volunteer homes, within an hour of the centre, where someone is not in full-time employment, so the dog is not left for more than three hours and where they are able to devote six weeks to a litter of puppies once a year. And we'll give lots of training and support to the right person, with a lovely, caring disposition.'

And speaking about devoting her life to dogs, she remained adamant that it is the perfect job for her, adding: 'I have the best job in the world!'

Matthew, Grace, Nicole and Jack are seen (left to right) enjoying family time in between their busy schedule
The US space agency has since had to rely on Russias Roscosmos program to ferry astronauts to the orbital space station

NASA announced another slip last week, citing concerns for both contractors such as the need to complete hardware testing and other factors.

NASA said it was weighing an option to buy two additional astronaut seats aboard a Russian rocket as a contingency plan against further delays in the launch systems being developed by Elon Musks SpaceX and Boeing Co.

A possible purchase provides flexibility and back-up capability as the companies build rocket-and-capsule launch systems to return astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) from U.S. soil for the first time since NASAs Space Shuttle program went dark in 2011.

The US space agency has since had to rely on Russias Roscosmos program to ferry astronauts to the orbital space station at a cost of roughly $80 million (62.1 million) per seat, NASA has said.

After 2019 there are no seats available on the spacecraft for U.S. crew, and a NASA advisory panel recommended on Friday that the U.S. space program develop a contingency plan to guarantee access to the station in case technical problems delay Boeing and SpaceX any further.

A NASA spokesman on Friday characterized a solicitation request NASA filed on Wednesday as a contingency plan. NASA said it could buy a seat for one astronaut in the fall and another seat in the spring of 2020.

The absence of US crew members at any point would diminish ISS operations to an inoperable state, NASA wrote in its solicitation on Wednesday.

NASA awarded $6.8 billion to SpaceX, founded by Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk, and aerospace giant Boeing to develop separate launch systems to fly astronauts to space, but both companies have faced technical challenges and delays.

NASA announced another slip last week, citing concerns for both contractors such as the need to complete hardware testing and other factors. The US space agency said SpaceX was now targeting March 2 instead of Feb. 23 for its un-crewed Crew Dragon test flight, with its astronaut flight coming in July.

NASA said Boeings un-crewed CST-100 Starliner would fly no sooner than April, with Boeings crewed mission is currently slated for August.

Typically, problems will be discovered during these test flights, NASA wrote.
An emotional video has captured the moment a bride surprised her father in hospital after he was too ill to attend her wedding so they could share a dance together.

Janae Hauger had always dreamed of dancing with her dad to their favourite song on her wedding day, and after he was hospitalised just weeks before her big day, she was determined to still make it happen.

With the big day on August 11 in Ridgewood, Ohio, the 23-year-old's reverie was quickly thrown into doubt when her father, Steve Price, 59, suddenly began complaining of crippling stomach pains just weeks before.

Janae Hauger surprised her father Steve Price in hospital after he was too ill to attend her wedding so that they could have a father-daughter dance together

Just weeks before Janae was due to get married Steve was rushed to hospital where he was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis and three days before was told he was too ill to attend his daughter's big day

Rushed into the hospital on July 16, Steve was soon diagnosed with a severe case of pancreatitis and he remained in the care of the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, for several weeks.

However, after suffering a number of setbacks, just three days before he was set to walk his daughter down the aisle, doctors told Steve he was too ill to attend.

Heartbroken, Steve put on a brave face for his daughter, but Janae wasn't willing to jeopardise her dream - she was determined to dance with her father, any way she could.

Just hours after the devastating news, Janae and the rest of her family hatched a plan to do exactly that.

Following her ceremony Janae travelled to her father's hospital with her mother (pictured) and he was taken to the hospital chapel where she was waiting for him

The pair danced Darius Rucker's 'It Won't Be Like This For Long', something they had dreamed of doing for years

Wheeled into the hospital chapel on August 11, Stevie was bought to tears when faced with his daughter in her bridal gown, with Darius Rucker's 'It Won't Be Like This For Long' playing in the background.

Visibly shaking from emotion, Janae encourages Steve to his feet, where the pair gently sway along to the music, as they' always planned to do.

Janae said: 'We had spoken about the moment of him walking me down the aisle for years - [and] of course, dancing with my dad was always a dream moment for me.

'I was completely heartbroken when the doctors gave us the news. I knew I had to dance with my dad on my wedding day, no matter what.'

Steve was able to witness the remainder of the wedding via Facetime from his hospital bed

Janae was joined by her three sisters, mother and brother to help surprise Steve on her big day on August 11

Janae planned the moment meticulously with the help of hospital staff in order to surprise her father.

She continued: 'The nurses worked with us and told him he was going for an x-ray.

'But really I was standing in my wedding gown in the chapel, with my three sisters, brother and mom.

'I honestly cannot put into words the emotion that was in that room the moment my dad was wheeled in the chapel.

'It was a moment where no words were needed, because we all felt the love in the atmosphere.

'He kept telling me how gorgeous I looked and that he couldn't believe we were all there.

'We also already had it in the works for my dad to give me away via FaceTime.

'My dad was there, able to watch the entire thing - him seeing us and us seeing him.

'Tears were all over the place.'
The Duchess of Cambridge has taken the crown as this year's top royal style influencer.

Kate, rather than royal newcomer the Duchess of Sussex, had the biggest impact on shopping habits, according to eBay's annual UK Retail Report.

Her maternity style while pregnant with Prince Louis ensured she generated more online searches on eBay than any other royal over the past year.

Searches for tailored maternity coats more than tripled in November 2017, while Kate was expecting her third child.

The Duchess of Cambridge has beaten sister-in-law the Duchess of Sussex to be named the top royal style influencer by eBay. The auction site revealed that searches for tailored maternity coats tripled during Kate's pregnancy (seen in January left) beating Meghan who came in second with searches for Givenchy up by 60 per cent after her wedding (right)

In April, searches for designer Jenny Packham more than doubled when Kate appeared outside the Lindo Wing in a red Packham smock dress for Prince Louis's debut.

Throughout the year, Kate's go-to choices Jenny Packham, Alexander McQueen and Seraphine saw a 20 per cent upsurge in searches year-on-year, with as many as 43 searches every hour.

Meghan, who is known for her signature boatneck necklines, came a close second.

Her fashion influencing power peaked at her wedding in May, when the Givenchy dress she wore to marry the Duke of Sussex led to a more than 60 per cent increase in searches for the designer on eBay, hitting 55 an hour.

In April, searches for designer Jenny Packham more than doubled when Kate appeared outside the Lindo Wing in a red Packham smock dress for Prince Louis's debut

Meghan's second wedding dress, a Stella McCartney number, also proved to be influential with searches doubling for the brand on eBay

The former Suits star's Stella McCartney halter-neck evening wedding dress doubled searches for the brand.

The duchess's ice-pink off-the-shoulder Carolina Herrera dress at Trooping the Colour in June was also popular, with searches for the designer almost doubling.

Rob Hattrell, UK vice president of eBay, said: 'While Meghan was clearly the focus of the fashion pages this year, Kate's distinctive style has long been a hit with shoppers on eBay since her wedding in 2011.

'We always see an uptick in searches around landmark royal events and 2018 was a bumper year for small businesses on eBay, with both the birth of Prince Louis and Meghan and Harry's wedding driving purchases across the nation.'

Princess Charlotte, who came first last year, took third place with the flower crown worn at Meghan and Harry's wedding (left) prompting a 60 per cent rise in searches while her brother's penchant for Peter Pan collar shirts (seen worn at Prince Louis' christening, right) saw him take fourth place

The Queen herself also made the list with her classic style seeing her come in fifth place

Princess Charlotte, who was top in 2017, came third, with the flower crown she wore as a bridesmaid at Meghan and Harry's wedding prompting a 60 per cent increase in searches for similar products on eBay.co.uk.

There was almost a 40 per cent spike in searches for floral print dresses after she wore one to the polo in June.

Charlotte's five-year-old older brother Prince George was fourth, with his trademark Peter Pan collar shirts inspiring searches throughout the year.

There was a 30 per cent spike in searches for similar outfits on eBay after he appeared on the Buckingham Palace balcony in June.

TOP FIVE ROYAL STYLE INFLUENCERS The Duchess of Cambridge The Duchess of Sussex Princess Charlotte Prince George The Queen Advertisement

But George trumped his sister in the memorabilia stakes.

The release of a special coin for his fifth birthday in July prompted a surge in listings on eBay, with more than 4,300 Prince George-related products on site, compared with around 1,700 for Princess Charlotte.

The Queen also made it into the top five royal style influencers.

Media attention on the meaning behind her brooch selections contributed to a renaissance for this traditional piece of jewellery in 2018, according to eBay.

As many as 16 brooches are sold every minute on the site, with an almost 20 per cent increase in searches in February.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, who wore demure headwear to the royal wedding, were not placed in this year's rankings.

Eugenie's pale blue Fiona Graham pillbox hat and Beatrice's teal Stephen Jones headband did not spark a discernible rise in searches or sales, eBay said.
The US university where a young Meghan Markle studied theatre is using the now Duchess of Sussex's photo to attract new generations of students.

Meghan's photograph appears at the top of a list of illustrious alumni in Northwestern University's new recruiting catalogue, which describes her as a 'humanitarian and the Duchess of Sussex' - prompting some fans to question why her time as an actress had apparently been ignored.

The 37-year-old royal, who graduated from the Illinois-based college's school of communication in 2003 with a bachelor's degree and a double major in theatre and international studies, features alongside fellow high profile former students including the female chairman of IBM, Virginia Rometty, and the comedian Seth Meyers.

The text reads: 'You can do anything when you take a Northwestern Direction. They did.'

A snap said to be taken from the prospectus was shared by a royal fan account on Instagram on Sunday.

A photo of Meghan sits alongside images of other high-profile Northwestern alumni, including the chairman of IBM, Virginia Rometty, and the comedian Seth Meyers, in the college's prospectus. She is described as a 'humanitarian and the Duchess of Sussex'

A snippet from the Illinois college's recruiting catalogue was shared on Instagram by a royal fan account on Sunday September 2nd

Other famous names who studied at Northwestern include the supermodel Cindy Crawford, actor Warren Beatty, the comic Stephen Colbert and the late founder of Playboy Magazine Hugh Hefner.

The fan, who posts under the handle @harrysmegri and has more than 29,000 followers, wrote: 'The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle is at the top of the illustrious alum page in #Northwestern University's newest student recruiting catalog.'

The post has attracted hundreds of likes from followers, although some questioned why Meghan's brief bio beneath her photo made no reference to her acting career.

User @peoniesandpoems posted: 'Not sure why they didn't mention she's an actress,' before adding that Meghan's former career was 'a huge part of her identity'.

Another @rbnslesl2, posted: 'Nice, but would prefer "former actress, humanitarian, and Duchess of Sussex."'

The former TV star appeared in seven seasons of the hit legal drama Suits, before turning her back on the small screen in 2017 and moving to London to live with her future husband, Prince Harry.

The Duchess was a student at the university from 2000 to 2003, and was a member of its Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

FEMAIL has contacted Northwestern University for comment.

After graduating she moved back to her hometown, LA, to pursue a career as an actress, landing various movie and small screen roles before getting her big break - being cast as Rachel Zane in the smash hit legal drama Suits.

Meghan turned her back on acting in 2017 and moved to the UK full time to be with her future husband, Prince Harry.

Illustrious alumni: Last week the Duchess joined her husband Prince Harry at a charity performance of the smash hit musical Hamilton at the Victoria Palace Theatre in London. The show on Wednesday August 29th was in aid of Sentebale, the charity Harry founded in memory of his mother, Princess Diana

The happy couple, who married on May 19th this year at Windsor Castle in a ceremony watched by millions around the globe, made a surprise public appearance on Wednesday night after enjoying a summer out of the spotlight.

They hosted a performance of the wildly popular musical Hamilton at London's Victoria Palace Theatre in aid of Sentebale, the charity founded by the Prince which works to improve the lives of young people affected by HIV in Lesotho and Botswana.

It wasn't the first time the couple enjoyed the show, which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the US.

They enjoyed a date night in London to see the hit musical before their engagement was announced, and Meghan had previously seen it on Broadway with her close friend, the actress Priyanka Chopra.

The now Duchess of Sussex graduated from Northwestern's (pictured) School of Communication in 2003, with a bachelor's degree and a double major in theatre and international studies
The parents of an IRA bomb victim say it's 'shocking' to see their son's death re-enacted in a new BBC drama - but have praised the show for keeping his memory alive.

Colin and Wendy Parry's 12-year-old son Tim was killed in a bomb attack while buying a Mother's Day present in Warrington, Cheshire, 25 years ago.

The family's tragic story is told in new BBC drama Mother's Day, which stars Daniel Mays and Anna Maxwell Martin.

The couple revealed how they co-operated with the programme's producers, by sending them home videos.

Colin and Wendy Parry (pictured at a memorial service in Warrington earlier this year), the parents of 12-year-old IRA bomb victim Tim, say it's 'shocking' to see their son's death re-enacted in a new BBC drama called Mother's Day

Tim (pictured in his school uniform) was killed in a bomb attack while buying a Mother's Day present in Warrington, Cheshire in 1993

Speaking to the Mirror, Colin, 71, said: 'To watch the bomb go off was shocking. The idea that after the first bomb Tim staggered around dazed and walks into the second one is horrifying.

'It was difficult to watch as youre thinking thats what your own son went through.'

Following the attack, Tim was rushed to hospital, where he died five days later in his mother's arms, after his life support was turned off.

'The time in hospital, that was played very well. Danny and Anna were great. Anna captured Wendy absolutely brilliantly,' Colin said.

Daniel Mays and Anna Maxwell Martin play Tim's parents Colin and Wendy in new BBC drama Mother's Day

The BBC programme also tells the story of Sue McHugh, played by Vicky McClure (left, in the drama), who organised one of Ireland's largest peace rallies following the bombing. Sue's husband Arthur is played by David Wilmot (right)

He explained that despite the programme being hard to watch for the family, the drama supported their 'everlasting desire to keep Tim alive.'

Tim died in 1993 after two bombs hidden in litter bins detonated on Bridge Street in Cheshire.

The attack also killed three-year-old Johnathan Ball, as well as injuring dozens of civilians.

BBC drama Mother's Day also features the story of Sue McHugh, played by Vicky McClure, who organised one of Ireland's largest peace rallies following the bombing.

Colin and Wendy (pictured earlier this year) revealed how they co-operated with the programme's producers, by sending them home videos

Following the death of their son, Colin and Wendy, 61, now run the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace in the memory of his son, and toddler Johnathan.

Three-year-old Johnathan Ball (above) was also killed int he Warrington bombings

Speaking earlier this year on the 25th anniversary of his son's death, Wendy said: 'It was really difficult, we were a family of five and then suddenly one's been taken away and it's really hard to get into being a family of four.

'After we lost him, we couldn't find any organisations that helped families or children.

'One of the programmes we wanted to do was helping the victims of terrorism.

'I think people come to us because our organisation has been set up by victims and they know that we know exactly how they feel.'

Colin, who works as an outpatient consultant, added: 'In those early days and weeks, months, it was all about surviving ourselves.'
A couple with a combined age of 183 have become Britain's oldest newlyweds after first getting together when both of their spouses died with three months of each other in 2015.

Margaret James, 92, and Rob Cave, 91, married in front of 150 friends and family at Wimborne Minster in Dorset.

The church-going couple have known each other for more than 30 years but only started dating after they both lost their partners.

Margaret is a former actress and the last surviving member of the main cast of the classic romance film Brief Encounter.

Margaret James, 92, and Rob Cave, 91, have become Britain's oldest newlyweds with a combined age of 183

The friends simply consoled each other to begin with after the deaths of their partners.

However, after seeing each other every day, their friendship developed into a romance.

Eventually, they decided it made sense to move in together but said they 'wanted to do it properly'.

And so, 66 years after they married their first partners, they walked down the aisle again.

The couple (pictured) got married in front of 150 of their friends and family at Wimborne Minster in Dorset

Margaret (pictured centre) played waitress Beryl Walters in the classic film Brief Encounter and is the last surviving member of the main cast

They said they celebrated with a 'wonderful afternoon tea' at a local church hall.

Margaret, who played the station cafe waitress Beryl Walters in 1945's Brief Encounter, said she is confident her late romance will have a far happier ending than that of Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard.

She said: 'I am over the moon. We had a wonderful wedding day and the sun shone for us all day. We will still be here for a long time yet, we are both very happy and very well.'

Her new husband Rob added: 'It is not a marriage out of convenience, it is a marriage out of romance.

The couple have known each other for more than 30 years but only got together after their respective spouses died within three months of each other in 2015

'It has only just occurred to us that we are probably the country's oldest newlyweds but I won't be applying to the Guinness Book of Records.

'I was feeling my age until Margaret and I got together but now I feel 20 years younger.'

The combined age of the couple is 12 years greater than Joan Grant and Ted Wright, who were thought to have been Britain's oldest newlyweds after they married in Swindon earlier this year.

As a teenager Rob, from the village of Shapwick, Dorset, joined the army but was too young for the Second World War.

They were initially just friends who comforted each other but said that they realised it 'made sense' to move in together

He worked as a farmer for more than 30 years before he had a career change and became a civil servant.

He was married to first wife Mavis for 66 years until she died three years ago aged 87.

They had a daughter together named Julia Palmer, who acted as Margaret's matron of honour during the wedding.

Margaret has now moved into her new husband's two bedroom bungalow in Wimborne and is selling her own house

Meanwhile, Margaret and her late husband Raymond lived in London and had careers in showbusiness and music.

While Margaret was a film and TV actress, her husband was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

After he retired in 1992 they moved to Wimborne where their son, Michael, was the organist at the minster and a music teacher at Canford School.

Sadly, he died of cancer aged 30 and his father passed away three years ago aged 93.

Rob's daughter from his first marriage Julia Palmer (left) acted as Margaret's matron of honour during the wedding

Margaret said: 'My husband and I and Ron and Mavis were good friends for quite a long time. When Mavis suddenly died the first thing I did was to rush around to see Rob and say how very sorry I was.

'Then he did the same for me when my husband passed away.'

Rob added: 'We just got together and consoled each other to begin with. Then about two years ago we realised we had stopped grieving for our passed spouses and started to get very friendly.

'It wasn't really courting, but we were seeing each other almost every day.

'We said 'this is ridiculous. We are living in two houses but are seeing each other every day and are happy together, we may as well move in together'.

After their wedding, the couple (pictured) had lunch with some of their close friends but do not plan on having a honeymoon

'But we wanted do it properly. I didn't really propose. We were chatting and I said why don't we get married and Margaret was all for it.'

Margaret has now moved into Rob's two bedroom bungalow in Wimborne and is selling her house in the market town.

The couple, who share a passion for opera music, ballet and the church, had lunch with close friends yesterday but don't plan on having a honeymoon.
A British born model has hit back at trolls who criticise larger models under the guise of being concerned for their health.

Paloma Elsesser, 26, who was born in London and moved to LA with her parents as a child has posed for the likes of Fenty Beauty, Vogue Arabia and 7 for All Mankind

'Its never their business. My health is not their business. Dont you think I know how to eat clean?'. Like, you should cut out sugar,' she told The Sunday Times Style magazine.

Her comments come in the same week as commentators criticised Cosmopolitan UK for putting plus-size model Tess Holliday on the cover, claiming the magazine was promoting obesity.

Paloma who is a US size 12 (UK 16) was discovered by make-up artist Pat McGrath on Instagram says that it's 'inexcusable' for high end fashion brands not to cater for larger sizes.

And she also has strong words for slim friends who complain about feeling fat, saying: 'Its f****** annoying. I find it disrespectful.

Model Paloma Elsesser, 26, (pictured in Ibiza in June) who was born in London and moved to LA with her parents as a child has hit back at social media trolls who criticise her shape, claiming to be concerned for her health

The model, pictured celebrating her birthday in April with a chocolate cake and a cigarette, hit back at trolls saying that her health is nobody's business but her own

'It doesnt mean that you shouldnt have the space to talk to someone about it, but I just dont know if Im the person to do it with.'

The model previously opened up to i-D magazine about how all women face a battle for equal pay, working conditions, and respect in the modelling industry.

'When I started working, I realized how hard it is, how emotional it is, how scary it is,' she said. 'I'm a really emotional person, so I was like, "How am I going to embrace the fears or insecurities that I have?"'

'The fashion industry is such an expressive, creative space, but it's very devoid of empathy,' she admitted.

Paloma at the 2017 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards in New York. She has posed for Nike, Vogue and Fenty Beauty since being discovered by make-up artist Pat McGrath on Instagram

Paloma soaking up the sun in Mexico in June 2018. The outspoken rising star has revealed how she struggled at first to balance the demands of the modelling industry with her sensitive nature

'Why is it that you're not professional if you don't want to work 16 hours a day?'

She is hopeful that by speaking out, women in the industry are creating a safe space which will signal more change.

'I think there still has to be a lot more change. But even me sitting here, being able to have this conversation, is a sign of the fact that things are changing, that people want change, and that what we're doing is having an effect,' she added.

She also credits the #MeToo movement with helping propel the conversation forward.

Plus size model Tess Holliday on the cover of the October issue of Cosmopolitan UK. Some commenters criticised the choice of cover model, claiming the magazine was promoting an unhealthy lifestyle

'Feminism always comes down to equality. Its not just armpit hair and freeing the nipple. It is wanting to be treated equally,' she suggested.

'I want to be paid properly, I want to be treated properly and I dont want to be sexualized. I want to be treated the same.'

And she added that speaking up and being heard is the best weapon against further abuse.

'We exist in rape culture and it doesn't look like an SVU episode. It's not blindfolded in an alley, it's being 17 at a party, and being touched the way you don't want to be touched.'

She concluded: '#MeToo has given life and visibility to the tireless amount of times that women have been in contact with sexual assault and misconduct.'

Instafamous: Discovered on Instagram by make-up artist Pat McGrath, Paloma is hopeful that vocal women in the industry are creating a safe space which will signal more change

Strong: The stunning brunette (pictured at New York Fashion Week in September 2017) shared that she had to learn to embrace her fears and insecurities but also thanked her parents for instilling confidence in her from a young age




Advertisement

Prince Konstantin of Bavaria has tied the knot to his wife Deniz Kaya in a romantic church ceremony in St Moritz, Switzerland.

The bride looked stunning in an ivory lace gown featuring long sleeves and a scalloped neckline, teamed with a sweeping full-length veil.

European high society flocked to Switzerland for the wedding on Saturday, with Princess Sofia of Sweden among the glamorous guests.

Konstantin, 32, is the son of Prince Leopold and Princess Ursula of Bavaria, and part of the House of Wittelsbach that ruled the German region until 1918.

Prince Konstantin of Bavaria tied the knot to Deniz Kaya in a romantic church ceremony in St Moritz, Switzerland

Konstantin and Deniz were seen exchanging a kiss as they left the French church, Eglise au Bois, as husband and wife following the ceremony

The wedding in Moritz was attended by a host of European royals including Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden

Sofia, 33, opted for an elegant blue dress, which she teamed with a chic black jacket and gold clutch bag for the ceremony

Prince Konstantin is the son of Prince Leopold (far right) and Princess Ursula of Bavaria (far left). They were joined by the bride's mother Guelseren Kaya (front left) and father Metin

The happy couple were seen sharing a kiss outside the Eglise au Bois as they left as husband and wife following the ceremony.

Wearing her brunette locks in a chic up-do, the new Princess Deniz accessorised her hair with elegant silver clips, while showing off her glowing complexion with a simple make-up look.

The bride and groom were joined by flower girls dressed in pretty printed dresses and floral crowns and smartly-dressed page boys who showered them in confetti as they left the church.

Meanwhile, Konstantin and Deniz's glamorous wedding guests brought out all the stops to ensure they looked the part for the high society wedding.

Prince Konstantin and Deniz were joined outside the church by flower girls dressed in pretty printed dresses and smartly-dressed page boys

The bride, who looked stunning in an elegant ivory lace gown and a full-length veil, arrived at the church in Moritz with her father Metin Kaya

Newlyweds Konstantin and Deniz looked absolutely delighted as they left the Eglise au Bois in Moritz as husband and wife

Bride Deniz wore her locks in an elegant up-do, while showing off her glowing complexion with a simple make-up look

Both Konstantin and Deniz looked delighted as they emerged from the church as husband and wife on Saturday

The newlyweds were joined outside the church by flower girls dressed in printed frocks and smartly dressed page boys

The bride, who has now officially become Princess Deniz of Bavarian, looked every inch the beautiful bride in a stunning lace gown and full-length veil. She was pictured arriving at church with her father Metin (right)

Princess Sofia of Sweden, 33, looked stylish in a floor-length pale blue dress, which she teamed with a gold clutch bag, while her husband Carl Philip, 39, opted for a smart tuxedo.

The groom's mother Ursula meanwhile opted for a glamorous nude dress featuring sequin detailing and a semi-sheer bodice.

Following the ceremony, the bride and groom hosted a lavish reception and dinner for guests in the nearby town of Engadine.

Deniz was also officially given the title of Princess Deniz of Bavaria following the wedding on Saturday.

Princess Sofia of Sweden and her husband Prince Carl Philip were among the glamorous guests at the wedding in Moritz

The ceremony was attended by glamorous guests, including Princess Maria Astrid of Liechtenstein (left) and a friend. Ludvig Andersson, son of ABBA's Benny Andersson, and his wife Mimi Schoeller were also seen arriving at the church (right)

Actress and film director Mafalda Millies opted for a stunning floral gown as she attended the wedding with her boyfriend. Mafalda was later seen lifting up her dress (right) to stop it from trailing along the floor as she left the ceremony

Prince Franz of Bavaria, Princess Felipa of Bavaria and her husband Christian Dienst (centre) also attended the wedding in Moritz

Family members attending the wedding included Prince Franz of Bavaria, Princess Felipa of Bavaria and her husband Christian Dienst.

Prince Manuel of Bavaria and his wife Anna were also among the royals in attendance, along with Princess Maria Astrid of Liechtenstein.

Other stylish guests included actress and film director Mafalda Millies, who opted for a stunning floral dress for the ceremony, and Ludvig Andersson, the son of ABBA's Benny Andersson.

The Bavarian royals ruled in the German region from 1180 to 1918, after King Ludwig II was deposed during the First World War.

Prince Manuel of Bavaria and his wife Anna of Bavaria were among the guests (left), along with Rolf Sachs and Princess Mafalda von Hessen

Princess Anna in Bayern (left), Peter Lanz and his wife Inge Wrede-Lanz also attended the wedding

Male guests including Francisco von Boch, Moritz Flick and Prince Ludwig of Bavaria (pictured from left to right) ensured they looked the part for the wedding

Other wedding guests included Wendelin von Boch and his wife Brigitte von Boch (left) and Olivia Schuler (far right) who opted for a bright pink frock for the ceremony
Bodyguard aired tonight with even more violent scenes, leaving viewers shocked.

David Budd - played by Richard Madden - attempted to strangle the Home Secretary Julia Montague - played by Keeley Hawes - after yet another steamy sex session.

She had crept up on in him while he was sleeping when he suddenly threw her to the floor and grabbed her by the throat as she begged him to stop.

Later we saw Montague give a speech about anti-terrorism measures in a London college that was blown to pieces when an anonymous bomber detonated an explosive.

The scene ended with Budd searching through a sea of ambulance stretchers looking for his boss and lover, leaving viewers unclear whether she was dead or alive.

Viewers were left gobsmacked by the racy scenes aired in tonight's episode with one social media user saying: 'Jesus what a week!'

In tonight's episode of BBC One's Bodyguard a bomb was detonated (pictured) at a speech given by the Home Secretary Julia Montague that announced plans for new legislation that would give police more surveillance powers

The bomb was detonated just metres away from Montague and she looked badly injured (pictured), though it was not revealed whether she survived the terrorist attack

Viewers were left gobsmacked by the racy scenes aired in tonight's episode with one social media user saying: 'Jesus what a week!'

The nail-biting series follows Budd's employment as the Home Secretary's personal bodyguard as she attempts to implement authoritarian measures that would allow the government to view terrorism suspect's internet history.

Last week they began an illicit affair and this week there were several more sex scenes.

After a romp in her bedroom of the safe house she was sent to following an assassination attempt, the pair went to sleep separately.

In the middle of the night still clad in her lingerie she crept into Budd's bed and climbed on top of him, startling him.

The episode left viewers shocked at both the Home Secretary's seductive moves and Budd's reaction

Budd survived the attack and looked around the venue to see if Julia was alive, though the episode didn't reveal it

Earlier on in the episode Budd had attempted to strangle a lingerie-clad Montague in the safe house that she was staying in

They had just had yet another steamy sex session (pictured) when they went to sleep in separate rooms

Suddenly he violently threw her to the and grabbed her by the throat as she screamed his name begging him to stop, before running to freedom.

'Whatever your training has made you its out of control,' she said.

The next morning Montague told him that he had to leave her service, but she still wanted to be with him romantically.

Later in the episode we saw her head to a college in London to give her speech on the new snooper's charter that gives the police more surveillance powers in an attempt to prevent more terrorist attacks.

A terrified and hysterical Montague crawled to safety (pictured) as she told Budd he was 'out of control'

The speech, given at a London college, announced plans to implement authoritarian measures that would allow the government to view terrorism suspect's internet history.Pictured: Keeley Hawes as Julia Montague

Budd and other security staff were on high alert and kept patrolling the audience looking for danger.

He confronted one of Montague's aides - who was an Asian male he suspected of being dangerous - and checked his briefcase, but found he just had speech notes.

Feeling more assured Budd went back into the auditorium, but saw an unknown male lurking at the side of the stage.

Suddenly several members of security staff started running towards the stage but it was too late, and the attacker detonated a bomb just metres away from Montague.

Last week Montague was seen covered in blood after a gunman shot at her car and killed her aide in a botched assassination attempt

In one scene in last week's episode terrorists had planned to drive a lorry through a busy school playground in London and then detonated a bomb

The episode ended on a cliffhanger and it is unclear whether she is alive or dead.

The episode left viewers shocked at both the Home Secretary's seductive moves and Budd's reaction.

One tweeted: 'Jesus what a week. Nearly assassinated then throttled by her own security detail/shagmuffin. Politics is tough people.'

Another posted: 'Well that little seduction technique didnt work!'

A third said: 'Omg! Julia won't be creeping into David's bed so often then.'

It was another violent installment of Bodyguard as last week we saw Montague drenched in her aide's blood after a sniper began shooting at her car.

Just minutes earlier a group of terrorists detonated a bomb in front of a school playground, killing themselves and two police officers.
Eyebrow and eyelash tinting  one of the latest beauty fads sweeping the nation  is banned in certain states as experts warn it could cause serious damage to the skin.

The procedure entails someone brushing dye directly onto the hairs around the eyes so it will make the eyebrows or eyelashes darker for up to six months. But the US Food and Drug Administration has not approved the procedure because of the risks.

'Permanent eyelash and eyebrow tints and dyes have been known to cause serious eye injuries,' according to the FDA website.

Dangerous? Eyebrow and eyelash tinting has been banned in states such as California because of the potential damaging side effects it could cause on the skin

Sabah Feroz, an eyebrow expert from Blink Brow Bar London, explained to Dailymail.com why the procedure could be looked at as more controversial than others, but noted that if you are cautious about who you trust to do the procedure, it should be totally safe.

'The treatment does involve chemicals that can come into contact with the skin, as with when using hair dyes,' Sabah said.

'Tinting products are much gentler than the hair dyes, as they are specifically developed for the eyebrows and lashes, however care must be taken.

'If there are signs of an allergic reaction following the patch test, the treatment must not be carried out.'

Sahab recommended for potential clients to first research what salon they want to get the procedure done before making the appointment.

A reputable salon should not only inform the client about the ingredients in the dye but also do a patch test prior to the procedure to confirm there will be no allergic reactions.

Currently, salons in California are not allowed to perform the procedure because of a law that bans the use of products unapproved by the FDA.

But the procedure is allowed in New York as long as the professionals only use non-permanent dyes on the eyebrows and lashes.

Sabah Feroz, an eyebrow expert from Blink Brow Bar London, encourages clients to get their skin tested first for allergies before buying the cosmetic procedure

Popular dyes for beauticians to use for the process include ones that are vegetable-based, food-coloring dyes, and coal-tar dyes.

Although the vegetable-based dyes are the most natural options, they are still unapproved by the FDA for tinting the eyebrows and lashes.

The procedure has grown in popularity, despite warnings from experts, because thick and bold eyebrows are considered 'in' within the beauty community.

Celebrities such as Cara Delevingne and Lily Collins helped launch thick eyebrows back into the spotlight after they traded in their tweezers for a more natural look.

Since then, many people have turned to eyebrow pencils, pomade and brushes to heighten the look of the hairs above their eyes for a fuller effect  but it can become a lengthy beauty process.

Sabah argues that eyebrow and eyelash tinting gives customers the look they want without needing to use makeup.

'If you have fair hair, a brow tint will give you instant definition and create the illusion of fuller thicker brows,' she said.

'It is also a big time saver for those who fill in their eyebrows daily, and use mascara to darken their lashes, giving your eyes instant depth and definition.'

For people who don't want to commit to the tinting, the expert did recommend investing in a good makeup routine.

'Eyebrows are your focus features, not only do they frame your face, they complete your look. Grooming your brows, doesnt need to be complicated,' she said.
It took me a long time before I felt it appropriate to describe Jeremy Corbyn as an anti-Semite. I would tell people that none of us knows what goes on in another persons heart and all we can do is judge someone on their actions.

But that is precisely the reason that I now believe there is no other possible conclusion to draw: Mr Corbyns actions  and his inaction over the poison of anti-Semitism within Labours membership  show that he has to be labelled an anti-Semite.

The evidence presented in Tom Bowers investigation shows that the view of Jews as a race apart was with Mr Corbyn from the very start of his career, making up stories of unscrupulous, leeching Jewish employers stealing money from their workers.

As this devastating biography shows, supporting terrorists who want to murder Jews and allying with the most rancid anti-Semites in Britain has been a lifelong obsession for Mr Corbyn. And now, as Labour leader, he has surrounded himself with people who have a similar view of Jews.

Jeremy Corbyn (pictured above) has 'surrounded himself with people who have similar views of Jews'

Dame Margaret Hodge (pictured above) called Mr Corbyn an anti-Semite to his face last summer

Famously, Labour grandee Dame Margaret Hodge called Mr Corbyn an anti-Semite to his face last summer after he refused to implement the internationally recognised definition of anti-Semitism, over which he eventually backed down.

As she put it to him: It is not what you say but what you do, and by your actions you have shown you are an anti-Semitic racist.

Mr Corbyn presides over a party that deliberately refuses to act seriously to remove anti-Semites.

Last Monday, Jennie Formby, Labours general secretary, published figures showing that since April 2018, 673 allegations had been investigated. And even though the party found that 146 members actions merited a warning, just 12 were expelled.

Mr Corbyn has repeatedly promised zero tolerance of anti-Semitism, but even on the partys own figures, that is clearly a lie. The numbers show that the party is happy to let those whose behaviour has been anti-Semitic remain as members. And a number of Labour MPs say that those figures are themselves a lie, and do not represent the full scale of the problem.

Take the chairman of Liverpool Wavertree Labour Party, Alex Scott-Samuel. The MP for the constituency is Luciana Berger, who has been the subject of death threats and abuse because she is Jewish. People have been sent to prison for such actions, so you would think that the chairman of her party would be a bulwark of support for a young Jewish woman MP who is widely admired. But Dr Scott-Samuel spends his time trying to drive her out.

A fortnight ago he co-sponsored a vote of no confidence in her. And when he is not doing that, he is spouting conspiracy theories about the Rothschilds  a classic anti-Semitic theme  on internet shows hosted by a blatant and unambiguous anti-Semite, Ritchie Allen.

Luciana Berger (pictured above) has been the subject of death threats and abuse because she is Jewish

You have to rub your eyes in disbelief when you remember that Dr Scott-Samuel is chairman of a local Labour Party, rather than the BNP. This behaviour and these views have frightening consequences far beyond the cesspit of Corbyns Labour.

Earlier this month, the Community Security Trust (CST)  the body which collates anti-Semitism statistics with the police  published its figures for 2018. They showed a 16 per cent increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents on the previous year, to a record 1,652.

That figure alone should be shocking. There are still people alive who survived the Holocaust, which showed where such bigotry can lead.

But the numbers are the least shocking part of the picture.

What is truly spine-chilling is the analysis published alongside the CSTs figures.

According to its chief executive, David Delew, the rise in UK anti-Semitism to record levels is down to the deliberate excluding of Jews from anti-racist norms and anti-Semitic politics.

David Delew (pictured above) said the rise in UK anti-Semitism to record levels is down to the deliberate excluding of Jews from anti-racist norms

You do not need to be an expert in euphemisms to understand to what  and to whom  that phrase is referring.

It means Jeremy Corbyn.

As editor of the Jewish Chronicle, I spend far too much time dealing with anti-Semitism. But inured as I am to most of it, even I sometimes have to take a breath, draw back and contemplate how astonishing it is that the leader of one of our two main parties is an anti-Semite, and that a party which defines itself as progressive and anti-racist is now so institutionally anti-Semitic that, as the CST shows, it is fuelling the oldest hatred.

Look at social media or turn up at many local Labour meetings and you will see the foul truth about Corbyns Labour.

As the no-confidence motion against Luciana Berger shows, when you speak out against the hatred of Jews, you are then targeted by the party.

As a Jew, I obviously have particular reason to be frightened by what this means if Labour takes power under its current leadership. But this isnt just about Jews  it is an indication of the true malignancy that underpins Corbyns Labour, of which we should all be frightened.
The Pakistani deep state believes that over a period of four decades this strategy has paid them rich dividends.

A scene of the spot after militants attacked a CRPF convoy in Goripora area of Awantipora town in Pulwama district of J&K on Thursday. At least 49 CRPF jawans were killed in the attack. (Photo: PTI)

Bangladesh was Indias finest hour and Pakistans darkest. India changed the map of South Asia and created a new nation. Pakistan lost half its country then called East Pakistan. Its military was humiliated. Ninety-one thousand of its soldiers and officers became Indian prisoners of war. The myth that the Pakistani military dictators, from Ayub Khan to Yahya Khan, had carefully constructed  that one Pakistani soldier is equal to 10 Indian jawans  now stood shattered irrevocably  if the 1947 and 1965 wars had been stalemates, 1971 was a stunning military triumph for India.

The surrender in Dhaka by Lt. Gen. Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi to Indias Eastern Army commander, Lt. Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, on December 16 left an indelible scar on the collective psyche of the Pakistani military establishment.

Out of this sense of (false) shame  given the manner in which the West Pakistani Army looted, raped, pillaged and plundered their own countrymen  were born the twin strategies: One, Pakistan must acquire nuclear weapons, and two, India must be targeted through a proxy war. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto ominously declared, We will eat grass, even go hungry, but we will get one of our own, referring to the atom bomb.

The man tasked with stealing, smuggling and building a nuclear bomb for Pakistan was the notorious A.Q. Khan. The strategy to bleed India with a thousand cuts became the remit of someone little known in India  Maj. Gen. Ghulam Jilani Khan, then director-general of the ISI, who remained in the post until 1978. Their first target in 1978 was not Jammu and Kashmir, but Indias Punjab. Punjab bore the brunt of the ISI-backed militancy from 1980 to 1995.

Cut to the year 2000. The ISI had successfully executed the IC-814 hijack. On a cold, bleak and windswept runway in Kandahar, on the last day of the previous millennium, December 31, 1999, the foreign minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, Jaswant Singh, handed over three terrorists  Maulana Masood Azhar, Mushtaq Zargar and Omar Sheikh  to our neighbour in exchange for the passengers, crew and aircraft. It was Azhar who went on to found the Jaish-e-Muhammad that carried out the Pulwama attack that left 49 CRPF jawans dead and many more seriously injured on Thursday.

A fortnight later, I was in the United States on an International Visitors Leadership Programme. Along with me was a young Pakistani civil servant who had served in the North-West Frontier Province and Tribal Agencies extensively. He had watched from close quarters the Afghan jihad unfold and radicalise the social fabric of Pakistan. During a cigarette break tucked away in a doorway trying to protect ourselves from the bone-chilling winds that cut through Washington DC at that time of year, he told me: There will never be peace in South Asia as long as the Pakistani Army remains the dominant actor in Pakistan. He went on to narrate that on the training grounds of the Pakistani Command and Staff College in Quetta, there are milestones that announce Delhi 1,000 kilometres, Jerusalem 3,900 kilometres. These emphasise two things; one, India is the principal enemy and, two, Israel is a thorn in the flesh of the Islamic civilisation. In the context of India, he explained it is about and only about avenging the defeat in East Pakistan.

Cut to 2008. At a conference in London, I was vociferously articulating the proxy war unleashed by Pakistan against India and by then even Afghanistan despite getting billions of dollars as humanitarian and war aid from the United States of America. It was the biggest impediment for South Asia towards achieving its collective potential, I argued. At dinner in the evening a fabled director-general of the ISI, then retired, sallied up to me, a glass of whisky in hand, and said, Young man, what is this proxy war you keep carping about  you cant handle a few pinpricks? Remember, you sliced our country in half. It was back to Bangladesh again.

Cut to 2015. At a Track Two India-Pakistan Dialogue in Bangkok, a retired Pakistani four-star general was fairly gone after a rather intense relationship with good single malt. Looking blearily at me, he said: A day will come when Bangladesh will be avenged, even if we have to wait a thousand years.

In all the years that I have interacted with the Pakistani military elite at Track Ones, One-and-a-Halves and Track Twos, the ignominy of Bangladesh weighs heavily on their collective consciousness. The problem gets further compounded because passed on memories from one generation of officers and men become even more toxic.

I recall the chill that went up my spine when the first thing a retired Pakistani officer who had played a seminal role in the evolution of the Pakistani nuclear weapons programme said to me was I was a prisoner of war in India in 1971.

Over a period of time this hate for India has also transformed itself into a coldly calibrated and ruthlessly executed strategy of using semi-state actors for tactical gains all across the larger South Asian region. The Pakistani deep state believes that over a period of four decades this strategy has paid them rich dividends. Otherwise why would Pakistan shelter and actively patronise an Osama bin Laden, a Mullah Omar, a Hafiz Saeed or a Maulana Masood Azhar?

The problem with India is now stretching back four decades and more. After the nuclear threat by Pakistan in 1990 that prompted the Gates Mission to India (Robert Gates was then the deputy national security adviser of the US) we have not been able to evolve a strategic or even tactical response to Pakistani depredations.

The fact is that with the Chinese in their corner, the US wanting their help to negotiate with the Taliban, Russia getting into a defence relationship with them and a nuclear shield to boot, Pakistan feels that it has us by the short and curlies. India would have to either find a modus vivendi with Pakistan or take that bold step. The question is, would the bold step be decisive enough, and what would be its cost? Beyond the nonsensical blabbering on TV, this is the thing to which it boils down.
More than two-and-a-half-years after the biggest vote in UK history  and all the international shockwaves and rancour which have ensued  the great Brexit battlefield has finally narrowed to something the size of a postage stamp on a map.

The UKs global future now rests on a seemingly insoluble squabble about an opaque protocol governing one of Europes most incomprehensible borders: all 310 miles of it.

In many places, it is one of the prettiest, too. Standing here on a County Fermanagh hillside watching tiny clouds scud across Lough MacNean, the view is majestic.

The problem comes when I try to work where Northern Ireland ends and the Republic of Ireland begins.

I am standing in Northern Ireland facing north, yet I am staring into the Republic. That is because of a border based not on logic but on county lines which date back to the Tudors. The result looks as if it was mapped out by a drunk wearing a blindfold.

I am standing in Northern Ireland facing north, yet I am staring into the Republic

To this day, the UKs only land border has more crossing points than the full length of the EUs entire Eastern flank. Last year, a joint report by the Department of Transport and Irelands Department For Infrastructure concluded it has 208 vehicle crossing points.

Today, not one of them has any sort of customs presence. A redundant Irish crossing station and rusting security gate near Killeen are rare surviving reminders of the bad old days. And keeping this landscape free of border posts like these is the final piece of the Brexit jigsaw.

It is also the firmly-stated position of both the British and Irish governments and the European Union.

In other words, everyone from hardline Sinn Fein republicans to hardline Tory Brexiteers, via the Eurocrats of Brussels, can agree on that. So why is this such an emotive stumbling block to achieving a withdrawal deal?

After all, who in their right mind would actually patrol these 208 crossing points, let alone install any barriers?

The last surviving national sign saying Northern Ireland  on the Cavan-Fermanagh road  explains why this might be difficult. It currently boasts eight bullet holes

I am standing in Northern Ireland facing north, yet I am staring into the Republic

The last surviving national sign saying Northern Ireland  on the Cavan-Fermanagh road  explains why this might be difficult. It currently boasts eight bullet holes.

Yet, we are told by Ireland and the EU that if Britain leaves on March 29 without concluding a deal, then a hard border is inevitable because goods will have to be checked in order to protect the European single market.

That is why they are demanding a protocol known as the backstop. It is a back-up plan to keep the border free-flowing.

It would involve keeping Northern Ireland locked into the EU customs union while the rest of the UK could head off on its own. As things stand under Mrs Mays deal, it has no end-date.

That is anathema to the Unionists, who argue that it treats them differently to the rest of the UK. Along with many Tories, they argue that it is perfectly possible to leave the EU and monitor cross-border trade without deploying men in peaked caps to stand at barriers.

You can do it, they say, by registering goods in advance and carrying out spot checks  as happens on, say, the borders of non-EU Switzerland.

Besides, they point out, the amount of trade across the land border is tiny anyway. The vast majority of it goes by sea.

Cows stand under a sign got a disused Irish border vehicle registration and customs facilitation office outside Dundalk, Ireland

But to millions of Irish people  in both the North and South  this is not just about tariffs and trade

But to millions of Irish people  in both the North and South  this is not just about tariffs and trade. They find any idea of an enhanced border  even an invisible, computer- controlled one  anathema, too.

They also hate the idea of Brexit. If this backstop issue somehow manages to scupper it, so much the better. As for treating Northern Ireland differently to the rest of the UK, they point out it is already a different jurisdiction when it comes to everything from education to farming.

The result is a downward spiral of hateful rhetoric and name-calling which risks tearing apart a decade of hard-won Anglo-Irish bonhomie.

I well remember that extraordinary night in Dublin Castle as the Queen prefaced her first ever speech on Irish soil with a few words of Gaelic before going on to express her regret for a century of pain.

Watching her standing there in a dress embroidered with 2,091 hand-sewn shamrocks, all of us present sensed a seismic turning point in the history of these islands.

A member of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) stands guard at a customs boundary post in Northern Ireland in 1961

An Ulster customs officer stops a cyclist at Clontivrim in 1955

A year later, she was shaking hands with Martin McGuinness, a man who had dedicated much of his life to exterminating her family.

That was less than seven years ago. Right now, it feels like another age.

Across Ireland, a new and alarming narrative has set in across the political and social divide: British betrayal.

The cruel Brits are back to their old imperialist tricks. Listen to the phone-ins, read the commentary  even the mainstream stuff  and many Irish appear to see themselves as extras in a remake of Titanic.

The posh boys are crashing the ship into an iceberg leaving the Irish locked in the hold while the toffs  led by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson  sail off in the lifeboats. Thankfully, the heroic EU is there to rescue them, so this version goes.

Hence the standing ovation for the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, when he tottered into the Irish parliament last year.

Hence the treacly coverage of last weeks visit by the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, to Junckers office in Brussels.

TV cameras were invited in to see them studying a huge thank you card from a woman in Ireland (and her two dogs) claiming: Britain does not care about peace in Northern Ireland. To them its a nuisance.

The Irish PM tried and failed to conceal a snigger. To the families of the 1,441 British servicemen and women who died during the Troubles, it was extremely offensive.

This new Anglophobia is being peddled around the world. A classic piece appeared in the New York Times late last year. In it, an Irish writer based a demolition of the entire English race on a short video clip of three British yobs on a stag do in Dublin.

The posh boys are crashing the ship into an iceberg leaving the Irish locked in the hold while the toffs  led by Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson

Claiming that they were emblematic of the English landlord class  they were clearly anything but  the writer went on to describe an alleged scene at the latest Conservative party conference.

She wrote: All around me were examples of the worst elements of the English ruling class: their solipsism, their hatred of the poor, their amazing rudeness.

A man in a boater hat and cravat, drinking Champagne and smoking a cigar, ignored a homeless woman asking for change and then chided me when I gave her some.

Beyond parody. Perhaps the writer could have elaborated on the villains ermine robe and his sedan chair to complete the picture.

If a British columnist attempted to defame the entire Irish race on the back of a YouTube clip of a couple of thuggy Irish travellers, they would be out of a job.

Irish groupthink, however, is now entrenched and formidable. Polls show that 85 per cent of the people believe that the Irish PM must not give an inch to Theresa May. Who can blame them? Every British division merely reinforces their view.

Polls show that 85 per cent of the people believe that the Irish PM must not give an inch to Theresa May

Boris Johnsons casual quip that the Irish border was no different to the crossing between the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden remains every bit as offensive to the residents of County Fermanagh as that thank you card to Mr Juncker was to many in Britain.

The self-obsessed infighting among the Westminster political class perpetuates the sense that the Brits neither have a clue nor give a damn about what happens across the Irish Sea.

Neither Brexiteer headbangers nor finger-jabbing Remainers, of course, are truly representative of mainstream British thinking.

For that, we should look at this weeks meeting in Liverpool where the Prince of Wales and the Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, signed a new memorandum of understanding.

They spoke of the familial ties between our two nations, links which bind us all and run far deeper than what Mr Higgins called the Brexit Odyssey. Such occasions have been few and far between in recent months, however. And we will need a lot more of them.

For that, we should look at this weeks meeting in Liverpool where the Prince of Wales and the Irish President, Michael D. Higgins, signed a new memorandum of understanding

The British have to understand why they are the most hated state in the world, says farmer Joe Parker, 46, shaking my hand in Jacks Bar in Belcoo, just inside the Northern Irish border.

Hes a nationalist who farms on both sides of the divide and insists that making any concessions to Britain over the backstop is out of the question. If Britain leaves the EU without a deal, he says, it will be hated all the more.

The more the Irish take umbrage, the more unyielding the Unionists become, however.

Lets just leave the EU without a deal. Well be fine. Anyway, the Irish will be begging to join us in a couple of years when they see how well were doing, just you wait, says May Wylie behind the counter of the Enniskillen second-hand shop she has run for 34 years. Others around her nod.

I meet John Sheridan, a well-known local farmer raised in the Unionist tradition near Belcoo.

You cant imagine what it was like living here during the Troubles, he says. You couldnt see a cardboard box by the road without wondering if it was a bomb. If you went in to a pub, you would be looking for the emergency exit as you walked in. I knew people who were shot.

Like everyone I meet who actually lives on the border  Unionist or nationalist, Catholic or Protestant  Mr Sheridan is adamant that whatever happens in terms of Brexit, any price is worth paying to avoid a return to the hard border between Ireland and the UK.

The British have to understand why they are the most hated state in the world, says farmer Joe Parker, 46

I meet John Sheridan (pictured), a well-known local farmer raised in the Unionist tradition near Belcoo

He is a prominent member of a group called Border Communities Against Brexit, but now just wants the whole thing over and done with. Ill take Mrs Mays deal, with a heavy heart, he says, adding that he could not face the bitterness of a second referendum.

Despite all the talk of a return to a hard border, it was never that hard and fast in the first place; tough, mean and ugly, yes, but never watertight.

In his grimly fascinating new history of it all, called The Border, Professor Diarmaid Ferriter, of University College Dublin, recalls Margaret Thatchers irritation with what she called its kinks and wiggles.

Sealing it, she was told, would require 303 miles of mesh fencing, 165 miles of vehicle hazards such as ditches and spikes plus a hundred pill boxes and a hundred observation towers  and that was before any mention of manpower.

This sort of landscape is a smugglers dream. And some locals are already treating Brexit as a business opportunity.

Outside Jonesborough (just inside Northern Ireland), I find a pop-up petrol station called Brexit Fuels offering cut-price diesel from a storage container with the price in euros.

The attendant is selling a litre of regular diesel for 1.20  a little over 1  and a litre of red diesel, for agricultural vehicles, at 70p a litre

Outside Jonesborough (just inside Northern Ireland), I find a pop-up petrol station called Brexit Fuels offering cut-price diesel from a storage container with the price in euros

There are a dozen poppy wreaths here today, but in the past year alone, this site has been vandalised four times

The attendant is selling a litre of regular diesel for 1.20  a little over 1  and a litre of red diesel, for agricultural vehicles, at 70p a litre.

He wont give his name, but explains it is one of nine new stations which have been set up either side of the border, ready to exploit whatever price shifts follow Brexit.

I drive on along the meandering national boundary. The only indicator of which country you are in depends on the font of the road signs and the speed limits  mph in the UK, kilometres in the Republic.

At the coast, I stop in Warrenpoint at the little memorial to the 18 British soldiers killed there in 1979, in the worst atrocity inflicted on the British Armed Forces.

There are a dozen poppy wreaths here today, but in the past year alone, this site has been vandalised four times. Next week, a Craigavon lorry driver will be up in court charged with criminal damage to the site, another indicator of the current mood.

The Irish government, backed by the EU, insist that the backstop is non-negotiable because it protects the sanctity of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) which has kept the peace since 1998.

The Unionist majority in Northern Ireland argue that all matters relating to the border should be a matter for the British and Irish governments alone. In placing Ulster under EU jurisdiction, without a say in its affairs, the backstop would contravene the GFA.

Hence the treacly coverage of last weeks visit by the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, to Junckers office in Brussels

A group led by the Nobel Prize-winning former leader of the Ulster Unionists and former Northern Irish First Minister, Lord Trimble, are now seeking a judicial review of Mrs Mays Brexit plan.

Emotion is going to play a big part in the final deal. The atmosphere is crucial, explains Lord Bew, of Queens University, Belfast.

A Remain-voting crossbench peer and former adviser to Lord Trimble, he has proposed one potential path through the backstop minefield in a paper for the think tank, Policy Exchange.

He argues that the supplementary agreement to the Good Friday Agreement, signed by the UK and Irish governments, already affirms a solemn commitment to support the GFA.

As such, any backstop could only be a temporary device anyway.

Here on the border, though, few have time for legal arguments. Any appetite for debate has vanished.

The future relationship between Britain, the EU and 520 million people all hinges on these empty green fields. The backstops here. The buck stops here, too.
@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.
The court also directed the BMC to constitute tree committee according to their order, said Mr Kumbhakoni.

The BMC informed the court that since they could not find any expert for the committee, they have issued advertisement in newspapers.

Mumbai: The state government informed the Bombay high court that the construction work of metro has been delayed, as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has not set-up tree authority committee. It also requested the court to issue direction to the civic body for constituting the said committee.

The state informed the court that as per BMC rule the state requires permission from the tree authority in order to cut trees in Mumbai for the metro construction work.

In absence of the tree authority, the metro work has been delayed, it said. The BMC informed the court that they were looking out for expert, which is a requisite to form the tree authority as per the Environment Protection Act.

A division bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice N.M. Jamdar was hearing a bunch of petitions filed opposing construction of metro carshed in Aarey area of Mumbai Suburbs. According to the petitions, around 2,000 trees will be axed for the metro carshed.



Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that another bench of high court had issued direction to the BMC to include seven experts from botany field in the 14-member tree committee.



The court also directed the BMC to constitute tree committee according to their order, said Mr Kumbhakoni. The court also said that the tree committee could not take decision on any application without complying with the order. He further said that despite the court order, the BMC has not filled up the post and hence, the metro work has been affected.

Senior counsel Anil Sakhare, who represented the BMC, informed the court that since they could not find any expert for the committee, the authorities have decided to issue advertisement in newspapers. We have issued advertisement in five leading newspapers. Within two weeks, we will receive applications and the administration will take a decision accordingly, said Mr Sakhare.

The court then kept the matter for hearing on March 7.
ELLENVILLE, N.Y.  Students are safe, authorities say, but an unspecified incident in the v
The following items are based on information provided by officials in law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
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.
CATSKILL, N.Y.  A homeless man was sentenced Thursday to 35 years to life in state prison for the shooting death of a former Woodstock reside
Manna Jo Greene, D-Rosendale, is an Ulster County legislator and environmental director of the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.
Ulster County

Judge Williams won't seek re-election

Known for tough talk from bench; would have reached state's mandatory retirement age less than halfway into next term
Paul Kirby is a reporter for the Freeman, covering Kingston politics. He has been at the Freeman since August 1996.
On the occasion of 72nd Raising Day of Delhi police, Mr Baijal paid homage to the slain CRPF jawans and expressed solidarity with their families.

New Delhi: Days after the tragic terrorist attack in Pulwama, Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal on Saturday laid stress on the need for bolstering security framework so that internal security challenges can be dealt with in a better way.

On the occasion of 72nd Raising Day of Delhi police, Mr Baijal paid homage to the slain CRPF jawans and expressed solidarity with their families. The L-G also hoped the speedy recovery of the personnel injured in the terrorist attack. Along with the rest of the country, I salute the jawans who sacrificed their lives for the nation. This undoubtedly is an irreparable loss for the country and I express my condolence for the bereaved families and wish speedy recovery for the injured, the L-G said.

Lauding the contributions of Delhi police, Mr Baijal asked the citizens to appreciate their consistent and selfless work so that they are encouraged and motivated to do more such works. Delhi police, he said, has been able to create a special place in the society and project a popular image by its excellent public service, he said. People should acknowledge the selfless efforts of policemen in maintaining law and order, so that they are encouraged and motivated to do more such works. Police personnel are inseparable part of the society who work in adverse conditions and put their lives at risk for our security, Mr Baijal said.

On the occasion, Delhi police commissioner Amulya Patnaik said fighting terrorism is the topmost priority of his squad. Apart from special cell, sharing inputs, holding inter-state police meets, raising specialised SWAT commando units comprising of men and women and cyber cell etc. have been integral mechanism to thwart any threat, Mr Patnaik said.
Senior Editor

Ivan Lajara is Senior Editor of the Freeman. He has been with the publication since 2001, starting as a copy editor and then Life Editor. Other roles have included web, regional engagement and audience lead for the publication and the New York cluster.
Ethos is a nationally recognized, award-winning independent student publication. Our mission is to elevate the voices of marginalized people who are underrepresented in the media landscape, and to write in-depth, human-focused stories about the issues affecting them. We also strive to support our diverse student staff and to help them find future success.



Ethos produces a quarterly free print magazine full of well-reported and powerful feature stories, innovative photography, creative illustrations and eye-catching design. On our website, we also produce compelling written and multimedia stories.



Ethos is part of Emerald Media Group, a non-profit organization thats fully independent of the University of Oregon. Students maintain complete editorial control over Ethos, and work tirelessly to produce the magazine.



Since our inception as Korean Ducks Magazine in 2005, weve worked hard to share a multicultural spirit with our readership. We embrace diversity in our stories, in our student staff and in our readers. We want every part of the magazine to reflect the diversity of our world.
Ms. Annette "Honey" Brock age 96 of Dalton, GA, went to be with the lord Tuesday June 22, 2021. She was born October 21, 1924 in Memphis, TN a daughter of the late Edwin Douglas and Ann Louise Johnson. She was also preceded in death by her husband, Paul "Pete" Brock, sisters and brothers, da
The Daily American

Two local residents were nearly victims of similar computer scams last week and are warning others.

Ben Straka, of Berlin, nearly lost some important data to a scammer when he answered a phone call. The caller said his company was going out of business and they owed him nearly $300 for a computer Straka purchased three years ago.

I was talking to him and he said he had to go on my computer to get some numbers, Straka said. I turned my computer on and gave them control; then I got this black screen with the cursor moving all around, and hes clicking on stuff.

Straka was frightened that the caller was looking for important data, such as his Social Security number or banking information. Luckily, he hung up the phone and unplugged his computer.

There was a lot of cursing going on there, he said.

The number the scammer called from was 855-694-7999, according to Straka. Many others on Whitepages have reported scam calls from this number as well. In total there have been 916 spam calls reported.

Many users had stories similar to Strakas, and others reported different scams.

Robo call claiming to be from the Social Security office claiming that there is fraudulent suspicious activity on my account and unless I call the number they provide my account will be frozen and my assets seized, said one user on the website.

In Stoystown, another person said her mother was nearly scammed through her computer.

Carol Snoots, of Stoystown, said her mother was using her computer when a red window appeared with a phone number, telling her to call it to get her computer fixed.

We couldnt get it to go away, Snoots said.

Snoots called the number, and the man on the line said her computer was infected with viruses and pornography. He claimed it would cost more than $300 to fix. After she told him she couldnt afford that, he lowered the price.

He told her to call her bank and approve the transaction, but the woman at the bank told Snoots she was being scammed.

They called me back and I said, Youre a scam. Dont call back. and they didnt, she said. The red window never came back.

I turned the machine off and didnt turn it on for another day or so and it worked fine, she said.

After the interaction, Snoots decided to report the matter to the Pennsylvania attorney general.

Email and telephone calls to the attorney generals office were not returned Friday, but, in a press release, Attorney General Josh Shapiro urged Pennsylvania residents to call his office if theyve been scammed.

If you think youve been scammed, let my Office know at 1-800-441-2555 or scam@attorneygeneral.gov. Our Consumer Protection team is here to fight on behalf of Pennsylvanians and make sure they get what they paid for and get their money back if they dont, Shapiro said.

Shapiro has also urged the Federal Communications Commission to allow telephone companies to block illegal robocalls.

According to a press release, in 2016, the Office of Attorney Generals Consumer Protection Bureau handled 19,727 consumer complaints and returned a total of $8,570,395.15 in restitution to Pennsylvanians.
Britains leading barrister and wife of former British PM Tony Blair, talks about women empowerment and gender inequality in India.

Cherie says that she was unaware of the cultural issues, stigmas and taboos around women in India, particularly widows.

Gender inequality exists globally and it exists in various variables. While financial inequality is one of the biggest aspects, the fact that it transcends in other verticals is equally alarming.

The situation is worse in under developing countries where women are seen as the second citizen and education of a girl child is still not a priority. In her recent visit to India, Cherie Blair, Britains leading barrister and wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair made the similar observations.

Speaking at the Queensline Lit Fest, touted as India's first literature fest on the sea, Cherie says that she was unaware of the cultural issues, stigmas and taboos around women in India, particularly widows.

In my country, women suffer after losing their husband financially, in particular, because they lose the pension benefits, but cultural issues around widows and women are there in India, Africa and other parts of Asia, which I wasnt aware at the beginning, says the committed campaigner for widows and womens rights.

Taking the conversation further, Britains former first lady notes that women are not a piece of furniture but are powerful creatures and have right to equal progress and power in society, but their education has not been given enough priority.

As a result of which, India, as an amazing country, is losing the inputs of 50% of its population, asserts the lawyer and adds, How many girls have the right to choose a career? The percentage is just 27, which is worse than Bangladesh which is a much poorer country than India.

Stating that women are not given equal chances and opportunities, she stresses the importance of financial independence for women.

It is important to make women economically active to support them because I feel a woman who earns her own money has control over her money and choices which she couldnt otherwise make, so to think about how can women become financially independent is very important, she firmly states and appreciates the change in the Panchayat (Local Council) system in India where every local council has a woman head.

Women in the position of power have changed the way of the local money is spent on the different priorities, and the attitudes have changed, she says adding that these women have started talking about primary necessities like roads, sanitation, toilets which men have overlooked. She also indirectly suggests that Indian voters should see the Panchayat system and work done by the person in power to cast their vote.

While many say that women are struggling between balancing their work life and taking care of the household chores, Cherie rationalises this popular belief stating that more men are saying that I am just not the wage gainer, I am also a father, husband and a friend in my community.

For Cherie, it is not just the strict division of labour among men and women or putting people into fixed roles but understanding their similarities. No family grows if it doesnt have a father figure, just the way it needs the mother it needs an active father. Depriving children of father doesnt make sense, she explains.

Viewing on the ongoing fight of women who are denied entry in Sabarimala temple because of taboos and patriarchal powers as the subjugation of womens rights, Cherie says, India scores very less as far as gender equality is concerned. India has a lot of resources for change but it isnt working.

The last years parliamentary elections in the UK started counting the votes of Indian residents there. Accepting that the Indian community living there is a success story, Cherie takes the name of two highly successful Indians - Hinduja and Mittal groups.

Of course, things have happened in the past but at present, it is like everything of India is embraced, smiles the former first lady and adds that there is huge respect for both the countries and we love Masala Paneer Tikka.
Kankakee, IL (60901)

Today

Variable clouds with showers and scattered thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 81F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall may reach one inch..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low 71F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.
Weather Alert

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING... The Flash Flood Watch continues for * Portions of Illinois and northwest Indiana, including the following areas, in Illinois, Ford, Grundy, Iroquois, Kankakee, La Salle, Livingston and Southern Will. In northwest Indiana, Benton, Jasper and Newton. * Through Saturday morning * Several rounds of torrential rainfall producing thunderstorms will move through northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana through early Saturday morning. Additional rounds of thunderstorms may occur into early Sunday morning, as well. Accordingly, the Flash Flood Watch may be extended. * Flooding of low-lying areas including farm fields, ditches, and roadways is possible. Additionally, rises in water levels in rivers and streams are possible. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A Flash Flood Watch means rapid-onset flooding is possible, but not yet certain, based upon the latest forecasts. Flash flooding is a dangerous situation. Persons with interests along area rivers, creeks, and other waterways should monitor the latest forecasts and be prepared to take action should flooding develop. &&
Eugene Crow, age 91, of Cullman, went home to be with his Lord on Saturday, June 19, 2021. He was born June 13, 1930 to Felix and Pearl Stowe Crowe. He was preceded in death by his loving wife Irene, his parents, two brothers and a sister. Mr. Crow served his country and is a veteran of The 
As part of sub-conventional conflict like a surgical strike, the IAF demonstrated its ability to insert and extricate troops from hostile territories.

New Delhi: As the Indian establishment looks for a befitting reply to strike back after the Pulwama attack, over 81 fighter jets of the Indian Air Force were in action on Saturday at the western border with Pakistan. The top Indian fighter jets  Mirage 2000, MiG-29, Jaguar and Su-30, among others  were participating in the Vayu Shakti exercise at the Pokhran air to ground range in Rajasthan, which demonstrates the IAFs capability to detect targets at the ground, hit them with precision and completely neutralise enemy assets. It is a showcase of the lethality of the Indian Air Force.

With talk of precision air strikes by military experts across the border after the Pulwama attack, Pakistan will be on alert about an exercise involving over 140 aircraft (fighter jets, transport aircraft and helicopters, among others) near the border which are battle-ready and can hit targets at a short notice.

The IAF is ever prepared to deliver the appropriate response as assigned by our political leadership and will always remain at the forefront in executing its missions, said Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa, Chief of Air Staff. He went on to assure the nation of the IAFs capability to meet national security challenges and defend the nations sovereignty. We are showcasing our ability to hit hard, hit fast and hit with precision, hit during the day, during the night and hit under adverse weather conditions through our autonomous bombing capability, the Air Chief added.

As part of sub-conventional conflict like a surgical strike, the IAF demonstrated its ability to insert and extricate troops from hostile territories.

During the exercise, various simulated enemy targets on the ground and in the air were targeted and destroyed, employing a variety of missiles, precision-guided munitions, unguided bombs and rockets by various fighter aircraft of the IAF that included the Su-30, MiG-27, MiG-29 upgrade, LCA-Tejas, Mirage 2000, MiG-21 Bison and Hawk, and also the weaponised version of the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter.

Of special note were the precision strikes to destroy Transporter ErectorLaunchers of enemy surface-to-surface missiles and the swing role capability of the indigenously-built Tejas aircraft demonstrated through the destruction of an aerial target with a missile and then a ground target with bombs, in the same sortie.

During the exercise, the Akash missile knocked out a target flying in the sky above. This was followed by Mi-17V5 and Mi-35 helicopters raining rockets on simulated enemy targets.
Authorities said a father and four of his daughters have died after a house fire in Watertown, New York.



Fire Chief Dale Herman told WWNY-TV a teenage girl escaped and alerted a neighbor when the fire broke out around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Smoke and flames could be seen coming from the windows of the home when firefighters arrived.

First responders saved two other children.

They were rushed to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse for treatment, but later died.

The father and his five daughters were home at the time of the fire, WWNY reported.

The victims were identified as Aaron Bodah, 38, Merissa Bodah, 14, Alexa Bodah, 8, Erin Bodah, 6, and Skylar Bodah, 4.



Their surviving sister, Hailey Bodah, 13, was listed in stable condition.

"They were so happy, they were so loved. I just can't believe he's gone, can't believe they're gone. I don't understand how anything like this can happen," Dora Bodah said at a vigil in memory of her son and four of her granddaughters.

According to WWNY, the fire started in the kitchen when pots and pans were left on a stove.

One neighbor was unable to enter the home because of the smoke and flames.

Herman told WWNY the home did not have working smoke detectors.


Lawmakers and Connecticut residents are firing back at Gov. Ned Lamonts revelation that hes considering broad tolling of all vehicles  and the debate isnt only about the merits of tolls.

Its a significant broken promise of his and thats disheartening, said Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano. He has never had a conversation with us, he never picked up the phone and asked us, Hey how do we do this...Theres never been a substantive conversation.

Stay on top of the news that matters! Subscribe to Hearsts free CTPolitics newsletter

Fasano, a North Haven Republican, echoed and amplified exploding outrage from toll opponents in response to an Op-Ed piece by Lamont Saturday in five Hearst Connecticut Media newspapers. The governor said his budget Wednesday will propose two options on tolls: interstate trucks only, which he had long favored, and tolling of all vehicles on highways and bridges.

That set off anger on two fronts. There is the debate on tolls  which opponents call just another tax  and on Saturday, sharp words about Lamonts integrity from many who cited his campaign position.

Click here to read Lamonts Op-Ed piece on tolls

Can anyone he surprised at this? Elections have consequences. Wonder why Amazon said no? one commenter said on the conservative Facebook page, Fiscal ImpaCT.

The group No Tolls CT issed a statement saying it will hold its first of many protests on February 23 in Stamford in front of the Stamford Government Center at 888 Washington Blvd from 12:00 P.M. until 1:30 P.M.

Defenders also stepped up, as Democratic leaders said Lamont was simply coming around, albeit late, to the realization that highways tolls are, in their view, the only viable option to pay for the massive infrastructure upgrades Connecticut needs.

I have been talking about this and promoting this literally for almost a year and I know opposition wants to reduce the issue and simplify to yes or no on tolls, but thats really not the issue. Its yes or no on Do we want to grow the economy? said State Sen. Alex Bergstein, D-Greenwich, who has advocated for broad tolling across the state.

Bergstein said she also has not spoken with the governor about his tolling proposals.

@GovNedLamont deserves credit for having the guts to do the right thing, even though he knows hell take a ton of heat for it, political consultant Roy Occhiogrosso tweeted. Hes providing a second option, which legislators were going to debate, anyway.

Lamont, in his Op-Ed piece, did not spell out details of his proposals. Broad tolling would raise between $500 million and $1 billion, more or less, with the percentage coming from out-of-satte motorists ranging from 40 percent to, in Lamonts view, 50 percent.

I understand how controversial electronic tolling is, Lamont wrote, acknowledging he has adamantly rejected broad tolling until now. He said hes open to a real discussion with lawmakers and residents about the state of our transportation system and what will be needed going forward.

Fasano doesnt buy it.

Those are shadows from the past administration, where they dont talk to anybody, and thats something that I thought he was going to move away from, and apparently I have to now question whether thats accurate.

Critics have said all along that Lamont has always intended to institute broad tolling, as his transition advisory board for transportation, including Joe Giulietti, his designated Department of Transportation commissioner, recommended.

True leaders dont throw up two options and wait and see which way the wind blows, Bob Stefanowski, the Republican candidate Lamont beat by three percentage points in November. Lamont made his decision not to toll autos, and Connecticut voters relied on his promise. He should not waffle now.

Lamonts office did not comment on accusations that he was less than truthful in his campaign and that he is now only easing into an inevitable support for full tolling. Lamont said in his Op-Ed, however, that he has come to realize that only tolling tractor-trailer trucks is too limited.

He wrote that attorneys are pretty certain that if trucks-only tolling survives a court challenge in Rhode Island, the tolling could only be done on specific bridges and the generated revenue would be reserved for those bridges.

And therefore, he wrote, the truck-only option provides too little revenue, too slowly and too piecemeal to make a meaningful difference.

Bergstein praised Lamonts realization and said transportation improvements will attract people to Connecticut. We need to send a very clear signal as a state that were going to take the necessary steps. It includes tolls plus an infrastructure bank.

Lamont, a Democrat, said he would consider broad tolling only if a Connecticut EZ-Pass or frequent driver discount were included, in which out-of-state drivers would provide nearly 50% of our tolling revenue.

In order to offset the financial burden of tolling, Lamont suggests the state could increase the earned income tax credit for low-income workers, or reduce the gas tax.

A preliminary study released in November by the DOT said the state could collect $1 billion a year in tolls. It estimated out-of-state drivers would contribute 40 percent of the revenue. That study, which the department said was an illustration, not a proposal, envisioned as many as 82 toll gantries on all 13 of the states interstate highways and four-lane roads, including Route 8, Route 9 and the Merritt and Wilbur Cross parkways.

Governor-elect Lamont stands by his campaign promise not to toll personal vehicles, a Lamont spokeswoman said at the time the report came out.

Carol Platt Liebau, president of the Yankee Institute for Public Policy, said any form of tolling would be too much of a financial burden for Connecticut residents, even with a discount.

Before even considering another tax on Connecticuts people, who are already over taxed, the Yankee Institute believes Governor Lamont should consider responsible cost-cutting measures, Liebau said, adding, Without proposing a single measure that would rein in costs, our leaders want to impose yet another tax on us. Thats utterly unacceptable.

DOT spokesman Judd Everhart said in an email Friday the typical percentage rate of collection in Northeast states is in the 40s for out-of-state vehicles. It could be 45-50 percent, he said.

As you may know, CT is the only state on the East Coast without tolls, Everhart said.

Lamont said he doesnt believe there is a way to pay for needed work without at least some tolling. There is no doubt in my mind that our transportation fund will require additional strategic and recurring revenues in the very near future, Lamont wrote. In my opinion, there is no way around that hard fact.

The Op-Ed appeared in the Greenwich Time, Stamford Advocate, Norwalk Hour, Connectucut Post and The News-Times of Danbury.

kkrasselt@hearstmediact.com; 203-842-2563; @kaitlynkrasselt
BRIDGEPORT  The FBI has subpoenaed municipal documents involving three local contractors.

Two high level public facilities staffers were recently fired, and one of those  Deputy Director Jose Tiago  has hired a criminal attorney.

With scandal hovering over his administration, Mayor Joe Ganim on Friday took another step to try and reassure the general public and voters  this is a re-election year  that he has matters under control.

The mayor announced that Guidepost Solutions, a New York-based consulting firm with a global reach, will review purchasing, the handling of cash and other government functions, toward correcting some of the problems and challenges that have come to light.

According to Guideposts website, the company offers global investigations, compliance, monitoring and security and technology consulting solutions for clients in a wide range of industries. Our expert team provides leadership and strategic guidance to address critical client needs across the globe.

Ganim said that Joseph Jaffe, Guideposts chief compliance officer and deputy general counsel, would be working with the City Attorneys Office. He will earn $425 an hour and will be paid out of a $75,000 budget line item the law department uses to hire outside counsel to assist the City Attorneys in-house legal team.

Lesser rates of around $270 an hour will apply to other Guidepost experts Jaffe may call upon.

Jaffe, according to his employer, was the former District Attorney for Sullivan County, N.Y., and worked for seven years in the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York helping to oversee the criminal and corruption divisions. He was also an Acting Chief Inspector for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, where he investigated and tried business fraud and public corruption cases.

Ganim emphasized that Jaffe and Guidepost will stay in their lane and not be involved in the FBIs ongoing criminal probe of illicit scrap metal sales and alleged handing out of no-bid contracts.

Sources have said around $25,000 worth of proceeds are missing from off-the-books sales of scrap metal for cash by Bridgeport employees.

The FBI recently subpoenaed documents for the past four years worth of scrap metal records, along with documents related to three local companies  Vaz Quality Works, Seaview Equipment Sales and Rentals and G. Pic and Sons Construction.

Tiago, soon after being hired in 2014 by then-Mayor Bill Finch, sold some connected properties to the Vaz family, which opened Seaview Equipment on the site. Tiago, according to municipal records, received $258,786 more than the $586,214 appraised value of the land.

As the scandal, prompted by an anonymous letter to the City Council last fall, has slowly unfolded, Ganim has been announcing new policies and procedures about handling municipal property and issuing contracts. He has also had one of his aides, retired-FBI Agent Ed Adams, monitoring the purchasing department.

Adams was among the team of federal law enforcers who in the late 1990s and early 2000s investigated Ganim during his first stint as mayor and, ultimately, helped convict Ganim of corruption in 2003. Ganim waged a political comeback in 2015 and made Adams a part of his campaign  and then of his administration  to help convince voters he was serious about running a clean government.

Asked Friday if hiring Jaffe was redundant given Adams earns $91,800 as a good government and ethics watchdog, the mayor said, This is taking it up to 10 times what we might get out of one individual like Ed. I think we want that now.

And Ganims critics have argued that Adams and other top level administration staffers lack independence because they all worked together to help elect the mayor and received positions in return.

Ganim on Friday also continued to claim that some of the problems uncovered recently  particularly the scrap metal sales  were inherited. The anonymous letter writer claimed it has only happened since Ganim returned to office and put political ally John Ricci in charge of public facilities. But the FBIs probe, based on the subpoenas, also reaches back to the last year of Finchs administration.

Anyone familiar with the FBI scandal that embroiled Ganim years ago might recollect that, when federal authorities began probing city deal-making with three top development firms, the mayor similarly sought to separate himself from the controversy by establishing a committee to review dozens of municipal contracts.

With the new announcement, Council President Aidee Nieves, a Democrat like Ganim, said hiring Guidepost is a responsible expense.

This is an impartial entity that is going to come and ensure that we have corrective action on standard operating procedures, that people will be properly trained, processes corrected and adhered to, said Nieves who, along with Ganim, met last week with Jaffe. When you have large operating systems, these things happen and sometimes companies need to rectify their systems.

But Councilman Peter Spain, a frequent Ganim critic, was not convinced. Spain questioned the City Attorneys Offices authority to hire the consultant and whether the money is justified.

Do we really have funds for this specific purpose? Spain asked, citing the public schools strained budget and high taxes.

But bring in the greatest lawyer (Jaffe) money can buy? For whose benefit, precisely? Spain said.
India is asking International Court of Justice to order Islamabad to annul the death sentence given by the military court of Pakistan.

In May 2017, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Jadhav's execution till adjudication of the case. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Amid the escalating tension between India and Pakistan following the ghastly Pulwama terror attack, India on Monday to ask the United Nations top court to order Pakistan to take Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav, off death row.

Former India Naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav was sentenced to death by Pakistan in a Field General Court Martial on April 10, 2017 after three-and-a-half months of trial.

He has been accused of espionage and working for the Indias external intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).

Challenging the execution, India moved to Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ). In May 2017, a 10-member bench of the ICJ restrained Jadhav's execution till adjudication of the case.

Pakistan claims that its security forces arrested Jadhav from Balochistan on March 3, 2016 after he allegedly 'entered from Iran'.

However, India maintains it claim that Jadhav was kidnapped from Iran where he had business interests.

On Monday, India's lawyers will present their side of argument in front of the top UN court. India is asking International Court of Justice to order Islamabad to annul the death sentence given by the military court of Pakistan.

In the case, India has also highlighted Islamabad's repeated violation of the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access and by breaking the international human rights law.

Hague-based International Court of Justice was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes.
BRIDGEPORT  Alfanso Anderson was gunned down in a case of mistaken identity last February.

And Feb. 15, 11 days before the one-year mark of the 48-year-olds homicide, Bridgeport police charged 25-year-old Glenn Pettway, of East Main Street in the city, in connection with the killing.

Pettway was charged with murder, felony murder, criminal possession of a pistol, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal use of a firearm and attempted first-degree robbery. He was arraigned Tuesday and held in lieu of $1 million bond.

The Bridgeport Police Department had a total of 11 murders to investigate last year. Including Pettway, there have now been arrests made in five of the cases.

Even sometimes when theyre solved, they still bother us, Police Chief Armando Perez said last week. It shows the inhumanity. How can you kill another human being? And for what  for money, for drugs, in some cases for respect?

Andersons homicide is one that struck detectives, Perez said, because it was a horrible case of mistaken identity.

Pettway allegedly mistook Anderson for a man who owed a debt to a prostitute, Police Lt. Chris LaMaine said following Pettways arrest. He said an investigation showed Anderson had no connection to Pettway, the prostitute or any illicit activity.

Perez said of the homicides city police investigate, People dont realize, these things stay with us.

The chief mentioned a few killings from 2018 that haunted him  including the citys first slaying of the year and the double homicide on Halloween night.

Jawuan Green stopped to buy a cigar from The Snack Shop on Newfield Avenue on Jan. 16, 2018. After stepping out of the store, he was shot in the chest. He was driven to Bridgeport Hospital by a private vehicle where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Green, who lived on Read Street and turned 21 a few days before his death, was a regular customer at the store, a store clerk said the morning after his killing.

Id really like to see that homicide solved, Perez said of Greens killing. There are some that just really tug at your heart and this is one of them.

Just two weeks after Greens homicide, on Jan. 30, 2018, 19-year-old Eric Heard was shot in the head on Price Street. Heard was initially on life support at a local hospital, but died on Jan. 31, 2018.

Police arrested people on several homicides over the next few months, but are still working on a homicide that happened on Aug. 13, 2018.

Len Allen Smith, 25, and an unidentified woman were waiting in a car while a friend ran into a nearby store on Union Avenue, police said. A shooter shot Smith and the woman, leading to Smiths death. The woman recovered. Police said the two were not the intended victims.

Friends of Smith were shocked to hear of the fatal shooting and repeatedly said he wasnt involved in any illicit activities.

In late October, the city saw a double homicide, one that took the life of a woman who one family member described as a beautiful soul.

More Information 2018 HOMICIDE ARRESTS: 1. Francine Nyanzaninka was stabbed to death on Feb. 19, 2018. She was the city's third homicide victim of the year. Richard Segabiro was charged. 2. Anderson Alfanso was shot to death on Feb. 26, 2018. He was the city's fourth homicide victim of the year. Glenn Pettway was charged. 3. William Nance was shot to death on May 24, 2018. He was the city's fifth homicide victim of the year. Shardel Ragin was charged. 4. Emily Todd was fatally shot on Dec. 9, 2018. She was the city's 10th homicide victim of the year. Brandon Roberts was charged. 5. Clinton Howell was fatally shot on Dec. 18, 2018. He was the city's 11th homicide victim of the year - and the youngest at the age of 12. Tajay Chambers, 18; Alexander Bolanos, 16; a 14-year-old and a 12-year-old were charged. See More Collapse

On Oct. 31, 2018, 41-year-old Myoshi Bagley and 28-year-old David Belle were walking down Howard Avenue when they were gunned down. Bagley was not the intended victim, police said. She died that night. Belle died in the hospital six days later.

A video of a possible suspect vehicle was released by police in mid-November.

Edwin Jeremy Mangual was killed on Nov. 27, 2018, when he was shot in the torso and neck on Laurel Avenue.

Were still investigating all of these cases, Perez said. We want to see them all solved, to see arrests for all of them ... We want to bring their families justice.

Anyone with information about any of these homicides can contact the Bridgeport Police Departments tip line at 203-576-TIPS.
3 1 of 3 Contributed Photo / Stratford Police Department / Contributed Photo Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Contributed Photo / Stratford Police Department Show More Show Less 3 of 3





STRATFORD  Two town teenagers were charged Friday in connection with two separate shootings in Stratford last month, police said.

Alex Pena, 19, of Stratford, was charged with criminal attempt at first-degree assault, reckless endangerment and weapon in a motor vehicle in connection with a shooting on Jan. 6, Capt. Frank Eannotti said Friday.


Decode Your Future with an Online Computer Science Degree from Drexel

Drexel University's online computer science programs are designed to prepare you for work on the cutting edge of technology. The curriculum is designed for students with any level of experience or previous knowledge. Choose the program thats right for you. Learn More.

This story was originally published on the E-Commerce Times on Nov. 27, 2018, and is brought to you today as part of our Best of ECT News series.

Digital transformation has become a prime focus for retailers these days. In order to grow, brick-and-mortar stores realize they must use their digital touchpoints to enhance their customers' in-store experiences.

Online retailers recognize they need to separate themselves from the pack through faster and more informative shopping experiences. And omnichannel sellers and brands are aware they need to provide their customers with a seamless, cross-channel experience.

To meet the exigencies of digital transformation, retailers have been turning to business-to-consumer (B2C) commerce suites to automate their merchandising, streamline operations, and boost the impact of their business teams on the experience of their customers.

However, choosing such a platform can be difficult.

"It's a very competitive space. Differentiation is challenging," said Thad Peterson, a senior analyst with the Aite Group, a global research and advisory firm based in Boston.

"It's a maturing market, but some aspects of it are growing faster than the market as a whole," he told the E-Commerce Times. "The home mobile side is growing more quickly -- and in the developing world, it's growing much, much more quickly."

Level of Involvement

How much the business should be involved in the technical implementation and operation of the platform is one of the first questions a commerce platform shopper should consider, Gartner analyst Mike Lowndes suggested in a research note on digital commerce platform architecture. Gartner, a research and advisory company, is based in Stamford, Connecticut.

"If the business will be less involved, then a more packaged or single-vendor solution may be appropriate," he wrote. "However, if IT organizations are to be involved in more than governance, leaders need to understand the high-level approaches available to make the best decision for the business."

When examining a new digital commerce venture or replacing a legacy platform, organizations often search first for a digital commerce platform vendor before considering the impact of the vendor's product architecture on their business and future needs, Lowndes wrote.

"Alternatively, this decision is placed in the hands of a development partner or system integrator on behalf of the business," he added, "sometimes with unforeseen consequences to flexibility, future-proofing and fit for purpose."

One Size Doesn't Fit All

When shopping for a B2C e-commerce suite, the size of the purchaser is an important consideration.

"If you're a sophisticated e-commerce provider with an IT group that does a lot of your Web development, then you don't need a turnkey solution. You just need good cloud-based functionality and a good, secure platform that's flexible so you can do what you need to do," Aite Group's Peterson explained.

"If you're a small organization, you may need Web services, Web design and a lot of other things," he continued. "If you're smaller, you're ceding more control to the provider. If you're larger, you're keeping more control to yourself."

A recent Forrester Wave report on B2C commerce suites notes, for example, that SAP Commerce Cloud is a suite suitable only for organizations with deep technical skills or a strong partnership with a system integrator.

"SAP commerce cloud is a best ft for companies looking for an industrial-strength full-function commerce platform in wide use across several industry verticals," the report points out.

IBM's Watson Commerce is another suite that requires technical chops to deploy, and IBM is also in the process of modernizing the solution's architecture.

"IBM is a good fit for large enterprises with the budget, resources, and willingness to bet on the company's ability to execute on its modern platform vision. Less mature organizations will likely find this suite too cumbersome," Forrester concludes.

Important Considerations

At the start of the shopping process for a B2C suite, an organization has to evaluate what it sells. Is my product complex or is it simple?

"There are solutions that are better for selling simple products than complex products," said Gartner Vice President Penny Gillespie.

Where a product is being sold is another important consideration.

"Some platforms do better selling locally and regionally than globally," Gillespie told the E-Commerce Times.

For example, in Forrester's report notes that Digital River's commerce suite is a good fit for companies looking to expand globally and to outsource the transactional overhead of doing business internationally.

Forrester offers three general recommendations when shopping for a B2C suite:

Make sure the suite contains the core set of features that drive a customer's online experience -- including search, personalization and promotions, and the analytics to tie those three elements together. The ability to target content and products with consumer incentives across the consumer's shopping journey is essential to giving the consumer a differentiated shopping experience. Make sure the suite is agile enough to give business users the tools they need to rapidly change content. Business users need a 360-degree view of their customers, along with a promotions and campaign engine they can control, so they can attract customers and induce them to make purchases. Make sure the suite incorporates operational efficiencies that reduce costs and provide an upgrade process that requires little regression testing and no recoding. A containerized approach to upgrades that manages versions and automates scaling is critical to simplifying the upgrade cycle, as is the use of an abstracted API layer to isolate the commerce runtime from store customizations.

To Transform or to Optimize?

When purchasing a B2C suite, a buyer should understand the difference between a solution that's going to optimize an organization's performance and one that can transform it. A transformational solution is one prepared to deal with the future of e-commerce.

Just a scant six years ago, optimization was the driving force behind digital commerce investments, but that isn't the case anymore, Gartner research shows.

"In 2012, customers were investing in digital commerce for cost savings. In 2017, it was about transformation and delivering great customer experiences," Gillespie said.

"When I think about delivering a great customer experience, I think about delivering a personalized customer experience," she continued. "And when I think about delivering a personalized customer experience, I think of content being relevant, my process being easy and seamless, and content that resonates with me."

One characteristic of transformation is putting commerce in context. For example, the app for a furniture store will be able to show a consumer how a piece of furniture will look in a home, or a clothing store app will display how an item will look on the consumer.

Another characteristic is shifting from being reactive to a consumer's wants to being proactive or anticipatory of them.

"Today, 99.99 percent of all transactions are initiated by customers," Gillespie explained. "In the future, we're going to see more and more transactions by merchants or suppliers based on what they know about the customer."

Draw a Road Map

Commerce platform shoppers should create a road map for digital commerce and manage technologies based on the digital commerce technology ecosystem, Gillespie recommends.

"This will lead to a complete digital commerce solution, maximizing the value of both the commerce platform and the corresponding digital commerce ecosystem applications," she said. "Organizations underestimate the requirements of a digital commerce solution. As a result, they deploy incomplete solutions that impede their journey to success."

It's important to scrutinize an IT vendor's digital commerce platforms to ensure they match the road map and requirements, Gillespie advised, and to identify requirements delivered natively. "This can reduce unplanned spending on additional technology and lower integration costs."

Develop a Short List

Commerce suites need to provide customers with more than just access to a company's goods, observed Hayward, California-based Charles King, a principal analyst with Pund-IT, a technology advisory firm.

"It also needs to highlight and reinforce a company's brand and go-to-market strategy," he told the E-Commerce Times.

"Customization, search, personalization and support for company promotions are all critical parts of that process," King added. "I'd also add that mobile transaction support and optimization is a critical issue for many, if not most, retailers -- especially those in consumer markets."

After performing its initial analysis, suite shoppers will need to create short list of prospects. When making that list, "first and foremost, invest time and effort in determining what your own organization hopes to accomplish with online commerce, along with developing realistic budgets and timelines," King recommended.

"Then take a long and close look at primary vendors, along with whatever strategic partners -- banks, hosted service providers, designers and such -- are working behind the scenes," he continued. "That includes examining a vendor's existing sites, and arranging discussions with those customers."

If a suite shopper operates in a particular industry, platform providers that focus on that industry should be good candidates for a short list of finalists.

"You need to understand your vertical," said Aite Group's Peterson, "and identify players with expertise in that vertical, so you don't have to explain to them what you're doing or adapt their technology to what you're doing."

Keep Your Eyes on the Target

As a shopper works down the list of candidates for a suite deployment, sales pitches can start to fog the shopper's focus, but it's crucial to keep what needs to be accomplished front and center, King advised.

However, "companies also need to determine how flexible or willing to compromise they can be on specific points," he added.

"Realistically, it will be difficult to find a commerce vendor that's a perfect 100 percent fit for your situation," King continued, "but considering and remaining focused on your organization's core requirements will go a long way to determining which B2C partners are worthy of serious consideration."

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.


The content on this page is accurate as of the posting date; however, some of our partner offers may have expired. Please review our list of best credit cards , or use our CardMatch tool to find cards matched to your needs.

A few weeks ago, I wrote to you lamenting the winter blues and dreaming of exotic islands to visit on points. Today Im sitting on the patio of my suite at the Andaz Papagayo resort by Hyatt in Costa Rica and the only blues I have today is the Pacific Ocean out in front of me.

A last-minute, weekend trip to Costa Rica may sound a bit unrealistic, but Im here to tell you that it doesnt have to be. International trips dont have to be big to-dos you plan for years in advance  especially if you have rewards points.

See related: Winter destinations: 4 exotic islands you can visit on points

Best winter getaway? Go after the sun

Some international destinations like Costa Rica are close enough to travel to for a few days and a quick visit can help you find whatever kind of escape you need.

I chose Costa Rica for a quick international getaway for two reasons.

First, because my winter-weary soul wanted sunshine and temperatures above 90 degrees.

Second, because the Andaz Papagayo (a Hyatt category 4 property) had been on my radar as a fancy resort that is bookable with the anniversary certificate from my World of Hyatt Credit Card, and my certificate was going to expire at the end of the month.

Since I pay an annual fee of $95 on this card, it was a great value to use the certificate on a weekend when rooms were booking out at a rate of $695 per night.

As a bonus, Costa Rica is convenient to reach on a variety of airlines using miles.

Im not alone in my need to get away. At the pool, Ive met plenty of others taking advantage of the proximity of Central America for a quick winter escape.

A couple from Atlanta is here on a quick trip without their children. A family from Seattle is hiding from the snowpocalypse. A woman from Boston is taking a few days off from the polar vortex.

Needing an escape of your own? Here are four tips to help you put your points to work for a short and super international getaway.

Tip: Want to get to your international weekend getaway even faster? TSA Precheck and Global Entry credits are now offered on lower-annual-fee cards. Speeding through the airport security checkpoints is no longer out of reach for the frequent flyer uninterested in paying a $450 credit card annual fee.

1. Pick an easy-to-access destination

The first step to a quick international getaway is finding a destination you can get to quickly! If youre starting from the U.S. and heading for sun, your most direct and easiest options will depend on your point of origin:

From the East Coast : The Bahamas, most of the Caribbean, Cuba, Mexico and Central America are easy direct flights.

: The Bahamas, most of the Caribbean, Cuba, Mexico and Central America are easy direct flights. From the West Coast : Baja and the Pacific coast of Mexico are practically in your backyard with Central America just a bit further afield.

: Baja and the Pacific coast of Mexico are practically in your backyard with Central America just a bit further afield. From Middle America: Youve got a straight shot to either coast of Mexico or down into Central America with connections through Houston or Dallas.

2. Redeem your points for region-based rewards (not revenue-based)

If your getaway is a last-minute escape, youll likely get the best deal by redeeming your rewards points directly through an airline program that has a region-based award chart  like United or American Airlines  rather than a program that prices award tickets based on actual last-minute price of tickets  like Delta, Southwest, or a bank program like Chase Ultimate Rewards.

When you book through a program with a fixed redemption structure, the points price of the ticket is the same no matter if you plan six months or six days in advance. If an award ticket is available, its available  and often availability can open up at the last minute if a flight isnt full.

A one-way ticket from Portland to Liberia, Costa Rica for my escape was 17,500 points on American Airlines  thats fewer points than I earned from online shopping bonuses last year. Plus, I was able to book a long enough layover in Dallas to check out the cocktails in the newly renovated Centurion Lounge in Terminal D  accessed with my Platinum Card from American Express.

See related: Sharing miles with friends, family: These airlines allow it

3. Choose an easy place to stay  and use your points

Secure accommodation that keeps logistics to a minimum. While Airbnbs or lodging in residential areas of a city are more budget-friendly for longer trips, stick to hotels for getaways.

For a winter sun break, I usually opt for a resort with a beach, a pool and a view. For a city-exploration getaway, I choose a central location preferably in walking distance to whatever Im trying to see.

Since youll only be staying a couple of nights, it should be easy to cover your hotel bill with points  or use your annual anniversary certificate from whichever co-branded hotel certificate you have in your wallet. World of Hyatt, the new Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card, and the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card all have a great anniversary night benefit.

For Costa Rica, I took a combined approach and used my certificate together with 30,000 points to book two additional nights at the Andaz (15,000 points per night), to land a stay that would have otherwise cost me upward of $1,900.

See related: Best cards for Airbnb

4. Consider your quick getaway as a test visit to a new place

Expectations are a big part of a successful international getaway. You wont ever be able to fully explore or experience a new country in a couple of days, but it isnt a waste of points to take a short trip.

Prioritize one or two things that you want to achieve on your getaway.

For my trip to Costa Rica, I knew I couldnt scratch the surface of the Papagayo peninsula, so I focused on getting time in the sunshine and making sure I watched the sunset from a hammock on the beach.

Treat the trip as an opportunity to get a feel for a place that you may visit on a longer trip later.

You might even realize that youve discovered an easily accessible place you can visit again and again for an annual escape  I did. Dont be surprised if you see me at the Andaz Papagayo pool again next winter.
A perusal of the draft shows that the Opposition parties would not shy away from contentious issues.

Apart from a new law NUEGA, which seeks to provide employment within a town or city limits to all those who demand it, the document also calls for strengthening of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was a flagship scheme of the UPA government. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A special law on reparations for lynching and hate crimes on an atonement model, which includes a public apology and monetary compensation, reversing the burden of proof in NRC in Assam to state authorities from the individual and a National Urban Employment Guarantee Act (NUEGA) on the lines of the MGNREGA would be among the many proposals that would be considered to be included in the common minimum programme (CMP) of the Opposition parties.

Also for consideration to be included in the CMP would be a special plan for education and health called Nine is Mine, which makes for compulsory allocation of six per cent of the GDP to education and three per cent to health.

Leaders of Opposition parties, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, had announced after a late night meeting on February 13 that a common minimum programme would be thrashed out before the upcoming general elections  the draft of which would be provided by Congress and discussed among the parties in the national capital on February 26-27.

Top Opposition sources said the draft CMP would be based on a document, Peoples Progressive Agenda for India, prepared by the Samruddha Bharat Foundation.

Around 12 parties, including the Congress, RJD, CPI, CPIM, NCP, AAP, and DMK among others, had discussed the draft at a meeting organised by the Samruddha Bharat Foundation on February 12 in the national capital.

The draft agenda, a copy of which is available with this newspaper, also proposes repealing of two laws  the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority Act, 2015 (CAMPA) and the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act and rework the Transg-ender Persons (Protection of Rights Bill), 2016. It also proposes to create a special tribunal to ensure that lands of Scheduled Tribes are restored.

A perusal of the draft shows that the Opposition parties would not shy away from contentious issues.

On NRC, which has been a burning issue in the Northeast along with the Citizenship Bill, the draft agenda says that unlike the Foreigners Act, the Illegal Migrants Determi-nation by Tribunal Act, applicable only to Assam, has so far put the burden of proof on the alleged undocumented migrant to prove citizenship based on documents to establish their pre-1971 roots.

Apart from a new law NUEGA, which seeks to provide employment within a town or city limits to all those who demand it, the document also calls for strengthening of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was a flagship scheme of the UPA government.

It terms the much-hyped smart cities mission of the NDA government as a disaster for urban India, which has led to an exclusionary development model and calls for the whole mission to be channelled through local elected governments following public consultations and discussions.
We are analyzing the site. Please wait a few seconds..
100%

Website alriyadh.com uses latest and advanced technologies like: Boostrap. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 4362 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 91470 bytes (89.33 kb uncompressed) and 15040 bytes (14.69 kb compressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2021-02-28, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
To listen to Oliver Letwins speech of Tuesday  which we have a video clip of, if you missed it  is to gaze a long, long way through the constitutional looking glass.

In it, he admits to what had previously only been hinted at: that if the House of Commons passes the bill known as Cooper/Boles, the legislature will fundamentally usurp the proper role of the Government in running the country.

As he puts it, the House of Commons will be the Cabinet. It would be, as he acknowledges, a situation almost certainly unique in the uniquely long history of Parliament as a representative institution. He asserts, perhaps sincerely but inevitably falsely, that this upheaval would be temporary.

Brexit has prompted a huge volume of writing about the constitution, and spurious allegations of constitutional outrages are not hard to find. But the consequences of what Letwin and his confederates propose are truly mind-boggling.

Earlier this month, I wrote about the unwisdom of the Meaningful Vote as a constitutional innovation. So much of the incoherence which critics of the Government claim are making the UK a laughing stock on the international stage are rooted in the fact that the Commons has deprived ministers of their normal powers to conduct foreign relations and conclude treaties.

Of course, the impact of the Meaningful Vote pales in comparison to what Letwin proposes to unleash. But they each have their roots in the same dogma: that it is right and good to expand the power of the House of Commons, regardless of the circumstances.

So lets consider just some of the issues raised by the Cooper/Boles plan to fundamentally realign the relationship between civil service, government and parliament.

As Letwin admits, the plan will take more than one law to take effect. Once underway the establishment of what will effectively be a wildcat executive will require further legislation, introduced by backbenchers and imposed on the Cabinet. The more of this there is, the more fatuous suggestion that the consequences will be containable: both the precedent and perhaps much of the legislative architecture of the Letwin Ministry will remain in place, to be wielded against any future minority government.

Moreover, what becomes of the actual ministers? Are they expected simply to remain obligingly in office, rendered an extension of the civil service as they wield executive power at the behest of the government-once-removed? To remain politically accountable for the policies of a shadowy parallel executive?

And not just politically accountable: all the mechanisms our system has evolved for scrutinising executive decision-making will remain trained on Ministers of the Crown. It is they, and not the officers of the new order, who can be called before the House, field questions, and so on. Yet what is the point of quizzing the Prime Minister, or indeed any Secretary of State, on Britains Brexit policy if they are not directing it?

As Letwin acknowledges in his speech, the actual Government is accountable to Parliament. But if Parliament becomes the Cabinet, what steps up to take the role of Parliament? There is nothing, save perhaps the judges and political scrutiny is not their function.

Thats just a small portion of the questions thrown up by these proposals. Elsewhere Nikki da Costa, the parliamentary and procedural expert, has sketched out an entirely distinct, political problem with how the Cooper/Boles plan would severely degrade not only procedural scrutiny but political accountability to the electorate.

Its all worth a read, however right at the end she hits on something particularly important.

Theres a reason that the measures Letwin is advancing have not been tried before, and it is not because this country has never before faced a serious crisis. It is that the House of Commons always has the power to dismiss a government in which it has lost confidence, and either install a new one or take the argument to the people. Even outside a formal vote of confidence individual MPs can resign the whip or even cross the floor, should they wish.

But doing so involves taking responsibility: for renouncing your party loyalty; for withdrawing your confidence in the Government; for taking your case to the country.

Cooper/Boles, by contrast, involves deliberately maintaining a public-facing theatre of constitutional normalcy  of confidence in Her Majestys Government; of ministerial responsibility; of the party system; and so on  whilst wresting and then wielding power beneath it, far removed from all established mechanisms of scrutiny and accountability.

You cannot honourably claim to have confidence in the Government whilst usurping its power to direct policy on the single most crucial challenge facing the country. The Prime Minister would be within her rights to treat Cooper/Boles as a de facto confidence measure.
Nick Hargrave is a former Downing Street Special adviser where he worked for both David Cameron and Theresa May. He now works for Portland, the communications consultancy.

Philip Hammonds speech to the Conservative Party Conference last October is unlikely to be remembered as a rhetorical classic. But it contains within it an important insight for the political fortunes of the Conservative Party and the long-term prosperity of our country.

Speaking to a less than packed hall, the Chancellor of the Exchequer told delegates that Conservatives of the future must:

Harness the power of the market economy, taking a model which has evolved continuously down the ages, so that the capitalism of the twenty-first century looks nothing remotely like that of the nineteenth  and adapt it once again to speak to the values of a new generation.

Hammond was speaking to a truth that Conservatives sometimes forget. Capitalism is not a static construct held in aspic. It is an economic system which flexes to meet the challenges of its time  and in doing so renews its mandate from one generation to the next.

This flexible conception of capitalism has been seen in the differing approaches of Conservative governments since the Second World War.

In the 1950s and 1960s, after a landslide defeat in 1945, our party accepted a greater role for state involvement in the running of the economy; spurred on by a gradual realisation that the laissez-faire approach of the 1930s had been an opportunity lost.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Margaret Thatcher burst onto the scene with an articulation of capitalism that was more libertarian and evangelical about the merits of free enterprise  in keeping with its time and a reaction to the drift and decline inherent in state involvement going too far.

The 1990s and 2000s saw the pendulum swing the other way, and voters demand a gentler articulation of the harder-edged approach of the 1980s  with support for a minimum wage, windfall taxes and more investment in the public realm. On this occasion, our party failed to meet this challenge, clinging doggedly to our post event conception of Thatcherism, and paid an electoral price.

The lesson of history is clear. When Conservatives adapt to generational calls for change on our political economy they prosper and own the terms of debate; more than capable of beating a Labour Party whose competence is usually doubted. When they fail to acknowledge the call for change they lose  and only regain power after a period of painful reflection.

If the events of the past couple of years have taught us anything, it is time for Conservative politicians to once again come up with a coherent answer for how capitalism can renew its generational mandate. Specifically, how it can materially improve the British peoples living standards in an economy that is undergoing a technological transformation; one that is increasingly global, thats conducted online, thats moving at pace to automation  and which is increasingly flexible in its conception of the nature of work.

Its this transformation which is fuelling the rise of identity politics in our country  which for all its short-term attractions is unlikely to end well. Its fuelling divisions between the upwardly mobile and the educated in our vibrant urban centres who are benefitting from this change  and the many in our towns and communities who feel left behind. Between a younger generation which is finding it hard to amass capital  and an older generation who have assets that have appreciated over the years. Its why a lot of public and private polling out there indicates that people feel the country is moving in the wrong direction domestically. And its why the main thing keeping the current Conservative voting coalition together is the illusory tiger of a Brexit which can never meet the hype  and one suspects will eventually end in disappointment.

So whats the real answer for Conservatives in how we reinvigorate capitalism in a way that is relevant for the 2020s and beyond  and in the process renew our own mandate to govern? This could be the subject of several more articles, but here are a few core thoughts as follows:
Brexit 1) Trump offers trade boost

Uncertainty is costing the UK dearly  Leader, Financial Times

Donald Trump last night gave Britain a massive boost by declaring that trade between the UK and the US will be very substantially increased after Brexit. The US President announced that the special relationship will be strengthened further following a new mutual trade arrangement agreed by both countries worth at least at least 12.8billion a year for trans-Atlantic trade. He also significantly raised hopes of a wide-ranging free trade deal between the UK and US by insisting he wanted to see Trans-Atlantic business significantly increased. UK and US officials signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement earlier this week which will mean current trade relations between the historic Western allies will be preserved after Britain quits the EU.  Daily Express

>Today: Columnist Nick Hargrave: The capitalism of the future demands a bigger role for the state

Brexit 2) EU/Irish solidarity will not diminish

Anyone believing the EUs solidarity with Ireland may diminish is in for a nasty surprise, the taoiseach (Irish prime minister) has said. Leo Varadkar made the comments during the All-Island Civic Dialogue conference in Dublin Castle. The event aims to discuss the implications of the UKs vote to leave the European Union on 29 March. Mr Varadkar added: Irelands concerns have become the European Unions concerns.  BBC

Merkel fears Irelands border stance is giving Brexiteers ammunition  Belfast Telegraph

Brexit 3) PM warned of mass cabinet resignations

Minister is itching to thump jaunty Brexiteer after vote  The Times

Sturgeon can end threat of no-deal if she wants to  Brian Wilson, The Scotsman

Brexit 4) Forsyth assesses chance of the Cooper/Boles amendment passing

Theresa May has been warned of a mass walkout of up to seven Cabinet members if she fails to prevent a no deal Brexit, as a minister demanded a free vote on the issue. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Scottish Secretary David Mundell and Justice Secretary David Gauke are among those said to be prepared to resign so they can vote to block no deal later this month. In total, more than 20 ministers of Cabinet level and below are ready to stand up and be counted according to one of those who is prepared to quit.  Daily Telegraph

Another effect of Thursday nights defeat for the Government is that it increases the chances of the Cooper amendment passing on February 27. This would compel the Government to seek an extension to Article 50 if Mrs May hasnt won Parliaments support for an exit deal by March 13. One Cabinet minister, with close links to several of the ministers who might quit to ensure this amendment goes through, tells me it is now much more likely to pass. This Secretary of State complains that the Governments defeat makes it harder to make the argument that we should hold our nerve as the best evidence for holding your nerve was that the outcome would be the same as when the Brady amendment went through.Other Cabinet ministers arent so sure Cooper will pass. One tells me: I dont think the ministers will resign, and if they dont resign, then it doesnt pass. If Cooper does go through, politics will enter into an even more unpredictable phase. One May Cabinet ally is predicting a general election if this happens.  James Forsyth, The Sun

February 27th vote could be momentous  Leader, The Times

>Today: ToryDiary: Letwins wildcat executive would reduce ministers to marionettes

Brexit 5) Macron backs legally binding concessions to make the backstop temporary

Barnier says Mays strategy has failed  The Guardian

Brexit 6) Abuse forces female MPs to move house

France and other European countries are ready to give Britain legally binding assurances that the Irish backstop is temporary. President Macron of France has softened his line in recent weeks to aid a last-ditch attempt by the EU to help get the withdrawal agreement across the line next month. Senior European diplomats said that the government would be given enough in the way of legal assurances to persuade Geoffrey Cox, the attorney-general, to change his legal advice. He has previously warned that the backstop could be used trap Britain in a customs union.  The Times

Female MPs have been forced to move house and hire bodyguards as tensions over Brexit fuel intimidation and abuse, The Times can reveal. Some MPs have been bullied into changing their position on crucial votes after being targeted by extremists, according to senior figures such as Harriet Harman, the former deputy Labour leader. One female parliamentarian has been advised by police not to travel at night on her own, another has been told not to drive herself and a third has been advised not to run in her local park. Several of those targeted say that police are failing to clamp down on the threats and in some cases are siding with the abusers.  The Times

Brexit 7) Boles denounces zealots who want a new UKIP

Purple Momentum Tory activists planning deselection ambushes  Daily Telegraph

Soubry complains that ex-UKIP supporters are involved in deselections  Daily Mail

Democracy-hating Remainers are the true extremists  Michael Fabricant, Daily Telegraph

Hardline Brexiteers could trigger a battle for the soul of the Conservative Party  Tobias Ellwood, Daily Telegraph

Principled? No, the hard Brexit mob just want to burn the house down  Jack Doyle, Daily Mail

Brexit 8) EU may drop demand on Ireland to set up hard border if there is no deal

What doesnt kill you makes you stronger, says Nick Boles. Having twice almost died from cancer he is not afraid of attempts to deselect him by his Grantham & Stamford constituency where he has been an MP since 2010.The Conservative Party, he believes, is only successful when its pragmatic but its got an ideology now and you either sign up to it or you are a traitor. Jacob Rees-Mogg may be polite and well dressed and good fun, but hes a zealot. Steve Baker is a zealot. A bit of pepper in the soup is never a bad thing, but Im not happy for my party to be run by zealots and at the moment Theresa is basically allowing them to run the party.  Interview with Nick Boles, The Times

The leaks from Brussels have begun. Unnamed EU diplomats and officials have floated the subject of a temporary opt-out for Ireland in a no-deal Brexit. Dublin will not have to erect customs infrastructure or police the outer limits of the single market immediately. There will be a transition. Officials told Reuters that Ireland will ultimately face checks on its own exports to Europe or face being kicked out of the EU customs union if it refuses to put up a trade border against Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal.  Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, Daily Telegraph

Brexit 9) Moore: A new centre party wont succeed if it focuses on Remain

Tory MPs may also join  The Guardian

Baroness Falkender has died  Daily Mail

Hard left bully lining up to challenge Frank Field  Daily Mail

Brexit 10) Parris: Its the EU that is running down the clock

When Tony Blair, Andrew Adonis, Ben Bradshaw, Chris Leslie, etc. run round shouting for Remain their eyes swivel and they start shouting like that crazy German who runs Airbus and thinks he ought to be running Britains trade policy. They speak all the time, but they have nothing to say about the post-crash problems of our age. People nowadays think of Mr Blair as untruthful, but the fundamental message with which he won three times was true. Under me, he was saying, Labour is non-tribal, centrist, pro-markets, open to all classes, open to the future. In their rage against Brexit, his heirs (and he himself) neglect that future completely.  Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph

Now to that quieter clock-watcher: a creature of my imagination, representing our EU fellow members and their negotiating team. His sardonic smile broadened a little at Thursdays news from the Commons division lobbies. He knows what we British tend to forget: that it is not within Britains power to rule out a no-deal Brexit. Not unless were saying we would in the end submit to whatever our fellow members dictate. Hence the smile. If (as I believe, and as the rest of the EU probably suspects) no-deal is unthinkable to us, and if MPs cannot accept the draft deal that Downing Street has concluded, and if the clock is ticking, then whens the best moment (from Brussels viewpoint) to turn the screw? Now or at the eleventh hour?  Matthew Parris, The Times

Grayling under fire, as probation firm becomes insolvent

Harper planning leadership bid

Chris Grayling was under fire on Friday night as a private firm to whom he awarded a probation contract to monitor thousands of offenders went into administration after warnings it put the public at risk. Working Links, a company charged with supervising the rehabilitation of 20,000 offenders, announced its insolvency on Friday, three months after an investigation by inspectors uncovered serious failings in its operation. It was awarded the contract in 2014 when Mr Grayling was Justice Secretary as part of his reforms to privatise the probation of low and medium risk offenders. Its work will now be taken over by another private contractor Seetec.  Daily Telegraph

Former Tory chief whip Mark Harper is gearing up to run for the party leadership when Theresa May quits, The Sun can reveal. Friends of the MP, who was sacked by Mrs May when she moved into No10, have been trying to drum up support for his leadership bid, according to Sun columnist James Forsyth. And privately the MP for the Forest of Dean has not denied that he is eyeing up the top job. A former loyalist, Mr Harper voted against the Brexit deal and tore into the PM for misleading MPs over it.  The Sun

Skidmore backs social media kitemark to protect children

SNP MP backs softest possible independence

Chris Skidmore, Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, is clutching a plasma ball, in which tendrils of light radiate out from a central electrode to meet his fingertips.He has also spent time at UCLs Educate Centre where researchers are establishing a kitemark-style system for technology that has been properly peer-reviewed and rigorously tested. Skidmore believes such a system may be the future to avoid overly bureaucratic regulation which could stifle innovation, and drive tech companies abroad.  Daily Telegraph

A leading SNP MP has criticised a key adviser to Nicola Sturgeon for proposing the softest possible form of independence in order to win the backing of voters. Andrew Wilson, who chaired the partys Growth Commission, the economic blueprint for an independent Scotland, said a soft end to the Union would recognise the level of integration and all the ties that have bound us for centuries. He also dismissed Yes campaigners seeking an overnight revolution, saying: Some (a very small number) would rather move immediately and overnight to a Marxist revolutionary state. That is their right, but they wont win the chance to try.Joanna Cherry MP said you did not have to be a Marxist revolutionary to disagree with his softly softly approach.- Daily Telegraph

Schoolchildren go on strike against climate change

Three children arrested  The Times

Pupils from around the UK went on strike on Friday as part of a global campaign for action on climate change. Students around the country walked out of schools to call on the government to declare a climate emergency and take active steps to tackle the problem. Organisers Youth Strike 4 Climate said protests took place in more than 60 towns and cities, with an estimated 15,000 taking part.  BBC

>Yesterday: LeftWatch: Cleverly calls on unions to take down hugely influential school cuts site that uses misleading statistics

Huge shale gas supply found in the East Midlands

Theresa May is today urged to back the fracking revolution as new tests signal the East Midlands is sitting on 30-years worth of gas. Ineos, Britains biggest private company, claims drilling results from its field in Nottinghamshire suggest US levels of shale gas under the soil.Tests found an average level of 60.7 standard cubic feet per tonne of gas  compared with an average 39 (scf) at a vast shale field in Texas. Ineos Shale chief operating officer Tom Pickering claimed it was the most significant drilling result so far in the short history of Britains shale industry. Geologists believe there could be 436 trillion cubic feet of gas in this part of the Bowland Basin. This test is consistent with that.With a recovery rate of 20 per cent thats equivalent to 30 years worth of gas for the country.  The Sun

>Today: Wilf Lytton on Comment: Our dependency on natural gas will cost us if we dont act swiftly

Trump using emergency powers to build wall

News in brief

Boles is fighting for his political life  New York Times

Child climate change protestors arent truants, theyre traumatised  Ross Clark, The Spectator

There is nothing to fear from leaving the EU, and trading with it, under WTO rules  Helen Davies, Brexit Central

The Cairncross report threatens more state control of the media  Charlotte Henry, The Article

What Britain must do to defeat the Islamist threat  Ghanem Nuseibeh, Conservative Woman

Donald Trump has defied fierce criticism to announce that he is using emergency powers to bypass Congress and pursue the building of a wall on the US-Mexico border. At a combative, rambling and at times incoherent press conference in the White House, the US president insisted he had no choice but to declare a national emergency to stop illegal immigrants spreading crime and drugs. Yet Trump admitted that he did not need to take the step now and was only doing so for speed. Opponents seized on the remark to accuse him of falsehoods and fear mongering for political ends, describing the move as unlawful and a violation of the US constitution.  The Guardian
Party sources informed that Rahul Gandhi would address tribals and farmers on the occasion.

New Delhi: In what could be termed as a major tribal outreach just weeks before the Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi would be visiting Bastar on February 16 to hand over 1,765 hectares of land to farmers. These had been acquired around 10 years ago to set up a Rs 19,500 crore steel plant in Lohandiguda by the erstwhile BJP government led by Raman Singh.

According to party sources, Mr Gandhi would personally hand over pattas of land to the tribals from whom it had been acquired for the proposed steel plant, which was to be set up by Tata Steel.

The visit, they added, would send out a message to tribals, who constitute around 32 per cent of Chhattisgarhs population, that Congress has its ear to the ground and is sensitive to their concerns.

With the Congress president personally handing over the land pattas to tribals, sources noted that this would not only bolster Mr Gandhis pro-poor image, but also give a leg-up to the confidence shown by the people of the state in the party, which late last year had stormed back to power there after 15 years by routing the BJP.

Party sources informed that Mr Gandhi would address tribals and farmers on the occasion. With his visit coming close on the heels of the impending Lok Sabha elections, it would drive home the point that while Congress is not anti-development, it should not happen at the cost of the interest of the poor.

The proposed steel plant, which was to be set up by Tata Steel, could not materialise due to widespread agitations by farmers. In 2016, the company had withdrawn from the project.

In December 2018, when Congress came to power in Chhattisgarh, chief minister Bhupesh Baghel had ordered return of the land to farmers.

In its poll manifesto for the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections held in November 2018, Congress had promised that land for any project, which fails to take off within five years of acquisition of land, would be returned to the original owners.
Metro Manila (February 16, CNN Philippines)  The queen has come home.

Miss Universe Catriona Gray is back in the Philippines ahead of her grand homecoming event.

Gray arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport last night and was met by some fans.

She is scheduled to pay a courtesy call on top government officials, including Vice President Leni Robredo.

Gray is also set to visit and bond with beneficiaries of Young Focus, LoveYourself PH and Smile Train in line with her advocacy of helping poor children and people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

A grand homecoming parade for Gray will be held on February 21 which will start at 2 p.m. at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City and end on Ayala Avenue in Makati City.

Gray will grace another parade at the Araneta Center on February 23 at 4 p.m.
Columbia, MO (65201)

Today

Thunderstorms likely. Rainfall will be locally heavy at times. A few storms may be severe. High 87F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. A few storms may be severe. Low 73F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Hunter Leisey is dancing for a myriad of reasons, one of which is instantly apparent just by taking a look at him.

On the front of his shirt reads a simple slogan: Survivor.

That one word tells a story of a kid who once battled with Acute Myeloid Leukemia for nearly two years, before finally being pronounced as cancer-free six years ago.

The freshman is a former Four Diamonds THON child, and  like many other survivors  has a deep connection to the annual event.

Leisey is attending THON for a fifth consecutive year, and his initial experience with the Four Diamonds foundation was one that proved to be transformational for an ninth-grade boy in remission.

I was paired up with the Ski Club at Penn State while I was going through the worst of my treatment, Leisey said. They were so great to me, and the Four Diamonds fund was an amazing help to my parents by covering the costs and making sure we didnt have to worry about anything else.

Currently in his first year at Penn State Berks, Leisey never thought he would get the chance to dance in his first ever THON weekend as a Penn State student.

It is usually atypical for a freshman to get the chance to be a dancer, and the opportunity is not something that is lost on Leisey.

I certainly didnt expect to be able to dance in my freshman year, Leisey said. Its been a dream of mine to come back to THON and dance for the first time, and now I get to live that dream.

Even outside of being a dancer, this specific THON weekend has a little bit of extra meaning for Leisey.

The Pennsylvania native has gone through his first five years at this event as someone who is living proof of the mission of THON and what the Four Diamonds foundation is trying to achieve.

This time around  instead of just identifying as a survivor  Leisey is approaching the event with a different perspective.

Ive been able to meet other survivors and listen to their stories, he said. To me, the most important part of my experience with THON this year is the chance for me to start giving back to the kids. After all, I was in their position at one point and I know how much this event can help those that need it.

On the subject of giving back, Leisey has already committed to remaining involved with his organization throughout his time at Penn State and hopes to be back on the Bryce Jordan Center floor next February.

Undaunted by the many consecutive hours of dancing ahead, Leisey is looking forward to the rest of the weekend and will be sharing stories of this experience for years to come.

When I look back in life, this will be something that Ill share with my friends and family, he said. Ill be proud of this forever.
Marc and Vina Davis, of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, came to the Bryce Jordan Center to see their daughter Molly Davis dance in Penn State THON.

Vina Davis said her daughter is dancing independently and is a THON communications committee member.

Before coming to the BJC, Vina said she looked through photos and videos from last year's THON to prepare.

However, Davis said she was taken aback when she arrived.

"[The photos] don't do it justice until you're here," Davis said. "You can feel the vibrations on through the floor."

Davis said seeing the amount of students coming together is "impressive."

"I got a little emotional, a little overwhelmed seeing how a generation is so involved helping families globally that they're making an impact around the world," Davis said.

Marc Davis said he looks forward to visiting Molly on the floor and motivating her to keep going.

"Molly has a big heart," Davis said.

Davis said they have never experience anything like THON.

"I don't think any other school has done something like this," Davis said. "I'm just looking forward to taking it all in."

Davis said through walking around she has been able to meet other parents of THON dancers, such as Nidhi Jindal.

"That's what THON is, just embracing each other," Davis said.

Jindal traveled from Dublin, California, to come see her daughter, Shivani Jindal, dance this year.

Jindal said she wouldn't miss seeing her daughter, who is dancing for Epsilon Sigma Alpha, participate in THON this weekend.

"Any opportunity I find to come and see my daughter, especially when she is doing something so nice," Jindal said.

Jindal said there is pattern with her daughter's involvement for THON, as she works for a pharmaceutical company that is involved with cancer treatment medication.

Jindal said she her expectations matched her initial reaction, as she prepared beforehand by watching videos of past THON weekend's on Youtube.

David Noe and Cheryl Noe, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, came to the Bryce Jordan Center to watch their daughter Emma Noe dance on the floor.

David Noe said her daughter is dancing for the Penn State Dance Alliance this weekend.

Cheryl Noe said her reaction to witnessing her first THON weekend matched her expectations.

"The hype," Noe said. "Just everything here. It's exciting."

David Noe said he was initially "pretty emotional from the get-go."

"The dance that the captains do, it kind of hits an emotional nerve at the end of it," Noe said. "I think that's what the whole intent of it was for. It's for the kids and it's great cause and it's unbelievably impressive."

Cheryl Noe said she was surprised at the amount of dancers on the floor.

"I thought they had more room to dance," Noe said. "It got really packed in there."

David Noe said he looks forward to hugging his daughter on the floor, watching her dance on stage with her dance organization two separate times during the weekend.

"I want to tell her how proud I am," Noe said. "That's her in a nutshell. She's all about giving and she's such a great kid. She's got a big heart."
This article is more than 2 year old.

Mini

The Singapore Tourism Board in collaboration with the St+art India Foundation will be hosting 'Singapore Weekender' in New Delhi from February 15 to 17, 2019.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNBC that President Donald Trump's rhetoric on defense spending is having an "important" impact on the military alliance.

"I'm saying that his message has been very clear and that his message is having an impact on defense spending. And this is important because we need fairer burden sharing in the NATO alliance," he told CNBC's Hadley Gamble at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

"We see more nations spending 2 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) on defense which is the NATO guideline and we see that all nations have stopped the cuts we saw for many years to their defense budgets. And all nations have started to increase," he added.

Contributions to NATO are a highly sensitive topic. Trump has often criticized other NATO members for not respecting the spending rule. Speaking at a NATO summit in 2017, Trump said: "Over the last eight years, the United States spent more on defense than all NATO countries combined. If all NATO members had spent just 2 percent of GDP on defense last year, we would have had another $119 billion for our collective defense."

Members are obliged to spend the equivalent of 2 percent of their own gross domestic product (GDP) on national defense. These payments are used "to meet the needs of its armed forces, those of allies or of the alliance," to pay pensions to retired military, to contribute to NATO-managed trust funds as well as research and development.
Banerjee condemned the attack and asserted that if Pakistan is involved in it then strong action should be taken against it.

Banerjee said, ' it is an intelligence failure. Why were so many vans going together when there is a security threat?' (Photo: File)

Howrah: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday hit out at the intelligence department as she expressed her grief over the demise of 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama terror attack on Thursday.

Addressing the media, she said: People are asking what was NSA and intelligence doing? This is an intelligence failure. Why were so many vans going together when there is a security threat?

Banerjee condemned the attack and asserted that if Pakistan is involved in it then strong action should be taken against it.

We condemn any terror attack. I dont want to discuss foreign affairs. But if Pakistan has done something, strong action should be taken, she added.

Elaborating upon the measures taken by her government to help the families of the deceased security personnel she stated, I spoke to one of the two family members of the deceased personnel and also sent my ministers to their house. We will give them necessary support for employment.

Around 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed after a suicide bomber attacked a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district with a vehicle laden with explosives.

The convoy comprised 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain jawans personnel were travelling in a bus which came under the terror attack.

JeM, a Pakistan-based terrorist group, has claimed the responsibility for the attack which left the bus extensively damaged.
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER, 23: Pope Francis reaches out to hug Cardinal Archbishop emeritus Theodore McCarrick after the Midday Prayer of the Divine with more than 300 U.S. Bishops at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle on September 23, 2015 in Washington, DC. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood after an investigation found sex abuse allegations against him were credible, the Vatican said Saturday.

The church is penalizing McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey, with "dismissal from the clerical state," it said in a statement.

He will not be able to appeal the decision.

The canonical investigation found that he was guilty of "sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power." He was also found guilty of "solicitation" during confession.

The commandment cited regards sexual behavior.

McCarrick became one of the highest-ranking Americans to be removed from public ministry amid the global scandal that has engulfed the church after he was publicly accused last year of sexually abusing two children decades ago, as well as coercing adult seminarians to sleep with him.



More from NBC News:

Kaepernick deal could close NFL's kneeling chapter

New York techies predict fewer 'big bets' after Amazon exit. And that's OK

Gunman in Aurora, Illinois, shooting was 15-year employee slated to be terminated

McCarrick did not immediately comment Saturday.

He has previously denied one of the allegations and is unlikely to face criminal charges as they are beyond the statute of limitations.

Pope Francis accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals in July and ordered him to observe a life of prayer and penance in seclusion.

The scandal was prompted by a sexual abuse allegation involving a teenage altar boy from nearly 50 years ago in New York. At the time of the claim, McCarrick issued a statement saying he had "absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse" but that he was "sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through."

After his removal, church officials in New Jersey revealed that the 88-year-old cardinal had also been accused of sexual misconduct by adults three times in the past. Two of those accusations resulted in secret settlements, officials said.

McCarrick has not commented on subsequent allegations, including from a man who said the cardinal, a family friend, had abused him starting when he was 11.

In October Francis authorized a "thorough study" of Vatican archives into how McCarrick advanced through church ranks despite allegations that he slept with seminarians and young priests.

The Vatican was informed in a 2000 letter from a seminary professor that McCarrick, then archbishop of Washington, had pressured seminarians to sleep with him. But McCarrick was still made a cardinal the next year, and he remained one of the American church's most sought-after fundraisers and commencement speakers, gaining honorary degrees from prominent Catholic universities, at least six of which have been rescinded.

Last year, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former papal ambassador to the United States, wrote a public letter that called for the resignation of Pope Francis for allowing McCarrick to travel on church missions while being aware of the allegations against him. Vigano alleged that Francis' predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, had imposed sanctions on McCarrick a decade ago, ordering him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.

Pope Francis has not directly responded to the allegations in Vigano's letter.

Saturday's announcement came days before a highly anticipated meeting between Pope Francis and the heads of national Catholic bishops conferences. The Feb. 21-Feb. 24 meeting at the Vatican is being held to discuss the global sexual abuse crisis which has eroded the faith of many Catholics and threatened Francis' papacy.

The pope pleaded with sexual abusers within the church to surrender to authority in December while promising the church will "spare no efforts" to seek justice for sexual abuse victims.

"The church will never seek to hush up or not take seriously any case," Francis had said.

McCarrick served the Washington diocese from 2001 to 2006. He had retired as archbishop in 2006 when he turned 75 and went on to become a Vatican emissary after Francis was elected, traveling to international hotspots including Iran and lobbying Washington lawmakers, making him a global name.

He remained one of the American church's most sought-after fundraisers and commencement speakers, gaining honorary degrees from prominent Catholic universities, at least six of which have beenrescinded.

McCarrick, 88, now lives in a friary in Kansas. The latest punishment means he won't be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments.

The decision on McCarrick is a rare punishment of a high-level church official in an abuse case.

Richard Gaillardetz, chair of theology at Boston College, said ahead of Saturday's decision if Francis were to reduce McCarrick to "a lay state tells you that he's finally beginning to get the outrage."

He added, "He's also recognizing that a much more stern disciplinary protocol is going to be the norm here."

But others criticized the pope for not moving sooner.

"It's too, little too late," said Winnie Obike, who has organized several demonstrations at the Vatican embassy in Washington calling for consequences for abusive clergy and any church leaders who knew about the abuse.

"His offenses are just so egregious, and he has shown no sign of remorse," she said of McCarrick before he was defrocked.

One of McCarrick's accusers issued a statement Saturday saying that while he is "happy" that the pope believed him, the cardinal's actions will "always haunt the church."

"This great historical and holy situation is giving rise to all Catholics and victims of abuse across the world. It's is time for us to prepare for the complete cleansing of the church," James Grein said.




The former finance minister of the United Kingdom told CNBC that the runaway schoolgirl who left Britain to join the so-called Islamic State should be allowed to return to the country.

Shamima Begum who traveled to Syria when she was 15 has been found in a refugee camp in northern Syria. Now 19, Begum is also heavily pregnant. In an interview carried out in the camp, Begum said she did not regret joining ISIS.

Adopting a tough tone Friday, the U.K. Home Secretary Sajid Javid said those who left the U.K. to join ISIS were "full of hate for our country" and that he "will not hesitate" to prevent the return of Britons who join the terror group.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference Saturday, former U.K. Finance Minister George Osborne told CNBC's Hadley Gamble that the government should allow Begum to return.

"I don't think it is possible for Britain to say this is all someone else's problem (and that) we are going to leave them in some other part of the world or not allow them to enter the U.K.," he said.

Osborne said that any ISIS member who did return to Britain would have to be "properly investigated" for potential terrorism offences.

"I think it's a bit of justice and actually a bit of compassion. Just making people stateless is not really a solution and it is asking other countries to deal with our problems when they've got their own problems," he added.

A late 2017 report by the Soufan Center put the figure for returned ISIS fighters at 5,600 from 33 different countries. It revealed that on average 20 to 30 percent of those from Europe are already back.

In the U.K., Sweden and Denmark, an estimated 50 percent have already returned.

MI5, the U.K.'s domestic counterintelligence agency, revealed in October of 2017 that it had 20,000 people on its counterterrorism radar.
Doing business in the Middle East often presents numerous minefields. Few likely know this better than John Harris, CEO of defense manufacturing giant Raytheon International.

Amid calls by U.S. lawmakers to reduce weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries involved in offensive warfare in the Middle East, corporates in the defense space are coming under increased scrutiny. But their sales adhere strictly to U.S. policy, Harris told CNBC at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, deflecting policy responsibility away from the company itself.

"We are an element of U.S. policy  our role is not to make policy, our role is to comply with it," Harris told CNBC's Hadley Gamble.

"What we're trying to do is make sure we remain relevant, we have the right capabilities, to the extent there are questions that we provide the responses, and that we continue to comply with U.S. laws and regulations."

Bipartisan support in Congress has been building at an unprecedented pace for cuts to support for Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen, which the UN has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain and others, is backed by the U.S. with intelligence, logistics and training support. But since the October murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which numerous lawmakers blame squarely on the Saudi government, U.S. support for the kingdom is coming under serious pressure.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari leaves after attending Friday prayers in his hometown Daura in Katsina State, ahead of the country's presidential election, Nigeria February 15, 2019.

As Nigerians prepare to pick a president and Parliament members, the oil market is bracing for the insecurity and violence that have historically marred elections in Africa's largest crude producer.

Early Saturday, Nigeria's electoral body announced that nationwide elections that were scheduled for Saturday would instead be delayed until February 23. Regardless, the election will take place under the shadow of violence: Only days ago, militants issued a new threat to "cripple" the economy with devastating attacks on the nation's oil infrastructure. Between 2006 and 2009, a wave of sabotage disrupted global supplies, which deepened Nigeria's worst recession in nearly 30 years in 2016.

Next Saturday's contest could also determine the fate of reforms to the nation's lifeblood oil industry. Legislation to overhaul the sector  in development almost since democracy took hold two decades ago  aims to address problems that have fostered the nation's notorious corruption, and kept many Nigerians trapped in a cycle of poverty despite their nation's fantastic oil wealth.

Nigeria is home to Africa's highest population and the continent's largest economy. But with an estimated 91 million people living on less than $2 a day, Nigeria has overtaken India as the nation with the most people living in extreme poverty.

It makes the country a textbook case of resource curse, an economic phenomenon in which countries blessed with fossil fuel and mineral reserves often fare worse than resource poor nations.

To be sure, no one expects a single election to turn the tide for the nation. Oil production peaked in 2005, and the energy sector continues to be undermined by militant violence, widespread theft and regulatory uncertainty. Meanwhile, other West African nations like Ghana and Mauritania have become more attractive to international oil and gas companies.

"Regardless of who wins, I think you are going to still see a lot of the drivers of insecurity," said Imad Mesdoua, a Nigeria-raised senior consultant at Control Risks. "The reasons for that are structural. There are underlying issues like lack of infrastructure and bad governance at the state level, uneven distribution of resources."

Yet depending on how Nigerians cast their ballots, analysts say the presidential and parliamentary elections could produce very different outcomes for the energy sector.

The presidential ballot pits incumbent Muhammadu Buhari, who represents the All Progressives Congress, against former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party. Buhari currently leads in the polls, but the race remains close, and violence at voting booths makes Nigeria's elections difficult to forecast.

Analysts say Buhari's reputation as an anti-corruption crusader is bolstering him in polls, particularly with Nigeria's vast rural poor. However, the president has struggled to deliver on the three pillars of his 2015 campaign: Fighting graft, delivering security and creating a more inclusive economy.

Meanwhile, Atiku primarily appeals to voters discouraged by Buhari's handling of the economy, which has seen unemployment more than double. Yet while Atiku primarily identifies as a businessman  he has been involved in oil services firms, property development, farming and education  he has also been tainted by accusations of corruption.
U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller disclosed for the first time on Friday that his office has evidence of communications between Roger Stone, a longtime advisor to President Donald Trump, and WikiLeaks related to the release of hacked Democratic Party emails.

In a court filing on Friday, Mueller's office said it had gathered that evidence in a separate probe into Russian intelligence officers who were charged by Mueller of hacking the emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and staging their release.

In an email criticizing media coverage of Mueller's filing on Friday, Stone said the evidence was "innocuous Twitter direct messages" that have already been disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee and "prove absolutely nothing."

Stone was indicted last month for lying to Congress about his communications with others about the hacked emails. Mueller did not say at the time that he had evidence of communications with WikiLeaks. Stone, an ally of Trump for 40 years, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Stone has previously acknowledged brief exchanges with both WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 but maintains he never had advance knowledge about the release of hacked emails. But Friday marked the first time Mueller indicated he had obtained related evidence, although it remained unclear if the evidence is more substantial than what is publicly known.

"The government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release," Mueller's team wrote in a filing to the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C.

"Several of those search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stone's communications with Guccifer 2.0 and with Organization 1."

Organization 1 is a reference to WikiLeaks, while Guccifer 2.0 is a hacker persona U.S. intelligence agencies say was a cover name used by Russian military intelligence.

WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 each published emails and other documents from the Democratic Party in 2016 in an operation that Mueller alleges was part of a Kremlin-backed effort to tip the election in favor of then Republican nominee Trump.

WikiLeaks has previously denied any ties to or cooperation with Russia.
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, exits the District Courthouse after a motion hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday, May 4, 2018.

Special counsel Robert Mueller said Friday that federal sentencing guidelines suggest that a judge in Virginia to send ex-Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort to prison for between about 19 years to 24 years for crimes that include tax fraud and bank fraud.

Mueller, in a court filing, also revealed that the guidelines suggest that Judge T.S. Ellis fine Manafort between $50,000 to $24 million, order the longtime Republican operative to pay restitution of more than $24 million, and make him forfeit more than $4 million.

The special counsel's filing says that Mueller agrees with how the guidelines for Manafort's sentence were calculated for a pre-sentence investigation report prepared by federal probation officials.

But Mueller added that "the government does not take a position as to the specific sentence to be imposed here" in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

However, the special counsel also said that "Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars. The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct."

Federal sentencing guidelines are calculated by formulas that take into account the seriousness of a defendant's crimes, the amount of money involved in the crimes, their acceptance of responsibility, criminal history and other factors. The guidelines are not binding on a judge, but are often used as a reference point for determining a criminal sentence.

Mueller's filing came hours after he asked Ellis, to set a sentencing date for Manafort "as soon as practicable."

Manafort was convicted at trial last Aug. 21 in the Virginia court of eight felony counts, which included tax fraud, failure to file a report of a foreign bank and financial accounts, and bank fraud. A jury deadlocked on 10 other counts.

The case was related to income Manafort earned while doing consulting work for pro-Russia politicians in Ukraine. That work predated his tenure of leading the Trump campaign for several months in 2016.

Manafort already is due to be sentenced March 13 in a related criminal case in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. He pleaded guilty in that court in September, days before a scheduled trial, to two counts of conspiracy.

Mueller's filing says, "Neither the Probation Department nor the government is aware of any mitigating factors" in Manafort's case.

"Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship. He was well educated, professionally successful, and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States Treasury and the public out of more than $6 million in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources," Mueller said.

"Manafort committed bank fraud to supplement his liquidity because his lavish spending exhausted his substantial cash resources when his overseas income dwindled."

"Manafort chose to do this for no other reason than greed, evidencing his belief that the law does not apply to him," the special counsel said.

As part of his guilty plea in Washington, Manafort agreed to cooperate with Mueller's ongoing probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and possible efforts by members of Trump's campaign to aid that interference.

However, in November, Mueller accused Manafort of breaking that plea deal by lying to federal authorities about multiple subjects.

Earlier this week, the judge in the Washington case, Amy Berman Jackson, said that Manafort had lied several times to the FBI, the special counsel's office and a grand jury. But she also said Mueller had failed to provide enough evidence to prove Manafort had lied about several other issues.

Jackson's finding means that the special counsel is no longer bound to recommend any leniency for Manafort when he is sentenced.

Manafort's legal team had disputed Mueller's claim that he broke the plea deal.

Earlier Friday, Trump's spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she has been interviewed by Mueller's team.

Manafort, 69, has been in jail without bail since last June, when Mueller asked him and a former business associate, Konstantin Kilimnik, of trying to tamper with witnesses in what was at the time his upcoming criminal trials.

Mueller has accused Kilimnik of being a Russian spy. Kiliminik has denied that claim, but he remains abroad, and out of reach of American authorities.
The Walt Disney Co.: "Don't sell Disney yet. [CEO] Bob Iger's doing an amazing job. I don't know about this next couple of quarters. He's got to do this big transition with the over-the-top. But I think, long term, you want to own Disney very badly."

American Superconductor Corp.: "I think it's been too hot, frankly. I think we've got to let some go. I don't have that level of conviction up here."

Activision Blizzard Inc.: "Look, they had the bounce. I'm not saying that it was necessarily a bounce that wasn't deserved, because the company is not as bad. But it's now kind of settled in. I think I'd rather own EA on the way up than that, frankly."

PCM Inc.: "To me, that seems like a copycat company. Kind of an online mall. I have to say that I would ka-ching, ka-ching."

Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Inc.: "That's a really hard biotech. When I did my Biotech Bible for TheStreet.com, I did a lot of work on it, but I'm so out of touch with it, I've got to come back. Like many of the biotechs, I can't just say it looks great because I've got to see what's in Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and what's about to be approved."

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.: "Oh, man, it's [CEO] Brian Niccol. He has it going. Thank heaven [CFO] Jack Hartung's still there. The ad campaign is brilliant. The food never lost its edge. [] We never gave up on Chipotle."

Cenovus Energy Inc.: "No. I'm [at] the point where I'm not going to recommend anything fossil soon. But that one just had a nice little move up. I would say [ring the register]."

Docusign Inc.: "I like Docusign. I want to have them on this show. There's a very, very smart company. And, look, Ellie Mae just got a bid. Buy, buy, buy."

El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc.: "I like this. I got it wrong. I stuck with it and now we're getting back up. And I've got to tell you [to ring the register]. I can't. I fear this: [the House of Pain]."
Investors can trust that Nvidia's stock has bottomed following its upbeat earnings report for a few key reasons, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Friday after the chipmaker's shares gained 1.82 percent.

The first is CEO Jensen Huang's own outlook for his industry, which he put quite simply on the post-earnings conference call: "The world needs more computing."

"That simple statement is the main reason why I believe Nvidia can ultimately turn things around," Cramer said on "Mad Money."

Following several months of sharp declines in Nvidia's shares  tied largely to a breakdown in cryptocurrency mining, a gaming slowdown in China and slower-than-expected data center build-out  Cramer could understand why investors might be wary.

Add on the fact that Nvidia's newest graphics cards, powered by its proprietary next-generation technology called Turing architecture, haven't yet seen monster sales because Nvidia's customers don't seem to need that level of processing power, and the company's outlook did seem quite grim.

But "the biggest theme on last night's call was that, yes, things are about to normalize, first in gaming and then in the data center," Cramer said. "There will be no comeback of cryptocurrency mining  that's the chief reason Nvidia's business fell off a cliff in the first place. But anything high-powered like artificial intelligence or machine learning or autonomous driving continues to percolate, and I think Nvidia's the leader in these markets."

Why is the company so sure? First, data centers aren't that economically sensitive, so Nvidia sees building projects "coming back online" sooner rather than later, the "Mad Money" host said.

It also sees "the explosion in popularity of Fortnite and other free multiplayer games, which translates into more demand for their graphics processors. Remember, given that these games are free, the company believes there'll be far more players," Cramer said. "They see Dell, HP [and] Lenovo picking up the next-generation Turing platform. Well, that's the big three. They see no further slowdown in China because it's a growth economy. And it's now been over a year since the crypto crash began, so they've had enough time to work through the excess inventory."

And while he admitted that "that's a lot of bottoms to call at once," Cramer had one chief reason why he was on board with Nvidia's bullishness.

"Why should we believe them? Simple, because Nvidia is not a cellphone semiconductor company. It's not a supplier to Apple," he said. "Its product cycles are unique, with only AMD really being comparable, and AMD pretty much called the bottom, too, hence the parallel rally in their stocks."

So, as investors decide whether they want in, Cramer asked them to remember the CEO's succinct remark that "the world needs more computing."

"We know Nvidia's right about the driving need for more computing power," he argued. "That's why I think the stock can rebound, but I also think you need to be careful not to be too enthusiastic. There's no need to rush here now, something that the people, by the way, who bought Nvidia at $162 this morning found out as the stock gave back much of its gains and closed at $157."
Azad said, 'We stand with govt for unity and security of nation and security forces. Be it Kashmir or any part of the nation.'

The meeting was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation.(Photo: PTI)

New Delhi: An all-party meeting, called by Modi government concluded on Saturday about the Pulwama terror attack and security situation in Kashmir.

Addressing the media after the meeting, Congresss Ghulam Nabi Azad said, We stand with the government for unity and security of the nation and security forces. Be it Kashmir or any other part of the nation, Congress party gives its full support to the government in the fight against terrorism.

As per our knowledge barring wars, this is the first time that such a large number of personnel have died since 1947. All parties and countrymen, from all religions and regions are mourning. At a time like this, our party has decided that we are with the security forces and the local police in J&K, Azad added.

Azad said that there are many disagreements with the government, but for the sake of our country, security of all, we will stand with the government to end terror.

Photo: ANI | Twitter

A resolution was also passed at the all party meeting condemning the dastardly attack of 14th February 2019 at Pulwama.

We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border, the resolution said.

Parliamentary affairs minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that during the meeting, the home minister took a firm stand on terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir and said that the security forces have a free hand.

The home minister said we will rid Jammu and Kashmir of terrorism. He said security forces have a free hand. We have had a zero tolerance for terror and this attack is in response to this, Tomar quoted the home minister as saying.

The meeting was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation. It was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted President Donald Trump's declaration of a national emergency Friday and accused him of forgetting about the "real emergency" needs of survivors of the disastrous Camp Fire that destroyed most of the town of Paradise and killed 86 people.

Newsom said there are still survivors waiting for federal disaster recovery money and people are suffering. He said $12 billion in funds that Congress approved for disaster assistance for California, Texas, Georgia and elsewhere is "not moving" as needed to help out with relief efforts.

"You have a real disaster that needs to be cleaned up  $12 billion sitting there," Newsom told reporters at a press conference in Sacramento. "And not even an utterance, not even a reference in today's press conference [by Trump] of a real, pressing need and a real human crisis that's manifesting in real time."

Newsom, a Democrat, said he just returned Thursday from a visit to Paradise and saw firsthand the continued suffering of the survivors in Northern California's Butte County. More than 10,000 homes were destroyed in the Camp Fire.

"These people are under enormous stress and anxiety," Newsom said, adding that they include children who lost everything and are learning in makeshift classrooms. Survivors are "still waiting for FEMA support. Still waiting for disaster recovery money into their community."

The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump has previously threatened to cut off funding for wildfire relief.

As of Feb. 13, FEMA had provided over $69 million to survivors of the Camp Fire disaster as part of individual and household relief programs. The agency also has provided about $4.5 million to wildfire victims in Southern California, including the Woolsey Fire last November that destroyed 1,643 structures and killed three people.

Newsom slammed Trump for the national emergency declaration that the president is using to get billions of dollars to fund his southern border wall.

https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1096468211489370112

Newsom said California plans to join several other states in a lawsuit to challenge Trump's national emergency declaration. California has already filed at least 45 lawsuits against the Trump administration on a variety of issues and secured 26 wins, although some cases are still ongoing, according to the office of state Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

"Donald Trump, we'll see you in court," Newsom said. "Fortunately, Donald is not the last word  the courts will be the last word."

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney disclosed Friday that Trump intends to put together $8 billion in funds for wall construction along the U.S.-Mexico border. Congress already set aside more than $1.3 billion for the Homeland Security Department in a funding bill, and other money is expected to come from the Pentagon, including $2.5 billion from the military's fund for counter-narcotics activities. There's also $3.6 billion expected to be taken from the military's construction budget and $600 million in Treasury Department drug forfeiture funds.

"No other state will be more harmed than the state of California because of the magnitude of the money," the governor said. He said there is a risk California could lose funds for counter-narcotics efforts at the border as well as for local task forces and other operations inland that target drugs.

Newsom last week said he plans to keep 100 of the 360 California National Guard troops at the border to combat drug trafficking, a deployment historically financed by the federal government. He said the emergency declaration could impact funding for the Guard deployment.

According to Newsom, the work that Guard troops and federal agencies have been doing to fight drug cartels and illicit drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine within the state is now being put at risk for Trump's "vanity project."

The governor called Trump's planned border wall "a monument to stupidity" and added that those who believe large amounts of drugs are being carried on backpacks across the border are "delusional." Rather, he said drugs are coming through the ports of entry and vehicles, including tractor-trailers, drones, airplanes and boats.

Newsom said Trump's border wall and the emergency action will make the drug problem worse, not better.

"The legitimate crisis with drugs in this nation can be addressed appropriately and thoughtfully," Newsom said. "We want to work collaboratively, and we want to work in the spirit of partnership. I don't want to be a sparring partner with President Trump."

However, the California politician said, Trump has "made it all but impossible when he plays these games and manufactures a crisis and creates the conditions where we have no other choice than to sue the administration and join other states and join our partners in the federal government to do the same."
A year ago SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time. Millions tuned in as Elon Musk's space company moved to number one on the list of the world's most powerful rockets.

Falcon Heavy's maiden launch was nearly flawless. The only blemish was when one of its three boosters crashed into the ocean, rather than gently coming to a landing on a company barge.

Yet, even after Falcon Heavy succeeded, critics focused on the market for the massive rocket's services. Department of Defense applications of Falcon Heavy were apparent. But even the prospect of lucrative military contracts was not enough to convince some within the space industry that Falcon Heavy would generate solid revenue for SpaceX.

Skeptics pointed to the slowing market for large communication satellites and the need for U.S. Air Force certification to fly national security missions. They said these were two reasons SpaceX would not be able to fill Falcon Heavy's manifest.

With the test flight under its belt, the rocket needed "to get some commercial customers," Dr. Greg Autry told CNBC. Autry is a professor at USC's Marshall School of Business, as well as the director of the Southern California Commercial Spaceflight Initiative.

"The lone test flight was incredible but not enough to prove for someone to put an expensive payload on board," Autry said of Falcon Heavy. "SpaceX needs to prove it's a reliable vehicle."

Orders did arrive in the past year and, even before a second flight, Air Force certification came with them. The manifest for Falcon Heavy has grown to five contracted missions, including three commercial missions. While only one has a known price tag  a $130 million contract to launch the Air Force Space Command-52 satellite  the rocket's manifest is worth somewhere between $500 million and $750 million, given the price range per launch.

That means Falcon Heavy has enough contracts to cover the cost of its development, which was more than $500 million, Musk noted last year, with the all funding coming from inside SpaceX.

Chad Anderson, CEO of Space Angels, which invests in space projects, told CNBC some people in the industry doubted the concept of reusability, or launching, landing and launching again, which has become a trademark for SpaceX. Last year, SpaceX became the first company to launch and land the same orbital rocket three times. That's in part due to the increased power and reliability of the company's evolved Falcon 9 rocket, which Musk said is "capable of at least 100 flights."

And the criticisms of Falcon Heavy are starting to sound familiar. "There's a recurring pattern here," Anderson said, "It's the same tired, old arguments we're seeing applied to Falcon Heavy."

The lack of competitive rockets is also a boon for Falcon Heavy. The only operational rocket that compares is United Launch Alliance's Delta IV Heavy and it's retiring soon. NASA's Space Launch System (or SLS) and Blue Origin's New Glenn are possible new entrants in the market of heavy lift vehicles but neither rocket is expected to launch before 2021. The Ariane 6 rocket is supposed to launch next year but a French auditor published a blistering assessment of the European rocket that found Ariane 6 will not be a competitive or sustainable option.
Clinton, IA (52732)

Today

Thunderstorms likely, especially this morning. High 86F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Showers and thunderstorms likely. Low 69F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Rainfall may reach one inch.
State and federal law enforcement personnel searched the office of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish Feb. 14 for evidence of corrupt activities, extortion, coercion, obstructing official business and violating civil rights and files concerning the Cuyahoga County Jail, according to the search warrant.

Feb. 14 warrent

Budish told the Cleveland Jewish News he doesnt know what is being investigated outside of whats in the subpoena. While some of the materials listed may relate to the situation at the jail, where eight inmates have died in recent months, Budish speculated it could relate to the countys IT department or human resource decisions.

Regardless, the county executive said hes done nothing wrong and feels the manner in which the raid was conducted was uncalled for.

What went on yesterday was a political stunt, Budish said Feb. 15. Its unjustified because we have complied with every request. ... Every time weve received a subpoena asking for document, weve turned over all of those documents. So, its unjustified that they come in and do a public raid in my office.

The subpoena asked for emails, calender appointments and other data associated with Budishs account and four other employees of his administration by Feb. 14. This is the 17th subpoena the county executives office has received and is the first since Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost took over the investigation.

The request, he said, could amount to thousands of documents. The request was handled by the countys law department, which asked and was approved for an extension from the assistant attorney general handling the subpoena.

Budish said he refuses to let the raid slow down the countys work and plans to continue to cooperate with the investigation.

Were going to continue to run the county and provide the services that the people of Cuyahoga County need, he said. Were not going to let this deter us or untrack us.

Budish was asked to leave his office during the raid and said he does not know what exactly was taken aside from his personal cellphone and computers hard drive. He said he has not received his phone back as of 5 p.m. Feb. 15.

Mary Louise Madigan, director of communications at the county executives office, confirmed law enforcement was in the office and left with five boxes, two hard drives and an envelope of miscellaneous equipment.

Grand Jury Subpoena

I have done nothing wrong, and Im trying to convey that to people, he said. In addition, Ive got a career where I am proud to say I have spoken very strongly on honesty and integrity  and anybody whos followed me or knows me knows thats the case, which is why Im all the more angry of what happened yesterday.

The search follows the grand jury indictment against three current and former members of Budishs administration.

Improvements are being made on the Cuyahoga County Jail, like hiring more correction officers, signing a memorandum of understanding with MetroHealth Medical Center to take over health care processes and bringing on a company to help with redesigning the policies and procedures that were criticized by U.S. Marshals during an inspection.

Were still working on things but its much improved, Budish said. We have annual reports done by the state of Ohio, they come in and evaluate the jail against the state requirements. For the last number of years at least, the county jail has been compliant with those requirements.
When we hear the name Tennessee Williams, our thoughts gravitate toward his award-winning classics The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But the playwrights talents were first recognized in his one-act plays.

Though Williams rarely wrote in verse, all of his one-acts are remarkably poetic in style and structure. He had a gift for being able to compress the raw intensity of life and the depth of the outcasts living it  particularly the lonely and the lost  into one small, sobering scene infused with rich, lyrical dialogue.

This is particularly evident in the short-form plays that share the bill Two by Tennessee at Karamu House, where the outcasts in question are young girls who have lost their innocence at the hands of their trusted protectors. Both plays were written in 1946 and take place in Mississippi during the Great Depression. Both depict sin as omnipresent, sex as joyless, and happy endings as the stuff of other playwrights one-acts.

And the staging of both miss their marks in the hands of director Latecia Delores Wilson, whose artistic choices turn the plays poetry into something pedestrian.

The first of these works, This Property Is Condemned, features a chance meeting between a world-weary 13-year old girl and a quiet but curious 16-year-old boy as they wander the railroad tracks. Here we find Tom asking questions about Willies fragmented and shockingly dysfunctional family members and Willie casually recalling the horrors she has encountered under their care.

Willie is a complex role and while ninth grader Yumi Ndhlovu admirably masters her lines, her reading is fairly vacant. She never accesses Willies misguided sense of sexuality  learned by watching her now-deceased older sister entertain the railroad men in the familys boarding house  as it coexists with what little remains of her childhood. We never perceive the trauma that has sent her drifting down the railroad tracks that scenic designer Prophet D. Seay has laid across the full length of the long and narrow performance space. And while Andrew Thomas Pope, as Tom, is an engaged sounding board, there is never a connection with Willie, as if the two are merely talking at one another.

Which they are, for the two actors are rarely given the opportunity to simply talk with each other under Wilsons direction. Instead, they aimlessly roam around the congested stage  which contains a realistically rendered condemned home to the left and, oddly, two rows of audience seating behind a white picket fence to the right  as if their movement is compensating for poor sightlines rather than servicing the script. The underlying power of this play is never realized.

The same is true for 27 Wagons Full of Cotton, which takes place on the houses front porch. There we learn that business has not been good for boorish cotton gin owner Jake Meighan and his pretty, childlike wife, Flora. In a desperate attempt to rescue himself from his financial woes, Jake sets fire to his neighbor Silva Vicarros thriving plantation. Silva is forced to give Jake the work he can no longer handle, but in a cruel act of revenge he brutally ravishes Jakes wife.

This play is populated with intriguingly drawn characters in terribly destructive relationships. But Jakes mental and physical abuse of Flora only scratches the surface as delivered by Andrew Valdez, and Floras character-defining vulnerability and lazy southern drawl get turned into California Valley Girl superficiality by Natalie Grace Sipula.

The colorblind casting of Darelle Hill as Silva, the owner of a syndicate cotton business in the Deep South in the 1930s, makes absolutely no sense, particularly given the disparaging references to black workers made in his presence. And the good neighbor policy that Jake repeatedly references, which leads to Silvas crass seduction of Flora, would never be extended to a black Silva.

Audiences should be emotionally spent after witnessing these short but harrowing plays. But confusion and disappointment are the unfortunate takeaways.

Bob Abelman covers professional theater and culture al arts for the Cleveland Jewish News. Follow Bob at Facebook.com/BobAbelman3 or visit cjn.org/Abelman. 2018 Ohio AP Media Editors best columnist.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Twenty years ago, The Sopranos muscled its way into the territory, and things havent been the same since. This territory was television nearing the end of the century that saw its invention, its introduction into American homes and its rise to pop-culture dominance.

Another series that premiered in 1999, NBCs The West Wing, demonstrated just how far an intelligently crafted drama could go on a traditional broadcast network. It rightly won acclaim. It won Emmys. And then . . .

Prestige drama shifted wholesale to, first, cable, and then streaming, said Alan Sepinwall, co-author of The Sopranos Sessions, published last month by Abrams Books and written with the cooperation of Sopranos creator David Chase.

The networks chose not to follow the inspiring lead of President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and his crew on The West Wing. But writers and producers in the cable realm were eager to pursue the path blasted into existence by mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and his crew.

These were ships passing in the night, Sepinwall said. And as they passed each other, the networks very quickly started moving away from challenging drama, investing in Survivor and American Idol. Cable, though, invested in prestige TV with Mad Men and Breaking Bad, and thats completely due to the influence of The Sopranos, probably the most influential scripted show since I Love Lucy. 

The Sopranos not only took over the territory, it put the hit on traditional TV. It was one the few shows that can be legitimately credited with changing the medium, and thats why youre hearing so much chatter about the 20th anniversary.

Lots of shows are celebrating anniversaries of some kind, but The Sopranos is the one in the discussion, said TV historian and Rowan University professor David Bianculli, who discusses the series at length in his book The Platinum Age of Television. I havent heard anyone talking about The West Wing, but everyone seems to be talking Sopranos. It speaks to not only the enduring power of what David Chase did, but also its influence.

HBO premiered The Sopranos in January 1999. The show followed New Jersey crime boss Tony and his two families: the mob family, which included such popular characters as Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt), Paulie Walnuts Gualtieri (Tony Sirico) and Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli); and the family at home.

Away from work, Tony had up-and-down relationships with his wife, Carmela (Edie Falco), and their two children, Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and A.J. (Robert Iler).

Added to the mix were an ever-changing cast (almost anyone might get whacked at any time) and Tonys therapy sessions with psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco).

Why did this potent formula change television?

For the 50 or so years TV was around before The Sopranos, there were all these rules about what the audience would and would not accept, Sepinwall said.

Among those established rules, particularly in the drama realm: You need likable characters, dont challenge the audience with complex material, dont make things tough with ongoing storylines that demand strict attention.

Chase was well familiar with those guidelines, having worked on several well-received and influential dramas, including The Rockford Files, Ill Fly Away, Northern Exposure and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

David Chase came along and said, Wait a minute, how do we know the audience wont accept those things?  Sepinwall said. And The Sopranos violated every one of those written rules. It forced the people who make television to ask, What if weve been wrong about the audience all these years? It, in fact, proved they were wrong.

Sepinwall and his co-author, Matt Zoller Seitz, were the ideal duo to sing the praises of The Sopranos for a 20th anniversary opus. They were the on-the-ground journalists covering the series for the Newark Star-Ledger (thats the newspaper you see Tony pick up at the end of his driveway).

Seitz now is the television critic for New York magazine and the editor in chief of RogerEbert.com. Sepinwall is the chief television critic for Rolling Stone.

There was a sense that, if someone was going to write a book about this, it should be us, Sepinwall said. There is a feeling like its our show. Neither one of us would have had the career we have without the success of that show happening in our back yard. It was like being the rock critics at the Liverpool Daily Post in 1962 when this band called the Beatles came along.

They got to observe the making of the show up close, and they got to chart how spectacularly popular it became.

This was an obsession," Sepinwall said. Fans would go back and look over every clue and every scene for meaning. It was intense. It will be difficult for anything to inspire that kind of intensity again, simply because of how much television there is today, with everyone binging on their own schedules. It will be very tough to matter as much as The Sopranos did.

Although groundbreaking television in so many ways, The Sopranos also craftily embraced a wide range of film and TV traditions so loved by Chase. The following of a central character at home and at work has an unlikely TV inspiration, for instance: Rob Petrie, the comedy writer played by Dick Van Dyke on writer-producer Carl Reiners The Dick Van Dyke Show.

The Sopranos, of course, also is solidly in the tradition of the American gangster film, which starts with writer Ben Hechts Underworld in 1927, flourishes in the Warner Bros. films of the 1930s (with the likes of Edward G. Robinson, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart) and reaches dizzying heights with director Francis Ford Coppolas The Godfather and Martin Scorseses Goodfellas.

David Chase drew on so many familiar conventions, then brilliantly adapted them, pushed them, played with them, said Bianculli, who was the TV critic at the New York Daily News during the shows 1999-2007 HBO run. You see all of those influences textured into every episode.

Playing with another TV tradition, Chase gave us an endlessly intriguing central character who is part vicious mobster and part lovable lug  a cross between a ruthless gangster in the Coppola-Scorsese mold and Jackie Gleasons Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners.

The lovable-lug Everyman typically is featured in comedies, from Chester Riley in The Life of Riley to Fred Flintstone to John Goodmans Dan Conner on Roseanne. Chase took that familiar affable figure and combined it with a truly monstrous, often amoral character.

Its an absolutely pivotal moment, Bianculli said. I put it at ground zero when I define the switch from the golden age of television to the platinum age. It changed the narrative. It changed the type of hero whose story we would watch and changed how the story could be told. It ushered in the age of the anti-hero, the risky premise and the stunning surprise.

That combination shouldnt work, yet it did.

Thats a testament to just how good James Gandolfini was, Sepinwall said. He could make Tony incredibly vicious, and you could feel for him as a kind of ordinary guy dealing with problems at home. And you couldnt help rooting for him.

The 20th anniversary arrives with realization that Chase is working on a prequel movie, which will put the Sopranos spotlight on such characters as Tonys uncle and Christophers father. So, much to celebrate.

So much that happens during the last 20 years doesnt happen without The Sopranos,  Sepinwall said. The audience no longer expects anything all that innovative or challenging from the networks. If you want something like that, you go to cable, you go to streaming, and thats the legacy of The Sopranos. 
Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. (Photo: File)

Srinagar: National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah on Saturday expressed disappointment over a resolution passed in an all-party meeting in Delhi for not including in it an appeal to maintain calm in the wake of violence in Jammu and tension in other states over the Pulwama terror attack.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border.

Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences," Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences. https://t.co/psxKrwDBu8  Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. People took to the streets to denounce the terror strike and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in it.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicles were torched and damaged.

The curfew in Jammu city continued on Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

In Uttarakhand, some Kashmiri youths studying in the state capital of Dehradun have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.
GOODYEAR, Ariz.  The Yan Gomes trade to the Nationals still frustrates a lot of Indians fans. They traded a good catcher, coming off one of his better offensive seasons, for three players who werent exactly household names in Washington, D.C., much less Cleveland.

One of those players was 6-6 right-hander Jefry Rodriguez. The other two are outfielder Daniel Johnson and infielder Andruw Monasterio. Rodriguez and Johnson are in big-league camp with the Indians this spring. One reason for the deal was so the Indians didnt have to pay Gomes $7 million salary for 2019. The other was to inject some younger players in the organization  Rodriguez is 27, Johnson 23 and Monasterio 21.

Rodriguez, who is on the 40-man roster, is hard to miss. Not only is he 6-6, but he weighs close to 240 pounds and throws hard.

Hes got a big arm, said manager Terry Francona. He doesnt have a lot of innings at the upper levels yet. Even though he was called up last year.

Jefry Rodriguez throws bullpen session for Tribe. pic.twitter.com/2eIg5dp5tF  paul hoynes (@hoynsie) February 16, 2019

When you watch him in his bullpen sessions (you can tell hes young), but theres a big arm in there. As he gets repetition, theres a chance. Hes got three pitches with extreme velocity, so theres a lot to like.

The biggest thing is getting him repetition.

Rodriguez pitched at three levels last year  Class AA Harrisburg (5-3, 3.31), Class AAA Syracuse (2-2, 3.58) and the Nationals (3-3, 5.71). He was the pitcher who rode the option train for the Nationals, bouncing between the minors and big leagues six times whenever they needed to create a spot on the 25-man roster. He made 14 appearances, including eight starts. In 52 innings, he allowed only 43 hits. But he didnt always know where the ball was going as he struck out 39 and walked 37.

When big-league hitters werent trotting to first, they hit .228 against him. In six relief appearances for the Nationals, he posted a 2.70 ERA (four earned runs in 13 1/3 innings) and a .159 opponents batting average.

Rodriguezs four-seam fastball and sinker top out at about 96 mph. He also throws an 81 mph curveball, according to Fangraphs.com.

He is one of 33 pitchers in camp.
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Theft from auto, Warrensville Center Road: At 6:45 a.m. Feb. 10, a resident living in the 3000 block of Warrensville Center Road reported that someone stole personal property from his unsecured car.

Theft, Larchmere Boulevard: At 2:10 p.m. Feb. 10, the owner of the Eclectic Eccentric store, 13005 Larchmere Blvd., reported that a suspect stole goods.

Theft from auto, Warrensville Center Road: At 7:35 a.m. Feb. 10, a resident living in the 3000 block of Warrensville Center Road reported that someone stole property from her unlocked car.

Theft, Chagrin Boulevard: At 10:40 a.m. Feb. 12, police were called to Heinen's grocery store, 16611 Chagrin Blvd., where officers detained a Maple Heights man, 39, who was in possession of stolen goods.

Theft from auto, Chagrin Boulevard: At 6 p.m. Feb. 12, a Bedford resident reported that someone stole electronics from their unsecured car, which was parked in the 16000 block of Chagrin Boulevard.

If you would like to discuss the police blotter, please visit our crime and courts comments page.
The town of Sandusky struck a blow for Election Day as an official day off in late January by voting to give city workers a paid day off on Election Day, instead of on Columbus Day.

Advocates of giving everyone a holiday on Election Day applauded. Backers of proposed HR 1, the federal For The People Act of election-law reforms, including making Election Day a federal holiday, pointed to the citys move as a further sign of popular support for making the day of voting a national holiday. A Pew Research Center poll from last fall found a majority of both Democrats and Republicans support such a national holiday.

Of course, fans of Columbus Day were not so happy. Columbus Day for many has morphed into a day celebrating Italian-American heritage from just a day celebrating the discovery of America, given that historians now believe others beat Cristoforo Columbo, the explorers Italian name, to American shores. But Christopher Columbus discovery had a huge impact, setting the stage for lots of other Europeans to arrive, and, among other results, bringing diseases that caused extensive death among native peoples and widespread destruction/disruption of native American cultures.

In 2017, Oberlin abolished Columbus Day and introduced Indigenous Peoples Day instead. Last year, Columbus, Ohio, also dropped the holiday named for the citys namesake, and closed offices on Veterans Day instead.

So did Sandusky do the right thing? Our editorial board roundtable offers some thoughts, and we welcome readers reactions in the comments.

Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:

Sandusky has an interesting idea, but it illustrates this dilemma: For Ohioans who work in the private sector, a paid day off on Election Day is unlikely -- and an unpaid day off would be costly.

Ted Diadiun, editorial board member:

I became aware of the anti-Columbus movement in the early 90s, when instead of planning a gala 500th anniversary celebration of the discovery of America, we got a lot of grumpy editorials about how on or about Oct. 12, 1492, Columbus encountered America, and stole it from the Indians. So that bird has flown. Go ahead and change the holiday to Election Day. Maybe it will eliminate an excuse about how difficult Republicans make it for some people to vote.

Lisa Garvin, editorial board member:

As Sandusky goes, so should the rest of the country. Columbus Day has no significance for most Americans other than a paid day off, and Sandusky replacing it with Election Day so its employees can vote seems a sensible swap. Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is dead-set against a federal Election Day holiday proposal, calling it a "Democratic power grab. I guess it doesnt fit in the voter suppression playbook.

Eric Foster, editorial board member:

The question of which days should be government holidays is really a question of which people/things should society value the most. Christopher Columbus is revered by many, but also reviled by many. Yet Election Day, while universally hailed as an important day in our democracy, is still somehow not valuable enough to society that we would make it a holiday. Sandusky chose to reassess its values; and it chose correctly.

Mary Cay Doherty, editorial board member:

Shame on Sandusky for joining the anti-Columbus Day cabal. Superfluous Election Day holidays dont improve voter turnout. Columbus arrival in the Americas, however, marked the beginning of the Columbian Exchange which biologically and culturally transformed both sides of the Atlantic, positively and negatively. Historys achievements and atrocities are often inextricably linked. Recognizing Columbus accomplishments need not supplant or diminish our regret for, and our ability to learn from, his injustices.

Victor Ruiz, editorial board member:

Bravo for Sandusky for recognizing two things: that making voting accessible is critical to ensuring that democracy survives, and that Christopher Columbus place in history needs to be revisited. I look forward to the day when Cleveland makes the same decision.

Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, cleveland.com

Keep Columbus Day, but modernize U.S. history curriculum so it gives the full picture of our nations origins and injustices over time. And sure, add an Election Day holiday federally, but dont be surprised if it turns into a four-day weekend for many, instead of a day of enhanced voting. Voting rights and voting access reform are far more critical.

Editors note: This roundtable has been updated to correct the month when Sandusky decided to make Election Day a holiday.

Have something to say about this topic?

* Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the Follow option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com.

* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.

* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments on this editorial board roundtable to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at esullivan@cleveland.com
WASHINGTON, D.C.  U.S. Rep. Dave Joyces re-election committee believes its former treasurer, Highland Heights Mayor Scott Coleman, embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from its campaign coffers from 2015 through 2018, according to a letter the campaign sent the Federal Election Commission on Friday.

The letter obtained by cleveland.com says an investigator from the Geauga County prosecutors office used bank camera footage to confirm that Coleman used the campaigns ATM card to make more than $80,000 in unauthorized withdrawals over three years.

The letter also says Coleman received cash back when depositing Joyces campaign checks, and signed for approximately $4,000 in bank withdrawal slips at the counter.

Geauga County Prosecutor James R. Flaiz confirmed his office is investigating funds missing from Joyces campaign account. He said his office has identified a single suspect, but said he could not comment further, since it is an ongoing investigation.

Coleman, who has been Highland Heights mayor since 2004, did not respond to phone and emailed messages about the allegations. An accountant who works as a Progressive Insurance tax manager, Coleman became Joyces campaign treasurer when Joyce, a Republican, first ran for Congress in 2012. Before that, Coleman was campaign treasurer for Joyces congressional predecessor, the late Bainbridge Township GOP Rep. Steve LaTourette.

Friends of Dave Joyce has recently obtained information that strongly suggests it is the victim of financial malfeasance and misappropriation of funds, said a statement from Joyces campaign committee attorney, Benjamin L. Ginsberg.

The campaign has proactively reported its findings to both local law enforcement and the Federal Election Commission and has retained professionals to conduct a thorough audit of its records to learn the complete facts concerning this apparently illicit activity, Ginsbergs statement said. Friends of Dave Joyce is committed to working with law enforcement to ensure that those responsible are held to account and with the FEC to correct any erroneous filings about the campaigns finances as quickly as possible. It will refrain from further public comment until this matter is concluded. 

The FEC letter said that Joyce asked to review the campaigns accounts and reimbursement requests during a dispute over pay and equipment charges with another former campaign staffer.

The letter said Coleman repeatedly delayed turning over records to a new campaign treasurer, citing reasons that included family health issues and chest pains. When he finally produced records, the letter said, they were incomplete and did not include bank statements. The letter said Joyce found Colemans behavior suspicious, and reported it to the Geauga County Prosecutors office, which he formerly headed.

The prosecutors office had to subpoena the bank records because Joyce and the new treasurer, Natalie Baur, werent authorized to access the account. When Baur reviewed the records, she found irregularities including over-reported expenses and under-reported contributions. The letter said that even though the campaigns books appeared to be balanced, individual receipts and disbursements it previously reported to FEC were not accurate.
NORTH OLMSTED, Ohio - Theft and drug abuse, Brookpark Road: A Walmart security officer called North Olmsted police at 2 p.m. Feb. 6 to report she had a suspected shoplifter in custody.

The man presented a receipt from a previous visit to bolster his claim he had purchased the items, according to police. However, the security officer contradicted his story. The items confiscated included a camera, tool sets and a vacuum valued at a total of $426.

Officers found one-half gram of suspected amphetamine in a plastic bag in one of the suspect's pockets.

Police charged the suspect with theft, possessing drug abuse instruments, possessing criminal tools and criminal trespass. The suspect had previously been banned from entering Walmart properties. The bag of suspected amphetamine was sent to a lab for testing.

Marijuana possession, Lorain Road: An officer stopped a car about 10 p.m. Feb. 6 after seeing it had an obstructed rear license plate, a nonworking license plate light and a white light coming from the vehicle's tail light.

Police were suspicious of whether the man was in the country legally and discovered he had an ankle monitor from ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), which said the man had an immigration case pending.

North Olmsted police found 0.9 grams of suspected marijuana in the car and charged the man with possession of marijuana, driving without a license, having an obstructed rear plate, and having a nonworking license plate light.

Theft and drug abuse, Brookpark Road: Police and Walmart security saw a man exit the store about 1 p.m. Feb. 7 with a 50-inch TV and soundbar in a shopping cart and no observable receipt.

Officers followed the suspect to a pickup truck, and the suspect began placing items in the rear.

Store employees confirmed they had not sold the TV and soundbar, according to police.

Officers searching the suspect found a glass pipe and inside the pickup, they found several syringes and other items of suspected drug paraphernalia. The suspect is charged with theft, possessing drug abuse instruments and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Another man who had been inside the truck was turned over to Fairview Park police on a warrant.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio  While purging everything from furniture to clothing to knickknacks, declutterers likely have not been pondering whether its time to get rid of this stuff because it no longer sparks joy.

Until now.

Shedding unwanted items has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to organizing and decluttering guru Marie Kondo. In her new Netflix series, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, and her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, Kondo espouses eliminating from ones life things that no longer spark joy.

Whats more, if you feel guilty for letting something go, ease the guilt by saying thank you to the item for being there when you needed it, then drop it into a donation binge.

Its a less-is-more approach on a spiritual level.

How to donate: Scroll to the bottom of this story for links and contact information.

From coast to coast, the KonMari effect, as it is called, is said to have ignited a surge in thrift store donations. A few thrift stores in San Francisco reportedly have had to put donation restrictions in place.

In Greater Cleveland, some thrift stores have experienced a recent boost in donations that they attribute to Kondos influence. Others say its hard to tell.

Compared to January of last year, weve seen an increase of 442,000 pounds coming into our stores, said Debbie Gillum, Marketing and Digital Communications Specialist with Volunteers of America Ohio & Indiana. In the Cleveland area, it has stores in Mansfield, Aurora, Brunswick and North Olmsted.

She said there is a waiting list for at-home pickups of donations.

"And, yes, we do attribute the increase to Marie Kondos show on Netflix, and the Tidying Up craze has struck a chord with people of all ages,'' Gillum said. "People are starting to ask themselves what in their homes sparks joy and they are donating things that no longer bring them joy. The best part is when they donate their stuff, it can bring joy to someone else.

Donations support Volunteers of America programs such as The Veterans Domiciliary at Wade Park, which provides homeless veterans with employment services, homeless prevention, counseling, mental health treatment and housing.

Bob and Jennifer Iwan look through tee shirts at Salvation Army store on Biddulph Road in Brooklyn. In the wake of the Marie Kondo's "Tidying Up" series on Netflix, people have been cleaning out their homes, discarding things that do not "spark joy." As a result, donations to some thrift shops and second hand stores are increasing. Donations to faith-based and other thrift stores often benefit the organizations; social service programs. For the Salvation Army, it's alcohol/drug rehabilitation, individual and family shelter, crisis assistance and more.

In 2014, when Kondos book was released, Volunteers Of America shared some of her decluttering tips on the website tinyurl.com/yaoolsmw. Among the tips: rather than tidying and tossing a little a day, get rid of things in one fell swoop so you dont get caught up in the clutter.

Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland and East Central reports a 15-percent increase in January, according to its preliminary data.

"This is usually the time of year when our donations are light, and it picks up in the spring. So to be up 15 percent is a pretty big deal. And we can only attribute that to the Marie Kondo series,'' said Marureen Ater, Vice President Of Marketing and Development.

We have no way to specifically track if its due to Marie Kondo, but weve definitely heard from our donors and customers that they are excited about her techniques, and as a result of the Kondo effect they are definitely donating more to Goodwill.''

Goodwill Industries of Greater Cleveland works closely with other nonprofit agencies as well as community businesses to prepare people for stable career options and, in turn, a more productive and sustainable way of life. For programs, the nonprofit relies on revenue from its retail stores.

Roxana Avila processes donated books that will be for sale at Salvation Army store on Biddulph Road in Brooklyn. In the wake of the Marie Kondo's "Tidying Up" series on Netflix, people have been cleaning out their homes, discarding things - including books - that do not "spark joy." As a result, donations to some thrift shops and second hand stores are booming.

Major Van L. Wirth of the Salvation Army said he reached out to Great Cleveland Salvation Army store managers about donations.

While some store managers have heard of Marie Kondo, no one felt or had been informed that more donations were coming into their stores specifically because of the book, Wirth said. Not to say that she has not had an impact. It is just that we are not aware that this has been a driving force.

Donations support the faith-based social service programs that include alcohol/drug rehabilitation, individual and family shelter, crisis assistance and more.

The National Council of Jewish Womens Thriftique Showroom in Warrensville Heights thus far hasnt experienced a KonMari-inspired donations deluge.

We have seen a steady flow of donations, as we usually see in January, but nothing over and beyond that, said Vice President of Communications, Leslie Resnik. NCJW/Cleveland programs include assisting women, inspiring children and engaging at-risk teens, literacy and more.

Joe Valente, owner of Flower Child on Clifton Boulevard and in Columbus, said donations are up, but for a couple of reasons.

Yes, there definitely are more donations than before, he said. But it isnt just Marie Kondos influences. More babyboomers are selling or donating their parents things. Im getting phone calls from people say, I dont want this. Come get it.

Jennifer Iwan of Cleveland checks out a small wooden chest in the housewares section of Salvation Army store on Biddulph Road in Brooklyn. Iwan says the she and her husband, Bob, are minimalists. Shedding unwanted items has taken on a whole new meaning thanks to organizing/decluttering guru Marie Kondo. In her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, and her new Netflix series, Kondo espouses eliminating from ones life things that no longer spark joy. ing out their homes, discarding things that do not "spark joy." Its less is more on a spiritual level.

The Gathering Place in Beachwood and Westlake offer free programs and services that address the emotional, spiritual and social needs of people dealing with cancer in their lives. The organization lends support for individuals and families at the time of diagnosis, during treatment and after treatment has ended.

The nonprofit organization has a warehouse thrift store in Warrensville Heights that helps finance these services. The warehouse is open to the public about once a month for a sale. Gently used furniture and home accessories are accepted.

Cheryl Apisdorf, liason between The Gathering Place and the organizations warehouse, said they are seeing an uptick in donations.

We do have lot of pickups, but its hard to know what to attribute it to, she added. At this time of year people are stuck in the house and looking at things they dont want anymore, or that they want to replace due to decorating. I think that has something to do with it. We are grateful for people who consider The Gathering Place Warehouse as a place for their household donations.

Libraries in other cities are thanking Marie Kondo for inflated donations of books and other materials. Whether local donaters had Kondo in mind or not, Cleveland Public Library took in 10 percent more books during the past three months compared to the previous year, according to Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Tana Peckham.

How to donate

How to donate to some of the area organizations mentioned above:
MEDINA, Ohio -- After a brief two-week shutdown, Sully's Irish Pub on West Liberty Street reopened its doors Feb. 15 after dealing with a frozen water pipe that had burst and flooded the bar.

According to owner John Sullivan, a plumber found that a fitting on one of the copper pipes in the building had broken loose due to low temperatures. Since the fitting broke, the pipe was wide open -- different from the way frozen pipes burst in the middle.

"That's the reason we got so much water in here, because it was a wide-open half-inch pipe," Sullivan said. "We figure about at least 12,000 gallons of water went through the bar."

The bar top, floor and eight bar stools were damaged by the water and had to be replaced.

When the bar's general manager and Sullivan's daughter, Ali Burmeister, went to Facebook and posted about the bar's temporary closing, Sullivan said well over a thousand people contacted them, offering help, prayers and support.

Sullivan said the community response has been terrific. He said even Mayor Dennis Hanwell called him to offer help, and that the support shows the Medina community's strength.

"It's been kind of overwhelming," Sullivan said. "It's a nice feeling to know that you mean that much to people, and another reason why we wanted to get it open as quickly as possible."

Because of the interest, Sullivan said the bar has been posting updates online daily, making sure the community knew about the work's progress.

Sullivan said it was a team effort to get the bar open before the Medina Ice Festival Feb. 15-17 and that his employees have been hard at work chipping in, whether it was cleaning up the damage or restocking the bar in anticipation of the reopening.

"Worrying about if we're going to get it all done in time was really the hardest," he said. "Just working hard every day. "

Sullivan also said his son-in-law and general contractor Chris Burmeister was a huge help, saying he worked every day on the bar, as well as found people he knew in the trades to come help.

He said the process has run smoothly, saying that sometimes when Amish contractors left the bar at 3 p.m., the painter walked in immediately after.

"He's really kind of taken this by horns," Sullivan said of Chris Burmeister. "Him and my daughter are the driving thing behind it. They just, they're getting it done."

The pub is now open, but the grand reopening is still to come. Sully's will celebrate its reopening Feb. 23 with The New Barleycorn -- the same band that opened the bar 11 years ago.

The pipe that flooded the bar will live on, as well. Sullivan said they plan to mount it to the wall, along with local newspaper headlines as a "reminder of where we've been."
MEDINA, Ohio -- Matt Stoddart, 22, spent a lot of time at ice-carving competitions growing up. His father got into ice carving through the culinary field, and took his son with him to his competitions.

The younger Stoddart wasn't competing yet, but he would do carvings of his own at home, emulating what his dad did, but using hand tools instead of power saws.

Then, in his early teens, he got his chance -- and he hit the ice running.

"I was 12 years old, and he trusted me with power tools," Stoddart said. "And then I was in my first ice-sculpting competition at 13."

Stoddart will be one of many sculptors competing at the Medina Ice Festival this weekend -- and will even be competing alongside his dad, Mike. The father-son duo will be in each of the competitions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (Feb. 15-17).

After starting ice carving at 12, Matt Stoddart continued to watch and learn from other sculptors, and attended ice-carving boot camps run by Aaron Costic, the owner of Elegant Ice Creations, who oversees and runs the annual Medina Ice Festival. Over time, Stoddart continued to hone his craft, and eventually turned it into his career.

"It was something that clicked for me, and then I just kind of fell in love with it," Stoddart said.

Stoddart works for his family's company, Lexington Ice Sculptures. Stoddart said he's responsible for a vast majority of the ice sculptures that come from the company. While he can work in other media -- creating artistic sculptures out of fruit and even pumpkins -- he prefers to work with ice.

"I'd love to just strictly be doing ice and just doing as much carving as i can, because I personally love being in the freezer more than the kitchen," he said.

For Main Street Medina, Executive Director Matt Wiederhold said the ice festival is one of its best attended events on the Medina square -- regardless of the weather.

"It's the kind of thing that people don't care if it's cold for this; they will come out for it," he said.

The event brings some much needed foot traffic into the district during the wintertime, he said. Many of the shops and restaurants depend on people walking the square, and so this event brings people back who may have been hiding in their homes from the cold.

"It's critical that events like this bring people to the district to support the businesses," Wiederhold said. "We had a really great holiday season, and a lot of the stores and the restaurants did very well, but it can be quite a dry spell until the spring and summer months hit. So this is a really critical one to help sustain them."

Stoddart said the Medina Ice Festival was always on his bucket list of competitions, and he has been competing in it for the last few years. Along with participating, he also wants to grow the sport and help more younger people become involved in ice sculpting.

"I've noticed in the past few years there's not as many young people getting into it as there was when I started," he said. "It's slowing getting to the point where we need more new carvers."

As someone who learned from other more experienced carvers, he said he wants to do the same thing for newcomers.

"I just want to share as much knowledge as I can with everyone that I come into contact with that I've learned from all the people I've looked up to."
LAKEWOOD, Ohio - Grand theft of a vehicle, Harlon Avenue: A resident called police about 3:30 a.m. Feb. 6 to report their vehicle was missing from the driveway. There was a key locked inside the vehicle.

Burglary, Bunts Road: A woman called police about 5:40 p.m. Feb. 6 and said she came home to find her home disheveled and burglarized.

Grand theft of a vehicle, Detroit Avenue: A caller told police at 7 p.m. Feb. 6 that he found his Toyota Sienna van missing from his driveway.

Burglary, Ramona Avenue: A resident told police at 10 p.m. Feb. 6 that someone broke into his home.

Theft, Clifton Boulevard: CVS pharmacy contacted police at 3:30 a.m. Feb. 5 to report a man stole a bottle of vodka and walked out of the store headed northbound.

Theft, Lake Avenue: A guest at the Days Inn reported at 7 a.m. Feb. 5 that he had a female visitor in his room overnight and she took his personal items and walked out carrying the TV set.

Grand theft of a vehicle, Newman Avenue: A woman called police about 7:30 a.m. Feb. 5 to report her car was stolen.

Theft, South Lane Drive: A resident Feb. 5 reported a package was delivered to the home yesterday but disappeared before the resident retrieved it.

Theft, Davis Court: Police report that late night Feb. 3 or early Feb. 4 someone went through a woman's unlocked Ford Edge and Ford Escape parked in the driveway and miscellaneous items were missing.

Breaking and entering, Edgewater Drive: Police Feb. 4 took a report about an office that was broken into over a weekend. Someone stole numerous checks and cash.

Grand theft of a vehicle, Newman Avenue: A woman called police at 3 p.m. Feb. 3 to report she left her keys in her car to run into an apartment for a second and someone stole the car. Video cameras showed the vehicle went eastbound on Detroit into Cleveland.

If you'd like to comment on this story, visit Saturday's crime and courts comments section.
Mayor Brenda Bodnar

MAYFIELD, Ohio -- Architect Ron DiNardo has announced that he will run for mayor this year, while Mayor Brenda Bodnar said she has yet to decide if she will seek re-election.

When asked if she would run this fall, Bodnar, in an email to cleveland.com, responded, "I am considering running for a second term, but haven't made a final decision yet."

DiNardo, 55, and a 30-year village resident, ran unsuccessfully for a Village Council seat in 2017. He has filed his financial campaign paperwork with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections and pulled petitions for signatures.

"The current and past administration has lost touch and neglected the taxpaying residents who vote them in office," DiNardo stated in an email. "It's time to step in and focus on all the taxpaying residents and work to reduce their tax burden, while still being fiscally responsible, maintaining our budget surplus, and supporting our services

"I am determined to concentrate my time increasing service not only to seniors, but to all residents of Mayfield Village."

Ron DiNardo

DiNardo, who is also director of development with Cedarwood Development Inc., said he is prepared to donate back to the village the mayoral salary he would receive, if elected, in order to help achieve his objectives.

"My long-term vision for Mayfield Village is to be the envy of all the surrounding communities, with low taxes and great services.

"Educated as an architect, you focus on details. To be a successful mayor, every detail matters, from your staff support, to accounting for every dollar spent, to making sure resident concerns are resolved."

DiNardo said that his 25 years of experience in economic development will allow him to boost local business.

The mayor of Mayfield Village serves on a part-time basis.

With wife of 27 years, Kristin, DiNardo is the parent of three children, two of whom are on college, and one who attends Mayfield High School.
The petitioners said the CAG was an independent constitutional body accountable only to the Parliament.

New Delhi: The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Friday indicated that the delay in listing the batch of petitions filed by the Centre and others for modification of the Rafale judgment was due to the lawyers not curing defects in the petitions.

The Centre filed an application on December 15, 2018 to modify the December 14 verdict of the apex court. Thereafter advocate Prashant Bhushan, Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha and Aam Admi party MP Sanjay Singh filed review petitions for reconsideration and all petitions are not listed for hearing though two months had passed.

On Friday when a lawyer complained to a bench of CJI Gogoi and Justice Sanjiv Khanna that his petition was not being listed and the Registry was delaying it, the CJI orally observed, the registry may not be at fault. The lapse in some cases lies with the lawyers too. They do not cure defects in their petitions on time for an early hearing of their cases.

In an apparent reference to the delay in listing of Rafale petitions, the CJI said, The other side (lawyers) are not so innocent. Instead of correcting the defects, these petitioners (review petitioners in the Rafale case) go to the media and claim wide publicity. Thus he made it clear that the delay is because of lawyers.

The Centre, which filed the application on December 15, last did not bother to make a mention for early listing of the case and there are statements that the court is delaying the hearing of the petitions.

The Centre in its application submitted that the judgment erred in English grammar to misinterpret the information submitted to it in a sealed cover note about the pricing of the 36 Rafale jets deal. Mr. Bhushan and others contended that the judgment is riddled with fault lines. They wanted the apex court to re-consider its erroneous judgment, which relies on a non-existent CAG report to uphold the Rafale deal.

They pointed out that the judgment based on a hypothetical CAG report was not merely a clerical or arithmetical slip but a substantial error. They wanted a recall of the verdict.

The petitioners said the CAG was an independent constitutional body accountable only to the Parliament. The government's claim that the CAG's final report on Rafale would be in a redacted form was simply untrue. In fact, the government cannot dictate to the CAG what should or should not be redacted. The petitioners also drew the attention of the court that the judgment holding that lack of sovereign guarantee from the French government as a minor deviation which is not correct.
CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A 35-year-old man wanted for information about the death of his 33-year-old girlfriend was found dead Friday, officials say.

Officers found Oscar Allen Jr. about 10:30 a.m. at an apartment complex in Richmond Heights with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Cleveland Heights police wrote in a Facebook post.

Police were seeking information from Allen about Crystal Smiths death, the post says.

Allen also had warrants for auto theft and a probation violation, the post says.

Authorities received a tip he was staying at a vacant apartment.

He was taken to a local hospital where he was later pronounced dead, the post says.

Police say Allen was in the apartment the night Smith died, Chief Annette Mecklenburg previously told cleveland.com.

Smiths 14-year-old son found her dead in her bed Jan. 22 at their apartment on Noble Road near Monticello Boulevard, according to police.

In the 911 call, Smiths son reported she was not breathing, her arm was stiff, she had blood on her face and was covered in bruises.

The incident is still under investigation and the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner has yet to make a ruling on Allens death.

If youd like to comment on this story, visit Saturdays crime and courts comments section.
Cleburne, TX (76033)

Today

Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High near 95F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 74F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph.
Amazons opponents may have won the battle, but they could lose the war. The company dropped a bombshell Thursday morning by announcing that it will no longer be bringing half of its second headquarters to Long Island City. While some of HQ2s strongest opponents are hailing the about-face as a victory of progressive, grassroots organizing, the politicians who led the fight could pay a price.

Losing out on the benefits that Amazon promised to bring  at least 25,000 jobs and upwards of $27 billion in tax revenue  could cause political repercussions for HQ2s strongest opponents in the long run, especially if the nation faces a recession in the near future. Democratic political strategist Bruce Gyory said to watch what happens in Crystal City, Virginia, where the other half of Amazons new headquarters will be.

Down in Virginia, if this is seen as becoming basically a magnet for high-tech jobs that really helps sustain Virginia in the middle of a recession, there are folks here who  to quote the old Lucille Ball show  are going to have lots of splaining to do, Gyory said. On the other hand, if it turned out that the perception down in Virginia was that they lost a lot of revenue, didnt get a lot of economic development bang for their buck, then it shifts, and the pure progressive wing would look sharp. Read more here.
The Amazon deal is now dead, but the proposed laws it inspired remain. Ever since Amazon announced last November a deal with city and state officials to build a satellite office in Queens, critics blasted the secretive negotiations and the $3 billion in tax incentives that they produced. While there was nothing illegal about the deal, some elected leaders felt that some parts of it should be.

These include efforts to outlaw nondisclosure agreements in certain state contracts, ban financial subsidies designed for specific companies and a crackdown on how people can buy real estate based on their knowledge of undisclosed government deals. Taken together, they would make it much harder to ever make a deal again quite like the one that would have brought the e-commerce giant to Long Island City.

While some might celebrate that, additional restrictions on economic development deals could also hold back efforts by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to diversify the citys economy from its current dependence on Wall Street.

Here is a run-down of bills submitted to the state Legislature and New York City Council in response to the deal and issues that it raised.

Nondisclosure agreements

State and local lawmakers were outraged when they found out that Amazon had required participants in its HQ2 national contest to sign nondisclosure agreements. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said that was necessary to keep New York City in the running for the project. But state Sen. Michael Gianaris, whose district includes Long Island City, disagreed. The idea that we can have private corporate interests dictating to governments, he told the Daily News, That theyre not allowed to talk to the people and reveal what theyre doing with their money, is insane on many levels. Just a few days after the deal was announced, Gianaris responded with new legislation that would ban nondisclosure provisions in future state and municipal contracts. As of Feb. 15, the bill remains in committee. Will it ever pass? Cuomo is not looking to do Gianaris any favors, such as signing legislation like this were it ever to come across his desk. City Councilman Brad Lander introduced similar legislation in December to restrict confidentiality agreements at the city level. Like Gianaris, he could have difficulty passing this bill if de Blasio sees it as unduly tying his hands in future development negotiations.

Inside real estate deals

Some Amazon employees and others privy to the deal leveraged their knowledge of the deal  before it was announced  to buy up real estate in Queens. TF Cornerstone, which would have developed part of the Amazon project, even signed a $300 million deal to develop a site nearby. Insider trading is illegal in the stock market, real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey told The Wall Street Journal in December, But in real estate it is not only legal, but celebrated with champagne. A bill proposed by Gianaris would change that by making it a felony, punishable by up to four years in prison. Like the bill dealing with nondisclosure agreements, this proposal is currently in committee and faces an uncertain future in the Legislature.

Company-specific subsidies

Cities across the country offered Amazon a broad range of tax breaks, grants and other incentives to lure the company, resulting in what critics said was a race to the bottom months before the winners were announced. In New York Citys winning bid, most of the $3 billion in subsidies offered to Amazon were through state and local programs that already existed. But about $500 million came through a state capital grant that was specific to the Amazon deal. A bill proposed by Brooklyn state Sen. Julia Salazar (carried by Ron Kim of Queens in the Assembly) aims to ban such company-specific subsidies. The catch is that at least two other neighboring states would have to pass similar legislation in order for the ban to become effective. That seems right now to be a remote possibility, but fiscal conservative E.J. McMahon  research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy  says that the Democratic Socialist Salazar is on to something. She could improve her bill, he wrote in a recent blog post, By scrapping the compact clauses and simply banning company-subsidies by the state of New York, period.

Online retail charge

Brooklyn Assemblyman Robert Carroll has proposed a $3 surcharge on packages ordered online as a way to raise $1 billion per year for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The bill might also help cut down on traffic congestion by disincentivizing deliveries. We need less truck traffic, Carroll told The Wall Street Journal, And the only way were going to get less truck traffic is to incentivize people to go to the local grocery store or hardware store. To be sure, the bill is not a direct response to the Amazon deal  but legislators looking to stick it to the online retailer, or simply help New York City beleaguered subway systems get more funding, could help this bill move forward.
You will receive 5-day a week delivery of the Citizen Tribune newspaper to your home or business, plus full, ad-free access to CitizenTribune.com as well as full access to the Electronic Edition of the newspaper.



ONLY $13.99 per month for the first 3 months!

Only $16.00 per month after promotional period.

Or

ONLY $169.99 for a full year

Only $198.95 per year after promotional period.
Chinese Foreign Minister sent condolence message on terrorism as common enemy of mankind.

Wang Yi's message to Swaraj said, 'countries in the region should enhance cooperation, jointly address the threat of terrorism and maintain regional peace and security'. (Photo: PTI | File)

New Delhi: More than 48 countries condemned and extended support to India over Pulwama terror attack that killed 40 CRPF men. Among other countries, China too expressed "deep sympathies" but did not make mention of Pakistan.

The condolence message by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to his counterpart Sushma Swaraj stressed on terrorism as a common enemy of mankind and that the "Chinese side resolutely opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism".

The statement nowhere makes reference to Pakistan, despite the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed taking the responsibility of the terror attack.

"Countries in the region should enhance cooperation, jointly address the threat of terrorism and maintain regional peace and security," Wang Yi's message to Swaraj said.

India has said it had "incontrovertible evidence" of Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack. The Pakistan government, however, has denied involvement, calling the attack a matter of "grave concern."

In the wake of Pulwama attack, the centre has already decided to remove "Most Favoured Nation" privilege given to Pakistan. Centre also made emphasis on isolating Pakistan globally.

India had also appealed to members of the international community to back the naming of Jaish chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist in a clear reference to China which has been blocking all efforts to ban Azhar at the United Nations.

Though countries like the US, the UK, Russia, and France have asserted that they stand with India in combating terrorism, China still refuses to change its stand on Masood Azhar.

On Thursday afternoon, a suicide bomber detonated a car-load of explosives next to a large convoy of 78 CRPF buses with over 2,500 personnel traveling on the highway from Jammu to Srinagar.

At Pulwama, the car with 60 kg of explosives blew up, killing 40 personnel reporting to duty after leave.
Support local journalism

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free. Please support us by making a contribution.
The dogs that killed five goats in Lecanto are dangerous and should be kept in a secure kennel if they are ever to leave the Citrus County Ani
The explosive had been planted by intruders from Pakistan along the Line of Control.

Saturdays incident comes just 48 hours after more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed in the worst terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district. (Representational Image)

Jammu: A Major-rank Army officer was killed and a soldier suffered injuries on Saturday while defusing an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) at Nowshera sector in Jammu and Kashmirs Rajouri.

The IED was apparently planted by "enemy forces within Indian territory" in Naushera sector and set off when an Army officer, along with his men, was patrolling the area.

The officer is from the Corps of Engineers.

Saturdays incident comes just 48 hours after more than 40 CRPF personnel were killed in the worst terror attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

This was the second IED attack along the LoC in the same sector since January. On January 11, two Army personnel, including a major, were killed in Naushera sector of Rajouri.
A person's body was found floating in a northwest Houston ditch Friday.

Deputies with the Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office were called to the 5500 block of Antoine Drive around 4:15 p.m. after someone found the body underneath a bridge just south of Tidwell Road.

Deputies turned the scene over to the Houston Police Department to investigate, according to the Constable's Office.

HEARTBREAKING: 'Darling' woman killed in apparent murder-suicide at Memorial doughnut shop

Detectives are working to determine what happened. It is not clear if foul play is suspected.

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
One of the more debated elements of the possible incorporation of The Woodlands is how a potential new city of The Woodlands would handle law enforcement services and public works issues, two duties currently handled by Montgomery County. As the township continues its plans and studies on possibly incorporating, township officials ideally want to secure transitional service agreements with the county for the first several years of a possible new city.

Those plans are now being questioned by the members of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court after a presentation on Tuesday, Feb. 12, by Gordy Bunch, the chairman of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors. Bunch gave a more than 45 minute presentation to commissioners and County Judge Mark Keough, seeking to secure an agreement with the county for the services in the first year of a possible transition if voters decide to incorporate in the future.

For me, (Tuesday) was the first time I could present the (incorporation proposal) to the commissioners, Bunch said in an telephone interview on Friday, Feb. 15. They have had multiple opportunities to review the incorporation plans we had presented to them. We had gotten some feedback from them already. I believe the presentation made it clear that what our community is asking is, how are you (the county) going to handle (these services) if (The Woodlands) incorporates?

The Woodlands currently contracts for all the law enforcement services in the township with a mixture of entities, led primarily by the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office which provides more than 100 deputies and officers who patrol most of the community. Those efforts are supplemented by several other entities, including the Harris County Sheriffs Office, several county constables and other officials who specialize in child abuse and sex crimes. Under current budgeting, the township funds 90 percent of the costs of the services, Bunch noted.

Bunch said as township leaders continue to analyze incorporation, focusing on the proposed financial model for a potential new city and also trying to iron out details of how a transition for law enforcement  as well as public works services related to township roads  they are hoping to secure a pre-agreed-upon contract with Montgomery County that would secure the law enforcement services as they currently exist for at least a four-year period and also a public works for a one-year transition period.

We have to have a transitional plan in place (for incorporation). This is a state process and it is about government entities working together. It really is about the state laying out the guidelines for incorporation, Bunch said. (Incorporation) Is voter approvedif it does get approved, there should be in place a transition plan. If at such time the community does incorporate, those services transition to the new city. The county is currently the statutory provider for certain services. The community needs to know their safety is not compromised if we incorporate.

Law enforcement options

During the more than year-long incorporation studies being done by consultants hired by the township, several possible models for future law enforcement services have been analyzed  including an independent city police force, maintaining the status quo of current county-provided services or a hybrid model mixing some contracted services from Montgomery County while developing a small, specialized police force that would patrol the areas of The Woodlands located in Harris County, primarily The Village of Creekside Park.

During a Jan. 23 meeting of the township board, directors opted to pursue the hybrid policing model  keeping many of the current services the township pays Montgomery County for while also creating a small, internal police department. During discussions on the issue on Jan. 23 and in previous months, Bunch advocated for working with officials from Montgomery County to secure a pre-agreed-upon contract for sheriffs services in the township before an incorporation vote occurred.

Bunch said on Friday that communication with the commissioners has been hampered by the states Open Meetings Act, which prohibits him from meeting with more than two commissioners at once to discuss the issue. In his efforts to work out a deal with Montgomery County for an agreement, Bunch said he has primarily met with Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack as well as newly-elected County Judge Mark Keough.

We didnt get enough dialogue from the commissioners we dont deal with regularly. All that were proposing and asking is if our constituents decide to incorporate, how would our current service providers maintain services, Bunch added. Weve asked for an interim transition period. We want to know what (the commissioners) concerns and questions are. I am certainly open to talking to them. It is beneficial to everyone to know what is happening.

Bunch and township Director Bruce Rieser both have said they understand why the commissioners may be reluctant at this time to commit to an agreement, noting that there has not been an incorporation effort in Montgomery County since 1979, when Oak Ridge North became a city. However, comparing the incorporation of Oak Ridge North, or Shenandoah  which incorporated in 1974  isnt comparable to The Woodlands due to the vast chasm in populations between the three communities.

It has been well over 30 or 40 years since any community in the county incorporated, Bunch said.

Rieser posted comments about the meeting on The Villagers Facebook page, stating that he believed the last city that incorporated in Montgomery County in the 1960s, and that because of the dearth of incorporation efforts, the commissioners have not dealt with the situation recently.

(I) Would like to everyone to remember that no community of our size has every attempted to incorporate in the history of the state of Texas. Every step we take in this process, we break new ground, Rieser wrote in his Facebook post. Therefore, the court doesnt have a lot of experience to draw on either. In the same way that we are attempting to go through this process in a logical and methodical manner, I would hope the court would consider finding a way to formalize a transition agreement with the township. If we can reach an agreement it would take a considerable amount of uncertainty out of the process for our co-constituents.

Next steps

Bunch declined to express any sentiment about the commissioners reactions to his presentation, and said he is currently working with township officials to create new proposed contracts for law enforcement and public works services and submit them to county officials in the coming weeks.

I am putting together contracts now and hope to send them to the county by next week, Bunch said. My next direction is to submit the executable transition agreements to the county. The main thing I want to do is keep it simple.

One criticism of the incorporation process expressed by many residents who have made public comments at meetings is the claims that the process is going too fast. Bunch said he and other elected officials are aware of those criticisms and stressed that no decision has been made about whether or not to put the incorporation question before voters yet.

Bunch said he and other township officials have also decided that the best option for possibly calling for an incorporation vote would be during an election with an extremely high turnout, notably a presidential election year or a year when the Texas governors office is up for election.

Preferably, the first choice is a presidential election cycle or a governor electionto ensure the majority of our voters have the ability to express their will, Bunch said. The earliest date would be 2020, then 2022 (governor election). There is no rush to put a ballot initiative out there.

The next incorporation planning session is set for Wednesday, Feb. 27, during which Bunch said new financial model information will be presented to the township board.

jeff.forward@chron.com
At homes of 40 jawans who died in attack on Thursday, people lined up to pay their last respects with flowers and national flags.

PM Modi on Friday warned that those responsible for the attack had made a 'big mistake' and would pay a 'very heavy price'. (Photo: ANI)

New Delhi: The bodies of the soldiers killed in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama, which were brought to Delhi on Friday evening, have started reaching their respective hometowns.

At the homes of the 40 jawans who died in the attack on Thursday, people lined up to pay their last respects with flowers and national flags.

In Uttar Pradeshs Unnao, the body of Ajit Kumar Azad was received by his family at around 7 am. The 35-year-old is survived by two daughters and a wife. The funeral will take place at Ganga ghat with full state honours.

Photo: ANI

In Varanasi, people gathered to pay tribute to Ramesh Yadav, whose body was brought to his native village Tofapur around 8:30 am.

The mortal remains of CRPF personnel Rohitash Lamba was brought to his home in Govindpura in Jaipur around 8:40 am. People from the city were united with the soldiers family.

Photo: ANI

At Tirva Kannauj, thousands of people paid rich tributes to jawan Pradeep Kumar, whose body reached his home town around 9am today.

In Agras Kehrai village, the anger was visible as 48-year-old Kaushal Kumar Rawats body reached home and the villagers gathered together and raised anti-Pakistan slogans. Rawats cremation will be held at a location near his paternal house.

In Punjabs Moga, the body of Jaimal Singh, who was driving the CRPF bus when it was blown up in the suicide bombing, has reached home. His cremation is scheduled to take place in the afternoon.

Photo: ANI

Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, other political leaders and Chiefs of Indian security forces paid their tributes to all 40 brave hearts at the Palam Airport on Friday.

Shock, grief and outrage have engulfed the country after the deadly attack on Thursday in which a terrorist rammed buses in a security convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway with a car carrying 60 kg of explosives.

PM Modi on Friday warned that those responsible for the attack had made a big mistake and would pay a very heavy price. PM Modi said security forces had been given a free hand to act against terror.
Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention vowed last week not to tolerate sexual abuse and to enact reforms after an investigation by the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News revealed that more than 700 people had been molested by Southern Baptist pastors, church employees and volunteers over a span of two decades.

But the question remains: What will leaders of the largest coalition of Baptist churches in the United States actually do about the problem?

SBC President J.D. Greear, a North Carolina pastor, said he was broken by what he read in the newspapers. He hasnt offered specific solutions, but he ordered a study of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches last summer and is expected to unveil proposals when SBC leaders meet in Nashville, Tenn., this coming week.

ABUSE OF FAITH: Investigation reveals 700 victims of sex abuse in Southern Baptist church

Other prominent SBC officials are calling for changes that include creating a registry of church employees and volunteers credibly accused of sexual misconduct and aggressively removing from the convention churches that knowingly hire predators.

Russell Moore, president of the SBCs Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, praised the newspapers investigation and said people with functioning consciences have been filled with rage by the findings.

The two papers really did a service to churches by collating together this information, doing the hard work of going through and talking to people who have experienced awful, awful trauma, said Moore, a former professor and dean at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

The idea that somehow this shouldnt be out there in public is exactly the mentality that leads to these predators being able to carry out their actions, he said.

Reactions to Abuse of Faith: "I will pursue every possible avenue to bring the vast spiritual, financial, and organizational resources of the Southern Baptist Convention to bear on stopping predators in our midst." - J.D. Greear, president of the Southern Baptist Convention. "I know a lot of people are shocked with the amount of victims and amount of predators there were. But I know - I know for a fact that there are so many more." - Anne Marie Miller, who said she was sexually abused as a teenager by a 25-year-old seminary student, on National Public Radio. "You are great to bring all this to light. As hard is was to go over it all, I feel like (my daughter) is looking down and feeling proud of you and everyone that has come forward." - Gwen Casados, who shared the story of her daughter, Heather, being sexually abused as a 14-year-old inside Houston Second Baptist church in 1994. Her daughter later died. "This is nothing short of a scandal and a crisis. There should be no tolerance for, or covering up of, sexual abuse of the vulnerable ever, especially within the church of Jesus Christ." - Russell Moore, president of the SBC's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission. "We thank you for bringing this issue to the light of day. It is our belief that when churches refuse to take action for the ungodly conduct of those in church leadership, God will use those outside of the church to expose their evil deeds. It is a sad day when this happens but we applaud your work." - Dan Wilson, member of a Southern Baptist church in Oklahoma City. "Those of us that represent victims are each aware of specific incidents, but it has been difficult to get a full picture as to the extent of the crisis. With the recent reporting regarding the degree of rampant sexual abuse it is clear an independent investigation is needed in order to protect the many innocent children vulnerable to sexual exploitation within the Southern Baptist Convention." - Cris Feldman, Houston lawyer who has litigated abuse cases within the Southern Baptist Convention. See More Collapse

The three-part series, Abuse of Faith, was produced by a team of journalists at the Chronicle and Express-News who found 380 allegations of sexual misconduct against pastors, employees and volunteers at SBC churches in the past 20 years.

More than 700 people  most of them children  reported being sexually abused. In at least 35 cases, Baptist churches hired men who had exhibited predatory behavior in the past or were registered sex offenders, the investigation found.

The paper published an online database of 220 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers who have been convicted of sex crimes or reached plea deals. Since the series was published, local news outlets across the country have used the database to discover cases of sexual abuse in their communities.

Readers reached out to the newspapers with their own stories of being sexually assaulted by someone they trusted in a Southern Baptist church.

Over the years Ive learned to cope with this and Ive also realized that I am not alone, wrote one adult survivor who, as a boy, was molested by former Southern Baptist pastor Doug Myers. Your article reaffirms this and I feel more empowered knowing that more people will now better understand what is really going on.

Myers served in Baptist churches in three different states and his conduct around boys raised suspicions  but he still managed to find work as a pastor. Myers was finally arrested and convicted of sex crimes against multiple victims in Maryland and Florida, and he is serving a 15-year prison sentence in Maryland.

A core group of activists and sex-abuse survivors have spent years calling for reforms at Southern Baptist churches, and theyre skeptical of the response from SBC leaders.

Its a temporary P.R. Band-Aid on a hemorrhaging problem, said Amy Smith, a victims advocate in Dallas who blogs about allegations of sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches.

Smith and other critics point out that some of the same SBC officials who called for action last week had previously expressed support for C.J. Mahaney, former leader of a network of Christian churches called Sovereign Grace who was closely allied with SBC leaders.

Read the entire ABUSE OF FAITH series on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com.

A class-action lawsuit filed in 2012 by church members accused Sovereign Grace of covering up allegations of sexual abuse. Mahaney denied any wrongdoing and the suit was later dismissed because of the statute of limitations. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, had voiced support for Mahaney.

Mohler, in an interview last week, said he now realizes that was a mistake and expressed remorse.

C.J. was a friend, Mohler said. I believe in retrospect I erred in being part of a statement being supportive of C.J. and being dismissive of the charges. And I regret that action, which I think was taken without due regard to the claims made by the victims and survivors at the time.

Mohler called for the SBC to take action against churches that have mishandled allegations of sex abuse.

The first concern has to be for survivors, the first response has to be heartbreak, Mohler said. The moral verdict of what has been done and what has been allowed to be done has to be taken at full force. And then the obvious question, is what Southern Baptists are going to do about this?

Advocates and survivors said theyve paid a heavy personal toll for speaking out against sexual abuse in Southern Baptist churches.

Smith said her father, a former deacon at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, ostracized her when she raised concerns about John Langworthy, a former music minister at Prestonwood who was fired in the summer of 1989 after behaving inappropriately with a teenage student.

Smith had attended Prestonwood and knew Langworthy. She grew concerned years later when she learned Langworthy was working around children at a public school and a church in Mississippi.

Smith alerted the school superintendent and church officials in Mississippi, raising questions that eventually led to Langworthys resignation. Smith obtained a video of a sermon Langworthy delivered to the congregation. In it, he admitted to sexual indiscretions with younger males in Mississippi and Texas.

The video helped bolster a criminal case against Langworthy, and in September 2011 he was charged with eights counts of gratification of lust involving multiple boys in Mississippi from 1980 to 1984.

Langworthy pleaded guilty in a deal that allowed him to avoid prison, but he is now a registered sex offender.

Smith said she believes she did the right thing. But she had no idea speaking out would be so difficult.

Victims face this when they come forward in churches, Smith said.

Prestonwood, one of the largest Southern Baptist churches in Texas, is led by former SBC President Jack Graham.

In a statement Friday, Prestonwood said church leaders learned of concerns about crude and inappropriate behavior by Langworthy in 1989, weeks after Graham became pastor. It wasnt apparent that this behavior involved any form of molestation, the church said.

Smith disputed the statement. She said that the church was downplaying the severity of Langworthy's behavior, and that church lawyers were called in to address the situation.

Wade Burleson, a Southern Baptist pastor who has asked the SBC to establish a registry of credibly accused offenders that churches could use to vet job applicants, said he expects the newspapers investigation will lead to tangible change at the SBCs annual meeting in June at Birmingham, Ala.

I think its a guarantee, he said. In other words, it wont just be, Read this study, read this book. It will be, This is what we are doing.

Burleson first pushed for the offender registry at the 2007 annual SBC meeting in San Antonio. A year later, an SBC committee rejected the idea, saying the convention had no authority to compel member churches to use the registry.

After publication of Abuse of Faith, SBC leaders joined Burleson in supporting a database of offenders. Like Burleson, Mohler said the SBC should fund the effort and an independent nonprofit should oversee the data.

Two other leaders of SBC seminaries said they supported the idea, as did Thom Rainer, the CEO of the SBCs publishing arm, LifeWay Resources.

I think this is the loudest Ive ever heard it, Rainer said of calls for an offender database. That is absolutely huge. Weve definitely had people advocating it up to this point, but it has never been at the crescendo that it is now.

Chronicle staff writer Lise Olsen contributed to this report.

***

Abuse of Faith

Part 1: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms

Part 2: Churches hired dozens of leaders accused of sex offenses

Part 3: More than 100 youth pastors convicted or charged in sex crimes

Search the database: We compiled 20 years of convictions



Help us investigate: Do you have information about sexual misconduct in Southern Baptist churches? Fill out our confidential questionnaire here.

Support our journalism:

Help our journalists uncover the big stories. Subscribe today.
The Montgomery County Sheriffs Office is investigating a fatal shooting at a taco stand east of Conroe.

MCSO said dispatchers received a 911 call around 10:23 a.m. Saturday for the shooting in the 21120 block of Texas 105 East, which is near Security First Baptist Church off of Park Road.

Initial reports are that a male was involved in a disturbance with the owner of a taco stand and was shot, MCSO stated in a release. The owner of the taco stand called 911 immediately after the shooting to request help.

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.

Deputies and detectives in the Homicide and Violent Crimes Unit along with Crime Scene Investigators are still investigating the incident. No further information is available at this time.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
Dave Parsons, 2011 Texas Poet Laureate, is now in the most distinguished of company at Conroes Founders Plaza Park.

After a nearly two-year project, a bronze bust of professor, historian, author and Pulitzer Prize winner Annette Gordon-Reed was unveiled under a sunny spring-like sky Friday afternoon. The sculpture was created by local artist Craig Campobella who has numerous artworks on display in the county.

Her statue is placed next to a statue of Parsons that was unveiled at the park several years ago.

We at the Montgomery County Literary Arts Council have been thrilled for this historic - and we believe long overdue - recognition, Parsons told those gathered on Friday.

Councilman Seth Gibson read a proclamation from Conroe Mayor Toby Powell declaring Feb. 15, 2019 as Annette Gordon-Reed Day in Conroe as a part of the ceremony.

Then Parsons removed a covering to unveil the statue to a round of applause from those gathered to celebrate Gordon-Reed and her achievements.

Im so glad that Im able to be here with you today, she said. And Im so glad that I got an opportunity to see all my friends, my cousins, people who were my mothers students and former teachers of mine, best friends and everyone coming together on this day to do something that Im very, very grateful for.

She looks forward to returning to New York with all of the good feelings and warm wishes that shes gotten from people since she returned to Conroe for the event.

She reflected on how much the town has changed since she grew up here in the 1960s and 1970s.

As I walked past the Crighton Theatre, I remembered going to the movies with my brother. I remembered sitting in the balcony at the time because that was the custom, even though the law had changed, said Gordon-Reed. And I also thought about all of the nice things that happened here as well and that this is a town that has a lot of history and Im glad to say that I have been a part of it.

Parsons credited the Conroe Concerned Citizens, the Greater Conroe Arts Alliance, the Montgomery County Literary Arts Council, Margaret Madeley, Lucinda and Rigby Owen Jr., Frances Peoples, Jim and Susie Pokorski, Dorothy Reece, The Signorelli Company and the Society of the 5th Cave with the completion of the project.

In his remarks, Parsons also thanked Alfred and Betty Jean Gordon, her parents, for choosing Conroe to live and raise their brilliant daughter.

Gordon-Reed is a graduate of Conroe High School and first gained interest in history and Thomas Jefferson while in school here.

Gordon-Reed serves as the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School. Gordon-Reed also is a professor of history in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.

Gordon-Reed won the Pulitzer Prize in History in 2009 for The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. She also is the author of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy, Andrew Johnson and most recently Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.

The City Council voted unanimously to allow the bust to be added to the park.

Such honors are reserved for Conroe citizens that have been recognized, either statewide or nationally for their works in the Arts. Eventually more busts will be added to Founders Plaza in recognition of excellence in the Arts.

The Conroe Art League and the Greater Conroe Arts Alliance hosted a reception for Gordon-Reed prior to the unveiling and Gordon-Reed went on to speak at a lecture and book signing on Friday night at Lone Star College-Montgomery.
The creation of Entergys new Montgomery County Power Station is officially underway and is expected to create over $1 billion in economic activity for Texas.

The 993-megawatt combined cycle gas turbine plant, which is Entergy Texas first power plant to be constructed in 40 years in the state, is being built next to the existing Lewis Creek Power Plant in Willis. The approximate cost is $937 million, which includes transmission and other project-related costs, according to information from Entergy.

The natural gas power plant, which is being built by McDermott, already has a foundation laid and is projected to be powered up by mid-2021 to address the growing demand across Southeast Texas. Once online, it will be capable of producing enough energy to meet the average power needs of approximately 640,000 typical Texas homes. In addition to the 1,000 employees Entergy already has working in the state, the construction of the project is anticipated to create an estimated 7,000-plus jobs in Texas, including 750 construction workers on the site alone. Once operational, Entergy expects the plant will provide approximately 25 permanent jobs in Texas.

Make no mistake, this is a growing area of the country, its a growing area of our service territory, its why the power plant is here, Entergy Chairman and CEO Leo Denault said. We want to make sure we are providing a level of service that makes an opportunity for people to come here and create even more jobs.

The construction of the plant in Montgomery County will modernize Entergy Texas generation fleet with new technology that provides a new reliable, efficient and clean energy source of power that Entergy officials said would save customers and communities $1.7 Billion over the next 30 years.

Denault said the company is in the process of making more technological upgrades to the rest of its system, such as to the high voltage transmission network and distribution system. Over the next three years, Entergy plans to deploy automated metering infrastructure that will help customers manage not only the price of electricity, but keep track of usage in an effort improve lives while using fewer resources, including electricity, as it strives to advance the ball in economic development.

We are committed to making investments that move our customers and communities forward, said Sallie Rainer, president and CEO of Entergy Texas, Inc. MCPS is a part of our $2 billion investment in infrastructure that will create jobs, spur economic development and serve our customers.

Dozens of officials and community members celebrated the long-awaited, official ground breaking ceremony on Friday morning. The milestone moment was celebrated with official recognition from Texas Governor Gregg Abbott presented on his behalf by Betty Russo with the Community Relations for the East Texas Region of Economic Development and Tourism.

Several elected officials who represent the Montgomery County and Southeast Texas area were on hand for the event, including state Sen. Robert Nichols represented by District Director Luine Hancock, state Sen. Brandon Creighton, state Rep. Will Metcalf, and Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough.

As we approach 2020, we are becoming a county of upwards to 600,000 people, said Keough, who thanked Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador for his support of the project. we are excited to see the future of what happens as this all unfolds for us together.

mellsworth@hcnonline.com
However, recent pictures posted by the two on Instagram sent fans and followers into a tizzy.

Despite being spotted together at several events and instances, Tiger Shroff and Disha Patani have always maintained that they were nothing more than just friends.

However, recent pictures posted by the two on Instagram sent fans and followers into a tizzy. While Tiger posted a picture showing of a ring and captioned it Turns out Im taken, Disha posted a similar picture on her account accompanied by the caption, Someone popped the question, and I said yes.

Immediately, the internet was rife with speculations about the couple being engaged. Alas, it wasnt the case, since it turns out that the photographs were more connected to a brand than a life event. The actors were promoting a certain soft drink brand and their clever photographs and captions did a great job of engaging our attention.
Conroe Police Department arrested two alleged meth dealers early Friday morning during execution of a narcotics search warrant in east Montgomery County.

Dione Christine Allen, 47, of Conroe, and Mark Anthony Wilburn, 38, of New Caney, were arrested and are being charged each with the manufacture and/or delivery of methamphetamine, between 4 and 200 grams. Allen is also being charged as a felon in possession of a firearm.

Allen was arrested during a 3:30 a.m. search in the 15800 block of Old Houston Road in Conroe, according to a Conroe Police press release. Wilburn was arrested during a search that took place around 5:00 a.m. in the 21900 block of Mexican John Road in New Caney.

Also arrested in the Conroe search were Raymond Charles Pennock, 56, and Valerie Hernandez, 18. Pennock is being charged with possession of methamphetamine. Hernandez is being charged with possession of marijuana.

As of Friday afternoon, Allen, Pennock and Wilburn were at the Montgomery County Jail. Allen was being held on a $50,000 bond. No bond was set for Pennock and Wilburn, according to jail log records.

jose.gonzalez@chron.com

twitter.com/jrgzztx
Conroe Mayor Pro Tem Duke Coon and Councilman Seth Gibson took a stand against a decision to change meeting minutes from the councils Jan. 10 meeting maintaining the change does not reflect the councils actual action regarding a variance for a new residential development.

The issue came to light Wednesday after city staff discovered action taken Jan. 10 regarding a variance on street width was not what several council members intended.

During the councils Jan. 9 workshop meeting, the council discussed several variances for the Signorelli Company including allowing the developer to build the new subdivision off McCaleb Road with street widths at 26 feet for the local roads within the subdivision and 24-foot road on streets with cul-de-sacs within the subdivision.

During the councils regular meeting Jan. 10, Mayor Toby Powell called for a motion to approve the collector streets at 39-foot pavement, local through streets 26-foot pavement and cul-de-sac streets with 24-foot pavement.

Councilman Raymond McDonald made the motion with Councilman Jody Czajkoski seconding the motion. Powell called for the vote with McDonald and Czajkoski voting for the variance with Mayor Pro Tem Duke Coon and Councilman Seth Gibson voting against.

However, before Powell could vote to break the 2-2 tie due to Councilman Duane Hams absence, Coon asked so the motion is to approve 26-foot streets.

Powell said yes and cast his tie breaker vote for the variance making the variance for 26 foot streets and inadvertently eliminating the variance 24-foot cul-de-sac streets.

City Attorney Marc Winberry told the council Wednesday after reviewing the video of the Jan. 10 meeting, it was his interpretation that the action taken by the council was to make all the streets within the subdivision 26 feet.

Everything would be 26, except the collector street that would be at the wider width, Winberry said, adding if the council approves the minutes as they are written, it would lock in the variance as only 26-feet street. The issue isnt what they were asking for, the issue is what did you intend that they have.

Instead of bringing the item back to the council to vote on an amended motion regarding the issue, Powell asked to have the minutes rewritten to include allowing the cul-de-sac streets to be 24-feet and considered for approval.

With little discussion, the council adopted the changed minutes and adjourned the meeting.

cdominguez@hcnonline.com
The birthday of President Washington, our nations first President, has become the day on which we honor all of those who have held our nations highest office. The job is difficult and thankless, but 45 people have taken it on. Many served during war time, economic upheaval, turmoil that preceded even bigger historical events, times of national tragedy, or times of great national triumph. And many, many more will do so in the future. On this Presidents Day, let us remember the 45 individuals who shaped our nation, inspired us and led us.

Across the nation we have seen a great deal of reform in our criminal justice system. Texas has been ground zero for many of these policies. We have been open to changes that improve the outcomes for those who truly seek to reform while still remaining committed to a sense of justice for victims. I recently introduced a package of bills that affect the criminal justice system in ways that I believe strike the appropriate balance between justice and mercy.

We all want to protect the privacy of juveniles, especially when a foolish childhood decision could affect future opportunities like employment or education. However, that has to be balanced with the safety of others. Current law prohibits any form of information sharing between law enforcement, the court system, and local school districts, even when a pending juvenile case involves threats of school violence. That is why I filed House Bill 1496. When a juvenile criminal case involves threats or evidence of impending violence against a school district campus or facility, that information should be shared with the affected school district for preparation if necessary. HB 1496 does exactly that by requiring information indicating potential violence against a school to be shared with the affected school district. It seems unfathomable to me that this wall would exist between our juvenile justice system and school districts. We must ensure that bureaucracy doesnt stand in the way of a district knowing information about a potential harmful threat.

During an emergency situation law enforcement must secure the surrounding area to protect the individuals affected as well as those passing by the emergency area. Unfortunately, this can also delay getting qualified emergency response personnel into an accident scene to provide life-saving medical attention. House Bill 1497 would allow emergency medical personnel to receive a special marker on their drivers licenses so they can be easily identified in an emergency situation. Waiting for an ambulance to arrive is not always possible, but without knowing the identity of the person seeking access to the crash site, it would be irresponsible for an officer to allow an unidentified individual access. HB 1497 gives emergency medical personnel an easily identifiable marker so they can step in when necessary in order to assist in the event of an emergency when other medical personnel are not readily available.

I cannot fathom the level of depravity it takes for an adult to sexually assault a child. Over the interim, I read the heart-wrenching case styled Lee v. Texas, 537 S.W.3d 924 (Tex.Crim.App. 2017). In this case a man was arrested and charged with continuous sexual abuse of a child for sexually abusing a child on multiple occasions. The continuous charge carries a higher level of punishment than a single incident of sexual abuse of a child. Unfortunately, the defendant was deemed ineligible for the higher charge because the additional acts occurred outside of Texas. I filed House Bill 1498 to address this situation and allow for the higher penalty to be charged in a similar case. HB 1498

would allow a sexual assault of a child that occurred in another state with a similar law to Texas to be considered for the higher level of penalty. Artificial political boundaries should not shield perpetrators from the full level of justice which is due.

Crime victims will never truly be whole. The fear will always exist following any kind of violent crime, theft or robbery. But we can make sure that we give them every tool available when they are due financial compensation. House Bill 1499 would give a victim of a Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate the ability to take a final court order to the Comptrollers office in order to give the victim access to any property belonging to the inmate within the Comptrollers Unclaimed Property Fund. The Unclaimed Property Fund is an account maintained by the Office of the Comptroller consisting of property belonging to Texans that has been reported as unclaimed. Current law does not allow victims to have access to this property, essentially leaving it protected until the inmate claims the property. By allowing victims to have access to these funds, we can make sure that they receive the compensation they are due from their assailants.

I hope with these bills that we can move Texas closer to making sure victims are cared for, that justice is truly served, and that we focus our resources where the greatest impact will be felt. May God bless you, your families, and the great State of Texas!

State Rep. Will Metcalf represents House District 16, which covers Conroe.
Two longtime north Houston restaurants are expected to close in 2019.

After more than six decades in the Oak Forest area, Doyle's Restaurant, which claims to be one of the first places in Houston to serve pizza on a daily basis, will relocate and downsize under a new name, said owner Peter Doyle.

The restaurant, located at 2136 W. 34th since 1957, could close sometime in the second half of 2019, he said.

"It's going to be really sad," he said of the closure. "It's like a family here."

No location or name for the new restaurant has been established, Doyle said. Ownership is expected to be transferred to the current general manager at Doyle's, and the new venture will share additional ties to the original restaurant and its owner through financial backing and repurposed equipment.

BATTLE OF THE MIDCENTURY: Houston homeowners make tough choices to preserve or build new after years of flooding

Doyle said he expects the new restaurant will be located outside Houston. Ideas being discussed include delivery and drive-thru options and a limited dining area.

Avenue, a Houston non-profit focused on building affordable homes and community development, has an option to purchase the site where Doyle's now sits. Though no timetable has been set, the group plans to build a five-story affordable housing development called Avenue on 34th, said Executive Director Mary Lawler.

The development would include 68 apartments, which includes 21 1-bedroom apartments, 27 2-bedroom apartments and 20 3-bedroom apartments. Lawler said the development, which has about 68,000 square feet of rentable space, could appeal to young families, seniors and workers earning between $35,000 and $60,000 annually.

Critics of the project cite traffic issues and its effect on area property values. Lawler disputed a Change.org petition characterizing the project as "section 8 housing" while Doyle described the development as a positive addition to the Oak Forest neighborhood.

SECOND WARD: How German Street lost its name

Doyle's father, Leo, and his aunt, Cloe, started Doyle's Delicatessen on Ella Boulevard at 43rd in 1954. Three years later, it moved to its current location, where soups, salads, sandwiches, pastas and hamburgers have been served ever since. Its pizza oven has been in operation for about 60 years.

But current economics were making it difficult for the restaurant to continue operating.

"Increasing costs, taxes and the competitive food service environment created the need for the family to make changes," Doyle wrote in an email to the Chronicle.

Meanwhile, Heights restaurant Happy All Cafe is expected to close at the end of February as the restaurant's lease on the property comes to an end, said Kevin Keane, listing agent with Noble House Real Estate. The landlord for the property also confirmed that a new tenant will be sought.

A person who answered the phone at the restaurant disputed claims it was closing, but offered no specifics regarding its future.

The Chinese restaurant, at 1343 Yale, has been in the Heights since 1997. Longtime Heights residents might recall that decades ago a Rettig's Ice Cream shop was at that location.

The building will likely undergo redevelopment once a new tenant is secured.
Nearly 18 months after losing its long-time home at 1945 Allen Parkway to flooding during Hurricane Harvey, KHOU-TV begins broadcasting from its new permanent studios on Sunday.

Since the hurricane, the station was relocated to a temporary location at the Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting on the campus of the University of Houston, with technical assistance coming from sister TEGNA stations across the country.

Although workers are still putting the finishing touches on the new 43,000 square-foot facility, located at 5718 Westheimer, KHOU President and General Manager Robert Springer gave the Houston Chronicle a sneak peek Friday.

Move TV news: Ryan Korsgard, Travis Herzog: Houston TV news personalities on the move in January

The contemporary space, designed by Gensler architecture and design firm, whose portfolio includes Potente restaurant, Houston Ballet Center for Dance, and the Houston Chronicle building at 4747 Southwest Freeway, spans half of the first and third floors, plus the entire second floor of the Westheimer commercial high-rise.

On the ground floor, there are two studios: a news studio and a studio for the one-hour morning show, "Great Day Houston." The area is dedicated to Susan A. McEldoon, the now-retired general manager who ran the station and kept the team together during the flood.

The news studio boasts an interview set, a high-tech visual wall behind the anchor's desk that showcases seamless images and videos, a virtual studio video set with a green screen with chroma key technology, and more.

"We want to be able to tell stories, from breaking news to election coverage, anyway they come to us. Now, we have a versatile place to do that," Springer said.

Adjacent to the news studio is the "Great Day Houston" studio, with a cozy home-like set, fully functional kitchen and seating for a live audience. "Great Day Houston" will be the last part of the team to move to the new locale, as construction on its space is not expected to be completed until early March. The show is currently broadcasting from the Big Brothers Big Sisters Houston offices.

A green room, complete with a lounge area and two vanity stations with onset lighting, the "Great Day Houston" control room and the master control room are also located on the first floor. The latter began operating Sunday at 11 a.m.

"That was the first time since the hurricane took us offline on August 27, 2017, that the signal has originated from Houston," Springer said. "When we switched the cable at the transmitter ... it was a simple gesture but it was monumental for us," he added.

Another monumental moment for the news station will happen this weekend.

"This Sunday night will be the first time that the content and the distribution both originate from Houston, under the same roof, since that day in August," said Springer.

KHOU's sales and administrative staff occupy the third floor, while the second floor is home to the sleek newsroom, where, as a sentimental touch, a beloved piece of KHOU's past has been worked into the design.

FOR HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM SUBSCRIBERS: Former 'Buzz Lady' at KPRC finds character wins out in home quest

The station's large red call letters (which hung on an outdoor tower at the Allen Parkway building for decades) have been restored, refurbished and proudly displayed on the ceiling from the entryway to the breakroom.

"These are iconic letters in Houston," executive news director Sally Ramirez told Chron.com. "They mean a lot to us. We wanted to incorporate them into our legacy here."

The letters were a surprise for the staff, many of whom consider it their favorite part of the new studios, Ramirez said. "We didn't take pictures or socialize it until everyone saw it. So many people have come through, some with tears in their eyes."

Another bright touch, the decor in the elongated open-concept newsroom has vibrant pops of color via furnishings and carpets, as well as in a colorful mural by local artist, Dual Streets, which simply reads, "Relentless."

"To get through the things we've gone through, we did have to be relentless," said Springer. "You have to believe in your mission. You have to believe in what you're trying to do."

The newsroom also offers lots of natural light via numerous windows, and collaboration spaces and standing desks throughout. Desks are unassigned as workers, who will keep their belongings in rolling pods that resemble short filing cabinets, will choose a workspace upon arrival.

In one corner of the newsroom is a technology-driven live desk to handle breaking news, with a small set alongside it featuring a news desk and monitor. "We can film newscasts or portions of newscasts right from the newsroom," Springer noted. "The lights on this floor are 'daylight' temperature, so you can actually shoot video from just about any spot," he said.

While some of the team, including sales and some executives, have already moved in, most of the KHOU team is set to relocate over the weekend and on Monday.

"It's an emotional experience. We're feeling so many different things. We are so excited to move into a state-of-the-art facility," Ramirez said of the move.

"This is my 30th year in this industry ... I can tell you, from a technology and layout standpoint, this is the most advanced newsroom I've ever worked in. It's amazing."

KHOU-TV begins broadcasting from its new studios on Sunday at 10 p.m.

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
Lawyers for Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner filed a motion Friday afternoon seeking to declare Proposition B invalid, contending the voter-approved referendum supporting pay parity for firefighters violates Texas law.

The move is the latest in an extended legal battle between the city and firefighters over the November ballot measure requiring the city to pay firefighters the same as police of equal rank and seniority.

Though Proposition B passed more than three months ago with 59 percent voter approval, the city has yet to begin paying firefighters more -- a delay that has sown frustration among the fire union despite Turner's assurance that his administration is ironing out the details.

"This is what the mayor means when he claims three months after the election that he is working to 'implement' Prop B," fire union President Marty Lancton said Friday in a statement. "Once again, he is defying the will of 292,000 voters."

The city's motion claims that Proposition B is illegal under the Texas Local Government Code and the Texas Constitution, an allegation the city previously made in December.

The filing is notable, though, because Turner has said he hopes to negotiate a plan with the fire union to phase in pay parity over a number of years, arguing the city cannot find the funds to do so immediately.

His efforts to again invalidate the charter amendment altogether appear to cast doubt on whether both sides can ultimately reach an agreement. Though Turner has said "those conversations are taking place," neither side has indicated they have made any tangible progress since Lancton and Turner met publicly in January.

The day before that meeting, the union sought a court order aiming to force the city to enact parity, a move Turner questioned at the time. Lancton, skeptical of Turner's sincerity in offering the meeting, said the city's inaction had forced the union's hand, while Turner said the union should not have gone to the courthouse on the eve of the meeting.

Meanwhile, Turner has promised to issue back pay to firefighters, retroactive to Jan. 1, once his administration implements Proposition B. If the charter amendment is ruled invalid, it is unclear whether firefighters would receive the extra pay.

The motion, Turner said Saturday, is intended to resolve remaining legal questions. The city still is "moving forward with implementing" the measure while negotiating with the union, the mayor said in a statement, adding that he has asked all city departments to prepare for layoffs and service cuts once Prop B is implemented.

"Both courses of action are consistent with the mayor's stated position to implement Prop. B without creating further financial instability for the city," Turner said.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM: JPMorgan Chase & Co. pledges $1.3 million to help educate disconnected youth

Even before the Friday court filing, relations between Turner and the firefighters appeared fraught.

The fire union responded coolly to a memo circulated by an assistant fire chief containing a pointed reminder about "applicable policies regarding political activity."

The memo, which referenced "negative or derogatory comments," appeared to take aim at firefighters who have been vocal on social media about the way Turner has handled the Proposition B saga.

"The popularity of social media is no excuse for improper and sub-HFD standard conduct," the memo read.

In response, the firefighters union cast the memo as an example of Turner "preparing to retaliate against employee critics."

"Memo translation: Criticism of vindictive, self-proclaimed city CEO, who threatens to gut HFD from within, will not be tolerated," the union tweeted Friday.

For months leading up to the election, Turner said the city would be unable to afford Proposition B, which estimates show would cost the city an additional $100 million a year.

The city is likely to face a budget deficit greater than $200 million if officials fail to negotiate a way of phasing in pay parity over time, a city finance department official told city council members at a recent committee meeting.

When the city and Houston Police Officers' union first sought to render Proposition B invalid, a state district judge denied their attempts to delay the measure and dissolved a temporary restraining order that had initially blocked implementation of the referendum.

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.
A search for a missing fishermen has ended after authorities found a body matching his description.

The U.S. Coast Guard began a search for 60-year-old Dale Wolf on Friday evening after he was reported overdue returning from a saltwater fishing trip in the Swan Lake area of Texas City.

Authorities called off the search early Saturday afternoon after recovering a body matching Wolf's description.

BREAKING NEWS UPDATES: Get your Houston breaking news alerts delivered to you.

The Coast Guard and five other law enforcement agencies launched a search for Wolf' on Friday evening after he did not return from a routine fishing trip as expected.

Wolf's boat was found at anchor with no one aboard and his keys, wallet and cell phone still inside.

"Our hearts go out to the families and friends affected by this loss," Coast Guard Cmdr. Jordan Baldueza said in a statement. "We greatly appreciate all of the support in the extensive search by our state and local partners."

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.
A Texas town that was deserted and forgotten in the mid 1900s has now been named one of the "most charming small towns in America" by the Travel Channel.

Gruene, now a historic district within New Braunfels, is one of the 50 hidden gems on the list, according to the Travel Channel report.

Heading into the 20th century, Gruene was a thriving community, known for its dance hall and saloon, which were popular social destinations, according to the Texas State Historical Association website. The Great Depression took a toll on the area, and when post-World War II highway construction skipped the town, the communitys already small population left.

RELATED: Fredericksburg makes list of 'charming American towns you haven't heard of but should visit ASAP'

A University of Texas student discovered the town while kayaking in the early 1970s and brought it to the attention of others. Eventually, it was restored and within a few years the dance hall was once more drawing crowds. Gruene, population 20, is now on the National Register of Historic Places. It sits in New Braunfels, about a 40 minute drive from San Antonio.

"The original buildings in Gruene, Texas, built circa 1800 to 1900s, almost fell to developers until an architecture student from the University of Texas at Austin saved the day," the Travel Channel report said. "Today, residents and visitors shop at local boutiques and the Old Gruene Market Days, tube the Comal River and dance at Gruene Hall, built in 1878."

Gruene was the only Texas city on the list.

Click through the slideshow to see photos of Gruene through the years.

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
The Catholic Church is headed for another sex abuse scandal as #NunsToo speak up

All eyes will turn to Rome between 21-24 February, when senior church clerics across the world meet to discuss how to handle the widening sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. Until recently, this has been focused on the abuse of children. But now Pope Francis has admitted  for the first time  sexual abuse by priests against religious women exists and must be acknowledged.

And Catholic women are speaking out, under the #NunsToo hashtag.

Twenty-five years ago, Irish nun, Maura O'Donohue prepared an extensive report for the Vatican on the abuse of nuns internationally by priests. Her report was based on information supplied by priests, doctors and others, and she had been assured records existed for several of the incidents. But the report was covered up.

In late November, influenced by the success of the #MeToo movement, a group of women theologians convened a meeting  called Voices of Faith  in Rome to share their stories of sexual harassment and abuse at the hands of male clerics, and decry the patriarchy of the Catholic hierarchy.

Doris Wagner, a German theologian, recalled her terror as a young woman in a mixed-gender religious order. A superior of the order entered her room one night and raped her. She knew if she were to report this, she would be told it was her fault, so she kept quiet. Years later, she did tell her superior, who did exactly as she feared  she blamed her, and asked if she had used contraceptives.

Wagner said she was later groomed by priest Hermann Geissler. He worked in the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, the Vatican organisation that deals with complaints of child sexual abuse. This led to a series of sexual assaults in the confessional, which she reported.

Geissler was found to have acted inappropriately but was not removed from his job, despite working on child sex abuse cases. He was publicly outed and resigned only after Wagner disclosed the story at the meeting in Rome last year. But the priest who committed the rape is still ordained and living in a religious community with young women.

Wagner also read from a report that estimated up to 30% of Catholic sisters had been sexually abused and many more are at risk of clerical sexual abuse.

In Australia, reports suggest the number of Catholic women abused by priests vastly outnumber the survivors of child sexual abuse uncovered by the royal commission into the issue. These women and men often came from strict religious families, and had little experience of the world or sexual matters.

As this group finds its voice and begins to speak out, the leadership of the Church will face another crisis of legitimacy and round of public inquiries.

It is clear the sexual abuse of women, children and vulnerable adults has been normalised in Catholic clerical culture. Abuse is exercised at every level of ministry, from parish priest to the most senior clerics. Perpetrators are protected and victims silenced. This is aided by a culture of clerical entitlement and opportunity.



The child sex abuse royal commission's final report provided ample evidence of this. It states:

Few survivors of child sexual abuse that occurred before the 1990s described receiving any formal response from the relevant Catholic Church authority when they reported the abuse. Instead, they were often disbelieved, ignored or punished, and in some cases were further abused.

Recently, a number of international cases have seen very senior Catholic clerics accused of protecting perpetrators of child sexual abuse. A Philadelphia Grand Jury recently found Church leaders protected more than 300 priest perpetrators. Australia's royal commission also noted:

 the avoidance of public scandal, the maintenance of the reputation of the Catholic Church and loyalty to priests largely determined the responses of Catholic Church authorities when allegations of child sexual abuse arose Complaints of child sexual abuse were not reported to police or other civil authorities

There are also cases of high-level clerical sexual abusers, including serial offender US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who is now being defrocked, and Argentian bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who has been accused of sexual misconduct with young seminarians. Pope Francis' response was to remove Zanchetta from Argentina and promote him to a position of power in the Vatican's finance office.

Francis has not adequately handled a number of crises. This includes last year, when he defended a Chilean bishop who had covered up cases of child sexual abuse. As US feminist theologian Mary Hunt says, "you can't make this stuff up".

Little information has been provided about the agenda for the upcoming, so-called "protection of minors in the Church" meeting in late February. But it's clear there will be no survivors, lay women or men in attendance  just the bishops, senior Vatican officials and Pope Francis.

This is the cohort who has protected priest perpetrators, covered up hundreds of cases, failed to report criminal activity to the police, blamed victims and promoted the guilty to positions of power. It is clear the answers to this catastrophic problem will not come from Church leaders. Instead, it is victims, survivors, lay people and experts in institutional change that need to be leading the dialogue, and enacting change. And one such group may be the Voices of Faith.

This article previously referred to the group "Voices of Faith" as "Voices of Change". This has now been fixed.

Kathleen McPhillips, Senior Lecturer, School of Humanities and Social Science, University of Newcastle This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
'Pray on' for Britain amid Brexit, says Jonathan Aitken

Former cabinet minister turned prison chaplain Jonathan Aitken is telling people to keep on praying as the clock ticks on Brexit without the nation being any clearer as to how things will look come March 29.

As the nation's leaders continue to wrangle over a deal with the EU, Aitken has been spending some time in prayer and contemplation at St Beuno's retreat centre in Wales, not only for his soul but for the nation.

While such a retreat could be regarded as 'self-indulgent' when the world is in such a state of 'upheaval', he writes in The Times that it has helped him to gain a fresh sense of perspective.

It has also reaffirmed his conviction of the need for prayer as the clock runs down on the deadline for Brexit.

'From the viewpoints of a consolation retreat at St Beuno's and a ringside seat at the debate in the Commons, I sense the political earth moving. We should pray on,' he said.

It echoes a call that he made last December, before the seismic defeat of Theresa May's original Brexit deal, when he said 'British politicians need our prayers more than ever'.

At that time, he said it was not possible for the Government or any single party to resolve the political, constitutional and electoral crises unfolding as a result of Brexit, but rather only 'the collective will of the House of Commons'.

'God is neither a Remainer nor a Leaver. A deity for whom "a thousand ages in thy sight is like an evening gone" is unlikely to be impressed by our 40 years of EU membership, or by the two-year transitional period that follows it,' said Aitken, who is now prison chaplain to HMP Pentonville.

Instead of praying for a particular faction, he said people should 'pray for wisdom, discernment, judgment and the character of our MPs'.

'So the power of prayer knows no limits,' he said.
Central, possibly the only fashion retail chain yet to log on to the e-commerce bandwagon, said it will remain offline.

The Metro store is the first thematic store keeping alive the nostalgia of cinema associated with the theatre that was opened by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1935. (Photo: twitter)

Kolkata: Central, a chain of premium retail stores of the Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd, on Friday said it will cross Rs 3,000 crore topline by the end of the current fiscal.

Central, possibly the only fashion retail chain yet to log on to the e-commerce bandwagon, said it will remain offline.

"Revenue for FY'19 will cross Rs 3000 crore for Central. The company will spend about Rs 300 crore to open 6-7 stores next fiscal taking the total number of stores to 58," Central CEO Vishnu Prasad said at the launch of Metro Central store in the revamped iconic heritage building which was housed the Metro cinema in the heart of the city.

He said, "We are into offering a total experience which is not possible in online selling. We do not retail our merchandise on e-commerce platform and neither propose to do so in future."

The Metro store is the first thematic store keeping alive the nostalgia of cinema associated with the theatre that was opened by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in 1935.

Prasad said the chain that contributes in excess of 50 per cent of Future Lifestyle Fashions's total revenues, was growing steadily at around 15 per cent and would continue to so in the coming years.

Prasad, who remains optimistic about increasing the business in the old-fashioned brick and mortar model, said he is not bothered by the e-tailers.

"We may go online only for the logistics purposes to deliver to consumers," he said.

He said the brand will end with 47 stores this fiscal and would add 7-8 stores every year.

Prasad hopes to do a business of Rs 100 crore in the first year of its operation.

In-house brands constitute 20 per cent of its merchandise for Central.
Pope defrocks former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick over sexual abuse

Former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been defrocked after a Church investigation found him guilty of sexually abusing both minors and adults.

The Congresso of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is charged with investigating sexual abuse allegations, also found him guilty of soliciting sex while hearing confession.

The CDF determined that he was guilty of historical sexual abuse 'with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power', adding that it had rejected an appeal by McCarrick against his dismissal.

McCarrick, who was the Archbishop of Washington DC from 2001 to 2006, is the most senior figure to have been defrocked over sexual abuse in modern times.

He has been living in seclusion in a monastery in Kansas since resigning as cardinal last year after a former altar boy came forward to say he had been abused by McCarrick as a teenager in the 1970s.

It is not certain whether criminal charges will be brought against him due to the statute of limitations.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, said in a statement: 'No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church.

'For all those McCarrick abused, I pray this judgment will be one small step, among many, toward healing.'

The verdict comes after an indepth investigation carried out by the Archdiocese of New York on the orders of Pope Francis concluded that the allegations against McCarrick were 'credible and substantiated'.

McCarrick has denied the allegations.

The case raises difficult questions over the Church's failure to act sooner after the Diocese of Metuchen and the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey revealed last year that they had been aware of past allegations of sexual misconduct by the former cardinal, including two that had resulted in legal settlements.

The announcement on McCarrick comes days before the start of a major Vatican conference next week to address sexual abuse in the Church.
Liberal pastor melts purity rings into vagina statue and gives it to abortion advocate

Liberal Lutheran Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber unveiled a sculpture of a vulva made entirely of old purity rings to protest evangelical purity culture and presented it to pro-abortion second-wave feminist Gloria Steinem.

Bolz-Weber, the founding pastor of Denver's House for All Sinners and Saints, showed off the sculpture  which was made by melting down the old jewelry  during the 2019 Makers Conference last week.

"Every single thing and person that seemed so powerful and inescapable, I name them and then I just go 'footnote,'" Bolz-Weber told conference attendees. "I mean, seriously, Pontious Pilate? He's a footnote. Your bully from middle school? Footnote. Your depression? Footnote. Your s----y boss? Footnote. All of those things are very real, and the harm that they have on us and the world is also real."

"But to me, the whole point of having faith is it allows us to believe in a bigger story than the one we tell ourselves. Those purity rings are a footnote," she declared, unveiling the sculpture.

"The [rings] we couldn't melt down spell out the word 'freedom' and were woven into this heart," Bolz-Weber said, gesturing toward the sculpture.

"Isn't it amazing?" she said while presenting the sculpture to Steinem amid audience applause.

In some evangelical Christian circles, purity rings, also known as "promise" or "chastity" rings, were given to young girls as symbols of a promise they made to abstain from sexual activity until marriage.

The controversial pastor, who has defended the use of so-called "ethically sourced p*rn," first announced her art project at the 2018 Makers Conference, where she explained she wants to "take down" the "church's teachings around sex" and evangelical purity culture.

"This thing about women that the church has tried to hide and control and that is a canvas on which other people can write their own righteousness  it's actually ours," Bolz-Weber told HuffPost. "This part of me is mine and I get to determine what is good for it and if it's beautiful and how I use it in the world."

She then put out a call on Twitter, asking any women who no longer use their purity rings to donate them to her for use in the sculpture. In exchange for donating their ring, the pastor said she would give each person a copy of her new book, Shameless: A Sexual Reformation, in which she argues that Church teaching on sexuality has caused harm to many people.

According to a video posted on the Makers Conference website, the response was "overwhelming," with hundreds of women sending in their rings. One female welder agreed to make the sculpture after five men refused, claims the video.

The purity movement of the 1990s and 2000s was spurred in part by Joshua Harris' 1997 book I Kissed Dating Goodbye, which sold more than 1.2 million copies. The book, aimed at teenagers and young adults, argued against physical intimacy outside of marriage and said romantic relationships should exist only as a means of preparing for marriage.

Two decades after his book was published, Harris posted a statement of apology on his personal website: "While I stand by my book's call to sincerely love others, my thinking has changed significantly in the past 20 years. I no longer agree with its central idea that dating should be avoided."

Declaring his book would be discontinued, Harris explained that while it promotes some good and biblical ideas, it also presents a narrow and unhelpful view of sexuality, relationships, and dating.

"I didn't leave room for the idea that dating could be a healthy way of learning what you're looking for in a long-term relationship, that it could be a part of growing personally," he admitted.

"I gave the impression that there was one formula that you could follow, and if you followed that, you'd be happily married, God would bless you, and you'd have a great sex life and marriage. Obviously, the real world doesn't work that way."

"Fear is never a good motive," he said, adding, "Fear of messing up, fear of getting your heart broken, fear of hurting somebody else, fear of sex."

Tim Challies, an author and pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto, Ontario, recently urged the Church to find ways to address sex and purity in a "healthier" and "more biblical" way.

"The dating and courtship movements represented a weird phase in evangelicalism and, as they finally fade, I think we are in a position to speak in much healthier and much more biblical ways about sexuality, about purity, about marriage, and about relationships," he said. "This time, let's try to do so with wisdom, balance, and discernment instead of those radical extremes that simply lead to more error."
Decision to delay election is 'bad news for Nigeria'

The Archbishop of Abuja in Nigeria is demanding answers after presidential and parliamentary elections that were due to be held on Saturday were called off at the last minute.

The Independent National Electoral Commission stunned Nigerians when it announced that the elections were being pushed back to February 23 just hours before the polls were supposed to open on Saturday.

Commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu said it had been necessary to delay the poll to ensure that they were fair and free.

'Proceeding with the election as scheduled is no longer feasible,' he said.

The announcement immediately prompted accusations from the opposition of a deliberate ploy by President Muhammadu Buhari's administration to disenfranchise voters.

Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja, told Vatican news that the announcement had come as a huge shock and disappointment to Nigerians, many of whom had travelled some distance to cast their votes.

'We woke up early this morning to hear that the elections have been postponed for a week. The reasons given are still not clear and are certainly not adequate, he said.

The cardinal said that although security was an issue in the north-east of the country because of ongoing attacks by militant group Boko Haram, this should not have been cause to postpone the election.

'But we knew of all this more than four years ago, so there was plenty of time to take action and make sure the election went on; and in fact up to yesterday afternoon the Electoral Commission called a press conference, with observers from all over the world, and assured them that things were in good shape and that we were ready for the election this morning,' he said.

He added that whatever the reason for the delay, it did not bode well for Nigeria.

'Whatever it is, it's bad news for Nigeria,' he said.
Church should not treat divorcees like 'modern-day lepers', says pastor

Around two in five marriages in the US end in divorce and Christians are sadly not immune to relationship breakdown.

With the Bible setting out God's plan for marriage as a lifelong union, how should the church treat Christian divorcees struggling to believe they are forgiven at the same time as being tough on the biblical principle that marriage is for life?

This is the question that Bethel Church's Kris Vallotton considers in his blog post,

Vallatton, who is Senior Associate Leader of the Redding, California-based church, said he was in no way trying to promote divorce but rather consider how the church should treat Christians who have parted ways with their spouse.

'I am totally against divorce! Marriage is a covenant you make for life,' he said, adding, 'Marriage isn't something you try out to see if you are compatible.'

He wrote, however, that in his three years as a marriage counsellor at Bethel his 'dogmatic, black-and-white perspectives' on marriage and divorce had been challenging to apply to real-life divorcees in the church.

He gave the example of two Christian divorcees who had married each other and had kids but were now looking for marriage counselling from the church because they were having issues.

Vallatton suggested it would be unhelpful to take a hard line with such divorcees and tell them that because they were committing adultery and didn't have the blessing of Jesus on their relationship, they couldn't expect to ever be blessed and should simply live with the fact that they 'both screwed up'.

He also questioned whether strictly teaching against re-marriage was sending people the message 'that cohabiting is better than marriage'.

He charged that churches could be guilty of having a double standard towards Christians who co-habit with partners they are not married to.

'If Steven lives together with four different people over 15 years, and then finally decides to settle down and marry, the church celebrates him and the fact that he finally "gets it"! He isn't met with shame and judgment, but rather relief and celebration!' he said.

'But why can't we apply this same celebration to someone who tried really hard to do the right thing (get married instead of just living with someone), who failed (like we all do and have in life) and then wanted to do the right thing and do better the second time around and get married again?

'Do you see the double standard here?!' he said, adding that in his view such a 'double standard' was 'unjust'.

He said one possible way for the church to approach the question divorce and re-marriage was to think about God as a redeemer who was prepared to turn things around 'for those who remain repentant and humble'.

'The gospel is always redemptive because Jesus died to redeem mankind from all of our brokenness!' he said.

He argued that the answer was not in casting divorcees out and making them feel ashamed but rather reassuring them that they were forgiven and still a part of the church.

'I'm concerned that in our zeal to keep marriages togethera good and noble thing to dowe have completely marginalized an entire people group, who, by the way, are often in immense pain!' he said.

'We've marked divorced people as our modern day lepers and banished them from connection to the Church family. In some church circles, divorce is equal to the unpardonable sin. People who have been divorced are treated as if they have the plague: they can't serve in the church and they are not trusted.

'I'm not okay with exiling a third of the church to the ice castle of shame simply because they have failed in one area of life. It is our call and responsibility as the Body of Christ to redeem and restore into the fold anyone who has been through a divorce!'

The blog post comes days after Guardians of the Galaxy star Chris Pratt praised his church for giving him love and support during his divorce from Anna Faris.

'Despite what the Bible says about divorce my church community was there for me every step of the way, never judging, just gracefully accompanying me on my walk,' he wrote on Instagram.

'They helped me tremendously offering love and support. It is what I have seen them do for others on countless occasions regardless of sexual orientation, race or gender.'

Pratt made the comments in response to actor Ellen Paige, who accused him of attending an 'infamously anti-LGBTQ' church.

'Nothing could be further from the truth,' Pratt said in his statement.
Email Whatsapp Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Im an accidental Muslim party crasher. Three years ago, I studied abroad in Amman, Jordan during Ramadan, a month when Muslims around the world fast every day from morning until night. As a Christian, I had never experienced Ramadan first hand. I realized that if I were going to understand the culture, I would need to fast alongside the Muslim community. My Jordanian friends expressed great excitement and joy about my decision. One, in particular, even invited me to break fast with his family.

On the day of the iftar meal, I arrived at his house and was enthusiastically ushered inside. For twenty minutes, I filled my stomach and enjoyed a deep sense of community, but after some time began to wonder why my friend was not there. I gave him a call.

Where are you? I asked. To which he responded, Where are you? Im at your house, I said. No youre not. Were all here and youre not. I quickly looked up and realized I must have had the wrong address. I was at a complete strangers house. And somehow, it didnt matter. The fact that I was at their door was enough for this generous family to invite me in. This story is a wonderful example of the radical hospitality that exists in Muslim communities. It is a hospitality that is, unfortunately, not experienced or understood by many American Christians because we either havent had the opportunity to meet a Muslim or have lived in fear of something that we dont understand. For example, only 36% of white Evangelicals say that most Muslims living in the United States are committed to the well-being of America. Thats a pretty small percentage!

This reality is what led me to start working for America Indivisible, a coalition-based organization dedicated to combating bigotry towards Muslims, and those perceived to be Muslim, by helping to build neighborly connections in communities across the country. Through this work, I have had the pleasure of exploring and helping to deepen relationships between Evangelicals and their Muslim neighbors. I was excited to find out that there are a number of organizations who are dedicated to helping Christians better know Muslims. Many of these efforts are highlighted in our new Guide to Evangelical Bridge Builders. Last month, I spoke about this research alongside international Christian and Muslim leaders at the Peace Requires Encounter: Envisioning Evangelical-Muslim Bridge-Building Today symposium on Capitol Hill.

This past week has been designated by the United Nations as World Interfaith Harmony Week. I know the term interfaith doesnt always sit well in Evangelical circles. Whether we call this work multi faith, bearing witness, or something else, Ive realized that there are small ways we as American Christians can extend radical hospitality to our neighbors. It could be as simple as receiving from our Muslim neighbors like I received a meal from complete strangers in Jordan. If there is a Muslim community or mosque in your city or town, I encourage you to reach out. It may turn out that being a friend to a Muslim would be a blessing to them. But I know this for sure: they will definitely be a blessing to you.

Jon Paramore studied Arabic and International Affairs at the George Washington University. He previously served as the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship chaplain at American University and is now a Fellow at America Indivisible.
Louisiana College leaves CCCU over support for 'Fairness for All' LGBT compromise

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A private Baptist college in Louisiana has left the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities over its objection to the 180-school networks support for the Fairness for All compromise.

Louisiana College, a school of about 1,000 undergrads affiliated with the Louisiana Baptist Convention, submitted a withdrawal notice to CCCU in January, its president told The Louisiana Baptist Message.

The withdrawal comes months after CCCU officially endorsed the Fairness for All initiative that supports legislative constructs to cement LGBT civil rights protections into federal law in exchange for religious liberty protections.

Louisiana College President Rick Brewer reportedly sent a letter to CCCU President Shirley Hoogstra asserting that Louisiana College could not be "willfully associated" with any entity that endorses Fairness for All legislation even though its long relationship with CCCU has been "beneficial.

Sometimes the answer to such matters is to agree to disagree, Brewer was quoted as writing in the letter. But the import and impact of the Fairness for All initiative calls for Louisiana College to respectfully disagree with CCCUs stance.

Norm Miller, Louisiana College vice president for communications and integrative marketing, confirmed to The Christian Post that the institution dropped out of CCCU because of the association's support for Fairness for All. For other questions, Miller referred CP to the report published by the Baptist Message, the state convention-owned newspaper.

CCCU exists to serve Christian colleges and universities in their mission through public advocacy, professional development, and experiential education. Greta Hays, CCCUs director of communications and public affairs, told CP Wednesday that CCCU membership is voluntary and institutions join and leave CCCU at a variety of times and for a variety of reasons.

In the case of Louisiana College, who themselves disclosed their reason for leaving, we can confirm that they left CCCU due to Fairness for All, Hays wrote in an email. But in general, as it relates to other institutions in the past or future, our practice is not to comment on why individual institutions choose to join or leave our organization  this is something that individual institutions may choose to disclose, but is not our role to comment on.

Fairness for All supports the passage of federal nondiscrimination legislation that protects on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation while bolstering religious exemptions allowing institutions to uphold the traditional Christian teachings on marriage and sexuality in their operations without government coercion.

According to CCCU, Fairness for All would ensure that LGBT Americans can't be denied access to employment, housing, financial credit and social service programs funded by the federal government. At the same time, it would ensure that churches and religious organizations "will not be found to be engaging in discriminatory actions simply because of their religious beliefs."

The initiative comes as Christian colleges across the nation are dealing with religious freedom concerns when it comes to enforcement of state discrimination laws.

Although Fairness for All is seen by some evangelical leaders as an important step that puts down markers in the public conversation surrounding the intersection of LGBT rights and religious freedom, others have objected to the idea and fear that such legislation will only coerce Christians to embrace LGBT rights.

Shirley Mullen, the president of Houghton College in Western New York and vice chair of CCCU's board of directors, defended the Fairness for All initiative earlier this month when talking with reporters after CCCUs Presidents Conference in Washington, D.C.

The debate is not about the importance about the traditional view of marriage, Mullen contested. The debate is about the best strategy for preserving this.

She admits that while there may be some risk associated with Fairness for All, she contested that there is also a risk on the LGBT side of the equation.

Right now, the way our society is polarized, they [religious freedom and LGBT rights] are not on a level playing field, Mullen contended. The sense [in society now] is that one side has to win and one side has to lose.

According to Mullen, the Fairness for All approach is much better than the Equality Act, which is expected to have success in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. The bill would provide legal protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. However, it would not provide the religious freedom protections that the Fairness for All initiative is seeking.

[I]t, in fact, stereotypes religious freedom ... as something that leads to violence, Mullen told reporters. Now, the Equality Act doesnt say this but I have actually heard people in higher education say that traditional religious protections are bigotry.

CCCU is no stranger to having members schools drop out over LGBT issues.

In 2015, two member schools left CCCU after two other member schools  Goshen College and Eastern Mennonite University  changed policies allowing for the hiring of faculty members in same-sex relationships.

In September 2015, CCCU board announced the results of a survey of member institution presidents. The survey found that 75 percent of CCCU member presidents supported a recommendation to move Goshen College and EMU to nonmember status. EMU and Goshen College ultimately left CCCU and CCCU reaffirmed its commitment to the historic Christian view of marriage.
Focus on the Family to put live 4-D ultrasounds on Times Square jumbotron

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

In response to New York's new abortion law, which effectively allows unlimited abortion until birth, Focus on the Family launched the largest pro-life effort in the organization's history.

The 12-week campaign, dubbed SEE LIFE CLEARLY, will culminate in a May 4 event in Times Square, "Alive from New York," where live 4-D ultrasounds will be broadcast on a jumbotron.

"Were looking to fill Times Square with pro-life Americans, and it will feature live music, compelling and inspirational speakers, and best of all, live 4-D ultrasounds broadcast on a massive digital marquee in Times Square, powerfully showing the world that a baby inside the womb is fully human and should be given the chance to be born," Focus announced.

Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, believes the images will have a powerful impact.

"We'll have great speakers. We're going to have music, but we're also going to do a live ultrasound of a third-trimester baby. And with the 4-D technology that we have, it looks like a picture of a 1-year-old. There is no way a person is going to be able to say, 'That is not a child.' It is a child and we want everybody to see it," he told CBN News Tuesday.

A series of events in recent weeks have brought more attention to late-term abortions and the killing of babies who survive botched abortions.

On Jan. 22, New York passed a law protecting abortion rights through an entire pregnancy. The law stated that an abortion can be performed for any reason before 24 weeks or "at any time when necessary to protect a patient's life or health." Since the Supreme Court ruled in Doe v. Bolton that the health reasons are defined by the doctor, the law effectively allows unlimited abortion until birth.

Later that week, during a subcommittee hearing in the Virginia legislature, Democrat Kathy Tran was answering questions about an abortion bill and said it would allow abortion while the mom was in labor and dilating. In an attempt to clarify those remarks, Gov. Ralph Northam, who is embroiled in a blackface scandal within his own party, said that the abortion bill would allow doctors to withhold care from a baby born alive, presumably after an abortion failed to kill the fetus.

In response to Northam's comments, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., has been seeking passage of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, to protect the lives of babies marked for abortion but born alive.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., blocked the bill, arguing, We have laws against infanticide in this country. This is a gross misinterpretation of the actual language of the bill that is being asked to be considered and therefore I object."

In a Wednesday Fox News interview, Sasse appeared with Daly to talk about the legislation and the Focus on the Family campaign.

"The reality is, what New York did is try to strip protections from babies right up until the moment of birth and then they went out and they said let's celebrate this and light up the World Trade Center in pink lights," Sasse said.

"The pro-life movement is pro-compassion, it's pro-baby, it's pro-mom and it's pro-science," he added.

The SEE LIFE CLEARLY campaign is asking supporters to sign "A Declaration for Life," attend the May 4 "Alive from New York" event in Times Square, and donate to its Option Ultrasound program.
NeverTrump evangelicals are 'spineless morons' who can't admit they're wrong: Robert Jeffress

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Dallas megachurch pastor and prominent Donald Trump supporter Robert Jeffress issued harsh words about evangelicals who oppose the president while appearing on a conservative radio show Wednesday.

Jeffress, who's pastor of the 12,000-member First Baptist Dallas, appeared on The Todd Starnes Radio Show Wednesday morning and didnt hold back when asked about Never Trump evangelicals.

Let me say this as charitably as I can, Jeffress said. These Never Trump evangelicals are morons. They are absolutely spineless morons and they cannot admit that they were wrong.

Jeffress, who was one of the first evangelical leaders to voice his support for Trump during the 2016 presidential primaries, is known for being outspoken in his support of the president and is no stranger to having his remarks shared in headlines across the internet. However, his remarks Wednesday might be his strongest condemnation yet of the cohort within evangelicalism that has staunchly opposed Trump since the 2016 presidential primaries.

Jeffress told Starnes, a Christian conservative columnist regularly published on Fox News, that he doesnt understand why Never Trump evangelicals cant acknowledge the positive things that Trump has done, especially when it comes to passing pro-life policies.

This is an issue of life and death. This is so black and white, so much about good versus evil. I dont get it, Jeffress explained. It really goes to the core of who we are as a country and what kind of a country we have in the future, and if we cant get this issue of life right  I just dont know where were going to go down the road.

Jeffress continued by pointing out that abortion advocates are still pushing the legal limit of abortion with controversial late-term bills in states like New York and Virginia.

What youre seeing that [New York Gov.] Andrew Cuomo and others have proposed its not only sinful and wrong, it is barbaric, Jeffress said. It is the sign of what Romans 1 in the New Testament calls a depraved mind that would allow that to happen.

Jeffress stressed that Christians must stand up to defend the unborn.

We cannot afford to be like German Christians who, in the rise of the evil reign of Adolf Hitler, just remained neutered. They remained silent. And you saw what happened there, Jeffress said. I think theres a similar wave of godlessness that is rising in our country right now and we must push back against that tide.

Jeffress remarks to Starnes this week isn't the first time that he's called out Never Trump evangelicals.

"We support this president's conservative positions and what is happening right now vindicates our decision to choose Donald Trump as president, Jeffress said last June on Fox News. And I believe the Never Trump movement, the little sliver of it still in evangelicalism, is going to be shut up forever."

On Monday, conservative writer Erick Erickson, a former Never Trumper, announced that he will endorse Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for re-election in 2020.

Jeffress responded.

Remember when @EWErickson questioned whether I was going to heaven because of my support for President @realDonaldTrump? Jeffress asked in a tweet Tuesday. Welcome aboard the #TrumpTrain, Eric! Better late than never.

Jeffress comments on Starnes show drew a strong response from Alan Cross, a Baptist pastor and missional strategist with the Montgomery Baptist Association. Cross is the author of the 2014 book When Heaven and Earth Collide: Racism, Southern Evangelicals, and the Better Way of Jesus.

Robert Jeffress calls anti-Trump Christians, spineless morons, Or, form of Raca, which is Aramaic for fool, Cross wrote in a tweet. Greek word for fool = moros, where we get moron. JESUS: whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew 5:22. @robertjeffress should repent.

Paul Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, an ordained Baptist minister and senior vice president and editor of Voices on Auburn Seminary in New York City, wrote on Twitter that "being called a fool (for being a Christian who does not support trump) by pastor Jeffress is a welcomed confirmation that all is well with my soul."
Missouri woman who claims state's abortion laws 'violate' her satanic beliefs loses fight

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Missouri's Supreme Court has dismissed a Satanic Temple member's religious challenge to the states informed consent law, which required her to wait 72 hours and gave her the opportunity to view an ultrasound before having an abortion.

On Wednesday, Supreme Court judges ruled against the plaintiff, an anonymous member of the Satanic Temple listed as Mary Doe.

Doe alleged that her religious rights were violated by a state law requiring women seeking abortions be provided with a booklet that says "the life of each human being begins at conception." Abortion providers also must give women a chance to view an ultrasound and hear the baby's heartbeat.

But in their ruling, the judges wrote that Doe didn't have to read the booklet and could have declined the ultrasound: "It simply provides her with that opportunity," they wrote.

The case stems back to 2015, when Doe traveled from southeastern Missouri to St. Louis in for an abortion at Planned Parenthood. At the time, she gave a letter to her doctors explaining that some of the state's restrictions on abortion conflict with her beliefs.

Specifically, her letter advised she has deeply held religious beliefs that a nonviable fetus is not a separate human being but is part of her body and that abortion of a nonviable fetus does not terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being, notes the case.

Her letter further absolved the doctors of their responsibility to deliver the booklet to her or to wait 72 hours before performing her abortion, advising them she voluntarily, freely and without coercion was choosing to have the abortion that day. The clinic, however, refused her request. Instead, as required by the law, it gave Doe an ultrasound and the opportunity to listen to the fetal heartbeat.

Missouri is one of five states that have a 72 hour waiting period for abortions. Doe, who eventually had an abortion, told local media that as an adherent to the principles of the Satanic Temple, she believes her body is inviolable, subject to her own will alone.

"I personally would have liked to have the procedure done as soon as possible," she said. "But with all the difficulties, how hard it is to do this, it's been put off for several weeks. If you're right on the edge of the state you've got to go 500 miles just to get to St. Louis, and you have to make arrangements."

The Satanic Temple filed state and federal lawsuits on behalf of Doe in May 2015 and launched crowd-funding efforts on multiple websites to raise the funds to help the woman get her abortion, raising over $45,000.

"Please contribute to The Satanic Temple's legal aid fund to offer exemptions against, and actively challenge, arbitrary, insulting, and outright harmful anti-abortion legislation," stated the Temple on the IndieGoGo page.

Following Wednesdays ruling, the woman's attorney, James MacNaughton, said they're disappointed, but added that there might be "some small measure of vindication" if the court ruling means women can turn down ultrasounds and still receive abortions.

In turn, Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt's spokesman, Chris Nuelle, told the AP his office applauds the ruling, as the measure is "designed to protect women from undue pressure and coercion during the sensitive decision of whether or not to have an abortion."
North Korean woman imprisoned for faith shares how God sustained her amid horrific abuses

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A Christian survivor of a North Korean prison camp describes the horrific torture she endured for her faith and how God stayed with her through the brutality.

In an interview with persecution watchdog group Open Doors, a woman identified only as "Prisoner 42" shared how she became a Christian after fleeing to China in the midst of North Korea's great famine. In China, she was captured and sent to a North Korean prison camp, where she spent one year in solitary confinement.

When she arrived at the prison camp, guards shaved her head and stripped her down to nothing. Each morning when they would call for her, she would crawl out of a door flap  typically used for dogs or cats  and keep her head bowed low because she was not allowed to make eye contact with the guards.

She recalled how, for an hour, guards would ask her the same questions: "Why were you in China? Who did you meet? Did you go to church? Did you have a Bible? Did you meet any South Koreans? Are you a Christian?"

To stay alive, she was forced to lie: "Am I a Christian? Yes. I love Jesus. But I deny it. If I admit that I was helped by Chinese Christians, I will be killed, either quickly or slowly," she said. "They will murder me in this North Korean prison. Every day, Im beaten and kicked  it hurts the most when they hit my ears. My ears ring for hours, sometimes days."

During her year in solitary confinement, she was trapped in a cold cell and never saw sunlight or another prisoner: "I spent one year in prison, and for one year my skin didnt touch a single ray of sunlight," she said.

So she prayed and sang a song she wrote in her head  but never out loud. Lyrics included the lines My heart longs for my Father in this prison/Although the road to truth is steep and narrow/A bright future will be revealed when I continue.

"It has been a year now. I dont know how long I will survive in this place," she wrote. "One day they will call me, and I wont move. I will have died here in a North Korean prison. They will dispose of my body, and the first new prisoner that comes in will be 'Prisoner 42.' They will wear my clothes."

One day, she appeared in court where she officially divorced her husband against her will. Officials found her not guilty of being a Christian and sentenced her to four years at a re-education camp.

In between working 12 hour days, she became sick and had to stay in the barracks. There, she saw a woman praying in tongues under a blanket.

"Inside this North Korean prison, we wound up forming a secret church. When we met and felt safe enough, we prayed the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed," she said. "She was actually much braver than I was. She spoke to others about Christ as well."

But one day a car came and took her away: When I saw her leave, I knew they were taking her to a maximum-security Kwan-li-so. I knew I would never see her again, she said.

Meanwhile, "Prisoner 42 was released after two years. She told Open Doors the first thing she plans to do is find her husband and children.

"We havent seen each other in years," she said. "But God has watched over me here in this North Korean prison, and I pray and believe that He also watches over my family every second of every minute of every hour of every day."

"I need to tell them about this loving God, she added.

North Korea has been the No. 1 persecutor of Christians on the group's annual list for a consecutive 18 years. The U.S. State Department has also included North Korea on its list of countries violating religious freedom every year since 2001. Open Doors estimates there are 250,000 imprisoned North Koreans  50,000 of which are political prisoners jailed for their Christian faith.

North Korea has previously arrested South Korean and American missionaries for allegedly attempting to build underground churches, and very few North Korean believers risk trying to win converts, defectors say.

Recently, defector Kwak Jeong-ae, 65, shared how a fellow inmate in North Korea told guards about her own religious beliefs and insisted on using her baptized name, rather than her original Korean name, during questioning in 2004.

She persisted in saying, My name is Hyun Sarah; its the name that God and my church have given to me, Kwak said. She told [the interrogators], Im a child of God and Im not scared to die. So if you want to kill me, go ahead and kill me.

Kwak said she later saw Hyun coming back from an interrogation room with severe bruises on her forehead and bleeding from her nose. Days later, guards took Hyun away  and Kwak never saw her again.

During his State of the Union Address, President Donald Trump announced he will hold a second nuclear summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un later this month. A number of human rights groups and faith leaders have called on the president to confront Kim face-to-face about his countrys severe human rights violations.

Following the scheduled meeting in February, within 60 to 90 days President Trump and the United States can determine whether North Korea is serious about opening up to the international community by including monitoring of human rights considerations as part of denuclearization talks," David Curry, CEO of Open Doors, told The Christian Post.

"The human rights violations against Christians in North Korea is unacceptable. Christians are considered the No. 1 enemy of the state of North Korea," he continued. "As the leader of Open Doors USA , I continue to implore President Trump to not shy away from our moral mandate to call Kim Jong Un to task for his litany of human rights abuses  especially his imprisonment, torture and execution of Christians whose only crime was to dare to express any beliefs other than those approved by the Communist regime."

"The situation for Christians in North Korea is vulnerable and precarious," Curry said. "Approximately 50,000 Christians are confined to prison camps  the conditions are deplorable. President Trump can bring some hope by continuing to make human rights a part of the denuclearization deal; these two items need not be mutually exclusive. The people of North Korea deserve our vocal, prayerful and relentless support.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday flagged off the country's first semi high speed train - Vande Bharat Express.

The train, previously named Train 18, was flagged off from the New Delhi railway station.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi flags off the country's first semi high speed train, Vande Bharat Express, at New Delhi railway station in India, on Feb. 15, 2019. [Photo: Xinhua/Partha Sarkar]

"The train can run up to a maximum speed of 160 kmph and will provide a totally new travel experience to passengers," a spokesman said.

Indian railway minister Piyush Goyal and members of railway board were on board the train on its inaugural journey.

The train will travel from Delhi to Varanasi in 9 hours and 45 minutes, officials said.

The Indian government in 2015 announced an investment of over 137 billion U.S. dollars over a period of five years to boost railways and modernize it on new lines.

India's sprawling railways ferry around 23 million people each day.
RTHK: Kim Jong Un to arrive early for summit

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Vietnam on February 25 ahead of a planned second summit with US President Donald Trump, Reuters reported on Saturday, quoting unidentified sources.

Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi on February 27 and 28 following their historic first meeting last June in Singapore. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday Washington aims to get as far down the road as we can at the summit.

Kim will meet with Vietnamese officials when he arrives in Hanoi, said the sources, who requested anonymity citing the sensitivity and secrecy surrounding the movements of the North Korean leader.

He will also visit the Vietnamese manufacturing base of Bac Ninh and the industrial port town of Hai Phong, one source said.

Vietnams president and general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, will meet Kim ahead of a planned trip by Trong to neighboring Laos, one of the sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

Communist-ruled Vietnam, which has embraced economic reforms and developed close diplomatic ties with its former foe the United States, has been widely touted as a model of reform for isolated and impoverished North Korea.

The former Cold War allies, which share a similar socialist ideology and exchanged military and political support during the Vietnam War, are eyeing a new chapter in relations following Hanois opening up and embrace of the West. (Reuters)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
Kentucky Senate passes bill banning abortion when baby's heartbeat first detected

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

A bill that would ban abortion in Kentucky once a baby's heartbeat is detected was passed by state senators Thursday.

Kentuckys fetal heartbeat bill comes in the wake of similar measures passed by Mississippi lawmakers in both the House and Senate Wednesday that could ban abortion as early as six weeks, a time when a baby's heartbeat can first be detected.

The Kentucky Senate voted 31-6 to pass Senate Bill 9, which has the support of the states evangelical Christian Gov. Matt Bevin as well as the GOP controlled House.

A Republican who supports the bill told The Associated Press that it has an emergency clause, which means it would take effect once it has been approved by the Senate, House and Bevin.

During his annual State of the Commonwealth address a week ago, Bevin urged the legislature to continue to pass anti-abortion legislation, insisting they would prevail.

"At the end of the day we will prevail because we stand on the side of right and we stand on the side of life," Bevin said.

Emotional testimony from pro-life and pro-abortion supporters was heard before the decision Thursday, according WAVE 3. Supporters of the bill argued that legislators had a moral duty to pass it while others saw it as an overreach of government.

SB 9 is intended to ban almost all abortion in the Commonwealth with no exemptions for rape, no exemptions for incest or fetal anomaly, Tamara Wieder, a Kentucky Planned Parenthood representative, noted in the report.

Abby Johnson, a supporter of the bill who used to operate a Planned Parenthood clinic in Texas, argued that It is unjust to take the life of a human being.

Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear argued  after hearing Bevins speech a week ago  that he has already informed state legislators that the fetal heartbeat bill is unconstitutional and would likely cost the state hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defend it.

"Every single elected official in this room, including the governor, took an oath to support the Constitution," Beshear told the AP. "The Constitution provides a choice that I believe is between a woman and her doctor for at least the first two trimesters of pregnancy, and I'm going to enforce that constitutional right."

The latest push for fetal heartbeat bills comes as high profile Democrats, such as New Yorks Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have claimed that President Trump wants to roll back Roe v. Wade.

New York recently passed the Reproductive Health Act, which codifies protections for abortion and allows doctors and other health care workers to perform abortions up to birth for any reason in which a pregnancy is deemed to be a risk to a womans mental or physical health. It also removed abortion from the state's criminal code.

"He wants to roll back Roe v. Wade which is a Supreme Court case that guarantees a woman's right to choose. Take us back to a time when women couldn't get an abortion legally," Cuomo said this week.

Abortion rights advocates have been bracing for the potential rollback of Roe v. Wade which some have said would trigger bans on abortion in as many as 22 states.

But Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric J. Scheidler has dismissed that claim as fearmongering.

"At most, only a couple of states with extremely conservative legislatures might even attempt something like a total ban on abortion," Scheidler said in a previous interview with The Christian Post.

"[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 added.
DC comics cancels 'blasphemous' Jesus superhero series, 'Second Coming'

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

DC Comics announced the cancelation of the series Second Coming after nearly a quarter of a million Christians protested against it.

Bleeding Cool reports that the popular comic book publisher informed retailers that they had decided against publishing the Second Coming series. Written by Mark Russell and illustrated by Richard Pace for DC Vertigo, the series was set to debut in March.

The series made headlines at the top of the year and was quickly labeled by many Christians as "blasphemous. Subsequently, a petition to cancel the comic series went up on Citizens Go and garnered over 230,000 supporters.

According to Comic Book Resources, Russell mixed in his own idea of Christianity in the animated work by claiming that Jesus needed to return to Earth to learn how to become the true Messiah from a Superman-like character called Sun-man.

Witness the return of Jesus Christ, as he is sent on a most holy mission by God to learn what it takes to be the true messiah of mankind by becoming roommates with the worlds favorite savior: the all-powerful superhero Sun-Man, the Last Son of Krispex! But when Christ returns to earth, hes shocked to discover what has become of his gospel  and now, he aims to set the record straight, the comic description reads.

Although DC Comics was initially on board with publishing the series, plans have since changed and a mutual agreement between DC/Vertigo, Russell and Pace was made to drop the comic and go elsewhere.

The: DC/Vertigos cancellation of the orders for 'Second Coming,' just so you know, DC did not do anything untoward to me. I asked for the rights back and they gracefully agreed. Theyve been a pleasure to work with and it will still be released, albeit with a different publisher, Russell Tweeted on Tuesday.

The: DC/Vertigos cancellation of the orders for Second Coming, just so you know, DC did not do anything untoward to me. I asked for the rights back and they gracefully agreed. Theyve been a pleasure to work with and it will still be released, albeit with a different publisher.  Mark Russell (@Manruss) February 13, 2019

Russell went on to suggest that DC comics was looking to change something in his series which might have led to the spilt.

The cool thing is, this way, we dont have to change anything. he continued on Twitter.

There is no further information on the Second Coming and whether it will be picked up by another publisher, But the writer assured his followers that the comic will be released since the Superman and Jesus-like characters are already generating a buzz.

In a previous interview with Bleeding Cool, Russell said the series centers on God being "so upset with Jesus performance the first time he came to earth since he was arrested so soon and crucified shortly after, that he has kept him locked up since then.

When the fictional version of God sees Sun-Man, he tells the comic Jesus, Thats what I wanted for you.

He sends Jesus down to learn from this superhero and they end up learning from each other, Russell added. They learn the limitations of each others approach to the world and its problems.

Russell is also the author of two books, God Is Disappointedin You and Apocrypha Now. In them, he claims that people have really misunderstood the Bible and says the Christian faith doesnt really base itself on what [Jesus] taught, particularly in the modern evangelical megachurches.
Conservatives greatly outnumber liberals in the United Methodist Church: poll

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Self-identified theological conservatives outnumber self-identified theological liberals in the United Methodist Church, according to a recently released survey.

The UMC is scheduled to have a special session of General Conference on Feb. 23-26 in St. Louis, Missouri, to determine their official stance on homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

United Methodist Communications and Research NOW conducted an online survey Sept 27Oct. 4, 2018, that had a sample space of 541 respondents who were UMC laity.

In findings released earlier this month, the survey found that 44 percent of respondents identified as Conservative-Traditional, 28 percent identified as Moderate-Centrist, 20 percent identified as Progressive-Liberal, and 8 percent identified as unsure.

Chuck Niedringhaus, senior director of marketing research and local church outreach at UM Communications, said in a statement Wednesday that the findings counter misconceptions about the UMCs theological makeup.

Oftentimes we think the denomination is equally divided. It was important for us to see that the plurality of people see themselves as more conservative, said Niedringhaus, as reported by United Methodist Insight.

The survey report also found that Conservative-Traditional respondents were the most likely to report attending worship once a week at 35 percent. From there, it was Moderate-Centrist at 27 percent, and Progressive-Liberal at 23 percent.

On the other end, Progressive-Liberal respondents were the most likely to report attending worship seldom, at 18 percent. From there, it was Moderate-Centrist at 8 percent and Conservative-Traditional at 7 percent.

When the survey asked respondents Which should be the primary focus of the United Methodist Church? 88 percent of Conservative-Traditional respondents said, Saving souls for Jesus Christ, but only 32 percent of Progressive-Liberals said the same.

In response to the same question, 68 percent of Progressive-Liberal respondents replied Advocating for social justice to transform this world while just 12 percent of Conservative-Traditional respondents said the same.

After years of divisive internal debate, the UMC is holding a special session to determine whether it will maintain its official biblically-grounded objection to homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

At present, the UMC Book of Discipline labels homosexuality incompatible with Christian teaching, which includes barring clergy from performing same-sex weddings and prohibiting noncelibate homosexuals from being ordained.

Delegates to the special session in St. Louis will consider plans to resolve the internal debate, among them The One Church Plan and The Traditional Plan.

The Traditional Plan maintains the denomination's stance on LGBT issues, plus it guarantees more enforcement and might allow dissenting churches an easy process for leaving the denomination.

The One Church Plan, which is favored by most bishops, would allow regional bodies and congregations to determine their own stance on LGBT issues.
Beloved pastor, father of five, suffers fatal heart attack after communion service

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

The Rev. Charles M. Franklin Jr., a beloved father of five and pastor of Ray of Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland, died Sunday after suffering a heart attack shortly after a communion service. He was 47.

My heart is heavy, but Earth has no sorrow Heaven cannot heal. I was blessed to have married an exceptional man from which I now have amazing and beautiful children to live on and carry out his legacy. His departure, though untimely for us, was all on time according to God, wrote Ayanna Franklin in a post on Facebook Monday.

Ray of Hope, be not sad, but rejoice in having had such an inspirational, vibrant pastor who was devoted to his calling, and represented each of us and the legacy of his father, Rev. C.M. Franklin Sr., very well. We've celebrated 40 years, and our faith journey is not over. We will continue to be a beacon of hope, a ray of light to all who are in darkness and do not yet know their Savior. My husband, my pastor, our pastor preached the Good News of Christ and served God's people well. I love you all, and remember, everyone Needs a Ray of Hope! she added.

Darrell B. Giles, a deacon at Ray of Hope, told The Baltimore Sun that Franklin suffered a seizure in his office at about 1 p.m. after preaching at the church and serving communion.

He had a seizure about 1 p.m. The church nurse went in and they were soon calling an ambulance, Giles said.

Members of the congregation followed their beloved pastor to the Union Memorial Hospital and after waiting for about an hour they were informed that Franklin had died.

Like Franklins wife, many of those who knew the late pastor remembered him as a respected and principled spiritual leader.

He was his fathers only son and he was born to be a preacher, the Rev. Alfred C.D. Vaughn, pastor of Sharon Baptist Church and a family friend who was a classmate of the senior Rev. Franklin, told The Baltimore Sun. He fell right into his fathers footsteps. He was one of the kindest, most gentle-hearted and compassionate persons you could ever hope to meet.

State Delegate Talmadge Branch told the publication he was shocked by the preachers death.

He was a caring guy who led his church well. He had a total belief in what he was doing. He was an active pastor and was always coming up with a new project for his congregation. He believed in community activism, Branch said.

He knew his members by name, Branch added. His style of preaching mixed in humor. He would tell jokes in the pulpit  and talk about what it was like growing up as a pastors son. He was well respected.

The Christian Post reached out to Franklins church for further comment on his passing Friday morning but no one was immediately available.

Visitation for Franklin will be held on Sunday, Feb. 17 at Ray of Hope Baptist Church from 2  7 p.m. Service location is pending.
A vigil for the unborn in New York

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Pro-life activists are calling for repentance a week after the New York state Legislature passed a bill making it legal for abortionists and other health care professionals to perform abortions up to birth for any reason that might threaten a womans mental or physical health.

On February 23, theres going to be a national day of mourning. What will happen on that day is nationwide we are encouraging people to do what we did here. Shut your business down, dont collect sales tax that day, wear black, repent for our own apathy on this issue of abortion overall, Jon Speed, owner of the Jon Speed: The Book Scout in Syracuse told The Christian Post.

The controversial 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 on Jan. 22. 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.

Read more at: https://www.christianpost.com/news/pro-life-activists-plan-day-of-mourning-call-for-repentance-after-revolting-ny-abortion-law.html
The latest megachurch campus: In prison?

Email Print Img No-img Menu Whatsapp Google Reddit Digg Stumbleupon Linkedin Comment

Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, has announced an unconventional location for the church's newest campus: The state's largest prison.

On Sunday, Morris told his congregation, We have a new campus. And youre gonna be really surprised.

He then shared a video revealing that in November, the church launched a new campus at the Coffield Unit in Anderson County, which houses over 4,000 criminal offenders. More than 650 inmates attended the megachurch's first service, and over 500 men made decisions to follow Jesus.

"Gateway has really impacted my life because a lot of us do not have visits, and you guys comin' in here and sharing y'alls love to us has really impacted our life," one of the inmates says in the video.

Read more at: https://www.christianpost.com/news/gateway-church-opens-new-campus-in-maximum-security-prison-over-500-embrace-christ.html
Melania Trump doesnt speak much about her only son, Barron Trump. However, she does share information now and then during interviews. Throughout the years, weve gotten glimpses into their relationship and Melanias approach to parenting. Heres what we know about Melania Trump and Barron Trumps relationship.

Donald Trump with Melania and Barron Trump | Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Melania says she tries to teach Barron right from wrong

Melania Trump and Barron Trump | Mark Wilson/Getty Images

The first lady takes her role as a mother seriously. During a Virginia town hall, she spoke about her son and how she hopes to instill a strong value system. I teach him what is right, what is wrong, she said. He doesnt have a social media yethes not interested in it. Hes all into sport.

She encourages Barron to be independent

Melania Trump and Barron Trump | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Now that Melania Trumps son is older, she is taking steps to allow for a bit more independence. For example, last Christmas, Melania left Barron behind at Mar-a-Lago (Donald Trumps Florida club) to spend part of the holidays at the White House and then fly to Iraq with Donald to visit U.S. troops stationed abroad. However, the mother and son did spend some time together at the club before she left. She later returned to Florida to spend the rest of the holiday with Barron.

Melania Trump and Barron Trumps relationship

Melania Trump and Barron Trumps relationship seems to be very close. The first lady says she spends more time with Barron than Donald. In a 2011 interview with Mommy Helper Show, she spoke about why its important for her to spend a lot of time with her son. I like to spend as much time as possible with him because children need your attention, they need to see that you are involved, and they really want their mommy there.

Melania tries to make sure Barrons life is as stable and consistent as possible

The first lady was concerned about her sons adjustment to life in the White House. After Donald became president, she didnt move into the White House right away. Instead, she stayed behind in their New York home at Trump Tower and waited to move until Barron finished the school year. Barron currently attends St. Andrews Episcopal School in Potomac, Maryland. His school choice is unusual because every presidents child has attended Sidwell Friends for the last 35 years.

Donald Trump has a hands-off approach to parenting

In a 2005 interview with Larry King, before he and Melania tied the knot, Donald spoke about what he thought life would be like when he and Melania became parents. He imagined Melania would take care of all the parenting duties and joked he would probably never see their child. Now, I know Melania, Im not going to be doing the diapers, Im not going to be making the food, I may never even see the kids, he told King.

Melania didnt seem to mind Donalds take on parenting. In a 2012 interview with Parenting, she said she didnt expect Donald to be involved and that she took over caring for Barron. He didnt change diapers and I am completely fine with that. It is not important to me. Its all about what works for you. Its very important to know the person youre with. And we know our roles.

Read more: How Old Was Melania Trump When She Had Barron Trump?

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
Since their wedding day in May 2018 Meghan Markle and Prince Harry havent slowed down one bit. Theyve gone to countless charity events, embarked on some royal tours, and now they are preparing for the most significant change in their lives the birth of their first child. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have just about two months left before they welcome Baby Sussex into the world, and their lives will be changed forever.

Though Markle is heavily pregnant, she still looks and feels fantastic, so she hopes to continue working up until she gives birth. Still, with such a packed schedule and a massive move from their 2-bedroom apartment at Kensington Palace to their sprawling estate at Frogmore House, we wondered if Markle and Prince Harry will have time to go on a babymoon.

What is a babymoon?

Typically, a couple takes a babymoon in the final trimester of pregnancy. The purpose of the vacation is to allow for a bit of romance and relaxation before everything becomes all about the baby. Essentially its the last baby-free getaway many couples will have for a long time. Sherry Alvarado, the experiences coordinator at Rosewood Bermuda, told The New York Times, A babymoon  a vacation couples take in the months before they become parents  is a chance to relax, spend quality time with your partner and indulge in some fun before your new arrival.

Will Meghan Markle and Prince Harry go on a babymoon?

Right now, it doesnt look like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have left any room in their packed schedules for a babymoon. However, they are about to embark on a really amazing royal tour. The duchess and the prince will head to Morocco which is located in North Africa for three days, Feb. 23-25, 2019. They are traveling to the country on behalf of the British government. A Kensington Palace spokesperson explained to People, It will build on the close relationship between the U.K. and Morocco. The Duke and Duchess are looking forward to the visit which will highlight the vital roles that girls education and youth empowerment are playing in, and shaping, modern Morocco.

During their two days of royal engagements, Markle and Prince Harry will meet Moroccos ruler King Mohammed VI, and the countrys prime minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani. They are also set to visit major tourist attractions.

Is it safe for Meghan Markle to fly in her final trimester of pregnancy?

The flight time from the United Kingdom to Morocco is just over 3-hours which isnt terribly long. Though the duke and duchess are reportedly flying commercial, were sure theyll be in first class. According to Englands National Health Service  women can fly until they are 37 weeks pregnant. A royal aide explained to The Telegraph U.K, The Duchess feels well and able to fly. Most airlines permit women to fly up until approximately the last month of their pregnancy. Though the royal aide did not confirm, it appears that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will also have a doctor accompanying them on the trip.

Once they are all moved into their new digs in March, the duke and duchess may slip off on a secret babymoon and never tell us about it. After all, we still have no clue where they spent their honeymoon.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
Everyone, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, is eager to know: Is Baby Sussex a boy or girl? Although their firstborns gender has yet to be revealed, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are, apparently, hoping for a daughter. In fact, Meghan Markle already has a very sentimental gift for her little royal-to-be.



Find out what gift Meghan Markle hopes to give her daughter one day, ahead.



Meghan Markle hopes for a daughter. | Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle having a boy or a girl?



In the royal family, its tradition to wait until a babys arrival to find out the gender. However, many suspected that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle might have found out if they are having a boy or girl at the 20-week (or earlier) mark.



The Duchess of Sussex recently confirmed the rumors arent true. While attending the Endeavor Fund Awards, Meghan Markle said we dont know when asked about her firstborns gender. We decided to keep it a secret, she confirmed.



Like Kate Middleton and other royal women before her (except for Princess Diana, who allegedly knew Prince Harrys gender before his arrival), Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will find out whether they are girl or boy parents on the future royals birthdate.



They both want a daughter



While they would, of course, be happy either way, both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have both separately shared their hopes for a daughter. On the heels of their pregnancy announcement last year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle attended their first royal tour in Australia. While there, a fan told Prince Harry, I hope its a girl! He replied, So do I!



Before joining the royal family, Meghan Markle also thought about having a daughter. The former actress even has a special gift for her future princess.



Meghan Markles gift to her daughter



When her television series, Suits began its third season, the former American actress celebrated in a big way. She invested in a Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season  which, at the time, felt like such a milestone  I totally splurged and bought the two-tone version, the duchess told Hello! Magazine. In honor of her hard work, she had the watch engraved with To M.M. From M.M. and said, I plan to give it to my daughter one day.



If Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a daughter, she will have access to a catalog of crown jewels, as well as pieces from her late grandmothers (Princess Dianas) jewelry collection  which Prince Harry owns half of. The watch, however, is a symbol of something Meghan Markle will likely pass on to her future daughter.



As a feminist and supporter of womens rights, the Duchess of Sussex will likely pass her passions on to her little Princess of Sussex. In addition, she will teach her about hard work  which is how Meghan Markle got the watch in the first place  and feeling proud of accomplishments.



Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are about to become first-time parents and royal fans cannot hide their excitement! The world is speculating as to whether the baby will be a boy or a girl, and even wondering which hospital Meghan will choose to deliver the baby.

With their casual, laid back style and fun approach to everything they do, Meghan and Harry are sure to be wonderful parents. However, one question remains  will Meghans close relationship with her mother influence her as a parent herself?

Who is Meghan Markles mother?

Doria Ragland, who lives in Los Angeles, California, is the mother of Meghan Markle. She is a social worker and a yoga instructor. She and Meghan have an extremely close relationship. Doria has been welcomed to events with Meghan and Harry, and she seems to get along very well with members of the royal family.

Meghan makes no secret that Doria is her best friend and closest confidante. They talk on the telephone as much as they can, and Doria spends time in London whenever possible. In fact, it has been rumored that Harry and Meghan have invited her to live with them in their new home on the grounds of Windsor Castle.

What is their relationship like?

Meghan Markle is Dorias only daughter, and the two have what appears to be an unbreakable bond. Meghan goes to Doria for advice, inspiration, or just when she needs to have a good talk with a trusted listener. Royal fans even know that Doria affectionately calls Meghan by the nickname Flower, that started in her childhood.

They are so close that Doria stayed with Meghan the night before her wedding to Harry, and was the only family member of Meghans who was present for the nuptials. The royal family knows how close they are, even inviting Doria to spend Christmas at the Queens Sandringham Estate.

Will Meghan be like her mother when it comes to parenting?

Having been raised by a parent that she had such a strong relationship with is likely to influence Meghan when she becomes a parent this spring. The Duchess of Sussex will most certainly be spending as much time with her baby as possible, being a nurturing and loving parent just as Doria was. It will not be at all surprising if Meghan and her baby spend a significant amount of time with Doria, as well. After all, it is her first grandchild, and she can hardly contain her excitement!

How does Prince Harry feel about Meghan and Dorias relationship?

Meghan Markle walking with her mother | Steve Parsons  Pool / Getty Images

Prince Harry simply adores his mother-in-law. He loves the fact that Meghan and Doria are so close, and he welcomes Doria to spend as much time as she likes with them at their home at Nottingham Cottage. Harry encourages Meghan and Doria to always remain as close as they are, and never discourages Meghan from inviting her mother along to events whenever she can.

A strong role model

Doria Ragland is not only Meghan mother and best friend, but she is also her biggest role model! Meghans mother is always willing to lend a hand to someone in need, and she goes above and beyond to give back to her community, which is definitely a trait that Meghan picked up along the way! Doria always encouraged Meghan to be proud of herself and work as hard as she can to achieve her dreams, something Meghan will certainly pass along to her own children. Looks like Meghan had, and still has, excellent support from her mother, and fans are excited that baby Sussex will have the same!
If theres any Food Network star who stands out in our minds, its Guy Fieri. Whether you love him or hate him, theres no doubt his frosted tips, signature hunch when eating, and catchy sayings have become ultra popular over the years since he first won Food Network Star. Now, hes best known for his fun culinary programs like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and Guys Grocery Games  and every once in awhile, we hear a little about Guys personal life, too.

Weve seen Guys children make guest appearances on his show every once in awhile, but fans are also wondering who his wife is. Heres what we know about their relationship.

Guy knew there was something special about his wife, Lori, as soon as they met

If theres anyone who now believes in love at first sight, its Guy Fieri. Guy recounted his unusual love story to Delish, and he noted that as soon as he met Lori, he knew there was something special about her  and it made him want to get to know her even more. It all started when Guy was running a restaurant in Long Beach, California, over 20 years ago  and Loris friend who was working at the restaurant was let go from the job. Lori and the friend went back to the restaurant, and Guy asked them to keep a low profile, as they shouldnt have been there at the time  but Lori wasnt having any of it. She said, You cant make us leave, and I was like, You dont have to, Guy told Delish.

Eventually, the three of them began talking, and Guy learned that Lori was just passing through the area during a cross-country move to San Diego. And Guy noted that while they were talking, it was clear they were meant to be together. I knew as soon as I saw her. I just knew, he told the publication.

Guy and Lori fell in love through food

Knowing how much Guy loves food, it makes perfect sense that he would show off his culinary prowess to Lori early on in their relationship. He told Delish that he cooked for his now-wife to win her heart  though he explained that he doesnt remember exactly what it was. The first time I cooked for her, she was just like, You made all this? We both love food, so being able to cook, that was one of the things that impressed her, he said. As for how hes managed to make his marriage last, he told Today some of his secrets hes learned. My wife and I have gone from being married at a young age to being where we are now  to get here, you have to be willing to adapt and understand, he explained.

It seems Guy is still cooking for Lori now, too, despite his job being all about food as well. He told Today that when she requests dishes from him, its typically Mexican or Chinese food  though there is one Italian dish that she apparently cant get enough of. Guy said, My linguini and clams is probably one of her all-time favorites. Especially when the clams are really small. And when we sit down together to have a really nice dinner.

They have two children together

Guys kids are growing up fast. He and Lori share two children, Hunter and Ryder, and while we remember seeing Hunter on Guys Big Bites from time to time years ago, its tough to believe hes now 21 years old. Delish reminds us Hunter first showed up on the Food Network with Guy when he was just 10 years old, and today, he seems to be following right in his fathers footsteps. Delish notes that Hunter has worked under Guy at a few of his restaurants. I liked to be outside, and I liked construction and what not, but cooking is what it is. Its what I do. Its what we all do, Hunter said.

Now, Hunter attends the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for hospitality, and hes interning under Caesars group, which is where many famous chefs have restaurants. Hunter even joked, I want the restaurants and the shows and the cookbooks  and more. I have to one-up dad, of course. As for Ryder, hes still a teen, so were not sure if hell follow in the same Fieri food empire footsteps. But were excited to see what the family accomplishes in the future.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
She may be a relative newcomer to the Food Network, but fans have still been following The Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond for years. She first got her food show back in 2011, and since then, viewers have been trying her recipes and hearing her stories about how she became an accidental country girl. And she was also attaining fame even before her show with her award-winning blog of the same name.

Life hasnt always been super easy for Ree, however  and she was once involved in a violent crime that could have turned out far worse than it did. Heres what happened.

The incident occurred when Ree was 17 and living in her hometown

Ree currently lives in the same state she grew up in: Oklahoma. Her hometown is Bartlesville, which The New Yorker reminds is a tiny city of just 35,000 residents. And while we know Ree has plenty of money now from her show, successful blog, and cattle ranching, she also grew up quite wealthy as well. Her father was an orthopedic surgeon and her mother was able to stay home and raise her and her three siblings. As the publication notes, Her life revolved around ballet classes, her parents country club, and summer trips to Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Ree did a fair bit of moving around in her younger years, however  and shes made it clear before that if it werent for her husband, she never would have stuck around the countryside. But her plans aside, when she was 17, she was still stuck in Bartlesville  and this is where an incident occurred that has forever changed her life.

She was attacked by 6 men with a shotgun

Rees Pioneer Woman blog has been a huge hit with audiences since its conception in the early 2000s, as she offers personal stories that readers would never expect. And one such story on the blog is titled, Guess What Happened to Me Once? She went on to explain that when she was just a teen leaving ballet class early without anyone else by her side, she went to drive back home when she was approached by several men. I got into my car and started the engine. My windows were down, and just as suddenly as I heard the pounding of approaching feet on the pavement outside my car, I felt the jolt of a hard, metal object being thrust into my left temple. It was a shotgun, she wrote.

She was ordered out of the car and noticed there were six men in total. The man holding the shotgun then told Ree that she was to get back in her car and drive them wherever they wanted to go. Thankfully, Ree found one moment to run  and that was when one of the men said he saw a figure watching them from the window of a nearby home. I ran until I found the familiar door of my ballet studio, which I flung open and entered quickly. By that time, the six men had sped away in my car. I was safe, she added.

Rees assailants had killed another woman

Ree was able to get away from her attackers, though they did speed off with her car and her belongings. She went on to explain in the blog post that others who crossed their paths hadnt been so lucky. When Rees car ran out of gas, the assailants found another woman looking for her missing dog on the country roads. Theyd flagged her down, she had resisted, and theyd shot her in the back. Once the men were caught, Ree then testified at the murder trial and helped put the men away for life.

Ree notes on her blog post that shell never forget that night, but she also credits God for helping her get out of the violent situation. Oh, and that house across the street? The one with the person in the window who distracted the criminals so I could get away? It was condemned at the time. No one lived there, she wrote. Thank you, God.

Check out The Cheat Sheet on Facebook!
Thrive Regional Partnership has accepted Bridgeport, Al., Dayton, Tn., and LaFayette, Ga., into the third round of the Thriving Communities creative placemaking program.





At the end of the program, each team is eligible to apply for a seed grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation to make their community strategy a reality. Thriving Communities program is a community accelerator program designed to enhance leadership and community development throughout the region through creative placemaking. Participating teams learn strategic approaches to leverage their artistic and cultural assets in order to spark economic vibrancy and growth from within their communities.At the end of the program, each team is eligible to apply for a seed grant from the Lyndhurst Foundation to make their community strategy a reality.





Cities and towns from the 16-county region are eligible to apply with teams representing various backgrounds and roles within their communities. The teams are selected by a committee of professionals in the fields of urban planning, arts, culture, and philanthropy.





Bridgeport (population 2,312), in Jackson County, Al., hosts several popular events such as Movies at the Downtown Amphitheatre and the Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride Kick-Off, which has raised thousands of dollars in scholarship funds for Native American children. The Siege of Bridgeport Civil War Reenactment has been named in Alabamas Top Ten tourist attractions and is the fourth-most revenue producing event in the state. As active participants in the Thriving Communities program, the Bridgeport team envisions growth in tourism, support and participation in local events, as well as heightened leadership and community development.





Dayton (population 7,354), in Rhea County, Tn., hosts a nationally-recognized bass fishing tournament on Lake Chickamauga. The tournament, as well as a blossoming Main Street, has been so successful it has generated opportunities for economic development including the Nokian Tyre plant. Dayton has seen great benefit from leveraging tourism dollars through a hotel/motel tax which generated over $250,000 in 2018 alone. They see Thriving Communities as a great opportunity to engage young professionals and families in the planning process and amplify their unique visitor experience for years to come.





LaFayette (population 7,198), in Walker County, Ga., is home to the Honeybee Festival, which has attracted 30,000 visitors for live music and honeybee education, as well as the redevelopment of Queen City Lake as a point of interest, as successful marks of the citys rebranding, the team looks forward to viewing their community through a new lens of arts and culture through this program. The LaFayette team recognizes the need to be progressive and develop a dynamic plan to be an attractive place to live, work, and invest.





Each of these teams exhibited a strong desire to build upon their unique strengths and to leverage the input and talent of their local citizens for long-term growth and prosperity, said Bridgett Massengill, President and CEO of Thrive. We are excited to bring these three communities into the growing network of Thriving Communities across our tri-state region.




Two Chattanoogans will join Christians all over the world in watching the proceedings of a historic meeting this week that could change the future of The United Methodist Church.

Becky Hall and Bob Lockaby will serve as delegates representing the Holston Conference of the United Methodist Church at the denominations General Conference Feb. 23-26 in St. Louis, Mo.

The General Conference is the top policy-making body of The United Methodist Church.

The nearly 900-member international assembly will meet in a special session to attempt to move the denomination past its decades-long struggle with issues around homosexuality.

Delegates will consider plans that could strengthen the denominations current ban on same-sex unions and gay clergy  or change the law to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ community. The proposed plans offer ways for the denomination to stay together or to split.

Ms. Hall is a member at Christ United Methodist Church in East Brainerd, and Bob Lockaby is a member at Ooltewah United Methodist Church.

The United Methodist Church has a history of spreading the Gospel and being in mission with local communities, regions, and around the world, said Ms. Hall. It is an honor to be elected as a delegate for Holston, but with that comes an incredible responsibility.

Holston Conference includes 872 United Methodist congregations with 160,000 members in East Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and North Georgia. The organizations central office is located in Alcoa, Tn.

For more information about the United Methodist Churchs special General Conference, visit gc2019.umc.org.




Congressman Scott DesJarlais issued the following statement in support of President Trumps decision to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border:

Sophisticated international cartels, some of the most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations in the world, are operating just across the border from the United States in Mexico. They partner with foreign adversaries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and China, and smuggle drugs as well as human beings into our neighborhoods, including in my home state of Tennessee. Constituents in my district are suffering from the opioid epidemic. Mexican cartels produce or distribute most heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine here, killing tens of thousands of Americans every year, not including victims of MS-13 and other violent gangs, which have infiltrated recent migrant caravans. However, the equivalent of a migrant caravan enters our country almost weekly. These forces are destabilizing and deadly to people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, but particularly for the less fortunate among us. While wealthy elites erect walls for protection, poor- and working-class citizens must live with the consequences of insecure borders and years of congressional inaction. Unfortunately, Congress has largely abdicated its responsibility, placing the onus on President Trump to fulfill the federal governments most important constitutional duty: national security.

Under legal authority Congress has granted the executive, which Barack Obama also used to combat Mexican cartels, the President has the power to declare a national emergency, in order to fund the construction of new border barriers at dangerous weak points. As a fiscal conservative, constitutionalist, and strong advocate for the military, I believe the need is clear and pressing, the law supports immediate action, and ample funding exists to address this crisis.


The Community First Awards Committee received over 50 nominations seeking to honor individuals across nine categories. Nominations were judged based on the nominees extraordinary commitment of time, talent or treasure to the community. There were a total of 11 winners for the individual categories.



We are thrilled to have another outstanding group of Community First Award honorees, said Dr. Bill Seymour, CSCC president. Each in their own special way exemplifies the value of always putting your community first. We look forward to honoring them at our Gala and identifying one as the Community First Person of the Year.



The committee met recently following a review of all the nomination materials. They voted on their top candidates for each category, as well as the one person who will be identified as the Community First Person of the Year. The college will keep the name of this prestigious award, the Community First Person of the Year, a surprise until the night of the event, March 28.



The categories and winners are as follows:

? Arts:



Dwight Richardson, Owner / Designer, Fenimores Floral Design Studio (Cleveland, TN)

? Business:



Ron Hammontree, Former Executive Director of Tellico Reservoir Development Agency (TRDA)

(Maryville, TN)



? Education:



Eric Weaver, Principal, Sweetwater, High School

(Vonore, TN)



? Healthcare:

Dr. James F. Ohlsson, DDS (Cleveland, TN)

? Non-Profit Leadership:



Lynn Voelz, Executive Director of the Bradley Memorial Healthcare Foundation(Cleveland, TN)

? Philanthropy:

Gary Fuller, Retired Partner and Director of Operations, Aloette Cosmetics of East Tennessee

Pat Fuller, Retired Owner and Operator of Orange Blossom Boutique, Retired Co-owner and President of franchise for Aloette Cosmetics of East Tennessee (Cleveland, TN)



? Public Service:

Gary Farlow, President and CEO, Cleveland / Bradley Chamber of Commerce (Cleveland, TN)

? Student Leadership:



Amanda Forbes, Cleveland State Community College Student (Athens, TN)

Taylor Odum, Meigs County High School Student (Decatur, TN)

? Volunteer Service:



Ron Braam, Retired President / CEO, Synalloy Corp. (Cleveland, TN)

The Community First Awards Gala is sponsored by Southeast Bank and will be held on Thursday, March 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the L. Quentin Lane Center. Dinner will be provided, and business attire is requested.

To purchase a ticket or for information on corporate sponsorship, contact Cindy Dawson at (423) 614-8703 or visit the website at mycs.cc/communityfirstaward. All proceeds will go to support the Cleveland State Annual Fund.
A Criminal Court jury on Friday night found Jason Sanford not guilty in the 2000 strangulation death of an East Ridge woman.

The defense put on no proof.

Sanford spent two and a half years in jail awaiting trial in the Cold Case.



Earlier on Friday, a Michigan man gave a deathbed statement that his first cousin had admitted killing Sarah Davis Perry.

The jury heard the videoed statement from Mitchell Penterics, who visibly struggled through the two-hour deposition with effects from his spreading cancer.

His cousin, Sanford, was taken to Michigan from the Hamilton County Jail to sit in on the statement. Sanford stood trial in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz. Judge Greenholtz had sent the case on to the jury on the single charge of first-degree murder though defense attorney Amanda Dunn said pre-meditation had not been proven. Attorney Johnny Houston also defended Sanford.



Penterics said he moved to Chattanooga in 1999. He said, "I had won a lawsuit and I just wanted to get out of Michigan." He said he went to computer school and took a job at Convergys, where he met the eventual murder victim Sarah Davis Perry. He said he introduced her to Sanford, who had joined him in Chattanooga.

He said Sanford and Ms. Perry began living together, though he said their relationship was "rocky. They fought a lot." Questioned by District Attorney Neal Pinkston, he agreed they both had drug problems.

The witness said in the evening of June 15, 2000, that Sanford came over to his residence and told him, "I killed Sarah. I need money for a bus ticket." He said he eventually agreed to provide the money and take Sanford to the Greyhound station.

He said Sanford gave no other details of the slaying.

Penterics said he did not call police because "I just didn't know what to do." He said he "stayed in Chattanooga another year or so" before returning to Michigan. He said he had a "cordial" relationship with Sanford once they both were again in their home state.

Penterics, who is now deceased, said he was diagnosed with rectal cancer in 2011 and it spread to other parts of his body, including his brain.

The jury on Thursday heard a jail call in which Sanford discussed with his mother and his cousin ways to get his cousin to remain quiet about knowledge he had of a 2000 murder.

Sanford told Penterics, "Keep your chin up and your mouth shut."

That came just a few days after Sanford was charged with the strangulation murder of the 21-year-old Ms. Perry in East Ridge. Her body was found stuffed in a garbage can under a bridge at Spring Creek.

In the phone call, Penterics told Sanford, "I don't know how to tell you this, but it's really bad. Unfortunately, they got me to say something. I said something bad. I shouldn't have said it. I just feel really bad."

He said police had threatened him and wanted him to wear a wire and try to get Sanford to talk. He said he refused to do that.

Police in the DA's Cold Case Unit afterward learned that Penterics had become terminally ill. It was hastily arrange to take his deposition at his Michigan home with Sanford and his attorney present. The jury on Friday morning was to hear the two-hour death-bed statement. It was to be the state's final proof.

In a call from the jail to his mother, Sanford discussed how she could call the mother of Penterics concerning the cousin's telling on him. Sanford said, "Be careful how you say it, but let them know."

He also said, "My lawyer seems to feel that he is going to stick to his guns and tell the same story."

The mother said, "That makes me sad."

Sanford replied, "Me too."

The jury also heard a tape of detective Brian Ashburn of the Cold Case team interviewing Sanford. The detective said, "Now is the time to lay it all out on the table. We didn't come all the way up here from Tennessee just to drive around."

The detective had interviewed the cousin the day before, and he arrested Sanford at the end of the interview with him.

Sanford denied any involvement, saying, "I don't remember seeing her after she got out (of Valley Psychiatric Hospital)." He said, "I wanted nothing more than to be away from her."

Ms. Perry, who had two children, left the facility against the wishes of the staff on the evening of Tuesday, June 13. She was seen alive for the last time on Wednesday morning. The garbage can that her body was stuffed in was taken from Fine's Body Shop on that Wednesday night. The body was discovered and Sanford left town on Thursday, the 15th.

A witness who had not been questioned by police earlier testified that she saw a man she identified as Sanford drive slowly past her and then back by in an older white pickup truck. She said she afterward saw the same pickup at the creek and the garbage can was no longer in it. She said she could tell it had been dragged under the bridge.

Attorney Amanda Dunn said the witness, Mary Ruth Boyd, said the man had shaggy hair. She produced a booking photo taken a couple of months before the slaying that showed Sanford with a short haircut. She said Sanford did not have a white pickup truck and no other witness tied him to that type vehicle.

She also noted that semen found in the victim did not match that of Sanford.

Dr. Stephen Cogswell, assistant medical examiner, said Ms. Perry was strangled to death with some type of ligature (cord or similar item) and possibly also suffocated, according to the autopsy by Dr. Frank King. He said from the marks on her neck that someone had come up behind her.

He said she had a broken nail on her left thumb, indicating a possible struggle.
An employee at the Henry Pratt company, which specializes in making valves, Probst told CNN affiliate WLS-TV on Friday that he saw a man holding what appeared to be a pistol with a laser scope. He recognized him as a coworker.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office arrested a Winter Haven woman for practicing health care without a license for a second time.
A large-scale police action at an apartment building on Bernard Avenue in Kelowna Thursday afternoon was tied to events that began earlier in the day in Kamloops.

Events began unfolding Thursday morning when two armed men robbed two men and a woman in Kamloops. Police suspect the woman was then kidnapped and the suspects may have fled to a home on Dallas Drive.

That home had been ransacked and was empty.

Police were then led to the apartment on Bernard Avenue.

RCMP from Kamloops and Kelowna, as well as the Emergency Response Team, descended on the apartment.

With the safety of the hostage victim, the responding police officers and the general public in mind, the incident prompted the temporary closure of roadways in the immediate area and a temporary hold and secure of nearby businesses,said Cpl. Jesse ODonaghey.

The unfolding events concluded with the apprehension of four individuals of interest, including two men and two women and the seizure of a vehicle.

Kamloops RCMP confirm one of those arrested was one of the robbery suspects, however, the kidnap victim was not found in the apartment.

Early Friday morning, police determined the woman could be in a vehicle travelling from Kelowna back to Kamloops.

That vehicle was stopped near Falkland. The kidnapped woman was found uninjured, while two occupants of the vehicle, a man and woman, were arrested.

Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said what may have been perceived as a lack of communication was a measured, operational strategy.

First and foremost, our concern was for the woman who had been kidnapped, said Shelkie.

The danger that she was in cannot be overemphasized. Officers knew that the suspects were armed. It was unknown what their intent was regarding her life. Few details could be released to the media to protect our investigation and ultimately, help get this woman back to safety.

The investigation is still ongoing and police are working to identify and locate the second suspect involved in the robbery. It is clear this was a targeted crime and involved participants in the local Kamloops drug trade.

Numerous charges are expected.
The Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC), under Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, has released a notification calling applications from eligible candidates for recruiting 13 Sericulture Officers in A.P. Sericulture Service to be appointed across various zones in the State. The online application process towards the same will start from 06 March 2019 and will close on 27 March 2019.

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Posts Sericulture Officer in A.P. Sericulture Service Organisation Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission, Govt. of AP Educational Qualification Masters Degree/Bachelors Degree/Diploma in Sericulture Experience Freshers can apply Job Location Andhra Pradesh Salary Scale Rs. 35,120/- to Rs. 87,130/- per month Industry Civil Services Application Start Date March 6, 2019 Application End Date March 27, 2019

Age Criteria And Fees

Candidates interested in applying for the post of Sericulture Officer in A.P. Sericulture Service through APPSC Recruitment must have attained 18 years of age as on 01 July 2019, and not be more than 42 years, with relaxation (upper age limit) upto 47 for SC/ST and OBC candidates.

Candidates must pay a requisite fee of Rs. 250/- towards application processing and Rs. 120/- as examination fee through online (Internet Banking/Debit/Credit, etc.) mode only. SC/ST/BC and Ex-servicemen candidates are provided exemption from paying the exam fee of Rs. 120/- only.

Also Read: APPSC Recruitment 2019 For Forest Section Officers; Earn Up To INR Rs. 63,000/- Per Month

Educational Criteria

Candidates interested in applying for the post of Sericulture Officer in A.P Sericulture Service through APPSC Recruitment must possess 2nd Class Master's Degree in Science with Sericulture/Zoology/Botany as subjects of study, or must hold a Bachelor's Degree in Agriculture from any University/Institute established by law and duly registered under the University Grants Commission (UGC). However, Candidates with Master's Degree in Sericulture/Diploma in Sericulture will be give preference.

Selection And Pay Scale

The selection of candidates as Sericulture Officer in A.P. Sericulture Service through APPSC Recruitment will be done through an Online Written Test (Computer Based Examination) of competitive nature, likely to be held on 21 and 22 May 2019 and Interview.

Candidates selected for Sericulture Officer will be paid an emolument in the scale of Rs. 35,120/- to Rs. 87,130/- per month.

Also Read: RINL Vizag Recruitment For 319 Trade Apprentices; Apply Before 20 February 2019

How To Apply

Candidates applying for the post of Sericulture Officer in A.P. Sericulture Service through APPSC Recruitment must first register for One Time Registration (OTR) online on the official website of APPSC at https://psc.ap.gov.in/(S(4142f1vmaxavnvfnpsvrpu0s))/Default.aspx

Using the ID obtained from OTR, candidates must fill the necessary details in the oline application form and complete the application process.

For OTR click here http://203.145.179.112/UI/RegistrationForms/OneTimeRegistration_New.aspx

For detailed notification about APPSC Recruitment for Sericulture Officers click here
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
article

$100.00 / for 365 days

Sponsored Content Articles  Policy & Procedure

Only content submissions which satisfy our conditions for publication will be published.

The fee for publication via this portal is $100. This fee is non-refundable.

To accomplish your publication purchase, you must be logged-in as a website user: https://www.capemaycountyherald.com/users/signup

This purchase is for online publication only. If print publication is also desired, please proceed with the purchase of online publication and contact Advertise@cmcHerald.com regarding print publication.

By default, approved/paid submissions will be published to the "Lifestyle" section of the website. Requests for other urls/sections deemed relevant to the submission will be honored.

Submissions may contain links  including do-follow links.

Published submissions will remain published for as long as the website remains active, presumably at least one year.

Submissions must conform to our comment standards (https://www.capemaycountyherald.com/site/comment_standards.html) and must constitute appropriate use of the English language.

Publisher reserves the right to refuse publication for any reason.

Submissions will not be processed for publication without advance payment.

Submissions requiring additional support services  e.g., to amend content or to effect payment  will not be published. By mutual agreement, editorial services may be provided for an additional charge; otherwise, advance payment rendered will be deemed a non-refundable service charge.

Upon request to Advertise@cmcHerald.com a link to the published article will be transmitted via email.

Our website is directed to a U.S.-based audience; our content may not be accessible to some international audiences due to technology restrictions.

By initiating this transaction, the submitter assumes any and all liability associated with publication of the submitted content (e.g., infringement, licensing) and agrees to defend and hold the Publisher harmless.
news, latest-news

One can take it as read that public servants do not like being used and abused by ministers, and verballed for partisan political purposes. Particularly when an election is due and the indications are that a new lot of ministers will soon be in charge. But public service leaders of gumption and character are supposed to have defences and protections against such ill-use. The failure of some to invoke them invites questions about their fearlessness and their independence. If it were merely a matter of the survival in office of a few unimpressive bureaucrats, it might not matter so much. Better people have been dismissed without good reason on changes of government, particularly by incoming Liberal prime ministers. But the problem is bigger, because it affects the reputation, the capacity to work, and public confidence in important national institutions. Duncan Lewis, Director-General of ASIO, is one of those regularly co-opted, with little public sign of resistance, by Liberal ministers. Saying no to a prime minister may be hard, but legislation enacted by parliament more than 60 years ago gave the director-general considerable independence and security of tenure to do just that. Predecessors have. A reputation for showing such independence actually enhances public confidence in the agency. ASIO legislation, affecting a body properly legalistic about its functions, is as focused on limiting as enabling it, and it does not harm to show that the agency respects such limits, contrary to any suggestions that it is gung ho. I can remember a time when the chairman of the public service board, or the secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet, might have been heard to complain about such ill-use of officials. Theres not a squeak, perhaps for fear of being lynched by some of the more rabid commentators in News Ltd, now scarcely pretending to be anything other than urgers for a renewed conservative government. It is too early to judge which recent Liberal prime minister was the worst at such abuses. John Howard was mostly careful in the public use he made of the security organisation, even as he was relatively shameless in his employment and selective use of intelligence advice from other bodies, say over the existence of weapons of mass destruction. I expect one reason for his caution was the calibre, and clear independence of mind, of Dennis Richardson, then the director-general. It has been remarked before that one of the reasons a raft of quite intrusive and sometimes coercive surveillance and monitoring powers were given to ASIO was confidence among the political classes that these would not be abused by such a forthright public servant. Tony Abbott, as prime minister, was awfully fond of dragooning military, security and police figures into partisan public relations stunts, in which officials stood beside him, in front of an ever-increasing number of national flags, looking as if the prime minister was no more than a disinterested channel of their advice and enthusiastic support. Malcolm Turnbull played politics with crime, if not so much national security. Scott Morrison is, these days at least, slightly more circumspect about trying to get officials to nod wisely as he speaks complete tosh, but does not hesitate to verbal officials if it serves his purposes. Duncan Lewis may well have the same independence of mind as Dennis Richardson, as well as, of course, experience at the sharp and messy end of warfare and intelligence and security operations. He has served in the bureaucracy and diplomacy, if without much increasing his profile. He has spoken up for increased powers for bodies such as his in the modern and difficult national security environment. But he has never seemed to manifest enthusiasm for close checks against possible abuses of power, or overreach by overzealous officials. He is not associated with any such abuse, but no one would call him a champion of minimal interference with personal rights and liberties, including freedom of speech, belief and association. It is, of course, not his fault ASIO now finds itself as an outrider to a government department that has sought to centralise and co-ordinate the governments approach to crime, terrorism, and threat, or supposed threats, to national security. ASIO resisted being conscripted, as did its then duty minister, the then-Attorney-General George Brandis. Nor is it Lewiss fault both his minister, Peter Dutton, and chief bureaucrat Mike Pezzullo, are both of authoritarian bent. Neither of those who regard themselves as Lewiss master are famous for tolerating dissent or calls for caution or moderation. Nor is it Lewiss fault the Australian Federal Police, another agency supposedly independent of government, is under the Home Affairs security blanket. Also independent, at least in part, is the Australian Border Force, a paramilitary and uniformed body of Pezzullos creation, comprised of old customs agents and immigration officials and invited now to think its prime and supreme purpose is to defend the nation at its borders. The AFP behaves rather more as a department of state, pathetically anxious to please the government of the day. The department seems to lack internal checks and balances, and sometimes seems to put outcomes ahead of process and sound management, and seems to lack people with the courage to stand against any of the enthusiasms of its secretary. But it is the combination of all of this, along with the ambitions of the secretary to co-ordinate and perhaps homogenise the information going to government, that should cause people to remember some of the reasons why bodies such as ASIO and the AFP were placed outside the bureaucracy, with statutory independence, in the first place. Astute leaders of such bodies might also appreciate that they do not acquire increased authority and prestige by being enveloped by unaccountable co-ordination bodies, having their opinions shaved into a consensus view before going to the higher councils of government. ASIO, after all, has direct access to the prime minister and sits on official national security committees. It has power of access to officials who need to know security information in the exercise of their duties. Why would it think its functions were better served by being absorbed into a monolithic departmental view at a lower level of the system? Lewis has been Director-General for nearly five years. During his term, official histories of the organisation, commissioned by a predecessor, have been published. These have made it clear that during ASIO's first 25 years its efficiency and effectiveness were seriously compromised by popular perceptions, particularly on the Labor side of politics, that it was an organ of the Liberal Party. This was a perception that was initially unfair but, the official history concedes, tended to become true as officers became embittered by its reputation and institutionally hostile to Labor. It took the organisation another decade to become reasonably relaxed and comfortable with Labor governments, but a degree of mutual suspicion remains. In Australia, if not everywhere else, suspicion of powerful security agencies and strong civil liberties perspectives, tend to come from the left of politics. A steady pattern of abuse of ASIO information, and public perceptions that it has been willingly used to bag or discredit leading Labor figures, could easily bring back party and public distrust. The ASIO of today is a quite different body from the organisation of cold warriors, but its capacity to perform its functions necessarily depends on public confidence in its integrity  not only within government but also within the communities of Australia among which it must do its work. Even when ASIO is carrying out its proper functions with efficiency, integrity and discretion, its reputation and capacity to do its job can be adversely affected when its advice is leaked for purely partisan purposes, and subsequently declassified to amplify a message that the agency is entirely at one with Liberal ministers and appalled by the approach of the Labor Party. It is notable that Pezzullo asked the AFP to investigate the leak, particularly when it was obvious that the leaker was not a million miles from the office of his minister, Peter Dutton. It was consistent with what Pezzullo has done when there have been leaks before, even when they have been convenient to the government of the day. It may also have followed a prompt from ASIO, alarmed at the way the government was enlisting its advice for purely political purposes. But if so, it might have been better had ASIO itself protested, loudly and publicly. Pezzullo, of course, manifested a touching faith in the ability and the will of the AFP to find, let alone prosecute a leak. Its record is not good in this regard, even when the source has seemed fairly obvious, and even when an investigation has seemed to involve the application of considerable resources, budget and time. Time that has suited the government, since it has invited the public to forget. Even beyond the leaking of ASIO and Home Affairs classified advice this week, was the spectre of ministerial officers answering questions about leaks to the media about AFP raids on the Australian Workers Union. We are yet to discover if the failure of the matter to proceed was a consequence of caution and lack of will inside the office of the director of public prosecutions, or the failure of detectives to establish all the pathways by which confidential information reached the public domain. If I were in ASIO, I would have extra reasons for alarm about its material entering the public domain. It is by no means clear that the entry into Australian waters of asylum seekers is always, prima facie, a matter of national security interest, thus engaging ASIOs duties and responsibilities. It is true the definition of security was amended to include "the protection of Australias territorial and border integrity from serious threats". But, various apocalyptic statements by Pezzullo over the years notwithstanding, it is not clear that the nations sovereign veil is rent whenever there is an unwanted visitor, let alone ones with a perfect right to approach us in search of our protection. Nor is it clear (and ASIO has not responded to my question on the matter) what the difference between a "serious threat" and "a threat" is. Perhaps organised expeditions by the dreaded people smugglers could be a serious threat, if one accepted all of the chains of logic by which it seemed to be apparent to Lewis and Pezzullo (and no doubt General Angus Campbell were it not an "on water" matter) that any relaxation in the oppressiveness of conditions on Manus and Nauru would "send a message" to the people smugglers. The bill was not about relaxing, in any significant degree, the odious regime of denying Australia as a place of refuge to people fleeing oppression. It was about allowing such people access to medical care. If the agencies were exercised about the subtleties of underlying messages, they should not have lent themselves to the hysteria generated by Morrison and Dutton. It is not to be assumed the government is on a winner by the re-demonisation of asylum seekers as rapists, murderers and likely terrorists  an impression for which Home Affairs and ASIO can share the blame, even if they said no such thing. It is simply that the government is desperate for an issue  any issue  that it can take to an election. Nothing else seems to have worked so far, but there is little evidence the population is still capable of being galvanised around fear of "invasion" by unassimilable hordes. To the contrary, recent evidence has suggested public disgust at the shamelessness, lack of decency, and lack of restraint of some of those seeking to invoke prejudice to excuse ill treatment of refugees. A time will come when the veil will be lifted over Australian actions and policies in relation to the 21st century boat people. The reckoning and the judgments may well be on the politicians. But, even allowing that public servants and military folk were giving expression to the governments will, there will also be searching and critical scrutiny of the role of officials, particularly those whose involvement went beyond following orders to provide the cover that enabled the politicians to conceive this dark chapter of our history. I see few of our institutions covered with honour in this regard. Jack Waterford is a former editor of The Canberra Times jwaterfordcanberra@gmail.com

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/926a12f1-aef4-4f98-8cdf-5d4a8b6bb2b7/r0_292_5472_3384_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
news, federal-politics

When Tim Hollo decided he would put his hand up for Greens' preselection, at top of mind was the task of renouncing his British citizenship, but he had no idea how long or difficult it would be to renounce another citizenship he wasn't even sure he had. As MPs began resigning or were shown the door by the High Court, Mr Hollo began the process of investigating up to seven different entitlements to citizenship in December 2017 - a story that involves 14 months of legal wrangling, thousands of dollars and a 75-year-old Hungarian wedding certificate. "I knew it was going to be complicated, I had no idea how difficult, how lengthy, how costly it was going to end up being," Mr Hollo said. His mother was born stateless in a large Russian-Jewish community in Harbin, China, which did not recognise the foreigners as citizens. Mr Hollo's maternal grandparents were both born stateless - his grandmother in Germany, descended from Russian immigrants, and his grandfather also born in Harbin. His mother and her parents were expelled from China during the Cultural Revolution, finding their way to Australia as refugees. Mr Hollo's father was born in Hungary, not long after the end of World War II. His grandparents fled Budapest in 1956, coming to Australia via a refugee camp in Austria. On both sides, Mr Hollo's family history is punctuated by stories of fleeing regimes that were at best intolerant of Jews, and at worst committed to their genocide. He was born in the United Kingdom to Australian parents, and had to get rid of his British citizenship - the easiest citizenship to cancel. It took just over six weeks to receive confirmation of renunciation. Also relatively simple, was gaining confirmation from the German, Ukrainian and Russian embassies that he was not entitled to citizenship and had nothing to renounce. After many attempts Mr Hollo was able to ascertain in September he wasn't entitled to Chinese citizenship, leaving just his Hungarian citizenship as the last hurdle to a run at Capital Hill. In February 2018, Mr Hollo was advised by a family friend that he was almost certainly a Hungarian citizen. What followed was months of conflicting legal advice, multiple submissions of paperwork and at least three points where he thought he was in the clear. Just a week after Mr Hollo was publicly announced as the Greens' candidate for Canberra, he discussed the prospect of stepping down with party leader Richard di Natale's office as well as local leaders, as speculation grew about the possibility of a snap election during the Liberal leadership challenge in August. As of January 29 this year, Mr Hollo was able to confirm he was solely an Australian citizen, receiving his certificate of Hungarian renunciation, signed by the Hungarian president and interior minister. The process could still be ongoing, if it wasn't for a letter from the Greens leader to the new Hungarian ambassador at the start of January, reiterating the urgency of the situation. The final bill from the Hungarian lawyer isn't in yet, but the candidate believes he has spent thousands of dollars on the process, and counts at least three times when he thought the situation was sorted out, only to realise more steps were required. It's a lot of work to do for a job that is in no way guaranteed. The Greens have a better chance of challenging Labor's Alicia Payne in Canberra than in other seats, but it is still a minor party. Mr Hollo worries many Australians would face similar battles to be eligible to run for parliament, and says many others wouldn't have the money or time to do what he has done. "I'm far from unique, there will be many others who will be in the same situation and many who will say 'it's too difficult'. And our democracy is the weaker for that." The only way to change the requirement for members of parliament to be Australian citizens and Australian citizens only, is by a referendum, as it requires constitutional change. Mr Hollo believes there are higher priorities for constitutional reform than parliamentarian citizenship, but says there are other ways prospective MPs could be assisted to make sure they are eligible to run for parliament. He wants the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to help those wanting to become MPs to renounce their citizenships, especially in cases where a person needs help understanding whether they have an entitlement to citizenship. "It would be a pretty easy thing for the government to set up a unit within DFAT whose job it is to support Australian citizens seeking to renounce other citizenships so that they're eligible to run for parliament. Wouldn't be costly, wouldn't be difficult, could easily be done." Mr Hollo contacted friends in the department, as well as contacts in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Australian embassy, all of which came to nought at the time. Constitutional expert Kim Rubenstein says the Katy Gallagher decision creates significant hurdles for those with citizenships that aren't simple to renounce. "The reality is in a democratic framework with no certainty of when an election will be called, that people will basically have to start planning their nomination years before, to be certain they're able to renounce any other citizenships," said Professor Rubenstein from Australian National University's College of Law. Professor Rubenstein said the interpretation in Gallagher's case, where the Court ruled "all reasonable steps" had not been taken because the UK required more documents, leaves Australia subject to the decisions and administrative practices of other countries being able to influence who can run for parliament here.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/eda3701c-676d-4a42-999a-5300900316d4/r0_75_1168_735_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
news, latest-news

The ACT government has placed no restrictions on the select committee that will look into Canberra's petrol prices, leaving it free to investigate a range of solutions including whether certain sites could be reserved for independent operators in order to introduce more competition. The Sunday Canberra Times revealed last weekend that an ACT Legislative Assembly select committee would conduct an inquiry into why Canberra drivers are consistently charged more for fuel than motorists in other capital cities and surrounding parts of NSW. The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission will conduct an analysis of fuel price factors and market competition alongside the Assembly probe. Asked whether the inquiry would investigate the possibility of legislating that a percentage of petrol stations in the ACT must be independent, or making future petrol station sites available only to independents, a spokeswoman for Chief Minister Andrew Barr said the committee was expected to explore those ideas. "Variations of these ideas have been tried in the past with mixed success," the spokeswoman said. "Back in the 1990s sites were released to independent operators, but over the subsequent decades they either closed or were bought out by bigger players. "The government has placed no restrictions on the committee deliberations and it is anticipated that the role of independent providers in the market will be investigated as part of this process." During the week, Mr Barr threatened an unprecedented intervention in the price of fuel in the ACT, refusing to rule out setting a maximum price or retail margin for service stations. ACT government data shows there are 59 service stations operating in the ACT, with 13 of those  22 per cent  run by independent operators. A slightly higher percentage of independents operate nationwide, according to the latest Australian Competition and Consumer Commission data. A report by the commission said 25 per cent of fuel retailers in Australia were independents in 2016-17, with the percentage having grown every year since the commission started collecting market share data in 2002-03. Independent retailers generally charge less for fuel than service stations operated by refiner wholesalers and supermarkets. Most of Canberra's independent stations are near the airport and in Fyshwick, where the city's lowest prices are usually found. An ACT government spokeswoman said there was currently no requirement for a certain percentage of service stations to be independent, or conditions placed on new service station sites to dictate which type of operator could occupy them. Former chief minister Jon Stanhope urged the select committee to use its inquiry to look at ways to introduce more competition into the fuel market. His government had a policy to increase competition in the ACT's grocery market and reduce the stranglehold of Coles and Woolworths by reserving some sites for smaller supermarket chains, including Aldi. Mr Stanhope said petrol prices in the territory were "a disgrace", and that greater competition could be the key to getting drivers a better deal. "There needs to be an intervention of some sort in the ACT," Mr Stanhope said. "[The high petrol prices in Canberra] are disgraceful. It's an absolute disgrace. "I don't think the price gouging was as bad [when I was chief minister], but I did contact the ACCC and what I do remember is my disappointment with the lack of interest from the ACCC in doing anything about the price gouging that Canberrans have suffered for decades." Mr Stanhope, who has often criticised the current ACT government, said he fully supported its inquiry into petrol prices. "I think it's long overdue," he said. The Assembly select committee, which will table its final report in June, is tasked with examining how fuel prices are determined in the ACT and the impact of rising fuel prices on Canberra drivers. It will also look into regulatory and legislative solutions that could impact on fuel prices. With no restrictions placed on the select committee, it could examine the possibility of government-regulated real-time price monitoring scheme. Several states, including NSW, have schemes that require petrol stations to notify their prices in real-time, with the prices made available on a website that gives drivers the ability to find the best deal in their area. Western Australia's FuelWatch scheme takes this a step further, with prices fixed for 24 hours in a bid to increase transparency and certainty, which contribute to Perth's predictable weekly price cycle. The Canberra Liberals have committed to trialling a scheme modelled on FuelWatch if they are elected.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/afd19f4c-d8a9-4b15-9901-9a0b4bf34a32/r0_230_4256_2635_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
news, latest-news

Emergency department doctor Katie Walker always knew there was more she could do to help her patients, but felt her hands were tied behind her back by the huge amount of clerical work that took up a large part of her day. She wondered if there was a relatively simple solution that could also cut waiting times and make hospitals more efficient. It was this frustration that led her to spearhead an Australian-first study that trialled the role of scribes in a few emergency departments across Victoria. Scribes are trained to complete clerical data entry associated with a patients visit to the emergencydepartment, allowing doctors to concentrate on core medical tasks instead. The research looked at data from 589 scribed shifts (5098 patients) and 3296 non-scribed shifts(23,838 patients), and compared how productive they were. Data was collected from November 2015 to January 2018 at Cabrini, Dandenong, Austin, Clayton (paediatrics) and Bendigo emergency departments Results of the trial, which were recently published in BMJ, found doctors were able to treat 25 per cent more patients per shift with the total time patients spent in emergency departments was cut by 19 minutes. Dr Walker, a doctor at Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne, said the hosptials involved all improved their performance in some way. Australian National University medical student Will Dunlop was the head scribe in the study, a role he did while completing an undergraduate science degree. "The learning curb at the beginning was huge, it was like learning a new language," he said. Mr Dunlop said the benefits of scribes to patients, doctors and the hospital as a whole was evident throughout the trial. "Seeing appreciation from patients was the best part and interacting with them," Mr Dunlop said. "The doctors, after they got used to working with a scribe, would say 'this is great, I don't know how I've worked without you'." Dr Walker said Australian emergency department doctors spend nearly 50 per cent of their time typing up patient notes and other clerical tasks. She said she often felt like her hands were tied behind her back when treating patients. "There's a deep distress knowing there are more things I could do to manage patients' symptoms but not being able to because I am filling out forms," she said. She said the introduction of electronic health records had significantly added to the clerical burden, taking doctors away from their patients. Dr Walker said the scribe program, with support from governments and health departments, could immediately be rolled out across the country and was cost efficient. "It's mind numbing how much productivity we've lost because of all the different electronic systems," she said.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/2f7d8e0a-2788-43bd-bb7d-75c6cfd0fb1f/r0_269_5000_3094_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
news, latest-news

The finishing touches are being put to an important religious building in the ACT. The Sri Lankan community has been building a special "stupa" or pagoda which is to be formally finished with a ceremony on Saturday and officially opened a week later. There are several Buddhist temples in the territory but a stupa is viewed as the very essence of Buddhism. It's a domed structure to hold relics of the life of the Buddha, the ancient teacher and founder of the religion. Stones from temples associated with him are often used. This will be the first stupa in the ACT. On Saturday morning, a relic from a holy site in Sri Lanka will be installed in the spire of the new building. Three-hundred gilded Buddha statues will also be placed in the dome. The structure in concrete and steel has been designed by a monk from Sri Lanka, Gavaragiriye Indasumana. He has also supervised construction. He told The Canberra Times that he enjoyed being in the city. "I'm happy to be here using my skills," he said. On Friday, the final paint was being applied by volunteers. The cost is about half a million dollars, with the Sri Lanan community raising money in different ways. The 300 small statues of Buddha have been sold for $300 a piece to worshippers at the temple which is alongside the stupa on the site in Jenke Circuit in Kambah. "Everybody who comes to the temple donates," said Namal Gamage, vice-chairman of the organising committee. "Some people brought bricks from home. Some people brought a hundred bricks. Some people gave $10,000. Some people brought $100, depending on their income." The third building on the site contains a bo tree which has been taken from a cutting of a sacred tree in Sri Lanka that goes back 2500 years.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/7809c3ee-c006-4cda-af34-b4a2550079bf/r0_216_4048_2503_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
news, latest-news

A prominent criminal lawyer has backed the ACT government's stance against anti-consorting laws, saying they would amount to "cherry-picking" some human rights and discarding others. Canberra Criminal Lawyers principal lawyer Paul Edmonds, who sits on the ACT Law Society's criminal law committee, said while uniform laws across Australia were "a worthy and lofty goal", consistently bad laws were not. Mr Edmonds' comments came after ACT chief police officer Ray Johnson said last week that he supported nationally consistent laws to deal with the threats posed by outlaw motorcycle gangs. The Canberra Liberals have repeatedly called for anti-consorting laws to be introduced in line with jurisdictions including NSW, but ACT Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay said such laws had been proven ineffective and the ACT government was "not the slightest bit interested" in them. Mr Edmonds said the territory government should not rush to pass laws simply because police said they needed more powers to curb a spike on bikie-related crime, or because other jurisdictions had done so. "What the ACT Liberals and others who support such changes consistently seem to ignore is that the ACT is different to the rest of Australia, partly because we have a Human Rights Act," he said. "We cannot simply cherry-pick the human rights we like and discard the rest, or limit the rights of some, without affecting the rights of all." Mr Edmonds pointed out that in the ACT, magistrates and judges already had the power to make highly restrictive non-association orders when sentencing people found guilty of certain offences. These included all personal violence offences, which are those that involve causing harm, or threatening to cause harm. "[Anti-consorting laws] would extend such powers to those not found guilty of any crime," Mr Edmonds said. "We should not rush to pass legislation that dramatically increases police powers and curtails the civil liberties of all territorians to decide with whom they can associate and where, just because the [police] say they need yet more powers to curb the recent spike in gang crime or because other state governments have done so. "Previous experience is the best predictor of the future, and where [anti-consorting] laws have been in place, they have typically disadvantaged people that are marginalised to start with and who are clearly not members of some sort of criminal organisation." Mr Edmonds pointed to the findings of a 2016 NSW Ombudsman review into that state's anti-consorting laws, which found Aboriginal people accounted for 38 per cent of official anti-consorting warnings despite being just 2.5 per cent of the NSW population. The Canberra Liberals' spokesman on attorney-general issues, Jeremy Hanson, has said the anti-consorting legislation he will table in the Legislative Assembly next week includes appropriate safeguards to protect vulnerable members of the community. However, Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service chief executive Julie Tongs has spoken out against the idea because of its potential impacts on Indigenous people. Mr Edmonds said recent news coverage of bikie-related incidents gave the impression of a growing problem, but in a lot of cases, the coverage was about gang members being arrested and brought before the courts. He noted the arrests of the president and acting president of the newly arrived Satudarah motorcycle gang, which happened in the space of two weeks. "To my mind, if theyve only just come to town and already weve got two senior members whove been arrested, that suggests to me that police do clearly have their finger on the pulse of bikie activity in Canberra and that their current powers are quite ample to deal with the problem," Mr Edmonds said. Police Minister Mick Gentleman told the Sunday Canberra Times last week intelligence suggested while the number of active bikie gangs in the ACT had increased, the number of gang members hadn't. "What [gang members] are doing is patching over," Mr Gentleman said. "We're seeing this change in allegiance from one gang to another, but the brief to me is that they are the same people." The Rebels' stranglehold on Canberra slipped in late 2014, and the Nomads, Comancheros and Satudarah are all now vying for supremacy. The Finks also attempted to set up an ACT chapter last year, but failed.

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/65668f58-05e9-4cf1-ac39-f190b3d382b3/r0_358_6714_4151_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg
St. Johnsbury, VT (05819)

Today

Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High around 80F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low near 60F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
The Reserve Bank has warned Yes Bank of regulatory action for disclosure of nil divergence report in violation of the confidentiality clause, the private sector lender said Friday.

Yes Bank in a press release earlier this week had said the RBI has not found any divergence in the asset classification and provisioning done by the lender during 2017-18.

In a regulatory filing Friday, Yes Bank said it has received a letter from the RBI which noted that the Risk Assessment Report (RAR) was marked 'confidential' and it was expected that no part of the report is divulged except for the information in the form and manner of disclosure prescribed by regulations.

"Therefore, the press release breaches confidentiality and violates regulatory guidelines. Moreover, NIL divergence is not an achievement to be published and is only compliance with the extant Income Recognition and Asset Classification norms," the RBI said in its letter.

"The issuance of the Press Release has, therefore, been viewed seriously by the RBI and could entail further regulatory action/s," the letter added.

The RAR also identifies several other lapses and regulatory breaches in various areas of the bank's functioning and the disclosure of just one part of the RAR is viewed by RBI as a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, the central bank said.

The RBI conducted its first asset quality review (AQR) of banks in 2015 in order to find corporate loan accounts with severe financial weakness which were still classified as standard accounts on the books of the lenders.

Post this review, RBI found a large divergence of Rs 4,176 crore in the reported gross NPAs in the books of Yes Bank for 2015-16.

Further, the RBI judged gross NPAs at Rs 8,373.8 crore for Yes Bank for 2016-17 against the declared gross NPAs of Rs 2,018 crore. Thus, there was a divergence of Rs 6,355 crore or three times the reported amount.
Pulwama terror attack: After the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) agreed that a strong retaliatory action must be taken over Thursday's Pulwama terror attack, in which over 40 CRPF soldiers were martyred, Prime Minister Modi has warned that those behind the attack would pay a "very heavy price." In today's all-party meeting, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will discuss the further course of action in wake of the Pulwama terror attack that was carried out near the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Awantipora.

Besides, diplomatic measures, and military options, such as targeting Jaish-e-Mohammad camps to directly taking on the Pakistan Army in areas along the Line of Control, are also being considered. Pak-based terror group JeM had claimed responsibility for the Pulwama terror attack. The CCS also gave nod to diplomatically isolate Pakistan. The possible withdrawal of Ajay Bisaria, India's high commissioner in Islamabad, was also discussed in the meeting.

Catch all the updates on the Pulwama terror attack on BusinessToday.In live blog.

11:00pm: "Strongly condemn the terrorist act in J&K's Pulwama,which resulted in death&injuries of a large number of soldiers.Kazakhstan calls on world community to implement international obligations on counter-terrorism in practice," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan said in a statement.

"Countering terrorism is the main task of the global community. We stand in solidarity with ppl of India in struggle against this menace of 21st century. We express deep condolences to the families & relatives of the victims," the statement further said.

09:26pm: Cricket Club of India in Mumbai has covered Imran Khan's portrait at its headquarters in repsonse to the Pulwama terror attack. "We respect Imran Khan's cricket credentials but at the same time he is Pakistan PM & we're just showing our solidarity for our forces & our country," CCI President Premal Udani said.

Udani said that a decision to permanently remove Khan's portait will be taken in meeting after the weekend.

09:16pm: Major Chitresh Singh Bisht, who was gave the ultimate sacrifice in an IED blast in in Nowshera sector of Rajouri, was leading the bomb disposal squad during sanitisation operation in the sector. During the operation, mines were detected on the track they were on. Major Bisht defused the first mine successfully, but the next IED got activated while neutralising, wounding him fatally.

09:13pm: People who wish to support the families of martyrs of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces can contribute to Bharat Ke Veer trust. It is managed by a committee comprising of Director Generals of CAPFs. "It is also reported that some unscrupulous elements are soliciting contributions from people through other accounts. It's advised that people desirous of supporting families of martyrs of CAPFs should only contribute through the website. Contributions are free from income tax," Ministry of Home Affairs said.

09:05pm: "It's imp to understand why so many young men in Kashmir are becoming militants & willing to die (sic)," lawyer Prashant Bhushan posted on his Twitter feed, referring to media reports which said that Pulwama suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar turned to militancy after being beaten up by troops.

"Pulwama bomber Adil Ahmad Dar became terrorist after he was beaten by troops". It's imp to understand why so many young men in Kashmir are becoming militants&willing to die. Even US forces couldn't hold Afghanistan & Iraq after large-scale suicide attackshttps://t.co/2mr5d3WK2Z - Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) February 16, 2019

08:58pm: "Curfew will continue in the night. Precautionary measures taken so that no violence takes place. There were no reports of violation of curfew in the day, except little disturbances. We'll decide in the morning whether to continue it or not, after assessing the situation," DC, Jammu told ANI.

08:41pm: Family members of CRPF Constable Guru H pay their last respects at Gudigere, Mandya in Karnataka.

Karnataka: Family members of CRPF Constable Guru H pay their tribute to him in Gudigere, Mandya. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/QlbAC3TThJ - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

08:39pm: Amitabh Bachchan has promised to donate Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the CRPF jawans slain in the Pulwama terror attack.

08:34pm: Mumbai's iconic Cricket Club of India has covered the portrait of Imran Khan, former Pakistan cricket team captain and the incumbent Prime Minister of the country, among its memorabilia in response to the Pulwama terror attack.

08:27pm: Altaf Hussain, founder of Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement party, said that Pulwama terror attack will throw the region in flames of war, as per ANI report.

08:21pm: Upon India's withdrawal of MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status to Pakistan after the Pulwama terrorist attack, basic customs duty on all goods imported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

08:15pm: The mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari reaches Guwahati. Assam CM Sarbananda Sonowal and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in attendance at the airport. The body is being taken to Basumatari's native place in Baska.

07:41pm: Jaish-e-Mohammed is a banned organisation and we are taking action against it, Pakistan minister Fawad Chaudhury told India Today. He stressed on normalising relations with India being the top priority of Pakistan.

07:41pm: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik convened a high-level meeting at the Raj Bhavan to take stock of the present law and order situation in the state in the aftermath of Pulwama terror attack. In the meeting, Governor Malik directed the police to take strict action without mercy against those indulging in any type of violence, arson or rumour mongering irrespective of political and religious affiliation.

07:22pm: Security personnel and civilians hold candle march in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh to pay last respects to CRPF jawans who lost their lives in Pulwama terror attack.

07:20pm: West Bengal pays tribute to CRPF Head Constable Bablu Santra and Constable Sudip Biswas who were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack.

06:23pm: Pakistan has violated ceasefire in Naowshera sector of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir at 4:00 pm today, ANI reported. Pakistani forces initiated unprovoked firing along Line of Control. Indian forces have retaliated strongly and effectively.

06:18pm: Shiv Sena MLC Manisha Kayande calls for ban on tourism in Kashmir for two years to stifle the state's economy and deprive separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir, "which are indirectly supported by the locals", of any funding.

06:00pm: A Major-rank Army officer from Corps of Engineers lost his life in an IED blast in Nowshera sector, Rajouri. The crude bomb was planted 1.5km within the Line of Control by terrorists, ANI reported. More details awaited.

06:00pm: Locals pay tribute to martyred CRPF jawan Naseer Ahmed in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri. Union Minister Jitendra Singh in attendance.

05:43pm: Following his meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Omar Abdullah said that he has requested necessary steps to be taken in order to maintain calm in the state. He also apprised Singh about reports of Kashmiri students and others being harassed after the Pulwama terror attack, and requested measures to check this.

Just met union Home Minister @rajnathsingh Sb to personally pay my condolences for the tragic deaths in Pulwama on Thursday. I requested him to take all steps necessary to ensure Jammu remains calm. - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

I took the opportunity to inform @rajnathsingh Sb of the reports I had received of Kashmiri students & others being threatened/harassed and requested him to appoint a modal officer in @HMOIndia to ensure the directive issued to states is followed in letter & spirit. - Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) February 16, 2019

05:20pm: Former Jammu and Kashmir CM and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is still in talks with Minister Rajnath Singh at the latter's residence.

05:20pm: NSA Ajit Doval has come out of the residence of Home Affairs Minister Rajnath Singh after deliberations.

03.40pm: Ministry of Home Affairs issued an advisory to all states & Union Territories to take necessary measures to ensure students and other residents safety & security.

There have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu&Kashmir are experiencing threats&intimidation in light of #PulwamaAttack. Therefore, MHA today issued an advisory to all states & Union Territories to take necessary measures to ensure their safety & security. pic.twitter.com/tp2aYhTsxo - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

ALSO READ: Jaish-e-Mohammed, outfit behind Pulwama terror attack, readies stronghold in Masood Azhar's birthplace

03:20pm: Even as the entire global fraternity condemns Pulwama terror attack, Pakistani media hails JeM suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar as a 'freedom fighter'.

03:10pm: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria meets senior officials and leadership at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.

02.50pm: Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that we remember the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in Jammu and Kashmir

Congress President Rahul Gandhi in Bastar, Chhattisgarh: Jawans who sacrificed their lives in Jammu and Kashmir, who were martyred, we remember them. Our condolences are with their families. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/7zsetuB4fR - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

02.40pm: Huge crowds gather to receive mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha in Masaurhi, Bihar

#Bihar: Huge crowds gather to receive mortal remains of #CRPF Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha in Masaurhi, in Patna district pic.twitter.com/29HLozUXAz - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

02.30pm: Sony TV has sacked Navjot Singh Sidhu from the Kapil Sharma Show after his statements on the Pulwama attacks left Twitteratis outraged. Archana Puran Singh has reportedly been brought in as his replacement on the show.

02.20pm: The mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ashwani Kumar Kachhi is being brought to his home, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

#WATCH Madhya Pradesh: Visuals from Jabalpur as the mortal remains of CRPF Constable Ashwani Kumar Kachhi are being brought to his home. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/hQUwh7sMMw - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

02.10pm: Mortal remains of CRPF Constable Rohitash Lamba brought to his native place in Shahpura, Rajasthan.

Rajasthan: Mortal remains of CRPF Constable Rohitash Lamba brought to his native place in Shahpura, Jaipur district, #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/JhEm4fvwks - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

02.00pm: Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, after the all-party meeting said that Resolutions were passed after Pathankot and Uri attack also. We have told government that they should now take action.

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena after the all-party meeting on #PulwamaAttack: Resolutions were passed after Pathankot & Uri attack also. We have told them (central government) that they should now take action. pic.twitter.com/StuKlhXouz - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

01.45pm: Police launches lathi charge against protesters at Mumbai's Nallasopara railway station, protesting against Pulwama terror attack

#WATCH Mumbai: Police baton charge to disperse protesters at Nallasopara railway station, protesting against #PulwamaAttack. Some protesters were demonstrating at railway tracks of the station earlier today affecting services. Services now resumed at Virar, Nallasopara&Bhayandar pic.twitter.com/lKJ4kuKoX7 - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

01.25pm: Anupam Kher shares a message, comparing the life of a soldier with that of a civilian.

I got this poem/text as a message. It compares the life of a soldier with that of a civilian. It moved me & made me realise how easy it is to take armed forces & their sacrifices for granted. Please share it with the world. Thanks to the person who wrote it. #SaluteToASoldierpic.twitter.com/zcwchcDFs5 - Anupam Kher (@AnupamPKher) February 15, 2019

01.25pm: Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress said that, the entire nation is in mourning today, is angry.

Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress: We had requested the Home Minister to request the PM on our behalf to ask Presidents of all national & regional parties for a meeting. This was supported by other parties too. The entire nation is in mourning today, is angry. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/cmLOKmcRfE - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

01.20pm: The resolution passed by the Modi government at the all-party meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Sing.

The resolution passed at the all-party meeting: We strongly condemn the dastardly terror act of 14th February at Pulwama in J&K in which lives of 40 brave jawans of CRPF were lost. pic.twitter.com/0OjGkgS6He - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

01.10pm: Nita Ambani's Reliance Foundation pledges to assume full responsibility for the education and employment of the martyrs' children and the livelihood of their families

12.55pm: Ajay Bisaria, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan arrives at Ministry of External Affairs for consultations with senior officials.

Delhi: Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrives at Ministry of External Affairs for consultations with senior officials & leadership. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/7sT4ol7rKP - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

12.50pm: All party meet over

12.48pm: 2-minute silence observed at PM Modi's event in Maharashtra for slain CRPF jawans

12.45pm: CM Edappadi Palaniswami announces government jobs to one family member each of the two martyred CRPF personnel from the state.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has announced government jobs to one family member each of the two CRPF personnel from the state who lost their lives in #PulwamaAttack. (file pic) pic.twitter.com/tN1VdHha4D - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

12:40pm: Pakistan's reaction over Thursday's Pulwama terror attack

Dear India , We Pakistanis will be highly indebted if you take a serious action and finish LeT and Jaish e Muhammad. These terrorists recruit our children and the Generals protect these terrorists. - Ahmad Waqass Goraya (@AWGoraya) February 14, 2019

12.35pm: India has asked all nations that have not reacted to the Pulwama terror attack to condemn Pakistan. Modi government has sent out a clear message that Pakistan is supporting these networks and should be named in their statements.

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack: 'We salute you, brave sons of Mother India': PM Modi pays tribute to martyred soldiers

12.25pm: Wang Yi, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister, sent a condolence message to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the Pulwama terror attack and stated that terrorism is the common enemy of humankind.

12.15pm: Union minister Babul Supriyo is already at Kolkata airport to receive the bodies of the two CRPF jawans from West Bengal.

12.05pm: Visuals from Mumbai's Nallasopara protest.

11.55am: PM Modi in Yavatmal, said that security forces have been given full freedom.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Yavatmal, Maharashtra: Terror organisations who have committed this crime, no matter how much they try to hide, they will be punished. Security forces have been given full freedom. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/ULPOSUH3w2 - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

11.45am: Ramesh Kumar, DC Jammu said that the curfew has been continued as a precautionary measure and after assessing the situation, will decide whether to continue the curfew or not.

Ramesh Kumar, DC Jammu: Curfew was imposed yesterday, no casualties were reported. The situation is under control but as a precautionary measure, we have continued with the curfew. We will decide whether to continue it or not by evening, after assessing the situation. pic.twitter.com/tXRhRpbhEB - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

11.30am: All party meeting called by Modi government at Delhi, underway at the Parliament

Delhi: All party meeting called by central govt. underway at the Parliament. #PulwamaAttackpic.twitter.com/OqeqgzteE1 - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

11.00am: Protesters in Maharashtra are staging a demonstration on the Nallasopara railway station's tracks at in a protest against Pulwama attack.

Maharashtra: Protesters stage demonstration on the railway tracks at Nallasopara railway station in protest against #PulwamaAttack. Train movement affected at Nallasopara and beyond. pic.twitter.com/BzFLDzyi6z - ANI (@ANI) February 16, 2019

10.30am: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman had postponed his Pakistan visit by a day. The delay comes after Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the Pulwama terror attack.

10.00am: Ravi Shastri, head coach of Indian Cricket Team, said that he salutes CRPF Bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice and attained martyrdom in the Pulwama attack

My salute to the #CRPF Bravehearts who made the supreme sacrifice and attained martyrdom in the #PulwamaAttack. I'm deeply saddened. Thoughts with the families of our brave jawans  pic.twitter.com/tqa100LWP1 - Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) February 16, 2019

9.00am: South African government deplores the Pulwama terror attack on a paramilitary convoy in Jammu and Kashmir and expresses its solidarity with India in fighting terrorism.

8.00am: Indian Armed Forces deployed nine security columns with air support in Jammu following massive protests over the terror attack in Pulwam.

7.00am: Mike Pompeo, United States Secretary of State, condemns yesterday's horrific terror attack on Indian security forces.

The U.S. condemns yesterday's horrific terror attack on Indian security forces. My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security. - Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) February 15, 2019

6.00am: Luo Zhaohui, Chinese Ambassador to India expressed deep sympathy to families of the victims & injured.
India's next diplomatic action against Pakistan would be at the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary meeting in Paris on February 17-22.

Pakistan was put on the FATF grey list in June of 2018 and was put on notice to be blacklisted by October 2019 if it didn't curb money laundering and terror financing. If India manages to convince the international financial watchdog on Pakistan's involvement in terrorism then it would lead to massive financial curbs on Pakistan's already dwindling economy.

The review meeting is to take place this coming week in Paris to look at the measures taken by Pakistan to curb money laundering and terror financing.

Coming right after the Pulwama attack by the Jaish-e-Mohammad whose chief Masood Azhar has been proved a safe haven by Pakistan, the Indian delegation will be armed to cut right through any of Islamabad's arguments.

The other important diplomatic achievement would be to have the European Union Commission blacklist Pakistan. India is engaged with the EU on the matter. The European Commission normally blacklists all those nations that are put on FATF's grey list. The commission has already proposed to put the Pakistan's name on the black list.

The proposal to put Pakistan on the international financial watchdog's list was initiated by US, UK, France and Germany in January, 2018 after concerted bilateral effort by India with each country all through 2017 which led the four nations to nominate Pakistan.

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack LIVE updates: Reliance Foundation pledges full responsibility for education, employment of martyrs' children

In June 2018, the international watchdog declared Pakistan to be on the grey list with a 15-month Action Plan, until October 2019, to prove that it is taking steps to curb terror financing. Islamabad had been given a 27-point action plan that the country has to implement till September 2019.

Pakistan's case is monitored by Asia Pacific Group that reports on the progress of the 27 agreed actions. The last review meeting of the sub-group of FATF took place took place on Jan 8-10 this year with Pakistani authorities in Sydney, the report of which will be placed during the plenary session in Paris.

The decision of grey listing comes up for review thrice with a final round of decision on blacklisting in Oct 2019. The first review was done in October 2018, the second would be held this week, Feb 2019 and the final review would be held in June of 2019. If the grouping concluded non.compliance by Pakistan then it would be blacklisted in October.

The good news is that FATF works on consensus and a single country cannot stop the move. Interestingly, the current chair of the grouping is US and the Vice President is China. China made it to the seat with India's help during the last meeting. India ensured Pakistan's grey listing with no dissent from any quarter. Pakistan's nomination for grey listing was with consensus. None of the 37 countries opposed.

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack: 'We salute you, brave sons of Mother India': PM Modi pays tribute to martyred soldiers

It is learnt that Pakistan government has finalised a functional strategy for meeting with FATF which would be led by their Finance Secretary. National Counter Terrorism Authority director general and other top officials from the Financial Monitoring Unit of the State Bank will be part of the delegation too.

Pakistan team will brief the FATF authorities on measures it has taken to curb money laundering and terror financing. The delegation will put forward a list of measures Pakistan wants to adopt.

The FATF will review progress in four key areas -Terrorism Financing Risk Assessment report, report of the customs department on cash couriers, implementation on the United Nations Security Council resolutions, and inter-agency coordination.
A Delhi court Saturday extended the interim bail granted to Robert Vadra till March 2 in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) even as the agency claimed that he was not cooperating in the matter.

Special judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

The court also extended the protection from arrest granted to his close aide and a co-accused in the case, Manoj Arora, till the next date of hearing i.e. March 2.

The ED told the court that it needed to question Vadra in the case and opposed his anticipatory bail plea, saying that he was not cooperating in the case. The probe agency has summoned Vadra once again on Tuesday to face questions in connection with the London properties that allegedly belong to him

"Vadra is not cooperating and giving evasive replies," Special Public Prosecutor D P Singh and advocate Nitesh Rana, appearing for the ED, said.

The businessman, represented through senior advocate KTS Tulsi, however, denied the charge and said he was ready to come for questioning as and when called.

ALSO READ:Bikaner land scam case: ED attaches assets worth Rs 4.62 crore belonging to Robert Vadra's company

Singh told the court Vadra is accompanied by a 'baraat' (procession) wherever he goes, whether to the agency's office or to the court.

"There are some people who always come with a 'baraat', Vadra is one of them," Singh, said, adding that by 'baraat', he was referring to the media.

The lawyer alleged that Vadra was using social media, including Facebook, for writing about the case and highlighting the matter.

Vadra had filed an anticipatory bail application in the case linked to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square worth GBP 1.9 million. The property is allegedly owned by him.

The agency had earlier said it has received information about various new properties in London which belongs to Vadra, including two houses of five and four million pounds, each, six other flats and more properties.

In his anticipatory bail plea, Vadra had said he was being subjected to "unwarranted, unjustified and malicious criminal prosecution which on the face of it is completely politically motivated and is being carried out for reasons other than those prescribed under law".

The plea had said Vadra's office was raided by ED on December 7, 2018 and therefore, he seriously apprehends that his liberty may be curtailed by the investigating agency.

ALSO READ:Robert Vadra, the flats in London and an endless list of cases

"The petitioner (Vadra) is being subjected to a farce criminal prosecution which actually is beset with nothing else except political vendetta and most unfortunately the respondent (ED) being the law enforcement agency is a party to the unethical and illegal exercise.

"It is stated that the petitioner's (Vadra's) firm through its authorised representative Manoj Arora has already joined investigation with the ED conducting investigation into the affairs of the firm in Rajasthan with their offices at Jaipur on many occasions and has supplied all the relevant documents to the satisfaction of the officials of the ED," the plea had said.

Arora, an employee of Vadra's Skylight Hospitality LLP, was a key person in the case and he was aware of the latter's overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds, the ED had alleged.

Vadra had alleged that he is being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.

"It is stated the the petitioner has highest regard for the due process of law and is always willing to cooperate with the investigation in the highly charged political atmosphere and political contours of the present investigation, he seriously apprehends arrest by the investigating authorities and in such circumstances, the petitioner by means of the present petition is also praying that while he is willing to join investigation with the ED authorities," his plea read.

Arora had alleged before the court that the case was foisted on him by the NDA government out of "political vendetta".

ALSO READ:Robert Vadra blames 'vindictive' govt of harassing mother; says interrogation an election gimmick

However, the ED had refuted the allegations, asking that "should no authority investigate any political bigwig because that will be called a political vendetta?"

The agency had told the court that it lodged the money laundering case against Arora after his role came up during the probe of another case by the Income Tax Department under the newly enacted Black Money Act and tax law against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

It had alleged that the London-based property was bought by Bhandari for GBP 1.9 million and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses of approximately GBP 65,900 on its renovation.

"This gives credence to the fact that Bhandari was not the actual owner of the property but it was beneficially owned by Vadra who was incurring expenditure on the renovation of this property," the ED had told the court.
By Michael Martina and Roberta RamptonBEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and China will resume trade talks next week in Washington with time running short to ease their bruising trade war, but U.S. President Donald Trump repeated on Friday that he may extend a March 1 deadline for a deal and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising.Both the United States and China reported progress in five days of negotiations in Beijing this week.Trump, speaking at a White House news conference, said the United States was closer than ever before to "having a real trade deal" with China and ...
MUNICH (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered a robust defence on Saturday of Germany's foreign trade relations and ties with Russia, urging global leaders meeting in Munich to work together to tackle the world's problems.Addressing an audience including Ivanka Trump, daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Merkel defended plans for a new gas pipeline from Russia to Germany that he has criticised.Trump has accused Germany of being a "captive" of Russia due to its reliance on Russian energy, but Merkel argued:"If during the Cold War...we imported large amounts of Russian gas, I don't ...
Actor Manoj Bajpayee has condemned the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that claimed the lives of at least 40 soldiers, saying one will fall short of words to express his anger over the dastardly act.

"What has happened in Pulwama is very sad. My prayers are with the families of soldiers who have lost their dear ones. Their loss is irreparable.

"Words will fall short to express our anger for this kind of heinous act. As far as the anger of the people is concerned, I can say the government will take the right decision and we all should have faith in the government and support it in such circumstances," Bajpayee told reporters here at an event on Friday.

He was talking at Cine and TV Artistes' Association (CINTAA) and 48 Hour Film Project's first edition of 'Act Fest 2019'.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

Actors Ronit Roy, Divya Dutta, Johnny Lever, Renuka Shahane and Sara Ali Khan also expressed grief over the terror attack.

"I get angry whenever I hear of such evil acts, I feel hurt and scared. I am really sad," Sara said.

Ronit said the incident is a severe dent in the country's national security and should not be taken lightly.

"It is a day of mourning for everyone. It is a serious matter and something should be done," he added.

Divya expressed shocked over the incident and hoped that an appropriate action is taken.

"... And we just don't do away with it by lighting candles and we do more about it," she added.

Renuka offered her condolences to the family of martyrs and the actor hopes their sacrifices will not go in vain.

'Act Fest', is a two-day festival organised by CINTAA and 48 Hour Film Project.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eminent Palestinian poet Najwan Darwish Friday said that when we talk about poetry we should also talk about freedom of having a political voice and saying the truth, as the two should always go hand in hand.

Speaking on the opening day of the Raza Biennale of Asian Poetry - VAK 2019, organised by the Raza Foundation at the India International Centre, the poet noted that due to prevailing "new forms of colonialism in societies and among some poets, it is becoming difficult to be a poet in these dark ages".

"I think we should not talk about poetry, poetry should talk about itself but when we do talk about poetry, we should talk about freedom.

"Freedom in poetry basically means three things: the struggle and freedom to find one's voice, the freedom to be yourself all the while staying within the societal and political norms, and the freedom to say the truth which is not a welcome figure in real life," Darwish said during a session titled "Freedom and Dissent in Poetry".

Vietnamese poet Nguyen Hoang Bao Viet, on the other hand, said that while "freedom was a fragile concept, poetry had the power to unite the world".

"Poetry fully expresses freedom and human life. No poetry is without freedom or human life. Throughout our history, we have faced many wars. The Vietnamese poets have still emerged to be the witnesses to hope, dreams and adventure. They also bear witness to reality.

"Vietnamese poets often disregard political system, and frequently write political poetry. We hope to warn the audience of the people who try to divide the country and the world," Viet said.

While agreeing that poetry was in crisis, Armenian poet Marine Petrossian also emphasised that we need to talk about it instead of choosing to stay quiet.

"I do not believe that there is no need to talk about poetry. I believe it is a bell which needs to be touched and rung to hear its sound. Its mere existence is not enough," she said.

The three-day poetry biennale is organised under the banner of Raza Utsav, the celebration of noted modern artist S H Raza's 97th birth anniversary.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports India's right to self-defense.

Bolton telephoned Doval Friday morning to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US' full support to India in confronting terrorism.

"I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defense. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed US' condolences over the terrorist attack, he told PTI.

Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens.

We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis, he said.

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country.

"We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security, Pompeo said on Twitter.

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.

"The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement on Thursday.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi court Saturday dismissed the bail plea of Christian Michel, arrested in connection with an alleged scam in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.

Special judge Arvind Kumar rejected Michel's plea in the cases filed by the and the

Michel, extradited from Dubai, was arrested by the (ED) on December 22 last year.

On January 5, Michel was sent to judicial custody in the case. He is also lodged in judicial custody in the case related to the scam.

Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the and the (CBI). The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
A Kashmiri student was booked for allegedly sending WhatsApp messages supporting the Pulwama suicide attack, amid reports that students from the Valley were being harassed in the Uttarakhand capital.

The messages shared by the Kashmiri student on WhatsApp created tension and some right-wing Hindu outfits gheraoed the university, demanding immediate arrest of the student.

The student was suspended by a private university in Dehradun on Friday.

When asked whether landlords in Dehradun were under pressure from a section of the local population to not give rooms on rent to Kashmiri students, Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti said there are such reports but no formal complaints have been received.

She said Kashmiri students pursuing different courses in the institutions based in the city need not fear as there is adequate deployment of police personnel around their campuses and hostels.

A police spokesperson said the Dehradun Police has assured the Jammu and Kashmir Police that they were in touch with the representative of youths from Kashmir and all necessary arrangements for the safety and security of students in Dehradun have been put in place.

In his WhatsApp messages, the Kashmiri student compared the gruesome terror attack with the online battle game PUBG.

Police have registered a case under Section 505 (2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the IPC against the student who is yet to be traced.

In view of the sensitivity of the Pulwama incident, ADG law and order Ashok Kumar has appealed to people to maintain calm and not to take law into their hands.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat Saturday paid tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack which claimed the lives of 40 personnel.

Rawat arrived at Lal's residence in Vidya Vihar locality near Kargi Chawk in the town after his mortal remains were brought in a coffin wrapped with the national flag.

The chief minister laid a wreath on the coffin and commiserated with his family members, saying that the entire country stood by the brave para-military personnel who had sacrificed their lives in the terror assault.

Rawat also turned a pallbearer as the coffin was placed in a vehicle to be taken to Haridwar for last rites.

Mohan Lal (53) who hailed from Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand was among the 40 CRPF personnel killed in Thursday's terror strike in Pulwama. He was an ASI with the 76th Battalion of the force.

In one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into a bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Two jawans from Uttarakhand were killed in the attack, the other being Virendra Singh from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district.

Others who paid tribute to Lal at his residence here included BJP's Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi, the party's Dharampur MLA Vinod Chamoli and the party's city unit president Vinay Goyal.

A huge crowd gathered at Lal's residence as his mortal remains were brought home in the early hours of the day, with anti-Pakistan slogans renting the air.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A US judge issued a gag order on Friday in the case against Roger Stone, the Trump advisor who has pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the investigation into whether the president's election campaign colluded with Russia.

Stone, 66, is charged with lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstruction stemming from his contacts with WikiLeaks, whose publication of Russian-hacked communications from Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign gave a boost to Donald Trump.

US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered government and defense attorneys to refrain from "making statements to the media or in public settings that pose a substantial likelihood of material prejudice to this case."



Stone was told not to speak to the media or to make public statements around the courthouse or in its immediate vicinity.

The federal judge cited the "size and vociferousness of the crowds" attending Stone's court appearances and the "risk that public pronouncements by the participants may inflame those gatherings."



Stone's court appearances have been rowdy affairs featuring supporters and opponents and a large media contingent.

Stone, a veteran Republican consultant, pleaded not guilty in federal court in Washington last month to the seven charges against him.

Stone is the sixth campaign associate of Trump indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 vote.

Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion with Moscow and denounced the probe by Mueller, a former FBI director, as a "political witch hunt."



Stone, who launched his career as a campaign aide to Richard Nixon and has a tattoo on his back of the first US president to resign from office, has spent decades advising political campaigns.

His association with Trump dates back to 1979, and he was one of the first to enlist when the billionaire real estate magnate launched his run for the presidency in 2015.

Stone left the campaign months later but the indictment shows he remained in active communication with Trump's team, providing support and information.

Mueller's team has indicted a total of 34 people -- but so far, no charges of outright collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow have been filed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US National Security Adviser John Bolton indicated Friday that their concerns regarding India continuing to buy oil from Venezuela have been resolved.

The issue came up for discussion during a telephonic conversation between Bolton and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval regarding the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier this week, Bolton had said that countries will not be forgotten for buying oil from Venezuela.

"Nations and firms that support (President Nicolas) Maduro's theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten," he had said in a tweet that displayed a story about Venezuelan Oil Minister Manuel Quevedo visiting India to sell more oil.

"The US will continue to use all of its powers to preserve the Venezuelan people's assets and we encourage all nations to do the same, Bolton said in a tweet on Friday.

Responding to a question about his tweet and the consequences that countries like India could face for continuing to purchase oil from Venezuela, Bolton indicated that the issue might have already been resolved.

"I don't think it's a question about what the consequences would be because they (countries like India) may take actions that cuts off these purchases of the Venezuelan oil, he said.

I would just note that today Trafigura, one of the two largest private world trading concerns that deals a lot with Venezuela, has announced they will no longer deal in Venezuela in the world oil. And they were one of the trading firms that sold to oil firms in India. So that may be an indication that problem is solving itself right now, he said.

Bolton said the combined economic and political pressure from the US and other countries on the Nicolas Maduro regime was having an effect.

It makes it very different from what has happened in the past 20 years of the Chavez-Maduro regime. We've got over 50 governments worldwide that now recognize (opposition leader) Juan Guaido as the legitimate president. That's never happened before, he said.

The US NSA said he spoke to Doval twice recently including on Friday.

He said they talked a "little bit about Venezuela" but the main topic was the Pulwama terror attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of people, including Union minister Jitendra Singh, Saturday attended the last rites of one of the 40 martyred CRPF personnel in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir.

A pall of gloom descended on Dudasunballa village of the border district as the tricolour wrapped coffin carrying the mortal remains of the jawan, head constable Naseer Ahmad, reached his village for last rites.

Forty CRPF personnel, including Ahmad, were killed when a suicide bomber struck their explosive-laden vehicle with a convoy in Pulwama district of south Kashmir on Thursday.

Singh along with senior party colleagues, including state president Ravinder Raina, joined thousands of villagers who assembled here to bid a tearful adieu to the jawan, officials said.

They said senior civil, police, CRPF and Army officers visited the village and paid floral tributes to the martyr.

"Pakistan and the terrorists have committed a grave mistake and they will have to pay a heavy price for it," Raina said.

Ahmad is survived by his wife and two children.

A senior CRPF officer assured full support to the family of the martyr and said all necessary measures would be taken to take care of his children.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Britain's finance minister Philip Hammond has reportedly been forced to cancel a trip to China next week after plans to send a new aircraft carrier to the Pacific angered Beijing.

Hammond was set to visit China for trade talks with senior government figures, but has axed the trip after Beijing reacted angrily this week to of the warship's planned deployment, according to British media reports.

Although the visit was never formally announced by London, it had been under preparation for "many weeks," the Financial Times (FT) said.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced on Monday that the first operational mission of Britain's new 3.1 billion pounds (USD 4 billion, 3.5 billion euros) aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth would include the Pacific region.

In a strongly worded speech, he said adversaries were challenging "the rules-based international order" while noting that "China is developing its modern military capability and its commercial power".

The comments reportedly provoked anger in Beijing as well as consternation in British government departments eager to foster closer relations with the east Asian economic power.

Hammond had been expected to meet Chinese vice-premier Hu Chunhua but that was cancelled following Williamson's speech, leading Britain to scrap the entire visit, the FT reported.

Meanwhile diplomatic sources told the BBC the Chinese had made it clear "it is not going to happen for now".

Britain's finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But a spokesperson told several media outlets earlier Saturday: "No trip was ever announced or confirmed." China is highly sensitive about the South China Sea, which it claims as its exclusive territorial waters, and is mired in ongoing disputes with its neighbours and the United States over access.

Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of the vast waters, and the US and its allies increasingly send planes and warships to the region to make "freedom of navigation operations".

In mid-January, British and American warships conducted their first joint military exercises in the sea since Beijing began building bases and air strips on islands there.

In the deployment announcement, Williamson said American F35s would be embedded alongside British planes on the carrier's air wing, "enhancing the reach and lethality of our forces".

The Chinese Embassy in London did not respond to a request for comment.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: U Mumba Volley defeated Chennai Spartans 3-2 (15-14, 15-8, 15-10, 10-15, 10-15) in the opening match of the Chennai leg of the Pro Volleyball League here Saturday to keep its hopes of a semifinal spot alive.

Skipper Dipesh Sinha was the top scorer for U Mumba with 11 points (5 spikes, 2 blocks and 4 serves) and helped the team post its first win.

For the Spartans, Rudy Verhoeff equalled his individual points record of 20 in a match (14 spikes and 6 serves) but ended up on the losing side.

It was a hard-fought battle as both teams knew it was a crucial game and didn't allow the other any leeway.

Chennai Spartans got the first advantage as they went into the first Technical Time Out (TTO) with a spike from Rudy Verhoeff at 8-7. Chennai looked in good rhythm after the TTO, as they mounted a 13-8 lead with the help of Naveen Raja Jacobs Super Serve.

U Mumba called for a Super Point at 8-13 and won the same. It was the start of a comeback. At 14-10, it looked like Chennai would win the set but U Mumba closed the gap with the help of three errors by Chennai to eventually win the set 15-14.

U Mumba came out all guns blazing in the second set and opened up a 4-0 lead. Skipper Dipesh Sinha, Vinit Kumar and Coskovic did bulk of the scoring and the set ended 15-8 in their favour as they took a 2-0 lead.

In the third set, it seemed like a similar story but Chennai wasn't going down easily. From 2-6 down, Chennai closed the gap to 6-7 when a Super Serve by Verhoeff gave them the advantage entering the TTO.

At 9-11, Chennai called for a Super Point but failed to convert. U Mumba finally won the set 15-10 and obtained an unassailable 3-0 lead in the match.

In the penultimate set, it was Sinha and Coskovic who looked in scintillating form as they scored 5 out of 8 points to take an 8-6 lead at TTO for U Mumba. At 7-9 Chennai called for a Super Point and converted to level the score. U Mumba immediately called for a Super Point but an error by Pankaj Sharma gifted Chennai the point. Chennai finally opened their account in the match winning the fourth set 15-10.

Chennai won the fifth set to reduce the margin of defeat to 2-3.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A "peaceful and just solution" to the longstanding Israel-Palestine conflict can only be achieved through creation of two States living side-by-side in peace and security, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said, asserting that there is no plan B.

In his address to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1975, Guterres said on Friday that "based on relevant UN resolutions, long-held principles, previous agreements and international law", Jerusalem should be the capital of both States.

"Unfortunately, over this past year, the situation has not moved in that direction", he rued, pointing to protests that began along the border fence with Gaza last year that left hundreds dead and thousands wounded by Israeli security forces.

He also cited "security incidents and provocations by Hamas and other militants in Gaza", including the launching of rockets and incendiary kites that dangerously escalated the situation.

"Thanks to the UN and Egyptian mediation efforts, a major escalation was avoided", he said, appealing to Hamas authorities in Gaza to "prevent provocations".

The UN chief said under International Humanitarian Law Israel too has a responsibility to exercise "maximum restraint", except as a last resort.

Guterres said he regretted Israel's decision not to renew the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, saying "I hope an agreement can be found by the parties to preserve this long-standing and valuable arrangement".

"Palestinians have endured more than a half-century of occupation and denial of their legitimate right to self-determination" with both sides continuously suffering from "deadly cycles of violence", the Secretary-General said.

He indicated that leaders bore the responsibility to reverse this negative trajectory and pave the way toward peace, stability and reconciliation.

Guterres praised the Committee for keeping the focus on the ultimate objective of a "peaceful solution with two States coexisting in peace and security" as the only way to achieve the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.

"As I have said repeatedly, there is no Plan B," Guterres said.

He underscored that the UN firmly supports Palestinian reconciliation and "the return of the legitimate Palestinian Government to Gaza" as "an integral part of a future Palestinian State".

Noting that the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza must be immediately addressed, he detailed that some two million Palestinians remained mired in increasing poverty and unemployment, with limited access to adequate health, education, water and electricity, leaving young people with "little prospect of a better future".

"I urge Israel to lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which also hamper the efforts of the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies, without naturally jeopardising legitimate security concerns," Guterres said.

Lauding the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for its "critical work" in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and across the region, he called on the international community to "significantly" increase efforts to revitalise Gaza's economy.

Touching upon the risk of further unrest in the West Bank, the UN chief flagged that Israeli construction and settlement plans have expanded, including in East Jerusalem.

"Settlements are illegal under international law", he asserted.

"They deepen the sense of mistrust and undermine the two-State solution".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two inter-state burglars, who were allegedly involved in a number of offences in Hyderabad and other parts of the country, were arrested Saturday, police said.

They said about 1034 grams gold ornaments, two mobile phones and a two-wheeler with fake registration number, all worth Rs 32 lakh, were seized from them.

Police teams, under the supervision of Mahesh M Bhagwat, Commissioner of Police, Rachakonda, were formed to trace the culprits in the wake of a series of house burglary offences committed during day time in January, a police release said.

The efforts led to the apprehension of the accused on Saturday, it said.

A separate police release said two inter-state dacoit gang members were detained.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Turkey has not yet revealed all the information it has discovered about the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

"We haven't given all the elements we have at our disposal," the Turkish head of state said during an interview with the A-Haber television channel.

After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed on October 2 after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming marriage to Turkish woman Hatice Cengiz.

Turkey has said the journalist was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who allegedly helped them dispose of the body, which has not been found.

Riyadh has arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder.

Khashoggi, Washington Post contributor, was a fierce critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who denies any involvement in the murder.

Ankara "is determined to bring this case before international justice," said Erdogan, calling on the United States to weigh in this case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Describing the Pulwama terrorist attack as a despicable act of violence, top US lawmakers have rallied behind India's effort to fight terrorism and said that such heinous crimes will not weaken the resolve of its people.

So far, more than 70 American lawmakers including 15 Senators have condemned the attack.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The "terrorist attack against Indian paramilitary police is a despicable act of violence, however, I know it will not weaken the resolve of the Indian people," said Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate India Caucus.

"The American people and the American government stand fully behind our ally India and their fight to defend their democracy and end the threat of violent extremism," he said.

As a member of the Armed Services Committee and Senate India Caucus, Tillis said he remains committed to strengthening the national security alliance between the two nations.

"What a terrible terrorist attack in India. America stands with our Indian friends and allies against this despicable atrocity. Our thoughts are with the victims and their families," Senator Bill Cassidy said.

"I condemn the terror attack yesterday in Jammu and Kashmir. My thoughts are with the families who lost loved ones in this horrific attack," said Senator Sherrod Brown.

Other US lawmakers also took to Twitter to condemn the attack.

"I strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack in Kashmir, one of the deadliest attacks in the region in decades. My prayers are with the families of the victims," Senator Cory Booker tweeted.

"My sincere condolences to the Indian people after the horrific terrorist attack yesterday in Kashmir. The United States stands strong with India in the face of terrorism. We must work together to fight this evil," Senator Marco Rubio said.

"The Kashmir terror attack yesterday was a horrific and devastating act of terrorism. These cowardly terrorist acts have no place in our world. The United State stands in solidarity with India in condemning this attack," Senator Rob Portman said.

The terror attack against Indian forces in Kashmir resulting in over 40 deaths and seriously injuring many more was despicable, said Congressman Bill Johnson.

"Terrorism cannot be accepted in any part of the world, and Pakistan must end the support and safe haven for any terrorists groups operating in its country," Johnson demanded.

"Deeply saddened to learn of the cowardly terrorist attack on an Indian Central Reserve Police Force in Kashmir yesterday. The United States stands firm with our Indian partners in condemning the Kashmir terror attack. We must fight against terrorism in all of its forms," Congressman Steve Stivers said.

This heinous terrorist attack on the Indian Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir is a devastating tragedy and must be vehemently condemned, said Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence.

"I extend my sincere condolences to the victims and their families and loved ones," Lawrence said.

The United States stand with its ally India in coping with this barbaric act of terrorism, said Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

"Saddened and angered by today's terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir. Tammy and I are keeping the victims' families in our prayers during this difficult time. New Jersey stands with India against the threat of terrorism," New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said.

"My thoughts are with the victims and their families today. America stands with the Indian people and strongly condemns this senseless violence," Indian-American Congressman Dr Ami Bera said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After a stint of over six years as Tamil Nadu Health Secretary, senior IAS official, J Radhakrishnan was Saturday transferred to the Transport Department.

Belonging to the 1992 batch of the IAS, Radhakrishnan, assumed charge in the Health and Family Welfare Department in September 2012.

He will now hold charge as Principal Secretary, Transport Department, according to a Government Order which also notified transfers and postings in respect of other officials.

The 51-year old officer's transfer comes after Justice A Arumughaswamy Commission of Inquiry's (which is probing the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa) counsel made an allegation against him in December 2018.

In a petition before the Commission, the counsel had alleged that Radhakrishnan "colluded and conspired," with Apollo Hospitals and "inappropriate treatment" was provided to her.

Both the hospital and Radhakrishnan had rejected the allegations.

The hospital, dismissing the allegations had said, that the proceedings before the inquiry panel cannot be "accusatorial" in nature.

The top official had dismissed the allegations levelled against him as "unfounded, baseless and wild."



The allegation was "not only false, but also slanderous", the top official had said.

In his capacity as Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Radhakrishnan was among top State officials who had a tab on the treatment for the late Chief Minister in 2016 at Apollo Hospitals here.

Also, Tamil Nadu Law Minister C V Shanmugam had wanted the state government to "investigate" the official's background, whom he had alleged was against taking Jayalalithaa abroad for treatment in 2016.

"Whether to take her or not to a foreign destination for treatment was purely a medical decision for which it would not be correct to hold an official like me responsible," Radhakrishnan had said.

On the issue of transfusion of HIV infected blood to a woman recently as well, Radhakrishnan had faced flak from some opposition leaders.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With the death of Goa's former Deputy Chief Minister and BJP MLA Francis D'Souza, the number of assembly seats heading for bypolls in the state has gone up to three.

The tiny state, which has a 40-member House, has already seen two bypolls since the February 2017 assembly elections and three more seats are lying vacant for different reasons.

D'Souza (64), elected from Mapusa in North Goa, died on February 14 after a prolonged illness.

Goa saw two by-elections in Panaji and Valpoi assembly constituencies - in 2017, while bypolls for Shiroda and Mandrem segments, whose sitting MLAs resigned last year, are due before April.

The death of D'Souza has now necessitated a bypoll in Mapusa too even as the Manohar Parrikar-led coalition government is yet to complete two years in office.

"Four by-elections are forced on the state electorate, while one is due to unavoidable circumstances," said Prabhakar Timble, a former State Election Commissioner.

"Five bypolls within two years of formation of government is something happening for the first time in the legislative history of Goa," said Timble, who is also a constitutional expert.

He strongly disapproved of MLAs resigning midway for political gains, saying it makes a "mockery of the democratic system that we follow in India".

The first by-election was necessitated just days after the formation of the BJP-led government in the state.

On March 16, 2017, the then Congress MLA Vishwajit Rane, elected from Valpoi, resigned minutes before the floor test in the assembly and later joined the BJP.

BJP MLA from Panaji Siddharth Kunkolienkar resigned on May 10, 2017 to make way for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar to get elected to the assembly.

Parrikar, the then defence minister, was sent to Goa to head the BJP-led government.

The by-elections to Valpoi and Panaji seats were held on August 23, 2017 and results were declared five days later. Rane and Parrikar won from Valpoi and Panaji, respectively.

Post the results, the BJP strength in the assembly increased from from 13 to 14, while that of the Congress reduced from 17 to 16.

On October 16, 2018, two Congress MLAs Subhash Shirodkar (Shiroda) and Dayanand Sopte (Mandrem) - resigned from the assembly and joined the BJP, bringing down the main opposition partys strength in the House to 14 from 16.

As per norms, the by-elections for both the assembly constituencies should be held before April.

The death of DSouza has reduced the BJP's number in the assembly to 13, while the effective strength of the House has come down to 37.

In the current assembly, the Congress has 14 MLAs followed by the BJP (13), the Goa Forward Party, the MGP and Independents (three each) and NCP (1).

The Goa Forward Party, the MGP and Independents are part of the Parrikar government.

"Five by-elections within two years of formation of government may not be a new thing in India where assemblies are big, but it is certainly significant for a (small) state like Goa," said Ramakant Khalap, a Congress leader and former Union Law Minister.

Khalap, who is also a constitutional expert, said after D'Souza's demise, the Congress, with 14 MLAs, remains the single largest party and it should be called to form a new government.

However, in the past, Governor Mridula Sinha has ignored multiple Congress representations seeking invitation to form the government, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of people Saturday bid a teary farewell to the two CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack as the duo were laid to rest at their native villages in Tamil Nadu with full State honours.

The bodies of G Subramanian and C Sivachandran, the two CPRF personnel killed in the attack, were flown to Madurai and Tiruchirappalli airports respectively from New Delhi and later taken to their villages by road.

Draped with the tricolour, the coffins containing the mortal remains were taken in flower-bedecked trucks with black flags hoisted on both sides of the vehicle.

Heartrending scenes were witnessed at Karkudi in Ariyalur district when Sivachandran's two-year-old son, wearing an 'Army uniform', kissed the coffin containing his father's body and paid tributes to the martyr.

His pregnant wife Kanthimathi was inconsolable when the gun salute was offered and the casket lowered in the burial pit.

Similar scenes were witnessed at Savalaperi village in Tuticorin district when Subramanian's body was interred in his agricultural fields.

His wife Krishnaveni and bereaved family members could not come to terms with the reality of losing their loved one.

Subramanian had got married only in November 2017.

People lined up on both sides of the roads and showered flowers as a mark of respect when the vehicles carrying the coffins headed towards the martyrs' villages.

Several of those who had gathered could be seen waving the national flag out of reverence for the slain soldiers.

After the families performed the last rites, the martyrs were laid to rest amid State honours including a gun salute and the national flag wrapped around the coffins was given to the bereaved kin.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami, in an official release here, said he has ordered government jobs for one person each from the two CRPF soldiers' families.

Palaniswami had on Friday announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh each to the families.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan received the mortal remains at Tiruchirappalli and Madurai airports respectively and paid floral tributes.

Later, Sitharaman and Radhakrishnan visited the villages of Karkudi and Savalaperi respectively and paid their last respects.

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and Information Minister Kadambur Raju paid their last respects at Savalaperi.

Tourism Minister Vellamandi N Natarjan, top district and police officials, representatives of political parties were among those who paid homage.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of people joined the final journey of CRPF soldier Kaushal Kumar Rawat, who was killed in a terrorist attack in Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir, in an Agra village on Saturday.

Family members, government officials, politicians and the general public joined the procession, which began at 9 am in Karhai village.

Rawat's daughter Apoorva, who works for a private airline company in Delhi, and his other family members hoped his sacrifice would not go waste. They hoped Pakistan would get a fitting reply from India following the attack.

Members of the family have offered land in the village for a memorial for Rawat.

Uttar Pradesh Minister for Animal Husbandry S P Singh Baghel represented the state government at the procession.

The government has announced Rs 25 lakh each and a job to one family member of the 12 CRPF personnel from the state killed in the attack carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist group on February 14. Forty CRPF jawans were killed in the attack.

Rawat was posted in Siliguri and was transferred to Srinagar. The attack targeted a convoy of CRPF jawans when they were heading to join duty in Srinagar.

Agra city is observing a 'bandh' to protest the Pulwama tragedy. Shops and other businesses remained closed and people took out rallies, raising slogans against Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tens of thousands of people lined the roads and many more marched with the tricolour for the final journey of the five CRPF jawans from Rajasthan killed in the Pulwama terror attack who were cremated with full state honours in their native villages on Saturday.

Amid slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai', 'vande mataram' and 'Pakistan murdabad' by the emotional people who had gathered to pay their respects, the mortal remains of the jawans were received by their grieving family members. Several Union and state ministers and MLAs also attended the last rites.

Markets remained closed in Jaipur, Churu, Pali, Jhunjhunu and at several other places in Rajasthan which accounted for highest casualties in the suicide attack after Uttar Pradesh.

Roshitash Lamba from Jaipur district, Narayan Lal Gurjar from Rajsamand district, Jeet Ram from Bharatpur district, Bhagirath Singh from Dholpur district and Hemraj Meena from Kota district were among 40 paramilitary personnel who lost their lives when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a car laden with over 100 kg explosives into a CRPF bus in Awantipura of Jammu Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

Coffins wrapped in tricolour were brought to the villages of four soldiers late Friday night by road. Mortal remains of Narayana Lal Gurjar were taken to Rajsamand on an IAF chopper Saturday.

Heartrending scenes were witnessed as Rohitash Lamba's two-month-old son was made to touch a torch before the pyre was lit in Shahpura town of Jaipur district.

The body was earlier taken to his residence from Amarsar police station where it was kept last night. His parents, relatives and villagers broke down on seeing the coffin.

Floral wreaths were laid by CRPF officials, Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and MLAs Alok Beniwal and Ramlal Sharma.

A resident of Govindpura Basadi village near Shahpura, around 65 kms from Jaipur, Lamba was the only earning member of his family. He had joined the



paramilitary force in 2013 and got married in 2017.

Villagers shouted slogans of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Rohitash amar rahein' as the slain soldier was given a gun salute.

In Bharatpur's Sundarawali, Jeet Ram's father could not hold back himself after seeing the coffin. The pyre was lit by Ram's younger brother Vikram Singh, who called for revenge and a befitting reply to the terrorists.

Jeet Ram is survived by wife and two young daughters.

In Sangod (Kota), Binol (Rajasamand), Rajakheda (Dholpur), scores of villagers joined the funeral processions of Hemraj Meena, Narayan Lal Gurjar and Bhagirath Singh as they bid a tearful adieu to the slain security personnel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thousands of people bid a tearful adieu to CRPF jawan V V Vasanth Kumar, who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack, as his mortal remains were laid to rest with full state honours at his native village in Kerala on Saturday.

The funeral was held at the family cemetery at Thrikkaipatta nere here.

Union Minister K Alphons, state ministers E P Jayarajan, A K Saseendran and MLAs paid tribute to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan.

The mortal remains were brought to Karipur International airport in a special aircraft and taken to Lakidi in Wayanad district where the Kumar did his schooling.

Thousands including natives, friends, relatives, paid tribute to to Kumar at the Lakidi school.

Later, the mortal remains taken to his home village accompanied by hundreds of vehicles.

Friends, family and natives thronged the house of Kumar to pay their last respects.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five others injured Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Kumar's cousin Sajeevan had told PTI that following his promotion and battalion change, his brother had been posted to Kashmir after his stint in Punjab and had come home to be with his family for a five-day holiday.

He had left for Kashmir on February 8, after spending time with his family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The last rites of CRPF jawan, Shyam Babu, who was killed in a terror attack in Pulwama, was held in his native village in Kanpur Dehat district Saturday. Thousands of people, including from neighbouring areas, paid their last respects to Babu in Nonari village.

The mortal remains were consigned to flames by Babu's brother Kamlesh.

Villagers raised slogans like "Shaheed Shyam Babu Amar Rahe" and also against Pakistan.

Babu's family demanded that Pakistan be given a befitting reply for the attack by a Jaish suicide bomber who targeted a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, killing 40 jawans on Thursday.

Union minister Smriti Irani and UP Cabinet minister Mukut Bihari Verma represented the government.

Irani said the Centre and the state government would extend every possible support to the jawan's family and the death of the CRPF personnel will not go in vain.

Consoling Babu's family, Irani said the prime minister has said security forces have been given a free hand to deal with terrorists and punish the perpetrators of the Pulwama attack.

The jawan's body, draped in tricolour, was brought in a CRPF vehicle to his native village.

Senior administration and police officials were present during the funeral. Kanpur Dehat District Magistrate Rakesh Kumar Singh said the process to name a road in the area after Shyam Babu has been initiated.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After reading theoretical ecologist Robert Ulanowicz and distilling his message to relate it to the agrarian crisis in India, young author Yaashree Himatsinghka believes a change in how we look at ecosystems and transitioning to more sustainable policies is the way to solve farmer worries.

In her book "Unlocking Ecosystems - Understanding Nature's Hidden Networks", the Mumbai high school student argues that the ecosystem is undergoing "irreversible long-term damage" through the "use of large amounts of pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers to maximize the output in modern industrial agriculture".

She suggests that policy-makers need to give equal importance to "short-term issues and long-term sustainability".

"If we can make ourselves aware of how natural systems operate, we'll be able to make small changes within our own domains to enable agricultural sustainability. Indian policymaking, in my opinion, prioritises short-term issues over long-term sustainability, when both should be equally considered," Himatsinghka told PTI.

This approach, she explained, largely stems from a lack of ecological awareness and the conventional perception of agricultural ecosystems as 'food factories' rather than as living, growing entities that naturally contain networks and mechanisms to ensure the cyclic flow of nutrients, maintain biodiversity and ensure sustainability.

A change in the way ecosystems are seen will help the transition from environmentally detrimental policies to more sustainable ones, she added.

The Class 12 student at Mumbai's Cathedral and John Connon School said she was "provoked" into thinking about the agrarian crisis in the country after attending a presentation on the crisis unfolding in drought-stricken Marathwada.

"I remember seeing a picture of a mother and two young children sitting around a banyan tree. It was the same tree from which their father, an indebted farmer, had hanged himself the previous night. I remember feeling numb, shocked at my own ignorance," she said.

From reading to watching documentaries, taking online courses and reading books like "Feed or Feedback" by Duncan Brown and "A Third Window" by Robert Ulanowicz, Himatsinghka now plans to get "actively involved in policymaking" to be able to tackle the agrarian crisis.

"According to a study by professor G L Parvathamma of Bangalore University, over 290,000 farmers have committed suicide in India from 1995 to 2013. Vidarbha, in my state, Maharashtra, has the highest farmer-suicide rate, 4,000 annually, 10 plus every day," she said.

This issue, Himatsinghka said, has complex causes, including (but not limited to) land fragmentation, unsustainable cropping techniques, declining biodiversity, the intensive use of agrochemicals, soil degradation and a cycle of indebtedness.

"I hope to be able to do my part in figuring out the best way to tackle each one of these," the 18-year old author said.

What is the solution to the issues at hand?



Himatsinghka believes the tradition of 'monoculture' in the Indian agricultural landscape needs to be balanced with diverse crops to help ecosystems adapt to random changes in the

Monoculture is the agricultural practice of growing genetically similar, nearly identical plants, over large areas, year after year, a practice commonly used in modern industrial agriculture.

"The argument is that monocultures produce a lot more food because the plant we're growing doesn't have to compete with other species around it for resources, since it is the only plant being grown. However, when these conditions change, they are at a much greater risk than diverse ecosystems.

"This is because diverse ecosystems have the ability to adapt to change. Diverse crops can survive better in environments in which conditions fluctuate, because some are vulnerable to certain changes and others are not," she writes in her book, which was launched last year.

She added that pathogens (bacteria, viruses and microorganisms) spread quickly and epidemics are more severe when the host plants are genetically uniform.

This is because pathogens encounter less resistance in monocultures than they would in diverse ecosystems.

"If we continue to aim for greater and greater efficiency, our ecosystems will collapse when unpredictable changes in climate, plant disease or pest outbreak strike them.

"The only way in which we can sustainably cultivate crops without damaging ecosystems is by reducing use of harmful insecticides, pesticides and fertilizers, and maintaining the right balance between efficiency and diversity," she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Carrying out surgical strike only will not yield results and the time has come that attacks have to be deep inside Pakistan, including in Lahore and Islamabad, the Shiv Sena told the central government at an all-party meeting on Saturday following the Pulwama terror attack.

After attending the all-party meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Shiv Sena parliamentarian Sanjay Raut told reporters the Narendra Modi dispensation should do what former prime minister Indira Gandhi had done.

"Surgical strike alone will not do, now the strikes have to be deep inside till Lahore and Islamabad. The Modi government has to do what the Indira Gandhi government had done," Raut said.

India had won the 1971 war against Pakistan under the leadership of Indira Gandhi.

India had carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads across the border with Pakistan in 2016 in response to a terrorist attack on an Army camp in Uri in Jammu and Kashmir.

At the meeting Saturday, political parties put up a united face as they underlined India's determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack and expressed their solidarity with security forces in defending the country's unity and integrity.

The meeting, attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the most lethal attacks targeting the security forces in Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the terror strike.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Dehradun police has assured its Jammu and Kashmir counterpart of taking all necessary measures for the safety and security of Kashmiri students studying there amidst allegation of their harassment after the Pulwama terror attack, an official said here Saturday.

Some Kashmiri youths studying in the Uttarakhand capital have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir on Thursday that left 40 CRPF personnel dead.

"This refers to the circulation of regarding the harassment of Kashmir-based students in Dehradun. In this regard it is informed that the authorities from Jammu and Kashmir Police have spoken to the authorities concerned in Dehradun Police," a police spokesperson said here.

He said the Dehradun Police has assured the Jammu and Kashmir Police that they were in touch with the representative of youths from Kashmir and all necessary arrangements for the safety and security of students in Dehradun have been put in place.

"Jammu and Kashmir Police officers are in constant touch with the Dehradun police," the spokesperson said.

Two CRPF jawans from Uttarakhand were among the 40 personnel killed in Pulwama on Thursday when when a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma turned pallbearers as the body of a CRPF jawan killed in the Pulwama attack reached the IAF airport here.

Sonowal laid a wreath at the coffin wrapped in the national flag at the IAF airport, adjacent to the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport here.

CRPF head constable Maneswar Basumatari was among the 40 personnel killed in the attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

"The nation will fight unitedly to protect the sovereignty of our country. Basumatari's sacrifice along with the other CRPF jawans will not go in vain. We are united to fight those anti-national forces for ensuring the security of our country," Sonowal told reporters here.

Sarma said he had full faith in the Army.

"I have full faith in our Army that they will fight till the last terrorist is wiped out of Kashmir. The Army and security forces have been given free hand by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Victory will be achieved," he said as chants of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai" rend the air.

The coffin was taken to Basumatari's village at Kalabari in lower Assam's Baksa district by a special IAF helicopter for the last rites.

CRPF sources said as the aircraft carrying Basumatari's coffin, along with those of other martyrs from J&K got delayed, a special IAF aircraft transported his body to Guwahati for the onward journey to Kalabari.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A sombre farewell was given to two CRPF jawans from West Bengal, who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack, at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport here on Saturday.

As the coffins of the two jawans -- Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas -- draped in the national flag arrived at the airport, officers of the CRPF and different wings of the armed forces laid wreaths amidst the sounding of bugles by a contingent of the paramilitary force.

Union minister Babul Supriyo paid floral tributes to the jawans, whose bodies were then taken to their native villages in CRPF vehicles.

Santra hailed from Chakkashi Rajbangshipara village at Uluberia in Howrah district, while Biswas was from Tehatta in Nadia district of West Bengal.

He was to retire next year. He is survived by his mother, wife and a four-year-old daughter.

Biswas (27), who was planning to get married, is survived by his parents. His father is a farmer and mother a housewife.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A shutdown was observed in Lal Chowk city centre and adjoining areas here on Saturday as a mark of protest against attacks on Kashmiris in Jammu and outside the state.

Shopkeepers in Lal Chowk, Maisuma, Residency Road and other adjoining areas downed their shutters at 3 pm in response to a shutdown called by trade bodies of the Valley earlier in the day.

The traders also took out a protest march to condemn the attacks on Kashmiris in Jammu and other parts of the country.

They demanded safety of Kashmiri traders and students outside the Valley.

Various trade bodies and employees' unions also held a protest at Press Colony here.

The trade bodies have also called for Kashmir bandh on Sunday.

The bandh call was issued by the Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Forum, Kashmir Economic Alliance and other trade bodies of the Valley.

Meanwhile, protests also broke out amid a spontaneous shutdown in south Kashmir's Anantnag district.

Most of the shops in Anantnag town were shut to protest the violent demonstrations in Jammu and alleged harassment of Kashmiris in other parts of the country.

Protests broke out in Jammu over the terror attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday. A curfew has been imposed in Jammu as a precautionary measure.

Later on Saturday, groups of youth clashed with security forces in Anantnag after rumours spread about a Kashmiri driver being killed in an attack in Jammu.

However, police refuted the rumours, saying they were totally baseless and fake.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's arrival in Pakistan on his first official visit to the country has been delayed by a day for "unknown reasons".

He was scheduled to reach Islamabad on Saturday but due to a slight change, he will arrive on Sunday, according to the Foreign Office.

However, the programmes of his stay in Pakistan will remain unchanged, it said.

Prince Mohammad, who is also the deputy prime minister and minister of defence, will be conferred with Nishan-e-Pakistan the highest civilian award during his visit to the country, the Express Tribune reported.

A top official said that the arrival has been delayed by a day for "unknown reasons".

Preparations have been made to give an "unprecedented warm welcome" to the Saudi Prince who will be received personally by Prime Minister Imran Khan and his cabinet members at the Nur Khan Airbase, the report said.

Abdul Razzak Dawood, Advisor to prime minister on trade, said investment deals worth USD 10-15 billion dollars would be signed during the trip. On the top of the list is an agreement to set up an oil refinery in Pakistan.

Elaborate security arrangements have been planned during the visit of the powerful heir to the Saudi throne.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Robert Vadra, Congress president Rahul Gandhi's bother-in-law, Saturday appeared before a Delhi court in a money laundering case lodged by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

He appeared before Special Judge Arvind Kumar.

The court had on February 2 granted him interim bail till February 16 and asked him to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and cooperate in the investigation.

The case relates to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property, located at 12, Bryanston Square, worth 1.9 million pounds, which is allegedly owned by Vadra.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Regime bombardment has killed 18 civilians in the last major region outside government control in northwest Syria over the past 48 hours, a war monitor said Saturday.

Artillery and rocket fire launched by regime forces took the lives of eight children, seven women and three men in the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The deadly bombardment hit the towns of Maaret al-Noman and Khan Sheikhun, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information.

Idlib region is mainly controlled by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Syrian group led by former Al-Qaeda fighters, after they last month pushed back smaller, Turkey-backed rebel outfits.

Since September, the region has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a ceasefire deal brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But sporadic regime bombardment has continued to hit the region, and hundreds of missiles rained down on Maaret al-Noman, Khan Sheikhun, and other areas on Friday and Saturday.

Almost eight years into Syria's grinding civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's regime controls around two-thirds of the country.

His army and allied fighters have made great gains against rebels and jihadists since Russia's military intervened on the side of Damascus in 2015.

The war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, and has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers that has killed more than 360,000 people.

Friday and Saturday's deadly bombardment comes as the world waits for US-backed forces to expel the Islamic State group from a final holdout in eastern Syria, marking the end of the jihadists' self-declared "caliphate".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The mortal remains of CRPF jawan Vijay Soreng arrived at the Birsa Munda Airport here on Saturday amid chants of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram" by thousands of people who had gathered to pay their last respects to the martyr.

Many in the crowd, that included women and children, broke down and others were close to tears as the coffin of 44-year-old Soreng arrived here at around 3.15 pm.

Draped in tricolour, the coffin was kept on a platform outside the airport for people to pay their last respects.

Several dignitaries including Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Director General of Police D K Pandey and IG (CRPF) Sanjay Lathkar also paid homage to the martyr.

Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu, Urban Development Minister C P Singh, former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay, BJP MP Ram Tahal Choudhary, Central Coalfields CMD Gopal Singh, Army officers and several political leaders were also present.

Chants of "You will live forever, Vijay Soreng" and "Pakistan Murdabad" filled the air as the coffin was taken to Soreng's native Pharsma village in Gumla district.

Soreng is survived by five children and wife, official sources said.

On Thursday, 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into their bus in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Chief Minster Raghubar Das spoke to Soreng's wife on Friday and said the entire state was behind the family, official sources said.

Local residents have been holding candlelight marches across the state to pay homage to the martyrs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Rajasthan government Saturday revised the ex-gratia to the family members of CRPF jawans from the state who were among the 40 killed in the Pulwama terror attack to Rs 50 lakh from Rs 25 lakh.

The government has also announced jobs to family members of the slain jawans.

Five CRPF personnel soldiers from Rajasthan were killed in Thursday's attack, one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir, when a suicide bomber rammed a car laden with over 100 kg explosives into a CRPF bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack that took place about 20 km from Srinagar.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot revised the ex-gratia and relief package for the family members of the five slain soldiers who were from Rajasthan.

"The brave soldiers have made the supreme sacrifice while securing the country, and state government is with the family of martyrs in this hour," Gehlot said in his message.

He said the government has revised the ex-gratia to the families of soldiers killed in military or para-military operations. The government will provide either Rs 50 lakh cash or Rs 25 lakh cash and 25 bigha land on the Indira Gandhi Canal Project or Rs 25 lakh with a housing board residence, he added.

The state government will continue to provide a government job to a dependent of the martyr, scholarship for children and Rs 3 lakh to parents, besides other facilities, he said.

Gehlot prayed for peace to the departed souls and courage to the family members. He also wished speedy recovery to those who were injured in the deadly terror attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Pulwama terror attack was unprecedented and the prevailing mood in the country calls for stern action, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Saturday.

Kumar was replying to questions from journalists at the airport here where three slain CRPF personnel -- two from the state and another from neighbouring Jharkhand -- were given the ceremonial guard of honour.

"It was an unprecedented incident. Response is inevitable. Its nature and severity have to be decided. But the prevailing mood in the nation calls for stern action," the chief minister said.

Mortal remains of Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur, hailing from Masaurhi in rural Patna and Bhagalpur respectively, besides Vijay Soreng who belonged to Gumla in Jharkhand, were brought here in a special aircraft.

Besides Kumar, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and leader of the opposition in the state assembly Tejashwi Yadav were among those present at the airport to pay tributes to the slain jawans.

"It is known world over that terrorist organisations are aided and abetted by Pakistan. The terrorists seem to be hell bent upon destroying the world with their activities. This cannot be tolerated. Two jawans from our state have lost their lives while another one is injured," he also said.

"The state government will extend all possible assistance to the bereaved family members. In addition, to payment of ex-gratia that is normally paid to martyred security personnel, the state will bear the expenses of education and marriage of their children," he added.

An official release added that in addition to Rs 11 lakh payable to next of kin of each slain CRPF personnel as per the state government's scheme for the purpose, an additional amount of Rs 25 lakh each will be paid from the chief minister's relief fund.

Meanwhile, the mortal remains of Soreng was airlifted by a helicopter for his native place even as huge crowds gathered at Masaurhi and Bhagalpur where Sinha and Thakur will be cremated with full state honours.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded, on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The mortal remains of CRPF jawan Vijay Soreng were consigned to flames on Saturday in Jharkhand's Gumla district amid chanting of vedic hymns.

He was accorded a state funeral at his native village Pharsma.

People gathered in huge numbers to attend Soreng's last rites. Union minister Sudarshan Bhagat, Assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon, former minister and Congress leader Gitashree Oraon, IG (CRPF) Sanjay Lathkar, three commandants of the CRPF, former IPS officers Hemant Toppo and Sheetal Oraon also attended the cremation.

Soreng's son, Arun, lit his funeral pyre after the Last Post was sounded.

Earlier in the day, Soreng's mortal remains arrived at the Birsa Munda Airport in Ranchi amid chants of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram" by thousands of people who had gathered to pay their last respects to the martyr.

Many in the crowd, that included women and children, broke down and others were close to tears as the coffin of the 44-year-old slain soldier arrived.

Several dignitaries including Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha, Director General of Police D K Pandey and IG (CRPF) Sanjay Lathkar also paid homage to the martyr.

Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu, Urban Development Minister C P Singh, former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay, BJP MP Ram Tahal Choudhary, Central Coalfields CMD Gopal Singh, Army officers and several political leaders were also present.

Chants of "You will live forever, Vijay Soreng" and "Pakistan Murdabad" filled the air as the coffin was taken to Pharsma.

Soreng is survived by five children and wife, official sources said.

On Thursday, 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into their bus in south Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Chief Minster Raghubar Das spoke to Soreng's wife on Friday and said the entire state was behind the family, official sources said.

Local residents have been holding candlelight marches across the state to pay homage to the martyrs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
People bid a tearful adieu to 26-year-old Kulwinder Singh, who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack, as his mortal remains were consigned to flames with full state honours at his native village Rauli in the Nurpur Bedi area here on Saturday.

The funeral pyre was lit by Kulwinder's father Darshan Singh.

Kulwinder, who was a constable in the CRPF, is survived by his father and mother.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five others injured Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Mortal remains of Kulwinder wrapped in the national flag were brought to his home in the morning.

Villagers, who thronged the house of the martyr to pay their last respects, sought strong action against Pakistan.

Heart-wrenching scenes were witnessed as his family members mourned. The fiance of Kulwinder, who was among the mourners, fainted when his body was brought home.

Darshan Singh, father of Kulwinder, was wearing his son's jacket while holding his photograph.

Seething with anger, villagers chanted 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Pakistan Murdabad' slogans when the mortal remains of Kulwinder was being taken for the final journey. Some among the mourners were carrying the national flag.

Shopkeepers of Nurpur Bedi and Rupnagar market shut their shops to register their protest against the attack.

Kulwinder was to get married on November 8 this year and he was renovating his house.

He had left for his place of posting on February 10 after spending 10 days of his leave with the family.

He had joined the 92nd battalion of the CRPF in 2014.

Among those who attended the cremation included Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana K P Singh, SAD spokesperson and former minister Daljit Singh Cheema, AAP MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa, CRPF DIG 84th battalion Amar Singh Negi and Rupnagar Deputy Commissioner Sumit Jarangal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A large crowd bade a tearful farewell to Mohan Lal on Saturday as the mortal remains of the CRPF ASI killed in the Pulwama terror attack were consigned to flames with full state honours at Haridwar's Kharkhari cremation ground on the banks of the Ganga.

The funeral pyre was lit by Lal's sons -- Shankar Raturi and Ram Prasad Raturi -- as hundreds of people watched.

Those who attended the final rites included CRPF DIGs -- Dinesh Uniyal and G Vimal Bisht -- besides BJP MP from Haridwar Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, Uttarakhand assembly Speaker Prem Chand Aggrawal, State Urban Development Minister Madan Kaushik.

Many also shouted anti-Pakistan slogans as the flames went up.

Lal, 53, was among 40 CRPF men killed in Pulwama on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber blew up a bus which was part of a CRPF convoy.

Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat paid tributes to Lal at his residence in Vidya Vihar locality near Kargi Chawk in Dehradun after his mortal remains were brought home in a coffin wrapped in the national flag.

Rawat laid a wreath on the coffin to pay homage to Lal and commiserated with his family members assuring them of all support from the government.

The Uttarakhand government has already announced a financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh each to the families of CRPF jawans from the state killed in the attack besides a government job to one member from each family as per their qualifications.

"The entire country stands by the brave para-military personnel who have sacrificed their lives in the terror assault," he said.

The chief minister also gave a shoulder to the coffin before it was loaded into a vehicle to be taken to Haridwar for the last rites.

Lal, who hailed from Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, was an ASI with the 76th battalion of the CRPF.

Two CRPF men from Uttarakhand were killed in the attack, the other being Virendra Singh, who was from Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar district.

Others who paid tribute to Lal at his residence in Dehradun included BJP's Mussoorie MLA Ganesh Joshi, the party's Dharampur MLA Vinod Chamoli and the party's city unit president Vinay Goyal.

A huge crowd gathered at Lal's residence as his mortal remains were brought home in the early hours.

People shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and hoped it will be given a befitting reply.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shopkeepers downed shutters Saturday as a mark of tribute to the 40 CRPF men killed in the Pulwama terrorist attack even as people held protests and took out silent rallies in different parts of Gujarat to express solidarity with the families of the martyrs.

Shopping centres wore a deserted look in cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. Shopkeepers downed shutters to pay tribute to the martyrs.

People protested the Thursday's attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir by burning Pakistan's national flag and effigies of terrorists.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the carnage.

The protesters also raised anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded revenge.

At many places in the state, people offered silent tribute and also held candle marches.

Devotees wrapped the idol of Lord Somnath at the famous Somnath Temple with the tricolour as a way to pay tribute to the departed souls.

"As an Indian, I would say the tragic event is very shameful and every Indian wants revenge. The jawans who protect us have been killed brutally.

"May God give peace to their souls," said Daksha Patel, a resident of Vastral in Ahmedabad.

"We should take revenge for the martyrdom of our brave soldiers. If required, we are ready to go to the border and fight against the enemy.

"We should teach Pakistan a lesson it never forgets," said Ahmedabad resident Bhimaji Chaudhary, who took part in a protest march.

The ruling BJP said it will organise 2-hour protest and tribute programmes in cities and towns across Gujarat on Sunday.

As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a JeM suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles of the CRPF travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The UK government has updated its travel advisory for India, warning against travel to Jammu and Kashmir except very limited areas, as Indian-origin protestors gathered outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Saturday to protest the brutal Pulwama terror attack in the state.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which earlier condemned the "senseless and brutal act", has warned British nationals to avoid the border areas with Pakistan as well as tourist hotspots.

"The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advise against all travel to the immediate vicinity of the border with Pakistan, other than at Wagah; Jammu and Kashmir, with the exception of (i) travel within the city of Jammu, (ii) travel by air to the city of Jammu, and (iii) travel within the region of Ladakh," the updated advisory said.

"The tourist destinations of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg fall within the areas to which the FCO advise against all travel. The FCO advise against all but essential travel to the city of Srinagar and between the cities of Jammu and Srinagar on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway," it noted.

The travel update followed UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt being challenged on social media over his Twitter statement referring to "India-administered Kashmir" as he expressed solidarity with India over the attack.

"I hope that you will withdraw this phrase and demure from using it again in the future due to the connotations this seemingly innocuous phrase contains," said veteran Indian-origin Opposition Labour Party MP Virendra Sharma in a letter addressed to the minister on Friday.

In the letter, he stressed that "Jammu and Kashmir have been an integral part of the Indian state" and that the minister's use of the "deeply offensive phrase had upset Indians and British Indians.

Several others reacted to Hunt's message on Twitter with similar comments, with one asking the UK minister to get his facts right and another adding that Kashmir was and remains a state of India even before Pakistan came into existence.

Social media channels were also used to publicise a "Stand Against Terrorism" demonstration, organised by non-resident Indian (NRI) as well as British Kashmiri outfits outside the Pakistan High Commission in London on Saturday afternoon.

"We stand against terrorism all across the globe. Join us for a silent protest in showing our strength, support and solidarity," the group said in its message.

A large group of men and women of diverse age range gathered outside the diplomatic mission in Belgravia, central London, waving the Indian flag and placards reading "Vande Mataram" and "Declare Pakistan a Terrorist State", accompanied by chants such as "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", "Kashmir Hamara Hai" and "Pakistan Murdabad".

A number of representatives also made speeches calling on global action and economic sanctions against Pakistan for "inciting terrorism" in India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of protesters Saturday blocked the railway tracks at Nalasopara station in Palghar district of Maharashtra to protest against the terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, officials said.

In several parts of the metropolis, shops were shut in protest and schools held prayer meets as a mark of respect to the CRPF personnel who were killed on Thursday.

At Nalasopara, protesters got onto the tracks around 8.20 am and started raising slogans against Pakistan, the officials said, adding that train services on the route were affected due to the protest.

In a tweet, the Western Railway (WR) said, "Several protesters have blocked the tracks at Nallasopara due to which train movement has been affected at Nallasopara & beyond. GRP, RPF are making efforts to convince the people & evacuate the tracks & normalize the train movement."



Chief spokesperson of the WR, Ravinder Bhakar, said the protest started at 8.20 am when people came on the railway tracks and stopped the movement of trains.

"Trains are not operating between Nalasopara and Virar stations, while services between Vasai to Churchgate are normal. Forces have been called in to disperse the agitating crowd," he said.

The protesters shouted slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai'. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack and demanded action against the neighbouring country for sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terror groups, another official said.

"The agitation is likely to affect the schedule of long-distance trains as well," he added.

According to railway officials, train operations on the section were suspended for almost three hours.

The textile hub in the Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai was the venue of a protest by cloth traders who kept their establishments closed for the day.

"We strongly condemn the horrendous terrorist attack in Pulwama. It is an act of cowardice. We have decided to keep our business shut for the day as a mark of respect for the 40 brave martyrs," said Rajiv Singal, trustee of the Bharat Merchant Chambers.

Shops in Tardeo, Grant Road, Haji Ali were also shut while prayers sessions were held in schools in the metropolis.

The Bombay Yarn Merchants' Association and Exchange Limited also issued a press statement Saturday stating that shops of their members were shut across the city.

Similar protests were also witnessed on Friday with BJP MLA Raj Purohit burning Pakistan's national flag while Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar and BJP MLA Bharti Lavekar paid floral tributes in suburban Andheri to the slain CRPF troopers.

On Friday, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) had organised a candlelight protest march at the civic-run Sion Hospital.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A group of protesters Saturday blocked the railway tracks at Nalasopara station in Palghar district of Maharashtra to protest against the terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel, officials said.

The protesters got onto the tracks around 8.20 am and started raising slogans against Pakistan, the officials said, adding that train services on the route were affected due to the protest.

In a tweet, the Western Railway (WR) said, "Several protesters have blocked the tracks at Nallasopara due to which train movement has been affected at Nallasopara & beyond. GRP, RPF are making efforts to convince the people & evacuate the tracks & normalize the train movement."



Chief spokesperson of the WR, Ravinder Bhakar, said the protest started at 8.20 am when people came on the railway tracks and stopped the movement of trains.

"Trains are not operating between Nalasopara and Virar stations, while services between Vasai to Churchgate are normal. Forces have been called in to disperse the agitating crowd," he said.

The protesters shouted slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai'. They also raised slogans against Pakistan for the Pulwama terror attack and demanded action against the neighbouring country for sponsoring and sheltering terrorists and terror groups, another official said.

"The agitation is likely to affect the the schedule of the long-distance trains as well," he added.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A senior Gujarat minister Saturday said a retaliatory strike against Pakistan for the Pulwama attack is a must even if it is at the cost of delaying the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Speaking at a public gathering in Surat, Gujarat forest, tribal development and tourism minister Ganpatsinh Vasava advocated a tit-for-tat response and said a "condolence meet" should also be arranged in Pakistan before the Lok Sabha polls.

In one of the deadliest terror strikes in Jammu and Kashmir, a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into a CRPF bus killing 40 jawans in Pulwama on Thursday.

Vasava, speaking in Gujarati, said, "Atyare chunav roki do, ane ne Pakistan ne thoki do (put on hold the Lok Sabha polls and attack Pakistan)".

He said it was fine if the general polls are delayed by two months but Pakistan must be taught a lesson.

"All 125 crore Indians want our armed forces to do something like this (retaliatory hit on Pakistan). We will certainly take revenge for killing our soldiers. We have full faith in our jawans. And CRPF has said it will decide on place and time to take revenge," said Vasava.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday booked a man in Ballia for allegedly supporting the Pulwama terror attack and arrested a person in Mau district for purportedly making objectionable remarks in connection with the incident on social media.

Police in Ballia registered a case against the man under provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after his post on Facebook went viral.

"Ravi Prakash Maurya, who claims to be a SP (Samajwadi Party) supporter on Facebook, has allegedly extended support to the act of the person accused of attacking the CRPF jawans in Pulwama. He expressed pride over the incident and also paid tribute," acting Superintendent of Police Vijay Pal Singh said.

"Maurya's post went viral today, and the police immediately acted by registering a case under IT Act and the IPC against him. Efforts are being made to nab the accused person," Singh said



In a tweet, the Mau police said a person has been arrested for allegedly making objectionable remarks on social media in connection with the Pulwama attack.

"Mohammad Osama, a resident of Madanpura under Dakshintola police station (of Mau district) has been arrested for making objectionable remarks vis-a-vis the Pulwama incident. A case has been registered against him under the IT Act and IPC," the Mau police said in a tweet on Saturday.

The statement was made on the social media Thursday evening, police said.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

In Shahjahanpur, a case was registered against a youth for writing 'Hindustan Murdabaad' in a Facebook post and posting a photograph of some people burning the national flag, a police official said.

"The case was registered against a youth, identified as Mohammed Farhan Khan, for writing 'Hindustan Murdabaad' in a Facebook post and posting a photograph of some people burning the national flag," Superintendent of Police, City, Dinesh Tripathi said.

The youth, hails from the Shahjahanpur's Sadar Bazaar area, and efforts are on to arrest him, he said.

In state capital Lucknow, the BJP's Uttar Pradesh media coordinator Rakesh Tripathi said, "It is very unfortunate that on one hand jawans are sacrificing their lives for the safety and security of the country, while on the other, there are some people who are eulogising Pakistan, while they are staying in India."



The Uttar Pradesh government has initiated strict action against such persons, he said"It is also unfortunate that in the past, such persons used to get political patronage, but under the government of Yogi Adityanath, there is no room for mercy for such people," Tripathi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A candlelight protest, shut shops in several localities, prayer meets in schools and blocking of rail traffic at a suburban station were the various ways Mumbaikars Saturday showed solidarity with the 40 CRPF jawans martyred in the Pulwama terror attack.

Scores of people attended a candlelight protest organised by citizens' groups and several political parties on Saturday evening at the iconic Gateway of India here.

An emotionally-charged crowd at the venue shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and demanded that the Centre punish the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack and avenge the death of the paramilitary personnel.

Earlier in the day, a group of protesters blocked the railway tracks at Nalasopara station, part of Western Railway's Mumbai suburban network, to protest against Thursday's terror attack in restive Jammu and Kashmir.

Protesters got onto the tracks around 8.20 am and started raising slogans against Pakistan, leading to suspension of train traffic on the segment for almost three hours, officials said.

In a tweet, Western Railway (WR) said, "Several protesters have blocked the tracks at Nallasopara due to which train movement has been affected at Nallasopara & beyond. GRP, RPF are making efforts to convince the people & evacuate the tracks & normalize the train movement."



Chief spokesperson of the WR, Ravinder Bhakar, said the protest started at 8.20 am when people came on the railway tracks and stopped the movement of trains.

"Trains are not operating between Nalasopara and Virar stations, while services between Vasai to Churchgate are normal. Forces have been called in to disperse the agitating crowd," he said.

In several parts of the city, shops were shut in protest and schools held prayer meets as a mark of respect.

The textile hub in the Kalbadevi area of south Mumbai was the venue of a protest by cloth traders who kept their establishments closed for the day.

"We strongly condemn the horrendous terrorist attack in Pulwama. It is an act of cowardice. We have decided to keep our business shut for the day as a mark of respect for the 40 brave martyrs," said Rajiv Singal, trustee of the Bharat Merchant Chambers.

Shops in Tardeo, Grant Road, Haji Ali were also shut while prayers sessions were held in schools in the metropolis.

The Bombay Yarn Merchants' Association and Exchange Limited also issued a press statement Saturday stating that shops of their members were shut across the city.

Similar protests were also witnessed on Friday with BJP MLA Raj Purohit burning Pakistan's national flag while Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar and BJP MLA Bharti Lavekar paid floral tributes in suburban Andheri to the slain CRPF troopers.

On Friday, Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) had organised a candlelight protest march at the civic-run Sion Hospital.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given full freedom to security forces to give a befitting reply to the perpetrators of the Pulwama terror attack, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said here Saturday while paying tribute to the slain soldiers.

She said there was anger among people over the attack and exuded confidence that it would be avenged.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

"Heads of various countries have expressed condolences over the Pulwama attack. India has slammed Pakistan for the attack and blamed it for supporting Jaish-e-Mohammed and its founder Masood Azhar. This should be the last terror attack in the country," Mahajan said.

She was in the city to attend the 68th convention of the Bruhan Maharashtra Mandal at Kelanpur on the outskirts of Vadodara.

Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi, local BJP MP Ranjanben Bhatt, city Mayor Jigisha Sheth and Shubhangini Raje Gaekwad, Chancellor of The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda also attended the event and paid tributes to the slain jawans.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Andhra Pradesh government Saturday announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of 40 CRPF jawans killed in the deadly terrorist attack in Pulwama of Jammu and Kashmir.

Pledging support to the Centre on whatever action it intends to take to stamp out terrorism, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the country would always remember the sacrifices of the jawans.

"The whole country was left in shock as 40 jawans were killed in the worst terror attack. We all should stand in support of the families of the jawans in this hour of grief," he said in a statement here.

The state government decided to offer ex-gratia payment to the slain jawans' families while the people of Andhra Pradesh voiced their protest over the "dastardly" act, the chief minister added.

Earlier, the Telugu Desam Party politburo that met here under the chairmanship of Naidu expressed grief over the Pulwama attack and observed two-minute silence in memory of the CRPF jawans killed.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Continuing his dharna for the fourth day outside the Raj Nivas against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy Saturday shot off a letter to the Centre in which he charged Bedi with adopting an "autocratic" style of functioning and said the stir will continue till his demands are met.

In his letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief minister alleged that Bedi "had been running a parallel day-to-day administration totally blocking welfare schemes meant for SCs, BCs, fishermen and other downtrodden people."



Narayanasamy also charged the Lt Governor with "adopting a high handed, arm twisting and autocratic style of governance" in Puducherry.

He apprised the Home Minister of the letters he had written to Bedi, asking her to follow "the Constitutional provisions, democratic norms and statutory laws and to respect elected institutions of governance."



The chief minister also alleged in the letter that the Lt Governor had stopped implementation of 'free rice scheme' and extending of scholarship to SC students for professional education even after cabinet approval.

Listing the reasons for the agitation, he said the entire cabinet of Puducherry has resorted to a peaceful assembly in front of the Raj Nivas because of the "adamant attitude" of Lt Governor towards democratic laws and also the "continuous misery" inflicted on the people of the Union Territory.

Noting that Bedi had left for New Delhi on February 14, he said it was totally for "very trivial reasons" and for "self promotion".

The chief minister informed the Home Minister that the dharna in front of Raj Nivas would continue round the clock until their demands were met.

Seeking the President's intervention in the matter, Narayanasamy said he should advise Bedi to function in a "democratic" way and address people's issues.

Speaking to reporters here last night, the chief minister said he and his ministers would continue the stir till a "positive reply is available from the Lt Governor" to the various proposals including on the free rice scheme which the cabinet had forwarded to her.

He said, "These proposals relating to welfare schemes and also various administrative issues have been hanging in balance for several months."



Calling on workers and others supporting the dharna to ensure that there is no disruption law and order, he said, "Neither the Centre nor Kiran Bedi should get an opportunity to blame us on any count."



He also said as part of widening the agitation, stirs would be held at constituency level from Saturday.

Functionaries of different wings of the ruling Congress and the DMK have also joined the protest.

"We have selected 12 centres spread across 23 Assembly segments in Puducherry where the leaders and MLAs along with workers of parties belonging to the secular front would hold agitations in a peaceful manner," Narayanasamy said.

Workers of the Congress party and its alliance partners in all Assembly segments on Sunday would protest against the "style of functioning" of Bedi, he said.

The chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and legislators belonging to the Congress and the DMK continued the agitation outside the Lt Governor's residence where a large number of Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed.

The Lt Governor and the government headed by Narayanasamy have been at loggerheads over various issues ever since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Continuing his dharna for the fourth day outside the Raj Nivas against Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy Saturday shot off a letter to the Centre in which he charged Bedi with adopting an "autocratic" style of functioning and said the stir will continue till his demands are met.

Bedi, now camping in New Delhi, has offered to discuss all issues with Narayanasamy and his ministers at an open public forum here on February 21.

In his letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the chief minister alleged that Bedi "had been running a parallel day-to-day administration totally blocking welfare schemes meant for SCs, BCs, fishermen and other downtrodden people."



Bedi neither cared for the decisions of the cabinet nor cared to follow the rule of law, he alleged.

Narayanasamy also charged the Lt Governor with "adopting a high handed, arm twisting and autocratic style of governance" in Puducherry



He apprised the Home Minister of the letters he had written to Bedi, asking her to follow "the Constitutional provisions, democratic norms and statutory laws and to respect elected institutions of governance."The chief minister also alleged in the letter that the Lt Governor had stopped implementation of 'free rice scheme' and extending of scholarship to SC students for professional education even after cabinet approval.

Listing the reasons for the agitation, he said the entire cabinet of Puducherry has resorted to a peaceful assembly in front of the Raj Nivas because of the "adamant attitude" of Lt Governor towards democratic laws and also the "continuous misery" inflicted on the people of the Union Territory.

Noting that Bedi had left for New Delhi on February 14, he said it was totally for "very trivial reasons" and for "self promotion".

The chief minister informed the Home Minister that the dharna in front of Raj Nivas would continue round the clock until their demands were met.

Seeking the President's intervention in the matter, Narayanasamy said he should advise Bedi to function in a "democratic" way and address people's issues.

Meanwhile, Bedi Saturday said she was open to discuss all the issues on February 21 at an open public forum here where the Chief Minister, his cabinet colleagues and members of the public are present along with the Chief Secretary and Finance Secretary and others.

In a WhatsApp message to mediapersons, the former IPS officer, now camping in Delhi, said this would help highlight "how we have carefully worked to save money for the poor, be it for riceor wages for the government owned AFT or Swadeshi mills and sugar mill."



The meeting could also discuss even issues relating to road safety, she said.

Through another message, she expressed apology to Puducherians "for all inconvenience caused to them by road blockades and mournful drums beaten at night in and around Raj Nivas."



"These drums had since been seized," she said.

Speaking to reporters here last night, the chief minister said he and his ministers would continue the stir till a "positive reply is available from the Lt Governor" to the various proposals including on the free rice scheme which the cabinet had forwarded to her.

He said, "These proposals relating to welfare schemes and also various administrative issues have been hanging in balance for several months."



Calling on workers and others supporting the dharna to ensure that there is no disruption law and order, he said, "Neither the Centre nor Kiran Bedi should get an opportunity to blame us on any count."



He also said as part of widening the agitation, stirs would be held at constituency level from Saturday.

Functionaries of different wings of the ruling Congress and the DMK have also joined the protest.

"We have selected 12 centres spread across 23 Assembly segments in Puducherry where the leaders and MLAs along with workers of parties belonging to the secular front would hold agitations in a peaceful manner," Narayanasamy said.

Workers of the Congress party and its alliance partners in all Assembly segments on Sunday would protest against the "style of functioning" of Bedi, he said.

The chief minister, his cabinet colleagues and legislators belonging to the Congress and the DMK continued the agitation outside the Lt Governor's residence where a large number of Rapid Action Force personnel have been deployed.

Workers of different parties staged demonstrations at various places Saturday criticising the Centre and Bedi forthe current "administrative chaos" and for "interferring" in the elected government's democratic functioning.

The Lt Governor and the government headed by Narayanasamy have been at loggerheads over various issues ever since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Demanding scrapping of Indo-Pak bus service in the wake of Pulwama terror attack, members of a right-wing outfit staged protest by waving their black jackets and T-shirts at a Lahore-bound 'Sada-e-Sarhad' bus on Saturday after their black flags were taken way by police.

Led by Shiv Sena (Hindustan) state president Manish Sood, the activists held the protest at Sugar Mill Chowk on national highway 1 when the Delhi-Lahore Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) bus was crossing the route.

Sood said they wanted to show black flags but the police had taken those way.

"Left with no other alternative, we removed our black jackets/T- shirts and waved these to protest, Sood said, and declared that they will show black flags daily to the bus till the Indo-Pak bus service is cancelled.

We will block the passage of the bus in case our demand to terminate the Indo-Pakistan bus service is not heeded, he warned.

Sood also demanded that diplomatic ties with Pakistan be snapped.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Maharashtra Congress Saturday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of getting into campaign mode and raising nationalistic fever centred on the Pulwama attack even as mortal remains of its martyrs was en route to native villages for last rites.

PM Modi was on a day-long visit to Maharashtra Saturday and at public gatherings in Yavatmal and Dhule, he spoke of Thursday's attack on the CRPF convoy and said sacrifice of the martyred jawans wouldn't go in vain and its perpetrators would be punished.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Ratnakar Mahajan said, "This has exposed his (PM Modi) false concerns for fallen soldiers. When the country is in mourning over the Pulwama incident, the PM expects opposition parties to stand by the government irrespective of political differences. But, he himself is campaigning for his party and creating a feverish nationalistic pitch."



"The mortal remains of the martyrs are just reaching native places for last rites and the PM has already begun campaigning for his party. People are sure to notice this contradiction," Mahajan alleged.

Mahajan said Modi had come to Dabhadi in Yavatmal district five years ago for "chai pe charcha" programme with farmers.

"He (Modi) remembered this today (in his speech at a rally) but forgot to mention that a farmer from this village wrote a letter to him before committing suicide," Mahajan said.

"It would have been good if Modi had expressed sympathy for the dead farmer while remembering his last visit here," the Congress leader said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A petition has been filed in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Centre to ensure all government websites were made Guidelines for Indian Government Websites compliant, incorporating website quality certification content (WQS) accessibility within a time-frame.

As many as 63 websites of various Union ministries and departments have already been issued with WQC and the remaining 14 ministries and departments are still awaiting it, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) G Rajagopalan told the Second Bench of the High Court recently.

The ASG made the submission before the bench of justices Vineet Kothari and C V Karthikeyan when the Public Interest Litigation petition from A Syed Ansari, a visually-impaired lawyer, came up for hearing.

The petitioner, among other things, contended the authorities ought to have seen that Chapter VIII of the Persons With Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act mandated the non-discrimination and the removal of barriers.

Any failure to ensure that the websites are barrier free is a breach of the duty under the Act, he submitted.

They should have noted that Article 9 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandated elimination of obstacles and barriers to accessibility to information and communications, including technologies and system, he said.

When the matter came up, the bench directed the ASG to obtain instructions with regard to the other 14 websites of public bodies like the UPSC, municipal corporations, etc, as to how they can also be upgraded on the same lines to be user-friendly for the disabled, for whose benefit the PIL has been filed.

The bench also impleaded the Secretary of State Department of Information and Technology as a party-respondent.

The counsel for the Madras High Court Registrar submitted the High Court is already in the list of the certified institutions having upgraded its website to be user-friendly for the physically-challenged.

The matter will come up for hearing on March 13.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sobbing parents and wife of braveheart H Guru, who was killed in the Pulawama terror attack, fainted during his funeral in Mandya district and emotional slogans rent the air as his mortal remains were consigned to flames with full State honours Saturday.

Thousands of people, including Union Minister Sadananda Gowda, turned up at his remote Gudigere village to pay their last respects to the martyr.

Earlier the tricolour-draped casket carrying his mortal remains was brought by a special plane at the HAL Airport where chief minister H D Kumaraswamy, union minister D V Sadananda Gowda, state home minister M B Patil, and others paid homage by laying wreaths on the coffin.

As the body was taken to his home village by a convoy of Army vehicles, thousands of people stood on both sides of the road all along from Bengaluru to his home village, a distance of about 100 km, holding the tricolour.

Emotional slogans like 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', 'Vande Mataram', 'Veer Yodha Guru Amar Rahe' and 'Pakistan Murdabad' rent the air as the convoy passed through.

In many places, schools declared holiday for children to pay their last respects to the slain soldier.

At many places, people blocked roads to pay homage to the martyr.

Police had the tough time clearing the blockade.

Throughout the journey, people showered flowers on the vehicle.

Man people followed the convoy in their vehicles.

Some people waving the tricolour were at the front of the convoy.

Emotions ran high as the body reached the village.

While his relatives were inconsolable, his father, mother, wife Kalavathi fainted several times.

A gun salute was offered before the body was consigned to flames.

People wept openly when Kalavathi saluted the coffin containing her husband's mortal remains and said 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Veer Yodha Guru Amar Rahe.'



Kumaraswamy, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara, Union Minister Sadananda Gowda and several other politicians and officers reached the village and attended the last rites.

The chief minister announced a Rs 25 lakh solatium to the bereaved family and a government job for Kalavathi.

In a goodwill gesture, actress Sumalatha, widow of actor-politician Ambarish announced donating half-an-acre of land in Gudigere to build a memorial for the martyr.

Kumaraswamys actor son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is at Gudigere trying to console the bereaved family members.

Many business establishments in the prime business area of the city, Chikpet and surrounding places remained closed to condemn the attack and pay homage to the departed souls.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The mortal remains of CRPF Head Constable Maneswar Basumatari, killed in the Pulwama terror attack, was consigned to the flames in his native village in Assam's Baksa district with full state honours on Saturday.

The tricolour draped wooden coffin bearing Basumatari's mortal remains was placed on the funeral pyre set up by the CRPF under a national flag in front of his house in Kalabari village.

The last rites of the head constable was performed as per Bodo ethnic community customs with full state honours in the presence of ministers Pramila Rani Brahma and Chandra Mohan Patowary.

Basumatari is survived by wife, daughter and son.

The head constable was among the 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel killed in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Basumatari's college going daughter Didmaswari told reporters, "I will join my father's CRPF if the government gives me a job to serve my country".

"My father always told me to study well and work hard to do well in my life. Yes, I am ready to work in the CRPF if the government gives me a job in the force", she said.

She said she would join her father's CRPF-98 Battalion.

Didmaswari demanded that a befitting reply be given to those responsible for the Pulwama terror attack.

"Only if the Government of India takes action against his killers will my father's soul rest in peace", she said.

She also said the government has to look after her family.

Basumatari's son Dhananjay also echoed his sister's demand of a "befitting reply" even if that means carrying out a surgical strike.

"We want justice. The perpetrators must be punished for killing my father, our jawans," Dhananjay said.

The head constable's wife Sunmati said that Basumatari had recently visited his village and the last phone call she had received from her husband was on the day before the attack.

She said he informed her that he was going to Jammu to join duty and would return home within 15 days.

Hundreds of people gathered at Basumatari's village to pay their last respects.

Slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai", "Vande Mataram", "CRPF Zindabad" and "Maneswar Basumatari Zindabad" rented the air in Kalabari as the CRPF jawan's body was consigned to the flames.

The coffin had earlier arrived in Guwahati by a special Indian Air Force aircraft for the last rites and was received at the air force's airport.

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, ministers Himanta Biswa Sarma and Chandra Mohan Patowary, Guwahati MP Bijoya Chakraborty, Congress president Ripun Bora, Chief Seretary Alok Kumar and Director General of Police, Assam, Kula Saikia, among others paid homage.

Senior CRPF, Army, Air Force and other government officials along with political party leaders laid wreaths on the coffin.

The coffin was then taken by a special air force helicopter for Basumatari's village.

Sonowal and Sarma were the pallbearers carrying the coffin to the special helicopter.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Sonowal said, "I pray to almighty for peace of Maneswar Basumatari's soul. The nation will unitedly fight for protection of the sovereignty of our country."



"His sacrifice along with the other CRPF jawans will not go in vain. We are united to fight those anti national forces for ensuring the security of our country," he said.

Sarma said the army and security forces have been given free hand by the prime minister and victory will be achieved.

Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) chief Hagrama Mohilary visited the bereaved family and assured them that his organisation would look after them if the central or state government does not do so.

He told reporters that the Centre should give permission to the army to go on the offensive against Pakistan-based terrorists



"If the central government wants I can send 500 Bodo youths on salary from BTC to J&K to give offensive fight to terrorists from Pakistan," said Mohilary, who is also president of the Bodo Peoples Front an alliance partner of the ruling BJP in Assam.

In Guwahati, Jorhat and Tinsukia districts, traders shut their business establishments in honour of CRPF jawans.

Protests against the terror attack was held in Guwahati, Tinsukia and Jorhat.

Governor Jagdish Mukhi condemned the attack and expressed his condolences



Sonowal also announced a grant of Rs 20 lakh to the family of Basumatari.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political parties Saturday put up a united face as they underlined India's determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack and expressed their solidarity with security forces in defending the country's unity and integrity.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

In the meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad asked him to urge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene a meeting of the presidents of all major national and regional parties, a view supported by Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress and D Raja of the CPI.

The resolution adopted at the nearly two-hour meeting said, "India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges."



It added, "Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India."



The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country.

As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the most lethal attacks targeting the security forces since Independence. Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the terror strike.

Sanjay Raut, a member of BJP ally Shiv Sena, asked the government to draw inspiration from former prime minister Indira Gandhi and hit Pakistan directly.

He told reporters that he said an incident like Pulwama terror attack would not have happened if surgical strikes, which the Army had carried out across the Line of Control in 2016, had made an impact.

In his opening remarks, Singh briefed the leaders about the attack and his visit to the state on Friday.

"The government is determined to take its fight against terrorism to the logical conclusion. The sacrifices of security personnel will not go in vain. The people of Jammu and Kashmir want peace and are with us, but there are some elements supporting the Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups," he said.

The morale of security forces is high and they have been given a free hand, he asserted.

The meeting was also attended by Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the TMC, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference and Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav of the RJD were among others who attended the meeting.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters that parties extended their support to the government, as he read out from the resolution.

Sanjay Singh said political parties told the government that they will support any action it takes following the terror attack in Pulwama.

The issue of alleged harassment of some Kashmiri students outside the Valley was raised by National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

The home minister assured him that nobody will be allowed to vitiate communal harmony, and the central government is issuing an advisory in this regard to state governments.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The parents of a British woman who died in an alleged assassination attempt on a Russian double agent criticised Saturday the UK government for settling the ex-spy in the English city Salisbury.

Stan and Caroline Sturgess, whose daughter Dawn died after coming into contact with a nerve agent allegedly used in last year's poisoning of Sergei Skripal, said they believed British authorities were withholding details of the incident.

"If anyone, I blame the government for putting Skripal in Salisbury," Stan Sturgess told The Guardian newspaper in the family's first interview since her death last July.

"I want justice from our own government. What are they hiding? I don't think they have given us all the facts."



Skripal and his daughter Yulia were found on March 4 slumped unconscious on a park bench in the centre of the quiet cathedral city Salisbury in southwest England.

Britain and Western allies have accused Russia of carrying out the poisoning using a Soviet-era nerve agent called Novichok, but Moscow has furiously denied any involvement.

The Skripals survived but Sturgess died after her partner gave her a discarded perfume bottle several months later that police think had been used to hold the toxin, and she sprayed it on her skin.

Stan Sturgess said the family have complicated feelings towards Skripal, a former Russian military intelligence colonel who was found guilty of passing state secrets to Britain and sentenced to 13 years in prison in 2006.

He was pardoned by then-president Dmitry Medvedev and released as part of a spy swap with the West in 2010, leading an apparently quiet life in Salisbury until last March.

"I don't know where Skripal is and I don't know what I'd do if I met him. He's still got his daughter," said Sturgess of the ex-spy, who has not been seen publicly in Britain since the attack.

Caroline Sturgess, Dawn's mother and a retired civil servant, told The Guardian the former spy's past made him a more legitimate target than their entirely innocent daughter.

"I can't take it personally," she said of the loss.

"It's sad they ended up in a coma but they weren't the true victims.

"He (Skripal) took risks -- he must have known there was a chance people were still after him.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The extremist group associated with British-Pakistani radical preacher Anjem Choudary, convicted in the UK for inviting support for the Islamic State (ISIS) terror group, is regenerating itself, warn counter-extremism experts.

The 51-year-old founder of the al-Muhajiroun network was released from the high-security Belmarsh prison in south London in October last year under very strict licence conditions after serving less than half of his five-and-a-half-year sentence.

He is associated with grooming the likes of Indian-origin supporter Siddhartha Dhar, a.k.a. Abu Rumaysah, who was killed in an airstrike in Syria last year.

After a latest analysis, the Hope Not Hate counter-extremism group warned in its annual 'State of Hate' report that al-Muhajiroun was "stirring back into life" after two years of relative silence while key members were in prison.

"The release of some of their more prominent activists, albeit on strict controls, appears to be galvanising some younger supporters into re-establishing street stalls and other public activities," Nick Lowles, Chief Executive of Hope Not Hate, told 'The Independent' newspaper.

"While a mere shadow of its former self, al-Muhajiroun still has the potential to cause havoc," he said, describing the group as "Britain's most proli?c and dangerous extremist group".

Al-Muhajiroun was first banned in 2006, making its membership a terror offence, but it has since morphed into numerous new names, including Islam4UK and Muslims Against Crusades, to evade the law.

According to the latest Hope Not Hate report, its units are believed to be active in parts of London, Luton and Derby, with smaller numbers of supporters in Birmingham, Leicester and Slough.

Its supporters have recently been seen at street preaching stalls in east London, made appearances at Speakers Corner in Hyde Park and started new social media accounts, the report finds.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, Neil Basu, who is the head of UK counter-terror policing, said the group was on the force's radar and would not be allowed to incite terrorism, or exploit social problems and tensions.

"We are working closely with police forces across the UK to help officers identify and disrupt al-Muhajiroun activity, so we can deprive them of any opportunity to recruit new members or function effectively as a group," Basu said.

Choudary, who remains under supervision since his release, is linked to supporters who went on to be implicated in several UK terror attacks, including the London Bridge attack in June 2017. Many of his followers are believed to have left the UK to join and Al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.

The news of the group's resurgence comes as the UK government continues to debate the future of a British teenager who had fled her east London home to become an "jihadi bride".

Shamima Begum, who is heavily pregnant, had pleaded in an interview from a camp in Syria earlier this week to allow her and her unborn child a return to the UK.

UK home secretary Sajid Javid has since pledged to ensure that the 19-year-old is "questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted" if she does manage to return.

"My message is clear if you have supported terrorist organisations abroad I will not hesitate to prevent your return," he said.

However, human rights lawyers warn that though her parents have their origins in Bangladesh, she is British and would have a right to return to the UK as law prevents an individual being made stateless.

Begum's family has also urged the UK government to bring her back "urgently" because her unborn child is a "total innocent".

It has also emerged that the UK Home Office has been running a scheme for such returning suspects and young children from the ISIS-hit war zones.

The "Returning Families" unit, run with London's Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, was reportedly set up 15 months ago to cope with an influx of jihadi brides like Begum expected to come back to Britain.

The service is a pilot programme set up to specifically address the emotional and psychological needs of children returning from the war zones of Iraq and Syria.
Pakistani authorities have suspended the registration of a school here after some students danced to an Indian song and waved India's national flag during a cultural event, hurting the country's "national dignity".

A show-cause notice was issued to the school's owner on Wednesday to appear before the Directorate of Inspection and Registration of Private Institutions Sindh (DIRPIS).

The last week's incident came to light after a video of the function went viral on social media, facing severe criticism from people, The International reported.

The registration of the 'Mama Baby Care Cambridge School' has been suspended for allegedly promoting Indian culture, the report said.

The DIRPIS has formed a three-member committee to probe into the school's function in which students were dancing on an Indian song and waving national flag of India in the background, it said.

According to DIRPIS registrar Rafia Javed, "promoting Indian culture in educational institutions was against Pakistan's national dignity which could not be tolerated in any circumstances".

The action was taken when the directorate came to know that the school had deliberately arranged such a function.

The owner of the school was asked to explain his stance about the matter within three days after receiving the notice else his school's registration would be cancelled.

However, the school's owner neither responded to the directorate nor appeared before the officials to clear his position, leading to the suspension of the registration.

Javed said that it was a very sensitive matter that possibly could trigger public anger.

The school's vice-principal Fatima said that last week, the school management arranged an event for the students to make them aware about cultures of different countries.

It was an event in which students presented the cultures of Saudi Arabia, the US, Egypt, Pakistan, India and other countries. However, some reporters twisted the matter and picked only a specific part of the programme to target the school, she said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Over 40 countries and at least three multi-nation organisations condemned the Pulwama attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed, and expressed condolences over the loss of lives.

The UN, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the European Union issued statements condemning the terror strike.

Countries such as the US, France, Canada, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Australia were among the countries that expressed solidarity with India.

India's neighbours such as Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Afghanistan also condemned the terror strike.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Hundreds of people joined the families of CRPF personnel Bablu Santra and Sudip Biswas, who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack, for their funeral amid cries of retribution in the jawans' villages in West Bengal on Saturday.

The tricolour draped coffin of Santra was laid on a stage constructed on a ground near his house at Chakkashi Rajbangshipara village in Howrah district for the people to pay their last respects.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) gave a 21 gun salute as his coffin was kept on the stage.

Even as people called for retribution, the distraught wife of Santra said war was not a solution and will only lead to more deaths.

Santra's mother cried inconsolably and his four-year old daughter looked around bewildered as a people gathered to pay their tributes.

The CRPF jawan always wanted to spend time with his family and start a business after his retirement.

Similar scenes were witnessed at Hanspukuria village in Nadia district when the national flag-covered coffin carrying the remains of Biswas reached his home.

The parents of the 27-year-old jawan, who was planning to get married soon, broke down completely at the sight of the coffin.

Biswas, who joined the CRPF in 2014, had told his father Sanyashi, an agricultural labour, that he will repair their house when he comes on leave again before starting plans for marriage.

The CRPF personnel, who accompanied Biswas' coffin to his village, struggled to hold back their tears. They gave a 21-gun salute to their young colleague.

State ministers, senior officers of West Bengal police and administration paid floral tributes to both the slain jawans after their bodies arrived at the villages.

Earlier in the day, Santra and Biswas, who died in the dastardly terror attack on a CRPF contingent in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, were given a sombre farewell at the NSC Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

Union minister Babul Supriyo paid floral tribute to the jawans at the airport and became a pallbearer.

Officers of the CRPF and different wings of the Armed forces laid wreaths on the Tricolour draped coffins as bugles were blown as a mark of respect after they were brought to the airport by a special Indian Air Force flight.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Sobbing family members Saturday lit the funeral pyres of the CRPF jawans killed in the Pulwama terror attack, joined by other mourners who at places gathered in their thousands.

In an Uttarakhand village, a three-year-old child lit his father's pyre. At another cremation in Rajasthan, a two-month baby was made to symbolically touch the torch used for the last rites.

Traders downed shutters and people lined the streets at many places as caskets carrying the remains of the jawans arrived at their native villages and towns across the country, amid the chanting of slogans some of them anti-Pakistan.

Union ministers flew down from New Delhi to join ministers from the states to lay wreaths on the caskets of many of the 40 jawans killed in the suicide attack on the Jammu-Srinagar highway on Thursday.

In most cases, the coffins draped in the tricolor arrived from Delhi at the nearest airport, and were then taken by road to the jawans' villages for state funerals.

In a village in Uttarakhand's Udham Singh Nagar district, three-year-old Rehan lit his father Virendra Singh's funeral pyre.

Union Minister of state for Textiles Ajay Tamta and Uttarakhand minister Yashpal Arya were at the cremation, where CRPF jawans fired three rounds in the air as a salute to their fallen colleague.

Shopkeepers in nearby Khatima, Chakarpur and Jhankat downed shutters. People taking part in a procession in Khatima shouted anti-Pakistan slogans.

In Ghalauti Khurd in Punjab's Moga district, Jaimal Singh's five- year-old-son Gurprakash lit the pyre. Rohitash Lamba's two-month son was made to symbolically touch the torch that lit his pyre in Shahpura town near Jaipur.

Thousands of people, including Union minister Jitendra Singh, attended the burial of head constable Naseer Ahmad at Dudasunballa village in the border district of Rajouri in Jammu and Kashmir.

Officers from the Central Reserve Police Force and the Army also visited the village to pay homage, promising to take care of the jawan's family which includes his wife and two children, officials said.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid a wreath on the coffin of C Sivachandran at Tiruchirappali airport, where his body had been flown on the way to his village.

As Pankaj Tripathi's body reached Harpur Bailhiya in Uttar Pradesh's Maharajganj district, the villagers broke out in slogans hailing him as a martyr, and also chanting Pakistan murdabad.

Taking the cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi remarks, Union minister Shiv Pratap Shukla, who attended the funeral, said, India will give a befitting reply to the cowardly act of Pakistan.

He announced that the local primary school will be renamed after the jawan.

"My son was coming soon to meet me, but it seems that something else was written in my fate, his mother told reporters.

Uttarakhand's Trivendra Singh Rawat, Himachal Pradesh's Jai Ram Thakur and Odisha's Naveen Pathak were among the chief ministers who paid homage as the remains of soldiers from their states arrived.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal turned pallbearer when head constable Maneswar Basumatari's body arrived in Guwahati, flown in by the Indian Air Force.

The nation will fight unitedly to protect the sovereignty of our country. Basumatari's sacrifice, along with that of the other CRPF jawans, will not go in vain, he told reporters.

In Deoria district, Vijay Maurya's wife Vijay Laxmi demanded that Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath should visit the family before the cremation takes place.

UP minister Anupama Jaiswal and other leaders were trying to persuade her to go ahead with the last rites.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, on a dharna outside the Raj Nivas here along with his ministerial colleagues for the last three days protesting Lt Governor Kiran Bedi's "negative stand" towards his government's proposals awaiting her approval, urged supporters on Saturday to ensure that law and order is not disrupted.

He also said as part of widening the agitation, stirs would be held at constituency level from Saturday. Functionaries of different wings of the ruling Congress and the DMK have also joined the protest.

"We have selected 12 centres spread across 23 Assembly segments in Puducherry where the leaders and MLAs along with workers of parties belonging to the secular front would hold agitations in a peaceful manner," Narayanasamy said.

As part of the stir, black flags would be hoisted atop houses of leaders. Workers of the Congress party and its alliance partners in all Assembly segments on Sunday would protest "unanimously" against the "style of functioning" of Bedi, he said.

Calling on workers and others supporting the dharna to ensure that there is no disruption of law and order, the chief minister said, "Neither the Centre nor Kiran Bedi should get an opportunity to blame us on any count."



"The Central government is opposed to the territorial administration and hence we should tread a careful path," he said.

Narayanasamy told reporters at the venue of agitation last night that he and his ministers would continue the stir till a "positive reply is available from the Lt Governor" to the various proposals, including a free rice scheme, the cabinet had forwarded to her.

"These proposals relating to welfare schemes and various administrative issues have been hanging in the balance for several months," he said.

A massive fast would be observed by all leaders and workers in front of the Head Post office here on February 21.

The chief minister also criticised the Lt Governor for "disrespecting" the people of Puducherry and also an elected government by leaving for Delhi a day after the agitation was launched.

Bedi had left for New Delhi early on Thursday morning under tight security of the Rapid Action Force (RAF). A source in the Raj Nivas had told PTI that she would return on February 20 and has invited the chief minister for discussion over the issues raised by him on February 21.

The Lt Governor and the government headed by Narayanasamy have been at loggerheads over various issues ever since Bedi assumed office in May 2016.

Narayanasamy had led an agitation in front of Parliament on January 4, demanding that the Centre sanction statehood for Puducherry and replace Kiran Bedi as the Lt Governor.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Saturday met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and sought his intervention to ensure safety of Kashmiri students and traders in various parts of the country.

In his 30-minute-long meeting with the home minister, Abdullah also requested Singh to make sure that peace returns to the Jammu region where violent protests erupted after a suicide attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district killed 40 CRPF jawans.

"Just met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Sb to personally pay my condolences for the tragic deaths in Pulwama on Thursday. I requested him to take all steps necessary to ensure Jammu remains calm (sic)," Omar wrote on Twitter.

"I took the opportunity to inform Rajnath Singh Sb of the reports I had received of Kashmiri students & others being threatened/harassed and requested him to appoint a nodal officer in HMO India to ensure the directive issued to states is followed in letter & spirit (sic)," he said.

Some Kashmiri youths studying in Uttarakhand have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir on Thursday.

"I'm grateful that Rajnath Singh Sb gave me time at very short notice & his response to my requests was extremely positive," Omar said.

The curfew in Jammu city continued for the second day and the Army's presence was stepped up on Saturday.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday by a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber in South Kashmir's Pulwama district.

Massive protests and candlelight marches were held on Friday in different parts of the country against the attack and curfew was imposed in Jammu city following violence during demonstrations there.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.



The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

Qureshi, in a recorded a video message from Germany where he is attending the Munich Security Conference, claimed that India, without investigation, in a knee-jerk reaction, blamed for the attack.
The ruling JD(U) in Bihar Saturday claimed that the special POCSO court at Muzaffarpur has not passed any order directing the CBI to look into the allegations levelled against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and others by an accused in the shelter home sex scandal.

In a statement addressed to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who had shared items in this regard on his Twitter handle, JD(U) spokesman Sanjay Singh said "no such order has been passed by the special court. It does not even have the power to issue any such direction to the CBI".

The counsel for the accused, Sudhir Kumar Ojha, however, maintained that such a direction has indeed been given by the POCSO court on a petition of an accused Ashwani, a self-styled doctor formerly attached to the Muzaffarpur shelter home, praying for a probe in view of continued funding of the home by the state government.

According to Singh, it is a routine process that whenever an accused moves an application before a court, the same is forwarded to the investigating agency for consideration.

"Tejashwi Yadav keeps making statements on the basis of hearsay. It could prove to be costly," he said.

The petitioner alleged that the CBI was "suppressing facts" which would come to light if the role of Kumar and other senior officials, in view of continued release of funds to the care unit from 2013 to 2018, was investigated.

According to Sudhir Kumar Ojha, special POCSO judge Manoj Kumar had passed the order on the petition seeking inquiry into the role played by the CM and two bureaucrats on Friday while on Saturday it passed a similar direction on a supplementary petition wherein names of six other government officials were mentioned.

Meanwhile, local channels beamed footage of an advocate Sharat Sinha, described as "CBI counsel", wherein he was shown asserting that the court had passed no such order.

However, when contacted Ojha said Sinha is counsel for Dilip Verma - another accused in the case. I am going to sue him for misleading the people by falsely claiming to be the CBI counsel. The CBIs advocates are not locals. They come from Patna.

"Sinha is the counsel for an accused in not only this case but also for Mohd Shahabuddin prime accused in the journalist Rajdeo Ranjan murder case which is also being probed by the CBI. How can anyone represent both the accused and the respondent in any case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago Friday, wounding multiple bystanders before he was shot dead by police, officials and reports said.

Witnesses told local media they locked themselves into nearby buildings as a man in his 30s or 40s began firing off rounds at a manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinois.

Local media reported that the suspected gunman was killed soon after local police and federal agents flooded the area, 65 kilometers west of central Chicago.

John Probst, who was in the building as the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it," he said. "We were just scared."



The local Daily Herald newspaper said on its website four police officers and "multiple civilians" had been wounded.

"There are unconfirmed reports that at least one civilian is dead," the paper said, although it wasn't clear in the immediate aftermath if the fatality was the assailant or another victim.

Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as local officers with shields entered the complex alongside the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Officers urged the public to avoid the area, announcing that they would give further details at a conference later in the day.

Among the wounded were two patients being treated for "non-life threatening injuries" at a local hospital while several police officers were said to be in stable condition.

Aurora city spokesman Clayton Muhammad told the local CBS TV affiliate less than two hours after the shooting began that "the immediate threat to the community has been neutralized."



"The officers are in stable condition, those that were injured," he said, adding that he had no details about wounded civilians.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Madhya Pradesh government Saturday held a state cabinet meeting in Jabalpur for the first time, an event chief minister Kamal Nath termed historic.

Chief Minister Kamal Nath said Jabalpur is known as "sanskardhani" (cultural capital), a description first used for the city by Acharya Vinoba Bhave, and added that his government was committed to its overall development.

At the Jabalpur cabinet meet on Saturday, a decision was taken to create an Information Technology directorate in the state due to rapid developments in the field, a minister said.

At the cabinet meet, the government also decided to set up a helpline number - 181 for women in distress.

The 181 helpline will also be used to inform women about the state government's welfare schemes, he added.

The city is a stronghold of the BJP which has won Lok Sabha elections from here since 1996.

Jabalpur was also the venue of the historic 52nd session of the All India Congress in 1939 in which Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was elected INC president.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Heart-rending scenes were witnessed in Mohammadpur Bhuria village of Udham Singh Nagar district as slain CRPF jawan Virendra Singh's three-year-old son lit his funeral pyre on Saturday.

People flocked to Singh's residence this morning to pay their last respects to the soldier who lost his life in the Pulwama terror attack on Thursday.

Prominent among those who attended the funeral and gave their shoulders to Singh's coffin were Union Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta, Uttarakhand minister Yashpal Arya and Khatima MLA Pushkar Singh Dhami.

CRPF jawans fired three rounds in the air to pay their last respects to the 35-year-old, the youngest son of Diwan Singh.

Virendra Singh had rejoined his duties in Jammu and Kashmir only last week after vacationing at home for 20 days.

Union minister Ajay Tamta announced a compensation of Rs 25 lakh and a government job to Singh's family.

Markets in Khatima, Chakarpur and Jhankat kept their shutters down.

Ex-Army men held a procession in Khatima where they raised anti-Pakistan slogans.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In fresh sops to ryots ahead of Lok Sabha polls,the Andhra Pradesh government Saturday further modified the 'Annadaata Sukhibhava' scheme, announcing an extra financial assistance of Rs 5,000 per annum to small and marginal farmers, taking the total to Rs 15,000.

The overall assistance includes Rs 6,000 announced by the Centre in its interim budget on February 1.

The state government, on its own, would pay Rs 10,000 per annum to farmers with a landholding of over five acres, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said Saturday evening.

On February 13, the state Cabinet decided to uniformly grant Rs 10,000, at the rate of Rs 5,000 per crop season, to all farmers irrespective of the landholding.

While the Central government fixed a cap of five acres for the financial assistance, the state government decided to make it open-ended.

"What the Centre is going to give is not adequate. We have previously decided to give an additional Rs 4,000 but now we have decided to make the state component Rs 9,000 per annum.

Thus, farmers up to a landholding of five acres will get Rs 15,000 per annum (Rs 6000 from Centre and Rs 9,000 from state) for Kharif and Rabi seasons.

Those holding more than five acres will get Rs 10,000, which will be totally the state government contribution," the Chief Minister said after laying the foundation-stone for the Muktyala Lift Irrigation Scheme.

The Chandrababu Naidu government announced 'Annadaata Sukhibhava' scheme in the state Budget on February 5 and earmarked Rs 5,000 crore in 2019-20 to provide economic support (input grant) to farmers.

Though the Kharif crop season begins only in June, the state government decided to distribute cheques to farmers by the end of February as the general elections are just three months away.

According to state government estimates, there are about 54 lakh farmers with a landholding of less than five acres and another 10-15 lakh with over five acres each.

The Telugu Desam Party government is also working on guidelines for extending the scheme to tenant farmers as well.

Tenant farmers holding a cultivators certificate or a loan eligibility card will be covered under the scheme.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday labelled as "frightening" tough US trade rhetoric planning to declare European car imports a national security threat.

"If these cars... suddenly spell a threat to US national security, than that is frightening to us," she said.

Merkel pointed out that the biggest car plant of German luxury brand BMW was not in Bavaria but in South Carolina, from where it exports vehicles to China.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said at the Munich Security Conference.

"Then we will find a solution."



A US Commerce Department report has concluded that auto imports threaten national security, setting the stage for possible tariffs by the White House, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The investigation, ordered by President Donald Trump in May, is "positive" with respect to the central question of whether the imports "impair" US national security, said a European auto industry source.

"It's going to say that auto imports are a threat to national security," said an official with another auto company.

The report, which is expected to be delivered to the White House by a Sunday deadline, has been seen as a major risk for foreign automakers.

Trump has threatened to slap 25 per cent duties on European autos, especially targeting Germany, which he says has harmed the American car industry.

After receiving the report, the US president will have 90 days to decide whether to move ahead with tariffs.

Trump in July reached a trade truce with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, with the two pledging no new tariffs while the negotiations continued.

Brussels has already drawn up a list of 20 billion euros (USD 22.6 billion) in US exports for retaliatory tariffs should Washington press ahead, the commission's Director-General for Trade Jean-Luc Demarty told the European Parliament last month.

The White House has used the national security argument -- saying that undermining the American manufacturing base impairs military readiness, among other claims -- to impose steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, drawing instant retaliation from the EU, Canada, Mexico and China.

Trading partners have sometimes reacted with outrage at the suggestion their exports posed a threat to US national security.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pope Francis's decision to defrock former cardinal Theodore McCarrick "is a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated", the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said Saturday.

McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican's College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse.

"No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church," Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the bishops conference, said in a statement.

"For all those McCarrick abused, I pray this judgment will be one small step, among many, toward healing.

"For us bishops, it strengthens our resolve to hold ourselves accountable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am grateful to Pope Francis for the determined way he has led the Church's response."



The church has long been criticized for protecting predatory priests from the law -- but the bishops' statement appeared to signal a shift.

"If you have suffered sexual abuse at the hands of someone within the Catholic Church, I urge you to contact local law enforcement and your local diocese or eparchy," it said.

"Victims Assistance Coordinators are available to help. We are committed to healing and reconciliation."



McCarrick was found guilty in January by a Vatican court of sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with "no further recourse," according to the Vatican statement.

It said McCarrick was guilty of "sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power."



Defrocking is the most severe ecclesiastical punishment for a priest, who is reduced to the status of a lay person and no longer allowed to lead mass.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thirteen live cartridges were recovered from the possession of a man near the Srimantapur check post on the Indo-Bangla international border, police Saturday said.

Shouvik Dey, Sub-divisional police officer of Sonamura in Sipahijala district, said one Abu Salem showed the cartridges of a .303 bore rifle to a shopkeeper on Friday evening and said that he found them from the wash room of the check post.

"On receipt of the information, people as well as BSF personnel gathered in the area. The BSF personnel took him to Srimantapur Border outpost and after preliminary interrogation handed him over to the police. We would produce him before a local court today asking for five days police remand for interrogation. We have not received any clue so far," Dey told reporters.

Police is investigating the case.

Srimantapur is about 50 kms from Agartala and borders Comilla district of Bangladesh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro hit out at the United States on Friday for "stealing" billions of dollars and offering "crumbs" in return as humanitarian aid.

Tons of US aid is piling up in Colombia close to the border with Venezuela as opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to defy Maduro's efforts to block the supplies from entering the country.

"It's a booby trap, they're putting on a show with rotten and contaminated food," said Maduro, speaking at an event in the southeastern town of Ciudad Bolivar.

"They've stolen $30 billion and are offering four crumbs of rotten food," added the beleaguered socialist leader, referring to the United States.

Venezuela is in the midst of an economic crisis that has left millions in poverty and facing shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

Guaido, who is recognized by 50 countries as the interim president, accuses Maduro of causing economic hardship through mismanagement.

Among those countries is Costa Rica, whose foreign affairs ministry on Friday gave three Maduro-appointed diplomats "60 calendar days" to leave the country.

Maduro meanwhile blames Venezuela's woes on US sanctions, claiming they have cost the country $30 billion.

The 56-year-old, the hand-picked successor to socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, branded it the "war of the oligarchy."



US sanctions mostly target regime individuals and state oil company PDVSA, the government's main source of income.

Humanitarian aid has become a key issue in the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.

The opposition leader, who last month declared himself acting president, has promised to bring in the aid on February 23.

Maduro refuses to let it in. And his loyal military has barricaded a border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia.

The socialist leader insists the aid is just a cover for a planned US military invasion, while Guaido says 300,000 people could die without the desperately-needed aid.

Speaking on Friday, Maduro said six million families had benefitted from subsidized food boxes and claimed to have bought 933 tons of medicines and medical supplies from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies.

"We paid for it with our own money because we're beggars to no one," he said.

Guaido accuses Maduro of being a "usurper" over his controversial reelection last year in polls widely branded fraudulent.

Maduro says the 35-year-old National Assembly speaker is a puppet to the US, which is trying to secure access to Venezuela's gold and vast oil reserves -- the largest in the world.

He said Guaido's challenge to his authority is "treason." "The worst thing is stimulating the imperial madness of an extremist Ku Klux Klan government in the White House," said Maduro.

US national security advisor John Bolton announced on Thursday that 25 countries had "pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The liver of a 53-year-old man, declared brain-dead, was transported in a suburban train from Thane to Dadar Friday afternoon to transplant it in a patient at a city hospital, railway officials said.

This was possibly the first instance when a human organ was ferried on the suburban rail network, considered Mumbai's lifeline, for transplant.

After the donor was declared brain-dead Friday, his liver, as per his wish, was donated and was carried in an ice box from Thane's Jupiter Hospital to Parel's Global Hospital, where the recipient was admitted, an official said.

He said the decision to transport the liver in a local train was taken after considering it was the fastest mode and faced no traffic snarl issues.

The 31-km distance between Thane and Dadar stations was covered in just 38 minutes during non-peak hours, he said, adding it took another 20 minutes for the organ to reach the designated hospital in Parel through a green corridor.

The entire exercise was completed smoothly due to coordination between traffic police personnel and railway officials deployed at Thane and Dadar stations.

The 53-year-old Ulhasnagar-based donor was declared brain-dead Friday after meeting with an accident on Wednesday. According to his wish, to which his family members were aware of, his liver was donated to a needy recipient admitted in Global Hospital.

A hospital statement said, "Considering the retrieval was planned for 11 am and the possible transportation leg would have been around 12.30 pm which is peak traffic time for vehicular movement on the Eastern Express Highway the Global Hospital team possibly thought of using the local train network as the fastest and most reliable way of transporting the organ."



When the liver arrived at Dadar, jawans of the Maharashtra Security Force posted outside along with Matunga traffic police personnel took control of the organ, said an official of the Railway Protection Force (RPF).

They handed over the cadaver liver to the Global Hospital team whose members then created a green corridor with the help of traffic police for its further transportation via road, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Students Federation of India (SFI), the student arm of CPI(M), Saturday demanded immediate action by the state government to stop Madhyamik question papers from being leaked.

The SFI alleged that the West Bengal Board of Secondary (WBBSE) has failed to stop circulation of photos of Madhyamik question papers on WhatsApp.

The statement was issued after Saturday's geography question paper was allegedly leaked on WhatsApp.

Saturday was the fourth day of this year's Madhyamik examination that began on February 12.

There were reports that the Bengali, English and History question papers were also leaked.

SFI's state unit president Pratik Ur Rahman said photos of Madhyamik (Secondary) question papers have been surfacing on WhatsApp every single day but "the WBBSE refuses to accept the fact".

The SFI along with the youth wing of CPI(M) - Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI)asked state minister Partha Chatterjee to issue a general statement regarding the question paper leak, as it would be handy for everyone, since papers are being leaked on each exam day.

The Left-backed Bengal Teachers and Employees Association demanded resignation of WBBSE President Kalyanmoy Ganguly.

minister Partha Chatterjee said on Friday that no question papers were leaked and some people were trying to malign the WBBSE.

Chatterjee had said, "I keep tab on the examination process everyday. There has been no incident of any question paper leaked on WhatsApp before the examination."



He had also said that students and invigilators were not allowed to use mobile phones inside the examination halls.

Notably, on the first day of the Madhyamik, the WBBSE had lodged a complaint with the Bidhannagar Police cyber crime cell, against unknown persons, for sharing purported images of Bengali question paper.

A total of 10,66,000 students are appearing for the Madhyamik examinations this year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Lack of conclusive evidence was the reason South African authorities decided to drop the arrest warrant against India-born businessman Ajay Gupta, a close aide of scandal-hit former president Jacob Zuma, an official has said.

The National Prosecution Authority (NPA) decided on Thursday to scrap the arrest warrant issued last February for Ajay, who was considered a "fugitive from justice" after leaving for Dubai a year ago.

Gupta and his younger siblings Atul and Rajesh are accused of attempted state capture and corruption through alleged irregular contracts running into billions of rands by using their close relationship to President Zuma.

Ajay was accused of offering the then Deputy Minister of Finance Mcebisi Jonas a bribe of 600 million-rand (USD 42.6 million) to take on the post of Finance Minister in Zuma's Cabinet.

In return, Jonas was expected to give priority to the Gupta businesses in the IT, mining and media sector for government tenders.

But with reports that Jonas himself is now uncertain whether it was Ajay or Rajesh Gupta who had made the alleged offer, the NPA has withdrawn the charge, leaving Ajay free to return to South Africa. Although there was no word from him or his legal representatives on when and whether he would do so.

The decision was taken "so that we can give more credence into the ongoing investigation as well as to make sure that the team that is working on the other matters that been presented to the Hawks, country's elite police force, so that they are able to deal with them," NPA spokesman Hangwani Mulaudzi told the media on Friday.

He said lack of conclusive evidence was the reason behind scrapping the fugitive status of the India-born businessman.

"Once everything has been done, I think it is the decision of the NPA to be able to see whether that matter will still go on or not," he said.

Mulaudzi was referring to the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture which is still going ahead, where a number of allegations have been made against the Gupta family, who have consistently denied the charges and have sought a right of reply.

This NPA decision follows the one taken by it last month not to prosecute Duduzane Zuma, son of the former president, who allegedly was the link between Jonas and the Guptas.

According to analysts, this left the prosecutors with little choice but to provisionally withdraw the charges against Ajay.

Questions are now being asked whether Ajay will appear before the Commission since he no longer faces the threat of arrest if he sets foot on South African soil.

Commission head Judge Raymond Zondo has refused to allow any Gupta testimony at the Commission via video link, citing that this would amount to preferential treatment, but agreed to personal submissions.

In an earlier interview with the New York Times, Ajay said he would return to the Commission to clear his name and that of his family.

The Gupta family arrived in South Africa from Saharanpur in the 1990's as the new democracy under former President Nelson Mandela opened up opportunities to establish the Sahara IT company. They soon expanded their empire to other sectors.

The Gupta family owns a range of business interests, including computing, mining, air travel, energy, technology and media.

Their media company comprising The New Age daily and the TV Network ANN7 was controversially sold through vendor financing to an associate, who was forced to shut them down within months of taking over.

A number of Gupta-owned mining companies are either in business rescue or facing closure.

The three brothers are known friends of former President Zuma - and his son, daughter and one of the president's wives reportedly worked for the family's firms.

The Gupta brothers have been accused of wielding enormous political influence in South Africa, with critics alleging that they have tried to "capture the state" to advance their own business interests.

Zuma's links to the Guptas are one of the reasons he resigned before the 2019 general election. The Guptas and Zuma have denied all allegations of wrongdoing.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A former vicar of a Catholic church near here was Saturday sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping and impregnating a minor in 2016.

Thalassery POCSO Court Judge P S Vinod also slapped a fine of Rs 3 lakh on Robin Vadakkencheril (51).

The accused was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment each under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). These sentences would run concurrently.

The girl had later given birth to a baby boy at a private hospital in Kuthuparamba in Kannur and was shifted to an orphanage at Vythiri in neighbouring Wayanad district.

Half of the fine amount will be given to the victim.

The court has awarded the sentence under various provisions of the POCSO Act and Section 376 (2) (f) (rape of girl under 12 years) of the IPC.

The court also directed initiation of criminal proceedings against the girl's parents who had turned hostile in the case.

Initially, the biological father of the victim was framed in the case as the prime accused.

Six other accused in the case, including former chairman of the Wayanad Welfare Committee, Fr Thomas Joseph Therakam, a committee member Betty Jose and superintendent of the orphanage at Wayanad Sister Ophelia, were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Two doctors and a hospital administrator were also acquitted.

They were charged under the POCSO Act for allegedly covering up the crime, not reporting it to police and destroying evidence after they had come in contact with the rape victim.

According to the prosecution, the priest had impregnated the minor when she was studying in class 11 in 2016.

She gave birth to a child in 2017 and the baby was shifted to a welfare home nearby.

The matter came into light when the district childline authorities got an anonymous telephone call about the incident.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Kashmiri student studying in a college here was Saturday arrested for allegedly hailing the Jaish terrorist who carried out the suicide attack at Pulawama killing 40 CRPF Jawans, police said.

They said 23-year-old Tahir Latif from Baramula district is a student of Rewa University.

He had allegedly put up a screen-shot of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Adil Ahmed and the bodies of the slain soldiers as his display picture on WhatsApp, police said.

He had also allegedly put up a status message saying, "A big salute to this brave man!!! May Allah accept your Shahadat and give you highest place in Jannah #Shaheed Adil Bhai," they said.

Based on a student's complaint, a case was registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 and various IPC sections, including 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), police said.

Earlier, following a complaint by Vishwa Hindu Parishad office bearer Girish Bharadwaj, a case was registered here against Kashmiri youth Abid Malik for allegedly posting derogatory remarks on a social networking site.

The case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, for a post he wrote on Facebook.

The youth allegedly shared some images posted by a channel after the attack and captioned it 'The real surgical attack' on his FB page, police said.

During the investigation, it came to light that he had studied at a college here and worked at an event management firm, but had gone back to his home state.

The case was registered here as he had mentioned in his profile that he resided in Bengaluru, police said.

Following the complaint, Facebook deleted his account.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shiv Kapur missed out the match play action at the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 in Perth on Saturday by just one shot as he bogeyed his final hole in the third round.

A superb first nine after starting from the tenth saw him go five-under, but he bogeyed his final hole, the ninth and missed out. He shot four-under 68 for a total of 211 over 54 holes and ended T-26th.

Top-24 advanced to the match play stage.

Also missing out was SSP Chawrasia (71) as he finished at three-under 213.

Sweden's Per Langfors returned with a 64 to emerge as the 54-hole stroke play leader.

Thailand's Jazz Janewattananond is ready to prove his worth as he advanced to Sunday's six-hole match play knockout rounds after carding a four-under-par 68 in the third round.

Despite missing out on a top-eight position where the seeded players will receive a bye into the last 16, the three-time Asian Tour winner Jazz, 23, is in a relaxed mood ahead of Sunday's showdown with Australia's Steven Jeffress at the Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Jazz is three shots back of leader Langfors.

Panuphol Pittayarat, who took a share of the overnight lead, left it late to seal his place in Sunday's match play rounds after signing for a 74.

The Thai was among the 11 players vying for one of the last 10 spots in the play-offs and safely punched his ticket with a par that will see him go head-to-head with England's Ben Evans in the first knockout rounds on Sunday.

Zimbabwean Scott Vincent will also take on Wade Ormsby of Australia in the first round after a par at the first play-off hole confirmed his place as one of the top-24 players.

The ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth format sees the top 24 players after three rounds of stroke-play progressing to the six-hole knockout match play on the fourth and final round on Sunday, with the top eight receiving a bye into the second round.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 22-year-old man was arrested Saturday for alleged links to the terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), which was involved in the Bodh Gaya blast last year, police said.

The Special Task Force of Kolkata Police arrested Ariful Islam alias Arif, a resident of Barpeta of Assam, from Babughat at around 5.30 am, they said.

On January 19 last year, a low-intensity bomb had exploded hours after Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama had finished a sermon at the Mahabodhi temple in Bodh Gaya in Bihar.

"Arif studied at Howly in Assam and worked as a helper with truck drivers. He came in touch with Jahidul Islam alias Kauser and Abdul Majid and was invited by them to join JMB," a Kolkata Police officer said.

The officer said that Arif was in contact with other JMB operatives.

"In January 2018, Arif along with Adil, Hassan, Chota Kareem and Kausar went to Bodh Gaya, conducted recce and planted explosives. He was directly involved in the Bodh Gaya blast," the police officer said.

He added that after the blast, Arif absconded to Bangalore and was involved in dacoities with other associates.

"He came to Kolkata for some work regarding recce and preparations for a plot to secure the escape of Kauser from custody on the way to court from jail," he said.

Some documents and papers have also been seized from him, he added.

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) had last year arrested five people in connection with the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik Saturday directed the state police to take "strict action without mercy" against those indulging in violence in the aftermath of a terrorist attack in Pulwama in which 40 CRPF personnel died, an official said.

Reviewing the law and order situation at a high-level meeting at Raj Bhavan, Malik also urged people to maintain communal harmony, so that the forces trying to disrupt peace in the state are defeated.

"The governor directed the police to take strict action without mercy against those indulging in any type of violence, arson or rumour-mongering irrespective of political and religious affiliation," an official spokesman said here.

The direction came after incidents of violence and stone-pelting were reported from Jammu city. A curfew was imposed in the city after several vehicles were torched on Friday.

The violence happened during protests against the attack in Pulwama on Thursday.

The spokesman said the governor also reviewed the security of students from Jammu and Kashmir studying in universities and colleges across the country.

Officials informed Malik that liaison officers were working effectively and coordinating with university authorities and the local police to ensure safety of the students, he said.

Minor incidents involving students from Jammu and Kashmir were reported from Baba Fareed Institute of Technology, Dehradun; Maharishi Markand University, Ambala; and Chitkara University, Batti, Himachal Pradesh.

In all three places, liaison officers worked with the deans and vice chancellors to ensure safety of the students, the spokesman said.

Jammu divisional commissioner held a meeting of the Peace Committee Friday. In the meeting, all parties condemned the violence in Jammu and agreed to restrain their supporters from indulging in any unlawful behaviour.

Malik asked all political parties and senior political leaders to appeal to people to maintain peace and harmony. He urged them not to pay heed to rumours, the spokesman said.

"People of the state have always believed in mutual brotherhood and co-existence throughout the ages," the governor said during the meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Members of Jain International Trade Organisation (JITO) have collected over Rs one crore for the kin of the CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

The members of JITO were able to collect the money in a bid to give a minimum of Rs five lakh each to the bereaved families, within 30 minutes of the call being given.

"We are happy to share that within 30 minutes of this idea, we could collect an amount of Rs one crore as donation of Rs five lakh from each of the esteemed JITO members," said the chairman Pradeep G Rathod, president Ganpatraj Chowdhary and secretary general Amit Jain in a statement.

Sharing the details, joint secretary of JITO Bengaluru chapter Sajjanraj Mehta said, "Funds are pouring in from across the globe. Five more traders from Bengaluru have decided to donate Rs 1 lakh each."



The Mumbai-headquartered JITO with its presence across the globe expressed its deep sorrow over the dastardly terrorist attack on Thursday killing over 40 CRPF jawans and leaving many others injured in on the worst terrorist attacks in the region.

The JITO said it was offering to support the bereaved families.

"In this endeavour we earnestly appeal to all our members and chapters to donate generously. We suggest that instead of any individual donation, the entire amount can be sent under the banner of JITO as a huge sum which shall be taken in high esteems by all as a great contribution by Jain community for the cause of the nation," JITO said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tens of thousands of Iranians called for "revenge" Saturday at the funeral of 27 Revolutionary Guards killed in a suicide attack perpetrated by jihadists that Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting.

"The government of Pakistan must pay the price of harbouring these terrorist groups and this price will undoubtedly be very high," said Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist outfit Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").

"The Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer observe the previous reservations and will directly act to counter such acts," Jafari told mourners gathered at the city of Isfahan's Bozorgmehr Square.

The comments by Jafari, commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, came a day ahead of a planned two-day visit to Pakistan by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

Jafari blamed Pakistan's army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying that "sheltering and silence" amounts to supporting the perpetrators.

As he left the podium, people shouted "Commander of Sepah (Farsi for Revolutionary Guards) -- Revenge! Revenge!".

The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010.

Jafari also blasted "the traitorous governments of Saudi Arabia and (the) Emirates" and said Iran will no longer tolerate their "hidden support for anti-Islam thugs and Takfiri groups".

He called on President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Supreme National Security Council to give the guards more freedom to carry out "retaliatory operations," but did not elaborate.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries".

Black flags attached to lamp-posts adorned Isfahan as the city prepared for the funeral and two days of mourning.

When the bodies of the troops arrived on the back of Toyota vans -- the guards' signature vehicles -- their comrades, women in black veils and young men in jeans were there to greet them.

Tens of thousands chanted "Down with America!" and "We will never submit!" Iran's flag could be seen at half-mast in Bozorgmehr Square's southeastern side, and the crowd chanted "Allahu Akbar" each time the speaker read the names of the dead.

The troops killed in the bombing belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division, which is based in Isfahan province, according to Tasnim agency.

Aged from 21 to 52, each will be buried in his hometown after the funeral.

A housekeeper originally from Khuzestan province, where a deadly attack killed 24 last year, told AFP of the thirst for revenge.

"We demand that the blood of these troops be avenged," said Tayebbeh Rezaee, 34. "They cannot weaken the Islamic Republic in any way -- not war, not economic attacks. So they have to stoop to such acts."



Sistan-Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint, where Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carry out cross-border raids.

A Revolutionary Guard was killed and five wounded in a February 2 attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl on a base of the Basij militia in the town of Nikshahr, some way from the border.

One of the wounded -- Khodarahm Heidari, who was critically injured in that attack -- died on Saturday, semi-official agency ISNA reported.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in the provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, in an attack which Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border with Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused "Pakistan's security forces" of supporting the perpetrators of a suicide bombing that killed 27 troops on Wednesday, in remarks state TV aired Saturday hours before their funeral was held.

"Pakistan's government, who has housed these anti-revolutionaries and threats to Islam, knows where they are and they are supported by Pakistan's security forces," said Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist group Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").

"If (the Pakistan government) does not punish them, we will retaliate against this anti-revolutionary force, and whatever Pakistan sees will be the consequence of its support for them," he warned.

His comments came ahead of a planned two-day visit to Pakistan -- due to begin on Sunday -- by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia.

The general made the remarks in Isfahan City on Friday evening during a farewell ceremony held for those killed.

Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi by Tehran in 2010.

The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan.

The attack was one of the deadliest on Iranian security forces in recent years and came just days after Iran held more than a week of celebrations for the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, which overthrew the US-backed shah.

Jafari also blasted "the support that the region's reactionary states Saudi Arabia and the Emiratis" maintain for "conspiracies" that he said were ordered by Israel and America.

"We will certainly follow retaliatory measures," he added, without elaborating.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the perpetrators of the attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries".

Isfahan's major streets were covered with black flags attached to lamp-posts as the city prepared for the funeral and two days of mourning.

Vans fixed with loudspeakers cruised streets, inviting people to attend the ceremony.

"Honourable people of Isfahan, we invite you to attend the funeral of 27 of your brave sons, the martyrs of the homeland's security", the speakers blared, according to an AFP reporter.

The troops killed in the bombing belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division based in Isfahan province, according to Tasnim agency.

Aged from 21 to 52, each will be buried in his hometown after the funeral in Isfahan city.

The assault came as the troops were returning from a border patrol mission on a personnel bus near Zahedan.

Of the 13 wounded in the attack two are in the intensive care unit of an Isfahan hospital.

Sistan-Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint, where Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carry out cross-border raids.

A Revolutionary Guard was killed and five wounded in a February 2 attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl on a base of the Basij militia in the town of Nikshahr, some way from the border.

One of the wounded -- Khodarahm Heidari, who was critically wounded in that attack -- passed away on Saturday, semi-official agency ISNA reported.

On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in the provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time.

And in early December two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, in an attack which Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists.

In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border with Pakistan.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari Saturday said India should put pressure on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to handover Masood Azhar, the founder of terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The Pakistan-based terror outfit has claimed responsibility for Thursday's terror strike in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in which 40 CRPF jawans were killed.

"If we put sufficient pressure on Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, and if Imran Khan is really serious about his intent to make peace, which he tried to demonstrate in the Kartarpur corridor outreach initiative, then the next logical step would to be to handover Maulana Masood Azhar to India," Tewari said.

The former Union minister was in Mumbai to launch his book "The Fables of Fractured Times", a compilation of his articles written for various newspapers and other media platforms during 2017-18.

"You (Union government) need to put Imran Khan in the dock. You need to put Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Khan's party) in the dock. This is the job that you need to do very vociferously," Tewari said.

The senior Congress leader said Azhar had extensively campaigned for Khan during last year's assembly polls in Pakistan's Punjab province.

"The next 15 to 20 days are going to be very crucial for the country. Let me also say that we have already stated that we are going to be with government," Tewari said.

He added that India needs to mobilise the international community to isolate Pakistan.

The Congress leader said India had failed to devise a mechanism to deal with Pakistan and claimed the latter's policy to bleed the country to avenge the defeat and dismemberment in the 1971 war was paying the neighbouring country some dividends.

In an interaction with his party colleague Sanjay Jha at the event, Tewari said the UPA was voted out in 2014 as the people had grown "sick" of them.

"The reality is that people voted for Modi in 2014 because they were sick of us. That is the hard reality," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India will ask the UN's top court Monday to order Pakistan to take an alleged Indian spy off death row, in a case that could stoke fresh tensions after a deadly attack in Kashmir.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in the restive southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan in March 2016 on charges of espionage and sentenced to death by a military court.

The International Court of Justice urgently ordered Pakistan in 2017 to stay the execution of Jadhav, pending hearings on the broader Indian case that take place this week in The Hague.

The rare foray into the international courts for the nuclear-armed rivals could be another flashpoint after Thursday's suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 41 troops.

New Delhi's lawyers will present their arguments on Monday to the court, which was set up after World War II to resolve international disputes, followed by Pakistan's on Tuesday.

Jadhav, a former Indian navy officer, was accused of working for the Indian intelligence services in the province bordering Afghanistan, where Islamabad has long accused India of backing separatist rebels.

After a closed trial he was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on April 10, 2017, on charges of "espionage, sabotage and terrorism". India insists Jadhav was not a spy, and that he was kidnapped in Pakistan. New Delhi in court documents is asking that the ICJ order Islamabad to annul the sentence.

It accused Islamabad of violating the Vienna Convention by failing to provide him with consular access, as well as breaking human rights law. If Pakistan is unable to quash Jadhav's death sentence, Islamabad should be found in violation of international law and treaties, and be told to "release the convicted Indian national forthwith", India said.

India accused Pakistan in 2017 of harassing Jadhav's family during a visit, saying their meeting was held in an "atmosphere of coercion".

Islamabad reacted coolly to the ICJ's urgent order to stay Jadhav's execution at the time, saying it "has not changed the status of commander Jadhav's case in any manner".

The ICJ's decision will likely come months after this week's hearings.

The last time India and Pakistan took a dispute to the ICJ was in 1999 when Islamabad protested at the downing of a Pakistani navy plane that killed 16 people.

The tribunal decided that it was not competent to rule in the dispute and closed the case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Taking strong economic action against Pakistan following the Pulwama terror attack, India Saturday raised the customs duty to 200 per cent on all goods imported from the neighbouring country, including fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products and mineral ore.

The decision would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18 as it would drastically increase the prices of its goods here.

"India has withdrawn MFN (most favoured nation) status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 per cent with immediate effect," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in a tweet.

The two main items imported from Pakistan are fruits and cement, on which the current customs duty is 30-50 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively.

Slapping an import duty of 200 per cent effectively means almost banning the imports from Pakistan, official sources said.

India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack. The country invoked a security exception clause of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to withdraw this status. Both the countries are member of this organisation.

India can also restrict trade of certain goods and impose port-related restrictions on Pakistani goods.

Items which Pakistan exports to India include fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores, finished leather, processed minerals, inorganic chemicals, cotton raw, spices, wool, rubber product, alcoholic beverages, medical instruments, marine goods, plastic, dyes and sport goods.

India granted the MFN status to Pakistan way back in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not reciprocated.

Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

In 2012, Pakistan had committed to giving the MFN status to India but retracted later due to domestic opposition. Instead of MFN, Pakistan said it was working on granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India but that also was not announced.

Total India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to USD 2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against USD 2.27 billion in 2016-17. India imported goods worth USD 488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth USD 1.92 billion.

During April-October 2018-19, India's exports to Pakistan stood at USD 1.18 billion, while imports were USD 338.66 billion.

India mainly exports raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, manmade yarn and dyes to Pakistan.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kgs of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Political parties Saturday put up a united face and expressed India's determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack, underlining their solidarity with security forces for defending the country's unity and integrity.

A meeting of all political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and support being given to it from across the border.

The resolution did not name but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country.

"India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India," it said.

The meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

The parties were briefed about the attack in Pulwama in South Kashmir and the steps being taken by the government so far, a Home Ministry official said.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav are among others who are attending the meeting.
A late goal by Bikramjit Singh saw Mohun Bagan beat Aizawl FC 2-1 on Saturday, ensuring at least a top-six finish in the ongoing I-League.

Ugandan forward Henry Kisekka put the Green and Maroons forward in the 22nd minute before former Bagan man Ansumana Kromah drew Aizawl level at the half-hour mark.

The Kolkata giants left it late for defender Bikramjit to seal three points with a 78th minute strike. Mohun Bagan are currently sixth with 26 points from 17 games. NEROCA are currently fifth with same number of points but a better goal difference.

Aizawl remained eighth in the list with 14 points from 16 games.

Bagan boss Khalid Jamil came in with attacking tactics, looking for an early goal.

The team's efforts finally bore fruit when an Abinash Ruidas free-kick from long range was chested down by Henry in the 22nd minute before calmly slotted it into the goal.

However, Aizawl came back with a goal of their own just eight minutes later, when Kromah's powerful shot from outside the 18-yard box found the net.

Jamil, in search of greater creativity from the middle of the park, brought Egyptian Omar Elhussieny on in place of veteran Mehtab Hossain in the second half.

They finally got the winner late in the second half, when a Sony Norde free-kick was met by Bikramjit, who scored the winner.

Aizawl gave it their all in the final 10 minutes, and Jamil had to ensure that his back-four had some extra protection, as he introduced Darren Caldeira in place of Henry.

However, the Green and Maroons managed to hold on to their lead till the end.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Union Health Minister J P Nadda Saturday paid homage to CRPF jawan Tilak Raj who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack which claimed the lives of 40 paramilitary personnel.

Thakur visited Raj's native village in the Jawali area of Kangra district and laid the wreath on the coffin carrying the mortal remains of the jawan draped in the tricolour.

Raj was cremated at around 2 pm with full state honours.

The chief minister conveyed his condolences and assured the bereaved family of all possible assistance from the state government.

Raj's brother, Baldev Singh, lit the funeral pyre as the villagers kept chanting "Shaheed Tilak Raj amar rahe". Anti-Pakistan slogans were also raised.

Interacting with the media, the chief minister described the killing of the soldiers as a cowardly act by terrorist backed by Pakistan.

"Such nefarious designs of evil forces will not succeed and the nation will give a befitting reply to Pakistan," Thakur said.

He announced a financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh to the family and government employment to the wife of the jawan.

Besides the chief minister, Union Health Minister J P Nadda, former CM and MP Shanta Kumar, state Food and Civil Supplies Minister Kishan Kapoor, state Health Minister Vipin Singh Parmar, MLAs Arun Mehta, Rakesh Pathania and Arjun Singh, among others, paid homage to the jawan.

Senior officials of the Army, CRPF and police were present.

In one of the deadliest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber Thursday rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into a bus in Pulwama district, killing 40 jawans. The bus was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

On Friday, a special Army plane carrying the bodies of six jawans - one from Himachal Pradesh, four from Punjab and one from Jammu and Kashmir - reached the Pathankot airbase in Punjab at 11 pm.

Himachal Pradesh Food and Civil Supply Minister Kishan Kapoor, Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar, Superintendent of Police Santosh Patial and others accompanied the body of Tilak Raj from Pathankot to Nurpur (Himachal) at midnight and carried the same to the jawan's native village Saturday morning.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
These are the top stories from the northern region at 6.20 pm



JAIPUR DEL22 RJ-BLAST-LAST RITES



Jaipur: Tens of thousands of people lined the roads and many more marched with the tricolour for the final journey of the five CRPF jawans from Rajasthan killed in the Pulwama terror attack who were cremated with full state honours in their native villages on Saturday.

KANNAUJ DES11 UP-BLAST-KANNAUJ



Kannauj: The pain and agony of CRPF jawan Pradeep Singh Yadav's death was so much, that his 10-year-old daughter Supriya fainted while consigning the mortal remains to flames here on Saturday morning.

(Funeral-related reports from other states)



JAMMU DEL17 JK-LD CURFEW



Jammu: The curfew in Jammu continued for the second day and the Army's presence was stepped up on Saturday, a day after violent protests rocked the city over a suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans in Kashmir.

JAMMU DEL23 NEWSALERT-JK-IED



Army officer killed, soldier injured in IED blast along LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir: Officials.

JAIPUR DEL10 RJ-GUJJAR-AGITATION



Jaipur: The members of Gujjar community called off their agitation on Saturday after getting a written assurance from the Rajasthan government that it will stand by them if the bill giving five per cent reservation to the community faces legal hurdles.

NEW DELHI DES15 DL-JAIN-FIRE-NOC



New Delhi: Intensifying its drive against errant hotels, the Delhi government has cancelled fire safety certificates of 27 establishments for various violations in Karol Bagh area, where a massive fire at a hotel killed 17 people earlier this week.

AMBALA DES18 HR-BLAST-KASHMIRI STUDENTS



Ambala: A village panchayat here has asked villagers to evict Kashmiri students living in rented accommodation within 24 hours in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, according to a video that has surfaced on social media.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Moving ahead with revival plans for the city-based Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Ltd, the Hooghly Cochin Shipyard Limited (HCSL) Saturday kicked-off the construction of a new yard at Nazirgunge dock.

"The ground-breaking ceremony of the construction of the new yard at HCSL was performed by Cochin Shipyard Ltd CMD Madhu S Nair at Nazirgunge dock in the presence of KoPT chairman, Vinit Kumar and deputy chairman of KoPT S Balaji Arunkumar," a statement said.

HCSL is a joint venture between Cochin Shipyard Ltd and Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited with in a 74:26 ratio.

HCSL intends to set up a modern shipbuilding and ship repair facility at Nazirgunge and Salkia sites.

The project is expected to be completed in 24 months and the units will be fully operational by the first quarter of 2021.

CSL is a leader in shipbuilding and ship repair in India and KoPT had partnered with them to revive the closed shipyard.

With the revival of inland waterways on NW-I and NW-II, demand for cargo barges is expected to rise. Inland Waterways Authority of India themselves is in the process to order Rs 2,000 crore worth of cargo vessels and HSCL expects to get a sizeable pie of the same.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi High Court has put on hold the operation of a Central Information Commission order directing the HRD Ministry to re-formulate the Bal Shree scheme for selecting meritorious children from among students who are members of Bal Bhavans in the country.

Justice A K Bhambani stayed the CIC November 19, 2018, direction to the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry till the next date of hearing on May 27.

The court also issued notices to the RTI applicant on whose plea the commission had passed the order and the National Bal Bhavan, which is an autonomous body under the HRD Ministry.

The order came on the ministry's plea, filed through advocate Rahul Sharma, challenging the commission's decision on the ground that the direction was issued without hearing the government.

The ministry, also represented by advocate C K Bhatt, contended that the commission could not have issued any direction to re-formulate the scheme when the government was not even a party before the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The commission had directed the ministry to revise the scheme and place it on its website within 60 days of receipt of the order.

The CIC was of the view that there was a "lack of clarity, transparency and decision making at the district, state and national level which requires a complete revamp and reformulation of the policy".

The commission's directions had come while hearing a parent's plea seeking information regarding the Bal Shree awards scheme and the process of conducting district-level selections for the scheme by the Hyderabad district.

According to the HRD ministry's plea, Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956 "founded the Bal Bhavan and the activities started in a tin shed at Turkman Gate, Delhi giving a start to a nationwide mission for creative enhancement of children through playing and doing different activities in a child friendly environment".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gyangbung Rinpoche has assumed charge of the Abbot of the 400-year-old Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh.

Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu along with Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, attended the enthronement ceremony of the new Abbot on Friday, an official release said.

The Tawang monastery also known as Gaden Namgyal Lhatse in Tibetan, means 'celestial paradise in a clear night'. It is the largest monastery in India and second largest in the world.

Gyangbung Rinpoche succeeded Gangkar Tulku Lozang Konchok as the new Abbot.

Khandu expressed happiness on enthronement of new Abbot and welcomed him on his new roles and responsibility.

The chief minister said that the Monpa community is thankful to the role played by monastery in inculcating peace, discipline and humbleness among the people.

He said due to role of religion in the society, people are peaceful and the district has a very low crime rate.

Khandu said that Tawang Monastery is renowned not only in the state but world over and the enthronement of the new abbot is a significant event, which has its effect all over the world.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five people were killed and multiple police officers shot Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago, the latest mass shooting to hit the United States.

The shooting took place at approximately 1:28 pm (1928 GMT), at a giant manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinois -- a small suburb 65 kilometers west of central Chicago.

Police said officers engaged in a firefight with the suspect, thought to be an employee, before he was shot dead. He was identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin.

Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman said five police officers were shot. Two were air lifted to Chicago-area trauma centers.

"The other officers on the scene located gunshot victims inside the building," Ziman told a conference, putting the death toll at five people.

Police did not release information on the officers' conditions or identify the victims.

Police said they do not know the motive for the shooting, but witnesses told local media that the gunman was a disgruntled employee.

Witnesses said they locked themselves into nearby buildings as the gunman began firing off rounds.

Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as officers with shields entered the complex.

John Probst, who was in the building as the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it," he said.

"We were just scared." Nancy Caal, an employee of a nearby repair workshop, told the Daily Herald newspaper she and three others had heard numerous emergency sirens, and so "went and shut the front gate and locked all of the doors." - 37 mass shootings in 2019 -



The local school district put campuses on lock down, but students were released later in the day.

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police lauded the wounded police officers who "willingly ran into harm's way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price."



The White House said President Donald Trump had been monitoring the situation.

"Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!" Trump tweeted.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The members of the Gujjar community continued to block railway tracks and highways in Rajasthan for the eighth consecutive day on Friday, despite the state government releasing a notification to give 5 per cent reservation to them and four other agitating communities.

State Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh and representatives of the Gujjar community held talks to end the deadlock, however they remained inconclusive as the Gujjar leaders demanded written assurance from the government that necessary steps would be taken if their demands face legal hurdles.

"We had a meeting with the minister. We have asked for a written assurance from the government that it will take necessary steps if the bill fails to stand on its feet. The Congress had promised 5 per cent quota in the election manifesto and not a bill. Tomorrow, the government will provide us a draft document after which we will take further decision. Till then, dharna will continue," Vijay Bainsla, son of Gujjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla told PTI.

The ongoing dharna led by Kirori Bainsla on railway tracks and highways has inconvenienced travellers.

As per the North Western Railways spokesperson, 64 trains have been cancelled, 71 diverted and 32 partially cancelled in the last eight days. The West Central spokesperson said 148 trains were cancelled, 143 diverted and 52 short terminated.

Bainsla and his supporters began their sit-in on the railway tracks in Malarna Dungar area of Sawai Madhopur district on February 8, demanding 5 per cent quota for Gujjar, Raika-Rebari, Gadia Luhar, Banjara and Gadaria communities in jobs and education.

The Rajasthan assembly on Wednesday passed a bill giving 5 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutes to the Gujjars and four other communities agitating for it.

The Gujjar agitators are sitting on Mumbai-Delhi railway track near Malarna Dungar and Sawai Madhopur-Jaipur rail track at Chauth Ka Barwara in Sawai Madhopur district.
A local businessman has decided to give Rs 1 lakh each to the kin of CRPF jawans martyred in the Pulwama attack, Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel said Saturday.

He identified the businessman as Babubhai Patel, owner of Ahmedabad-based Jai Somnath Infrastructure.

The deputy CM added that BJP legislators in the state would also discuss financial contributions for the slain troopers' families.

Speaking about the businessman's gesture, Patel said, "I believe the announcement will inspireindividuals and organisations to come forward to help soldiers who are sacrificing their lives for our country. Such donors will be the pride of Gujarat."



"BJP MLAs will meet and discuss about their contribution to the families of the martyred jawans," he added.

Forty Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed and five injured Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Government Railway Police Saturday seized 12 kg of cannabis from the possession of a train passenger at Guwahati railway station, GRP sources said.

During routine checking of the train at the railway station the GRP personnel seized the ganja from the possession of the man travelling in the Kamrup Express, they said. The man had boarded the train at Dimapur railway station.

A case has been registered under Narcotics Drugs Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act against the man, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, they added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
There was a massive outpouring of grief and outrage at the funerals of CRPF personnel Sanjay Kumar Sinha and Ratan Kumar Thakur, who were killed in the Pulwama terrorist attack, in Bihar's Patna and Bhagalpur districts respectively on Saturday.

As smoke billowed and flames leapt from the funeral pyres of the martyrs in rural Patna's Fatuha Triveni Ghat and Bhagalpur's Kahalgaon Ganga Ghat, shouts of 'Sanjay Amar Rahein' and 'Ratan Amar Rahein' rent the air.

Massive crowds gathered for the cremation of the CRPF personnel, with many carrying the national flag. People also raised slogans of "Pakistan Murdabad" and "Finish off separatists once and for all".

Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Union Minister Ram Kripal Yadav were among those present at Sinha's funeral, while Union Minister Giriraj Singh and state minister Ram Narayan Mandal attended Thakur's last rites.

Earlier, the mortal remains of the slain jawans were brought to their respective villages in flower-bedecked vehicles.

Their bodies were flown in from the national capital to Patna, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, among others, paid floral tributes to them.

Thakur's body was flown to NTPC helipad in Bhagalpur, about 250 kms from Patna, before being taken to his village.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR) has sought greater investment in research and innovation to address India's increasing disease burden and the incremental costs associated with it.

The members of ISCR stressed on the need for stakeholders to work together to build and strengthen the clinical research ecosystem in the country and create an environment that encourages more research.

At the same time, there is a need for more education and awareness about clinical research and its benefits not just to participating patients, but also to society at large, ISCR president Chirag Trivedi said at its 12th annual conference being held in Delhi.

"The changing profile of diseases affecting the Indian population, the continuing high prevalence of endemic diseases and the emergence of lifestyle diseases all point to an urgent need for greater investment in research and innovation to address India's increasing disease burden and the incremental costs associated with it," he said.

Recent data indicates that the number of clinical trials being done in India as a percentage of global trials continues to fall, the ISCR said in a statement.

From 1.5 per cent a couple of years ago, the percentage of clinical trials in India is now 1.2 per cent which is inadequate for a country that has the second highest population and the highest disease burden in the world.

It is against this background that ISCR held its conference on the theme 'Clinical Research -- Advancing the Frontiers of Health'.

The conference, being attended by over 500 clinical research professionals, focused on various clinical trial reforms that will build the future research enterprise as well as on emerging research opportunities in India.

"Clinical research in India is governed by robust local and global regulations which makes India amongst the most stringent clinical research regulatory environments in the world. In such an environment we need to encourage, not deter, not-for-profit organisations, institutions and biopharma companies from doing more research in India," said Sanjay Mittal, Senior Director of Clinical Cardiology and Head of Research, Medanta The Medicity.

The most impacted by the current environment are patients who will not have access to the latest and most effective treatment for various medical conditions. For investigators too, participating in clinical research exposes them to the latest trends and treatment protocols which, in turn, benefits their practice and patients, he said.

ISCR president Trivedi said it was imperative that more is done to highlight the robust regulatory environment in India to stakeholders across the world so as to encourage more investment in clinical research.

A conducive clinical research ecosystem will encourage more research and development and will give an impetus to the government's 'Make in India' initiative.

"We are as committed to the DCGI's (Drug Controller General of India) commitment to making safe, efficacious, affordable and quality medicinal products for our people. If we can have a Make in India for other goods and services, why cannot we have a Make in India for clinical research too?" Trivedi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
BJP legislator and Goa's former Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza was laid to rest with full state honours Saturday evening at his hometown Mapusa



near here.

D'Souza, 64, had died on February 14 after a prolonged illness.

The mortal remains of the BJP leader were kept at his private residence in Mapusa, around 9 km from here, for the last two days during which thousands of people paid homage to their beloved leader.

D'Souza's body, wrapped in the tricolour, was carried from his residence to St Jerome Church in the town in a decorated truck.

A funeral mass was conducted at the church in the presence of hundreds of people, including Archbishop of Goa and Daman Fr Filipe Neri Ferrao and senior leaders.

Paying tribute to his father, the late BJP leader's son Joshua D'Souza termed him as a "man of the people who was always eager to help those who approached him".

State BJP president Vinay Tendulkar, in his address during the mass, recalled how D'Souza helped him during his tenure as an MLA.

He said the demise of D'Souza, the MLA from Mapusa, was a big loss for the saffron party.

D'Souza was first elected to the legislative assembly in 1999 as a Goa Rajiv Congress candidate. He later joined the BJP and was elected from Mapusa in the assembly polls held in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017.

D'Souza was appointed Deputy Chief Minister when the BJPformed its government in 2012 under Manohar Parrikars leadership.

The veteran legislator continued in the post when Parrikar moved to the Centre as defence minister and BJP leader Laxmikant Parsekar took over as chief minister in November 2014.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 16-year-old girl was run over by a truck on her way to school in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad city on Saturday, following which locals held a protest and blocked the traffic, police said.

She was hit by a truck transporting sand from Loni to Bhopura, they said.

Rakhi alias Archana, a Class 10 student, left for school from her house in Panchsheel Colony at around 7:30 am. She was hit by the truck as she reached the main road to look for conveyance, Superintendent of Police (city) Shlok Kumar said.

She died on the spot and the truck driver fled, leaving behind his vehicle, he said.

Angry local residents gathered there and blocked the road where the girl had died. They raised slogans and demanded the arrest of the truck driver, the police said.

Police reached the spot and calmed down the locals. Traffic movement was restored after two hours, they said.

Later, the truck driver was also arrested, Kumar said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A minor fire broke out at the canteen of the Delhi High Court on Saturday, the Delhi Fire Service (DFS) said.

A call about the blaze was received at 1.30 pm after which four fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior DFS officer said.

The fire broke out in the chimney of the canteen and was brought under control by 1.50 pm, he said, adding that no injury or casualty was reported.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An inter-state fake currency racket was busted here, with the arrest of two people and fake Indian currency worth Rs 3.98 lakh and a two-wheeler were seized from their possession, police said Friday.

One of the accused, Mohd Ghouse is a rowdy-sheeter of Chandrayangutta police station in Hyderabad.

"In the year 1991, as he was found in possession of bombs, TADA Act along with other relevant sections were invoked against him. Since 2011, he is involved in circulating fake Indian currency," a police press release said.

So far, he has been arrested in 12 cases in Hyderabad and one case each in Vijayawada and Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, it said.

Ghouse was released on bail in the above cases on January 12 last and he had planned to re-start circulating fake currency, it said.

As he had lost contact with Ameenul Rehman (who was allegedly the main supplier of fake currency to Ghouse for the past few years and wanted in three cases in Hyderabad), Ghouse went to Rajahmundry Central jail on January 19 and met Suraj Shaik (a native of Malda in West Bengal) and obtained the phone number of Rehman alias Bablu, it said.

Ghouse contacted Bablu and fixed a fresh deal for supplying fake Indian currency.

As per the deal, Bablu sent Rs four lakh worth fake Indian currency through his trusted aide Rabiul Sekh, the release said.

While both Ghouse and Rabiul Sekh were trying to exchange fake Indian currency in Hashamabad area under Chandrayanagutta police station limits on February 15, they were caught by South Zone Task Force (of city police) and Chandrayangutta police, it said.

The prime accused Ameenul Rehman alias Bablu's village is located near Bangladesh border and he allegedly procures the currency from Bangladesh through agents, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The EU has urged Sri Lanka to repeal its controversial anti-terror law and replace with a new one in compliance with the international norms.

Sri Lanka's human rights record, particularly over the impunity enjoyed by law enforcement officers, has been the subject of international condemnation.

The country has been grappling with a new counter-terrorism law in view of the criticism on the Prevention of Terrorist Act (PTA) of 1979. This was enacted at the beginning of the Tamil separatist war in the north and east regions.

Sri Lanka was urged by the European Union (EU) to repeal the current anti-terror law and replace it with a new counter-terrorism law in keeping with the international standards, according to a statement issued at the end of the 22nd session of the EU-Sri Lanka Joint Commission in Brussels on February 14.

The EU welcomed Sri Lanka's steps taken to implement the UN Human Rights Council resolution of October 2015 and setting up of the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and passing of laws to set up the Office for Reparations.

The country's human rights record due to the PTA was under international focus which led to three UN rights body resolutions calling for accountability for alleged human rights abuses blamed both on the Tamil separatist group and and the security forces.

The rights groups have long demanded for repealing of PTA as it gave troops sweeping powers to arrest and detain suspects indefinitely.

Currently, a parliamentary oversight committee is examining the proposed counter-terrorism act, the committee chief and parliamentarian Mayantha Dissanayake said.

The EU also expressed concern after Sri Lanka resumed death penalty. It has reminded Sri Lanka that its commitment to 27 conventions on human and labour rights, environment and good governance are conditions to qualify for the EU's GSP+ preferential trade scheme.

Sri Lanka had benefited by 2.2 billion euros worth of exports to the EU between June 2017 and May 2018 since the facility was restored to Sri Lanka after its suspension in 2010.

Sri Lanka's department of prisons on Monday said that applications have been sought to recruit two hangmen, days after President Maithripala Sirisena vowed to end a 42-year moratorium on death penalty within two months. Sri Lanka has not executed a death row convict since June 1976.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had launched a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

The UN Human Rights Council has called for an international probe into the alleged war crimes during the military conflict with the LTTE.

According to the government figures, around 20,000 people are missing due to various conflicts including the 30-year-long separatist war which claimed at least 100,000 lives.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A "notorious" drug peddler was arrested Saturday and 'charas' (cannabis) was seized from his possession in Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.

Kesar Ram, a resident of Bhaga village, was noticed moving suspiciously in Saldi village by a police patrolling party and was stopped for checking, a police spokesman said.

He said 520 grams of charas was recovered from his possession.

Ram is a notorious drug peddler, he added.

A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act was registered against him and investigation is underway, the spokesman said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A clinical Ranji champions Vidarbha reasserted their supremacy in domestic arena, beating a star-studded Rest of India to retain the Irani Cup, making it back-to-back seasons of double delight.

Vidarbha has now become the third team after Mumbai and Karnataka to clinch two Irani Cup titles in a row.

And in a touching gesture, Vidarbha captain Faiz Fazal announced that the entire prize money will be donated to the families of the CRPF personnel martyred in the dastardly terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday.

"We as a team have decided to donate the prize money to the family of the martyrs who lost their lives in Pulwama. This is a small gesture from our team and VCA," Fazal said.

Set a tricky target of 280, Vidarbha were well and truly on course at 269 for five, needing only 11 runs for an outright victory. However the two teams decided to shake hands and settle for a draw.

The victory was a testimony to Vidarbha's teamwork as they defeated a Rest of India side comprising Ajinkya Rahane, Hanma Vihari. Shreyas Iyer and Mayank Agarwal without their season's top scorer Wasim Jaffer and pacer Umesh Yadav.

It was another senior Ganesh Satish (87 off 168 balls) and young U-19 international Atharva Taide (72 off 185 balls), who ensured that the Cup will remain in the Vidarbha Cricjket Association's Trophy cabinet.

Also others like opener Sanjay Ramaswamy (42) and Mohit Kale (37) chipped in with handy knocks, while wicket-keeper Akshay Wadkar remained unbeaten on 10.

And their skipper Faiz Fazal would certainly be pleased with the fact that his boys nearly pulled off an outright win chasing a near 300-score on a fifth day track.

Resuming their innings on 37/1, Ramaswamy and one down Taide added 116 runs for the second wicket.

It was young Rajasthan leg-spinner Rahul Chahar, who trapped Ramaswamy in front of the wicket as Vidarbha were 116-2.

While Ramaswamy stuck four boundaries and a six, Taide was tad more aggressive striking eight fours and a six, as the duo kept Rest bowlers at bay.

After Ramaswamy fell, Satish joined hands with Taide. The two managed to added 30 runs for the third wicket before Chahar again struck, trapping Taide plumb in-front.

But Taide's departure did not deter Satish, who played the sheet-anchor's role to perfection.

During his 168-ball stay at the crease, he hammered the ROI bowlers, nine boundaries and a six. He got able support from Mohit Kale, who hit four fours in his brief but crucial innings.

After Satish, the curtains came down on the hard-fought game, in which Vidarbha emerged triumphant.

First-innings centurion Akshay Karnewar was declared as the man of the match as his century enabled Vidarbha to get a crucial 95-run lead.

Brief Scores: Rest of India 330 and 374/3 declared drew with Vidarbha 425 and 269/5 (Ganesh Satish 87, Atharva Taide 72, Sanjay Ramaswamy 42, Rahul Chahar 2-116, Ankit Rajpoot 1-41) . Vidarbha took first-innings lead.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China must be involved in international disarmament efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday, amid rising concern about Beijing's missile arsenal and the suspension of a key US-Russia arms treaty.

"Disarmament is something that concerns us all and where we would of course be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe and Russia but also with China," said Merkel.

The United States began pulling out of a landmark Cold War missile control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, this month in response to Moscow's deployment of the 9M729 missile, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal.

While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have also voiced concern that the INF -- a bilateral treaty between the US and Russia -- does nothing to constrain rapidly growing military power China.

According to a new report by the Institute for Strategic Studies, up to 95 per cent of China's arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles would be in breach of the INF if Beijing were party to it.

Given this, "it is difficult to envision a scenario under which China would today enter a regime such as the INF Treaty," the report said.

Germany is organising an international conference in Berlin next month to start talks about how to create an arms control regime to replace the one forged in the bipolar Cold War era.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah Saturday expressed disappointment over a resolution passed in an all-party meeting in Delhi for not including in it an appeal to maintain calm in the wake of violence in Jammu and tension in other states over the Pulwama terror attack.

An all-party meeting, called by the government and attended by senior leaders of all major parties, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and the support being given to it from across the border. Members of the opposition extended support to the government in tackling the challenge.

"Disappointed the resolution did not include a call for calm. Reports of violence in Jammu & tension in university/college campuses in some states, I would have expected an appeal for calm to have gone with the condemnation & condolences," Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.

The winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir was rocked by massive anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) on Friday. People took to the streets to denounce the terror strike and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in it.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicle were torched and damaged. The curfew in Jammu city continued on Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

In Uttarakhand, some Kashmiri youths studying in the state capital of Dehradun have alleged that they were harassed and have been asked by their landlords to vacate accommodations fearing attacks on their properties in the aftermath of the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Thai Princess Ubolratana's unprecedented attempt to become the country's next prime minister was abruptly nixed Saturday after her party agreed to comply with a command from the king opposing the plan.

Beijing: China on Saturday "firmly opposed" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Arunachal Pradesh, asserting that it has never recognised the sensitive border state and the Indian leadership should refrain from any action that may "complicate the boundary question".

Washington: US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet for a second much-anticipated summit in Hanoi, as preparations kick into high gear for the peace talks.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
(Image source from: Thenewsminute.com)

Two Telangana Officials Taken Into Court Custody:- Telangana Government received a huge shock after two senior government officials have been taken into the judicial custody in contempt of court case. The High Court of Telangana diverted the judicial registrar to take Legislative Assembly Secretary V Narasimhacharyulu and Law Department Secretary Niranjan Rao into court's custody. They were soon set free after they furnished Rs 10,000 as sureties each. Two former Congress MLAs filed contempt case for not implementing the orders of the court for restoration of their Assembly memberships.

Congress MLAs Komatireddi Venkat Reddy and SA Sampath Kumar were disqualified by then-Speaker S Madhusudhanachary in March 2018. The High Court asked to restored their Assembly membership on April 17th but they did not happen. The High Court issued bailable warrants against Legislative Assembly Secretary V Narasimhacharyulu and Law Department Secretary Niranjan Rao last week after which they voluntarily appeared before the court. They were soon released on bail.
A man has been held guilty of digital rape of a US citizen by a Delhi court, which said her testimony could not be said to be unreliable as she came all the way from her country to depose in the case.

When someone rapes a person using their finger or fingers it is termed as digital rape.

Noting that the woman had no other interest left in India as her marriage had already broken down after the incident, Additional Sessions Judge Illa Rawat said the woman's testimony cannot be discarded despite some discrepancies.

According to the complaint, two foreign nationals of US and Russia were allegedly sexually abused by their landlord's son in the early hours of June 24, 2013, while they were sleeping in their room.

A case was lodged against the accused based on the statement of the US national.

The accused had claimed that there were disputes between the woman's husband and him which had led to lodging of this case.

The court said the police failed to prove the charge under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code against the accused in the second case involving Russian national as it could not produce the victim for deposition before the court.

"In my considered opinion, on basis of the testimony of prosecutrix (woman) and the other witnesses examined on behalf of prosecution, it can be safely concluded that the accused had entered the room where prosecutrix was sleeping with her husband on June 24, 2013, between 4 and 4.30 am and had put his finger in her vagina.

"The said act of the accused would amount to rape under the amended definition of rape in Section 375 of the IPC, which came into force with effect from February 3, 2013. Accordingly, accused is held guilty of offence of rape/ digital rape under Section 376 IPC," the judge said.

The court refused to agree with the contention of the accused's counsel that since the forensic result is negative, it proves that he is not guilty.

"As is evident from the facts of the case, there are allegations of digital rape only against the accused. Even though the FSL result is negative, it is not of much consequence in the facts and circumstances of the present case...finding of a negative FSL result would not absolve the accused of the charges in the present case," it said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The curfew in Jammu city continued for the second day and the Army's presence was stepped up on Saturday, a day after violent protests rocked the city over a suicide attack that killed 40 CRPF jawans in Kashmir.

Nine more Army columns were deployed in the city, bringing the total to 18 columns, and the force staged flag marches in sensitive localities.

Officials said the University of Jammu postponed all examinations scheduled for the day and mobile Internet services remained suspended across Jammu region.

Srinagar-bound vehicles stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway due to a landslide in Ramban were allowed to move forward amid tight security arrangements, they said.

"The curfew is being implemented strictly and there is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere," Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Vivek Gupta told PTI.

Deputy Commissioner (Jammu) Ramesh Kumar said authorities were monitoring the situation and a decision to relax the curfew, which was imposed Friday, would be taken later in the day.

The Army was conducting flag marches in sensitive localities of the city on Saturday, the officials said.

A defence spokesperson said the Army on Saturday deployed nine more security columns with air support to help the administration to maintain law and order in the entire city. Nine Internal Security Columns (ISCs) of the Army were deployed on Friday.

"Helicopters and UAVs of the Army also put into operation to monitor the situation. The proactive approach jointly taken by J&K Police, Civil administration (Divisional Commissioner and District Collector's office) and Indian Army has ensured the situation in control," the spokesman said.

The city was rocked by anti-Pakistan protests during a general strike called by the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI).

People took to the streets to denounce the attack and also held candlelight rallies to pay homage to the jawans. Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and several vehicles were torched.

The JCCI termed the violence "unfortunate" and said, "We shall not allow miscreants to disturb the brotherhood and peace in Jammu where all the religions have coexisted." It said the bandh would not be extended.

Spokesperson of the Jammu university Vinay Thusoo said that all examinations, theory and practical, to be conducted on Saturday were postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.

He said fresh dates would be notified later.

Inspector General of Police (Jammu) M K Sinha appealed to the people not to play into the hands of anti-national elements who want to disturb the societal harmony.

A police official said high-speed mobile data services were barred in Jammu region, while the BSNL broadband service was functioning normally.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The curfew in Jammu city continued for the second day Saturday and the Army staged flag marches in sensitive localities, a day after violence was reported during protests against the in which 40 security men were killed, officials said.

They said the University of Jammu postponed all examinations scheduled for the day and mobile Internet services remained suspended across Jammu region.



Srinagar-bound vehicles stranded on the Jammu-Srinagar highway due to a landslide in Ramban were allowed to move forward amid tight security arrangements.

"The curfew is being implemented strictly and there is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere," Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu-Samba-Kathua range, Vivek Gupta told PTI.

Deputy Commissioner (Jammu) Ramesh Kumar said authorities were monitoring the situation and a decision to relax the curfew, which was imposed Friday, would be taken later in the day.

The Army was conducting flag marches in sensitive localities of the city on Saturday, the officials said.

A defence spokesperson said the Army on Saturday deployed nine more security columns with air support to help the administration to maintain law and order in the entire city. Nine Internal Security Columns (ISCs) of the Army were deployed on Friday.



The city was rocked by massive anti- protests during a general strike called by Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI). The people took to the streets to denounce the attack and also held candlelight rallies to pay tributes to the jawans.

Nine people, including some policemen, were injured in stone-pelting incidents on Friday and a number of vehicle were torched and damaged.

The JCCI termed the violence "unfortunate" and said, "We shall not allow miscreants to disturb the brotherhood and peace in Jammu where all the religions have coexisted." It said the bandh would not be extended.



Spokesperson of the Jammu university Vinay Thusoo said that all examinations, theory and practical, to be conducted on Saturday were postponed due to unavoidable circumstances.

He said fresh dates would be notified later.

Inspector General of Police,(Jammu) M K Sinha appealed to the people not to play into the hands of anti- elements who want to disturb the societal harmony.

A police official said high-speed mobile data services were barred in Jammu region, while the BSNL broadband service was functioning normally.
A court here has directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and two senior bureaucrats in connection with the Muzaffarpur shelter home sex scandal.

The special POCSO court here passed the order on Friday on an application filed by an accused, Ashwani, a self-styled medical practitioner who allegedly used to inject the home's inmates with sedatives before they were subject to sexual abuse.

Ashwani had alleged in his petition that the CBI was "suppressing facts" in course of the investigation which would come to light if the roles of "former DM, Muzaffarpur, Dharmendra Singh, senior IAS officer Atul Kumar Singh, former divisional commissioner of Muzaffarpur and currently principal secretary, the Social Welfare Department, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar" were probed.

POCSO judge Manoj Kumar directed the CBI to conduct an inquiry against the aforementioned people.

The trial in the high-profile case was transferred vide order dated February 7 to the Special POCSO court at Saket in Delhi where hearing is likely to commence from next week, CBI sources said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Robert Vadra's interim bail was Saturday extended till March 2 in a money laundering case by a Delhi court which asked him to join the probe whenever asked to, after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleged that he was not cooperating in the matter.

Vadra, who appeared in court, sought extension of the interim bail after the ED requested for more time to file a reply to his anticipatory bail plea.

Special judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, and said the interim orders of protection from arrest will continue till the next date of hearing.

The court also extended the protection from arrest granted to his close aide and co-accused in the case, Manoj Arora, till the next date of hearing i.e., March 2.

ED's Special Public Prosecutors D P Singh and Nitesh Rana told the court that it needed to question Vadra in the case and opposed his anticipatory bail plea, saying that he was not cooperating in the case.

The agency also said that Vadra has been summoned for further questioning on Tuesday.

"Vadra is not cooperating and giving evasive replies," Nitesh Rana told the court.

The businessman, represented through senior advocate KTS Tulsi, however, denied the charge and said he was ready to come for questioning as and when called.

"The counsel submitted that the applicant Robert Vadra has already joined the investigation and has cooperated during the investigation. Counsel submitted that applicant will join investigation as and when directed by the investigating officer and is ready to cooperate. Under the facts and circumstances, applicant is directed to join the investigation as and when called by the IO," the court said.

Singh told the court that Vadra is accompanied by a 'baraat' (wedding procession) wherever he goes, whether to the agency office or to the court.

"There are some people who always come with a 'baraat', Vadra is one of them," he said, adding that by 'baraat' he was referring to the media.

The lawyer alleged that Vadra was using social media, including Facebook, for writing about the case and highlighting the matter.

Vadra had filed an anticipatory bail application in the case linked to allegations of money laundering in the purchase of a London-based property at 12, Bryanston Square worth 1.9 million pounds. The property is allegedly owned by him.

The agency had earlier said it has received information about various new properties in London which allegedly belong to Vadra, including two houses of five and four million pounds, each, six other flats and more properties.

In his anticipatory bail plea, Vadra had alleged that he was being subjected to "unwarranted, unjustified and malicious criminal prosecution which on the face of it is completely politically motivated and is being carried out for reasons other than those prescribed under law".

The plea had said Vadra's office was raided by the ED on December 7, 2018 and, therefore, he seriously apprehends that his liberty may be curtailed by the investigating agency.

"The petitioner (Vadra) is being subjected to a farce criminal prosecution which actually is beset with nothing else except political vendetta and most unfortunately the respondent (ED) being the law enforcement agency is a party to the unethical and illegal exercise.

"It is stated that the petitioner's (Vadra's) firm through its authorised representative Manoj Arora has already joined investigation with the ED conducting investigation into the affairs of the firm in Rajasthan with their offices at Jaipur on many occasions and has supplied all the relevant documents to the satisfaction of the officials of the ED," the plea had said.

Arora, an employee of Vadra's Skylight Hospitality LLP, was a key person in the case and he was aware of the latter's overseas undeclared assets and was instrumental in arranging funds, the ED had alleged.

Vadra had alleged that he is being "hounded and harassed" to subserve political ends.

"It is stated the the petitioner has highest regard for the due process of law and is always willing to cooperate with the investigation. In the highly charged political atmosphere and political contours of the present investigation, he seriously apprehends arrest by the investigating authorities," his plea read.

Arora had alleged before the court that the case was foisted on him by the NDA government out of "political vendetta".

However, the ED had refuted the allegations, asking that "should no authority investigate any political bigwig because that will be called a political vendetta?"



The agency had told the court that it lodged the money laundering case against Arora after his role came up during the probe of another case by the Income Tax Department under the newly enacted Black Money Act and tax law against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

It had alleged that the London-based property was bought by Bhandari for GBP 1.9 million and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses of approximately GBP 65,900 on its renovation.

"This gives credence to the fact that Bhandari was not the actual owner of the property but it was beneficially owned by Vadra who was incurring expenditure on the renovation of this property," the ED had told the court.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Saturday led a candle light march to protest the Pulwama attack and said the country stands united by its brave jawans.

The march was held from Hazra crossing in south Kolkata to Mahatma Gandhi's statue in the Mayo Road area.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief condemned the attack and said terrorists "have no religion or caste".

"The country stands united. We are one and we unitedly stand by our brave jawans. Terrorists are terrorists. They have no religion, no caste," Banerjee said after the march in which she along with various other TMC leaders was seen carrying candles.

People walked silently along with TMC activists who carried national flags and posters with the names of all the 40 CRPF personnel killed in the attack.

After the procession reached Gandhi's statue, Banerjee offered her respects and prayed for the those killed in the attack.

A minute's silence was observed as a mark of respect to the bravehearts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Major American IT player Cognizant will pay USD 25 million to the US Security and Exchange Commission to settle its India bribery charges, as Department of Justice filed criminal cases against two if its former top executives.

The two former executives have been charged for their roles in facilitating the payment of millions of dollars in bribe to an Indian government official, the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) said.

Cognizant has agreed to pay USD 25 million to settle charges that it violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the SEC said.

The complaint alleges that in 2014, a senior Tamil Nadu official demanded a USD 2 million bribe from the construction firm responsible for building Cognizant's 2.7 million square foot campus in Chennai.

As alleged in the complaint, Cognizant's President Gordon Coburn and Chief Legal Officer Steven E Schwartz authorised the contractor to pay the bribe and directed their subordinates to conceal the bribe by doctoring the contractor's change orders.

The SEC also alleges that Cognizant authorised the construction firm to make two additional bribes totaling more than USD 1.6 million.

Cognizant allegedly used sham change order requests to conceal the payments it made to reimburse the firm, SEC said.

The SEC charged Coburn and Schwartz with violating anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, monetary penalties, and officer-and-director bars against Coburn and Schwartz.

In a separate statement, the Department of Justice said Gordon Coburn, 55, and Steven Schwartz, 51, have been charged in a 12-count indictment with one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA, three counts of violating the FCPA, seven counts of falsifying books and records, and one count of circumventing and failing to implement internal accounting controls.

The allegations in the indictment filed Thursday describe a sophisticated international bribery scheme authorised and concealed by C-suite executives of a publicly-traded multinational company, said Assistant Attorney General Brian Benczkowski.

According to the indictment, in April 2014, Coburn and Schwartz allegedly authorised an unlawful payment of approximately USD 2 million to one or more foreign government officials in India to secure and obtain a necessary permit to open a new office campus.

To conceal Cognizant's involvement in the scheme, Coburn, Schwartz and others allegedly agreed that a third-party construction company would obtain the permit by making the illegal bribe payment and that Cognizant would reimburse the construction company through phony construction invoices at the end of the project.

The indictment further alleges that in June 2014, after the co-conspirators agreed that the construction company would make the bribe payment on behalf of Cognizant, the construction company secured the necessary government order for Cognizant to obtain the permit, allowing Cognizant to complete the development of the office campus and avoid millions of dollars in costs.

Months later, the co-conspirators are alleged to have knowingly caused Cognizant to funnel over USD 2 million to the construction company disguised as payment for cost overruns on the office campus when they knew that the actual purpose of the payment was to reimburse the construction company for the bribe payment.

According to the indictment, as Coburn, Schwartz and others had previously agreed, they hid the bribe reimbursement payment within a series of line items in a construction change order request to be paid to the construction company, thereby concealing the true nature and purpose of the reimbursement, falsifying Cognizant's books and records, and circumventing and failing to implement its internal controls.

In a statement, Cognizant said it has resolved the previously disclosed investigations by the Department of Justice and SEC into whether payments relating to permits and licenses for certain real estate facilities in India violated the US FCPA.

"We are pleased to reach these resolutions with the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission. With today's announcements, we've taken a major step forward in putting this behind us," said Francisco D'Souza, vice chairman and CEO of Cognizant.

D'Souza said Cognizant undertook a comprehensive internal investigation under the oversight of the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors, with the assistance of outside counsel.

"We have also made further enhancements to our compliance processes, procedures and resources. It is important to note that this entire matter did not involve our work with clients or affect our ability to provide the quality services our clients expect from us," he said in a statement.

The Company, it said, settled with the SEC by consenting to the entry of an administrative order. In total, the resolutions require it to pay approximately USD 28 million to the DOJ and SEC.

"This amount is consistent with the accrual previously recorded by the company," the statement added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami Saturday ordered government jobs to one person each from the families of two CRPF personnel from the state, who were killed in the Pulwama terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir.

The bodies of G Subramanian and C Sivachandran, the two CPRF personnel killed in the attack were flown to Madurai and Tiruchirappalli airports respectively from New Delhi and later taken to their villages by road.

Palaniswami, in an official release here said he has ordered government jobs to one person each from the two CRPF soldiers' families.

The Chief Minister had on Friday announced a solatium of Rs 20 lakh to each of their two families.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for Shipping, Pon Radhakrishnan paid floral tributes to the bodies of Sivachandran and Subramanian at Tiruchirappalli and Madurai respectively.

State Ministers, leaders of political parties, top district and police officials also placed wreaths and paid their tributes.

Villagers turned out in large numbers to pay their last respects to the slain CRPF personnel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: A 20-member business delegation representing the electronics manufacturing industries from China visited the Sri City special economic zone, Saturday.

The companies represented by the employees supply electronic components to mobile brands manufactured in India.

The intent of the visit was to witness and gain first- hand knowledge about Sri City, assess its business potential and explore the possibility of setting up their facilities, a press release said.

Commenting on the visit taken by the delegation, Sri City, founder-managing director, Ravindra Sannareddy said, "their visit is very important for us as the delegation is drawn from prominent Chinese electronic companies."



"We are sure, their visit to Sri City will facilitate business investments from Chinese electronic sector", he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister has condemned the suicide attack in in which at least 40 CRPF personnel were killed, saying "resolutely opposes" all forms of terrorism and countries in the region should enhance cooperation and jointly address the threat of posed by it.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in when a (JeM) suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in district.

In a condolence message to External Affairs Minister on Friday, Wang said he was "shocked to learn that a suicide attack was carried out in and heavy casualties were caused".

While extending condolences, he said "terrorism is the common enemy of mankind. The Chinese side resolutely opposes and strongly condemns all forms of terrorism".

Expressing sympathy to the families of the victims, he said "countries in the region should enhance cooperation, jointly address the threat of terrorism and maintain regional peace and security".

UN-proscribed Pakistan-based terror group JeM has claimed responsibility for the terror attack.

India has been demanding that the group's chief be designated as a global terrorist. If Azhar is listed as terrorist by the (UNSC), he would face a global travel ban and assets freeze.

Wang's message came on the same day Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang expressed deep "shock" over the terror attack carried out by a Jaish suicide bomber but did not give an assurance to India that it will back New Delhi's appeal to list Azhar as a global terrorist.

"China has noted the reports of suicide terrorist attack. We are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condolences and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families," Shuang told reporters here when asked about the incident.

China, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC and a close ally of Pakistan, has consistently blocked moves first by India and later by the US, the UK and France to designate Azhar as a global terrorist.

India on Thursday slammed over the terror attack carried out by JeM and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

It also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to support the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by
Pakistan Will Pay Heavy Price For Pulwama Attack:- As many as 44 CRPF personnel lost their lives in a massive attack staged by Jaish-e-Mohammed in Kashmir's Pulwama district which shook the nation. The whole world came in to support India at this tough time and Pakistan has been badly criticized for supporting such terrorist organizations which are a threat to the world. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Pakistan last evening saying that the country will sure pay a heavy price for the Pulwama attack in India. He said that the blood of Indians is boiling.

A grateful nation bows to the martyrs of Pulwama.



A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons.



No force will succeed in disturbing peace, progress and stability of India. pic.twitter.com/hFq0pUByVJ  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) February 15, 2019

The Indian Army is given a free hand and Narendra Modi stated that the security personnel will sure give a befitting reply for the those who are behind this deadly Pulwama attack. Modi also thanked everyone for supporting them and not going into controversies. Even the opposition parties across the country extended their support for the Centre and said that the government initiated a diplomatic offensive move against Pakistan. The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) decided to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation status given to Pakistan at the UN. Several other countries across the globe criticized Pakistan. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley revealed that there is evidence that Pakistan has a direct hand in this gruesome incident.
The mortal remains of two CRPF jawans from Maharashtra, who were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack, were brought to the city and sent to their native places in Buldhana district on Saturday.

The bodies of Nitin Shivaji Rathod (36) and Sanjay Singh Dixit (Rajput) (47) were brought to the Chikalthana airport around 12.25 pm.

While Rathod hailed from Chorpangra village in Lonar tehsil of Buldhana, Rajput belonged to Malkapur in the same district.

"Rathod's body was sent to his village in a CRPF van, while Rajput's mortal remains was taken to his native place in a chopper," Inspector General of CRPF, Raj Kumar said.

Maharashtra minister Babanrao Lonikar, MP Chandrakant Khaire, legislators from different political parties, senior police and district officials as well as those of the CRPF paid tributes to the slain soldiers when the bodies arrived at the airport.

A large number of people also gathered to pay respects to the departed souls.

The two jawans were among the 40 paramilitary personnel killed in Thursday's attack, one of the deadliest in Jammu and Kashmir, when a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a car laden with over 100 kg explosives into a CRPF bus which was part of a convoy of 78 vehicles carrying CRPF personnel from Jammu to Srinagar.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had Friday announced financial aid of Rs 50 lakh each to the families of the two jawans.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The BJP will organise condolence meetings across the country on Sunday to pay tributes to the CRPF personnel killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

The party has also asked its elected members and office bearers to attend the exercise.

The party's media head and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni said the condolence meetings will be held at all district headquarters.

Party workers will also resolve to take a pledge for a decisive battle against terrorism, Baluni said.

The party said in a statement that it stands with the families of the martyred and noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that their sacrifice will not go in vain.

BJP president Amit Shah had also asserted that terrorists will be given a befitting reply by security forces and rooted out, the statement added.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi units of the BJP and the Congress took out candlelight marches across the city on Saturday to pay homage to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in a terror attack in Jammu Kashmir's Pulwama.

BJP leaders and workers took out the candlelight march from Udyog Bhawan to India Gate where a large gathering condoled the deaths.

Congress workers also took out candlelight marches across the city.

Slogans were raised against Pakistan with people demanding government to give a befitting reply to perpetrators of the Pulwama attack.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

The Delhi unit of the BJP will observe 'Atankwad Virodh Divas' (Day against terrorism) in all districts of the city paying homage to the slain jawans on Sunday. Delhi BJP president Manoj Tiwari led the candlelight march in which party MPs Meenakshi Lekhi, Maheish Girri and other party leaders were present.

Tiwari said the Pulwama terrorist attack was an assault on the sovereignty of India and the entire country would fight against terrorism and defeat it.

"Entire country is indebted to the CRPF jawans who sacrificed their lives... But the souls of these jawans will rest in peace only when we take revenge and the Indian Army is quite competent to do it," Tiwari said.

Lekhi said that Pakistan has become isolated at the international level due to its terrorist activities and by this suicide attack it has harmed itself.

Delhi Congress chief Sheila Dikshit attended party conventions in Krishna Nagar and Patparganj which were converted into condolence meeting to pay homage to the slain CRPF personnel.

Dikshit said the entire country, including the Congress, was with the government and security forces at this hour of crisis.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A court here Saturday directed the CBI to probe the role of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and several senior bureaucrats in the release of funds between 2013 and 2018 to a Muzaffarpur shelter home that was rocked by a sex scandal.

Special POCSO judge Manoj Kumar passed the order against five officials on Saturday, a day after similar judgement was given with respect to Kumar and two other bureaucrats.

Ashwani Kumar, a self-styled medical practitioner who was attached to the shelter home as a doctor and was accused of injecting the inmates with sedatives before they were sexually exploited, had filed the petition through his counsel Sudhir Kumar Ojha.

According to Ojha, the court gave its order against Kumar, principal secretary of social welfare department Atul Prasad and former Muzaffarpur district magistrate Dharmendra Kumar on Friday.

Its order on a supplementary petition naming former principal secretaries of social welfare department S M Raju, Vandana Kini and Arvind Chaudhary, former directors Mohd Imamuddin and Sunil Kumar besides former assistant director Devesh Kumar was passed on Saturday.

Ojha said the supplementary petition was filed since a number of names had got omitted in the original one due to an oversight.

In the petition, Ashwani has alleged that notwithstanding frequent inspections and monitoring by the state authorities, nothing wrong was found with the shelter home until the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Social Sciences came out with its social audit report last year.

He had also alleged that the CBI was suppressing facts which would come to light if the role of the people named in his petition was investigated in view of the continued release of funds to the shelter home.

After an FIR was lodged on the basis of the report, the shelter home was sealed, registration of the NGO running the state-funded care unit cancelled and its owner Brajesh Thakur the prime accused currently lodged in a jail at Patiala arrested along with many of his close aides and some government officials.

The case was handed over to the CBI in July last year and weeks later the social welfare minister Manju Verma stepped down following allegations of her husbands close links with Thakur.

The high-profile case, which is being monitored by the Supreme Court, was transferred to Special POCSO court at Saket in Delhi following an apex court judgement of February 7.

CBI sources said the hearing is likely to take place before the Saket court next week onwards as the shifting of documents and records were almost complete.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The 'Bharat Ke Veer' contribution platform, that collects public funds for CAPF personnel killed in action, has got "unprecedented" donations of over Rs 7 crore following the Pulwama terror attack, officials said Saturday.

Officials manning the online portal of the Union Home Ministry have also asked citizens to "desist" from donating money for the slain men in uniform at any other platform except the 'Bharat Ke Veer'.

"We have received unprecedented donations at the online portal in the last 36 hours and the amount is over Rs 7 crore," BSF Inspector General (IG) Amit Lodha told PTI.

He said, "Never in the two year history of this benevolent public fund for CAPF martyrs, such a huge contribution has come in such a short time. We are grateful to the people of the country for expressing their solidarity with the martyrs."



The IG, who supervises the activity of the portal, said it was getting as many as "20,000 hits per second" post the Pulwama attack which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.

The CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

The Home ministry also acknowledged the contributions made by the common people.

In a message, the ministry said, "The Ministry of Home Affairs expresses gratitude for the overwhelming support for Pulwama martyrs on Bharat Ke Veer, our web portal for your donations."



"The portal is experiencing a heavy surge of visitors due to which it is slowing down. We request patience while we work on technical solutions, " it said.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh also cautioned people against falling prey to platforms seeking fake donations.

"It is also reported that some unscrupulous elements are soliciting contributions from people through other accounts.

"It is advised that people desirous of supporting families of martyrs of CAPFs should only contribute through the website bharatkeveer.gov.in," the home minister tweeted.

The State Bank of India has also created a UPI for the Bharat Ke Veer initiative to help people make their monetary contributions easily, the BSF IG said.

Bharat Ke Veer, the fund-raising initiative, was launched in April 2017 by the Union Home Ministry, under whose command these paramilitary or Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF's) function.

Till last month, an amount of Rs 45.32 crore was received in the corpus of this fund, a senior official said.

Anyone can contribute to the fund through the BKV mobile app or the website. All contributions are exempt from income tax as per government rules.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh Saturday condemned the Pulwama attack and said it stands with India in its fight against terror.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into their bus in Pulwama district.

"We condemn the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir which led to the death of 40 CRPF troopers. We stand by India in its fight against terror," Bangladesh Information Minister Hasan Mahmud told reporters at Kolkata Press Club after paying floral tributes to the photograph of those killed in the attack.

When asked if Pakistan should be isolated in the international fora for orchestrating the attack on security forces, Mahmud said "We condemn whoever is involved in this terror attack. We strongly criticize them".

The minister also said Bangladesh has been fighting against terror and its security agencies have been cooperating and exchanging inputs with their Indian counterparts.

"Bangladesh, too, has been fighting against terror and in this fight we have always cooperated with India.In Bangladesh, too, there have been terror attacks and we have taken steps to curb the terror activities on our soil," Mahmud said.

When asked about Bangladesh-based terror outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) crossing over to India, he said Bangladesh has taken several steps to curb terror activities on its soil.

"We have taken several steps to curb terror activities on our soil. They no longer have a fertile ground for breeding in Bangladesh, that may be the reason they are trying to cross over to India. But our security agencies have been cooperating and exchanging inputs with Indian agencies in order to track down those terrorists," Mahmud said.

He added that there was a pressing need to fight against terrorist attacks regionally and globally.

"The Bangladesh government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working with India and other countries as well. Whoever is linked or patronising this kind of attacks, we condemn everyone," he said.

The minister added that all the terrorist groups have their own regional and global networks.

A 22-year-old man was arrested Saturday for alleged links to the terror outfit JMB, which was involved in the Bodh Gaya blast case last year.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the wake of the terrorist attack in Pulwama, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal Saturday laid stress on the need for bolstering security framework so that internal security challenges can be dealt with in a better way.

"Along with the rest of the country, I am pained by the terror attack on the Srinagar-Jammu highway and salute the jawans who sacrificed their lives toward protecting the nation.

"This undoubtedly is an irreparable loss for the country and I express my condolence for the bereaved families and wish speedy recovery for those injured," he said in his address at the 72nd Raising Day Parade of Delhi Police held at New Police Lines at Kingsway Camp.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir's three decades of militancy, a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

The Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed the responsibility for the attack.

Lauding the work and contributions of Delhi Police, Baijal asked the citizens to appreciate their consistent selfless work so that they are encouraged and motivated to do more such works.

Delhi Police, he said, has been able to create a special place in the society and project a popular image by its excellent public service.

"People should acknowledge the selfless efforts of policemen in maintaining law and order, so that they are encouraged and motivated to do more such works. Police personnel are inseparable part of the society and who work in adverse conditions and put their lives at risk for our security," Baijal said.

In view of increasing challenges confronting the internal security of the country, Baijal stressed on the need for bolstering police framework and strengthening it so that they can deal with it in a much better way.

He also made a reference of the DGP conference in Gujarat a few days ago in which the Prime Minister, while lauding the police's role in maintaining the country's internal security, had asked them to be all the more sensitive and responsible to deal with these internal challenges in a much better way.

He said that their will power and enthusiasm can bring about fundamental changes in the system.

Baijal also stressed on the need for people's participation in ensuring safety and security so that their self confidence gets a boost.

He further said that policing in Delhi is a tough and competitive task, as it is at the centre of all political, cultural and business activities and the force has responsibility of providing security to scores of VVIPs and its common citizens.

He praised various community outreach initiatives of Delhi Police such as YUVA, Traffic Awareness, Hi-tech Facilitation Kiosks, Prahari, Eyes and Ears, and Raftaar, and applauded technological advancements like Himmat Plus, other mobile apps and online facilities to improve service delivery mechanism. He wished that the force shall keep up with its image.

The Delhi Police Commissioner in his address also expressed solidarity with the families of the personnel killed in the Palwama terror attack and prayed for the speedy recovery of those critically injured. He reiterated that fighting terrorism being the topmost priority of Delhi Police.

He said the police force of the entire country was united on tackling terrorism.

Apart from Special Cell, sharing inputs, holding interstate police meets, raising specialised SWAT (women and men) commando units and cyber Cell etc have been integral mechanism to keep a sharp eye and is well prepared to thwart any threat.

Her said that heinous crimes in Delhi came down by 12 per cent in 2018 as compared to 2017, and a very strong dip of 31 per cent as compared to the heinous crime figures for 2016.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
People of Arunachal Pradesh Saturday paid tributes to the 40 CRPF personnel who were killed in a suicide attack in Kashmir's Pulwama by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

People from various walks of life took out processions and held candlelight marches across the state to pay homage to the martyrs, officials said.

They also demanded befitting action against Pakistan for sponsoring Thursday's attack on the CRPF convoy, the officials said.

Thousands of people across the state, including leaders of various political parties, prayed to the almighty to grant eternal peace to the departed souls.

The markets of centurion town Pasighat, the headquarters of East Siang district, remained closed during the day.

Around 10,000 people along with traders took out a procession also, the officials said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has announced that he will be donating Rs 5 lakh each to the families of 40 CRPF personnel who were martyred in the Pulwama terror attack.

A spokesperson of the 76-year-old actor said he is currently finding out from several government sources where and how the amount will be distributed to ensure it is expedited.

"Yes, Mr Bachchan will be giving Rs 5 lakh to each of the martyr's families and is currently finding out the correct process to do so," the spokesperson said in a statement.

The 76-year-old actor had on Friday cancelled his appearance as a special guest at Virat Kohli's Foundation event, which will now take place on Saturday.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A village panchayat here has asked villagers to evict Kashmiri students living in rented accommodation within 24 hours in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, according to a video that has surfaced on social media.

Half a dozen Kashmiri students have been shifted to the hostel of the MM University after the purported video appeared.

In the video, Mulana village sarpanch Naresh Rana could be heard asking villagers to evict Kashmiri tenants.

The village head alleged that some Kashmiri students were involved in "suspicious activities".

"The villagers have been asked to vacate Kashmiri students from the rented accommodation... In case it is not done the person in whose residence such students are living will be considered as a traitor," the sarpanch is heard saying.

Vishal Garg, one of the trustees of the university, located in Mulana said a few Kashmiri students of the university had requested him to provide them accommodation in the hostel.

They had been provided proper accommodation, he said.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Astha Modi said the matter was being investigated.

Around 1,200 Kashmiri students have been studying in various educational institutions in Ambala district while around 120 of them studying in MM Mulana University.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An all-party meeting on the Pulwama terror attack has started here Saturday and the Union government is expected to brief top leaders of different parties on steps being taken by it to meet the challenge.

The meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who was in Kashmir on Friday to take stock of the situation, is being attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

The parties will be briefed about the attack in Pulwama and the steps being taken by the government so far, a home ministry official said.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav are among others who are attending the meeting.

As many as 40 CRPF jawans were killed in one of the biggest terror attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for it.

Political parties have closed ranks following the attack and have offered their support to the NDA government on its response on the matter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has talked tough and asserted that those behind it will be punished, and his government has launched a diplomatic offensive to isolate Pakistan within the international community.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Academy of Motion Picture Art & Sciences has announced a roll back of its decision to present four categories of Oscars during the commercial breaks.

In its attempt to keep the live telecast under three hours, the Academy had decided to present four categories -- cinematography, film editing, live action shorts and makeup and hairstyling -- during commercial breaks with the winners' speeches set to air later in the broadcast.

Academy president John Bailey, a cinematographer himself, in an email to the members had said the change would be on a rotation each year, meaning that at least four different categories would use this format in 2020 and that the four mentioned would be exempt.

The had to led to a huge controversy with many Hollywood A-listers such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Christopher Nolan, among others, urging the Academy to reverse its decision.

In a brief statement on Friday, the Academy's Board of Governors said, "The Academy has heard the feedback from its membership regarding the Oscar presentation of four awards - Cinematography, Film Editing, Live Action Short, and Makeup and Hairstyling."



"All Academy Awards will be presented without edits, in our traditional format. We look forward to Oscar Sunday, February 24," it added.

Earlier, the American Society of Cinematographers had sent a letter to the Academy urging a roll back of its decision.

The letter was signed by directors Michael Mann, Alejandro G Inarritu, Guillermo del Toro, Denis Villeneuve and actors such as Brad Pitt, Robert DeNiro, Elizabeth Banks, Peter Dinklage and Kerry Washington.

del Toro and his Mexican counterpart, Alfonso Cuaron were among the first to criticise the Academy's decision on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Five men were injured in two separate fire incidents which broke out after cooking gas cylinders exploded in northeast Delhi, police said Saturday.

In Bhajanpura area, three contractual labourers -- Sajjan Kumar (21), Dipaknar (22) and Ajay Kumar (20) -- were injured after a gas cylinder exploded.

They had left the gas stove knob opened after cooking their dinner on Friday night, a senior police officer said.

An explosion took place when they tried to light the stove in the morning.

After hearing their cries for help, locals rushed in and brought the fire under control, he said.

The victims sustained burn injuries on their hands, face and back, the official said, adding that they were rushed to the Jag Pravesh Hospital.

In a similar incident, two men sustained burn injuries after a cooking gas cylinder exploded in Kewal Park on Friday night, police said.

At around 9 pm, police were informed about a cylinder blast at a residential building, they added.

The injured persons were identified as Alok (20) and Manish (22), police said



Alok sustained 20 per cent burns while Manish sustained 30 per cent burn injures, they said.

Preliminary enquiry revealed that the two men were trying to light a gas stove. They had apparently switched on the burner but then began looking for a match box, police said.

The gas had spread in the room and an explosion took place when they lighted the matchstick, police added.

The victims were being treated at the Lok Nayak hospital.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Saturday arrested four people for allegedly making objectionable comments in connection with the Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed.

Three of them -- a man from Ballia, a person from Mau district and a first-year student of a private college here -- were arrested for making the remarks on social media and another from Siddarthanagar for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans at a meeting and then posting it on Facebook.

Police in Ballia registered a case against a man under provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) after his post supporting the attack on Facebook went viral.

"Ravi Prakash Maurya, who claims to be a SP (Samajwadi Party) supporter on Facebook, has allegedly extended support to the act of the person accused of attacking the CRPF jawans in Pulwama. He expressed pride over the incident and also paid tribute," acting Superintendent of Police Vijay Pal Singh said.

"Maurya's post went viral today, and the police immediately acted by registering a case under IT Act and the IPC against him. He has been arrested," Singh said



In Lucknow, a first year bachelors of arts student was arrested by police for allegedly making derogatory statements pertaining to the attack.

Rajab Khan, a student of city private college, was arrested on Saturday from his house here for "making derogatory remarks pertaining to the Pulwama incident, and then he also tried to justify them on the social media", Station House Officer (SHO), Hussainganj, Anil Kumar said.

He said a case has been registered against him under the IT Act and the IPC



The principal of the college informed that the student has been expelled.

In a tweet, the Mau police said a person has been arrested for allegedly making objectionable remarks on social media in connection with the Pulwama attack.

"Mohammad Osama, a resident under Dakshintola police station (of Mau district) has been arrested for making objectionable remarks vis-a-vis the Pulwama incident. A case has been registered against him under the IT Act and IPC," the Mau police said in a tweet on Saturday.

The statement was made on the social media Thursday evening, police said.

In Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthanagar district, one person was arrested for allegedly raising pro-Pakistan slogans and posting the same on Facebook, police said.

Sub-inspector at Bansi police station Ajay Singh told PTI, "On Friday, when a meeting was organised in Bansi area of the district to mourn the death of the CRPF jawans, Mohammad Taufeeq raised Pakistan Zindabad slogans."



"When people tried to make him understand he should not to do so, he hurled abuses, and later posted the same comment on social media," he said.

He was arrested on Saturday, and a case has been registered against him under IT Act and IPC, the officer said.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, at least 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

In Shahjahanpur, a case was registered against a youth for writing 'Hindustan Murdabaad' in a Facebook post and posting a photograph of some people burning the national flag, a police official said.

"The case was registered against a youth, identified as Mohammed Farhan Khan, for writing 'Hindustan Murdabaad' in a Facebook post and posting a photograph of some people burning the national flag," Superintendent of Police, City, Dinesh Tripathi said.

The youth, hails from the Shahjahanpur's Sadar Bazaar area, and efforts are on to arrest him, he said.

In state capital Lucknow, the BJP's Uttar Pradesh media coordinator Rakesh Tripathi said, "It is very unfortunate that on one hand jawans are sacrificing their lives for the safety and security of the country, while on the other, there are some people who are eulogising Pakistan, while they are staying in India."



The Uttar Pradesh government has initiated strict action against such persons, he said



"It is also unfortunate that in the past, such persons used to get political patronage, but under the government of Yogi Adityanath, there is no room for mercy for such people," Tripathi said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A two-minute silence was observed during a public function attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Yavatmal district on Saturday to pay homage to the 40 CRPF personnel killed in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Hansraj Ahir, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao were present at the event.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five injured in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

At the event in Pandharkawada here, the prime minister inaugurated an Eklavya Model Residential School for tribal students and handed over the keys of houses constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) to some of the beneficiaries.

Modi flaged off the Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune train service through video link and also distributed certificates and cheques under the Maharashtra State Rural Livelihoods Mission (MSRLM) to women Self-Help Groups.

He will inaugurate the Lower Panazara medium project under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchan Yojana (PMKSY) in Dhule district of Maharashtra later in the day.

Modi will also lay foundation stones of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme and Dhule City Water Supply Scheme.

The prime minister is also scheduled to lay foundation stone of Dhule-Nardana and JalgaonManmad third railway line, besides flagging off the Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express through video link.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 17-year-old boy was shot at for allegedly eating eggs with his friends in front of a jewellery shop in northeast Delhi's Jyoti Nagar area, police said on Saturday.

The incident took place on Friday, they said.

The boy, Manish, was eating eggs with his friends in front of the shop which is owned by one Umesh Verma. The shop owner objected to the Manish and others eating eggs and later called some persons who shot the boy, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast) Atul Kumar Thakur said.

Manish was admitted to Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital with one entry and exit wound in his chest, he said.

His condition is stated to be stable now, he added.

A case was registered and Verma was arrested. Further investigation is underway, the police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As many as 15,791 contractual teachers are imparting in government schools of Himachal Pradesh, minister Suresh Bhardwaj informed the state assembly on Saturday.

Bhardwaj said 11,035 teachers are working on government and Parent Teachers Association-Grant in Aid (PTA-GIA) contract, whereas the rest 4,756 teachers under Primary Assistant Teachers (PAT) and Parent Teachers Association (PTA) policies.

He said the teachers may be appointed and dealt under these separate policies but nothing is mentioned in these policies about regularising their services.

He said the government wants to regularise these teachers and that is why Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced while presenting the Budget on February 9 that PTA and PAT teachers will be provided salary at par with regular teachers.

The matter of regularisation of PAT and PTA-GIA teachers is sub judice and three writs related to it are pending in the apex court.

The minister further informed the state assembly that 123 posts of principals are lying vacant in government senior secondary schools in the state.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Militiamen have kidnapped a group of Tunisian workers near the Libyan capital and are demanding the release of a comrade held in Tunisia, a rights activist said Saturday.

A diplomatic source and Libya's Tripoli-based Government of National Accord said 14 workers had been taken hostage.

"The foreign ministry is following the case of the Tunisian citizens... kidnapped by armed Libyan elements near Zawiya," Tunisia's foreign ministry said on its Facebook page.

Rights activist Mustapha Abdelkebir said the armed group behind Thursday's kidnapping was demanding the release of one of its members held in Tunisia.

"The minister has spoken to his Libyan counterpart to insist on the protection of the detainees, accelerate their release and ensure that they return safe and sound," Tunisia's foreign ministry said.

The GNA's interior ministry said it had set up a "crisis cell" in Zawiya to establish "the necessary measures and contacts to guarantee the security of these kidnapped (Tunisians) and (to ensure) their release without conditions".

Libya has been mired in chaos since the fall of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising, as two rival administrations and numerous militias grapple for power.

Activist Abdelkebir, who is based in southern Tunisia near the Libyan border, said the Tunisian workers were being held in a district of Zawiya.

The town of 20,000 residents is controlled by armed groups nominally under the authority of the GNA, some of which are involved in fuel smuggling and people trafficking.

Abductions are a regular tactic used "to free Libyans detained in Tunisia", said Abdelkebir.

In 2012, Tunis said some 100 Tunisians were abducted by armed Libyans in Zawiya in a bid to secure the release of four comrades detained in Tunisia, but this allegation was denied by Libyan authorities.

Tunisia reopened a consulate in Libya in 2018, after shutting it three years earlier following the kidnapping of 10 Tunisian diplomats.

The Libyan militia which carried out the 2015 kidnapping had demanded the release of one of its leaders, Walid Glib, detained in Tunisia as part of a counter-terrorism investigation.

The diplomats were released after several days and Glib was later deported to Tripoli.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A person planning to start a new business tries to figure out the critical factors that will contribute to its success. In other words, he focuses on the competitive advantages, if any, that he has over others.

For a person who wants to trade successfully in the stock markets, the key competitive advantages can be profitable trading strategies, good technology and infrastructure, quality research and risk management, among others. Algorithmic trading, which was allowed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in India in 2008, offers an opportunity to acquire the necessary ...
Why Aren't Assyrians Returning to Bartella, Iraq?

BARTELLA, Iraq (AP) -- In the main square in the northern Iraqi town of Bartella stands a large cross, one of the few overt signs that the northern Iraqi town was historically Christian.

Nearby, a massive billboard shows Shiite Muslim martyrs alongside a picture of Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei.

Posters of Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen killed in fighting with the Islamic State group hang on streets all around the city, along with banners to revered historical Shiite saints.

Thirty years ago, Bartella's population was entirely Christian. Demographic changes over the decades left the town split between Christians and an ethnic group known as Shabak, who are largely Shiites.

When ISIS overran the town and the rest of northern Iraq in 2014, Bartella's entire population fled -- since both communities were persecuted by the radicals.

But two years after Bartella was liberated from ISIS, fewer than a third of its 3,800 Christian families have come back.

Most remain afraid, amid reports of intimidation and harassment by the Shabak, who dominate the Shiite militias now controlling the town.

Catholic priest Behnam Benoka claimed that the Christian community is being pushed out by the Shabak.

He also said multiple cases of sexual harassment have been reported to him and even one robbery of a little girl whose gold earrings were stolen.

At one point, Shabak men fired guns in the air front of the town's church for over an hour.

Iqbal Shino, who moved back to Bartella with her family in November 2017, said a Shabak man grabbed her from behind in a market. She screamed and the man was caught by onlookers.

She filed a complaint with the police but later dropped it to avoid problems.

Qusay Abbas, the Shabak representative in parliament in Baghdad, said incidents of harassment against Christians are just individual acts that don't represent the community of Shabak or the militias, which are part of the government-sponsored Population Mobilization Forces.

He said the Shabak suffered just as much as the Christians from ISIS.

"They both suffered collectively, so I say to the Christian brothers, please don't rely on some rumours and sectarian speeches," he said. "We can solve these problems we just need to sit down together."

The town's divisions point to the broader tensions around northern Iraq in the wake of the dispersal caused by ISIS.

Now that ISIS is gone, sectarian divisions are bubbling up the surface, and multiple political and armed groups are vying for power and influence, said Renad Mansour is a research associate at Chatham House, a think tank.

The Christian community in Iraq has plummeted in the last 15 years because of attacks by Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaeda and ISIS.

An estimated one million Christians were living in Iraq before the US-led invasion of 2003; today only a fraction remains.

The ISIS takeover the north only worsened the situation for the Christians, sending them fleeing for safety in the autonomous Kurdish region, where most remain.

Bartella's demographic changes began around 30 years ago, when then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein nationalized farmland that used to belong to Christians and gave it to families of soldiers killed in the Iran-Iraq war.

This brought an influx of Shabak. After Saddam was toppled in 2003, another batch of Bartella land was given to families of Shabak Shiite martyrs.

Most of Bartella's Shabak population has returned, bringing life back to their neighbourhoods. In contrast, the town's Christian districts are largely deserted.

In one, called, Hay al-Muallimeen, many of the houses were destroyed in fighting, and only around one in four has anyone living in it.

Security is now run by the Popular Mobilization Forces, known by the Arabic name "Hashd." Its fighters, who in Bartella are mostly Shabak, run checkpoints in the streets and act as police.

One of the biggest points of contention in Bartella is the removal of the Ninewa Protection Unit (NPU), a semi-autonomous police force made up mainly of Christians that guarded the town until ISIS took over.

Its fighters have fled to Kurdish areas and have not returned. That is one reason Christian families have been wary of returning.

"The Christian is the weakest link in the Iraqi society," said Ammar Shamoun Moussa the head of the NPU. "When there is stability and there is a law in the land, I think a lot of families would come back."

Bartella city council member Jalal Boutros said the NPU is "part of our identity and protect it and validates our presence."

He pointed to worries that some Shiite militiamen in Hashd are just as extremist as Sunni militants in ISIS, also called Daesh.

The trust between the communities is gone.

Salim Hariyahos Salman, a Christian, returned to Bartella in 2017, and like many families found his house destroyed. An NGO helped him rebuild.

But he regrets his decision to come back and said he is haunted by fears over lawlessness, sectarian splits and potential violence.

He said he wakes up five times a night to check if his car is safe and is looking to rent an apartment in the Kurdish-zone city of Irbil, just in case.

"It is a psychological situation ... I go to the market and I hear things, that maybe this or that happened," he said. "These things play with the mind of the person living here."

In the church in the Christian neighbourhood of Ainkawa, in the Kurdish zone, hundreds of Christians, many from Bartella prayed and sang hymns on a recent day.

One of them, 72-year-old Habiba Kiryaqos, lived in Bartella all her life but doesn't see herself ever returning.

Her house is wrecked, her possessions are gone, and she's afraid of becoming the victim of religious extremists.
Though miscarriage is a traumatic experience for both parents, resulting in feelings of loss and grief that in some cases can lead to anxiety and depression, women experiencing miscarriage should be offered a choice in the treatment they receive, suggests a study.

Miscarriage is the most common complication of pregnancy and affects an estimated one in four pregnancies.

Although guidelines recommend trying to resolve an unsuccessful pregnancy naturally, the new analysis shows that this is only successful in 70 per cent of cases, and potentially comes with complications that are rarely communicated to patients.

The study from the University of Warwick and Queen Mary University of London, demonstrates little to no difference in medical effectiveness in resolving an unsuccessful pregnancy between medical and surgical options.

Thus, the team recommend the doctors to offer women a choice of treatment options for miscarriage to enable them to make an informed decision that takes account of potential uncomfortable side effects, long waiting times and extended periods of recovery.

"What we have to do is provide women with evidence about the benefits and effectiveness of each treatment option and potential side effects so that they can choose what they feel most comfortable with," said lead author Bassel Wattar from Warwick Medical School.

"Some women are more keen on having a quick surgical intervention so that they can resume their lifestyle immediately, some are very keen to avoid surgery and prefer to go with a tablet, and others want to take a more natural approach," Wattar added.

For the results, published in the journal Human Reproduction Update, the team reviewed 46 trials involving over 9,000 women who experienced spontaneous loss of pregnancy (miscarriage) before 14 weeks gestation.

During a miscarriage, the body will aim to resolve the unsuccessful pregnancy naturally but conservative treatment can be painful with increased bleeding, increased likelihood of hospital admission, reduced quality of treatment and reduced satisfaction.

However, surgery which include electric vacuum aspiration, and medical treatment with a tablet were found to have similar effectiveness in treating miscarriage as conservative treatment.

--IANS

rt/pg/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The ghastly news from Kashmir did cast a shadow, otherwise Lucknow has had a festive February. The first week was filled with the five-day annual Sanatkada jamboree with fabled Baradari as the festooned focal point. While the mood still lingered, the city found itself riveted on Priyanka Gandhi's roadshow with her brother and Congress President Rahul Gandhi in tow.

Those who had expressed doubts about her ability for hard work must have gasped: she interviewed candidates all night. Never mind if many of them did not come out with flying colours: some did not know basic facts about their respective constituencies.

Diplomats, who would normally send their Indian staff to study the local mood, have turned up themselves. While the Congress office at the Mall Avenue is crawling with aspiring netas, Taj hotel, where both Priyanka and Jyotiraditya Scindia are staying, has enough security to annoy the hotel's other guests. Has security obstructed Priyanka kicking off the campaign with a dip in the Ganga during Kumbh? Congress choreographers had also floated the idea that a visit to a temple in Srinagar would authenticate her Kashmiri lineage. Who knows, that expedition may still be undertaken.

If arithmetic alone were to determine electoral outcomes, the Samajwadi Party-plus-Bahujan Samaj Party arrangement in Uttar Pradesh is formidable. But the chemistry of their workers at the constituency level has been adversarial.

True, grassroots workers are grappling with instructions from their leaders to tone down their animosities. But there are other complications, particularly in Akhilesh Yadav's camp. His uncle, Shivpal Yadav, is not reconciled to Akhilesh Yadav's unbridled control over the SP apparatus. So he has opened his own shop to trade his dwindling clout at the grassroots with anybody eager to damage the SP-BSP alliance. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is so flushed with funds that it will loosen all its purse strings for Shivpal Yadav's anti-Akhilesh mission. The choice is Shivpal Yadav's: pocket the money or waste it.

Meanwhile, Mulayam Singh Yadav, founder of SP, is so torn between his son and younger brother that he waffles something in favour of both alternately. In Parliament last week he left Sonia Gandhi, like everyone else, in a state of wonder. Making eye contact with a grinning Narendra Modi he said: "May you come back to power". The ear-to-ear smile on Mulayam Singh Yadav's face was interpreted by most as a clue to a deep understanding. He has so far been protected from the Enforcement Directorate.

"We shall not be on the back foot," was Rahul Gandhi's reaction to the insult heaped on the Congress by SP-BSP distributing nearly all the 80 seats among themselves, leaving two each for the Congress and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). He virtually advanced his proprietary claim on Uttar Pradesh by announcing that his party would contest all 80 seats.

In making this announcement Rahul Gandhi fell back once again on a delusion the party has nursed ever since it dropped to 140 seats after the Babari Masjid debacle. It is aching to revive. It is well nigh impossible for this desire to be fulfilled. A political party waxes and wanes, revives and loses, is up and down alternatively only in a two party system. In a country with 31 states, each with its own shade of politics, the seesaw model cannot work. The Congress must recognize the reality of a federal India. Otherwise it will continue to reset its target. Let me explain.

For 2019, the declared aim of all parties is to remove the BJP. Mamata Banerjee has grasped the reality. At the meeting called by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Jantar Mantar Road, she said that all regional parties must fight the BJP from their respective states and regions. "The Congress should fight from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh - states where it has shown that it is strong."

The Congress is uncomfortable being so circumscribed. It will not recover from a hangover of years long past when it was the only political party. In its origins, it represented diverse interests federated behind a programme for freedom. Subsequently, almost every political party came out of the Congress womb. Once Krishna Menon, Congressman closest to the Communists, and S.K. Patil, far right capitalist, fought the 1957 election on Congress ticket from different districts of Bombay (Mumbai).

In time, disparate interests, glued together, splintered. In 1967, eight Indian states had non-Congress governments. But the Congress remained in power in the centre for a simple reason: its social base remained relatively cohesive. But when in 1990, with Mandal Commission report giving reservations in government jobs to the OBCs whipping up the tempo of caste in North India, the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation was dusted up to promote Hindu consolidation. This would minimize the settlement at the lower reaches of the caste pyramid. Hindu consolidation would be best affected by bringing out the "other" in bolder relief. I have always believed that in India communal is a strategy to manage caste upheaval.

The unease in Hindu-Muslim relations since Partition exploded into full blown communalism in the 90s. It peaked with the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, the blame for which the minorities placed at the Congress Prime Minister's door. The Muslim voter left the Congress en masse. In the 1996 elections, the Congress was down to its lowest Lok Sabha tally ever -- 140 seats. It hovered around that figure, leapt to 206 in 2009 (for a range of reasons) and dived to 44 in 2014. Post 9/11 global Islmophobia was a Godsend to Hindutva, compelling the Congress into temple hopping and relentless cow worshiping for sheer survival.

There are reasons to believe that the BJP will not be able to repeat its 2014 performance in 2019. The nation is, therefore, headed for two distinct coalitions, facing each other across the aisle. One coalition will be led by the BJP. It is to make sure that it alone leads the other coalition that the Congress is playing risky games in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and to some extent West Bengal. In these states it is either threatening or fighting formations implacably opposed to the BJP.

(Saeed Naqvi is a commentator on political and diplomatic affairs. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com)

--IANS

naqvi/mr/am

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two former high-ranking executives of the technology giant Cognizant have been charged by US prosecutors in the alleged $2 million bribery of Tamil Nadu government officials to get building permits for campus in Chennai.

Separately, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) that oversees publicly traded companies fined Cognizant $25 million for the alleged bribery said to have been made 2014.

The criminal charges were filed against Cognizant's former President Gordon Coburn, 55, and former Chief Legal Officer Steven Schwartz, 51, in a federal court in Newark, New Jersey, on Friday relating to construction of its Indian subsidiary's 250,000 sq metre KITS campus in Chennai's Sholinganallur.

The prosecutors did not identify the Tamil Nadu officials or the construction company through which the alleged bribes were routed. In addition, they said two Cognizant officials who lived in India were a part of the alleged bribe controversy, but did not charge or identify them by name.

Announcing the criminal charges, Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski said: "The allegations in the indictment filed yesterday describe a sophisticated international bribery scheme authorised and concealed by C-suite executives of a publicly-traded multinational company."

The Department of Justice said it was not going to prosecute Cognizant because of the company's "prompt voluntary self-disclosure", cooperation and the payment to the SEC of the cost savings from the alleged bribery.

Cognizant CEO Francisco D'Souza in a message to the company's 282,000 staff said the Justice Department's decision was "a positive outcome for our company".

"Once allegations surfaced, we immediately took steps to address them and launched a thorough investigation conducted by experienced outside counsel", and the case did not involve work with clients, he added.

Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), paying bribe is a crime by a citizen or a company to foreigners, even if the payment is made abroad.

Coburn and Schwarts face 12 charges, including conspiracy, violation of the FCPA and falsifying records.

Court documents filed by the prosecution said the three co-conspirators, who lived in India and were not being charged, were mentioned only as "Vice President of Administration at Cognizant", "Cognizant's Chief Operating Officer" and "Department Head for Commercial Buildings at the Construction Company".

The SEC said of the $25 million Cognizant agreed to pay, $19 million was what it had gained by paying the alleged bribe and the interest on the amount, and the remaining $6 million was penalty.

According to court papers, a "Planning Permit" was required before construction started on the Cognizant campus. But the construction company filed the application for it 14 months after the construction had begun in 2011.

"A local development authority" gave conditional approval and forwarded it to another agency for the "Government Order" needed for the permit. When it did not come through even in January 2014, the contractor suggested that senior Cognizant executives meet "certain high-level officials of the Tamil Nadu government". But Cognizant refused to meet them.

In April 2014, the co-conspirator mentioned as "Vice President of Administration at Cognizant" in India told Coburn, Schwartz and the other official the contractor received a demand for $2 million from "one or more government officials", according to court documents.

Coburn "authorised the payment of an approximately $2 million bribe", the complaint said.

That co-conspirator suggested that Cognizant reimburse the contractor for the bribes but hide them as a "change order request" and the other three agreed, according to the complaint.

To increase pressure on the contractor to pay the bribe and get the permit, Coburn directed that payments to it be frozen till all the permits were received, the complaint said.

The contractor "appointed a new liaison consultant to process the approval", which came through in June 2014, and to hide the payments "a fake version of the claims list" was created to reimburse the contractor, court documents said.

The SEC said allegedly "Cognizant authorised the construction firm to make two additional bribes totalling more than $1.6 million".

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed on Twitter @arulouis)

--IANS

al/soni/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US Consulate-General in Mumbai marked its 180 years of its trailblazing diplomatic journey in India's commercial capital, with a mega celebration on Friday night entitled 'Namaste America'.

In view of the Pulwama tragedy that had struck the previous day, Consul-General Edgard Kagan first led the gathering in observing a moment of silence for the tragic loss of lives of Indian troopers in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

Recalling the history of the consulate, he said it was 180 years ago when the then US President Martin Van Buren appointed the first Philemon S. Parker of New York, as American Consul to the city, then known as Bombay.

"We believe the US and India are closer friends and partners than at any other time in these 180 years. We are truly intertwined in all areas, including strong trade and economic ties, a shared vision for a prosperous and secure Indo-Pacific Region, shared values and genuine interest in each others' cultures," he said.

Kagan said both countries carry on the spirit and ambition of those that came in the past with confidence of bringing the US-India relations to new and greater heights.

'Namaste America' host Atul Nishar said since past eight years, it has played a very effective role in building cultural ties between the two countries, with the US Consulate in Mumbai playing an integral part in this endeavour.

The highlights of the evening, with Reliance Industries as presenting sponsor, included a performance by renowned choreographer Shimak Davar and his troupe, a presentation by his Victory Arts Foundation which gives a platform to differently-abled and underprivileged persons.

Established in 1838, from July 1945, the consulate was upgraded to a Consulate-General with Howard Donovan as the principal officer.

Earlier, it operated from the Wankaner House, belonging to the erstwhile Maharaja of Wankaner, at Breach Candy from 1957, and subsequently renamed 'Lincoln House' by the new occupants.

Post-Independence, the Maharaja of Wankaner, whose kingdom was situated in modern-day Gujarat, had handed over the magnificent building, declared a heritage site, to the US Consulate to pay off his liabilities.

However, in November 2011, security reasons and space constraints led the consulate to shift to a swank new facility in suburban Bandra Kurla Complex, and in 2012, the US Commercial Service Trade Information Centre was also inaugurated at the same place.

--IANS

qn/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Amid teary eyes and emotional scenes, the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bravehearts from Tamil Nadu, killed in the Pulwama terror attack, were on Saturday laid to rest their native places with full government honours.

The mortal remains of G. Subramanian and C. Sivachandran arrived in Tamil Nadu's Madurai and Tiruchirappalli airports respectively.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid her last respects to Sivachandran at the Tiruchirappalli airport, while Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan laid a wreath on Subramanian's body at Madurai airport.

From Tiruchirappalli, Sivachandran's body was taken to Karkudi village in Ariyalur district.

The body of Subramanian was taken to Savalaperi village in Thoothukudi district.

A cheque for Rs 20 lakh as Tamil Nadu government's assistance was handed over the kin of the two troopers.

Friends and relatives of the two troopers broke down on seeing the coffin covered with tricolour.

It was heartrendering to see the two-year-old son of Sivachandran kissing the coffin and pouring soil on it after it was lowered into the ground.

Similarly a tearful farewell was given to Subramanian at his village. He was buried at his own farm land as per his wish with full government honours.

Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam paid tribute to the departed soul.

--IANS

vj/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US President Donald Trump's former election campaign manager Paul Manafort should be jailed for up to 24 years, special counsel Robert Mueller has said.

Mueller's team said in a court filing on Friday Manafort should face a prison term between 19 and a half and 24 and a half years, for "serious, longstanding, and bold" financial crimes, CNN reported.

"Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars," the special counsel investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 elections wrote in the memo to Judge T.S. Ellis III.

"The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes," it stated.

Manafort was convicted in August of financial fraud and charges relating to his work as a political consultant in Ukraine. He was found to have hidden more than $16 million in income from US authorities, which allowed him to avoid paying $6 million in taxes.

He also hid tens of millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts and secured $25 million bank loans through fraud, reports say.

The former election campaign manager had "ample funds" to cover the tax bills he should have paid, the court filing said, but "he simply chose not to comply with laws that would reduce his wealth".

Mueller's team said Manafort resorted to fraud to maintain a lifestyle of "lavish spending" -- spanning multiple homes, luxurious rugs and an ostrich-skin leather jacket -- after his lucrative work for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine dried up.

Manafort had agreed in September to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy and fully cooperate with Mueller's investigations to avoid a second criminal trial. But the special counsel claimed in November Manafort had lied in interviews about a range of topics.

He was found guilty earlier this week of breaching his plea deal. He could also receive financial penalties totalling over $50 million, according to the filing by Mueller's prosecutors.

His sentence will be decided by judge Ellis.

Mueller's team said on Friday Manafort had resorted to crime despite having had "every opportunity to succeed". His sentence should punish him for serious wrongdoing and serve as a deterrent to others tempted to commit similar crimes, they said.

--IANS

soni/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
British Prime Minister Theresa May is to return to Brussels within days to meet European Union (EU) officials in a bid to rescue her Brexit deal.

Andrea Leadsom, Leader of the House of Commons, said in a radio interview on Friday that May will go to Brussels in the coming days to continue negotiations, but no timetable was stated.

Referring to the Thursday night vote, when MPs were asked to re-endorse May's Brexit deal, Leadsom said the defeat in the vote was more of a hiccup than a disaster, Xinhua news agency reported.

May's proposed cross-channel excursion follows a humiliating defeat Thursday fuelled by a rebellion by 60 of her own Conservative MPs who voted against endorsing the EU deal she has already agreed.

May's hope is that EU negotiators will present her with enough wriggle-room over the Northern Ireland border issue to win backing from lawmakers in a looming showdown.

Political commentators and some leading politicians are describing the expected showdown in the House of Commons on February 27 as a "high noon" for May, just four weeks before Britain's planned departure from the bloc.

Former attorney-general Dominic Grieve said in the Times newspaper that a dozen or more government ministers could quit during the so-called high noon round of Brexit votes on February 27.

The resignations are being threatened if it appears likely that Britain faces crashing out of the EU without a deal, say observers.

In media interviews, Grieve said that if May failed to remove the threat of no deal, there could be resignations on a scale that might bring down the government.

May will present the latest version of her deal to MPs on February 27, but political experts say she is likely to face a number of amendments, including demanding a delay in Britain's departure date, a guarantee that a no-deal Brexit will be ruled out, or calls for a second referendum or "people's vote" on her deal.

Until now, the EU has insisted that there can be no changes to the so-called backstop, a measure designed to ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of no deal being agreed.

Ambassadors from EU member states met the Brexit Secretary in London Friday to brief them on Britain's latest position.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh Information Minister Hasan Mahmud on Saturday condemned the terror attack on a paramilitary convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 49 troopers and said terrorism has to be countered globally and regionally.

"We condemn the attack.. the Bangladesh government has officially condemned it. Terrorism is a global problem. We have been suffering because of terrorism. I am also a victim of terrorist attack," he said at a get-together event organised by the Kolkata Press Club.

The suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy carrying troopers towards Srinagar had blown up a bus when an explosive-packed SUV rammed into it, causing the death of some 40 troopers at the spot on Thursday. Nine injured succumbed subsequently.

Mahmud said that all the terrorist groups have their own regional and global networks but his country was cooperating with India against the threat.

"So, we need to fight against terrorist attacks regionally and globally. Bangladesh government under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is working with India and other countries as well. Whoever is linked or patronising this kind of attacks, we condemn everyone," he said.

Asked whether Pakistan should be isolated in the international forums following the Pulwama attack,he did not respond.

He said there are terrorist groups like Harkat-ul-Jihad, Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and many others which were fomenting disturbance in Bangladesh but their activities have now been effectively contained.

"Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina effectively contained (terrorists) attacks. We would not say that we have completely eradicated all these terrorist groups. (But) They are controlled," he said.

Asked about the alleged Bangladeshi terrorists from JMB being arrested in India, Mahmud said both the countries are cooperating each other and security agencies from both the countries have been coordinating and sharing information.

According to him, his country has taken several steps to curtail terror activities on its soil.

"As we have taken several steps to curb terror activities on our soil, they no longer have a fertile ground for breeding in Bangladesh, that may be the reason they are trying to cross over to India," he added.

--IANS

bdc/vd

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a strong message to Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that terror groups who perpetrated the Pulwama attack, that left 49 CRPF troopers dead, cannot hide and "will be punished" as the security forces have been given a "free hand" to tackle them.

Paying tributes to two Central Reserve Police Force troopers from Maharashtra - Nitin Rathod and Sanjay Rajput from Buldhana - and others killed in the deadly attack on Thursday, Modi said the country has "complete faith and pride" in our soldiers and security forces and their sacrifices will not go in vain.

"Wherever the terror groups and the perpetrators may hide, our security forces will flush them out and punish them," Modi said amidst cheers from the gathering of farmers and women.

When and how to accomplish this has been left to the security forces, he said but appealed to the people of the country to be "patient" and repose confidence in the armed forces "as the terror perpetrators shall not be spared at any cost".

Sharing the outrage of the entire nation, he said: "We are deeply pained by what has happened. Every drop of blood of our slain soldiers shall be avenged."

Without naming Pakistan, Modi said that now, "the neighbouring country" has become synonymous with terror. "It has sheltered terrorism, but today it is on the verge of bankruptcy."

He reiterated in both Dhule and Yavatmal that "the sins committed will not be forgiven or left unpunished", referring to the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed which allegedly operates from safe havens in Pakistan.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll reached 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

Earlier on Saturday, Modi dedicated the state-of-the-art Eklavya Model Residential School, Nanded for 420 tribal students, and handed over keys to select beneficiaries of homes built under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

He also flagged off the overnight Ajni (Nagpur)-Pune train, laid the foundation stone for roads under the Central Road Fund in the region and distributed certificates and cheques under Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission to women Self Help Groups.

In the afternoon, Modi inaugurated the Lower Panazara Medium Project, in Dhule, under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana with a total water storage capacity of 109.31 million cubic metres and irrigation potential for 7,585 hectares in 21 villages of the district.

He laid the foundation stone for the Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme which envisages lifting 9.24 TMC of flood water from the Tapi river - flowing through Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and finally Gujarat - in 124 monsoon days which would help irrigate 33,367 hectares of land in 100 villages.

Modi also laid the foundation stone for the Dhule City Water Supply Scheme under AMRUT which will ensure water availability and boost industrial and commercial growth.

The PM flagged off the overnight Bhusaval-Bandra Khandesh Express, and laid the foundation stone for the Dhule-Nardana railway line, Jalgaon-Manmad third line and inaugurated the Jalgaon-Udhna Doubling and Electrification rail project.

Governor C.V. Rao, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, several state ministers, local parliamentarians and legislators were also present on the occasion.

--IANS

qn/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday here said terror groups who perpetrated the Pulwama attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead, cannot hide and "will be punished" as the security forces have been given a "free hand" to tackle the inevitable.

Paying tributes to two Central Reserve Police Force troopers from Maharashtra and others killed in the deadly attack on Thursday, Modi said the country has "faith and pride" in our soldiers and security forces and their sacrifices will not go in vain.

"Wherever the terror groups and the perpetrators may hide, our security forces will flush them out and punish them," Modi said amidst cheers from the gathering of farmers and women here.

When and how to accomplish this has been left to the security forces, but he appealed to the people of the country to be "patient" and repose confidence in the armed forces, "as the terror perpetrators shall not be spared at any cost", he added.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot, the toll reached 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

--IANS

qn/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After ISIS, Iraq's Assyrians Now Face New Threat From Shabak Shiite Militias

Karamles, North Iraq -- There is no peace for Christians in northern Iraq. If, on the one hand, the memory of the violence perpetrated by Islamic State jihadists (SI, ex Isis) is still alive, in recent weeks another threat is shadowing the future of the community: the Shiite militias linked to the Shabak, who are in fact hindering Christians return to the Nineveh plain.

The epicenter of this new chapter of anti-Christian persecution is Bartella, increasingly drapped with banners depicting the militia battles against Isis as well as saints and sacred figures of the Shiite tradition.

"Bartella is a problem, a special case", says Paolo Thabit Mekko, head of the Christian community in Karamles, speaking to AsiaNews. "In recent years - he continues - the presence of Shabak has increased dramatically and Christians are afraid to return. At least 600 families who have fled in the IS era are still in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, and have no prospect of return at the moment. There is a real demographic upheaval in the city, which began in 2003 after the US invasion and which has accelerated in the last period ".

The presence of local Shiite militias, adds Don Paolo, "creates unease and the prospects for the future arouse anger and concern". The priest sees a behind-the-scenes attempt to "change the demographics of the area", according to some a "design" orchestrated by the Shiite leadership and maneuvered from the outside, with the complicity of a part "of the Shabak politicians and exponents in Baghdad who support them ".

Until 30 years ago, the population of Bartella was entirely Christian. The demographic changes of the last decades have turned the composition upside down, ending up dividing it in half between Christians and Shabak, a largely Shiite Muslim ethnic group. When the Islamic State (SI, former Isis) conquered much of northern Iraq, including the Nineveh Plain, the entire population of Bartella left the area due to persecution by Sunni radicals.

Today, two years after the ousting of the "Caliphate" jihadists, less than a third of the original 3800 families that populated the town have returned. Most of them are still in exile and there is fear of returning due to persecution, threats and intimidation perpetrated by some members of the Shabak community, which presides over the Shiite militias that control the area.

Following the expulsion of Isis, confessional divisions, militias and armed groups are emerging with increasing strength, trying to get hold of growing sections of territory in northern Iraq, above all in the plain of Nineveh, which was once almost entirely Christian. Qusay Abbas, a member of the Shabaks in Parliament, said the attacks were the work of a small, unrepresentative minority.

But the stories (and complaints) from Bartella and other towns in the area tell another truth: That the Shiite militias are trying - most of the time by force - to eliminate the Christian component. In fact the cases of sexual attacks, thefts, threats and violence against private individuals is becoming more and more frequent. Recently, an ethnic Shabak man fired bullets in the air for over an hour in front of a church in the town.

"What is happening to Bartella - underlines Don Paolo - is repeated, albeit to a lesser extent, in other areas of the plain such as Karamles and Qaraqosh. We are facing a movement that seeks to expand ".

"A council of the sages of the Nineveh plain - he continues - which includes Christians, Arabs, shabaks has initiated dialogue and is trying to resolve the situation. Unfortunately there are no official agreements and there is no way to apply the rare agreements between the parties ".

In this context the Iraqi Church remains firm on the refusal to create a Christian armed militia and strengthens the initiatives of meeting and confrontation. "The situation remains delicate - concludes the priest - and Christians are afraid. One of the solutions that can be followed, and which we hope, is the establishment of an official, institutional police force, within which Christians can also contribute to enlisting the protection of law and order".
Kidney patients in Telangana will now be eligible for free travel in the buses of state-owned Telangana State Road Development Corporation (TSRTC).

Under an order issued by the state government, about 7,600 kidney patients covered under 'Aarogyasri', a scheme for free treatment of poor patients, and who are undergoing dialysis will be extended the facility of free bus travel.

TSRTC Managing Director Sunil Sharma said instructions were issued to all depots to implement the order.

The state government will reimburse Rs 12.22 crore per annum to TSRTC for this facility for kidney patients.

--IANS

ms/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Taxpayers Association of Bharat (TAXAB) on Saturday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stop spending government funds on providing security to the separatist and Hurriyat leaders in the Kashmir valley.

"We wish to request you to kindly stop all spending on security, travel, accommodation, medical and other facilities extended to separatists and Hurriyat leaders of Kashmir," said a letter written by the TAXAB addressed to Modi.

According to the TAXAB, a non-government organisation (NGO), around Rs 500 crore of taxpayers' money is being spent per annum on providing security to the separatist leaders.

TAXAB President Manu Gaur said Rs 1.11 lakh has been contributed by the association to the government fund for the CRPF troopers, killed in the Pulwama attack. Gaur also thanked the government for setting up the 'Bharat Ke Veer' fund for taking care of the families of martyrs.

--IANS

som/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tourist resorts of Kufri, Manali, Dalhousie and Kalpa in Himachal Pradesh received moderate snowfall turning them more picturesque on Saturday.

Snow though continued to elude the Himachal Pradesh capital, as the office predicted a dry spell after Sunday with the western disturbances likely receding from the region.

"Manali and the hills overlooking it experienced mild to moderate snow since early Friday," Manmohan Singh, Director of the Meteorological office, told IANS.

He said picturesque Kalpa, some 250 km from here and Dalhousie experienced 7 cm and 24 cm of snow, respectively.

Kufri, just 13 km uphill from here, had 7 cm of snow and saw a low of minus 1.5 degrees Celsius.

High-altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Mandi, Kullu, Kinnaur and Shimla districts have been experiencing snow.

Tourists have started arriving in Manali and nearby hills of Shimla.

Shimla, which saw 10.9 mm rain in the past 24 hours since Friday, recorded a minimum temperature of 2.9 degrees Celsius, while it was 3.6 degrees in Dharamsala that got 21.4 mm of rain.

Keylong in Lahaiul-Spiti district was the coldest in the state with a low of minus 12.8 degrees Celsius. It received 9 cm of snow.

--IANS

vg/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Supreme Court is likely to give verdict on the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's (TNPCB) plea against the December 15, 2018 National Green Tribunal's (NGT) order directing TNPCB to give its consent for restarting operations at Vedanta's copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi.

The grant of consent by the state pollution control board was subject to the satisfaction of certain conditionalities by Vedanta. The verdict was reserved on February 7 and the matter is listed for the announcement of orders on February 18.

The Division Bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Navin Sinha had reserved the order with the TNPCB asserting the copper smelting plant was the cause of near irreversible ground water pollution and thus can't be allowed to resume operations.

Vedanta had described the decision to shut the plant as "political." The copper smelting plant was shut permanently on May 28, 2018 in the wake of violent incidents that claimed many lives.

Coupled with the TNPCB and the Tamil Nadu government's plea was an application by Vedanta seeking direction to the state government to take steps, including restoration of electricity as directed by the green tribunal for the plant to start operations.

Vedanta had contended that the high ground water pollution was not limited just to Thoothukudi, but similar situation existed in other parts of the State.

--IANS

pk/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman's visit to Pakistan that was scheduled to start on Saturday, has been cut short by a day rescheduled for Sunday-Monday, the Pakistan Foreign Office has said.

Salman, who was scheduled to visit Pakistan on February 16 along with a business delegation with big-ticket investment potential, not only did cut short his visit by 24 hours but also dropped the business delegation from his entourage.

Following which the Islamabad-based Board of Investment, which reports to Prime Minister Imran Khan, in a statement to invitees said the Pakistan-Saudi businesses conference scheduled on February 17 has been postponed.

"Any inconvenience caused in this regard is highly regretted. The new dates of the meeting will be informed in due course of time," it said.

The development came barely 48 hours after some 49 CRPF troopers died in a suicide attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, whose chief Masood Azhar roams freely on Pakistan soil and was yet to be designated a global terrorist.

The Pakistan Foreign Office said: "His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will visit Pakistan on February 17-18, 2019. The visit programme remains unchanged."

The Crown Prince is visiting at the invitation of Pakistan Prime Minister.

He would be accompanied by a high-powered delegation including members of the Saudi Royal family and key ministers on Sunday, the News International said.

Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Mohammad Faisal earlier had said Saudi-Pakistan Supreme Coordination Council (SCC), led by Salman and Khan will be launched during the visit of the Crown Prince.

--IANS

ab-in-vm/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 51-year-old Kerala Catholic priest Robin Vadakkumchery on Saturday was sentenced to 60 years in jail in three different cases of rape and abuse of minor girls.

Four nuns, another priest and one more woman attached to the convent, who were co-accused in the police charge sheet were let off due to lack of adequate evidences.

Thalassery Judge P.N. Vinod also fined the priest from the Mananthavady diocese in Wayanad district Rs 3 lakh after it was established that he had raped and impregnated a minor girl in 2016.

He was tried under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Vadakkumchery was serving as a parish vicar near Kannur and was the manager of the Church-backed-school, where the victim, a Class 11 student was studying.

The priest was arrested on February 27, 2017 night near Kochi International airport while he was preparing to slip out of the country.

A Childline agency that works among school children had registered the complaint against the priest.

The priest came under pressure after the girl gave birth to a child on February 7, 2017 at a hospital run by the management .

During the trial, the victim and her mother turned hostile. Despite that the court proceeded on the basis of evidences collected already and handed out the verdict.

The police will appeal against the discharge of the six others, who were found to have failed in discharging their duties.

--IANS

sg/in

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday held a meeting with RAW chief A. K. Dhasmana, Additional Director IB Arvind Kumar, Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba and NSA Ajit Doval in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack that left 49 CRPF troopers dead.

What transpired between them was not immediately known or officially communicated, but sources in Home Ministry said that Singh took stock of the security situation in Kashmir in the aftermath of the terror attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

The meeting also come in the wake of outrage and anger among the people post the attack as the country expecting retaliation from the government.

From the US, China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the European Union to Afghanistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, various countries have come in support of India and expressed solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just a day after the Pulwama attack, India started the process of isolating Pakistan on the international stage with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale meeting at least two dozen envoys in the national capital.

It also withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan. According to experts, India's decision to withdraw the MFN status to Pakistan would adversely impact the neighbouring country's economy.

--IANS

bns/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US National Security Advisor Ambassador John Bolton, in a telephonic conversation with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, has extended support for India's bid to designate Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, an MEA statement said on Saturday.

Washington extended and reiterated its support towards India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism under the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council after the toll in the deadly Jaish attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama on Thursday reached 49.

The suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy carrying troopers towards Srinagar had blown up a bus when an explosive-packed SUV rammed into the paramilitary vehicle, causing the death of some 40 troopers at the spot.

Doval and Bolton have resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designate Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution which has already designated JeM as a terror body.

It was China, who has been stonewalling the process. Beijing on Friday indicated it would continue to block India's bid to declare Azhar as an international terrorist even after JeM claimed responsibility for the worst-ever attack in Jammu and Kashmir on security forces since militancy erupted in the state in 1989.

"The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region," the External Affairs Ministry statement said.

The conversations took place during a telephone call between Doval and Bolton on Friday evening.

During the conversation, Bolton expressed condolences and outrage over the Pulwama attack by the Pakistan-based terror group.

The American diplomat also offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and sympathisers of the attack promptly to justice.

Doval appreciated the US support.

--IANS

ab-akk/in/mag/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) here on Saturday described the Pulwama terrorist attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir as an attack on the country's sovereignty and said Pakistan will never succeed in its nefarious design.

The BJP also took out a candle light march to pay homage to the 49 CRPF troopers who were killed in the terror attack on Thursday. The march was led by Delhi BJP chief and northeast Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari.

Besides Tiwari, New Delhi MP Meenakshi Lekhi, east Delhi MP Maheish Girri, party General Secretaries Siddharthan and Kuljeet Singh Chahal, party Vice-President Jai Prakash and several others participated in the march.

The Delhi BJP workers assembled at Gate No. 3 of Udyog Bhawan Metro Station in central Delhi. They marched up to the India Gate with candles in hands, raising slogans against terrorism and Pakistan.

They placed candles at the Amar Jawan Jyoti in India Gate and prayed for the departed souls and the speedy recovery of the injured troopers.

Addressing the workers, Tiwari said: "Pulwama terrorist attack is an attack on the sovereignty of India and the entire country will fight against terrorism and finish it. Pakistan will never succeed in its nefarious designs and India will remain united like a rock before the world."

He also said the entire country was indebted to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers who were killed in the attack. "The souls of troopers will rest in peace only when we take revenge and the Indian Army is quite competent to do that," he said.

Crores of Indians were standing with the families of the slain CRPF troopers, he added.

--IANS

aks/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Disturbed after the deadly Pulwama attack, filmmaker Hansal Mehta says Pakistan's complicity in the business of terrorism should come to an end.

Hansal on Saturday took to Twitter to share his views. He also shared details about his 2017 film "Omerta" starring Rajkummar Rao. It is based on British-Pakistani terrorist Omar Saeed Sheikh's life.

"While 'Omerta' was based on Omar Saeed Sheikh, it was also about the patronage provided to men like Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, Hafiz Saeed by the state of Pakistan. Pakistan's complicity in the business of terrorism must be ended, with brute force if needed," he posted.

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his vehicle packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

After the strike, India rejected Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua's claims denying her country's links to the attack, saying that JeM, which claimed responsibility for the strike, is based in Pakistan, and the "links are clear and evident and for all to see".

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

--IANS

dc/sug/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Every school under the Tempe Union School District promotes a different attempt to simulate the AMAs policy, although not one comes to the minimum.
Notwithstanding the bonhomie of the opposition parties and talk of a pre-poll grand alliance gaining ground, it appears unlikely the Congress will be able to forge tie-ups with the ruling parties in non-BJP states particularly West Bengal, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in the Lok Sabha polls.

Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress, Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Andhra's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Left from Kerala have all shared the stage with the Congress from time to time as part of opposition's show of strength against the BJP.

But when it comes to electoral understandings in the respective states, the Congress as well as the party in power in those states appear to develop cold feet.

After the latest meeting of the opposition parties in the national capital on Wednesday, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee announced that the parties have agreed to a pre-poll pact and a common minimum programme (CMP) to defeat the BJP.

However, the Congress and the Left, which are all set for a tie-up in Bengal, have taken Banerjee's assertions with a "pinch of salt" and insist that even if a pre-poll alliance materialised, the Trinamool will continue to be the main rival for both the parties in Bengal.

"Aligning with the Trinamool in Bengal will be a disaster and completely unacceptable from the leaders down to the last party worker - and most importantly, voters," a state Congress leader told IANS pointing to "sustained attacks" on party workers and supporters by the state's ruling party.

Speaking in the same vein, a Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader said any truck with the Trinamool will lead to the Left losing even its core voters. "How can we expect to ally with the Trinamool, which has unleashed all the means to completely wipe out the Left from Bengal," asked the leader.

The Trinamool, on the other hand, asserts that any tie-up with the Congress or any other party will only be a hindrance to its ambition of a clean sweep in the eastern state, which sends 42 members to the Lok Sabha.

"Why should we go for any arrangement - whether declared or tacit - when we can win all the 42 seats? The more seats we have, the more will be our bargaining power when it comes to forming the government. We don't want to jeopardise our chances," a Trinamool leader said.

In stark contrast to their "friendship" in Bengal, the Congress and the Left continue to be sworn enemies in Kerala, where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and United Democratic Front (UDF) are the principal players. Both the camps have ruled out the possibility of any kind of understanding in the state, where the BJP is trying to make inroads, especially with the Sabarimala issue giving it some leverage.

A similar situation prevailed during the 2016 Assembly polls when the Congress and Left had tied-up in Bengal but fought a bitter battle in Kerala.

Campaigning for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as BJP chief Amit Shah, then had derided the Left and the Congress for their "dosti" (friendship) in Bengal and "kusthi" (wrestling) in Kerala.

"The question does not arise," was the terse reply of a Kerala CPI-M leader when asked about the possibility of an understanding with the Congress.

Even for its tie-up with Congress in Bengal, there was opposition within the CPI-M but party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, a votary of the tie up both in 2016 and now, is said to have prevailed.

Similarly in Andhra Pradesh, a Congress-TDP truck appears to be unlikely because of the strong anti-Congress sentiment stemming from the division of the state effected during the UPA-II regime.

Despite intense campaigning, the TDP-Congress combine performed miserably in the Telangana polls, winning just 21 out of the 119 assembly seats as the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) retained power with a huge mandate.

Even as the camaraderie between Congress President Rahul Gandhi and TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu is palpable and both have been harping on opposition unity, the parties at the state level are not inclined towards working jointly.

While the state TDP leaders point to the strong anti-Congress sentiment in Andhra, the Congress leaders point to the TDP earlier being part of the NDA.

"The political landscape in Andhra is different to that of Telangana. A similar arrangement in Andhra will be counterproductive as TDP is considered to be our arch-rival and opposing them is ingrained in our party cadres and voters," a Congress leader said.

In Delhi, where the Congress-AAP rivalry has only got more serious, the possibility of any arrangement is far-fetched for both the parties.

In fact, Gandhi, post the Wednesday's opposition parties meet which Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also attended, made evident the Congress' being non-committal to aligning with the AAP. He said that no decision was taken on the alliance with the AAP in Delhi and the Trinamool in Bengal.

However, Kejriwal, while claiming that the Congress has "almost said no" to an alliance, also insisted on the need for jointly fighting the BJP. Throughout the country, there should be only one candidate against the BJP in every constituency as a third candidate would eat into anti-BJP votes, benefiting the ruling party, he said.

However, a section of the party believes any arrangement with the Congress will erode its core vote base and insist that retaining Delhi in the assembly polls was far more important.

Speculation, though, persists about a possible electoral alliance between the Congress and the AAP both of which drew a blank in 2015 with the BJP sweeping all the 7 seats in Delhi.

(Anurag Dey can be contacted at anurag.d@ians.in)

--IANS

and/vm

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday enhanced the ex gratia to families of two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers, killed in Jammu and Kashmir to Rs 25 lakh each from Rs 10 lakh.

Patnaik also said the state government will bear all education expenses of the martyrs' children.

CRPF troopers Manoj Kumar Behera of Ratanpur in Cuttack and Prasanna Sahu of Shikhar village in Jagatsinghpur district were killed in terror attack in J&K's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The schools where Behera and Sahu studied would be named after them. Their "gram panchayats" will be declared Model Gram Panchayats, said a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.

The martyrs were given the 'guard of honour' here on Saturday.

Leaders cutting across party lines and senior police officials paid their tributes to the martyrs after the bodies arrived in a special flight at the Biju Patnaik International Airport.

Along with Chief Minister, Union ministers Jual Oram and Dharmendra Pradhan, Odisha ministers Sashi Bhusan Behera and Pratap Jena also paid tributes to the slain CRPF personnel.

The last rites of martyrs will be performed with full state honour at their native places on Saturday.

Following the Chief Minister's direction, schools across Odisha observed a two-minute silence to offer their tributes.

--IANS

cd/rs/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said his party governments will not take farmer's land without their consent.

"If any farmer's land is taken for industry or a project, then the industry or project has to be set up within five years. If it is not done within this period, the land has to be returned to farmers," he said at a farmers' rights convention at village Dhuragaon in Lohandiguda block of Chhattisgarh's Bastar district.

"The Congress has taken the step of returning the land of tribals. Chhattisgarh is the first state where this has been done," he said, stressing tribals have the first right over forests and should enjoy the benefits.

He said the Congress, which has returned to power in the state after 15 years, would fulfil its promises. He said tendu leaf collectors now get Rs 4,000 against the Rs 2,500 they were getting during the Raman Singh-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Gandhi distributed land right titles to farmers for area acquired by the previous BJP government for a Tata Steel project, which never materialised due to local opposition and eventually the company pulled out.

The Congress had made the return of land a campaign promise in the November assembly elections.

Gandhi also distributed loan waiver certificates to eligible farmers and forest rights certificates. He also laid the foundation stone of the food park being built by the state government in the area.

Taking pot-shots at the previous government, He said it claimed that it had no money for farmers. "They were putting your money into their own pockets or pockets of their 15 businessmen cronies," he alleged.

He also attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for bailing out top industrialists but not waiving farmers' loans. "Our government had sought 10 days to waive loans and did it within six hours."

--IANS

hindi-vd/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nigeria's Electoral Commission has delayed the country's general elections till February 23, making the announcement just five hours before polls were set to open on Saturday.

"After a careful review of the implementation of the logistical and operational plan, and given the determination to hold free, fair and credible elections, the Commission concluded that proceeding with elections as scheduled is not possible," Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), told reporters in Abuja.

He said the difficult decision was needed to ensure a free and fair vote, the BBC reported.

The INEC rescheduled the presidential and parliamentary votes for next Saturday, while governorship, state assembly and federal area council elections for March 9.

The unexpected measure offers "the opportunity to address identified challenges to maintain the quality of our elections", Yakubu said, without elaborating.

More than 84 million Nigerians were supposed to head to the polls for their country's sixth democratic elections in which current President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, is seeking re-election despite fierce criticism of his four-year term.

His main challenger is former Vice President and businessman Atiku Abubakar, 72.

Nigeria's two key political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), swiftly condemned the move and accused each other of trying to manipulate the vote.

PDP Chairman Uche Secondus said that the postponement was part of an agenda by Buhari to "cling to power". He called on Yakubu to resign immediately, describing the move as "dangerous for our democracy" and "unacceptable".

A statement by Buhari's APC party said the President had "cooperated fully" with the INEC and the decision was "therefore a huge disappointment".

Voters, many of whom had made long journeys to vote, reacted with a mixture of anger, frustration and resignation.

The lead-up to the election was marked by violence, prompting warnings from the British and US governments to say they would deny visas and likely prosecute those found inciting violence during the vote.

Two Nigerian electoral commission offices housing voting materials were burned down within the space of a week.

Authorities bolstered security in much of the country on the eve of the vote, after past elections were also marred by violence, voter intimidation and ballot rigging.

A faction of Boko Haram attacked a state governor's convoy on Tuesday, killing four people. In another incident, 15 people were crushed to death at a ruling party rally in eastern Port Harcourt. On Thursday, 14 sacks of ballot papers were intercepted in Kano state - though the police said they were merely "specimen" papers to educate voters.

This is not the first time presidential elections have been delayed in Nigeria. In 2011 and 2015, they were also postponed for logistical and security issues.

--IANS

soni/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A high-ranking North Korean negotiator travelled to Hanoi on Saturday, less than two weeks before the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.

Kim Chang-son, considered de facto head of Kim's cabinet, arrived at the Hanoi airport around 11 a.m. on a flight from China's Guangzhou, according to Yonhap news agency.

Trump and Kim are set to meet here on February 27-28 for their second summit after first meeting in Singapore in June 2018.

Kim Chang-son, Chief Secretary of North Korea's State Affairs Commission, will discuss protocol and practical issues, like accommodation of the North Korean delegation during the summit, the report said.

He had also accompanied Kim Jong-un to the Singapore summit. During that meeting, Pyongyang agreed to work towards the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean Peninsula but with little clarity on how to achieve that goal.

The Hanoi summit is expected to help push revival of the stagnated talks on denuclearisation of the North Korean regime.

General Robert Abrams, commander of US Forces Korea, earlier this week called the second Trump-Kim meeting a "positive sign of continued dialogue", but added Pyongyang remained a military threat that Washington must be ready for.

Kim Jong-un is also likely to use the summit to make a state visit to Vietnam, the first by a North Korean leader to the country since its reunification in 1975, despite long-standing bilateral ties.

Earlier this week, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh was on a three-day visit to Pyongyang, where he met his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho and Ri Su-yong, in-charge of international affairs in the Workers' Party of Korea, according to official North Korean news agency KCNA.

--IANS

soni/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The mortal remains of the two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers - G. Subramanian and C. Sivachandran - killed in the suicide attack in Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir arrived in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

The two security personnel died in the terror attack on Thursday.

The mortal remains of Subramanian arrived in Madurai and that of Sivachandran in Tiruchirappalli.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman paid her last respects to Sivachandran at the Tiruchirappalli airport.

On the other hand, Union Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan paid his last respects to Subramanian and laid a wreath at Madurai airport.

--IANS

vj/oeb/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday issued an advisory to states in the wake of isolated reports coming from some parts of the country that students and residents from Jammu and Kashmir were facing the heat after the Pulwama terror attack.

"There have been some reports of students and other residents of Jammu and Kashmir experiencing threats and intimidation in the light of the Pulwama attack. Therefore, the MHA has issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories to take necessary measures to ensure their safety and security," the advisory said.

The advisory came hours after Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed an all-party meeting that passed a resolution condemning Pakistan's support to terrorism and stating that all parties along with the countrymen stood with the families of slain CRPF troopers.

--IANS

bns/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The last rites of four CRPF troopers from Punjab, who were killed in Thursday's terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir, were performed on Saturday as their remains were consigned to flames in their villages.

All four were given state funeral and hundreds of people turned up for the last rites. They raised slogans in favour of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and against Pakistan.

The four troopers from Punjab were Jaimal Singh of village Kot Ise Khan in Moga district, Sukhjinder Singh of Gandiwind village in Tarn Taran district, Maninder Singh Attri of Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district and Kulwinder Singh of Rouli village in Nurpur Bedi area of Ropar district.

Contingents of the CRPF gave the final guard of honour to the martyrs. Ministers, political leaders and local administration officials were present when the last rites were performed.

Covered in the tricolour, the mortal remains of the CRPF troopers reached their respective villages early on Saturday.

Villagers and family members vented their anger on the attack and demanded that the Centre should avenge the deaths and give a befitting reply to the Pakistan-backed terrorists.

A suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Pulwama district, leaving 49 security personnel dead.

Jaimal Singh, 44, was the driver of the fateful bus that was blown up in the attack. He left behind his ageing parents, wife, a 10-year-old son and a younger brother.

Sukhjinder Singh left behind his parents, wife and a seven-month-old son, who was born after a gap of eight years.

Maninder Singh had joined the duty on February 13 only. His younger brother is also serving in the CRPF and is posted in Assam now.

Kulwinder Singh was to get married later in 2019.

--IANS

js/mag/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The family of Shamima Begum, the British teenager of Bangladeshi descent who ran away from here in 2015 to become an Islamic State jihadi bride, have urged the UK government to bring back the heavily-pregnant girl "urgently".

Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green, east London, who left the UK for Syria at the age of 15. She was traced by the Times daily's reporter last week in a Syrian refugee camp after she escaped from Baghuz -- the Islamic States' last stronghold in eastern Syria.

She is pregnant with her third child and keen to leave the war zone for the safety of her unborn child.

Her parents, originally from Bangladesh, in a statement on Friday said the teenager's unborn baby was "total innocent" who had the right to grow up in the "peace and security" of the UK, the BBC reported on Saturday.

In an interview with the Times earlier this week, Begum, now 19, said she had no regrets, but she wanted to come home to give birth to her baby.

However, the government has indicated that it will not allow her to return. Justice Secretary David Gauke said there were national security risks to allowing people like Begum to return to Britain. But he did not rule it out.

He told the BBC the UK needed to evaluate it on "a case by case basis". Home Secretary Sajid Javid said she could face charges on return.

He told the Times there were a range of measures to stop IS supporters who posed a serious threat from returning to the UK, such as depriving them of British citizenship or excluding them from the country.

Meanwhile, Alex Younger, chief of the intelligence service MI6, told the Munich Security Conference that British citizens "have a right to come to the UK".

Begum's parents said they had "lost all hope" of seeing her again, saying she had risked "imprisonment and death" in escaping from the IS territory.

They said they were "utterly shocked" by her lack of regret about joining IS, but that they were the "words of a girl who was groomed at the age of 15" and was surrounded by IS sympathisers.

The family said they were concerned that Begum's mental health had been affected by her four years in Syria, during which she married an IS fighter and had two children who died.

"Now we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamima's young children have died -- children we will never come to know as a family. The welfare of Shamima's unborn child is of paramount concern to our family and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events."

They said they would welcome an investigation into her actions in Syria "under the principles of British justice".

Begum, along with Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, entered Syria via Turkey in February 2015. She said Kadiza Sultana had died after a house was bombed, but the fate of her other friend was unknown.

The teenager had said her husband, a 27-year-old Dutch man, surrendered to a group of Syrian fighters when they escaped from Baghuz.

--IANS

soni/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mortal remains of Karnataka's slain CRPF trooper H. Guru arrived here on Saturday from New Delhi in a special IAF aircraft for the last rites with state honours at his village in Mandya district.

The tri-coloured cortege with Guru's body was lowered from the IAF's AN-32 transport aircraft at the state-run HAL airport in the city's eastern suburb and driven in a flower-bedecked military truck to Gudigere village in Mandya, about 100km from here.

Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and state Home Minister M.B. Patil laid wreaths on the cortege before it was placed in the vehicle for its last journey under escort.

Constable (General Duty) Guru, 33, was among the 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers who died on Thursday near Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwma district in a terror attack on a bus in which they were travelling in a convoy to Srinagar from Jammu.

"Kumaraswamy will attend the state funeral being accorded to Guru along with other dignitaries, including officials of the CRPF and the services," said the Chief Minister's Office in a statement here.

Guru belonged to the 82nd Battalion of the CRPF and was posted in Srinagar.

Guru's family members, including Kalavathi, father Honnaiah, mother Chikka Thayamma, younger brothers Madhu and Anand were inconsolable over his sudden death.

According to his relatives, Guru was at home last week on leave and left for Jammu and Kashmir on February 11.

Guru joined the CRPF in 2011 after serving in Jharkhand as part of the 94th Battalion.

The Chief Minister has assured the bereaved family of providing a government job to Guru's widow Kalavathi and compensation for his supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation.

--IANS

bha-fb/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mountain Pointe High School Advanced Placement Government teacher Lane Waddell was delighted to be able to pose with the Arizona Supreme Court during the justices historic visit to the school, where they heard arguments in a criminal appeal and then took students questions.
The Income-Tax department arrested and jailed a Karnataka businessman for defaulting on paying Rs 7.35-crore as income tax arrears and interest despite reminders, said an official on Saturday.

"The defaulter was arrested and produced before the Tax Recovery Officer here on Friday, and sent to the city central jail for six months for failing to pay his tax arrears," said the department in a statement here.

The official, however, did not name the defaulter and the nature of his business, except that he is from Tumakuru, 70 km northwest from here.

--IANS

fb/rs/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The mortal remains of Karnataka's slain CRPF trooper H. Guru arrived here on Saturday from New Delhi in a special IAF aircraft for the last rites with state honours at his village in Mandya district.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy announced a financial aid of Rs 25 lakh for the family of the slain trooper.

The tri-coloured cortege with Guru's body was lowered from the IAF's AN-32 transport aircraft at the state-run HAL airport in the city's eastern suburb and driven in a flower-bedecked military truck to Gudigere village in Mandya, about 100 km from here.

Union Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Kumaraswamy and state Home Minister M.B. Patil laid wreaths on the cortege before it was placed in the vehicle for its last journey under escort.

Constable (General Duty) Guru, 33, was among the 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers who died on Thursday near Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in a terror attack on a bus in which they were travelling in a convoy to Srinagar from Jammu.

"Kumaraswamy will attend the state funeral being accorded to Guru along with other dignitaries, including officials of the CRPF and the services," said the Chief Minister's Office in a statement here.

Guru's family members, including wife Kalavathi, father Honnaiah, mother Chikka Thayamma, younger brothers Madhu and Anand were inconsolable over his sudden death.

According to his relatives, Guru was at home last week on leave and left for Jammu and Kashmir on February 11.

Guru joined the CRPF in 2011 after serving in Jharkhand as part of the 94th Battalion.

The Chief Minister has assured the bereaved family of providing a government job to Guru's widow Kalavathi and compensation for his supreme sacrifice in the service of the nation.

Meanwhile, the state government has announced a financial help of Rs 25 lakh.

"The state government will give an ex-gratia of Rs 25 lakh to the family of the trooper, who laid down his life for the country," Kumaraswamy told.

"The state will do everything to take care of Guru's family," he asserted.

Guru belonged to the 82nd Battalion of the CRPF and was posted in Srinagar.

--IANS

bha-fb/in/rs/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Brussels, Feb 16 (IANS/AKI) Italy will spiral into a deep social and economic crisis like Venezuela's if it leaves the single currency, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani has warned.

"Whoever from the ruling majority imagines that leaving the euro will be the miracle cure for our ills wants to take us where Venezuela finds itself today," Tajani wrote on social media on Friday.

"Only an irresponsible government could want Italy's exit from the euro and it should immediately clarify where it wants to take the country," he added.

Tajani's remarks came after Claudio Borghi, an MP from the ruling eurosceptic League party, suggested Italy should leave the single currency rather than suffer the strictures of existing eurozone rules.

"If Germany wants to continue doing as it pleases in Europe, we are better off leaving," said Borghese, who chairs the lower house of parliament's budget committee.

Borghese made the comments in an interview with website Affaritaliani.it on Friday.

--IANS/AKI

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In the aftermath of the terror attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 49 CRPF personnel, the government's strategy for retaliation seems clear - launch an international campaign for exposing and isolating Pakistan for its complicity in terror activities, while taking all domestic and global players into confidence as it prepares for a befitting reply on a military level.

All actions following the dastardly attack indicate that the government's strategy would be a consensus-based retaliation for which the government has already started talks at different levels as it weighs all options for retaliation.

From the US, China, Russia, Canada, Australia and the European Union to Afghanistan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, countries across the world have come in support of India and expressed solidarity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just a day after the Pulwama attack, India on Friday started the process of isolating Pakistan on the international stage with Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale meeting at least two dozen envoys in the national Capital.

It also withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status given to Pakistan. According to experts, India's decision to withdraw the MFN status to Pakistan would adversely impact the neighbouring country's economy.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security on Friday, said the External Affairs Ministry would also initiate all diplomatic measures to ensure the global isolation of Pakistan and that India would press with the international community to ensure the early adoption at the UN of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT).

This is seen as government's intention to rally all countries in its support and take them into confidence before giving a befitting reply to Pakistan-based terror fronts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already declared that terror groups who perpetrated the Pulwama attack cannot hide and "will be punished" as the security forces have been given a "free hand" to tackle the inevitable.

US National Security Advisor Ambassador John Bolton has already extended support to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval for India's bid to designate JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Washington also extended support towards India's right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism under the 1267 Committee of the UN Security Council.

Doval and Bolton resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designate Azhar as a global terrorist under the UN Security Council Resolution which has already designated JeM as a terror body.

On the domestic front also, the government is making efforts to take all stakeholders into confidence before it takes any action. It called an all-party meeting on Saturday to bring political parties on the same page over the issue so it can put up a united face with the whole nation backing the government in whichever action it takes.

The all-party meeting, chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, passed a resolution condemning Pakistan's support to terrorism and stating that all parties along with the countrymen stood with the families of the slain CRPF troopers.

The government's coordinated efforts to expose and isolate Pakistan have already started showing results with Pakistan forced to meet the envoys of five Permanent Members countries of the UN Security Council - collectively known as P-5 - in Islamabad.

It looked visibly on the back foot when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's Advisor on Commerce, Razak Dawood, said that Pakistan would take action with great care and would not "overreact".

The international community has also strongly condemned the attack with US President Donald Trump asking Pakistan to "end immediately" the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil even as Pakistan dismissed accusations that it had links with the militants who carried out the attack.

According to sources, the Foreign Secretary met around 25 ambassadors, including the P-5, all South Asian countries and other important partners like Japan, Germany, Korea and others. P-5 comprises the US, Russia, China, France and United Kingdom.

During his meetings with the foreign envoys, Gokhale highlighted the role played by Pakistan in using terrorism as an instrument of its state policy.

"All the heads of missions were left in no doubt about the role played by Pakistan-based and supported JeM in the terrorist attack and our demand that Pakistan ceases forthwith all support and financing to terror groups operating from areas under their control," said a source.

According to NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar, India's decision to withdraw the MFN status to Pakistan would adversely impact the neighbouring country's economy.

A JeM terrorist crashed a car bomb into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Thursday, making it the worst ever attack on security forces on any single day since a separatist campaign broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989.

The attack further damaged the already tense India-Pakistan diplomatic relations, with New Delhi saying it had evidence of Islamabad's involvement in the carnage. Pakistan, however, dismissed accusations that it had links with the militants behind the attack.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

(Vishav can be contacted at vishav@ians.in)

--IANS

vv/bns/oeb/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A late goal by Bikramjit Singh handed Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan their seventh victory of the current I-League season, as they defeated Aizawl FC 2-1 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Saturday.

Ugandan forward Henry Kisekka put the Green and Maroons ahead with an early strike, before former Mohun Bagan man Ansumana Kromah drew Aizawl level on the half-hour mark. The Kolkata giants left it late for defender Bikramjit Singh to grab the winner with just 12 minutes of regulation time left on the clock.

This win secures the Green and Maroons' spot on the sixth position in the Hero I-League table as they draw level with Neroca FC on 26. The Manipuri club remains ahead by dint of goal difference.

Bagan boss Khalid Jamil came in with attacking tactics, looking for an early goal. The team's efforts bore fruit when an Abinash Ruidas free-kick from long range was brought down by Kisekka on the 22nd minute before the Ugandan calmly slotted it into the goal.

However, Aizawl came back with a goal of their own just eight minutes later, when Kromah lined up a shot from outside the Mohun Bagan penalty area and sent it into the bottom corner.

Jamil, in search of greater creativity from the middle of the park, brought Egyptian Omar Elhussieny on in place of veteran Mehtab Hossain in the second half. They finally got the winner late in the second half, when a Sony Norde free-kick was met by Bikramjit Singh, who scored the winner.

Aizawl gave it an almighty effort in the last 10 minutes, and Jamil had to ensure that his back-four had some extra protection, as he brought on Darren Caldeira in place of Kisekka. However, the Green and Maroons managed to hold on to their lead till the end.

--IANS

ajb/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least 66 people were killed on Friday by unidentified gunmen in Nigeria's Kaduna state, on the eve of the country's presidential election, officials said.

State government spokesman Samuel Aruwan said in a statement that eight settlements were attacked, with 22 children and 12 women among the victims, Xinhua news agency reported.

Aruwan said the cause of the violence was unclear, and some security operatives had been deployed to the affected localities.

Some suspects have been arrested in connection in with the violence, he said.

The spokesperson urged community, traditional and religious leaders in the area to encourage residents to avoid any reprisal attacks and to leave the matter in the hands of the security and law enforcement agencies.

"The killings are being investigated and residents are assured that indicted persons will be prosecuted," he said.

On January 22, the Nigerian government alleged there were security threats to the upcoming general elections in the country, alerting citizens of the west African country to be wary of pending attacks before, during, and after the polls.

Kaduna, located in the northern part of the country, was among states earlier listed by the government as one of the flashpoint areas.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that the government has "zero tolerance" towards terrorism and the security forces have been given a free hand to deal with terror groups.

"Rajnath Singh, in the all party meeting, said that due to the terror attack on February 14 in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulawama, the entire country was deeply hurt and there is outrage," Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while speaking to reporters after the all-party meeting in Parliament here.

"Rajnath Singh assured that the moral of the security forces are high and we are committed to curb terror in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the government has given free hand to the security forces to deal with the terror groups and those who are giving shelter to them," Tomar said.

"He also said that the government's has a zero tolerance policy against terrorism and this terror attack shows their frustration."

The all-party meeting of the leaders of the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha was called by Rajnath Singh.

The Minister said that, in the meeting, all the leaders discussed and assured that "all Opposition parties are standing with the government".

Rajnath Singh said that the people of Jammu and Kashmir, who want love and peace, are standing with us in the fight against terrorism.

"But there are a few people in the state who help the terror groups from across the border and they are the enemy of the youths in the state. They don't want peace and tranquality there," Tomar said quoting the Home Minister.

"The country is fighting against terrorism and we will take the fight to its logical end. The sacrifice of our troopers would not go in vain and we are committed to curb terrorism," he said.

Rajnath Singh assured that the government will help the families of the troopers who were killed and has also asked the state governments to take care of their families.

"The Home Minister assured that unitedly we will succeed in curbing terrorism in the state and bring back peace," Tomar said.

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister also said that a resolution was passed in the meeting.

--IANS

bns-aks/pg/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Google is planning to roll-out a functionality that would auto-update pre-loaded apps via Google Play even when users are not signed into their Google accounts.

With this feature, the search engine giant aims to provide a more consistent app experience for users in the coming months, Android Police reported on Friday.

Previously, if users were not signed into their Google accounts, pre-installed apps on their devices, including the Play Store, were cut off from updates.

"In the coming months, Google Play will begin testing a new feature that will automatically allow Google Play to update pre-loaded apps and with users having an option to turn off this feature at any time if they wish. This should also help developers reduce overhead costs required to support obsolete app versions," the report quoted Google as saying in a letter to the developers.

Google is advising developers to make sure that any updates to their app work properly in the absence of a Google account.

The feature would only apply to devices shipped with Android Lollipop or newer OS versions, the report added.

It is yet not clear by when would the feature be officially released for all Android users.

--IANS

rp/pg/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Facebook has enabled advertisers to promote anti-vaccine content to nearly nine lakh people interested in "vaccine controversies", the media reported.

The social networking giant is already facing pressure to stop promoting anti-vaccine propaganda to users amid global concern over vaccine hesitancy and a measles outbreak in the Pacific northwest.

Advertisers pay to reach groups of people on Facebook which include those interested in "Dr Tenpenny on Vaccines", which refers to anti-vaccine activist Sherri Tenpenny, and "informed consent", which is language that anti-vaccine propagandists have adopted to fight vaccination laws, The Guardian reported on Friday.

On Thursday, California congressman Adam Schiff, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, in letters to Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, urged them to take more responsibility for health-related misinformation on their platforms.

"The algorithms which power these services are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information, and the consequences of that are particularly troubling for public health issues," Schiff wrote.

"I am concerned by the report that Facebook accepts paid advertising that contains deliberate misinformation about vaccines," he added.

In 2017, ProPublica, a US-based non-profit organisation, revealed that the platform included targeting categories for people interested in a number of anti-Semitic phrases, such as "How to burn Jews" or "Jew hater".

While the anti-Semitic categories found by ProPublica were automatically generated and were too small to run effective ad campaigns by themselves, the "vaccine controversies" category contains nearly nine lakh people, and "informed consent" from about 340,000. The Tenpenny category only includes 720 people, which is too few to run a campaign.

Facebook declined to comment on the ad targeting categories, but said it was looking into the issue, The Guardian reported.

"We've taken steps to reduce the distribution of health-related misinformation on Facebook, but we know we have more to do," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement responding to Schiff's letter.

"We're currently working on additional changes that we'll be announcing soon."

--IANS

rt/mag/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Vatican on Saturday said it has defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the high-profile Catholic figure, of the priesthood rights after a Church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians over decades.

McCarrick, former leader of the Archdiocese of Washington once recognised as a powerful advocate of the Catholic Church's political priorities, was informed of the decision on Friday, the Vatican said in a statement cited by CNN.

It is the first time that a cardinal has been defrocked for sexual abuse.

The Vatican said a canonical process had found McCarrick guilty of several charges, including "sins" with minors and adults, "with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power", the Washington Post reported.

McCarrick, now 88, was accused of sexually abusing three minors and harassing adult seminarians and priests.

A New York Times investigation last summer detailed settlements paid to men who had complained of abuse when McCarrick was a bishop in New Jersey in the 1980s and revealed that some church leaders had long known of the accusations.

The Pope accepted McCarrick's resignation from the College of Cardinals in July and suspended him from all priestly duties. He was first removed from ministry in June, after a church panel substantiated a claim that he had abused an altar boy almost 50 years ago. McCarrick has denied accusations.

The judgment was recognised by Pope Francis to be of a "definitive nature" and no longer subject to appeal, the report said.

The defrocking came just days before the Pope plans to gather bishops from around the world for an unprecedented summit on abuse.

The former cardinal may not face criminal prosecution because the allegations related to crimes were beyond statutes of limitations in the US jurisdictions where they were said to have occurred.

The move came as officials in the US ramped up investigations into sexual abuse by the members of clergy. As many as 16 state attorney generals have opened abuse investigations since the summer.

The investigations spread after the release of an explosive Pennsylvania grand jury report last year that found that Catholic priests were accused of sexually abusing more than 300 minors over decades and that church leaders had covered up the cases.

The outrage over McCarrick -- along with with additional scandals in the US, Europe, Latin America and Australia -- has damaged the reputation of the Pope, who had said in 2013 he wanted the church to act "decisively" on abuse.

--IANS

soni/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Phoenix Police Reserve members train just as regular officers do before they hit the streets for still more training.
Rome, Feb 16 (IANS/AKI) The European Parliament elections in May will "change" the European Union, Italy's Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has said.

"When elected politicians use terms like puppets, slaves, clowns and racists, that is not dialogue," Salvini said on Friday in a TV interview.

"But on May 26, Europe is going to change," Salvini said.

Salvini's comments came after an attack on the populist government earlier this week by the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt during a plenary session attended by Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Populist movements around Europe are hoping to triumph in the May elections, ousting 'establishment' politicians like Verhofstadt, a former Belgian Prime Minister and leader of the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE) in the European Parliament.

--IANS/AKI

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Sustained cries of 'Vande Mataram', 'Bharat Mata ki Jai'and 'Pakistan murdabad' rent the air as hundreds of people paid homage to the two CRPF troopers from the state killed in the Pulwama terror attack when their bodies reached the city on Saturday.

Draped in the tricolour, the coffins carrying the mortal remains of head constable Bablu Santra and constable Sudip Biswas were flown in to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport four hours behind schedule after a special air force flight developed snag at Patna airport.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo, alongside troopers from the Central Reserve Police Forces and other security forces, carried the bodies out of the NSCBI airport, where people carrying the national flag, festoons and posters decrying the killings were waiting since thee morning to pay their respect to the martyrs.

The coffins were placed on a makeshift platform outside gate number four, as wreaths were laid and a guard of honour given by the CRPF.

Three close relatives of Biswas, who had come all the way from Tehatta in Nadia, broke down on seeing the coffin, where his name was written.

Supriyo, BJP leader Locket Chatterjee, and senior officers of the army, navy, air force, CRPF, and local police were among those who laid wreaths and saluted the slain braveheart.

A minute's silence was observed before the bodies were put in trucks for being driven to their homes for the last rites.

--IANS

ssp/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As many as seven militants were killed on Saturday in a shootout at a checkpoint in the country's North Sinai province, officials said. 15 military personnel were either killed or wounded in the gun battle, he added.

Military spokesman Tamer al-Refai said the forces were searching the area for other terrorists, Xinhua news agency reported.

Egypt has been facing terrorist violence, which has killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians, following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his Muslim Brotherhood, currently banned.

Most terror attacks in Egypt in the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Army and police have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the ongoing anti-terror war declared by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

--IANS

soni/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi court on Saturday extended Robert Vadra's interim bail till March 2. Vadra was present at the court for the first time in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special Judge Arvind Kumar also extended till March 2 interim protection from arrest to Vadra's close aide Manoj Arora till March 2.

The ED told the court Vadra was not cooperating in the investigation.

Defending Vadra, counsel K.T.S. Tulsi said he has visited the ED office thrice and was grilled for 23 hours and 25 minutes.

Special Public Prosecutor D.P. Singh said the ED wanted to interrogate him further in the case.

The court asked Vadra and Arora to join investigation as and when required by the ED.

The prosecutor argued that Vadra was taking to social media and claiming to be a victim, by posting that he was being "harassed".

He said Vadra's visit to the court had attracted a lot of media attention and seemed like a wedding procession (baraat).

The case relates to ownership of undisclosed assets abroad worth 1.9 million pounds, allegedly belonging to Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, General Secretary of the Congress for Uttar Pradesh East, and brother-in-law of Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

On February 2, the court granted Vadra interim bail till February 16 and asked him to join investigation on February 6.

The ED had lodged a money laundering case against Arora after his role surfaced during an Income Tax Department probe into another case under the new Black Money Act and tax law against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The London property was allegedly bought by Bhandari and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses on renovation.

On December 7, as part of the investigation, the ED conducted searches at a number of premises in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.

--IANS

akk/pg/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi court on Saturday extended the interim bail till March 2 of Robert Vadra, Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law, who came to the court for the first time in connection with a money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Special Judge Arvind Kumar also extended the interim protection from arrest to Vadra's close aide Manoj Arora till March 2.

The hearing was in relation to Vadra's anticipatory bail plea.

The ED, however, told the court that Vadra is not cooperating in the investigation.

Defending him, Vadra's counsel K.T.S. Tulsi said that he has appeared in the ED office thrice and grilled for a total of 23 hours and 25 minutes.

Special Public Prosecutor D.P. Singh argued that Vadra was taking to social media and claiming that he was a victim by posting that he was being "harrased".

Singh said that accused should not use social media to claim that he is being victimised.

He said that Vadra's visit to the court had attracted a lot of media attention which seemed like people had turned up for a "baraat" or a wedding party.

The case relates to ownership of 1.9 million pounds worth undisclosed assets abroad, allegedly belonging to Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi, the new General Secretary of the Congress for Uttar Pradesh East.

The ED had lodged a money laundering case against Arora after his role surfaced during a probe by the Income Tax Department into another case under the new Black Money Act and tax law against absconding arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari.

The London property was allegedly bought by Bhandari and sold in 2010 for the same amount despite incurring additional expenses on its renovation.

On December 7, as part of the investigation, the ED conducted searches at a number of premises in Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru.

--IANS

akk/rs/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Delhi court on Saturday rejected the bail plea of British national Christian Michel, the middleman accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the bail plea, which was rejected by Special Judge Arvind Kumar.

Michel sought the bail saying he has been in custody since December 4, 2018, and as per Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the probe was supposed to be completed by February 3, and the charge sheet was also not filed within the stipulated 60-day period, his defence counsel told the court.

The CBI argued the charge sheet against the accused, including Michel, has been filed and proceedings have started.

Quoting provisions of Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the CBI said the 60-day criteria was not applicable in this case.

On its part, the ED said rather than filing various prosecution complaints piecemeal, the agency is in the process of filing a detailed and comprehensive prosecution complaint.

Michel was extradited to India on December 4, 2018 from the United Arab Emirates after the ED had lodged a request with the UAE authorities for extradition. The ED arrested him on December 22, 2018.

The ED and the CBI had filed charge sheets in the bribery cases in courts and non-bailable warrants had been issued against the accused.

The CBI had named former Indian Air Force chief S.P. Tyagi, his cousin Sanjeev Tyagi alias Julie, then IAF Vice Chief J.S. Gujral and advocate Gautam Khaitan as the four Indians involved in the scam.

The others named in the charge sheet included Giuseppe Orsi, former chief of Italian defence and aerospace major Finmeccanica, and Bruno Spagnolini, former CEO of AgustaWestland, apart from middlemen Michel, Haschke and Gerosa.

--IANS

akk/pg/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced plans to sue the Donald Trump administration over the President's declaration of a national emergency to access funds for building a wall on the Mexican border.

"President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up 'national emergency' in order to seize power and subvert the constitution. This 'emergency' is a national disgrace, and the blame lays solely at the feet of the President," Newsom said in a statement on Friday hours after Trump's declaration, Xinhua reported.

"Meanwhile, he plans to shut down and divert funds used by California law enforcement that run counter-narcotics operations and fight drug cartels to build his wall. Our message back to the White House is simple and clear --California will see you in court," the Democratic Governor added.

Newsom and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra did not mention when they would file the lawsuit at a press conference in Sacramento, the capital city of California.

"Fortunately, Donald Trump is not the last word, the courts will be the last word," said Newsom at the press conference.

Becerra said California is being called upon to act, noting that they held the press conference because the important matters impacting the state of California and American people.

"He can't do this, because the US Constitution gives Congress, not the President, the powers to direct dollars, the powers of the purse," he added.

Trump announced earlier on Friday that he will sign a national emergency to build the US-Mexico border wall and push for his signature campaign promise. The move gave the president power to bypass US Congress to get access to money, but it sparked a new round of legal and partisan battles almost immediately.

The White House plans to redirect $3.6 billion in military construction funding toward the border project, re-purposing about $2.5 billion from the Defense Department's drug-interdiction programme and $600 million from the Treasury Department's asset-forfeiture fund.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Inayat Khan, District Magistrate (DM) of Sheikhpura in Bihar, on Saturday decided to adopt the daughters of two CRPF troopers from the state, killed in the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

Khan, a Bihar cadre IAS officer, has announced she will adopt two girls, one daughter each of slain CRPF personnel Ratan Kumar Thakur and Sanjay Kunar Sinha.

Khan said she will bear the cost of the girls' education besides taking care of other expenses through out their lives.

Khan will also donate her two days' salary to the families of the two martyrs. "I have requested all government staff of my district to donate their one day's salary to the families of the two martyrs," she said.

According to Khan, a bank account has been opened in Sheikhpura for people to donate generously to the kin of the martyred CRPF troopers.

Earlier, Khan, along with the staff at the DM's office, paid tributes to 49 CRPF troopers, killed in the Pulwama terror attack, by observing a minute's silence on Saturday.

--IANS

ik/arm/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday announced financial assistance of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of CRPF jawans martyred in Thursday's terrorist attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir.

Condemning the attack, Naidu said that the entire nation is grieving the loss of the brave CRPF troopers. "In their saddest hour, we stand by the bereaved families. Expressing our deepest sympathies, we extend ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh each, to the families of the martyrs," said Naidu, who is also the president of Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

At a meeting of the TDP politburo, a two-minute silence was observed in remembrance of the brave CRPF jawans who lost their lives.

"All the condolences and words of solace are not enough to compensate for the irreplaceable loss and immeasurable pain caused by Pulwama attack," said Naidu.

As many as 49 CRPF troopers lost their lives when a terrorist rammed explosive-laden vehicle in the soldiers' convoy at Pulawama near Srinagar.

--IANS

ms/vd

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Opposition parties on Saturday demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for consultations on the Pulwama terror attack.

They made this demand at the all-party meeting that was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the aftermath of the horrific attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that left 49 paramilitary troopers dead till Friday.

"We asked Home Minister to request the Prime Minister to hold a consultation meeting with the presidents of all national and regional parties and hold discussions with them," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.

Azad said Congress has extended its full support to the government to end terror. "We have disagreements with the government and there will be; but we have decided to stand with the government for the sake of country, for its safety and unity, for the safety of people and security forces," he said.

"We are with the Army, the BSF, the CRPF, the J&K Police to end the terror."

He said it was for the first time such a large number of security personnel had died in non-war situation since 1947.

"The nation is sad, angry. People and politicians irrespective of their religion, region, caste are mourning," Azad said. "Be it Kashmir or any part of the country, Congress will extend full cooperation to the government to deal with the militancy."

Other parties also supported the demand in the meeting, he added.

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said such a meeting should be convened to discuss the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the efforts the government was likely to take to maintain peace and normalcy in the state.

"All parties expressed condemnation of the attack and reiterated that they were firmly behind the security forces at this challenging moment," Raja said after the all-party meeting.

The political parties also advised against any instigations against the Muslim community, he added.

Rashtriya Janata Dal's Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, Trinamool Congress's Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien, Republican Party of India chief and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, Congress's Anand Sharma, Telugu Desam Party's Ram Mohan Naidu were among the leaders present at the meeting.

The all-party meeting on Saturday also passed a resolution condemning the February 14 Pulwama attack that has till now claimed the lives of 49 CRPF troopers.

In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

--IANS

bns-aks-spk/in/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The all-party meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Parliament on Saturday passed a resolution condemning the February 14 Pulwama attack that has till now claimed the lives of 49 CRPF troopers.

"We strongly condemn the dastardly terror act in Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir in which lives of 40 (Thursday's immediate figure) brave jawans of CRPF were lost. We, along with all our countrymen, stand with their families in this hour of grief," the resolution passed at the meet called by the Centre, stated.

"We strongly condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it across the border," it read.

The resolution also said that in the past three decades, the country has faced the menace of cross-border terrorism and India has displaced both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges.

"The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of the nation," it added.

In the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.

The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.

--IANS

bns-nks/in/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Pakistan will consider all available options to retaliate for the Indian governments decision to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status, Prime Minister Imran Khan's Advisor on Commerce Razak Dawood has said.

India withdrew the MFN status it gave to Pakistan in 1996 following the February 14 terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that has till now claimed the lives of 49 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers.

Dawood said on Friday that Pakistan might take unilateral measures against India or revoke concessions under the South Asia Preferential Trade Agreement (Sapta) and might take up the issue in the Geneva-based World Trade Organisation, Dawn online reported on Saturday.

"We would not overreact... We would take action with great care," he added while addressing the media at the office of board of investment on Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit.

A Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist crashed a car bomb into a CRPF convoy in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Thursday, making it the worst ever attack on security forces on any single day since a separatist campaign broke out in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. It drew international condemnation.

The attack further damaged the already tense India-Pakistan diplomatic relations, with New Delhi saying it had evidence of Islamabad's involvement in the carnage. Pakistan, however, dismissed accusations that it had links with the militants behind the attack.

Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua met the envoys of the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council - US, Russia, China, France and UK - on Friday and denied her country's role in the dastardly strike.

India, however, rejected Janjua's claims and said the "links are clear and evident and for all to see", noting that JeM was based in Pakistan.

A spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry termed as "preposterous" demands for an investigation saying there was a video of the suicide bomber declaring himself a member of the JeM.

India also demanded that Pakistan take immediate and verifiable action against terrorists and terror groups operating from territories under its control.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is currently in Munich, slammed India, saying that New Delhi should have acted more responsibly and engaged themselves with Pakistan by sharing evidence.

"Accusing Pakistan is very easy, you pass the buck," he said.

"Pakistan has been very clear, our viewpoint is clear, and, specifically, the stance of this government has been plain and simple: we desire peace," Qureshi said.

"We desire good relations with our neighbours, we neither wish to opt for the path of violence nor has this ever been part of our intentions," he added.

--IANS

soni/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Several shops and business establishments in Uttar Pradesh's Agra city downed their shutters on Saturday morning to protest the terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that left 49 troopers dead.

Groups of people went around markets and localities, shouting slogans against Pakistani leaders and torching their effigies and the Pakistani flag.

Meanwhile, the last journey of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper Kaushal Kumar Rawat, a resident of Kahrai village, was attened by thousands of people who were joined by Cabinet Minister S.P. Singh Baghel and several leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and senior district officials. His body arrived here in the wee hours.

Rawat's family told the media that they only hope his martyrdom does not go waste and a fitting reply be given to the enemy.

His daughter Apoorva, who works for a private airlines in New Delhi, said only two days ago she had a telephonic conversation with her father.

Rawat leaves behind his wife, daughter and a son. He had been recently transferred and was on his way to Srinagar from Siliguri when the tragic explosion took his life.

Family members have offered to give land for a memorial in the village.

The Uttar Pradesh government had announced Rs 25 lakh each for the families of the 12 troopers from the state who were killed in the attack and a job to one member of the bereaved family.

--IANS

bk/mag/ab

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Police have responded to a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora, a suburb about 65 km from the US city of Chicago.

Citing the Aurora Daily Herald, the BBC reported that police officers and several civilians have been injured in the attack on Friday.

A nearby school has been placed on lockdown. The FBI sid they are responding to assist the police.

Swat teams are at the scene and police are urging nearby residents and employees to stay away or shelter in place.

Several hospitals have been put on notice, and are ready to begin accepting patients, according to a broadcaster WGN-TV.

The shooting is thought to have happened at Henry Pratt Company, a manufacturing company that makes valves.

An employee at nearby Capitol Printing told ABC7 that they are currently hiding in a closet.

Witness John Probst, who works at the plant, told ABC7 that he saw the attacker, whom he recognised as a colleague.

He said the man was carrying a handgun equipped with a laser sight, but this has yet to be confirmed by officials.

--IANS

pgh/

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
While the top five smartphone brands currently enjoy a market share exceeding 75 per cent in India, whatever is left is now being shared by over 88 smartphone brands -- leaving a mere 0.3 per cent market share for each player.

Players like Panasonic and Videocon are among those 88 smartphone brands sharing the revenue of nearly Rs 43,560 crore -- or Rs 475 crore revenue per brand (on average).

On the other hand, Samsung alone posted sales of over Rs 37,000 crore for its mobile phone business in India in the financial year 2018, followed by arch rival Xiaomi at nearly Rs 23,000 crore.

Oppo Mobiles registered nearly Rs 12,000 crore in revenue while Vivo crossed Rs 11,000 crore in the FY 2018.

The big question is: How many of these 88 brands will be able to survive the hyper-competitive and highly price-conscious Indian market?

"As a result of the increased consolidation among the top five smartphone brands, the available potential sphere of play for other smartphone players has significantly decreased," said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG) at the market research firm CyberMedia Research (CMR).

Over the past two years, feature phone to smartphones upgrade has not picked up as anticipated.

"This was primarily due to the spike in refurbished phones/second hand phone market, along with the rapid uptake of 4G feature phones. Coupled with this, the lack of smartphone offerings providing optimal experience under sub-Rs 6,000, is also affecting the upgrades," Ram told IANS.

Amid massive investment in retail stores, hiring more staff and increasing ad spends as users are spoilt for choices, the pinch would soon affect many of those 88 vendors sooner than later, and most will either shut shops or enter newer businesses.

However, for Chinese brands with deep pockets and a stagnating market back home, India would continue to remain a attractive bet.

"They can afford to bleed, and any profit would be welcome. We believe they would continue to fight in the market," said Swati Kalia, an analyst at IIG, CMR.

The smartphone market in India grew 14.5 per cent in 2018 with the highest-ever shipments of 142.3 million units, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Xiaomi with 28.9 market share shipped 41.1 million units while Samsung with 22.4 per cent market share shipped 31.9 million in FY 2018.

Vivo shipped 14.2 million units with 10 per cent market share while OPPO shipped 10.2 million units and captured 7.2 per cent market share.

In such a scenario, the road ahead only gets tougher for the rest of the players.

"For large consumer-durable conglomerates, including the likes of Panasonic and Videocon, it makes more sense to look at broader synergies available from new blue sky opportunities such as Internet of Things (IoT) and the connected home," noted Amit Sharma, another Analyst at IIG, CMR.

(Nishant Arora can be reached at nishant.a@ians.in)

--IANS

na/am/in

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi government has closed 58 guest houses in Karol Bagh after their fire safety certificates were cancelled for violations.

The action was taken after inspection of 80 such establishments, Delhi Fire Services said here on Saturday.

The action comes within a week of a massive fire at a hotel in Karol Bagh, which claimed 17 lives and injured many others.

Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain said the fire department will intensify drive across the city to locate illegal constructions and hotels violating fire safety norms to prevent recurrence of any such incident.

According to Jain, municipal corporations and police have been asked to take necessary action to seal these establishments.

The department started inspecting the guest houses in the area after the fire broke out on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the fire department inspected 23 hotels and found 13 violating fire safety norms.

On Thursday, of the 22 hotels inspected, 17 were found to be violating rules.

On Friday, 35 hotels were inspected by the fire department and 28 were found violating fire safety norms.

"The Licensing Department, the Delhi Police, the Health Department and the North Delhi Municipal Corporation have been informed to stop the running of these guest houses forthwith," G.C. Mishra, Director, Delhi Fire Services, informed Jain in the Action Taken Report.

Six teams have been formed to inspect the guest houses in Karol Bagh area, he said. The inspection shall continue, he added.

--IANS

nks/oeb/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Delhi government has cancelled the fire safety licences of 57 hotels for various violations after inspecting 80 such establishment in the city, said Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain on Saturday.

In a tweet, Jain said: "In all, NoC of 57 hotels out of 80 inspected are cancelled. All of them will be closed."

The action comes within a week of a massive fire at a hotel in Karol Bagh, which claimed 17 lives and injured many others.

The Minister said the fire department will intensify drive across the city to locate illegal constructions and hotels violating fire safety norms to prevent recurrence of any more incident.

According to Jain, municipal corporations and police have been asked to take necessary action to seal these establishments.

As many as 17 people were killed when a fire engulfed a five-storey hotel here on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the fire department inspected 23 hotels and 13 found them violating fire safety norms.

On Thursday, of the 22 hotels inspected 17 were found to were violating rules.

On Friday, 35 hotels were inspected by the fire department and 27 were found violating fire safety norms.

--IANS

nks/oeb/pcj

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Connor Besemer (from left) of Gilbert as Mordred, Kassandra Diaz of Mesa as Morgana Le Fay and Olivia VanSlyke of Mesa as Ruth star in the East Valley Childrens Theatres Camelot and Camelittle.
Major-General Mohammad-Ali Jafari of the Islamic Republic Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran on Saturday said that they would avenge the blood of the personnel who lost their lives in the ghastly attack that took place on Wednesday (local time).

IRNA quoted Jafari, as saying: "We will avenge their blood. If Pakistan doesn't do its duties in fighting terrorism, Iran will fight the terrorist groups organised by regional and extra-regional intelligence services"

He was speaking on the sidelines of the ceremony to commemorate the martyrs of the attack.

The Major General slamming the government of Pakistan said that the state should not allow terrorists to use their border areas to organise anti-security moves against Iran.

"Inasmuch as the Government of Pakistan knows the location of these elements that are dangerous to Islam and should be accountable for the crimes the terrorist have committed, it is expected that they do their duty with seriousness and not allow the terrorists to use their border areas to organise anti-security moves against Iran," he said.

Sharpening his attack, Jafari said: "If Pakistan doesn't do its duties in this regard, Iran, based on the international laws, has the right to counter the adjacent threats in the neighboring countries and will punish the terrorists that are the mercenaries of regional and extra-regional intelligence services."

The dastardly terrorist attack took place in Khash-Zahedan sector of Sistan-Baluchistan province in Iran.

As many as 23 members of Iran's elite paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps force in south-eastern Iran on Wednesday (local time) were killed, according to state media.

The explosion took place inside a bus which was ferrying the military personnel in Sistan-Baluchistan province, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, CNN reported.

The bombing also injured 17 others.

The explosion hit the vehicle on a desert road in the province, where the group is known to operate. It came barely two days after Iran marked the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

This attack coincided with the ghastly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in India, which killed as many as 40 CRPF personnel.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
United States National Security Advisor John Bolton called his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to express condolences and outrage over the Pulwama terror attack orchestrated by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM).

The two NSAs agreed to hold Pakistan accountable for its obligations under the United Nations resolutions and to remove all obstacles to designating JeM chief Masood Azhar as a 'global terrorist' under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 Committee process.

"National Security Advisor Shri Ajit Doval had a telephone call with his U.S. counterpart Ambassador John Bolton on the evening of 15 February. The call was initiated by the U.S. side to express condolences and outrage over the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM)," read an official statement.

Bolton also extended support to India's right to self-defense against cross-border terrorism. He further offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators and backers of the attack promptly to justice.

The two NSAs also vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan ceases to be a safe haven for JeM and other terrorist groups that target India, the US and others in the region.

A CRPF convoy, while moving from Jammu to Srinagar, was attacked by a suicide bomber in Lethpora area on the national highway at around 3.15 pm on Thursday.

The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar. The slain personnel were in a bus which had 42 CRPF men on board.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, Indian Army will destroy Pakistani terrorists by entering into their territory, asserted Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Saturday.

His remarks come two days after around 40 CRPF jawans were killed in a deadly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

"Our security forces have defeated Pakistan three times even before. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, we'll again destroy terrorists in Pakistan by entering into their territory," Raghubar Das said.

Addressing the media in Ranchi, where the mortals of the Pulwama attack martyr's arrived, the Chief Minister said that the nation is proud of those brave hearts and the stories of soldiers will remain immortal.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed on February 14 when their convoy was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.

Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday embarked on a three-nation visit to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain.

"Swaraj's visit will strengthen India's relations with these three countries, expand avenues of cooperation and provide an opportunity to discuss regional and global issues of importance," the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

She will first visit Bulgaria for two days. During her stay in Bulgaria, the External Affairs Minister will meet Ekaterina Zaharieva, the country's deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. The two leaders will discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

Swaraj will pay floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the South Park in Sofia. She will then visit Morocco on February 17 and 18, where she will meet Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Nasser Bourita.

The minister is also scheduled to call on Moroccan King Mohammed VI, Prime Minister Saad Dine El Otmani and Habib El Maliki, president of the Moroccan Parliament's Chamber of Representatives. She is also slated to interact with the Indian community in Rabat.

"This visit will be a follow-up on the state visit of President Ram Nath Kovind to Bulgarian September, last year. Significantly, this is the first-ever visit of an India External Affairs Minister to Bulgaria," said MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
"Just because of these three-four people, should questions be raised over Kartarpur corridor," said Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday, while sticking to his controversial statement on Pulwama attack.

Addressing a press conference here, Sindhu said: "My words are often distorted. Only a line is taken out from it. My statement is not played fully as a lot of people get scared and feel insecure. I want to repeat what I said on Friday. There is no religion, caste and country of terrorism."

"When a politician moves, there is a lot of security. But when 3,000 jawans move, why there is no tracker? The jawans take care of us day and night. But why nothing is done for their security? Why they were not taken by air," he asked.

"Today, the whole nation is fighting as one. But just because of these three-four people should questions be raised over Kartarpur corridor? Will there be a question mark over the decision taken by two Prime Ministers (of India and Pakistan)," Sidhu further asked.

He went on to ask: "Will India's development stop because of the four terrorists, who killed our soldiers? Will Guru Nanak's philosophy not move ahead because of them? Nobody can let a country bow down in front of terrorists."

"Yesterday, I only said that there should be a permanent solution to this. This should not happen again what we have been witnessing since the last 71 years. This can only be done by putting international pressure. It happened yesterday," he said.

Sidhu's comment on Pulwama terror attack, which left as many as 40 CRPF personnel killed, had drawn flak from various quarters.

"For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual? It is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished," Sidhu had said during a media interaction on Friday.

When asked about his visit to Pakistan in August 2018 to attend Imran Khan's oath-taking ceremony as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Sidhu said on Saturday: "I was called... They sent an invitation... I went there as a friend. Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) went there without any invitation. He gave the same hug. When he came back, Pathankot incident happened. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee went there, Kargil war took place. Those who question me today were sitting next to me there."

As many as 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Awantipora in a terror attack orchestrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan based terror outfit. The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora on February 14.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
'Several' people sustained injuries after a gunman opened fire at a manufacturing plant in Aurora city in Illinois on Friday (local time).

Police officials said that they were responding to an active shooter situation at The Henry Pratt Company building.

According to CNN, citing local officials and hospitals, four law enforcement personnel and "multiple" civilians were shot and wounded in the incident.

Taking to its Twitter handle, the City of Aurora urged civilians to not venture into the area during the shooting. It later announced that the suspect was apprehended and sent to custody.

Aurora spokesperson Clayton Muhammed told CNN affiliate WGN-TV that the four police officers are stable, although it was still not clear how many civilians were wounded and the extent of their injuries.

US President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting in Illinois and is monitoring the situation, said White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders.

Friday's incident comes barely a day after the US marked the first anniversary of the mass shooting that took place in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which claimed 17 lives.

Following the deadly assault, thousands of people, primarily students across the country held a "March for Our Lives" rally pressing for stricter gun control measures.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman's visit to Pakistan has been delayed by a day. He is now scheduled to arrive in the country for a two-day visit starting from February 17 (Sunday), Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

Earlier, the Saudi Crown Prince was slated to arrive in Islamabad on Saturday, but now the visit has been postponed by a day. The Pakistan foreign ministry did not divulge the reason behind the change in schedule, adding that the bilateral engagements "remains unchanged," The Dawn reported.

The Saudi Crown Prince will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including members of the royal family, ministers and businessmen.

This will be the Saudi Crown Prince's maiden visit to Pakistan since becoming the heir to the throne in 2017. Security has been beefed up in the Pakistani capital ahead of his arrival.

The sudden change in schedule comes after Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Denouncing the deadly assault, Saudi Arabia on Friday reinforced its support to India against terrorism and extremism, wishing for the speedy recovery of the wounded.

Last month, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide USD 3 billion to cash-starved Pakistan as a balance of payment support to stabilise its ailing economy besides providing oil on deferred payment for three years.

After visiting Pakistan, the Saudi Crown Prince will embark on a maiden two-day visit to India beginning from February 19.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founding leader Altaf Hussain on Saturday said Pulwama terror attack, which took place on Thursday, would throw the regions into flames of war.

Hussain vehemently slammed Pak-based terror outfit, JeM, for carrying out the suicide terror attack on a convoy of CRPF. He expressed his solidarity with the slain soldiers and bereaved families.

He said: "It is an established factor and reality that JeM was founded in Pakistan and operates from Pakistan across the Its headquarters is based in Pakistan. The videotaping of the suicide attack proved that JeM is not an ordinary terrorist but is an organisation fully trained by the ghoulish ISI."

MQM leader claimed that he has always supported the idea of establishing friendly ties with the neighbouring countries like Iran, India, Afghanistan, and China but that does not necessarily mean that Pakistani soil should be leased out to China.

"The entire Gwadar region has been converted into Chinese Red Zone where the local population of Balouchs is not allowed to enter. Conversely, Karachi is being reshaped for the ease and comfort of Chinese invaders. Houses and property of Mohajirs are being demolished in the garb of encroachments," he said.

MQM leader Hussain also said that the military junta of Pakistan has in the garb of democracy imposed an undeclared Martial Law and the incumbent PTI's government is nothing but a sheer puppet government that is working on dictations.

"There is Martial Law and Stratocracy in Pakistan being imposed and the has to take notice of these draconian steps taken by the Pakistani military," he said.

"UN, IMF, Bank, and all other money lending international institutions have to revisit their policies towards Pakistan and should stop lending money to the country because the Pakistani military and military intelligence agencies like MI and ISI would use that money for creating more terrorist organisations and the world would once again be on the verge of devastation like that of 9/11 and 7/7," he said.

"The fact is that the army has occupied the whole country. It is the need of the hour that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be constituted and the military junta should realise their blunders and decide whether they are ready to live with the oppressed nations, Mohajirs, Balochs and Pashtuns or not," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Opposition parties on Saturday expressed solidarity with the security forces of the country in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India, in the wake of the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama on February 14.

A resolution, passed after the end of the all-party meeting here, said: "We strongly condemn the dastardly terror attack on February 14 at Pulwama in which lives of 40 brave jawans of CRPF were lost. We, along with our countrymen, stand with their families in this hour of grief. We condemn terrorism in all forms and the support being given to it from across the border."

It added, "India has during the past three decades faced the menace of cross border terrorism. Of late, terrorism in India is being actively encouraged by the forces across the order. India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity in India."

After the conclusion of all-party meeting, called by the Central government, to discuss the next course of action post-Pulwama terror attack, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Opposition has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to call and regional party presidents for a meeting over ghastly terror attack.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Azad reiterated that the Congress party fully stands with the Central government to finish terrorist and terrorism.

"We had requested the Home Minister to request the PM on our behalf to ask presidents of all and regional parties for a meeting. This was supported by other parties too. The entire nation is in mourning today, is angry. I had also said that barring war, for the first time since 1947 such large number of security personnel have been killed in an attack. We stand with our security forces - Army, CRPF, local police. The entire nation is standing with them," Azad said.

Yesterday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that the entire Opposition will stand with the government "in its actions" in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.

Condemning the attack on a CRPF convoy that took place on Thursday, Rahul said: "This is a terrible tragedy. This type of violence done against our security forces is absolutely disgusting. The aim of terrorism is to divide this country and we are not going to be divided. We will support our security forces and the government in its actions."

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Singh Tomar were among many leaders who reached for the meeting with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Pulwama terror attack.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also extended its unconditional support to the Central government in its fight against terrorism.

Speaking to ANI ahead of the all-party meet, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, "This is the time for everyone to be united. 130 crore Indians have to come together to support the Central government and the Prime Minister. It is not a time to play the political blame game and must give a united front. Whatever decision is taken by the Central government and the Prime Minister, we will support it."

India on Friday also announced the withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. New Delhi had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but Pakistan never reciprocated.

he Central government has also stepped up diplomatic efforts to mount pressure on the Government of Pakistan to take action against those who have been indulging in exporting terror to India. For long, India has sought the help of the global community in fighting against Pakistan sponsored terrorism.

Nearly 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed a vehicle carrying over massive explosives into their bus on Srinagar-Jammu national highway on Thursday at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora. The convoy consisted of 78 buses in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Showing solidarity with 40 CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama terror attack, Trinamool Congress led by its supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday took out candle light march in the state capital Kolkata.

"We express our solidarity with our jawans, countrymen and united India. At this hour, we are all together," West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted earlier on Saturday.

The candle light march commenced from Hazra More in south Kolkata and ended up to Gandhi statue.

Some protestors donned black cloth on their mouth to register their protest in the killing of around 40 CRPF personnel in Pulwama.

A Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed a vehicle carrying over massive explosives into the CPRF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu highway around 3.15 pm on February 14,

Earlier on Saturday, the all-party meeting was called by the Central Government to deliberate upon the situations arising out of Pulwama terror attack. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Violinist Joshua Bell (above), along with pianist/friend Sam Haywood, depart from the symphony concert format and plan a more intimate show of classical music at Mesa Arts Center on Feb. 14.
Conference leader Omar Abdullah on Saturday apprised Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh of the reports of Kashmiri students being threatened by terrorists and requested him to appoint a nodal officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for the same.

"Just met union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to personally pay my condolences for the tragic deaths in Pulwama on Thursday. I requested him to take all steps necessary to ensure Jammu remains calm," Abdullah tweeted after meeting with the Home Minister.

"I took the opportunity to inform Rajnath Singh of the reports I had received of Kashmiri students & others being threatened/harassed and requested him to appoint a nodal officer in MHA to ensure the directive issued to states is followed in letter and spirit. I'm grateful that Rajnath Singh gave me time at very short notice and his response to my requests was extremely positive," he added.

Their meeting took place after the Ministry of Home Affairs earlier in the day issued an advisory to all states and Union Territories to take necessary measures and ensure safety and security of people belonging to Jammu and Kashmir.

The advisory comes following reports of students and others belonging to Jammu and Kashmir experiencing threats and intimidation in the wake of the ghastly terrorist attack in Pulwama.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Awantipora in an attack orchestrated by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

A day after the attack, the Centre announced the withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora on February 14.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut on Thursday condemned the deadly attack on as many as 40 security personnel in Pulwama and demanded stern action the perpetrators.

She said, "Pakistan has not only violated our nation's security they have also attacked our dignity by openly threatening and humiliating us. We need to take decisive actions or else our silence will be misunderstood for our cowardice... Bharat is bleeding today, the killing of our sons is like a dagger in our gut; anyone who lectures about non-violence and peace at this time should be painted black, put on a donkey and slapped by everyone on the streets."

Hitting out at Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi, who cancelled a Karachi event after the attack, Kangana said, "People like Shabana Azmi calling for halt on cultural exchange -- they are the ones who promote Bharat Tere Tukde Honge gangs... why did they organise an event in Karachi in the first place when Pakistani artistes have been banned after Uri attacks? And now they are trying to save face? The film industry is full of such anti-nationals who boost enemies' morals in many ways, but right now is the time to focus on decisive actions... Pakistan ban is not the focus, Pakistan destruction is."

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.

Earlier in September 2016, an Army camp was stormed by terrorists in Uri, killing 19 soldiers.

Prior to that, 28 BSF personnel were killed in an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary force in 2004.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Friday announced Rs 10 lakh compensation for the family of CRPF jawan Vijay Soreng, a soldier from the state who was killed in the Pulwama terror attack.

Das also assured a job to the kin of the martyr.

The chief minister while paying tribute to the deceased soldiers, said, "Martyrs don't die, they attain heaven. Our government will give Rs 10 lakh and a job to the kin of Vijay Soreng, the jawaan from Jharkhand who got martyred in Pulwama."

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, over 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suspected suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama district on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.

Earlier in September 2016, an Army camp was stormed by terrorists in Uri, killing 19 soldiers.

Prior to that, 28 BSF personnel were killed in an attack on a convoy of the paramilitary force in 2004.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Congress (BNC), a US-based Baloch body, strongly condemned the terror attack, carried out by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit, in which around 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, the CRPF convoy was attacked by a JeM suicide bomber in Jammu and Kashmir's district on Srinagar-Jammu highway on Thursday. Around 42 slain jawans were in a bus, into which the suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden vehicle.

Underlining that the perpetrators behind the attack should be brought to justice, the BNC urged the Indian to cut all diplomatic ties with Pakistan, recall the Indian from Islamabad and send back Pakistan's from immediately without any further delay.

"The perpetrators must be brought to justice. There should be no doubt that was behind the attack", BNC Wahid Baloch said in a statement.

The BNC suggested that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP should declare war against Pakistan, as Islamabad declared proxy war against by carrying out terror activities.

"It is time to pay back for their crimes against humanity and killing of innocent people," Baloch said.

Furthermore, the BNC asked the Indian to help exiled Baloch leader Khan Kalat to set up the Government of (GoB) in exile in and help him to file a case against Pakistan's "illegal occupation" of in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

In the wake of the ghastly attack, stripped the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status accorded to and hiked basic customs duty on all goods imported from the neighbouring country to 200 per cent.

Reflecting the outrage in the country, Prime Minister Modi said that "the blood of Indians is boiling" and issued a clear warning to Pakistan, declaring that the "guardians" of the perpetrators of the terror attack will be "definitely punished".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday launched various development projects in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra.

One among the projects scheduled for inauguration is Eklavya Model Residential School at Nanded. The school has a total capacity of 420 students with the state of the art facilities. It will help in improving the quality of education amongst tribal students and also provide an avenue for their overall growth and personal development.

The Prime Minister is slated to flag-off Ajni (Nagpur)- Pune train and also lay the foundation stone of roads under the central road fund (CRF).

Later in the day, Prime Minister Modi will visit Dhule to launch several projects including the inauguration of Lower Panazara medium Project under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchan Yojana (PMKSY).

The project has a total water storage capacity of 109.31 MCum with Irrigation Potential of 7585 hectares, benefitting about 21 villages of Dhule district.

Furthermore, Prime Minister Modi will lay the foundation stone of Sulwade Jamphal Kanoli Lift Irrigation Scheme, which envisages lifting 9.24 TMC of flood water from river Tapi in 124 days of the monsoon season. It is proposed to irrigate 33367 hectares area of about 100 villages of Dhule district.

Foundation stone of Dhule City Water Supply Scheme under AMRUT will also be laid that will ensure water availability to boost industrial and commercial growth.

During his visit, Prime Minister Modi will also lay the foundation stone of Dhule-Nardana railway Line and Jalgaon - Manmad 3rd Railway Line and will flag off the Bhusaval- Bandra Khandesh Express - an overnight train that will provide direct connectivity between Mumbai and Bhusawal.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday said it is "high time" that India responds to attacks by Pakistan, calling the neighbouring country the "nursery of terrorism".

Badal made these remarks after paying floral tributes to the mortal remains of Pulwama terror attack victim sub-inspector Jaimal Singh here.

Speaking to media persons, Badal said, "It is a very tragic incident and we have lost so many brave soldiers. This is a direct attack on the country and it is high time to answer back to Pakistan. Pakistan thinks that they are fighting against India in disguise through terrorist organisations, but the whole world clearly knows that it is Pakistan which is the nursery of terrorism. Pakistan government and ISI do the entire planning. They provide arms and ammunition to these terrorist groups. The government of India can no more wait and as much as I know, Prime Minister Modi is very clear and decisive and will definitely do something now."

He also criticised Congress leader and Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu for his statement on the Pulwama terror attack and accused him of preferring his "friends" over the nation.

"Navjot Singh Sidhu should be ashamed and he should decide who his friends are and who his enemies are. I am shocked at Sidhu's statement. He prefers his friends over his nation. Nothing can happen in Pakistan without the permission of army and ISI," said Badal.

As the mortal remains of CRPF personnel killed in Pulwama are being taken to their native regions, politicians cutting across party lines and scores of common citizens are pouring in to pay their last respects to the deceased personnel.

In Patna, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav paid tributes to Constable Ratan Kumar Thakur and Head Constable Sanjay Kumar Sinha of CRPF who lost their lives in the attack.

In Dehradun, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat paid tribute to CRPF ASI Mohan Lal who had lost his life in Pulwama Attack.

Massive anger has erupted across the nation over the ghastly attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria arrived here on Saturday for consultations with senior officials and leadership over the Pulwama terror attack, sources said.

The Indian envoy has been called for consultations at a time when the government is looking at options for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan over the dastardly terror attack in Pulwama which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel.

In the wake of the attack, the Centre on Friday announced its decision to withdraw the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status granted unilaterally to Pakistan while asserting that there is "incontrovertible evidence" about Islamabad's involvement in the gruesome terror attack.

"Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan stands withdrawn," said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Friday.

India will also make all possible efforts to ensure "complete isolation" of Pakistan in the international community and work for early adoption of the long-pending Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (CCIT), which is pending before the United Nations, he added.

India had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but Pakistan never accorded the same status to India.

Under the international trade rules, MFN is a treatment accorded to a trade partner to ensure non-discriminatory trade between two countries.

A CRPF convoy, while moving from Jammu to Srinagar, was attacked by a suicide bomber in Lethpora area on the highway at around 3.15 pm on Thursday.

Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Taking on Pakistan for orchestrating terrorist attack on CRPF troops in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore on Saturday said India will act against Pakistan in every sphere and will give a befitting reply to those behind the heinous act.

"The terrorist attack, which took place in Pulwama on Thursday, has been condemned by the entire world. India will move ahead of Pakistan in all respects and will soon give a befitting reply to those behind the heinous terror act," Union Minister Rathore told media persons here.

"The tradition of India makes us peace loving people. It will be a mistake of our enemies who think of taking advantage of being peaceful people. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, India has shown that we are amongst all those countries, which can retaliate all terrorist attacks if required," he said.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already cleared that whosoever has carried out this attack will have to pay a heavy price. You are dealing with a military state. Their sole existence is based on the principle of destabilising India," he said.

"The point is how we react to it. What is our response to it? Till date, our response used to be weak and therefore they used to get encouraged. But now you have realised that India's response is very strong. We are among very few countries in the world, which are ready to cross the borders to protect our country," said Rathore.

"Therefore, the citizens of our nation have confidence in our leadership. The Indian government in every sphere-be it economic, international relations or a military response-will act against Pakistan with all firmness," he said.

In the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir, nearly 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was attacked by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit in Pulwama district on Srinagar-Jammu highway.

The convoy of 78 buses, in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar, came under attack at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj met with Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Aragchchi on Saturday where the two ministers discussed bilateral ties and close cooperation between the countries to combat terrorism in the region.

Swaraj enroute to Bulgaria, as part of her three-nation tour, had a brief stopover in Iran during which she met withAragchchi.

"Iran and India suffered from two heinous terrorist attacks in the past few days resulted in big casualties. Today in my meeting with Sushma Swaraj the Indian FM, when she had a stopover in Tehran, we agreed on close cooperation to combat terrorism in the region. Enough is enough!" Araghchi tweeted.

Both India and Iran saw similar suicide attacks targetting their respective paramilitary forces earlier this week.

On February 13, a total of 27 members of Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed after an explosive-laden vehicle targetted the bus which was ferrying the military personnel in Khash-Zahedan sector of Sistan-Baluchistan province in south-eastern Iran.

The bombing also injured 17 others. According to Iranian media, Jaish-al-Adl, a separatist militant group claimed responsibility for the deadly assault.

Several countries, including India, denounced the ghastly terror attack.

On February 14, around 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district in an attack orchestrated by Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) outfit.

The convoy comprised of 78 buses in which around 2,500 personnel were travelling from Jammu to Srinagar.

Around 42 martyred jawans were in a bus, into which the terrorist rammed his vehicle with over 100 kg explosives. It was the deadliest attack on security forces in Kashmir.

Following the assault, India on Friday withdrew the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. The international community too has expressed support to India in the wake of the attack.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A late goal by Bikramjit Singh handed Kolkata Giants Mohun Bagan their seventh victory of the 12th I-League season, as they defeated Aizawl FC 2-1 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Aizawl on Saturday.

Ugandan forward Henry Kisekka put the Green and Maroons forward with an early strike, before former Mohun Bagan man Ansumana Kromah drew Aizawl level on the half-hour mark.

Kolkata Giants left it late for defender Bikramjit Singh to grab the winner with just 12 minutes of regulation time left on the clock.

This win secures Bagan's spot on the sixth position in the I-League table as they draw level with Neroca FC on 26. The Manipuri club remains ahead by dint of goal difference.

Bagan boss Khalid Jamil came in with attacking tactics, looking for an early goal. The team's efforts finally bore fruit when an Abinash Ruidas free-kick from long range was brought down by Kisekka on the 22nd minute before the Ugandan calmly slotted it into the goal.

However, Aizawl came back with a goal of their own just eight minutes later, when Kromah lined up a shot from outside the Mohun Bagan penalty area and sent it into the bottom corner.

Jamil, in search of greater creativity from the middle of the park, brought Egyptian Omar Elhussieny on in place of veteran Mehtab Hossain in the second half. They finally got the winner late in the second half, when a Sony Norde free-kick was met by Bikramjit Singh, who scored the winner.

Aizawl gave it an almighty effort in the last 10 minutes, and Jamil had to ensure that his back-four had some extra protection, as he brought on Darren Caldeira in place of Kisekka. However, Bagan managed to hold on to their lead till the end.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A new player has entered the discussion over the Club West Golf Course, adding new uncertain
Human rights groups and US senator Ron Wyden are asking Apple and Google chiefs to pull down an app from their respective app stores which reportedly tracks and controls the movement of women.

The app, called Absher, is offered by the Saudi government and comes with a feature that allows men to track women. In a letter to the tech giants, the senator has urged them to prevent the app from being used to continue the abhorrent surveillance and control of women, The Washington Post reported.

Absher is an e-governance app, aimed at allowing Saudi citizens to process a number of issues such as getting a passport, birth certificate, or vehicle registration.

However, as it is still illegal for women in Saudi Arabia to travel without the permission of their 'male guardian', Absher allows the men to restrict the travel of their women. They can choose to allow or disallow them to leave the country, or even limit the dates and places.

The app has been installed on devices more than 1 million times, while the official website says there are more than 11 million users of the app.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Noting that the entire country is angry over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister NarendraModi on Saturday said "all tears will be avenged" as India's armed forces "do not forgive any culprit".

"Today, I have come here at a time when the entire nation is angry over the terrorist attack on our jawans in Pulwama. On one side the country is angry, on the other, all eyes are numb," he said while addressing a rally here.

"This is the time for restraint and mourning. But I want to assure all the families of slain soldiers that all their tears will be avenged," the Prime Minister asserted.

Over 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday when their convoy was targeted by a suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in Pulwama district on Srinagar-Jammu highway.

He noted that Maharashtra also lost a few of its children in the attack.

"India is a country of new customs and new policies. The world is experiencing this. Our security forces do not forgive any culprit. This has been the policy of India that we do not tease anybody. But I want to make it clear that we don't forgive anyone also if someone tries to tease us," Modi said.

He lauded the security forces, saying they work for the nation selflessly.

Earlier today, the all-party meeting was called by the Central Government to deliberate upon the situations arising out of Pulwama terror attack. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Several political parties including TMC, BJP and the Congress even protested against the Pulwama attack across various places.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The all-party meeting called by Central Government to deliberate upon the situations arising out of Pulwama terror attack has begun here on Saturday. The meeting is being chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Leaders from different political parties have arrived at Parliament complex for the meeting. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Narendra Singh Tomar were among many leaders who reached for the meeting.

Before the meeting began, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Gauba went to the residence of the Home to have one to one meeting.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party has also extended its unconditional support to the Central government in its fight against terrorism.

Speaking to ANI ahead of the all-party meet, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh said, "This is the time for everyone to be united. 130 crore Indians have to come together to support the Central government and the Prime Minister. It is not a time to play the political blame game and must give a united front. Whatever decision is taken by the Central government and the Prime Minister, we will support it."

In the meeting, the Central government is expected to brief the opposition leaders about the action being taken to deal with the situations arising out Pulwama terror attack," sources said.

India on Friday also announced the withdrawal of Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan. New Delhi had granted MFN status to Pakistan in 1996, a year after the formation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), but Pakistan never reciprocated.

The Central government has also stepped up diplomatic efforts to mount pressure on the Government of Pakistan to take action against those who have been indulging in exporting terror to India. For long, India has sought the help of the global community in fighting against Pakistan sponsored terrorism.

Nearly 40 CRPF personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist rammed a vehicle carrying over massive explosives into their bus on Srinagar-Jammu highway on Thursday at around 3.15 pm at Ladhu Modi Lethpora. The convoy consisted of 78 buses in which around 2,500 CRPF personnel were traveling from Jammu to Srinagar.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The worlds tax collectors have been gunning for Silicon Valley. Now theyre trying to figure out how to divide up the spoils. For years, US tech giants like Alphabet and Facebook have shifted around profit so they pay little income tax in many countries where they operate.

More than $600 billion in profits, or 40 per cent of multinational profits, were shifted in 2015 to low-tax countries such as Ireland, the Netherlands and Bermuda, according to one estimate. But dozens of countries are now considering new taxes aimed at the largest tech firms. That is putting ...
The United States ratcheted up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday by sanctioning some of his top security officials and the head of the state oil company, and unveiling plans to airlift over 200 tons of aid to the Colombian border. The U.S. Treasury said it sanctioned PDVSA chief Manuel Quevedo, three top intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. Separately, the U.S. State Department said on ...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Vietnam on Feb. 25 ahead of a planned second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, three sources with direct knowledge of Kim's schedule told Reuters on Saturday. Trump and Kim will meet in the Vietnamese capital on Feb. 27 and 28 for the second summit between the two leaders since their historic first meeting in Singapore last June. Kim Jong Un will meet with Vietnamese officials when he arrives in Hanoi, said the sources, who requested anonymity citing the sensitivity and secrecy surrounding the movements of the North Korean ...
Every time a strand is pulled, another part of the knot tightens up. Currently, the Taliban refuse to have talks with the Afghan government, which they label a puppet regime; the Kabul government insists that any power-sharing agreement allow limited numbers of Western troops to remain; the Pakistanis, who have long sheltered Taliban leaders, are unwilling to fully encourage a peace settlement; the US and its NATO partners are sick of war and want out; the Russians play a complex double ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital Editor
Vietnam is more than a convenient neutral site for the second summit between U. S. President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, which is slated for later this month. The Southeast Asian nation is being held up as a model for what Kims isolated country could become if he adopts sweeping market reforms.

Its an especially apt comparison, one which Kim himself reportedly noted last year -- but not necessarily for the reasons you might think. The choice facing Kim at the Hanoi summit is the same as its always been: weapons or wealth. The U. S. has long ...
Companies are taking it seriously, stockpiling food, drugs and manufacturing parts. Governments are also kicking into action, but what they can -- or want -- to do is limited. The most catastrophic effects such as a rupture in the multitrillion-dollar derivatives market or the grounding of planes have probably been avoided. But bottlenecks that leave food imports rotting in ports remain a real risk, and theres still ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital Editor
The United States has told India it supports its right to defend itself against cross-border attacks, the government said on Saturday, as New Delhi considers retaliation against a car bombing in disputed Kashmir claimed by Pakistan-based militants. Tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have risen again after New Delhi, incensed by the deadliest attack in Kashmir in decades, demanded that Pakistan act against the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group behind the bombing. Pakistan condemned Thursday's attack in which 44 paramilitary police were killed when ...
The thing I dont understand, with all the finger-pointing thats gone on since the announcement Thursday that Amazon.com Inc. was abandoning its plans to set up shop in New York City, is why so many of the fingers have been pointed at the least culpable party  i.e. Amazon itself.

Yes, the $3 billion in tax incentives the state and city dangled to lure Amazon to Queens was absurdly rich  and probably unjustified. But Amazon didnt hold a gun to anyones head. There were 237 other cities offering their own unjustified tax breaks in the hope of ...
















Living in France is the dream for many people around the world, which is not surprising when you consider all that the country has to offer. City slickers can explore the streets of Paris, visiting world-class museums and shopping in designer boutiques, while those dreaming of a quiet life can stay in the idyllic French countryside, where they can enjoy the beautiful landscape.

However, life isnt all croissants and coffee. The reality is that most of us have to work for a living, so in order to live in France, we need to be able to work in France. So, how exactly can we do that?

To get a job in France, it will help immensely if you know French; at least enough to communicate on a basic level with colleagues and customers. Before you go, you should get the basics down (hello, please, thank you, where is the bathroom?, etc), but youll probably find that you pick up a lot while there through immersion in the language and culture.

If you arent fluent in French, dont let that put you off;there are plenty of jobs that dont require you to know French, you just need to be clever about looking for them.

How to find English speaking jobs in France

Be flexible

You may find that the type of job you had at home is not available to non-French speakers, so seek out other areas of employment that are more suited to English speakers, like bar work, teaching English as a second language, or retail work in tourist areas. This will allow you to earn whilst working on your French, should you wish to go back to your original line of work. Also remember to target seasonal jobs as they are likely to come with fewer required (language) skills.

French-ify your resume

French resumes are more concise than you might be used to,with two pages maximum for senior roles. Many companies also still expect a photograph to be attached. Best practice is a professional picture with a smile.

Look in the right place

When youre looking through any French joblisting site, narrow down the results with the websites filter to find those openings that dont require French. Another good tip is to keep an eye on the LinkedIn page of companies that you like, as that can be a great way find a job opening before everyone else and make an impression on the hiring manager. Joining ex-pat groups on Facebook is also a great place to start, as this gives you direct access to a network of people who have already established themselves in the region you wish to live in.

Be respectful

As a general rule, French businesspeople like to be shown respect, which means a firm handshake and a professional attitude, especially during initial interviews. Getting too friendly too fast will seem rude. Pay attention to using vous rather than tu to assure you get your interview off on a great start.

Create your own job

If you cant find a job that you love, then why not create one? You could be your own boss, choose your own hours, and even work from home. You might want to start a hotel that serves as a piece of Blighty in Brittany for other English speakers, become a freelance writer/designer/photographer, or even teach English to French students.

If youre interested in teaching English in France, but dont have a teaching qualification, companies like Daily English will accept you as a host family, providing that you have a university degree and children living with you. The idea is that you host a French student for between two days and four weeks during the school break so that they can learn English from interacting with you and your family. One short lesson a day is required, but you can get help to prepare them according to the childs age and ability.

Keep calm and carry on

While its never easy to find a job in a foreign country without speaking the language, especially in a language-oriented culture such as France, its not impossible and you can find English speaking jobs in Paris, Lyon, Brittany, or anywhere else in France. So persevere and you will prosper.

Hopefully, this article has given you the tips you need to prepare for your job search in France and youll find your dream job soon enough. We wish you the best of luck with your career.
Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital Editor
Bryan, OH (43506)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 77F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low around 70F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Four out of five public school principals feel they lack the resources to properly educate students with disabilities, an Australian Education Union survey has found, raising fresh concerns about school funding.

The new figures from the AEU's latest survey of 7800 members reveal that 88 per cent of principals are redirecting funds from other areas of the school budget to help cater for children with disabilities.

The Australian Education Union says funding should be increased to support students with disabilities. Credit:Phil Carrick

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe said students with disabilities had been "largely invisible" in the debate about school funding and deserved adequate government funding to ensure they had the same opportunities as other students.

Government figures say about 725,000 students nationally  representing almost one in five of all students  receive support for a disability. About 75 per cent of those students attend public schools.
A Queensland lawyer has admitted she misled the corporate regulator while under oath during an investigation into Gold Coast childcare giant G8 Education.

Mary-Anne Greaves, of Cairns, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Magistrates' Court to one count of giving false or misleading information to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Greaves was examined in 2016 during the watchdog's probe into G8's failed attempt to buy rival Affinity Education a year earlier, an ASIC spokesman said on Friday.

The former company secretary falsely told ASIC she was unaware of certain information relating to the acquisition by West Bridge of Affinity shares at the time of the takeover bid.

G8 Education announced its $162 million takeover bid for the then-ASX-listed Affinity in July 2015.
A man has died in hospital after a bobcat fell off a ramp and crushed him on a property near Toowoomba on Friday.

Emergency services were called to the private property in Greenmount, about 30 kilometres south of Toowoomba, just after 11am.

The man, previously described as 66 years old before police corrected this to 65, was rushed to Toowoomba Base Hospital in a critical condition with leg, chest and abdominal injuries.

Police said he later died in hospital and detectives were preparing a report for the coroner.

An RACQ LifeFlight Rescue spokeswoman said on Friday the man had been doing mechanical work on the digger when it fell and landed on him.
As Townsville and the surrounding area continue the clean-up after a record-breaking monsoon, exhausted residents and volunteers are not out of danger just yet.

Floods and mud have exposed many people to deadly disease. One person has died from melioidosis since the flood, and a further nine people remain in hospital, some of whom are in intensive care. In a city that would normally see a handful of cases a year, this is a significant increase. There may be many more cases of melioidosis to come, as symptoms can show up two to four weeks after exposure.

Melioidosis, also called Whitmores disease, is predominantly a disease of tropical climates, especially in south-east Asia and northern Australia. People and animals get the infection by inhaling contaminated dust or water droplets, ingesting contaminated water, and contact with contaminated soil, especially through skin abrasions.

Although anyone can contract melioidosis, those at most risk are people with diabetes, liver disease, renal disease, chronic lung disease, cancer or any other immune-suppressing condition.
Police have started an investigation after a commercial drone understood to be worth almost $500,000 was shot down in a rural part of the ACT.

An ACT Policing spokesman confirmed officers responded to the incident in Tennent about 2.15pm on Thursday, February 14.

In Canberra, drones are being trialled to deliver food, beverages and medicine to suburbs and also to check vegetation is not growing too close to power lines. Credit:Nine

"Investigations into this matter remain ongoing," he said.

It is understood Evoenergy was using the drone to carry out surveying work when it was shot down near Apollo Road, and that local landholders had not been notified of the surveying work.
In your January 20 column, your last sentence reads: Just dont stay overseas for more than six weeks, or you would lose the card!. The card in question being the Pension Concession Card. My card is sometimes referred to as the reinstated concession card, as it was issued after we lost the part pension in the January 2017 changes. The thought of losing the card is alarming. Today, I contacted the Department of Veterans' Affairs, the issuer, who after checking, assures me they have no knowledge of any such rule. Is he correct? M.M.

Youve exposed a fairly obscure difference between Pensioner Concession Cards (or PCCs) issued by the Department of Human Services, via Centrelink, and those from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

PCCs issued by Centrelink will be cancelled if you leave Australia to live in another country, or for more than six weeks.

Since the Department of Human Services and the Department of Immigration exchange data, the PCC can be restored automatically when a person returns to Australia.

However, if the card was stopped while you were away and didnt restore automatically on your return, then you need to contact Centrelink.
Nine regional forestry hubs will be created across Australia under a federal government plan to boost the industry.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the $12.5 million announcement on Saturday at a forest nursery at Somerset in northwest Tasmania.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Senator Richard Colbeck and Liberal candidate for Braddon Gavin Pearce pose for photographs during a visit to Forico Nursery in Somerset, Tasmania. Credit:AAP

"I'm interested in growing more trees and growing more jobs, it's as simple as that," the prime minister said.

Four pilot hubs will be set up in northern Tasmania, NSW, Western Australia and across the South Australia and Victoria border.
On February 8, in the NSW Land and Environment Court, Chief Justice Brian Preston handed down his decision in an appeal by Gloucester Resources, a company privately held by Hans Juergen Mende, a German billionaire dubbed the "godfather of coal". Gloucester Resources was fighting an earlier rejection, by a planning commission, of its bid to build a 2.5-million-tonne-a-year coking coal mine.

Ostensibly, the case was about whether a Rocky Hill open-cut coal mine should be allowed to go ahead.

The view towards the area planned for the Rocky Hill coal mine. Credit:Liam Driver

It's called climate litigation and you can expect to start hearing about it more often.

That a court had taken into account climate change was lauded as a landmark. But this case is just part of a much bigger picture. All around the world, there is a growing push to use the law to nudge companies and investors to take action to curb global warming  particularly as our politicians are failing to do so.

A NSW court sent shock waves through the nation's mining industry earlier this month when it rejected a coal mine planned in Gloucester, a dairy and beef farming area on the state's mid-north coast. The reason, in part, was the mine's impact on climate change.

Companies need to factor in the burning of their mines coal in other countries, the court found. Credit:Jonathan Carroll

"Wrong time because the greenhouse gas emissions of the coal mine and its coal product will increase global total concentrations of [those gases] at a time when what is now urgently needed, in order to meet generally agreed climate targets, is a rapid and deep decrease in [those] emissions.

"Wrong place because an open-cut coal mine in this scenic and cultural landscape, proximate to many people's homes and farms, will cause significant planning, amenity, visual and social impacts," he said.

The judge concluded that an open-cut coal mine "would be in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Chief Justice Preston included in his reasoning the fact that there must be a carbon budget  a total amount of emissions that can be released  if targets under the Paris Climate Agreement are to be met. And even if the proposed mine was relatively small, it wasn't enough for a company to calculate the direct emissions that come from scraping out 100-million-year-old coal  the fugitive methane, the pollution generated by the digging and transport, and so on; the actual burning of that fuel, wherever it occurred in the world, also had to be taken into account.

The judgment reminds companies and investors that fossil fuels carry regulatory risks, not all of which can be anticipated.

"The growth in international jurisprudence directly linking fossil fuel developments with climate change may also lead banks and others who would traditionally invest in these industries to consider alternatives."

As lawyers at Corrs Chambers Westgarth put it : "The decision will have wide-reaching consequences and will likely affect the viability of coal and other fossil fuel-dependent industries in Australia.

Law firms quickly recognised the decision as a landmark  not just for its direct effect on the Rocky Hill project, but also for its palling effect on economic sentiment towards fossil-fuel industries.

A drilling rig in the Barents Sea. Groups in Norway are taking their government to court for opening up new mining. Credit:Alamy

Still, "a proponent of any new mine in NSW would be well advised to arrange offsets for anticipated greenhouse gas emissions prior to seeking approval for the project. As a commercial matter, there may be questions as to how obtaining these offsets could affect the profitability of the endeavour," Wilder says.

Baker & McKenzie partner Martijn Wilder told clients: "The decision does not necessarily mean the end of any new coal mine approvals in NSW, because it was highly specific to the particular facts of this application."

As one lawyer put it, Gloucester Resources mounted "a curious argument" that total emissions would be hard to determine: "Is it 'decorative coal' they are digging up, with no anticipation it will be burned?"

"The difference between this case and other coal mine planning appeals [such as those against the Adani project in Queensland] is that the court has accepted that scope 3 emissions from the burning of the mine's coal in other countries should be taken into account in determining environmental impacts," says Sarah Barker, a special counsel dealing with environmental, social and governance risks, adding the emphasis.

"Linking individual fossil fuel projects (or infrastructure such as pipelines) to global emissions and their impacts can be very challenging, as it requires overcoming legal arguments such as 'if we don't produce it, someone else will', or 'once the coal leaves our country, we're not responsible for the fact it gets burned'," he says.

The Rocky Hill case is also one of very few in which fossil-fuel infrastructure decisions are linked explicitly to their climate impacts. Professor van Asselt likens it to a similar case last year where a judge in the US state of Montana acted to halt the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.

This acknowledgment by the judge in Rocky Hill is of great importance.

But court cases "in countries that are perceived as climate laggards  like Australia  offer hope for environmentalists worldwide", Professor van Asselt says.

The Urgenda case is perhaps the most famous lawsuit to date: 886 Dutch citizens sued their government and ultimately forced it to roughly double its proposed emissions cuts.

"Climate litigation is emerging everywhere around the world, meaning that people have an interest in seeing what courts in other countries decide," he says.

The Rocky Hill case "is certainly getting attention outside of Australia", says Harro van Asselt, an associate of Stockholm Environment Institute's Oxford Centre and professor of climate law and policy at the University of Eastern Finland.

"Given that meeting the Paris Agreement's temperature goals requires leaving a significant portion of fossil fuels in the ground, this acknowledgment by the judge in Rocky Hill is of great importance, not only for Australia but also for other fossil fuel-producing countries where litigation is taking place."

Brian Preston, Chief Justice of the Land and Environment Court. Credit:James Brickwood

What the mining industry says

The response from the mining industry and the Morrison government has so far been muted.

Gloucester Resources is yet to declare whether it will appeal the decision.

NSW Minerals Council chief Stephen Galilee was quick to dismiss the court outcome as not in "any way a landmark case", and NSW Nationals MP Michael Johnsen prompted accusations of contempt of court for declaring the result "smacked of judicial activism".

Sections of the media have also sought to impugn the independence of Chief Justice Preston, citing his past involvement in helping to establish the Environmental Defenders Office of NSW, which joined the case against the mine, and his recent speeches on climate change.

Such attacks prompted the NSW Bar Association to issue a statement to say it had "the highest regard for the integrity of the judiciary".

Its president, Tim Game SC, said suggestions the chief judge may be biased because of extra-judicial papers on the issue of climate change were "an attack on [his] character and it is troubling".

NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman declined to weigh in: "As this matter may be subject to an appeal, any comment from me at the moment on the particular case would be inappropriate."

Strong evidence that climate change has caused extreme weather events, such as the floods that recently engulfed Townsville, will aid climate litigation. Credit:AAP

'Multi-headed beast': the rise of climate litigation

Even if there were to be a successful appeal, climate litigation is only going to get bigger.

"It's a multi-headed beast that's evolving in a number of directions," says Emma Herd, chief executive of the Investor Group on Climate Change.

"It's happening a lot faster than many people expected."

In Norway, for example, NGOs are challenging the constitutionality of a government decision to license new blocks of the Barents Sea for deep-sea oil and gas extraction.

One reason for the rise in climate litigation is that the science is becoming ever better understood. That provides a deeper and richer evidence base that  unlike much of our parliamentary debate or the shadowy conspiracist corners of the internet  can withstand cross-examination.

Companies know they must account for tighter carbon constraints sooner or later.

Professor van Asselt singles out the advance of "attribution science"  identifying the likelihood of specific extreme weather events (and the damage they cause) being linked to human-driven climate change.

"This development can increase the chances of success for any of the litigation strategies," he says.

In other words, in time there will be a rapid assessment of whether the severe heatwaves that smashed Australia's January heat records, or this month's floods in Queensland, have a climate link. Then it will be up to the courts and insurers to argue it out.

But whether it is the Rocky Hill case, another against Adani's Carmichael mine or even a new coal-fired power plant, companies know they must account for tighter carbon constraints sooner or later.

"Even if the [Gloucester mine] decision is overturned, companies have to assume it's a potential risk," Ms Herd said.

How directors are handling climate change

Few big economic gatherings now take place without climate risk at the forefront. In the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report for 2019, extreme weather events topped the worry list for a third consecutive year. Of the top five risks, three were environmental and the other two were data fraud and cyber attacks.

"Climate change is a material financial risk for any resource company  full stop," Minter Ellison's Sarah Barker says. "You have to disclose the impact of that risk on your financial position, your financial performance and your financial prospect in your annual report."

Theres no magic to it. It comes down to 'what is your role as a director?'

But it doesn't end there. Every company has a responsibility to examine the threats posed  a market shift away from fossil fuels, or potential impact from more extreme weather or rising sea levels  and do something about it.

"There's no magic to it. It's first principles for me  it comes down to 'what is your role as a director?' It's to strategise around material risks," Barker said.

John Price, commissioner with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, highlights a legal opinion in 2016 by Noel Hutley SC that it was "conceivable that directors who fail to consider climate change risks now could be found liable for breaching their duty of care and diligence in the future".

Loading

A tanking share price in the wake of a delayed or impartial exposure is a magnet for litigants, as oil giant Exxon is finding to its cost in the US courts. Recognition of climate risks from burning its product by Exxon's own scientists half a century ago is another magnet.

Nor is it merely a private sector concern, as noted last month by the Centre for Policy Development in a discussion paper on directors' duties and climate change.

It found that "despite impediments to enforcement, public sector directors are now increasingly likely to be closely scrutinised and held to account for climate risk management  especially given rising standards demanded of private corporations".

On March 12, the deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Guy Debelle, will also weigh in with a speech on climate change and the economy at a public forum hosted by the Centre for Policy Development in Sydney.

How governments are responding

The NSW government has so far had little to say, other than Planning Minister Anthony Roberts, who was "gratified that the Land and Environment Court agreed with his original decision to refuse a mining licence on the grounds that the proposal did not meet environmental and social requirements".

Then again, it could hardly appeal against its own judgement, even if the case was expanded beyond the government's original intent.

Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan recommended people "should proceed with caution" about over-interpreting a decision "in a lower court and in NSW".

If the histories of tobacco and asbestos litigation are any guide, any attempts to shield companies from climate litigation won't be easy.

Legal scholars such as Ben Boer, an emeritus professor at the University of Sydney, said Senator Canavan was wrong to discount the court, saying it was "a superior court of record on the same level as the Supreme Court of NSW".

"Preston's judgment is very clear indeed," Professor Boer said. "In NSW, Australia and globally, it is certainly a landmark case.

"It does not merely confirm the [Planning] Minister's original refusal of the development consent. It sets out a whole new line of legal reasoning in this area, which will be studied closely by climate change litigators around the world."

Governments can always change the law, of course, but if the histories of tobacco and asbestos litigation are any guide, any attempts to shield companies from climate litigation won't be easy.

Such a move would "transfer liability and cost for climate-related risk from companies to the government and the citizens in the community", Barker says. "That's a really big call."

Outside an Oregon courthouse, supporters of the Juliana case protest against the US government. Credit:Alamy

'Green lawfare': the push back against climate litigation

Of course, owners of fossil fuels  and the governments they lobby  "are not sitting still", Professor van Asselt says.

We can expect more accusations of "green lawfare" and what have been dubbed Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) in the US.

Professor van Asselt also foresees "drawn-out proceedings with governments and other defendants using every delaying tactic in the book, as is currently happening in the Juliana case in the US" which involves 21 youths (and James Hansen, a former NASA climatologist) suing the US government on behalf of future generations over their right to a stable climate system.

These cases matter in the court of public opinion.

But the appeal by environmental groups to the courts is not just about the odds of winning. Climate litigation is also "one of the most symbolically powerful ways of delegitimising fossil fuels", Professor van Asselt says.

"While individual decisions can be overturned or may not make a big difference in global emissions, these cases matter in the court of public opinion."

As Chief Justice Brian Preston himself noted in a special issue of The Australian Law Journal devoted to Climate Change and the Law, the "territory of climate change litigation is being rapidly mapped".

"[T]he areas of terra incognita are becoming smaller and fewer. This trend is likely to continue."
Want to praise someone or get something off your chest? Darts and Pats is the place to do it.
Barbets are odd, chunky birds with large beaks. Theres so much more that can be said about this group of birds but thats the first description that comes to mind. They also tend to be colorful, one plays a role in Rudyard Kiplings Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and they only occur in places with lots of other cool, tropical birds. However, as DNA and morphological studies have indicated, despite the barbets of Asia and Africa looking quite like the ones in the Americas, they arent closely related to each other. The two families of New World barbets, the Capitonidae and the Semnornithidae, are actually more related to toucans.

With its small bill and green plumage, the Northern Emerald Toucanet almost looks more like a barbet.

Although most New World Barbets live in the tropical forests of South America (the bird continent), us birders in Costa Rica are fortunate to have two species to watch and listen to. Like many other barbets, both are clownish birds in terms of plumage and song;

the Red-headed Barbet

and the Prong-billed Barbet

The Red-headed Barbet is a member of the Capitonidae and like other New World Barbets, is often seen in mixed flocks. It tends to forage in the canopy of wet, mossy forest where it feeds on fruits and inspects dead leaves as it forages for any number of small creatures. This birds is much more often seen than heard but that might be related to the quiet quality of its song, a toad-like trill.

When espied with a mixed flock in the canopy, sometimes, all one sees is a chunky bird with thick stripes on the flanks.

This species can be seen in any middle elevation rainforest in Costa Rica, it also visits fruit feeders at Cinchona, Bosque Tolomuco, and Vista del Valle.

The female Red-headed Barbet is beautiful in her own subtle way.

The Prong-billed Barbet is in the Semnornithidae, a family shared with the Toucan Barbet of western Colombia and Ecuador. Unlike the Toucan-Barbet, the Prong-billed isnt colorful. A common resident of cloud forest, this species is often seen in pairs as it forages in mixed flocks or feeds at a fruiting tree. Unlike the Red-headed Barbet, the Prong-billed is quite vocal. Its yodeling song is a typical aspect of the cloud forest soundscape in Costa Rica and western Panama, a region to which it is endemic.

The Prong-billed Barbet can be seen in any number of cloud forest sites, some of the better ones being Tapanti National Park and Monteverde. Like the Red-headed, it can also visit feeders with fruit, especially at the Cafe Mirador de Catarata (aka the Cinchona Hummingbird Cafe).

Spend enough time at the cafe and both barbets will probably make an appearance!
Pope Francis has defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Vatican officials found him guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Holy See said today.

The punishment for the once-powerful prelate, who had served as the Archbishop of Washington, was announced five days before Francis is to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world to help the Catholic Church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover-ups by church hierarchy.

The decades-long scandals have shaken the faith of many Catholics and threatened Francis's papacy.

Defrocking means that McCarrick, 88, who now lives in a friary in Kansas after he lost his title of cardinal last year, will not be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments.

The Vatican's press office said that, on January 11, the Holy See's doctrinal watchdog office, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, had found McCarrick guilty of "solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".

The officials "imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state".

The Sixth Commandment regards sexual behaviour.

In addition, McCarrick, when he was ordained a priest in 1958, took a vow of celibacy, in accordance with church rules on priests.

McCarrick appealed against the penalty, but the doctrinal officials earlier this week rejected his recourse, and he was notified on Friday, the Vatican announcement said.

The Pope "has recognised the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as 'res iudicata'," the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse.

That meant McCarrick, a one-time "prince of the church", as cardinals are known, becomes the highest-ranking churchman to be laicised, or dismissed from the clerical state.

It marks a remarkable downfall for the globe-trotting powerbroker and influential church fundraiser who mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called "Uncle Ted" by the young men he courted.

The scandal swirling around McCarrick was even more damning because it was apparently an open secret that he slept with adult seminarians.

PA
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has blasted Europe's top clubs, accusing them of putting success before sense.

Wenger says Roma's 22million signing of 32-year-old Argentinian Gabriele Batistuta is "financial heresy".

He also accused Real Madrid - who continue to lavish large sums despite a debt running into 10s of millions - of "cheating".

The Gunners chief insists he is not tempted by the lure of a bottomless pocket in Italy or Spain because he says he relishes the freedom which he would not have working under powerful club presidents in continental Europe.

Wenger told France Football: "I would have a pile of gold at my disposal but I would have less responsibility than I do at Arsenal.

"To take Batistuta at that price when he is 32 years old is a heresy, financially speaking, because you cannot re-sell him.

"It's indefensible unless the president tells the coach: 'You take whoever you want, and we don't care about the economic interest of the club'. It's like playing poker.

"As for Real Madrid, who are always recruiting even though they are considerably in debt, it's quite simply cheating."

Wenger will not sign a new contract with Arsenal until the dispute over the transfer market is resolved.

But he suggests a collapse in the present system would prompt him to look for an international post.

"For the time being, England is the best place to work in world football," Wenger added.

"I want to continue here for as long as it pleases me and as long as people are happy with me.

"If it does become a lottery and players move clubs several times a season it would be time to do something else like take over a national team."
A rally will be held today over a proposed eight-storey hotel at Dublin's Vicar Street.

Local residents opposing the plans for the 185-room hotel say they want green space, homes and community facilities, not a high-rise building.

They have sent a petition to An Bord Pleanala, but People Before Profit Councillor Tina MacVeigh says they do not feel that anyone is listening.

She says it is the first of a series of rallies in the Liberties and Coombe area over the impact of profit-led development in Dublin's inner-city.

Writing on Facebook, Councillor MacVeigh said: "The community of the Liberties has had its fair share of development that is in the interest of profit makers.

"Time to take back our community and demand that the needs of people are put at the centre of the circle."

The rally will begin at 1pm today from Vicar Street.
The trade deficit in goods between the Republic and Britain widened last year, reflecting the competitive fall in the value of sterling against the euro, new figures suggest.

The CSO said the trade deficit in goods across the Irish Sea came to 4.22bn in 2018, after exports into Britain fell and imports from Britain rose, according to CSO figures.

Exports to Britain fell by 3%, or by 441m, to 14.08bn in 2018 from 2017, while imports from Britain rose 5%, or by 811m, to 18.3bn. The trade figures are for goods only and do not include the substantial trade in services between the Republic and Britain. Sterling has fallen around 15% against the euro since the UK voted to leave the EU in June 2016.

Analysts had long anticipated that there would be some sort of effect on Irish exporting firms, in particular on SMEs, in selling into Britain because weak sterling can make contracts loss-making. The many Irish firms involved in import businesses can, however, benefit as sterling falls. The CSO figures showed that all exports and imports in goods both increased last year. Total exports amounted to 140.83bn in the year, up 14.8% from 2017.

And total imports rose 13.8% to 90.17bn, meaning there was an overall global surplus in goods of almost 50.66bn.

The CSO said that exports to Britain accounted for 11% of all goods exports in December, comprising large amounts of exports of chemicals and exports of food and live animals.

In the same month, imports from Britain accounted for 20% of all global imports, with mineral fuels, machinery and transport equipment, and food and live animals making large contributions.
MONTREAL - Dozens of Quebec tourists who had been trapped in Haiti amid violent street protests were greeted with hugs and tears from relieved loved ones as they landed at Montreal's airport on Saturday.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Passengers arrive at Trudeau airport in Montreal, Saturday, February 16, 2019. More than 100 Quebec tourists who had been trapped in Haiti amid violent street protests were flown back to Montreal on Saturday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

MONTREAL - Dozens of Quebec tourists who had been trapped in Haiti amid violent street protests were greeted with hugs and tears from relieved loved ones as they landed at Montreal's airport on Saturday.

An Air Transat flight carrying 150 passengers, including the 113 Quebec tourists who had booked the same vacation package through the airline, landed at Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport just after 9 p.m.

As they emerged in small groups, some of the passengers were engulfed in hugs by friends and family, some of whom brought balloons, flowers, and in one case, the family dog.

One Haitian Quebecer, who had not been among the vacationers at the resort, said he had braved the streets of Port-au-Prince to get to the airport.

"It was chaotic, extremely difficult," said the man, who gave his name as Pierre. "I had my sister with me, and I took a motorcycle, and it wasn't that easy."

He said that while he was relieved to be home, he was worried about his mother and sister back in Haiti.

"When I came today, my sister was with me, and she was crying, she was crying a lot, because the situation is not good down there, it's completely bad," he said. "I hope things are going to be OK, but I don't know when they will be OK."

Helicopter evacuations began early Saturday morning to take the travellers in small groups from a resort hotel on the Caribbean country's Cote des Arcadins to the airport in the capital of Port-au-Prince.

Cinthia Pietrantonio, one of the passengers from the hotel, said the uncertainty of the situation had been stressful, even though she hadn't felt like she was personally in danger.

"It's bittersweet," she said. "I'm happy to be home, but a little sad my trip didn't end the way I wanted."

Air Transat said the Quebec and Canadian governments helped co-ordinate the evacuation effort, which involved four helicopters and took a little over five hours.

Pietrantonio said the process went very well.

"It was really organized," she said. "They did everything to get us out, and the hotel also helped."

Sylvie Demers, another traveller, said she hoped the week's events wouldn't discourage people from visiting Haiti in the future.

"I hope the site will stay open, because it's a beautiful destination. It's really something to discover," she said.

But some passengers had been critical of Transat in recent days, accusing the company of dragging its feet in getting the guests out.

One of them, Normand Rosa, said he was glad Transat finally gave in to pressure to bring the vacationers to the airport, after the company said earlier in the week that logistics and security prevented it from doing so.

Rosa indicated that while the hotel staff had been accommodating and he'd never felt unsafe, it was time to return home.

"It's better to evacuate before it deteriorates further," he said in a phone interview Saturday morning.

Christophe Hennebelle, a vice-president for human resources for Transat, defended the company's actions.

"People were safe at the hotel, and we were not going to endanger them. We were looking for the safest way to get them out," he said.

He added that once it became clear the roads were too dangerous, the company moved on to the helicopters as a Plan B.

Hennebelle said Transat was pleased with how smoothly the day went and that the airline planned to maintain its flights to Haiti for the time being.

Massive street protests demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise have claimed several lives over the past week.

Demonstrators are angry about skyrocketing inflation and the governments failure to prosecute embezzlement from a multi-billion-dollar Venezuelan program that sent discounted oil to Haiti.

Other Canadians stuck in Haiti have also been making their way to the airport by way of helicopter flights or harrowing road journeys.

An Ottawa doctor and three health professionals from New Brunswick endured a nerve-wracking seven-and-a-half hour road trip that ended with the group hiring an ambulance driver to secure safe passage to the airport on Friday.

Reached Saturday from a stopover in Philadelphia, Dr. Emilio Bazile said he felt lucky to have escaped with only a few bruises from flying rocks that also damaged a vehicle.
MUNICH - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday the response by the United States to China detaining two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese Huawei executive has not been strong enough.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an ally of President Donald Trump, leaves the Senate after voting to confirm William Barr to be attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

MUNICH - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday the response by the United States to China detaining two Canadians in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a Chinese Huawei executive has not been strong enough.

Graham also told Munich Security Conference delegates the international reaction to China's arrest of ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor hasn't been enough to persuade China that its apparent use of hostage diplomacy won't be tolerated.

"The president has been tough on China but this is one area where I think we need to make a more definitive statement, because the two people arrested in China had nothing to do with the rule of law. It was just grabbing two Canadians," Graham said.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, who appeared on the panel with Graham, mouthed the words "thank you" to Graham after he said it. Roland Paris, one of the delegates and a former foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, asked Graham about it.

U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft said last Saturday her country is "deeply concerned" about China's "unlawful" detention of the two Canadians in what was her first public comments on the cases since China detained them 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.

China also re-sentenced a convicted Canadian drug smuggler, Robert Schellenberg, to death after the Meng arrest as part of an apparent campaign of intimidation and retribution against Canada.

Some analysts have said the U.S. response to China's arrests of the two Canadians has been muted. President Donald Trump himself has not commented on the Canadians. But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has, saying China ought to release them. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders and the State Department have issued brief statements of support.

Beijing threatened grave consequences for America's neighbour and longtime ally after Meng was arrested at Vancouver's airport.

Canada has embarked on a campaign with allies to win the release of Kovrig and Spavor, and many countries have issued statements in support.

"These are human beings and they only thing they did was be Canadian in China," Freeland said. Freeland said she would be grateful if more countries spoke out.

"We will all be stronger and safer if we all can do that for each other," she said. "We can't descend to a might-makes-right world and that's especially essentially for middle powers."

The two Canadians were detained on vague allegations of "engaging in activities that endanger the national security" of China. They remain locked up without access to lawyers.

Meng is out on bail in Canada and awaiting extradition proceedings.

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
Vancouver Coastal Health says it's facing an "outbreak" of measles with nine cases in the city this month.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 15/2/2019 (860 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Vancouver Coastal Health says it's facing an "outbreak" of measles with nine cases in the city this month.

The number of confirmed cases more than doubled from four earlier on Friday, when the health authority said all the infections involved three French schools.

Two of the schools are connected by a door and the schools use the same bus company.

Medical health officer Dr. Althea Hayden says most of the new confirmed cases are linked to one of the French schools.

She says eight cases were confirmed this week and another unrelated case was confirmed last week, bringing the total to nine this month.

Hayden says many of the people exposed have already been vaccinated, but she's asking anyone who may be at risk to get checked out.

British Columbia's health minister has urged people to get vaccinated to protect themselves from the highly infectious disease.

Adrian Dix says it's the responsibility of parents to ensure their children are vaccinated and to also think of other people's kids who could be infected.

He says vaccination rates could be higher and anyone who needs more information should contact their local health authority.

(The Canadian Press, News1130)
A man has been sentenced to a short stint in jail, as well as fines and probation, after assaulting his ex-girlfriend multiple times and a stranger once in the past year.

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

A man has been sentenced to a short stint in jail, as well as fines and probation, after assaulting his ex-girlfriend multiple times and a stranger once in the past year.

Adam Lloyd Muzylouski, 38, pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court on Thursday to multiple charges, including assault, uttering threats and breaching court- ordered conditions to have no contact with his ex.

Muzylouskis first outburst occurred in April of last year, Crown attorney Marnie Evans told the court, when an employee of the bar at the City Centre Hotel asked Muzylouski to leave as he had previously been banned from the establishment.

Muzylouski was playing pool when the employee approached him, Evans said, and threw a pool cue at the employee, who was narrowly able to avoid getting hit.

Muzylouski came at the employee while yelling, "go back to your country of Afghanistan, I dont want to see terrorists in this country" and threatening to "come back with friends to kill (the employee)".

Muzylouski was able to stay out of trouble until August, Evans said, when his ex-girlfriend went to Brandon police station reporting Muzylouski had assaulted her the day before.

The woman told police the two had been drinking together at his home when he became agitated and accused her of "sleeping with all of Brandon," Evans said.

When she tried to collect her purse and leave, Muzylouski grabbed her and pushed her to the ground and then again into a wall.

She finally reached the door, only to have Muzylouski slam her into it before threatening to throw a bottle of wine at her.

The woman reported another incident with Muzylouski on Feb. 4, Evans said, despite there being a no-contact order in place.

Muzylouski and a mutual friend showed up at the womans house when she got home from work, Evans said, and they were drinking together and playing cards.

After staring at his phone for an extended period of time, Muzylouski suddenly started "freaking out," Evans said, accusing the woman of cheating on him.

The woman asked Muzylouski to leave multiple times, but he refused, so she decided to leave her own home because she was scared of what he was going to do to her.

Muzylouski blocked the woman from leaving and refused to let her go, proceeding to punch her in the face, push her onto a couch and then slap her in the face multiple times.

The woman was able to free herself and left the home out a back entrance, jumping the fence into her neighbours yard for help.

The woman had visible injuries, Evans said, including scratches and bruising.

Defence lawyer Patrick Sullivan said that after a tragic few years  which included a number of deaths in his family and Muzylouski himself almost dying after getting stabbed  Muzylouski developed an "unhealthy relationship" with alcohol and other substances such as methamphetamine.

Muzylouski is now in an active state of change, Sullivan said, taking steps to complete treatment and improve his life.

"If there is a silver lining to this cloud, it may be that this is the first time in his life that hes redirecting himself toward a positive life and becoming a contributing member of society," Sullivan said.

"I am very remorseful, ashamed and embarrassed for being at the crossroad of my life again in this way," Muzylouski told the court. "I realize changes need to be made, and Im willing to accept responsibility for my actions  Id like to come back to society and contribute in a manner that is more healthy and more mature."

When presented with a recommended sentence, Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta questioned why it was so lenient considering one of the offences happened while Muzylouski was on a no-contact order with the victim.

Evans explained there were extenuating circumstances in the Crowns case, specifically concerning the complainants co-operation and whether or not she would have been willing to testify had the case gone to trial.

Hewitt-Michta ultimately accepted the recommendation and sentenced Muzylouski to 15 days in jail, two years of supervised probation and $550 in fines.

"When you use violence, when you hit a woman that youre in a relationship with, when you use violence to solve your problems period  you are not demonstrating that you are strong, you are clearly indicating theres a weakness there and an inability to control yourself," Hewitt-Michta told Muzylouski. "Theres a pattern there as of late, and you need to get some help."

As part of his probation, Muzylouski must complete domestic-violence counselling and anger-management programming.

 edebooy@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @erindebooy
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 16/2/2019 (859 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Advertisement Advertise With Us

The Bulk Barn store in Brandon pulled debittered brewer's yeast from its shelves following a food recall warning from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency on Thursday. (Bud Robertson/The Brandon Sun)

By Bud Robertson

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a food recall warning after several brands of debittered brewers yeast were found to contain peanuts that are not declared on the label.

The Class 1 warning issued by the CFIA Thursday indicates a high health risk in which a consumer allergic to peanuts may have a serious adverse anaphylactic reaction.

Westpoint Distributors Ltd. is recalling products under various brands that were distributed in Manitoba, Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, while Bulk Barn Foods Ltd. is recalling a non-brand-name product distributed nationally.

The recall involves products that were sold between Feb. 27, 2018 and Feb. 14, 2019.

Sharon Fehr, manager of the Bulk Barn in Brandon, said they pulled the product as soon as they received the recall notice.

Hedleys Health Hut in Brandon Shoppers Mall also received a recall notice for the product they sell under the Westpoint Naturals brand, said a staff person who answered the phone Friday.

Contrary to its name, debittered brewers yeast is not made for brewing beer.

A page on the Bulk Barn website said brewers yeast can be added to fruit juice or tomato juice, as well as meat loaf, salads, casseroles, cereal, soup, and other dishes to boost nutritional content.

It notes debittered brewers yeast is a recovered byproduct of the beer-brewing process, having absorbed vitamins and nutrients from other ingredients used in brewing beer such as grain, malt and hops.

The recall was triggered by a consumer complaint, the CFIA said in a notice.

There have been no reported reactions from the brands sold through either Westpoint Distributors nor Bulk Barn Foods, the CFIA said. However, a reported reaction did lead to a Feb. 7 food recall warning for another branded product with the same raw material supply.

The CFIA urges consumers to check to see if they have any recalled products in the home. If they do, the products should be thrown out or returned to the store where they were purchased.

In an email, the CFIA noted peanuts are not always found in brewers yeast. The various yeast recalls are linked back to one source.

If you have an allergy to peanuts, do not consume the recalled product as it may cause a serious or life-threatening reaction, the CFIA said.

The agency said it is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products.

The complete list of brands recalled by Westpoint Distributors can be found at: https://bit.ly/2SRB0hW, while the product distributed by Bulk Foods Ltd. can be found at https://bit.ly/2GpwZLZ.

 brobertson@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @BudRobertson4
Submit your letter to the editor for publication in the Bozeman Daily Chronicle. Letters should be no more than 300 words and must include the writer's first and last name (no initials), home address and daytime phone number.

Submit
KY Senate Advances NRA-backed Concealed Carry Bill

By The Associated Press

FRANKFORT - Backed by a powerful gun-rights group, a bill that would allow people to carry a concealed handgun without a permit or training was passed by the Kentucky Senate on Thursday.

The measure has the blessing of the National Rifle Association but was denounced by an activist who noted that Senate action on the bill came on the anniversary of a shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 students and staff members dead.

"This is how our state decided to mark that anniversary, was to pass more dangerous gun legislation and do the bidding of the NRA and the gun lobby," Connie Coartney, who is with the Kentucky chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told reporters.

The bill sailed through the Republican-led Senate on a 29-8 vote a few hours after it was advanced by a Senate committee. The measure now goes to the GOP-controlled House.

Under the measure, Kentuckians able to lawfully possess a firearm could conceal their weapons without a license. A gun-carrying permit now carries a fee and a training requirement.

The bill's supporters said Kentuckians already can carry weapons openly without any training. But if they carry a gun under a coat, they currently need a permit.

Art Thomm, state director for the NRA, told lawmakers earlier Thursday that the measure "simply decriminalizes wearing a coat."

"Under the law, mere possession of a firearm is not a crime," he told the Senate committee. "But yet, as soon as you put on a coat and cover that firearm, you become, under what some believe, considerably more dangerous. I can't understand the reasoning behind that."

Supporters continued that same theme during Senate debate on the bill. Republican Sen. Brandon Smith of Hazard, the bill's lead sponsor, said the proposed law change would protect law-abiding gun owners from criminal liability "if they happen to put their gun in their pocket."

Smith said the measure would make no changes regarding who can carry concealed weapons and where and when they can possess the weapons.

Speaking against the bill, GOP Sen. Danny Carroll of Paducah stressed the importance of firearm safety training, adding that it was valuable to him during his law enforcement career. He questioned making a policy change that drops the training requirement for people wanting to carry concealed weapons when some of them "have no idea how to shoot a gun."

"When you have a tool in your hand that has the ability to take another person's life, there is an obligation to understand exactly what that tool is capable of," Carroll said.

Carroll, who described himself as an NRA member and staunch gun-rights supporter, voted against the bill. He said the country has become too divided on the gun issue.

"We have got to come to a middle ground on this issue," he said. "And I do think that compromise and common sense has got to be used as we come to a common ground."

Carroll's district in western Kentucky was hit by a gun violence tragedy last year when two students were killed in a shooting at a school in Marshall County.

As the scene shifts to the House, Coartney said members of her group will make their voices heard against the measure.

"We absolutely will be back to fight these bills wherever they're heard," she told reporters.

___

The legislation is Senate Bill 150.
PR Newswire

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2019

NEW YORK, Feb. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder welcomed over 70 guests to his townhouse Monday night in advance of the UN Women for Peace Association's upcoming Awards Luncheon on March 1, 2019, to be held at the UN Delegates Dining Room.

During the cocktail reception, Ambassador Lauder, a longtime supporter of UNWFPA, delivered welcoming remarks. UNWFPA President Barbara Winston and Luncheon Co-Chair Raymond Kelly, former NYC Police Commissioner and CEO of the Guardian Group, also spoke.

Ambassador Lauder, who hosted with his wife, Jo Carole Lauder, told the crowd that it was especially meaningful to host the event at his childhood home, which once belonged to his pathbreaking mother, Estee Lauder.

"My mother spent her life lifting women up and empowering them to achieve greatness. I know everyone here shares that mission, and I thank you for all that you do to end violence against women," Ambassador Lauder said.

UNWFPA President Barbara Winston said: "Technology and humanity have to meet in order to provide the world with the courage and ambition to give each person their inalienable rights."

"The UNWFPA is a vital organization devoted to raising awareness about the violence and indeed the atrocities perpetrated against women throughout the globe," said Commissioner Kelly.

In addition to Commissioner Kelly, this year's UNWFPA Awards Luncheon will be co-chaired by philanthropist Alice Tisch, who stood alongside Commissioner Kelly as he spoke.

Other guests at the elegant event included UNWFPA Treasurer Michal Grayevsky, and board members Stephanie Winston and Bona Neritani; Sheikha Rima Al-Sabah UNHCR's National Goodwill Ambassador; Susanne Geller of the German American Chamber of Commerce; Ambassador Besiana Kadare, Albania's Permanent Representative to the UN; Ambassador and Mrs.Kai Sauer, Finland's Permanent Representative to the UN; H.E. Ms.Ngedikes Olai Uludong, Permanent Representative of Palau, and DPR Ms. Karen Van Vlierberge, Permanent Representation of Belgium to the UN.

This year's Awards Luncheon will honor actor, writer and activist Ben Stiller; activist Leslee Udwin, CEO and founder of Think Equal; fashion designer Naeem Khan; and international philanthropists Albert and Deidre Pujols. UNWFPA will recognize Changemakers and Educators Marc Brackett Ph.D., Founding Director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, and Robin Stern Ph.D., Co-Founder & Associate Director of Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence. Together UNWFPA, Yale and Facebook are bringing awareness to the importance of integrating social and emotional well-being into schools, families and communities as a pathway to peace around the world.

UN Women for Peace Association was founded in 2008 under the patronage of H.E. Mrs. Ban Soon-taek, the wife of former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The organization, which is led by Chair Dame Muna Rihani Al-Nasser and President Barbara Winston, helps to advance the goals of academic and charitable organizations that provide opportunities for women to partake in the global peace-building process through social, cultural, education and women empowerment programs.

Tickets and Tables for the Awards Luncheon on March 1 are still available for purchase at https://www.unwomenforpeace.org.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/un-women-for-peace-association-hosted-a-cocktail-reception-ahead-of-international-womens-day-300797017.html

SOURCE UN Women for Peace Association
PR Newswire

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 16, 2019

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Feb. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- eHealth Technologies' Chief General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer, Michael A. Sciortino, Esq., has issued the following statement:

"The United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, James P. Kennedy, Jr., announced yesterday, February 15, 2019, that a federal grand jury has returned a 15-count indictment charging Michael Margiotta with wire fraud, money laundering, and filing a false tax return. Mr. Margiotta, a former CEO of eHealth Technologies, is the current Chairman and CEO of Chartfill, Inc., iPatientAxis, Inc. and PatientIP. Since 2016, eHealth Technologies has fully cooperated with federal authorities with respect to their investigation of Mr. Margiotta who was indicted by a federal grand jury.

Mr. Margiotta's employment ceased with eHealth Technologies in 2014 and he has not been involved in its operations since that time. The investigation focused on Mr. Margiotta's actions, and not on eHealth Technologies nor any of our current employees, directors, officers, or business partners.

This news has no effect on eHealth Technologies, and our ability to provide the highest-quality service and adhere to the principles, ethics and values that the healthcare community nationwide has come to expect."

Additional questions relating to the matter should be addressed to the United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, James P. Kennedy, Jr., or Assistant United States Attorney John J. Field, who is handling the case.

About eHealth TechnologieseHealth Technologies is the leading provider of medical record retrieval and organization services and image-enabled Health Information Exchanges (HIEs). With customers across the country, eHealth Technologies works with prominent HIEs and top-ranked hospitals, including 16 of the 20 U.S. News & World Report Honor Roll Hospitals for 2018-2019. The company's eHealth Connect solutions enhance patient and physician satisfaction by streamlining care transitions and assuring physicians have the right information to care for their patients. eHealth Connect Image Exchange enables HIE subscribers access to full diagnostic quality medical records in the context of the patient record. Visit www.eHealthTechnologies.com. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACTS: Kathleen [email protected] or (585) 242-1000 ext. 565

Chris [email protected] or (716) 440-5580

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/statement-from-ehealth-technologies-regarding-federal-indictment-of-former-ceo-michael-margiotta-300797034.html

SOURCE eHealth Technologies
Reciba en su email: noticias de ultima hora, analisis tecnicos o el cierre de mercado

Email no valido Nombre requerido Recibira las informaciones mas relevantes del dia en tiempo real Que informacion desea recibir? Noticias de Ultima hora Boletin Cierre de Mercado Boletin analisis tecnico Boletin Fundsnews Debe seleccionar un tipo de boletin Acepto la Politica de privacidad Debe aceptar la politica de privacidad Responsable EMPRESAS DEL GRUPO WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Finalidad La remision de informacion, novedades y promociones Establecimiento o mantenimiento de Relaciones Comerciales. Legitimacion Consentimiento del interesado. Interes legitimo en el desarrollo de la relacion comercial Destinatario Empresas del Grupo WEB FINANCIAL GROUP Derechos Acceso, rectificacion, supresion, limitacion, oposicion y portabilidad Informacion adicional Politica de Privacidad de nuestra pagina Web + INFORMACION
SIGN UP TO GET BLACKLISTED NEWS DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR INBOX Enter your email address:




CW Nordics February 2019

According to a report, traditional businesses that are transforming how they operate are fuelling digitisation more than the tech disruptors. The Nordic region is known for its rich tech startup ecosystems, but also has a strong heritage in traditional industries, such as heavy engineering, logistics and manufacturing.

This is the perfect environment for digital transformation, with startups and traditional businesses able to learn from each other. But despite this, there is work to do. A report by IDC said Nordic companies are lagging behind their global peers, especially the US, when it comes to digital transformation.

One area where Nordic countries could not be accused of lagging behind is the digitisation of money. A recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that the use of cash continues to increase in the worlds economies apart from in the Nordic countries Norway and Sweden.

Read in this issue how Swedens central bank is testing out digital currency. Riksbank has rolled out plans to test the e-krona, and politicians in Sweden have presented a plan to make the country the worlds first cashless society by 2030.
For Immediate Release, February 15, 2019 Contacts: Jim Cronin, Center for Biological Diversity, (971) 717-6411, jcronin@biologicaldiversity.org,

Gabby Brown, Sierra Club, (914) 261-4626, gabby.brown@sierraclub.org

Jake Thompson, NRDC, (202) 289-2387, jthompson@nrdc.org

Patrick Davis, Friends of the Earth, (202) 222-0744, pdavis@foe.org

Dustin Ogdin, Northern Plains Resource Council, (406) 248-1154, dustin@northernplains.org

Mark Hefflinger, Bold Alliance, (323) 972-5192, mark@boldalliance.org Judge Denies TransCanada's Request for Most Pre-construction Work on Keystone XL Pipeline Ruling Deals Yet Another Setback to Proposed Dirty Fossil Fuel Project GREAT FALLS, Mont. A federal court ruling today further delayed the proposed Keystone XL pipeline by reaffirming that TransCanada cannot conduct any construction activity on the controversial tar sands pipeline and continuing to block most pre-construction field activities, including construction of worker camps. The U.S. District Court for the District of Montana ruled in November that the Trump administration violated bedrock U.S. environmental laws when approving a federal permit for the pipeline. The ruling blocked any construction while the government revises its environmental review. Today the court largely stood by that ruling, finding that TransCanada is unlikely to succeed on its appeal to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. It also ruled that TransCanada remains blocked from constructing worker camps and conducting most other pre-construction activity along the pipeline route. The court did allow TransCanada to store pipe in storage yards located off the pipeline right of way, but only on private land that has been properly surveyed and analyzed. The court noted that any investment of resources would be at the companys own peril. Todays ruling does nothing to change the obvious fact that Keystone XL will never be built, said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Doug Hayes. After a decade of trying to force this pipeline on the American people, its time for TransCanada to finally get the message and give up. This ruling ensures TransCanada cant threaten communities and habitat along the pipeline route while further environmental reviews are conducted, said Jared Margolis, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. If the Trump administration takes an honest look at Keystone XLs impacts, it wont be able to justify this horrible, climate-killing project. Its been two years since the Trump administration tried to revive this pipeline from the dead, but Keystone XL is still far from being built, said Jackie Prange, a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Todays decision is one more victory for the rule of law over this reckless and risky project. TransCanada cannot build its risky pipeline. We stand ready to present the case to the next court as our 10-year battle moves on, said Jane Kleeb, Bold Alliance president. Property rights, water and the sovereign rights of tribal nations matter to Americans, and its time for our country to move away from Keystone XL and move on to confronting climate change. Farmers win another round while Big Oil keeps clinging on to the past. TransCanadas attempt to skirt the law is corporate bullying at its worst, said Marcie Keever, legal director at Friends of the Earth. TransCanadas willingness to push the rules in a rush to build this dirty pipeline is deeply concerning and speaks directly to the corporation's effort to bypass environmental safeguards. As the company continues to push the law, we will to do everything we can to stop this climate-destroying, water-polluting, likely oil-spilling mess of a project. We strongly support the enjoinder by Judge Morris prohibiting any further construction of the Keystone XL pipeline until an adequate and thorough Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement is conducted and the permit is approved. We are pleased to see the most important elements of the enjoinder stand, said Dena Hoff, farmer and member of Northern Plains Resource Council.
Plantation owners failed to pay more than a billion dollars in fines imposed by Indonesian courts in recent years for damages caused by agricultural fires and illegal logging, environmental watchdog Greenpeace said Friday.

The courts ruled for the government in 10 lawsuits brought by the state against timber companies and palm oil plantation owners whose land clearing practices caused fires between 2012 and 2015, ordering them to pay fines totaling 2.7 trillion rupiah ($191.4 million), according to Greenpeace.

The announcement came before President Joko Jokowi Widodo was scheduled to debate challenger Prabowo Subianto in the second of three debates leading up to the April 17 election. Sundays square-off is to focus on energy, infrastructure, natural resources and environmental issues.

Greenpeace said another lawsuit brought against timber company over illegal logging carried out since 2004 resulted in a fine of 16.2 trillion rupiah ($1.1 billion).

As citizens, if we dont pay taxes we will be punished. But why have the owners of these big companies not been forced to pay the fines and have their assets confiscated, said Arie Rompas, a forest campaigner for Greenpeace Indonesia.

Compensation paid by these companies will be beneficial to the people and can be used to fund for large-scale reforestation as well as emergency health care and infrastructure in the event of new fires, he said in a statement.

In 2014, the government filed a lawsuit against a company that supplied Indonesias largest pulp and paper company with timber. The next year, forest fires broke out in the companys forest lands in South Sumatra, Greenpeace said.

In 2017, the Supreme Court upheld a lower district court ruling that ordered a palm oil company to pay 366 billion rupiah ($25.9 million) in fines and reparations for forest fires that destroyed a swathe of the Tripa peat swamp in Aceh province. Tripa is home to Sumatran orangutans.

In October 2018, the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry said it had urged a Sumatra district court to execute a court order for the fine $1.1 billion fine imposed on the timber company.

Any delay will create legal uncertainty and violate peoples constitutional right to a better and healthier environment, the ministry said in a statement at the time.

Annual hazard

Agricultural fires are an annual hazard in Indonesia and haze produced by them often affect neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Air pollution can reach hazardous levels, disrupting economic activity and forcing schools to close.

A study by researchers from Harvard and Columbia universities found that more than 100,000 people in Southeast Asia likely died prematurely in 2015 as a result of agricultural fires in Indonesia. Researchers attributed the deaths to breathing high levels of carbon-based particulates.

In addition, at least 24 people were killed in forest fires in 2015, according to the Indonesian government. The World Bank estimated economic losses as a result of the fires at $16 billion (226 trillion rupiah).
The latest attack on a ATM machine, this time at a filling station in Co Tyrone, is another shocking example of how far thieves will go to grab money stored for the convenience of people who want to withdraw cash for their everyday needs.

It demonstrates the chronic lawlessness in many parts of Northern Ireland at a time when the PSNI is so hard-pressed by its lack of funding and staffing.

The situation is so bad that many filling stations are closing at night, and even then the nature of these random attacks on ATM machines makes prevention and arrests extremely difficult.

This results in a substantial loss of money, as well as the apprehension of filling station and store owners and members of the public, which is impossible to calculate in financial terms.

This contributes to the challenges facing the major banks at a time when banking habits are creating major changes in how they operate. These changes are most directly felt in the closure of branches, and Danske Bank will be closing two, in Belfast and Bangor, later this year.

The Consumer Council reveals that in January 2018, one in four branches of the big banks here had closed in little over a year.

The reasons for this are complex, and include the cutting of overheads and changes in how we use banks. For many people, mobile and internet banking are what they need in their busy world.

However, there are still many others, including the older generation, who prefer more traditional banking at a counter.

Some are also wary of falling victim to cybercrime and scams. Of course progress and new techniques are important, but people also need to be aware of the challenges of using these, and they need help in doing so.

The latest attack on a ATM machine is a stark warning to everyone of the greed and ruthlessness of criminals. It is important for everyone to be aware of the risks, not only at ATMs, but also when using their own computer for banking, and when it comes to keeping cash and possessions secure in their own home.
Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort could spend nearly two decades in prison on tax and bank fraud charges, prosecutors have said.

The potential sentence stems from Manaforts conviction last year on eight counts related to an elaborate scheme to conceal from tax authorities the millions of dollars he earned overseas from Ukrainian political consulting.

Court documents filed by special counsel Robert Muellers office reveal that Manafort faces possibly the lengthiest prison term in the Russia investigation.

In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars

Manafort, who led Donald Trumps campaign for months during the 2016 presidential campaign, is not charged with any crimes directly related to Russian election interference, the thrust of Mr Muellers probe.

But prosecutors have recently revealed that they remain deeply interested in his contacts during and after the campaign with an associate the FBI says has ties to Russian intelligence.

In a 27-page court filing, prosecutors did not recommend a precise sentence for Manafort, but they agreed with a calculation by federal probation officials that his crimes deserve a punishment of between 19.5 and 24.5 years.

They also lay out in great detail for US District Judge T S Ellis III how they say Manaforts greed drove him to disregard American law.

Expand Close Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing (Kevin Wolf/AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Members of the defense team for Paul Manafort, from left, Richard Westling, Tim Wang and Kevin Downing (Kevin Wolf/AP)

In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, the prosecutors wrote.

The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.

Manafort has been jailed for months as he awaits his formal sentencing.

His lawyers have said the incarceration has created a mental and physical strain on Manafort, who has recently used a wheelchair in court appearances and will turn 70 in April.

But Muellers team made clear that Manaforts age should not be a consideration, nor does it eliminate the risk that he could still commit new crimes.

Nothing about the defendants age is unusual, they wrote. Tax offenders are often older and often, like the defendant, wealthy, but they nonetheless receive substantial terms of incarceration notwithstanding age and health issues.

Prosecutors often acknowledge mitigating factors that a judge may consider on a defendants behalf in favour of a more lenient sentence but none exist here, prosecutors said.

They note that his pattern of criminal activity lasted more than a decade, that he conspired to tamper with witnesses despite facing indictments in two different districts and that he repeatedly lied to the government and to a grand jury even after he agreed to cooperate and plead guilty.
Hundreds of passengers have had their travel plans disrupted after airline flybmi suspended all flights, and said it was filing for administration.

Customers of the airline, which had operated 17 regional jet aircraft on routes to 25 European cities, have been told not to come to the airport unless they have re-booked flights with alternative providers.

Advice to UK consumers impacted by British Midland Regional Limited (FlyBMI) suspending operations: https://t.co/BAgabYehO5 #FlyBMI #AVIATION pic.twitter.com/XbEVJlsJrt  UK Civil Aviation Authority (@UK_CAA) February 16, 2019

Flybmi said it would not be able to purchase, rearrange or reschedule any flights on behalf of customers.

An extensive Q&A on the airlines website  the only page now accessible to customers  lays out various options for those affected.

Customers have been advised to contact their payment card issuer to get a refund for flights.

Those who have booked through a travel agent or partner airlines are advised to contact their agent or airline.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said travellers should contact their insurance provider as their policy may include cover for scheduled airline failure.

It advised passengers whose flights were part of a package holiday to contact the travel firm they booked with.

If the firm holds an ATOL (Air Travel Organisers Licence), it is responsible for flight arrangements and must either make alternative flights available so the trip can continue or provide a full refund, the CAA said.

Flybmi flights operated out of Aberdeen, Bristol, East Midlands, London Stansted, Newcastle and City of Derry and a number of European airports.

The airline said it carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights last year.

Rory Boland, travel editor for the consumer body Which?, said: This is terrible news for flybmi passengers, who will be seeking urgent advice on what steps to take.

Some customers have claimed that tickets were being sold in the hours before the airline went bust, knowing full well those tickets would never be honoured, and passengers will rightly be outraged if this is proved to be the case.

As all future flights have been cancelled, flybmi customers should explore their options for refunds.

If you purchased your flight as part of a package you should be ATOL protected, which means you should get a refund.

However, if you didnt book as part of a package you may be able to claim the cost back through your travel insurance or credit card issuer, but it depends on your circumstances.
Philip Hammond will not visit China this weekend amid reports that Beijing pulled out of trade talks after Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson threatened to deploy a warship in the Pacific.

The Chancellor was expected to meet Chinese vice premier Hu Chunhua, but Treasury sources said the trip was never confirmed.

It follows reports in the Sun newspaper that Mr Hu scrapped the plans hours after Mr Williamson announced that he would be sending HMS Queen Elizabeth to the Pacific region.

Expand Close The HMS Queen Elizabeths first operational mission will take in the Pacific region (Steve Parsons/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp The HMS Queen Elizabeths first operational mission will take in the Pacific region (Steve Parsons/PA)

The paper said China had been expected to lift its bans on British poultry and cosmetics not tested on animals, which could have opened up access to markets worth around 10 billion over five years.

But a Treasury spokeswoman said: The Chancellor is not travelling to China at this time. No trip was ever announced or confirmed.

A source suggested the visit would be rescheduled when possible.

Expand Close Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson (Joe Giddens/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson (Joe Giddens/PA)

Mr Williamson confirmed this week that HMS Queen Elizabeths first operational mission will take in the Pacific region, where Beijing has been involved in a dispute over navigation rights and territorial claims in the South China Sea.

Tory former chancellor George Osborne accused Mr Williamson of engaging in gunboat diplomacy as he said it was important for ministers to not send mixed messages.

I think its very difficult to work out what the British Governments China policy is at the moment, he told BBC Radio 4s Week In Westminster.

Youve got the Defence Secretary engaging in gunboat diplomacy of a quite old-fashioned kind, at the same time as the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Foreign Secretary are going around saying they want a close economic partnership with China.

Ultimately its the responsibility of Theresa May as Prime Minister to sort this out because at the moment it looks all at sea.

Elsewhere, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov hit back at Mr Williamson, calling him the minister of war, after the frontbencher told the Munich Security Conference that Russia was trying to goad the West into a new arms race.

Mr Lavrov said Moscow was interested in knowing how the western alliance saw its mandate in the Arctic, and said: If you listen to some people like minister of war  or, sorry, minister of defence of the United Kingdom, then you might get an impression that nobody except Nato has the right to be anywhere other than in their own borders.
A man has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving after a woman from Northern Ireland was struck by a moped.

Lesley Bello-Hernandez (67), a former pupil of Coleraine High School, died earlier this week in Cambridge.

She was walking on Arbury Road at around 2.15pm on Wednesday when the collision happened.

Ms Bello-Hernandez was crossing the road at the time and died at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics.

Cambridgeshire City Police said they had tried to stop the moped shortly before the collision and an independent investigation has now been launched.

Jack O'Donnell (25) of Tempsford Avenue, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, appeared in Cambridge Magistrates Court yesterday.

He was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, causing death while driving unlicensed, and causing death while driving uninsured.

A plea has yet to be entered and O'Donnell was remanded in custody until the case is heard on March 15.

A 19-year-old woman was also arrested after the crash but has since been released under investigation.

The grandmother's family paid tribute to "a bright soul and the light of our lives".

Her son Jamie Bello-Hernandez (37) said: "It is not something I expected I would have to write this time yesterday, however, I think our family would agree, she was an extremely loving and kind sister, mother and grandmother.

"She always did more than she needed for the family, so we are devastated by the loss of such a bright soul and the light of our lives.

"There are no words, just heartbreak right now".

"We will not comment on the details of the terrible circumstances surrounding her death and request privacy during this difficult time."

Ms Bello-Hernandez had studied languages at Royal Holloway, University of London and later worked as a manager at the University of Cambridge and taught at Witchford Village College.

Hundreds have paid tribute to the popular French teacher on social media.

One recalled "a fun and inspirational teacher".

Funeral details for Ms Bello-Hernandez have yet to be announced.
Police have appealed for witnesses after a suspected shooting in Glasgow (David Cheskin/PA)

A man is being treated in hospital following reports of a shooting in Glasgow.

Police were called to the citys Springburn area at around 11.15am on Saturday after reports gunshots were heard.

Officers were later alerted to a man attending hospital with injuries thought to have been caused by a firearm. His condition is not known.

There are additional police patrols in the area to provide public reassurancePolice Scotland

A Police Scotland statement said: Police inquiries are now being carried out in the Dykemuir Street area to establish more details and the circumstances surrounding this incident.

There are additional police patrols in the area to provide public reassurance and anyone with concerns should speak to officers.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting reference number 1630 of Saturday February 16.
FlyBMI flights to and from Aberdeen Airport have been cancelled with immediate effect (Andrew Milligan/PA Wire)

All flybmi flights to and from Aberdeen have been cancelled after the airline filed for administration.

The immediate cancellation of all flybmi flights, including the three served by Aberdeen International, was announced on Saturday night.

The airline blamed Brexit for its collapse and in a statement said: We sincerely regret that this course of action has become the only option open to us, but the challenges, particularly those created by Brexit, have proven to be insurmountable.

Flybmi had flights between Aberdeen and Esbjerg in Denmark, Oslo in Norway and Bristol.

On Sunday, the 11.05am flight to Olso and the 3.35pm flight to Bristol have been cancelled.

Two flights due to arrive in Aberdeen from Olso and Bristol are also cancelled.

Flybmi operated 17 aircraft on routes between 25 European cities, with the East Midlands-based firm employing 376 people in the UK, Belgium, Germany and Sweden.

Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in EuropeFlybmi statement

Customers who had booked flights with flybmi are advised to contact their credit or debit card provider, or their travel agent, to get a refund.

A flybmi spokesman said: It is with a heavy heart that we have made this unavoidable announcement today.

The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs, the latter arising from the EUs recent decision to exclude UK airlines from full participation in the Emissions Trading Scheme.

These issues have undermined efforts to move the airline into profit.

Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around bmis ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe.

Additionally, our situation mirrors wider difficulties in the regional airline industry which have been well documented.

Against this background, it has become impossible for the airlines shareholders to continue their extensive programme of funding into the business, despite investment totalling over 40 million in the last six years.

Our employees have worked extremely hard over the last few years and we would like to thank them for their dedication to the company, as well as all our loyal customers who have flown with us over the last six years.
Local residents demonstrate at the site of a proposed new high rise hotel on Vicar Street in Dublin.

A protest has taken place at the site of a planned hotel in south inner city Dublin.

Around 60 residents gathered at Vicar Street where planning permission for an eight-storey 185 bedroom hotel has been granted by Dublin City Council.

It is scheduled to be open for business by 2020 and will create 80 jobs.

Expand Close Local residents demonstrate at the site of a proposed new high rise hotel on Vicar Street in Dublin. (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Local residents demonstrate at the site of a proposed new high rise hotel on Vicar Street in Dublin. (Niall Carson/PA)

A spokesman for the developer previously said it will add to the growing restoration of The Liberties area of the capital.

However, local residents have objected to the plans, calling for green space, homes and community facilities instead.

Some of the protesters carried banners which read: Homes not hotels.

Expand Close People Before Profits Tina MacVeigh addresses the protest (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp People Before Profits Tina MacVeigh addresses the protest (Niall Carson/PA)

People Before Profit councillor Tina MacVeigh was among the speakers who addressed the protest.

The nature of this venue beside a residential community is of great concern to the local area, she said.

Vicar St demo - No 8 Storey Hotel here! Posted by Cllr. Tina MacVeigh on Saturday, February 16, 2019

Speaking after the event, she said residents are resolute in their opposition to the hotel.

As the protest finished, those gathered sang a rendition of The Dubliners hit In The Rare Auld Times, in reference to the areas historic character.
A Dublin man arrested with over 22,000 (19,200) in a suitcase at Belfast International Airport is to contest charges he faces in April.

John Gilligan, with an address at Greenfort Crescent in Dublin, was in the dock at Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday.

The 66-year-old faces two charges.

The first is that the defendant on August 23 last year attempted to remove criminal property from Northern Ireland, contrary to Article 3 of the Criminal Attempts and Conspiracy (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 and Section 327(1)(e) of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The second charge is that he possessed criminal property - namely 22,280.

A defence lawyer said they were served with the case papers that morning, describing them as "quite voluminous".

He said his "clear instructions" were to enter a not guilty plea and contest the charges.

A prosecution lawyer said there were 15 prosecution witnesses and the defence lawyer said there were 13 witnesses for the defence.

District Judge Peter King set a contest day at the end of April and said a review would be held in mid-March to "firm up" the number of witnesses which will be required.

He said Gilligan did not need to attend in March.

He was released on continuing bail, no details of which were given in court.

Gilligan had spent several months on custody in relation to the charges and when he was granted bail recently he had pledged to show up at yesterday's court, telling a judge: "I wouldn't run."
Former Stormont minister Jim Wells has blocked two DUP party colleagues from viewing his Twitter and Facebook posts  because of their support for LGBT issues on North Down and Ards Council.

The South Down MLA confirmed hed blocked DUP councillors Tom Smith and Alistair Cathcart from his social media channels.

A motion to light up the civic building in Conway Square, Newtownards, in rainbow colours on May 13 to mark the start of LGBT Awareness Week was passed by 19 votes to 18 in December. Two DUP councillors, Tom Smith and Alastair Cathcart, broke ranks to ensure the motion passed.

Yesterday, Mr Smith revealed that he had been blocked by Mr Wells. He tweeted: Dont remember ever even talking to the guy let alone sending him a tweet, but for some reason ...

Last night former health minister Mr Wells hit out at Mr Smith, confirming he had blocked him on social media outlets.

I certainly have. I hope he will soon be an ex-DUP councillor, he said.

He has twice voted against party policy, to allow LGBT colours to be lit up on council property.

In fact his vote, and another DUP councillor, Councillor Cathcart, were the deciding votes.

In other words, if him (Mr Smith) and Councillor Cathcart had not broken ranks, this would not have happened.

So I certainly do not wish to listen to either councillor Cathcart or Councillor Smith on my personal Facebook and Twitter sites. These are personal sites, they are not party sites.

Mr Wells continued: I can decide who I want and who I dont, and I certainly dont wish to hear either Councillor Cathcart or Councillor Smith coming out with their pro-LGBT comments.

While Mr Wells remains a DUP MLA and party member, he himself has had the party whip suspended from him for the past 10 months.

The DUP withdrew the whip from the veteran politician early last year over his outspoken criticism of the party leadership, accusing it of hanging him out to dry over his conservative views.

Mr Cathcart declined to respond to Mr Wellss comments.

Both Mr Smith and the DUP have yet to respond to Mr Wells remarks.
Two people have walked free from courts in Northern Ireland after claiming thousands in benefits they were not entitled to (stock photo)

Two people have walked free from courts in Northern Ireland after claiming thousands in benefits they were not entitled to.

Irene Wilson (66), of Belfast Road, Bangor claimed Housing Benefit of 10,785 while failing to declare a non-dependent was living in the household. She was given a conditional discharge for 12 months at Ards Magistrates Court yesterday.

Separately, Shane McGleenon (40), of Keady Road, Armagh was convicted at Armagh Magistrates Court for claiming Housing Benefit of 9,674 while failing to declare he was living together with a partner. He was given a three-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
Police and forensic officers pictured at the scene where a body of a man was found in the Keylands Place area on Friday afternoon. Mandatory Credit Presseye /Stephen Hamilton

Police and forensic officers at the scene where a body of a man was found in the Keylands Place area on Friday afternoon. Mandatory Credit Presseye /Stephen Hamilton

A man has died on the streets of Belfast city centre.

The man was found in the Keylands Place area, at the back of Robinson's bar.

It is not yet known how the man died. Police sealed off the area on Friday afternoon to conduct their investigations.

They said they are not treating the death as suspicious.

A PSNI spokeswoman added: "Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the sudden death of a man in Keylands Place in Belfast city centre. The death is not thought to be suspicious at this time.

"A post mortem examination will be carried out in due course."
Three teenagers accused of involvement in a "vicious assault" on Bangor pier, the video of which went viral, had their case sent to the Crown Court yesterday (stock photo)

Three teenagers accused of involvement in a "vicious assault" on Bangor pier, the video of which went viral, had their case sent to the Crown Court yesterday.

Two of the accused, Cora Campbell (19) and an 18-year-old male, stood side by side in the dock of Newtownards Magistrates Court while their 16-year-old co-accused stood close to the public gallery because of her age.

All three confirmed they were aware of the charges against them and that they had no objections to the preliminary enquiry, a legal step necessary to refer a case upwards to the Crown Court.

They are charged with attempting to inflict grievous bodily harm with intent on a teenage girl last April. Previous courts heard claims that the victim was "lured" to the pier where she was allegedly attacked by the trio.

In court yesterday a prosecutor submitted there was basis for a prima facie case against the three teenagers, a submission conceded by defence counsels.

All three declined to give evidence or comment on the charges.

Remanding Campbell back into custody and freeing her co-accused on bail, Judge Des Perry returned the case to Downpatrick Crown Court for trial and ordered the teenagers to appear there for arraignment on March 21.
The damage at Glendale Service Station, Killyclogher Road, outside Omagh, where an ATM was stolen in the early hours of Friday

The damage at Glendale Service Station, Killyclogher Road, outside Omagh, where an ATM was stolen in the early hours of Friday

The damage at Glendale Service Station, Killyclogher Road, outside Omagh, where an ATM was stolen in the early hours of Friday

Cash machines outside shops in rural areas could be removed in response to a new spate of ATM raids, a retail chief has said.

The warning comes after thieves used a stolen digger to rip an ATM from the wall of a filling station in Co Tyrone.

The heist, in the early hours of yesterday morning, is the latest in a series of raids on cash machines across Northern Ireland.

Robberies - including four in the last month - have occurred across counties Antrim, Armagh, Down and Tyrone over the last year. All bear striking similarities, with diggers used to tear machines from the walls, often in the early hours of the morning.

Now concerns have been raised that local communities will pay the price if retailers remove outdoor ATMs from their premises due to the thefts.

Retail NI chief executive Glynn Roberts said if the raids continue, stores could act.

He is due to meet with senior police officers later this month to press for a taskforce to tackle the criminal gangs responsible.

He said the situation is all the more alarming as a series of bank closures in recent years has left people increasingly dependent on ATMs.

Mr Roberts said: "With four ATM robberies in the past month, these attacks are now a major problem for local retailers.

"With so many bank branch closures in rural towns and villages in recent years, ATMs provide an invaluable service to their local communities.

"There is a real danger that retailers in rural areas will start to withdraw their ATMs and the real loser will be the local community. Many people depend on these machines to access cash and to receive benefits or pensions."

In the latest incident, reported around 4.10am yesterday, a digger was used to remove an ATM from the wall of a filling station near Omagh.

The ATM was stolen from the Glendale Service Station at Killyclogher Road at around 3.30am.

The digger used to remove the machine was found at the scene, and significant damage was caused to the wall of the business premises.

CCTV footage of the incident shows it took just 90 seconds for the thieves to rip the cash machine from the wall and place it into a trailer before making their getaway.

A spokesperson for the business, which has been operating for over 40 years, said they were determined to get up and running again as soon as possible.

Sinn Fein MLA Declan McAleer condemned those responsible.

"Glendale shop and filling station on the outskirts of Omagh is a family-owned business which provides a vital service for the community," he said.

"This is the latest attack of this kind in the community after a similar incident in nearby Killyclogher and others in recent years at Fintona, Carrickmore, Garvaghey and Greencastle."

Omagh DUP councillor Errol Thompson said: "Glendale has been here for many years and we want to see the family continuing to do business in this area for many more years to come.

"Hopefully they will not be deterred and rise up again."

West Tyrone SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan has expressed concern over the lack of PSNI prosecutions in relation to ATM thefts.

"There has been a scourge of ATM thefts across Northern Ireland recently and many of these have happened in Tyrone," he said. "I do have concern that so many of these thefts are happening yet I am seeing very little in terms of arrests, prosecutions and indeed preventative action by the PSNI.

"I have written to the Chief Constable to demand action."

PSNI Detective Chief Inspector David Henderson said: "Each incident has followed a very similar process of targeting premises, before using plant machinery to remove ATMs from the exterior facade. This caused significant damage to the property, as well as causing disruption to the business targeted and the local community.

"At this stage, officers are investigating the possibility that these incidents may be linked. Enquiries are continuing and we continue to work hard to identify the perpetrators.

"At present, Criminal Investigation Department detectives across Northern Ireland have been tasked to investigate these incidents and are proactively progressing enquiries, to identify and apprehend those involved.

"I would appeal to the community to be vigilant to this type of crime and to report any suspicious vehicles or activity or if you hear machinery operating either late at night or early in the morning."

The PSNI said that over the last six months, there have been six reports of ATM thefts across Northern Ireland.

Earlier this month, three cash machines were stolen - two from an Asda supermarket in Antrim and another at a Spar filling station on the Glenavy Road near Moira - within 48 hours.

In January, an attempted robbery at a Spar store on the Old Mountfield Road near Killyclogher, four miles from the latest attack, was foiled when neighbours rushed to the scene and shouted at the thieves.

The previous month a 'built-in' cash machi ne was taken from a shop on Tattymoyle Road in Fintona using a digger which was set alight afterwards.
A man has been arrested for aggravated burglary after two masked men, one suspected to be carrying a gun, entered a house in Belfast and assaulted two people.

The incident occurred on Ligoniel Road in north Belfast at around 8.25pm on Friday.

It was reported the men entered a house in the area and assaulted the male and female occupant.

The suspects then made off along Ligoniel Road in the direction of Thornberry.

A 39-year-old suspect was arrested a short time later and is in police custody.

The occupants of the house did not sustain any serious injuries during the incident.

Detective Sergeant Gardiner appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or anyone with any information that can assist with the investigation to call detectives in Musgrave on 101, quoting reference 1472 15/02/19.

Information can also be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
The father of a man who took his own life says he has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support since speaking out about the tragedy.

Personal trainer Paul Oldham, a 38-year-old father-of-one from Banbridge, died on February 4.

His dad Phillip said the family have been inundated with messages from people who read about his son since the story appeared in the Banbridge Chronicle and the Belfast Telegraph.

Paul, dad to Alfie (6), had struggled with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression and anxiety over the last 10 years.

He had set up his own gym - Alchemy Fitness Therapies CIC in Lisburn - to help others battling mental health issues.

Some of those he had helped in his gym paid tribute to him on the Belfast Telegraph's social media platforms yesterday.

One mum wrote: "Paul was far from your 'average' personal trainer.

"He meant a lot to my family because of the huge impact he'd had on our son's recovery from years of severe mental illness.

"I am so very thankful that we got to have him in our lives.

"My family will never forget what he has done for us and I know that we're not alone in that."

Another wrote: "If only he knew how much we all loved him. I couldn't thank him enough for all he has done for me. Always just focusing on others."

Phillip said that his son had touched people's lives, saved people's lives, and made a massive difference.

"Paul touched a lot of people's lives. Lots of people, parents for example, have come forward and told us what he did for them," he said.

He added that one story in particular had touched him.

"One young man had been housebound. He was living with his parents. He never left his bedroom. He had no social life at all. He came to Paul's gym and worked with him," he said.

"He is now apparently living independently on his own and doing extremely well. This lad had mental health issues himself and had basically locked himself away from the world. That is what Paul's aim was, changing lives for the better. He wanted to look after people and help them. That was just one of the stories. And it makes his family so proud that he was able to achieve these things.

"He had not been able to do it for himself, but he helped others and be forward with his thinking on how he could make a difference to people.

"If Paul knew the impact he had on people's lives, he was happy with that.

"He didn't bask in the glory of it. He just continued to keep doing his everyday stuff and helped as many people as he could. My son saved lives."

If you, or anyone close to you, is affected by issues in this article, contact the Samaritans free on 11 6123 or Lifeline on 080 8808 8000
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnakatsanyan commented on information about his possible meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Forum in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza.

According to Mnatsakanyan, his meeting with Mammadyarov is not scheduled.

If we meet here in the corridors, I will greet him, of course. But this meeting is not currently planned, he said.

At the same time, head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry assured that two ministries continue to work on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement.
A Co Down man who raped a sex worker after binding her hands and feet with cable ties was handed an eight-year sentence yesterday (stock photo)

A Co Down man who raped a sex worker after binding her hands and feet with cable ties was handed an eight-year sentence yesterday.

Ordering Gary Doak (49) to spend half his sentence in jail and half under supervised licence, Newry Crown Court Judge Gordon Kerr QC also ordered him to stay on the sex offenders register for life.

At an earlier hearing Doak, from Dickson Park in Seapatrick, just outside Banbridge, entered guilty pleas to rape, a serious sexual assault charge, unlawfully and injuriously imprisoning the victim, assaulting her occasioning actual bodily harm and common assault on March 9, 2017.

Repeating the agreed facts yesterday, the judge outlined how Doak contacted his victim through an online advert where she offered "a wide range of services, including BDSM, fetishes, role play and fantasy", agreeing a fee of 200 for her to come to his home.

When she got there Doak "perpetrated a sustained and multi-faceted assault upon the complainant, both sexual and physical, with the defendant's behaviour vacillating between aggressive and meek behaviour".

He told the court that during the woman's visit, Doak "became threatening", took her to a bedroom and "bound her with cable ties around her neck, wrists and ankles". "He tried to put a sock over her head, eventually putting it sideways in her mouth and tied it at the back of her head," which terrified the victim. He then "returned with a cup of tea and spoke to her in a calm manner and cut her ankle ties". It was then, however, said Judge Kerr, that Doak raped her and committed another sexual offence.

"Still bound, she was then taken to the bathroom where the defendant washed her and the complainant thought he would let her leave", but instead Doak took her back to the bedroom "where there was a struggle".

The court heard the victim was terrified that Doak intended to cause her serious injury.

Having run to the kitchen, she "grabbed some knives" and there was a further struggle with Doak "slightly injured" by a blade and both biting each other.

The woman's ordeal ended "with both parties lying on the kitchen floor and the defendant telling the complainant he had panicked and suffered flashbacks to the war".

While Doak sustained scratches and bruises to his face and arms and an injury "consistent with a knife", his victim had suffered ligature marks around her wrists, bruising to her neck, arms and legs and "multiple areas of red marks".

When the police examined Doak's mobile phone, officers uncovered "a significant internet search history for sex workers" along with evidence of searches for depictions of sex "with an element of force".

During his sentencing remarks Judge Kerr listed numerous aggravating factors including there being "more than one sexual attack", Doak being "aggressive and threatening" and the degradation of how the forced sex act culminated.

He said while the defence had contended that taking the victim to the bathroom to wash her showed a degree of compassion, the judge told the court: "I reject that; washing her was part of him further degrading her."

"Mr McKay (defence QC) referred to the fact that she was a sex worker and the services she advertised included bondage, fetish and BDSM. While he didn't specifically submit that it was a mitigating factor, he did leave the suggestion there - but I make it clear that I reject that suggestion entirely," declared Judge Kerr.

He added that "no matter the background, if there is no consent then there is an offence... the background of a victim can never be mitigation for rape".

What was a mitigating point was Doak's guilty plea, which spared his victim from having to give evidence "which could have been difficult for her", he said.

Turning to the various reports, Judge Kerr said while he assessed Doak was dangerous and a "high risk of sexual reoffending", he was not satisfied he posed a "significant risk of causing serious harm" so heightened sentencing powers such as an extended sentence, did not come into play. In addition to the jail term and sex offenders register, Judge Kerr imposed a 12-year sexual offences prevention order.
DUP Deputy Leader Nigel Dodds pictured at the Annual Spring conference held at the Silverbirch Hotel in Omagh . Photo by Stephen Hamilton/Presseye

No Brexit deal is better than a bad deal, a leading Democratic Unionist MP has told his party conference.

Nigel Dodds was speaking just days after MPs voted down Prime Minister Theresa Mays approach to the Brexit talks.

MPs voted by 303 to 258 against a motion endorsing the governments negotiating strategy.

Updating DUP members on the latest Brexit developments.



The Union of the United Kingdom remains non-negotiable. pic.twitter.com/mlglYBYm2I  Nigel Dodds (@NigelDoddsDUP) February 16, 2019

With just over 40 days to go until the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union, the DUP deputy leader said Mrs May will have their support if necessary changes are made to the backstop.

He told his partys spring conference in Omagh, Co Tyrone, that they want a Brexit deal, but we are very clear that a no-deal is better than a bad deal.

As we leave the EU  for us the guiding star is the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, he said.

aOur slogan for the election will be three words which sum up the Party and our team.



It will be aStrength to Deliver.a@DUPleader pic.twitter.com/vYkNv6WiL1  DUP (@duponline) February 16, 2019

We will do nothing to undermine that Union.

The only way to a majority in the House of Commons is with DUP votes. With necessary changes to the backstop, the Prime Minister will have our support.

In her speech to the conference, Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster said her party will say no when the deal is not suitable, but will also not be afraid to yes when the deal is right.

We will measure any new draft Withdrawal Agreement against our own tests of both protecting the Union and respecting the referendum result, she said.

Mrs Foster added: We must work for a sensible deal which works for every part of the United Kingdom.
Sean Doyle with his colleagues at The Artisan Cookhouse

A Co Down chef turned up for work on Valentine's Day - one of the busiest days of his year - despite having just scooped more than 4m in an online jackpot.

Strolling through the doors of Strangford's Artisan Cookhouse at 9am, 33-year-old Sean Doyle started his working day more than 4.2m richer than when he'd left the night before after winning Paddy Power's biggest ever online jackpot just a few hours earlier.

Placing a 10 stake on an online slot game called Mars Attacks, the Newcastle native struck it rich when he won the Jackpot King Deluxe on Paddy Power Games at exactly 10pm on the eve of the most romantic day of the year.

Setting about his normal daily routine next morning, he served up Valentine's Day meals for loved-up couples who remained oblivious to the fact Northern Ireland's newest multi-millionaire had been their chef for the evening at the popular restaurant run by the Evans family.

After being an online gaming customer with Paddy Power for just six months, his final eye-watering total reached an out-of-this-world 4,283,863.55.

Mr Doyle said he could not believe the amount he had won and, after helping out his family, has his sights set on a quieter life running his own cafe.

"I watched it until it reached about 1m on the count thing and I switched off my phone.

"I couldn't look.

"When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes after I saw the final amount," he said about his win.

"You wouldn't believe the amount of people's lives I'm going to change with this win.

"My sister is a single parent in New Zealand with three kids so I'm delighted because this means I will be able to help her out.

"I also have three brothers, my parents and a few aunts and uncles too."

Mr Doyle, who is single, said he is now considering opening his own business after the unexpected windfall.

"Ah, I'm sure the expected things will come too.

"After helping the family out, I might set up my own shop, probably a cafe, which would mean I can downscale and relax more," he continued.

Speaking about the win, Paddy Power said he didn't see Sean remaining single for long after clinching the jackpot.

"Roses are red, violets are blue, we found out Sean is single, so get in the queue!" the gambling firm's boss joked. "We're used to being down a few quid after Valentine's Day but this record-breaking win takes the biscuit!

"We're absolutely thrilled for Sean, and the fact that he was sound enough to turn up for work for his bosses the next morning makes the thought of his success all the sweeter."

The big win didn't go unnoticed by rival Strangford restaurant, the Lobster Pot. They said: "Congratulations to local chef Sean Doyle on winning over 4m, from all of us here at The Lobster Pot. We just hope our chefs do the same and come to work when they win the big money!"

Mr Doyle's win comes just weeks after Northern Ireland couple Patrick and Frances Connolly scooped a 115m EuroMillions jackpot.

The pair, who live in Moira, Co Down, have vowed to give away a large proportion of the money to their friends and family.
An American man accused of attempting to murder three men while in Northern Ireland on honeymoon has had the charges he faced withdrawn.

A prosecutor said the matter is to proceed by way of a report from the PSNI to the Public Prosecution Service.

The development regarding Nicholas Keith Warner (31), an electrical engineer from Summerville in South Carolina, came at Ballymena Magistrates Court.

He was excused from attending the court as he previously had his bail varied to allow him to return home.

Warner was originally charged after three men, one aged in his 60s and the others in their 30s, were allegedly stabbed in a disturbance outside a bar in Ballycarry, Co Antrim, on August 11 last year.

Warner had faced six charges including three of attempted murder; possessing a knife; assault occasioning actual bodily harm and causing affray.

At Ballymena Magistrates Court in September, District Judge Nigel Broderick allowed Warner to go back to South Carolina on condition that he lodge a 4,000 cash surety and surrender his passport to US police within three days.

The men were treated in hospital for stab wounds to the body.

The PPS said yesterday although the initial charges against the American honeymooner had been dropped, the PPS was currently considering a file from the PSNI about the incident.

"A decision on whether to prosecute Mr Warner over the incident, and what would be the appropriate charges for him to face, will issue in due course," it said.

Mr Warner has denied all charges previously laid in connection with the Ballycarry incident and maintains he acted in self-defence.
The teenage girls have been found safe and well.

Two missing teenage girls have been found safe and well.

Aisleen Norris (13) and Aiofe Doherty (14) went missing from the Foyle Street area of Londonderry on Friday at around 9pm.

Police said the girls had been found after a passenger on a Londonderry to Belfast bus recognised the girls from a police appeal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed concerns about the Republic's hard-line position on Brexit during a phone call with the Taoiseach last month, it has emerged.

Europe's longest serving leader questioned Leo Varadkar's stance on the border in a no-deal scenario amid fears it was undercutting the EU's negotiating position.

The Irish government insists it is not preparing to erect any physical infrastructure at the border even if the UK crashes out without a deal on March 29.

But during a 40-minute phone call in early January, Mrs Merkel queried whether this was giving ammunition to Brexiteers.

Opponents of the so-called backstop, which ties Northern Ireland to EU regulations unless and until a workable trade deal is agreed, claim it is unnecessary because both the UK and Ireland have said they will not erect a border.

According to Bloomberg, Mr Varadkar explained to the Chancellor that no Irish government could accept the return of checkpoints, which could become targets for violence.

Dublin sources last night confirmed the accuracy of the report but noted that Mr Varadkar has previously stated "the only way to avoid a border in the long-term is to have customs and regulatory alignment" between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Ministers now routinely make talk about how a border cannot be avoided through "wishful thinking".

Since the phone call Mrs Merkel has publicly defended the need for the backstop on several occasions.

Earlier this week she said the EU and UK "must do everything to achieve an orderly Brexit" but a deal "must be a fair agreement that works in practice and we have some work ahead".

Last night pro-Brexit members of Theresa May's government were reported as saying they are willing to accept a five-year limit on the backstop - a proposal that has already been rejected by the EU.

Both Mr Varadkar and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin told delegates at an all-island Brexit forum that EU solidarity for the Republic remains watertight.

The Taoiseach said those predicting the EU will abandon Ireland at the last minute in order to secure a Brexit deal "are in for a nasty surprise".

And Mr Martin said: "There is no scenario where they [the EU27] will force Ireland to accept a deal."

However, what happens if the UK leaves without a deal is less clear. The border will become an EU frontier which the Republic will be expected to police to protect the single market.

The Irish government has rejected suggestions from unnamed EU diplomats that an alternative to a hard border on the island would be for checks on goods leaving the Republic for the continent.

Tanaiste Simon Coveney said he is "suspicious" of such ideas coming from anonymous sources who may have an agenda. However, they echo comments made in recent weeks by Belgium MEP Philippe Lamberts, a member of the Brexit steering group of the European Parliament.

He told German news outlet Der Spiegel: "If Ireland refuses to protect the border with Northern Ireland after a hard Brexit, we would have to relocate the customs border to the continent."

Mr Varadkar sought to categorically deny this proposal yesterday, saying: "We are founder members of the single market. We can't allow a decision made in Britain to leave the European Union to undermine our membership of the single market and customs union, which we will protect."

He added that checks on goods leaving Ireland "would create a hard border between Ireland and the European Union and that is not something we can accept".
When John Stalker, Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, came to Northern Ireland in 1983 he was stepping into a very troubled land.

In the two preceding years a total of 221 people had been killed, 110 of them members of the RUC and Army. The hunger strike in 1981 had inflamed nationalist opinion across the island and the IRA was being flooded with new recruits.

To say that the security forces were being stretched was to put it mildly. There were many areas along the border where police could not operate normally and the border appeared particularly porous to IRA units moving from the Republic and back again.

But it was a particular part of police operations that Stalker had been called into investigate. After the deaths of six men in a five-week period between November 11, 1982 and December 12, shot dead by a specialised RUC squad the Headquarters Mobile Support Unit, there were allegations from the wider nationalist community they had been killed without being given any chance to surrender - that a shoot-to-kill policy was in operation.

As to be expected, a policeman called into investigate other policemen caught up in a vicious terrorist campaign was not a popular figure.

Former Sunday Times journalist Chris Ryder, who knew Stalker from a decade earlier in Manchester and who had vast experience of the Northern Ireland conflict, said the Deputy Chief Constable got off on the wrong foot.

He criticised the collating of evidence by police officers, seemingly unaware that it was fatal for members of the RUC to hang around even murder scenes in certain parts of the province in case they also became targets.

Stalker had also wanted to bring the death of a young man shot at close range by a rubber bullet in Belfast under the remit of his investigation, but this was strongly refused by RUC Chief Constable Sir John Hermon.

The six people whose deaths were investigated were Eugene Toman, Sean Burns and Gervaise McKerr, shot dead near a RUC checkpoint near Lurgan; Seamus Grew and Roddy Carroll, INLA members shot dead in similar circumstances, and Michael Tighe, shot dead in a hayshed that had been under observation as an IRA explosives dump. The shed had been bugged but the explosives had been removed and used to kill three policemen - Sir John Hermon heard the massive explosion while on a visit to Portadown.

Stalker spent two years investigating these killings. According to Ryder, he was a solid, honest and dogged investigator, a fact which those who wanted the secrets of these killings to remain hidden may have underestimated. Nearing the end of his investigations he discovered that a tape recording existed of Tighe's shooting, but in spite of his best efforts the security services would not hand it over.

Instead Stalker became the victim of a smear campaign, accused of associating with a criminal gang in Manchester known as the Quality Street gang led by a notorious criminal Jimmy 'The Weed' Donnelly.

A friend of Stalker's, Kevin Taylor, was also accused of criminal activity, but rigorous investigations cleared both men. Taylor, according to Ryder, may have got 20m compensation (other sources put it at a modest "more than 1m") for the damage to his business and reputation.

The smear worked and Stalker's inquiry, which was 90% completed, was dropped. Another senior police officer, Colin Sampson, was brought in to complete the investigation but none of the reports produced have ever been released.

Investigative website The Detail reported in 2014 that many of the files had been destroyed by the Government or one of its agencies.

Ryder believes that the policy for dealing with terrorists at the time under investigation was ambiguous and some officers may have construed it as permission to shoot to kill.

Stalker remained convinced that some shootings were unjustified, but like so much of what happened in our dirty war, the truth remains elusive.

Born in Manchester, Stalker's career began in the city as a young cadet but he quickly rose through the ranks, working in CID for 16 years to become a Detective Superintendent.

As a junior detective one of his roles included involvement in the notorious Moors Murders of the 1960s. His job involved developing the photographs and listening to the tape recording made by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley as three-year-old Lesley Ann Downey was sexually tortured and murdered.

In 1978 - aged 38 - he was appointed head of Warwickshire CID, the youngest Detective Chief Superintendent in the country, later becoming Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police in 1984.

He is survived by two daughters after the death of his wife 14 months ago.
Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has denied he ordered the killing of farmer Tom Oliver by the IRA in 1991.

Mr Adams also said he did not believe  although he did not know for sure  he was the man identified by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris to a State inquiry in the Republic as the person he believed had ordered the killing.

Mr Oliver, from Co Louth, was abducted, tortured and murdered and his body found in Belleek, Co Armagh, in July 1991.

In 2012, Mr Harris, then an Assistant Chief Constable in the PSNI, provided in writing the name of the IRA army council member he believed had ordered the killing.

This week he was questioned about Mr Olivers case at a Dail committee. He said the information was with the PSNI and it was up to the PSNI to determine what actions to take next.

Following the hearing and comments made on radio station LMFM by Independent TD Peter Fitzpatrick, Mr Adams was questioned on the same station about the Oliver case. Mr Adams was asked if he believed his was the name written on the paper by Mr Harris, to which he replied: No I dont think so. Well I dont know, thats the Gods honest truth.

He was asked, on behalf of the Oliver family, if he knew who had ordered the killing. He said: I dont know anyone who was involved in this unfortunate mans killing or any of the events which led to it. I know it wasnt me.

Mr Adams said it was exceptional that he would be asked such questions. He also repeatedly said he believed the Oliver family, and others, deserved to get to the truth of what happened to their relatives. But he stopped short of calling on Mr Harris to clarify that the name he wrote down was not Gerry Adams.

He said: Thats a matter for him. Im not going to interfere with him in terms of the operational responsibilities that he has. I know it wasnt me so Im content in my own skin on this issue.
The head of Ulster Bank has said he expects the local economy to grow by just 1% in 2019, even in the best case scenario for a Brexit deal.

Richard Donnan said its analysis put last year's growth at around 1.5%.

But he said all the indicators show a slowdown under way.

"In a 'deal' scenario we would be looking at around 1%. If you look at our PMI (purchasing managers index), it has been slowing as we go through the year," he said.

"We would expect slower growth as we stand today."

He said there was still too much uncertainty to forecast a figure for a no-deal scenario.

Mr Donnan was speaking as Ulster Bank announced a pre-tax profit of 51m for 2018, 8m lower than in 2017.

The lender recorded a 7m rise in its total income to 191m last year.

It also reported a 15% rise in new corporate lending, a 27% increase in small business lending and said new mortgage lending rose 30% year-on-year.

"They're a good set of results. For me the most encouraging thing is that for the last three years we've shown progress year-on-year," he added.

Mr Donnan said Ulster Bank's primary concern around Brexit has been to ensure it will be in a position to support its customers whatever the scenario after March 29.

"We are preparing for the worst-case scenario so we can provide continuity of service to our customers," he said.

He said larger businesses here have been active in preparing themselves for Brexit, with many stockpiling, establishing bases in the Republic or creating subsidiaries over the border.

"As we get closer to the time-line, we are seeing some businesses holding off on some capital expenditure," he added.

But Mr Donnan said small businesses face a more difficult conundrum.

"The outcome is so uncertain. To make fundamental changes to try and second-guess an outcome is challenging for small businesses," he said.

While somewhat reluctant to enter the political fray, the Ulster Bank boss reiterated the necessity for businesses to be given certainty.

"I would just encourage people to work together and move forward to get decisions made," he said.

"Where there has been a delay in making significant decisions, whether that's around infrastructure or medium term strategy around skills or the programme for government, the delays of those will have an opportunity cost for Northern Ireland in the longer-term."

Mr Donnan also confirmed that the lender will not shut any branches this year.

It followed the closure of 11 in 2018, which left the bank with 44 branches here.

"We definitely will not be closing any more branches in 2019," he said.

"At the peak we would have had 92 branches and now we're at 44.

"So there has been a substantial reshaping of that in line with customer behaviour."

He said the "radically changing" nature of banking sees 210,000 Ulster Bank customers use its mobile app, accessing online services six million times each month.

Mr Donnan also confirmed that Ulster Bank reduced its workforce by around 100 people over the year, with staffing numbers currently at 1,750.
If Westminster extended British abortion legislation to Northern Ireland it would be a "disgrace to democracy", a DUP MLA has claimed.

South Down Assemblyman Jim Wells, an outspoken opponent of abortion, was speaking at the official opening of a new headquarters for anti-abortion organisation the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC).

SPUC is the world's oldest pro-life organisation and sees its decision to establish a base in Belfast's Castle Lane as an important step in resisting proposed legislation to widen access to terminations here.

A former Health Minister at Stormont, Mr Wells said: "It's a great honour to be asked to this event and I am delighted that SPUC is increasing its presence here at such a crucial time, as the fundamental principles of the pro-life movement come under increasing pressure both in Northern Ireland and in London where there is growing support for Westminster to impose abortion legislation on the people of Northern Ireland.

"That would be a disgrace to democracy."

Mr Wells said he had received messages of support from right across the community.

"Many people are horrified about what is happening in the Irish Republic and are urging me to stand firm in the defence of our most defenceless citizens, the unborn," he said.

"Many of these people are from the nationalist community who are frustrated by the policy changes within the SDLP and Sinn Fein.

"They feel their sincerely-held views on this crucial issue are no longer being represented."
The head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, said that only eight out of three hundred residents of the republic who reported on the facts of corruption had named the extortionists. "I asked residents to send substantive complaints indicating specific individuals and facts of corruption with photo, audio and video materials. More than three hundred complaints were received. Only eight people informed about specific facts and named those who demanded bribes. The others have not done this, "he said.
DUP leader Arlene Foster has warned Sinn Fein that the restoration of devolution is not a game. (Liam McBurney/PA)

DUP Leader Arlene Foster pictured at the Annual Spring conference held at the Silverbirch Hotel in Omagh . Photo by Stephen Hamilton/Presseye

Arlene Foster has warned Sinn Fein that the restoration of devolution is no game.

The Democratic Unionist leader blamed Sinn Fein for the continued lack of self-government in Northern Ireland more than two years after the powersharing institutions collapsed in January 2017.

Mrs Foster made the comment while speaking to her partys Spring conference in Omagh on Saturday.

aThe restoration of Stormont shouldnat be about political brinkmanship or about party advantage. It should be about people.



Whether it is contracts not being awarded, reforms not implemented or laws not passed a our constituents are feeling the pain.a@DUPleader  DUP (@duponline) February 16, 2019

It came less than 24 hours after the five local parties met with the British and Irish governments to discuss the resumption of political talks to revive Stormont.

There has not been a functioning devolved government in Northern Ireland since January 2017 following a breakdown in relations between the DUP and Sinn Fein over a botched green energy scheme.

The wrangle over the renewable heat incentive (RHI) was soon overtaken by disputes over the Irish language, the regions ban on same-sex marriage and the toxic legacy of the Troubles.

Numerous attempts at talks to resolve the impasse have been unsuccessful.

Expand Close Northern Ireland has been without devolved government for two years. (Niall Carson/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Northern Ireland has been without devolved government for two years. (Niall Carson/PA)

Following the talks on Friday, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald dismissed the efforts as a sham.

The two governments are expected to produce proposals to restart the talks process.

On Saturday, Mrs Foster accused Sinn Fein of engaging in the politics of ransom.

Two years ago Sinn Fein walked out of the Northern Ireland Executive. After the subsequent election in March 2017, Sinn Fein refused to enter the Executive or the Assembly until their shopping list of demands was ticked off, she said, describing it as the politics of ransom and also careless pointing to how major decisions have been left to senior civil servants.

The restoration of Stormont should not be about political brinkmanship or about party advantage. It should be about people.

Expand Close Sinn Fein slammed Fridays talks as a sham (David Young/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Sinn Fein slammed Fridays talks as a sham (David Young/PA)

Whether it is contracts not being awarded, reforms not being implemented or new laws not being passed  be in no doubt our constituents are feeling the pain. It cannot go on.

Four of the five parties in Northern Ireland are ready to move on and restore the Assembly.

One party stands as the blockage.

I warn Sinn Fein today from this platform: this is no game.

Whatever your demands about the Irish language, they do not trump the genuine and heartfelt demands of the good people up and down this country.

Mrs Foster also made reference to the RHI scandal which has seen her party face questions and criticism over the role of its ministers and special advisers.

At DUP Spring conference in Omagh. Lovely to receive flowers from one of my local members before my speech! pic.twitter.com/3CWi7WVrEv  Arlene Foster #WeWillMeetAgain (@ArleneFosterUK) February 16, 2019

The renewable health incentive scheme was set up in 2012 to boost uptake of eco-friendly heat systems.

But huge subsidies left NI taxpayers with a 490 million bill.

An inquiry set up to examine what went wrong completed its public hearings last year, and is yet to publish its findings.

Mrs Foster said in the RHI Inquiry hearings, there were lessons for us all.

I have already apologised personally for mistakes on my part and corporately for mistakes made by the party, she said.

The way of doing business can  and must  be changed.

We are committed to that, but Sinn Fein still hold out narrow party political demands.

Expand Close Michelle ONeill hit back at Mrs Fosters comments (Liam McBurney/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Michelle ONeill hit back at Mrs Fosters comments (Liam McBurney/PA)

Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle ONeill hit back at Mrs Fosters comments.

Sinn Fein wants to see the removal of the major obstacles to restoring the political institutions, an end to the denial of rights and the full implementation of the Good Friday and subsequent agreements, she said.

The people deserve good government which has integrity and an end to the DUPs financial scandals. It is shameful that the DUP leadership continues to set its face against achieving this.

Sinn Fein has made clear the issues which need to be resolved are not going away.

It is the responsibility of government to protect the rights of citizens not to facilitate the denial of rights.

We want an Assembly which operates differently from what has gone before, to usher in a new kind of politics, which is progressive, respectful, and has integrity.

Given there is no evidence of any change to the DUP positions on these matters, the two governments must set out how they deliver the rights of Irish speakers, the rights of women and the LGBT community and implement the legacy structures.
Activists with the Time For Truth campaign canvassed the Ormeau Road in south Belfast for mechanisms to deal with Northern Irelands troubled past (PA)

Campaigners calling for funding to help families bereaved in Northern Irelands troubled past to get the truth have taken to the streets of Belfast.

The latest move by the Time For Truth campaign comes days after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) was criticised after it emerged it failed to disclose all the information it held over an infamous Loyalist shooting in Belfast to a watchdog.

The Police Ombudsman found that the PSNI withheld significant information over the shooting at a bookmakers in the Ormeau Road in 1992.

Expand Close PSNI Deputy Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologising on behalf of the organisation for failing to disclose information to the Police Ombudsman about a notorious Loyalist shooting (Rebecca Black/PA) PA Wire/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp PSNI Deputy Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologising on behalf of the organisation for failing to disclose information to the Police Ombudsman about a notorious Loyalist shooting (Rebecca Black/PA)

Five people were killed on February 5 1992, when members of the Loyalist Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF) opened fire on the Sean Graham shop on the lower Ormeau Road.

PSNI Deputy Chief Constable Stephen Martin apologised on behalf of the police, and said they never sought to withhold the information from the ombudsman investigators, putting the incident down to human error.

However some families whose loved ones murders are also affected by the material questioned his statement.

Marian Walsh, the mother of teenage murder victim Damien Walsh, said she does not accept Mr Martins apology, and accused police of a sham and excuses.

In February around 2,000 people took part in a Time For Truth march in Belfast city centre, calling for legacy mechanisms to be put in place.

Expand Close Survivors, victims and relatives of those killed in Troubles-related incidents take part in the Time For Truth campaigns march in Belfast in February (Brian Lawless/PA) PA Archive/PA Images / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Survivors, victims and relatives of those killed in Troubles-related incidents take part in the Time For Truth campaigns march in Belfast in February (Brian Lawless/PA)

On Saturday activists canvassed in a number of locations across Belfast, calling for three demands to be met.

These include the implementation of legacy mechanisms negotiated in the Stormont House Agreement, adequate funding of legacy inquests, and of the Police Ombudsmans office to allow it to complete outstanding historical investigations.

The locations included the Ormeau Road close to the Sean Graham shop on Saturday morning.

Expand Close Billy McManus who father William was killed in the Sean Graham bookies shootings and Tommy Duffin whose father Jack was killed in the same attack took part in the Time for Truth campaign collecting signatures for a petition to implements mechanisms to deal with Northern Irelands troubled past. (Rebecca Black/PA) / Facebook

Twitter

Email

Whatsapp Billy McManus who father William was killed in the Sean Graham bookies shootings and Tommy Duffin whose father Jack was killed in the same attack took part in the Time for Truth campaign collecting signatures for a petition to implements mechanisms to deal with Northern Irelands troubled past. (Rebecca Black/PA)

Tommy Duffin, whose 66-year-old father Jack was the oldest of those killed in the UFF shooting, was among the activists.

The ombudsmans report into that atrocity had been due to be given to the family, but will now be reviewed in light of the fresh information from police.

The Stormont House Agreement has to be put in place, and the legacy inquests and ombudsman need to be properly resourced, he said.

Not just for us but all the families waiting to get the answers they need.

This is our final opportunity to deal with the legacy of the past. Dark forces are ranged against families seeking a modicum of truth and justice. Have your say today in Belfast - sign the petition. https://t.co/KCvminsSEK  Time for Truth Campaign (@tftcampaign) February 16, 2019

Activists also petitioned for support at the Short Strand in east Belfast, Kennedy Centre and Dairy Farm in west Belfast, and the New Lodge in north Belfast, among other locations.

Time For Truth spokesman Ciaran MacAirt urged people to sign the petition in solidarity with victims and survivors.

We call on citizens to sign the petition and show their support for victims and survivors across the community who are still denied their basic human rights, he said.

Just look at the news this week. Families from the Ormeau Road have been failed yet again by police investigating atrocities in the past.

Hundreds of other families are experiencing the same and are being re-traumatised on a daily basis.

This could be our final opportunity to deal with the past for families across the community.
A man who failed to attend court for sentencing earlier this week because he "lives close to a murder scene" has been jailed

A man who failed to attend court for sentencing earlier this week because he "lives close to a murder scene" has been jailed.

William Hamilton (44), from McCrea Park in Clogher, previously admitted damaging his cousin's window in April last year.

While his lawyer was in attendance on Wednesday when sentencing was scheduled, Hamilton failed to appear.

The court was told that he lives close to the area where Pat Ward was murdered. The father-of-four's body was found in the Co Tyrone village on Saturday morning.

District Judge John Meehan issued a bench warrant and Hamilton was brought before Dungannon Magistrates Court yesterday. The defence requested a release on bail to allow a second opportunity for a pre-sentence report, but District Judge Meehan ordered that the case should proceed.

A prosecution lawyer explained Hamilton arrived at a cousin's home with a hammer, smashed a pane of glass and shouted: "You know what you done."

He then encouraged the victim to come out and fight.

Hamilton was arrested at his home, but during police interview he remained silent throughout.

The defence explained there had been ill-feeling between his client and the victim for some time, but accepted this was no excuse.

He said that on the day in question Hamilton had consumed too much alcohol and, "taking a hammer", he went to the victim's house "not giving much thought for the consequences".

It was accepted he has "a long and various record" consisting of 164 previous convictions.

Addressing Hamilton directly, Judge Meehan said: "The striking feature in your offending is alcohol abuse.

"You have a relevant record for causing damage, as well as fraud and defiance of court orders."

He imposed a sentence of two months' imprisonment. The defence indicated Hamilton did not intend to appeal.
As several states grapple with measles outbreaks, a medical anthropologist says some families may be reluctant to vaccinate their children due to community norms, NPR reported.

More than 100 people have been infected with measles this year, according to the CDC. More than 50 of those cases have occurred in southwest Washington State and northwest Oregon, leading Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to declare a state of emergency Jan. 25.

Clark County, Wash.  the center of the current spate of cases  has an overall vaccination rate of 78 percent, but some schools in the county have rates lower than 40 percent.

Additionally, Washington is one of 17 states that lets parents send their child to public school not completely vaccinated due to a "philosophical or personal objection to the immunization of the child."

Elisa Sobo, PhD, a medical anthropologist and professor at San Diego State University, said some families' reluctance to vaccinate their children may be driven by the desire to conform in a community where most parents are distrustful of vaccines.

To better understand how parents choose not to vaccinate, Dr. Sobo interviewed families at a school with low vaccination rates in California. She found skepticism of vaccines was "socially cultivated."

Parents who think vaccines are dangerous persuaded other parents to believe the same thing by citing fears of "mainstream medicine" harming their children, she found.
While common knowledge suggests the human body's base temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, adults' average normal body temperature could be closer to 97.7 degrees Fahrenheit,, according to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Here are three things to know:

1. To conduct the study, Jonathan Hausmann, MD, a rheumatologist at Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, used crowdsourced data from an iPhone app called Feverprints to analyze 11,458 temperatures from 329 healthy adults, according to Wired.

2. Dr. Hausmann and his colleagues found the adults' average normal temperature was 97.7 degrees Fahrenheit, as measured by an oral thermometer. They discovered fever occurred, on average, at 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit. They also found body temperature was slightly higher in women than men and in children than adults. Temperature was lowest in the morning.

3. Dr. Hausmann suggests body temperature should be a "flexible concept," viewed in the context of a patient's weight, height, age, gender and time of day, among other factors. Dr. Hausmann plans to further explore this concept by pairing wearable thermometers to the Feverprints app to achieve continuous temperature readings and better data.

"A temperature of 99 at six oclock in the morning is very abnormal, whereas that same temperature at four oclock in the afternoon can be totally normal," Dr. Haussmann told Wired. "If we have enough people wearing those gadgets we could understand fever patterns of different illnesses."

More articles on clinical leadership and infection control:
The U.S. Department of Justice said its settlement with CVS Health and Aetna that allowed the two to move forward with their $69 billion deal remedied any antitrust concerns, according to Law 360.

Four things to know:



1. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon is reviewing a settlement that CVS and Aetna made with the Justice Department in October. Under the settlement, Aetna agreed to sell its Medicare Part D prescription drug plan to Florida-based insurer WellCare Health Plans.



2. In a Jan. 8 filing, the Justice Department's antitrust division said it wouldn't meet a February deadline to return comments on the settlement due to the partial government shutdown. In a memorandum and order filed Jan. 11, Judge Leon denied to the Justice Department's request for a stay in court proceedings surrounding the merger due to a lack of appropriations.

3. On Feb. 13, the Justice Department filed its response. It said after reviewing 173 comments, "The United States continues to believe that the proposed remedy will address the harm alleged in the complaint and is therefore in the public interest. The remedy preserves competition for the approximately 21 million beneficiaries who purchase individual prescription drug plans in the United States."

4. While CVS and Aetna closed their deal in November, Judge Leon is tasked with completing certain procedures required by the Tunney Act, which couldn't be completed until the government responded to the comments. The Tunney Act is a federal law requiring the Justice Department to get a federal court's approval for merger settlements.
Auburn (N.Y.) Community Hospital's chief of intensive care, Hal Feinberg, MD, says the hospital CEO ignored complaints of an abusive physician for months before taking action, according to a Syracuse.com report.

Dr. Feinberg alleges he reported complaints from about 100 physicians, nurses and other staff to Auburn CEO Scott Berlucchi last year. He says he spoke with Mr. Berlucchi once, sometimes twice, per week due to the volume of complaints. Staff alleged an ICU physician, Jeremy Barnett, MD, was verbally abusive in front of patients and their families, and in some cases, ignored advice of other staff, which may have led to adverse patient outcomes, according to the report.

"No matter what I said, it fell on deaf ears," Dr. Feinberg told Syracuse.com. Mr. Berlucchi told Dr. Feinberg to have staff put complaints in writing, he says. By Dr. Feinberg's account, staff complied and the hospital took no action. Ultimately the nurses union, 1199 SEIU, got involved, as did the human resources department and the state.

Two physicians filed lawsuits against the hospital for the two most serious complaints, one of which involved a patient death. A state health department investigation also found the hospital did not take appropriate action after staff lodged complaints about Dr. Barnett.

Read the full story here.

More articles on leadership and management:

AHA launches innovation challenge to tackle social determinants of health

Amazon, GE pull plug on HQ plans: 8 things to know

Cardinal Health's Carl Hall: Take a consultative approach to reduce healthcare variation
Shawn Griffin, M.D., who became URACs president and CEO on February 6, 2019, and the first physician in URACs history to fill this role, offers his perspectives on telehealth, healthcare informatics, and the value of accreditation as an important market validator and differentiator.

Prior to URAC, Dr. Griffin was vice president for clinical performance improvement and applied analytics at Premier, Inc., where he contributed to the development of next-generation analytics combining quality, cost, pharmacy and claims data. Previously, he was the chief quality and informatics officer for the Memorial Hermann Physician Network in Houston, one of the largest and most successful ACOs in the country, where he directed the quality measurement and data collection programs.

The URAC Report: Why did you take this position at URAC?

Dr. Griffin: URAC is a unique organization with almost 30 years of serving as an independent advocate for the safety and quality we all want for ourselves and our loved ones when we need healthcare. I see this as an opportunity to bring my healthcare and technology background and experiences to an already outstanding team and find ways we can expand our work to serve more people and providers.

The URAC Report: What are your top priorities for 2019?

Dr. Griffin: I think we are in a time of intense disruption in healthcare. More care is being delivered using technology and from new groups, so I think URAC should continue to ensure safety and quality for all those who receive care. We need to be clear on what is safety and quality in healthcare, and not just let organizations "check the box" on accreditation, but really deliver results that matter.

The URAC Report: What challenges/obstacles does URAC face over the next five years?

Dr. Griffin: I think the challenges we face are not unique - we will need to show the value we provide to the organizations we measure and the consumers they serve. We need to continue to be a trusted organization that measures and promotes the outcomes in healthcare that matter to consumers, not just in the US, but the entire world. I want the gold star of URAC to be trusted throughout the industry to mean that this organization delivers the results that matter to people.

The URAC Report: What opportunities do you see for doing things differently at URAC?

Dr. Griffin: I want to see how I can help with current and new product development, and find opportunities to connect to the needs of healthcare consumers across the country. I see opportunities in non-traditional care methods such as telehealth and addressing areas of heightened concern such as addiction treatment and provider burnout.

The URAC Report: Speaking of telehealth, whats your perspective on the rapid growth of its adoption?

Dr. Griffin: People want the convenience, and they're looking for alternatives to spending the morning or afternoon in the doctor's office waiting for a visit. They expect greater convenience and greater savings with other methods of receiving care these days. It's very tough for a person to justify in their own mind a $200 office visit to get a refill on a blood pressure medication that they've been on for two years. So, what is routine care? What is care that is safely delivered through telehealth? And what is care that's not safely delivered? Consumers want greater convenience, but they are also expecting safety. Accreditation standards offer an opportunity to look at whats being done  to be sure that were doing things in a safe manner, and that its high quality and its reliable and its worth it to the consumers.

The URAC Report: Weve been seeing a plethora of mergers and acquisitions in this industry. How do you see these trends changing the healthcare landscape in terms of telehealth?

Dr. Griffin: Mergers and acquisitions increase your physical presence, and they're often talked about as an opportunity for savings, but sometimes they're simply an opportunity to control more market share. There's interesting research about how mergers and acquisitions sometimes lower the cost, but sometimes don't.

Since cost is becoming more and more transparent and it's being felt more directly by consumers, as mergers and acquisitions grow, there's times where organizations get into a dominant position within the market without offering an improved value for consumers. There are times where the innovator and the upstart in a market has a chance to gain a foot hold because they innovate in a way that serves consumers better. Understanding where that balance is between innovation, and safety and quality, and how it is delivered to consumers is one of the important challenges for the next few years.

The URAC Report: You have an extensive background in informatics. What kind of impact do you think informatics will have on data collection and predictive analysis going forward?

Dr. Griffin: Very often we overestimate the technical hurdles that must be overcome. Technical hurdles have gotten blamed for a lot of things over the past decade, and when I first became a chief medical information officer, it wasn't because I loved electronic medical records systems; it was because I saw them as a path to improving quality and safety and helping to lower costs. There's a very interesting intersection between technology increasing physician and provider burnout and consumer expectations for quality and cost savings. I have a son who is in medical school right now, and when I look today at how quality is being delivered, and how it has changed over the 30 years since I was going to school, it's just remarkable to me that medicine is one of the few industries where the addition of technology has seemed to increase the burden on providers and created false barriers to adoption as opposed to empowering people at a lower cost and greater convenience.

The URAC Report: You touched on the value of accreditation a moment ago. As you know, getting accreditation is not easy, and it shouldn't be easy. Why is it worth doing?

Dr. Griffin: Its a critical way to earn patient trust. I have an issue of Consumer Reports on my desk right now that came out in January, and the cover story is "Too Many Tests," and it's talking about what excessive screenings cost us in the healthcare system in time and money. Patients dont know when to say no without risking their health. Patients don't know who to trust and they don't know who is looking out for them. When they see that an organization has been examined in a meaningful way, and not just because some banner headline says its one of the greatest hospitals in the world according to some survey, but that it has demonstrated its quality to an independent healthcare accreditor, patients will see it as an organization that is actually safe and that delivers quality healthcare. I think that's the meaning and value of accreditation.

URAC and all the other accrediting organizations have to be able to explain the value that they bring to the process. And I want the gold star of URAC to mean that consumers can trust us and can trust the organizations we accredit.

The URAC Report: Taking a closer look at URAC, what do you see as its direction in the next few years? Do you envision it going international and moving beyond US markets?

Dr. Griffin: Well, when you look at healthcare across the country, I think that there are some areas where the United States is clearly the leader, and if there are opportunities to bring standards and quality to the international market, I think it's an opportunity that URAC should explore. We will offer new programs domestically. As the new guy joining the team, I'm going to ask a lot of questions, and I'm going to talk to the people who are out there doing the accreditations and find what is meaningful.

The URAC Report: You sound excited about this new opportunity.

Dr. Griffin: I am. URAC is an organization with a strong history, with a strong team, and I think that there are opportunities and some unique perspectives that I bring to the table because of being a physician, being a technology person, along with having a background in population health. I've worked in a rural clinic where it's two exam rooms and you're the only provider in town, and I've worked in the Texas Medical Center, arguably one of the most complicated and competitive environments in medicine. America is made up of a rich mix of locations, and URAC has an opportunity to help people in all those environments to know, to trust, and to understand what matters in delivering healthcare. The URAC team can help the innovators and the leaders to better define and deliver quality healthcare that truly serves consumers, and maybe helps to address some of the excessive costs and waste that's holding back even better performance.

Its an exciting time.



News from our Partners
Russell (Kan.) Regional Hospital CEO Rob Nahmensen is no longer employed at the hospital, according to a Salina Post report.

Five notes:

1. The board "released" Mr. Nahmensen from his contract "without cause or warning," Mr. Nahmensen wrote in an email to the Salina Post.

2. He also wrote that, "The end of my employment with Russell Regional Hospital came as a complete surprise to me." The hospital did not release any information about the dismissal.

3. Mr. Nahmensen assumed the top post at the hospital in November 2017.

4. Prior to that he was COO and CFO at Stanton County Hospital in Johnson, Kan.

5. Russell Regional Hospital is a 25-bed, nonprofit, critical access hospital owned by the county.
30 years passed from the withdrawal of the Soviet troops limited contingent from the territory of Afghanistan. The Afghan war, as people used to call it for 10 long years, ended. Contrary to the obvious facts, during these 30 years, the West is trying to revise the very history of the war in Afghanistan, understating the successes of the Soviet troops, distorting the reasons for their entry into the country and the course of the events, as well as the overall results of the military conflict, the analyst of Vestnik Kavkaza news agency Yevgeny Nikolaichuk, told in the National Question program on Vesti FM.



According to the expert, in the West, the withdrawal of the troops from Afghanistan is called the loss of the Soviet Union, but this is not exactly so. "The Soviet contingent left Afghanistan with a sense of accomplishment, the soldiers who fought in Afghanistan were greeted as heroes, and during the years of this war our soldiers gained the invaluable experience, which was included in the training manuals on tactics and strategies not only of the Soviet, and then the Russian, but many others armies of the world. It is successfully applied now, in same Syria. And the way the soldiers fought, and how the withdrawal was carried out, confirms their resilience, courage and military prowess. More than 625 thousand soldiers went through the Afghan war, 92 of them are decorated Heroes of the USSR and Russia, Nikolaichuk said.



He noted that this war was called unique, and its "uniqueness" lies in the fact that the USSR not only fought, but also engaged in the arrangement of Afghanistan - the residential houses, hospitals, schools, and kindergartens were built there. The Soviet doctors and educators treated people and taught the civilian population, providing the neighboring country with grand humanitarian aid, and, leaving, left the country with new blocks, thinking and economy.



He also drew attention to the fact that the entire Soviet contingent, military and civilian, played a huge role in the formation of new, democratic Afghanistan, in overcoming feudal remnants and in shaping the course of rapprochement with the socialist countries. "In this regard, the words of one of the most famous Mujahideen field commanders, Tajik Ahmad Shah Massoud, who, after the withdrawal of our contingent, spoke more than once in an interview with the world media, are indicative:" ... I am very sorry that the Soviet soldiers were my enemies. I would give much to ensure that we were allies in that war ... ", the analyst recalled.



Despite the active propaganda, the Western intelligence agencies failed in destabilizing the Soviet republics bordering Afghanistan and introducing extremist ideas here  our ideology turned out to be stronger. Of course, there were fears that after the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan the Taliban would approach the borders with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, where the positions of the Islamic radicals are strong, but this did not happen, and to say that the Afghan war caused the beginning of the USSR collapse is absolutely wrong - at least, because the inhabitants of poor subsidized Central Asian republics were well aware of their prospects. Therefore, the international terrorism nourished by the Taliban on Afghan soil later proved itself not in Central Asia, but in Syria, Nikolaichuk continued.



"In the end, the USSR lost an important strategic region of influence, which was later occupied by the US military. Of course, the war-damaged the political authority and deepened the crisis before the collapse of the country, but it did not cause the collapse, the expert concluded.
Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health embarked on an eight-year shared-risk partnership with GE Healthcare in July 2017 to optimize its patient care strategy.

Now, almost two years later, Becker's Hospital Review caught up with Jefferson Health to learn more about the partnership's progress.

The goal is to generate between $500 million and $1 billion in savings by removing redundancies and maximizing sourcing throughout the health system's locations in Pennsylvania.

One of the project's core tenants is using technology to improve strategic growth, operations, integration and performance opportunities.

"With the healthcare industry facing unprecedented levels of patient demand and increasing cost pressures, it's great to see health systems like Jefferson seek new and innovative ways to improve better outcomes for patients," John Flannery, CEO and chairman-elect of GE, said in a news release at the time the partnership was announced.

"This collaboration, which is financially tied to our shared success, demonstrates the confidence we have to jointly deliver world-class healthcare for the community," Mr. Flannery added.

Becker's Hospital Review spoke with Jefferson Health Executive Vice President and Chief Integration Officer Kathleen Kinslow, EdD, who expanded on the project's logistics, results and impact to physicians and other hospital staff.

Editor's Note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Question: What steps did your organization and GE Healthcare take to develop this shared-risk model?

Dr. Kathleen Kinslow: The goal of this collaboration is to create a forward-looking, robust health system by removing redundancies and maximizing sourcing efficiencies. Through a shared-risk model that aligns the economic interests of Jefferson Health with GE Healthcare, both organizations have agreed to critical milestones that must be achieved throughout the relationship. The joint team is focused on strategic growth, advanced clinical transformation, revenue optimization and operational efficiency, while leveraging technology to deliver best-in-class, seamless care that is convenient and affordable for patients.

Q: What are some specific results to date that you can share?

KK: The team  dubbed One Jefferson  built a foundation for ongoing enterprise transformational change: operating mechanism redesign in close collaboration with operational and financial leaders to drive accountability and results, tools to assure execution rigor, and key performance indicator dashboard design and launch to track results. This Jefferson-GE-led team was developed to drive strategic integration and execution, along overall performance improvement across the health system.

The team worked closely with physician and operational leaders to position the enterprise for growth in 2019  opening latent capacity, redesigning physician scheduling templates, driving targeted access improvement and ease of scheduling and shaping plans to improve care retention.

Some other examples include transitioning our biomedical services to GE Healthcare, blending the experience of our Jefferson team with the technology, depth and national expertise of our GE partners, as well as aligning technology throughout the enterprise across select categories and standardizing equipment  a key step to decreasing the variability in care.

Q: How have you seen this relationship evolve over the last year and a half? What areas do you see focusing on in the future that are different than those you are focusing on now?

KK: The first full year of the Jefferson-GE Healthcare strategic relationship positioned us well for accelerating the pace and impact of innovation in 2019. Despite rapid expansion through acquisition, many system changes and the constantly changing external environment, Jefferson and GE Healthcare exceeded the financial targets set for the system and have built a foundation that now has us poised to truly begin to transform the way care is delivered. We expect to amplify innovation across the enterprise and focus on growth. We will accelerate change and build sustainability by engaging divisional leadership as well as system leaders. Working together, we also will continue enhancing report automation and predictive analytics support to give leaders at all levels the information they need to quickly course correct when outcomes are not meeting goals and take advantage of new opportunities as they arise.

Q: How is this different than other vendor or consulting arrangements?

KK: We deliberately designed our partnership model to respond to uncertainty and change. The One Jefferson team had many opportunities in the first year of our strategic partnership to leverage this unique approach, moving efficiently and adjusting with alacrity in real time.

Q: How does this type of relationship accelerate Jefferson's ability to achieve its strategic vision?

KK: We are working to build deep relationships and embed GE Healthcare leaders and professionals across the Jefferson teams, working side-by-side with Jefferson leadership to help activate change. In the end, this malleable approach enables the focus to remain on delivering the best care possible for patients. Together, we are charting a new course by taking the necessary steps today that will help shift the healthcare paradigm.

Q: What technologies do you think are imperative for hospitals in 2019?

KK: As we move into the next phase of our work together, we are reimagining how our patients access the system. We are leveraging GE Healthcare's capabilities to build real-time and predictive analytics to support moving our patients through the system more seamlessly and with a better experience; improve outcomes for patients and their families; enhance employee and clinician satisfaction; and increase efficiency for Jefferson Health.

An example is CORE, our Center for Operational and Resource Efficiency, and its ability to corral data from across a myriad of systems within Jefferson and feed the data to the GE Analytics Engine. The Analytics Engine then displays real-time data on clinical and operational measures and provides predictive analytics based on these measures that drive clinical and operational activities. CORE will leverage real-time and predictive information to get the patient to the right care facility and care level.

GE Healthcare has also designed a digital "twin" of Jefferson Health as a simulator. On a day-to-day basis, the digital twin informs actions required to enable seamless care for a growing patient population. It also provides a way to compare different scenarios, testing alternative strategic assumptions to determine how operators and clinicians must alter processes and resources to succeed under these scenarios. The simulator provides a high-fidelity view of what different scenarios would mean in terms of modeling bed base, operating room schedules, process targets and program planning. The strategic outcome is that this technology allows us to work with the clinicians to make the necessary process redesign to improve quality and efficiency while avoiding unintended outcomes.
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives submitted a statement to a Senate subcommittee urging investment in 5G, the newest generation of cellular internet connectivity.

The trade group issued its statement Feb. 6 ahead of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Health's hearing on "Winning the Race to 5G and the Next Era of Technology Innovation in the United States."

"We appreciate the committee's leadership and continued interest in ensuring the digital infrastructure is in place to facilitate innovation across the American economy," CHIME wrote. "The migration to [5G] will allow technologies to truly revolutionize healthcare."

5G is the fifth generation of wireless internet speed, which can reputedly load websites and download songs at least 10 times faster than 4G. Telecommunications companies have recently touted the technology's potential, despite the fact it's not expected to replace 4G in the U.S. until 2020.

"There's no question that the infusion of 5G into healthcare will enhance access to care, while decreasing costs and improving efficiency," CHIME's statement reads, highlighting the need to remove "today's bandwidth limitations" to bolster emerging technologies.

CHIME called out telehealth, remote monitoring, interoperability and big data as particular areas in healthcare that will benefit from enhanced internet speeds. "Untethering patients from the capabilities [of] a traditional network will alter patient engagement and mitigate existing access challenges," CHIME added.

To read CHIME's complete statement, click here.
San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning, Calif., is trying to sort out details behind water use tied to meters on vacant land after surprisingly receiving utility bills totaling about $20,000, according to a Record Gazette report.

Five things to know:

1. The hospital received the bills from meters on vacant property of the San Gorgonio Memorial Healthcare District. The bills were unexpected, as the hospital had never previously been billed for those meters, according to the report.

2. Hospital officials are now trying to determine the direction of the water and who is using it.

3. Amid campus improvements, the hospital installed a six-inch emergency water connection to the city's distribution line on Ramsey Street, where the vacant property is located, Banning City Manager Doug Schulze recently told hospital board members, according to the report.

When that happened more than a decade ago, "the hospital created a looped system, which can pull water service from different distribution lines if there is a water outage on one of the other connections," said Mr. Schulze.

4. Mr. Schulze also told hospital board members the city believes a hospital contractor may have had city approval to install the meters, and the city's utility billing department only recently became aware of them. He said the hospital was billed retroactively because the city can back-bill for water use for up to three years.

5. The city and hospital are working to resolve the issue.

Access the full report here.

More articles on healthcare finance:

Marin General CFO Jim McManus on how a 'personal board of directors' influences his leadership style

Network of clinics aims to reduce spending on ER visits

Ballad Health reports 1.3% revenue jump in Q2
Here are seven gastroenterologists featured in the news this past week:

Gastroenterologist Sam Serouya, MD, joined New York City-based NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn's staff.

The American Gastroenterological Association appointed four new governing board members, including a new president. John M. Inadomi, MD, the gastroenterology division head at Seattle-based University of Washington, will serve as AGA president following the 2021 Digestive Disease Week. Maria T. Abreu, MD, David A. Katzka, MD, and Michael L. Kochman, MD, will serve in various positions on the AGA board, pending approval.

Glens Falls (N.Y.) Hospital named gastroenterologist Howard P. Fritz, MD, CMO and vice president of medical affairs.

Washington, D.C.-based Capital Digestive Care welcomed Ramsey Daher, MD, to its practice.
Sussex County (Del.) Council officials approved Dover, Del.-based Bayhealth's rezoning request for the health system's future outpatient center, the Cape Gazette reports.

What you should know:

1. Bayhealth plans to build a 57,000-square-foot outpatient center in Milton, Del.

2. The health system hasn't finalized a site plan yet but is considering offering diagnostic testing, a walk-in clinic and primary as well as specialty services at the space.

3. A community board member welcomed the development but expressed concerns about the clinic's potential use of lights. Pete Rommett said, "It's important that we not lose our night sky. It's very important that any parking lot lighting be state-of-the-art directing down.  Take into consideration they don't steal the night sky."

4. Assistant county attorney Vince Robertson said the man's concerns would be considered during the site plan approval process.
No Texas teacher would turn down the $5,000 raise that the Legislature is considering. Thats real money, and it would help keep many a teacher in the middle class. But a larger issue that concerns the states public school teachers is the high and continuously increasing cost of medical insurance. It has swallowed up most raises in recent years, forcing a number of teachers to work second jobs or turn down medical care because they just cant afford it.

The numbers are dismaying. Family coverage under the states main insurer  TRS ActiveCare, which is offered at 90 percent of Texas school districts  start at more than $1,000 per month. Thats staggering, and roughly twice the cost of a decade ago, when it wasnt cheap either. The state makes a $75 monthly contribution to employee premiums, and districts are required to pay $150 a month, though many are paying more to try to keep coverage affordable. Clearly, unless a district makes a substantial contribution, a teacher with a family plan would have a medical insurance bill that is about the size of a home mortgage in many cities.
On February 16, chairman of the Eastern Committee of German Economy, Wolfgang Buchele, participated in traditional German-Russian breakfast on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference. Russian and German Foreign Ministers Sergey Lavrov and Heiko Maas also attended this event. Buchele noted in his opening speech that despite current tense international situation in relations between Russia and the West, trade volume between Germany and Russia, as well as volume of German investments in Russia continue to grow, which is a positive signal for long-term bilateral relationship.

According to him, despite current difficult situation, it's necessary to continue to look for possible cooperation formats between the European Union and the EAEU and build bridges between these two unions. Buchele also noted that there's a need to intensify German-Russian dialogue in the political sphere in order to resolve accumulated problems in bilateral relations.

Russian billionaire, owner of the Severstal company, Alexey Mordashov, praised existing dialogue between Russian and German business, Vestnik Kavkaza correspondent reported. The fact that we support dialogue and still meet inspires hope, so if we maintain contacts we will be able to find solution to current difficult situation we found ourselves in. We appreciate how Germany and German business position themselves in relations with Russia - there's freedom of choice and freedom of trade, he noted.

Billionaire also added that it's important to resume and create new contacts at the level of the European Union and the Eurasian Economic Union.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan gave an interview to Die Zeit weekly newspaper of Germany, and reflected on the velvet revolution that took place in Armenia last year.

The PM stressed that what had occurred in the country was unique, News.am reports.

From the very beginning of our movement, its most important symbol was our hands raised up; it was describing our objectives, Pashinyan said. Even if the [then] government were to use force [against us], we were not going to respond by force.

The PM ruled out that violence can be justified under any circumstance.

We want to rule out violence in Armenia, Pashinyan added, in particular.

When asked whether a leader is needed to succeed, the Armenian premier responded that his greatest contribution to this revolution was that he had declared that he was not a leader.

From that moment on, our movement decentralized and began to grow, Pashinyan stressed. The real leaders of our revolution were our citizens.

And when asked why there should be positive changes in Armenia, in the case when after the color revolutions in Eastern Europe, the situation was not so good in those countries, Nikol Pashinyan responded that what had occurred in Armenia was not a color revolution.

He stressed that no foreign force was associated with them.

It was a pure internal process, rather than a political game, the PM added. Solely Armenias citizens, who want a better future, were involved in our revolution.
Dustin Allen Lewis, 26, was arrested Tuesday, February 12, on five counts of third-degree sexual assault and arraigned before Magistrate Sandra Dorsey, according to statement released by the office of Mercer County Prosecuting Attorney George Sitler.
February is American Heart Month and heart surgery isnt what it used to be. A hard-working man in Phoenix can tell you that because he has a stent in his heart. And as Spencer Blake explains, this surgery doesn't involve cutting through the chest.
The head of the Georgian government, Mamuka Bakhtadze, at a meeting on the NATO expansion held as part of the Munich International Security Conference, said that the country's membership in the alliance is important not only for Georgia but also for the alliance as well.

He stressed that steps in this direction have been made since the window of opportunity is opened.

We firmly believe that our achievements will be transformed into tangible steps, and Georgia will be even closer to joining NATO. Georgia has all the practical tools for the final membership. We have a comprehensive political dialogue with NATO, the head of the Georgian Cabinet said.
The La Paz County Sheriff's Department recently got a look at the BolaWrap, a new tool designed to restrain a suspect without hurting them, and is now looking to buy more than 30 devices at $800 a pop.
Jason Barry is best known for his Dirty Dining Report which airs Fridays at 6:30 p.m. on CBS 5. He is also the storyteller behind CBS 5's Pay It Forward which airs every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
By Trend

Governor of Mississippi Phil Bryant will visit Uzbekistan in the first half of April, becoming the first American governor to visit Uzbekistan since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries, Trend reports with reference to the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An Uzbek delegation headed by the First Deputy Chairman of Uzbek Parliament Sadyka Safayeva arrived on February 11 in the capital of Mississippi, Jackson, where she met the governor on the same day.

Phil Bryant noted that there are many similarities between Uzbekistan and the State of Mississippi - a developed agriculture, an advanced textile and cotton industry, a convenient geographical location and hardworking people.

The parties agreed at the meeting that the American delegation will include representatives of leading Mississippi companies interested in building partnerships with Uzbekistan in agriculture, industry, petrochemistry and mechanical engineering.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Alan Wolff will visit Uzbekistan on February 19-20, Trend reports with reference to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.

On February 13, Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva Ulugbek Lapasov met with Alan Wolff.

The ministry stated that the parties discussed the current state and prospects for the development of cooperation between Uzbekistan and WTO.

Moreover, it was noted that Wolff will take part and speak at the international conference "Interconnectedness in Central Asia: Challenges and New Opportunities", which will be held February 19-20 in Tashkent.

This visit is of particular relevance in the context of enhancing the process of Uzbekistans accession to the World Trade Organization, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, a number of events will be held in Tashkent and Geneva, aimed at improving the skills and applying international best practices in the domestic and foreign trade.

WTO Secretariat will provide the necessary technical assistance to Uzbekistan in the training of national personnel involved in the country's accession process.

Apart from Alan Wolff, the Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Natalia Herman, EU Special Representative for Central Asia Peter Burian and Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program Frederick Starr are also expected to attend the event.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry hosted political consultations with the delegation of Japan led by Director of the Central Asia and the Caucasus Division of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Tomiyama Mikito, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

Noting the priority and effectiveness of visits at different levels between the two countries in recent years, issues of further development of bilateral relations were also discussed, the ministry said.

The parties touched upon issues of political, trade, economic and humanitarian interaction.

Eight documents were signed by the governmental delegation of Turkmenistan during the working visit to Japan in October last year, concerning the realization of new joint projects, including the construction of ammonia and urea production plants, natural gas processing and gasoline production, a workshop for phosphate fertilizer production, along with partnership with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and supply of the earthmoving machinery of Komatsu company and Toyota cars to Turkmenistan.

Japan has already realized a number of major projects in Turkmenistan. They include construction of ammonia and urea plants in the city of Mary, industrial complexes in the Balkan Region for polyethylene production at the Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries, urea fertilizers in Garabogaz city, and polyethylene and polypropylene in Kiyanly settlement.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has approved the composition of the Turkmen-South Korean intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and scientific-technological cooperation from the Turkmen side, Trend reports with reference to the presidential decree.

The document was signed for the purpose of developing interaction between Turkmenistan and South Korea.

During the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission to be held in Seoul it is planned to discuss the development of partnership in the trade, economic, financial and industrial fields, in the fields of energy and mineral resources processing, construction and transport, agriculture and fisheries, as well as culture, tourism, healthcare, standardization, scientific, information and communication technologies, education.

It was earlier reported that Seoul hopes for partnership with Turkmenistan in such areas as development of gas fields, creation of petrochemical and gas infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ashgabat and Seoul pay special attention to the transport sector in the context of development of transit and logistics infrastructure along the East-West and North-South routes, giving access to European and Middle Eastern markets.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) is of geostrategic importance for diversification of supplies for Bulgaria, Macedonia and the region of Southeastern and Central Europe, Trend reports citing the Draft of Bulgarias Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for the Period from 2021 to 2030 issued by the countrys energy ministry.

As part of the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, IGB will provide Bulgaria and its neighboring countries with access to alternative supplies, reads the document.

IGB is of strategic importance for the implementation of the Vertical Gas Corridor and will contribute to the development of Balkan Gas Hub concept, according to the Energy and Climate Plan.

Its realization also creates opportunities for transit transport through the gas transport system of Bulgartransgaz EAD to the other interconnections, said the document.

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.

The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Tonight, due to the unscheduled work in Kazakhstan, about 20 websites of the state bodies will be inaccessible for almost a day, the press service of the JSC National Information Technologies (NIT) reported.

The need to introduce such a measure has arisen due to the unscheduled work at the telecommunications equipment, which is scheduled to be held from 9:00 pm on Saturday until 1:00 pm on Sunday, Sputnik Kazakhstan reports.

The NIT representatives published on their Facebook page a list of the sites that will be terminated these days.
By Trend

The opening of a trading house of Turkmenistan is planned in the capital of Uzbekistan, Trend reports referring to the press service of the Tashkent City Mayor's Office.

The matter was discussed during a meeting of the Mayor of Tashkent Jahongir Artikkhojayev with Turkmen Ambassador Yazguli Mammedov.

Bilateral ties have intensified markedly in recent years. According to the Uzbek side, the total trade turnover in 2018 increased to $302 million from $177 million a year earlier.

Agricultural machinery, fruits and vegetables, mineral fertilizers, building materials, chemical products and textiles are exported from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan, with the latter exporting oil and oil products, equipment and polymers to Uzbekistan.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Russia proposes to consider intensifying the activity of Azerbaijan in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) by raising the latters status to that of a member state, Anatoly Yanovsky, Russian Deputy Energy Minister, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

He noted that Azerbaijan has long been a member of the GECF, and, despite its decision to be remain content with an observer status, Azerbaijani delegates consistently participate in all Forum events.

Yanovsky further noted that the cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan has a long history and is based on the principles of good-neighborliness and strategic partnership.

"The close cooperation of our countries at various venues greatly contributes to the strengthening of our dialogue on matters of energy. We note the active dynamic of bilateral cooperation between our countries, both on issues on the bilateral agenda and on multilateral cooperation, including the implementation of the OPEC + deal," he said.

Azerbaijan and Russia, according to Yanovsky, continue their cooperation in the petroleum industry for the transportation of Azerbaijani oil through Russia. The deputy noted that the transit is carried out based on a commercial agreement between Russias state-owned Transneft company and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), adding that 1.3 million tons of Azerbaijani oil was pumped in 2018.

The deputy minister remarked that on September 1, 2018, as part of the official visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Russia, the Russian oil company Rosneft and Azerbaijani SOCAR signed a contract for the supply of oil to Turkey to the STAR refinery, as well as an agreement on joint study of the oil and gas potential of the "Goshadash" bloc and the northern part of the shallow shelf of the Absheron Peninsula in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The GECF is an association of the worlds leading natural gas exporting countries. Azerbaijan received observer status within the organization in November 2015.

The GECF has 12 gas-exporting member states, such as Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates, along with 7 observer states - Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru.

The GECF was founded in 2001 in Tehran and passed the procedure of a legal institution on December 23, 2008 in Moscow, where the energy ministers of the participating countries adopted the charter of the forum and signed an intergovernmental agreement. The GECF member states account for 42 percent of the global gas production and 70 percent of the global reserves.

According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the trade turnover with Russia amounted to $2.5 billion in 2018, with $665.7 million accounting for the export of Azerbaijani products. The trade turnover between the countries, when compared with the previous year, rose by 16.1 percent.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin during the Munich Security Conference, Trend reports referring to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The meeting was also attended by Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov.

The parties expressed satisfaction with the current state of cooperation and the development of relations between the two countries.

The parties also exchanged views on important infrastructure projects being implemented on the initiative and with the participation of Azerbaijan. With this, the possibility of transporting energy resources of Azerbaijan to Ukraine was a topic of discussion.

An exchange of views on issues of mutual interest took place during the meeting.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

As part of the visit to the UK, Azerbaijans Minister of Culture Abulfas Garayev met with UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy Baroness Emma Nicholson, Trend reports with reference to the Ministry of Culture Feb. 15.

During the meeting, Garayev spoke about the cultural ties between Azerbaijan and the UK, noting that they began to develop rapidly during the period of Azerbaijans independence. He stressed the great role of the British Council in the development of the cultural ties.

The minister informed about the Agreement of Intent signed with the British Council and said the document will contribute to the development of cooperation in the library and museum fields, as well as the experience exchange in the development of cultural ties.

Director of the British Council Azerbaijan Summer Xia, who was present at the meeting, noted that the cooperation of the British Council with the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan provides for the implementation of a number of projects.

In turn, Baroness Nicholson expressed readiness to support cultural cooperation between the two countries, noting that during her visits to Azerbaijan she inquires about the history and culture of the country, visits museums. She added that Azerbaijani culture has made a huge impression on her.

Baroness Nicholson stressed that she will soon come to Baku and plans to take part in a number of cultural events during the visit.

Garayev invited Nicholson to visit the Carpet Museum, the Mugham Center and other cultural institutions during her visit to Baku.

Nicholson noted that on her personal initiative, cultural and musical projects are being implemented in a number of countries, and some of them are related to Azerbaijan, adding that the experience of Azerbaijan can help her in this. Garayev expressed readiness to support the implementation of these projects.

Earlier, Carole Crofts, the ambassador of Great Britain to Azerbaijan, told Trend that Baroness Emma Nicholson will be in Baku on Feb. 20 at the meeting of the Advisory Council of the Southern Gas Corridor and will hold discussions on cooperation.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Johannes Hahn, European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, during the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Trend reports referring to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The meeting was also attended by Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov.

The parties discussed issues of cooperation in various fields between Azerbaijan and the EU.

The parties then touched upon the negotiations held under the new agreement, which will become the legal basis for strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU. In this context, the importance of completing negotiations on the said agreement was noted.

Mammadyarov told the European Commissioner about the current state of negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and stressed that resolving the conflict would create appropriate conditions for the development of the region.

Issues of mutually beneficial and strategic energy cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan were also discussed. The Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan exchanged views with Johannes Hahn on the prospects for bilateral cooperation in the field of energy.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov may meet on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference with his Armenian counterpart Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and discuss the possibility of a summit of the two countries' leaders, RIA Novosti cited Mammadyarov, Trend reports.

"I think this topic will be discussed as part of a meeting with my counterpart from Armenia and, of course, as part of the visit of the Minsk Group co-chairs," Mammadyarov said.

When answering the question whether a meeting with Mnatsakanyan will be held in Munich, the Azerbaijani minister said that they may definitely meet during the conference.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Trend

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 25 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 16, 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.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
The private equity firm Blackstone recently announced that it's in the process of selling its Africa-focused subsidiary, Black Rhino Group, back to management. The decision reflects another lackluster year for African PE, which has seen little growth since the 2014- 2015 fundraising boom that brought many firms into the market.

Steve Schwarzman, CEO and co-founder of the Blackstone Group. Photo: Mark Wilson via Getty Images

Background: In 2014, Blackstone acquired control of Black Rhino to invest billions into energy and infrastructure projects in Nigeria and Ethiopia, but it failed to close the large deals Blackstone was looking to finance. Blackstones departure comes after years of big American PE players leaving the market.

Between the lines: The mismatch between the size of available deals in African markets and the target investment size of global asset managers such as Blackstone continues to be an issue.

In 2017, roughly 90% of Africa-focused PE fund sizes were over $100 million, yet only about 15% of African private companies reported revenue over that number.

Moreover, the typical PE timeframe of a five-year holding period is often too short in African markets, where companies require more wholesale change, currency risk is a challenge, and exit opportunities are limited.

What to watch: As global PE giants leave the region, Africa-focused firms continue to grow. DPI, for example, is in the process of raising a third fund with an $800 million target. DPI and competitors like ECP, Helios, Actis, and Ethos tend to focus on smaller deals, often between $70 million and $100 million.

The bottom line: Funds that successfully tap opportunities in some of the worlds fastest-growing markets tend to share the traits of Africa specialization, patient capital, and tolerance and capacity for smaller assets. The big U.S. players appear uninterested in adapting to these realities in the near term.

Aubrey Hruby is a senior fellow in the Atlantic Council's Africa Center.
Alibaba, China's e-commerce behemoth, is making new inroads in the U.S. and Canada, adding its mobile payment system to thousands of stores  convenience, drug stores and other shops  frequented by Americans of all income levels.

What's happening: Alipay insists that it is not after American customers, instead seeking to serve Chinese tourists, students and business people who come in droves to North America every year.

But while its partnerships  with chains like 7-11 and Walgreens  may serve a lot of Chinese visitors, these stores' main clientele is ordinary locals, who now will become acquainted with the Alipay name.

The big picture: Alibaba is enticing U.S. businesses with Alipay, which allows users to pay by scanning a QR code on the app. It has more than 700 million Chinese users. It is telling U.S. companies that if they add the system, they'll get a big piece of the tens of billions dollars Chinese nationals spend in the U.S. every year.

Alipay already has 4 million U.S. users and works with luxury brands like Lacoste and Rebecca Minkoff, and can be used at duty-free shops and Vegas hotels  places frequented by Chinese tourists.

But the move this week into 7,000 Walgreens, and earlier into 7-Eleven in Canada, is part of a separate strategy, says Humphrey Ho, managing director of the Hylink Group. "The real play here is for the students, the new immigrants, and the people here to work for just a few years," Ho says.

There's a massive market of Chinese nationals who are in the U.S. longer than tourists, but would still like to use Alipay instead of applying for a credit card.

My thought bubble: Though it's possible that Alibaba could follow Japan's strategy from the 1960s and 1970s and break open the American market, it seems to me that Alipay's expansion will be limited to Chinese nationals for the foreseeable future.
A long-shot candidate for the Chicago mayoralty is proposing reopening Meigs Field, in part to accommodate eVTOL point-to-point transportation. Willie Wilson, who is among 14 candidates trying to replace the outgoing Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, announced as part of his platform a plan to restore the runway and other aviation infrastructure on Northerly Island, which hosted the famed airport for decades. The airport was destroyed in an unannounced operation in which then-Mayor Richard Daley ordered heavy equipment to gouge Xs across the runway in April of 2004. The move was widely condemned but never reversed.

The island is now a public greenspace that is occasionally used as a live music venue but Wilson notes its financial contribution to the city of $55,000 a year is a sliver of the half billion dollars it generated as a transportation hub. He said restoring the airport is particularly attractive given the prospect of urban air taxi services and the possibility of shared ride business aircraft services. This airport could be exactly the facility that a growing modern city needs, he said. Meigs supporters are not being encouraged to get their hopes up, however, as pundits dont give Wilson much of a chance to gain the mayors seat.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said that the words of US Vice President Mike Pence, who called on Europe to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal, are absurd and propaganda.

According to him, such statements cannot help to achieve progress in this situation. "Be patient, read and learn that the history is full of facts that cannot be simply erased or changed," Ghasemi said, responding to the words of the American Vice President, RIA Novosti reports.
Thank you for reading!

Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.
10 Best Places in the USA for Solo Travelers

The United States is a massive country of 50 states and one unincorporated territory. It is a country that offers solo travelers an unbelievable amount of options in terms of climate and activities.

Mainland America is 2,892 miles (4,654 km) from its farthest point east (West Quoddy Head, Maine) to its farthest point west (Point Arena, California). The USA is a vast land area of amazing cities, towns, and attractions in between those two points. Due to Americas grand size, it isn't easy to see it all  unless you have plenty of time on your hands.

There are a plethora of solo travel destinations in the US and each is unique in its own way.

Let's explore the 10 best places to travel solo in the USA.

Best Places to Travel Solo in the USA

Affiliate links may be used in this post. I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you if you use my affiliate link.
Stay up to date on COVID-19

Get Breaking News

Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox.
Police Arrest 2 Suspects in Attack on Empire Star Jussie Smollett

Trending News: Police Arrest 2 Suspects in Connection to Attack on Jussie Smollett

Police have arrested two men in connection with the alleged attack against Empire star Jussie Smollett on January 29. The two suspects, said to be Nigerian brothers, have not yet been charged with a crime, CNN reports.

Smollett, an openly gay and African-American man, told police he was assaulted by two attackers who berated him with racial and homophobic slurs. The 36-year-old said he was left with a noose around his neck, covered in bleach on the street. At the time, police called the attack a possible hate crime.

Immediately following the attack, allegations were made that stated Smolletts story was untrue, but police have since put out there that theres no evidence the actor was lying.

"While we haven't found any video documenting the alleged attack, there is also no evidence to say that this is a hoax, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, according to the Chicago Tribune. "The alleged victim is being cooperative at this time and continues to be treated as a victim, not a suspect.

Guglielmi added that police are "working to corroborate the allegations and investigative timeline as our investigation continues."

RELATED: 13 Inspirational Guys Worth Following on Instagram

The names of the alleged attackers have not been released, but police say at least one of them already knew Smollett from the set of Empire, reports CNN. The brothers are also said to have police records, with one sentenced to two years probation after an aggravated battery charge in 2012. The other is said to have a DUI from 2015, according to the Chicago Tribune.

On February 14, Smollett appeared on Good Morning America to clear up what had happened to him, expressing his frustration about not being believed.

"It feels like if I had said it was a Muslim or a Mexican or someone black, I feel like the doubters would have supported me a lot much more," Smollett said on the show. "And that says a lot about the place where we are as a country right now."

Smollett also said that while the attackers screamed, This is MAGA country, they werent wearing the red and white hats characteristic of Donald Trumps supporters.

"I never said that," he said. "I didn't need to add anything like that. They called me a f****t, they called me a n****r. There's no which way you cut it. I don't need some MAGA hat as the cherry on some racist sundae."

This story is ongoing and will be updated accordingly.

You Might Also Dig:
Germany supports sanctions against Russia, Chancellor Angela Merkel said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, adding that restrictive measures should be coordinated, TASS reports.

"We support sanctions against Russia. They should be coordinated (with Ukraine)," she said.

Western countries should maintain the dialogue with Russia, German Chancellor said, adding that it is necessary to observe the Russia-NATO Founding Act.

"As before, we are committed to the Russia-NATO Founding Act," she said, adding that "from the geostrategic viewpoint, Europe cannot be interested in breaking the relationship with Russia.".

At the same time, Merkel said Germany considers it a mistake to squeeze Russia out of the European Unions gas market for political reasons.

"I would like to tell the following to our American colleagues: it has been three years since it was permitted to export liquefied natural gas (to Europe). We have not had American natural gas over the past 67 years since Germany was formed, and we have looked to the Persian Gulf, as well as used own resources, for example, in Norway," she said. "We do not put the issue of American gas purchases in doubt, but I consider it a mistake to squeeze Russia deliberately due to political concerns. That is a wrong signal from the strategic point of view," Merkel emphasized.

Germany will remain a reliable market for natural gas, no matter where it flows from, Chancellor said. "Germany will remain a reliable market concerning natural gas, no matter where it comes from," she said.

Chancellor noted that "no one wants to be fully dependent on Russia" regarding the issues of energy resources supplies. Meanwhile, she added that Russia or Soviet Union have always provided "full" gas deliveries. "I dont know why the times have become that bad that we cannot say that Russia remains a partner," Merkel said.
ASHLAND -- Ashland University trustees, after reviewing a law firm's report on the university's hiring practices and substance abuse policies, affirmed their support for president Carlos Campo, but cited a "clear lapse of judgement" on Campo's part.

The board of trustees hired Barnes & Thornburg in January to conduct "a thorough and independent review" after Carlos Campo's son Brandon, who was also a university employee, pleaded guilty to drug possession and endangering children.

During the sentencing hearing, Ashland Municipal Court Judge John Good said Brandon Campo purchased illegal drugs from a university student. The judge also detailed Brandon Campo's extensive criminal record and questioned the university's judgement in hiring Brandon Campo.

In a letter sent to the university community Thursday, trustees said Barnes & Thornburg "found no evidence that President Campo attempted to influence the hiring of his son into an entry-level position in the admissions office. Further, the report found that no university policies had been violated in the hiring process."

The letter went on to say the board has taken action to strengthen the university's nepotism policy, approving a stricter policy that prohibits hiring of anyone in the direct line of oversight of a family member without the prior approval of the executive committee of the board of trustees.

The board concluded Carlos Campo's actions in dealing with his son's employment at the university constituted a clear lapse of judgement, according to the letter.

"President Campo should have recognized the potential risk in this situation and should not have allowed the university to hire his son," the letter states. "The board expressed their concerns in meetings with the president, and the president has expressed his deep regret for his actions."

Despite the lapse, trustees said they weighed the facts and circumstances surrounding the facts, as well as Carlos Campo's past performance, and affirmed its support for the president.

"The trustees recognize that President Campo has, during his three-year tenure, encouraged a culture of academic excellence and student success, while leading the university from a period of serious financial stress to a more secure financial position, and through a crucial reaccreditation process," the letter states.

Trustees also noted Campo received a very favorable personnel evaluation by the Association of Governing Boards in fall 2018.

"At a time when many universities are struggling, under President Campo's leadership, Ashland University is in a stronger position today than when he arrived," trustees wrote in the letter.
On October 19, 2018, the European Union (EU) and the Republic of Singapore signed a free trade pact  the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (EUSFTA)  to deepen the economic relations between the two regions. Along with this deal, two other agreements have been signed between the two sides  the EU-Singapore Investment Protection Agreement (EUSIPA) and the EU-Singapore Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (ESPCA). The trade pacts signal both sides strong commitment to free trade at a time of increasing protectionism and is also seen as a prelude to a future FTA between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Ratification and coming into force

On February 13, 2019, the European Parliament approved the EUSFTA by a majority vote. The stage is now set for the final ratification and entry into force of the trade pact between the two jurisdictions.

Trade links between Singapore and the EU

The European Parliament on February 13, 2019 also approved the EUSIPA and the ESPCA. However, unlike the EUSFTA, these two agreements have to be ratified by the national parliaments of the individual EU member states before they could come into force.

Singapore is the 14th largest trading partner of the EU for goods and the fourth largest for services. For Singapore, the EU is the countrys second largest trading partner for goods and the largest for services. More than 10,000 EU-based companies that use Singapore as a hub for Southeast Asia will highly benefit from the FTA. Besides, apart from Vietnam, Singapore is the only other ASEAN partner to sign an FTA with the EU.

The EU exported over Euro 33 billion worth of goods to Singapore and imported around Euro 20 billion worth of goods in 2017. This resulted in a positive trade balance for the EU of around Euro 13 billion. As regards services, the EU exported as much as it imported from Singapore  around Euro 20 billion  in 2016.

At the same time, foreign direct investment (FDI) play a major role in the economic relations between Singapore and the EU. In 2016, EU organizations invested more than Euro 167 billion in the Singaporean economy while at the same time receiving more than Euro 87 billion in inward FDI.

The trade volume between the two regions and the amount of mutual FDI makes Singapore a key player for EU trade activity in Asia.

The opportunities arising from EUSFTA

EUSFTA opens up both economies and contains some special provisions, which we will discuss in the following sections. Apart from the provisions regarding trade in goods and services, we will also focus on government procurement and geographical indications.

Trade in goods

The EU agreed to reduce its own tariffs to 0 within 5 years after the entry of force of the EUSFTA  cutting 75% of the tariff lines to 0% as soon as possible and the remaining tariff lines within three to five years. Some existing tariffs, especially on agricultural products, will remain. On the Singaporean side, more than 99% of all goods from the EU are already allowed duty-free access.

The agreement further aims at strengthening cooperation regarding regulatory standards as well as reducing unnecessary technical barriers to trade. Specific rules regarding food safety are also contained. EU standards for automobiles and automotive parts are accepted by Singapore. Electronics third-party testing will be replaced gradually in Singapore to comply with the EU rules. The EU further calls for greater transparency regarding pharmaceutical pricing. Furthermore, green technology must be treated the same as national products in both regions under the agreement.

Trade in services

Trade in services between the EU and Singapore is organized with a positive list. Everything on this list contains sectors that are opened up for competition from the partner countries. 12 sectors with more than 160 sub-sectors are included in this list. Amongst others, these are financial services, professional services, computer and related services, research and development, business services, telecommunication services, environmental services, and tourism and travel related services.

Postal service is also opened up on both sides, which is a sector mostly protected by states. Regarding e-commerce, the parties agreed on greater cooperation as well as to avoid imposing unnecessary restrictions and regulations. Free flow of information will be upheld under international standards of data protection.

Government procurement

Both parties are signatories of the Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) of the WTO. This opens government procurement for goods and services under competitive bidding for certain sectors. In the EUSFTA, the EU extends this list to EU central government entities, city, and municipal level procurement, public works concessions such as railways, and some additional utilities. The EU dropped the threshold levels for bidding Singaporean companies.

Geographical indications

Geographical Indications (GIs) were one of the main negotiating planks of the EU-Singapore FTA. These are products only produced in a specific region that is protected as kind of trademark under GI. While the EU is the largest provider of these products, Singapore was not very welcoming of the idea. The EU list contains 196 GIs. Singapore ultimately added a list of 196 products to be granted GI status.

Investment protection agreement

The EUSIPA will replace 12 existing Bilateral Investment Agreements between Singapore and the EU member states. The agreement sets standards of fair and equitable treatment (FET) for investments amongst the signatories.

The EUSFTA and ASEAN

Protection against unreasonable expropriation is contained as well as the right to regulate of the states which says that states remain sovereign in their regulations and there is no possibility of investment arbitration regarding decisions on sovereign debt restructuring. If investment disputes arise, the concerned party has to refer the case to a tribunal, to be established under EUSFTA and which will deliver a decision in a pre-defined process. A major aim of the agreement is transparency during the disputes between investors and states.

The EUSFTA is seen as a pathway to revive the suspended negotiations for an FTA between the EU and ASEAN. The talks on such an agreement started in 2007 and ended in 2009 due to difficulties in setting standards amongst the ASEAN countries. From that time on the EU tried to conclude national FTAs as a means to eventually come to the point of starting negations on an FTA for the entire ASEAN region. The recently finalized FTAs with Vietnam and Singapore mark a major step towards a common FTA between the EU and ASEAN in the future.

Editors Note: The article was first published on November 23, 2018 and has been updated on February 15, 2019 as per latest developments.
Owosso, MI (48867)

Today

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with thundershowers developing for the afternoon. Storms may contain strong gusty winds. High 72F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected..

Tonight

Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers overnight. Low 68F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested that Iraq and Lebanon be included in the Astana process on the Syrian settlement, TASS reports citing Hurriyet Daily News.

"The next (trilateral) summit (of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Syria) will be held in Turkey. During the talks (in Sochi) I said that we can include Iraq and Lebanon in the Astana process since both those countries have common borders with Syria and various relationships with the country," the Turkish leader was quoted as saying after the trilateral summit on Syria in Sochi.

According to the president, "representatives of the countries foreign ministries will jointly work over that issue, and they (Iraq and Lebanon - TASS) will be able to make the Astana process even more efficient in case of reaching an agreement on it.".
Purchase an online subscription to our website for $7.99 a month with automatic renewal. Each online subscription gives you full access to all of our newspaper websites and mobile applications. To cancel you may contact Customer Service @ 256-235-9253 or email JPAYNE@ANNISTONSTAR.COM



For a limited time, for NEW SUBSCRIBERS ONLY a NEW ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION is just $59.99 for the first year. Existing customers do not qualify for the specials!



After the first year, well automatically renew your subscription to continue your access at the regular price of $69.99 per year. Please note *Your Subscription will Automatically Renew unless you contact Customer Service To Cancel*


Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Polad Bulbul oglu and Azerbaijani Interior Ministry spokesman Akper Yusifov met today with the head of the Moscow Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in Moscow, Oleg Baranov, during which they discussed the incident which took place on the eve in the Neolit cafe in Moscow between Chechens and Azerbaijanis, the press service of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Russia reports.

During the meeting, an exchange of views on the current situation and measures to prevent the escalation of the conflict were discussed. The ambassador informed the Head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs about friendship and good neighborliness that bind the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples. He also noted the unacceptability of such incidents at the multinational site of Moscow. The immediate actions are required to prevent the escalation of the uncontrollable situation.




Have any questions? Please give us a call at 907-561-7737
Beneath the rugged and rocky slopes of Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the Guadalupe Mountains in southeastern New Mexico, lies a hidden underground treasure. An extensive system of caves comprising of 118 caves and many hundred miles of caverns and tunnels all formed as sulfuric acid dissolved the surrounding limestone. The largest of them is aptly named the Big Room. This natural limestone chamber is almost 1.2 km long, 191 meters wide, and 78 meters high at the highest point, and covers a floor space of 33,210 square meters (357,469 square feet).

Tucked away at a corner of the Big Room, at the head of the Left Hand Tunnel, where the elevators from the visitor center exit into the cave, is a cafeteria - 750 feet underground.

Carlsbad Caverns Underground Lunchroom in 1960's Photo credit

The Underground Lunchroom came into existence in 1928, two years before the cave became a national park. At that time there was a desperate need for food and drink for tourists who were exhausted by the six hours walk required to get in and out of the cavern's Big Room. The hike had such a reputation for making visitors hungry that the last few hundred yards were known as ''appetite hill.''

The Underground Lunchroom serves small meals such as sandwiches, salads, yogurt, parfaits, and other food that does not involve cooking in the caverns, so as to protect the delicate cave environment, although in the early years of its operation there were no prohibition on cooking. Visitors can still enjoy warm drinks such as coffee or hot chocolate and eat at a personal lantern lit table.

There is also a souvenir store where you can buy t-shirts, and a small selection of other items. One of the most popular activities for visitors is to write and send postcards from underground. There is a mailbox in the caverns, and you can stamp your postcard "Mailed from 750 feet below ground."

The lunchroom and the meals it serves, however, is drastically changing the cave eco-system. The smell of food has lured hundreds of non-native raccoons, skunks and ringtail cats into the cave. Odors from food, fumes from cleaning agents and leakage of refrigerants may be changing the rate at which calcium carbonate crystallizes into new formations in the cavern. Additionally, the lunchroom lies on a bat flyway. Bats native to the cave will not go out to feed in the evening or come home to roost in the morning when lights are on in the lunchroom.

The park service has been trying to remove the privately operated fast-food eatery from its lucrative in-cave location since an order to remove the lunchroom was made in 1993, during the first year of the Clinton administration. But objections from local businesses with help of local politicians who are more interested in making profit than protecting a natural resource have thwarted the park service.

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit: Carlsbad Caverns NP Historic Photos

Photo credit

Sources: NYTimes, Carlsbad Caverns Trading Company, Wikipedia
President Trump has been turned down by Democrats for a sensible border barrier, so he will declare a national emergency in accordance with a law Congress passed in 1976.

Here is the case for declaring a national emergency:

Tens of thousands of people die each year from drug overdoses, and a huge percentage of those drugs comes across the porous southern border illegally. Here is one story, headlined: "Deadly blue 'Mexican oxy' pills take toll on US Southwest":

Aaron Francisco Chavez swallowed at least one of the sky blue pills at a Halloween party before falling asleep forever. He became yet another victim killed by a flood of illicit fentanyl smuggled from Mexico by the Sinaloa cartel into the Southwest  a profitable new business for the drug gang that has made the synthetic opioid responsible for the most fatal overdoses in the U.S. "It's the worst I've seen in 30 years, this toll that it's taken on families," said Doug Coleman, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in charge of Arizona. "The crack (cocaine) crisis was not as bad." The fentanyl that killed Chavez was among 1,000 pills sneaked across the border crossing last year in Nogales, Arizona by a woman who was paid $200 to tote them and gave two to Chavez at the party, according to court documents.

Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens, including gang members and other criminals, descend on our long southern border each year. They overwhelm our current ability to screen out and stop drugs, criminals, and people with diseases.

President Trump tried to end DACA with an executive order since President Obama implemented that with an executive order, and somehow, complicit judges decided that only the first executive order was actually a law.

Trump then offered Democrats a more permanent solution on DACA in exchange for funding the border wall, stopping chain migration and ending the lottery system for immigrants and Democrats turned him down even though they have been in favor of those things in the past.

Trump has tried to get sanctuary cities and states to comply with immigration law and cooperate with ICE, but he has been blocked by Democrats and complicit judges. Trump is essentially trying to enforce immigration laws Congress passed and is being thwarted at every turn.

Democrats have declared that illegal aliens crossing the border had to be stopped in the past, but have never followed through. Now they are absolute obstructionists.

It certainly appears that after seeking many options, President Trump's newest tack  to give the border guards and Homeland Security what they say they need to enforce the law and protect the citizens of the United States  is a reasonable solution to invoke for the national emergency in compliance with the 1976 law.

Trump is being transparent in what he is planning to do and where the money is coming from, yet he is being labeled a dictator.

Trump will be sued to block the national emergency, and some complicit judges will go along, even though he is following the law. If Trump loses and we don't get more protection at the border, Democrats will cheer, and NeverTrumps will say he didn't keep his promise. If the American people are very unfortunate, we will get a Democrat president in 2020, and we will end up with more drugs, more illegal immigration, more people dependent on government handouts, and a march toward socialism. Heaven help us.

Now let's contrast what President Trump is doing in compliance with laws that Congress wrote with what Obama did while he was in office, when he was supported by almost all journalists and other Democrats.

President Obama repeatedly said the Constitution didn't allow him to unilaterally change immigration laws, but he did it anyway with his executive order on DACA. Democrats not only didn't care that he went around Congress and acted as a dictator, but supported the move.

Obama and the complicit Justice Department decided they weren't going to enforce immigration laws and instead supported sanctuary cities and states as they defied the laws.

While the Obama administration supported cities and states that openly defied the federal law they were sworn to defend, they showed how insincere they were when they went after Arizona for wanting to enforce those same laws. Remember this headline? "Obama administration sues Arizona over immigration law."

When Obamacare came up short of funds, President Obama didn't go to Congress or declare an emergency. He just illegally diverted the money and Democratic congressional leaders at the time, such as House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, didn't sue or care. Here's how the headlines went at the time, and this is a non-conservative news source: "Government Illegally Diverts Billions to Obamacare Reinsurance Slush Fund."

For 2015 Obamacare reinsurance, the administration will pay out $6 billion raised from a fee on private health insurance and an additional $1.7 billion that under federal law belongs to the Treasury department. Indeed, the decision by the Obama administration directly violates section 1341 of Obamacare which explicitly states "money shall be deposited into the general fund of the Treasury of the United States and may not be used for the [reinsurance] program.

After Obama was chastised for illegally diverting funds, that didn't stop him. He just stole again from low-income housing. Again, Pelosi, Schumer, and others didn't care.

Remember this story?

Federal court litigation provides evidence the Obama administration illegally diverted taxpayer funds that had not been appropriated by Congress in an unconstitutional scheme to keep Obamacare from imploding. In 2016, a U.S. District judge caught the Obama administration's Health and Human Services Department acting unconstitutionally and therefore put an end to the illegal diversion of taxpayer funds, but the Obama administration didn't stop there. The Obama administration instead turned to the nation's two government-sponsored mortgage giants  the Federal National Mortgage Association, commonly known as "Fannie Mae," and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, commonly known as "Freddie Mac"  to invent a new diversion of funds in a desperate attempt to keep Obamacare from collapsing. "Paying out Section 1402 reimbursements without an appropriation thus violates the Constitution," Judge Collyer concluded. "Congress authorized reduced cost sharing but did not appropriate monies for it, in the Fiscal Year 2014 budget or since." "Congress is the only source for such an appropriation, and no public money can be spent without one."

It is dangerous to our freedom and prosperity when most journalists, instead of holding all powerful politicians to account, support one party no matter what they say or do and seek to destroy the other party with misleading and inaccurate articles. It degrades journalism to indoctrinate the public with misleading and false stories disguised as news. W ell, here we are again. They are doing it again now, and not even a true matter of national security is stopping them.
The socialists declare war

The recent loss of 25,000 jobs proposed via Amazon's deal designed to set up a new headquarters in Long Island City is directly attributable to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her band of left-wing New York City politicians. The Democratic Socialists of America's protests against the LIC HQ have forced Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to find another location for his company's facility. The socialists opposed Amazon's plans in Queens based on claims that they were not adequately brought into the planning phases of the HQ. This is certainly not a valid excuse for denying New York City residents honest paying work in a city that boasts gargantuan costs of living and high poverty rates.

Imagine if one of GM's or Ford's plants had been protested and forced out of a city because of socialist ideology in the 1950s. It wouldn't have been allowed to happen. Why would Americans sabotage their families and Main Street by preventing a formidable job-creator to inject its dollars and influence in their hometowns? A congresswoman's influence has affected not only constituents in her district, but over eight million New Yorkers in one of the biggest cities in the world. What other businesses will be denied entry to New York City because of socialist inclinations? How many families have lost out on honest pay in order to stroke Ocasio-Cortez's ego? How long before the socialists target the private affairs of entrepreneurs and small business-owners? The DSA's activity is a clear declaration of war on American capitalism and our respectable culture of honest work. First they came for our jobs  what will they come for next?
We've spoken with "Empire" cast and crew, and they say Ola and Abel Osundairo do not fit the profile of racists and homophobes  not even close. As we reported, both men have been extras on "Empire" for years and both are friendly with Jussie, and Abel is especially close to him. We're told Jussie would frequently approach the brothers on set and chat about health and fitness.

Ola and Abel Osundairo, the two brothers from Nigeria who were arrested and detained by police in connection with the Jussie Smollett "hate crime" incident, are not "racist, homophobic, or pro-Trump," according to TMZ.

Our Empire sources say Abel especially is an ally of the LGBTQ community, and neither have ever said anything positive about Trump. They're both big Obama fans.

The brothers were caught on a security camera recording somewhere near where Smollett alleges that the attack took place on the night in question. In fact, Smollett told Good Morning America on Thursday, before the brothers were arrested, that he was positive they were the attackers:

Prior to the police identifying and interviewing the two persons of interest, Smollett said he believes the two men in the photo released by police in the days after the attack are the perpetrators. "I don't have any doubt in my mind that that's them," Smollett said. "Never did."

The plot thickens.

Does this sound like people who would yell "MAGA country!" at a well known gay actor?

We're told Abel worked as an "Empire" extra as recently as a month ago. They're considered family on the set ... well-known and well-liked by cast and crew. The folks we've spoken with say they find it impossible to believe Ola and Abel have the DNA of criminals who would carry out the acts that Jussie describes  and obviously cops now believe that as well. Police arrested the brothers for battery Friday after cops raided their home Wednesday and seized a long list of items, including several bottles of bleach. However, late Friday Chicago PD released the brothers due to "new evidence" gathered from their interrogation ... and said they're no longer suspects. As we reported, Jussie initially said his attackers were white  yet another fact that just doesn't track with the Osundairos [sic] profile.

AT's Taylor Day reports that Smollett has retained a defense attorney and that police have searched his residence. Due to the unusual behavior by police in keeping almost all information about this case from the public, we don't know what they are still investigating after releasing the Nigerian brothers, what direction the investigation is going in, or if they believe that Smollett filed a false police report.

Chicago P.D. statements on the case have been very, very careful not to point the finger at Smollett. The police spokesman said "there is also no evidence to say that this is a hoax." That was Friday after the brothers were released, which could indicate that they were in the clear if the cops thought they helped Smollett stage the attack.

In truth, much of the CPD is walking on tiptoes around this incident, and specifically, Smollett's allegations. As more facts emerge that contradict Smollett's original narrative of what happened, the police are bending over backward to maintain that Smollett is a "victim."

Second City Cop:

But the most useless superintendent in history continues the charade: Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson contacted ABC7 to say they are continuing to treat Smollett as a victim and the investigation remains ongoing. Just when you thought Special Ed couldn't sink any lower, he finds a shovel in the basement of the ManHole and starts to dig.



Does anyone have a picture of the Search Warrant copy left behind? One media outlet had it and broadcast it. We're told that the list of items being sought/seized has one rather interesting item that could spell big problems for Smollett and his accomplices.

That item could be a bottle of bleach that was taken from Smollett's residence. Indeed, there is nothing remarkable about anyone having bleach lying around the house. But forensics can determine not only what brand of bleach was splashed on Smollett's clothes the night of the attack, but if the bleach came from the same bottle that was found in his apartment.

The cops would dearly love for Smollett to confess. It would make it much easier on them and on the city. But Smollett has so much invested in this narrative that he will probably go down insisting that his version is the truth.
The top candidates condemned the decision and blamed each other but appealed to Africa's largest democracy for calm, while they rushed back to the capital to learn more about what went wrong. The postponement was announced a mere five hours before the polls were to open. The decision is a costly one, and authorities now must decide what to do with already delivered voting materials in a tense atmosphere where some electoral facilities in recent days have been torched.

Internal civil strife is coming to a boiling point this weekend as the Nigerian people head to the polls to vote for a president. Incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari's commitment to a free and fair election must be seriously questioned. On February 5, 2019, a Nigerian governor and poster boy of Buhari's ruling party warned that foreign nationals who sought to intervene in the February 16, 2019, Nigerian presidential election would return "in body bags." The death threat was delivered on prime-time Nigerian television.

Willie Obiano, the governor of Anambra, a predominately Igbo state, publicly told his supporters to "kill, kill, kill" anyone who votes for the opposition party, PDP, a statement he has since attempted to retract. It was another early warning that a free and fair Nigerian presidential election is in peril. Any believer in the imperative of abiding by the democratic will of the people must have as a paramount interest the desire to ensure that the Nigerian elections are free and fair, as guaranteed by Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and our own Constitution.

In Buhari's Nigeria, power has become concentrated in the presidency without full checks and balances or a fully free press. Indeed, President Buhari just weeks ahead of the election unconstitutionally replaced the head of the Nigerian Supreme Court with a pliable toady. Also, Pres. Buhari in the past few weeks has appointed his niece as the chairperson of the organization that tallies and reports election results. She has never previously held a government position and appears to have no credentials for the job than her bloodline. These roles are the ultimate arbiter of Nigerian election results.

Nigeria is the largest country in Africa, with by far the largest reserves of oil and gas on the continent. Nigeria also is the home of Africa's most feared and ruthless radical Islamist terrorist group. Boko Haram became infamous throughout the world for the appalling Chibok kidnapping of 200 schoolgirls in 2014. These schoolchildren are believed to have been used as sex slaves and forced into parenting children by their adult Boko Haram captors. Over 100 remain in captivity  despite the campaign promises of their return by Buhari, a former military dictator who was elected in 2015. Over 20,000 Nigerians have been slaughtered by Boko Haram, many since Pres. Buhari proclaimed the group's defeat.



Mhammadu Buhari (via U.S. State Department).

In the last few years, roving militias have invaded the Middle Belt and slaughtered Christian farmers who are primarily ethnic Yoruba, with Igbo, Ijaw, and Ibibio also being murdered without repercussions to the south and southeast. The number of killings and displacements by the roving herdsmen militias in the Middle Belt is estimated to be over 250,000 to 2 million. The Buhari administration has stood silent and made no move to halt these murderous militias and their humanitarian and economic devastation. The displacement of these Middle Belt citizens, who are afraid to return to their homes, seems strategically calculated to disrupt their ability to vote against Pres. Buhari and his ruling party, as Nigerian law requires polling only in the place of residence.

In sum, all the lights on the dashboard are flashing, and the United States must pay attention to this potential crisis. The reality exists that massive electoral fraud may taint the Nigerian presidential election today and risk unprecedented civil strife among 200 million Nigerians if the United States plays spectator and resists firm diplomatic overtures and sanctions if the current administration refuses to hand over the reins of power following a peaceful, fair and corruption-free election.

In 2015, a similar, but less tense specter hung over Nigeria's presidential election between incumbent Goodluck Jonathan and Mr. Buhari. No Nigerian incumbent had ever previously left office peacefully after an electoral defeat. Secretary of State John Kerry was dispatched by President Obama to Nigeria on the eve of the election in a move that was widely seen as elevating Gen. Buhari as the "chosen" candidate. The 2015 elections were viewed as credible, and the incumbent, Goodluck Jonathan, rebuffed clamor from his coterie to resist acquiescence to Mr. Buhari's victory. This was a first in Nigerian history.

In the same spirit, based upon the urgings of Nigerian groups, including the group known as "We the People of Nigeria" and others, secretary of state Mike Pompeo spoke directly to the Nigerian presidential candidates, Pres. Buhari of the ruling APC Party and former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the PDP Party, to insist to them that the election must be fair and free from violence. Thusly, the Trump administration has thankfully joined the international community in expressing its serious concern for the bona fides of the 2019 Nigerian presidential election under Pres. Buhari's watch  which includes an extremely stern message of warning to the Buhari administration from the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague late last week.

A free and fair election will vaccinate Nigeria against terrorism and domestic disorder and will advance its embryonic democracy another step. When citizens are denied a peaceful political channel to voice and redress their grievances, they commonly turn to violence or other devastatingly destructive conduct. The results have been uniformly tragic and will be expensive for the United States in the form of increased military and humanitarian aid. It is not beyond the pale to suggest that the geo-strategic area of West Africa will be imperiled if the upcoming election erupts in long simmering ethnic and religious bloodshed.

Nigeria is sitting on a powder keg. It is not hard to imagine what will happen if the election today is manipulated in favor of the incumbent. The entire Nigerian nation of 200 million people could explode in mayhem and violence. Refugees on a scale that dwarfs the Arab Spring could wreak havoc beyond the African continent. All of West Africa could be convulsed. A terrible example could be set for democracy everywhere.

The Trump administration has often stood taller and firmer than its predecessor in addressing geopolitical problems with fairness and strength. It must do so again when it comes to Nigeria's elections, beginning with the presidential poll today. Complacency in these circumstances would be injudicious. The communication from Secretary Pompeo is a good start that should be applauded and followed up with similar resolve to prevent the possible disintegration of Africa's heart and soul.

W. Bruce DelValle is a founder and principal shareholder of Fein & DelValle PLLC, a commercial and civil litigation firm with a national client base.
Have the Democrats discovered the Constitution?

For many years, the Democrats have found the Constitution to be an impediment to their goals. To get around that document, they have invented the concept of a flexible Constitution, one that must be interpreted not as written, and not in accord with the intent of those who wrote it, but instead as one that changes according to the moment  the moment always being the current Democratic Party agenda. Their motto is, the Constitution be damned. One federal judge has gone so far as to openly aver that the Constitution is completely irrelevant, implying that it should be ignored or scrapped entirely.

However, now that President Trump has vowed to build a border wall without explicit legislative approval, those Democrats who are opposed are hypocritically arguing that the Constitution forbids him doing that. Yes, the Constitution suddenly must be followed to the letter. Even some Republicans who strongly favor the wall are worried that a future president might use Trump's precedent to unilaterally enforce policies that the political left has vowed to enact, such as banning fossil fuels or confiscating privately owned weapons. But that is already the case. The Constitution has been being violated for decades now, or, at the least, flagrantly misinterpreted. One example is birthright citizenship, which has enticed thousands of illegal aliens to enter the United States explicitly for the purpose of giving birth to a child on U.S. soil, thereby imparting natural citizenship, with the subsequent chain migration of his relatives. No reasonable case can be made that this was the intent of the Framers. Another example is the Tenth Amendment, which explicitly forbids the federal government from using powers it does not have, those not enumerated in the Constitution. Rarely is this amendment invoked to prevent government overreach. Had it been enforced over the years, the abuse of federal powers would have been significantly reduced. So the real question is not one of parsing the Constitution, but rather whether process is more important than policy. In answer to that question, untold thousands of former military men (including myself) are familiar with the term "midnight requisition." It refers to the act of stealing supplies that are critically needed immediately and using them to accomplish a military objective when going through the ponderously slow supply system bureaucracy would delay the supplies until it is too late. I won't say I ever obtained supplies illegally, but somehow, they always did materialize when needed for the mission. Trump is using the same principle, and for the same good reason. The nation desperately needs a broad framework of laws and policies that will protect the taxpayer from being overburdened by a flood of poorly skilled low-wage workers who do not share our values or even our language. Those needed laws and policies are not enacted, nor enforced when enacted, because Democratic politicians seek the votes of those who depend on welfare, while wealthy corporations seek their cheap labor, passing the costs on to society. The process has been used against us. President Trump rightly understands that immediate action is needed to reverse the neglect and malfeasance by those who demand that the process be followed, at least when it serves their purposes. He is taking that action. The lock on the back door of the supply building is broken, but that is a small price to pay for saving the republic.
We live in an age of self-righteous, single-issue groups that feel entitled to physically confront their enemies. With the Green New Deal fact sheet published (and retracted) by Rep. Ocasio Cortez promising to eliminate cows because of their farts and Sen. Booker advocating veganism, American meat-eaters and dairy-lovers sense a wave of bullying ahead aimed at forcing them to change their diets. In Australia, the bullying already has become physical.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has called for calm following a violent confrontation between a dairy farmer and vegan activists south of Perth in Harvey, Western Australia. The farmer discharged his shotgun away from the activists who were filming calves from a car in front of his house. "I call for all to remain calm and respectful," Mr Littleproud said. "Differences between sections of the vegan and farm communities will not be solved with confrontation. "I'm genuinely concerned there will be an incident in which someone be seriously hurt or worse."

For the moment, nobody has been physically attacked as the militant vegans invade private farms for angry confrontations, but clearly, the Cabinet of Australia is worried. The Aussie vegans have adopted the same tactic used by the notorious Southern Poverty Law Center: publishing maps the identifying targets.

Rights of farmers became an increasingly urgent issue in January when animal activist group Aussie Farms released a map detailing the locations of farms, feedlots and processing facilities across Australia. Mr Littleproud said Aussie Farms' map is a risk to farmers [sic] safety and reiterated his call for the registered charity to remove the map from the internet.

Readers may recall that a homosexual activist mounted an armed terror attack on the Family Research Council, seriously injuring a guard before being foiled in his plan to undertake a mass shooting of staff members, and stated to the FBI that the SPLC map was the trigger for his targeting on the entirely nonviolent group:

Family Research Council (FRC) officials released video of federal investigators questioning convicted domestic terrorist Floyd Lee Corkins II, who explained that he attacked the group's headquarters because the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified them as a "hate group" due to their traditional marriage views. "Southern Poverty Law lists anti-gay groups," Corkins tells interrogators in the video, which FRC obtained from the FBI. "I found them online, did a little research, went to the website, stuff like that." The Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard reported that Corkins, who pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, said in court that he hoped to "kill as many as possible and smear the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in victims' faces, and kill the guard." As Bedard explained, "the shooting occurred after an executive with Chick-Fil-A announced his support for traditional marriage, angering same-sex marriage proponents."

The contagion of self-righteousness justifying hideous terroristic violence is a global phenomenon, so I would not be sanguine that American dairy and cattle farmers will not be attacked here.

Hat tip: John McMahon
As if he wouldn't know about the Washington leak games up close . But this is a big bid to backtrack.

After a slew of headlines from former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe finally admitting that he and his Justice Department cronies were plotting a de facto coup against a democratically elected president in what CBS News billed as a " bombshell interview ," McCabe now says his remarks were " taken out of context and misrepresented ."

According to The Hill:

A spokeswoman for former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said Friday that comments he made regarding a potential use of the 25th Amendment to oust President Trump have been "taken out of context and misrepresented." "At no time did Mr. McCabe participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions," spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said in a statement. "Mr. McCabe has merely confirmed a discussion that was initially reported elsewhere."

Actually, it sounds high-schoolish. He's not exactly denying a coup plot, which was firmly established after his 60 Minutes interview to be aired Sunday. He's actually just trying to extricate himself from responsibility for it  saying he's now repeating stories he heard from others, and the whole thing was former Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein's idea.

Not me. Rosenstein did it.

Obviously, this is a big blunder  the admission of a full-blown coup plot against a democratically elected president, which is something the Boston Herald says stands in stark contrast to the huge police show to arrest Trump ally Roger Stone and ought to be good for some jail time.

It should be  the Boston Herald's harsh editorial discusses the implications of those revelations:

According to CBS' Scott Pelley, the reporter who interviewed McCabe, after President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, McCabe jumped into action with other members of the Justice Department. McCabe was alarmed that Trump "might have won the White House with the aid of the government of Russia." The next day, he brought the investigators together for a meeting. "There were meetings at the Justice Department at which it was discussed whether the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet could be brought together to remove the president of the United States under the 25th Amendment," Pelley said. "I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and just won the election for the presidency," McCabe told CBS. "And who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage, and that was something that troubled me greatly." The arrogance is astounding. According to Pelley, McCabe noted that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein offered to wear a wire in order to record conversations with President Trump and the idea was discussed on several occasions. It was "so serious that he took it to the lawyers at the FBI to discuss it," Pelley explained on "CBS This Morning."

McCabe managed to get a special counsel appointed, who to date has dogged President Trump with his own Inspector Javert and resulted in several of his aides thrown in jail for process crimes, as well as drawn amazing abuses of power, such as the surveillance of hapless Carter Page. McCabe's self-satisfiedly called that appointment the culmination of his life work, his own mission accomplished. "If I got nothing else done as acting director, I had done the one thing I needed to do," he wrote.

Overthrowing an elected president? A president who has been hell on Russia with sanctions, and in the confrontations over Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, and Venezuela? A president who refused to meet with President Putin at a big summit?

I had no problem with the FBI being suspicious of Trump's Russia ties at the beginning  Trump, after all, had done business with the Russians, and based on his ownership of the Miss Universe Organization seemed to have a weakness for the Russian and Slavic beauties. But fact after fact has since come out about Russians not being able to get anywhere with Trump. The famous Trump Tower meeting with Don Trump, Jr. was a Democratic Party setup, and nothing good for Russia came of it. The Russian press grumbled about not being able to reach anyone in the Trump camp during the campaign, and they probably still do.

But even as these facts came out, McCabe refused to drop his thesis. Did the FBI not have informants' reports delivering the truth? One wonders. Or was McCabe just emotionally addicted to phony, Russian-generated opposition research via the Steele dossier instead? It's astonishing how wedded he was to pinning some kind of Russia charges on Trump. At what point would McCabe ever drop his thesis that Trump colluded with the Russians to steal the election from Hillary Clinton? He argues he was on solid ground. Now that the special counsel is preparing to close up shop with nothing, he clings to his insistence that he was on "solid ground."

Yet as the shell of that government abuse is about all that's left of the FBI and special counsel probes, now he's trying to extricate himself and say other guys did it.

This is the reaction of a baby. Sorry, big boy, it's time to face the music.

Image credit: YouTube screen grab from CBS News trailer.
A meeting with Alexandra Nikiforova, the leading actress in the popular Russian-Turkish TV series Sultan of My Heart, was held at the Moscow House of Nationalities on Valentine's Day. A large-scale television project was broadcasted on the First Channel in January. The magical oriental tale of love of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and the French teacher from the Russian Empire, Anna, won the hearts of Russian television viewers.

The action of the film takes place at the beginning of the XIX century in Istanbul. The series was filmed in Turkish and dubbed into Russian for broadcasting in Russia. On St. Valentine's Day, Alexandra Nikiforova began the meeting by reading a poem about love.

Your love craves for so much,

Sobbing, asking, blaming ...

Love him silently and strictly,

Love him, slowly melting.

Be a white flame for him

Smokeless, innocent and limp.

Love him with your body,

And love with your heart painfully.

The actress told the guests of the evening about how the Turkish project was filmed, the language barrier and some incidents at the film set: When the offer came to go to Turkey for auditions, I was not very serious about them. Turkish cinema was like science fiction for me. After the first stage of auditions in Moscow, we and two other actresses went to Istanbul for the pair auditions with the potential partners. One of them was Ali Ersan Duru who played the role of Mahmud II eventually. Only when the request came to go to Istanbul I started to believe that it was a reality and something interesting was happening in my life.

In proof of the fact that the cinema has no limits, the actress told about the first days on the set: July, Izmit is a small town near Istanbul. The film studio is a pavilion with an iron roof. The heat is incredible, we are wearing heavy historical costumes. I am dressed, with my make-up on, we are already on the set and ... I dont understand anything. The language of cinema is an international creative process, you can always guess who the costume designer is, who the operator is, but I did not understand what those people were saying. Long, long auditions, a long process with some short breaks. Suddenly, they took some evening snack, they all come out of the hot pavilion with a red-hot roof into the street. There was a long, long table, benches, they all sat down, the Turkish snack chi kofte was brought. Everyone set together and the tension went away immediately. The sun was setting and it was an amazing moment of the brotherhood - everyone was eating bread, everyone was happy, no matter who believed in what God, spoke what language, everyone did one thing, we all had a common international cause. And there was friendship - one sun sets for everyone. It was wonderful.

Soon, I was more or less able to speak in Turkish. I had very strong support. All my friends, all my Turkish partners had a great understanding of my situation. Probably, it was written on my forehead that I was afraid not to be able to play 24 episodes in Turkish. Even before the shooting, I understood, that if I didnt learn this language at least a little bit, then nothing would happen. I felt pressure due to this responsibility. But everything comes with experience, Nikiforova said.
SOTUs have traditionally been positive affairs. American exceptionalism is so everlasting that most presidents can find something in the national condition worth boasting about, and even their political opponents find something in the boasts worth applauding.

Ask your neighbors and coworkers whether it's a privilege to be an American, and nearly all of them will answer with a resounding "yes." But the rising new leaders of today's Democratic Party see American privilege as a mass delusion standing in the way of their political ambitions. This was painfully evident last week during President Trump's State of the Union address (SOTU).

Not so this year. Having presided over the strongest economic expansion in generations, President Trump's speech had no shortage of achievements, and the response of ordinary Americans was electrifying. According to a CBS News poll, 76 percent of Americans who saw the speech approved of it.

However, the response of Democratic lawmakers who attended the speech flew in the face of our political traditions, particularly that of a bloc of congresswomen wearing white from head to toe to commemorate the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote.

The "women in white" leered with contempt at the president throughout his speech. They ignored his call for unity and bipartisanship. About half, including newly elected loudmouth Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, refused to join the rest of the chamber for a standing ovation when President Trump called upon the American people to "embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise, and the common good."

They sat stone-faced when the president touted the lowest ever unemployment among minorities and the disabled. They ignored his praise of new "right to try" legislation giving terminally ill patients access to experimental medicines. Same thing with America becoming a net exporter of energy for the first time in 65 years.

They remained somber even when President Trump announced his new Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, which promotes the economic empowerment of women in developing countries.

Only when President Trump specifically hailed the achievements of American women  filling 58 percent of new jobs last year and being elected to Congress in record numbers  did members of the group feel obliged to stand en masse, essentially to applaud themselves.

The refusal of Ocasio-Cortez and other "progressive" Democrats to celebrate, or even acknowledge, the success and good works of other Americans, irrespective of ideology or creed, on this time-honored occasion is shameful and unbecoming of servants in public office.

But it's politically astute. Proponents of the socialist Green New Deal  which now has the support of 70 Democrats in the House, 12 in the Senate, and six presidential candidates  know it's impossible to get Americans to accept a one-size-fits-all blueprint for centralized planning of their lives and livelihood so long as they think of themselves as privileged.

For all of their divisive rhetoric and mainstream media adoration, Ocasio-Cortez and her ilk aren't likely to convince a majority of the U.S. public that the American dream is a lie, at least not in time for the 2020 election. But they may convince enough people to enflame the social chaos and division we have been experiencing lately, and that might set a prelude one day for realization of their socialist fantasies.

President Trump is right that the state of our union is strong, at least economically and militarily, and a majority of Americans embrace his call to "step boldly and bravely into the next chapter" of this country's glorious history. We must not let the ideological radicalism and hunger for power of a few destroy this future.

Zana Nesheiwat is the founder of Brand ZA, Inc., an integrated business solutions and impact-branding firm specializing in financial services, public policy, and technology, and an associate partner with Blackhawk Partners, Inc. a private equity firm based in New York City.
Liberal leaders have long been counting illegals in the Census to inflate representation, and then electing representatives who declare their area a "sanctuary" for more illegal populations. This creates an endless cycle that damages our democracy.

In mid-January, a federal judge blocked an additional question to the survey that wants to ask whether the participant is a U.S. citizen. The Supreme Court promised yesterday to hear the case quickly so that the matter is resolved before the 2020 Census. The Census is done every ten years so that Congress knows how to regulate federal money and can determine the representation of districts. The number of electoral votes is also determined by the Census.

When the federal judge first blocked the motion to add a citizenship question to the Census, Reuters reported on the measure with clear insight into why Democrats are so opposed to it stating in their coverage:

The plaintiffs  18 U.S. states, 15 cities and various civil rights groups  said that asking census respondents whether they are U.S. citizens will frighten immigrants and Latinos into abstaining from the count.

Whether or not a question asked by our government invokes any negative feelings in certain demographics isn't grounds for it being unconstitional. Additionally, the "plaintiffs" are arguing with negative stereotypes that imply that immigrants and Latinos cannot also be U.S. citizens.

The article continued:

That could cost their mostly Democratic-leaning communities representation in the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as their share of some $800 billion a year in federal funding.

At least the Democrats' motives are clear as to why they oppose this question. Knowing that this all comes down to the importance of election seats and federal money appropriations should be even more of a reason to apply a citizenship question. Eight hundred billion dollars in taxpayer funds is dispersed among the states based on Census counts, so states like California (with by far the highest illegal alien population) are essentially stealing from states like Maine.

Reuters goes on to state:

The plaintiffs alleged that was Ross' plan all along, while he insisted the government needed citizenship data to better enforce the Voting Rights Act, which protects eligible voters from discrimination. Only American citizens can vote in federal elections.

Illegal aliens do not even have to vote in our elections to manipulate our republic, since their mere presence can inflate representation in their districts. It is not even a discrimination issue, since not all of the illegal aliens in America are from a protected class. Also, the plaintiffs claiming they know the secret thoughts behind Ross's Census question is ridiculous. Even if he intended for the question to "frighten immigrants and Latinos," that isn't a legal argument.

The Fourteenth Amendment addresses solely aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens and where the information from the Census is applied. In the first section, it reads, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

Section two reads, "Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state." Considering that this directly follows the first, there should be no confusion on the term "persons" in the second section to refer to any persons other than citizens.

The Census was proposed by the framers of the Constitution, in Article I, Section 2, so the people of America would have power over their newly formed government. Other countries used their censuses to monitor economics, but the Founders had a bold new plan to use a Census count to determine representation in Congress.

What sort of country is left in the modern age if the government isn't allowed to ask the people if they are citizens? If this argument wins in the Supreme Court come April and next year's Census includes a citizenship question that causes just one fewer representative, then it is a major win for all citizens of America. This is not a Republican versus Democrat battle, even if it will have negative effects for Democrats. Knowing how many citizens our country is composed of is simply a matter of having accurate information that realizes our Founding Fathers' dream of the people controlling their government.

The Census was written into the U.S. Constitution while abortion, gun control, welfare, and undeclared foreign wars were not. Our Constitution specifically says the number of voting citizens determines the states representation in the House. Since only citizens can vote, it's a perfect question to ask.

Connect with Taylor Day on Facebook and Twitter!
The events surrounding Ilhan Omar, of course, are a shame for America. The anti-Semitic focus of her recent statements is obvious. However, this does not mean that President Trump has an urgent need to intervene in the process of natural political selection and demand the resignation of an anti-Semitic congresswoman.

President Trump has demanded that Ilhan Omar voluntarily resign . The idea of impeachment of another Muslim Democratic congresswoman  Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) is also being actively promoted.

Trump's intervention in the natural self-destruction of the Democratic Party is a strategic mistake. People who in some exceptional circumstances make not rational, but impulsive decisions, are understandable, but concerning these two brainless members of Congress and their third friend  young socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York  there should be a completely different approach.

By its actions, this trinity guarantees the Democratic Party a very tarnished reputation. Moreover, the longer these ladies will stay in Congress, the more chances America has for an optimistic forecast.

It seems that in January 2019, someone pressed a switch and turned off the brains of the Democrats. Currently, there is chaos and confusion in their minds. For example, they shout that President Trump is a puppet of Russia (which means that Trump, submitting to the Kremlin, must pursue a pro-Russian policy). However, if they really believe this, then the Democrats must demand the exact opposite  a tough stance towards Russia.

Instead, they oppose Trumps harsh policy toward Russia and condemn Trumps decision to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Democrats must decide whether they support Trumps position on Russia or if they condemn it. They cannot both approve and condemn Trumps policy toward Russia at the same time. (Well, they can. However, then from a clinical point of view, the Democrats only diagnosis is cognitive dissonance.)

Turning off the brains of American Democrats is not solely happening at the federal level. Do New York Democrats not understand that legally authorizing abortion in the ninth month of pregnancy is a political nightmare? Did none of them think about the consequences of the fact that now, thanks to the Democrats, abortions in New York can be done by any person, and not just by a licensed phsyician? Is it a symptom of mass psychosis or a mass (D)ebilism? Moreover, this criticism does not even touch the moral, religious or legal side of abortion, but only the political side of it.

Anti-Semitism and racism of the modern Democratic Party of the USA have well-known and deep roots. The Democratic Party is the creator of the KKK and the author of the Jim Crow laws. It was the Democratic Administration of President Roosevelt that turned away a ship with Jewish refugees in 1939. A vital role in the refusal of Jewish refugees to go ashore in America was played by Secretary of State Cordell Hull (by the way, it was with him that the shameful history of the undeserved Nobel Peace Prizes began).

It was the Democrats who threw U.S. citizens of Japanese descent into concentration camps during World War II. It was the Democrats who became famous for the systematic persecution and extermination of North American Indians. It was the Democrats who were the party of slave owners.

Therefore, the open anti-Semitism of Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar should not surprise anybody. It should not be a shock that the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, in February 2017 supported the Muslim (and anti-Semite) Keith Ellison to head the DNC, and in February 2019 openly supported Ilhan Omar in her series of anti-Semitic tweets. Support for her was also expressed by the chief adviser and closest friend of Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett.

The racist scandal of the three top Democrat office holders in the state of Virginia should have ended in 24 hours  the governor should have resigned. A week later, no one in the media would remember this annoying incident, and in a year almost no voter would remember it, and this would not have affected the 2020 election. However, the Democrats have their brains turned off, and the Republicans are wisely silent, and as a result, the Democrats, to their horror, continue to tear each other apart.

Do the events in Virginia not give everyone a vivid example of what the correct position should be when ones political opponents are digging a hole for themselves?

Do none of the present inhabitants of the White House know the phrase (which is attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte): Never interrupt your opponent when he makes a mistake?

Does President Trump want to deprive American politics of the remarkable socialistic useful idiots who, in their Green New Deal, propose eliminating the entire aviation industry, the entire oil and gas industry, and ultimately stopping meat production? Doesn't anyone understand that Senator Cory Spartacus Booker's militant vegetarianism is not a winning strategy for presidential elections?

Doesnt President Trump not see that the new House of Representatives, in which the Democrats are the majority now, has handed a vast amount of political ammunition to Republicans within just a few weeks after coming to power? Moreover, they did it for free.

Let us hope that in the end, Trump will correct this mistake.

The brainless socialistic womens trinity should not be expelled from Congress. They should be silently encouraged and allowed to self-destruct not only themselves but their entire party with impunity.

Americans should stock up on popcorn.

Gary Gindler, Ph.D., is a conservative blogger at Gary Gindler Chronicles. Follow him on Twitter.
Ireland and the Border

Ireland has been a trouble spot since the invasion of the island by the English king Henry II in 1171, whether to prevent a rival, Strongbow, from controlling the area, or to overcome the damaging opprobrium resulting from the murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, on December 29, 1170, by four of his knights. Declaring that Ireland was a part of his empire, Henry II changed the course of Irish history as resident Normans in the area pledged their loyalty to the British crown. Almost a thousand years later, the borders of Ireland remain a difficult political problem, and indeed may have dominated the debate over the last few years over the issue of Brexit. Economic and political relationship between the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland, part of the UK, has been a central factor in the negotiation process of the UK and EU over Brexit. Thus, the border issue is not simply bilateral, it is also an EU issue.

The problem is compounded by the fact that the Brexit issue evokes historical memories as well as having political as well as economic implications. After Henry II, inhabitants lost territory to new arrivals from England, who formulated the laws. The crucial problem arose with Henry VIII and his decision to leave the Catholic Church and have the country adopt Protestantism, to which many Irish were opposed in their desire to remain Protestant as well as speak their own language, Gaelic. Oliver Cromwell invaded Ireland to reestablish control over Ireland, massacring over 2,000 of the population in the Siege of Drogheda in September 1649, while Ulster, a Protestant bastion, remained loyal to England, as it still is. Cromwell remains a villain for many Irish. More troubles ensued during following centuries. During the great famine 1845-49, Ireland lost more than 1.5 million victims. By 1900 the country had only half the number of inhabitants it had in 1830. On January 1, 1801 the Act of Union united the two areas, previously linked by personal union, into a single kingdom, the United Kingdom. The Chief Secretary, the key administrator in governing Ireland, ruled on behalf of London. However, the struggle for Irish emancipation starting in the 19thcentury continued. After the failed Easter Rising against British rule in April 1916, guerrilla war between the IRA and Britain occurred, 1919-1921. It ended in May 1921 with the partitioning of the country, ending British rule in most of Ireland. The Irish Free State was created as a self-governing Dominion in December 1922 while Northern Ireland, NI, remained in the UK. Finally, on April 18, 1949 the Republic of Ireland was established, an independent republic, headed by a president. However, hostilities between the IRA and the government continued in Ulster, virtually 30 years of civil war, including the Bloody Sunday incident on January 30, 1972 when 28 unarmed civilians were killed by British troops during a protest March in Derry (Londonderry). Hostilities lasted until April 10, 1998, Good Friday, which began the peace process. Good Friday was concerned with creating an infrastructure of cooperation between north and south, between the Irish government and the newly created power sharing Irish Assembly, in Northern Ireland. It also implied the normalization of relations between Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland, and between Britain and the ROI. The normalization would mean the opening of the border which had previously been manned by British soldiers. As a result, since both countries are still in the EU, there are no checks on goods or people moving between Northern Ireland and the ROI. The open border is the most tangible symbol of the peace process as well as of economic cross-border cooperation. All political sides in the Brexit negotiations agree there should not be a hard border, checks on persons, goods, or infrastructure, dividing NI from the ROI whatever the outcome of final negotiations. Therefore, keeping the border open and abiding by the Good Friday Agreement is critical. As a result, Brexit negotiators devised the so-called backstop, a political invention, a fallback position, to keep the border open as much as possible between the ROI and NI, even if no comprehensive trade deal can be reached between UK and EU. NI is the only part of the UK that has a land border with another EU country, the ROI. By backstop, the whole of UK, according to Prime Minister Theresa May, would enter in a single customs territory with EU, no tariffs on trade in goods between UK and EU, though NI would be aligned to other rules of the single market. Two problems are related to this. One is that May does not favor a permanent customs deal lest it prevent British free trade deals with other countries. The other is that her proposals have twice been defeated in the House of Commons, on January 15, 2019 by 432-202, and on February 14, 2019 by 303-258. In the latter vote, her own Conservative party, 5 voted against her, and 67 others abstained. The essential features of the EU, single market and customs union, allow people, goods, and services to enter other EU countries without inspection. The basic problem is that if Britain leaves the EU it will probably lead to delays and checks in this policy. The reality would be that the ROI and NI would be in different customs and regulatory regimes, and British goods would be checked at the border. The backstop, a last resort, is intended to prevent full border controls on goods crossing between ROI and NI. For Britain one problem is that it can only end the backstop arrangement with EU agreement. The issue is both economic and political. The fear is that barriers between North and South Ireland might revive the old animosity, the Troubles, the 30-year conflict over NI status as part of the UK. Military controls of the 500-kilometer border were only removed with the Good Friday agreement which provided for more collaboration and free movement between the two entities. Irish and British politics enter into the picture. For 10 years in NI the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fein worked together in a government coalition. Power sharing in NI ended in on January 9, 2017 because of differences between the major parties over the issue of green energy. It led to the general election of June 8, 2017 which resulted in a hung parliament. The Conservatives won 42,4% of the vote and gained 318 of the 50 seats, less than a majority; the Labour Party got 40.0% of the vote and 262 seats. Of the Irish parties. DUP got 10 and Sinn Fein 7. The UK government therefore relies on the DUP for a majority vote in the House of Commons, which it has twice lost. The Republic of Ireland, like NI, would suffer from a hard border. At the same time, it is benefitting from London-based groups banking institutions, including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, and Barclays, asset management, and insurance companies, who want to retain access to EU markets. ROI will also benefit from pharmaceutical and legal firms which are moving business to Dublin. The dilemma of Brexit negotiations continues, especially since PM May does not have full support from her Conservative party. The EU may be less inclined to make compromise concessions in view of Mays lack of control of her party. A major problem is that the scheduled departure of UK from the EU on March 29 may have to be delayed because of the difficulties in agreeing on future trade and economic relations. The immediate issue is to identity backstop with full clarity, or find a suitable alternative, to prevent a hard border.
Why stop there? What about food stamps for all, redeemable not just at Shop-Rite, but Whole Foods, too? Affordable transportation -- by bus, subway, Uber or Southwest Airlines (new slogan: Its now free to roam around the country). And housing, rent-controlled from the Bronx to Beverly Hills. All covered by the unalienable right to equality with those who have more.

First, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a bold guarantee of affordable health care for every resident, including the undocumented, according to excited news reports. From the Birkenstock Left (Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt.) to the Latte Left, (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-Neverland) et. al. came applause. Then, most early Democratic presidential candidates began clamoring for Medicare for All!

De Blasio epitomizes todays reactionary progressives. A Democrat who supported Nicaraguas repressive Sandinistas and honeymooned in Castros repressive Cuba, he more recently has proposed repressing Asians access to his citys best public schools.

De Blasios a statist social engineer, like virtually every big-name Democrat. Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand and the rest run for president by worshipping at the altar of invasive government. They can because the Left confiscated the vocabulary of humanitarianism as early as the French Revolutions liberte, eqalite, fraternite. Which, of course, delivered anything but.

However, the Left fights not for Anglo-American concepts of individual liberty. Rather, it seeks, with the cultlike passion of all anti-democratic movements, hard Left or far Right, liberation. Liberation from tradition, personal responsibility, and most of all liberation of government -- especially its ruling clique -- from checks and balances, from rights reserved to the people and other fundamentals of American constitutionalism.

Such governments convert citizens into subjects. They do so by promising voters more, more necessities and more desires. This works because, as French writer Albert Camus recognized, the welfare of humanity is always the alibi of tyrants.

Which returns us to Democrats as the party of the endless free buffet. According to De Blasios diversity bean-counting, New Yorks Asian students disproportionately merit acceptance by the citys elite schools. To post-liberals, this is unfair, obstructing their imposition of a leveled utopia.

They never mention or in their insatiable drive for more power dont understand that leveled utopias produce precious little of high quality, including research scientists, physicians, nurses, medicine, equipment, or facilities. What is produced tends to be reserved for the rulers -- for the good of the people, of course.

So, ask not what the ever-expanding welfare state will do to you, ask only what you must do for it. At the end of such roads lies something like Communist Chinas social credit loyalty rating of every person, which determines access to education, housing, even food.

What has this to do with single-payer-for-all government medical insurance?

Americans buy our own auto, home, and life insurance. Smokers pay more for the latter. That two-thirds of us are overweight, one-third obese, and 70 percent of medical conditions preventable means no tax hike ever will be sufficient to make universal government health insurance both affordable and profitable enough actually to be provided.

In the United States, for the moment, the vast majority not on food stamps still buys its own groceries. It also pays for its own clothes, secures its own housing, cars, computers, and cell phones -- and definitely not from Uncle Sams Single-Payer Outfitter. Most of those old enough to remember trying to send a package cross-country in less than a week by the single-provider U.S. Postal Service before competition from FedEx, UPS, and the rest understand.

Affordable health care for all from government is an economic oxymoron. Like its stepbrother, Medicaid expansion, and cousins, federal, state, and local public employee pension programs, such care lies beyond governments means.

Federal debt tops $21 trillion. Gross national product in 2017 was $19.5 trillion. To Washingtons red ink add another $6 trillion in state and local government debt plus unfunded public employee pensions.

What happens when your obligations exceed your resources, and the gap between them continues to grow? Right, bankruptcy.

Expansions already obligated for Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security are squeezing funds for infrastructure, education, research, and defense. And thats without a national version of de Blasios affordable health care for all. Nevertheless, this country quickly must counter aggressive military modernization by China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

Those committed to saving the welfare state should talk honestly. The talk should be about shrinking that state to its original, sustainable purpose -- helping the indigent, those once recognized as the deserving poor, perhaps now also those with otherwise uninsurable medical preconditions.

And those insisting on single-payer, universal-access medical insurance provided by the federal government, in a country in which an aging population already overburdens Social Security and Medicare, ought to do the same. They should start by acknowledging that their version of health care for all ultimately necessitates delayed, rationed treatment. Check the Veterans Administration. Even more, by turning all Americans into wards of the state, it subverts the budget, the nation and the individual.

The writer is a communications consultant in Washington, D.C. Any opinions expressed above are solely his own.
Poland and the U.S. hosted a conference on Middle East peace and security in Warsaw on February 13 and 14. More than 60 nations including some Middle East members, Israel for instance, attended the conference, but the absence of Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey and Russia reduced the importance of the meeting.

As CGTN reports, the official agenda included topics such as efforts to curb rocket and missile armament, cybersecurity and the fight against terrorism. However, the conference yielded no concrete outcome out of the divergence on Iran.

Even though Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz insisted the conference did not focus on Iran, the U.S. actually intended to take the opportunity to build a new alliance to contain Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a new era of cooperation in resolving Middle East challenges and urged its European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal during the conference, which was seen as an action to isolate Iran.

However, the U.S. and Europe are deeply divided over the Iran nuclear issue. The Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions on Iran last year, but European countries continued to support the multilateral agreement. Last month, Germany, France and Britain launched a financial tool to help European firms with legitimate business interests in Iran avoid U.S. sanctions.

In fact, the U.S. chose Poland as the partner to co-hold the conference was proof of the divergence between the U.S. and Europe. As a NATO member, Poland is neither a neutral state nor a key stakeholder in Middle East affairs. But Poland is a good partner of the U.S. and wants to extend its influence in East Europe, even at the cost of worsening relations with Iran.

Meanwhile, the conference put the U.S. and its allies in an awkward position. European countries were worried that the conference would provoke tensions with Tehran, so Germany and France did not send cabinet-level officials.

Besides, it is meaningless to discuss Middle East peace without Russian and Iran, who was not even invited to the meeting. The only achievement of the conference is to provide an opportunity for Israel and Arab countries ministers to sit together and advance their common interest of confrontation with Iran. As one of the most important allies of the U.S. in the Middle East, Israel has no official relation with the Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia. The conference built a dialogue platform for the former rivals. Considering that Israel will hold the election in April, the conference can also help the re-election of Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

As Russia and the U.S. suspend obligations under the INF treaty, European countries are at the risk of missile confrontations between the two world powers. Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland will rely more on the military protection of the U.S. Poland is even said to be pushing for a permanent U.S. military base on its territory. On the other side, the conference makes Russia more concerned about U.S. intentions and will bring more geopolitical challenges to the Central and Eastern Europe, harming Middle East peace and stability as well.
The Armenian parliament has adopted a five-year plan that the government proposed to fix Armenias economy, the countrys most pressing problem. But the plan was subject to broad criticism and passed without support of the two opposition parties in parliament.

As Eurasianet writes in the article Armenia adopts plan for economic revolution, the 62-page government plan promises a significant decrease of the severe poverty in Armenia and a significant decrease in unemployment by 2023. Very small businesses would be exempt from taxes; public sector salaries would be increased. The plan gave a few specific targets: that GDP would increase by five percent a year, exports would be increased to over 40 percent of GDP by 2024, and solar energy would make up 10 percent of the countrys total consumption by 2022.

The economic revolution has begun, said Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, presenting the program in parliament on February 12. I am announcing the start of the nationwide economic revolution in the Republic of Armenia. The Armenian people won in the fight against corruption, impunity and clan management, and the Armenian people will win in the fight against poverty and unemployment."

Many, though, criticized the plan for being generous with words but stingy with details. For me, this [the plan] is a conversation between the prime minister and the citizens, or the prime ministers message to the government, but not a measurable program to which the government can be held accountable, said Mane Tandilyan, an MP from Bright Armenia, during a February 14 parliament session.

Others criticized the plan for being insufficiently ambitious. This plan is not revolutionary, Gagik Tsarukyan, the head of the Prosperous Armenia party, told journalists. If it doesnt change, we cant vote for it. He allowed, though, that: I dont deny that there are two or three provisions which will create positive changes in peoples lives.

MPs from the ruling My Step alliance defended the lack of specificity and modesty. Babken Tunyan, chairman of the parliaments Economic Affairs Committee, said that the government could have picked a higher target than five percent GDP growth. "On the other hand, it is better to target less, but to achieve more, he said.

And Pashinyan said the numbers will depend on the Armenian people themselves. The numerical parameters of the economic revolution actually depend on how many Armenian citizens will respond to our call to become an activist of the economic revolution and how many will decide to take advantage of the opportunities of the same revolutionary platform, he said while presenting the program in parliament.

Pashinyans emphasis on peoples responsibility for fixing the economy, including a statement that poverty is in peoples minds, raised some hackles.

Edmon Marukyan, the head of Bright Armenia said that was a means of dodging responsibility. In the 90s, when I was a child, the only one responsible for our poverty was [the countrys first post-Soviet president] Levon Ter-Petrosyan, Marukyan saidduring a February 14 session debating the plan. Then, when we lived in poverty again, it was [second president] Robert Kocharyan. In 2018, of course, it was Serzh Sargsyan. And now a revolution occurs, and the leader declares that poverty is in peoples minds. Remove it from your minds and the economy will grow. Great, but then its not clear why the three previous leaders were responsible for our poverty, if the fourth one isnt.

On February 14, the plan was adopted with an 82-37 vote. While it wasnt disclosed how individual MPs voted, the numbers suggest that all or nearly all My Step MPs voted for the plan, while the opposition parties didnt.
Srinagar, Feb 16 (IANS) Traders at the Lal Chowk here shut their establishments on Saturday to protest against reported harassment of Kashmiri students outside the state.

They also carried out a march demanding protection for all Kashmiris, including students studying outside the state.

The Kashmir Traders Federation, an organisation of local traders and businessmen, has called for a protest shutdown in the Valley on Sunday in solidarity with Kashmiris living outside the Valley and with students and professionals.

Support TwoCircles


This weekend, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is visiting Pakistan with his entourage of over 1,000 people, including investors, government officials and security personnel. It is expected that the trip will result in investments in Pakistan worth up to $20bn.

According to Haroon Sharif, who chairs Pakistans Board of Investment, the Saudis will be investing mainly in the energy sector and opening up an oil refinery in the southwestern coastal city of Gwadar.

This comes less than four months after the Saudis announced a $6bn aid package following Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khans October trip to to the country. Significantly, Khan chose to visit at a time when Prince Mohammed was embroiled in the fallout of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggis murder and the boycott by many Western investors of the Future Investment Initiative, a high-profile investment conference.

The Pakistani prime minister attended the conference and was duly rewarded for standing with Saudi Arabia. But even that billion-dollar aid package was not enough to end Pakistans debt crisis.

The Saudis are now promising another multi-billion investment, which may just bail out the country from the financial crisis it is in, but these funds are unlikely to be granted unconditionally.

Saudi Arabia has strategic interests in Pakistan given its proximity to Iran, Riyadhs archrival in the region. The Saudis are using aid packages and investment promises to buy the economically embattled Pakistani governments loyalty and convince it to turn a blind eye to their destructive actions within Pakistans borders.

Saudi financial promises are not a new feature of Pakistani-Saudi relations. For decades, Islamabad has kept close to Riyadh, encouraged by both Saudi money and the US regional policy.

This special relation emerged shortly after General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq overthrew the left-leaning Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977 and sought closer ties with the US. Two major events dramatically increased the importance of Pakistan to the US foreign policy in the region: the Iranian Revolution of February 1979 and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan of December the same year.

As the US sought to establish a united front of countries in West Asia willing to fight Iranian and Soviet influence, Islamabad became a key US and  by extension  Saudi ally. By then Riyadh was enjoying massive oil revenue (in part due to the spike in prices following the 1973 oil embargo) and was actively practising chequebook diplomacy in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

181029084248017

Saudi financial flows to Pakistan started with the US-approved scheme to arm and train fighters of anti-Soviet armed groups in Afghanistan. Riyadh and Islamabad also cooperated closely to curb expanding Iranian influence in the region which, they saw, sought to incite the Shia minorities in both the countries to rebel.

Saudi financial help to Pakistan assumed many forms, including military and civilian, but also religious. Zia-ul-Haqs government allowed Saudi charities to fund seminaries and mosques, which inevitably came with more conservative interpretations of Islam and anti-Shia ideology. Riyadh has also been accused of supporting certain extremist Sunni groups.

Some of these seminaries and groups are alleged to be responsible for radicalising the local youth and turning many of them against Shia Muslims. Some of them have also carried out cross-border attacks in Iran.

Only three days ago, an armed group called Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), which ,Iran believes, has direct links to Saudi Arabia, claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing attack in Irans Sistan-Baluchestan province which killed 27 members of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Such groups also target Pakistani Shia Muslims, especially those living in Balochistan province bordering Iran. The province has seen a spike in sectarian killings in the last few years. Shia Muslims, who make up 15 to 20 percent of Pakistans population, are also under attack in other parts of the country. They are being kidnapped, killed and violently attacked even in large cities. Many Shia Muslims have been forced to leave Pakistan and take refuge abroad due to such threats.

While many see Saudi support for ultraconservative groups as empowering extremism, the Pakistani state itself is also to blame for the increasing persecution of Pakistani Shia Muslims. The Pakistani security agencies have repeatedly failed to protect the Shia Muslims, and have not taken any serious action against such anti-Shia groups. International human rights organisations say such lack of action points towards complicity by the state.

That Saudi Arabia is playing a subversive role with its financing of certain extremist groups is not an accusation that has been levelled only in Pakistan. Just this week, the European Commission added the country (alongside Pakistan) to its blacklist of nations that pose a threat because of lax controls on terror financing and money laundering.

Pakistans reliance on Saudi money to keep its failing economy afloat has kept Pakistani politician silent on the issues of problematic financing. Prime Minister Khan has previously admitted that the country cannot afford to turn down Saudi Arabias investment and aid offers because it is desperate for money. But what cost are we willing to pay for Saudi money?

While any economic investment is most welcome, Khan must tell Prince Mohammed that it cannot come at the price of its internal stability. It is time that Islamabad reconsiders its decades-old transactional relationship with Riyadh.

Pakistan cannot afford to be a battleground where Saudi Arabia and Iran settle their scores. It cannot be complicit in the rise of anti-Shia violence or destabilisation of neighbouring countries any longer.

What Pakistan needs even more than money is religious harmony and stability. If the Pakistani government does not put an end to Saudi Arabias harmful actions within its borders, peace in the country and in the region will be at great risk. And no aid package is worth that.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Trumps decision to pull out of Syria has sent Turkey, Russia and Iran scrambling to find a solution for the northeast.

On February 14, leaders of the Astana process  Russia, Iran and Turkey  held a trilateral summit in the Russian Black Sea resort, Sochi, for the first time since US President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw US troops from Syria last December.

Three issues dominated the talks: first, what should happen to the opposition-held Idlib province and the demilitarised zone; second, how the Astana process partners should respond to the US decision to withdraw from northeastern Syria without having their interests clash and their cooperation collapse; and third, how to move forward on the formation of a constitutional committee, which is considered a key step towards a political solution.

Taken together, these three issues constitute the biggest challenge to the Astana process since its inception two years ago.

The future of Idlib

For many years, Russia, Iran and Turkey were bitter rivals in the Syrian civil war, supporting different sides in the conflict. Russia and Iran backed the Syrian regime, providing military, financial and political support, while Turkey assisted the Syrian opposition and provided a safe haven for its political and military leadership.

The relationship between Turkey and Russia, in particular, reached its lowest point in November 2015 when Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet near its border with Syria. Relations improved, however, when both Iran and Russia condemned the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, expressing sympathy for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who felt increasingly ostracised by his Western allies.

Rapprochement with Russia enabled Turkey to launch its first large-scale military operation inside Syria called Euphrates Shield in August 2016, wherein Turkish troops and Turkey-backed Syrian opposition factions recovered more than 2,000 square kilometres from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) and the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) on the western bank of the Euphrates near the Turkish border. The fall of Aleppo, which came a couple of months later, allowed Russia and Turkey to identify common interests in Syria. This led to the launching of the Astana process in January 2017, which Iran joined later.

In 2017, Astana allowed for the establishment of the so-called de-escalation zones in four major areas of conflict between the Syrian regime and the opposition: in Idlib province, in Northern Homs province, in Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, and in Deraa and Quneitra provinces. Russia used the de-escalation mechanisms to freeze the conflict with the opposition so that it could commit more troops in the race with the US for the control of ISIL-held territories in Syrias vast and resource-rich eastern provinces.

In 2018, it resumed its offensive against the Syrian opposition, expelling them from three of the four de-escalation zones. In light of major differences with Turkey and Irans opposition, Russia spared Idlib.

A bilateral agreement between Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin was reached in September 2018, just 10 days after the failure of a three-way summit in Tehran. The agreement allowed for the establishment of a 15-20km deep demilitarised zone in Idlib. In return, Turkey pledged to disarm and remove from the area Hayet Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)  a rebel group that was previously affiliated with al-Qaeda, which Russia considers a terrorist organisation.

However in January 2019, fearing the collapse of the Russia-Turkey agreement on Idlib after the announcement of the US withdrawal, HTC acted preemptively, taking control of most of the Idlib province. Russia considered the move by HTC a violation of the 2018 agreement.

At Thursdays Sochi summit, Turkey tried to buy more time to solve the issue in Idlib and prevent an attack that could drive most of the three million refugees living in Idlib towards Turkey. Russia, which attaches great importance to Turkeys cooperation in Syria, especially at the current state of uncertainty about US policy, does not seem in a hurry to mount an attack in Idlib.

One can, therefore, say that the Russian-Turkish understanding of Idlib will hold until at least the picture in northeastern Syria becomes clear.

The US withdrawal

US President Donald Trumps decision to pull out his troops from Syria by April was a major source of tension at this weeks summit. Previously, Turkey, Russia and Iran stood united in their opposition to the policy former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had outlined to keep US troops after the defeat of ISIL in Syria to curb Iranian influence.

The sudden switch must have taken all three by surprise and major differences seem to be emerging within the troika.

Thus, Trumps decision should be seen as the most important development in the Syrian conflict since the Russian intervention in September 2015. It is likely to have just as much effect on the course of the conflict both on the ground and internationally.

One important point of disagreement between Turkey, Russia, and Iran has been who should inherit the territories held by US allies  the SDF. Turkeys paramount concern in Syria has always been the Kurdish question. Its ultimate objective is to eliminate the threat posed by the SDF, which is dominated by the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG), armed and trained by the US to fight ISIL. The Turkish government sees the YPG as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and considers it a terror group.

It has demanded from the US to disarm it before it withdraws and has proposed a buffer zone 30km into Syrian territories along its 450km border with Syria east of the Euphrates. Ankara has already established a safe zone on the western bank of the Euphrates through its August 2016 Euphrates Shield and early 2018 Olive Branch operations.

Russia and Iran have completely different visions of what should happen in the US-dominated area. They have suggested that the SDF-held territories should go back under the control of the Syrian regime. Russia seems willing to entertain the Turkish proposal only if it is implemented in coordination with the Syrian regime.

To that end, it has suggested that Turkey and Syria reactivate the Adana Accord of 1998, which allows the former to pursue PKK fighters inside Syrian territories but not to establish permanent military presence.

Moscows ultimate objective here is to push Ankara to recognise the Syrian regime as the legitimate government of Syria and deal with it as such. If it succeeds in achieving this goal, that could be a game changer in the Syrian conflict.

However, nothing of that sort can happen until US plans and post-withdrawal arrangements become clear. If the US decides to coordinate its withdrawal with Turkey that would put the Turks in a much better position vis-a-vis the Russians and the Iranians and at the same time push the YPG closer to the Syrian regime camp.

If the US decides not to coordinate with Turkey, Iran and Russia will take advantage and try to fill in the void, leaving their Astana partner in a much weaker position and with no option but to accept the offer of returning to the Adana Accord.

The constitutional committee

The Astana process has so far allowed Russia to achieve two key objectives in its Syria crusade: defeat the opposition militarily and shift the focus in the political process from political transition to an amendment of the constitution.

In January 2018 and with the help of Turkey, Russia hosted the Syrian Congress of National Dialogue in Sochi. The event brought together representatives from the Syrian regime and parts of the Turkey-based opposition.

Its main objective was to set the stage for the launching of the constitutional committee. Former UN Special Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura also attended the meeting where an agreement was charted between him and the Russians to form a committee to rewrite the Syrian constitution and end the conflict.

The committee is supposed to have 150 members: 50 proposed by the Syrian regime, 50 by the opposition and 50 by the United Nations, to include representatives of civil society and technical experts.

Since then, this last third has become a key point of contention between the Astana partners, as each has tried to influence the selection of the names in this list, which could tip the balance in favour of the regime or the opposition. After almost a year of arms twisting, some progress seems to have been made but no final agreement has been reached so far.

It is also not clear what the US response would be to the formation of the constitutional committee. Its official position has always been to back the UN-led Geneva peace negotiations and reject any attempt by Russia to dictate the terms of the political solution in Syria. However, with Trump ordering the withdrawal of US troops, it is unclear whether his lack of interest in Syria extends to the future of the political process as well.

One thing, however, is for sure: the US president dislikes the Astana trio. He would want to see it disbanded and this might as well happen. His decision to withdraw has caused major fractures to appear in this already unstable alliance.

In the end, whatever Russia, Iran and Turkey try to do in Syria, it will always be contingent on the US finally making a decision on whether and how to exit this eight-year-long deadly conundrum.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
Twin Selma brothers with extensive criminal histories are behind bars in Dallas County, a familiar story that dates to their teens.

Their names are Tyrron and Jarron Stallworth. Tyrron has also spelled his name Tyrone and Tyron, but he is better known by his nickname Buck. His brother Jarron goes by the nickname Pop. They are now 34 and both have been spent time in prison.

They are so well-known to lawmen that their local newspaper, the Selma-Times Journal, wrote these words about the siblings in 2002  17 years ago.

How many more arrests will it take, and how many more citizens lives will be jeopardized? These are the questions members of the Selma Police Department are asking themselves, said Capt. Joe Harrell, chief of detectives. In a story that seems to repeat itself, police once again arrested Tyrron and Jarron Stallworth, 18-year old twin brothers, who have been charged with several shooting incidents as well as assaults in the local area. Some of the assaults were allegedly directed at police officers.

On Feb. 5, Selma Police Departments Special Operations Unit was patrolling the George Washington Carver Public Housing Complex. The Special Operations Unit and the Criminal Investigative Division has been rotating nights or often all working together on the same nights focused on trying to locate several of Selmas most wanted and dangerous individuals, Selma Police Chief Spencer Collier said.

At about 10 p.m. a sergeant spotted Jarron Stallworth in the GWC complex. Stallworth had been wanted for months for committing the vicious assault against his girlfriend, Collier said. Investigators had obtained the assault and burglary warrants against him, and knew that he was already out on bond on the felony shooting charge. Of course, the chief said, they officers were already familiar with them.

The Special Operations Unit makes it their priority to be able to identify the most violent and wanted suspects in Selma. It then becomes their mission to find them, Collier said. Also, our CID Investigators have dealt with Jarron and Tyrron Stallworth on so many crimes, that even our nvestigators call the brothers by their nicknames.

As the sergeant waited for other units to move in place, Jarron Stallworth spotted the plainclothes officer. The suspect also remembered the sergeant from his many arrests.

Jarron Stallworth turned and immediately fled on foot. The sergeant began to chase Stallworth through GWC towards Martin Luther King Boulevard. The suspect then ran right toward a patrol officer that was pre-positioned.

Stallworth disobeyed every command given by the officer to surrender, Collier said. After his continuous failure to surrender, the officer Tased Stallworth, leading him to immediately comply.

While officers were handcuffing Jarron Stallworth, another man approached the officers with a gun and fired on them, Collier said. A third officer drew his gun and the man turned and fled on foot.

Officers pursued him in into a nearby apartment. The susupect fled out back door as officers entered the apartment.

Once inside the apartment, investigators immediately recognized Tyrron Stallworth. He tried to flee but was captured before he could leave the apartment. Investigators, the chief said, knew that Tyrron Stallworth had the outstanding assault warrant.

Both suspects were processed at Selma City Jail. Selma Investigators were already aware that Tyrron Stallworth, who was only released from prison in 2018, was on federal probation for weapons charges. The brothers were jailed in separate lockups that night .

Both of the Stallworths have a serious criminal history, including multiple acts of violence. I commend our Special Operations Unit, Criminal Investigators Division and our Patrol Division, he said. This type of internal collaboration creates the bond of brotherhood and helps morale. Additionally, many citizens and civic leaders reached out to thank SPD for getting these violent predators off the street.

Jarron Stallworth on Thursday was given a $1 million bond by Dallas County Circuit Judge Collins Pettaway for first-degree assault and second-degree burglary charges. He is on a video on social media viciously assaulting his mistress, Jackson said.

Already awaiting trial on a charge of firing a gun in an occupied vehicle, Jarron Stallworth was arrested Feb. 11 for the assault and burglary charges stemming from a June 2018 incident. Police responded that day to find the victim in her bed with a severe cut on her face. She told officers that he walked into her home and started beating her in the face while another man was standing back recording the entire attack. Police noted that the victim had a swollen, blackened eye with a severe cut. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital.

Court records show he has been arrested on 18 charges  mostly for violent crimes  dating to 2001. Those charges include assault, attempted murder, intimidating a witness and discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle. He pleaded guilty in 2013 to discharging a gun into an occupied building and was sentenced to 14 years in prison with just over a year to serve.

He has a preliminary hearing on the assault and burglary charges set for March 5.

Judge Pettaway on Friday revoked bond for Tyrron Stallworth for a pending charge of shooting into an occupied vehicle based on a new assault charge involving a female victim. That incident happened in October 2018. According to police, the victim and her sister were at the George Washington Carver public housing community watching a fight when Tyrron Stallworth came up behind her, grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the ground.

He is now being held without bond. Court records show Tyrron has been arrested on nearly a dozen charges since he became an adult, including assault, robbery, escape, drug distribution and discharging a gun into an occupied vehicle. He was arrested on a murder charge in 2007 and, in 2013, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree assault. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison.

Theyve been terrorizing the community, Jackson said Friday, noting that a member of the public hugged him when they learned of the latest arrests. Everybody is celebrating.
A man is dead, and a woman is in custody following a Friday-afternoon shooting in Bessemer.

Bessemer police identified the slain man as Carterrius Lowe. A capital murder warrant has been issued against Shaniqua Moore.

The shooting happened at 1:30 p.m. in the 200 block of 24th Street South. Bessemer police Lt. Christian Clemons said the man and the woman were involved in a dispute and the woman then shot the man.

Lowe was taken to UAB Hospitals Trauma Center in Birmingham where he was pronounced dead a short time later. Moore was taken into custody. A handgun was recovered, and a vehicle was towed from the scene.

Moore is facing a capital murder charge because the deadly shot was fired from a vehicle. Additional information has not been released.

The shooting was the second of the day in Bessemer. Earlier  about 7:15 a.m. - police and fire medics were dispatched to a house in the 100 block of 16th Street North. Once on the scene, they found an adult black male bleeding on the front porch of home.

Clemons said he had been shot multiple times in the torso. The victim was taken to UAB Hospitals Trauma Center in Birmingham with serious injuries. That victim remains in the Intensive Care Unit where he is sedated.

This afternoons homicide is Bessemers second for the year.
By Inder Bisht, TwoCircles.net

More than 700 Kashmiri students studying in various educational institutions in Dehradun are facing forceful eviction from the city following a wave of protest and physical intimidation by groups targeted them after a social media message of a Kashmiri student mocking the Pulwama attack went viral.

The student, Kaishar Rashid who studies in Dehraduns Subharti University has been suspended, and is believed to be on the run.

Support TwoCircles



Speaking to TwoCircles.net, Nasir Khuehami, spokesperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Organisation (JKSO), Uttarakhand, said: Ever since the message went viral on social media, angry groups of people visited college campuses and residential areas where Kashmiri students live for confrontation.

Roshipura, Bahuwala, Sudhowala, Premnagar, and Shelaqi areas of the district are the worst affected, he added.

Bhupendra Singh, registrar, BFIT Group of Institutions, said that around the city, groups of people are visiting educational institutions and threatening the management to rusticate Kashmiri students.

This is not our job to rusticate any student on such grounds. Government will decide it. All over the city groups of people are visiting campuses and asking the management to remove Kashmiri students, said Singh of BFIT group, who refused to reveal the identity of the groups behind the warning.

Around 500 to 600 Kashmiri students study in various institutes of the group in Dehradun.

Khuehami said that students of Alpine college, CIMS, BFIT, Dolphin Institute and Subharti University in Dehradun district are facing the maximum threat.

I received hundreds of calls of scared students telling me about how their landlords are asking them to leave the house. Some of them said that locals have threatened them with dire consequences if they dont leave, said Khuehami.

In one of the incidents of physical assault, twelve Kashmir students were allegedly beaten up by a group of protesters after the victims happened to have been walking close to the mob.

The 12 students were returning to their room after Friday prayers when they got caught up by a group of protesters in a busy street, said Khuehami.

According to Khuehami, the angry mob thrashed the twelve for good twenty minutes resulting in some of them receiving minor injuries.

Thank god no one bled or received major injuries. However, they all are now in deep trauma, he narrated.

More than 1,000 students are believed to have been studying in Dehradun district presently.

The state attracts Kashmir students in large number because of the agreeable climate, a chain of decent educational institutions, and warm and friendly locals.

However the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama on February 14 where 49 CRPF personnel lost their lives seems to have changed the equation between the Kashmiris and the locals.

Another Kashmiri student Ahmed Dar (name changed on request) and his six roommates were on the way to Delhi international airport to fly back to Kashmir when they spoke to the reporter.

A third-year-student of Bsc Medical Laboratory Technology, Dar, said that they had to hide themselves in their room the entire day on Friday after a group of people banged their door and windows in order to bring them out.

Yesterday, the entire day, we locked ourselves up in our room. At night around 10.30 pm, we received a call from our landlord to leave the house, Dar said.

His voice was stern. He ordered us to leave the house immediately, he recalled.

Dar and his fellow Kashmiris sneaked out of the house located in Sudhowala leaving behind their belongings in the dead of night to reach the highway.

We were scared to go through the main city. So we took a shortcut which goes through a forest and reached the highway in half-and-hour of walking, recalled Dar.

From there they further walked two kilometer along the highway and reached a motel.

We called up our local MLA Engineer Abdul Rashid and Junaid Mattoo, the mayor of Srinagar.

After that I received a call from DIG Baramulla who reassured us. He then contacted SP Dehradun who sent a police team for our rescue, said a harried Dar.

The group spent the night at a hotel near Dehradun ISBT, and in the morning boarded a bus for Delhi.

All my documents and belongings are in the room, but right now I feel that I should go back home, said Dar, a native of Handwara, north Kashmir.

JKSO, meanwhile, have arranged a temporary facility for thirty students in Chandigarh where the affected students of Dehradun are being shifted.

Until the situation normalizes here the students will live in a rented accomodations in Chandigarh, said Khuehami.

Khuehami meanwhile said that JKSO is co-coordinating with the state authorities, and have started a helpline where students can report any such incident within or outside the campus.
A 48-year-old Blount County man was found guilty Friday in the 2015 blunt force trauma and strangulation death of his girlfriend four years ago.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before finding Donnie Wayne Brown guilty of burglary and capital murder in the death of 33-year-old Crystal Huie. The verdict followed a seven-day trial which included four days of testimony.

Huie was found dead in her home on Dunn Hill Road just off Highway 79 in northern Blount County. Family members discovered her body that Friday and investigators said she had been killed earlier that morning. Authorities at the time said Brown stole Huie's cash, cell phone and car keys. The two had been dating for three years at the time of her death.

Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey said Dr. Steven F. Dunton testified that an autopsy performed by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences indicated Huie died as the result of strangulation and multiple blunt force trauma. The state also presented evidence that the items were taken from Huies home during an extensive struggle that resulted in her death.

Justice is not always immediate. But, it is certain, Casey said. I appreciate each juror who responded to their summons. I appreciate each juror who was selected to serve. I am grateful for their patience and consideration in the trial process. I am especially thankful that Crystal Huie and her family have finally received justice.

Casey and Assistant District Attorney Scott Gilliland. Brown prosecuted the case. Brown was represented by attorneys Stan Glasscox and Brian White. This case was investigated by Sergeant Jeff Kirkland with the Blount County Sheriffs Department.

Brown is scheduled to be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole on March 5. Casey said the state withdrew its notice of intent to seek the death penalty following the verdict at the request of Huies family.
President Donald Trump says he will nominate Jeffrey Byard, a former Alabama Emergency Management Agency official, to head the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Jeffrey Byard held several positions in the AEMA before he joined FEMA in 2017 during response to Hurricanes Harvey in Texas and Irma in Florida. He most recently served as the Executive Operations Officer for the AEMA. He currently serves as the associate administrator for the Office of Response and Recovery for FEMA.

During his time at AEMA, he led emergency management operations for AEMA, serving as either the Alabama State Coordinating Officer or Deputy. These operations included the countrys first large-scale state evacuation during Hurricane Gustav, response and recovery operations for the Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill and 2011 Super Outbreak, which was the largest, costliest and deadliest tornado outbreaks ever recorded.

If confirmed by the Senate, Byard would succeed Brock Long, who resigned this week after a two-year tenure where he managed response for the historic wildfires and major hurricanes.
An Alabama man was one of five people killed by a recently fired co-worker in an Aurora, Ill. warehouse shooting Friday.

Aurora police say Gary Martin, 45, killed five Henry Pratt Company employees with a handgun and then shot five police officers as they swarmed the building. The shooting ended after a 90-minute standoff with police killing the shooter.

Posted by Aurora Illinois Police Department on Saturday, February 16, 2019

Josh Pinkard, of Holly Pond in Cullman, worked as the companys plant manager. He was one of five employees killed during the rampage the Cullman Tribune reported. Pinkard was described by friends and family on Facebook as a loving son, husband, brother and father of three.
A suspect in a shooting that left an Auburn police officer shot multiple times Friday night died after he barricaded himself inside an apartment and the apartment caught fire, Auburn police said.

About 5:30 p.m., police responded to a report of a robbery in progress at a drug store in the 400 block of Dean Road. An officer conducted a traffic stop on a suspect vehicle. The person inside the vehicle, identified as 38-year-old Christopher James Wallace, fired shots at the approaching officer, striking him multiple times.

Wallace fled the area in a silver Jeep Liberty with Alabama tag 6AB5267. An unidentified woman was also inside the vehicle, police said. He was reportedly wearing a camouflage hoodie.

Police located Wallace and the woman inside a relatives apartment in the 1000 block of Stonegate Drive. When authorities tried to enter the apartment, the suspect fired shots at officers, who then returned gunfire. Two uninvolved occupants left the apartment and were detained by police. They were not injured, police said.

The suspects remained inside after officers ordered them to leave. Tear gas and distraction devices were thrown into the apartment in hopes of making them leave, but they remained inside.

Shortly after, a fire erupted inside the apartment. Officers continued to secure the area; however, the suspects never emerged from the apartment, which became fully engulfed in fire. The suspects are believed to have perished in the fire, police said.

The officer who was shot is in stable condition at East Alabama Medical Center, police said.

The investigation is ongoing by the Auburn Police Division, the Opelika Police Department, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, the Lee County District Attorneys Office, and the US Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Other assisting agencies are the Lee County Sheriffs Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.
Vegas Contorno, of Autauga, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2017 for fatally stabbing her boyfriend, was denied by the Alabama Supreme Court to review her conviction.

Contornos attorneys have been fighting through appeals court since 2017.

Contorno stabbed her boyfriend Remington Foradori in the heart with a kitchen knife in 2015. Contorno said she pulled a knife in self defense during a domestic violence dispute. Contorno was sentenced to 20 years, the maximum sentence, for manslaughter.

Contorno will be eligible for parole in 2023.
The Alabama Supreme Court has granted the State of Alabamas motion to stay last months Jefferson County Circuit Court judgment that declared the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017 unconstitutional, Attorney General Steve Marshall announced Friday.

Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Judge Michael Graffeo issued the order on Jan. 14 just before midnight. The order came over a year after the state sued the city for violating the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act-- a law to prohibit local governments from moving historical monuments on public property that have been in place for 40 years or more. The act also prohibits renaming buildings and streets with historical names that have been in place at least 40 years.

I am pleased that the Alabama Supreme Court has granted the States motion to stay the Circuit Courts ruling, Marshall said in a statement Friday night. We think that U.S. Supreme Court precedent clearly demonstrates that the Circuit Court erred in striking down the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act. Thus, we asked the Alabama Supreme Court to preserve the status quo regarding the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park until the Court rules on our appeal.

The Supreme Courts stay allows the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act to remain in effect until the Supreme Court resolves this appeal over the Acts constitutionality. We continue to hold that the Circuit Court erred when it ruled that the U.S. Constitution grants cities free speech rights that they can enforce against the State. For more than a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has held just the opposite, recognizing that a political subdivision, created by the state for the better ordering of government, has no privileges or immunities under the federal constitution which it may invoke in opposition to the will of its creator. We look forward to presenting these arguments to the Alabama Supreme Court.

The stay was filed at 4:23 p.m. Friday.

Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017 into law on May 24, 2017. The law prohibits local governments from moving historical monuments on public property that have been in place for 40 years of more. It also prohibits renaming buildings and streets with historical names that have been in place at least 40 years.

In August 2017, months after the law was enacted, then-Birmingham mayor William Bell ordered the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park covered with plastic, and later plywood, while lawyers could consider legal options. While some called for the statue to be torn down, Bell said he wouldn't break the law to remove the monument.

The Alabama Attorney Generals Office quickly filed a lawsuit against the city for violating state law, but Birminghams city attorneys claimed the Memorial Preservation Act is vague and ambiguous. Attorneys for both sides argued at a hearing in April 2018 on part of the law that says protected monuments cannot be altered or otherwise disturbed.

Graffeo said the act violates the Fourteenth Amendment because the state was seeking at least $25,000 in fines from the city and also seeks to control what the city can build on Linn Park, but the act offers no due process. The act allows cities to apply for a waiver on certain structures, but Birmingham could not apply for that waiver because the Linn Park monument is over 40 years old. That part of the law is overbroad and unreasonable, the judge said.

Read the order below:
Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey told state school board members during the Feb. 14 meeting that education officials are doing a deeper dive into their graduation rates.

Specifically, the state is following up on federal questions and looking into how graduation rates for Alabama students with disabilities jumped from 54 percent in 2016 to 74 percent in 2017.

Weve certainly found some explanations, Mackey said, for the spike from one year to the next. We have not found any cases of negligence or problematic stuff that happened in 2017.

Mackey told board members he sees the 2017 graduation rate as a return to normal, citing graduation rates of 67 percent and 72 percent for the 2014 and 2015 graduating classes, respectively.

However, in 2016, federal education officials said those 2014 and 2015 graduation rates that Mackey referred to were inaccurate because state officials counted students as graduates even though they took classes that were not fully aligned with Alabamas standards.

After the meeting, when asked why he referred to those rates as normal, Mackey said he did not believe that federal officials had declared all of those years graduation rates inaccurate.

However, in Alabamas corrective action plan submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in May 2017, state officials agreed that graduation rates for 2010-11 through 2013-14 were not accurate.

Prior to Mackeys report to the board at the Feb. 14 meeting, state department officials, in a written response to AL.com on Feb. 7, initially stood by the 2016-17 graduation rate, stating that students with disabilities were given additional supports, allowing them to graduate in greater numbers than in 2015-16.

That response generated more questions, which AL.com submitted to the state department on Feb. 8. Those questions have not yet been answered.

Last year, federal education officials asked Alabama education officials to explain both the percentage increase and how the sheer number of students with disabilities grew, and state officials have not provided evidence of responding to those questions.

Mackey told the board he plans to have a full report on the investigation by the March 14 board meeting.
Anti-abortion advocates in Alabama are changing their approach from trying to restrict abortion through regulatory bills to a push for an outright ban.

Birmingham attorney Eric Johnston, president of the Alabama Pro-Life Coalition, said the coalition supports legislation that could lead to a challenge of the Roe v. Wade decision in the U.S. Supreme Court. Johnston said the appointments of Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh raise the potential that the court could reverse the 1973 abortion rights decision.

Alabama lawmakers have passed about a half-dozen bills to restrict abortion since Republicans took control of the Legislature in 2011. Some are in effect. Federal courts blocked others. But Johnston said the era of fighting abortion through those incremental regulatory steps is fading.

The Legislature should concentrate on prohibiting abortion, not regulating it, Johnston said in an email.

Johnston said the Pro-Life Coalition is working with others on specific language in a bill. He expects a bill that would make abortion a crime.

The operative part of the bill would be to make abortion a felony, Johnston said. In other words, it would be murder.

The legislative session starts March 5.

The Alabama Pro-Life Coalition, formed in 1990, includes the Eagle Forum, the Alabama Policy Institute, the Alabama Citizens Action Program, Alabama Citizens for Life and others, Johnston said.

Randall Marshall, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, said an Alabama abortion ban would likely be futile and costly to the state. Marshall said hes not surprised at the idea given the changes on the court.

But I would say for the Legislature It would be a pretty useless move to rush to pass this kind of bill because whats going to happen is if they passed a bill like that, it would be immediately enjoined by a federal court, Marshall said. And it would be at least a couple of years, a year or two years, before it would get to the Supreme Court. And there are already cases pending before the Supreme Court, including one from Alabama, that deal with the continuing validity of the whole line of cases that preserve access to abortion care.

The Alabama case concerns a ban on a second trimester procedure called dilation and evacuation, or dismemberment abortion. Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the Supreme Court to review the decision by lower courts to block the 2016 Alabama law.

The ACLU supports abortion rights and has represented plaintiffs in challenges to Alabama abortion laws. Marshall said the state had to pay the ACLU $1.7 million in legal fees after plaintiffs prevailed in a case challenging an Alabama law that required abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges.

Every time the Legislature passes an unconstitutional law and we challenge it and win, theyre on the hook for our attorneys fees, Marshall said.

Johnston acknowledges that the federal district court and appeals court would have no option but to block a state abortion ban because Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land. But that would position the state for a potential landmark challenge, he said.

Then ask the Supreme Court, Now, you look at it, youre the only one who can make a difference here,  Johnston said.

Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager for the Guttmacher Institute, said state legislatures are proposing more abortion legislation since Kavanaugh replaced Justice Anthony Kennedy on the court. Kennedy upheld the basis of Roe v. Wade in a key decision in 1992, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

What were seeing in more conservative states, generally the South, the Plains, the Midwest, are bills that ban all abortion, ban abortion at 16 weeks, ban abortion at 15 weeks, Nash said. So, sort of the more extreme abortion bans, were seeing those be introduced. And the language around them is about starting that challenge to Roe v. Wade, like being the state that overturns Roe v. Wade is a real interest to those legislators.

The Guttmacher Institute analyzes abortion policies and promotes access to abortion services by making an evidence-based case against restrictions that limit its access, the institute states on its website.

In contrast to Alabama and other conservative-leaning states, Nash said some states are moving to protect abortion rights, also in anticipation of the Supreme Court overturning or weakening the Roe decision. If that happens, decisions on abortion rights could move to the state level.

A new law in New York says that women have a right an abortion up to 24 weeks after the start of pregnancy, or later if there is absence of fetal viability, or the abortion is necessary to protect the patients life or health.

Were seeing progressive legislators looking to safeguard abortion rights in their states, and conservative legislators looking to overturn abortion rights nationwide, all because of the changes on the Supreme Court, Nash said. All because the Supreme Court is now more conservative.

Last year, Alabama voters approved an amendment to the state constitution that said the state recognizes the rights of the unborn, including the right to life, and that nothing in the state constitution provides the right to an abortion.

Johnston said the amendment is a statement of public policy but has no legal force as long as Roe v. Wade supersedes it.

And if Roe v. Wade is overturned, Alabama would still need a statutory law to ban abortion because the amendment has no operative provisions.

It doesnt require anybody to do or not do anything, Johnston said.

A bill to ban abortions would likely involve changes to Alabamas homicide law, Johnston said. That law includes an exception for abortion because it also defines an unborn child at any stage of development as a person. An abortion ban would remove that exception from the homicide law and make abortion a specific crime, Johnston said.

Johnston said one reason to seek an outright ban is that some incremental approaches, like bills to ban abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected, have been tried and failed to survive court challenges. Alabama lawmakers have proposed but never passed a fetal heartbeat bill, which Johnston said would essentially ban abortions after about 10 weeks. The Supreme Court blocked North Dakotas fetal heartbeat bill in 2016.

Heartbeat bills are a thing of the past, Johnston said.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court granted a stay to block a Louisiana law to require abortion doctors to have hospital admitting privileges. The court could still consider a full review of that law.

Abortion rights protesters Doug Roth and Josie Poland hold their signs on the corner of Madison Street and Lowe Avenue during a regular abortion protest outside the Alabama Women's Center For Reproductive Alternatives on Madison Street Wednesday Jan. 23, 2012 in Huntsville, Ala. (Eric Schultz / AL.com)HVT

The Alabama Legislature has added new abortion regulations and restrictions over the years with mixed results in court.

In 2002, the Legislature passed the Womans Right to Know Act, which required women to receive certain information at least 24 hours before an abortion, including specifics on fetal development, abortion alternatives, adoption agencies and responsibilities of the father. It required the doctor to do an ultrasound and for the woman to sign a form saying whether or not she chose to look at the ultrasound. The law remains in effect. A bill in 2014 extended the waiting period to 48 hours.

Since Republicans captured control of the Legislature in 2010, lawmakers have passed abortion restrictions on a fairly regular basis. Some have survived court challenges and some have not.

In 2011, the Legislature passed a bill to prohibit abortions at 20 weeks or later. That law remains in effect.

In 2013, the Legislature approved the Womens Health and Safety Act, which required abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at hospitals in the same city where they perform abortions. Federal courts blocked that provision.

Another part of the Womans Health and Safety Act required abortion clinics to comply with the building requirements of surgical centers, such as wider hallways and doorways. That requirement is in effect.

In 2016, the Legislature passed a bill to ban abortion clinics near public schools. A federal court blocked it.

Also in 2016, lawmakers passed a law restricting dismemberment abortions, which are known by the medical term dilation and evacuation. The federal district court blocked the law and the appeals court upheld that decision. Attorney General Steve Marshall has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. Twenty-one states are supporting Alabamas petition to the court.

The procedure is used in about 7 percent of abortions in Alabama and in almost all abortions after 15 weeks.

A decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade would hinge on the courts recognition of the unborn child as a person, Johnston said.

This whole issue is not about womens rights but about the personhood of the unborn child, Johnston said. Democrats will cast the issue as of womens rights. However, the whole construct of abortion is based only on a perverted and exaggerated idea of sexual privacy. That so-called right cannot be taken so far as to deprive a person of his or her life, regardless of his or her age.

Marshall said the question, at least in part, is access to medical care.

Partly its about, do we want the government dictating to anybody what medical care they will or will not receive, Marshall said. We talk about keeping government out of the private lives of individuals in so many things in this country. And yet, thats what theyre arguing for, is that the government gets to decide for any individual what is best for her. I think that is antithetical to our belief system in the United States about the role of government.

As for the assertion that the court should recognize the unborn child as a person, Marshall said, That is an argument is never going to go away. I dont think that theres really ever going to be an agreement. Certainly, from a scientific, factual point of view, at conception, it is not capable of life on its own. And so, thats why the framework is up until the point of viability, there is a greater right in a woman to decide what to do and a lesser interest in the state.
Oman Aviation Group said it has signed an agreement with the World Ocean Council to share the know-how, expertise and opportunities affecting corporate ocean economic platforms.

The MoU was signed during the closing ceremony of the Ocean Economy and Future Technology Conference, a three-day conference that brought together international speakers, delegates and panelists at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre.

As the countrys aviation sector developer, Oman Aviation Group enables growth and development across the sultanate by linking various economic sectors.

With fisheries, sea-to-air cargo, and cruise tourism playing a key role in advancing Omans economy, the group recognizes the importance for responsible ocean management and stewardship.

The World Ocean Council, for its part, brings a depth of ocean industry expertise along with a commitment to promote and ensure sustainable development for a healthy and productive global ocean.

CEO Mustafa Al Hinai said: "This MoU sets a framework for collaboration and sharing of innovative ideas, expertise and know-how. Our aim is to join efforts in balancing sustainable ocean practices with economic objectives."

Paul Holthus, the founding president and CEO of World Ocean Council, said: "We are honoured and excited to work with Oman Aviation Group, other leadership companies and investors, and the sultanate to advance the sustainable ocean economic development of this amazing country."

It is the only international, cross-sectoral alliance for private sector leadership and collaboration in ocean sustainability, stewardship and science.

Companies from a range of industries worldwide are distinguishing themselves as leaders in Corporate Ocean Responsibility, including: shipping, oil and gas, tourism, fisheries, aquaculture, mining, renewable energy, ocean technology and investment, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Would you like to receive breaking news notifications from The Post and Courier?

Sign up to receive news and updates from this site directly to your desktop.

Breaking News Columbia Breaking News Greenville Breaking News Myrtle Beach Breaking News Aiken Breaking News

Click on the bell icon to manage your notifications at any time.

Success! Please click the 'Allow' button in the 'Show Notifcations' alert in your browser if one is available. Thank you for signing up!

Please enable notifications in your browser and reload the page.
A second Multicultural Night has been set for February 21, 2019, 6 to 7 pm, at the Petrova Elementary School in Saranac Lake. Countries that will be represented include China, Japan, Bosnia, Wales, Gambia, Italy, Australia, Philippines, Ethiopia and more.

Last fall, two colleagues at Petrova, Temnit Muldowney and Jesse Jakobe, met to talk about ways of celebrating the diversity within their elementary school. From this dialogue was born the first Multicultural Night, which featured over forty families who participated and more than 200 attendees. Families brought posters, artifacts, food and clothes. Students prepared three panel posters featuring information and photographs about their countries.

The second Multicultural Night has had an even larger reception from the school community. Sixty families have signed up to present and 330 people have RSVPd to attend. This year live music, an international themed photo booth are planned. For children there will be free books celebrating diversity, including cultural, religious and gender diversity.

Paul Smiths College and the Cooking Club of Petrova are providing international cuisine, including Bangers and Mash (Ireland) and Benachin (a one pot rice pilaf dish from Gambia). As students visit each country, they can collect stickers for their passports.

Photo provided.
Attraction is the beginning of every love story. Sony SABs latest offering Baavle Utaavle is one such story of two young hearts Guddu and Funty, whose quest to satiate their physical desires is wrapped by the need to get married. With a promise to make its audiences laugh, Sony SAB launches Baavle Utaavle - #Gufu Ki Visfotak Love Isstory, premiering on 18th February, every Monday to Friday at 10:00 p.m. on Sony SAB.

Set against the rustic backdrop of a Madhya Pradesh landscape Baavle Utaavle captures the quirks of society in small town in India where there is subtle acknowledgement that marriage fulfils the desire for physical intimacy and love follows later. In the show, the central characters are that of Guddu and Funty, two young adults played by Paras Arora and Shivani Badoni, who are obsessed with the idea of a romantic relationship and meeting their soulmates. While Guddu desperately wants to be with a girl, he is aware of his responsibilities towards his family and believes in being a one-woman-man. On the other hand, Funty believes that a girls life begins only after she gets married and therefore has been praying for the arrival of her knight in shining armor.

Guddu and Funtys desires start seeing the light of day when Guddus older brother, Brajesh Dhimole (Vaibhav Singh) gets married to Funtys cousin, Sonarika (Mohita Srivastava). Their curiosity and a slight blunder takes them under the suhaag-raat bed of the newlywed couple. Though caught in an embarrassing situation, their life too changes as they fall in love with each other at first sight and decide to set off on a journey. However, little did they know that falling in love is just the beginning! Guddu and Funty who are ignorant from the intricacies of marriage will encounter many speed breakers coming their way. Will they survive these hurdles on their way to lifelong companionship and become the ideal husband and wife for each other?

Produced by Rajan Shahi production house Directors Kut, Baavle Utaavle gives a harmless yet humorous twist to topics like physical intimacy and coming of age that are often not acknowledged in Indian society. With a unique concept and strong storyline, this show is poised to catapult the prime-time television viewing experience for Sony SAB viewers.

Comments:

Neeraj Vyas, Business Head, Sony SAB, PAL

At Sony SAB we are committed to fun and happiness and this is evident in our programming strategy. As part of our promise to bring fresh and unique content, we are set to launch Baavle Utaavle  a show that revolves around the coming of age of youngsters. It is the reflection of the lifestyle and mindset of young adults living in small towns; narrated through the journey of our lead couple.

Rajan Shahi, Producer, Directors Kut

Baavle Utaavle deals with topics which is that young adults in the country can relate to. It highlights some important aspects in their lives like curiosity towards marriage, desperation to meet their soulmate and the need for companionship. All of these aspects are beautifully communicated through the life of our two leads - Guddu and Funty, without being preachy.

Witness Baavle Utaavle- #GuFu Ki Visfotak Love isstory, 18th February onwards, Monday to Friday at 10:00 p.m. only on Sony SAB
BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - North State Congressman Doug LaMalfa issued a statement saying that he support's President Trump's decision to declare a national emergency in order to secure the southern border.

LaMalfa released the following statement:

"I support the Presidents decision today to use the powers of the Executive to secure our southern border.

I would have preferred to accomplish this legislatively, but the intractability of Democrat leadership to adequately address this issue has made that impossible.

This decision is not without precedent  there have been nearly 60 national emergencies declared by U.S. Presidents since 1976.

Similarly, previous governors of New Mexico and Arizona have also declared states of emergency along the border in the past.

Ive been working with the White House to ensure funding for disaster recovery and critical civil works projects, such as levees and water storage, are not affected by a shift in funding in this process.

The situation at the southern border is a humanitarian and national security crisis, and its a national emergency.

The stubborn opposition to a regulated border is incomprehensible and endangers American citizens.
SACRAMENTO, Calif./WASHINGTON, D.C. - California Governor Gavin Newsom is already preparing a lawsuit challenging President Trump's emergency declaration.

President Trump signed a bill funding the government and also declared a national emergency to get the money needed to build a wall along the southern border.

In a press conference Friday with California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Newsom expressed his disappointment. Governor Gavin Newsom is already preparing a lawsuit challenging President Trump's emergency declaration.

Newsome said the wall would do nothing to impact the amount of drugs passing through.

"If you think it's an image of an individual with 400 pounds of cocaine in their backpack, then you're delusional," he said. "The drugs are coming through the ports of entry through traditional means -- vehicles, tractor trailers, coming over through drones, airplanes, coming all up and down the coast of California in boats," he explained.

Other states and advocacy groups may also sue. Even the President admits the process will not be easy.

President Trump said Friday he is unhappy with the bipartisan deal to fund the government, saying that is why he decided to look for they money elsewhere. He said, "We want to stop drugs from coming into our country."

Congress authorized 1.375 billion dollars to build a barrier along 55 miles of the southern border. The President signed that deal, but said more funding is needed, "...because we have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people and it's unacceptable."

By a series of actions, including declaring a national emergency the President is able to redirect more than six billion dollars from federal funds, including the Defense and Treasury departments. This would provide President Trump wih more than eight billion dollars for a wall.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Florida) said, "It is repulsive that a chicken hawk like President Trump would steal money from our troops, damage our military readiness, and undermine our national security all in the name of going around Congress because he didn't get his way."

In a joint statement Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called the move "a power grab by a disappointed president who has gone outside the bounds of the law."

As Democrats denounce the declaration and vow a fight, the President predicts a battle in the courts which experts say could take years to resolve.

President Trump said, "Sadly we'll be sued, and sadly it'll go through a process, and happily we'll win. I think."

Newsom said Friday the emergency declaration will not affect efforts to cleanup areas impacted by the Camp Fire. but says that there are still victims waiting for support and relief.

CLICK THIS LINK to find out what North State Congressmember Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) had to say about President Trump's emergency declaration.
REDDING, Calif. - Firefighters battled a house fire Friday morning in Redding.

Authorities said the fire broke out around 7 a.m.

The homeowners lost power after the snowstorm and used a generator for heat.

Fire investigator, Mike Ham, explained the possible cause.

"He turned on his generator in order to provide power to an electric water heater and a couple other devices," Ham said.

The homeowners saw flames coming out of a room while taking a shower before they all made it out safely.

Firefighters are not sure that the generator caused the fire.
BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - The Butte County Sheriff's Office has lifted evacuation warnings for the community of Nord and Richvale due to flooding.

Both evacuation warnings were lifted effective as of 3 p.m. on Feb. 15.

The sheriff's office first issued the evacuation warning for Richvale on Feb. 13 around 4:30 p.m. due to flooding. The evacuation warning included the area between the Sacramento River and Highway 99 from Nelson Shippee Road to Highway 62.

The sheriff's office first issued the evacuation warning for the community of Nord on Feb. 15 around 9:20 a.m. due to potential flooding of Rock Creek.

Stay with Action News Now for the latest updates as they become available.
Twitter Movie

J.J. Abrams shares a new set picture showing Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac sharing an embrace on the last day of filming on the final installment in the main 'Star Wars' film franchise.

Feb 16, 2019

AceShowbiz - It's officially a wrap on "Star Wars: Episode IX". Friday, February 15 was the last day of shooting on the ninth and final installment in the Skywalker saga, which the cast and director J.J. Abrams marked with heartfelt messages on social media.

Abrams took to Twitter to share a photo of the "Star Wars" main trio, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega and Oscar Isaac, hugging it out on the desert set. Isaac looked particularly emotional as they bid farewell to each other.

The director wrote in the caption, "It feels impossible, but today wrapped photography on Episode IX. There is no adequate way to thank this truly magical crew and cast. I'm forever indebted to you all."

It feels impossible, but today wrapped photography on Episode IX. There is no adequate way to thank this truly magical crew and cast. Im forever indebted to you all. pic.twitter.com/138AprtFuZ  JJ Abrams (@jjabrams) February 15, 2019

Sharing the same photo on his Instagram and Twitter page, Boyega wrote an emotional message marking the end of his stint as Finn. "That's a wrap on Star Wars episode 9 and the end to a chapter of my life that I couldn't be more thankful for. What a process! It really has been a joy to be in these movies surrounded by amazing people," he said.

He also expressed his gratitude to Abrams and fans, "I personally want to thank @jjabramsofficial for giving me a chance to make my dreams come true. To our supporters.... See you SOON! May the force be with you."

Ridley wrote on her own Instagram account, "That's a wrap on the finale of the Skywalker saga. #EpisodeIX @jjabramsofficial @starwars @starwarsmovies @johnboyega and Oscar Isaac. [heart emoji]"

Principal photography on the still-untitled ninth "Star Wars" film kicked off last August at Pinewood Studios near London. It is the first installment in the franchise that was filmed after Carrie Fisher's sudden passing in December 2016. She will still be featured in the movie with unused footage from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and "Star Wars: The Last Jedi".

Plot details are still kept under wraps. Abrams co-wrote the script with Chris Terrio. In addition to the main trio, Adam Driver, Lupita Nyong'o, Domhnall Gleeson, Billie Lourd, Joonas Suotamo and Kelly Marie Tran are expected to reprise their respective roles. As for Mark Hamill, his appearance in the upcoming film is not confirmed yet, considering his character Luke Skywalker's apparent demise in "The Last Jedi".

The next and final chapter in the "Star Wars" sequel trilogy is slated to arrive on December 20 in the United States.
WENN/Lia Toby Celebrity

Chicago Police Department confirms that the Osundairo brothers, who were booked for battery after being detained on Wednesday, have been released due to new evidence.

Feb 16, 2019

AceShowbiz - Chicago Police have released two men who were earlier named potential suspects in Jussie Smollett's hate attack case. Chief Communications Officer Anthony Guglielmi announced on Friday, February 15 that the two men are no longer considered suspects due to new evidence gathered during the questioning.

He tweeted, "Due to new evidence as a result of today's interrogations, the individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete."

It's not revealed what new evidence that detectives have found.

Nigerian brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, who have appeared as extras on Jussie's FOX series "Empire", were detained at O'Hare Airport on Wednesday night, after police raided their home. They reportedly seized potential evidence, including several bottles of bleach, during the raid.

Chicago PD initially said the two persons of interest were being questioned, but not considered suspects. On earlier Friday, however, police named them "potential suspects" and booked them for battery. "We can confirm that they have been arrested but they have not been charged," Chicago Police Department spokesman Sally Born said.

Jussie recently said on "Good Morning America" that he's positive the two men on the surveillance video are the same two men who attacked him on January 29, but he insisted they were white.

Police have also denied report saying that the attack on the 36-year-old actor was "hoax." Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement via Twitter on Thursday, "Media reports [about] the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate."
WENN/Sheri Determan Celebrity

In an interview with local Charlotte station WBTV about his generous gesture, the former 'Chappelle's Show' host reveals that he thought it would be fun to surprise the Dickens for Valentine's Day.

Feb 16, 2019

AceShowbiz - Comedian Dave Chappelle came to the aid of a couple who were scammed with fake tickets to his show by providing them with seats to the gig.

Deidra Dickens and her husband, Eddie, purchased what they thought were tickets to his Charlotte, North Carolina stand-up set ahead on Thursday, February 14, transferring $500 (380) to an online seller only to learn the vendor had made off with her money - and there were no tickets.

According to the local Charlotte station WBTV, she filed a police report, and when the star learned about the drama he surprised the couple by hand delivering passes to the show.

Last night we told you this Charlotte couple was scammed out of hundreds of dollars trying to buy @DaveChappelle tickets on Craigslist. Tonight we were there as DAVE HIMSELF hand-delivered the group tickets! Awesome! @WBTV_Newspic.twitter.com/tHMElvDcZE  Alex Giles WBTV (@AlexGilesNews) February 15, 2019

In a video posted by the network on Twitter, Chappelle can be seen walking up to the starstruck couple as they enjoy dinner together.

Not only did @DaveChappelle hand over tickets to the folks who got scammed-he sat down to chat with them, did a full interview with us, and took time to take pictures with a bunch of people in the hotel restaurant. Truly a great dude. @WBTV_Newspic.twitter.com/Bvaidvfpyc  Alex Giles WBTV (@AlexGilesNews) February 15, 2019

"Someone on my team called me, actually last night, and told me about this situation and we thought it'd be fun to do that for someone for Valentine's Day," Chappelle says in an interview with the station. "I didn't expect to be on the news doing it but I'm glad, that's good. It's good that people know to always get your tickets from reliable sources and take every opportunity that's presented to you to be kind, especially if it's something that's easy to do."
Etihad Airways will introduce the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on its daily service from Abu Dhabi to Chengdu, effective July 1, replacing the Airbus A330-200 currently operating the route.



Also from July 1, the airlines daily service from Abu Dhabi to Shanghai will be upgraded from the 787-9 to the larger 787-10 Dreamliner.



Once the changes take effect, the airline will fly all 28 weekly services to Chinas four main gateways  Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Hong Kong  with the next generation Dreamliner aircraft.



The 787-9 service to Chengdu will feature Etihad Airways next-generation Business and Economy cabins, configured with 299 seats - 28 Business Studios and 271 Economy Smart Seats. The upgrade of aircraft will also see an increase in belly-hold cargo capacity of four tonnes.



The 787-10 service to Shanghai will be configured with 336 seats - 32 Business Studios and 304 Economy Smart. Belly-hold cargo capacity will be increased by two and a half tonnes.



Robin Kamark, Etihad Aviation Group chief commercial officer, said: We are delighted to include Chengdu to our growing list of Dreamliner destinations. The move marks a milestone for Etihad as all our Chinese gateways will now be served by these technologically advanced aircraft, ensuring our guests experience the latest in-flight product innovations. We are equally pleased to be upgrading our Shanghai flights to our 787-10 aircraft.



China is an incredibly important market for Etihad and we have significantly grown our presence there since launching services to Beijing in 2008. Abu Dhabis non-oil trade shows that China is among the top-five countries with key trade relations with the emirate. We look forward to building on these strong foundations and for our guests to experience our 787 Dreamliner product on their flights to and from China.



Etihad Airways recently celebrated 10 years of direct flights between Abu Dhabi and China. Since 2008, the airline has carried over four and a half million passengers between Abu Dhabi and China.



The airline has witnessed significant yearly growth in passenger numbers on its services to and from China, further boosted by codeshare agreements with partner airlines and the mutual visa-exemption policy between the UAE and China, implemented in January 2018. - TradeArabia News Service
WENN/Lia Toby Celebrity

To be premiered on February 17, the former Spice Girls member's channel will be broadcast on Piccadilly Circus' giant screens and offer an inside look at her fall/winter 2019 collection.

Feb 16, 2019

AceShowbiz - Victoria Beckham (Victoria Adams) is pulling out all the stops to ensure the launch of her official YouTube channel is a success, and will debut the platform with a live stream of her London Fashion Week show.

The 44-year-old Spice Girls star turned designer will premiere the channel on Sunday, February 17, with viewers treated to an inside look at the workings of her eponymous brand and the chance to clap eyes on Victoria's hotly-anticipated fall/winter 2019 collection with a live stream from Fashion Week.

The stream will also be broadcast on the iconic giant screens at London's Piccadilly Circus.

"I am thrilled to launch my YouTube channel at such an important time of the year for me and offer an exclusive insight into my experience of London Fashion Week," Victoria said in a statement. "I can't wait to share my latest collection with as many as possible through the live stream."

"I look forward to building my channel with fun and exciting content that will keep me connected with my followers as well as build a sense of community with an amazing group of collaborators."

Style journalist Derek Blasberg has been employed as the Fashion and Beauty Director of the channel, for which Victoria has hired a scriptwriter to ensure that fans enjoy the unique content she broadcasts.
Instagram Celebrity

Posting a photo of her engagement ring, the 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' actress quotes poet John Keats before gushing that Adel Altamimi has swept her off her feet.

Feb 16, 2019

AceShowbiz - Australian actress Abbie Cornish is engaged.

The 36-year-old has accepted mixed martial arts fighter Adel Altamimi's proposal, and now the couple is planning a big wedding.

The "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" star took to Instagram late on Valentine's Day, February 14, to share her exciting news, posting a series of photos featuring the couple.

In one, her new engagement ring could clearly be seen.

Quoting poet John Keats, Abby wrote: "A thing of beauty is a joy forever", adding, "You've swept me off my feet my love! I have been waiting for you. The answer is yes!"

Abbie then wished her new fiance a happy Valentine's Day, writing: "And may God share this light and love with us forever in his arms. Blessed be this day with you. We'll never forget this anniversary! Happy Valentine's Day to my fiance."

Clearly overcome with emotion, Cornish later posted another sweet snap of herself cuddling her man and showing off her ring, adding: "Oh my."

Prior to the big engagement reveal, the actress gushed about her boyfriend on the most romantic day of the year, writing: "I respect you so much. The light you see is the light you give. Your mindset and patient heroism in this life is beyond..."

"There are so many lessons that you could teach the world right now, at only 30 years of age, and there is so much more to come."

This will be Abbie's first marriage.

She previously dated Ryan Phillippe in 2006, shortly after his divorce from Reese Witherspoon.
WENN/Brian To Celebrity

The aircraft en route to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, for the 'Friends' alum's 50th birthday bash is reportedly circling for hours before making a safe landing at the Ontario International Airport.

Feb 16, 2019

AceShowbiz - Are they okay? Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox had a flight scare on Friday, February 15. The two stars' vacation was interrupted as the private jet that they were on made an emergency landing. The plane, which was en route to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, circled back and landed at the Ontario International Airport in Ontario, California.

According to TMZ, the flight took off from LAX at 11 P.M. to head to Cabo San Lucas, where the "Friends" alum will throw her 50th birthday party with her pals. The bash seemingly had to get delayed when the plane lost a wheel or a tire during takeoff.

Prior to landing, the plane allegedly were circling for hours to burn off fuel for a safe landing. It touched down at 2 P.M. Fortunately, Aniston, Cox and the other passengers aboard including Molly Kimmel were unharmed and are allegedly still waiting for a new plane at the airport to take them to Cabo San Lucas.

ONT Airport previous tweeted a warning for "an incoming aircraft," writing, "ALERT: ONT and the City of Ontario Police and Fire Departments are currently on alert for an incoming aircraft. More information to follow." The tweet was later followed with a final update which read, "Incoming aircraft, Gulfstream - N729TY, landed safely at ONT. OPD and OFD are on the scene."

The airport then released an official statement of the emergency landing, revealing that they faced issues with the plane's landing gear. "A Gulfstream aircraft with 10 passengers and two flight crew members on board landed without incident at Ontario International Airport (ONT) after experiencing landing gear difficulty," the statement read.

"The plane was en route Friday from Los Angeles International Airport to Cabo San Lucas when it was discovered that one of the four rear tired had displaced," it added. "The aircraft landed safely at ONT around 2 P.M. Friday."

Rumor has it that Brad Pitt was among the passangers, but TMZ claims that that's not true. A source tells the news outlet that the passengers are all women. Among them is Amanda Anka, Jason Bateman's wife. Another source previously said of Jen's upcoming birthday bash, "The party was a celebration of Jen's life."
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A Santa Fe judge ruled that the state Attorney Generals Office did not prove that a former priest, now 81 years old and accused of raping a child decades ago, is currently a danger to the community and released him on house arrest.

Marvin Archuleta was indicted on one count of criminal sexual penetration of a minor and kidnapping, both first-degree felonies, on Thursday. The former priest allegedly raped a 6-year-old boy at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Espanola in either 1986 or 1987. He was arrested at his Albuquerque apartment on Feb. 8.

The Attorney Generals Office filed a motion to keep Archuleta in jail pending trial, but state District Judge Matthew Wilson denied the motion Friday.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

With the evidence in this case, its hard for the court to say what the strength of the case is, Wilson said. It really comes down to the credibility of the victim.  In the end, I dont think the state has proven its case by clear and convincing evidence that no conditions of release would keep the public safe.

Archuleta was ordered to stay on house arrest at his apartment near the Big I and can only leave Bernalillo County for court hearings. He must also not go within 100 yards of a school or anywhere else where children may be, including church services.

According to testimony Friday by Special Agent Jacob Trujillo of the AGs Office, the alleged victim and two other boys were called to a priests dressing room by Archuleta and were greeted with a large table filled with cookies and punch.

After the other two boys left, Trujillo said, Archuleta raped the victim, who was screaming loudly during the assault.

He remembers vividly feeling the cuff links of his (Archuletas) church garment, Trujillo said.

Assistant Attorney General Zach Jones argued that Archuleta was a danger to the public because the cookies and punch show the attack was premeditated and because Archuleta was not worried about raping a screaming child.

The defendant in this case is undoubtedly dangerous from the states perspective, Jones said.  This kind of mind-set doesnt evaporate over the years.

Archuletas attorney, Ryan Villa, said a church document shows that Archuleta was assigned in Maryland at the time of the alleged rape and wasnt assigned to Espanola until 1988.

There were also allegations that Archuleta fled to Mexico after he was served with a civil suit alleging sexual abuse in the 90s, but Villa said he was sent to Mexico on assignment.

Wilson said he could find no evidence that Archuleta fled to Mexico.

Archuleta has been in New Mexico the last four years, Villa said.

Archuleta needed the assistance of a walker when he was arrested and was brought into the courtroom in a wheelchair. Villa said he recently had a surgery that impairs his mobility.

The question is: Is he dangerous now? Villa asked the court.

During his testimony, Trujillo said another man called the AGs Office on Friday and said he was sexually abused by Archuleta at Holy Cross in the early 90s.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

New Mexico is going on offense in a long-running battle with Texas and the U.S. government over management of one of the longest rivers in North America as a team of scientists and experts prepare to spend the next year modeling the flow of the Rio Grande and its relationship to groundwater.

Attorney General Hector Balderas says the state is in a historic fistfight that has its roots in water policy decisions made nearly a century ago, when economic and climate conditions along the river valley were very different.

Stretches of the Rio Grande went dry last year as the previous winter resulted in little runoff and record low water flows. Federal water managers worked out a deal with municipalities to keep the river flowing through the Albuquerque stretch and limits kicked in that prevented the storage of water in upstream reservoirs to ensure enough water flowed south to Texas.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

Forecasters caution that spring runoff could be weak this year, and Balderas says he is seeking a solution that will keep New Mexicans whole for a few generations.

I have to come up with a modern compact, a modern operating agreement that represents all New Mexicans, and thats really difficult, he said. But Im shooting straight (with) all these water users. I dont want to pre-settle or litigate in a way that shortchanges or pits one New Mexican against another.

Balderas this week provided members of a key legislative committee with an update on the legal battle that has been simmering before the U.S. Supreme Court since 2013.

Texas is asking that New Mexico stop pumping groundwater along the border so that more of the Rio Grande could flow south to farmers and residents in El Paso. Critics contend the well-pumping depletes the aquifer that would otherwise drain back into the river and flow to Texas.

Arguing that it is meeting its obligations, New Mexico last year filed counterclaims alleging that Texas is violating the interstate compact governing the Rio Grande by allowing unrestricted groundwater pumping and other diversions on its side of the border. This has been a growing concern in the valley and to the east in the Permian Basin, where an oil boom has spurred even more demand for water.

Balderas contends that groundwater pumping in Texas is depleting surface water that has been delivered to that state before it can ever be used.

Its causing Texas to demand more and more water, he said. Their appetite for water is not going to cease so regulatory framework or a potential new settlement is actually a new opportunity for us to put New Mexico consumers in a better position.

Texas has denied the allegations and is asking the court to dismiss New Mexicos claims.

Briefings are scheduled next month and arguments will be made before a special master later this spring. Itll likely be more than a year before the case goes to trial and even that is expect to take at least four months given the complexity of the issue.

One of the questions that could be answered is whether the compact has any bearing on the use of groundwater given its hydrogeological connection to surface water. Such a ruling could affect states rights, as New Mexico requires permits for any groundwater use but Texas rules provide the right for landowners to pump and capture whatever is available beneath their property regardless of the effects on neighboring wells.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

SANTA FE  The Dona Ana County Democratic delegation of the New Mexico House of Representatives released a statement Tuesday in response to reports of an anti-gay attack at Zia Middle School in Las Cruces.

The fight, partly captured on a mobile phone video posted to social media, took place last week. The family of Savannah Tirre, 11, a sixth-grader at the school, identified her as the target of an attack by another student and said it followed months of bullying that have followed Tirres disclosure that she is gay.

The legislators statement reads:

The anti-gay attack that unfolded  at Zia Middle School runs contrary to our values as New Mexicans. LGBTQ students like Savannah deserve a safe and welcoming place where they can learn in peace and live as their authentic selves. We honor Savannahs courage and bravery. As your representatives, we stand against bigotry and violence in all forms. We stand with Savannah.

The Dona Ana County Democratic delegation includes Representatives Doreen Y. Gallegos, Angelica Rubio, Nathan Small, Joanne Ferrary, Willie Madrid, Raymundo Ray Lara, Micaela Lara Cadena, and Rodolpho Rudy Martinez.

Cadena, D-Mesilla, whose district includes Zia Middle School, released a statement of her own:

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

I am heartbroken to hear the news out of Zia Middle School, where a student was bullied and attacked on the basis of being LGBTQ. Every student deserves to feel safe and welcome at their place of learning and across our communities. I am especially outraged with adults on social media that have been part of instigating this ugliness. Savannah is brave for making the decision to live her life out loud and on her own terms. We can and must do more to protect our young people from discrimination and targeted violence, in schools and wherever they may be. As a mama and New Mexican, I am ready to walk next to Savannah and her family as we create the loving world all our kids deserve.

In a news release, Cadena said she had made contact with the students mother, Chelsea Tirre, listening to their story and concerns, and committing to creating a better future for our kids.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.  Love is in the Fair has been announced as the theme for the 2019 New Mexico State Fair, coming Sept. 5 to 15.

The inclusive message is designed to remind residents and visitors that the fair is about love, unity and community to convey the sentiment of cherished memories with friends and family, according to a news release.

The fair has always been about building memories and bringing people together, Expo New Mexico General Manager Dan Mourning said in a statement. This years theme continues to reflect the love that all New Mexicans have for this great state. It is a passion rooted in celebrating New Mexicos diverse cultures, history, and traditions.

Recent fair efforts include its award-winning Sensory Station, a quiet respite space for individuals and families with sensory sensitivities, and its Exceptional Rodeo for kids with special needs. The New Mexico State Fair was also one of a handful to host Out at the Fair, a full-day welcoming environment for the LGBTQ community, officials said.

These are just a few reasons why we continue to hold our ranking as one of the top fairs in the country, Mourning said.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

An estimated 504,445 visitors attended last years fair.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

This story is becoming too familiar in New Mexico.

An Air Force base has been cited after groundwater testing revealed contamination well above acceptable levels. This time its Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo. A few months ago, it was Cannon Air Force Base near Clovis.

And then there is Kirtland Air Force Base here in Albuquerque  where the ongoing mitigation process to rid contamination from the groundwater is taking years.

In Hollomans case, the New Mexico Environment Department served the base with a notice of violation last week after monitoring wells tested at twice the acceptable levels for suspected carcinogenic contaminants. The Air Force reported groundwater concentrations of polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)  suspected carcinogenic chemicals in fire-suppressant foam the Air Force no longer uses  at 137 parts per trillion at monitoring wells.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

The federal Environmental Protection Agencys drinking water health advisory for PFAS is 70 parts per trillion.

In November, the New Mexico Environment Department issued a notice to Cannon Air Force Base when dozens of private wells  two that supply dairies  had PFAS levels three times higher than the advisory level.

Jim Kenney, secretary-designate of the state Environment Department, says the state is dismayed by the Air Forces lack of prompt response to the contamination.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the congressional delegation have been critical of the Air Forces response and vowed to pursue all avenues to achieve compliance. Rightly so.

But, really, that should be the Air Forces job.

And U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson should be at the forefront of addressing this issue. After all, she used to represent New Mexico in the U.S. House of Representatives and knows first-hand the problems caused by the delay in addressing the spill at Kirtland AFB. Wilson, who has spoken with the governor and delegation, should ensure that this time the response is quicker than the years it took to take the Kirtland spill seriously.

Back in 1999, the Air Force learned it had a decades-old problem with jet fuel leaks. It wasnt until 2007 that its investigations revealed the fuel had reached the water table and was spreading toward the citys water wells underneath southeast Albuquerque. Extraction wells are now treating the hundreds of millions of gallons of contaminated water.

Given that history it shouldnt take a 30,000-foot view to realize we dont want a KAFB repeat at the other bases.

Military personnel, residents living nearby and agriculture and businesses deserve a quicker response and quicker action this time around. Mitigation efforts should begin as soon as possible  not a decade down the road  to get both bases in compliance.

Our nations military bases play a vital role in our states economy and have been important neighbors to our civilian communities for years. An important part of being a good neighbor must be ensuring the safety of those who live and work on or near their installations.

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.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

On April 1, 2020, census takers will begin going door to door asking New Mexicans to help the U.S. government fulfill its decennial constitutional duty of counting every single person in our state. For the first time, residents will also have the option to fill the questions out online or by phone.

The census is a big deal for New Mexico and for Albuquerque. The census determines our number of representatives to the U.S. Congress, is the basis for drawing congressional, state and local districts, helps business determine where to locate, informs planning decisions of federal, tribal, state and local governments, and is the key determinant for the distribution of billions of federal dollars to the state.

According to a George Washington University study, the top 54 federal programs distribute approximately $7.8 billion to New Mexico in the form of Medicaid, food stamps, highway planning and construction, Medicare and Title I Education funds, Head Start, housing vouchers and other programs. Should New Mexico have a 1 percent undercount, that would translate to an approximately $750 million loss over the next 10 years, which would mean either replacing that funding with precious state dollars or cutting services.

Moreover, New Mexico is considered the hardest state in the nation to count. New Mexicos ethnic, cultural and lingual diversity is a major asset, but also makes it more difficult for an accurate count of these populations. These populations include young children under age 5, foreign-born residents, American Indians, Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders, transients, as well as those living in rural and remote, hard-to-reach areas of the state. New Mexicos inadequate access to broadband will make the new online approach for filling out the census very challenging. The current federal administrations decision to add a citizenship question will make an accurate count far more difficult as many members of the public do not accept that the government is legally required to keep their information private and do not have faith the current administration will abide by that legal requirement. That issue is now before the Supreme Court, which we hope will act quickly to remove the question.

In the meantime, a group of private and community foundations came together with the N.M. Legislature in 2017 to fund the initial work of the state demographers office. Combining forces, we assembled $362,500 to invest in verifying the census lists of addresses were accurate, especially in hard-to-count communities. As a result, the state demographers office identified close to 100,000 new or need-to-be updated addresses. On average, each address, if counted, translates to about 7,500 federal dollars to New Mexico per year. So, while challenges of an undercount are significant, there may be opportunity to increase federal funding into critical programs in the state.

Now is the time to act. The governor should immediately reorganize the statewide Complete Count Committee that brings together critical groups to spread the word of the importance of the census to their community. The state Legislature should appropriate significant funding for a robust Get Out the Count strategy that must begin as soon as possible. Other states are making significant investments to help avoid an undercount  California, $90.3 million; Maryland, $5 million; Illinois, $33 million pending; Washington, $4.8 million; and others are considering investments. Our New Mexico 2020 Census Funders group, with assistance from national funders, has assembled over $700,000 in commitments to advance an aligned strategy and support nonprofits reaching out to hard-to-count communities. With billions of dollars for critical federal programs for children, youth, economic development and housing on the line, New Mexico cannot afford to fail.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

It stunned and saddened me greatly to see a full-page ad on Jan. 22 signed by 92 religious leaders from congregations and/or organizations around New Mexico. Their stated purpose was to defend, in accordance with our moral convictions and our personal faith, a womans right to abort her child. They have bought into the lie that Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry have perfected, that somehow by supporting a woman in the killing of her own child, they are loving her, and treating her with respect and dignity. Nothing could be further from the truth. Loving someone means helping them choose what is right and just, not what may be easiest or convenient. In the case of an expectant mother, it means loving them both, mother and child, and walking with that woman for nine months and beyond, in the midst of her fear, confusion and perhaps isolation. Thats what love, truly sacrificial love, looks like, not the sacrificing of a child so that a woman can live as she chooses.

These authors of the ad, as self-professed religious leaders, must recognize God as author and creator of all life. And I trust they also believe that we humans are created in His image and likeness. It deeply saddens me, then, that these very people who should be vocally and publicly supporting the love and acceptance of all people, and promoting the protection of these God-given lives, are the very ones claiming to love a mother by pitting her against her helpless, dependent child. How can supporting the taking of an innocent childs life be valuing and protecting a womans dignity? Would we be loving a mother by supporting her in killing her 2-year-old who was an inconvenience to her? Or perhaps her teenager?

I must wonder if the commandment Thou shalt not kill is no longer preached by these religious leaders when its inconvenient, or perhaps when it opposes their personal moral convictions or political affiliations. Are there other commandments these leaders have reduced to mere suggestions for their congregants?

It concerns me that they no longer recognize an act of evil when they see it, simply because there is an unjust law on the books that says abortion is legal. And it scares me to read that religious leaders, of all people, condone violence as an acceptable, and perhaps the best, solution to a womans unplanned pregnancy. I dare say, we are no longer living in a civil society. 

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................
Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority announced that the emirate attracted 1,072,066 visitors from domestic and key international markets during 2018.



The figure exceeded targets in its first three-year strategy launched in 2016, which included the goal of attracting 1 million visitors to Ras Al Khaimah by 2018.



The authority reported a 10 per cent growth in visitors compared to 2017, led by the UAE domestic market which continues to generate 38 per cent of overall visitors.

Germany continues to be the leading international source market with 83,605 visitors, followed by Russia, with 83,531 visitors - up by a significant 17 per cent on 2017. The third largest source market was the UK, with 63,054 visitors, up 11.5 per cent; India was fourth with 62,325 visitors, up 22 per cent; rounding out the top five was Kazakhstan with 27,168 visitors, a growth of 28 per cent.



One of Ras Al Khaimahs key milestones in 2018 was the launch of Jebel Jais Flight - the worlds longest zipline, which has welcomed over 25,000 flyers since opening 12 months ago. This put Ras Al Khaimah on the map, breaking the world record and strengthening the emirates credentials as the fastest growing adventure tourism destination in the region. The emirate further increased its appeal for day trippers, staycationers and holidaymakers with the opening of a Viewing Deck Park at the top of Jebel Jais featuring seven viewing decks overlooking the Arabian Gulf.



In response to growing visitor numbers, further development is planned including a 47 room Luxury Mountain Camp, a Survival Training Academy, 64.72km of Hiking Trails and the Jebel Jais Adventure Park in partnership with Toroverde UAE featuring several new adventure products expected to launch this year such as a 'zipline tour', the Bull maze' and 'climbing tower' at the Viewing Deck Park.



Haitham Mattar, CEO of Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, said: 2018 has been another remarkable year for the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in terms of achievements and milestones accomplished, primarily exceeding our target of 1 million visitors. With the current robust visitor demand, solid regional and international partnerships in place and iconic product launches over the past few years, Ras Al Khaimah is on a mission to further assert its position as the fastest growing tourism destination in the region, whilst promoting our emirates breadth of offerings to regional and international target markets."



Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority recently announced the launch of its new Destination Strategy 2019-2021. The strategic three-year programme will focus on diversifying the emirates tourism offering to attract a wider segment of tourists and higher yield visitors looking for authentic experiences. This will attract foreign and local investment within the tourism sector, nurturing home-grown small and medium enterprises to create further employment and business opportunities for Emiratis, whilst prioritising sustainable nature-based adventure and authentic cultural experiences.



As our tourism offering evolves in Ras Al Khaimah, we must ensure our destination is attractive to travellers who wish to explore beyond the resorts and hotels. Through our new destination strategy 2019-2021, we will continue to create compelling offerings that combine the emirates key promises: pristine beaches; natural beauty; culture and heritage; excellence in hospitality and unrivalled experiences in order to attract close to 1.5 million visitors by 2021, and 3 million visitors by 2025 added Mattar.



The new Destination Strategy will also look to expand tourism-driven employment. By 2021 RAKTDA aims to support the employment 10,000 more people into the tourism and hospitality sector, nurture investment for small and medium businesses, and raise the overall competitiveness of the industry attracting increased international and local investment enabling an environment for sustainable growth



Ras Al Khaimah has also identified the supply of new hotel rooms as a major focus moving forward in order to support the increasing popularity of the destination with tourists. The emirate is preparing to add 5,000 rooms to the 6,500 currently available with the confirmed introduction of major global brands including Marriott, Movenpick, Sheraton, Anantara, Rezidor, Intercontinental and Conrad over the next three years. - TradeArabia News Service




.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A plan to take more money from New Mexicos largest permanent fund for spending on home visiting and other early childhood programs cruised through the state House late Friday on a 41-27 vote.

But for supporters, now comes the hard part.

The proposed constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 1, now advances to the Senate, where similar proposals have run aground in previous years.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

Backers say this year could be different, pointing to the election of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who supports the idea, and an expanded Democratic majority in the Legislature.

New Mexico is hurting and we all know this, said Rep. Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque, one of the measures sponsors, during Friday evenings debate.

He cited the states low ranking in various national child wellbeing measures and said the permanent fund idea is more sharply crafted than when it was first proposed in 2011.

However, critics describe the proposal as a raid on the states Land Grant Permanent Fund that would leave less money available for future generations.

We are taking from the children of tomorrow, grasping for the children of today, said House Minority Leader James Townsend, an Artesia Republican.

The plan approved Friday calls for the annual distribution rate from the permanent fund to go up by 1 percentage point  from 5 percent to 6 percent  into perpetuity.

That would generate an estimated $170 million for early childhood programs during the 2022 budget year, the earliest it would likely be in place, according to a fiscal analysis of the legislation.

Lujan Grisham, a Democrat who took office last month, has described the proposal as a responsible pinch from the permanent fund, which already distributed more than $747 million in the current budget year for public schools and other beneficiaries.

She congratulated House members after the Friday evening vote, saying they were on the front lines of delivering the change our children need and deserve.

However, not all Democratic legislators are on board with idea.

Four House Democrats joined with Republicans on Friday in casting no votes on the proposal  Reps. Harry Garcia of Grants, Joseph Sanchez of Alcalde, Candie Sweetser of Deming and Roberto Bobby Gonzales of Taos.

In addition, Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, the influential chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said recently that he supports increasing funding for early childhood programs  but from other revenue sources than the permanent fund, currently estimated at $17.4 billion.

In some past years, including last year, Smith did not hold a hearing on the permanent fund proposal once it reached his committee, saying it did not have the necessary votes to advance.

Total New Mexico spending on early childhood programs has already increased steadily in recent years, from $136.5 million in 2012 to $313.2 million in the current budget year.

But backers say more can be done in a state with one of the nations highest poverty rates.

We dont want to just send money to the future; weve got to send educated children to the future, said Allen Sanchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, after Fridays vote.

A State Investment Council analysis of the plan predicted the permanent fund would continue to grow in size over the next 20 to 30 years even at the 6 percent distribution rate, due to expectations of steady tax and royalty inflows from the oil and natural gas industry during that period.

But the analysis concluded the fund would distribute more money in the long run if it remained at the 5 percent level, given the assumption that it would grow more rapidly at the lower distribution rate.

If approved by both the House and Senate, the proposed constitutional amendment would be decided by statewide voters  likely in November 2020.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

PORTLAND, Ore.  A member of Portlands city council said Thursday a newspapers report that the commander for the police rapid response team exchanged friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked the city confirms collusion exists between some police and right-wing extremists.

I am not shocked, and I am not surprised at todays reporting of Lt. Jeff Niiyas collaboration with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson over text to provide aid and support for their hate marches, Councilwoman Jo Ann Hardesty said in a statement.

Willamette Week obtained text messages through a public records request between Niiya and Gibson. The texts purportedly show Niiya had a friendly rapport with Gibson, frequently discussing Gibsons plans to demonstrate.

In one text reported by the newspaper, Niiya tells Gibson that he doesnt see a need to arrest his assistant, Tusitala Toese, who often brawls with antifascist protesters, even if he has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime.

Just make sure he doesnt do anything which may draw our attention, Niiya texted Gibson on Dec. 9, 2017, Willamette Week reported. If he still has the warrant in the system (I dont run you guys so I dont personally know) the officers could arrest him. I dont see a need to arrest on the warrant unless there is a reason.

A police spokeswoman said it is not unusual for officers to suggest people turn themselves in to avoid being arrested on a warrant, Willamette Week reported.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

In crowd management situations, it may not be safe or prudent to arrest a person right at that time, so the arrest may be delayed or followed up on later It is not uncommon for officers to provide guidance for someone to turn themselves in on a warrant if the subject is not present, Lt. Tina Jones said.

Portland police were accused at a protest last August of being heavy-handed against people, injuring some, who were protesting a rally of extreme-right demonstrators organized by Gibson.

Hardesty said the broken policing system in Portland must be addressed.

This story, like many that have come before it, simply confirms what many in the community have already known  there are members of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists, she said.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  New Mexicos new ethics commission would operate largely in secret and impose harsh penalties for violating that confidentiality under legislation proposed in the state Senate.

The secrecy provisions drew sharp criticism Friday from a variety of advocacy groups  including Common Cause, Ethics Watch and the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. Common Cause, for example, described the ethics commission proposed in Senate Bill 619 as a weak body, shrouded in secrecy with little enforcement power.

The sponsor of the proposal, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, said she is still working on the bill and seeking bipartisan input on how to proceed.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

Itll be changing, she said of the legislation.

As it stands now, Senate Bill 619 would impose stiffer penalties on people who violate the confidentiality provisions than it would on officials who violate ethical standards. The gag provision includes those who file a complaint.

The commissions hearings would be closed to the public, and its documents would be confidential, except in limited circumstances.

Transparency advocates said the secrecy would undermine public confidence in the ethics process.

Any committee created to hold our elected officials to high ethical standards can only be effective if its proceedings are as open as possible, said Melanie J. Majors, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government.

The debate comes as lawmakers wrestle with how to establish a state ethics commission approved by New Mexico voters last year. The board is empowered to investigate and decide on complaints alleging ethical misconduct by government officials, candidates, lobbyists, contractors and employees.

Approval of the constitutional amendment, which passed with 75 percent of the vote, followed a series of ethics scandals in New Mexico, including the 2017 conviction of a former state senator on corruption charges.

The amendment left it up to the Legislature to establish the details of how the commission would operate, and Lopezs bill is just one proposal.

House Bill 4, sponsored by Rep. Daymon Ely, D-Corrales, outlines a less secretive process. He said it would allow people involved in ethics complaints  either the accused or the person making the allegation  to speak publicly about the matter, if they choose to.

In no way are we abridging peoples First Amendment rights, Ely said of his proposal.

However, the commission itself would not disclose complaints that were found to be unsubstantiated, under his proposal.

The Senate measure, meanwhile, calls for the commission to release a public report only if it finds someone guilty of an ethics violation. It could issue a public reprimand or censure and recommend disciplinary action, but it would be up to the House, Senate or other public body to determine whether to actually impose any discipline.

Disclosing a confidential ethics document could result in a year in jail or a $10,000 fine, unless a court authorizes a bigger fine, under the Senate proposal.

Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, said the Senate proposal doesnt match what people voted for.

What they want is a commission that has integrity, that encourages the public to file complaints and that restores their trust in our political process, she said. A commission shrouded in secrecy, with high penalties for those who file complaints, will do nothing but have a chilling effect.

Kathleen Sabo, executive director of New Mexico Ethics Watch, said the bill fails miserably to engender public trust in the commissions work by keeping most things behind closed doors.

The concerns raised by Common Cause and Ethics Watch include:

 The inability of the commission to punish wrongdoers beyond a reprimand or censure.

 The lack of subpoena power. The commission would have to ask a state District Court to issue subpoenas to compel the testimony of witnesses or obtain documents. (Elys House bill would give the commission subpoena power.)

 The requirement of such a high standard of proof that it would be difficult to charge and find public officials guilty of ethical violations.

 The lack of public access to hearings and complaints, exemptions from the Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act, and the institution of harsh penalties for those who release information to the public.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

Copyright  2019 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  State lawmakers on Friday rejected a proposal to allow an increase in the royalty rates levied on oil and gas production on some of New Mexicos state trust lands.

The bill, backed by newly elected State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, would have raised the cap on royalty rates from 20 percent to 25 percent for the most productive leases  a move supporters said would simply put New Mexico on par with what Texas charges.

But opponents said the proposal risked damaging an industry that plays a critical role in the state economy and infuses billions of dollars into the state budget.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................

They also said the royalty rates are just one piece of the financial picture for oil and gas companies and that a recent tax study showed New Mexico already captures a higher share of the revenue than Texas.

The bill was tabled on a 7-3 vote, with three Democrats joining the House Commerce & Economic Development Committees four Republicans in opposition.

Why are we going after the one industry thats already coming through for us? Rep. Alonzo Baldonado, R-Los Lunas, asked.

Garcia Richard, a Democrat and former member of the state House, said afterward that she was especially disappointed in some of her former colleagues. House Democrats, she said, had otherwise embraced progressive policy goals, including gun control, raising the minimum wage and abortion rights.

But this bill to help our kids and to assure the long term viability of the Land Grant Permanent Fund lost out to the big money oil and gas lobby, Garcia Richard said in a written statement. When our resources dry up, I hope we wont be left wondering why we didnt make them pay their fair share.

House Bill 398, sponsored by Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, could still be revived, though thats rare once a bill is tabled.

Joining Republicans to support the tabling motion were Democratic Reps. Antonio Moe Maestas of Albuquerque, Jim Trujillo of Santa Fe and Patricio Ruiloba of Albuquerque.

Maestas said he supported the bills goals but was reluctant to revise royalty rates without also taking a broader look at other costs imposed on the industry through fees and taxes.
.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

LAREDO, Texas  A South Texas couple has been arrested after the remains of their 2-year-old daughter were found in a bucket apparently containing acid.

Gerardo Zavala-Loredo and Monica Yvonne Dominguez are both charged with abusing a human corpse and evidence tampering. Dominguez also is charged with two child endangerment counts. Zavalas in Webb County Jail under $125,000 in bonds while Dominguez is jailed under $175,000 in bonds.

Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz says Dominguez told police two of her children were bathing unsupervised in their Laredo apartment about 1:30 p.m. Thursday when Rebecka Zavala drowned. Dominguez said she asked her husband to help dispose of her body.

Alaniz says a neighbor called police, who found the remains in what appeared to be a five-gallon bucket of acid in a bedroom closet.

ADVERTISEMENTSkip



................................................................
Staff reports

Aberdeen News

This is probably one of the biggest messes weve seen in Brown County in a while.

But we were almost bound to wind up here.

A group of six owners of agricultural property have sued the county for being overassessed and overtaxed under the countys old assessment plan. It used a map designed to push assessments higher on ag land that was likely to sell for more.

Once the South Dakota Department of Revenue ruled that was a bad practice, there was almost no way the situation was going to be resolved smoothly.

The good news is that the county and the landowners seem to have an agreement in place that would settle the lawsuit. The bad news is that it would have to be approved by the South Dakota Department of Revenue, which rejected a similar proposal last year.

Its a complicated situation, but here are the basics:

Because of the neighborhood map, ag land owners in 15 Brown County townships were being overassessed. Most of the townships are in the southern and eastern part of the county.

The map divided the county into three neighborhoods. Some landowners were assessed at 118 percent of the top amount allowed by the state Department of Revenue under South Dakotas so-called production model used on ag land. Other land was assessed at 97 or 87 percent.

Land in the south and eastern part of the county is generally more productive for agriculture, so it was assessed at the highest level.

Early last year, former Director of Equalization Michael Hauke Jr., argued that the map was improper and forced some landowners to pay more than their share in property taxes. He was ultimately fired.

But because of his concerns, the county commission eventually asked for a review of its assessment plan, which the Department of Revenue said was flawed because some landowners were assessed at higher rate than the top amount allowed by the state.

Unhappy with a partial refund proposal from the county  about $1.35 per acre  six property owners in affected townships filed their lawsuit.

Thats how we got here.

The potential solution would lower ag land assessments in the 15 townships by 10 percent for one year in order to give them a property tax break. It would lower the overall assessed value in those townships by $96 million for the year.

But its not that simple.

For one thing, the Department of Revenue, at least last year, determined the plan was akin to implementing a neighborhood, which was the problem with the countys map in the first place.

Also, it would trigger an increase in the entire countys tax factor  also a part of the equation that determines property taxes  that would offset the savings. The tax rate would move from 85.6 percent to 88.8 percent.

Heres why.

School districts are unable to fund their budgets with property taxes alone. So the state provides funding to make up the difference between whats collected by counties in property taxes for education and whats needed to run public schools. A tax factor is determined by the Department of Revenue for each county to prevent counties from purposely levying lower property taxes and shifting a higher education funding burden to the state.

So, long story short, the Department of Revenue would have to approve allowing the tax factor to remain at 85.6 percent for a year. That would give the ag land owners in the 15 townships the one-year break without punishing the rest of the county.

Once the department ruled that Brown Countys old assessment plan was errant  and especially once the lawsuit was filed  things were bound to get sticky. And here we are in a situation that has not only been aggravating for many involved, but one that is complicated to follow along with.

The proposed solution, cobbled together by the county, the six defendants and their attorney, seems like the best idea to date, unless the county magically finds the money to reimburse all of the landowners who paid too much for a few years. But thats not going to happen. And even the men who filed the lawsuit seem to understand that.

Commissioner Doug Fjeldheim said the county will ask the Department of Revenue to sign off on the proposal.

Heres why it should: Because for several years after the state implement the production model, the department signed off of Brown Countys assessment plan that included the neighborhood map.

At a recent county meeting, Commissioner Mike Wiese said that when the county began using a map in 2010, the Department of Revenue not only let it go on, they encouraged it in the beginning.

Through the last year or so, the Department of Revenue has tired to say above the fray, leaving it up to the county to try to make things right. Nows the chance for the state to help the process and allow a solution that seems about as fair as anybody can hope for.

By approving Brown County assessment plans that included the map for years before deciding the practice was wrong, the state had a hand in creating the assessment fiasco. Now, much in the way it should share in the blame, the state has an opportunity to claim some credit by allowing a one-year deviation from how things should, strictly speaking, be done for the greater good of so many people caught in a bad situation.
Katherine Grandstrand, Elisa Sand and </p><p>Victoria Lusk

kgrandstrand@aberdeennews.com esand@aberdeennews.com </p><p>and vlusk@aberdeennews.com

Scary.

Thats the word Barry Schmiess used to describe the early February shooting at an apartment building he owns in Aberdeen.

Its also a word that Emily Erickson would use  especially since her 4-year-old daughter had spent two weeks in the apartment with Ericksons mother, Carol Burhans, just before the incident.

Sixteen gunshot markings  including three that made it through a window  were found on the exterior of the southwest building of Elmwood Manor Apartments. The investigation began Feb. 4.

A grandmother of nine, Burhans often had grandchildren in her apartment, Erickson said.

My daughter was just there ... they just left Friday morning (before the apartment was shot at), Erickson said.

That was Feb. 1 when Burhans traveled to Minneapolis to return her granddaughter.

According to the Aberdeen Police Department, damage to the apartment was reported three days later on Feb. 4, but investigators believe the shots were fired at the building between 5 and 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 3. No one reported hearing any gunfire at that time, according to a news release, and no one was injured.

It could have been a much different story had Burhans been home.

There was a hole right above the chair where she sits, Erickson said.

There was another hole above the stove, she said.

Erickson is adamant her mom was not the intended target.

Whoever it was, it wasnt meant for my mother, she said. They have the wrong person.

She also doesnt believe race was a factor, as her family is made up of several ethnicities.

It has nothing to do with race. Thats not the issue, and I wish people would stop going in that direction, she said.

Erickson and her siblings would prefer it if their mother looked for another apartment. But, Burhans receives housing assistance and disability because of a battle with cancer, Erickson said.

Burhans is back home and living in the apartment, her daughter said.

Erickson said she has heard many rumors about the incident, but not much concrete information. She has a lot of questions, like what type of gun was used and what would have happened if her mom had been home. She also wonders if the police have arrested anyone and if the shots were intended for a previous tenant.

Police Capt. Eric Duven said Friday the incident remains under investigation, and no further details were available.

Burhans continued safety is the familys top priority, Erickson said.

Its crazy. Its South Dakota, she said. And a one-person apartment, an older woman, a grandma ... and her apartment can be shot 16 times.

Schmiess has pledged to make the apartments safer.

I grew up in small-town Oakes (N.D.) not too far from Aberdeen and I know the community, and it is scary for us, Schmiess said.

The apartment is one of several Schmiess owns throughout the region, and he said hes never had something like this happen before.

This is obviously a very scary and serious situation that were going to have to make some changes and find out what happened, he said.

The set of six brick apartment buildings that make up the Elmwood Manor Apartments on the north side of the Super City Plaza was recently purchased by Schmiess.

While theyre older, simple apartments  they were new in the 1960s, according to American News archives  Schmiess said he wants a safe building.

We do background checks, we dont allow felons, he said. Things are changing a lot  theres just a lot of change going on right now in the apartment world.

In an effort to make the buildings safer, Schmiess said he and the buildings manager are working with the police department to see what improvements can be made whether that means security doors, cameras or something else.

Safety is the most important thing, he said.

Were going to do whatever we have to do and, quite honestly, Im going to spend what I have to spend to make it more secure for everybody, Schmiess said.
Katherine </p><p>Grandstrand

kgrandstrand</p><p>@aberdeennews.com

With dozens of inches of snow and days on end of sub-zero temperatures, many of us dream of a tropical getaway or even just a trip to the other side of the state.

But traveling in winter has a unique set of hazards, whether youre taking a plane, train or automobile.

Anyone hoping to still get away this winter might have to pay a pretty penny, said Brenda Pierson, manager at Travel Leaders in Aberdeen.

There might be some last-minute deals on a cruise, but then your airfare will cost you twice as much, she said.

For those who booked a getaway in advance, popular destinations include Mexico, Costa Rica or Hawaii, Pierson said. Those who want to stay in the continental U.S. tend to hit California, Texas and Florida.

For us here in the Midwest, we choose our destinations based on whats easiest to get to, Pierson said. Our clients like the all- inclusive resorts.

Even if its a tropical destination, that doesnt mean that weather here in the upper Midwest cant complicate travel, Pierson said. Thats where travel insurance comes in.

That helps out with all those delays  if you have to drive to another city to leave, if you have to stay overnight somewhere en route or on your return  thats where travel insurance comes in and takes care of it all for you, she said.

And while its fairly easy to book a flight on your own, booking a trip through an agent gives you a little extra help if things go wrong, Pierson said.

If youre stuck in Minneapolis, were here to help you, if your flight doesnt leave at 5 a.m. ... were here to help you, she said. Otherwise you could be on hold for hours.

Most of her clients opt to fly right out of Aberdeen or maybe Sioux Falls. By the time fuel, parking and a hotel are calculated, it ends up being about even or possibly less expensive to fly from the Hub City, Pierson said.

Some people have already started thinking about their winter 2020 getaways.

We do have a lot of inquiries already, in fact, for next winter, Pierson said. Its a little early yet, but we have inquiries.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind when traveling this winter:

Planes

Try

to plan for flight delays  if theres a time-

sensitive event, give yourself extra time to get there and maybe take an extra day off from work on the way back.

Early flights  those in the morning  are less likely to get delayed than those in the afternoon, especially in the peak flying hours of 4 to 6 p.m.

Program your airlines customer service number into your phone  its 1-800-221-1212 for Delta Airlines, which serves Aberdeen  to keep up with delays and to more easily rebook a flight.

Source: U.S. Department of Transportation

Trains

While

there isnt an Amtrak train that leaves from Aberdeen  or anywhere in South Dakota for that matter  the nearest station is in Fargo, N.D., which heads west to Seattle or east to Chicago. Connections to other destinations can be made from either city.

Taking a train will take longer than flying  and about the same or a little longer than driving. But not having a personal vehicle can be advantageous when traveling to a destination with expensive parking and reliable public transportation.

Just like planes, trains can experience weather and other delays. Amtrak has a mobile app that is updated with any delays or cancellations. Search Amtrak in the app store.

Source: Amtrak

Automobiles

With

the right precautions, winter road trips can be just as fun and safe as ones taken in summer.

Pay attention to the forecast and know when to adjust or call off your trip. Use your favorite weather app and tools like the Safe Travel USA road condition map.

Have a winter survival kit in your vehicle at all times. It should include blankets, a shovel, first aid items, a flashlight and extra batteries, snacks, matches and candles. Make sure everyone has a good winter coat, hat, mittens or gloves and boots.

Make sure your gas tank doesnt dip too far below half-full. Its just as easy to keep the top half full as it is to keep the bottom half. Most vehicles can idle for hours before draining the tank.

Source: South Dakota Department of Public Safety
Articles Sorry, there are no recent results for popular articles.

Images Sorry, there are no recent results for popular images.

Videos Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
Chinas economy is now transitioning from high-speed growth to high-quality growth, said a senior Chinese official during a session which was held at seventh edition of the World Government Summit (WGS 2019), being held in Dubai, UAE.



Wang Zhigang, Special Envoy of President Xi Jinping and Chinese Minister of Science and Technology, was speaking during a session titled The Rise of the Dragon: Chinas Success in Leading the World of Technology at the WGS 2019, he recounted Chinas success story and revealed what lies in store for the future of science and technology in the worlds second-largest economy.



The three-day event being held at the Madinat Jumeirah, will conclude later today (February 12).



Zhigang spoke about the role the digital economy will play in Chinas next chapter of high-quality growth, touching upon the theme of technology convergence. Citing examples of Chinas success, he reiterated the need for heightened responsibility and self-regulation by technology companies, as governments provide an enabling ecosystem that promotes digital innovation.



He also emphasised the importance of updating educational programmes to reflect a more modern, innovation-led approach.



China has maintained its investment into the research and development (R&D) of new technology, which accounts for 20 percent of global R&D expenditure, added Zhigang as he spoke about his countrys commitment to leading technology innovation worldwide.



Furthermore, he highlighted the potential of digital innovation to transform manufacturing through harnessing new technologies, such as automation, robotics and 3D printing. He also explored the topic of inclusivity through innovations in the Internet of Things (IoT).



Finally, he invited Arab countries to forge scientific collaborations under the Belt and Road Initiative.



China has assumed a powerful role on the world stage, influencing global policy decisions and harnessing technology to achieve economic success. The nation played a significant role in realising the UN millennium development goals (MDGs) of reducing extreme poverty rates by half. As it witnesses a slowdown in economic activity, especially in the manufacturing sector, China is poised to launch the next wave of growth.



The landmark event has convened more than 4,000 participants from 140 countries, including heads of state and governments, as well as top-tier representatives of 30 international organisations, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Corey Robin at his own website:

The history of the Frankfurt School in America is usually told as a story of one-way traffic. The question being: What did America get from the Frankfurt School? The answer usually offered: a lot! We got Marcuse, Neumann, Lowenthal, Fromm, and, for a time, Horkheimer and Adorno (who ultimately went back to Germany after the war)the whole array of emigre culture that helped transform the United States from a provincial outpost of arts and letters into a polyglot Parnassus of the world.

The wonderfully counter-intuitive and heterodox question that animates Eric Oberles Theodor Adorno and the Century of Negative Identity is: what did the Frankfurt School get from America? To the extent that question has been asked, it has traditionally provoked a negative response. Not a lot. Adorno was notoriously unhappy in the US: the kitsch, the kitsch. And for those Frankfurters who may have found what they were looking for in the States, the suspicion has always been that they were somehow seduced and made less smartless gloomy, less dialectical, less mandarin, less mitteleuropaischby their experience in the US. Witness Erich Fromm.

But Oberle refuses that argument. In a work of boundless ambition and comparable achievement, which combines close reading of familiar texts and synoptic intellectual histories that bring together unfamiliar texts, The Century of Negative Identity shows just how indebted the Frankfurt School, particularly Adorno and Horkheimer, was to its time in America.

More here.
The desert plays an outsize role in my dreams. I have only spent a few days of my life in those arid environments, but they left such an impression that when I close my eyes I see the rocks and the cracked earth again in perfect clarity. My father took me on a trip out to the American west during my teenage years, and I recall driving into Arches National Park in Utah.

We arrived in the middle of the night, the lights of our van illuminating the brick-red rock of the sandstone arcs for which the park is named. We had Televisions Marquee Moon playing on the radio, and I looked up to see more stars hanging above me than I thought possible, stars enough to drown in. Look here, junior, sang Tom Verlaine, dont you be so happy. We stopped the van and got out, and I stared into that magnificent field of darkness pricked with light, and I could say nothing at all about it. And for heavens sake, the song continued, dont you be so sad.

I had the sense even then, half my lifetime ago, that a place like that was not a place meant for more than a swift visit. Those desert parks I visited, Arches and others  Canyonlands, the Petrified Forest, Bryces Canyon  struck me as places meant only for brief pilgrimages, places meant for interlopers like myself to visit, pay respects, and leave again without inflicting any more damage than had already been done in our names.

This was a reasonable conclusion to reach: it was informed not only by my parents Paganism, but by the legal framework that surrounded those parks, the Wilderness Act of 1963, which famously defined the wilderness: in contrast with those areas where man and his works dominate the landscape, [wilderness] is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. The Wilderness Act defined the U.S. federal government as having the duty to protect those wild places (even as the government, by necessity, reshaped and reconstructed those landscapes into their current forms.)

Ive never been to Joshua Tree National Park; Ive only seen the photographs of that place and its otherworldly trees, their bark hanging down like shaggy fur and their leaves thrusting outward like spear-points. And, like many, I have looked in horror at the descriptions of how Joshua Tree National Park suffered during the recent U.S. federal government shutdown. Brittany Martin, writing for LA Magazine, describes some of the effects:

By the time the shutdown finally ended, a National Park Service survey of the damage found Joshua Trees chopped down and left on the ground, vandalism to rocks, the cutting open of chains and locks used to close the campgrounds, and the discovery that people coming into the park had driven off-road so extensively that two new vehicle pathways were cut through previously pristine desert areas.

The Joshua trees themselves are a long-lived variety, capable of surviving for centuries; however, they can also take many years to reach maturity, reaching only 45 inches in height over the course of their first twenty years. The great Joshua trees of the national park have taken, in some cases, more than a century to grow.

A deeper irony still is that our institutional approach to preserving and maintaining the landscapes Americans call wilderness is that they create the conditions by which the wilderness is destroyed. (Martin notes that the number of visitors to Joshua Tree National Park has roughly doubled in the past five years to more than three million per year.) The strain on the environment as a result of all the visitors will make any sort of recovery even more difficult than it would be under ordinary circumstances; the stress of growing vegetation in the desert becomes much more pronounced when those plants also have to deal with millions of cars and boot-prints tramping through them.

Curt Sauer, a former superintendent of Joshua Tree, gave a heartbreaking account of the damage. Whats happened to our park in the last 34 days, he said during a rally while the shutdown was still in progress, is irreparable for the next 200 to 300 years.

The situation is more heartbreaking than that, though. The idea that the damage could be repaired in 300 years is breathtakingly optimistic; to even discuss repair almost delusional.

We live in an era of apocalypse. Peter Grey identified this, and what it means for those of us who call ourselves Witches, years ago: We are living in a mass extinction event, he wrote in Rewilding Witchcraft. This is not a theory. Over half the species on earth will be extinct by 2050. Let me repeat that fact: Over half the species on earth will be extinct by 2050. We are on track to kill off 75% of life in no longer than 300 years, assuming we make it that far.

This is a bleak truth: there will be no more Joshua trees after these, not in 30 years and not in 300. They are among the latest casualties of the disaffected lives we lead under capitalism, but they will be far from the last. (We humans are certain to be added to that tally if the trajectory we are on continues.) The reckless, seemingly inexplicable vandalism of Joshua Tree National Park is only a synecdoche for the damage we inflict unthinking every day.

I realize this all sounds pessimistic, and, I am pessimistic about our chances to turn this around. The first thing we did when the park rangers werent looking was to cut down the very trees we were supposed to admire. But I am also a Witch, and that makes it necessary to find resolve despite my pessimism. As it stands, we are set to burn. Maybe its too late to avert that, but it would be foolish not to try.

One thing I do believe about our circumstances is that, if we are to survive as a species, it will only be through magick. In the photos of the toppled Joshua trees, I see a vision of what our alienation from nature has done to us: a nihlists reality where one might as well pull down a tree, not for building or burning, but simply for the pleasure of destruction without consequences. It is, to put it simply, a soulless act.

In the face of such nihilism, we must understand that we wont be saved by clever technocratic innovations, nor even by ambitious political programs like the Green New Deal. We will need to change our entire frame of reference for the relationship between humanity and the earth if we are to survive; and this, I believe, must be the center and soul of our Paganism, as well.

The Wild Hunt always welcomes submissions for our weekend section. Please send queries or completed pieces to eric@wildhunt.org.

The views and opinions expressed by our diverse panel of columnists and guest writers represent the many diverging perspectives held within the global Pagan, Heathen and polytheist communities, but do not necessarily reflect the views of The Wild Hunt Inc. or its management.
CEDAR FALLS  A Cedar Falls woman was taken to the hospital after she was found unconscious in her locked, burning home, while a locked car with two cats, pet medication and food idled outside.

Melissa Jensen, 42, was found unconscious about 20 feet from the front door of her home on Feb. 14, according to Cedar Falls Fire Chief John Bostwick. She was taken to Sartori Hospital in Cedar Falls with unspecified injuries.

Cedar Falls public safety officers and firefighters responded to a 5 p.m. call from a neighbor about a fire at 2216 Victory Drive, a single-story home.

Crews arrived to find the house door locked and had to force entry, Bostwick said. They also found a locked, idling car with two cats, pet medication and food inside, according to Bostwick.

Two PSOs and one firefighter forced their way inside and and found Jensen unconscious.

The basement took the brunt of the fire damage, said Bostwick.

The home had a pretty good fire going on, and the firefighters had to assist that person out, said Jeff Olson, Cedar Falls public safety director and police chief.

Olson said firefighters are still investigating the cause of the fire.
Eshraq Investments, the Abu Dhabi-based investment and real estate company listed on Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, has reported a net profit of Dh3 million ($816,644) for 2018 versus a net profit of Dh32.5 million ($8.84 million) the period year.

These results represent a second year of profitable operations for Eshraq under the new management, said the company in a statement.

Eshraq said its hospitality, leasing, investments and development segments contributed to the companys profits.

The Abu Dhabi groups hospitality and leasing business maintained its market leading rental yield, and occupancy rates of more than 91 per cent in 2018, outperforming its peers.

Eshraqs investment portfolio contributed finance and investment income.

On the development front, Eshraqs Marina Rise project construction is 19 per cent complete and is targeted to be ready by the second quarter of 2020.

Once ready, Marina Rise will be companys first development project to contribute to the bottom line from next year.

As a result of the slowdown in the UAE real sector and drop in asset prices, Eshraq has taken non-cash impairment on its investment properties which negatively impacted its profitability, said the company in a statement.

Eshraqs target to diversify its revenues sources worked in favour of the company in 2018 as its investment portfolio offset the impact of decline in real estate earnings.

Chairman Jassim Alseddiqi said 2018 was the year when Eshraq implemented its new vision. The efficient utilisation of Eshraqs excess cash balance helped the company to shift slowly from a pure real estate development activity to investments in real estate and Commercial assets and funds.

The new corporate identity and change of name represents a necessary step to emphasise this transformation. The effective deployment of excess cash into income generating investments helped cushion the slowdown faced in the real estate sector. Eshraq has several investment opportunities in various new sectors outside real estate, it stated.

"The enlarged scope of business activities magnifies the investment opportunities that Eshraq is now able to consider and invest in to maximize shareholders value," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
After receiving a great deal of encouragement from many fellow Democrats, I am announcing my decision to run for the Senate District 30. I did not take this decision lightly, and frankly, running for political office was the furthest thing from my mind, she wrote. ... I have agreed to run because I have a progressive voice to contribute to legislative debates about the challenges facing the Cedar Valley. This will not be an easy task. I have big shoes to fill, no doubt, but I believe I am the best candidate to ensure Senate District 30 continues to be represented by a Democrat.

The Black Hawk County Democrats released a statement thanking Danielson for his many years of service both as a firefighter and a legislator, calling him a tireless advocate for the Cedar Valley.

Since his election in 2004 Jeff has been a strong voice for the Cedar Valley and we offer him our sincere appreciation for his years of service, said Black Hawk County Chair Vikki Brown in the news release.

Danielson was in his fourth term in the Iowa Senate before his resignation and was vice president of the Cedar Falls firefighters union. Elected replacements will fill those spots.

We wish him the best in his next adventure, said Rep. Bob Kressig, one of Danielsons Cedar Valley legislative colleagues. Hell be missed.
CENTERVILLE (AP)  Ethan Landon Davis is guilty of the first-degree murder in the killing of Cedar Falls hunter Curtis Ross, an Appanoose County jury found.

Jury deliberation concluded around 4:15 p.m. Friday when jurors began entering the courtroom, according to the Daily Iowegian in Centerville.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence in Iowa. A sentencing hearing has been set for March 18.

The jury had reported Friday afternoon they were nearly deadlocked in their deliberations. They were instructed to return to those deliberations and continue their attempts at reaching an unanimous verdict.

The case against Davis, of Promise City, was turned over to the jury Thursday afternoon.

Authorities say Ross was shot 10 times with a high-powered rifle Nov. 24, 2017, stabbed more than 26 times and his neck, abdomen and legs gashed open. A sheriffs deputy found Ross naked body in a creek on public hunting grounds in Appanoose County.
The New York Yankees will have pitcher for a while after reaching an agreement with Luis Severino, the Dominican player of 24 years who will remain for four years with the team.

Both parts avoided going to arbitration with this deal that consists of a four-year $40 million deal that will grant him 40 million dollars over a four-year contract with an option for a fifth season which covers one season of free agency.

In case of the Yankees making valid the fifth year option, Severino would reach the free agency by age 29 and could earn $15 million for the extra campaign.

The most outstanding of 2018

The Dominican was one of the best pitchers of the MLB team, coming off a ninth-place finish in Cy Yong Award voting. He got 19 wins in 32 starts last season recording a 129 ERA and 4.78 strikeouts per walk summing a total of 220 strikeouts with an average fastball of 97.6 miles ph for the second year in a row.
After an absence of more than two years, the Mexican-American, Cain Velasquez will return to the UFC cage when he faces next Sunday the Cameroonian Francis-Ngannou.

Velasquez made it clear that his return is to seek the heavyweight title which he lost in June 2015 against Fabricio Werdum, in Mexico City.

Although he has been away for more than two years, due to a back injury, the 36-year-old fighter raises high expectations in his comeback.

Cain Velasquez would consider retirement.

In an interview for Yahoo Sports, Velasquez spoke about his injury and what he expects from his return to UFC.

"The injury was something extremely difficult to deal with, I was not sure what was going to happen it was bad, it's something I would say was the hardest thing I've ever physically experienced, standing for 15 minutes is probably the worst pain I've ever suffered." said the fighter.

But Velasquez still has in mind being number 1 which makes him consider retirement, in case he doesn't show a great level.

"I have a lot of confidence to go out and win this fight," Velasquez said. "I hope to go out and compete at a high level, if I can not do that, then I will not do this anymore," concluded the 36-year-old fighter.
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.
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange demonstrate in front of presidential palace regarding his Ecuadorian citizenship, in Quito, Ecuador, October 31, 2018, REUTERS/Daniel Tapia/File Photo

By Mark Hosenball

LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. investigators pursuing a long-running criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange have dug into the website's activities going back years, people who have been in contact with witnesses in the case say.

American investigators are gathering information and pursuing witnesses involved in both recent WikiLeaks disclosures and the website's large-scale postings of U.S. military and diplomatic messages over several years from 2010.

Officially, U.S. authorities have issued no public comments about the status of Wikileaks-related investigations.

But a document which U.S. authorities said was mistakenly filed in open court in an unrelated case last November alluded to a sealed U.S. criminal complaint against Assange, though the document does not provide specifics regarding which laws U.S. prosecutors believe Assange violated.

U.S. prosecutors have not officially confirmed an Assange indictment but the existence of secret charges against him also has not been explicitly denied.

A spokesman for the U.S. prosecutors office in Alexandria, Virginia declined to comment.

A source who met Assange inside the Ecuadorean Embassy said that the WikiLeaks founder believes that among the subjects upon which he suspects an American indictment would be based would be WikiLeaks' publication in March 2017 of a trove of hacking tools developed by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which WikiLeaks called "Vault 7".

Federal prosecutors in New York last year indicted a former CIA employee, Joshua Schulte, for that hack. Schulte has pleaded not guilty.

Another source in regular contact with Assange said U.S. investigators have been pursuing potential witnesses connected to earlier WikiLeaks disclosures, including the website's publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military reports related to the Afghan and Iraq wars and U.S. diplomatic cables.

Story continues

A former U.S. Army soldier, Chelsea Manning, was charged and convicted for leaking the reports and cables to WikiLeaks but was released from a lengthy prison term after her sentence was commuted by U.S. President Barack Obama.

Obama Administration officials said that the former president's administration decided not to prosecute WikiLeaks because its activities were too similar to those of the media, whose activities are protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

However, even though candidate Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign for making public documents hacked from the Democratic Party and aides to his rival Hillary Clinton, top Trump presidential aides have expressed deep hostility to WikiLeaks.

Ecuador's new president, Lenin Moreno, has expressed an interest in dislodging Assange from his country's London Embassy, where he has taken refuge since 2012. But British government sources said U.K. officials presently had no reason to believe an Ecuadorean move to throw Assange out of the London Embassy is imminent.

An Ecuadorean Embassy official in London said the Embassy had no comment.

(This story has been refiled to correct paragraph 12 U.S. election date to 2016.)

(Reporting By Mark Hosenball, Editing by William Maclean)
Author provided

In a suspension of disbelief, the countless readers who have picked up J.R.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings books have readily accepted that Ents, the ancient treelike creatures of the fictional Fangorn forest, walk, talk and even dispense wisdom for hobbits lost in the woodland they shepherd. But while our imaginations can readily accept that tree people walk around Middle Earth, it can be harder to fathom how the first creatures that lived on our own planet came into being and started moving around.

We know that the first life on Earth was in the form of microscopic single cell organisms, which have been dated back to at least 3,400 million years ago. But these creatures didnt just stay where they were and then all of a sudden start evolving into complex cells, the predecessors of plants and animals  they moved around.

Locomotion enables life to escape danger, reach new food sources and find mating partners. While complex animals walk around on legs and feet, swim with fins or fly with wings, these primitive prokaryotes (single cell organisms which dont have a nucleus) had a very different, rather bizarre, style of locomotion. In addition to amoeboid movements (in which cells move in a crawling motion), researchers have found that prokaryotes tumble, swarm, and glide.

Until recently, scientists believed that the first credible and abundant traces of locomotion associated with macroscopic life only appeared relatively recently in the geological record, around 600 million years ago. But now our team of international scientists has found evidence that sets a new upper boundary to when complex eukaryotic-like locomotion first appeared on Earth.

As detailed in our newly published paper, what we found shows that previous examples of mobility were not the first on the planet. In fact, we have found proof of locomotion on Earth 2.1 billion years ago  much further back than previous evidence of single cell organisms alone, let alone their movement.

Story continues

Moving the time frame

The type of movement we found was more than just a single cell going it alone. In rocks from Gabon, West Africa, we found fossilised burrows which suggest a cluster of single eukaryotic cells came together to form a slug-like multicellular organism. Alongside these burrows, which are just a few millimetres in diameter, we also found fossilised microbial mats (communities of microbes), which we think the organism that produced the trails may have fed on.

After analysing these burrows and trails with sophisticated x-ray imaging techniques, together with biological and chemical characterisation of isotopes of sulphur, and mineralogical information captured in the trace fossils, we concluded that they were produced by an object that was moving through preformed seafloor sediments, and that this object was biological in origin. These primitive creatures probably went about their business in the same way slime moulds  unrelated eukaryotic organisms that live together as a mass  do today, coming together to push through the sediments of an oxygenated inland coastal sea.

So what does this mean for our understanding of life on Earth? Oxygen first appeared permanently in the atmosphere around 2,450 million years ago. It is believed that some time after 2,100 million years ago, for reasons that are still unclear, atmospheric oxygen content began to fall below the level needed to sustain the successful development of complex life forms. Then, around 635 million years ago, oxygen began to take a reverse turn and rose again in the atmosphere. Intriguingly, this second rise in atmospheric oxygen content coincides with the first widespread and unambiguous appearance of complex animals.

Around this time, similar locomotive traces like those reported in our paper appeared in oxygenated seafloor sediments. These remained a permanent fixture and can be found in modern marine sediments, where they are linked to the movements of complex diverse eukaryotic organisms.

The question now is whether the trails and burrows we found from 2,100 million years ago are lifes first failed experimentation at locomotion at a complex level. If so, this may also be indicative of the fact that the decline in atmospheric oxygen content could have accounted for why it took hundreds of millions of years for complex animal life to emerge after the first rise in atmospheric oxygen content.

If this is true, then it may be pointing us to the fact that the appearance of sufficient oxygen in the atmosphere after 635 million years ago may have spurred and supported the large-scale emergence and radiation of complex life to ecological dominance.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Ernest Chi Fru receives funding from European Research Council.
Nigel Dodds made the comment as he addressed his party's spring conference in Omagh, Co Tyrone.

No Brexit deal is better than a bad deal, a leading Democratic Unionist MP has told his party conference.

Nigel Dodds was speaking just days after MPs voted down Prime Minister Theresa Mays approach to the Brexit talks.

MPs voted by 303 to 258 against a motion endorsing the governments negotiating strategy.

To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so.

With just over 40 days to go until the United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union, the DUP deputy leader said Mrs May will have their support if necessary changes are made to the backstop.

He told his partys spring conference in Omagh, Co Tyrone, that they want a Brexit deal, but we are very clear that a no-deal is better than a bad deal.

As we leave the EU  for us the guiding star is the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, he said.

To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so.

We will do nothing to undermine that Union.

The only way to a majority in the House of Commons is with DUP votes. With necessary changes to the backstop, the Prime Minister will have our support.

In her speech to the conference, Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster said her party will say no when the deal is not suitable, but will also not be afraid to yes when the deal is right.

We will measure any new draft Withdrawal Agreement against our own tests of both protecting the Union and respecting the referendum result, she said.

Mrs Foster added: We must work for a sensible deal which works for every part of the United Kingdom.
Nadav Lapid's partially autobiographical and biting social comedy is an antidote to excessive negative emotion, including nationalism. With a note of sincere joy in her voice, French actress Juliette Binoche announced the prize for the film's producer Said Ben Said, stressing it was a French-Israeli and German co-production. Ben Said let director Nadav Lapid take the centre stage to give all the thanks. Lapid paid special tribute to his co-writer father and late mother Era who had also been his film editor.To his lead actor, Tom Mercier, he said, "thanks to the face and body of this film. He's a real miracle that happened to me."A good day for French cinemaOne of the most robust of European cinema industries, the French were rewarded for their efforts towards preserving their cultural difference with greater state-support for film production for example.Lapid's film topped the bill, but Francois Ozon's Grace a Dieu, By the Grace of God, a film about paedophilia in the priesthood, won the Grand Jury prize. A court is set to rule on Monday whether the film can be released in France next week or not. The lawyer of a priest who is awaiting a trial in real-life is seeking an injunction until a ruling in his client's case.Not a Bear from the Berlinale itself, but a cylindrical glass and metal trophy, is awarded by sponsor Glashutte Original for the best documentary. France, along with Chad, Sudan, Germany and Qatar co-produced Suhaib Gasmelbari's first feature, Talking About Trees, which was being talked about by many during the festival.Gasmelbari dedicated his award to the people who have been in street protests in Sudan since December last year.A clear Chinese Double WinWang Xiaoshuai's Di Jiu Tian Chang, So Long My Son, a moving story about paternity set against a background of Chinese social history from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, received two prizes: Best Actor for Wang Jingchun and Best Actress for Yong Mei.Wang Jingchun had a special word of appreciation for his director. "In particularly trying circumstances we were able to film such a great work of art that sheds light on the life Chinese people have today." He also dedicated his prize to his daughter who'd "shown me how beautiful it is to be a father".A Chinese PuzzleIn a statement before announcing the winners, Binoche expressed the Berlinale International Jury's regret over not being able to consider Chinese director Zhang Yimou's Di Yi Miao Zhong (One Second) for awards. The film had been withdrawn at the last minute.The film and Zhang gained prominence, if not a Bear Award, and Binoche's statement drew resounding applause."Since winning the Golden Bear 31 years ago for his first film Red Sorghum, director Zhang has been an essential voice in international cinema. We need artists who help us make sense of our history and emotions. One second of art in a film can be a true transformation in our lives and in minds. Cinema can do that. We hope to see it on screens around the world very soon, and we deeply missed this film at the Berlinale."The other five members of the jury on whose behalf she spoke were Rajendra Roy, the Chief Curator of the Moma in New York, UK producer Trudie Styler, German actress Sandra Huller along with director Sebastian Lelio from Chile and US film critic Justin Chang.The Golden and Silver Bear Awards 2019 * Golden Bear for Best Film - Synonymes by Nadav Lapid * Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize - Grace a Dieu (By the Grace of God) by Francois Ozon * Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize (most ground-breaking film) - Systemsprenger (System Crasher) by Nora Fingscheidt * Silver Bear for Best Director - Angela Schanelec for Ich war zuhause, aber (I Was at Home, But) * Silver Bear for Best Actress - Yong Mei in Di Jiu Tian Chang (So Long, My Son) by Wang Xiaoshuai * Silver Bear for Best Actor - Wang Jingchun in Di Jiu Tian Chang (So Long, My Son) by Wang Xiaoshuai * Silver Bear for Best Screenplay - Maurizio Braucci, Claudio Giovannesi and Roberto Saviano for La paranza dei bambini (Piranhas) directed by Claudio Giovannesi * Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution - Rasmus Videbk for cinematography in Ut og stjle hester (Out Stealing Horses) by Hans Petter Moland. * Golden Bear for Best Short Film - Umbra by Florian Fischer and Johannes Krell * Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film - Blue Boy by Manuel Abramovich * Best documentary sponspored award, Glashutte Original - Talking About Trees by Suhaib Gasmelbari in the Panorama section.

Nadav Lapid's partially autobiographical and biting social comedy is an antidote to excessive negative emotion, including nationalism.

With a note of sincere joy in her voice, French actress Juliette Binoche announced the prize for the film's producer Said Ben Said, stressing it was a French-Israeli and German co-production. Ben Said let director Nadav Lapid take the centre stage to give all the thanks. Lapid paid special tribute to his co-writer father and late mother Era who had also been his film editor.

To his lead actor, Tom Mercier, he said, "thanks to the face and body of this film. He's a real miracle that happened to me."

A good day for French cinema

One of the most robust of European cinema industries, the French were rewarded for their efforts towards preserving their cultural difference with greater state-support for film production for example.

Lapid's film topped the bill, but Francois Ozon's Grace a Dieu, By the Grace of God, a film about paedophilia in the priesthood, won the Grand Jury prize. A court is set to rule on Monday whether the film can be released in France next week or not. The lawyer of a priest who is awaiting a trial in real-life is seeking an injunction until a ruling in his client's case.

Not a Bear from the Berlinale itself, but a cylindrical glass and metal trophy, is awarded by sponsor Glashutte Original for the best documentary. France, along with Chad, Sudan, Germany and Qatar co-produced Suhaib Gasmelbari's first feature, Talking About Trees, which was being talked about by many during the festival.

Gasmelbari dedicated his award to the people who have been in street protests in Sudan since December last year.

A clear Chinese Double Win

Wang Xiaoshuai's Di Jiu Tian Chang, So Long My Son, a moving story about paternity set against a background of Chinese social history from the mid-1960s to mid-1980s, received two prizes: Best Actor for Wang Jingchun and Best Actress for Yong Mei.

Story continues

Wang Jingchun had a special word of appreciation for his director. "In particularly trying circumstances we were able to film such a great work of art that sheds light on the life Chinese people have today." He also dedicated his prize to his daughter who'd "shown me how beautiful it is to be a father".

A Chinese Puzzle

In a statement before announcing the winners, Binoche expressed the Berlinale International Jury's regret over not being able to consider Chinese director Zhang Yimou's Di Yi Miao Zhong (One Second) for awards. The film had been withdrawn at the last minute.

The film and Zhang gained prominence, if not a Bear Award, and Binoche's statement drew resounding applause.

"Since winning the Golden Bear 31 years ago for his first film Red Sorghum, director Zhang has been an essential voice in international cinema. We need artists who help us make sense of our history and emotions. One second of art in a film can be a true transformation in our lives and in minds. Cinema can do that. We hope to see it on screens around the world very soon, and we deeply missed this film at the Berlinale."

The other five members of the jury on whose behalf she spoke were Rajendra Roy, the Chief Curator of the Moma in New York, UK producer Trudie Styler, German actress Sandra Huller along with director Sebastian Lelio from Chile and US film critic Justin Chang.

The Golden and Silver Bear Awards 2019
Tourists have been barred from Mount Everest's base camp in Tibet because of the amount of rubbish being dumped.

The move by China, which will not affect climbers with permits, comes in the face of rising visitor numbers.

Latest figures show that more than 40,000 people travelled to the site in 2015.

Unlike the Nepalese camp, which can only be reached on foot after a trek of nearly two weeks, the Chinese base at 5,200m (17,060ft) is popular as it can be accessed by car.

Tang Wu of the tourism commission told Chinese media: "The key area (of the reserve) will be closed for tourism for an indefinite period, mainly for ecological conservation."

The ban means tourists are only allowed to go as far as a monastery a short distance below the camp.

Refuse being left has been a growing problem on the world's highest peak, with the temperature and high altitude hampering clean-up efforts.

According to the Tibetan authorities, workers had collected more than 300 tons of rubbish from the mountain last year.

The camp will still be open to mountaineers scaling the 8,848m (29,029ft) peak, although the authorities recently announced the number of permits would be limited to 300 each year.
FILE In this Jan. 13, 2019 file photo, French far-right leader Marine le Pen arrives for a campaign meeting in Paris. Where once she felt isolated, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen feels she is now part of a crowd, populist parties on the rise around Europe that can make new inroads in European elections less than 100 days away _ and start to restructure the EU from within. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)

NANTERRE, France (AP)  Where once she felt isolated, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen feels she is now part of a crowd of populist parties on the rise around Europe that she thinks can make new inroads in European elections less than 100 days away  and start restructuring the EU from within.

"Things have changed a lot," Le Pen said Friday at a news conference. "We are no longer isolated at all on the European scene."

She noted that parties of the same ilk as her renamed National Rally are now holding or sharing power, from the League in Italy, which is part of the government, to Austria with its far-right chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.

She made no mention of U.S. President Donald Trump whose victory fueled her own battle for the French presidency in 2017 when she often invoked his name. She lost by a landslide in the runoff to upstart centrist Emmanuel Macron, and derides him, still, as the symbol of what she is fighting  a system that sacrifices national sovereignty, borders and identity for a globalized world.

Steve Bannon, the former chief White House strategist who played a central role in Trump's 2016 campaign, is looking to boost far-right parties in Europe. However, his foundation, The Movement, which Le Pen described as a think tank to discuss larger issues  not an electoral advice platform  has yet to schedule an event, she said. Bannon made a surprise appearance at a major rally last year of Le Pen's party and she said they remain in touch.

Bannon has pointed to the Italian interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini  a longstanding ally of Le Pen  as the future of European politics.

"Today, Europe has taken a turn," Le Pen said, claiming that "we can legitimately envision today to change Europe from inside, to modify the very nature of the European Union, because we consider ourselves powerful enough."

Le Pen was the first French political leader to open the campaign for the European Parliament election, held May 26 in France, the last day of four days of voting across the 27 EU countries, one less after Britain leaves the EU on March 29. She has hit the campaign trail with the "very clear" idea: "The EU is killing Europe."

Story continues

Her party, then called the National Front, was victorious in the 2014 election, winning 23 parliamentary seats, more than any other French party. She hopes to do better this year, along with other "patriotic" parties and build what she calls a "European alliance of nations" that respectfully cooperate.

Speaking to the Anglo-American Press Association, she predicted better results this year for her party and for European allies.

The French political landscape is recomposing itself, she noted, with the near-collapse of the Socialists and dwindling support of the mainstream conservatives, and the rise of Macron from the sidelines to the center of power.

Until recently, polls have given Le Pen's party a lead over Macron. However, a January sounding by the Ifop firm put Macron ahead, despite a deep crisis triggered by the yellow vest protest movement seeking a voice for have-nots, and fairer fiscal burden-sharing.

Le Pen would doubtless like votes from the yellow vests, but conceded that "I know nothing" about protesters' voter intentions, and said some may vote for her, and some for her archrival, far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, and others will likely abstain.
French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume attends an interview with Reuters in Paris, February 14, 2019. Picture taken February 14, 2019. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

By Gus Trompiz and Sybille de La Hamaide

PARIS (Reuters) - France will be ready to handle border inspections in the event of a no-deal Brexit but fears long tailbacks at the Channel as goods flow between Britain and Europe, its agriculture minister said.

Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29, but Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to secure parliamentary approval for a divorce deal agreed with the EU last year.

May suffered another defeat in parliament over her Brexit strategy on Thursday, and France's European affairs minister said Britain should "hurry up" and decide on its withdrawal terms.

France is the EU's biggest agricultural producer and exports large amounts of wine, spirits and dairy products to Britain, while relying on its neighbour's waters to sustain its fishing industry.

Following the launch of a 50-million-euro (43.7 million) no-deal Brexit plan in January, the French government has established large inspection zones at ports and recruited extra personnel, including 80 food safety inspectors, Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said.

"France is genuinely ready to carry out checks and guarantee food safety in this country," Guillaume told Reuters.

"The main traffic jam we fear is at the exit of the Channel Tunnel," he said, stressing that 80 percent of British food exports to the rest of the EU pass through France.

Businesses have been warning of long tailbacks for lorries transporting goods between Britain and mainland Europe, and the British government said last week most goods from the EU will be allowed into Britain without full customs checks for at least three months if there is no Brexit deal.

Guillaume said France would focus on checking documents rather than inspecting goods in order to get lorries quickly through freight "corridors" being set up at French ports.

"We're not going to check everything because the British are not going to send us totally rotten produce, there is trust," he said. "This is not war."

Story continues

He dismissed fears in the farming world of a repeat of disruption caused by a Russian embargo on Western food in 2014 - which prompted the EU to grant 1 billion euros in aid to the dairy, fruit and vegetable sectors.

But he repeated French calls for Britain not to close its territorial fishing waters if it leaves the EU without an agreement.

"That would be an unacceptable retaliatory measure," he said.

Fishing rights were a flashpoint between Britain and France last year when fishermen clashed in the Baie de Seine area of the Channel over access to scallop-rich waters.

(Reporting by Gus Trompiz, Sybille de La Hamaide, Richard Lough and Johnny Cotton; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
Arlene Foster has warned Sinn Fein that the restoration of devolution is no game.

The Democratic Unionist leader blamed Sinn Fein for the continued lack of self-government in Northern Ireland more than two years after the powersharing institutions collapsed in January 2017.

Mrs Foster made the comment while speaking to her partys Spring conference in Omagh on Saturday.

To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so.

It came less than 24 hours after the five local parties met with the British and Irish governments to discuss the resumption of political talks to revive Stormont.

There has not been a functioning devolved government in Northern Ireland since January 2017 following a breakdown in relations between the DUP and Sinn Fein over a botched green energy scheme.

The wrangle over the renewable heat incentive (RHI) was soon overtaken by disputes over the Irish language, the regions ban on same-sex marriage and the toxic legacy of the Troubles.

Numerous attempts at talks to resolve the impasse have been unsuccessful.

Northern Ireland has been without devolved government for two years. (Niall Carson/PA)

Following the talks on Friday, Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald dismissed the efforts as a sham.

The two governments are expected to produce proposals to restart the talks process.

On Saturday, Mrs Foster accused Sinn Fein of engaging in the politics of ransom.

Two years ago Sinn Fein walked out of the Northern Ireland Executive. After the subsequent election in March 2017, Sinn Fein refused to enter the Executive or the Assembly until their shopping list of demands was ticked off, she said, describing it as the politics of ransom and also careless pointing to how major decisions have been left to senior civil servants.

The restoration of Stormont should not be about political brinkmanship or about party advantage. It should be about people.

Sinn Fein slammed Fridays talks as a sham (David Young/PA)

Whether it is contracts not being awarded, reforms not being implemented or new laws not being passed  be in no doubt our constituents are feeling the pain. It cannot go on.

Story continues

Four of the five parties in Northern Ireland are ready to move on and restore the Assembly.

One party stands as the blockage.

I warn Sinn Fein today from this platform: this is no game.

Whatever your demands about the Irish language, they do not trump the genuine and heartfelt demands of the good people up and down this country.

Mrs Foster also made reference to the RHI scandal which has seen her party face questions and criticism over the role of its ministers and special advisers.

To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here to do so.

The renewable health incentive scheme was set up in 2012 to boost uptake of eco-friendly heat systems.

But huge subsidies left NI taxpayers with a 490 million bill.

An inquiry set up to examine what went wrong completed its public hearings last year, and is yet to publish its findings.

Mrs Foster said in the RHI Inquiry hearings, there were lessons for us all.

I have already apologised personally for mistakes on my part and corporately for mistakes made by the party, she said.

The way of doing business can  and must  be changed.

We are committed to that, but Sinn Fein still hold out narrow party political demands.

Michelle ONeill hit back at Mrs Fosters comments (Liam McBurney/PA)

Sinn Fein deputy leader Michelle ONeill hit back at Mrs Fosters comments.

Sinn Fein wants to see the removal of the major obstacles to restoring the political institutions, an end to the denial of rights and the full implementation of the Good Friday and subsequent agreements, she said.

The people deserve good government which has integrity and an end to the DUPs financial scandals. It is shameful that the DUP leadership continues to set its face against achieving this.

Sinn Fein has made clear the issues which need to be resolved are not going away.

It is the responsibility of government to protect the rights of citizens not to facilitate the denial of rights.

We want an Assembly which operates differently from what has gone before, to usher in a new kind of politics, which is progressive, respectful, and has integrity.

Given there is no evidence of any change to the DUP positions on these matters, the two governments must set out how they deliver the rights of Irish speakers, the rights of women and the LGBT community and implement the legacy structures.
But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)
This Nov. 24, 2017 photo released by the Brazos County Sheriff's Office shows Dabrett Montreal Black who was charged Friday, Nov. 24, 2017, with capital murder of Trooper Damon Allen during a Thanksgiving Day traffic stop in East Texas. (Brazos County Sheriff's Office via AP)
If The Heights becomes a legacy of Michelle Guthries abrupt term helming ABC, it may serve as a sign of what could have been.

Produced in mid-2018, this ambitious project is a 30 episode serial drama filmed in Perth that ticks every diversity box on the list. And the good news: it holds up as an engaging slice of life.

It is multi-generational without teeny romance, picture perfect backyards or serial stalkers dominating the screen. But there is an abandoned baby left outside Arcadia Towers that ripples through this mostly working class community.

The towers, an eyesore housing commission building in inner Perth, are home to a cluster of neighbours surrounded by a nearby pub, Asian grocery, high school, and local hospital. The principal characters are predominantly resident in the towers or working nearby. The opening episode does an admirable job of introducing many of them, if somewhat overwhelming for viewers. But The Heights also drops us into its forward-moving world and asks us to keep up.

Marcus Graham plays retired ex-cop Pav a down to earth dad separated from lawyer Leonie (Sharri Sebbens) and his Indigenous teens Mich (Calen Tassone) and Kit (Siria Kickett). Its Pav who finds an abandoned baby in the opening episode whom he rushes to the hospital where ER doctor Claudia (Roz Hammond) works. Claudia is single mum to daughter Sabine (Bridie McKim) whose cerebral palsy is refreshingly incidental to her place as a growing teen with needs and desires.

Hard yakka publican Hazel (Fiona Press) is calling last drinks on the pub her late father used to run, and looks ahead to retirement. But estranged son Ryan (Mitchel Bourke) returns home for the funeral, and the two do not see eye to eye.

Uni student Sully (Koa Nuen) is drawn to Iranian refugee Ash Jafari (Phoenix Raei) but while Sullys mother Iris (Carina Hoang), who runs the local shop, is supportive of his sexuality, its a much bigger issue for the Jafari family and their Muslim faith.

The Heights also features maintenance man Mark (Dan Paris) and his family of 4, Indigenous elder Uncle Max (Kelton Pell) and several supporting players.

Writers Warren Clarke and Que Minh Luu have crafted an authentic, likeable, modern melting pot that is chockful of new faces and a contrast to commercial soaps. The tone of the show is more earthy -and dare I say, more British- than the aspirational Ramsay Street or Summer Bay blueprints. Giving it a Perth backdrop is an added bonus, whether from its cityscapes and spartan beaches to corner shops and local parks.

Embedding its clear diversity charter into the story as part of the fabric, rather than highlighting for drama, on the whole works well.

The biggest concern centres not around the content but the programming of a 30 minute serial as double episodes in an 8:30 slot. Traditionally a slot for crime and international dramas, this is a nonsense move by ABC and I fear detrimental to the mission. The Heights biggest challenge will be finding the audience it was intended for.

Hopefully that isnt as tall as its towers.

The Heights dbl airs 8:30pm Friday on ABC.

Related
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has received complaints about content in Married At First Sight, prompting Nine to re-edit the show for Sundays PG timeslot.

Last Sundays episode drew a fierce reaction after a heated discussion, extra-warnings and heavy censoring. Media reports later referred to use of the C-word in the show, but it never aired in the broadcast. There are reports Nine boss Hugh Marks called a meeting over the show.

While weeknight editions fall into an M timeslot, Sundays earlier broadcast at 7pm is classified as PG.

It is true we have decided to pull back some editing, mostly though to do with Sunday night because of the PG rating,executive producer John Walsh told the Daily Telegraph.

There has been a lot of discussion around the (swearing) and how we deal with that. There was a lot of thought given to how much of that we showed. There was a robust internal discussion about that.

A Nine representative said the network would continue to monitor the content.

This show is still in post-production, and any production company who works with us know we are very hands on and are continuing to evolve storylines until the show goes to air, a spokeswoman said.

Complaints to ACMA have been referred back to Nine.

Related


A BBC correspondent in Syria has proved, after a six-month investigation, that the horrific pictures of dying children in Douma, following the alleged Syrian government sarin gas attack, were staged and no such attack occurred. Riam Dalati, a well-known BBC producer shocked his followers this week when he reported that a thorough investigation showed that Syrian-based jihadists had faked the sarin claims to provoke a Western military retaliation against the Syrian government.

The faked sarin attack allegedly took place on April 7, 2018. Groups like the jihadist-allied White Helmets claimed that 70 civilians had been killed in the sarin attack, conducted by the Syrian Arab Army. Russia and Syria immediately denied that the sarin attack occurred, and accused British Intelligence of staging the incident to induce a military action against the Syrian government. On April 14, 2018, US, British and French air strikes on Damascus took place "in retaliation" for the sarin attack. The military actions were taken before inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) could inspect the site and issue their findings.

As Dalati reported, OPCW inspectors found no evidence of sarin. Dalati was blunt in his tweet: "After almost six months of investigations, I can prove without a doubt that the Douma Hospital scene was staged."

Dalati's report has been systematically suppressed by the MSM (no surprise), and even BBC has attempted to walk back from his report. Zero Hedge picked up on Dalati's tweets and otherwise, it was the Russian media--RT and Sputnik News--that gave the only coverage.

SST was on the case from day one in April 2018--voicing skepticism and raising strategic questions: Why, in the face of military victories against jihadist forces, would the Assad government conduct such an unnecessary attack, sure to provoke international reaction and likely military retaliation? SST noted the fact that the OPCW inspectors found no evidence of sarin.

The fact that it took almost a year for one intrepid BBC producer to come out publicly with what readers of SST knew from the outset is shameful. MSM is the purveyor of fake news, which includes suppression of real news when it contradicts the meme of the hour. And by the way, SST has also been reporting for years that White Helmets are, indeed, a front for British Intelligence--founded by a retired British Army Colonel, financed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.
A leading hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has performed a successful robot-assisted surgery to remove a patients brain tumor using the Modus V digital microscope, marking the first time the device was used in an operation in Asia.

The brain surgery was performed on Friday by doctors at the 115 General Hospital in District 10 with support from Prof. Amin Kassam, vice president of the U.S.-based Aurora Neuroscience Innovation Institute.

The neurosurgery was performed using Modus V, a fully-automated, hands-free, robotically-controlled digital microscope developed by Toronto-based Sypnaptive Medical Inc.

The robot is equipped with advanced visualization that supports a wide range of surgical approaches and workflows, according to its developer.

The Modus V digital microscope is seen in this photo on the website of Sypnaptive Medical

Dr. Nguyen Van Bau, director of the 115 General Hospital, said the hospital had prepared for the historic surgery for years by sending medical experts abroad to be trained on operating the complex surgical robot.

The successful operation is a stepping stone for the hospital to continue performing more complex neurosurgeries [using robots], Dr. Bau said.

The patient was a 67-year-old woman from the southern province of Tay Ninh who was hospitalized with migraine, difficulty articulating, and weakened right limbs.

She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was fit to undergo the first robotically assisted brain surgery performed at the hospital.

The operation lasted for one and a half hours, much shorter than the normal four-hour surgery without the assistance of the surgical robot.

We had had a chance to operate the robot on real human bodies [during our training] in the U.S. and Switzerland], so we are confident with the technique, said Dr. Chu Tan Si, the lead surgeon.

The patient survived the operation with almost no damage done to adjacent brain structures and is recovering well, doctors say.

According to Dr. Amin Kassam, the Modus V robot has been used in neurosurgical operations in the U.S and Canada since 2015.

The 115 General Hospital is the first medical institution in Vietnam and Asia to successfully operate the robot in an actual neurosurgery, he said.

The Ho Chi Minh City hospital reportedly invested VND54 billion (US$2.3 million) in the robotic system and will hand out free operations to the first ten patients to undergo robot-assisted neurosurgeries.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Two foreign nationals died in separate incidents while they were exploring attractions with other foreign tourists in central Vietnam on Friday.

Bandian Luisito Eusebio, 55, was visiting the special national relic of Hien Luong Bridge - Ben Hai River in Quang Tri Provinces Vinh Linh District with a group of international holidaymakers at around 10:40 am when the fellow visitors noticed some abnormal signs from him.

The Filipino mans face got pale and he soon lost consciousness, according to eyewitnesses. Just minutes later he was declared dead right on the grounds of the historical site.

Vinh Linh police immediately came to the scene for examination.

The body of the deceased Filipino was taken back home as per the regulations, while the cause of his death remains undisclosed.

The group of tourists that traveled with him had reportedly visited other destinations in Hanoi, Ha Long Bay in northern province of Quang Ninh, and Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park in the north-central province of Quang Binh before coming to Quang Tri.

Following his sudden death, the other holidaymakers continued their journey to Hue, the capital of the neighboring province of Thua Thien - Hue.

The scene where a Filipino tourist suddenly died in Quang Tri, central Vietnam, on February 15, 2019. Photo: H.T / Tuoi Tre

Later the same day, a foreign woman died while her companions were rushed to hospital for emergency treatment after their two motorbikes collided with a trailer tractor in the central-province of Quang Nam at around 2:30pm.

It was not immediately clear what the nationality of the group of foreign travelers is. The tourists were traveling on two motorbikes rent in Quang Nam.

The trailer tractor was controlled by Vietnamese man Ho Nguyen Hoai Linh, 49, hailing from the central city of Da Nang.

The truck was heading northward when it rear-ended the motorbikes, according to police.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A 22-year-old woman in Vietnam who has fought cancer for six years has registered to donate her corneas as a final act of kindness.

Pham Thi Hue, from the northern province of Thai Binh, has been living with liver cancer for six years.

Though exhausted by the deadly disease which has developed into its final stage, Hue on Tuesday traveled with her mother from their hometown to Hanoi to register to become an organ donor.

Dang Hoang Giang, a social activist and author who is known for his works to support cancer patients in Vietnam, said he could feel his heart beat faster and his hands shaking when he received a text massage from Hue asking for directions to become an organ donor.

When we were in a small room at the National Coordinating Center for Human Organ Transplantation located inside the Vietnam-Germany Hospital, Hue asked which organs she was eligible to donate, Giang recalls accompanying Hue and her mother through the registration steps.

In the end, Hue chose to donate her corneas, the only part of her body that are not affected by her chemical cancer treatments.

Carefully putting Hues donors card away after locating the phone number they need to call when the time comes, the mother and daughter went for a check-up to see if a surgery could be performed to remove a growing tumor that has made Hues belly look like that of a six-month-pregnant woman.

The removal would play no meaning in reversing the development of her cancer, but at least it would help relieve the pain thats been torturing the young woman, Giang said.

The doctor prescribed her with some medicine and told her to go home, as theres little that can be done at that stage of her disease.

The pair left for their hometown the day after.

It could be the last time Hue saw Hanoi, where she had lived a large part of her youth.

Hue was in her high school freshman year when she was diagnosed with liver cancer.

The disease didnt stop Hue from finishing high school and getting admitted into the university of her dream in Hanoi, where she continued to pursue a bachelors degree in food science despite her cancer.

During her days spent at the Vietnam National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi, Hue met and fell in love with Duong Tuan Anh, who is also a cancer patient.

Anh passed away at the age of 22.

A documentary on her life and love story, Hay nho minh dang song (Remember youre living), has inspired cancer patients in Vietnam to live a meaningful life.

For the last six months of 2018, Hue was one of the actors for a short play called Memento Mori (Remember youll die), which is inspired by stories of cancer patients in Vietnam.

It was said in the documentary about Hue that one cannot choose the circumstances into which we are born, but we can choose how we face those circumstances.

Hue has chosen to live a special life, and she intends to give it her absolute best even after shes gone.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
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.
Herere todays leading news stories

Politics

-- Pham Binh Minh, Vietnams Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Friday sent a message of condolences to Indian Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj over a terror attack in Pulwama District of Jammu and Kashmir State.

Society

-- Sporadic rain is in the forecast for the mountainous region in northern Vietnam while there may be heavy rains in places in north-eastern provinces for one or two days, starting from today, Feb 16.

-- A foreign woman died while her companions were rushed to hospital for emergency treatment after their motorbike collided with a trailer tractor in the central province of Quang Nam on Friday. The nationality of the group of foreign travelers was not identified.

-- The tourism department of the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong has ordered the management of the Bidoup - Nui Ba National Park to stop selling tickets to visitors to the Lonely Pine Tree, one of the most popular newly-emerged must-visit places in the localitys capital city of Da Lat  which the park claimed as its property, saying the park doing so without its approval.

-- The result of an examination on the abnormal color changing of seawater at the coast of the central city of Da Nang, which was released on Friday, showed that two environmental parameters, namely Ammonium and Sulfide, exceeded the permissible limits.

-- A fuel truck was traveling on National Highway 22 through Trang Bang District in the southern province of Tay Ninh on Friday afternoon when it crashed into the media strip and burst into fire. Fortunately, the newly filled tank did not explode and the incident caused no casualties but a traffic congestion.

Business

-- The domestic air route connecting Vinh, the capital of the north-central Vietnamese province of Nghe An, and the central city of Da Nang was re-opened on Friday, with the frequency of seven flights per week, after it had been temporarily shut down due to low demand following its first launch in 2012.

-- The site expected to house a major iron and steel factory in the northern province of Thai Nguyen remains an area of rusty works after 12 years of constrution, despite an VND8.1-trillion (US$348.3 million) expansion, state inspectors have said as they announced results of an inspection into multiple wrongdoings at the project.

Education

-- Indonesian Ambassador to Vietnam Ibnu Hadi and Pham Quang Minh, Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) of the Vietnam National University-Hanoi, on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding on teaching the Indonesian language at the Vietnamese university.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
In January 2019, nearly 800 wish treats were delivered to children undergoing cancer treatment at hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi following a campaign known as Uoc mo cua Thuy (Thuys Dream).

The campaign, a joint effort by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and the Vietnam Youth Union in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, was launched 11 years ago in commemoration of Le Thanh Thuy, a young girl who tragically lost her battle with cancer.

Born in 1988, Thuy was first diagnosed with cancer just before high school, and relentlessly combatted the disease until she passed away in 2007.

During her time at the hospital, the bed-ridden girl organized activities geared toward cancer patients, such as charity events during the mid-autumn festival, or delivering presents to cancer kids in Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital and Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Traumatoloy and Orthopaedics.

Following her lead, current volunteers in the campaign make sure the sick children get exactly what they wish for, be it a teddy bear, a toy car, an RC robot, or a mini electronic keyboard.

Philanthropists from across Vietnam contribute to the cause so that every single wish that the children put on the list can come true.

Aware that such wishes can be costly, certain parents do not let their kids file a wish too huge.

A parent approached the volunteers and said: My kid Thanh Dat put down a bicycle on the list the last time. But Im afraid thats too big to be granted.

She timidly continued: Can we change it to a pair of sandals? Size 42. Please help me on this.

Though many children get their gifts, the campaigners feel there is much left to be desired, as it is impossible to deal with the turnover of these sick children.

With such a fluctuating number of hospitalized kids in mind, To Oanh - supervisor of the campaign Uoc mo cua Thuy - says: We have to stick to the rules.

We need to make sure that once the list of wishes is done, all the kids will get what they want.

Surely, the newly admitted children get upset seeing their peers unwrapping presents right next ward.

But the list has to be finalized.

The common room at Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital is a place where children expect their gifts. Photo: Uyen Trinh / Tuoi Tre.

The gifts arrive

It may not be Christmas, but Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital got a January afternoon visit by a group of Santa Claus.

The little patients could not hold their eagerness as they saw Superman toy figurines and RC toy cars come flooding in.

Le Thi Tuyet Nhung, head of the delivery team, led the two philanthropists and volunteers across the hospital halls with huge plastic bags full of colorful presents.

As she called out their names, kids and parents alike lined up, eager to see if they would receive their presents.

Maam, will my kid get his gift today?

My kid put down his wish the other day. Will he get it now?

Maam, can we make a wish now?

The common room at Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital is a place where children expect their gifts. Photo: Uyen Trinh / Tuoi Tre.

All this happened in a common room which had become a favorite gathering spot of the cancer children, not just for their learning, but for fun and gifts too.

Ten-year-old Pham Thi Anh Thu was suffering from a nasal cavity tumor. She was observing from outside the glass door.

Will Anh Thu get a present today? her mother asked.

Knowing all the kids here by name, Nhung ran a check, but was sad to find out that Thu was nowhere to be found.

Seven-year-old Nhat Huy was quick to reply as he heard his room number hailed.

Mam, I am from room 08.

But the gift was not for him, as he did not make the December 2018 list.

His eyes saddened, but soon brightened up when he was called out to write down his wish.

I want a robot, Huy murmured.

Volunteers dressed up as Santa Claus visit cancer children as part of Uoc mo cua Thuy campaign. Photo: Uyen Trinh / Tuoi Tre

The dream lives on

The Santa act for children at the hospitals never seems to stop, especially for Nhung.

She has been on the job for nearly a year, and has done well in coordinating volunteers and getting presents.

There are nearly 300 cancer kids at Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital. We can manage to get around 270 wish gifts, she says.

That is a lot of hard work as we have to reach more philanthropists. The original list was not that long.

Nhung also makes use of the social media. She will post requests on Facebook if presents are running out, all to ensure as many kids get theirs as possible.

There were times when she refused to add to the list lest she would not be able to make it, but somehow she managed to find extra helping hands.

Uoc mo cua Thuy - the call for love for those poor little children - has been continuously spreading far and wide for the last 11 years.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
Nguyen The Hoang, an acclaimed orthopedist whose practical skills and academic knowledge have earned him two teaching offers from a prestigious German university, chooses to devote his talents to Vietnamese patients.

Hoang is now vice medical director of 108 Military Central Hospital, a renowned medical facility in Hanoi known for successfully conducting orthopedic surgeries that had never been attempted in Vietnam.

Saying no to no cases

Tran Duc Lam, a resident of the northern city of Hai Phong, thought he had lost any chances of living a normal life after a traffic accident at age seven.

Though countless hospital admissions were able to save Lams vital organs, doctors were unable to heal his several injured legs.

But thanks to the intervention of Hoang, Lam could say goodbye to the painful past, and enjoy the bliss of having an endearing family of his own.

Over the course of ten years from the 1991 accident, Lam visited several hospitals and was examined by a handful of foreign specialists he hoped could fix his legs, but each consultation yielded the same opinion: amputation.

Lam decided to undergo a surgery with Hoang in 2001, hoping the last ditch effort would help save his legs.

Determined not to just save the patient, but to give him a chance at life, Hoang and his colleagues came up with an interesting medical theory of circular renewal  an approach aimed to resuscitating blood vessels into functionality.

The operation was a huge success, and after ten years of pain, Lam could finally walk again. This year marked the 18th anniversary of the new legs Hoang had gifted Lam.

Nguyen Manh Hungs legs post-surgery is seen in this photo provided by the hospital.

In another remarkable case, Nguyen Manh Hung was born in the northern province of Nam Dinh with legs to small and weak to carry his weight. He spent the first part of his life solely dependent on his arms for mobility.

Despite his circumstances, Hung still made his schools honor roll and went on to find employment.

But even with his success, his desire to walk on his own feet still followed him, especially after he and his father were caught in a traffic accident which worsened his situation.

Fortunately, Hoang was the surgeon asked to handle the situation.

The case was assigned to me and all doctors I consulted with gave the nod for amputation, he recalled.

Never before have I seen a more severe case of malformation.

But even so, Hoang refused to throw in the towel. There had to be a chance I could do something, no matter how slim, he affirmed.

However, he was only allowed to operate on one leg since many feared a full-scale surgery would result in failure.

As a veteran orthopedist, Hoang and his crew began drafting a medical prognosis right away and planned out a sound approach on how to not only attend to the immediate threat, but also to balance out the tendons so that the patient would later be able to undergo physiotherapy.

The operation was carried out in 2018, going on for five hours straight and was considered a success.

Obviously, Hungs family was overjoyed  not only their son was aptly treated, but his birth defects seemed to have vanished into thin air.

For the first time in his life, Hungs wish to walk didnt seem so far-fetched.

After a week had passed from the first surgery, Hoang decided to operate on the other leg.

But this one proved more challenge as there was a 20cm difference in length between the two.

Undeterred, Hoang utilized the most cutting-edge equipment alongside modern surgical science to both treat the malformation, and perform limb-lengthening in one go.

At the moment, Hungs condition should allow him to eventually walk normally after therapy.

According to Hoang, he should be able walk in about six months.

The severely deformed, root-like legs of Nguyen Manh Hung pre-surgery is seen in this photo provided by the hospital.

Opportunity declined in favor of the needy

When the young Nguyen The Hoang witnessed firsthand the pain stemming from lost limbs of Vietnamese war invalids the idea to become an orthopedist seemed natural.

The notion was further ingrained within his mindset the moment Hoang was transferred to work at 108 Military Central Hospital.

Under the influences and teachings of his predecessors, Hoang came to realize that being an orthopedist is not to simply cut off patients limbs, but to give them a chance at a normal life.

As evident by the cases of Lam and Hung, Hoang not only helped his patients turn over a new leaf, but also contributed to society.

It was also those cases that compelled him to stay in Vietnam.

In 2006, Hoang was offered the opportunity to further his knowledge in Germany. In 2008, after completing a research project with flying colors, he was awarded the academic rank of Professor.

A year later, he was extended an invitation to remain in Germany to continue his research and lectures.

But Hoang politely declined in favor of going back to his country to continue providing treatment.

Hoang is seen during a surgical operation at 108 Military Central Hospital. Photo: Viet Dung / Tuoi Tre

In 2013, once again he received an offer to become a lecturing professor at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, a prominent university in Germany, after getting bestowed the Humboldt Award for distinguished research project, particularly the theory of circular renewal he applied on patient Lams case back in Vietnam.

But Hoang declined the offer again, saying he just wants to remain in Vietnam to provide help and relief to many more anguishing patients.

Besides, my parents are no longer at their peak now, and my friends are all here, Hoang expressed.

Though the path ahead will not be any less arduous than it already is now, there is no telling Hoang will back down anytime soon  as long as he can help, can contribute to his fatherland, he will press on.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
A Vietnamese girl from the north-central province of Thanh Hoa traveled across the country to find and care for her mother.

Now, in her late twenties, Luu Thi Dung is an active quality control and inspectorate specialist at Vinmec Central Park, a hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.

The extraordinary girl has gone all the way from a humble, if not impoverished background to achieve success.

The most touching part of her story? It includes a cross country trek in search of her mother.

From nightmarish nights of desolation

Luu Thi Phuong, 69, Dungs mother, was an unfortunate woman.

Phuong and her husband endured ten long years without a child, until she finally got pregnant at the age of 41.

However, two months into the pregnancy, her husband passed away.

Alone, Phuong had no choice but to return to her parents for help and shelter.

Despite her pregnancy, her underprivileged circumstances forced her to work in the paddy fields right up until the moment she gave birth.

Her life was made harder when her parents both passed away when Dung was only three years old.

From then on, when Phuong went farming, she would take Dung with her, placing her baby on a raincoat nearby as she worked the fields.

Once, [Dung] threw so large a tantrum that I was unable to continue working, the mother recalled. When I embraced my baby and realized we were all alone by ourselves, I started crying with her.

Another time, Phuong nearly lost her child in the midst of preparing the soil for the coming crop season.

It was such a cold winter day, but I was so focused on my work. After not hearing [Dung] cry for a while, I began to worry, and rushed back to my baby. Phuong said.

I approached just moments before she would have got frostbite. Frightened, I immediately dropped what I was doing and took her to a fire.

When Dung was old enough to walk, Phuong would lock her in their cottage while she worked in the fields.

Sometimes, when the hunger became uncontrollable, Dung would sneak out the rear exit, and roam the neighborhood begging for food.

But the little girl never pestered her mom; every time Phuong came back from work, Dung had already hit the hay, literally, next to the fireplace.

There were also times when Dung gave her mother a fright for dear life.

At four years old, Dung fell into the nearby river. If the neighbors hadnt been around I would have lost her for good, Phuong shared.

Due to her penurious situation, Dung quickly learned the know-how to fend for her family.

But no matter how hard she tried, mistakes abounded.

There was a moment Dung stumbled while bringing food to the field for her mother, thus spoiling the meal. Another time, she tripped over, and dropped every ounce of grain she just borrowed from her aunt in the middle of the night.

Phuong admits that she would hit her daughter over such careless mistakes, but soon after, she would hug and provide comfort for the child.

The trip of a lifetime

Even though Phuong and her daughter worked their hardest, they never seemed to have enough food.

Though Dung was successful at school, it seemed the small family had little hope. That was when Phuong left her child to go look for jobs in the south.

Taking only enough to travel, Phuong left all of her meager savings, VND350,000 (US$15.06) for Dung.

At first, Dung barely scraped by in the paddy fields and by helping her neighbors at their veggie stalls.

She never touched the money her mother left behind, knowing it was just enough to help her travel to the south to search for her mom.

After Dung reach eighth grade, she realized she would not have enough money to cover the cost of her education and the urge to see her mother again become to much to handle. As such, she decided to travel to Ho Chi Minh City.

All she knew then was that her mother was working as a house keeper in Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc, the easternmost district of the southern metropolis.

Receiving assistance from a motorbike taxi driver, after roaming around the district from noon till dusk, Dung finally managed to pinpoint her mothers location.

Upon contact, both mother and daughter embraced one another, while bittersweet tears streamed down their faces.

It was then that Phuong vowed never to let go of her daughter, and that regardless of what would transpire, she will stick with Dung to the end.

Phuong posed with her employers children.

Bright future awaits

As time went on, Dungs effort paid off in full: she achieved high scores on the university entrance exam, and gained admission into the prestigious Hanoi Law University.

Back in my hometown of Thanh Hoa, I have seen many people tricked into hard labor in exchange for meager income, Dung responded on her college choice.

I thus seek to arm myself with legal knowledge, so that no one will be lured into such traps.

Before her trip to Hanoi, her mother sold off the harvest, which only amounted to VND1,000,000 (US$43.02).

Afterward, the two rented a room and began doing odd jobs to stabilize the situation.

Dung herself also chipped in her part by becoming a tutor and a part-time house cleaner.

But the occupations were not always smooth sailing. At a time, she had to quit a house cleaning job out of self-pity stemming from physical abuse of her employer.

However, the girl stood firm with her conviction, and things slowly worked out with the help of her teachers and peers.

When Dung graduated and got a well-paid job in Ho Chi Minh City in 2013, a new chapter in her life began to unfold.

Upon receiving my first salary, I took my mother to eat grilled meat, Dung said.

All our lives, we had lived amid hunger and cold. Now is a good time for a change, she added.

After tirelessly working for three years straight, Dung also managed to send back enough money in order to repair her cottage back home.

Now, the two live together again in Ho Chi Minh City.

Back in her childhood, what Dung feared the most was the notion of losing her mother.

When I was little, rarely did I see mom during the day. Once I grew up a bit, she had again gone to the south looking for jobs, Dung said.

Dung would often wake up at the same time with my mother at 4:00 am, only to tail her to the marketplace.

On one occasion, I lost sight of her, and got lost. Fortunately, someone noticed me throwing a tantrum, and announced the case on the speakers. Whence mother found me, we both came into embrace, crying, Dung recalled.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
While most youngsters celebrate Tet, or the Lunar New Year holiday with their families, newly recruited Vietnamese soldiers near the border with China must spend their first holiday away from home in order to safeguard the country.

Tet is considered the most important occasion of the year, when spending time with family is of the utmost importance.

The 2019 Lunar New Year holiday lasted from January 25 to February 10. During the break, young soldiers ages 18 to 20, who have never before been away from their villages but were spending the most important celebration of the year in mountainous area of Lao Cai Province, near Vietnam  China borders.

Most of the soldiers in these units are from different ethnic groups, such as HMong, Ha Nhi, and Dao.

During Tet, on Y Ty Mountain, these men were guarding the borders of Vietnam so that others could enjoy their holidays in peace.

Multi-ethnical celebrations

Having spent most holidays with their families, this was the first year most soldiers spent the holiday with members of other minority groups, an opportunity to be exposed to other cultures.

I do not yet know how it is to be spending Tet as a soldier so I was very nervous, Ma A Nha, a 20-year-old soldier who had rarely spent time outside of his village before signing up for the military.

Being of the Mong ethnic group, Ma A Nha voluntarily enlisted to guard the borders of Vietnam in Bat Xat District when he was 19 years old.

Dao Tan Lao Ta, 19, another soldier at Y Ty border post in Y Ty village, has only served for the past six months and is also filled with mixed emotions as he was about to spend his first Tet celebration away from the family.

Being the second child with his sister already married, Lao Ta was well-aware how upset his old parents would be without his presence during the important holiday.

Young soldiers like him would always say the same thing to their parents, Mom and dad please do not be sad when you are home and take care of your health when celebrating Tet, before they left for duty in the border area.

After one year of serving, Hang A Phung, 19-year-old soldier originating from Mong community, misses not only his parents but also his wife.

The young man chose to save his Tet bonus to send home to his parents and wife to shop for new clothes for the occasion, another common practice enjoyed as Tet nears.

Second family

According to Lieutenant Tran Manh Ha, vice head of the Y Ty border post, the unit has always made significant efforts to hold festive Tet celebrations so young soldiers wont feel lonely and homesick during the holiday.

Most of the new soldiers are from ethnic minorities such as Mong, Ha Nhi, and Dao, the Lieutenant explained.

The unit usually holds many activities so that the soldiers can celebrate Tet with villagers and locals to cheer everyone up.

Besides being unable to celebrate Tet with their family, the young border soldiers are also faced with challenges posed by weather during this time of the year, according to Lieutenant Manh Ha.

While the area where border soldiers go on patrol is geographically challenging with numerous slopes, streams, and mountains, the cold weather and harsh climate during the winter does not spare the soldiers either.

The climate is very harsh. There is fog, strong winds, and low temperatures, Lieutenant Manh Ha said.

On some years, the soldiers were even forced to trudge on foot through snow for seven to eight hours, the lieutenant added

However, the difficulties shaped the soldiers into mature men, and they always have their fellow soldiers as family.

Soldiers consider high-rank officers their fathers, and fellows of their age are their siblings. With that in mind, it is easier for all to overcome the homesickness, especially during festive seasons like Tet.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
While more and more universities in Vietnam have gone hi-tech by allowing students to register for courses online before the start of every new semester, the registration is in fact a nightmare for students as the educational institutions just fail to ensure they have adequate tech infrastructure for the process.

Students at some universities have complained that the arduous online course registration even led to them graduating later than expected, but school management said these cases are rare.

Even so, some educational institutions admitted that they do not have adequate systems to ensure efficient Internet-based course registration for students.

One of the most common issues for many universities is that their websites will crash whenever too many students access the systems at a time.

Even when students were able to log in and complete the registration, their selected courses would just disappear from the system, meaning they had to do everything again, they complained to Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

For instance, a student of Ho Chi Minh City University of Foreign Languages and Information Technology (HUFLIT) said she successfully registered for all the courses required for the new semester in the morning, only to find out in the afternoon of the same day that none of the courses I had selected was included in my academic schedule.

Even worse, there were cases when all the course registration students sweated to complete were deemed inappropriate due to technical errors of the systems.

The school deleted all of the course registration that we made in the morning and told us that another session for doing the process again would be held at 6:00 pm, one student of Van Lang University in Ho Chi Minh City recalled.

So we all accessed the school website at 5:45 pm, but more than two and half an hours later, no registration session was opened.

Students also complained that the system would allow courses to be over-booked, meaning some classes have more students than should, while others had to be canceled due to the insufficient number of registered learners.

In the second semester of the academic year 2017-18, the Banking University Ho Chi Minh City had 40 classes cancelled while the National Economics University and University of Languages and International Studies, both in Hanoi, had to cancel 4 and 37 classes, respectively.

In response to students complaints, many universities require students to complete the online course registration on different days, depending on their faculties and years of study.

However, students tend to pay no attention the announcement and all rush to the registration website on the first day, causing the website to crash, said Pham Thai Son, director of admission and communication of Ho Chi Minh City University of Food Industry.

Phan Ngoc Minh, head of the training department at Banking University Ho Chi Minh City, said while some students did have their graduation delayed due to problems in course registration, the phenomenon is rare and only a few students were affected.

A vice president of a public university in Ho Chi Minh City admitted that while many universities try to implement technology in course registration, they lack the infrastructure needed to ensure the process will run smoothly, with financial inability mostly to blame.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!
I met Teresa Cavendish, director of operations from Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona, out back, behind the Benedictine Monastery on Country Club.

Since 2014, Casa Alitas has served over 6,000 souls, working out of bus stations, classrooms, group homes, hotels and now at the old monastery, sending refugees on their way to the custody of their sponsors. Casa Alitas means House of Little Wings.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement van arrives. Teresa alerts a volunteer to come out and greet the new refugees. Two agents step out and greet Teresa. One opens the side door.

Families emerge and gather in front of Sister Eileen Mahoney who has come out to greet them.

Some smile. Most are anxious, holding on to their children. Tight. They appear innocent, naive and weary. Women wear their black hair in ponytails, held in place by tinfoil strips which they tore from the tinfoil blankets they were given when their hair ties were confiscated. Shoelaces, too.

Each has their worldly belongings in a large clear Ziploc bag with their name on it. I thought of the storage sheds we fill with excess abundance. Im staring because I cannot imagine my world distilled into a bag. Their clothes and laceless shoes are worn but clean. They carry their dignity on their shoulders. Their vulnerability in their hearts.

If you feel your job is threatened by these simple souls, I pity your pathetic insecurity. If you fear these innocents, I pity you for your cowardice. If you hate them, I pity you for your ignorance.
We hope you have enjoyed your complimentary access for the month.

To continue viewing content on tucson.com, please sign in with your existing account or subscribe.
Yes: OHalleran, Kirkpatrick, Grijalva, Biggs, Schweikert, Gallego, Stanton

No: Gosar, Lesko

Statement Against Anti-Semitism: The House on Feb. 13 adopted, 424-0, a Republican-sponsored motion to include a repudiation of anti-Semitism in HJ Res 37 (above). The measure stated, in part, that it is in U.S. foreign policy interests to combat anti-Semitism around the globe. A yes vote was to adopt the motion.

Yes: OHalleran, Kirkpatrick, Grijalva, Gosar, Biggs, Schweikert, Gallego, Lesko, Stanton

SENATE

William Barr, Attorney General: Voting 54-45, the Senate on Feb. 14 confirmed William P. Barr as the 85th U.S. attorney general. Barr, 68, will assume control of Special Counsel Robert Muellers probe of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Republicans expressed confidence he will act properly in bridging the gap between Trump and Mueller. But Democrats criticized him over a memo he wrote last June asserting Mueller lacks authority to investigate Trump for obstruction of justice A yes vote was to confirm Barr.

Yes: Martha McSally, R, Kyrsten Sinema, D
Close to a dozen people carrying bundles of marijuana fled back to Mexico on foot when their Jeep Cherokee got stuck atop the border fence in a remote area of the Sonoran Desert.

Mexican officials sent military personnel to the area Wednesday to search for the group, but neither the 11 people who had been inside the Jeep, nor the marijuana, was found, the U.S. Border Patrol said in a news release.

U.S. agents patrolling a stretch of desert spotted tracks from an off-road vehicle on protected land in Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge about 4 miles north of the international border, the news release said.

The agents couldnt see the vehicle, but asked an Air and Marine Operation helicopter crew for help. That crew was able to spot the camouflaged Jeep Cherokee heading back south to the border to escape. The Jeep had been modified and painted to blend into the desert landscape.

The Jeep got stuck when its driver tried to take it across a makeshift ramp placed atop the border barrier, a fence made of posts and rail usually about waist high.

The agents were on their tail and the helicopter was able to see them, but ground agents werent able to make an apprehension because they were ahead of them, Border Patrol agent Daniel Hernandez said.
Tucsons former Benedictine Monastery has received more than 500 parents and children since it opened its doors to families seeking refuge in the United States three weeks ago.

The families, the vast majority from Central America, are vetted by immigration officials and released to continue the process of their immigration cases elsewhere in the country, usually where they already have relatives or friends who can sponsor them.

In the meantime, after being dropped off by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, they spend a night or two in places like Tucson, while volunteers help them reach family members so they can buy bus tickets.

Catholic Community Services is running the shelter inside the former monastery.

Current donation needs there include:

toilet paper

paper towels

diaper wipes

laundry detergent

bottled water

fruit cups

applesauce pouches

backpacks

travel blankets

financial support
Lopez shared a few memories with me, and where there were gaps his sons and daughters filled in the missing details. Lopezs family has been keeping vigil with him since he entered hospice the previous week.

Lopez was born in Douglas a couple of years before the Great Depression. He spent his early years in Bisbee and across the border in Agua Prieta, Sonora. In Douglas, his grandfather had a store on Third Street, three blocks from the U.S.-Mexico border. Lopezs family lived next door. But when economic calamity struck, Lopezs father, a construction worker, could not find work to feed the family, like so many others. Lopezs family, like so many others, drove west to California. Lopez, the oldest of nine children, never went further than the second grade but taught himself to read and write, his family said. Lopez needed to work to help support the family.

When he turned 18, Lopez went to war. It was 1943. The following year he found himself racing across Western Europe as a tank gunner with the 558th Field Artillery Battalion in the U.S. Third Army under Gen. George S. Patton.

Old Blood and Guts, Lopez whispered. It was the moniker that Pattons own soldiers had given him.
Another member of the Guano organization had high frequency communications with a major U.S. bank, records show. Another member used a BlackBerry to discuss meetings with Mexican military and drug trafficking activities, while another coordinated large shipments of cocaine from Colombia.

Another application said a Guano member used a BlackBerry to provide information on rival drug cartels and cartel enforcement.

Still other applications said BlackBerrys and WhatsApp accounts were used in various aspects of cultivating drugs and moving them around Mexico.

The widespread use of BlackBerrys by the Sinaloa Cartel came to light at the trial for El Chapo.

The HSI team in Nogales collected more than 1 million BlackBerry messages sent among El Chapos organization, according to an account of the trial by a New York Times reporter.

After El Chapos conviction, the HSI office in Nogales was credited by the Drug Enforcement Administration and others for its role in bringing the drug kingpin to justice.

A spokeswoman for HSI in Arizona declined to comment on the Nogales offices role in the investigation of El Chapo or the applications filed in Tucsons federal court.
PHOENIX  House Speaker Rusty Bowers is blowing off a threat by the Gila River Indian Community to pull out of the drought contingency plan  and deny the state the tribes water  if he pursues his own legislation on forfeiture of water rights.

If they want to pull out of a deal that benefits both the state and the community, that is their choice, Bowers, R-Mesa, said in a written statement late Friday. We hope they will reconsider.

The federally required drought contingency plan, known as DCP, determines how Arizona should deal with loss of water from the Colorado River because of declining levels of Lake Mead.

Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis sent a letter Thursday saying his council would not consider signing its part of the DCP if Bowers pushes ahead with legislation the tribe believes interferes with its own separate claim to water rights from the Gila River.

Bowers countered, I think it is unfortunate and inappropriate that leaders of the community are now trying to leverage their support of the DCP on the defeat of this unrelated bill.

But House Minority Leader Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, said Friday it is Bowers who is acting improperly in pursuing his bill.
CULTURAL IMPACT

Tucson ELL teachers hope to see districts take advantage of the flexibility the new requirements provide.

Miriam Romero, an ELL resource teacher at Carrillo K-5 and Arizonas English Language Teacher of the Year, said she is glad the four-hour block has been mitigated, but thinks of it more as a good first step than a final destination.

Im glad were moving away from (the block) and I hope we can have a more inclusive way of teaching English in our schools because its the right thing to do, Romero said. Its the necessary thing to do. In the real world, (students) are all going to be together, so they should in school.

Romero said she was never a fan of the four-hour block because of the segregative and achievement-related consequences, but she also loathed it on a more personal level.

The idea of segregating ELLs into classrooms isolated from the general student population reminded her of stories her grandparents told her about their days in school as non-native English speakers  where they too were segregated from the mainstream student population, even if they could speak, read and write in English.
An Adult Education Class

St. Francis in the Foothills United Methodist Church will be presenting an Adult Education class titled Immigrants Under Fire: The Continuing Humanitarian Crisis of Detention, Deportation and Death. Margaret Regan, long-time Tucson journalist will discuss the current state of the border and immigration. She is the prize-winning author 2 books on the border and immigration and will draw on her experiences with migrant shelters, the Border Patrol and immigration detention centers. She will also discuss the current issues for Central American migrant families. The St. Francis in the Foothills, 4625 E. River Road. 10:30 a.m.-noon. Feb. 17. Free. For more information call 299-9063.

Come Together Gala

LDoor VDor* 50 Years on Fifth St. Come Together Gala. This special event will honor those who opened Congregation Anshei Israels doors and those investing in our future generations. Congregation Anshei Israel, 5550 E. Fifth St. Ages 21 and up. Noon-9 p.m. Feb. 17. $79. 745-5550.

Secular Humanist Jewish Circle Lecture
Youre struck by all that you didnt know.

Each of the dead kids names. Not just the ones who launched a movement, but all of them.

How many of them had siblings. How many siblings.

What it was like, really, for students to walk back into that school Feb. 28, 14 days after their classmates and teachers were slaughtered.

At one point, Manuel Oliver got down on his knees to pray, Dave Cullen writes in his new book, Parkland. Twenty minutes to midnight, Manuel finally blew. Where the f  is my son? he shouted.

His son, Joaquin, was dead. Killed earlier that day, along with 16 other people, when a gunman walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School around 2:20 p.m. and started shooting.

Joaquins dad, Manuel, was among the parents waiting at the Heron Bay Marriott, 5 miles from Douglas High, pre-designated as the rendezvous point, should an emergency take place at the school.

It was glacial, Cullen writes. The entire deceased list was complete, but the notification process dragged on past 3 a.m.

Its among the dozens of details I didnt know about Parkland, didnt know about the school shooting process. (Yes, we live in a time and a place in which theres a school shooting process.)

In tragedy after tragedy, when the last bus unloads and the stragglers stop arriving, everyone looks around, counts the remaining families and does the math, Cullen writes. This is the moment where parents from prior tragedies described praying for a critical injury, or bargaining with God. The death count is usually public by this time, and it gradually aligns with the family count. The last best hope is that their child is coming out of surgery in some hospital, and miraculously calling out their name.

Manuel Oliver and his wife, Patricia, learned their sons fate at 1:41 a.m.

Cullen isnt a newcomer to tragedy. He was one of the first journalists to arrive at Columbine High School after Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris went on a killing rampage there in 1999. He spent 10 years researching the massacre for his 2009 book, Columbine. He studied the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting and the 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas concert.

Parkland changed everything  for the survivors, for the nation, and definitely for me, he writes. I flew down the first weekend, but not to depict the carnage or the grief. What drew me was the group of extraordinary kids. I wanted to cover their response. There are strains of sadness woven into this story, but this is not an account of grief. These kids chose a story of hope.

Parkland examines how the survivors launched and built a movement in the wake of their classmates deaths, from David Hoggs early TV interviews, the morning after the shooting, when he roundly rejected the publics thoughts and prayers.

Any action at this point, instead of just stagnancy and blaming the other side, Hogg said. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action.

It was the moment, Cullen maintains, that Hogg called out Adult America for letting our kids die.

The uprising, he writes, had begun.

Cullen traces the movement from the students early meetings in their living rooms and first forays onto Twitter. He marks the instant when their Instagram feeds turned from sunsets and selfies to toe-to-toe battles with the National Rifle Association.

Hes there when they host, at Emma Gonzales house, a half-dozen kids from Chicago to talk about calibrating their movement to encompass all gun violence, not just the kind that takes place in largely white, largely affluent schools.

We know that the reason that were getting this attention is because were privileged white kids, Parkland student Delaney Tarr told Cullen. If you look at Chicago, theres such a high level of gun violence. But thats not getting the attention that this is getting because were in such a nice area.

The Parkland kids teamed up with Peace Warriors from Chicagos West Side and the BRAVE (Bold Resistance Against Violence Everywhere) kids from the Rev. Michael Pflegers St. Sabina Church on the South Side. Chicago kids flew to Parkland. Parkland kids flew to Chicago.

Together, they grew the movements ranks. Together, they planned and executed the enormous March for Our Lives, on March 24, which drew some 470,000 people in Washington, D.C., and somewhere between 1.4 million and 2.1 million at more than 700 related marches across the country.

In the fall, several March for Our Lives organizers traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to accept the International Childrens Peace Price from Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Cullen was there too.

The peaceful campaign to demand safe schools and communities and the eradication of gun violence is reminiscent of other great peace movements in history, Tutu told Cullen at the ceremony. I am in awe of these children, whose powerful message is amplified by their youthful energy and an unshakable belief that children can  no, must  improve their futures. They are true change makers who have demonstrated most powerfully that children can move the world.

Indeed. Parkland tells their story well and truly. Its written with the clarity and depth and time  thats the big thing, time  that the students who died and the students who live deserve, and that the nation grappling with it all needs. I was moved and informed and, most of all, heartbroken by it  even though its written with authentic hope.

What moved me most, as I read the book and after I closed it, were all the things I didnt know.

All the ways weve inoculated ourselves from the grief and sorrow and scourge of gun violence.

We learn the general outline of the latest school shooting (how many killed, what are their ages, did they capture the shooter, how many does that bring us to, when will it end), and then we, most of us, those of us who didnt live through it, move on.

Parkland asks us to pause. To sit with the stories  the stories of survivors who launched a movement and may very well create a cultural sea change around guns, yes.

But also the victims mothers and fathers and younger brothers. Also the witnesses who live with survivor guilt and cry when the fire alarm sounds at school and suffer from acute post-traumatic stress disorder.

So much Play-Doh and so many comfort dogs, Daniel Duff told Cullen about the first day Marjory Stoneman Douglas reopened. I dont know what kind of meeting they had before, but every classroom had Play-Doh.

Those are the details that haunt me and the lives of so many others, changed forever.
Caspers community health center announced sweeping leadership changes last week, including new chief medical and financial officers.

In a press release Wednesday, Community Health Centers of Central Wyoming announced Dr. Robert Day as the new chief medical officer and as a family physician; Jennifer Kuehn as chief financial officer; and Carol King as the facilitys director of behavioral health.

According to the release, Day previously worked in Zambia, where he cared for citizens who were vulnerable and medically isolated. He replaces Dr. Karl Radke, who became CMO at the health center in June 2016. Hes now the medical director at Interim HealthCare.

Kuehn previously worked as the CFO for Family Health Services  which like the health center here provides a wide array of services  in Twin Falls, Idaho, according to Bloomberg. She replaces Matthew King, who had been CFO since February 2017, according to his LinkedIn.

King joins the Casper health clinic after nearly 30 years as the substance abuse program director at the Central Wyoming Counseling Center, according to her LinkedIn page.

Remaining in place is the clinics CEO, Cole White.

A message left for a clinic spokeswoman was not returned Friday.

The new hires arrive to a shifting health care landscape in Casper. Last spring, Wyoming Medical Center became the states largest hospital after it purchased local competitor Mountain View Regional Hospital. WMC CEO Michele Chulick took the helm at the hospital in summer 2017, after the departure of longtime CEO Vickie Diamond.

Follow education reporter Seth Klamann on Twitter @SethKlamann

Love 0 Funny 3 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1

Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
A district our size would probably get four to eight alerts a day and up that officials would need to react to, Farnum estimated. Its really interesting the way it works.

At the digital threats workshop he attended in Casper, Farnum said officials used a geo-fence  a virtual perimiter for a real-world geographic area  for keywords with cops in it. An Instagram post several days earlier popped up in which some adults had trouble opening bottles of champagne and another person warned that the cops might interrupt the party.

It only assesses those who are public. If theyre private, it wont assess those, Farnum said.

He spoke to an Arkansas superintendent of a district with 5,000 students. He said that district receives four to six alerts a day and has a security officer react to those an estimated two to four hours a day.

The program also saved the life of a student who was suicidal.

Privacy concerns

Another concern with these programs is privacy, Farnum said. Theres an awful lot to that privacy issue. I feel were kind of being spoon-fed some of this data. Im not sure what direction you guys want to go and Im just skimming the surface.
BOZEMAN, Mont.  The conductor of the Bozeman Symphony, Matthew Savery, has resigned amid an investigation into allegations that he bullied and harassed musicians, staff and patrons. Savery had also been the conductor and music director of the Wyoming Symphony Orchestra in Casper until May 2018.

Matthew Savery will be voluntarily leaving his position as Music Director and Conductor with the Bozeman Symphony, the statement read. Matthew expresses his gratitude for and appreciation to the Symphony for the opportunity to serve and is grateful for his time with the exceptional musicians who have made the Symphony a success. He is thankful to the donors and community who have supported live symphonic music in Bozeman and who will continue to do so in the future. He wishes nothing but success for the Symphony in the future and encourages the community to continue in its support going forward.
But, despite this voiced sympathy with the miners, as a buyer of the Kemmerer assets, Clarke is adamant that he will not pay for legacy liabilities of the Kemmerer mine. Pension and union contracts would be retained  if refashioned  but the health care of retirees and dependents is too much of a cost, he said.

We cant afford that, nor could anybody else, he said.

Mike Dalpiaz, vice president of United Mine Workers of America District 22, which represents the miners in Kemmerer, said that someone was going to have to pay.

If we get them people taken care of, Tom Clarke doesnt have to take care of them, he said. But, somebody is going to take care of them, or that coal is not going to be mined up there. Its about that simple.

There are 1,500 union retirees and dependents affected by Westmorelands attempt to pull its health care obligations, including the Kemmerer miners, Dalpiaz said.

We dont take that lightly, he said. If people want to throw out grandma and grandpa like the court did, theyre going to have a hell of a fight to do it.
Kochi: For the first time in its history, Kerala Tourism participated in the International Mediterranean Tourism Market (IMTM) 2019 in Tel Aviv, Israel.



With this, Kerala Tourism is foraying into the largely untapped Israeli market to increase footfalls from the Middle East.

Director of Kerala Tourism P Bala Kiran led the state delegation to the two-day event which concluded Thursday.

The IMTM is officially the largest annual professional tourism fair of its kind in eastern Mediterranean and only professional exhibition for the tourism trade market in Israel.

To mark the occasion, Kerala Tourism launched a sleek and glossy coffee-table book, the first-of-its-kind visual odyssey of the Jews who decided to make Kerala their home before several of the diasporic community returned to Israel, their fatherland, a press release said.

The book was formally launched by Indian Ambassador to Israel Pavan Kapoor, who also visited the Kerala stall at the event.

Expressing happiness over the debut of Kerala Tourism at the IMTM, Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran said it was a successful outing for the tourism in the state.

"In the highly competitive global marketplace, we need to scout for new source from markets abroad to attract tourists. Our participation in a prestigious event like IMTM will act as a trigger to meet that objective," he said.

The minister said there is a direct flight from Tel Aviv, the second most populous city in Israel, to Delhi and Mumbai.

"Now, a new direct flight will be launched by Arkia Israeli Airlines from Tel Aviv to Kochi in September, which will be a major boost to tourism in India in general and Kerala in particular, he added.

Tourism secretary Rani George said the participation of Kerala in IMTM was part of a campaign of its tourism department to woo visitors from non-traditional markets.

"We have already made our presence felt in Gulf countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Forging strong ties with the tourism segment of Israel will open new vistas of expansion for Kerala Tourism in that region," she noted.

Kerala was visited by 15,339 Israeli tourists in 2018, an increase of 29 per cent as compared to 11,892 in 2017 and 10,922 in 2016, while it registered a surge of over 15 per cent in terms of tourist arrival from that country during 2013-18.

Kochi, formerly Cochin, was one of the oldest Jewish settlements on Asian soil, which had a larger Jewish community than New York and surpassed it not only numerically, but also culturally.

The Cochin Jewish community in 1792 had about 2,000 Jews and nine synagogues of considerable antiquity while New York had only 72 Jewish families and only one synagogue, he said.

The coffee-table book, aptly titled 'One heart, two worlds: The story of the jews of Kochi,' brings alive the riveting real-life account of the Jewish community in Kochi, their hearts caught between a deep love for their adopted motherland India, and a 2000-year-long yearning of the Jews across the world to return to their fatherland.

The book, published by Stark World Publishing, has been chronicled by scholar and historian Dr K S Mathew and creative director and writer Yamini Nair.

The incisively researched book dives deep into the life and times of the Jews of Cochin, their distinctive faith, culture, history, and dreams.

With less than 30 Jews remaining in Kochi presently, Bala Kiran said the need to document the Jewish diaspora, who co-existed peacefully in the socio-cultural fabric here and were welcomed by the kings, acquires an immediacy and timeliness.

Featuring nearly 200 exquisitely shot and vintage images from private collections and museum archives, the book takes the reader on a visual journey of the rain-swept seashores of Kerala, past the olive-tree dotted landscapes in Israel.
A road trip along the magnificent East Coast Road starting from Puducherry is a thrilling affair. Christmas celebrations at Immaculate Conception Cathedral in Puducherry are a feast for the eyes with thousands of stars shining on the premises.



Passing the French-style streets, a traveller can head to the 690-km East Coast road, which starts from Chennai and reaches Tuticorin along Mahabalipuram, Puducherry, Nagapattanam, Karakkal and Nagoor  all of which are centres of tourist attraction.

Salt pans of Marakkanam

At Puducherry, travellers can enjoy the blue of the sea and green of trees. Soon, mangroves and sandy beaches also come into view. However, everything gives way to the stark white of the salt pans at Marakkanam. It is a coastal panchayat 120 km from Chennai where around 4,000 acres of land has been set apart to produce salt.

The work here starts during January every year. Sea water stored in special tanks is pumped through pipes to the salt pans, where evaporation takes place under the sun to produce salt.

It is a very strenuous job. A group of people labour thanklessly here. The attitude of these workers is quite different from others. When travellers venture into the flower fields of Gundlupet, apple orchards in Kashmir or paddy fields of Ranganathittu, the workers there receive them warmly. But in Marakkanam, visitors are greeted with a sharp glare.

The daily grind in the salt pans, poor pay, and denial of basic rights have led to a loss of innocence and the labourers hardly speak to the tourists. Though the salt sparkles like diamond under the blazing sun, darkness envelops the life of these workers.

Second only to Gujarat, it is Tamil Nadu that produces the maximum amount of salt in the country. Work takes place for only six months a year. Nagapattanam, Marakkanam and Tuticorin are noted for their salt pans in Tamil Nadu.

Cholamandalam

Cholamandalam artistic village was launched by master sculptor K C S Panicker in 1966 as an art movement based in south India. He noticed that many talented artists were abandoning a career in the artist field as it did not guarantee a steady income and started Cholamandalam as a solution to the issue.

Panicker, a metaphysical artist, was also the principal of the Madras School of Arts.

A shady enclave about eight km from the hot Chennai city, Cholamandalam is an artists' village where they live with families. Cholamandalam is indeed a green oasis with several trees, under which numerous sculptures can be seen. There is an open air gallery of sculptures under the peepal tree, a quasi-Mediterranean food stall and a book shop.

Inside the building are two galleries, named Indigo and Laburnum. Designed with mezzanine flooring, they match international standards. Works on canvas, wood, granite and copper by masters such as M V Devan, Jayapala Panicker, Kanayi Kunhiraman, Paris Viswanathan and Senapathy are arranged in the galleries. Metal sculptures by Nanda Gopal, son of K C S Panicker, are thought-provoking. He is a sculptor who connected physics with fine arts. Nanda Gopal's works on brass and copper have been praised by reviewers as reflecting symmetry in asymmetry.

However, as cameras are not allowed in the galleries, visitors have no choice but to carry images of the amazing creations in their mind.

Though Cholamandalam has now grown into a residential area, a visitor would wonder whether it has done full justice to the dreams of the creator, K C S Panicker. The village is now a place which only people who are crazy about art may find interesting. For others, a visit could be a boring affair.

Sculptures at Mahabalipuram

It is very hot at Mahabalipuram, an ancient port city which lovers of sculptures should never give a miss. Similar to Hampi, Mahabalipuram too is a land of single-stone sculptures. Among them, that of Vishnu is noteworthy.

There is also an old lighthouse from the top of which a panoramic view of the town can be enjoyed. But there is always a heavy rush for a climb.

Other interesting sculptures at Mahabalipuram include a gravity-defying one of Krishna, five chariots, and Ganesa mandapam.

At a walking distance is the Seashore temple adjacent to the Bay of Bengal, where the present generation of ancient sculptors still create wonders on stone. According to Murukesh, a sculptor, works such as Durga Devi, Nataraja etc are exported from here to south-east Asian countries like Malaysia.

The Seashore temple had seven pagodas once and was a landmark on the shore for ships at the port city. But a rough sea has caused considerable damage.

Things to remember

Distance from Kochi to Puducherry is 560 km. The route is Coimbatore  Salem  Athoor  Villupuram  Puducherry.

From Puducherry, a visit to Chidambaram Temple can be arranged

The road is great to drive

A toll of Rs 1,500 has to be paid

Starting from Kochi at around 6 am, Puducherry can be reached by 2 pm.
Leaked consultation document offers further hints at Bramley-Moore Dock specs

Saturday, 16 February, 2019





This artist's rendering is believed to be a placeholder based on a very early design concept This artist's rendering is believed to be a placeholder based on a very early design concept

A PDF from last November's consultation over the Blues' proposed new ground at Bramley-Moore Dock showing initial plans for the stadium's layout and architecture was leaked by EvertonArentWe.com last night and reported on nationally by The Mirror.

The document, put together by Dan Meis, the US-based architect tasked with designing the structure and its surrounding features also shows an artist's rendering of a possible design for the 52,000-seater stadium but it is understood that this is not final. (For example: The artist's rendering looks similar to a very early concept design from when a dockside location was first proposed and features a cut-away portion in the north stand that does not appear in the overhead layouts in the PDF.)

The PDF features schematics of the potential stands at Bramley-Moore Dock, including the South Stand which would house the home end, with options provided for safe-standing on the lower terrace together with comparisons to other Premier League stadia.

There is also an overhead plan of the site with plans for a riverside car park for 700 cars and a fans plaza adjacent to Regent Road and the listed hydraulic tower which would remain in the corner of the complex.

Having released the results of the initial consultation of supporters and local residents, Everton plan to canvass fans further this summer over more specific elements of the ground, including its design and the final capacity which remains a source of controversy.

The Liverpool Echo suggest that an investigation into the leak will be undertaken.

An overhead view of Bramley-Moore Dock shows how the stadium would be orientated on the site using the full width available

The home end would be housed in an expansive south stand that could feature safe standing in the lower half

About these ads
Luxembourg's foreign minister met with his Ethiopian counterpart Osman Saleh Mohammed. Asselborn voiced both praise and criticism.

Leaving a decades-long conflict behind them, leaders from Ethiopia and Eritrea are finally gathering to resolve disagreements and join efforts in order to improve the situation in poverty-stricken areas.

Asselborn applauded this historical reconciliation. Both countries can only profit from the cooperation, he stressed.

On a less positive note, Asselborn also addressed Eritrea's comparatively poor human rights record after visiting a refugee camp. At the same time, he also expressed hope that the Ethio-Eritrean reconciliation could give birth to the required political and economic reforms. The discussions between the two countries could be key to improvement, Asselborn hoped.

He also underlined the EU's willingness to support the creation of new jobs and the rehabilitation of road and port networks between Eritrea and Ethiopia. In his view, a strengthening of the countries' legal systems also goes hand in hand with economic development.
On Thursday, the police published statistics concerning break-ins as part of the report on their anti-burglary campaign during the winter months.

As part of the campaign, the police strengthened its patrol presence in general as well as organising 140 regional check ups.

Despite the enforced presence, the police counted no fewer than 558 break-ins into occupied homes. In comparison with the winter period of 2017/2018, this is an increase of about 60.

34 burglars were caught in the act and police managed to arrest a further 30 through their investigations.
Fort Payne, AL (35967)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High around 85F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.

Tonight

Some clouds. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.

Tomorrow

Sunshine and clouds mixed. High near 85F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
SUMMER SPECIAL!!! - Sign up at 20% OFF for Full Access to all of the online content and E-Editions on the www.thewordlink.com website here!

(The charge will appear as "Country Media Inc." on your credit card statement)
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.
The Tri-County Regional Chamber of Commerce has a new executive director.

Orangeburg resident Saundra "Sandy" Chaplin Price became the new executive director on Jan. 28.

"We want to build value and chamber membership as well as to support our membership, small businesses and also our economic leaders," Price said, adding the chamber is at the "heart of economic development" in the trademarked Global Logistics Triangle.

Price also looks to put in place programs that "will support the growth of our community."

Price declined comment on specific goals and programs due to the fact that all initiatives and programs need to go through final board approval.

"We have a lot of new ideas on the table," Price said.

Price takes over the position from Teresa Hatchell, who offered her resignation to the organization in August. Hatchell had served with the chamber for about 16 years.

Price graduated from high school in Aiken and later attended Anderson College and Winthrop University with a focus on math.

Prior to joining the Tri-County Regional Chamber, Price was the director of membership at the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce.
Deputies then checked the vehicle identification number of the Mazda and determined someone reported it stolen to the North Charleston Police Department.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Deputies then asked Barton and Denesha to show their identifications, but they claimed they didnt have any.

Both Barton and Denesha provided deputies with names belonging to other people, the report said.

As it turns out, other agencies had warrants for Barton and Denesha.

If convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle valued at $10,000 or more, Barton and Denesha each face up to 10 years in prison and a fine.

In other reports:

 A Leeway Street man reported that someone broke into his home while he and his wife were outside doing yard work on Wednesday.

The following items were stolen: a 12-gauge Benelli shotgun, a 7mm Browning rifle with a scope and a .22-caliber Marlin rifle.

The man originally called to report that someone stole his wifes vehicle, but it was located around the corner.

The value of the stolen items is $1,787.

 A Bowman man reported Wednesday afternoon that someone burglarized his home.
AURORA  The man who gunned down five co-workers and wounded a sixth at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse before shooting and wounding five police officers brought his gun to a meeting in which he was going to be fired, authorities said Saturday.

Because Gary Martin brought his gun to Friday's meeting at the sprawling Henry Pratt Co. warehouse in Aurora, he likely knew he might be about to lose the job he had held for 15 years, police Chief Kristen Ziman said at a news conference.

Martin, who in an Aurora Police Department mugshot was shown wearing an Illinois State University T-shirt, has no known ties to the school. ISU spokesman Eric Jome said the shirt logo was from a motorcycle safety program open to the public and offered throughout the state.

Ziman said she didn't know what had been conveyed to Martin, why he was being fired or whether he had shown up for his regular shift or was there just for the meeting. But she said as soon as he was fired, he pulled his handgun and began shooting. Three of the five co-workers he killed were in the room with him and the other two were just outside, she said.
PICKNEYVILLE  A southern Illinois man has been convicted in connection with an April 2018 attack that left another man blind.

The (Carbondale) Southern Illinoisan reports that a Perry County jury reached the verdict Thursday. Allen J. Fisher of Swanwick was convicted of two counts of aggravated assault with great bodily harm and torture for the eye-gouging attack on Robert Pfister.

Testimony revealed that on April 7, 2018, Pfister drove near Fisher's property to look at an old schoolhouse. Fisher followed him.

Pfister pulled over to see what the trouble was. Fisher warned Pfister to stay off his street, then pushed him into a ditch and pressed his fingers into Pfister's eyes.

Pfister lost his left eye and will likely never regain sight in his right.

Fisher will be sentenced April 24.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
SPRINGFIELD  The Illinois National Guard welcomed a new leader Friday when Air National Guard Col. Richard Neely was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and took over the reins as the states 40th adjutant general.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Feb. 6 that he was naming Neely to the post. He succeeds Maj. Gen. Richard J. Hayes, who is retiring.

He represents the very best of what leadership and service mean in our state and he takes the helm of an exceptional National Guard, one that leads the nation in audit readiness, state partnerships, diversity and community engagement, Pritzker said during a promotion ceremony Friday at the Illinois Military Academy in Springfield.

Neely said that his top priorities as adjutant general will be to focus on making sure units are combat ready, supporting the National Guards personnel and improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the units.

Prior to his promotion, Neely served as group commander of the 183rd Mission Support Group based in Springfield. During his roughly 29 years of service, he has served in numerous command, staff and operational positions, both in Illinois and in Washington, D.C.
CARBONDALE  An exhibit highlighting Illinois Supreme Court history and famous cases, including a 1928 case affirming the death sentence of Southern Illinois gangster and bootlegger Charlie Birger, will be at the SIU School of Law beginning next week.

The Bicentennial of Illinois Law Traveling Exhibit through the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission highlights Illinois attorneys, cases, and information on the judicial system.

The exhibit will be in the law schools formal lounge/lobby area for self-guided tours during the regular hours the law school is open from Feb. 20 through March 20. Admission is free. The content covers many facets of Illinois judicial history, including:

 An emphasis on the Illinois Supreme Court and its various locations over 200 years.

 Brief biographies of four famous Illinois attorneys and summaries of six interesting cases that happened in the states legal system.

 An explanation of the Illinois court structure and court system operations, including the process on how to become an attorney and judge.
Illinois pays workers compensation and unemployment costs of about $600 per employee per year, or roughly $50 per employee per month.

We make private brand foods rather than national brands. It is expected to be cheaper than a national brand even though it is equal quality, Welge said.

Welge said they will have some time to make decisions about how to best handle the increased costs. Our wage rates are higher than the new Missouri wage rate is to start with. We wont do anything immediately, but we will start planning, Welge said.

State Rep. Terri Bryant also used Gilster-Mary Lee as an example of a business that will be hurt by the new minimum wage. She said the people who work at Gilster-Mary Lee are generally unskilled labor. They start at a dollar more than minimum wage and get regular wage increases, profit sharing and some benefits.

I used that as an example because they basically they sit on the bridge. When they leave  and make no mistake, they will leave  those jobs are gone, Bryant said.

The sad part of this is the people it will help the most are the ones it will hurt the most  people making minimum wage with fewer skills. Those are the jobs that can be eliminated through automation, Welge said.
A similar bill was introduced in the 2018 session but failed to make it through the House process. Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago), who chairs the subcommittee handling the bill, opened Thursdays hearing by recalling the intense debate last year when, she said, supporters of the measure, engaged in inappropriate and unprofessional behavior, including bullying, threats and harassment of those who opposed it.

One of the individuals who testified had photos of his children posted online on the pages of organizations supporting the bill, she said. Another attorney was attacked online and had to shut down his Twitter account. ... Several individuals who took a public position against the bill received ongoing threats via phone calls to the point that law enforcement was called.

Ford also recalled that when those events happened, he and other supporters of the bill had a news conference to say they did not condone such behavior. But he insisted that supporters of the change also deserve to be heard.

This is a very contentious bill and it deserves to have a real discussion, he said.

While individuals on both sides indicated they hope the tone of this years debate will be more civil, opponents of the measure indicated they still have reservations about changing the standard on parenting time.
CARBONDALE  Brenden Tisler might be studying computer and electrical engineering at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, but his to-do lists only reflect one thing: music.

Tisler hosts Hangar 9's Open Mic Night every Monday, plays trombone in the Southern Illinois Marching Salukis, and sings karaoke at local bars on the weekends. Music is so ingrained in Tislers life that he often finds himself preoccupied with exploring ways he can share and support music in the community.

With music being a top priority for Tisler, its no surprise that simply hearing about local schools' lack of music education resources was enough to get him involved.

When he looked into the issue further, he found that several local schools music programs received little to no funding and relied almost entirely on fundraising and donations for basic classroom needs. Teachers and students often depend on school resources, so this lack of funding leaves students using outdated instruments, music and uniforms until fundraising profits can cover replacement costs.

Tisler, who credits his early exposure to musical instruments for much of his personal development, found it hard to imagine what music education would be like without proper resources.
Williamson County Sheriff's deputies said an object they were investigating at Grassy General Store Friday night was determined to be a "misplaced inert training device."

Williamson County Sheriffs deputies investigated reports of a possible bomb attached to a propane tank outside the convenience store on Illinois 148 south of Marion after the sheriff's office received a report around 6:43 p.m. of the object. After deputies responded and investigated, they requested assistance from the Carbondale Police Department and the SIU Police Department's Bomb Disposal Unit. Illinois Secretary of State's Bomb Disposal Unit also assisted.

Deputies said appropriate evacuations and safety measures were put in place.

After the object was determined not to be a bomb, it was collected as evidence. The sheriff's office continues to investigate how the device became misplaced.

 The Southern

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
George Waring, professor emeritus in the SIU Carbondale Department of Zoology, will discuss Birding the Highlands of Ecuador at the Southern Illinois Learning in Retirement meeting.

The meeting takes place at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20.

As a specialist in the study of birds and mammals, Waring has observed and photographed birds worldwide. During his 40 years as an SIUC faculty member, Waring's teaching and research areas included vertebrate biology and the behavior of wild, domesticated, and zoo animals. He is the author of more than 200 papers and other scholarly publications.

The meeting, free and open to the public, will be held at Grace United Methodist Church, 220 N. Tower Road in Carbondale. A coffee and social hour will begin at 9:30 a.m.

For more information, contact Jackie Welch at 618-536-7751 or e-mail silir@siu.edu.

 The Southern

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
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.
Ad Investing Trends

Scientists Now Saying the Secret to America's Happiness Is THIS

It's hard to believe But the psychedelic drugs we've demonized for decades are quickly becoming the foundation for a new mental health revolution. By 'micro dosing' scientists have worked what some are calling miracles and now is the time to invest in this burgeoning industry before Wall Street catches on.
1+ days ago

| June 22nd, 6:10 AM

Gold is Dead? Should You Opt for Gold (Over Crypto) in Your Portfolio?

When meme coins surged earlier this year (remember Dogecoin mania?) it might've been easy to dump everything you owned  stocks, bonds, gold  for crypto. Then digital currencies took a nosedive again. Young retail investors might deem actual coins  including precious metals  all but dead. But you might not want to
Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

1 year ago
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
While some areas of the country are slowly emerging from the pandemic, the Golden Isles is on pace to have an all-time record year for tourism.
Cowlitz County and WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) have the responsibility to ensure the addition of 600-plus gravel truck trips daily on Highway 503 (Lewis River Road) will not impede travel or create a safety risk, but each imputes the other.

This highway is the only ingress and egress to the area, where, according to Skamania/Cowlitz fire districts, the population can swell to 15,000 recreation seekers daily. The region is a tinderbox in the dry months, and is in the "Red Zone" in case of eruption.

A property owner, who also serves as an adviser to the Cowlitz County Building and Planning Department, is proposing a rock quarry with daily blasting only 1,400 feet from a 75-year-old bridge with an overall condition rating of poor, under its current use.

These 600-plus additional heavy vehicles will definitely increase the safety risk on this winding, landslide prone, bus-stop-lined road and add congestion, as well as added danger on I-5's Exit 21.

Both agencies are gambling with the public's lives by not requiring a traffic study at minimum.

Darcy Billingsley

Ariel, Wash.
In his seminal book, The Jews of Islam, Lewis points out that in the Middle Ages, when polemics against Jews were commonplace in the Christian world, they were rare in the Islamic world. In the early centuries of Islamic rule, he writes, there was a kind of symbiosis between Jews and their neighbors that has no parallel in the Western world between the Hellenistic and modern ages. Jews and Muslims had extensive and intimate contacts that involved social as well as intellectual association  cooperation, commingling, even personal friendship. One shouldnt exaggerate the status of Jews back then  they were second-class citizens  but they were tolerated and encouraged to a far greater degree in Muslim societies than in Christian ones.

Things changed in the Muslim world only in the late 19th century when, according to Lewis, as a direct result of European influence, movements appear among Muslims of which for the first time one can legitimately use the term anti-Semitic. Muslims worried that the British, who came to rule much of the Middle East, were favoring the small non-Muslim communities, especially Jews. Muslims began importing European anti-Semitic tropes like the notion of blood libel, and noxious anti-Semitic works started to be translated into Arabic, including the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
The keywords that the newsroom used in its request for Boones emails inadvertently turned up exchanges with people who were not campaign donors.

Boones daughter, Wendy, asked for her moms help in 2017 when the Oregon Health Plan was slow to pay for prescriptions at the Rinehart Clinic, a small nonprofit medical clinic in Wheeler where she is chief financial officer.

Hello Rep Boone : ), her daughter wrote in her email to Boones state account. Rinehart is having issues getting OHP to pay... Can you assist us?

Boone told The Oregonian/OregonLive she had an aide call the state health authority to find out what was happening. I never pushed it, never, Boone said. The issue was on its way to being resolved before the call, Boone said. But she acknowledged, It mightve looked to you like I asked for a favor and got it.

Wendy Boone also asked for her mothers help when her daughter was rejected by Oregon Promise, a state financial aid program for community college. The lawmakers legislative aide sent an email to the state Department of Education, noting that the issue affected a member of Boones family.
In an interview with detectives, Burge said Hartley threw a temper tantrum when they left a grocery store because he refused to let her go back inside to buy candy, the affidavit states. When they got home, Burge said he sent Hartley to her room, where she banged her head against a wall repeatedly.

A neurosurgeon at the childrens hospital told a detective the girl suffered a stroke and massive brain swelling. The doctor said the injuries to her head could not be self-inflicted, the affidavit says.

In asking for reduced bail, Alsept said Burge had found a place to live in Longview. She said no children are living there. She noted that before Burge was sentenced in federal court on a 2009 conspiracy to commit arson charge, he was out on bail, attended all of his hearings and turned himself in to authorities when directed.

Senior Deputy Prosecutor Colin Hayes asked the court to keep in place the initial bail amount.

Hayes described Burges alleged attack on Hartley as vicious, recounting some of the states evidence in the case. He also said the prosecution now has evidence Burge deleted home video within the time frame he is believed to have been alone with the girl.

Collier said he reviewed all of the affidavits in the case before making his decision.
Castle Rock community members can meet and question the school districts superintendent candidate finalists next week at three evening public forums.

In the running for the superintendent position are Ryan Greene, current principal for Castle Rock High School; Monte Thacker, current principal for Dillingham Middle/High School in Dillingham, Alaska; and Jill Diehl, current director of student services for the Longview School District.

Each candidate will visit Castle Rock between Feb. 19 and Feb. 20 to tour the district and meet local school and community officials. Public forums are scheduled each evening from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Castle Rock Elementary School library (700 Huntington Ave. S.)

Greene will visit first on Tuesday; Tacker will visit on Wednesday and Diehl will tour on Thursday.

The school board is expected to announce which candidate it plans to hire at its board meeting Feb. 26. The board is looking to replace Jim Mabbott, who is retiring as superintendent at the end of the current school year.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Builders FirstSource, a truss manufacturer, is planning a new Woodland location that company sources say could create 100 or more jobs.

The company already has a site in Beaverton, Ore., that it has outgrown, said Sales Manager Matt Jeffries. It was not immediately clear Friday whether the Woodland location will supplement the Beaverton one or replace it.

Jeffries said the Beaverton manufacturing plant employs about 85, and the new plant in the 1900 block of Schurman Way near Walmart will start with about 50 new hires but could later hire up to 100 or more.

According to the city building permit, Longview contractor JH Kelly is the general, plumbing and mechanical contractor. The valuation and site plans are not confirmed yet, meaning the new construction building permit is still pending and construction cant officially start.

Builders FirstSource has a construction supply store on Tennant Way in Longview at the former location of Lumbermens. It also has locations in Vancouver, Clackamas and Beaverton, with a few more near the Puget Sound and in southern Oregon.

The new plant will manufacture trusses, commonly used in roofing structures, and it appears the Woodland plant will focus on commercial buildings and single-family homes.
Members of the Lower Columbia College Fighting Smelt Speech & Debate Team finished the Northwest Forensics Conference (NFC) season in second place and received the NFC Division III Silver Sweepstakes award in late January.

The team had the second best season of all community colleges in the conference which represents Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Utah and Alaska. The College of Western Idaho in Nampa placed first.

Sweepstakes awards were presented to schools at the end of the Viking Invitational Tournament held at Western Washington University from Jan. 25 to 27.

At the tournament, the Fighting Smelt team took first place in two-year college sweepstakes. Several individual competitors also received sweepstakes points.

Samantha Cohen of Kelso placed first in novice Dramatic Interpretation with her performance of A Piece of My Heart, a play exploring the contributions of women in the Vietnam War and the struggles they faced after returning home. Cohen also competed in IPDA (International Public Debate Association) debate and finished with a 3-2 record.

Kelso resident Mitchell Levy was named second place speaker in junior IPDA debate. He also competed in Extemporaneous, Informative and Impromptu speaking.
You must be logged in to react.

Click any reaction to login.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Since returning from a four-week layoff on January 25, Canadian-owned Resita has been on a roll for trainer Ron Burke and driver Yannick Gingras. Friday night, the five-year-old gelded son of Manofmanymissions won his third straight, scoring in the $15,750 conditioned trotting feature at The Meadowlands.

Resita, who defeated non-winners of $5,000 and non-winners of $8,500 in his last two outings, respectively, took on one-rung below the Preferred Handicap types on Friday  the non-winners of $15,000 class  and passed the test with flying colours.

The formful Derf Hanover was away quickly from post eight and had the lead at the quarter in :27.2. Resita rolled past that foe and had the point at the half in :56.4 as Pappy Go Go came after the leader and continued to press the issue at three-quarters in 1:24.4.

The eventual winner shrugged off Pappy Go Go turning for home, but the horse Pappy towed into contention  25-1 longshot Nows The Moment  tipped off cover and came after Resita. Nows The Moment was in position to pull off the upset, but as he inched to almost even with Resita in deep stretch, he went off stride, and Resita went on to a 1-1/2-length win in a lifetime-best 1:53.1. Nows The Moment finished second, but was disqualified and placed fourth for being lapped on break to two other horses - Two Am and Derf Hanover  who were declared the official second  and third-place finishers, respectively.

As the lukewarm 5-2 favourite, Resita returned $7.40 to win and stayed perfect in three starts this year. Hes owned by breeder Andrea Lea Racingstables and ASA Farm. Lifetime, hes won nine of 48 outings and banked $107,664.

A LITTLE MORE: Gingras remarkable February continued as the 39-year-old scored four times on the card, giving him 27 wins in 61 starts this month.  A simulcast player in Montreal was the only bettor to last seven legs in the 20-cent Survivor Pick-10 and walked away with $15,161.  Marcus Miller, Corey Callahan and Dexter Dunn all recorded driving doubles.  All-source wagering totaled $2,661,109.  Racing resumes Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Tuxedo Bay seeks his third straight win in the weekly pacing feature, the $21,000 Preferred Handicap.

(With files from Meadowlands)
If playing word association, participants in harness racing would rarely think Western Canada if asked about trotting and trotters. Yet so begins the tale of The Ice Dutchess, Canada's Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year.

The story starts with John Floren. Floren, who owns horses more recognizably as Coyote Wynd Farms, told Trot Insider that he's lived in more than 25 houses thus far with his early years spent in Montreal and Winnipeg as his father was in the Canadian Armed Forces and travelled frequently.

"I've lived all over North America, but mainly in Canada. My parents are from Montreal. I did my public school there and then my high school in Ottawa.

"We were living in Montreal in the mid-'80s, and I was always interested in horses growing up. We had moved there from Winnipeg, and I started getting interested in the Thoroughbreds at Assiniboia Downs, but when we moved to Montreal, they only had harness horses, and I didn't know much about them."

Floren had the good fortune of then meeting and getting to know two icons of harness racing in the province: Moe Graif and Morris Feldman. These two gentlemen helped guide Floren on his path to success in the sport.

"My wife ended up getting a job at the track for a gentleman by the name of Moe Graif doing bookkeeping, so that's how we got introduced to Standardbreds. We bought our first pacer in 1987."

In addition to Graif, Floren was at arm's reach of longtime breeder and owner Morris Feldman.

"I had a farm in St. Lazare from 1987 through 1991, and he had a farm there too. He was raising Standardbreds, as I was. We were neighbours, and that's how we got to know each other. Our daughters are around the same age, and we got to be pretty friendly. Our wives and kids would spend time in Italy together, because his wife was from Italy. We've been friends ever since."

In February 1991, Feldman's broodmare Incredible Sassy foaled a Crowning Point colt that would go on to stardom in harness racing as Incredible Abe.

Floren continued his involvement in harness racing, concentrating more on the breeding side as of late with a total of nine trotting broodmares with shares in five trotting stallions. He prefers dealing with trotters, deriving more satisfaction from the development side than the pacing gait.

"I used to do pacing and I switched over to trotting about five or six years ago because it's a larger market. You've got the Europeans involved. If you're going to play at the high end, the trotting is more value and you can have a bigger market to sell world-class yearlings to.

"There was a period there [with pacers] that it seemed like you couldn't compete with everything that was going on. You'd buy a horse that could go 1:55 and you couldn't get it to go in 1:58, and that was pretty discouraging. I think there's more of a level playing field on the trotting side, and I think they're more interesting. It's a lot more interesting to see a young trotter develop, get its gait and learn its way than a pacer."

Flash forward to 2017 and Floren, now based out of B.C. with a broodmare band of his own, sells a yearling at Harrisburg that brings a final bid of $320,000. A yearling selling later that day by the name of The Ice Dutchess catches his eye.

"I'm in the breeding business, so I always look for pedigree first -- a good sire, and good pedigree. And then the looks of course, the conformation. Even if she didn't race a day in her life, she'd be worth something as a broodmare," stated Floren.

That assessment really came from a 2017 pedigree page, and much has happened since then.

A daughter of Muscle Hill - The Ice Queen, The Ice Dutchess hails from one of the hottest fammilies in harness racing. She's a full-sister to Ice Attraction, who set a world record for four-year-old trotting mares this past October at The Red Mile, and her dam is a half-sister to Southwind Serena -- a Breeders Crown winner, and the dam of the ultra-talented Mission Brief and Tactical Landing.

Floren decided to make a play for The Ice Dutchess late in the auction, and landed the filly without much effort. The price was just right.

"I was fortunate enough to sell one that day for the same price, and I put that number in my head that I'd go up to that for her, and for whatever reason, that's where the bidding stopped. I think I made two bids on her, and that was it. It's weird: she was the sale topper last year, and this year there were some that went over $400,000. You never know how things are going to go."

Truer words have never been spoken, especially in the world of harness racing and yearlings. Factor in fractious trotting fillies and the situation is a legit feast or famine scenario. Early reports on the The Ice Dutchess from developer (and fellow Western Canadian) Clark Beelby gave Floren optimism that his investment had potential for growth.

"She started off really strong. She trained down with Clark Beelby all winter," admitted Floren. "The plan was always to send her to Jimmy [Takter] mid-April because Clark isn't really set up to race a filly like that in the U.S., because he can only spend six months in the U.S. because of visa issues.

"Clark doesn't say much, but he certainly thought she was the best one we've had together, and it turned out she was."

Upon arrival in the Takter stable, The Ice Dutchess may not have been as advanced as those Takter trained down but quickly advanced to the head of the class.

"She just kept going strong, and then at the beginning of the year -- in her third or fourth race -- she broke stride, and it really didn't have anything to do with her gait, she was just really starting to grow quite a bit. I remember Johnny Takter, who drove her in the Doherty, showed me how much bigger her back end was than her front end was. She was going through a huge growth spurt at the time, like two-year-olds do. So we put the hopples on her for stability, and she never looked back after that."

After winning the Doherty on Hambletonian Day and then making breaks as the favourite in her next two starts, The Ice Dutchess added trotting hopples and added more stakes victories. She swept the Peaceful Way Stakes at Woodbine Mohawk Park and also won her Bluegrass Stakes division at The Red Mile. She finished second in her next two starts to When Dovescry before drawing the outside in the Breeders Crown Final and meeting up with undefeated phenom Woodside Charm.

"You see that horse go that mile at Saratoga...that's a special horse that does that," said Floren with a tone of respect. "It's a long year for these two-year-olds when you start in the Doherty and end in the Breeders Crown and hit all the big races. It's nothing to be ashamed of or sorry for at the end of the year. I would have liked a better result in the Breeders Crown, but she drew a bad post and it was a really horrendous evening at Pocono.

"I think if she draws a little better than the eight-hole, and then she has to come first-up on that horse, she's probably top three. But no complaints; no regrets. It's horse racing."



Left to right: Matthew Wickware, Eleasa Feldman, Palmira Lamarca, Greg Blanchard, Director of Racing for The Raceway at Western Fair District, Morris Feldman, John Floren, Sherry Floren, Emily Floren, Rachel Feldman, Carmine Niro. Left to right: Matthew Wickware, Eleasa Feldman, Palmira Lamarca, Greg Blanchard, Director of Racing for The Raceway at Western Fair District, Morris Feldman, John Floren, Sherry Floren, Emily Floren, Rachel Feldman, Carmine Niro.

The year might have ended on a low note for The Ice Dutchess on the track but her resume didn't go unnoticed by O'Brien Award voters, who earlier this month named The Ice Dutchess Canada's Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year.

"It was a really exciting night. First time I've been; first-class event. I had my friends there from Montreal, and my wife and daughter, and their two daughters. It was a nice evening."

After a few months of rest and relaxation at Peninsula Farms, The Ice Dutchess has reported back for work in preparation for her sophomore season. With trainer Jimmy Takter retiring from full-time training duties at the end of 2018, The Ice Dutchess will be trained this year by Nancy Johansson...though Floren revealed that Takter isn't exactly removed from the process altogether. When dealing with trotting fillies, which Floren states "is not for the faint of heart" and most would concur, providing creature comforts isn't a bad thing.

"Jimmy's still involved; he was doing some training last week and then he's off to New Zealand," said Floren. "I think it's important that it's the same groom; Anette Zackrisson is a really good groom. Once you get the horse going, looking after them and keeping them healthy day-to-day is important. That was important to keep the same groom with her."
We are sorry, but, the blog or user you are looking for can not be found.

Checkout some of the blogs in our showcase.
Students from Kosice win a place in the land rover 4X4 in schools world finals

They have won the competition for the third time in a row.

Nearly 50 talented future engineers from schools in Nitra, Kosice, Vrable and Bratislava met at Jaguar Land Rovers Slovakia plant for the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge national finals.

A team of students from the Gymnazium Postova in Kosice went on to win a place in the Land Rover 4x4 in Schools World Finals which will be held at the University of Warwick in the UK, on April 13 - 16 with a radio-controlled, 4x4 vehicle that they designed and built.

Winning team (Source: Martina Kovacs)

Success in the Slovak National Final of the global education challenge saw the student team, Columba Racing, beat stiff competition from nine other school teams in the country to secure success.

Software coding

Student teams use software coding to design and build a remote-controlled scale model four-wheel-drive all-terrain vehicle capable of negotiating obstacles and road surfaces including water dips, a rope bridge, and rocks  all on a bespoke Land Rover track replicating the capabilities of a full-size SUV. Teams are scored on track performance and also present their work and knowledge of vehicle design and engineering to a panel of judges.

As the automotive industry continues to drive towards an autonomous, connected, electric and shared future, we are passionate about inspiring the next generation of engineering talent, said Alexander Wortberg, Operations Director, Nitra Plant, as quoted by the press release.

Third time in a row

The engineering industry requires creative individuals who are capable of problem solving for our future business, he added. The Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Challenge replicates a real-life work situation where we can all come together to share ideals to resolve a complex problem.

This challenge is an excellent opportunity for young people to work together to gain awareness and understanding of project management and other key skills, as well as linking into the STEM initiative, he noted.

Team Manager, Juraj Marcin said it was great that their school managed to win for the third time. "The hardest part was to overcome ourselves, as last year we raised the bar high. We are looking forward to the world finals very much and we hope to be successful there."

16. Feb 2019 at 9:30 | Compiled by Spectator staff
It is does not take any significant insight to say that the staggering Pulwama attack had to have been a result of meticulous and detailed planning at least weeks in the making. It brought together so many varied pieces that the grotesquely emblematic presence of the 22-year-old suicide bomber Adil Ahmad Dar alias Adil Ahmad Gaadi Takranewala alias Waqas Commando is just a small aspect of it. Sure, he was crucial in so much as it came to the last mile execution of ramming his improvised explosives-filled vehicle. However, it was what it must have taken in the run-up to the ghastly attack that ought to worry the Indian authorities.

On January 14, 78 military vehicles formed a convoy transporting 2500 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) along the Jammu Srinagar National Highway. Over the past three decades since a violent separatist insurgency gained momentum in the Kashmir Valley in 1989, the CRPF has become a well-oiled machine specializing in the first line of defense against a relentless adversary that has operated with the unabashed support of the various arms of the Pakistani intelligence-jihadi complex.

The Pulwama attack that killed 42 CRPF personnel, the worst in the last three decades, was claimed by the Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM). Hence, the clear assertion that some elements of the Pakistani intelligence-jihadi complex had to have played a decisive role in the planning of the operation. After all, it could not be that Dar was just out driving for fun along the highway that afternoon in his SUV packed with improvised explosive device (IED) in the off chance that he might run into a massive paramilitary convoy.

Everything about his presence was calibrated on the basis of very sophisticated intelligence gathering as well as very efficient IED making. No one should be surprised if right up until the time his vehicle rammed into two paramilitary vehicles and the IED exploded he was being monitored by a group of his handlers. I feel ridiculous stating the obvious but an operation like this cannot be a spur-of-the-moment affair. Like I said, it brought so many disparate pieces together, right from the very specific intelligence about the vehicle movement on the most guarded highway in Kashmir, the time of its passage, the number of vehicles in the convoy, the point from where to strike and, of course, a brainwashed misanthrope in the form of Dar.

Having reported the Kashmir insurgency for nearly a decade since its inception, I have had many opportunities to interact with young men of Dars persuasion. Of course, since my years of reporting from there, there has been discernible mutation in the kind of insurgents and their brazenness. However, the fundamental political and cultural disaffections, which are often cited as the cause behind this deeply unnerving campaign, have not changed. Dars video saying he was on his way to heaven is a testament to how this macabre lunacy is sold to impressionable but utterly complicit young men like him. Analyzing the root causes of the misanthropic disgust among young Kashmiris is a very detailed and, I am afraid, eventually futile exercise that I am deliberately avoiding in this post.

It is clear that the attack is a direct result of a mortifying intelligence failure in a state which has generally perfected intelligence gathering to a remarkable degree. So many attacks have been thwarted because the security establishment in the valley has become so efficient at gathering intelligence and acting upon it. It is for that reason that I am concerned about this particular failure. There are reports in the Indian media that possibilities of an attack like this one along the national highway were clearly expressed by intelligence agencies. It will be a matter of investigation why, if it true, the intelligence was not acted upon. It is conceivable that in a region which has been in a state of bloody ferment for so long that it has caused a measure of fatigue even among the security forces. I am not sure if we will ever know clearly what series of failures led to this massacre.

On a separate but related note, I must bring to your notice a nearly decade-old action by the US Department of Treasury. On November 4, 2010, the Treasury targeted the financial and support networks of Pakistan-based terrorist organizations Lashkar-e Tayyiba (LET) and Jaish-e Mohammed (JEM). An official release then said, Treasury took action against Azam Cheema, who helped train operatives for the November 2008 Mumbai attacks and was the "mastermind" behind the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings carried out by LET, for acting for or on behalf of LET. Treasury also acted against Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, head of LET's political affairs department, for acting for or on behalf of LET. Al Rehmat Trust, an operational front for JEM was designated for providing support to and for acting for or on behalf of JEM, and Mohammed Masood Azhar Alvi, JEM's founder and leader, was also designated today for acting for on behalf of JEM.

The press announcement also quoted Stuart Levey, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, as saying, "LET and JEM have proven both their willingness and ability to execute attacks against innocent civilians. Today's action  including the designation of Azam Cheema, one of LET's leading commanders who was involved in the 2008 and 2006 Mumbai attacks  is an important step in incapacitating the operational and financial networks of these deadly organizations.

Nearly a decade later, the very JEM appears to be far from incapacitated. Masood Azhar operates from Pakistan unencumbered despite his organization having been designated a terrorist group by the United Nations. Azhar has a long history of very violent entanglement with Kashmir. He was arrested by the Indian authorities in Kashmir in 1994. Nearly five years later, in 1999, an Indian Airlines flight was hijacked while on its way from Kathmandu to New Delhi and forcibly taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The hijackers demanded the release of three men, one of which was Azhar, in exchange for freeing the passengers.

Since that release, Azhar has continued with his violent ways under a suspected patronage of the Pakistani intelligence.

A decade is a long time out of ones career to have spent on a conflict as I have on Kashmir. I was not optimistic about its peaceful resolution then. I am even less so now. I am not even sure that there is a resolution. At best, there could be containment and that is depressing thought.

On a personal note, I avoid expressing sorrowful sentiments in the aftermath of a staggering attack like this one for one simple reason. I feel selfish in that I feel as if I am merely assuaging my disgust and anger and not in any way helping the families of those who died. However, I did feel prompted to make a painting accompanied with this post. It was almost instantaneous on first hearing the news of the attack. That is my way to express solidarity.

It is not my station to prescribe what the Indian government should do in response. I am sure there will be a retaliation that is both powerful and politically expedient in light of the upcoming parliamentary elections in India.
If you enjoy "Solomon's words for the wise", we invite you to become a regular subscriber. We will never charge you to read our website, but if you would like to send a donation for your subscription, you can click on the PAY PAL Button below and enter the amount you would like to send. If you don't have a Pay Pal account, you can use the credit cards below or

make checks to Solomon's words, PO Box 250, Roulette, PA 16746.
On Friday, in a move that most commentators viewed as a desperate attempt to prove to his base he was still fighting for his promised border wall, President Trump declared a national emergency. He knew, from the many weeks of effort by Republicans, that he couldnt get the funding he needed through Congress. The national emergency was a necessary step to be able to say hed done it all: averted the impending shutdown, skirted Congress, and made a move to get the funding he needed for his wall.

Advertisement

The President, who previously shut down the government for 35 days to try to get funding for the wall only to cave, executed a two-part plan. He cited an invasion at the Southern border as justification for the emergency, a decision that will be challenged in court. (Democrats have bet on the courts siding with them, but its not a slam-dunk.) Then Trump signed a budget deal including $1.4 billion for the wallless than a quarter of what he had asked forand avoided another shutdown.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The response on the right to Trumps actions ranged in the way we often see splintering when the president does something that smacks of disregard for checks and balances. Democrats and more moderate Republicans voiced fears that the move would set a dangerous precedent if he succeeds.

Advertisement

The simple fact is that failing to get the budget you want from Congress isnt a national emergency, regardless of how much you invoke national security and talk about invasion, Jonah Goldberg wrote in the National Review. And it is palpably obvious that most of the people cheering the news arent relieved that a pressing national-security threat is about to be averted. Theyre cheering because they see this as a political triumph for the president.

Even more directly, the editors of the Bulwark warned, now that President Trump has declared a national emergency to circumvent Congress and build his wall, Republican legislators face a time for choosing: Support Trump or the rule of law.

Several Republican lawmakers have also voiced their displeasure with the plan, including Sen. Marco Rubio. We have a crisis on our Southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the constitution, Rubio said in a statement Thursday.

Advertisement

Advertisement

But some right-wing pundits, many of whom have risen from the more anti-immigrant, alt-right media structure that helped elect Trump, are just excited for a wall. Trumps not delivering on his promisethat, youll recall, was to have Mexico pay for the wallbut hes at least not letting the Democrats totally win. Some implied that its all about winningthat it was OK to break the rules, because liberals would do the same. Others said that it was a totally normal tool for a president to use, because of course this is a national emergency. And still others have said that by not forcing us into another shutdown and managing a deal that includes border wall funding, the president once again betrayed his voters.

Advertisement

Heres a taste of the reaction:

Ann Coulter, who has notably turned on Trump over his failure to stand up for the wall, converting from one of his biggest cheerleaders to someone who called him the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United States:

The goal is to get Trump's stupidest voters to say "HE'S FIGHTING!" No he's not. If he signs this bill, it's over. https://t.co/6DQSkqxV8h  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 15, 2019

Advertisement

Advertisement

No, the goal of a national emergency is for Trump to scam the stupidest people in his base for 2 more years. https://t.co/6DQSkqxV8h  Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) February 15, 2019

Fox News commentator Tomi Lahren:

Nancy can warn all she wants about the consequences of a national emergency but lets be honest, shes nervous she wont get the influx of illegals crossing the border and into her voting bloc. Good for you @realDonaldTrump showing Nancy who her President is!!  Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) February 14, 2019

Advertisement

If a national emergency is a tool in the @realDonaldTrump toolbox....lets go full Tool Time on these Democrats and use absolutely every asset at our disposal to build the damn wall!  Tomi Lahren (@TomiLahren) February 14, 2019

Townhall columnist Kurt Schlichter:

The emergency thing should be a win either way.

Either we get a wall, or the courts establish precedent checking presidential

power.

Except, that checking will never be applied to a Democrat president.

So the hell with it.  Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) February 15, 2019

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

I wouldn't be too unhappy about limits on POTUS power, but the simple fact is those limits will never be applied, formally or informally, to a liberal, so screw it.

If it's going to be about power instead of law, then power it is.

There cannot be two sets of rules. https://t.co/TXLOWD5DLp  Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) February 15, 2019

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk:

National Emergency!



There have been 58 national emergency acts since 1976 and 31 are still active



There is precedent to get this done, our border is a domestic threat and a national security issue



Our open border costs us hundreds of billions a year



Go Trump Go  Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 15, 2019

Many right-wing pundits said relatively little about the declaration. They stuck to two other stories that fit more neatly into the emotions-driven playbook for maintaining support for a rule-flaunting president: one about the unconfirmed allegations that Jussie Smollett staged his attack by Trump supporters and another about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezs boyfriend.
Courting trouble: Today, President Donald Trump officially declared a national emergency to ensure construction of the border wall, bypassing congressional approval. Experts across the ideological spectrum agree this is unconstitutional, but at this point, it doesnt matter what they thinkits really up to the judiciary. Daniel Hemel explains why its a mistake to bet on the courts to stop the wall, and Dahlia Lithwick shows how Trumps declaration undermines the Supreme Court.

Welcome to the jungle? On Thursday, Amazon stated it would back out of its plans to build part of its HQ2 in Long Island City, New York, because of opposition from state and local politicians. April Glaser writes that the grassroots anti-Amazon movement in the city could provide a blueprint to other critics of Big Tech, while Henry Grabar notes that this move represents a shift in typical American city politics: For New York, its no longer just about growth at all costs.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Doomsday scenario: David Wallace-Wells blockbuster 2017 New York magazine story, The Uninhabitable Earth, shocked many people into confronting the realities of climate change in a visceral way. Now hes expanded that terrifying vision into a book of extraordinary narrative scope and no easy answersa critique of our perception that the human story is one of progress, writes Susan Matthews. Read her review of the book, which comes out on Tuesday.

People power: In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, female farmers have banded together as a collective to stand against a daunting set of challenges: sexism, the caste system, and the effects of climate change on their produce and ways of living. Journalist Namrata Kolachalam traces their amazing story.

For fun: Just where does Alexa get its Daily Quotes from?

I still dont own a smart speaker,

Nitish
The Vatican announced on Saturday that ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, once the archbishop of Washington, has been expelled from the priesthood after being found guilty of sexually abusing minors for decades. McCarrick was for decades one of the most powerful figures in the American Catholic church.

According to the New York Times, the ruling appears to be the first time an American cardinal or bishop has ever been laicized, a process that strips a former priest of all clerical titles, rights, and resources, including housing and any other financial benefits. It also seems to be the first time any cardinal has been laicized over sexual abuse.

Advertisement

The 88-year-old McCarrick has been accused of abusing three minors over decades. Last summer, an investigation by the Archdiocese of New York found an assault accusation from the 1970s to be credible, and McCarrick was removed from officemaking him the highest-ranking American Catholic leader to be held to account for abuse allegations. Further reporting by the New York Times and Washington Post found that McCarricks rumored behavior had long been an open secret and that church leaders had paid settlements to men who complained of abuse when McCarrick was a bishop. Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to a life of penance and prayer during the recent investigation, and he has been living in a Kansas religious residence since.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

The church told McCarrick, who has also been accused of harassing adult seminarians, of the decision earlier this week, and he appealed. The Vatican rejected the appeal and announced the official decision, which cannot be appealed, on Saturday. According to the church statement, he had been found guilty of solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.

The announcement comes just before a meeting between Francis and bishops from around the world to discuss the crisis in the church. The American churchs sex abuse crisis, sparked by McCarricks scandal, has led to a slew of investigations across the U.S. Those investigations were led by a damning Pennsylvania grand jury report last summer that found more than 1,000 credible cases of sex abuse by 300 priests, many of which were accompanied by subsequent cover-ups by the church. Since then, hundreds of additional priests across the country have been named as alleged abusers. Globally, the scandal has also led to the laicization of two retired Chilean bishops and the removal of two cardinals from powerful positions in the church.

Francis himself has been implicated in the McCarrick cover-up scandal, as Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. (and a conservative critic of the pope who has blamed homosexuality for the sex abuse crisis), alleged that Francis lifted sanctions on McCarrick that were placed by his predecessor, Benedict. The Vatican has rejected that allegation as false.
The man who killed five people in a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday bought his gun legallydespite a felony conviction for aggravated assault that should have disqualified himbut later lost his gun license, police said Saturday. Authorities are investigating how he was able to keep his gun.

The gunman, identified as 45-year-old Aurora resident Gary Martin, died on Friday at the manufacturing plant where he had worked as a valve assembler for 15 years. Police said he opened fire during a meeting in which he was fired, killing three. He went on to kill the other two victims, also Henry Pratt Co. employees, in a different part of the warehouse. Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said Saturday she thought it was likely that Martin brought his gun to the meeting because he knew it was possible he would be fired.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Workers at a local Circle K told USA Today that Martin, who came in almost every day, seemed like a cheerful man to them, and even on the morning of the shooting he seemed normal. Neighbors also called him friendly.

But as is so often the case with mass shooters, Martin had a history of domestic violence. According to Ziman, local police had arrested Martin six times before, several of which were for domestic violence, and the latest of which was in 2017 for disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property. He also had been convicted of aggravated assault in Mississippi in 1995.

That Mississippi conviction, a felony, should have prevented him from being able to buy a gun. But according to police, the background check failed to raise any flags. In 2014, Martin applied for and was issued an Illinois Firearm Owners Identification Card, and two months later he bought a Smith & Wesson handgun from a local dealer. That gun was the one used in Fridays shooting.

Advertisement

He soon afterward applied for a concealed carry permit, police said, but during fingerprinting and the background check involved in that process, the Mississippi conviction surfaced, and his application was denied. Illinois State Police then revoked his firearm license. Police are investigating how he was able to keep his handgun after that.

In Fridays shooting, Martin injured five police officers and one Henry Pratt employee, all of whom have recovered or are in stable condition. The five people killed in the shooting have been identified as Russell Beyer of Yorkville; Vicente Juarez of Oswego; Clayton Parks of Elgin; Josh Pinkard of Oswego; and Trevor Wehner of Dekalb. Beyer, Juarez, Parks, and Pinkard were all employees of the plant. Wehner was a student at Northern Illinois University and, according to the Chicago Tribune, on his first day of an internship at the plant..
A gunman killed at least five people and wounded multiple others, including five police officers, in a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday. The Aurora Police Department said that the gunman died after exchanging fire with officers.

The shooter was identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, an employee at Henry Pratt, an industrial valve manufacturer whose warehouse was the site of the shooting. Police do not yet know the motive.

Aurora is a city of about 200,000 people located 40 miles west of Chicago.

Advertisement

ATF and FBI agents arrived at the scene at around 2:30 p.m. local time. A bevy of police vehicles, along with at least six ambulances and six firetrucks, also appeared at the scene. An employee who escaped the building told ABC7 Chicago that he saw a shooter holding a pistol equipped with a laser sight, and that there should have been roughly 30 people in the warehouse at the time.

Advertisement

Advertisement

The nearby Mercy Hospital reportedly received three patients, though one of the patients was transferred to the Good Samaritan Hospital via helicopter. Rush Copley Medical Center is also treating three patients.

The West Aurora School district had a soft lockdown until 3:30 p.m., at which point students were dismissed.

Advertisement

President Trump and Illinois officials released statements expressing their condolences for the victims.

Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2019

Advertisement

I am monitoring the situation in Aurora, Illinois. This is a scary, sad day for all Illinoisans and Americans. Thank you to the brave first responders who risked their lives this afternoon and apprehended the shooter.  Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) February 15, 2019

May the memory of those that we lost today be a blessing and more than that, may their memory fuel our work to bring peace to this state we call home. pic.twitter.com/sy9orxTCbf  Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) February 16, 2019

Advertisement

My heart breaks for Aurora. I'm tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency.  Senator Dick Durbin (@SenatorDurbin) February 15, 2019

This is a breaking news story. This post may be updated with more information about the shooting.
This post was published in partnership with Wirecutter, the site devoted to finding the best gear and gadgets. Every product is independently selected by the Wirecutter team. We update links when possible, but note that deals may expire and prices are subject to change. If you buy something through our links, Slate and Wirecutter may earn an affiliate commission.

After blind-tasting wine in more than 80 different glasses with a professional winemaker, a sommelier, and a wine critic, we think the best everyday wine glass is the Libbey Signature Kentfield Estate All-Purpose Wine Glass. We considered over 250 glasses, and we found that the inexpensive tulip-shaped Libbey glass enhanced the aromas of both red and white wines better than most of the competition.

Our pick

In our tests, the Libbey Signature Kentfield Estate All-Purpose Wine Glass proved to be durable enough to withstand the rigors of daily use. Its dishwasher-safe, and the shape is nicely balanced with a thin lip. Since the Libbey has all the features we look for in finer stemware at a bargain price, we think its the best all-purpose wine glass for your home.

Also great

For a more elegant glass thats appropriate for everyday drinking, we recommend the Riedel Vinum Zinfandel/Riesling Grand Cru. In our tests, the elongated tulip-shaped bowl did an excellent job enhancing the aromas of both red and white wines. Though this non-leaded crystal glass (fortified with lead oxide alternatives to make it more sparkly) appears delicate, its surprisingly durable and dishwasher-safe. Its an ideal height: not too tall, so theres less risk knocking it over; yet not too short that it appears squatty. The laser-cut rim on this glass provides a thin edge that doesnt distract from the wine drinking experience. This is a thinner, more refined all-purpose wine glass for daily use.

Riedel Vinum Zinfandel/Riesling Grand Cru Like our top pick, our experts found both red and white wines were more expressive in the Riedel Vinum glass. $80 from Amazon



Upgrade pick

We recommend the pricey Zalto DenkArt Universal Glass for the serious wine drinker. Both red and white wines showcased unbelievably well in this glass. Our pros gushed over the Zaltos thin, mouth-blown glass and the unique tapered design of the bowl. Made from non-leaded crystal, the Zalto sparkles brilliantly under the light, and its delicate stem is pulled the thinnest out of all the glasses we tested. Since its expensive and delicate, this isnt a glass youll likely feel comfortable bringing out for most company, but its ideal for special occasions or when enjoying your favorite vintage.

Also great

For casual drinking, we recommend the Ravenscroft Crystal Stemless Wine Glasses, which were thinner and lighter than most of the glasses we tested in this category. Though theyre stemless, these glasses retain the elegance of traditional stemware because they are made from non-leaded crystal, have relatively thin lips, and are light weight. Our experts recommend these glasses when enjoying inexpensive but refreshing wines.

Upgrade pick

The best varietal-specific glasses (those designed for specific types of wine) come from the Riedel Veritas collection. Not only is this stemware more elegant than our main pick, but the cabernet and chardonnay glasses we tested proved to be the best for showcasing wine aroma. This collection includes nine varietal-specific glasses for wine (as well as glasses for beer, spirits, and cocktails). The Veritas glasses are ideal for those passionate about the complexities of the wine theyre drinking and want to showcase their fine wines in superior glassware. You probably dont want to set these glasses out for rowdy drinkers, since theyre made from thinner, finer, and more delicate non-leaded crystal. The Veritas glasses are available in many styles for wine, but if youre not sure where to start, we recommend beginning with the Riedel Veritas Cabernet/Merlot Glass for red wine and the Riedel Veritas Viognier/Chardonnay Glass for white wine.

Riedel Veritas Cabernet/Merlot Glass The Riedel Veritas Cabernet/Merlot glass was highly rated by our taste testers for capturing the aromas of red wines exceptionally well. $54 from Amazon



Why you should trust us

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

For this update, we spoke with wine professionals, including Eric Asimov, wine critic for The New York Times (parent company of Wirecutter); Scott Carney, master sommelier and dean of wine studies at The International Culinary Center in NYC; and Michele Thomas, sommelier, a freelance wine and spirits writer, and sales associate at The Greene Grape Wine & Spirits in Brooklyn, New York. Additionally, we spoke to Kristin Wastell, the visitor center manager at the Ravenswood Winery Tasting Room in Sonoma, California.

We also spoke to chemosensory specialists, such as Steven D. Munger, PhD, director at the Center of Taste and Smell at the University of Florida, and Terry Acree, PhD, a professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. Additionally, we reached out to glass experts such as Jane Cook, PhD, chief scientist at the Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG) in Corning, New York, and William C. LaCourse, PhD, a professor in the Glass Engineering Department at Alfred University in Alfred, New York.

Advertisement

For our previous update, Jeff Cohn, winemaker at Jeff Cohn Cellars, tested all of our wine glasses in person. We also consulted with Belinda Chang, a James Beard Awardwinning sommelier, former Champagne educator for Moet Hennessy, and currently the wine director at Chicagos Maple & Ash; and David Speer, owner of Ambonnay in Portland, Oregon, and one of Food & Wines 2013 Sommeliers of the Year.

Advertisement

We also looked at several wine glass reviews from sources such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wine Spectator, and Apartment Therapy. Finally, we scoured stores such as Williams-Sonoma, Crate and Barrel, Macys, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Amazon.

Michael Sullivan has reviewed dinnerware and knife sets, along with other kitchen equipment for Wirecutter. He previously worked in restaurants and bartended for several years. For this guide, he researched more than 250 wine glasses and tested over 50 for our 2017 update.

A primer: The difference between crystal, non-leaded crystal, and soda-lime glass

When purchasing wine glasses, its helpful to know the meaning behind some basic termsincluding crystal, non-leaded crystal, and soda-lime glassto ensure you know what youre buying.

Advertisement

Crystal, not to be confused with quartz crystal, is a type of colorless glass containing lead oxide. American standards vary depending on the producer, but most high-end US glass manufacturers follow the United Kingdoms standard: Leaded crystal must contain a minimum of 24 percent lead oxide, according to British Glass. Jane Cook, chief scientist at CMOG, told us, The extra lead content softens the glass and makes it easier to cut and polish. Wine glass makers can pull leaded crystal thinner than soda-lime glass, which results in flawless bowls and stems, thin rims, and delicate craftsmanship. Leaded crystal is also more refractivethat is, super sparkly. Its also more expensive than soda-lime glass.

Advertisement

Some glassware manufacturers used to claim that the microscopic roughness on the surface of leaded crystal enhanced wine more than soda lime glass. However, two of our experts, Williams C. LaCourse and Jane Cook, said it would be difficult to say if either type of glass significantly impacts the volatilization of aroma molecules in wine better than the other without the appropriate research and testing.

Advertisement

Terry Acree, a professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University, told us that what makes crystal preferable to glass has nothing to do with taste, it has nothing to do with flavor, and it has nothing to do with the chemistry of the glass. It has only to do with all of the other things that make you feel good in life. The person sitting across from you, the candlelight, the fact that a Riedel wine glass costs $150 guarantees that anything that comes out of it is going to taste better. It doesnt matter what its made out of. It all has to do with psychological expectations.

Non-leaded (or lead-free) crystal, as its name implies, is a type of lead-free glass that bears similarity in appearance to leaded crystal. While there are many formulas used to make non-leaded crystal, glass manufacturers commonly replace lead oxide with additives such as barium. According to Cook, since lead is a very toxic, well-regulated material, most glassware manufacturers have moved away from using lead oxide in their glassware (including well-known companies such as Riedel). Instead, theyve opted to use less toxic materials to produce stemware that shares similar attributes to leaded crystal. Cook explains, Barium crystal is far less toxic, but its also harder than leaded crystal. Its not going to scratch as easily. Its going to look a little bit different, and its not going to have the same color profile to it that leaded crystal does, but its an option. Keep in mind that non-leaded crystal can also be referred to as crystal, which is confusing, so we recommend contacting the manufacturer directly if youre uncertain, or its not clearly labeled on the box.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Soda-lime glass is primarily made from about 60 to 75 percent silica (sand), 12 to 18 percent soda ash (sodium carbonate), and 5 to 12 percent lime (calcined limestone), according to the Corning Museum of Glass online dictionary. Since its so versatile and inexpensive to produce, this type of glass is commonly used for everything from wine glasses and tumblers, to wine bottles and pickle jars.

Machine blown or mouth blown are terms often used by stemware manufacturers to indicate how a glass is formed. As expected, mouth-blown glasses, like our upgrade pickthe Zalto DenkArt Universal Glasscost considerably more than most machine-blown glasses due to the labor and skill involved to produce it. Stemware can also be made by mold pressing, or mold blowing. Glassware manufacturers can also use a combination of blown and molded pieces to create stemware.

How we picked

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

We turned to our experts to find out which features they look for in the ideal wine glass, including the type and quality of glass, size and shape of the bowl, thinness of the glass and rim, stem length, size of the base, overall balance, weight, and aesthetics.

Type and quality of glass

Our experts stressed that a wine glass should be clear, unadorned, and smooth, so you can see the liquid inside. We were able to rule out any colored or decorative glasses, or heavy crystal glasses with patterned etchings. Additionally, the glass should be free of imperfections, such as bends, warps, bubbles, or egregious seams on the stem.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Choosing the type of glass thats right for you comes down to cost, practicality, aesthetics, and entertaining preferences. Michele Thomas, a sommelier and freelance wine and spirits writer, said, In terms of crystal versus glass, its about the occasion, what youre doing, and how fancy you want to be. [Soda-lime] glass is less expensive. But aesthetically, crystal is definitely a nicer glass.

Eric Asimov, wine critic for The New York Times, makes the case for spending a little more for better quality everyday glasses saying, Its maybe the least expensive investment youll ever make, to spend $20 rather than $10. Why bother choosing among inadequate glasses when, for a little more money, you can get really nice glasses? He doesnt necessarily feel that crystal is inherently superior or inferior to soda-lime glass, but said, Since better wine glasses tend to be made out of crystal, the experience of drinking wine out of crystal glasses has been better. I dont think thats so much because of the material of the glass, but because of the quality and thought that goes into the glass. For this guide, we tested wine glasses made from crystal, non-leaded crystal, and soda-lime glass ranging from $4 to $70. In our blind taste test, the pros chose all lead or non-leaded crystal glasses as the finalists in nearly every category.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Shape and size of the bowl

After speaking to our experts, we determined that the shape and size of the bowl (the part of the glass that holds the wine) are two of the most important aspects of any wine glass because they will affect how well you can swirl the wine and how its aroma will be detected. You want a bowl thats big enough to hold a healthy amount of wine, while really being no more than a third full. That gives you plenty of room to swirl the wine without fearing youre going to throw it across the room or onto your shirt, said Eric Asimov, the wine critic for The New York Times. On the other hand, if a bowl is too big or too deep, the aroma can get lost and be harder to detect. We found all-purpose glasses between 14 and 19 fluid ounces provided enough volume to expose red wine to more surface area (allowing more oxygen to be absorbed into the wine, and increasing the speed at which aroma molecules volatilize), while still being small enough to preserve the subtle aromas of delicate whites.

Advertisement

Advertisement

In our tests, we found that a slight tulip shape to the glass showcases wines best so that their aroma may be smelled and enjoyed before drinking (see this article on how the shape of a wine glass can affect the taste of wine). Sommelier Belinda Chang advised us, Theres limitations to glasses that dont go convex and then concave. As youre swirling the wine and adding oxygen, you want the molecules that give aromas to line up and down the side of the glass. Asimov agreed, saying, You want the diameter of the rim to be a little less wide than the widest part of the bowl. That helps to channel aromas upwards and makes the aromas of the wine a little bit easier to detect. We eliminated any glasses that didnt taper inward at the top, such as the flared Riedel Vivant Burgundy, which made smelling wine aromas difficult in previous tests.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Though we looked only at glasses with tapered bowls, the shape can vary dramatically depending on the maker. Most manufacturers sell many stemware lines, each varying in terms of height, width, shape, and quality of glass. We looked at a range of glasses in many styles with both rounded bowls like our main pick, the Libbey Signature Kentfield Estate All-Purpose Wine Glass, and angled bowls, such as our upgrade pick, the Zalto DenkArt Universal Glass. According to our experts, other than the size and shape of the bowl, choosing wine glasses becomes a matter of aesthetics and personal taste.

Advertisement

The thinness of the glass, rim, and stem

Advertisement

Among the most important aesthetics to consider is the rim of the glass. All of our experts were partial to a thin rim on their glass because it felt best against their lips and was less diverting. If its thick and pronounced, it can feel clunky and distracting. Thomas said,  I generally like a thin-lipped wine glass if Im going to do a real tasting. Asimov agreed, saying, I dont like glasses with a heavy lip. While the thickness of the rim is a matter of personal taste, in our experience, better quality wine glasses tend to be thinner and less obtrusive.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Some stemware manufacturers claim that a thinner rim helps to direct the wine to a specific place on the palate, referring to the tongue map, or the idea that we detect different tastes on specific parts of our tongue. However, Terry Acree, a professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University, told us, The tongue map was very clearly debunked about 40 or 50 years ago. Theres absolutely no evidence of a tongue map in human beings. There seem to be some different sensitivities on the sides of the tongue versus the back of the tongue, et cetera, but every taste bud responds to all five senses. Furthermore, Gordon M. Shepherd, author of Neuroenology: How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine, wrote, Its important to remember that taste buds are not confined to the tongue; they are also present on the palate, at the back of the roof of the mouth, on the tonsils, and as far down as the epiglottis. The tongue needs to move the wine to reach all these taste cells to get the maximum taste stimulation. In other words, the thinness of the rim has no effect on the flavor of the wine as some glassware manufacturers have claimed. For optimal perception, the wine must be dispersed throughout the mouth and not to a specific part of the tongue.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Thinner stems are more elegant and generally go hand-in-hand with high-end stemware. We sorted through hundreds of glasses for this guide, and in that time a clear pattern emergedthe less expensive the glass, the thicker the bowl and the stem become. However, delicate glasses with thinner stems arent the best choice if they will be used at parties or spend time in the dishwasher because theyre more likely to break. Even though all of the glasses we tested claim to be dishwasher-safe, very fine, thin crystal glasses should be washed by hand. For this guide, we looked at glasses that had stems with a range of thicknesses.

Stem length

The length of the stem and the balance of the piece should make a glass less prone to toppling over on the table or in your hand. I live in an apartment, so super tall wine glasses arent that feasible, said Michele Thomas, but a glass with a stem thats 3 or 4 inches is probably fine. We avoided wine glasses that were too short and stubby, because they lack elegance and are unattractive, opting for glasses with longer, more classic stems. That said, we still wanted the glasses to be short enough to easily fit in a cupboard or in the top rack of a dishwasher. The length of the stem also needs to be long enough so you can comfortably hold the glass without your hand touching the bowl, which could warm the wine and leave smudges. In our testing, we found the ideal height of a wine glass is between about 8 and 9 inches.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

The base and balance of the glass

After observing the base of each wine glass we tested, we found that those with a small circumference were easier to knock over and, in some cases, made the glass top heavy. Bases that were too wide were sturdier, though some of our experts pointed out that they could catch on the edge of a plate, which is easy to do on a crowded table. Ideally, we wanted bases that were about the same circumference as the widest part of the bowl for optimal balance.

The overall weight of the glass is also important. If its too light its liable to topple over, while a heavy glass is unpleasant and cumbersome to hold.

Advertisement

Varietal-specific wine glasses

Advertisement

Aside from all-purpose wine glasses, we looked at glasses specifically designed for both reds and whites. Some glassware manufacturers, most notably Riedel, take the concept one step further and have glasses specially designed for many varietals such as Chardonnay and Riesling. The idea behind separate glasses is that they can enhance or flatten out various characteristics of the wine youre drinking. For those who enjoy entertaining, having red and white wine glasses is also a nice hospitality detail that sets a tone of formality for special occasions. However, Asimov told us, I dont really put stock in the notion that you need different glasses for different types of wine. I think thats an affectation and promoted heavily by self-interested wine glass manufacturers.  But its also a psychological thing, and if you believe it, then its fine. Keep in mind, unless you have the space, or enjoy the look of formal place settings, having multiple glasses for every type of wine is impractical for most people.

Advertisement

Scott Carney, whos been to one of the Riedel tastings where they compare wines in a generic glass versus a varietal-specific glass said, While it sounds like smoke and mirrors and all, it was quite clear that the Riedel glass was far more expressive, no doubt. While Asimov said he uses one all-purpose glass for everyday drinking, he notes that theres a lot of room for personal preference [when choosing glasses], and it ought to be dictated by that rather than some sort of pedantic sense of whats right and whats wrong. We limited our search to finding a pair of glasses that featured red and white wines well.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stemless wine glasses

In addition to traditional stemware, many of the top glassware manufacturers offer stemless options. However, one of the biggest drawbacks to stemless glassware is that it leaves unsightly fingerprints on the surface of the glass. Furthermore, Asimov said, the benefit of the stem is mostly that youre not affecting the temperature of the wine with the heat of your hands. I think if youre drinking a good wine, its a little bit of an affectation to serve it in stemless glasses.  But Im not really snobbish about glasses. People can serve wine in whatever they want, but my preference is stemware. Most of our experts agree that stemless glasses are fine for casual drinking, but theyre not not ideal for enjoying nicer wines on a regular basis.

Advertisement

Advertisement

In our tests, we also found that stemless glasses are easier to knock over, especially on a crowded table. Michele Thomas said, I think stemless glasses are cool looking, but Im the kind of clumsy person that would knock over a stemless wine glass. Id want the bowl of the glass more elevated on my table so I have a little more clearance, especially when reaching for my water glass.

Advertisement

The five types of glasses we looked for

For our 2017 update, we spoke with industry-leading sommeliers, winemakers, as well as wine critics and educators, to come up with the best wine glasses for most people. While there are many types of glasses for different types of drinkers, we set out to fulfill the following categories:

 A durable, all-purpose everyday wine glass (under $10)

 An all-purpose mid-range option thats thinner and more elegant ($10 to $20)

 An all-purpose upgrade pick for special occasions ($20 to $60)

 Varietal-specific glasses for red and white wines (under $30)

 All-purpose stemless glasses under $10

How we tested

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

For our original guide, Jeff Cohn, owner and head winemaker at Jeff Cohn Cellars, reviewed 33 wine glasses. For our 2017 update, Eric Asimov, the wine critic for The New York Times, and Michele Thomas, a sommelier and freelance wine and spirits writer, blind tested 53 glasses in the Wirecutter test kitchen. Mark McKenzie, a NYC-based sommelier, poured wine for our tastings and also offered his insight.

Advertisement

To prevent our testers from being influenced by a particular manufacturer, we covered the makers etching on the base of each glass. We washed all of the glasses in the dishwasher and polished them by hand using a microfiber cloth to remove any water spots or smudges before testing. At our experts suggestion, we used aromatic wines for our review, which included reasonably priced red and white wines from the Greene Grape in Brooklyn, New York. We tasted red and white wines in all-purpose and stemless glasses to test their versatility. Our tasting also included varietal-specific glasses, which we paired with the appropriate corresponding wine.

Advertisement

We also performed drop tests with all of our finalists: We filled the glasses one-third full with water and knocked them over onto a hardwood surface, onto a tablecloth-covered counter, and onto a hardwood floor from a height of 3 feet. We also hit the rim of the glasses against the edge of a marble counter to see if they would break.

Our pick

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

The best wine glass for everyday use is the Libbey Signature Kentfield Estate All-Purpose Wine Glass. This inexpensive, 16-ounce tulip-shaped glass was among the top stemware chosen by our experts in our blind taste test. It stood out for showcasing the aromas of both red and white wines well. Its nicely balanced with a thin lip that doesnt distract from enjoying the overall drinking experience. The Libbey glass has a classic look that makes it appropriate for daily use, or for more formal occasions such as dinners and cocktail parties. This glass is durable and practical for daily use, and its dishwasher-safe.

Our experts were able to detect the subtle aromas of both red and white wines, which were more expressive when drinking from the tulip-shaped Libbey glass. In our blind taste testing, Michele Thomas said the Libbey glass brings out more of the florals in the wine, compared with some of the other options she tested in the all-purpose glass category. She added that the glass was also, really nice for reds. The Libbey glass is narrow enough to preserve the delicate nuances of most whites, while its 16-ounce capacity makes it big enough for swirling reds.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Among the all-purpose glasses we tested, our experts found all the components of the Libbey glass, including the size of the bowl, length of the stem, and diameter of the base to be well-balanced. The stem is tall and it has a nice size base, said Michele Thomas. It has the appropriate proportions and good weight. Asimov agreed, saying, It feels comfortable to hold.

While the Libbey glass is slightly thicker compared with fine crystal stemware, Thomas said its a good company glass. Though its very durable, the glass is still elegant enough for dinner parties, which is great, especially when hosting rowdy guests. Made from what Libbey calls its ClearFire formula for soda-lime glass, it does seem to sparkle more under the light than other offerings in this price range.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Though Asimov noted the Libbey glass was a little lippy on top compared with some of the other glasses we tested, its still remarkably thin for such an inexpensive glass. Typically thinner rims and elongated stems are features we see in glasses costing nearly twice or three times as much. Asimov also observed that the Libbey glass doesnt have that ridge on the stem where it meets. Other inexpensive glasses, such as the Libbey Allure All-Purpose Wine Glass, commonly have an unattractive seam on the stem, which wasnt the case with this glass. The best part is, since its so inexpensive, you wont be heartbroken if one breaks.

Advertisement

According to its website, Libbey began as the New England Glass Company and has been producing American-made glassware for nearly 200 years, so its a trusted brand with proven longevity. The Libbey glass comes with a 25-year manufacturers chip warranty. The customer service representative we spoke with at Libbey said the company will replace the glass if it chips during normal use (just be sure to save the chipped glass, as you may be asked to return it). For replacements, call Libbey customer service at 1-888-794-8469. (This doesnt cover breaks, naturally.)

Advertisement

Flaws but not dealbreakers

While the height of the stem on the Libbey glass is long enough to be held comfortably without touching the bowl, its not quite as thin or elegant as more expensive glasses like the Riedel Vinum Zinfandel/Riesling Grand Cru or the Zalto DenkArt Universal wine glasses. It also weighs the most out of all of our picks, at around 5.8 ounces, though our testers said they didnt find it distracting. The stem has a slight bulge where it meets the bowl of the glass, but again, our testers didnt comment on it. What the Libbey lacks in elegance, it makes up for in terms of durability. Were willing to forgive these minor aesthetic preferences since it showcases red and white wines well and is affordably priced.

A more elegant all-purpose, everyday wine glass

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

The Riedel Vinum Zinfandel/Riesling Grand Cru is an elegant wine glass thats also durable enough for daily use. Both red and white wines were very expressive in this glass due its elongated, tulip-shaped bowl. Since this glass is so thin, the laser-cut rim feels practically seamless on the edge of your lips. Machine blown in Germany from non-leaded crystal, the Riedel Vinum glass also seemed to shine more brilliantly under the light compared with our main pick. And while it appears delicate, its actually very durable and dishwasher-safe. Our testers found this glass to be well-balanced and the appropriate height, too. We think this is a more refined all-purpose wine glass thats still suitable for daily use.

Advertisement

In our tests, the elongated tulip-shaped bowl allowed our testers to detect the fragrance of both red and white wines well. The taper on this glass helps to concentrate the aroma nicely, Thomas said. The Riedel Vinum glass also stood out from the competition because of the thinness of the bowl and rim. Thomas added, The lip on the Riedel Vinum is thinner and less distracting, which is great. We found the thin, laser-cut edge to be barely noticeable, which allows you to focus on the wine more than the glass. This wasnt the case with some of the other glasses tested, such as the Libbey Allure All-Purpose Wine Glass, which our testers found thick and distracting.

Riedel Vinum Zinfandel/Riesling Grand Cru Like our top pick, our experts found both red and white wines were more expressive in the Riedel Vinum glass. $80 from Amazon



Advertisement

Advertisement

When put alongside our main pick, the Riedel Vinum is undoubtedly more elegant. Just by looking at it, you can see that the glass is thinner and has a narrower stem. The Riedel Vinum glass is delicate, said Thomas, but not prohibitively so. Though its very thin, the Riedel Vinum glass didnt break after several cycles in the dishwasher and washings by hand using a bottle brush. It also passed our impact tests (except when it was dropped from 3 feet). It fits comfortably in the top rack of a dishwasher or in a cupboard.

In general, ask any wine professional, and theyll tell you the number one name in stemware is Riedel. Tim Fish, senior editor at Wine Spectator, confirmed Riedels status as a highly regarded company in this roundup of wine glassesappropriate for a first-time buyer. The Kitchn cites Riedel as one of its firm favorite brands with products that are highly respected and have stood the test of time. Good Housekeeping is a fan too, as evidenced in the subtly titled article Riedel Wine Glasses  The Best Wine Glasses. Also, according to the Riedel website, the Riedel Vinum series dates back to 1986, so these glasses have stood the test of time and will be easily replaceable.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

One drawback to the Riedel Vinum is the slight seam where the stem meets the bowl and the base of the glass. However, we feel this is a minor compromise for such a thin, elegant glass thats reasonably priced. Also, both Asimov and Thomas agreed that since this glass holds a couple of ounces less than our main pick, it might be a bit small for those who drink bigger reds at home. Thomas said in our tasting that, since the bowl is not quite as big, you get less of the fruit and a bigger alcohol punch because of the narrowness of the glass. That said, we still think the Riedel glass will feature most wines well.

An expensive wine glass for special occasions

Advertisement

Before we even drank from it, the Zalto DenkArt Universal Glass stood out from our lineup as being superior to the rest. Though its very expensive (around $60 per glass), our testers unanimously agreed that it showcased red and white wines exceedingly well. The thinness of the glass and its long, delicate stem were unparalleled compared to all the other glasses we tested. Its not practical for daily use, but the Zalto is the perfect glass for enjoying a really nice wine on a special occasion with superlative stemware.

Though the Zalto holds almost 20 ounces, which is on the high end of the scale in terms of capacity, both of our testers praised it in terms of its ability to effectively showcase the fragrance of both wines we tested. The Zalto captures the aroma, scent, and acidity of the wine, Thomas said. During our blind tasting, Asimov was enjoying the experience of drinking from the Zalto so much he said, This glass makes me want to drink the wine and not spit it out.

Weighing just 3.76 ounces, the Zalto Universal glass is feather light. However, while our pros gushed over it, Thomas stressed, I would not bring this glass out unless someone special came over because its so delicate. The Queen gets this glass. Its so elegant and gorgeous to drink out of. According to the companys website, the Austrian-made Zalto glass is mouth-blown and designed in accordance to the tilt angles of the Earth. Since its highly refractive with dramatic angles, the Zalto makes an elegant statement on a dinner table, which is likely one of the reasons it has been used at fine-dining restaurants such as Le Bernardin, Eleven Madison Park, and The French Laundry.

Advertisement

Advertisement

With all of the praise, we still dont recommend this glass for daily use. Its such a pleasure. But the question becomes, when is it worth it? Asimov said. Only if money is no object or you really care about wine. Since its expensive and fragile, this isnt a glass youll likely feel comfortable bringing out for most company. After all, most people would be crestfallen if one were to break. But its the ideal glass for special occasions or when enjoying your favorite vintage. We dont recommend getting this glass if the price and risk of breaking it will be too distracting for you to enjoy your wine. That said, it would make an excellent gift for weddings, anniversaries, or other special occasions.

And while the Zalto is advertised as being dishwasher-safe, and it passed our dishwasher and impact tests unscathed (except for the 3-foot drop), we still recommend washing it by hand using a bottle brush.

Stemless wine glasses for casual drinking

Advertisement

For stemless glassware, we recommend the Ravenscroft Crystal Stemless Wine Glasses. Machine made in Poland from non-leaded crystal, the Ravenscroft retains the elegance of traditional stemware because its lightweight with a thin rim. The glass also sparkled more under the light compared with some of the other stemless options in our roundup. In addition, these glasses are very short so they will easily fit in a cabinet with low shelves. Our testers unanimously agreed that the aromas of red and white wines were more expressive in this glass compared with the competition in this category. The Ravenscroft glasses are available only in a set of eight, and they come in a sturdy, partitioned box, which is convenient for storing extra glasses away for parties. Since theyre so inexpensive, you wont be heartbroken if they break.

Advertisement

Advertisement

These stemless glasses hold just over 17 ounces, so Ravenscroft recommends them for Bordeaux, cabernet, or merlot. However, our experts felt they showcased white wine well, too, making them a suitable choice as an all-purpose glass. In our tasting, Thomas said the Ravenscroft glass provides, more aroma and florals. It brings out the rose petals and soil in the wine. Theres also fruit notes. Its a more talkative wine glass, so it accentuates the wine.

The Ravenscroft glasses are surprisingly lightweight, which makes them feel more refined and elegant compared with the soda-lime glasses we tested, such as the Williams-Sonoma Open Kitchen Stemless White Wine Glasses. While Asimov isnt a fan of stemless wine glasses, he said that the Ravenscroft glass is light and not as heavy as the others. Thomas agreed, saying, It feels easy and comfortable to hold. Aside from being lightweight, the Ravenscroft appeared more refractive and brilliant under the light compared to much of the competition in our stemless category.

Aside from the inherent drawbacks to all stemless wine glassesthey show fingerprints, and your hand will warm the wine while drinkingthe Ravenscroft glass has a slight lip. The rolled edge on the Ravenscroft doesnt kill the glass, but you definitely notice it, Thomas said. However, since we recommend stemless glasses for casual use, were willing to forgive this minor drawback. The Ravenscroft glasses come with a one-year warranty.

Great varietal-specific glasses

We recommend the Riedel Veritas Cabernet/Merlot Glass and the Riedel Veritas Viognier/Chardonnay Glass for those who prefer separate glasses for red and white wine. Both of our testers chose the Riedel Veritas glasses as their top pick for varietal-specific glasses during our blind taste tests. The ultra-thin rim on the Veritas glasses makes them a pleasure to drink from, and the stems are thinner and longer than that of our top pick, making these glasses better candidates for an elegant table setting. The Veritas series is made of non-leaded crystal, so the glasses are thinner and more effectively refract light than the soda-lime glasses we tested.

Advertisement

Advertisement

If you want a different type of glass for each type of wine, we think the Veritas Cabernet/Merlot and the Viognier/Chardonnay glasses are an excellent place to start. While tasting white wine in the Veritas Viognier/Chardonnay glass, Thomas said it, concentrates the acidity and fruit notes. The Viognier/Chardonnay glass is just over 13 ounces, which helps to preserve the subtleties of more delicate whites. At around 22 ounces, the Cabernet/Merlot glass is no doubt the best for showcasing bolder reds.

Riedel Veritas Cabernet/Merlot Glass The Riedel Veritas Cabernet/Merlot glass was highly rated by our taste testers for capturing the aromas of red wines exceptionally well. $60 from Amazon



Our testers were impressed by the overall weight and balance of the Veritas glasses. Asimov praised the Veritas Cabernet/Merlot glass: Its the best of the red wine glasses. Its balanced and a pleasure to hold. Its relatively light and feels expensive. Thomas also noted, These glasses are beautifully balanced, but theyre not for normal everyday use. The thin, laser-cut rim on the glass has no lip, while the stems are thinly pulled, adding drama to any table setting.

The Riedel Veritas glasses are machine-made, but they feel so thin youd guess they were mouth-blown, like our upgrade pick, the Zalto. However, since these glasses are so delicate, we dont recommend them for daily use, and wed hesitate to put them in the dishwasher (even though theyre considered dishwasher-safe). Both of the Veritas glasses we tested passed our impact tests, aside from the fateful 3-foot drop.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Our testers pointed out that the Veritas Cabernet/Merlot glass might be considered too big for some people, especially those who mostly drink lighter bodied reds. However, since there are nine wine glasses to choose from in this collection, we dont think its size is a dealbreaker.

Care and maintenance

While all of the glasses we recommend are top-rack dishwasher-safe, we think those that are very thin, such as the Zalto and the Riedel Veritas glasses, should be washed by hand. Our experts told us that big bowls with thin stems are more likely to break. All of the Zalto sales literature guarantees that theyre safe for dishwashers, Asimov said, but they feel fragile and they are expensive, so Im a little hesitant to do that. We recommend cleaning delicate stemware by hand using hot water and a little bit of dish soap. For glasses with narrow openings, we recommend using a bottle brush. Dry the glasses using paper towels or a regular kitchen towel.

To remove water spots and smudges, or to get your glassware really sparkly, we recommend hand polishing it using a microfiber polishing cloth. If there are hard-to-remove stains on the glass, try using a little white vinegar (just be sure to wash them after). Never polish your glass by holding the base in one hand and twisting the polishing cloth around the rim of the bowl at the top, which could torque and snap thinner stems. Instead, hold the glass by the bowl while polishing to avoid twisting it apart. Check out this Riedel video for the proper polishing technique. Also, never use linen softener when cleaning your polishing cloth, as this could leave a greasy residue on the surface of your wine glasses.

Advertisement

It goes without saying, but to avoid scratching your stemware, never let it rattle around in the dishwasher or come in contact with other glass or metal. When storing your glassware, Scott Carney said it should be kept upright: You dont want to have it upside down putting pressure on the rim. It should always be standing on its foot.

Toxicity concerns with leaded crystal

Regarding the toxicity of leaded glassware, articles in The New York Times and Wine Spectator indicate that leaded crystal is safe to drink from. Our science editor, Leigh Krietsch Boerner, PhD., confirmed the only potential danger with leaded crystal crops up if booze is stored in it. That gives the lead time to leach into the liquid, so avoid storing alcohol in leaded-crystal decanters.

In contrast, the short amount of time a few ounces of wine spends in contact with a glass isnt enough for a significant amount of lead to leach from the product. We know it might sound alarming to allow any amount of lead into your wine, but toxicity is directly related to dose, not necessarily to the compound youre ingesting. (Thats why you can eat the cyanide in an apple and it wont hurt you.)

What to look forward to

For our next update, we plan to test several all-purpose wine glasses, including the Zenology Universal Wine Glasses and the Fusion Air Universal Wine Glasses, which have the tulip-shaped bowls wine experts recommend for enhancing the aromas of wine. Well also consider The Wine Glass, an all-purpose glass designed by British wine critic Jancis Robinson, which Florence Fabricant, food and wine writer for The New York Times (parent company of Wirecutter), recommended in her weekly column, Front Burner. All three of these glasses are made from lead-free crystal and are dishwasher safe.

The competition

All-purpose wine glasses

The Riedel Ouverture Magnum was our previous top pick. However, in our new round of testing, our experts found the stem on the Ouverture Magnum too short and unpleasant to hold. Though it did well in our taste tests, our experts felt that our new pick, the Libbey Signature Kentfield Estate All-Purpose Wine Glass, was an all-around better glass.

The Veritas Riesling/Zinfandel Glass is undeniably elegant. Our experts felt it was suitable for white wines, but too narrow for red wines.

The Stolzle Weinland All Purpose 15 oz. did very well in our tastings, but our testers felt it lacks elegance because it is shorter, and has a small bowl and a slight lip on the rim. According to a representative we spoke with at Anchor Hocking, this glass is being discontinued.

Stemless wine glasses

The Mikasa Laura Set of 4 stemless wine glasses were the unanimous second choice for stemless glasses in our blind taste test. These glasses enhanced the aromas of red and white wines, though not as well as our main pick, the Ravenscroft.

Our testers found the Riedel O Wine Tumbler too big for white wines and uncomfortable to hold. We wished this glass had a smaller bowl with a slightly narrower opening.

Varietal-specific wine glasses

Both the Bormioli Rocco Tre Sensi Large Wine Glass and the Tre Sensi Medium Wine Glass did well in our blind taste test. However, they have a slight lip around the rim of the glass, which our testers found more distracting than our main pick for varietal-specific glasses, the Riedel Veritas glasses.

According to our experts, the Riedel Vinum Bordeaux and the Riedel Vinum Viognier/Chardonnay glasses showcased wine aroma well. However, our testers felt that the red wine glass was slightly small for big, bold wines.

The Bormioli Rocco Spazio 17 oz. Wine Glass by Bormioli Rocco and Spazio 13.5 oz. Wine Glass by Bormioli Rocco were top-heavy and uncomfortable to hold, according to our testers. They also felt that the length of the red wine glass had a bowl that was too long, while the stem was too short.

While our testers liked the Forte Stemware Collection Full Bodied White Wine Glass 17.3 oz. and felt it was an appropriate shape and size for most white wines, they found the Forte Stemware Collection Burgundy Light Bodied White Wine Glass 13.6 oz. to be too deep to detect wine aroma.

The Viv 20 oz. Big Red Wine Glass and the Viv 13 oz. White Wine Glass are great budget varietal glasses. However, they have a slight lip and shorter stems, which makes them less comfortable to hold than the Riedel Veritas glasses.

After our blind taste testing, we were able to dismiss wine glasses from Stolzle, Riedel, Nachtmann, Schott Zwiesel, Spiegelau, Luigi Bormioli, Bormioli Rocco, Snowe, Libbey, Mikasa, Luminarc, Ravenscroft, Rogaska, Rosenthal, Villeroy & Boch, Lenox, Waterford, Crate & Barrel, IKEA, Target, and Bed Bath & Beyond. We were able to rule out wine glasses from these competitors based on the tasting results from our experts, or issues relating to limited availability and quality. Additionally, we looked at offerings from CB2, Fishs Eddy, Pottery Barn, Sur la Table, Williams-Sonoma, World Market, and Macys, but ultimately we were able to dismiss them because they didnt meet the criteria for this guide.

Sources

1. C. Claiborne Ray, Q & A: Lead Crystal Risks, The New York Times, August 19, 2003

2. Ask Dr. Vinny, Wine Spectator

3. Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, How to Select a Good Wine Glass, The Wall Street Journal

4. James Laube, The Perfect Wineglass: One Size Fits All, Wine Spectator, July 10, 2009

5. Lettie Teague, Big Shake-Up at Robert Parkers Wine Advocate, The Wall Street Journal, December 9, 2012

6. Nancy Mitchell, Budget Basics: The Best Beautiful Wine Glasses Under $10, Apartment Therapy, February 29, 2016

7. What is the difference between glass and crystal?, Corning Museum of Glass, September 17, 2016

8. Adam Rapoport, Quite Possibly the Greatest Wine Glass Well Ever Drink From, Bon Appetit, September 26, 2011

9. Dr. Robert Brill, Will the Lead in Glass Cups and Decanters Leach into Their Contents?, July 19, 2016

10. Glass Dictionary, Corning Museum of Glass

11. Mary Gorman-McAdams, A Guide to Wine Glass Brands: A Few Favorites, Both Classic and Fun! The Kitchn, April 25, 2012

12. Gordon M. Shepherd, Neuroenology: How the Brain Creates the Taste of Wine, Columbia University Press, New York
Update on Feb. 17 at 10:40 a.m.: Chicago Police are investigating whether Jussie Smollett staged his own attack after they released two brothers who had been described as suspects in the case. Smolletts lawyers pushed back against the allegations, saying the Empire actor is angered and devastated at the suggestions that he was somehow involved.

Original post: On Jan. 29, it was reported that Empire star Jussie Smollett had been attacked in Chicago in what was described as a hate crime. Early reports said that Smollett was attacked by two men around 2 a.m. after getting a sandwich at his local Subway. He was reportedly beaten up and a noose was tied around his neck.

Advertisement

Later reports alleged that Smolletts attackers, who were white, yelled This is MAGA country while also spouting racist and homophobic slurs and dousing him in bleach.

Advertisement

Advertisement

As the story has developed, there have been several conflicting reports. Heres what we know so far, and what we dont.

What happened that night?

Thats a difficult question to answer. Right now, the Chicago Police Department says they cant comment on an ongoing investigation, so the only details we have are from Smollett himself.

The attackers cracked his ribs, right?

Wrong. In an ABC News interview with Robin Roberts, the actor said that while he was in pain, his ribs were not cracked.

Was Smollett able to get a good view of his attackers? They were wearing Make America Great Again hats.

Wrong again. While Smollett has echoed initial reports that his attackers yelled This is MAGA country, that they racist and homophobic slurs, and that they were white men, during the interview with Roberts, he denied the claims that they were wearing MAGA hats.

Advertisement

I just heard that Jussie may have staged the attack. Why do people think that?

The police reviewed footage from security cameras of Smolletts walk to his apartment, but a police spokesman said the following day they were unable to find evidence of him being attacked. There was a camera at the alleged scene, but unfortunately it was facing the opposite direction. Also, Smollett called the police from his apartment instead of from the scene. Smollett also initially refused to hand over his phone when it was requested by police, and eventually provided them with heavily redacted records, citing a desire to protect the privacy of people not involved in the attack. Yesterday, Chicagos ABC 7 reported that police were now investigating the possibility that Smollett had faked the attack with the help of two other men.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Do the police actually think Smollett faked the whole thing?

No. In a tweet, the police spokesman said, media reports anout [sic] the Empire incident being a hoax are unconfirmed by case detectives. Supt Eddie Johnson has contacted @ABC7Chicago to state on the record that we have no evidence to support their reporting and their supposed CPD sources are uninformed and inaccurate.

Were police able to find footage of anyone matching Smolletts description?

They were not, but they did arrest two suspects today. However, the Nigerian men arrested are black, calling into question Smolletts description of the men.

Well, maybe theyre not the right guys.

Thats definitely a possibility. However, it turns out Smollett actually knows the men. It is alleged that he worked out with them at the gym, and that they were extras on Empire.

Advertisement

So these new persons of interest fall in line with the theory that this was staged? Going back to that theory, I heard he may have staged it because he was being written off Empire.

The claim that Smollett is being written off Empire had been denied by Fox, the police, and the shows writing staff. In a statement, Fox said:

Advertisement

The idea that Jussie Smollett has been, or would be, written off of Empire is patently ridiculous. He remains a core player on this very successful series and we continue to stand behind him.

The Empire writers took to their Twitter to shut down the claim as well.

The writers of Empire have never planned or even discussed writing @JussieSmollett off of the show.  Empire Writers (@EmpireWriters) February 15, 2019

Advertisement

As did show co-creator Danny Strong.

There is 0% truth that @JussieSmollett was going to be written off of Empire. This rumor is totally false. He is the third lead and one of the most beloved characters on the show. Writing him off the show has NEVER even been discussed.  Danny Strong (@Dannystrong) February 15, 2019

Id really like to see the ABC News interview he did.

Watch it below.
Pete Buttigieg thinks there is a hunger in the Democratic Party for a fresh face, and the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, says his face may be the freshest.

In an ever-growing field of Democrats seeking the party's nomination for president -- 11 and counting -- Buttigieg is making the case that he can satisfy Democrats who are looking for a new direction for the party.

"Its safe to say Im not like the others," Buttigieg said during his campaign swing through Iowa earlier this month.

In addition to being one of the youngest candidates in the field of official or potential candidates, Buttigieg is a veteran and is openly gay.

Because of his political background, Buttigieg can emphasize his experience in executive leadership while being able to distance himself from congressional politics.

"I think theres an appetite for something new and something different ... (that) people do want something different just because were at this moment of turning the page, Buttigieg told reporters after a campaign event in Ankeny. "So I think the newer you are on the scene, maybe the freer you are of some of the habits and the strings that have made it hard to be original in our politics today."
WASHINGTON -- Billionaire Tom Barrack, Donald Trump's friend, informal adviser and chairman of the president's inaugural committee, sounded like a man without a soul.

With a bone-chilling bloodlessness, Barrack on Tuesday defended the Saudi government's murder of Washington Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Asked at a Milken Institute gathering in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, about the murder, Barrack replied that "whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal or worse to the atrocities in Saudi Arabia." He added: "For us to dictate what we think is the moral code there  I think is a mistake."

Incredibly, that wasn't all. "The problem with what's happened with the Khashoggi incident is the same problems of the West misunderstanding the East" for a century, Barrack said. "The West is confused at the rule of the law, doesn't understand what the rule of law is in the kingdom."

"Confused"? Here's what's confused: A U.S. resident critical of the Saudi regime was ambushed, killed and dismembered with a bone saw by Saudi agents in October, apparently at the direction of the crown prince, and Trump's pal thinks it's a "mistake" to make a fuss.
CEDAR FALLS -- Jeff Danielson, an Iowa state senator, and Cedar Falls firefighter, is resigning from both positions for a new job he won't yet comment on.

"So I'm closing two wonderful chapters in my life, 25 years as a firefighter and 15 years as a state senator, and I'm opening a new exciting chapter for which we'll be able to share at a later date," Danielson said.

Danielson, 48, announced his immediate resignation on Thursday. In interviews afterward, he cited the citys Public Safety Officer program as one of the reasons for his departures. Danielson represented Senate District 30, which includes parts of Hudson, Cedar Falls and Waterloo.

He said he doesn't have political aspiration coming into his next position, and he'll be able to reveal that position in the next week.

Gov. Kim Reynolds will have to schedule a special election, and whoever wins will be up for re-election in 2020. Danielson said he won't be involved in the campaign for his replacement.

The Black Hawk County Democrats will hold a special nominating convention on Feb. 23 at their headquarters to determine a candidate to run for Danielson's replacement.
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.
SIOUX CITY -- In just a few seconds without getting overly personal, Woodbury County Sheriff's Office employees can see in great detail if a person going in or out of the jail is trying to sneak in forbidden objects.

The smuggling of contraband such as drugs and weapons into the jail has long been a concern for officials of the team led by Sheriff Dave Drew. Recently some drugs reached the jail, county Maj. Tony Wingert said Thursday.

"We are finding it anally, vaginally, the stomach. Wherever there is a place to hide it, they will try to hide it," Wingert said.

For a few months, personnel working in the downtown Woodbury County Law Enforcement Center jail have been using a new piece of technology to fully scan inmates as they come and go. Some inmates go in and out frequently, depending on court appearances they may make.

The scanning and large field-of-view imaging capabilities enable jailers to identify external and internal contraband people are attempting to hide. Sgt. Randy Uhl said an airport scanner with which people are familiar only shows exterior items, but with the county's version, "You can see what is inside you."

So far in the first few months, the unit has turned up many drugs and a razor blade, Wingert said.
SIOUX CITY -- Police said a man was bitten by a Sioux City Police Department K-9 dog during an arrest Friday.

A department press release said the incident took place just after 2 p.m., after a traffic stop in the 600 block of Casselman Street. Police said several subjects were in a vehicle and didn't obey commands from officers to remain inside.

Officers requested assistance, and other officers responded to the incident. During the ensuing arrests, Shawn Denney, 49, of Sioux City, was bitten in the leg by the police dog, and he was taken to MercyOne - Siouxland Medical Center for treatment.

Denney was charged with possession of drugs with intent to deliver, which is a felony offense, and interference with official acts. Two women in the vehicle were arrested on misdemeanor charges.

Copyright 2019 The Sioux City Journal. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Love 2 Funny 6 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0
The United States has stepped up its freedom of navigation operations in the disputed South China Sea as it challenges Beijings efforts to strengthen its maritime claims in the region.

American officials have signalled Washington will boost measures to counter Chinas expansion in the area, and include allies in future missions, but observers say Beijing is unlikely to be deterred.

The US has already conducted two freedom of navigation operations in the disputed waters this year. In January, the USS McCampbell sailed near the Paracel Islands, and on February 11, the USS Spruance and the USS Preble sailed near Mischief Reef in the Spratlys  both actions triggering condemnation from Beijing.

Washington reportedly carried out five such operations last year and four in 2017, according to a defence department report. That compared to four in both 2016 and 2015.

Remarks this week from Admiral Phil Davidson, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, suggest the operations will become more frequent. Davidson told the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Tuesday that Beijing was spreading its influence through fear and coercion, and there would be more freedom of navigation operations by the US and its allies, including Britain, to send the message that the international community did not accept Chinas claims in the region.

Addressing the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, US Vice-President Mike Pence said Washington was committed to the Indo-Pacific region. Speaking at the same event, Chinas top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, said Beijing firmly opposed any activities that undermined its sovereignty and security interests under the pretext of freedom of navigation.

The patrols have angered Beijing, which has previously sent vessels to warn off and dispel US warships, sometimes risking collision.

When the USS Decatur sailed into the Gaven and Johnson reefs in the Spratly Islands in September, China sent its Luyang destroyer to warn the US ship that it would suffer consequences if it did not change course. The two vessels were as close as 41 metres (45 yards) from each other, prompting calls that rules for navy encounters should be amended as the risk of confrontation between the two militaries was rising.

Story continues

Yue Gang, a retired Peoples Liberation Army colonel, said China was facing growing pressure from freedom of navigation operations and would send more vessels, including coastguard ships, to the South China Sea.

But he added that the risk of a major conflict between China and the US was contained, because neither side wanted to go to war. Yue said the US sent one or two ships for each patrol and did not have too many warships in the South China Sea at one time.

If the US sent a large number of warships, then China would do the same in order to maintain a balance, so that would increase the risk of confrontation, he said. But China doesnt want a military conflict in the South China Sea, and the claim America is willing to stage a war against China is an overstatement.

Earlier this month, Admiral John Richardson, chief of US naval operations, said the US should explore new ways to enforce the rules designed to govern encounters between navies and extend them to coastguards and maritime militias  the so-called second and third sea forces that Beijing has used to advance its sovereignty claims.

But Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said freedom of navigation operations would not be enough to change Beijings actions in the South China Sea, and the US needed to use a more holistic set of instruments in a more concerted manner.

While freedom of navigation operations may be one of the ways the US expresses its security commitment to the governments, they will have a negligible effect on Beijings continued strategic and economic forays  especially via the Belt and Road Initiative  throughout the Indo-Pacific region, he said.

[Instead] Beijing may likely use the intensified foreign military presence, including joint FONOPs, as a justification for these build-ups.

Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, a visiting fellow at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, also said the operations had a limited role in restraining Chinas ambitions in the region.

It will have a very limited impact unless backed by a solid economic strategy and consistency in approach, he said.

Additional reporting by Laura Zhou and Minnie Chan

This article US steps up freedom of navigation patrols in South China Sea to counter Beijings ambitions first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return an ancient gilded coffin to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined that it had been looted from that country, the museum said. The museum had purchased the prized coffin, dating from the first century BCE, in July 2017 from a Paris art dealer for a price of nearly four million dollars. But the Manhattan district attorney's office determined that the mummy-shaped golden coffin had been sold with fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license. It was not clear what had sparked the district attorney's investigation. The statement Friday quoted Met CEO Daniel Weiss as apologizing to the Egyptian people and specifically to Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany. "After we learned that the Museum was a victim of fraud and unwittingly participated in the illegal trade of antiquities, we worked with the DA's office for its return to Egypt," Weiss said. The museum said it would "consider all available remedies to recoup the purchase price of the coffin" and would commit itself "to identifying how justice can be served, and how we can help to deter future offenses against cultural property." MoMA vowed to "review and revise its acquisitions process." The elaborately decorated coffin, viewed by nearly a half-million visitors since it was made the centerpiece of a major exhibition in July, is sheathed in gold, which the ancient Egyptians associated with the gods. It is inscribed with the name of Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis. The Met took the coffin off view this week to deliver it to the district attorney's office for its eventual return to Egypt.
A critical drama about an Israeli expatriate in Paris wrestling with his identity, "Synonyms" by director Nadav Lapid, won the Golden Bear top prize at the Berlin film festival Saturday. Lapid said the sexually explicit, semi-autobiographical movie, which deals with a young man who has fled Israel over its fraught political situation, might "scandalise" many in his home country as well as France. "I hope that people will not look only at this film as a kind of harsh or radical political statement because it's not," he told reporters after accepting the prize from jury president Juliette Binoche. "First of all, it's a human and existential and artistic statement. The film is also a celebration and a party, a celebration of cinema." The runner-up jury prize went to French filmmaker Francois Ozon for "By the Grace of God", a wrenching drama based on real-life survivors of rampant sexual molestation in the Catholic church. "The film tries to break the silence in powerful institutions," he said. "I want to share this prize with the victims of sexual abuse." Ozon noted that the film's release in France, scheduled for next week, was facing a legal challenge, which he blasted as an attempt at "censorship". - 'Make sense of history' - The stars of moving Chinese epic "So Long, My Son", Wang Jingchun and Yong Mei, about the lasting impact of the country's now abandoned one-child policy, shared the Silver Bear top acting prizes. "This is the tragedy of a woman, a family that loses its son," Yong said as she picked up her trophy. "We were happy we were able to complete the film." Binoche had earlier expressed "regret" that another Chinese film, veteran Zhang Yimou's "One Second", was pulled from the competition reportedly due to official censorship. "Zhang has been an essential voice in international cinema," she said. "We need artists who help us make sense of history." German filmmaker Angela Schanelec, one of a record seven women out of 16 contenders in competition, won the best director prize for "I Was At Home, But", a drama about a teenager who returns after a week-long disappearance to his mother, a grieving widow. "Piranhas" by Italian director Claudio Giovannesi about the youth of Naples being indoctrinated at ever earlier ages into the mafia won best screenplay. Roberto Saviano, who co-wrote the script based on his book "La Paranza dei Bambini", dedicated the trophy to NGOs working to save the lives of refugees in the Mediterranean. "Telling the truth has become very complex in our country so thank you," he said. The awards ceremony at the 69th Berlinale began with a tribute and standing ovation for the late Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who starred in iconic German films such as "Downfall" in which he played Adolf Hitler and Wim Wenders's "Wings of Desire" set in divided Berlin. - 'Wilfully confrontational satire' - "Synonyms" is the third feature by Lapid, whose previous film "The Kindergarten Teacher" has been remade in the US starring Maggie Gyllenhaal. The movie, which delves into the deep ambivalence of the young Yoav about both his birth country Israel and adopted homeland of France, divided critics. The picture is centred around "newcomer Tom Mercier, who delivers a raw, disconcerting and altogether unpredictable turn that recalls the work of a young Tom Hardy (this includes his ability to act without any clothes on)," the Hollywood Reporter wrote. Yoav won't allow himself to speak Hebrew so he communicates in a kind of pidgin French he's cobbled together from a dictionary. He tells largely disinterested Parisians that he has left Israel to get away from a country that he finds "repugnant, fetid, obscene, vulgar" - words that help give the film its title. When Yoav runs into money trouble, he advertises his services as a nude model. An artist who answers the post pays him to perform sexual acts on himself while shouting in Hebrew. His periodic run-ins with nationalistic Israeli security officers from the embassy prove similarly absurd. US website Indie wire called the movie a "wilfully confrontational satire that pugnaciously mocks his own Israeli identity; the culture of France, where Lapid lived at the start of this century; and assorted conventions and decorums of art cinema".
Jihadist fighters defending the last dreg of the Islamic State group's "caliphate" Saturday were holed up in half a square kilometre of a village in eastern Syria. President Donald Trump had announced that the fall of the IS proto-state would be declared Saturday, but a Syrian commander said his US-backed forces slowed down their advance to protect civilians. The jihadists declared a "caliphate" in large parts of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014, but have since lost all but a tiny patch of territory in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border. Hundreds of metres (yards) from the front line in the village of Baghouz, an AFP reporter heard artillery fire and two air strikes on the jihadist holdout. Huge craters had been blown out of the ground, and the road was lined with destroyed buildings and the skeletons of burnt-out cars. "IS is besieged in a neighbourhood that is estimated to be 700 metres long and 700 metres wide," said Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) commander Jia Furat. "Baghouz is within our firing range but we are moving cautiously considering there are civilians still trapped there as human shields," said Furat, the overall commander for the operation. "In a very short time, not longer than a few days, we will officially announce the end of IS's existence," he told reporters at a nearby SDF base. - Civilians inside - Thousands of people have flooded out of Baghouz over the past week -- mostly women and children related to IS fighters, but also suspected jihadists. An SDF spokesman said there were "still civilians inside in large numbers". "We weren't expecting this number... This is why it's been delayed," spokesman Adnan Afrin told AFP. Trump on Friday said announcements on the fall of the caliphate would be made "over the next 24 hours", but that deadline came and went. Earlier Saturday, US-led coalition spokesman Colonel Sean Ryan acknowledged that the timeline had slipped because of the presence of civilians. "There has been lapses as we continue to see hundreds of civilians still attempting to flee to safety," he said. "The area of Baghouz has many tunnels, which slows operations." The Kurdish-led SDF fighters are busy clearing improvised explosives from the area while staying on the lookout for any IS suicide bombers, he added. Human Rights Watch called on commanders not to try to accelerate the offensive to suit Trump's timetable. "The tempo of battle must not be dictated by political imperatives -- it must first of all protect civilians and possible hostages," HRW's director of counterterrorism Nadim Houry told AFP. The SDF said dozens of IS fighters had surrendered to its advancing forces. The Kurdish-Arab alliance has been closing in on the diehard jihadists since September. The speck of terrain in Baghouz is all that is left of IS territory that once spanned an area the size of the United Kingdom. It has taken years of devastating fighting by various forces across both Iraq and Syria to shatter the group's "caliphate". - 'Hunt down' IS remnants - Trump's promise of a victory declaration came after he shocked allies and senior figures in his own administration with a December announcement ordering a full US troop withdrawal from Syria because IS had been "beaten". That plan, which prompted the resignation of then defence secretary Jim Mattis, is set to be accelerated following a victory announcement. Beyond Baghouz, IS still has thousands of fighters and sleeper cells scattered across several countries. In Syria, it retains a presence in the vast Badia desert, and has claimed deadly attacks in SDF-held territory. US Vice President Mike Pence said Saturday: "The United States will continue to work with all our allies to hunt down the remnants of (IS) wherever and whenever they rear their ugly heads." A US withdrawal risks leaving Syria's Kurds exposed to a long-threatened attack by neighbouring Turkey, who views Kurdish fighters as "terrorists". To prevent this, they have scrambled to seek a new ally in the Damascus government after spending most of Syria's civil war working towards self-rule. Eight years into the conflict that has killed more than 360,000 people, President Bashar al-Assad's government controls nearly two-thirds of the country. But the northwestern region of Idlib held by a former affiliate of Al-Qaeda, as well as a major chunk of territory under SDF control remain out of its reach. Regime shelling and rocket fire on Friday and Saturday killed 18 civilians including eight children in the Idlib region towns of Khan Sheikhun and Maaret al-Noman, the Syrian Observatory for Human Right said.
India and Pakistan's troubled ties risked taking a dangerous new turn on Friday as New Delhi accused Islamabad of harbouring militants behind one of the deadliest attacks in three decades of bloodshed in Indian-administered Kashmir. At least 41 paramilitary troops were killed on Thursday as explosives packed in a van ripped through a convoy bringing 2,500 troopers back from leave not far from the main city Srinagar, police said. Local media reported that the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed Islamist group claimed responsibility, with the vehicle driven by a known local militant, Aadil Ahmad alias Waqas Commando. Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947 with both nuclear-armed countries, which have fought three wars, claiming it as their own. Jaish-e-Mohammed is largely considered to be one of the most active Pakistan-based insurgent groups fighting in Kashmir. India's foreign ministry said that Jaish-e-Mohammed head Masood Azhar "has been given full freedom by... Pakistan to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity". "I want to tell the terrorist groups and their masters that they have committed a big mistake. They have to pay a heavy price," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Friday after an emergency cabinet meeting. "Security forces have been given a free hand to deal with terrorists," Modi said, adding that the "blood of the people is boiling". Arun Jaitley, finance minister, promised to isolate Pakistan in the international community. Islamabad, however, hit back at the suggestion it was involved. "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," the Pakistan foreign ministry said. - Body parts - The United States condemned the attack in "the strongest terms", and called on "all countries...to deny safe haven and support for terrorists". China urged "relevant regional countries" to work for peace. Two buses of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the 78-vehicle convoy on the Srinagar-Jammu highway bore the brunt of the blast, heard miles away. "No one from the first bus survived," a senior police official told AFP on condition of anonymity, predicting the death toll could rise. Blackened, mangled remains of at least one vehicle littered the highway. Reports said bodies and body parts were strewn around, making victims' identification difficult. Afterwards, hundreds of government forces cordoned off around 15 villages in the district the bomber came from and conducted house-to-house searches, a police officer and witnesses said. Authorities suspended or slowed internet services across the Kashmir region as thousands of security men patrolled the streets. Several parts of Jammu city, the largely Hindu majority region in the south of the Kashmir, were under curfew after protesters allegedly attacked Muslim properties. Protesters in many cities chanted slogans against Pakistan and burnt effigies of Azhar. The shock attack surpasses one in 2016 that was the biggest in 14 years, claiming the lives of 19 soldiers in a brazen pre-dawn raid by militants on the Uri army camp. India responded to that with the now-famous "surgical strikes" -- an expression used in the title of a new Bollywood movie -- across the heavily-militarised Line of Control, the de-facto border, several miles into Pakistan-administered Pakistan. - Hawks - "The current situation has all the making of an India-Pakistan crisis," said Moeed Yusuf from the US Institute of Peace. "The next 24-48 hours are crucial. This could get bad." "The hope was that India and Pakistan will get back to talking after the Indian elections later this year. I think the hawks on both sides are going to make it very difficult for that to happen now." On Friday India announced it was withdrawing its Most Favoured Nation Status -- covering trade links -- on Pakistan. India's foreign ministry summoned Pakistan's envoy to lodge a complaint. India also recalled its envoy from Islamabad for consultations, reports said. But beyond these moves, Modi has "no easy options", Manoj Joshi from the New Delhi based Observer Research Foundation think-tank told AFP. Military action could "escalate into something big", he said. "Diplomatic action against Pakistan is another option. But the United States is cosying up with Islamabad to seek an exit from Afghanistan. China has also deep interests in Pakistan." Kashmir, where an armed conflict erupted in 1989, has seen increased violence in recent years. Last year was the deadliest in a decade, with rights monitors saying almost 600 people died -- mostly civilians.
Beijing backed the patriotic actions of Chinese students who reported a Uygur activists talk at a Canadian university to the consulate, but said they were not told to do so by officials.

We strongly support the just and patriotic actions of the Chinese students, the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said in a statement on Saturday.

Safeguarding sovereignty and opposing separatism are the common position of the international community, and they are also the position that the Canadian government upholds, it said.

[But] what happened recently at the University of Toronto and McMaster University has nothing to do with the Chinese embassy and Chinese consulate general in Canada.

Earlier this week, a group of Chinese students at McMaster University in Ontario were infuriated when they found out Rukiye Turdush  a Uygur woman they considered a separatist  had been given the opportunity to deliver a speech on campus about the mass internment of Muslims in the Xinjiang region, in Chinas far west.

They took to Chinese social network WeChat to rally support, then attended the event, filming and taking photos, which were later sent to the Chinese consulate in Toronto.

Also this week, a Tibetan woman seeking to become student union president at the University of Toronto at Scarborough was targeted in a petition signed by nearly 10,000 people who were unhappy about her pro-Tibet stance.

Beijing is facing a growing outcry from the United Nations and Western governments over its treatment of the mostly Muslim Uygur minority in Xinjiang. The UN has said it received credible reports that as many as 1 million ethnic Uygurs were being held in mass internment camps there.

At a regular UN review of the countrys human rights record last year, Beijing characterised the far west region as a former hotbed of extremism that had been stabilised through training centres that helped people to gain job skills.

Story continues

The embassy statement repeated Beijings explanation of its treatment of Uygurs, saying there had been no human rights violations in Xinjiang and dismissing the Uygur activists movement in Canada.

It added that the training centres had been set up to protect Chinas national security from the three evils of terrorism, extremism and separatism.

The Chinese government protects the freedom of religious belief and all related rights of people of all ethnic groups in Tibet and Xinjiang in accordance with the law, the statement said, adding that the authorities had taken necessary measures to counter terrorism and extremism in Xinjiang.

Canada is a multicultural country advocating freedom of speech  People who oppose [separatism] should also be entitled to enjoy the freedom of speech, it said. We hope that the Canadian people could correctly view the relevant issues and will not be misled by the wrong information.

A large number of Chinese students are enrolled at Canadian universities. According to the Canadian Bureau for International Education, there were more than 140,000 students from China in Canada in 2017.

As the number of Chinese students at foreign universities has grown, the Washington Post reports that educators have expressed concern that student activism carried out with the support or direction of Chinese officials could corrode free speech by making students and scholars, particularly those with family ties to China, afraid to criticise the Communist Party line.

This article Beijing backs patriotic actions of Chinese students who reported Uygur activist in Canada first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
 Round three of sentencing in high-profile New Jersey deadly drunk driving case still provides no closure | Main | "On probation until 2053? Sentencing disparities, lack of guidelines get long look at Minnesota Legislature" 

February 16, 2019

WWJD?: Interesting comments as Wyoming senate rejects effort to repeal the state's dormant death penalty

I mentioned in this post a few weeks ago that the Wyoming House of Representatives had voted to repeal the state's death penalty. This past week the legislative repeal effort died, as reported in this local article headlined "Wyoming Senate defeats death penalty repeal bill." And a notable quote from a particular senator concerning her reasons for voting against repeal has garnered some extra attention. Here are some particulars:

The Wyoming Senate defeated a bill Thursday that would have repealed the states death penalty, ending the most successful legislative attempt to do away with capital punishment in recent memory. Having passed the House by a safe margin, the bill was swiftly voted down by the Wyoming Senate on its first reading. The final vote was 12-18. The vote was different than I expected to see from talking with people beforehand, said the bills sponsor in the Senate, Brian Boner, R-Converse. Theres a lot of different factors and, at the end of the day, everyone has to make their best determination based on the information they have. The death penalty repeal had passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday by a unanimous vote. Proponents of the bill argued that it would save the state money and create a more humane justice system, an argument that had gained substantial traffic in the House of Representatives.... In the Senate  which has trended more conservative than the House this session  the bill had garnered several unlikely allies. Sen. Bill Landen, a reluctant sponsor of the bill, said that after years of budget cuts and eliminating line item after line item, he could no longer go home and feel good explaining the myriad cuts hes made to the state budget while defending annual expenses like the death penalty, which costs the state roughly $1 million a year. Regardless of my personal thoughts  my religion doesnt believe in the right to kill people  thats not enough for me, he said. Opponents of the bill, meanwhile, argued retaining the death penalty would allow the justice system to offer closure to victims of the most heinous crimes, and could be used as a tool to coerce confessions from the states worst perpetrators.... Several senators had other reasons for voting against the bill. Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, said that while the death penalty could be used as an effective tool, it was also a means to keep the states justice system from turning into the type seen in other states. He then noted that states like California  in some cases  have allowed inmates to undergo gender reassignment surgery. I think were becoming a lot like other states, and we have something to defend, he said. California, however, has not repealed the death penalty. Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, argued that without the death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have been able to die to absolve the sins of mankind, and therefore capital punishment should be maintained. The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty for you and me, she said. Im grateful to him for our future hope because of this. Governments were instituted to execute justice. If it wasnt for Jesus dying via the death penalty, we would all have no hope. Wyoming has not executed a prisoner since 1992. According to Wyoming Department of Corrections Director Bob Lampert, the average death row inmate costs the agency 30 percent more to incarcerate than a general population prisoner, with an average stay of 17 years.

I find it more than a bit amusing that Senator Bouchard seemed to think that voting to keep an effectively dormant costly capital punishment system on the books in Wyoming would help keep the state from becoming more like California, where voters have repeatedly voted to keep an effectively dormant costly capital punishment system on the books. But, perhaps unsurprisingly, the comment generating the most attention has been Senator Hutchings' suggestion that we can thank (and should preserve) the death penalty for giving us all hope through Jesus Christ.

I am disinclined to make too many jokes about these comments at the risk of being sacrilegious, but I cannot help imagining a new ad campaign for capital punishment: "The death penalty: hope for you and me." I also cannot help but note that Senator Hutchings has recently garnered negative attention from some other statements on a distinct issue.

February 16, 2019 at 01:58 PM | Permalink

Comments

Ah, nothing like the scent of heresy to freshen up the day. The problem is that Senator Hutchings' logic is foreclosed by the text of the Bible itself in Hebrews 10:10. "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."

One of the contrasts that the early Christians wanted to make with the Jews was on the spiritual efficacy of sacrifice (see Moses and his son). So to claim that Jesus's sacrifice can justify more sacrifice is to claim that his death on the cross was insufficient, It is to claim that his death was merely an example. But if it is an example then it was not "once for all".

Note that this does not mean that Christian's cannot argue in favor of the DP. They can. It simply means that the Bible forecloses the particular justification Senator Hutchings advances.





Posted by: Daniel | Feb 16, 2019 3:45:38 PM

And there is also nothing like a typo to get me into trouble...I obviously meant Abraham, not Moses.

Posted by: Daniel | Feb 16, 2019 3:48:08 PM

Daniel & Doug:

I listened to Hutchings recorded testimony.

Hutchings never stated nor implied what the reporter wrote, which was this.

"Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, argued that without the death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have been able to die to absolve the sins of mankind, and therefore capital punishment should be maintained."

That was the ridiculous misinterpretation by the reporter, who left this out:

She discussed some of the worst mass shootings as deserving of the death penalty, which was left out of every story I have seen.

What Hutchings stated was what was in quotes, which is:

The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty for you and me, she said. Im grateful to him for our future hope because of this. Governments were instituted to execute justice. If it wasnt for Jesus dying via the death penalty, we would all have no hope.

Well known, accepted Christian teachings for 2000 years.

She was stating that the death penalty should be retained for heinous murders and that it was pretty obvious God accepted the death penalty, "a well known fact, long before the crucifixion" that last quote being my comment.

Posted by: Dudley Sharp | Feb 17, 2019 7:36:03 AM

Thanks, Dudley, though do you think it fair to say, based on Senator Hutchings last sentence, that she is suggesting society should be grateful for the death penalty because it serves as the means for Jesus's death and thus the basis for (Christian) hope?

In the end, what she said and what she meant is a distraction in multiple ways: (1) the vote against repeal was large enough that her particular opinion and advocacy likely did not matter much, and (2) the state of Wyoming has not had an execution in more than a quarter century, so it is mostly of only symbolic significance for the state to have the punishment on the books.

Indeed, the reality of an only symbolic capital punishment system in Wyoming almost makes reference to the symbolisms of religion fitting in this context.

Posted by: Doug B | Feb 17, 2019 11:46:11 AM

Post a comment
 Sad start to what should become happier compassionate release tales after passage of FIRST STEP Act | Main | Round three of sentencing in high-profile New Jersey deadly drunk driving case still provides no closure 

As reported in this Politico article, headlined "Mueller: Manafort deserves 19.5 to 24.5 years in prison for Virginia convictions, Special Counsel Robert Mueller filed this submission "to address the sentencing of defendant Paul J. Manafort, Jr." The Politico piece, along with lots of other press accounts, report that "Robert Muellers office recommended on Friday that Paul Manafort get up to 24-and-a-half years in prison for his conviction last summer for financial malfeasance." But a careful read of the submission reveals that there is no firm sentencing recommendation in the memo, rather its introduction and conclusion includes these passages hedging a bit:

As an initial matter, the government agrees with the guidelines analysis in the Presentence Investigation Report (PSR) and its calculation of the defendants Total Offense Level as 38 with a corresponding range of imprisonment of 235 to 293 months, a fine range of $50,000 to $24,371,497.74, a term of supervised release of up to five years, restitution in the amount of $24,815,108.74, and forfeiture in the amount of $4,412,500.

Second, while the government does not take a position as to the specific sentence to be imposed here, the government sets forth below its assessment of the nature of the offenses and the characteristics of the defendant under Title 18, United States Code, Section 3553(a). The defendant stands convicted of the serious crimes of tax fraud, bank fraud, and failing to file a foreign bank account report. Manafort was the lead perpetrator and a direct beneficiary of each offense. And while some of these offenses are commonly prosecuted, there was nothing ordinary about the millions of dollars involved in the defendants crimes, the duration of his criminal conduct, or the sophistication of his schemes. Together with the relevant criminal conduct, Manaforts misconduct involved more than $16 million in unreported income resulting in more than $6 million in federal taxes owed, more than $55 million hidden in foreign bank accounts, and more than $25 million secured from financial institutions through lies resulting in a fraud loss of more than $6 million. Manafort committed these crimes over an extended period of time, from at least 2010 to 2016. His criminal decisions were not momentary or limited in time; they were routine. And Manaforts repeated misrepresentations to financial institutions were brazen, at least some of which were made at a time when he was the subject of significant national attention.

Neither the Probation Department nor the government is aware of any mitigating factors. Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship. He was well educated, professionally successful, and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States Treasury and the public out of more than $6 million in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources. Manafort committed bank fraud to supplement his liquidity because his lavish spending exhausted his substantial cash resources when his overseas income dwindled....

In the end, Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars. The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct....

For a decade, Manafort repeatedly violated the law. Considering only the crimes charged in this district, they make plain that Manafort chose to engage in a sophisticated scheme to hide millions of dollars from United States authorities. And when his foreign income stream dissipated in 2015, he chose to engage in a series of bank frauds in the United States to maintain his extravagant lifestyle, at the expense of various financial institutions. Manafort chose to do this for no other reason than greed, evidencing his belief that the law does not apply to him. Manafort solicited numerous professionals and others to reap his ill-gotten gains. The sentence in this case must take into account the gravity of this conduct, and serve to both specifically deter Manafort and those who would commit a similar series of crimes.
 Special Counsel's office files sentencing memorandum for Paul Manafort seemingly supporting guideline range of 235 to 293 months' imprisonment | Main | WWJD?: Interesting comments as Wyoming senate rejects effort to repeal the state's dormant death penalty 

Last year, I flagged in this post the notable appellate ups and downs surrounding the sentencing and resentencing of actress Amy Locane following her conviction for killing a 60-year-old woman in a 2010 car crash while driving with a blood-alcohol way over the legal limit. This local media piece reports on the latest sentencing in the case under the headline "Melrose Place actress sentenced again for fatal drunk driving crash, but free pending another appeal," and the story seems to just get sadder (and less certain) for everyone at each additional legal proceeding. Here are some details:

For the second time, actress Amy Locane was sentenced to prison for a 2010 drunk driving accident that killed a 60-year-old woman. How much time shell actually serve behind bars, though, is unclear.

The former Hopewell Township resident who once appeared on Melrose Place was sentenced to five years in prison by Somerset County Superior Court Judge Kevin Shanahan Friday afternoon, nearly nine years after the fatal crash. The judge said if he were imposing the original sentence, he would have sentenced Locane to six years.

Family members of her victim, Helene Seeman, smiled while walking out of court, but left the Somerset County Courthouse in Somerville without giving a statement to media.

James Wronko, Locanes lawyer, said it was an extremely thoughtful decision in all respect, but will appeal on double jeopardy grounds, which was one of his main arguments why the actress shouldnt return to prison.

Somerset County Assistant Prosecutor Matt Murphy requested a nine-year sentence from Shanahan, who said he was basing it on the crime, not the criminal. Locane was originally convicted of vehicular homicide and assault by auto, which carries up to 15 years in prison, for the death of Helene Seeman and critical injuries to her husband, Fred Seeman.

Fred Seeman and his son, Ford Seeman, both gave emotional testimony, filled with tears, tissues and aggravation. My mother should still be here, but shes not because Amy Locane is a horrible human being driven by ego and pride, he said, reading the notes off his phone while wiping his tears, at times his voice breaking.

Locane whispered thats not true several times under her breath during Ford Seemans testimony, which including him saying Locane has made herself a victim and will not accept responsibility. He also lambasted Judge Robert Reeds initial, lenient sentence, calling it a mockery of the justice process and referred to Locanes request for a short sentence to care for her two young children, who she called collateral damage as pathetic....

Locane stood to speak after the Seemans concluded their testimony. Ford Seeman left the room. There is not a day that has gone by that I have no thought of the pain that my actions caused the Seeman family and of course Helene Seeman, the 47-year-old said. I made a mistake. I have done everything that I can do to not be that person who does what I did nine years ago.

She also noted she regularly speaks at schools about the dangers of drinking and driving, and is committed to sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous.

The actress, who appeared in the movie Cry-Baby with Johnny Depp, and other Hollywood pictures, was driving home from a party on June 27, 2010 when she crash into the Seemans, who were turning into their driveway. Locanes blood alcohol content was three times the legal limit.

He first sentence, three years in prison handed down by Judge Robert Reed in February 2013, drew immediate criticism for its apparent lenience. She served two-and-a-half-years at Edna Mahan Correctional Facility in Clinton Township and was paroled in June 2015. Its unclear if Locane will receive credit now for the time she was incarcerated.

In 2016, an appeals court ruled the sentence was not harsh enough. Locane returned to court for a second sentencing in January 2017, where Judge Reed said he erred in not sentencing her to six more months. However, he declined to give Locane more prison time.

In March 2018, an appellate court ruled again the sentence was a hairs breath away from illegal." The decision criticized Reeds lack of explanation for the sentence, and asked another judge to decide her Locanes fate at a third re-sentencing.

Fred Seeman cried and yelled during his testimony. He argued a light sentence would not deter New Jerseyans from drinking and driving, and the trauma still affects his youngest son, who saw his mother dead on their front lawn. I cry at night, for my son Curtis who is not with us today. It hurts me and pains me, said the 69-year-old, who suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung in the crash, and has a hole in his diaphragm as a result of blunt force trauma from the accident....

Locane will serve 85 percent of her new sentence under the No Early Release Act and was released on her own recognizance pending an appeal.

In 2017, the Seemans were awarded a $4.8 million dollar settlement in a civil lawsuit. Locane paid $1.5 million, while Rachel and Carlos Sagebien  hosts of the party where Locane left drunk  paid $3.3 million.
 The Sentencing Project effectively reviews "Trends in U.S. Corrections" | Main | Justice Anthony Kennedy has announced his retirement ... which means a lot for the future of sentencing jurisprudence and so much more 

June 27, 2018

Recommending FAMM's great new report "Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States"

Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) now has at this link its big new report on compassionate release programs authored by Mary Price under the title "Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States." Here is how the report and related resources are introduced:

Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States, is a comprehensive, state-by-state report on the early-release programs available to prisoners struggling with certain extraordinary circumstances, such as a terminal or age-related illness. The report takes a deep dive into the regulations and requirements of these programs in each state, including the varying categories of release, eligibility criteria, and reporting. The analysis also reveals a troubling number of barriers faced by prisoners and their families when applying for early release. The report is accompanied by a comparison chart, 21 recommendations for policymakers, and 51 individual state memos.

Here are more links to the resources from this report:

And here is an excerpt from the Executive Summary:

We were gratified to learn that 49 states and the District of Columbia provide some means for prisoners to secure compassionate release. But we were dismayed to discover that very few prisoners actually receive compassionate release. This report summarizes our findings. It describes the barriers and the best practices we uncovered and illustrates them with selected examples drawn directly from our research on individual states. Above all, we found that every state could improve compassionate release. Accordingly, this report closes with a set of recommendations for policymakers interested in bringing their state programs in line with best practices.

June 27, 2018 at 11:23 AM | Permalink

Comments

I do not understand why prisons would not release someone generating large healthcare costs. The sole explanation is to keep beds filled, to prevent budget cuts (use the money or get it cut in the next budget), and employment full. I saw no analysis of this question in the Executive Summary.

I also do not like the H Street, Washington address of this pro-criminal group. It makes me think, it is not families, but a lying billionaire who is against mandatory minimums. Who else can afford the rent there? It is also located in the swamp of subhuman, un-American scum, even if conservative. I lived there for 3 years, and can attest to the effect of that location on people. You cannot help but become a swamp creature. You get to feel you know how people should live better than they do.

Posted by: David Behar | Jun 27, 2018 12:31:36 PM

Post a comment
 Interesting new survey on crime and punishments from Vera Institute with a focus on rural Americans | Main | Because the calendar suggests I should, here is a round-up of some recent posts from Marijuana Law, Policy & Reform 

Gina Barton of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this terrific (and lengthy) piece on compassionate release programs titled "Release programs for sick and elderly prisoners could save millions. But states rarely use them." I recommend the full piece, and here is how it gets started:

A Wisconsin program that allows elderly and severely ill prisoners to be released early from prison could save state taxpayers millions of dollars a year. But thousands of the states elderly prisoners  many of whom prison officials acknowledge pose little or no risk of committing new crimes  arent allowed to apply, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation found.

More than 1,200 people age 60 and older were serving time in Wisconsin prisons as of Dec. 31, 2016, the most recent count available. By one estimate, the average cost to incarcerate each of them is $70,000 a year  for an annual total of $84 million. Last year, just six inmates were freed under the program. Among those who didnt qualify were a blind quadriplegic and a 65-year-old breast cancer survivor who uses a breathing machine and needs a wheelchair to make it from her cell to the prison visiting room.

Around the country, early release provisions for elderly and infirm prisoners are billed as a way to address problems such as prison overcrowding, skyrocketing budgets and civil rights lawsuits alleging inadequate medical care. But throughout the U.S., they are used so infrequently that they arent having much impact.

Of the 47 states with processes to free such prisoners early or court rulings requiring them to do so, just three  Utah, Texas and Louisiana  released more than a dozen people in 2015, according to a Journal Sentinel survey. The reasons for the low numbers, according to experts, are usually found in the statutes that created the programs, known as compassionate release, geriatric release and medical parole, among other things.

Some laws, like Wisconsins, exclude inmates based on the type of sentence or the crime committed. Some allow release only for people who are terminal  a definition that varies by medical provider and doesnt apply to chronic conditions or disabilities. Some lack an efficient process for application and approval, leaving sick prisoners to die before they can complete it. Its also hard to find care facilities willing to accept former prisoners.

Because many of these laws were written without input from doctors who specialize in aging and end-of-life care, they exclude the people who would benefit most, according to Brie Williams, a physician and professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco. Weve taken health out of criminal justice policy to such a degree that the policies that have been developed do not have the geriatric and palliative care knowledge they need to make sense, she said.

While these programs are presented as money savers, in 2015 a majority of states granted release to fewer than four applicants each. Within states that have a compassionate release program and track the numbers, there were 3,030 people who applied, with only 216 being granted release.
 "Lethal Rejection: An Empirical Analysis of the Astonishing Plunge in Death Sentences in the United States from Their Post-Furman Peak" | Main | "Plea Bargaining: From Patent Unfairness to Transparent Justice" 

March 7, 2018

Another sad account of how US Bureau of Prisons administers compassionate release program

The Marshall Project and the New York Times have this lengthy new piece about the ugly administration of the federal compassionate release program by the US Bureau of Prisons. At the Marshall Project, the piece has this full headline summarizing its content: "Old, Sick and Dying in Shackles: 'Compassionate release' has bipartisan support as a way to reduce the federal prison population and save taxpayer money. New data shows that its rarely used." Here are excerpts:

Congress created compassionate release as a way to free certain inmates, such as the terminally ill, when it becomes inequitable to keep them in prison any longer. Supporters view the program as a humanitarian measure and a sensible way to reduce health care costs for ailing, elderly inmates who pose little risk to public safety. But despite urging from lawmakers of both parties, numerous advocacy groups and even the Bureau of Prisons own watchdog, prison officials use it only sparingly. Officials deny or delay the vast majority of requests, including that of one of the oldest federal prisoners, who was 94, according to new federal data analyzed by The Marshall Project and The New York Times. From 2013 to 2017, the Bureau of Prisons approved 6 percent of the 5,400 applications received, while 266 inmates who requested compassionate release died in custody. The bureaus denials, a review of dozens of cases shows, often override the opinions of those closest to the prisoners, like their doctors and wardens. Advocates for the program say the bureau, which oversees roughly 183,000 inmates, denies thousands of deserving applicants. About half of those who died after applying were convicted of nonviolent fraud or drug crimes. It makes sense to release prisoners who present very little danger to society. Its the humane thing to do, and its the fiscally responsible thing to do, said Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, a Democrat. The Bureau of Prisons has the theoretical authority to do this, but they basically do none of it. Case files show that prison officials reject many prisoners applications on the grounds that they pose a risk to public safety or that their crime was too serious to justify early release. In 2013, an inspector general reported that nearly 60 percent of inmates were denied based on the severity of their offense or criminal history. The United States Sentencing Commission has said that such considerations are better left to judges  but judges can rule on compassionate release requests only if the Bureau of Prisons approves them first. Late last month, Schatz introduced legislation  co-sponsored with Senators Mike Lee of Utah, a Republican, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont, a Democrat  that would let prisoners petition the courts directly if the bureau denies or delays their requests. Many are turned down for not meeting medical requirements. [Kevin] Zeich, who was serving 27 years for dealing methamphetamine, requested compassionate release three times, but was repeatedly told he was not sick enough. On his fourth try, his daughter, Kimberly Heraldez, finally received a phone call in March 2016 saying her father would soon be on a plane, headed to her home in California. Early the next morning, she was awakened by another call. Her father had died.... Compassionate release dates back to an overhaul of federal sentencing laws in the 1980s. While abolishing federal parole, Congress supplied a safety valve, giving judges the power to retroactively cut sentences short in extraordinary and compelling circumstances. But a court could do so only if the Bureau of Prisons filed a motion on an inmates behalf. For years, the agency approved only prisoners who were near death or completely debilitated. While nonmedical releases were permitted, an inspector general report found in 2013, not a single one was approved over a six-year period. The report said the program should be expanded beyond terminal illness cases and used more frequently as a low-risk way to reduce overcrowding and health care spending. The Bureau of Prisons widened the criteria to explicitly include inmates over 65 and those who are the sole possible caregiver for a family member. Then Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., promoted the changes as part of his Smart on Crime initiative to use our limited resources to house those who pose the greatest threat. But the bureau, which is part of the Justice Department, has yet to fully embrace those changes. Of those inmates who have applied for nonmedical reasons, 2 percent (50 cases) have been approved since 2013, according to an analysis of federal prison data. And although overall approval numbers increased slightly between 2013 and 2015, they have since fallen. At a 2016 sentencing commission hearing, Bureau of Prisons officials said they believed the program should not be used to reduce overcrowding. And even the principal deputy assistant to Holder, Jonathan Wroblewski, said the program was not an appropriate vehicle for a broad reduction in the prison population. Every administration has taken the position that part of our responsibility is to ensure that public safety is not undermined, he said. After the hearing, the commission released new guidelines encouraging prison officials to determine only whether inmates fit the criteria for release  that is, if they are old enough, sick or disabled enough, or if they are the sole possible caregiver for someone on the outside. Whether the prisoner poses a risk to the public should be left to a judge to decide, the commission said. Mark Inch, who was appointed director of the Bureau of Prisons by Attorney General Jeff Sessions last August, has made no public statements about the program. The bureau declined to make Inch available for an interview and did not respond to emailed questions.

As this article indicates, there are bills now pending in Congress that would in various ways address deficiencies in the current compassionate release mechanisms. This is on of many reasons I am hopeful (but not optimistic) that folks on both sides of the aisle in Congress will try hard in the coming weeks to get at least some form of prison reform legislation to Prez Trump's desk. A revised and expanded compassionate release mechanism could and should help hundreds, perhaps thousands, of federal prisoners, particularly those who have likely already served a very long time in federal prison and who pose little or no risk to public safety.

A few recent of many prior related posts:

March 7, 2018 at 10:43 AM | Permalink

Comments

Every administration has taken the position that part of our responsibility is to ensure that public safety is not undermined,

Public safety is hardly undermined by releasing an 85 year old suffering from cancer, dementia, and incontinence.

The BOP will never give up power because its interest is to keep as many persons imprisoned for as long as possible to justify its budget.

As I (and many others) have argued for years, one practical solution is for Congress to authorize judges to grant early release on motion of defense attorneys or U.S. Attorneys (yes, I've known many U.S. Attorneys who act compassionately). Such motions would have to meet the current, strict statutory criteria. Law clerks could weed out the ones that do not qualify on their face. Those that qualify should go to the judge (or designated magistrate) who could deny or grant it outright, or hold a telephone hearing. Don't tell me about the federal judges being too overloaded to do this. This is their job, and this task is as important as anything else they do.



Posted by: Michael R. Levine | Mar 7, 2018 1:59:47 PM

Michael. You are compassionate. You want to kick out prisoners in prison for decades to the street. Is that compassionate?

In my experience, that is what will happen. There are no case managers in prison, to arrange for responsible placement of disabled prisoners.

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 7, 2018 3:37:51 PM

Mr. Behar, under current rules, folks can be granted compassionate release only if they have home to go to. No one advocates a change in this rule.

Posted by: Michael R. Levine | Mar 7, 2018 7:00:31 PM

Mr. Levine. What fraction of prisoners have a home to go to, with caretakers to provide full personal care, 24 hours a day? Can these caretakers, at least be paid?

Posted by: David Behar | Mar 7, 2018 9:37:35 PM

Post a comment
 Texas completes second US execution in as many days | Main | Reviewing the unique (and uniquely important?) Texas experience with criminal justice reform 

July 30, 2017

Spotlighting BOP's continued curious failure to make serious use of "compassionate release"

Mike Riggs has this notable new piece at Reason headlined "Congress Wants to Know Why the BOP Won't Let Elderly Prisoners Go Home to Die: 'Compassionate release' is an excellent tool that the BOP refuses to use." Here are excerpts:

For years, federal prisoners and their advocates have begged the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to shorten the sentences of elderly and terminally ill offenders using a provision called "compassionate release."... In 2013, the BOP Office of Inspector General encouraged the BOP to send these kinds of prisoners home. In 2016, the U.S. Sentencing Commission went so far as to expand eligibility for the program in hopes the BOP would use it more. But the BOP has largely ignored those recommendations [and now] Congress demanded that the BOP explain why it continues to incarcerate geriatric and terminally ill prisoners who pose no threat to public safety and are unlikely to commit new crimes upon their release. In a report accompanying the 2018 appropriations bill, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) ordered the BOP to turn over reams of data about the compassionate release program. Including: the steps BOP has taken to implement the suggestions of the BOP Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Sentencing Commission

a detailed explanation as to which recommendations the BOP has not adopted, and why the number of prisoners who applied for compassionate release in the last five years, as well as how many requests were granted, how many were denied, and why

how much time elapsed between each request and a decision from the BOP

the number of prisoners who died while waiting for the BOP to rule on their application for compassionate release Only 10 percent of America's prisoners are in federal prisons, but it is an increasingly old and sick population due to the disproportionately long sentences tied to federal drug offenses. As of June 2017, BOP facilities held 34,769 prisoners over the age of 51. More than 10,000 of those prisoners are over the age of 60. Elderly prisoners pose financial and human rights problems. "In fiscal year 2014, the BOP spent $1.1 billion on inmate medical care, an increase of almost 30 percent in 5 years," BOP Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz wrote in prepared testimony to the U.S. Sentencing Commission. "One factor that has significantly contributed to the increase in medical costs is the sustained growth of an aging inmate population."... Shelby's letter gives the BOP 60 days from the passage of the appropriations bill to submit its data to the committee. "Elderly and sick prisoners cost taxpayers the most and threaten us the least, and there's no good reason they should stay locked up or die behind bars because bureaucrats can't or won't let them go home to their families," Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, said in a statement. "It's time for someone to get to the bottom of why the BOP's answer is always no on compassionate release."

July 30, 2017 at 05:25 AM | Permalink

Comments

The of NO is a simple one. These old inmates provide the Bop with huge $$$$, does one think they are going to give away their fiscal security and power if not for ed to.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Jul 30, 2017 7:26:24 AM

How long did that bitch who helped out the blind sheik live? Oh yeah, that's right.

Posted by: federalist | Jul 30, 2017 7:42:47 AM

The sad fact is that for some, they will have no family that recognizes them and/or able to care for them. Unlike younger, fitter men and women, the system cannot simply turn geriactic people out on the streets with $5 in their pockets. As with most major reforms there has to be plan and provision for appropriate care. The real answer is to ensure that wherever possible, families are enabled and encouraged to maintain regular contact, with release before old age and health become a problem. Also functioning health and rehabilitation programs inside or associated with prisons.

Posted by: peter | Jul 30, 2017 9:37:44 AM

@peter is getting close.

"Elderly and sick prisoners cost taxpayers the most and threaten us the least, and there's no good reason they should stay locked up or die behind bars because bureaucrats can't or won't let them go home to their families"

That proves too much because the elderly and sick cost the taxpayers the most whatever their status, prisoner or not. In fact, if the are released to homes in states that failed to expand the ACA such people may be worse off at home than in prisons. Prison medical care isn't great but it a far sight better than nothing. On the other hand, if they are released to states where the ACA has been expand then all one is doing is shifting taxpayer medical care from prisons to some other taxpayer program. Now, maybe there are some efficiency savings to such cost shifting but the FAMM person doesn't go there and I haven't seen the data. In the end, the whole "cost" argument for compassionate release is very weak, whatever costs saving that will be achieved are going to be achieved either through worse patient outcomes or will be at best incremental.

Posted by: Daniel | Jul 30, 2017 10:52:32 AM

I think its time the Federal Government revamped its way of thinking.They are evil the way they throw innocent in jail.They need to close all Federal prison except for murders,and give people a chance instead of throwing away the keys.

Posted by: Lou | Aug 13, 2017 4:36:35 AM

Post a comment
 Intriguing final (sentencing) chapter in landmark SCOTUS Fourth Amendment case | Main | "Can a Hard-Core Criminal Become a Better Person?" 

May 1, 2013

DOJ review confirms government waste and mismanagement of BOP's handling of compassionate release

We concluded that an effectively managed compassionate release program would result in cost savings for the BOP, as well as assist the BOP in managing its continually growing inmate population and the resulting capacity challenges it is facing. We further found that such a program would likely have a relatively low rate of recidivism. However, we found that the existing BOP compassionate release program is poorly managed and that its inconsistent and ad hoc implementation has likely resulted in potentially eligible inmates not being considered for release. It has also likely resulted in terminally ill inmates dying before their requests for compassionate release were decided. Problems with the programs management are concentrated in four areas. First, the BOPs regulations and Program Statement do not establish appropriate medical and non-medical criteria for compassionate release consideration and do not adequately define extraordinary and compelling circumstances that might warrant release.... Second, the BOP has failed to put in place timeliness standards at each step of the review process.... Third, the BOP does not have procedures to inform inmates about the compassionate release program.... Fourth, the BOP does not have a system to track all compassionate release requests, the timeliness of the review process, or whether decisions made by institution and regional office staff are consistent with each other or with BOP policy.... The BOP also does not track the time it takes to process requests and has no formal or standard means of determining the date the review process begins. Consequently, the BOP cannot monitor its process effectively. This is especially problematic for inmates with terminal medical conditions, and we found that 13 percent of inmates whose requests had been approved for compassionate release by a Warden and Regional Director died before a decision was made by the BOP Director.... Further, the BOP does not maintain cost data associated with the custody and treatment of inmates who may be eligible for compassionate release. Despite this lack of data, the BOP reported to Congress that it could save $3.2 million by expanding the compassionate release program.... Finally, we found the rate of recidivism for inmates approved and released through the existing compassionate release program to be low compared with the overall rate for federal inmates released into the community.

Public policy groups have long criticized the many terrible ways in with the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) administered the authority Congress provided it for the early release of prisoners in dire condition. Most notably, late last year, as discussed here, Human Rights Watch and Families Against Mandatory Minimums today released a major report criticizing the poor administration of the federal compassionate release program. Today, this big new report from the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General confirmed what critics have long said. Here are key excerpts from the final portion of the report:

Some recent related posts:

May 1, 2013 at 07:46 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:

https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e2017eeabdd2e5970d

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference DOJ review confirms government waste and mismanagement of BOP's handling of compassionate release:

Comments

Maybe someone out there knows of one, but in 35 years of federal defense work, I've never known or heard of a single case of the BOP releasing anyone under this program.

Posted by: Michael R. Levine | May 2, 2013 12:51:43 AM

I do know of a case in the D. N.J. where "compassionate" release was granted even without a BOP motion -- though the AUSA did not oppose an outstanding motion by attorney Lynne Reid. See U.S. v. Charles Edward Meyers, 2:03-cr-00120-KSH (D.N.J.) (order reducing sentencing to time served).

I also note the term "compassionate" release is the worst of misnomers. I've been doing this for a dozen years, and "compassion" is not something that I've ever seen drive a BOP decision.

Posted by: Jay Hurst | May 2, 2013 9:15:24 AM

I worked on two cases where the prisoners were released under this program. In each instance, the individual died within a very short time after arriving in the community. I guess imminent Death and saving Tax monies are the only certainties about the program.

Posted by: alan chaset | May 2, 2013 9:46:54 AM

I have worked on cases under a similar state system where the prisoner had a clearly qualifying claim for compassionate release, there was no resistance from the state authorities, but the bureaucracy was too slow to approve the paperwork and the prisoner died before release to home/hospice was approved. And we're not talking about days of bureaucratic delay, we are talking weeks and months. Those were frustrating cases. None of these prisoners was a murderer or in sufficient physical condition to get out of bed, let alone re-offend. (Of course, I have worked on other cases where the prisoner was eventually released and got to die with his family, which was gratifying.)

Posted by: anon | May 2, 2013 1:21:25 PM

hmm seems that BOP is not keeping shit in the way of records on this program. Kind of makes you think they DON'T want to know!

Could make a damn good argument for Willful blindness.

Posted by: rodsmith | May 3, 2013 2:53:34 AM

LOL didn't think any of you lawyers would be able to touch this one!

"hmm seems that BOP is not keeping shit in the way of records on this program. Kind of makes you think they DON'T want to know!

Could make a damn good argument for Willful blindness."

Which is very very interesting since the govt has no problem frying anyone else who has the balls to sit there and tell them i didnt'know "x" was a criminal and what he was doing was illegal.....and i can prove i never bothered to find out!

Posted by: rodsmith | May 5, 2013 3:04:57 AM

Post a comment
 Reviewing just some of the Miller meshugas in some states | Main | Fraud sentencing of National Lampoon CEO no laughing matter (though recommended sentence are funny) 

November 30, 2012

New report assails (lack of) compassionate release in federal system

Back in 1984, Congress gave authorities the power to let people out of federal prison early, in extraordinary circumstances, like if inmates were gravely ill or dying. But a new report says the Federal Bureau of Prisons blocks all but a few inmates from taking advantage of "compassionate release." The federal prisons house more than 218,000 inmates but, on average, they release only about two dozen people a year under the program. By contrast, the state of Texas, no slouch when it comes to tough punishment, let out about 100 people on medical parole last year, researchers say. "Why are so few people getting out?" asks Jamie Fellner, a senior adviser at Human Rights Watch who helped write the new study. "You have a prison system that is grotesquely overcrowded, you have prisoners who pose no meaningful threat to public safety and yet they're being denied release?" Fellner says she's convinced the culture of the federal prisons and the Justice Department acts as an iron curtain for all but the sickest inmates  people with less than a year to live, who can't even walk or use the bathroom on their own, let alone commit another crime.... Mary Price, general counsel at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, helped write the new report. She says she's tried to help Mahoney  and many other inmates  win compassionate release. "We don't sentence people to die alone in prison when we've given them a five-year sentence," she says. Price says Congress gave judges the authority to make decisions about which prisoners could be released for "extraordinary and compelling" reasons. But under the rules, the Bureau of Prisons has to petition the court first. And the bureau usually says no  without ever involving the court. For instance, Price and Fellner say they couldn't find a single case in the last 20 years where prison authorities had granted a compassionate release for an inmate to care for young children after a spouse or partner died, even though Congress and the U.S. Sentencing Commission expressly left open that option.... Advocates at Human Rights Watch and Families Against Mandatory Minimums are calling on the Bureau of Prisons to open up its procedures. And they're asking Congress to pass a law that would allow prisoners to go directly to the courts if the bureau shuts them down. The Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, is reviewing the program, too. He says it could help save money and cut down on prison overcrowding.

As highlighted via this NPR piece , headlined "Federal 'Compassionate' Prison Release Rarely Given," Human Rights Watch and Families Against Mandatory Minimums have today released a big new report criticizing the poor administration of the federal compassionate release program. Here are excerpts from the NPR piece:

The full report is available at this link, and here are two paragraphs from the lengthy report's summary:

Congress authorized what is commonly called compassionate release because it recognized the importance of ensuring that justice could be tempered by mercy. A prison sentence that was just when imposed could  because of changed circumstances  become cruel as well as senseless if not altered. The US criminal justice system, even though it prizes the consistency and finality of sentences, makes room for judges to take a second look to assess the ongoing justice of a sentence. Prisoners cannot seek a sentence reduction f or extraordinary and compelling circumstances directly from the courts. By law, only the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP, the Bureau ) has the authority to file a motion with a court that requests judicial consideration of early release. Although we do not know how many prisoners have asked the BOP to make motions on their behalf  because the BOP does not keep such records  we do know the BOP rarely does so. The federal prison sys tem houses over 218,000 prisoners, yet in 2011, the BOP filed only 30 motions for early release, and between January 1 and November 15, 2012, it filed 37. Since 1992, the annual average number of prisoners who received compassionate release has been less t han two dozen. Compassionate release is conspicuous for its absence.

November 30, 2012 at 12:54 PM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:

https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e2017d3e51aa71970c

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference New report assails (lack of) compassionate release in federal system:

Comments

It appears that since 1992, some 4000, persons, give or take, have been released under the compassionate release program. It be interesting to know the recidivism rate during this 20 year period for persons given compassionate release.

Posted by: C | Nov 30, 2012 4:11:21 PM

hmm

"Although we do not know how many prisoners have asked the BOP to make motions on their behalf  because the BOP does not keep such records  we do know the BOP rarely does so."

Well first maybe it's time thier bosses damanded they keep those records and make them public information and second maybe we need a clean sweep thourght bop and ask the inmates



Posted by: rodsmith | Nov 30, 2012 11:18:08 PM

I agree with you rodsmith. The BOP needs some oversight. They seem to be running wild with no repercussions from anyone.

Posted by: Jill | Dec 1, 2012 9:52:17 AM

My husband died from pancreatic cancer. The death certificate listed cause of death as pancreatic cancer. Compassionate release was denied last December and he died alone in prison this past April. The BOP denial letter said he did not have cancer.

Posted by: Widow | Dec 2, 2012 9:21:28 AM

Hello, my name is Rebecca. My husbands brother is incarcerated at Butner Correctional Facilty, in Butner , North Carolina. He has liver cancer. He was told he has only 6 to 9 months to live December 2012. He applied for a compassionate release, to which they denied. He is in need of a surgery and they will not approve it.He has tumors that spasm,that cause him pain. His wife just left him , and his children are in need of him. We are looking for any help in any form, please point us in the right direction. Thank you , Rebecca and Terry Florez

Posted by: Rebecca | Jul 2, 2013 12:25:40 PM

Post a comment
 Mandatory minimums require federal drug defendant's sentence of life + five more years in prison | Main | US Sentencing Commission provides notice of proposed 2013 priorities 

May 25, 2012

Effective commentary urges greater us of "compassionate release"

Julie Stewart, the president and founder of FAMM (Families Against Mandatory Minimums), has this effective new commentary at The Crime Report headlined "Lets End the Death Rattle Rule." Here are excerpts:

It is easy for most Americans to identify ways in which the government wastes money, but it is not often you come across a federal program that is both wasteful and cruel. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) compassionate release program fits the bill. Some background will help. When Congress passed the landmark Sentencing Reform Act of 1984, in the interest of truth in sentencing it abolished parole at the federal level and eliminated all but a few opportunities for a judge to revisit and shorten a sentence once it had become final. One little-known opportunity permits courts to order the immediate release of prisoners in extraordinary and compelling circumstances. Although Congress did not restrict this opportunity to situations where an inmate was in grave medical condition, the relief  which became known as compassionate release  was limited to such cases. But, and this is important, a judge cannot act unless the BOP asks the court for the sentence reduction. Before 1994, the BOP would only file motions in court to release terminally ill patients with less than six months to live. It did not matter if the inmate was bedridden or suffered from advanced dementia, or how many taxpayer-funded medical services he required. In 1994, the BOP slightly broadened its qualifications to include those with a terminal illness and less than a year to live, but it made no difference. BOPs macabre standard became known as the death rattle rule, as in, no death rattle, no release. Despite the wider standard, during the 1990s, an average of 21 inmates a year received compassionate release, a figure that represents 0.01 percent of the federal prison population. Sentencing reform groups, including Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), were dismayed by BOPs cruel administration of the compassionate release program. The Bureaus nonsensical stinginess resulted in families being kept from their incarcerated loved ones when they died, and in taxpayers footing the bill for extraordinary, end-of-life health care expenses that could have been shouldered by inmates or their families. In 2007, the U.S. Sentencing Commission adopted sentencing guidelines to broaden eligibility for the compassionate release program. The Commissions amendment was an overdue but straightforward interpretation of the Sentencing Reform Act. It interpreted to the Acts extraordinary and compelling circumstances to include, but not be limited to, instances where: (1) the inmate is suffering from a terminal illness; (2) he is suffering from a permanent physical or mental health condition that prevents him from caring for himself and from which he is not expected to improve; and (3) the death or incapacitation of the inmates only family member capable of caring for the inmates minor children. The BOP responded to this not-too-conservative, not-too-liberal interpretation by promptly ignoring it. Instead, it has continued to follow its grisly death rattle rule. Nothing has changed. The rate of compassionate release motions filed by the BOP from 2000 to 2001 is the same as it was during the 1990s: an average of just 21 per year. In roughly 24 percent of those motions, the inmate died before the district court even had a chance to rule on the motion. Even the lucky ones are often forced to spend their final days fighting the BOP bureaucracy. Under the BOPs rules, nearly every layer of the bureaucracy gets a chance to say no to an inmate seeking compassionate release.... The need for compassionate release is only going to grow. First, the number of older prisoners has increased by 750 percent nationwide over the last two decades. Second, the BOP is already suffering from severe overcrowding; its facilities are operating at 138 percent of capacity. Lastly, Congress is facing a massive budget problem. Though it is asking agencies to look everywhere for cuts, the BOP is seeking an increase of more than $80 million to activate two new prisons. Even if administered correctly, the compassionate release program cannot solve BOPs overcrowding problem or Congresss budget challenges, but it can help. Taxpayers need not subsidize expensive medical services for inmates who pose no threat to public safety. Ultimately, however, we need to expand the compassionate release program to save more than money. We need to do it save our nations soul.

May 25, 2012 at 08:10 AM | Permalink

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:

https://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451574769e2016305d24a0d970d

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Effective commentary urges greater us of "compassionate release":

Comments

In 1988, there was a significant shiver that assaulted the nation's soul. We have yet to shed the fear of Willie Horton or, as regard's Julie's morally and fiscally correct plea, the fear of unleashing a Willie Horton.

Posted by: alan chaset | May 25, 2012 8:37:33 AM

'Ultimately, however, we need to expand the compassionate release program to save more than money. We need to do it save our nations soul.'

So we need to release murders and other violent offenders in order to save our souls.Because if a murder is dieing that in some way mitigates the crime that put them in prison to begin with. Some magic wand is waved that makes the murder suddenly okay.

If you want to release non-violent criminals to make room. Okay, at some level I would agree. But violent criminals should serve their entire sentence. Period.

Posted by: jim | May 25, 2012 12:59:34 PM

The prison-industrial complex has a vested intersts in keeping as many persons incarcerated for as long as possible.

Posted by: anon13 | May 25, 2012 1:49:25 PM

I may have the only personal experience with this issue of anyone who will write a comment on this blog. I was a practicing lawyer before going to prison in 2000, for 8 years. In September 2005, during my time (2 1/2 years) at U.S Penitentiary-1, Coleman, Florida (a maximum security prison), I prepared a Petition for Compassionate Release for the man who was then believed to be the longest-serving inmate in the entire Federal prison system (then 108 prisons!). He had been convicted of Kidnapping Resulting in Death in June 1964, when I was 2 years old. By the time I met him, he was a frail old, chain-smoking man (he died before the BOP did away with tobacco products in 2006) in a wheel chair. He was terminally ill with cancer, which had spread throughout his body. Because he was illiterate, the Warden told him to get someone to help him prepare a Petition for Compassionate Release, so that he might die on the street with his people, instead of in prison. His friends referred him to me, as I was arguably the most highly educated inmate (and only "real" lawyer) in the prison. One reason that Wardens don't like having inmates die in prison is that they have to call the local Coroner (who is a State, not a Federal employee) to come investigate deaths inside the prison itself. When near death, some inmates are moved to outside hospitals, so that they will die in a place where no Coroner's investigation is necessary. If the inmate dies in prison, the BOP must also bear the cost of either cremation or transporting the body to his family for burial. Also, inmates in Penitentiaries (where 2/3 have life sentences) get upset at seeing the dead bodies of their fellow inmates being removed upon death. The problem with the current BOP Compassionate Release policy is that it takes far too long (more than 6 months!) to get a decision, after the prison doctor has diagnosed the inmate as terminal. The inmates die in prison before their Petitions can move thru the bureaucratic decision-making process. Such Petitions must be approved by the Warden, the Regional Director, the Director of the BOP in Washington, D.C. (and his senior medical staff)and by a Federal Judge. Unless the process is streamlined and shortened, all terminally ill inmates will continue to die in prison or in hospitals near their prisons, not with their families. In the case I worked on, one morning in September 2005 the inmate was discovered dead in his cell after breakfast but before work call. I watched his cellmate (who discovered him dead) sit outside and cry for half an hour. The prison's inmates were locked on their living units and work call was delayed for 2 hours while the Coroner came to investigate and take his body away. The body was removed thru back hallways, so that the other inmates would observe it being removed. Inmates regularly die at Federal Medical Centers (FMCs, medical prisons, such as exist at Butner, N.C., Dallas, Tx., Rochester, Minn. and Lexington, Ky.), which actually have hospice units for the terminally ill. Palliative (non-medical) care is provided by other inmates. The FMCs are always locked down when the bodies are removed. The current Compassionate Release system is cruel to both the inmates and their families and should be revised.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 25, 2012 2:14:56 PM

Jim,

Death sucks. So?

Our decisions have consequences. One of the consequences of deciding to kill someone is the real chance that you will not die with your family at your bedside (probably the same fate the victim of the person in your example experienced).

The murderer sealed his own fate and it has nothing to do with a cruel system.

Posted by: TarlsQtr | May 25, 2012 2:51:49 PM

It's depressing that people like TarlsQtr exist -- people who would respond as he did to Mr. Gromley's words.

Posted by: Calif. Capital Defense Counsel | May 25, 2012 3:38:55 PM

"It's depressing that people like TarlsQtr exist."

Hey TarlsQtr, I guess that means you're supposed to commit suicide -- but when you do, please use "compassion."

This wonderful blog has more than its share of amusement value.

Posted by: Bill Otis | May 25, 2012 4:00:53 PM

'The current Compassionate Release system is cruel to both the inmates and their families and should be revised.'

Not for anything it was cruel that your clients victim had to die. If some is sentenced to life in prison, then that means he should die in prison. Becoming old and sick changes nothing.

Posted by: jim | May 25, 2012 5:08:51 PM

How about the people Bill Otis sent to prison for life for non-violent, victimless, drug crimes? Should they be left to die in prison?

Posted by: Calif. Capital Defense Counsel | May 25, 2012 5:42:04 PM

Mr. Gormley, y are not the only commenter with personal experience in this area. If your "client" was convicted of an offense that occurred in 1964, he was sentenced under pre-Guidelines law. Therefore, after serving, what, 41 years(?) he was either ALREADY eligible for parole (and denied by the US Parole Commission), or he had a non-parolable natural life sentence. In either event, the decision to release was NOT in the hands of the BOP, or the Courts. Either USPC d the discretion to grant parole and denied it, or he was sentenced to die in prison. Precisely what sort of relief were you/he seeking?

And incidentally, for those who complain of the taxpayers footing the bill for terminally ill [pateients in prison, precisely who do you think is going to pay for hospital care if the dying inmate is released? It simply comes out of a different taxpayer pocket (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.)

Posted by: anon | May 25, 2012 6:12:41 PM

CCDC --

"How about the people Bill Otis sent to prison..."

They might have taken the trouble to obey the law, not that that ever counts with you. BTW, I didn't send anyone to prison. Only judges do sentencing. Maybe you should have learned that by now.

Posted by: Bill Otis | May 25, 2012 7:31:53 PM

Bill Otis, it must be wonderful to be white, highly intelligent, come from a stable family, get a great education with encouragement from highly motivated parents, have a great career, earn money, buy a house. Yes, in such circumstances its easy "to obey the law," particularly when the law in large part is made by people such as yourself. In its majesty the law forbids the rich as well as the poor from sleeping under bridges. If only everyone could be like you, there would be no prisoners at all.

Posted by: onlooker | May 25, 2012 8:54:48 PM

Onlooker - your comments are on the money, but Bill Otis is not highly intelligent.

No highly intelligent person could be a true believer and willing participant in the war on drugs. Bill Otis is. He is responsible for many decent, non-violent people being put in cages for decades.

Posted by: Calif. Capital Defense Counsel | May 25, 2012 9:14:48 PM

onlooker --

I can't help being amused by your Marxist-lite list of my characteristics. Have we met? I don't recall it.

In order to avoid being arrested, I actually employed a different set of criteria from the ones you set forth. The criteria are widely available no matter what your race, income, family status or vocation:

1. Don't steal stuff.

2. Don't lie to or mislead people with legitimate authority (or, preferably, anyone).

3. Get a normal job and keep at it even if occasionally annoying.

4. Stay away from drugs you know are illegal.

5. If you're in school, stay there until you graduate.

6. Get married before you have kids.

7. Be honest even if it makes you look bad. Only that builds trust.

8. Resolve your disputes without violence.

9. Pay your own bills and expect others to pay theirs.

10. Quit nursing grudges and complaining. Everybody has problems.

Would you mind telling me which of those standards is available only to rich, white Stanford graduates?

If you want me to admit that these are largely the standards of the repressed, Puritaniical, boring, un-hip Fifties, not a problem. That's exactly what they are. And if you want to tell me how much the country has improved by adopting the do-your-own-thing, follow-your-own-rules, drugs-for-everyone, crime-is-only-a-capitalist-construct, get-someone-else-to-pay-your-bills standards that became popular thereafter, feel free to do that too.

The huge majority of our citizens of all races and all economic circumstance avoid committing serious crime. This is because they understand, even if you don't (or refuse to) that the ten rules listed above are not that hard to live by.

Posted by: Bill Otis | May 26, 2012 9:30:28 AM

Bill: While there are many criminals who should be in prison (particularly violent ones), the length of sentences and conditions of incarceration in the U.S. (as well as the numbers of people incarcerated) are far beyond those of any other country on earth. The U.S. has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of it's jail and prison inmates. We incarcerate people at 5 times the rate of our peer First World countries. More than 20 million Americans (6% of the adult population) has a felony conviction. U.S. Senator James Webb (R.Va.) introduced a Bill (which hasn't been enacted)that would have appointed a Blue Ribbon Panel to review and revise the entire Federal criminal justice system. As Senator Webb has pointed out, the above-referenced statistics mean one of two things. Either Americans are five times more criminal than the citizens of other First World Countries, or there is something fundamentally wrong with out criminal justice and prison systems. When I was in one Federal penitentiary, I found a 22-year old black inmate from D.C. who had received a mandatory life sentence (3 or more felony drug convictions) pursuant to section 851. The total amount of drugs involved in his 3 felony possession convictions was 8 ounces of marijuana and 3 grams of heroin. It will cost the Government more than $2 million to keep him in prison for the next 50+ years. And I think there is something fundamentally wrong with a system that can and will impose those kinds of sentences on such a young man over such relatively small quantities of drugs. The Bureau of Prisons should also follow its own regulations, Federal statutes and the amendments to the Guidelines concerning Compassionate Release. As the F.A.M.M. article makes clear, they had to capitulate when a lawsuit was brought against them in Federal Court for not following their own rules.

Posted by: Jim Gormley | May 26, 2012 11:57:01 AM

Jim Gormley --

If people would follow the ten easy, ordinary rules I set forth in the post before yours, imprisonment in this country would wither to next to nothing. It's simply and demonstratively no use to keep complaining about the system, which is largely the same no matter which party is in power, when the true key to reducing incarceration lies in our own behavior's back yard.

Posted by: Bill Otis | May 26, 2012 3:32:31 PM

Bill, I agree that the fifties were peaceful wonderful years for childhood. I know I've told this story before, but here it is again. In the fifties my husband and a group of friends captured the town law enforcement officer. They took his guns and tied him to a tree. For this outrageous prank they all received a good talking to.

If a group of teen agers were to try this today their lives would be quite different.

Posted by: beth | May 26, 2012 6:36:41 PM

beth --

Your comments confirm what I've thought for some time now: That if you and I sat down for a lunch, we'd agree much more than we'd disagree.

Posted by: Bill Otis | May 26, 2012 7:41:24 PM

Onlooker stated: "it must be wonderful to be white, highly intelligent, come from a stable family, get a great education with encouragement from highly motivated parents, have a great career, earn money, buy a house."

I know many people that have almost none of those things and get by just fine without robbing liquor stores.

And guess what? It is not even rare in this great country, where a lowly Cherokee squaw can rise up to write cookbook recipes and run for the US Senate in Massachusetts.

Posted by: TarlsQtr | May 27, 2012 12:05:35 AM

CCCP stated: "It's depressing that people like TarlsQtr exist..."

I always pictured you walking in a largactil shuffle from your Thorazine cocktail. Thanks for the confirmation.

Posted by: TarlsQtr | May 27, 2012 12:15:06 AM

TarlsQtr --

This Elizabeth Warren story is one of the most revealing displays about the heart of liberalism I've ever seen. Totally priceless. It pits against each other the two principal, reigning liberal dogmas: (1) insert yourself into some grievance group, so you can grab the moral high ground and talk with condescension to everybody else; and (2) lie to your heart's content, secure in the knowledge that your membership in (1) with enable you to shout over, and brand as racist, anyone with the poor manners to have noticed, and said out loud, that you're fibbing.

Really, a true classic.

Posted by: Bill Otis | May 27, 2012 8:50:17 AM

I'm seriously happy to discover this great site the future of this discussion is getting good and more useful for me. Thanks for sharing.

Posted by: GED Testing system | May 29, 2012 6:28:52 AM

The President asked that the Federal Bureau of Prisons expand this program of Compassionate Release. Aside from entering a drug rehabilitation facility the only way to obtain an early release from a federal prison would be through this program. The Federal Bureau after the President's request has made it clear that they will not expand this program beyond their 'death rattle rule'. The President increased the budget for the federal prison system as no measures are being taken to decrease the population or growth.

Posted by: lyn | Feb 20, 2013 10:03:30 AM

I found this blog and its very interesting to me to see what people think about compassionate release. I am working on trying to get my brother approve for compassionate release. My brother was in prison for durg felons, did his 8 year, came out for about to months and then went back in because he violation parole by drinking was sentence back into prison for another 9 months. Then about a couple weeks later he was diagnosis with a Brian tumor deceied to go through with the surgery and when we got the news he wasn't going to make it. But when we got there day by day he was slowly making progress. They approve him for furlough. He was in the hospital for about two months having surgeries after surgeries. Then right when he was getting better they moved him to a FMC prison. Now he is a little slow, remembers the past but the present is still very foggy for him.

To me I just don't understand why do they take so long to approve a compassionate release. I really feel the if you are not doing a life sentence, you didn't kill anyone they should be a little easy on the process because when you have a love one who going through a brain injury they are going to need a lot of therapy and help to a go recovery.

I just don't know why they make the Federal law so taught and sometime I think is ridiculous. Like for example when my brother went in for surgery we were so worried about him, call the prison they would not inform us about his condition until about two weeks later on the day after his second surgery that didn't go so go they finally inform us to let us know his condition was very poor and wasn't going to make it.

But I think that it's not wroth to keep a person in prison when they only have a couple months to finish their time in prison who is either ill or is physically or mentally disable.

Posted by: Linda | Dec 11, 2013 3:31:52 PM

Do you know what are the step for compassionate release??? Because parole did come out to look at the place that my brother will be living at so do you know how much longer he has till they approve the compassionate release??

Posted by: Linda | Dec 11, 2013 3:37:30 PM

Bill Otis: Your list for avoiding arrest seems to identify behavior that many members of the U.S. Congress have difficulty conforming to. Hard to believe in that lily-white, highly educated, privileged bastion of truth.



1. Don't steal stuff.

2. Don't lie to or mislead people with legitimate authority (or, preferably, anyone).

3. Get a normal job and keep at it even if occasionally annoying.

4. Stay away from drugs you know are illegal.

5. If you're in school, stay there until you graduate.

6. Get married before you have kids.

7. Be honest even if it makes you look bad. Only that builds trust.

8. Resolve your disputes without violence.

9. Pay your own bills and expect others to pay theirs.

10. Quit nursing grudges and complaining. Everybody has problems.

Posted by: Judgg Naught | Feb 17, 2016 5:48:46 AM

Post a comment
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.
Looking for in-depth reporting on labor issues? You're in the right place.

Subscribe to The Chief and get stories that cover every side of civil service in New York City and beyond. You can sign up in minutes for immediate access.
The worlds two biggest gold miners both announced mega-mergers over the past 5 months or so. These huge deals briefly garnered some interest in the usually-forgotten gold-stock sector, and fleeting praise from Wall Street analysts. But gold-stock mega-mergers are bad news for gold-miner shareholders on all sides. They reveal the serious struggles of major gold miners, and really retard future upside in their stocks.

For decades the largest gold miners in the world have been Newmont Mining (NEM) and Barrick Gold (ABX). These behemoths have long dwarfed all their peers in operational scope. While the gold miners are in the process of reporting Q418 results now, their latest complete set remains Q318s. As after every quarterly earnings season, I analyzed them in depth for the major gold miners of GDX back in mid-November.

The GDX VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF is the worlds leading and dominant gold-stock investment vehicle. In Q3 alone NEM and ABX mined a staggering 1286k and 1149k ounces of gold! To put this in perspective, the average of the next 8 largest gold miners rounding out the top 10 was just 508k ounces. Newmont and Barrick have long been in a league of their own, with commensurate market capitalizations.

In mid-November NEM and ABX were worth $17.1b and $14.9b, granting them massive 11.0% and 9.5% weightings within GDX. These two gold giants alone accounted for over 1/5th of GDX! That gives them outsized influence in not only that ETF, but in the entire gold-stock sector. GDX is the sector benchmark of choice for gold stocks these days, so the fortunes of NEM and ABX stocks really affect overall performance.

Gold-mining stocks are generally divided into three tiers based on their production. Anything over 1000k ounces annually is considered a major, which works out to 250k per quarter. NEM and ABX produced so much gold in Q3 they exceeded this threshold by a colossal 5.1x and 4.6x! They are really super-majors. Mid-tier gold miners produce between 300k to 1000k ounces every year, while juniors are under 300k.

Back on September 24th, 2018, Barrick Gold shocked the gold-stock world. It announced it was merging with Randgold (GOLD), which was really an all-stock acquisition of GOLD by ABX worth $6.5b. Barrick shareholders would own 2/3rds of the new combined company, while Randgolds would own the rest. To avoid confusion, this essay uses the classic ABX and GOLD stock symbols to represent Barrick and Randgold.

ABX had been Barricks ticker for decades, but was just recently abandoned on January 2nd. With this mega-merger finished, the new company took over the excellent GOLD symbol going forward. That is a wise decision, as anyone who types gold into any brokerage account will see Barrick Gold. Years ago before Randgold got that coveted symbol, another major miner had it and really seemed to benefit from it.

In Q3 Randgold was the 10th-largest gold miner in the world producing 309k ounces. Added on top of Barricks 1149k, the new combined 1458k would take back the top-gold-miner crown from Newmont which produced 1286k that quarter. Apparently size matters a lot when youre a gold-mining executive. But with both ABX and GOLD suffering chronic declining production, that mega-merger reeked of desperation.

Newmonts leadership wasnt happy with losing the pole position among global gold miners. So it soon got to work on looking for a mega-merger of its own. On January 14th, NEM announced it was acquiring major miner Goldcorp (GG) in an all-stock deal worth $10.0b! That looked like one-upmanship taking it to Barrick. NEM and GG shareholders would own about 2/3rds and 1/3rd of the new combined colossus.

Goldcorp was the worlds 7th-largest gold miner in Q318, producing 503k ounces of gold. Added on to Newmonts 1286k, that creates a new monster running at an unprecedented 1789k-ounce quarterly rate! If bigger is better, these new combined super-major gold miners ought to be the best seen in history. But unfortunately in gold mining that isnt true, and these new giants will likely fare worse than if they hadnt merged.

In their merger announcements, the CEOs of all 4 of these major gold miners tried hard to sell their deals as wonderful news for shareholders. They argued that synergies and cost savings would make these new combined titans more effective at producing superior returns for their shareholders going forward. And as always with any large merger, Wall Street analysts universally applauded these mega-mergers as good.

Sadly the opposite is likely true, these deals are bad news for all the owners of Newmont and Barrick as well as former owners of Goldcorp and Randgold. These new giant super-majors are even bad news for the gold-mining sector as a whole. The odds are really high that their stocks will really underperform the smaller major, mid-tier, and junior gold miners in coming years. That will hurt this entire sector on multiple fronts.

Contrary to their CEOs marketing propaganda, none of these four major gold miners approached these deals from positions of strength. Theyve all been struggling with weakening production and rising costs. Gold mines are wasting assets that are constantly depleting, and it is increasingly challenging to find new gold to mine economically at the scale and pace the majors need. These mergers didnt solve that core problem!

This table looks at the quarterly production, its year-over-year change, and all-in sustaining costs per ounce mined of Barrick, Randgold, Newmont, and Goldcorp during todays secular gold bull. It started in late Q415 out of deep 6.1-year secular lows in gold. Barrick deleted Randgolds old website, so there is no Q415 GOLD data. And as of Wednesday afternoon, NEM and GG hadnt yet reported full Q418 results.

(Click to enlarge)

Barrick and Newmont didnt just effectively dilute their shareholders by 50% for some relatively-meager cost-saving synergies, but because they cant grow their production internally. ABXs gold mined each quarter has been falling sharply on balance for years! It has seen brutal YoY drops as high as 25.5%, which ought to be impossible for a world-class gold major. 7 of the last 9 quarters have seen big declines. Related: Is Germanys New Industrial Strategy Good For Its Economy?

Barricks average quarterly production since Q416 plunged an astounding 8.6% YoY. The reason Barricks management blew $6.5b in stock buying Randgold is they desperately needed more production to mask the precipitous drop in their own. Barricks total 2018 production of 4525k ounces was 18.0% below the 5516k it mined only a couple years earlier in 2016. At best adding Randgold just regains those losses.

And GOLD has been suffering the same production struggles as ABX. Over its past 4 reported quarters, Randgolds gold mined has fallen an average of 7.4% YoY. Can bringing two rapidly-depleting major gold miners together magically make a stronger one? I doubt it. Barricks reported production will enjoy a big temporary boost for its first four quarters as a merged company, and then waning production will again be unmasked.

While the new giant Barrick will have more capital to develop new gold mines and expand existing ones, it seems unlikely that will be enough to turn this super-major around. Barrick and Randgold operated about 12 and 4 gold mines respectively pre-merger. So bringing another few online in coming years might not move the needle enough to outpace depletion. And it takes over a decade to permit and build new mines.

The entire gold-mining industry has been greatly starved of capital largely since 2013, with 2016 being a modest exception. Thus the big investments necessary to find new large-scale gold deposits and slowly advance them to mine builds have been severely lacking. So this whole industrys pipeline of new gold to mine has been crippled, all but pinched shut. Declining miners merging does little to solve this problem.

Newmont has fared way better than Barrick in recent years, actually enjoying strong production growth on balance from Q416 to Q417. But this past year even mighty NEM has started to suffer from waning gold production. It averaged 5.9% YoY declines in the first three quarters of 2018. I suspect NEM is just a little behind ABX in rolling over into depletion outpacing mining growth. ABXs merger forced NEM to act.

While Goldcorp was long celebrated as the worlds best major gold miner, it has been struggling for years with slowing production. Over the last 9 quarters GG only saw one modest production gain, with its gold mined dropping a colossal 11.0% YoY each quarter on average! So although GG produces about twice as much gold as Randgold, it might be a worse acquisition target due to its faster pace of shrinking production.

Like ABX and GOLD, its hard to imagine combining two more weakening majors NEM and GG will yield a way to stop and reverse their falling production. Again for their first four quarters together this new giant Newmont will appear to see big annual production growth. But once that post-merger comparison rolls past, the declining gold across all its mines will again be revealed. Mega-mergers cant negate mine depletion.

Randgold didnt even bother reporting industry-standard all-in sustaining costs, which is why theyre not included above. But its cash costs were often on the high side, so its likely the new combined company will drag overall mining costs higher. Barricks major-leading low AISCs arent likely to last with GOLDs mines thrown in the mix, which means higher costs and lower overall profitability for Barrick going forward.

Newmont should benefit more from Goldcorps lower cost structure. NEM averaged $975 AISCs in the first three quarters of 2018, way higher than the $877 average in Q318 among the GDX gold miners. GGs AISCs averaged $886 over that 9-month span, so the new combined Newmont should benefit from lower costs. But that may not last long, as weakening production eventually pushes per-ounce costs higher.

Gold-mining costs are largely fixed quarter after quarter, with actual mining requiring the same levels of infrastructure, equipment, and employees. So slowing production yields fewer ounces to spread minings big fixed costs across. If these new super-major gold behemoths cant arrest their depleting production, their costs will inevitably rise in the future hurting profitability. Again these mega-mergers didnt solve that problem.

So it looks like the management of Barrick and Newmont just issued $6.5b and $10.0b of new stock so they could report big merger-driven production surges for a single year! Once that pre- and post-merger year-over-year comparisons pass, the vexing waning-production problems at all four of these predecessor gold miners will again become apparent. But thats not even the biggest reason these mergers are bad news!

Even before these mergers as apparent in mid-November when I analyzed Q318 results, both Newmont and Barrick already had very-large market capitalizations of $17.1b and $14.9b. That again granted them massive 11.0% and 9.5% weightings in GDX. Like most stock indexes and ETFs, GDXs components are weighted by market cap. Goldcorp and Randgold ranked 6th and 7th then in market cap and weightings.

Adding NEM and GG together as of mid-November would catapult their market cap and GDX weighting to $25.1b and 16.0%. Adding ABX and GOLD together yields a similar $22.3b market cap and 14.5% total GDX weighting. So these two super-majors alone could account for a crazy 30.5% of GDXs weighting! That is almost scarily concentrated, although we dont yet know how GDXs managers will deal with this.

As of this week the new combined Barrick only has an 11.1% GDX weighting, while Newmont is at 8.2% since its mega-merger is not yet consummated. It will be interesting to see whether the new companies weightings going forward are kept in market-cap proportion or somehow limited. I hope its the latter, as many of the other gold miners in GDX have far-better growth prospects than these new super-majors.

ETF weightings aside, higher market caps create plenty of problems of their own. Ive written essays in the past on picking great gold stocks, and surprisingly market capitalization is the single most important factor for future gains. The gold stocks with the largest market caps usually significantly underperform their smaller peers. These new super-majors are so darned big that they really compound this problem.

In mid-November when I analyzed the GDX miners Q318 results, the average market cap of its top 34 component stocks was $4.3b. Excluding NEM and ABX, that fell to $3.5b. It takes proportionally more capital inflows, investors buying shares, to push a larger stock higher than a smaller one. If the super-majors are worth $24b, it takes 6x as much buying of their stocks to drive the same gains as on a $4b company!

Imagine the different forces involved turning a supertanker versus a tugboat. The bigger any stock in the stock markets, the more inertia it has and thus the more capital is needed to overcome that and move the stock. And market-cap issues are not just a size thing in gold stocks. Smaller major, mid-tier, and junior gold miners have way fewer gold mines and much-lower production, which makes it far easier to grow output.

While Newmont is a temporary exception since it was bucking the major trend and growing production in 2017, Barrick, Randgold, and Goldcorp all really underperformed their sector in recent years. This chart looks at the indexed performance in ABX, GOLD, NEM, and GG stocks compared to the leading sector ETFs of GDX and the smaller GDXJ which largely tracks mid-tier gold miners under 1m ounces annually.

Both GDX and GDXJ fell to all-time lows back in mid-January 2016 when this gold-stock bull was born. So all 6 stocks are indexed to 100 as of that day, revealing their relative performance since. Despite their heavy weighting in GDX, the major gold miners generally lag their key sector benchmarks. ABX, GOLD, and GG have really struggled in recent years as their managers failed to stem big production declines.

(Click to enlarge)

This chart is pretty damning, showing why the managers of Barrick and Newmont are desperate to show rising production even if only for a year after their wildly-expensive mega-mergers. ABX and GOLD have both been really underperforming their peers, scaring investors away while putting serious pressure on management to turn things around. NEM resisted that, but its production started to decline too in 2018.

And GG has been a basket case, actually managing to fall below its deep secular lows of early 2016 in recent months! Thats a sad fate for what was the worlds best major gold miner for many years. NEM buying this dog is likely to drag down NEMs stock performance to some midpoint between what it has done and how GG has fared. For the most part the largest gold miners havent been good investments.

The much-larger market caps coming from combining struggling majors into super-majors is highly likely to exacerbate this underperformance trend. The new Newmont and Barrick are way bigger and far more ponderous, and will require a lot more share buying to move their stock prices materially higher. But why will most investors even bother to buy these titans when many smaller mid-tier gold miners are thriving?

This next chart adds a single additional mid-tier gold miner to illustrate their outperformance. I chose IAMGOLD (IAG) for this example for a couple reasons. It produced 882k ounces in all of 2018, which makes it a larger mid-tier gold miner nearing that 1000k+ major threshold. And IAG is unremarkable fundamentally. It mined the same 882k ounces in 2017, so there was no production growth at all last year.

And its 2018 all-in sustaining costs are expected to come in on the high side near $1070 per ounce, which is worse than most of the majors. So theres really nothing special about IAG operationally suggesting it should far outperform. If I wanted to cherry pick, there are other mid-tier miners that have trounced what IAG has done in recent years. Yet even IAG wildly outperformed the majors and sector ETFs during this gold bull.

(Click to enlarge)

If Newmont and Barrick were the only gold-mining stocks, theyd certainly be worth owning during a secular gold bull. But why own these massive supertanker-like gold miners when smaller major, mid-tier, and junior gold miners stocks are performing way better? The smaller miners not only have lower market caps easier to bid higher with much-smaller capital inflows, but plenty also have superior fundamentals.

They tend to have just a few or less gold mines, making it much easier to grow production by expanding existing mines or building new ones. Those expansion events act as major psychological catalysts to get investors interested in those stocks, fueling disproportionally-large buying to catapult them higher. There is really no reason to deploy capital in large majors when mid-tiers are easily running circles around them.

Even if like me you dont own Newmont or Barrick and have no intention of investing in them, they could cause problems for the entire gold-stock sector. Their hefty GDX weightings mean their stocks have way-outsized influence in how that leading ETF fares. If these super-majors giant stocks lag, they are going to retard GDXs upside which in turn will leave traders less optimistic and more skeptical on gold miners outlook.

So mega-market-cap gold miners could significantly slow the overall sentiment shift from bearish back to bullish which is necessary to attract in buying. If capital inflows diminish because of the perception this sector isnt rallying enough, the bull-market uplegs will unfold slower and maybe end smaller. Even more problematic, the super-majors high weightings in GDX suck ETF capital away from more-deserving miners.

Most investors prefer sector ETFs over individual stocks, so lots of capital will flow into GDX as investors get interested in gold stocks again. GDXs managers have to allocate any differential buying pressure into its underlying component companies in proportion to their weightings. The newly-merged Barrick and Newmont will likely command much-bigger weightings, starving smaller component miners of capital inflows.

But despite these mega-mergers being bad for everyone except the managers of those companies paying themselves huge compensation, all is not gloom and doom. If the new Newmont and Barrick continue to suffer waning production after their initial merger-boost year, investors will shift capital out of them into the other gold miners. That will gradually throttle their market caps and thus weightings in GDX, mitigating damage.

And if these super-majors taint the performance or expected upside in GDX enough, GDXJ may very well usurp it as the gold-stock sector benchmark of choice! While falsely billed as a Junior Gold Miners ETF, GDXJ has really become a mid-tier gold miners ETF. It has been increasingly outperforming GDX, and that trend could accelerate since GDXJ will hopefully never include the larger majors led by NEM and ABX.

With so many fundamentally-superior smaller gold miners to pick from, investors have no need to own the larger majors. Plenty of mid-tier miners are still growing their production organically, by expanding their existing mines or building new ones. Their upside as gold continues marching higher in its bull market is enormous, dwarfing what is possible in the giant majors struggling with waning production. Avoid the latter!

The bottom line is gold-stock mega-mergers are bad news for everyone in this sector. Combining major gold miners already struggling with slowing production doesnt solve the problem, but only masks it for a single year. The resulting super-majors massive market capitalizations saddle their share prices with big inertia. They are going to require much-larger capital inflows to rally materially, really retarding their upside.

Their higher weightings within sector ETFs will lead to worse perceived sector performance, delaying the necessary sentiment shift from bearish back to bullish. And the super-majors will suck up more of the capital allocated to gold-stock ETFs, starving smaller and more-worthy gold miners of buying. Thankfully some of these problems can be avoided by shunning Newmont and Barrick, and sticking with great mid-tier miners.

By Adam Hamilton

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
Iconic jeans maker, Levi Strauss (Pending: LEVI), is planning a return to public life after three and a half decades as a private entity. The company has filed for an initial public offering and will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LEVI in what promises to be one of the most high-profile IPOs of the year.

Levi has already enlisted 12 banks to underwrite the deal but says the number of shares to be offered and the share price is yet to be determined. In November, CNBC had reported that the company plans to debut with a valuation upwards of $5 billion. That seems about right given that the company generated revenue of $5.575B in FY 2018 (ended Nov. 25), a healthy 13.8 percent improvement as well as net income of $283M. The retail apparel industry has an average price-to-sales (TTM) ratio of 2.1 and a PE multiple of 48.

Levi Strauss, best known for its mens jeans business, might, however, end up wearing a new face as a public company.

New strategy

Levi was founded in 1853 as a wholesale dry-goods business by Bavarian immigrant Levi Strauss during the famous California Gold Rush before getting into the blue jeans business two decades. The company weathered many storms before growing into one of the worlds biggest brands in denim. Levis first IPO was in 1971 before the family took it private again in 1984 in a $1.7B leveraged buyout amid slumping sales.

The denim industry has been facing headwinds in recent years as people buy more off-brand jeans, leggings, jogging or yoga pants. For instance, rival VF Corp., has outlined plans to spin off its Wrangler and Lee denim brands into independent companies so as to focus more on faster-growing athleisure and outdoor brands such as Timberland, North Face and Vans. Related: Medical Bankruptcy Is Killing The American Middle Class

Levi has not planned any dramatic spinoffs like VF Corp. In fact, the company plans to take the opposite route by using proceeds of the IPO to make strategic acquisitions that will help expand its portfolio of newer and faster-growing brands. The company says it will seek fresh growth runways by expanding auxiliary segments, including into shirts, trucker jackets and fleece sweatshirts and women clothing and also expand its Other category that includes footwear and outerwear. These non-core categories are growing at a fast clip and netted six percent of total revenue in 2018.

Further, the company plans to double-down on its value-oriented collections including Dockers and Denizen brands. These brands are some of the companys fastest-growing and brought in 28 percent of overall revenue in 2018 up from 21 percent in the previous year. But perhaps more importantly, Levi has significantly increased its marketing spend in a bid to regain its fading brand recognition and connect more with the younger generation of shoppers that no longer regard the brand as cool.

Focusing on emerging markets

But its not just denim companies that have been struggling. Victorias Secrets, American Eagle Outfitters, GAP Inc., have seen sales in the giant North American market flatten or decline in recent years. An interesting study by Instinet found that wholesalers like Levi Strauss tend to cap out at $5 billion in North American while direct-to-consumer (DTC) retailers like Victorias Secrets and GAP hit a peak around $3 billion.

We as yet dont know much about Levis revenue distribution by geography. But going by its nearly $6B sales figure, its fair to assume that its not very far from hitting a ceiling in the North American market. It, therefore, makes plenty of sense to focus more on emerging markets. Levi Strauss plans to double down on China, Brazil and India where it has a minimal presence. The company has noted that China alone represents 20 percent of the global apparel market yet makes up just three percent of the companys net revenues. Nearly half of the companys top line comes from Europe and Asia.

The latest available set of results by Levi Strauss proves that its doing something right. Revenue growth of nearly 14 percent is nothing to sniff at in the apparel industry, implying that a sharper focus on value-oriented and luxury brands is working. Investors can only hope that Levi Strauss IPO 2.0 turns out much better than IPO 1.0.

By Alex Kimani for Safehaven.com

More Top Reads From Safehaven.com:
Another round of snow yesterday afternoon, more accidents on the highways. Here's what bugs me. MoDOT needs to go over to IDOT and learn how to clear roads in a timely and worthwhile manner. The lecture a MoDOT official gave viewers on local news Friday morning was a waste. He claimed they were out with 200 trucks pre-treating ahead of the storm. He also said, "The agency wants to make sure roads are clear and safe for all drivers for Fridays commute." But you'd never have known this if you were one of those who tried to drive on any of the Missouri roads. Another several hundred crashes and a horrific pile-up near Concordia Missouri.

I don't know what they use for treating the roads in this state, but it doesn't benefit drivers much. Dale left Clayton for Collinsville yesterday afternoon a little before 3 and he said 64/40 was horrible, you couldn't see the pavement for the snow. But once into Illinois the roads were clear, mainly wet, but in many areas almost dry.

So what's the difference in how the two states handle winter weather? There is a lot Illinois could teach Missouri.
The bill's proponents note that encouraging Spanish-speaking drivers to take the written exam in their first language will cut down on unlicensed drivers, improving road safety.

People who may have taken their exams in a different language in another state can already transfer their driver's licenses to South Dakota. We do not stop foreign-language visitors who may not be able to read the text on some road signs at our state borders.

There's a reason that road signs incorporate less text and more in the way of viscerally recognizable colors and shapes. The less cognitive stress on drivers, the less likely they'll be involved in or cause an accident. The human brain processes graphical information more quickly and efficiently than written language.

So what do we stand to gain by not taking South Dakota off the lonely list of six remaining states which offer the written portion of their driver exams in English only?

The Sioux Falls and Rapid City Chambers of Commerce, along with representatives from the state's construction and health industries, testified to the committee that the language restriction on driver's license testing negatively impacts their ability to fill open job positions.
The best part is that the crisis can be solved without raising tax rates or shortchanging other programs by simply using part of the new sales tax revenue to pay our state's nursing homes what they should have been receiving all along. A one-time infusion of funds will only kick the can down the road. Homes that can't be profitable will close.

Michael G. Trier

Custer

Stand with LGBT community

I am urging Gov. Noem, Sen. Jensen and Reps. Johnson and Howard to please stand with the LGBT community and vote no on HB 1108. As a voter in Rapid City, I'd like to make our state a welcome and inclusive place. I have lived here most my life, and I'm not about to let my state become one that allows unfair treatment based on gender. It is just wrong to think that its OK to pass these bills that target non-binary and transgender youth. I believe as a state we are better than this. We need to worry about the real issues.

Brian Colson

Rapid City

Trump a pathological liar
Tough-on-crime policies that Ravnsborg is proposing cant fix societys problems  especially in regards to addiction. Prison is the most restrictive, most expensive and least effective method of dealing with drugs. For many low-risk, first-time offenders, a mandatory prison sentence can increase the likelihood of future crime and recidivism. It can unnecessarily tear a family apart, hurt future job opportunities and perpetuate poverty.

We need a system that emphasizes a public health approach to drug crime instead of a lock them up and throw away the key mentality that does nothing to help people overcome addiction. We need a system that ensures communities have access to the treatment resources and staff they need to tackle drug addiction. We need a system that recognizes that alternatives to incarceration help families stay together and actually makes communities safer.

Repealing Senate Bill 19 and doing away with presumptive probation is not the answer.

We need serious, thoughtful legislation that wades through these tough issues and presents a solution  not a quick fix that will tear families apart, do nothing to keep us safe and cost taxpayers a lot of money while not addressing or treating the underlying causes of cyclical crime and addiction.

South Dakota should preserve the presumptive probation reforms made in 2013 and recognize that prison terms for low-level offenders cause more harm than good by preventing offenders from staying in their communities where they can work and care for their families.

Libby Skarin is policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota.

You must be logged in to react.

Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
The $390,000 Vision Funds for a military memorial park are taxpayer dollars. The mayor and council need to put it on the ballot for a vote; no petition needed.

The apathetic citizens of South Dakota should be preparing their grandchildren to function in the new socialist state of the Peoples Republic of America. Its on it way.

South Dakota legislators should not table the industrial hemp bill, as Kristi Noem wants them to. We are already behind other states that are moving forward allowing their farmers to grow a new lucrative crop. We cant afford to wait until next year.

The male-female equality has gone too far this time. Leave the Boy Scouts for the boys and the Girl Scouts for the girls.

The restaurants downtown will be the victims of the new parking meters as dollar parking will deter the lunch crowd especially. We actually pay for parking now as we pay property taxes and other taxes in Rapid City that help pay for parking maintenance and for meter patrol personnel.

The national debt  now at $22 trillion and growing  and this administration celebrates a decrease in revenues to the government with a tax cut for the rich. What has happened to the Republican Party of fiscal conservatives?

You must be logged in to react.

Click any reaction to login. Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
A debate is raging in Pierre this legislative session over how  and some say even if  taxpayers will see a reduction in the sales tax rate now that South Dakota has begun to collect new money from online retailers.

When it comes to legislative intrigue, the contentious wrangling over the sales tax rate has all the elements of great theater: millions of dollars at stake, intra-party division among the Republican majority, past promises made and fears of future promises broken.

Standing at the center of it all is state Sen. Jeff Partridge, a Rapid City Republican with an imposing physical presence, a deep booming voice and a professional background in finance.

Partridge, who sits on the Joint Appropriations Committee, set the debate in motion in 2016, when he offered a measure now known as The Partridge Amendment. It stated that the state sales tax would slowly be reduced if South Dakota won its U.S. Supreme Court case that sought to collect sales taxes from online retailers located outside the state who refused to pay up. For each $20 million in new tax revenues collected from online retailers, the state sales tax  the main funding source of state operations  would be lowered by one-tenth of one percent a year a maximum of five times.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded its annual funding to each state to support homeless programs, including $288,790 for Wyoming, according to a press release from the organization.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson made the announcement earlier this month while visiting a womens shelter in Akron, Ohio.

Today we make another critical investment to those persons and families living in our shelters and on our streets, he said, according to the release. These new programs will join those already on the front lines in their communities working to end homelessness.

Christine Baumann, HUDs regional public affairs specialist, said Wednesday that its crucial to get homeless citizens into stable housing as soon as possible.

There is research that says the quicker that you do that, the more likely people are to succeed, she said.

Baumann said homelessness is a critical issue that must not be ignored.

We have a lot of people  including veterans, families with children or persons with disabilities  who need help, she said. We have to make sure that we are taking into consideration that there are some people who cant obtain stable housing on their own.
What emerging issues will challenge crop and livestock producers in the High Plains? What research is going on at University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and land-grant universities in response? What are the lessons from that research?

A public meeting in Sidney on Feb. 21 will address these questions and related topics. Dryland Production in the High Plains is the theme. This meeting will include the annual meeting of the advisory committee for the UNL High Plains Ag Lab (HPAL) north of Sidney.

The HPAL advisory committee meeting will take place after lunch, and the morning agenda will be full of topics of broad interest to agriculture, with speakers from three states.

At the meeting, speakers will share updates on research going on at HPAL and updates on emerging issues of concern to agriculture in the High Plains. In addition to UNL researchers, this year the event will also feature speakers from the Nebraska Wheat Board, Colorado State University, and Kansas State University, according to Cody Creech, Dryland Cropping Systems Specialist at the Panhandle Research and Extension Center and faculty supervisor at the High Plains Ag Lab.
"There's probably people who could tell you more about it, but they aren't alive anymore," he chuckles.

At the time he piloted the boat  1959 to 1967  it was used to haul sand and gravel up and down the river.

"The normal run was to go from Davenport with (empty) barges up to above Cordova, almost Camanche, and dredge sand and bring it back," Johnson said. The sand was used to make redi-mix concrete; the trip included an overnight stay.

Being powered by steam meant that crew members had to load fuel into the boiler by hand and make sure the fire didn't go out. At first the boat was fueled by wood, then converted to coal.

Regardless, every so often, crew members known as "fire men" had to clean out the ashes, a task that was accomplished by opening a trap door and letting them fall into the river. (The outhouse-type toilets operated under the same principle.)

Water was drawn from the river, and every other week the boilers had to be shut down, drained and washed, Johnson said. In the spring when the river was muddier, the cleaning had to be done every week, he said.

The boat also was equipped with a steam powered dredge so that it could suck sand and gravel into its hull.
Instead, Tiffany used glass that was colored at the outset, and he achieved different effects by layering it and folding it over itself. He also pioneered an effect called confetti, dropping broken bits of colored glass into a hot layer of different-colored glass.

The pieces of his windows are thick and have depth; as you look, you can see different colors, streaks and dots between the layers.

A piece called the Geometric Window incorporates dozens of fairly round pieces of opaque quartz in the place of glass, a mixed media work, if you will. Light shines through the mineral almost as brightly as it does the glass next to it.

It is this range of glass effects that makes Tiffany glass so interesting, so sought-after and so valuable, Wallace said.

Tiffany also made church windows, and there is one of those, too, depicting a soldier-like character that is intended to symbolize the need for humans to battle evil.

Tiffany had 1,100 church and memorial contracts all over the country, Wallace said, adding that some contracts might have been for an entire suite of windows.
If the Iowa Legislature does not change how mental health is funded in this session, the service region covering the Quad-City area will be forced to reduce and eliminate some of its supportive services to balance its budget in the future.

"We will get through 2020 fine and have some fund balance (remaining), but if the legislature doesn't make changes, it's going to get ugly," Lori Elam, CEO of the Eastern Iowa Mental Health Disabilities Service Region, told the regional board at a budget work session Friday.

Elam, who also is Scott County's community services director, said the proposed budget is $12.38 million for fiscal 2020.

At issue is the region's mental health levy cap of $30.78 per capita, which "does not work," she said.

The Eastern Iowa mental health region is made up of five counties: Scott, Muscatine, Clinton, Cedar and Jackson. Each county is represented on the board by a county supervisor.

Though all five counties plan to levy at the maximum cap next year, it will only generate $9.2 million and force the region to continue spending down its fund balance to make up the shortfall.

"The region can't use fund balance every year. It is one-time funding," Elam said. "When it's gone, it's gone."
Representatives from the state department of education will return to Davenport Community Schools on March 5 and March 7-8 to complete the districts Phase II audit, spokeswoman Dawn Saul said in an email to The Quad-City Times.

Originally, up to 20 state workers were slated to visit Jan. 29 through Feb. 1 to go through documents, conduct interviews and work with district leadership to study general and special education, treatment of minorities and district finances. It was then rescheduled for Feb. 4 through Feb. 6 because of inclement weather; the fourth day was unscheduled  for interviews, if needed, according to state spokeswoman Staci Hupp.

In an email, Hupp said March 5 will be to wrap up interviews, and that March 7-8 are unrelated to compliance.

We will work with the districts leadership team on building an action plan, she said.

Like most area schools, Davenport had a snow day Feb. 7, which prevented the state from completing the interview portion of the audit.

It is unclear if the entire original team from the state will return or if it will be a different group.
Deere & Co. officials on Friday said lower-than-expected first quarter profits were due to weak machinery sales as farmers continue to face uncertainty related to ongoing trade disputes.

In its earnings release Friday, Moline-based Deere reported net income of $498.5 million, or $1.54 per share, for the first quarter that ended Jan. 27. Thats compared to a net loss of $535.1 million, or $1.66 per share, for the same quarter last year.

Excluding the effects of recent federal tax reform legislation, first-quarter net income results would have been $442.1 million, or $1.35 per share.

Although Deere has continued to make solid progress on a number of fronts and reported higher earnings for the quarter, our results were hurt by higher costs for raw materials and logistics as well by customer concerns over tariffs and trade policies, said Samuel Allen, chairman and CEO, in the report. These latter issues have weighed on market sentiment and caused farmers to become more cautious about making major purchases.

Ongoing trade disputes with China and other foreign buyers of U.S. farm products has resulted in higher prices for steel and aluminum, plus a blow to farm equipment demand, Deere officials said.
My interest in black history was heightened when I spent a few years living and teaching in the American South.

I became concerned by the gap between the treatment of blacks and whites. Southern whites treated me, an Illinois girl of Swedish extraction, in a hospitable and friendly way. But they treated their black neighbors poorly.

At school, my superintendent was so opposed to giving blacks equal opportunity that at one point, listening to him at a meeting, I became physically ill. How did this all begin?

Over time, various books filled in some gaps. This column and the next will discuss a few of them. This week is a discussion of a recent historical novel and a major historical work from 1989.

The Cards Dont Lie by Sue Ingalls Finan is a 2018 historical novel centering on the Battle of New Orleans, La., at the end of the War of 1812. In high school, the battle came across as between two groups of white males. But the novel tells a more complex story.

The book is a story of strong women, from different walks of life, using their strengths to help Gen. Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans.
More than 70% of respondents to a city survey supported keeping outdoor areas on decks and in parking spaces and lots.
Two men are now serving federal time for gun cases that originated in the Illinois Quad-Cities.

The men are Aalontai G. Johnson, 20, of Moline, and Tyion Alonte Harris, 23, of Bettendorf, according to court records from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Johnson was sentenced on Feb. 5 to 54 months in federal prison and a following three years of supervised release for a charge of felon in possession of a firearm, the court records state. Chief Judge James E. Shadid handed down the sentence.

He pleaded guilty to the charge on Sept. 19. Court records did not provide details about what led to his guilty plea. He had been scheduled for trial on Sept. 24.

Authorities contend he had a firearm on May 30, despite at least one felony conviction, federal records state.

Court records show one other felony case on Johnsons record in Rock Island County. He pleaded guilty on May 17 to receiving, possessing or selling a stolen vehicle, and was serving a 24-month term of probation when Rock Island officers arrested him on May 30 in 1400 block of 5th Street, according to police reports.
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
We have room for more students because we could always look at adding more sections and instructors, DeStefano said. Wed love to be in that predicament.

Noah Johnson, a senior at South Glens Falls, is wrapping up the BOCES welding program this spring and will be interning at Miller Mechanical for the remainder of the semester. He said he was offered a prolonged internship, normally they run for three or four weeks, because of his drive and high marks on a practice test.

Thomas said Johnson was a quick learner and a hard worker, making him a valuable asset hed like to see stick around after graduation.

If he wants to stay with us, wed absolutely take him, Thomas said. Why wouldnt I?

Several students from the BOCES programs said their decision to enroll wasnt as much about future employment, though, as it was about finding a subject and a learning style that interested them more than the traditional classroom.

I knew that college was not for me, Cieply said. I guess a lot of people are left behind by the normal school system. Sitting in a class for eight hours a day isnt going to do it for most people.
Longe did not return calls or an email from The Post-Star for comment.

Middleton said earlier in the day Friday that he was not a member of the new Fort Edward LPDC and he did not know why the address was listed as the Fort Edward offices.

After talking to Orsini on Friday, Middleton said the noted address was an error when the document for the LDC was filed. He did not offer a new address. Additionally, he said he did not know the names of the other members of the LPDC.

Despite the change in ownership, however, the property remains embroiled in a tax controversy between Fort Edward town, village and the Fort Edward Free Union School District because WCC claims the dewatering sites real estate taxes were assessed too high.

Currently, there are several million dollars in taxes owed to Fort Edward and current litigation will determine how much WCC owes.

We are currently talking back and forth, Middleton said.

The assessed value for two dewatering plant parcels was lowered from a combined $72.6 million to nearly $37.5 million, reducing the tax bill from $3.8 million for 2016 to $1.9 million for 2017. And now a current lawsuit is aiming to have it lowered further.
A first-up Delightfulmemphisn (Jason Bartlett, $17) prevailed Friday night (February 15), winning Yonkers Raceways $44,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace.

Away fourth from post position No. 4, Delightfulmemphisn watched Kaitlyn N (Matt Kakaley) lead through early intervals of :27.3 and :56.3, Delightfulmemphisn left the cones after intermission, as first pacing in place toward a 1:24.4 three-quarters.

She picked it up after that, though Kaitlyn N owned a length and a half lead into the lane. However, that lass was about to wear out her welcome. Delightfulmemphisn surged by, whipping a second-over Itty Bitty (Jim Marohn Jr.) by a length in 1:53.

Sally Fletcher A (Joe Bongiorno), Kaitlyn N and Empress Deo (George Brennan) settled for the lesser loot, with 1-2 favourite Betterb Chevron N (Jordan Stratton) last among the half-dozen at every point of the mile.

For fifth choice Delightfulmemphisn, a six-year-old Down Under daughter of Bettors Delight owned by Enzed Racing Stable and trained by Nifty Norman, the win was her fourth in five seasonal starts. The exacta paid $135, the triple returned $685 and the superfecta paid $1,983.

(With files from Yonkers Raceway)
When we think about future growth, the Batten Kill is a draw, but its not readily accessible, Fuller said.

The village plans to replace its deteriorating water lines soon  there was a major break in January  and increase the systems capacity.

The town wants the water main extended to the (Routes 29 and 40) circle to draw businesses to that area, Fuller said. It will be a catalyst for growth.

Greenwich Town Supervisor Sara Idleman said she was in the Wallies building recently to see the renovations. It looks great, she said.

Idleman said shes hopeful another pharmacist will be interested in taking over Cutie, which was a thriving business, she said. Shes also heard of queries about the Kmart store. Its a challenge to get those buildings and empty storefronts occupied, Idleman said. Ive seen Greenwich go through a lot of cycles. Theres something very cyclical about businesses in small towns. Im confident theyll come back.

Outside of the village, our industries are all doing very well, Idleman said. Phantom Laboratory and Fronhofer Tool hire a lot of people locally. Theres always something going on. We have good solid industries and businesses.
Because local municipalities will need the resources soon, the budget proposes to start the internet sales tax in June instead of September.

Not good enough

Municipal associations issued press releases saying this plan would only cause more problems by not directly addressing the funding problem.

New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials Executive Director Peter Baynes called it a shell game.

While we appreciate the fact that the Governor has acknowledged that the elimination of AIM funding would have serious implications for the states villages and towns, his restoration of this $59 million is in reality a robbing of one property taxpayer to pay another, Baynes wrote in a press release.

Baynes clarified in a phone interview that the taxpayer being robbed and the taxpayer being paid are actually the same taxpayer, paying more village and local taxes and having that replaced through higher county taxes.

Peters explained why the counties should put internet sales tax money toward AIM and not the state.
Numerous members of the American Legion post were seated in the court gallery when one of the District Attorneys Offices crime victims specialists accompanied them out of court to update them on Gijantos absence, and to inform them that the guilty plea they wanted to see would not go forward Wednesday.

Post adjutant and finance officer Gary Vernum said those who know Gijanto knew he had no intention of pleading guilty.

Hes playing them. He never had any intention to take the plea deal, Vernum said. There is a significant number of my membership that wants to see him sit in jail for a while.

Post members have since been told that a Warren County grand jury will review the case in the coming weeks for a possible indictment.

The theft financially devastated the post almost to the point of closure, but members have been able to hold fundraisers and slowly improve the posts financial picture.

Gijanto was arrested by the Warren County Sheriffs Office in May 2017, when an initial review found $68,000 missing. But additional accounting led to grand larceny and falsifying business records that allege he stole $106,000 between 2008 and 2016.
When I went to high school, we had wood shop, metal shop, electrical shop and small engine repair. I took all of those, he said. In the school I went to, they no longer exist. Theyre all gone.

His company looks for people with electrical skills and who are generally handy, according to Richards.

We can do a lot of training and we can teach people the trade. They just need the basic skills when they walk in the door, but thats not always there, he said.

Richards said there are BOCES programs available to teach trade skills, but he does not believe they are as accepted.

The big push has been college, he said.

There is a stigma out there if you do not have a degree. We need those people, too, but we need both sides, he said.

Richards said he is trying to be proactive by hosting career fairs and has invited students from SUNY Adirondacks Early College Career Academy to tour his facility.

Im trying to be more involved in the community  get the word out that sending kids for trades is not a bad thing. Its a good thing, he said.

Trades people can make a very good living, Richards said.
GLENS FALLS  Finch Paper has gotten more efficient in the last few years and plans to use its profits to make many capital upgrades in 2019.

Chief Financial Officer Alex Rotolo said 2017 was a tumultuous year in the paper industry as a lot of companies went out of business. While that was not good for those employers, it caused paper prices to increase as the supply shrank.

Because the market finally balanced, we were able to get fair prices for our paper and make a profit, he said.

Rotolo said the company is poised for a strong year.

Were taking the funds that we were able to make in 2018 and investing them back in the business in 2019 in the form of capital improvements. We have a higher capital budget than in any recent history, he said.

There are 84 projects in Finchs capital plan, according to Rotolo. This includes hardware and software upgrades to the paper machines. The overall goal is to improve the quality and speed at which the company can change the machines to handle different types of paper, according to Rotolo.
Were overdue, but were very, very close, Hewitt said. Locally, were excited about the recent uptick in activity with The Strand and Forged.

Back to the other side of the villages roundabout, 21-year-old photographer Ella Kuba is getting her start at 156 Main St. Her studio has been open since August and she is excited about working in her hometown.

Business has been slow during the winter, she said, so shes also opening an escape room at the back of her shop. She uses her own photos as clues for the two rooms that have murder-mystery and spy mission themes.

Joelle Timms, a village trustee and owner of clothing store Jo & Co., has partnered with Tammy Mullen, owner of Crafted on the Park, while Timms waits for her renovations to be completed in the old Masonic Temple building.

Timms business has been open for about a year and a half, and Mullen is temporarily featuring her clothing inside her artisan marketplace.

Mullen, who runs a Hudson Falls business Facebook page with McKernon, has experienced business growth like no other. From 10 artisans to 60, she has occupied three of the villages storefronts in the last year alone as she has continued to expand.
In the years since, however, the acquisition of knowledge has been the responsibility of probes and satellites, landers and rovers. And none have been as compelling and celebrated as the missions to Mars, which the United States continues to study with an eye toward an eventual manned visit.
State lawmakers have discussed this issue before. Virginia Beach hoteliers started working to preserve post-Labor Day start times for public schools in the 1980s, said Jimmy Capps, owner of The Breakers Resort Inn. For years, he said, the discussion was about whether there'd be enough workers to serve the area if local students were in class.
In the beginning of the 1900s, the combination of farmers switching from grain and tobacco to less labor-intensive truck crops  namely white and sweet potatoes, other vegetables and berries that could be shipped to other markets  and the construction of the railroad led to a boon for the shore. At the turn of the 20th century, with the rise of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Produce Exchange, Accomack and Northampton counties had some of the highest per capita incomes of any rural county in America, Barnes said.
Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Fear washed over Travis Kauffman as he wrestled with a thrashing mountain lion that attacked him on a Colorado mountain trail, but then his fighting instinct took over as he found its neck with his foot and suffocated the young cat.

The 31-year-old trail runner recalled Thursday his encounter with the silent cat that lunged at him from behind, clamped its jaws down on his wrist and clawed at his neck, face and body. Striking the mountain lion on the head with a rock didn't get it to release its grip. Neither did his attempts to stab the animal in the neck with twigs.

"There was a point where I was concerned that I wasn't going to make it out," Kauffman told reporters. "I had that wave of fear roll over me and thought I could end up there."

It was the first time Kauffman publicly recounted the Feb. 4 ordeal that left him with 28 stitches and a reputation for toughness and bravery that overshadows his wiry frame.

"I will never be able to live up to the reputation," said Kauffman, who is 5-foot-10 (1.5 meters) and weighs about 155 pounds (70 kilograms). "The story is bigger than my puny form."

Kauffman said he was running on a trail in the mountains west of Fort Collins when he heard pine needles rustle behind him. He turned to see the mountain lion about 10 feet (3 meters) away.

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on at left. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

"One of my worst fears was confirmed," he said.

The cat lunged, and Kauffman raised his hands and screamed. The animal locked its teeth onto his wrist and they tumbled off the side of the trail.

Kauffman grabbed a rock with his free hand and beat the cat on the back of the head. He also tried stabbing it with twigs, but nothing worked.

"It really clicked after I hit it in the head with a rock and it still didn't release my wrist that at that point, more drastic measures were necessary," he said. "I was able to kind of shift my weight and get a foot on its neck" until it succumbed.

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on at left. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Bleeding from his face and wrist, he jogged back down the trail, where he met other runners who got him to a hospital.

"I was just thankful that he had his eyes and his fingers and all his parts, and it didn't look as bad as I maybe would have thought that it could," said Kauffman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers retrieved the dead cat. They said their investigation and a necropsy confirmed Kauffman's account.

"Travis is a pretty amazing young man," said Ty Petersburg, a wildlife manager for the agency.

Mark Leslie, manager of the northeast region of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about a runner's encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Kauffman became the 22nd person attacked by a mountain lion in Colorado since 1990, Parks and Wildlife said. Three of the attacks were fatal.

A necropsy report said the cat that attacked Kauffman was male, 4 or 5 months old and weighed 35 to 40 pounds (16 to 18 kilograms). The cat had limited fat, indicating it was hungry but not starving.

It showed no sign of rabies or other diseases, the report said, but many of its organs had been scavenged by other animals before the body was recovered.

Adult male mountain lions average about 150 pounds, Parks and Wildlife said.

Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Feb. 14, 2019, in Fort Collins, Colo., about his encounter with a mountain lion while running a trail just west of Fort Collins last week. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Petersburg said officers set up cameras and traps in the area for several days after the attack. They saw no large mountain lions but captured two young ones in good health. He said both are in a rehabilitation center, and the agency hopes to release them back into the wild.

Kauffman, who is an environmental consultant, described himself as an avid runner, cyclist and skier who has a pet cat at home. He said he doesn't plan to retreat from the outdoors.

"I will go run those trails again," he said, but added, "I will go with a buddy there."

Explore further Probe into rare cougar attack in US that left one dead

 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Phuket, Thailand, 15th February 2019  Phuket Marriott Resort and Spa, Nai Yang Beach celebrated Valentines Day with a series of romantic themed beachfront dinners on the secluded shores of the Andaman Sea.

On Thursday 14th February 2019, couples were invited to show their love for each other with a choice of two exquisite dining options: a romantic Valentines dinner at Big Fish, the resorts signature beachfront restaurant, or an exclusive private cabana on Nai Yang Beach. Just nine beautiful cabanas were available, making this an extra special occasion.

Couples were treated to a sublime set menu featuring the freshest local seafood, including a prawn and scallop mille-feuille and yellowfin bream with beetroot crust, along with grilled glazed beef tenderloin and delectable desserts. The ambience was further enhanced by a live saxophonist, who serenaded the diners with his romantic music.

To learn more about future dining events at Phuket Marriott Resort and Spa, Nai Yang Beach, please call +66 (0)76 625555 or email hktnb.restaurant@marriott.com.
Mao Zedongs personal secretary, Li Rui, who became one of the former Communist Party leaders most vocal critics, died on Saturday at a hospital in Beijing. He was 101.

A bold and deeply respected figure, Li continued to fight for political reform to his final days and frequently warned of the dangers of one-party rule and unchecked power.

His death was announced in a statement released by his daughter, Li Nanyang, and confirmed by his former publisher and family friend, Wu Si. Li had been battling lung disease for several years. He is survived by his daughter and second wife, Zhang Yuzhen.

Li joined the party more than eight decades ago and helped establish the institutions of post-Mao collective leadership. But in the Xi Jinping era, he was perhaps the lone dissenting voice within the ruling elite, speaking out publicly against the campaign to promote a cult of personality around the president and some of his Maoist policies.

When the party changed Chinas constitution last year to abolish term limits on the presidency  limits that were proposed by Li and put in place by Deng Xiaoping  Li suggested there were parallels between Xi and Mao.

A country like China produced people like Mao Zedong. Now it gives birth to a Xi Jinping, Li told Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao in March last year.

In October 2017, his absence from the opening of the five-yearly party congress was seen as an act of defiance by some  Xis political ideology was enshrined in the party charter during the meeting, raising his stature above that of Deng and putting him on a par with Mao.

Although Li said later he was unable to attend because of ill health, the real reason he was not inside the Great Hall of the People might have had more to do with a letter he wrote to the partys Central Committee  circulated online in the days leading up to the congress  that criticised Xis crackdown on the media, free speech and civil rights.

Story continues

Li was known for writing such letters, and for challenging the status quo. In the 1980s, as a senior party official with the personnel department, he pushed for measures to limit and check the power of party officials, to introduce elections for government officials, to set up an independent judiciary and to protect free speech.

He spent his lifetime pressing for change, and paid a price for it. During the Mao era, Li was tortured and jailed for more than nine years, he did time in a labour camp and was expelled from the party. But he continued to fight.

China watcher Johnny Lau Yui-siu, who was friends with Li for more than three decades, described him as a typical sincere communist in the partys early years and a true traitor to the party in its later years.

In those early years after 1949, the party led a campaign for political freedom and democracy in their fight against Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek, but critics say Maos rule proved much worse than Chiangs dictatorship.

Wu Wei, who has worked for the partys political reform research office, said Li embodied the partys history  from the political movements of the Mao era to the sweeping market reforms under Deng.

His life reflected the partys history in a systematic way, which is rare for a party member, he said, adding that Lis vision of a future China with constitutional democracy inspired many people both within and outside the party.

Born in 1917, just six years after the fall of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Li was an activist from an early age, leading protests against local warlords and the Kuomintang as a high school student in central Hubei province.

At university, he threw himself into the movement against the Japanese occupation of China. And in 1937, he trekked to the communist base at Yanan in the northwest, where he joined the party, driven by a youthful dream of freedom and democracy, and fighting the corrupt and authoritarian Kuomintang regime.

But within a few years in Yanan, Li became a victim of revolutionary persecution. Tortured and jailed for more than a year, the ordeal was his first encounter with the brutality of the party.

It strengthened his resolve, and he went on to become secretary to Chen Yun  a conservative who was Dengs arch-rival in the post-Mao era  during the civil war that began in 1945.

From there he was made vice-minister of water resources and electricity in the early 1950s, before he was hand-picked by Mao to be his personal secretary in 1958.

But the following year, Li was stripped of his party membership and positions at a conference in Lushan, Jiangxi, after he openly criticised Maos disastrous Great Leap Forward  a radical modernisation policy that led to a famine and the deaths of an estimated 30 million to 60 million people.

In his later years, Li drew on his time working closely with Mao to write five books on the founding father of communist China  all of them published overseas and banned on the mainland.

He described Mao as dismissive when it came to the suffering and millions of deaths that resulted from his radical policies.

Mao put no value on human life. The deaths of others meant nothing to him, he wrote.

According to Li, Mao often said he was Emperor Qin and Marx in one, likening himself to the first monarch of unified China in 220BC notorious for his ruthless, dictatorial rule.

Li wrote his last book in his nineties. Memoir of Li Rui, Maos Secretary: Chinese Communist Party is Chinas Problem was published in 2013 and called for the one-party, one-leader and one-ideology regime to be overhauled to allow for greater diversity in society.

In all of his books, he argued that the global wave of democracy could not be resisted.

Li endured years in jail for his beliefs. After the Lushan conference in 1959, he was sent to a labour camp, where he nearly starved to death. He was later imprisoned for eight years during the Cultural Revolution, a decade of chaos and violence that began in 1966.

But he made a political comeback in 1979, three years after Maos death. He was elected to the partys Central Committee in 1983, and was made an executive vice-minister of the powerful Central Organisation Department, which handles personnel matters and decides who gets promoted and demoted within senior party, government and military ranks.

An ally of reformist party chiefs Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang in the 1980s, Li was also a leading critic of the controversial Three Gorges Dam project that was supported by then conservative premier Li Peng.

But his campaign for political reform and the rule of law would be a constant throughout Lis life. He defied the party to remain one of the few vocal advocates of Western-style democracy and constitutionalism in China in the decades since the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989. He also repeatedly urged the party to face its history and denounce Maos ideology and policies  something it has yet to do.

Li said the party abandoned universal values such as democracy and rule of law in the crackdown on the student movement. He also called for the rehabilitation of Hu  purged in 1987 for his liberal stance and whose death in April 1989 triggered the pro-democracy movement  and Zhao, who sympathised with the students and was ousted and kept under house arrest for 16 years until he died in 2005.

Lis dogged determination can be seen in the letters he wrote every five years to the party leaders, urging them to take on Western-style political reform. He did this before every party congress held since 1997, including the last one in 2017.

But along with other reformist party elders, Li was disappointed by the lack of progress in the decades since the bloody crackdown on June 4, and upset by the conservative turn the party took and its revival of Maoist doctrine under Xi.

Li revealed his frustration in an interview with the South China Morning Post in 2013. My China dream is a dream for constitutional governance, he said, referring to Xis so-called Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Three years earlier, Li led 23 retired party officials in an open appeal for press freedom, free speech and an end to media censorship, after jailed democracy activist Liu Xiaobo  who died in custody in 2017  was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Even at the age of 99, he was still actively campaigning. In an article titled A centenarian reflection, published in liberal magazine Yanhuang Chunqiu in 2016, Li wrote that he still hoped to see democracy, constitutionalism and rule of law in China, repeating a call he had made in the same publication a year earlier.

Only last March, he told Ming Pao that he was disappointed by the revival of Maoist ideology and personality cult in recent years, which he saw as a major political setback.

This determination to continue the reform fight made Li a symbolic figure for the liberal- and reform-minded within the party, Wu said.

He had a unique role in recent years. He represented a generation of party elders calling for more reflection on the history, and for Chinas political transformation to constitutional democracy.

Lis death was a great loss for like-minded intellectuals, he said.

He hoped for China to become a constitutional democracy in the future, and it really pained him to see the country regress in recent years.

China watcher Lau, who met Li as a Beijing correspondent for Hong Kong newspaper Wen Wei Po in the mid-1980s, said he was a rare party member who had stayed true to its cause.

He was among the few veteran communists who have never forgotten the original purpose of the communist movement, he said.

This article Mao Zedongs personal secretary and biggest critic Li Rui dies at 101 first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
THE National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) has removed over 650,000 campaign materials all over Metro Manila.NCRPO Director Major General Guillermo Eleazar urged the candidates to also do their

EVERY now and then especially after I joined the ranks of the 20 percent discounters, I had been in situations where I met a friend and was sure that he was a friend or at least an acquaintance but could not remember his name. Thank God for bay, pre, parts and other generic forms of address that can mask embarrasing bouts with amnesia.

It doesnt work all the time though. Like yesterday, when I met a colleague while doing our early morning routine at the oval. We warmly exchanged his as old friends would but the situation turned awkward when I introduced him to my other friends because I could not remember his name. Happily, he quickly recognized my discomfiture and tactfully hinted that he was called Earl. Thus did I remember Earl Bonachita, former president of our Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

President Duterte, Im sure, did not have any problem remembering Jinggoy Estradas name when he saw the former senator sharing the same stage with other senatorial candidates in Legaspi City, Albay the other week. The President raised Estradas hand, a gesture that can only be understood as an indorsement of the latters candidacy.

People were quick to see the irony in Dutertes public show of support for Estrada. He has consistently railed against corruption and has fired a few officials whom he has suspected of violating his policy of a clean government. And yet there he was, indorsing someone who has been accused of pocketing millions of pesos from his pork barrel.

Duterte was initially defiant to the criticism. Estrada was only accused, not convicted, of plunder and therefore should be entitled to the benefit of presumption of innocence, he argued. He was right in that respect but then the people whom he fired had not been charged in court yet.

A few days after, when Duterte released his preferred list of senatorial candidates, Estradas name was no longer in it. Explaining the omission, the President said he just felt obliged to raise Estradas hand because he was there. Nandoon siya eh, he said. Alang-alang naman na hindi ko siya... Even for just one single day, masabihan mo ng kandidato mo 13 lahat. What is that to a friend? We know he has suffered. We know that he was in prison.

Story continues

We all experience being confronted with awkward situations from time to time. How we react defines us. In my case, I dallied until I got help yesterday at the oval, and it was not right. Duterte was more decisive, I think, but whether his reaction was appropriate is still open to debate. He thought win-win but I dont think it ended up that way.

Win-win was what we had Friday night, thanks to an amiable restaurant owner. Sugbufe is a modest eat-all-you-can restaurant by industry standards, located behind the north bus terminal. We booked a table for 15 people last Friday but due to some mix-up, we could no longer be accommodated when we arrived as the place had already been exclusively reserved for an insurance company.

Other owners would have insisted that it was not their fault especially since we had no written or texted confirmation and we would have had no choice but to leave, hungry and grumbling. Wilson Choi, whom we had not met until then, proved to be of a different kind, however, looking for a solution instead of offering excuses.

The food was good, by the way.
Nigeria's election commission on Saturday rejected claims of political interference after its last-minute postponement of presidential elections, as voters caught unawares hit out at the announcement. The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one-week delay just hours before polls to elect the head of Africa's most populous nation were due to open at 0700 GMT. It blamed logistical difficulties, including problems in the distribution of ballot papers and results sheets, as well as sabotage, after three fires at its offices in two weeks. But the two main political parties claimed the delay was part of a conspiracy to rig the results. International observers called for calm. President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, and his main challenger Atiku Abubakar, 72, returned to Abuja from their home towns in the northern states of Katsina and Adamawa. In the capital, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, rejected assertions of a political conspiracy. "Our decision was entirely taken by the commission," he told a news conference. He added that it had "nothing to do with political influence". Voters arrived early to vote only to find many of the nearly 120,000 polling units deserted and unstaffed. "Why didn't they announce the delay earlier? Why make the announcement in the middle of the night?" asked Chidi Nwakuna, a businessman in the southern city of Port Harcourt. Just hours before the announcement, Boko Haram jihadists killed at least eight people in an attack on the northeastern city of Maiduguri. - Logistical problems - Rumours began circulating late on Friday about a possible postponement after widespread reports of problems with the delivery of election materials, including ballot papers. INEC commissioners held emergency talks and after examining the logistics plans concluded the timetable was "no longer feasible", Yakubu said in his early hours announcement. Presidential and parliamentary elections are now set for February 23, and governorship and state assembly elections have been pushed back to March 9. "This was a difficult decision for the commission to take but necessary for the successful delivery of elections and the consolidation of our democracy," he added. The two main political parties swiftly accused each other of orchestrating the delay as a way of manipulating the vote, a sentiment echoed by voters, some of whom had travelled long distances to vote in their hometowns. "I see this postponement of the election as a... ploy to rig," said Oyi Adamezie in Warri, in the southern state of Delta. - Disappointment - Nigeria has postponed voting before: in 2015, INEC announced a six-week delay just one week before the election, citing security concerns linked to Boko Haram. The six-week delay was seen as a way for then president Goodluck Jonathan to claw back votes after a strong challenge from Buhari, an opposition candidate. The same argument may be made again, with little to separate Buhari and Abubakar in the campaign. Yet even before the delay announcement, challenges were apparent in the vote's organisation. In many areas suffering intermittent electricity supply and poor road infrastructure, thousands of INEC agents had been working into the night to deliver election materials. "They had much time to prepare," said Austin Onwusoanya, a civil servant in the largest city Lagos who was to manage a polling unit that now stood unused. "There are other things going on." - Campaign trail - The postponement comes after an election campaign in which Buhari had sought to portray himself as a continuity candidate. He came to power in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram, tackle rampant corruption and improve the country's oil-dependent economy. But the jihadists still mount attacks, and there is growing insecurity elsewhere. Slow growth, as the economy limps back from recession, has also hit Buhari's stock. So, too, has the perception he has only targeted political opponents as part of his high-profile anti-corruption campaign. Buhari's alleged shortcomings have been a feature of Abubakar's campaign, who has billed himself as a modern, energetic and pro-business leader. The former vice-president's past has also featured prominently, as the ruling party resurrected controversies from his time in office and alleged links to corruption. The election -- the sixth in the 20 years since civilian rule was restored -- is likely to be one of the last times men of Buhari and Abubakar's generation will feature so prominently. They have been fixtures on Nigeria's turbulent political scene for decades and are the oldest on the ballot. Just over half of the 84 million registered voters are aged 18-35, prompting calls for more representative candidates unburdened by involvement in Nigeria's traumatic past.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday suggested the mosque in Athens should open with minarets if the Greek premier wants to reopen a seminary in Istanbul. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was in Turkey this month and visited the disputed landmarks of Hagia Sophia and the now-closed Greek Orthodox Halki seminary. Tsipras said during the visit to the seminary located on Heybeli island off Istanbul on February 6 he hoped to reopen the school next time with Erdogan. Future priests of the Constantinople diocese had been trained at the seminary, which was closed in 1971 after tensions between Ankara and Athens over Cyprus. Erdogan on Saturday complained that the Fethiye Mosque in Athens had no minarets despite Greek insistence that it would open. The mosque was built in 1458 during the Ottoman occupation of Greece but has not been used as a mosque since 1821. "Look you want something from us, you want the Halki seminary. And I tell you (Greece), come, let's open the Fethiye Mosque," Erdogan said during a rally in the northwestern province of Edirne ahead of local elections on March 31. "They said, 'we are opening the mosque' but I said, why isn't there a minaret? Can a church be a church without a bell tower?" he said, describing his talks with Tsipras. "We say, you want to build a bell tower? Come and do it... But what is an essential part of our mosques? The minarets," the Turkish president added. Erdogan said Tsipras told him he was wary of criticism from the Greek opposition. After the independence war against Ottomans began in 1821, the minaret is believed by some to have been destroyed because it was a symbol of the Ottoman occupation. Ankara had returned land taken from the seminary in 1943 but there is still international pressure on Turkey to reopen it. Erdogan has previously said that its reopening is dependent on reciprocal steps from Greece to enhance the rights of the Turkish minority.
Beijings liaison office in Hong Kong plays key role in helping mother of young woman killed in Taiwan seek justice for daughter

Beijings main representative outfit in Hong Kong, the liaison office, played a key role in helping the mother of a young woman killed in Taiwan, whose case prompted the government to propose amending extradition laws, the Post has learned.

Last week the government announced legislation to enable the transfer of suspects on a case-by-case basis to and from Taiwan, mainland China and any other jurisdiction.

The move was to plug a loophole exposed by a homicide case last February in which Taiwanese authorities were unable to prosecute a Hongkonger accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend in Taipei and then fleeing to Hong Kong.

Chan Tong-kai, 19, was arrested in Hong Kong but is facing charges related only to having his dead girlfriends bank card, cash and other possessions.

He has not been sent to Taiwan, despite requests from the authorities there because there is no formal extradition agreement between the two jurisdictions.

The dead womans mother, flanked by pro-Beijing lawmakers Starry Lee Wai-king and Holden Chow Ho-ding, of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, spoke publicly about her plight on Tuesday and urged legislators to change the law soon.

A source in the pro-establishment camp told the Post the mother sought their help nearly a year ago and they had accompanied her to the liaison office, which then referred the case to the relevant mainland authorities. Beijing had also endorsed the proposed amendment by the Security Bureau, the source said.

The pan-democrats want the government to work out an extradition arrangement with Taiwan specifically instead of changing the law to include the mainland, Macau and other parts of the world.

The current Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance do not apply to any other part of the Peoples Republic of China.

A source familiar with the case said Beijing would not want to single out Taiwan, considered a renegade province by the central government, and effectively grant it special status.

Story continues

Secretary for Security John Lee Ka-chiu on Friday said it was unfair to target only one jurisdiction and a proper amendment was needed to plug the loophole.

But pan-democrats are far from convinced.

The Democratic Partys James To Kun-sun accused the government of making use of the tragedy to open a floodgate of requests to hand over people in Hong Kong wanted across the border.

It is worse than the national security legislation, which is talking about local courts handling political dissidents, To said. But this is about Beijing requiring someone to be transferred back to the mainland. Would [Chief Executive] Carrie Lam dare to reject [a request], citing reasons of political persecution?

Under the proposal, the chief executive will issue a certificate to request an arrest warrant, and the fugitive is allowed to oppose the order in a Hong Kong court.

It will apply to 46 types of crimes, including murder, assault, sex offences, tax evasion and economic crimes but not those when Hong Kong finally adopts Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kongs mini-constitution, including treason and subversion.

But the pan-democrats are worried the central government will charge political dissidents with economic crimes.

Bernard Chan, convenor of the Executive Council, the chief executives cabinet, tried to allay concerns on Saturday by highlighting the safeguarding role of the local courts.

If it is a political case that the media is highly concerned about, I think it would be very difficult for Beijing to request a transfer, he added.



Commissioner of Police Stephen Lo Wai-chung, meanwhile, said the changes would be very helpful for investigating cross-border cases.

In many cross-border cases, including cybercrimes, requests for mutual legal assistance and extradition are needed  but Hong Kong has not signed such agreements with many jurisdictions, Lo said. If the amendment is passed, I believe it will greatly help our investigations.

When asked whether police would be put under pressure by mainland authorities as pan-democrats feared, Lo said the force would only act according to local laws.

This article Beijings liaison office in Hong Kong plays key role in helping mother of young woman killed in Taiwan seek justice for daughter first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2019.
As you can tell, this blog is totally screwed. Im really sorry about this but its totally out of my control. Until it gets fixed, Im blogging over at my...
Bruce Beckham, of gay porn features The Heat of the Moment, Barcelona Nights, and Fire Island Cruising 7, is donating a portion of his paycheck to the non-profit Stand Up For Pits.

Im donating a chunk of my check from EVERY scene I film between now and April 2 to @standupforpitsfoundation Angel Day On 4/2/19 Beckham announced in an Instagram video.

Stand Up For Pits helps find safe homes for pit bulls as well as fund emergency surgeries for abused animals, and works to end discrimination against the breed.

Pit bulls are an ill-defined dog breed saddled with many misconceptions. Theyre seen as aggressive fighters that are eager to bite, and are characterized as doing so longer and with more force.

Some have used the breed to be involved with criminal acts. Some jurisdictions, including Miami-Dade since 1999, have even banned pit bulls.

But controlled studies are reporting pit bulls are not disproportionately dangerous compared to other dog breeds.

This breed group [has not been identified] as disproportionately dangerous. The pit bull type is particularly ambiguous as a 'breed' encompassing a range of pedigree breeds, informal types and appearances that cannot be reliably identified," a peer-reviewed studypublished by the journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2015 states.

I rescued a female pit bull puppy with a boyfriend back in 2004. I immediately fell in love with the sweet, loving nature of these dogs, Beckham told Gay Star News.

I prefer dogs to most people, and I volunteer and donate to Pitbull rescue charities as often as I can. Pitbulls are beautifully innocent and loyal. People and boyfriends, [not so much], Beckham said in a 2017 interview with Instinct Magazine.

Late last year, gay wrestler David Marshall pledged $7,179 of the money raised from his homemade porn to the Black Dog Institute, a mental health organization.



Porn Pulse is a weekly column featuring news and tidbits on the gay porn industry. Have a tip? Send Hunter Houston an email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .








Due to the U.S. sanctions on Venezuelas oil industry and state firm PDVSA, one of the worlds largest commodity traders, Trafigura, has decided to halt its oil trade with Venezuela, Reuters reported on Friday, quoting a source with direct knowledge of the plans.

Trafigura walking out of oil trading with Venezuela would be a harsh blow to PDVSA, which has been working with Trafigura and other trading houses to sell crude oil and to import refined oil products.

In 2018, Trafigura directly lifted 34,000 bpd of crude oil and products from Venezuela, most of which it resold to refineries in the U.S. and China, according to internal documents of PDVSA which Reuters has seen.

The U.S. sanctions now block all payments to PDVSA accounts, and buyers of Venezuelan crude are directed to deposit payments in a separate escrow account, to which PDVSA and the regime of Nicolas Maduro doesnt have access.

Trafigura will stop trading with PDVSA after it completes a small number of trades that have already been concluded, according to Reuters source.

Some ten days after the U.S. sanctions on Venezuela were imposed, trading houses were still unable to resell Venezuelan crude oil, Reuters reported last week, citing sources and shipping data.

Due to the harsh sanctions, end-users are reluctant to buy Venezuelan crude, and cargoes are being left stranded in the Atlantic basin, according to Refinitiv Eikon data. Trading houses in Europe, including Trafigura and Vitol, regularly offer Venezuelan crude to refiners, but now the commodity traders are finding it hard to find an end user willing to buy.

No one who typically takes Venezuelan crude from us is lifting a single barrel, a Trafigura trader told Reuters, commenting on the spot market of Venezuelan oil. Buyers are not sure of the risks and how to ensure any payments are not remitted to PDVSA, according to the trader.

Last week, Trafigura told Reuters that it was following all applicable sanctions.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Mexico will support Pemex by injecting US$3.6 billion into the debt-laden state-held oil firm, including by refinancing debt and cutting taxes, Mexican officials said on Friday.

The Mexican government, however, will not take on new debt for Pemex, Reuters quoted officials as saying at a regular press conference.

The Mexican state oil firm has a total of US$106 billion in financial debt.

If Pemex needs more capital injection, the government will provide it, according to Finance Minister Carlos Urzua.

Mexicos left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorin office since December 1wants a greater role for Pemex in reversing the downward trend in Mexican oil production.

Pemexs crude oil production continues to declineaccording to Pemex figures, its crude oil production averaged 1.813 million bpd in 2018. To compare, Pemexs crude oil production averaged 2.522 million bpd in 2013, falling to 1.948 million bpd in 2017.

Lopez Obrador and Pemex have grand plans for reversing the decline, with the government coming to the rescue of Pemex, as the oil firm itself said in December. A new strategic plan aims to guarantee the countrys energy security and sovereignty and targets to raise crude oil production to 2.48 million bpd by the end of this administrations term in officethe end of 2024.

Last month, Fitch Ratings downgraded Pemexs ratings to just above investment grade, raising concerns that additional downgrades by Fitch or another rating agency would significantly lift the oil firms financing costs while it struggles with a heavy debt load.

Fitch Ratings downgrade reflected the continued deterioration of Pemexs standalone credit profile, as a result of persisting negative free cash flow and material under-investment in the companys upstream business.

The ratings are constrained by PEMEX's substantial tax burden, high leverage, significant unfunded pension liabilities, large capital investment requirements, negative equity and exposure to political interference risk, Fitch said in January, but noted that it expects that the company will receive necessary support from the government to ensure adequate liquidity and debt service payments.



By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
On Thursday, news broke (again) that the Philippines is trying to build its first operational liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Manila-based Phoenix Petroleum said it was in talks with state-owned Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) for a strategic alliance on its proposed $2 billion LNG hub.

Phoenix said in a statement that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) could be signed with PNOC in the coming weeks. The company added that the alliance with PNOC could involve pipeline infrastructure, PNOCs share of Malampaya gas, equity, and marketing opportunities. Philippine Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said that PNOC was approached by some potential investors for a possible 10-15 percent participating interest in an LNG project, but he gave no further details, Reuters reported. Cusi is also the board PNOC board chairman. We just have to wait for further developments, he added.

Phoenix has already indicated that it plans to break ground sometime this year on a 2.2 million ton per annum (mtpa) LNG terminal in Batangas province, just south of Manila, the capital. Commercial operations have targeted to start by 2023. The facility will also include a 2,000-megawatt power plant component.

The disclosure comes just a few weeks after PNOC said it had terminated its selection of a joint venture partner for its proposed LNG hub in the country, formally ending its bid to spearhead what could have been a state-led facility for the imported LNG. The problem, according to Cusi at the time, is that the proposed project could not be started immediately because PNOC had to do initial studies and prepare the budget that will be presented to Congress for approval. I said, weve been in this for two years. I said, had that been started, if that had broken ground, maybe next month wed be operating the first power plant. Until now were still in the drawing board, he said. Related: A Big Week For Oil Bulls

Resurrecting LNG ambitions

Now, apparently, the situation has changed amid fresh talks between Phoenix, a retail fuel supplier, and PNOC. However, as Ive reported several times before this could be just another rehashing of preliminary talks that lead to no tangible decision or agreement to put up the Philippines first LNG import terminal. The problem for the Philippines is that its offshore Malampaya natural gas field, operated by Shell, and the main source of natural gas for Luzon, the countrys main island and its most populated, including Manila with 20 plus million people, will run out in less than five years, according to Philippine DOE estimates. Unless the Philippines acts and acts soon, it will run out of gas and have to turn to dirtier-burning coal for power production to offset the loss of gas from Malampaya.

The DOE, for its part, has long been pushing for the country to turn away from over-reliance on coal, but at the end of the day, the DOE has no statutory power to enforce its plans, it can merely advise. Even if the impending, not yet signed, MoU is reached between Phoenix and PNOC its a long shot for a project to be built due to the countrys history of governmental indecision, inefficiency, and corruption, while provincial politicians also often demand financial kickbacks to approve projects, even projects that have the backing of the power base in Manila.

However, given the most optimistic scenario for the Philippines, if it can push through and have an operational LNG import terminal before 2024, it will find an LNG market in Asia still rife with ample supply, particularly from Australia, the U.S. and Qatar since the three producers will be jockeying for the slot of top LNG export leader. Its also likely that most of the supply for the Philippines first LNG import terminal would rely heavily on procurement from the spot market in Asia, which offers liquidity and less restrictive terms that long-term off-take agreements.

By Tim Daiss for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
A new report by McKinsey forecasts a rapid switch from gas guzzlers to electric vehicles on the world's roads will be boosted by the plummeting costs of owning a battery powered vehicle.

The consulting firm's 2019 Global Energy Perspective report foresees a two-thirds drop in the cost of EV battery packs by 2030. The tipping point at which EVs will be cheaper to own than internal combustion engine-powered vehicles is forecast to be reached in the early 2020s:

The timing of total cost of ownership (TCO) parity in the U.S. and China is comparable to Europe, with China slightly earlier and the U.S. slightly later, reflecting differences in fuel taxation and subsidies for electric vehicles.

After this tipping point, "economic considerations alone" would be sufficient to accelerate the growth of EV sales, says McKinsey. Car sharing and autonomous driving will add further incentives to go electric. Improving battery technologies will mean that even long-haul trucks could be economically electrified during the second half of the next decade.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: McKinsey Global Energy Perspective 2019

McKinsey's view of the electrification of the transport sector makes for some dramatic reading:

EV sales jump to 100m units by 2035

Battery-powered passenger car sales grow by a factor of 60 through 2050

By 2035 there will be 400m EVs on the road in China and developed countries

To meet demand, 2.4m charging stations must be deployed per year through 2035

By 2050 road transport will constitute 27 percent of electricity demand, up from less than 1 percent today

Demand for oil could peak as soon as the early 2030s

McKinsey's rosy view of transport electrification stands in contrast to a recent U.S. government study which forecasts electric car sales will be stuck in the slow lane for the foreseeable future.

By Mining.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Arabian Peninsula has, for most of its existence, not been of significant strategic value. The region is mostly dry and, until recently, didnt produce much the world needed. Saudi Arabia, however, has become a regional power centre due to custodianship of Islams two holiest sites and due to its pivotal role in the global oil market. Now, Riyadh is also planning to become a renewable energy powerhouse.

The oil kingdom has an incredibly high number of sunny days, with only 45 cloudy days each year. It also has significant potential for wind energy, particularly in the Red Sea area. Furthermore, Riyadh has embarked upon a path to become a nuclear energy powerhouse with the instalment of approximately 19 reactors. It is only relatively recently that the Saudi government has made clear its intentions to expand its renewable footprint.

Saudi's plans: realistic vs overblown

Until recently, Saudi Arabia was a country controlled by old men, all brothers from the same father and founder of the Kingdom. King Salman, however, has fostered his son, Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), to become the heir-apparent and the de-facto leader of the country. The crown princes instalment was greeted with much excitement due to his intention to wane Saudi Arabia of its oil addiction and diversify the economy. The Vision 2030 program outlines the Kingdom's objectives in the diversification of the country's sources of development and growth. The creation of a renewables sector is an essential part of the program.

Besides diversification, ulterior motives drive the push for clean energy production. Saudi Arabia produces on average 10 million barrels of oil per day of which the majority is exported. A significant portion, approximately one million barrels, is burnt for electricity production. Therefore, Riyadhs plans to diversify its energy sector are also aimed at increasing its export capacity and thus its revenue stream. Related: A Big Week For Oil Bulls

Saudi Arabias primary focus is solar energy, with the country having announced several projects already. It aims to invest $50 billion on expanding PV installations and plans to install 41 gigawatts of solar energy by 2032. As well as solar, several companies have signed contracts worth $500 million to build the first Saudi wind energy farms.

Economic and political factors have pushed the country to build a critical domestic nuclear energy industry from scratch, an industry which should provide 15 percent of its energy by 2032. Saudi Arabias archenemy, Iran, already has several active atomic reactors which have been built with Russian assistance. A nuclear energy industry serves two purposes: having the capacity to produce the bomb' if an arms race occurs and decreasing dependency on the oil industry.

Although the Saudi Energy Research Centre acknowledges that hydrocarbons will remain a significant part of its energy mix until 2032 (60 GW), there will also be 41 GW of solar energy, 17.6 GW of nuclear energy, 9 GW of wind power, 3 GW of waste to heat, and 1 GW of geothermal energy.

Impeding factors

Despite the abundant media attention for Riyadhs planned reforms and investment in alternative energy sources, not much has materialized in recent years. The unrealistic nature of some projects together with lousy communication with the relevant authorities have led to disappointing results. The planned investment of $200 billion in a 200 GW solar energy facility together with Japanese Softbank is an example of a project which has failed to deliver due to bad planning and unrealistic volumes.

Also, MBS streak of political blunders has decreased investor confidence. The crown prince is blamed for the disastrous war in Yemen which has led to the biggest humanitarian crisis on the planet, the blockade of Qatar which has driven the country into the hands of Iran, and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The murder of Khashoggi has probably proven to me the most damaging of all of these factors. This has also made the U.S. Congress wary of any deal to provide American nuclear technology for energy production that could also be used to produce a nuclear weapon. Related: Goldman: Shock And Awe OPEC Cuts To Send Oil Higher Soon

Thirdly, an essential factor influencing Riyadhs commitment to reaching its renewable energy targets is the price of oil. Being the largest exporter of oil in the world has the advantage of providing easy money for the state coffers. When prices collapsed in 2014, the urgency was high for the Kingdom to decrease its dependency on both oil revenues and the oil industry as a form of employment. However, the improved position of oil exporters in recent years has reduced the pressure on the Saudi leadership to push through painful reforms.

What are the odds

The energy transition has proven to be a difficult and complex task. Riyadh has set the bar high for creating a significant renewable energy market from scratch within a couple of years. The combination of continued low energy prices, political instability due to MBS' reforms, and the reluctance of international investors to provide funds threaten to derail Saudi plans for the instalment of renewables. Nevertheless, the favourable geographic characteristics of the Arab country and falling costs of PVs and wind turbines warrant a future for clean energy in one of the worlds biggest oil centres.

By Vanand Meliksetian for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
That illustration of Will Smith's face reacting to the Wachowskis' pitch is hilarious. His entire story is, lol. He's right that it would've been different with him though. Keanu's ~wooden~ acting worked for this and honestly kind of made it. (Also reviews of The Matrix were the first time I'd heard the term "wooden acting" as a kid lmao.)

Reply

Thread

Link

Bless his heart but I seen countless of his films and dude isn't the most emotive. Come @ me but Adam Driver reminds me of Keanu Reeves but a melted by the sun version and someone who doesn't sound like a surfer dude when speaking.

Someone cast Keanu as Adam's mentor/trainer in a Knights of Ren film stat!!



IA. Keanu has this thing where if he's staring/not speaking there's a serene disposition in his demeanor/facial expression. Its like something's ticking up in his head, whereas with Tom Cruise I don't feel that way if he's silent lol. Him being an action star is fascinating b/c his physique works well with kung fu/wire fighting surprisedly.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

He looked beautiful in Speed. I've never seen The Matrix bloop.

Reply

Thread

Link

my dad rented it when it came out on pay per view and being a stupid little kid i didnt care to watch it but i saw it last year and enjoyed it.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I found it boring and didn't care for it as a kid but watching it now as an adult, I appreciate how stylistic it is. They had a vision for how they wanted it to look and they stuck by it.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Two movies that have been hilariously misinterpreted:



One about the struggles of coming out written by two trans women.



The other about a critique of toxic masculinity written by a gay man. pic.twitter.com/oI638bkBnL  BrynnMcCluney (@daggertrout) September 2, 2018



I think this speaks to the urge queer people in general feel, to openly express their identities in a world where, for instance, we still have things thrown at us from moving cars. still, it is somehow the closest thing to 'comfortable' we can experience   (@oublietttte) September 3, 2018



An interesting analogy considering the context.

An interesting analogy considering the context.

Reply

Thread

Link

wat

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Lmao mte!

So pretentious too! "hilariously misrepresented"

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

Admittedly I'm not big on action movies, but this feels like a huge overstatement?..

Reply

Thread

Link

I remember seeing this movie in theater, and it blew my mind. I was like 14-15 and for a good week I was convinced we're all live in the Matrix and shit.

I mean still an Iconic movie and in many ways trailblazer.

Reply

Thread

Link

I was 20 at the time and I was the same way after for a few days. Pretty sure it spawned a couple good long conversations with my ex and friends about it too.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The Dodge This still gets me. Every time.

Reply

Thread

Link

queen trinity 

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Trinity is everything to me.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Iconique. I was so into her and them and I was soooo pissed when they killed her off.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Didn't she get killed off twice?

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The mix going from Dragula, to Prodigy's Mindfields is so fucking iconic, and then the mix into the alarm clock, it gets me every single time



Also the aesthetic of that club is so much better than the club from the sequels. It just feels more real.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

that dance scene, whew



i remember i first saw it, just a little before hbo became something you paid for, as i was flipping through channels. was shook.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link





20 years?

Reply

Thread

Link

i love will but keke is the one. will smiths youtubes are always cool I should subscribe lol.



jon lovitz and dana carvey were the original bad boys before bay got his hands on it lmao i cant even imagine but id watch it



Edited at 2019-02-16 11:43 pm (UTC)

Reply

Thread

Link

are you serious? lol now that would've made it a different film lol.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

right? lol I think it was more of a traditional buddy cop and bay stylized it a bit

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I'm not sure what exactly was revolutionary and unconventional about the type of lead Keanu was? I love the first Matrix movie and Keanu's usual confused face vague acting was actually perfect for his character, but he's white presenting and pretty, and the seemingly out of place everyman who is actually really the chosen one and saves everybody ultimately has never been an unusual premise. Morpheus and Trinity were both more capable and experienced but were waiting for the chosen one, who was less capable and had to be trained but had some inner spark (that you mostly have without personal tragedy by being white and male), and I feel like that's been a common theme for so much of literature and visual media. The only difference is maybe that he's lean and not muscled, but he was still using physical violence and weapons.



All that said, Carrie Ann Moss was an absolute dream in the movie and she was equally gorgeous in those tattered sweaters as she was in all black and I've never gotten over my crush on Trinity.

Reply

Thread

Link

Keanu wasn't an unconventional action lead, but IMO Neo is an unconventional action lead character because you have to believe him as a shut-in hacker as well as in the action sequences. Most action leads can't play introverts very well and the ones that can usually play a more macho version that'd still be the wrong energy for that part (think like, young Clint Eastwood - he's stoic, but not in a way where you think that he'd rather sit inside on his computer.)

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I see where you're coming from, but the parts of the movie that are most memorable to me are the action sequences. The basic identity of the character is mega hacker who knows how to read code really well, but the (maybe somewhat ironic given the premise) lasting impression of him is as a bullet dodging, train leaping, kung fu fighting physical action hero in the matrix setting, so imo, while his somewhat wooden acting choices worked great for me to feel him as someone being introduced to the giant conundrum of his existence, I didn't see him as someone who was a big introvert. He just read as confused because he was out of the loop and then he was right in the middle of it all, fighting and being the chosen one and getting the gorgeous female lead.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

I think what's interesting in the wake of Neo/Keanu Reeves, a lot of swole/lanky dudes with muscle tone instead of the Arnold/Jean Van D/etc. type of action men were being replaced by a lankier type in action roles.



In the 2000's, the action of The Matrix was everywhere. it was insane lol, and it help to pave the way for a Spiderman (Tobey's version) and such b/c those men in the physical sense in the 2000's were becoming believable to lead an action film.



Also fun fact: Keanu broke his vertebrae and had to get surgery which worked in his favor for action b/c he was able to move/be more flexible which allowed him to do complex action scenes.





Iconic Skit (MTV used to be lit).

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link



Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ

Reply

Thread

Link

Wonder how long they've practiced that... I've never noticed that both his arms are swinging at different speeds :o

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

IMO what Keanu brings to the table is that he is one of the very very few leading actors in Hollywood that is bonafide stunningly handsome, can handle action stunt work AND that you can genuinely buy as an introvert. Usually you get at most two out of three lol



Neo's a hard role to cast, you have to buy him as a near-perfect messiah but also as a shut-in hacker Keanu is one of the few beautiful + fit guys that is sorta believable as the latter. No one would buy Will Smith as an introvert for a second, it's honestly amazing to me that he was the first choice.

Reply

Thread

Link







The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions are two of the greatest sequels ever made.



(Don't @ me)  Joseph Gordon-Levitt (@hitRECordJoe) January 30, 2019

Even JGL agrees.



The bench scene in Reloaded I saw on tv, and I remember being a bit stunned like wow he was otherworldly stunning/beautiful in his prime.

Him in The Matrix trilogy was peak human face perfection lol.Even JGL agrees.The bench scene in Reloaded I saw on tv, and I remember being a bit stunned like wow he was otherworldly stunning/beautiful in his prime.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

Reloaded is a good movie and I will defend it until the day I die.



revolutions... not so much

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

He was really perfect for the movie. I like to watch him in it more than the story itself.

Reply

Parent

Thread

Expand

Link

you hit the nail on the head.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I've never seen it, is it actually good or just cheesy nostalgia garbage?



Also wasn't this the official beginning of edgy early 2000's gen X movies or was that fight club (which I haven't seen either)?

Reply

Thread

Link

I think it's still good and holds up but I have been watching it for 20 years lol

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I watched it when it came out and I found it extremely boring.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

The Wachowskis sort of came up with the "bullet time" in these movies. IMO mind-blowing, but I wouldn't recommend the last movie of the trilogy, the first two are amazing.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I didnt see it until a year ago and I liked it but I know what you mean. I saw back to the future at 25 and I was like okay????

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

some of the effects are dated but I think the practical action sequences hold up well enough that it's worth watching. the first one is also one of the few action movies that actually does pop-philosophy pretty well, they legit used it to help teach us baudrillard, plato's allegory of the cave, etc. when I was in college lol



it's got some hints of gen X middle class "man the real hell is ur corporate drone job amirite?" to it but nowhere NEAR as strong as in fight club haha



Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

I finally got around to watching Fight Club a few years ago was so disappointed. The first two acts were fascinating, but the last act just swerved hard and fast into wtf-ville. The ending was way too rushed. It has rewatch value since you'll know what to look for, but the ending is just...



Between the two, The Matrix holds far better. Which reminds me, I still need to watch the sequels.

Reply

Parent

Thread



Link

That video of Will Smith telling why he turned down The Matrix is a gem! I was cracking up in the end, when he said he turned it down and then did Wild Wild West.

Reply

Thread

Link



In here God is a Black Grandma!! And the person in charge of the matrix was an Indian girl.



It's funny, The Matrix & Blade 2 are both around 15 years old now & their casts are more diverse & global than most contemporary dramas.  Aaron Stewart-Ahn (@somebadideas) March 31, 2017



I hate this scene lol but someone mentioned that it was liberating for the poc/minority folks there b/c they were free in that scene.







Edited at 2019-02-17 12:03 am (UTC) Also can we just say that The Matrix is hella diverse. A lot of sci-fi films aren't and you would think they would be but...In here God is a Black Grandma!! And the person in charge of the matrix was an Indian girl.I hate this scene lol but someone mentioned that it was liberating for the poc/minority folks there b/c they were free in that scene.

Reply

Thread

Link


Thank you for Reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.
Like most religious organizations, Congregation Etz Chaim exists for the benefit of our community. For us this includes LGBTQ Jews, straight Jews, spouses of Jews, folks who are curious about being Jewish, those who like being around Jews, friends of Jews, and those who resist categorization.

We are working to be the place where all of the people above will feel welcomed and appreciated, where the person staffing the front desk will remember that you have a birthday coming up, or that your mother had taken ill, or that you were away for a few weeks and missed, or that this is your first time at our service.

Our welcoming attitude is evident since we have Trump fans sitting next to Hillary fans, and both are also sitting next to Jill Stein fans, Bernie fans, and even those who did not vote at all. We have members who follow the laws of kashrut, and many who do not, those who have a extensive Jewish education and those who are just learning, those from the East coast and those from the heartland, those who are Zionist and those who are not. Through all this, our community is warm, peaceful, and comforting. We are working to show that politics and other differences need not divide us. Instead, we invite our members and friends to see each other as belonging to the same community.

We believe that once you accept someone into your community you care about them; you care about their health, you care if they might need some extra support, you care if they are looking for new friends or a partner, all under the guidance of liberal Jewish practice that informs our behavior and attitude. Our intention is that our members will grow to care more about each others welfare and less about their voting history. This attitude seems to be welcomed, as seen by increased attendance at Shabbat services and social events.

There are many standard prayers we include at every Shabbat service, and this is one I emphasize: Let there be love and understanding among us. Let peace and friendship be our shelter from lifes storms. It is not a prayer about ideology or ritual practice, but a sincere yearning that we be able to be a community member worthy of the name.
Spain's government, which has pledged to exhume Francisco Franco from his opulent mausoleum, on Friday gave the late dictator's family two weeks to decide on a reburial site, the justice minister said. "The family has been granted a 15-day period to decide where it wants to bury the remains of the dictator," Dolores Delgado told reporters. If the descendants of Franco, who ruled Spain from 1939 to his death in 1975, don't agree on a site or remain silent, the government will choose the reburial site itself, she added. The move comes just hours after Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, in power for just over eight months, called early general elections for April 28 after the parliament rejected his 2019 draft budget. His socialist executive had vowed to remove Franco's remains from an imposing basilica in the Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen) near Madrid, which was built in part by political prisoners during his regime. On Friday, the cabinet gave its final green light to the exhumation, before giving his family the ultimatum. The family will be able to appeal this at the Supreme Court, which would delay the exhumation. Franco's family wants to bury his remains in a crypt at Madrid's central Almudena Cathedral next to the royal palace. The government has already told them this will not be possible. It wants Franco's embalmed body to be relocated to a more discreet spot. The National Francisco Franco Foundation, which aims to keep memory of the dictator alive, said Friday that it would appeal the government's decision to move the former Spanish leader's remains, taking the matter to the Supreme Court. The Foundation, in a statement, spoke of multiple illegalities and "arbitrary decisions" by the socialist government, which it said has "electoral objectives and is unmoved by the wider interests and common good of the Spanish people". A sticker reads 'Do not touch The Valley' -- a reference to Franco's opulent mausoleum The grave of Spain's General Francisco Franco in the Valle de los Caidos (The Valley of the Fallen)
German Health Minister Jens Spahn said Friday he will seek to ban conversion therapies that claim to change sexual orientation. "Homosexuality is not an illness, which is why it does not need to be treated," Spahn, who is gay himself, told the Berlin daily left-leaning daily Die Tageszeitung (taz). He hoped that a German law banning such therapies could be adopted by the middle of the year. Conversion therapies have spread in the United States and have been used by parents of homosexual or transgender adolescents against their will. Some techniques involve injections of large doses of testosterone, while others apply electric shocks to people as they view images of homosexual acts. "I do not believe in these therapies, mainly owing to my own homosexuality," said Spahn, who represents the right wing of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party. The health minister is counting on support from his colleagues if and when a vote is taken. "I cannot imagine there is a partisan of conversion therapies in my parliamentary group," he said. Within the European Union, only Malta and some Spanish regions have banned the practices outright. In March 2018, a large majority of European Parliament deputies nonetheless adopted a non-binding text that called on member states to outlaw them. German Health Minister Jens Spahn: 'Homosexuality is not an illness, which is why it does not need to be treated'
Home | World | Africa | Number plates shortage: Cops harass motorists

Motorists say they are still facing challenges using temporary number plates on their vehicles even after government announced an extension of their life-span.

The temporary plates used to be valid for two weeks but have now been extended to an indefinite period of time although police profess ignorance to this extension.

In a survey by the Daily News crew, disgruntled motorists revealed that the extension has not been officially affected as some of them continue battling with police officers who are still harassing them. .

"One of my friends was recently arrested by traffic police for using expired temporary plates yet we are told they now have an indefinite life-span. Thirty dollars is a lot of money especially considering that permanent plates are going for around $80 swipe, so we would really appreciate the implementation of this extension," Walter Moyo, a disgruntled motorist said.

Another motorist told this publication that although government's motive is commendable, shortages of temporary plates have begun to reel the motorists.

"In the near future we will end up parking our new vehicles because the temporary plates are not readily available as government makes it seem. It would be much better if our government worked towards ensuring that number plates can be manufactured in Zimbabwe," he said.

Motorists who want the short versions of the plates have reportedly been waiting for more than two months to access them, while those who require permanent ones have been waiting for over a month.

At the same time motorists lamented the $30 cost of temporary plates for duration of two weeks.

While Transport and infrastructural development minister Biggie Matiza has attributed the shortage to the scarce foreign currency, Amos Marawa, the permanent secretary in the ministry told the Daily News that the problem was due to a delayed shipment that was expected to arrive mid-December last year.

"We were expecting to receive them in mid-December but our suppliers closed for the festive season and we are awaiting confirmation on when to expect the delivery," Marawa said.

He added that while the consumption rate yearly ranges from 120 000 to 150 000 plates, the ministry usually makes a huge order as costs for big orders are much cheaper.

Reportedly, after government resolved to charge duty on vehicle imports in foreign currency, most people rushed to bring in more vehicles, leading to an increase in demand for number plates.

Last year, the ministry allegedly encountered similar challenges although the delay was due to then high sea levels in the Indian Ocean, leading to the hold-up in the shipment's arrival in the country

Matiza, in a recent statement, however, reiterated that government has prolonged the temporary use of identification cards following the number plates shortage that the country is facing.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa

Loading...
Home | World | Africa | Mnangagwa attends Zimbabwe International Research Symposium

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is attending the 12th Zimbabwe International Research Symposium which has been running for the last two days.

It is being attended by various schools across the country, universities representatives and research institutions, diplomats and CEOs of private and public enterprises.

Guests from abroad have also been invited from Austria, UK, Austria and South Africa to share research findings for innovation targeted at modernising and economic growth as Zimbabwe works towards Vision 2030.

President Mnangagwa started his participation at the symposium by touring various stands exhibiting various successful innovations by primary and secondary schools and universities and research institutions.

The exhibitions are showing off their innovations aimed at import substitution, the use of indigenous resources to treat livestock diseases, simple affordable gadgets that can be used to support land reform and indigenous new farmers and others.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa

Loading...
Home | World | Africa | Zimbabwe now facing condom crisis

Zimbabwe is now facing condom challenges as donors are pulling back.

This was said by the Director of AIDS and TB Unit in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Owen Mugurungi at the International Condom Day commemorations held in Harare yesterday.

"Zimbabwe is facing serious challenges as donors, who provide free condoms are pulling back yet the country is not yet capable of funding its self.

"Donors are pulling back of the current economic situation, the Value Added Taxes and ZIMRA taxes are being paid in Bond notes yet they buy them in United States dollars.

"Condom consumption has already exceeded by 30 percent and no measures have been taken by the government so far.

"The other problems we are facing are that, we have over 50 million condoms in the warehouses but its taking long for them to be tested and they cannot be used without being tested first.

"There are also limited condom brands; in fact, we only have one female brand and a few male ones which is really sad because women are being left out in the fight against HIV and AIDS, STIs and unwanted pregnancies.

"At the moment we urge all Zimbabweans to stop using condoms for the wrong reasons like making floor polish, and the those who afford to buy condoms should buy and leave the few free ones for the less privileged," said Dr Mugurungi.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa

Loading...
Home | World | Africa | RBZ speaks on Mthuli Ncube, Mangudya fight

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has called upon Zimbabweans to reject reports that there was an angry exchange of words between Finance Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube and and RBZ Governor John Panonetsa Mangudya during this week.

"There was no angry exchange of words between the Minister of Finance and Economic Development Hon Professor Mthuli Ncube and RBZ Governor John Mangudya as alleged by the Zimbabwe Independent on the 15th of February 2019." RBZ said a statement.

The Central Bank said the report was fuel by hatred and people who want to rig the market.

"This is fake news created out of a figment of imagination to create hatred and to confuse the market. The Monetary Policy Statement will be presented when due."

Earlier this week Former Finance Minister Tendai Biti alleged that the Reserve Bank will be unveiling a new currency this week.

The Central also dismissed Biti's statements as an attempt to cause panic in the market.

On Friday The Zimbabwe Independent reported that there was verbal showdown between Ncube and Mangudya inside the Ministry of Finance offices

Mangudya had been summoned by Ncube to brief him on the draft policy statement, before he could obtain Mnangagwa's approval to officially present the monetary policy statement, the Weekly paper reported.

"Mangudya and his team from the RBZ were summoned to Treasury so that he could brief the Finance minister on the draft MPS before officially presenting it last week (February 7). As he was presenting the major highlights of the policy statement, it became very clear that Ncube, even as he sat on his chair calmly, was not impressed.

"Midway through John's presentation, Ncube interjected, pointing out that the policy statement was not comprehensive and that it did not holistically address the challenges buffeting the economy.

"Ncube spoke calmly but robustly, lecturing Mangudya as though he were his university student, that it would be catastrophic to maintain the equivalent trading ratio between the bond note and the US dollar. Perhaps fed up with being treated like a student, Mangudya rose from his chair, tossed a bunch of papers in the direction of Ncube and left the room with his team in tow. There was deathly silence in the room, and people only became alive to what had happened after JPM (Mangudya) stormed out," The paper said quoting sources.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: Africa

Loading...
Home | News | General | Corps member threatens to set his khaki and boots on fire, says 'Im tired of serving Nigeria'

A serving corp member, Fidelis Chiedozie Onyenjuala, has said he is tired of serving Nigeria.

Explaining why he is tired of the scheme, Fidelis told Legit.ng exclusively that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) does not have any regard or respect for the corpers. He said if nothing is done about a new Nigeria where everything goes on smoothly as it should, he will set his khaki and boots on fire and will never sing the national anthem anymore.

READ ALSO: Corps members protest non-payment of allowance, threaten to boycott election

Im tired of serving Nigeria, NYSC member says

Source: Facebook

He also went on to lambaste the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Read below:

'Im tired of serving Nigeria. NYSC members are not been respected despite their 19800 monthly allowance.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

'I want a new Nigeria this administration is not working, if nothing is done I will set my NYSC KAKI and jungle boot on fire not only that I will not sing the NYSC ANTHEM again.

'We need to participate just to have the experience before fools will start insulting their generation not for the paid money.

'We were notified earlier that INEC will use Corp members for the Election excise and majority of us who were interested and began the INEC training since last year were not shortlisted despite the postponement of the election. For instance in Imo state, Owerri municipal Local government, not up to 20% of Corp members serving were shortlisted this is very bad.

'If the INEC dont want us to work let them pay us our training allowance because we started the training since last year. Please if We receive our allowance for the training if they like let them come shortlist our names.'

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

2019 election: Who will win? Anambra residents speak | Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Best styles for dresses with fringe in 2019

Look at these dresses with fringe trendy in 2019! Originality is in vogue this season. What styles are offered by creative designers in their fashion collections for beautiful ladies? Here are the photos with the latest trends and fashion hits!

Image: instagram.com, @klothyafrikana, @peachesandcolekki, @rockbydapodesina, @maximus_boutique, modified by the author

Source: Depositphotos

Fringe is a very particular element of outfit decoration because it was very popular in the 20s of the last century. It is used as the clothes trim in the country and Boho styles or aesthetics. Today, well-known fashion designers use it as decor for stylish, bright, and elegant gowns.

Its a self-contained element of a female wardrobe. It can adorn even a strict outfit adding romance and originality.

This trim helps bring passion to the image, courage, and unquenchable sense of freedom. It also gives girls chic, sophistication, and aristocracy.

READ ALSO: Long dress styles you have to wear in 2018-2019

Image: instagram.com, @shopnanashaw

Source: Depositphotos

Today, the fringe can be created from any material. It has various lengths and colours. Designers use leather, suede, silk, and cotton, as well as fabrics of amazing texture when creating stylish and spectacular decor. These funny ropes can be a separate decorative element of the outfit or adorn the neckline, collar, hem or sleeve of the gown.

Short and long models of various colours and shades, decorated with stylish prints look great and give wide scope for the flight of female imagination! It is up to what image you want to create: a femme fatale or a timid and romantic girl.

Its a great accessory that has been stayed afloat for many seasons. At the moment girls make various outfits using diverse kinds of fringe and creating gentle, flowing, and feminine as well as masculine and rough look. Such decor can be presented in the form of refined tassels or thin reticulum.

Now lets talk about the current 2019 year. Fringe has become even more popular than last year.

Image: instagram.com, @houseofiwalewa

Source: Depositphotos

Trendy dresses with fringe

Short dresses made in Latina style are decorated with this trim along the entire length. If you wish you can make such gown yourself. It is enough to sew four or five rows of the braid with thin straps to a simple dress.

Dress with fringe bottom looks very beautiful and attractive, especially if the threads have a length of about 40 centimeters. Today the poncho gown with this accessory is in trend because it gives the girl femininity, fragility, and thin ropes make the image light and vigorous.

Image: instagram.com, @ankarasomeness

Source: Depositphotos

Dresses, where just the skirt or top is decorated with fringe, are of great demand this season. Such a gown is appropriate for girls with imperfect proportions because the item helps you to give the required volume or extend the entire silhouette. So, short threads are used to create volume, and long ropes allow you to make a shape visually slim.

Knitted dresses or knitwear are also often decorated with this trim. Hand knitting allows you to make a fringe of the same thread as a knitted outfit.

Image: instagram.com, @pearlira

Source: Depositphotos

A gown made of thin strips of fabric looks very interesting. The uneven shape of the strips helps to add volume to the necessary point.

Country-style dresses are often decorated with fringe, namely the neckline, collars, and sleeves. The item, which is located at the joints of the flared skirt, looks spectacular and stylish.

Image: instagram.com, @oobd

Source: Depositphotos

Party dresses with fringe

Evening and cocktail dresses decorated with this trim look stunning and luxurious. Today, many fashionistas choose such gowns for parties. They not only decorate the image but give it lightness, elegance, and attractiveness.

Party dress can be decorated with both long and short as well as one-coloured or multi-coloured fringe.

Image: instagram.com, @melaninstylediary

Source: Depositphotos

Latin style gowns

Short fitted dresses with slightly noticeable straps decorated with fringe belong to the Latin style. In this outfit, each girl is always in the center of the dance.

The party gown is often trimmed with this decor at the waist. It allows emphasizing its sophistication.

Image: instagram.com, @palazodewiniboutique

Source: Depositphotos

Thin ropes in the neckline area surely attract attention. But most of all ladies for prefer party gowns with such trim along the hem.

In the 2019 collections, such dresses are complemented by pleated capes and lace inserts.

Image: instagram.com, @mzzpriscilla

Source: Depositphotos

Chicago style dresses

This season a lot of fashionistas are eager to get a dress in Chicago style. It has a beloved classic design and looks very impressive.

The length of the cocktail gown can vary from knee to ankle. Besides, there are a lot of short options. Its characterized with a low waist. Although you can not adhere to this rule since natural proportions are appreciated in 2019.

The most popular fabric for such dress is satin, but silk, chiffon, and velvet gowns are also in trend. Fringe, rhinestones and beads, sequins and glitter are used to decorate a gown in Chicago style.

The highlight of Chicago dress is a cut on the scythe. It perfectly outlines the female silhouette.

Image: instagram.com, @reggiestared

Source: Depositphotos

The outfits are characterized by a deep cut on the back and a tight-fitting silhouette which gradually expands to the hips line.

The perfect figure for a dress in Chicago style is a slim silhouette with elegant lines and broad shoulders.

The gown can be completely adorned with a long fringe. It often has lace inserts or shiny decor. Its one of the brightest varieties of the party dresses with the straps.

In 2019, such models as midi and maxi, decorated with a long fringe are also in demand. They are solemn gown styles for confident women. Long dresses in Chicago style are appropriate for plus size ladies.

Image: instagram.com, @maximus_boutique

Source: Depositphotos

Poncho gowns with fringe

Poncho dresses are sheathed with fringe on the hem or emphasize the chest. Such gowns give the figure of femininity and refinement. For this style designers use various textiles. Some of them take fringe made from the same fabric as the dress and the others use leather fringe or braid. Besides, designers prefer diverse shapes of this trim. It can look like long thin noodles or solid canvas made of thin threads.

Dress-jacket with fringe

Perhaps this is one of the models with the most rapidly gaining popularity. It combines the severity of the jacket and the solemnity of the fringe. This gown is universal. It can be worn with anything and anywhere. Classic tailoring is appropriate when forming a business image. At the same time, feel free using the outfit for party wear. In 2019, the fringed dress jacket has two popular colours - black and white. Red tone looks better on slender girls.

As for the model itself, it can be single or double-sided with or without lapels. A collar gives a special charm to the item. It is used as a stand collar or turn-down collar.

Image: instagram.com, @bellanaijastyle

Source: Depositphotos

Length

The length plays a significant role in creating the image. The fringe quantity on the outfit also depends on length. Let's look at the photos of dresses with such trim. How does the length affect the decor and gown style?

Image: instagram.com, @ddesigns_p

Source: Depositphotos

Mini dresses with fringe are trendy this season. Today it is not necessary to cover the entire gown with this element. It can be placed on the collar waist or hem. By the way, for the party fashion, a trend with a very long fringe is relevant.

Image: instagram.com, @peachesandcolekki

Source: Depositphotos

When choosing a short dress with multi-layered fringe, make sure that your shape has no obvious flaws. If a lady has a belly with extra pounds or maybe she wants to hide a large chest, then she should give preference to an outfit with a long fringe from the neck. Besides, a gown completely covered with short fringe is a good choice too. It seems that the full fringe dress is made of fur.

Image: instagram.com, @kristovaclara_stitches

Source: Depositphotos

Midi dresses belong to conservative models, but only in the sense of emphasizing the womans status without any pressure on her reputation. Midi length is suitable for plus size girls, and its a good choice for the evening dresses with fringe. Such decor can be made of the same textile as the gown or fabric with sequins.

Image: instagram.com, @tanalisa

Source: Depositphotos

Long gowns with fringe are evening options for luxury women. They look perfect on both plus size and slim ladies.

Image: instagram.com, @toucheclothier

Source: Depositphotos

Do not be afraid to choose a maxi dress with such trim, as it looks very expensive and respectable.

Image: instagram.com, @rockbydapodesina

Source: Depositphotos

Trendy colours

Each fashionista can pick up a dress of her favorite colour. After all, designers offer dresses with a fringe of different colour schemes. The classic options black, white and gray are in vogue.

The lovers of bright colours can choose scarlet, light green, red or blue tones. This year the most popular colours for cocktail gowns are also luxurious silver and gold.

Classic black colour suits Chicago style dresses and most casual models. In dark colours, you can see absolutely any models. Even the gown embroidered with sequins looks universal. It can be worn for solemn events as well as parties.

Image: instagram.com, @klassically_kept

Source: Depositphotos

White styles are chosen by confident women. It is good for slender girls. However, plus size ladies should choose it carefully. Everyday items in white can be decorated with bright fringed elements but avoid too many of them. Also, among the trendy models, you can find beach lace dresses with this item.

We recommend plus size ladies to choose the fatal red tone. Red gown with fringe looks especially luxurious on the type of hourglass figure.

Image: instagram.com, @deinmitchell

Source: Depositphotos

In addition to the classic colours, Ankara dresses with fringe look very interesting. Short or midi gowns with the fringed hemline are perfect for any occasion. This trim can make an ordinary Ankara dress more festive and interesting.

Image: instagram.com, @virtuous.designs

Source: Depositphotos

Ankara print can be with any pattern. Choose the ornament that you like best. The fringe should be in one of the colours presented in the Ankara pattern. Ankara texture is thin, so choose the fringe for such a dress made of thin threads.

Image: instagram.com, @klothyafrikana

Source: Depositphotos

When choosing colours, it is necessary to pick up all the elements of the image. They should harmoniously complement each other. For example, a coral gown with silver fringed trim is perfectly combined with a silver-coloured clutch.

Image: instagram.com, @hanabelleluxuries

Source: Depositphotos

What goes with a fringed dress?

Stylish party dress with fringe for creating an unsurpassed image can be complemented by an exquisite handbag, sophisticated gloves, an original hat, and trendy shoes. All the elements must be in the same or suitable colour scheme.

Image: instagram.com, @voguishbyayabime

Source: Depositphotos

When choosing a handbag, its better to take the bag-envelope. For the neckline decoration, you can choose a luxurious fur boa, beads or bright bow. The very trendy jewelry for the dress with fringe is a long necklace that is often made of pearls.

The gown in Latin style goes to the shoes with heels-glasses. Cowboy boots look great with a country-style outfit decorated with this trim.

Image: instagram.com, @adetutuoladipo

Source: Depositphotos

For an evening look creation, long earrings, as well as elegant chains, can be a great tandem to the fringed dress.

Image: instagram.com, @fash_nglam

Source: Depositphotos

Add the beautiful dress with fringe to your wardrobe. Its perfect for festive images as well as for the office styles. Be trendy!

Image: instagram.com, @desire1709fashion

Source: Depositphotos

[embedded content]

READ ALSO: Ankara tops for ladies to rock in 2019

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday apologized to Nigerians for the postponement of the 2019 general elections by one week.

He felt bittered that many Nigerians must have spent their resources in moving from one location to the other towards voting in the postponement elections.

Buhari, who returned to Abuja at 1:15 pm from Katsina State, spoke with journalists at the Presidential wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

Asked why he was disappointed over the postponement of elections, he said Yes I am disappointed because INEC has got all the time and resources needed and therefore supposed to work according to their programme.

They were given all the resources, they had all the time and they kept on telling us up to the last minute that they were ready.

The fact that they are not ready means there is some inefficiency along the line. he said

On his message to Nigerians and his supporters, he said They should be patient, let them come out a week from today and vote.

I apologise for this inefficiency because they have to use their own resources to go back to their various polling units at their own expense if they are all that committed. he said

KINDLY DROP A COMMENT BELOW
Home | News | General | BREAKING: Special adviser to Governor Okowa shot dead

- A special adviser to the Delta state government youth development, Lawrence Ngozi Akpomiemie, has been shot dead

- Akpomiemie was killed in a feat of violence that ensued in Ekpan, in the Uvwie local council area of the state

- Until his death, the deceased was the special adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on youth development

Lawrence Ngozi Akpomiemie, a special adviser to the Delta state government youth development has been shot dead by unknown gunmen.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Akpomiemie was murdered in a feat of violence that was triggered somewhere around Ekpan, in the Uvwie local council area of the state in the night of Friday, February 15, Guardian reports.

Akpomiemie, before his death, worked as the special adviser to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on youth development.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

Although the police command in the state has confirmed the sad development, it is for now not known what sparked the violence that led to Akpomiemie's death.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that Ahmed Ogembe, the senator representing Kogi central on Friday, February 15, survived an auto crash along the Abuja-Lokoja road on his way to Okene for elections.

Duke Opeyemi, Ogembe's special adviser on media and publicity disclosed this in Lokoja. He said that the accident occurred around 9am on Friday at Gegu community in Kotonkarfe local government area of Kogi state.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

Offa bank robbery: My husband was killed just a year to his retirement | Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | House of Reps reacts to election postponement

- The spokesman of the House of Representatives has reacted to the postponement of the presidential and National Assembly elections

- The reps spokesperson, Abdulrazak Namdas, described the development as unfortunate

The spokesman of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak Namdas (APC-Adamawa), on Saturday decried the postponement of the general elections.

In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, Namdas described the postponement as unfortunate.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on Saturday shifted the elections few hours to the opening of polling units.

READ ALSO: Just in: Elections postponement plan to disenfranchise voters - Atiku

The commission blamed the postponement on logistics challenges that could affect the process negatively.

Namdas expressed hope that the postponement would be a blessing in disguise for the country.

It is unfortunate that it has happened like this, we hope that the outcome of the postponement will be the best for Nigerians.

I hope that it is a blessing in disguise, it is better to have an election that is credible than to rush and do the elections with issues, he said.

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

NAN reports that the commission had postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections from February 16 to February 23, and moved the Governorship and State Houses of Assembly elections from March 2 to March 9.

Legit.ng earlier reported that the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council has condemned the postponement of the general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The spokesperson for the presidential campaign council, Festus Keyamo, in a statement made available to Legit.ng, condemned the postponement of the elections but urged the APC supporters to remain patient and determined.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

2019 election: Who will win? Anambra residents speak | Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Thief who is unable to swim jumps into lagoon after snatching phone in Lagos traffic

Lagos state is definitely not a place for the fainthearted. It is filled with several Nigerians who go about trying to earn a living. Whether it is a legitimate living is another matter entirely.

Individuals are often warned to be at alert when on the streets of Lagos owing to the number of criminals looking for whom to dupe.

Legit.ng recently gathered the report of a young thief who was apprehended after he stole someone's phone.

According to reports, the man had jumped into the lagoon after snatching a phone from an unsuspecting passenger in Lagos traffic.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read the best news about Nigeria

Unfortunately for the criminal, he could not swim and he eventually had to be rescued by passersby.

One of his rescuers even threatened to push him back into the lagoon after the phone was recovered, but he was cautioned by people who told him to let the police handle the matter.

Passersby recovering the stolen phone from the rescued thief Photo: @amandachisomblog_ / Instagram

Source: Instagram

READ ALSO: Personal letter from the Editor-in-Chief of Legit.ng (formerly NAIJ.com)

See the video below:

Nawa o.

Meanwhile Legit.ng previously reported that a roadside thief was caught and punished by the passengers he tried to steal from.

It was gathered that the thief had attempted to steal a phone from one of the occupants in a moving car. The passengers had however managed to grab his hand and they rained several slaps and punches on him as the car drove on.

The thief pleaded for mercy but they made sure to not give in to his pleas.

HELLO! NAIJ.com (naija.ng) upgrades to Legit.ng We keep evolving to serve our readers better.

Nigeria News 2018: BUSTED Police Arrest One-Chance Tricycle Thieves, Human Traffickers | Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Breaking: I am deeply disappointed - Buhari reacts to elections postponement (full statement)

President Muhammadu Buhari has reacted to the postponement of the 2019 elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

In a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday, February 16, President Buhari expressed disappointment over the decision of the electoral umpire to postpone the elections.

Read the president's full statement below:

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT BUHARI ON THE POSTPONEMENT OF GENERAL ELECTIONS BY INEC

"I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement.

READ ALSO: House of Reps reacts to election postponement

"Many Nigerians have traveled to various locations to exercise their right to vote, and international observers are gathered.

"INEC themselves have given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. We and all our citizens believed them.This administration has ensured that we do not interfere in any way with the work of INEC except to ensure that all funds were released to the commission.

"We now urge INEC to ensure not only that materials already distributed are safe and do not get into wrong hands, but that everything is done to avoid the lapses that resulted in this unfortunate postponement, and ensure a free and fair election on the rescheduled dates.

"While I reaffirm my strong commitment to the independence, neutrality of the electoral umpire and the sanctity of the electoral process and ballot, I urge all political stakeholders and Nigerians to continue to rally round INEC at this trying national moment in our democratic journey.

"I, therefore, appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development.

"I have decided to move back to Abuja to ensure that the 14.00 hrs meeting called by INEC with all stakeholders is successful."

PAY ATTENTION: Read the news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, President Buhari has returned to Abuja after postponement of the elections.

The president left his home town in Daura, Katsina state and returned to the presidential villa in Abuja to await the briefing by the chairman of INEC, Mahmood Yakubu.

President Buhari's spokesperson, Garba Shehu, announced this while speaking to journalists on TVC, Saturday morning.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. We have upgraded to serve you better.

2019 election: Who will win? Anambra residents speak | Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Just in: Why INEC was not ready for polls - Balarabe Musa reveals, blames FG, NASS

- Alhaji Balarabe Musa, a former governor of Kaduna state, has voiced his views on the recent postponement of the general elections by INEC

- Musa said that INEC was not ready for the polls due to the alleged inadequate funds made available to it by the National Assembly

- The former governor also claimed that Nigerians are not even sure if the federal government actually released the said funds to INEC

The former Kaduna state governor, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, on Saturday, February 16, expressed disappointment over the postponement of the general elections, but declared that INEC was never prepared for the exercise in the first place.

INEC had announced the postponement, few hours to the kickoff of the presidential and National Assembly polls. The chairman of the electoral commission, Mahmood Yakubu, while announcing the postponement in Abuja, attributed the step to overwhelming logistics and operational challenges.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

The commission fixed Saturday, February 23 and Saturday, March 9, as new dates for the presidential and National Assembly elections and , the governorship and state Assembly polls respectively.

But Musa, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Kaduna on Saturday said he was disappointed, but not surprised, at the development.

The former governor said: I am not surprised because INEC was never ready for the exercise, given the level of its preparations. INEC had serious funding challenges; what was appropriated to the commission by the National Assembly was not adequate and everyone knew it.

We are not even sure if the approved amount was released to the electoral body by the Federal Government. The logistics and operational challenges are glaring. There are also serious security challenges that may affect the agency in the course of the elections.

The security services are facing the same funding crises and most of them are living in fear.You can also see the serious challenges being faced by the Judiciary, who are supposed to play a major role in the election process, Musa said.

PAY ATTENTION: Get the Latest Nigerian News Anywhere 24/7. Spend less on the Internet!

So, I must say that I am disappointed, but, again, as I said, I am not surprised. I hope that all the stakeholders will take the necessary measures to help INEC address the issues before Feb, 23, the new date for the Presidential polls, because the President can only handover power to an elected person.

Furthermore, Musa called on all Nigerians and stakeholders to remain calm, while waiting for the new dates for the polls.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the recent postponement of the much-awaited general elections that were expected to kick-off on Saturday, February 16, has triggered series of mixed reactions and comments from stakeholders, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's spokesman, Laolu Akande and Nigerians generally, especially on social media.

Nigerians on social media have aired their views on the shifting of the general elections by the INEC on Saturday, February 16.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

2019 Election: Atiku may win and Buhari will be declared winner| Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Election 2019: HLSI debunks allegation of APC campaign scandal

- A group recently raised an alarm over an alleged campaign fund scam against the APC

- The group claimed an Israeli security firm working with the ministry of transportation was bankrolling the APC presidential campaign

- The firm, HLSI Security Firms and Technologies advised the public to ignore the allegations

Some media reports suggesting that the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign funds is being sponsored by an Israeli firm, and the company is planning to jam the network in Nigeria has been debunked.

The company mentioned, HLSI Security Firms and Technologies, has advised the public to ignore the allegations.

In a statement sent to Legit.ng on Friday, February 15, the organisation stated that its operations in Nigeria have been for more than twelve years and at no time have HLSI been accused of any form of integrity deficit.

READ ALSO: Election 2019: YIAGA Africa deploys 3,906 observers for polls

Part of the statement read: The timing of this recycled fiction clearly exposes the intention of those behind it. Undoubtedly, they are those who think that the best way to divert attention from the issues of the day is to fabricate misleading stories few hours to the election.

Their aims are malicious as they are agents of distortion. We will not be distracted. We know who they are, and they know themselves. As professionals we try our best not to interfere with domestic political issues in countries where we operate. We have been working in this country for more than twelve years and at no time have we been accused of any form of integrity deficit.

The status of our firm has been verified over and again and we were never found wanting. Our records in this regard speak for themselves. This latest attempt to use our good name ignorantly to attempt to tarnish the image of the honorable minister is another exercise in futility.

The statement noted that the HLSI is committed to doing its business strictly under the anti-bribery convention rules, adding that the company's work ethics comply with known international standards.

Continuing, the company said: We therefore regret reading the entire tissue of misrepresentation and inaccuracies currently in circulation and peddled by interested parties in Nigeria.

It must be noted that while elections come and go, we will not allow these merchants of mischief to create imaginary baggage on our hard-earned global reputation. We are monitoring the situation closely and we will not hesitate to use necessary legal means to defend ourselves.

It must be noted that the contract in question passed through all relevant departments including the Federal Executive Council (FEC) before it was approved. It does not any way breach any laws of the land nor affect internal security.

We are happy to release all relevant details that confirm for instance that there is no component of this project that has anything to do with telecommunications not to talk of contemplating jamming telephone signals.

Again, those who are peddling these obsolete lies are unpatriotic elements whose sole aim is to cause panic and fear among the public. The public should be aware and ignore them as nothing like that is being contemplated to the best of our knowledge.

The company challenged anyone who has any contrary information to stay it, adding that it will continue to deliver on its assignments across the country with precision and professionalism.

Finally as professionals, we must warn that those who may intend to disrupt the internet, jam waves and deny Nigerians access to information especially during this time must not drag our company into what appears to be a rehashed evil plot, the statement concluded.

READ ALSO:NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

In a related development, Ballard Partners, a top United States lobbyist/Public Relations firm has denied working for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2019 elections.

According to the Brian Ballard, the Chief Executive Officer of the firm, the organisation has not conducted any survey or research for the Nigerian opposition party.

Ballard's made the clarification in a tweet posted on the organisation's Twitter page on Wednesday, February 13.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng. Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

2019 Elections: Sirleaf Meets With INEC Chairman | Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Seven from heaven: 25-year-old lady naturally delivers septuplets

- Woman delivers seven babies in natural birth in Iraq

- The 25-year-old woman is believed to have delivered the first septuplets in the country

- Youssef Fadl, the children's father, revealed that he and his wife now have ten children to look after

In what is believed to be a miracle, a woman has successfully delivered septuplets in Iraq. The woman who delivered her babies naturally is said to be in good health, with her newborn children also doing well.

According to DailyMail, the woman is the first to deliver septuplets in the Middle-Eastern country. It was gathered that she put to birth at a hospital in Diyali province.

Hospital spokesperson revealed that the unidentified woman had delivered six girls and one son.

READ ALSO: Nigerian mother celebrates her quadruplets 1st birthday in style (photos)

The children's father. Youssed Fadl, explained that he and his wife never planned to expand their family. He revealed that they now have ten children to take care of, including the three children they already had.

PAY ATTENTION: Read best news on Nigeria's #1 news app

PAY ATTENTION: Get your daily relationship tips and advice on Africa Love Aid group

Fadl, who is now a father of ten children, also revealed that his wife had not even considered having more children.

READ ALSO: NAIJ.com upgrades to Legit.ng: a letter from our Editor-in-Chief Bayo Olupohunda

Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that God answered a Nigerian woman's prayers after years of waiting to have a child. The woman, Alore Khadijat, had been blessed with four beautiful babies at once, after several years of waiting.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng We have upgraded to serve you better

Nigeria Breaking News: 34-Year-Old Woman Gives Birth to a Set of Quintuplets in Awka - on Legit TV

[embedded content]

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Home | News | General | Police personnel will not carry firearms at polling centres, says Adamu, acting IGP

Assures of adequate security arrangements for INEC staff, election materials, others

By Joseph Erunke

THE acting Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, today,said police personnel who will be deployed to polling centres will not be allowed to carry firearms.

This was even as he said adequate security arrangements had been made to protect staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC officials, election materials, installations, and voters.

The police chief spoke in Abuja when a delegation of European Union,EU Election Observation Mission to Nigeria visited him.

According to him,while the elections would last, security personnel would keep surveillance at the polling areas to ensure that restriction of movement and other rules were obeyed as stipulated by the electoral law.

Adamu assured that the force, in collaboration with other security agencies, would provide security at the various centres from the beginning to the collation stages of the elections.

He said:Your presence here in Nigeria to see the process will give credence to the fact that proper arrangement or otherwise has been made, he said.

We have done a lot in terms of security and training of our personnel in respect of the elections.

Your mission to Nigeria is very important since every Nigerian will want credible elections.

Speaking earlier, the leader of the delegation, who is the Chief Monitor, Domini Howell, said the visit was to find out the level of preparedness of the police for the elections.

He said:We know security is important during the elections, so we want to meet you and know your activities for the day of the elections.

Ms Howell said the EU had had 11 persons in Nigeria for the past one month to monitor the level of preparation for the general elections.

She explained that the union currently had 40 persons in the field, adding that on the day of the election, no fewer than 120 would be in the field and people from the EU embassies would join.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
SNc Channels:



Search

About Salem-News.com



Feb-16-2019 01:46 TweetFollow @OregonNews Oregon Wildlife Center Makes National News With Unusual Gift Idea "Ex's" find their names assigned to salmon and eaten by bears.

NOTE: Due to overwhelming response, Wildlife Images can no longer honor the Catch and Release certificate/photo option.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Valentines Day is done and dusted for another year. Whether you spent it with someone special or spent it alone, we hope you had a wonderful day. We can almost guarantee that you had a better day than the ex-partners of all the people who took advantage of a unique gift idea from Oregons Wildlife Images Rehabilitation Center for animals, which is currently counting the profits of its latest publicity stunt. In honor of Valentines Day, Wildlife Images came up with a highly original idea to get some extra donation money from the public, and have some fun doing it. Specifically, they invited spurned, jilted or otherwise unlucky-in-love individuals to have salmon named after their ex-partners, and then fed to the Centers two brown bears, Kodi and Yak. Bears hunt fish in the wild, and will go to great lengths to secure their prey and enjoy their fishy dinner. Having salmon hand-fed to them is a real treat, and so they'll understandably devour any fish fed to them directly with a great deal of enthusiasm. Those who took advantage of the offer were rewarded not only with the knowledge that a fish bearing their former lover's name was eaten, but also a special certificate and a photo of the fish being consumed, to commemorate the special moment. We imagine that the photos were quite the sight to behold. Because brown bears have fluffy fur and are the least likely to attack humans, the general public has a preconception that theyre cute and cuddly - especially when compared to the more aggressive grizzly bear or black bear. With their soft eyes and fur, they look like they could join the gang of animals who star in the Fluffy Favorites slot, all of whom are adorable stuffed toys of the kind youd happily take to bed and snuggle up to. The Fluffy Favorites gang are friendly creatures whose only interest is in helping you win money on the reels. A brown bear, despite its appearance, would tear the reels to shreds in the search for foods. It may look lovable, but you should never approach one for a hug and a selfie. The photos would show them at their most savage, tearing the salmon apart without mercy. That sentiment was echoed in the text that appeared on the Wildlife Images Facebook page, which invited users to let our 1000 pound brown bears tear into your ex'. While there's probably a school of thought that says naming a living creature after your ex-partner for the sole purpose of having it savagely killed isn't healthy, there was no shortage of people taking them up on the offer at $20 a time. It turned out to be so popular that the center eventually stopped accepting new donations for the service.' That didn't mean that the bears went without their meals, though. For the same price, the center also offered a catch' service, where salmon was named in honor' of your current partner, and the same offer involving the photograph and the certificate was made. To the cynical eye, unless the bears made a conscious effort to eat the catch' salmon in a more tender and sympathetic manner, both options amounted to the same thing. That, too, eventually stopped taking new submissions due to popular demand. The ex-partners whose names appeared on the salmon aren't involved in the process in any way; they weren't contacted as part of the offer, and will never know that they were turned into a fishy effigy and eaten unless their ex decides to be mean-spirited enough to tell them. Some animal lovers may be concerned about the prospect of the bears being gorged on fish at too heavy a rate while Wildlife Images looks to fulfill all the orders, but they need have no such concern. The center has already requested that buyers be patient, as fulfilling all the orders may take up to two weeks. That's good news for Kodi and Yak, who can look forward to a steady stream of their favorite food in the days to come. Given the unusual nature of the promotion, it made the news far outside of the Oregon area. Fox News was one of several large national media companies to pick up and report on the story. Wildlife Images is probably delighted by that, as it raises awareness of both their existence and their cause, as well as potentially opening the door for them to receive further donations and financial support. The Wildlife Images Rehabilitation Center receives no state or federal support, and so is entirely dependent on charity to continue both its existence and its work. They say that they deal with more than one thousand injured or sick animals who are brought to their center for help every year, and with an ever-increasing number of patients to rehabilitate and treat, they need increasingly substantial amounts of money in order to keep going. As well as donations, the center is interested in hearing from people who have time to donate to them; they have a team of over one hundred animal ambassadors who perform a range of functions for the center, and would be appreciative of your support if you wanted to assist. As well as tending for the sick, they also run education programs in the local community, aimed at both informing people of the world around them, and what they can do to help the environment. While it's probably true to say that whoever came up with the two identical Valentine's Day offers at Wildlife Images was guilty of bear faced cheek,' even they have probably been surprised by the success of the offer, and the level of interest that it received. It should be safe to assume that they'll be looking to repeat the offer again next year. That's an incentive to those in the Oregon area and further afield to stay faithful to their partners over the coming twelve months, lest they too find their names assigned to some salmon, and eaten by bears. Source: Salem-News.com Special Features Dept. _________________________________________

Oregon | Most Commented on





Articles for February 16, 2019 |
Home | News | General | Election 2019: Polls will produce God-fearing leaders - Okowa

- Delta state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa, has predicted that the 2019 general elections will be hitch-free

- The governor also expressed confidence that the elections will produce God-fearing leaders across Nigeria

- Governor Okowa made the comment at a prayer rally organised by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)

Delta state governor, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa has expressed confidence that with prayers, the 2019 general elections will be hitch-free and produce God-fearing leaders for the country.

The governor made the comment on Monday, February 11, at Ughelli, Ughelli north local government area of the state during a prayer rally organised by Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).

Governor Okowa said Nigeria as a country is due for restoration, adding that the elections would bring about deserved benefits for Nigerians.

READ ALSO:We have decided to support Atiku - 2 presidential candidates drop ambition

His words: As we move into the elections, it is time for restoration, time to get deserved benefits as Nigerians, but, before the restoration, there is some work for the church to do, there is some work for our people to do.

We must pray for our state and our nation because, no matter how powerful a man may be, there is always limitations but with God, there is no limit, there is nothing God cannot do.

I am confident in the name of Jesus that what He says will be, will be and with prayers, God's directions, we will have peaceful elections and our nation will be healed when we have God-fearing people as our leaders.

Nigeria deserves a healing, healing of the land but the power of the healing can only come from heaven and as Christians, we must come openly to God and ask God for the forgiveness of our sins and live righteous life; once we are properly connected to the Lord Jesus.

There is nothing that will stop us; we must be ready to do what we ought to do and we must pray because, when we call on His name, He will come down mightily to deliver us.

He thanked CAN for organising the rally, assuring that in the next four years, he will continue to partner with CAN and all Deltans to deliver democratic dividends.

Chairman, CAN, Delta state chapter, Apostle Sylvanus Okorote thanked Okowa for attending the ceremony despite his tight schedule.

He advised those seeking offices to play by the rules, prophesying that, in this elections, there shall be no thuggery; we say no to election violence, thuggery, killing.

At the well attended rally, prayers were offered for peaceful, free, fair, transparent elections and peace in Delta state before, during and after the elections. Prayers were also, offered for Governor Okowa, Delta state and the country.

READ ALSO: PDP sues INEC for insisting on card readers

Meanwhile, the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has reminded the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the security agencies that they would bear both the blame and praise in the conduct of the 2019 general elections, admonishing them to exhibit the highest sense of patriotism and professionalism.

Ekweremadu gave the admonition while speaking to journalists at the Enugu West Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) mega rally held in Agwu, Enugu state, ahead of the February 16 elections.

The lawmaker said it was also up to the security agencies to live up to their several promises of neutrality, professional conduct, and protection of INEC, electoral materials and voters.

NAIJ.com (naija.ng) -> Legit.ng: Same great journalism, upgraded for better service!

A new king will emerge to restore Nigeria - Prophetess Judith| Legit TV

[embedded content]

Source: Legit.ng

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM: General

Loading...
Robert Muellers team has questioned Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary has confirmed.

In a statement to CNN, Ms Sanders, 36, said she had been questioned last year by the special counsel probing Russias alleged interference in the 2016 election, and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel, she said.

I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them.

The network said the interview was one of the final known interviews to have been carried out by Mr Muellers team.

It was conducted late last year, at around the same time prosecutors spoke to then-White House chief of staff John Kelly.

A number of other senior officials, including former White House communications director Hope Hicks and former press secretary Sean Spicer, were also brought in for questioning, it said.

The White House did not immediately agree to grant the special counsel an interview with Ms Sanders, CNN said.

Special counsel office spokesman Peter Carr has declined to comment.
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal in a first for the Roman Catholic church over accusations American Theodore McCarrick sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said Saturday.

McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican's College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse.

He was found guilty in January by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with "no further recourse", according to the statement.

It said McCarrick was guilty of "sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".

The announcement marks a spectacular fall from grace for the once influential cardinal and comes ahead of a Vatican conference from February 21-24 bringing together bishops from around the world to discuss protecting children within the Church.

Sex abuse scandals around the globe, and most recently in the United States and Chile, have shaken the church, with Pope Francis promising a policy of "zero tolerance" even for high-ranking church members.

McCarrick, former archbishop emeritus of Washington, was barred from practising as a priest in July last year, after which he resigned his honorary title of cardinal. He currently lives in Kansas.

- Sex with adult seminarians -

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops reacted swiftly, saying the decision "is a clear signal that abuse will not be tolerated".

"No bishop, no matter how influential, is above the law of the Church," Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the bishops conference, said in a statement which also called for all victims of abuse to contact the police.

SNAP, a group representing survivors of abuse by priests, suggested Saturday that the McCarrick decision had been "'fast-tracked' by the hierarchy" in the days before the Vatican abuse conference "because it's so damning".

Story continues

The group called on Catholic officials to practise the transparency they have promised, and said in a statement that criminal charges should be filed not just against McCarrick but "against Church officials who hid his wrongdoing for decades".

McCarrick was known for having sex with adult seminarians before he was accused of sexually abusing at least one teenager.

Prosecutors in the US state of Pennsylvania last year found 300 priests were involved in child sexual abuse since the 1940s, crimes that were covered up by a string of bishops.

Prosecutors in half a dozen other US states have announced plans for similar investigations.

The pope accepted the resignations of several bishops in Chile last year after investigations revealed decades of sexual abuse by clergy in their dioceses.

In March 2015, Pope Francis allowed Keith O'Brien to keep the title of cardinal after the former bishop of Edinburgh and former leader of the Catholic church in Scotland resigned over allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour towards priests in the 1980s.

The only previous case of a cardinal resigning came in 1927, when Pope Pius XI accepted the resignation of French cardinal Louis Billot, who had himself renounced his status for political reasons.

Cardinals act as close papal advisors and, if aged below 80, can attend conclaves to elect new pontiffs.

McCarrick had been one of the most prominent American cardinals active on the international stage.

Although officially retired, McCarrick had continued to travel abroad regularly, including on human rights issues.

McCarrick was ordained a priest in 1958 and rose through the ranks in the Archdiocese of New York before being installed as archbishop of Washington in 2001, a post he held until 2006.

The claims against him were made public in June by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the current archbishop of New York.

Dolan said an independent forensic agency "thoroughly investigated" the allegation.

A review board that included jurists, law enforcement experts, parents, psychologists, a priest and a religious sister then "found the allegations credible and substantiated," and the Vatican ordered McCarrick to stop exercising his ministry.

At the time, he released a statement maintaining his innocence but added that he had "fully cooperated" in the investigation.

Senior US church officials said they had received three allegations of McCarrick's sexual misconduct with adults decades ago, two of which resulted in settlements.

The US Catholic website Crux quoted a man as accusing him of abuse in New York's St Patrick's Cathedral in the 1970s, when the accuser was 16 years old.

Other cardinals caught up in scandal include Australia's top Catholic George Pell, number three in the Vatican. Pell faces prosecution in Australia for historical child sexual offences, which he has denied.

Defrocking is the most severe ecclesiastical punishment for a priest, who is reduced to the status of a lay person and no longer allowed to lead mass.

- Call for pope to resign -

Questions nevertheless remain over McCarrick, including how he rose so high within the Church despite suspicions about his behaviour.

Retired Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano has accused Pope Francis of having ignored sexual assault accusations against McCarrick for five years.

Vigano, who is backed by an ultra-conservative US church faction, in August called for the pope to resign over his alleged silence.

Francis subsequently promised a fresh investigation into McCarrick, including using Vatican archives.

McCarrick could yet face civil suits in the US.
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been found guilty by the Vatican of sex abuse and defrocked, as calls rose Saturday for Pope Francis to reveal what he knew about the once-powerful American prelate's apparently decades-long predatory sexual behavior.

The announcement Saturday, delivered in uncharacteristically blunt language for the Vatican, meant that the 88-year-old McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., becomes the highest-ranking churchman and the first cardinal to be punished by dismissal from the clerical state, or laicization.

He was notified Friday of the decision, which was upheld upon his appeal and approved by Pope Francis.

The pontiff next week leads a summit of bishops from around the world who have been summoned to Rome help him grapple with the entrenched problems of clerical sex abuse and the systematic cover-ups by the Catholic church's hierarchy.

Decades of revelations about priests who have sexually preyed on minors and their bosses who shuffled abusive clergy from parish to parish instead of removing them from access to children have shaken the faith of many Catholics. They also threaten the moral authority of Francis and even the survival of his papacy.

McCarrick, who in his prestigious red cardinal robes hobnobbed with presidents, other VIP politicians and pontiffs, is now barred from celebrating Mass or other sacraments including confession and from wearing clerical garb. He is to be referred to as Mr. McCarrick.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy See's guardian of doctrinal purity, issued a decree on Jan. 11 finding McCarrick guilty of "solicitation in the sacrament of confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power," the Vatican said. That commandment forbids adultery.

On Wednesday, Congregation officials considered his appeal and upheld the decree.

Story continues

The pope "recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as 'res iudicata,'" the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse.

The McCarrick scandal was particularly damning to the church's reputation because it apparently was an open secret in some ecclesial circles that he slept with adult seminarians. Francis yanked McCarrick's rank as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation found credible an allegation he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s.

McCarrick's civil lawyer, Barry Coburn, said Saturday that his client had no comment on the defrocking.

Coburn declined to say if McCarrick would stay at the residence in Kansas where he moved after Francis ordered him to live in penance and prayer while the investigation into his actions continued.

But the Salina, Kansas, diocese, said "Mr. McCarrick will continue to reside at the St. Fidelis Friary in Victoria until a decision of permanent residence is finalized."

Besides bishops arriving for the sex abuse summit, victims' rights advocates are also converging on Rome. They are demanding that Francis, other Vatican officials and bishops elsewhere come clean about how McCarrick managed such a meteoric rise through church ranks despite reports about his sexual life.

"The pope has known from the earliest days of his papacy, or he should have known, that ex-cardinal McCarrick was a sexual predator," said Anne Barrett Doyle, an advocate at BishopAccountability.org.

"He has a resistance to removing bishops and he also has a tolerance for bishops who are sexual wrongdoers," Doyle told The Associated Press on Saturday near St. Peter's Square.

Of the defrocking, Doyle said: "Let McCarrick be the first of many. I can think of 10 other bishops who are substantively, credibly accused of sexual abuse with minor and sexual misconduct with adults, who should be laicized."

A conservative lay group, The Catholic Association, said in a statement that much more must be done to hold accountable "those in the church hierarchy who looked the other way as McCarrick rose through their ranks" and to ensure that priestly celibacy is restored and youths are safeguarded from sexual abuse.

Walking with Doyle was Phil Saviano, a board member of BishopAccountability.org, and a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest. While calling McCarrick's defrocking "ultimately a good thing," he said the punishment should have been meted out long ago.

He said he hoped Francis isn't "throwing a bone to his dissenters in an attempt to quiet everybody down. And then McCarrick will be the one and only, because there are certainly many others who have allegations against them who should face some accountability."

His account of being abused helped the Boston Globe produce a Pulitzer-winning investigation into church cover-ups, which was chronicled in the movie "Spotlight."

When ordained a priest in his native New York City in 1958, McCarrick embraced a vocation that required celibacy. Later on in his career, McCarrick curried cachet at the Vatican as a stellar fundraiser. A globe-trotting powerbroker, McCarrick liked to be called "Uncle Ted" by the young seminarians he courted.

Despite apparent common knowledge in church circles of his sexual behavior, McCarrick rose up through the ranks, even serving as the spokesman for fellow U.S. bishops when they enacted a "zero tolerance" policy against sexually abusive priests in 2002.

One of his accusers, James Grein, the son of a family friend of McCarrick's, testified to church officials that, among other abuses, McCarrick had repeatedly groped him during confession. He said the abuse, which went on for decades, began when he was 11.

"Today I am happy that the pope believed me," Grein said in a statement issued through his lawyer. He expressed hope that McCarrick "will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus' church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children."

Grein said pressure must be put on U.S. state attorney generals and senators to change the statute of limitations for abuse cases.

"Hundreds of priests, bishops and cardinals are hiding behind man-made law," he said.

The current archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where McCarrick was posted at the pinnacle of his career from 2001-2006, said it hoped that the Vatican decision "serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse, as well as those who have experienced disappointment or disillusionment because of what former Archbishop McCarrick has done."

Complaints were also made about McCarrick's conduct in the New Jersey dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, where he previously served.

Francis himself became implicated in the decades-long McCarrick cover-up after a former Vatican ambassador to Washington accused the pope of rehabilitating the cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI despite being told of his penchant for young men.

Francis hasn't responded to those claims but he ordered a limited Vatican investigation. The Vatican has acknowledged the outcome may produce evidence that mistakes were made and said Francis would "follow the path of truth, wherever it may lead."

Sexual abuse scandals have threatened to taint the legacy of past papacies, including that of John Paul II, who has since been made a saint.

The Rev. Marcial Maciel, a pedophile, enjoyed John Paul II's admiration for his success in spurring vocations and for inspiring generous financial donations.

Maciel's predatory crimes against children were ignored for decades by the Vatican bureaucracy.

___

Frances D'Emilio is on twitter at http://www.twitter.com/fdemilio
Former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been defrocked by Pope Francis after Vatican officials found him guilty of sexual crimes against minors and adults, the Vatican said Saturday.

McCarrick was a powerful fundraiser in the church. He is the highest-ranking clergy to be laicized by the clerical state. The action strips McCarrick, 88, of priestly rights and bars him from celebrating Mass.

Hundreds of priests have been defrocked for sexual abuse, but laicizing someone of McCarrick's rank is an almost revolutionary, move for the church, Kurt Martens, a Catholic University of America canon law professor, told The New York Times.

In July 2018, Pope Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation amid the sex abuse scandal. McCarrick was a retired cardinal at the time and faced allegations of sexually abusing a minor nearly five decades ago when he was a priest in New York. He was also accused of engaging in sexual misconduct with adults while he served in New Jersey.

On Jan. 11, McCarrick  who had once served as the archbishop of Washington  was found guilty of solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power, the Vatican said.

The Sixth Commandment addresses sexual behavior.

McCarrick had been embroiled in a scandal that included an apparent open secret that he slept with adult seminarians. He was also found guilty by the Vatican of soliciting for sex while hearing confession.

The sexual abuse of minors by priests and its systematic coverup has been a decades-long crisis for the church. McCarrick's defrocking comes days before Francis is set to lead an international gathering of bishops on the issue of sexual abuse among clergy.

An appeal by McCarrick was rejected and the Vatican said that the decision announced Saturday is final and no longer subject to future appeals.

Contributing: Teresa Lo, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

More: Pope Francis accepts Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's resignation amid sex scandal

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vatican defrocks ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after finding him guilty of sexual crimes
The US has supported Indias right to self defence against cross-border terrorism after an attack claimed by Pakistan-based militants killed at least 44 police officers in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

In comments that will please Indian hawks but also raise fears that tensions between India and Pakistan could escalate yet further, US national security advisor John Bolton reportedly told his counterpart in Delhi, that America offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

Mr Bolton and Ajit Doval also resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions, Indias foreign ministry said in a statement.

The development came after 44 members of an Indian paramilitary police force were this week killed in a car bomb attack on a convoy at Pulwama, near Srinigar. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a group that operates out of Pakistan and was founded by Masood Azhar.

India on Friday claimed it had incontrovertible evidence Pakistan had a direct hand in the attack. Finance minister Arun Jaitley said India would initiate all possible diplomatic steps to ensure the complete isolation from the international community of Pakistan, of which incontrovertible evidence is available of having a direct hand in this gruesome terrorist incident.

He said India was to strip Pakistan of its most favoured nation status , a move that reportedly increased tariffs on Pakistani goods by 200 per cent.

Pakistan has denied it had any role in Thursdays attack and accused India of pointing the finger of blame without conducting a proper investigation. Pakistans foreign secretary Tehmina Janjua said in a statement after meeting foreign ambassadors, there was: A familiar Indian pattern of immediate and reflexive assignment of blame on Pakistan without investigations.

Pakistan has long been accused of harbouring militant groups the nations military historically saw as part of its defence against India. Over the years, its intelligence forces have supplied weapons and logistical support to militants to carry out cross-border attacks in Kashmir, a long-disputed region that each country lays claim to and controls part of it.

Story continues

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

In recent years, Pakistan has said it has dropped its support for such militants, despite its failure to bring to justice figures such as Hafiz Saeed, the founder of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left more than 160 people dead.

Just how to control such militants is a major challenge for prime minister Imran Khan, who was elected last year. Many believe the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, won the election with at least the tacit approval of the countrys powerful military, making it harder for him to crack down on militants that may have links to the armed forces or intelligence services.

Tensions between India and Pakistan, two nuclear-armed nations which have gone to four on four occasions since the two nations secured their independence from Britain in 1947, have worsened in the days since the attack, despite Islamabads insistence it had nothing to do with it.

Indias population is majority Hindu, while Pakistan is overwhelmingly Muslim.

The situation is made more challenging by the fact India is due to hold a general election in May, heaping pressure on Indias prime minister Narendra Modi, as his country looks to how he responds to the attack, the deadliest of its kind in years.

Over the weekend, the bodies of members of the central reserve police force killed in the bombing, were returned to villages and towns across the country for funeral rites.

I want to tell the terrorist organisations and their supporters that have made a huge mistake, Mr Modi said on Friday. They will have to pay a very heavy cost for this. I give assurance to the nation that the forces behind the attack, the culprits behind this attack  they will definitely be punished for their actions.
Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy

Press Release: 15th February 2019

How many Deaths will it take till we know That too many people have died?

PIPFPD is shocked and saddened by the loss of lives of 44 CRPF personnel in a militant attack in Lethapora, Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir. The gruesome manner in which an explosives laden vehicle, driven by a suicide bomber, rammed into a CRPF convoy and the scale of the operation is horrifying. Loss of precious lives is tragic and painful. While investigations are underway, it is alleged that Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) orchestrated this dastardly attack.

All civilized societies must prevent bloodshed and condemn, mourn killings. It is equally important to understand the genesis of the attack and find ways to ensure that such incidents do not happen in future. It is also important to make sure that violence and war are not irresponsibly perpetuated in the name of avenging the blood of the deceased.

The incident raises several pertinent questions that must be addressed. According to some reports intelligence inputs about an impending attack were available with the security agencies. Also, the entire highway where the attack took place, is heavily sanitized. The militant who carried out the attack released his video talking about a fidayeen strike before the attack. All these reports suggest a possible security lapse that must be probed along with questions of how such a huge quantity of explosives was piled up and stored. It must also be investigated as to why such a large convoy of military personnel was moving together, in a conflict zone like Kashmir.

PIPFPD unequivocally condemns this and all acts of terrorwhether perpetrated by state or non-state actors. While India and Pakistan must conduct investigations into this attack, the attack is a clear outcome of flawed Kashmir-centric policies of the Indian government and the misplaced claims of wiping out militancy from Kashmir. The rigid muscular policy pursued by the Government of India, without any attempts for a political outreach, have created conditions that are conducive for militancy. Excessive repression in the Kashmir valley, particularly since 2016, with men, women and children being killed and maimed with bullets and pellets, highly disproportionate scale of crackdowns and arrests and increasing graph of human rights violations often pushes young men to pick up the gun against the state. It is not out of place to mention that militancy is an off-shoot of a deeper malaise including an unaddressed political dispute, subversion of democracy and democratic rights of people and neglect of human rights violations.

PIPFPD, among many other organisations and people, have raised these issues consistently. Two reports (Blood Censored & Why are People Protesting in Kashmir), authored by members of PIPFPD in 2017 and 2018 respectively, had gone on to warn about the worsening situation and the failure of state policies. Sadly, except for further war mongering, these killings are never used by the two governments to brainstorm towards conflict transformation.

PIPFPD calls for major steps to ensure end to violence in Kashmir and the sub-continent.

We recommend:

1. Apart from fighting militants militarily, Indian government must open channels of negotiation with the people of Kashmir and introduce genuine confidence building measures to pave way for a more structured dialogue.

2. New Delhi and Islamabad must resume composite and unconditional dialogue between India and Pakistan and make people of Jammu and Kashmir an inclusive part of the dialogue.

Tapan Bose, Syeda Hameed & Vijayan MJ

On Behalf of Pakistan India Peoples Forum for Peace & Democracy

# 09868165471, pipfpd.india[at]gmail.com
By Gabriela Baczynska

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Britain could accept legally-binding assurances on the disputed Irish border backstop that would not require reopening of the EU-UK Brexit deal, diplomatic sources said, signalling a possible shift from Prime Minister Theresa May's official line.

EU and British diplomatic sources told Reuters after talks earlier this week between Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay and the bloc's chief negotiator Michel Barnier, however, that London was still seeking changes to the backstop that the EU has already ruled out.

"Potentially those things can be achieved without changing the Withdrawal Agreement," a British official said of the legal guarantees on the backstop that London was demanding.

"If they can get what they want through other means, they'll accept that the Withdrawal Agreement will not be reopened," one EU diplomat said of what was discussed during the Barnier-Barclay meeting.

"But they still want a time limit on the backstop or a unilateral exit," another one said. "Barnier said 'no'."

Both sides are seeking a way out of the stalemate that has prevailed since British lawmakers last month overwhelmingly rejected the Brexit deal May had agreed with the EU last year.

May has since said she would seek changes to that deal to replace the backstop, which some Brexit supporters fear could leave Britain stuck with EU trade rules indefinitely.

The EU has refused to make changes in the legal withdrawal agreement for Britain, saying the backstop is needed as an insurance that no border controls could return between EU member state Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland after Brexit, seen as a key to peace and prosperity on the island.

The bloc is offering to instead tweak the accompanying political declaration on future EU-UK ties and says controls on goods would largely not be needed on the sensitive Irish border should the UK decide to stay in the bloc's customs union.

Story continues

But May has ruled out staying in the EU's customs union as it would undercut a key Brexit promise that Britain would be free to pursue its own trade deals around the world.

On Friday, Barclay was meeting ambassadors of EU states in London before travelling to Brussels on Monday together with the British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox for more talks with Barnier. May is also expected in Brussels next week.

The EU is ready to give London assurances over the backstop in the declaration on future ties or separate statements, EU diplomats and officials say, to unlock the ratification of their Brexit deal in the House of Commons.

The bloc has already produced two rounds of such additional documents in December and in January but they have fallen flat among British parliamentarians.

Sources in the EU's political hub Brussels currently do not expect any Brexit breakthroughs until mid-March, when the risk of the most damaging no-deal Brexit would have grown further.

May stands accused by some critics at home of running the clock down to force her lawmakers into a choice between her deal, no-deal or no Brexit. The EU believes the talks would go right down to the wire with a March 21-22, make-or-break summit of the bloc's national leaders.

(Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Andrew Heavens)
MUNICH (Reuters) - The European Union must recognise Venezuelan congress leader Juan Guaido as the president of the South American country, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday, pressing not just individual European governments but the bloc as a whole.

In a speech at the Munich Security Conference, Pence said Guaido, who has declared himself interim leader and has won U.S. and international support to replace Nicolas Maduro, deserved that "the rest of the world" recognise him, and called Maduro a dictator who must step down.

"It is time for the rest of the world to step forward. Once more the old world can take a stand in support of freedom in the new world ... Today we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom and recognise Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president of Venezuela," Pence said.

(Reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Mark Potter)
By Andy Sullivan and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON/MUNICH (Reuters) - The United States ratcheted up pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Friday by sanctioning some of his top security officials and the head of the state oil company, and unveiling plans to airlift over 200 tons of aid to the Colombian border. The U.S. Treasury said it sanctioned PDVSA chief Manuel Quevedo, three top intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. Separately, the U.S. State Department said on Friday it was working with the Pentagon and U.S. aid agency to fly humanitarian assistance on Saturday to Cucuta, Colombia, on the Venezuelan border. The steps are part of a wider effort by the United States to undermine Maduro, whose 2018 election it views as illegitimate and whose government it has disavowed, and to strengthen opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido. Quevedo said on Twitter the Venezuelan officials were being sanctioned for guaranteeing peace, building homes and condemning the "coup and military plan of the United States, its allies" and Guaido. U.S. military aircraft were expected to deliver more than 200 tons of humanitarian aid to the border town, a U.S. official said. The United States already has pre-positioned some relief supplies in Colombia and is coordinating with Guaido to mobilize aid for Venezuelans, a State Department spokeswoman said. It was unclear whether any of the U.S. aid being ferried to Colombia would reach Venezuelans. Maduro, who has overseen an economic collapse in the oil-rich country that has left millions struggling to buy food and medicine and fueled an unprecedented migration crisis in the region, has refused to allow supplies in. "This man Maduro has created a humanitarian crisis," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in Reykjavik. "As soon as this weekend we will continue to deliver massive humanitarian assistance. Hopefully Mr. Maduro will allow that in to his country." The aid convoy dispatched by the United States and Colombia arrived in Cucuta last week, where it is being held in warehouses. U.S. President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton worked to undermine Maduro on Friday, saying economic and political pressure was squeezing his top government officials and claiming without offering any evidence that "a clear majority, maybe almost all of them" were talking to the opposition about supporting Guaido or leaving the country. Bolton appeared to confirm reports that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza met in New York with U.S. special envoy for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, and suggested Maduro should ask himself what they talked about. Bolton also said he thought "Russia and China are hedging" their support for Maduro because of concern about the Maduro government's indebtedness to Moscow and Beijing. Guaido invoked constitutional provisions to declare himself interim president last month, arguing that Maduro's 2018 re-election was a sham. Most Western countries, including the United States and many of Venezuela's neighbors, have recognized Guaido as the legitimate head of state. Maduro retains the backing of Russia and China and control of Venezuelan state institutions including the military. The U.S. Treasury took aim at some of Maduro's allies with its sanctions on Friday. "We are sanctioning officials in charge of Maduro's security and intelligence apparatus, which has systematically violated human rights and suppressed democracy, including through torture," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. Also targeted was Ivan Hernandez, commander of Maduro's Presidential Guard, which Treasury says has tortured Maduro's opponents and carried out other human rights abuses. Manuel Cristopher, director general of Venezuela's Sebin intelligence agency, and Hildemaro Rodriguez, first commissioner of the service, also were sanctioned. The Treasury's action freezes all property in the United States belonging to the five sanctioned officials as well as that of any entities in which they own 50 percent or more. In a sign that the Trump administration may be trying to split the men from Maduro, the Treasury Department noted in its statement that "U.S. sanctions need not be permanent; sanctions are intended to bring about a positive change of behavior." "The United States has made clear that we will consider lifting sanctions for persons ... who take concrete and meaningful actions to restore democratic order, refuse to take part in human rights abuses, speak out against abuses committed by the government, and combat corruption in Venezuela," it said. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington and Idrees Ali in Munich; Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton in Rejkjavik and by Lisa Lambert and Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Writing by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Tom Brown and Sandra Maler)
By Steve Holland PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will get an update on trade talks with China on Saturday at his Florida retreat, after U.S.-Chinese discussions in Beijing saw progress ahead of a looming March 1 deadline for reaching a deal. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump would meet members of his trade team at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on Saturday afternoon. Joining Trump in person will be U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and trade expert Peter Navarro, said Sanders. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and other aides will join by phone. At a White House press conference on Friday, Trump said he may extend the March 1 deadline and keep tariffs on Chinese goods from rising. U.S. duties on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are set to rise to 25 percent from 10 percent if no deal is reached by March 1 to address U.S. demands that China curb forced technology transfers and better enforce intellectual property rights. Both the United States and China reported progress in five days of negotiations in Beijing this week but the White House said much work remains to be done to force changes in Chinese trade behavior. Trump said on Friday the United States was closer than ever before to having a real trade deal with China but that the talks were very complicated. Chinas Vice Premier and chief trade negotiator Liu He and Lighthizer are to lead the next round of talks this coming week in Washington. (Reporting by Steve Holland in Palm Beach, Florida; Editing by Michelle Price and James Dalgleish)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government and Facebook Inc are negotiating a settlement over the company's privacy lapses that could require the online social network to pay a multibillion-dollar fine, the Washington Post reported on Thursday.

The newspaper said that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Facebook had not agreed on an amount, citing two people it said were familiar with the matter. Facebook reported fourth-quarter revenue of $16.9 billion and profit of $6.9 billion.

The FTC has been investigating revelations that Facebook inappropriately shared information belonging to 87 million of its users with the now-defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.

The probe has focused on whether the sharing of data with Cambridge Analytica and other privacy disputes violated a 2011 agreement with the FTC to safeguard users' privacy.

An eventual settlement may also mandate changes in how Facebook does business.

Facebook declined to comment directly on the Washington Post report. "We have been working with the FTC and will continue to work with the FTC," a spokeswoman said.

The FTC declined comment.

The biggest FTC fine for a privacy lapse was $22.5 million levied on Alphabet Inc's Google in 2012. The agency has had bigger settlements on other issues.

The FTC settled with pharmaceutical company Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in 2015 for $1.2 billion to resolve antitrust violations committed by Cephalon, which it had acquired.

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Bill Rigby)
By Andy Sullivan and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on top Venezuelan security officials and the head of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA as it ratcheted up pressure on embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro over an election it says was illegal. Along with PDVSA head Manuel Quevedo, Treasury targeted three top Venezuelan intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in masked nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. "We are sanctioning officials in charge of Maduro's security and intelligence apparatus, which has systematically violated human rights and suppressed democracy, including through torture and other brutal use of force," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. Washington has disavowed Maduro's government and backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month invoked articles of the Venezuelan constitution and declared himself president. Guaido promised to end a humanitarian crisis caused by an economic collapse. Also targeted was Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala, commander of Maduro's Presidential Guard, which Treasury says has tortured Maduro's opponents and carried out other human rights abuses. Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, director general of the Venezuelan National Intelligence Service, and Hildemaro Jose Rodriguez Mucura, first commissioner of the service, also were sanctioned. (Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
By Sanjeev Miglani and Fayaz Bukhari NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR (Reuters) - The United States has told India it supports its right to defend itself against cross-border attacks, the government in New Delhi said on Saturday as it considers retaliation against a car bombing in disputed Kashmir claimed by Pakistan-based militants. Tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have risen again after India, incensed by the killing of 44 paramilitary police in the deadliest attack in Kashmir in decades, demanded that Pakistan act against the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group behind the bombing. It has begun a diplomatic and economic offensive against its neighbor, withdrawing Most Favoured Nation trade privilege earlier in the week. On Saturday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said customs duties on all imports from Pakistan would be raised to 200 percent. The impact is likely to be limited, experts say, with bilateral trade between the two countries barely reaching $2 billion. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government, facing a general election by May, is under pressure from hardline groups for more decisive action against Pakistan. U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton spoke to his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday night, promising to help bring those behind the attack to justice, the Indian foreign ministry said in a readout of the phone call. "The two NSAs vowed to work together to ensure that Pakistan cease to be a safe haven for JeM and terrorist groups that target India, the U.S. and others in the region," the foreign ministry said. "They resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under U.N. resolutions," it added. Pakistan condemned Thursday's attack, in which the bomber slammed into a military convoy, and denied any complicity. The foreign ministry accused India of hacking into its website, a move it said blocked access from many parts of the world. "We knew that the Indians will do such a cheap thing," spokesman Mohammad Faisal said. There was no immediate response from India on the allegation. India has for years accused Muslim Pakistan of backing separatist militants in divided Kashmir, which the neighbors both claim in full but rule in part. Pakistan denies that, saying it only offers political and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination. Modi said on Saturday he had given a free hand to the military to respond to acts of violence. "The country understands the anger simmering within the soldiers," he said at a political rally in western Maharashtra state. ANGER AS BODIES ARRIVE As the bodies of the policemen who died in the car bomb reached their homes in small towns across India, crowds waving the Indian flag gathered in the streets to honor them and demand revenge. Others held flowers as they walked behind the coffins in the towns of Jabalpur, Varanasi and Moga, television showed. Tens of thousands of troops, paramilitary police and state police are deployed across scenic Kashmir to quell the nearly 30-year revolt there, India's only Muslim-majority region. In Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir, authorities imposed a curfew for a second day after mobs attacked vehicles and pelted stones at the homes of Kashmiris, saying they sympathized with the militants. Sanjeev Verma, the divisional commissioner of Jammu, said that the curfew will remain until further orders to maintain law and order. An army column staged a flag march. Kashmiris living in other cities of India also faced a backlash. Aqib Ahmad, a student in the northern Indian hill town of Dehradun, said his landlord asked him to vacate the house. The landlord told him he feared people would attack his property for renting it out to a Kashmiri. (Additional reporting by Nidhi Verma, and Draz Jorgic in Islamabad; editing by Darren Schuettler and Clelia Oziel)
As President Donald Trump declared a state of emergency Friday, he made a number of claims about the number amount of drugs and crime around the southern border and the need for his wall.

Many of these were similar to arguments he has used in the past as he attempted to persuade the public and members of Congress about the need for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But not everything he said was accurate.

Here are the facts behind three of his big claims.

Claim: Illegal immigration leads to crime

Trump has repeatedly claimed undocumented immigrants bring crime to the United States. He did this again on Friday.

Were talking about an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs, Trump said during his speech declaring a national emergency.

There are instances of crimes being committed by people who are in the U.S. illegally. Trump highlighted this issue by pointing out angel moms  grieving relatives of people who were killed by undocumented immigrants  during his speech.

But research suggests that immigrants actually commit crimes less frequently than American-born citizens, and that illegal immigration does not lead to more violent crime.

One study published last March in the journal Criminology looked at whether increasing illegal immigration over the last three decades caused an increase in violent crime. The answer was no. In fact, the researchers found that states with higher shares of undocumented immigrants generally had lower crime rates than those with smaller shares of immigrants.

Another study from the libertarian Cato Institute examined criminal convictions in Texas. This study found that U.S.-born citizens were much more likely to be convicted of a crime than immigrants in the country legally or illegally. The conviction rate for immigrants here illegally was 16% lower than that of native-born citizens and the rate for legal immigrants was 67% lower than native-born citizens.

Story continues

Claim: Immigrants are crossing the border in historically high numbers

Trump also said that the strong economy has attracted a record level of immigrants to cross the border illegally.

We have far more people trying to get into our country today than probably weve ever had before. And weve done an incredible job in stopping them. But its a massive number of people, Trump said on Friday.

The number of people crossing the border illegally has actually been declining in recent years. While more people were caught at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2018 than in 2017, these numbers are still far lower than they were in the mid-2000s, as TIME has previously noted.

More than 521,000 people were apprehended at the border in 2018, up from 416,000 in 2017. But in 2000, during the George W. Bush administration, 1.6 million people were apprehended trying to cross the southern border.

However, the number of migrant families crossing the border has increased. In the early 2000s, most migrants were men coming from Mexico to find higher paying jobs. But in 2017, for example, just 42% of migrants stopped at the border were from Mexico, and more than 107,000 family units were caught.

Claim: Most drugs dont come through legal points of entry

During his speech, the President also spoke about drugs. He called assertions that most drugs that cross the U.S.-Mexico border come in through legal points of entry and that a wall wouldnt stop the flow of illegal drugs all a lie. However, statistics from Trumps own government contradict Trumps claim.

We have tremendous amounts of drugs flowing into our country, Trump said. Much of it coming from the southern border, when you look and when you listen to politicians, particularly certain Democrats, they say It all comes through the ports of entry. Wrong, its wrong. Its just a lie. Its all a lie. They say, Walls dont work. Walls work 100%.

According to the DEAs 2018 Drug Threat Assessment, the majority of drugs coming in illegally over the southern border are coming in through ports of entry.

A small percentage of all heroin seized by [Customs and Border Protection agents] along the land border was between Ports of Entry, the DEA reported.

The majority of the [heroin] flow is through [private vehicles] entering the United States at legal ports of entry, followed by tractor-trailers, where the heroin is co-mingled with legal goods.

Earlier this week, one of Mexicos most infamous drug-lords, El Chapo, was convicted on drug-trafficking charges in New York City.

Prosecutors allege that Joaquin El Chapo Guzman made his fortune by creatively smuggling drugs at multiple legal points of entry using a wide range of transportation modesincluding submarines, planes, tractor trailers and trainsthat would not have been thwarted by a border wall.

According to prosecutors, El Chapo smuggled hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cocaine across the U.S. Mexican border by hiding drugs in jalapeno pepper cans.
Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock

WASHINGTON  President Donald Trump will nominate a top disaster response official in his administration to head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, replacing former FEMA administrator Brock Long.

Jeffrey Byard, of Alabama, currently serves as an associate administrator at the agency, overseeing disaster response, recovery, logistics, and field operations. the White House said Friday.

Byard, a Marine Corps veteran who has four daughters with his wife, Sara, previously worked for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency and led operations for the state during the countrys first large-scale state evacuation during Hurricane Gustav in 2008. He was sworn into his current role in 2017 during the response to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.

He would replace Long, 43, who drew praise and criticism for his agency's response to major disasters, including Hurricane Maria. Long announced this week he was leaving the agency.

Long oversaw the agency through several major disasters, including Western wildfires last year and the destruction of Puerto Rico by Hurricane Maria in 2017. The Trump administration was roundly criticized for not doing more in the aftermath of Maria, which ravaged the island, left nearly 3,000 people dead, and thousands without power.

"While this has been the opportunity of the lifetime, it is time for me to go home to my family  my beautiful wife and two incredible boys," Long said in a statement released by the agency.

His eagerness to be with his family nearly cost him his job last fall.

As his agency was preparing for Hurricane Florence's landfall on the southeast coast in September, Long was being investigated by the DHS inspector general looking into his weekend use of government vehicles for personal travel to his home in Hickory, North Carolina.

Long, who had been Alabama's top emergency official from 2008-11, kept his job after being ordered to repay the federal government for the use of the vehicle.

Story continues

He announced on Wednesday that he was leaving the agency.

Contributing: Ledyard King

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump to nominate Jeffrey Byard to replace outgoing FEMA head Brock Long
Munich (Germany) (AFP) - The United States and European powers voiced sharply differing views on issues from Mideast security to trade Saturday, laying bare a deep trans-Atlantic rift in the era of President Donald Trump.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders at a three-day international security conference voiced dismay at a range of Trump decisions deemed hostile to America's NATO allies.

In one awkward moment Friday, US Vice President Mike Pence said he was bringing greetings from Trump, only to be met with stony silence from a room full of national leaders, ministers and generals.

Merkel said a looming new shot expected in a trade war -- Washington readying to declare European car imports a "national security threat" -- was "frightening", speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

Especially Trump's announcement he would soon pull American troops out of Syria has left allies scratching their heads about how to prevent further chaos and instability there.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian -- whose country contributes about 1,200 troops in the region -- asked why the US would create a power vacuum that could benefit its declared enemy Iran, calling it a "mystery".

A French government source criticised the Trump administration's approach as "we're leaving, you're staying" and added: "They're trying to manage the consequences of a hasty decision and making us carry the responsibility."

- 'Old world, new world' -

In his main speech Saturday, Pence delivered more stern advice for other nations in Europe and beyond.

He reiterated Washington's contention that Iran was planning a new "Holocaust" and told European powers to scrap the 2015 nuclear agreement with Tehran that Trump ripped up last year.

He also criticised a recent initiative of France, Germany and Britain to allow European companies to continue business operations in the Islamic republic despite US sanctions.

Story continues

EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini said Friday the bloc was determined to preserve the "full implementation" of the deal, stressing it was vital to European security.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas argued that without the pact, "the region will not be safer and would actually be one step closer to an open confrontation".

Pence praised some NATO allies for having raised defence spending but reminded others that their contributions were still falling short of the target of two per cent of GDP.

And he reiterated strong US opposition to the Russia-Germany gas pipeline Nord Stream 2 being built that Trump has charged makes the largest EU economy a "captive" of Russia.

"The United States commends all our European partners who have taken a strong stance against Nord Stream 2, and we commend others to do the same," Pence said.

He went on to also criticise pending weapons purchases by NATO allies "from our adversaries" -- seen by Moscow media as a reference to a planned Russia-Turkey arms deal.

"We cannot ensure the defence of the West if our allies grow dependent on the East," Pence said.

On crisis-wracked Venezuela, he called on the 28-member EU to recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido "as the only legitimate president".

"Once more the Old World can take a stance in support of freedom in the New World," he said.

- 'Proud of our cars' -

But there was spirited pushback from Merkel, the veteran leader who has sometimes been dubbed the leader of the free world, and who has spoken out more strongly in her final term as chancellor due to end in 2021.

On Syria, where US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces were clearing the final scrap of territory held by Islamic State jihadists this week, she openly challenged the wisdom of the looming US troop withdrawal.

"Is it a good idea for the Americans to suddenly and quickly withdraw from Syria?" she asked. "Or will it once more strengthen the capacity of Iran and Russia to exert their influence?"

On the trade dispute, she insisted that in Germany "we are proud of our cars" and explained that the biggest plant of luxury brand BMW was not in Bavaria but in South Carolina, from where it exports vehicles to China.

"All I can say is it would be good if we could resume proper talks with one another," she said.

On Nord Stream 2, Merkel said that Europe was already buying Russian gas through other pipelines and declared that "a Russian gas molecule is a Russian gas molecule, no matter whether it comes via Ukraine or through the Baltic Sea".

She also argued that the West must maintain dialogue with Russia, despite the Ukraine conflict and other deep differences.

Most crucially, Merkel cautioned against the erosion of multilateral cooperation to tackle global problems, saying that "we must not simply smash it to pieces".
Covid impact: New Year in Mumbai to be heralded at Thailand time

Why You Are Better off With Using an Online Casino Over a Land-Based One
One thing that is abundantly clear from reading the full text of President Trumps declaration of a national emergency on the southern border  hes barely even deigning to explain why there is a particular crisis today, or why that crisis is so grave that it requires the military to combat it. At its heart its a contemptuous document. Its the proclamation of a monarch, not an argument by a president. And it should fail in court.

Before today, legal writers were guessing at the statutes the president would use to justify defying the will of Congress and using the military to build his border wall. Now we know. In his declaration, hes exclusively using 10 U.S.C. 2808 to reallocate up to $3.6 billion from Department of Defense construction projects  more than double the amount that Congress allocated for wall construction in its border compromise. (He intends to use other funds as well for wall construction, but those arent applicable to the emergency declaration.)

This statute bears virtually no resemblance to the sweeping congressional grants of presidential discretion that allowed Trump to lawfully implement his travel ban or that allow presidents to declare national emergencies. Instead, its a much more carefully drafted law, with carefully defined terms. A court that does its job  applying the plain meaning of the words on the page  should have little patience for the Trump administrations arguments.

I do not dispute that Trump likely can declare a national emergency, in large part because Congress has placed few meaningful restraints on that power, but such declarations dont allow him to do anything he wants; they mainly serve to unlock other statutes which grant him other powers. In this case it unlocks Section 2808:

In the event of a declaration of war or the declaration by the President of a national emergency in accordance with the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) that requires use of the armed forces, the Secretary of Defense, without regard to any other provision of law, may undertake military construction projects, and may authorize the Secretaries of the military departments to undertake military construction projects, not otherwise authorized by law that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces. Such projects may be undertaken only within the total amount of funds that have been appropriated for military construction, including funds appropriated for family housing, that have not been obligated.

Story continues

As statutes go, thats relatively clearly and cleanly written. For Trump to use his $3.6 billion for the wall, he has to show that the emergency requires the use of the armed forces and that the relevant funds are being used to undertake military construction projects . . . that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces.

First, lets consider whether Trumps national emergency actually requires the use of the armed forces. In this regard, the declaration itself damages Trumps case. He claims that the crisis threatens core

The southern border is a major entry point for criminals, gang members, and illicit narcotics. The problem of large-scale unlawful migration through the southern border is long-standing, and despite the executive branchs exercise of existing statutory authorities, the situation has worsened in certain respects in recent years. In particular, recent years have seen sharp increases in the number of family units entering and seeking entry to the United States and an inability to provide detention space for many of these aliens while their removal proceedings are pending. If not detained, such aliens are often released into the country and are often difficult to remove from the United States because they fail to appear for hearings, do not comply with orders of removal, or are otherwise difficult to locate.

Look at the list carefully. Hes listing criminal challenges. Hes listing humanitarian challenges. Hes listing the problems on the border that have existed for decades and that Congress has enacted comprehensive statutory schemes (including funding civilian wall construction and civilian immigration authorities) to combat. Gang activity and drug-smuggling are grave problems, but they are crimes, not acts of war. The declaration doesnt even try to argue that there is a precise, unique challenge that only the military can counter  such as a national disaster that would require the use of the militarys unrivaled heavy-lift capabilities or its immediate access to manpower.

Instead, the declaration cites the wasteful 2018 border deployment, but that is only evidence that the military has been used, not that it must be used. If the mere fact of a deployment were proof of the necessity of military intervention, then there would be no limiting principle on a presidents action. The message is clear  the military is required simply because he says it is required.

But lets suppose that a court decides to grant even that degree of deference to the president. Lets suppose that even in the total absence of armed conflict or the prospect of armed conflict that courts will buy Trumps argument that the armed forces must deploy to the border. Even then, the statute limits their use. They can only undertake military construction projects . . . that are necessary to support such use of the armed forces.

The border wall does not fit that definition. How do we know? Because Congress has defined these terms. Lets turn over to 10 U.S.C. 2801. It defines military construction as any construction, development, conversion, or extension of any kind carried out with respect to a military installation, whether to satisfy temporary or permanent requirements, or any acquisition of land or construction of a defense access road.

The intent is clear  to grant the military the power to build out military installations, and a military installation is a base, camp, post, station, yard, center, or other activity under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of a military department or . . . without regard to the duration of operational control. Each of the precisely described forms of installation represents facilities that support the troops. Under basic rules of statutory construction, the other activity must also fulfill that same purpose. As the Supreme Court held in Circuit City Stores v. Adams, when general words follow specific words in a statutory enumeration, the general words are construed to embrace only objects similar in nature to those objects enumerated by the preceding specific words.

A border wall, by contrast, is a civilian structure to be manned by civilian authorities to perform a civilian mission. The troops would not be creating a military fortification for military use. Not only is it not military construction, its also not necessary in order to support the use of the armed forces  unless one wants to make the fantastical argument that the wall somehow protects the troops who are building the wall. They are not defending the border from actual invasion as defined by the law of armed conflict or relevant American law. They are assisting in a law-enforcement mission that is mainly designed to prevent the commission of federal misdemeanors, not to stop an army that intends to take and hold American territory.

Weve grown sadly accustomed to presidents abusing poorly drafted statutes to stretch their power well beyond the Founders intent. Its strangely comforting to read a statute like Section 2808 thats competently written and precisely drafted. While a court isnt likely to overturn the emergency declaration itself, it is unlikely to believe the administrations fiction that a civilian wall is true military construction or that it is any way necessary to support the use of the armed forces. Indeed Trumps declaration hardly even tries to make the case.

More from National Review
WASHINGTON  After weeks of threatening to declare a national emergency for his controversial border wall, President Donald Trump finally did it.

The president signed a bipartisan spending bill to avert another government shutdown Friday. That bill includes $1.375 billion for his border wall, far short of the $5.7 billion he initially requested. The national emergency and other measures will free up $8 billion  far more than the $5.7 billion he initially demanded  to free up funding for 234 miles of bollard wall, the White House said.

The White House expects to pull the funds from a few places, including military construction cash, asset forfeiture funds at Department of Treasury and drug interdiction money at the Department of Defense.

Now that the spending bill is signed and an emergency has been declared, here's what you can expect to happen next:

Lawsuits

Soon after Trump signed an emergency declaration a slew of political groups started announcing plans to file lawsuits. One organization, the liberal watchdog group Public Citizen, filed a federal suit in the District of Columbia Friday evening arguing against the constitutionality of Trump's actions.

The lawsuit argues that Trump exceeded his powers by declaring an emergency and was a clear violation of the separation of powers.

"The president has no inherent authority to declare emergencies to override appropriations laws and other laws enacted by Congress; his emergency powers are defined and limited by statute," the lawsuit states. "Because no national emergency exists with respect to immigration across the southern border, the Presidents Declaration exceeds the limited authority delegated to the President."

In California, the governor and attorney general  both Democrats  held a news conference Friday in Sacramento also vowing to file a lawsuit to block Trump.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said hes coordinating with other attorneys general around the country to read through the emergency declaration and prepare a federal lawsuit. He said the president has not presented a convincing case that the southern border represents a crisis because crossings are at historic lows.

Story continues

He has the power to declare a national emergency, but this is not 9-11, this is not the Iran hostage crisis of 1979, Becerra said. This is a president showing his disdain for the rule of law and our U.S. Constitution.

Becerra, like many others, also pointed out Trump's own remarks when he announced the order.

"President Trump got one thing right this morning about his declaration when he said, I didnt have to do this. Hes right, he didnt have to do this. In fact, he cant do this because the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to direct dollars," Becerra said.

Experts said Trump's emergency declaration will be a legal headache for the White House.

More: Trump's national emergency plan to build a border wall carries big risks, rewards

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the administration is "very prepared" for legal challenges. Trump seemed to mock the process during remarks at the White House, describing how his emergency order would inevitably face legal challenges, which his administration would fight all the way to the Supreme Court.

"We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country," Trump said. "So I think that we will be very successful in court."

Groups such as Protect Democracy and the Niskanen Center said Thursday, a day before the order was signed, that they were preparing lawsuits to challenge Trump's declaration. The groups said they would represent El Paso County in Texas along with the Border Network for Human Rights in a lawsuit against the administration.

Litigation could go all the way to the Supreme Court, which has smacked down attempts by both Trump and President Barack Obama to go around Congress. How long that takes would depend on several factors, including what programs the White House might tap for funding, who has the right to sue and what court the suits are filed in.

Congress taking action

Congress also has its own options for taking on Trump's decision.

The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee on Friday sent a six-page letter to the president announcing that they would investigate his use of executive power.

"The House Judiciary Committee is commending an immediate investigation into this matter, which raises both constitutional and statutory issues," the letter reads, asking that the president make Justice Department and White House officials, including Counsel Pat Cipollone, available for a "hearing in the coming days."

Lawmakers have other choices of action as well. On Thursday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he supported Congress taking up a resolution to halt the move and vowed to examine other legal methods.

"I will fully support the enactment of a joint resolution to terminate the president's emergency declaration, in accordance with the process described in the National Emergencies Act, and intend to pursue all other available legal options," Nadler said.

Nadler's call for a resolution in Congress points to a rarely used measure that could allow lawmakers to block the emergency declaration. For starters, the resolution  which any member can introduce  puts Republicans in the awkward position of having to vote on an issue that is broadly unpopular with voters.

But to actually rescind the emergency, the joint resolution would need a signature from the president  an unlikely result  or Congress would have to override his veto.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed to fight back against Trump's move but on Friday did not publicly lay out any specifics.

"The President's actions clearly violate the Congresss exclusive power of the purse, which our Founders enshrined in the Constitution," a joint statement from Pelosi and Schumer read. "The Congress will defend our constitutional authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every remedy available."

Pelosi and Schumer argued the national emergency order "transcends partisan politics and goes to the core of the Founders conception for America, which commands Congress to limit an overreaching executive." They called on Republicans to join them in denouncing the order.

"The Presidents emergency declaration, if unchecked, would fundamentally alter the balance of powers, inconsistent with our Founders vision," Pelosi and Schumer said. "The President is not above the law. The Congress cannot let the President shred the Constitution."

Republican divisions

It isn't only Democrats who are wary about Trump's use of executive power.

A number of Republicans have also raised concerns and voiced opposition to the maneuver, saying it allows for a bad precedent that could be used to go around Congress by presidents in years to come when they do not get their way.

The concerns highlighted a possible division within the Republican party, something that could potentially harm Trump in other battles on Capitol Hill, and in the upcoming 2020 election.

On Thursday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she is concerned about use of the declaration to shift billions of dollars Congress has already appropriated.

She said it strikes me as undermining the appropriations process, the will of Congress and of being of dubious constitutionality.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. also said he had concerns that Trump would be violating the Constitution and setting up a bad precedent.

"We have a crisis at our southern border, but no crisis justifies violating the Constitution," he said in a statement.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump declared a national emergency over a border wall. What happens next?
President Donald Trump said Friday that he has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Trump claimed the nomination was for his work opening a dialogue with North Korea. Less than a year ago, Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic meeting. Since then, Trump has claimed North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat, although independent analysts have questioned that assessment.

Trump said Friday that Abe "gave me the most beautiful copy of a letter that he sent to the people who give out a thing called the Nobel Prize. ... He said, 'I have nominated you, respectfully, on behalf of Japan. I am asking them to give you the Nobel Peace Prize.'"

Nominations for the 2019 prize were due to be submitted to the Norwegian Nobel Committee before Feb. 1.

The comments came after a question about Trump's planned summit in Vietnam with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

This is not the first time there has been talk of Trump being nominated for the prize.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has endorsed Trump for the prize, crediting him for starting negotiations with the reclusive North.

And in June, 2018, two Norwegian lawmakers nominated Trump for the peace prize. A group of U.S. lawmakers have also backed Trumps nomination for the 2019 prize.

Feb. 15: Trump: Obama was on brink of 'a big war' with North Korea. Not true, ex-Obama aides say

However, some of Trump's previous nominations have come under scrutiny. In February 2018, two Nobel Peace Prize nominations for Trump were deemed forgeries by Norwegian Nobel Committee, the New York Times reported.

Trump has complained about President Barack Obama's 2009 Nobel Peace Prize and expressed doubt that he would be similarly honored. On Friday, Trump asserted that Obama was on the brink of starting "a big war" with North Korea, a claim disputed by ex-Obama aides.

Contributing: John Fritze and Deirdre Shesgreen, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump claims he was nominated for Nobel Peace Prize by Japan's prime minister
A disgraced former US cardinal has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood over allegations he abused a teenage boy and solicited sex during confession.

The Vatican announced the defrocking of Theodore McCarrick on Saturday days before the Pope is to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world over the sex abuse crisis engulfing the church.

McCarrick, a once-powerful prelate and former Archbishop of Washington, is the highest profile church figure to be dismissed from the priesthood in modern times.

In July last year he became the first cardinal to lose the title in nearly 100 years when he was forced to step down over the abuse allegations.

Last month the Holy See's watchdog, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, found McCarrick guilty of soliticing sex while hearing confession and having sexual contact with children and adults "with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power".

McCarrick took a vow of celibacy, in acccordance with church rules, when he was ordained as a priest in 1958.

The 88-year-old appealed against his dismissal from the priesthood but was notified on Friday that the decision had been upheld, the Vatican announced.

Defrocking means McCarrick, who now lives in a friary in Kansas, will not be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments.

It is a remarkable downfall for a figure known as a globe-trotting powerbroker and influential church fundraiser. McCarrick, who was Archbishop of Washington DC from 2001 to 2006, mingled with presidents and popes but preferred to be called "Uncle Ted" by the young men he courted.

He has responded publicly to only one of the allegations, saying he has "absolutely no recollection" of the alleged sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago.

McCarrick is one of the highest ranking church officials accused of abuse in a scandal has eroded the faith of many of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Story continues

Patterns of widespread abuse have been reported across the United States, as well as in Europe, Chile and Australia, undercutting the churchs moral authority and taking a toll on its membership and finances.

Last year a former top Vatican official urged Pope Francis to resign afer revealing he told him about the allegations against McCarrick as early as 2013. The Pope refused to comment on accusations of a cover-up.
Bram Radcliffe, 2, was sitting on the couch watching cartoons when a badly-fitted fireplace fatally collapsed on top of him. Source: JustGiving

The tragic death of a toddler was an accident waiting to happen, an inquest has head.

Two-year-old Bram Radcliffe was killed after a dangerous marble fireplace collapsed on top of him, causing catastrophic head injuries.

The youngster was watching cartoons when the 60kg fixture, which was said to have been hanging by a thread, fell on him on the morning of November 8 2017.

Bradford Coroners Court heard on Friday how the boys mother, Amy Johnson, had left him alone in the living room of their home on Banks Road, Golcar, West Yorkshire, for just a minute, before hearing a loud bang.

She rushed back into the room, only to see her son lying lifelessly on the ground, surrounded by parts from the collapsed fireplace, with a coroner describing this as the most distressing circumstance imaginable.

Witnesses told how Ms Johnson was left in a state of shock in the aftermath of the incident, with Bram being rushed to the Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and declared dead from severe head injuries at around 8.20am on the same day.

In a statement that was read in court, Ms Johnson described Bram as a happy, well mannered boy, saying: He would always say his pleases and thank yous.

Mr Kaye added: I was building a relationship with Bram, and it was only getting better.

Recording a narrative verdict, coroner Martin Fleming described the fireplace installation as sub-standard and dangerous.

The coroner added: I can only suggest that it was installed either by a cowboy or a cowboy firm, or a DIY enthusiast.

The inquest heard how the coal fire was decorated with a marble surround, which was kept in place by four brackets which were glued to the fixture, and kept in place by being screwed into plasterboard.

Chairman of the Stone Federation of Great Britains technical committee, David Richardson, told the inquest: This would have been a very dangerous situation, and was probably an accident waiting to happen, unfortunately.

If you could have a case study in how not to do it, this would have been the perfect example.

Story continues

He added that fireplace surrounds are not subject to the same strict regulations as the fires themselves, but said that the installation was unlikely to have been done by a professional.

Mr Richardson said that it was feasible that Bram had touched the fireplaces mantelpiece prior to it falling down, saying: I would suggest that this level of fitting was so inadequate that the force that would have been exerted through body weight alone would have been enough to dislodge it.

In his conclusions, the coroner said that he would be writing to the relevant health and safety authorities in a bid to prevent similar tragedies from occurring.

The court heard how the property where the incident occurred was owned by Ryan Kaye, Ms Johnsons partner, who purchased it in March 2017.

In a statement that was read to the court, he explained how he had not moved the fireplace since moving in, but had noticed it wobble slightly when he touched it days before Brams death, adding that he had been due to get his joiner father to inspect it.

The inquest was told that the fireplace had been installed back in 2001, with Detective Sergeant Peter Usher, who led the investigation into the incident, explaining how police had been unable to trace details of the person or firm that fitted it.

Witnesses explained how the fireplace had not been moved in the 16 years since then, with none of the previous occupants expressing any concerns about its safety.
Paris (AFP) - Tens of thousands of "yellow vest" protesters marched across France on Saturday, three months since the movement began, and in a week that has seen growing international concern at police treatment of the protesters.

Demonstrating for the 14th consecutive weekend, 41,500 people turned out across the country, according to the interior ministry, well down on the 282,000 peak during the protests' early weeks.

A ministry statement said 5,000 people protested in Paris but march organisers put the numbers far higher.

"We are 15,000, that means the movement is increasing," Jerome Rodrigues, one of the movement's better known figures, told AFP at the Paris march.

Rodrigues, along with three other people, is suing the police after being struck in the eye by a projectile he says was fired from a police Defensive Ball Launcher (LBD).

On Thursday, deputies in the European Parliament passed a resolution condemning the disproportionate use of force against protesters, after a debate about the use of the controversial weapon by French police.

The same day, a group of UN experts condemned what they said was the disproportionate use of force by police in response to violent demonstrators.

- Slipping in the polls -

During Saturday's protest, a group on the fringe of the Paris march shouted anti-semitic insults at a leading French intellectual, according to videos on social networks.

The abuse, directed at philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, 69, led to an outcry with French President Emmanuel Macron condemning the incident.

Macron called it "the absolute negation of what we are and what makes us a great nation. We will not tolerate it".

Video footage from a freelance journalist showed police taking action to protect Finkielkraut.

The philosopher told French newspaper Journal du Dimanche that he would have feared for his safety had the police not intervened, while adding that not all of the demonstrators had been hostile.

Story continues

During the course of the protests, people marched down the Champs-Elysees and crossed the river Seine to Paris's up-market Left Bank district, shouting anti-police slogans.

Marion, a nurse marching in Paris, told AFP that Macron's "great national debate" -- a series of town hall meetings launched in January to try to address the grievances of the yellow vest movement -- was nothing but a distraction.

"We don't believe in it, we won't take part in it," she said.

But a poll of 1,001 people published by Elabe on Wednesday suggested for the first time that most people (56 percent) would like the protests to end, even if a majority (58 percent) still support what the movement stands for.

- Back to the roundabouts -

This weekend, demonstrators in some parts of the country returned to a tactic adopted in the early weeks of the protests, occupying key roundabouts to control the traffic.

In the southwest, 58-year-old Joelle, who with around 30 other people occupied a roundabout on the outskirts of Toulouse, explained: "We came back to the roundabouts to avoid the violence that's happened up there (in the city centre."

Toulouse, which has seen some of the largest protests outside the capital, has also been the scene of clashes between police and protesters.

Thousands marched there again Saturday and there was a strong turnout in the southwest city of Bordeaux, another stronghold of the movement.

There were clashes and arrests in several cities and police in Paris detained 15 of 26 arrested, but the violence appeared down from last weekend.

What started out three months ago as a protest against rising fuel taxes quickly evolved into a wider opposition to Macron's style of government and policies.

Macron, under pressure from the movement reversed the fuel tax rises in December.

But he has not bowed to another of their key demands: that he reinstate a wealth tax he repealed to encourage the rich to stay in France and invest in the country.

burs-gde-cg/jj/dcr
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

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. To keep the lesson grounded in practicality, well use ROE to better understand Swallowfield plc (LON:SWL).

Over the last twelve months Swallowfield has recorded a ROE of 13%. Another way to think of that is that for every 1 worth of equity in the company, it was able to earn 0.13.

See our latest analysis for Swallowfield

How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?

The formula for ROE is:

Return on Equity = Net Profit  Shareholders Equity

Or for Swallowfield:

13% = 3.542  UK27m (Based on the trailing twelve months to June 2018.)

Its easy to understand the net profit part of that equation, but shareholders equity requires further explanation. It is the capital paid in by shareholders, plus any retained earnings. You can calculate shareholders equity by subtracting the companys total liabilities from its total assets.

What Does Return On Equity Signify?

ROE looks at the amount a company earns relative to the money it has kept within the business. The return is the yearly profit. A higher profit will lead to a higher ROE. So, all else equal, investors should like a high ROE. That means it can be interesting to compare the ROE of different companies.

Does Swallowfield Have A Good ROE?

One simple way to determine if a company has a good return on equity is to compare it to the average for its industry. However, this method is only useful as a rough check, because companies do differ quite a bit within the same industry classification. If you look at the image below, you can see Swallowfield has a similar ROE to the average in the Personal Products industry classification (13%).

Story continues

AIM:SWL Last Perf February 16th 19

That isnt amazing, but it is respectable. ROE tells us about the quality of the business, but it does not give us much of an idea if the share price is cheap. If you are like me, then you will not want to miss this free list of growing companies that insiders are buying.

Why You Should Consider Debt When Looking At ROE

Virtually all companies need money to invest in the business, to grow profits. The cash for investment can come from prior year profits (retained earnings), issuing new shares, or borrowing. In the first two cases, the ROE will capture this use of capital to grow. In the latter case, the use of debt will improve the returns, but will not change the equity. Thus the use of debt can improve ROE, albeit along with extra risk in the case of stormy weather, metaphorically speaking.

Swallowfields Debt And Its 13% ROE

While Swallowfield does have some debt, with debt to equity of just 0.47, we wouldnt say debt is excessive. Its very respectable ROE, combined with only modest debt, suggests the business is in good shape. 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 a useful indicator of the ability of a business to generate profits and return them to shareholders. Companies that can achieve high returns on equity without too much debt are generally of good quality. If two companies have around the same level of debt to equity, and one has a higher ROE, Id generally prefer the one with higher ROE.

But when a business is high quality, the market often bids it up to a price that reflects this. Profit growth rates, versus the expectations reflected in the price of the stock, are a particularly important to consider. So you might want to check this FREE visualization of analyst forecasts for the company.

Of course Swallowfield may not be the best stock to buy. So you may wish to see this free collection of other companies that have high ROE 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.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Donald S. Smith, who produced the controversial anti-abortion film "The Silent Scream" and, with help from Ronald Reagan's White House, distributed copies to every member of Congress and the Supreme Court, has died at 94.

Beverly Cielnicky, president of Crusade For Life told The Associated Press on Thursday that Smith died Jan. 30 in Wenatchee, Washington, following a bout with pneumonia.

He had remained active until shortly before his death, Cielnicky said, recently completing a book titled "The Power of Jesus Christ" that he finished by dictation after his eyesight began to fail.

He is likely best remembered, however, for "The Silent Scream," the 1984 documentary he wrote and produced.

The 30-minute film depicts through ultrasound the abortion of an 11-week-old fetus. As the abortion proceeds, a narrator describes the instruments used to carry it out and maintains that the fetus' movements indicate it is emitting a "silent scream."

Its release created a sensation, with anti-abortionists citing it as proof that fetuses less than 12 weeks old are living beings who can feel pain. Abortion rights supporters denounced it as a cleverly crafted fraud, adding that embryologists had determined fetal neural pathways do not develop until 24 weeks, meaning no 11-week-old fetus could feel pain.

Smith screened the film at a February 1985 news conference in Washington's Old Executive Office Building next door to the White House. Reagan was not present but he had called the film a "chilling documentation of the horror of abortion" at a rally three weeks before, adding everyone should see it.

Afterward Smith distributed the film to members of Congress and the Supreme Court.

Cielnicky said the film remains one of her group's most powerful statements, adding it has been translated into seven languages.

"He was a visionary. He always had something that he envisioned to help America stop killing the babies," she said. "He did brochures, he wrote books."

Story continues

His first book, 1985's "The Silent Scream," was inspired by reaction to the film.

The veteran advertising man became an opponent of abortion even before the Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade affirmed a woman's constitutional right to the procedure. He founded Crusade For Life in 1970. In the 1980s he served as director of the California Pro Life Council.

Donald Schellin Smith was born in Chicago on June 19, 1924.

After service in the Army Air Corps and graduation from the University of Chicago, he moved to California to take a job as a technical writer with Hughes Aircraft. Later he founded his own public relations and advertising firm, Donald S. Smith Associates. He retired to Wenatchee in 2012.

Smith is survived by six children and 18 grandchildren. His wife, Virginia, and one of his children preceded him in death.

Funeral services are scheduled for Sunday at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance has said the overall crude oil production from Ghana is expected to more than double over the next four years.



Overall, crude oil production is expected to increase from 196,089 barrels per day in 2019 to 420,020 barrels per day in 2023, he said, adding that, the first oil from the Aker fields is expected between the last quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021.



The Aker Energy ASA has confirmed a significant offshore resource base in Ghana and had committed to scale up new development in the Deepwater Tano Cape Three (DWT/CT) points block.



This was made known in a statement issued by the Public Relations Unit of the Ministry and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday, when the Minister led a government delegation to address 20 key international companies at a meeting in Oslo, Norway on Wednesday.



Mr Ofori-Atta said Ghana has re-asserted herself strongly as a key destination for petro-chemical industry players and that last month, Aker Energy ASA announced the biggest oil find in Africa, of 450-550 million barrels, with potential recoverable reserves of nearly one billion barrels.



Going forward, the vision of government is to create an optimistic, self-confident and building a prosperous nation, through the creative exploitation of our human and natural resources, and operating within a democratic, open and fair society in which mutual trust and economic opportunities exist for all, the Minister said.



Mr Mohammed Amin Adams, the Deputy Minister of Energy said Ghanas production of crude oil was expected to reach half a million barrels by 2025.



The government delegation, which include Mr Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, the Minister of Transport, held extensive discussions with Aker and other related entities.



The discussions also highlighted plans to develop the Tema Drydock Shipyard, which is in line with President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos vision to ensure Ghana develops a shipbuilding, Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) capacity.

Government of Ghana is the sole shareholder of PSC Tema Shipyard Company, which operates Tema Shipyard.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
By Rodi Said NEAR BAGHOUZ, Syria (Reuters) - U.S.-backed fighters in Syria are poised to capture Islamic State's last, tiny enclave on the Euphrates, the battle commander said on Saturday, bringing its self-declared caliphate to the brink of total defeat. Jiya Furat said the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) had cornered the remaining militants in a neighborhood of Baghouz village near the Iraqi border, under fire from all sides. "In the coming few days, in a very short time, we will spread the good tidings to the world of the military end of Daesh," he said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. He was speaking after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday there would be "great announcements" about Syria over the next 24 hours. Trump has sworn to pull U.S. forces from Syria after Islamic State's territorial defeat, raising questions over the fate of Washington's Kurdish allies and Turkish involvement in northeast Syria. As the SDF advanced under heavy U.S. airstrikes in recent days, a stream of civilians fled the few square miles of hamlets and farmland that remain within Islamic State's 'caliphate', along with defeated jihadists trying to escape unnoticed. Though Islamic State fighters still hold out in a pocket of central Syria's remote desert, and have gone underground as sleeper cells in Iraqi cities, able to launch new attacks, their territorial rule is, for now, almost over. It ends a project launched from the great medieval mosque of Mosul in northern Iraq in 2014, when Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi seized advantage of regional chaos to proclaim himself caliph, suzerain over all Muslim people and land. He set up a governing system with courts, a currency and flag that at its height stretched from northwest Syria almost to Baghdad, encompassing some two million inhabitants. HUMAN SHIELDS But its reign of terror over minorities and other perceived enemies, marked by massacres, sexual slavery and the beheading of hostages, drew a forceful international military response that pushed it steadily back from 2015. Most of the fighters left in Baghouz are foreigners, the SDF has said, among the thousands drawn by Baghdadi's promise of a new jihadist utopia straddling the Iraqi-Syrian border and expunging national borders. All that remains, said Furat, is an encircled pocket some 700 meters square. "Thousands of civilians are still trapped there as human shields," he said. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the SDF had taken control of all of Baghouz after the jihadists there surrendered. SDF officials denied this. Spokesman Mustafa Bali said the SDF had caught several militants trying to flee among the civilians. Others had handed themselves over. Their fate, and that of their families, has befuddled foreign governments, with few ready to repatriate citizens who pledged allegiance to a group sworn to their destruction, but who might be hard to legally prosecute. The SDF does not want to hold them indefinitely. The fate of Baghdadi is also a mystery. He has led the group since 2010, when it was still an underground al-Qaeda offshoot in Iraq. STILL A THREAT Its capacity then for strategic retreats in hard times, followed by rebounds when circumstances changed, has prompted numerous warnings that Islamic State's defeat has not ended the threat it poses to the region. Islamic State suffered crippling defeats in 2017, when Iraq recaptured Mosul, the SDF seized its Syrian capital of Raqqa, and the Damascus government pushed it east to the Euphrates. But in Iraq it has switched to guerrilla hit-and-run tactics, aimed at undermining the Baghdad government. It has also claimed responsibility for a series of bombings in swathes of northeast Syria held by the SDF, including one last month that killed four Americans. That attack came soon after Trump pledged to pull out, saying Islamic State was already defeated, rattling allies and prompting defense secretary Jim Mattis to resign. Turkey, which regards the SDF's strongest component, the Kurdish YPG, as terrorists, has threatened to march deeper into northern Syria to drive it back. On Friday U.S. Army General Joseph Votel, who oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East as head of Central Command, said the end of the territorial caliphate would lead to a more dispersed, harder-to-detect network of fighters waging guerrilla warfare. That should require continued help from Washington, he said. (This story corrects year of Islamic State defeats from 2016 to 2017) (Reporting by Rodi Said in eastern Syria; Writing by Ellen Francis and Angus McDowall in Beirut; Editing by Mark Potter and Gareth Jones)
Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) on Friday warned President Trump that his national emergency declaration may set a dangerous precedent that will be exploited by a future Democratic administration.

In a statement provided to National Review, Sasse endorsed President Trumps claim that a lack of attention to security has created a crisis at the southern border, but warned that resolving the issue through a national-emergency declaration would prove counterproductive for conservatives in the future.

We absolutely have a crisis at the border, but as a Constitutional conservative I dont want a future Democratic President unilaterally rewriting gun laws or climate policy, Sasse said in the statement. If we get used to presidents just declaring an emergency any time they cant get what they want from Congress, it will be almost impossible to go back to a Constitutional system of checks and balances. Over the past decades, the legislative branch has given away too much power and the executive branch has taken too much power.

On Thursday, Sasse joined ten fellow conservative senators in voting against the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, which provided just $1.375 billion for the construction of new barriers on the southern border, prompting Trump to declare a national emergency on Friday. In doing so, he moved to secure $3.6 billion in discretionary military funds to construct additional barriers but, as Trump acknowledged during his address, it is sure to be challenged in court.

Asked after his address about conservative critics who have argued the national-emergency declaration cedes too much power to the executive and paves the way for constitutional abuses by future Democratic administrations, Trump argued that the scale of the crisis at the border should override any concern about future implications.

We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming in to our country, he said.

More from National Review
SRINAGAR, India (AP)  As India considers its response to the suicide car bombing of a paramilitary convoy in the disputed region of Kashmir that killed dozens of soldiers, a retired military commander who oversaw a much-lauded military strike against neighboring Pakistan in 2016 has urged caution.

A local Kashmiri militant rammed an explosive-laden van into a convoy bus on Thursday, killing 41 soldiers and injuring two dozen others in the worst attack against Indian government forces in Kashmir's history. India blamed the attack on Pakistan and promised a "crushing response." New Delhi accuses its archrival of supporting rebels in Kashmir, a charge that Islamabad denies.

The retired commander, Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, told The Associated Press on Saturday that while "some kind of limited (military) strike (against Pakistan) is more than likely," he hopes for "rethinking and reconciliation" from all sides in the conflict.

The former general, who was in charge of the army's northern command at the frontier with Pakistan in Kashmir and counterinsurgency operations, oversaw India's "surgical strikes" in September 2016 after militants attacked a military base in the frontier town of Uri near the highly militarized Line of Control.

Nineteen Indian soldiers and three assailants were killed in that attack. India instantly blamed Pakistan for supporting the attackers, who New Delhi alleged were Pakistani nationals.

At the peak of a 2016 civilian uprising triggered by the killing of a charismatic Kashmiri rebel leader, Hooda called for all sides to take a step back from the deadly confrontation, suggesting that political initiatives be taken instead. It was a rare move by a top Indian army general in Kashmir.

Later that year when the attack on the base in Uri happened, Hooda commanded what New Delhi called "surgical strikes" against militants in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir  which India said involved the country's special forces killing an unknown number of insurgents. Pakistan denied that the strikes ever occurred, demanding that India produce evidence to back up the claim.

Story continues

Hooda has since said that the constant hype of "surgical strikes" was unwarranted.

Pakistani Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua rejected India's allegations about Pakistan's involvement in the attack, saying Saturday that it was part of New Delhi's "known rhetoric and tactics" to divert global attention from human rights violations. According to foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal, Janjua called for implementation of U.N. resolutions to solve the issue of Kashmir.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding Kashmir be made part of Pakistan or become an independent country. Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.

A pre-recorded video circulated widely on social media showed the purported attacker, Adil Ahmed Dar, in combat clothes surrounded by guns and grenades claiming responsibility for the attack and calling for more such measures to drive India out of Kashmir.

Since 2016, soldiers from India and Pakistan have often traded fire along the frontier, blaming each other for initiating the skirmishes that have resulted in the deaths of dozens of soldiers and civilians on both sides in violation of a 2003 cease-fire accord.

Hooda said that considering the state of affairs in Kashmir, he wasn't surprised by the bombing.

"I just hope this all leads to some introspection, some deep thinking and engagement to do everything afresh and rethink what we all should be doing to settle issues once for all," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

___

Follow Aijaz Hussain on Twitter at twitter.com/hussain_aijaz
WASHINGTON (AP)  Longtime Rep. John Dingell was remembered Thursday as "one of the greats" and "a world-class doer" as lawmakers, longtime colleagues and a former president hailed his record-breaking service in the House.

Dingell, who died last week at 92, served 59 years in Congress, longer than anyone else in U.S. history. The Michigan Democrat was the longtime chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee and played a key role in laws on everything from health care to the environment, civil rights and the auto industry, which Dingell fiercely defended throughout his tenure.

"Many of the most significant laws of our land forged over the last 60 years bear the unmistakable imprint of John David Dingell Jr.," said former House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. He called Dingell "one of the greats, the gentleman from Michigan, the dean of the House, the chairman."

Rep. Fred Upton, who followed Dingell as Energy and Commerce chairman, called Dingell "Mr. Michigan," and said Dingell's love of his home state was unmatched. Upton, a Michigan Republican, recalled Dingell's famous remark about the committee: "If it moves, it's energy. If it doesn't it's commerce. We had the world."

Former President Bill Clinton said the funeral at Holy Trinity Catholic Church marked one of the few times anyone in attendance could be in the same room with Dingell and get the last word.

While Dingell served for nearly six decades, it was what he achieved while in Congress that matters more, Clinton said, calling Dingell "a world-class doer."

"John Dingell was just about the best doer in the history of American public life," Clinton said, citing Dingell's decades-long role in a host of landmark laws, including the creation of Medicare and Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, Endangered Species Act, Clear Water Act and many others.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, a close friend, called the 6-foot-3 Dingell larger than life and said the famously gruff Dingell was "imposing" and even intimidating.

Story continues

"He was our very own Big John," said Hoyer, D-Md., noting that while Dingell was "sometimes acerbic," he was "as tender as he was tenacious and he became a dear friend."

Hundreds of people, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and members of Congress from both parties, attended the funeral, the second service this week honoring Dingell. Former Vice President Joe Biden and other dignitaries spoke at a memorial service Tuesday in Dearborn, Michigan, where Dingell lived.

Biden said Dingell treated everyone with respect and "knew public service wasn't a title you wear, but a shift you work."

Dingell succeeded his father in Congress in 1955, and carried on John Dingell Sr.'s wishes by introducing a universal health care coverage bill in each of his terms.

Speakers at both services noted that Dingell, who would have celebrated his 38th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, was succeeded by his wife, Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell.

Hoyer recalled Dingell's legislative tactics, and said Dingell once adjourned a committee meeting because he lacked the votes on a particular bill.

"He said, 'You might have the votes, but I've got the gavel,' " Hoyer said to laughter. More often than not, Hoyer added, Dingell "ultimately got the votes too."

Boehner said Dingell was a great legislator, "not just because he was a shrewd negotiator or a master tactician or a hard-driving son of a gun  and he was all of those things  but above else because he was a great American."

For all his years in public service, Dingell never dwelled on the past, Clinton said, noting that Dingell published his memoir just last year. In retirement, Dingell also "became a Zen master" at Twitter, Clinton said: "Few words, much wisdom."

Dingell will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.

___

See AP's complete coverage of John Dingell here: https://apnews.com/JohnDingell
Beirut (AFP) - Regime bombardment has killed 18 civilians in the last major region outside government control in northwest Syria over the past 48 hours, a war monitor said Saturday.

Artillery and rocket fire launched by regime forces took the lives of eight children, seven women and three men in the Idlib region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The deadly bombardment hit the towns of Maaret al-Noman and Khan Sheikhun, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on sources inside Syria for its information.

Idlib region is mainly controlled by the jihadists of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a Syrian group led by former Al-Qaeda fighters, after they last month pushed back smaller, Turkey-backed rebel outfits.

Since September, the region has been protected from a massive regime offensive by a ceasefire deal brokered by regime ally Russia and rebel backer Turkey.

But sporadic regime bombardment has continued to hit the region, and hundreds of missiles rained down on Maaret al-Noman, Khan Sheikhun, and other areas on Friday and Saturday.

Almost eight years into Syria's grinding civil war, President Bashar al-Assad's regime controls around two-thirds of the country.

His army and allied fighters have made great gains against rebels and jihadists since Russia's military intervened on the side of Damascus in 2015.

The war started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, and has since spiralled into a complex conflict involving world powers that has killed more than 360,000 people.

Friday and Saturday's deadly bombardment comes as the world waits for US-backed forces to expel the Islamic State group from a final holdout in eastern Syria, marking the end of the jihadists' self-declared "caliphate".
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

Weve lost count of how many times insiders have accumulated shares in a company that goes on to improve markedly. Unfortunately, there are also plenty of examples of share prices declining precipitously after insiders have sold shares. So well take a look at whether insiders have been buying or selling shares in First Sponsor Group Limited (SGX:ADN).

What Is Insider Buying?

Its quite normal to see company insiders, such as board members, trading in company stock, from time to time. However, rules govern insider transactions, and certain disclosures are required.

Insider transactions are not the most important thing when it comes to long-term investing. But it is perfectly logical to keep tabs on what insiders are doing. 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 First Sponsor Group

The Last 12 Months Of Insider Transactions At First Sponsor Group

Over the last year, we can see that the biggest insider purchase was by Non-Executive Chairman Han Ho for S$132k worth of shares, at about S$1.32 per share. That means that even when the share price was higher, an insider wanted to purchase shares. Their view may have changed since then, but at least it shows they felt optimistic at the time. We generally consider it a positive if insiders have been buying on market, even above the current price.

In the last twelve months insiders paid S$311k for 240.00k shares purchased. Overall, First Sponsor Group insiders were net buyers last year. The average buy price was around S$1.29. Id consider this a positive as it suggests insiders see value at around the current price, which is S$1.27. 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!

Story continues

SGX:ADN Insider Trading February 16th 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).

Does First Sponsor Group Boast High 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. I reckon its a good sign if insiders own a significant number of shares in the company. First Sponsor Group insiders own about S$26m worth of shares. That equates to 3.1% of the company. Weve certainly seen higher levels of insider ownership elsewhere, but these holdings are enough to suggest alignment between insiders and the other shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At First Sponsor Group Tell Us?

There havent been any insider transactions in the last three months  that doesnt mean much. But insiders have shown more of an appetite for the stock, over the last year. Insiders own shares in First Sponsor Group and we see no evidence to suggest they are worried about the future. If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

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.
AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP)  The offensive on the last enclave held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria has been blunted by the discovery of hundreds of civilians still living there, a commander with the Kurdish-led force fighting the extremists said Friday.

The U.S.-backed force known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, launched the offensive to liberate the IS-held village of Baghouz a week ago, after more than 20,000 civilians, many of them foreign wives of IS militants, were evacuated through a corridor from the area in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

In Washington, President Donald Trump said the White House will make an announcement about Syria and the fight against IS by Saturday. His did not give details but his comments contrasted with the picture painted by SDF commanders, who said the battle has been progressing slowly.

"We have a lot of great announcements having to do with Syria and our success with the eradication of the caliphate and that will be announced over the next 24 hours," Trump told journalists at the White House.

Adnan Afrin, the Kurdish commander, told The Associated Press that in the last three days IS militants brought up hundreds of civilians from underground tunnels to make the SDF and U.S.-led coalition aware of their presence.

He estimated that around 1,000 civilians, including women and children, are still in the area. He added that militants were hiding among them and using them as human shields.

"This was a surprise. We did not imagine there would be this number of civilians left," Afrin said.

He said they were likely to be families of IS militants, but their discovery nonetheless has blunted the offensive. "We do not want to cause a massacre against civilians in the last (IS) pocket," he said.

A blitz of airstrikes and shelling last week was believed to signal the end of the campaign against IS in its last toehold in Syria. Thousands of people, including many foreign fighters and their families, emerged from the area amid ferocious fighting as the SDF closed in from three sides under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

Story continues

IS militants are now clinging to their last square kilometer (mile) of land in Baghouz. The anticipated declaration of victory against the group, however, has been delayed by this discovery of a large number of civilians in the area.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, reported late Friday that a convoy of seven trucks, three ambulances and other vehicles including Humvees for the U.S.-led coalition headed toward the IS-held area. The group said it believes that the aim is to draw out the remaining IS gunmen and their families.

"The convoy is likely to come back with at least 200 Islamic State group members of different nationalities," the Observatory said, adding that it was not clear if they would agree to surrender. Hundreds of IS fighters have surrendered over the past weeks and were apprehended by members of the U.S.-led coalition and SDF fighters.

Organized access to the front line has been restricted for journalists amid security concerns, particularly after the injury of an Italian photographer earlier this week.

U.S.-backed forces are now conducting precision operations targeting the militants' outposts in and around the village of Baghouz and working to clear surrounding villages of remaining fighters, SDF officials said.

The capture of Baghouz and nearby areas would mark the conclusion of a devastating four-year global campaign to end the extremist group's hold on territory in Syria and Iraq, their so-called "caliphate," which at the height of the extremists group's power in 2014 covered nearly a third of both Iraq and Syria.

President Donald Trump has said the group is all but defeated. He announced in December that he would withdraw the 2,000 American troops in Syria.

It is not clear whether the Islamic State group is holding any civilian prisoners in the enclave, beyond their own families.

"We aim to save any prisoners, but we have no information about them. They can be among the civilians, or in underground prisons, we have no information," said Afrin, the SDF commander.

The Observatory said SDF fighters discovered late Thursday the bodies of 26 IS gunmen who were killed in recent clashes near Baghouz.

The group added that some families of IS members tried to flee Thursday night into areas held by the SDF but did not succeed.

The DeirEzzor 24, an activist collective that covers events in eastern Syria, reported that U.S.-led coalition warplanes struck several suspected IS positions outside Baghouz on Friday. It added that SDF fighters sporadically shelled the IS-held area.

The Kurdish Hawar news agency, meanwhile, reported that SDF fighters advanced slowly on the northern parts of Baghouz village because of the large number of mines and explosives planted by the extremists, who it said were also using civilians as human shields.

Hawar added that SDF fighters discovered an arms depot and a clinic used for treating IS gunmen.

Syrian opposition activists also reported that SDF spokeswoman Lilwa Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt Thursday when gunmen opened fire at her car as she drove between Deir el-Zour and the northeastern province of Hassakeh.
LONDON (Reuters) - Prince Harry flew up to the Arctic on Valentine's Day to meet the Royal Marines and learn about special freezing-weather helicopter commando exercises.

Harry, who is Captain General of the Royal Marines, visited northern Norway where he reviewed the Commando Helicopter Force which operates in temperatures as low as minus 30 Celsius.

"This is the first time His Royal Highness has visited Joint Helicopter Command since becoming Captain General and it is great that he is doing the visit while were in Norway," said Warrant Officer 1st Class Adrian Shepherd, who has served with force for 27 years.

"It is good for the people out here to see their hard work recognised during a significant year for the exercise," he added.

Harry married Meghan Markle last year and they are expecting their first child this Spring.

The Royal Marines, known as green berets, are Britain's elite amphibious fighting force and are routinely deployed to some of the most dangerous conflicts in the world.

The Commando Helicopter Force provides aerial support to the marines and practises in the Arctic every year.

As part of the training, personnel must complete cold weather survival courses including ice-breaking  jumping into a frozen lake and getting themselves and their gear out of the icy water.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison)
By Robin Emmott and Lesley Wroughton MUNICH/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism on Friday, maintaining his harsh rhetoric against Tehran just a day he attacked European powers for trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. After visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Pence said the Nazi death camp had made him more determined to confront Tehran, saying it was "breathing out murderous threats, with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe." Iran's ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel. Pence, who said he was deeply moved by his Auschwitz visit, cited Iran's stated desire to destroy Israel as justification for singling out the country, rather than focusing on anti-Semitism across the Middle East. Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in January Iran's strategy was to wipe "the Zionist regime" (Israel) off the political map, Iran's state TV reported. "For me it simply strengthens my resolve ... to stand strong against Iran," Pence told reporters on his Air Force Two plane before arriving in Munich. The United States is seeking to isolate Tehran and reimposed economic sanctions last year after pulling out of the landmark 2015 Iran accord with world powers that prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. However, the tougher stance comes as the European Union is trying to keep the nuclear deal alive and has developed a mechanism to open a channel to continue to trade with Iran, bringing sharp criticism of Brussels from Pence on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the EU's top diplomat discussed global conflicts but largely avoided the issue of Iran on Friday. Pompeo's meeting with Federica Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, was scheduled before Pence's rebuke of European powers, during a Middle East peace conference in Warsaw on Thursday. Mogherini missed the Warsaw conference, citing a scheduling conflict at NATO. Mogherini shook off a question seeking her reaction to Pence's Thursday speech. State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said the vice president's remarks were not raised during the hour-long meeting, which he said was friendly and constructive. They also did not talk about the Iran nuclear deal, although they did discuss Iran's "destabilizing activities and the need to counter them," he said. A spokeswoman for Mogherini said the talks with Pompeo had focused on Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, the Korean peninsula, Ukraine and the Western Balkans. Pence's unusually tough words on Thursday for allies Germany, France and Britain reflect Washington's strategy of isolating Iran, and are likely to further strain transatlantic relations. In a speech on Friday evening in Munich with European and U.S. officials, lawmakers and diplomats, Pence said: I bring you greetings from the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump. He paused for applause. The room was silent for a very long moment. ISOLATING IRAN Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Tehran accepted curbs on its nuclear program in return for the lifting of sanctions. On Thursday, speaking at NATO before Pence's comments, Mogherini said upholding the deal was vital to European security because it prevented Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. European countries say they share U.S. concerns about Iran's involvement in wars in Yemen and Syria but that withdrawing from the nuclear deal was a mistake. They have promised to try to salvage the deal as long as Iran continues to abide by it. In practice, European companies have accepted new U.S. sanctions on Iran and abandoned plans to invest there. France, Germany and Britain have agreed on a new channel for non-dollar trade with Iran to avert U.S. sanctions. That will likely take months to open, however, and is expected to be used only for smaller trade such as humanitarian products or food. Mogherini and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Friday defended the nuclear accord with Iran at the Munich Security Conference despite Washington's repeated attacks against the bloc for keeping to the deal. France's Foreign Minister questioned Washington's policy in northeastern Syria saying it contradicted its tough stance on Tehran because a U.S. withdrawal would only reinforce Iran. "We hate what Iran is doing in Syria. We hate what Hezbollah is doing in Lebanon. We hate what Iran is doing with the Houthis in Yemen and militias elsewhere. We hate what they have been doing in Europe and we're extremely preoccupied with its ballistic missile program," said a European official. "We're very lucid and extremely vigilant on all that, but Iran has kept its side of the nuclear deal and isn't building a nuclear weapon and that is vital to all our security interests." (Additional reporting by John Irish in Munich and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai; Editing by Toby Chopra)
REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP)  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up a five-nation tour of Europe in Iceland on Friday after the Trump administration launched a scathing attack on the European Union over its approach to Iran.

Pompeo was in the Icelandic capital for talks with officials on enhancing trade, Arctic policy, threats posed by Russia and other NATO security issues. Pompeo noted that he was the first secretary of state to visit Reykjavik since 2008 and, as he did at previous stops in Hungary and Slovakia, said the U.S. was re-engaging with allies that it had neglected over the past decade.

"No more we will take our friends, our true allies, our partners for granted," he said. "We simply can't afford to neglect them."

The brief visit to Iceland on his way back to Washington came after a short stop earlier Friday in Brussels, where he met with the EU's top diplomat.

The breakfast meeting with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini came just a day after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Britain, France, Germany and the EU as a whole of trying to evade U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Pence also called on the EU to join the Trump administration in withdrawing from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.

Pence launched his offensive Thursday at a Middle East conference in Poland that underscored a stark two-year trans-Atlantic divide over Iran. Mogherini did not attend the conference and France and Germany did not send Cabinet-level officials to the meeting.

EU diplomats said before the Warsaw conference that it appeared aimed at driving a wedge between the Europeans and Iran, as the 28-nation bloc struggles to keep alive the Iran nuclear deal after the United States reneged on it last year.

Mogherini smiled, shook her head and waved away a question about Pence's speech as she sat down with Pompeo and aides at EU headquarters. Neither spoke to reporters.

A senior EU official, who was not present but was briefed on the meeting, said the pair "did not specifically discuss Iran." The official, who is not permitted to speak publicly about the talks, said Iran did come up in the context of a discussion about the Middle East.

Story continues

"Iran was in the discussion but it was not a discussion about Iran," he said.

Pence's harsh criticism threatened to further chill U.S.-European ties, which are already badly strained on many issues, including trade and defense spending.

Britain, France and Germany, along with the rest of the EU, continue to support the nuclear deal as the best way to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.

The senior EU official said Mogherini and Pompeo also discussed the possible use of sanctions against Russia after it confiscated Ukrainian ships and imprisoned 24 sailors near the Sea of Azov off Ukraine.

The EU is working on a travel ban and asset freeze for about half a dozen mid-ranking Russian officials.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the move on Monday, but it's unlikely any sanctions will be announced then.

Mogherini and Pompeo also discussed the crisis in Venezuela, the conflict in Syria, Afghan peace efforts, the upcoming North Korea summit, the EU official said. No details were provided.

____

Cook reported from Brussels.
Munich (Germany) (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday called on the European Union to recognise opposition leader Juan Guaido as the president of Venezuela.

"All of us must stand with the Venezuelan people until freedom and democracy is fully restored," Pence told the Munich Security Conference.

"So today we call on the European Union to step forward for freedom and recognise Juan Guaido as the only legitimate president of Venezuela."

Guaido, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly, declared himself president of the crisis-wracked country in January, piling pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.

Pence said that after the United States became the first nation to recognise the parliamentary leader as head of state, "52 nations including 30 of our European allies have followed America's lead".

"But it's time for the rest of the world to step forward," he said.

"Once more the Old World can take a stance in support of freedom in the New World. All of us must stand with the Venezuelan people until freedom and democracy is fully restored."
WARSAW, Feb 14 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence accused Washington's European allies on Thursday of trying to break U.S. sanctions against Tehran and called on them to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

"Sadly, some of our leading European partners have not been nearly as cooperative. In fact, they have led the effort to create mechanisms to break up our sanctions," Pence said during a conference on the Middle East organized by the United States in Warsaw.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

Pence said a scheme set up by the EU to facilitate trade with Iran was "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime."

"It is an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," he said.

The Warsaw meeting was attended by more than 60 nations but major European powers such as Germany and France, part to the 2015 nuclear accord, refused to send their top diplomats. (Reporting by Justyna Pawlak, Lesley Wroughton, Agnieszka Barteczko and Alan Charlish)
Donald Trumps former campaign manager Paul Manafort should serve at least 20 years in prison, Robert Mueller has recommended.

In requesting what will effectively be a life sentence for the 69-year-old, Mr Mueller also asked a judge that he push ahead with sentencing for the man who served as Mr Trumps campaign manager for just a few months in the summer of 2016.

Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, prosecutors wrote in a court filing on Friday night.

The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.

The recommendation from the office of Mr Mueller that Manafort serve between 19.5 to 24.5 years in prison, came after the veteran political operative was last August convicted by a jury in Virginia for bank fraud, tax fraud and other financial crimes related to money he earned working for Ukrainian politicians. A month after that, he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges in a related case as part of his cooperation agreement.

The office of Mr Mueller said Manaforts age should not be a factor in the judges decision on how long to jail him for.

Manaforts age does not eliminate the risk of recidivism he poses  particularly given that his pattern of criminal activity has occurred over more than a decade and that the most recent crimes he pled guilty to occurred from February to April 2018, when he conspired to tamper with witnesses at a time when he was under indictment in two separate districts, the prosecutors wrote.

Originally, judge TS Ellis planned to sentence Manafort on 8 February, but cancelled the sentencing hearing last month. He said a dispute in Manaforts criminal case in the District of Columbia could have an impact on his sentence.

At the time, Manafort was fighting accusations from Mr Mueller that he had breached his plea deal by lying to federal prosecutors. He claimed any misstatements were not intentional, The Hill reported.

Story continues

Manafort had agreed in September to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy and to fully cooperate with the special counsels investigations to avoid a second criminal trial. But the special counsel said Manafort had lied in interviews about a range of topics.

After hearing arguments from both sides, judge Amy Berman Jackson on Wednesday ruled that Manafort had indeed fact intentionally lied to the FBI, the special counsels office and a grand jury about a payment from a company to a law firm and his interactions and communications with Konstantin Kilimnik, a former business associate who is suspected of having ties to Russian intelligence, the news site said.

Neither the probation department nor the government is aware of any mitigating factors, the prosecutors wrote in their 120-page filing.

Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship. He was well educated, professionally successful, and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States treasury and the public out of more than $6m in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources. Manafort committed bank fraud to supplement his liquidity because his lavish spending exhausted his substantial cash resources when his overseas income dwindled.

It added: Finally, Manafort pled guilty in September 2018 in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to others crimes committed over an even longer period.

Manafort served as Mr Trumps campaign manager from June 2016 until August 2016, until he resigned as details emerged of his dealing with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

During that period, Mr Trump secured the Republican Partys nomination for president at its convention in Cleveland, Ohio.
SKOPJE, North Macedonia (AP)  North Macedonian officials say they have carried out a series of raids in an operation against suspected radical Islamic terrorists.

The Interior Ministry said late Friday that searches were conducted at several locations in the country targeting suspects. It said police confiscated "objects and devices related to the possible attack."

No arrests were announced.

The announcement follows a warning from the U.S. Embassy in Skopje saying that there was a "heightened risk of terrorist attacks inspired by extremist ideology in North Macedonia." The embassy also warned U.S. citizens in North Macedonia to maintain a high level of vigilance.
Niamey (AFP) - Seven Niger soldiers were killed when their post was attacked by Boko Haram in the country's southeast near Nigeria, the birthplace of the jihadist group, the government said Saturday.

The interior ministry said Friday's raid in Chetima Wanou had led to the death of seven soldiers and injured six others while "on the enemy side (there were) several deaths including one corpse left on the spot and many injured".

The evening raid was conducted "by heavily armed Boko Haram elements travelling in a convoy which included an armoured vehicle", it said.

The interior ministry said the assailants were repelled after heavy fighting, adding that the soldiers had captured eight jihadists and seized "three vehicles loaded with machine guns, three AK47 assault rifles and loads of ammunition".

The army engaged in a "cleaning up operation... to catch and neutralise the enemy," it said.

Chetima Wangou is a small village about 25 kilometres (15 miles) southwest of the regional capital Diffa. Since 2015, the group has targeted areas near Lake Chad, north of the city.

"Boko Haram wanted to surprise the Niger army by attacking an area far from Lake Chad," a local elected official told AFP.

The attack was the latest in a series ascribed to the jihadist group which began a bloody insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 that has spread to neighbouring countries, prompting a regional military response.

Some 27,000 people have been killed and two million displaced, sparking a dire humanitarian crisis in the region.

The United States recently handed over a communications and operations centre, costing $16.5 million (14.4 million euros), to the Niger army to help in the battle against Boko Haram.

The planning and operations control centre is designed to help Niger forces synchronise its operations through improved communications.
Kris Osborn

Security,

The future of amphibious attack may consist of thousands of disaggregated manned and unmanned surveillance boats, armor-carrying connectors, minesweepers and small attack vessels operating in tandem as the Navy and Marine Corps refine a new strategic approach and continue their pivot toward a new, great-power threat environment.

The Navy and Marine Corps May Have a New Weapon: "Mother Ship" Strikes?

In effect, future ship-to-shore amphibious attacks will look nothing like the more linear, aggregated Iwo Jima assault. A Naval War College essay on this topic both predicts and reinforces Coffmans thinking.

The future of amphibious attack may consist of thousands of disaggregated manned and unmanned surveillance boats, armor-carrying connectors, minesweepers and small attack vessels operating in tandem as the Navy and Marine Corps refine a new strategic approach and continue their pivot toward a new, great-power threat environment.

(This first appeared last month.)

The concept is to configure a dispersed, yet networked fleet of next-generation connectors and other smaller boats launched from big-deck amphib mother ships. The larger host ships are intended to operate in a command and control capacity while bringing sensors, long-range fires and 5th-generation air support to the fight.

We envision fleets of smaller, multi-mission vessels, operating with surface warfare leadership. People talk about a 355-ship Navy, how about a 35,000-ship Navy?, Maj. Gen. David Coffman, Director of Naval Expeditionary Warfare, told an audience at the Surface Naval Association Symposium.

Coffman explained it as a family of combatant craft, manned and unmanned, integrated in a distributed maritime operation.

Since potential adversaries now have longer-range weapons, better sensors, targeting technologies and computers with faster processing speeds, amphibious forces approaching the shore may need to disperse in order to make it harder for enemy forces to target them. Therefore, the notion of a disaggregated, yet interwoven attack force, less vulnerable to enemy fire, will be launched to hit multiple landing points to exploit enemy defenses.

Story continues

This does not mean we give up the bigs, it means we use them more effectively. They are a big part of our ability to project combat power, Coffman explained.

New ships, such as future Landing Craft Air Cushions (LCAC), Unmanned Surface Vessels (USV), Amphibious Combat Vehicles, ship-launched undersea drones and even newly up-gunned PC boats, are expected to empower the emerging strategy to introduce a new, more effective and lethal over-the-horizon ship-to-shore attack ability.

Future LCAC replacements, such as the now-under-construction Textron-built Ship-to-Shore Connectors, are expected to figure prominently in these anticipated missions. They introduce an unprecedented ability to transport 70-ton Abrams tanks to war and bring an integrated suite of new technologies to amphibious attack missions.

Execution of this new strategy is, depending upon the threat, also reliant upon 5th-generation aircraft, Coffman said; the Corp F-35B, now operational as part of Marine Corps Air Ground Task Forces aboard the USS Wasp and USS Essex, is intended to provide close-air support to advancing attacks, use its sensors to perform forward reconnaissance and launch strikes itself. The success of an amphibious attack needs, or even requires, air supremacy. Extending this logic, an F-35 would be positioned to address enemy air-to-air and airborne air-to-surface threats such as drones, fighter jets or even incoming anti-ship missiles and ballistic missiles. The idea would be to use the F-35 in tandem with surveillance drones and other nodes to find and destroy land-based enemy defenses, clearing the way for a land assault.

The entire strategic and conceptual shift is also informed by an increased sea-basing focus. Smaller multi-mission vessels, according to this emerging strategy, will be fortified by larger amphibs operating as sovereign entities at safer distances. Coffman said these ships would operate as seaports, hospitals, logistics warehouses and sea-bases for maneuver forces.

A 2014 paper from the Marine Corps Association, the professional journal of the US Marine Corps, points to sea-basing as a foundation upon which the Navy will shift away from traditional amphibious warfare.

Seabased operations enable Marines to conduct highly mobile, specialized, small unit, amphibious landings by stealth from over the horizon at multiple undefended locations of our own choosing, the paper writes.

In effect, future ship-to-shore amphibious attacks will look nothing like the more linear, aggregated Iwo Jima assault. A Naval War College essay on this topic both predicts and reinforces Coffmans thinking.

The basic requirements of amphibious assault, long held to be vital to success, may no longer be attainable. Unlike the Pacific landings of World War II amphibious objective areas could prove impossible to isolate, the paper, called Blitzkrieg From the Sea: Maneuver Warfare and Amphibious Operations, states. (Richard Moore, 1983)

The essay, written in the 80s during the height of the Cold War, seems to anticipate future threats from major-power adversaries. Interestingly, drawing from some elements of a Cold War mentality, the essay foreshadows current great-power competition strategy for the Navy as it transitions from more than a decade of counterinsurgency to a new threat environment. In fact, when discussing its now-underway distributed lethality strategy, Navy leaders often refer to this need to return its focus upon heavily fortified littoral defenses and open, blue-water warfare against a near-peer adversary - as having some roots in the Cold War era.

The Naval War College essay also seems to anticipate modern thinking in that it cites LCACs as fundamental to amphibious warfare, writing that LCACs can land at several points along an enemy coastline, seeking out enemy weaknesses and shifting forces.

LCACs can access over 70-percent of the shoreline across the world, something the new SSCs will be able to do as well. Designed with over-the-horizon high-speed and maneuverability, LCACs are able to travel long distances and land on rocky terrain and drive up onto the shore. Referring to a more dispersed or disaggregated amphibious attack emphasis, the Naval War College essay describes modern attack through the lens of finding surface gaps to exploit as a way to bypass or avoid centers of resistance.

Dispersed approaches, using air-ground coordination and forward positioned surveillance nodes, can increasingly use synchronized assault tactics, pinpointing advantageous areas of attack. Not only can this, as the essay indicates, exploit enemy weakness, but it also brings the advantage of avoiding more condensed or closely-configured approaches far more vulnerable to long-range enemy sensors and weapons. Having an SSC, which can bring a heavier load of land-attack firepower, weapons and Marines, helps enable this identified need to bring assault forces across a wide-range of attack locations. None of this, while intended to destroy technologically sophisticated enemies, removes major risks; Russian and Chinese weapons, including emerging 5th-generation fighters, DF-26 anti-ship missiles claimed to reach 900-miles and rapidly-emerging weapons such as drones, lasers and railguns are a variety of systems of concern.

New Amphibious Attack Platforms

The effort to integrate large numbers of multi-mission smaller craft, naturally hinges upon the continued development of vessels enabled by newer advanced technologies. Textron's upgraded Ship-to-Shore Craft includes lighter-weight composite materials, increased payload capacity, modernized engines and computer-automated controls. Also, SSCs new Rolls Royce engines have more horsepower and specialized aluminum to help prevent corrosion. Textron engineers also say the SSC is built with digital flight controls and computer automation to replace the traditional yoke and pedals used by current connectors. As a result, on-board computers will quickly calculate relevant details such as wind speed and navigational information, according to Textron information.

The Navys 72 existing LCACs, in service since the 80s, can only transport up to 60-tons, reach speeds of 36-knots and travel ranges up to 200 nautical miles from amphibious vehicles. The first several SSCs, which have been built and launched on the water, bring a new level of computer networking, combat-power transport technology and emerging elements of advanced maritime propulsion systems. The new SSC's have also moved to a lower frequency for ship electronics, moving from 400 Hertz down to 60 Hertz in order to better synchronize ship systems with Navy common standards. Along with these properties, the new craft uses hardware footprint reducing advances to lower the number of gear boxes from eight to two.

As part of this overall attack apparatus, the Corps is preparing to deploy new BAE-built Amphibious Combat Vehicles by 2021. By integrating a new, more powerful engine, large weapons and digitized C4ISR systems, the ACV is expected to bring new mechanized firepower to amphibious assaults - when compared to the existing AAV - Amphibious Assault Vehicle. BAE is now beginning Low-Rate Initial Production as part of a Marine Corps plan to build hundreds of the new vehicles. Unlike existing tracked AAVs, ACVs are eight-wheeled vehicles engineered for greater speed, maneuverability and survivability. By removing the need for torsion bars, a wheeled-vehicle such as the ACV can build a v-shaped hull for additional protection, BAE Systems developers say. "The Marine Corps went from tracked to wheeled because of advances in automotive technology," said John Swift, Director of Amphibious Warfare.

These vehicles, if upgraded with advanced AI-enabled networking and computer technologies, could help identify threats, protect SSCs and of course bring needed firepower to amphibious landings. BAE and the Corps are now preparing to fire weapons at the new vehicle until the live-fire attacks achieve "total destruction," as a way to prepare the vehicle for combat, Swift said.

Mine Threat:

Coffman also explained that he envisions unmanned, yet networked LCACs as something which, among other things, can limit risk to Marines from a range of enemy attacks such as deep-water mines.

We have significant gaps in our capability to defeat 100,000 Russian and Chinese mines which will not be laid in shallow water, Coffman said. When accompanied by a fleet of small attack and reconnaissance vessels, SSCs will operate with more protection from mines and other enemy threats.

While this emerging Navy strategy is, of course, intended to implement a far more effective attack strategy, it is also, by design, intended to save more lives when launching dangerous assaults into heavily-defended enemy areas.

Amphibious landings are marked by extremely high costs and heavy casualties, and are considered among the riskiest and least desirable operations to conduct, the Marine Corps Association essay maintains.

Kris Osborn is a Senior Fellow at The Lexington Institute.

Image: Lockheed Martin.

Read full article
Chicago (AFP) - At least one person was killed and several others, including police officers, were wounded on Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago.

US media reported that the suspected gunman was killed soon after police and federal agents flooded a manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinois -- 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of central Chicago.

The Kane County Coroner's office said that it could confirm "at least one fatality."

Four injured officers were said to be in stable condition, and one local hospital said it had treated three patients for "non-life threatening injuries."

Witnesses said they had locked themselves into nearby buildings as a man in his 30s or 40s began firing off rounds.

Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as local officers with shields entered the complex alongside the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

John Probst, who was in the building as the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker.

"What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it," he said. "We were just scared."

The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police said four Aurora police officers were wounded.

"These four heroes willingly ran into harm's way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price," union leader Chris Southwood said in a statement.

Police urged the public to avoid the area, announcing that they would give further details at a news conference later in the day.

- Threat neutralized -

Aurora city spokesman Clayton Muhammad told the local CBS TV affiliate less than two hours after the shooting began that "the immediate threat to the community has been neutralized."

"The officers are in stable condition, those that were injured," he said.

Story continues

Multiple news outlets said the person killed was the shooter.

Nancy Caal, an employee of a nearby repair workshop, told the Daily Herald newspaper she and three others had heard numerous emergency sirens, and so "went and shut the front gate and locked all of the doors."

The local school district put campuses on lock down, but students were released later in the day.

The shooting comes just a day after the first anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former pupil killed 14 students and three staff.

Nearly 1,200 children lost their lives to gun violence in the year since and there have been 37 mass shootings -- those with at least four victims, not including the assailant -- recorded already in the US this year.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters President Donald Trump had been briefed and was monitoring for news from the latest rampage.

In a presidential message Thursday to mark the Parkland anniversary, Trump recommitted to "ensuring the safety of all Americans."

"Let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe," Trump said.
By Sarah N. Lynch and Nathan Layne

(Reuters) - Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to impose a strict prison sentence for President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, after a jury last year convicted him on eight counts of bank and tax fraud.

In their sentencing memo filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecutors said Manafort, who is 69, deserves between 19.6 and 24.4 years in prison and a fine of between $50,000 and $24 million.

"While some of these offenses are commonly prosecuted, there was nothing ordinary about the millions of dollars involved in the defendant's crimes, the duration of his criminal conduct or the sophistication of his schemes," prosecutors said in the memo.

"Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship," they said. "He was well-educated, professionally successful and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States Treasury and the public out of more than $6 million in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources."

Friday's court filing in Virginia came just days after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Manafort had breached his plea agreement in a parallel case by lying to investigators despite a pledge to cooperate.

That finding earlier this week by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia could have a direct impact on how Manafort is sentenced in the Virginia case.

Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, had planned to sentence Manafort on Feb. 8, but he later postponed that until after Jackson's ruling, saying it "may have some effect on the sentencing decision in this case."

Manafort was one of the first people in Trump's orbit to face criminal charges as part of Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 presidential election in his favor.

Story continues

Trump has denied colluding and called the probe a witch hunt, while Russia has denied meddling in the election.

None of the charges Manafort faced related directly to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign.

In the Virginia case, prosecutors accused Manafort of hiding from U.S. tax authorities $16 million he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, money he used to fund an opulent lifestyle.

Later, when his lobbying work started to dry up following the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, prosecutors said Manafort began lying to banks to secure $20 million in loans to keep his lifestyle afloat.

After almost four days of deliberations, a 12-member jury found Manafort guilty on two counts of bank fraud, five counts of tax fraud and one charge of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts.

In September, Manafort pleaded guilty in a parallel case in Washington to attempted witness tapering and conspiring against the United States, a charge that covers conduct including money laundering and unregistered lobbying.

As part of that deal, he pledged to cooperate with the Justice Department. However, prosecutors later said they had caught Manafort in several lies and wanted to tear up the agreement in a move that could cause him to face a much stiffer prison sentence.

Earlier this week, Jackson ruled there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, who prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence and helped Manafort try to obstruct justice. Kilimnik has denied such ties.

Specifically, Jackson found that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik including about the sharing of polling data on the Trump campaign and their discussions over a "Ukrainian peace plan," a proposal that envisioned ending U.S. sanctions on Russia - long an important objective of Russian President Vladimir Putins government.

Prosecutors have said these lies are "at the heart" of their investigation into potential collusion, according to a transcript released last week.

(Reporting by Sarah Lynch and Nathan Layne in Washington; Editing by David Alexander and Leslie Adler)
By Sarah N. Lynch and Nathan Layne (Reuters) - Prosecutors for Special Counsel Robert Mueller urged a federal judge in Virginia on Friday to impose a strict prison sentence for President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, after a jury last year convicted him on eight counts of bank and tax fraud. In their sentencing memo filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecutors said Manafort, who is 69, deserves between 19.6 and 24.4 years in prison and a fine of between $50,000 and $24 million. "While some of these offenses are commonly prosecuted, there was nothing ordinary about the millions of dollars involved in the defendant's crimes, the duration of his criminal conduct or the sophistication of his schemes," prosecutors said in the memo. "Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship," they said. "He was well-educated, professionally successful and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States Treasury and the public out of more than $6 million in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources." Friday's court filing in Virginia came just days after a federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that Manafort had breached his plea agreement in a parallel case by lying to investigators despite a pledge to cooperate. That finding earlier this week by Judge Amy Berman Jackson in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia could have a direct impact on how Manafort is sentenced in the Virginia case. Judge T.S. Ellis in Alexandria, Virginia, had planned to sentence Manafort on Feb. 8, but he later postponed that until after Jackson's ruling, saying it "may have some effect on the sentencing decision in this case." Manafort was one of the first people in Trump's orbit to face criminal charges as part of Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's campaign colluded with Russia to tilt the 2016 presidential election in his favor. Trump has denied colluding and called the probe a witch hunt, while Russia has denied meddling in the election. None of the charges Manafort faced related directly to Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. In the Virginia case, prosecutors accused Manafort of hiding from U.S. tax authorities $16 million he earned as a political consultant for pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine, money he used to fund an opulent lifestyle. Later, when his lobbying work started to dry up following the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, prosecutors said Manafort began lying to banks to secure $20 million in loans to keep his lifestyle afloat. After almost four days of deliberations, a 12-member jury found Manafort guilty on two counts of bank fraud, five counts of tax fraud and one charge of failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. In September, Manafort pleaded guilty in a parallel case in Washington to attempted witness tapering and conspiring against the United States, a charge that covers conduct including money laundering and unregistered lobbying. As part of that deal, he pledged to cooperate with the Justice Department. However, prosecutors later said they had caught Manafort in several lies and wanted to tear up the agreement in a move that could cause him to face a much stiffer prison sentence. Earlier this week, Jackson ruled there was a "preponderance" of evidence that Manafort lied on three different topics, including his communications with his former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, who prosecutors say has ties to Russian intelligence and helped Manafort try to obstruct justice. Kilimnik has denied such ties. Specifically, Jackson found that Manafort lied about his interactions with Kilimnik including about the sharing of polling data on the Trump campaign and their discussions over a "Ukrainian peace plan," a proposal that envisioned ending U.S. sanctions on Russia - long an important objective of Russian President Vladimir Putins government. Prosecutors have said these lies are "at the heart" of their investigation into potential collusion, according to a transcript released last week. (Reporting by Sarah Lynch and Nathan Layne in Washington; Editing by David Alexander and Leslie Adler)
(Reuters) - U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller disclosed for the first time on Friday that his office has evidence of communications between Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, and WikiLeaks related to the release of hacked Democratic Party emails. In a court filing on Friday, Mueller's office said it had gathered that evidence in a separate probe into Russian intelligence officers who were charged by Mueller of hacking the emails during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign and staging their release. In an email criticizing media coverage of Mueller's filing on Friday, Stone said the evidence was "innocuous Twitter direct messages" that have already been disclosed to the House Intelligence Committee and "prove absolutely nothing". Stone was indicted last month for lying to Congress about his communications with others about the hacked emails. Mueller did not say at the time that he had evidence of communications with WikiLeaks. Stone, an ally of Trump for 40 years, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Stone has previously acknowledged brief exchanges with both WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 but maintains he never had advance knowledge about the release of hacked emails. But Friday marked the first time Mueller indicated he had obtained related evidence, although it remained unclear if the evidence is more substantial than what is publicly known. "The government obtained and executed dozens of search warrants on various accounts used to facilitate the transfer of stolen documents for release, as well as to discuss the timing and promotion of their release," Mueller's team wrote in a filing to the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C. "Several of those search warrants were executed on accounts that contained Stone's communications with Guccifer 2.0 and with Organization 1." Organization 1 is a reference to WikiLeaks, while Guccifer 2.0 is a hacker persona U.S. intelligence agencies say was a cover name used by Russian military intelligence. WikiLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 each published emails and other documents from the Democratic Party in 2016 in an operation that Mueller alleges was part of a Kremlin-backed effort to tip the election in favor of then Republican nominee Trump. WikiLeaks has previously denied any ties to or cooperation with Russia. (Reporting by Nathan Layne in Washington and Mark Hosenball in London; editing by Diane Craft)
By Steven Grattan CUCUTA, Colombia (Reuters) - A U.S. military transport plane carrying humanitarian aid meant for Venezuelans landed in the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Saturday, where food and medicine is being stored amidst uncertainty over how and where aid will be distributed. The shipment will be the second arrival of large-scale U.S. and international aid for Venezuelans, many of whom have scant access to food and medicine, since opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president in defiance of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido, who invoked constitutional provisions to declare himself the country's leader last month, arguing Maduro's 2018 re-election was a sham, has said aid will enter Venezuela on Feb. 23. But it remains unclear whether Maduro, who has called the aid a U.S.-orchestrated show and denies any crisis, will allow the supplies to cross into Venezuela. Speaking in Caracas to supporters who had volunteered to help with the aid effort, Guaido said he would announce further details on Monday about how he planned to get aid into the country from Colombia, Brazil and Curacao despite Maduro's opposition. "We will organize ourselves into brigades," Guaido said, calling on the military to allow the aid through. "The message we have to get through to the armed forces is that they have one week to do the right thing. Will you be on the side of your family and your people, or of the usurper who keeps lying?" Millions of Venezuelans will be traveling to the border to safeguard arriving aid, Lester Toledo, a Guaido representative, said at a press conference in Cucuta. "We are seven days from this being a reality, we are going to have the accompaniment of people, of hundreds of thousands, of millions of Venezuelans that our president Juan Guaido has called upon, who we have asked to go to the border dressed in white as a sign of peace," said Toledo. A U.S. official told Reuters the aid delivered on Saturday amounted to more than 200 tonnes, but a U.S. embassy representative said they had no measurements of the shipment. Toledo said three planes would eventually arrive. Most Western countries and many of Venezuela's neighbors have recognized Guaido as the legitimate head of state, while Maduro retains the backing of Russia and China and control of Venezuelan state institutions including the military. The supplies, including hygiene kits and special products meant for children suffering malnutrition, are arriving from an air force base in Florida aboard C-17 military cargo planes, the U.S. embassy said in a statement. Additional aid flights will take place over the coming days, the statement added, and medical supplies and pharmaceuticals meant for use in hospitals will arrive early next week. The first aid shipment, which included basic foodstuffs and medical supplies, arrived Feb. 8 and is being stored in a Cucuta warehouse. Two bridges outside Cucuta which mark the border between the two countries were open as normal on Saturday. A road bridge outside Tienditas, Venezuela, which has never been used, remains blocked on the Venezuelan side by shipping containers. Medical patients were expected hold a protest in Tienditas calling for aid to be allowed in, while Venezuela government supporters nearby were planning a "hug-a-thon" in protest of "American interventionism". British billionaire Richard Branson is organizing a Feb. 22 concert to raise funds for more aid. (Reporting by Steven Grattan in Cucuta and Fabian Cambero in Caracas, additional reporting by Nelson Bocanegra in Bogota; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Luc Cohen; Editing by James Dalgleish and Marguerita Choy)
LANSING, Mich. (AP)  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday criticized a Detroit TV station's decision to air a story about the reaction to the dress she wore during her State of the State speech, which featured numerous unflattering or sexist comments about her physical appearance from social media users.

She tweeted that the segment broadcast by Fox 2 (WJBK-TV) on Wednesday was "way out of line," before adding: "I'm tough, I can take it." She said boys have teased her about her "curves" since fifth grade, and she tried in her speech to encourage people to "see the humanity in each other in this cruel political environment. In an era when so many women are stepping up to lead, I'm hoping people will focus on our ideas and accomplishments instead of our appearance."

The segment, which the station also published as an article on its website, highlighted comments that were posted on its Facebook page during a livestream of the Democrat's Tuesday night address. People wrote negative, sometimes crude statements about Whitmer's body and her dress.

In a statement, Fox 2 news director Kevin Roseborough defended the story that drew criticism from members of both political parties, current or former journalists, and others who chastised the station for amplifying comments from a platform known for

"We were taken aback by the number and nature of many inappropriate Facebook comments on the governor's physical appearance," he said. "We chose not to ignore the comments, and to instead examine them through person-on-the-street interviews and an expert's opinion on the double standard faced by female leaders. This is not a subject that should be turned away from, and we have extended an invitation to the governor to talk to us about this further."

Republican House Speaker Lee Chatfield of Levering blasted the story, tweeting that it was "ridiculous" and "never should have given these losers a platform to make these inappropriate statements. Her speech was what mattered!" State Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes, who tweeted that the station should pull the online article, accused it of using anonymous comments to take "a cheap, sexist & indefensible shot at a strong woman in leadership."

___

Follow Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00
By Diego Ore BADIRAGUATO, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited the birthplace of the country's most infamous drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, on Friday, calling for peace and reconciliation days after a U.S. jury convicted the kingpin. Speaking to a crowd in Badiraguato, a mountainous municipality in the northwestern state of Sinaloa long associated with cartels, Lopez Obrador said people must not be "stigmatized." "(The people of) Badiraguato are good people, they are hardworking people," he told a cheering crowd in a public square. "We must seek reconciliation, we must find peace." Though warring gang factions have inflicted periodic bloodshed on the municipality, some villagers speak fondly of the largesse of their native son, who was born in the hamlet of La Tuna and whose Sinaloa cartel provided work for marijuana and opium poppy growers. With a population of 32,000, Badiraguato is one of the poorest municipalities in the state of Sinaloa and the country, according to Mexican statistics agency Inegi. Lopez Obrador, who has spoken of the need to fight poverty across Mexico, announced a development plan for Badiraguato that included a new highway, a public university and a program to plant trees. "Until now, I've never seen a president come here," said Javier de la Rocha, a 41-year-old farmer. El Chapo is not the only drug lord who calls it home - Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, both former leaders of the Guadalajara cartel, were also born nearby. In a district where 70 percent of residents live below the poverty line, the capos emerged as unlikely benefactors, building roads and buildings, locals say. That may explain why some found Lopez Obrador's visit, coming after El Chapo's conviction on smuggling tons of drugs to the United States, so significant. With the drug lord behind bars, and facing a probable life sentence, Badiraguato will need a new champion. "Mr. Guzman helped the town a lot. Now that he is not here, let's hope the state responds," said Jose Carrillo, a 61-year-old day laborer, while eating at a chicken restaurant named after El Chapo. Several residents said they were cautiously optimistic about Lopez Obrador's plans and eager to work on the projects. "With the university, my family is no longer going to have to travel to study elsewhere," said de la Rocha, the farmer, leaning on his shovel in front of a huge sign welcoming Lopez Obrador. (Reporting by Diego Ore; additional reporting by Roberto Ramirez and Daniel Becerril; writing by Julia Love; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Tom Brown)
By Diego Ore

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Friday became the first Mexican president in memory to visit the birthplace of the country's most infamous drug trafficker, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman - just three days after a U.S. jury convicted the kingpin.

Before the trip, Lopez Obrador said the visit to Badiraguato, a mountainous municipality in the northwestern state of Sinaloa long associated with Mexico's cartels, was aimed at "regenerating public life."

"We should not stigmatize," he said. "Badiraguato is a historic town, lots of people deserving respect live there."

The left-wing populist was scheduled to give a speech in Badiraguato's municipal headquarters later on Friday.

Though warring gang factions have inflicted periodic bloodshed on the municipality, some villagers speak fondly of the largesse of their native son, who was born in the hamlet of La Tuna and whose Sinaloa cartel provided work for marijuana and opium poppy growers.

With a population of 32,000, Badiraguato is still one of the poorest municipalities in the state of Sinaloa and the country, according to Mexican statistics agency Inegi.

Lopez Obrador, who has spoken of the need to fight poverty across Mexico, was due to announce a development plan for Badiraguato that included a new highway, a public university and a program to plant trees.

"Until now, I've never seen a president come here," said Javier de la Rocha, a 41-year-old farmer.

El Chapo is not the only drug lord who calls it home - Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, both former leaders of the Guadalajara cartel, were also born nearby.

In a district where 70 percent of residents live below the poverty line, the capos emerged as unlikely benefactors, building roads and buildings, locals say.

That may explain why some locals found Lopez Obrador's visit, coming after El Chapo's conviction on smuggling tons of drugs to the United States, so significant. With the drug lord behind bars, and facing a probable life sentence, Badiraguato will need a new champion.

Story continues

"Mr. Guzman helped the town a lot. Now that he is not here, let's hope the state responds," said Jose Carrillo, a 61-year-old day labourer, while eating at a chicken restaurant named after El Chapo.

Several residents said they were cautiously optimistic about Lopez Obrador's plans and eager to work on the construction of the projects.

"With the university, my family is no longer going to have to travel to study elsewhere," said de la Rocha, the farmer, leaning on his shovel in front of a huge sign welcoming Lopez Obrador to town.

(Reporting by Diego Ore; additional reporting by Roberto Ramirez and Daniel Becerril; writing by Julia Love; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Tom Brown)
Amy Locane attends the 2018 New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival at Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel on March 2, 2018, in Iselin, N.J. (Photo: Bobby Bank/Getty Images)

Amy Locane, an actress known for having appeared on Melrose Place and in movies, including the 1992 Brendan Fraser-Matt Damon prep school drama School Ties, was once again sentenced to prison Friday for causing a fatal crash.

Locane had a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent on June 27, 2010, when she ran into a car carrying Fred and Helene Seeman in New Jersey. Helene Seeman, who was 60 at the time, died as a result of her injuries, and her husband was badly injured.

Locane was convicted by a jury in 2012, and she was later sentenced to three years in prison on charges of vehicular homicide and assault by auto. Although she spent two-and-a-half years in prison for the crime, an appeals court found her sentence too light in 2016 and again in 2017, resulting in Fridays hearing in a Somerville, N.J., courtroom.

There is not a day that has gone by that I have not thought of the pain that my actions caused the Seeman family and, of course, Helene Seeman, Locane, who was released from prison in 2015, told the new judge in the case. I have worked very hard to correct that behavior and not be that person who did that on that day.

After the hearing, Locanes attorney, James Wronko, estimated that his client will spend 20 additional months in prison if her appeal of the ruling fails, according to the Associated Press.

Locanes acting credits date back to 1984, when she appeared in NBCs short-lived teen comedy Spencer, which starred Chad Lowe. Four years later, she acted alongside Johnny Depp in the cult classic Cry-Baby. Locane worked on Frasers Airheads in 1994 and on Jared Letos Prefontaine in 1997, five years before winning the role of Maggie Gyllenhaals sister in the dark critical darling Secretary.

Amy Locane appears with Melrose Place cast members Thomas Calabro, Josie Bissett, Grant Show, Vanessa Williams and Doug Savant at a Fox party on May 26, 1992, in New York City. (Photo: Ron Galella/WireImage)

She had largely stopped acting by 2005 and was living in New Jersey with a husband and two daughters.

In a 2017 interview with NJ.com, Locane said she had regularly attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings since leaving prison. The former actress also revealed that Mark Bovenizer, her husband since 2008, had divorced her. At the time, she had visitation rights with the two daughters they shared.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
Historically speaking, it hasnt exactly been a womans world when it comes to leading the spirits industry; but that was the past, and there are a group of extremely talented females who are rising to the top. Case in point: Jassil Villanueva Quintana, a fifth-generation Brugal family member who is helping to change that stigma. Not only is Quintana the first woman to become a maestra ronera for Brugal rum, she is currently the youngest Master of Rum in the industry.

The premium rum producer, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, is paying tribute to the legacy of its founder by releasing 1,000 bottles of Odisea, the third limited edition of its prestigious collection Papa Andres blend. Carefully curated using rum from resting casks of the familys most exclusive and best-kept private-reserve collection, Odisea is a celebration of more than a century of tradition and innovation. Only 1,000 decanters of the rare and exquisite collectors items will be available worldwide and each will retail at a recommended $1,500. And Quintana is behind it. We had a chance to chat with her about her rise to the top with the brand.

Related stories

These Two New Bottles of Rum Are Anything but Humdrum

Like Appleton Estate 21? You'll Love This Cachaca Cocktail, Too

Appleton Estate Prepares to Release Rare 30 Year Old Rum

Papa Andres collection.

How did you get started in the business?

I grew up with Brugal. As a young girl I remember listening to bedtime stories from my parents and extended family as they shared the stories of Brugal and its traditions. I later came to understand that I was also a part of that legacy, but I did not start working for the company until the rum masters of the fourth generation noticed that I had developed a great sharpness in my nose, my palate, and my eyesight. This is how my career began.

You have been training for quite a long time, what does the process entail?

The baseline requirement to become a maestro ronero for Brugal is to be a member of the family, to be a descendant of Andres Brugal Montaner. Then, it is training, training, and more training to develop highly refined sensory skills and a deep knowledge of the products based on their signature bouquet of texture and scent, as well as the ability to taste and identify the fundamental differences in the mixtures of each complex, unique rum blend. Training involves exposure to the rum-distilling process and study of the various fragrance notes, appearances, and consistencies of each rum.

Story continues

Every so often, the family holds a sort of competition to search for the next group of maestros roneros, and I participated in one of them a decade ago along with 11 other cousins. I was the only woman in the family who participatedand I was chosen as the first female maestra ronera in the company, a position I am honored to hold.

As a maestra ronera and fifth-generation family member, I have had the opportunity to observe and take part in a proud legacy. One of my challenges in this role is to keep the Brugal legacy strong.

What do you think is the biggest challenge in being a woman in this industry?

While women have not been historically well represented as leaders in the spirits industry, it is important now more than ever to continue demanding higher standards and to make our voices heard, to show that were more than able to lead the industry forward in innovative ways.

Otherwise, our challenges are the challenges of the industry. In order to be competitive, we must always look for new business opportunities, stay conscious of trends, and anticipate and adjust to any industry changes that lie ahead. We must always strategize to keep our brands relevancy and position among the competition. I feel like we ladies, because were underrepresented, are particularly good at this because we put pressure on ourselves to be on top of our game.

How do you think the industry has changed?

The premiumization of itmore consumers in the last few years are drinking more top-shelf, quality dark spirits. Rum classics like mojitos and daiquiris will always be present, but I see cocktails like rum Manhattans coming forward more and morecocktails that celebrate the innovative complexity of premium sipping rums.

What do you think is the biggest stigma about women in the spirits industry?

One stereotype that Ive had to challenge is that women do not typically drink rum neat. This is definitely not true. This is something that is highly valued among female consumers in the Dominican Republic. But we love to cater to all tastes. Brugal 1888, one of our extraordinary products that is rich in flavor and contains notes of spicy chocolate, cinnamon, and dried fruit, is an exceptional choice for both women and men who prefer to drink rum neat due to the complexity of its composition and taste.

What is the number-one change youd like to see happen?

Id love to see a more supportive community for women within the industry that helps us build our skills and make connections. The best weapon that we have available to us is our abilities.

Do you think women are consuming alcohol different from how they have in the past? Are there certain trends that are emerging?

I think all people are consuming alcohol differently than they have in the past. We are seeing consumers enjoying more sophisticated products such as aged rum and dark spirits, as well as the emergence of stirred or nearly neat cocktails where the spirit shines.

Walk me through a typical work day in your life.

My work days are never the samebeing a maestra ronera has many responsibilities. Some days, Im traveling, other days, Im hosting visitors in our production plant for trainings. Other times, Im focused on new product development in our aging warehouse or scheduling tasting sessions with the other rum masters for sensory evaluations of our products and meetings to educate, develop, and test our organoleptic skills.

This is in addition to managing and filing reports, following up on projects, and releasing our rums before going to the production plant, as each of the production lots must be sensory-approved by the rum masters that is integral to maintaining our Brugal quality.

Whats next for you?

One of my main challenges is expanding the spirit of innovation and creativity that characterizes our brand and uphold the prestige of our products worldwide. This is on top of worldwide expansion.

Our mission with Brugal is to never stop surprising our consumers. Im excited for the new products were developing for the next few years. There is no doubt in my mind that in the warehouse of Puerto Plata we are currently aging the best rums of the futureI cant wait for you to try them.
Navjot Singh Sidhu, after his comments on the Pulwama terror attack, has been asked by the channel, Sony TV, to leave The Kapil Sharma Show. He is likely to be replaced by Archana Puran Singh. Following the car bomb attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir, which claimed the lives of 44 jawans, Sidhu had said that nations cannot be held accountable for terrorist activities. With Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed claiming responsibility for the attack, the statement rubbed many the wrong way. Indian leaders have already lambasted Pakistan for its continued support to terror outfits and are planning diplomatic action against the neighbouring nation.

"His remarks have not been taken kindly by most. Also, the channel and the show was getting dragged into the unwanted controversy. This is when the team amicably decided that Navjot make a distance from the show. The team has already shot a couple of episodes with Archana," reported Indian Express.

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack LIVE updates: Ministry of Home Affairs issues advisory to states, UTs to ensure residents' safety

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack: 'We salute you, brave sons of Mother India': PM Modi pays tribute to martyred soldiers

Earlier, Navjot Singh Sidhu had stated, "Nations cannot be held responsible for the dastardly acts of terrorists. The terrorists do not have deen, mazhab (sect and religion). There are good, the bad and the ugly. Every institution has them. Every nation has them. The ugly need to be punished. But individuals cannot be blamed for the dastardly act."

Sidhu's statements have been received with harsh criticism and since then Twitter along with other social media platforms has been flooded with posts demanding his removal from The Kapil Sharma Show. Interestingly, in the morning, the top three Twitter trends were #BoycottSidhu, #BoycottKapilSharmaShow and #BoycottSonyTV respectively.

However, this is not the first incident in which Sony TV has taken a stand. Previously, when Anu Malik's name was raised in the MeToo movement, he was sacked from his role of a judge from the tenth season of Indian Idol.

Over 40 CRPF jawans were martyred in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama terror attack on 14th February 2019.

(Edited by Vivek Dubey)

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack: 'We salute you, brave sons of Mother India': PM Modi pays tribute to martyred soldiers

ALSO READ: Jaish-e-Mohammed, outfit behind Pulwama terror attack, readies stronghold in Masood Azhar's birthplace
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort faces up to 24 years in prison after being found to have violated his plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, a court document filed Friday said.

Mueller's office said it agreed with a Justice Department calculation that Manafort should face "235 to 293 months, a fine range of $50,000 to $24,371,497.74, a term of supervised release of up to five years, restitution in the amount of $24,815,108.74, and forfeiture in the amount of $4,412,500," the filing said.

Earlier this month, federal district judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with prosecutors that Manafort had "intentionally" lied to investigators about his contacts with a suspected Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, in 2016 and 2017 -- despite having pledged to cooperate as part of his September plea agreement.

Jackson also ruled that Manafort had lied about a secretive payment he made to a law firm, and lied on another occasion when investigators queried him about a separate, still secret investigation related to the Mueller probe.

The ruling meant that Mueller no longer has to abide by the deal, in which Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two reduced conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Manafort is one of seven former Trump campaign associates who have been charged by Mueller's team.

He was convicted in August in a Virginia court on eight charges of banking and tax fraud related to his work for Russia-backed political parties in Ukraine between 2004 and 2014.

He was separately charged in Washington with money laundering, witness tampering and other offenses, which were consolidated into the two conspiracy charges in the plea bargain.
Five people were killed and multiple police officers shot yesterday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago

A man shot dead five of his co-workers after he was sacked from his job of of 15 years.

Gary Martin opened fire on his colleagues and work mates of over a decade after he was fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company, authorities said.

Police chief Kristen Ziman said that Martin also shot at officers as soon as they entered the Henry Pratt company building in Aurora  40 miles west of Chicago.

Gunman Martin, 45, was also killed in the police shoot out.

Five police officers were wounded and a sixth worker was also taken to hospital after the shooting, though their injuries were not thought to be life threatening.

Ms Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Workers look out an office window at the Henry Pratt Company, on the outskirts of Chicago, after the shooting which witnesses blamed on a disgruntled employee

A gunman opened fire at an Illinois factory just after receiving notice of termination from his job there on Friday, killing five fellow workers and wounding five policemen before he was slain by police (REUTERS)

A gunman opened fire at an Illinois factory just after receiving notice of termination from his job there on Friday, killing five fellow workers and wounding five policemen before he was slain by police (REUTERS)

May God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continue to run toward danger, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker said at a news conference.

John Probst, an employee at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, told ABC7 that he ran out of the back door as the shooting unfolded on Friday afternoon.

What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it, he said.

Mr Probst said he was not hurt but that another colleague was bleeding pretty bad.

Its a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country.





Its a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life, Aurora mayor Richard Irvin said.

The White House said president Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

Mr Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. America is with you, he said.
Police are investigating after a 63-year-old was left critically injured when he was hit by his own car as it was being stolen (Picture: Getty)

A 63-year-old man has been left in a critical condition after he was hit by his own car as it was being stolen.

Two people have been arrested after the incident in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, which happened just after 7.20pm on Friday evening.

Police said the man saw his car being driven away and tried to run after it before he was hit, suffering serious head injuries. He was rushed to hospital and remains in a critical condition, Greater Manchester Police said.

A 46-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder on Friday evening, and a 45-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender. They were in custody on Saturday being questioned.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: The victim saw his car  a red Citroen C1, registration number MV18 OSB  being driven away on Rushmere.

He tried to run after his car before it struck him on Nook Lane. The offenders failed to stop and fled the scene, leaving the victim lay in the road.

MORE: Family of runaway schoolgirl who joined Isis beg Government to help bring her home

MORE: Elderly couple aged 83 and 77 finally tie the knot after 35 YEARS of unmarried bliss

A red Citroen C1 believed to be the car involved in the incident was found a short time later by officers, the spokesman said.

Detective Inspector Benjamin Cottam, of GMPs Major Incident Team, said: The man remains in a critical condition in hospital, and my thoughts are with him and his family at this truly awful time.

Although we now have two people in custody, this investigation is very much ongoing and I would urge anyone with information to please come forward to police if you havent done so already.

Id like to appeal to anyone who saw the red Citroen C1 in the area at the time, or anyone with dashcam footage, to please get in touch with us as soon as you possibly can.

Watch the latest videos from Yahoo UK
Caracas (AFP) - President Nicolas Maduro hit out at the United States on Friday for "stealing" billions of dollars and offering "crumbs" in return as humanitarian aid, as Washington sanctioned five officials close to the Venezuelan leader.

Tons of US aid is piling up in Colombia close to the border with Venezuela as opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to defy Maduro's efforts to block the supplies from entering the country.

"It's a booby trap, they're putting on a show with rotten and contaminated food," said Maduro, speaking at an event in the southeastern town of Ciudad Bolivar.

"They've stolen $30 billion and are offering four crumbs of rotten food," added the beleaguered socialist leader, referring to the United States.

Later Friday, Maduro asked the military to prepare for a "special deployment" to reinforce the border with Colombia -- and make it "impregnable."

"I am not exaggerating. In the White House, Donald Trump and Ivan Duque announced plans for war against Venezuela," he said, referring to a meeting on Wednesday in which President Donald Trump reiterated that "all options" were on the table with regard to Venezuela.

The country is in the midst of an economic crisis that has left millions in poverty and facing shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine.

Guaido, who is recognized by 50 countries as the interim president, accuses Maduro of causing economic hardship through mismanagement.

Among those countries is Costa Rica, whose foreign affairs ministry on Friday gave three Maduro-appointed diplomats "60 calendar days" to leave the country.

Maduro meanwhile blames Venezuela's woes on US sanctions.

The 56-year-old, the hand-picked successor to socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, branded it the "war of the oligarchy."

US sanctions mostly target regime individuals and state oil company PDVSA, the government's main source of income, but the US Treasury announced Friday that it was imposing sanctions on five intelligence and security officials close to Maduro.

Story continues

- Struggle over aid -

Those targeted are "aligned with illegitimate former President Nicolas Maduro, who (continues) to repress democracy and democratic actors in Venezuela," a Treasury Department statement said.

Among the five men is Manuel Quevedo, described by the Treasury as the "illegitimate" president of PDVSA.

Humanitarian aid has become a key issue in the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido.

The opposition leader, who last month declared himself acting president, has promised to bring in the aid on February 23.

Maduro refuses to let it in. And his loyal military has barricaded a border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia.

The socialist leader insists the aid is just a cover for a planned US military invasion, while Guaido says 300,000 people could die without the desperately-needed aid.

Speaking on Friday, Maduro said six million families had benefitted from subsidized food boxes and claimed to have bought 933 tons of medicines and medical supplies from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies.

"We paid for it with our own money because we're beggars to no one," he said.

Guaido accuses Maduro of being a "usurper" over his controversial reelection last year in polls widely branded as fraudulent.

Maduro says the 35-year-old National Assembly speaker is a puppet to the US, which is trying to secure access to Venezuela's gold and vast oil reserves -- the largest in the world.

He said Guaido's challenge to his authority is "treason."

"The worst thing is stimulating the imperial madness of an extremist Ku Klux Klan government in the White House," said Maduro.

US national security advisor John Bolton announced on Thursday that 25 countries had "pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance."

A US defense official said Friday that the American military will transport some 200 tons of humanitarian aid for Venezuela to Colombia in the coming days.
Photo credit: Land Rover

From Car and Driver

Land Rover showed a V-8powered Discovery SVX concept in 2017, but U.K. media are reporting it's not going to reach production.

The SVX name may still be used later, the sources report.

The problem may be the age of the V-8 engine that was going to be used.

UPDATE 2/15/19: Land Rover confirmed that the Discovery SVX concept will not reach production, at least not with the planned V-8 powertrain. Land Rover spokesperson Maria Rodriguez did say, "We are investigating opportunities to bring Land Rover vehicles with enhanced all-terrain capability to market in the future."

Things don't seem to be running so smoothly at Jaguar Land Rover's Special Operations Division. Last month, the sub-brand said that it would not be going ahead with the Range Rover SV coupe, which it had planned to produce in a limited series of 999 cars. Now, according to fresh reports from U.K. media, it is also reconsidering the Discovery SVX, which was meant to combine the brand's familiar supercharged 5.0-liter V-8 with an extra-tough version of the family hauler.

Now the U.K.'s Autocar says that the V-8powered Discovery won't happen but that the brand is still planning to use the SVX brand later on. We suspect that a large part of the problem is likely the advancing age of the V-8 engine itself, which is getting close to retirement. Land Rover actually announced the first vehicle to be powered by its new hybridized six-cylinder engine yesterday, a U.K. version of the Range Rover Sport, with this powerplant set to be rolled quickly through the company's range. While the new engine can't match the firepower of the supercharged V-8, which makes 395 horsepower against the SVX's proposed 518 horsepower, we expect more powerful versions to follow. We also know that JLR has previously discussed the idea of using BMW's twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8.

But whatever happens in the future, SVO has been swinging more than it has been connecting. There have been some solid hits, most obviously the Range Rover SVR which has sold strongly, and also some of the stunning "continuation" models of heritage classics that the brand has also brought back to life. But there have also been many misses: the V-8powered F-Pace SVR was meant to be launched last year and is visible on the brand's configurator, but it has been held up by what the company describes as a parts-supply issue. The expensive Project 8 sedan has also failed to spawn the more accessible XE SVR which would help to offset some of its development costs and rival cars like the BMW M3 and the Mercedes-AMG C63 sedan. Insiders say there are no plans for one.

Story continues

To add insult to injury, Chinese brand Geely, which recently acquired Lotus, has poached SVO chief designer Wayne Burgess to run its new U.K. studio, the latest in a series of executive departures.

If SVO is going to have a long-term future, it needs to start getting some runs on the board.

('You Might Also Like',)
Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's election commission on Saturday rejected claims of political interference after its last-minute postponement of presidential elections, as voters caught unawares hit out at the announcement.

The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one-week delay just hours before polls to elect the head of Africa's most populous nation were due to open at 0700 GMT.

It blamed logistical difficulties, including problems in the distribution of ballot papers and results sheets, as well as sabotage, after three fires at its offices in two weeks.

But the two main political parties claimed the delay was part of a conspiracy to rig the results. International observers called for calm.

President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, and his main challenger Atiku Abubakar, 72, returned to Abuja from their home towns in the northern states of Katsina and Adamawa.

In the capital, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, rejected assertions of a political conspiracy. "Our decision was entirely taken by the commission," he told a news conference.

He added that it had "nothing to do with political influence".

Voters arrived early to vote only to find many of the nearly 120,000 polling units deserted and unstaffed.

"Why didn't they announce the delay earlier? Why make the announcement in the middle of the night?" asked Chidi Nwakuna, a businessman in the southern city of Port Harcourt.

Just hours before the announcement, Boko Haram jihadists killed at least eight people in an attack on the northeastern city of Maiduguri.

- Logistical problems -

Rumours began circulating late on Friday about a possible postponement after widespread reports of problems with the delivery of election materials, including ballot papers.

INEC commissioners held emergency talks and after examining the logistics plans concluded the timetable was "no longer feasible", Yakubu said in his early hours announcement.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are now set for February 23, and governorship and state assembly elections have been pushed back to March 9.

Story continues

"This was a difficult decision for the commission to take but necessary for the successful delivery of elections and the consolidation of our democracy," he added.

The two main political parties swiftly accused each other of orchestrating the delay as a way of manipulating the vote, a sentiment echoed by voters, some of whom had travelled long distances to vote in their hometowns.

"I see this postponement of the election as a... ploy to rig," said Oyi Adamezie in Warri, in the southern state of Delta.

- Disappointment -

Nigeria has postponed voting before: in 2015, INEC announced a six-week delay just one week before the election, citing security concerns linked to Boko Haram.

The six-week delay was seen as a way for then president Goodluck Jonathan to claw back votes after a strong challenge from Buhari, an opposition candidate.

The same argument may be made again, with little to separate Buhari and Abubakar in the campaign.

Yet even before the delay announcement, challenges were apparent in the vote's organisation.

In many areas suffering intermittent electricity supply and poor road infrastructure, thousands of INEC agents had been working into the night to deliver election materials.

"They had much time to prepare," said Austin Onwusoanya, a civil servant in the largest city Lagos who was to manage a polling unit that now stood unused.

"There are other things going on."

- Campaign trail -

The postponement comes after an election campaign in which Buhari had sought to portray himself as a continuity candidate.

He came to power in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram, tackle rampant corruption and improve the country's oil-dependent economy.

But the jihadists still mount attacks, and there is growing insecurity elsewhere. Slow growth, as the economy limps back from recession, has also hit Buhari's stock.

So, too, has the perception he has only targeted political opponents as part of his high-profile anti-corruption campaign.

Buhari's alleged shortcomings have been a feature of Abubakar's campaign, who has billed himself as a modern, energetic and pro-business leader.

The former vice-president's past has also featured prominently, as the ruling party resurrected controversies from his time in office and alleged links to corruption.

The election -- the sixth in the 20 years since civilian rule was restored -- is likely to be one of the last times men of Buhari and Abubakar's generation will feature so prominently.

They have been fixtures on Nigeria's turbulent political scene for decades and are the oldest on the ballot.

Just over half of the 84 million registered voters are aged 18-35, prompting calls for more representative candidates unburdened by involvement in Nigeria's traumatic past.
Jussie Smollett, one of the stars of the television show Empire, was attacked in Chicago by 2 assailants who yelled racial and homophobic slurs, tweeted the New York Times on January 29.

Mark the tone of absolute certainty about an unconfirmed claim. Many other news outlets took the same tack. Celebrities, lawmakers rally behind Jussie Smollett in wake of brutal attack, reported ABC News. Jussie Smollett Performs at Troubadour Just Days After Chicago Attack: I Had to Be Here Tonight read a Los Angeles Times headline. Many commenters linked the alleged attack to larger alleged sicknesses: The racist, homophobic attack on Jussie Smollett is far-right Americas endgame, tweeted GQ, in a sentiment echoed by many others.

Possibly it might be wise to establish whether an incident actually happened before leaping to conclusions about it. Remember Covington? Oh, right, that was almost a whole month ago.

The certain tone of the reports about an attack that Jussie Smollett may or may not have suffered was notable given the strange circumstances surrounding the actors claims. The Times would have been on firm ground if it simply added six letters  says he  between the words Empire and was attacked. And the Times is generally wary of publishing as fact information that may or may not turn out to be true. So why put their reputation at risk by abandoning normal practice? I and many others expressed doubt that any attack had transpired the way Smollett described it.

This week Chicagos ABC7 News reported that multiple sources, presumably in the Chicago Police Department, had called the alleged attack staged by Smollett and two accomplices. CBS2 News and the Chicago Tribune made similar reports. A spokesman for the CPD rushed to say that the sources cited were uninformed and inaccurate.

That there might be more to this story than met the eye seemed evident from the outset. Who walks around Chicago on a frigid night with a rope and a bottle of bleach looking for gay black men to attack  but then suddenly turns and runs away from the victim without doing him much injury or robbing him?

Story continues

Yet Cory Booker went on Twitter to say, The vicious attack on Jussie Smollett was an attempted modern-day lynching. Joe Biden: What happened today to Jussie Smollett must never be tolerated in this country. We must stand up and demand that we no longer give this hate safe harbor; that homophobia and racism have no place on our streets or in our hearts. Kamala Harris: This was an attempted modern day lynching. No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate.

One progressive reaction to the reports from Chicago that the Jussie Smollett case might be a hoax is simple dejection. Our friends on the left are saddened that a gay black man perhaps wasnt viciously beaten up by Trump-loving thugs.

No, thats not quite right, they protest: Were upset because we all know that lots of gay people are getting attacked all over this country, and the publicity attending this story will make people discount these important true stories. The subtext is: Were upset that the Right is winning another cultural battle.

But where is this epidemic of gay-bashing? The example people cite is Matthew Shepard. A mini-industry of books, plays, television docudramas and documentaries, and a charitable foundation was built around the case of the 21-year-old student tortured and beaten to death in Laramie, Wyo.

Shepard was killed 21 years ago. Thats it? One definitive, well-established case? Back in the Clinton era? Oh, and Shepard probably wasnt killed for being gay in the first place. The FBI has lately started logging hate crimes. It came up with a log of 7,000 incidents of all kinds, in the entire country, in the supposed nightmare first year of the Trump administration, 2017. Thats every kind of hate crime, starting with graffiti vandalism. The incidence rate is in the range of 0.00002 percent.

A Twitter friend writes that all purely self-reported hate crimes should be presumed hoaxes. I certainly wouldnt want the police to think that way, but for those of us who are merely outside observers such as journalists and politicians, reported hate crimes that have the structure of perfectly crafted narratives should be regarded with skepticism until proven true. The media tend to lose interest in hate-crime hoaxes once theyre unmasked, but as a glance at fakehatecrimes.org will show, there are a lot of liars out there.

Journalists whose priors align with those of activists ought to be doubly careful about taking at face value claims that seem wobbly, for the good of their own reputations. But its not just as a journalist that I doubted Smolletts version(s) of events. I doubted it as an American. I decline to look at Chicago (or Kentucky, or Oklahoma, or anywhere else) and put much credence in the idea that vicious Trump-loving attackers are roaming around looking for minorities to assault.

Note that it doesnt matter who the president might be; progressives always think that theres a hate-crime crisis and always link it to whatever political narrative theyre currently bewailing. When President Obama was in office, it was See? Elements of this country are so racist that having a black man in charge is causing them to lose their minds and go out on the rampage.

How dismal it must be to be a progressive, to rest your political purview on extremely dark assumptions about the nature of the American psyche. Note that progressives also believe that, owing to nefarious right-wingers, Miami will shortly disappear beneath the waves (when you ask them why people are still buying waterfront condos with 30-year-mortgages they simply get angry) and that birth control will shortly be banned or, in the alternative, that women will be forced into becoming baby factories for Christian cultists a la The Handmaids Tale. No matter what the era or who is in charge, disaster always looms, and any weird anecdote that supports the larger doom narrative is eagerly, even devoutly, believed.

More from National Review
By Alison Frankel and Tom Hals

(Reuters) - Democratic lawmakers, states and others mulling legal challenges to President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration to obtain funds to build a U.S.-Mexico border wall face an uphill and probably losing battle in a showdown likely to be decided by the conservative-majority Supreme Court, legal experts said.

After being rebuffed by the U.S. Congress in his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was a signature 2016 campaign promise, Trump on Friday invoked emergency powers given to the president under a 1976 law. The move, according to the White House, enables Trump to bypass lawmakers and redirect money already appropriated by Congress for other purposes and use it for wall construction.

Peter Shane, a professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law, said challenges to the emergency declaration could end up as a replay of the legal battle against Trump's travel ban targeting people from several Muslim-majority nations. The Supreme Court last year upheld the travel ban after lower courts had ruled against Trump, with the justices giving the president deference on immigration and national security issues.

Trump has painted illegal immigration and drug trafficking across the border as a national security threat.

"Courts are reluctant to second-guess the president on matters of national security," Shane said.

Democrats, state attorneys general and at least one advocacy group have vowed to take the Republican president to court over the declaration.

"I'll sign the final papers as soon as I get into the Oval Office and we'll have a national emergency and then we'll be sued," Trump said at the White House.

The National Emergencies Act of 1976 has been invoked dozens of times by presidents without a single successful legal challenge. Congress never defined a national emergency in the law.

The legal experts said Trump's declaration could be challenged on at least two fronts: that there is no genuine emergency and that Trump's action overstepped his powers because under the U.S. Constitution Congress has authority over federal appropriations, not the president.

Story continues

Trump made the declaration after asking Congress to appropriate $5.7 billion for wall construction and lawmakers gave him none.

The Supreme Court has a 5-4 conservative majority that includes two justices appointed by Trump, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Chief Justice John Roberts has emerged as the court's swing vote, and the decision on the legality of Trump's action could come down to him.

"The handwriting is on the wall here," said Steven Schwinn, a professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. "The Supreme Court is almost certain to uphold President Trump's emergency."

Legal experts said the 1976 law gives presidents vast discretion. Trump plans to redirect $6.7 billion in federal funds to pay for a wall, money that would come from a U.S. treasury forfeiture fund, a defence counter-drug program and the military construction budget.

"The odds favour the president by a significant majority," George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley said. "He has the authority to make the declaration and he has the money."

But the administration's defence of Trump's action may not be a smooth ride. Lawsuits could delay the use of funds the president is planning to tap, and legal experts said the bulk of funds may be tied up for years.

Trump is running for re-election next year and a loss would mean his presidency ends in January 2021. It is possible the legal fight over the emergency declaration might not be resolved by then.

"My guess is the money, the significant amount of money, won't flow before the 2020 election," Harvard Law School professor Mark Tushnet said.

Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and Chuck Schumer, the Republican-led Senate's top Democrat, said Trump actions "clearly violate the Congress's exclusive power of the purse."

Congress is unlikely to muster a veto-proof majority to vote down Trump's emergency move. The Democratic-led House could try to sue, but courts generally do not allow Congress to litigate after lawmakers fail to legislate, the legal experts said.

States may lead the fight. California Governor Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, both Democrats, said they anticipated they would sue, saying the state would be harmed because Trump's action could drain money from its drug-fighting efforts, endangering its residents.

One possible advantage for California is that its case likely could at some point go to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has dealt Trump setbacks on previous policies including the travel ban and potentially could impose or uphold an injunction against the emergency declaration.

Legal experts said landowners along the border could sue because they face the imminent threat of land seizure by the federal government to build the wall.

Opponents may have more traction arguing that the president is unlawfully trying to tap funds Congress appropriated for the Pentagon, the experts said. The Defence Department construction money that Trump wants has almost never been used for domestic construction. In addition, Congress required the money be spent supporting military operations, and opponents could argue the border wall fails to qualify.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Alison Frankel in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Will Dunham)
Jaish-e-Mohammed has been behind many a terror attacks in India, the latest among them being the attack on a CRPF convoy in Pulwama, Kashmir which claimed lives of 44 jawans as they were returning to their posts after vacations. Even as India and the world are condemning the cowardly Pulwama terror attack, Masood Azhar-run JeM is busy readying Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah near Pakistan's Bahawalpur as its new centre. Presently, the terror outfit is reportedly running its operations out of this region.

Images procured by India Today show the mosque located close to the National Highway-5 on the outskirts of Bahawalpur. The basic structure was put into place back in 2012 but construction work gathered pace in recent years, resulting in the grand Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah sprawled across 16 acres.

Intelligence sources have confirmed that JeM intends to use Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah as its new location. It has also been confirmed that this location was raided by Pakistan authorities in the wake of Pathankot terror attack in 2016.

JeM seems to have chosen Bahawalpur for its new location based on various factors. To begin with, it is the birth place of its chief Masood Azhar. Also, Bahawalpur is the 12th largest city in the Punjab province of Pakistan and is located 400km from Lahore. The mosque is situated close to NH-5, which is the longest highway in Pakistan at 1800 km, and connects north and south regions of the country.

Interestingly, Jamia Masjid Subhan Allah is situated only eight kilometers away from Bahawalpur's army cantonment which houses 30,000 troops of 31 Corps of Pakistan Army, India Today's report shows.

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack: India to call for action against Pakistan before FATF, European Commission

ALSO READ:Pulwama terror attack LIVE updates: Ministry of Home Affairs issues advisory to states, UTs to ensure residents' safety

ALSO READ:Navjot Singh Sidhu sacked from The Kapil Sharma Show after his comments on Pulwama attack
By James Pearson HANOI (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Vietnam on Feb. 25 ahead of a planned second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, three sources with direct knowledge of Kim's schedule told Reuters on Saturday. Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28 following their historic first meeting last June in Singapore. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday Washington aims to "get as far down the road as we can" at the summit. Kim will meet with Vietnamese officials when he arrives in Hanoi, said the sources, who requested anonymity citing the sensitivity and secrecy surrounding the movements of the North Korean leader. He will also visit the Vietnamese manufacturing base of Bac Ninh and the industrial port town of Hai Phong, one source said. Vietnam's president and general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, will meet Kim ahead of a planned trip by Trong to neighboring Laos, one of the sources with direct knowledge told Reuters. A Reuters witness saw Kim's close aide, Kim Chang Son, in Hanoi on Saturday visiting a government guesthouse and the Metropole and Melia hotels in the center of the capital. Reuters was first to report last month that Hanoi was preparing to receive Kim for a state visit this month. Communist-ruled Vietnam, which has embraced economic reforms and developed close diplomatic ties with its former foe the United States, has been widely touted as a model of reform for isolated and impoverished North Korea. The former Cold War allies, which share a similar socialist ideology and exchanged military and political support during the Vietnam War, are eyeing a new chapter in relations following Hanoi's opening up and embrace of the West. (Reporting by James Pearson; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Want to participate in a short research study? Help shape the future of investing tools and you could win a $250 gift card!

If you are interested in cashing in on Prudential Financial, Inc.s (NYSE:PRU) upcoming dividend of US$1.00 per share, you only have 2 days left to buy the shares before its ex-dividend date, 19 February 2019, in time for dividends payable on the 14 March 2019. Is this future income a persuasive enough catalyst for investors to think about Prudential Financial as an investment today? Below, Im going to look at the latest data and analyze the stock and its dividend property in further detail.

Check out our latest analysis for Prudential Financial

What Is A Dividend Rock Star?

It is a stock that pays a stable and consistent dividend, having done so reliably for the past decade with the expectation of this continuing into the future. More specifically:

It is paying an annual yield above 75% of dividend payers

It consistently pays out dividend without missing a payment or significantly cutting payout

Its dividend per share amount has increased over the past

It is able to pay the current rate of dividends from its earnings

It is able to continue to payout at the current rate in the future

High Yield And Dependable

Prudential Financials dividend yield stands at 4.3%, which is high for Insurance stocks. But the real reason Prudential Financial stands out is because it has a proven track record of continuously paying out this level of dividends, from earnings, to shareholders and can be expected to continue paying in the future. This is a highly desirable trait for a stock holding if youre investor who wants a robust cash inflow from your portfolio over a long period of time.

NYSE:PRU Historical Dividend Yield February 16th 19

If there is one thing that you want to be reliable in your life, its dividend stocks and their constant income stream. In the case of PRU it has increased its DPS from $0.58 to $4 in the past 10 years. During this period it has not missed a payment, as one would expect for a company increasing its dividend. These are all positive signs of a great, reliable dividend stock.

Story continues

The company currently pays out 37% of its earnings as a dividend, according to its trailing twelve-month data, meaning the dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. However, going forward, analysts expect PRUs payout to fall to 32% of its earnings. Assuming a constant share price, this equates to a dividend yield of around 4.6%. However, EPS should increase to $12.19, meaning that the lower payout ratio does not necessarily implicate a lower dividend payment.

When considering the sustainability of dividends, it is also worth checking the cash flow of a company. Cash flow is important because companies with strong cash flow can usually sustain higher payout ratios.

Next Steps:

Prudential Financials strong dividend attributes make it, without a doubt, a stock dividend investors should be considering for their portfolios. However, given this is purely a dividend analysis, I recommend taking sufficient time to understand its core business and determine whether the company and its investment properties suit your overall goals. There are three important aspects you should further examine:

Future Outlook: What are well-informed industry analysts predicting for PRUs future growth? Take a look at our free research report of analyst consensus for PRUs outlook. Valuation: What is PRU worth today? Even if the stock is a cash cow, its not worth an infinite price. The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether PRU is currently mispriced by the market. Other Dividend Rockstars: Are there strong dividend payers with better fundamentals out there? Check out our free list of these great stocks here.

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.
Indonesian firms owe at least $1.3 billion in unpaid fines for environmental damage caused by widespread forest clearing and deadly fires linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths, a Greenpeace study said Friday.

Citing government data, the environmental group said it examined 11 civil court cases between 2012 and 2018 where palm oil and pulp-and-paper companies were ordered to pay fines to Jakarta.

"However, not one of these forests cases has resulted in compensation being paid," Greenpeace said.

The cases were mostly linked to damage from fires that tore through Indonesia in 2015, causing as much as $16 billion in damages to forestry and agriculture, as well as to tourism and other industry, it added, citing World Bank figures.

The 2015 blazes destroyed some two million hectares of land and sparked a massive haze outbreak over Singapore and Malaysia, leading to diplomatic frictions.

A US academic study estimated that the crisis may have led to more than 100,000 premature deaths.

"Until today not one company has paid compensation for their role in this catastrophe," Greenpeace said.

Most of the $1.3 billion in penalties was attributed to the single case of a firm found to have been engaged in illegal logging that saw vast tracts of forest destroyed.

Unpaid compensation is money owed to Indonesians and could be used for large-scale forest restoration and to prevent future damage, it added.

"By not forcing these companies to pay, the government is sending a dangerous message: company profit comes before law, clean air, health and forest protection," said Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Arie Rompas.

The environment ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report.

Indonesia's overburdened court system -- long dogged by corruption allegations -- is sometimes reluctant to chase firms for payment in these kinds of cases, Greenpeace said.

The country's commodities-driven economy depends heavily on agricultural, forestry and mining activities that have been accused of causing widespread environmental damage.
By Maikel Jefriando and Gayatri Suroyo JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia will push back by as much as seven years an October deadline for halal labels on food, drugs and cosmetics, after industry voiced fears the move could bring chaos and threaten supplies of life-saving vaccines and other products. In 2014, the world's biggest Muslim-majority country adopted a measure for labels certifying whether products are halal, or suitable for consumption in line with Islamic laws. If not labeled, they would face sale bans. A presidential decree giving industries a transition period of several years to comply with the law now awaits President Joko Widodo's signature, said Sukoso, the head of the panel overseeing the process along with Muslim clerics. "We're preparing the infrastructure now, for example a halal information system," added Sukoso, who goes by one name. "We hope the process can run smoothly and we can reach every corner of Indonesia." The food industry would be given a deadline until 2024 to get halal certificates, said Sukoso, the chief of the Halal Product Assurance Body (BPJPH), though he declined to give a date for compliance by the drugs industry. Parulian Simanjuntak, head of the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Group representing drug firms, said government consultations showed the industry would have until 2026 to comply, but that might not be enough. "We're still not happy," said Simanjuntak. Simanjuntak said the definition of halal was too strict and would mean life-saving products, such as vaccines or drugs containing blood, could be barred after the deadline passed. It would be impossible to force drug companies to create halal-specific products for Indonesia alone, since the country has a relatively small share of the global market, he said, adding he was concerned it could create "some kind of chaos". Originally intended as a voluntary step, the law was meant partly to help boost exports to Muslim countries by upgrading halal certificates issued by a group of clerics, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), that is recognized by few countries, as it is not a government body. Getting certification is costly because businesses have to fly auditors from the MUI to factories overseas to check that raw materials or steps in manufacturing meet the halal requirements. The government has not yet announced the prices of halal certificates in the new scheme, but Sukoso estimated an annual total cost of 22.5 trillion rupiah ($1.60 billion) across industries will yield additional income for the government. The government has promised to subsidize certification for 1.6 million small and medium-sized food companies, said Adhi Lukman, chairman of the Indonesian Food & Beverage Association. "We are pushing for the BPJPH to work with other halal certification bodies in other countries, so that our imports of raw materials can go through faster," Lukman said. (Additional reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Editing by Ed Davies and Clarence Fernandez)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  Evidence collected over months and being unveiled Monday could reveal whether the nation's last undecided congressional election was either tainted by so much ballot-tampering that a winner cannot be declared - or that that the actual winner was unfairly denied the seat.

North Carolina's state elections board  reassembled last month after an unrelated legal challenge found the previous version unconstitutional  holds at least two days of hearings when investigators will describe their findings into allegations that a political operative may have tampered with or even discarded mail-in ballots.

The State Board of Elections said it could decide after hearing the evidence whether to certify Republican Mark Harris as the winner over Democrat Dan McCready. It also could order a new election in the 9th Congressional District.

The previous elections board twice refused to declare Harris the winner after hearing reports of irregularities just before the November 2016 election in rural Bladen County, home of a political operative named Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr.

Dowless' vote-getting work has drawn attention for years. But with Harris leading McCready by only 905 votes out of nearly 278,000 cast, Dowless has come under intense focus.

"You likely wouldn't know as much about these allegations if it hadn't been such a close race," said Martin Kifer, the political science department chairman at North Carolina's High Point University.

One of the methods participants said Dowless used was to hire workers to collect absentee ballots from voters who received them and then turn them over to Dowless, according to an elections board investigation of the 2016 campaign.

One witness interviewed by investigators last year said he saw Dowless handling a sheaf of blank ballots and others that may have been completed and held to turn in later. Workers took the ballots, whether completed or not, and handed them over to Dowless, according to sworn affidavits signed by multiple voters after the November election.

Story continues

In addition, two Bladen County women told WSOC-TV in Charlotte last fall that Dowless had directed them to do the same.

State election law prohibits anyone other than a guardian or close family member to handle mail-in ballots.

Former Bladen County sheriff's deputy Kenneth Simmons told The Associated Press that he met Dowless at a meeting of local Republicans ahead of the May 2018 primary. Simmons said he was given a list of voters to approach on behalf of the candidate for sheriff he supported. He said he was also handed blank absentee ballots with sections highlighted in yellow that Dowless said needed to be completed.

"He highlighted it, for where to fill it out, and he said as long as they got that much of it he'd do the rest," Simmons said in a phone interview.

Dowless declined an interview request and his lawyer did not respond to messages.

Harris' team said in a legal briefing submitted to the elections board last week that the board should certify him the winner no matter what Dowless did for the campaign.

"Technical irregularities like ballot harvesting  do not provide enough reason to order a new election," the attorneys said.

The elections board also is expected to hear about the unusual number of absentee ballots that voters requested but never returned. A Harvard University elections expert is expected to testify that absentee ballots in Bladen and neighboring Robeson counties disappeared at a rate 2  to three times higher than the rest of the congressional district or elsewhere in North Carolina.

Of the absentee ballots that were returned, Harris "greatly overperformed" in Bladen and Robeson counties when compared to what might have been expected based on patterns elsewhere in the state. McCready "greatly underperformed," said Prof. Stephen Ansolabehere.

"Statistical tests show that these deviations are extremely unlikely to have arisen by chance," Ansolabehere said in an affidavit filed on behalf of McCready.

Dowless' activities could lead the state elections board to "order a new election if the results are in doubt even if the candidates had nothing to do with any malfeasance," or wrongful conduct, said Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine.

Four of the five members on the board  composed of three Democrats and two Republicans  would need to agree a new election is necessary.

If that doesn't happen, McCready's lawyers said state officials should send their findings to the Democrat-dominated U.S. House and let it decide whether Harris should be seated  arguing that the U.S. Constitution gives the House authority over the elections and qualifications of its members.

___

Follow Emery P. Dalesio on Twitter at http://twitter.com/emerydalesio. His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/emery%20dalesio .
The shooter has been apprehended, police said - Chicago Tribune

A 15-year employee being fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company opened fire with a laser-sighted pistol on Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police, authorities said.

Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin "was being terminated" before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. - which makes valves for industrial purposes - in the city about 40 miles west of Chicago.

She told a news conference that in addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. A sixth police officer suffered a knee injury while officers were searching the building.

Ziman said officers arrived within four minutes of receiving reports of the shooting and were fired upon as soon as they entered the 29,000-square-foot manufacturing warehouse.

Police said they did not know the gunman's motive.

John Probst, a worker who was in the factory, said the gunman had arrived for his regular shift, working in assembly, and opened fire several hours later.

Mr Probst told local television: "I saw a gunman running down the aisle with a pistol, I recognised him as a co-worker and he was shooting everybody.

"As soon as we heard shots, as soon as I saw the green laser thing, we took off out the back door."

Mr Probst said the plant was "huge" and the man worked about 80 yards from him.

First responders and emergency vehicles are gathered near the scene of a shooting at an industrial park in Aurora Credit: Bev Horne/ Daily Herald

Before the shooting the gunman walked past him and went upstairs to the office, he said.

Aurora, a city of 200,000 people, is 40 miles west of Chicago.

In a statement Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said: "The President has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation in Aurora,
This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

By Robert Chiarito

AURORA, Ill. (Reuters) - The gunman who killed five co-workers and wounded five police officers at an Illinois factory was a violent felon who had just been fired, and the plant manager and a young intern were among his victims, authorities said on Saturday.

Gary Martin, 45, armed himself with a handgun, which he owned illegally, before reporting for a meeting on Friday at the Henry Pratt Company where his employment was terminated, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters.

He was later killed in a shootout with SWAT-team officers who stormed the sprawling plant 40 miles (65 km) west of Chicago.

Martin had bought the gun he used, a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun with a laser sight, in 2014 before authorities realized he had a prior felony conviction, Ziman said.

"The fact remains that some disgruntled person walked in and had access to a firearm that he shouldn't have had access to," Ziman said at the news conference.

Investigators were seeking to determine why Martin was not forced to relinquish his gun before the shooting, Ziman said. He should have been barred from owning a handgun because he had a 1995 conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi.

He also had several prior arrests in Illinois, Ziman said, including for suspicion of domestic violence and criminal damage to property.

The bloodshed marked the latest spasm of gun violence in a nation where mass shootings have become almost commonplace, and came a day after the first anniversary of the massacre of 17 people by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The violence unfolded over an hour and a half, although Martin's victims, including the wounded policemen, were struck by gunfire in the first several minutes, police said.

Police breached a door at the plant with an armored rescue vehicle called a BearCat, allowing SWAT officers to enter and search for the gunman and injured victims, Aurora Deputy Police Chief Keefe Jackson told reporters.

Story continues

Heavily armed SWAT officers combed through the nearly 30,000-square foot (2,800-square meter) facility, their sight-lines obscured by racks with valves and machinery, Aurora police Lieutenant Rick Robertson told reporters.

Martin was holed up in a machine shop at the back, apparently waiting for police, Robertson said, and exchanged gunfire with them. It was not immediately clear if Martin died from a self-inflicted wound or police gunfire.

"It was a very short gunfight and it was over," Robertson said.

INTERN ON FIRST DAY

The plant, which manufactures water distribution products and operates as a factory and warehouse, employs about 200 workers in a working-class district of Aurora, the second-largest city in Illinois.

Among the victims were Trevor Wehner, a human resources intern who was spending his first day at the company when he was fatally shot, police and a family friend said.

Authorities identified the other plant workers who were killed as Josh Pinkard, the plant manager; Clayton Parks, the human resources manager; Russell Beyer, a mold operator; and Vicente Juarez, a stock room attendant and fork lift operator. Police did not give the ages of the victims.

A sixth employee wounded in the shooting was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

At least two of the five police officers wounded by gunfire remained in hospital on Saturday in stable condition, Ziman said.

Another officer was injured in the incident, but not by gunfire, police said.

Neighbors of Martin, who lived in an apartment in Aurora, described him as a quiet man whom they often saw operating a remote control car and a drone.

"He looked very normal," said neighbor Gildardo Bravo, a 43-year-old cleaning company supervisor.

(Reporting by Robert Chiarito; Additional reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Tom Brown and James Dalgleish)
Guess what: William Weld is not going to scare Donald Trump in 2020. Photo: George Frey/Getty Images

Maybe it was just a news hole that had to be filled on a morning when the entire political world was awaiting the presidents press conference announcing his national emergency declaration on his cooked-up border crisis. But its still strange how this story wound up so widely and prominently reported (this is from the New York Times account):

Sign Up for the Intelligencer Newsletter Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.

William F. Weld, the maverick former governor of Massachusetts, announced on Friday that he would form an exploratory committee to challenge President Trump for the Republican Partys 2020 nomination, presenting himself as a dissident voice in a political party that has abandoned its mainstream roots.

Presumably no one is under the illusion this represents an actual threat to Trumps renomination. The Times put Welds electoral irrelevance diplomatically:

Mr. Weld is unlikely to pose a major threat to Mr. Trump and he is in some ways an incongruous figure to leap into the Republican presidential fray. A moderate who ran for vice president in 2016 on the Libertarian ticket, Mr. Welds candidacy might be more of an act of protest than a conventional national campaign.

At National Review, Ramesh Ponnuru was blunter about it:

The point of a primary run against President Trump cant be to actually win. I know that 2016 should make all of us leery of saying that some political development will never happen  but cmon.

So is the point instead to set an alternative course for the future of the Republican party should Trump prove a failure in 2020 or in his second term? That doesnt make sense, either, unless you believe that the GOP has a future as a party that favors abortion and gun control and is unconcerned about religious liberty and judicial conservatism.

Aside from being a has-been and all (he last held public office in 1997), Weld is far, far out of step with the former party he now says he wants to lead. Even if said party was not firmly in the grip of a president whom Weld basically described as a Nazi in 2016 (I can hear the glass crunching on Kristallnacht in the ghettos of Warsaw and Vienna when I hear [Trumps immigration plan]), Weld as GOP leader would make about as much sense as Joe Lieberman leaving his comfortable lobbying haunts to take charge of the Democrats.

So why is Weld getting attention? Id say there are two reasons. First, presidential politics abhors a vacuum. Its been largely forgotten now, but there was a remarkable level of interest heading towards the 2012 presidential election in the entirely phantasmagoric possibility of a Democratic primary challenge to Barack Obama (indeed, I had a duel with the estimable Glenn Greenwald on the subject back then in which I mocked the very idea to his displeasure). So anybody running against a sitting president will be welcomed to the fray by horse-race loving journalists and intraparty malcontents alike.

Second, and this was part of the reason some progressives looked high and low for an Obama challenger as well, an awful lot of observers think Trump should have a primary challenge, so the banners are already half unfurled even if the purported champion, like Weld, looks a bit underwhelming. Its the same phenomenon that led to the regular and rather amazing over-coverage of the steadily shrinking band of #NeverTrump Republicans.

Its true that Trumps conquest of the GOP is sometimes hard to completely digest. This very morning, as he expressed his deep love for tariffs in rambling comments about his trade war with China, you had to figure some of the loyal men and women in his retinue were inwardly cringing. But it doesnt matter: they will back him nonetheless, even if it requires them to repudiate important things they once believed.

Barring something coming out that is somehow even more distasteful than all the things Republicans have already had to swallow about Trump, its totally his party now. But that wont keep his detractors from hoping against hope that someone will arise from the ranks of his own party and lead a revolt.

Perhaps someone who is at least remotely feasible as an actual candidatesay, former Ohio governor John Kasichwill keep flirting with a 2020 challenge to Trump in the sure knowledge that its viability will be exaggerated until such time as voters vote. But for now, William Weld will have to do.
Before allegedly killing five of his co-workers, Gary Montez Martin went into his local Circle K convenience store for his almost daily purchase of a few cigars. He seemed fine, according to clerks at the store.

He came in almost every day and bought two or three Black & Mild cigars, said Ricardo Moreno, 24, a clerk at a Circle K just blocks from Martins apartment.

Moreno said Martin was an engaging, happy customer who made a difference in the life of a clerk at the store. The two would chat about life and work and Moreno would kid Martin about his smoking habit.

Hours after leaving the store Friday, Martin went to his place of work and fatally shot his co-workers and six police officers before he was killed by police who had arrived at a factory in Aurora, Illinois, where the shooting took place, officials said.

Martin, a 15-year veteran of the Henry Pratt Co., was being fired just before the shooting began, according to authorities. Chief Kristen Ziman said in a news conference Friday night that Martin used a Smith & Wesson handgun to shoot his five male co-workers. Police were investigating whether Martin had obtained the gun legally, Ziman said.

Martin allegedly began a gun battle with police officers who arrived within minutes after frantic calls came from within the factory, where he worked as a valve assembler. He then hid inside the cavernous 29,000 square foot factory as police teams searched for him for almost an hour. When they found him, he shot at them and they shot back, killing him, Ziman said.

Martin lived in a large apartment complex about five miles northeast of the factory. Police obtained a search warrant and searched his apartment Friday evening. "At this time, I'm told we didn't find anything," Ziman said.

Half a mile away from his complex was the Circle K store where Moreno worked. The man he interacted with almost daily was cheerful and upbeat.

Whenever hed walk into the store, he always had a smile on, honestly, said Moreno. In fact, I became an assistant manager because of one of his compliments.

Story continues

Moreno began working on the overnight shift at the Circle K about two years ago and would often be finishing up his shift when Martin came in to buy his cigars early in the morning.

Hed see me scrubbing the floors and cleaning the counters and making fresh coffee, Moreno said.

Aurora, Illinois, deadly shooting: Fired factory worker killed at least 5 people, authorities say

We got a new manager, but he wasnt sure whether I should be promoted or not. And one day Gary came in and told the boss what a good job I did and how hard I worked. He encouraged me and pushed me forward.

Moreno said his colleagues had seen Martin just that morning and he had seemed fine.

When I found out that it was him I was taken aback, just because I wasnt expecting that of him. He was possibly the last guy I thought of shooting up the place, Moreno said.

The only thing he could think of was that Martin was upset about losing his job.

"I was thinking about him, about what could have set all of this off. I can understand, when you're grown and you're accustomed to your job for 15 years, its hard to think about losing it," he said.

Steve Spizewski lived three doors down from Martin at their apartment complex and said he frequently stopped to chat with Martin, who was often outside playing with drones or remote control cars. Spizewski was on his way to work Friday afternoon when he saw multiple police cars speeding in the opposite direction, and wondered if something had happened at the local outlet mall, which is located across the highway from their apartment complex. When he heard what Martin had done, he couldn't believe it.

"I can't say I knew him as one of my greatest friends, but we always talked, and I'd sit on his porch, have lunch once in a while," Spizewski said. "He liked to play with his remote control cars and his drones, liked to work on his car, a tricked out Nissan."

Spizewski said he was angry with reports that neighbors implied to media outlets that they weren't surprised by Martin's actions. Spizewski wondered if those people were making assumptions about Martin solely because of his skin color.

"Gary was a black man, but big freaking deal," Spizewski said. "You can't judge someone by how they look ... Gary might have been a tough-looking guy, but I never saw him as a mean guy.

"But what he did, that's not right at all. I feel for everybody involved ... and I feel awful for his mom."

Spizewski said he recently lost his own mother, and that Martin "was one of the comforting souls for me."

Spizewski last saw Martin on Wednesday afternoon, when they passed each other outside and traded small talk about the weather. He said he did not recall Martin ever mentioning guns, or saying he owned any. Spizewski also said that if Martin was struggling at work, he didn't share that.

"I considered him a friend but what he did, it's terrible," Spizewski said. "I'm still in shock."

Officials from Mueller Water Products, the parent company of Henry Pratt Co.,issued a statement Friday to media outlets about the shooting.

Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones, the first responders, the Aurora community and the entire Mueller family during this extremely difficult time, the statement said. Our entire focus is on the health and well-being of our colleagues, and we are committed to providing any and all support to them and their families.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who was Gary Martin? Alleged Illinois gunman seemed fine hours before killing co-workers
Lagos (AFP) - Nigerians on Saturday hit out in frustration and anger at election officials after a last-minute delay to voting, just as they were preparing to cast their ballots.

Many people were taken unawares by the overnight announcement and only found out when they reached polling stations -- to find them empty and unstaffed.

Others counted the cost of a lost day's work in a country where many people are daily wage earners in the informal sector, and some 87 million live in extreme poverty.

In the commercial capital Lagos, streets normally teeming with activity were eerily empty on Saturday morning, with many businesses closed.

"It's not a good day," said David Ujo, a 58-year-old flower stall owner, watering his plants by the road-side. "It's like a lost day, no one is around."

Many polling units across the city were not even set up, reflecting widespread reports of problems with the distribution of election materials.

"This is where the polling unit should be," said Austin Onwusoanya, who was expected to manage a polling unit in the sandy compound of a secondary school in the Ikoyi area.

He said no election equipment was sent, even as locals continued to enter through the school gates to confirm that the delay was true.

"They had rolled out the timetable months ago," said Onwusoanya angrily.

Many people had planned weddings and other important engagements around election day but now had to reschedule, he added.

- 'This is Nigeria!' -

Meanwhile, dozens of angry men crowded around a stand of the day's newspapers, laid out on the ground under rocks.

Many carried headlines prematurely declaring the polls open. One, the Saturday Independent, read: "Nigeria Decides Today."

Newspaper vendor Samson Onasanya said he was not surprised at the delay, in a country accustomed to last-minute preparations, even for long-standing engagements.

In 2015, INEC postponed elections by six weeks -- but at least did so with one week to go before people travelled back to their home villages and towns to cast their vote.

Story continues

"This is Nigeria, this is Nigeria," he shouted, adding: "We are tired of all this.

"This is not the first time it has happened and it will not be the last time, it is because they don't respect we the voters."

- Demand for answers -

About 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) northwest in Buhari's home town of Daura, in Katsina State, many would-be supporters of the president tried to return to normalcy.

Shops began to open and motorcycle taxis plied the streets for customers.

Many in Buhari's stronghold were also frustrated and suspicious of the reasons for the delay.

"We suspect foul play," ventured Abba Hassan Shehu, a 22-year-old student.

"INEC (the Independent National Electoral Commission) told us they were ready. How could they now tell us they can't conduct the election?

"They should give us a more cogent excuse," he said, surrounded by a group of young men who nodded in agreement.

INEC officials in various states also lamented the inconvenience.

In the southern city of Port Harcourt, election officers woke up with shock and anger at the news, after a night spent sleeping out in the open next to election materials.

Many had travelled from faraway places and there was no guarantee voters would return for the rescheduled poll, they said.

Presidential and parliamentary elections are now due on February 23. Governorship and state assembly polls have been pushed back to March 9.
Paris (AFP) - Demonstrators are to hit French city streets again Saturday, marking three months of "yellow vest" protests as a poll now suggests that most of the country wants them to stop.

The number of those attending the weekly rallies has dropped since 287,000 turned out on November 17, the first Saturday of protest.

And for the first time, a poll found Wednesday that more than half those questioned felt it was time to end the protests.

On February 9, the 13th weekend of anti-government actions, 51,000 people took to the streets according to police, though protest organisers put the figure at 118,000.

Violence has marred nearly every large-scale rally.

In Paris, where 4,000 gathered last week, clashes broke out outside the National Assembly building where one demonstrator lost a hand, reportedly as he tried to bat away a stun grenade.

Masked activists tried to break down barriers protecting the parliament but were repelled by police firing tear gas and grenades.

As the march continued, vandals burned rubbish bins and cars and smashed bus shelters, cash machines and shop windows along the route.

One of the torched vehicles belonged to Sentinelle, an anti-terrorism unit. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner expressed his "indignation and disgust" in a tweet.

Some 550 shops have been damaged by protesters in the capital since mid November.

Thousands of protesters also turned out in the southern cities of Marseille, Montpellier, Bordeaux and Toulouse -- strongholds of the movement -- as well as several cities in the north and west of France.

The "yellow vest" movement started as a protest against rising fuel taxes, but it has become one of opposition to President Emmanuel Macron's policies.

Speaking at a meeting with local mayors on Thursday, Macron said it was time for a "return to reason", adding that authorities would act with "greater firmness" against violent demonstrators.

Story continues

The interior ministry said 1,796 people have been sentenced for rioting or other acts of violence over the past three months, while 1,422 more are awaiting trial.

Ex-boxer Christophe Dettinger who became a hero to some protesters after beating up police officers during a demonstration in January was convicted Wednesday and given a one-year prison term.

- 56 percent want protests to stop -

An Elabe opinion poll published Wednesday said 56 percent of French people now wanted the protests to stop -- 11 points higher than a month ago.

And while 58 percent of people still backed or had sympathy for the protesters, that was five points lower than two weeks ago and nine points below the level in early January.

Two out of three people thought the recurring Saturday rallies were no longer in keeping with what "yellow vests" originally stood for.

Macron has pledged 10 billion euros ($11.2 billion) in response to anger over the high cost of living, including tax cuts for some pensioners and measures to boost low wages.

He has also spearheaded a "grand national debate" by way of the internet and town hall meetings to gather opinions on how the country could be reformed.

It was not known how many people might turn out for protests over the weekend as social media messaging has alternatively called for blocking the Arc de Triomphe monument in Paris Saturday, or marching down the Champs-Elysees avenue on Sunday.

Others suggested "yellow vests" should return to their original tactics of massing at roundabouts nationwide and blocking traffic.
Companies including Facebook could be recategorised - REUTERS

France is to impose stricter regulation of abusive posts on social media to end online impunity and compel platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to take down hateful posts.

The move follows a scandal over a macho boys' club of male media executives who trolled female colleagues online.

Eight journalists and public relations executives have have resigned or been suspended this week after they admitted anonymously hounding feminists and minority colleagues online.

All eight belonged to a closed Facebook group called The League of LOL. More than 20 others faced calls to resign after they were also accused of bullying women with pornographic memes and off-colour jokes about rape.

Mounir Mahjoubi, the digital affairs minister, said the government was considering changing the legal status of social networks to make them more accountable for user-generated content.

They could be reclassified in somewhere between social media platforms and publishers, making them liable to heavier fines and tighter regulation, which is already the case in Germany.

The current status of networks such as Facebook and Twitter as content-sharing platforms significantly limits their responsibility for online abuse and harassment, Mr Mahjoubi said.

A bill which is to be presented to the French parliament by the end of June will be partly inspired by existing German legislation, said Marlene Schiappa, the minister for gender equality.

The bill will also aim to speed up the identification of those who put up hateful messages, and foster more public awareness of the duty of care of social networks, Mr Mahjoubi said.

Its unacceptable to have them dictating the rules all by themselves The authors of hateful content must understand that we will find them wherever they are and we will make them stop their violence.

Britain is also planning a legal crackdown on harmful content online. Margot James, the digital minister, said last week that voluntary codes had failed and platforms should be made legally responsible for user-generated content on their sites.

She was speaking after the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who killed herself after watching self-harm images and suicide posts on Instagram.
Beijing (AFP) - Mao Zedong's former secretary Li Rui, a bold critic of China's ruling Communist Party who spent a lifetime near the centre of elite politics, died Saturday at the age of 101, his family said.

Li was admitted to a Beijing hospital for a pulmonary infection last year and died of organ failure in Beijing, his daughter said in an email to AFP.

Li earned a position alongside China's paramount leader in the mid-1950s, focusing on industrial development.

But then he spoke up on the failures of Mao's Great Leap Forward policy -- which intended to boost China's economic output but instead unleashed havoc and famine across the country.

The Communist Party expelled Li and during the Cultural Revolution he was imprisoned for eight years in the infamous Qincheng prison near Beijing.

He was rehabilitated in 1979 when moderates took power and eventually rose to take a key position in the party's powerful Organization Department before he was again forced out of office in 1984.

Later he became an advocate for political reform, and in 2007 published articles calling for the party to become a European-style socialist party.

Li also opposed a constitutional change last year which removed presidential term limits and paved the way for current president Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely.

"Xi Jinping wants a lifelong system," Li said in an interview with Hong Kong-based newspaper Ming Pao.

As a well-known expert on Chairman Mao, Li published several books on the former leader.

Li said in an open letter last year that some of his works had been banned from publication in China.

"We should let the people speak, so as to enhance the party's trust in the people," Li said in the letter.

He continued to write in his final days, his daughter Li Nanyang said.

He wrote the same words over and over, she said: "Everyone should be subject to four kinds of restrictions in life: age, knowledge, ideological ability and personal character."

"The words inspire me to continue to push for an opening for constitutional government which my father and grandfather pursued their entire lives," she told AFP.
Hussen Abase - father of Amira Abase, pictured outside his home in East London - JULIAN SIMMONDS

The father of one of the three Bethnal Green girls who ran away to join Islamic State has urged the British Government to allow her back into the country, saying she represents "no threat" to the UK.

Hussen Abase, the father of Amira Abase, said his daughter - who left Britain with Shamima Begum and Kadiza Sultana at the age of 15 - needed to be re-educated not punished for her actions.

Mr Abase told The Telegraph on Thursday that he had not heard from his daughter since she left Britain with her two friends to travel to Syria to join the terror group, but he welcomed the news that Shamima is alive and living in a refugee camp.

Speaking after an interview with Shamima was published in the Times, in which she said she wanted to return to the UK, Mr Abase said: "As a father I would say to the British government please let the girls back into the country and give them some kind of teaching.

"They were just teenagers when they left. They should be allowed to learn from their mistakes. They are no threat to us."

Amira Abase

Mr Abase, who came to Britain as a refugee from Ethiopia in 1999, and now lives in Stepney, east London, where he works as a security guard, added: "Im very happy the British government gave me refuge here. I hope they will let my daughter back in if she is still alive. Its been very hard these past few years without her."

But questions remain over Mr Abases own role in his daughters radicalisation.

After Amira disappeared it emerged he had attended a protest outside the Saudi embassy in London, in 2013, said to have been organised by the Islamic extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, founded by the extremist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed.

Mr Abase also admitted having taken her to a demonstration outside the US Embassy, at the age of 12, at which an American flag was burnt.

An American flag is burned outside the US Embassy Credit: EyeVine/David Gould

Also at the rally were the jailed extremist preacher Anjem Choudary and Michael Adebowale, one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby.

Story continues

Mr Abase, 52, later said he took Amira to the protest because did not want to leave her at home alone.

The father of three maintained on Thursday that he had no idea how his daughter had become radicalised and so determined to leave Britain to join IS, suggesting only that she may have wanted to help those caught up in the Syrian conflict.

He said: "She was always a good daughter and a good student. She was also very charitable and soft when she someone in need or saw something on the news. But I was shocked when she left.

"I last saw her in 2015 when she went to school and then she just texted me from somewhere. Ive not heard from her since and I have no idea where she is.

"Nowadays parents dont know what their children are thinking or doing because they spent so much time on their gadgets and phones. We dont know what they are thinking.

Close to tears, he added: "As a father of course I want her to come home. I think about her every day. I remember her as a little girl who loved sport, loved running and made us all laugh. For me she is still my little girl.

"I would say to her: Think of us, think of your brother and your sister. They miss you. Please come home."
The family of runaway schoolgirl Shamima Begum have issued a plea to the Government to help bring her home.

Now 19, Begum fled her Bethnal Green home four years ago. She travelled to Syria to join the Islamic State.

After being tracked down by The Times, in a refugee camp in Northern Syria, she said: What do you think will happen to my child?

Because I dont want it to be taken away from me, or at least if it is, to be given to my family.

She also said she had been taken to hospital after having contractions following her arrival at the refugee camp, and could give birth any day.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

A statement from her family said: Given Shamimas four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured, they said.

Now, we are faced with the situation of knowing that Shamimas two young children have died  children that we will never come to know as a family.

This is the hardest of news to bear.

Shamima is currently in a Syrian refugee camp

The welfare of Shamimas unborn baby is of paramount concern to our family, and we will do everything within our power to protect that baby who is entirely blameless in these events.

Ms Begum told The Times she understood she could face a police investigation on her return, admitting: I knew that coming back to the UK wouldnt be a quiet thing. Its uncomfortable.

If I ever do go back, itll be a long time before the cameras stop and all the questions stop.

She added that she did not regret travelling to Daesh-controlled Syria, and that she was not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago.

But the statement her family issued on Friday evening said they were shocked by her comments and suggested her words were those of a girl who was groomed.

We are also mindful that Shamima is currently in a camp surrounded by Isis sympathisers and any comments by her could lead directly to danger to her and her child, they added.

Her family said her unborn child had every right as a total innocent to have the chance to grow up in the peace and security of this home.

Story continues

We welcome an investigation in what she did while she was there under the principles of British justice and would request the British Government assist us in returning Shamima and her child to the UK as a matter of urgency, the statement said.

Shamima Begum: Runaway Isis bride says she wants to keep her baby if she returns to Britain

Meanwhile, the head of MI6 warned that Britons returning from Islamic State were likely to have acquired potentially very dangerous skills and connections.

Alex Younger, who did not comment specifically on the case of Ms Begum, said UK nationals have a right to come home but that public safety was the first priority.

Home Secretary Sajid Javid warned he would not hesitate to prevent the return of Britons who travelled to join Isis, while security minister Ben Wallace said runaways who now wanted to come back must realise that actions have consequences.

The head of Counter Terrorism Policing, Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, said anyone returning from a conflict zone having gone to support a terrorist group should expect to face a police investigation.

Any investigation is carried out with an open mind and based on the evidence available, he said.

This is to determine if individuals have committed any terrorist or other criminal offences, regardless their motivation, and to ensure that they do not pose a danger to the public or the UKs national security.

Any hopes of a rescue mission by British officials were also swiftly quashed on Thursday as the Government ruled out an effort inside Syria to assist Ms Begum.

While refusing to comment on individual cases, Mr Wallace told the BBC: Im not putting at risk British peoples lives to go and look for terrorists or former terrorists in a failed state.

Theres consular services elsewhere in the region and the strong message this Government has given for many years is that actions have consequences.

Questions have been raised over whether Britain would be able to prevent Ms Begums eventual return to the UK.

Former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile told the BBC that if Ms Begum has not gained a second citizenship of another country, she will have to be allowed back to her homeland because under international law it is not possible for a person to be made stateless.

Meanwhile, Richard Barrett, a former director of global counter-terrorism at MI6, suggested it would be unreasonable to expect the Syrian Defence Force to look after her indefinitely.

He also warned that summary execution is the most likely outcome for such captured foreign nationals who are handed over to Syrian or Iraqi authorities.

Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015.

Another girl, Sharmeena Begum, also from Bethnal Green but not related to Shamima, had travelled to Syria two months earlier.

Ms Sultana was reported to have been killed in an air strike in 2016.

Shamima Begum said she had recently heard second-hand that the other two girls may still be alive.
Washington (AFP) - A tweet by a popular US Congresswoman spotlighted a report about US tech behemoth Amazon's tax burden for the past two years. While the company paid no US federal income tax, it reported "cash taxes paid" of $1.2 billion last year and $957 million in 2017. These numbers are not broken down geographically, so it is difficult to know which government received the cash.

- What are we verifying? -

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising Democratic star in the US Congress, tweeted (1) about media reports on research by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a Washington think tank, stating Amazon paid no US federal income tax for two years.

The company also found itself in the headlines after suddenly pulling out of a planned New York City corporate expansion amid controversy over local tax incentives that critics said would drain public coffers.

"Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?" Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. She represents a congressional district next to the site of the now-scrapped expansion.

The Fortune Magazine article (2) reported that Amazon paid no federal income taxes in 2017 and 2018 year -- even though domestic profits in that time doubled to more than $11 billion.

Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter this meant "$0" for schools, firefighters, infrastructure, research and health-care.

- What do we know? -

Amazon reported last month that it did not owe federal tax on its US income for 2017 and 2018 -- and in fact was due rebates from the federal government for those years.

And its US pre-tax income jumped 100 percent to $11.2 billion, the company said in regulatory filings (3). Its tax burden was lighter because of deductions for stock-based compensation and assets that are depreciating in value.

As a result of the 2017 Republican tax cuts, which slashed US corporate tax rates to 21 percent from 35 percent, Amazon also calculated it would receive a $789 million benefit.

Story continues

But that is not to say it paid no taxes at all.

For 2018, it reported owing $322 million in taxes to US state governments and another $563 million in the rest of the world.

Under a separate accounting category, Amazon reported "cash taxes paid" -- or the amount of funds actually paid in taxes -- of $1.2 billion last year and $957 million in 2017. But these numbers are not broken down geographically, so it is not possible to know which government received the cash.

- What can be concluded? -

ITEP's central claims (4) are supported by Amazon's own reports. However, more context is helpful to understand the situation.

The company does pay some taxes but has courted controversy in the United States and across the Atlantic for finding ways to reduce its overall tax burden -- something common among many corporations.

For state taxes, Amazon's tax burden is about 2.9 percent, according to Matt Gardner, a senior fellow ITEP who produced the report on Amazon.

"That's certainly bigger than zero," he said.

And Sabuhi Sardarli, a professor of finance at Kansas State University who has researched corporate tax avoidance, said Amazon has been setting aside funds against possible higher tax payments in the future.

"In other words, focusing on Amazon's recent tax burden may not show the full picture," he told AFP.

Amazon told AFP on Friday it had invested more than $160 billion in the United States since 2011, building an intricate distribution network as well as cloud computing infrastructure.

"Amazon pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the US and every country where we operate, including paying $2.6 billion in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 billion in tax expense over the last three years," a spokesman said.

"Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits remain modest given retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business and our continued heavy investment."

(1) https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1096194174301495296

(2) http://fortune.com/2019/02/14/amazon-doesnt-pay-federal-taxes-2019/?utm_campaign=fortunemagazine&utm_source=twitter.com&xid=soc_socialflow_twitter_FORTUNE&utm_medium=social

(3) https://ir.aboutamazon.com/sec-filings

(4) https://itep.org/amazon-in-its-prime-doubles-profits-pays-0-in-federal-income-taxes/
Paul Manafort after an arraignment hearing in March 2018. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

On Friday night, the special counsel investigation recommended that the federal judge responsible for sentencing former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort give him 19.5 to 24.5 years in prison for his conviction on eight financial charges dating back well over a decade. Mueller also suggested a fine for Manafort, with an oddly large window of $50,000 to $24.4 million. If the judge complies with Muellers request, it will effectively serve as a life sentence for the 69-year-old lobbyist turned political consultant to Ukraines oligarch class.

As the sentencing memo states:

The defendant stands convicted of the serious crimes of tax fraud, bank fraud, and failing to file a foreign bank account report. Manafort was the lead perpetrator and a direct beneficiary of each offense. And while some of these offenses are commonly prosecuted, there was nothing ordinary about the millions of dollars involved in the defendants crimes, the duration of his criminal conduct, or the sophistication of his schemes. Together with the relevant criminal conduct, Manaforts misconduct involved more than $16 million in unreported income resulting in more than $6 million in federal taxes owed, more than $55 million hidden in foreign bank accounts, and more than $25 million secured from financial institutions through lies resulting in a fraud loss of more than $6 million  His criminal decisions were not momentary or limited in time; they were routine. And Manaforts repeated misrepresentations to financial institutions were brazen, at least some of which were made at a time when he was the subject of significant national attention  Manafort did not commit these crimes out of necessity or hardship. He was well educated, professionally successful, and financially well off. He nonetheless cheated the United States Treasury and the public out of more than $6 million in taxes at a time when he had substantial resources. Manafort committed bank fraud to supplement his liquidity because his lavish spending exhausted his substantial cash resources when his overseas income dwindled.



Unfortunately for Manaforts chances of ever getting out of prison, Muellers sentencing recommendation only considers his eight financial convictions in Virginia. It does not include his guilty pleas in a federal court in Washington for one count of conspiracy against the U.S. and one count of conspiracy to obstruct justice. Its been a bad week for the former Trump campaign chairman, whos already been incarcerated for eight months. On Wednesday, the federal judge who will sentence him in Washington determined that Manafort intentionally lied to the special counsel, the FBI, and a grand jury.

Manafort issued false statements regarding his contacts with Russian intelligence asset Konstantin Kilimnik, to whom Manafort had passed polling data. (According to prosecutors, Manafort lied in the hope of securing a pardon from his former boss.) Because of his intentional false statements, any opportunity for leniency in exchange for his cooperation has been voided; Manafort will be sentenced in Washington on March 13. In the sentencing recommendation on Friday, the special counsel even used Manaforts recent false statements as evidence that his age does not eliminate the risk of recidivism he poses.

In one of the harshest and most prominent sentencing recommendations for financial crimes since the conviction of Bernie Madoff, Manaforts 20-plus year bid will most likely be the longest of any of the eight Americans indicted or charged by the Mueller investigation  because Manafort has been legally exposed for a decade longer. The former Trump campaign managers convictions are for behavior dating back to 2005, when he opened an office in Kiev to lobby for the oligarchs of Ukraine, while the rest of Trumps indicted are being investigated for potential crimes as early as the beginning of the presidents campaign in 2015.

But that shouldnt encourage the legal teams of Trump surrogates like Roger Stone. On Friday, as the Moscow Project notes, Muellers latest filings relating to Stones indictment suggest that he could be indicted as part of the conspiracy against the U.S. charge handed to the 12 Russians. Those dozen Moscow intelligence assets attempted to hack into the Clinton campaigns email servers the night of Trumps increasingly suspect Russia, if youre listening press conference.

For Manafort, now, as ever, his best shot at avoiding consequence for his actions is to hope for a pardon from Trump. As the surrogate who repeatedly lied to protect the president, Manafort may be the most likely candidate to receive a get-out-of-jail-free card, because the president  despite not showing an inkling of loyalty  demands it from those in his circle.
Study shows hope for fighting disease known as Ebola of frogs

Despite widespread infection, some frog populations are surviving a deadly disease that is the equivalent of mankind's Ebola virus. The reason --genetic diversity.

That's the finding of a new study published this week in the journal Immunogenetics. Anna Savage, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Central Florida, is the lead author of the study.

The research is important because frogs are facing what may be a mass extinction as a result of disease, Savage says.

"If you have more genetic variation, you have more potential to respond and adapt to anything," Savage says.

However, protecting frog habitats from destruction and pollution is critical, she says.

"Don't destroy habitats, maintain large population sizes -- these simple things are the best actions to implement, given whatever limited information we have, to give populations the chance to rebound," she says.

The virus Savage and her colleagues studied is called Ranavirus. It affects cold-blooded animals, such as amphibians, reptiles and fish. It causes a tadpole's internal organs to fill with blood and explode, much like the Ebola virus does in humans. It is one of the top two pathogens causing worldwide amphibian decline.

Researchers suspect that Ranavirus and other similar pathogens have long been in the environment, but they are exploring why the pathogens are now causing so many disease outbreaks.

"Certainly, the rise of these infectious pathogens coincides with the period when global temperatures started to significantly increase," she says. "There are a lot of biologists working on studies trying to tease apart the relationship between climate and amphibian health and how that might translate to some of these global disease problems."

It is important to study frogs because of the roles they play, Savage says. They help control diseases by eating insects that can infect humans and also are an essential part of the food chain.

"If we lost them, there would be this major energetic crisis where we wouldn't have a food source for many other animals that depend on them to survive," Savage says.

In the study, researchers collected tail clippings from tadpoles in 17 randomly selected ponds in Patuxent Research Refuge in Maryland over the course of two years. Tail clipping is a minimally invasive and nonlethal method for tissue collection. The clippings were used to analyze and determine the presence and severity of Ranavirus in the tadpoles. The team also checked for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, which can help a tadpole's immune system fight off disease.

They found Ranavirus infection in 26 percent of the 381 tadpoles they sampled and that the presence of a particular combination of MHC genes was associated with decreased severity of the virus.

"There was evidence that this combination of immune genes was helping those individuals limit how bad the viral infection can get," she says. "To our knowledge this is the first study that shows that this group of immune genes is actually important for Ranavirus susceptibility."

The findings could have implications for frog species in Florida, as Ranavirus is a disease that threatens frogs in the state, including the American bullfrog, the southern leopard frog and the endangered Gopher frog.

"These immune genes aren't completely different across different species," she says. "We actually see a lot of the same variants shared at the level of the entire genus or even the whole family. So, some of the work we've done is showing that we're finding the same genetic variants in wood frogs as in other frogs, including species in Florida."

###

Co-authors of the study were Carly R. Muletz-Wolz, a research scientist with the Center for Conservation Genomics at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; Evan H. Campbell Grant, a research wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey Patuxent Wildlife Research Center; Robert C. Fleischer, a senior scientist and head of the Center for Conservation Genomics at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; and Kevin P. Mulder, a joint doctoral student in the Savage Lab, at the Research Center for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources of the University of Porto, and a pre-doctoral fellow at the Bell lab of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Savage's lab studies disease genomics in amphibians and reptiles, and she is a member of UCF's Genomics and Bioinformatics Cluster. She received her doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University. She joined UCF in 2015.

The study was funded by an Association of Zoos and Aquariums Conservation Grant Fund award and the U.S. Geological Survey Amphibian Research and Monitoring Initiative.

Founded in 1963 with a commitment to expanding opportunity and demanding excellence, the University of Central Florida develops the talent needed to advance the prosperity and welfare of our society. With more than 68,000 students, UCF is one of the nation's largest universities, offering more than 220 degree programs at its main campus in Orlando and more than a dozen other locations in Central Florida and online. For more information, visit ucf.edu.

This story has been published on: 2019-02-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.
By Aislinn Laing and Adam Jourdan SANTIAGO/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is planning to take on U.S. rival Uber in some of Latin America's fastest-growing markets, recruiting managers in Chile, Peru and Colombia, according to job postings and a company official. Didi has moved senior executives from China to lead its expansion in markets like Chile and Peru, and began in recent weeks advertising for driver operations, crisis management, marketing and business development personnel in those countries, an analysis of LinkedIn postings show. Didi's widening expansion, if successful, could make for a bumpier ride for San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc in Latin America, one of its fastest growth regions, as it gets ready to go public as soon as later this year. The two firms are already battling in Brazil, where Didi bought local start-up 99 in January last year, and Mexico, where the Chinese firm lured drivers with higher pay and bonuses for signing up other drivers and passengers. Didi is China's dominant ride-hailing firm and is backed by investors including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. In 2016, Didi bought Uber's local Chinese operations following a bruising two-year battle for domination in China. The push comes as Didi is laying off staff in China as it grapples with regulatory scrutiny, reportedly significant financial losses and public backlash over the murder of two of its customers, sources told Reuters. The firm's new Chile public affairs manager, Felipe Contreras, who was previously Uber's corporate communications chief in Chile, confirmed reports Didi was looking to hire a senior executive from Chilean cellular phone company WOM to lead its engagement with government and public policy operations. "We haven't announced a date; this is internal to the company," he said when asked about the timing of the hiring. Contreras confirmed the launch plans and told Reuters that the company's aim was to be a "market leader" in Chile based on "quality", in a market where Uber, Spain's Cabify and Greece's Beat already transport thousands of passengers a day. Didi is still mulling the "best time" to launch its local service, he said, saying: "We are still in the planning and recruitment phase." Chile's government has yet to pass a law regulating ride-sharing applications, resulting in a legal gray area which sees Uber, Cabify and Beat drivers routinely fined by the police for operating without public transport licenses. The law is still at committee stage and would need approval by both Chile's lower and upper chambers, a process which could take up to a year. Contreras said the timeline for Didi's launch would "not necessarily" hinge on the law's eventual passing. "We are studying all the variables," he said. (Reporting by Aislinn Laing and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Christian Plumb, Leslie Adler and Mark Potter)
HENNIKER, N.H. (AP)  John Hickenlooper, the former governor of Colorado who is considering a run for president in 2020, said Thursday he supports universal health care and thinks the U.S. eventually should provide it.

But as other Democrats already in the race endorse "Medicare-for-all," Hickenlooper told a crowd at a New Hampshire college that it was more important now to get behind the general idea rather than argue over a specific approach.

"I reject the notion that it should become a litmus test of what it takes to be a good Democrat," said Hickenlooper, who expanded Medicaid while governor and has teamed with former Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, on a health care overhaul.

The onetime Denver mayor, who's considered a centrist politician, said after holding a town hall that he will not decide for several more weeks whether to join the crowded 2020 contest. He took questions mostly from students and faculty on topics including student debt, the ballooning national debt and relations with American allies around the world.

Hickenlooper said he was concerned that the push for "Medicare-for-all" calls for dismantling the current system when less disruptive measures may achieve universal health care.

"There are so many different ways to cut the pie and work on the issue that we too often are trying to say, 'You're wrong, I'm right,' and this is even within the Democrat Party," he said. "It's more important to be unified and say we want universal coverage. We are not going to stop until we get universal coverage."

With Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts already running, the challenge for Hickenlooper is showing he is liberal enough to compete. He cited liberal policies he enacted as governor dealing with methane emissions and teenage pregnancies and abortion.

"In many ways, I'm a lot more progressive than a lot of these other folks," he asserted.

Story continues

Hickenlooper also insisted he would have no problem going up against President Donald Trump.

"I grew up the skinny kid with thick glasses and a funny last name. I've dealt with bullies my whole life," he said. "The way to deal with a bully is you don't punch back and take them head on. You take what they say to you and ... you reframe it in a way that reveals the foolishness of what they're saying and the weakness and insecurity that they're demonstrating."

After his New Hampshire swing, Hickenlooper is scheduled to give an address at the Global Security Conference in Munich this weekend about trade and the trans-Atlantic partnership. The trip would help burnish the former governor's foreign policy credentials ahead of any possible presidential campaign.
CAIRO (AP)  Extremists attacked an army checkpoint in the troubled northern Sinai peninsula on Saturday at dawn, causing 15 casualties among the armed forces including at least one officer shot dead, Egypt's military spokesman said.

The army managed to kill seven of the extremists during the firefight, but did not give any further information on the army's own casualties, according to a statement by Col. Tamer Rifai.

Two other officers in the area who gave a more detailed account said the officer and all the other 14 troops had been killed.

The attack involved some 200 fighters storming in from nearby olive groves, hitting the outpost with sustained heavy gunfire before entering the compound, which is near an airport, they said. The men seized weapons and then fled back through the groves, they added, speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren't authorized to brief journalists.

The army has for years been battling a long-running insurgency in North Sinai that is now led by an Islamic State affiliate. The fighting intensified after the military overthrew an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013.

Authorities heavily restrict access to the northern Sinai, making it difficult to verify claims related to the fighting.
SheKnows

Point of fact: Mom-friendly swimwear means something different for a former supermodel than it does to the rest of us. Mom of four Heidi Klum showed us just how different in a series of sexy bikini pics on Instagram, all shots taken by her manly rock star husband of two years, Tom Kaulitz. With a []
FORT COLLINS, Colo.  Women can't be banned from going topless, according to a Friday ruling by a federal appeals court.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judges ruled 2-1 in favor of Free the Nipple activists who sued the city of Fort Collins over its ban on females appearing topless in public. The court ruled that ordinances that target a group based on gender  such as banning women specifically from going topless, while allowing men to do so  is a violation of the equal protections clause of the U.S. Constitution, attorney Andy McNulty said.

Judges Gregory Phillips and Mary Beck Briscoe ruled in favor of Free the Nipple, with Judge Harris Hartz dissenting. It has been more than a year since the judges heard arguments in the case.

"I think this is a pretty historic moment in the women's rights movement," McNulty said in an interview. "Since the beginning of the 20th century, court decisions have slowly but surely chipped away at the idea that women should be stereotyped by their sex and gender. This is the next step to make sure we don't stereotype women and women have equal rights in this country."

More: Judge says women can go topless in Colorado town

Fort Collins spokesperson Emily Wilmsen said the City Council will decide the city's next steps.

"All we can say right now is that the city is reviewing the implications of the courts ruling," she said.

The city argued in court that women going topless could prompt public disorder, distract drivers and expose children to public nudity. The court rejected those claims, noting that children may already be exposed to topless women if they pass a mother breastfeeding in public  an act that is specifically legal under city code. The judges further argued the ban "creates a gender classification on its face" and furthers gender stereotypes.

"Laws grounded in stereotypes about the way women are serve no important

governmental interest," Phillips wrote in the opinion for the majority, citing prior rulings. "To the contrary, legislatively reinforced stereotypes tend to 'create' a self-fulfilling cycle of discrimination.'

Story continues

The court acknowledged that men's breasts and women's breasts serve different functions and have inherent physical differences. Those differences didn't pass muster for banning one gender from displaying a bare chest in public view but allowing the other to do so, they ruled.

"Were left, as the district court was, to suspect that the Citys professed interest in protecting children derives not from any morphological differences between mens and womens breasts but from negative stereotypes depicting womens breasts, but not mens breasts, as sex objects," the majority wrote.

In his dissent, Hartz called the ordinance banning exposed female breasts "part of a long tradition of laws prohibiting public indecency" and an attempt to reduce anti-social behavior, including the objectification of the female breast.

"The Ordinance does not discriminate against women on the basis of any overbroad generalization about their perceived 'talents, capacities, or preferences,' " Hartz wrote. "To the extent it distinguishes between the sexes, it is based on inherent biological, morphological differences between them. Those differences are not stereotypes."

Other federal appeals courts have ruled against Free the Nipple activists, creating a patchwork of enforced and invalidated laws throughout the country, McNulty said. The 10th Circuit Court's ruling applies to Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Kansas and Utah.

The fight in Fort Collins started in the summer of 2015, when activist Brit Hoagland started protesting the city's ban on female toplessness.

Later that year, the City Council updated its public indecency ordinance but ultimately left the ban in place.

Hoagland and fellow Free the Nipple activist Samantha Six sued the city in May 2016.

A district court granted a preliminary injunction in February 2017, meaning the city hasn't been able to enforce the ordinance since then.

The 10th Circuit heard oral arguments in the case in January 2018 and has been deliberating since then.

The city's ordinance prohibited women from knowingly exposing their breasts in public, with certain exceptions, like breastfeeding.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado city's ban on topless women ruled unconstitutional by federal appeals court
What a weasel word collusion is.

In Washington, Senator Richard Burr (R., N.C.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has now seen fit to pronounce that, after two years of investigation, the panel has found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian regime. Meanwhile, in a nearby courtroom, Special Counsel Robert Muellers senior staffer, Andrew Weissmann, told a federal judge that an August 2016 meeting between the then-chairman of the Trump campaign and a suspected Russian intelligence officer goes . . . very much to the heart of what the special counsel is investigating  which sure sounds like Muellers collusion hunt is alive and well.

What gives?

Readers of these columns know that the collusion label has been a pet peeve of your humble correspondent since the media-Democratic Putin hacked the election narrative followed hard on the declaration of Donald Trumps victory in the wee hours of Wednesday morning, November 9, 2016.

The reason for the collusion label is obvious. Those peddling the Putin hacked the election story have always lacked credible evidence that Trump was complicit in the Kremlins cyber-espionage. They could not show a criminal conspiracy. Connections between denizens of Trump World and Putins circle might be very intriguing, and perhaps even politically scandalous. But only a conspiracy  an agreement by two or more people to commit an actual criminal offense, such as hacking  would be a reasonable basis for prosecution or impeachment.

This dearth of proof was significant. The Russians apparently started hacking operations in 2014, long before Trump entered the race. The FBI first warned the Democratic National Committee about penetration of its servers in September 2015. By the time Trump won, the Bureau and U.S. intelligence agencies had been working hard to understand the nature and extent of Kremlin-directed hacking operations for two years. The investigation was so high-level, so intense, that shortly before the election, there were confrontational conversations between CIA director John Brennan and his Russian counterpart, FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov, and later between President Obama and Russian president Putin.

Story continues

Yet, as thorough as the investigation was, no one could credibly say Trump was a participant in Russias malfeasance. The best Obamas notoriously politicized CIA could say was that Trump was Putins intended beneficiary.

Unable to establish conspiracy, Trumps opposition settled on collusion. It is a usefully slippery word. Collusion just means concerted activity  it can be sinister or benign. It can refer to a conspiracy or to any arrangement people have together, including those that may be sleazy but non-criminal.

This commitment to ambiguity came in handy for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein when he appointed Robert Mueller to be special counsel. After President Trump fired FBI director James Comey on May 9, 2017, and then shamefully talked Comey down for the consumption of Russian diplomats visiting the White House the next day, Rosenstein came under intense pressure. Because he had written the memorandum originally used to justify Comeys dismissal, congressional Democrats slammed him for complicity in what they portrayed as Trumps obstruction of the Russia probe. Rosenstein wanted to appease them by appointing the special counsel they were demanding.

Special counsels, however, are not supposed to be appointed unless there is a solid basis to believe a crime has been committed. Rosenstein was lawyer enough to know that a presidents firing of an FBI director  a firing that Rosenstein himself had argued was justified  could not be an obstruction crime. And he knew that there was no proof that Trump had conspired in Russias cyberespionage. So . . . how to justify appointing a special counsel?

Easy: Make it a counterintelligence probe. That way, there would be no need for a crime, since such investigations are just intelligence-gathering exercises.

Whats that? You say theres no basis in the special-counsel regulations to appoint one for counterintelligence? You say the Justice Department does not appoint prosecutors for counterintelligence investigations, which are the FBIs bailiwick? So what? The special-counsel regulations expressly say that they create no enforceable rights enabling anyone to challenge the Justice Departments flouting of them. Rosenstein knew he could ignore the rules and there was not a thing anyone could do about it.

So instead of a prosecutor investigating a crime of conspiracy, we have a bloated staff of prosecutors gathering intelligence about collusion: Every contact between anyone connected to Trump and anyone connected to Russia.

Some of this could be valuable information. That brings us back to that August 2016 meeting Andrew Weissman was talking about, between Trumps campaign chairman and a suspected Russian intelligence operative. Paul Manafort, the campaign chairman, had high-level contacts and conducted multi-million-dollar business with oligarchs close to the Kremlin. Konstantin Kilimnik, his partner in Kiev, certainly is suspected of having a relationship with Russian intelligence, as Weissmann obliquely put it in the court session.That relationship, however, goes back to the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union fell and the United States was quite content to do business with lots of people who had relationships with Russian intelligence, the Kremlin, and even the Communist party. One of Kilimniks first jobs when he left the Russian military was to work for the International Republican Institute  the democracy-promoting enterprise that Senator John McCain ran for over 20 years. Kilimnik started there as a translator  hired for the skills hed learned at the military academy that prepared translators for service in Russian intelligence. It didnt seem to bother anyone  by the early 2000s, Kilimnik was running the IRIs Moscow office.

My point is not to defend Kilimnik. Not only has Mueller already him indicted for witness-tampering conspiracy in Manaforts case (a charge to which Manafort has pled guilty). Kilimnik also hovers as an unindicted co-conspirator in the case of Samuel Patten, a lobbyist friend of Manaforts who has pled guilty in a separate Justice Department case to being an unregistered agent of Ukraine and to violating the prohibition against foreign contributions to political campaigns  enabling Kilimnik and two Ukrainian oligarchs to donate to the Trump presidential-inaugural committee and attend the inauguration festivities.

The point is that if we are going to obsess over collusion rather than the actual crime of conspiracy, then we need to evaluate the Russian contacts of Trump associates in the context of everyone who has interacted with Russia in the last quarter-century. Under administrations of both parties, Washington has maintained that post-Soviet Russia was a perfectly fine country to partner with and do business with. Did the Trump campaign hope to tap Kremlin-connected sources for campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton? That seems undeniable. But it is not a crime per se. How does it rank on the scale of unsavory political behavior? Youd have to compare it to, for example, Democratic-party entreaties to the Kremlin  back when the Russians were our Cold War Soviet antagonist  for help in the campaigns against Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.

I did not like candidate Donald Trumps blandishments toward the Putin regime. It was part of why Trump was closer to the bottom than the top of my preferred GOP candidates. I thought his performance as president in the meeting with Putin in Helsinki was appalling. But we are talking here about policy disputes. Trump has a right to be wrong, even seriously wrong, on a policy matter. That does not make him a Russian agent.

If members of Trumps campaign were corruptly selling accommodations (such as sanctions relief) to Russia, then by all means prosecute them to the full extent of the law. But if the campaign was exploring whether sanctions relief could be traded for Russian actions in Americas interests  just as Obama told us sanctions relief for Iran was being bargained in exchange for what he claimed were advances of Americas interests  that might have been wrong-headed or naive, but it wasnt criminal.

Apparently Senator Burr thinks of collusion as criminal conspiracy, and he thus realizes that there was not one. Special Counsel Mueller, by contrast, has been unleashed to probe collusion not just in the form of criminal conspiracy, but in whatever form: All manner of contacts with a regime that, just the blink of an eye ago, President Obama was mocking Mitt Romney for regarding as a geopolitical foe, even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped Moscow build its version of Silicon Valley  notwithstanding Defense Department and FBI worries that we were thus improving their military and cyber capabilities.

What is collusion, then? Increasingly, it looks like the criminalization of policy disputes.

More from National Review
By Karen Pierog and Tracy Rucinski CHICAGO (Reuters) - Trevor Wehner was working his first day as a human resources intern at Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, when a worker who had just been fired killed him and four of his colleagues. Friday's shooting rampage at the water distribution products factory and warehouse west of Chicago also killed the plant's manager and its head of human resources. Police said the gunman later died in shootout with police. Wehner, 21, from the village of Sheridan, Illinois, was on track to graduate in May from Northern Illinois University (NIU) with a degree in human resource management, the school said. A friend of the family said he was a great role model and like a big brother to many boys in their small community. "I want HIS name and picture shared not that of a cold calculated killer!!" the friend, Cindy Lou, wrote on Facebook alongside a photo of Wehner in a suit and tie. "Our little town of Sheridan is rocked to its very core! ... RIP Trevor Wehner. YOU ARE LOVED!!!" Also among the victims was Clay Parks, the plant's human resources manager and a resident of Elgin, Illinois. He joined Henry Pratt in November last year, after graduating in 2014 from NIU's College of Business. "Loss like this is devastating and senseless," NIU President Dr. Lisa C. Freeman said in a statement. Also killed was the plant manager, Josh Pinkard of Oswego, Illinois, a native of Holly Pond, Alabama, according to local television station WVTM 13. Mueller Water Products, the parent company of Henry Pratt, said Pinkard joined Mueller in Alabama 13 years ago and moved to Aurora last year to lead the team there. Also among the victims were Russell Beyer of Yorkville, Illinois, a mold operator with more than 20 years of experience who also served as union chairman; and Vicente Juarez of Oswego, Illinois, a stock room attendant and fork lift operator. An unnamed male employee was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds, Aurora police said. Authorities did not give the ages of the victims. Police on Saturday named the shooter as Gary Martin, 45, an employee of the plant who they said armed himself with a handgun before reporting for the meeting at which he was fired. Authorities said Martin killed his victims after the meeting and then fled deeper into the sprawling industrial plant, where he was later shot dead by SWAT team officers. The city of Aurora set up an Aurora Strong Community Fund, administered by city officials, to support the victims' families. Within five hours it had raised more than $11,000. (Reporting By Karen Pierog and Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Bill Trott and Tom Brown)
By Madeleine Gandhi LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of British children marched out of lessons on Friday to demand action on climate change, earning a mild rebuke from the prime minister's office for disrupting classes, but praise from the energy minister and activists. Youngsters marched on Parliament Square in London and gathered in other cities carrying banners marked with "Climate change is worse than homework", "Act now for our future" and other slogans. "My teacher told me kids shouldn't be going out, but we went because it's important," 11-year-old Rio told Reuters. A spokeswoman for British Prime Minister Theresa May said that while the government welcomed the students' engagement, the disruption to schools and lessons would be difficult for teachers. Her energy minister Claire Perry however said she was "incredibly proud" of the young people while opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn expressed his support for the "school kids of today whose futures are most on the line". Earlier this week, 224 academics from Oxford, Cambridge and other universities declared their support for the students in an open letter published in The Guardian. "(Those taking part in the strike) have every right to be angry about the future that we shall bequeath to them, if proportionate and urgent action is not taken," they wrote. The British protests were part of a global 'School Strike 4 Climate' movement, which began in August 2018 when 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg began protesting outside her parliament on school days. (Reporting by Madeleine Gandhi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law the 2019 appropriation legislation that stipulates explicitly that the assistance funds allocated to Morocco will also benefit the Sahara.

Morocco welcomed the text, which recognizes Moroccos sovereignty over its Sahara southern provinces, as it is unequivocally pro-Morocco and unusually forthcoming on US development funds for the Sahara.

It reiterates Moroccos position that the Sahara should be considered as part of the US aids funds allocated to Morocco. Funds appropriated under title III of this Act shall be made available for assistance for the Western Sahara, reads the bills Morocco section.

The bill also calls for better monitoring of the humanitarian aid to the Tindouf camps vulnerable refugees. The plea for international action to better track whether Tindouf-bound humanitarian assistance does actually reach its rightful recipients has been a crucial point of order in Moroccos Sahara diplomacy.

The US executive and legislative powers, embodied respectively by the President and the two Houses of Congress, agree to consider the Sahara region as an integral part of Morocco and to make it benefit from cooperation funds in the same way as all the other regions of the Kingdom, said the Moroccan Foreign Ministry in a statement.

This development in the United States comes a few days after the adoption by the European Union of the farm and fisheries agreements that apply to the entire national territory, including the Moroccan Sahara, noted the ministry.

This new US spending legislation calls on the US Administration to submit, after consultation with the UNHCR and the World Food Program, a report to the Congress on measures taken to improve the monitoring of the delivery of humanitarian aid to refugees in the North Africa region, in a clear allusion to the populations of Tindouf camps, the Foreign Ministry added. It noted that these provisions refer to the documented diversions and trafficking of international aid destined to the populations of these camps.

The new spending legislation seals the pro-Morocco steps that both houses of the US Congress had taken earlier this year and shows that Morocco-US relationship is steady on its traditional track, with Washington viewingand treatingRabat as its most reliable and strongest ally in North Africa.
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is confronting the most serious cabinet controversy of his young government as he met with ministers on Thursday to make final changes to a proposed social security overhaul seen as essential to shoring up the economy. Gustavo Bebianno, secretary general for Bolsonaro and one of his closest aides, has come under fire amid reports of the misuse of campaign funds by the political party he led in last year's elections. Bolsonaro joined the right-wing Social Liberal Party (PSL) last March as he was preparing his presidential run. Bolsonaro is expected to meet with Bebianno later on Thursday. The president said in a late Wednesday TV interview that he had ordered a police investigation into whether the party misused campaign funds. Separately, Bolsonaro was scheduled to meet with Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and other aides to discuss a pension reform proposal aimed at saving some 1 trillion reais ($265 billion) over the next decade. PHANTOM CANDIDATE The Folha de S.Paulo newspaper reported earlier this week on an alleged "phantom" PSL candidate for federal Congress who was given 400,000 reais in party campaign funds just days before the election in which she won 274 votes. Bebianno, then serving as the PSL party president, approved the funding for her campaign. He insists he has broken no laws and has said he will not resign. Bolsonaro said on Wednesday that if Bebianno was found to have committed any wrongdoing, he would need to leave his post. The Bebianno controversy is the latest scandal tarnishing the anti-corruption credentials of Bolsonaro, who rode into office pledging zero tolerance for graft after years of political bribery investigations rocking Brasilia. The president's son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, is also facing accusations from prosecutors of money laundering and tough questions about irregular payments made to his driver in recent years when he was a member of the Rio de Janeiro state assembly. Flavio Bolsonaro says he has done nothing wrong. (Reporting by Ricardo Brito and Lisandra Paraguassu; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)
By Fayaz Bukhari SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed a car into a bus carrying Indian paramilitary police in Kashmir on Thursday, killing 44 of them in the deadliest attack in decades on security forces in the disputed region, raising tensions with arch foe Pakistan. The Pakistan-based Islamist militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. The Indian government demanded that Islamabad take action against militant groups operating from its soil. Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The neighbors both rule parts of the region while claiming the entire territory as theirs. The explosion targeting a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was heard from several miles away, according to witnesses. Mohammad Yunis, a journalist who reached the site minutes later, told Reuters he saw blood and body parts scattered along a 100-metre stretch of the main highway running through the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. "We demand that Pakistan stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory and dismantle the infrastructure operated by terrorist outfits to launch attacks in other countries," the Indian foreign ministry said in a statement, hours after the attack. There was no immediate comment from the Pakistani government. Islamabad denies New Delhi's accusations that it gives material help to the militants fighting Indian rule in Muslim-majority Kashmir. It says it gives only moral and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination. Television images showed a mangled car amid rubble and snow around the site. Reuters photos showed tens of policemen surveying damaged vehicles and one policeman was seen carrying a plastic cover with guns inside. The death toll stood at 44, a senior police official said. The Central Reserve Force Police is a paramilitary organization that is working with the Indian military to quell the 30-year insurgency in Kashmir. "I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a tweet. Indian forces have sporadically battled Islamist militants in mountainous Kashmir since an armed revolt in 1989 in which tens of thousands were killed, but car bombings are rare. A video circulating on social media on Thursday purportedly featured the suicide bomber, and showed a young man holding a gun and threatening more attacks. Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the video. The Indian foreign ministry accused the Pakistani government of giving the militant group Jaish a free run in Pakistan, saying it has allowed the group's leader, Masood Azhar, "to operate and expand his terror infrastructure in territories under the control of Pakistan and to carry out attacks in India and elsewhere with impunity". The last major attack in Kashmir was in 2016 when militants raided an Indian army camp in Uri, killing 20 soldiers. Tension with Pakistan rose after that incident when New Delhi said the attackers had come from Pakistan to stage the assault. Pakistan denied any involvement. MODI UNDER PRESSURE The attack could put Modi, who faces a general election due by May, under political pressure to act against the militants and Pakistan. Randeep Singh Surjewala, a spokesman for the main opposition Congress party, accused Modi of compromising on security. "Zero political action & Zero policy to tackle terror has led to an alarming security situation," Surjewala said in one of a series of tweets. Kanwal Sibal, a former top diplomat, said a diplomatic response from India would not be enough. "They will have to do something otherwise I think it will be very difficult for government to absorb this blow and be seen to be doing nothing," Sibal told Reuters. The Jaish-e-Mohammad group is one of the most powerful militant groups operating in Kashmir. It was blamed for a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that led to India deploying its military on the border with Pakistan. In a statement carried by GNS news agency, a spokesman for the group said dozens of security force vehicles were destroyed in the attack. Arun Jaitley, a senior minister in Modi's cabinet, said India would retaliate, tweeting that "terrorists will be given unforgettable lesson for their heinous act". The U.S. ambassador to India, Ken Juster, condemned the attack, saying in a tweet that Washington stands alongside India in confronting terror and defeating it". On Wednesday, an explosion at a school in Kashmir wounded a dozen students. The cause of the blast remains unclear. (Additional reporting by Devjyot Ghoshal in New Delhi; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani and Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Frances Kerry)
As the Trump administration considers slapping tariffs on auto imports, Republican and Democratic lawmakers are trying to gain more control of trade policy.

Last year, President Trump instructed the Commerce Department to investigate whether imported vehicles and auto parts pose a threat to national security. The department is due to report its findings by February 17.

Now, bipartisan groups of lawmakers are trying to weaken the presidents ability to use national security as a reason to enact tariffs.

BICAMERAL CONGRESSIONAL TRADE AUTHORITY ACT

Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Democratic Senator Mark Warner have introduced a bill called the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act. A bipartisan companion bill has been introduced in the House.

The bill puts the Department of Defense in charge of 232 investigations to see if a national security threat exists, instead of the Commerce Department. It would also require approval from Congress before the President can take trade action under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962.

President Trump has strained our relationships with key allies and partners by abusing the authority that Congress granted him and stretching the concept of national security' beyond credulity," said Senator Warner in a statement.

The bill is retroactive, meaning Congress would have to approve any Section 232 actions over the last four years -- including President Trumps tariffs on steel and aluminum.

"Tariffs on steel and aluminum imported into the United States are taxes paid by American consumers. The imposition of these taxes, under the false pretense of national security (Section 232), is weakening our economy, threatening American jobs, and eroding our credibility with other nations. I've seen, first-hand, the damage these taxes are causing across Pennsylvania," said Senator Toomey in a statement.

THE TRADE SECURITY ACT

Republican Senator Rob Portman, who served as the United States Trade Representative from 2005-2006, has introduced a bill that takes a more moderate approach.

Story continues

Portmans bill, the Trade Security Act, would also require the Department of Defense to determine national security threats under Section 232. It would give Congress the ability to disapprove tariffs, rather than requiring Congressional approval. Unlike Toomeys bill, Portmans legislation is not retroactive.

Speaking to reporters, Portman said his approach will give the president the ability to act quickly if there is a true national emergency, while still increasing Congressional oversight.

This is not about automobiles or about the Trump administration, this is broader reform I think is consistent with the original intent [of Section 232], said Portman.

Portman told reporters hes concerned the United States could lose its ability to use Section 232 if it misuses the statute. Plus, he says misuse leads to retaliatory tariffs that hurt American farmers, manufacturers and consumers.

My broader view of trade is that if its not based on fairness, it comes back to haunt us, said Portman.

AUTO TARIFFS COULD BE ON THE WAY

If the Commerce Department finds automotive imports present a threat, the President will have ninety days to decide what to do next. President Trump has already floated the idea of a 25% tariff on auto imports.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, spoke against auto tariffs on the senate floor this week.

I hope the President will heed my call to forego the auto tariffs and focus on opening new markets. The U.S. auto industry is a major driver of our economy, supporting nearly 10 million American jobs and accounting for 3 percent of our GDP. Without question, any tariffs that are imposed will have a negative effect on the U.S. auto industry and our economy, said Grassley.

Portman has also expressed concern about auto tariffs.

I dont know what theyre [the Commerce Department] going to report, but I do know that this [the Trade Security Act] is timely, said Portman.

The senator told reporters if the Trade Security Act is signed before the President enacts tariffs, there would have to be a new report involving the Department of Defense.

Portman insists the bill is not a direct response to the Trump administration or potential auto tariffs, but says he wants to move quickly to give Congress the ability to push back.

We are strengthening Congress hand and the role of Congress -- which again I think is appropriate, said Portman. Its kind of hard to argue that minivans from Canada pose a national security threat.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers including Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Doug Jones, Senator Joni Ernst and others have signed on to Portmans bill. A bipartisan companion bill has been introduced in the House.
A gunman who walked into his workplace and shot five people dead had just found out he was about to be sacked, police say.

Gary Martin, 45, also injured five police officers and a sixth employee after he opened fire at Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday.

It later emerged that Martin was not legally allowed to own a gun because of a previous conviction for aggravated assault in Mississippi.

He bought the weapon he used in the attack, a Smith and Wesson .40-calibre handgun, in March 2011 after an initial background check failed to spot the felony from 1995.

It was only when he applied for a concealed carry permit five days later that his conviction was flagged and his firearm owners ID card was revoked.

Illinois State Police sent Martin a letter asking him to voluntarily surrender the weapon, but he did not, according to Aurora police chief Kristen Ziman.

He was not supposed to be in possession of a firearm, Ms Ziman said.

Police have identified the workers who were killed as human resources manager Clayton Parks of Elgin, human resources intern Trevor Wehner of DeKalb, plant manager Josh Pinkard of Oswego, mould operator Russell Beyer of Yorkville; and stock room attendant Vicente Juarez of Oswego.

It was Mr Wehners first day on the job, his uncle Jay Wehner said. The Northern Illinois University student was on track to graduate in May with a degree in human resource management.

He always, always was happy, said Jay Wehner. I have no bad words for him. He was a wonderful person. You cant say anything but nice things about him.

The first reports of a shooting at the manufacturing plant where Martin had worked for 15 years arrived at about 1.24pm local time on Friday.

Officers arrived at the sprawling facility four minutes later and five policemen were shot within the first five minutes.

Witnesses described seeing a gunman running through the building carrying a pistol fitted with a laser sight.

Workers look out of an office window following a shooting which killed five people and injured five police officers at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, US, on 15 February, 2019. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Police used an armored rescue vehicle called a Bearcat to enter the building and Martin was found hiding in the back about an hour later.

Story continues

He was probably waiting for us to get to him there, said Aurora police lieutenant Rick Robertson. It was just a very short gunfight and it was over, so he was basically in the back waiting for us and fired upon us and our officers fired.

All of the wounded officers and a sixth employee who was injured were being treated in hospital on Friday but were expected to survive.

Chief Ziman said a search of the gunmans home and preliminary evidence suggested he acted alone.

Police search the flat of Gary Martin, who is believed to be responsible for a mass shooting at the Henry Pratt Company, in Aurora, Illinois, USA, which killed five people and left five police officers injured on 15 February, 2019. (EPA/TANNEN MAURY)

Martins mother told the Chicago Sun-Times that her son had been way too stressed out recently, but it was not clear what he was stressed about.

The gunmans LinkedIn page listed him as a valve assembler at the Henry Pratt plant, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Products.

Mueller said in a statement on Twitter: Mueller Water Products is shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy that occurred today at our Henry Pratt facility.

Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones, the first responders, the Aurora community and the entire Mueller family during this extremely difficult time.

US president Donald Trump tweeted: Great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois. Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!

Illinois governor JB Pritzker told a press conference may God bless the brave law enforcement officers who continued to run toward danger.

The incident came just one day after the one-year anniversary of a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which saw a gunman kill 17 people.

Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
GREENVILLE, S.C.  One week after she formally announced that she is seeking the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., campaigned in South Carolina on Saturday, bashing President Donald Trump's newly declared national emergency and attacking "corruption" Washington.

Warren is one of many Democrats bidding for the White House in the 2020 presidential election and out on the campaign trail Saturday.

At her rally last week in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the senator touted her support for progressive politics with a backdrop of Everett Mills, the site of a workers strike 100 years ago led by women and immigrants that boosted workers rights.

Here are four takeaways from the Greenville, South Carolina, event Saturday:

'This is the fight of our lives': Elizabeth Warren officially announces 2020 bid

Standing-room crowd turned out

Most of the seats set up inside the West End Community Development Center were filled shortly after the doors opened at 10 a.m., an hour before Warren spoke. Her campaign said about 800 people came to the event.

The crowd included Kelly Reaves and her 16-year-old son, Jordan, who traveled to Greenville from Hendersonville, North Carolina. Kelly Reaves said she supports Warren's positions on health care, climate change and women's rights.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks during a campaign event a week after announcing her running for president at the West End Community Development Center in Greenville Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019.

Warren's two problems with Trump's emergency declaration for a border wall

In an exclusive interview with The Greenville News, part of the USA TODAY Network, the Massachusetts senator said she has "two problems" with Trump's decision to declare a national emergency to justify the allocation of federal dollars to build a wall on the Mexican border.

"The first is I dont think this is an emergency. The facts dont support it. And the second is I dont think it is legal. Thats why theres already a challenge in court. Ultimately of course the courts will determine that," Warren said. I think hes headed in the wrong direction here.

Story continues

Addressing another issue, Warren said that "a trade war by tweet as the president has done, it makes no sense. It doesnt make us build a stronger economy or help workers here in the United States."

Laila Jaber applauds as she and more than two hundred others listen to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren speak during a campaign event at the West End Community Development Center in Greenville Saturday, Feb. 16, 2019.

Washington 'works great' for the wrong interests

After talking about her family's financial struggles when she was a child growing up Oklahoma, Warren went on an extended riff about how Washington "works great" for powerful special interests.

"It works great for giant drug companies  just not for people who are trying to fill a prescription. It works great for giant oil companies that want to drill everywhere  just not for people who see climate change headed our way," she said.

"It works great for investors in private prisons  just not for the people whose lives and the communities that are torn apart. Yeah, Washington works great for those who have money. And we need to call that out what it is: corruption, pure and simple."

Sharing the stage in South Carolina, a key state in the 2020 race

Warren, who was scheduled to travel to an event in Georgia later Saturday, was not the only Democratic presidential hopeful stumping in South Carolina. Sen. Kamala Harris of California held a town hall in Charleston on Friday and traveled to Columbia for another campaign event on Saturday.

South Carolina will be the site of the first Southern primary in the Democratic race for president next February, making it a key player in the race, analysts say.

Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM

This article originally appeared on The Greenville News: 'Dont think this is an emergency': Warren attacks Trump order in South Carolina campaign stop
By Jeffrey Dastin, David Shepardson and Arijit Bose

(Reuters) - More than a year of work to bring Amazon.com Inc's headquarters and tens of thousands of jobs to New York City ended on Thursday with a couple of phone calls.

Jay Carney, the company's top policy executive, told New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that the world's biggest online retailer would not go ahead with plans to invest $2.5 billion (1.9 billion) to build a second head office in the New York City borough of Queens.

Carney, a former press secretary for President Barack Obama, told New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio the same shortly after.

Abruptly scuttling its Big Apple plans blindsided Amazon's allies and opponents alike. The company said the decision came together only in the last 48 hours, made by its senior leadership team and Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, chief executive and the richest person in the world.

Yet by some measures the decision was months in the making, as community opposition signalled to the company that it was not entirely welcome.

The abrupt reversal has made the company a target of ire from progressives like U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who are swiftly gaining ground and influence in the U.S. Democratic party. It may also play into an intensifying battle between Republicans and Democrats as President Donald Trump and his allies accuse left-leaning rivals of embracing socialism.

The decision has also generated fresh debate about the rich tax-breaks and public funding that municipalities routinely throw at companies to lure their business and the jobs they bring with them.

Seattle-based Amazon captivated elected officials across North America in September 2017 when it announced it would create more than 50,000 jobs in a second headquarters dubbed HQ2. Cities and states vied desperately for the economic stimulus, with New Jersey offering $7 billion in potential credits and the mayor of an Atlanta suburb promising to make Bezos mayor for life of a new city called "Amazon."

Story continues

A backlash began in earnest when Amazon announced two winners to split the offices last November: Arlington, Virginia, and New York's Long Island City neighbourhood, with New York offering incentives worth $1.53 billion to Amazon. The company could apply for $900 million more, too.

New York State Senator Michael Gianaris and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer said that day that it was "unfathomable that we would sign a $3 billion check" to one of the world's most valuable companies considering the city's crumbling subways and overcrowded schools.

City Council meetings in December and January showed Amazon executives who showed up the stern opposition they could expect from some elected officials and labour organizers.

Protesters interrupted the meetings. A television report showed people unfurling signs saying, "Amazon delivers lies," and "Amazon fuels ICE deportations" - a reference to the company's cooperation with the U.S. Department in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Amazon felt that a small number of local and state officials had no desire to collaborate on a path forward, the company later said, despite what it said was strong popular support for its project.

RELATIVELY PAINLESS EXIT

Tension ratcheted up earlier this month, when Gianaris was nominated to a state panel set to vote in 2020 on whether to approve the financial terms for Amazon.

Days later, Amazon executives weighed the pros and cons of whether to follow through with its New York headquarters, two people briefed on talks inside the company said. Concerned that Amazon could be in limbo for more than a year ahead of the state panel's vote, the growing consensus within the company was that it did not make sense to move ahead in the face of persistent opposition with a headquarters in New York City, where it already has 5,000 employees.

Amazon had no binding legal contracts to acquire or lease the land for the project. It could exit with relatively little pain, the people said.

Company officials also concluded Amazon could shift the jobs that would have been created in New York to other corporate centres it has across the United States, from the San Francisco Bay Area to Boston. Reopening talks with former HQ2 contestants did not make sense, the people said.

Gianaris blamed Amazon for the reversal.

"Amazon never showed willingness to look seriously at the concerns that were raised," he said.

Still, up to the moment of the announcement, there were signs that the parties could work together.

One union leader said he and other labour organizers met on Wednesday with Cuomo and four Amazon officials, including Brian Huseman, its vice president of public policy.

"We had such a productive meeting yesterday. Everyone left happy," said Stuart Appelbaum, head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

The group is trying to organise workers at an Amazon facility in Staten Island, another New York City borough, despite the company's past opposition to unionization.

"It was a complete surprise that they would say they look forward to working with us, and we talked about next steps, and then they call it all off the next morning," said Appelbaum.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco, David Shepardson and Nandita Bose in Washington and Daniel Trotta in New York; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Bill Rigby)
Amazon has paid zero federal taxes for the second year in succession, despite a doubling of its profits, according to a new report.

Although the tech giant founded by Jeff Bezos saw its profits grow from $5.6bn (4.3bn) in 2017 to $11.2bn (8.7bn) in 2018, it will actually receive a tax rebate of $129m (100m).

The companys newest corporate filing reveals that, far from paying the statutory 21 per cent income tax rate on its US income in 2018, Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate of $129m, said the report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), which describes itself as a non-partisan, non-profit think tank, based in Washington DC.

For those who dont have a pocket calculator handy, that works out to a tax rate of negative one per cent. The fine print of Amazons income tax disclosure shows that this achievement is partly due to various unspecified tax credits as well as a tax break for executive stock options.

The report added: This isnt the first year that the cyber-retailing giant has avoided federal taxes. Last year, the company paid no federal corporate income taxes on $5.6bn in US income.

The news that the company founded by the world richest man paid no federal taxes, was immediately seized on by its critics.

Senator Bernie Sanders, who has pressured the company to increase its wages for workers, said on Twitter: If you paid the $119 annual fee to become an Amazon Prime member, you paid more to Amazon than it paid in taxes.

He added: Our job: Repeal all of the Trump tax breaks for the top 1% and large corporations and demand that they pay their fair share in taxes.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

The company had already made headlines this week following its decision not to push ahead with plans to open a major new facility in New York Citys Long Island City neighbourhood. It made the decision following widespread opposition, including from congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who objected to the company receiving $3bn in tax incentives to open the premises in New York.

Story continues

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbours defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world, the newly-elected Democrat said after the companys announcement.

The report by the ITEP said it had examined the tax-paying habits of corporations for nearly 40 years and has long advocated for closing loopholes and special breaks that allow many profitable corporations to pay zero or single-digit effective tax rates.

It said the 2017 tax cut passed by Donald Trump and the Republicans had helped Amazon pay no taxes.

The Trump Administration and its congressional allies included lavish new giveaways such as immediate expensing of capital investments, it said.

Multiple analysts scored the tax law as a huge revenue loser, giving away far more to big corporations in rate cuts than it takes in loophole-closers.

A week ago, the ITEP revealed that streaming giant Netflix  which in 2018 posted its largest ever US profit of $845m  did not pay any federal taxes. Indeed, it too received a rebate, of $22m.

Amazon on Saturday said it disputed the ITEP report and had asked for a correction. It said the tax credits received were not unspecified, as the report claimed, but rather related to depreciation of capital investments, and research and development.

Amazon pays all the taxes we are required to pay in the US and every country where we operate, including paying $2.6 bn in corporate tax and reporting $3.4 bin in tax expense over the last three years, a spokesperson said in a statement to The Independent.

Corporate tax is based on profits, not revenues, and our profits remain modest given retail is a highly competitive, low-margin business and our continued heavy investment.

Asked if it was true Amazon had paid no corporate tax in 2018 and obtained a rebate of $129m, the spokesperson replied: Nothing else on this one, although appreciate the inquiry.
Amazon has thrown down the gauntlet to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, inviting the congresswoman to visit one of its facilities after she claimed the tech giant had created dehumanising conditions for its workers.

The 29-year-old congresswoman was among those who celebrated after Amazon announced this week it was pulling out of plans to open what it termed a second headquarters in New York City.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the citys 14th district, which is close to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens where the facility was to be based, had opposed the $3bn in tax incentives the state and city had offered the e-commerce giant, headed by Jeff Bezos.

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbours defeated Amazons corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world, Ms Ocasio-Cortez, a newly-elected Democrat, wrote on Twitter after the companys announcement.

Amazon said it was not proceeding because it had not had positive, collaborative relationships with state and local officials.

Responding to one commenter on Twitter who claimed Amazon was a strict performance-heavy organisational structure, she said: Is that culture of strict performance why Amazon workers have to urinate in bottles & work while on food stamps to meet targets?

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

She added: Performance shouldnt come at the cost of dehumanising conditions. Thats why we got rid of sweatshops.

Amazon disputed the claims and invited the congresswoman to visit for herself.

Dave Clark, Amazons senior vice president of worldwide operations, said on Twitter: @aoc these claims simply arent true. We are proud of our jobs with excellent pay ($15 min), benefits from day 1, & lots of other benefits like our Career Choice pre-paid educational programmes. Why dont you come take a tour & see for yourself...wed love to have you!

Ms Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a question as to whether or not she will take up the invitation to visit.
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP)  Authorities in Nigeria's Kaduna state are reporting at least 66 deaths in a wave of violence just before the country's presidential election.

Samuel Aruwan, a spokesman for Kaduna state's governor, said Friday that the victims include 22 children.

He blamed a "criminal element" for the deaths, which have taken place this week, in the Kajuru local government area.

One resident blamed the killings on fighting between Christian farmers and Fulani Muslim herdsmen.

Deadly clashes between the two communities have erupted in recent years in southern Kaduna as the groups compete for land and water.

Nigerian voters are headed to the polls Saturday amid concerns about violence in many parts of the country.
As we work through the month May, I want to give a couple of updates from the last few weeks. My priority bill, LB 644, has advanced from the first and second round of debate and will be heading to final reading soon. This bill was designed to help give the taxpayer clear and concise informa
If you're reading this article, you may be on the fence about whether hiring a financial advisor makes sense for you. Today, more than ever, tools to help individuals manage their finances are readily accessible; there are plenty of free retirement calculators, portfolio analyzers and personal finance apps. There are also so-called "robo-advisors" -- programs that use artificial intelligence to help you plan your financial future -- or you might just ask Alexa. We've come a long way.

That's all great: The more consumers are educated about personal financial topics, the better off they may be (and the less chance they'll be duped by unscrupulous sales pitches). But given all this information at your fingertips, is hiring a financial advisor worth the cost? Shouldn't you just try to read as much as you can, do it yourself, and save some money in the process? It depends.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I'm a financial advisor who has been practicing for 19 years. However, I'm not here to extol the benefits of financial advisors, but rather to provide some insight into what financial advisors actually offer, so you can make an educated decision on whether hiring one is a smart choice.

So why exactly would someone hire a financial advisor rather than manage your money yourself? Here are five problems many consumers face that can be alleviated by hiring a pro.

A mature couple sitting across from a financial advisor, reviewing a printed chart

Financial advisors can help individuals in a variety of ways, the least of which is to beat the market. Image source: Getty images.

1. Information overload

Information can empower us to make educated decisions, but it can also overwhelm us, causing "analysis paralysis." A quick internet search on whether to fund a Roth IRA, yielded conflicting advice such as "you need a Roth IRA" and "reasons to skip the Roth." What's a saver to do?

While it's wonderful that so much information is readily available; the bad news is that having information doesn't always equal understanding. Information is a good thing if it gets us to thoroughly think through a decision, but if it causes us to procrastinate indefinitely for fear of making the wrong decision, then what is accomplished?

Story continues

Part of a financial advisor's job is to help you sort through a variety of information sources, tune out the noise and make the best decision based on your finances and your personal goals.

2. Too many choices

In the U.S., there are more than 10,000 mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for investors to pick from. Choosing a fund from this vast universe of choices is like going to the food store and seeing ten different brands of milk, or trying to select one loaf of bread from an overflowing bakery: It takes time, and ultimately you may just settle on one with packaging that catches your eye. Is that the best way to invest?

If you have the time and enjoy picking out funds, that's one thing, but if you don't -- that's a sign it's time to call a professional. Financial advisors usually have lists of go-to investments that they've already done research and due diligence on; these investments may meet certain criteria, such as having low expenses or being consistent top performers. Helping you sort through the financial supermarket of choices is one reason to hire an advisor.

3. Too little time

If necessary, we could all learn to cut our hair, mow the lawn, or change the oil in the car -- but who really has the time? Not to mention: Where is your time best spent? Retirees may have more time to read the newspaper, research stocks, or discuss changes in tax law with their accountant than a busy corporate lawyer. That busy lawyer might appreciate a financial advisor's help in keeping up with changes in the markets and the law, and when that expertise is needed, place one call or send an email to their advisor.

Each of us has to weigh how best to spend our time. If a financial advisor frees up your time so you can concentrate on making more money at work, or spending more time with your family, then that may be advice worth paying for.

4. Lack of expertise

There's a reason a general practice physician may refer you to a gastroenterologist if you have an acute pain in your abdomen: The specialist has a particular expertise that you need. The same goes for financial advisors who work in a special niche. Some financial advisors specialize in times of transition, like selling a business or planning for a divorce, while others focus on an industry, such as working with dentists or schoolteachers.

Each of these advisors has developed unique expertise in their field, usually from years of experience working with clients who have similar needs. For example, a financial advisor may know the ins and outs of your state's pension plan, and its effects on claiming strategies for Social Security, which might help you in retirement planning. If you have a unique situation, a specialized advisor may prove extremely helpful.

5. Personal biases

Managing your own money has its advantages and disadvantages. You're keeping costs down, which is a good thing; you may also enjoy picking stocks on your own.

But each of us has our own personal biases, and you need to be aware that yours exis. Reflect on how much they impact your decisions. For example, if you got burnt in the technology-stock bubble of 2000, you might have vowed never to touch tech stocks again. If so, you'd have missed out on the years of growth that tech stocks experienced after the crash. An advisor can you help you recognize biases you may be overlooking.

You might make rash emotional decisions, too. It's a known phenomenon that we humans feel the sting of losing money more sharply than we enjoy the euphoria of making money. Some investors can't stomach the ups and downs of the stock market. Part of what a financial advisor does is to hold your hand through those tough times in the market and help you make logical and rational decisions, rather than hitting the panic button and reacting in a knee-jerk fashion that could come back to haunt you.

What's right for you?

Hiring a financial advisor is not for everyone. If you are the type that enjoys personal financial planning, has the time to do it, and the emotional intelligence to recognize your own biases, then perhaps you're OK on your own. But if you'd rather spend your time elsewhere, or you require the specific expertise of a professional, then it may be worth considering.

It's not an all-or-nothing decision, either; you can still manage your own money, and have an advisor help with the overall picture, or hire an advisor to manage a separate portion of your money.

A caveat: If you're in debt and looking for help, a financial advisor is probably not right for you. Consider instead finding a non-profit debt or credit counselor.

To find the right advisor, start by asking family, friends, and professionals (like your accountant, or the attorney who did your wills) for a few names of potential experts to interview.

Ideally you'd want someone who is experienced and seems trustworthy. You can check candidates' background on BrokerCheck, which maintains an industrywide database of financial advisors who are also brokers. You can also request a copy of the advisor's Form ADV, which is a brochure registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); it outlines the advisor's experience, fee schedule, credentials, and disciplinary history (if any).

Often times, hiring a financial advisor will save you more money than it costs, in the long-run. Figure out how you can best utilize the services a planner has to offer.

More From The Motley Fool

The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
A Delta Air Lines flight en route from California to Washington was forced to make an emergency landing in Reno, Nevada, on Wednesday after five passengers were injured due to severe turbulence.

The flight touched down in Reno about 1:30 PST, according to Reno-Tahoe International Airport spokesperson Brian Kulpin.

Kulpin said three of the injured passengers were transported to a local hospital.

A twitter post from a passenger said the flight encountered "crazy turbulence and injuries."

A strong winter storm is impacting the region and the National Weather Service in Reno has warned aviators that periods of "downright dangerous flying conditions with extreme turbulence" could exist.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

More: Winter storm: Flight woes ease after Tuesday's mess

The storm is expected to last through the end of the week and has triggered a multitude of travel and storm warnings.

"This is a particularly dangerous situation for aviation in the lee of the Sierra over the next few days," the weather service's forecast continued on.

The regional flight, which is operated by Compass Airlines, was in flight between Santa Ana, California, and Seattle when it was forced to divert to Reno.

The flight, number 5763, had 59 passengers and 4 crew on board and landed safely, according to a statement from Compass Airlines.

"We apologize for this experience as we get customers to Seattle," the statement said.

The remaining passengers have been given food and a comfortable place to wait before being transferred to other flights, according to Kulpin.

This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: 5 Delta passengers injured in severe turbulence, flight made emergency landing in Reno
Canopy Growth (NYSE: CGC) recently reported results for the last three months of 2018, and the beginning of Canada's adult-use program helped the company sell 334% more marijuana than a year earlier. Unfortunately, operating expenses rose much further than sales, plus profit margins in the adult-use market are slimmer than expected.

Thanks to a $5 billion cash injection from Constellation Brands earlier this year, the company can afford the losses, but investors want to know if they'll continue. Here are a few reasons to expect at least several more quarters of operating losses from Canopy Growth.

Dry marijuana flowers next to a huge pile of cash.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Mail-order marijuana is still going strong

The rollout of recreational marijuana in Canada was a non-event for most of the country's users because buying illicit marijuana has felt nearly legal for a long time. There are dozens of mail-order marijuana shops (MoMs) online that ship through Canada Post, discreetly, and most of them even accept PayPal. Although police can get warrants to inspect packages after they've been delivered, it's rarely worth the trouble. Criminal charges for customers are practically unheard of.

Edibles and concentrates are the two fastest-growing product categories in the U.S., but you can't buy either from licensed retailers in Canada. Of course, there are plenty of MoMs that cater to connoisseurs of both.

MoMs aren't the only competition that licensed producers and retailers like Canopy Growth have to deal with. There are still plenty of illegal marijuana dispensaries throughout the country, and it doesn't look like they're going anywhere. In New Brunswick, Canopy Growth's potential customers are waltzing right past government-run stores that sell its products and into marijuana dispensaries that don't.

While there are occasional reports about dispensaries getting shut down by authorities, local municipalities that don't want to be seen limiting patients' treatment options rarely take action. When pressed about the issue, though, authorities generally claim that enforcing marijuana laws just aren't an efficient use of limited resources. Whatever the case, Canopy will probably have to compete with a thriving illicit market for the long term.

Story continues

2. Licensed producers can't compete with MoM

Statistics Canada runs anonymous online surveys that ask people for the size and price of their latest marijuana purchases, illicit or licensed. The average price reported for non-medical marijuana fell to just 7.43 Canadian Dollars ($5.61) per gram in 2017, and that was before companies like Canopy Growth started producing enough cannabis each month to cover the Hudson Bay.

During the three months ended December, Canopy Growth recorded an average selling price per gram of CA$6.96 ($5.25) from recreational sales. That's not necessarily bad, but the company also expensed CA$6.41 ($4.84) in production costs per gram sold.

Canopy Growth also reported a CA$1.45 ($1.09) per-gram expense related to Canada's new cannabis excise tax. This is a big advantage for MoMs and illicit dispensaries that don't pay the federal excise tax or provincial sales taxes.

The price difference for medical-use patients who want an edible solution is enormous. A 60-capsule bottle of Canopy Growth's flagship brand, Tweed soft-gels, costs CA$226.80 ($171.23) at the Ontario Cannabis Store. The bottle contains just 600 mg of marijuana's active ingredient, which is the amount of THC that patients can buy as gummies or candies for between CA$40 ($30.20) and CA$60 ($45.30) from MoMs and dispensaries.

3. There's no legal weed shortage in Canada

Across the country, licensed retailers are having a tough time keeping their shelves stocked, but that isn't because licensed producers can't keep up. According to Health Canada, retailers sold just 14,379 kg of legal cannabis in December. During the same month, ready-for-sale product in the supply chain rose to 57,914 kg.

Aurora Cannabis (NYSE: ACB) is another giant Canadian producer that lost a lot of money recently, and its earnings call highlighted a possible cause of the perceived adult-use marijuana shortages. Aurora, Canopy Growth, and their peers have licenses to export medical marijuana to countries that pay more per gram. As a result, Aurora isn't providing provinces with more adult-use cannabis than their long-term supply contracts require.

At the end of December, Canopy Growth's inventory was worth CA$185 million ($140 million), or 23% more than three months earlier. Keeping sufficient inventory levels is important, but this much inventory growth during a perceived shortage isn't a good sign.

Two hands passing money and marijuana to another set of hands in an illegal marijuana transaction.

Image source: Getty Images.

On to Plan B?

Canada's adult-use program isn't going to be the revenue contributor investors hoped for, and that's going to cause Canopy Growth to report more operating losses in the quarters ahead.

Canopy sold medical marijuana in the EU for CA$13.28 ($10.03) per gram, which suggests the region could become a high-margin revenue stream down the road. Sadly, an international revenue stream is probably a lot further down the road than investors hoped for. International sales reached just CA$2.7 million ($2.04 million) during the quarter ended December, which was just CA$1.7 million ($1.28 million) more than a year ago.

Recently, members of the European Parliament approved a motion for a resolution on cannabis for medicinal purposes. The non-binding resolution will ask member countries to prioritize cannabis research and reconsider domestic laws that prevent its sale.

While a larger EU market could help Canopy Growth make ends meet, it won't happen fast enough to stop this marijuana producer from bleeding money in the foreseeable future. That makes this stock too risky to even consider right now.

More From The Motley Fool

Cory Renauer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Barcelona (AFP) - Around 200,000 people marched through Barcelona on Saturday against the high-profile trial of Catalan separatist leaders that started this week, which they dismissed as a farce.

"Self-determination is not a crime," read a banner at the front of the protest led by regional president Quim Torra which municipal police said was attended by 200,000 people, while organisers countered 500,000 had taken part.

Demonstrators waved blue, red and yellow Catalan separatist flags and carried banners reading "Freedom for political prisoners."

The trial of 12 Catalan separatist politicians and activists over their role in the 2017 attempt to break Catalonia from Spain started on Tuesday at Madrid's Supreme Court.

They face up to 25 years behind bars on charges of rebellion and other offences for pushing an independence referendum in October 2017 in defiance of a court ban, and for a brief declaration of independence.

The independence bid sparked Spain's deepest political crisis since the transition to democracy in the 1970s after the death of dictator Francisco Franco.

- Violence or no violence? -

Independence supporters and the defendants' lawyers maintain they are on trial for their ideas.

"What's happening is really sad. It's a political trial, full of manipulations to sentence them for something that isn't a crime," said Jesus Rodriguez, head of a group of "castellers," Catalonia's famous tradition of human towers, at the Barcelona protest.

"They just want to lock them up and as they know that voting isn't a crime, they're inventing violence that never happened," added the 48-year-old.

Prosecutors, though, insist the separatist leaders and activists are being tried for their actions and not for what they think.

Many Spaniards support the trial, shocked by the actions of Catalonia's regional executive in October 2017.

Controversy, however, has swirled over the charge of rebellion.

Story continues

Under Spanish law, rebellion is defined as "rising up in a violent and public manner". But opinion is divided over whether the independence bid was violent.

At the trial on Wednesday, prosecutor Fidel Cadena said "what is penalised... is behaviour carried out over time which aimed... at the subversion and rupture of the constitutional order, calling for violent methods through the use of the masses as human shields" against police.

Supporters of independence deny the accusation of violence.

They instead condemn a police operation to shut down the referendum, which saw voters beaten with batons and dragged away from polling stations, images of which were seen in media around the world.

Oriol Junqueras, the main defendant of a trial that is scheduled to last three months, also rejected any claims of violence.

"If you read, listen and observe our actions, no one could have the least doubt that we reject violence," he said at his hearing on Thursday.
The requested page is currently unavailable on this server.

Back to [RTHK News Homepage]
When Tal Ben-Shahar was a young college student at Harvard, the computer science major was doing well academically and was also at the top of his game as a varsity squash player. Ironically, though, he felt unfulfilled and depressed.

I filled in most of the boxes I thought needed to be checked, but I was still unhappy, he said. When I switched my majors to philosophy and psychology, that was the beginning of my journey and I did become happier, and soon I wanted to share what I had learned with other people.

Ben-Shahar went on to earn a Ph.D. at Harvard in organizational behavior and began teaching a class there called Positive Psychology. According to a Harvard Special Report on the field, positive psychology refers to the study of positive emotions, as well as engagement in activities and avenues to find satisfaction in life. Ben-Shahars class on the subject, which he began teaching in 2004, quickly became the most popular course at the university, and led him to write several books on the topic. Today, Ben-Shahar works as a consultant for companies across the globe and has also created his own online curriculum called Happiness Studies Academy.

Now, Ben-Shahar is lending his expertise to the University of Miami as its newest Distinguished Presidential Scholar. The Distinguished Presidential Scholars and Fellows Program is an initiative of President Julio Frenks Roadmap to Our New Century, and aims to attract intellectuals from a wide swath of disciplines.

Distinguished Presidential Scholars are part of our efforts to make the University of Miami a magnet for talent, giving our students and our community access to outstanding thinkers, Frenk said. With Tals appointment, we will benefit from the insights of a top expert in the burgeoning field of Happiness and Well-Being Studies.

The appointment means that Ben-Shahar will be on campus regularly during the next three years interacting with students, faculty and administrators. Isaac Prilleltensky, vice provost for institutional culture, said that Ben-Shahar has already become an instrumental voice in helping UM craft its own curriculum focused on happiness and well-being studies.

Number one, Tal is one of the first teachers of positive psychology. Number two, he is a gifted teacher and number three, he is also probably the most well-traveled and international speaker on the topic, Prilleltensky said.

At a time in history when more people are being treated for depression and anxiety, particularly young adults, Prilleltensky and Ben-Shahar hope to create a host of graduate programs at UM geared toward professionals who want to improve their own lives, or foster happiness and well-being in the workplace and in their communities.The programs will be part of a larger vision to create a well-being institute at the university, Prilleltensky added.

An important antidote to depression and anxiety is happiness, and not just as a new age, self-help concept, but from a deep, scientific learned perspective, Ben-Shahar said.

Ben-Shahars curriculum uses research-based strategies drawn from a variety of academic disciplines, he said. A few techniques he often suggests to improve personal happiness include mindfulness, journaling, emphasizing the importance of nutrition and exercise, and teaching people strategies to deal with painful emotions.

While its important to treat anxiety and depression by helping people to become happier, we are also helping them to become more resilient in the face of these challenges, Ben-Shahar said.

UM's Vice Provost for Institutional Culture Isaac Prilleltensky and Tal Ben-Shahar meet in the Newman Alumni Center.

Prilleltensky and Ben-Shahar said the task force working on the graduate curriculum come from a variety of schools and colleges at UM, demonstrating campus-wide interest. And although there are existing programs across the United States in positive psychology, this would be the first interdisciplinary program in happiness and well-being, Ben-Shahar said.

UM is a great place to start as the genesis of this field because of the interest that exists within the university, Ben-Shahar added. It would be the first of many campuses to introduce this field, and to essentially create it as a field of inquiry.

Ben-Shahar and Prilleltensky, who is also a happiness scholar and author, met at the first World Happiness Summit three years ago in downtown Miami (the annual conference has since moved to UM, and attracted 1,000 participants last year). The two authors and professors shared a common history of having lived in Israel and becoming scholars in the same field.

Hurricanes will have a chance to listen to Ben-Shahar and learn about the field of positive psychology at a lecture on campus later this spring. He and Prilleltensky will also be speaking about well-being at the 2019 World Happiness Summit, held at the Shalala Student Center on March 15, 16 and 17.
The alarm sounded at 4 a.m. and I reluctantly dragged myself out of bed. We had a long drive ahead of us, and my husband, Led, was eager to get on the water. Before too long, our friends Chase and Courtney arrived and we were ready to hit the road. It is about two hours from our home to Lake
Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan met with Sudanese Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed during the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

The foreign ministers of both countries exchanged views on the prospects for the development and boosting of the bilateral agenda. Among the priority directions, the Armenian Foreign Minister noted the sphere of creative education, innovations and high technologies, stressing Armenias readiness to initiate programs aimed at sharing experience.

The interlocutors emphasized importance of the role of small, but active Armenian community in strengthening of the bilateral agenda.

The head of the Armenian Foreign Ministry noted that the expansion of relations between Armenia and African continent states is one of the most important priorities of the country's foreign policy, and the Armenian side is ready to take practical steps in this direction in order to develop and deepen multi-sectoral cooperation.

The interlocutors also touched upon the prospects for cooperation within the framework of international organizations.

Touching upon the settlement of the Karabakh conflict, Zohrab Mnatsakanyan reaffirmed Armenias commitment to an exclusively peaceful settlement of the conflict through the mediation of the OSCE Minsk Group.
YEREVAN.  Starting from now on, I am discontinuing Manvel Grigoryans [legal] defense on the charge of his appropriating the food of the soldier, or of the freedom fighter, because of such a charge being groundless slander.

Arsen Mkrtchyan, the attorney of Armenias ex-MP and Yerkrapah (Defender of the Land) Volunteer Union (YVU) Board ex-Chairman, retired General Manvel Grigoryan, wrote the aforesaid on Facebook.

Also, Mkrtchyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am that he had assumed Grigoryans legal defense on his own initiative and as an YVU member, and that it was important to him to find out whether Grigoryan actually had anything to do with the charge against him in connection with appropriation of soldiers food.

The preliminary investigation is over, and I can confidently announce that Manvel Grigoryan has nothing to do with the appropriation of the soldiers food, the attorney said, in particular. As a freedom fighter, I no longer have anything to do on this part [of the charges that are brought against Grigoryan]. [But] in the future, I might [still] defend Manvel Grigoryans rights at court.

Grigoryan is in custody. He is charged with illegal possession of arms, tax evasion, and embezzlement and appropriation of the budget funds. In particular, the charge on appropriation is in connection with the aid that was sent during the days of the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), in April 2016.
YEREVAN. - Within the framework of his working visit to Germany, President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian on Friday visited Heidelberg University, Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the public relations department of the Presidential Staff.

The President met with the leadership of the oldest university of Germany, with the Rector, Professor Dr. Bernhard Eitel, familiarized with the educational programs of the University and discussed opportunities of cooperation with the educational institutions of Armenia.

In the library of Heidelberg University, where the President familiarized with the medieval books deposited there and works on their preservation, he spoke about activities and rich experience of Matenadaran  the Research Institute and Museum of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan and underscored that the two structures could jointly carry out significant programs.

In the afternoon, President Sarkissian made a presentation for the faculty and students of the University. In his remarks, the President of Armenia spoke about the trends existing in the contemporary world, development of technologies in the new world, and importance of innovations.

Armenia is on the crossroads of civilizations, and we have to face the fact that we are located on the boundary of different civilizations, destinies, beliefs, ideas, and religions, Armen Sarkissian noted. Now, in the 21st century, the world is changing dramatically. The 21st century will be a period of time when thanks to science, technologies, and new means of education the excitement regarding new inventions will be incredibly high and will reflect on the social and political life of the new world.

The President underscored that in the new world, Armenia has an important role to play.

We are a small but truly a global nation, very closely interconnected, a nation which has cherished education for centuries. We are the people who lived at the crossroads of different civilizations, cultures, and religions and were able to survive, the President said. This is another quality which is important in the 21st century. In our country, which has scarce natural resources, we have an excellent school of science and technologies which was developed more than one hundred years ago. We have a great cultural heritage, Christian heritage. We are a young nation and a young state, which has an excellent chance to build a new state in the new world based of the power of science, discoveries, innovations, and a high-quality education, President Sarkissian said. He stressed our countrys traditions in the area of natural sciences.

In the new Armenia of the new world, there are many ways in which we can work with Germany, particularly with Heidelberg. And in that cooperation we need to focus on the future, new technologies, and technological education. We have good mathematicians who can be helpful in developing artificial intelligence. We can conduct joint research in the areas of mathematics and physics. And in this context, you can use the Armenian global network since when we say Armenia, we mean not only Armenians living in Armenia proper, we mean Armenian researchers all over the world, as well as scientists and entrepreneurs.

I truly have the idea and the mission to make Armenia a successful scientific and technological country. In this, we need to move forward with our friends, and I view the University of Heidelberg as such a partner. I am looking forward to building bridges between the Armenian universities and Heidelberg.

Later, the President of Armenia took questions from the audience.

Responding to the question on the steps, which the government needs to take so that small groups are more free and independent in their innovations, the President of Armenia said, in particular, We need to understand how we can help young people. We need to create the environment which will allow them to reach success. Otherwise, they will leave. And this is true not for Armenia only. Great talents move to places where they can call to life their ideas and innovations. Since the world is a small place after all, it is not necessary to move physically to California or Silicon Valley. Living in Armenia, we need to be part of the processes going on in the Silicon Valley. This is what we need to accomplish in Armenia.

Responding to another question, regarding the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, Armen Sarkissian said, The situation in the small place, which is called Nagorno-Karabakh, which we call the Republic of Artsakh, unless it is managed properly, can be explosive as long as the frozen conflict is not settled. For me, there is no alternative to a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Any other option will be disastrous for all sides. And in this case, its not important how powerful you are, or how much money you spend on weapons, or how large is your army. Different interests and challenges are present in this region. Its truly a crossroad of civilizations. Look whats going on: Syria, Middle East are not too far away, also Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Russia. Even the slightest destabilization will be devastating here. Thus, there is only one way  a peaceful resolution of the conflict. And I hope that the resolution of the conflict will be based on reason, on human values. I hope that the ultimate solution will be made taking into consideration the rights of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh.

And on the question from the audience regarding the negative sides of the worlds interconnectivity and what the President of Armenia would advise doing to overcome the negative trends, President Sarkissian said, The world is a complex place. As a global nation, we have a great number of Armenians who live abroad, outside Armenia, however, they have a great impact on the processes in Armenia. Interconnectivity has many sides, both positive and negative. Along with globalization, industrial and scientific revolutions, human creativity and educational import, there is an important factor which is called morality. In the absence of human morality, your technological advancement instead of a tool will become a weapon. All this has a chain interconnectivity. There is one simple truth: We are all humans and whatever we do should be done with human reason and morality, and with a certain soul in everything we do. Otherwise, we will be prone to bad things. Its not important who you are, whats your nationality, one should be just human.
Pope Francis recalls his visit to Armenia

102 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

World oil prices going up

Frances Macron to Armenias Pashinyan: I will be glad to continue with you the work we jointly launched

Armenia acting deputy PM appoints new adviser, sends him to US on business trip

Lawyer on Prosecutor Generals Office explanation on Armenia bloc member doctors criminal case: An absolute lie

Israel trying to influence Biden administration approach to nuclear deal with Iran

Newspaper: Heated post-election developments unrolling at Armenia I Have Honor bloc

Newspaper: Vetting that failed in Armenia is being attempted again

Armenian political party leader on double votes

12-story South Florida apartment building partially collapses, there are victims

Zatulin: 'Declaration of Shushi' is clearly targeted against Armenia

Iranian Supreme Leader to be vaccinated against COVID-19 with Iranian-made vaccine

Armenia Ombudsman: I sent video of Azerbaijan President-Turkey's First Lady talk to EU administration

Armenia Ambassador to Poland lays wreath near plaque dedicated to Raphael Lemkin in Warsaw

Iran Ambassador on 'Zangezur corridor': We support exploitation of any corridor without change of borders

Honduras moves its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Armenia Izmirlian Medical Center Director Armen Charchyan's attorney appeals court decision

Armenia 3rd President: Yes, he [Nikol Pashinyan] won the elections, but the victory sparks many questions

Putin, Erdogan discuss situation around Nagorno-Karabakh

Armenian general manager of Respect-SM construction firm to be detained for two months

Karabakh emergency situations service: Remains of another serviceman found in Varanda (Fizuli)

Oman hopes new Israeli government will take steps to create independent Palestinian state

Turkish and US military discuss plans to continue guarding Kabul airport by Turkish Armed Forces

Lithuania is against direct dialogue between EU and Russian President

Armenia acting PM meets with Tashir Group president Samvel Karapetyan

One dollar falls below AMD 508 in Armenia

Armenia Parliament Human Resources Management Department head sacked

Merkel says EU will discuss Turkey and possible steps in development of cooperation with Russia

Prosperous Armenia Party comments on news about acting PM's initiative in regard to extra-parliamentary forces

Armenian POW Mels Ambardaryan's brother stopping sitting strike in front of govt building for now

Armenia Chamber of Advocates launching process to provide legal aid to Armenian POWs in Azerbaijan

UN Secretary General calls for wealth tax

ARF-D member: Prosecutor General's Office needs to take steps to change pre-trial measure against doctor Charchyan

Dutch MPs urge not to send delegation to Baku, COVID-19 in Armenia, Jun 24 digest

Zatulin: Azerbaijan President is demonstrating low-browed nationalism against Armenians

Zatulin: Results of snap parliamentary elections in Armenia spark doubts

The Kremlin on Putin-Pashinyan phone talks

Armenia acting PM holds phone talks with Russia's Putin, reminds about return of Armenian POWs

Armenia health ministry to propose joint approach to issue of preserving fallen soldiers remains

Russian MFA: NATO's strategic concept will return situation to Cold War

Lavrov: Russia is helping Armenia, Azerbaijan build confidence along with other OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs

PACE committee: Problem of political prisoners in Azerbaijan neither recognised nor adequately addressed

Acting economy minister: This year 6 times more apricots already have been exported from Armenia than in 2019

EU imposes economic sanctions against Belarus

Acting PM signs decision on EU FMs forthcoming visit to Armenia

Reporters Without Borders: Spanish journalist threatened with death by Azerbaijani forces

Karabakh emergency situations service: Searches for remains of servicemen continue in Varanda

Armenia acting minister explains why officials need to stand up when Pashinyan enters the room

Armenia acting economy minister: 90% of businessmen said they would emigrate in case of shift of power

Egypt relaxes entry rules for vaccinated tourists

Churchill's painting sold at auction in US for $ 1.8 million

Afghan government predicted to fall after American withdrawal

Lapshin: European Court decision on my appeal against Azerbaijan went down in history

Queen Sofia of Spain awards Armenian student

Acting economy minister: There is trend of emigration from Armenia

Garo Paylan sounds alarm about damage caused to 18th-century Armenian church in Turkey

Armenia Syunik Province governor to reporters: You're taking too long, I'm not going to answer questions

Netherlands parliament urges government not to send delegation to Baku for Euro 2020 quarterfinals

Acting premier: Patrol Police shall bring new word to Armenia

Turkey archaeologists discover ancient fortress of Van from Urartu era

Armenia to manufacture, export drones

Five new cases of coronavirus reported in Artsakh

Armenia freedom fighter is arrested

'Armenia' bloc to hold protest in front of Prosecutor General's Office with demand to release Armen Charchyan

Armenias Pashinyan on recent snap parliamentary elections: We have set new standard

Armenia government extends ban on import of Turkey goods for another 6 months

Captured soldiers relatives hold protest outside Armenia government building

Acting premier: Average salary per person in Armenia increased by 20.2% compared to 2018

103 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Armenia acting PM signs decision to send delegation to Moscow

Armenia International Studies expert: What is "last station" of all this?

World oil prices on the rise

Controversial Dubai princess announces she can now travel freely

Newspaper: What is Putin's decision on Armenias Pashinyan?

Newspaper: Armenia acting PM to include defeated political forces in one body

Newspaper: Wiretapping devices are installed in 'disobedient' Armenia judges offices

Armenia POWs relatives start sit-in outside government building

Razminfo: Azerbaijan deploys Bayraktars in Nakhchivan (PHOTOS)

Armenia doctor Armen Charchyan's attorney submits urgent motion to Prosecutor General

European Party of Armenia leader to Nikol Pashinyan: We need to think of strengthening our national potential

Political party leader to Armenia acting PM: There are opposition forces with which we cannot imagine any step

Armenia acting PM meets with Tigran Arzakantsyan

Armenia doctor Armen Charchyan transferred to hospital with cardiac distress

'Armenia' bloc issues statement strictly condemning arrest of doctor Armen Charchyan

Defense Minister: Turkey will not send additional troops to Afghanistan

Armenian judge who ruled to remand doctor Armen Charchyan is wife of top police officer

Armenian doctor Armen Charchyan's attorney says he will appeal court's decision on arrest

Armenia Central Electoral Commission: Civil Contract Party's and two opposition blocs' votes increase after recount

Armenia Izmirlian Medical Center Director Armen Charchyan to be held in custody for a month

North Korea doesn't consider possibility of any contact with US

Azerbaijani army conducting command staff military exercises at level of brigade

Switzerland relaxes COVID-19 restrictions

Turkey removes over 5,500 cubic meters of sea slime from Sea of Marmara

Karabakh President convenes session of Board of Trustees of Shushi University of Technology

France, Germany propose EU summit with Russia's Putin

Armenia acting MOD, High-Tech Industry Ministry's Hayk Chobanyan discuss issues related to arms industry

Rescuers remove body of man from gorge located near St. Sargis Church in Yerevan with great difficulty

Armenia President: Constitution needs to be amended, our country understands presidential governance better

EU intends to pay Turkey EUR 3.5 billion for refugees
VALLEJO  Inclement weather took its toll on a Vallejo police car and a fire truck Friday morning.

Two officers in a patrol car were driving north on Tuolumne Street around 9:05 a.m. in response to a report about a man with a gun when a Mini Cooper pulled out of westbound Maxwell Alley and struck the side of the patrol car, police Lt. Kent Tribble said.

The collision knocked the patrol car into the southbound lane of Tuolumne Street where it was struck by a southbound vehicle, Tribble said.

The officers suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital.

One of the officers was cleared to return to duty and the other officer was sent home, Tribble said. The Mini Cooper driver complained of pain.

A Vallejo Fire Department truck two blocks away was responding to the collision involving the patrol car when a driver failed to yield at Florida and Amador streets and struck the side of the fire truck on eastbound Florida Street, Tribble said. Information on the driver was unavailable.

The roads were wet at the time of the collisions, Tribble said.
With painful memories of the 2017 Napa wildfires still fresh, a group of St. Helenans is trying to help a few of the thousands of people left homeless by the Camp Fire that wiped out most of Paradise last year.

RV to Paradise organizers are launching a month-long fundraising campaign starting Thursday, Feb. 14, and ending Friday, March 15. They hope to raise $30,000 to donate at least one RV to victims who lost their homes in the Camp Fire.

After the fire destroyed more than 13,000 homes in November, relief poured in from around the country in the form of food, clothes and gift cards to meet fire victims immediate needs. RV to Paradise aims to provide more long-term help in the form of stable housing until victims get back on their feet.

Each RV would go to a family with children or an elderly person or couple who lost their home. Donations would also help cover hookup fees and some furnishings. Mayor Geoff Ellsworth has asked Paradise Mayor Jody Jones to help identify deserving recipients.

In addition to cash, organizers would welcome donated or discounted RVs, as well as cars and trucks, since the fire destroyed thousands of vehicles. RV to Paradise plans to work with Rohr Chabad Jewish Center in Chico to help distribute any vehicles.
Hi everyone. Welcome to our Corner. We have two exciting stories about new senior activities going on of great interest to seniors.

Id like to make a few additions to our previous column in which I advised you to Save the Date for Kal Edwards first of the year Retirement Renewal Forum, titled, The State of Your Estate, presented by Bruce Ketron, Napa probate and estate administration lawyer. Ketron has more than 30 years of professional experience and will be bringing personal anecdotes as well as taking questions from the audience.

Now in their fifth year, the forums offer both seniors who are retired and those about to retire the latest facts, figures and research on a wide number of pertinent topics. This year, after the first of the year Forum: The State of Your Estate, there will be: Safe Travel Options for Seniors, on Tuesday, May 7, followed by the Realities of Long-term care, on Tuesday, Sept. 17. The Forums are part of the Community Conversation Series sponsored by Collabria Care.

The first Forum takes place on Tuesday, March 5, at 5:30 p.m. in the Gasser Community Room, of Collabria Care, 414 Jefferson St., Napa. The forums are free of charge; however, reservations are recommended by phone: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 707-258-9087 ext. 272 or jmcnab@collabriacare.org. Refreshments are served.
Nimbus Arts has announced the Portico Project, a community collaboration to create two large-scale portico sculptures in downtown St. Helena and at Adventist Health St. Helena.

Nimbus fifth Hundreds of Hands community art program, the Portico Project is a partnership with the St. Helena Hospital Foundation and the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce.

The massive portico sculptures will be covered by mosaic elements inspired by millefiori and passacaglia quilting patterns that are hand-crafted by community participants of all ages at both private and free community workshops and gatherings. The sculptures will provide a thoughtful monument to represent community connection.

The first completed Portico is expected to be introduced in downtown St. Helena in coordination with The Neighborhood Table, an al-fresco family-style dinner presented by the St. Helena Chamber of Commerce and St. Helena Hospital Foundation on May 11. The exact location of the portico hasnt been announced.
Ted Hall, owner of Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch, is proposing to add a hotel near the corner of Main Street and Mills Lane in St. Helena.

The 65-room hotel would be made up of 10 one-story buildings. It would operate in conjunction with Farmstead restaurant. Mills would be realigned to form a four-way intersection with Main Street and Grayson Avenue.

St. Helena Planning Director Noah Housh said the city is still working with Hall to finalize the project description and finish some technical studies.

The hotel would take up 6.1 acres. The remaining 3.9 acres on the property, which are zoned for agricultural use, would become an organically certified fruit and vegetable farm, according to a staff report.

In addition to the hotel project, Hall seeks to expand and modify Farmstead restaurant to relocate the baking operation to the Logan-Ives House, expand the restaurants storage space, and accommodate new events and classes, a butchery, and retail meat sales.

Housh said he doesnt have a timeline for when the project might come up for public hearings. The projects environmental effects will probably be analyzed through a mitigated negative declaration rather than a full environmental impact report (EIR), Housh said.

The business news you need With a weekly newsletter looking back at local history. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
An Adams Street property owned by the city of St. Helena could accommodate a 70-room luxury hotel and still leave half of the site available for community use, according to a consultant hired by the city.

Kosmont Companies, which has also advised the city on how to help downtown businesses, presented its hotel market analysis to the St. Helena City Council on Feb. 6.

The study analyzed potential hotels on the Adams Street property and the citys Railroad Avenue property, the former site of the Teen Center.

A 70-room, five-star hotel on Adams Street is feasible with a 65 percent occupancy rate and an average room rate of $1,000 per night, consultant Ken Hira told the council.

The hotel could take up half of the 5.6-acre property and generate $2.5 million a year in hotel, sales and property taxes for the city. A developers estimated profits would place the value of the land at $25.6 million, Hira estimated.

However, a hotel with 61 percent occupancy and average rates of $900 per night would not be profitable for a developer, Hira said.
For the sake of this column, lets focus on manufacturer coupons, which encompass the majority of the coupons in your newspaper inserts.

Each coupon that appears in your newspaper inserts was placed there by a brand that hopes youll see the coupon and consider purchasing their product.

When you use a manufacturer coupon at a store, the store does not lose any money. The manufacturer actually reimburses the store for the value of the coupon youve used!

Take a look at the fine print sometime, and youll see a physical mailing address that your store submits your coupon to in order to receive the value of that coupon.

When you use a $1 coupon in your supermarket, the store does not lose that dollar.

The manufacturer pays the value of the coupon to your store, giving you a discount on the item, but also making sure your store doesnt take a loss on the same item for accepting that same coupon.

The vast majority of stores accept manufacturer coupons.

Big-box stores do, chain supermarkets do and many dollar stores do, too! Specialty grocers, including smaller stores featuring own-brand or house-branded items, typically do not accept manufacturer coupons.
We hope to utilize our strength ...
MUSCATINE  Wasnt Valentines Day a bit refreshing Thursday? I am not talking about the gifts and cards, but the weather, which with 45-degree temps in the afternoon was the greatest gift of all. Why did it have to change so sharply by the end of the day?

One week after I vowed to get off the topic of weather, here I am still talking about it and wondering how I got down U.S. 61 safely Tuesday night.

I jackknifed a time or two myself just as I was heading out of town. Luckily, no one was remotely close to me and I righted the ship.

Then it was onto a few miles down the road and there was a semi that had rolled over across the both lanes heading out of town. About 10 cars/trucks were able to creep by it on the shoulder of the road and continue on our fearful journey.

It was easily the toughest drive Ive taken in about 20 years. The other one also had blizzard conditions. The wind, in this case, constantly swept across the highway that appeared to be topped off with a thin sheet of black ice in many places.
Twelve registered nurses at St. James Rocky Mountain Clinic voted unanimously Thursday to form a union, according to Robin Haux, labor program director for the Montana Nurses Association. Meanwhile, a second group of clinic employees is awaiting a ruling that will decide whether they can vote to form a union of their own.

The Montana Nurses Association filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to authorize a vote on the union shortly after the new year, but clinic administrators from St. James Medical Group contended that the proposed bargaining unit would have to include other clinic employees in order to form what the National Labor Relations Board rules consider an appropriate community of interest.

The board heard arguments from both sides in January and ruled in favor of the Montana Nurses Association later the same month, clearing the way for Thursday's vote.
For about two years, Hallie Zolynski has worked with Chabot and the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center. And for six years, she has taught public avalanche safety.

Helping teach awareness classes like the one on Sunday are very personal for Zolynski, who said shes recently lost two friends to avalanches.

Avalanches are not something to play with. You need to respect them, Zolynski said.

Because more and more people are recreating in the backcountry and Zolynski has run into people in the mountains without the right gear or training, she said shes determined to teach people the right way to get out and recreate. Thats why the avid mountaineer and ice climber started her own local backcountry-education-based business last year, The Nomadic Ice Axe.

There are so many people Ive come across who arent willing to get outside because they dont want to go alone, Zolynski said. So I wanted to start holding classes that help people feel more confident and motivated.
On Wednesday night, the Anaconda School Board chose to move ahead with starting an alternative learning center for high school students.

According to Anaconda School District No. 10 Superintendent Justin Barnes, the district has been exploring ways to help students at Anaconda High School who may not fit into the mainstream learning environment for the past few months. At the recent board meeting, he presented the preliminary plan for the new alternative learning center, asking trustees to help the district get the ball rolling.

Barnes explained Wednesday night that this alternative learning center will be for gifted students who may want to excel more in a specific subject and for students who need to get back on track to graduate. He wants the center, which will be housed in the districts administrative building on West Park Avenue, to be a positive option for teens  not a punishment.

Its not going to be a different school under a different name. Its going to be an extension of the high school, Barnes said at the meeting. I dont want a stigma put on it.
On Thursday, the Sanders County Sheriffs Office announced that the death of an inmate at the Sanders County Detention Center. The 45-year-old person was being held there on behalf of Mineral County.

The Lake County Sheriffs Office is providing coroner services and investigating the death. Lake County Sheriff Don Bell explained that this is standard procedure with in-custody deaths to avoid conflicts of interest. At this time, the death is believed to have been medically related; no further information was available Friday morning.
Stewart said their group tries to be inclusive and open with everything they do, and he guesses thats why Strohmaier forwarded the emails.

A lot of those FYI were just providing awareness of whats going on with this particular process because this is quite important to the community, Stewart said. Why he doesnt send my emails to other folks, I dont know. But a lot of our stuff shows up on the commissioners website.

But I dont know why I get the email copies.

Former commissioner Curtiss said that in her 18 years on the board, she would often forward emails from constituents to staff members who could provide better answers than she could, but forwarding emails from constituents to other private parties on the opposite side of an issue wasnt a common practice for her or her peers.

Curtiss added that as a decision makers, commissioners need to be careful about ex parte communications, where only one side of an interested outside party fully presents their case.

Weve been schooled on ex parte communications; thats something that will influence your decision and you have to discourage it, Curtiss said.
Public events

Organizations

AA MEETINGS: Missoula Early Sunrise Group (C/H) Discussion, 6:30 a.m., Unity Church, 546 South Ave. W.; Polson Early Birds (C/H) Living Sober Study, 7 a.m., Polson Alano Club, 8 Third Ave. W.; Missoula Keep It Simple (C/H), 7:30 a.m., University Congregational Church, 401 University Ave.; Missoula Sunrise Group (C/H) Discussion, 8 a.m., Unity Church; Mission Valley Group No. 1, 9:30 a.m., Mission Valley UMC, 70715 Highway 93, St. Ignatius; Missoula High Noon Group (O/H) Discussion, noon, First United Methodist Church, 300 East Main St.; Trout Creek Happy Hour (O/H) Discussion, 6 p.m., Cabinet Mountain Church, 3006 Highway 200; Polson 12 x 12 Study (O/H) Discussion, 7 p.m., Polson Alano Club; Missoula Young People's Group Discussion (O/H), 8 p.m., University Congregational Church, 401 University Ave.; Missoula Group (O/H) Discussion, 8 p.m., 112 N. Pattee St.; Missoula Chapter Nine Group (O/H) Discussion, 8 p.m., First Christian Church, 2701 S. Russell St.; Missoula Young Guns in Sobriety (O) Discussion, 10 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 201 S. Fifth St. W. Visit aa-montana.org/ or call 888-607-2000.
Michael-in-Norfolk disclaims any and all responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, completeness, legality, reliability, operability, or availability of information or material displayed on this site and does not claim credit for any images or articles featured on this site, unless otherwise noted. All visual content is copyrighted to it's respectful owners. Information on this site may contain errors or inaccuracies, and Michael-in-Norfolk does not make warranty as to the correctness or reliability of the site's content. If you own rights to any of the images or articles, and do not wish them to appear on this site, please contact Michael-in-Norfolk via e-mail and they will be promptly removed. Michael-in-Norfolk contains links to other Internet sites. These links are provided solely as a convenience and are not endorsements of any products or services in such sites, and no information or content in such site has been endorsed or approved by this blog.
Cheer

Cheers to Twin Falls High School senior Dakota Horton for her senior project that went above and beyond. As her project, Horton created an all-ages prom for people with special needs. The project was personal for Horton  she has three siblings with special needs.

Twin Falls High senior projects generally include 40 hours of hands-on work. But Horton spent more than 100 hours in just fundraising for the prom.

The special needs community is widespread without many things to do, Horton said.

Even her parents were astonished by the success of the event.

Were hoping that this continues, said her mother, Jessica. The turnout is so much bigger than we expected and this is only its first year.

We hope the event continues, and inspires others to think of people of all need levels when planning their next public event.

Jeer

Stop what youre doing (after you read this), and wash your hands. Also, get a flu shot if you havent gotten one yet.

The flu is hitting schools especially hard this year, with multiple schools closing because so many teachers and students are sick.
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 
It also helps students make connections between what theyre learning and the real world, said Spagnolo, who taught in Boise before moving to Twin Falls and experienced the roll out of integrated math in his former school.

Integrated math will replace some of the existing remedial math courses, Spagnolo said, at least initially. He said hed like to see integrated math classes expand beyond that in the future.

The Twin Falls School District plans to buy new high school math textbooks for both math pathways. A recommendation about which textbooks to adopt will likely be made within the next few months.

It typically costs about $150 per math textbook and district officials want each student to have their own textbook to use, Erickson said.

Two years ago, the Twin Falls School District adopted new math textbooks for kindergarten through eighth grade.

As for integrated math, a lot of schools in the United States, including here in Idaho, are moving toward using it.

Plus, its much more prominent internationally, Spagnolo said.
TWIN FALLS  Officials are asking for the publics help finding a Twin Falls man who has not been seen since leaving for Jackpot, Nev., on Monday.

The Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office said Thomas L. Dunken, 60, told people Monday he was going to Jackpot for a few days but has not been heard from since.

Dunkens cellphone was last used shortly before noon Monday southwest of 3900 East and Foothill Road in Cassia County, the office said.

Dunken is 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds, the sheriffs office said. He has gray hair and blue eyes. He was driving a 2003 gray Chevy Tahoe with license plate 2TBY144.

Sheriffs office spokeswoman Lori Stewart said she did not know if the Cassia County is involved in the search.

Anyone with information about Dunken should contact SIRCOMM at 208-735-1911.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 4 Angry 0
SHOSHONE  The Lincoln County Sheriff is going through a requested leave of absence and appears to be under investigation, according to a document obtained by the Times-News.

Sheriff Rene Rodriguez told the Times-News on Feb. 7 that he had requested a paid month-long leave of absence on Feb. 4. Commissioner Roy Hubert confirmed Feb. 8 that the commission approved the request.

Both Hubert and Chairman Rebecca Wood declined to provide details regarding Rodriguezs reasons for requesting the leave of absence. Rodriguez also declined to comment further and asked the Times-News to direct questions to his attorney, Mike Wood of Twin Falls, who has not responded to a Feb. 7 request for comment.

A memo with the subject line Sheriff Rodriguez Investigation was sent Feb. 8 to Idaho Chief Deputy Attorney General Paul Panther by Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul, according to documents obtained by the Times-News.

The memo confirmed Rodriguezs leave of absence. It also mentioned a text thread between the sheriff and commissioners, in which the language of a county memo announcing the leave of absence was discussed.
Iyombelo allegedly reached out to the victim via social media to hang out, and sex was never discussed, according to the prosecutor. The victim then consented to sex with Iyombelo but then said no three times, the prosecutor said. The other men then took turns having sex with the victim despite her resistance, according to the prosecutor.

The victim said she felt like if she told them to stop, she was afraid they would kill her, the prosecutor said.

The victim later reached out to the suspects afterward, letting them know what happened was wrong, and the men apologized, the prosecutor said.

After the victim informed law enforcement, law enforcement took over the victims social media account, where it was agreed that the suspects would meet with the victim once again.

Kuna Police began their investigation Feb. 8 after being contacted by a third party, according to the sheriffs offices blog post. The girl told investigators she was with Iyombelo, who she just recently met, the night before in a car in a Kuna neighborhood when he began to have sexual contact with her. A short time later, the three other teenage boys showed up. All four then forced themselves on the girl in the car.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  Parents of Mormon missionaries will be able to hear their childrens voices a lot more often under new rules announced Feb. 15 that allow the proselytizing youngsters to call home every week instead of only twice a year.

The move is aimed at encouraging families to be more involved in the missionary experience, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a news release. Missionaries can call, text or do video chats once a week on a designated day called preparation day.

Previously, they were only allowed to call home on Christmas and Mothers Day. They could email or send letters once a week.

The immediate change affects 65,000 Mormons serving on worldwide missions that are considered rites of passage. They are designed to strengthen their faith, broaden their perspective on the world and prepare many of them for future leadership positions in congregations.

The change triggered a slew of reaction among Mormons on social media, with some applauding the move and others expressing concern the faith was getting too soft with missionaries. Others joked that some youngsters may not want to talk with their parents every week.
TWIN FALLS  Our Savior Lutheran Church will hold its 32nd annual potato bar and auction at 5 p.m. Feb. 23 at 464 Carriage Lane N. A donation of $5 per individual or $20 per family will be appreciated.

Customize a large Idaho baked potato with assorted toppings; add salads and veggies to go along with your spud. Desserts and many other silent auction items will be available for browsing and bidding on until the silent auction closes at 6 p.m.

The live auction will then begin. Each item will go to the highest bidder, whether present or live online at Our Savior Lutherans Facebook page. Local businesses and individuals generously donated many great items to support this annual fundraiser.

The youth group will also hold a raffle and games throughout the evening.

Proceeds from the event will provide scholarships for many children to enjoy a week at Luther Heights Bible Camp by Alturas Lake.

Wednesday knitting at Ascension

TWIN FALLS  Knit-Us-Together, the handwork group at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension, welcomes everyone to its weekly gathering from 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays at the church, 371 Eastland Drive N.
The district, she said, has to embrace growing our own teachers.

Its really about finding those people with the right mindset that love working with students, Miller said. Recruit and retain, those two words are huge. We have a responsibility to hire the best people we can and then train them to do the best job they can, and we have to give them support.

The teachers also have unlimited access to a behavior specialist at the district and they participate in Love and Logic for Teachers training.

They are also assigned a one-on-one mentor in their building.

Most of the training, Johnson said, focuses on classroom management, like how to handle a broken pencil, walk down the hallway, the procedures for handing in or passing out papers so they dont become learning distractions.

And there are other procedures to learn: accessing grades, sending in lunch counts or what to do during a fire drill.

Little things like that contribute to the culture of the classroom and to success, Johnson said. We also have to teach them how to teach.
Supporters of AOC, as Ocasio-Cortez is known, argue that the document answering questions about the Green New Deal was mistakenly released, a work in progress, and doesnt reflect the immediate goals of the effort. But whats undeniable is that cows  and their gaseous emissions  are in the crosshairs of the climate-change activists agenda. They have to be.

If advocates of the Green New Deal are serious about getting close to zero emissions, or even a net-zero target using offsets, they have to confront the amount of greenhouse gases coming from livestock. In the United States, agriculture is responsible for about 9 percent of our emissions. But according to the U.N.s Food and Agriculture Organization, livestock worldwide account for 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gases. Thats more than the entire transportation sector (14 percent). Plus, climate activists argue that methane  the gas emitted by cows  is more dangerous than carbon dioxide, trapping up to 28 times more heat.

Its simply impossible to move forward on the Green New Deal agenda without a drastic effect on cattle-intensive industries like beef and dairy.
Jenkins: In both professional and community leadership positions, I have made collaboration a key component. I have the patience and listening skills where all aspects are considered, researched, risks evaluated that contributes to overall good decision-making skills. Communication is another key attribute I possess and strive for.

Williams: I will build on my longstanding dedication to community. I will stand up for the people in the district and not self-serving interests. Ill champion equity initiatives and be a careful steward of tax dollars. I have a deep understanding of social issues, environmental issues and disparity issues facing Madison.

What is the most pressing issue facing District 15 and how would you address it?

Foster: Residents are concerned about the scale and pace of development in District 15 and the impact it will have on the character of their neighborhoods. We need resident voices at the table to ensure that projects successfully integrate into existing neighborhoods and bring additional amenities along with new neighbors.
ORourke reiterated to reporters in Milwaukee that he hoped to make a decision about whether to get into the race as soon as the end of this month. He called Wisconsin an extraordinarily important state for Democrats to win and even said it would be amazing if Milwaukee were chosen to host the Democratic National Convention, even though Houston in ORourkes home state of Texas is also a finalist. Miami is the third city under consideration.

Its an extraordinary opportunity for the people of Milwaukee to tell their story, ORourke said. I think there are far too many communities that have been under-represented in the national conversation.

Trump carried Wisconsin in 2016 by less than a percentage point, making him the first Republican presidential candidate to win the state since Ronald Reagan in 1984. Hillary Clinton was heavily criticized for not campaigning in Wisconsin during the general election and Democrats are eager to take it back.

ORourke said Wisconsin is too often overlooked, the conversation does not begin until too late. He said that is what is motivating his visits there and a similar swing that took him through Texas to New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado in recent weeks.
In a statement, Gonzalez said that as a volunteer/paid-on-call EMT serving the Oregon Area Fire & EMS District more than a decade ago in 2007, I made mistakes. At the time of those mistakes, as a 23-year-old, I took responsibility for my actions, did what I could right away to rectify them with the people most affected, and fully complied with the departments disciplinary decisions.

He said he did not make the harassing phone calls but I did not stop them and called missing the shifts without notifying a supervisor inexcusable.

Gonzalez, mayor since 2017, faces City Council member Aaron Richardson in the April 2 election.

Last year, the state Supreme Court publicly reprimanded Gonzalez, a criminal defense attorney, for committing five counts of professional misconduct involving two former clients and ordered him to pay $9,733, the cost of the disciplinary proceeding.

A state Office of Lawyer Regulation referee found that Gonzalez had failed to communicate and lied to one client, made a statement that was not credible to explain his failure to complete a court filing in another case, and made misstatements or misrepresentations to OLR. The cases he was disciplined for were from 2013.
Southern Wisconsins recent brutal stretch of weather will continue over the next several days with snowstorms hitting the area Sunday and Tuesday night into Wednesday, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service said light snow will spread into southern Wisconsin on Sunday starting in the southwest about 2 a.m., the Madison area about 4 a.m., and to the east about 6 a.m.

Light snow will continue into Sunday evening, with 2 to 4 inches expected, and a few locations seeing 5 inches.

The storm Tuesday night into Wednesday also will feature accumulating snow, but no possible totals were provided by the Weather Service.

The first storm system is coming from the northwestern U.S., and the other will swing up from the Gulf of Mexico, Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather senior meteorologist, said in a news release.

The first storm will be somewhat starved of moisture and may have gaps in the precipitation across areas from the Midwest to the Northeast as a result, Sosnowski said.
LODIMary Jean Goeres died from complications of Alzheimers disease on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019. She was born on Christmas morning in 1927, to Roy and Bertie Mae Graney on the family farm outside Lancaster in Grant County, Wis. From a one-room school house to boarding in town for high school, she traveled to Carroll College in Waukesha to study English education. During a spin on the dance floor with Ted Goeres, they knew they were meant for each other. He was a returning U.S. Air Corps pilot and member of the college choir. They married in 1949, and started a family in Lodi where Ted managed the family business, the Lodi Canning Company.
A federal judge last week sentenced an Onalaska man to six years in prison for conspiring to distribute methamphetamine.

Ryan Koenig, 23, was charged with conspiring to distribute methamphetamine and pled guilty to the charge in November 2018, according to a press release.

Koenig and his associates conspired to distribute 35 packages of methamphetamine in the La Crosse area, many of which contained several pounds of methamphetamine and were shipped from California to the La Crosse area over a 15-month period, according to the release.

The leader of the ring, Roberta Mama Bear Draheim, 51, of La Crosse, was sentenced Feb. 1 to 10 years and 10 months in prison for her role.

The Drug Enforcement Administration in Wisconsin and California worked with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, La Crosse Police Department, Prairie du Chien Police Department and Dane County Sheriffs Office to bring the charges, according to the press release, and the case was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Schlipper.
An Iowa man faces a ninth drunken driving charge after authorities responded to a report of a potentially impaired driver at a Pardeeville bar last week.

Charles J. Raggo Jr., 59, of Hampton, Iowa, faces a ninth charge of operating while intoxicated and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to a criminal complaint, a Columbia County sheriffs deputy responded to a report Feb. 7 of a possible impaired driver at Caddy Shack Bar in Pardeeville.

A witness reported seeing an impaired driver leave the bar in a blue Chevy Silverado with distinct lettering on the rear, the complaint said.

Upon arrival, the deputy reported seeing a vehicle matching the description traveling on Highway P and conducted a traffic stop, the complaint states. The deputy reported the drivers eyes were very glassy, and a strong odor of intoxicants was coming from inside the vehicle.

Raggo allegedly told the deputy he drank two Stellar beers over a shrimp basket meal and one beer before eating. According to the complaint, Raggo stated he had two pocket knives and a one-hitter marijuana pipe in his possession.
RACINE  A Racine woman with an intellectual disability was sentenced Thursday to time served after violating her probation related to a 2016 homicide in an apartment above the former Sunshine Supermarket on Taylor Avenue.

One of the probation violations was reportedly discovered after Myquette L. Johnson gave birth to a child with marijuana in its system.

Both the prosecution and defense asserted during a sentencing hearing Thursday at the Law Enforcement Center, 717 Wisconsin Ave., that additional jail time for Johnson would not serve justice. Circuit Court Judge Faye Flancher agreed.

Assistant Racine County District Attorney Dirk Jensen described Johnsons situation as unique.

Its an unfortunate case where Im not sure that Ms. Johnson is best served in this type of a court setting, Jensen said. She may be more appropriately served in a probate or guardianship kind of setting.

Johnsons attorney, Gregory Bates, also said that it might be best for Johnson to be under some sort of guardianship arrangement.

Its probably unfortunate that has not happened, he said.
I took a group of African-American children on a tour of our state Capitol almost 20 years ago and they asked, after seeing the artifacts, Where are black people? We wrote letters asking that our history take its rightful place in the Capitol alongside native people and European immigrants.

Those children, who never saw themselves portrayed in Wisconsin history, are now adults  yet there has been absolutely no change to include all Wisconsinites or to display African-American contributions on the Capitol of Wisconsin.

While Madison boasts about the Wisconsin Idea and brags about the stellar university system with its strong scholarship, there is a community group that wants to make the Wisconsin Idea a reality.

The African American/Jewish Friendship Group, begun in 1990 by Jerry and Merle Sternberg, connected Beth Israel Center and the South Madison Neighborhood Center through the leadership of Ms. Charlie Daniels, a board member. The goals were to forge friendships, brother- and sisterhood and better understanding between the two communities. In 2002, the Sternbergs moved back to New York City and the group went into hiatus.
Finish this article for as low as $1 when you purchase a day pass. Just click the sign up button to purchase. If you are already a subscriber, just click log in to continue reading.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide whether the Trump administration may add a question about citizenship to the 2020 U.S. Census, with the outcome potentially affecting the allocation of billions of dollars in federal education funding.

The justices agreed to the administrations request to add the case, U.S. Department of Commerce v. New York (No. 18-966), to its docket for this term. In a brief order on Feb. 15, the court said it will hear arguments sometime from April 22 to 24.

A federal district judge in January invalidated U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur L. Ross Jr.'s decision to add the citizenship question to the next decennial census, which the Census Bureau itself estimates will depress response rates in households with at least one noncitizen and likely do the same for Hispanic households.

The judge ruled that Rosss decision to add the citizenship question, over the objections of Census Bureau staff members, violated the Administrative Procedure Act because, among other reasons, the commerce secretarys rationale for doing so was pretextual and was not supported by the reasons Ross advanced.

Ross had announced the citizenship question last March and said it was based on a request from the U.S. Department of Justice for better citizenship data to help it enforce the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Rosss decision alternately ignored, cherry-picked, or badly misconstrued the evidence in the record before him and failed to justify significant departures from past policies and practicesa veritable smorgasbord of classic, clear-cut APA violations, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman of New York City said in his Jan. 15 decision.

Furman observed that many federal programs use census data to allocate money to the states and localities, and he specifically cited such education-related programs as Title I compensatory education grants to school districts, special education grants, career and technical education aid, and Head Start.

The judge found that, based on an experts testimony, a 2 percent net differential undercount of people who live in noncitizen households will cause plaintiffs Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, Washington, and the District of Columbia to lose funding under the Title I LEA Grant program and the Social Services Block Grant Program.

Furman also found that the citizenship question would lead to an erosion of the quality and accuracy of overall census data, which affects states and local governments that use the data to decide how to allocate services.

The judge cited as an example the New York City school systems use of census data to redraw school attendance boundaries.

U.S. Solicitor General Noel J. Francisco bypassed a federal appeals court and asked the Supreme Court to take up the case this term because census questionnaires must be finalized for printing by June.

The judgment below takes the unprecedented step of striking a demographic question from the decennial census and thereby preventing the secretary of Commerce from exercising his delegated powers to take a decennial census ... in such form and content as he may determine, Francisco said in a brief , quoting a federal statute.

The decennial census asked about citizenship every time from 1820 until 1950 (except for in 1840), and Francisco said the question continues to appear on a sampling of census questionnaires through 2000, while the annual American Community Survey continues to ask a sampling of the population about citizenship.

The secretary considered but rejected concerns that reinstating a citizenship question would reduce the response rate for noncitizens, Francisco said.

Two groups that challenged Rosss decision to add the citizenship question filed briefs that said the decision below was correct, but if the Supreme Court were inclined to take up the case, they agreed with the Trump administration that the matter should be heard expeditiously.

One group of challengers is New York state and 17 other states, 16 local governments, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The other is a coalition of five organizations serving immigrant communities and represented by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Potential Democratic presidential candidate Beto ORourke scheduled a visit to Milwaukee Area Technical College on Friday before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. But while reporters were invited to attend the Milwaukee event, ORouke is shutting out most of the media in Madison.

The campus newspaper The Daily Cardinal was cleared to attend, according to the papers editor. The independent student paper the Badger Herald also had access to the event, and the paper's editor said other media attended as well.

But campus communications officials had earlier said the first hour of the event was off-limits for the media.

According to campus officials, the request to bar media from the first hour of the event at the Education Building on Bascom Hill came from ORourkes team.

We have heard from Betos team that he is OK with reporters coming into the room after the formal portion of the event, university spokeswoman Meredith McGlone said in an email.

Excluding the media from an appearance at a public institution by a public figure doesnt sit well with the states leading open records advocate.
Luebbering noted that the states food stamp program, known as SNAP, also saw a significant decrease in enrollment last year. He said the decline in both programs indicated there was an environmental effect on enrollment.

If we saw a 70,000 drop in (Medicaid) and I saw nothing in SNAP, we would be having a different conversation, he said. The problem is, we saw a 50,000 caseload drop in SNAP that has nothing to do with the new (Medicaid alert) system.

McBride said he struggled to accept the financial explanation, noting that other states did not have as significant an enrollment drop despite their healthy economies. He pointed to Tennessee as the only state with a bigger drop-off  topping Missouris reduction with a 9 percent decline.

Luebbering added that the Missouri department had not sent out annual renewal letters to all Medicaid recipients since about 2015. Part of the drop-off could be credited to the states need to catch up for those few years. Other states already had automated systems in place.

McBride pushed back, asking Luebbering how sure he was that all 70,000 Missourians who were no longer enrolled didnt need Medicaid anymore.
Missing my edible roots, I turned to some of the Santa Ynez Valleys chefs and restaurateurs who also hail from New York or who have spent man
Earth Overshoot Day Illustrates We are the Lemmings

What were you doing on August 1, 2018? Likely it was just like any other day, with your thoughts on work, your spouse, your kids, money, what to make for dinner, etc. What you should have been thinking about though, was the Earth.

August 1 was Earth Overshoot Day. What does that mean? Well, Earth Overshoot Day is the day of the year when humanity has used more resources from nature than can renew in that entire year. The date is moving closer to January, meaning every year we use up more natural resources, faster.

Thats a problem, because without a way to replace all the resources we consume - harvested food, fertilizers, energy, metals, etc. - we are gradually depleting natures bounty, at a rate that is unsustainable, long-term. If we keep going, and economies keep growing, were eventually going to run out. The problem is made worse by the global population increasing, along with the continuing wants of people in the developed world (the West) and in less-developed countries (who are demanding houses, cars, fridges, cell phones, etc.), putting more pressure on our finite resources.

This article will take a look at how unsustainable our voracious consumption has become, and how we might live more sustainably in order to #MoveTheDate, in Twitterspeak, back not forward.

Earth Overshoot Day

The day of the year humanitys consumption becomes unsustainable, started being marked in 2006. The project of compiling this data is performed by the Global Footprint Network (GFN), an international research organization.

Since then, the date has been marching forward every year. In other words, every year our consumption becomes less sustainable. To put this in terms everyone can understand, Earth Overshoot Day 2018 meant that Earths population used a years worth of resources in seven months. August 2 was the point when we consumed all the meat, fish, grains, energy, etc. (whatever can be made naturally) that nature can regenerate over a year, through over-farming, over-fishing, over-extracting, over-heating or cooling, and over-polluting.

Put another way, in 2018 it would take 1.7 Earths to feed, clothe and sustain the planets 7.6 billion people for a year. After August 1, the rest of the year was overshoot.

When the first overshoot calculation was announced in 2006, that date was Oct. 9, now its the beginning of August.

GFN calculates the biocapacity and ecological footprint of every country to determine which is living beyond their means. This is measured in hectares. The US has a biocapacity of 3.6 ha per person but average consumption is 8.4 ha, leaving a per-capita deficit of 4.8 ha. Extrapolating that number to the population of 317 million, the United States used all its natural resources by March 15 according to the formula, explained by NBC News. Continuing the US rate of consumption worldwide would require the resources of five Earths. See the graphic below for country comparisons.

Earth Overshoot Day is often used to highlight the costs of such zealous overconsumption, including depletion of fresh water supplies, loss of animal/ fish habitat and species extinction, deforestation/ soil erosion, more CO2 in the atmosphere, and climate change - all topics we have covered extensively.

These costs are important, but we are more interested in how overpopulation and overconsumption are affecting the worlds natural resources - food crops, timber, pulp, oil, mined metals, etc. From GFNs predictions, it doesnt look good. The organization forecasts that by 2030, just 11 years away, Earth Overshoot Day will be in June - meaning it will take two entire Earths to sustain our species' consumption.

Malthus revisited

Since 1950, the worlds population has gone from 2.5 billion people to 7.6 billion. No less than 75 million people a year are added to this number.

According to the United Nations, the worlds population is expected to reach 9.7 billion by the year 2050, from its current 7.6 billion (and growing). A 2017 study in the journal Biosciencesuggested that to feed that number of people, global food production will need to increase from 25% to 70%.

Of course, the dilemma of a growing world population versus a finite amount of food able to be grown on Earth, is not a new problem. Thomas Robert Malthus, the English cleric and scholar, was writing about it as early as 1798. Malthus famously predicted that gains in living standards would be undermined, as population growth outstripped food production, thereby driving living standards down to subsistence levels.

The Malthusian dilemma has not come to pass mainly because of technologies that increased food production.

The Green Revolution helped kickstart the greatest explosion in human population in history - it took only 40 years (starting in 1950) for the population to double from 2.5 billion to five billion people.

We goosed agra-machines growth and saved a billion people who birthed billions more.

Norman Borlang, father of the Green Revolution, is on record as saying if we did everything right the Earth has a human carrying capacity of 10 billion people.

Thats great, but if the UNs predictions are correct, were going to reach 10 billion souls very soon after 2050. What happens then? Will we all have enough food, or will Thomas Malthus be proved right?

Not enough to go round

The Earth might be big enough for 10 billion as Borlang believed. But the time is quickly coming when our sheer numbers will demand more than the Earth can possibly supply. A little bit of research reveals some disturbing statistics.

According to the UNs International Resource Panel (IRP) report, the extraction of material resources - biomass, fossil fuels and non-metallic minerals - has tripled between 1970 and 2017 - reaching 88.6 billion tons. (Imagine what it would be if we included metallic minerals - copper, iron, tin, manganese, etc.)

Interestingly, while global material use has increased in large part due to the growth of China (theres still India, Africa and another billion or so people to count), there has been little improvement in global material efficiency since 1990. The global economy now needs more material per unit of GDP than it did at the turn of the century, the IRP says, because production has moved from material-efficient economies such as Japan, South Korea and Europe to far less materially-efficient countries such as China, India and some in south-east Asia.

Another report, from the UNs Environmental Program, said materials extraction is expected to hit 140 billion tons by 2050 unless consumption is drastically reduced. The report warned the prospect of much higher resource consumption levels is far beyond what is likely sustainable.

Unsurprisingly, there are large gaps between rich and poor countries as far as consumption habits. People in wealthier nations use an average 16 tons of minerals, fossil fuels and biomass (fuels and other products from plants) per year. In contrast the average citizen of India only consumes four tons a year.

Worldwatch.org reports that:

Households spent $20 trillion on goods and services in 2000, four times the amount spent in 1960 (in 1995 dollars).

A rising US population means that Americans will consume 5 million tons more meat in 2050, even if the average American were to eat 20% less meat.

In Europe 89% of the population are considered heavy consumers, versus just 16% in China and India, suggesting hundreds of millions of people in these countries are going to demand more goods and services.

In most developing countries the consumer class in under half of the population.

The 12% of the worlds population living in North America and Western Europe account for 60% of global household consumption. One-third of the people living in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa account for only 3.2%.

At less than 5% of the worlds population, the US uses about a quarter of the worlds fossil fuels.

The countries with the most natural resources are, in order: China, Saudi Arabia, Canada, India, Russia, Brazil, the US, Venezuela, the DRC and Australia.

Another 2.1 billion people will be added to the world between now and 2050. Most will not be Americans but they are going to want a lot of things that we in the Western developed world take for granted  electricity, plumbing, appliances, AC etc. What if all these new consumers were to start consuming, over the next 10 years, just like an American? Whats going to happen to the worlds mineral resources if a billion more Americans are added to the consuming class? Heres what each of them would need to consume, per year, to live the American lifestyle

The question is, and weve asked it before, will everyone be able to buy enough resources to live like an American? The answer is a resounding no!

Another way to look at this, is based on population growth statistics, by 2050 the world economy will be four times larger than today. To have the same per-capita consumption of Canada would require a world economy 15 times its current size!

Worldwatch reports the planet currently has 1.9 hectares of productive land per person to supply resources and absorb wastes, but the average person uses 2.3 ha. An American has an ecological footprint of 9.7 ha versus the average resident of Mozambique who uses just 0.47 ha.

Can we produce enough food, metals and energy to handle 15 times more economic activity in the next 30 years? No. We neither have the resources in the ground, nor the amount of land, water and fuel required. And we havent even talked about what this would do to the planet - thats next.

If you dont believe me, take copper and an example.

Total mined copper was just under 20 million tonnes in 2017.

Global refined copper demand has risen steadily from 2005, when it was around 18 million tonnes, to the current global consumption of about 24 million tonnes. Immediately we can see that demand is currently outstripping supply by about 4 million tonnes, annually.

Even if we mined every last discovered, and undiscovered, pound of land-based copper, the expected 8.2 billion people in the developing world would only get three quarters of the way towards copper use parity per capita with the US, if we assume 10 billion by 2050.

Of course the rest of us, the other 1.8 billion people expected to be on this planet by 2050, arent going to be easing up, were still going to be using copper at prestigious rates while our developing-world cousins play catch up. Copper-use parity isnt going to happen, it cant.

Wrecking the Earth

The negative effects of all this rampant consumption have been well documented elsewhere, so I wont get into too much detail.

EcoWatch warns that the tripling of resource extraction since 1970 will accelerate the acidification of the worlds oceans, cause eutrophication (oxygen depletion) of soils and waterways, and lead to greater amounts of waste and pollution.

The environmental site also notes that Growing primary material consumption will affect climate change mainly because of the large amounts of energy involved in extraction, use, transport and disposal.

Read our five-part series on climate change (scroll to the bottom)

Conclusion

We are seeing the results of ecological overshoot in species extinction, freshwater depletion, soil and air degradation and the obscene piling up of garbage on land and in the oceans. Poisoning our environment with herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, while unsustainably reaping the worlds finite resources enables us to support a growing population and a developing nation consumerism to get what developed nations have. But we consume our yearly renewable resources in 7 months and were quickly draining the world of finite resources  copper, zinc, aluminium and gold, to name a few, are already in structural supply deficits

Our reality is we live on a finite resource world while our appetite for its resources is infinite. Unstoppable growth is going to meet hard reality. The unsustainable consumption of both finite and renewable resources is a major problem that will, if left unchecked, lead to shortages, widen the divide between rich and poor, and at its extremes, could result in a widespread breakdown of social order.

What to do about it?

Its a question well worth considering because we are the lemmings rushing headlong over a cliff to certain destruction. We dont claim to have all the answers, but part of the problem lies in how we address sustainability. We talk of sustainable resource extraction on a very micro level, without thinking about the macro, the global picture. We have caused extinction of countless species through destruction of their environment. Yet we have learned nothing about saving ourselves from the same fate.

By Richard (Rick) Mills

www.aheadoftheherd.com

rick@aheadoftheherd.com

If you're interested in learning more about the junior resource and bio-med sectors please come and visit us at www.aheadoftheherd.com

Site membership is free. No credit card or personal information is asked for.

Richard is host of Aheadoftheherd.com and invests in the junior resource sector.



His articles have been published on over 400 websites, including: Wall Street Journal, Market Oracle, USAToday, National Post, Stockhouse, Lewrockwell, Pinnacledigest, Uranium Miner, Beforeitsnews, SeekingAlpha, MontrealGazette, Casey Research, 24hgold, Vancouver Sun, CBSnews, SilverBearCafe, Infomine, Huffington Post, Mineweb, 321Gold, Kitco, Gold-Eagle, The Gold/Energy Reports, Calgary Herald, Resource Investor, Mining.com, Forbes, FNArena, Uraniumseek, Financial Sense, Goldseek, Dallasnews, Vantagewire, Resourceclips and the Association of Mining Analysts.

Copyright  2019 Richard (Rick) Mills - All Rights Reserved

Legal Notice / Disclaimer: This document is not and should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to purchase or subscribe for any investment. Richard Mills has based this document on information obtained from sources he believes to be reliable but which has not been independently verified; Richard Mills makes no guarantee, representation or warranty and accepts no responsibility or liability as to its accuracy or completeness. Expressions of opinion are those of Richard Mills only and are subject to change without notice. Richard Mills assumes no warranty, liability or guarantee for the current relevance, correctness or completeness of any information provided within this Report and will not be held liable for the consequence of reliance upon any opinion or statement contained herein or any omission. Furthermore, I, Richard Mills, assume no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage or, in particular, for lost profit, which you may incur as a result of the use and existence of the information provided within this Report.

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




In his homeland of England, his quest is overshadowed by that of superstar Mo Farah. In his temporary home in America, though, he could be gunning for an anecdotal local precedent.
disclaimer

I have received the books on this blog for review from the publisher or author or I have bought them. I have no financial interest in any book featured on this blog.
GOTHENBURG  The National Weather Service in Hastings will be holding Skywarn weather spotter trainings across counties in Nebraska during March and April. The classes are intended to train individuals how to make real time storm reports which could save lives.

Skywarn was founded in 1965 with the mission to collect reports of severe weather. These reports are used by forecasters in issuing and verifying severe weather watches and warnings as well as improving the forecast and warning process. These reports are often used by local emergency managers and public safety officials.

Skywarn spotters seek to provide ground truth reports to the National Weather Service. They aid in the accurate and timely issuing of warnings by confirming hazards such as hail, damaging wind, funnel clouds, tornadoes, etc., according to the Skywarn website.

The classes are taught by a Warning Coordinator Meteorologist who is responsible for administering the Skywarn program in the area. The NWS Hastings covers 24 counties in Nebraska and six in Kansas. The training is free and the classes typically last two hours.
LEBANON  The financial reporting of the Lebanon Community Schools received a clean bill of health during a school board meeting Thursday night.

Kori Sarratt, an accountant from the Albany-based firm Accuity, LLC, provided the board with an overview of the audit conducted by the firm of the financial records for the 2017-18 school year.

Obviously, we had some personnel changes, Sarratt said, referring to the board's decision to not retain superintendent Rob Hess. The audit went great, even with that occurring.

Overall, the district ended the 2017-18 school year with a negative balance of $19.6 million. This is due to the districts $35.6 million obligation to the Public Employees Retirement System, or PERS.

Sarratt noted that the states estimate of the districts PERS liability can change dramatically on a year-to-year basis. In 2015, Lebanon was credited with a positive $8 million in its PERS account. That shifted to a liability of $19 million in 2016, increasing to $41.4 million in 2017 and the slight decrease to $35.6 million for 2018.

Thats a huge shift in four years' time, and of course the next time they do an actuarial valuation, they could change the assumptions dramatically and it could swing again, Sarratt said.
Derrick Tyree Smallwood, the man who allegedly led authorities on a car chase through Albany, Lebanon and toward Sweet Home on Thursday, was arraigned Friday in Linn County Circuit Court, where he faces 17 criminal charges.

Security for Smallwood was set at $50,000 and he was assigned a court-appointed attorney.

Smallwood, 28, faces charges including third-degree theft, reckless driving, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and resisting arrest.

According to authorities, Smallwood was approached Thursday by Linn County Sheriff's Office deputies in relation to a gas theft in Tangent on Feb. 2. According to a news release issued by the Sheriffs Office, Smallwood put his vehicle into reverse and ran into the patrol car, causing extensive damage to the front and passenger side. The deputies were not injured.

Smallwood then allegedly led authorities on a car chase before his vehicle was spiked near Wiley Creek Road. At that point, authorities say, Smallwood exited the vehicle and ran down a steep embankment, resisting a K-9 unit sent to apprehend him.

He was taken to Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.
Many women around the world use skin-lightening beauty products in an effort to improve their looks.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, reports that the country with the highest percentage of women using such products is Nigeria.

In its 2011 report, the WHO estimated that about 77 percent of Nigerian women normally used skin-lightening products. That represented about 76 million people.

Nigerias beauty care industry is already worth several billion dollars. It has been expanding at a rate of 8 to 10 percent each year.

WHO officials say the biggest danger from skin-lighteners is the chemical mercury, which is commonly used in such products. Mercury is often used because it can slow the formation of melanin, a substance that gives skin its color.

The WHO warns that using skin-lightening products over time increases mercury levels in the body. It says the most serious result of mercury buildup can be kidney damage. Other possible conditions include stretch marks, weakened skin or other skin problems. Mercury can also reduce the skins ability to resist infections.

Even with the continued popularity of skin-lightening products, some Nigerian women are choosing to reject them. They say they believe their naturally dark skin is beautiful and does not need to be lightened.

That opinion is not shared by 25-year-old Goodness Ben, a Nigerian model and actress. She says lightening her skin could increase her chances of getting more work in movies. Ben recently spoke to a VOA reporter during a visit to a market in Abuja.

"Yes, this is Nigeria, and a fair skin is business. In the movie industry, most times directors want you to, like, glow.

Ben added that having lighter skin makes her feel better about herself and is more appealing to others. Yes, for me to be better, for me to be fair, for me to be more beautiful, she said.

Some darker-skinned Nigerians have pushed back against the idea that lighter is better. They have launched what they are calling the Melanin Movement.

Tina Ohanu says she has no need to lighten her skin to improve her self-image.

"My confidence really doesn't come from my skin, it comes from within.

She added that she still gets a lot of attention from men without lightening her skin.

Some African nations have taken action to restrict such beauty aids. Ghana, Ivory Coast and Rwanda have banned all skin- lightening products, while Nigeria joined South Africa in barring some that contain the most harmful chemicals.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Timothy Obiezu reported this story for VOA News. Bryan Lynn adapted his report for VOA Learning English, with additional information from the World Health Organization. George Grow was the editor.

What do you think about the use of skin-lightening products? Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

glow  v. give off a warm, healthy appearance

confidence  n. a feeling of being certain in the ability to do things well
True-blue Ateneans and lovers of history interested in the background of the Jesuit community that established and maintains the Ateneo schools and missions now have an interesting new resource to explore. On the March: The Jesuits in the Philippines Since the Restoration (2018), records the recollected, photographed, documented memories of the struggle and the glory of the Sons of St. Ignatius of Loyolahow these intrepid missionaries lived their lives, travelling from place to place bringing the good news, according to publisher Ramoncito Cruz, founder of Mediawise Communications, Inc./Muse Books. On the March is an impressive coffeetable book clocking in at over 250 pages replete with artistic and historic photographs. The books three chapters deal with the history of the Jesuits upon their return to the Philippines in 1859, nearly a century after they were expelled, and provide overviews of the various universities, schools, and apostolates they founded. Chapter 1 has an article by historian Jose S. Arcilla, the books principal writer, on the intrepid and pioneering Jesuits who labored in the country. Among those mentioned are Fr. Pablo Pastells and Fr. Horacio de la Costa, who figure prominently in Philippine history. Pastells corresponded with Jose Rizal in the 1890s, attempting to convince him to return to orthodox Catholicism. De la Costa (1917-1977) was the first Filipino provincial (superior of the Society of Jesus) and an expert on Philippine and Asian history and culture. Chapter 2 looks at the Jesuit ministry in education in the Philippines, and gives overviews of Jesuit schools including AdMU, the Ateneo Law School, Ateneo de Zamboanga Univeristy, Ateneo de Naga University, as well as the Loyola House of Studies and the San Jose and St. John Marie Vianney seminaries. As an alumna, I wish there were an essay on the Ateneo Graduate School of Businessbut perhaps thats for another book. Chapter 3 surveys different aspects of the Jesuit apostolates, among them the Manila Observatory, the Museo de Parian in Cebu, and the Arete, AdMUs creative hub for the fine arts. Among the most moving pieces is the interview with Fr. Primitivo E. Viray Jr., superior of the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus. About their current mission focus, he says: Alleviation of poverty remains a very significant concern. With the Popes Laudato Si [2015 encyclical on the environment and climate change], environmental concerns, how to protect the environment, have come up even more. Of course, education remains a priority, continuing with excellence in education. Fr. Viray emphasizes the significance of Mindanao as a key area for development: If you cannot help resolve the difficulties of Mindanao, the country will not go forwardThe poorest regions are in Mindanao. Peace and justice issues are there. So we should be paying attention to that, if we want to go forward. That is very clear.On the March was edited by journalist John Nery. Among the writers who contributed essays are Cora Llamas (associate editor), journalist Mike Banos, Fr. Bert Boholst SJ, and Margie Logarta. Manuel Engwa is executive publisher. The book earned a coveted Platinum Anvil Award at the 54thAnvil Awards held last January 30 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom. Organized by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, Anvils are the Oscars of the public relations industry in the country, and the Platinum is the highest award it confers. It is given only to projects that stand out among the Gold Anvil winners, already the best of the best. Cruz, a visual artist, leverages his creative background to produce elegant, artistic books of substance. He has produced other books for the Ateneo community: 150: The Ateneo Way, released for AdMUs sesquicentennial; Veritas Integritas Justitia: 75 Years of the Ateneo Law School; and Jesuits in Mindanao: The Mission, which have all won International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Quill Awards and Anvils. Cruz runs a tight ship with his managing editor Rey Albert Fuentes and art director Noel Avendano, tapping a formidable stable of freelance writers, photographers, and graphic designers to partner with. For all its diminutiveness as a company, Mediawise has won so many awards for excellence and quality that there isnt enough display space at their office to show them all off. As artifacts, their coffeetable books are magnificently sturdy, satisfyingly hefty, and gloriously attractive. Full-color photographs, art, and illustrations are crisply and sharply reproduced in beautiful detail, while well-written, informative text engagingly explains the subject. On the March is the same. I leave you with the words of St. Ignatius of Loyola: Go forth, and set the world on fire. To inquire about On the March and other Mediawise books, email Mon Cruz at [email protected] Find me on FB and Twitter: @DrJennyO
Friday, February 15, 2019

After a multi-year saga in which ballot initiatives to amend the state constitution were struck down, new bills have been filed in Arkansas. These bills, like prior ones, would amend the state constitution to allow caps on non-economic and punitive damages. Unlike prior bills, control over procedure in state courts is not shifted to the legislature. KAIT8 has details.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/tortsprof/2019/02/ar-proposed-constitutional-amendment-to-allow-damages-limits.html
Saturday, February 16, 2019

City of El Paso Police Department

In issuing an emergency declaration to allocate funding to the wall along the US/Mexico border, President Trump emphasized the lawlessness of the border region. The truth of the matter is much different, however.

Melissa Cruz for Immigration Impact offers the counter-story to Trump's depiction of lawlessness. Earlier this week, Texas, two very different images of the U.S.-Mexico border emerged from El Paso, Texas.

President Trump held a rally to make the case for his border wall again, repeating his usual talking points on the supposed dangers lurking in the region. A block away, former Democratic Representative from El Paso, Texas Beto ORourke held an opposing rally to counter the presidents claims on immigrants, refugees, border town safety, and the need for a wall.

The demonstrations show just how easy it is to stir up the public around the issue of immigration, particularly when the backdrop is the southern border region. However, the truth is the communities along the U.S.-Mexico border are among the safest in the United States.

El Paso, the site of the two rallies, has been considered one of the safest cities in the nation for the last 20 years, long before any border fencing was built.

KJ

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/immigration/2019/02/border-towns-are-among-the-safest-in-the-united-states.html
Saturday, February 16, 2019

Where we left things, Delaware Vice Chancellor Laster had just ruled in Sciabacucci v. Salzberg that Delaware corporate charters and bylaws may only govern matters of corporate internal affairs, including litigation related to internal affairs; they may not be used to govern external matters like securities litigation. For that reason, forum-selection provisions purporting to require that Section 11 claims be filed in federal court were invalid. The implication  though not part of his holding  was that a similar result would obtain for charter and bylaw provisions that purport to require individualized arbitration of securities claims.

After that, the defendants, predictably, appealed to the Delaware Supreme Court, and we were all waiting (im)patiently to see how that would unfold when  alas!  a panel consisting of Strine, Vaughn, and Seitz dismissed the appeal as prematurely filed due to a pending attorneys fee petition in Chancery.

Speaking as someone who once did in fact have to litigate the issue of whether a notice of appeal was prematurely filed, thus depriving the appellate court of jurisdiction, all I can say is  oof! Then again, in my case, the matter wasnt raised until it was too late to file a corrected notice; if wed lost, the entire appeal would have been lost. Happily for the Sciabacucci defendants, their situation is not nearly as dire; presumably theyll just refile their notice once the fee petition is addressed. But it does mean it will be a little while longer before the Delaware Supreme Court weighs in on this issue.

But thats not all!

Hal Scott, a law professor at Harvard, has long been an advocate for using corporate charters and bylaws to mandate individualized arbitration of federal securities claims, and in November, he submitted a 14a-8 proposal to Johnson & Johnson to have shareholders vote to request that its Board adopt such a bylaw.

In the past, the SEC has taken the position that bylaws of this sort would violate federal law, specifically, the anti-waiver provisions of the securities laws, but the Supreme Courts recent jurisprudence on arbitration has weakened that argument. Professor Scott presumably figured the time was ripe to try again, especially since SEC Commissioners have been making noises about being more receptive to the idea. And indeed, when J&J first submitted a request for no-action relief to the SEC, its grounds for exclusion was simply that the proposal would violate federal law.

(You can find the correspondence at this link.)

But then Sciabacucci happened. Except, J&J is incorporated in New Jersey, not Delaware, raising the question whether the Sciabacucci decision would travel. (I previously posted about New Jerseys law back when they amended their corporate code to permit forum selection provisions.)

J&J quickly submitted an attorney opinion letter expressing the view that NJ law maps to that of Delaware, and therefore the proposal was excludable as violative of state law. Professor Scott shot back with the argument that Sciabacucci was incorrectly decided (previewing, I assume, arguments we can expect to see in the Delaware Supreme Court).

And then J&J brought in a ringer: It submitted a letter by New Jerseys Attorney General opining that Sciabacucci represents the law of New Jersey.

(There were some other documents submitted as well, not all of which are included with the No-Action materials on the SECs website - which raises a procedural question, btw, why some and not others? For example, NASAA submitted its own letter in support of J&J, and so did the Council of Institutional Investors.)

Since no-action relief is typically granted when there appears to be some basis for the companys view that the proposal is excludable under 14a-8, you would think that that J&J had by now gone above and beyond.

But you would be wrong.

Because while the SEC did grant the no-action request, it did so with, shall we say, a reluctant air. The SECs letter said:

When parties in a rule 14a-8(i)(2) matter have differing views about the application of state law, we consider authoritative views expressed by state officials. Here, the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, the states chief legal officer, wrote a letter to the Division stating that the Proposal, if adopted, would cause Johnson & Johnson to violate New Jersey state law. We view this submission as a legally authoritative statement that we are not in a position to question. In light of the submissions before us, including in particular the opinion of the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey that implementation of the Proposal would cause the Company to violate state law, we will not recommend enforcement action to the Commission if the Company omits the Proposal from its proxy materials in reliance on rule 14a-8(i)(2). To conclude otherwise would put the Company in a position of taking actions that the chief legal officer of its state of incorporation has determined to be illegal. In granting the no-action request, the staff is recognizing the legal authority of the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey; it is not expressing its own view on the correct interpretation of New Jersey law. The staff is not approving or disapproving the substance of the Proposal or opining on the legality of it. Parties could seek a more definitive determination from a court of competent jurisdiction. We are also not expressing a view as to whether the Proposal, if implemented, would cause the Company to violate federal law. Chairman Clayton has stated that questions regarding the federal legality or regulatory implications of mandatory arbitration provisions relating to claims arising under the federal securities laws should be addressed by the Commission in a measured and deliberative manner.

Thats a lot of words! I mean, literally, its a lot of words, considering that usually no-action relief is granted in a short paragraph.

And it didnt stop there. SEC Chair Jay Clayton actually issued a statement on the matter, reiterating the importance of the Attorney Generals letter in the Commissions decisionmaking, and emphasizing that the SEC itself was taking no position on the question whether such provisions violate federal law. If anything, the statement went out of its way to signal that the SECs views on the federal legality of arbitration provisions have shifted; as Clayton put it, Since 2012, when this issue was last presented to staff in the Division of Corporation Finance in the context of a shareholder proposal, federal case law regarding mandatory arbitration has continued to evolve.

Such action is quite extraordinary as a matter of SEC procedure, especially the part where Clayton came close to inviting Professor Scott or a similarly-minded proponent to take the issue to court:

More generally, it is important to note that the staffs Rule 14a-8 no-action responses reflect only informal views of the staff regarding whether it is appropriate for the Commission to take enforcement action. The views expressed in these responses are not binding on the Commission or other parties, and do not and cannot definitively adjudicate the merits of a companys position with respect to the legality of a shareholder proposal. A court is a more appropriate venue to seek a binding determination of whether a shareholder proposal can be excluded.

Well.

Its not clear where things go from here; the most obvious possibility would be to wait for the Delaware appeal (now, ahem, delayed) to shake out and/or find a state willing to break with Delaware on this issue (which then, I previously argued, might potentially tee up some constitutional questions about the scope of the internal affairs doctrine, though I think it also would depend a lot on how a case was brought.)

But according to news reports, Professor Scott may continue to pursue the matter at J&J, possibly by appealing to the full Commission (which seems unlikely to succeed, since we know where Clayton stands, and even Commissioner Peirce has said state law determines whether these bylaws are permissible).

Either way, Im sure Ill be blogging about it, so watch this space.

Update: Prof. Scott did, in fact, request that CorpFin seek full Commission review of J&Js request for no-action relief, arguing, among other things, that the New Jersey Attorney General conceded that there was no settled law in New Jersey on the issue and therefore his letter should not be taken as an authoritative interpretation of state law. Prof. Scott also argued (as he did in his original correspondence) that if New Jersey law does prohibit his proposed bylaw, the Federal Arbitration Act would preempt it (an argument that I find quite unpersuasive, since the FAA only prohibits laws that disparately target arbitration; a rule that restricts charters and bylaws to matters of internal affairs does not single out arbitration, as the Sciabacucci case itself demonstrates). In a letter signed by the Director of CorpFin, the Division denied the request on the ground that, in light of the Attorney Generals letter, the issues presented were not novel or highly complex and therefore did not meet the standard for Commission resolution. Correspondence available here.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/business_law/2019/02/another-week-another-episode-of-days-of-our-securities-litigation-limits-in-corporate-governance-doc.html
Why the New York City Council Proposal to Ban Menthol Cigarettes is Wrong

I dedicated 34 years of my life to public safety, enforcing the laws that our legislators placed before me. Thats what cops do, and we trust that those laws are well thought out, studied and based upon sound data and evidence. Later in my career, I realized that this is not always the case, as some of our laws have little to do with sound evidence and are emotionally driven by feel-good politics. Thats why I hung up my badge to advocate for sound public policy as the Executive Director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.

Recently, the emotional tobacco topic has drawn my attention. As cigarette taxes soar, like those from Californias Proposition 56 where taxes rose from 87 cents to $2 per pack, so do black markets that fund criminal gangs and crews. Prior to the passing of Proposition 56, a third of Californias cigarette sales came by way of the black market. Now with a $2 per pack tax, that percentage will certainly increase and the localized banning of menthol-flavored cigarettes will help to drive this number even higher.

The raising of taxes and banning of menthol-flavored smokes begins a very dangerous move to the days of alcohol prohibition, when it wasnt illegal to drink alcohol, but it was criminal to manufacture, transport and sell it. Driven underground, the alcohol industry fueled violent crime and corruption while making very little difference in the consumption of alcohol. As we begin to mirror the days of alcohol prohibition with tobacco bans, expect the violence and corruption that comes with the black market and add something else, the over criminalization of the black community.

ADVERTISEMENT

Seventy-eight percent of the cigarettes consumed in the Black community are menthol-flavored. As the selling of menthol products become prohibited within Black communities, do we honestly believe that people will stop smoking them? It doesnt take the brilliance of Albert Einstein to recognize the financial opportunity of smuggling in a new supply of menthol products from another state or country. The perfect smuggling model is already in place that of smuggling lower-taxed cigarettes.

Because of high cigarette taxes in New York City, smuggled cigarettes make up 58 percent of all cigarette sales and the New York City Sheriffs Office has created a special taskforce to fight the unwinnable battle of crushing this smuggling market. As the black market expands in California, expect a similar enforcement action by California law enforcement. Their orders will be to arrest the smugglers and eliminate the black market. Will it be carried out in affluent California, or will war be waged in poor Black communities?

I was once on the front lines of a similar war where the Black community caught the brunt of enforcement. We know it as the failed war on drugs. Will this be a third attempt of the twice-failed public policy of prohibition, or will we defeat the harms of tobacco consumption with the proven methods of education and treatment? I vote for the latter.
Short Film Colors of Sankofa Explores The Impact of Colorism

Hundreds of short films appeared at the 2019 Pan African Film Festival. Some of them tell thought provoking stories including racism, sexism, horror, and even comedy. One of those films sparked conversations regarding colorism.

Colors of Sankofa tells the story of a Ghana born woman named Elyse. She seeks a second in command at her business and finds an applicant from her past. Adeline, who once bullied Elyse because of her skin color, dwells into a deep conversation about their history.

The Los Angeles Sentinel Newspaper spoke with actress Tye Myers who plays Elyse and executive producers Adrienne Reed and Jalen Blot.

ADVERTISEMENT

Los Angeles Sentinel (LS): Where does the name Colors of Sankofa originate?

Adrienne Reed (AR): Sankofa is an African term specifically coming from the folks of Ghana. It means to go back and fetch it. We came up with it because our film is about the inclusion of colors. We wanted to tie in our Ghana main character Elyse. It makes sense because just like the term, she has to go back to her past which is an over arching theme of the film.

LS: Tye, since your playing the role of a main character who experiences colorism, has that ever been introduced in your own life?

Tye Myers (TM): In my own life its been a minimum but when this role came out, I immediately called my mom because she has dealt with colorism. Growing up in Michigan, I spoke to her about how she felt. It really hit home for her. Growing up she felt ugly so personally this role really touched me in dealing with my moms experience.

LS: In the film, Elyse speaks about her journey with navigating through colorism at the workplace. Can you elaborate on that theme?

Jalen Blot (JB): One theme we wanted to tackle is how colorism is perceived in the workplace. We not only see other races doing it but also our own. So in the film, we highlight how her name speaks to her work ethic. We really wanted to show how she built herself up despite the name barrier.

AR: I think its also important to show colorism in a practical way, especially in everyday scenarios. We wanted to make sure we portray what journey it took to ensure that someone does not negatively impact your success because they dont understand your culture.

ADVERTISEMENT

LS: How can Hollywood address the problem of colorism?

AR: They can start by creating goals and opportunities for actors of color. We have recently seen an increase but still its a small step. Also, selecting casting directors who are familiar working with actors of color. We see a lot of darker skin men in roles but those opportunities arent granted for darker women. We are beyond conversations at this point. Its time to take actions that moves us forward.

LS: Since this is only a short film, is there any room to expand on the story?

AR: If we had the opportunity to expand on Colors of Sankofa it would be through the eyes of a child. Its important that people understand that colorism begins early. There is an underlying messaging about the development of superiority and elitist mind that happens at home. I relate to that personally because I am a lighter skin woman. I come from a family of multiple hues. The lighter members were treated better. It wasnt until I started having conversations with my darker grandmother who explained the reality of what was going on.

Colors of Sonkofa premiered at the 2019 Pan African Film Festival.
Congresswoman Barragan to Host Annual Black History Month Event Honoring Leaders Impacting the District

Congresswoman Barragan will host her Annual Black History Month event tomorrow, February 16 to honor the achievements and contributions of Black visionaries impacting the 44th Congressional District. This years theme, Together We Rise, was chosen to emphasize the prevailing thought that our communitys strength lies in our unity.

WHO:

ADVERTISEMENT

Congresswoman Nanette Diaz Barragan (CA-44)

Honorees

Dr. Theresa Price, National College Resources Foundation

Officer Deon Joseph, Los Angeles Police Department

Rosie Lee Hooks, Watts Towers Art Center

ADVERTISEMENT

Dr. David Carlisle, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science

Mary Lawson, President of the City of Compton Commission for Women

Dr. John Davis, Cal State Dominguez Hills College of Education

WHEN:

Saturday, February 16, 2019

10:00AM  12:00PM PST

WHERE:

AC Bilbrew Library

150 E. El Segundo Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90061
Posted Saturday afternoon, February 16, 2019.

Detail from a portrait of John C. Calhoun by Charles Bird King. 1822. Via Wikimedia Commons.

After I false start I got back to Heirs of the Founders, H.W. Brands triptych biography of Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster, the other night. Feel like Ill stick with it this time, if only for the pleasure of hating Calhoun. Like I said last month, I have mixed feelings about Henry Clay, and like him mainly because Lincoln did. I have no such ambivalence about Calhoun. If Andrew Jackson had him hanged like he once threatened to, Id be tempted to forgive Jackson everything. Brands has Calhoun get off on just the right wrong foot to engage my scorn for him too. Apparently at twenty years old he was already embodying everything that was wrong with the South

[Calhoun] was the fourth of five children. The boy was born six months after the Battle of Yorktown, and was thirteen when his father died. The death appeared to foreclose a career as anything but a farmer tending the property on which his widowed mother lived. But John was an avid reader of whatever printed matter he could find, and he began to imagine a world beyond his fence and a life past the plow. A brother back from Charleston sang the praises of city life, spurring Calhouns ambitions further. His mother recognized his drive and arranged the family finances to fund his education. He prepped in Georgia and [in 1802] entered Yale College at the age of twenty

So far he seems like an admirable young striver, doesnt he. The kind of student who if he shows up in their classes make a professors day. And he was brilliant. But he was also, apparently, developing into a familiar type and already carrying a big Southern chip on his shoulder

He was older than his classmates, at least the ones from the North. After remarking that Southern boys often entered college later than Northern boys, he contended that they benefited from the delay. The Southerners developed their character before they developed their intellect. At the North you overvalue the intellect, he said. At the South, we rely upon character. If ever there should be a collision that shall test the strength of the two sections, you will find that character is stronger than intellect, and will carry the day.

Calhoun didnt live to see the test he helped bring about. He died in 1850. But its amazing---as in depressing and infuriating---how contemporary he sounds.

Two hundred years and they havent changed.

The Republican Party is full of these very well-schooled, very smart men who seem to despise their own intellectual achievements, disdain education, and insist a hard heart is of greater value than an open mind.

Character. Jesus.
THE ISSUE

Clarinet player Doris Hall-Gulati, an instructor at Franklin & Marshall College and Lancaster Bible College, won a Grammy Award on Sunday for her work with the Philadelphia-area vocal group The Crossing in the best choral performance category. Her F&M colleague Jessica Beebe was nominated in the same category with New York vocal ensemble Clarion Choir.

When Doris Hall-Gulati got word of her Grammy Award, she wasnt sitting in an audience packed with musical icons and celebrities at Los Angeles Staples Center, as millions watched on network TV.

Rather, she was walking from the Academy of Music to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia to catch a train back home. Sunday afternoon, she had performed in an Opera Philadelphia production of A Midsummer Nights Dream at the academy. Hall-Gulati is principal clarinetist with the group.

But even if her moment of celebration was only witnessed by passers-by, we loved reading about her reaction.

As she took out her cellphone, I saw, Congratulations, and I just fell down on the ground, Hall-Gulati told LNPs Jenelle Janci. I was in shock. I completely lost it.

Winning, were guessing, sometimes leads to losing it. Especially winning on this scale.

Were proud of Hall-Gulati and congratulate her and the other members of The Crossing for this incredible achievement. And kudos to Jessica Beebe for being nominated, which is a major accomplishment in its own right.

Hall-Gulati, a Lampeter-Strasburg High School graduate, won the Grammy for her work as a clarinet soloist on Lansing McCloskys Zealot Canticles, performed by The Crossing. While she has known The Crossings director, Donald Nally, for two decades, Zealot Canticles is her first collaboration with the vocal group. (Audio of Zealot Canticles by The Crossing can be found on YouTube.)

Hall-Gulati told LNP she was so nervous leading up to the Grammys that she tried not to look at her phone.

At intermission during the performance of A Midsummer Nights Dream, she thought about the Sunday afternoon ceremony, happening at the same time, at which most of the Grammys are handed out. But she refused to peek at her phone.

Even after the performance was over, she kept her phone tucked away and out of sight. She asked her husband, Andy, to do the same, too nervous to see his reaction to the awards results, Janci wrote.

Then, a mile into her walk to the train station, she took out her phone to send an unrelated message  and learned she was a Grammy winner.

The award was presented during the Grammy Premiere Ceremony, which is streamed online and precedes the televised ceremony.

One of the first congratulatory messages she received was from Beebe, an adjunct assistant professor of music and voice at F&M. Beebe also teaches at Muhlenberg College and won a Grammy last year with The Crossing.

The day before the Grammys, Hall-Gulati  an artist-in-residence, the Sound Horizons concert series coordinator and chamber music coordinator at F&M  and Beebe performed together, along with Beebes husband, Mark Livshitz, at F&Ms faculty concert.

Hall-Gulati told Janci that the Grammy being for this particular project makes the award even more special.

Zealot Canticles is based on Twelve Canticles for the Zealot, a poem by Wole Soyinka, who won the 1986 Nobel Prize in literature. The work is a plea for peace and tolerance.

It means a lot, Hall-Gulati said. I mean, Im getting choked up. Its very important to me. It wasnt just me having a great day playing Rossini or Brahms or whatever. This is a powerful work and a very large statement.

Hall-Gulati will perform again with The Crossing on In the Light March 30 and 31 at Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral and on Aniara June 20-23 at Christ Church Neighborhood House in Philadelphia.

I feel incredibly blessed to be part of such a wonderful opportunity, and I couldnt be happier, she told Janci. I just feel blessed.

We recognize Hall-Gulati for reaching the pinnacle of her profession and wish her continued success. Who knows? Perhaps more Grammy nominations await.
President Donald Trump is acting within his authority by declaring a national emergency in order to build a southern border wall, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker said Friday.

Unlike some other Republican members of Congress, including Pennsylvanias U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, the congressman representing Lancaster County defended Trumps use of executive authority to fulfil his longtime campaign promise.

Smucker has staunchly supported Trumps wall efforts during the recent funding stalemate. After the presidents declaration Friday, Smucker said in a statement he agrees there is a crisis at the border.

Emergency declarations should not be taken lightly, Smucker said. President Trump has made a strong case that theres a humanitarian crisis at our southern border  and I agree. Its Congress duty to ensure the president is acting within his constitutional authority to address that crisis. After research and consideration, I believe Trump is acting within his authority to take this action.

While it will be important for Congress to continue monitoring whether Trump is acting constitutionally, Smucker said, he is not creating a new law or allocating additional funding. He is merely re-appropriating money that has already been set aside for other projects.

Toomey, meanwhile, has said in interviews that he does not support the emergency declaration.

I never thought that was a good idea. I still dont, Toomey told the D.C.-based news organization Axios on Thursday. My view is that this is better to be resolved through the legislative process.

He said in a statement Friday that he and his staff were reviewing the presidents declaration and its implications very closely.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey called the move a complete abuse of power.

No president can be allowed to spend taxpayer dollars without authorization from Congress, Casey said in a statement.

Budget votes

Trumps declaration followed budget negotiations in which he came up short on his $5.7 billion request for border wall funding.

Smucker voted against the bipartisan budget compromise, saying in a statement afterward that the bill failed to adequately fund border security.

Not only is this border funding well below President Trumps request of $5.7 billion, but it is also well below the number our Border Control agents requested to get their jobs done to keep our country safe, Smucker said.

He said he also had concerns about the bill decreasing the number of illegal immigrants that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency can detain.

The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House, 300-128, on Thursday, though a majority of Republicans voted against it.

Smucker has routinely voted no on approving recent federal budgets because of what he has called a broken budget process. He cited increased spending and the rushed legislative review period as reasons why he voted no this week and before.

Toomey also voted against the compromise bill because of how quickly it moved and because it added to the national debt.
A Bainbridge man charged with homicide for a DUI crash that killed a Mount Joy man last month waived a preliminary hearing Friday and was sent to prison.

Brian Knowles, 37, is facing third-degree murder, vehicular homicide while DUI, and related charges for the Jan. 15 crash that killed 56-year-old Joseph Zito, the district attorneys office reported. A formal arraignment is schedule for March 8.

After the crash, police measured Knowles blood alcohol content at 0.31-percent, nearly four times the legal limit.

At the Friday afternoon hearing, District Judge Miles Bixler set Knowles cash bail at $250,000 and he was committed to Lancaster County Prison after he was unable to post it.

Knowles had previously been out on unsecured bail as he was being treated for injuries he sustained in the crash at Route 441 and Vinegar Ferry Road in East Donegal Township.

Zito was killed when Knowles pickup truck veered into oncoming traffic on Route 441, striking his Honda SUV, police said. Zito was pronounced dead at the scene.

The district attorneys office said an investigation revealed that Knowles had taken a Breathalyzer test at home a few minutes before driving. He decided to drive even though the test showed he was way over the legal limit, the district attorneys office said.
Edward Kaprov makes a final adjustment to the oversized, traditional-style camera perched on a heavy tripod aimed at an Israeli military jeep near the Gaza border. Lets give it a shot, the 43-year-old says as he strides briskly to the tent that serves as his darkroom. Kaprov, a professional photographer, says he took to the mid-19th century wet-plate collodion process as part of an artistic project to create a dialogue between the past and future. The method entails coating a glass plate in liquid substances, fixing it in the camera, exposing it for a few seconds and then developing itall within 10-15 minutes. Technological advances are all but ignored in the process which has remained nearly unchanged since it was invented in 1851though Kaprov does use his smartphone as a light meter. Kaprov unloads a table, basins, coolers and plastic jerrycans from the back of his panel van and deftly sets up his field darkroom in the tent. He brushes clean the plate and carefully pours the collodion mixture on it. Then he inserts it into a silver nitrate solution, which upon exposure would turn dark, with the collodion solidifying the forms to the plate. Kaprov returns to the camera with the black magazine containing the wet glass. He inserts it, pulls out the magazine and leaves the glass in. Covering himself with a blanket as he stoops over the camera, he opens the lens and counts out loud to three before retrieving the glass. Back in the tent the plate is carefully removed and treated before being taken out into the sun, still immersed in liquidas the images of the military vehicle and gate appear on the glass.The end product, a piece of glass roughly the size of A4 paper, doesnt reveal the labour put into the process. And now, a cigarette, Kaprov sighs in relief as he pats his pockets for his rolling tobacco. The outdated technique is worth its remarkable hassle to Kaprov, who began a series of Israeli border images nearly 10 years ago using a regular digital camera, and around the year 2015 had something of an epiphany. I suddenly understood that I had to continue taking the pictures the same way the first images from the Holy Land were produced to create a dialogue between the past and future, he says.He spent a year learning about the technique through books and internet tutorials, experimenting with potent chemicals and assembling the necessary equipment before he was ready to hit the road and resume work on what is now called the Borderline Personalities Disorder series. Kaprovs interest in borders is part of his own quest to define or understand his place in Israel, the country he left his native Siberia for at 17. I havent really found myself since leaving my homeland for my historic homeland. Im still searching, he says. With his cropped hair, short beard and trim physique, Kaprov looks every bit the outdoor man he is, spending days in the field seeking interesting frames in the company of his mixed border collie Robin. Even my dog is borderline, he says with a grin.Israels frontiers tend to be marked by ominous fences fending off the unknown dangers of the surrounding Arab states and entities. The absence of hikers, tourists and industry in much of those areas afforded him not only the raw images that could correspond with the old ones, but also much-needed peace of mind to focus on his art. I escaped one utopia only to find myself in another, he says of his move from Communist Russia to the Jewish state. The slow pace of the wet plate technique, used by just a few other photographers professionally in Israel, necessitates a special focus not only from the artist but also from his human subjects, who enter a meditative state-of-mind, Kaprov says. And while using this method deprives most the opportunity for spontaneityone of modern photographys key characteristicsits ancient novelty attracts attention. The soldiers who were in the jeep on the Gaza border approached Kaprov by the tent to see what he was doing. A brief encounter led to the four paratroopers agreeing to pose for him on the same backdrop of their vehicle, accompanying him back to the tent again to see the outcome of the picture. As much as Im result-oriented, theres no denying that the process is a very central part of the issue, Kaprov says later. Its like magic taking place, to me and anyone around.
From 1776 to 1860, this country fought military wars with foreign powers and indigenous peoples and political battles with its own citizens. The Constitution, ratified in 1788, was amended twice within the first 16 years. And expansion, through treaties and the westward migration of settlers, saw the United States grow from 13 states to 33 by 1860.

At that same time, Lancaster County was growing and changing.

What was it like to live in Lancaster County during those years? Who were the movers and shakers in the community? What were their faith traditions, and how did that shape the region in which they lived?

Beginning in March, Highland Presbyterian Churchs Senior Life Institute will present 1776 to 1860  Forward with Faith: Lancasters Role in the New Nation  three sessions that will offer a perspective into that period. Speakers include Kip Van Blarcom, a planner with the Lancaster County Planning Commission; Donald Walters, retired professor from Temple University; and Mary Theresa Webb, an educator and author of Thaddeus Stevens: An Inconvenient Hero.

The series is linked to the institutes fall presentation by Millersville University professor Marlene Arnold, whose Providence Project explores the people who came to inhabit Lancaster County from the late 1600s through 1777, and the values they brought with them.

Janet Fitzgibbon, who co-chairs the institute with her husband, John, said the intent is to give people a glimpse of what life was like during that period.

Its the new nation, she said. What does Lancaster look like as the nation begins?

Hand, Fulton and more

Van Blarcom, who is a graduate of the University of Delawares Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, will address the events that took place during that period and also will focus on the history of Lancaster County, particularly the religious diversity. His talk will take place on Thursday, March 21.

On April 4, Walters and Webb will elaborate on some of the prominent Lancaster people of that time. Among them: Edward Hand, a doctor who served as a general in the Revolutionary War; Andrew Ellicott, who trained Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame, in navigation techniques; Robert Fulton, engineer and inventor; and James Buchanan, who established a law practice here and eventually was elected the 15th president of the United States.

Fitzgibbon said attendees will be given cards outlining the people who had a role in shaping Lancaster County at that time.

Its interesting to note, Walters said, that Robert Fulton is one of the two people from Pennsylvania thats in Statuary Hall in the Capitol building.

The other, he pointed out, is Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, a Revolutionary War general and later a member of Congress. His brother, Heinrich Ernst Muhlenberg, served as pastor at Lancasters Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

In the case of Buchanan, Walters said he will focus primarily on Buchanans early years in Lancaster.

Im taking the time up to the War of 1812 in which he served as a member of the Lancaster County Dragoons, he said. They never saw any actual fighting, but they went down to Baltimore to meet the Brits.

Sarah Stevens

Webb will talk about Sarah Stevens, the mother of lawyer and future congressman Thaddeus Stevens. In 1842, Stevens bought the house that still stands in the first block of South Queen Street and his mother and her two grandsons moved to Lancaster to be with Stevens.

Webb said Sarah Stevens was insistent on education. Part of the influence on Thaddeus Stevens was her desire that all of her boys would be educated.

The final session, on May 6, will be a field trip to Wheatland, Rock Ford Plantation and the Art and Rachel Reist farm, where a team of oxen will pull a wagon.

When asked if he could choose the most significant person from this region who stands out during the early years of the republic, Walters didnt hesitate.

Edward Hand, he said. He finished the Revolutionary War as a major general, he served in the Confederation Congress, which approved the Treaty of Paris. The treaty was ratified in Annapolis. Edward Hand was there. He was chief burgess of Lancaster at one point.

And, he said, Hand pushed to establish the U.S. capital in Pennsylvania.
Blog Archive Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (4) May 28 (4) May 27 (3) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (6) May 14 (3) May 13 (3) May 12 (5) May 11 (4) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (5) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (4) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (4) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (7) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (8) Mar 11 (6) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (5) Mar 04 (5) Mar 03 (7) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (7) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (7) Feb 05 (7) Feb 04 (7) Feb 03 (9) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (9) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (5) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (6) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (9) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (6) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (7) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (7) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (7) Jan 08 (8) Jan 07 (11) Jan 06 (9) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (7) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (8) Jan 01 (8) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (6) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (6) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (5) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (6) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (6) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (8) Nov 09 (8) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (5) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (6) Oct 25 (6) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (5) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (6) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (5) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (7) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (6) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (8) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (3) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (3) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (4) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (3) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (3) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (5) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (3) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (5) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (6) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (3) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (5) May 26 (7) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (6) May 21 (4) May 20 (3) May 19 (5) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (5) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (6) May 09 (7) May 08 (3) May 07 (6) May 06 (4) May 05 (6) May 04 (6) May 03 (4) May 02 (4) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (4) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (6) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (7) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (7) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (7) Apr 05 (6) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (6) Mar 25 (7) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (4) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (4) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (5) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (5) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (3) Feb 29 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (5) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (2) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (1) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (5) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (5) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (1) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (4) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (4) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (4) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (3) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (1) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (3) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (4) May 27 (6) May 26 (3) May 25 (3) May 24 (3) May 23 (3) May 22 (5) May 21 (3) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (4) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (4) May 13 (4) May 12 (5) May 11 (2) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (5) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (5) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (7) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (2) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (5) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (7) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (5) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (3) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (5) Feb 21 (5) Feb 20 (5) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (5) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (6) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (6) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (6) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (3) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (4) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (5) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (7) Dec 21 (4) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (7) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (5) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (5) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (4) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (7) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (5) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (4) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (4) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (5) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (5) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (5) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (6) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (7) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (6) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (4) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (6) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (6) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (6) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (5) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (5) May 18 (6) May 17 (6) May 16 (4) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (4) May 10 (5) May 09 (2) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (7) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (6) Jan 19 (3) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (7) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (7) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (7) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (7) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (5) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (4) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (6) Dec 31 (5) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (7) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (5) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (6) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (7) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (6) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (6) Dec 02 (4) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (6) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (7) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (5) Nov 17 (6) Nov 16 (7) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (5) Nov 13 (5) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (7) Nov 10 (6) Nov 09 (7) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (9) Nov 06 (7) Nov 05 (7) Nov 04 (7) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (6) Nov 01 (6) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (6) Oct 23 (10) Oct 22 (6) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (6) Oct 14 (7) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (6) Oct 07 (5) Oct 06 (4) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (6) Sep 29 (5) Sep 28 (5) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (7) Sep 25 (6) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (6) Sep 22 (7) Sep 21 (5) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (7) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (7) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (7) Sep 07 (6) Sep 06 (5) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (6) Sep 03 (7) Sep 02 (6) Sep 01 (6) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (5) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (5) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (8) Aug 24 (5) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (7) Aug 21 (7) Aug 20 (6) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (4) Aug 16 (6) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (6) Aug 13 (7) Aug 12 (6) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (6) Aug 09 (6) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (4) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (5) Jul 31 (7) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (7) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (5) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (8) May 26 (7) May 25 (7) May 24 (5) May 23 (2) May 22 (5) May 21 (4) May 20 (5) May 19 (5) May 18 (5) May 17 (5) May 16 (7) May 15 (7) May 14 (7) May 13 (5) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 09 (6) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (5) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (7) May 02 (8) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (10) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (9) Jan 28 (6) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (7) Jan 24 (6) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (7) Jan 20 (8) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (5) Jan 16 (5) Jan 15 (5) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (5) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (5) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (4) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (5) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (7) Dec 23 (7) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (6) Dec 19 (10) Dec 18 (9) Dec 17 (10) Dec 16 (8) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (6) Dec 13 (10) Dec 12 (6) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (8) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (6) Dec 05 (6) Dec 04 (7) Dec 03 (7) Dec 02 (6) Dec 01 (9) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (9) Nov 28 (7) Nov 27 (6) Nov 26 (7) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (7) Nov 21 (7) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (8) Nov 18 (12) Nov 17 (8) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (11) Nov 13 (11) Nov 12 (9) Nov 11 (6) Nov 10 (9) Nov 09 (9) Nov 08 (7) Nov 07 (7) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (8) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (7) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (7) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (6) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (7) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (7) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (7) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (10) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (5) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (7) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (6) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (6) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (9) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (9) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (6) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (8) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (7) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 04 (2) May 03 (6) May 02 (7) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (5) Apr 29 (7) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (10) Apr 25 (7) Apr 24 (5) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (7) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (6) Apr 19 (6) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (10) Apr 16 (6) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (5) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (10) Apr 10 (6) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (10) Apr 07 (6) Apr 06 (6) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (5) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (9) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (8) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (9) Mar 25 (11) Mar 24 (10) Mar 23 (6) Mar 22 (8) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (9) Mar 17 (7) Mar 16 (6) Mar 15 (10) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (10) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (8) Mar 09 (6) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (6) Mar 06 (7) Mar 05 (6) Mar 04 (10) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (8) Mar 01 (9) Feb 29 (11) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (8) Feb 24 (9) Feb 23 (12) Feb 22 (10) Feb 21 (11) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (9) Feb 17 (9) Feb 16 (10) Feb 15 (8) Feb 14 (9) Feb 13 (8) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (7) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (9) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (10) Feb 05 (10) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (8) Feb 02 (7) Feb 01 (6) Jan 31 (10) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (9) Jan 27 (7) Jan 26 (8) Jan 25 (8) Jan 24 (7) Jan 23 (6) Jan 22 (8) Jan 21 (6) Jan 20 (10) Jan 19 (8) Jan 18 (6) Jan 17 (7) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (8) Jan 13 (8) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (6) Jan 09 (8) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (5) Jan 06 (6) Jan 05 (9) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (7) Jan 02 (6) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (6) Dec 30 (9) Dec 29 (6) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (8) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (6) Dec 24 (5) Dec 23 (6) Dec 22 (8) Dec 21 (8) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (8) Dec 18 (6) Dec 17 (8) Dec 16 (7) Dec 15 (9) Dec 14 (7) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (4) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (6) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (5) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (7) Dec 01 (7) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (5) Nov 28 (6) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (8) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (6) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (6) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (6) Nov 12 (5) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (8) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (6) Nov 03 (6) Nov 02 (5) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (6) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (5) Oct 25 (8) Oct 24 (7) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (5) Oct 19 (5) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (9) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (6) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (5) Oct 07 (6) Oct 06 (6) Oct 05 (7) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (8) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (6) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (9) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (4) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (6) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (4) Sep 19 (5) Sep 18 (7) Sep 17 (6) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (8) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (7) Sep 11 (8) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (6) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (5) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (5) Aug 30 (6) Aug 29 (5) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (7) Aug 24 (6) Aug 23 (6) Aug 22 (6) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (5) Aug 18 (5) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (7) Aug 14 (8) Aug 13 (8) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (6) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (7) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (4) Aug 03 (6) Aug 02 (6) Aug 01 (6) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (6) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (5) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (2) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (8) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (7) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (10) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (2) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (3) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (3) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (2) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (2) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (1) May 26 (1) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (1) May 22 (2) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (3) May 18 (2) May 17 (2) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (2) May 13 (2) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (2) May 08 (3) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (2) May 04 (2) May 03 (3) May 02 (2) May 01 (2) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (2) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (2) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (4) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (2) Apr 17 (2) Apr 16 (2) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (2) Apr 13 (2) Apr 12 (2) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (2) Apr 08 (2) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (2) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (2) Apr 03 (2) Apr 02 (2) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (2) Mar 27 (2) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (2) Mar 22 (1) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (2) Mar 18 (2) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (2) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (3) Mar 08 (2) Mar 07 (1) Mar 06 (2) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (8) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (1) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (2) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (2) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 18 (2) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (2) Feb 15 (1) Feb 14 (1) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (2) Feb 11 (1) Feb 10 (2) Feb 09 (1) Feb 08 (1) Feb 07 (1) Feb 06 (1) Feb 05 (5) Feb 03 (1) Feb 02 (1) Feb 01 (1) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (5) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (3) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (2) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (5) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (4) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (6) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (4) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (1) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (5) Dec 20 (5) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (4) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (6) Dec 14 (4) Dec 13 (4) Dec 12 (5) Dec 11 (5) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (5) Dec 08 (4) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (5) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (5) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (4) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (5) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (4) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (3) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (4) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (6) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (5) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (4) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (5) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (5) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (6) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (4) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (5) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (4) Aug 11 (3) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (4) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (2) Aug 06 (2) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (2) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (4) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (6) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (2) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (5) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (2) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (1) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (2) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (2) Jun 06 (2) Jun 05 (2) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (6) May 14 (4) May 13 (9) May 12 (4) May 11 (5) May 10 (5) May 09 (4) May 08 (3) May 07 (5) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (5) May 03 (1) May 02 (5) May 01 (7) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (4) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (3) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (3) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (6) Apr 10 (1) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (1) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (4) Mar 26 (2) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (6) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (6) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (5) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (4) Feb 23 (4) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (4) Feb 20 (4) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (4) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (4) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (3) Feb 03 (5) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (4) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (4) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (4) Jan 21 (3) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (6) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (4) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (6) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (4) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (4) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (5) Jan 02 (4) Jan 01 (3) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (5) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (2) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (4) Dec 08 (6) Dec 07 (5) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (4) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (4) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (5) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (2) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (7) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (4) Nov 15 (6) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (3) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (2) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (4) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (3) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (2) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (2) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (2) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (4) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (3) Oct 02 (6) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (7) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (5) Sep 23 (8) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (6) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (5) Sep 16 (7) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (4) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (5) Sep 09 (7) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (4) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (2) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (4) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (3) Aug 22 (4) Aug 21 (4) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (5) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (5) Aug 12 (10) Aug 11 (5) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (5) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (5) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (5) Aug 01 (7) Jul 31 (5) Jul 30 (5) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (3) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (5) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (5) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (6) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (6) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (3) Jul 12 (2) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (8) Jun 30 (6) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (6) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (6) Jun 24 (6) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (5) Jun 18 (8) Jun 17 (6) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (4) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (6) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (5) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (2) May 29 (2) May 28 (2) May 27 (4) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (2) May 18 (3) May 17 (3) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (3) May 10 (4) May 09 (4) May 08 (4) May 07 (3) May 06 (2) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (2) May 02 (3) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (4) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (4) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (5) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (10) Apr 15 (5) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (4) Apr 12 (5) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (7) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (7) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (5) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (7) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (6) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (6) Mar 18 (6) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (5) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (5) Mar 12 (5) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (3) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (6) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (6) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (6) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (2) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (6) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (9) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (7) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (4) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (2) Jan 27 (2) Jan 26 (3) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (2) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (4) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (2) Jan 10 (8) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (2) Jan 04 (2) Jan 03 (2) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (2) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (2) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (2) Dec 22 (2) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (5) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (4) Nov 29 (4) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (2) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (2) Nov 23 (2) Nov 22 (2) Nov 21 (2) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (2) Nov 16 (5) Nov 15 (5) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (2) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (6) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (5) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (5) Oct 31 (7) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (2) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (2) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (2) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (5) Oct 15 (4) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (5) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (5) Sep 30 (2) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (6) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (3) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (4) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (5) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (6) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (5) Sep 08 (5) Sep 07 (5) Sep 06 (4) Sep 05 (4) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (2) Sep 02 (3) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (2) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (6) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (2) Aug 25 (2) Aug 24 (3) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (2) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (4) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (2) Aug 12 (2) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (2) Aug 08 (5) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (6) Aug 05 (2) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (2) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (2) Jul 31 (4) Jul 30 (2) Jul 29 (2) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (2) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (2) Jul 21 (3) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (2) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (3) Jul 11 (2) Jul 10 (2) Jul 09 (2) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (2) Jul 06 (2) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (2) Jul 03 (2) Jul 02 (2) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (7) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (2) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (2) Jun 17 (2) Jun 16 (2) Jun 15 (2) Jun 14 (2) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (2) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (2) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (2) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (2) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (2) May 26 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (2) May 23 (2) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (2) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (7) May 16 (2) May 15 (3) May 14 (4) May 13 (3) May 12 (4) May 11 (4) May 10 (4) May 09 (3) May 08 (2) May 07 (2) May 06 (2) May 05 (1) May 04 (2) May 03 (4) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (1) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (2) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (2) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (5) Apr 16 (4) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (2) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (1) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (2) Mar 28 (3) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (2) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (4) Mar 20 (2) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (1) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (2) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (2) Mar 08 (1) Mar 07 (1) Mar 04 (2) Mar 02 (2) Feb 28 (1) Feb 24 (1) Dec 31 (4) Dec 30 (4) Dec 29 (4) Dec 28 (5) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (3) Dec 22 (4) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (3) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (3) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (4) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (3) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (3) Nov 19 (3) Nov 18 (3) Nov 17 (3) Nov 16 (2) Nov 15 (3) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (4) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (3) Nov 05 (5) Nov 04 (4) Nov 03 (3) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (4) Oct 30 (3) Oct 29 (3) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (3) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (3) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (4) Oct 16 (3) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (3) Oct 11 (3) Oct 10 (4) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (4) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (5) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (4) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (3) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (3) Sep 20 (3) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (3) Sep 17 (3) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (3) Sep 14 (3) Sep 13 (3) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (4) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (4) Sep 08 (4) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (3) Sep 03 (3) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (3) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (3) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (3) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (4) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (5) Aug 22 (3) Aug 21 (3) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (3) Aug 18 (3) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (3) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (3) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (5) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (4) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (3) Aug 03 (3) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (5) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (3) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (5) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (5) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (4) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (5) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (3) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (5) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (3) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (3) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (4) May 24 (4) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (3) May 20 (4) May 19 (3) May 18 (3) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (4) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (1) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (3) Apr 29 (3) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (3) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (3) Apr 09 (3) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (3) Apr 03 (3) Apr 02 (3) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (3) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (3) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (3) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (3) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (3) Mar 16 (4) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (3) Mar 13 (3) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (3) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (3) Mar 07 (3) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (3) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (3) Feb 28 (3) Feb 27 (3) Feb 26 (3) Feb 25 (3) Feb 24 (2) Feb 23 (3) Feb 22 (3) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (3) Feb 18 (3) Feb 17 (3) Feb 16 (3) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (3) Feb 13 (3) Feb 12 (3) Feb 11 (4) Feb 10 (3) Feb 09 (3) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (4) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (4) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (4) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (5) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (4) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (5) Jan 17 (4) Jan 16 (3) Jan 15 (4) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (5) Jan 12 (5) Jan 11 (4) Jan 10 (4) Jan 09 (3) Jan 08 (3) Jan 07 (3) Jan 06 (3) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (3) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (3) Dec 25 (3) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (3) Dec 19 (3) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (3) Dec 16 (4) Dec 15 (3) Dec 14 (3) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (4) Dec 10 (3) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (3) Dec 06 (4) Dec 05 (3) Dec 04 (3) Dec 03 (3) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (3) Nov 30 (3) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (3) Nov 27 (3) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (4) Nov 23 (6) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (5) Nov 20 (4) Nov 19 (4) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (4) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (2) Nov 14 (3) Nov 13 (3) Nov 12 (2) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (5) Nov 07 (3) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (3) Nov 03 (2) Nov 02 (4) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (6) Oct 29 (5) Oct 28 (3) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (3) Oct 25 (4) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (4) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (5) Oct 20 (4) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (4) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (3) Oct 14 (3) Oct 13 (2) Oct 12 (2) Oct 11 (2) Oct 10 (3) Oct 09 (4) Oct 08 (2) Oct 07 (2) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (3) Oct 04 (2) Oct 03 (4) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (3) Sep 29 (4) Sep 28 (3) Sep 27 (2) Sep 26 (2) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (1) Sep 22 (2) Sep 21 (2) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (1) Sep 18 (1) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (1) Sep 15 (2) Sep 14 (2) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 11 (2) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 07 (2) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (1) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (1) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (1) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (1) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (2) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 12 (1) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Jul 31 (1) Jul 30 (3) Jul 29 (5) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (4) Jul 17 (6) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (3) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (4) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (4) Jul 02 (5) Jul 01 (3) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (6) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (6) Jun 18 (5) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (5) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (4) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (4) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (4) May 29 (4) May 28 (5) May 27 (5) May 26 (5) May 25 (4) May 24 (5) May 23 (4) May 22 (4) May 21 (3) May 20 (6) May 19 (4) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (5) May 15 (3) May 14 (3) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (3) May 10 (3) May 09 (3) May 08 (3) May 07 (3) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (3) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (3) Apr 27 (3) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (3) Apr 22 (3) Apr 21 (4) Apr 20 (3) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (3) Apr 17 (6) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (3) Apr 13 (6) Apr 12 (4) Apr 11 (4) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (3) Apr 07 (4) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (6) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (4) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (4) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (5) Mar 28 (6) Mar 27 (5) Mar 26 (5) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (4) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (3) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (3) Mar 14 (6) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (4) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (4) Mar 02 (6) Mar 01 (4) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (4) Feb 26 (5) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (6) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (3) Feb 19 (6) Feb 18 (7) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (5) Feb 15 (7) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (6) Feb 11 (8) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (6) Feb 08 (4) Feb 07 (3) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (6) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (4) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (3) Jan 27 (6) Jan 26 (6) Jan 25 (4) Jan 24 (5) Jan 23 (5) Jan 22 (5) Jan 21 (5) Jan 20 (5) Jan 19 (5) Jan 18 (4) Jan 17 (6) Jan 16 (4) Jan 15 (3) Jan 14 (5) Jan 13 (3) Jan 12 (4) Jan 11 (5) Jan 10 (3) Jan 09 (6) Jan 08 (5) Jan 07 (4) Jan 06 (5) Jan 05 (6) Jan 04 (4) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (2) Jan 01 (4) Dec 31 (3) Dec 30 (3) Dec 29 (5) Dec 28 (3) Dec 27 (3) Dec 26 (4) Dec 25 (4) Dec 24 (3) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (5) Dec 21 (3) Dec 20 (4) Dec 19 (4) Dec 18 (7) Dec 17 (5) Dec 16 (5) Dec 15 (5) Dec 14 (5) Dec 13 (3) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (6) Dec 10 (4) Dec 09 (3) Dec 08 (5) Dec 07 (4) Dec 06 (3) Dec 05 (4) Dec 04 (5) Dec 03 (5) Dec 02 (3) Dec 01 (6) Nov 30 (5) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (4) Nov 27 (4) Nov 26 (3) Nov 25 (5) Nov 24 (3) Nov 23 (4) Nov 22 (4) Nov 21 (4) Nov 20 (5) Nov 19 (5) Nov 18 (4) Nov 17 (5) Nov 16 (3) Nov 15 (4) Nov 14 (4) Nov 13 (4) Nov 12 (4) Nov 11 (3) Nov 10 (4) Nov 09 (4) Nov 08 (3) Nov 07 (5) Nov 06 (4) Nov 05 (4) Nov 04 (5) Nov 03 (4) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (4) Oct 31 (3) Oct 30 (5) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (5) Oct 27 (5) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (3) Oct 24 (3) Oct 23 (5) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (4) Oct 20 (2) Oct 19 (4) Oct 18 (2) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (4) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (4) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (4) Oct 11 (4) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (5) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (3) Oct 05 (5) Oct 04 (3) Oct 03 (6) Oct 02 (4) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (5) Sep 29 (3) Sep 28 (6) Sep 27 (4) Sep 26 (4) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (3) Sep 23 (3) Sep 22 (4) Sep 21 (4) Sep 20 (2) Sep 19 (4) Sep 18 (4) Sep 17 (4) Sep 16 (4) Sep 15 (5) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (4) Sep 12 (4) Sep 11 (5) Sep 10 (3) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (3) Sep 07 (3) Sep 06 (3) Sep 05 (6) Sep 04 (5) Sep 03 (4) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (4) Aug 31 (4) Aug 30 (4) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (3) Aug 25 (3) Aug 24 (4) Aug 23 (4) Aug 22 (2) Aug 21 (5) Aug 20 (3) Aug 19 (4) Aug 18 (4) Aug 17 (3) Aug 16 (2) Aug 15 (3) Aug 14 (3) Aug 13 (4) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (4) Aug 10 (3) Aug 09 (3) Aug 08 (3) Aug 07 (6) Aug 06 (3) Aug 05 (4) Aug 04 (5) Aug 03 (4) Aug 02 (3) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (3) Jul 30 (4) Jul 29 (3) Jul 28 (4) Jul 27 (4) Jul 26 (3) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (4) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (2) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (4) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (5) Jul 14 (3) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (5) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (8) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (4) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (5) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (4) Jun 28 (3) Jun 27 (3) Jun 26 (4) Jun 25 (3) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (3) Jun 22 (2) Jun 21 (1) Jun 20 (2) Jun 19 (2) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (3) Jun 15 (7) Jun 14 (3) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (4) Jun 10 (3) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (3) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (3) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (4) Jun 03 (4) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (3) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (3) May 27 (3) May 26 (3) May 25 (4) May 24 (2) May 23 (4) May 22 (3) May 21 (2) May 20 (3) May 19 (2) May 18 (4) May 17 (4) May 16 (3) May 15 (2) May 14 (6) May 13 (4) May 12 (2) May 11 (3) May 10 (2) May 09 (3) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (3) May 05 (3) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (4) May 01 (3) Apr 30 (2) Apr 29 (5) Apr 28 (2) Apr 27 (2) Apr 26 (3) Apr 25 (3) Apr 24 (4) Apr 23 (4) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (3) Apr 20 (2) Apr 19 (3) Apr 18 (5) Apr 17 (4) Apr 16 (3) Apr 15 (2) Apr 14 (4) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (5) Apr 09 (4) Apr 08 (4) Apr 07 (3) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (4) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (4) Apr 02 (5) Apr 01 (6) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (5) Mar 29 (4) Mar 28 (4) Mar 27 (3) Mar 26 (4) Mar 25 (3) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (3) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (3) Mar 20 (3) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (3) Mar 17 (5) Mar 16 (2) Mar 15 (4) Mar 14 (4) Mar 13 (2) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (5) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (4) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (5) Mar 05 (4) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (3) Mar 02 (4) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (4) Feb 27 (5) Feb 26 (6) Feb 25 (4) Feb 24 (5) Feb 23 (5) Feb 22 (4) Feb 21 (6) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (4) Feb 18 (4) Feb 17 (2) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (3) Feb 14 (4) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (3) Feb 10 (4) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (3) Feb 07 (2) Feb 06 (3) Feb 05 (3) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (3) Feb 02 (3) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (3) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (3) Jan 28 (5) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 25 (3) Jan 24 (4) Jan 23 (2) Jan 22 (3) Jan 21 (4) Jan 20 (3) Jan 19 (4) Jan 18 (3) Jan 17 (3) Jan 16 (2) Jan 15 (2) Jan 14 (3) Jan 13 (2) Jan 12 (3) Jan 11 (3) Jan 10 (2) Jan 09 (4) Jan 08 (2) Jan 07 (2) Jan 06 (2) Jan 05 (3) Jan 04 (3) Jan 03 (3) Jan 02 (3) Jan 01 (1) Dec 31 (2) Dec 30 (2) Dec 29 (2) Dec 28 (2) Dec 27 (2) Dec 26 (2) Dec 25 (1) Dec 24 (2) Dec 23 (4) Dec 22 (3) Dec 21 (2) Dec 20 (1) Dec 19 (2) Dec 18 (3) Dec 17 (2) Dec 16 (2) Dec 15 (4) Dec 14 (2) Dec 13 (1) Dec 12 (3) Dec 11 (2) Dec 10 (2) Dec 09 (2) Dec 08 (3) Dec 07 (2) Dec 06 (1) Dec 05 (2) Dec 04 (1) Dec 03 (2) Dec 02 (2) Dec 01 (2) Nov 30 (2) Nov 29 (3) Nov 28 (2) Nov 27 (2) Nov 26 (1) Nov 25 (3) Nov 24 (1) Nov 23 (3) Nov 22 (1) Nov 21 (3) Nov 20 (2) Nov 18 (2) Nov 17 (1) Nov 16 (1) Nov 15 (1) Nov 14 (1) Nov 13 (2) Nov 12 (3) Nov 11 (2) Nov 10 (2) Nov 09 (1) Nov 08 (2) Nov 07 (1) Nov 06 (2) Nov 05 (2) Nov 04 (1) Nov 03 (1) Nov 02 (3) Nov 01 (2) Oct 31 (2) Oct 30 (2) Oct 29 (4) Oct 28 (2) Oct 27 (4) Oct 26 (2) Oct 25 (2) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (2) Oct 22 (3) Oct 21 (3) Oct 20 (3) Oct 19 (1) Oct 18 (3) Oct 17 (3) Oct 16 (2) Oct 15 (1) Oct 14 (2) Oct 13 (3) Oct 12 (2) Oct 10 (2) Oct 09 (3) Oct 08 (3) Oct 07 (3) Oct 06 (2) Oct 05 (4) Oct 04 (1) Oct 03 (2) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (3) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (2) Sep 28 (1) Sep 27 (3) Sep 26 (3) Sep 25 (2) Sep 24 (1) Sep 23 (2) Sep 22 (3) Sep 21 (1) Sep 20 (1) Sep 19 (2) Sep 17 (2) Sep 16 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 14 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (3) Sep 11 (1) Sep 10 (2) Sep 09 (2) Sep 08 (2) Sep 07 (1) Sep 06 (1) Sep 05 (3) Sep 04 (2) Sep 03 (1) Sep 02 (1) Sep 01 (2) Aug 31 (2) Aug 30 (1) Aug 29 (2) Aug 28 (3) Aug 27 (2) Aug 26 (1) Aug 25 (1) Aug 24 (2) Aug 23 (2) Aug 22 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (4) Aug 19 (1) Aug 18 (1) Aug 17 (2) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (2) Aug 14 (1) Aug 13 (1) Aug 12 (3) Aug 11 (2) Aug 10 (2) Aug 09 (1) Aug 08 (2) Aug 07 (1) Aug 06 (1) Aug 05 (1) Aug 04 (1) Aug 03 (2) Aug 01 (1) Jul 31 (2) Jul 30 (1) Jul 29 (4) Jul 28 (2) Jul 27 (3) Jul 26 (1) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (2) Jul 23 (2) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (1) Jul 20 (3) Jul 19 (2) Jul 18 (2) Jul 16 (3) Jul 15 (1) Jul 13 (2) Jul 12 (1) Jul 11 (2) Jul 09 (5) Jul 08 (1) Jul 07 (1) Jul 05 (2) Jul 04 (1) Jul 03 (2) Jul 01 (1) Jun 30 (1) Jun 29 (2) Jun 28 (2) Jun 27 (2) Jun 25 (2) Jun 24 (1) Jun 23 (2) Jun 22 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (3) Jun 12 (1) Jun 11 (1) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 05 (1) Jun 04 (1) Jun 03 (1) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (1) May 27 (2) May 25 (2) May 24 (1) May 23 (2) May 22 (1) May 21 (1) May 20 (2) May 19 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (2) May 14 (1) May 13 (1) May 11 (2) May 10 (2) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 06 (1) May 05 (1) May 04 (1) May 03 (3) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 29 (1) Apr 28 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 25 (2) Apr 24 (3) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (2) Apr 21 (2) Apr 20 (1) Apr 19 (2) Apr 17 (1) Apr 15 (1) Apr 13 (1) Apr 10 (2) Apr 08 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 06 (3) Apr 05 (3) Apr 03 (1) Apr 02 (1) Apr 01 (2) Mar 31 (2) Mar 30 (1) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 24 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 21 (1) Mar 20 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 17 (2) Mar 16 (1) Mar 14 (2) Mar 13 (4) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (1) Mar 04 (1) Mar 03 (2) Mar 02 (2) Mar 01 (2) Feb 28 (2) Feb 27 (1) Feb 26 (1) Feb 25 (1) Feb 23 (2) Feb 19 (2) Feb 13 (1) Feb 12 (1) Feb 02 (1) Jan 31 (1) Jan 22 (1) Jan 18 (1) Jan 16 (1) Jan 09 (1) Jan 01 (1) Dec 20 (2) Dec 15 (1) Dec 13 (1) Dec 11 (1) Nov 30 (1) Nov 27 (1) Nov 20 (1) Nov 11 (1) Nov 10 (1) Oct 23 (1) Oct 20 (1) Oct 01 (1) Sep 30 (1) Sep 29 (1) Sep 24 (2) Sep 15 (1) Sep 13 (1) Sep 12 (1) Sep 08 (1) Sep 02 (2) Aug 31 (1) Aug 28 (1) Aug 27 (2) Aug 24 (1) Aug 21 (1) Aug 20 (1) Aug 18 (3) Aug 16 (1) Aug 15 (1) Aug 14 (1) Aug 11 (1) Aug 08 (1) Aug 07 (1) Aug 03 (1) Jul 27 (1) Jul 26 (1) Jul 24 (1) Jul 22 (1) Jul 21 (1) Jul 19 (1) Jul 15 (1) Jul 14 (1) Jul 13 (3) Jul 10 (1) Jul 08 (2) Jul 07 (1) Jul 06 (1) Jul 03 (1) Jul 01 (1) Jun 28 (1) Jun 24 (2) Jun 20 (1) Jun 19 (1) Jun 18 (1) Jun 15 (1) Jun 14 (2) Jun 11 (1) Jun 09 (3) Jun 08 (1) Jun 07 (1) Jun 06 (1) Jun 04 (2) Jun 03 (1) Jun 02 (2) Jun 01 (1) May 31 (3) May 30 (1) May 29 (1) May 28 (2) May 26 (1) May 25 (1) May 18 (1) May 17 (1) May 15 (1) May 09 (1) May 07 (2) May 02 (1) May 01 (1) Apr 30 (1) Apr 27 (1) Apr 26 (2) Apr 23 (1) Apr 22 (1) Apr 19 (1) Apr 18 (1) Apr 12 (1) Apr 11 (1) Apr 09 (1) Apr 07 (1) Apr 05 (1) Apr 01 (1) Mar 30 (1) Mar 27 (1) Mar 25 (1) Mar 22 (2) Mar 19 (1) Mar 18 (1) Mar 16 (1) Mar 15 (2) Mar 13 (1) Mar 12 (1) Mar 11 (1) Mar 10 (1)
You can power our reporters and help keep us independent with a donation today during our June Member drive.

Start your day with LAist Sign up for the Morning Brief, delivered weekdays. Subscribe

Updated Feb. 20:

It's been more than 45 days since a change in California law opened up police conduct records long kept secret from the public. For just as many days, police unions have sought to claw it back, arguing SB 1421 does not apply to incidents prior January 1, 2019, the date the law went into effect.

The records in question cover everything from police shootings to findings of lying and sexual assault by officers. Police unions across the state have sought temporary restraining orders to keep those records confidential.

On Tuesday, a Los Angeles County judge dealt a significant blow to those efforts, rejecting the positions of unions representing Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles County Sheriff's sworn personnel.

"This was a part of a coordinated attack by police unions up and down the state to prevent Californians from actually ever getting any real transparency and accountability for police officers," said Melanie Ochoa, staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, which is among the organizations and newsrooms, including KPCC/LAist, that are pushing back in court against the unions' efforts.

"I'm glad this is a step towards defeating that attack," Ochoa said.

NEXT STEPS

The matter is far from resolved. Attorneys representing the unions have indicated they'll likely appeal, which could keep a lid on older records while the matter is considered in the higher court.

"There's just something fundamentally unfair about going retroactively and saying that a right to privacy you that you thought you had in your personnel records, it turns out you didn't have them," Jacob Kalinski, a lawyer representing multiple police unions, told KPCC ahead of a hearing Friday.

Kalinski gave the example of attorney-client privilege: one wouldn't want to have a conversation with their attorney thinking it was confidential only for the rules to change later. Similarly, Kalinsky says it's unfair for officers to have potentially made decisions about disciplinary proceedings thinking the matter would remain private only to later find the records are public.

"There is no constitutional right to sexually assault someone and keep that private nor is there right to shoot someone and keep that secret," said Kelly Aviles, attorney for KPCC/LAist and the L.A. Times. "The constitution has never been interpreted to require secrecy for any of these kinds of records."

Aviles argued the union's retroactive claim was improper and clearly counter to the legislature's intent and that blocking access to records violates the rights of journalists and public they serve.

LAWMAKER'S INTENT

Senator Nancy Skinner, who introduced the bill, said she intended all records to be made public "regardless of when the those documents were created or when the underlying conduct occurred," according to a letter presented to the court.

Attorneys representing the City of Los Angeles said they agreed the "records are disclosable." Attorneys for Los Angeles County didn't take a position.

"We're taking the plan language of the law," LAPD Chief Michel Moore told KPCC's Airtalk Wednesday. "We're prepared to release records as they are requested regardless of how ever far back the request is."

Upon hearing arguments, Judge Mitchell Beckloff said Friday that such "expectations can be upended with legislation."

The Los Angeles Police Protective League issued a statement following the ruling, stating it "has a fiduciary responsibility to protect the legal rights of our members" and that "A decision will be made shortly as to whether we file an appeal to the Superior Court ruling."

The Association of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs has not provided comment.

The pair of cases in L.A. County are among the first losses for the unions. Similar cases up and down California are in court. In Riverside and Orange Counties police unions have succeeded in getting temporary restraining orders to block the release of records under SB 1421 while the retroactivity question is considered. In Ventura County, a judge sided with the deputy union request, which has gone unchallenged in court, granting a preliminary injunction to block the release of records.

A SECRETIVE HISTORY

Before SB 1421, California had been considered one of the most secretive states in the nation when it came to police conduct.

Efforts to change that gained traction with growing unrest over police shootings, especially those of unarmed black men, and criticism of what appeared to be lax consequences for the officers involved.

Skinner's bill was signed into law by then Governor Jerry Brown in September 2018. The fights going on now over how that law should be interpreted are the latest in a long-running battle between police union's efforts to increase privacy protections for members and transparency advocates who argue the public has a right to know about officers' behavior on the job.

So far, widespread litigation has resulted in the law being applied unevenly throughout the state. Some agencies, such as Burlingame Police Department near San Francisco, have already begun turning over records requested by journalists while others are waiting for clarity from the courts.

A HESITANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has declined to provide pre-2019 records of his own officers until the courts have weighed in.

"I don't want a court to tell me 'That was not a document that you should have released,' Becerra told Capital Public Radio. "And those people who had that privacy violated have no real recourse."

Becerra's call sent reverberations throughout the state, influencing other law enforcement agencies' decisions to comply and provoking a sharp disapproval from press.

The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board called it a "calculated betrayal of both the public interest and the law by the person we elected to protect and uphold them."

The First Amendment Coalition, a free speech nonprofit, filed a lawsuit against Becerra and the California Department of Justice for "failing to comply with the state's new, landmark police transparency law."

Following Becerra's lead, the City of Long Beach sent letters to reporters last week stating it was refusing to fulfill records requests until the retroactive question is resolved by the courts.

"The public interest in accessing these records is clearly outweighed by the public's interest in protecting the privacy rights," wrote Taylor Anderson, deputy to Long Beach City Attorney Charles Parkin.

So far, there are signs that the past records eventually will be made public. A Contra Costa County judge ruled against several unions in the Bay Area earlier this month, but put a hold on the release of records while the unions appeal.

In the short term, however, access to records seems likely to remain limited while challenges to the law make their way to higher courts.

UPDATES:

Feb. 20, 12:30 p.m. This article was updated with the judge's decision in the LAPPL case.

This article was originally published Feb. 15 at 5:45 p.m.
The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, or MOSES, will hold its annual conference on Feb. 21-23 at the La Crosse Center, and the organizers want you to know theres something for everyone.

There will be workshops, 60 total over six sessions, ranging from how to overwinter bees to understanding the farm bill and the state of the dairy industry. There will also be an exhibit hall with more than 175 vendors, and live music and square dancing in the evenings.

On-site registration will be available, as well as $25 tickets for Thursday night to tour the exhibit hall, screen the Evolution of Organic documentary, and listen to The Organic Pheromones in concert.

MOSES is a non-profit group based in Spring Valley, Wis. The conferences began as a way to share organic farming information, said Audrey Alwell, MOSES communication director.

The conference caters to experienced organic farmers as well as those looking to get into organic farming for the first time. There will be timely workshops on the state of the farm economy, knocking down barriers to organic farming, and advanced organic weed management, Alwell said.

Farmers from all walks are starting to look into organics as a means to shore up their profits, Alwell said. Thats the most interesting thing about this conference. Organic farmers want other organic farmers to succeed.

Jennifer Lu is the La Crosse Tribune environmental reporter. You can reach her by phone at 608-791-8217 and by email jennifer.lu@lee.net.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
The Salvation Army of La Crosse County has crunched the final numbers for its annual Red Kettle fundraiser, with the final tally being a tad over $913,000  more than $63,000 above its goal of $850.

Corps development director Nick Ragner described the total as phenomenal considering where we ended the last campaign.

Last year, the fundraiser, which includes kettle bell-ringing and donations that come in during the campaign period, missed its goal of $949,500 by nearly $150,000. That was the second consecutive year it felt short.

This sets up the year great, but we still have a lot of work to do, Ragner said. Unfortunately, last years shortfall attributed to a deficit at the end of our last fiscal year. So, even though we had a good year at the kettles, we need to do more.

The campaign is the agencys largest fundraiser, accounting for about one-third of its annual budget, including everyday programs such as the corps emergency shelter and meal programs, as well as seasonal efforts such as Feed the Kids and the Angel Giving Tree.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Placing screws and connecting wires, it was a day of firsts for Joleen Tollefson.

I dont really know what Im doing yet, said Tollefson, a junior at Whitehall Memorial High School. But Im confident I can learn.

Two dozen students, almost all of them girls, tried their hands at welding, electrical work and mechanical design Friday during Western Technical Colleges inaugural Explore the Trades event.

Organizers said it was an opportunity for young people  Onalaska, West Salem, Whitehall, New Lisbon and Necedah all sent students  to learn about jobs they might otherwise overlook.

A lot of these career fields are male-dominated, but the skills that are needed are not gender-specific, said Bob Marconi, associate dean of integrated technology at Western. Marconi, remarking on the high salaries and abundance of jobs, told the group its a great time to take up a trade.

And in most cases, youll have a lot less debt than if you went to a four-year college, he said.

The students came with a range of aspirations, with all different levels of experience.

There were those like Tollefson, for whom Friday was entirely foreign.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}
About 100 people rallied Friday to denounce hate crime in La Crosse.

La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network, La Crosse Area Showing Up for Racial Justice and University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Campus Climate hosted the event, One Community One Family  Hate Has No Business Here, at the Bullet Cab company.

Mayor Tim Kabat, Assistant Police Chief Rob Abraham, the La Crosse Fire Department, other members of the city of La Crosse Police Department and other organizations attended the rally, along with the owner of the company, Mian Mike Ahmad, who is a Muslim, and general manager Linda Devenport.

This racist and Islamaphobic incident did occur. We have to accept that because doing anything less would be minimizing the pain and seriousness of the incident, said Wale Elegbede, one of the founding members of the La Crosse Interfaith Shoulder to Shoulder Network, after racist graffiti was spray-painted on the businesss garage along State Road.

I dont think we can put it into words just how terrible and despicable that act was, Kabat said during the rally.
After one trip into Libya as a migrant worker, Tawadros Youssef Tawadros reported that he had been warned that his Christian name -- "Theodore," in English -- might anger Muslim radicals.

His widow, Maleka Ayad, recalled him saying: "Anyone who starts changing his name will end up changing his faith."

Malak Ibrahim Seniut was blunter in a final talk with his priest. Told that Christians could be witnesses by living a long, faithful life, the young man replied: "That's not enough for me. I want to do it through death."

On Feb. 15, 2015, both were among the men beheaded by Islamic State soldiers on a beach in Libya. All 21 -- 20 Egyptian Copts and a Ghanan who professed his Christian faith -- were soon declared martyrs by the Coptic Orthodox Church. This is the latest chapter in a long drama, detailed by writer Martin Mosebach of the German Academy of Arts.

"The Coptic Church, founded by St. Mark the Evangelist, is among the earliest manifestations of Christianity. In 1,400 years of suppression after the Islamic conquest, it has still preserved its original form, and it has proven to have the most amazing vitality," he said at an event this week in New York City, marking the release of the English edition of his book, "The 21: A Journey into the Land of Coptic Martyrs."
Retired La Crosse Parks and Rec Director Steve Carlyon didnt know Americans with Disabilities Act requirements werent enough to give kids on the autism spectrum a safe place to play until their parents showed up and told him their stories. Then he threw his whole-hearted support behind the All Abilities Trane Park project.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Everything was a go on the La Crosse Center expansion last summer before La Crosse residents objected to the project overhanging Riverside Park, convincing Mayor Tim Kabat to veto that concept. Now the La Crosse Center Board is working on a new one that incorporates that feedback and board members stress how important it is to have a concept the community is happy with.

Not to say that its all rosy.

Neighbors objected to the Coulee Recovery Centers new site, and it went ahead. People objected to the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Centers proposal for a residency program on the South Side, but council members voted in favor of it anyway.

North Siders werent fans of the idea of putting bike lanes on Gillette Street, but the Board of Public Works decided to let it go ahead.

After each of those decisions, I heard some grumbling  people saying that no one cares what they think and they wasted their time.
World Day of Prayer is an international movement to support understanding between nations and cultures. It is a call to pray for peace and cooperation in our world. Each year, representatives from a different country plan the program and invite others to an awareness of their culture and shared faith. The 2019 host country is Slovenia, and their program, Come, Everything is Ready," is based on Luke, chapter 14.
Caracas, VenezuelaPresident Nicolas Maduro hit out at the United States on Friday for stealing billions of dollars and offering crumbs in return as humanitarian aid, as Washington sanctioned five officials close to the Venezuelan leader. Tons of US aid is piling up in Colombia close to the border with Venezuela as opposition leader Juan Guaido has vowed to defy Maduros efforts to block the supplies from entering the country. Its a booby trap, theyre putting on a show with rotten and contaminated food, said Maduro, speaking at an event in the southeastern town of Ciudad Bolivar. Theyve stolen $30 billion and are offering four crumbs of rotten food, added the beleaguered socialist leader, referring to the United States. Later Friday, Maduro asked the military to prepare for a special deployment to reinforce the border with Colombiaand make it impregnable. I am not exaggerating. In the White House, Donald Trump and Ivan Duque announced plans for war against Venezuela, he said, referring to a meeting on Wednesday in which President Donald Trump reiterated that all options were on the table with regard to Venezuela. The country is in the midst of an economic crisis that has left millions in poverty and facing shortages of basic necessities such as food and medicine. Guaido, who is recognized by 50 countries as the interim president, accuses Maduro of causing economic hardship through mismanagement. Among those countries is Costa Rica, whose foreign affairs ministry on Friday gave three Maduro-appointed diplomats 60 calendar days to leave the country. Maduro meanwhile blames Venezuelas woes on US sanctions. The 56-year-old, the hand-picked successor to socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, branded it the war of the oligarchy. US sanctions mostly target regime individuals and state oil company PDVSA, the governments main source of income, but the US Treasury announced Friday that it was imposing sanctions on five intelligence and security officials close to Maduro. Those targeted are aligned with illegitimate former President Nicolas Maduro, who (continues) to repress democracy and democratic actors in Venezuela, a Treasury Department statement said. Among the five men is Manuel Quevedo, described by the Treasury as the illegitimate president of PDVSA.Humanitarian aid has become a key issue in the power struggle between Maduro and Guaido. The opposition leader, who last month declared himself acting president, has promised to bring in the aid on February 23. Maduro refuses to let it in. And his loyal military has barricaded a border bridge between Venezuela and Colombia. The socialist leader insists the aid is just a cover for a planned US military invasion, while Guaido says 300,000 people could die without the desperately-needed aid. Speaking on Friday, Maduro said six million families had benefitted from subsidized food boxes and claimed to have bought 933 tons of medicines and medical supplies from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies. We paid for it with our own money because were beggars to no one, he said. Guaido accuses Maduro of being a usurper over his controversial reelection last year in polls widely branded as fraudulent. Maduro says the 35-year-old National Assembly speaker is a puppet to the US, which is trying to secure access to Venezuelas gold and vast oil reserves -- the largest in the world. He said Guaidos challenge to his authority is treason. The worst thing is stimulating the imperial madness of an extremist Ku Klux Klan government in the White House, said Maduro. US national security advisor John Bolton announced on Thursday that 25 countries had pledged $100 million in humanitarian assistance. A US defense official said Friday that the American military will transport some 200 tons of humanitarian aid for Venezuela to Colombia in the coming days.
- Erwan Heussaff has recently been in the spotlight after posting a video featuring his wife Anne Curtis and Ryan Bang

- He visited some of the best Korean restaurants in the Philippines together with Ryan and was later joined by Anne

- Anne also gave a 'mission' to the pair during the video much to the dismay of Erwan

PAY ATTENTION: Click "See First" under the "Following" tab to see KAMI news on your News

Content creator Erwan Heussaff has recently made headlines with his vlog post on his social media account. The vlog featured his wife Anne Curtis together with her Its Showtime co-host Ryan Bang.

In the vlog, Erwan visited some of the best hidden Korean food gems in the Philippines together with Ryan who accompanied him to the restaurants.

KAMI learned that the pair was also given a mission by Anne which was shown on the video as well.

Erwan and Ryan visited restaurants located in Pasig, Makati, and Pasay upon Ryans recommendations. According to Erwan, he wouldnt have found the restaurants if it werent for Ryan tagging along with him.

Netizens were also shocked upon seeing Anne eat during the food trip as she ate nonchalantly.

This was so fun to watch. Ryan is so funny! More of this series please! Feature Nico next time also.

Ryan and Anne brings a whole new side of Erwan. I love the fact na walang arte din si Anne.

One of your BEST VLOGS EVER!!! Very funny and knowledgeable! Plus, with beautiful, Ate Anne who's kalog as always. Hope you can do more collaborations with Ryan!

This is so entertaining!! More series like this please!! You look so handsome in your haircut erwan!!!

Okay am i the only one who cant stop staring at erwan and cant stop laughing at his and ryans combo???

PAY ATTENTION: Using free basics app to access internet for free? Now you can read KAMI news there too. Use the search option to find us. Read KAMI news while saving your data!

As reported earlier by KAMI, Anne Curtis is known for being an avid fan of Korean stars. She was one of the celebrities who recently witnessed the hit concert of the Korean girl group, BLACKPINK, here in the Philippines. She posted a photo with the popular K-pop group which went viral.

Anne Curtis is one of the most popular actresses in the Philippines. She is the most-followed Filipino celebrity in the Philippines on Instagram. Her husband, Erwan Heussaff, is also the brother of model Solenn Heussaff.

POPULAR: Read more news about Anne Curtis

Enjoyed reading our story? Download KAMI's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major Filipino news!

This video features the fans of Kapamilya love team LizQuen as they are given sets of tricky questions that they have to answer after watching Alone/Together! This video is very funny and entertaining! Check out our videos - on KAMI HumanMeter Youtube channel!

Source: Kami.com.ph
WIND POINT  A small strip of land in Wind Point is continuing to cause problems.

The village used eminent domain proceedings to acquire part of a small strip of land from SC Johnson, but Wind Meadows Corp., a condominium association, has filed a lawsuit to prevent the village from acquiring the rest of the strip.

For almost two years, Wind Point has attempted to acquire the strip. Last summer, the village said it was resorting to using eminent domain, the process in which a municipality acquires private land at fair-market value for public use.

The suit, filed Jan. 16 in Racine County Circuit Court, asserts that the villages use of eminent domain against Wind Meadows is unconstitutional.

The 2-foot-wide land strip runs the entire length of the south and west sides of Deepwood Drive surrounding 4403 N. Main St., the 5-acre village-owned property that is one of the villages last mostly undeveloped parcels. The strip is divided into four parts, one of which is owned by Wind Meadows; the other three were owned by the Johnson Wax Development Corp.

SCJ accepted a jurisdictional offer of $5,400 for the Johnson Wax Development Corp.s portions of the site, said Kelly Semrau, senior vice president of global corporate affairs for SCJ.
UNION GROVE  As the village is in transition with a new clerk and administrator, one longtime employee is getting ready to pass the torch and say her final goodbye.

Liz Schwertfeger, Union Groves deputy clerk/treasurer, is retiring March 1 after 25 years with the village. Initially starting as a part-time temporary employee during the tax season of 1994, Schwertfeger worked her way up to become an indispensable part of the villages operations, gaining new titles and accomplishments at every step.

I never imagined my life would be so full and so rewarding, Schwertfeger said. It really is. And as much as I moan and groan about things around here or people, I truly loved my job.

After the 1994 tax season, Schwertfeger briefly took a job with Union Grove Elementary School before returning to the village in 1995 to become a part-time deputy clerk/treasurer. Within a few years, she was working for the village full-time.
RACINE  According to invoices obtained through a public records request, the City of Racine has been billed more than $75,000 in attorney fees for the open records case against Alderman Sandy Weidner.

The first invoice, dated Jan. 19, 2018, shows that attorney Michael Cohen of the Milwaukee firm of Meissner, Tierney, Fisher and Nichols was hired on Dec. 5, 2017 to handle the open records suit brought by Weidner. The monthly invoices, the last of which was dated Jan. 21 of this year, total $76,669.01.

Last month, The Journal Times learned the city had been billed for almost $20,000 for Weidners contempt of court case alone, which is included in the $76,669.01.

Weidner may have to pay about $18,000 of that $20,000 if the Wisconsin Court of Appeals rules against her.

Bill Lueders from the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council stated that its no wonder the City of Racine tried to keep these records secret.
ELKHORN  A jury trial is scheduled for June 3 in the case of a Walworth County Fair carnival worker accused of brutally attacking a woman the night before the 2018 fair opened.

Walworth County Circuit Judge Phillip Koss and attorneys in the Terrence Leflore case agreed Thursday to a schedule for the jury trial at the county courthouse in Elkhorn.

The trial is expected to take about a week.

Leflore, 24, of Jackson, Miss., was working as a traveling carnival worker for the County Fair when he was arrested after allegedly attacking a woman in downtown Elkhorn as she was leaving work on Aug. 28.

Prosecutors say the woman, who was 21 at the time, was sexually assaulted and then struck in the head with a hammer. She survived, but doctors had to remove part of her skull to relieve pressure on her brain.

If the jury returns a guilty verdict against Leflore, the defendant could be sentenced to more than 200 years in prison combined for attempted homicide and other felony charges in the case.

Leflore remains at the County Jail on $1 million bond.

Defense attorneys earlier fought unsuccessfully to suppress Leflores statements to police, which allegedly included a confession.

A final pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled for May 16, and jury selection is scheduled for May 31.

Love 1 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1
RACINE  A Racine man was in custody and facing charges Friday following multiple incidents with the Racine Police Department, including allegedly driving his car toward an officer on Dec. 21 and nearly hitting him.

Hunter J. Hanson, 20, of the 1600 block of Boyd Avenue, is charged with felony counts of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, possession of a firearm by a felon and attempting to flee or elude an officer; and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, use of a dangerous weapon. Hanson is charged as a repeat offender on all charges.

A warrant was issued for Hansons arrest on Jan. 23. He was brought into custody on Friday.

According to the criminal complaint:

On Nov. 22, an officer was dispatched to 16th Street and Blaine Avenue in Racine for a report of a hit-and-run crash.

Hansons vehicle was allegedly on scene, but he fled on foot. Officers contacted the owner of the vehicle, Hansons father, who said he last saw his car parked in front of his house and that it must have been stolen.

The vehicle was towed and processed. Inside the vehicle, officers found a .22-caliber long rifle, which had 20 rounds of ammunition in its magazine and one live round in the chamber.
RACINE  After three postponements, the homicide trials of two cousins charged in the fatal shooting of a Racine man found dead last year inside a crashed van are on the court docket for December.

Cousins Michael R. Lyons Jr., 35, and Cedric A. Gray, 34, are each charged with first-degree intentional homicide for their alleged roles in the 2018 death of 40-year-old Tremayne Brown. Gray also was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.

Lyons was scheduled to go to trial Dec. 11, 2018, but because the cases lead investigator was on family leave until Jan. 1, the trial was postponed to Feb. 12-14.

The trial was then postponed again after prosecutors reported that unspecified witness issues had caused a delay, online records show.

But on Monday, Lyons' attorney and the state concluded that both sides are still in trial posture. Lyons' trial is set to begin on Dec. 17.

Lyons and Gray, both of the 1600 block of Spring Place in Racine, are being tried separately.

In July, Grays trial was postponed after his attorney said new information had surfaced.

Gray's trial has been postponed once, but is slated to begin on Dec. 3.
Foxconn plans to build a flat-screen manufacturing campus in Mount Pleasant, which about 70 miles north of Chicago. The Taiwanese electronics giant has said the facility eventually could employ up to 13,000 people.

Local officials and Republican state lawmakers  led by then-Gov. Scott Walker  extended the company an unprecedented $4 billion in incentives to lure the plant to Wisconsin.

The package exempted Foxconn from a host of environmental regulations, allowing to the company to fill wetlands without a permit and to proceed without an environmental impact statement, which is a typically routine study of a construction projects potential effects on the environment.

The state Department of Natural Resources also approved the city of Racines request on behalf of Mount Pleasant to draw 7 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan to serve the plant.
Abuja NigeriaNigerias electoral watchdog on Saturday postponed presidential and parliamentary elections for one week, just hours before polls were due to open. The two main political parties swiftly condemned the move and accused each other of orchestrating the delay as a way of manipulating the vote. Voting had been due to start at nearly 120,000 polling stations in Africas most populous nation at 0700 GMT, with a record 73 candidates on the ballot. President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, was set to seek a second term of office against a stiff challenge from the main opposition candidate, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, 72. But rumors began circulating late on Friday about a possible postponement after widespread reports of problems with the delivery of election materials, including ballot papers. Members of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) met in emergency session in Abuja and after examining the logistics plans concluded the timetable was no longer feasible, commission chairman Mahmood Yakubu said. Consequently, the commission has decided to reschedule to Saturday February 23, 2019, he told reporters. Parliamentary elections for 360 seats in the lower House of Representatives and 109 seats in the Senate will be held on the same day. Governorship and state assembly elections will be pushed back to March 9, Yakubu said. This was a difficult decision for the commission to take but necessary for the successful delivery of elections and the consolidation of our democracy, he added. Buharis campaign spokesman Festus Keyamo, for the ruling All Progressives Congress, (APC) said the news was a huge disappointment and hit out at INEC for being unprepared. Keyamo called on the body to remain impartial as the rumour mill is agog with the suggestion that this postponement has been orchestrated in collusion with the... PDP. For his part, Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party blamed the Buhari government for instigating the postponement but called on his supporters to remain calm. We will overcome this. You can postpone an election but you cannot postpone destiny, he added in a statement. Nigeria has postponed voting before: in 2015, INEC announced a six-week delay just one week before the election, citing security concerns linked to the Boko Haram insurgency. The six-week delay was seen as a way for president Goodluck Jonathan to claw back votes after a strong challenge from Buhari, then an opposition candidate. The same argument may be made again, with little to separate Buhari and Abubakar.Rescheduling could also prove a headache for voters who travelled to their home states. Whether they are able to do so again -- or would want to -- will be closely watched. The main candidates had also returned to cast their ballot -- Buhari to the northwest state of Katsina, and Abubakar to Adamawa, in the northeast. In many areas suffering intermittent electricity supply and poor road infrastructure, thousands of INEC agents had been working into the night to deliver election materials. In Aba, in the southeast, hundreds of volunteers struggled to determine where they were to be deployed, on the eve of polling. Ive been here 13 hours and Ive still not seen my name on the lists. Where and how am I going to work tomorrow? asked one woman. Saturdays last-gasp postponement comes after an election campaign in which Buhari had sought to portray himself as a continuity candidate. He came to power in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram Islamists, tackle rampant corruption and improve the countrys oil-dependent economy. But the jihadists still mount attacks and there is widening insecurity elsewhere, while slow growth as the economy limps back from recession has hit Buharis stock. So, too, has the perception he has only targeted political opponents as part of his high-profile anti-corruption campaign, while he has also been accused of authoritarianism. Buharis purported shortcomings have been a feature of Abubakars campaign, who has billed himself as a modern, energetic and pro-business leader. The language of the campaign has reminded voters of the presidents former life as an army general who headed a military government in the 1980s. Abubakars past has also featured prominently, as the ruling party resurrected controversies from his time as vice president and alleged links to corruption. The election -- the sixth in the 20 years since civilian rule was restored -- is likely to be one of the last times men of Buhari and Abubakars generation will feature so prominently. They have been fixtures on Nigerias turbulent political scene for decades and are the oldest on the ballot. Just over half of the 84 million registered voters are aged 18-35, prompting calls for more representative candidates unburdened by involvement in Nigerias traumatic past.
Wells Fargo's Carrie Tolstedt departed with a $125 million exit package after being in charge of the unit that opened more than 2 million unauthorized customer accounts.

An estimated 60 percent of America's wealth is now inherited. Many of today's super-rich have never done a day's work in their lives.

Trump's response has been to cut the estate tax to apply only to estates valued at over $22 million per couple. Mitch McConnell is now proposing that the estate tax be repealed altogether.

What about the capitalist principles that people earn what they're worth in the market, and that economic gains should go to those who deserve them?

America is on the cusp of the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history. As rich boomers expire over the next three decades, an estimated $30 trillion will go to their children.

Those children will be able to live off of the income these assets generate, and then leave the bulk of them to their own heirs, tax-free. (Capital gains taxes don't apply to the soaring values of stocks, bonds, mansions and other assets of wealthy people who die before they're sold.)

After a few generations of this, almost all of the nation's wealth will be in the hands of a few thousand non-working families.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York helped usher her former colleague Al Franken out of office after several women accused him of groping them. It was the right move, especially since Franken refused to give a straightforward answer to the charges.

Because of her stance, however, progressive megadonor George Soros said she was the only potential Democratic presidential candidate he did not want to succeed. He isn't the only one who feels that way. Politico reported that "major donors across the country" were angry at her many months afterward.

Remember when Democrats shut down the government last year in a harebrained effort to make Trump agree to give legal status to illegal immigrants who came here as minors? Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is probably hoping that primary voters don't, because she helped bring that episode to an end.

Some activists accused her of betrayal, and MinnPost reported at the time that her role "could come back to haunt her." Some on the left remain determined that it will.
Elmwood native Grace Betty Clements, who served in the World War II Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), was inducted into the Nebraska Aviation Hall of Fame Jan. 24 in Kearney, Nebraska. Clements was one of five inductees.

Her nomination was submitted by her nephew, State Sen. Robert K. Clements, of Elmwood, Nebraska.

Betty Clements helped put a sizable crack in the glass ceiling regarding women becoming military pilots during WWII. Learning to fly in 1940 in Madison, Wisconsin, while attending graduate school and continuing her flight training at Beebe Air Service while teaching in Hastings, Nebraska, Clements earned her private pilot certificate in 1942. She then joined the Civil Air Patrol.

In 1943, Clements heard about the WASP program and had enough hours to qualify. She applied and was invited by WASP Director Jacqueline Cochran to join class 43-W-5 at Avenger Field, Sweetwater, Texas, for flight training. She trained on the PT-19, BT-15, AT-6, AT-9, and the twin-engine AT-17. In advanced training, she flew the B-17 but was subsequently transferred to Blytheville Army Airfield in Arkansas, where she flew ferrying missions around the U.S.
Bryan Seck, Prosper Lincolns developer for employment skills, presented Lincoln Literacy with the Prosper Lincoln Step Up award.

Lincoln Literacy plays a critical role in helping people learn English so they can succeed in the workplace. They work with TMCO, a Lincoln manufacturing company, to provide on-the-job English-language training free to their many refugee employees. With financial assistance from Community Health Endowment, Lincoln Literacy also helps refugees with medical backgrounds learn the language so they can become certified nurses' aids.

Language can be a difficult barrier for some people when attempting to access employment, said Seck. Lincoln Literacy sees this need in our community and fills it, allowing more people to find stable employment and help employers fill in-demand jobs. Learn more at ProsperLincoln.org.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
The number of breakfast eaters increased slightly, which the report attributed to schools that offer breakfast in the classroom instead of before school; and because more schools take advantage of the Community Eligibility Provision. The program allows high-poverty schools to offer free lunch to all students.

In Nebraska, 13 of the states 244 school districts have some or all of their schools participating in CEP, according to the state Department of Education.

There are reasons schools or districts choose not to participate. The way the CEP program is calculated can mean fewer students are counted as participating in the federal lunch program.

Because free- and reduced-price lunch numbers are the major gauge of poverty for schools, it can have financial implications.

Free- and reduced-price lunch numbers can affect state aid or eligibility for other federal grants, said Liz Standish, LPS associate superintendent for business. The calculations have been adjusted so they no longer affect federal Title I funds  money for high-poverty schools.
My concern is the pendulum has swung too far toward a stage of punitive measures, she said. Studies show that behavior that once led to a trip to the principals office and detention . . . now leads to suspension, expulsion or even arrest.

Leaders of the Lincoln YWCA, the Malone Community Center and retired educator Jake Kirkland all spoke in support of LB390.

I am a retired educator with over 40 years in the educational system in Nebraska. Im also an African-American male that is very much aware of whats going on in our school system, particularly as it impacts students of color.

People of color had little say in the move to add more school resource officers, he said.

Many of us disliked it, especially if you were a person of color. You knew how the relationship or lack thereof existed between students of color and our law enforcement system, he said.

Pansing Brooks bill is a starting point, he said, and his biggest concern is ensuring someone is in charge of making sure the requirements of the bill get done.

Greg Gonzalez, deputy chief with the Omaha Police Department, also spoke in favor of LB390.
She finished her eighth march last month.

Shes learned about the hidden figures in the Civil Rights Movement, the activists of SNCC  the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee  and the Young Peoples March in 1993 started by Dr. Leola Bullock, right here in Lincoln.

She learned to own her power and to share it with her peers through those hundreds of hours preparing for those marches.

It really kind of brought out who I am now and who Im going to be, she says. As youth, were the next hope for change.

Pete Ferguson, MLK rally and march sponsor, nominated Azcia for the Journal Star Inspire Future Business Leader Award last fall.

He wrote about a scholar who has embraced the faith others had in her and devoted her time to supporting MLK's mission of equality for all.

Azcia's qualifications for recognition are exhaustive, Ferguson wrote in his nomination letter. Azcia inspires and leaves those she comes in contact with better than she found them.

Azcia won that award.
Does your child struggle to read? Can he or she recognize a word on one page and not on the next? Dyslexia is now recognized as the nations No. 1 learning disability.

One in five children may have dyslexia causing them to struggle with reading and spelling. Dyslexia crosses racial, ethnic and socioeconomic lines. For some individuals who have never been diagnosed, dyslexia is a hidden disability. It may have taken a lifetime before some have realized that dyslexia is the "name" for their difficulties after living through many years with self-esteem issues (and yet success).

Parents need to know that dyslexia is often inherited. A child with a parent who has dyslexia or has experienced "un-named" reading difficulties has a 4060 percent risk of developing dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a language-based learning disability often characterized by slow, inaccurate reading. Individuals with dyslexia usually experience difficulties with other language skills such as spelling, writing and pronouncing words. Dyslexia affects individuals throughout their lives; however, its impact can change at different stages in a persons life. It is referred to as a learning disability because dyslexia can make it very difficult for an individual to feel successful. Early recognition and remediation are the keys to ensuring that students can, and will, be successful.
But the timing of the peak doesnt matter if you're one of the people who got sick this week, Safranek said.

So the traditional advice continues. If you are in a high-risk group, with underlying health problems or pregnant or going to be pregnant in the next six weeks, you should get a vaccination, Safranek said.

A vaccination remains the best way of reducing the chance of getting the flu and the shot has no side effects, he said.

For everyone else, good hand-washing is the best advice. And if you're sick, self-isolate so you dont spread the flu.

Nationally, the flu shot was about 47 percent effective overall against influenza illness, according to this week's report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But Safranek warned that research may not apply in Nebraska, where influenza A is dominant. Most of the country is seeing much more influenza B.

Even if the flu shot doesnt prevent someone from getting the flu, it still reduces the severity of the illness and prevents hospitalization and deaths.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. On Twitter @LJSNancyHicks.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 1 Sad 1 Angry 0

Build your health & fitness knowledge Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week! Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
ROLANDO ANDAYA

House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. on Friday said the unpaid contracts for infrastructure projects in 2018 have ballooned to P100 billion which allegedly forced some contractors to resort to bribery just to be paid, affecting the salaries of both government and private employees.In a statement, the Camarines Sur 1st District congressman said concerned Department of Budget and Management and Department of Public Works and Highways employees had intimated to him the payables for 2018 infrastructure projects had risen from P44 billion last November 2018 to more than P100 billion by yearend. This gargantuan amount of payable, the lawmaker said, forces DPWH contractors to cough up kickbacks just to be paid for completed infrastructure projects. Andaya added: According to my sources, the release of payment from the DBM to DPWH varies per engineering district. Some districts were paid 10 percent only, others 30 percent... He said notices of cash allocation were given in lump sum and discretion was given to regional directors, so some contractors have to resort to bribery. DPWH casuals were also not paid their salaries for three months and were only given payment last week, while 99 percent of the contractors were still not paid fully for the completed projects, according to Andaya. A persistent failure to pay salaries can critically affect the daily lives of these employees and can also result in resign and claim constructive dismissal. In short, the DBM has resorted to rationing of payments. If there was rice shortage before, now there is cash shortage, thanks to Sec. (Benjamin) Diokno, he added. There was no immediately available reaction from Diokno.Andaya warned that legitimate contractors might not continue bidding for infrastructure projects due to fears the government could not pay them on time and might make it to the point that banks will be demanding payments. A contractors revolt is possible. The Build, Build, Build Program may turn out to be Stop, Stop, Stop Program, courtesy of Sec. Diokno. Given this scenario, an economic slowdown is imminent, Andaya added. Andayas exposes against Diokno have yet to stop even as the 2019 national budget was already approved and ratified by both chambers of Congress. The congressman has been accusing the Budget chief of inserting some P75 billion infrastructure fund in the proposed 2019 national budget without the knowledge of President Rodrigo Duterte, the DPWH, as well as district congressmen. Diokno said the P75 billion should not be called insertions as these were adjustments that were part of the budget process. He added this was a mere diversion from the pork barrel issue. READ: 'Budget probe not over'
For those of us who have slid, shoveled, and skated through the wildest up-and-down February weather in years, heres a warm thought: corn planters are rolling in southern Texas.

Need another reason to plant a smile on your face? In eight weeks, corn planters will be running all over todays wintry Midwest.

After that brief pleasantness, however, the outlook gets pretty cold pretty fast. Early February reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) strongly suggest that average  not good, not great; just average  2019 crop yields will deliver less than average prices.

Worse, last years trade wars with China, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union (EU) continue. And thats despite the finally-finished 2018 Farm Bill that, once again, places American exports at the center of your farm and ranchs profit plan for years to come.

How center?

According to May 2018 data compiled by USDAs Foreign Agricultural Service, exports account for 76 percent of all American-raised cotton, 59 percent of all sorghum, 35 percent of all rice, 50 percent of all soybeans, 46 percent of all wheat, 21 percent of all pork and corn, 16 percent of all poultry, 15 percent of all dairy, and 10 percent of all beef.
1. Comments must not be racist, misogynistic, homophobic, or otherwise bigoted.

2. Comments must not involve little more than name-calling and insulting remarks.

3. Comments must not be made by "anonymous" or "unknown".

4. Comments must not try to sneak in some free advertising for themselves (like spam).

I invite anyone who wishes to comment on this blog to do so. I enjoy the comments, whether you agree with what I have said or not. But some people want to abuse the right to comment, and since this is my blog, I have decided to lay down the following rules. If your comment violates these rules, it will not be published.
The Aurora workplace shooting that left multiple dead Friday is at a business that's a subsidiary of Mueller Water Co., founded in Decatur.

Six people died  including the gunman  in a workplace shooting at a manufacturing firm Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire, officials said Friday. Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman confirmed the shooter, Gary Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with police. Police believe he was an employee, and said they did not know the motive.

The scene is Henry Pratt Co., a company that's a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Co., founded by Hieronymus Mueller in Decatur.

Here's what else we know about the shooting so far:

At 2:23 p.m., City of Aurora officials confirmed an active shooter and Aurora police were on the scene at 641 Archer Road, an industrial area approximately 40 miles from Chicago. Officials would later confirm the incident happened at Henry Pratt Co., a manufacturing firm.

Multiple people were reported injured, according to officials.

Officials by 3 p.m. had confirmed the shooter had been apprehended. Law enforcement sources at 3:45 p.m. confirmed the shooter was dead.

At a press conference Friday evening attended by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, authorities confirmed 5 victims had been killed, and five officers were injured. The shooter, Martin, was also dead, making a total of 6 people killed in the incident.

Hospital officials at Rush Copley in Aurora earlier said in a tweet they had received three patients who were being treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The shooting had prompted lockdowns at nearby schools, including Aurora University.

What is today the Henry Pratt Co., which makes valves, began in 1901 as a metal fabricating shop, according to the company's website. Its administrative headquarters are located in Aurora, and the company also has manufacturing plants in Aurora, Washington, and Indiana. The company is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Co.

9:50 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, released the following statement:

"My heart breaks for Aurora. Illinois is forever grateful to the bravery of our first responders and law enforcement who risked their lives today protecting the community they serve. They are heroes. I join with everyone in Aurora, especially those who have lost loved ones in this tragic mass shooting, in mourning the loss of innocent life and praying for the victims, the injured, and their families.

Yesterday, we remembered the victims of the mass shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and Northern Illinois University, and today we are grieving yet again for another community victimized by a senseless shooting. How many more times can we witness horrific events like this, or another child shot in Chicago, and not do anything to help prevent these tragedies? Gun violence in America is an epidemic, one that will take political courage and conviction to truly address on a bipartisan basis. Im ready to do that, and I hope my colleagues are too."

OUR EARLIER STORY ...

AURORA, Ill.  Six people, including a gunman, died in a shooting at a manufacturing firm in a Chicago suburb Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire, officials said Friday.

Authorities confirmed the shooter, Gary Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with police. Police believe he was an employee at Henry Pratt Co. in the industrial park in Aurora, about 30 miles west of Chicago. They said they did not know the motive.

Martins mother told WGN: My heart goes out to all the victims.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the department received a call for shots fired around 1:24 p.m. at 641 Archer Ave., a manufacturing warehouse. At 1:28 p.m., officers were fired upon immediately and two of the four officers who entered at first were shot.

Presence Mercy Medical Center spokesman Matt Wakely said that the hospital received three victims from the shooting, According to The Associated Press. Wakely said two were being treated and the third has been transferred via helicopter to another hospital. No conditions were available. No victims had been sent to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove as of Friday evening, spokeswoman Kate Eller told AP.

Rush Copley Hospital said in a tweet it had received three patients from the shooting in Aurora, and did not expect to receive more. Earlier in the day, the hospital said it had received two patients.

An employee named John Probst told the local ABC affiliate he was in the building when the shooting took place. He identified the gunman as a co-worker.

One of the guys was up in the office, he said this person was shooting and he come running down and he was bleeding pretty bad, he said.   What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it.

Bob Gonzalez, president of the school board of the nearby West Aurora School District 129, lives and works what he estimated was 50 feet from the Henry Pratt Co. His twin 4-year-old grandchildren were in his home upstairs and he was talking with a client in his State Farm office downstairs when they heard sirens and squad cars fly by.

They at first assumed it was a fire, but when the squads kept coming for the next 20 minutes, they knew it was more. He saw cars from Aurora and other nearby agencies, state police troopers and a homeland security vehicle.

As soon as he heard it was a shooting, he locked the doors to his office, closed the blinds upstairs, took his grandchildren to a bathroom in the back of the apartment and told them to stay away from the windows. They asked questions and he tried to keep them calm, telling them that maybe it was just a fire, but I was very scared at the same time, he said.

Appearing at a news conference with Aurora officials, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there was no way for him to prepare for this kind of event, the first tragedy of his administration.

There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors if their hopes, their dreams and their futures, he said. There are no words to express our gratitude to the officers who were wounded in the line of duty as they responded to the gravest kind of danger they could face.

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge President Chris Southwood issued a statement regarding the shooting. The four officers are members of Aurora FOP Lodge # 11, according to a news release.

Every police officer dreads days like this one, yet these four courageous Aurora officers and their colleagues did not hesitate to literally put their lives on the line today to stop further bloodshed. These four heroes willingly ran into harms way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price. We Illinoisans should be humbly grateful for their sacrifice, and we ask that you join us in praying that the injured civilians and police officers make a full and speedy recovery.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
CHARLESTON -- Children excitedly chattered as they awaited the "Fire & Ice" extreme science demonstration Friday morning at the Eastern Illinois University Science Festival Showcase.

Their chattering turned to "oohs" and "wows" as presenters Marietta Mayo, a biology instructor, and Hannah Fino, a chemistry major, lit a blow torch. The two presenters then showed how the look of the flame changed when exposed to sodium, potassium and calcium chlorides, which illustrated the chemical reaction that gives fireworks their colors.

"It is always nice to see kids excited by science," Fino said afterward, as she still wore her lab coat and other safety gear.

The "Fire & Ice" demonstrations, which also featured liquid nitrogen and dry ice, were among several activities offered by this second annual youth-oriented special event hosted by Eastern Illinois Universitys Department of Biological Sciences in the University Ballroom.

Department Chairman Gary Bulla said they hosted a smaller Science Festival Showcase last year for high school students and expanded the event this year by opening it to the rest of the community.

Bulla said Marschelle McCoy, office manager of the biology department, helped recruit a representative from NASA and many other science presenters to draw visitors to the event. Bulla said he was glad to see Mark Twain and Carl Sandburg school students from Charleston and many other children there on Friday.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

"We are just trying to get lots of people in for a nice, big science event," Bulla said.

Third-grader Aiyana Maldonado was among the Carl Sandburg students who turned out for the "Fire & Ice" demonstration. Aiyana and some of the other children volunteered to eat cheesy snack crackers that had been dipped in liquid nitrogen after the presenters asked, "Who is ready to become a dragon?!"

Steam subsequently wafted out of the children's mouths as they munched on the flash frozen crackers. Aiyana said she was not scared to try one of the crackers, adding that it was fun having "dragon breath."

"It was like chewing ice that tasted like cheese," Aiyana said.

Outside of the demonstration area, the University Ballroom was filled with tables staffed by EIU science students and faculty and other presenters. These tables offered information and activities regarding soil types, butterfly attracting wildflowers, robotic prosthetic hands, the growing stages of eggs, 3D printing, composting with worms, and much more.

Joel Knapper, a volunteer NASA Solar System Ambassador, gave talks Friday morning at the Life Sciences Building about the biological effects of space travel on the human body. He then displayed a massive coffee table book full of planetary photos at his table in the University Ballroom.

Knapper, a Bourbonnais resident who works for a software company, said he and his fellow volunteers enjoy representing NASA as Solar System Ambassadors.

"We like NASA. We like the exciting things that are going on. We like to share that information with the public," Knapper said.

Contact Rob Stroud at (217) 238-6861. Follow him on Twitter: @TheRobStroud

Love 2 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
CHARLESTON -- A man was sentenced to prison when he admitted having methamphetamine about a month after pleading guilty to an earlier methamphetamine possession charge.

Blake A. Hampton, 23, for whom court records list an address of 1009 Edgar Ave., Mattoon, pleaded guilty to the new charge that accused him of having the drug on Nov. 25.

With that conviction, he also was found in violation of the probation sentence he received when he pleaded guilty on Oct. 24 to the earlier charge.

Hampton was sentenced to four years in prison for the November offense and was also re-sentenced to the same term for the probation violation case. The two sentences will run at the same time.

Records in the November case indicate that police found methamphetamine in Hampton's possession during a traffic stop in Mattoon. He was a passenger in the vehicle that was stopped because the woman driving had a suspended license, the records say.

A traffic stop also led to the charge in the earlier case, which accused Hampton of having the drug on Sept. 28.

Coles County Circuit Judge James Glenn sentenced Hampton by accepting the terms of a plea agreement that State's Attorney Jesse Danley and Assistant Public Defender Stephanie Corum recommended.

In other drug cases before Glenn in court recently:

A charge of possession of cannabis with intent to deliver against John D. Pittenger was dismissed.

Pittenger, 22, whose address on record is 1050 Seventh St., Apt. E, Charleston, was accused of having marijuana planned for sale on Jan. 27.

Danley, who prosecuted, said police later indicated that there was a small amount of marijuana and it wasn't in multiple packages as it typically is when planned for sale.

That led to the decision that a conviction on the charge against Pittenger wasn't likely, Danley said. Glenn granted his motion to dismiss the charge; Ortega represented Pittenger.

At the time of the arrest, police said Pittenger's vehicle was traveling 94 mph in a 55 mph zone on Illinois Route 16 near Charleston. Traffic citation cases charging him with speeding and illegal transportation of alcohol are pending.

Demarko S. Hull, 23, for whom records show addresses on Moultrie and Wabash avenues in Mattoon, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of a controlled substance alleging he had cocaine on Sept. 24.

Hull was sentenced to two years of probation with terms including an evaluation for substance abuse treatment and a requirement that he follow the evaluation's recommendations.

He was also ordered to pay about $1,900 in fines and court fees. Jail time was stayed, meaning Hull won't have to serve it now but some or all of it could be ordered later as a sanction in case of violations.

Glenn accepted a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Joy Wolf and Corum recommended.

Erika L. Anderson, 38, for whom records show addresses on Edgar Drive and Jackson Avenue in Charleston, pleaded guilty to a methamphetamine possession charge alleging she had the drug on April 3.

Anderson was sentenced to two years of first offender probation, which allows for no record of a conviction if completed successfully.

Terms included about $1,800 in fines and fees. Prosecutor Ralph Fowler and Corum recommended the plea agreement.

Contact Dave Fopay at (217) 238-6858. Follow him on Twitter: @FopayDave

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 1
Is your child between the ages of 3 and 5? If so, you can do a lot to make getting ready to read a natural part of daily life. Most 3- to 5-year-olds still have a way to go before they are ready to read and write. There's no need to rush this natural growth, but you can help your child build the knowledge, skills, and habits he or she needs to become a reader and a writer later on.
CHARLESTON -- Coordinators at Eastern Illinois University are excited to announce the universitys inaugural Presidential Lecture will be held in conjunction with the 13th annual Barry D. Riccio Lecture on History. The event will take place at 7 p.m. Monday in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Lecture Hall on EIUs Charleston campus.

Still Fighting the Civil War? How to Put Contemporary Controversies in Historical Context, will be presented by leading national scholar on Civil War memory, Dr. Gaines M. Foster. Foster is LSU Foundation M.J. Foster Professor of History at Louisiana State University, where he has taught courses in U.S. History and Southern history for over three decades after earning a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Fosters published works on Civil War memory include What the Name Civil War Tells Usand Why It Matters, published in September 2018 for Muster, the blog linked to the Journal of the Civil War Era. He has authored three books, including Ghosts of the Confederacy: Defeat, the Lost Cause, and the Emergence of the New South, 1865-1912 (Oxford University Press, 1987). Noted Civil War historian Brooks Simpson described Ghosts of the Confederacy as an insightful and suggestive exploration of southern reaction to defeat in the Civil War. Dr. Fosters ground-breaking book inspired a new subfield of Civil War memory.

The lecture is open to the public and free to attend, and is sponsored by the EIU Department of History and the Presidents Office. A book signing and reception will follow Fosters lecture.

For the past 12 years, EIUs History Department has sponsored the annual Barry D. Riccio Lecture on History. Riccio joined the Eastern Illinois University History faculty in 1995. He was a devoted student of American ideas, politics, and culture, and quickly became an admired teacher and colleague. Following Riccios death from cancer in 2001 at the age of 46, his friends, family and colleagues established the Barry D. Riccio History Fund in his honor. The Barry D. Riccio Lecture on History event was created to celebrate Riccios distinguished teaching legacy.

For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the universitys website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIUs public information office at 217-581-7400.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
CHARLESTON -- Eastern Illinois University named Brad Bennington as its new registrar.

Now, three months in, Benningtons even more excited about his role at the university, and looks forward to enhancing the registrars office responsibilities in creating additional successes for EIUs current, former and future Panthers, according to a news release.

Being a member of Eastern Illinois University during this period of university growth and community development is exciting and invigorating, Bennington said. Many people think a registrars office is just about processing requests, keeping records and enforcing rules. While those are key aspects of our job, were driven by a larger mission to support student success. Here at EIU, that means creating quality, meaningful relationships that help our students succeed before, during and after their EIU experience.

When asked what drew him to Eastern, Bennington said it was the personal and responsive culture of the university that captured his attention.

When I began interviewing at EIU, I fell in love with it, Bennington said. The way EIU prioritizes student relationships is special and unique, and thats such a critical component to student engagement and outcomes. I realized right away this is where I wanted to invest my talents for the rest of my career.

Bennington got his start in higher education in the admissions office at Alice Lloyd College in Kentucky, the same university where he earned his B.A. in accounting in 1996. After three years at Alice Lloyd organizing campus visits and recruiting students, Bennington accepted a more comprehensive role at Morehead State University. Throughout his 18-year tenure there, he held a number of positions, including associate registrar, where his responsibilities included the training and development of staff; overseeing transcript processing, enrollment and degree verification, grade correction processing, registration processing, and records management; and certifying completion for all baccalaureate and associate degrees.

Bennington noted that Easterns future seems especially bright, given that the landscape of higher education is evolving and that nowmore than everuniversities are understanding and embracing the importance of early engagement and relationship-building with their prospective and current students.

When it comes to building relationships with students, EIU walks the talk, Bennington said. From admissions to administration, the people representing EIU are absolutely committed to creating the best comprehensive college experience possible, which ultimately results in improved student retention and long-term student success.

Bennington grew up in rural southern Ohio, and graduated from West Union High School in 1992. He currently resides in Charleston with his wife and three sons. In addition to advocating for EIU and intensifying east-central Illinois reputation as a higher education destination, he and his family look forward to becoming active members of the community and proudly representing EIU whenever and wherever they are able.

For more information about EIU, or to learn more about its growing assortment of programs and services, visit the universitys website at www.eiu.edu, or call EIUs public information office at 217-581-7400.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Introduction



In just 50 years, almost a million Jews, whose communities stretch back up to 3,000 years, have been 'ethnically cleansed' from 10 Arab countries. These refugees outnumber the Palestinian refugees two to one, but their narrative has all but been ignored. Unlike Palestinian refugees, they fled not war, but systematic persecution. Seen in this light, Israel, where some 50 percent of the Jewish population descend from these refugees and are now full citizens, is the legitimate expression of the self-determination of an oppressed indigenous, Middle Eastern people.

This website is dedicated to preserving the memory of the near-extinct Jewish communities, which can never return to what and where they once were - even if they wanted to. It will attempt to pass on the stories of the Jewish refugees and their current struggle for recognition and restitution. Awareness of the injustice done to these Jews can only advance the cause of peace and reconciliation.

(Iran: once an ally of Israel, the Islamic Republic of Iran is now an implacable enemy and numbers of Iranian Jews have fallen drastically from 80,000 to 20,000 since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Their plight - and that of all other communities threatened by Islamism - does therefore fall within the scope of this blog.)
His health problems are believed to stem from an infection on his shoulder that was left untreated. After a severe pain affected his arm for months, prison doctors raised the possibility he was suffering from cancer and transferred him to a medical center. There, doctors diagnosed him with a cancerous tumor in his shoulder and recommended an immediate transfer for specialized medical treatment.

A biopsy in June of 2018 confirmed that he has a rare form of cancer that causes bone tumors. But, authorities never allowed him to receive full treatment. His last visit to a hospital specialized medical practitioners was in September 2018.

Judiciary officials have disregarded medical advice and Sadeghis repeated requests for further treatment that recommends monthly hospital visits to check his tumor and stop its growth. He is now unable to move his right arm. As well, the infection on the spot of his surgery is getting worse every day.

His father, Hossein Sadeghi uses Twitter to express his concern, Arashs condition is getting worse every day, he tweets.

Sadeghi was sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Revolutionary Court in Tehran in 2016 for acting against national security, attending protests, defamation of the supreme leader, forming illegal groups, and propaganda against the regime. Previous to that, he had received a suspended 4-year jail term, which was added to the new conviction. His prison term now totals 19 years.

According to Sadeghi, the charges were fabricated by the judiciary and the Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee, his wife, has been also sentenced to six years in prison for writing an unpublished story about stoning. Sadeghi went on hunger strike for 71 days to protest her sentence in October 2016. This strike left him with several health complications.

Although Iraee was in the hospital and was unable to attend the trial, she and her husband, Sadeghi, were tried by Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court in May by Judge Abolqasem Salavati, who had refused to postpone the trial to hear her defense.

Even so, Branch 54 of the Appeals Court upheld the judges verdict of collusion against national security, propaganda against the state, spreading lies in cyberspace, and insulting the founder of the Islamic Republic [Khomeini] in March 2016.
Consumers have to brace for another oil price increase this week of as much as P0.60 per liter, the second consecutive weekly oil price increase to reflect the movement of world oil prices. Expect fuel prices to go up next week. Diesel should go up by P0.50 to P0.60 and Gasoline should go up by P0.40 to P0.50 per liter. Load up accordingly, Unioil Philippines said in its weekly advisory. READ: Unioil sets pump price hike at P0.90 per liter On February 12, the oil firms raised pump prices by P0.90 per liter for gasoline, P0.85 per liter for kerosene and P0.55 per liter for diesel. Last February 4 and 5, the oil companies cut pump prices by P0.60 per liter for gasoline, P0.35 per liter for diesel and P0.20 per liter for kerosene. Latest monitoring from the Department of Energy showed that year-to-date adjustments stand at a net increase of P1.50 per liter for gasoline, P1.55 per liter for kerosene and P2.45 per liter for diesel. READ: Oil price spurt sparks fears of inflation, call for pay hike According to DOE, oil prices went up last week after the United States imposed sanctions on state-owned Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, seen to reduce crude its exports. The US banned both Venezuelan crude exports to the US and US exports to Venezuela through the sanctions. Meanwhile, DOE monitored that French bank BNP Paribas expect the oil price to rise in the first-half on tightening supply conditions and anticipates to decline in the second-half on weakening economic activity and an increase in U.S. crude exports to international markets. World oil prices was also affected by the shutdown of oil refineries. Chinas state-owned Sinopec will be shutting its 160,000 b/d Luoyang refinery, in northern Henan province from April 20 for a 55-day maintenance. READ: Oil price hike set at P4.50
Line of Control

Sumeet Mehta

Pulwama Attack has again raised temperatures in India. We are again seeing kind of mass sentiments like the one after Parliament Attack and 26/11. People talking about war to teach Pakistan a lesson for sponsoring terror and using terror as a covert means of war against India is being discussed on social media. Media will not be left behind in discussing this.

There is a section of Indian society who would speak about Pakistan deploying tactical weapons to stop India. The word Nuclear Weapons and the scare around the same helps many peaceniks to deter us from thinking out of the box on how to counter Pakistans nuclear threat and debunk the same. Till India is unable to do that, Pakistan will always continue to use the same as a deterrent against us and ensure we never have an upper hand in the negotiations with Pakistan. To achieve meaningful dialogue with Pakistan, the first thing India will have to do is to debunk the perception that nuclear bombs can win wars.

Today, popular perception is that US won war because it nuked Japan. As per Ward Wilsons opinion in Foreign Policy Magazine dated 30th May, 2013, before US nuked Japan, US had run 66 sorties in Japan dropping around 4-5 kilotons of bombs, which means around 300 kilotons of explosives was dropped on 68 cities of Japan and nearly 26 cities were more devastated than Hiroshima. Many of these cities were burned down to the extent of more than 90%. Approximately 1.7 mn people were made homeless, 300,000 were killed, and 750,000 were wounded in 66 air raids with conventional bombs.

The Hiroshima bomb measured 16.5 kilotons and the Nagasaki bomb 20 kilotons aggregating to 36.5 kilotons or around 10% of total conventional bombing on Japan. Two nuclear bombs killed around 45,000 to 75,000 people in Hiroshima and other 20-20,000 to 40,000 in Nagasaki on the first day and other equal number of people in both the cities over the next two to three months. Total toll of Nuclear Bombs was less than number of people killed in sorties. Japan had already borne the brunt of conventional attacks and was unfazed. Here, it is important to mention that 9th and 10th March, 1945 air raids on Tokyo alone killed 120,000 people. This is to help readers compare the extent of devastation and deaths in Tokyo compared to Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Story continues

Then what turned the tables?

Joseph Stalin had agreed in the November 1943 Tehran Conference that the Soviet Union would enter the war against Japan after Germanys defeat. Stalin again conceded to requests of Allied Powers in the February 1945 Yalta Conference to enter Pacific Theater within three months of the end of the war in Europe. 8th August, 1945, was the turning point in the world history, when Soviet Union declared war on Japan, and invaded Manchuria and Sakhalin Island. According to Wilson, Japanese intelligence was predicting that U.S. forces might not invade for months. Soviet forces, on the other hand, could be in Japan proper in as little as 10 days. The Soviet invasion made a decision on ending the war extremely time sensitive.

In the meantime, US and Great Britain were holding trials against German officials for war crimes. If Japan would have got defeated and forced to surrender then the Japanese officials would also have to face the war crimes trials, like the Germans. To escape trials for war crimes committed by them, Japanese Emperor, Generals, Diplomats, Bureaucrats decided on an unconditional surrender to US and assist US in its propaganda that the Nuclear Bomb helped US defeat Japan and end the war. This also helped US in boosting its ego and project itself as a Global Super Power in the post World War II World Order.

The day this fact is instilled in minds of every Indian that Nuclear Bombs cannot win wars, views of 1.25 bn Indians would definitely change. 300 mn Pakistanis also need to understand that nukes cant win war. Once ordinary Pakistanis are made to understand that their Army and Jihadi-Talibani organisations jingoism about nuking India and winning a war is a pipe dream, a fallacy; then we will able to win negotiations with Pakistan.

There is no doubt that Nuclear Weapons have become more destructive and powerful since 1945. The extent of damage that Nuclear Bombs can inflict in 21st Century is many times more than Little Boy and Fat Boy put together. At the same time Pakistan has developed tactical nuclear weapons to stop Indian Armys approach whose impact wold be in very limited area. However, if Pakistan decides to go hammer and tong against India and use Nuclear Bombs against India, India would definitely have to face huge damage. However, it is also clear that once Pakistan initiates Nuclear War, India would be constrained to use Nuclear Weapons in retaliation. In such a case of a fully blown out nuclear war, 0.3 Mn Sq Miles Pakistan would not survive in comparison to 1.3 Mn Sq Miles of India land area. India will survive even after a multifold damage incurred by India in comparison to Pakistan.



CA Sumeet Mehta is a Chartered Accountant and Financial Consultant, author of Diagnosing GST for Doctors published by CNBC Books18 and commentator on economic and financial matters. He tweets from @sumeetnmehta
British and EU flags flutter outside the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Toby Melville

OSLO (Reuters) - Britain and the so-called EEA EFTA countries, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, have reached an agreement on citizens' rights should Britain leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement, Iceland's government said on Friday.

"The agreement protects the rights of EEA EFTA citizens living in the UK and British citizens living in the EEA EFTA states, providing certainty that they can continue to do so in the event of a no-deal Brexit," the Icelandic government said in a statement.

"This means that citizens' residence rights have been secured regardless of the outcome of the negotiations between the EU and the UK," Iceland, an EU outsider, said.

Norway's government said earlier on Friday that it had proposed legislation to secure the rights of Norwegians living in Britain and of Britons living in Norway in the case of a no-deal Brexit.

Britain and Norway agreed last year to apply the principles of a Brexit agreement in their bilateral relationship, but the new legislation will also cover a no-deal scenario.

"We hope Britain will have an orderly exit from the European Union. We must however be prepared for Britain choosing to leave the EU without a deal," Norway's Justice Minister Tor Mikkel Wara said in a statement.

Britain, the world's fifth-biggest economy, is due to leave the EU on March 29 but Prime Minister Theresa May wants more concessions from Brussels to rally her divided Conservative Party behind her exit plan, rejected by parliament last month.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik in Oslo and Teis Jensen in Copenhagen, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Catherine Evans)
Major Chitresh Bisht, who was killed while defusing a landmine along the LoC in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, 16 February, was all set to get married next month.

Major Bisht was leading a bomb disposal squad team for sanitisation when mines were detected on the track in Naushera sector on Saturday. The team defused one of the mines successfully but while neutralising another mine, the device got activated and the officer suffered fatal injuries.

As the news of Major Bisht's death spread on Saturday night, scores of relatives and acquaintances visited his house in Nehru Colony to express condolences.

Major Bishts marriage had been finalised and he was to come home on 28 February, sources close to the family said. The wedding was due on 7 March.

A picture of the wedding invitation.

Speaking to NDTV, Major Bishts father SS Bisht said, What an irony, he was supposed to come home for the wedding. Now we are waiting for his body.

Major Bisht's father is a retired policeman and his mother a homemaker. The family hails from Ranikhet in Almora district.

Also Read: Like You, I Am Also Feeling Angry: PM Modi on Pulwama Attack

Major Bishts father SS Bisht is a retired policeman and his mother a homemaker.

Major Bisht Laid to Rest With Full Honours

Major Bishts mortal remains were brought to Dehradun on Sunday, 17 February.

The last rites of the Major were performed with full military honours in Haridwar on Monday.

Remembering his son, Major Bishts father told Hindustan Times, Fearing for his safety, his mother and I had asked him to make some excuse and not take the posting as he was going to marry soon. But he refused and said he will take the posting.

A defence spokesman said Bisht was leading a bomb disposal squad and the team had defused one of the mines successfully but while neutralising another mine, the device was activated and the officer suffered fatal injuries.

Another solider was injured in the blast and was admitted to a hospital, the officials said.

"The officer was a brave and sincere soldier. The nation will always remain indebted to him for the supreme sacrifice and devotion to duty," the spokesman said.

Story continues

Earlier, the officials said the blast was caused by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) and was apparently planted by "enemy forces within Indian territory".

Also Read: Pulwama Attack: MHA Issues Advisory Over Security of Kashmiris

(With inputs from PTI, NDTV and Hindustan Times)

. Read more on India by The Quint.RSS & BJPs Nehru-Netaji Cosplay: Irony Dies a Thousand DeathsLatest News: RBI to Shift Interim Surplus of Rs 28,000 Cr to Govt . Read more on India by The Quint.
Filipinos should vote with discernment in the May 13 midterm elections and pick candidates who stand for human life, Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said Saturday. Pabillo said the people power and prayer power the participants displayed during the Walk for Life 2019 event in Quezon City would translate into vote power. One criteria we should have in choosing our candidates are persons who stand on solid principles, the bishop said on the sidelines of the Walk at the Quezon City Memorial Circle. Candidates who support the death penalty, the lowering of the minimum age of criminal liability, and those who are mere sycophants of those in power positions should not be elected, Pabillo pleaded with the public. The Catholic Church is not telling the people who to vote for, the bishop explained, but is only giving guidelines on the character and values of candidates who deserve Filipinos votes. Its not our place as a hierarchy to tell people who to vote. We only express the qualities we should look for in candidates. But the laity can put any name they want on the ballot. Its their responsibility, Pabillo said. The Walk for Life is an annual event spearheaded by the Catholic Church to remind the faithful of their duty to uphold and nurture life, which is being threatened by the creeping culture of death.Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle appealed to the public to promote life in his homily at the Eucharistic celebration during the event, saying it is a gift from God that must be protected. Tagle again condemned extrajudicial killings and reminded everyone to respect women who deliver life to this world. Pabillo added that President Rodrigo Duterte is gravely mistaken in assuming the Church is against the people in his administration. What the Church people are up against are the means by which the government implements its policies, the bishop said. He also denounced the Dutertes statement in a recent PDP-Laban political rally where he encouraged the crowd to rob bishops because they are rich and kill them if they resisted.
Bolton said that the US has been very clear on ending support to terrorist safe havens. (Reuters)

Standing with India in the wake of the Pulwama terror attack, US NSA John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Friday that America supports Indias right to self-defence against cross-border terrorism. Both countries vowed to work towards ensuring that Pakistan ceases to be a safe haven for Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and other terror groups.

Bolton telephoned his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval Friday morning to express the US condolences and outrage over the Pulwama attack by Pakistan-based terror group JeM and he offered all assistance to India to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.

Read: Prime accused in Pulwama attack: How and why Jaish-e-Mohammed is upping its deadly act

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured when a JeM suicide bomber rammed his vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district on Thursday, for which JeM has claimed responsibility.

John Bolton and Ajit Doval resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under the UN resolutions and remove all obstacles to designate JeM leader Masood Azhar as a global terrorist over the telephonic conversation, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

Also Read: Pulwama attack: How China blocked India from listing JeM chief Azhar as 'global terrorist'

Bolton said that the US has been very clear on ending support to terrorist safe havens. "We have been very clear on that score And, we are continuing to be in discussions with the Pakistanis," he added.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had earlier tweeted, "We stand with India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security."

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Thursday, "The White House calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence and terror in the region."

(With PTI inputs)




IceViking strongly condemns physical attacks and harassment directed towards them.





They are also often victims of the Islamic idea. This is true when it comes to the cruel and tragic treatment of Muslim women and children when it is in accord with the Koran, the example of Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia, which may be applied regardless of where a Muslim male may find himself in the world, whether in a Muslim or non-Muslim country.





However, in no way, shape or form should one judge all Muslim men because of what is in Islamic scripture and what constitutes the Islamic law, Sharia.





"Race", ethnicity or basically anything that you are "merely" born with should never be a basis for bigotry and discrimination.





Apostates from Islam have been executed for 1400 years in accord with the Koran and the words and actions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed and Islamic law, Sharia.





They should be lovingly helped.





Furthermore, approximately as many as 11,000,000 Muslims may have been killed by other Muslims since 1948.





To quote the website The Religion of Peace (TROP), edited by Glen Roberts:





While it may be safe to say that a true Muslim would not intentionally kill another true Muslim ( 4:92-93 ), the Quran places no such value on the life of a Muslim who is not true. Consider verse 9:73 :

Strive hard against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be harsh against them, their abode is Hell.

The Arabic for strive hard uses the same root as Jihad - and the context in this sura is holy war (see v. 86 and 91). Thus, there are two distinct classes of people that a true Muslim is to target with harshness: disbelievers and hypocrites.



A disbeliever obviously refers to a non-Muslim, so a "hypocrite" must be a Muslim of some sort. In fact, hypocrites are those who say they believe, but do not act as they should. In other words, they are "Muslims", but not true Muslims. They will go to hell just as unbelievers do, and so, according to the verse, their lives matter for naught.



The same sura says that a hypocrite can be recognized not just by lack of piety (reluctance to follow Sharia), but by fear of death ( 9:56 ), reluctance to fight ( 9:44-45 ) and even friendliness toward non-believers ( 9:67 ). A true Muslim would thus be a pious person who relishes martyrdom, is eager to fight, and shuns non-believers.



Even the Quranic passage that warns against killing "believers" ( 4:88-94 ) is more complicated than it first appears. It never says that a true Muslim is incapable of killing another Muslim, just that it should not be done. In fact, it makes exceptions for the unintentional killing of "believers" in war and mandates the killing of "hypocrites."



Verse 17:33 says, "Do not kill anyone which Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause" . The greatest cause of all is that Islam be superior ( 9:33 ), which is exactly what Islamic terrorists say is their goal. Thus believing Muslims are allowed to be collateral damage in the war on unbelievers.









There is sadly a phenomena that I`ve noticed in Sweden and elsewhere of people using true facts about Islamic doctrine and history as a cover for all sorts of irrational targeting of Muslims, ranging from xenophobia and racism to verbal abuse and physical attacks.





This is strongly condemned by this website and does not in any way serve serious criticism of orthodox Islam and other important work.





It`s also important that one tries to express oneself in a civilized way. Words matter.





In this bloggers humble opinion the root cause of the problem is the ancient doctrine of orthodox Islam.













In simple terms a non-Muslim is a Kafir.





" The Koran defines the kafir and kafir is not a neutral word. A kafir is not merely someone who does not agree with Islam, but a kafir is evil, disgusting, the lowest form of life."





An exact quote, as stated in the writings of Dr. Bill Warner in the article "Kafir" at http://www.politicalislam.com/kafir .





In the perfect Koran (Allah`s direct and literal word as revealed to Mohammed through the angel Jibril), Muslims are told 89 times to emulate Mohammed in all ways (see Koran 33:21 for instance).





Mohammed`s example, the Sunna, is found in the Hadith (stories of what Mohammed said and did) and the Sira (biographies of Mohammed).





Islamic law, Sharia , is directly derived from these unchanging scriptures. It is based on the Koran`s numerous commands to obey Allah and obey the Messenger, that is Mohammed (see Koran 4:59 for instance).









Islam is Sharia. Sharia is Islam.





It is a capital crime for Muslims to deny Sharia in any way.





A Muslim is someone who submits to Islam and submitting to Islam means obeying the Sharia of Allah.





Sharia law includes pronouncements for both Muslims and non-Muslims (Kafirs).









Islam is a "complete way of life", a "complete code of life", a "complete system of life".





Islam is not just a religion but also a comprehensive ideology.





Islam is a supremacist ideology.





Islam is a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology akin to Communism and Nazism.





Islam is a civilization.

Islamic law, Sharia, is a manual for a civilization.





Islamic law, Sharia, governs every aspect of life.

It has a say about every conceivable human act .





Non-Muslims are morally and legally inferior in Islam. Women are morally and legally inferior in Islam.

























The History of Jihad: From Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer is the first one-volume history of jihad in the English language and a great book on the topic.





Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Koran 9:111).





A hadith depicts a Muslim asking Muhammad: "Instruct me as to such a deed as equals Jihad (in reward)." Muhammad replied, "I do not find such a deed." (Bukhari 4.52.44)





Muhammad himself said:

I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah. (Sahih Muslim 30)









Freedom of speech, human rights, democracy, science and human lives are all at stake in the fight against the Islamic Jihad.




My names Will Capers. For almost nine years, Ive blogged on various topics. I blogged as Blaque Ink first, and as Brotha Wolf second. The latter had a mu...

1 year ago
Respect is a key word to consider as we mark Washington's Birthday on Monday.

It's a thing we afford to one another because it's a better way to live. Much can be accomplished just by taking the time to listen.

That's a trait shared by the man who still is the titleholder for the February three-day federal holiday, George Washington, and the president who guided the country through the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln. Washington's birthday is the 22nd, and Lincoln's is the 12th. The 22nd was made a national holiday in 1879. Changing observation the third Monday in February was OK'd by Congress in 1969 and enacted in 1971.

Illinois Rep. Robert McClory made a run at changing the holiday's name to Presidents Day in 1968. Legislators from Virginia, Washington's home state, rejected that proposal. But McClory did negotiate for the celebration day to fall between Lincoln's and Washington's birthday. The day has been informally called Presidents' Day, but the federal holiday remains Washington's Birthday. Even the official state holiday in Illinois is listed as Washington's Birthday (President's Day).

The two presidents whose February birthdays we're commemorating are celebrated in our history as men who played key roles in making the United States what it is today. Each president has made a contribution, each president has made at least one distinct statement that reflects on all of us in a positive manner.

A reason to commemorate Washington is in his perception of what the country could be and what his role in that should be. Elected without opposition for his first term, he carried every state for his second term. Considering he was given essentially unchecked power by the original Congress, Washington avoiding becoming a dictator, even a benevolent one, indicates his nature as a man and as a statesman.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Yet Washington also owned 300 slaves. He'd changed his opinion about slavery before his 1799 death at age 67. He ordered the slaves freed upon his wife's death.

He made his position on freedom of religion clear in 1790, when he sent a letter to the Jewish population of Newport, Rhode Island.

The three key paragraphs from Washington's letter say:

If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.

The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy  a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.

It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.

Annually, a synagogue in Newport re-reads the letter publicly. Washington's first-hand influence still lives on in the community and city more than two centuries after his death.

That's certainly a positive.

Why don't we use today as an opportunity to take a breath and think of something positive about our leaders. It doesn't matter whether you stand with them 100 percent or not. There's unquestionably something positive to be said about each of our 45 presidents. Find at least one of those positives, and ponder that.

Love 0 Funny 1 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Businesses, especially small businesses, are the backbone of our economy in Central Illinois and the rest of the state. Senate Bill 1 approved by the Illinois Senate and House proposes will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. This minimum wage increase does not help to recruit and retain existing business, nor enable them to create jobs, grow our economy and support our communities.

The Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce, as part of the Central Illinois Regional Chamber Legislative Efforts, asked our state representatives to consider the long-lasting effects of Senate Bill 1, and to attempt to mitigate the damage handed to our job creators and the businesses that build the heart of this state.

Chambers of Commerce comprising of communities, in Canton, Decatur, East Peoria, Galesburg, McLean County, Morton, Pekin, Peoria, Springfield, and Washington surveyed their membership and requested impact testimonials. With over 500 responses; 91 percent cite SB1 as a major concern to business operations. The top 4 impacts are:

1. 70 percent will raise prices to cover costs

2. 63 percent will reduce hours for employees

3. 62 percent will slow down hiring new positions

4. 48 percent will lay off employees

More significantly, 17 percent (approximately 85 businesses) will consider closing their business.

Locally, we heard from members that said:

We have six employees that would be raised to $15 an hour, this would be a $30,000 increase to our budget line. This does not include retirement, social security or impact to workmans compensation.

Minimum wage is a training wage, it is not supposed to be a living wage. A higher minimum wage will put people out of work because we will need to invest in automation to offset costs.

With todays technology more and more businesses can work from any state, I have 5 businesses I would consider moving them all.

Layoffs for certain and the regrettable inevitability of selling at a loss or closing the doors for a complete loss of life savings and 8 years of hard work.

Please for the love of small business, please dont pass this!

Rural markets, free enterprise, the constitution, Christ, and the right to operate your life without government intervention is being eroded at an exponential rate. It is time to stand against the people who are targeting those basic freedoms.

The Chamber is the voice of business  we are standing up for our members and advocating on their behalf. We are doing everything we can to have our our members voices heard.

Mirinda Rothrock is President of the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 1 Angry 0
HOFFMAN ESTATES  In some ways, the "new" Sears has a lot in common with the company that filed for bankruptcy protection in October.

Its largest shareholder is now its owner. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved a $5.2 billion bid by Sears Chairman Edward Lampert to buy the company through his hedge fund, ESL Investments, last week.

Plans outlined by ESL, including smaller stores and a focus on the retailer's strengths like appliances, sound like initiatives Sears has pitched before, as losses mounted in the years leading up to the company's bankruptcy.

But early attempts to put the strategy in place were hampered by Sears' past financial challenges, said Mohsin Meghji, Sears' chief restructuring officer and managing partner at M-III Partners, an advisory firm hired by Sears.

"It is a high-quality management team but all of their horsepower was largely focused around legacy issues related to contractual obligations, debt leverage and liquidity management," Meghji said.

"Is there a place for a niche, appliance-focused retailer called Sears? Sure. But it has to be executed really well, and previously it wasn't done as well as it could have been," he said.

Now, Hoffman Estates-based Sears has another chance, this time with healthier finances after shedding debt, pension obligations and unprofitable stores in bankruptcy.

"As we embark on this new chapter, we look forward to continuing to build meaningful relationships with our members and customers, who rely on us for our trusted brands, services and convenience," Sears said in a statement.

Experts who have watched the company's struggles say it still has a tough battle ahead.

"There is a viable path, but it's still a long shot," said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultant.

The new Sears will have 223 Sears and 202 Kmart stores, nearly half of which are in California, Florida, Pennsylvania, New York and Puerto Rico, according to court filings. That's down from 687 when the retailer sought bankruptcy protection four months ago and 1,672 stores in January 2016.

Closing locations that don't make money will help, but shrinking means giving up some of the economies of scale and power to negotiate with suppliers that bigger players enjoy, said Ray Wimer, assistant professor of retail practice at Syracuse University. Rivals like J.C. Penney and Kohl's have more than 860 and 1,100 stores, respectively.

But even a smaller Sears is big enough to get some of those benefits, said Paula Rosenblum, co-founder and managing partner of RSR Research, a retail technology research firm.

"Vendors still want to see a healthy Sears," Rosenblum said.

Lampert told The Wall Street Journal last week that he intends to sell or sublease some of Sears' remaining 425 stores. Some of those stores are not profitable, and in financial forecasts ESL said it expected to bring in about $200 million a year through real estate sales over the next three years, according to court filings.

That means Sears could close more stores, though it's also possible the company could continue leasing space in properties it sold or offset closures with new, smaller store openings.

In a business plan prepared as part of its proposal to buy the company, ESL said it sees an opportunity to invest in smaller stores like the new appliance-focused stores Sears opened in Texas, Colorado, Hawaii and Pennsylvania. Those stores are between 7,000 and 20,000 square feet, while a typical Sears averages 138,000 square feet. The smaller stores specialize in selling appliances, but customers can also order other Sears products.

While Sears rival J.C. Penney recently announced it would stop selling items like refrigerators, washers and dryers, the strategy makes sense for Sears, which customers still see as a destination for those goods, Johnson said. He thinks Sears has a shot to pull off a turnaround if it can scale back and focus on its strong suits, like selling appliances, tools, exercise equipment and mattresses and its home services business.

Rosenblum said that path would have been easier if Sears had acted sooner. It now faces competition from retailers like Home Depot and Lowe's, which have been attracting a growing share of consumers' appliance dollars. According to ESL's business plan, Sears is still the U.S.' third-largest appliance retailer, behind those chains.

"Do I want to buy a big-ticket item I know is going to last a long time from a company that I don't know is going to last a long time? That's the battle they're going to be fighting," Rosenblum said.

One of the most critical tasks the restructured company faces will be finding someone to lead it.

'Retail isn't for amateurs'

Lampert was Sears' CEO from 2013 until its bankruptcy filing in October. Since then, Chief Financial Officer Robert Riecker, Chief Digital Officer Leena Munjal and soft lines President Greg Ladley have collectively led the company.

ESL said it intends to conduct a search for a CEO "with a record of success in managing platform businesses and effectuating large-scale dynamic transformation" in a news release Monday.

That means someone other than Lampert, with strong merchandising and turnaround credentials, retail experts said.

"Retail isn't for amateurs," Rosenblum said. "To me, the best hope is he finds somebody he can bring in to run the chain, come up with a plan he can support and he gets out of the way."

Lampert told The Wall Street Journal he would remain Sears' chairman but intends to bring in a new CEO.

"For long-term success, they don't need a smart operator who can cut costs," Meghji said. "The key to is to find the right blend of marketing and merchandising skills. It needs to be somebody who knows how to connect with a group of customers who want a long-term relationship with the Sears ecosystem with both the retail network and the services platform."

Despite the uphill battle, "I wouldn't bet against these guys," Meghji said. "I think there is a big segment of America who would like to see Sears rise again."

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Sunday, Feb. 10

Hazardous weather continues in area

Wherever you're heading this morning, plan on it taking longer than usual to get there.

The National Weather Service at Lincoln has issued a winter weather advisory until noon for much of the region, including Decatur, and freezing rain is likely this morning.

It follows a predicted overnight frigid cocktail of minor snowfall and freezing rain and, even with ice accumulations not expected to top one-tenth of an inch, the weather service said it would be enough to make driving treacherous in places.

The Monday morning commute is what were focusing on right now, weather service meteorologist James Auten said. And even though any icing or any glaze will be less than a 10th of an inch, that could be enough for untreated surfaces to get slick and create an issue.

The weather service issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook warning covering the weather pattern which also alerted to a a final wave of wintry precipitation due to hit Central Illinois from Monday night into Tuesday.

Monday, Feb. 11

Blaze puts firefighters to test

All but one Decatur fire company responded to a Monday evening blaze that destroyed a multiple-story home on the city's west end, according to Fire Chief Jeff Abbott.

Abbott said firefighters were called to the home in the 500 block of West Wood Street between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

When the fire crews arrived, Abbott said, heavy flames and smoke were seen coming from the front of the structure.

The fire continued to spread throughout the house, which made it difficult for firefighters to extinguish from the inside, he said.

By 8:15 p.m., Abbott said ladder trucks had extinguished the main body of the fire and crews were waiting to see if any hotspots would develop.

Tuesday, Feb. 12

New look, new direction for Decatur schools

Middle school will look very different next year, with all Decatur Public Schools students housed in one building and given many more choices for elective courses.

The Decatur Board of Education on Tuesday night heard more details about the changes, which are expected to begin in August when Thomas Jefferson Middle School students join with those in the Stephen Decatur Middle School building off Mound Road. The merger is part of a wide-ranging facility plan that the board approved last fall as part of the district's five-year strategic plan.

The change also means that middle school students will have a wider variety of courses to choose from, much more like high school. Some of the proposed electives include art, concert band, public speaking and theater, coding, foods and fashion design.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Combining the middle schools is among the first changes in the strategic plan, which calls for a number of school buildings to be reconfigured. Some will close. Some will consolidate. Eventually all will be air-conditioned.

Wednesday, Feb. 13

Busy florists feeling the love

Valentines Day may only be one day a year, but local florists have been feeling the love since January.

The busiest time of the year for most flower shops requires weeks of preparation, as flowers have long been a staple for the romantic holiday. In the Victorian era, flowers were used to communicate nonverbal messages, symbolizing fertility, love, marriage and friendship, among other meanings.

Although other gifts, such as chocolates, jewelry and stuffed animals, have found their way into the hearts and hands of loved ones, flowers continue to be popular for Valentines Day.

Svendsen Florists, 2702 N Martin Luther King Jr. Dr., has sold flowers to Decatur residents since 1946. Current owner Johanne Maple has seen the growing stream of orders in recent weeks, starting in January, but the busiest time for the business began the week before the holiday. It increases as the time goes on, Maple said.

Thursday, Feb. 14

$15 minimum wage heads to governor's desk

Illinois legislators moved quickly Thursday to deliver one of new Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker's top campaign promises, a gradual hike in the statewide minimum wage from $8.25 to $15 an hour  more than double the pay floor that most of its Midwestern neighbors require.

The state House voted 69-41 to send the Senate-approved plan to Pritzker, who watched the roll call from the House floor. He'd urged lawmakers to send him the legislation before Wednesday, when he announces his first budget plan.

Republicans lashed out at Democrats for refusing to compromise and pushing too fast, particularly because the first wage increase wouldn't occur until January. Business groups have strongly opposed the increase.

The legislation, sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Will Guzzardi, would increase Illinois' minimum wage from $8.25 to $9.25 on Jan. 1; to $10 on July 1, 2020; and $1 each Jan. 1 until 2025.

Friday, Feb. 15

State: Burn down troubled Eagle Creek Resort

After 10 years of inaction about what to do with the Eagle Creek property, state officials' latest idea to deal with the former resort near Findlay is to torch it.

Shelby County Board Chairman Chairman Dave Cruitt announced at a board meeting this week that's what the Illinois Department of Natural Resources is considering.

Eagle Creek closed in 2009 due to financial turmoil and mold infestation, costing the area tourism dollars and jobs. Because the resort rarely had 50 percent occupancy when it was open, officials one time suggested that a new one be built on a smaller scale.

The state's long-running budget impasse and a short-handed IDNR staff have slowed the redevelopment movement. Since it closed in 2009, the building has been vacant.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
SULLIVAN  No one was injured Friday afternoon after a machinery fire at the Agri-Fab lawn care equipment company, according to the Sullivan Fire Protection District.

Firefighter and Paramedic Tyler Wright said crews were called to the factory, 303 W. Raymond St., at 12:50 p.m. The fire started after a dust collection machine threw a spark, he said, and the flames were contained within the machine.

Wright said the last fire crew left the scene at about 3:08 p.m. He said the Bethany and Lovington fire departments also responded to provide aid during the fire. Wright could not provide a damage estimate Friday afternoon.

First-shift workers at the Agri-Fab factory were sent home after the fire, Wright said.

Contact Kennedy Nolen at (217) 421-6985.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
MATTOON -- Google announced Friday morning that it will award an additional $250,000 Google grant to renovate office space at the Mattoon mall for a planned Cross County Innovation Center that will provide startup space for entrepreneurs.

On Feb. 7, the Innovation Center committee announced that the project had received a $75,000 grant from the Google.org Impact Challenge program and was among 10 nonprofit projects in Illinois in the running for the $250,000 grant. The winner of the larger grant was based on which project received the most votes online.

Several members of the Innovation Center committee were in attendance at the Google corporate campus in Chicago when the announcement was made about the Google.org Impact Challenge program grant.

Committee member Ed Dowd, who is executive director of the Mattoon Chamber of Commerce, said he was pleasantly surprised to hear that Mattoon's volunteer-based project had received the most votes of the more than 50,000 cast in this competition, which includes several large projects with paid staff in the Chicago area.

"We were up against several major organizations," Dowd said. He added that, "We are small, but we are mighty."

Innovation Center organizers held a Feb. 7 event at the Cross County Mall in Mattoon to announce that a statewide grant competition selected 10 Illinois nonprofits, including the Cross County project, with ideas to create economic opportunities in their communities.

The Mattoon in Motion community planning effort is behind the project. The center is one of Mattoon in Motion's economic development goals.

The Mattoon-based Rural King company, which owns the Cross County Mall, is donating space for the Innovation Center. Rural King has reported that the center will be located in approximately 6,000 square feet of office space on the north side of the Cross County Mall, just west of the entrance to the former Carson's store.

The center will serve as a mixed-use, co-working space for small businesses, startups and nonprofit organizations. Members of the Innovation Center will receive a variety of business support services. The space will also be the new home for the ClassE program that helps Coles County high school students learn how to become entrepreneurs.

Blake Pierce, director of real estate for Rural King, said Friday afternoon that the company will now finalize the design for the Innovation Center so that renovation work can begin there. He said the additional $250,000 in Google grant funding will enable the project to proceed quickly.

"Our goal is to have it open by August. That way when the ClassE program resumes in the fall, they will be able to utilize it," Pierce said.

Organizers have reported that the initial $75,000 grant will fund the first of three phases for the development of the Innovation Center.

The first phase will focus on retrofitting the space and updating the electrical, plumbing and communication lines. The second phase of the project will provide completed work spaces with finished interior design and is projected to cost approximately $250,000-$300,000. The third phase will include more community partnership for support services and operations.

Pierce said the Innovation Center committee wants to thank the many community members who cast their votes online for this project to be the recipient of the $250,000 grant.

"We are very appreciative of everyone who took the time to do that," Pierce said.

Contact Rob Stroud at (217) 238-6861. Follow him on Twitter: @TheRobStroud

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
In this file photo taken on March 11, 2013, then-US cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick arrives for a meeting on the eve of the start of a conclave at the Vatican. Pope Francis has defrocked McCarrick over accusations he sexually abused minors some 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said on Saturday. AFP

Vatican CityPope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal in a first for the Catholic Church over accusations American Theodore McCarrick sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said Saturday. McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vaticans College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse. He was found guilty in January by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with no further recourse, according to the statement.The announcement marks a spectacular fall from grace for the previously influential cardinal and comes ahead of a Vatican conference from February 21 to 24, bringing together bishops from around the world to discuss protecting children within the Church. Sex abuse scandals around the globe, and most recently in the United States and Chile, have shaken the church, with Pope Francis promising a policy of zero tolerance even for high-ranking church members.McCarrick, former archbishop emeritus of Washington, was barred from practicing as a priest in July last year, after which he resigned his honorary title of cardinal. He currently lives in Kansas. The Vatican in 2017 asked the New York archbishopric to investigate the powerful cardinal after a man accused McCarrick of having abused him in the 1970s. McCarrick was known for having sex with adult seminarians before he was accused of sexually abusing at least one teenager. Prosecutors in the US state of Pennsylvania last year found 300 priests were involved in child sexual abuse since the 1940s, crimes that were covered up by a string of bishops.
MACON  Kolby Pagel hadn't had much need for a coat and tie in eighth grade at Meridian Middle School until recently, when he and classmate Avril Morrell served as legislative pages for a day for state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet.

The dress code calls for coat and tie, so Kolby dutifully donned the required attire of the Capitol's public servants, but even Rose himself isn't a fan of ties.

The first thing he did when we got back to his office was take off his tie, said Shawn Conlin, who teaches seventh-and eighth-grade American history at the school and organizes the event for her students every year.

Conlin asks her eighth-grade students to write an essay on the topic of why they want to be a page for a day, and chooses the two students who have the most compelling reasons. Kolby and Avril said they are both considering a career in government.

Last year, I had two students who were pages for Rep. (Brad) Halbrook (R-Shelbyville), and this year I had students 'write a page to be a page,' Conlin said. These two students were chosen based on their desire and their interest.

Politics have always been interesting, and I wanted to get a closer look at the process, Avril said. If we were on the other side (the House), we would have done errands, but we hung out on the Senate floor, and we went to a press conference.

The pages on the Senate side instead spend time with their legislator, and he introduces them formally to the chamber. On this day, however, a news conference was called almost immediately after the Senate convened, so the Republican senators almost all attended it, and Rose took the youngsters along.

The Democrats decided to call a caucus, so actually they didn't get announced, and they didn't get in the (formal) record, and they didn't get to do anything. It was a neat experience for them, but they didn't really get the experience of being a page, Conlin said.

Kolby is considering a career either in sales or politics, he said.

I just like the way (politics) works, he said. Everyone has their own job, and everyone has to agree for something to work. It's interesting to me.

He liked Rose's work ethic, he said.

The news conference was interesting, Avril said, because she'd seen them on television. Rose spoke briefly. The topic was the redrawing of legislative district boundaries, and a bill is under consideration to leave that up to voters rather than legislators, Kolby said.

The students also met with Rep. Dan Caulkins, a Decatur Republican who was sworn in last month.

They each got the Illinois Blue Book with their names embossed on them, Conlin said. They were also given certificates and we met with Rep. Halbrook and they got to tour the Capitol building and the old Supreme Court chambers.

It wasn't what I expected, but it was better than I expected, Kolby said.

One of the things that struck Conlin last year was that during the session legislators are talking to each other and seemingly not paying attention as bills are being read.

You see on TV how they're always arguing, Avril said. They're all trying; it's just that it doesn't work sometimes.

Illinois State Scholars: Meridian High School

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982. Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0

Want to see more like this? Get our local education coverage delivered directly to your inbox. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Today's Highlight in History:

On Feb. 16, 1959, Fidel Castro became premier of Cuba a month and a-half after the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista.

On Feb. 16:

In 1804, Lt. Stephen Decatur led a successful raid into Tripoli Harbor to burn the U.S. Navy frigate Philadelphia, which had fallen into the hands of pirates during the First Barbary War.

In 1862, the Civil War Battle of Fort Donelson in Tennessee ended as some 12,000 Confederate soldiers surrendered; Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's victory earned him the moniker "Unconditional Surrender Grant."

In 1868, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was organized in New York City.

In 1945, American troops landed on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines during World War II.

In 1948, N-B-C T-V began airing its first nightly newscast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre," which consisted of Fox Movietone newsreels.

In 1961, the United States launched the Explorer 9 satellite.

In 1968, the nation's first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Alabama, as the speaker of the Alabama House, Rankin Fite, placed a call from the mayor's office in City Hall to a red telephone at the police station (also located in City Hall) that was answered by U.S. Rep. Tom Bevill.

In 1988, seven people were shot to death during an office rampage in Sunnyvale, California, by a man obsessed with a co-worker who was wounded in the attack. (The gunman is on death row.)

In 1996, eleven people were killed in a fiery collision between an Amtrak passenger train and a Maryland commuter train in Silver Spring, Md.

In 1998, a China Airlines Airbus A300 trying to land in fog near Taipei, Taiwan, crashed, killing all 196 people on board, plus seven on the ground.

In 2001, The United States and Britain staged air strikes against radar stations and air defense command centers in Iraq. President George W. Bush met with Mexican President Vicente Fox on the first foreign trip of Bush's presidency. Dr. William H. Masters, who with his partner and later wife Virginia Johnson, pioneered research in the field of human sexuality, died in Tucson, Ariz., at age 85.

In 2003, more than 100,000 people demonstrated in the streets of San Francisco to protest a possible U.S. invasion of Iraq.

In 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Tokyo to begin her first trip abroad as President Barack Obama's chief diplomat. The government of Pakistan agreed to implement Islamic law in the northwestern region of Malakand in an attempt to pacify a spreading Taliban insurgency. In Stamford, Conn., a 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk, severely mauling its owner's friend, Charla Nash; Travis was shot dead by police.

In 2014, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, during a visit to Indonesia, called climate change perhaps the "most fearsome" destructive weapon and mocked those who denied its existence or questioned its causes, comparing them to people who insist the earth is flat.

In 2018, in an indictment, special counsel Robert Mueller accused 13 Russians of an elaborate plot to disrupt the 2016 U.S. presidential election with a huge but hidden social media trolling campaign aimed in part at helping Donald Trump. The FBI said it had received a tip in January that the suspect in the Florida school shooting had a "desire to kill" and access to guns, but agents failed to investigate. President Donald Trump visited Florida, where he saw two survivors of the school shooting that left 17 people dead and thanked doctors and nurses who helped the wounded. Stocks closed out their strongest week in five years, and had recovered more than half of the losses from a plunge at the beginning of the month. Former presidential hopeful Mitt Romney officially launched his political comeback attempt, announcing that he was running for the Utah Senate seat that had been held by Republican Orrin Hatch, who chose not to seek re-election. (Romney would be elected in November, handily defeating Democrat Jenny Wilson.)

Thought for Today:

"There are two kinds of man: the ones who make history and the ones who endure it."

 Camilo Jose Cela, Nobel Prize-winning Spanish author (1916-2002)

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Trying to get ahead of an expected citizen-driven ballot initiative in 2020 to legalize recreational marijuana, a lawmaker is asking for the Legislature to study the issue.

In 2004 voters passed an initiative to allow medical marijuana in the state. In 2011 the Legislature put restrictions on the program, which drastically reduced the number of medical marijuana cardholders. The 2017 Legislature then enacted a tax on gross sales, as well as a seed-to-tracking system and limits on the number of plants and usable marijuana.

Sen. Diane Sands, a Democrat from Missoula, said the Legislature was caught unprepared to respond to a voter-passed medical marijuana program and she doesn't want to see that happen if voters pass a referendum allowing recreational marijuana in 2020.

"It gives us the opportunity to get ahead of an issue instead of waiting and reacting," Sands said. "I fully expect that legalization will be on the 2020 ballot by an initiative."

Voters can get initiatives on the ballot with signatures obtained from 5 percent of the total number of qualified voters in Montana, which must include 5 percent of voters in 34 House districts. That's meant to show broad support from around the state instead of gathering enough signatures in a few large cities.
County commission approval is nothing more than common sense law, Avon rancher Brian Quigley testified.

Nicole Rolf with the Montana Farm Bureau said that wild bison are a different sort of animal when it comes to impacts on the land and pose a greater threat to damage private property.

HB 332 saw opposition from multiple tribal and conservation groups as well as Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Opposition ranged from spiritual to legal concerns. The Montana Department of Livestock appeared only in an informational capacity.

Rick Kirn with the tribal council of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, called the bill another example of discriminatory legislation involving buffalo and tribes. He went on to say that HB 332 unconstitutionally delegates state authority over wildlife and attempts to usurp federal authority by defining tribal entities.

Ben Lamb, representing multiple conservation groups, testified that extensive public review occurs particularly in the case where bison may be moved. The law already dictates they be disease free, have a management plan and that public hearings take place in the local area before transfers.

This is not about local control, its just about control," he said.
For supporters of the plan to cut Rosebud Mine loose, Anne Hedges of the Montana Environmental Information Center cautioned that all the bills and permitting so far might not be a ruse. In 1997, Montana lawmakers voted to deregulate its utilities, only to find out later that Montana Power Company, a standard bearer for stability, planned to sell off its dams and power plants, including its share in Colstrip.

I worry about the implications of this bill. Maybe this is just a leveraging tool in the bankruptcy proceedings and the owners are trying to get a new contract with the Rosebud Mine. That is possible, Hedges said. It is quite possible this is just using legislation, which I think is inappropriate, to leverage an individual contract between two parties. That is possible. However, when we passed deregulation, nobody thought that Montana Power was going to sell all the generating assets either. What you are doing is allowing them to get coal elsewhere. Right now by law they're not allowed to do so. I think thats a bad deal.
A new Christian congregation is starting in Helena. Pastor Kelly Sloan of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ is starting a ministry to Lutherans and all people who are open to hearing God's word and working as God's hands in their everyday lives.

The LCMC is an international affiliation of congregations where the foundation of every congregation is a commitment to teach, hear and live by God's word.

Sloan holds a Master's in Divinity from Luther Theological Seminary, was ordained into the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is also certified for ordained ministry in LCMC. She also served multiple congregations in eastern Montana.

For more information about LCMC, go to www.lcmc.net.

Everyone, Lutheran or not, Christian or not, spiritual or not is invited to a free dinner, with vegetarian options available, and meeting from 5:30-7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21, at Covenant United Methodist Church, 2330 E. Broadway, across from St. Peter's Health emergency room entrance.

For more information, contact Kelly at pastorkellylcmc@yahoo.com.

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
"a tireless advocate for justice"

Grand Old Partisan honors William Scarborough, born in Georgia this day of 1852. His father was a free black and his mother a slave. Though against the law, his neighbors taught him to read and write. He attended Atlanta University and Oberlin College. While teaching at Wilberforce University near Dayton, he wrote a popular textbook, First Lessons in Greek. In 1908, trustees made him university president.

Scarborough was an Ohio Republican Party activist. He convinced the legislature to end racial segregation of public schools. Another of his successes was banning racial segregation of railroad cars. In 1921, President Warren Harding named him to a post at the Department of Agriculture.

Here is a Video Version of this article on YouTube: https://youtu.be/48sk5Z89GrY

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"
Quezon City topped the list of cities in Metro Manila with the highest number of individuals arrested for violating local ordinances since the government began in June 2018 the campaign against street bystanders or loiterers. Based on the latest accomplishment report from the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO), the number of arrest made in Metro Manila reached a total of 740,774 as of 5 am of Feb. 16, 2019. The Quezon City Police District (also known as Central Police District) recorded a total of 436, 578 apprehension since June 2018 followed by the Eastern Police District (EPD) with 139, 436 individuals arrested and Northern Police District (NPD) with 63,506 apprehensions. The eastern part of Metro Manila is composed of cities of San Juan, Marikina, Pasig, and Mandaluyong while the northern part is also known as the Camanava (Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela) area. Manila Police District (MPD), meanwhile, arrested 57,293 individuals while the Southern Police District (SPD) caught 43,961. The southern part composes the cities of Pasay, Paranaque, Las Pinas, Taguig and Muntinlupa, and the town of Pateros. Of the 740,774, a total of 180,203 persons were arrested for violating the smoking ban and 45, 262 for curfew hours and 40,523 for not wearing upper clothes. Also arrested were 34,968, most of them male, for drinking on the streets, the NCRPO reported. More than 108,000 of those arrested were formally charged in court while a total of 149, 892 were fined with corresponding penalties.President Rodrigo Duterte initiated the campaign in 2018 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. NCRPO 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, especially during this years May 13 midterm election period from January to June. Meanwhile, Eleazar had ordered the deployment of more than 14,000 personnel in Metro Manila in connection with the campaign period for senatorial candidates and partylist groups. We will also increase the frequency of checkpoints in the metropolis to help deter criminal minds in executing their evil designs. On the other hand, I have strict orders to our commanders in the field, to observe proper procedures and professionalism when conducting the checkpoints, he said. The NCRPO chief also urged the public to report discourteous and abusive police personnel.
You know who the Pinterest moms are. The ones who pack camera-ready lunches for their children with lovely handwritten notes. The parents who are ready and available for every volunteer activity and whose homes are the neighborhood clubhouse.

And then there is me. Im the mom who counts it as a victory if we leave the house each morning fed and wearing clean clothes.

So when my child was asked to dress like a 100-year-old man this week to celebrate the 100th day of school, I headed my Facebook page to gripe. Where did THIS made-up holiday come from?

Turns out, marking this special day of the school year has been around for a while. As the parent of a kindergarten student, I hadnt experienced this. But my friends with older children, as well as teachers and principals who responded to me on Twitter, shared their 100 Days experiences from around the country. Heres just a small sample:

It has been around for years. The 100 days fits into the understanding of numbers to 100 in Grade 1 - a major milestone in numeracy. Its old hat for school-folk, but new for parents with 6 yos! Last year, it fell on Feb. 14th which was also Ash Wednesday. #CathSchoolTrifecta -- Jennifer Speer (@myjennspeer) February 14, 2019

At our school k-2 celebrates the 100th day and 5th grade celebrates their 1000th day of school! We do STEM activities, exercises, and a parade! pic.twitter.com/xnUZvE8HWa -- Jennifer Campbell (@MissCampbell__) February 14, 2019

Pinterest is filled with pictures of cute costumed kids. A national party supply store in my neighborhood even had a display area of 100 Days themed gear"grandma and grandpa outfits, gray wigs, fake pipes, inflatable walkers, pencils and certificates. Clearly, I have been out of the loop.

100 Counts for a Lot in Math Education

So when did this start? David Barnes, an associate executive director for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, isnt exactly sure, but he suggests that it comes naturally when early-grade teachers start teaching about the calendar. That leads into counting days, which leads to the 100th day, he said. (For older students, many schools have also adopted activities around Pi Day, or March 14; the first three numbers of the geometric ratio are 3.14.)

Theres plenty of counting objects on the day and trying to make the number 100 concrete to young children, Barnes said. Its all meant to show that math is fun and enjoyable. But another element teachers can wrap in is not just counting to 100, but using 100 to talk about the importance of the math concept of place value. The number 1 with no zeroes represents a single object, but because of place value, when 1 is written with additional zeroes it describes a much larger number.

Talking and thinking about the importance of place value offers an additional experience beyond just counting objects, Barnes said. Kids could talk about what grade theyd be in on their 1,000th day of school. They could think about whether they would be in school for 10,000 days.

We want kids to enjoy math and to enjoy and think with numbers and realize that theres lots of questions you can ask about this, Barnes said. Theres a level of rigor and sensemaking that we would like kids to engage in with mathematics, so that its not just rote.

For more ideas, the organizations magazine, Teaching Children Mathematics, published an article, 100 Activities for the 100th Day.

So What About the Costumes?

For all the frivolity, the 100th day celebrations do have a problematic side. As a reporter who also writes about children with disabilities, I wasnt sure what to think about canes and walkers used as props.

It turns out I wasnt alone. Catherine Sears, a Virginia mother, was taken aback when she saw a young child in her sons school bent over and using a mock walker. Her infant son was born with a brain injury, and many children with similar injuries need a gait trainer for mobility when they get older.

I dont want to sound super uptight or anything, Sears said. She knows the activities are all meant in fun; her own son created a treasure box of 100 polished stones as part of the schools 100th day events.

But the dress-up aspect is based in the idea that young children wouldnt need the same mobility aids used by older people, and thats not the case. Its supposed to be cute to have a 6-year-old using a walker. Humor is when something is the opposite of what you expect it to be, she said.

But for the mom of a kid with a disability, assistive technology is not incongruous with childhood. Its what you expect.

Last year, three organizations that advocate for older adults drafted a letter for educators pointing out alternatives that can celebrate aging, not mock it. Among their ideas: invite an older person (even a 100-year-old, if they are in the community!) to the school to interact with students, or gather stories about elders or 100-year-olds from students families or from books.

This is something we talk about a lotare we being too sensitive? said Penny Cook, the executive director of Pioneer Network, an advocacy organization for providers of long-term care and other services for elders. But what about the other isms out there? To me, ageism is just one of the other isms.

In contrast, getting rid of the canes, hair curlers and fake wrinkles and choosing a more positive alternative can introduc[e] children to what aging is all about. They have the opportunity to see the wisdom that aging can bring, Cook said.

100 Days of School and Beyond

I confessed to Cook that for my son, I just went with the dress like youre 100 years old option. My sons school offered an alternativedress in your favorite clothing style in the past 100 yearsbut that seemed even more complicated. I sent my son off to school with plaid suspenders and a bow tie, drew in some wrinkles with a brow pencil, and added a generous dusting of baby powder to turn his hair white.

At the end of the day, he reported that he was one of the few people in his class who dressed for the occasion. And on the 100th day of school, I graduated to Pinterest Mom.
lalithaa6 wrote:



Thank you for your reply. I am a bit skeptical about SMU because it is ranked 45th. I am not sure if I should work for a year and then apply to universities. I have a job offer from Deloitte Global and my gmat score is 710( q-50 , v-36) . My GPA is 9/10( Bachelors in commerce). Since I have no work experience, I feel that I might have a hard time finding for a job in Singapore or any where else in the world.

Any advice/ experience would be appreciated hey D3N0 Thank you for your reply. I am a bit skeptical about SMU because it is ranked 45th. I am not sure if I should work for a year and then apply to universities. I have a job offer from Deloitte Global and my gmat score is 710( q-50 , v-36) . My GPA is 9/10( Bachelors in commerce). Since I have no work experience, I feel that I might have a hard time finding for a job in Singapore or any where else in the world.Any advice/ experience would be appreciated

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mind is Everything, What we Think we Become. Signature Read More

This is more of a personal choice.You can do two things:1) Join Finance Masters degree and then try there for placement. Yes having no experience might hurt your chances of job search but it won't stop you from getting a job if you do well at School.2) GMAT Score is valid for 5 years, so you can join Deloitte and work there for at least 3 years and, If you want, try improving your GMAT and then try for MBA from Good (Finance) Schools around the world.So finally it comes down to your choice how you want to shape it?Your GMAT and GPA is in good condition for some good schools out there for MBA you just need to build your work profile, in which Deloitte can certainly help you. with three years of experience, you will be more aware of the options you can choose which attract you. Its all up to you in this case.In case of SMU, yes it is ranked 45th but i heared it is good in finance. My Senior, which I mentioned, worked in IT for 2-3 years then completed his MBA from SMU. But I do not know much about how he got the job what I know is SMU is well appreciated in Singapore.I suggest you to search on linkedin some MAsters in Fiannce students from Both Schools and look at where they are from, what they are doing now, where are they now and what is their view about it?You can find few students here on GMATCLub too. just lookfor SMU Mfin section._________________
English French





PRESS RELEASE

15 February 2019

2018 annual results

Rebound confirmation: double-digit growth in EBITDA

Cash Flow ( ) largely positive

Excellent execution of the performance plan

2018 key figures Deployment of CAP 2030 EBITDA



15.3bn

+11.3% org.() Customers and services



Commercial innovations in France: " Vert Electrique " - strong acceleration with 210,000 customers

launch of " Digiwat t", a fully digital offer

launch of "Mon Chauffage durable" Services launch of the " IZI by EDF " private and professional services platform

targeted acquisitions: Aegis (United States) and Zephyro (Italy)

Plan lumieres 4.0: smart lighting contract on major roads in Wallonia, Belgium, managed by Citelum In Europe consolidation of the customer portfolio in Italy, good resilience in Belgium, difficult context in the United Kingdom Renewables



Growth of 14% of the Group's renewable output ( ) (17.2TWh)

1.6GW gross commissioned by EDF Renewables, of which 0.9GW solar power

New major developments in offshore wind power: commissioning of the Blyth Park in the United Kingdom (41.5MW)

acquisition of the NNG project (450MW) in Scotland

acquisition of rights for projects in the United States (potential 2.5GW in New Jersey and New York) Solar Plan : entering into exclusive negociations for the acquisition of Luxel group (~1GWc gross capacity)

Launch of the Storage Plan: 10GW target by 2035 Nuclear



Commissioning of the first EPR at Taishan, in China

Continuation of the HPC project and freeze of the final design

Flamanville 3: continuation of the action plan on the welding of the main secondary circuit

Successful integration of Framatome International development



Completion of the construction of the Sinop dam in Brazil (400MW)

Launch of the Nachtigal Dam Project in Cameroon (420MW)

Extension of the off-grid offer in Africa: Ghana, Togo, Kenya Net income excluding non-recurring items ()



2.5bn

-13.1% () Net income - Group share 1.2bn

-62.9% Dividend 2018 0.31/share Electricity Output

Nuclear France 393.2TWh

Nuclear United Kingdom 59.1TWh

Hydropower France 46.5TWh

EDF Renewables 15.2TWh +3.7%

-7.5%

+25.4%

+15.0% () CO 2 emissions at their lowest historic level



Group 57gCO 2 /kWh -30.5%

EDF SA 17gCO 2 /kWh -32.0% Rebound Confirmation



Double-digit growth in EBITDA ( 2 ) in line with targets

Nuclear output in France and renewable output up sharply

Continuation of the reduction of operating expenses ( ) : 962m at end 2018 vs. 2015

Cash flow target (1) exceeded Strengthened balance sheet



Finalisation of the disposal plan two years in advance

Refinancing of hybrid bonds and senior bond offering Control of net financial debt



33.4 billion, representing a net financial debt/EBITDA ratio of 2.2x 2019 targets()



EBITDA ( ) : 15.3 - 16.0bn

Decrease in Opex ( 7 ) : ~1.1bn vs. 2015

Cash flow excluding HPC and Linky: >0 2019-20 Ambitions(8) Total net investments ( ) excluding acquisitions and "2019-2020 Group disposals": ~15bn/year

2019-2020 Group disposals: 2bn to 3bn

Net financial debt/EBITDA ( 9 ) : < = 2.5x

Dividend: Payout ratio based on Net income excluding non-recurring items ( ): 45 - 50% French State committed to scrip for the balance of the 2018 dividend and dividends relating to FY2019 and FY2020

EDF's Board of Directors meeting on 14 February 2019, under the chairmanship of Jean-Bernard Levy, approved the consolidated financial statements at 31 December 2018.

Jean-Bernard Levy, EDF's Chairman and CEO, stated: "The rebound in our results in 2018 has occurred and is in line with our forecasts. We have achieved all our financial objectives and are exceeding all the targets of our performance plan. We have stabilised our net financial debt, strengthened our balance sheet, reached a record for generation in renewable energies, succeeded in overhauling the French nuclear sector and strengthened our supply business through several significant innovations. Our performance will not only continue but will be amplified in 2019. This is the result of the daily commitment of the Group's employees, mobilised in the deployment of the CAP 2030 strategy. With its dynamism, EDF will play a leading role in the implementation of the Multi-Year Energy Plan, which provides the Group with a clear framework and growth opportunities for the coming years. "

Change in EDF group's results

(in millions of Euros) 2017 () 2018 (5) Change

(%) Organic change (%) Sales 64,892 68,976 + 6.3 + 4.0 EBITDA 13,742 15,265 + 11.1 + 11.3 EBIT 5,637 5,282 - 6.3 Net income - Group share 3,173 1,177 - 62.9 Net income excluding non-recurring items (4) 2,820 2,452 - 13.1

Change in EDF group's EBITDA

(in millions of Euros) 2017 (12) 2018 Organic change (%) France - Generation and supply activities 4,896 6,327 + 29.2 France - Regulated activities 4,898 4,916 + 0.4 EDF Renewables 751 856 + 4.1 Dalkia 259 292 + 12.0 Framatome - 202 - United Kingdom 1,035 783 - 15.4 Italy 910 791 - 12.7 Other international 457 240 -3.1 Other activities 536 858 + 62.1 Total Group 13,742 15,265 + 11.3

The 2018 results confirm the expected rebound, mainly driven by the good performance of nuclear and hydropower output in France, the growth of EDF Renewables and EDF Trading's very strong results.

Marked rebound of the operating performance

Nuclear output in France amounted to 393.2TWh, an increase of 14.1TWh over 2017. This improvement can be explained by the fact that 2017 was heavily penalised by several reactor outages linked in particular to the manufacturing records of the Creusot plant, the "carbon segregation" issue, and the temporary shutdown of the four generation units of the Tricastin power plant.

Hydropower output in France amounted to 46.5TWh (), an increase of 25.4% (+9.4TWh) over 2017. After a very dry year in 2017, 2018 benefited from good hydropower conditions and an optimised availability of hydropower assets.

In the United Kingdom, nuclear output amounted to 59.1TWh, down 4.8TWh compared to 2017. This decrease can be explained in particular by the Hunterston B inspection and the extension of the Dungeness B outage.

EDF Renewables' production amounted to 15.2TWh, an organic increase of 15% compared to 2017 thanks to commissionings at the end of 2017.

In addition, EDF Trading achieved solid results by taking advantage of a context of favourable volatility in the commodities market.

Net income

The financial result corresponds to a financial expense of 4.8 billion, 2.6 billion more than in 2017. This evolution is primarily due to the change in the fair value of debt and equity on dedicated assets, which weighs on the financial result (application of IFRS 9 ()) because of unfavourable market conditions, especially at the end of the year. Conversely, in 2017 the Group realised significant capital gains within its dedicated asset portfolio. Moreover, the unwinding cost recorded in 2018 is greater than in 2017 due to a more pronounced decrease in the discount rate for nuclear provisions (20 basis points in 2018 compared to 10 in 2017).

Net current income excluding non-recurring items amounted to 2.5 billion in 2018, down 13.1% compared to 2017 due to the change in the financial result (excluding the fair value adjustment of financial assets).

Net income Group share amount to 1.2 billion in 2018, down 62.9%. In addition to the variation in the financial result, this decrease is explained by the positive effect of the capital gain recorded in 2017 for the sale of 49.9% of the Group's shareholdings in CTE (), without equivalent in 2018.

Excellent execution of the performance plan

The good execution of the performance plan was confirmed in 2018 with the surpassing of all targets:

Operating expenses ( ) were reduced by 256 million in 2018 compared to 2017, representing a cumulative reduction of 962 million between 2015 and 2018, exceeding the target of 800 million by the end of 2018 and positioning the Group on the right path to meet the 1.1 billion over 2015-2019 period.

The Group's plans to optimise the working-capital requirement delivered a cumulated optimisation of 2.1 billion over the period 2015-2018, which allowed to exceed the 1.8 billion target.

The 10 billion disposal plan was completed at the end of 2018, two years ahead of schedule.

Together with the capital increase carried out in 2017, the performance plan significantly strengthened the Group's balance sheet and contributed significantly to the success of Cap 2030 by allocating the necessary resources to the strategy.

Proposed dividend for 2018: 0.31 per share, corresponding to a payout ratio of 50%, with option of payment of the dividend balance in new shares

At its meeting on 14 February 2019, EDF's Board of Directors decided to propose to the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting, which will be convened to approve the financial statements for the fiscal year closing 31 December 2018 and which will take place on 16 May 2019, the payment of a dividend of 0.31 per share for 2018, corresponding to a payout ratio of 50% of net income excluding non-recurring items ( ).

When subtracting the interim dividend of 0.15 per share paid out in December 2018, the balance of the dividend to be paid out on the 2018 financial year comes to 0.16 per share for shares receiving the ordinary dividend and 0.191 per share for shares receiving the loyalty dividend.

Subject to approval at the Shareholders' Meeting, in accordance with Article L. 232-18 of the French Commercial Code and Article 25 of the Company's articles of association, EDF's Board of Directors decided on 14 February 2019 to offer each shareholder the option of being paid in new EDF stocks on the remaining dividend to be paid for the year ended 31 December 2018. In case the option is exercised, the new shares will be set at a price equal to 90% of the average of opening prices of the EDF share on the Euronext Paris regulated market over the twenty trading days preceding the day of the Shareholders' Meeting, reduced by the amount of the balance of the dividend to be paid for the 2018 financial year, rounded up to the nearest cent.

On 14 February 2019, EDF's Board of Directors set the terms of payment of the balance of the dividend for the 2018 financial year which will be submitted for approval during the Shareholders' Meeting:

ordinary and loyalty dividend ex-date on 22 May 2019;

exercise period for payment in new shares from 24 May to 10 June 2019;

payment date of the balance of the dividend and settlement/delivery of the shares on 18 June 2019.

If the shareholder does not exercise the option of payment in new shares between 24 May and 10 June, he or she will receive the balance of the dividend in cash on the date of its payment, i.e. 18 June 2019.

Cash flow and net financial debt

The positive cash flow target () for 2018 was largely achieved and amounted to 1,125 million. This performance reflects the rebound in activity, the control of investments and the positive contribution of the working-capital requirement.

Net investments, excluding Linky (), new developments () and excluding the Group assets disposal plan, amounted to 10,935 million, in line with expectations.

2018 also marks an acceleration of investments in the Linky program (3) and the Hinkley Point C project. Total net investments excluding the assets disposal plan amounted to 14 billion, down 2 billion from 2017, in line with the Framatome acquisition in 2017.

The disposals carried out in 2018 were lower than in 2017 (1,937 million in 2018, compared with 6,193 million in 2017).

Cash flow after net investments and changes in working-capital requirement amounted to 1,299 million, a decrease of 554 million, mainly due to the lower level of disposals in 2018 compared to 2017, and, to a lesser extent, to the smaller contribution of the change in the working-capital requirement. Group cash flow () amounted to -480 million, down 271 million.

31/12/2017 31/12/2018 Net financial debt () (in billions of euros) 33.0 33.4 Net financial debt/EBITDA 2.4x 2.2x

The Group's net financial debt reached 33.4 billion at the end of 2018, almost unchanged over one year. The ratio of net financial debt/EBITDA improves; it stood at 2.2x at 31 December 2018.

Main Group results by segment

France - Generation and supply activities





(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales ( ) 25,084 26,096 +4.0 EBITDA 4,896 6,327 +29.2

Sales in France - Generation and supply activities in 2018 amounted to 26,096 million, up +4.0% in organic terms compared to 2017.

EBITDA recorded an organic increase of 29.2% compared to 2017 to reach 6,327 million.

The increase in hydropower and nuclear power output had a very favourable impact on EBITDA estimated at +1,079 million. Better conditions on the wholesale markets also contributed an estimated +413 million improvement in EBITDA.

Conditions on the downstream market ( ) had a positive impact of +150 million compared to 2017, as favourable price developments on new market-price offers made up for the erosion of market shares (-13.1TWh).

Price developments and the end of the tariff adjustment component on regulated sales tariff level, excluding the Energy Savings Certificate component, led to an estimated -152 million decrease compared to 2017.

Under the EDF group's performance plan, operating expenses ( ) were reduced by 313 million (-3.5%) through the control of purchases and payroll costs. These measures are in application across all entities, notably in support functions and in the supply business, and reducing operating costs for the nuclear, hydropower and thermal power plant fleet.

A number of factors had a total effect of -372 million on EBITDA: principally the increase in value-added tax (CVAE), movements in provisions, and positive items that were recorded in 2017 and had no equivalent in 2018.

France - Regulated activities ( )





(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales ( ) 15,836 16,048 +1.3 EBITDA 4,898 4,916 +0.4

Sales in France - Regulated activities in 2018 amounted to 16,048 million, up +1.3% in organic terms compared to 2017.

EBITDA amounted to 4,916 million, up 0.4% in organic terms compared to 2017, driven by:

The positive impact of the TURPE 5 ( ) indexation for an estimated total of 68 million

Growth of the grid connection services activity (+37 million)

The reduction in operating expenses (+38 million) ( )

Going in the opposite direction, the unfavourable weather effect, the negative price effect on grid losses purchases, and making provision for the risk of changes in Enedis' and Electricite de Strasbourg's contributions to the Electricity Equalisation Fund for the period 2012-2018, had the combined effect of a

-125 million decrease in EBITDA.

Renewable energies

EDF Renewables

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales ( ) 1,280 1,505 +8.4 EBITDA 751 856 ( ) +4.1 of which EBITDA generation 741 903 +15.0

Sales in EDF Renewables in 2018 amounted to 1,505 million, up 8.4% in organic terms compared to 2017.

EBITDA amounted to 856 million, up 4.1% in organic terms compared to 2017.

EBITDA from generation recorded an organic increase of 15% to 903 million, underpinned by energy production levels of 15.2TWh in 2018. This was particularly attributable to facilities commissioned in late 2017, as sales of facilities (with change of control) took place in late 2018.

Development and Sales of Structured Assets made a lower contribution to EBITDA in 2018 than in 2017. Development and support function costs increased, in order to support business growth.

The gross capacities brought into operation by EDF Renewables during 2018 totalled 1.6GW, including 0.9GW for solar power. The net installed capacities at 31 December 2018 showed a year-on-year increase of 0.5GW to 8.3GW (12.9GW gross). The gross portfolio of projects under construction at 31 December 2018 amounted to 2.4GW, consisting of 1.2GW for wind power and 1.2GW for solar power.

Group Renewables (2),()

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Change (%) Organic change (%) Sales (1) 3,687 4,422 +20 +19 EBITDA 1,587 2,133 +34 +35 Net investments (1,458) (1,220) -16

EBITDA for all of Group Renewables amounted to 2,133 million in 2018, up 35% in organic growth thanks to a strong increase in hydropower output in France and the commissionings in 2017 in wind and solar. In terms of investments for 2018, notable acquisitions were made in offshore wind power (450MW offshore wind farm project in Scotland, acquisition of development rights in the United States) financed by the sale of a 49% minority interest in the Group's portfolio in the United Kingdom. In 2017, tne acquisition of Futuren amounted 281 million.

Energy services

Dalkia

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales ( ) 3,751 4,189 +8.5 EBITDA 259 292 +12.0

Sales in Dalkia in 2018 amounted to 4,189 million, up 8.5% in organic terms compared to 2017.

Dalkia's contribution to Group EBITDA for 2018 amounted to 292 million, reflecting organic growth of 12.0%. This increase takes into account difficulties encountered on a contract by one Dalkia subsidiary in 2017, which had no equivalent in 2018. Corrected for that factor, the organic growth in EBITDA is +1.3% driven by competitivity improvements resulting from the operating performance plan, and good control of overheads. Signatures and renewals of commercial contracts had a favourable effect on EBITDA, especially in the fields of energy efficiency and heat networks. However, Dalkia's EBITDA was adversely affected by maintenance operations at several important plants, poor weather, and unfavorable movements in prices.

Group Energy Services ( )

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Change (%) Organic change (%) Sales (1) 4,872 5,569 +14 +8 EBITDA 315 355 +13 +10 Net investments (576) (514) -11

EBITDA for Group Energy Services amounted to 355 million in 2018, up 10% in organic growth. This performance was mainly driven by Dalkia and to a lesser extent by the development of energy services in Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom. The change in net investments reflects in particular the acquisition of Imtech in the United Kingdom in 2017.

Framatome

(in millions of Euros) 2017 ( ) 2018 Sales ( ) - 3,313 EBITDA ( ) - 465 EBITDA EDF group contribution 202

Sales in Framatome in 2018 amounted to 3,313 million. A significant share of sales was realised with other entities of the Group.

Framatome's EBITDA was 465 million, including the margin realised with other EDF group entities. Framatome's contribution to Group EBITDA for 2018 stood at 202 million.

Framatome's EBITDA is supported by the implementation of the operating and structure costs reduction plan, in line with expectations. In 2018 it includes a non-recurring 42 million expense related to the revaluation of inventories undertaken in the context of Framatome's purchase price allocation.

Order intake stood at 3 billion (more than 60% from non-Group entities).

Framatome registered a good level of activity in the "Fuel business", with notable achievements in 2018 such as the delivery of the first batch of fuel cladding tubes for the Hualong-1 reactor at the Fuqing nuclear power plant. Framatome also won new contracts with Vattenfall for the delivery of fuel assembly reloads.

Thanks to the purchase of Schneider Electric's nuclear instrumentation and control (I&C) offering in North America in February 2018, Framatome is expanding its engineering expertise and broadening its portfolio of I&C solutions. It supplied a complete I&C system for unit 3 of the Tianwan nuclear power plant (a VVER type pressurized water reactor with a net installed capacity of 1,000MW). In Sweden, Framatome completed the successful commissioning of a safety I&C system upgrade for unit 3 of the Forsmark nuclear power plant

On the other hand, the "Installed Base business" has experienced a slight slowdown, in particular in the United States, in a highly competitive environment.

United Kingdom

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales ( ) 8,688 8,970 +3.9 EBITDA 1,035 783 -15.4

In the United Kingdom, sales amounted to 8,970 million in 2018, up 3.9% in organic terms.

EBITDA amounted to 783 million, down 15.4% in organic terms compared to 2017.

EBITDA in the United Kingdom was impacted by the downturn in nuclear power generation and the lower realised net prices for nuclear power, partly driven by buybacks in a context of higher wholesale power prices. Nuclear output for 2018 totalled 59.1TWh, down by 4.8TWh from 2017.

The supply activities benefited from increases in residential tariffs, although the residential customer portfolio showed a year-on-year decrease of -4.2% in a highly competitive environment.

Italy

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales (1) 7,722 8,507 +6.2 EBITDA 910 791 -12.7

In Italy, sales in 2018 reached 8,507 million, up 6.2% in organic terms from 2017. EBITDA recorded an organic decrease of 12.7% to 791 million.

In 2017, Italy's EBITDA benefited from the gain of around 100 million on the sale of Edison's Milan headquarters. After elimination of this non-recurring item, EBITDA was practically stable.

EBITDA for the electricity activities was up, essentially due to a good performance in hydropower generation and ancillary services. However, wind power generation was lower, in line with a negative price effect. The supply activity, which mainly concerns business customers, progressed despite lower margins in a more competitive market.

EBITDA for the gas activities was down, principally as a result of unfavourable prive effect that affected the margin on long-term contracts.

The exploration-production activity benefited from positive price and volume effects thanks to the rise in Brent oil prices and the commissioning of a new field in Algeria.

Other international

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales ( ) 3,166 2,411 +3.4 EBITDA 457 ( ) 240 -3.1

Sales in the Other international segment amounted to 2,411 million, up 3.4% in organic terms compared to 2017. EBITDA recorded an organic decrease of 3.1% to 240 million.

In Belgium, EBITDA showed an organic decrease of -8 million (-5.5%). The extended outages of 4 nuclear reactors partly owned by EDF Luminus and operated by Engie group penalised EBITDA by an estimated 76 million in 2018. Thermal generation partly counterbalanced this effect, and generation of renewable energy benefited from the increase in installed wind power capacities, which totalled 440MW at 31 December 2018 (up by +17% compared to 2017). Supply activities were still marked by the strongly competitive environment, but were benefiting from growth in service activities.

EBITDA in Brazil also showed an organic reduction (-46 million), principally due to the gas supply interruption lincked to transport capacity work, and scheduled outages in 2018 for major inspections at the EDF Norte Fluminense plant. These events made necessary significant purchases on the energy markets to cover the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at a time of rising market prices.

Other activities

(in millions of Euros) 2017 2018 Organic change (%) Sales (1) 2,475 2,601 +5.3 EBITDA 536 858 +62.1

Sales in Other activities amounted to 2,601 million, up 5.3% in organic terms over 2017. EBITDA recorded an organic increase of 62.1% to reach 858 million.

EBITDA at EDF Trading amounted to 633 million in 2018, an organic increase of 73.5% compared to 2017. This growth reflects the volatility in commodity markets which EDF Trading turned to its advantage, a positive weather effect, and occasional favourable tensions in the supply-demand balance in Europe and the United States. Activities related to LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) also contributed to this performance, thanks to rising demand in Asia and upward oil price trend until late September 2018.

EBITDA for the Other activities segment also benefited from a substantial capital gain on the final operation of the real estate sale programme initiated in 2015.

Main events ()

since the 2018 third quarter press release

Major Events

Group Renewables

EDF Renewables ()

EDF Renewables entered into exclusive talks with a view to acquire the Luxel group, a French solar energy specialist (see press release of 14 February 2019).

EDF Renewables and SITAC Group signed power purchase agreement covering 300MW of wind project in India (see press release of 4 February 2019).

EDF Renewables acquired Nebraska wind project (300MW) (see press release of 17 January 2019).

The EDF Renewables-Masdar consortium was awarded a 400MW wind project in Saudi Arabia (see press release of 11 January 2019).

EDF Renewables and Shell invested in New Jersey Offshore Wind (2,500MW) (see press release of 19 December 2018).

EDF Renewables signed a Power Purchase Agreement for an over 200 MW wind project in Canada (see press release of 18 December 2018).

Repowering: EDF Renewables commissioned a fully renewed wind farm in Germany (see press release of 11 December 2018).

EDF Renewables enters into an agreement with Shell Energy North America to supply 132MWp of solar power in California (see press release of 15 November 2018).

Hydropower

EDF, IFC and the Republic of Cameroon signed final and binding agreements for the construction of the Nachtigal hydroelectric dam in Cameroon (see press release of 8 November 2018). The financial closing occured on 24 December 2018. On this occasion, share ownership changed with the entry of Africa50 (15%) and STOA (10%). IFC now holds 20%, the Republic of Cameroon 15% and EDF continues to hold 40%.

Group Energy Services

EDF launched IZI by EDF, a new range of services to make EDF the partner of choice for peace of mind in French homes or small businesses (see press release of 7 February 2019).

The city of Nice (Cote d'Azur) selected two EDF group subsidiaries to expand its network of charging stations for electric vehicles (see press release of 21 November 2018).

Sowee & housing leaders are revolutionizing comfort and energy savings with an innovative and accessible connected solution (see press release of 21 November 2018).

Nuclear industry

Flamanville 3 EPR project: ASN will issue a statement in May concerning the validation programme on the welds in the main secondary system. A specific update on the progress of the work on the Flamanville EPR, in particular on its schedule and its construction cost, will be carried out after the publication of the the ASN's opinion. (see press release of 31 January 2019); the "hot tests" are now scheduled to commence during the second half of February 2019 (see press release of 21 January 2019).

The first of two EPR reactors at China's Taishan nuclear power plant entered into commercial operation

(see press release of 14 December 2018).

EDF and Nawah Energy Company signed an operations and maintenance assistance agreement for Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, United Arab Emirates (see press release of 22 November 2018).

Disposal plan

EDF sold a portfolio of more than 200 real estate and business assets to Colony Capital (see press release of 28 November 2018).

Financial structure

Other significant events

Philippe Sasseigne appointed Senior Executive in charge of Nuclear and Thermal. Etienne Dutheil appointed Director of Nuclear Production (see press release 8 February 2019).

EDF achieved a major milestone in the industrial implementation of ECOCOMBUST (see press release 28 January 2019).

EDF launched Mon chauffage durable ("My sustainable heating"), a complete offer for the replacement of oil, gas or coal boilers with heat pumps, in order to reduce French energy bills and CO2 emissions (see press release of 24 January 2019).

Europe's major Green Bond Issuers launched the Corporate Forum on Sustainable Finance (see press release 15 January 2019).

EDF launched an exceptional offer to help French people replace their oil-fired boilers with heat pumps (see press release of 6 December 2018).

EDF announced the successful syndication of an innovative ESG-Indexed Revolving Credit Facility (see press release 27 November 2018).

APPENDICES :

Consolidated income statement





(in millions of euros) 2018 2017 restated ( ) Sales 68,976 64,892 Fuel and energy purchases (33,012) (32,901) Other external expenses (9,364) (8,739) Personnel expenses (13,690) (12,456) Taxes other than income taxes (3,697) (3,541) Other operating income and expenses 6,052 6,487 Operating profit before depreciation and amortisation 15,265 13,742 Net changes in fair value on Energy and Commodity derivatives, excluding trading activities (224) (355) Net depreciation and amortisation (9,006) (8,537) Net increases in provisions for renewal of property, plant and equipment operated under concessions (50) (58) (Impairment)/reversals (598) (518) Other income and expenses (105) 1,363 Operating profit 5,282 5,637 Cost of gross financial indebtedness (1,716) (1,778) Discount effect (3,486) (2,959) Other financial income and expenses 393 2,501 Financial result (4,809) (2,236) Income before taxes of consolidated companies 473 3,401 Income taxes 149 (147) Share in net income of associates and joint ventures 569 35 CONSOLIDATED NET INCOME 1,191 3,289 EDF net income 1,177 3,173 Net income attributable to non-controlling interests 14 116 Earnings per share (EDF share) in euros: Earnings per share 0.20 0.98 Diluted earnings per share 0.20 0.98

Consolidated balance sheet





ASSETS

(in millions of euros) 31/12/2018 31/12/17

restated ( ) Goodwill 10,195 10,036 Other intangible assets 9,918 8,896 Property, plant and equipment operated under French public electricity distribution concessions 56,515 54,739 Property, plant and equipment operated under concessions for other activities 7,339 7,607 Property, plant and equipment used in generation and other tangible assets owned by the Group 78,252 75,622 Investments in associates and joint ventures 8,287 7,249 Non-current financial assets 37,104 36,787 Other non-current receivables 1,796 2,168 Deferred tax assets 978 1,220 Non-current assets 210,384 204,324 Inventories 14,227 14,138 Trade receivables 15,910 16,843 Current financial assets 31,143 24,953 Current tax assets 869 673 Other current receivables 7,346 7,219 Cash and cash equivalents 3,290 3,692 Current assets 72,785 67,518 Assets classified as held for sale - - TOTAL ASSETS 283,169 271,842

EQUITY AND LIABILITIES

(in millions of euros) 31/12/2018 31/12/17

restated ( ) Capital 1,505 1,464 EDF net income and consolidated reserves 42,964 39,893 Equity (EDF share) 44,469 41,357 Equity (non-controlling interests) 8,177 7,341 Total equity 52,646 48,698 Provisions related to nuclear generation - back-end of the nuclear cycle, plant decommissioning and last cores 49,204 46,410 Other provisions for decommissioning 2,033 1,977 Provisions for employee benefits 17,627 20,630 Other provisions 2,908 2,356 Non-current provisions 71,772 71,373 Special French public electricity distribution concession liabilities 46,924 46,323 Non-current financial liabilities 52,129 51,365 Other non-current liabilities 4,896 4,864 Deferred tax liabilities 1,987 2,362 Non-current liabilities 177,708 176,287 Current provisions 6,010 5,484 Trade payables 13,421 13,994 Current financial liabilities 17,167 11,142 Current tax liabilities 205 187 Other current liabilities 16,012 16,050 Current liabilities 52,815 46,857 Liabilities related to assets classified as held for sale - - TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 283,169 271,842

Consolidated cash flow statement

(in millions of euros) 2018 2017 Operating activities: Income before taxes of consolidated companies 473 3,401 Impairment/(reversals) 598 518 Accumulated depreciation and amortisation, provisions and changes in fair value 13,180 9,980 Financial income and expenses 729 764 Dividends received from associates and joint ventures 387 243 Capital gains/losses (1,014) (2,739) Change in working capital 462 1,476 Net cash flow from operations 14,815 13,643 Net financial expenses disbursed (1,062) (1,209) Income taxes paid (389) (771) Net cash flow from operating activities 13,364 11,663



Investing activities: Acquisitions of equity investments, net of cash acquired (484) (2,463) Disposals of equity investments, net of cash transferred () 1,261 2,472 Investments in intangible assets and property, plant and equipment (16,186) (14,747) Net proceeds from sale of intangible assets and property, plant and equipment 611 1,140 Changes in financial assets (2,367) 1,885 Net cash flow used in investing activities (17,165) (11,713)



Financing activities: EDF capital increase - 4,005 Transactions with non-controlling interests ( ) 1,548 481 Dividends paid by parent company (511) (109) Dividends paid to non-controlling interests (183) (183) Purchases/sales of treasury shares (3) (6) Cash flows with shareholders 851 4,188 Issuance of borrowings 5,711 2,901 Repayment of borrowings (2,844) (6,304) Issuance of perpetual subordinated bonds 1,243 - Redemptions of perpetual subordinated bonds (1,329) - Payments to bearers of perpetual subordinated bonds (584) (565) Funding contributions received for assets operated under concessions 131 144 Investment subsidies 351 348 Other cash flows from financing activities 2,679 (3,476) Net cash flow from financing activities 3,530 712 Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (271) 662

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS - OPENING BALANCE 3,692 2,893 Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents (271) 662 Effect of currency fluctuations (95) (13) Financial income on cash and cash equivalents 13 21 Effect of reclassifications (49) 129 CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS - CLOSING BALANCE 3,290 3,692

A key player in energy transition, the EDF Group is an integrated electricity company, active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading, energy services. A global leader in low-carbon energies, the Group has developed adiversified generation mix based on nuclear power, hydropower, new renewable energies and thermal energy. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 39.8 million customers (1), 29.7 million of which are in France. It generated consolidated sales of 70 billion in 2017. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange.

The customers were counted at the end of 2018 per delivery site; a customer can have two delivery points: one for electricity and another for gas.

Disclaimer

This presentation does not constitute an offer to sell securities in the United States or any other jurisdiction.

No reliance should be placed on the accuracy, completeness or correctness of the information or opinions contained in this presentation, and none of EDF representatives shall bear any liability for any loss arising from any use of this presentation or its contents.

The present document may contain forward-looking statements and targets concerning the Group's strategy, financial position or results. EDF considers that these forward-looking statements and targets are based on reasonable assumptions as of the present document publication, which can be however inaccurate and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. There is no assurance that expected events will occur and that expected results will actually be achieved. Important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Group to differ materially from those contemplated in this document include in particular the successful implementation of EDF strategic, financial and operational initiatives based on its current business model as an integrated operator, changes in the competitive and regulatory framework of the energy markets, as well as risk and uncertainties relating to the Group's activities, its international scope, the climatic environment, the volatility of raw materials prices and currency exchange rates, technological changes, and changes in the economy.

Detailed information regarding these uncertainties and potential risks are available in the reference document (Document de reference) of EDF filed with the Autorite des marches financiers on 15 March 2018, which is available on the AMF's website at www.amf-france.org and on EDF's website at www.edf.fr.

EDF does not undertake nor does it have any obligation to update forward-looking information contained in this presentation to reflect any unexpected events or circumstances arising after the date of this presentation.

This press release is certified. You can check that it's genuine at medias.edf.com

Only print what you need.











EDF SA

22-30, avenue de Wagram

75382 Paris cedex 08

Capital de 1 505 133 838 euros

552 081 317 R.C.S. Paris







www.edf.fr



CONTACTS







Press: +33(0) 1 40 42 46 37







Analysts and investors: +33(0) 1 40 42 40 38







([1]) After deduction of pumped-storage hydropower volumes, hydropower production stood at 39.2TWh for 2018 (30.0TWh for 2017). ([2]) As of 1 January 2018, IFRS 9 is applied without restatement of the previous year. ([3]) Capital gain before taxes; CTE, which holds 100% of RTE shares. ([4]) Sum of personnel expenses and other external expenses. At comparable consolidation scope and exchange rates. At constant pension discount rates. Excluding change in operating expenses of the service activities. ([5]) Adjusted for interest payments on hybrid issues booked in equity. ([6]) Before Linky, new developments and disposal plan. ([7]) Linky is a project led by Enedis, an independent EDF subsidiary as defined in the French Energy Code. ([8]) New developments: in particular the UK NNB projects, offshore wind power in France. ([9]) Cash flow after dividends without taking into consideration the capital increase. ([10]) Net financial debt is not defined by accounting standards and is not directly visible in the Group's consolidated income statement. It comprises total loans and financial liabilities, less cash and cash equivalents and liquid assets. Liquid assets are financial assets consisting of funds or securities with initial maturity of over three months that are readily convertible into cash and are managed according to a liquidity-oriented policy. ([11]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([12]) Excluding the Energy Savings Certificate component of market-price offers. ([13]) Sum of personnel expenses and other external expenses. Based on comparable scope and exchange rates and constant discount rates for pensions. Excluding changes in operating expenses of the service activities. ([14]) Regulated activities include Enedis, eS and island activities. ([15]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations ([16]) Indexed adjustment of the TURPE 5 distribution tariff: + 2.71% at 1 August 2017 and -0.21% at 1 August 2018; indexed adjustment of the TURPE 5 transmission tariff: +6.76% at 1 August 2017 and +3.0% at 1 August 2018. ([17]) Sum of personnel expenses and other external expenses. Based on comparable scope and exchange rates and constant discount rates for pensions. Excluding changes in operating expenses of the service activities. ([18]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([19]) In 2018, significate sale of 49% minority stake in twenty-four of its UK wind farms. This operation has no impact on EBITDA as EDF Renewables retains control of the operations concerned. ([20]) For the renewable energy generation optimized within a larger portfolio of generation assets, in particular relating to the French hydro fleet after deduction of pumped volumes, sales and EBITDA are estimated, by convention, as the valuation of the output generated at spot market prices (or at purchase obligation tariff) without taking into account hedging effects, and include the valuation of the capacity, if applicable. ([21]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([22]) Group Energy Services include Dalkia; Citelum, CHAM and service activities of EDF Energy, Edison, EDF Luminus and EDF SA. They consist in particular of street lighting, heating networks, decentralised low-carbon generation based on local resources, energy consumption management and electric mobility. ([23]) Framatome has been included in the consolidation since 31 December 2017. ([24]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([25]) Breakdown of EBITDA across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([26]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([27]) Breakdown of sales across the segments, before inter-segment eliminations. ([28]) 2017 data, including EDF Polska's sales in Poland for an EBITDA of 133 million, sold on 13 November 2017. ([29]) A full list of press releases is available on EDF's website www.edf.fr ([30]) A full list of EDF Renewables' press releases is available on the website www.edf-renouvelables.com ([31]) The comparative figures at 31 December 2017 have been restated according to IFRS 15. For IFRS 9, applicable from 1 January 2018, the comparative figures have not been restated, as allowed by the standard's transition measures. ([32]) The comparative figures at 31 December 2017 have been restated according to IFRS 15. ([33]) The comparative figures at 31 December 2017 have been restated according to IFRS 15. ([34]) In 2018, this item includes an amount of 966 million relating to the sale of Dunkerque LNG. In 2017, this item includes an amount of 1,282 million relating to the partial sale of the CTE. ([35]) Contributions via capital increases or capital reductions and acquisitions of additional interests or disposals of interests in controlled companies. In 2018, this item includes an amount of 797 million relating to the sale of 49% of EDF Renewables' wind farms, and an amount of 743 million relating to CGN's payment for the NNB Holding Ltd. and Sizewell C Holding Co capital increases (501 million at 31 December 2017).
Dublin, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Outlook to 2022 - By Sea, Air and Road Freight Movement; By International and Domestic Freight; By Express and Normal Delivery; By Flow Corridors and By End Users (Oil and Gas, FMCG, Construction and Others)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The growth of freight forwarding in Kuwait was supported by development in major industries such as oil and gas, manufacturing, retail, wholesale, construction, agriculture and mining. Expanding FMCG sector, retail sector, food and E-commerce industry in the country has attributed to the growth of the freight forwarding industry in the country. The Kuwait market witnessed the entry of many foreign players as flexible policies were introduced by the government to boost the economic growth of the country. Entry of new players has further aided the demand in the freight forwarding market.



Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation

By Freight Movement

Sea (Inland Waterway and maritime) dominated in freight movement in freight forwarding market in 2017 due to major cargo transportation taking place through ocean such as oil and gas. The port of Shuwaikh is the major port used for sea freight and generates highest cargo volume.



Sea is favorable for shipments which have heavy items involving a longer transit time and is a safe means of transporting goods at a reasonable cost. The majority of the industries have been majorly operating near to Shuwaikh port which further drives the demand for industrial freight cargo in the country.



Air contributed second highest revenue share to the freight forwarding market majorly driven by the express shipments in the country. The international shipments also attributed to the freight movement through air. E-commerce market has driven the air freight market in the country. On the other hand, road contributed the least share and is generally used for the domestic shipments.



By Mode of Freight

International freight forwarding dominated the freight forwarding industry in Kuwait owing to the free trade agreements of GCC with European Free Trade Association and Trade and Agreement Framework Agreement with the US. Moreover, Kuwait has signed bilateral investment agreements with nations including Austria, Belarus, China, Croatia, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India and others which further boosted international freight forwarding sector. The freight movements prevalent in the international freight forwarding include air and sea for the products and services to be transferred internationally.



By Type of Delivery

Express delivery shipments are time sensitive and the cost is generally higher than the normal delivery. Commercial documents, transport documents, financial documents and government documents involved in international trade such as quotations, sales contract, shipping order, doc receipt and other bills of exchange were observed to be generally traded through express delivery shipment in Kuwait.



By Flow Corridors

Asia flow corridor is the largest contributor in terms of revenue in the freight forwarding market. This growth has been attributed on the account of strategic location and trade strategy of various companies trying to expand their operations in other Asia Pacific countries. It was followed by Europe, North America, GCC and other flow corridors.



By End-User

Oil and Gas industry dominated the end user segment in Kuwait freight forwarding market. Kuwait has been a major supplier and member in the OPEC group. Oil comprises approximately half of Kuwait's GDP. This positively increases the revenue contribution of oil and gas industry in Kuwait freight forwarding market, due to rise in export of crude oil has significantly drive the demand for sea freight and domestic freight in Kuwait. On the other hand, FMCG sector is the second largest end user segment in Kuwait freight forwarding market as Kuwait largely relies on importing goods from other countries rather than manufacturing which automatically increases the use of air and sea freight to import majority of the products from other countries.



Competitive Landscape

The freight forwarding industry in the country is moderately fragmented with the presence of both domestic and international players in the industry. Companies in the Kuwait have been focusing towards providing data oriented solutions and other services for operational excellence, timely customer support and the effective adherence of the consumers' expectations, thus providing customer satisfaction and retain customers.



Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Future Outlook and Projections

Kuwait will witness construction of many new roads and bridges which will aid against the traffic congestion problem in the country and positively affect the trucking industry, hence aiding the domestic logistics. The freight forwarding industry in the Kuwait will continue to dominate the overall logistics market in the coming years. The government of Kuwait has allocated USD 80 billion budget in the year 2015 for construction and transportation project in the country which will in future aid the cargo transportation industry.



Key Topics Covered:



1. Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Executive Summary



2. Research Methodology

Market Definitions

Abbreviations

Consolidated Research Approach

Variables (Dependent and Independent)

Correlation Matrix

Regression Matrix

Limitations and Conclusion

3. Kuwait Freight Forwarding Ecosystem

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Ecosystem - Supplier Side

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Ecosystem - Demand Side

4. Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Timeline and Overview



5. Kuwait Freight Forwarding Volume Handled

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Volume Handled - Sea

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Volume Handled - Air

6. Market Size

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Size, 2012-2017

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation by Freight Movement, 2017

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation by International and Domestic Freight Forwarding, 2017

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation by Type of Delivery, 2017

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation by Flow Corridor, 2017

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation by International and Domestic Companies, 2017

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market Segmentation by End Users, 2017

7. Trends and Developments in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Industry Activities

8. Issues and Challenges in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market



9. SWOT Analysis for Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market



10. Government Role in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market

Government Role in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market - Customs Clearance Process

Government Role in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market - Documentary Requirements for Customs

Government Role in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market - For Vehicles

Government Regulations in Freight Forwarding Market for Food Items

11. Competitive Scenario of Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market

Freight Forwarding Companies Operation in Kuwait

12. Directory of Major Players in Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market



13. Profiles of Major Freight Forwarding Companies

DHL Kuwait

ARAMEX Kuwait

Dolphin Shipping & Logistics

Leaders International Shipping

Enkay Express

Agility Kuwait

KGL Logistics Kuwait

CEVA Logistics

GAC Logistics

Hellmann Kuwait

UAGSCO Shipping & Logistics

Other Company Profiles

14. Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market - Future Outlook and Projections, 2017-2022

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market - Future Segmentation by End User and Type of Delivery, 2022

Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market- Future Segmentation by Freight Movement and International and Domestic Freight, 2022

15. Kuwait Freight Forwarding Market - Analyst Recommendations

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/4f4tdd/kuwait_freight?w=12

Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research.
Although the suit is dated in November 2018, it apparently was not filed until last week.

The courts will have to decide whos right and whos wrong, but the scenario is similar to a suit G8 filed against the city of Vista, California, for breach of contract a few years ago. That claim is still in litigation.

In the whirlwind of activities, despite rumors to the contrary, G8s is the only lawsuit pending against the city for its River City Renaissance Project.

I came across the lawsuit as I tried to find answers to many questions the public has been asking about the project. Here are some of those answers.

 Although the city does not own the former JC Penney building on which it broke ground last week for the ice arena, it has a lease agreement with the mall owner that covers the demolition. By having the mall own the property, the city will be able to receive tax revenue from it.

 Though a development agreement has not yet been signed with Gatehouse Capital (the biggest wobble in the house of cards), the IEDA required that some work begin on the project to keep it eligible for the state funds. City officials are confident the development agreement will be in place soon.
New state laws may be helping to drive down opioid-related deaths in Iowa, but another public health threat looms, and one key state lawmaker is trying to help head it off.

Iowa is at risk for an HIV outbreak, according to state and federal health data indicators.

And one way to prevent such an outbreak, health care experts and advocates say, is to create a state program that offers free syringes to intravenous drug users.

Such programs are often called needle-sharing, and 37 states have them. Iowa does not.

Brad Zaun, a Republican Iowa Senator from the Des Moines suburb of Urbandale, has for the second consecutive year introduced legislation that would create a needle-sharing program in Iowa.

Were talking about the spread of disease, Zaun said. Theres certainly been other states that have done this and it has significantly decreased the spread of disease. So Im on the policy side of this. Of course, it takes money as well.

The state public health department recently published a report that said preliminary 2018 data indicates opioid-related deaths are falling in Iowa after more than tripling between 2005 and 2017.

The department said recently added state laws may be helping. Among other steps taken, the state in recent years has expanded the availability of naloxone, which is used to counter an opioid overdose, and required physicians and pharmacists to use a state database for opioid prescriptions in order to prevent individuals from collecting opioid painkillers from multiple providers.

Were very excited by the positive changes weve seen occur in the state, but (the state public health department) cant take all of the credit. These changes would not have been possible if it were not for the dedicated providers, communities and coalitions that recognized a need and made change happen, DeAnn Decker, with the state public health department, said in a news release.

But with one public health issue seemingly on the mend, Zaun and advocates are turning their focus to possible ways to help prevent another, which may be related.

The state public health department in 2017 determined Iowa is at risk for an HIV outbreak related to injection drug use. The concern stems from a significant increase in hepatitis infections observed in individuals who use injection drugs, including opioids and methamphetamine.

After a one-year dip in 2017, hepatitis C diagnoses among Iowans under 40 years of age increased again in 2018, continuing a long-term trend of increases.

Randy Mayer, who leads the state public health departments HIV and hepatitis bureau, said he uses the under-40 numbers because they are the most likely to be current drug users and to have been recently infected.

Needle-sharing programs are designed to help prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C by curtailing the spread of those diseases through the use of infected syringes.

The federal Centers for Disease Control says needle-sharing programs are an effective component of a comprehensive approach to HIV and hepatitis C prevention among injection drug users.

Under a typical needle-sharing program, injection drug users are able to dispose of old syringes and acquire new ones without threat of being arrested. They also interact with health care staff who are able to refer an individual to substance abuse treatment, test for HIV or hepatitis C, and help individuals look for housing or employment information.

The idea is to provide health services to people who are using drugs and work with them on getting them into treatment for their substance use disorder, Mayer said. In the meantime they might not be ready for treatment. But we can keep them from getting HIV and hepatitis C, and we can immunize them from hepatitis B and refer them to services. ... So youre building a rapport with people who you are hoping are at some point are going to utilize drug treatment services.

The state public health department is not advocating in support or opposition to Zauns proposal, but the department in 2017 requested the federal government declare the state in need of needle-sharing programs to help prevent a potential HIV outbreak.

We feel like the data supports the use of syringe services (needle-sharing) programs in the state, Mayer said.

Tiffany Carter, policy and engagement coordinator for the nonprofit advocacy group Iowa Harm Reduction, said participants in needle-sharing programs are five times more likely than the average injection drug user to enter a treatment program and 3.5 times more likely to stop using drugs altogether.

So if the goal for folks who are concerned about whether or not its enabling drug use, if their goal is drug abstinence, the results are there. The evidence is there, Carter said. (A state needle-sharing program) would cause drastic reductions in our hepatitis C and HIV rates in the state. ... Providing sterile injection equipment (and) teaching folks how to prevent disease transmission by not sharing their equipment is really a great solution to that problem.

Officials did not have an estimate as to how much a new state needle-sharing program would cost. Mayer said there are federal funds available that the state could dedicate to a needle-sharing program, but that the state likely would have to set aside some funding to get the program going.

Taxpayer funding cannot be used to purchase syringes, however. Carter said there are nonprofit organizations like Elton Johns AIDS Foundation that offer grants to needle-sharing programs.

Concerns with needle-sharing programs largely center on the perception that they are enabling drug use by giving free, clean syringes to users.

The only lobbying organization registered in opposition to Zauns bill is the Iowa Police Chiefs Association.

Which is a fair question to ask yourself if youre not a person who supports drug use. But in reality the results and the evidence is there to say that it doesnt. It does not enable people to use drugs, Carter said.

Said Zaun, Some people say that Im promoting drug use and that is the last thing that I want to do. He said curtailing the spread of diseases among injection drug users can save costs for hospitals and state taxpayers.

Zaun and Carter said they are hopeful the proposal advance through the Iowa Legislature  after failing last year  and reach Gov. Kim Reynolds desk.

Zaun said he considers the education aspect of needle-sharing programs similar to the early resistance to the states medical cannabis program.

Its all about education, Zaun said. Certainly opinions turn. I think its worthy to continue the conversation.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Its Academy Awards month, and weve compiled a list of Hollywoods noteworthy movies about politics and politicians.

Hollywood films are invariably tough on elected officials. Hypocrisy, corruption, temptation, complicated motives and swollen egos are regular themes. There is an occasional good guy, as with Sen. Jefferson Smith in the Frank Capra classic, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, or Dave in the pleasant yet sappy Dave  but they are accidental office holders rather than elected professional politicians.

Film critic Roger Ebert once said, Film is the wrong medium for facts. He could have also said Hollywood productions, especially in dealing with politics, specialize in mocking and disparaging ambitious political figures.

Two noted 2018 Hollywood films did just that. The Front Runner starring Hugh Jackman chronicles the impressive rise and humiliating fall of Colorado U.S. Sen. Gary Hart. He was elected to the Senate in 1974 and ran unsuccessfully for president in 1984. By the spring of 1987, he was the front-runner for the 1988 Democratic nomination.

But the ruggedly handsome and idealistic policy wonk stumbled ingloriously when confronted with charges of extramarital relationships. The news media jumped all over him, and he withdrew his candidacy. This less than successful film rehashes this political princes fall from grace.

Vice, starring the Oscar-nominated Christian Bale, is a provocative and partisan depiction of one of our countrys most prominent and controversial vice president. Dick Cheney had a remarkable career in politics, beginning as a congressional intern and later becoming a White House aide, White House chief of staff, member of Congress from 1979 to 1989, secretary of defense and later vice president from 2001 to 2009.

Vice portrays Cheney as heartless, lamely relating that to his heart ailments and heart operations. Cheney is seen as a believer in an overly powerful presidency, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and torture. He is depicted as the manipulative power behind the throne of the George W. Bush presidency.

Liberals will find much to like in Vice with its conspiracy narratives. Conservatives might be impressed with Christian Bales acting, but will rate this film relentlessly overbearing and flawed.

So much for 2018 films.

Here, for fellow political junkies, are some of the important Hollywood takes on the American politician:

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

This is justifiably a fan favorite. Jimmy Stewart steals the show as an honest, if naive, appointed U.S. senator from the Midwest. He is everyones ideal valiant public servant but, alas, finds himself confronting a home state political machine and an egregiously self-serving chamber of U.S. senators. Its good vs. evil. His so-called Senate mentor cautions Smith that this is a mans world, Jeff, and youve got to check your ideals outside the door.

But our hero refuses to play ball with corrupt politicians and, inspired by Jefferson and Lincoln, fights, especially in a memorable filibuster scene, to defend himself and American political ideals.

Dave (1993)

Here again, an entirely apolitical accidental novice gets thrust into high political office, this time the presidency. Similar to Jefferson Smith, Dave becomes authentic, honest, idealistic and heroic.

The fairy-tale plot here strains the imagination. An ordinary guy, Dave Kovic (played by Kevin Kline), is a small town businessman who is asked by the Secret Service to act as a double for the real president. Dave gladly does so believing he is doing his civic duty.

Then the real president has a stroke and goes into a coma. The presidents advisers dislike the vice president so much that they install Dave as the new president. Dave succeeds brilliantly and wins everybody over with his kindness and noble deeds. Dave is a mindlessly simplistic yet entertaining film. Its larger theme is that the regular politicians are a corrupt and unsavory lot.

The Candidate (1972)

Robert Redford plays an earnest and progressive young lawyer drafted into running for the U.S. Senate in California. Bill McKay agrees to run and initially campaigns as a principled liberal. Then his handlers take over and convince him to water down his issues and emphasize his style and image. The handlers reframe the election contest as a simple choice between youth and age as well as virility and impotence.

McKay gets repackaged and essentially corrupted. Eventually, the campaign swallows McKay.

This is a tale of an anti-politician becoming a winning politician with his victory purchased by vagueness on the issues and the triumph of personality over substance. He is elected, but Bill McKay has become Senator Sellout, a user of scams and cover-ups, even before he is sworn into office.

The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979)

This film provides a similar but more complicated message as in The Candidate. Joe Tynan, played by Alan Alda, develops presidential aspirations. His challenge is how to balance family and friendships with the necessary consuming drive to acquire political power and success.

Tynan begins to flip-flop on the issues and becomes an absentee father and spouse. His wheezy slogan is, Joe believes in putting the American people first. Just as his wife is about to throw him out of their home due to neglect, Joe realizes he can only succeed in the election with the apparent loving support of his family.

Alan Alda is terrific, but the movie ends on a note of ambiguity. Still, the message here is that politics is a tough, demanding occupation and the drive needed to excel is seductive in a variety of ways.

Primary Colors (1998)

Actor John Travolta is an uncanny lookalike to former President Bill Clinton. He stars as Jack Stanton, a Southern governor who loves people, projects amazing empathy and is a person of varied and reckless appetites.

Stanton is committed to doing whatever it takes to become president because he believes we can change the whole country and history is what we are all about. Stanton is a likable but sleazy rogue. His apology for his questionable behavior is that this is the price you have to pay to lead. Filmgoers are left asking: Cant one be a leader and a good person, too?

All the Kings Men (1949)

Oscar-winning actor Broderick Crawford stars as Gov. Willie Stark, a self-made, up-from-the-hicks lawyer who becomes a populist governor of a Southern state. It is a story based on former Louisiana Gov. Huey Long. It emphasizes the hardball political creed: Id make a deal with the devil if itll help me carry out my program.

Stark evolves into a shameless wheeler-dealer who sadly becomes intoxicated with his newfound political power and influence. Stark was well-intentioned, and he brought about needed reforms. But he becomes a power-obsessed, woman-chasing alcoholic who subverts moral as well as constitutional principles.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Angela Lansbury and Frank Sinatra star in this mocking portrait of political paranoia directed and co-produced by John Frankenheimer.

Based on a novel by Richard Condon, the film satirizes communists, anti-communists, politicians, the media and the shallow political culture of the 1950s.

This film has so many jolts and reversals that it is hard to tell who is telling the truth and what the truth is.

The movie is timely for today because it succeeds in forcing viewers to question nearly everything that anyone in politics says  to be aware of brainwashing and collusion in the United States as well as from enemies abroad.

Advise and Consent (1962)

This film was based on Allen Drurys bestselling 1959 novel of the same name. Both the novel and the film capture U.S. senators at work, sometimes collaborating and sometimes undermining one another. Although the film captures intrigue and skullduggery, it also suggests most of the senators are decent hardworking representatives of their home states.

The heart of the film is a heated confirmation hearing that results in the rejection of a presidential nominee for secretary of state. The film teaches that politics can be incredibly personal and that friendships and civility can count for as much, if not more than, partisanship or ideology.

The film gives us some good politicians yet it also reinforces negative stereotypes about politics.

The Last Hurrah (1958)

John Ford directs Spencer Tracy in this nostalgic elegy to an over-the-hill mayor and his out-of-date political machine.

The mayor is sympathetically depicted as helping his ethnic clan and the underdogs of a city that resembles Boston.

The film is a faithful portrait of urban and ethnic politics in the 1950s.

Bob Roberts (1992)

Actor Tim Robbins wrote, directed and played the lead in this mockumentary of a cynical mudslinging maverick evangelical conservative. In a campaign for a U.S. Senate seat, the candidate exploits all the new technologies of modern-era politics. The candidate is ingratiating and celebrates family values and nationalism as he crusades around his state singing counterprotest songs such as This Land was Made for Me and Times are Changin Back.

The candidate is depicted as a self-made libertarian multimillionaire, yet his sketchy background is littered with suspicious Gatsbyesque financial dealings. He is a crafty, sleazy and politically savvy politician who preaches meaningless rhetoric and propaganda. He cleverly accuses journalists of abusing their responsibility when they ask probing questions. Sounds familiar nowadays.

Hollywood films understandably reflect our skepticism about politics and politicians, yet films excessively disparage politics and too relentlessly present it as an evil craft, best avoided by decent people.

Tom Cronin and Bob Loevy have each taught American politics courses for more than 50 years. Between them, they have authored, coauthored or edited more than 20 books.
Colorado Springs, CO (80903)

Today

Partly cloudy skies during the morning hours. Thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. High around 75F. Winds ESE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms. Low near 55F. Winds NNW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
The Junior Chamber International Senate Philippines together with the Department of Transportation and Megawide Corporate Foundation Inc., formally launched SerBus: A Service to Humanity Project that provides free bus rides to commuters from Lawton, Baclaran and Pasay going to the Paranaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PTIX), and back. The buses (involving six air- conditioned buses year-round five days a week from Monday to Friday) also serve commuters coming from Monumento and going to EDSA, Baclaran and back.

Senate Committee Chairman for Transportation Senator Grace Poe served as the guest speaker for the event. JCI Senate Philippines has always been known for its love and service to humanity, which is why we are launching this noble project in time for this Love Month is just but proper and fitting, said JCI Senate Philippine National President Domingo Jun Roque Jr. These free bus rides are our collective expression of love to our fellowmen and to our country the Jaycee way. And we thank Megawide Foundation, Transportation Secretary Art Tugade, and Senator Grace Poe, for joining us in our noble endeavor. This was echoed by JCISP PR Director and The Outstanding Filipino 2019 Chairman JCI Senator Melandrew T. Velasco who emphasized that service to humanity has always been integral to the programs and projects of JCI. With the SerBus, Cavite residents and other commuters wont have to complain anymore about the lack of transportation going to PTIXor even to shell out the additional expenses, he said. They can have a comfortable riding experience with these fully air-conditioned buses.The formal Serbus launching took place at the Kartilya side of the Bonifacio Shrine beside Manila City Hall and SM Manila from 9AM to 11AM onFebruary 14. Apart from SerBus, JCI Senate Philippines has other equally notable projects for this year such as the annual Search for the Outstanding Filipino Award or the 2019 TOFIL Awards which recognizes citizens 41 years old and above whose achievements are worthy of emulation; loyalty cards that grant JCI Senators special benefits every time they purchase any Unioil products; the massive propagation of JCI Creed Markers inscripted with the JCI Senate Philippines logo in strategic areas all over the country, and a new headquarters building in Quezon City. JCI Senate Philippines also plans to construct waiting sheds along national roads to be littered with Green Link trash cans.
A 27-year-old Colorado Springs man accused of poaching deer, elk and turkey was arrested Friday by Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers and park rangers.

Iniki Vike Kapu also is accused of unlawful possession of wildlife, a CPW news release says.

Kapu allegedly tried to escape through the back door of a southeast Colorado Springs home as a 20-member CPW team, including wildlife officers and park rangers from Cheyenne Mountain and Mueller state parks, executed a search warrant, the release says. He was captured in the backyard.

The warrant is related to poaching in Teller, Fremont and Chaffee counties, the release says.

Our officers found evidence on the scene of wildlife parts we believe were illegally taken by the suspect, Frank McGee, CPWs area wildlife manager for the Pikes Peak region, said in the release.

Colorado Springs police arrested a second man on suspicion of unrelated drug possession charges and seized a car with illegal license plates.
State crews blasted mountain slopes along heavily traveled sections of Interstate 70 Friday to reduce avalanche danger ahead of a winter storm barreling into Colorado this holiday weekend.

Avalanche danger had been building in the past week as a storm Wednesday and Thursday added to the deep snowpack in the high country.

In the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado, Silverton got 27 inches, Purgatory got 22 inches and Wolf Creek got 16 inches in 48 hours, Colorado Ski Country reported. Steamboat reported 17 inches, while mountains in Summit County saw between 7 and 12 inches.

The storm predicted to move into Colorado on Friday night had dropped more than 3 feet of snow in Californias Sierra Nevadas.

A low-pressure trough, currently off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, moves ashore (Friday) evening and marches east overnight, wrote Colorado Avalanche Information Center forecaster Jason Konigsberg. Snow should start around midnight and drop 3 to 10 inches in the mountains.

Snow is expected to begin falling in the Pikes Peak region Sunday and last into Monday, with 2 to 4 inches possible in Colorado Springs, said Brad Carlberg, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Wednesday and Thursdays snow ratcheted up avalanche danger throughout the state, triggering a slide that closed U.S. 50 on Monarch Pass for about five hours Friday. No cars were caught in the avalanche, said trooper Gary Cutler of the Colorado State Patrol.

That area  the Sawatch range  as well as the Gunnison and San Juan zones were rated by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center as high for avalanche danger Friday morning.

Risk is expected to decrease to considerable by Saturday morning in those areas, canceling an avalanche warning issued by the Colorado Avalanche Information Center on Friday.

A special avalanche advisory was issued for the Steamboat, Front Range, Vail and Summit, Aspen, Grand Mesa and Sangre de Cristo zones, all of which are predicted to see considerable avalanche danger.

Periods of intense snowfall and strong winds have created dangerous avalanche conditions, CAIC wrote in its advisory. Backcountry travelers can trigger large and destructive avalanches. Expect avalanches to break across terrain features and run long distances.

CAIC warned skiers, snowmobilers and others traveling in the backcountry to plan cautious routes, carefully evaluate snowpack and terrain, and make conservative decisions.

Over the past decade, February has been the single most dangerous month for avalanches in Colorado, CAIC said on its website. Over a quarter of the fatal avalanche accidents happened during this month.

Colorado Department of Transportation crews intentionally set off slides on Vail and Loveland passes Friday morning during a window of sunny, dry weather Friday morning. Vail Pass was closed during the work, while Loveland Pass opened intermittently between blasts and cleanup.

CDOT tries to avoid superfluous avalanche control during holiday weekends regardless of the weather, said spokesman Andrew Hogle. In 2017, CDOT recorded 177,000 cars passing through the Eisenhower Tunnel during the Presidents Day holiday weekend, up from 172,000 in 2016 and 159,000 in 2015.

As most people know, it can get a little ugly with this many people and with snow, he said. We do our best to keep the lanes moving and the roads as clear as possible.

Hogle said the express lane on eastbound I-70 between Empire and Idaho Springs will be open Saturday through Monday to ease congestion.

The avalanche risk comes with a reward, especially for snowpack and alleviating drought. After one of the driest years on record, Colorados snowpack was at 114 percent of normal Friday.

Ninety-one percent of the state is considered to be in drought, but less than a quarter is rated as extreme or exceptional compared with more than a third three months ago.
The planets growing reliance on satellites for daily life makes space a more likely target in warfare and more countries are plotting ways to deny their enemies the advantages that spacefaring nations enjoy.

Thats the conclusion of a landmark Defense Intelligence Agency report made public last week showing the governments growing concern that America is falling behind in a new space race.

The advantage the United States holds in space  and its perceived dependence on it  will drive actors to improve their abilities to access and operate in and through space, the Pentagons top intelligence arm wrote. These improvements can pose a threat to space-based services across the military, commercial, and civil space sectors.

The report comes amid a Trump administration push for a new branch of the military dedicated to space. And Congress hasnt been this focused on the heavens since the days of NASAs Apollo program.

Colorado Springs U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, the top Republican on a subcommittee overseeing military readiness, said the Pentagon is helping lawmakers explain what all the fuss is about by making the intelligence report public.

Part of the challenge of discussing this topic is the lack of publicly available information, Lamborn said in an email. Members of Congress and those who work with space in the defense or intelligence community often must talk guardedly about the issues we hear about in a classified setting, so anything to highlight these issues is greatly appreciated.

The report brings up concerns that the Air Force has talked about for years, but in greater detail.

Retired Air Force Gen. Lance Lord, who led Air Force Space Command from 2002-06, said the military spent much of the Cold War worried about satellite threats from Russia and China. But the report outlines a growing change that has leaders fearing new foes, he said.

You dont need to be a major world power to influence what is going on in space, he said.

A 2018 report from the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation shows how much global dependence on space assets has grown.

The global space economy totaled $383.5 billion worldwide, the foundation said. Thats up from $250 billion 10 years ago and equals the combined annual economic output of Egypt and Greece.

The intelligence agency gave a nod to the orbital global village.

As the number of spacefaring nations grows and as some actors integrate space and counter-space capabilities into military operations, these trends will pose a challenge to U.S. space dominance and present new risks for assets on orbit, the agency said.

But the report primarily focuses on the threats posed by growing tensions with old American rivals: Russia and China.

Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate that they view space as important to modern warfare and view counter-space capabilities as a means to reduce U.S. and allied military effectiveness, the report says. Both reorganized their militaries in 2015, emphasizing the importance of space operations.

American troops on the ground use space for navigation, communications and intelligence. The single largest user of space-based capabilities is the ground-pounding Army, which has satellite terminals in nearly every rucksack.

In a speech last month to the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association in Colorado Springs, Air Force Space Commands Maj. Gen. John Shaw said American troops rely on satellites for the basics of battle.

The modern way of war depends on space, he said. You need to have space superiority in order to have land superiority, sea superiority or air superiority.

But Russia and China have missiles and ground-based lasers and other weapons designed to target satellites and have increased their ability to jam satellite signals, the report found.

Both states are developing jamming and cyberspace capabilities, directed energy weapons, on-orbit capabilities, and ground-based antisatellite missiles that can achieve a range of reversible to nonreversible effects, the report said.

As China and Russia have worked to overcome Americas advantage in orbit, critics say the Pentagon succumbed to decades of complacency after the Cold War.

Sadly, we let that edge dull, said retired Air Force Gen. Gene Renuart, who led the North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command from 2007-10. Time to sharpen it.

No place on the planet has more to lose in a conflict in space than Colorado Springs. The city is home to Space Command and Schriever Air Force Base, which controls Americas constellation of military satellites and runs the Global Positioning System, which sends signals that are used for civilian purposes from in-car navigation to the time of global bank transactions and synchronizing the flow of data across the internet.

Steps have been taken in recent years to defend the militarys satellites. The National Space Defense Center at Schriever began 24-hour operations last year, bringing together experts from the military and intelligence agencies and building war plans to counter enemy moves in orbit.

Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base gained more authority last year to guide satellite efforts for every military branch.

Shaw said leaders at Peterson are also preparing for the beginning of the Trump-ordered U.S. Space Command, a headquarters that would take charge of war in orbit.

Space superiority is a completely new focus for me and the command, he said.

The future of Trumps proposed Space Force is far from settled. Congress has been cool to the idea of a separate force, saying it could create more bureaucracy and drive up costs.

Lamborn has backed a space corps, a force that would have a relationship with the Air Force like that between the Navy and Marines. With or without a new service branch, Lamborn said the new focus on space in Congress is a needed step.

Thats why I have been working with my colleagues in the House and with the Trump administration to ensure that our national security space enterprise receives the resources we need to counter increased Chinese and Russian activity oriented against the U.S in space, Lamborn said. Space is a tremendous force multiplier for our forces, but that means our space assets are a huge target.

The report says even as America struggles to catch up with new threats in space, its rivals are forging ahead.

Beijing and Moscow will continue to see space as integral to winning modern wars, the intelligence agency said. They are developing systems that pose a threat to freedom of action in space.

Contact Tom Roeder: 636-0240
The Colorado Shakespeare Festival has called Boulder home for more than six decades, but now it will come to every Colorado county.

Live performances will be brought to all 64 counties by 2028 through the $3.2 million Shakespeare Across Colorado initiative, the festival announced Friday.

That will bring the Bards universal lessons to an estimated 180,000 people in schools, theaters and other venues, said Amanda Giguere, the festivals outreach director.

Weve had a great track record of reaching schools on the Front Range. Well take the next 10 years to continue to reach the schools were reaching as well as other communities throughout the state, Giguere said.

While 64 counties does sound like a lot, weve intentionally made it very doable. Were not touring with a company of 25 actors. Were touring with one van, three actors and a stage manager and maybe some understudies. And were performing abridged versions of plays, not full productions. Weve made it very nimble.

The plan will be funded through grants, sponsorships and donations that will support artists wages, travel expenses and equipment.

The professional theater company, associated with the University of Colorado at Boulder, will continue to perform full-length plays on the campus. This summer marks the festivals 62nd year, with performances of Twelfth Night, As You Like It and Romeo and Juliet offered in June, July and August. Its recognized as one of the nations oldest Shakespeare festivals.

Its Shakespeare Across Colorado programming will continue school visits through the Shakespeare & Violence Prevention program, which has reached nearly 100,000 students in 264 schools. That program, founded in 2011 with the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, uses research and shortened Shakespeare performances to teach students in elementary through high school about bullying, empathy, teamwork and upstander behavior, Giguere said.

This week, Colorado Shakespeare Festival actors will perform in Glenwood Springs schools and at a free evening community event in Basalt.

Were hoping people will come out whove never seen Shakespeare before, Giguere said. The reason were doing abridged versions of the plays is its a really nice on-ramp to Shakespeare and a way to engage the community through the lens of violence prevention. And its also very easy to fit into a school day.

Students learn the lessons and language of Shakespeare and violence intervention strategies. After an abbreviated version of, for instance, Twelfth Night (for children below sixth grade) or Macbeth (for middle or high school students), the actors hold workshops to help students consider the world from someone elses shoes and then connect situations in the play to situations they face every day. Students can step into the shoes of characters from the play and role-play solutions, she said.

In Macbeth, the title character becomes convinced he needs to kill the king so he can become king. We ask the kids, What could you do to persuade Macbeth to do the right thing here and get him to logically think through the consequences?

Studies have shown that learning Shakespeare improves language skills, increases student engagement and explains competing world views.

Shakespeares characters are written so convincingly that students can see the world from their perspectives, Giguere said.

Through the role-play, we give the kids the power to shape the narrative, and they come up with brilliant solutions, like talking through the situation with Macbeth or reaching out to a trusted adult. It shows them there are so many ways to be an upstander, even helping anonymously, like by calling the Safe2Tell hotline, or through direct intervention. Its just really important to use their voices.

This school year, the tour has stopped in 12 counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, Denver, Eagle, Garfield, Gunnison, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld. Shakespeare Across Colorado will visit the remaining counties in seven- to 10-day tours, Giguere said.

For now, well just work really hard writing a lot of grants. Now that weve announced this goal, were looking at where to find funding year by year.

To donate to Shakespeare Across Colorado or the Colorado Shakespeare Festival, visit cupresents.org.

Contact the writer, 476-1602.
Today

42nd Annual Fremont Area Right To Life Prayer Breakfast, 8-10 a.m., Midland University Dining Hall, Ninth and Pebble streets, Fremont. Cost of the breakfast buffet is $8. Students and kids 12 and under will be admitted free. The speaker will be Marion Miner. For more information, call Don or Jan Ortmeier, 402-721-2196; Arlene Conklin, 402-721-3808; or Wade Frink, 402-616-4333.

HomeStore, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., 701 E. Dodge St., Fremont. The HomeStore sells donated items at discounted prices. Proceeds support the mission of Fremont Area Habitat for Humanity.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 10 a.m., Chapter 5 Club, 136 N. Main St., Fremont.

Storytime, 11-11:30 a.m., Keene Memorial Library auditorium, 1030 N. Broad St., Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous womens heart to heart group, noon, Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.

Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 5:15 p.m., Chapter 5 Club, Fremont.
He also got donations from people at church.

Those definitely helped out a lot, he said.

In addition, he received donations with online fundraising via RedBasket.org, which helps with various endeavors.

Fundraising took about eight months, he said.

Manzer then purchased materials for the project, which were taken to the church.

But a few days after the materials were delivered, but some of them  mostly bricks  were stolen. About a third of the materials went missing.

So Manzer had to raise more money. A donation from a Cub Scout Pack would help a lot.

It was cold in March 2018, when the project began. Manzer led the project, managing and working with anywhere from four to 12 people.

The project involved bringing in sand to level the ground. There were challenges, like when rain washed out sand and unleveled the bricks atop it. Rocks were brought in to keep the sand from washing away.
It has been about a month since the last earnings report for Netflix (NFLX). Shares have added about 1% in that time frame, underperforming the S&P 500.

Will the recent positive trend continue leading up to its next earnings release, or is Netflix due for a pullback? Before we dive into how investors and analysts have reacted as of late, let's take a quick look at its most recent earnings report in order to get a better handle on the important catalysts.

Netflix Q4 Earnings Benefit from Higher Subscriber Addition



Netflix reported fourth-quarter 2018 earnings of 30 cents per share that beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6 cents. The figure was much lower than 41 cents reported in the year-ago quarter but better than managements guidance of 23 cents.



Revenues of $4.19 billion lagged the consensus mark of $4.21 billion but surpassed managements guidance. The top line increased 27.4% year over year, driven by a solid 36% jump in streaming revenues from a year ago.



Subscriber Addition Strong on International Growth



Netflix added 8.84 million subscribers, better than the guidance of 7.6 million and the year-ago quarter figure of 6.62 million, primarily driven by strong growth in international markets.



At the end of the quarter, Netflix had 139.26 million paid subscribers globally, up 25.9% from the year-ago quarter. ASP increased 3% year over year. Notably, Netflix added 29 million subscribers in 2018 compared with 22 million in 2017.



In the U.S. streaming segment, Netflixs subscriber base totaled 58.49 million, up from 52.81 million in the year-ago quarter. The company added roughly 1.53 million paid subscribers, slightly better than the guidance of 1.50 million.



In the International Streaming segment, the company recorded 80.77 million paid members compared with 57.83 million in the year-ago quarter. The company added 7.31 million paid members much better than managements expectation of 6.10 million.



Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, international ASP increased 6% year over year. During the quarter, Netflix raised prices in Canada and Argentina.



Original Content Expansion Continues



Netflixs expanding original content portfolio is a major growth driver. The success of Roma and Bird Box validates the companys evolution as a major movie studio.



Roma was announced the best movie of 2018 by the New York Film Critics Circle and won the Golden Lion Award. It also won the award for best foreign-language film at this years Golden Globes. The streaming giant won five Golden Globes across movies and televisions, leading all studios in the race.



The company estimates that Bird Box will have a viewership of 80 million member households, including higher rate of repeat viewing in the first four weeks of release. Earlier, Netflix stated that Bird Box recorded highest viewership for any movie in the Dec 21-27 period. Per data from Nielsen, quoted by Variety, almost 26 million unduplicated users viewed Bird Box during the period.



Notably, Roma, Bird Box and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs were the three original movies that hit the theaters first and were later released on the streaming platform.



Further, in the television category, Netflixs The Kominsky Method won the Golden Globes for best comedy or musical. The companys Spanish original Elite has gained a viewership of 20 million member households globally in the first four weeks of the shows availability on the platform.



Moreover, You, which started as a Lifetime Linear series in the United States and now a Netflix original, is expected to hit a viewership of 40 million member households in its first four weeks on the streaming platform.



From Hollywood, apart from the The Kominsky Method, Netflix launched series like The Haunting of Hill House and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. New seasons of Big Mouth and Narcos: Mexico returned on the platform in the quarter.



For 2019, Netflixs content slate is pretty engaging. The company is now focusing on originals instead of 2nd run programming. Titles include The Umbrella Academy (Feb 15), Triple Frontier (March), Martin Scorseses The Irishman, Michael Bays 6 Underground and Ryan Murphys The Politician.



The list includes returning seasons of The Crown, 13 Reasons Why, La Casa de Papel, Elite and Season 3 of the Stranger Things (Jul 4).



Quarter Details



International Streaming revenues (50.3% of revenues) soared 35.8% year over year to $2.11 billion.



Domestic Streaming revenues (47.7% of revenues) improved 22.4% from the year-ago quarter to about $2 billion.



The DVD business (2% of revenues) declined 19% year over year to $85.2 million.



Coming to expenses, marketing surged 56.6% year over year to $730.4 million. As percentage of revenues, marketing expenses increased 320 basis points (bps) to 17.4%.



Consolidated contribution margin (revenues minus the cost of revenues and marketing cost) contracted 110 bps on a year-over-year basis to 17.3%. While International Streaming segment contribution margin expanded 140 bps, U.S. Streaming segment contracted 130 bps.



Moreover, consolidated operating income declined 12.1% year over year to $481.1 million. Consolidated operating margin contracted 230 bps on a year-over-year basis to 5.2%, slightly better than managements guidance of 5%.



Balance Sheet



Netflix had $3.79 billion of cash and cash equivalents as of Dec 31, 2018, compared with $3.07 billion as of Sep 30, 2018.



Long-term debt was $10.36 billion, up from $8.34 billion at the end of the previous quarter. Streaming content obligations were $19.3 billion compared with $18.6 billion at the end of the previous quarter.



Netflix reported free cash outflow of $1.32 billion compared with $859 million in the previous quarter.



Guidance



For the first quarter of 2019, Netflix forecasts earnings of 56 cents per share, implying a year-over-year decline of 12.5%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at 83 cents.



Netflix expects to add 8.9 million paid subscribers, up 7.7% year over year. In the U.S. Streaming segment, the company anticipates to gain 1.6 million subscribers, down 29.8% from the year-ago quarter.



However, momentum in the International Streaming segment is expected to continue with paid subscriber addition of 7.3 million, up 22.1% year over year. Moreover, Netflix expects international ASP to increase year over year, excluding foreign exchange.



The U.S. and International streaming revenues are expected to be $2.06 billion and $2.35 billion, respectively. Total revenues, including the DVD business, are anticipated to be $4.49 billion.



For the first quarter, operating margin is projected at 8.9%, down from 12.1% in the year-ago quarter, apparently due to higher spending on content, including original movies. For 2019, Netflix expects operating margin of 13%.

Story continues

How Have Estimates Been Moving Since Then?

Fresh estimates followed a downward path over the past two months. The consensus estimate has shifted -32.33% due to these changes.

VGM Scores

Currently, Netflix has a poor Growth Score of F, however its Momentum Score is doing a lot better with a C. However, the stock was allocated a grade of F on the value side, putting it in the fifth quintile for this investment strategy.

Overall, the stock has an aggregate VGM Score of F. If you aren't focused on one strategy, this score is the one you should be interested in.

Outlook

Netflix has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). We expect an in-line return from the stock in the next few months.



Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report



Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
Immigration agents and Korean police operatives arrested a Korean fugitive, believed to be a leader of an international drug smuggling syndicate that operates between Korea and the Philippines. The Korean drug trafficker, identified as Lee Yun Sung a.k.a Lee Yun Sung Latayan and wanted by Korean police for drug smuggling, was arrested in an operation in Caloocan city, according to BI-Fugitive Search Unit chief Bobby Raquepo. Lee is also under the Interpol red notice, meaning he is a high-profile fugitive. He is wanted for distribution of illegal drugs through air freights from the Philippines to Korea, he said. As an Interpol red notice, Lee is a high profile fugitive. He is wanted for distribution of illegal drugs through air freights from the Philippines to Korea, Raquepo added. The South Korean embassy has sought the assistance of the Bureau of Immigration for the immediate arrest of Lee who has been hiding in the country since 2007.Lee arrived in the country on June 4, 2007 but did not renew his visa, thus he was considered an overstaying alien. The Korean drug trafficker also faces three standing warrant of arrests issued by three different courts in Korea for illegal drug smuggling. He is now detained at the BI jail in Taguig and will be deported to face trial in his home country.
UK Regional Airline Flybmi Collapses and Blames Brexit

UK-based regional airline Flybmi has become the latest casualty in Europes increasingly challenged aviation sector.

The carrier said on Saturday night that it had ceased operations and was filing for administration.

It operated 17 jets on routes to 25 European cities. Sister airline Loganair, which is also part of Airline Investments Ltd, is unaffected by the news.

A statement posted on the airlines website blamed a number of issues for the closure, many of which are related to Brexit.

The airline has faced several difficulties, including recent spikes in fuel and carbon costs, the latter arising from the EUs recent decision to exclude UK airlines from full participation in the Emissions Trading Scheme.These issues have undermined efforts to move the airline into profit, a spokesperson said.

Current trading and future prospects have also been seriously affected by the uncertainty created by the Brexit process, which has led to our inability to secure valuable flying contracts in Europe and lack of confidence around Flybmis ability to continue flying between destinations in Europe.

Although fuel has come down in price in recent months, it is still relatively high.

A number of other European airlines have gone out of business in recent months, including Germania and Primera Air.

Loganair, said its operations were not affected in the same way as Flybmis as it operated a fleet of turboprop aircraft, which are cheaper to run on shorter routes, instead of jets. Most of its routes are also in the UK so uncertainty around intra-European traffic rights post-Brexit, does not impact its business.

Loganair expects to return to profit in the current financial year, is carrying record passenger numbers on many of its routes and is in a strong financial position, said managing director Jonathan Hinkles.

Flybmi employed 376 people in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Belgium and last year carried 522,000 passengers on 29,000 flights.

Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - February 15, 2019) - TransCanna Holdings Inc. (CSE: TCAN) (FSE: TH8) ("TransCanna" or the "Company") intends to host a corporate update conference call, after the close of the market at approximately 1:15pm (pst) on Tuesday February 19th, 2019. The agenda for the call is to provide an update on the corporation's activities since the IPO and articulate the future vision and opportunities the company is pursuing.

To participate in the conference call, please dial one of the following numbers.

Dial-in numbers are:

Canada/USA Toll Free: 1-800-319-4610

International Call-In: +1-604-638-5340

Callers should dial in 5 - 10 min prior to the scheduled start time and simply ask to join your call.

Conference reference No.: 10006275

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 expected purchase of the facility, the terms of the facility acquisition, the payment of finders fees in relation thereto, the ability of the Company to secure financing and the acquisition of appropriate licenses for the facility. 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.

Story continues

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.

Corporate Logo

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/42878
Florence to Assume Human Resources Duties

HARTSVILLE, S.C., Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonoco (SON), one of the largest diversified global packaging companies, today announced Allan McLeland, vice president of Human Resources, has announced his plans to retire after 25 years with the Company, effective April 1, 2019.



Sonoco also announced the appointment of John M. Florence Jr. as vice president of Human Resources, general counsel and secretary, effective following McLelands retirement.

Florence, 40, joined Sonoco in 2015 and currently serves as vice president, general counsel and secretary. When assuming his new duties, Florence will be responsible for Sonocos global Human Resources programs covering the Companys 23,000 employees, including recruitment, staffing, employee relations, organizational development, compensation, benefits, HRIS and payroll, along with his current duties leading the Companys legal, intellectual property and corporate secretary functions.

Prior to joining Sonoco, Florence was a lawyer with Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, PA, a South Carolina law firm, for more than 10 years. He received a B.A. degree from Presbyterian College, an MBA from the University of South Carolinas Moore School of Business and a J.D. from Samford University. He is a member of the American Bar Association, the South Carolina Bar Association and the Richland County, S.C., Bar Association. He is a member of the 2019 class of the Liberty Fellowship.

Over Allans 25-year career, he has helped build a best-in-class Human Resources program focused on meeting the needs of our growing global businesses. I thank him for his service and commitment and wish him well in the future, said Sonoco President and CEO Rob Tiede. Im also excited as John moves into an expanded leadership role. He is one of our brightest young executives and brings a wealth of employee relations and employment law experience to continue improving our Human Resources offerings.

Story continues

McLeland joined Sonocos Human Resources function in 1993 and held several business leadership roles, each with progressively more responsibility, in the areas of organizational development, employee relations and staffing, before becoming vice president of Human Resources in 2011. He holds both a B.A. in Psychology and an MBA in Human Resources Management from the University of South Carolina.

About Sonoco

Founded in 1899, Sonoco (SON) is a global provider of a variety of consumer packaging, industrial products, protective packaging, and displays and packaging supply chain services. With annualized net sales of approximately $5.4 billion, the Company has 23,000 employees working in approximately 300 operations in 36 countries, serving some of the worlds best-known brands in some 85 nations. Sonoco is committed to creating sustainable products, services and programs for our customers, employees and communities that support our corporate purpose of Better Packaging. Better Life. The Company ranked first in the Packaging sector on Fortunes Worlds Most Admired Companies for 2019. For more information, visit www.sonoco.com .

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e5f0ce61-077f-4f09-a9fc-0875c4798b4a

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/36ee8706-c413-4a18-84eb-f09dc92fdc69

Contact:

Roger Schrum

+843-339-6018

roger.schrum@sonoco.com
jamie dimon cryptocurrency bitcoin jp morgan

JP Morgan Chase and Co. announced Thursday it would be the first major institutional bank to release its own cryptocurrency. Its new JPM Coin is an almost shockingly impotent reaction to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by the United States largest bank.

Jamie Dimon Gets a New Toy

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. Update your settings here to see it.

JP Morgan says you can now give them a dollar, and theyll give you a JPM Coin, which you can redeem for your dollar with them any time.

So theyre using JPM Coin to keep track of how much money youve deposited and withdrawn. So they are offering basic banking as a new crypto.

Read the full story on CCN.com.
Oyo Hotels, Indias largest hotel chain, is expanding in the Philippines with a target to cover more than 20,000 rooms across the country. After establishing its foothold in Southeast Asia with successful operations in Malaysia and Indonesia, Oyo Hotels found a ready market in the Philippines. We are here to create affordable living spaces. Being cool in this world is being affordable. There is a genuine problem that exists between the hospitality and real estate sector shaking the equilibrium between price location and quality, said Oyo chief operating officer Abhinav Sinha. If you got a hotel with a great price and great quality, the location is far away from the city. Very inconvenient. If you are looking for a great location and quality, the price wont be affordable. If you find a great price and a great location, then you worry about the quality. By using tech and bringing the new models of service to the hotels, you efficiently address affordability issues, he said.

The hotel and hospitality chain is set to further expand its presence in Southeast Asia with the start of its operations in the Philippines. Starting with over 21 franchised and leased hotels spread across Metro Manila, Tagaytay and Cebu, Oyo plans to penetrate more than 10 cities by 2020. It committed to investing at least $50 million over the next few years with the mission of transforming its hospitality landscape in the country. As a part of its continued commitment to the country, Oyo aims to generate more than 1,000 direct and indirect jobs that will help support the economic trajectory of the Philippines. Launched in India in 2013, the tech-driven, full-scale hospitality chain works with small and independent hotels, while transforming them into quality living spaces, inducing operation efficiency through staff training, technology solutions for housekeeping, F&B and seamless experience for both guests and asset owners. Oyo believes that neighborhood hotels possess the untapped potential of being at par with big chains in terms of both service and revenue per available room and is uniquely placed to bring this advantage to the asset owners in Philippines. The company has been at the forefront of leased and franchised hotel revolution in India, China, Malaysia, Nepal, UK, UAE and Indonesia.We are extremely excited to extend our quality-assured experience to travellers visiting the Philippines. Our priority here is to ensure that we bring Oyo Hotels top-notch service starting at P750 to the country, with the goal to become the most loved hotel chain, Sinha said. With the current 21 hotels, over 500 rooms we aim to grow to 10+ cities by 2020 while becoming a household name for both local and international travellers visiting the country. Our growth in the country will be fueled by a strong local leadership and a team of young hospitality enthusiasts. We look forward to a fruitful journey in the months to come, he said. Oyo kick-starts its Philippine operation with 21 franchised and leased hotels across Metro Manila, Tagaytay and Cebu with more than 500 exclusive rooms. As part of its expansion plan in the country, Oyo is looking to launch 20,000 more rooms in more than 10 key areas all over the archipelago, including Palawan, Cebu, Boracay and Davao. This means that by 2020, OYO would have created 1,000 jobs, further strengthening the hospitality and real estate industries in the country. At Oyo, our mission is to create a perfect space in every place by empowering hotel owners to become better hospitality players while ensuring an end-to-end controlled experience for our guests. With our technology and operational expertise, we are enabling hotel owners with technology and across South Asia demand reach, that will help them drastically improve the customer experience while maintaining efficiencies, high occupancy, and yields, Sinha said. Weve been responsible for enabling over 100,000 job opportunities in South Asia, and look forward to creating 1000+ direct and indirect jobs in the Philippines by 2020, Sinha said. Oyo is backed by leading global investors including the SoftBank Group, Lightspeed India, Sequoia Capital, Greenoaks Capital, Hero Enterprise and China Lodging Group.
COVINGTON, La., Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pool Corporation (POOL) announced today that Mark Joslin, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will be participating in the 2019 Citi Global Industrials Conference at the Miami Beach Edition Hotel in Miami, FL. Mr. Joslin is slated to present on February 21, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The presentation slides will be posted on POOLCORPs website at that time.



Pool Corporation is the worlds largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool and related backyard products. POOLCORP operates approximately 360 sales centers in North America, Europe, South America and Australia through which it distributes more than 180,000 national brand and private label products to roughly 120,000 wholesale customers. For more information about POOLCORP, please visit www.poolcorp.com .

This news release may include forward-looking statements that involve risk and uncertainties. The forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including the sensitivity of the swimming pool supply business to weather conditions and other risks detailed in POOLCORPs 2017 Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

CONTACT:

Curtis J. Scheel

Director of Investor Relations

985.801.5341

curtis.scheel@poolcorp.com
DENVER, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MicroStar is proud to announce an expanded partnership agreement with Constellation Brands as its new keg solutions provider. This new partnership will help support Constellations growth as the high-end leader and No. 3 beer company in the U.S. with iconic Mexican import brands including Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra and Pacifico.



We share Constellations commitment to quality, innovation and people as these are the foundations of great companies and enduring partnerships, said MicroStars Chief Operating Officer, Glen Opp. In addition, when looking to build a second Keg Quality Center modeled after our flagship, industry-leading facility in Green Bay, WI, the opportunity to position it near Constellations Nava Brewery in Eagle Pass, Texas, was a true win-win. This new facility will give Constellation high-quality kegs while also allowing MicroStar to expand on our quality commitment for our growing customer community.

We are pleased to expand our keg sourcing and logistics with MicroStar, said John Kester, Constellations Senior Vice President of Operations Services for the Beer Division. This partnership will create a streamlined process and increased flexibility to support the trajectory for continued growth of our Mexican beer portfolio.

MicroStar has partnered with Constellation Brands Craft and Specialty Division since 2015. By expanding its partnership with MicroStar, Constellation Brands will now receive the full supply assurance, flexibility and sustainability benefits that come from MicroStars network of more than four million kegs.

About MicroStar

Founded in 1996 and based in the heart of Denver, Colorado, MicroStar Logistics is the leading diversified keg solutions provider. MicroStar's Keg Management division leverages two pools of kegs -- KegCraft-branded kegs for midsize, regional brewers and MicroStar-branded kegs for large, national brewers -- to deliver cost-effective outsourced keg solutions. MicroStars Quality Services division is the leading keg repair and maintenance operation helping to maintain the quality and lengthen the lifespans of some of the largest keg fleets in the world. For additional information, visit www.MicroStarLogistics.com.

Story continues

About Constellation Brands

Constellation Brands (STZ) (STZ-B), a Fortune 500 company, is a leading international producer and marketer of beer, wine and spirits with operations in the U.S., Mexico, New Zealand, Italy and Canada. Constellation is the No. 3 beer company in the U.S. with high-end, iconic imported brands such as Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Modelo Negra and Pacifico. The companys beer portfolio also includes Ballast Point, one of the most awarded craft brewers in the U.S., and Funky Buddha Brewery. In addition, Constellation is the world leader in premium wine, selling great brands that people love, including Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Kim Crawford, Meiomi, Mark West, Black Box, Ruffino and The Prisoner. The companys premium spirits brands include SVEDKA Vodka, Casa Noble Tequila and High West Whiskey.

Based in Victor, N.Y., the company believes that industry leadership involves a commitment to brand building, our trade partners, the environment, our investors and to consumers around the world who choose our products when celebrating big moments or enjoying quiet ones. Founded in 1945, Constellation has grown to become a significant player in the beverage alcohol industry with more than 100 brands in its portfolio; about 40 wineries, breweries and distilleries; and approximately 10,000 talented employees. We express our company vision: to elevate life with every glass raised.

To learn more, follow us on Twitter @cbrands and visit www.cbrands.com .

SOURCE MicroStar Logistics

Media: Dan Vorlage, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, 800-245-2200, info@microstarkegs.com
(Attention to strong language in second paragraph)

MEXICO CITY, Feb 16 (Reuters) - A Mexican soap opera star apologized on Friday for using a racial slur to describe actress Yalitza Aparicio, whose performance in the critically acclaimed film "Roma" made her the first indigenous woman to be nominated for a best actress Oscar.

Video footage surfaced on Twitter on Friday in which actor Sergio Goyri, 60, can be heard criticizing the film community for nominating "a fucking Indian who says, 'Yes, ma'am, no, ma'am.'"

Aparicio, a 25-year-old from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, played a domestic worker in director Alfonso Cuaron's "Roma," which received 10 Oscar nominations, including a nod for best actress for Aparicio.

Later on Friday, Goyri posted a video on social media site Instagram apologizing for his remarks.

"The only thing I want to say is that it was never my intent to offend anyone. I apologize to Yalitza, who deserves (this Oscar nomination) and much more," he said. "For me, it is an honor to see a Mexican be nominated for an Oscar."

A spokeswoman for Aparicio did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After her Oscar nomination, Aparicio said she was optimistic that her success would help break stereotypes around race and class.

"You are used to seeing people on the screen who don't look like you," she said in an interview last month.

(Reporting by Julia Love and Sharay Angulo; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Drink president and CEO Harris Guevarra

As an AB Literature student, it was clear to Harris Guevarra that he would be landing a career in the academe. But 15 years after he graduated from De La Salle University, he is heading his own company and leading a team of twenty plus. The young entrepreneurs path started in GMA network. I was part of the team that was like the in-house advertising agency of the network. I created the strategy of the campaigns, then copywriting up to production, he said. Some of his commercials reaped accolades, like Isa-Isa Kong Boto which won the Singapore Apollo Award in 2008. After four years, he moved to a small advertising firm, got involved in its daily operations and realized that he could replicate the business and venture on his own.So he did. In 2010, Drink was born initially, as a creative agency. We were doing the usual below-the-line advertising materials: brochures, pamphlets, flyers, he said. Then in 2013, they were requested by a client to produce a sustainability report. I studied how its done and I developed a passion for sustainability. The following year, Drink decided to focus on helping corporations become sustainable by helping them write their sustainability reports. Now it is the core product of Drink. Drink has made sustainability reports for top corporations, NGOs and government agencies. Clients include Ayala Corp., Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (including subsidiaries Maynilad, Philex Mining and PXP), Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Universal Robina Corp, Aboitiz Group, First Philippine Holdings (including subsidiaries First Gen Corporation and Energy Development Corporation) and Megaworld Corp. It also did reports for Unionbank of the Philippines, Land Bank of the Philippines, UNICEF, Philippine Competition Commission, Wholesale Electricity Stock Market, Team Energy, San Roque Power Corporation, Philippine National Oil Company, Health Policy Development Program and Forest Foundation of the Philippines. Sustainability reporting is important to know the real issues of the companys stakeholders, for crisis management to avoid any disruption in operations. It is also for branding and reputation because customers are becoming more conscious of the products that they buy, how they are sourced.Millennials in particular, trust companies that are sustainable, said Guevarra who also holds a certificate in Business Sustainability Management from the University of Cambridge. But we believe that real change can happen when businesses go beyond reporting. You have to activate sustainability. The reports are for investors, if you really want to communicate sustainability, you have to be more creative and use different platforms, he said. Drink strategizes and produces internal and external business communications. Some samples of what theyve produced are a sustainability report in graphic novel form for Team Energy. For Energy Development Corp., they explained the basics of geothermal energy through a romantic story depicted in comics--which was translated into several dialectsand via podcasts (radioseryes). They also came up with a modest video contest for amateur directors, expounding on the theme, Sa Geothermal May Forever. For Guevarra, what they do is not simply for profit. I believe we have a role to play, to convince everybody to be sustainable because sustainability is the new trend in business. I call it the language of 21st Century business, he said. It changed the definition of success for a company. If before, you can say that youre successful if youre hitting your financial targets, nowadays, thats just one aspect. In sustainability, you also have to look at the social performance of the company. You have to look at environmental impacts. And all these are tied to your policies and management approach, he said. I want to rally the big Filipino brands. Those in food and fashion, the ones we encounter daily. I want to know whats in the meal I eat and where the fabric Im wearing comes from. Theyre customer-facing and their impact is so big. They can make changes for themselves but they can also educate their customers, Guevarra said.
(Bloomberg) -- President Joko Widodo urged his supporters to end a social-media campaign that called on Indonesians to uninstall an app run by a popular online shopping site, after the companys founder criticized the governments research and development budget.

Jokowi, as the president is known, on Saturday met with Bukalapak.coms chief executive officer and founder, Achmad Zaky, to tell him all was forgiven, according a statement from the presidents office. In the statement, Jokowi called on citizens to encourage young entrepreneurs, not boycott them.

Zaky drew the ire of Jokowis supporters for a Twitter post that said the government was spending too little on R&D, and suggested that a new president might do a better job of beefing up the budget. With Jokowi seeking re-election this April, the post was seen as an expression of Zakys support for the presidents challenger, Prabowo Subianto, a former general who lost to Jokowi in the last election, according to the Jakarta Post.

Zaky deleted the controversial Twitter comments and apologized, but fans of the president made #UninstalBukalapak a trending topic on Twitter and other social media platforms, according to the Jakarta Post.

Bukalapak, which counts Singapores sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte and Chinas Ant Financial among its investors, has become popular with shoppers seeking bargains and used items in quantities not often found on other e-commerce platforms. A year ago, Zaky said the company had been valued by investors at more than $1 billion, making the startup whats known as a unicorn.

Jokowi said in the statement that Indonesias annual R&D of budget of 26 trillion rupiah ($1.8 billion) was sufficient, but that he was also committed to raising it and is weighing tax incentives to encourage research. Theres a need to foster startups such as PT Go-Jek, PT Traveloka, PT Tokopedia and Bukalapak, as they help support economy, the president said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Kutty Abraham in Jakarta at tabraham4@bloomberg.net

Story continues

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Jason Clenfield

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar speaking earlier this week. Photo: Reuters

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar on Friday firmly quashed suggestions that the European Union could insist on a border on the island of Ireland to protect the single market in a no-deal Brexit scenario.

We cant allow a decision made in Britain to leave the European Union, Varadkar said, to undermine our membership of the single market and customs union.

News agency Reuters on Thursday quoted an unnamed EU diplomat as saying that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, there would either have to be a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland or a border between Ireland and the rest of the EU.

If a hard border in Northern Ireland is to be avoided, the idea that controls or checks could be placed between the island of Ireland and the rest of the EU has been floated to protect the integrity of the single market.

I dont see how [this] would avoid a hard border, Varadkar said. It would create a hard border between Ireland and the European Union and thats not something we can accept.

Whatever happens, Ireland is going to stay in the heart of the European Union. Its the common European home we helped to build, were founder members of the eurozone, founder members of the single market, he said.

Ireland has continually said that it is making no preparations for physical infrastructure on its border with Northern Ireland, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Both the EU and Ireland routinely insist that the backstop in its agreement with prime minister Theresa May is the only way to avoid a post-Brexit hard border.

Varadkar was speaking ahead of an all-island Brexit dialogue event on Friday in Dublin Castle  the fifth such event to be held since the UK voted to leave the EU.
By Jesus Aguado

MADRID (Reuters) - Hundreds of Chinese citizens waving Spanish and Chinese flags took to the streets of Madrid on Friday to protest against BBVA, saying the bank had blocked their accounts.

The protesters said they had been told their bank accounts had been blocked because of money laundering regulations but insisted they had done nothing wrong.

"We gathered here to demand equality because we are ordinary citizens. I work in a consultancy office and I don't have suspicious transactions", said Yunajie Chen, a Chinese accountant who arrived in Spain as a child and has been a BBVA client for over six years.

BBVA, Spain's second largest bank, declined to comment on any of these cases and said it does not discriminate against any clients based on nationality and treats all customers with the same criteria.

Spain beefed up its money laundering regulations last year. The law requires clients to give the bank a series of personal details and background information, regardless of their nationality, said spokesman for the Spanish banking association AEB, Jose Luis Martinez Campuzano.

However Dawein Ding, vice-president of a Chinese radio station in Madrid who also works for the Chinese Association in Spain (ACHE), said banks such as BBVA were demanding far more details and making the process more complicated for Chinese citizens than for Spanish nationals.

"For a Spaniard to open a bank account they just have to show their identification card, whereas Chinese citizens have to deliver much more paperwork such as evidence of their work life like payslips and contracts," Ding said.

BBVA declined to comment on this.

The protesters, gathered by a major BBVA branch, said increased scrutiny effectively cut them off from paying their utility bills or tuition costs for their children.

"What BBVA and some other banks have done has damaged the legal interests of thousands of ordinary Chinese, the lives of many people...have been affected," said Feng Mao, the head of the ACHE association.

Story continues

ACHE says between 4,000 and 5,000 people have seen their accounts blocked by BBVA.

Both the Economy Ministry and the Bank of Spain declined to comment on Friday when asked about the complaints of Chinese citizens.

A Reuters investigation last year detailed the alleged money laundering scheme involving ICBC following the arrest of seven ICBC executives in Madrid in February 2016.

(Aadditional reporting by Silvio Castellanos and Marco Trujillo; editing by Ingrid Melander and Rachel Armstrong)
(Adds background)

By Rene Wagner

BERLIN, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Germany's two leading SME business associations publicly opposed a merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank on Friday, arguing a combination could curb competition.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has dismissed media reports that the government is pressing for a merger of the country's two main banks before May as "speculation".

But his deputy Joerg Kukies told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Friday that the two were vulnerable to takeovers by healthier banks given their low stock values.

Germany's Mittelstand, as its small and medium-sized firms are known, make up more than 99 percent of all registered companies in Europe's largest economy, account for more than 97 percent of exports and employ about 60 percent of its workforce.

"More competition is fundamentally welcome ... therefore, we see no reason why the two banks should merge," Reinhold von Eben-Worlee, head of the Family Businesses Association, said.

Mario Ohoven, president of the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (DMB), made similar observations.

"When two troubled banks come together there is no guarantee this will result in an economically powerful institution," Ohoven said, adding: "Put bluntly, putting two limping entities together doesn't result in a European Champion."

Both Eben-Worlee and Ohoven told Reuters that stable banks with an international footprint were needed to underpin German companies which expand internationally.

Deutsche Bank is considered one of the most important banks for the global financial system, along with JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citigroup.

But Germany's biggest bank has been plagued by three years of losses, ratings downgrades, failed stress tests, and money laundering scandals, while Commerzbank is still partially owned by the German government after a bailout.

Kukies suggested on Friday that any merger would have to involve the government.

"In nature, it is so that big animals eat smaller ones," he told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. "In the world of finance such decisions are made by the shareholders and leadership of a company, the state sets the framework." (Writing by Joseph Nasr Editing by Arno Schuetze and Alexander Smith)
MUNICH, Feb 16 (Reuters) - German cars do not pose a security threat to the United States, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday as she appealed for global cooperation on a range of issues from dealing with Iran to preventing another migrant crisis.

"We are proud of our cars and so we should be," Merkel said, adding, however, that many were built in the United States and exported to China. "If that is viewed as a security threat to the United States, then we are shocked," she told the Munich Security Conference to applause from the audience.

(Reporting by Paul Carrel Writing by Madeline Chambers)
Cut & Fix International Salon founder Alexander Salvador

A Filipino architect, who was trying to rebound from his network marketing ventures, engaged in a business experiment in 2012 and established a salon along a busy Manila street with the highest concentration of similar establishments. Alexander Salvador, while recovering from the collapse of network marketing company OneGoal International, was accompanying his wife to a salon when an idea clicked in his mind. Why not establish a salon where customers are willing to spend thousands regularly for hair treatment, he asked. While he had no expertise in beauty and wellness, his advantage, he says, could be his network marketing experience focusing on system and organization.I left behind OneGoal but decided to apply what I have learned from network marketing. I wanted to determine if it is really effective, Salvador, a 51-year-old father of three, says in an interview in his office in Quezon City. A number of people did not like my idea because I am an architect by profession, not a hairstylist. But a cousin of my wife decided to invest in my project and we also had an expert partner from the salon industry, says Salvador. He did his own research by introducing himself to different salons as a graduate student doing a thesis. He asked questions on the salary of employees, operational expenses and sources of supplies. I wanted to know if it would click, so we chose an area where there were a lot of salons. We found that along Retiro Street, there were 18 salons. We chose to build the first branch of Cut & Fix in the middle of Retiro, says Salvador, the founder of Cut & Fix International Salon. Salvador and his partners invested P500,000 in the first salon which opened in November 2012. By December, people were queueing in front of our salon because it is beautifully designed and offers affordable rates. We also offer 24-hour Wi-Fi and CCTV coverage. All our products are FDA-approved. At that time, these were unheard of. Because of my experience in network marketing, I knew how to get peoples interest, he says. With its quick success, he opened Cut & Fix to franchisees. Today, Cut & Fix has 47 branches in Metro Manila, of which 11 are company-owned and the rest are operated by franchisees who each pay P10,000 a month. Salvador says the business continues to expand even when he is not around. I applied the concept of system and organization to make it work, he says. If you apply the system and the organization in whatever field, it will be successful. One who is always lured back to the world of network marketing, Salvador now wants to use Cut & Fix branches as a platform for OneOkada International Corp. which he envisions to be the worlds leading professional network marketing company for wellness, beauty and digital technology products.

He uses Cut & Fix salons to promote the products of OneOkada and expand his network. Prior to this, he met major setbacks over a span of two decades. Salvador, who graduated with a degree in Architecture in 1993, briefly worked for WV Coscolluela & Associates Architects before discovering the opportunities available in network marketing. When I encountered network marketing, I resigned from work and joined Forever Living in 1996 to have financial and time freedom. When I was working as an employee, my monthly salary was P6,000. With Forever Living, my first check was for P70,000, Salvador says. After a year, Salvador joined GoldQuest, a pioneer in the binary business model. The true essence of network marketing is not selling. It is building a network of users, he says. Two years later, Salvador along with 80 leaders from GoldQuest established another company called Power Homes Unlimited Corp. which was later ordered closed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for soliciting investments from the public. Salvador says Power Homes was actually offering technology services, which were not yet widely accepted at that time. At that time, their thinking is that products should be physical and services were not considered a product. Today, electronic commerce is widely accepted, he says.He says by 2003, he and his partners decided to entrust their money to Rosario Rose Baladjay. While they initially earned 10 percent from such investments, Baladjays company eventually ran into trouble. Salvador and his partners lost P8 million to Baladjays investment scheme. He started from scratch and worked for an insurance company. One of his clients, a shoe manufacturer based in Meycauayan, Bulacan, asked his help to establish a network company to sell shoes, as the local industry was suffering from the influx of cheap imports from China. Salvador agreed and established a networking platform for the shoe business which quickly flourished because of the power of word of mouth. The problem, he says, is that the shoe factory along with the outsourcing operations failed to catch up with demand, resulting in inferior quality that proved to be disastrous for the companys one-year warranty offer. I was down again in 2007. By that time, I asked my wife to explore the opportunities in the US, he says. Family health problems ensued. His mother, an aunt and a sister all died of cancer between 2007 and 2011. I prayed a lot. I and my siblings also have lumps on different parts of our bodies, says Salvador, who is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One day, he learned about a natural product on the Internet that is reportedly effective against cancer. I checked on the Internet and found that Graviola leaves [guyabano] from Peru are 10,000 times stronger than chemotherapy. With the financial help from my wifes cousin, I traveled to Peru and looked for suppliers. There, I also discovered maca or natural viagra and camu camu berries which are endemic to Amazon River. I brought them to the Philippines and shared them with my siblings, he says. One of my sisters who was scheduled for a myoma operation found that the cyst disappeared. Today, my siblings still take these natural medicines, says Salvador. Salvador applied for membership with the American Botanical Council and developed capsules that combined Graviola and Trans-resveratrol. I applied with the Intellectual Property Office for Gravitrol, the first product under GMC which means God Made Cure, he says. There were a lot of testimonials about the efficacy of Gravitrol, says Salvador, who in 2011, decided to establish OneGoal as a network marketing company for health products. There were a lot of positive testimonials. One Stage 4 cervical cancer patient survived and even had a child, he says. While his products proved effective, Salvador eventually found himself ousted from the very company he established. A year after, OneGoal collapsed. Thats when he decided to leave network marketing in 2012 to build the brick-and-mortar business of Cut & Fix. Customers, however, still yearn for Gravitrol and other natural health products, says Salvador. He also discovered the health benefits of black garlic and other health products from Japan. A supplier named Yoshitaka Okada allowed Salvador to use his name as a part of a new company called OneOkada International in 2017. This time, we created a network marketing company that combines with traditional business, he says. Quezon City-based OneOkada now has a network of 10,000 users of natural health and beauty products such as black garlic from Japan, Graviola leaf extract and Trans-resveratrol, Camu camu extract and Maca root extract from Peru. Salvador, who has three children, says his mission is to build a network of users and change Filipino consumers misconception about network marketing. Combining his experiences in both traditional and network marketing businesses, he wants OneOkada to succeed by addressing flaws that he witnessed in previous ventures. Our purpose is to win the trust and confidence of the people about networking. We want to build a network of users and provide first-rate products and services in the field of health and beauty and digital technology, says Salvador.
Expedia Had a Less-Is-More Approach to Mergers in 2018

In contrast to 2015, when Expedia Group executed seven mergers at a price tag of some $5.74 billion, the companys approach to mergers over the last few years has mostly been to forgo them.

In 2018, according to a recent financial disclosure, Expedia, under CEO Mark Okerstrom, made just two acquisitions for a total of $54 million. Thats a rounding error for a company that did $11.2 billion in revenue last year. The two acquisitions are believed to be for Pillow and ApartmentJet, which provide short-term rental solutions for owners of multifamily residential properties. The irony to some may be that Okerstrom, before becoming CEO, was instrumental in Expedias aggressive acquisition strategy as the company CFO.

While Expedia spent a mere $54 million in acquisitions in 2018, it invested a bit more than that, $70 million, in Indonesia booking site Traveloka, bringing its total minority investment in the company to $420 million.

Thats an interesting trend. Booking Holdings will likely furnish its end-of-2018 financial statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission next week so we can review the final tallies, but it had a heavy year of investments. The major investment action for Booking Holdings was in China and Southeast Asia with its $500 million investment in ridesharing platform Didi Chuxing, and $200 million in ridehailing and food-delivery service Grab.

Here are the amounts that Expedia has spent on acquisitions 2014-2018:

Expedia Acquisition Price Tags 2014-2018

Year Acquisitions Amount 2018 2 $54 million 2017 several $194 million 2016 N/A N/A 2015 7 $5.7 billion 2014 2 $653 million

Source: Public filings

For 2017, Expedia said we completed several business combinations, one of which made an initial investment in during 2015. The cost for all of these 2017 deals was $194 million, or nearly four times what the company spent in 2018.

The largest acquisition that Expedia made in 2017 was taking a majority stake in London-based rail aggregator SilverRail for $148 million.

Story continues

Expedia said its acquisitions  or lack thereof  in 2016 didnt amount to much.

That followed an historic year of deals in 2015 when Expedia bought HomeAway for $3.56 billion in cash and stock, Orbitz Worldwide for $1.8 billion, and Travelocity for $280 million in cash. Expedia also took control of its joint venture with AirAsia that year, injecting $94 million in cash for an additional 25 percent of the company. That brought its stake to 75 percent. And Expedia carried out three other deals for $9 million in 2015.

Expedias performance in 2016, when it experienced troubles integrating Orbitz Worldwide, may have a lot to do with its reluctance to undertake big deals in the succeeding years. The company has enough work to do anyway, as it labors to integrate and make good on its acquisition of HomeAway in 2015.

In a February 8 financial filing, Expedia said: Our primary growth drivers are global expansion, including of our supply portfolio, technology and product innovation, and new channel penetration and expansion.

Global expansion could mean that Expedia would be open to acquisitions in 2019  but the company already appears to have a lot on its plate.

Subscribe to Skift newsletters covering the business of travel, restaurants, and wellness.
OFX Daily Market News

Posted by OFX

United States Dollar

The US dollar index is trading flat this morning following yesterdays weak data. Retail sales except autos fell 1.2 percent month-to-month, the most significant drop since 2009. However, consumer confidence is a big part of consumer spending, and several factors hit the consumer negatively in December including the stock market selloff and the government shutdown. This is why we should take this data with a grain of salt.

Regarding the US-China deal, the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin tweeted that the meetings with Chinas Vice Premier Liu He were productive. However, people familiar with the discussions seem to be less cheery, saying China is resisting US demands for further structural economic reform. In general, market participants are becoming increasingly cautious as the round of talks looks set to wrap up without a resolution.

In other news, President Donald Trump is expected to sign Congress compromise funding bill later today, while at the same time making use of his executive powers to declare an emergency at the border to unilaterally shift about $7 billion of federal funds towards the construction of his wall.

At the time of writing, we were awaiting the US industrial production news for January, with expectations for output growth to cool to 0.1 percent from Decembers 0.3 percent. Finally, the latest University of Michigan sentiment numbers land at 10:00 am.

Canadian Dollar

USD / CAD Expected Range: 1.3230  1.3300

The Loonie continued suffering the consequences of poor manufacturing sales numbers, which came in at  1.3 percent when the forecast was +0.7 percent in yesterdays trading session. The Loonie reached an intraday high of 1.3340 at 10:00 am.

However, this morning the USD/CAD is falling 0.10 percent (stronger Loonie) helped by a robust crude oil WTI price, increasing 0.80 percent and touching 55 US dollars a barrel a few minutes ago.

Story continues

Technically speaking, as mentioned yesterday, the USD/CAD pair continues respecting strong resistances around 1.3320  1.3330, which have been tested during the first week in February. Regarding the supports, around 1.3275 is becoming an important support in intraday trading, which is the same as yesterday. The levels of 1.3270  1.3250 will be critical to be held to see a bounce (weaker Loonie). The essential thing to understand is that the support and resistance levels once broken can be used as signals of a reversal or continuation of the trend; for now, the USD/CAD trend is up in the long term.

Euro

EUR / USD Expected Range: 1.1250  1.1300

German Prelim GDP printed weaker than expected yesterday at 0.0 percent versus forecasts for 0.1 percent while avoiding a technical recession. This wasnt exactly good news and the EUR/USD pair fell to a low of 1.1234 this morning.

British Pound

GBP / USD Expected Range: 1.2750  1.2850

Prime Minister Theresa May suffered another defeat in the Commons yesterday. A motion endorsing the governments negotiating strategy was voted down by 303 to 258, and although it doesnt have any legal force  a point made by Downing Street  its still surely a blow for the PM, who is seemingly putting the blame on Labour saying that leader Jeremy Corbyn has yet again put partisan considerations ahead of the national interest.

Traders are getting a little more used to the Brexit merry-go-around and the British Pound was mostly unaffected by the result. It had been pressured lower in the few hours preceding the vote anyhow.

It doesnt look like markets will settle heading into the end of the week either as investors await any news resulting from the US-China trade talks, Trump signing a bill to keep the government open, and more Brexit headlines.

p hidden= class=break>

Australian Dollar

AUD / USD Expected Range: 0.6845  0.6920

The NZD/USD pair has done little since this time yesterday, trading within a range between 0.6829 and 0.6860. It opens this morning at 0.6850 with the range likely to remain narrow, at least until we start hearing news from the US-China trade talks.

New Zealand Dollar

NZD / USD Expected Range: 0.6808  0.6850

NZD/USD is holding firm this morning, trading at 0.6845. This represents an increase of 0.73 percent following the post-RBNZ statement rally. The central bank was a lot less dovish than many market participants were expecting, and a short squeeze ensued. Investors will now be looking to local business manufacturing data, as well as US-China talks, of course.

Posted by OFX
ATHENS, Greece, Feb. 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Diana Shipping Inc. (DSX), (the Company), a global shipping company specializing in the ownership of dry bulk vessels, today announced that it has signed, through two separate wholly-owned subsidiaries, two Memoranda of Agreement to sell to two affiliated parties, the m/v Danae and m/v Dione, each a 2001-built dry bulk vessel (the Vessels), for US$7.2 million each. The sale of the Vessels was approved by disinterested directors of the Company and were sold at a price equal to the higher of two independent broker valuations. The Company expects the m/v Danae to be delivered to her buyers at the latest by June 28, 2019 and the m/v Dione to her buyers at the latest by April 15, 2019.



The Company also announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Glencore Agriculture B.V., Rotterdam, for one of its Ice Class Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Crystalia. The gross charter rate is US$10,500 per day, minus a 5% commission paid to third parties, for a period of minimum fourteen (14) months to maximum seventeen (17) months. The charter is expected to commence on February 23, 2019.

The Crystalia is a 77,525 dwt Ice Class Panamax dry bulk vessel built in 2014.

Additionally, the Company announced that, through a separate wholly-owned subsidiary, it has entered into a time charter contract with Glencore Agriculture B.V., Rotterdam, for one of its Panamax dry bulk vessels, the m/v Maera, for a period of minimum fourteen (14) months to maximum seventeen (17) months. The gross charter rate is US$7,000 per day for the first forty-five (45) days of the charter period and US$9,450 per day for the balance period of the time charter, in each case minus a 5% commission paid to third parties. The charter commenced on February 10, 2019.

The Maera is a 75,403 dwt Panamax dry bulk vessel built in 2013.

The employments of Crystalia and Maera are anticipated to generate approximately US$8.27 million of gross revenue for the minimum scheduled period of the time charters.

Story continues

Upon completion of the aforementioned sales, Diana Shipping Inc.s fleet will consist of 46 dry bulk vessels (4 Newcastlemax, 14 Capesize, 5 Post-Panamax, 5 Kamsarmax and 18 Panamax). As of today, the combined carrying capacity of the Companys fleet, including the m/v Danae and m/v Dione, is approximately 5.7 million dwt with a weighted average age of 9.26 years. A table describing the current Diana Shipping Inc. fleet can be found on the Companys website, www.dianashippinginc.com. Information contained on the Companys website does not constitute a part of this press release.

About the Company

Diana Shipping Inc. is a global provider of shipping transportation services through its ownership of dry bulk vessels. The Companys vessels are employed primarily on medium to long-term time charters and transport a range of dry bulk cargoes, including such commodities as iron ore, coal, grain and other materials along worldwide shipping routes.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Matters discussed in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides safe harbor protections for forward-looking statements in order to encourage companies to provide prospective information about their business. Forward-looking statements include statements concerning plans, objectives, goals, strategies, future events or performance, and underlying assumptions and other statements, which are other than statements of historical facts.

The Company desires to take advantage of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and is including this cautionary statement in connection with this safe harbor legislation. The words believe, anticipate, intends, estimate, forecast, project, plan, potential, may, should, expect, pending and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions, including without limitation, Company managements examination of historical operating trends, data contained in the Companys records and other data available from third parties. Although the Company believes that these assumptions were reasonable when made, because these assumptions are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and contingencies that are difficult or impossible to predict and are beyond the Companys control, the Company cannot assure you that it will achieve or accomplish these expectations, beliefs or projections.

In addition to these important factors, other important factors that, in the Companys view, could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include the strength of world economies and currencies, general market conditions, including fluctuations in charter rates and vessel values, changes in demand for dry bulk shipping capacity, changes in the Companys operating expenses, including bunker prices, drydocking and insurance costs, the market for the Companys vessels, availability of financing and refinancing, changes in governmental rules and regulations or actions taken by regulatory authorities, potential liability from pending or future litigation, general domestic and international political conditions, potential disruption of shipping routes due to accidents or political events, vessel breakdowns and instances of off-hires and other factors. Please see the Companys filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a more complete discussion of these and other risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Corporate Contact:

Ioannis Zafirakis

Director, Chief Strategy Officer and Secretary

Telephone: + 30-210-9470-100

Email: izafirakis@dianashippinginc.com

Website: www.dianashippinginc.com

Investor and Media Relations:

Edward Nebb

Comm-Counsellors, LLC

Telephone: + 1-203-972-8350

Email: enebb@optonline.net
By Eduardo Simoes and Marta Nogueira

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian police arrested eight employees of mining firm Vale SA on Friday, accused by state prosecutors of covering up weaknesses at a dam that collapsed and likely killed more than 300 people.

Police also executed 14 search warrants as part of the probe of the country's deadliest mining disaster, prosecutors in the mining state of Minas Gerais said.

The arrests and search warrants targeted employees of Vale as well as German auditing firm TUV SUD, which had certified the dam as stable.

The arrests deepened a festering crisis for Vale, the world's largest iron ore mining company, whose share price has tumbled 18 percent since the disaster and subsequent civil and criminal probes.

The dam in the town of Brumadinho, which contained tailings, the mud-like byproducts of mining, burst on Jan. 25, killing at least 166 people. Almost 200 more are still missing.

"The eight Vale employees .. had full knowledge of the situation of instability in the dam and each one of them, as part of their job, also had the power and ability to adopt measures for either stabilizing the structure or evacuating areas at risk," a judge in Minas Gerais wrote in an arrest warrant, issued in response to a petition from the state prosecutor's office.

Vale said in a securities filing it was cooperating with the investigation.

The latest warrants followed the arrest last month of five Vale and TUV SUD employees, who were released by a higher court ruling on Feb. 5.

The most senior Vale employees arrested on Friday were Joaquim Toledo, Vale executive director of geotechnical operations, who led the team given the task of monitoring the dam's stability, and Alexandre Campanha, Vale executive corporate director of geotechnicals.

No top Vale executives have been arrested.

Prosecutors alleged that Campanha pressured Makoto Namba, a TUV SUD engineer who was arrested and later released, "to sign a declaration that the dam was stable, or risk losing the contract."

Story continues

Minas Gerais prosecutors also sought the arrests of four TUV SUD employees, but the judge denied the request.

The prosecutors alleged "the four employees of TUV SUD participated in a scheme, sponsored by Vale, to make up technical numbers, and falsely pledge the stability of the dam, which allowed for the situation of risk to be perpetuated."

Neither Campanha nor Toledo could be reached immediately for comment. TUV SUD declined to comment.

Chief Executive Officer Fabio Schvartsman said on Thursday, in response to questions from lawmakers, that the company's safety procedures had not worked.

Reuters reported earlier this week that Vale had seen an internal report last year that the dam had a heightened risk of rupturing. Chief Financial Officer Luciano Siani said on Tuesday that Vale senior management were never shown the documents.

(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo, and Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Mark Potter and Jeffrey Benkoe)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgian pilots have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a deal with Ryanair on pay and rosters, the Belgian cockpit association (BeCA) said on Friday.

The BeCA said that 98.5 percent of those participating in a secret ballot had voted in favour of the deal that the association said guaranteed stability for pilots for the next four years and harmonised working conditions and pay for all pilots based in Belgium.

Belgian cabin crew and pilots had reached a preliminary deal in October.

"However, it is not all over. It is now up to Ryanair to establish an appropriate local management structure that will guarantee the quick implementation of these commitments," BeCa said in a statement.

Ryanair suffered a number of strikes last year by cabin crew and pilots, forcing it to cancel hundreds of flights, after the airline recognised unions for the first time in 2017.

The Irish low-cost carrier has sought to reach agreements with unions in a series of countries across Europe.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
Trade optimism and better than expected US data help lift stock in early trading, reversing losses in the Thursday session.

Weak US Data From US Sends Asian Stocks Ducking For Cover

Asian equity indices took a dive in Friday trading following a round of weak data from the US. December US Retail Sales made their biggest one month decline, down -1.2%, and renewed fears of a slowing global economy. The data, while shocking, was largely shrugged off by US markets in favor of trade optimism.

On the trade front, US/China trade talks have concluded for the week with no major headlines to speak of. US Secretary of State Steve Mnuchin says progress has been made but no details were given other than that another round of talks have been scheduled for next week in Washington.

The Hong Kong Heng Seng led the decline with a loss of -1.87% and posting most of the loss in the final hour of trading. The Shanghai Composite shed -1.37% followed by a -1.34% decline in the Korean Kospi. The Japanese Nikkei fell -1.13% while the Australian ASX bucked the trend to post a small gain. Tech led the decline as it is the most vulnerable to trade woe with shares of Samsung and SK Hynix moving lower -3.0% and -4.66% respectively.

European Indices Move Higher On Hope

European indices were buoyed by trade hope after it was revealed another round of trade talks has already been slated for next week. The news is far from concrete but is taken as a sign the negotiation is progressing in a satisfactory manner, perhaps satisfactory enough to allow US President Trump to postpone the implementation of the March 2nd tariff deadline.

The French CAC was in the lead in midmorning trading, up nearly 1.60%, with the German DAX and UK FTSE trailing at 1.22% and 0.58% respectively. In stock news, Germanys Scout24 surged to the top of the listings after a consortium of private equity firms including Blackstone offered to buy the online classified ads business for $6.4 billion. Frances Eutelstat was among the days worst performers posting a loss near -6.0% after reporting weaker than expected earnings.

Story continues

US Futures Point To Positive Open

US futures were pointing to a positive open on Friday. The major indices were looking at gains near 0.25% after posting similar losses in the previous session. The move is supported by trade optimism and some better than expected data including a more-current read on Retail Sales.

The January read on retail sales was a bit weaker than expected but nothing like the miss posted for December. The headline and core were both flat at 0.0% versus an expectation for 0.1% and 0.2%. Manufacturing data, the Empire State Manufacturing Survey, was better than expected at 8.8 and suggests the US economy is still in decent shape.

Todays action is likely to be affected by options expiration. Today is expiration day for US equity options which may induce volatility as traders take profits and settle contracts.

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:
Aseana City cleanup volunteers

The Aseana Business Park Estate Association, an organization of locators and lot owners at Aseana City (formerly Aseana Business Park), has joined the call of the government to clean up Manila Bay and nearby esteros. Located along Roxas Boulevard, Manila Bay is a natural harbor that hosts one of the worlds most majestic sunsets. However, garbage and other pollutants from countless land and sea-based sources have been an eyesore and health issue at Manila Bay. With the ambition to restore the bay to its former glory, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources started a three-year clean-up campaign, dubbed as the Battle for Manila Bay. The massive clean-up focused along the coast of Manila Bay, while simultaneous activities are being done in various cities. Aseana City took part through the Adopt-an-Estero program.As early as June 2013, ABPEA teamed up with the DENR in rehabilitating the 1,404-meter Redemptorist Water Channel, which stretches from Roxas Boulevard to Manila Bay. Aseana Citys assigned personnel collect an average of 60 to 70 sacks of garbage a week, produced by families living upstream in these canals. To date, ABPEA has already collected more than 168 metric tons of garbage. Now in its sixth year, the program resulted in a much cleaner waterway which has become a breeding ground for freshwater fish.There are so many ways to help our environment bloom again. As an individual, the easiest thing that you can do is to not litter. Pocket your trash. As an establishment owner, segregate waste materials, said Rhiza Montances, the environmental compliance head of ABPEA. Montances said Aseana City aims to improve the condition of waste disposal by spearheading environmental seminars directed to businesses and commercial estates within Aseana City. She said this effort includes proper segregation of garbage, treatment of wastewater discharge and strict implementation of waste management. According to ABPEA, zeroing waste materials in these water channels might take a long time but can be sustained by provision of boats to easily collect trapped waste materials, installation of floaters and water channel barricades that are made of steel, to the upper and lower area of the water channel, regular clean-up action by Aseana Citys very own volunteer cleaners, and the innovative use of bio fences, inspired by Guatemalas clean up movement along the Caribbean islands. In the future, Aseana City hopes to give more life to its adopted estero by increasing pedestrian activity and beautifying the landscape along the water channel. Private institutions and establishments within Aseana City are also encouraged to take part in the clean up. Creating healthy ecosystems and keeping the environment robust will always be one of Aseana Citys fundamentals, as it progressively meets its goals of global development, the group said.
New York State Sen. Michael Gianaris ripped Amazon on Thursday over its decision to cancel a planned second headquarters in Long Island City after encountering opposition from local politicians, saying the e-commerce company had acted like a petulant child.

Gianaris, whose district includes the Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, was among the most vocal critics of Amazons plan, arguing that the deal, which included billions of dollars in tax incentives, amounted to corporate welfare. Amazon announced it had abandoned the plan, which promised to add 25,000 high-paying jobs, because of opposition from local political leaders.

Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves, Gianaris told the New York Times. The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions.

Amazon canceled plans for a corporate headquarters in New York City despite poll data which showed that 70 percent of New Yorkers supported it. The Seattle-based company said it has more than 5,000 employees in the greater New York City area and would continue growing these teams despite its decision.

The company added that it would not attempt to find a new location for its planned second headquarters, opting instead to move forward with previously announced plans to develop outposts in Northern Virginia and Nashville.

Even by their own words, Amazon admits they will grow their presence in New York without their promised subsidies. So what was all this really about? Gianaris added.

Amazon thanked New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats who backed the original plan, for their support during the process. To lure Amazon, the two politicians crafted a deal that included $3 billion in incentives  benefits that critics derided as a waste of resources.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX BUSINESS APP

Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we cant speak positively enough about all their efforts, Amazon said in a blog post. The steadfast commitment and dedication that these leaders have demonstrated to the communities they represent inspired us from the very beginning and is one of the big reasons our decision was so difficult.

Related Articles
(Bloomberg) -- Just as New Yorkers were absorbing Amazon.com Inc.s decision to abandon a new office hub after tangling over $3 billion in tax breaks, General Electric Co. was beating a retreat in Boston, canceling plans to build an office tower and promising to return $87 million in government incentives. In Wisconsin, Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn was backing away from promises it made in exchange for billions in incentives.

Stoked by Amazons decision to turn its search for a new office hub into a nationwide reality show, a long-simmering backlash to corporate subsidies is coming to a boil. State legislators in Connecticut, Florida, Illinois and New York are targeting subsidies to individual companies. At the federal level, Senator Bernie Sanders last year introduced a bill that would tax Amazon, Walmart Inc. and other big employers whose workers collect public assistance.

For the first time ever, the American public got a look behind the curtain, at the dark underbelly of the tax-break industrial complex, and they dont like what they see, said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington-based organization that opposes the subsidies. People got angry and organized and moved their public officials, who were out endorsing the idea of the project before, to reject it.

Good government advocates have long complained that giving tax breaks and other incentives to lure corporations to states and municipalities was a wasteful practice. (Just how wasteful was hard to calculate, but a New York Times investigation in 2012 reported that states, cities, and counties are giving up more than $80 billion a year.)

Political Logic

Despite the costs, the political logic behind such deals was simple. Though companies might move to get closer to talented workers or important customers, incentives allow government officials to claim credit for attracting jobs, according to Nate Jensen, a professor at University of Texas-Austin. Lawmakers in locations with little chance of landing a corporate target have a more perverse incentive to make rich offers.

Story continues

For the most part, deals got done quietly, keeping opponents in the dark. Amazons pageant changed that, as did the election of Donald Trump, who turned the recruitment of industrial companies like Foxconn into key examples of his pro-manufacturing policies.

The attention may have helped corporate locators win richer incentives, but it meant more people were watching to make sure the companies held up their ends of the deal. That hasnt always been the case.

Foxconn, which won a $4.5 billion incentive package from the state of Wisconsin, indicated last month it was reconsidering whether it is economically feasible to develop liquid-crystal displays in the state, as it promised. The state economic development agency said the company deserves flexibility after it changed the fundamental terms of its contract and missed its first-year hiring target.

In Buffalo, New York, where Elon Musk once promised to build the largest solar panel factory in the Western Hemisphere, state dealmakers acceded to a series of amendments lowering the number of factory jobs Tesla needed to create under its $750 million incentive contract, with no penalty to the company.

Europe Ban

"Theres a reason Europe bans subsidies like this, we should take a hard look at whether we should do the same thing. If we can inspire the nation today to have that conversation, then we will have done a good thing," said Michael Gianaris, a New York state senator at the heart of the opposition to Amazon, at a Feb. 14 press conference.

Mary Donegan, an urban and community studies professor at the University of Connecticut, said the local resistance to Amazons headquarters search gives other communities a blueprint for fighting big tax break deals, and may convince states to stay away from high-profile mega-deals.

Seen another way, Amazon just proves that the economic development game is gaining steam. The company received 238 bids from state and local agencies. Its unlikely that another company will publicize its own hunt for subsidies in the way that Amazon did, but absent a federal ban on deals theres no reason to expect that the whole thing will go away.

When everyone else is offering, cities or states that fail to do so will tend to lose out on opportunities, said M. Ray Perryman, a consultant who has worked on incentive deals for American Airlines Group Inc. and FedEx. In an age where a company can dangle a carrot of jobs and have communities falling all over themselves to win a location, you can bet incentives will be around.

--With assistance from Amanda Albright, Austin Carr and Claire Ballentine.

To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Clark in New York at pclark55@bloomberg.net;Polly Mosendz in New York at pmosendz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Debarati Roy at droy5@bloomberg.net, Rob Urban

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com

2019 Bloomberg L.P.
(Adds MTN response, details, updates share price)

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Pretoria's former ambassador to Iran has been arrested in South Africa on charges he took a bribe to help telecoms company MTN win a $31.6 billion licence to operate in Iran.

Yusuf Saloojee, now retired, was arrested on Thursday, police said on Friday, in the latest legal blow for MTN, which has faced a host of such problems in recent years. It denies the latest allegations.

Police said Saloojee was given 1.4 million rand ($100,000) to help MTN win the 15-year contract to operate in Iran, worth $31.6 billion, from Turkish mobile operator Turkcell. He used the money to buy a house in Pretoria, police said.

The arrest is the first concrete development since June 2018 in connection with allegations of corruption involving MTN. The company's shares were down 1.83 percent at 1520 GMT.

"MTN has consistently denied that there is any credible evidence that it promised Ambassador Saloojee any money, or that Ambassador Saloojee accepted money from MTN," the company said in a statement.

It added that the allegations appeared to be based on the evidence provided by a single "disgruntled employee", which had been rejected in a 2013 investigation by an independent jurist.

Reuters could not immediately reach Saloojee or establish who was representing him. Neither the police, the National Prosecuting Authority nor MTN could provide a contact.

He had previously said the money he got was the result of a private loan arrangement and had nothing to do with MTN, according to MTN.

The Iranian embassy in South Africa did not answer calls or emails and no official comment was made in Iran, on a weekend in the country.

Saloojee's arrest follows the seizure of documents from MTN offices last June, after Turkcell brought a $4.2 billion lawsuit over the disputed Iranian licence.

He appeared in a Johannesburg court on Thursday, the police's statement said, and has been granted bail set at 4,000 rand. The case was postponed until April 17.

Story continues

The part of the investigation dealing with MTN is still underway, the statement added.

In Uganda, police said on Friday that the chief executive of MTN Uganda had been deported over national security concerns. The company has also faced costly disputes over unregistered sim cards, tax and dividend repatriation in Nigeria.

($1 = 14.1352 rand) (Reporting by Emma Rumney; editing by Larry King)
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's former ambassador to Iran, Yusuf Saloojee, was arrested on Thursday over allegations of corruption related to telecoms giant MTN's cell phone operating licence in Iran, South African police said on Friday.

Saloojee allegedly received 1.4 million rand ($100,000) to help facilitate the reversal or cancellation of a license awarded to Turkish mobile operator Turkcell, the police said. The license was subsequently handed to MTN.

MTN did not immediately provide a comment. Reuters could not immediately contact Saloojee or his representative.

($1 = 14.1352 rand) (Reporting by Emma Rumney; editing by John Stonestreet)
Maintaining peace on the northern border

Forty years ago, the northern border area of Viet Nam witnessed a fierce attack by the Chinese army. Between February 17 and March 18, 1979, the army pushed deep into Vietnamese territory in the provinces of Quang Ninh, Lang Son, Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Lao Cai and Lai Chau. The Chinese forces made it as far as 50 kilometres into Viet Nam in some places, even reaching Cao Bang Town, Tai Ho Xin and Pho Lu.









The town of Cao Bang in ruin after an attack by the Chinese army in February, 1979.

Responding to the call for the mass mobilisation by the Party and President Ton uc Thang on March 5, 1979, millions of young men throughout the nation joined the army to march to the battle and protect their country.

After nearly a month attacking important places and destroying local infrastructure in Viet Nams northern border provinces, and after fierce protests by the international community, China decided to withdraw from Viet Nam on March 5, 1979.

While retreating, the army continued to destroy economic facilities and cultural buildings in Viet Nams territory. Various conflicts continued in the area for the following ten years.

More than 4,000 Vietnamese soldiers lost their lives and thousands more were injured during the conflict.

Over time, the area has seen lots of economic changes as peace and mutual development of the two countries has flourished.





Army volunteers march north to protect the country.

Vietnamese soldiers fight against the Chinese army from a peak in Lang Son Province. Women of the Tay ethnic group transport food for Vietnamese soldiers based in Cao Bang Province. People pay tribute to dead soldiers at the National Martyr Cemetery in Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province.

A view of todays Xin Man Commune, in Ha Giang Province with nearly 500 families of six ethnic groups. The old battleground now has access to safe water, electricity, schools and health care centres. Border forces of Viet Nam and China patrol on the Hong (Red) River together near Lao Cai Border Gate. The border guards of the two countries have kept close contact to fight illegal trading and other problems. A photo of Mong Cai Border Gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh. An economic zone was established in June 2012 at the site. In the past five years, the export and import revenue through the border gate reached US$23 billion. Athletes compete in "One Race - Two Nations" in December 2018. Since 2017, the race has been held each year from Lao Cai Province in Viet Nam to Chinas Yunnan Province.

VNS

Army volunteers march north to protect the country.

image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/c25c95316a778329da6687455425PM.jpg Entrenched: Vietnamese soldiers fight against the Chinese army from a peak in Lang Son Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/tran-manh-thuong17-1518847722386127428684218555446PM.jpg Helping hand: Women of the Tay ethnic group transport food for Vietnamese soldiers based in Cao Bang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/78674555635PM.jpg In memoriam: People pay tribute to dead soldiers at the National Martyr Cemetery in Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Bui Cuong Quyet image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVVH65632480860100PM.jpg Recovery: A view of todays Xin Man Commune, in Ha Giang Province with nearly 500 families of six ethnic groups. The old battleground now has access to safe water, electricity, schools and health care centres.  VNA/VNS Photo inh Na image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVNG660485048755710PM.jpg Teaming up: Border forces of Viet Nam and China patrol on the Hong (Red) River together near Lao Cai Border Gate. The border guards of the two countries have kept close contact to fight illegal trading and other problems.  VNA/VNS Photo Hong Ninh image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVKT524459297460159PM.jpg Open door: A photo of Mong Cai Border Gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh. An economic zone was established in June 2012 at the site. In the past five years, the export and import revenue through the border gate reached US$23 billion.  VNA/VNS Photo Trong at image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/6314295955803PM.jpg Forming links: Athletes compete in "One Race - Two Nations" in December 2018. Since 2017, the race has been held each year from Lao Cai Province in Viet Nam to Chinas Yunnan Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Quoc Khanh

Army volunteers march north to protect the country.

image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/c25c95316a778329da6687455425PM.jpg Entrenched: Vietnamese soldiers fight against the Chinese army from a peak in Lang Son Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/tran-manh-thuong17-1518847722386127428684218555446PM.jpg Helping hand: Women of the Tay ethnic group transport food for Vietnamese soldiers based in Cao Bang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/78674555635PM.jpg In memoriam: People pay tribute to dead soldiers at the National Martyr Cemetery in Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Bui Cuong Quyet image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVVH65632480860100PM.jpg Recovery: A view of todays Xin Man Commune, in Ha Giang Province with nearly 500 families of six ethnic groups. The old battleground now has access to safe water, electricity, schools and health care centres.  VNA/VNS Photo inh Na image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVNG660485048755710PM.jpg Teaming up: Border forces of Viet Nam and China patrol on the Hong (Red) River together near Lao Cai Border Gate. The border guards of the two countries have kept close contact to fight illegal trading and other problems.  VNA/VNS Photo Hong Ninh image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVKT524459297460159PM.jpg Open door: A photo of Mong Cai Border Gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh. An economic zone was established in June 2012 at the site. In the past five years, the export and import revenue through the border gate reached US$23 billion.  VNA/VNS Photo Trong at image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/6314295955803PM.jpg Forming links: Athletes compete in "One Race - Two Nations" in December 2018. Since 2017, the race has been held each year from Lao Cai Province in Viet Nam to Chinas Yunnan Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Quoc Khanh

Army volunteers march north to protect the country.

image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/c25c95316a778329da6687455425PM.jpg Entrenched: Vietnamese soldiers fight against the Chinese army from a peak in Lang Son Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/tran-manh-thuong17-1518847722386127428684218555446PM.jpg Helping hand: Women of the Tay ethnic group transport food for Vietnamese soldiers based in Cao Bang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/78674555635PM.jpg In memoriam: People pay tribute to dead soldiers at the National Martyr Cemetery in Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Bui Cuong Quyet image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVVH65632480860100PM.jpg Recovery: A view of todays Xin Man Commune, in Ha Giang Province with nearly 500 families of six ethnic groups. The old battleground now has access to safe water, electricity, schools and health care centres.  VNA/VNS Photo inh Na image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVNG660485048755710PM.jpg Teaming up: Border forces of Viet Nam and China patrol on the Hong (Red) River together near Lao Cai Border Gate. The border guards of the two countries have kept close contact to fight illegal trading and other problems.  VNA/VNS Photo Hong Ninh image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVKT524459297460159PM.jpg Open door: A photo of Mong Cai Border Gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh. An economic zone was established in June 2012 at the site. In the past five years, the export and import revenue through the border gate reached US$23 billion.  VNA/VNS Photo Trong at image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/6314295955803PM.jpg Forming links: Athletes compete in "One Race - Two Nations" in December 2018. Since 2017, the race has been held each year from Lao Cai Province in Viet Nam to Chinas Yunnan Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Quoc Khanh

Army volunteers march north to protect the country.

image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/c25c95316a778329da6687455425PM.jpg Entrenched: Vietnamese soldiers fight against the Chinese army from a peak in Lang Son Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/tran-manh-thuong17-1518847722386127428684218555446PM.jpg Helping hand: Women of the Tay ethnic group transport food for Vietnamese soldiers based in Cao Bang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Tran Manh Thuong image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/78674555635PM.jpg In memoriam: People pay tribute to dead soldiers at the National Martyr Cemetery in Vi Xuyen District, Ha Giang Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Bui Cuong Quyet image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVVH65632480860100PM.jpg Recovery: A view of todays Xin Man Commune, in Ha Giang Province with nearly 500 families of six ethnic groups. The old battleground now has access to safe water, electricity, schools and health care centres.  VNA/VNS Photo inh Na image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVNG660485048755710PM.jpg Teaming up: Border forces of Viet Nam and China patrol on the Hong (Red) River together near Lao Cai Border Gate. The border guards of the two countries have kept close contact to fight illegal trading and other problems.  VNA/VNS Photo Hong Ninh image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/AVKT524459297460159PM.jpg Open door: A photo of Mong Cai Border Gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh. An economic zone was established in June 2012 at the site. In the past five years, the export and import revenue through the border gate reached US$23 billion.  VNA/VNS Photo Trong at image: http://image.vietnamnews.vn//uploadvnnews/Article/2019/2/14/6314295955803PM.jpg Forming links: Athletes compete in "One Race - Two Nations" in December 2018. Since 2017, the race has been held each year from Lao Cai Province in Viet Nam to Chinas Yunnan Province.  VNA/VNS Photo Nguyen Quoc Khanh
WASHINGTON: On Friday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton told his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval that America supports India's right to self-defence after the two officials discussed the Pulwama terror attack in which over 40 security personnel were killed. Mr Bolton telephoned Mr Doval on Friday morning to express his condolences for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir and offered the US' full support to India in confronting terrorism.

He told that "I told Ajit Doval today that we support India's right to self-defence. I have spoken to him twice, including this morning... and expressed US' condolences over the terrorist attack,". Mr Bolton said the US has been very clear to Pakistan on ending support to terrorist safe havens. He further added that "We have been very clear on that score... And, we are continuing to be in discussions we are going to have with the Pakistanis,".

also read Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina indicated about her retirement terms

Earlier, the White House and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked Pakistan to end its support to terrorist safe havens inside the country. "We stand with #India as it confronts terrorism. Pakistan must not provide safe haven for terrorists to threaten international security," Mr Pompeo said on Twitter. On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late night statement "The United States calls on Pakistan to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil, whose only goal is to sow chaos, violence, and terror in the region,".

In a stern message to Pakistan, the White House asked Islamabad to "immediately end" its "support" to all terror groups and not to provide "safe haven" to them, as the US condemned the brutal Pulwama terror attack claimed the lives of at least 40 CRPF soldiers. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday that left at least 40 CRPF soldiers dead and five others critically wounded.

also read Nigeria made final preparations for presidential elections
As of the advent of social media and its deep penetration into our lives, sometimes we are really thankful to our favourite celebrities for updating their lives with their fans. Be it their wedding, birthdays, Karav Chauth or anniversaries. And one such celebrity couple from the telly world just celebrated their 8th marriage anniversary in Europe! Wondering who? Well, it's none other than the gorgeous couple, Gurmeet Choudhary and Debina Bonnerjee.

Here, Gurmeet and Debina are currently in Europe where they just ringed in their Valentine's Day on Feb 14 in London, and yesterday, on February 15, 2018, they ringed in their 8th marriage anniversary in Istanbul, Turkey. Gurmeet shared the following couple picture on his anniversary and had an adorable anniversary wish for wifey, Debina. He wrote, "Happy Anniversary to us...The day we signed ourselves for each other, and promised to be in Good and bad And Debi @debinabon While I Look into your eyes I must tell you I derive a lot of strength and also it takes me down to the memory lane and all the cherished memories we share and have made along the years ....#happyanniversary #mylove #memories."

also read This is why Ajay Devgn turned down Kamal Haasan and Shankars Indian 2

Debina, on the other hand, shared the following pictures from the same location and wished her hubby with these beautiful words, "Happy anniversary to you @guruchoudhary Thanks for being who you are and for everything you do. For being the bestest husband. #istanbul #happyanniversary #us."

Well, as they say, when it's to happen, it will happen. Debina never shies away from praising about Gurmeet publicly. The 35-year-old actress once told a media house, "He is a very shy person. One day he called me, and we talked for more than two or three hours. In the end, I had to tell him that I know you want to say 'I love you'."

also read PM Narendra Modi biopic look out: Check out the Zarina Wahab and Barkha Bisht Sengupta as PM's mother and wife
Islamabad: On Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry informed that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Pakistan has been delayed by a day. He is now scheduled to arrive in the country for a two-day visit starting from February 17 (Sunday). Earlier, the Saudi Crown Prince was slated to arrive in Islamabad on Saturday, but now the visit has been postponed by a day. The Pakistan foreign ministry did not divulge the reason behind the change in schedule, adding that the bilateral engagements "remains unchanged," The Dawn reported. The Saudi Crown Prince will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including members of the royal family, ministers and businessmen.

also read US offer full support to India in confronting terrorism: the US to Ajit Doval

However this will be the Saudi Crown Prince's maiden visit to Pakistan since becoming the heir to the throne in 2017. Security has been beefed up in the Pakistani capital ahead of his arrival. The sudden change in schedule comes after Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel. Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Saudi Arabia denouncing the deadly assault, Saudi Arabia on Friday reinforced its support to India against terrorism and extremism, wishing for the speedy recovery of the wounded. Last month, Saudi Arabia had agreed to provide USD 3 billion to cash-starved Pakistan as a balance of payment support to stabilise its ailing economy besides providing oil on deferred payment for three years.

After visiting Pakistan, the Saudi Crown Prince will embark on a maiden two-day visit to India beginning from February 19.

also read Nigeria made final preparations for presidential elections
New Delhi: In Pulwama attack while the entire world is denouncing the terror attack the Pakistani media denote the suicide bomber who carried out the ghastly killing of 40 CRPF personnel is a "freedom fighter", highlighting their mindset. The Pakistani media also has been busy in making attempts to somehow show that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) outfit, which is based in Pakistan, was not involved, despite the terror outfit itself claiming responsibility for the killing.

Pakistani daily 'The Nation' published a report headlined 'Freedom fighter launches attack..." A report in the same newspaper also quoted some purported "spokesperson" of Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, claiming that the outfit had "nothing to do with the attack". This is in direct contradiction of the claim made by the JeM, in a statement issued in Srinagar, that it had carried out the attack. It also named the suicide bomber, along with his photo and video.

also read Bharat Ke Veer app using guidelines help you to donate to martyr families of CRPF

By doing this Pakistan shows its diplomatic behavior toward incident. While the Pakistani regime has been crying hoarse that it wants better relations with India, the country`s media continues to spew venom of hatred and spreading malicious lies about the armed forces. Several other Pakistani media houses have also not shied away from the display of utter hypocrisy, cowardice and unsympathetic behaviour. The Express Tribune and Daily Times went to the extent of misrepresenting the facts.

also read Senior lawyer Prashant Bhushan tweet made an insult to Indias Bravehearts
After the Pulwama terror attack, the whole country is united against terrorism and josh among Indians is running really high! With hundreds and thousands on the streets, fuming with anger protested against Pakistan in front of the Pakistani High Commission in India, a platoon of CRPF was deployed to guard the commission.

According to the reports, the decision to deploy CRPF was because some protesters tried to march inside the high commission. The protesters demanded that Pakistan should be given a befitting reply in the language that they understand after February 14 attack. Apart from CRPF platoon, a few BSF jawans and Delhi Police patrol vehicles are also around the High Commission to guard it. India on Friday briefed about Pakistan's involvement in Pulwama attack to P5 countries along with South Asian countries, Japan, Germany. On Saturday India will be briefing ASEAN ambassadors.

also read PM Narendra Modi biopic look out: Check out the Zarina Wahab and Barkha Bisht Sengupta as PM's mother and wife

CRPF lost 40 soldiers in a suicide attack by a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist on Thursday afternoon in Awantipora's Lethpora area while several others have been critically injured. The force has already launched a full Court of Inquiry (CoI) into the attack and also asked all its personnel and formations stationed in Jammu and Kashmir to maintain high vigil alert and be fully prepared. The suicide bomber has been identified as 22-year-old Adil Ahmad Dar, a resident of Gundibagh village which is around 10 km away from the area where the attack took place. Dar had dropped out of class 12 in a local school in Gundibagh in March 2017 and gone missing in 2018.

also read AMU Student posted highly objectionable tweet regarding Pulwama deadliest terror attack
NEW DELHI: On Thursday, The Government of India (GoI) India has yet again slammed Pakistan for claming that it is not aware of terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed's presence on its soil and denying any role in Thursday's worst suicide attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.

The strong condemnation from India came after Pakistan Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua briefed ambassador of Permanent Five (P5) members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) rejecting Pakistan's involvement in the Pulwama attack and claiming that Islamabad wants a constructive approach towards India.

also read US offer full support to India in confronting terrorism: the US to Ajit Doval

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) issued a statement saying, ''JeM has claimed responsibility for the attack. The organisation and its leadership are located in Pakistan. LeT and other terror groups have welcomed the news of the attack. These groups are also based in Pakistan. Pakistan cannot claim that it is unaware of their presence and their activities." The MEA statement further, "they have not taken any action against these groups despite international demands, especially against groups and individuals proscribed by the UN and other countries. The links to Pakistan are clear and evident for all to see."

"Its own Ministers have shared the same podium with UN proscribed terrorists,"Pakistani Ministers have often been clicked sharing dais with terrorists and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed. In September 2018, Pakistan's Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Minister Noor-ul-Haq Qadri shared a platform with Hafiz Saeed and both made anti-India statements. Last year, a video surfaced in which Pakistan's Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Khan Afridi had openly expressed the support of current Imran Khan Administration to Hafiz Saeed and his organization.

also read A PUBG-addict youth stabs sister's fiance, admitted
Islamabad: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said nobody can browbeat the country for the brutal Pulwama terror attack even as he offered to fully cooperate in any probe into the incident if India shares any evidence with it.

Forty CRPF personnel were killed and five others critically injured when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle laden with explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday.

The Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles that was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar.

Qureshi, in a recorded a video message from Germany where he is attending the Munich Security Conference, claimed that India, without investigation, in a knee-jerk reaction, blamed Pakistan for the attack.

"It is easy to blame Pakistan but it will not solve the problem and the world will not be convinced," he said in the message which was released by the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on its official Twitter account.

He said nobody can browbeat Pakistan by blaming it for he attack. "We know how to defend ourselves. We can also present out point of view across the world. Our message is peace and not conflict," Qureshi said.

In a strong warning to Pakistan over the Pulwama terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday declared those responsible will pay a "very heavy price" and said the security forces have been given a free hand to decide on the timing, place and nature of their response to the carnage.

"A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons," Modi asserted.

Qureshi said Pakistan was ready to fully cooperate with India if it shares evidence.

"If India has any evidence (about involvement of elements in Pakistan in the Pulwama attack), it should share with us. We will investigate with full honesty and see if it was right. And I say with full confidence that we will cooperate. Because we do not want disturbance," he said.

Condemning the incident, the foreign minister said, "Violence neither was, nor is our policy."
Aurora: A gunman opened fire on Friday at an Illinois manufacturing warehouse, apparently as he was being terminated from his job there, killing five fellow workers and wounding five police officers before he was slain by police, authorities said.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the assailant, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, had worked at the Henry Pratt Company for 15 years before Fridays violence unfolded at the firms sprawling warehouse in Aurora, 40 miles (65 km) west of Chicago.

At a late-night news conference, Ziman said it was not yet clear whether the suspect, who was armed with a handgun, was carrying the weapon at the time he was being terminated or whether he went to retrieve it before opening fire.

The chief said she lacked any immediate information about whether the gunman had a criminal history, but public records showed Martin was convicted in 1995 for aggravated assault in Mississippi.

The bloodshed marked the latest spasm of gun violence in a nation where mass shootings have become almost commonplace. It came one day after the one-year anniversary of the massacre of 17 people by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The five police officers who were struck by gunfire and a sixth employee who was wounded were being treated at local hospitals and were expected to survive, Ziman told reporters.

She said the five wounded officers were wounded in the first five minutes of their arrival at the plant, which occupies 29,000 square feet, Ziman said. She added that no further gunshots were fired until additional police confronted the suspect about 90 minutes later inside the building, where they shot him dead.

Video on local media showed numerous police cars surrounding a large commercial building in Aurora, the ground covered in snow.
New Delhi: Political parties Saturday put up a united face and expressed India's determination to fight terrorism following the Pulwama terror attack, underlining their solidarity with security forces for defending the country's unity and integrity.

A meeting of all political parties, including the BJP and the Congress, passed a resolution condemning the terror attack and support being given to it from across the border.

The resolution did not name Pakistan but asserted that India has been facing the menace of the cross-border terrorism which of late, it added, is being actively encouraged by forces from the neighbouring country.

"India has displayed both firmness and resilience in dealing with these challenges. The entire nation speaks in one voice to express its determination to fight these challenges. Today, we stand united in solidarity with our security forces in fighting terrorism and in defending the unity and integrity of India," it said.

The meeting convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh was attended by Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress, Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien of the TMC, Sanjay Raut of the Shiv Sena, Jithendra Reddy of the TRS, D Raja of the CPI, Farooq Abdullah of the National Conference, Ram Vilas Paswan of the LJP among others.

At least 40 CRPF jawans were killed on Thursday.

The parties were briefed about the attack in Pulwama in south Kashmir and the steps being taken by the government so far, a Home Ministry official said.

PM Modi pays homage to martyred CRPF jawans.

Naresh Gujral of the Akali Dal, Upendra Kushwaha of the RLSP and Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav are among others who are attending the meeting.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a JeM suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Pulwama district.

Read more: Latest India news
Bauria, West Bengal: When you meet a grief-stricken family, you are initially at a loss of words. But as you enter the house of martyr Bablu Santra, who was one of the 40 soldiers killed in a fidayeen attack in Pulwama on Thursday, the ambience exudes one that of vengeance.

And yes, the family members are desperate for yet another surgical strike to take revenge of the heinous attack.

Talking to mediapersons, not just the family members of the martyred soldier but the entire village wants to see another 'surgical strike' which will not only avenge the death but will also stop more terrorist attacks in India.

Bablus mother, Bonomala, who was crying inconsolably, said, I want justice for my son. The Modi government should plan for another surgical strike to punish the killers. I have lost my son but will definitely pray so that no other parents lose their children.

His mother also added that Bablu had joined CRPF 'for the sake of the family'.

Relatives and neighbours gather at the residence of CRPF martyr Bablu Santra at Bauria in Howrah district of West Bengal. PTI

He studied hard and sold fish at Uluberia market before being selected as a jawan. We had to send him for the sake of earning bread for the family. Moreover, he had decided to serve the Motherland, said his youngest sister Pampa Mondol.

A day before he was killed in the horrific suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, trooper Bablu Santra had called his mother back at his residence in Chengrail, Howrah, to inquire about his kin.

People pay homage to CRPF martyr Bablu Santra.

On February 13, Bablu called his mother to inquire about our health. He even asked if everyone in the family had taken their meals or not. He even wanted to know if his daughter Piyal Santra (6) had boarded the school bus safely. He was our heartbeat, said his sobbing eldest sister Saraswati Khelu.

Khelu also added, When the Modi government did the surgical strike, Bablu was very happy. We all hope that the BJP government does another strike for my brothers death.

Not just the family the entire village wants to see another 'surgical strike' which will not only avenge the death but will also stop more terrorist attacks in India.

As the continual wails of Bablus wife Mita Santra and mother broke the uncanny silence of his home, other members of the family and friends called for revenge for the killings.

We want the killing of my uncle and others who died with him avenged. Those behind the cowardly attack must be taught a lesson they don't forget. Pakistan didnt learn anything from the previous surgical strike, another strike might help them learn things better. Hope they dare not look at India, said Raghubir Mondol, a nephew of the martyred soldier.

Remembering his uncle's advice to join the paramilitary forces, Mondol claimed that his uncle always advised him to dedicate his life for the nation.

"My uncle always wanted me to appear for the test of paramilitary forces. For him serving the nation was very important," said Mondol before bursting into tears.

I last spoke to him on Wednesday. He had just reached Kashmir then from Himachal Pradesh after training. He would have completed 20 years in service this year and planned to return home after that. His retirement was scheduled in the next eight months. He was also scheduled to visit us on March 2 and we also thought of a small outing, added another nephew of the soldier.

Bablu had visited his residence in January to celebrate his daughters birthday and stayed for 15 days.

State minister Arup Roy visited the family and offered condolences on behalf of the ruling Trinamool Congress government.

The villagers now console themselves saying that a 'dedicated boy' of their village will receive the gun salute. Bablu, a volleyball player, couldn't join CRPF in 1999 for being underage. In 2000 he again got a call from CRPF and then he joined the force as a constable.

Bablu is survived by his wife, daughter, mother, a brother and four sisters. Bablu had visited his residence in January to celebrate his daughters birthday and stayed for 15 days.

Gloom in 'village of jawans'

A pall of gloom descended on Khudawal village in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district as the news of Ashvni Kumar Kachi's death in the suicide bomb attack spread. Ashvni Kumar Kachi, 30, of 35Bn Central Reserve Police Force was among those 40 personnel martyred in Thursdays terror attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district.

Khudawal is known as 'Fauji Village' as nearly 50 villagers have joined the defence forces from this small hamlet of 3,000 people.

Ashvni's father is a daily-wage labourer and mother rolled beedis to earn a living. His mother Kaushalya Devi stopped rolling beedis after he joined CRPF two years ago, said Ravikant Yadav, a neighbour of Ashvni.

Ashvni is survived by his 70-year-old father and 64-year-old mother, three brothers and a sister.

The Madhya Pradesh government has announced an ex gratia of Rs 1 crore, a house and a government job for the bereaved family.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath is expected to visit Khudawal village on Saturday.

Read more: Latest India news


Bengaluru: The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is at striking distance from being inducted into the Services. The designers and test crew at the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (LTD) vouch for the choppers might with four prototypes having completed the pre-induction trials as mandated by the users  the Indian Air Force (IAF) and Indian Army.

During a recent visit to the Rotary Wing Research and Design Centre (RWRDC) of HAL, Onmanorama was briefed by the officials about the future flightpath of the combat chopper programme.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had cleared the proposal to induct initial batch of 15 LCHs. Notwithstanding the final orders to formally come, HAL had gone ahead and began the process of manufacturing the limited series production (LSP) platforms.

Of the 15 LSPs, 10 are for the IAF and the remaining five for the Indian Army. Theres an additional projection of 65 LCHs for the IAF and 97 for the Indian Army. The LSP of LCHs was launched in August 2017 by Arun Jaitley, when he was holding the additional portfolio of Defence.

HAL officials are confident of Light Combat Helicopter becoming one of the most resourceful and potent chopper for high-altitude missions.

Post completion of all trials, HAL officials now say that they are confident of LCH becoming one of the most resourceful and potent chopper for high-altitude missions. The programme has already got the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC).

The officials said that during firing trials, the chopper performed excellently meeting accuracy requirements.

This is the first attack helicopter with us which has aerial combat capabilities. A moving UAV can be taken on easily with an air-to-air missile or with the front gun. This was a capability gap the Services had and LCH will fill it now, an official said.

When asked about the many firsts the chopper offers to the user, the official said: LCH has such an efficient navigation system that enables to deliver the weapons with accuracy measured in milliradians. Be it day or night, you can rely on LCH auto-pilot, while the optical devices ensure you pick up the target at ease.

LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world capable of landing and take-off with considerable payload at high altitudes.

Last month, LCH had successfully fired the Mistral-2 ATAM (air-to-air-missile) hitting a moving aerial target, during the weapon trials held at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Odisha.

LCH is the only attack helicopter in the world capable of landing and take-off with considerable payload at high altitudes such as the Siachen glacier.

The need for a dedicated combat helicopter, which can operate effectively at high altitudes with considerable payload in terms of weapons and ammunition, was an immediate fall out of Kargil War in 1999. Subsequently, the requirement for a dedicated combat helicopter was provided by IAF in August 2003.

At present, Indian armed services have dedicated weapon platforms of Russian origin which have limitations for operations at the high altitudes and LCH is expected to fit in that role.

7 LSPs getting ready

Seven LSP platforms are at various stages of manufacturing at the assembly hangars of HAL now.

This is the new thought-process as we are sure to get the orders and our idea is to deliver the choppers at the earliest. We are confident to hand over the first LCH well within the contractual schedule, the official claimed.

He said LCH with the versatile features built in for combat missions has tremendous export capability.

LCH is the first attack helicopter with us which has aerial combat capabilities.

We have the capability to customize and integrate systems and weapons as per the customer requirement. HAL has now obtained the NOC (no objection certificate) from the Ministry of Defence to explore the possibilities to export LCH to Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Angola, Egypt, Indonesia, Ecuador and Nigeria, the official added.

The designers have many learnt many lessons from the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) programme of HAL that came handy for LCH project as well. Today the ALH Dhruvs are being used widely by Indian Army in addition to the IAF and the Indian Navy.

The development issues and resolutions for integration of critical systems such as rotor, transmission, engines and controls system all were lessons from ALH. Even the implementation of schemes for vibration reduction and enhancement of handling qualities too came from our past experience. The knowledge of weapon system integration and maintainability optimization too were chapters from the past, the official said.

LCH has a narrow fuselage with tandem seating, crashworthy fixed tricycle type with tail wheel landing gear, reduced IR (infrared) and radar signature, armor protection, aerofoil type armament wing, directional control by push pull cable and capable of day/night operations. It is the first helicopter to have NVG III equivalent in India.

To make the chopper meaner, based on user inputs, the designer had worked on shaping and sizing of the platform, including making the fuselage sleek, reducing the frontal area with aerofoil type armament wing and embedding stealth features by reduced visual, aural, IR and radar signatures. To up the lethal capability, the weapons and mission systems have now been provided self protection systems.

Presently, LCH is integrated with a 20-mm turret gun, 70-mm rockets and air-to-air missiles. Plans are afoot to integrate LCH with air to surface missiles, iron/cluster bombs and anti-radiation missiles.

Advantages galore

To a specific query on what advantages LCH offers pilots during combat, the official said that the high manoeuvrability with use of hingeless rotors and nap-of-the-earth flying capability will make the platform lethal. Nap-of-the-earth-flying or NOE is a very low-altitude type flying to avoid enemy detection. Here the pilots use the geographical surrounding to their advantages.

With sleek fuselage and crisp controls, we have made a chopper that is really swift and sure. With increasing threat from low-flying aerial weapons, Indian armed forces have been in search of an effective weapon platform to counter and ensure protection of military formations. Equipped with HMDS (helmet mount display system) and FLIR (forward looking Infra Red) and augmenting the onboard weapons, LCH pilots can now detect and destroy any target on ground or in air, the official said.

LCH is capable of operating from dispersed locations and at ultra low levels proving a protective umbrella from all aerial threats.

LCH guarantees mission success, the official added.

At Aero India 2019, the near-production version of LCH (TD-4) will be doing the flying duties while another one will be on the static display.

LCH is a Make in India product and would generate employment in the country including MSMEs and service sector, thereby ensuring public-private industry participation. It is a matter of time before LCH would fly in large numbers for Service, similar to its elder sibling the Dhruv.

(The writer is an independent aerospace and defence journalist, who blogs at Tarmak007 and tweets @writetake.)
Islamabad/New Delhi: Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad has taken responsibility for the deadliest attack on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in 30 years of insurgency, ratcheting up tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

India says the group and its leader, Masood Azhar, enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demands that Pakistan acts to stop militant groups operating from its soil.

Pakistan condemned the Thursday bomb attack that killed 40 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity.

India has blamed Jaish for a series of attacks including a 2001 raid on the Parliament in New Delhi that led to India mobilising its military on the border, bringing the foes to the brink of a fourth war.

Who are the Jaish-e-Mohammad militants and what have they done?

Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), has ties to other militant groups in Pakistan such as Lashka-e-Taiba (LeT) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. It was banned in Pakistan in 2002 but US authorities say it still operates there openly.

Founded in 2000 after the release of Azhar from an Indian prison in exchange for 155 hostages from a hijacked Indian Airlines plane, it has claimed responsibility for numerous suicide bombings in Kashmir.

The group, which aims to unite Kashmir with Pakistan, has repeatedly caused tension between India and Pakistan. Along with LeT, it was involved in attacks in 2001 on the Indian Parliament and the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly building.

Pakistan rejects Indian accusations that it harbours and sustains the group. Pakistani authorities have linked JeM with two assassination attempts on former President Pervez Musharraf in 2003 as well as the kidnap and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

Firefighters douse a car that was set on fire by demonstrators during a protest against the attack on the CRPF bus.

Where do they operate and who is Masood Azhar?

While Kashmir is the focus of Jaish operations, the group was based in Bhawalpur, a dust-blown Pakistani town on the border with India in the south of Punjab province. Media reports and Indian intelligence sources have suggested that a walled headquarters, as well as another large premises on the outskirts of the city, are used to recruit and train youngsters from the impoverished region.

The Jaish is listed as one of 33 banned organisations by Pakistan's National Counter-Terrorism Authority, which states on its website that the ban came on January 14, 2002. But the group has never hidden its existence, frequently issuing videos threatening India, and also the United States.

After a period of silence, the portly Azhar surfaced in a video in 2014, boasting of 300 suicide bombers at his command and threatening to kill Narendra Modi if he became India's prime minister.

At least 40 CRPF personnel were killed in Thursday's attack.

Despite many rumours, his whereabouts have been officially unknown since a 2016 attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot in Indian Punjab.

What is the diplomatic wrangling over the group?

In 2001, the UN Security Council blacklisted the Jaish, tying it to al Qaeda, and accusing it of participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of al Qaeda acts.

But the group has floated in and out of the shadows and a US State Department report last year said Pakistan had not cracked down on the activities of JeM and other groups that aim mainly to operate outside its territory.

"The government failed to significantly limit LeT and JeM from openly raising money, recruiting, and training in Pakistan", it said.

While Jaish was blacklisted by the UN Security Council, India's efforts to get Azhar sanctioned have been blocked by China, it says. China has put a technical hold each time India has pushed the issue in the council.

On Friday, China said it condemned the latest attack in Kashmir, and noted that Jaish, which claimed the attack, was already on a UN sanctions list. As for its leader is concerned, the relevant committee had rules and processes for listing people, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
The Hague: The World Court will hear arguments on Monday in a dispute between India and Pakistan about a former Indian navy commander sentenced to death by Islamabad for allegedly being an intelligence agency spy.

The hearings come at a time of particularly strained relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours following a suicide attack on a convoy in Kashmir on Thursday that killed 40 CRPF jawans.

Pakistan has dismissed Indian accusations it was involved in the bombing, but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi warned Islamabad on Friday to expect a strong response.

Pakistani authorities say Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav, 48, was arrested in March 2016 in Pakistan's Baluchistan province, the site of a long-running conflict between security forces and separatists. He was convicted of espionage and sabotage by a military court.

Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav

But India won an injunction from the World Court, formally known as the International Court of Justice, the following year. It ordered his execution stayed after Indian argued that Jadhav had been denied his right to diplomatic assistance under the 1963 Vienna Convention.

For four days next week, the two countries will argue their case in open court in The Hague. The court's rulings are final and cannot be appealed, but the UN body has no mechanism to enforce its decisions, which major powers have ignored in the past.

Jadhav's death sentence provoked outrage in India and the case has added to the long-running tensions between the nations, with each accusing the other of supporting cross-border violence along the disputed Kashmir border.

India wants the ICJ to order Pakistan to annul the conviction, ensure the death sentence is not carried out, and release Jadhav.

Pakistan has argued that the ICJ is not a criminal appeals court and said the measures sought are not proportionate to the alleged wrongdoing on the part of Islamabad by not facilitating consular assistance to Jadhav.

India contests Pakistan's version of events and has said that Jadhav was not arrested in Pakistan, but kidnapped from Iran, where he was working after retiring from the navy.

India also dismissed Pakistani assertions that Jadhav confessed that he was an agent for the Indian intelligence service and had been hired with the intent to "destabilise and wage war against Pakistan".

Read more India News
Lakkidi, Wayanad: Thousands thronged to Lakkidi in Wayanad on Saturday to bid adieu to CRPF jawan V V Vasanthakumar, who died in the Pulwama terror attack.

The cremation of the martyred jawan was held with state honours at his ancestral home near Mukkamkunnu in Thrikkaipeta village on Saturday night.

The mortal remains of Vasanthakumar arrived at the Karipur airport near Kozhikode around 2.30 pm on Saturday and taken to Wayanad later. Thousands thronged to the Lakkidi Lower Primary School, Wayanad, to pay homage to the martyred jawan.

Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam and state ministers E P Jayarajan, A K Saseendran, K T Jaleel also paid homage to Vasanthakumar at Lakkidi.

A funeral procession was held from the Lakkidi school to Thrikkaipeta village.

Union Minister Alphons Kannanthanam paying tributes to the martyred jawan at the Karipur airport. Photo: Sameer A Hameed

Lakkidi reflects the courage of its martyr

Vasanthakumar, a native of Lakkidi in Wayanad district, joined the CRPF in 2001 after completing pre-degree. He was deputed in Punjab until he was promoted as a hawildar last month. He came home on February 2 before he left for Kashmir to take up his new assignment. He had called up his mother two hours before the fatal blast.

He was the only son of Vasudevan-Shantha couple. Wife Sheena is a temporary employee at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University. Anamika and Amardeep are their children. His father, Vasudevan, had died eight months ago.

The cremation was held with state honours at his ancestral home near Mukkamkunnu in Thrikkaipeta village on Saturday night.

Family members received an official confirmation from CRPF about Vasanthakumar at 4.30am Friday. Soon people started pouring in to the house near the veterinary university, Pookode. Banners were raised commemorating the brave soldier.

Thousands thronged to the Lakkidi Lower Primary School, Wayanad, to pay homage to the martyred jawan.

Even in the sorrow of losing its brave son, the small village in Lakkidi remains strong. The people here are proud to belong to the same village as the martyr.



Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed on Thursday in one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir when a Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into their bus.

More than 2,500 CRPF personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir.

Vasanthakumar along with his wife and children.

The explosive laden car was driven into the bus that carried Vasanthakumar. Though news spread on social media, family members remained unaware. A friend of Vasanthakumar, who was in the convoy on another bus, called his brother-in-law but the news was kept from other family members until the official confirmation came.

Vasanthakumar's wife Sheena is a temporary employee at the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University

Read more: Latest Kerala news
Kochi: Sister Lucy Kalappurakkal, who took part in a protest against rape-accused Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar diocese, has been served another show-cause notice by the Franciscan Clarist Congregation (FCC). The notice has warned her that she would be ousted from the congregation if she failed to provide satisfactory reply.

Sr Lucy was served two notices before. She had submitted a written explanation to mother superior of the convent after the second notice was served on her. She had not responded to the first notice at all. However, the mother superior termed the explanation unsatisfactory.

She has been asked to give an explanation by February 20. Sister Lucy had invited the wrath of the church leadership by participating in a street protest in front of the Kerala High Court in Kochi along with 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 in January, the congregation had accused Sr Lucy, belonging to FCC's St Mary's province in Mananthavady, of leading a life which was against the 'principles of religious life'.

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 the permission and knowledge of her superiors. The second notice raised 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 assaulted her at the Kuravilangad convent in Kerala's Kottayam district between 2014 and 2016. The bishop had denied all the charges.

Read more: Latest Kerala news
Kottayam: M S Shibu, former assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of the Gandhinagar police station, has been dismissed from service for abetting the kidnapping and murder of Dalit Christian youth Kevin P Joseph.

Inspector General of Police Vijay Sakhare has also issued termination of service notice to ASI T M Biju, who accepted bribe from the accused. Civil Police Officer (CPO) M N Ajayakumar, a police driver attached to the same station, has been handed an increment bar for three years.

The action to dismiss the personnel was taken on basis of inquiry report which was conducted following allegations that certain police officers had attempted to sabotage the investigation by colluding with the accused.

As per the chargesheet submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), Kevin, 24, who hailed from SH Mount in Kottayam, was brutally beaten up by his fiancees family and later drowned to death. His body was recovered from the Chaliakara river near Pathanapuram in Kollam district on May 28, 2018.

Investigations had revealed that a patrol under ASI T M Biju intercepted the vehicle driven by Sanu Chacko, brother of Kevin's fiancee Neenu Chacko and the key accused in the case, but they were allowed to go for a bribe of Rs 2,000. The SIT had informed the court that Biju had prior knowledge of the abduction of Kevin by the gang.

The preliminary hearing into the case, which has been listed as an instance of honour killing, began at the Kottayam Additional Sessions Court IV on Wednesday.

Sanu is the prime accused while his father Chacko is the fifth accused.

Kevin had met Neenu as she pursued a course at a college in Kottayam. Two days before the murder, the two had filed a joint application for marriage registration at a sub-registrar office in Kottayam as Neenu's family fiercely objected to their marriage.

Neenu's family later registered a complaint with the police stating that she had gone missing. Though the police summoned the two, Kevin and his cousin Anish left the girl back at her hostel as she confirmed that she intended to go with Kevin.



Thereafter, the armed gang, which arrived in three vehicles, reached Kottayam and vandalised Kevin's house. They forcibly took away Kevin and Anish. The abductors thrashed Anish severely and left him on the way.

Kevin's body was later found in a river in Kollam on May 28. His relatives alleged that he was tortured and killed.



His family had alleged that laxity on the part of the local police in taking action on a man-missing complaint filed by Neenu had resulted in the gruesome death of the youth.

Sub-inspector M S Shibu and ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were suspended, while Kottayam district superintendent of police V M Mohammed Rafique was transferred following the incident.



The post-mortem conducted at the Kottayam Medical College hospital had found that there were 16 cuts and bruises on Kevin's body.

The findings of the police inquiry and the post-mortem say that Kevin drowned in the Chaliyakkara river while he was trying to escape from the gang. But doubts remain whether Kevin died after falling in the river while running at night or if he was beaten by the goons and dumped in the river in the belief that he had died.

Assessing the background of the crime, the Additional Sessions Court in Kottayam produced its judgment over the prosecution's plea, demanding that Kevin's murder be considered as a case of honour killing. As a result, the trial will be now be completed within six months.

The charge-sheet says that Kevin, a dalit Christian from Kottayam, was kidnapped and murdered by a gang led by Sanu Chacko, brother of Kevin's fiancee Neenu Chacko, on May 27. Sanu is the prime accused while his father Chacko is the fifth accused.


P J Joseph was vocal in the United Democratic Front meeting on Tuesday. By now, allies have grown used to the senior Kerala Congress leader's sudden spurt in activity levels. When Congress president Rahul Gandhi met the allied leaders in Kerala recently, even Kerala Congress supremo K M Mani was surprised to see Joseph raising the demand for a second Lok Sabha seat for his party to contest.

If recent history is any indicator, the seat division ahead of every election could change the equations of both dominant political alliances. The CPI retorted sharply when the CPM demanded Ponnani ahead of the 2009 general election. The Janata Dal walked out of the Left Democratic Front when the CPM claimed the Kozhikode seat. In 2014, it was the RSP's seat to leave the alliance when its stronghold Kollam was taken over by the CPM. This time, the United Democratic Front has reasons to worry.

Leaders of the the Congress and the front it leads expect to finish the seat division on February 18. The Congress is hopeful that the Muslim League would not be pressing for its demand for a third seat. That would weaken the Kerala Congress's demand for an extra seat. This is where Joseph's bargains assumes significant.

The former minister is not known as a hard negotiator. Yet people close to him point to another of his personality trait: he is not one remain calm in the face of a threat. He has the acumen to counter any move against him. Is Joseph viewing the seat division as such an opportunity?

Joseph knows all too well that his party is unlikely to be offered a seat other than Kottayam. Still he has been arguing for it. He has also said that his loyalists have not been given their due even after they joined Mani's party a few years ago. Evidently, he is up to cement his position within the party. In the likelihood of his request for a second seat being turned down, he expects Mani to give him the only seat to contest.

Curiously, Joseph asked for either Idukki or Chalakkudi in addition to Kottayam. In other words, the party would be content with either Chalakkudi or Idukki even at the cost of Kottayam. In such a scenario, Joseph is the apt candidate for the party.

Jospeh's strategies are not going down well with the other faction within the party led by Mani and his son Jose K Mani. When Jose K Mani's roadshow ends in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, Joseph will not be there to greet him. Joseph has left for a West Asian visit. He had already rubbed Jose the wrong way by saying that the roadshow has not elicited the required response because the plan was not discussed within the party.

Even some Congress leaders had to prevail on Joseph not to disown the roadshow.

Junior Mani's roadshow was planned in a party meeting at Charalkkunnu. However, the plan was not discussed in the party's high-power committee earlier. Joseph and his loyalists see a sinister plan by Mani in the organisation of the roadshow. They suspect Jose of pulling the strings to get him anointed as the party chairman or acting chairman. Joseph would not want to work under the junior Mani. He may be planning his exit strategy in asking for a second seat and creating confusion within the front. Many cannot be expected to offer the party's seat to Joseph.

What is Joseph left with when Mani constantly snubs him? He could lead his faction out of the Kerala Congress but remain within the front. Or he could switch to the Left Democratic Front has he had done in the past. Such a move may not be wise just ahead of the poll.

The discussions around Kottayam and Idukki seats invariably hinges on another power centre within the United Democratic Front, Congress veteran Oommen Chandy. A lot depends on the choice of the former chief minister as a candidate for either of the two seats.

Chandy's entry could change the equations within the front as he is perhaps the only leader who can strike an accord between Joseph and Mani.

Read more from Straight Talk
Do students ruin the education system or is education ruining them? Central university or central jail? Such questions crossed the minds of students who have come across the administrative staff of the Central University of Tamil Nadu at Thiruvarur for its bid to stifle the freedom of students.

"Remove the Facebook post and go to Pakistan, said Prof S.Nagarajan, the dean of students, after he came to know that the students are not silent anymore. Earlier too the same faculty member had made a similar remark when the students organised a bicycle rally on the campus against rising fuel prices.

Students cant complain against the government while staying in India or else, he had reasoned, while asking the students to leave the country.

Dr. S. Bhuvaneswari, the registrar of the university, had issued a circular advising students not to indulge any unauthorized activities against government policies.

The recent tiff on campus follows the termination of the services of two contract faculties from the English department for allegedly violating the code of conduct, which is not explained well yet. In solidarity with the ousted employees, the students organised a 'human wall' on Thursday to denounce the fascist-like tendencies of the administration. Meanwhile, a bid to vandalise the artistic works and signature wall put up against fascism was prevented by students present at the spot.

The authorities are trying to intimidate the students who have shared social media posts in solidarity with the terminated faculty members. Two students were targeted for their Facebook posts and they were asked to remove them .The admin authorities also questioned the purpose of a study circle called Freedom Speakers which had no political agenda and affiliation.

Dr. N. Rajagopal, the proctor, told a student who was summoned by the dean that that he was shocked to see her Facebook post conveying the message that the CUTN students are celebrating Valentines Day and advised the student that good students cant celebrate it and shouldnt post wrong.

The summoned student was asked what was the motive behind marking Valentines Day on campus? The dean also recalled an incident elsewhere when a boy was reportedly harmed while Valentines Day was celebrated on campus. He also asked who would take the responsibility if a similar thing happened on the CUT campus. He also advised that political parties might resist the event and it was better to stop holding the event," the student revealed.

As per the university rule, no political party cannot be formed or function inside the university. However, the admin officials and faculty members were seen during the recent unveiling of a unit of a political party on campus. When asked about this, no member of the administrative department were ready to talk.

Targeting students for their activities on social media is not a new thing as other institutions too have resorted to it. But shouldn't educational institutions offer freedom of space for students to express their views and dissent peacefully?

The students of the English department, meanwhile, initiated an hunger strike on Friday afternoon in solidarity with the terminated faculty member. Our demand is to revoke the termination," students said.

Many students from various department have gathered to extend their support.

(All the photos are sourced by the author)


Thiruvananthapuram: The power tussle between two senior leaders of the Kerala Congress (M) has created more headache for the Congress and its other allies in Kerala ahead of the general election. A crucial meeting of the opposition United Democratic Front is expected to be dominated by the Kerala Congress demand for an additional seat to contest.

Party chairman K M Mani and senior leader P J Joseph put up a show of unity by raising the demand but Mani seemed less keen on another seat. The only Lok Sabha seat allotted to the party, Kottayam, was held by Mani's son until he was nominated to the Rajya Sabha last year.

Joseph, who had been lobbying for a more equitable share of the party fortunes since he herded his loyalists to the organisation, is now demanding his pound of flesh. The Congress, however, is unlikely to entertain the pressure tactic since it is not backed by the entire Kerala Congress (M). The Congress had made it clear at the time of the merger of the Mani and Joseph factions that the enlargement does not qualify it to ask for a larger share of the pie within the UDF.

That would leave Joseph and Mani fighting over the lone seat. The issue could spoil the UDF expectation to sort out seat divisions among the constituents on February 18. The Congress is likely to give the Kerala Congress more time to settle its internal differences.

Mani is in no mood to forego his claim to the Kottayam seat. The Joseph camp maintained that it had a claim to the seat since Mani's son, Jose K Mani, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.

Another ally, Muslim League, has also staked claim for a third seat to contest this time. The party, however, may relent and settle for more seats in the next assembly election.


Thiruvananthapuram: The Janata Dal (Secular) top brass has met the CPI leadership and staked claim for the prestigious Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat.

JD (S) leaders K Krishnankutty, who is also the Water Resources Minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led cabinet, and C K Nanu, who represents Vadakara constituency, held talks with CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran after consultations with the leadership of the CPI(M), the largest LDF constituent, it was learnt.

The leaders are optimistic about the partys chances in Thiruvananthapuram where the CPI lost two consecutive elections. By fielding a strong candidate like A Neelalohithadasan Nadar, the JD(S) can not only put up a strong fight but also wrest the seat from the Congress, they feel.

Although the CPI(M), as an intermediary, had attempted to convince the CPI, the latter did not agree to give up the seat. It is then the CPI(M) leaders instructed the JD(S) to discuss the matter directly with the CPI.

Both Krishnankutty and Nanu pointed up the winnability of Neelalohithadasan Nadar during the meeting, but there were no positive indications from Kanam, sources said.

The CPI state executive committee asked the district leaderships to finalise candidates for the four constituencies allotted to them, including Thiruvananthapuram, after Kanam informed the JD(S) leaders that the party would take a final call on the matter after due deliberation.

Notably, the JD(S), which suffered a massive defeat in the Kottayam Parliament seat in 2014, had expressed disinterest in contesting from there once again.

Normally, formal talks on sharing of seats are held between the CPI(M) and LDF constituents. By discussing the matter directly with the party which is holding the seat, the JD(S) has sent out a clear message that it is in no mood to relent on the demand. The leaders are also understood to have discussed the scope for swapping the Kottayam and Thiruvananthapuram seats between them.

Rumours have been rife that Kanam himself would contest from the Thiruvananthapuram seat as the CPI is handicapped with the shortage of leaders who have a strong support base in Thiruvananthapuram. However, Kanam had made it clear that he would not return to electoral politics when the party was offered a seat in the Upper House last year.

CPI state secretary Pannian Raveendran, who represented Thiruvananthapuram in the 14th Lok Sabha, has also informed the leadership that he would not contest the upcoming elections.

Read more: Latest on LS polls


Kottayam: A senior surgeon at the Kottayam Medical College was transfered after he penalised a nurse by making her to lie down with a tray on her legs.

The Directorate of Medical Education found Dr John S Kurien, the Head of Surgery, guilty after an inquiry was held following protests by nurses associations.

A panel led by Community Medicine Department Head Dr A Shobha has started an internal inquiry. A final report will be presented within three days, said Principal Dr Jose Joseph.

Additional chief secretary in the Health Ministry too had sent a report to the government citing the surgeons misdemeanor.

The incident that led to a furore happened on Monday. Dr Kurien who was on his ICU rounds saw a tray lying on a patients legs and a trainee nurse had obviously kept it. The nurse was called and told it should not happen when attending to a patient. He then ordered her to lie on a vacant bed nearby and place the tray on her legs as punishment.

The nurse left the tray on bed when she received an urgent call to attend to another ICU patient, said Kerala Government Nurses Association state committee member Hena Devadas. The tray had light items only. The nurse was made to lie on the bed until the rounds were complete even after she apologised and pleaded with the doctor, said Hena.

Nursing associations had held a protest at the medical college on Friday. Nurses had protested by keeping off duty from 8am onwards. Those on night duty had taken additional shift to cover for them, said leaders of nursing organisations. They called off protests after Director of Medical Education Dr Ramla Beevi promised strict action.

Meanwhile, the relatives of the patient on whom the tray was alleged kept have registered a complaint with hospital Superintendent Dr TK Jayakumar.

Dr Kurien had reasoned the nurse did a serious mistake. Two trays weighing half a kilo each were placed on a patient who couldnt even move after a pancreatic surgery. One was placed on the leg, while another on thighs. The nurse was made to lie for three minutes to make her experience the patients difficulty, said Dr Kurien. He said he was ready to apologise if found wrong.
The floods and fury of that affected hundreds of villages and displaced millions in Kerala last year touched the hearts of many across the world. As the visuals flashed on television screens and the heart-wrenching stories shared on social media made an enormous impact on people, many sent across food, clothing, household items for men, women and children in no time.

In Delhi, the members of a youth movement felt that they should also do something during this calamity. Being students, they were denied permission by their parents for volunteering work for rebuilding. After brainstorming, they concluded that they can support their counterparts in Kuttanadu schools.

Thus born the 'Help Kuttanad campaign,' by the Leaders For Tomorrow Foundation (LFT), which distributed nearly two tonnes of study materials in dozens of schools, by Thursday, in flood affected areas of Kuttanadu, the lowest lying area in the country and one of the worst flood affected areas in the state.

Bundles of love: education kits collected by students from across schools and colleges ready for distribution to the students of Kuttanad.

Around 3400 LFT volunteers worked in 200 schools and colleges to collect a truckload of educational materials for children in Kuttanad.

The distribution, held nearly six months after the floods, followed a massive campaign conducted in 200 schools and colleges in Delhi during September-October. We were touched by the plight of those affected by the floods in Kerala and wanted to help in rebuilding their lives, said Kayenaat Gill, North Zone President, Leaders For Tomorrow Foundation.

The six-member group of the Leaders For Tomorrow foundation arrived at Kuttamangalam, a remote hamlet near Vembanadu lake, to distribute education materials in various schools. For a week they visited schools in Pulincunnu, Monkompu, Kavalam, Kainakary, Kuttamangalam, Kannadi, Nedumudy etc.

Leaders For Tomorrow foundation, a organisation to promote youth leadership and social work, was started in Delhi University in 2004 by Binoy Job, then a visiting faculty. Job is a native of Kainakary in Kuttanadu.

We purposefully delayed the donation drive, as we know that all the enthusiasm that was seen to help Kerala may come down in a few months, and the real needs such as that of students, who lost most of their study materials, may come up later, said Uma Parvathy, general manager, LFT.

Read more Alappuzha News
New Delhi: MG Motor India, a wholly-owned arm of China's SAIC Motor Corp, on Friday inaugurated its corporate headquarters in Gurgaon.

The company has invested Rs 150 crore on the commercial space which will also house its flagship vehicle showroom and brand store on the ground floor to show-case its products.

Spread over 46,000 square feet, the new office will be ready in the next two months. The company plans to launch its first model, premium SUV Hector, by middle of this year.

"India is going to be a key market for the MG brand and the new headquarter reflects our long-term commitment to be an integral part of the thriving Indian auto market, in addition to our Halol manufacturing facility, which was inaugurated in September 2017," MG Motor India president and managing director Rajeev Chaba said in a statement.

MGs new office and flagship showroom aims to demonstrate the companys core values and culture that revolves around three key pillars  innovation, diversity and technology. Setting new benchmarks in the industry, MGs workforce comprises 31 per cent females, the highest in the auto industry. In the corporate office, the ratio of female employees is as high as 40 per cent.

In terms of diversity, we are setting new industry benchmarks by moving beyond the current norm of the automobile space being traditionally male-dominated, said P Balendran, executive director, MG Motor India.
KYODO NEWS - Feb 15, 2019 - 23:23 | World, All

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday he wants Japan and Vietnam to deepen their already good relations and cooperate to promote regional peace and prosperity.

"A key to the partnership ties between our two countries is contributing to the region's peace and prosperity," Abe told Vietnam News Agency General Director Nguyen Duc Loi in an exclusive interview in Tokyo, where he is on a working visit.

(Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and General Director of the Vietnam News Agency Nguyen Duc Loi) [VNA/Kyodo]

Since 2014, Japan and Vietnam have been pursuing an "Extensive Strategic Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in Asia," under which they have been cooperating on economic, political and security issues, as well as in regional and international fora, while also promoting cultural and people-to-people exchanges.

"I really want to further deepen the relationship between our two countries," Abe said, according to a transcript. "I want our two countries to work together to solve regional and global issues."

With that in mind, Abe noted that he has invited Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc to attend the Group of 20 summit to be held in Osaka in late June as a guest.

Abe said a stable and peaceful Indo-Pacific region is the foundation for ensuring peace and prosperity.

Japan and Vietnam should thus join hands to create a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region, he said, while also mentioning the importance of freedom of navigation and overflight -- an apparent allusion to China's vast territorial claims in the South China Sea that are disputed by Vietnam and other countries.

Abe hailed the success of Vietnam's "doi moi" reform policy over the last three decades, crediting it for the country's impressive economic development.

In the eyes of the Japanese people, Abe said, Vietnam is an industrious, smart and patient nation with warm-hearted people, many of whom have become increasingly familiar with Japanese language and culture.

Noting there are now some 300,000 Vietnamese residing in Japan, the prime minister expressed hope that more skilled workers will come to work in his country after its new policy to receive foreign workers takes effect from April 1.
Mumbai: Veteran actor Shabana Azmi on Friday said she and her husband, lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar, have decided not to attend Kaifi Azmis birth centenary celebrations in Karachi in the wake of Pulwama terror attack.

The couple was invited to Pakistan by the Karachi Arts Council for a two-day event. @Javedakhtarjadu and I were invited for a 2 day event celebrating Kaifis Centenary and were truly looking forward to it. I appreciate that our hosts the Karachi Arts Council mutually agreed to cancel the event at the nth hour in the wake of Pulwama attack, Azmi posted on Twitter.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmirs three decades of militancy, a Jaish suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a CRPF bus in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 personnel and leaving many critically wounded.

Azmi condemned the attacks and said she stands united with the grieving families. Will there be no let to these heinous attacks? These mindless killings. This utter disregard for human lives? Extremely shocking news coming from Pulwama. I strongly condemn the worst terror attack on CRPF convoy, she wrote.

Akhtar, who had penned the CRPF anthem which was launched in 2014, also took to Twitter to pay his condolences.

I have a special relation with CRPF. I have written their anthem before putting the pen to paper I met a number of CRPF officers and whatever I learned, my respect, admiration and love for these braves increased by many a fold. Today I share the grief of the dear ones of the martyrs, he wrote.
Username: Password: or Register

Back to

Forum

Reply to

This post

Post New

Thread Thread Rating: 5 Vote(s) - 1.8 Average

1

2

3

4

5

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 Bulding the wall is socialism spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 350320

02-16-2019 07:07 AM



Posts: 66,867









Post: #1 Bulding the wall is socialism

Advertisement



Climate change is a national emergency. 28 million Americans without health insurance is a national emergency. Children in cages is a national emergency. A ban on 135 million people is a national emergency. Trump's wall is NOT a national emergency.













The illustrated triangles above, perhaps the best known in psychology (with emotions well identified) may furnish a better idea of how the game is played. They clearly show how each party uses negative emotions to create a situation with no resolution, a catch-22, switching roles and a thankless, pointless nonsensical cycle. The last one shows how to get out of the Karpmans triangle to recover ones mental health.

more:

https://cornerstone.ac.za/article-of-the...opolitics/





Russia, Reflexive Control, and the Subtle Art of Red Teaming

To understand the Russian approach to strategy and conflict, we must first understand something about the concept of reflexive control. Initially developed and championed by Vladimir Lefebvre, its a uniquely Russian view on stratagem and deception that repackages and reframes much of what we usually associate with Sun Tzu. If we expect deception and stratagem from China but not from Russia, weve set yourself up to be surprised. Wed be foolish to assume that the Russians are not currently employing reflexive control against the West.

By definition, reflexive control is a means of conveying to a partner or an opponent specially prepared information to incline him to voluntarily make the predetermined decision desired by the initiator of the action.

In other words, when employing the theory of reflexive control, you paint a picture of the world, that, if successful, your opponent accepts. This false picture compels your opponent to act in your favor. A close term in the U.S. lexicon is perception management, although the tone of reflexive control is arguably broader and more Machiavellian.

Examples of the types of reflexive interactions include transfer of an image of the situation, creation of a goal for the opponent, transfer of a decision, formation of goal by transferring an image of the situation, and transfer of an image of ones own perception of the situation. These types (and others) suggest that when employing reflexive control, an opponent manipulates not just our perceptions but also our decision algorithms.

more:

https://redteamjournal.com/2016/10/reflexive-control/



Many people think that universal healthcare is socialism. It is not.



http://elliswinningham.net/index.php/201...overnment/



President Trump Posts Altered Photos to Facebook and Instagram That Make Him Look Thinner



The original photo was taken by a White House photographer on January 14, so you know that the original hasnt been altered by anyone in the so-called fake news media to make Trump look heavier. It sounds silly to even have to say that, but many Trump supporters believe that the media is involved in a coordinated conspiracy against him. Allegations about this conspiracy often have anti-semitic overtones.



As you can see in the comparison above, Trumps right shoulder has been slimmed down and his face is looking thinner. Hes also gotten a haircutwell, a digital one anywayand in one of the strangest alterations, Trumps fingers have been made slightly longer. Seriously.



Donald Trump, an unindicted co-conspirator whose own lawyer admits that the president was trying to secure a real estate deal in Russia as late as November of 2016, has been somewhat sensitive about the size of his hands ever since journalist Graydon Carter described Trump as a short-fingered vulgarian. Carter was writing for the now-defunct Spy magazine in the 1980s when he made the observation and the insult has reportedly bothered Trump for decades.



more:

https://gizmodo.com/president-trump-post...09849?IR=T















Familism in the personality cult



Familism is a type of collectivism in which the one is expected to prioritize the needs of the greater society or family over the needs of the individual. This plays out on a large scale in North Korea, where the Great Leader Kim Il-Sung is Father and the Worker's Party is Mother. Thus, not only are the people expected to cherish their birth parents and treat them with all the respect demanded of traditional Confucian filial piety, but they must cherish and adore the ruling Kim family and the Mother Party even more so.



Familism in North Korea stems from a combination of the traditional East Asian Confucian value of filial piety, the communist system of collectivism, and the Kim cult of personality. As a traditional East Asian and Confucian value, the importance of family has come to resonate through all aspects of North Korean life, from politics to the economy to education and even to interpersonal relationships between friends and enemies.



When the Soviet Union first entered North Korea in 1945 to start its occupation, it had to start almost from scratch in establishing a communist base in the capital region of Pyongyang.[95] In fact, the Soviets' ideologies of communism and socialism were likely as foreign to the Koreans of Pyongyang as the Soviets themselves. However, by emphasizing family and a father-child relationship between the Soviet Union and Korea, and later between Kim Il-Sung and the North Korean people, Kim not only managed to apply Western Marxism to an Asian state, but also to secure his own personality cult, thereby constructing a sense of unquestioning loyalty toward him amongst the North Korean people when North Korea was at its most vulnerable to unwelcome western influences.



However, in the late 1960s after the establishment of Juche as official North Korean ideology, through the cult of personality North Korea began to prominently focus the family ideology more on the North Korean nation itself, with Kim Il-Sung himself as the new pater familias.[citation needed]



The cults of personality also promote the idea of the ruling Kims as a model family. In grief over the death of his second son, Kim Pyong-Il in 1947, Kim Il-Sung returned to the very same spot a decade later with a Korean shaman to perform rituals to "assuage his loss and pain."[96] There was particular stress on the Confucian filial love of the son for his parents. After their deaths Kim dedicated monuments to his father and mother, respectively.



However, biographer Dae-Sook Suh doubts the sincerity of Kims displays of reverence of his parents. In considering Kims relatively independent childhood, Suh does not believe that Kim held any special love for his parents that would necessitate separate museums and statues for each. Instead, Suh says that "his purpose, rather, seems to be more self-serving: an effort to build his own image as a pious Korean son from a revolutionary family."[84] By publicly portraying himself as a loyal son who loved his mother and father, Kim positioned himself to demand the same filial loyalty from his subjects.



Likewise, in celebration of his father's 60th birthday, Kim Jong-Il produced three operas for him,[citation needed] built three monuments, including North Korea's Arch of Triumph, for his 70th birthday in 1982,[97] and upon Kim Il-Sungs death in 1994, Kim Jong-Il declared three years of mourning before fully claiming leadership of North Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kore...im_Il-sung





let's try this again..



mods refusing to act on my reports.. I have no choice but restart the thread..



Disturbed Wrote: (02-10-2019 09:55 PM) New rules.

1 - We don't discuss posters but we discuss the topic.



2 - Accusations of framing, shilling, etc. are not allowed. Anything where the nations taxes held in common are used for any project is a form of socialism. The concept was built into our Constitution by our Founders. We must proudly stand with our Founders on this concept.Climate change is a national emergency. 28 million Americans without health insurance is a national emergency. Children in cages is a national emergency. A ban on 135 million people is a national emergency. Trump's wall is NOT a national emergency.The illustrated triangles above, perhaps the best known in psychology (with emotions well identified) may furnish a better idea of how the game is played. They clearly show how each party uses negative emotions to create a situation with no resolution, a catch-22, switching roles and a thankless, pointless nonsensical cycle. The last one shows how to get out of the Karpmans triangle to recover ones mental health.more:To understand the Russian approach to strategy and conflict, we must first understand something about the concept of reflexive control. Initially developed and championed by Vladimir Lefebvre, its a uniquely Russian view on stratagem and deception that repackages and reframes much of what we usually associate with Sun Tzu. If we expect deception and stratagem from China but not from Russia, weve set yourself up to be surprised. Wed be foolish to assume that the Russians are not currently employing reflexive control against the West.By definition, reflexive control is a means of conveying to a partner or an opponent specially prepared information to incline him to voluntarily make the predetermined decision desired by the initiator of the action.more:Many people think that universal healthcare is socialism. It is not.The original photo was taken by a White House photographer on January 14, so you know that the original hasnt been altered by anyone in the so-called fake news media to make Trump look heavier. It sounds silly to even have to say that, but many Trump supporters believe that the media is involved in a coordinated conspiracy against him. Allegations about this conspiracy often have anti-semitic overtones.As you can see in the comparison above, Trumps right shoulder has been slimmed down and his face is looking thinner. Hes also gotten a haircutwell, a digital one anywayand in one of the strangest alterations, Trumps fingers have been made slightly longer. Seriously.Donald Trump, an unindicted co-conspirator whose own lawyer admits that the president was trying to secure a real estate deal in Russia as late as November of 2016, has been somewhat sensitive about the size of his hands ever since journalist Graydon Carter described Trump as a short-fingered vulgarian. Carter was writing for the now-defunct Spy magazine in the 1980s when he made the observation and the insult has reportedly bothered Trump for decades.more:Familism in the personality cultFamilism is a type of collectivism in which the one is expected to prioritize the needs of the greater society or family over the needs of the individual. This plays out on a large scale in North Korea, where the Great Leader Kim Il-Sung is Father and the Worker's Party is Mother. Thus, not only are the people expected to cherish their birth parents and treat them with all the respect demanded of traditional Confucian filial piety, but they must cherish and adore the ruling Kim family and the Mother Party even more so.Familism in North Korea stems from a combination of the traditional East Asian Confucian value of filial piety, the communist system of collectivism, and the Kim cult of personality. As a traditional East Asian and Confucian value, the importance of family has come to resonate through all aspects of North Korean life, from politics to the economy to education and even to interpersonal relationships between friends and enemies.When the Soviet Union first entered North Korea in 1945 to start its occupation, it had to start almost from scratch in establishing a communist base in the capital region of Pyongyang.[95] In fact, the Soviets' ideologies of communism and socialism were likely as foreign to the Koreans of Pyongyang as the Soviets themselves. However, by emphasizing family and a father-child relationship between the Soviet Union and Korea, and later between Kim Il-Sung and the North Korean people, Kim not only managed to apply Western Marxism to an Asian state, but also to secure his own personality cult, thereby constructing a sense of unquestioning loyalty toward him amongst the North Korean people when North Korea was at its most vulnerable to unwelcome western influences.However, in the late 1960s after the establishment of Juche as official North Korean ideology, through the cult of personality North Korea began to prominently focus the family ideology more on the North Korean nation itself, with Kim Il-Sung himself as the new pater familias.[citation needed]The cults of personality also promote the idea of the ruling Kims as a model family. In grief over the death of his second son, Kim Pyong-Il in 1947, Kim Il-Sung returned to the very same spot a decade later with a Korean shaman to perform rituals to "assuage his loss and pain."[96] There was particular stress on the Confucian filial love of the son for his parents. After their deaths Kim dedicated monuments to his father and mother, respectively.However, biographer Dae-Sook Suh doubts the sincerity of Kims displays of reverence of his parents. In considering Kims relatively independent childhood, Suh does not believe that Kim held any special love for his parents that would necessitate separate museums and statues for each. Instead, Suh says that "his purpose, rather, seems to be more self-serving: an effort to build his own image as a pious Korean son from a revolutionary family."[84] By publicly portraying himself as a loyal son who loved his mother and father, Kim positioned himself to demand the same filial loyalty from his subjects.Likewise, in celebration of his father's 60th birthday, Kim Jong-Il produced three operas for him,[citation needed] built three monuments, including North Korea's Arch of Triumph, for his 70th birthday in 1982,[97] and upon Kim Il-Sungs death in 1994, Kim Jong-Il declared three years of mourning before fully claiming leadership of North Korea.let's try this again..mods refusing to act on my reports.. I have no choice but restart the thread.. Eldog Wilbury

Registered User

User ID: 489386

02-16-2019 07:13 AM



Posts: 12,009









Post: #2 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

So you are pro wall then? Eldog Wilbury

Registered User

User ID: 489386

02-16-2019 07:15 AM



Posts: 12,009









Post: #3 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

I saw what you just did...It is my opinion that is absolutely lame. spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 350320

02-16-2019 07:17 AM



Posts: 66,867









Post: #4 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

Eldog Wilbury Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:13 AM) So you are pro wall then?

I am pro-calling things for what they are.



...as in Trump supporters are as toxic and malevolent as any communist or fascist personality cult ever was. Yet you call people defending democracy these things..



Time to own what you are. I am pro-calling things for what they are....as in Trump supporters are as toxic and malevolent as any communist or fascist personality cult ever was. Yet you call people defending democracy these things..Time to own what you are. spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 350320

02-16-2019 07:19 AM



Posts: 66,867









Post: #5 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

Eldog Wilbury Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:15 AM) I saw what you just did...It is my opinion that is absolutely lame.

you opinions have never been particularly notable..



so back to personality cult ad nausem complaing about me.. is it? you opinions have never been particularly notable..so back to personality cult ad nausem complaing about me.. is it? GrimShaw

Asinus Asinum Fricat

User ID: 470470

02-16-2019 07:20 AM



Posts: 31,918









Post: #6 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

We need a modernized & compartmentalized (<--safeguard against AI and foreign/domestic enemies) electrical grid. It's something we REALLY need. If we're really the greatest nation on this planet then we should be the first ones with this. Natura Naturans

Registered User

User ID: 480998

02-16-2019 07:22 AM



Posts: 13,156









Post: #7 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

The Australian government bans illegal immigrants to Papua New Guinea. Can an Australian defend that policy? Walls are to keep criminal smugglers out in addition to illegal aliens. Israel, the Vatican, and ALL rich people have HIGH walls to protect themselves, why not the US? The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. --Baruch Spinoza spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 350320

02-16-2019 07:26 AM



Posts: 66,867









Post: #8 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism





Tone policing (also tone trolling, tone argument and tone fallacy) is an ad hominem and antidebate appeal based on genetic fallacy. It attempts to detract from the validity of a statement by attacking the tone in which it was presented rather than the message itself.



In Bailey Poland's book, Harassment, Abuse, and Violence Online, she suggests that tone policing is frequently aimed at women[1] and attempts to derail or silence opponents who may be lower on the "privilege ladder". She writes that "In changing their tactics to criticizing how the women spoke instead of what the women said, the men created an environment in which the outcome of a dispute was not decided on the merits of an argument but on whether the men chose to engage with the arguments in good faith."[1] and adds that tone policing is frequently aimed at women as a way to prevent them from making points in discussions.[1]



In Keith Bybee's How Civility Works, he notes that feminists, Black Lives Matter protesters, and anti-war protesters have been told to "calm down and try to be more polite". He argues that tone policing is a means to deflect attention from injustice and relocate the problem in the style of the complaint, rather than address the complaint itself.[2] In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. condemned this type of silencing, writing that he was "gravely disappointed" with the "white moderate, who is more devoted to order than justice."[3]



While ad hominem fallacies of relevance are often autologies, critics have argued that tone policing is a flawed concept simply because it is autological. As discussed by The Frisky's Rebecca Vipond Brink, the act of labeling tone policing may itself be considered tone policing, as "The problem with telling someone that you have a right to express yourself as angrily as you want to without them raising an objection is that youre also inherently telling them that they dont have a right to be angry about the way youre addressing them."[4]



Bruce Byfield has written that steering observers away from the validity of an argument is only one of many possible motivations for raising concerns about tone during a heated debate.[5] An article on The Good Men Project has argued that moderating tone, whether or not one cares about civility, is useful for increasing persuasive impact on the listener



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_policing Tone policing (also tone trolling, tone argument and tone fallacy) is an ad hominem and antidebate appeal based on genetic fallacy. It attempts to detract from the validity of a statement by attacking the tone in which it was presented rather than the message itself.In Bailey Poland's book, Harassment, Abuse, and Violence Online, she suggests that tone policing is frequently aimed at women[1] and attempts to derail or silence opponents who may be lower on the "privilege ladder". She writes that "In changing their tactics to criticizing how the women spoke instead of what the women said, the men created an environment in which the outcome of a dispute was not decided on the merits of an argument but on whether the men chose to engage with the arguments in good faith."[1] and adds that tone policing is frequently aimed at women as a way to prevent them from making points in discussions.[1]In Keith Bybee's How Civility Works, he notes that feminists, Black Lives Matter protesters, and anti-war protesters have been told to "calm down and try to be more polite". He argues that tone policing is a means to deflect attention from injustice and relocate the problem in the style of the complaint, rather than address the complaint itself.[2] In his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. condemned this type of silencing, writing that he was "gravely disappointed" with the "white moderate, who is more devoted to order than justice."[3]While ad hominem fallacies of relevance are often autologies, critics have argued that tone policing is a flawed concept simply because it is autological. As discussed by The Frisky's Rebecca Vipond Brink, the act of labeling tone policing may itself be considered tone policing, as "The problem with telling someone that you have a right to express yourself as angrily as you want to without them raising an objection is that youre also inherently telling them that they dont have a right to be angry about the way youre addressing them."[4]Bruce Byfield has written that steering observers away from the validity of an argument is only one of many possible motivations for raising concerns about tone during a heated debate.[5] An article on The Good Men Project has argued that moderating tone, whether or not one cares about civility, is useful for increasing persuasive impact on the listener (This post was last modified: 02-16-2019 07:28 AM by spo snouou .) GrimShaw

Asinus Asinum Fricat

User ID: 470470

02-16-2019 07:26 AM



Posts: 31,918









Post: #9 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

Natura Naturans Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:22 AM) The Australian government bans illegal immigrants to Papua New Guinea. Can an Australian defend that policy? Walls are to keep criminal smugglers out in addition to illegal aliens. Israel, the Vatican, and ALL rich people have HIGH walls to protect themselves, why not the US?

Because it's not needed. Unless we're going to admit the real reason it's needed. Because of blowback because of all of the innocent people turned into puddles of smoldering goo via bombs from the USAF @ the stroke of the POTUS's pen. Yup. Trump has personally murdered thousands via his signature. Is that why we need a wall?



Or is the wall just to soothe Israeli geopolitics and not our own?



One thing is certain, it's a demagoguery issue and little more. Because it's not needed. Unless we're going to admit the real reason it's needed. Because of blowback because of all of the innocent people turned into puddles of smoldering goo via bombs from the USAF @ the stroke of the POTUS's pen. Yup. Trump has personally murdered thousands via his signature. Is that why we need a wall?Or is the wall just to soothe Israeli geopolitics and not our own?One thing is certain, it's a demagoguery issue and little more. spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 350320

02-16-2019 07:36 AM



Posts: 66,867









Post: #10 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

Natura Naturans Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:22 AM) The Australian government bans illegal immigrants to Papua New Guinea.

...that the government uses the socialist component of the countries mixed capitalist economic policy to fund and pay for the border protection.. because this how public purpose spending works.. It is pretty simple, we are in no danger populist personality cults pushing us into some sort of dictatorial authoritarian state right now.. unlike the US



Mind you all the alt-right personalities from the US have been doing their best to try and get over here to sell their toxic sh*t.. so I guess we are not completely immune.



Fair Go .. mate

you will find most people here live by that creed. ...that the government uses the socialist component of the countries mixed capitalist economic policy to fund and pay for the border protection.. because this how public purpose spending works.. It is pretty simple, we are in no danger populist personality cults pushing us into some sort of dictatorial authoritarian state right now.. unlike the USMind you all the alt-right personalities from the US have been doing their best to try and get over here to sell their toxic sh*t.. so I guess we are not completely immune.Fair Go .. mateyou will find most people here live by that creed. (This post was last modified: 02-16-2019 07:37 AM by spo snouou .) LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 487186

02-16-2019 07:42 AM











Post: #11 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

spo snouou Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:07 AM) Anything where the nations taxes held in common are used for any project is a form of socialism. The concept was built into our Constitution by our Founders. We must proudly stand with our Founders on this concept.



Climate change is a national emergency. 28 million Americans without health insurance is a national emergency. Children in cages is a national emergency. A ban on 135 million people is a national emergency. Trump's wall is NOT a national emergency.



[img=300x300]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OvAdyOmr3tw/TcfoOSxVoEI/AAAAAAAAAAc/KAOhNhQYsI8/s1600/etriangle2.jpg

[img=300x300]http://mainstreamdetox.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Copy-of-The-Drama-Triangle-1-1024x724.png

[img=300x300]https://cdn.slidesharecdn.com/ss_thumbnails/dramatriangle-140502103514-phpapp02-thumbnail-4.jpg?cb=1399029229





The illustrated triangles above, perhaps the best known in psychology (with emotions well identified) may furnish a better idea of how the game is played. They clearly show how each party uses negative emotions to create a situation with no resolution, a catch-22, switching roles and a thankless, pointless nonsensical cycle. The last one shows how to get out of the Karpmans triangle to recover ones mental health.

more:

https://cornerstone.ac.za/article-of-the...opolitics/





Russia, Reflexive Control, and the Subtle Art of Red Teaming

To understand the Russian approach to strategy and conflict, we must first understand something about the concept of reflexive control. Initially developed and championed by Vladimir Lefebvre, its a uniquely Russian view on stratagem and deception that repackages and reframes much of what we usually associate with Sun Tzu. If we expect deception and stratagem from China but not from Russia, weve set yourself up to be surprised. Wed be foolish to assume that the Russians are not currently employing reflexive control against the West.

By definition, reflexive control is a means of conveying to a partner or an opponent specially prepared information to incline him to voluntarily make the predetermined decision desired by the initiator of the action.

In other words, when employing the theory of reflexive control, you paint a picture of the world, that, if successful, your opponent accepts. This false picture compels your opponent to act in your favor. A close term in the U.S. lexicon is perception management, although the tone of reflexive control is arguably broader and more Machiavellian.

Examples of the types of reflexive interactions include transfer of an image of the situation, creation of a goal for the opponent, transfer of a decision, formation of goal by transferring an image of the situation, and transfer of an image of ones own perception of the situation. These types (and others) suggest that when employing reflexive control, an opponent manipulates not just our perceptions but also our decision algorithms.

more:

https://redteamjournal.com/2016/10/reflexive-control/



Many people think that universal healthcare is socialism. It is not.



http://elliswinningham.net/index.php/201...overnment/



President Trump Posts Altered Photos to Facebook and Instagram That Make Him Look Thinner



The original photo was taken by a White House photographer on January 14, so you know that the original hasnt been altered by anyone in the so-called fake news media to make Trump look heavier. It sounds silly to even have to say that, but many Trump supporters believe that the media is involved in a coordinated conspiracy against him. Allegations about this conspiracy often have anti-semitic overtones.



As you can see in the comparison above, Trumps right shoulder has been slimmed down and his face is looking thinner. Hes also gotten a haircutwell, a digital one anywayand in one of the strangest alterations, Trumps fingers have been made slightly longer. Seriously.



Donald Trump, an unindicted co-conspirator whose own lawyer admits that the president was trying to secure a real estate deal in Russia as late as November of 2016, has been somewhat sensitive about the size of his hands ever since journalist Graydon Carter described Trump as a short-fingered vulgarian. Carter was writing for the now-defunct Spy magazine in the 1980s when he made the observation and the insult has reportedly bothered Trump for decades.



more:

https://gizmodo.com/president-trump-post...09849?IR=T



[img=500x500]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQl9WvTf2bIb7WUmle_Z96FFEH2S2SoJyclcAyQByx3v5wAYJph

[img=500x500]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTFSJiT_r4eNea1WOVfgIkP6wLCiFaR_T2pHjDt0HhOfIVc4ce-

[img=500x500]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTUCEn-bTk_v1ne49EM92Nw-qTbcxLfoAWEuHczO1XAP_D98MyP

[img=500x500]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9d/74/07/9d7407e3eb721cd9d9a308affdc3eba6.jpg





Familism in the personality cult



Familism is a type of collectivism in which the one is expected to prioritize the needs of the greater society or family over the needs of the individual. This plays out on a large scale in North Korea, where the Great Leader Kim Il-Sung is Father and the Worker's Party is Mother. Thus, not only are the people expected to cherish their birth parents and treat them with all the respect demanded of traditional Confucian filial piety, but they must cherish and adore the ruling Kim family and the Mother Party even more so.



Familism in North Korea stems from a combination of the traditional East Asian Confucian value of filial piety, the communist system of collectivism, and the Kim cult of personality. As a traditional East Asian and Confucian value, the importance of family has come to resonate through all aspects of North Korean life, from politics to the economy to education and even to interpersonal relationships between friends and enemies.



When the Soviet Union first entered North Korea in 1945 to start its occupation, it had to start almost from scratch in establishing a communist base in the capital region of Pyongyang.[95] In fact, the Soviets' ideologies of communism and socialism were likely as foreign to the Koreans of Pyongyang as the Soviets themselves. However, by emphasizing family and a father-child relationship between the Soviet Union and Korea, and later between Kim Il-Sung and the North Korean people, Kim not only managed to apply Western Marxism to an Asian state, but also to secure his own personality cult, thereby constructing a sense of unquestioning loyalty toward him amongst the North Korean people when North Korea was at its most vulnerable to unwelcome western influences.



However, in the late 1960s after the establishment of Juche as official North Korean ideology, through the cult of personality North Korea began to prominently focus the family ideology more on the North Korean nation itself, with Kim Il-Sung himself as the new pater familias.[citation needed]



The cults of personality also promote the idea of the ruling Kims as a model family. In grief over the death of his second son, Kim Pyong-Il in 1947, Kim Il-Sung returned to the very same spot a decade later with a Korean shaman to perform rituals to "assuage his loss and pain."[96] There was particular stress on the Confucian filial love of the son for his parents. After their deaths Kim dedicated monuments to his father and mother, respectively.



However, biographer Dae-Sook Suh doubts the sincerity of Kims displays of reverence of his parents. In considering Kims relatively independent childhood, Suh does not believe that Kim held any special love for his parents that would necessitate separate museums and statues for each. Instead, Suh says that "his purpose, rather, seems to be more self-serving: an effort to build his own image as a pious Korean son from a revolutionary family."[84] By publicly portraying himself as a loyal son who loved his mother and father, Kim positioned himself to demand the same filial loyalty from his subjects.



Likewise, in celebration of his father's 60th birthday, Kim Jong-Il produced three operas for him,[citation needed] built three monuments, including North Korea's Arch of Triumph, for his 70th birthday in 1982,[97] and upon Kim Il-Sungs death in 1994, Kim Jong-Il declared three years of mourning before fully claiming leadership of North Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Kore...im_Il-sung





let's try this again..



mods refusing to act on my reports.. I have no choice but restart the thread..



Disturbed Wrote: (02-10-2019 09:55 PM) New rules.

1 - We don't discuss posters but we discuss the topic.



2 - Accusations of framing, shilling, etc. are not allowed. Magic. Because its all these threads. Nice trailer but you're under a different law. If you assault the sheep by posting a thread no internal rules will allow you to freely do it. Magic. Because its all these threads. Nice trailer but you're under a different law. If you assault the sheep by posting a thread no internal rules will allow you to freely do it. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 433431

02-16-2019 07:45 AM











Post: #12 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

I guess I'm a socialist.





BUILD THE WALL LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 483520

02-16-2019 07:49 AM











Post: #13 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:45 AM) I guess I'm a socialist.





BUILD THE WALL

Me too...but just this once... Me too...but just this once... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 412093

02-16-2019 08:13 AM











Post: #14 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism



Remove the doors from YOUR home, put up signs offering free shelter & food, and let us know how it works out for you. Do you deny there's a drug epidemic in this country too? How do the majority of drugs enter the country? And, across what border? You are either delusional, or, a hypocrite. Or, quite possibly both.

Do you practice what you preach OP?Remove the doors from YOUR home, put up signs offering free shelter & food, and let us know how it works out for you. Do you deny there's a drug epidemic in this country too? How do the majority of drugs enter the country? And, across what border? You are either delusional, or, a hypocrite. Or, quite possibly both. spo snouou

Vocem sine nomine audivit!

User ID: 350320

02-16-2019 08:23 AM



Posts: 66,867









Post: #15 RE: Bulding the wall is socialism

Eldog Wilbury Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:13 AM) So you are pro wall then?

Eldog Wilbury Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:15 AM) I saw what you just did...It is my opinion that is absolutely lame.

Natura Naturans Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:22 AM) The Australian government bans illegal immigrants to Papua New Guinea. Can an Australian defend that policy? Walls are to keep criminal smugglers out in addition to illegal aliens. Israel, the Vatican, and ALL rich people have HIGH walls to protect themselves, why not the US?

Eldog Wilbury Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:23 AM) spo snouou Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:17 AM) I am pro-calling things for what they are.



...as in Trump supporters are as toxic and malevolent as any communist or fascist personality cult ever was. Yet you call people defending democracy these things..



Time to own what you are.

You seem pretty toxic yourself...I enjoy life and am pretty damned happy...I own what I am everyday... plenty of friends and family who love me...how bout you?

Eldog Wilbury Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:26 AM) spo snouou Wrote: (02-16-2019 07:19 AM) you opinions have never been particularly notable..



so back to personality cult ad nausem complaing about me.. is it?

No complaints...I find you absolutely hilarious...post on.

on and on the drones of the personality cultists and their deflections on the never ending battle to pontificate & falsely frame and obfuscate the topic..



Just like cultists of the past revere and idolize and defend their monuments to their cause ,you are fully on board with the narcissist -in-chief's desire to leave his totalitarian mark on your countries history. You will never 'see it from space' you are just a blip .. a mere hickup in humanities future. With the emphasis on the 'hick'.



Take the jump ,if your objectivity will let you.. into the future->

how do you see your extremist movement ?



I only see a group of sad asfuck individuals that cheered on the destruction of our collective planetary habitat and diverse wildlife..



That were a corporate funded 5th column set up and handled by a pathologically manipulative and equally as toxic and destructive network of oligarchs..



you can silence and kill everyone that opposes you but that will never change what you are. on and on the drones of the personality cultists and their deflections on the never ending battle to pontificate & falsely frame and obfuscate the topic..Just like cultists of the past revere and idolize and defend their monuments to their cause ,you are fully on board with the narcissist -in-chief's desire to leave his totalitarian mark on your countries history. You will never 'see it from space' you are just a blip .. a mere hickup in humanities future. With the emphasis on the 'hick'.Take the jump ,if your objectivity will let you.. into the future->how do you see your extremist movement ?I only see a group of sad asfuck individuals that cheered on the destruction of our collective planetary habitat and diverse wildlife..That were a corporate funded 5th column set up and handled by a pathologically manipulative and equally as toxic and destructive network of oligarchs..you can silence and kill everyone that opposes you but that will never change what you are. (This post was last modified: 02-16-2019 08:23 AM by spo snouou .) Advertisement



Back to

Forum

Reply to

This post

Post New

Thread
















A building of the St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (ITMO University) has collapsed between the second and fifth floors, the Russian Emergencies Ministry told TASS on Saturday, Trend reported.

"In Lomonosova Street, the fifth-story building of St. Petersburgs ITMO University has collapsed from the fifth to second floors. At least 60 people have been evacuated so far," the emergencies official said.

According to preliminary reports, violations of safety rules during repair work caused the collapse.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has held a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Council on Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, Trend reports referring to TASS.

"The parties exchanged views on the situation on the Korean Peninsula and confirmed their determination to boost positive trends in order to peacefully resolve regional issues through political and diplomatic means and in close coordination with all involved countries," the statement reads.

The two top diplomats also discussed bilateral relations "in light of agreements reached at the Russia-South Korea summit held in Moscow in June 2018."
Egyptian security forces have eliminated at least seven suspected members of a terror outfit affiliated to the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the restive North Sinai region during a counterterrorism operation, which also left 15 government forces either killed or wounded, Trend reported citing Press TV.

According to Egypts military spokesperson Tamer el-Refai, the suspected militants were slain in an exchange of fire after they attacked one of the security checkpoints in North Sinai on Saturday morning.

He added that an officer was also killed in the clashes and 14 non-commissioned soldiers sustained injuries.

However, medical sources in North Sinai told AFP that 11 government troopers had been killed in the attack.
Nigerian authorities postponed Saturdays national election by a week, just hours before polls had been due to open, prompting the opposition candidate to accuse President Muhammadu Buhari of seeking to disenfranchise voters, Trend reported citing Reuters.

The electoral commission said the postponement was due solely to logistical factors and denied political pressure had played any part in the decision. Buhari and his rival, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, both urged voters to stay calm.

Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, said the election would now be held on Feb. 23, adding that the date was sacrosanct and that campaigning would be suspended until then.

Buhari, in power since 2015, faces a tight election contest against Atiku of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Nigeria is Africas largest economy and its top oil producer.

Nigerians expressed dismay and anger over the delay, in a country where 84 million people have registered to vote. Past elections have been marred by violence, intimidation and ballot-rigging, and the postponement raised the possibility of unrest.

They (the government) are not following the rule of law... This is a total ploy, it is not true that they are not ready said opposition supporter Oscar Humphrey, 37, in the northern city of Kano, a key battlefield in the presidential race.

In President Buharis hometown of Daura in northern Nigeria, student Dauru Balarabi also expressed dismay, saying he had gone there specially to vote. I spent my morning, my time, my energy for the elections so actually I am not happy, he said.

The electoral commissions Yakubu attributed the decision to delays in transporting electoral materials.

(The postponement) has nothing to do with security, nothing to do with political influence, nothing to do with availability of resources, he told a gathering of foreign election observers and reporters.

He said some sensitive election materials had been distributed but all had been retrieved and returned to the central bank and an audit would now be conducted. In Nigeria the central bank stores election materials for safe keeping.
Nigerian authorities said on Friday that 66 people were killed by unidentified gunmen in Kajuru area of the northern state of Kaduna on the eve of the country's presidential election, Trend reported referring to Xinhua.

State government spokesman Samuel Aruwan said in a statement that eight settlements were attacked early Friday, with 22 children and 12 women among the victims.

Aruwan said the cause of the violence was unclear, and some security operatives had been deployed to the affected localities.

Some suspects have been arrested in connection to the violence, he said.

The spokesman urged community, traditional and religious leaders in the area to encourage residents to avoid any reprisal attacks and to leave the matter in the hands of the security and law enforcement agencies.

"The killings are being investigated and residents are assured that indicted persons will be prosecuted," he said.

On Jan. 22, the Nigerian government alleged there were security threats to the upcoming general elections in the country, alerting citizens of the west African country to be wary of pending attacks before, during, and after the polls.

Kaduna, located in the north part of the country, was among states earlier listed by the government as one of the flashpoint areas.
A new spending bill signed Friday by US President Donald Trump to prevent another government shutdown over border funding allocates an additional $200 million increase in defense assistance to Israel, Trend reports referring to The Times of Israel.

The provision tucked in the 1,159-page bill goes beyond the $3.8 billion in funds already designated for security assistance to Israel under the 2016 memorandum of understanding between the Obama White House and Netanyahu government.

The standoff over border funding had led to the longest government shutdown in US history, and to avoid another, Trump on Friday reluctantly signed the funding bill that included just $1.4 billion of the $5.7 billion he had demanded to build a wall along the southern border.

Trump also declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border to secure more money for his long-promised wall by exercising a broad interpretation of his presidential powers that is certain to draw stiff legal challenges.

The increase in aid to Israel was applauded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC commends Congress for strongly supporting Israeli security and strengthening the US-Israel relationship, the pro-Israel lobby said in a statement. These funds help Israel maintain its qualitative military edge in the region in order to defend itself, by itself, from mounting threats on its borders.

The spending bill also includes provisions that would extend for two years Department of Defenses authority to house emergency weapons in Israel and provide Israel with loan guarantees for five years.

Earlier this year, members of Congress sought to include in the spending bill legislation that would codify the existing $38 billion MOU into US law. That measure was ultimately not included in the spending bill struck between Democratic and Republican leaders this week.

The legislation comes after Trump announced in December he was withdrawing American troops from Syria. Israel has repeatedly warned in recent years that Iran is seeking to establish a military presence in Syria, where it is fighting alongside its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah and Russia to restore the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Israeli officials have also warned that Americas absence would open the door for Tehran to create a so-called land bridge from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, into Lebanon and to the Mediterranean Sea. Over the last several years, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Syria against targets linked to Iran.
French ambassador Christian Masset returned to Rome on Friday after being recalled for consultations last week, Trend reported referring to Xinhua.

The ambassador, Christian Masset, landed in the afternoon and was welcomed "discretely and on a private basis" by French embassy personnel, ANSA news agency reported.

Masset had been recalled on Feb. 7, two days after Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio, leader of the populist Five Star Movement, traveled to France to meet with Christophe Chalencon, chief of the Yellow Vests violent protest movement.

Chalencon was later recorded by La7 private broadcaster as saying that "we have members of the paramilitary ready to intervene, because they also want to topple the (French) government ... we are on the verge of a civil war."

The ambassador's return was announced on Twitter earlier on Friday by French European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau.

"Our ambassador to Italy departs for Rome today. The president of the Italian Republic (Sergio Mattarella) has called President (Emmanuel) Macron to reiterate the degree to which France and Italy need one another," Loiseau said.

That phone call took place on Feb. 12, when Mattarella's office said in a statement that he and Macron "spoke on the phone today (and) reiterated the importance for each of their countries, of the French-Italian relationship".

This was followed up on Feb. 14 by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who told leading Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in an interview that "for several months, Paris has been subjected to repeated attacks and exaggerated accusations", however "France is ready to work with Italy in a spirit of mutual respect and cooperation."

"We consider the friendship between France and Italy as an asset to be protected. Presidents Mattarella and Macron spoke on Tuesday night, they are the custodians of this relationship between our two countries," Le Drian told Corriere.

In an interview with RTL French broadcaster on Friday, Loiseau explained that not only was Mattarella's phone call decisive, but also the fact that "we heard certain (Italian) political leaders who had engaged in frankly unfriendly and unacceptable words and behaviors, express their regrets."

In televised comments at the launch of the Five Star Movement platform ahead of European Parliament elections in May, Di Maio on Friday appeared to backtrack on his outspoken support for the Yellow Vest protests in France.

"We do not intend to talk to those who uphold armed struggle or civil war", but only to "those who believe in democracy in order to change things", Di Maio said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said U.S.-backed fighters seized the last Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria on Saturday after the jihadists who were still there surrendered, Trend reports referring to Reuters.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

The UK-based war monitoring group said the last few hundred Islamic State militants, many of them foreigners, had surrendered in the past two days to the Syrian Democratic Forces. It said some militants may still be hiding in underground tunnels.

With the help of U.S. air strikes, the Kurdish-led SDF has battled to crush Islamic State in the shrinking Baghouz enclave east of the Euphrates river near the Iraqi border.
Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman is due to arrive in the Pakistani capital for a state visit to a key strategic ally that is expected to see the Gulf kingdom sign investment deals worth more than $10bn, government officials said, Trend reports referring to Aljazeera.

Mohammed bin Salman will land in Islamabad on Sunday for a two-day visit that will see him hold talks with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and President Arif Alvi, Pakistan's foreign office said in a statement this week.

Prince Mohammed (also known as MBS), a powerful figure in the Saudi hierarchy who has wielded control over the country's policies since his elevation to the role of Crown Prince in 2017, will also hold talks with Pakistani senators.

The visit comes at a time when Saudi Arabia is seeking to diversify its economy and investments in foreign countries, with falling oil prices hitting the Kingdom's economy hard.

The country has also faced a degree of diplomatic isolation after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in its consulate in Istanbul last year.

MBS leaves Pakistan on Monday, with Malaysia, India and China next on his itinerary.

During his stay, "Pakistan and Saudi Arabia will be signing a number of agreements and MoUs related to diverse sectors, including investment, finance, power, renewable energy, internal security, media, culture and sports", Pakistan's foreign office said on Wednesday.

High on the agenda will be agreements that would see an oil refinery established in the southern Pakistani port of Gwadar, as well as the possible acquisition of two major power plants by Saudi companies, officials and analysts told Al Jazeera.

"The projects, if they materialise, they will be in the double digit billion dollars," said Haroon Sharif, the head of the Pakistani government's Board of Investment.

Sharif stressed that the trip was also aimed at spurring private Saudi investment in Pakistan, which has been struggling with a balance of payments crisis and a faltering domestic economy.

"The crown prince is also bringing about 25 businessmen with him and these men will now have meetings in other sectors like food processing, IT, the finance sector, construction and hospitality," added Sharif.

"They will be having business-to-business meetings during the visit and then we will have a follow up investors conference after this."
The new Lebanese government won on Friday the vote of confidence with 111 votes out of 128 after discussing the ministerial statement for four days during this past week, Trend reported citing Xinhua.

Prior to the voting, Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave a speech while focusing on the need to conduct reforms in a bid to avoid the deterioration of the country on all levels.

"We have agreed on the main points in the statement and we know very well that if we do not agree the country will collapse," he said.

He emphasized the need to implement important reforms and to find a final and complete solution for the electricity problem which costs the treasury around two billion U.S. dollars a year.

Hariri also placed great importance on reforms needed to comply for the 11 billion U.S. dollars pledged at CEDRE conference.

Hariri added that CEDRE program was not made by the international community with the intention of nationalizing Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

"The program is 100 percent Lebanese even if it will employ some Syrians," he said.

"Who does not want a better business environment or a reduction in the budget deficit?" Hariri asked.

Hariri said that Lebanon should take advantage of this historical opportunity.

"All political parties will take part in our work plan. The council of ministers and the Parliament are responsible of translating this work plan into actions," he said.
Username: Password: or Register

Back to

Forum

Reply to

This post

Post New

Thread Thread Rating: 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average

1

2

3

4

5

Page: 1 2 Ecuador is next LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 04:52 AM











Post: #16 RE: Ecuador is next

Advertisement



From 1919 to 1923, Thanh began to show an interest in politics while living in France, being influenced by his friend and Socialist Party of France comrade Marcel Cachin. Thanh claimed to have arrived in Paris from London in 1917, but the French police only had documents recording his arrival in June 1919.[15] He joined a group of Vietnamese nationalists in Paris whose leaders were Phan Chu Trinh, Phan Van Truong, and Nguyen The Truyen. They had been publishing newspaper articles advocating for Vietnamese independence under the pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc ("Nguyen the Patriot") prior to the arrival of Nguyen Tat Thanh in Paris in 1919.[22] Now he must have passed the test because it's on to France for his "education". And then some.From 1919 to 1923, Thanh began to show an interest in politics while living in France, being influenced by his friend and Socialist Party of France comrade Marcel Cachin. Thanh claimed to have arrived in Paris from London in 1917, but the French police only had documents recording his arrival in June 1919.[15] He joined a group of Vietnamese nationalists in Paris whose leaders were Phan Chu Trinh, Phan Van Truong, and Nguyen The Truyen. They had been publishing newspaper articles advocating for Vietnamese independence under the pseudonym Nguyen Ai Quoc ("Nguyen the Patriot") prior to the arrival of Nguyen Tat Thanh in Paris in 1919.[22] LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 04:55 AM











Post: #17 RE: Ecuador is next

Now he's on to the Soviet Union and China. The man gets around. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 04:58 AM











Post: #18 RE: Ecuador is next

Honestly I have never read about a country leader that traveled as much as this guy. Ever.



Chiang Kai-shek's 1927 anti-Communist coup triggered a new era of exile for Quoc. He left Canton again in April 1927 and returned to Moscow, spending part of the summer of 1927 recuperating from tuberculosis in the Crimea before returning to Paris once more in November. He then returned to Asia by way of Brussels, Berlin, Switzerland and Italy, where he sailed to Bangkok, Thailand, arriving in July 1928. "Although we have been separated for almost a year, our feelings for each other do not have to be said in order to be felt", he reassured Minh in an intercepted letter.[27] In this period, he served as a senior agent undertaking Comintern activities in Southeast Asia.



House On Memorium for Ho Chi Minh in Ban Nachok, Nakhon Phanom, Thailand Quoc remained in Thailand, staying in the Thai village of Nachok[27]:44 and xiii until late 1929, when he moved on to India and then Shanghai. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 04:59 AM











Post: #19 RE: Ecuador is next

Who paid for all this travel? Right. That's the question.



He moved to the Soviet Union and in Moscow studied and taught at the Lenin Institute.[31] LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 05:00 AM











Post: #20 RE: Ecuador is next

Now it's on to China.



In 1938, Quoc returned to China and served as an advisor to the Chinese Communist armed forces, which later forced China's government into exile on Taiwan.[ LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 05:03 AM











Post: #21 RE: Ecuador is next

After all that travelling NOW back to Vietnam. Not just go to visit. Nope. But to LEAD the Independence Movement. Did you remember how to make pop overs and win a revolutionary war. Ya and then some. How do they do it.



Independence movement[edit]

In 1941, Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam to lead the Viet Minh independence movement. The Japanese occupation of Indochina that year, the first step toward invasion of the rest of Southeast Asia, created an opportunity for patriotic Vietnamese.[13] The so-called "men in black" were a 10,000 member guerrilla force that operated with the Viet Minh.[33 udis

Philosopher

User ID: 319844

02-16-2019 05:03 AM



Posts: 28,045









Post: #22 RE: Ecuador is next

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-16-2019 04:59 AM) Who paid for all this travel? Right. That's the question.

He moved to the Soviet Union and in Moscow studied and

taught at the Lenin Institute. Bill Clinton Studied in MOSCOW. Bill Clinton Studied in MOSCOW.  This Claim Is Disputed Pending Fact Checkers.  udis

 The Ministry Of Thought Crime. Does Not Approve Of Your Thoughts!  LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 05:14 AM











Post: #23 RE: Ecuador is next

udis Wrote: (02-16-2019 05:03 AM) LoP Guest Wrote: (02-16-2019 04:59 AM) Who paid for all this travel? Right. That's the question.

He moved to the Soviet Union and in Moscow studied and

taught at the Lenin Institute. Bill Clinton Studied in MOSCOW.

He studied in the UK too just like Ho Chi. And he definitely did business with China. He such a hackass. He is as dirty as they come on two legs. 90% of the people have no clue. Forcing women to have sex with him because he's a loser is only what they see. But I don't think they really see that either. Which is strange. I saw thru him day one. Then had to endure all the fools that loved him for booming the economy with dot com and open door fed.



June 1989 A guest column in the Arkansas Gazette by a visiting Soviet journalist noted in passing that Clinton had spent a week in Moscow in the early 1970s and quoted him as saying: "Relations between our two countries were pretty good then. It ++ was a time of detente and the American moon landing had just been shown on Soviet television all over the country. ... I love riding the trains in Russia and the black bread, too." He studied in the UK too just like Ho Chi. And he definitely did business with China. He such a hackass. He is as dirty as they come on two legs. 90% of the people have no clue. Forcing women to have sex with him because he's a loser is only what they see. But I don't think they really see that either. Which is strange. I saw thru him day one. Then had to endure all the fools that loved him for booming the economy with dot com and open door fed.June 1989 A guest column in the Arkansas Gazette by a visiting Soviet journalist noted in passing that Clinton had spent a week in Moscow in the early 1970s and quoted him as saying: "Relations between our two countries were pretty good then. It ++ was a time of detente and the American moon landing had just been shown on Soviet television all over the country. ... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 424701

02-16-2019 05:27 AM











Post: #24 RE: Ecuador is next

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-16-2019 05:14 AM) udis Wrote: (02-16-2019 05:03 AM) Bill Clinton Studied in MOSCOW.

He studied in the UK too just like Ho Chi. And he definitely did business with China. He such a hackass. He is as dirty as they come on two legs. 90% of the people have no clue. Forcing women to have sex with him because he's a loser is only what they see. But I don't think they really see that either. Which is strange. I saw thru him day one. Then had to endure all the fools that loved him for booming the economy with dot com and open door fed.



June 1989 A guest column in the Arkansas Gazette by a visiting Soviet journalist noted in passing that Clinton had spent a week in Moscow in the early 1970s and quoted him as saying: "Relations between our two countries were pretty good then. It ++ was a time of detente and the American moon landing had just been shown on Soviet television all over the country. ... I love riding the trains in Russia and the black bread, too."

+ the dot com boom unleashed by Bill from DARPA created his economic miracle. The internet become the trend. Everyone depends on it now. The sad part is as everyone know or should know by know it's the greatest surveillance tool in the history of the world. Once upon a time only the bad guys got surveilled. Now. One way or another. Everyone. Oh well. It will be hard stopping that. Everyone's a snoop. + the dot com boom unleashed by Bill from DARPA created his economic miracle. The internet become the trend. Everyone depends on it now. The sad part is as everyone know or should know by know it's the greatest surveillance tool in the history of the world. Once upon a time only the bad guys got surveilled. Now. One way or another. Everyone. Oh well. It will be hard stopping that. Everyone's a snoop. SkeptiSchism

Registered User

User ID: 450243

02-16-2019 05:37 AM



Posts: 33,307









Post: #25 RE: Ecuador is next

LoP Guest Wrote: (02-16-2019 04:04 AM) Balut56 Wrote: (02-16-2019 03:10 AM) IMF crashes Ecuador bonds. Yields are sky rocketing. 2029 bond yield 10.75%



Go ahead and buy some. Lol.

I wouldn't buy a 2019 Ecuador bond. I wouldn't go there either. There is a lot going on underneath the radar in the world wide financial system. I can feel it and I can see it here and there. I haven't put it all together yet but getting closer. The money flow has been interrupted big time. The countries, banks, companies getting in trouble now are the ones first effected. It's really hard to read without being on the inside. But it can be done.



China is in worse shape than I thought. They are backpedaling big time. Curiously Trump seems very confident for a guy that just took on a company called the United States of America. He knows he's got a winning hand.



He sees the real numbers flowing thru the Federal Reserve. And he knows if he stops all the scams the US debt could be wiped clean in I would say 3-4 years. That's where I'm at.

I think the CBs know something



Look at those figures closely. Central Bank buying up 74% year-over-year! Highest annual net purchases since Nixon closed the gold window!





https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-1...uying-gold



I think the CBs know something Collectivism is basically totalitarianism disguised as humanitarianism.



Brandon Smith (This post was last modified: 02-16-2019 05:38 AM by SkeptiSchism .)

Back to

Forum

Reply to

This post

Post New

Thread
















North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will arrive in Vietnam on Feb. 25 ahead of a planned second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump, three sources with direct knowledge of Kims schedule told Reuters on Saturday, Trend reported.

Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi on Feb. 27 and 28 following their historic first meeting last June in Singapore. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday Washington aims to get as far down the road as we can at the summit.

Kim will meet with Vietnamese officials when he arrives in Hanoi, said the sources, who requested anonymity citing the sensitivity and secrecy surrounding the movements of the North Korean leader.

He will also visit the Vietnamese manufacturing base of Bac Ninh and the industrial port town of Hai Phong, one source said.

Vietnams president and general secretary of the ruling Communist Party, Nguyen Phu Trong, will meet Kim ahead of a planned trip by Trong to neighboring Laos, one of the sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

A Reuters witness saw Kims close aide, Kim Chang Son, in Hanoi on Saturday visiting a government guesthouse and the Metropole and Melia hotels in the center of the capital.

Reuters was first to report last month that Hanoi was preparing to receive Kim for a state visit this month.

Communist-ruled Vietnam, which has embraced economic reforms and developed close diplomatic ties with its former foe the United States, has been widely touted as a model of reform for isolated and impoverished North Korea.

The former Cold War allies, which share a similar socialist ideology and exchanged military and political support during the Vietnam War, are eyeing a new chapter in relations following Hanois opening up and embrace of the West.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Matanat Nasibova - Trend:

There can be several versions regarding certain interest in stirring up a conflict between Azerbaijanis and Chechens, Jambulat Umarov, the minister of National Policy, External Relations and Information Issues of Russias Chechen Republic, told Trend Feb. 16.

He was commenting on the incident that occurred in the cafe Neolit in Moscow.

He said that this incident is an attempt to break up two influential fraternal communities who live in Russia, and on this basis to incite clashes on interethnic grounds.

We wont allow this, he noted. I would like to specifically say to the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples that we will never allow the fraternity between our people to collapse because of the fights of criminal structures and primitive actions of hooligans. This fraternity was built literally brick by brick by our noble ancestors. We are the heirs of this great civilization and great culture, fraternal, friendly relations between our peoples who live in a single, comfortable and warm home called the Caucasus.

The minister also addressed a message to the entire Azerbaijani people.

I would like to say to the Azerbaijani people that we will never allow any clashes, and all those responsible for this incident will be punished, he noted. Everyone who tries to insult the Azerbaijani people, or insult the Chechen people on behalf of the Azerbaijanis, will be punished. We agreed on this with our Azerbaijani brothers long ago, and we will prevent all illegal actions.

The minister noted that crime and hooliganism will never stand in the way of the development and good neighborliness of the two fraternal peoples of Azerbaijan and Chechen Republic.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Azer Ahmadbayli  Trend:

The Iraqi Parliament is currently working over a draft law on the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country. It is clear that this refers primarily to the US military.

Is the withdrawal of American troops beneficial for Iraq? Who and why insists on this?

The question should be viewed considering two factors, which, however, are strongly interlinked. An internal factor is inter-Iraqi turf war, while the external one is the US-Iran face-off.

The Shiite political and military elite has been feeling comfortable since the Sunnis ' deprivation of dominance in the country after Saddam Hussein's departure, as well as after the expulsion of the Kurds from the disputed territories in October 2017, and the return of control over the oil fields of Kirkuk.

The re-consolidation of the Sunni community, as well as the return of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces to the disputed territories will be a challenge for the Shiite majority  it will be necessary to share power and wealth.

Who can really help the knocked-out Sunnis to rise again from their knees and declare themselves? Who can help the return of the Peshmerga troops to the disputed territory?

Americans can. Why would they need to? The reason is their confrontation with Iran.

If it were not for the strongest Iranian influence on the Iraqi Shiites, the Americans, most likely, would have nothing against their dominance in Iraq.

The latest example of strong Iranian influence in Iraq is assassination of a well-known Iraqi novelist, Alaa Mashzoub, reportedly because of his harsh criticism of Iran. Also, as regional media reported, the commander of the Iranian elite Al-Quds forces, Qasim Suleimani, mediated between Iraqi Shiite leaders to select a candidate for the post of Iraqi interior minister, which was vacant after the country's new government had been formed.

Close ties between the Iraqi Shiite authorities and Iran make the US look for a counterweight.

This, in turn, makes the Shiite MPs and the leading Shiite parties with their military branches stand together for enactment of the law and the early withdrawal of the US troops from the country.

The response of Shiite leaders ranges from a mild diplomatic statement made by the Shiite spiritual leader of Iraq, Ali al-Sistani, to open threats voiced by one of the leaders of the Shiite people's militia Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, Kais Hazali to force the US military out of the country.

However, there are also those who consider the withdrawal of the US troops premature and unreasonable.

The speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Mohammed al-Halbusi said that his country still needs foreign forces to fight terrorism. He believes that Iraq will not be able to counter terrorism without the assistance of the international community: "Iraq still needs foreign forces to fight terrorism, and the international community must remain committed to providing military assistance to Iraq."

Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Ali al-Hakim also said that the US military presence in Iraq is consistent with the strategic agreement reached at the time between Baghdad and Washington.

Speaking about the withdrawal of foreign troops, the parties obviously refer to the threat posed by the "Islamic State" (IS).

Iraq announced the defeat of IS at the end of 2017. Since then, however, terrorists have continued to attack security forces and civilians throughout the country.

The top US general in the Middle East, Joseph Votel, warned that in Iraq and Syria there are still "tens of thousands" of the IS militants. "They are fragmented and scattered, but there is a leadership, there are militants, there are assistants," he said.

The Saudi newspaper Okaz noted that Iraqi intelligence has information from the arrested IS leaders that the group plans to return to the northern Iraq, especially the areas around Mosul.

In the meantime, during a meeting with acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan in Baghdad this week, Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi reportedly asked for assistance in protecting the plains of Nineveh in the northern Iraq, as there was a risk of the revival of IS there.

Leaders of the Iraqi Shiite militia have a different point of view. They believe that the fight against the "Islamic State" in Iraq has been successfully completed, and the threat is over. Therefore, they say, there is no need for further stay of American troops in the country.

Some Shiite leaders were more outspoken in their comments, saying that Baghdad would not allow any foreign state to use Iraq to attack Iran.

It can be seen that opinions around the withdrawal of troops are different: Pro-Iranian forces require the adoption of the law, while there are those who do not want things to rush.

At the end of January, the former chief of staff of the Iraqi United Forces, Babakr Zebari, warned about the possibility of the revival of IS or the emergence of other terrorist groups in Iraq, if the root causes of their occurrence are not tackled. Representation of all components, including Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, according to him, is one of the most important steps that must be taken to prevent a new boom of extremism in the country.

Perhaps this is the best solution to ensure the early withdrawal of US troops from Iraq?

So until then, the Americans have a strong argument to prevent the adoption of this law in the Iraqi Parliament: Okaz newspaper reported that Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi asked Washington to extend sanctions waivers for Baghdads trade with Iran  a thing which is crucial for Iraq.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Due to the rising meat prices and a drop in the number of customers, 180 restaurants in the Iranian capital of Tehran ceased their activity, Ali Asghar Mir Ebrahimi, chairman of Tehran's Union of Restaurants, told Tasnim News Agency, Trend reports.

According to Mir Ebrahimi, the prices for raw materials, including meat, chicken meat and tomato have recently risen.

Mir Ebrahimi added that this has also caused worries among restaurant owners, as the high prices have led to a reduction in the number of customers.

"The number of customers in restaurants has dropped this year (started March 21, 2018) in a way never seen before," he said.

Mir Ebrahimi said there have been appeals filed for shutdown of 180 restaurants in Tehran out of 700 licensed restaurants.

Recently, the price of red meat in Iran exceeded 1 million rials (app. $23.8).
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Preparation for the official visit of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to Turkmenistan was discussed at the recent meeting of the Turkmen government, Trend reports with reference to the local TV channel Turkmenistan.

Following the bilateral talks at the highest level, the signing of a number of important documents aimed at further strengthening the mutually beneficial Turkmen-Afghan cooperation in priority areas is envisaged, the report said.

The relations between Turkmenistan and Afghanistan have become significantly more active and have reached qualitatively new level, the Turkmen president said.

Standing for resolving the situation in Afghanistan by exclusively peaceful political and diplomatic means, Turkmenistan is taking concrete steps aimed at restoring the economy and social infrastructure of the neighboring country, the Turkmen president noted.

Turkmenistan is lobbying for the implementation of a number of regional infrastructure projects with the participation of Afghanistan. Turkmenistan is particularly working on the implementation of such projects involving Afghanistan as the construction of a railway to Tajikistan and a gas pipeline to Pakistan and India.

Projects are also being assessed on the use of Afghan transit routes for the supply of Turkmen electricity. Furthermore, work is underway to create an Afghanistan-Turkmenistan-Azerbaijan-Georgia-Turkey transport corridor heading to Europe.

The Lapis Lazuli transit project envisions railways and highways connecting the city of Torghundi in Afghanistans Herat Province with Ashgabat, and further with the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi. The corridor will continue to Baku, then through Tbilisi to Ankara with branches in Poti and Batumi, and then from Ankara to Istanbul.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The Turkmen Foreign Ministry hosted political consultations with the delegation of Japan led by Director of the Central Asia and the Caucasus Division of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Tomiyama Mikito, Trend reports with reference to the Turkmen Foreign Ministry.

Noting the priority and effectiveness of visits at different levels between the two countries in recent years, issues of further development of bilateral relations were also discussed, the ministry said.

The parties touched upon issues of political, trade, economic and humanitarian interaction.

Eight documents were signed by the governmental delegation of Turkmenistan during the working visit to Japan in October last year, concerning the realization of new joint projects, including the construction of ammonia and urea production plants, natural gas processing and gasoline production, a workshop for phosphate fertilizer production, along with partnership with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and supply of the earthmoving machinery of Komatsu company and Toyota cars to Turkmenistan.

Japan has already realized a number of major projects in Turkmenistan. They include construction of ammonia and urea plants in the city of Mary, industrial complexes in the Balkan Region for polyethylene production at the Turkmenbashi Complex of Oil Refineries, urea fertilizers in Garabogaz city, and polyethylene and polypropylene in Kiyanly settlement.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has approved the composition of the Turkmen-South Korean intergovernmental commission on trade, economic and scientific-technological cooperation from the Turkmen side, Trend reports with reference to the presidential decree.

The document was signed for the purpose of developing interaction between Turkmenistan and South Korea.

During the seventh meeting of the intergovernmental commission to be held in Seoul it is planned to discuss the development of partnership in the trade, economic, financial and industrial fields, in the fields of energy and mineral resources processing, construction and transport, agriculture and fisheries, as well as culture, tourism, healthcare, standardization, scientific, information and communication technologies, education.

It was earlier reported that Seoul hopes for partnership with Turkmenistan in such areas as development of gas fields, creation of petrochemical and gas infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Ashgabat and Seoul pay special attention to the transport sector in the context of development of transit and logistics infrastructure along the East-West and North-South routes, giving access to European and Middle Eastern markets.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

The opening of a trading house of Turkmenistan is planned in the capital of Uzbekistan, Trend reports referring to the press service of the Tashkent City Mayor's Office.

The matter was discussed during a meeting of the Mayor of Tashkent Jahongir Artikkhojayev with Turkmen Ambassador Yazguli Mammedov.

Bilateral ties have intensified markedly in recent years. According to the Uzbek side, the total trade turnover in 2018 increased to $302 million from $177 million a year earlier.

Agricultural machinery, fruits and vegetables, mineral fertilizers, building materials, chemical products and textiles are exported from Uzbekistan to Turkmenistan, with the latter exporting oil and oil products, equipment and polymers to Uzbekistan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

More than 92 percent of the foreign currency gained from exports by Irans Kordestan Petrochemical Plant has been returned to the country via the NIMA system, said Feridun Khaledzadeh, executive director of Kordestan Petrochemical Company, Trend reports referring to IRNA.

The Kordestan Petrochemical Plant, according to Khaledzadeh, produces about 1,000 tons of products daily, and 50 trucks transport the production of this plant on a daily basis.

Khaledzadeh added that 160 million euros worth of exports were made during the 9 months of the current Iranian year (started March 21, 2018), and the value of exports is forecasted to rise to 230 million euros by the end of the year.

Iran's Kordestan Petrochemical Plant was commissioned with 14.1 trillion rials (app. $336 million) worth of domestic and foreign investment in April 2017. The facility employs 700 people.

The plant has an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons of light polyethylene.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.16

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

The Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria (IGB) is of geostrategic importance for diversification of supplies for Bulgaria, Macedonia and the region of Southeastern and Central Europe, Trend reports citing the Draft of Bulgarias Integrated Energy and Climate Plan for the Period from 2021 to 2030 issued by the countrys energy ministry.

As part of the development of the Southern Gas Corridor, IGB will provide Bulgaria and its neighboring countries with access to alternative supplies, reads the document.

IGB is of strategic importance for the implementation of the Vertical Gas Corridor and will contribute to the development of Balkan Gas Hub concept, according to the Energy and Climate Plan.

Its realization also creates opportunities for transit transport through the gas transport system of Bulgartransgaz EAD to the other interconnections, said the document.

IGB is a gas pipeline, which will allow Bulgaria to receive Azerbaijani gas, in particular, the gas produced from Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz 2 gas and condensate field. IGB is expected to be connected to TAP via which gas from the Shah Deniz field will be delivered to the European markets.

The initial capacity of IGB will be 3 billion cubic meters of gas.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Sara Israfilbayova  Trend:

Russia proposes to consider intensifying the activity of Azerbaijan in the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) by raising the latters status to that of a member state, Anatoly Yanovsky, Russian Deputy Energy Minister, said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

He noted that Azerbaijan has long been a member of the GECF, and, despite its decision to be remain content with an observer status, Azerbaijani delegates consistently participate in all Forum events.

Yanovsky further noted that the cooperation between Russia and Azerbaijan has a long history and is based on the principles of good-neighborliness and strategic partnership.

"The close cooperation of our countries at various venues greatly contributes to the strengthening of our dialogue on matters of energy. We note the active dynamic of bilateral cooperation between our countries, both on issues on the bilateral agenda and on multilateral cooperation, including the implementation of the OPEC + deal," he said.

Azerbaijan and Russia, according to Yanovsky, continue their cooperation in the petroleum industry for the transportation of Azerbaijani oil through Russia. The deputy noted that the transit is carried out based on a commercial agreement between Russias state-owned Transneft company and the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), adding that 1.3 million tons of Azerbaijani oil was pumped in 2018.

The deputy minister remarked that on September 1, 2018, as part of the official visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to Russia, the Russian oil company Rosneft and Azerbaijani SOCAR signed a contract for the supply of oil to Turkey to the STAR refinery, as well as an agreement on joint study of the oil and gas potential of the "Goshadash" bloc and the northern part of the shallow shelf of the Absheron Peninsula in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

The GECF is an association of the worlds leading natural gas exporting countries. Azerbaijan received observer status within the organization in November 2015.

The GECF has 12 gas-exporting member states, such as Algeria, Bolivia, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates, along with 7 observer states - Azerbaijan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Norway, Oman and Peru.

The GECF was founded in 2001 in Tehran and passed the procedure of a legal institution on December 23, 2008 in Moscow, where the energy ministers of the participating countries adopted the charter of the forum and signed an intergovernmental agreement. The GECF member states account for 42 percent of the global gas production and 70 percent of the global reserves.

According to the State Customs Committee of Azerbaijan, the trade turnover with Russia amounted to $2.5 billion in 2018, with $665.7 million accounting for the export of Azerbaijani products. The trade turnover between the countries, when compared with the previous year, rose by 16.1 percent.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @IsrafilbekovaS
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

The Central Bank of Iran hopes that banks will provide funds for Iran's major industrial projects, as stated by the Governor of the Central Bank Abdolnaser Hemmati while visiting the Kordestan Petrochemical Plant, Trend reports referring to IRNA.

According to him, if banks provide funds for large projects, such as the Kordestan Petrochemical Plant, this will facilitate production growth, along with opening of new workplaces.

He added that the Central Bank of Iran attaches great importance to the financing of projects and the creation of jobs in the Kordestan Province.

Irans Kordestan Petrochemical Plant was commissioned with 14.1 trillion rials (app. $336 million) worth of domestic and foreign investments in April 2017. The facility employs 700 people.

The plant has an annual production capacity of 300,000 tons of light polyethylene.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Rashid Shirinov  Trend:

Ten export-oriented projects will be launched in Pavlodar Special Economic Zone in Kazakhstan in the next two years, Trend reports via Kazakh media.

They include production of aluminum profiles, radiators, household chemicals, polymeric containers, heating boilers and artificial stone sinks, Governor of the Pavlodar Region Bulat Bakauov said at the final reporting meeting, noting that these products should drive out of the market their imported analogues.

The head of the region also said that export of goods from Pavlodar grew by 1.7 times in 2018.

It should be noted that Pavlodar Special Economic Zone was recognized as the best resource and raw material base in the global ranking of special zones, according to the Foreign Direct Investment Magazine.

Enterprises of the special economic zone produced goods worth 31 billion tenge, and the budget of the region received almost 1.8 billion tenge in taxes.

(377.62 KZT = 1 USD on Feb. 16)

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @ShirinovRashid
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Elnur Baghishov  Trend:

Iranian exports to Iraq have reached $9 billion, Mohammad Lahuti, Chairman of the Iran Export Confederation, told Ibena News Agency, Trend reports.

According to Lahuti, as banking agreements are implemented, Iran's exports to Iraq will further increase.

Lahuti said the creation of a joint Iranian-Iraqi bank will have a great role in boosting bilateral trade.

"Countries with high turnover use this [joint bank] method," he said.

A number of agreements were signed between the two countries during the visit of the Head of Iran's Central Bank Abdolnaser Hemmati to Iraq on February 5-6. Some noteworthy deals were made, such as the payment of Iraqi debt to Iran for energy and the creation of a joint bank between the two countries.
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 16

Trend:

While some Iranian MP's have objected to the Caspian Sea water transfer plan, the head of Department of Environment Isa Kalantari indicated there wouldn't be any opposition towards the issue.

"If all the environmental principles of the Caspian Sea water transfer to Semnan Province are respected and considered, there wouldn't be any problems," he said, Trend reports citing ILNA.

"If the environmental norms are respected, we wouldn't object to the plan," he said.

Iran plans to transfer water from the Caspian Sea to solve its water shortage problem, while the country's Department of Environment is still reviewing the studies to decide the volume of water transfer.

It has been previously stated that the volume of transfer would not affect the Caspian Sea water, since 90 percent of Caspian Sea water is supplied from the rivers that originate from Russia and flow through Iran's side of the Sea, hence 7 cubic meters per second would not have an effect on the Caspian Sea water volume.

Meanwhile, speaking on the smuggling of soil out of Iran, Kalantari said that it is a rumor created by some people with no knowledge of the matter.

"Iran has stone and sand exports that are part of official exports, but we do not have any soil exports or smuggling of it," he said.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 16

By Huseyn Hasanov Trend:

Turkmenistan Airlines (Tukmenhowayollary), the flag carrier of its country, has commissioned Lufthansa Consulting to help them to raise their performance in terms of the Third Country Operators (TCO) EU Safety Authorizations for foreign air operators  EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) TCO, Trend reports via PRNewswire.

The airline recently experienced difficulties in satisfying relevant EASA requirements and is taking matters in this regard very seriously. The operator is aware of the need for immediate action and has therefore decided to cooperate with the German aviation experts to review the existing situation and develop a corrective action plan.

Lufthansa Consulting has extensive experience and competence in the aviation industry, not least with the issues of flight safety. In this project, the consultants will evaluate the current status within the airline towards EASA requirements.

Furthermore, they will develop an overall customized and effective action scheme in line with the analyzed EASA TCO requirements and findings.

Turkmenistan Airlines is the flag carrier of Turkmenistan, headquartered in the country's capital Ashgabat. It operates domestic and international passenger and cargo services mainly from its hub at Ashgabat International Airport.

The airline transports more than 5,000 passengers daily within the country and nearly three million passengers annually on the international and domestic routes together. The fleet consists of modern Western aircraft (such as Boeing 737, 757, 777) and a cargo fleet of IL 76.

Early in February, EASA suspended the flights of Turkmenistan Airlines to the EU pending confirmation of compliance with international flight safety standards.

Earlier it was reported that Turkmenistan Airlines carry out regular flights to the airports of Moscow, London, Frankfurt, Birmingham, Bangkok, Delhi, Dubai, Amritsar, Minsk, Almaty, St. Petersburg, Kazan, Kiev, Istanbul, Beijing.

The modernization of the air fleet will allow launching flights from Ashgabat to Jeddah, Medina (Saudi Arabia), Cochin, Ahmedabad (India), Samara (Russia), Hanoi (Vietnam), Vienna (Austria), Sofia (Bulgaria), Budapest (Hungary), Manama (Bahrain), New York (US), Toronto (Canada) till 2020.

The flights are planned to be launched to Madrid (Spain), Jakarta (Indonesia), Muscat (Oman), Kuwait (Kuwait), Singapore (Singapore), Sharm El Sheikh, Hurghada, Cairo (Egypt) in 2021-2030.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

In January 2018, 67 Turkish citizens visited Central Asian states of Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan through the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) to find work, Trend reports referring to ISKUR.

Uzbekistan is the most popular destination for Turkish citizens seeking employment in Central Asia, according to ISKUR.

At the same time, in January 2019, the number of Turkish citizens visiting Uzbekistan through ISKUR decreased by 73.13 percent compared to the same month of 2018. In January 2019, only 18 Turkish citizens went to Uzbekistan via ISKUR.

In January 2019, the number of Turkish citizens who visited Turkmenistan via ISKUR decreased by 34.15 percent compared to the same months of 2018, and reached 27 people.

In January 2019, 22 Turkish citizens visited Kazakhstan via ISKUR, which is 24.14 percent less compared to the same month of 2018.

ISKUR noted that in January 2019, no Turkish citizens visited Kyrgyzstan for employment.

Moreover, in January 2019, 1,600 Turkish citizens went to foreign countries via ISKUR, which is 5.33 percent less compared to January 2018.

Also, in January 2019, 83,400 people were provided with jobs in Turkey, which is five percent more compared to the same month in 2018.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Deputy Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Alan Wolff will visit Uzbekistan on February 19-20, Trend reports with reference to the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.

On February 13, Permanent Representative of Uzbekistan to the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva Ulugbek Lapasov met with Alan Wolff.

The ministry stated that the parties discussed the current state and prospects for the development of cooperation between Uzbekistan and WTO.

Moreover, it was noted that Wolff will take part and speak at the international conference "Interconnectedness in Central Asia: Challenges and New Opportunities", which will be held February 19-20 in Tashkent.

This visit is of particular relevance in the context of enhancing the process of Uzbekistans accession to the World Trade Organization, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

In addition, a number of events will be held in Tashkent and Geneva, aimed at improving the skills and applying international best practices in the domestic and foreign trade.

WTO Secretariat will provide the necessary technical assistance to Uzbekistan in the training of national personnel involved in the country's accession process.

Apart from Alan Wolff, the Head of the UN Regional Center for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia Natalia Herman, EU Special Representative for Central Asia Peter Burian and Chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and the Silk Road Studies Program Frederick Starr are also expected to attend the event.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Fakhri Vakilov - Trend:

Governor of Mississippi Phil Bryant will visit Uzbekistan in the first half of April, becoming the first American governor to visit Uzbekistan since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the countries, Trend reports with reference to the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

An Uzbek delegation headed by the First Deputy Chairman of Uzbek Parliament Sadyka Safayeva arrived on February 11 in the capital of Mississippi, Jackson, where she met the governor on the same day.

Phil Bryant noted that there are many similarities between Uzbekistan and the State of Mississippi - a developed agriculture, an advanced textile and cotton industry, a convenient geographical location and hardworking people.

The parties agreed at the meeting that the American delegation will include representatives of leading Mississippi companies interested in building partnerships with Uzbekistan in agriculture, industry, petrochemistry and mechanical engineering.

---

Follow author on Twitter:@vakilovfaxri
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Jan Hecker, the Foreign and Security Policy Adviser to the German Federal Chancellor, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on Feb. 16.

At the meeting the sides exchanged views on the agenda of cooperative relations existing between Germany and Azerbaijan and expressed satisfaction over the current situation of bilateral ties.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov informed his interlocutor on current situation of the negotiations over the resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is a major impediment to regional peace and security.

The sides also discussed the regional and international issues of mutual interest and concern.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 16 Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with the US Senior National Security Council Director Fiona Hill, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on Feb. 16.

The sides discussed the bilateral dialogue and cooperation issues between the United States of America and Azerbaijan.

Minister Elmar Mammadyarov informed the US official on the latest situation of the negotiation process over the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. It was stressed that the resolution of the conflict would provide sustainable development and prosperity in the region.

At the meeting there was also an exchange on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on February 16 Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Marija Pejcinovic Buric, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry told Trend on Feb. 16.

At the meeting the Ministers discussed the cooperative relations between the two states and expressed satisfaction over the existing bilateral strategic ties.

The sides exchanged views over furthering the bilateral cooperation in various fields, as well as the issues related to cooperation within international organizations.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

Such events like the incident that took place in the Moscow cafe Neolit wont affect the relations between Azerbaijanis and Chechens, because both fraternal peoples have always been close and supported each other, Assistant Chairman of the Public Chamber of Russias Chechen Republic Islam Saydayev told Trend Feb. 16.

Saydayev, who is also a member of the Union of Journalists of Russia and the Chechen branch of the historical enlightenment Double-Headed Eagle Society, as well as director of the Foundation for Supporting the Study and Development of Languages, History and Culture of the Peoples of the Caucasus, noted that such actions have never been natural for either Chechens or Azerbaijanis.

All Chechens and Azerbaijanis, whom I know, condemn what had happened, said Saydayev.

He noted that it is necessary to preserve the peace that has been established in Russia and the good attitude of both the citizens of the Russian Federation towards the Azerbaijanis and the Chechens and the good attitude among the Caucasian peoples.

At the same time, noting that the incident is a provocation, Saydayev added that there are a lot of ill-wishers who would like to benefit from the next conflict.

You cant be led by provocateurs, he said. Representatives of both diasporas have already assessed the events and unequivocally condemned them. I lived in Azerbaijan for a long time and I have many friends there. I also have many friends among Azerbaijanis living in Turkey. I think that such ordinary incidents wont harm the relations between Azerbaijanis and Chechens. Azerbaijanis and Chechens have always supported each other. We will continue to live in friendship and mutual understanding.

On Feb. 15, Azerbaijani Presidents Assistant for Public and Political Affairs Ali Hasanov, commenting on a brawl that took place in a cafe in the Russian capital of Moscow, involving Azerbaijanis and Chechens, said that the Azerbaijani government considered the brawl as an incident of domestic violence and believed that such incidents could not undermine the relations between the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples.

The relations between the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples have stood the test of time to become exemplary, he said. It is evidenced by personal friendly ties between President Ilham Aliyev and Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, in particular by what they said during their meeting late last year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

By Samir Ali  Trend:

Purposeful attempts by certain forces to politicize an ordinary incident between Azerbaijanis and Chechens in Moscow are unacceptable, Azerbaijani MP and political scientist Elman Nasirov told Trend.

The MP added that Azerbaijanis and Chechens have friendly relations and have been good neighbors for centuries.

"We are united by historical good-neighborly ties, by religion; our cultures are also close. We have lived shoulder to shoulder for centuries, and friendly ties have always existed between us, as they do to this day."

Nasirov noted that Azerbaijan has cooperation ties with many federal subjects of Russia, including the Chechen Republic, and there are high-profile official relations between the parties.

"Presidents Ilham Aliyev and Vladimir Putin also maintain close friendly ties. Therefore, no one can break this friendship if it exists between the states, the heads of state and the peoples. Thus, it is wrong to reinterpret an ordinary incident, and there can be no talk of a clash between the two peoples. It is a mere misunderstanding, an ordinary criminal incident, and such facts cannot harm the friendly and fraternal relations between the Azerbaijani and Chechen peoples."
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with Johannes Hahn, European Union Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, during the Munich Security Conference on Friday, Trend reports referring to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The meeting was also attended by Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov.

The parties discussed issues of cooperation in various fields between Azerbaijan and the EU.

The parties then touched upon the negotiations held under the new agreement, which will become the legal basis for strategic cooperation between Azerbaijan and the EU. In this context, the importance of completing negotiations on the said agreement was noted.

Mammadyarov told the European Commissioner about the current state of negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and stressed that resolving the conflict would create appropriate conditions for the development of the region.

Issues of mutually beneficial and strategic energy cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan were also discussed. The Minister of Energy of Azerbaijan exchanged views with Johannes Hahn on the prospects for bilateral cooperation in the field of energy.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met with his Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin during the Munich Security Conference, Trend reports referring to the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan.

The meeting was also attended by Azerbaijani Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov.

The parties expressed satisfaction with the current state of cooperation and the development of relations between the two countries.

The parties also exchanged views on important infrastructure projects being implemented on the initiative and with the participation of Azerbaijan. With this, the possibility of transporting energy resources of Azerbaijan to Ukraine was a topic of discussion.

An exchange of views on issues of mutual interest took place during the meeting.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

Created under the joint project of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Baku City Executive Authority, an opening ceremony of the Toplan Homeless Dog Care Center has been held in Balakhani settlement, Baku.

Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva attended the event.

Leyla Aliyeva was informed that the renovation work in the Center started in October 2018.

Vice-President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva viewed conditions of keeping dogs here.

The groundbreaking ceremony of another part of the Toplan Center then was held.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva has attended the opening of the newly renovated psycho-neurological social service center No 1 in Buzovna settlement, Baku.

The psycho-neurological social service center No 1 of the State Social Protection Fund under the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Population was established in 1974. Major reconstruction work had been carried out here by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation since 2018.

Vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva was informed that the center offers all conditions for health and comfort of the people living here. The 217-bed center has an assembly hall, movie theater, library and canteens.

Landscaping work was carried out, green areas were created and a variety of trees were planted in the yard of the center.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has congratulated Dalia Grybauskaite, President of the Republic Lithuania, Trend reports citing the press service of the head of state.

On behalf of the people of Azerbaijan and on my own behalf, I extend my sincerest congratulations to you and the people of your country on the occasion of the national day of the Republic of Lithuania.

I believe that the relations of friendship and partnership between Azerbaijan and Lithuania and our fruitful cooperation both in bilateral and multilateral formats will successfully continue to the benefit of our nations.

On this remarkable day, it is with pleasure that I wish all the best to you and the friendly people of Lithuania everlasting peace and prosperity, reads the congratulatory letter.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 16

Trend:

Over the past 24 hours, Armenian armed forces have 25 times violated the ceasefire along the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Feb. 16, 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.
Lunaticoutpost.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program , anaffiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.Amazon, the Amazon logo, MYHABIT, and the MYHABIT logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.Don't be a pest to the forum.No profanity in thread-titles or usernamesNo excessive profanity in postsNo Racism, Antisemitism + HateNo calls for violence against anyone..This website exists for fun and discussion only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. The content of posts on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or administration of LunaticOutPost.Com. The owners or administration of this website can't be hold responsible for content hosted on sites that posters link to in; including, but not limited to, posts, signatures, private messages and such. This site may contain content not suitable for minors and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss (no more than 50% of the source material) provide a link back to the original articleIf you are a legal copyright holder or a designated agent for such and you believe a post on this website falls outside the boundaries of "Fair Use" and legitimately infringes on yours or your clients copyright please contact [email protected] This website is owned by :Marco ZwaneveldDrijfriemstraat 522516 XR The HagueNetherlands.I will not rent, sell, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any third party.We might contact you from time to time regarding your purchases or the services (like forums and announcement lists) you have subscribed to.Some of the 3rd party advertisers on lunaticoutpost.com may use cookiesto track peformance and/or to serve relevant ads.If you wish to read more and/or opt out of such cookies, please visit: http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/
On Saturday, Irans Expediency Discernment Council (EDC) once again postponed decision on endorsing or rejecting two financial bills demanded by an international watchdog and important for Irans banking and international trade.

Parliament has approved the bills but a body overseeing all legislation has rejected them, referring the bills to EDC for a final ruling.

The deadline set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for Tehran to join international conventions against money laundering and financing terrorism is early next week, as the financial watchdog based in Paris is set to start its five-day meeting on Sunday, February 17.

For more than a year Irans conservatives have created hurdles and delays for the adoption of the bills.

Todays postponement was not a big surprise as on Friday several Prayer leaders and the secretary of the influential Expediency Discernment Council (EDC) once again lambasted the financial regulatory bills.

President Hassan Rouhani presented legislation to parliament more than a year ago to meet FATF requirements, which would reduce international pressure on Irans deteriorating economy.

Iran and North Korea are the only countries on the FATF blacklist, but the

Paris-based organization has suspended countermeasures against Tehran while it works on adopting the legislation to reform its banking and financial systems.

The upcoming FATF meeting is to be held in Paris February 17-22, where the fate of Iran will be decided.

No Iranian representative will be in attendance.

Rouhani has proposed four bills, collectively known as the Palermo bills in Iran, in the hope of paving the way for the country to meet the FATF requirements, as well as those of the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT), and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes.

Out of four parliamentary bills required for Tehran's accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), only two of them have so far been ratified, and the other two are still in limbo.

The bills have triggered a series of heated debates between the parliament and the Guardian Council (GC), as well as the EDC.

Several gatherings were held by conservatives and opponents on February 15 across Iran protesting the bills and urging the EDC to reject them.

The EDC's secretary and former chief commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezaei, said on February 15, "We are suspicious of the Palermo bills and anti-terror financing legislation and asked the government and parliament to clear up their ambiguities."

But Rezaei seemed to be pairing the bills with the EU's initiative to get around U.S. sanctions, saying the EU plan is inadequate. "Iran cannot directly receive any money for its oil through INSTEX."

Germany, France, and the United Kingdom have set up a payment channel with Iran, the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchange (INSTEX), to help continue trade with Iran and circumvent U.S. sanctions. Washington has repeatedly cautioned EU nations against such actions.

Based on INSTEX, Rezaei has argued, "Iran is only allowed to receive medicine and foodstuff for the crude oil it exports."

Iranian officials have been hinting that Europe's trade mechanism and the adoption of FATF legislation are linked. Now that Europe has set up INSTEX, they seem to be demanding more; which is unrestricted trade.

The opponents of the bills, mainly Friday Prayer leaders, IRGC top commanders, and other conservative allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, argue that passing the bills will threaten Irans security, whereas analysts say the real fear in circles loyal to Khamenei is that adhering to rules for financial transparency would prevent Tehran from funding the Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas militant groups.

But there are also the financial interests of powerful regime officials and their businesses that have so far functioned in an environment free of international standards.

The city of Rasht's Friday Prayer leader, Rasoul Falahati, criticized supporters of the bill and dismissed the impact of endorsing them on EU's behavior. "Europeans have placed shameful regulations for Iran on the top of their agenda," he said.

To encourage opponents of the Palermo bills, the city of Babol's Friday Prayer leader, Hadi Rowhani, attended a sit-in protest assembly at the city's main mosque.

On the other hand, a pro-reform member of the EDC, mid-ranking cleric Majid Ansari, said he had been threatened for supporting the Palermo bills.

Referring to recent text messages relayed to the EDC members warning them against endorsing the bills, the head of the Omid (Hope) parliamentary faction, Mohammad Reza Aref, said in a tweet, "The members of the EDC will never give in to such threats and 'setting stages', and will do their jobs according to their religious and national duties."
The conference on the plans of the Ukrainian-American exercises "Sea Breeze-2019" was held in Odesa over the week, the press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said.

"This year, Sea Breeze 2019 will traditionally provide for the implementation of NATO standards at sea, land, air and under water. Events will take place in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions and in the north-western part of the Black Sea," it says.

Artillery firing is planned in the naval component. There are also many military exercises, the essence of which is not disclosed, since the "free play" mode remains relevant, in which sudden tasks will come from the multinational training headquarters.

It says that the development of the river element will be an innovation of current exercises. "According to the legend, hostile elements will try to block access to the sea from the largest waterway of Europe - the Danube River. The ship-boat staff of the Sea Guard will receive the tasks of providing escort to civilian transport vessels along the river and their free passage through the mouth of the Danube to the Black Sea. This training element will exclusively involve the forces of the State Border Service, in particular, the Marine Guard," the press service said.

Sea Breeze 2019 exercises will be held in early July 2019.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko says that European and American politicians at meetings at the Munich Security Conference are interested in the situation ahead of the presidential elections in Ukraine.

"Our international partners hope for stability in Ukraine and that the upcoming election will not bring on the turmoil and upheaval. The future development of Ukraine for the next five years will greatly depend on these results. My opinion is that the present constellation of candidates is somewhat unexpected for our partners. So, numerous questions about the chances and prospects of candidates arise," Klitschko commented to the journalists on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference, the mayor's press service informed.

He also pointed out the emphasis that all policymakers whom he has met place on the interest of both Europe and the States in Ukraine being democratic powerful economy with stable political environment.

"They voice the interest in exporting the stability into Ukraine rather than importing upheaval. The name of the winner is not so important today. What is more important is that who will be the president that defends Ukraine's freedom and guarantees continuation of reforms as well as pro- European and pro-NATO course of the country," stressed Klitschko.

Klitschko attended the official opening ceremony of the conference and met with the EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker, Chairwoman of Germany's Christian Democratic Union party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Chairman of the Christian Social Union parliamentary group in the Bundestag Alexander Dobrindt, the press service said.

The mayor of Kyiv also met with Chief Executive Officer of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva and discussed the further cooperation in Kyiv's transport infrastructure renovation. Also the World Bank considers further investment programmes of public private partnership.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations James Risch at the Munich Security Conference stressed the importance of coordinated steps in countering the ongoing Russian aggression.

"The head of state stressed the importance of coordinated actions in rebuffing the ongoing Russian aggression, the latest manifestation of which was the Russian attack against Ukrainian warships. He emphasized it was time to introduce an "Azov package of sanctions" against Russia as a signal that the lack of changes in Moscow's behavior would continue to increase the price for aggression," the presidential press service reported on Friday evening.

In this context, the importance of the bipartisan legislative initiative of senators to protect American security from the Kremlin's aggression was noted in order to increase the sanctions' pressure on Russia.

The two also noted the achievement of tangible progress by Ukraine on the path of reforms in recent years, which was made possible thanks to the joint efforts of the Ukrainian government and international partners.

Poroshenko congratulated Risch on his election as the head of the Senate Committee and noted the importance of bipartisan support for Ukraine from the United States.
Russia's hybrid military forces mounted nine attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with one Ukrainian soldier reported as killed in action (KIA) and another two as wounded in action (WIA), the press centre of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported.

"On February 15, the Russian occupation forces violated the cease-fire regime nine times, including six times with the use of arms prohibited by the Minsk agreements. In general, the enemy fired 48 mines of 120 and 82 mm caliber at our troops ... One Ukrainian soldier was killed and another two were wounded as a result of hostilities," the JFO staff said on Facebook on Saturday morning.

What is more, the militants applied weapons banned by the Minsk agreements.

"In the action lane of the operational-tactical grouping Pivnich (North), Russian occupation forces opened aimed fire from anti-tank missile systems, 120mm and 82mm mortars, grenade launchers, heavy machine guns, and small arms to attack the defenders of Maryinka, Kamianka and Pavlopil," it said.

Novo-Oleksandrivka, Nyzhnie, Khutir Vilny, Zolote-1 and Popasna were also shelled by Russian militants.

"Since Saturday midnight, Russian-led forces haven't attacked Ukrainian positions yet," the JFO staff said.

According to intelligence reports, seven enemy troops were killed and another six were wounded.
Bishop Gedeon of Makariv (Yuriy Kharon), a hierarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church who was barred from returning to Ukraine on Thursday, provided false information about his citizenship when submitting documents to receive Ukrainian citizenship, so his Ukrainian passport has been ruled invalid, the Ukrainian State Migration Service said.

"The Migration Service's department for Volyn region received certain information from the Ukrainian Security Service in 2018, conducted an inquiry, and determined the fact of the acquisition of Ukrainian citizenship in violation of the law by a citizen of the Russian Federation and a representative of a religious organization whom the media link to special services of the aggressor country. In particular, it has been determined that, when submitting documents to acquire Ukrainian citizenship, this individual provided false information about citizenships that he held," the Migration Service said.

Following an inquiry conducted based on the Ukrainian Security Service's letter, the decision to register Bishop Gedeon as a Ukrainian citizen and issue him Ukrainian passports were canceled in June 2018.

"In line with Ukrainian law, the said person's Ukrainian passports (both the internal and the foreign travel ones) were rendered invalid and added to the relevant database of the State Migration Service," it said.

The State Migration Service restated that an attempt by a foreigner to cross the Ukrainian border with invalid documents was prevented on February 13, that this person's invalid Ukrainian foreign travel passport was confiscated, and that the foreigner was returned to the country from which he attempted to enter Ukraine with invalid documents.

It was reported earlier that at about 6:00 p.m. on February 13, while passengers who had arrived from Frankfurt at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport were undergoing border-control procedures, border guards seized Bishop Gedeon's Ukrainian foreign travel passport on the grounds that he had citizenships of several countries. An interview with him revealed that he "was engaged in anti-Ukrainian propaganda and was an active adherent to the 'Russian World' idea."

A photocopy of a report on the seizure of a document was posted on Bishop Gedeon's Facebook account, saying that border guards had identified the passport he produced as one listed as lost. The report said that according to the State Migration Service department for Volyn region, this document, issued in the name of Yuriy Kharon, was on the register of passports that had been reported lost or stolen and was therefore annulled and subject to confiscation.

Ukrainian State Border Service spokesperson Oleh Slobodian said that on February 14, Bishop Gedeon, the abbot of the Tithe Monastery in Kyiv and a vicar of the Kyiv Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was barred from entering Ukraine and that he departed for Frankfurt on Thursday morning.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that the European Union will approve the "Azov sanctions" package against the Russian Federation next week.

"And there is no doubt that in the coming days, at the beginning of next week, sanctions in Brussels in coordination with Ukraine will definitely be adopted," he told reporters in Munich on Friday.

Poroshenko said that the issue of "Azov sanctions package" was discussed with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations James Risch.

"Today the sanctions project consists of 124 pages, and this will be the price that Russia has to pay for the act of aggression against Ukraine [in the neutral waters of the Black Sea]," he noted.

The president also instructed Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin to hold a meeting with "Ukrainian partners" on Sunday and discuss the preliminary coordination of actions regarding the introduction of sanctions.

According to the Western media, the EU agreed on sanctions against eight Russians because of the incident with the Ukrainian sailors.

On November 25, 2018, Russian border guards used weapons to stop three Ukrainian naval vessels, the Yany Kapu tug and the Berdiansk and Nikopol armored gunboats, which were en route from Odesa to Mariupol near the Kerch Strait. The vessels were escorted to Kerch.

Courts in Simferopol and Kerch remanded the 22 sailors and two Ukrainian Security Service officials in custody until January 25, 2019.

In late November, the Ukrainians were transferred to Moscow. The court extended all the Ukrainians' arrests until April 24.

Kyiv considers the detained sailors prisoners of war.
Poroshenko on trade turnover between Ukraine and Egypt: It's realistic to reach $2 bln

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko believes that Egypt and Ukraine can achieve a trade turnover of $2 billion.

Egypt is a very good trading partner from the point of view of the agrarian market and from the point of view of possible export of engineering products. Today it's absolutely realistic for us to reach the figure of $2 billion, Poroshenko told journalists in Munich on Friday.

Poroshenko noted that the agreements reached during his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi during the Munich Security Conference provide for extensive cooperation in the military-technical sector and in the economy, as well as in the fields of education and culture.

I raised the issue of the safety of Ukrainian tourists. Even in more difficult times, when many refused to fly to Egypt, we still had the opportunity for Ukrainians to visit Egypt. Today, the level of safety is already much higher, Poroshenko noted.

He also stressed that Ukraine and Egypt are coordinating their actions to effectively respond to possible terrorist threats.
Editor:

Hello my name is Ronnie Smith Jr. I live in Reno, Nevada and I am a student at North Valleys High School. One of my peers, Marina Johnson, came up with a protest titled my shoulders should not be sexualized! The protest is against High School dress codes in place around Nevada.

Marina is the head of the protest and I am a supporting protester. She has contacted Reno Gazette Journal and other newspapers around the state but the goal of the protest is to get students all around Nevada involved.

The protest will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 20. What students can do is wear tank tops and spaghetti straps to school. We mainly urge females to participate but the males can participate to. We are showing that women should not have to change what they are wearing because a man cannot control his sexual urge.

We want schools to focus on teaching students it is not OK to have a sexual urge in a public facility, such as school. We want students from Elko to participate.

If we are successful, we plan to get the dress code changed. If we are not successful, we will continue to hold/plan future protests not only in Nevada, but in California, Utah and eventually all around the U.S.
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush  one a flamboyant showoff much praised for his intellectual agility, the other a sneak-intellectual much derided for his perceived intellectual shortcomings  both spent eight White House years reading presidential biographies. They wanted to understand the office they occupied, to be sure, but they also wanted to see how history measured presidents. Two men whose opponents besieged them searched for the keys to greatness and historical redemption.

So do not blithely dismiss the notion that Trump may be considering his legacy, maybe not by reading Robert W. Merrys biography of James K. Polk (a surpassingly successful president) or by dipping into Amity Shlaes life of Calvin Coolidge (whose record has more to say for itself than Coolidge had to say himself).

Thats not Trumps way, though as president an earlier populist and disruptor, Theodore Roosevelt, read Plutarch, Aeschylus, Euripides, Macaulay, Gibbon, Carlyle  and his friend Owen Wister, whose novels might actually appeal to the current president, and Jack Londons Call of the Wild, whose title and contents surely would entertain Trump, including this quote:

During the four years since his puppyhood he had lived the life of a sated aristocrat; he had a fine pride in himself, was even a trifle egotistical.
With no further options at our disposal to fix this bill, the Assembly voted today to pass SB143 with every Republican voting against this bill. SB143 will do very little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. What it will do is create confusion and undue financial burdens on law abiding citizens and gun dealers who participate in the sale or transfer of firearms. The additional time burden and cost to Nevadas citizens is unreasonable and there are still many situations where it is unclear as to what will be legal and what will be illegal when SB143 goes into effect in January of 2020.

Deputy Minority Leader Ellisons Floor Statement on SB143:

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Mr. Speaker and Legislative Body, I would like to speak on SB143.

Now that private party sales will have to be done at a federally licensed dealer, the gun store will have to file a Federal Form 4473. In order for them to file that form the store has to take possession of the gun into their inventory. The acquisition and disposition, A&D Book, has to list the fair market value of the gun. This is what is required by federal law to transfer a gun.
Its not just nicotine

Cannabis oils are also found in the devices confiscated from students in Elko and Spring Creek. Sherwood said they have found CBD and THC oil cartridges in the vapes that can be modified with different heat levels.

They will put the THC oil in here as well and they can get high off of this as well, Sherwood said.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

These kids dont understand how powerful these marijuana pods can be, Hildreth added, referring to the higher concentrations of cannabis and nicotine that are in the cartridge and are even riskier for teens health.

Vaping is not limited to a certain social group of students on campuses who stand on so-called smokers corner to have a quick smoke in-between classes, Hildreth said.

Teens insisted to Hildreth that vapes can be clean without any stimulants, however out of the devices confiscated, none have been found to have non-addictive substances within them, Hildreth added.

About half of high school students surveyed in 2017 by PACE said at one point in time they had vaped, Dickensen explained, with 21 percent admitting to vaping within one month prior to taking the survey.
The council wanted the wording to show, however, that labor would be the citys responsibility, as well. City Clerk Kelly Wooldridge said we would clean this piece of the ordinance up to be more specific about labor.

City Attorney David Stanton said the action on the business impact statement was the opportunity to make that kind of change in the ordinance.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The council also wanted to be sure the amended ordinance is specific to requiring the conduit only when projects involve open trenches in public rights of way. The city would own the conduit.

Councilman Robert Schmidtlein said the only way Smart Dig would be practical is in mass open excavations.

Dick Campbell of NV Energy told the council early in the discussion that the onus seems to be on the contractor for additional conduit. I dont feel ratepayers should be on the hook.

Weston Williams of NNE Construction, a contractor that does work for utility companies, said before the council action that the proposal could cause us to lose a significant amount of money.
Because Schick had a bad arm and needed to shave with one hand, he realized the impracticality of his separate motor system. With an inspiration he tossed away the old design and, by relocating the motor to the handle, he realized an instant hit. The new Schick model S sold for $25 each, (about $450 in todays money) and was marketed extensively in the mid 1930s, eventually selling over 1.5 million units in those Depression years.

In 1935, after transferring much of his wealth to holding companies in the Bahamas, and being pursued for tax evasion, Schick migrated to Canada and became a citizen there. He died of pneumonia caused by complications from a kidney operation in 1937 at the modest age of 60.

After that, other companies began producing electric shavers. In the year Schick died Remington came to the forefront with their Close Shaver that included a micro-screen foil over the blades. Customers said it allowed for a bit more comfort and began the race for many improvements to come. In 1939, The Philips Company of Amsterdam scored a big win with floating rotary blades. During the war years of the 1940s, the marketplace for electric razors also became a battleground forcing customers to decide between the shavers with parallel blades or those with circular whirling cutters.
ELKO  Tucked away in a small and stylishly decorated niche, McAdoos is a local favorite for breakfast and lunch.

I have always wanted to own a restaurant since I was a little girl, owner Rachel McAdoo said. Its always been a dream of mine.

McAdoo received a Super Slicer for her 12th birthday.

I saw it on an infomercial, she said.

Her first job was at the Pine Lodge. Then McAdoo went to culinary arts school at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

I had all kinds of classes, everything from baking, cooking, sauces, she said. We also had a bartending class. I took accounting and human resources. It was in the hotel college.

After college McAdoo managed a small cafe at the Nevada Museum of Fine Art, The Cafe Musee. That is where she fell in love with the lunch specialty restaurant.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

The menu at McAdoos is small but detailed. Before starting the restaurant she had already composed most of the menu. Many of the items are among her favorite eats.

The most popular item is probably the chicken sandwich and for breakfast we have a breakfast croissant that has an egg and bacon on it, she said.
North Korea officials en-route to Vietnam ahead of Trump-Kim summit

Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un at their first face to face meeting in Singapore. Photo by AFP/Saul Loeb

The North Koreans, including Kim Jong Un's de-facto chief of staff, had arrived in Beijing and were expected to board a plane bound for the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, with the high-stakes meeting now less than two weeks away.

"A group of 12 North Koreans, including Kim Chang Son, were on the boarding list," Yonhap said, citing a source in the capital.

Kim Chang Son was part of the team overseeing protocol in the run up to the first Trump-Kim summit and Yonhap said the delegation was expected to have discussions with U.S. officials on the logistical preparations for the Hanoi meeting.

The identities of the 11 other officials were not reported.

Pyongyang has yet to provide any official confirmation of the Feb 27-28 summit, which will be the second time the two leaders come together following their June 12 Singapore meeting.

That produced a vaguely-worded document in which Kim pledged to work towards denuclearisation -- with no hard timeline agreed.

In preparation for Hanoi, U.S. envoy for North Korea Stephen Biegun was last week in Pyongyang for three days of talks with officials.

Biegun said they had been productive, but more dialogue was needed.

"We have some hard work to do with the DPRK between now and then," Biegun said, adding that he was "confident that if both sides stay committed we can make real progress here".

The US State Department said talks during Biegun's trip explored Trump and Kim's "commitments of complete denuclearization, transforming US-DPRK relations and building a lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula".

Specifically, discussions on declaring an end to the 1950-53 Korean War could have been on the table, with Biegun last month saying Trump was "ready to end this war".

The three-year conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war, with the US keeping 28,500 troops in the South.

Earlier this week Vietnam's foreign minister Pham Binh Minh visited Pyongyang but no details on their discussions have been announced.

Experts say tangible progress on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons will be needed for the second summit if it is to avoid being dismissed as "reality TV".

The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said earlier this week that he had seen "little to no verifiable change" in North Korea's military capabilities.

General Robert Abrams, the new head of US Forces Korea, said although the Singapore summit had helped dial down tensions on the Korean peninsula, it had not led to substantive changes.

North Korea, which holds most of the peninsula's mineral resources, was once wealthier than the South, but decades of mismanagement and the demise of its former paymaster, the Soviet Union, have left it deeply impoverished.

In 2017 the UN Security Council banned the North's main exports -- coal and other mineral resources, fisheries and textile products -- to cut off its access to hard currency in response to Pyongyang's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

Trump has said that North Korea will become a "great Economic Powerhouse" under Kim.

AFP
A police vehicle drives to the scene where a gunman opened fire in a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, U.S., February 15, 2019. Photo by Reuters

A gunman opened fire in a warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was slain.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the shooter, identified as 45-year-old Gary Martin, was an employee at the sprawling industrial complex in Aurora, a Far West Chicago suburb, but did not say what may have motivated the attack.

The Chicago Sun-Times newspaper reported that a woman who identified herself to police as Martins mother told authorities her son had been laid off two weeks ago and was "stressed out" before Fridays shooting.

"Today is a sad day in the city of Aurora," Mayor Richard Irvin told reporters. Aurora is about 40 miles (65 km) west of Chicago.

Ziman said police received multiple emergency calls from the manufacturing warehouse at 1:24 p.m. reporting an active shooter. The first officers arrived on the scene four minutes later and two of them were struck by gunfire, she said.

All told, five officers were shot and wounded, Ziman said, before the gunman was killed by police returning fire. A sixth officer suffered a knee injury.

Inside the building, five civilians were found deceased. None of them were identified.

The wounded police officers were in stable condition at a local hospital, Clayton Muhammad, spokesman for the City of Aurora, told the local ABC affiliate.

Witness John Probst told CNN that he saw the gunman, a co-worker, running down an aisle of the manufacturing facility with a pistol equipped with a laser sight. Probst told the network that he saw people bleeding.

Video on local media showed numerous police cars surrounding a large commercial building in Aurora, the ground covered in snow.

The bloodshed, marking the latest spasm of gun violence in a nation where mass shootings have become almost commonplace, came a day after the one-year anniversary of the massacre of 17 people by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

A spokeswoman for U.S. President Donald Trump said that he was aware of the incident.

"The President has been briefed and is monitoring the ongoing situation in Aurora, IL," Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
US, North Korean delegations in Hanoi for summit preparations

The plane that carries North Korean delegations lands in Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 16, 2019. Photo by VnExpress/Ba Do

The North Korean delegation landed at the Noi Bai Airport Saturday on a Chinese carrier to perform preparatory work for upcoming activities in Hanoi.

They had visited Beijing, China, a day earlier. Kim Chang-son, part of the team overseeing protocol in the run up to the first Trump-Kim summit, is with the delegation in Hanoi.

Meanwhile, several U.S. delegations have arrived in Hanoi over the last few days, with the latest one landing in Noi Bai Airport Friday night.

Delegations of both countries will discuss the summits logistics, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.

Kim plans to visit Vietnam two days before the summit takes place, according to South Korean television and radio network MBC.

The second Trump-Kim summit is set to be held in Hanoi on February 27 and 28. Vietnam has said it welcomed the event and is taking preparation steps.

Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh officially visited Pyongyang from Tuesday to Thursday.

He said Vietnam was willing to share North Korea the countrys experiences in socio-economic development and international integration as per Pyongyangs request.

North Koreans Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho had earlier expressed interest in discussing ways to improve bilateral relations. He thanked Vietnam for its stance and efforts to push dialogue for a peaceful, secure and developed Korean peninsula.

The first Trump-Kim summit was held in Singapore in June 2018, but negotiations failed to make much headway owing to disagreements on the concept of denuclearization.

Both sides are hoping to make further headway at the upcoming summit.

Khanh Lynh
Hanoi to patrol key locations round the clock ahead of Trump-Kim summit

Vietnams good relations with the U.S., North Korea and South Korea was a factor in its being chosen as the venue for the summit. Photo by VnExpress

The Noi Bai Airport, train and bus stations, cultural monuments and electric grids are among the key locations identified for constant surveillance, officials said at a conference Friday.

They also said that Hanoi police would dispatch 96 patrol groups every night, from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m, to curb criminal activities ahead of the summit.

Hanoi would also request the Ministry of Public Security to send more personnel to better distribute security forces.

Authorities will work to maintain security for all U.S. and North Korean officials and delegations, reporters from within and outside Vietnam, the conference heard.

No effort will be spared to secure all summit venues and ensure smooth and safe traffic.

As of Saturday, both U.S. and North Korean delegations had landed in Hanoi to discuss the summit's logistics.

The second Trump-Kim summit will be held in Hanoi on February 27 and 28. Vietnam has welcomed the event, expressed hopes that it is successful as well as confidence that it can host the meeting successfully.

Vietnam's Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh officially visited Pyongyang from Tuesday to Thursday.

He said Vietnam was willing to share with North Korea the countrys experiences in socio-economic development and international integration.

North Koreans Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho had earlier expressed interest in discussing ways to improve bilateral relations. He thanked Vietnam for its supportive stance and efforts to promote dialogue for a peaceful, secure and developed Korean peninsula.

The first Trump-Kim summit was held in Singapore in June 2018, but negotiations failed to make much headway owing to disagreements on the concept of denuclearization.

Both sides are hoping to make further headway at the upcoming summit in Hanoi.

Phuong Son
A corner of the Hien Luong-Ben Hai national historical site in central Vietnam where Filipino man Bandian Luisito Eusebio was found dead on Friday morning. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Tao

A 55-year-old Filipino tourist died due to unknown causes Friday morning at a famous historical site in central Vietnam.

Bandian Luisito Eusebio was part of a tour group to northern and central provinces.

At around 10:40 a.m., when he was touring the Hien Luong-Ben Hai national historical site in Quang Tri Province, he fell unconcious and his face turned black and blue. The man died shortly afterwards.

Reports say he had had gastric surgery. Local authorities have ordered an autopsy to identify the cause of death, but have released no further information.

Vietnam received 151,641 visitors from the Philippines last year. Filipinos, like everyone else in Southeast Asia, are allowed to visit Vietnam without a visa.
Another Vietnamese woman investigated in sale of newborns to China

Nghe An police Friday began investigating a woman for luring a heavily-pregnant neighbor to China to sell her newborn.

Moong Thi Ly, 32, is questioned at local police station in Nghe An Province Friday for taking a pregnant woman to China to sell her baby. Photo by VnExpress/Nguyen Hai

Moong Thi Ly is investigated for "organizing and/or coercing other persons to flee abroad," a crime punishable by up to 20 years in jail under Vietnams Penal Code. She is now pregnant and has been placed under house arrest.

Knowing that Moong Thi Mui, 24, around eight months pregnant, was struggling financially, Ly persuaded her to cross over the border to China to sell her newborn to unknown people for a large, but unspecified amount of money.

Then Ly helped Mui to get to mainland China via the Mong Cai border gate in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

On September 20, Mui was injured in a traffic accident in China and was hospitalized for treatment. Later, she gave birth to a boy.

Last month, Nghe An Police and Blue Dragon, a Hanoi-based non-profit organization working with street children and trafficking victims, organized a rescue operation and successfully brought Mui and her son home.

They filed a report with local authorities, petitioning for a probe into trafficking of newborns to China.

Ly is the second suspect placed under criminal investigation in the last few weeks in the baby sale operation. A similar probe was launched last month against Moong Thi Oanh, suspected of influencing four pregnant women to sell their newborns in China.

Nghe An, around 300 km (190 miles) south of Hanoi, has become a hotbed for human trafficking in recent years. The province found at least 27 pregnant women traveling to China to sell their newborns last year.

China, the most populous country, suffers from one of the worst gender imbalance rates in the world due to the one-child policy and illicit abortion of female fetuses by parents wanting male heirs.

This has led to rising kidnapping, tricking and trafficking of Vietnamese women and baby girls, and now, babies.

Besides the financial difficulties of the victims, experts have highlighted negligence, poor education, weak law enforcement and gender imbalance in destination countries as major factors driving human trafficking.
Police investigate a scene where Canadian-Vietnamese Vo Duy Nghiem was splashed with acid in the central province of Quang Ngai. Photo by VnExpress/Gia Bao

Vietnamese police are hunting two people who assaulted a Canadian-Vietnamese couple with acid and knives earlier this month.

The attack happened the night of February 9 as Vo Duy Nghiem was driving a motorbike with his girlfriend Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram riding pillion. The couple, both 26, were on their way to dinner near Khe Hai Beach in the central province of Quang Ngai when two masked persons on a motorbike splashed acid on Nghiem.

As he writhed in pain, they slashed his tendons and knee joints three times before riding away.

Nghiem and Tram were taken to a hospital later. He was found to have his cornea and 80 percent of his body burnt by the acid. Tram escaped with minor acid burns.

Nghiem, born in Vietnam, moved to Canada after finishing high school. The last time he returned was in 2016. Weeks ago, he came back to celebrate Tet, the Lunar New Year Festival.

Police said Nghiem had neither a criminal record nor known enmity during his time in Vietnam, and they suspect the attack might stem from some conflict in Canada. An investigation has been launched.

Acid attacks are not an uncommon issue in Vietnam, but unlike other Asian countries like Cambodia, India and Pakistan, where the situation is constantly monitored by domestic and transnational organizations, statistics in Vietnam are somewhat off the radar.

One doctor at HCMCs Cho Ray Hospital said in 2017 that acid attack victims accounted for 40 to 60 cases every year in its Burns and Reconstructive Surgery Unit, or 2 to 3 percent of the patients.

Acid splashing, more often than not acts of vengeance or punishment, mostly affect women in Vietnam. Very few men are targeted by acid attacks.
The 600 MW Thai Binh 1 Thermal Power Plant officially opened Thursday in the northern province of Thai Binh.

It is expected to generate 3.6-3.9 billion kWh of electricity a year, said Duong Quang Thanh, chairman of Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the countrys sole electricity distributor.

Construction of the plant commenced in 2014, with a total investment VND26.5 trillion ($1.27 billion). Of this, EVN, the project investor, contributed 15 percent, and the remaining 85 percent came from an ODA loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The plant is one of two thermal power projects in Thai Binh Province. Construction of the second, which has a capacity of 1,200 MW, is expected to be completed in 2020.

Vietnam relies largely on hydropower and thermal power plants for its electricity needs. However, its hydropower potential is almost fully exploited and its oil and gas reserves are running low. Thermal energy is expected to account for over 48 percent of the countrys power production in 2019.

While it is one of Asias fastest-growing economies, Vietnam been struggling to develop its energy industry.

World Bank country director for Vietnam, Ousmane Dione, said at a recent forum that Vietnam will need to raise up $150 billion by 2030 to develop its energy sector.

Dione added that electricity demand in the country will grow by about 8 percent a year for the next decade.
On KABC this morning, Ann Coulter addressed the massive morning drive audience about her former hero, Donald Trump, urging them to "Forget the fact that he's digging his own grave. The only national emergency is that our president is an idiot." We don't all agree why, but I think that a good 70% of the country would agree. So much has happened since she wrote In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! in 2016. Earlier this morning someone asked Trump how much influence she's had over his policy decisions. "Ann Coulter," he babbled, "I dont know her. I hardly know her. I havent spoken to her in way over a year. But the press loves saying, 'Ann Coulter.' Probably if I did speak to her, shed be very nice. I just dont have the time to speak to her. I would speak to her. I have nothing against her. In fact, I like her for one reason. When they asked her right at the beginning, 'Whos going to win the election?' she said, 'Donald Trump.' And the two people that asked her that question smiled. They said, 'Youre kidding, arent you?' Nope. Donald Trump. So I like her. But shes off the reservation. But anybody that knows her understands that. But I havent spoken to her. I dont follow her. I dont talk to her."

Defeating Trump is the most important priority for the majority of American voters for 2020. But it shouldn't be thepriority. Replacing him with some status quo ante corporatist like Biden or Bloomberg or Gillibrand will simply predict what no one thinks is possible: another Trump down the road. Let's opt for a great president instead of just someone who can beat Trump. They can probablybeat Trump. Think about what will happen after they beat Trump. In the famous words of Chris Hayes: "Who will they fight for? What will they fight for? Who can be trusted to do what they say?" I'd happily vote for Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, Jeff Merkley or Marianne Williamson. Yesterday Bernie sent a note to his supporters that reminded me why he's on the top of my list.

And much like we have moved the needle on issues like Medicare for All, college for all, jobs for all, and fighting climate change, we can do the same on this issue as well.

But the good news is that the American people are with us on all of these issues, and have been for some time. They know that at a time of massive wealth and income inequality, the very rich must pay their fair share of taxes.

Instead of giving $1 trillion in tax breaks to some of the richest people and corporations in the history of the world, Congress should be raising the minimum wage to a living wage for working people, $15 an hour, and nothing less.

Instead of encouraging and rewarding Wall Street speculators who gamble trillions of dollars of others peoples money, its time for Congress to pass a financial speculation tax and use the money to ensure kids who study hard and do well in school can go to college, regardless of the income of their family.

Instead of companies like Amazon, that made $16.8 billion in profits over the past two years but have paid ZERO in federal income taxes-- and in fact received a $269 million tax refund-- its time to demand corporations pay their fair share in taxes so we can rebuild the disappearing middle class.

...Instead of repealing the estate tax and giving a massive tax cut to the richest two-tenths of one percent, as Trump wants, we must substantially increase this tax on multi-millionaires and billionaires to reduce wealth inequality and preserve democracy in America.

There is a lot of debate in Congress on this issue, but among the people we represent, there is none. Democrats, Republicans and Independents, people of all backgrounds and from all communities believe that it is time for the wealthiest Americans to start paying their fair share.

We need an economy and tax system that benefits all of us, not just the few, and we can do that by creating a fair and progressive tax system that demands that wealthy individuals and profitable corporations begin paying their fair share of taxes.

We will no longer tolerate a disastrous trade policy which allows major corporations to shut down here, send our jobs overseas and then line up for lucrative government contracts.

We will no longer tolerate massive tax loopholes which allow profitable corporations to stash billions in profits in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens, while veterans sleep out on the street.

At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, when the three richest people own more wealth than the bottom half of the country and when 46% of all new income goes to the top 1%, we need a progressive tax system which demands that the very wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes.

Let me be very clear. We cannot allow this country to become an oligarchy in which a handful of billionaires control our economic and political life.

Bernie concluded by asking if people agree that instead of cutting taxes for corporations and some of the richest people in the history of the the world, its time for a progressive tax system that benefits all of us, not just those at the top. Maybe he slanted the results by adding "The greed of the billionaire class has got to end. And if Congress wont do it, then we must."

Yeah, what we must do is present Congress with apathy to follow. Since we first published the list of co-sponsors of Pramila Jayapal's Medicare-For-All act the first week of February tons of more members have rushed to sign on as co-sponsors. No doubt many of them are true believers, like Hank Johnson (D-GA) and Katie Porter (D-CA), but pressure from their constituents may have had more than a little to do with some of the New Dems like Ed Perlmutter(CO) and Katie Hill (CA), as well as Blue Dog Vicente Gonzalez (TX). There's been at least a new co-sponsor per day, every day including weekends!

Timothy Faust did a definitive Guide to Medicare-For-All that should be a must-read for everyone who talks or writes about healthcare. He agrees that Pramila Jayapal's new Medicare-For-All bill-- probably unveiled in another couple of weeks-- "is astonishingly strong, and should become the baseline for federal legislation toward single-payer healthcare." (Democrats have 8 other healthcare bills floating around, some decent, some horrible. Faust's answer: "The relatively simple problems of health finance have been made very complicated by people who make money off of healthcare. So what are all of the issues being discussed and what do they mean? Whats really 'Medicare for All' and whats not? How do existing bills stack up? And why does this matter?

On the other hand, you have federal single-payer, often called Medicare for All. Healthcare plans in the single-payer mold pool all the money currently spent on healthcare to insure every person in America. By pooling this buying power into one giant public insurer (the single payer), Medicare for All has much more leverage to determine prices through negotiation. It can say,  oh, were only going to pay $200 for an MRI instead of $1,000 "; or,  our data shows that a knee replacement costs $15,000 to perform even though you bill five times that amount; take it or leave it , and since its the only insurer in town, the hospital has to take it. This isnt radical-- virtually every other country with universal coverage has a form of aggressive rate-setting. (And it lets the hospital spend a lot less money on massive towers of billing staff.)

These pathetic programs, which usually revolve around a public option, are what happens when politicians understand the need for a massive change but lack the moral imagination to do anything but genuflect to existing structures. They are, in reality, corporate bailout packages which do very little for you, but quite a bit for the Aetnas and the Sacklers and the Joe Manchins.

Staring down these problems are the corporate dorks and the feckless policy dweebs whose policy prescriptions, whose wildest visions, continually place corporations in charge of our healthcare, and ensure that American public money subsidizes them for failing at it. If you hear 2020 candidates talk about the rot of American healthcare, look out if they float a pragmatic policy solution or talk about plans named something like Medicare Extra As A Service... For You! (If theyre polite, perhaps they will at least say they support Medicare for All before announcing theyd be open to keeping the feet of private insurance companies on our throats).

This is the way things work now. Hospitals, manufacturers, and their various middlemen jack up costs, while insurance companies demand massive public subsidies to keep them from jettisoning people who most need insurance. If insurers cant get those subsidies, they increase your costs of purchasing and using your insurance plan to compensate for the jacked-up costs.

 It is not profitable to insure people who are sick or who are likely to become sick.

 It is extremely profitable to charge a sick person as much as possible, so long as someone is footing the bill.

You'll have to read his whole long, powerful piece to understand why he believes that Jayapal's bill-- and only Jayapal's bill-- "appears to meet all of the criteria for a proper single-payer plan. It includes long-term care with a preference toward home health. It sets guidelines for care but lets doctors overrule them. It is, by all accounts, the first actual robust single-payer bill of the post-ACA era. If you are looking for a bill to call 'Medicare for All,' this is the one. It must not be permitted to be weakened."

All that said,-- and I know you won't-- Every Day Is a New Low in Trump's White House . That's also the name of the piecejust published by former FBI Director and Trump enemy Andrew McCabe. When someone told Trump about it, he started whining on Twitter as is his wont.

The Atlantic piece is an adaptation from McCabe's soon-to-be-published book, The Threat. McCabe makes you feel you are there as history is being made.

On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, my first full day on the job as acting director of the FBI, I sat down with senior staff involved in the Russia casethe investigation into alleged ties between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. As the meeting began, my secretary relayed a message that the White House was calling. The president himself was on the line. I had spoken with him the night before, in the Oval Office, when he told me he had fired James Comey.





A call like this was highly unusual. Presidents do not, typically, call FBI directors. There should be no direct contact between the president and the director, except for national-security purposes. The reason is simple. Investigations and prosecutions need to be pursued without a hint of suspicion that someone who wields power has put a thumb on the scale.





The Russia team was in my office. I took the call on an unclassified line. That was another strange thing-- the president was calling on a phone that was not secure. The voice on the other end said, Its Don Trump calling. I said, Hello, Mr. President, how are you? Apart from my surprise that he was calling at all, I was surprised that he referred to himself as Don.





The president said, Im good. You know-- boy, its incredible, its such a great thing, people are really happy about the fact that the directors gone, and its just remarkable what people are saying. Have you seen that? Are you seeing that, too?





He went on: I received hundreds of messages from FBI people-- how happy they are that I fired him. There are people saying things on the media, have you seen that? Whats it like there in the building?













This is what it was like: You could go to any floor and you would see small groups gathering in hallways, some people even crying. The overwhelming majority liked and admired Director Comey-- his personal style, the integrity of his conduct. Now we were laboring under the same dank, gray shadow that had been creeping over Washington during the few months Donald Trump had been in office.





I didnt feel like I could say any of that to the president on the phone. Im not sure I would have wanted to say it to him in person, either-- or that he would have cared. I told him that people here were very surprised, but that we were trying to get back to work.





The president said he thought most people in the FBI voted for him-- he thought 80 percent. He asked me again, as he had in his office, if I knew that Comey had told him three times that he was not under investigation. Then he got to the reason for his call. He said, I really want to come over there. I want to come to the FBI. I want to show all my FBI people how much I love them, so I think maybe it would be good for me to come over and speak to everybody, like tomorrow or the next day.





That sounded to me like one of the worst possible things that could happen. He was the boss, and had every right to come, but I hoped the idea would dissipate on its own. He said, Why dont you come down here and talk to me about that later?





After we agreed on a time to meet, the president began to talk about how upset he was that Comey had flown home on his government plane from Los Angeles-- Comey had been giving a speech there when he learned he was fired. The president wanted to know how that had happened.





I told him that bureau lawyers had assured me there was no legal issue with Comey coming home on the plane. I decided that he should do so. The existing threat assessment indicated he was still at risk, so he needed a protection detail. Since the members of the protection detail would all be coming home, it made sense to bring everybody back on the same plane they had used to fly out there. It was coming back anyway. The president flew off the handle: Thats not right! I dont approve of that! Thats wrong! He reiterated his point five or seven times.





I said, Im sorry that you disagree, sir. But it was my decision, and thats how I decided. The president said, I want you to look into that! I thought to myself: What am I going to look into? I just told you I made that decision.





The ranting against Comey spiraled. I waited until he had talked himself out.





Toward the end of the conversation, the president brought up the subject of my wife. Jill had run unsuccessfully for the Virginia state Senate back in 2015, and the president had said false and malicious things about her during his campaign in order to tarnish the FBI. He said, How is your wife? I said, Shes fine. He said, When she lost her election, that must have been very tough to lose. How did she handle losing? Is it tough to lose?





I replied, I guess its tough to lose anything. But shes rededicated herself to her career and her job and taking care of kids in the emergency room. Thats what she does.





He replied in a tone that sounded like a sneer. He said, Yeah, that mustve been really tough. To lose. To be a loser.





I wrote a memo about this conversation that very day. I wrote memos about my interactions with President Trump for the same reason that Comey did: to have a contemporaneous record of conversations with a person who cannot be trusted.





People do not appreciate how far we have fallen from normal standards of presidential accountability. Today we have a president who is willing not only to comment prejudicially on criminal prosecutions but to comment on ones that potentially affect him. He does both of these things almost daily. He is not just sounding a dog whistle. He is lobbying for a result. The president has stepped over bright ethical and moral lines wherever he has encountered them. Every day brings a new low, with the president exposing himself as a deliberate liar who will say whatever he pleases to get whatever he wants. If he were on the box at Quantico, he would break the machine.





After Comeys firing, the core of my concern had to do with what might happen to the Russia case if I were to be removed. I convened a series of meetings about that investigation-- including the one interrupted by the call from the president-- in which I directed an overall review of every aspect. Was the work on solid ground? Were there individuals on whom we should consider opening new cases? I wanted to protect the Russia investigation in such a way that whoever came after me could not just make it go away.





As requested, I went back to the White House that afternoon. The scene was almost identical to the one I had walked into the previous night. Trump was behind the Resolute desk. He lifted one arm and jutted it out, fingers splayed, directing me to take a seat in one of the little wooden chairs in front of him. Reince Priebus, then the chief of staff, and Don McGahn, then the White House counsel, were in the other chairs.





The president launched back into his speech about what a great decision it was to fire Jim Comey, how wonderful it was that the director was gone, because so many people did not like Comey, even hated him-- the president actually used the word hate.





Eventually he changed the subject. He said that he wanted to come to FBI headquarters to see people and excite them and show them how much he loves the FBI. He pressed me to answer whether I thought it was a good idea. I said it was always a good idea to visit. I was trying to take some of the immediacy out of his proposal-- to communicate that the door was always open, so that he wouldnt feel he had to crash through it right away. I knew what a disaster it could turn out to be if he came to the Hoover Building in the near future. He pressed further, asking specifically, Do you think it would be a good idea for me to come down now? I said, Sure.





He looked at Don McGahn. The president said, Don, what do you think? Do you think I should go down to the FBI and speak to the people?





McGahn was sitting in one of the wooden chairs to my right. Making eye contact with Trump, he said, in a very pat and very prepared way, If the acting director of the FBI is telling you he thinks it is a good idea for you to come visit the FBI, then you should do it.





Then McGahn turned and looked at me. And Trump looked at me and asked, Is that what youre telling me? Do you think it is a good idea?





It was a bizarre performance. I said it would be fine. I had no real choice. This was not worth the ultimate sacrifice.





In this moment, I felt the way Id felt in 1998, in a case involving the Russian Mafia, when I sent a man Ill call Big Felix in to meet with a Mafia boss named Dimitri Gufield. The same kind of thing was happening here, in the Oval Office. Dimitri had wanted Felix to endorse his protection scheme. This is a dangerous business, and its a bad neighborhood, and you know, if you want, I can protect you from that. If you want my protection. I can protect you. Do you want my protection? The president and his men were trying to work me the way a criminal brigade would operate.





For whatever reason, the visit to the FBI never happened.





One of the regularly scheduled meetings with the attorney general, deputy attorney general, and some of their staff came two days later, on Friday, May 12. After the meeting, I asked the deputy, Rod Rosenstein, if he could stay behind. In part I wanted to talk with him about ground rules governing the separate investigations of the Russia case by the FBI and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Rosenstein had oversight because the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, had had to recuse himself owing to his own interactions with Russians during the campaign. But my main message was this: I need you to protect the process.





After speaking to these points, Rod shifted his gaze. His eyes were focused on a point in space a few yards beyond and behind, toward the door. He started talking about the firing of Jim Comey. He was obviously upset. He said he was shocked that the White House was making it look as if Jims firing had been his idea. He was grasping for a way to describe the nature of his situation. One remark stands out. He said, Theres no one that I can talk to about this. Theres no one here that I can trust.





He asked for my thoughts about whether we needed a special counsel to oversee the Russia case. I said I thought it would help the investigations credibility. Later that day, I went to see Rosenstein again. This is the gist of what I said: I feel strongly that the investigation would be best served by having a special counsel. Ive been thinking about the Clinton email case and how we got twisted in knots over how to announce a result that did not include bringing charges against anyone. Had we appointed a special counsel in the Clinton case, we might not be in the present situation. Unless or until you make the decision to appoint a special counsel, the FBI will be subjected to withering criticism that could destroy the credibility of both the Justice Department and the FBI.





Rosenstein was very engaged. He was not yet convinced. I brought the matter up with him again after the weekend. On Wednesday, we would be briefing the Hill. As I saw it, by informing Congress of the bureaus actions, we would be drawing an indelible line around the cases we had openedthe four cases known publicly and any others that may have gone forward. The four known publicly were those of Carter Page, a foreign-policy adviser to the Trump campaign and a man with many Russian ties; George Papadopoulos, another foreign-policy adviser, who had told a foreign diplomat that the Russians had offered to help Trumps campaign by providing information on Hillary Clinton; Michael Flynn, for a brief period the presidents national security adviser, who had pursued multiple high-level contacts with the Russian government; and Paul Manafort, Trumps campaign manager, who had shady business dealings with Ukrainians and Russians.













On the afternoon of May 17, Rosenstein and I sat at the end of a long conference table in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol. We were there to brief the so-called Gang of Eight-- the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate and the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. Rosenstein had, I knew, made a decision to appoint a special counsel in the Russia case. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic senator from New York, was to our right. Mitch McConnell, the Republican senator from Kentucky and the Senate majority leader, was to our left. The mood in the room was sober.





After reminding the committee of how the investigation began, I told them of additional steps we had taken. Then Rod took over and announced that he had appointed a special counsel to pursue the Russia investigation, and that the special counsel was Robert Mueller. The Gang of Eight had questions. What was the scope of the inquiry? Who would oversee the special counsel? How could the special counsel get fired? Rod answered every question. Then it was over.





When I came out of the Capitol, it felt like crossing a finish line. If I got nothing else done as acting director, I had done the one thing I needed to do.
Eric Garcetti isn't running for president next year. Whew! I'm totally relieved. I like Eric and I've known him for a long time. He's the guy who showed me how to use a credit card in a parking meter. But I didn't think running for president was a good idea. He hasn't created a compelling enough record as mayor of Los Angeles to run on. And, it appeared to be that he has been veering further and further towards the middle of the road ever since he started seriously working on running. I didn't like it. Everything starts to become about what voters in Iowa and New Hampshire will think.





This past week Eric was Eric again-- the Eric that should run for president some day. This was the note he sent Angelinos this week:

It's time for every single city in America to take on the fight against climate change.



Earlier this week in L.A., we stopped a plan to spend billions of dollars rebuilding three city-owned natural gas power plants along our coast, because I know we need to get to our goal of 100% renewable energy as fast as possible.



And it seems like folks agree that this should be our top priority: A couple weeks ago-- right after the new Congress was sworn in, and Democrats took over the majority in the House-- I sent you a survey asking what you'd like the new Congress to tackle.



The results were a strong cry for real action on climate change. And we cannot afford to wait on Washington. Every city in America must act.



It's refreshing to see this Congress start to take climate change more seriously, from weekly hearings on the effects it's having on real Americans to the Green New Deal. But talking isn't enough.



That's why I helped create Climate Mayors, a bipartisan group of mayors across the U.S. who, when Donald Trump said he was pulling us from the Paris climate agreement, pledged that their cities were in. Today, Climate Mayors counts 415 mayors representing 70 million Americans within its ranks. That's globally significant action from the bottom up, not the top down.

The Bloomberg piece that announced Garcetti's move with the 3 power plants was welcome and dramatic: California Puts Another Nail in Coffin for Fossil-Fuel Plants . The 3 plants, which represent 38% of the city's natural gas consumption were slated to be rebuilt and that plan had been approved earlier. Why? Well, the city would have had to have spent $15 billion on the upgrades to rebuild the 3 plants and Garcetti said he wants the city to move toward getting all of its power from renewable sources ASAP. "This is the beginning of the end of natural gas in Los Angeles. The climate crisis demands that we move more quickly to end dependence on fossil fuel, and thats what today is all about."





The L.A. Times pointed out that "now the hard work starts: figuring out how to replace the three facilities without raising energy prices or increasing the risk of power outages. And another battle looms on the horizon, as Los Angeles moves forward with plans for a new gas facility in Utah to replace a coal-fired power plant that still generates much of the citys electricity."
Trump water-carrier Ken Buck (R-CO)



Less-than-progressive members of Congress who are afraid of being primaried the way Crowley was, are happy to fork over $5,000 annually to the Congressional Progressive PAC so they can "join" the CPC, an important protection racket/insurance policy issuer for New Dems. And the latest New Dem who's joining the CPC is Eliot Engel. Does that mean AIPAC is a de facto CPC member now too?





In These Times piece was progressive than fellow New Dem freshmen like Max Rose, Abigail Spanberger, Mike Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin and Ben McAdams. It's gotten so bad, that when Sarah Lazare and Michael Arria wrote up the out-of-Yemen victory, the title of thepiece was Here Are the Progressives Who Watered Down the House Measure Ending Support for the Yemen War . They list 13 CPC members (including 9 freshmen) who voted with the GOP to water down the import of the resolution. And, although, technically 4 of those freshmen-- Gil Cisneros (CA), Angie Craig (MN), Katie Hill (CA) and Steven Horsford (NV)-- are members of the CPC, each has joined the New Dem Coalition and is no morethan fellow New Dem freshmen like Max Rose, Abigail Spanberger, Mike Sherrill, Elissa Slotkin and Ben McAdams.

There are already 11 members of the CPC with ProgressivePunch over-all "F" scores: Antonio Delgado (NY), Jared Golden (ME), Katie Porter (CA), Donald Norcross (NJ), Steven Horsford (NV), Jimmy Panetta (CA), Adam Smith (WA), Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE), Brendan Boyle (PA), Tulsi Gabbard (HI) and Darren Soto (FL). Something's wrong here, although it's nice that CPC boosters can still brag that they have more members than any other Democratic caucus in Congress. Does anyone still take that boast seriously???

I had lunch today with an old friend who is often the biggest Democratic donor in Southern California. Before I could even sit down he started talking about how "moderate" Democrats have been all about telling us what's too difficult to accomplish. "They've done this for decades," he said. "And now they're doing it with the Green New Deal and Medicare-For-All. Thank God for those new freshmen who are holding their feet to the fire." He was talking about AOC, Ilhan, Rashida and Ayanna, but I'm thinking Jose Neguse belongs in that grouping too.





who crossed the aisle. The only Republicans to vote NO were libertarian-types Justin Amash (MI) and Tom Massie (KY). These are the Dems who they passed on the way across: Thursday, in the run up to the vote to get the U.S. out of the Saudis' Yemeni genocide, right-wing Republican Ken Buck offered an amendment to water it down. Although most Democrats (175-- including the 5 heroes we just mentioned) voted against Buck's amendment, it passed 252-177 . How did that happen? The Democratic leadership team voted against it. Why did 57 Democrats vote with the GOP? Fair question-- and an important one. First let's look atcrossed the aisle. The only Republicans to vote NO were libertarian-types Justin Amash (MI) and Tom Massie (KY). These are the Dems who they passed on the way across:

 Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)

 Anthony Brindisi (Blue Dog-NY)

 Cheri Bustos (New Dem-IL)

 Ed Case (Blue Dog-HI)

 Gil Cisneros (New Dem-CA)

 Lou Correa (New Dem-CA)

 Angie Craig (New Dem-MN)

 Jason Crow (New Dem-CO)

 Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)

 Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)

 Sharice Davids (New Dem-KS)

 Antonio Delgado (D-NY)

 Abby Finkenauer (D-IA)

 Jared Golden (D-ME)

 Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)

 Josh Harder (New Dem-CA)

 Alcee Hastings (D-FL)

 Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)

 Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)

 Steven Horsford (New Dem-NV)

 Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem-PA)

 Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)

 Andy Kim (D-NJ)

 Anne Kuster (New Dem-NH)

 Conor Lamb (D-PA)

 Susie Lee (New Dem-NV)

 Dave Loebsack (D-IA)

 Elaine Luria (New Dem-VA)

 Stephen Lynch (D-MA)

 Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)

 Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)

 Joe Morelle (D-NY)

 Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA)

 Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)

 Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)

 Jimmy Panetta (D-CA)

 Chris Pappas (New Dem-NH)

 Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)

 Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)

 Dean Phillips (New Dem-MN)

 Katie Porter (D-CA)

 Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)

 Harley Rouda (New Dem-CA)

 Raul Ruiz (New Dem-CA)

 Bobby Rush (D-IL)

 Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)

 Kim Schrier (New Dem-WA)

 Bobby Scott (D-VA)

 Brad Sherman (D-CA)

 Mikie Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)

 Elissa Slotkin (New Dem-MI)

 Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)

 Haley Stevens (New Dem-MI)

 Xochitl Torres Small (Blue Dog-NM)

 Jeff Van Drew (Blue Dog-NJ)

 Maxine Waters (D-CA)

 Jennifer Wexton (New Dem-VA)

Early this morning, Ro Khanna was still rejoicing that the overall War Powers Resolution passed. But... "I was disappointed," he told me, "that the Buck Amendment was added to water down our Yemen resolution and allow for limited intelligence sharing with the Saudis. It was unnecessary, and it gives the Administration a small loophole. That said, the main event of passing the WPR should not be diminished. That is the first time it has happened since 1973. The signal is very clear to the Saudis-- they need to stop the bombing in Yemen and let in food and medicine."

The way Buck, the GOP and what amounts to most of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party (list above) watered down Ro Khanna's out-of-Yemen bill was by allowing Trump to share U.S. intelligence with any country he deems appropriate. That goes right to the heart of Khanna's bill and I;'ve been reaching out to some of the ostensibly progressive members who voted for it so I could find out why. So far none of them have responded.

No one was surprised that "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran voted with the still-Republicans for the Buck Amendment. O'Halleran has one of the most persistently-Republican voting records of any Democrat in the House and voting with his old cronies in the GOP is his safe space/comfort zone. Fortunately, actual Democrats in AZ-01 are fielding a progressive, Eva Putzova, for next year's primary. Blue America has endorsed her and you can contribute to her campaign by clicking on the thermometer on the right. This morning she told us that she opposes the Buck amendment because it "allows the Trump administration to continue sharing intelligence with the Saudi regime in their war on Yemen. Over the past three years the Saudis have used the information provided to them by American intelligence services to attack civilians in areas under Houthi control in Yemen. Neither the Trump administration nor the Saudis can be trusted to conduct themselves otherwise. I support the original resolution sponsored by Rep Ro Khanna that 'directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting Yemen within 30 days unless Congress authorizes a later withdrawal date, issues a declaration of war, or specifically authorizes the use of the Armed Forces.' Tens of thousands of civilians have died in this war and millions more are in the middle of a growing cholera epidemic as a result of the unsafe water supply. The American people never authorized the President to assist the Saudis in this war against Yemen and it is time to end it."








Report all errors to DonSurber@GMail.com





Oh, and if you see me driving my red 2010 Mustang GT convertible, please wave.

Hi, I am a retired newspaperman. I wrote 3 books on Trump and the media . I live in Poca, WV, with my wife of 43 years, Lou Ann. I grew up in Cleveland. Three kids. Grandfather.
The department was proud to send out press releases to talk about the bicentennial license plate that we switched over to  they spread the news whether it be on social media, whether it be in press releases, you read about that in the paper, there were different TV interviews; there was a lot of notoriety about a new license plate, however now that this mistake has occurred the Department of Revenue does not want to fess up, said the chairman of the committee. Let the taxpayer know that an error occurred and what they should be expecting as we get closer to April.

The revenue department director told the committee he agrees that communication should be improved. He also stressed that he believes it is a minority of Missouri taxpayers who will experience a significant change in their tax returns, but those are important people and people that we stand ready to work with.

Weve created a dedicated phone line to help individuals with this. We consistently work with taxpayers who need more time to pay their taxes or are struggling to pay their taxes, and weve put a page right up front on our website where immediately you go there, you can say if you need assistance  heres where you can go to get assistance, he said.
This week was another busy week here in Jefferson City.

I had several visitors from the district stop in to visit with me regarding issues that are important to them. Some of the people who stopped by were Kelley and Kathy Silvey from Washington County, Tony and Jan Harbison (Farm Bureau), Josh Campbell (Western District Commissioner), Tim Harbison (Coroner) all from Iron County, Karen White (Missouri Highlands), Joe Loyd (Presiding Commissioner) from Reynolds County and Richard Brummett and his FFA students from Arcadia Valley.

This past weekend I had several meetings in the district. Two of which dealt with workforce development. This is an area that seems to be getting a lot of attention this year and I think that it is very important. My meetings at U.S. Tool and at MAC dealt with our current workforce and how we can better prepare our students for the jobs that are currently available in our local areas. There were several area Representatives there and we look forward to working with our local communities to better meet the needs of our economy.

For the past couple of months, I have been working on something that is near and dear to my heart. Today I became one step closer as I presented the city of Piedmont a POW flag.
"So the City of Marquand has agreed to partner with MDC and enter a lease agreement that is a 99-year lease," Ward said. "MDC will now lease from the city the cabin, the depot and the bridge. We will also carry them underneath our insurance umbrella so that if, in the event something like this ever happens again, there will be some funding to come back in."

Ward said people have been very generous with not only monetary donations but commitments of time.

"We have brought in two restorationists," Ward said. "The first one who reported back was from Barn Savers from Louisville, Kentucky. His recommendation was to take the logs that are there, saw them into lumber and make a floor out of it for a new cabin. Well that is not going to happen. That is not our cabin. That is not our history. That is not this county's founding father. So we are not going to allow that to happen."

Ward said the second restorationist was far more confident that a restoration could be successfully accomplished.

"The char on the inside of the logs is about a fourth-inch deep," Ward said. "We plan on bringing in a commercial sand blaster and blasting away as much char as we can. We will then be looking at manually taking a draw knife and taking away what is left that can be removed."
In departmental reports, Gallaher explained that the commissioners were required to be in Columbia, for the County Commissioners Association of Missouri meeting, for the rest of the week.

Next, County Clerk Kevin Engler explained the issue of inactive voters on the rolls.

We have almost 4,600 inactive voters," he said. "Weve sent them letters. They wont respond. They havent voted. Were looking at other counties on how to clean those up.

As part of an ongoing review of all the countys policies, Engler brought up his concerns about the lack of penalties and enforceability of various licenses and permits.

The liquor license  we have no penalty if theyre late, he said. We had someone come in last December and pay last years liquor license bill. When we have no penalty, they dont care.

Engler went on to discuss his concerns about building permit enforcement because the lack of permits being issued causes problems for proper assessment and septic installation.

We had 16 new building permits last year, he said. Thats very low. I asked whats the action if they dont get one  there is none.
A Bonne Terre man died Thursday evening while being held at the St. Francois County Jail.

Michael Bennett, 33, passed away at the jail after being arrested for an incident at Lake Timberline.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Trooper Dallas Thompson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed Friday afternoon that St. Francois County Sheriffs Department has requested MSHP investigate the death of Bennett.

The county coroner states that an autopsy will be performed on Bennett as required by law when someone dies in a government institution.

This is an ongoing investigation and more information will be provided as details emerge.

Matt McFarland is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at 573-518-3616, or at mmcfarland@dailyjournalonline.com.

Love 1 Funny 3 Wow 4 Sad 23 Angry 50

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Valencia midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia has been charged by UEFA with intentionally getting a yellow card in a Europa Leaguegame against Celtic.UEFA announced the case Friday, one day after opening an investigation into Real Madridcaptain Sergio Ramosfor a suspected similar offense.Players who provoke a yellow card to serve a one-game ban at a favorable time can be suspended for an additional game.Valencia led 2-0 late in Thursday's round of 32 first leg at Celtic when Kondogbia got a yellow card for time-wasting.The former France international's third yellow card of the competition triggered a ban for the return match in Spain next week, when Valencia are favored to advance.That would clear Kondogbia's disciplinary record for the round of 16.UEFA says its disciplinary panel will judge the case next Thursday.
10 checked the original it seems that new Forbes article used 2017 data they are only a few changes in 2018 I found in UnitedVanLines, and appended below

1 Illinois815763.4%

2NewJersey472362.9%

3New York8381 60.9%

4Connecticut 2866 57.1%

5Kansas2370 56.7%

6Massachusetts4567 56.3%

7Ohio6684 56.2%

8Kentucky2837 56% *

9Utah2118 55.7% *

10Wisconsin3285 54.5% *

10300  300

10 Alabama:  14400 *

9Colorado39200 *

8North Carolina97500

7South Carolina50100

6Washington64500

5South Dakota900

4Nevada47900

3Idaho17400

2Oregon28800

1Vermont-300

(Forbes Article) 



Massachusetts business costs, including labor, energy and taxes, are the highest of the 48 contiguous statesonly Hawaii is higherat 19% above the national average. The Bay State benefits from a host of top-notch universities dumping thousands of highly educated graduates into its labor supply each year. Massachusetts ranks fourth on quality of life thanks to the states strong schools, bountiful arts and recreation opportunities, a healthy populous and a plethora of top-rated colleges.

New York City dominates the economy of the state as the leading center of advertising, banking, finance, media and publishing in the U.S. If New York were a country, the states $1.7 trillion-dollar economy would be the 11th largest in the world after Canada. The business climate of the state, however, is one of extremes. New Yorks taxes, union workforce and red tape are among the highest in the country. On the plus side: the Empire state is an economic force comprised of an educated labor pool, huge VC investment, significant cultural and recreation resources and the headquarters of 10% of the 1000 largest companies in the U.S.

New Jerseys economy is centered on pharmaceuticals, financial services, telecommunications, food processing and tourism. It also benefits as bedroom communities for both Philadelphia and New York. Though business and living costs are among the nations highest, New Jersey compensates by having one of the most educated labor forces. New Jersey scores poorly for its regulatory climate and fiscal health.

Illinois is home to 69 of the 1,000 biggest companies in the U.S. by revenuefourth most among states. They include Boeing, Abbott Labs, Caterpillar and Kraft Foods. However, the net migration rate out of the state remains high and projected population growth is negative.

Colorado has a young, educated labor supply and a migrating population that is attracted to its robust economy and outdoor recreational opportunities. At 41%, Colorado adults have the second highest level of college attainment, behind only Massachusetts. The percent of the population age 25-34 is also second highest in the U.S. Colorado is expected to have the second fastest job growth over the next five years, per Emsi data.

With one of the highest net migration rates in the U.S., people have been flocking to North Carolina for the past decade. The state has the second smallest union workforce in the U.S. in terms of percent of total employment (South Carolina is first). The resulting benefit is labor costs that are 9% below the national averagesixth lowest in the country. North Carolina has ranked in the top five overall for 14 straight years.

A cradle for innovation, Washington is the birthplace for a spectrum of iconic companies, including Microsoft, Amazon.com, Nordstrom, Starbucks, Boeing and Costco. Venture capitalists are always searching for the next great Washington company, pouring $4.6 billion of VC moneyfifth most in the U.S.into the state between 2014 and 2016.

The outlook in Oregon is bright. Household incomes are expected to rise faster than any other state over the next five years and job growth is projected by Moodys Analytics to be seventh best. By revenue, Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike is three times larger than the next biggest Oregon company. The sportswear giant has sales of $36 billion and projects $50 billion by 2023. Nikes founder, Phil Knight, is worth $30 billion and is 13 times richer than anyone else in the state.

 At $34 billion, Vermont has the smallest economy in the U.S. Its five-year average unemployment rate of 3.6% was the fifth lowest among states, but Vermont suffers from business costs that are 12% above the national average. The states economic outlook is also weak with job and income growth expected to badly lag the rest of the country over the next five years. Vermont is the leading producer of maple syrup in the country.

https://www3.forbes.com/leadership/the-u-s-states-people-are-fleeing-and-the-ones-they-are-moving-to/?utm_campaign=States-People-Are-Fleeing&utm_source=yahoo-gemini&utm_medium=yh79336n2us&lcid=yh79336n2us&utm_content=HOMEPAGE_US

Moving In

The top inbound states of 2018 were:

Vermont Oregon Idaho Nevada Arizona * South Carolina Washington North Carolina South Dakota District of Columbia *

New to the 2018 top inbound list are Arizona at No. 5 and District of Columbia at No. 10, with 60.2 percent and 56.7 percent inbound moves, respectively.

Moving Out

The top outbound states for 2018 were:
A Japanese man thought to have been kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago but whose presence there had never been confirmed is alive and living in the North Korean capital with his family, Kyodo news agency says.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made the issue of Japanese abducted by North Korea to be trained as spies a top priority and the news could mean renewed diplomatic pressure on Japan's reclusive neighbour to reveal the truth at a time when ties with South Korea have also become increasingly fraught.North Korea had denied that Minoru Tanaka, a restaurant worker who Japan believes was kidnapped in or around 1978 after he set off for Europe, ever entered the country.'It was discovered on Friday that North Korea had told Japan that the former ramen (noodles) shop worker, who was 28 when he disappeared, is married and living in Pyongyang with his wife and children,' Kyodo said, quoting unnamed Japanese government sources.In 2002, North Korea said that it kidnapped 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s, and five returned home.Japan believes 17 of its citizens were abducted, five of whom were repatriated. Eight were said by North Korea to have died, while four were said to have never entered the country.The information about Tanaka had been conveyed to Japan several times from 2014, Kyodo said. It said last year that Mr Tanaka may have entered North Korea.No further details were available and Japanese Foreign Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment.US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are holding their second summit later this month, but Japan has been unable to arrange a meeting with Mr Kim, raising fears that it is being sidelined diplomatically in the region.Tokyo's ties with South Korea have been strained recently by a number of issues, including a dispute over World War Two forced labour, including 'comfort women' forced to work in military brothels.
For TV audiences in eight US states, modern TV romance doesn't get any better than Jim and Pam. That's a reference, of course, to the beloved couple from NBC's The Office, which introduced fans to easygoing paper salesman Jim Halpert and the adorable receptionist Pam Beesly he falls head over heels for and eventually marries. The show stretched out the whole will-they-or-won't-they trope over several seasons, until the two were finally brought together at a point when fans were, finally, most ready for it.Jim and Pam are the most popular TV romance for audiences in Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont, a fact which the folks at USDish.com  an authorized Dish reseller  determined after looking at Google Trends search volume over the past five years for two dozen iconic TV couples. They crunched the datain honor of Valentine's Day, and you can read on to see what they came up with for your state, as well as everyone else's.You can match this legend to the graphic above to check out the full results:Image Source: USDish.comLocation, no surprise, apparently plays a big role in audience favorites here. For example, That '70s Showis set in Wisconsin, so naturally the show's couple of Jackie and Kelso  played by real-life couple Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher  are the favorite in The Badger State. Likewise, Gossip Girlis set in New York, so it's perhaps fitting that neighboring states like Connecticut and New Jersey are fans of Chuck and Blair. Of course, Sex and the Cityis also set in New York, which helps explain why Carrie and Big are that state's favorite.Finally, another fun location-based finding worth noting is how gothic and vampire series are often filmed in or set in places in the South, specifically in states like Louisiana and Mississippi. Which helps explain why those states' favorite TV romance is Damon and Elena's, from The Vampire Diaries
Baghuz: it's a tiny hamlet in the Syrian desert, on the banks of the Euphrates river, where now ISIS is making its last stand.The few hundred remaining members of the ISIS 'elite' are fighting fiercely, according to the coalition that has them surrounded. There is nowhere to run.As a Kurdish coalition commander told The Guardian, 'They don't have other options. Either to surrender or die'.It's a far cry from the days of 2014 and 2015, when the so-called 'death cult' rapidly rolled though Syria and Iraq, conquering huge swathes of oil-producing territory, including the major cities of Raqqa and Mosul.It set up a quasi-state governed by Sharia, and sowed fear among the Western world by directing a series of terror attacks.Westerners were abducted, dressed in orange jumpsuits and then beheaded on camera.ISIS disciples launched bomb, gun and truck attacks throughout Western Europe and Britain, and inspired would be jihadis in Australia.Now, after more than four years of war, ISIS has been dismantled.A coalition of Iraqi, Kurdish, and Turkish forces, backed up by Western airstrikes and special forces 'advisors' are about to inflict defeat.The wives and children of the jihadis are now fleeing the besieged town. Some, according to coalition commanders, have been shot and wounded by their extremist family members.As victory over ISIS looms, the world has to decide what to do with the now-radicalised women and children.Controversy has raged in the UK this week over the case of 19-year-old Shamima Begum. Ms Begum was a 15-year-old schoolgirl from East London when she fled to Syria to join ISIS.She was tracked down this week in a camp for displaced ISIS wives by The Times, and told the newspaper she didn't regret joining the group and wasn't fazed by seeing 'beheaded heads' in a bin.Now she is pregnant, and wants to return to Britain. Her family wants her home too.But the Home Secretary Sajid Javid says she could be stopped.'We must remember that those who left Britain to join Daesh were full of hate for our country,' Mr Javid said.'If you do manage to return you should be ready to be questioned, investigated and potentially prosecuted.'The last ISIS fighters are now thought to be holed up in a tunnel network that has so far protected them from the air and artillery barrage.All week, coalition commanders have been predicting imminent victory. It hasn't happened yet.And of course, there's still a big question  where is Abu Baker Al-Bagdadi, ISIS's self-declared caliph?The radical cleric is credited with creating the ISIS group and brand, spinning it out of its initial affiliation with Al-Qaeda.His death has been reported numerous times, each unconfirmed, before reports later emerge that he is still alive.Most intelligence, that's public at least, suggests he is still in Baghuz.His influence like Osama Bin Laden's before him is considering critical for the group.But even if he is captured or killed, and the so-called ISIS itself is gone, there's little doubt the radical Islamist extremism will still exist, whether in underground guerrilla groups in the Middle East, or dark web radicalisers seeking to bring terror to the West.Just as ISIS emerged into the post Bin Laden vacuum, so may another group now.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn the earlier order which stipulated a 20% limit on investments by FPIs in Corporate Bonds.

Why the limit was imposed and why it is being withdrawn?

During the review of the FPI investment in corporate debt in April 2018, the limit was introduced to incentivize the FPIs to maintain a portfolio of assets. But the market feedback suggested contrary. The market feedback suggested that foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have been constrained by this stipulation.

As a result, to encourage a wider spectrum of investors to access the Indian corporate debt market, RBI has decided to withdraw the 20% limit on investments by FPIs in Corporate Bonds.

Foreign portfolio investment (FPI)

FPI consists of securities and other financial assets passively held by foreign investors. FPI does not provide the investor with direct ownership of financial assets. In India, FPIs are allowed to invest in various debt market instruments such as government bonds, treasury bills, state development loans (SDLs) and corporate bonds, but with certain restrictions and limits. FPI is part of countries capital account and is listed on its balance of payments (BOP).

Differences between FPI and FDI

FPI allows the investor to purchase stocks, bonds or other financial assets in a foreign country and the investor does not actively manage investments or companies that issue investment. Also, the investor does not have control over securities or business.

Whereas in FDI, the investor has a direct business interest in the entity into which the investment is made. The investor controls his monetary investments and actively manages the company into which the investments are made. FPI is more liquid and less risky than FDI.
The government of Karnataka had amended the rules to give primacy to Kannadigas in jobs under Group C and D category in the private sector.

Primacy for Kannadigas in Jobs of Private Sector

The state government has decided to amend the Karnataka Industrial Employment (Standing Orders), Rules, 1961, to implement the Sarojini Mahishi report which recommended granting primacy for the Kannadigas in the private sector jobs.

The Karnataka cabinet has also decided to constitute district-level committees headed by the deputy commissioners to accept complaints if companies fail to comply.

The government would be incorporating the provisions to withdraw government concessions to the firms on non-compliance.

Sarojini Mahishi Report

The Karnataka government had formed a committee headed by former union minister Sarojini Mahishi in 1983 to recommend job opportunities for Kannadigas in Karnataka. The important recommendations of the committee included:

100 per cent reservation for Kannadigas in all state government departments and PSUs.

100 per cent reservation for Kannadigas for Group C and D jobs in Central government departments and PSUs.

A minimum 80 per cent reservation for Kannadigas for Group B jobs in Central government departments and PSUs

65 per cent reservation for Kannadigas for Group A jobs in Central government departments and PSUs.

All jobs in the private sector to be reserved for Kannadigas barring, if necessary, senior/skilled positions.

The report had become a tool for local organisations which were insisting all jobs in Karnataka to be provided for locals.
Unlike George Washington, Carlisle area merchants did not use the proverbial hatchet to cut down a legendary cherry tree.

But they did have a reasonable facsimile of the first U.S. president advertise deep price cuts planned for a birthday sales day.

This weeks Tour Through Time salutes Presidents Day by taking a close look at people who have portrayed either Washington or Abraham Lincoln in the course of local history.

It was Tuesday, Feb. 21, 1967, and Eugene Wade was scheduled to appear as Washington the next day making the rounds of downtown stores and doling out prizes to shoppers.

His gig as a founding father was sponsored by the Retail Merchants Bureau in its attempt to boost sales downtown and at the MJ Mall and Carlisle Plaza shopping centers.

Fast forward 27 years to October 1994 when actor William Sommerfield came into Carlisle to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Whiskey Rebellion. Back in 1794, the real George Washington was in Carlisle to muster troops to quell the insurrection.
Carlisle Police are investigating a reported stabbing in the borough that happened Tuesday night.

Police said the assault occurred at 6:30 p.m. in the 800 block of Factory Street when a male exited his residence and was attacked by another male. Police said the assailant stabbed the victim twice in the forearm with a knife, causing injury that required medical attention.

Police describe the assailant as a black male 6 feet tall, 175 pounds, with short hair and wearing all black clothing. The he fled in a four-door sedan.

Carlisle Police ask anyone with information to call police at 717-243-5252 option 3, or to submit a tip through the CrimeWatch website.
The Cumberland County Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Program is looking for volunteers to work with abused and/or neglected children whose cases are in the court system.

CASA trains and matches volunteers to assist the growing number of children who are involved in the child welfare system.

The next session begins on Monday, March 4, at 3:30  8 p.m., at the Cumberland County Courthouse, Jury Assembly Room, 3rd floor, One Courthouse Square, Carlisle.

Pre-registration is required to become a special advocate for Cumberland County by contacting CASA at 717-240-6159 or casa@ccpa.net.

Volunteers must be 21 years of age or older, willing to dedicate at least 18-24 months to advocacy, complete an interview process, pass multiple background clearances and undergo more than 40 hours of training.

The CASA Program conducts in-depth training on courtroom procedures, effective advocacy techniques and topics ranging from types of abuse to early childhood development. CASA volunteers are appointed to only one child or sibling group, and average 10-20 hours per month in their advocacy roles. In 2018, 44 CASA volunteers advocated for 61 dependent children.
Share this: Twitter

Facebook

WhatsApp

LinkedIn

Email

Telegram



Nairobi, February 15, 2019The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed deep concern about a one-year suspension imposed by a Somaliland court on the privately owned Foore newspaper, and called on authorities to drop the charges on appeal.

On February 10, a regional court in the breakaway state of Somaliland ordered Foore to suspend publishing for one year and fined its editor-in-chief three million Somaliland shillings ($300), following a conviction for publishing false news and anti-national propaganda, according to a copy of the judgment shared with CPJ by the Somaliland Journalists Association and Foore Editor-in-Chief Mohamed Mohamud Yusuf, who spoke with CPJ.

The charges relate to Foores coverage of the Somaliland government, including an October 11, 2018, story on the construction of a new presidential palace, according to the judgment and Mohamed.

Mohamed told CPJ that the one-year ban would severely damage the publication, which employs eight journalists and publishes five issues a week. He said Foore plans to file an appeal.

Somaliland is using problematic sections of the penal code on false news and propaganda to hack away at the basic freedoms the press needs to hold government leaders accountable. The ruling against the Foore newspaper sets a dangerous precedent that anyone questioning the states version of the truth can expect to pay a heavy price, said CPJs Sub-Saharan Africa representative, Muthoki Mumo. We call on Somaliland authorities to uphold press freedom by dropping these charges on appeal.

The attorney generals office alleges that in its October 2018 report, Foore described public buildings under construction as the property of individuals, and had therefore published baseless information meant to incite the public against the government, according to court documents seen by CPJ.

The article in question was about the construction of a new presidential palace, according to Mohamed and Yahye Mohamed, executive director of the Somaliland Journalists Association, and a statement from the rights group Human Rights Center Somaliland.

Further, authorities claim that, by contrasting the palaces luxury with the poverty seen in the rest of Somaliland, Foore had spread anti-national propaganda, according to court documents, Mohamed, and a post-trial statement by the president of the regional court, Judge Ahmed Dalmar Ismail, which was posted on YouTube.

In a February 11 WhatsApp message to CPJ, Ahmed said that the Foore had been unable to prove its critique of the government and that all procedures had been followed in the case.

The court cited not only the edition of Foore in which the report on the presidential palace was published, but two other earlier editions, according to a copy of the judgment. In his post-trial statement, Ahmed said that, in at least four instances over the last four years, the paper had failed to substantiate reports it published. However, Mohamed told CPJ that these old cases had long since been resolved out of court.

On February 10, Mohamed was detained for about five hours by Criminal Investigation Department police, until Foore paid the fine with the assistance of the Somaliland Journalists Association, he told CPJ.

Somaliland Attorney General Hassan Ahmed Aden did not respond to a CPJ email sent on February 11.

In 2017 and 2018, CPJ documented orders for critical publications in Somaliland to close; an internet shutdown; and arbitrary arrests and detentions of journalists.
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang answers reporters' questions after giving a keynote speech at the Korea Society in New York, Thursday. / Yonhap



By Park Ji-won



A South Korean parliamentary delegation led by National Speaker Moon Hee-sang may leave the U.S. empty-handed, failing to spur cooperation from its counterpart that could help mediate between North Korea and the U.S. before the planned summit between the North's Kim Jong-un and U.S.' Donald Trump in Hanoi.



According to press releases, in his speech made at the end of the U.S. tour, Moon said Thursday (local time) that he saw positive reactions from his U.S. counterparts after they met with the South's parliamentary delegation. "I felt that the U.S. officials, who were pessimistic (of the fate of the North-U.S. summit), became more hopeful," he said.



"I hope we will have more opportunities to boost communication with each other like this time as I believe it will lead to strengthening the alliance between Seoul and Washington."



He also said Thursday during a speech at the Korea Society that the North and the U.S. should set a goal of final, fully verified denuclearization (FFVD) during the second summit. "They should build trust by each taking denuclearization steps and corresponding measures respectively through step-by step agreements and their implementation," he said.



His remarks came after the South's delegation met with U.S. legislative and government officials, including U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, during their visit to the U.S. in a possible move to boost ties with its ally before the North-U.S. summit slated for Feb. 27 and 28 in Hanoi.



The delegation includes ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairman Rep. Lee Hae-chan, main opposition Liberty Korea Party floor leader Na Kyung-won, minor opposition Party for Democracy and Peace Chairman Chung Dong-young and progressive Justice Party Chairwoman Lee Jeong-mi.



Stressing that while he is also skeptical of the North's promise of denuclearization, Moon said, "The North's sincerity can be backed by the fact that there are no missile and nuclear tests in North Korea."



"If you think about the fact that the North are desperate, you can see the sincerity in it. As far as there are international and U.S. sanctions, which are consistent and strong, imposed on the North, Pyongyang cannot boost their economy."



However, doubts are growing among opposition politicians that the delegation didn't accomplish much, and only confirmed the differences between the two countries.



Unlike what Moon stresses, in a closed-door meeting with South Korean lawmakers, including Moon and floor leaders of ruling and opposition parties on Tuesday, Pelosi reportedly said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's intention is to demilitarize the South, not denuclearize the North.



She was also quoted as saying that the first U.S.-North Korea summit held in Singapore last year brought no real results.



Na told local media that Pelosi referred to the summit as a "gift" to Kim, and that North Korea needs to provide more evidence to back up its claims.



Moon and LKP members were not on the same page throughout the trip, showing mixed reactions in front of U.S. officials.



LKP lawmakers on the delegation set up some separate appointments, reportedly meeting with Wallace Gregson, former assistant secretary of defense on Asian Pacific security affairs, and Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, and expressed worries over the present situation that a declaration ending the Korean War could lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the United Nations Command and thus risk the security of the Korean Peninsula.



During the meeting with Pelosi, Na echoed her views on North Korea's intention to demilitarize the South, saying it is not okay to discuss the suspension of South-U.S. joint military drills and downsizing the U.S. troops in Seoul.



Some point out that there was not enough preparation for the trip to meet with Pelosi and U.S. officials to provide them with enough materials to prepare for the second summit.



"The schedule hadn't been fixed until right before the trip to Washington, meaning that there was no time for preparation for specific business meetings." a political source said.



"As it was part of diplomacy, Moon should have produced some political performances as they represent the country."






1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
The first project, being constructed near the intersection of 22nd and H streets, is a 24-unit market rate apartment complex consisting of one, two and three-bedroom apartments. The complexs units, expected to be rented out in August, will run in the price range of $650-$1,250 monthly, Bywater said.

We really havent had a lot of housing growth over the last 25-30 years to keep pace with the growing population that Schuyler has had, Bywater said, noting the importance of current development.

The complex is well underway on the plot of land, with work being completed on the third floor of one apartment building.

The second major project currently under construction consists of two townhome buildings - four total living units  being erected on the west end of 22nd Street. The for-sale-only living quarters are running in the neighborhood of $159,000 per-unit, are 1,400 square feet each, have two to three bedrooms and two-car garages.

Substantial work has already been completed on one townhome and in the near future, work is expected to begin on the other structure being built on an adjacent property.

Bywater noted that though the apartment complex offers a solid renting option, the townhomes are great for people looking to set more permanent roots.
Moore in a social media post said Trumps emergency declaration is grounds for impeachment.

Sensenbrenner has expressed concern over the declaration. In a statement, the Menomonee Falls Republican, who supports border wall funding, lashed out against a president controlling the power of the purse, arguing that power belongs strictly to the legislative branch.

He said emergency declarations have typically been used only for matters Congress supports but cant approve quickly enough.

This national emergency declaration does not fall within that broad category, and it sets a dangerous precedent which will undoubtedly be exploited by future administrations, Sensenbrenner said.

Lawmakers, including Gallagher, have already warned that Trumps emergency declaration could set the stage for a future Democratic president to declare an emergency for matters such as climate change.

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Oshkosh, who leads the Senates Homeland Security Committee, had not weighed in specifically on the emergency declaration Friday, but said he voted for the government funding bill to avoid another shutdown.
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.

.

..JNS.org..15 February '19..Elections in Israel are less than two months away, and so far the campaign has been dominated by two main stories. One is speculation about whether Israels Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit will indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prior to the voting. The other is the rise of former Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Benny Gantz and his new centrist party. But there is another angle to the election that deserves some attention: the virtual collapse of the once dominant Labor Party and the marginalization of the parties of the left.The slow-motion collapse of the movement that was primarily responsible for building the state began with its first electoral defeat in 1977, when Menachem Begin led the Likud to victory after 29 years of unbroken Labor-led coalition governments. Since then, Labor has had its ups and downs. Up until 2000, the parties of the left and those of the right were in a state of near equilibrium as Israel was seemingly split down the middle on the issues of peace with the Palestinians and West Bank settlements. Labor won clear victories in both 1992 and 1999 under Yitzhak Rabin and Ehud Barak after Likud faltered in power. But since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, the war of terrorist attrition that destroyed faith in the Oslo process and its hopes of an end to the conflict with the Palestinians, Labor has become increasingly irrelevant.That has never been more obvious than now as polls show that the contest is between Netanyahus Likud and the parties of the center, led by Gantz and Yesh Atids Yair Lapid, with Labor no more than a marginalized afterthought.
A strike was "narrowly averted" after a tentative deal was reached for Yukon's hospital workers following negotiations this week, according to a union news release Saturday morning.

The talks on Thursday and Friday were part of a fifth round of bargaining with the Yukon Hospital Corporation, this time with the help of a federal mediator.

"Two solid days of negotiations between the union and the employer have netted the deal which removes the immediate threat of a lockout or a strike," says the Yukon Employees' Union news release.

Roughly 250 employees at hospitals in Watson Lake, Dawson City and Whitehorse are represented by the Yukon Employees' Union and the Public Service Alliance of Canada. The workers have been without a contract since August 2017.

Both parties were in a legal strike or lockout position, with only 72 hours' notice required to take job action, says the release.

We were comfortable from the commitment from the employer... It was a first time for us. - Paul Johnston, Vice president of Yukon Employees' Union

"The employer came to the table very committed to listening and addressing our concerns  so it was quite different from the previous rounds," said Yukon Employees' Union vice president Paul Johnston.

Johnston said the negotiations this week were "very respectful."

"We were comfortable from the commitment from the employer with respect to addressing workload issues, and it was a first time for us and that's why we have a tentative deal on the table," he said. The deal was reached about 6 p.m. Friday, he said.

Workers will vote on the tentative deal on March 4.

Matt Davidson, spokesperson for the Yukon Hospital Corporation, said the corporation is happy a deal has been reached.

"We'd like to recognize the hard work by both bargaining teams. They worked hard through both Thursday and Friday," Davidson said.

He said he expects the hospital board will vote on the tentative deal before the end of February.

Story continues

'Very strong' strike mandate

Workers at the hospitals returned a "very strong" strike mandate to their union after a vote earlier this month.

The union has maintained that its main issue in collective bargaining is workload. Yukon Employees' Union president Steve Geick said members are getting "burnt out" while the hospital corporation looks to offer more services without expanding staff.
A New Brunswick doctor and two nurses have made it to the Port-au-Prince airport to leave Haiti amid violent protests that began on Feb. 7.

Dr. Heather Dow and nurse Cathy Davies of Woodstock and Halifax nurse Rachel Blaquiere were stuck in Haiti after travelling there to provide free medical aid in small villages and towns.

Their departure was originally scheduled for Wednesday but was prevented by demonstrations triggered by frustration over high unemployment and skyrocketing prices.

It took the trio more than seven hours, $200 US and three vehicles to finally make it to the Toussaint Louverture airport, the only international airport in Haiti, on Friday.

"I don't think I've ever been that scared in my life, to be honest," said Blaquiere, who is originally from Woodstock.

She said the normally four-hour journey began with a two-car convoy that was able to squeeze through a roadblock by following an ambulance. They cars stopped about half an hour from the airport.

Submitted by Richard Blaquire

They ended up going to one of the driver's homes to plan their next move, hiring another driver for $150 to pick them up.

"He could get through because he just knew most of the people that were organizing the roadblocks," Blaquiere told Shift New Brunswick.

Roads are being blocked in Haiti by trees, boulders, fires or crowds of people with motorcycles, Blaquiere said.

At one point she had to fork over another $50 to someone throwing bottles at the group's vehicle, so he would let it pass.

The three women, along with the medical team they travel with, were staying at the home of Dr. Emilio Bazile, a Haitian-born doctor who lives and practises in Ottawa and returns home several times a year to deliver medical care.

Dow, Davies and Blaquiere have accompanied him on many of those trips before.

Submitted

Blaquiere said during the course of the journey she wished many times they had stayed put and called for a helicopter to bring them to the airport.

Story continues

She said it was good to finally walk into an air-conditioned building with heavy police presence, and her family was excited to hear the women had made it to the airport.

They will flying from Haiti to Portland, Maine, today and drive into Canada tomorrow, but Blaquiere is still on edge.

"I feel like I won't be relieved until I am back in Canada."
The Liberal MP of the Northwest Territories says he's "disappointed" Canada lost Indigenous cabinet minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, after she resigned from her post as veterans affairs minister earlier this week.

"Now we have no one on cabinet that's Indigenous," he said.

McLeod joins a chorus of Indigenous politicians voicing concerns after Wilson-Raybould quit cabinet on Tuesday.

In January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau moved Wilson-Raybould out of the role of justice minister and attorney general, and placed her at the helm of Veterans Affairs, which was widely viewed as a demotion.

Wilson-Raybould announced she was quitting the Liberal cabinet Tuesday morning, just days after a Globe and Mail report claimed she was pressured by the Prime Minister's Office to help the Quebec-based multinational engineering firm SNC-Lavalin avoid criminal prosecution on bribery and fraud charges in relation to contracts in Libya.

Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press

"I was disappointed to see that Jody stepped down from cabinet," McLeod said to CBC at a tourism funding announcement in Yellowknife on Thursday. "We don't have that strong advocate that we developed a good relationship with."

McLeod said he has become good friends with Wilson-Raybould, and called her "very smart."

"She's always been there to hear me out and has stood up for the North and stood up on Indigenous issues and brought Indigenous issues forward," he said. "So I'm disappointed that's not going to be there anymore."

Asked whether he thought Wilson-Raybould was pushed out, McLeod said, "I have no inside information. I've got as much information as you do."



McLeod said parliament's Indigenous caucus will discuss the lack of Indigenous representation in cabinet and pass on their views to the Prime Minister's Office.

"I am also taking the opportunity to raise the fact that we don't have a northern member on cabinet either, and we haven't had for a long time," he said.

CBC asked the Prime Minister's Office to respond to McLeod's remarks about a lack of Indigenous and Northern representation in cabinet.

Press secretary Eleanore Catenaro provided a statement: "Our government's commitment to reconciliation is larger than any one person, and we will continue to work closely with Indigenous partners as we walk this path together."




U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he is in no rush to denuclearize North Korea but wants the regime to refrain from testing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.





Trump is scheduled to hold a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Vietnam from Feb. 27 to 28 to discuss the dismantling of the regime's nuclear weapons program in exchange for U.S. security guarantees.





Speaking at the White House, the president said he is hopeful the next summit will be "very much equally as successful" as the first in Singapore in June, after which North Korea stopped testing ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons as well as returning the remains of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War.





"I hope we have the same good luck as we had in the first summit," Trump said. "I'm in no rush for speed. We just don't want testing."





The first summit produced a commitment to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, build new relations between the countries and establish lasting peace on the peninsula.





But progress has appeared slow amid U.S. demands for more concrete steps toward nuclear disarmament and North Korean calls for "corresponding measures."













"The sanctions, as you know, remain," Trump said, referring to the international economic sanctions that North Korea wants lifted.





"China's been helping us and Russia's been helping us ... we've been working very closely with South Korea, with Japan," he said, adding that China and Russia have "at least partially" been enforcing the sanctions on trade across their border.





Trump said North Korea took advantage of the U.S. in the past by taking "billions of dollars" in return for pledges to denuclearize.





"We won't let that happen," he said. "But we think that North Korea and Chairman Kim have a tremendous potential as an economic force, economic power. Their location between South Korea and then Russia and China, right smack in the middle, is phenomenal. And we think they have a great chance for tremendous economic prosperity in the future."





Trump again touted his "very good" relationship with Kim, saying it was unprecedented in the two countries' history.





He also revealed that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a "most beautiful" five-page letter to the Nobel committee to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize.





"Many other people feel that way, too," Trump said. And it's "okay" that he probably won't receive it, he added.





Taking a swipe at his predecessor, Barack Obama, Trump said the former president didn't even know why he got the prize in 2009. (Yonhap)


By Aislinn Laing and Adam Jourdan SANTIAGO/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing is planning to take on U.S. rival Uber in some of Latin America's fastest-growing markets, recruiting managers in Chile, Peru and Colombia, according to job postings and a company official. Didi has moved senior executives from China to lead its expansion in markets like Chile and Peru, and began in recent weeks advertising for driver operations, crisis management, marketing and business development personnel in those countries, an analysis of LinkedIn postings show. Didi's widening expansion, if successful, could make for a bumpier ride for San Francisco-based Uber Technologies Inc in Latin America, one of its fastest growth regions, as it gets ready to go public as soon as later this year. The two firms are already battling in Brazil, where Didi bought local start-up 99 in January last year, and Mexico, where the Chinese firm lured drivers with higher pay and bonuses for signing up other drivers and passengers. Didi is China's dominant ride-hailing firm and is backed by investors including Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. In 2016, Didi bought Uber's local Chinese operations following a bruising two-year battle for domination in China. The push comes as Didi is laying off staff in China as it grapples with regulatory scrutiny, reportedly significant financial losses and public backlash over the murder of two of its customers, sources told Reuters. The firm's new Chile public affairs manager, Felipe Contreras, who was previously Uber's corporate communications chief in Chile, said Didi had also hired a senior executive from Chilean cellular phone company WOM to lead its engagement with government and public policy operations. Contreras confirmed the launch plans and told Reuters that the company's aim was to be a "market leader" in Chile, where Uber, Spain's Cabify and Greece's Beat already transport thousands of passengers a day. Didi is still mulling when to launch its local service, he said, saying, "We are still in the planning and recruitment phase." Chile's government has yet to pass a law regulating ride-sharing applications, resulting in a legal gray area which sees Uber, Cabify and Beat drivers routinely fined by the police for operating without public transport licenses. The law is still at committee stage and would need approval by both Chile's lower and upper chambers, a process which could take up to a year. Contreras said the timeline for Didi's launch would "not necessarily" hinge on the law's eventual passing. "We are studying all the variables," he said. (Reporting by Aislinn Laing and Adam Jourdan; Editing by Christian Plumb and Leslie Adler)
Bringing Bar Harbor's ferry terminal back to life after nearly a decade is going to be a big and expensive job, perhaps costing up to $5 million, according to documents filed last month with the town's planning board.

The 89-page site application by engineering firm CES Inc., of Brewer, Maine, includes a description of that work, site plans, legal agreements and a letter from Nova Scotia Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal promising that Nova Scotia taxpayers will pay the cost.

The work is described in the application form as: "Renovation of the existing Bar Harbor ferry terminal to meet 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Patrol standards. Install new docking and loading ramps within the existing marine structure."

Extensive to-do list

A list of the site work is a 16 item to-do list which includes the demolition of two buildings, retaining walls and a bus canopy, as well as the removal of the existing fence, metal posts and the parking lot adjacent to the Maine Ferry Terminal Building, which will also be renovated.

That's in addition to the work outlined in a lease with Bar Harbor agreed to last fall, which includes monitors used to screen vehicles for radioactive substances, equipment to read licence plates, the installation of ticket booths, security cameras and a ramp system for loading and unloading the ship.

Google

CES estimated the cost at up to $3.75 million US.

In a letter dated Jan. 23, Bay Ferries notes: "The Province of Nova Scotia is the project's funding partner and will ultimately bear responsibility for the costs of readying the Bar Harbor facility for ferry service."

A supporting document from Diane Saurette, a Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal executive, offers further reassurance.

"The Province of Nova Scotia is responsible for funding the costs associated with ferry-service related projects undertaken with joint agreement between the Province and Bay Ferries Limited, including the costs of upgrading the Bar Harbour ferry terminal property which [is] the subject of this application," she wrote in a letter dated Jan. 22.

Story continues

Ferry operations to begin in May

Other than the construction and renovation work, the plan provides some idea of how Bay Ferries plans to run the operation.

"Ferry terminal operations will begin the weekend of Memorial Day (May 27) and will run to Columbus Day weekend (Oct. 14), or slightly later."

"The ferry will arrive at the Bar Harbor terminal at noon and depart at 3 p.m., daily."

The Bar Harbor Planning Board deemed the application "incomplete" and has asked for an additional 16 items, including more information about lighting, and letters or approval forms from 10 government agencies. The plan is expected to be back before the committee Feb. 27.

MORE TOP STORIES
The City of Charlottetown is cancelling its request for federal infrastructure funding to connect the Victoria Park boardwalk to the one near the Culinary Institute.

The pathway would have followed the shoreline behind half a dozen homes on West Street, and several long-time residents raised concerns about the plan.

Mayor Philip Brown said the issue was complicated by the fact that the properties include water rights.

"The properties that lie along West Street, their properties extend out into the water, so it would have required the city negotiating with the property owners to acquire that property through purchase or through expropriation," said Brown.

"We discovered it would just be easier to leave it alone, because when you get into property rights extending into the water then there's a lot more legal issues."

Brown said he still hopes a proposal to reinforce the shoreline behind the West Street homes will receive federal funding.

It's one of several projects that the city has applied for through the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program.

More P.E.I. news
BlackBerry and the federal government are spending a combined $350 million on autonomous vehicle technology, which they say will create hundreds of new jobs and co-op placements.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the announcement alongside BlackBerry CEO John Chen Friday morning at the BlackBerry campus in west Ottawa's Kanata North neighbourhood.

BlackBerry pledged $310.5 million to create 800 new jobs and maintain an additional 300 positions in the next 10 years. It also promised 1,000 co-op job placements for students from 10 unspecified Canadian post-secondary schools.

The federal government is spending $40 million from its Strategic Innovation Fund to help develop new software Trudeau called the "central nervous system" of the autonomous cars of the future.

Trudeau said BlackBerry will also be making a new diversity plan and creating scholarships for women and Indigenous students.

It's also spending $5 million on cybersecurity, according to a news release.

Barrie Kirk, the co-founder and executive director of the Ottawa-based Canadian Autonomous Vehicle Centre of Excellence, or CAVCOE, said the new investment is a signal of the Kanata North hub's potential.

"I think in terms of developing the technology, it's a really big deal," he said.

"There's already a wonderful cluster of AV [autonomous vehicle] related activities in Kanata North and this is further evidence that this is a very significant cluster."

Neither the news release nor announcement specified where the new jobs and placements would be.

Canadian winter-specific

Richard Yu, a professor at Carleton University's school of information technology, has been collaborating with BlackBerry QNX to develop and test autonomous vehicles.

"We have some special issues, especially the harsh winters here," he said.

"We cannot just use the technologies developed in the U.S., so we need to have some big investment, especially from the government and from local industry."

Story continues

Frank Gunn/Canadian Press

In January, Ontario Transportation Minister Jeff Yurek announced changes to the automated vehicle industry that would make it easier to test autonomous vehicles in the province, eliminating the need for an operator to be seated behind the wheel during testing.

Instead, the cars will be allowed to operate completely driverless on public roads, either with a passenger inside or with an operator controlling the car remotely.

BlackBerry subsidiary QNX opened its testing hub for autonomous vehicles in Kanata in late 2016.

In 2017, the company tested an autonomous car in the Ottawa suburb, marking the first time that an autonomous car had driven on its own on a public road in Canada.
News / National

by ZimLive

Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi has no power to employ, deploy, assign or transfer National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) staff because that is the sole preserve of the NPA board, a judge ruled on Friday.Justice Happious Zhou of the Harare High Court said this as he set aside a decision by Hodzi to transfer Chief Law Officer Chris Mutangadura to Guruve, which the lawyer had challenged as irrational and unlawful.The judge said the purported transfer was illegal, irrational and violated Mutangadura's right to administrative justice and the principle of legitimate expectation."The Prosecutor General has no power from the Constitution, NPA Act and its regulations to arrogate to himself the power to employ, deploy, assign or transfer NPA employees as such powers are vested in the NPA board. By authoring an illegal letter, the Prosecutor General violated the law and principle of legality," the judge found.Justice Zhou said even where the PG had such powers, transferring a Chief Law Officer heading a specialist unit in the NPA (economic crimes) to a Growth Point was "grossly irrational and arbitrary"."Even where his conditions of service are the same, it is as irrational as justifying the deployment of a professor of history from a university to teach the same history on the same employment conditions at a Primary School. That can only be a manifestation of mala fides (bad faith)," the judge said in a scathing ruling.Mutangadura was entitled to due process under the Constitution and the Administrative Justice Act, the judge added, noting that this had been deliberately violated" by Hodzi."Assuming that the PG had powers to transfer NPA employees, he had a duty to give audience and hear the applicant (Mutangadura). The unilateral and arbitrary transfer violated those common law principles," Justice Zhou added.Hodzi, after Mutangadura challenged his transfer, initiated a process to subject the lawyer to a disciplinary hearing over a theft suspect he released before trial, opting to proceed by way of summons. The suspect, Kudakwashe Unity Mhike, was accused of having stolen $8,000 from RAM Petroleum. He fled to South Africa following his release, and RAM Petroleum filed a complaint against Mutangadura.The judgment now means Hodzi cannot suspend Mutangadura.
News / National

by STaff reporter

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has moved to ringfence himself from potential challenges ahead of the party's elective congress in October after declaring that he was ordained by the late party founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai for the post.The main opposition party heads for its first elective congress after the death of Tsvangirai, who lost a two-year battle to cancer of the colon last February.Chamisa, who is facing a possible challenge to the throne from his deputy, Elias Mudzuri and party secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, is trying to consolidate his position.Speaking at the Morgan Tsvangirai memorial lecture, Chamisa invoked what he said he was told by the former Prime Minister."I told the leadership that before Tsvangirai passed on, he told me to lead the MDC to achieve his vision of unity. My job is to ensure I provide a vision. A vision is for a few and provision for many. What is the vision? This year is our year of congress. We are deepening our democracy and democratically electing our leadership. We want to show we are not Zanu-PF, but a party of the people that is going to lead," he said.Chamisa said before Tsvangirai left for his medical sojourn in South Africa, he asked him to take over the reins of MDC and unite the party, including roping in Welshmen Ncube and Tendai Biti."We are going to congress in honour of the legacy of Morgan Tsvangirai. On January 5 (2018), before he went to seek medication, he called me. Luke (Tamborinyoka) was there. His wife (Elizabeth Macheka) was there and many others. He said to me: 'Chamisa, I am going, so I am leaving you in charge. I want you to bring Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti back into the party'," he said."I said I have heard you, but the job you want to give me, this will cause problems if you leave me in charge. I said to him, 'please, appoint Mudzuri to act while you are away, then I will do the work that you have asked me when you come back, but Tsvangirai asked me why I was refusing and I said if (Thokozani) Khupe hears this, she will faint.'"The MDC has been accusing Zanu-PF of trying to fund challengers against Chamisa and also have its own people in the top ranks of the opposition party. Chamisa said he was aware of the plan ahead of the congress and would not allow it to work."Zanu-PF is struggling with our vison, but we won't allow it to divide the party. I told them that even if you put money, we are not going to allow you to divide us. Our hands are firmly on the wheel," he said.
The Bachelor South Africa has begun, and already viewers are in love with the TV series that is promising drama and unforgettable moments. The bachelor is dreamy, and the ladies fighting for his roses and love are gorgeous. Here we go!

PAY ATTENTION: Click See First under the Following tab to see Briefly.co.za News on your News Feed!

Lee Thompson is South Africa's bachelor looking for love, and the first episode of the much anticipated The Bachelor SA aired recently and, South Africans are already looking forward to the next episode.

Many viewers even already have their favourites chosen from the 24 women who joined the show to try and find love with Lee.

The first episode had a number of twists like twins, people falling over their own feet and even bridal wear.

This show is set to keep Mzansi seriously entertained.

PAY ATTENTION: Save mobile data with FreeBasics: Briefly is now available on the app

Although South Africans were concerned over possible racial backlash, Lee seems to like all the women, regardless of their colour.

Briefly.co.za reported earlier that Lee said he is very open-minded and ready for any backlash.

However, it looks like most viewers don't really care and are eagerly waiting for the drama that is inevitably going to happen.

Here's what Mzansi had to say on social media:

READ ALSO: Youre fired: 5 SA Celebs who lost their jobs but kept going

Enjoyed reading our story? Download BRIEFLY's news app on Google Play now and stay up-to-date with major South African news!

Source: Briefly.co.za
The new year always comes with many activities as high school graduates and other scholars seek to enroll in higher learning institutions to advance their studies. In case you are one of these graduates, it is likely that you are hunting for the top universities in South Africa for 2020. Lucky for you, we here bring you the best South African universities that offer exemplary academic qualifications. Remember, you want to pick an institution that has a globally recognized degree or other qualifications.

Image: Instagram, @university_of_johannesburg, @universityofcapetown, @ufsuv; nwu.ac.za

Source: UGC

Where do you find the best universities in the world? The task of compiling the best universities globally is done by a number of organizations such as the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR), which releases its ranking according to the standards of education, research quality, training quality, and the prestige of the members of faculties. Other organizations and rankings include the Academic Ranking of World Universities and the A3 Top 500 Global Universities among others.

READ ALSO: UNISA payment methods and fees 2019

University rankings in South Africa 2020

The test of time has proven that the best learning systems are now closer than you thought. Long gone is the narrative that the best curriculums are found overseas. Recent global rankings of the best universities have reaffirmed this finding, with several South African institutions featuring in the indexing. The first 7 institutions made it to best 1000 worldwide as per the 2018-2019 CWUR international indexing

Top universities in South Africa

What is the best university in South Africa? Times Higher Education ranking 2020 now recognizes South Africa as the leading academic destination for both local and international learners, given its robust education system that is not found anywhere else on the planet. This South African university rankings were entirely based on the quality of research and training, as well as the prestige enjoyed by faculty members. Below are the top 10 in South Africa 2020

1. University of Cape Town

Where is UCT ranked in the world? Most of the rankings out there confirm that the University of Cape Town is the top university in South Africa. In fact, it has maintained the top spot for a number of years now in a row. The learning institution continues to move higher against other colleges in the global ranking map. It is for this reason that UCT has the highest enrollment of interstate learners of about thirty thousand.

In 2019 - 2020, the CWUR ranked this higher education institution in the 252nd position globally.

2. University of the Witwatersrand

Wits University is situated at the heart of Johannesburg, where it runs as a giant academic center that has a significant influence across South Africa. In 2019-2020, it ranked 254 worldwide according to CWUR. Established in 1896 as a mining school, it has about 33,700 scholars from within and outside South Africa. To this day, it has held on to those roots by being among the top 50 institutions in the world in teaching mineral & mining engineering.

3. Stellenbosch University

Placed at the 381 position globally by the CWUR and third in South Africa in 2019-2020, Stellenbosch University was established in 1918. Located in Stellenbosch in the Western Cape Province, it has around 30,850 students from within and outside the country. Just like Witwatersrand, its international faculty is highly ranked in the nation. Some of its top disciplines include Divinity & Religious Studies, Development Studies, Agriculture, and Theology.

4. University of KwaZulu-Natal

The University of KwaZulu-Natal is one of the top ones in South Africa 2020 despite its young age. It was actually formed in 2004 by the merger of two institutions: the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville. Based on the 2019-2020 rankings by CWUR, it was in the 424th position worldwide and fourth in the nation. This institution, which is located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, hosts the Center for AIDS Research in South Africa.

5. University of Johannesburg

Interestingly, the University of Jo'burg ranks as one of South Africas top institutions despite its recent establishment in 2005. The high ranking can be explained by the fact that it was formed through a merger of three universities: the Rank Afrikaans University, a section of Vista University, and Technikon Witwatersrand. This young higher education institution is among the top 100 in the world for Development Studies, and it ranked 761 globally in 2019-2020 as per the CWUR rankings.

6. University of Pretoria

Image: Instagram, @universityofpretoria

Source: Instagram

The University of Pretoria has at least 53,000 students, which makes it one of the biggest institutions in South Africa. It turned 112 in February 2020, and it is the only institution in South Africa to have a faculty of veterinary science. Aside from that, you can choose from at least 1,800 study programs in both English and Afrikaans. Some of its famed courses include Theology, Law, Agriculture, and Divinity & Religious Studies. Recent CWUR ranking places it at 556 globally.

7. North-West University

Image: nwu.ac.za

Source: UGC

Just like the University of Johannesburg, the University of North-West is a successful merger of a couple of institutions. The merger happened in 2004 and involved two universities: the University of North-West and Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education. Presently, it has 3 campuses and at least 64,000 students, which makes it one of the largest higher learning institutions in South Africa. The three campuses are located at Vanderbijlpark, Mahikeng, and Potchefstroom. It has one of the highest scores for innovation, and it ranks 869 worldwide as per the recent CWUR ranking.

8. University of the Western Cape

Founded in 1959, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is located in the Bellville suburb in Cape Town. UWC holds a soft spot among the people of South Africa because of the vital role it played in the fight against racism. It helped out academically in building the great nation that South Africa is today. In terms of its student base, it has one of the most diverse groups in South Africa due to its good relationships with other local and international institutions. It ranks 1034 internationally and 8th locally according to the 2019-2020 CWUR ranking.

9. Rhodes University

Rhodes University is situated in Grahamstown, which is in South Africas Eastern Cape Province. Established in 1904, this learning institution has a small number of students of around 8,000 with 18% of this number coming from 40 other countries. Of the total population, postgraduates account for 26% while undergraduates make up to 20%. Rhodes University ranks highly in two subjects in the world: English Language and Literature and Communication and Media Studies. It ranks 1224 globally according to the latest CWUR ranking.

10. University of the Free State

Abbreviated as UFS, this public higher learning institution has been operating since its establishment back in 1904 when it was established as Grey College. Today, it has about 39,440 students distributed across its three campuses and seven faculties. Located in Bloemfontein in Free State Province, it boasts of a number of respectable alumni such as Wayde van Niekerk, P.W. Botha, Susan Vosloo, and other personalities. It ranks 1183 globally as per the CWUR findings.

Other top universities in South Africa

There are several other top institutions in South Africa for you to choose from. Obviously, not everyone is going to fit into the above institutions. Here is a list of universities in South Africa that did not make it to the top 10 SA universities, but they are still some of the best learning institutions.

University of South Africa - 1417 globally The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University - 1620 globally The Tshwane University of Technology -1926 globally The University of Fort Hare The Cape Peninsula University of Technology The Vaal University of Technology The Central University of Technology Universiteit van die Vrystaat The Central University of Technology Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University The Mangosuthu University of Technology The University of Zululand Walter Sisulu University The Durban University of Technology The University of Limpopo The University of Mpumalanga

READ ALSO: UNISA registration 2019: dates and requirements

The list of top universities in South Africa 2020 is surprisingly long, but only the best have crossed our borders. The above institutions qualify among the top universities in Africa based on their rankings in the world. With this comprehensive list of the top universities in South Africa 2020, you surely have an option for undertaking your higher education studies. Find out if there are ongoing admissions to join the institutions and be a part of the candidates from globally recognized institutions that will improve your place in the job market. Happy learning!

READ ALSO:

List of UNISA courses 2019

UNISA qualifications and modules guide

UNISA exam timetable and results 2019

Inspiring Nelson Mandela quotes on education, leadership and life

UJ Online application, Registration, Form and Status 2019

Source: Briefly.co.za
For a rough introduction to my philosophy of blogging, including the Code of Amiability Ito follow on this weblog, please read my fifth anniversary post . I consider blogging to be a very informal type of publishing - like putting up thoughts on your door with a note asking for comments. Nothing in this weblog is done rigorously: it's a forum to let my mind be unruly, a place for jottings and first impressions. Because I consider posts here to be 'literary seedings' rather than finished products, nothing here should be taken as if it were anything more than an attempt to rough out some basic thoughts on various issues. Learning to look at any topic philosophically requires, I think, jumping right in, even knowing that you might be making a fool of yourelf; so that's what I do. My primary interest in most topics is the flow and structure of reasoning they involve rather than their actual conclusions, so most of my posts are about that. If, however, you find me making a clear factual error, let me know; blogging is a great way to get rid of misconceptions.
Bowalley Road Rules



The blogosphere tends to be a very noisy, and all-too-often a very abusive, place. I intend Bowalley Road to be a much quieter, and certainly a more respectful, place.

So, if you wish your comments to survive the moderation process, you will have to follow the Bowalley Road Rules.

These are based on two very simple principles:

Courtesy and Respect.

Comments which are defamatory, vituperative, snide or hurtful will be removed, and the commentators responsible permanently banned.

Anonymous comments will not be published. Real names are preferred. If this is not possible, however, commentators are asked to use a consistent pseudonym.

Comments which are thoughtful, witty, creative and stimulating will be most welcome, becoming a permanent part of the Bowalley Road discourse.

However, I do add this warning. If the blog seems in danger of being over-run by the usual far-Right suspects, I reserve the right to simply disable the Comments function, and will keep it that way until the perpetrators find somewhere more appropriate to vent their collective spleen.


Intended as a discussion group, the blog has evolved to be more of a reading list of current issues affecting our county, its government and people. All reasonable comments and submissions welcomed. Email us at: bill.pysson@gmail.com REMEMBER: To view our sister blog for education issues: www.district100watchdog.blogspot.com


China's real-estate bubble is the largest in human history, and despite years of warning signs, it has grown and grown, spilling over into the rest of the world.

It's hard to overstate just how crazy China's real-estate market is: 25% of the country's GDP comes from construction, and 80% of the nation's wealth is in domestic property holdings. That's $65T, nearly double the size of the economies of every G7 nation combined.





The market has been kept afloat through China's massive "shadow banking" system, itself such a systemic risk that the Chinese government has been forced to crack down on it. Now, China's massive, blue-chip property developers have had their debt downrated to CCC and are struggling to issue new bonds  Moody's rates the debt of 51 out of 61 Chinese property companies as "junk."





China has 65 million vacant residences, but prices remain stubbornly high, even in "tier-two" cities like Jinan, where a 1000sqft apartment costs RMB2M, while a worker may only earn RMB6,000/month.





This has tanked sales volume (down 44% year-on-year in the first week of 2019), but developers are not able to lower their prices in the face of popular uprisings from people who have overleveraged themselves to buy into the tier-one city markets. In one case, a cut to the price of unsold units sent Shanghainese property owners into the streets chanting and holding up signs reading "Give us our hard-earned blood-and-sweat money back!"

The nation is staggering under massive real-estate debt, $3.4 trillion worth of it, and 47.1% of that is tied up in vacant properties, and the people who borrowed that money are not receiving rental income, nor are they living in those properties. The banks that lent that money could face a massive wave of defaults.





Renmin University professor Xiang Songzuo, has called this a "Minsky moment," a phenomenon coined by Hyman Minsky to describe how an asset class can rise steadily in value before suddenly collapsing.

In response to the property slowdown, some local governments have been quietly removing some restrictions on home purchases, including by scrapping price caps for new units and relaxing the requirements for non-local buyers. In early January, China's central bank also moved to lower the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves by 100 basis points, freeing up a net of 800 billion yuan, or $117 billion, for new lending.



But economists and analysts are skeptical about the effect of these easing measures. "The broad attempt to reduce risks in the financial sector has been the main reason for the slowdown," said Shaun Roache, Asia-Pacific chief economist at S&P Global Ratings. "Deleveraging is considered to be the critical battle  policymakers are easing, but only carefully," he said in an interview. Alan Jin, head of non-Japan Asia property research at Mizuho Securities, said the easing measures are "fairly trivial" and not likely to stimulate much new homebuying. "The most draconian period on the [debt] policy front may be over, but this by no means indicates that developers can look forward to rosy days ahead in 2019," he said in a Jan. 10 research note.



China's housing glut casts pall over the economy [Kenji Kawase/Nikkei]

(via Naked Captialism)
This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. it is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.
In the TV game show "Wheel of Fortune," its possible to buy a vowel for $250. Im currently researching how much a hyphen might cost. I recently have been traveling, so this letter isnt as timely as Id like, but the tardiness has little to do with the point Id like to make.

This letter relates to a Tribune email blast from Jan. 27. My wife and were out of town, but curious about what was happening back in North Dakota  we had heard that bad weather was moving in. I then saw the Tribune Breaking News email on my phone that said No travel advisory for western North Dakota. I said to my wife, Guess the bad weather didnt materialize as I see they didnt issue a travel advisory.

She seemed surprised, and commented that she had been following Facebook, and the comments there were just the opposite. I showed her my message and said, Read this  it clearly says NO (my emphasis) travel advisory! Interestingly, she read the same passage to mean that there indeed was a travel advisory. Now, I only got a C in English, and that was many years ago, but it seems to me, if this was to mean that there was a travel advisory it would have been written no-travel advisory. Something called a compound adjective I believe.
"I would ask you to just hold off regulations, hold these regulations at bay and allow the energy and enthusiasm of our cottage food producers. They really are trying to do the very, very best they can to put good, nutritious food on the table and provide a local, known source of the person who handled it and produced it from day one."

-- LeAnn Harner, North Dakota Food Freedom coordinator, opposing a bill that would tighten the state's cottage foods law.

"Whether it is additional parks, more trails, equine opportunities, skate parks, more boat ramps ... that people want, we are hoping to accommodate."

-- Morton County spokeswoman Maxine Herr, on an effort to get public comment on the creation of a parks and trails master plan.

"She wasn't one to sit and to watch things go by. She did tireless work, was a super volunteer and, if anything needed to be done, she was willing to take care of it."

-- Mary Quinlin, who lives in Iowa Falls, Iowa, on her mother, Audrey Cleary. Audrey, 88, died recently. She had served in the North Dakota House from 1991 to 1997 and from 1999 to 2003.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
By Ruth Anderah.

A UPDF soldier attached to Kakiri Infantry Guard Battalion 1st Division has been charged and sent on remand at Luzira prison for defiling and infecting a miner with HIV/Aids.

35 year old Private Ben Twijukye appeared before City Hall Grade One Magistrate, Patrick Talisuna who did not allow him to take plea because of the capital nature of the offense of aggravated defilement only bailable and tried by High Court.

Prosecution states that on 4th February 2019 at Kondogolo zone in Kampala, Twijukye being a person infected with HIV performed a sexual act with a 15-year old girl against her will.

Private Twijukye has been sent on remand until March 4th when he will reappear to know the stage of investigations into the matter.
Earlier this week, UND announced via its University Letter blog that Angelique Foster would be staying on as chief of staff. However, she will be doing that work remotely from Texas while maintaining a $114,000 salary and having up to $25,000 worth of travel expenses paid for each year.

Dodds said the changes surrounding Fosters title and salary brought her a little more in line with her actual duties and the compensation for them. He noted Fosters salary still is much lower than the median and average salary of her regional peers in higher education.

Foster has been a part of Kennedys staff since his first day in office on July 1, 2016. The two have worked together since 2012 when Kennedy was working as a professor and director of the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Replacement search

A search to replace Foster began on Nov. 7, 2018, after she said she intended to leave UND. The search closed on Dec. 7.

Dodds said 30 internal and external candidates applied for the position, six were deemed qualified for the position and eventually three finalists were selected for an on-campus interview with the executive council serving as the search committee.
Oil companies that fail to cooperate with Department of Trust Lands audits could face fines of up to $1,000 per day under a bill unanimously approved Friday by the North Dakota Senate.

The Department of Trust Lands has been struggling to complete audits of royalty payments because 20 percent of oil and gas operators have not provided documents requested by the state agency. In some cases, the department has been waiting years for the information, Land Commissioner Jodi Smith has said.

Senate Bill 2212 would authorize the department to charge fines to energy companies that are not in compliance after 90 days. Sen. Merrill Piepkorn, D-Fargo, said the departments only other recourse is to file a lawsuit or terminate a lease.

The North Dakota Petroleum Council opposed the legislation. The bill as introduced would have levied fines of up to $5,000 per day after an operator was out of compliance for 30 days, but the department agreed to compromise on the fine and time frame.

Also this week, the Senate unanimously approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4010, which seeks a formal study of deductions taken from oil and gas royalty payments.

Both pieces of legislation move to the House for consideration.

(Reach Amy Dalrymple at 701-250-8267 or Amy.Dalrymple@bismarcktribune.com)

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
A bill to regulate the use of restraint and seclusion in North Dakota schools failed in the House on Friday.

Senate Bill 2266, whose primary sponsor is Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman, failed by a margin of 12-33. The Senate Education Committee voted 5-2 to give the bill a "do not pass" recommendation.

The bill would have required all schools to adopt restraint and seclusion policies by July 1, 2020. It would also mandate schools report incidents to the state Department of Public Instruction and the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.

The bill also included a $500,000 appropriation to train school personnel on the district restraint and seclusion policy.

Sen. Donald Schaible, R-Mott, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the training requirement is "terribly underfunded" and, therefore, would make the bill an "unfunded mandate to our schools."

"(Senate Bill) 2266 was a cry for help, but your Education Committee feels that this bill does not provide any help," Schaible said.
The North Dakota Senate advanced a bill on Friday that seeks to deter people from tampering with pipelines and other critical infrastructure.

Members voted 42-3 in favor of Senate Bill 2044, introduced in response to activists who tampered with an oil pipeline valve in northeast North Dakota in 2016.

Were sending a clear message this is not something we can have happen here, said Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, the primary sponsor of the bill.

Sen. Jessica Unruh, R-Beulah, said the bill amends state law to better define that its illegal to willfully tamper with or damage energy facilities and other types of critical infrastructure.

As initially proposed, the bill would have made a fine 10 times greater for an organization found to be a conspirator with an individual who damages infrastructure. In the bill approved Friday, the fine for an organization was amended and capped at $100,000.

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota opposed the bill, raising concerns that the legislation is unconstitutional and would stifle free speech.

The bill moves to the House for consideration.

(Reach Amy Dalrymple at 701-250-8267 or Amy.Dalrymple@bismarcktribune.com)

Love 1 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Proponents of House Bill 1363, championed by Finley Republican Rep. Bill Devlin, a former newspaper publisher, said it would not threaten the safety of the states top officials but would instead give lawmakers and the public an idea of the securitys budget burden. The head of the Highway Patrol has opposed the bill, arguing it could open the door to more detailed information coming to light.

Devlin previously said theres an unprecedented level of security for Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who came into office at the tail end of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in late 2016. The bill was amended since its introduction to require quarterly disclosure of costs to protect and transport all elected officials.

The bill passed in a 58-33, short of the threshold to enact its emergency clause. It now moves to the Senate.

Lawmakers expected to vote on ethics bills

The North Dakota House and Senate are expected to vote on bills implementing the state constitution's ethics rules in the coming days.

Special committees formed to examine legislation codifying Measure 1 have advanced bills in both chambers, but budget-writers must consider the proposals before they move to the floor for a vote.
North Dakota lawmakers raised a few thousand dollars to surprise a beloved Capitol parking lot attendant with a new car Friday.

In a meeting at the Capitol, lawmakers handed over the keys for a used sedan to Mark Johnstone, who's working his third session of helping legislators into their spaces and escorting them across icy parking lot surfaces. Lawmakers said they've grown close to Johnstone, who's often one of the first people they'll encounter when arriving to work on frigid mornings.

"We joke around and have fun (like) a big family," Johnstone said. "You don't expect a vehicle."

The effort stemmed from a cold snap a couple of weeks ago, when Johnstone was having trouble getting his car to start. Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, helped him jump-start the aging car, but quickly realized it was in poor condition and needed to be replaced.

Johnstone indicated he couldn't afford to buy another car  he said he was previously homeless for three decades and is now in recovery for alcoholism  which Nelson said prompted his email to fellow House lawmakers.

"Money just started appearing," Nelson said, adding that at least three-fourths of the House gave toward the effort.
"I guess I have to credit the working together of the minority and the majority," Wardner said. "Every issue gets attention."

Senate Minority Leader Joan Heckaman, D-New Rockford agreed, but said to expect longer floor debates next week as "the more contentious bills" exit committees.

A number of high-profile bills are likely to come up next week, such as Senate Bill 2315 on private land access  which drew hours of testimony from landowners and hunters  and House Bill 1286 on civil asset forfeiture reform  which House members say could face a Senate death or initiated measure for 2020.

There's also House Bill 1066, or "Operation Prairie Dog," on infrastructure funding, using up to $280 million in oil tax revenue to fund projects for cities, counties, townships and airports.

Several other bills will revive for debate after crossover, such as HB1097 on allowing Sunday morning shopping. A similar bill failed by two votes in the Senate after passing the House in 2017.

North Dakota Open on Sundays, a group led by Brandon Medenwald, who has made previous efforts to repeal the state's so called "blue law," has kept a tracker of likely Senate votes this time around.
2 Serve plays for Dakota Cowboys for Christ

Dakota Cowboys for Christ Fellowship holds its service at 7 p.m. Sunday at Kist Livestock. The gathering will feature 2 Serve, a contemporary worship band from Mandan United Methodist Church.

Members of the group are Kathy Sougstad and Eric and Connie Nikiforoff. With the help of musical electronics, 2 Serve plays hit Christian charts as well as some original Christian music. The groups name explains the mission: Were here to serve, not to be served.

Evangel Church to hold Easter services at Bismarck Event Center

Evangel Church is already preparing to host an Easter services at the Bismarck Event Center for the second year in a row. Last year, 5,909 people were reached in a single weekend.

Many people came and experienced church in a different way, said Josh Skjoldal, lead pastor. Even now, were hearing stories about people who have taken additional steps in their faith, and they identify last Easter as the weekend that started this change in their life.

Last year, more than 750 kids attended the Easter services.
Some lawmakers are considering proposals that would condition a persons eligibility for Medicaid on work or community engagement requirements. These new administrative reporting requirements will limit or restrict eligibility, significantly reducing and denying enrollees access to preventive and treatment services. Cancer patients, survivors and those facing a cancer diagnosis could be seriously disadvantaged and find themselves without Medicaid coverage because they are physically unable to comply with these new requirements.

Over the past few years, Montana has been a national leader in workforce development and meaningful job training programs for Medicaid enrollees. Rather that waste money on simply monitoring the hours of people who are already working and take coverage away from those who cannot work, Montanas HELP-Link program invests in job training and workforce development programs. By addressing actual barriers to work, HELP-Link has been successfully connecting low-income Montanans to employment as well as higher wage job opportunities. These programs have connected over 25,000 Medicaid participants with workforce support, with more than 3,000 receiving more intensive help. As a result, participants see higher wages, with an average $8,057 wage gain.
The letter also pointed out it was wrong, based on stereotypes, to lump all members of the Native American caucus together as pro-choice. Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, a Democrat from Box Elder, supported DeVries' bill, saying he was pro-life.

"Genocide is not a talking point to be invoked by a non-Indigenous politician when it fits their personal agenda. Especially when those comments are baseless, as demonstrated by Rep. Windy Boys remarks during the same floor debate," the letter read.

"We were being stereotyped. There are pro-life and pro-choice Indians just like anywhere else," Rep. Shane Morigeau, the Minority Whip in the House, said Friday. Morigeau is a Democrat from Missoula.

Hertz was out of town at a training for legislative leadership and did not have immediate comment on the letter.

Rep. Casey Schreiner, the minority leader in the House, said the full Democratic caucus would also ask for DeVries to apologize.

The letter said members of the Republican caucus also apologized for DeVries.

"While we appreciate the fact that these individuals recognized the ignorant display by Rep. DeVries, these comments are his own, and he should be held accountable," Morigeau wrote.
The city of Billings has settled a lawsuit in 2018 with a Billings man injured by a police officer who tackled him on a late-night call, mistaking him for a suspect.

The city agreed to pay $80,000 to Robert Bassett, who filed suit after suffering a torn rotator cuff in the incident, Bassetts attorneys confirmed Tuesday. The settlement, approved in U.S. District Court July 24, ended a five-year legal battle.

Speaking Wednesday, Bassett said he held no ill will against the officer involved or the Billings Police Department, which has helped him in the past. He said he was relieved to have the case settled.

I have nothing against anybody and no personal grudge, he said. I believe in forgiveness.

Officer Paul Lamantia had been in the North Park neighborhood on the night of July 16, 2012, responding to a disturbance call regarding a loud party when he tackled Bassett to the ground.

Bassett had been standing in his yard to let his dog out and Lamantia mistook him for a man he'd seen running in the driveway of Bassett's next-door neighbor.




Cari amici,

While many people in northern climes are eagerly awaiting the first signs of Spring, I'm also counting the days to publication of LA PASSIONE on April 16. Here's the final proof of the front cover--and some pre-pub reviews that warmed my heart:

"In this inquisitive celebration of the Italian spirit, Hales traverses the country, exploring its history and culture...The chapters on food will delight readers with descriptions of artisan foods... Sure to inspire many vacations, this volume shows Italy's many contributions to the world and captures the essence of the very things that make it such a wondrous place." -- Publishers Weekly

[Hales] love affair with Italy shines through as she recounts the histories of colorful characters who made their names through war, art, food, wine, music, and more. She brings the reader with her to experience the countrys long-lasting traditions and the people whose dedication keeps that legacy alive today  Frothy as a cappuccino and rich as tiramisu, La Passione is a delightful excursion into the heart of Italian culture. -- Booklist

You can find more comments and early interviews online and preorder a copy here.

My publisher and I are beginning to schedule talks and book signings, tentatively in San Francisco, Sacramento, Corte Madera, Orinda, Walnut Creek, New York, New Orleans, Atlanta, Athens, Ga., and Tuscany. If you're in the Bay area, here are the April dates:

Wednesday, April 17, 6:30 p.m.

Italian Cultural Institute

601 Van Ness Avenue

San Francisco, CA.

Frances Mayes and I will present our new books; Kip Cranna will moderate.

Wednesday, April 24, 6:30 p.m.

Libreria Pino

548 Union Street

San Francisco, CA.

Sunday, April 28, 4:00 p.m.

Book Passage

51 Tamal Vista Blvd

Corte Madera, CA.

As we firm up the dates, we will post other speaking engagements on the events page of my website.

If you're in Italy this summer, please join me in celebrating the Italian passion for joy at a special book presentation on Sunday, June 9, in Castiglion Fiorentino, a postcard-pretty Tuscan town near Cortona. As I recount in La Passione, this is where Rita Morgan Richardson, a sister appassionata, created the nonprofit Friends of San Filippino to save an abandoned chapel dedicated to the patron saint of joy. Rita and I are also planning events in the United States and in Florence. If you belong to a community or an Italian-American group that may be interested in learning more, please contact Rita.

I hope to meet many of you on my travels. Until then, I send warm wishes for an early Spring!

Dianne
I drove home, from Elizabeth City, a bit later in the day, than I usually do, on Sunday. The sun was a buttery shade of yellow and was descending on the pewter horizon. It was not bright enough, to cast a shadow of trees in winter, on the barren fields. The low, golden glow of the evening gave the landscape a kind of serenity, as if the heavens were singing a benediction.The weekend had been full and busy. On Friday night, I had stayed home with Lyla and Brynn, while Will and Jenny attended the wake for Miss Claudia. All was going fine, til Brynn started a crying jag. As I was walking and singing to her, Jennys' elderly and beloved dog made a puddle on the floor right near the back door. Within seconds, Lyla came running and stepped right in the middle of it. She slid several feet, which sent her to wailing - and of course, the phone rang. I could not hear a word of the caller and simply said "please call back". Brant and Sydney came in ( a welcomed sight) and got Lyla in the bathtub and cleaned the puddle. Brynn remained on her mission to "disturb the peace", til Jenny came in about half an hour later.The services for Miss Claudia, were held on Saturday. It still seems so shocking to write that. It was comforting to see the large attendance. Many had driven several hours to pay their respects, and I think that speaks well of my friend.Afterwards, I dropped in on Miss Thelma, while I was there. Miss Thelma lives right across the street from Jenny, in a rambling old house on the laughing river. She lives with her husband, who is ninety six and bed ridden. Miss Thelma will be ninety five in March, and she was planning a birthday party for herself, on this day. Despite her advanced years, Miss Thelma seemed so youthful as she planned her event. Miss Thelma is very sharp in mind, but terribly confused about the ways of modern society . . .so am I.It was pitch dark, when I pulled in to the rabbitpatch, for I had stopped by Mama and Daddys', first. This is Mamas' birthday week. We will celebrate on Sunday, so there are lots of secrets just now.Christian helped me get my things in while Cash pranced around and Christopher Robin purred. I was in my "house clothes" within minutes. Now, it was time to "wait for Monday", which always changes everything.I have not yet chosen my next winter study or else I would have read. All I know, is that I am going to study some light subject- I am not in the mood for any subject that requires me to dwell on anything that can be even remotely gloomy -or that requires a lot of complex thinking.I noticed, that the he spirea bush is just beginning to blossom. I love the delicate masses of fairy tale flowers. The stark white flowers appear before the leaves and so there is an illusion of floating flowers. It is mighty early for the spirea to show off, for we are likely to have at least a "hard frost" from now to April. The last weeks have been spring like, and it seems the spirea does not "look before it leaps". I am hoping against all odds that the peach tree does not follow suit, for the palest pink blossoms of the peach, are some of my favorite. I think I could sell the farmstead, quite easily, if the peach tree stayed in bloom.It seems to me that February just arrived a few days ago, but alas, Valentines' Day looms just ahead. I like this day, though I do not participate in any ridiculous expectations of the day. To me, that would spoil every thing. Besides, I have fond memories of paper hearts and wilted wildflowers, that I hold dear -and remember in February. Mama used to make a heart shaped cake for us on Valentines Day. I thought they were beautiful and so fancy. I will probably bake something or make heart shaped pancakes at the rabbitpatch for supper. . .and maybe I will bring a sprig of that spirea in, too. Simplicity keeps holidays so pure - and manageable. "Big productions" just wilt me, anyway.Speaking of "big productions" . . . I do not watch the evening news, as I used to. I do try to catch the local weather, so I will know whether or not to warm the car up, the next morning and what kind of clothes will be suitable, too, but I have tired of the relentless negativity. I am always shocked at the types of crimes being committed, for they are quite bizarre and unnatural acts. Then there are the "band wagons", loaded down with a slew of unhappy folks. It seems to me that everybody is fighting about something. There are more "life styles" out there than I dare to imagine . Health scares are a dime a dozen and on and on it goes, til at long last, thirty minutes have passed, and dinner is ready, if you can still eat.If I sound old, it is because I am that old.Oh how grand that the sun til sets in the west as it always has-lighting up the sky with ceremony at the end of the day. The stars take their familiar places and somewhere, little paper hearts and scraps of old lace adorn a kitchen table . . . and maybe there is a mother, making a fancy, heart-shaped cake.
A 2016 report published by the General Assembly's nonpartisan Program Evaluation Division detailed the distribution of state funds to public schools and concluded that the system'sThey recommended either addressing the systemic defects identified in the report or initiating a complete overhaul of the system. Since the publication of the report, however, the way the state delivers funding to public schools is mostly unchanged.After lawmakers pass a budget establishing public education funding levels for the following school year, the N.C. Department of Public Instruction distributes state dollars to school districts using a so-called resource allocation model. State funds are dispersed to districts using dozens of allotments or funding categories for components considered necessary for the operation of public schools, such as textbooks and teachers. A series of formulas, published in a lengthy policy manual, determines the amount of money that each district receives for each allotment. If it sounds complicated, that's because it is.School district officials may also transfer taxpayer funds between categories, so long as they comply with state regulations and statutes. One of the more surprising findings in the Program Evaluation Division report was that districts had conducted nearly 1,000 allotment transfers, moving over $200 million across categories in 2015. Even funds set aside for our most vulnerable populations- low-income, at-risk, and Limited English Proficiency students - were the subject of allotment transfers during that school year. While transfers are not inherently harmful, it makes it difficult to track the movement of state dollars at the district level. A provision in the 2017 state budget provided a short-term fix by requiring districts to publish allotment transfer data on their websites.Another provision in the 2017 state budget created the Joint Legislative Task Force on Education Finance Reform. Lawmakers created the task force to receive input on North Carolina's school finance system from district, state, and national school finance experts. After seven meetings of the task force, the consensus was that the Program Evaluation Division report accurately described the defects of North Carolina's obsolete school finance system.Michael Griffith, school finance strategist at the Education Commission of the States, testified that North Carolina's funding system falls far short of giving school districts the flexibility to meet the demands of non-traditional education programs. He pointed out that North Carolina's system was designed at a time when "almost all students attended brick and mortar schools." Today, students attend a variety of schools due to the increasing availability of charter schools, career and technical schools, dual enrollment opportunities, and alternative programs. North Carolina's current funding model is ill-suited for schools that increasingly move further away from traditional models of instruction.Georgetown University professor and school finance expert Marguerite Roza explained that North Carolina's school funding system is the exception rather than the rule. In a presentation to the task force, Roza testified that most states now allocate dollars using a student-based model. She pointed out that the type of system used by North Carolina and a handful of other states may lead to the inequitable distribution of funds and limit the ability of districts to use state funds in innovative ways. Roza recommended North Carolina follow the lead of states such as California and adopt a student-based formula that allocates a base funding level for each student with funding supplements based on students' grade-level, income, disability, and instructional needs.Legislators convened the final meeting of the Joint Legislative Task Force on Education Finance Reform in April 2018, but despite counsel from these school finance experts they failed to advance legislation that would make substantive changes to North Carolina's school funding model. It remains to be seen whether the Republican majority will choose to make school finance reform a centerpiece of their legislative agenda. Like every legislative session, the 2019 session will include fights about the amount of money we spend on public education. The added complication of fighting about the way that money is distributed may be a battle they will choose to avoid.I hope lawmakers have the political will to address the issue during the 2019 session and begin the multi-year process of implementing a student-based funding model. This would be the crowning achievement for a legislative body that has done so much to focus our public schools on the unique needs of children, rather than the demands of the institutions designed to serve them.
A Senate plan to pump $2.03 billion of tax revenue into K-12 public school construction would both outspend a competing House plan and do so with cash rather than debt, Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said Wednesday.Brown, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Senate Bill 5 , Building North Carolina's Future, is a pay-as-you-go approach. Over nine years it would generate more than $6 billion equally divided three ways - for K-12 schools; community colleges and UNC System campuses; and state agency buildings.The Senate bill would make money available to schools two years faster than would be possible through a $1.9 billion school construction bond, which House Speaker Tim Moore and Gov. Roy Cooper advocate. The bond would require $1.2 billion in interest payments over 30 years. The Senate plan wouldn't have that expense.The Senate plan also places the two Republican-led chambers of the General Assembly at odds. Moore has made two stops on what he's said will be a statewide tour to promote the bond proposal.Attempts to get a response from Cooper and Moore were unsuccessful. State Superintendent of Schools Mark Johnson was noncommittal."I know the urgency and need for this state funding for school construction, especially for rural North Carolina, from my firsthand experience visiting our schools across the state," Johnson said in an email."I am pleased to see agreement in the legislature on this point, and I look forward to working with our partners in the General Assembly as we continue to discuss the details of that funding," Johnson said.Brown said the money would come through the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund, created in 2017. S.B. 5 raises annual SCIF spending from 4 percent of General Fund revenue to 4.5 percent. The SCIF account originally was intended mostly for UNC System schools and state agencies. The proposed legislation adds K-12 schools and community colleges."A lot of thought has gone into this proposal," said Brown, calling it fiscally responsible and superior to the bond package. "I don't know how you could argue against this."S.B. 5 would address concerns counties have raised about insufficient spending on school construction and maintenance, said Sen. Kathy Harrington, R-Gaston, a primary sponsor. Sen. Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, is the third primary sponsor."Just about all the data shows that smaller class sizes help kids to learn better," Brown said, and the General Assembly has been taking steps to reduce K-3 class sizes. Some schools have said they can't meet the classroom reduction requirements because they lack available space. Brown said money from S.B. 5 would help those districts comply with the mandate.Brown said S.B. 5 doesn't require voter approval. A capital construction bond would require voters to approve taking on public debt through a referendum."I think as legislators we're responsible to try to address some of the concerns in our state," Brown said of not having the public vote. "We think this is the most prudent way to address it."He said funding would remain stable even during a downturn in the economy."We've been able to build up a pretty good rainy day fund," Brown said. The state would have to meet the same funding obligations with either S.B. 5 or a bond package.Joe Coletti, senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation who researches tax and fiscal policy, says it's better to fund programs with existing tax revenue rather than debt when possible. "The debt savings, the interest savings, is an important point. You actually use the money for your stuff instead of paying bankers."But the pay-as-you-go method depends on having the cash flow to do that. Raising the capital debt payments from 4 percent to 4.5 percent of the General Fund budget causes Coletti some concerns.Now, $700 million of the 4 percent funding pays off existing debts. About $155 million is being spent this fiscal year on capital projects. Another $150 million to $200 million would be added annually under S.B. 5."You can pay for all of this," Coletti said. But it's impossible to know where the money will come from over time. If there's not enough money to pay for the new capital projects, cuts might need to be made elsewhere, he said.Long-term, this is a good deal, he said, as state-owned debt is paid off. The total eventually would drop to about $300 million in yearly payments, freeing up money to be used elsewhere. The question is whether the full $6 billion actually will appear in state coffers.Using a fixed percentage of the budget instead of a fixed dollar amount would ease the budget impact if state revenues flag, Coletti said. Legislators don't have to change the law to make less money available. "You can authorize debt, and just never issue it."
It is well known, or at least widely accepted, that the physical line or border that separates Nebraska from its two eastern neighboring states is the middle line of the Missouri River. How is it therefore possible for a tract which would almost hold the entire city of Beatrice to be located east of the Missouri River yet be a recognized precinct of Nemaha County and a physical part of Nebraska?

The answer is a bit trickier than why you must drive through Iowa to get to the Omaha airport but is still part of the same question.

Nearly a decade before Nebraska Territory even existed and people crossing the Missouri River spoke of leaving the United States, the McKissick (sometimes McKissock) family, which lived in Fremont County, Iowa, claimed squatters rights to the thumb-shaped plot of land across the Missouri in what was then often referred to as Indian Territory, part of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

With the creation of Nebraska Territory in 1854 eight counties were designated, including Forney County which would spawn Nemaha County on November 23, 1855. Nemaha County included the thumb of land on its northeast corner, plainly on the west side of the Missouri, which would become known as McKissick Island.
Shirley A. (Bucher) Graham, 82 years of age, of Beatrice passed away with family at her side on Thursday, February 14, 2019. She was born on September 17, 1936 at Fort Crook in Omaha to her Army Veteran of 32 years father, Clifford and Myrtle (Fuller) Bucher and she grew up in Pickrell where she attended grade school. After grade school, she attended Beatrice High School and graduated with her class of 1955. Shirley met and married her husband to be for her entire life, Maurice Bud Graham, who served in the US Airforce for twenty years. She was a stay at home mom and served the assumed role as dad when Bud was away on duty assignments while living at various Air Bases around the United States and the Philippine Island of Luzon. Shirley enjoyed raising her kids and attending their childhood activities growing up. She liked attending ball games and being a Den Mother with Scouting. Shirley enjoyed spending time with her grandkids, her country music, Johnny Cash of old and Dwight Yokem of new. She also enjoyed cooking, sewing, ceramic crafts, bowling on her bowling leagues and her cat Duey. Shirley was involved with various groups serving as Madam President of the Eagles Auxiliary and a member of the American Legion Auxiliary Post #27 in Beatrice. She did however venture into the working field in her life where she was a switchboard operator with the Beatrice Phone Company earlier in her life before the military. Afterward she pursued becoming a nurse's aide working at both BCH and the Lutheran Hospital. She also did some occasional housekeeping at the local hotels to keep her busy.
A team of scientists, including Virgin billionaire Richard Branson, has returned from a groundbreaking mission to the bottom of Belize's Great Blue Hole with exciting findings.

The Great Blue Hole is the world's largest sinkhole, measuring an incredible 300 meters (984 feet) across and roughly 125 meters (410 feet) deep.

The team also included Fabien Cousteau, grandson of underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau, who put the Blue Hole on the map back in 1971. The group embarked on their odyssey in December 2018, determined to discover the secrets at the bottom of the Blue Hole.

Using two submarines, the expedition captured new images and footage inside the Blue Hole and created the first 3D map of its interior.

"We did our complete 360 sonar map, and that map is now almost complete. It looks really cool, it's this mesh-layered, sonar scan of the entire thousand-foot diameter hole," Erika Bergman, chief pilot, oceanographer and operations manager, told CNN Travel.

Dispatches from the deep

Bergman says one of the most exciting findings was never-before-seen stalactites  a type of mineral formations shaped like icicles  roughly 407 feet into the hole, very near the bottom.

"That was pretty exciting because they haven't been mapped there before, they haven't been discovered there before," she says.

Bergman says the whole experience of being submerged in the murky depths was pretty incredible.

"One of the crazy things about the hole is the hydrogen sulfide layer," says Bergman.

The layer descends at roughly 300 feet, cutting out all the light and plunging divers into darkness.

"You lose all of that Caribbean sunlight and it just turns completely black, and it's totally anoxic down there with absolutely no life," explains Bergman.

But thanks to their high-resolution sonar, Bergman and her team were able to see the hole's intricate features.

"You can be 20 or 30 meters away from a stalactite or a hunk of the wall and see it in every perfect detail, better than eyesight could even provide," she says.

Intriguingly, not everything the team found could be identified. They found some unidentifiable tracks at the bottom of the hole. Bergman says these remain "open to interpretation."

The team was also really pleased to see that the Blue Hole was pretty free from trash.

"There were basically two or three little pieces of plastic, and other than that, it was really, really clear," says Bergman, spotlighting the work of the Belize Audubon Society, which helps protect the hole.

Bergman says there's very little visible human impact.

"It's neat that there are spaces on our planet  and most of them in the oceans  that are exactly the way they were thousands of years ago and will remain exactly the way they are thousands of years in the future."

Live from the ocean

The Blue Hole Belize 2018 Expedition was broadcast live on the Discovery Channel on Dec. 2, 2018.

The original aim was to broadcast live from the bottom of the hole. This proved tricky, but the team still found a way to bring the experience into people's homes.

"We dove the morning before the livestream, and then livestreamed from the ship being very open and clear about the footage having been filmed a few hours before," says Bergman.

Bergman and the rest of the team are keen to find other innovative ways of transporting images from the ocean onto personal handheld devices.

She name-checks the International Space Station and the way astronauts live-message from the sky, bringing people there with them.

"Drawing people into that  the way people are fascinated with astronauts  giving them a chance to relate that to deep ocean exploration, I think that's done through the live interaction," says Bergman.

Leave no trace

Following the dive on Dec. 2, vessels monitored the site for two weeks to get all the data to make the 360-degree sonar map.

"We didn't leave any equipment. We take only pictures, leave only footprints," says Bergman.

The team is now planning an upcoming expedition to the waters of the British Virgin Islands. They're not planning to live broadcast it, but they're hoping to get equally exciting footage and findings.

The-CNN-Wire  &  2019 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.

Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
"It's a shame that mass shootings such as this have become commonplace in our country. It's a shame that a cold and heartless offender would be so selfish as to think he has the right to take an innocent life," Aurora Mayor Richard C. Irvin said.

At Acorn Woods Condominiums where Martin lived, a mix of brick apartments and condos nestled on a quiet street just a mile and a half from the shooting, neighbors gathered on sidewalks near Martin's unit talking and wondering among themselves if they knew or had come in contact with him.

Mary McKnight stepped out of her car with a cherry cheesecake purchased for her son's birthday, to find a flurry of police cars, officers and media trucks.

"This is a strange thing to come home to, right," she said. She had just learned that the shooter lived close by and his unit in the complex had been taped off by police.

The White House said President Donald Trump was briefed on the shooting and monitoring the situation as he prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump tweeted his thanks to law enforcement officers in Aurora and offered his condolences to the victims and their families. "America is with you," he said.
Northern Arizona University President, Rita Hartung Cheng is one of 25 women being honored by the Phoenix Business Journal for significant contributions to their professions and communities.

Cheng, the 16th president of Northern Arizona University, is one of only two educators on the list. This years honorees were selected by a panel of former Outstanding Women in Business honorees.

I am truly honored to be recognized by the Phoenix Business Journal and humbled by the fact that previous honorees made the selection. Cheng said.

I believe this is a direct reflection of NAUs partnerships in the Valley and throughout the state as well as the work of our exceptional faculty and staff who work hard every day to ensure Arizonas students have access to and complete the degrees needed to enhance the economy of the state of Arizona.

While raising her family, Cheng earned her bachelors degree in business administration from Bishops University in Quebec, commuting across the Canadian border to attend classes, an MBA from the University of Rhode Island and a Ph.D. from Temple Universitys Fox School of Business and Management. She is internationally recognized for research in government and nonprofit accounting.
Currently confirmed elected officials to attend: Williams Mayor John Moore, Coconino County Supervisor Jim Parks, Flagstaff City Council Member Charlie Odegaard.

Cocktail hour is from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., with the plated dinner and program from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $65 per person or $500 for a table of 8.

Opening of The Ant Empire: Strength in Community

A colony of honeypot ants is taking up residence at the Museum of Northern Arizona Discovery Room Saturday, Feb. 16 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Some of these fascinating insects store sweet liquids in their swollen abdomens. Honeypot ants, Myrmecocystus, are native to Arizona, where they live in nests underground. The living display at MNA gives visitors a peek into their complex community.

This exhibition is generously supported by Isaacs Ant Foundation and dedicated to the memory of Isaac Calley. Tickets are museum day passes  $12 Adult, $10 Military, $8 for Youth (10-17), students with IDs or American Indians and free for members and children 9 or under.

Catch the last week of Theatrikos Theater's "Exit Laughing"

Theatrikos kicked off its 47th season with the endearingly absurd.
DENVER, Colo.AVN doesn't have access to all of the judicial decisions handed down in the history of the United States, but we're pretty sure that no court has ever found that any person has been harmed, mentally or physically, from having seen a bare breast or vulvaand that record seems on the verge of being upheld by at least two members of the Tenth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in a case challenging the constitutionality of an anti-female-nudity ordinance in Fort Collins, Colorado.

A couple of early points: We say "anti-female-nudity ordinance" because no one in Fort Collins government seems to care if men walk around anywhere in the city shirtless, nipples exposed. The ordinance under challenge says only that "No female who is ten (10) years of age or older shall knowingly appear in any public place with her breast exposed below the top of the areola and nipple" in public. And as for "on the verge of being upheld," that refers to the injunction against enforcement of the ordinance issued by the district court judge in the case, and while the majority of the Tenth Circuit panel appears to find much merit in the plaintiffs' legal case, it's only being called now to rule on whether the injunction was improperly granted, as the city claims. However, that legal limitation didn't stop the appellate judges from weighing in on the entire concept of female vs. male public nudity.

Also noteworthy is the fact that if a female were to be found guilty under the Fort Collins ordinance, she could be fined as much as $2,650 and/or imprisoned for up to 180 days. Who knew a bare tit was that "valuable"?

However, to begin with, the opinion by Judge Gregory A. Phillips for himself and Judge Mary Beck Briscoe discussed the legal criteria for upholding an ordinary injunction, which are, "(1) that shes 'substantially likely to succeed on the merits,' (2) that shell 'suffer irreparable injury' if the court denies the injunction, (3) that her 'threatened injury' (without the injunction) outweighs the opposing partys under the injunction, and (4) that the injunction isnt 'adverse to the public interest.'"

In this case, that burden's easily met. The Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment makes it clear that men and women are to be treated equally under the law, no matter what their nipples look like, and if a woman were convicted under the Ft. Collins ordinance and had to spend 180 days in jail, that's time she'll never get backand hence is an "irreparable injury." Further, as noted above, no court has likely ever found that a person has been harmed by seeing a bare female breast, so injuncting the ordinance doesn't injure anyone and in general isn't "adverse to the public interest."

But the appeals court also found that the district court's injunction even meets the criteria for a "disfavored preliminary injunction," in that granting it 1) didn't require the city to do anything different than it had been doing; 2) didn't change the status quo of the law prior to the ordinance being passed; and 3) essentially gave the plaintiffs what they wanted from their lawsuit, at least until the case were to come to trial.

Of course, the main point under consideration regarding the injunction was whether the plaintiffsthe activist organization Free the Nipple and two individualswere "substantially likely" to win at trial, so that's what the appellate opinion spent most of its time on. For instance, it noted that "equal protection" means that "all persons similarly situated should be treated alike," and that if they are not to be so treated, that distinction has to be "rationally related to a legitimate government purpose"which forcing women's bodies to be covered clearly isn't. The panel's majority noted that deciding whether there is a "legitimate government purpose" to the ordinance requires "intermediate scrutiny," which would require the government to prove that "the law or policy being challenged furthers an important government interest by means that are substantially related to that interest." [Citations removed here and below]

Of course, the city claimed that because female and male breasts look different, keeping people from seeing female ones is (somehow) an "important governmental objective," but the majority quickly shot down that notion.

"Any law premised on 'generalizations about "the way women are"'or the way men arewill fail constitutional scrutiny because it serves no important governmental objective," Judge Phillips wrote.

Then the city argued that "the inherently sexual nature of the female breast, as opposed to the male breast, raises 'myriad concerns' with 'permitting adult females to go topless in public without restriction'," including "that female toplessness could disrupt public order, lead to distracted driving, and endanger children." The majority made short work of that one as well, noting that females are allowed to breastfeed in public, that nearby cities including Denver and Boulder permit female toplessness, and that, "Were left, as the district court was, to suspect that the Citys professed interest in protecting children derives not from any morphological differences between mens and womens breasts but from negative stereotypes depicting womens breasts, but not mens breasts, as sex objects. ... But laws grounded in stereotypes about the way women are serve no important governmental interest."

And as for "disrupting public order" and "leading to distracted driving," Judge Phillips noted "the justification for a gender-based classification 'must be genuine, not hypothesized,' and 'it must not rely on overbroad generalizations.' Here, we suspect that enacting the public-nudity ordinance had less to do with the Citys professed objectives and more to do with the sex-object stereotype that the district court described." However, the panel noted that other Circuits had come to the opposite conclusion, but stated, "As we interpret the arc of the Courts equal-protection jurisprudence, ours is the constitutionally sound result."

As for the "irreparable harm" the ordinance could cause the plaintiffs, the majority found that, "What makes an injury 'irreparable' is the inadequacy of, and the difficulty of calculating, a monetary remedy after a full trial. Any deprivation of any constitutional right fits that bill." Similarly, in "balancing the harms" done by the ordinance to the plaintiffs, or the harms to the city without the ordinance in place, the panel rightly recognized that the city's "harm" would be the challenge to accepted sexual morality.

"When a constitutional right hangs in the balance, though, 'even a temporary loss' usually trumps any harm to the defendant," Judge Phillips wrote. "In this case, according to the district court, the Plaintiffs met their third-factor burden because the deprivation of their right to equal protection outweighed the stakes for the City, which the court defined as the publics interest in morality." And as for the injunction allegedly "not being in the public interest," the majority made short work of that as well: "[A]s the district court wrote, its 'always in the public interest to prevent the violation of a partys constitutional rights.' On appeal, the City disputes that the public-nudity ordinance is unconstitutional, but it cites no law casting doubt on the publics interest in preserving constitutional rights."

While Judge Phillips' opinion seems incontrovertible, the panel's third judge, Harris L. Hartz, dissentedand that dissent seems clearly based on that judge's view of religious morality. After noting that many courts at many levels and in many jurisdictions have treated women and men differently on legal issues, his most revealing statement comes in the middle of his comments.

"The invalidated laws were predicated on stereotypes under which every member of a gender was treated as having a talent, capacity, or preference that most members of the gender have or were perceived as having," Judge Hartz wrote. "The Fort Collins indecency ordinance (the Ordinance) is not such a law. It is part of a long tradition of laws prohibiting public indecencythe public display of portions of the anatomy that are perceived as particularly erotic or serve an excretory function.

"These laws may be justified as reducing or preventing antisocial behavior caused by indecent exposure: offensive behavior ranging from assault to corruption of youth to simply distraction from productive activity," he continued. "The Ordinance does not discriminate against women on the basis of any overbroad generalization about their perceived 'talents, capacities, or preferences.' To the extent it distinguishes between the sexes, it is based on inherent biological, morphological differences between them. Those differences are not stereotypes. They are not statistical differences, they are not matters of degree. They are differences in anatomical structure that reflect the unique biological roles played by males and females."

In other words, the Fourteenth Amendment doesn't really mean what it says about equalityat least not when seeing a bare breast might make some man horny. It's Stone Age thinking, and hopefully, if this case ever makes it to the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices will see the logic in the majority's analysis and strike down not only Ft. Collins' ordinance but all the other similar ones around the country.

UPDATE: Seems that reactionary religious cult Family Research Council (FRC) has taken notice of Free The Nipple's victoryand they weren't too happy about it, so time to spread the gospel of sexism once again.

"A breast is a breast, is it not?" Judge Mary Beck Briscoe asked Ft. Collins' attorney, Andrew Ringel, who, according to FRC, "dared to argue that men's and women's bodies are differentand must be regulated accordingly."

"In an exchange that [again, according to FRC] sounded like something on a pay-per-view parody," Ringel answered, "A female breast is a female breast, your honor." But, Briscoe noted, "breastfeeding is allowed in public; if that hasn't resulted in 'societal turmoil,' why should toplessness? Outlawing women from showing off their bodies might have a negative effect on women, the judge suggested."

But of course, Ringel had to drag religious "morality" into it: "Fundamentally, the difference is women have breasts that are considered private parts, and men have breasts that are not considered private parts," Ringel argued, in what [to FRC supporters, at least] "must feel like an alternate universe."

Banning toplessness is like bringing back the Jim Crow laws of the South, argued Free The Nipple's attorney Andrew McNulty, in what FRC described as "one of the more jaw-dropping moments of an already absurd hearing." "[This policy] says women's breasts are inherently sexual, and women should dress in certain ways because their breasts are inherently sexual," McNulty went on. That's gender discrimination, he rightly noted.

Ignoring the majority's explanation, as noted above, of why the city had no legitimate reason to keep women's breasts under wraps, FRC simply quoted from Judge Hartz's dissent, where he claimed, "[E]ven if notions of the erotic are purely culturally based, it is unclear why that is relevant to the validity of indecency laws."

So, according to Hartz's logic, since the Jim Crow laws that kept southern blacks disenfranchised and in other ways discriminated against were "purely culturally based," they should still be allowed to exist today?!?!?

"The purpose of those laws is to reduce anti-social behavior," Hartz went on. "Such laws must deal with the real world... Are laws regulating pornography and obscenity invalid if the societal harms they are intended to prevent are caused by cultural influences rather than purely biological ones?"

Yes, judge, because we have this thing in this country called the First Amendment, and if indeed there are "societal harms" from looking at porna specious premise to begin withwhat's needed, in the words of Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis from 1927, "If there be time to expose through discussion the falsehood and fallacies, to avert the evil by the processes of education, the remedy to be applied is more speech, not enforced silence."

But FRC couldn't resist tarring the majority's decision as just another dagger in the heart of conservative religious morality.

"Meanwhile, this whole case reveals (quite literally) where the forces of gender equality have taken us," FRC's president Tony Perkins opined. "As soon as this country starts jettisoning moral absolutes, there's no stopping this kind of insanity. And that's a shame, especially for all of us who care about public safety and decency."

Bullshit!

Pictured: Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Department of Justice's "Spirit of Justice" statue whose breasts he ordered covered when speaking in front of it. (Images courtesy of Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.)
"We are so grateful that Dexter decided to rebuild his studio and foundry and to start all over again," said Frank Wicks, an emeritus mechanical engineering professor of Union College. Wicks paid for half of Benedict's $62,000 commission fee and is soliciting donations to fund the balance. He refused to let the setback of the fire or other obstacles derail the sculpture project he passionately pursued for more than a decade.

Wicks, 79, taught at Union for 30 years before his retirement in 2018. He was well aware of the political legacy of Seward, who graduated from Union College in 1820 and served as New York governor, U.S. senator and secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Seward is perhaps best remembered for negotiating the purchase of the Alaskan Territory from Russia in 1867. His stature as a statesman grew as a result of Doris Kearns Goodwin's 2005 bestselling book, "Team of Rivals."

During a 2000 visit to the Seward House Museum in Auburn, Cayuga County, with his wife, Dawn, the couple happened upon the Harriet Tubman Home about a mile away. "We were surprised by the proximity and wanted to know why," Wicks recalled.
Amy and Don Labarge, of Oswego, bought their first pontoon boat a year ago, but while looking at some of Owasco Marine's pontoons on display they said they're already beginning the hunt for the boat they want next, as they plan to upgrade in a couple years.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

"It's a lot to take in ... a lot of different options," Don said, adding it was their first time at the boat show.

"This (show) starts our season off," said Owasco Marine General Operations Manager Sherry Kline.

John Jablonski, the Auburnian owner of The Sailboat Shop in Skaneateles, said he's been exhibiting at the show for 25 years, and the company has been there more than 40 years.

"Everybody is getting spring fever about this time," he said. He added that the show was going well, and he loved the new Exposition Center at the state fairgrounds.

Although it's still winter, Wickham said this is about the time that someone would need to place an order for a boat to guarantee it could be in the water mid-May, ready to kick the boating season off on Memorial Day.

Jason Withers, the sales manager at Locke's A-1 Marine, said this is their biggest show of the year and it seems to generate a lot of sales soon after the show. A-1 Marine had about 10 Qwest or TriToon pontoons on display.
Please log in to keep reading.

Enjoy unlimited articles at one of our lowest prices ever.
"While some have the luxury of second-guessing job creating strategies, we would have welcomed Amazon to central New York. And we still would!" he said.

Antonacci called Amazon's withdrawal a "disgrace," mainly due to the opposition to the project from state and local officials in Queens. Several officials were opposed to the project due to the proposed $3 billion incentives package, which included $2.5 billion in tax credits. To receive those tax breaks, Amazon would've needed to meet certain investment and job creation goals.

When the Amazon deal was announced in November, there was criticism of the incentives package even from those who supported the project. The critics argued that it wasn't negotiated in a transparent manner.

Support Local Journalism Your membership makes our reporting possible. {{featured_button_text}}

Antonacci agrees that there needs to be accountability and transparency in economic development projects. But he disagreed with how opponents of the Amazon deal framed their complaints.

"Renegotiate where possible, get the answers to the questions you needed," he said. "But when you start using hashtag 'Scamazon' and you're a sitting legislator, that's just not the way we should be going about economic development."
Thousands of volunteers in Venezuela will begin mobilizing on Sunday to bring American aid into their crisis-hit country despite a blockade by President Nicolas Maduro who claims the assistance could be cover for a US invasion. Once-wealthy Venezuela is gripped by a power struggle between socialist leader Maduro and Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly who proclaimed himself interim president last month and now has the backing of more than 50 countries. But even as the political battle pitting Guaido against Maduro continued to deepen, Caracas confirmed talks had taken place with an envoy for US President Donald Trump's administration. The oil-rich country's economic meltdown under Maduro has left millions in poverty facing shortages of medicine and food, with hyperinflation making purchases impossible. US aid that has been piling up in the Colombian border town of Cucuta has become the frontline of the confrontation between Guaido and Maduro. "Venezuela is preparing for the humanitarian avalanche," Guaido told about 4,000 supporters clad in white T-shirts and green scarves who gathered Saturday to sign up as volunteers. The throng included doctors, nurses and students. Six hundred thousand people have registered to help bring aid in through border points, Guaido told the Caracas rally, asking the volunteers to meet in town councils on Sunday to get instructions about the process. Without revealing details that could jeopardize the operation, Guaido said volunteer brigades will travel in a bus caravan to entry points for the aid which he wants to come in next Saturday. Coromoto Crespo, 58, told AFP he volunteered because of the urgent need for supplies. "To find medicines requires a miracle. I need tablets for high blood pressure, and what I find, I can't pay for," Crespo said. "One of my relatives died because of a lack of antibiotics." Guaido has targeted February 23 for entry of the aid, more of which arrived for the stockpile on Saturday. Three US military cargo planes delivered several dozen more tons (tonnes) of food assistance to Cucuta. Another US aircraft is due in the Caribbean island of Curacao from Miami on Tuesday, and a collection center for Brazilian aid will open Monday on the border, Guaido's team said. The US shipment Saturday was accompanied by a delegation led by Mark Green, head of the US Agency for International Development. US assistance has been blocked by containers which Maduro loyalists placed on a border bridge to prevent access. On another front, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza confirmed having held two meetings with special US envoy Elliott Abrams. Arreaza, who traveled to New York on February 13, said he held the talks with Abrams at the request of the State Department. He declined to comment on the substance of their discussions. Guaido repeated his call on Venezuela's military -- whose support for Maduro has been crucial -- to let the aid pass. "You have, in your hands, the possibility of fighting alongside the people who are suffering the same shortages you are," Guaido said in a tweet addressed to soldiers. A State Department spokeswoman, Julie Chung, issued a similar plea during a news conference in Cucuta, urging the military to stand aside at a time when Venezuelans are "dying of hunger." - 'Crumbs' and 'rotten food' - Maduro asserts that aid could be used as a way for the United States to invade. He called for reinforced border security and dismissed the arriving "crumbs" as "rotten and contaminated food." On Friday Maduro instructed his army to prepare a "special deployment plan" for the 2,200-kilometer (1,370-mile) border with Colombia. He said he would examine "what new forces" might be needed to keep the frontier "inviolable." Maduro has assailed the US aid as a "show" but Arreaza said he would be willing to meet with "the devil" if it helped ensure Venezuelan sovereignty. About 2.3 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2015 as the crisis intensified, according to the United Nations. Guaido accuses Maduro of being a "usurper" over his controversial reelection last year in polls widely branded as fraudulent. Maduro, the hand-picked successor to socialist firebrand Hugo Chavez, blames Venezuela's woes on US sanctions, more of which were added on Friday. He said six million families had benefited from subsidized food boxes and he claimed to have bought 933 tons of medicines and medical supplies from China, Cuba and Russia, his main international allies. "We paid for it with our own money because we're beggars to no one," Maduro said. Trucks loaded with humanitarian aid for Venezuela drive towards the Tienditas Bridge in Cucuta, Colombia, where aid from Washington has piled up on the border with Venezuela, unable to enter Venezuelan opposition leader and self-declared acting president Juan Guaido wears a Green Cross helmet as he posses for a picture with volunteers ready to help bring aid into the stricken country Food and medicine aid for Venezuela is unloaded from a US Air Force C-17 aircraft in Cucuta, Colombia on the border with Venezuela where President Nicolas Maduro has blocked the supplies from entering World map showing countries where access to humanitarian aid is impossible
The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return an ancient gilded coffin to Egypt after New York prosecutors determined that it had been looted from that country, the museum said. The museum had purchased the prized coffin, dating from the first century BCE, in July 2017 from a Paris art dealer for a price of nearly four million dollars. But the Manhattan district attorney's office determined that the mummy-shaped golden coffin had been sold with fake documentation, including a forged 1971 Egyptian export license. It was not clear what had sparked the district attorney's investigation. The statement Friday quoted Met CEO Daniel Weiss as apologizing to the Egyptian people and specifically to Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany. "After we learned that the Museum was a victim of fraud and unwittingly participated in the illegal trade of antiquities, we worked with the DA's office for its return to Egypt," Weiss said. The museum said it would "consider all available remedies to recoup the purchase price of the coffin" and would commit itself "to identifying how justice can be served, and how we can help to deter future offenses against cultural property." MoMA vowed to "review and revise its acquisitions process." The elaborately decorated coffin, viewed by nearly a half-million visitors since it was made the centerpiece of a major exhibition in July, is sheathed in gold, which the ancient Egyptians associated with the gods. It is inscribed with the name of Nedjemankh, a high-ranking priest of the ram-headed god Heryshef of Herakleopolis. The Met took the coffin off view this week to deliver it to the district attorney's office for its eventual return to Egypt. A camel walks past the pyramid of Khafre (also known as Chephren) at the Giza pyramids necropolis on the southwestern outskirts of the Egyptian capital Cairo
Russia gave "no new signals" Friday about saving a landmark Cold War missile control agreement, the head of NATO said, as fears grow of a new arms race in Europe. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Segei Lavrov brought no breakthrough and no indication that Moscow might be willing to back down over a missile system which NATO says breaches the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. The impending collapse of the 1987 agreement -- seen as a cornerstone of global arms control -- has raised doubts about the future of the fight against proliferation. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said more talks between Russia, the US and European nations were urgently needed to save the deal. The US began pulling out of the INF treaty earlier this month in response to Moscow's deployment of the 9M729 missile, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal. NATO has been urging Russia to save the treaty by abandoning the missile system, which officials say can hit capital cities throughout Europe as far as London. "There were no new signals from the Russian side," Stoltenberg said after talks with Lavrov at the Munich Security Conference. NATO has begun planning for the collapse of the treaty, but insists it will not "mirror" Russia, and Germany's Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen said there should be no "tit for tat". - Chinese missiles - While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have voiced concern that the INF -- a bilateral treaty -- does nothing to constrain rapidly growing military power China. Germany is organising an international conference in Berlin next month to start talks about how to create an arms control regime to replace the one forged in the bipolar Cold War era. But the challenges are obvious. According to a new report by the Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), up to 95 percent of China's arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles would be in breach of the INF if Beijing were party to it. Given this, "it is difficult to envision a scenario under which China would today enter a regime such as the INF Treaty," the IISS report said. Russia insists its missile system conforms to the treaty and offered foreign media and officials a viewing in a park outside Moscow last month. US officials have said the "static display" did not answer the concerns about the missile, and Stoltenberg accused Moscow of disregarding the inspection protocols enshrined in the treaty. "There is a specific verification committee and there are specific guidelines, rules on how to inspect, so a static display is not verification according to the treaty," he said. The US has been raising concerns about the new Russian missile for more than five years, and last year published evidence it said proved the system was in breach. Evidence has now been gathered independently by "several" other NATO countries that confirms the breach, Stoltenberg said. Deployment of Russia's 9M729 cruise missile has caused the US to begin pulling out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty NATO has urged Russia to save the INF treaty by abandoning the 9M729 cruise missile, on display here at the military Patriot Park outside Moscow Trucks carry Chinese DF-10 ship launched cruise missiles past Tiananmen Gate in Beijing during a September 2015 military parade marking the end of World War II NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Moscow of disregarding the inspection protocols enshrined in the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty
Nigeria's election commission on Saturday rejected claims of political interference after its last-minute postponement of presidential elections, as voters caught unawares hit out at the announcement. The Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced a one-week delay just hours before polls to elect the head of Africa's most populous nation were due to open at 0700 GMT. It blamed logistical difficulties, including problems in the distribution of ballot papers and results sheets, as well as sabotage, after three fires at its offices in two weeks. But the two main political parties claimed the delay was part of a conspiracy to rig the results. International observers called for calm. President Muhammadu Buhari, 76, and his main challenger Atiku Abubakar, 72, returned to Abuja from their home towns in the northern states of Katsina and Adamawa. In the capital, INEC chairman Mahmood Yakubu, rejected assertions of a political conspiracy. "Our decision was entirely taken by the commission," he told a news conference. He added that it had "nothing to do with political influence". Voters arrived early to vote only to find many of the nearly 120,000 polling units deserted and unstaffed. "Why didn't they announce the delay earlier? Why make the announcement in the middle of the night?" asked Chidi Nwakuna, a businessman in the southern city of Port Harcourt. Just hours before the announcement, Boko Haram jihadists killed at least eight people in an attack on the northeastern city of Maiduguri. - Logistical problems - Rumours began circulating late on Friday about a possible postponement after widespread reports of problems with the delivery of election materials, including ballot papers. INEC commissioners held emergency talks and after examining the logistics plans concluded the timetable was "no longer feasible", Yakubu said in his early hours announcement. Presidential and parliamentary elections are now set for February 23, and governorship and state assembly elections have been pushed back to March 9. "This was a difficult decision for the commission to take but necessary for the successful delivery of elections and the consolidation of our democracy," he added. The two main political parties swiftly accused each other of orchestrating the delay as a way of manipulating the vote, a sentiment echoed by voters, some of whom had travelled long distances to vote in their hometowns. "I see this postponement of the election as a... ploy to rig," said Oyi Adamezie in Warri, in the southern state of Delta. - Disappointment - Nigeria has postponed voting before: in 2015, INEC announced a six-week delay just one week before the election, citing security concerns linked to Boko Haram. The six-week delay was seen as a way for then president Goodluck Jonathan to claw back votes after a strong challenge from Buhari, an opposition candidate. The same argument may be made again, with little to separate Buhari and Abubakar in the campaign. Yet even before the delay announcement, challenges were apparent in the vote's organisation. In many areas suffering intermittent electricity supply and poor road infrastructure, thousands of INEC agents had been working into the night to deliver election materials. "They had much time to prepare," said Austin Onwusoanya, a civil servant in the largest city Lagos who was to manage a polling unit that now stood unused. "There are other things going on." - Campaign trail - The postponement comes after an election campaign in which Buhari had sought to portray himself as a continuity candidate. He came to power in 2015 on a promise to defeat Boko Haram, tackle rampant corruption and improve the country's oil-dependent economy. But the jihadists still mount attacks, and there is growing insecurity elsewhere. Slow growth, as the economy limps back from recession, has also hit Buhari's stock. So, too, has the perception he has only targeted political opponents as part of his high-profile anti-corruption campaign. Buhari's alleged shortcomings have been a feature of Abubakar's campaign, who has billed himself as a modern, energetic and pro-business leader. The former vice-president's past has also featured prominently, as the ruling party resurrected controversies from his time in office and alleged links to corruption. The election -- the sixth in the 20 years since civilian rule was restored -- is likely to be one of the last times men of Buhari and Abubakar's generation will feature so prominently. They have been fixtures on Nigeria's turbulent political scene for decades and are the oldest on the ballot. Just over half of the 84 million registered voters are aged 18-35, prompting calls for more representative candidates unburdened by involvement in Nigeria's traumatic past. Nigeria's presidential and parliamentary elections have been postponed for a week due to logistical problems The election was postponed just hours before voting was due to start at nearly 120,000 polling stations Rescheduling could prove a headache for voters who travelled to their home states to cast their ballot In areas with poor road infrastructure election commission agents had worked into the night to deliver polling materials
President Donald Trump's declaration of an emergency Friday to build a border wall immediately drew legal challenges that could easily escalate into a landmark test of the balance of power between the White House and Congress. Legal experts said it was "unprecedented" for a president to use his emergency powers to overcome Congress's refusal to fund his wishes, in this case a barrier on the US-Mexican border to keep out illegal immigrants. They also questioned Trump's categorization of the immigration issue as a national emergency and his tapping military funds for a non-military project. Hours after the announcement, the Trump administration faced an investigation by the House Judiciary committee and lawsuits from New York, California and the American Civil Liberties Union. "President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up 'national emergency' in order to seize power and subvert the constitution," said California Governor Gavin Newsome. "California will see you in court." Trump said he expected a legal fight and predicted he would prevail. "We will have a national emergency, and we will then be sued," Trump said Friday. "Then we will end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully we will get a fair shake, and we'll win in the Supreme Court." - Dangerous precedent - Trump invoked the 1976 National Emergencies Act after Congress refused to allocate his requested $5.7 billion for a wall in a spending bill. The White House says the emergency order empowers it to pull around $6.6 billion from other sources, mostly already-allocated funds in the Defense Department budget. Democrats accused the president of an unconstitutional power grab. "The president's actions clearly violate the Congress's exclusive power of the purse," Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leaders in Congress, said in a joint statement. It is a precedent-setting move, said American University law professor Jennifer Daskal, adding that the National Emergencies Act had "never been used in that way, for good reason." Critics warn that Trump opened the door for future presidents to call on the act whenever they fail to get their way with Congress. A frustrated Democratic president might some day invoke it to get funds to fight ongoing "emergencies" of climate change and gun proliferation. The White House dismissed this argument, underscoring how a court showdown might proceed. "This actually creates zero precedent. This is authority given to the president in law already," said acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney. "It's not as if he just didn't get what he wanted, so he is waving a magic wand and taking a bunch of money." - A real 'emergency'? - Any legal battle will focus on the definition of "emergency." The emergencies act "does not provide any explicit limitations on what does and does not constitute a national emergency," Daskal told AFP. Previous governments have declared emergencies based on the act due to immediate threats such as the September 11, 2001 attacks and the 2009 outbreak of swine flu. Trump said the emergency now is the flow of drugs and violent criminals across the border. In the abstract, he appears within his rights. However, said Bobby Chesney, the associate dean at the University of Texas School of Law, "litigation won't be in abstract." "The pretext issue looms large here," he said in a comment on Twitter. He was referring to the problem of Trump resorting to declaring the border issue an emergency after spending two years in a losing political battle for wall funding. Trump himself appeared to undermine his argument as he announced the emergency on Friday. "I didn't need to do this, but I'd rather do it much faster," he said. - Land, military issues - Daskal expects border landowners also to sue to protect their property rights. "A lot of the land that's at issue is not federal land, it's private land," she said. Chesney points to a challenge over the use of military funds. Defense Department rules say that, even if diverted, construction funds must be for a project that "requires the use of the armed forces." The wall, however, has been cast from the outset as a civilian project. "That is the main point of litigation vulnerability," said Chesney. US President Donald Trump said he expected a legal fight over his border wall but predicted he would prevail A family of Central American migrants look through the US-Mexico border fence near Tijuana, Mexico US workers building a border wall between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
Tens of thousands of Iranians called for "revenge" Saturday at the funeral of 27 Revolutionary Guards killed in a suicide attack perpetrated by jihadists that Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting. "The government of Pakistan must pay the price of harbouring these terrorist groups and this price will undoubtedly be very high," said Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist outfit Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice"). "The Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer observe the previous reservations and will directly act to counter such acts," Jafari told mourners gathered at the city of Isfahan's Bozorgmehr Square. The comments by Jafari, commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, came a day ahead of a planned two-day visit to Pakistan by Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia. Jafari blamed Pakistan's army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency, saying that "sheltering and silence" amounts to supporting the perpetrators. As he left the podium, people shouted "Commander of Sepah (Farsi for Revolutionary Guards) -- Revenge! Revenge!". The Wednesday bombing targeted a busload of Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, which straddles the border with Pakistan. Jaish al-Adl was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Sunni extremist group Jundallah (Soldiers of God), which waged a deadly insurgency for a decade before it was severely weakened by the capture and execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi in 2010. Jafari also blasted "the traitorous governments of Saudi Arabia and (the) Emirates" and said Iran will no longer tolerate their "hidden support for anti-Islam thugs and Takfiri groups". He called on President Hassan Rouhani and the country's Supreme National Security Council to give the guards more freedom to carry out "retaliatory operations," but did not elaborate. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has linked the perpetrators of Wednesday's attack to "the spying agencies of some regional and trans-regional countries". - 'We will never submit' - Black flags attached to lamp-posts adorned Isfahan as the city prepared for the funeral and two days of mourning. When the bodies of the troops arrived on the back of Toyota vans -- the guards' signature vehicles -- their comrades, women in black veils and young men in jeans were there to greet them. Tens of thousands chanted "Down with America!" and "We will never submit!" Iran's flag could be seen at half-mast in Bozorgmehr Square's southeastern side, and the crowd chanted "Allahu Akbar" each time the speaker read the names of the dead. The troops killed in the bombing belonged to the Guards' 14th Imam Hussein Division, which is based in Isfahan province, according to Tasnim news agency. Aged from 21 to 52, each will be buried in his hometown after the funeral. A housekeeper originally from Khuzestan province, where a deadly attack killed 24 last year, told AFP of the thirst for revenge. "We demand that the blood of these troops be avenged," said Tayebbeh Rezaee, 34. "They cannot weaken the Islamic Republic in any way -- not war, not economic attacks. So they have to stoop to such acts." - Restive Sistan - Sistan-Baluchistan has long been a flashpoint, where Pakistan-based Baluchi separatists and jihadists carry out cross-border raids. A Revolutionary Guard was killed and five wounded in a February 2 attack claimed by Jaish al-Adl on a base of the Basij militia in the town of Nikshahr, some way from the border. One of the wounded -- Khodarahm Heidari, who was critically injured in that attack -- died on Saturday, semi-official news agency ISNA reported. On January 29 three members of an Iranian bomb squad sent to the scene of an explosion in the provincial capital Zahedan were wounded when a second device blew up as they were trying to defuse it, police said at the time. And in early December two people were killed and around 40 others wounded in the port city of Chabahar, also in Sistan-Baluchistan, in an attack which Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif blamed on "foreign-backed terrorists" -- a reference to Sunni Muslim extremists. In October, Jaish al-Adl claimed responsibility for abducting 12 Iranian security personnel near the border with Pakistan. Iranian mourners gather around coffins of Revolutionary Guards during their funeral in the city of Isfahan on February 16, 2019 Iranians in Isfahan on Saturday mourned the victims of a Wednesday bombing that killed 27 Revolutionary Guards in the volatile southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards attend the funeral of fellow guards who were killed in Wednesday's suicide attack Tens of thousands chanted "down with America" and "we will never submit" at the funeral of Revolutionary Guards killed in Wednesday's attack by a jihadist group Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting
A US man being fired from his job shot dead five co-workers at a factory on the outskirts of Chicago and wounded five police officers before being gunned down himself, in the country's latest mass shooting. The gunfire took place at 1:24 pm (1924 GMT) at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois, a suburb 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago, the country's third-largest city. Police named the suspect as Gary Martin, 45, of Aurora. He was a 15-year employee of the company and "information that we have indicates that he was being terminated today," said Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman. The shooting came the day after Nancy Pelosi, the powerful speaker of the House of Representatives, said gun violence is a "national emergency" far more real than the one President Donald Trump ultimately declared Friday to build his wall at the Mexican border. Police Chief Ziman did not have further details about why Martin was being fired, whether the killing was pre-meditated, or whether the victims were involved in his dismissal. "Five employees were located deceased inside the building," and preliminary reports indicated they were killed before police arrived, Ziman told reporters. One other employee was wounded but his life was not in danger, she said. Responding to multiple calls about a shooting at the company, which supplies water valves and employs about 200 people, officers were immediately confronted by Martin. He shot and wounded two of them with a Smith & Wesson handgun, the chief said. As other officers arrived they entered the building, about half the size of a football field, to hunt for the retreating gunman and rescue people. Three more officers were shot but none of the five appeared to be in a critical condition, Ziman said. After about 90 minutes, officers inside the "vast, vast building" located the gunman who opened fire again and was killed by returning fire from police, she said. Witnesses told local media the shooter was a disgruntled employee. They said they locked themselves in nearby buildings as he began firing. Aerial TV footage showed dozens of police cars, ambulances and fire trucks at the scene as officers with shields entered the complex. John Probst, who was in the building when the shooting began but was able to escape, told the local ABC TV affiliate he recognized the gunman as a co-worker. "What I saw was the guy running down the aisles with a pistol with a laser on it," he said. "We were just scared." Nancy Caal, an employee of a nearby repair workshop, told the Daily Herald newspaper she and three others had heard numerous emergency sirens, and so "went and shut the front gate and locked all of the doors." In a tweet, President Trump praised the "great job by law enforcement in Aurora, Illinois" and sent "heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families. America is with you!" The shooting came a day after the first anniversary of the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former pupil killed 14 students and three staff, re-igniting a push for gun control. In the year since, nearly 1,200 children still lost their lives to firearms and there have been other mass shootings including the October murder of 11 Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue. In January a gunman killed five people at a bank in Sebring, Florida. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, said Friday's tragedy was part of an epidemic of gun violence. "Tomorrow, the families of the victims will be less than whole. They join a group that should not exist, and yet continues to grow," Pritzker said. A coalition of gun control advocacy groups also condemned the murderous attack, saying it was the 198th mass shooting in the last 10 years. "This is a horrifying reminder of how hard we have to work to prevent gun violence," Holly Blastic, with Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, said in a statement. Definitions of "mass shooting" vary, but a Washington Post database has recorded 162 cases in which four or more people were killed since 1966. Many of the deadliest shootings have occurred in the last few years, the database shows. In a presidential message Thursday to mark the Parkland anniversary, Trump recommitted to "ensuring the safety of all Americans." "Let us declare together, as Americans, that we will not rest until our schools are secure and our communities are safe," Trump said. Police secure the area following a shooting at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, Illinois Workers are escorted from the property after the shooting at the Henry Pratt Company, where five employees were killed Police search the home of Gary Martin, 45, who was killed by police after he opened fire at the Henry Pratt Company Workers look out an office window at the Henry Pratt Company, on the outskirts of Chicago, after the shooting which witnesses blamed on a disgruntled employee
Scientific and public health experts believe a disease impacting deer should be treated as a public health issue, reportedly expressing growing concerns about its possibility of spreading to humans someday.

Earlier this month, experts from the University of Minnesota told lawmakers about their thoughts on chronic wasting disease, which is is treated as a hunting and wildlife concern at present, Pioneer Press reports.

Michael Osterholm, director for the Universitys Centre for Infectious Disease Research and Policy spoke at the hearing last week.

It is my best professional judgment based on my public health experience and the risk of BSE transmission to humans in the 1980s and 1990s and my extensive review and evaluation of laboratory research studies  that it is probable that human cases of CWD associated with the consumption of contaminated meat will be documented in the years ahead, Mr Osterholm said, according to Pioneer Press.

It is possible that number of human cases will be substantial and will not be isolated events.

Chronic wasting disease was first recognised in captive deer in the 1960s and in wild deer in 1981.

But as of last month, it had been reported in free-ranging deer, elk and/or moose in at least 24 states in the US as and two provinces in Canada, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states.

There have been no instances of the disease reported in humans.

Some Minnesota state lawmakers want to crack down on deer farms as concern grows about the stubborn persistence of chronic wasting disease among wild deer in a couple pockets of the state. (AP Photo/Janet Hostetter, File)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website site said chronic wasting disease is a progressive and fatal illness, and animals who are infected may have a variety of changes in appearance and behaviour as it develops.

These may include: drastic weight loss (wasting), stumbling, lack of coordination, listlessness, drooling, excessive thirst or urination, drooping ears, lack of fear of people, and aggression, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website states.

It is believed that once introduced to an area or farm the protein can spread quickly within deer populations.

Story continues

Scientists believe CWD proteins (prions) likely spread between animals through body fluids like feces, saliva, blood, or urine, either through direct contact or indirectly through environmental contamination of soil, food or water, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Experts also think animals can contract the disease after an infected animal has died as they believe the proteins can stay in the environment for a long time.

The organisation says there were 24 states with reported CWD in free-ranging deer as of January this year. Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The organisation says the diseases prion has also been shown to experimentally pass infection onto laboratory mice that carry some human genes and squirrel monkeys.

To date, there is no strong evidence for the occurrence of CWD in people, and it is not known if people can get infected with CWD prions, it adds.

Nevertheless, these experimental studies raise the concern that CWD may pose a risk to people and suggest that it is important to prevent human exposures to CWD.
1. Yes. Its important for students to stay focused throughout the year. Its a plus.

2. Yes. It would fill the learning gaps caused by COVID and would help cut youth crime.

3. No. Students and teachers deserve a summer break. Year-round school wont work.

4. No. It wouldnt work with the militarys summer PCS schedule. Its a bad idea.

5. Unsure. Its hard to say without knowing how the school calendar would work.

Vote

View Results
China must be involved in international disarmament efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday, amid rising concern about Beijing's missile arsenal and the suspension of a key US-Russia arms treaty. "Disarmament is something that concerns us all and where we would of course be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe and Russia but also with China," said Merkel. The United States began pulling out of a landmark Cold War missile control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, this month in response to Moscow's deployment of the 9M729 missile, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal. While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have also voiced concern that the INF -- a bilateral treaty between the US and Russia -- does nothing to constrain rapidly growing military power China. According to a new report by the Institute for Strategic Studies, up to 95 percent of China's arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles would be in breach of the INF if Beijing were party to it. Given this, "it is difficult to envision a scenario under which China would today enter a regime such as the INF Treaty," the report said. Germany is organising an international conference in Berlin next month to start talks about how to create an arms control regime to replace the one forged in the bipolar Cold War era. A DF-5B missile is displayed in a military parade at Tiananmen Square in Beijing on September 3, 2015
Night owls, aka people who are late to bed and late to rise, may be at a disadvantage in jobs with typical working hours of 9am to 5pm, a study has found.

As anyone who has ever struggled to drag themselves out of bed will know, some of us just arent morning people.

In fact, around half of us (between 40% and 50%) are night owls, who prefer going to sleep later and getting up after 8:20, while others are morning larks who prefer early bedtimes and earlier wake-ups.

Morning larks constantly outperformed night owls in tests throughout the day. Photo: Getty Images

And while there is a proven genetic basis for the night owl/morning lark theory, many traditional workplaces still insist on working hours of roughly 9am to 5pm  which makes life especially difficult for night owls, according to the latest research.

The researchers took 38 people who identified as either morning larks or night owls and assessed them between the hours of 8am to 8pm, asking them to do various tasks and report on their tiredness levels.

Morning larks reported as least sleepy and had their quickest reaction times during the morning tests.

Meanwhile, while night owls performed better in the evening (8pm) compared to in the morning  but they did not perform significantly better than the larks even at this later time.

Whats more, at all time points throughout the day, the morning larks outperformed the evening owls in tests  suggesting the latter group continue to be at a disadvantage throughout the day.

What does this mean for night owls?

The findings could be partly driven by the fact that night owls tend to be compromised throughout their lives, according to lead researcher Dr Elise Facer-Childs, of the University of Birminghams Centre for Human Brain Health.

Night owls during school have to get up earlier, then they go into work and they have to get up earlier, so theyre constantly having to fight against their preferences and their innate rhythms.

Dr Facer-Childs added: A typical day might last from 09:00 to 17:00, but for a night owl this could result in diminished performance during the morning, lower brain connectivity in regions linked to consciousness, and increased daytime sleepiness.

Story continues

She suggested more flexible working hours could benefit society as a whole.

If, as a society, we could be more flexible about how we manage time, we could go a long way towards maximising productivity and minimising health risks.

And it seems as if some schools may be catching on to the benefit of later start times, with British MPs debating calls for the school day to start at 10am to help tired teenagers.

Morning people dont just have an easier time of it at school and at work  they also benefit from a health perspective.

Those who peak in the early hours of the day are less at risk of breast cancer compared to their evening counterparts, according to a study published last year.

Got a story tip? Send it to lifestyle.tips@verizonmedia.com

Want more lifestyle and celebrity news? Follow Yahoo Lifestyle on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Or sign up to our daily newsletter here.
With brutal honesty, the women tell their stories. They give their solutions and ask pertinent questions to probe further thinking that requires honesty and humility.

The anthology is a 280-page book containing 84 entries from 40 women writers  both established and emerging. The stories, poems and essays contain accounts by women striving to create a better and stronger PNG for women. Their words are immortalised in this book.

The launching of the anthology, My Walk to Equality, on that day was a bold step toward putting the spotlight on womens issues in Papua New Guinea.

Rashmii Amoah Bell, the editor, says in her essay, Embracing the dark future to see PNG emerge into the light, that change can happen through literature. She advocates the use of writing as a tool, to explore new ground  including taboo subjects  as a means for starting conversations and looking for solutions.

This is one way PNG women can create a better and stronger PNG, by just telling our stories. Our stories may be accepted or they may be rejected but they will exist as beacons in our walk to equality. Through our stories we walk into the dark future to emerge into light.

Be bold because courage is contagious

Being bold in the face of challenges is one way women can create a better and stronger PNG because courage is contagious.

Caroline Evari relocates with her family from Port Moresby to Oro and, after a while, she returns alone to Port Moresby.

She goes through a lot of struggles but comes out a victor. She says your mind is your greatest enemy, not the people around you. Reach for the stars and keep running until you have achieved your goal.

On the walk to equality, we have to be bold and courageous, because there are eyes watching.

As women, we ask for permission to do a lot of things, but the first thing we need to do is to give ourselves permission to be great.

In Madlyn Baidas story, a village lass wants to learn to read and write and get an education. She allows herself to dream. Once she knows her dream, she sees the opportunities. Her husband provides support and enables to achieve her freedom.

Be good at what you do because that is the currency that will take womens voice to the table for negotiations

To create a better and stronger PNG, we need to get more women into decision-making positions so that they may show favourable consideration to women as they walk to equality.

There is an adage that says, if you are good at what you do, you will serve before Kings. Do something with your life.

Be good at something. It does not matter what you do or whether you are as young as Iriani Wanma, the author of the grasshopper story, or middle aged or somewhere in between. If you are good you will be favoured. And when you are recognised, make use of your position to address the plight of the sisterhood.

We already have many role models who have done just that. Women can always match the stride of the society. Some of these prominent PNG women include Winifred Kamit, Finckewe Zurenuo, Jane Mogina, Betty Lovai and the late Judge Davani, whose tribute can be seen in the anthology.

I am as proud of the sisterhood at the Division of Education in Simbu as told by Roslyn Tony. Despite a lot of pushback from a paternalistic society, these women acted with integrity and transparency and were eventually accepted as leaders in their communities.

We have to be responsible for the sisterhood

Even if women make up 50% of the population, we are treated as a minority due to our positions in the community. We have a duty of care to stand up for our sisters.

If only I could save you, youd still have a heartbeat. This eerie phrase from Vanessa Gordons poem Drum Beat is haunting. It is full of regret. We have to take action to help a sister and the children and the helpless.

To help our sisters we have to know our rights. Dominica Are tells the story of how Pauline saved her life by walking away from a bad situation because she knew her rights. Not many women have that knowledge.

It is our duty to teach as well as mentor other woman to be the best. Alurigo does that with the XOX: We are Champions group. It does not have to be on the national stage but at our own little spheres of influence.

We have to support any form of education. The most inspiring story I read was by Alphonse Huvi from West New Britain. Her father was against her education and did not make resources available.

But, through support from her auntie Oripa, Alphonse became a teacher and was eventually accepted by her father. We have a duty to support our girls to get an education.

Too big a work for women alone  patriarchy can help

Patriarchy can play a big role to helping women build a better and stronger PNG.

In the anthology, there are six stories that pay tribute to patriarchy for being the source of strength for women. This shows the important role of the male gender in helping women in our walk to equality.

Helen Anderson in her essay, Mixed-race Meri Markham, pays tribute to her male relatives for helping her fit into society. Emma Wapki also pays tribute to her male relatives for being fair, loving and supportive

The fine story by Alurigo on Sir Dawanicura is an example of leaders leading by example. He has brought a family friendly atmosphere to the PNG Olympics Committee.

Family is the basic building block of society if we do not lead with wisdom and flexibility in these changing times, we will contribute to the breakdown in family, which will lead to breakdown in society and eventually breakdown in the nation.

The society will not change until the family changes

Families are the cornerstone of societies. We learn how to be function as members of society by learning from within our family circles. We build from strength to strength when we have a stable roots. A stable family can be the base for creating a better and stronger PNG.

Florence Jonduo talks about parenting children says that the children are innocent, they are brought up without their permission and that is why, adults we have moral and legal obligation to look after them. And whatever we teach them when they are young, sets them up for life.

But sometimes children turn out wrong. Whose fault is that when we observe generations of young people who have no plans for life, the lost men as Marlene Dee Gray Potoura describes the situation. Marlene asks a pertinent question, Are the lost men the fault of women?

Rosyln Tony also asks some hard questions about why things are falling apart in our society. If we honestly answer the questions, we may find that it will lead us to families and that is where we may come up with long-lasting and meaning full solutions for the problems we see in our society.

Conclusion

No women or group of women can fully address those pertinent questions single-handed. We need the help of society through policies and laws.

As we look at shaping policies for the future, I hope we all take those important decisions from the perspective of young mothers.

Lapieh Landu in her poem Fear Unbearable writes about her fears for her baby as she contemplates the future.

If all people responsible for creating laws can make those laws from the position of new mothers, looking at her helpless infant, then we would take all the necessary steps to secure a better future for the generation yet to come.

For we are fighting a cause that is not for us but for the future generation.

My Walk to Equality is still available from Amazon Books for $US10.53 plus postage. You can link to the page here
Estonian Minister of Defence Juri Luik confirmed the Ministry of Defences action plan for the period 2020-2023. According to Estonian Minister of Defence Luik, servicemen are at the centre of the new action plan. In 2018, together with the Commander of the Defence Forces, we made the decision to raise the average salary of active servicemen from the current average of around 30% to 33% above the Estonian average,' said Luik.



Estonian soldiers during military exercise (Picture source Estonia MoD)

The new action plan will considerably improve the command and communications capability of the Defence Forces, notably increasing the combat support capability (supplying of the combat service support and pioneer battalions of brigades) of the Defence Forces, and supplying the recently created Cyber Command.

In 2018 the Defence League formed the centre of gravity of the large-scale training Exercise Siil (Hedgehog). With more than 18,000 participants, it was the largest military training exercise following the restoration of Estonias independence and the second largest within NATO in 2018.

The Defence League occupies an important place within the scope of the action plan. The amount of support set aside for it will increase to EUR 43 million per year by 2023, plus additional investments in the territorial defence structure of the Defence Forces prepared on the basis of the Defence League.

Investments will continue to be made in equipment, for example, the acquisition of night vision equipment as well as bulletproof and splinterproof vests. The replacement of firearms and machine guns, as well as man-portable anti-tank weapons, will also commence. Investments in ammunition supplies continues to occupy an important place.

By 2023, all planned self-propelled artillery units will have arrived in Estonia and long-range anti-tank systems will be acquired.

In 2019 the Air Force will be supplied with M-28 airplanes, the Navy will receive two new cutters and mobile sea surveillance radar during the planning period, to ensure the survivability of sea surveillance during wartime.

The Action Plan for the Period 2020-2023 for the Area of Government of the Ministry of Defence describes military national defence objectives and the required resources for achieving those objectives, the allocation of which proceeds from the National Development Plan for Defence for the Period 2017-2026, the military advice of the Commander of the Defence Forces, and NATO force capability objectives.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan has held a meeting today with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif during the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Mnatsakanyan and Zarif addressed a broad circle of issues related to the Armenian-Iranian relations, pointing out commercial, energy, transportation and tourism sectors as important directions for cooperation, according to a news release from the Armenian foreign ministry.

Both sides emphasized readiness to take steps for further development of bilateral relations.

The ministers attached importance to conducting regular contacts and meetings, and in this context emphasized the upcoming visit of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Iran, which is a good chance to address the multi-sector bilateral cooperation and to outline joint steps.

A number of regional and international issues were also on the agenda.

FM Mnatsakanyan presented to FM Zarif Armenias approaches in the direction of the NK conflict settlement.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held a meeting on February 16 within the framework of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

According to Sarkissians office, the sides discussed a broad circle of issues of bilateral interest.

In particular, they spoke about enhancing strategic cooperation in various sectors, effective management of food industry and water resources. Armen Sarkissian noted that the two countries have big opportunities for partnership and Armenia can have important role in production and supply of quality water and healthy food.

The Armenian president invited the Emir of Qatar to pay an official visit to Armenia. In turn, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani invited the Armenian president to visit Qatar, Sarkissians office said in a news release.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Russias Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov have held a meeting within the framework of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a news release.

During the meeting the [sides] discussed a number of issues concerning the allied relations of the two countries, as well as cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats. The [foreign ministers] of Armenia and Russia exchanged ideas over a number of issues of the regional and international agenda. Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Sergey Lavrov addressed the peaceful settlement process of the Karabakh conflict, reads the news release.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian FM Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Croatian FM Marija Pejcinovic Buric held a meeting on February 16 during the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

During the meeting the ministers emphasized mutual readiness to take steps for enhancing bilateral agenda in the direction of utilizing the existing potential, the foreign ministry said in a news release.

The need for expanding partnership in international organizations and boosting political dialogue was highlighted in this context.

FM Mnatsakanyan presented the priorities of the Armenian governments development agenda.

The sides also exchanged ideas over the Armenia-EU partnership. In this context, Mnatsakanyan noted that the Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement enables new opportunities for cooperation with member countries of the European Union.

A number of international and regional issues were also discussed at the meeting.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and foreign minister of Latvia Edgars Rinkevics have held a meeting during the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Mnatsakanyan congratulated his Latvian counterpart on taking office and wished good luck in his mission.

The sides discussed a broad circle of issues of the Armenian-Latvian agenda and emphasized commitment for taking practical steps for boosting political dialogue and economic cooperation. IT, e-governance, banking and food safety sectors were noted as priority directions for cooperation. At the same time, initiating joint programs for exchange of experience was also highlighted.

The sides also discussed the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement between Armenia and the European Union, and FM Mnatsakanyan noted that it is an effective tool to boost cooperation not only with the EU, but also with individual EU member countries in the multilateral and bilateral formats. He emphasized the importance of the agreement for advancing the governments development program.

Speaking about the Armenian sides approaches in the peaceful settlement process of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Armenian FM emphasized the importance for creating and strengthening an atmosphere contributing to peace.



Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah held a meeting February 15 in Germany on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

A number of issues of the bilateral agenda were discussed. The FMs praised the productive cooperation between the two countries in bilateral and multilateral formats, which in their words creates a good foundation for taking practical steps for the full utilization of existing potential.

Strengthening the trade-economic cooperation was emphasized as a priority direction.

The Armenian FM briefed his Omani counterpart on the domestic political developments, emphasizing the governments commitment for fulfilling a broad reforms agenda, the core of which is to encourage an economy based on technological and innovative progress.

FM Mnatsakanyan also attached importance to the need of enhancing and deepening tourism, business and cultural ties, and expand the legal-contractual area.

At the request of FM Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, FM Mnatsakanyan presented Armenias approaches in the process of the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
Three men held for fake abduction

Ajaya Kumar Sah, 22, of Belauni in Janakpur-17 was taken into custody after he was found guilty of concocting his own abduction with the help of his friends, Samsad Nadaf, 20, of Janakpur-23, and Arbinda Yadav, 25, of Gadhimai Municipality-8 in Rautahat, to fleece Rs 1.5 million from his parents.
STEPANAKERT, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani military have breached the ceasefire in the Artsakh line of contact around 220 times from February 10 to February 16, firing more than 1700 rounds from different caliber small arms, the Defense Ministry of Artsakh said in a news release.

It did not mention injuries or damages.

The Defense Army adheres to the ceasefire regime and confidently continues service, the ministry said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and Dutch counterpart Stef Blok held a meeting on February 15 in Germany within the framework of the Munich Security Conference.

Mnatsakanyan and Blok discussed a number of issues concerning the Armenia-Netherlands relations in bilateral and multilateral formats, outlining joint steps for further enhancing cooperation and realizing untapped potential.

As promising directions for deepening bilateral trade-economic ties, the foreign ministers pointed out information technologies, agriculture and healthcare.

Mnatsakanyan presented Armenias achievements in high technologies, innovation and creative education, and in this context attached importance to the participation of Dutch companies in the upcoming 2019 World Congress on Information Technology that will take place in Yerevan in October.

Speaking on relations with the European Union, FM Mnatsakanyan reiterated the Armenian governments commitment on the effective application of CEPA, noting that the realization of the deal opens a broad area for partnership in both bilateral and multilateral formats.

Pressing regional and international issues were also discussed at the meeting, the ministry said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanyan held a meeting with UKs Minister of State for Europe and the Americas at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office Alan Duncan in Munich, Germany.

During the meeting the sides discussed issues related to deepening cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats, the Armenian foreign ministry said in a news release. Mnatsakanyan and Duncan expressed readiness to take practical steps for enriching the Armenia-UK agenda.

The Armenian FM briefed Duncan on the latest domestic developments in Armenia and emphasized the new governments commitment to continue reforms in different sectors, and in this context valued the continuous assistance provided by the United Kingdom.

Speaking about the governments priorities, the FM said that the focus on the development agenda is on encouraging an economy based on information technologies, innovation and creative education. He said that joint efforts in this direction will open new prospects for cooperation.

Mnatsakanyan and Duncan also exchanged views on a number of international and regional issues.

At Duncans request, Mnastakanyan presented Armenias approaches in the direction of the NK conflict settlement, emphasizing the importance for developing an atmosphere contributing to peace and the need to refrain from steps aimed at escalation and aggressive rhetoric.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenias foreign minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan and French President Emmanuel Macrons diplomatic adviser Philippe Etienne held a meeting on February 15 in Munich, Germany.

During the meeting the sides exchanged views on expanding the Armenian-French relations and further enriching the bilateral multi-sphere partnership agenda, according to the foreign ministry. In this context they spoke highly about the bilateral political dialogue and were pleased to note that it is being marked with regular high level mutual visits and contacts.

Mnatsakanyan and Etienne concurred that the Armenian community of France has a great contribution in the current relations between the countries and the traditional friendly ties between the two peoples, as a unique bridge linking Armenia and France.

Speaking about the Armenia-European Union relations, the sides attached importance to CEPA, which enables new opportunities for developing cooperation in different sectors with EU countries.

FM Mnatsakanyan briefed Etienne on the Armenian governments priorities, pointing out high technologies, innovation and creative education as priorities of the development agenda. The sides were pleased to note that these sectors have already produced good examples of Armenia-France cooperation. They also spoke about partnership in international arenas, particularly highlighting the La Francophonie platform.

The foreign minister reiterated Armenias commitment to the exclusively peaceful settlement of the NK conflict under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship, attaching importance to the efforts of France, together with the other OSCE MG Co-Chairs  Russia and USA - , in this direction.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan has held a meeting with workers of the Alaverdi Copper Smelter.

Member of Parliament Aren Mkrtchyan and Governor of Lori Andrey Ghukasyan were also in attendance. The factory is located in the province of Lori and has been closed indefinitely.

Employees of the plant asked to be briefed on the latest developments around the factory and the governments approach on the smelters fate.

Avinyan told the workers that the issue of the Alaverdi Copper Smelter is a priority for the government.

He said the government is interested in a speedy resolution of the issue and preservation of jobs.

Now, negotiations are underway between the VTB Bank and ACP company regarding the further activities of the factory. The government is a mediator in these talks, trying to assist the parties in reaching an arrangement.

During the meeting an agreement was reached that the workers will maintain direct contact with Avinyans office on the developments.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS. Armenian President Armen Sarkissian and Albanian President Ilir Meta held a meeting on February 15 in Germany on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

According to Sarkissians Office the meeting took place at the request of the Albanian side.

During the meeting the presidents mentioned that there is great untapped potential in the bilateral relations and attached importance to coherent work for developing partnership.

Speaking about regional conflicts, namely the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, the Armenian president said: Statements of any given country in favor of any given party cannot anyhow help the peaceful settlement of the problem. A format exists, within which negotiations are taking place.

Noting that Albania has good relations with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Meta said: We wish good luck to both countries in finding solutions in this issue.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 15, ARMENPRESS. Chess player and prolific chess author Irving Chernev once said Every chess master was once a beginner.

Strategy, discipline, math, patience, seems like the list of what chess can teach you can be quite long, but should it be taught in schools compulsory? This is the question that the education authorities in Armenia are currently discussing.

Since 2011, Armenia is breeding chess prodigies in public schools with a compulsory chess lesson in its curriculums. Chess in Armenia is highly popular today, as the country has produced many renowned grandmasters over the years.

But now, education authorities doubt whether or not chess should be a compulsory lesson at schools.

Since the introduction of the program, parents have claimed that their children's school curriculum was already complicated and overloaded.

The Ministry of Education and Science intends to scrap a few lessons from curriculums in the new academic year program as part of reforms. One of the lessons under consideration is chess.

Minister Arayik Harutyunyan had said that the issue of keeping or removing chess lessons from curriculums is under discussion. According to him, there are problems and complaints concerning the lesson, mostly related to homework and teaching.

It took 6 years for the Chess Federation of Armenia and the Chess Academic Research Institute to introduce the lesson in schools.

Vahan Sargsyan, Deputy Director of the Chess Academic Research Institute, argues that studies show chess to be among the favorite lessons of children in schools. Studies show that chess leaves a positive impact on intellectual qualities and mentality. It is developing a creative mentality in children, he said.

However, not all parents are happy with the lessons.

Satenik Melkonyan, a mother whose school-aged child is learning chess, insists that the lesson causes difficulties for her. She says that parents themselves are also facing difficulties. Parents are suggesting a more natural approach, i.e. if a child demonstrates love and potential for learning chess, then they should go to special chess schools voluntarily.

Its already two years that my daughter is attending chess lessons at school, but I have to say that first of all we are having great troubles with homework since I personally dont know chess. My child has high progress in all lessons, except chess. I believe that if a child has love and potential for chess, then there are separate schools for it. It would be more appropriate for them to go to these schools. The majority of other parents of children from the same class agree with me, she said.

Chess grandmaster Smbat Lputyan, the founder of the Armenian Chess Academy, argues that chess is one of Armenias trademarks. Chess is developing rapidly around the world. Armenia is the only one to have already passed through it. We are passing down our experience to many countries of the world, he told ARMENPRESS.

Chess is a compulsory lesson in 1500 public schools in Armenia and Artsakh since 2011.

As of 2018, more than 50,000 school children at the 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades are being taught chess annually.

Teachers are undergoing special training programs three times every year.

When the program was adopted 8 years ago in Armenian schools, the decision was widely covered and praised by international journalists and chess experts.

Norwegian chess grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion Magnus Carlsen was among those praising the initiative.

I think that Armenias such approach, especially including chess in school program, sets a wonderful example to the whole world. That is a great step, Carlsen said during his visit to Armenia in 2014.

The child is constantly making strategic decisions, assessing the situation before making a move - I think this is a great benefit for society, Lputyan had said in 2018 for an interview with the BBC.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan
A group of diverse but like-minded individuals, the members of ARC have come together in their common desire to fight hatred, bigotry, intolerance and violence because of the harm these antisocial behaviors cause to our society. In that effort, we will not use or sanction the use of illegal actions (such as violence or intimidation) in pursuit of our desired aims and if we learn of anyone who does use these unethical methods we will report those individuals to the authorities. Instead, we will use the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensure freedom of legal speech and expression.
I dont think Ive ever seen a political statement triggering evidence (mixed) about its own truth as dramatically as Ilhan Omars quip that pro-Israeli bias in congress is about the Benjamins, baby. Its as if you wrote a letter criticizing the Post Office and had it returned to you with a USPS message stamped on it.

But lets dig down one level. The criticism, partly fair, of Omar is that she bought into (so to speak) the anti-semitic slur that Jewish money constitutes a secret conspiracy against the people. This is the old socialism-of-fools stuff, endlessly recycled by bigots right up until this morning; see the demonization of George Soros, for instance. Because it exists, people who want to combat bigotryand this includes progressive politiciansshould build a giant moat around it and not go there. By suggesting that hidden Jewish money had bribed Congress into blind support for Israel, Omar crossed a line. Its the same line that George Bush senior crossed with the Willie Horton ad, and that Trump crosses a dozen times every Twitter-soaked evening. Invoking a bigoted stereotype is a bad thing to do, especially for politicians with giant megaphones.

Yet the very response to Omars tweet demonstrated the truth she was stumbling for. A chorus of political and media honchos of every denomination, religious and political, rose up to denounce her. They didnt make fine distinctions and they didnt welcome a correction; their goal was to punish and silence. Sweeping accusations were made against Omars character, leaving the impression that any criticism of AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby, was proof of antisemitism. And this attempt to isolate and politically crush Omar was itself the embodiment of her protest. This is the power of AIPAC in action, the lobby that cant be named, the doctrinethe transcendental importance of Israel and the rightness of its religious self-definitionthat cant be questioned.

So the truth content of the original Omar tweet depends on how we explain this onslaught. If its really just about the Benjamins (the hundred dollar bills with Ben Franklin looking back at us), that means she was being trashed, directly or indirectly, for pay. Politicians joined the mob either to protect their campaign revenue or shield themselves from other politicians defending their own campaign revenue. How likely is that? The answer depends on two prior questions: how important is campaign finance in setting the basic contours of US policy, and what proportion of this finance is controlled or strongly influenced by AIPAC?

These are questions for specialists in these areas, not me. I will go out on a limb, however, and say that the truth lies between the endpoints: some but not all of the bias in the US political system is attributable to the influence of big donors, and AIPAC has a substantial but far less than a complete lock on the flow of political money. You could compare it to other lobbies, like the NRA (National Rifle Association) and AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), both of which are feared for their ability to alter the balance of funding in competitive political contests. But neither of these two outfits is immune from attack, while AIPAC is. Gun control advocates go after the NRA all the time, and, while AARP is not exactly a political lightening rod, the complaint that greedy seniors are stealing money from our children is a popular meme on the Right. So AIPAC is different. This difference does not seem to be about money, at least not solely, as important as money is to the system and the groups that try to dominate it. AIPAC appears to possess a complementary form of power, perhaps rooted in the infrastructure of synagogues and other religious organizations as well as the allegiance of many socially prominent Jews active in secular organizations. When it marshals this network, you get the sort of response we saw to Omar.

This was a ferocious rebuke of a politician, clearly intended to be career-ending. It will be interesting to see if she can recover without abandoning her advocacy of Palestinians; I certainly hope so. The attack on Omar, however, is itself the embodiment of the fear all of her colleagues have to feel, that if they step out of line on Israel they will be crushed. Catering, intentionally or otherwise, to antisemitic tropes is completely unnecessary: the proof of the pudding is in the attack on it.
Mangalsen Durbar sees 75 percent work in 10 years

The construction of Mangalsen Durbar, in Achham district, has been in limbo for the last 10 years The palace was bombed and severely damaged during the Maoist insurgency
Francis celebrated the opening Mass of the Liberi dalla paura meeting, which is promoted by Catholic associations dedicated to welcoming and integrating migrants. For the pontiff, fear is legitimate" vis-a-vis people different from us. But far too often, we refuse to encounter the other and raise barriers to defend ourselves. Instead, we are called to overcome fears to open ourselves to encountering others because Forsaking encountering [others] is not human.

Rome (AsiaNews)  Pope Francis celebrated Mass this afternoon at the Fraterna Domus, in Sacrofano, outside Rome, to mark the opening of a three-day Liberi dalla paura (Free from fear) meeting promoted and organised by the Migrantes Foundation, Caritas Italy and the Centro Astalli.

In his homily, the pontiff made a strong, heartfelt plea to welcome migrants, urging people not to be afraid, for Jesus is in the migrant knocking at our door. It is Jesus, even if it is difficult to recognise him because of his ragged clothes, dirty feet, deformed face, wounded body, unable to speak our language.

As he addressed the migrants and volunteers from Catholic associations dedicated to helping and integrating migrants, Francis centred his reflection on Dont be afraid, which Moses said to the Jews when, on the shores of the Red Sea, they saw pharaohs army approach, and which Jesus said to the apostles when he moved towards them walking on the water.

"Through these biblical episodes, the Lord speaks to us today and asks us to let him free us from our fears. 'Free from fear' is precisely the theme chosen for your meeting. Free from fear. Slavery is rooted in fear and so is every dictatorship, because the violence of the dictators grows out of people's fear."

"Confronted by the wickedness and ugliness of our time, we too, like the People of Israel, are tempted to abandon our dream of freedom. We feel legitimate fear in front of situations that seem to us to have no way out. The human words of a ruler or a prophet are not enough to reassure us when we fail to feel Gods presence and are unable to abandon ourselves to his providence. Thus, we turn inward, into our fragile human security, the circle of our loved ones, our reassuring routine. In the end, we give up the journey to the Promised Land and return to the slavery of Egypt."

"This withdrawal into ourselves, a sign of defeat, increases our fear of others, the outsiders, the marginalised, the foreigners. Who, however, are the privileged of the Lord. This is particularly visible when migrants and refugees arrive and knock on our door seeking protection, security and a better future. It is true, fear is legitimate, partly because nothing prepares us for this encounter.

As I said last year, on the occasion of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, It is not easy to enter into another culture, to put oneself in the shoes of people so different from us, to understand their thoughts and their experiences. As a result, we often refuse to encounter the other and raise barriers to defend ourselves. In fact, we are called to overcome fear by opening ourselves to the encounter. Forsaking encountering [others] is not human. To do this, rational justifications and statistical calculations are not enough. Moses told the people in front of the Red Sea, with a brutal enemy pursuing them, Dont be afraid, because the Lord does not abandon his people, but mysteriously acts in history to realise his plan of salvation. Moses spoke thus because he trusted God."

"Encountering others then is also encountering Christ. He told us this himself. He is the one knocks on our door hungry, thirsty, a foreigner, naked, sick and imprisoned, asking to be met and assisted. If we still had any doubts, here are his clear words: Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me (Mt 25:40). The Teachers encouragement to his disciples can also be understood in this other sense: Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid (Mt 14:27).

It is truly Him, even if our eyes find it hard to recognise him: ragged clothes, dirty feet, deformed face, wounded body, unable to speak our language . . . We too, like Peter, could be tempted to put Jesus to a test, ask him for a sign. And maybe, after some hesitant steps towards him, we would remain victims of our fears again. Yet, the Lord does not abandon us! Even though we are men and women of little faith, Christ continues to extend his hand to save us and allow us to meet him, an encounter that saves us and gives us back the joy of being his disciples."

"If this is a valid interpretation of our history of today, then we should begin to thank those who give us the opportunity of such an encounter, that is, the 'others' who knock on our doors, offering us the possibility of overcoming our fears so as to meet, welcome and assist Jesus in person."

"And those who had the strength to allow themselves to be freed from fear, those who have experienced the joy of this encounter, are called today to announce it on the roofs, openly, to help others do the same, preparing themselves to the encounter with Christ and his salvation. This grace brings with it a mission, the fruit of total reliance on the Lord, who for us is the only true certainty. For this reason, as individuals and communities, we are called to make our own the prayer of the redeemed people: My strength and my refuge is the LORD, and he has become my saviour (Ex 15:2).
Kathmandu metropolis to review its faulty building code

After receiving widespread criticism from heritage experts, conservationists and urban architects over Kathmandu Metropolitan Citys new Building Code 2075, the metropolis has announced to review the code and conduct an extended interaction with experts.
KATHMANDU,

The House of Representatives on Friday endorsed the Civil Servants Adjustment Bill by incorporating most of the demands raised by the civil servants However, some lawmakers have expressed concern over insufficient time to discuss the bill
Cabinet approves anti-dumping bill

The Cabinet has approved the Safeguards, Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Bill clearing the way for it to be tabled in Parliament The proposed legislation will allow the government to prevent dumping by imposing additional tariffs on foreign products that are being sold in the domestic market at less than their normal value
Janet Brennan signs her award-winning novel.

Janet Brennan signs her award-winning novel "Harriet Murphy: A Little Bit of Something" on Saturday, February 16 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM at Treasure House Books & Gifts, 2012 South Plaza NW in Old Town Albuquerque, NM. The event is free & open to the public. For more information call 505-242-7204.

Titilating character, Harriet Murphy entertains with her touching stories about life, love in this second in a series novel Harriet, the daughter of 49er goldmine parents has inherited the cabin her father built for the family in the foothills of the Lake Tahoe, along the Great American River.

Harriet Murphy moves forward with her adventures while raising adopted daughter, Rose Tender. It is now the turn of the century. This is a dramatic time in history, which includes changes for womens rights, family concerns, new inventions,and old perceptions that make living at this time in history a poignant challenge.

Come join Harriet as she regales you with her stories of her interesting life. You are sure to fall in love with her family, friends, loves and yes, even a few ghosties.

Bio

Janet K Brennan is a multi award winning author. She has had 13 books published and has been named  One of the best contemporary authors of our time by Dr Santos Kumar, Cyberwit Publishing. Janet is an international book critic. She recently won the award for the National Press Women for her article on Existentialism, a Myopic View This year her book Harriet Murphy, More than Enough won the best book award in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Award for Fiction, Drama and Action. Janet currently serves as Vice President of the New Mexico Book Assoc and is an editor for Chicken Soup for the Soul. Janet is a columnist for Mary Barnets  The Poetry Magazine as well as The Greenwich Village Gazette out of NYC, Richard Schiff
More details appeared in the case of ammunition cache explosion, which killed a sapper and injured three policemen in Donetsk region on Saturday.



According to the press service of the State Emergency Service regional department, captain of the Civil Defense Service Oleg Morgun died near the village of Pervomayske, Yasynuvatsky district of Donetsk at about 17:45.



The local police added that the ammunition cache was discovered in an uninhabited house. Wounded police officers were sent to Dnipro. Among them was a police officer from Kyiv and two employees of Druzhkivka town police station (Donetsk region).

Earlier we reported that on Saturday evening, February 16, a cache of ammunition exploded in Donbas, taking the life of the State Emergency Service sapper. Three more people were injured, all of them are police officers, head of the National Police of Ukraine Serhiy Knyazev told on Facebook.



"Half an hour ago, a group of police officers together with employees of the State Emergency Service left to explore a cache of ammunition found near the village of Pisky in the Yasynuvatsky district of the Donetsk region. An explosion took place during mine clearing and removal of the dangerous find. As a result, the sapper died on the spot, and three police officers received fragmentation injuries ", wrote Knyazev.



He added that the first medical aid had been provided to the wounded, and an air ambulance plane was sent to the site.



My condolences to the families and friends of the deceased, who was doing his duty, wrote the head of the National Police.
Open source

Canada is concerned of the presidential election in Ukraine to be transparent, and will provide $ 25 million to ensure security from external interference attempts. This was stated by Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland during a Ukrainian lunch at the Munich Security Conference, reports Novoye Vremya.



In addition, more than 100 people will come to Ukraine from Canada to monitor the integrity of the elections.



Many people in Ukraine are frustrated with reforms, there are many such persons even among my friends. Therefore, Ukrainians should get fair elections in order to decide who will rule their country, Freeland said.

Russia intends to send short-term observers within the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to Ukraine during the presidential elections, as the commentary of the Information Department and Russias Foreign Ministry reported.

Russian side wants to use its right to participate in the international observation of elections in another OSCE member state, in Ukraine in this case. Our actions are based on mutual obligations of all the OSCE member states to provide free access to the elections for the observers. This should guarantee transparent and democratic elections, the message says.

It was reported that Russia would propose candidates to the OSCE/ODIHR under the received invitations.

We expect that they will be provided with all the necessary conditions to implement functions of the international observation, the representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry stated.
Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, and Mike pence, the Vice-President of the USA Twitter Sviatoslav Tseholko

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko will meet with the Vice-President of United States Mike Pence. The President said this to journalists after Munich safety conference in Germany.

The subject of our conversation will be the security, NATO, and reform supporting reforms. Tomorrow the important agenda will be discussed, - Poroshenko said.

According to the President, those issues will be discussed with the U.S. delegation, which is represented by a great number of delegates at the Munich security conference.

Earlier, the meeting of the NATO Council will take place in Ukraine soon. The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg within the framework of Munich security conference in Germany.

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko discussed with Chief Negotiator and Head of the Taskforce of the EC for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom Michel Barnier the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union, in particular in the context of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

The European Union will approve the Azov package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. According to Poroshenko, the project consists of 124 pages, and the price that Russia has to pay for the act of aggression against Ukraine will increase this time.
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.
According to the President, the new sanctions had been approved during the security conference in Munich

The European Union will approve the Azov package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. President Poroshenko said during his conversation with journalists following the security conference in Munich. The press-service of the President reports this.

I am sure that in the coming days, at the beginning of next week, sanctions in Brussels in coordination with Ukraine will definitely be adopted, - the President outlined.

The Head of State said that the issue of imposing Azov package of sanctions on Russia had been discussed during his meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations James Risch.

Totally, the so-called Azov package of sanctions is exactly what I promised you in December 2018, - the President stated.

According to Poroshenko, the project consists of 124 pages, and the price that Russia has to pay for the act of aggression against Ukraine will increase this time.

Predictably that EU can expand the sanction list of the Russian Federation by eight more surnames.

As we reported earlier, the meeting of the NATO Council will take place in Ukraine soon.

According to the report, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg within the framework of Munich safety conference in Germany today.

The President of Ukraine has informed Barnier on the developments in Donbas and the failure of Russia to comply with the Minsk agreements. The President urged him to support the introduction of a new "Azov package" of EU sanctions against Moscow.
In the framework of the Munich Security Conference, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko met with Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations James Risch. Poroshenko outlined the importance of coordinated actions in rebuffing the Russian aggression that is still ongoing. The press-service of the President reports this.

The President Petro Poroshenko stressed the importance of coordinated actions in rebuffing the ongoing Russian aggression, the latest manifestation of which was the Russian attack against Ukrainian warships. Poroshenko also emphasized that it was time to introduce an "Azov package of sanctions" against Russia as a signal that the lack of changes in Moscow's behavior would continue to increase the price for aggression, - the report said.

Besides, in this context, the Head of State stressed the importance of the bipartisan legislative initiative of senators to protect American security from the Kremlin's aggression was noted in order to increase the sanctions pressure on Russia.

Earlier today, the European Union will approve the Azov package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. According to Poroshenko, the project consists of 124 pages, and the price that Russia has to pay for the act of aggression against Ukraine will increase this time.

The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko discussed with Chief Negotiator and Head of the Taskforce of the EC for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom Michel Barnier the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union, in particular in the context of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
The international partners in Ukraine believe that it will be a good move for supporting Ukraine in counteraction of Russian aggression

The meeting of the NATO Council will take place in Ukraine soon. The press-service of the President of Ukraine reports this.

According to the report, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg within the framework of Munich security conference in Germany on February, 15.

The parties separately discussed the ways of strengthening Ukraine's cooperation with the Alliance, in particular with a view to increasing the capabilities of the Ukrainian Navy.

In this context, the parties noted the significance of the anticipated visit to Ukraine of the North Atlantic Council of NATO, which should also demonstrate the continued support of the Alliance for Ukraine in countering Russia's aggression, - the report said.

Stoltenberg has also told about the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, during which he, in particular, urged Russia to release Ukrainian sailors.

Earlier today, the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko discussed with Chief Negotiator and Head of the Taskforce of the EC for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom Michel Barnier the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the European Union, in particular in the context of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

The President of Ukraine has informed Barnier on the developments in Donbas and the failure of Russia to comply with the Minsk agreements. The President urged him to support the introduction of a new "Azov package" of EU sanctions against Moscow.
Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine and German Chancellor Angela Merkel meet in Kyiv on November 1 Presidential Administration press office

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko discussed the issues of preventing Russian intervention in the presidential elections in Ukraine with the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. It is reported by the press service of the head of state.



According to the report, the talks took place today in the framework of the participation of state leaders in the Munich Security Conference.



In addition, they also discussed ways to counter Russian aggression against Ukraine.



In particular, Poroshenko noted the importance of increasing pressure on Russia for the release of captured Ukrainian sailors illegally detained near the Kerch Strait, as well as all Ukrainian hostages who are illegally detained both in Russia and in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.
Kurt Volker, the US special envoy for Ukraine, believes that Russia is seeking to remove the current president Petro Poroshenko from his post at the March 31 elections to work out a favorable agreement with the new government. He stated this on the sidelines of the Munich Conference, responding to a question about Russia's support for any of the candidates in Ukraine, writes AFP.



What they are trying to do is attack Poroshenko and weaken Poroshenko, the American diplomat explained.

Earlier, we reported that President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko discussed the issues of preventing Russian intervention in the presidential elections in Ukraine with the Federal Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel. It is reported by the press service of the head of state.



According to the report, the relevant talks took place today in the framework of the participation of state leaders in the Munich Security Conference.



In addition, they also discussed ways to counter Russian aggression against Ukraine.



In particular, Poroshenko noted the importance of increasing pressure on Russia so that the Kremlin release the captured Ukrainian sailors illegally detained near the Kerch Strait, as well as all Ukrainian hostages who are illegally detained both in Russia and in the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.




One of the main questions of interest of European and American politicians during meetings at the Munich Conference with Ukrainian politicians is what the final presidential elections in Ukraine will be like and what is the situation on the eve of these elections. The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said this in a comment to journalists on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference, the mayors press service reports.



Klitschko took part in the official opening of the conference, and also met with the European Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy Johannes Khan, Special Representative of the US State Department for Ukraine Kurt Volker, Head of the Christian Democratic Party of Germany Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.



Our international partners are hoping for stability in Ukraine, for presidential elections to be held without shocks and turbulence. After all, the future development of Ukraine over the next five years will depend on their results, Klitschko said. According to my impressions, the current balance of power among candidates became unexpected for our partners. Therefore, there are a lot of questions about the chances of different candidates, their potential, Klitschko said.
German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that despite the problems that Russia creates for the whole world, its isolation is not acceptable. She stated this during a panel discussion at a security conference, reports European Truth.



Merkel stressed that "after 2014, relations with the Russian Federation have changed radically," meaning Russian aggression against Ukraine. At the same time, she considers it necessary to maintain not only a dialogue, but also a partnership with Russia.



Geostrategically, Europe does not have the right to interrupt relations with Russia, she stressed.
The decision to impose personal sanctions against Russia for aggression in the Kerch Strait region will be made on February 18 at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union. This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin while talking to journalists in Munich, Interfax-Ukraine reports.



There will be personal sanctions. You will hear about this from Federica Mogherini (head of EU diplomacy - ed.)... I really hope that what will be on Monday is not the end. We are discussing other ideas, he said.



The minister clarified that the possibility of restricting access for Russian courts was also being discussed.

As we reported earlier, the European Union will approve the Azov package of sanctions against the Russian Federation. According to Poroshenko, the project consists of 124 pages, and the price that Russia has to pay for the act of aggression against Ukraine will increase this time.

The President of Ukraine has informed Barnier on the developments in Donbas and the failure of Russia to comply with the Minsk agreements. The President urged him to support the introduction of a new "Azov package" of EU sanctions against Moscow.
Unian

The verdict was that Yanukovych was sentenced to 13 years of jail in absentia. What can you say about it?

I closely followed the process. I want to say that the justice system in Ukraine has degraded. It used to be imperfect during our rule. But there was no such lawlessness, like today. The judge behaved like a puppet judge, all the time look inside the mouth of the Prosecutor's Office. In the meantime, after all, the aim of this process was to figure out the most important thing: how did the coup d'etat happen? Who stood behind it, who was responsible for killing people on the Maidan? Because I am 100% convinced that neither Yanukovych nor the law-enforcers of that time, could order or participate in this matter. Moreover, a huge number of witnesses, whom the court refused to interrogate, showed that Parubiy (current parliamentary speaker, - ed.), Pashynsky (Ukrainian MP, Head of the Presidential Administration of Ukraine in May  June 201, - ed.), Turchynov (National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Secretary, - ed.) were behind these murders on the Maidan. And this truth, it is very unpleasant. Therefore, it is easy to pin all this on Yanukovych, to close the case, to boast that such a tyrant has been convicted.

Yanukovych stated that hes got blaved by the Western politicians during the anti-crisis negotiations.

I met with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State Victoria Nuland. She told that they had no complaints against us, they had no complaints about Yanukovych, but she said we needed to create a government of national unity. That is, she suggested including Yatsenyuk (13th Prime Minister of Ukraine, - ed.), Klitschko (Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer, - ed.), someone else into our government. At first, I told her diplomatically that, actually, we have a coalition government, the coalition does not have a majority in parliament, the parliament voted for the trust of this government. And therefore there are no legal grounds for including these figures in the government. I also advised Viktor Yanukovych to answer the same in his conversations with Biden (47th vice president of the United States, - ed.), who repeatedly told him what kind of government should be in Ukraine. You see, here we seem to stand for Ukraines independence, but we assume that some deputy state secretary dictates who should be in our government.

Many people in Ukraine blame you and Yanukovych of the annexation of Crimea and Donbas war and wish you all the worst.

To all those who wish me a bad outcome, I wish all the best and good health. I have nothing to do with the conflict in Donbas. I resigned on January 28, 2014, and did not take any decisions after that time. But the basis of the conflict is a coup d'etat. If there were no coup d'etat, early elections wouldnt take place, Crimea would stay Ukrainian, as well as Donbas. There would be peace and stability.

Ive heard that Party of Regions (Yanukovychs party) has created a so-called slush fund out of the money which came from the foreign credits.

This is complete nonsense. Why no one says that last year [Ukrainian politicians] have funneled 3,5 billion USD into the offshores. I took the information of the National Bank, looked at the current account and calculated that Ukraine has borrowed 3 billion of credit resources, and put 3,5 billion aside in offshore. I know the FBI is investigating it now. Their representative came to Moscow, met with some of our people who also came here and testified. Many like to speak about some golden toilets or loaves, about KamAZ trucks loaded with dollars. Where are these KamAZ trucks? How could they drive away [to Russia] across the whole country? Why for five years the law enforcers have not found a single witness, a single document?
Eight trucks carrying construction material from the International Committee of the Red Cross mission passed the entry-exit checkpoint Novotroitske

Open source

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sent to Donetsk and Luhansk regions humanitarian aid, the total weight of which is 160 tons. The press service of the State Boarder Guard Service of Ukraine reports this.

Through the entry-exit checkpoint Novotroitske eight trucks carrying construction material in total amount 160 tons from the International Committee of the Red Cross mission, - the report said.

Besides, it is noted, that all the entry-exit checkpoints of the Joint Forces operation are open in accordance with the winter schedule, they work in normal mode.

"Such amount of means of transport passed through such entry-exit checkpoints: Mayorske checkpoint  20/60, Marinka checkpoint  30/60, Novotroitske checkpoint  30/85 and Hnutove checkpoint  25/40, - the report said.

In total, 42,048 means of transport passed checkpoints.

As we reported earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross sent over 150 tons of humanitarian aid to the militant-controlled territories of Ukraine in Donbas.

In December 2018, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) asked the Russian Federation to provide access to the Ukrainian sailors captured by Russia.
All new Hyundai Santro zooms into Nepal

Laxmi Intercontinenal, the authorised distributor of Hyundai Motor, has launched the all new Santro in Nepal The Korean automaker has adapted to the changing needs and trends of customers in Nepal and equipped the all new Santro with a modern and stylish design, comfortable and premium cabin, new age technology, customer centric safety and all round performance
Sondaj. Cum au resimtit elevii pandemia

# De la nu am simtit lipsa profesorilor, pana la anxietatea sociala pe care mi-a provocat-o pandemia, sunt doar cateva din raspunsurile elevilor de la un colegiu argesean O generatie de absolventi paraseste zilele acestea liceul, dupa ce un an si jumatate din educatia lor scolara s-a realizat online. Ei simt parca [citeste mai departe]
Stiri pe aceeasi tema

- The Ukrainian authorities must observe the rights of the Romanian historical community to an extent "proportional to the fair treatment" of ethnic minorities living in Romania, Chairman of the Committee on Romanians Everywhere Senator Claudiu Tarziu of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR)

- Co-chair of USR PLUS (Save Romania Union, Freedom, Unity, Solidarity Party) Dan Barna announces that the congress for the appointment of the new leaders of this alliance will take place on the first Saturday of October, and he reiterated that he will run for the presidency. "On October 2 or 3, on

- PSD cere Guvernului sa faca publice urgent criteriile care au permis ca doar o singura firma particulara  GSP Power, implicata puternic in sustinerea candidaturii si alegerea actualului primar PNL de la Constanta, Vergil Chitac, sa fie beneficiara a sute de milioane de euro din fondurile PNRR. PSD

- The Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), the Council of Europe anti-corruption body said on Wednesday that Romania has made some progress in implementing judicial reform since a Liberal-led government took office in 2019, but needs to quicken the pace in order to meet GRECOs standards, according

- Mult de munca pentru nimic! Simona Halep a fost invinsa, marti dupa masa, la Madrid, de belgianca Mertens, in optimile competitiei, dupa un meci extrem de disputat, plin tensiune si puncte incitante. Sportiva noastra, ultima campioana de la Wimbledon, a luptat timp de doua ore si 36 de minute in fata

- Prime Minister Florin Citu said today that no extra regulations can be enacted, other than what the Constitution already provides, for setting in place guarantees for the USR PLUS partners that no other ministers of the ruling alliance will be sacked without prior notice. "I won't comment

- Intalnirea Romania Italia, din play off ul Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas, se joaca la Cluj Napoca. Federatia Romana de Tenis a anuntat jucatoarele care vor reprezenta Romania in intalnirea cu Italia, de la Cluj Napoca, din 16 si 17 aprilie, in play off ul Billie Jean King Cup by BNP Paribas, noul

- Unul dintre organizatorii protestelor de la Constanta a izbucnit in plans in timpul unui live pe Facebook, sustinand ca este abuzat. Romania Tv a tradat. Astept Politia. AUR m-a dat afara din protest. Simioane, vai de capul tau. Distribuiti ca nu cumva sa patesc ceva. Sa nu cumva sa patesc
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 06:35:48|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

ZAGREB, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Croatia's foreign policy goal is to be as close as possible to the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), to work on a strategic partnership with the United States and to be in close relationship with China and Russia, said Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic here on Saturday.

At a press conference marking four years of her presidency, Grabar-Kitarovic looked back at her meetings with world leaders, saying "Every occasion in meetings with world leaders was used to promote Croatia and Croatia's national interests."

In summing up her four-year mandate, Grabar-Kitarovic said she was delighted to see that demographic policies had produced results, as indicated by the increasing number of births and reduced emigration.

"Our goal is to reach five percent of GDP," the president said and praised the measures taken by the current Croatian government.

She also recalled a statement she gave two years ago when she said the greeting "For Home, Ready", which was used during the Second World War in the Independent State of Croatia under the fascist Ustasha regime, was "the old Croatian salute".

"I made a mistake and accepted the attitude of the historians that this is not the old Croatian greeting. That greeting is unacceptable and compromised," Grabar-Kitarovic said.

The Croatian president has yet to decide whether to run for a second term, as presidential elections will be held at the end of this year.

Croatian presidents have a mandate of five years, and Croatia has until now had four presidents, Franjo Tudman, Stjepan Mesic, Ivo Josipovic and Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that he believed that the leading Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) party, of which he is the president, will support Grabar-Kitarovic for the second term.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 06:20:46|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

SOFIA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva and her Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj discussed here on Saturday evening how to strengthen bilateral ties in areas such as trade and tourism.

It was a very productive, very successful, very good meeting, Swaraj told reporters after bilateral talks.

"We want to increase our trade, which is growing every year, for last year by 22 percent, but it is still nothing compared with the possibilities that we have," said the Bulgarian foreign minister.

There was also a 25 percent increase in tourist flow from India, said Zaharieva, who is also Bulgaria's deputy prime minister.

"I promised to improve our visa services for Indian tourists and to open visa centers in 15 Indian cities," Zaharieva said.

Sofia was Swaraj's first leg in her four-day visit to Bulgaria, Morocco and Spain.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 06:15:45|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- People-to-people and cultural exchanges are thriving, making China and Europe a great example of cultural dialogue and engagement, a senior Chinese official said here Saturday.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, said this in his keynote speech themed "Working for a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind by Promoting International Cooperation and Multilateralism" at the 55th Munich Security Conference.

Fifteen years since the establishment of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the two sides have developed an all-dimensional and multi-tiered framework of exchanges and cooperation covering wide-ranging areas, said Yang, who is also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee.

Efforts to build China-EU partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization have made substantial progress, Yang noted.

"It is essential that our two sides continue to draw on each other's strengths, focus on shared interests, remove obstacles and work together to seize the opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and meet our people's aspirations for a better life," said the official.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, Yang said, the country has embarked on the right path, one that is suited to its national conditions and follows the trend of the times.

The Chinese economy has entered a new phase of transitioning from high-speed growth to high quality development, operating within a proper range and maintaining overall stability and continued progress, he added.

"Facing lackluster new drivers and mounting downward pressure in the global economic context, China has enough resilience and huge potential to keep the economy on a sound track for a long time to come," Yang said.

The enormous effective demand being generated by the 1.4 billion Chinese people who are moving up the income ladder will provide the world with even more opportunities in terms of market, investment and cooperation, he reassured.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 04:50:25|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

CHICAGO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- U.S. electric pickup maker Rivian Automotive LLC has said that it is getting a cash injection totaling 700 million U.S. dollars from Amazon and others.

The investment comes largely from online retail giant Amazon, with "participation from existing shareholders." "This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility," said R.J. Scaringe, Rivian founder and CEO, in a statement on Friday.

Amazon, in a separate statement, said it values Rivian's vision.

A tie-up between Rivian and Amazon is a good fit, the Detroit News quoted Michelle Krebs, an automotive analyst for Cox Automotive, as saying. As Amazon looks for ways to reinvent its delivery fleet, Rivian's "electric-powered skateboard concept" offers potential for electric delivery vans.

"The investment is a drop in the bucket for Amazon, but it is huge for Rivian in terms of the amount of money and in terms of raising the profile of Rivian," Krebs said.

Rivian's R1T pickup and R1S SUV will have a 400-mile-plus range, and offer off-road capability, Detroit News reported. The base 69,000-dollar model boasts clever "frunk" storage behind the grille and a Tesla-like 105-kWh battery. An upscale, 100,000-dollar plus model would increase that to 180 kWh. The company plans to build 20,000 units in 2021 in the U.S. state of Illinois, according to the report.
Syrian refugees are seen upon returning from Lebanon at the Jdaidet Yabous crossing, west of Damascus, Syria, on Jan. 24, 2019. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia will help Syria open two humanitarian corridors for refugees leaving Syria's Rukban camp in a U.S.-occupied territory on the Syria-Jordan border, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

"The Syrian government with the assistance of Russia has decided to open two humanitarian corridors on the border of a 55-kilometer zone occupied by the United States in the settlements of Jleb and Jabal al-Ghurab, where Syrian refugees can voluntarily, unimpededly and safely exit the area through the corresponding checkpoints," the ministry said in a statement.

The checkpoints will be operating round-the-clock to accept, distribute and provide necessary assistance to internally displaced persons leaving the Rukban camp, starting from 9 a.m. on Feb. 19, the statement said.

Specific offices at the checkpoints will be in charge of providing food, medical treatment, recreation, paperwork, clothing and material support as well as sending refugees to their places of residence, it added.

Security at the checkpoints will be ensured by the Syrian law enforcement agencies in cooperation with military police of the Russian Armed Forces, according to the statement.

"We call on the United Nations structures, including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) society, to participate directly in this humanitarian operation, and the American partners to show goodwill in the interests of the suffering people of Syria," it said.

Between 40,000 to 50,000 people are currently living in the Rukban camp, according to media reports.

The UN refugee agency said Friday that it took part in one of the largest and most complex UN and SARC humanitarian missions in the past eight years of the Syrian crisis, delivering 100 trucks of aid to people stranded in the Rukban camp.

The Syrian government has recently accused the U.S. presence in the nearby Tanf area of hindering the delivery of aid to the camp.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 02:19:52|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

BAGHDAD, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four Islamic State (IS) militants were killed Saturday in an airstrike in Iraq's eastern province of Diyala, a provincial security official said.

Acting on intelligence reports, Iraqi helicopter gunships pounded an IS hideout near the town of Abu Saida, some 95 km northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, killing four of the extremist militants, Alaa al-Saadi from Diyala's Operations Command told Xinhua.

The bombardment came as the security forces were conducting search operation to hunt down IS remnants in Hawdh al-Waqf agricultural area, which is a cluster of villages near Diyala River, al-Saadi said.

The security situation in Iraq has been dramatically improved after Iraqi security forces fully defeated the extremist IS militants across the country late in 2017.

However, groups and individuals of extremist militants melted or regrouped in urban and rugged areas, carrying out attacks against the security forces and civilians.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 01:54:49|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

SKOPJE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Foreign Ministers of North Macedonia and Georgia, Nikola Dimitrov and David Zakaliani, signed a protocol on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of North Macedonia said in a press release on Saturday.

According to the press release, the protocol was signed on the sideline of the Munich Security Conference.

Dimitrov and Zakaliani expressed the expectation that this act opens a new chapter in bilateral relations, intensifies political dialogues and will deepen cooperation in all areas of common interest between North Macedonia and Georgia.

During the meeting, the two ministers also exchanged views on current topics of regional and global interest.

"Zakaliani congratulated Dimitrov over the signing of the accession protocol for the membership of North Macedonia to NATO and welcomed the overall progress of the country in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration," reads the press release.
$630 million compact to be tabled in Parliament

The government has decided to table the compact signed with Millennium Challenge Corporation, an independent US government agency, in Parliament for ratification Endorsement of the compact by the House will pave the way for the implementation of a $630 million US government-funded project to build a 300-km-long 400 kV transmission line and upgrade 305 km of roads
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 01:39:47|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

TUNIS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia strongly condemns the suicide attack targeting paramilitary troopers belonging to Central Reserve Police Force in the Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday, said a statement on Saturday.

Tunisia expresses deep condolences to the Indian government, the Indian people and the victims' families, wishing the prompt recovery of those injured in the attack, said the statement of Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The death toll of the suicide attack targeting paramilitary troopers has risen to 40, and many others are reported to be wounded.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 01:04:43|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

ABUJA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police confirmed 11 people including three suspected suicide bombers were killed in an attack in the country's northern state of Borno on Saturday.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack suspected to have been carried out by terror group Boko Haram, Borno police chief, Damian Chukwu told Xinhua.

Chukwu said, an on-the-spot assessment by the police found the attackers infiltrated on early Saturday to the Polo general area of Maiduguri, the state capital.

The suspected Boko Haram militants shot sporadically at the locals before detonating improvised explosive devices strapped to their bodies, he said.

The police chief said the wounded persons have been taken to a hospital in Maiduguri, adding there was an ongoing clearance operations by security teams in the attacked area.

Boko Haram, which has more than two factions in Nigeria, is yet to claim responsibility for the attack.

Attacks by the terror group, which aims to establish an Islamic state in northeastern Nigeria since 2009, have been a source of concern in the most populous African country.

Boko Haram has been blamed for the death of more than 20,000 people and displacement of 2.3 million others in Nigeria so far.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 00:54:41|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

ABUJA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police confirmed 11 people including three suspected suicide bombers were killed in an attack in the country's northern state of Borno on Saturday.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack suspected to have been carried out by terror group Boko Haram, Borno police chief, Damian Chukwu told Xinhua.

Chukwu said, an on-the-spot assessment by the police found the attackers infiltrated on early Saturday to the Polo general area of Maiduguri, the state capital.

The suspected Boko Haram militants shot sporadically at the locals before detonating improvised explosive devices strapped to their bodies, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 00:54:40|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

NEW DELHI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- India on Saturday hiked customs duty on goods imported from Pakistan to 200 percent, officials said.

The decision came following withdrawal of Most Favored Nation (MFN) status granted to Islamabad by New Delhi.

"India has withdrawn MFN status to Pakistan after the Pulwama incident. Upon withdrawal, basic customs duty on all goods exported from Pakistan to India has been raised to 200 percent with immediate effect," India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in a statement posted on twitter said.

India on Friday withdrew MFN status to Pakistan following the deadly militant attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

On Thursday at least 40 paramilitary troopers belonging to India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and many others wounded after a suicide bomber rammed his heavily laden explosive car into their convoy on national highway near Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, said a local cadre of the outfit carried out the deadly attack.

New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the attack, but Islamabad rejected the allegation.

Reports said the bilateral trade between India and Pakistan has increased marginally to 2.41 billion U.S. dollars in 2017-18.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 00:39:38|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16(Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday that regional stability can not be achieved if parties exclude Russia and force their own will.

Lavrov made the statement during a speech at the Munich Security Conference in which global leaders gathered to discuss world's major security issues.

Lavrov said the world is in an era when "old crisis deepens while new crisis emerges" and Russia's participation is key to maintain stability in some tense regions. He added that some initiatives to resolve security crisis were "NATO-oriented."

"We cannot strengthen one's security at the expense of others," Lavrov said.

Lavrov called on countries to abandon "colonial, iron-curtain and cordon sanitaire philosophies" and resolve the crises jointly.

Lavrov added that the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, and the Eurasian Economic Union are all beneficial to regional economy and can thus promote security, and they should not encounter vicious attacks.

The foreign minister's statement came about half an hour after the speech by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who had called on NATO members to stay committed and strong to fend off alleged Russia's threat.

Lavrov said the standoff between Europe and Russia is "senseless," saying that Europe has suffered huge losses from the sanctions against Russia.

Russia is interested in a strong, independent and open EU "no matter what numerous speculations might say," Lavrov said.

Talking on Syria, Lavrov said that military action is necessary in the northern province of Idlib.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 00:39:38|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- As many as 21 people may be trapped under rubble after a university building in the Russian city of St. Petersburg partially collapsed on Saturday, Sputnik news agency quoted a spokesperson for the local administration as saying.

The collapse started from the ceiling on the top floor, the spokesperson added.

Tass news agency reported that the five-story building collapsed from the fifth to second floors, citing a source from the emergencies ministry.

At least 60 people had been reportedly evacuated from the scene.

The emergencies services are currently working at the site of the accident.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 00:34:37|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

ABUJA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian police confirmed 11 people including three suspected suicide bombers were killed in an attack in the country's northern state of Borno on Saturday.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack suspected to have been carried out by terror group Boko Haram, said Borno police chief, Damian Chukwu.
File Photo: A girl plays a puppet dog during a workshop of the "Lunar New Year Festival: Year of the Dog" at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the United States, on Feb. 24, 2018. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chinese are showing a growing interest in art museums while Chinese collectors are becoming more important in the international art market, said an art expert here Friday.

"What's interesting is there's a new interest in Western art that is developing in China," said Thomas Campbell, director and CEO of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the largest public art institution in Northern California.

"We are conscious that Chinese audiences are the fastest growing sector," he told Xinhua a day before the opening of the exhibition "Monet: The Late Years" at de Young Museum, a part of the fine arts museum.

The three-month exhibition features 50 original paintings of the French Impressionist master Claude Monet. "Monet is one of the greatest artists of all time, and certainly one of the most influential artists in the modern era. His work is spread widely throughout the world. You have to travel all over the world to see this number of paintings," said Campbell.

Monet is among the best-known Western art masters in China. In recent years, there is an unprecedented demand in China for Monet exhibitions.

The first major such show took place in Shanghai in 2014, drawing more than 350,000 visitors. Since then, a number of exhibitions of the artist have been organized in Chinese cities from north to south, such as Shenyang, Wuhan and Chengdu.

File Photo: A visitor admires Claude Monet's painting "Cathedrale de Rouen" at the National Art Gallery of the United States in Washington May 18, 2003. (Xinhua Photo/Lu Mingxiang)

In 2017,a painting of his beloved water lilies series attracted more than 150,000 visitors to an exhibition in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan in southwest China.

The Monet show to open at San Francisco, where several paintings will be seen for the first time in the United States, is a unique opportunity for Chinese tourists to understand modern Western art. "Chinese visitors will get an extraordinary rich exposure to one of the most important artists of the 20th century," said Campbell.

"In these works, you see Monet going from representational impressionism into abstract realm, and the experiment with lights and color that we see in these works really laid a foundation for abstract art later in 20th century," he said.

Western masterpieces have also proved a big hit for Chinese investors who have, in several high-profile deals in recent years, snapped up works from masters like Monet, Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, and Amedeo Clemente Modigliani, an Italian Jewish painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France in the 19th century.

"I think it's very interesting to see that Chinese collectors who traditionally have been focused on historic, modern and contemporary Chinese art have now become big players in the international art market," said Campbell.

"The figures for the big auction houses show the Chinese are among the biggest buyers, and the art market has become truly global," he added. "The Chinese buyers are an increasingly important element in that development."
Dsplaced children are seen beside a hut in the outskirts of Aden city, Yemen, on February 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Murad Abdo)

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of families were displaced from different war-torn Yemeni areas because of the ongoing fighting between the warring factions.

They are currently facing bad humanitarian conditions in other safe provinces in the impoverished Arab country.

Government officials told Xinhua that more than 260 internally displaced families arrived recently in the southern provinces such as Lahj and Aden that are completely controlled by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

Displaced children are seen next to a drinking water tank in a displacement camp in the outskirts of Aden city, Yemen, on February 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Murad Abdo)

They said that most of the newly displaced families evacuated their homes in the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah because of the exchange of random artillery shelling between the government forces and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

On the outskirts of Aden near Lahj province, the local Yemeni government authorities, in cooperation with international humanitarian organizations, established only one displacement camp to receive families fleeing the conflict-battered areas.

The officials responsible for the displacement camp on Aden's outskirts said that it was fully crowded and couldn't cope with the inflow of the newly displaced families.

Displaced children look at their breakfast meal at a displacement camp in the outskirts of Aden city, Yemen, on February 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Murad Abdo)

They added that a number of displaced families are now sheltering in the open in the government-controlled provinces of Lahj and Aden, amid acute shortages of food, clean drinking water, and medicines.

Abdullah Ahmed, an internally displaced citizen, told Xinhua that many families are still fleeing their homes in Hodeidah despite the ongoing cease-fire that began last December but failed to completely halt the fighting in the city.

"People in Hodeidah are still suffering from sporadic fighting and many families preferred to choose to flee into other safer places to protect themselves and stay alive," Ahmed said.

A displaced child carries his breakfast bread at a displacement camp in the outskirts of Aden city, Yemen, on February 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Murad Abdo)

He added that "lack of basic needs like water and food was a nightmare and shocked many families who did not expect to face such new difficulties in displacement camps."

However, Ali Murshed Khaled, a local tribal figure, said that some charity associations are providing food aid to the new arrivals despite the increasing number of internally displaced people.

"Some families lost their money in transportation while moving from one place to another until they reached the outskirts of Aden and they received food aids from local charity organizations as initial support," Khaled said.

On Thursday, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners released an assessment for Yemen, reporting that nearly 24 million people need "some form of humanitarian or protection assistance."

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that "the crisis remains the worst in the world with an estimated 80 percent of the population ... in need of some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 14.3 million people who are in acute need."

"The number of people in acute need is 27 percent higher than that of last year," he told reporters at a regular briefing, announcing a pledging conference sponsored by Sweden and Switzerland set for Feb. 26.

"More than 20 million people across the country are food insecure, half of them with extreme levels of hunger," Dujarric said. "For the first time, we have confirmed pockets of catastrophic hunger, with 238,000 people affected in some locations."

The UN and its humanitarian partners have been warning for several weeks that the Arab country is on the brink of famine, a result of a nearly four-year-old civil war.

Hodeidah is a key port city and home to the Red Sea Mills, housing enough grain to feed millions of people for a month, but presently inaccessible to aid workers, the UN said.

Yemen has been mired in the civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi rebels overtook the capital Sanaa and toppled the government of President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

The war has killed more than 10,000 people and created a serious humanitarian crisis.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-17 00:09:33|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, delivered here on Saturday a keynote speech at the 55th Munich Security Conference.

An English translated version of the speech is as follows:

Working for a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind by Promoting International Cooperation and Multilateralism

Keynote Speech by H.E. Yang Jiechi

Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and

Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs

At the 55th Munich Security Conference

Munich, 16 February 2019

Mr. Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great pleasure to join you at this year's Munich Security Conference (MSC). As a global forum on security policy, the MSC provides an important platform for people around the world to express views and share insights on major issues concerning world peace and development. This year's focus on promoting international cooperation and multilateralism is important, timely and has much practical relevance.

Our world today is undergoing fast and profound changes with growing uncertainties and instability. Unilateralism and protectionism have been on the rise; the multilateral international order and global governance system have come under challenge. Our world stands at a crossroads and faces a consequential choice between unilateralism and multilateralism, confrontation and dialogue, isolation and openness. As President Xi Jinping pointed out, multilateralism provides an effective way of upholding peace and promoting development, and the world needs multilateralism now more than ever.

It's been China's consistent view that the United Nations is the symbol of multilateralism, and the UN-centered multilateral architecture provides an overarching framework for international cooperation. The consensus of the global community on multilateralism has been enshrined in the UN Charter, which serves as the cornerstone for the modern international order. As a founding member of the UN and a permanent member of its Security Council, China has all along supported multilateralism, followed the multilateral approach, and advocated peace, development and win-win cooperation, playing its consistent role as a promoter of world peace, contributor to global development and upholder of the international order.

To serve the common and fundamental interests of the people of China and around the world, President Xi Jinping called for the fostering of a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation, and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. He expounded on a vision of an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that enjoys lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity. Such thinking and vision encapsulate the propositions and principles that China holds dear as a staunch supporter of multilateralism.

They include, first, the principle of sovereign equality, which is the most important norm governing state-to-state relations. All countries, regardless of size, strength and wealth, are equal. The right of people of all countries to independently choose their development paths should be respected. And the practice of imposing one's will on others or interfering in others' internal affairs should be rejected.

Second, dialogue and consultation, which is an important approach to sound global governance in today's world. Dialogue and consultation should be pursued in the interest of peaceful resolution of differences and disputes. The willful use or threat of force, hegemony and power politics should be rejected.

Third, the rule of law, which is central to the pursuit of law-based international relations. The basic norms governing international relations centering on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be safeguarded. International law must apply equally to all, and double standards or selective application of international law should be rejected.

Fourth, win-win cooperation, which is essential for achieving common development. We must work together to pursue the greatest possible common interests among nations and expand areas of converging interests on the basis of mutual benefit.

To advocate and practice multilateralism is not just China's choice, but also the preferred option of an overwhelming majority of countries. The UN-centered system of international institutions have engaged in extensive dialogue and cooperation across the political, economic, security and cultural fields and worked to address global issues and challenges. Such efforts have advanced democracy in international relations and vigorously contributed to global peace, stability, development and prosperity. Inspired by the core principles of multilateralism, the G20, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Asia-Europe Meeting and other global forums have all carried out meaningful cooperation. The EU, ASEAN, the African Union, the Arab League, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and other international organizations have contributed to peace and development by advancing regional cooperation. All this has shown that to pursue global cooperation, multilateralism and a community with a shared future for mankind represents a momentous trend of our times and is the right way to go.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

History tells us that we can only realize our peoples' dreams for a better life by upholding multilateralism and enhancing global cooperation. It falls to us to grasp the underlying trend of our times, respond to the call of the people, and make the right choices. China advocates a steadfast commitment to advance international cooperation, uphold and develop multilateralism, and make the international order more just and equitable.

First, we need to forge partnerships through mutual respect. Choosing dialogue over confrontation, we should work vigorously to develop partnerships that are more inclusive and constructive. This is a foundation and prerequisite for multilateralism and international cooperation.

China is committed to building a generally stable and balanced framework of major-country relations. We are ready to work with the United States to solidly implement the important common understanding reached between the two Presidents and jointly build a China-US relationship based on coordination, cooperation and stability. Over the past few weeks, the economic teams of the two sides have engaged in intensive consultations, and important progress has been made. We hope that the two sides will continue to make concerted efforts toward a mutually beneficial and win-win agreement.

Following the strategic guidance from the top leaders, China and Russia will work to elevate their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination to new heights. China remains a staunch supporter of European integration. We welcome a Europe that is more united, stable and prosperous, and support Europe in playing an important and constructive role in international affairs.

China follows the policy of building friendships and partnerships with neighboring countries based on amity, sincerity, mutual benefit and inclusiveness. China is committed to pursuing the greater good and shared interests and to the principle of sincerity, real results, amity and good faith. We will earnestly implement all the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the meeting between leaders of China and Pacific island countries, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, to advance the building of a community with a shared future with all other developing countries.

Second, we need to uphold universal security through mutual support. We should work toward a new vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, and respect and protect the security of each and every country. Global issues such as climate change, cyber security, terrorism and major natural disasters should be tackled through global responses, and regional and global security must be protected with common efforts. International cooperation must be intensified to safeguard the security and stability in West Asia and North Africa, and a holistic approach is required to tackle the issue of refugees and migrants at its root. A few weeks ago, Egypt, the new rotating Chair of the African Union, hosted the successful 32nd AU summit, where constructive and meaningful dialogue and cooperation were carried out in addressing the issue of refugees, migrants and displaced people in Africa.

China has been actively involved in the UN peacekeeping missions, and is the largest troop contributor among the P5 and the second largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget. The Chinese navy has conducted escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and the waters off the Somali coast over the past ten years, serving over 6,600 Chinese and foreign vessels.

China has been an active player in international cooperation against terrorism, supported African countries in resolving African issues in an African way, and supported the AU and other regional and subregional organizations in playing a leading role in meeting the security challenges in their region. China is committed to facilitating the proper resolution of regional hotspots such as the Iranian nuclear issue and the Syrian, Palestinian and Afghanistan issues through dialogue and negotiation.

China supports security dialogue among the Asia-Pacific countries and efforts to explore a regional security vision and architecture that fits the reality of this region. We welcome the upcoming second meeting between the DPRK and U.S. leaders, and will continue to work with other parties concerned toward the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of a permanent peace regime on the Peninsula.

China is resolute in defending its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. We firmly oppose any activity that undermines China's sovereignty and security interests under the pretext of freedom of navigation and overflight. China is committed to working with ASEAN countries to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and advance consultations on the Code of Conduct. And we hope that these efforts by the countries in the region will be respected and supported by all non-regional countries.

Third, we need to foster global development and prosperity through win-win cooperation. Given the complementarity of our strengths, there is much potential to be tapped for promoting inter-connected growth. We need to follow the new approach of win-win and all-win cooperation, and abandon ideological prejudices and the outdated mentality of zero-sum game and winner-takes-all. We need to rise to the challenges and promote common development through closer cooperation. We need to make economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, and accommodate the interests of all countries, particularly emerging markets and developing countries.

The rapid advance of the new round of global technological and industrial revolution brings both opportunities and challenges for humanity. Countries should pursue the path of open, integrated and win-win development, and work together to foster an open, fair and transparent environment for international cooperation. We should reject technological hegemony and narrow the digital divide to deliver the benefits of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to people of all countries.

Following a win-win strategy of opening-up, China has introduced a host of major steps, including broadening market access, to open wider to the world and build an open economy. Last year, we held the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), which produced deals worth nearly 60 billion U.S. dollars. Going forward, China will host the International Import Expo on an annual basis to open its door further.

China is firm in upholding the multilateral trading system and advancing trade and investment liberalization and facilitation. We have deeply engaged in regional and sub-regional cooperation, and concluded 17 free trade agreements with 25 countries and regions.

China is committed to advancing regional integration with Asia-Pacific countries and building a community with a shared future in the Asia-Pacific. China-ASEAN relations have seen comprehensive and in-depth growth. In 2018, China-ASEAN trade approached 600 billion U.S. dollars, making China the largest trading partner of ASEAN for the tenth consecutive year. And mutual visits between the two sides reached about 50 million.

China supports ASEAN centrality in East Asian cooperation and encourages greater synergy among free trade arrangements and cooperation frameworks in the Asia-Pacific. We will also work with all relevant countries including India for the early conclusion of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Fourth, we need to improve global governance through reform and innovation. Facing a growing number of global challenges, no country can manage them on their own, or stay immune. To strengthen global governance and reform the global governance system represents the call of the times. We need to firmly defend the central role of the UN in international affairs and uphold the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its center.

Guided by a vision of global governance featuring consultation, cooperation and benefit for all, China has actively engaged in the reform of the global governance system and taken a clear stand against unilateralism and protectionism, thus injecting stability and positive energy to a world fraught with uncertainties. We believe that the purpose of the reform is not to overturn the current system or start something new, but to improve the existing framework to reflect new realities and increase the representation and voice of emerging markets and developing countries.

In reforming the WTO, we need to uphold the core values and basic principles such as openness, inclusiveness and non-discrimination, and move forward in a gradual manner based on extensive consultation to safeguard the development interests and policy space of developing countries. By hosting international conferences such as the G20 Hangzhou Summit and initiating the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the New Development Bank, China has made important contributions to the improvement of global economic governance.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the country has embarked on the right path, one that is suited to its national conditions and follows the trend of the times. The nation has stood up, become prosperous and grown in strength. With these historic leaps, the Chinese people are embracing the bright prospect of great national rejuvenation.

The Chinese economy has entered a new phase of transitioning from high-speed growth to high quality development, operating within a proper range and maintaining overall stability and continued progress. For years running, China has contributed nearly 30 percent to the world economic growth, more than any other country in the world. Growing at 6.6 percent in 2018, China's GDP exceeded RMB 90 trillion, or 13.6 trillion U.S. dollars, for the first time, and the resulting increment year-on-year surpassed the average annual increment from double-digit growth over a decade ago. Facing lackluster new drivers and mounting downward pressure in the global economic context, China has enough resilience and huge potential to keep the economy on a sound track for a long time to come.

The enormous effective demand being generated by the 1.4 billion Chinese people who are moving up the income ladder will provide the world with even more opportunities in terms of market, investment and cooperation. It is estimated that in the coming 15 years, China will import more than 30 trillion U.S. dollars and 10 trillion U.S. dollars worth of goods and services respectively, injecting new and strong impetus and dynamism into global growth.

The Belt and Road Initiative is an important international public good that China contributes to global cooperation for common development. It is also an important pathway toward building a community with a shared future for mankind. The Belt and Road cooperation has gained support and popularity from more and more countries across five continents. China and over 150 countries and international organizations have signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements. With over 6 trillion U.S. dollars of cumulative trade between China and participating countries, over 80 billion U.S. dollars in direct Chinese investment and a large number of major cooperation projects up and running, the Belt and Road cooperation is contributing to greater well-being and development of local communities in many parts of the world.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The freight train service between China and Europe is a powerful example of how the Belt and Road cooperation can drive common development and prosperity of China and Europe with enhanced connectivity. Facts have shown and will continue to prove that the Belt and Road Initiative put forward by President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China creates opportunities and benefits for all countries and serves the common interests of humanity. Guided by the principle of consultation and cooperation for shared benefit and the vision of green, clean and sustainable development, China will partner with all parties on the basis of universally accepted international rules, standards, laws and regulations to make the Belt and Road cooperation a road for peace, prosperity, openness, innovation and cultural exchange. Building on the successful first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, China will host the second forum in Beijing in about two months' time. With active participation and concerted efforts of all parties, the Belt and Road cooperation will achieve even greater progress to the benefit of all peoples.

Fifteen years on since the establishment of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, the two sides have developed an all-dimensional and multi-tiered framework of exchanges and cooperation covering wide-ranging areas. Efforts to build China-EU partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization have made substantial progress. People-to-people and cultural exchanges are thriving, making China and Europe a great example of cultural dialogue and engagement. Not long ago, the Berlin Philharmonic captivated the Chinese audience with its world-class performances. Traditional Chinese New Year was celebrated across Europe during the recent week-long holiday season. Chinese tourists coming in big numbers brought business opportunities and vibrancy to European cities like Berlin and Paris.

Strong complementarity and mutual benefit have always been the defining feature of China-EU cooperation. Anyone wise enough in Europe and elsewhere in the world can tell from their own experiences whether cooperation with China serves the EU's interests. The new round of technological and industrial revolution has created new horizons for China's mutually beneficial cooperation with the EU. It is essential that our two sides continue to draw on each other's strengths, focus on shared interests, remove obstacles and work together to seize the opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and meet our people's aspirations for a better life.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As a German saying goes, "Those who work alone, add; those who work together, multiply." There is a similar saying in China, "One thread snaps easily; ten thousand threads woven together can pull a boat." Let us all join hands to intensify global cooperation and firmly uphold multilateralism. Together, let us build a better and more prosperous world.

Thank you.
11-year-old girl found dead

An 11-year-old girl was found dead at Hariharpur village in Dhanusha district on Thursday

Body of Reshma (Duttiya) Rasaili of Magartole in Hariharpur, Mithila Municipality-3, was found in a sugarcane field around 700 metres from her house on Thursday
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:49:30|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

CAIRO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Amr Nassar said Saturday that Chinese companies plan to pump new investments in the country's leather sector, official MENA news agency reported.

During an inspection tour in Robiki Leather City, located in Badr City, east of Cairo, Nassar reiterated that investment ties between Egypt and China witness noticeable development during the current phase, said the report.

The minister also mentioned an announcement by the Chinese Mankai firm about establishing the biggest textile city in Egypt while addressing representatives of Chinese companies, said the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:49:29|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Walls collapsed inside a university building in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, and 60 people were evacuated from the scene, Tass news agency cited the Russian Emergencies Ministry as saying on Saturday.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:39:28|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai held here Saturday strategic consultations.

Wang said during the consultations that China and Thailand are comprehensive strategic cooperative partners and the two sides should enhance strategic communication, boost strategic cooperation and work together to make positive contribution to peace, stability and development of the region.

Noting that Thailand holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, Wang said China supports the building the ASEAN Community and will fully support Thailand to fulfill its duties as chair of the ASEAN.

China is willing to join hands with Thailand to push forward the connection between the Belt and Road Initiative and ASEAN's overall plan on connectivity, promote regional connectivity and sustainable development, successfully hold the China-ASEAN Year of Media Exchanges, lift the level of defense and security cooperation and press forward the development of China-ASEAN relations and the cooperation in East Asia to achieve greater progress, Wang said.

In recent years, the foundation of friendly public opinion between the two countries has been further consolidated and the two sides have enjoyed good coordination and cooperation in international and regional affairs, he said.

China is satisfied with the current development of the ties between the two countries and is willing to join hands with the Thai side in a bid to bring the China-Thailand ties to a new high, Wang added.

Wang welcomed Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha to go to China to attend the second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in April in Beijing, hoping it will serve as an opportunity for the two countries to further boost mutually beneficial and friendly cooperation.

For his part, Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said Thailand and China have enjoyed high-level mutual trust and deep friendship, with frequent high-level exchanges and fruitful achievements in economic cooperation.

Thailand welcomes China's development and revitalization, hoping China will play a more important role in maintaining world peace and development, Don said.

The Thai foreign minister said the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative will bring more opportunities for the development of Thailand as well as the cooperation between the two countries.

The two sides also had an in-depth discussion on international and regional issues of mutual concern and reached wide range of consensus.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:29:27|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

by Yang Xiaohong and Wang Zichen

PRAGUE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Radoslaw Kedzia, CEO for Huawei in the Czech Republic, said Huawei's aim is to resolve current cyber security controversy in the country in a "friendly and reasonable" way.

In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, Kedzia said Huawei is a responsible player in the Czech market with advanced 5G technology and Huawei's best choice is a win-win outcome.

"I still believe exclusion of Huawei from the market will damage the whole market," said Kedzia.

He confirmed that his company received a reply letter from the National Cyber and Information Security Agency(NUKIB) on Thursday.

Because the letter was "as vague as its previous warning", Kedzia said Huawei needs more time to analyze it and then decide what the next step would be.

He doesn't exclude the options such as seeking arbitration, but he added that Huawei doesn't want to be aggressive and every possibilities would be thoroughly considered before making decisions.

Kedzia said that Huawei is still trying to reach out to the NUKIB for constructive discussion. Huawei plans to open a cyber security center in Brussels in March, and NUKIB was also invited, but the firm hasn't received NUKIB's reply yet.

In December 2018, the NUKIB issued a warning over Huawei's products, saying it represented potential national security threat to the country's critical infrastructure.

Huawei has categorically rejected NUKIB's allegations.

"We have operated in the market for 15 years, all our systems have been tested by our customers. And we never have had any security problem or any technical problem," said Kedzia.

He said right after the NUKIB warning was issued, Huawei has contacted all its key customers, asking for their thoughts.

"Basically their response was that they understand it's not really about cyber security. There're some other reasons for it," said Kedziaj, "They were confused ...(as) the warning is not specific, there's no evidence or analysis about the risks."

He admitted that after the warning was issued, some government departments have withdrawn their cooperation with Huawei and blocked Huawei from their network construction tendering procedure.

But after thorough discussion with the officials, some of them are changing their minds, said Kedzia, citing the Ministry of Justice as an example. The Justice Ministry later said it was aware of the warning, but it doesn't mean to automatically exclude anyone, according to Kedzia.

"So we also receive some voices of reason, "said Kedzia.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:24:24|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

BANGKOK, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Thai, South Korean and U.S. marines conduct amphibious assault exercise during Cobra Gold 19 at Hat Yao Beach in Thailand's southeastern province of Chon Buri on Saturday, organizers said.

According to a press release from the Thai side, the amphibious assault exercise included a process of transferring military personnel to shore, which aims to get them more prepared and enhance their capacities.

Some 1,183 service members from the three countries attended the exercise on Saturday.

Exercise Cobra Gold, the largest theater security cooperation exercise in Southeast Asia, is in its 38th iteration. It is taking place this year from Feb. 12 to Feb. 23 at various locations throughout Thailand.

According to a press release from the U.S. embassy in Thailand, this year's exercise will consist of three primary events: a staff exercise, humanitarian civic assistance projects, and a field training exercise that includes a variety of training events to enhance interoperability and strengthen regional relationships.

There are up to 29 nations either directly participating in or observing Cobra Gold 2019, with approximately 4,500 U.S. personnel directly participating both ashore and afloat.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:14:21|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

HANOI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese police have detained three local men, members of a Laos-Vietnam drug trafficking ring, and seized 9 kg of crystal methamphetamine and 2,000 meth pills, local media reported on Saturday.

Police of central Ha Tinh province and of the Drug Crime Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security on Friday detected Nguyen Thanh Trung from the province, who was travelling with his two accomplices in two pickup trucks on National Road 8C from Laos, Vietnam News Agency reported.

Trung attempted to run away when he was being chased by the police. However, all three smugglers, armed with a handgun and a grenade, were arrested on the same day.

The men were part of a trafficking ring from Laos into Vietnam through Cau Treo international border gate in Ha Tinh.

According to 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| 2019-02-16 23:14:21|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

DAMASCUS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian and Russian sides will open two humanitarian corridors on Feb. 19 for displaced Syrians in the Rukban camp in southern Syria, the state news agency SANA reported on Saturday.

The opening of the two corridors will allow the displaced Syrians to leave the camp toward government-controlled areas.

The camp is controlled by the rebels near the U.S.-controlled al-Tanf area.

According to the report, the corridors will receive all Syrians including those who had lost their documents.

The Syrians will be provided with facilitation and help, said the report, adding that the Syrian army, in cooperation with the Russian military police, will secure the safety of the displaced people.

Rukban camp is home to 50,000 displaced Syrians, who are suffering from harsh humanitarian situation because of the cold weather and lack of supplies.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:09:20|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

Displaced children walk past their hut on the outskirts of Aden, Yemen, on Feb. 16, 2019. Hundreds of families were displaced from different war-torn Yemeni areas because of the ongoing fighting between the warring factions. (Xinhua/Murad Abdo)

by Murad Abdo

ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of families were displaced from different war-torn Yemeni areas because of the ongoing fighting between the warring factions.

They are currently facing bad humanitarian conditions in other safe provinces in the impoverished Arab country.

Government officials told Xinhua that more than 260 internally displaced families arrived recently in the southern provinces such as Lahj and Aden that are completely controlled by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

They said that most of the newly displaced families evacuated their homes in the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah because of the exchange of random artillery shelling between the government forces and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

On the outskirts of Aden near Lahj province, the local Yemeni government authorities, in cooperation with international humanitarian organizations, established only one displacement camp to receive families fleeing the conflict-battered areas.

The officials responsible for the displacement camp on Aden's outskirts said that it was fully crowded and couldn't cope with the inflow of the newly displaced families.

They added that a number of displaced families are now sheltering in the open in the government-controlled provinces of Lahj and Aden, amid acute shortages of food, clean drinking water, and medicines.

Abdullah Ahmed, an internally displaced citizen, told Xinhua that many families are still fleeing their homes in Hodeidah despite the ongoing cease-fire that began last December but failed to completely halt the fighting in the city.

"People in Hodeidah are still suffering from sporadic fighting and many families preferred to choose to flee into other safer places to protect themselves and stay alive," Ahmed said.

He added that "lack of basic needs like water and food was a nightmare and shocked many families who did not expect to face such new difficulties in displacement camps."

However, Ali Murshed Khaled, a local tribal figure, said that some charity associations are providing food aid to the new arrivals despite the increasing number of internally displaced people.

"Some families lost their money in transportation while moving from one place to another until they reached the outskirts of Aden and they received food aids from local charity organizations as initial support," Khaled said.

On Thursday, the United Nations and its humanitarian partners released an assessment for Yemen, reporting that nearly 24 million people need "some form of humanitarian or protection assistance."

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that "the crisis remains the worst in the world with an estimated 80 percent of the population ... in need of some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, including 14.3 million people who are in acute need."

"The number of people in acute need is 27 percent higher than that of last year," he told reporters at a regular briefing, announcing a pledging conference sponsored by Sweden and Switzerland set for Feb. 26.

"More than 20 million people across the country are food insecure, half of them with extreme levels of hunger," Dujarric said. "For the first time, we have confirmed pockets of catastrophic hunger, with 238,000 people affected in some locations."

The UN and its humanitarian partners have been warning for several weeks that the Arab country is on the brink of famine, a result of a nearly four-year-old civil war.

Hodeidah is a key port city and home to the Red Sea Mills, housing enough grain to feed millions of people for a month, but presently inaccessible to aid workers, the UN said.

Yemen has been mired in the civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi rebels overtook the capital Sanaa and toppled the government of President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.

The war has killed more than 10,000 people and created a serious humanitarian crisis.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 23:09:19|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday that regional stability cannot be achieved if parties exclude Russia and force their own will.

Lavrov made the statement during a speech at the Munich Security Conference in which global leaders gathered to discuss world's major security issues.

Lavrov said the world is in an era when "old crisis deepen while new crisis emerge" and Russia's participation is key to maintain stability in some tense regions. He added that some initiatives to resolve security crisis were "NATO-oriented."

"We cannot strengthen one's security at the expense of others," Lavrov said.

The foreign minister's statement came about half an hour after the speech by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence who had called on NATO members to stay committed and strong to fend off alleged Russia's threat.

Lavrov called the standoff between Europe and Russia "senseless," saying that Europe has suffered huge losses from the sanctions against Russia.

Russia is interested in a strong, independent and open EU, "no matter what numerous speculations might say," Lavrov said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:54:16|Editor: Chengcheng

Video Player Close

Syrians select clothes at a textile fair in Damascus, Syria, on Feb. 14, 2019. The Syrian government opened the four-day textile fair on Thursday with the participation of dozens of local companies to showcase their Syrian-made products. (Xinhua/Ammar Safarjalani)

DAMASCUS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government is trying to break the economic siege through promoting its local products in neighboring markets through local fairs to attract customers and merchants.

The Syrian government's efforts come in light of the toughened economic sanctions imposed on Syria by the Western powers, which pushed the government to search for ways to ease the economic hardship in the country after nearly eight years of war.

One of the major products the Syrian side is trying to promote is the textile, as Syria is famous for its high-quality textile and clothes market.

Therefore, the Syrian government has opened a four-day Textile Fair on Thursday with the participation of tens of local companies to showcase their Syrian-made products.

Government officials said the fair is witnessing the visits of merchants from neighboring Arab countries and more participation in comparison with previous years.

Samer al-Khalil, the Syrian economy minister, told Xinhua that this year more companies are participating, which indicate the beginning of the recovery in the textile sector.

"We are seeing double participation in this fair in comparison with previous years. We also see that the Syrian textile has a big share in the local market and we are hoping to see the textile sector fully self-sufficient," he said.

Fares Shehabi, an independent Syrian MP for Aleppo city, and Chairman of the Syrian Federation of Industry, told Xinhua that holding such fairs aims to break the economic siege imposed on Syria by the Western powers.

Most of the attendees came from the northern city of Aleppo, which was once the industrial and economic capital of the country.

Two years after its liberation, Aleppo industrialists and merchants started reviving their businesses and are now seen in all local fairs showcasing their various products.

Ahmad Remas, the owner of the Remas textile company, said the aim of the merchants and industrialists in Syria is to find their way back to the Arab markets in neighboring countries.

"We are hoping to enter foreign markets mainly in neighboring countries because we are an industrial country not in need for imports and our products compete with the European products," he said.

Meanwhile, other merchants and industrialists are working to import re-conditioned textile machinery in prices that could be affordable for the local market.

Ahmad Azraq is one of them as he imports re-conditioned machinery in half the price of new ones and with relatively similar capacities of the brand new ones.

He said that the situation is becoming better as the Syrian-Jordanian border crossing of Nasib has reopened, noting that Arab merchants are visiting Syria to buy the Syrian-made products.

"In the tough circumstances we are passing through as part of the campaign against our country, the customers are concerned about better products in a lower price," he said.

In the past years, the man continued, "our production has hit bottom low, but since the liberation of Aleppo two years ago, the situation got better and we started working particularly after the re-opening of the Nasib border crossing between Syria and Jordan."

At the fair, customers from Libya and Iraq were seen visiting and checking the products while striking deals with the local manufacturers.

Salem Qadah, a Libyan visitor, told Xinhua he showed up in Syria because he is familiar with the Syrian products from the pre-war time, noting that he is interested in striking deals with a textile company in Syria to export products to Libya.

Abdul-Samad Hamed, an Iraqi merchant, said that the Syrian cotton is largely demanded in Iraq.

"I am here hoping to strike a deal to import Syrian-made lingerie and I am excited because this would boost my business back in Baghdad," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:54:16|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) helps promote win-win cooperation worldwide, according to research papers and articles by some renowned international think tanks lately.

Put forward by China in 2013, the initiative is aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe, Africa and beyond along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

A BOOST TO GLOBAL TRADE

Merchandise trade between China and countries along the BRI totaled 1.3 trillion U.S. dollars in 2018, a year-on-year growth of 16.3 percent, China's Ministry of Commerce said in January.

A research report published by trade credit insurer Euler Hermes late last month says nations involved in the BRI will see higher trade volumes, even if they are yet to receive any direct investment from China.

The report estimates that the BRI resulted in 460 billion dollars worth of investments in the five years since its inception in 2013.

For China, this will mean 56 billion dollars in additional exports, while it will import an extra 61 billion dollars worth of goods from the 80 countries named in the official manifesto, the report says.

The report estimates that this will add 0.3 percent to global trade and 0.1 percent to global growth, at a time when fears are mounting about a slowdown across the world economy.

The BRI aims to build infrastructure in countries accounting for a combined 68 percent of the world's population and 36 percent of its GDP, said the Center for Global Development, a nonprofit U.S. think tank.

Mahamoud Islam, a senior economist at Euler Hermes in Hong Kong, said this is because of the effect of better connectivity and infrastructure along the Belt and Road routes, as well as better trade relations between China and the target markets.

Given that a huge part of the Belt and Road routes are domestic, international companies could expect to benefit from infrastructural improvements in China too, he said.

"It improves competitiveness. That's not surprising, you're building railroads, ports and airports, connecting countries," Islam said, adding that for China, the BRI is a way to push out excess capacity in industries such as coal and steel, internationalize its companies and help liberalize the yuan by lending in Chinese currency.

The BRI investment has continued this year. From Jan. 2 to Jan. 15, the value of new BRI projects was 4.5 billion dollars, according to the RWR Advisory Group, a Washington-based research house, with the highest proportion of this going to sub-Saharan Africa.

CONNECTIVITY BECOMES TRENDY

At a roundtable held by the Russian International Affairs Council in December, Assistant Professor Fabienne Bossuyt said Central Asia is a region that is basically landlocked and is suffering from its geographical location in terms of its trade with the rest of the world. By increasing connectivity, this region will definitely benefit economically, she said.

The very topic of connectivity became somewhat trendy since China came up with its BRI in 2013, Bossuyt said.

China is planning to spend enormously on the initiative. Other countries that are involved in the initiative have started to take the whole thing very seriously, she said.

Greg Earl, a member of the board of the Australia-ASEAN Council, said in a recent piece in The Interpreter that a survey by HSBC of global businesses in 34 countries which rely on connectivity to conduct their businesses across borders found they regard the BRI as having a huge impact.

A recent conference held by the CIMB ASEAN Research Institute, a prominent institution, concluded that the BRI "is important for ASEAN especially given the significant infrastructure needs in the region."

"(It) can leverage the existing close China-ASEAN economic relationship as a foundation for greater future collaboration in that China has been ASEAN's largest trading partner for close to 10 years," Earl cited the conclusion of the conference as saying.

The attitudes of the countries involved in the initiative have also gone through remarkable changes.

James Curran, a professor at the University of Sydney and non-resident fellow at the Lowy Institute, noted that while some politicians played domestic politics on China, the government and the opposition have stuck to pragmatism.

Japan's economic relations with China went through a dramatic turn since the country started to call for cooperation with China in third countries in the Belt and Road infrastructure drive in 2017. The two countries reached a bilateral agreement on cooperation in third countries in October 2018.

Japan's move is aligned with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's view that "participating in China's BRI offers a significant opportunity for Japan," wrote Aurelia George Mulgan, a professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra.

FALSE ACCUSATIONS

A report last year from the Center for Global Development implied that countries are concerned about being stuck in a China debt trap, unable to repay loans and forced to cede assets such as commodities or infrastructure.

The fear was fanned by reports in December that Kenya may have to hand over control of its largest port of Mombasa, paid for by China, if it was unable to repay the debt. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta denied the claims.

"China is sitting on the largest foreign exchange reserves of any country on Earth. When that money just sits in the central bank, they tend to get about a 3-percent return. So they have an incentive to make that excess liquidity work for them. Through debt and equity investments they are trying to reap better economic returns," said Bradley Parks, executive director of AidData, a research center at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.

U.S. foreign policy think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said while several recipients of Chinese infrastructure and development loans face serious repayment problems often due to reckless and inexperienced practices on both sides, there is no conclusive evidence that China is intentionally seeking to drive countries into debt problems to gain control over their assets, policies, etc.

Proponents of the debt trap diplomacy argument generally base their conclusion on a single case -- Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka -- while ignoring the other tools China uses to deal with bilateral debt problems.

And even in that case, there is no publicly available information indicating that, when the Export-Import Bank of China made its first loan to Sri Lanka to support this project, the ultimate purpose was to help China gain a concession to develop and operate the port, the think tank said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:39:13|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan is "providing shelter for the terrorists" who committed crimes in Iran, chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday.

"The government of Pakistan should be accountable for the crimes that the terrorist groups committed in Iran's Sistan and Baluchestan Province," said the chief Mohammad Ali Jafari said.

The IRGC commander was referring to the recent deadly suicide attack claimed by the Jaish al-Adl Sunni rebel group in southeastern Iran in which 27 IRGC forces were killed and 13 others were injured.

Over the past years, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, bordering Pakistan, has been the scene of bloody clashes between the Iranian security forces and the Jasih al-Adl group.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:39:13|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The chief commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Saturday that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) "support terrorist acts inside Iran."

Saudi Arabia and the UAE would face "retaliatory measures" for their supports to terrorist acts inside Iran, Mohammad Ali Jafari was quoted as saying by IRGC website.

Iran will no longer tolerate the "conspiracies" of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in this regard, Jafari said.

The IRGC commander made the remarks in a reference to the Wednesday terrorist attack against the Iranian security forces in the southeast of the country in which 27 IRGC forces were killed and 13 others were injured.

Earlier, top Iranian officials blamed foreign intelligence agencies for the deadly terrorist attack on the Iranian security guards.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:29:12|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's halal industry has the potential to become a cornerstone of the country's effort to reduce reliance on hydrocarbon exports, an independent study said.

In its 2019 investment outlook for Brunei released recently, ASEAN Briefing stated that Brunei could leverage on the high standards of its halal industry to tap into the growing global halal market to diversify its economy.

ASEAN Briefing, a unit of consultancy firm Dezan Shira and Associates, provides technical and business information on ASEAN countries through its online portal.

"Individual economic indicators include food and beverages, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals as the sultanate emphasizes on the advancement of these sectors to position itself as a halal industry hub in ASEAN," said the report.

The study noted that Brunei's Bio-Innovation Corridor initiative could provide the stimulus for the country's halal economy.

Brunei's Bio-Innovation Corridor, formerly known as the Brunei Agro-Technology Park, was launched in February 2014 to lead the growth of non-oil and gas businesses in the country by providing infrastructure, support and development programmes to help small and medium enterprises grow.

Meanwhile, the Brunei-Guangxi Economic Corridor, a bilateral project between Brunei and China, could also help the sultanate in its diversification efforts, the outlook stated.

The project will see both countries carry out comprehensive cooperation in the fields of agriculture, manufacturing, halal food production, pharmaceuticals and tourism, among others.

Around 60 percent of Brunei's economy is covered by its oil industry, and the sultanate has been trying to reduce its reliance on petroleum for years.

ASEAN Briefing said Brunei's high reliance on oil and gas related industries makes it vulnerable to external economic risks, including unexpected disruption in production because of ageing oil fields and unfavorable changes in global oil and gas prices. It called on the sultanate to develop high value-added manufacturing and services sectors to mitigate these risks.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:24:09|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

YAOUNDE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Eleven students and three teachers of a private college in Northwest, one of the two war-torn English-speaking regions of Cameroon were kidnapped early Saturday, according to school authorities.

A teacher of the school who asked not to be named told Xinhua that unidentified gunmen came very early Saturday and kidnapped 14 people, including students and teachers, saying the school has no knowledge of where they had been taken to.

Local authorities said government forces are still tracing the whereabouts of the kidnapped students and teachers.

Government and armed separatists have been engaged in a blame-game of rampant kidnappings in the strife-torn regions.

Government regularly accuses separatists of the abductions, however, separatists insist that they are staged by the government to tarnish their image internationally.

Armed separatists fighting for the "independence" of the two Anglophone regions of Northwest and Southwest in Cameroon have been clashing with government forces since November 2017.

The separatists have ordered the closure of schools in the regions. Local authorities said the separatists have torched more than 100 schools that insist to operate.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:24:09|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

URUMQI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has supported more than 4.2 million students with financial difficulties in 2018, according to the regional education department.

The region has waived tuition fees, and offered scholarships, grants, subsidies and loans for all levels of students with financial difficulties from kindergarten to university, according to the department.

In 2019, the region will continue to focus on using education to help shake off poverty in the southern areas, and give preference to the most difficult groups to help them enjoy high-quality education.

Starting from October, 2016, school fees for all public kindergartens in the rural areas of Xinjiang have been paid by the government.

Xinjiang is also China's first provincial-level region to offer 15 years of free education from pre-school to high school.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:14:07|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

MOSCOW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Russia will help Syria open two humanitarian corridors for refugees leaving Syria's Rukban camp in a U.S.-occupied territory on the Syria-Jordan border, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.

"The Syrian government with the assistance of Russia has decided to open two humanitarian corridors on the border of a 55-kilometer zone occupied by the United States in the settlements of Jleb and Jabal al-Ghurab, where Syrian refugees can voluntarily, unimpededly and safely exit the area through the corresponding checkpoints," the ministry said in a statement.

The checkpoints will be operating round-the-clock to accept, distribute and provide necessary assistance to internally displaced persons leaving the Rukban camp, starting from 9 a.m. on Feb. 19, the statement said.

Specific offices at the checkpoints will be in charge of providing food, medical treatment, recreation, paperwork, clothing and material support as well as sending refugees to their places of residence, it added.

Security at the checkpoints will be ensured by the Syrian law enforcement agencies in cooperation with military police of the Russian Armed Forces, according to the statement.

"We call on the United Nations structures, including the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) society, to participate directly in this humanitarian operation, and the American partners to show goodwill in the interests of the suffering people of Syria," it said.

Between 40,000 to 50,000 people are currently living in the Rukban camp, according to media reports.

The UN refugee agency said Friday that it took part in one of the largest and most complex UN and SARC humanitarian missions in the past eight years of the Syrian crisis, delivering 100 trucks of aid to people stranded in the Rukban camp.

The Syrian government has recently accused the U.S. presence in the nearby Tanf area of hindering the delivery of aid to the camp.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 22:04:05|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Peking University on Saturday confirmed academic misconduct by Zhai Tianlin, a Chinese celebrity recently doubted online over his academic achievements, according to a statement.

Zhai had highlighted his master's and doctoral degrees from Beijing Film Academy, and his admittance as a post-doctorate student by Guanghua School of Management, Peking University on China's micro-blogging site Weibo.

It led to a number of people searching online for his previous written pieces, fueling online suspicion over his academic misconduct.

In the statement, Peking University approved the management school's decision to expel Zhai, and suspended his supervisor's rights to further enroll post-doctorate students.

The university has started an investigation on Zhai's enrollment since Feb. 8 and found the supervisor, the interview panel and the school have not followed strict standards during the interview and enrollment, nor done sufficient substantive document review, said the announcement.

Commenting on the suspected academic misconduct by Zhai, a Ministry of Education spokesperson on Friday said no academic misconduct would be tolerated and stressed that there is no place for actions of defying academic rules and undermining educational equity.

In an apology letter posted online, Zhai said he was deeply sorry to the schools, teachers and the public for being dishonest.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:59:03|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (L) and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai hold strategic consultations in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Feb. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Zhang Keren)

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai held here Saturday strategic consultations and exchanged in-depth views on the South China Sea issue.

Talking positively about the situation in the South China Sea which is getting stable, the two sides said the momentum has been strengthened in boosting dialogue, managing differences and deepening cooperation.

They stressed that the countries concerned should continue the efforts to solve their disputes peacefully through friendly consultations and negotiations.

As both China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries are the parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), they should work together to safeguard the freedom of navigation in and the over-flight above the South China Sea in accordance with the law, as well as maintain the peace and stability in the South China Sea, they said.

On China's proposal to complete talks on the Code of Conduct (COC) in the South China Sea within three years, the Thai foreign minister noted with appreciation.

Don said Thailand is willing to join hands with other ASEAN countries to speed up the consultations to work out the regional rules which conforms to the reality of the region and are abided by all parties so as to benefit the region and the international community.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:54:02|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

AMMAN, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Jordan's Public Security Department Spokesperson Amer Sartawi said on Saturday that one Jordanian was killed and six others, including four security forces personnel, were injured in riots in Ajloun, northwest of Amman.

A police patrol in Ajloun stopped a vehicle for routine check. The officers asked two persons inside the vehicles to present their IDs, but they rejected and started resisting the police unit.

The two called their relatives in the area and many flocked to the scene to assault the police patrol, which prompted the security forces to use tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The forces arrested the two and escorted them to a nearby police station.

After the two were arrested, a group of their relatives blocked the main highway in Ajloun and started throwing rocks at passers-by.

The police intervened, but the group used machine guns and opened fire at the security forces.

Two were injured in the shooting and were rushed to hospital, but one of them died.

Several security forces' vehicles were damaged and hit by bullets. Some opened fire at the government's buildings and vehicles.

The investigation was underway to look into the incident, police spokesman said.
Nepals peace came with a promise for justicebut its been painfully slow

The imminent departure of the key people in charge of investigating and recommending punitive action for crimes committed during the 10-year-long insurgency that pitted Maoist rebels against the countrys security forces has not only thrown the timeline for completion of the transitional justice process into uncertainty but also raised serious doubts about whether the government, which the Maoists are a significant part of, and the political structure are committed to delivering justice to the conflict victims.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:44:01|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- An acclaimed production of Lao She's satire "Looking West to Chang'an" will return to the stage of the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) from Feb. 28 to March 10, as a tribute to the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"Looking West to Chang'an" is a five-act satire based on the first political fraud case in the history of the People's Republic of China. It depicts a nobody who swindles his way through bureaucracy to take official positions, later being found out.

In the play, the protagonist forges his resume, takes other's identity, and claims to be a "combat hero." Using his cunning, he wanders in several cities, obtaining trust of many and gaining important government positions.

The play was first staged by the former China Youth Art Theater in 1956. This NCPA production made its debut in September 2017.

In the latest version, the leading male character will be played by Miao Fu, a popular artist of Xiangsheng, also known as crosstalk, instead of a drama actor.

Lao She (1899-1966) was a celebrated Chinese novelist and dramatist, best known for his novels "Rickshaw Boy" and "Four Generations under One Roof," and the play "Teahouse."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:38:58|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

KHARTOUM, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A Sudanese parliamentary committee on Saturday decided to postpone a meeting, slated for Sunday, to discuss amendments to the constitution about extending presidential term duration, official SUNA news agency reported.

"The Emergency Constitutional Amendments Committee, chaired by Badria Suleiman, with regard to extending the presidential term duration and selecting of states' governors, decided to postpone its meeting, slated for Feb. 17, 2019," the report said.

The postponement was attributed to emergency commitments related to the committee's chairmanship, without setting a specific new date for the meeting, according to the report.

On Dec. 4 last year, 294 parliamentarians submitted a petition to the Speaker of the Sudanese National Assembly (parliament), Ibrahim Ahmed Omer, demanding amendment to the constitution to allow Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to run for open terms instead of two.

The Sudanese parliament is composed of 481 members, and 325 of them belong to the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).

Al-Bashir was elected president in 2010 and then re-elected in 2015.

The coming presidential elections in Sudan are scheduled to be held in April 2020.

The Sudanese opposition parties, however, reject the amendment so as not to grant al-Bashir a third presidential term.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:38:58|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

German Chancellor Angela Merkel addresses the 55th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Munich, Germany, on Feb. 16, 2019. (Xinhua/Lu Yang)

MUNICH, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday warned off the collapse of the global political structure and hailed multilateralism and cooperation in dealing with global challenges.

In a passionate speech at the Munich Security Conference that drew long-time applause, Merkel said the international political structure built after WWII could not be smashed but be reformed in a multilateral way.

"What we see as an overall architecture underpinning our world as we know it is a bit of a puzzle now, if you like it has collapsed into many tiny parts," said Merkel, referring the motto of the conference this year that the world is becoming a great puzzle in pieces.

"Only all of us together (to pick up the pieces)," said Merkel. "We have learned a lesson from WWII and Nazi history, that even though international multilateral fora may be slow or arduous, I am convinced that putting itself in other person's shoes, looking beyond the pale, and trying to forge win--win situations is better than solving these issues on your own," said Merkel.

"Multilateralism may be complicated, but it's better than staying at home alone," said Merkel at the end of her speech.

Merkel mocked the U.S. accusation that German auto exports to the United States had undermined the U.S. national security, saying many German cars were built in the United States and exported to China, and South Carolina has the biggest BMW plant in the world, not in Bavaria.

"We are proud of our cars and so we should be,....If that is viewed as a security threat to the United States, then we are shocked," Merkel's remarks drew applause from the audience.

Merkel called for an expansion of international cooperation to solve the major problems of a rapidly changing world. She warned allies against cutting all ties with Russia.

The German chancellor defended the gas pipeline project Nord Stream 2 linking Russia and Germany through the Baltic Sea, saying it would not strengthen Europe's dependence on Russian energy and it would not affect Poland and Ukraine as they would remain transit countries for Russia gas.

Merkel also appealed for cooperation on the Iran issue and managing global migration issues. She questioned whether the United States to leave the Iran nuclear deal and withdraw from Syria was the best way to tackle Tehran in the region.

She said perhaps Germany can learn from China for the best practices in development cooperation with African countries, in a bid to give African young people hopes, jobs and opportunities so that to prevent migration.

The chancellor promised to further increase German defense expenditure, but Germany could not reach the target of 2 percent of GDP by 2025 asked by the United States. Instead, Merkel promised to reach 1.5 percent by 2025.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:28:53|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

BEIRUT, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese army arrested on Saturday two Syrian nationals belonging to Islamic State (IS) in Lebanon's Hermel, local media reported.

The two came from Syria's Deir al-Zour through illegal crossings between Syria and Lebanon, according to online independent newspaper Elnashra.

The Lebanese army also arrested four Syrian nationals for entering Lebanon in an illegal way.

All the arrested people were referred to the related judiciary bodies for further investigations and legal procedures.

Less than a week ago, Lebanon's state security arrested three Syrian nationals belonging to al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:18:48|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

TUNIS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Tunisian government said late Friday that Libyan militias kidnapped 14 Tunisian workers near the capital Tripoli.

"The Foreign Ministry is following the case of the Tunisian citizens ... kidnapped by armed Libyan elements near Zawiya, Libya," Tunisian Foreign Ministry said on its Facebook page.

The ministry is in direct contact with the Tunisian consulate in Tripoli, the ministry added.

The hostages are workers at Zawiya oil refinery, Tunisian media reported.

Media reports said that the militias demanded Tunis to release a fellow who was held in Tunisia.

"The foreign minister has spoken to his Libyan counterpart to insist on the protection of the detainees, accelerate their release and ensure their safe return," the ministry said in a statement.

Tunisia reopened its consulate in Libya in 2018, after nearly a three-year closure following the kidnapping of Tunisian diplomats.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:18:47|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC) underscored efforts to promote integrated development of media and study of Party theories.

The integrated development of media should be a priority of the country's publicity front, said Huang Kunming, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, during an inspection tour to central China's Hubei Province from Thursday to Saturday.

Efforts should be made to supply quality content, apply the latest information technologies and develop a nationwide communication matrix of integrated media, Huang said.

He also instructed local authorities to introduce high quality programs to help Party members and ordinary people learn Party theories.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attends a joint press conference in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 14, 2019. The European nations showed little interest in the Middle East peace and security plans that the United States has touted at the international conference which ended on Thursday. (Xinhua/Jaap Arriens)

WARSAW, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- By organizing a Middle East conference in Warsaw zeroing in on Iran, the United States has widened divisions among European Union countries, while securing its interests instead of promoting peace and security in the Middle East, a Polish scholar said on Friday.

The Warsaw conference, co-organized by Poland and the U.S., was billed by the U.S. Department of State as a "Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East." However, this was not the real intention of the U.S., according to Robert Czulda, an assistant professor of Middle East studies at the University of Lodz.

The ministerial meeting came as the EU member states hold different opinions on Iran. Last year, the U.S. withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions. Other countries involved in the deal, including major European powers such as Germany, France and Britain, have since tried to keep the deal alive.

"One of the U.S.' goals was to widen divisions among EU member states. The UK, Germany and France still support the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and in fact Poland does support it too," Czulda told Xinhua in an interview.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini didn't attend the conference, and neither did the foreign ministers of France and Germany, who sent lower ranking officials instead. Russia also stayed away, while British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who came to warsaw to chair a meeting on peace in Yemen, left early.

"The absence of high-ranking officials of the EU shows that the EU's policy towards Iran differs" from that of the U.S., Czulda said.

The Polish academic noted that "the U.S.' intention was not to promote peace and security but to secure its own interests -- and this is not an accusation."

"Each power thinks first of all about its own national interests. The U.S. wants to secure Pax Americana in the Middle East, which Tehran said openly that it would destroy," said Czulda, a former visiting professor at Islamic Azad University in Iran.

He said that the U.S. appears to have no clear and coherent policies today. Vice President Mike Pence said in Warsaw that America wanted to "roll back" Iran's influence in the region, while at the same time President Donald Trump was planning to withdraw the U.S. troops from Syria.

"This means that there is a logical hole in the U.S.' strategy -- you cannot contain your enemy and then withdraw your resources that are crucial for achieving this goal," he said.

Another important goal for the U.S. is to bring Israel and the Arab monarchies to the same table.

"The White House is keen to see Arab-Israeli (mainly Saudi-Israeli) cooperation become a reality, " he said.

Czulda pointed out that conference co-host Poland had two considerations: one is its own reputation, and the other is enhanced U.S. military presence in the country.

"By hosting a multinational diplomatic event of this scale, Poland could boost its international reputation and prestige. Meanwhile, Poland expects a larger deployment of permanent U.S. troops because of security concerns," he said.

However, the Polish government doesn't want to defy the EU for supporting America.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:19:14|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

Tourists pose for photos in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Feb. 9, 2019. The Tibetan New Year, known as Losar, is the most important festival in the Tibetan calendar. This year's Losar fell on Feb. 5 and coincided with the Spring Festival. Losar is a time for family reunions. It is marked by religious rituals, long prayers, horse racing, family gatherings and feasts. As the festival draws near, people go shopping, do some cleaning and decorate their folk houses. Families feast on Tibetan food. Women make Kharbse, a popular dish made from flour and yak butter, and guthuk, a traditional snack similar to a dumpling. People plant their own highland barley, which is believed to indicate the harvest in the following year. On the altar in the living room there are placed, a pastry in the shape of a sheep head, a pot of highland barley, dates, air-dried beef, candies, nuts, butter, and brown sugar, presented to pray for prosperity and good weather for crops. In Tibetan "sheep head" is pronounced similarly to "the year's beginning" thus making it an auspicious symbol. Guthuk are sometimes filled with "surprises" including charcoal, wool or chillies. Someone who receives a guthuk filled with wool is described as being "good-natured", while coins or wheat mean good fortune. The food is washed down with highland barley liquor. Celebrations of the Tibetan New Year usually last for 15 days. Local people also participate in activities including Tibetan opera performance, folk dancing, archery and wrestling. (Xinhua/Jigme Dorje)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 21:03:45|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

by Mao Pengfei, Nguon Sovan

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodian trade union leaders and workers in the garment and footwear sector remained concerned about the European Union (EU)'s possible suspension of duty-free trading preferences for the kingdom, though the government has taken a series of precautionary measures.

The EU started earlier this week the 18-month process that could lead to the temporary suspension of Cambodia's duty-free trading access to the EU market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) scheme.

"We remain concerned about this because some workers borrow money to build houses for their parents or to buy small pieces of land for themselves, and they repay the debt by instalment," Chheng Dano, vice president of the National Independent Federation of Textile Unions of Cambodia, told Xinhua.

"So if factories have problems, workers will have problems with their jobs too and ultimately they may have no money to repay the debt," she said.

Sam Theoun, a sewing team leader at the Hung Wah (Cambodia) Garment factory in Phnom Penh, shared the concerns and prayed for it not to happen.

"I'm extremely concerned over the EU's decision," the 43-year-old mother of three children told Xinhua. "I've borrowed some money from a bank to build a small house, so if I don't have the job, I don't know how to earn money to repay the debt," she said.

According to the Garment Manufacturers Association in Cambodia (GMAC), the garment and footwear industry employed around 700,000 workers, while another 2 million out of the kingdom's total population of 16 million also economically depended on the sector.

GMAC's President Van Sou Ieng said to help the kingdom's garment and footwear sector remain competitive even if the EBA is suspended, the government should provide more tax incentives and reduce the annual public holidays for workers, which are currently 48 days a year.

Arnaud Darc, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce in Cambodia (EuroCham), which represents more than 350 companies in the country, said EuroCham was deeply concerned about the possible negative consequences of the EU's decision on current and future business between EU and Cambodia.

CALL FOR CALM

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen has called on all workers, public servants and armed forces not to worry about the possible withdrawal of the EBA, saying that serious reforms have been taken to support local producers and exporters.

"To all workers: if you still continue to hold on to jobs and make incomes, you should not be concerned about who says what," he said during the closing ceremony of the Interior Ministry's annual conference on Thursday.

"To civil servants, armed forces, and retirees: as long as you still get paid from the state, please don't be concerned about who says what," he added.

EU is a key trading partner for Cambodia, especially for garment and footwear sector. As a Least Developed Country, Cambodia has enjoyed exports of all products, except arms and ammunition, to the EU market with zero percent tariff since 2001.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the country exported products worth a total of 18 billion U.S. dollars in 2017, in which 7 billion U.S. dollars, or nearly 40 percent of the total amount, went to the EU market.

If the EBA is stripped, tariffs in the garment sector will increase by 12 percent, as those in the footwear sector will rise by 8 to 17 percent.

Mey Kalyan, senior advisor to the Supreme National Economic Council, said the EBA cannot stay with Cambodia forever, and it will leave the country automatically one day when its economy advances to a certain development stage.

The expert told Xinhua that the possible suspension of EBA presented an opportunity for Cambodia to stop depending much on western countries, to implement serious reforms, and to think profoundly how to make the economy more resilient and be able to stand on its own feet.

GOVERNMENT PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce Secretary of State Sok Sopheak said on Friday that to prepare for the possible EBA withdrawal, the government has taken a number of measures to strengthen economic independence and to support local manufacturers and exporters.

He said the measures included the cancellations of various fees and the reduction of electricity tariffs, among others.

"In total, it's about 200 million U.S. dollars (a year)," he said, referring to the government's support for local producers and exporters in case the EU withdraws the EBA.

"With the cheaper cost of production, we believe that our products will be more competitive on the international market," he said, adding that the kingdom is also diversifying its exports to China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, and India as well as other Southeast Asian countries.

Sok Touch, president of the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said if the EBA is not withdrawn by August 2020, Cambodia will still automatically lose it in 2025 when the country moves from the current lower-middle-income country to the middle-income country.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 20:58:42|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

ANKARA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Turkey will not turn back from its deal to buy S-400 missile systems from Russia despite U.S. opposition, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Saturday.

Speaking to reporters on the flight back from the Russian resort of Sochi, where a trilateral summit on Syria was held, Erdogan said that Ankara would press on with the S-400 purchases.

"We made the S-400 deal with Russia, so it's out of the question for us to turn back," Erdogan said, according to broadcaster CNN Turk.

As a NATO member, Turkey has repeatedly said that it is committed to buying the advanced Russian missile defense system, despite warnings from NATO that the S-400s cannot be integrated into the alliance's air defense system.

Washington said previously that the purchase of the Russian system would jeopardize Turkey's purchase of F-35 fighter jets and possibly result in sanctions imposed by the United States.

However, the Turkish leader said that his country was open to buy the U.S. Patriot systems as long as the deal served Turkey's interests.

"We continue our work based on the promise of the S-400 deliveries in July," Erdogan added.
Kulman Ghising: The man who gave us light

This is the final profile of the winners of Kantipur Icon 2018, awarded by Kantipur Foundation, the non-profit philanthropic arm of Kantipur Media Group. Kulman Ghising, the managing director of Nepal Electricity Authority, is the winner in the Business & Economy category.
With the vote of 485 members in the 596-seat chamber, Parliament begins the process of strengthening the powers of the president. In addition to extending terms limits, changes would enhance the role of the Armed Forces in the countrys political life. For an Egyptian activist, Sisi runs the country like a "military unit, but for Fr Rafic, power still lies with voters.

Cairo (AsiaNews)  A package of constitutional reforms before Egypts parliament could, if approved, allow President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to remain in power past 2030.

For some critics, this would open the door to authoritarianism and a "military" takeover of the country. Mina Thabet is one of them. A Christian Egyptian activist and a former leader of the Maspero Youth Union, he is currently in charge of freedom and minorities programmes at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF).

Others, like Fr Rafic Greiche, spokesperson for the Egyptian Catholic Church, preach caution since "the legislation has not yet been approved and ratified by referendum. People have not yet voted.

Egyptian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to extend term limits for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. Some 485 members of the 596-seat parliament backed the package of constitutional amendments, which would also further enshrine the military's role in national politics.

The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee will now be able to discuss the reforms for 60 days before returning them to Parliament for a final vote, which should not pose a problem to the president since it is controlled by his loyalists. A referendum will likely take place before early May, at the start of Ramadan, to bring the process to a close.

Reacting to the reform package, a group of politicians, activists and civil society groups released an open letter describing the move as illegal. In their view, the changes would sanction the countrys slide towards authoritarianism, eight years after pro-democracy protesters forced out of power then President Hosni Mubarak.

In April 2018, Sisi, a former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, was re-elected to a second four-year mandate. During his first, positive changes have occurred in terms of the economy, infrastructure, defence, and in principle, religion. Yet, much remains to be done in terms of social and political rights.

According to his critics, the president is using stability and economic growth to crackdown on dissent and limit civil liberties.

For Fr Rafic Greiche, spokesperson for the Egyptian Catholic Church, the approval process "is before Parliament" and "in all likelihood the text will undergo changes" before the referendum. "The road is thus long. More fundamentally, Sisi still has to go to the polls and get the votes.

The clergyman sees no danger of "authoritarianism, because power lies with voters. And reforms are much broader and include a second chamber, the Senate, a vice-president, and more Christians and women in Parliament."

For Fr Rafic, "Sisi has done a lot, especially in the fight against terrorism and infrastructures. Of course, the risk of attacks has not been eliminated, but there is greater security. And the country is developing. In the streets, the energy sector, industry . . . we have only just started along a development path that should have started 40 years ago."

For activist Mina Thabet, who is now in London, things look different from the time of the uprising that led to the fall of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. "We cannot talk about reform or constitutional amendment but rather of an attack against democracy.

Sisi is trying to use the popular support he gained when he drove the Muslim Brotherhood out of power by playing the role of saviour of the fatherland. In reality, he has muzzled public life, denying and repressing civil liberties. The road is now open to him to become the next Egyptian dictator."

The activist notes that voting can do little to keep him from hanging onto power because at the last election "there was no leader capable of standing up to him".

"In Egypt there is a lack of democratic culture, which is not just about the voting process, but about the whole system. People are closely monitored, afraid to speak out. Their conversations and even their most intimate relationships ae under surveillance."

"Here we are not just talking about staying in power for another 10-15 years, but about an unprecedented power grab at the expense of other branches of government, including the judiciary.

The president thinks he is in charge of a military unit, not the leader of a country whose problems he cannot solve.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 20:53:41|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

KUNMING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Around 1,300 people are struggling to put out a fire in a mountain in southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to local authorities.

The forest fire broke out at 12:36 p.m. in Yijiu Village Anning City, according to local information office. No casualties were reported.

The cause of the fire and burnt areas are being investigated.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 20:28:37|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

NEW DELHI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least one senior Indian army officer was reportedly killed and a soldier injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday, local media reported.

The incident took place in the Rajouri district along the Line of Control (LoC), the international border with neighboring Pakistan.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 20:23:36|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

CAIRO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian army killed seven terrorists on Saturday in a shootout during a terror attack on a checkpoint in North Sinai province in the northeastern of the capital Cairo, the country's military spokesman said in a statement.

"As a result of the fire exchange, an officer and 14 soldiers of different ranks were either wounded or killed," military spokesman Tamer al-Refai said.

He added that the forces are currently searching the area in pursuit of other terrorists.

Egypt has been facing terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen, soldiers and civilians, following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests against his one-year rule and his currently banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Most of the terror attacks in Egypt in the past few years were claimed by a Sinai-based group loyal to the Islamic State regional terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian army and police killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's ongoing anti-terror war declared by President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 20:08:31|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

PHNOM PENH, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has released 47 Malaysians held in the kingdom for allegedly involving in illegal online gambling, a Cambodian senior minister said on Saturday.

"The court decided to release them on bail yesterday (Feb. 15) and we handed over them to the Malaysian government already," Othsman Hassan, a senior minister in charge of the Islamic affairs, said at a press conference in northwestern Cambodia's Banteay Meanchey province.

He said an investigation found that they were duped by a job agency syndicate into conducting illegal online gambling activities.

"They are also victims," he said.

According to Hassan, the bail release was made in accordance with the Cambodian law and following a request from the Malaysian government.

He said a low-cost carrier AirAsia plane will arrange a charter fight to bring them home as soon as possible.

The 47 Malaysians, including 10 women, were arrested in Banteay Meanchey province's Poipet City, which borders Thailand, on Dec. 11 last year for allegedly running illegal online gambling operations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 19:28:22|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

MOGADISHU, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) military commanders have agreed on implementation of the transition plan that will guide their operations in the Horn of Africa nation.

The AU mission said on Saturday in a statement that the commanders agreed on key operations and activities to be executed under AMISOM's new concept of operations (CONOPS) including targeted operations against al-Shabab to flush them out of their hideouts that will be implemented in phases.

"The activities will consist of comprehensive operations in support of the Somalia Transition Plan and will include stability operations targeting al-Shabab hideouts and enhancing protection of population centers," Simon Mulongo, deputy special representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission for Somalia, said at the end of the five-day meeting of the military commanders in Mogadishu.

The AU mission said the Somalia Transition Plan will be implemented in three phases.

It said activities to be undertaken under the plan, includes the phased and conditions-based troops' withdrawal and handing over of priority locations in Mogadishu to the Somali security forces in the short term; degrading of al-Shabab and securing main supply routes in the medium term; and support to the Somali security forces as they take full charge of the country's security responsibilities in the long term.

Mulongo called on military commanders to work closely with their Somali counterparts to ensure its successful implementation.

"This CONOPS is going to be achievable because I see a lot of clarity in our thoughts and the way we have tried to explain it in the plan," he said.

The new CONOPS, which is the framework for AMISOM's exit strategy, will guide the AU mission's military activities and operations for the 2018-2021 period.

The commanders who are leading contingents from troop contributing countries to AMISOM also agreed to reconfigure some of the forward operating bases to ensure protection of population centers.

The AU mission said it's committed to safeguarding the gains made in securing the country, despite the planned cutbacks in troops.

Tigabu Yilma Wondimhunegn, AMISOM force commander, called for greater involvement of Somalis in finding a lasting solution to the problems facing the country.

"We should also work on getting the Somalis involved in these operations to enable us succeed in our plans," Wondimhunegn said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 19:28:21|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

by Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Democrats in Congress are headed toward a massive political brawl with U.S. President Donald Trump over his declaration of a national emergency that enables him to use funds earmarked for the military to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico.

Trump invoked the mechanism on Friday to build the wall aimed at curbing illegal immigration. However, the Democrats, experts said, are expected to put up a tooth-and-nail fight and challenge the measure in court.

Earlier in the week, Congress refused to approve the 5.7 billion U.S. dollars Trump says he needs to build the wall he has promised.

"It's an invasion," Trump said of the illegal migration pouring into the United States.

"We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country. We're going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border and we're going to do it one way or the other," Trump said from the White House as he declared the national emergency.

The move immediately sparked fury from the Democrats, who said the wall is too expensive, won't work, and sends the wrong message to neighbors.

"This is plainly a power grab by a disappointed president, who has gone outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both Democrats, said in a joint statement.

BATTLE TO COME

Experts said Trump's move on Friday sets the stage for a major battle to come, amid bitter partisan rivalry in Washington.

"There will be a major fight in Congress," Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West said in an interview with Xinhua.

"Democrats will sue and likely stop it in the lower courts. The Supreme Court is a question mark because Republicans have a 5-4 advantage," West said.

John Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government at the Heritage Foundation, said he believes there would be a legal fight. "Somebody is going to challenge this. How long it will be tied up in court is anybody's guess," he said.

Nevertheless, he believed Trump is on solid legal ground.

"Whether it's a good idea or a bad idea, I think the president is operating on fairly firm legal footing. I think that the National Emergencies Act gives him pretty broad authority," Malcolm said.

"But we'll see whether a court upholds him or not," he said.

Christopher Galdieri, assistant professor at Saint Anselm College, said the Democrat-controlled House "is likely to pass a measure stating that there is no emergency."

"Beyond that, expect relevant committees in the House to grill Trump appointees about this, particularly about data that contradicts Trump's claims about a border crisis," Galdieri said.

CAMPAIGN PROMISE

The wall was a major promise Trump has made to supporters while campaigning for the presidency, on which he needs to deliver, experts said.

"Trump needs some portion of the wall to be built in order to satisfy his base. It was his primary campaign promise in 2016 so even if it is a short distance, he has to show he kept his promise," West said.

The wall is "important to the message that he ran on when he ran for the presidency," Malcolm said.

Working-class males, who make up a large part of Trump's base, have blamed illegal migrants for lowering working class wages and taking jobs in industries such as construction, making their life difficult.

Americans have also voiced concerns about an increase in gang violence, which some have blamed on illegal immigrants. In 2017, two teenage girls were brutally murdered in Long Island, New York by members of MS-13, a ruthless gang believed to comprise illegal migrants from El Salvador.

PARTISAN RIVALRY

The fight over the border wall is the latest example of the bitter partisan rivalry that has long troubled Washington.

It will only serve to worsen an already tense situation in Washington, and will only add fuel to an already roaring fire, experts said.

"The Democrats have been angered by everything Trump has done, even before he entered office. So why should today be any different from any other day in that regard?" Malcolm said.

Trump last month shut down part of the U.S. government in a bid to win the political fight over the wall. The president refused to sign a bill to continue funding the federal government unless the 5.7 billion dollars he requested were included to fund the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

After a month of partial shutdown, Trump re-opened the government, but vowed to continue pushing toward his goal of building the wall.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 18:53:13|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

PARIS, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed after their vehicle collided with a truck in Briancon town in southeastern France early Saturday morning, a local newspaper reported.

A car with six people on board collided with a truck at about 5 a.m. local time (0400 GMT). The other three passengers were seriously injured and have been transported to a hospital by helicopter, Le Figaro said on its website.

The truck driver was also injured but was in stable condition.

Police have not revealed the cause of the accident.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 18:48:12|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

People perform a dance during the Chinese Cultural Fair held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Feb. 15, 2019. A five-day Chinese cultural exhibition kicked off in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on Friday evening to celebrate the Chinese New Year and strengten the cultural ties between the two countries. (Xinhua/Ajith Perera)

COLOMBO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A five-day Chinese cultural exhibition kicked off in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on Friday evening to celebrate the Chinese New Year and strengten the cultural ties between the two countries.

The exhibition is organized by the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the China Cultural Center in Sri Lanka and the Overseas Chinese Association. It is the third consecutive year that the Chinese New Year exhibition is being organized in the island country.

Sri Lanka's Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, Champika Ranawaka speaking at the launch of the exhibition said that this year, as China celebrates the Year of the Pig, it is the ideal year to further strenghten the diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and China.

"Today, I wish to emphasize the importance of working together with our Asian countries on mutual beneficial trade and cultural relationships," Ranawaka said.

China's Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Cheng Xueyuan said the Chinese New Year cultural exhibition had within the past two years become a popular event to celebrate the Chinese New Year in Colombo.

The five-day cultural exhibition is being held at the Independence Square Arcade in Colombo and will conclude on Feb. 19.

The exhibition includes cultural performances, fireworks displays, Chinese food stalls and an exhibition of lanterns and photographs.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 18:13:02|Editor: Yamei

Video Player Close

MACAO, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- An international forum on promoting global environmental co-operation and ecological civilization will be held in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) late March, the SAR government's Information Bureau said here on Saturday.

2019 Macao International Environmental Cooperation Forum and Exhibition (MIECF) is themed of promoting ecological civilization and green development. It is scheduled from March 28-30, the bureau said.

The forum, aiming at serving as an platform for promoting global environmental technology transfer and sustainable development, includes a series of activities such as seminar, exhibition and public day.

The forum will set up a "Greenovation Zone" to offer displays and networking activities related to innovative green technologies and promote the application and exchange of innovative environmentally-friendly technologies.

The MIECF was first launched in 2008 and this year will be its 12th edition. Last year's forum witnessed the signing of 35 agreements and 349 on-site business matching sessions.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 17:37:54|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

MUSCATINE, the United States, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- A Sino-U.S. friendship center opened in Muscatine, a small city in the U.S. Midwestern state of Iowa, on Friday.

More than 80 old pictures which show memorable moments in friendly bilateral exchanges during the past 40 years are displayed on the walls of the center.

Inside the center, musicians from China enthralled visitors with melodious Chinese folk music by playing zither and other traditional instruments.

At the center there were also two ping pong tables, at which two locals were engaged in a fierce game.

Chinese businessman Glad Cheng traveled to Muscatine in 2013. He bought a former furniture store in downtown Muscatine and turned it into the Sino-U.S. Friendship Center to showcase to both Chinese and American visitors the story of Ping-Pong Diplomacy, the cultural, educational and trade exchanges between China and the United States.

Gloria Newell, a former secondary school teacher, drove 20 miles(some 32 km) to visit the friendship center.

"I am interested in the Chinese culture. When I was a teacher, I liked sharing it with my students and telling them to appreciate and take care of people from different cultures," she told Xinhua.
Dating on the go

About a year ago, I was a wrecked, heart-broken character still hung up on a bad break up. So, my work best friend Abha, who is the goddess of whipping up the quirkiest of Nepali greeting cards at Little Things, pumped me up for a speed-date programme that she was to organise with her partners on Valentines Day. Unfortunately, that year nothing materialised.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 17:12:50|Editor: ZX

Video Player Close

LUSAKA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's environmental regulator said Friday that it has delayed the implementation of a ban on disposable plastic bags to allow retailers to cope with their stocks.

Last year, Zambia introduced a ban on the use of plastic carrier bags and plastic flat bags that are less than 30 microns in thickness, which was due to come into effect on Feb. 14.

But Simon Mwansa, acting director of the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), said the decision delaying the implementation was made after consultations with retailers who had stocks to be disposed of.

The listed chain stores have been granted an extension of two weeks for using non-compliant plastic carrier bags and one month for using flat bags, he said.

He said ZEMA was positive that the ban will help create a cleaner and healthier environment.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 15:52:35|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

MAIMANA, Afghanistan, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A total of seven militants were killed and four others injured as clash erupted in Garziwan district of Afghanistan's northern Faryab province on Saturday, army spokesman in the northern region Mohammad Hanif Rezai said.

According to the official, the clash erupted early morning after the militants attacked some security checkpoints, and security forces retaliated forcing the militants to flee after leaving seven bodies behind, and four others injured.

There were no casualteis on security personnel, the official said.

Taliban militants haven't commented.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 15:12:26|Editor: Yurou

Video Player Close

SHANGHAI, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Police in Shanghai arrested 1,017 suspects involved in mafia-style activities last year as the city stepped up its crackdown on gang crimes.

In 2018, local police busted more than 260 criminal cases associated with mafia-style gangs and sealed over 450 million yuan (66.4 million U.S. dollars) worth of related assets.

The city saw a year-on-year drop of 25.2 percent in the number of reported gang crimes.

Local authorities said Shanghai would investigate individuals who provide "protective umbrellas" and continue crackdowns on gang groups involved in pornography, gambling and drug trafficking.

The crackdown also targets those from travel agencies and property management, logistics, intermediary and financial companies.

The city will further fight against gang crimes in emerging industries, including illegal lending and cyber crimes, and move to crack down and prevent mafia-style crimes in the fields of transportation, engineering construction and social media.

China has taken a tough stance and stepped up efforts to crack down on gang crime. In January 2018, it launched a three-year campaign against organized crime and officials who shelter criminal organizations.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 15:12:25|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

MEXICO CITY, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Mexican government said Friday that it will provide 107 billion pesos (5.2 billion U.S. dollars) to help the state-run Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) improve its financial condition.

During a press conference, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that the plan would "lift a fiscal burden" off the country's most important company.

"This incentive that has been given to us for this year will be cumulative over the six-year period. In other words, it is 15 billion pesos (780 million dollars) this year and in 2020 this incentive could reach 30 billion pesos (1.6 billion dollars) and so on," said Alberto Velazquez, Pemex's director of finance.

Thanks to this plan, Pemex would "for the first time" enter the market with no new debt, Velazquez said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Carlos Urzua said the additional capital injection in the current fiscal year will allow Pemex to increase investment by 36 percent compared to the year 2018.

"Pemex will be fully supported by this government and if more is needed to fund it, we will do it. The objective is for Pemex to put all its finances in order," Urzua said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 14:57:23|Editor: Liangyu

Video Player Close

BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Ministry of Education (MOE) has vowed to further enhance China's teacher education in a bid to improve the quality of teachers for the new era.

A number of normal education bases will be established and high-caliber comprehensive universities will play a part in nurturing and training teachers for fundamental and vocational education, said Ren Youqun, an official with the MOE, at a press conference on Friday.

The ministry urged efforts to invest more money into public education and improve the quality of university students and to promote free education in certain areas to attract more talented youths.

It called for an improved professional certification system for teachers, as well as coordinated efforts by local governments, institutions of higher education and primary and middle schools in teacher education.

Ren also underlined the importance of improving the quality of in-service teachers and pushing forward the state-level training program for primary and middle-school teachers, especially for those in rural areas.

The MOE and four other departments issued a work plan for revitalizing the country's teacher education in February 2018 to ensure the quality of schools and their majors.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 14:47:49|Editor: Liangyu

Video Player Close

A local student who is learning the Chinese language performs Chinese traditional dance during a gathering to celebrate the traditional Chinese Lantern Festival in Minsk, capital of Belarus, Feb. 15, 2019. Local students from more than 10 high schools and universities staged performances on Friday to greet this year's Lantern Festival, which falls on Feb. 19. (Xinhua/Stringer)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 14:17:14|Editor: xuxin

Video Player Close

An injured man receives medical treatment after a blast rocked Ghazni city, Afghanistan, Feb. 16, 2019. At least one civilian lost his life and three others sustained injuries as a blast rocked Ghazni city, the capital of eastern Ghazni province, on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri said. (Xinhua/Sayed Mominzadah)

GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- At least one civilian lost his life and three others sustained injuries as a blast rocked Ghazni city the capital of eastern Ghazni province on Saturday, provincial government spokesman Aref Nuri said.

"An explosive device planted by militants on a vase in Ghazni city went off at around 01:00 a.m. local time killing one civilian and injuring three others," Nuri told Xinhua.

The official, however, blamed the enemies of peace base, a reference to the Taliban militants for organizing the blast.

Taliban militants operating in parts of the troubled Ghazni province haven't commented.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 13:17:06|Editor: mmm

Video Player Close

HAVANA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Italian Vice Foreign Minister Ricardo Merlo said Friday that Italy is seeking closer economic ties with Cuba.

"We see a continuity in the government that is making qualitative changes to adapt the country to current times. Both nations will be able to increase their bilateral cooperation," Merlo told reporters after launching the Havana office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.

"New Italian companies will invest in this island," he said, adding the office will serve to support bilateral cooperation projects.

Newcomers will be in addition to the more than 50 Italian businesses currently working in the Caribbean island state on major economic and social development projects, said Merlo, who arrived here Thursday to attend the annual meeting of political consultations between the two foreign ministries.

"Foreign investment is encouraged by local authorities in a positive way," he said, adding that for Italian companies seeking new business opportunities, "Cuba is undoubtedly a very important country to invest in."

During his visit, Merlo has met with Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, and Vice President of the Council of Ministers Ricardo Cabrisas on bilateral ties and the potential for increasing economic ties.

According to Mariarosa Stevan, head of the Havana office of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, bilateral cooperation amounts to some 20 million euros (22.5 million U.S. dollars) in sectors such as agriculture, food security and culture.

The most ambitious project, based in eastern Cuba, is intended to enhance the quality of Arabica coffee, she said.

Italy is Cuba's eighth biggest trading partner overall and the second in the European Union after Spain.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 13:12:04|Editor: Liangyu

Video Player Close

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- China's overseas travelers are showing a growing interest in art museums while Chinese collectors are becoming more important in the international art market, said an art expert here Friday.

"What's interesting is there's a new interest in Western art that is developing in China," said Thomas Campbell, director and CEO of Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the largest public art institution in Northern California.

"We are conscious that Chinese audiences are the fastest growing sector," he told Xinhua a day before the opening of the exhibition "Monet: The Late Years" at de Young Museum, a part of the fine arts museum.

The three-month exhibition features 50 original paintings of the French Impressionist master Claude Monet. "Monet is one of the greatest artists of all time, and certainly one of the most influential artists in the modern era. His work is spread widely throughout the world. You have to travel all over the world to see this number of paintings," said Campbell.

Monet is among the best-known Western art masters in China. In recent years, there is an unprecedented demand in China for Monet exhibitions.

The first major such show took place in Shanghai in 2014, drawing more than 350,000 visitors. Since then, a number of exhibitions of the artist have been organized in Chinese cities from north to south, such as Shenyang, Wuhan and Chengdu.

In 2017,a painting of his beloved water lilies series attracted more than 150,000 visitors to an exhibition in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan in southwest China.

The Monet show to open at San Francisco, where several paintings will be seen for the first time in the United States, is a unique opportunity for Chinese tourists to understand modern Western art. "Chinese visitors will get an extraordinary rich exposure to one of the most important artists of the 20th century," said Campbell.

"In these works, you see Monet going from representational impressionism into abstract realm, and the experiment with lights and color that we see in these works really laid a foundation for abstract art later in 20th century," he said.

Western masterpieces have also proved a big hit for Chinese investors who have, in several high-profile deals in recent years, snapped up works from masters like Monet, Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, and Amedeo Clemente Modigliani, an Italian Jewish painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France in the 19th century.

"I think it's very interesting to see that Chinese collectors who traditionally have been focused on historic, modern and contemporary Chinese art have now become big players in the international art market," said Campbell.

"The figures for the big auction houses show the Chinese are among the biggest buyers, and the art market has become truly global," he added. "The Chinese buyers are an increasingly important element in that development."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 12:41:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

BANGKOK, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- A woman was found stomped to death by wild elephants by a roadside near a national park in central Thailand's Hua Hin, reports said on Saturday.

Police found the woman lying face-down in bushes with her shoulders crushed and her skull fractured. Elephants footprints were seen nearby.

The woman's husband said she left home on Thursday evening to visit her sick mother and didn't return. He was informed that his wife's body was found the next morning.

The couple's house is about five kilometers away from the spot where the woman was killed by the pachyderms. Police said the spot is adjacent to a national park and the area turned into pineapple plantations later.

Villagers are living under threats of wild elephants in Thailand's forest area. The southeastern Asia country has seen the second elephant attack in just 48 hours.

Previously, a Buddhist monk of a 19-day seclusion was killed by wild elephants near a Wildlife Sanctuary in Chachoengsao Province in central Thailand.

It's estimated that about 3,500 domesticated elephants live in Thailand and roughly 3,340 wild elephants live in 69 wildlife sanctuaries and national parks across the country.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 12:41:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Friday announced sanctions on five Venezuelan officials, the latest move to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Among the five designated individuals, four are high-level officials of Venezuelan intelligence and security organizations, and the other is Manuel Quevedo, the president of Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PDVSA, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

All property and interests in property of those individuals and of entities they own in the United States would be blocked, and U.S. persons were generally prohibited from engaging in transactions with them.

Washington recently has stepped up economic and diplomatic pressure against the Maduro government.

The White House said Friday that President Donald Trump would give a speech on Venezuela in Miami, Florida on Monday, a move many believed aimed at supporting Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Earlier this week, Trump and visiting Colombian President Ivan Duque said they would cooperate on the Venezuela issue closely. Trump has remained ambiguous about the future policy regarding Venezuela. Asked if he was considering a military solution, Trump said there are "a number of different options. And we look at all options."

U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams, however, made it clear during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday that the United States would not be militarily involved in Venezuela.

The United States last month imposed sanctions on PDVSA, aiming to "prevent further diverting of Venezuela's assets by Maduro."

On Wednesday, Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, warned about the possible effects on the Venezuelan people of U.S. sanctions on PDVSA.

The Trump administration on Jan. 23 recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the nation's "interim president," a move that came days after Maduro was inaugurated for a second term as Venezuelan president.

In response to Washington's support for Guaido, Maduro announced he was severing "diplomatic and political" ties with the United States, ordering all the U.S. diplomatic and consular personnel to leave Venezuela in 72 hours.

Maduro won 2018 Venezuelan presidential election by garnering over 6 million votes, some 4 million more than his closest rival, and was inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 10.

Guaido, head of the Venezuelan National Assembly, declared himself interim president during an anti-government rally on Jan. 23, and was immediately recognized by the United States.

Maduro accused Washington of orchestrating a coup d'etat in order to install a puppet regime in Venezuela.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 12:31:58|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

HARARE, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- More than 60 people are believed to have died in two mining shafts after a nearby dam burst in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland West Province, authorities said on Friday.

The number of illegal miners who could have been trapped was estimated at between 60 and 70, said Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister July Moyo.

In a statement on Friday, Moyo said hopes of finding survivors are fading following heavy rains that pounded the area during the night.

Rescuers successfully pumped out water from two interlinked tunnels, and work to retrieve the bodies is expected to start Saturday, Moyo said.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared the incident a State of Disaster on Friday.

Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs Minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka said the tragedy was a big wake-up call for mining authorities and the miners on the need to adhere to safety standards.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 11:36:52|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

CARACAS, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Friday that U.S. President Donald Trump is put by his advisors into a dead end regarding the situation in Venezuela.

Trump has been put into an "alley without exit" by his advisors on Venezuela, he said.

Maduro made the remarks when marking the bicentennial of Venezuela's definitive republican constitution amid a political crisis that broke out on Jan. 23 when opposition leader Juan Guaido declared himself interim president and was recognized by the United States and several other countries.

Maduro said there are no alternatives to "dialogue, understanding, and respect" in solving the crisis.

Maduro said he is "waiting for the call to a national dialogue," as urged by the Montevideo Mechanism, a four-step plan proposed on Feb. 6 by Uruguay and Mexico advocating a negotiated solution.

However, he warned that Washington may order opposition members not to enter into dialogue "and that is a mistake."

He reiterated that the humanitarian aid Washington is trying to offer is a "trap."

Maduro, who won the 2018 presidential elections in the South American country, was inaugurated for a second term on Jan. 10.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 11:01:00|Editor: mmm

Video Player Close

The Year of the Pig themed stamps are displayed in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Feb. 15, 2019. A series of stamps were published by local post office to celebrate the Year of the Pig. (Xinhua)
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 10:21:38|Editor: Liangyu

Video Player Close

Yang Jiechi (1st R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, meets with Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn (1st L) during the 55th Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Feb. 15, 2019. (Xinhua)

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- China and Luxembourg are willing to deepen practical cooperation and seek common development, senior Chinese and Luxembourg officials said here on Friday.

Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and also director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, met Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn on the sidelines of the 55th Munich Security Conference.

Yang said that the China-Luxembourg relations have entered a new stage where bilateral high-level exchanges are close and political mutual trust and economic and trade ties have been continuously enhanced.

Both sides should implement the consensuses of the leaders of the two countries, and continuously deepen cooperation in traditional fields such as finance and air cargo, as well as in high-tech fields, so that new highlights in pragmatic cooperation could be created, Yang continued.

China highly appreciates Luxembourg's active participation in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Yang said, adding that he believes that both sides should hold high the banner of multilateralism and closely communicate and collaborate with each other on international affairs.

China firmly supports the European integration process and is willing to enhance economic, trade and investment cooperation with the European Union (EU), as well as to strive to dovetail the BRI with the EU's development strategy, Yang noted.

Asselborn said that it is delightful that both sides have maintained close and friendly exchanges. Luxembourg and China have achieved fruitful results in exchanges and cooperation in various fields such as finance, investment and humanities in recent years.

Highlighting the importance of communication and coordination with China in multilateral affairs, Asselborn said Luxembourg is willing to deepen pragmatic cooperation in various fields on the basis of mutual respect and mutual trust, and to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results at a higher level.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 09:16:28|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on late Friday rejected Indian allegations of its involvement in a suicide attack in the Indian-controlled Kashmir that left 40 soldiers killed, local media reported.

In a move against the "baseless allegations," the Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned Indian acting Deputy High Commissioner Gaurav Ahluwalia, lodging a protest over the allegations. The ministry rejected any link between the attack and Pakistan and told the Indian official that India should refrain from leveling accusations without investigations.

Responding to Indian media reports that banned outfit Jaish-e-Muhammad claimed the attack, the foreign office said that the organization has no links with Pakistan as it is based in the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The country's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who left for Germany Thursday, also rejected the allegations, saying that Pakistan has always advocated peace with its neighboring countries and "Prime Minister Imran Khan's peace overture to India is on record," local newspaper quoted the foreign minister as saying.

Local media reports said that India has scrapped the Most Favored Nation's status for Pakistan in the aftermath of the attack. Removing the status is feared to affect the trade relations between Pakistan and India, said local analysts.

Advisor to Prime Minister on Trade Abdul Razzak Dawood told reporters on Friday that Pakistan will not take any emotional or hasty decision and the country's response to India's move will come after due deliberation.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 08:01:11|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Five people were killed and five police officers were wounded in a shooting on Friday at a business in the U.S. state of Illinois, police said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 07:46:09|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The western U.S. state of California, the most populous state in the country, is planning to sue the Trump administration over the president's declaration of a national emergency on the southern border with Mexico, said California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday.

"President Trump is manufacturing a crisis and declaring a made-up 'national emergency' in order to seize power and subvert the constitution. This 'emergency' is a national disgrace, and the blame lays solely at the feet of the President," said Newsom in a statement hours after U.S. President Donald Trump's declaration.

"Meanwhile, he plans to shut down and divert funds used by California law enforcement that run counter-narcotics operations and fight drug cartels to build his wall. Our message back to the White House is simple and clear: California will see you in court," the Democratic governor added.

Newsom and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra didn't mention when they would file the lawsuit at a press conference in Sacramento, the capital city of California.

"Fortunately, Donald Trump is not the last word, the courts will be the last word," said Newsom at the press conference.

Becerra said California is being called upon to act, noting that they held the press conference because the important matters impacting the state of California and American people.

"He can't do this, because the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the powers to direct dollars, the powers of the purse," he added.

Trump announced earlier Friday that he will sign a national emergency to build the U.S.-Mexico border wall and push for his signature campaign promise. The move gave the president power to bypass U.S. Congress to get access to money, but it sparked a new round of legal and partisan battles almost immediately.

The White House plans to redirect 3.6 billion U.S. dollars in military construction funding toward the border project, repurposing about 2.5 billion dollars from the Defense Department's drug-interdiction program and 600 million dollars from the Treasury Department's asset-forfeiture fund.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 07:00:58|Editor: Shi Yinglun

Video Player Close

CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) crop futures closed mixed on Friday, with soybeans rising over progress in the latest round of high-level U.S.-China trade talks in Beijing.

China and the United States held the sixth round of high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing from Thursday to Friday.

The two sides reached consensus in principle on major issues and had specific discussions about a memorandum of understanding on bilateral economic and trade issues. Consultations will be continued in Washington next week.

CBOT soybeans had suffered double-digit losses during the previous session amid massive fund selling, which also sent corn and wheat prices significantly lower.

Trade talk progress, along with bargain buying, pushed up CBOT soybean prices, said market watchers.

Continuous selling further dragged down wheat futures, while corn prices stayed unchanged.

CBOT brokers reported that funds sold on Friday 5,000 contracts of wheat, 2,200 contracts of corn, while being flat in soybeans.

At the end of the session, soybeans for March delivery was up 4 cents to 9.075 dollars per bushel. March wheat was up 2.75 cents to 5.0425 dollars per bushel.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 06:55:57|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

LISBON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese government condemned on Friday a suicide attack against paramilitary troopers belonging to Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the Pulwama district of the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

In a statement, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry expressed its support and solidarity with the authorities and the people of India and conveyed deep condolences to the families of the victims, hoping for a speedy recovery of the wounded.

Portugal reiterated its condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and its commitment to the pursuit of collective actions of prevention and repression of terrorist acts, the statement said.

Portugal reiterated its determination to work together with India and other international partners in this regard, it added.

The car bomb attack was carried out Thursday on a national highway near Lethpora village in Pulwama district, about 27 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The death toll of the suicide attack has risen to 40 and many others are reported to be wounded.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 05:50:39|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

KHARTOUM, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese police on Friday said one of its members died after sustaining injuries during protests in the Sudanese capital Khartoum on Thursday.

Najm-Eddin Mohamed Ali, one of the injured members of the police force, died, announced Hashim Abdel-Rahim, Sudanese police spokesman, at a press conference.

One of the police vehicles was attacked by stones by a group of people who were hiding near the street in Al-Imtidad area in Khartoum on Thursday, the spokesman said.

"Injuries occurred among the police members. The injury of one of them was serious that led to his death," he said.

He further explained that the police managed to arrest a number of suspects and opened criminal cases against them under articles of murder and serious harm.

He said that "the ambush against the martyr and his colleagues was planned in advance."

Abdel-Rahim reiterated that the incident would not drag the police to institute for a society of hatred, affirming that the police will abide by the law.

Since Dec. 19 last year, various areas in Sudan, including Khartoum, have been witnessing popular protests over the deteriorating economic conditions and price hikes of basic commodities.

According to government statistics, at least 32 people have been killed during the protests.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 05:45:38|Editor: mmm

Video Player Close

Photo taken on Feb. 15, 2019 shows a meeting session in the parliament in Beirut, capital of Lebanon. The new Lebanese government led by Saad Hariri won the vote of confidence with 111 votes out of 128 in the parliament on Friday. (Xinhua)

BEIRUT, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The new Lebanese government won on Friday the vote of confidence with 111 votes out of 128 after discussing the ministerial statement for four days during this past week, Tele Liban local TV Channel reported.

Prior to the voting, Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave a speech while focusing on the need to conduct reforms in a bid to avoid the deterioration of the country on all levels.

"We have agreed on the main points in the statement and we know very well that if we do not agree the country will collapse," he said.

He emphasized the need to implement important reforms and to find a final and complete solution for the electricity problem which costs the treasury around two billion U.S. dollars a year.

Hariri also placed great importance on reforms needed to comply for the 11 billion U.S. dollars pledged at CEDRE conference.

Hariri added that CEDRE program was not made by the international community with the intention of nationalizing Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

"The program is 100 percent Lebanese even if it will employ some Syrians," he said.

"Who does not want a better business environment or a reduction in the budget deficit?" Hariri asked.

Hariri said that Lebanon should take advantage of this historical opportunity.

"All political parties will take part in our work plan. The council of ministers and the Parliament are responsible of translating this work plan into actions," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 05:40:37|Editor: Liangyu

Video Player Close

ZAGREB, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Croatian Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butkovic told reporters on Friday that Chinese bidders are welcome for a major road construction project in Rijeka, local daily newspaper Novi list reported.

"If Chinese companies have the best offer, they would be selected," Butkovic told reporters in Crikvenica, a coastal town in northern Adriatic. He said that a tender for the project will be announced soon and that it will be open to all companies.

The future road will connect a western part of the Rijeka port and the container terminal with the city's bypass road. It should be one of the most important infrastructure projects in Rijeka, Croatia's biggest port in northern Adriatic.

The Minister said the experience with China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in Croatia is good so far. CRBC is currently building the biggest infrastructure project in the country, Peljesac Bridge, which will connect the southern Peljesac peninsula to the mainland.

Croatian media reported on Wednesday that the project might not be finished on time because the contractor of the access roads to the bridge is yet to be chosen.

The minister told reporters that the state-owned Hrvatske Ceste (HC) road construction and management company was not surprised by the appeal against the tender for the construction of access roads to the future Peljesac Bridge. He stressed that the appeal should not jeopardize the project or slow it down.

"Within 30 days, Hrvatske Ceste will respond to this appeal and the state commission should quickly adopt a solution because it is an EU-funded project," explained Butkovic.

He said that the construction of the Peljesac Bridge and access roads must be completed within the deadline. Otherwise, EU funding would be questioned.

"We are not late and it is not important to complete the construction of the bridge and the roads on the same day," Butkovic said.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 03:50:04|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

CHICAGO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Google plans to create "hundreds" of new jobs in Chicago this year by expanding its office in the third largest U.S. city.

The new jobs are a result of the U.S. tech giant's decision to expand its finance team, Chicago Tribune quoted Rob Biederman, head of government relations and public affairs for Google in the Midwest, as saying Friday.

Most of Google's finance team is currently located in the Bay Area.

In October, the company has leased about 132,000 square feet in a building in Chicago. The space, plus its 10-story headquarters in the city, will give Google the capacity to double its Chicago workforce by the end of the year, according to the report.

Google has been adding hardware designers and cloud engineers to its Chicago office in recent years. It first started building its engineering presence in Chicago in 2005, and engineers now account for about 25 percent of the Chicago office staff.

The U.S. company employs more than 1,000 people at its Chicago office at present.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 02:49:56|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday deplored the humanitarian situation in Gaza and praised the UN agency for Palestinian refugees "critical work" last year.

In his remarks to a meeting on the rights of the Palestinian people, Guterres said that approximately two million Palestinians remain mired in increasing poverty and unemployment, with limited access to adequate health, education, water and electricity.

He urged Israel to lift restrictions on the movement of people and goods, which also hamper the efforts of the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies.

On humanitarian relief, Guterres commended the UN agency for Palestinian refugees known as UNRWA for its "critical work" in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and across the region, despite an unprecedented financial crisis in 2018.

The United States, once the agency's largest and most generous donor, cut its support for the agency by 300 million U.S. dollars in 2018. But the organization was able to narrow the funding gap with aid pledges from other countries.

"I thank those donors who have increased their commitments and enabled Palestinian refugees to continue to receive the essential services provided by UNRWA," Guterres said, asking them to maintain their support in the future.

Last month, UNRWA appealed for 1.2 billion dollars to fund their services this year, aiming to maintain the same amount of money the agency received from donors in 2018.

The U.N. agency assists 5.4 million registered Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.

Turning to the settlement issue, Guterres reaffirmed settlements are illegal under international law. "They deepen the sense of mistrust and undermine the two-State solution."

The construction and planning of settlements by Israel have expanded deeper into Area C in the West Bank, including in East Jerusalem, he warned, referring to the West Bank area where most Israeli settlements are located.

The UN chief also expressed regret at the decision by Israel not to renew the mandate of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron.

The international monitoring mission was initially established after a 1994 mosque shooting in the flashpoint city of Hebron in West Bank, and began operating in its latest form after a 1997 deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

"I hope an agreement can be found by the parties to preserve this long-standing and valuable arrangement," Guterres said.

Moreover, the secretary-general pledged the United Nations' firm support of Palestinian reconciliation and the return of the "legitimate Palestinian government" to Gaza.

"Gaza is an integral part of a future Palestinian state and Palestinian unity is needed for a politically stable, economically viable, sovereign and independent State of Palestine," he said.

Also, he appealed to Hamas authorities in Gaza to prevent provocations and Israel to exercise maximum restraint and to not use lethal force, except as a last resort against imminent threat of death or serious injury.

"Israelis and Palestinians continue to suffer from deadly cycles of violence," he said. "Leaders have a responsibility to their populations, not least the youth, to reverse this negative trajectory and pave the way toward peace, stability and reconciliation."
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 02:14:50|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

TIRANA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Albania's State Police found and seized ammunition, thousands of euros in cash and other evidences in the homes of three Albanian judges suspected of corruption, a spokesperson of the State Police confirmed on Friday in a press release.

Tens of special police forces entered early Friday morning the homes of three judges, Skender Damiani, Petrit Aliaj and Aleks Nikolla.

The operation comes a few days after the judges of the Court of Appeal in the capital Tirana decided to reduce the life sentence handed by the First Instance Court to Dritan Dajti, who is accused of killing four police officers during an operation for his arrest in summer 2009.

In reaction to the decision to sentence Dajti to 25 years in prison, the association of the retired police held a protest.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, said on Twitter that state police "broke the 30 year old myth of the untouchable judges."

"State police showed those people who killed justice for the four police officers who were murdered by a criminal, that time for the untouchables has come to an end," tweeted Rama.

"Albania's State Police is continuing the operation without interruption," said the press release.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 02:09:49|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

LONDON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- UK businesses and industries are increasingly fearful of a catastrophic no-deal Brexit as the worst-case scenario remains much on the table following the defeat of British Prime Minister's motion in parliament Thursday night.

In the countdown to the Brexit day on Mar. 29, British House of Commons voted against Prime Minister Theresa May's motion that asked the parliament to support the government's negotiating strategy with the European Union. Conservative rebels abstained on the grounds that the motion implied a no-deal Brexit would be ruled out.

While some lawmakers hope to avoid a hugely damaging no-deal option, some want to use it as a potential negotiation tactic with the EU. Locked in an impasse over the backstop arrangement to avoid border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, there is no revised deal in sight. And questions remain if the British parliament will back the deal by majority if there is one.

"The defeat of the Government motion will increase fears among food and drink manufacturers that there is now a diminishing prospect of rescue from the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit," said Ian Wright, chief executive of Food and Drink Federation (FDF), in a statement after the vote.

Businesses are fretful about the progress of Brexit and are vastly unprepared for a no-deal scenario, industry groups have warned. A survey from the EEF, the Manufacturers' Organization, shows less than one in five manufacturers are prepared for a no-deal scenario, though 84 percent of companies remain concerned about its impact on their business.

In a no-deal scenario, Britain will have to trade under the World Trade Organization terms. Exports from and imports into the country will be subject to higher tariffs compared with the current frictionless trade between Britain and other EU members as well as the preferential rates under the EU trade deals with third countries.

A government report released last November said pharmaceutical and automotive industries would be particularly vulnerable in a no-deal Brexit as they depend on a just-in-time supply chain.

UK car production fell to a five year low in 2018 and fresh investment halved in the year. Exporting 8 out of its 10 cars, new calculations show two thirds of UK's global car trade will be at risk from a no-deal Brexit, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said Brexit uncertainty has already done enormous damage to output, investment and jobs. "Yet this is nothing compared with the permanent devastation caused by severing our frictionless trade links overnight, not just with the EU but with the many other global markets with which we currently trade freely. "

Rain Newton-Smith, chief economist of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said: "The reality is that no deal would not be a short, sharp shock - it could spark a long-term decline in the capital's competitiveness, with severe knock-on effects for London and the rest of the UK."

"While the good news is that a no deal scenario is avoidable, until it's off the table firms are spending hundreds of millions of pounds preparing for an event which the UK simply cannot manage and need not happen," Newton-Smith said.

To alleviate the business concerns, the British government is offering some solutions to cushion the impact of a no-deal Brexit. One of its major moves is to race against the clock to replicate EU trade deals it has benefited from as an EU member into bilateral ones to allow businesses to continue trading freely.

Britain has so far signed four continuity agreements, respectively with Chile, Eastern and Southern Africa, the Faroe Islands and Switzerland. Businesses doubt whether the government can successfully roll over much of the around 40 EU trade deals before Mar. 29, especially with major trade partners like Canada, Japan and the Republic of Korea.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 02:09:49|Editor: yan

Video Player Close

CAIRO, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Tourism Minister Adviser for Training Soha Baghat discussed on Friday with a senior official of southwest China's Sichuan Province to boost bilateral cooperation in tourism, official MENA news agency reported.

Bahgat met with Gan Lin, a member of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, stressing the importance of the Chinese market.

Bahgat said that Chinese tourists increased in 2018, highlighting the cooperation with China in fields, including training and improving the efficiency of the human factor.

Gan said that China is looking forward to fostering tourism, academic, and cultural cooperation, citing the Chinese tourists' passion for the ancient Egyptian civilization.

He offered training programs for the Egyptian chefs for preparing the Chinese food.

Egypt is a favorable attraction to hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists each year for its historical sites and sunny sandy beaches.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-16 00:34:31|Editor: Lu Hui

Video Player Close

RAMALLAH, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinians expressed intense opposition to the Warsaw conference on the Middle East, co-organized by Poland and the United States, where Israel and some Arab states participated.

Palestinian observers told Xinhua in separate remarks that holding the conference deepened the Palestinians' concerns that the U.S. administration is seeking to jump over the Arab Peace Initiative at the expense of eliminating the Palestinian cause.

The Arab League released the peace initiative in 2002 in accordance to a proposal presented by Saudi Arabia to find a solution to the Palestinian question. However, Israel rejected the initiative.

Several days before the Warsaw conference, Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), stated that the Palestinians ignored an invitation to attend the conference and refused to join.

"No one is authorized to speak on behalf of the Palestinians," Erekat said, adding that "Warsaw conference is an attempt to overcome the Arab Peace Initiative and destroy the Palestinian national cause."

The Palestinian Authority (PA) presidency also said in an official statement on Thursday that the Middle East question is "political."

Nabil Abu Rdineh, the PA Presidency spokesman, said in an official statement that "without resolving the Palestinian cause based on the principle of the two-state solution ... all conferences and meetings will fail."

Ties between the PA and the U.S. administration had been severed since U.S. President Donald Trump declared in December 2017 that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel and moved his country's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since Trump's declaration, the Palestinians have been calling for finding an international mechanism to sponsor the peace talks with Israel.

Jehad Harb, a West Bank-based writer and political analyst, said that "Warsaw conference is a U.S. attempt to overcome the Palestinian boycott of the U.S. administration since its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."

"For the Palestinians, the U.S. position contradicts with the Arab Peace Initiative and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, which were mentioned in the texts of the international resolutions," Harb said.

He added that the Palestinian leadership kept boycotting the U.S. administration "because it blindly supports Israel, and it is also a partner with Israel because it defends Israel's violations and negative positions."

The Palestinians still show a strict position towards the U.S. administration and keep challenging the U.S. President Donald Trump's peace plan, which is called "Deal of the Century."

However, they may change their position if the U.S. regrets its policy and becomes committed to the two-state solution.

The U.S. administration also decided not to pay its annual financial share to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

Hani Habib, a Gaza-based political analyst, said that "the current U.S. administration began its hostile position towards the Palestinians from the very first day it took office in the White House."

"Inviting Arab countries like Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Morocco to participate in Warsaw conference shows the real goals to hold bilateral and multilateral dialogue between them and Israel," Habib said.

Habib added that "this is a serious shift in the file of normalization between the Arabs and Israel."

The analyst warned that "the U.S. goals of holding such a conference may lead to develop a major step towards establishing an Arab-Israeli NATO."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence are seen at the National Stadium during the Warsaw conference on the Middle East in Warsaw, Poland, Feb. 14, 2019. (Xinhua/Jaap Arriens)

WARSAW, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The international conference on the Middle East ended here on Thursday. During the two-day discussion, the United States and the EU have held different views on Iran issue, and didn't reach any agreements specifically.

The conference, which started on Wednesday, was co-organized by Poland and the U.S. The main topics included the political situation and the role of Iran in regional development, the situation in Yemen and Syria, the security and stability in the Middle East.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed the unstable situation in the region on Iran's "destabilizing influence". He said earlier on Thursday that peace and stability in the Middle East cannot be achieved "without confronting Iran".

In his closing remarks at the end of the conference, Pompeo said that "more sanctions and pressure on Iran is needed". He also urged other countries "oppose giving money to (Iranian President) Hassan Rouhani".

But the EU has different positions on Iran issue. "The European Union believes that maintaining the peaceful character of the Iranian nuclear program, calls for keeping the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA, in place. The United States abandoned this agreement and imposed sanctions," said Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz.

"The nuclear deal with Iran plays a positive role in the long term," Czaputowicz said at the end of the conference.

Last year, the U.S. withdrew from a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed sanctions. Other countries of the deal, including major European powers such as Germany, France and Britain, have since tried to keep the deal alive.

The conference on the Middle East was attended by the representatives of more than 60 countries. The U.S. invited Israel and Arab states, but not Iran.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini didn't attend the conference, and neither did foreign ministers of France and Germany, which sent lower ranking staff instead.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran will stand firm in the face of U.S. sanction pressures.

Washington is targeting the Iranian nation with an "economic, propaganda and psychological war," Rouhani was quoted as saying by Press TV.

However, the Iranians will defend their dignity and independence, and will not "surrender to the enemy," he said.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday that the anti-Iran meeting in the Polish capital Warsaw is "doomed to fail," semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

"This is another attempt by the United States to pursue its policies vis-a-vis Iran, which has not been forged properly," Zarif was quoted as saying.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 21:08:30|Editor: Xiaoxia

Video Player Close

SOFIA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian customs inspectors at the Lesovo checkpoint on the country's southeastern border with Turkey have seized 13,342 kg of illegal refrigerant destined for Romania, officials said here on Friday.

The illicit substance was discovered in a truck, whose driver declared that he was transporting refrigerant gas from Turkey to Romania, the National Customs Agency (NCA) said in a statement.

However, a subsequent inspection of the cargo revealed that the truck was also loaded with 981 bottles -- 13.6 kg each, containing Freon R-22 -- a substance banned in the European Union (EU), the statement said.

The ban was imposed in accordance with the EU Regulation 1005/2009 on substances that deplete the ozone layer, it said.

The bottles with Freon R-22 would be destroyed, following the requirements of the Waste Management Law, the statement added.
Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-15 21:03:30|Editor: mmm

Video Player Close

Devotees perform ablution for prayers at Ijtema venue in Tongi on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Feb. 15, 2019. The largest annual Muslim congregation after holy Hajj began Friday morning in Bangladesh with religious sermons for devotees from home and abroad. (Xinhua/Stringer)

DHAKA, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- The largest annual Muslim congregation after holy Hajj began Friday morning in Bangladesh with religious sermons for devotees from home and abroad.

The grand prayer at the four-day congregation called Biswa Ijtema on the bank of the Turag river at Tongi, some 25 km north of capital Dhaka, will be held on Monday, seeking divine blessings and welfare of all mankind.

Like previous years, a large number of foreign pilgrims attended the second phase of the congregation which began Friday after Fazr (morning) prayers with religious sermons for the devotees, seeking world peace for the Muslim ummah.

To ensure safety and security of the devotees and maintain law and order, thousands of members of different law-enforcing agencies have been deployed in and around the 60-hectare Ijtema ground, the main venue of the congregation.

Observation towers have been set up at different strategic points to oversee people's movement.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The community is trying to build up the next generation of world leaders through an annual conference held Friday by the Tallahassee Southern Model United Nations.

Tallahassee Community College hosted the 23rd Annual Conference, which hosted about 250 middle and high school students throughout the state.

They were split up in groups to represent different countries and debate about world conflicts.

The event's organizer says it is critical for students to learn the skills taught today to help them grow as leaders.

"We're introducing them to all of these new ideas and topics. It really helps them grow as students and creates this really strong foundation for them to continue this in their futures," said Hannah Cake, Secretary General of TSMUN 2019.

Some topics the students debated included funding terrorism, cyber warfare, and drug trafficking.

Scholarships were handed out to students, including two full-in-state tuition awards to attend TCC.
Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman confirmed that five civilians were killed, and five police officers were shot during a mass shooting as a manufacturing company in Aurora, Illinois Friday evening.

Ziman said officers were dispatched to the Henry Pratt Company at 1:24 p.m. CT and were immediately fired upon. Two of the first four responding officers were shot by the gunman. The gunman went on to wound three additional officers.

A sixth officer was wounded with a non-gunshot injury. Ziman confirmed that the gunman was killed. Footage from a local TV helicopter showed a SWAT unit assisting people running from a building. The ATF said that it was involved in the investigation of the shooting. "I am monitoring the shooting in Aurora and encourage all residents to follow the directives of their local law enforcement," Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said. Aurora is 40 miles west of Chicago.

Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Police in Aurora, Illinois, responded to an active shooting situation at a manufacturing company this afternoon.

Police were called to the scene shortly before 2 p.m. local time. Dozens of officers from various agencies in the Chicago area responded to the scene.

EMERGENCY UPDATE | 3 p.m. THE SHOOTER HAS BEEN APPREHENDED! The area is still on lock down! More information will be provided soon.  City of Aurora, IL (@CityofAuroraIL) February 15, 2019
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - This week, schools in Leon County have been raising money for several causes and programs.

Some schools are offering fundraising challenges, and if students meet those goals, there will be something for them to enjoy.

Earlier Friday, students at Killearn Lakes Elementary School ran laps as part of its sixth annual "Fun Run."

The challenge is to raise $35,000 that will be used to get more technology.

If students met that goal, the principal and assistant principal would spend a school day camped on the roof.

So far, the school has received more than $41,000 dollars in pledges with one more week left to fundraiser.

"We have used it to purchase smart boards and one-on-one devices for a lot of our classrooms. Fourth and fifth grade, we're getting close to being one-on-one entirely. And then, we're working towards the other grades as well -- laptops, iPads, computers in the classrooms. A lot of technology. That's our goal," said Susan Vinson.

The school of more than 800 students received pledges from people in 41 states and eight countries.

As for the challenge, the school day on the roof will be announced later.
In a moment of rare team work, a group of work-release inmates jumped into action to assist deputies as they rescued a one-year-old trapped inside a locked SUV.

Inmates in Pasco County jump into action to help deputies rescue baby from locked car

It happened Thursday morning outside of the West Pasco Judicial Center.

The mother tells ABC Action News, her husband strapped their one-year-old daughter into a car seat and tossed the keys in the front seat. When he closed the back door, he realized the Chevy Tahoe was locked.

A group of deputies, inmates and a witness used a clothes hanger to unlock the door within minutes. The mother recorded the entire incident on her cell phone.

Sheriff Chris Nocco admits it was a unique situation, allowing an inmate to use his skill set to break into a car for the right reasons.

Theres only a very small percentage of those criminals out there that want to fight us and want to attack us, but a lot of them, like these individuals, they know they made bad mistakes, bad choices but they want to do the right thing in life," Nocco said.

The child, Dallas, was not hurt.

The mother tells ABC Action News that she is grateful for everyone involved and hopes to learn the identity of those inmates so she can contribute to their commissary accounts.

To see the video, click here.

Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
GADSDEN COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - A new project in Florida's Panhandle aims to boost children's literacy rates in school districts that struggle to make high scores.

Getting children interested in turning the pages. That's the goal of the Read With Me project which aims to improve literacy for students.

"Each student in our school will receive four books each. They'll have an opportunity to take them home and add them to their home libraries . Here parents will have an opportunity to get more involved with their child," said Principal Dr.Sonya Jackson.

Dr. Sonya Jackson says West Gadsden Middle school will host parents workshops to encourage them to read aloud with their children.

Through the project, children who don't typically have access to books will be able to start a library at home and read from the school's new collection.

And there's definitely a need to fill these bookshelves. Through the Read with Me program more than 400 books will soon sit here and that's just the start. New ones will continue coming in over the next three years.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded two million dollars to 11 Florida schools to boost early education over the next three years.

Read With Me will offer a summer coding program, give e-readers to the schools, and focus on improving practices for teachers.

The 11 chosen schools have historically low literacy rates and this new funding hopes to get children's reading scores on an upward trend.

"Reading is very important so in order to make sure that our students are getting the ready that they need, they have the books now to read at home and to continue to read while they're here at school," said Dr.Jackson.

West Gadsden Middle School is expecting hundreds of new books for their students to arrive within the next few weeks.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - With the goal of driving diversity among U.S. doctors, FAMU and Ross University School of Medicine have announced a new agreement to help more African-Americans attend medical school.

Florida A&M and Ross University School of Medicine made the announcement Friday afternoon.

The two universities have agreed to establish an educational pathway program, making it easier for FAMU graduate school students to study medicine at RUSM.

Qualified FAMU students who earn full acceptance into the medical school will receive a scholarship covering full tuition for the first semester. Those FAMU students would then spend the first two years of medical school at the RUSM campus in Barbados.

This is an exciting opportunity to partner with the Ross University School of Medicine, said FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D. He added, For 131 years, FAMU has produced outstanding graduates who are making an impact on society. The University is already noted for being a leading institution of origin for African Americans pursuing degrees in the natural sciences. This partnership will allow us to play an even greater role in the production and development of African-American physicians who will positively change the healthcare outcomes for people from all aspects of society.

Ross University School of Medicine is an institution of Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE), a global education provider headquartered in the United States. RUSMs 14,000-plus alumni practice medicine throughout North America and across all specialties.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (The News Service of Florida) - Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he wants to create a new equal opportunity voucher program to eliminate a waiting list of about 14,000 low-income students seeking to use state-backed scholarships to attend private schools.

The governor is asking lawmakers to create a supplement to the Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program, the states largest voucher-type program, which serves nearly 100,000 students but has about 14,000 others stuck on a waiting list.

Lets build on the success  and bring this to another level, DeSantis said at an appearance in Orlando as he outlined the proposed Equal Opportunity Scholarship program.

In control of the governors mansion and the Legislature for the past two decades, Republicans have consistently sought to expand taxpayer-funded school choice programs. Former Gov. Jeb Bush, who is a national school-choice leader, was quick Friday to praise DeSantis decision to empower students.

I applaud the governors leadership and look forward to the future where every hard-working family has the ability to choose a school that works best for their children, Bush said in a statement.

But critics of having another voucher program in Florida slammed the governors decision.

Let us be clear. Vouchers do not create choice for parents, but rather choice for private schools --- they can reject students based on economic status, academic achievement, disabilities, English proficiency, immigration status, sexual orientation or even gender, said Fedrick C. Ingram, president of the Florida Education Association, the states largest teachers union.

Since being sworn into office last month, DeSantis has taken steps that have drawn praise from Democrats, such as proposing a boost in environmental spending and seeking to lift a ban on smoking medical marijuana.

The voucher program announcement means the honeymoon is over, said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Terrie Rizzo.

Its clear that Ron DeSantis intends to govern just as the Republican Party of Florida has governed for decades, by selling out Florida families and children to corporate special interests, Rizzo said in a statement.

DeSantis told reporters on Friday he was aware of voucher backlash, but he praised the educations provided to low-income and minority students through the programs.

Some people think we should not have the program, but my thing is, look at the results, DeSantis said. He pointed to statistics that 70 percent of the students served by the Tax Credit Scholarship Program are Hispanic or black.

DeSantis proposal will need approval from the Republican-dominated Legislature during the session that starts March 5.

Well be able to wake up in May and say, Wow, were taking big, bold action here in Florida on behalf of our school kids,  he said.

The new program in its first year would make scholarships available to about 14,000 students --- roughly the same number on the Tax Credit Scholarship waiting list --- and then increase by 1 percent of statewide public-school enrollment each year after that, according to information from DeSantis office.

Money for the program would come out of the states main public-education funding program. That could spur a legal challenge, as a Bush-backed voucher program was struck down as unconstitutional in 2006 by the Florida Supreme Court.

The Tax Credit Scholarship Program is structured differently, with state tax dollars not going directly to the program. Instead, companies can receive tax credits for contributing money to non-profit organizations that, in turn, fund the scholarships.

DeSantis said he wants the new program to provide vouchers that would be similar in amount to the Tax Credit Scholarship Program.

But it will provide more resources for families to pick the type of education that makes sense for their children, he said.

In making the announcement at Calvary City Academy in Orlando, DeSantis was joined onstage by parents who support the scholarship programs.

Shereka Wright, a single mother of two boys, said her children were bullied and not doing well in school before going to a private school.

"I chose private school because Simon and Jayden were struggling so much in their public school last year. They were getting Ds and Fs," Wright said.

Living paycheck to paycheck, Wright said she applied for a tax credit scholarship but was put on the waiting list. She is making tuition payments to have her kids attend a religious private school but said, "I don't have the money to keep up with the tuition and the school's patience can't last forever."

"There isn't enough funding for all the families in Florida who need these scholarships," Wright said.
Woburn, MA (01801)

Today

Rain showers this morning with overcast skies during the afternoon hours. High 77F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 40%..

Tonight

Some clouds. Low around 65F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP)  Three months after the races for Florida governor and U.S. Senate were decided in recounts, a federal appellate court panel has denied an appeal of a ruling over signatures on mail-in ballots.

A U.S. District Court of Appeals panel in Atlanta on Friday denied a request for a stay filed by the National Republican Senate Committee last November in the heat of the Florida recount.

At issue were 4,000 ballots that were rejected because signatures on mail-in ballots didn't match signatures elections supervisors have on file for the voters.

During the recount, Democratic critics said there was no way for voters whose ballots were thrown out to fix them, and a federal judge gave the voters a few days to verify their identities.

The Republican committee appealed that decision.
Councillors vow to challenge fresh plans to transfer GP services from Gresford Health Centre

This article is old - Published: Friday, Feb 15th, 2019

Two local councillors have vowed to challenge renewed proposals to relocate GP services from a village health centre.

Alyn Family Doctors, which operates across three sites, has proposed that the GP services in Gresford are transferred to Rossett Surgery and Llay Health Centre.

Councillor Andrew Atkinson, who represents the Gresford ward, said he had received an email from Alyn Family Doctors this evening informing him of the public meeting  which is scheduled to take place in Llay next month.

The email reads: We, the doctors of Alyn Family Doctors GP Practice, would like to invite you to attend a public meeting at the above venue.





In order to remain sustainable as a Practice, we need to make changes and we are again proposing to apply to the Health Board to transfer GP services from Gresford Health Centre to Rossett Surgey and Llay Health Centre.

We hope you can join us at the meeting.

It is the second time that such a move of services has been put forward, with Alyn Family Doctor consulting with the public on similar proposals last spring.

However in September 2018 Wrexham.com reported that the health centre would remain open after the plans were rejected by the Betsi Cadwaladar University Health Board Panel.

Cllr Atkinson said he is working to let all residents know about the upcoming public meeting.

He continued: We had a successful campaign last time supported by the health board who did not allow the changes to go ahead but Ive always been clear with residents that I believed the practice would try again.

I dont believe that this is right for my community at all and will continue to challenge it along side Cllr Gilmartin.

Marford councillor Russell Gilmartin added: This is as unacceptable now as it was previously and Im working to fight this with Cllr Atkinson.

We will challenge it every step of the way and would encourage our residents to attend the meeting to make sure the practice have no doubt what our views are.

The public meeting will take place on Tuesday 5th March at 7pm at the Llay Miners Welfare Institute on Llay Road.

If youd like to assist the two councillors with their campaign please contact them at either Andrew.atkinson@wrexham.gov.uk or Russell.Gilmartin@wrexham.gov.uk
Wrecks, Downed Power Lines During Overnight Ice

By West Kentucky Star Staff

PADUCAH - Up to two tenths of an inch of ice covered trees, roadways and parking lots across western Kentucky as of Saturday morning.Most main roads are relatively clear as of daylight Saturday, and sunshine is expected to make quick work of melting remaining icy spots with high temperatures around 40 degrees.Dover Road in Livingston County was blocked for a couple of hours Saturday morning after power lines came down just south of the Iuka Road intersection. A new pole had to be set, and crews said they will have to return in the near future to finish their repairs.Power lines also came down overnight at Kentucky Dam Village State Park. Both lanes of Highway 62 were blocked for a time.A single-vehicle accident late Friday night on the I-24 bridge between Metropolis and Paducah blocked the westbound lanes for a time.The Brookport bridge between Illinois and Paducah was closed by icing on Friday night.Highway crews for the most part were able to focus on spot treatment of bridges and other slick spots for most of the night, as western Kentucky road surfaces were warm enought to remain just wet until the early morning hours. Rain was mixed with sleet with area air temperatures just above freezing for most of Friday night.In southern Illinois, snow was the main result of the storm closer to Marion and Carbondale. Johnston City reported 4 inches of snow, 3 inches in Marion and 2 inches in Union County near Cape Girardeau.
If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now!

Submit
Hassans Maintains 16-Year Running Streak as Leading Law Firm in Gibraltar

Hassans continues to be considered at the top of its game by both local and international clients according to rankings announced this week by the globally renowned legal directory, Chambers Global.

The directory collects feedback and recommendations from both clients and peers of law and advisory firms, locally and internationally, and analyses the complexity and profile of the work that the firms are doing to determine rankings. The full results can be seen here.

Individual lawyers listed again this year as leaders in their field include James Levy QC - Star Individual, the only lawyer in Gibraltar to receive this highest accolade in any category ("a very impressive individual"... incredibly experienced and knowledgeable"), Lewis Baglietto QC (very sharp, articulate and calm"), Michael Castiel (Castiel is my go-to person when I need something related to commercial law."), David Dumas QC (notable activity in contentious issues relating to trusts), Nigel Feetham ("very well known in insurance"), Valerie Holliday (sources...praise her advice on regulatory issues), Gillian Guzman QC (has represented a multitude of clients at every court tier), James Lasry ("an expert in the financial world, which puts him in a very unique place"), Isaac Levy ("He is a fast thinker, has a sharp mind and is quick to spot the challenges and come up with solutions"), Peter Montegriffo QC ("highly respected...figurehead for the firm in the local market"), Vikram Nagrani ("he cuts to the chase, delivers and has a good understanding of what you want"), and John Restano QC (handles a variety of contentious matters).

New entrants to the leading lawyers list this year are shipping litigation specialist, Anne Rose ("very approachable and engaging") and corporate and commercial lawyer, Gemma Vasquez ("She is very focused and always readily available...She recognises when we need something and she will find it.").

Ian Felice re-enters the leading lawyer table following his return to practising law and good market feedback (very good and thorough.") Lewis Baglietto QC has been specifically recognised as a leading lawyer in the shipping sector (very approachable and someone you can discuss with freely")

Finally, Peter Montegriffo QC (guru of Gibraltar gambling law."..."instrumental in drawing Gibraltar forwards into the regulated space.") has been listed for a third consecutive year as a Band 1 global leader in gaming, alongside just 23 other lawyers from around the globe who have been specifically recognised at this level for their work within the industry internationally.

Javier Chincotta, Managing Partner, commented:

To see two of our most dynamic and energetic female partners recognised is most pleasing, they have very distinct offerings but are unanimous in providing exceptional client service. Were delighted that Ians return has resulted in his re-listing and Lewis work in the shipping arena is accurately highlighted.

James Levy QC and Peter Montegriffo QCs continued recognition, both in Gibraltar and internationally, is testament to their unrivalled reputations in their respective areas of work.

Congratulations to all of our lawyers listed and to the rest of our 90-strong legal team, as well as our support staff, who have all contributed to Hassans being ranked in Tier 1 for the 16th year running.

Hassans was founded in 1939 and is the largest law firm in Gibraltar with 44 partners, c.50 other lawyers and 250 staff in total.

Hassans was the first firm in Gibraltar to structure itself as a modern international law firm, with separate departments for different fields of specialisation and the first outside of the UK to accredited by the Law Society of England and Wales to offer training contracts to aspiring solicitors, this puts them firmly at the forefront of legal training in Gibraltar.

The firm has an international clientele, links with major European and US law firms and has consistently been listed as the leading law firm in Gibraltar by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 across the majority of its practice areas.

http://www.gibraltarlaw.com/
Gibraltar Continues Preparations for a No Deal Brexit

The Gibraltar and United Kingdom Governments have met again in Gibraltar in preparation for the departure from the European Union. This meeting centred on plans for no deal Brexit, which means leaving without the Withdrawal Agreement that was concluded between the UK and the EU in November.

The latest meeting was chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia, who is responsible for work related to our EU departure. It included representatives from the UK Department for Exiting the European Union, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (The Convent) and the Ministry of Defence. The Gibraltar side included the Chief Secretary Darren Grech, the Attorney General Michael Llamas, Chief Scientist Liesl Mesilio, Principal Secretary to the Deputy Chief Minister Caine Sanchez, Civil Contingencies Coordinator Ivor Lopez and Senior Law Draftsman Paul Peralta.

The Brexit structure is the core team of the Chief Minister, the Deputy Chief Minister, the Attorney General and the Financial Secretary. There is then the Brexit Strategic Group which is responsible for setting overall policy and direction to the Brexit Executive Group which is only made up of officials. There are six Brexit Resilience Groups which then take direction from above and report information back into the structure.

The on-going work of the Brexit Resilience Groups was discussed and reports were received from each of them. These groups, made up of Gibraltar officials, cover Critical Services, Health and Social Care, Law and Order, Public Services, Commerce and the Supply Chain.

There is separate work proceeding on legislative matters under the direction of the Attorney General. It will be recalled that Parliament passed the European Union (Withdrawal) Act at its last meeting.

This continuing work at official level has generated the request for a number of policy decisions across a wide range of areas. The Cabinet has adopted over thirty Brexit policy decisions at its last two meetings. It is expected that the volume of work will accelerate even further in the coming weeks.

In addition to this, the Chief Minister Fabian Picardo, the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia and the Minister for Commerce Albert Isola have discussed Brexit contingency planning this week with the Boards of the Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses and of the Chamber of Commerce. This continues the contact with private sector individual companies and organisations which was initiated in 2016 straight after the referendum.

The Government has already published a series of technical notices covering some issues raised by a no deal Brexit in order to ensure that the public and the business community are kept informed.

The Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia said:

It is important to stress that planning for a no deal Brexit does not mean that this is going to happen. There are on-going discussions between the United Kingdom and the European Union to try and secure approval of the Withdrawal Agreement which provides for the orderly departure of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar from the European Union. However, it is our duty as a responsible Government to make preparations for exiting the European Union on 29 March without an agreement and that is what we are doing. There is very positive on-going work between different departments of the UK and Gibraltar Governments taking place behind the scenes almost on a daily basis.
University Students Begin Work Placements in Local Businesses

The University has built a strong relationship with Gibraltars business community since opening its doors in 2015 and being able to offer work placements to its students is testament to this.

Stephen Reyes, senior partner at Deloitte said, Deloitte is always keen to engage with good quality graduates and the opportunity to participate in their development through supporting industry placements, which are an integral part of a business degree, is important for the firm. We are very pleased that the University has started offering these opportunities to its students.

Unlike many business degrees, work placements on the Universitys Bachelor of Business Administration programme take place during each year of study and students are matched to a firm that supports their particular specialism.

Gibtelecom has welcomed Raphael Calvo to their team. Mark Chichon, Senior Advisor for Human Resources said, Gibtelecom is delighted to welcome Raphael to the team. Over the next six weeks, he will be working alongside our family of professionals. He will be learning about concepts and skills which will no doubt enhance his knowledge of the technology and business support functions involved in delivering services to customers. Gibtelecom shares the Universitys commitment to employability, We at Gibtelecom are committed to supporting our local students during the various stages of their education, and try our best to ensure they receive the valuable skills required to put them in good stead for the world of business.

Bassadone is another of the local firms supporting the Universitys placements initiative. The Bassadone Automotive Group is proud to support and assist the University of Gibraltar in facilitating structured work placements which enrich the learning experience of students. We will look to deliver a real experience in a functional working environment to complement the theory delivered in class said Lourdes Barea, Human Resources Director.

Restsso Trading Ltd, part of the Imperial Group, is also taking part in the initiative, Managing Director John Paul Risso said, The Imperial Group is pleased to collaborate with the University of Gibraltar and offer a work placement opportunity for a student from the BBA cohort. I myself was lucky enough to have been on a work placement during my university years, and we wanted to offer this opportunity to students from the University of Gibraltar it will serve them as an invaluable experience.

The current round of placements will continue for the next six weeks. Students will have the option to go abroad for their next placement in order to gain that all-important international experience.
Open Door

PAUILLAC, FRANCE: A small hut with an open door offers shelter for vineyard workers at the estate of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which has been owned by the Rothschild family since the 19th Century. Lafite, as it is affectionately known, is one of four First Growths established by the 1855 Classification in Bordeaux.

INSTRUCTIONS:

Download this image by right-clicking on the image and selecting save link as or save target as and then select the desired location on your computer to save the image. Mac users can also just click the image to open the full size view and drag that to their desktops.

To set the image as your desktop wallpaper, Mac users should follow these instructions, while PC users should follow these.

BUY THE BOOK:

This image is from a series of photographs captured by Andy Katz in the process of shooting his most recent work The Club of Nine, a visual exploration and celebration of Bordeauxs top Chateaux. The book is available for $60 on Andys web site.

PRINTS:

If you are interested in owning an archive quality, limited edition print of this image please contact Andy directly.

ABOUT VINOGRAPHY IMAGES:

Vinography regularly features images by photographer Andy Katz for readers personal use as desktop backgrounds or screen savers. We hope you enjoy them. Please respect the copyright on these images. These images are not to be reposted on any web site or blog without the express permission of the photographer.
"It's very bleak, and you're having these memories," he said. "Think about being that person and then having to take asthma medications up to five, six times a day. You're not going to do it."
The debate around Northams behavior over the past two weeks and the scandals involving other Virginia leaders have led me to ask: How do we define a career-ending mistake? Where, exactly, do we as a society draw the line in the sand? And if we have such concrete beliefs as to what is not acceptable, why have so many crossed that line and not faced the full force of cancel culture? How do we decide who should get a second chance?
Somewhere along the line, diversity, multiculturalism and ideology got in the way of a classical education. As a result, our children and grandchildren are learning about the contributions of a large number of currently favored ethnic and minority groups while they are being screened away from learning about the much despised dead white males and what they had to say. How many recent college graduates could tell you much of anything about the ideas of Locke, Rousseau, Hobbes, Voltaire, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates or Hutcheson? How many of our newly minted acolytes of socialism could contrast the ideas of Adam Smith and Karl Marx?
Both the House and Senate have passed versions of SB 1490, but the two chambers must resolve their differences over the measure. This bill addresses the issue of financial exploitation of older Virginians, which has been on the rise in recent years, said the sponsor, Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Rockingham.
New Delhi, Feb 15 (UNI) A number of neighbouring countries and the UN have condemned the terror attack at Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir and underlined the need for closer cooperation in fight against the 'common enemy'.

"The Govt of Afghanistan expresses its condolences and sympathy with the people and the government of the friendly country of India due to the loss of 40 personnel and once again stresses the need for solidarity and closer cooperation of countries in the fight against this common enemy," spokesperson and Director General of Communication - Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Afghanistan Sibghatullah Ahmadi said.

Bhutan Foreign Minister Tandi Dorji said he was "shocked and saddened" to hear of the dastardly terrorist attack in Kashmir, which has resulted in the loss of precious human lives.

"We strongly condemn this heinous attack and express our solidarity with the families of the victims, and the people and Government of India. Hope the perpetrators will be brought to justice," he tweeted.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also tweeted saying - "I strongly condemn the brutal terrorist attack in Kashmir's Pulwama district  the worst ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. I express my condolences to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the families of police officers who lost their lives".

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wrote a letter to Prime Minister Modi and said: "Bangladesh remains steadfast in its commitment against terrorism of all forms and maintains a zero-tolerance policy against any kind of terrorist activities. We would continue to work and cooperate with international community including India to eradicate menace of terrorism".

Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid also took to the micro blogging site and wrote -

"Strongly condemn the suicide terrorist attack on the convoy carrying Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. I extend my prayers and condolences to the bereaved families of the dead and injured".

The UN chief spokesperson expressed his solidarity with India and wished recovery for all the injured.

"We strongly condemn today's attack in Jammu and Kashmir in Pulwama district and express our deepest condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and Indian government and people of India. We wish a speedy recovery to those injured and call for those behind the attack to be brought to justice," the spokesperson said.

UNI DEVN 0532
Biden declares state of emergency in Florida following house collapse 25 Jun 2021 | 11:45 AM Washington, Jun 25 (UNI) US President Joe Biden onFriday declared a state of emergency in Florida where a rescue operation is underway following the collapse of a multi-storey house. see more..

US State Dept labels Iran elections 'pre-manufactured process' 25 Jun 2021 | 12:17 AM Washington, Jun 24 (UNI) The United States State Department on Thursday called the Presidential elections held in Iran last week as a 'pre-manufactured process' and something that is not the reflection of the will of the people. see more..

EU parliament approves stronger climate law 25 Jun 2021 | 12:07 AM Brussels, Jun 24 (UNI) The European Parliament on Thursday approved a new, stronger climate law, which commits the bloc to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and binds it to a higher 2030 target for greenhouse gas emissions reduction. see more..

Gen Shafiuddin Ahmed takes charge as new army chief of Bangladesh 24 Jun 2021 | 11:52 PM Dhaka, Jun 24 (UNI) Gen Shafiuddin Ahmed on Thursday took charge as the Chief of Army Staff and received the rank badge at Ganobhaban in the presence of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. see more..
Videos

Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos.
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) has announced the official opening of its new representative office in Kuwait, in line with its efforts to attract tourists from across the world to the kingdom.

Launching the office prior to the much-anticipated Formula 1 2018 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix comes in line with the BTEAs efforts to attract large tourist groups to the kingdom.

For the first time, the event will be over a period of four days, featuring superstar DJ and record producer, Martin Garrix in addition to world-renowned producer, songwriter and DJ, Kygo.

Other than Kuwait, the BTEA has launched representative offices in Saudi Arabia, India, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Announcing the opening at an event held in the Four Seasons Hotel, Kuwait, CEO Shaikh Khaled bin Humood Al Khalifa said the BTEA strives to promote the kingdoms tourism, leisure and hospitality sectors; providing a fertile ground for foreign investment.

"Through the inauguration of our representative office in Kuwait, we aim to establish relationships with Kuwaiti tour operators and travel agencies in order to promote Bahrain as a leading tourist destination that continuously hosts various events and festivals that are suitable for all age groups," stated Shaikh Khaled.

Bahrain had welcomed 328,850 visitors from Kuwait in 2018 with 247,959 tourists accessing the kingdom through the King Fahad Causeway, 80,822 through the Bahrain International Airport and 69 through the Khalifa Bin Salman Port.

Director of Tourism Marketing and Promotions at BTEA Yousef Al Khan said: "We will be working closely with BTEAs representative office in Kuwait to increase the number of visitors to the kingdom, further reaffirming its position as a tourism destination of choice with a number of new hotels, retail and leisure developments that are currently underway."

"We look forward to strengthening ties between Bahrain and Kuwait with an aim to increase the tourism influx which will contribute to the growth and development of the tourism sector and the overall national economy," stated Al Khan.

Last week, a meeting was also held between Kuwaiti tour operators and their Bahraini counterparts, including representatives from a number of leading hotels, to discuss opportunities for cooperation in order to achieve their joint tourism related goals.

The launch of the representative office comes in line with the BTEAs strategic outreach program to promote the tourism brand 'Ours Yours' aimed at showcasing the kingdom as the ideal tourism destination to the regional and international markets and further promote the kingdoms touristic offering as a main contributor to the overall economic growth in line with the Economic Vision 2030.-TradeArabia News Service
Batelco has announced that Batelco Gulf Network, an international cable system which was launched last year to provide the GCC region with an additional option for regional and international connectivity solutions, has expanded into Europe and been transformed to Batelco Global Network (BGN).

A leading provider of digital solutions in the kingdom, Batelco said the network, which runs over a protected state-of-the-art optical transport network (OTN), meets the demand for reliable high bandwidth connectivity and has the capacity to address the different needs of global services and customers while supporting very high capacity.

The telecom company has chosen Marseille, France, to host its network where it has deployed multi service nodes using high capacity optimised routes to provide the shortest latency, as it has garnered a reputation as the fastest growing interconnection hub in Europe over the past three years.

Marseille is an interconnection hub for the worlds leading businesses, and hosts a number of data centres and gateways to emerging markets and landing stations for major continental subsea cables.

Chief Global Business Officer Adel Al Daylami said: "This step will facilitate the provision of new and innovative services for the growing digital economy, which will support the efforts of the kingdom and the GCC in the field of communications."

"Batelcos comprehensive plans are designed to support the establishment of a robust national and international infrastructure. We are committed to strengthening our delivery to contribute towards Bahrain's presence as a major ICT hub, and we hope to build on this platform to ensure future success," he noted.

"With consumers and businesses across the GCC consuming more bandwidth from both local and international providers, BGN addresses the demand. The expansion also enables Batelco to enter into new markets and extend its portfolio of services into Europe and beyond," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Warba Bank, a leading Islamic bank in Kuwait, said it has signed an agreement with Bahrain-based Ahli United Bank BSC and its subsidiary Ahli United Bank KSCP to acquire their respective shareholding in Kuwait and Middle East Financial Investment Company, representing 75.72 per cent of the company's outstanding shares, subject to securing all regulatory approvals.

The sale and purchase agreement was signed in the presence of Shaheen Hamad Al Ghanem, Warba Banks Chief Executive Officer and Tareq Muhmood, acting Chief Executive Officer of Ahli United Bank (Kuwait).

This acquisition stems from Warba's strategic growth initiative which calls for the establishment of an asset and wealth management platform that positions the bank to provide an integrated financial product offering to its retail and institutional customers, whilst concurrently accelerating our strategic objectives by acquiring a leading firm in the asset management and financial services field, stated Al Ghanem.

"This deal debuts our investment activities in 2019 following the capital increase last year, which resulted in strengthening the Banks capital base reaching KD285 million ($935 million) by the end of 2018," he noted.

"The share capital increase of 50 per cent was fully covered by the banks shareholders oversubscribing to all shares offered for a total amount of KD90 million," he added.

Al Ghanem pointed out that the capital increase establishes a solid base to grow the banks investments in the upcoming period in vital economic sectors, as well as for financing mega national and regional projects that will secure steady and lucrative returns for both shareholders and customers.

"The capital increase is also a key factor in strengthening the bank's operations and expansion in the corporate sector, which would solidify its leading position in the banking industry; this will be achieved by providing financing facilities for local companies and projects across economic sectors including: oil and gas, education, construction and contracting; as well as participating in syndicated financing deals with other banks," he stated.

"In the next two years, the Bank will also seek to achieve greater risk allocation balance and diversification between its real estate portfolio and other sectors," he added.

On the deal, Muhmood said: "The decision to sell AUBs share in Kuwait and Middle East Financial Investment Company came in line with the Bahraini bank's strategic objectives with a view to ensure our focus on our core businesses."

The public shareholding company, which got listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange in 1997, operates within the diversified financial sector with emphasis on asset management.

"He has further commented that the positive impact of this transaction on AUB will serve the interests of both our shareholders and customers," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Stacey Gotchy, right, and Luke McGill, left, both of Saegertown, had the opportunity to meet with President Donald Trump while visiting McGills wounded uncle, Clint, and his wife Casey, in Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland.
Hawkins WWII vet may be turning 100, but he's more excited about his party than his age
We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription.
MASINI  The still of the night was disturbed by a continuous groaning sound of a 46 year-old man who eventually died painfully after he was hacked several time by unknown men.



The incident took place at Emasini under Khubutha Constituency where Vusi Msweli (46) was allegedly attacked by unknown men while at his home, where he stays alone at round 1am yesterday.

Msweli eventually died at round 5am at a Masinga homestead, which is about 100 metres from his home.

The deceased was working as a security guard as his job was to guard a Caterpillar grader at a nearby river.



Shouting



According to Steven Masinga, the head of the Masinga family where Msweli eventually died, it was around 1am when he heard his neighbour, shouting Gogo (grandmother) on the yard.

Masinga said he could hear by the voice that the man who was shouting outside was Msweli and that he was the only one calling him and his wife as Gogo in the community. When I heard him shouting Gogo outside, I ignored him because I thought he was drunk since it is buganu season , Masinga said.

He said as he continued to yell, his wife reponded by asking him what was the problem and with a shallow voice, he was heard saying; Bayangihlasela ekhaya (I am being attacked in my home).



attacking



He said his wife asked who was attacking him but instead of answering the question, he continued to shout Gogo.

He said Mswelis reaction also made them to assume that he was drunk, thus they ignored him.

Later on, Masinga said they could not hear him and they thought he had gone back to his home and they went back to sleep.

However, later on, he said he was awoken by his wife who told him that there was someone outside but when they listened carefully, they could not hear anything and they assumed she was only imagining it. At around 4am, I woke and when up I opened the door, I found Msweli making slight movements in a pool of blood at the veranda and I woke up my wife, he said.



According to Masinga, Msweli had two gaping wounds of hacking on his head and both his legs were also hacked. He said on his back, he had assault wounds and they suppose the assailants assaulted him with an iron rode.

Without wasting time, he said their children called the police via the emergency toll free line; 999 and they were advised to call the emergency medical services (EMS), which are widely known as paramedics.

paramedics



He said the response they allegedly got from the paramedics toll free line, 977 was that their ambulances had no fuel.

Thereafter, he said they called the Swaziland National Fire and Emergency Services (SNFES) and they were allegedly told that they could not help without a letter from the police.

He said they waited for the police together with other community members who came to the scene.
MATSAPHA  A non-profit organisation which wanted to nurture and invest towards a healthy, and economically futuristic generation, has submitted incriminating allegations against Matsapha CEO.



Umliba Wakusasa Lophilile Childcare founding members Tengetile Ngwenya and Mr W Stuart appeared to deliver their submissions at the ongoing commission of inquiry into the affairs of Matsapha Town Council yesterday.

In their submissions the founding members alleged that the town council, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in particular, stole their concept of constructing an early childhood development (ECD) centre in the town.



Idea



They said the idea was to take care of children of textile workers when their parents were at work.

They alleged that during the month of November 2017, they engaged a council officer, Sabelo Masuku, who sits in management, to share their vision and to solicit support from the town council.

They said this was after one of the founding members of the organisation had donated land in Matsapha Industrial Sites where they were to build the ECD Centre. They alleged that Masuku advised them to write to council to request for consent to construct on the land since it was within the heavy industrial zone.



On November 4, 2017, the founding members alleged that a letter requesting special consent to operate a child care service on Lot 662, Tambankulu Road was submitted to council. On December 27, 2017, they stated that the CEO responded on behalf of council rejecting their request but suggested that they should consult the planning officer to identify a suitable land for their proposed ECD Centre.



Planning



Thereafter, they alleged that the planning officer, Tive Nxumalo, was consulted and they had numerous meetings in an effort to acquire a suitable land to assist their organisation to realise its dream.

They further submitted that they worked well with Nxumalo and consequently identified a suitable land for the project; Plot 189 Matsapha next to AHF Eswatini. They alleged that relevant stakeholders were engaged on the proposed location.



The council asked for registration documents and organisational profile which included secret information like how we intend to operate, code of conduct and Board of directors among others, they alleged.

Thereafter, they alleged that after submitting everything to the town planners office, regular meetings were held and in the process, zoning and mapping of the area was shared to them.

They also alleged that touring of possible project sites was also done by the founders as per the recommendation by the town planner.



Targeted



Later on, management gave us feedback from councillors that our request should be prioritised and given the urgency it deserves for action as it is very beneficial to the targeted audience of Matsapha Industrial Site and surrounding informal settlements, the founding members alleged.

They submitted that all was progressing smoothly but within a twinkle of an eye after a councils retreat which was held at Orion Hotel in Piggs Peak, management started singing a different tune.



They alleged that management told them that they had to be registered with the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (CANGO) yet it was not a mandatory or a statutory requirement.

Soon after that, we were informed that the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was now interested in a similar project and council was giving it preference over our organisation, reads part of the founding members allegations.



They said the matter was also published in one of the publications that UNICEF was to build an ECD Centre on the land that was proposed to us and a youth centre. They alleged that this took place despite the fact that the ECD Centre was Umlibas brainchild.
MSHINGISHINGINI  She is still my wife. This was a statement made by a man who caught his wife red handed allegedly committing adultery.



Thats not all  the woman later fell pregnant with another mans child after she had been sent to her paternal home to be reprimanded for the earlier act.

When the man went to fetch the wife from his in-laws, instead of returning with her to their love nest, he was given back the lobola cows. Initially, the groom had paid 12 cows, inclusive of lugege and insulanyembeti.

Lugege is the cow slaughtered for the party while insulanye- mbeti is a cow specially dedicated to the mother of the bride. Despite the drama, the husband, *Mbongeni, said only death could separate him and his police officer wife, *Nomsa.



dowry



At first, *Mbongeni was reluctant to speak to this publication, but after being told that the Swazi News team had seen people loading the lobola cows into a truck, he opened up.

The businessman, who is in the trucking industry, wondered how the reporter got wind of the story, but confirmed that he was aware of the matter.

Before elaborating, *Mbongeni made mention of that he was a media shy person, however, he briefly explained that according to culture, only death could separate married couples.

He further said that even the bible forbids divorce.



Im a religious person, he disclosed without expanding on his Christian values and beliefs.

Reverting to Swazi law, Mbongeni said divorce was only allowed if the wife committed adultery.

In such an instance, he detailed that the woman would be sent packing (umbophela umtfwalo).



He noted that they never sent her packing, but only took the wife to her parental home to be reprimanded. When we went to fetch my wife from home, her parents offered to give back the lobola cows, he said.

Asked if Nomsa would be sent packing now that the cows have been returned, Mbongeni explained that they were still going to meet as a family and decide about the next step.



in-laws

Elaborating on how the wifes family came up with the decision to give back the cattle, Mbongeni said it all started when they went to their in-laws to enquire about the womans behaviour.

My wifes father said we should not engage him. However, we reminded him about his advise that in the event their child misbehaved, she should not be assaulted or killed, but should be sent back home in one piece, Mbongeni recounted.

In fact, Mbongeni said they had initially reported the matter to the royal kraal of their in-laws.



He mentioned that his father in-law then decided to take it up with Piggs Peak District Commissioner (Ndabazabantu). It was during the meeting that the wifes family offered to return the cows. We gladly accepted them, who would not want cows? he rhetorically asked.

When asked about the meaning of the cows being returned, Mbongeni said he was not sure.

However, the businessman insisted that he was still legally married to his wife because he never sent her back with her belongings.

An impeccable source close to the matter confirmed that they fetched the lobola cows on Tuesday.



He stated that Mbongeni paid lobola to Nomsas family in 2002, and the wife was caught in 2005.

After being single for approximately four years, the source revealed that the businessman wedded another wife.



Also, the district commissioner, who identified himself only as Mamba, confirmed that they had engaged the families.

advised

The wifes family offered to return the cows to the grooms family. This was after we had advised them to engage each other. We were told on Monday that the cows were ready. And to the best of our knowledge, they have concluded everything. Im told all the parties are happy with this arrangement, Mamba said.



He added that they were not expecting both parties to raise the matter again.

In 2013, His Majesty King Mswati III reminded the nation that there was no divorce in a marriage conducted under Swazi Law and Custom. Our sister publication, the Times quoted the monarch saying that there was no earthly forum that had the powers to declare a customary marriage null and void.

Only death, the King said, could bring a customary marriage to an end.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images(MUNICH) -- As tension in Venezuela continues to escalate, Vice President Mike Pence took the stage at the Munich Security Conference in Germany Saturday to call on European nations to stand by the United States in recognizing Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the countrys president.



The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy. Nicolas Maduro is a dictator with no legitimate claim to power, and Nicolas Maduro must go, Pence said, referring to Venezuela's president.



Pence, who has been heavily involved in the Trump administrations efforts to resolve the ongoing tension in Venezuela, called for European allies to do more.



Now, its time for the rest of the world to step forward, he stated.



Over the past few weeks, the Trump administration has challenged Maduro's claim to the presidency and instead recognized Guaido as the country's leader, amid sustained and at times violent protests.



Pence told reporters that USAID is working closely with Guaido to make sure humanitarian aid gets to those suffering in the country.



I know that USAID officials have been working very closely with Juan Guaido to ensure that the humanitarian aid that has already been delivered, additional aid that is in route from the United States and other countries is positioned in a place where we will be able to move it into Venezuela to assist the families that are struggling there, Pence said.



Pence, who held a roundtable discussion earlier this month with exiles from Venezuela in Florida, has vowed to continue to apply pressure until the suffering is over and freedom is restored.



On Friday, the U.S. Treasury announced it is sanctioning five top Venezuelan officials as it seeks to tighten the hold on Maduro and his government and force the socialist leader to resign.



Maduro, meanwhile, told the Associated Press this week that his government has had secret talks with the United States. He also told the wire service he expects to survive the increasing calls for him step down.



The president also said his foreign minister Elliott Abrams, the Washington-based special envoy for Venezuela, to visit the country.



If he wants to meet, just tell me when, where and how and Ill be there, Maduro said without providing more details, according to the AP.



The Munich Security Conference brings together more than 450 senior leaders from all over the world including presidents, ministers and heads of states.



As Pence spoke, there were familiar faces in the audience. The largest U.S. congressional delegation traveled to Munich to attend the conference, including some prominent skeptics of Trumps national emergency declaration.



Among those attending were South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, whom Pence recognized at the top of his remarks.



President Donald Trump met with Colombian President Ivan Duque Marquez on Thursday to discuss what they called the democratic and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.



The United States and Colombia vowed to work together with Guaido to provide aid to Venezuelans in need and to restore, freedom, democracy, and prosperity, according to White House statement.



When asked if the White House is considering military action in the country, Trump replied he is looking at a number of different options.



The president is expected to travel to Florida on Monday to continue to express support for Venezuela.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
MBABANE  With about 900 babies delivered each month, the Raleigh Fitkin Memorial (RFM) Hospital needs a bigger maternity ward.



Senior Midwife Helen Dlamini disclosed that they deliver about 30 patients per day at the hospital. Dlamini revealed this to the Chairperson of the MTN Foundation Busisiwe Simelane, who was accompanied by board members of the Foundation and the hospital board and senior management, when touring the ward.



The approximately 60 year-old facility has been renovated by the foundation. The face-lift is estimated at E200 000.

In jest, Dlamini pleaded with the organisation to consider constructing a bigger ward to accommodate the high figure of patients.

She also pointed out that the delivery room had three beds, against the 30 patients delivered on a daily basis.



Even though they were still faced with these challenges, Dlamini told Simelane that they appreciated what the foundation had done.



hectic



Before the ward was renovated, we experienced challenges as the roof was leaking. It was hectic for us because we had to mop the floor before attending to patients.

Sometimes we had to use buckets to collect the rain water inside the ward. This also posed a danger to the patients, she said.



Also, Dlamini highlighted that there was shortage of staff. She said they had a staff compliment of 10 nurses, who work on two shifts.

The morning shift starts at 7am until 7pm while the second shift runs from 7pm to 7am, she said.

She mentioned that the morning shift had six nurses while four nurses worked the night shift.



populated



Sometimes the night shift is overwhelmed. There is so much influx, we believe its because we are in a densely populated area, she said before passing her gratitude to the foundation for assisting the hospital.

The Eswatini Nazarene Health Institution (ENHI) Board Chairperson, Phindile Sikhondze then explained that the ward was closed during renovation.

We had to request our clients to make use of other health centres during this period, she said.
Morehead, KY (40351)

Today

Some sun this morning with increasing clouds this afternoon. High 87F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness. Low around 70F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
MIKE KIRBY of North Attleboro is a columnist for The Sun Chronicle. Contact him at mkirbygolf18@gmail.com.
You have permission to edit this article.

Edit Close


remaining of

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 7:18 am

A Salmon Creek bank was robbed on Valentines Day, according to the Clark County Sheriffs Office.

At about 3:30 p.m. Feb. 14 deputies were sent to the US Bank at 13001 NE Highway 99 on a report of an armed robbery at the location. A bank employee told officers that a man had entered the bank armed with a knife. The suspect approached one of the tellers and demanded that she put the money from the cash drawer into a bag he had brought with him. The teller complied, and the suspect fled the bank on foot.

A K-9 search of the area but could not locate the suspect.

The suspect was described as a white male about 6-foot-3 with an average build. He was wearing dark clothing, had on black gloves, a dark hat and a dark colored scarf covering most of his face.

No further information was available as of press deadline.
Posted Friday, February 15, 2019 7:20 am

The commotion surrounding the recently-passed gun control measure Initiative 1639 has intensified recently with a new lawsuit naming Clark County Sheriff Chuck Atkins as a defendant.

The suit comes at about the same time as the Washington State Attorney General released an open letter warning other sheriffs who have stated reluctance or outright refusal to enforce the new state law that they would be liable for their actions.

The suit against Atkins was filed earlier this month by the National Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation and features two Washington gun store owners and four individuals under the age of 21 as additional plaintiffs.

A previous lawsuit by the groups, filed shortly after the November general election, was dismissed Feb. 11 on procedural grounds, according to The Seattle Times. The new litigation essentially replaced the old and targets Atkins, Spokane Police Chief Craig Meidl and the Washington State Department of Licensing Director Teresa Berntsen.

The new suit, as in the past one, has Vancouver business owner Daniel Mitchell as one of the plaintiffs, alleging that both the rise in age for legal sales of self-loading rifles (semi-automatic) as well as the impending prohibition on interstate semi-automatic rifle sales violated the Second Amendment and the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution, respectively. Both changes in state law are part of I-1639 which passed with close to 60 percent of voter approval in November.

Whats different is that the new suit alleges Atkins, in his capacity as sheriff, would be in violation of Constitutional rights should he enforce the provisions of I-1639. The document points to a social media post by the sheriffs office regarding the initiative detailing it would adhere to the law as passed by a vote of the people unless a court rules that it is unconstitutional.

Atkins could not be reached for comment before press deadline.

The suit comes as state Attorney General Bob Ferguson has penned an open letter to sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse to enforce the initiatives law. Ferguson specifically focused on the requirement for law enforcement to run background checks on those buying semi-automatic rifles, in a similar fashion to how handguns are handled, beginning July 1.

Ferguson wrote that law enforcement heads refusing to perform the checks could be held liable should someone who didnt have a background check commit a crime with that weapon.

In short, the taxpayers of your city or county assume the financial risk of your decision to impose your personal views over the law, Ferguson wrote.

A report from the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association noted that law enforcement officials in at least 21 of Washingtons 39 counties have said they will not actively enforce the measure. Cowlitz County Commissioners recently approved a resolution decrying I-1639 as unconstitutional and a threat to the countys economics.
As a current print subscriber, you receive 24/7 access to our website and online e-edition at no additional charge. All you have to do is activate your access. To activate digital access, you will need your account number. You can find your account number on any recent subscription notice or bill.
The Perspective

Atlanta, Georgia

February 16, 2019



The people of Putu Chiefdom, Grand Gedeh County, are calling for the immediate suspension of Grand Gedeh Superintendent Kai Farley. Through the Putu Elders Council, the highest decision-making body of the Putu Chiefdom, the Putu people took the suspension decision on February 8, 2019, because of the life-threatening violence that Superintendent Farley used to prevent the removal of Mr. Arthur Gabbro as Chairperson of the Putu Community Forest Management Body (PCFMB).



Superintendent Farley used the ERU of the LNP to injure several Putu residents and Mrs. Veronica Sheriff- Morlon, a citizen of the United States of America, whose Mother is a Putuan. One of the most injured persons during the violence at Petrokun Town on January 18, 2019, was 93-year-old Elder Thomas Quiah, Senior Advisor to the Putu Elders Council.



The Putu Elders Council, which appointed Mr. Gbarbow in March 2015, decided to remove him because of his poor performance, exhibited mainly by his dictatorial behavior and non-accountability to the appointing body in particular and the Putu people in general. The Putu Elders Council have now appointed Mr. Marcus Jedo to replace Mr. Arthur Gbarbow and awaits the recognition of Mr. Jedo by the Forest Development Authority (FDA).



In addition to the violence at Petrokun, Superintendent Farley arrested and detained Mrs. Morlon and two other Putuans, Mr. Emmanuel Wablo and Mr. Tee-Mahn Poah. They were detained for twelve hours in the Gbarbo Town jail and released only after the intervention of the Human Right organization (FOI) and the Embassy of the United States of America in action taken to protect the rights of Mrs. Sheriff-Morlon and her Co-Workers.

In case, some people might be thinking that the Putu people will become intimidated and not pursue the Rule of Law, let us recall the historic Case of the Putu people versus the government of Liberia in the late 1970s when the government, through the Grand Gedeh Superintendent, took action to prevent the reduction of poverty in Putu, as the Putu people formed the Putu Development Corporation (PUDECO).



The Putu people took the government to the Circuit Court in Zwedru, Grand Gedeh and when the gavel of Judge Galima Baysah landed, the historic path-breaking decision came out loudly and clearly that the Putu people had won the Case. In effect, the present Case against Superintendent Farley is in the interest of not only the oppressed people of Putu but in the interest of all of the oppressed vast majority of the people of Liberia for whom there is no justice for the poor people.

Signed:

Elder Isaac Jedo

General Secretary

The Putu Elders Council

Cell number--0886-403-080
Elizabethtown, KY (42701)

Today

Cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 88F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Majority of university heads are earning more than the prime minister with five taking home over 500,000 last year, according to new data from the Office for Students (OfS).

During the 2017-18 academic year 124 of the 133 universities in England paid their staff in the top jobs more than the Prime Ministers 150,000 salary.

Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash

Average basic salary for university leaders rose from 245,000 to 253,000 - a rise of 3.5 per cent.

This comes despite repeated calls from MPs and students for universities to crackdown on high salaries.

Professor Dominic Shellard, vice-chancellor of De Montfort University, received a pay increase of 22.4 percent, taking his basic salary to 358,000, the biggest rise of the year.

The University of Bath awarded their VC, Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell, the highest basic salary in England, paying her 470,000, but when other benefits were added this came to a total remuneration of 492,000.

However Francois Ortalo-Magnes pay package overshadows them, as dean of the London Business School he took home a whopping 596,000 last year from pay and benefits combined - including a 95,000 accommodation allowance.

Both Vice-Chancellors for Bath and De Montfort Universities have stepped down from their roles.

The resignation of Professor Dominic Shellard was announced last week, on 11 February 2019, after regulators began an investigation at De Montfort following reports Prof Shellard had business links to the panel who approved his pay.

In November 2017 the University of Baths VC, Professor Breakwell, announced that she would step down from her position at the end of the 2017-18 academic year. However, the University said that after stepping down she would take a sabbatical to further her academic research for a semester which means she will formally retire from the University on 28 February 2019. In recent years, she has been flanked by controversy around her bulging pay packet which includes expenses for a housekeeper.

Photo by C0mun1c4t10ns / London Business School facade / CCO 1.0

10 highest vice-chancellor basic salaries for 2017/18

University of Bath, 470,000 University of Cambridge, 431,000 University of Southampton, 423,000 London Business School, 422,000 University of Birmingham, 386,000 Imperial College, 373,000 University College London, 368,000 University of Surrey, 364,000 Open University, 360,000 University of Oxford, 360,000

While the OfS report provides detailed statistics about senior staff pay at higher education providers, the University and Colleges Union (UCU) has criticised the regulating body, saying it doesnt go far enough because it hasnt looked at the excessive and arbitrary rises enjoyed by some vice-chancellors, or tackled the expenses and other benefits.

UCU head of policy Matt Waddup said: With this lightweight report the OfS has shown itself to be a paper tiger incapable of stopping the pay and perks scandals that have plagued universities. The report simply regurgitates some of the analysis done by UCU and others in recent years, but pulls its punches on how to address the problem.

The OfS fails to ask why some vice-chancellors are still picking up double digit pay rises and doesn't even look at their expenses or other benefits in kind. This report sends a message that those who accept such largesse have nothing to fear from the new regulator.

Photo by delfi de la Rua on Unsplash of Oxford University

What is The Office For Students?

The OfS is a non-departmental public body in the Department for Education, which acts as a regulator of the higher education sector in England. It is not responsible for tuition fees, students loans or any part of student funding. Active since January 2018 it replaced the Higher Education Funding Council for England.

What does basic salary mean?

Basic salary is is the amount paid to someone before any extras are added on top, such as a bonus, and before anything like pension contributions are taken off.

What does total remuneration mean?

Total remuneration means basic salary plus: performance-related pay and other bonuses, pension contributions, salary sacrifice arrangements, compensation for loss of office, other taxable benefits, non-taxable benefits, and payment of any other remuneration to the head of provider.
The general consensus within the head teacher community is that it does not appreciate the edict from on high how to run a school.

However, last week's statement by Education Secretary Damian Hinds, announcing that the government would not support the total band of all mobile phones in school, may well have been one sure edict that those in the teaching profession would have welcomed.

As a secondary school teacher for almost 20 years, I have seen the impact, both positive and negative, that mobile phones have had in our classroom. Occasionally phones are an amazing resource when utilised to look up or record information, but more often than not they will be used for Snapchatting in class. A cry of 'Miss, my mum's on the phone' in the middle of a lesson is not unusual, and an alarming amount of sexting can go on at break time. Even a gentle vibrate is a distraction, and every secondary school teacher has had to 'deal' with a student and their mobile phone.

Michaela Community School, dubbed the strictest school in the UK, is one of a growing number to have adopted a zero-tolerance approach to mobile phones on school premises Most schools already have policies regarding where and when mobile phones can be used, many allowing break time usage as well as usage in class for 'work purposes'. However, the. Students can expect their phones to be confiscated for several weeks.

Other schools will confiscate a phone if it is becoming a 'nuisance'. The decision is down to individual teachers - but each teacher's idea of a 'nuisance' will differ, which may well create confrontation and confusion.

So what is the best approach?

Image Credit: JESHOOTS-com on Pixabay

The Pew Research Centre conducted a national survey of teachers, with 87% There is growing evidence that the internet and digital gadgets are making it harder for students to concentrate.stating that modern technologies were creating an "easily distracted generation with short attention spans." Teens are undoubtedly capable of long periods of concentration, but those who spend a lot of time alone using technology tend to have less in the way of communication skills, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence.

There is clear evidence of a link between severe depression and anxiety in children Smart technology is not the problem, the problem is how it is used. The wisdom of "treating people how you would want to be treated" would appear not to translate to the virtual world. Things are said on Whatsapp and Snapchat that would never be said face to face, with perfectly nice children 'wishing each other dead' or suggesting they 'go hang themselves'. Messages are sent with no time for reflection, and problems easily escalate.and their mobile phone use. And to think all of this is going on in our children's classrooms.

Cyberbullying is not new, and schools have policies to deal with this. This is a problem that can't be ignored, however, another problem that arises is how much of the school day is taken up dealing with incidents caused by mobile phones. The hours are then not spent by teachers and student learning.

Schools have found that introducing a phone detox policy saw an increase in students joining in extracurricular activities and clubs. Take the phone away and the kids have to talk to each other. Teachers noted they were politer to one another and more interested in what was going on around them.

Anecdotally, it has always been felt that mobile phones in classrooms can support student learning, research, and note-taking. However, research suggests that students are unable to multitask and retain enough information to achieve their potential in tests and exams. 'Miss, can I take a picture of the board' is never going to be as beneficial as actually writing something down and learning it.

However utopian a total ban seems, implementing one would be a challenge. It would be impossible to policy an entire school population to ensure no phones sneaked their way in. Parents like to be able to contact their children on the journey to school and home, and we all know that as soon as anything is banned students will make it a personal challenge subvert the 'rules' - creating more problems.

A very clear off and out-of-sight on school premises rule would seem to be a sensible middle ground.

BBC poll suggests teens spent an average of three to four hours every night Schools' jobs are to educate young people - so they are ready to go into the world as responsible adults. It makes no difference to child's well-being if phones are banned during the day, as aon social networks.

Parents must take responsibility for their own children out of school hours. But for the six and a half hours of a school day being phone-free will allow teenagers to make the best of their time in education and engage fully in the real world, rather than the virtual one.
Oil City, PA (16301)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 83F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy with occasional showers overnight. Low 66F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
SiYao Jiang knew he could never spend every day sitting behind a desk. He needs to move around, make each day different from the last, and most importantly, find a way to express his creativity. A production sound mixer, for the Chinese native, is the perfect job for him. He can do audio and recording in a new location almost daily. He can meet new people on every new set and learn something new with every project he takes on.













Jiang has become an industry leading sound mixer with an esteemed career. Known for films like Starf*cker, Apple, Slicker, and more, Jiang has impressed audiences around the world. With his work on high profile commercials like last years commercial for Daikin, millions have seen what he is capable of.





Sound mixing is fun, I get to play around with different mics so I get different tones. Its also a very challenging job especially when dealing with lav microphones, the placement of the lavs, how to hide a lav, what materials to use on different cloth to eliminate the clothing noise etc., and last but not least, its audio, said Jiang.





Last year, Jiang worked on the captivating comedy Bag of Worms. Directed by Greys Anatomys Grace Rowe, Bag of Worms tells the story of a Halloween party that turns south when the issue of race comes up amongst friends.





I like the story because its a comedy, it has a lot of humor in it which makes people laugh, also it teaches something at the end of the story, said Jiang.





With his tremendous reputation, Jiang was recommended to work on Bag of Worms by fellow sound mixer Jon Bosemen. He was happy to be a part of the comedy, knowing that a set of that genre is always a fun and relaxing environment.





Working on Bag of Worms was one of Jiangs favorite ever working experiences. He had a boom operator working alongside him, making his job much easier. There were 11 actors, but they only had three lavs available, which made recording a lot more difficult, but thanks to his amazing boom op, who was able to manage getting most of the audio, Jiang was able to focus on other aspects of sound mixing. When it came to who to lav, Jiang and his boom op discussed which scene to lav who, so that way even if the op wasnt able to catch the sound, the lav did, ensuring perfection and saving vast amounts of time and money during post-production.





Jiangs favorite part of the experience was the team he worked with. Not only did he form a great partnership with his boom operator, he worked closely with Rowe, who would always ask his opinion on how to get the best sound before a take. Jiang found this refreshing, as many directors think about sound during post-production, which can be very time consuming.





The crew and the environment were very relaxed, and the collaboration amongst the team ensured success for the film.





It feels amazing that the film has done so well. The amount of work that we all put in to make Bag of Worms and knowing the project comes out successful feels blessed, Jiang concluded.





Written by Annabelle Lee

Published Feb. 16, 2019




* Username

This is the name that will be displayed next to your photo for comments, blog posts, and more. Choose wisely!
if you go

The Dubuque Museum of Art will host several events in conjunction with its exhibition, "African American Art in the 20th Century."

Event: Lunch and Learn with Dr. Mary Gitau

Time/date: 12:15-1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22.

Site: Dubuque Museum of Art, 701 Locust St.

Cost: Free.

The book and film "Hidden Figures" is based on the true story of three female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program. Attendees are welcome to bring a sack lunch.

Event: Gallery Talk with Virginia Mecklenburg

Time/date: 1:30-3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 24.

Site: Dubuque Museum of Art, 701 Locust St.

Cost: Free.

Chief curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Mecklenburg, will present a gallery talk on the African American Art In The 20th Century.

Event: Civil Rights activist and filmmaker Judy Richardson

Time/date: 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 7. Doors open at 6.

Site: Roosevelt Middle School, 2001 Radford Road.

Cost: Free.

Richardson was at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee from 1963 to 1965. She has gone on to many educational ventures since, including serving associate producer on the seminal PBS docuseries, "Eyes on the Prize: Americas Civil Rights Movement." The vent will be preceded by an invitation-only fundraising lunch to benefit museum programming and endowed scholarships for Dubuque-area minority students.

Event: Lunch and Learn with Dr. Henry Grubb

Time/date: 12:15-1 p.m. Friday, March 22

Site: Dubuque Museum of Art, 701 Locust St.

Cost: Free.

The presentation, "The Maroons: Free People of Color in America," will focus on Africans who formed settlements away from New World chattel slavery. Some had escaped from plantations, and others had always been free. Attendees are welcome to bring a sack lunch.

For more information, visit dbqart.com.
Thank you for Reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a

new account and

Purchase a Subscription

to continue reading.
Taking forward a uniquely local fashion fusion By Sashini Rodrigo CFWs founder and Managing Director Ajai Vir Singh looks back at its 15-year journey and his vision to turn Colombo into a creative destination View(s): View(s):

When Ajai Vir Singh first came to Sri Lanka in the mid-90s, he was impressed with the creative sensibility of the country in industries like architecture and interior design. But when it came to fashion, he noticed there was no formal industry. There was no infrastructure for it, because our retail functioned on surplus stock retail. People would say thats fashion retail, but not so Ajai. This was the beginning of a thought process that would soon shape the Colombo Fashion Week (CFW).

This years edition is focusing on The Next 15 Years, and founder and Managing Director of CFW Ajai is keen to shine the spotlight on the future of the fashion industry and how far it has come in the last 15 years.

Remember those loud batik shirts you would see on the way to Kandy, with the same design but very loud prints? I used to see those and think it was beautiful art, but it hasnt been captured as fashion, he explains. It was at this point where Ajai thought how could we try showcasing fashion? How would people think of fashion? because everyone, he feels, has their own vision.

For the industry to take off, he believes that you need to look at the younger generation of hopeful designers first. This year, the 15th year of CFW, is significant because it marks a long journey of shaping the fashion industry here. Established in 2003, CFWs first five years were a grey area according to Ajai. It was moving and taking shape, but they werent sure if it had an impact.

It began to be recognized in the next five years and the second part of the last five years was when the younger kids wanted to be designers, Ajai recalls. Suddenly, fashion schools started coming up, retail stores started opening, a set of fashion consumers in Colombo started appreciating Sri Lankan designers.

I was calculating it the other day, and if you look back, between 80 to 90 percent of Sri Lankan designers that you see today are a product of the CFW system, he tells us.

Over the years, the CFW experience has provided a platform for over 30 designers to flourish. But, as Ajai puts it, you cant hold an industry with just 30 designers. So they have set themselves the task of finding 30 more designers within the next three years.

Hence, this years show will also include a mentorship panel comprising Kanchana Thalpawila, Darshi Keerthisena and Upeksha Hager who will conduct half hour workshops each with a different focus. They will also be the panel to choose one designer who will be given the Next Award.

A lot of people ask me why I focus on emerging designers, Ajai says with a sigh. People dont understand why emerging designers are so important. They are the supply chain. If you dont have emerging designers, there wouldnt be a show two years from now. The industry needs them.

On this note, Ajai works with Raffles, University of Moratuwa, Open University, NIBM and sometimes Academy of Design. The reason international designers are featured in the show is because the organizers want young Sri Lankan designers to get that exposure from designers who have made an impact in significant markets around the world.

Ajai really wants CFW to celebrate and take Colombo to the next level. He has always felt that the fashion week in Paris brings the city to life. But with Colombo, its always a small part of the city that comes alive and he wants to change that.

This year, the organizers will feature three venues  Galle Face Hotel, Shangri-La Colombo and Hilton Colombo. The goal is to showcase Colombo as a creative destination for tourists to come to.

When you think of Colombo Fashion Week, you connect Colombo and Fashion together and the two become linked.

In terms of identity for fashion, CFW relates a story which Ajai sees being formed. Im sensing that there is a beautiful marriage between the ethnic, the western, and the craft. Theres a beautiful fusion coming together, which is defining the Sri Lankan identity. We are trying to promote this identity, because its very uniquely ours.

CFW begins on February 27 and will continue until March 2.

International designers with good stories Some of the international fashion designers showcasing at CFW include: Cigdem Akin, a cutting-edge Turkish fashion designer who has made regular appearances at the Paris Fashion Week. South Asian designer Suket Dhir, who won the prestigious 2015/2016 International Woolmark Prize Menswear Award. Rajesh Pratab Singh, one of the first Indians to show at the Paris Fashion Week -he has been able to take a local craft, convert it into high quality Western-oriented fashion that appealed to the buyers in Europe. These are good stories to share, because the markets are similar, Ajai says.
On a rail trail with a cause By Yomal Senerath Yapa View(s): View(s):

The main railway line going through the upcountry hills on its way to Badulla is not only one of breathtaking mist-wrapped mountain scenery, it is also an environmentally highly sensitive area, where the slightest impingement can undo what has taken ages to evolve.

Yet the travellers show little respect for the beauty around them, discarding garbage through windows- including polythene, plastic and glass.

It was with the dual purpose of cleaning the track and raising awareness on railway travel that Ranjan Theodore and Somarathna Bandara got together a 30-person expedition. Their first task was cleaning the track from Pattipola station to Idalgasinna station.

As walking on the track is forbidden, the group had to obtain permission from the Permanent Way Inspector.

The stretch of track includes tunnel no. 18. Entering this tunnel you are in cold, misty montane surroundings, but emerging from it, the trekker finds himself in a landscape more akin to the dry zone. Somewhere within the tunnel the regions divide.

The highest point of the countrys railway, the Summit Point at an elevation of 6226 feet from the sea level, is also part of this stretch.

The station between Pattipola and Idalgasinna is Ohiya. No fewer than 14 tunnels punctuate the stretch between Ohiya and Idalgasinna. The small Idalgasinna station is often shrouded with mist.

The station also overlooks one of the most breathtaking panoramas Central Sri Lanka offers. From the right you can see undulating below the southern part of the island- from Embilipitiya to Dondra Head. To the left, you see the pinnacles of all the islands major mountains.

The group brought with them ten large plastic sacks which were soon filled and used a railway cart to transport the garbage back to Pattipola.

The second day, the hikers went to Horton Plains, but their destination was not the much-visited Worlds End but Kirigalpoththa, the second highest mountain in Sri Lanka and home to beautiful scenery- amidst isolated footpaths curdling with mist.

Ranjan Theodore advocates railway and mountain hiking as wonderful pastimes especially for young people and plans to continue this effort.
Letters to the Editor View(s):

Constitution should be changed to restrict a PMs term also to two

The powers of the President under the presidential form of government introduced by the late J. R. Jayewardene were all powerful and the Prime Minister was reduced to the status of a peon, as admitted by late Mr. Premadasa.

Presently with the inclusion of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of our country, things have come to a climax with this game of power sharing between the President and Prime Minister. The powers of the President have been drastically reduced and the Prime Ministers powers have been increased tremendously making both posts equally powerful as it is evident today.

However, while a person who has served two terms as president is ineligible to contest again, a Prime Minister who has held that post for more than two terms is eligible to continue, regardless of any restrictions. Isnt it unfair that a President who has been directly elected by the people is restricted to two terms, while a person who is elected by one district is eligible to continue as Prime Minister for many terms? Therefore, it is high time an amendment is passed in Parliament restricting the term of the Prime Minister to two terms regardless of whether he/she has served consecutively for two terms or not, with retrospective effect.

Of course such legislation can be passed only if parliamentarians take a vote by secret ballot. It is only then that any of our representatives in Parliament will be able to exercise their vote independently devoid of party affiliations and survive thereafter without the wrath of the party hierarchy.This course of action may bring some good results indirectly. It will provide more opportunities to young members who have leadership qualities to serve the country better instead of having to spend many years under the thumb of one person, who continues to be the Prime Minister until his or her demise. Under the present system, a young leader will get the opportunity to reach the post of Prime Minister only when he is in his 60s or 70s.

Therefore, it is essential we collectively raise our voices to amend the Constitution to restrict the period of the office of a Prime Minister to a maximum of two terms.

R.W.W.- Via email

Irresponsible utterances made against judiciary

The Prime Minister at the opening of a new Pradeshiya Sabha in Niyagama, Galle has said those who criticize and ridicule the judiciary should be punished, according to a recent news item in the Daily Mirror. He has further said that one can give his or her opinion on a certain judgment but it is not fair to ridicule judges by talking of their ethnic group, religion, caste or creed etc.

What prompted this was a virulent attack a frontline member of the Opposition made recently in Parliament that judges are promoted to superior courts on the basis of their religion, I believe. Surprisingly, the only condemnation of this allegation was from the Bar Association Sri Lanka (BASL) and Attorney-at-Law Kishali Pinto Jayawardane, who writes a column to the Sunday Times on Focus on Rights. It is a moot point as to why this unwarranted criticism has slipped the condemnation of the rest of the legal fraternity and the public.

The Sunday Times of February 3, covered the proceedings of the ceremonial sitting of the Supreme Court to welcome the three new judges namely Justices Preethi Padman Surasena, S.Thurairaja and Gamini Rohan Amarasekera to the Supreme Court.

Reading through the speeches made by the three Judges, Attorney General and the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, one would naturally get the impression that the three judges in question have secured this prestigious position based purely on merit, seniority, intellectual supremacy, unblemished career record and not because of other considerations such as religious, ethnicity etc.

It is a matter for solace that the Bar Association of Sri Lanka has issued a statement unequivocally condemning the derogatory references. BASL has further pointed out that wild allegations levelled against the Judiciary and the three judges are utterly baseless.

Hence, we expect the members of the Opposition to refrain from making vituperative speeches that could lead to religious conflict.

Ranasinghe Nugegoda

Another Chinese project?

I got to know from the media this week that the Cabinet has decided to award the LNG project to a Chinese company.

In January this year I visited the Moragahakanda Project where the reservoir is named after my late father.

During this visit I observed many quality and safety issues. In my opinion, no internationally recognised certifying authority would have issued a certificate of fitness for this project to operate.

As the Moragahakanda project was built by a Chinese company I felt duty bound to bring my observations to the publics attention.

Eur Ing A. H. Kulasinghe Ja-Ela

Pay up the Rs. 20b loss to the country Mr. Minister!

The Finance Minister and the Cabinet approved the removal and transfer of the Director General of Customs P.S.M. Charles at a Cabinet meeting.

During the week, there were widespread protests by the Customs Union and others over the unfair and illegal transfer of this senior Administrative officer who had performed her duties sans political interference.

As reported in the media, she was called up to transfer Customs Investigating Officers who had detected pepper, beedi leaves and ethanol which had arrived in containers for re-export by falsely declaring them as readymade garments etc.

The Ministry of Finance replaced her with a retired Naval Officer and subsequently an officer from the Ministry of Finance was appointed. This sparked a go-slow  over 6,000 conainers could not be cleared by importers.

The loss to the country has been estimated as Rs 20 billion and now the Minister gets back on his decision and recommends reinstatement at the next Cabinet meeting. This clearly shows his decision was politically motivated, and there was no substantive reason for the removal of the Customs chief.

The country demands Minister Mangala Samaraweera and the Cabinet who endorsed the decision to remove her to reimburse Rs 20 billion to the government Ex-Chequer.

S.D. Vincent Dehiwela

Govt. departments that add to the woes of senior citizens

Last month my very active friend of 90 plus fell off a bus and sustained a fracture. Now she is bedridden. She resides in an elders Home in Wellawatte. She is a retired teacher. I visited her on February 9, when the Matron of the Home informed me of the problems she is facing with the officers of the Department of Pensions in trying to get my friends pension.

She had taken the Grama Niladari Report plus the Medical Report, but the officers of the department had refused to accept the reports. They had insisted that the Matron bring my friend to the Department. The Matron will have to get an ambulance to take her to this office.

In an elders home it is not possible for the Matron to do this. She is responsible for more than 50 other seniors.

In a similar, but different situation was a widow, a relative of a fairly well known stage actor of yesteryear. This widow could not draw her pension as she had no postal address. She would go to the Post Office, spend the whole day trying to get her pension. This had gone on for over six months. The kindly Postmistress said that it was sad to see her seated on a bench, munching a bun but unable to get her pension. Her situation was that she had no fixed abode.

The Postmistress contacted me and with difficulty I managed to locate a relative. The Postmistress had even taken the trouble to find an Elders Home for this senior citizen. After much trouble a relative was located and now she is able to get her pension.

Senior citizens and their families face innumerable problems. But it is sad when government departments add to these problems, instead of, like the caring Postmistress trying to solve them.

Sujatha Wickramasinghe Samarajiwa Via email
Helping prisoners turn a new leaf By Tera Jayewardene and Oshani Alwis Book by book, those behind the Books Beyond Bars project aim to build a model prisons library View(s): View(s):

Worn with use, the book in the prisoners hands is being read for the eighth time. Once a shabby corner with just a few books on a small shelf, the Welikada Prison Library renovated last July, now has cupboards, tables and chairs with more than 5000 books of different genres. However, there is a long way to go to create the Model Library planned by the Special Committee on Prison Library Services.

Prison library service is a neglected area in Sri Lanka which needs more attention, resources and planned development. Though there are thousands of inmates in prisons in Sri Lanka from all strata of society, providing them with quality library and information services is still a distant dream. The main purpose of these institutions is to rehabilitate the people and send them back to society for which the importance of quality library services is invaluable, says Dr. Premila Gamage, a member of the Special Committee on Prison Library Development, Sri Lanka Library Association.

The Committee launched their Books Beyond Bars from January 25 to February 25 inviting the public to donate books for the prison libraries. New or used books in good condition can be handed over by February 25.

Books in Sinhala, Tamil and English are welcome, with a special request for Tamil books which are in short supply. The committee is also asking for inspirational and motivational books, dictionaries, thesauruses and English grammar books.

Childrens books and colouring books are also needed for the children under 5 who live with their mothers who are serving time.

Padma Bandaranayake, Convenor, Special Committee Library Development, Sri Lanka Library Association, says a donation has come in from Sri Lankans in the US. However, with 30 prisons in Sri Lanka, the ultimate goal is to give 10,000 books to each prison to set up proper libraries.

Some of the long-time inmates said Sir now we are matured and if we had the knowledge we have now by reading we would never have ended up in prison, says Commissioner of Prisons (Supply and Services) Chandana Ekanayake who has been spearheading the project. Thy have benefited from reading, he feels and he is eager to have well functioning libraries in prisons across the island.

He cites books like the autobiography of South African leader Nelson Mandela as having a great impact. Many are keen to study and learn, he adds- 20 took the Daham Pasal Final Certificate with 19 of them passing the exam. Two others passed the Dharmacharya Examination, which permits them to teach in Dhamma Schools.

Ms Bandaranayake is hopeful they could improve library access for female detainees-5% of the prisoners in Sri Lanka are women and most of them are in Welikada.

How and where to donate The Books Beyond Bars campaign is on from January 25-February 25. Books could be handed over to the following collection points: Sri Lanka Library Association, Colombo 7

National Institute of Library and Information Sciences, University of Colombo

Main library, University of Moratuwa. The collection ends on February 25 but those who would like to contribute afterwards can call 0112589103.
Genuine desire to find the truth about what ails our country View(s):

There couldnt have been a more opportune time for me to read and review this book written by Daya de Silva as when Sri Lankan parliamentarians were vying for power, pushing and shoving, throwing chairs, chili powder and even attempting to stab their opponents.

We humans have a deep association with our motherland even when we live in other parts of the world. A person born and bred in a given country can be separated from that country, but that country cannot be completely eradicated from that persons mind as clearly seen in the sentiments expressed by the author of this book about her life in Sri Lanka. As is always the case, foreigners/expatriates do perceive things quickly and more comprehensively than those who live in a country. Of course, the interest, passion and a genuine desire to find the truth beneath what appears on the surface has prompted Daya de Silva to write this book as I see it.

Daya de Silvas previous publication in 2006 Ceylon To Sri Lanka Troubled Paradise expressed similar sentiments in chapters on Diminished Prestige: The Public Service and Education For What?

Considering that Sri Lankan emigrants and expatriates of Sri Lanka, and their descendants that reside in foreign countries are estimated to be around 3 million going by the 2011-2016 statistics, the data presented by Daya de Silva provide very useful information about the country. These expatriates continue to call Sri Lanka their home and have deep cultural ties with Sri Lanka despite their different ethnic affiliations to Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim or other mixed ethnicities. Culturally speaking, we all love the time we spent growing up in our families, community, and cultures. Most people continue to use their native languages, belief systems, and cultural affiliations even after emigrating to another country.

Considering that the Sri Lankan educational system, economy and society have been based on the western systems being under western rule from 1505  1948, the inhabitants of Sri Lanka apparently continue to contend with critical issues stemming from a long history of over 1500 years of rule by kings and a feudal system that has been supplanted by western education, administration and economic system as clearly seen in the narratives of this book. Under normal circumstances, a system cannot evaluate itself, only those outside of a system perceive a system clearly. I give credit to Daya de Silva for being a rule breaker in her attempt in this book to shed light by gathering data from all available sources. Daya de Silva has been able to think outside of the box and presented the material she gathered most candidly in this book. Though at times most unpalatable, the material will be very useful for both expatriates and citizens as well as for those educators interested in researching Sri Lankan political history after 30 years of civil war.

The book opens to the reader as a collection of journals kept during her recent visit and travels In Beautiful Sri Lanka, covering the most important centres of attraction of Sri Lanka reminiscing the past glory of those places and the vast changes that have taken place within the past half a century. The authors observations together with the input from local residents shed ample light on the environmental changes that had taken place and the possible contributing factors that led to those changes.

The following two chapters Preserving the Environment and Teaching the Young lay the foundation for the latter half of the book that concludes with Corruption in their Blood, which forms the basic running thread of the book.

The second half of the book, the Style of Governance, Trying to Live Together, Looking for Prosperity, and Corruption in their Blood, describes in great detail and specifics including the details involved in the scenarios and personalities responsible for mismanagement of the country, economic decline in all sectors of production including SriLankan Airlines, and foreign relations detrimental to Sri Lanka. These detailed descriptions clearly show the helplessness of Sri Lankan inhabitants to prevent systematic corruption of Sri Lankas resources by its own rulers. The steady declining value of the Sri Lanka rupee within the past few years is a good indicator of this decline.

At the end of the chapter on Looking for Prosperity, Daya de Silva asks, If Singapore could do it why is it that Sri Lanka of the 60s that was looked up to by Asian countries as a model for prosperity with little corruption failed? What led to the change? The reviewers view is that most Sri Lankans have not had the opportunity to see the prosperity of Singapore let alone how the rest of the worlds population lives. Most Sri Lankans are destined to live and die in Sri Lanka thinking that it is a mighty country and its current rulers are the mightiest leaders in the whole world.

It is the reviewers hope that the contents of this book will be accessible to Sri Lankan citizens in the Sinhala language as well.

( The reviewer is Professor Emeritus, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan)

Book facts Sri Lanka  A Pearl To A Tear Drop-by Daya de Silva

Godage & Bros (Pvt) Ltd, 2018

Reviewed by Jayadeva Hettiarachchy
Waiting, waiting and waiting for a roof above their heads By Namini Wijedasa View(s): View(s):

Its been 10 years since the war ended, four years since this Government came into power, but promised housing for the war-torn people have not materialised

Saga of dubious tenders and interested parties trying to foist pre-fabricated housing Four years ago, the Government promised mass-scale housing for the North and Easts war-displaced. It has still not delivered, leaving some of the countrys most underprivileged families in limbo.

One of the main reasons for the protracted delay is an unshakeable fixation with prefabricated houses  first steel, now concrete  which their promoters insist will be so much quicker to build. The irony cannot be lost.

The saga, which the Sunday Times has tracked from the start, follows a clear pattern that becomes even more evident in hindsight. It involves fixers inside and outside Government and belies the unshakeable truth that this administration has no concern for the housing needs of a poverty-stricken populace.

It began with D M Swaminathan, a senior member of the United National Party (UNP), who held the resettlement portfolio. He quickly became the face of a Government pledge to build 65,000 houses in the North and East. Cabinet granted approval in September 2015 and expressions of interest (EOI) were called 12 days later.

But a month before the tender was advertised, Mr Swaminathan divulged to the Tamil National Alliance that a French firm would get the contract. It made a mockery of the tender process, TNA Parliamentarian M A Sumanthiran said at the time.

That company was the Luxembourg-headquartered ArcelorMittal, a leading integrated steel and mining company. It promoted prefabricated housing with steel structures. The local agent was Kumarca Engineering and Management (Pvt) Ltd, fronted by businessman Ravi Wethasinghe. And the initiative first emerged as an unsolicited proposal.

Bidders were required to complete the project in five years. They had to raise concessionary finance for the billion-dollar initiative. In other words, a foreign loan. Had it gone through, the sharp depreciation of the rupee would have spelt a repayment disaster.

Interested parties had 25 days to put in proposals. When they wanted an extension, three days were granted. And after EOIs were received and entities shortlisted, the Ministry changed the requirements from five to four years for project completion.

There were 35 submissions. Eight bidders were shortlisted in the penultimate round. But the process was skewed in favour of ArcelorMittal from the outset.

The contract would have been awarded had it not been for spirited objections from civil society groups. They questioned the cost of each house  a steep 2.1 million rupees (inclusive of a television set, some furniture and solar panels)  and the fast-tracked selection of a contractor.

The structures were to be imported and assembled, shutting out local labour. There would be no Sri Lankan value addition. It is now known that the pricing was tailored to give the contractors a sweeping profit.

The National Construction Association of Sri Lanka (NCASL), too, objected. By lumping all of the houses into one big project and placing exclusionary conditions in the request for proposals (RFP) document, domestic companies were precluded from qualifying. The NCASL wanted the 65,000 divided into four or five packages. There was no reason why this couldnt be done  but it wasnt.

The ArcelorMittal initiative was a cookie-cutter approach. Visits to model houses by technical teams threw up multitudinous cultural, environmental, engineering and other issues.

For instance, the houses had inadequate foundations, insufficient roof support, were at risk of corrosion, poorly ventilated and without hearth or chimney. They had poor or non-existent capacity for extension or repair, a much shorter life span than block wall houses, were unlikely to create a sense of ownership, unlikely to foster the local economy and generate employment and were at least double the cost of a block wall house.

Those were only a few of the shortcomings. There were many more, including the crucial fact that beneficiaries were not given a choice. They were borne upon to accept these houses or nothing at all.

These concerns were repeatedly and openly aired. But the Resettlement Ministry, supported by the Government, insisted that the ArcelorMittal project was optimum because it came with financing. The NCASL was quietly asked to back off on the promise they will receive other work.

There began a long process of aggressive promotion in the North and East combined with proposal tinkering in Colombo to push the contract through. Families were asked to sign papers requesting the house. Some, in desperation, left notes on the application forms saying they would prefer a brick dwelling.

The Resettlement Ministry did not inform prospective recipients that Cabinet approval for the prefabricated steel houses was strictly tied to the condition that the beneficiaries wanted them. Against instructions, no alternative was offered. The advertisement said the houses would be built by the leading company in the world but avoided naming the firm.

In the meantime, the cost of each house was brought down to Rs 1.6mn by removing furniture, fittings and WiFi from the deal. But for the Resettlement Ministry, it was still ArcelorMittal or no one else.

Then, faced with an onslaught of criticism, the Prime Minister appointed an independent team of experts. By October 2016, on its advice, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) recommended that the project be re-tendered in smaller packages and for the bid bond to be lowered. Already, one year had been lost.

On the ground, opposition was growing. The TNA was against steel prefabricated houses, as were the Jaffna District Coordinating Committee and the Northern Provincial Council (NPC).

Separately, an independent, multi-disciplinary group presented the Government with an alternative proposal for brick-and-mortar housing, complete with a financing proposal. It was supported by organisations and networks, including UN bodies, engaged in housing.

The idea was to build traditional cement or brick houses and it had a financing proposal, including a term sheet from a consortium of banks raising domestic resources through a rupee bond in four tranches of Rs 16.25 billion each. This was ignored.

And, by November 2016, Mr Swaminathan once again said the Government would sanction prefabricated steel houses for the North and East despite a Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee (CANC) rejecting the ArcelorMittal project and also recommending fresh tenders.

The TNA revealed that Minister Swaminathan had been telephoning their MPs and urging them to ask for the prefabricated houses in their respective electorates. But all 16 of the Alliances MPs signed a letter that said they were against these structures for reasons of climatic unsuitability, flimsy construction, lack of durability, unjustifiable high cost, so on.

On November 9, 2016, Resettlement Ministry Secretary V Sivagnanasothy was transferred out. He was a member of the CANC that rejected the ArcelorMittal initiative and called for fresh tenders.

In the face of continued resistance, President Maithripala Sirisena passed off the project to Special Projects Minister Sarath Amunugama for a recommendation. He returned to the CCEM in April 2017 with a suggestion to grant 6,000 houses to ArcelorMittal.

But Mr Sumanthiran maintained that, if the size of the project was to be reduced, fresh tenders must be called as many more contractors would now qualify and offer better prices. The Resettlement Ministry did not call for fresh bids.

Instead, in June 2017, the Ministry summoned District and Divisional Secretaries and Directors of Planning of the North and East for a progress review meeting and used it to promote the ArcelorMittal project. It was chaired by Minister Swaminathan and company representatives were present. More than half the event went towards plugging the housing project.

By now, prefabricated steel houses had been rejected by the CANC, the TNA, the NPC, District Coordinating Committees, the Parliamentary Sectoral Oversight Committee, and the Prime Ministers team as well as local officials and civil society groups.

But the project only got shelved  ironically  when ArcelorMittal pulled out; 6,000 houses were simply not worth the trouble for the international steel giant.

Today, backers of the steel houses admit they made a mistake (although Minister Swaminathan is yet to say it). Its too little, too late for the displaced of the North and East.

Alternative proposal on hold due to high management fee In May 2018, after ArcelorMittal pulled out, the Cabinet sanctioned a contract to build 40,000 prefabricated concrete houses in the North and East  without tenderto a Chinese company. Once again, the proposal was put forward by the Resettlement Ministry. China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co Ltds local agent was Ravi Wethasinghes Yapka Construction (Pvt) ltd. But it didnt go ahead. This time, it was the Indian Government that put a dampener on the Ministers project. It questioned the decision to give the hefty tender to a company that had not even built one house yet in Sri Lanka and had not done a comprehensive study of conditions in the respective areas. Meanwhile, there was yet another housing project waiting in the wings. The Ministry of National Integration and Reconciliation, headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, had as its Secretary Mr V Sivagnanasothy  the man who had been kicked out of the Resettlement Ministry for opposing the ArcelorMittal project. In September 2017, his Ministry floated a tender for 50,000 permanent brick-and-mortar houses as part of a resettlement and reconciliation initiative. At the end of that process, Cabinet gave approval for 25,000 brick houses to a consortium of humanitarian agencies led by UN-Habitat, UNOPS, Habitat for Humanity and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society. This contract was what emerged from the alternative proposal put forward in 2016 by civil society groups. The Government said the Treasury would pass money for it. But last month, the Prime Ministers office notified the Consortium that the Treasury had backed out. One reason may be the 10% management fee to be retained by UNOPS/UN-Habitat, as pointed out by Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera in his observations last year. Action should be taken by the implementing agency to bring down the management fee to be paid to the UNOPS/UN-Habitat to an acceptable level, he wrote. The management fee is 8.97%, according to documents seen by the Sunday Times. It covers technical and support staff required for construction of houses, including logistics, and overhead costs. But for now, that effort seems stalled from the Government side. Separately, the Government has released money through the recent vote-on-account for 10,000 brick-and-cement-sand-blocks type traditional houses in the same areas. The first phase of 4,750 was started under the Resettlement and Rehabilitation Ministry, which is now under Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghes purview. Theres more: In October 2018, the Ministry of Finance sought Cabinet approval to immediately proceed with the construction of 28,000 (houses) in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka as Phase 1 by the consortium partners ND Enterprises (India), Yapka Construction (Pvt) Ltd (Sri Lanka) and Archedium (Pvt) Ltd (Sri Lanka) in the first instance for completion within 24 months at a fixed base price of LKR1,280,000 per house with 100% funding on soft financial terms. ND Enterprises an Indian company, because the project swung in Indias direction after New Delhi opposed the Chinese bid. The Indian High Commission nominated six parties of which this consortium was found to be suitable. To begin with, it expects to build 7,000 prefabricated concrete houses in the East. The Finance Minister has proposed to allocate the remaining houses to the balance six parties on a first-come first-serve basis. He also says, however, that Whoever satisfies the successful completion of Phase I within the stipulated time will be considered for Phase 2. Community leaders are now calling for a model prefabricated house to be built in the East for the inspection of beneficiaries. There must, they say, be an independent technical evaluation of these dwellings  particularly after of the ArcelorMittal fiasco. No such house has been erected. From the beginning, the focus of all these initiatives has been who gets the contract rather than who gets the houses. The housing needs of the North and East were estimated by this administration to be 137,000 dwellings. How many have been built? In May, thousands of families will mark 10 years since the end of the war, staring bleak-eyed out of their shacks  having been failed repeatedly by a Government that has placed the interests of a handful of people over the well-being of an entire population.
Sinharaja plunder: Slovak Govt. pays biggest ever fine of Rs. 10.85m By Ranjith Padmasiri View(s): View(s):

The Slovak Government paid a fine of Rs 10.85 million imposed on five Slovak nationals found guilty of illegally collecting endemic animal and plant species from the Sinharaja Rainforest.

Environmentalists say the fine is the largest ever imposed under the Fauna & Flora Protection Ordinance.

Slovak Government Officials, who were present in court on behalf of the five men, paid the fine imposed on them and secured their release. The officials had come from the Slovak embassy in New Delhi.

Kalawana Magistrate Dulan Weerawardena imposed the fine after the five men pleaded guilty to 37 charges filed against them under the Fauna & Flora Protection Ordinance.

However, the Magistrate rejected a request made by the Wildlife Conservation Department to impose an order prohibiting the Slovaks from entering the country again. The department requested that a travel ban be imposed on the grounds that the five mens professions had not been established. The Magistrate rejected the request for a travel ban, stating that the court had no jurisdiction to do so, and directed the department to make its request to the relevant authority.

In addition to the fine, the Magistrate also imposed three months rigorous imprisonment, suspended for 10 years, on each of the accused.

Among the species found in the possession of the five Slovaks were 771 butterflies, 46 beetles and several spiders.

Wildlife Departments Kalawana Sector Ranger Lakshman Rathnaweera told court that the nature of the equipment and chemicals used by the accused to collect and store the plants and animals native to Sri Lanka, indicated that they could be a group of zoologists and botanists. Mr Rathnaweera also said it was suspicious as to why the accused were not forthcoming about their professions.

It was also revealed that one of the accused had visited Sri Lanka previously in 2016.

The Magistrate ordered the confiscation of their equipment, except for one personal camera. He also granted a request by the Wildlife Department to hand over the animal and plant parts recovered from the accused to the Department of National Museums.

The Slovaks Attorney, Tharindu Arawwala, appealed that his clients be shown leniency on the grounds they had pleaded guilty to the charges in the first instance.

The Magistrate postponed the case for March 26, to hear submissions in order to take a decision on the vehicle used by the five men.

Wildlife Rangers Lakshman Rathnaweera and Manoj Bandaranayake appeared for the prosecution.
One-and-a-half-year-old dies after drinking battery acid View(s):

A one-and-a-half-year-old child died after mistakenly drinking battery acid at its residence in the Kiriella area in Ratnapura, yesterday (16).

The incident had taken place on Friday (15) when both parents of the child had left for work in the morning. The child was under the care of its aunt at the time of the incident.

The child, G. Sadeeshan Lakmali was rushed to the Ingiriya District Hospital after falling unconscious and was transferred to the Horana Base Hospital. The child was later sent to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital in Colombo for further treatment, after which it had died. The postmortem determined the cause of death as due to poisoning by the acid consumed.
Mothers murder of child reveals dark trend of child cruelty View(s):

A 21-year-old mother has spent this week under arrest over the mysterious disappearance of her child after confessing that she had assaulted her four-year-old daughter and thrown her into the Kala Oya tank.

The little girl, from the Neelambemma area in Puttalam, has been missing since January 30 and has still not been found despite a search operation by navy and police divers, with support from local residents.

Last month, police arrested a mother, 26, and her lover, 31, over the murder of her nine-year-old child in January 2018.

The National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) said reports of cruelty to children are on the rise, and these recent cases of extreme cruelty inflicted by parents on their own children have caused widespread horror.

Last year, the NCPA received 2,413 complaints of child cruelty ranging from verbal to physical abuse, Director-General Anoma Siriwardena said.

Pettah police last month found five children under the age of nine years loitering in the area who, on being questioned, said three of them had left home to escape violence unleashed by their families.

Children are often subject to cruelty when they are left in the custody of the father, Ms. Siriwardena said: informal research showed the greatest contributing factor to child cruelty was the absence of women in the household.

Child abuse is reported from all regions. A 2016 study on knowledge, practices and behaviour of health care professionals in the Jaffna district said child abuse and neglect in the Jaffna district was rampant.

Participants in the survey, including doctors, nurses and social workers, spoke of children suffering beatings causing injury, verbal humiliation, and being admitted to hospital over sexual abuse, bruising, burns and bite-marks.

In the war-affected areas of Sri Lanka, widows have been pushed into seeking employment within or outside the country to care for their families. With low literacy levels and vocational skills they engage in traditional livelihood methods which yield meagre returns. Children often end up receiving minimum education or care and are encouraged to enter the labour market at a young age to eke out the family income. NCPA statistics from last year state that 1,267 children had dropped out from school and 262 children had taken up jobs.

The Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) regulation said mothers of children below five years are not allowed to migrate for work but poverty and promises of financial prosperity drove desperate women to seek jobs overseas outside the protection of the law.

SLBFE statistics show, however, that the number of women going to the Middle East for work is dropping drastically, with fewer than 100,000 women leaving in the past three years. In 2016, only 77,603 women left the country  a huge drop from 2012, which records departures by 132,512 women.

A 2016 UN Supplementary Report on the Rights of the Child said that although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a mechanism to protect children left behind by parents the initiatives do not effectively reach the most vulnerable children.

The lack of responsible mother substitutes and the absence of a fathers role in childcare led to the neglect of children in such cases, the report said. In most cases, fathers looking after offspring while mothers worked overseas, took to alcohol and drugs, neglecting their charges.

A senior official at the Bureau of Foreign Employment claims the bureau has fool-proof systems in place to prevent cruelty to children, recognising the problems faced by families from which women have gone overseas for work.

Deputy General Manager Mangala Randeniya said the bureau had designed specific programmes at Divisional Secretariat level, overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Employment.

Development Officers made periodic visit to households where there are children under the care of father/grandparents or designated parent. They develop a good care and development plan for each domestic setting, Mr. Randeniya said.

There is liaison between the bureau and the NCPA. Any complaints received by the NCPA regarding these families are referred to the bureau, which takes appropriate action. We even go far as repatriating the mother back to the country as the case may warrant, Mr. Randeniya said.

This safety net does not, however, protect women with children under the age of five who cannot find overseas work though the bureau and are lured into employment by other agencies, sometimes with the added temptation of salaries paid in advance prior to departure.

This makes the women and their children vulnerable as the families do not enjoy any safeguards provided by the Bureau of Foreign Employment. The women are also trapped into bonded labour, unable to come back to the country even in times of tragic events befalling the family.

Ms. Siriwardena holds the view that women with children under 18 years of age should not be allowed to go overseas for work. She said children need the care and protection of the mother during their adolescence as they are vulnerable and can be easily misled.

The mother should always be there to watch over them and guide them through their developmental stage, she said.

Ms. Siriwardena said the NCPA carries out an annual action plan in the rural and plantation sector to educate and create awareness of childrens rights.

She said regular visits are made to schools and government offices to educate and create awareness on child protection. For estate workers, programmes are conducted in community halls where parents are encouraged to gather.
Monthly fuel price formula ignites prices of food and COL By Kasun Warakapitiya View(s): View(s):

Monthly fuel price increases according to a much-derided formula continue to ignite the prices of food and living costs.

On Monday, in keeping with its fuel price formula, the government increased the price of octane 92 petrol by Rs. 6, octane 95 petrol by Rs. 5 , diesel by Rs 4 and super diesel by Rs 8.

At Ceypetco fuel stations, a litre of octane 92 petrol is now Rs. 129, octane 95 is Rs 152, diesel costs Rs 103 and super diesel is Rs. 126.

On Tuesday, the Lanka Indian Oil Company also revised prices.

On December 21, the government reduced fuel prices after the 52-day political crisis ended. Petrol was cut by Rs. 10 and diesel prices by between Rs. 5 and Rs 10, depending on the grade.

This weeks fuel price increase once again set off another round of price rises.

A Colombo resident told the Sunday Times that the government had dealt people a blow ahead of the budget, instead of providing relief.

Chamari Samaraweera who has a kiosk near Royal College in Colombo, selling food items and lunch packets to schoolchildren and university students complained of rising costs. But she is unable to raise prices.

I cant lose my customers and put the burden on them. I sell a breakfast packet of string-hoppers, or noodles for Rs 80 and lunch for Rs 130, she said.

She now buys less expensive vegetables to keep her costs under control.

In a packet of rice, I usually serve five varieties  dhal, carrot, beans, pumpkin, and potatoes in addition to fish or egg. Prices of vegetables have gone up. So, I choose less expensive ones, she said.

Street-side lunch packet seller Chamila Dushmanthi, said she can barely make a profit by selling a packet of rice, vegetables, and fish, or egg for Rs. 100 and a packet of rice with chicken curry for Rs 140.

Her income is spent on her elderly mother and children.

Chamila said most prefer to buy the Rs 100 packet.

People dont understand the hardships I go through. Sitting under the umbrella in the hot sun to sell lunch. I used to make lunch packets at home in Horana. But now I buy from a seller and make a few rupees of profit and re-sell them, she said.

Wayside fruit sellers are struggling. They are unable to raise prices too much.

Piyum Nimsara, a fruit seller at Wellawatte, said that he sells rambutan in the off season, taking a risk that there would be demand for the fruit.

We bring rambutan from Monaragala, he said noting that transport costs are high.

He and his two colleagues sell five rambutan for Rs 100 Rupees.

They earn Rs 4,000 a day but give Rs 2,000 to the employer.

I try to earn at least Rs 45,000 a month, but family expenses are more than Rs 60,000. I have to pay for water, electricity as well as school fees of my sons, he said.

On some days, he skips lunch and drinks tea. Food available in the area cost between Rs 750 and Rs 1,000.

A worker at a Wellawatta construction site, Mohomad Idris, 61, said rising living costs compelled him to work at his age.

He is in debt having borrowed Rs 30,000 for expenses. He added that the daily wage of Rs 1,300 is not enough to feed his family and pay bills.

Food is costly in Colombo. I have to spend at leat Rs 500 for lunch and to return home. I have only Rs 8,000 left for family expenses. I have to educate my daughters and 18-year-old son and look after my wife, he said.

He said that during the 52 days of the political crisis, the fuel pricing formula was cancelled, but there was no positive impact on the rising costs of living.

At least the bus fare was reduced by a few rupees and some three-wheeler drivers reduced fares by Rs 10 last year, but as the UNP again formed the government, the cost of living went up, he said.

Mr Idris said that a quarter loaf of roast bread priced at Rs 22 now costs Rs 28. He said the bakers have increased bread prices.

Ms R. Silawathie, 61, a resident of Piscal Road, Wellawatte, said that the price of rice has increased to Rs 100 while a coconut costs Rs 75.

Most food is expensive. Vendors say that transport costs are high. My husband only receives a Rs 20,000 pension, he is unwell and I am also a diabetic. We have to eat, buy medicines and pay bills, she complained.

Meanwhile, a three-wheeler driver at Wellawatta, Samantha Jayawardena, said fuel prices continue to increase and government pleas to reduce fares are useless as a result.

This formula is a curse. After the 10th of every month, prices increase, and before that, there are long lines at filling stations.

The president of the All Island Three-wheel Drivers Association, Lalith Dharamasekara, said there is no need to adjust fares as the increase in petrol price was only Rs 6.

The governments fuel formula is impractical and unstable, we cant increase or reduce fares according to their announcement. Every month we have to keep revising fares, he said.

The president of the All Island Bakers Association, N.K Jayawardena, said a decision has not been taken on price increases.

But some mobile bakery product sellers (choon paan sellers) and some bakers have raised prices, citing higher transport costs.
Mannar mass graves: US forensic reports before magistrate on Wednesday View(s):

Key forensic reports of carbon dating compiled by a US-based forensic agency, on the human skeletons recovered from Sri Lankas largest mass grave are to be submitted to the Mannar Magistrates court on Wednesday, Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Saminda Rajapaksha said.

The JMO, who is overseeing the excavation process of the mass grave close to Mannar town, told the Sunday Times that he received, on Friday, the final reports on five of the six human skeleton samples that were sent to the US, and would submit them to court.

In January, following a court directive, a delegation comprising JMO Rajapaksa, representatives from the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) and families of disappeared persons from the Mannar district, travelled to the US to hand over the sealed sample of skeletons to the US forensic firm. The samples were flown to Beta Analytics in Miami, to determine the time of burial of persons whose skeletons have been recovered so far at the site. They are currently under Magisterial custody. Among the recovered skeletons, at least 28 are suspected to be of children, preliminary observations of the excavation team indicated.

These carbon dating reports are confidential, until they are placed before the open Magistrates court, where the court will direct us on the next course of action to be taken, JMO Rajapksa said.

OMP Chairman Saliya Pieris told the Sunday Times it was awaiting the courts directive on the next steps, including the identification of victims.

The OMP has been funding the excavation process and extending technical assistance to the team since the inception of exhumation last year.
This item is available in full to subscribers.

Attention subscribers

We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.

If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you've not yet logged in to your account on this new site.

If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.

Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Lanka lacks laws to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, says EC By Namini Wijedasa Only other South Asian nation to be flagged high-risk third country apart from Afghanistan and Pakistan View(s): View(s):

The European Commission (EC) has named Sri Lanka a high-risk third country with strategic deficiencies in anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) laws. It is the only other South Asian nation to be flagged apart from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Sri Lanka is also among 11 nations identified by the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as having AML/CFT regimes that are deficient, but who are cooperating with the organisation to cover these gaps. The others are The Bahamas, Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Pakistan, Serbia, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and Yemen.

High risk and monitored jurisdictions are countries that have taken insufficient measures to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the international financial system. Any non-European Union (EU) country identified by FATF as representing a risk to the international financial system is presumed to represent a risk to the Unions internal market.

The EC on Tuesday adopted a new list of countries which, as a result of their unsatisfactory legal regimes, pose significant threats to the financial system of the Union. This means that transactions involving Sri Lanka will attract additional layers of due diligence.

The list shows Sri Lanka in the company of Afghanistan, American Samoa, The Bahamas, Botswana, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, US Virgin Islands and Yemen.

The ECs proposal will be submitted to the European Parliament and Council within a month for approval. If passed, it will enter into force 20 days after publication. This is not the first time Sri Lanka has earned the dubious distinction from the EU.

The European Parliament in February last year voted to add Tunisia, Sri Lanka and Trinidad and Tobago to its money-laundering blacklist. The Assembly was split, with 375 votes in support of the motion, 283 votes against and 26 abstentions. But most MEPs opposed the inclusion, not of Sri Lanka, but of Tunisia which they held was a burgeoning democracy in need of support.

Sri Lanka has, however, taken measures to strengthen its laws and the Central Bank  where the Financial Intelligence Unit is based  has said it was confident the country will be off the FATFs grey list by this year. To do so, however, the country must comply with 40 recommendations. An assessment mid-last year found it had made considerable progress, but must do more.

In June 2018, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), too, acknowledged that Sri Lanka has stepped up efforts to improve the AML/CFT regime. And, in a letter of intent to the IMF, Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy pledged that other measures will be taken, including enactment of a law to criminalise all outstanding United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) offences.

They also vow that an amendment to the Asset Disclosure Law is forthcoming, covering a comprehensive range of public officials, including assets legally-owned and beneficially-owned. It will be subject to dissuasive sanctions for non-compliance or false declarations. It will also be verifiable and publicly available online.

Amendments to the Trust Ordinance were passed by Parliament in March 2018. Guidelines for casino, real estate and gem and jewellery sectors were issued the following month, along with guidelines on identification of beneficial ownership for financial institutions.

The EUs fundamental criteria to determine if a country is compliant with AML-CFT requirements is that it must have criminalised money laundering and terrorist financing; applied customer due diligence requirements, record keeping and reporting of suspicious transactions in the financial and non-financial sector; ensured transparency of beneficial ownership for legal persons and legal arrangements; and engages in international cooperation.
HRC probes arrest of husband accused of abducting wife By Chris Kamalendran View(s): View(s):

The Human Rights Commission (HRC) is investigating a case in Vavuniya, where a 27-year-old man who married a 19-year-old girl, was arrested by the Police and produced in court on abduction charges.

The youth was arrested by the Vavuniya Police last Sunday, after he called over at the Police Station to lodge a complaint that he was abducted and assaulted by his wifes relatives.

The mans wife had lodged a complaint with the HRC that her husband had called over at the Police Station on 3 previous occasions to lodge a complaint, and was arrested on the fourth visit.

The wife claimed that the police said he was arrested on allegations that he was responsible for abducting her.

However, the couple who were legally eligible to be married, had held their wedding in Pussellewa in November last year, and submitted their marriage certificate to the area police, to inform the Vavuniya police that they were legally married.

The girls father had lodged a complaint with the Vavuniya Police earlier, that his daughter had been abducted.

Four months later, after the couple had returned to Vavuniya, and visited her parents, the girl had been locked up in the house, while the boy had been blindfolded and taken to an unknown location.

The sister of the boy had lodged a complaint about his disappearance.

The wife has also complained to the HRC that she been forcibly taken by her father and relatives to undergo an abortion in Colombo, but due to her protests the person who was to carry out the abortion had refused to do so.

She had been later dropped off at the husbands home in Vavuniya, while her husband, who had been abducted, had managed to escape and return home.

On Friday (15), Lawyers Anton Thuraisingham Jeyananthan and Arunagirinathan Dileepkanth, appearing on behalf of the man, had moved a motion that the charges filed against his client were false and that he was legally married.

He was released on bail by Additional District Judge and Magistrate Thaslin Banu, with two sureties of Rs 100,000 each. He was told to prove his residency in Vavuniya and produce himself at the Police Station every last Sunday of the month.

Meanwhile the HRC office in Vavuniya has sought a copy of the B Report filed in court by the Police.

A senior officer of the Vavuniya police said they were acting on the complaint made by the girls father regarding the abduction.
GSP+ talks: EU tells Lanka not to implement death penalty View(s):

The European Union (EU) has once again called on Sri Lanka not to implement the death penalty, during talks in Brussels centering on the GSP+, a concession narrowly tied to a recipients implementation of labour and human rights conventions.

The message was conveyed during a segment on the GSP+ at the 22nd EU-Sri Lanka Joint Commission meeting on Thursday. The EU also reiterated its opposition to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and encouraged Sri Lanka to maintain its moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty, said a joint statement released after the discussion.

But the language was far less muted at the meeting, authoritative sources said. It was emphasised strongly to the Sri Lankan delegation that the EU was concerned about reports that the death penalty was to be carried out.

There is likely to be pressure from the European Parliament to review GSP+, if the death penalty is implemented or, if there is no progress shown on transitional justice and reconciliation commitments, a source in Brussels said.

The GSP+ is a unilateral concession from the EU. Therefore, the core cannot be negotiated, the source continued. This week, the EU started a process that could lead to the temporary suspension of Cambodias preferential access under the Everything but Arms (EBA) trade scheme. A statement said that EBA incentives can be removed if beneficiary countries fail to respect core human rights and labour rights.

The Sri Lankan delegation maintained, however, that the EU did not link the GSP+ to the death penalty. It was pointed out that Pakistan received the concession in 2013, but re-introduced the death penalty the following year, even carrying out executions. The facility has, however, not been withdrawn.

Reference was made too, to the US, Japan and several other countries having Free Trade Agreements with the EU despite, the death penalty being carried out regularly in those jurisdictions.

Thursdays meeting was co-chaired by Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service, and Ravinatha Aryasinha, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. It was held in an open and constructive spirit.

Sri Lanka only regained the GSP+ concession in May 2017, after a long and rigorous process of vetting, during which Colombo committed to implementing 27 conventions on human and labour rights, the environment and good governance. These are inherent conditions in scheme.

Also agreed upon had been the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and its replacement by a less draconian piece of Legislation. In this context, while acknowledging that the new draft Legislation was now being considered by Parliament, the EU reiterated the need to repeal and replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), in order to bring counter-terrorism Legislation in line with international standards, the joint statement said.

At the end of 2019, there will be the regular biannual GSP+ report presented to the European Parliament. The EU will conduct a monitoring mission to prepare for this sometime this year.
Conflicting reports on Madush: CID officers fly to Dubai View(s):

Two senior Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials will fly to Dubai on a fact-finding mission over the arrest of millionaire drug lord Makandure Madush.

A senior Police official who did not want to be identified said the visit was strictly to determine facts since there had been a series of conflicting reports.

The official made clear that so far Dubai authorities including the police had not conveyed anything officially to Sri Lanka Police. The remarks make clear that a report of recent raids by the Sri Lankan Police and the Dubai counterparts is false. Since we have not been officially informed about the arrests, it is not possible for us to assist in the investigations, he said.

Meanwhile, instructions have gone out from Police Headquarters that information about arrests related to associates of Madush should be channeled through the Police media spokesmans office in view of various claims made by different police agencies and Police stations.

Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the instructions had gone out to ensure that there were no misleading reports from different police agencies.

In one of the latest incidents, three people were arrested by the Mahabage Police and described as close associates of Madhush, but it was revealed that they were three ordinary cannabis users.

In a separate incident in Kamburupitiya, Police had detected some of the camouflage uniforms from a suspect reportedly connected with Madush, but the police had displayed weapons detected in another raid with the uniforms.

Police Headquarters this week confirmed that in the Gonawala area, they found two vehicles belonging to a relative of Madhush.
200 kilo stone to test new hangmans noose By Hassaan Shazuli View(s): View(s):

The strength of the hangmans noose which is slated to be imported will be tested with a 200 kilogramme stone, Sri Lanka Standards Institute (SLSI) Director General Dr. Siddhika Senaratne told the Sunday Times.

The existing noose was found to be damaged and unusable, she said. It is 12 years old and had been imported from Pakistan.

There are no Sri Lankan regulatory standards that an imported noose should comply with.

The SLSI will have to carry out a standards test based on the regulatory standards that are followed in the country from which the noose is being imported, Dr Senaratne said.

This week, the Prisons Department advertised for two individuals of stable mental health and between 18 and 45 years, with an excellent moral character to be recruited as hangmen.

They would be paid a monthly salary of Rs 36,410 based on the Public Administration Circular 03/2016.

Amnesty Internationals South Asia director Biraj Patnaik condemned the advert saying it should never have been published.

There is no place for the death penalty in a civilised society,

Mr. Patnaik said on his official Twitter account.

The last death penalty carried out in Sri Lanka is recorded to have taken place in 1976 with the execution of J.D. Siripala, a.k.a. Maru Sira, a murder convict.

Human rights activists have now turned towards religious leaders and questioned their silence.

The Catholic Bishops Conference opposes the death penalty and called for stringent security measures to prevent drug dealings in prisons.

A statement said the death penalty was impermissible according to the Gospel.

This is because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person who is subject to the death penalty.

This week, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) called for the withdrawal of the death penalty.

President Maithripala Sirisena resurrected the idea in the context of the narcotics menace.

The ICJ opposes the death penalty in all circumstances  as it constitutes a violation of the right to life and its imposition constitutes per se cruel, inhuman, or degrading punishment, the statement said.

It also called on the government to uphold its vote in favour of a moratorium on the use of death penalty during last years UN General Assembly.

The ICJ also urged Sri Lanka to sign the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which obligates state parties to take measures to abolish the death penalty.

In the backdrop of condemnation, the Justice Ministry this week had sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, requesting that a noose be imported.

The letter had emphasised that the noose must be imported from a country which has implemented the death penalty.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Singapore were some of the countries listed in the letter.
Childhood cancer: Sooner the treatment, sooner the cure By Kumudini Hettiarachchi View(s): View(s):

Chemo and radiotherapy treatment specifically tailor-made for children, assures Consultant Paediatric & Adolescent Oncologist, Dr. Sanjeeva Gunasekera

Says families with cancer-affected children need empathy not aney -paw Childhood cancers are highly curable.

This is the strong and clear message that Consultant Paediatric & Adolescent Oncologist, Dr. Sanjeeva Gunasekera, is shouting from the rooftops as International Childrens Cancer Day was marked on Friday (February 15).

So give heed and adhere to treatment regimens laid down by the doctors, stresses Dr. Gunasekera who is attached to the Apeksha Hospital, Maharagama, reiterating that some parents are fearful of chemo and radiation (radio) therapy.

He dispels such fears with the assurance that both chemo and radiotherapy treatment protocols have been specifically tailor-made for children and that they are not administered the same therapy given to adults.

While chemotherapy is the oral or intravenous administration of a medication to kill off cancer cells and shrink tumours, radiotherapy is the use of high doses of radiation to do a similar job, MediScene understands.

Dont be scared. Such treatment protocols are not just to cure children with cancer for a short time but for a very long time without any disability. These protocols, with minimal long-term side-effects are for specific cancers, he says, explaining that the harm caused by the cancer far outweighs these side-effects.

Many patients from all over the country are treated at the Apeksha Hospital which is the centre of excellence for paediatric and adolescent cancers and we meet mothers with children from Mannar, Anuradhapura, Matara, Puttalam, Kandy, Kalutara and Matugama, all individually remembered by Dr. Gunasekera.

There are four wards with 100 beds, a dedicated operating theatre where bone marrow biopsies are performed under general anaesthesia, an Intensive Care Unit as well as an outpatient department (OPD) clinic for all those below 18 years.

Currently, Dr. Gunasekera and his colleague Dr. Mahendra Somathilaka are looking after the patients in the Paediatric and Adolescent Section of the Apeksha Hospital with Clinical Oncologists Dr. Wasantha Rathnayake and Dr. Thushari Hapuarachchi.

Bringing the child for treatment early to the hospital is very important without going here and there, hoping for quick-fixes, points out Dr. Gunasekera, as the sooner treatment is begun, the sooner the child can be cured. Early presentation is the key to curing childhood cancer.

According to Dr. Gunasekera when a child is diagnosed with cancer, it has a major impact on the whole family with everyone becoming very emotional. As such, relatives, friends and even society at large should support that family and share the burden. What such a family needs is not sympathy with exclamations of aney paw but empathy.

Citing the scenario of the mother of a child-patient having to spend days and sometimes even months at the hospital, he says that others can help out by getting the meals of any brothers and sisters of the child who may remain at home, sorted out. They can support the father who has to go to work, by helping to manage the home affairs.

He is also quick to point out that sometimes parents blame themselves when a child gets cancer but there is nothing that the parents have done which may have caused this illness. Cancers being hereditary are in about 10% and parents should not beat themselves up about it.

Getting cancer is a random chance and there is nothing parents could have done to prevent it. The important thing is to seek treatment as soon as the cancer is diagnosed and follow the treatment protocols to the letter, he says.

Referring to hereditary cancers, Dr. Gunasekera says that if a parent, either the father or the mother, has had retinoblastoma, the child should be screened very early. Consanguineous marriages (marriages between relatives) should also be avoided as much as possible.

Meanwhile, he lauds the numerous charities which are helping the Apeksha Hospital.

Leukaemia the most common in childhood Leukaemia or blood cancer comprises about 50-60% of all childhood cancers, with the balance 50-40% being solid malignant tumours, says Dr. Sanjeeva Gunasekera, adding that it is a prevalence pattern seen worldwide. Leukaemia starts in blood-forming tissue, usually the bone marrow, and results in the over-production of abnormal white blood cells. White blood cells are the part of the immune system which fight any intruders like germs and defend our bodies against infection, he explains. Tumours, meanwhile, are swellings (abnormal growths) without any inflammation which can occur in any part of our bodies, MediScene learns. Brain tumours are commonly linked to age and children are vulnerable. The usual symptoms of cancer are: Weakness, tiredness, shortness of breath, noticeable pallor of the skin (paleness of the skin) and enlargement of lymph nodes (glands). Frequent infections which last longer than usual and are more severe than usual. Fever and feeling ill. Small bruises on the skin, heavy periods, nosebleeds or bleeding gums. Unusual bleeding and bruising. Headaches and early-morning vomiting are the sinister features of brain tumours. However, as some of these symptoms could also be due to other illnesses, Dr. Gunasekera advises parents to take their child to a doctor without delay so that the root cause could be investigated. Of leukaemia or blood cancers: 70% are Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) which begins from young blood cells  lymphocytes  in the bone marrow. 30% are Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) which affects both the blood and the bone marrow. Dr. Gunasekera explains that for adults who may be suffering from cancer, environmental factors may have played a major part, but it is not so in children as they have had minimal exposure to the environment due to their age. With regard to solid tumours, he says that in children, brain turmours head the list. Any other organ can also be affected by tumours. With the exception of some cases such as brain-stem gliomas and Stage IV neuroblastomas, a vast majority of childhood cancers are curable.
British Council partners with GoSL on career guidance in schools View(s):

The British Council of Sri Lanka announced this week that it continues to strengthen its longstanding partnership with the Government of Sri Lanka in education and skills development. The British Council has been working for nearly seventy years with the Government of Sri Lanka across a range of ministries and departments. In 2017, British Councils engagement was reframed as its flagship programme TRANSFORM, as encapsulated under the Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education. Education reform is a major area of focus for government, with many partners working in the area. We want to make a meaningful contribution, says Louise Cowcher, Director Education of the British Council in Sri Lanka. Asking ourselves what a strong education system would really look like, who it would cater to and why, proved to be important in designing a strong programme.

The answer to these questions was simple but revealing; a strong education system would create access for all young people to learning opportunities, provided by a fit for purpose and relevant education system, allowing them to contribute to Sri Lankas economic and social development, while also achieving their full potential and meeting personal aspirations. To achieve this, TRANSFORM tackles: professionalization of the education cadre; systemic reform and quality assurance; the transition from education to employment; research, evaluation and learning; and effective communication. The programme framework pulls British Councils extensive work in the areas of secondary and higher education, skills and English language teacher education. In 2017, TRANSFORM began delivering on the results area of professionalization under the Improving Teacher Education in Sri Lanka project in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. The programme has now turned its focus on the results area of Transitions, which explores the move from education to employment.

The Careers Guidance project aims to support the development of a robust system that will allow young people to make informed choices about their future education and work, allowing them to contribute to Sri Lankas fast-tracked economic growth. This will certainly help young people gain employment and job satisfaction. Access to a competent workforce is also a priority for Sri Lanka in fostering private sector led growth, attracting foreign investment and becoming competitive in global markets. Career guidance is an essential tool that can be embedded in school programmes and practices, guiding young people to make informed, non-conventional and eventually profitable choices about their career trajectory after school. TRANSFORM will engage with all key stakeholders from both government and the private sector to ensure the formation of a skilled and competent workforce.

British Council has been invited by the National Education Commission which is the policy making body in all aspects of education in Sri Lanka to collaborate on the re-appraisal of the existing Career Guidance policy. At a meeting convened by NEC with the support of the British Council on 24 January 2019, key stakeholders were brought together from a wider range of government departments, education providers and employers representatives to discuss current practices in the implementation of the career guidance policy, its challenges and possible ways forward.

Speaking at the event, Dr. G.B. Gunawardena, Vice Chairman (Policy) National Education Commission said: The need for a re-appraisal of the Career Guidance Policy at school level demands an analysis of the present policy context and the situational context to resolve the current issues and concerns that need to be addressed in updating the current policy. The task of National Education Commission is to work towards a coordinated effort by all agencies engaged in Career Guidance Programmes at school level to develop a comprehensive policy on career guidance at school level.

Key issues identified by Dr. Gunawardena include the need for strong policy; effective and systematic organisational structure for implementation; a qualified cadre of professionals; the role of parents in decision making; co-ordination between agencies.

The participants represented the major stakeholders in the field of career guidance  National Career Guidance and Counseling Centre, Ministry of Education, Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission, National Institute of Education, Department of Manpower and Employment, National Youth Services Council, National Apprentice and Industrial Authority, National Youth Corps, Sri Lanka Foundation, Sri Jayawardenapura University, University of Colombo, The Organization of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Institute of Career Guidance, Assistant Directors of Education, education advisors, principals and teachers of schools.

Prof. W. I. Siriweera, Chairman, National Education Commission, commented: The development of man-power resources required for socio-economic growth is a prime concern of all governments. The British Council has contributed to the enhancement of human resources in the fields of General, Vocational and Higher Education in Sri Lanka. This year, the British Council has embarked on a project related to school-based career development in Sri Lanka with the collaboration of the National Education Commission which is the Policy making body in all aspects of education in our country. As a preliminary step a very successful one-day workshop was held at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute bringing most of the stakeholders together on 24th January.
The tale of two wanted men View(s):

A senior Minister blamed the media for botching the extradition of a Sri Lankan drug king-pin from the Emirate of Dubai after his recent arrest. He said the publicity the arrest generated spoilt the chances of the Sri Lankan Government getting him to stand trial here.

The Minister then went on to compare and contrast the incident with the manner in which KP, the head of the LTTEs Weapons Procurement Division, was stealthily arrested in Malaysia and brought to Sri Lanka in total secrecy.

The remarks make for an interesting conversation. For one, the Minister was not clear how the media reports prevented the drug-lord from being brought to Sri Lanka. And by comparing the success story of the KP incident, he may have inadvertently given kudos to the former Mahinda Rajapaksa Governments Defence Secretary (who might well be a Presidential candidate contesting the Ministers party candidate at a not-too-distant date). In the process, he implies that the Sri Lanka Government agencies not only had intelligence on the drug-lords whereabouts and movements in Dubai, but were also contemplating an Operation KP.

The arrest of Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP as everyone now knows, was an operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Defence Establishment at the time in collaboration with a cooperative Malaysian Government and its security agencies. A SriLankan Airlines aircraft was specially arranged and allowed into the country to ferry the captured KP back to Sri Lanka. The exercise emulated the way Israels Mossad grabbed Nazi Germanys WWII leader Adolph Eichmann from Argentina and brought him to Israel to stand trial, except that in that instance Argentina was not a party to the operation  and except that KP never stood trial in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan drug-lord was arrested in Dubai entirely on a tip-off from one of his business rivals and photographs of the raid were sent to Sri Lanka and then made available to the media. The media are not expected to hide the event from the people.

Many years ago, the Cultural Affairs Ministry of President J.R. Jayewardenes Government sent out a request to the British Government listing dozens of artefacts that were taken away from colonised Sri Lanka and exhibited in British museums. The Government wanted them returned. Privately, however, President Jayewardene had remarked, Those artefacts are probably safer in British museums. It was a terrible self-criticism with an element of truth in it. Not long ago (2012), an ancient sword and some personal belongings of Nugawela Adikaram of the Kandyan kingdom period went missing after an exhibition held at the Colombo museum. The case is pending in court and the suspects are out on bail.

Similarly, it would be better for the Dubai authorities to keep the drug lord and try him in the Emirate. The Sri Lanka Police have so far not preferred a single charge against who they say is a top class drug lord and contract killer. The indictment is on the Police. Whether the ends of justice would be met even if they charge the man is questionable. The wheels of justice move very slow and even if the accused is sent to jail, Sri Lankas prisons are notorious as places from which narcotics masterminds operate their businesses from their comfortable cells.

The initial excitement over the arrests has fizzled out and the Dubai Police maintain a cloak of secrecy, seemingly treating the episode as a commonplace crime, not the high-profile case it is being made out to be. How much the long arm of the law from Colombo can reach out to Dubai remains to be seen. The autonomous state of the U.A.E. has little oil and its main business is trading. It is also a hub for attracting foreign capital and, therefore, a haven for those, especially from this part of the world wanting to park their monies in their banks.

The Sri Lankan authorities recently made a hash of it all when they went with blinkers to probe the alleged bank accounts of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa in Dubai banks. They were right royally snubbed at the highest levels of the Emirate even when armed with a request from the highest levels of the Sri Lankan Government seeking support. Here, too, when the Sri Lankan legal team returned empty-handed, they blamed the local media saying their efforts were stymied and eventually scuttled by the undue publicity.

Today, the main Sri Lankan national wanted in the MiG aircraft purchase investigation is under some kind of detention order in Dubai, but chances of him being extradited to Sri Lanka are slim, given the additional fact that even those investigations by the Sri Lanka Police are half-baked. And so, without making the media the whipping boy for its own failure, the Government must get its act together in investigating and prosecuting those whom it claims are criminals, crooks and bounders who have creamed the fat off this land and stacked their monies in numbered accounts overseas. Which brings one back to the KP issue. It is now an almost forgotten episode despite the high drama that was created with his capture by a Sri Lankan snatch squad in 2009 and brought to Sri Lanka supposedly to face justice. It turned out that no such thing took place.

There was no trial and the high profile fugitive of yesteryear is currently running three orphanages for girls in Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi. He is under Army surveillance and should he want to leave the area, he must get the Army to escort him (in civvies). Donors are allowed to visit him. He is reported to have undergone three years of rehabilitation when he was in Colombo after his arrest, but no charges were preferred against someone who ought to be otherwise considered a war criminal.

For the remaining rump of the LTTE now demanding through governments in the West (Canada, Germany, France and the UK) for transitional justice in Sri Lanka, here is an example of transitional justice. The man known as the LTTEs Banker and weapons purchaser is allowed to lead the life of a free man.

Last week, a report by an independent committee stated that ten years after the war ended in Sri Lanka, the Diaspora (demanding transitional justice) has funded only one solitary foreign investment project in the entire North and East through the Board of Investment. Thats a terrible indictment on them, often described as the talking Diaspora rather than the doing Diaspora.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has spent some days in the North this week trying to build bridges with the South. He has said that the Government must take a fresh look at the overlapping of work between the Central Government, the Provincial Councils and the Divisional Secretariats. And then there are the Local Government councils.

One might dismiss this as an attempt to put off Provincial Council (PC) elections. But this country is missing the wood for the trees by this demand for an election to these White Elephant Councils. PCs were introduced at a particular cross-road in this countrys contemporary history. It was not elections for political one-upmanship that was needed, but time to move on towards a truly efficient administrative structure for the country that provided for genuine devolution with economic and administrative sense.
Wit and repartee on PMs northern tour View(s):

A four-day tour of the north by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to expedite development projects there also saw some wit and repartee.

He was at the District Secretariat, chairing a review meeting on various development projects. Many were the complaints he heard.

One of the participants complained that the Wildlife Conservation Department was periodically issuing Gazette notifications, arbitrarily declaring both state land and civilian-owned lands as sanctuaries. This was particularly around the Chundikulam bird sanctuary and the department was doing so using a Google map, the Premier was told.

This is not the Kuweni (a queen of ancient Lanka) era. The peoples needs have to be attended to without subjecting them to bureaucratic hurdles, the Premier declared. As a result, the matter has now come under review.

As one subject after another came up for discussion, Education State Minister Vijayakala Maheswaran, known for her controversial remarks, declared that politicians visiting the north should give up hopping from place to place in helicopters. If they wanted to see areas where development was scarce, roads were bad and culverts were damaged, they should travel by road.

That is why we have a State Minister from the North, the Prime Minister quipped. As the visit got under way, there were some distractions, too. One was a news conference held by the fiery Ananthi Sashitharan, a former member of the Northern Provincial Council and now attached to the Samurdhi Unit of the Kilinochchi District Secretariat.

She heaped strong criticism on the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and charged there was genocide of the Tamil people. She is the wife of Velayutha Sashitharan alias Elilan, a senior LTTE cadre who is missing. She contested on the TNA ticket and won the second highest number of votes after Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran at the Northern PC polls.

Senior minister gets F-word rebuke

A senior minister asked a leading private sector entrepreneur whether he would like to head a state organisation, one dealing with foreign money.

He said he would respond soonest. Then he sent an unprintable SMS message to the Minister. It began with an f-word.

After Lanka, Ian Paisely in trouble again over Maldivian holidays

Ian Paisely Jr., the British MP, who was suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days for failing to disclose two all-expenses-paid holidays in Sri Lanka, is in the news again.

This time, he is to face the Parliamentary Standards Commission over a similar holiday he had enjoyed from the controversial then government of Abdulla Yameen of the Maldives.

It began after he and two other British MPs visited the Maldives on a fact-finding tour that included inspection of conditions under which onetime President Ahmed Nasheed was held in prison. He reported back on his return to London that the then President had been detained under luxury conditions.

Mr Paisely is a member of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which supports Prime Minister Theresa Mays shaky conservative government.

Earlier, Mr Paisely denied he and his family members received two different paid holidays from Sri Lanka. There were no official engagements during the visit arranged by then then Monitoring MP for the Foreign Ministry, Sajin de Vass Gunawardena.

Mr Paiselys latest free holiday was reported by the BBC in its spotlight investigation. Here are some excerpts:

Mr Paisley said he paid for part of the holiday and the rest was paid for by a friend.

The North Antrim MP did not reveal the identity of this friend. He said the friend was unconnected with his work and has received no benefit as a result of his work.

Mr Paisley was recently suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days for serious misconduct for failing to declare two family holidays to Sri Lanka in 2013.

DUP Leader Arlene Foster welcomed the fact that Mr Paisley had contacted the standards commissioner.

Speaking to BBC News she said: Very serious issues have been raised and it will not surprise you to know that we will be referring that to the party officers and we will be looking at it in that forum.

Mrs Foster added: I expect  and the public expect  high standards of those of us who are in public life. I think it is important that we uphold those high standards. Let us look at this issue with the party officers. I think thats the right forum to do all of that and we will be doing that very soon.

Ian Paisley, his wife and two sons stayed at the resort in the Maldives for six days in the autumn of 2016.

Months before, Mr Paisley and two other politicians had visited the Maldives. At the time, international organisations including the UN were criticising the countrys government over human rights abuses. Mr Paisley argued against economic sanctions.

Ian Paisley, his wife and his two sons received full-board five-night stay at the luxury resort in October and November 2016, eight months after he was part of a controversial parliamentary visit to the islands.

Gavin Millar QC, an expert on parliamentary rules, said the Nolan principles on standards in public life placed an onus on Mr Paisley to be transparent about why he had not registered the trip to the Maldives.

MPs should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands, said Mr Millar.

Now his decision in this case, his decision was not to register the benefit, after the trip in late 2016, and he has an obligation to give reasons for that decision.

Unless he can come up with some wider public interest argument for not saying more, he should be saying significantly more about any considerations that are relevant to the motive of that source in paying that money.

Mr Paisley was contacted by Spotlight about Mr Millars comments but has not responded.

In a statement to Spotlight on Tuesday, Mr Paisley said: I have responded in clear and categoric terms to your questions.

For the record, the government of the Maldives did not organise or pay for my family vacation in 2016, which I do not intend to go into with you. Im satisfied the vacation did not have to be recorded on the register.

With the other two MPs, he also visited the prison where opposition leader Mohamed Nasheed had been held, and described the conditions as quite luxurious.

Later that year Mr Paisley travelled to the Maldives again for a holiday with his wife and two children.

Spotlights evidence, including an image which appears to be from the resorts internal records provided to the programme by an anonymous source, suggests that full board and transfers were provided complimentarily at the request of Mr Yameens government and facilitated by the resort owner, Hussain Hilmy.

Mr Hilmy is a former minister in the Maldives government and has held a number of other important public posts.

Gavin Millar QC said that if, as Spotlights documentary evidence suggests, the benefit was requested by the government and facilitated by Mr Hilmy, Mr Paisley should not have accepted it.

But having accepted it, he certainly should have registered it undoubtedly.

There are very strict rules about lobbying and creating an interest for yourself that may be perceived as lobbying. The moment you know these facts, that are disclosed in this document, the perception is that this is a reward for him having advocated for the Maldives government.

Ian Paisley has denied that the trip was connected with the government of the Maldives.

Last week, Ian Paisley told Spotlight that he had discussed the holiday in the Maldives with the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone during her investigation into his Sri Lanka holidays.

Mr Paisley claimed that as a consequence of that conversation, he had satisfied himself he did not need to register the holiday.

N complains of alleged threat to official in Jaffna

Senior United Nations officials in Colombo have raised issue with President Maithripala Sirisena over an incident in Jaffna late last year.

They had complained earlier that two persons, who claimed they were from the Army, had entered the residence of a UN official in the Jaffna District. One had pointed a pistol and alleged that they were conducting an investigation against the official concerned. They are also alleged to have threatened the official. The incident had reportedly taken place on November 27 last year.

The Army in the north had denied that any of its personnel was involved in the incident.

They have told the President, under whom the Police Department came, that no action has so far been taken on the issue.

Young Lankan plays key role for New Jersey Governor

When Sri Lankas United Nations Mission celebrated the countrys 71st Independence Day in New Jersey last week, one of the political highlights was a messagea first for Sri Lanka from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy.

But the Governor, who extended his apologies for his absence from the event, was represented by a youthful-looking, 32-year-old American of Sri Lankan origin  Mahen Gunaratna  who holds a key position as Murphys Communications Director  another first for Sri Lanka.

In a statement, read out by Mr. Gunaratna, Mr. Murphy said, The State of New Jersey takes great pride in the fact that it is home to one of the largest Sri Lankan populations in the country, enhancing the Jersey experience through its many brilliant contributions to our social and economic fabric.

Todays event serves as a unique opportunity to recognise and honour the culture, history and traditions of Asias oldest democracy.

Mr. Gunaratna is a former Deputy Communications Director to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and, prior to that, worked as the Mayors Research Director and as an aide to his mayoral campaign.

A product of the prestigious Georgetown University in Washington DC, Mr. Gunaratna has superlative credentials and may have been the first Sri Lankan-American to work at the White House  if Hillary Clinton had won the last presidential election.

In 2016, he served as Florida Communications Director for Hillary Clintons presidential campaign and as Florida Press Secretary and Connecticut Press Secretary during the primary. In 2012, he worked as New Mexico and Arizona Communications Director for Obama for America, serving as the Presidents regional spokesman for the Southwest.

He is also a former Communications Director to Congresswoman Frederica Wilson (Democrat-Florida) and Press Secretary to Congressman Kendrick Meek (D-FL). In 2010, he served as Research Director to Congressman Meeks campaign for the US Senate.

Mr. Gunaratna is the son of Shiranee and Mithila Gunaratna, a hard-core Royalist, and well-known among his generation at Royal College.

Meanwhile, the event itself, which drew more than 800 Sri Lankan expatriates, was also attended by Thomas Lankey, Mayor of Edison, and Congressman Frank Pallone of New Jersey who was instrumental in establishing the first Congressional Caucus on Sri Lanka in October 1998, and served as Co-chair for 10 consecutive years.
Influential sections want Gotabaya named, but Basil avoids crucial meeting while Mahinda ponders on how he could tell Sirisena of the decision

Ranil fails in bid to form broader alliance, takes his Ministers on four-day tour of the North

Tensions are growing rapidly within the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP)-led Joint Opposition, now set to form a common alliance, over delays in declaring its candidate for this years presidential election.

A formidable section, staunchly backing former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, now the front-runner, is locked in a battle with the leadership. They say the delay is preventing them from making preparations and formulating a strategy for his victory. Though President Maithripala Sirisena is in a position to legally declare a presidential election at any time now, he has publicly declared that Provincial Council elections would come first. Yet, such polls would have to be before the end of this year, before a possible deadline of July. Thereafter, the Election Commission will begin preparations for a presidential poll.

In a strange twist, they are blaming SLPP architect Basil Rajapaksa, who wields considerable power, over what they call the protracted delay. Adding to their chagrin is a bizarre accusation by this section that he had a meeting, weeks earlier, with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe at the residence of one of his brothers to discuss the current political situation. Basil Rajapaksa vehemently denied the accusation and told the Sunday Times, It is absolutely false.

There was no such meeting. He said on Friday that he could not elaborate on the matter further since he was entertaining his lawyers to lunch after a Gampaha Court case in which he is the first accused. His senior counsel left for Bangalore on Friday afternoon. A witness told the High Court on Friday that Basil Rajapaksa had given him Rs 100 million to construct a house with a swimming pool in 16 acres of land in Malwana.

Further hearings have been put off for June 9. Just two days before this case, (on Wednesday) Basil Rajapaksa appeared at the Magistrates Court in Matara in a case where he is charged with purchasing a Browns Hill property valued at Rs 50 million allegedly using illegally acquired money. The case has been adjourned for February 19 after Court issued notice on his sister-in-law, Punya Kanthi, who is described as a co-owner of the property. In separate remarks to the Sunday Times Wickremesinghe too denied he met Basil Rajapaksa.

Probes on corruption cases

Though not of direct relevance, this week both Premier Wickremesinghe and Justice Minister Thalatha Athukorale met the Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya and senior department officials for a discussion. Among matters discussed was the status of some of the high-profile cases and the progress being made. One official was to point out that at least two cases were weak in view of there being insufficient evidence. The prospect of forwarding some of the completed investigations to the special courts was also examined. For this purpose, the Attorney General is required to recommend them to the Chief Justice, who, in turn, determines which cases should be heard by the special courts.

This meeting also had an interesting paradox in the wake of the strained relationship between President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe. The President has set in motion a string of investigations, particularly with regard to alleged bribery and corruption by two former senior UNP ministers. Mounting evidence is being gathered by investigators, though the findings have not yet reached the Attorney Generals Department. Thus, it is a case of one-party conducting probes as a prelude to prosecution and another becoming privy to them before indictments seems intriguing.

The accusation over the Basil-Ranil meeting, true or false, from those within his own side, no doubt, is a slur on the former. This is at a time when he is riding the political high wave and is most sought after for the new power cum influence, he wields. His political acumen is widely acknowledged. More so, when his brother and de facto SLPP leader Mahinda Rajapaksa also considers him the topmost among strategists and ideologue of the party, a fact widely respected in opposition circles and resented on the government side.

To add to that reality is another minus factor  President Sirisena is once again livid with him. He believes it is Basil Rajapaksa who stymied his efforts to become the joint SLFP-SLPP candidate. The weeks and months before he sacked Premier Wickremesinghe and foisted Mahinda Rajapaksa in his place, the Basil factor was at play. At first, Basil resisted moves by Sirisena, even through leading Buddhist prelates, for a one-on-one meeting, a precursor for the two sides to get together. These were repeatedly revealed in these columns.

Sirisena kept the pressure on and did not give up. Basil who was in Los Angeles, his home away from home, returned earlier than expected. He joined brother Mahinda as the only partner in three different rounds of talks with President Sirisena and three other SLFP parliamentarians. Prominent among them was former minister S.B. Dissanayake, the interlocutor who repeatedly denied that the meetings had taken place. The outcome is now political history  an unconstitutional government for 52 days. They planned for parliamentary elections. That, too, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Ranil Wickremesinghe became Prime Minister again. Basil had a personal protection group. That ended and Basil, who sometimes works for nine to ten hours from his Battaramulla office, went back to further build the SLPP.

This widely touted Basil-Ranil meeting, is not a stand-alone issue. Displeasure over his role has been building up over a period of time. Not surprisingly, a source close to Mahinda Rajapaksa, said when he was a powerful minister, he had the habit of offending MPs by bluntly refusing to meet them or hurling what was described as insults. Some complained this was despite prior appointments. In the run-up to presidential election in January 2015, this became a cause for concern for the then President Rajapaksa, said the source.

His antagonists say there is a similar parallel now and the purported meeting between Basil and Ranil was not only the last straw that broke the camels back. There was a more important one, just days before Mahinda Rajapaksa went to India to take part in a conference organised by the Chennai-based The Hindu newspaper. It was held in Bangalore and the Sri Lankas Opposition Leader received wide publicity. His remarks soothed the Indian establishment. The invitation, originally, was for Premier Wickremesinghe but he had regretted his inability to attend.

Dinner at GLs house

A dinner had been arranged at the Bernard Soysa Mawatha (formerly Kirulla Road at Narahenpita) residence of Prof. G.L. Peiris, the nominal leader of the SLPP. It was to be preceded by a meeting of the SLPP and leaders of parties that constitute the Joint Opposition. Prof. Peiris had been asked by other participants to ensure that Basil Rajapaksa would be present and to fix a time. It was at this meeting that a decision was to be made on the proposed alliances candidate for this years presidential election. Thereafter an official announcement was to be made. It was first fixed for 6 p.m. Later, a source said, Basil had agreed that it should be pushed back to 8 p.m. and it was agreed. Mahinda Rajapaksa had arrived at 8.15 p.m. At 9 p.m. Basil had telephoned Prof. Peiris and conveyed that he was late and would turn up at 9.30 p.m. However, he did not turn up at all, angering most of the participants. Thus, there was no formal decision on the candidate when Rajapaksa left for India.

Basil Rajapaksa later explained that his absence was because he was too busy, firstly talking to SLPP district representatives. He has also said that he spent long times at legal consultations for cases he faced both in the Gampaha High Court and the Matara Magistrates Court. Yet, his antagonists claim that the time required for a discussion was at the most an hour and this concerned the future of all those in the opposition. Hence, they claimed that more transparency was needed and they should be trusted without being kept guessing. One staunch backer, who did not wish to be identified, declared, otherwise, things that happened during the previous Rajapaksa administration will continue to recur. This will only strengthen a weakened government.

Needless to say, this has become a dilemma for Mahinda Rajapaksa. On the one hand, he was set to meet Sirisena tomorrow at a meeting of party leaders of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). However, Sirisena informed the SLPP yesterday that the meeting has now been put off for February 22. This is essentially to discuss both Sirisena and the SLFP joining the proposed common alliance. The drafting of the constitution for the proposed alliance, done by a Technical Committee headed by Dullas Allahapperuma, is not complete yet. It is likely that he would submit a report through the SLPPs de facto leader Mahinda Rajapaksa on the broader outlines. It is only after this constitution is in place that that the proposed alliance could receive a request from the SLFP for membership. However, the prospects of the two sides engaging in talks for each others shareholding of power and future electoral arrangements are not in doubt. This, of course, does not mean that there are any prospects for Maithripala Sirisena to be the joint candidate. Basil Rajapaksa has also put paid to this with public remarks that the candidate would be from his party. However, the partys de facto leader Mahinda Rajapaksa, who holds the key, has refrained from making such remarks.

Last week, the report that MEP leader Dinesh Gunawardena was also present at the meeting in a businessmans house in Borella is not correct. He did not take part in this meeting but attended the UPFA leaders meeting together with National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa. That meeting was presided over by President Sirisena. The businessman in question has also claimed that he is representing his own political party and was not present in his individual capacity.

On the other hand, there are also concerns for Mahinda Rajapaksa over the proposed alliance taking a hard-line posture. This is in the wake of some partner leaders, now in the Joint Opposition, making public speeches that may cause communal disharmony. If they are not reigned in, he fears, the proposed alliance would assume the character of an extreme nationalist grouping thus isolating the minority communities. Perhaps, conscious of examples during his earlier regime, Rajapaksa does not want to earn the same brand name both locally and internationally. Even if Basil Rajapaksa has succeeded in enhancing SLPP membership, and ensured a resounding victory at the local polls in February last year, he is yet to focus on both the Muslim and Tamil votes. Particularly in the north, the SLPP footprint is non-existent and there are no prominent leaders in their membership.

Ranils visit to the North

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has begun to focus more attention on the Tamil community. He spent four days in the peninsula and suburbs embarking on development projects. The focus was on projects related to resettlement, housing and the development of the Palaly Airport. There, he has the assistance of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians and has made an impact on the Tamil community. That he has their backing was demonstrated once again. However, there are many other issues that plague him.

At the highest levels of the party, there is disenchantment that they are not being consulted on many issues including the appointment of partys would-be candidates. Some are also accusing Wickremesinghe of only taking along his favourite ministers to the north in Air Force helicopters. The ministers who accompanied him included Akila Viraj Kariyawasam, Sagala Ratnayake, Rishad Bathiudeen and Rajitha Senarathen. Mangala Samaraweera was there for a day. Yet, that remains an internal party issue and he is reaping the dividends and that would be to his advantage should he be the UNF presidential candidate. It is almost likely he would be. It is also almost certain that Gotabaya Rajapaksa will eventually be named the proposed common alliance candidate. However, the delays are haunting their supporters.

The first sign Gotabaya has now embarked on his own preparations came when an office of Viyath Maga, a body of professionals under him, was opened by Mahinda Rajapaksa at Kirullapone on Wednesday. If the others partook in the breakfast after the auspicious hour that morning, Basil, who arrived somewhat late, opted for a cup of coffee. This professional body is now making its own preparations for the presidential poll. Yet, behind the scenes, Gotabaya has told confidants he would be happier if a formal decision of his candidature is announced. The matter clearly rests in the hands of his brother, Mahinda.

An unenviable task for Mahinda Rajapaksa is to formally break the news to Sirisena that his partys proposed common alliance would field its own candidate. Herein lies an interesting aspect. This week, at public events, Sirisena declared that he would ensure Provincial Council elections were held first and that the presidential elections would follow. How could he do that without the support of the UNF government? Whether this would end up as another of Sirisenas unfulfilled pledges remains the question.

The likely scenario, it appears, is for President Sirisena to take over the provincial councils portfolio from the current UNF Minister, Vajira Abeywardena. The question is whether he could get involved in another major controversy that could force the UNP to go to courts again. First to the remarks made to the Sunday Times by a prominent minister of the UNF. For reasons unknown, he said that the UNF ministers had approved a cabinet memorandum forwarded by President Sirisena that Provincial Council elections should be held before May 31. Though it was not attributed to him directly, he made the assertion in these columns and claimed anonymity. It has turned out to be totally misleading and false. There was no such decision. It is not clear whom he was trying to place in bad light, the President, the Prime Minister or the UNF? That ministers plant their own accounts to meet their secret agendas is not new, but has now become a common feature be it for politics or self-promotion.

PC election conundrum

It has come to light that UNF ministers (including the one who made the wrong assertion) did not vote for President Sirisenas memorandum. Minister Vajira Abeywardena had wanted a weeks time. This was why when President Sirisena raised issue after a week, he asked for more time. He declared he would give a further week. And last Tuesday, when the issue was raised, Premier Wickremesinghe deftly handled the issue by saying that it was a matter for the Speaker and Parliament. Will that reply satisfy President Sirisena or does he have any other option? Whilst his next move is being awaited, the UNP still remains reluctant to go for PC polls and is focusing entirely on this years presidential election. One of the key requirements  the presentation of the Delimitation Commission Review Committee headed by Premier Wickremesinghe  is not ready.

The National Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya told the Sunday Times, We cannot do anything more regarding the decision to hold provincial council elections. We had made the best possible intervention in the past to call for the conduct of the PC elections as scheduled. It is now left in the hands of the Cabinet of Ministers and the Parliament to decide when the elections can be held. We still have hope that the Cabinet of Ministers and Parliament will make their decision soon and enable the conduct of the elections. We expect that the President and the Prime Minister will also pay attention.

We need to complete the Provincial Council election process, if the Presidential election is to be held later this year. If the Presidential election is to be held later this year the process should begin around September. This would mean the PC election process should be completed about one month before we start the presidential election process.

The Joint Oppositions Parliamentary Leader, Dinesh Gunawardena, told the Sunday Times, The PC elections cannot be held until amending legislation is brought in Parliament. It is not possible under the existing new law since the delimitation procedures have not been completed. The Prime Ministerial Review Committee has not submitted its report. If one were to hold the elections under the previous (proportional representation) system, amendments to the law are needed. He said the amendment process could take anything over a month. A Bill has to be presented in Parliament. Thereafter, it could be contested by someone at the Supreme Court for its constitutionality. He pointed out that all this would be time consuming.

Gunawardenas Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), which he leads, will have its annual sessions at the New Town Hall today. Expected to attend are President Sirisena, Opposition Leader Mahinda Rajapaksa and leaders of partner parties of the Joint Opposition.

UNPs dilemma

As pointed out earlier, the move by President Sirisena for the conduct of PC elections before a presidential poll is intended to deal a strong blow to the United National Party (UNP), particularly its leader Wickremesinghe. Sirisena would expect a defeat for the UNP, which is a near certainty, would debilitate the grand old party and thus trigger a serious leadership crisis. This is ahead of the presidential election and will raise controversy over who the partys candidate for the presidential election would be.

Some UNPers feel that Wickremesinghe should, with the announced backing of the Joint Opposition, go for parliamentary elections first. They say he could do so whilst he is Premier of a caretaker government. Mahinda Rajapaksa has declared that he would support a resolution by any party in Parliament, calling for parliamentary polls. Here again, Wickremesinghe appears reluctant, for fear of losing both the leadership and the presidential candidacy. His priority now appears to be gearing the UNF machinery, after he failed to form a National Democratic Front (NDF), for the presidential poll. He is strongly staking his claims to be the candidate at this years presidential election. He has not met with any new serious opposition so far. His deputy, Sajith Premadasa, touted once as a likely contender, has faded away from the scene. The only leader heaping praise on Premadasa now is President Sirisena which is less than a qualification, almost the kiss of political death.

It seems so ironic that the two Yahapalanaya or good governance partners four years ago, are moving in completely opposite directions. President Sirisena is now investigating his former UNF Cabinet ministers and is insisting on a Provincial Council election first. This has clearly led to an impasse. If he does not succeed in his endeavours, it will be another defeat for him and one up for Premier Wickremesinghe. His Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is also in crisis with increasing doubts over how many of his MPs will support the endeavour to join the proposed common alliance. That, too, after losing all the prospects of becoming a common candidate with the SLPP.

In turn, Wickremesinghe has launched his presidential election campaign with the four-day tour of the north. Even if his efforts at forming a National Democratic Front (NDF) had to be abandoned thus denying him strength to claim he is leader of a broad front, he has so far chartered a less obstructive course to become the UNFs presidential candidate. Yet, there is more in this journey for him. Even if it received less play in the Colombo media, Wickremesinghes remarks in the north that he would follow the previous All-Party deliberations in working out a devolution package, it was still significant. It was only weeks earlier that TNA parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran and the UNFs advisor on constitutional reform, MP Jayampathy Wickremeratne brought out a draft constitution which they titled a report. That it had the tyre tracks of the TNA all over was evident from the different provisions. Now, Wickremesinghe has laid that to rest.

For the SLPP which leads the Joint Opposition, the tensions within could well exacerbate. That can turn out to be the biggest challenge for Mahinda Rajapaksa, the de facto leader. He has so far kept his supporters with different hues together and guided them. He cannot afford blunders ahead of an election that would put his rank and file in disarray. This would naturally be a challenge for Basil Rajapaksa, too. He has to ensure there is humility and thus transparency among partners in the opposition side. Otherwise, the SLPP will break before it makes an impact at a forthcoming major election.

In essence, all major political parties are now focused on elections and all other issues including economic development have become subjects of less priority.
Foreign debt vulnerability and indebtedness to China View(s):

The countrys external financial vulnerability is the most serious economic concern. Although the country is able to meet its massive debt repayment obligations of over US$ 5 billion this year, by further borrowing that would enhance external financial vulnerability.

At the end of 2017, the countrys foreign debt amounted to US$ 47 billion. It is estimated that foreign debt increased further to about US$ 53 billion at the end of 2018. This is about 77 percent of our GDP.

Foreign debt of US$ 8 billion in 2000 increased to US$ 11.3 billion in 2008 and to US$ 18.6 billion in 2009. By 2015 it reached US$ 21 billion. It more than doubled to US$ 47 billion by 2017 and is estimated at US$ 53 billion by the end of 2018.

Debt servicing

Meeting the debt service obligations of about US$ 5.1 billion this year is a serious strain on the external reserves that was only around US$ 7 billion at the end of last year. To replenish the low reserves, the government has obtained several facilities from friendly countries, notably India and China.

There is no imminent danger of the country defaulting on its repayment obligations, but foreign debt is continuing to grow and increasing the external financial vulnerability of the country.

Chinese debt

There has been much international publicity that Sri Lanka is in a debt trap owing to its large debt to China. This is factually incorrect. Sri Lankas debt to China is around 10 percent of the total debt and has been obtained on relatively more favourable terms than other commercial borrowing. The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) and the Verite Research have rebutted this forcefully and factually.

Speaking at the Sri Lanka Economics Association (SLEA) annual sessions on January 19, IPS Executive Director Dr Dushni Weerakoon pointed out that Chinese loans amounted to only about 9 percent of Sri Lankas total outstanding debt in 2017, while Chinas share as a bilateral lender was about 14 percent, an amount equivalent to Indias share.

Despite this, Dr. Weerakoon said, Sri Lankas engagement with China has become synonymous globally with the Asian giants so-called debt diplomacy  an euphemism for debt entrapment.

She said that 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.

Chinese loans

Dr. Weerakoon pointed out that 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 an FTFF in 2018. She remarked, 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.

Dr. Weerakoon said that criticism of Chinese loan disbursements have focused not only on the volume of funds, but also on the terms. Indeed, Dr. Weerakoon commented that the Hambantota Port saga centres on this theme  funding for phase 1 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.

However, She said, when considering the total US$ 9.2 billion Chinese development loans to Sri Lanka, 61 percent has been obtained on concessional terms. Concessional terms on Chinese loans are typically fixed rates at 2%, with other fees of 0.5% and maturity periods of 15-20 years.

Dr. Weerakoon concluded that the terms compare less favourably to Sri Lankas other major bilateral donors  India, but most specifically, Japan. However, in comparison to raising ISBs or FTFFs, tapping China can be more price-advantageous, with possibly more flexibility on loan rescheduling, if required.

Non-concessional foreign debt

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, Dr. Weerakoon concluded that Chinese loans are clearly not the primary cause of Sri Lankas debt imbroglio but 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 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.

Dr. Weerakoon observed that 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.

Dr Weerakoon advised that 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.

Dr. Weerakoon said 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, she said, 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.

Verite Research

Verite Research Executive Director Dr. Nishan de Mel explained several features of the countrys debt to China. He emphasised that Sri Lankas debt problem is not because of Chinese loans that are a small proportion of loans and Chinese loans are a small share of Sri Lankas total external debt; that it has been borrowed at lower rates of interest, on average only 2 percent and that they are long term debt that are easier to recycle. Sri Lanka, he points out has a debt problem but it is not due to Chinese debt.

Summing up

The countrys serious foreign debt problem makes the external financial position very vulnerable. The massive debt repayment obligations of over US$ 5 billion this year by further borrowing increase the debt burden and the external financial vulnerability. The indebtedness to China is a low proportion of foreign debt that has been borrowed at low interest cost and with a long period for repayment.
An inconvenient man View(s):

My dear Madush,

I didnt think I would ever be writing to you but I thought I must since you are the most talked about person these days. Newspapers, television talk shows and even speeches in Parliament discuss your activities every day. With such publicity, one would have thought you were a presidential candidate!

It is alleged, Madush, that you are the mastermind behind much of the illegal drug trade in Paradise. If that is true, you must face the consequences because you would then be responsible for ruining the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in Paradise  and that is certainly not something to be proud of.

Still, I have to admire you for some of your abilities. They say you directed many criminal activities in Paradise  drug trafficking, hits on rival underworld gang members, money laundering, financing politicians  while you were still thousands of miles away in Dubai, and we were none the wiser.

In contrast, our politicians live right here in Paradise and they cant organise the buses and trains to run on time, our airline cannot make a profit, we are not sure that our milk powder is free of poisons and they cant even get the lift in Parliament to work properly. You are miles ahead of them.

Why, even our top man doesnt know what is constitutional and what is not. He is indecisive, so much so, that we were in limbo for 51 days, not knowing who the second-in-command was.

You seem to be so important these days that we can divide our politicians into two groups. One group is accusing their rivals, saying they associated with you and profited from dealing with you. They are trying to find old pictures of their rivals keeping company with you or your associates.

The other group is trying to convince us that they do not know you and have nothing to do with you. They are having special media conferences and making statements in Parliament to say that whatever links they had with you was purely co-incidental and only because you hailed from the same village.

Why, there is this chap who was a minister in Mahinda maamas Cabinet. It is alleged that the lavish wedding he hosted for his son was financed by you  in return for spiriting you away in his car to the airport.

Considering the accusations that are being thrown around, you must be feeling quite confident, though you are confined to a prison cell in Dubai. Even if a fraction of those accusations is true, Madush, you would be having enough ammunition to bring down a government or a political party.

We recall how Mahinda maama told his MPs that they shouldnt try to cross-over or betray him because he had files on all of them. Still, he couldnt prevent Aiyo Sirisena from crossing over. Judging from the reactions to your arrest, it looks as if you have more files than Mahinda maama!

You would have closely followed what happened in Paradise late last year when Aiyo Sirisena tried to sack the Green Man and install Mahinda maama as his Prime Minister, so Aiyo Sirisena could get into Mahinda maamas good books and run for President again. It is a pity you werent here then, Madush.

That plan didnt succeed because Mahinda maama couldnt get the magic number of 113 MPs to support him. SB, the man given the job of roping in Green MPs, couldnt deliver the goods, and the plan fell apart. Had you been asked to do that, I am sure you would have done better, though you were in Dubai. Besides, Rangey, oya enney nedda is not the type of language you would use to talk to potential defectors!

Madush, it is a pity that your talents are wasted on a business that brings misery to others, but it is a blessing in disguise that you were nabbed in Dubai and not in Paradise. If you were detained here, all you had to do was to speak of a plot to kill you-know-who, and you would have been a hero by now!

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: Aiyo Sirisena has a bee in his bonnet about wanting to make history as the person who executed a few drug dealers. However, you need not worry about that, Madush. By the time authorities in Dubai finish with you and send you over here for authorities here to deal with you, he will be long gone!
Wonder tree from Amazon rain forest, now flourishing in Sri Lankas dry zone By Dr. V.H.L. Rodrigo (Actg. Director) and Dr. E.S. Munasinghe (Principal Research Officer in Adaptive Research), Rubber Research Institute of Sri Lanka View(s): View(s):

On February 7, something peculiar happened silently in the hamlet of Nedunkulama in Vavuniya district. In the morning Secretary to the Ministry of Plantation Industries, J.A. Ranjith handed over a tapping knife to farmer Chamath Bandara to commence the rubber harvesting in his land amidst blessing of Pirith chanting and birds chirping.

For the first time, a rubber tree in the Northern Province was tapped to harvest latex. This was witnessed by some farmers in the area and also government officials in the local administrative system and then the representatives of the rubber plantation industry. Obviously, this was a very simple event with no celebrations but would be the gateway to another development path in the entire Northern Province, why?

First we need to see the general importance of rubber to answer this question. It is not a food item for direct consumption but has become an essential commodity in the present day context. At a global average, a person consumes about 3.5 kg of rubber annually. With the development in the world, this figure would increase further. For instance, use of surgical gloves was not much in the past; use of tyres shows exponential increase with the economic growth of a nation. Natural rubber (NR) has a share of about 40 per cent of total rubber consumption in the world. The rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis) which is principally used to obtain NR, originally grew in the wilderness in the Amazon basin of South America. You may have heard that it was initially introduced to Sri Lanka in 1876 and then to other rubber growing countries in Asia, thanks to Sir Henry Wickham, father of NR. It had been a plantation crop throughout in the wet zone of Sri Lanka confined to large estates; however at present, it is in the hands of smallholders with more than 40 per cent of rubber produced in the country from lands below two acres. So, it is a crop helping the poor to stand up and be independent.

Resembling the climatic conditions in Amazon forest, the motherland of the rubber tree, the wet zone (WZ) having more than 2500 mm of well distributed annual rainfall had been predominantly targeted for rubber cultivation. Being heavily populated and closer to metropolitan areas, the WZ is subjected to urbanization and industrialisation and lands are moved to more lucrative economic ventures other than agriculture.

Despite the initial dominance with rubber cultivation, this crop has presently been confined to the interior borders of the Colombo and Gampaha districts and also, extent of rubber cultivation in key districts like Kegalle, Kalutara and Ratnapura in the WZ is diminishing. On other hand, the rubber product industry in the country is booming adding value to in-country raw rubber production. Of course, one could argue that the rubber product industry could be developed with only raw rubber imports; however, in-country rubber cultivation assures an uninterrupted supply of raw materials, particularly with required quality. Further, rubber cultivation provides several environmental benefits depicting manmade forests.

Master plan

According to the Rubber Industry Master Plan of Sri Lanka, an over twofold increase in raw rubber production is expected to meet the demand in the near future. Whilst improving the productivity in existing rubber lands, rubber is expected to be cultivated in new lands to meet this target. The issue is that there is no more land for rubber in the traditional WZ. Then the only hope is to cultivate rubber in drier climates; can this be done? If so, where?

With the initial success in the areas under the intermediate zone (IZ) in Monaragala and Badulla districts where annual rainfall is in the range of 1500-2500 mm, rubber cultivation was expanded to the Eastern Province. The amount of rainfall received in the initially rubber cultivated areas in this region (i.e. Padiyatalawa) is comparable to what was received in Monaragala but shows unimodal rainfall pattern with a distinct dry period of over 4-5 months. Latex harvesting in Padiyatalawa in the East began in 2010 and the success was multifaceted; in addition to the direct agronomic success, rubber is seen uplifting rural livelihoods by providing permanent and consistent income-empowering farmers to refurbish houses, provide additional education support to their children, purchase vehicles and attend to other family and social commitments. Benefits to the environment are evident from the decrease in average day temperature on sunny days in rubber lands by 3.20 C from the values recorded outside. Such overall sustainability has led to an accelerated expansion programme of rubber in the East with a special project, STaRR.

Having seen the above mentioned tri-faceted benefits and with the end of terrorism, the Ministry of Plantation Industry directed the Rubber Research Institute to assess the initial feasibility in establishing rubber in the North. With the positive signs for success and sufficient technologies available, rubber cultivation began in a limited extent of lands as a joint effort of Rubber Research (RRI) Institute and Rubber Development Department (RDD). With little experience on perennial crops, the persuasion of farmers towards rubber cultivation was not easy. Unfortunately, some farmers gave up the rubber cultivation mid-way. Being courageous to cultivate 10 acres of rubber successfully, Mr. Bandara has become the first rubber farmer in Northern Province. This victory belongs not only to Mr. Bandara but also to the entire farming community in the North. As evident in the East, other farmers in the North will be catalyzed to cultivate rubber by seeing the economic benefits reaped by Mr. Bandara and associated livelihood improvement. Further, positive changes in environment could be expected in long-term with more farmers accepting rubber.

More in the North

The success on rubber cultivation with Mr. Bandara can firstly be attributed to the dedicated staff at both the RRI and RDD. The devotion of Dr. S. Iqbal in this effort is to be applauded though he has retired from RRI. Encouragements and contribution given by the Ministry in terms of fund allocation helped to achieve this success. This is an ideal example to show the success in cohesive actions of sister organizations to reach the expected destination. The rubber tree is flourishing in the dry zone after 143 years of initial introduction to Sri Lanka. We wish more farmers in the North will understand the significance of rubber soon and reap the benefits.
Taxpayers frustrated by IRDs RAMIS system By Bandula Sirimanna View(s): View(s):

A 72 year-old taxpaying pensioner with additional income from his consultancy services for a private firm faced an unexpected shock of his life when he browsed online to determine the tax returns to be paid.

His tax bill including arrears had gone up to Rs.125,000 depite him making payments quarterly on time, and it was discovered that this was because of blunders made by heads of the IT division, computer operators and system errors at the Inland Revenue Department (IRD).

Another tax payer noticed that his penalty for not paying taxes on time was Rs.171,000 although his dues were less than one cent.

Every day of the week, dozens of people visit the IRD head office in Colombo seeking clarification over surprise bills arising from data entry errors that were out of their control.

Normally, a mistake on their tax code meant an under or over payment may have been passed even under the watchful eyes of tax officers at the IRD making the life of a tax payer worried and miserable.

Errors can crawl into the codes, which apply to the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system of automatic taxation, when someone has multiple sources of income, or because of a change in employment, informed sources said.

This was the present output of the Rs. 9 billion-worth automated tax collection system introduced two years ago by the IRD which is now incapable of administering and operating the automated system giving trouble to tax payers and headaches for tax officers.

Updating the automated tax collection system, with the introduction of the new Inland Revenue Act is yet to be completed compelling officials to revert to the manual system, a senior IRD commissioner said.

The IRD introduced the automated system called Revenue Administration and Management Information System (RAMIS) two years ago.

A Singaporean firm was given the task of implementing the project aimed at creating a more efficient tax and revenue collection system.

These Singaporean experts continued to manage and operate the system while necessary data entry operations were carried out by a team of new recruits with IT qualifications, he divulged.

He noted that decision-making and handling the complicated automated system was vested with a handful of officers who are not computer savvy and deemed incompetent, after the Singapore experts limited their involvement.

Their involvement in the management of the system without the consent or the support of the Singapore firm has led to an always breakdown in RAMIS operation interfaced with 23 state agencies such as the Motor Traffic Department, the Customs, the Board of Investment and state banks.

IRD functions of monitoring transactions online, auditing tax files of those liable to pay taxes, accepting tax returns, issuing receipts and other related activities as well as e-registration and e-filling are not working well at present, at least three leaders of IRD unions told the Business Times.

IRD unions have written to Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera alleging that the RAMIS introduced two years ago to streamline tax collection is causing a loss of tax revenue running into billions of rupees.

But all their complaints went unheeded, they said adding that as responsible officers entrusted with the task of collecting revenue for the Treasury they have brought these issues to the notice of the authorities but to no avail.

The Singapore e Governement Leadership Centre (eGL) was engaged in January 2013 to impart the transformation training to 180 senior officers from the IRD and the Ministry of Finance, over a period of 10 months.

Ms. H.M.N.S. Gunawardana, the then Director General of the Department of Legal Affairs at the Ministry spearheaded the training programme and transformation from manual operations to RAMIS under the directions of former Treasury Secretary Dr. P.B. Jayasundera.

However this project has now become a white elephant, a trade union leader alleged.
SL seeks waiver on exports to Iran By Sunimalee Dias View(s): View(s):

Sri Lanka is likely to approach US authorities to lift sanctions on the countrys trade with Iran on tea and rubber exports.

Sri Lanka Tea Board Chairman Lucille Wijewardena told the Business Times on Friday that they had now approached the Foreign Ministry to carry out negotiations with the US authorities to allow for trade with Iran on tea and rubber.

He noted that the previously thought out barter system was not a viable option and that directly calling for the US to intervene by lifting the sanctions on tea and rubber exports could ease trade to Iran. The countrys tea and rubber exports are currently facing issues since no dollar transactions could be carried out with Iran since the US imposed sanctions.

The US granted 6-month waivers to eight countries that trade in oil with Iran like China, India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey and South Korea on the understanding that they would reduce their purchase of Iranian oil over the period. The Iranian sanctions imposed in August 2018 are likely to continue throughout 2019.
Nawalokas former Indian partner sues hospital View(s):

Nawaloka Hospitals, one of the pioneer private hospitals in Sri Lanka, said this week it would vigorously contest an action instituted by an Indian company in a Sri Lankan court to wind up the hospital company.

In a notice to the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), the local company said a false and malicious application to wind up the company has been filed by a former Indian joint venture partner Metropolis Healthcare Lanka (Pvt) Ltd in the High Court on October 12, 2018.

While stating that it would vigorously contest the petition, the notice said that the next date of the case is on March 12. No other details were given in the CSE notice and company officials were not immediately available for contact. Other sources said the issue was over a payment dispute.

In February 2007, Nawaloka Hospitals said it had entered into a joint venture with Metropolis Health Services [India] Pvt. Ltd, bringing cutting edge diagnostic services previously unavailable in Sri Lanka. The venture led to the first-ever Reference Laboratory being set up in Sri Lanka.
From fruit seller to a cinema owner By N. Parameswaran, Jaffna correspondent View(s): View(s):

JAFFNA  S. Thiyagarajan, who once sold fruits on the streets, has made gigantic strides since then and is now the owner of STR films, a leading cinema distributor in Sri Lanka which operates six cinema halls in the Northeast.

He started his business in a cool bar at the Jaffna bus stand and improved his business step by step and recently celebrated his 88th birthday in London with his eight children and 14 grandchildren. He faced lot of challenges in the cinema industry; to survive and continues his business.

Mr. Thiyagarajan, was born in Nagadeepa  Jaffna, studied up to Grade seven but failed. Interested in films, he would collect the waste cut film reels at the Windsor theatre, paste the film reels and show the movements through a manual box to children at temple festivals.

In his early days, Mr. Thiyagarajan made friends with an orange seller in the Jaffna market, and said he was interested in selling oranges. That was his entry into the fruit selling business. But his vision was cinema; thereafter he purchased a land and built a cinema.

After it was built, Colombo-based Cinemas Ltd wanted to lease the theatre which he refused. With the help of friends, he went to Chennai to purchase films but had issues there and was told: You are stranger to the film industry and we give films to Ceylon Theatres and Cinemas Ltd only.

Mr. Thiyagarajan persisted and succeeded and eventually became a successful cinema distributor and cinema owner.
Chasing foreign experts View(s):

Many years ago, two local university batchmates coincidentally happened to work on a project here with foreign funding.

While one man had worked and lived in Sri Lanka all his life, the other had migrated, was earning a salary several times more abroad than his erstwhile university colleague. Both, however, were equally brilliant, capable and efficient. The locally-based worker chose to remain in Sri Lanka and be in the public sector  perhaps to serve the country  while his colleague ventured out to greener pastures.

In the foreign-funded project, they happened to share the same work space in the Sri Lanka office. At the end of a hard, working day, the locally-based worker would collect his bag (typically used by public servants) and make his way to the railway station where he took a train to his hometown, about 40 kms away from Colombo. Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan expatriate would make his way to a luxury hotel  where he was provided accommodation  later to laze by the pool, sipping a glass of chilled beer before having dinner and going to bed. He was also earning a fat foreign expert fee for the assignment, being designated a foreign expert while his locally-based colleague was only paid his regular salary, far below what the other was earning.

The contrasting lifestyles of the duo played on the mind of the locally-based worker who felt he was cheated from earning a sum equal to that of his Sri Lankan expatriate colleague, although both were equally capable and brilliant. He also wondered aloud whether he had made the right decision to work for his country rather than live a high life like his colleague.

While the moral of this story is that sometimes you can be disappointed for choosing to serve the country if that country relies on foreign aid and foreign experts, these thoughts emerged when I received a call from Kalabala Silva, the often agitated academic, whom I hadnt spoken to for a while.

I say.the IMF chief seems to have whacked foreign experts and their costly expertise in low-income countries, he said.

What do you mean? I asked. Why.the other day, according to newspaper reports, she has criticised global consultants for contracts in poor countries which didnt have the money to pay such high fees, he said.

It was then that I recalled Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagardes comments at a recent meeting on this issue. After a long conversation with Kalabala, catching up on several past issues, I excused myself saying I needed to get back to work.

What did the IMF chief say? At a January 28 event on funding of sustainable development goals at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, this is what she said:

n Poor countries must not contract global consultancy firms to write development strategies.

n Poor countries did not have enough money to contract such firms.

n Poor countries in the world should desist from using global consultancy firms to write development strategies.

n Lagarde criticised global consultants, asking the representatives of the McKinseys and Boston Consulting Groups and any other consultancy firms in the room (of this event) to listen to her even as she made the uncomfortable remarks about their work.

n Im looking around to see whether there are any of the McKinseys and Boston Consulting Groups and if they are, please listen to me, she reportedly said.

n Many, many low-income countries and emerging-market economies spend millions of dollars commissioning consultants to build their strategic plan, when such costs can be cut down.

Sri Lanka, in recent times, has also chosen the path of hiring costly foreign consultants, some of whom come via foreign funded-projects which also provide for recruiting experts from the country-source of the funding while others are recruited independently.

Can we afford such expertise when the country has capable local expertise (like the case of the two colleagues who worked on a foreign-funded project) and need not spend millions on foreign experts?

Our economy is studded with foreign expertise. For example, we have a Japanese solution for garbage disposal; a Harvard solution for economic management and ideas; a Singapore solution for mass transportation; an Indian solution for peace and overcoming the labour shortage; a Chinese solution also for overcoming a labour shortage and to wipe out debt; and even an Oxford formula on how to market the country as an attractive destination for foreign investments. Yes, foreign expertise in areas which Sri Lanka lacks skills is required, but are we to be overwhelmed by foreign expertise in areas where there is enough and more local capacity and capability?

There are also claims that the economy is influenced by a neo-liberal ideology and organisations that promote such thinking such as the Swiss-based Mont Pelerin Society and that sometimes foreign assistance comes with a liberal dose of these ideas.

In January 2016, with much fanfare, a conference was organized with the involvement of controversial billionaire George Sores and Harvard University academics. Amidst a lot of media attention and publicity , the process continued thereafter, with officials and local experts visiting Harvard in the US, two or three times, in a costly adventure to chart a course for Sri Lankas economic future.

What have we heard so far about the Harvard entry into creating a sustainable economic model? Very little, Im afraid.

When I raised this issue in an earlier Kussi Amma Sera commentary, asking what has happened to the Harvard discourse, an embarrassed local advisor corrected me saying, Many things have happened in a positive sense. When asked why the public was not kept informed (through the media) of these developments while public money is spent on these foreign junkets and costly adventures, he then acknowledged that more public awareness should have been done on this work. As of now and several months after raising this issue, the public is still not sure whether a Harvard-supported economic policy discourse is on or not.

The IMF chief has hit the nail on the head in referring to costly, foreign-funded junkets by high and free-spending foreign experts in poor countries (it also applies to Sri Lanka though being in the bracket of a lower, middle-income country according to a World Bank rating) particularly when these countries have enough local expertise to handle projects with foreign aid or local resources.

Not unexpectedly today (this subject went way over her head), there was no input from Kussi Amma Sera who was chatting with her friends under the Margosa tree on another subject (relevant though)  how officials at local councils fleece the public demanding santhosam (bribes) for work that they are already paid for! Lets leave that discussion for another day.
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.
SACRAMENTO, Calif.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom has set off a flurry of speculation after he said the state's consumers should get a piece of the billions of dollars that technology companies make by capitalizing on personal data they collect.

The new governor has asked aides to develop a proposal for a "data dividend" for California residents but provided no hints about whether he might be suggesting a tax on tech companies, an individual refund to their customers or something else.

"Companies that make billions of dollars collecting, curating and monetizing our personal data have a duty to protect it," the Democrat said in his first State of the State speech Tuesday. "California's consumers should also be able to share in the wealth that is created from their data."

Tech companies, for example, sell the data to outside businesses that target ads to users. The European Union and Spain's socialist government last year each proposed taxing big internet companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon.

Common Sense Media, which helped pass California's nation-leading digital privacy law last year, plans to propose legislation in coming weeks that would reflect Newsom's proposal, founder and CEO James Steyer said, without providing details.

Starting next year, California's European-style privacy law will require companies to tell customers upon request what personal data they have collected and why, which categories of third parties have received it, and allow consumers to delete their information and not sell it.

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, predicted in November that California would consider legislation that would "send a shiver down the spine" of tech companies.

He described the proposal as returning 25 percent of the value of an individual's data. It wasn't clear how the calculation would be made.

Warner's office said Wednesday that he made the comment after speaking with Steyer. Warner is considering federal legislation requiring companies like California-based Facebook and Google to provide users with annual estimates of what their data is worth.

Axios calculated that the average Facebook user is worth $7.37 to the company, while a Twitter user is worth $2.83, and a Reddit user, about 30 cents. The calculation basically divided the companies' annual revenue by their monthly active users.

Steyer promised "landmark legislation" that will change the way consumers view the value and privacy of their online information. Most consumers don't realize that companies "are taking your data at extremely detailed levels and selling it and monetizing it," he said.

"You're basically saying, 'It's my data,'" Steyer said. "And if you do use it, I would like a portion of that because you're monetizing my personal information. That's a big deal, and that will represent an enormous step forward for consumers in California and all across the country."

California-based tech giants Facebook and Google did not immediately comment.

Newsom's office would not say who is leading his review. Newsom "is open to constructive input" from national experts and lawmakers, spokesman Brian Ferguson said in a statement.

The governor's office pointed to proposals elsewhere that would put a tax on data, including one that died in the Washington state Legislature in 2017. That measure would have taxed receipts from the sale of state residents' personal data at a rate of 3.3 percent.

Mahsau Daee of the Internet Association said the industry will look forward to reviewing the governor's eventual proposal but that "free and low-cost, data-driven online services offer Californians  and all Americans  enormous benefits."

Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, said Newsom "is off to the wrong start" on protecting consumer privacy.

"They shouldn't be tricked into giving away their privacy for a small discount," he said in an email. "Selling it for a few bucks isn't the answer and will make the problem worse."

Dan Goldstein, president the digital marketing agency Page 1 Solutions, said a tax might not benefit consumers, while some sort of profit-sharing plan would likely return a "pittance of a benefit" to individuals.

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes last year suggested that users could band together to negotiate payments or a data tax could be administered, similar to a fund that annually shares oil profits with Alaska residents.

Consumer Federation of California executive director Richard Holober hailed the proposal while alluding to the vast financial divide between rich and poor, particularly in California, which is struggling to address homelessness and an affordable housing crisis.

The governor previously asked Silicon Valley companies to match $500 million in state funds with their own low-interest loans for developers to build homes for middle-income residents in some of the state's costliest areas.

"We have such a disparity here with everyday Californians who are having trouble paying their rent or sending their kids to college," Holober said. "California has created a very fertile land for these corporations to become fabulously wealthy, and they need to give back."

Newsom's announcement excited lawmakers who authored California's privacy law, but they had no information about it.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg called the proposal "the next frontier of the online data and privacy conversation."

Democratic Assemblyman Ed Chau, who is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Privacy and Consumer Protection, said the proposal "highlights the value of data, which has often been described as the new oil in this technological data-driven economy."
With construction on the new Pantheon Business Theater likely to begin soon, city and county elected officials are looking ahead to what it will look like when it's up and running.

Members of the county council this week made the initial appointment to what will be called the Pantheon Educational Center that will oversee daily operations, things like office rentals, student inquiries and fee structures.

Currently, there is a 5-member Pantheon Board that has for months led the construction process, specifically in working with local architect Andy Myszak, Myszak and Palmer Architecture and Development, on a design and hiring a contractor to bring it to life.

That group is expected to award a contract for interior construction early next month.

The current Pantheon Board includes appointments by the city and county councils, the county commissioners, Mayor Joe Yochum and the non-profit INVin.

The Pantheon Educational Center, or PEC, as it will likely be called, will be much larger with 11 seats.

Andrew Porter, a local attorney who has been acting as legal counsel for the Pantheon Board, has been helping to guide the process. The operating board, he said, has been set up as a local economic development organization, or a LEDO, under state statute. It's similar, he said, to the Knox County Development Corp., which, too, is a LEDO, just a much larger one.

Porter said the board has five incorporators, or original members, who have already met to discuss and develop articles and by-laws. Those members, he said, are Chris Ernst, the former owner of Miller Construction; Steve Miller, founder of INVin; Tony Burkhart, owner of Burkhart Insurance Agency and an early champion of the project; Helen Seirp, Vincennes region president of Old National Bank; and Don Villwock, a member of the current Pantheon Board.

Those five, Porter said, can keep their seats permanently or, should they choose not to, their seats can be reappointed by the rest of the members collectively.

Four other PEC seats will be appointed by the city council, the county council, the county commissioners and the Vincennes Board of Works respectively.

The final two will be appointments made by KCDC and Purdue University, which has a vested interest in the Pantheon Business Theater.

Sangtae Kim, head of Purdue's chemical engineering department, announced last October that the Pantheon Business Theater would be the benefactor of the income  some $90,000 per year  from a $2 million endowment left to the university years ago.

Purdue is asking that, in return for its annual investment, city and county officials try to set up their own $2 million endowment to help to fund the Pantheon Business Theater's future endeavors long after Purdue's 5-year deal expires.

Purdue has also offered help in finding entrepreneurs in residents, i.e. professionals who can help to guide young entrepreneurs nourish their own business ideas, as well as a direct tie to its own small business incubator, The Foundry.

The original inter-local agreement between the city, county and INVin, which allowed for this entire process to begin unfolding, contained a single sentence that allows for the operating board to be established to oversee daily operations, stating that the Pantheon board may enter into a lease agreement with another entity at any time.

The building itself is now officially owned jointly by the city and county, as set up by the inter-local agreement. Porter said the transfer from INVin, which did own the theater, to the city and county was made official just this week.

So the Pantheon Board will maintain control of the building itself  essentially holding it for city and county elected officials  but will lease it to the operating board for use specifically as the Pantheon Business Theater. The Pantheon Board can terminate that lease at any time, Porter said.

The operating board, too, has already been established as a non-profit. It's 501(c)3 status, Porter added, is expected to be finalized sometime in the next 6-8 months.

That way local businesses that donate to it or offer sponsorships  and there are many on board already  can get all applicable tax breaks.

The Pantheon Board will meet on March 5 to award a contract for interior construction. They hope to see work begin soon and finish within the year.

They, too, will be looking again  this will mark the third application  to a state historic preservation grant to pay for an exterior restoration.
Raymond Kuper oversaw city diocese schools in the 1970s

An Indiana man has publicly accused a former Evansville Diocese priest of sexual abuse.

Testifying in front of the Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Christopher Compton, 42, said the Rev. Raymond Kuper sexually abused him multiple times when Compton was 9 years old.

He accused of Kuper of "borderline brainwashing" him.

Kuper died in 2012.

The Courier & Press doesnt usually name accusers of sex crimes, but Compton has testified in a public meeting and has been named in other publications as well. Video of the hearing is available on the state website.

Compton and several others testified in favor of Senate Bill 219, which would give accusers more time to pursue civil cases in incidents that have long exceeded the statute of limitations.

Compton told legislators the reported abuse occurred when he was a student at Christ the King School in Evansville. According to his obituary, Kuper was pastor at Christ the King from 1977 to 1987.

Evansville Diocese spokesman Tim Lilley said a call from the Courier & Press on Thursday was the first he had heard of the accusation against Kuper.

Individuals who wish to report abuse to the diocese, he said, are encouraged to call the victim assistance coordinator at 866-200-3004.

Both Compton and his mother, Kim, testified in front of the committee. They spoke of the difficulties Compton had as a child after the purported abuse.

Chris said he kept everything a secret until last August when he came forward to Kim and other members of his family. He decided to speak out to advocate for all victims of childhood sex abuse.

This is about all the victims in our state, he said. Not just me.

Kuper served in various roles at several churches throughout the diocese. In addition to Christ the King, he worked as a pastor at St. Agnes and Holy Rosary churches in Evansville, as well as at St. Bernard Church in Rockport. According to his obituary, all those parishes were affiliated with elementary schools.

He also served as superintendent of Rex Mundi High School.

From 1972-77, he was diocesan superintendent, which meant he oversaw every school in the diocese.

He retired in 2006.

The diocese has a scholarship named after him. The Raymond Kuper Service Award is given to two students who exemplify the late Father Kupers commitment to youth and Catholic education.

The committee voted to send SB 219 to a summer study session, meaning it will not pass this year.

The diocese has said it will release the name of every priest credibly accused of sexually abusing minors some time later this year.
Is it love? Maybe not.

The FTC announced this week that romance-related scams have surged recently and generated more losses than any other consumer fraud reported to the agency last year. The number of these romance scams reported to the agency jumped from 8,500 in 2015 to more than 21,000 in 2018. And the amount lost by victims has quadrupled over that period  reaching $143 million last year. The median reported loss for victims was $2,600, about seven times more than other fraud tracked by the FTC.

Romance scams vary but criminals typically find their victims online, though a dating site or social media. Scammers create a phony profile, often building a believable persona with the help of a photo of someone else and direct communication. They woo the victim, building affection and trust until they see an opportunity to ask for money.

The reason for the request can run the gamut but money to pay for a medical emergency or travel costs for a long-awaited visit are common. Some victims report sending money repeatedly for one false crisis after another, according to the FTC. The money is often wired or given as gift cards, which allow the criminals quick and anonymous access to cash that cannot be easily tracked.

Anyone can be a victim, experts warn. But FTC data found reported romance scams happened most often to those in the 40 to 69 age group. Those 70 and older paid out the most to scammers, with median losses per person of $10,000.

"It can happen to you. Whatever you think, whatever you believe, you could be a victim," said Alan Brill, senior managing director of the cyber risk practice at Kroll, a risk management company.

The criminals are "masters of manipulating human emotion" and are targeting victims when their defenses are down, Brill said.

While romance-related scams have been around for ages, they've become more common and successful as people spend more time socializing and finding dates online.

It's become so common that the AARP recently launched an educational campaign that urges consumers to recognize the warning signs of a fraudster. These include: professing love too quickly, reluctance to meet in person, requests for money and photos that look more professional than an ordinary snapshot. Other warning signs include your suitor pressing you to leave the dating website or other forum to communicate via email or instant messaging.

Romantic scams have an emotional and financial toll. But criminals may seek more  sometimes asking for personal information that can facilitate identity theft. This may be done under the guise they need a birthdate, Social Security number or bank information to help complete a Visa application, travel information or other lie.

If you are a victim, don't be too embarrassed to report the crime. And if you believe a friend or family member may be falling for a fraudster, speak up.

"You are not the first or last to fall for this," Brill said. "It's happening a lot ... be willing to admit to yourself that it happened and then report it to law enforcement." Reports should be made to the FBI's Internet Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov or call your local FBI office. You can also file a complaint with the FTC at www.ftc.gov/complaint.

Reporting will help law enforcement track down criminals and sometimes help victims move on with their lives.

"You have to remember the scammers are out there and they are very good at what they do," Brill said. He urges people to think critically about what is being told to and asked of them. "The person responsible for your cybersecurity comes down to you."

Follow Sarah Skidmore Sell on Twitter @sarahssell. If you have personal finance questions, email the Associated Press at apmoney@ap.org
According to investigators, earlier  after the two talked about getting some heroin  Sakers called a drug dealer she knew and the two drove to the area of Lantana Road and Military Trail where Sakers purchases 3 capsules of suspected heroin from the drug dealer and possibly Xanax, the sheriffs office said in a news release.
To know that they are right there, just a half hour, and not be able to go, its very frustrating for me," he said. "Im sure for other people in this boat right now."
Wilson Pierre, Jr., 31, (right) sits in a Palm Beach County courtroom Wednesday next to attorney Gerald Salerno, before the start of his trial on charges that he shot and killed of Berno Charlemond, 24, inside the Boynton Beach Mall on Christmas Eve 2006. Police say the shooting was part of a battle of rival street gangs. On Thursday, the jury found Pierre guilty as charged. He will be sentenced July 15. (Marc Freeman/Sun Sentinel)
Hollywood decided not to put its bond issues before voters in November because they would have gotten lost on the lengthy ballot amid all of the other ballot questions.
Returning these duties and responsibilities to the districts fosters relations that strengthens the partnership between law enforcement and the community, Tony said. We stand on the premise that it is the responsibility of both law enforcement and the community to work toward ensuring a safe environment for the residents and visitors of Broward County to live, work and play.
Ashtabula, OH (44004)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Showers this evening, becoming a steady rain overnight. Low near 70F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
by Anwar A. Khan





The overarching pretension of America is that it believes itself to be the final telomere of every human society. It believes, in the words of a US military officer in Stanley Kubrick's macabre masterpiece "Full Metal Jacket" that: "inside every gook is an American trying to get out." Gook here, of course, being a placeholder for any non-American Identity. This pretension to being the universal destiny of human society is not an accidental facet of American Identity; rather it is the basis of it. Without this prime symbol with which to frame the American symbolic order, American Identity itself disappears. This much has been admitted by many. Columnist Roger Cohen of TNYT has made this acute observation, "America is an idea. Strip freedom, human rights, democracy and the rule of law from what the United States represents to the world and America itself is gutted." But these are the ornaments of power with which they adorn their mythical being. So it is down to America and it is down to everywhere. American White House is now an abode of neo-mythos under the presidency of Donald Trump with a newfangled government activity. It gibes in definite but not specified or identified paths. It has, rather, chartered a shape of authoritative political orientation of Germany and Italy of Hitler, Mussolini which the world witnessed during their regimes, but with respect to history trenchant lineaments finicky to the governmental economic system and acculturation of America in this century.









This neo-mythos portrays the character or the qualities or peculiarities of the president and his snuggest advisors, and some of the principal corpuses in his cabinet. From a fuller sociological point of view, it reflects the electoral bases, class constituencies and alignments, and racist, fraid doctrines that has brought Donald Trump into authority. Neo-mythos dissertation and political praxis are now-a-days evident on regular basis in blistering assaults on the international affairs of other independent and sovereign states, at present in the internal affairs of Venezuela, a land of pride, of patriotism and the racially oppressed, immigrants, women, environmentalists, and workers in his own country. These have been companioned by a corroborated crusade to bring the judicatory, governmental employees, the military, spy agencies, and the press into line with this novel mythos and political realism.





Some say the details of the Trump hagiography dont matter, that his policies may be up for discussion but his can-do bona fides are notthey are a given, unquestioned and unquestionable. They add that the foibles and quibbles have all been brought up in the past and they do not stick; he is a guy who knows how to get things done in a colossal way, and thats all that counts, forget the other stuff. The fascists expect to find shortcuts around the chaos of humans acting freely together. But even in the autonomous council such ideologies recur, seeking always to restore some natural hierarchy.





The White Houses America First policy, unfurled in Trumps inaugural address, with its characteristically fascist rebirth form of ultra-nationalism is not aimed at domination of Europe and its colonies, as in Nazi Germany, but in restoring US primacy over the entire world, leading to the potentially deadliest phase of imperialism. If the White House is now best described, as neo-fascist in its leanings, this does not extend to the entire US state. Congress, the courts, the civil bureaucracy, the military, the state and local governments, and what is often called, after Louis Althusser, the ideological state apparatusincluding the media and educational institutionswould need to be brought into line before a fully neo-fascist state could operate on its own violent terms. There is no doubt that liberal or capitalist democracy in the United States is now endangered. At the level of the political system as a whole, as political scientist Richard Falk has put it, in a pre-fascist moment.





It is vital to understand that fascism is not in any sense a mere political aberration or anomaly, but has historically been one of two major modes of political management adopted by ruling classes in the advanced capitalist states. Since the late nineteenth century, capitalist states, particularly those of the major imperial powers, have generally taken the form of liberal democracyrepresenting a kind of equilibrium between competing social sectors and tendencies, in which the capitalist class, by virtue of its control of the economy, and despite the relative autonomy accorded to the state, is able to assert its hegemony. Far from being democratic in any egalitarian sense, liberal democracy has allowed considerable room for the rise of plutocracy, i.e., the rule of the rich; but it has at the same time been limited by democratic forms and rights that represent concessions to the larger population. Indeed, while remaining within the boundaries of liberal democracy, the neoliberal era since the 1980s has been associated with the steepest increases in inequality in recorded history. Such a crisis of world hegemony, real or perceived, fosters ultra-nationalism, racism, xenophobia, extreme protectionism, and hyper-militarism, generating repression at home and geopolitical struggle abroad. Liberal democracy, the rule of law, and the very existence of a viable political opposition is endangered. Fascism is one of the political forms which capitalism may assume in the monopoly-imperialist phase. The issue of fascism, whether in its classical or current form thus goes beyond right-wing politics. It raises the much more significant question of the jumping off place that marks the qualitative break between liberal democracy and fascism and today between neoliberalism and neo-mythos.





The complete development of a fascist state, understood as a historical process, requires a seizure of the state apparatus in its totality, and therefore, the elimination of any real separation of powers between the various parts, in the interest of a larger struggle for national as well as world dominance. Hence, upon securing a beachhead in the government, particularly the executive, fascist interests have historically employed semi-legal means, brutality, propaganda, and intimidation as a means of integration, with big capital looking the other way or even providing direct support. In a complete fascist takeover, the already incomplete protections to individuals offered by liberal democracy are more or less eliminated, along with the forces of political opposition.





The political forces in power aim at what Nazi ideology called a totalitarian state, organised around the executive, while the basic economic structure remains untouched. The fascist state in its ideal conception is thus totalitarian in itself, reducing the political and cultural apparatus to one unitary force, but leaving the economy and the capitalist class largely free from interference, even consolidating the dominance of its monopolistic fraction. The aim of the state in these circumstances is to repress and discipline the population, while protecting and promoting capitalist property relations, profits, and accumulation, and laying the basis for imperial expansion.





As Mussolini himself declared: The fascist regime does not intend to nationalize or worse bureaucratize the entire national economy, it is enough to control it and discipline it through the corporations. The corporations provide the discipline and the state will only take up the sectors related to defense, the existence and security of the homeland. Hitler likewise pronounced: We stand for the maintenance of private property. We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order. Many of these developments were specific to Europe in the 1930s, and are unlikely to recur in anything resembling the same form in our day. Nevertheless, neo-mythos today also has as its aim a shift in the management of the advanced capitalist system, requiring the effective dissolution of the liberal-democratic order and its replacement by the rule of representatives of what is now called the alt-right, openly espousing racism, nationalism, anti-environmentalism, misogyny, homophobia, police violence, and extreme militarism in other independent and sovereign states across the world.





The deeper motive of all these forms of reaction, however, is the repression of the work force. Behind Trumps appeals to alt-right bigotry lie the increased privatisation of all state-economic functions, the reinforcement of the power of big business, and the shift to a more racially defined imperialist foreign policy. The Trump White House is working to implement neo-fascist forms of capitalist state management, transgressing legal norms and abrogating liberal democratic protections. The fascist choice for managing a capitalist state in crisis is always based by definition evenon the categorical rejection of democracy. Fascism always replaces the general principles on which the theories and practices of modern democracies are basedrecognition of diversity of opinions, recourse to electoral procedures to determine a majority, guarantee of the rights of the minority, etc. with the opposed values of submission to the requirements of collective discipline and the authority of the supreme leader and his main agents. This reversal of values is then always accompanied by a return of backward-looking ideas, which are able to provide an apparent legitimacy to the procedures of submission that are implemented.





In his inaugural address, written by his alt-right advisers Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, Trump declared, in what economist Joseph Stiglitz has called historical fascist overtones: From this moment on, its going to be America First. And, Yes, Together, We Will Make America Great Again. The Trump administration is marked by an extraordinary attempt to bring the mainstream media in line with its neo-fascist objectives. Trump has declared that he is in a running war with the media and that journalists are among the most dishonest people on earth. Barely a month into his presidency, Trump tweeted that the mainstream media is the enemy of the American people. A part of the power of his administration lies in a largely compliant and ideologically right-wing Republican-dominated Congress.





What makes the rise of a neo-fascist White House of such great concern is the enormous weight of the US presidency, and the long-term breakdown in the separation of powers in the US Constitution. The undermining of the Congressional power to declare war, established in the Constitution, is well known. In the Trump vision of the restoration of US geopolitical and economic power, enemies are primarily designated in racial and religious terms. A renewed emphasis is put on placing US boots on the ground in the Middle East and on naval confrontation with China in the South China Sea, where much of the worlds new oil reserves are to be found, and which is Chinas main future surety of access to oil in the case of world conflict. Because of Trumps hauteur and warfare aridity, the Korean peninsula has also become a hot-bed bedeviling grievous affrights to millions of people. The result of these attempts to institute a sudden shift in the geopolitical strategy of the United States has been not only a falling-out in the US ruling class between neoliberals and Trump-style neo-fascists, but also a struggle within the deep state, resulting in the leaks that brought down Flynn.





Trumps geopolitical strategy ultimately looks east toward China, taking the form of threatened protectionism combined with military posturing. The new administration immediately moved to set aside the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which appeared to be failing as an instrument for controlling Chinapreferring instead blunter methods, including a possible confrontation with China over the South China Sea.





A neo-fascist economic strategy would be a more extreme version of neoliberal austerity, backed by racism and war preparation. It would be aimed at liberating capital from regulationgiving free rein to monopoly-finance capital. This would be accompanied by more aggressive attempts to wield US power directly, on a more protectionist basis. In the longer-run the economic contradictions of the system would remain, but the new economic nationalism would be aimed at making sure that in the context of global economic stagnation, the United States would seize a greater share of the global pie.





Nevertheless, an expansion of the war economy is fraught with dangers, and its stimulus effects on production are less potent than in the past. Now, in our own time, the old contest i.e. fascism versus the democratic resistance is there again. Self-appointed super-patriots of the far rightcroak their froglike voices to the tunes of a victory which, they would have us believe, is theirs: whereas, in fact, the truth is precisely the reverse. New national fronts clamber on the scene, no smaller or more stupid than the Nazis were when they began. Old equivocations are replaced by new equivocations, just as apparently respectable and proper as the old ones were.





Donald Trump must be one of the most widely and fiercely lampooned people of all time; indeed, his entire life can be seen as a one-man war of attrition against the forces of irony. His fortunes are not damaged by it. In fact, it is a war he keeps winning. Trump has a lot of fragile pride, but no shame. His campaign for president invited what must have been the largest onslaught of parodies, sketches, punch lines, unflattering cartoons and disparaging limericks that has ever been unleashed against a single individual. It had zero effect.





In spite of it all, he managed to win. But they are all things to resist. Jack London reminds us these words, There is a shadow of something colossal and menacing that even now is beginning to fall across the land. Call it the shadow of an oligarchy, if you will; it is the nearest I dare approximate it. What its nature may be I refuse to imagine. But what I wanted to say was this: You are in a perilous position. The dirty truth is Trump cant be trusted. Today it is clear that the future order of society is in the grassroots, but the soil and sunlight are still up for grabs.









-The End 

The writer is a senior citizen of Bangladesh, writes on politics, political and human-centred figures, current and international affairs.




by Eric S. Margolis





Warsaw, Poland is not a fun place to visit in darkest February, but that is where the US just staged an anti-Iranian jamboree of 60 client states that brought derision and scorn from Europeans and much of the Mideast.









The point of this cynical exercise was to lay the diplomatic groundwork for an anti-Iranian coalition to act as a fig-leaf for an upcoming attack on Iran planned by President Donald Trump and his close ally, Israels Benjamin Netanyahu.





The real question is who is calling the shots in bleak Warsaw, Trump or Bibi Netanyahu? It seems to many that the Israeli tail is again wagging the American dog.





This is thanks to the power of Americas born-again evangelicals, hoodwinked into believing that a Greater Israel is somehow a key part of the Second Coming of Christ.





A Fox News poll this week finds that a quarter of these credulous folks believe that God actually summoned Donald Trump to become president. This may even be more than the number of Americans who believe that Elvis is still alive. More proof that the Republicans have pretty much become a theological party.





The three horseman of the hard right Republican Apocalypse, Vice president Mike Pence, Insecurity advisor John Bolton, and State Secretary Mike Pompeo (who reportedly keeps an open bible on his desk) joined their voices to the Warsaw jamboree to excoriate Iran for being a sponsor of terrorism, and a danger to world peace and stability.





The never understated Bibi Netanyahu, whose nation has at least 100 nuclear weapons, claimed Iran, which has no nukes and feeble armed forces, was planning a second Holocaust for Israel.





An over-excited Netanyahu even tweeted that the Warsaw meeting was preparing for `war with Iran. He was forced to retract his tweet. But he did get to sit next to the delegate from war-torn Yemen, a stooge put into place by the Saudis and Emiratis whose aggression against Yemen has so far cost hundreds of thousands of lives, mass starvation and epidemics.





This week a newly energized US House of Representatives voted for an end to their nations support for the Saudi-led war in the Mideasts poorest nation. The Senate, still controlled by Republican Crusaders, will be likely to vote down the sensible House proposal.





Another participant at Warsaw was the largest Arab nation, Egypt. This nation just extended the rule of its military dictator, Field Marshall al-Sisi, to 2034. It was Sisi, backed by Saudi money, who overthrew Egypts first democratic government in history, killing and jailing thousands.





In a slap in the face to Washington, Europes leaders, France, Germany and the European Union government, either refused to attend the Warsaw hate-fest against Iran or sent low-level paper-passers.





Ironically, while Trumps people were fulminating against Iranian terrorism, it was Iran that was the victim of terrorist attacks. An attack from a Pakistan-based Sunni Jaish al-Adl extremist group linked to the CIA killed 27 soldiers and wounded a similar number. Iran has been the target of constant attacks since its 1979 revolution by groups linked to the US, and from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other US regional vassals.





Trumps lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, is even a long-term lobbyist for the hyper-violent Marxist Iranian extremist group, the MEK which was even branded a terrorist group by the US government.





The Warsaw jamboree was also supposed to set the stage for Trumps much ballyhooed Mideast peace plan. Run by son-in-law Jared Kushner, the full plan is expected to be released in April, right after Israeli elections. It will likely consist of trying to buy off Palestinian land claims with US taxpayer money and some cash from the Saudis. Americas Arab client states in the region will all provide polite applause.





The Warsaw jamboree produced no evident results and left the US even more isolated than before. Europe is moving ahead with a financial mechanism to permit trade with Iran that circumvents US sanctions. US intelligence itself reports that Iran is not working in nuclear weapons. Europe wants to trade with Iran.





Americas anti-Iran campaign has just suffered another blow. This after Washington badly damaged relations with China and Canada over the arrest of the daughter in Vancouver of the founder of Huawei over charges it traded with Iran. Most non-Americans view this as an outrage. But the later-day Crusaders around Trump dont seem to care that they are damaging Americas reputation and making a mess of its foreign policy.





Copyright Eric S. Margolis 2019
Bir Lahlou (Liberated Territories), February 16, 2019 (SPS) - Sahrawi Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohmaed Ould Salek affirmed Thursday, in a statement to the media, that the 32nd African Union Summit has strengthened the achievements of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.



In this respect, Ould Salek said that this summit had clearly shown that AU attaches a big interest to the conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara through its support to the efforts made by the United Nations envoy Horst Kohler for the decolonization of Western Sahara.



AU Summit, whose works wrapped up recently, has strengthened the place of Western Sahara at the African and international levels, he said.



AU attaches a major importance to the settlement of the conflict between SADR and Morocco, said Ould Salek, announcing through the head of the committee in the wrap up session, that actions are currently undertaken to define a roadmap enabling troika (created at Nouakchott Summit) to implement AUs decisions aimed at settling the conflict between the two member countries of AU, namely SADR and Morocco, while contributing to the efforts conducted by UN Secretary General and his special envoy for the decolonization of Western Sahara, Africas last colony.



According to the Sahrawi minister, this real willingness to impose the legitimacy and requirements of the founding charter as well as the decisions taken by the continental organization were clearly announced when Morocco wanted to give an erroneous explanation to the decisions of Nouakchott Summit at a moment when presidents focused on the security situation at the continental level. (SPS)



062/SPS/APS
Disarmament efforts must include China as well as US, Russia: Merkel



Munich, Germany, Feb 16 (AFP) Feb 16, 2019



China must be involved in international disarmament efforts, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Saturday, amid rising concern about Beijing's missile arsenal and the suspension of a key US-Russia arms treaty.

"Disarmament is something that concerns us all and where we would of course be glad if such talks were held not just between the United States, Europe and Russia but also with China," said Merkel.

The United States began pulling out of a landmark Cold War missile control agreement with Russia, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, this month in response to Moscow's deployment of the 9M729 missile, prompting Russia to announce its own withdrawal.

While pointing the finger at each other, both Washington and Moscow have also voiced concern that the INF -- a bilateral treaty between the US and Russia -- does nothing to constrain rapidly growing military power China.

According to a new report by the Institute for Strategic Studies, up to 95 percent of China's arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles would be in breach of the INF if Beijing were party to it.

Given this, "it is difficult to envision a scenario under which China would today enter a regime such as the INF Treaty," the report said.

Germany is organising an international conference in Berlin next month to start talks about how to create an arms control regime to replace the one forged in the bipolar Cold War era.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Special counsel Robert Muellers office agreed that onetime Trump campaign chairman Paul Manaforts financial crimes warrant a prison sentence of 19-24 years, but stops short of taking a position of their own on a suggested prison term under federal guidelines.

The government agrees with the guidelines analysis in the Presentence Investigation Report  and its calculation of the defendants Total Offense Level as 38 with a corresponding range of imprisonment of 235 to 293 months, a fine range of $50,000 to $24,371,497.74, a term of supervised release of up to five years, restitution in the amount of $24,815,108.74, and forfeiture in the amount of $4,412,500, the special counsels office wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Friday night.

A presentence investigation report (PSR) is prepared by the courts probation department in advance of sentencing meant to assist a judge in fashioning an appropriate sentence.

Special counsel prosecutors refrain from taking a position of their own on Manaforts sentencing, but call his crimes serious, longstanding, and bold, adding that, at 69 years old, Manaforts age does not eliminate the risk of recidivism he poses.

Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars, prosecutors wrote. The sentence here should reflect the seriousness of these crimes, and serve to both deter Manafort and others from engaging in such conduct.

A Virginia jury found Manafort, a veteran political operative and lobbyist, guilty on eight counts of tax and fraud crimes in August and was unable to reach a verdict on ten additional counts.

His sentencing in Virginia was initially scheduled for February 8, but U.S. Judge T.S. Ellis postponed it pending the resolution of a dispute about Manaforts plea agreement with prosecutors in Washington, DC.

Manafort signed on to a plea deal in November with the special counsels office which allowed him to plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy in the Washington D.C. case, provided he cooperated with Muellers team.

The special counsels office has accused Manafort of breaching the plea agreement by lying to federal prosecutors. Manaforts defense team insists their client did not intentionally lie.

On Wednesday, U.S. Judge Amy Berman Jackson sided with prosecutors, ruling that Muellers office was no longer bound by its obligations under the plea agreement. Her ruling means Manafort could face a more severe prison term when he is sentenced in the Washington, DC, case next month.

In light of Judge Jacksons ruling, prosecutors asked Judge Ellis on Friday to set a new sentencing date as soon as practicable.

Because the DC Court has determined that Manafort intentionally lied to the government, and the breach of the agreement was conceded by the defendant and found by the DC Court, the special counsels office wrote Friday, the government submits there are no outstanding issues warranting delay in proceeding to sentencing before this Court.

Manafort is scheduled for sentencing in the Washington, DC, case on March 13. A date for his sentencing in Virginia has not been set.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Erdogan says won't go back on S-400 deal with Russia



Ankara, Feb 16 (AFP) Feb 16, 2019



President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would not "turn back" on a deal with Moscow to buy Russian S-400 missile defence systems in comments published on Saturday.

Turkey's push to buy the systems has raised questions among NATO allies over their compatibility with alliance equipment as well as concerns over the burgeoning relationship between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We agreed a deal with Russia on the S-400, so for us to turn back from the deal is out of the question. This is a done deal," Erdogan said, quoted by CNN Turk broadcaster.

The United States in December approved the sale of $3.5 billion in missiles to Turkey, which followed Washington anger over Turkey's intention to buy Russian systems.

Turkey was "open" to buying US Patriot missiles, Erdogan told Turkish journalists on board his plane from the southern Russian city of Sochi after a three-way summit on Syria with his Russian and Iranian counterparts.

"But this sale must serve the interests of our country. To this end, joint production, credit and early delivery are of vital importance," Erdogan added.

The Turkish leader said the US administration "looked positively" at early delivery but "said nothing regarding joint production and credit".

Erdogan said work continued for the systems to be delivered in July as promised before.

Washington has warned Turkey the S-400s purchase jeopardised participation in the F-35 fighter jets programme. US officials have said Ankara could even face sanctions on defence purchases under US law if it goes ahead.

But Ankara has said the two defence systems are not seen as an alternative for the other.

The S-400 deal is one of the key symbols of the warm relationship enjoyed by Erdogan and Putin, who have also worked closely on finding a political solution to the Syrian war.
Amphibious assault craft take beach in US-Thai war drills



Sattahip, Thailand, Feb 16 (AFP) Feb 16, 2019



With weapons drawn camouflaged troops leapt out of amphibious assault craft while explosions sounded and parachutists glided in from above as the annual Cobra Gold war games took over a placid Thai beach Saturday.

Now in its 38th year, Cobra Gold is one of the largest military exercises in Asia, bringing thousands of forces from the United States, Thailand and other countries together for 11 days of training on Thai shores.

This year's drill includes some 2,000 US Marines, 1,000 US soldiers and hundreds from the country's Navy and Air Force.

On Saturday US, Thai and South Korean forces descended on Namsai beach in Chonburi province in a joint drill intented to simulate securing the territory.

Captain Melvin Spiese told AFP the goal was to "bring power from ship to shore" and be ready for "any kind of future crisis we might need to respond to with our Thai counterparts."

Helicopters buzzed overheard and fighter jets roared across the skies.

Cobra Gold exercises span air, land and sea and feature a jungle survivalist session where participants take turns drinking blood from a severed cobra and snacking on insects and scorpions.

Singapore, Japan, Indonesia and Malaysia also took part in the war games.

A 2014 army coup in Thailand tested ties with Washington and the kingdom tilted towards China with high-profile arms buys.

But US military sales continued and the two countries have upped their engagement under US President Donald Trump, who has stepped back on human rights issues and invited junta chief Prayut Chan-O-Cha to the White House.

Prayut, who led the 2014 coup, is standing for prime minister in elections set for March 24.
How the US military could build Trump's border wall



Washington, Feb 15 (AFP) Feb 15, 2019



President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to address what he called an "invasion" of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants over the US border with Mexico.

The declaration means Trump would be able to sidestep Congress to access federal funds from elsewhere to help pay for construction of a border wall.

With the Pentagon by far the biggest source of cash, here is a look at how the US military could help build Trump's wall.



- How much? -



Trump's declaration of a national emergency means he could now draw on Pentagon funds that have already been approved by Congress for 2019.

He had wanted Congress to authorize $5.7 billion for a wall along parts of the border, but lawmakers provided just $1.375 billion for barriers, and specifically not a solid concrete wall.

The White House said Trump will access $6.1 billion from two Pentagon sources: $3.6 billion from a military construction fund, and $2.5 billion from Defense Department counter-drug activity funds.

Even though Trump's emergency declaration has been anticipated for weeks, the Pentagon was unable to immediately provide details on which programs or projects would lose out as the money is repurposed for Trump.

Currently, most of the construction funds are already earmarked for military housing, base improvements and various other projects.

The Defense Department could also scrap or scale back planned projects, though such a move would spark the ire of US lawmakers who lobbied for the projects and whose districts would be impacted.

As a candidate, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall.



- Who would build it? -



The Pentagon already has some 4,000 active-duty troops stationed along the border, deployed under a controversial order Trump gave last year ahead of midterm elections.

Additionally, about 2,100 National Guardsmen are supporting border operations.

The troops' role has primarily been to erect miles of concertina-wire fencing along popular crossing points, though the soldiers are not necessarily experts at building more permanent walls.

Such a task could fall into the hands of the Army Corps of Engineers, which has decades of experience working on large-scale projects.

The Pentagon could send additional troops to the border to help, or the work could be farmed out to private contractors.

A national emergency also gives the Pentagon authority for an "involuntary" call up of reservists.



- Under what authority? -



The National Emergencies Act allows the president to declare a national emergency, provided that there is a specific reason for it.

That then allows the mobilization of hundreds of dormant emergency powers under other laws, and gives access to Pentagon funds.

National emergency powers can also permit the White House to declare martial law, suspend civil liberties, expand the military, seize property and restrict trade, communications and financial transactions -- though Trump did not suggest any of that would happen under his declaration.



- Legal challenges -



The national emergency declaration is sure to be challenged in the courts and by Democratic lawmakers.

Lawsuits are also expected from landowners on the border at risk of having their property seized by the government, and from environmental organizations furious that Trump wants to build a wall across environmentally sensitive areas.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leaders in Congress, immediately denounced Trump's plan as a "power grab" by a president who had "gone outside the bounds of the law" to fund his 2016 campaign pledge to build the wall.
Saudi defends app allowing men to monitor women relatives



Riyadh, Feb 16 (AFP) Feb 16, 2019



Saudi Arabia on Saturday defended a mobile app that allows men in the kingdom to track female relatives after rights groups and a US lawmaker criticised tech giants for offering it.

The Absher app provides services for "all members of the society... including women, the elderly, and people with special needs", the interior ministry said.

The free app is available on Android and Apple smartphones and allows users to renew passports, visas and eases a variety of other electronic services.

But critics have said the app enables abuse against women and girls by allowing men to track their movements.

Apple CEO Tim Cook told US National Public Radio earlier this week he had not heard of the app, but would "take a look at it".

US Senator Ron Wyden has called on both Apple and Google to remove the app, arguing on Twitter that it promotes "abusive practises against women".

Under Saudi law, women must have consent from a husband or immediate male relative to renew passports or leave the country.

The ministry criticised what it called a "systematic campaign aimed at questioning the purpose of the services".

It rejected what it described as "attempts to politicise" the tool.

This comes as Saudi Arabia faces intense scrutiny over the shocking murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year, which has renewed criticism of the kingdom's rights record.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has garnered international attention with his rapid rise to power and promise of social and economic reforms.

But the kingdom has detained a number of human rights and women campaigners, some of them accused of undermining national security, with scant public information about their whereabouts or the legal status of their cases.
Thank you for reading!

Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading.
Homestead, FL (33030)

Today

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms mainly during the morning. High 87F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%..

Tonight

Mostly cloudy...isolated thunderstorms developing late. Low 78F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff950de98)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9567d58)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff950de98)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9567d58)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff94d5ee8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9567d58)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff9567d58)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff83d4228)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff963d2a8)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff963d2a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:951

/var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 129 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 160 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff8fb5e40)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 951 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8e7af18)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/1784076917/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff8fb5e40)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1305 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 958 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8e7af18)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 138 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x7fbff8fa62e8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1303 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1295 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 484 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 436 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8e7af18)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff8e7af18)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x7fbff895ba88)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff8f408b0)') called at (eval 487) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x7fbff8f408b0)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
News

Harmony key attribute of UAEs society

Even prior to becoming a part of the United Arab Emirates in 1971, Dubai always attracted expatriates from the Indian subcontinent. Not just skilled people but also non-skilled persons or businessmen from different parts of the sub-continent came here. The father of Praful P Dhakan, a 53-year-old Indian, was among those who reached Dubai on a ship after spending 5 days in the sea. Praful P Dhakan was born in 1969 in Dubai.


New Delhi: In a major blow to Congress President Rahul Gandhi's brother-in-law Robert Vadra, who was questioned twice by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case involving the Bikaner land deal, the agency on Friday attached the properties related to his company Skylight Hospitality in Delhi.

A senior ED official said the agency has attached Skylight Hospitality Pvt Ltd., which has now been named as Skylight Hospitality LLP's property in Delhi's Sukhdev Vihar. Its worth is Rs 4.43 crore.

Besides the Delhi property, the agency also attached movable properties worth Rs 18.59 lakh pertaining to four persons linked to the Bikaner land deal case.

The agency claimed that Skylight Hospitality (P) Ltd had purchased 275 bigha (69.55 hectare) fraudulent land for Rs 72 lakh and sold the same for Rs 5.15 crore to Allegeny Finlease Pvt. Ltd., illegally generating profit of Rs 4.43 crore.

The four other individuals too generated a profit of Rs 18.59 lakh in the sale of impugned fraudulent land.

The agency had earlier attached properties worth Rs 1.82 crore and filed a chargesheet before the Special PMLA court against nine accused.

So far, the total attachment by ED in the case is worth Rs 6.44 crore.

Vadra, along with his 75-year-old mother Maureen Vadra, was questioned for the first time in the land deal case on Tuesday for over eight hours in Jaipur. However, on Wednesday, Vadra was also questioned alone for over eight hours by the agency sleuths in Rajasthan capital.

The ED has been probing the alleged irregularities in the purchase of land in Kolayat area of the border town of Bikaner in Rajasthan, which was meant for those displaced due to Army's field firing range.

The agency registered a criminal case under the Money Laundering Act in 2015, taking cognizance of the case filed by the Rajasthan Police after forgery allegations.

The agency had earlier issued notices to Skylight Hospitality, but had not mentioned Vadra's name or any company linked to him in its FIR.

According to the ED, during investigation it had surfaced that Allegeny Finlease as a company was "not involved" in any "real business activities" and many of its shareholders were found to be dummy or non-existent.

The government had cancelled the mutation (transfer of land) of 374.44 hectares of land after allotments were found to have been allegedly made in the names of "illegal private persons".

Revenue officials had said in the complaint that government land in 34 villages of Bikaner, which was meant to be used for expanding the Army's firing range, was "grabbed" by the land mafia by preparing "forged and fabricated documents" in connivance with government officials.

The ED suspects that a huge amount of money was laundered in this case by people buying land at cheaper rates through forged documents.

Vadra was also questioned for over 24 hours last week in Delhi for three days -- Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday -- in a separate money laundering case.
"Attachment of my workplace- my office n areas that are subjudiced, shows a complete misuse of assertion of power, a complete vindictive & vicious witch hunt," Vadra said in a Facebook post.

Robert Vadra, on Saturday termed the Enforcement Directorate attaching his properties as witch hunt. Vadra, the brother-in-law of Congress party president Rahul Gandhi, asserted that the EDs action shows complete misuse of assertion of power.

Vadra was grilled by the ED for over nine hours on February 13 in connection with a Bikaner land deal case. In the post on the social networking site, the businessman claimed that he completely cooperated with the authorities, which probe the financial irregularities.

"I have had nothing to hide and I am surely not above the law. I have deposed for almost 6 days; ranging from 8 to 12 hours per day with a 40-minute lunch break, n have been escorted to the washroom. I have completely cooperated and adhered to the rules whenever I was called in any part of the country," Vadra said.

On January 22, the Rajasthan High Courts Jodhpur bench directed Vadra, his mother Maureen and his business partners to appear before the ED on February 12 to respond to the allegations of money-laundering levelled against his firm Skyline Hospitality.

Earlier, in November, the ED had for the third time issued summons to Vadra and his mother - a partner in the firm- for questioning but none of them appeared. Instead, they moved the High Court seeking a no coercive action order and stay of their arrest.

A money laundering case was registered by the ED in September 2015, claiming that Skylight Hospitality had acquired land in Kolayat village of Bikaner, which was meant for the rehabilitation of the poor villagers.

It was alleged that Vadra bought 69.55 hectares of land at a cheaper rate and then sold the land to Allegheny Finlease for Rs 5.15 crore through illegal transactions.


Press Release

February 16, 2019 Statement of Sen. Cynthia Villar on the signing of rice tarriffication bill into law We thank and laud the President for signing into law the bill creating a package of support programs for farmers, most notably the P10 billion Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund. With the expiration of the quantitative restriction on rice importation, this is a very important piece of legislation, which will help our farmers improve their profitability and competitiveness. This law complements other government programs addressing the needs of the farming sector, including the P7 billion Rice Program under the Department of Agriculture and the P7 billion budget of the National Food Authority which will be used to buy palay from local farmers for purposes of buffer stocking.
Senatorial candidate JV Ejercito: Set-up agri-food terminals and trading centers to protect farmers from exploitation

REELECTIONIST Senator JV Ejercito, author of free irrigation law, has vowed to push for the establishment of agri-food terminals and trading centers to protect farmers from exploitation of unscrupulous traders.

"Ang mga kawawang magsasaka natin dahil walang mapagdalhan ng kanilang ani, napipilitang magbenta sa mga mapagsamantalang trader o middleman na binabarat sila. To protect the farmers, we need to establish agri-food terminals and trading centers. This will increase their income kasi direkta sa buyers na mas mataas ang presyo at hindi na sa mga mandarayang negosyante," he said in a statement.

He said once reelected to the Senate, he would re-file his Senate Bill No. 1514, which seeks to establish Agri-Food Terminal and Trading Center in every province to be set-up adjacent to bus or any transport hub and train stations to facilitate easy transportation as well as serve as a trading place of farm produce.

"Magtatayo ng Agri-Food Terminal and Trading Center sa mga istasyon ng tren. Matagal na nating ipinaglalaban at patuloy na ipaglalaban ang modernong railway system para sa mabilis at maayos na pagbibiyahe ng mga produkto at mga pasahero," he said. Each center shall be equipped with a warehousing facility, cold storage and any similar facilities necessary to accommodate and store agricultural products. "We need to institutionalize the supply and market chain of agricultural products starting from farmers, to agricultural and food terminals, to markets and other distribution channels, hanggang makarating sa consumers," Ejercito said.
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- Paper packaging market is a traditional market. It contributes more than 30% to overall packaging market share and dominates other packaging domains. In 2016 overall market size of paper packaging was estimated to be $243 Billion and forecasted to reach $450 Billion by 2027. Paper packaging market is estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 7%. Paper packaging is used in variety of applications ranging from food & beverages to pharmaceuticals to cosmetics. Different grades of papers and products are used in packaging. Paper packaging is the most preferred packaging among all other types of packaging, because of its lightweight and flexible features. In heavy-duty packaging paper packaging is not the suitable or preferred packaging. Paper packaging is majorly used as a tertiary packaging.



Paper packaging: Market Dynamics



Paperboard is estimated to be the fastest growing product segment with estimated growth rate of 7.5% among all other product segments of paper packaging. APAC region leads the paper packaging market (estimated revenue share of 35%). Europe region follows APAC, North America follows Europe. The demand in APAC is driven by India & China. The carton board market is dominated by European paper packaging manufacturers because of lack of facility and capacity in APAC region.



Flexible plastics packaging is posing a tough competition to paper packaging. Rising oil prices work in favor of paper packaging market, but in recent times the oil prices are so volatile and declining due to over production and over supply. The rise in the number of hypermarkets and supermarkets is influencing the growth of the paper packaging market. A rapidly growing organized retail sector is leading to rise in demand of food & beverages and other. Paper packaging not only helps retail stores to pack the food but also to protect and maintain nutritional values.



Global paper packaging market is consolidating to gain new capacities, expertise and new markets. Major M&A deals happened in 2016. Clearwater Paper Corporation has acquired Manchester Industries of Richmond, Virginia, from PaperWorks Industries, an integrated full-service packaging provider for a purchase price of $68.25 million. Mondi Group has acquired 100% of the outstanding share capital of LLC Beepack from a private investor for a consideration of RUB 2,825 million (EUR41 million) on a debt-and-cash-free basis. Packaging Corporation of America acquired Columbus Container, Inc., an independent corrugated products producer in a cash-free, debt-free transaction of $100 million.



Growing public private deals in forest leasing or opening the management of forest land management to private players helps paper and paperboard packaging market players to secure the supply of raw materials (timber). Recently Indian government opened up the management of almost 40% forest land by private players.



Paper packaging: Market Segmentation



Different grades of paper used in paper packaging market are Solid bleached sulfate, coated recycled board, MET-PET Board, uncoated recycled board, Clay Natural Kraft, Coated Unbleached Kraft Paperboard, FBB, WLC, Glassine & Greaseproof, and Label Paper. On the basis of application paper packaging market is segmented into food & beverages, pharmaceuticals, personal care, cosmetics, homecare, and others. The paper packaging market has been segmented by product as container or corrugated or shipping box, kraft paper or paperboard or cardboard, folding carton and others.



Request Report for Table of Contents @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-4430



As we said earlier, paperboard dominates the paper packaging market. Application wise food & beverages creates highest demand among others. SBS is extensively used in North America and European region. Uncoated recycled board and coated recycled board are produced from 100% recycled paper and containers including newspapers, old containers etc. Paper industry is an energy intensive industry. So growing crude oil prices is the major concern. However R&D, Innovation and explorations are happening to optimize energy consumption and producing 100% recyclable paper.



Paper packaging Market: Regional outlook



Paper packaging market has been segmented on the basis of region into North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (APEJ), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Japan.



United States has the highest density of usage (More than 50 times). It shows there is high penetration ability. Countries like Russia, China and Brazil have excess supply, so they are exporting to other nations. APEJ and Japan collectively dominate the paper packaging market. Above 25% population in Africa region are below 25 and by 2100 it is expected to reach 50 %. Changing lifestyle, growing consumer consumption power in MEA driving the demand for paper packaging. Paper packaging costs low compared to other packaging. So it is best suitable for the price sensitive markets, where GDP and purchasing power is low. Manufacturers of paper packaging can tap these untapped markets by innovating and exploring low cost paper packaging solutions for low GDP under developed and undeveloped markets.



Per capita paper consumption in US is estimated to be around 300Kg and in China it is around 150 Kg. In India per capita paper consumption is around 6 to 8 Kg and in Africa (all 20 nations) it is 3-4Kg. Due to stagnation in population growth and rise in migration in United States, UK, Canada and Russia demand for paper packaging is declining. Growing population in India and China driving demand for paper packaging. China paper packaging growth rate stands at 7 to 8% and India at 3-4%.



Paper packaging Market: Key players



Some of the players in the global paper packaging packaging market are Amcor Ltd., International Paper Company, Kapstone, Evergreen Packaging Inc., West Rock Packaging Company, Packaging Corporation of America, Sappi Limited, DS Smith, Mondi Group, Oji Paper Company, Smurfit Kappa, Metsaliitto Cooperative, Tetra Laval Group, Georgia-Pacific, Sonoco Products Company, Caraustar Industries Inc., Clearwater Company, Rengo, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Graphic Packaging International Corporation, Sappi Limited, DS Smith, Austrlian Paper, Visy, GH Packaging, KR Papers, GS Paper and Packaging group, Malex Paper products, Junopack, Napco, Middle East paper company, AlMasah, Transpaco.



The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, type of product and applications.



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, macro-economic 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.



Buy this report now @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/4430
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- A new market assessment report on Vulcanizing Agent market report gathers data to help understand stakeholders and business owners about the business environment and external customers during the forecast period, 2018 to 2026. Not only does the research enlighten the product owners about the customer profile but also, competitors' business strategies.



Researching the business environment:

The report on Vulcanizing Agent market for the forecast period, 2018 to 2026 digs deep into the factors including social, political, cultural and economical or latest trends that are likely to influence the industry worldwide.



Researchers eyeing the business landscape aim at uncovering vital statistics about the actual composition of the target market and where the new opportunities lie. Data on the ever-changing trends and gaps in the market forms an important part of the study. The environment research further covers facts associated with government regulations, demographics, market trends and size as well as different marketing channels.



Download Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30377



Vulcanizing Agent market competition by top manufacturers including:

- Evonik Industries AG

- Ashland

- BYK-Chemie GmbH

- AkzoNobel N.V

- Arkema SA

- DOW Chemical

- BASF



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



Product research:

An extensive study of the product application and services conducted by subject matter experts assessing the Vulcanizing Agent market will help product owners to make a wise decision. From analysing which products companies should produce, expand to how brands should position their product the study covers all that business owners require meeting the buyers' requirement. Performance of the product and services across different segments and geography are thoroughly assessed during the research. Apart from this, the research brings to light real-time data about opportunities that will completely transform the trajectory of the business environment in the coming years.



Buy Full Report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30377



Researching target customer:

The study further talks about who are the potential customers are and where most of them are located. Besides, analysing how growth in the application has affected sales the study takes a closer look at from where and how customers purchase the products. Apart from this, insights on customer attitudes or behaviour towards the Vulcanizing Agent industry and the products make the document more valuable. Thus, special coverage on customer demographics, customer lifestyle trends and requirements offers everything a business owner needs to know to zero in on an effective business strategy.



The study objectives of this report are:

- To analyze and study the global Vulcanizing Agent capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2026);

- Focuses on the key Vulcanizing Agent manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.

- Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.

- To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

- To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

- To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.

- To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

- To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market

- To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market

- To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.



Browse Complete report description@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/vulcanizing-agent-market



About MarketExpertz

Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.



Contact Us:

John Watson

Head of Business Development

Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com

Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052

E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com

News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Global energy demand had seen an exponential growth over the decade due to changing lifestyle. At the time when natural gas prices witnessing fluctuation and coal resources are depleting, the world is witnessing a significant gap between demand and supply of energy. Though as per World Coal Association, global coal reserves are estimated to be 861 tonne and accounts to 42% of total world electricity production; the year on year growth for coal consumption was highest in FY 2013, making it the highest since 1970. The demand for coal consumption is increasing every year thereby leading to depletion of coal reserves at an alarming rate. Moreover, most regions are economically unviable to extract coal from its bed. It is due to this reason that companies are looking for alternative solution that can lead to harnessing the total potential of coal, without disturbing the ecological balance.



Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-ap-173

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an industrial process by which coal is gasified under intense heat and atmospheric pressure. This enables the production of synthetic gas, constituents of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are extracted through a well and utilized in various sectors, ranging from power generation to biodiesel and fertilizer production. Though this concept is not new to the market, little progress has been achieved in this sector, primarily due to low R&D. However, with growing energy consumption and fluctuating oil prices, industries are focusing on UCG to offer clean, efficient and cost-effective energy to various industries.



Asia-Pacific is projected as the largest market for underground coal gasification over the next 5 years due to impressive growth in end-use industries ranging from power to chemicals. China along with India, and Australia are key markets for underground coal gasification projects. China is the largest producer as well as the largest consumer of coal based energy. It consumes almost half of the total coal production to meet its energy demand. China has conducted 17 UCG trials since 1991 to check the economic viability of UCG. Major power generating enterprise SinoCoking Coal is planning to harness coal reserves in Henan Province which was abruptly shut down because of strict environmental compliance set up by Chinese government. UCG is an environmental friendly approach that empowers companies to scale high power generation. With world's most populated country, China offers a vibrant platform for energy sector companies to set up their base in China and thereby meet the growing demand of energy in China. Recently, China signed a whooping US $ 1.5 billion major pact with UK for commercial development of UCG in interiors of Mongolia.



Next prominent market is India. In India, mining contributes 10% of India's GDP. With vast coal reserves, India is looking towards harnessing coal without disturbing ecological balance. There are also some sites which are economically nonviable to mine. Though India's untapped 88.6 billion tonnes of non-metallurgical coal is found at a depth of 300 to 1200 metre is economically nonviable; UCG makes it economically sound option. Coal India Limited is trying to push the UCG technology to harness the coal in Kaitha (Jharkhand) and Thesgora (Madhya Pradesh) area. These two promising region is expected to generate high return on investment (ROI) by FY 2025.



Next prominent destination is Australia. In Australia, most companies are undertaking R&D to fully harness the concept of UCG. At present, three major UCG trials is being conducted by Linc Energy, Cougar Energy, and Carbon Energy at Queensland. Australian government is paying a vigil eye on these projects until the technology is commercially proven.



Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-ap-173



SinoCoking Coal, Cougar Energy, Carbon Energy, Linc Energy, and ONGC are key market players that have conducted pilot projects on UCG technology.



Future is optimistic for underground coal gasification. With major innovations going around globally, it is expected to meet the needs of people in oil shortage region. Regions including APAC, and Africa will be a future market for underground coal gasification segments.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- Surgical booms are ceiling-mounted equipment management systems. They help surgeons by keeping cables, wires, and equipment off the floor and out of their way. Recent technological advancement in the design and application of surgical booms, such as, movable arms that allow flexible positioning of displays and other equipment, modularity to accommodate changing needs, and a great degree of versatility have increased their popularity and demand. Surgical booms are increasingly becoming popular due to rise in demand for minimally invasive surgical procedures and advent of hybrid and integrated operating rooms. Surgical booms provide solutions for fitting new equipment in the operating room and also help in removing those that are not in use.



Read Report Overview: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/surgical-booms-market.html



The global surgical booms market is likely to experience strong growth during the forecast period despite the slow acceptance of these products in developing countries. Developed economies (the U.S. and countries in Western Europe) are increasingly adopting surgical booms due to the emergence of integrated and hybrid operating rooms. Technological progress has aided the development of high tech booms that have centralized control and help physicians control lights and other equipment from a single location. Such advantages are anticipated to drive the demand for surgical booms in high-tech hospitals and clinics, not only in the developed nations, but also in the emerging countries in the near future.



The global surgical booms market can be segmented based on area of operation and region. Based on area of operation, the market can be divided into operating room, C-section suite, cath lab, intensive care unit, and emergency department. In terms of region, the surgical booms market can be classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa.



In terms of region, North America accounts for leading share of the global surgical booms market. Technological advancements, developed health care infrastructure, high disposable income, and presence of major market players are projected to contribute to the growth of the surgical booms market in the region during the forecast period. Europe is projected to be the second leading market for surgical booms in terms of revenue. Factors such as continued technological advancement in operating room equipment leading to development of integrated operating room suites, large geriatric population, and rising number of surgical procedures due to high prevalence of diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are likely to boost the growth of the surgical booms market in the region in the near future. Moreover, rising demand for minimally invasive surgical techniques has also contributed to the growth of the market in the region.



Request Brochure of Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=55257



The surgical booms market in Asia Pacific is expected to grow significantly due to increasing penetration of market players operating in the medical devices industry in emerging countries, such as, China and India. Moreover, significant investment in health care by government agencies in developing countries and rising geriatric population in China, India, and South Korea are fueling the market growth. In India, multispecialty hospitals such as Apollo Hospitals, Wockhardt Hospitals, and Fortis Healthcare drive the demand for operating room equipment. The rapidly evolving medical tourism industry in countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea is encouraging major health care providers to equip themselves with latest technologies. Middle East & Africa and Latin America are expected to be lucrative markets for surgical booms in the near future due to the high rate of adoption of advanced medical devices, coupled with the rapidly developing health care industry in these regions.



Major players operating in the global surgical booms market include Trumpf Medical, Stryker Communications, STERIS plc. SKYTRON, Amico Corporation, Ondal, Pratibha Medinox, Palakkad Surgical Industries Pvt. Ltd., and Getinge AB.



About Transparency Market Research

Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMR's global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.



Contact us:

Transparency Market Research

90 State Street,

Suite 700,

Albany

NY - 12207

United States

Tel: +1-518-618-1030

USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453

Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com

Website: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The Study On key vendors in this Global Rod Ends Market includes are SKF(Sweden), Schaeffler(INA&FAG)(Germany), NSK(Japan), JTEKT(Koyo& Torrington) (Japan), NTN(Japan), NMB(Japan), TIMKEN (United States), NACHI(Japan), ZWZ(China), C&U GROUP(China), China Wanxiang(China), LYC(China), HARBIN Bearing(China), TMB(China), ZXY(China), FUJIAN LONGXI(China), China Mos Group(China), Luoyang Bearing(China), Xibei Bearing(China), AST Bearings.



Download FREE Sample Brochure of Rod Ends Market@ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/sample/11800



This report provides in depth study of "Rod Ends Market" using SWOT analysis i.e. Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threat to the organization. The Rod Ends Market report also provides an in-depth survey of key players in the market which is based on the various objectives of an organization such as profiling, the product outline, the quantity of production, required raw material, and the financial health of the organization.



The study objectives of this report are:



To analyze and study the global Rod Ends capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);

Focuses on the key Rod Ends manufacturers, to study the capacity, production, value, market share and development plans in future.

Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.

To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.

To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market.



On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split into



Steel on Steel

Steel on Bronze

Steel on Plastic

Other



On the basis of the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate for each application, including



Automotive Industry

Railway Industry

Wind Power Industry

Machine Tool Industry

Other



Rod Ends Market Report Highlights:



1.Detailed overview of parent market.

2.Changing market dynamics in the industry.

3.In-depth market segmentation.

4.Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value.

5.Recent industry trends and developments.

6.Competitive landscape.

7.Strategies of key players and products offered.

8.Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth.

9.A neutral perspective on market performance.



Direct Order Rod Ends Market Research Report@ https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/checkout/11800



Report holds answers to important questions



1.What will the local and international competition for vendors operating in the Rod Ends Market look like during the forecast period, 2019 to 2025?

2.What impact will innovative technology and product substitutes have on the use of a service and product?

3.What are the trade barriers in the Rod Ends Market?

4.What are the important catalysts that will shape the preference of the customers during the forecast period, 2019 to 2025?

5.What will be the expected ROI (return on investment)? How much profit will the Rod Ends Market players make?

6.Which distribution trends and developments will continue to dominate the Rod Ends Market in the coming years?



Key Point of Table of Contents:



7 Global Rod Ends Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis



7.1 SKF(Sweden)

7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors

7.1.2 Rod Ends Product Category, Application and Specification

7.1.2.1 Product A

7.1.2.2 Product B

7.1.3 SKF(Sweden) Rod Ends Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview



7.2 Schaeffler(INA&FAG)(Germany)

7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors

7.2.2 Rod Ends Product Category, Application and Specification

7.2.2.1 Product A

7.2.2.2 Product B

7.2.3 Schaeffler(INA&FAG)(Germany) Rod Ends Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)

7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview



7.3 NSK(Japan)

7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors



Continue



View Full Report Details and Table of Contents- https://www.marketgrowthinsight.com/11800/rod-ends-market



About Market Growth Insight:

Market Growth Insight is a one stop solution for market research reports in various business categories. We are serving 100+ clients with 10000+ diverse industry reports and our reports are developed to simplify strategic decision making, on the basis of comprehensive and in-depth significant information, established through wide ranging analysis and latest industry trends.



Contact Us-



502, Sai Radhe, Kennedy Road,

Behind Hotel Sheraton Grand,

Near Pune Station, Pune 411001

sales@marketgrowthinsight.com

+ 91 8956 049 020

Follow Us- LinkedIn | Twitter | Google+ | Facebook
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The latest report Polyether Monomer Market discusses everything a business owner needs to know about the Polyether Monomer market for the forecast period, 2019 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 Polyether Monomer Market Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30363



Scope of the Report:

The research methodologies used for evaluating the Polyether Monomer 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 Polyether Monomer industry:

Industry experts conducting the study further estimate the potential of the Polyether Monomer 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 Polyether Monomer market for a particular product or a service for the forecast period, 2019 to 2026 covered in the report makes it valuable. This information reveals the upper limit of the Polyether Monomer 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 Polyether Monomer market are:

- Jiahua Chemical

- Clariant

- Jiangsu Haian

- Taijie Chemical

- Liaoning Kelong

- Bok Chemical

- Lotte Chemical

- Huangma Chemical

- DOW

- Oxiran Chem



Buy Polyether Monomer Market Research Report @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30363



Most important types of Polyether Monomer products covered in this report are:

- MPEG

- TPEG

- APEG

- HPEG



Most widely used downstream fields of Polyether Monomer market covered in this report are:

- Polycarboxylate superplasticizer

- Daily chemical

- Pharmaceutical chemical additives

- Other



Market segment by Region/Country including:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Middle East & Africa

- India

- South America

- Others



The market intelligence study for the Polyether Monomer 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 Polyether Monomer market for the forecast period 2019 - 2026? What will be the market share and size of the industry during the estimated period?

- What are prime factors expected to drive the Polyether Monomer 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 Polyether Monomer market?

- What are the key challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry for the forecast period, 2019 - 2026?

- What the opportunities product owners can bank on to generate high profits?



There are 13 Chapters to deeply display the global Polyether Monomer market.

- 1 Polyether Monomer Market Overview

- 2 Global Polyether Monomer Market Competition by Manufacturers

- 3 Global Polyether Monomer Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2019)

- 4 Global Polyether Monomer Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2019)

- 5 Global Polyether Monomer Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

- 6 Global Polyether Monomer Market Analysis by Application

- Continue



Read More @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/polyether-monomer-market



Key Points from TOC

8 Competitive Landscape

8.1 Competitive Profile

8.2 Jiahua Chemical

8.2.1 Company Profiles

8.2.2 Polyether Monomer Product Introduction

8.2.3 Jiahua Chemical Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.2.4 Jiahua Chemical Market Share of Polyether Monomer Segmented by Region in 2019

8.3 Clariant

8.3.1 Company Profiles

8.3.2 Polyether Monomer Product Introduction

8.3.3 Clariant Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.3.4 Clariant Market Share of Polyether Monomer Segmented by Region in 2019

8.4 Jiangsu Haian

8.4.1 Company Profiles

8.4.2 Polyether Monomer Product Introduction

8.4.3 Jiangsu Haian Production, Value ($), Price, Gross Margin 2014-2019

8.4.4 Jiangsu Haian Market Share of Polyether Monomer Segmented by Region in 2019

Continue



About MarketExpertz

Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.



Contact Us:

John Watson

Head of Business Development

Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com

Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052

E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com

News: https://www.marketexpertz.com/market-news
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Overview of Oral Spray Market Research Report - 2019



Oral Spray is a product sprayed into the mouth for the purpose of eliminating (or at least covering up) halitosis or treat diseases like cold, cough, stomatitis and some others. The common flavors include cinnamon, spearmint and peppermint. With a handy pocket-sized spray bottle, the oral spray is convenient to use.



Get a Sample PDF Report: @ http://bit.ly/2UOEcs2



The production of Daily Oral Care Spray was 159919K Units in 2014, of which 33.66% is produced in US, 23.02% is produced in Europe. The production of Drug Oral Spray was 153542K Units in 2014, of which 49.68% % is produced in US, 33.48% % is produced in Europe



US and Europe are the major Daily Oral Care Spray and Drug Oral Spray sales markets, with global market share of 30.07% and 21.13% in 2014 in Daily Oral Care Spray and 55.16% and 32.03% in 2014 with Drug Oral Spray. China is a potential market; the market share is gradually increased year by year. But Chinese local brands accounted for very little, consumer acceptance of local brands in the China is quite low.



The Oral Spray Market report is designed to include both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the industry in each region and country participating in the study. The report also provides detailed information on important aspects such as growth driving factors, challenges and industrial opportunities that can define the future growth of the market.



The Oral Spray Market report provides key driving factors which can be used to cultivate the business enterprise Globally. Oral Spray Market report employs the sophisticated technological systems demands which can be harmonious on the specific market by each parameter are strictly cited in this report.



Get discount on this report @ http://bit.ly/2GECbKY



Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers :Johnson & Johnson, Sunstar, Lion Corporation, Dr. Fresh, Inc, GlaxoSmithKline, Periproducts, Hello Products LLC, OraLabs, Melaleuca, Inc, MC Schiffer Gmbh, Dentaid, Kangwang Cosmetics, CloSYS, Philips, Thera Breath, Cetylite, Inc., Amway, INFINITUS, Weimeizhi, EO products, Helago-Pharma GmbH, Xlear, Longrich, Onuge Oral Care, Bee Brand Medico Dental, Comvita, Cold-EEZE (ProPhase Labs), Nutra Pharma, GW Pharma, Suda Ltd, King Bio, Hongqi Pharma, Tianlong Pharma, ZSM



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)



Market Segment by Type, covers : Daily Oral Care Spray, Drug Oral Spray, Others



Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into : Medicine, Skincare Products, Other



A SWOT analysis and Porter's Five analysis have been used by analysts of the report to analyze the data effectively. Different dynamic aspects of the businesses such as drivers, challenges, risks, opportunities, and restraints have been scrutinized to get a detailed knowledge for making informed decisions in the businesses. It highlights the statistics of current 'Oral Spray Market' Report scenario, past progress as well as futuristic progress.



The study objectives of this report are:



To study and analyze the global Oral Spray market size (value & volume) by company, key regions/countries, products and application, history data from 2014 to 2018, and forecast to 2024.

To understand the structure of Oral Spray market by identifying its various sub-segments.

To share detailed information about the key factors influencing the growth of the market (growth potential, opportunities, drivers, industry-specific challenges and risks).

To analyze the Oral Spray with respect to individual growth trends, future prospects, and their contribution to the total market.

To project the value and volume of Oral Spray sub-markets, 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.

In the end, It includes the methodical description of the various factors such as the market growth and a detailed information about the different company's revenue, growth, technological developments, production, and the various other strategic developments.



Read Complete Report With TOC: @ http://bit.ly/2SpejCe



Thus the Oral Spray Market Report serves as a valuable material for all industry competitors and individuals having a keen interest in Oral Spray Market study.



About Garner Insights

Garner Insights is a Market Intelligence and consulting firm with an all-inclusive experience and vast knowledge of the market research industry.



Our vast storage of research reports across various categories gives you a complete view of the ever-changing and developing trends and current topics worldwide. Our constant endeavor is to keep on improving our storage information by providing rich market reports and constantly improving them.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- Recent industry assessment report on the Oilfield Biocides market applies qualitative and quantitative research techniques to probe into the complete business scenario of the Oilfield Biocides market for the forecast period 2019 - 2026. The study churns out some real-time data and offers enough information on the estimated market size, growth, and share to the stakeholders, field marketing personnel and product owners planning to multiply profitability and reduce costs. Importantly, the market intelligence research dives deep into customer preferences, spending capacity and production volume with the aim to ensure unmatched customer delight. A thorough assessment of trends from the yesteryears and future discussed in the report can help business owners identify tweaks that might be needed to the existing business strategy.



The major players covered in this Oilfield Biocides report are:

- AkzoNobel N.V.

- Nalco Holding Company

- ICL Industrial Products

- Dow Chemical Company

- BASF SE

- Solvay SA

- Others



Request for free sample Oilfield Biocides report in PDF format available now @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/sample-enquiry-form/30352



Market split by Type, can be divided into:

- Glutaraldehyde

- DBNPA

- THPS

- Chlorine

- Quaternary Ammonium



Market split by Application, can be divided into:

- Drilling

- Production

- Fracturing

- Completion

- Others



Market split by Sales Channel, can be divided into:

- Direct Channel

- Distribution Channel



Understanding the Oilfield Biocides market size

The size of the Oilfield Biocides market is viewed in terms of the Share of Market, Total Available Market as well as Served Available Market. Not only does the study present the combined revenue for a particular market but also the market size for a specific geographic region. Analysis of percentage or the size of the Total Available Market based on the type of product, technology, regional constraints and others form an important part of the Oilfield Biocides report.



Knowing the trends influencing the Oilfield Biocides industry performance

Stakeholders, marketing executives and business owners planning to refer a market research report can use this study to design their offerings and understand how competitors attract their potential customers and manage their supply and distribution channels. When tracking the trends researchers have made a conscious effort to analyze and interpret the consumer behaviour. Besides, the research helps product owners to understand the changes in culture, target market as well as brands so they can draw the attention of the potential customers more effectively.



Our trend analysts look for the crucial connection between consumer trends, behaviour and values, to provide context for the sectors, demographics and global themes that matter to you.



Geographically, this Oilfield Biocides report studies the top producers and consumers in these key regions:

- North America

- Europe

- China

- Japan

- Other Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)



We can also provide the customized separate regional or country-level Oilfield Biocides reports, for the following regions:

North America, United States, Canada, Mexico, Asia-Pacific, China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia, Singapore, Rest of Asia-Pacific, Europe, Germany, France, UK, Italy, Spain, Russia, Rest of Europe, Central & South America, Brazil, Argentina, Rest of South America, Middle East & Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Rest of Middle East & Africa



In this Oilfield Biocides study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Oilfield Biocides are as follows:

History Year: 2013-2017

Base Year: 2017

Estimated Year: 2018

Forecast Year 2018 to 2026



Purchase full Oilfield Biocides report and pay now through this link and get 15% free customization on the Oilfield Biocides report@ https://www.marketexpertz.com/checkout-form/30352



The study objectives of this Oilfield Biocides report are:

# To analyze and study the global Oilfield Biocides sales, value, status and forecast (2019-2026);

# 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 Oilfield Biocides players, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.

#Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.

#To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.

#To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

#To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.

#To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.

# To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the market

# To analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the market

# To strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies



Browse complete Oilfield Biocides report description @ https://www.marketexpertz.com/industry-overview/oilfield-biocides-market



Key elements from table of content:

Chapter 1 Oilfield Biocides Market Overview

1.1 Oilfield Biocides Definition

1.2 Global Oilfield Biocides Market Size Status and Outlook (2013-2026)

1.3 Global Oilfield Biocides Market Size Comparison by Region (2013-2026)

1.4 Global Oilfield Biocides Market Size Comparison by Type (2013-2026)

1.5 Global Oilfield Biocides Market Size Comparison by Application (2013-2026)

1.6 Global Oilfield Biocides Market Size Comparison by Sales Channel (2013-2026)

1.7 Oilfield Biocides Market Dynamics

1.7.1 Market Drivers/Opportunities

1.7.2 Market Challenges/Risks

1.7.3 Market News (Mergers/Acquisitions/ Expansion)



Chapter 2 Oilfield Biocides Market Segment Analysis by Player

2.1 Global Oilfield Biocides Sales and Market Share by Player (2016-2026)

2.2 Global Oilfield Biocides Revenue and Market Share by Player (2016-2026)

2.3 Global Oilfield Biocides Average Price by Player (2016-2026)

2.4 Players Competition Situation & Trends

2.5 Conclusion of Segment by Player

Continued



About MarketExpertz

Planning to invest in market intelligence products or offerings on the web? Then marketexpertz has just the thing for you - reports from over 500 prominent publishers and updates on our collection daily to empower companies and individuals catch-up with the vital insights on industries operating across different geography, trends, share, size and growth rate. There's more to what we offer to our customers. With marketexpertz you have the choice to tap into the specialized services without any additional charges.



Contact Us:

John Watson

Head of Business Development

Market Expertz | Web: www.marketexpertz.com

Direct Line: +1-800-819-3052

E-mail: sales@marketexpertz.com

News: www.marketexpertz.com/market-news
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- In the U.S., acne is one of the most common skin disorders among the teenage population. While topical or oral antibiotics remain the first-line treatment, more advanced therapies are chosen if the condition becomes severe. Increasing resistance of Propionibacterium acnes to standard medications has surfaced as a major concern for both physicians and patients. Therefore, physicians are required to consider other treatment modules that are capable of delivering quicker and more positive results.



Request to View Sample of Research Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-na-4297



Phototherapy has emerged as an effective and contemporary treatment module for acne and psoriasis, which is gaining healthy popularity of late. As compared to biologics, phototherapy is more affordable having a similar credibility. Over the next couple of years, demand for phototherapy in regions such North America and Europe is expected to surge to a significant extent. Future Market Insights' new report reveals that the North America and Europe phototherapy treatment market revenue is expected to expand at a CAGR of 6.0 % over the forecast period (20172027).



Distorted eating habits, as well as excessive consumption of fried and ready-to-eat food items, are linked with the early onset of acne in children. Meanwhile, in adults, women face severe acne and psoriasis onset. The report titled "Phototherapy Treatment Market for Acne and Psoriasis North America and Europe Industry Analysis 2012  2016 and Opportunity Assessment; 2017  2027" also cites that North America represents the most lucrative market for phototherapy, followed by Western Europe and Eastern Europe. The market in North America is projected to grow from US$ 594.5 Mn in 2016 to US$ 1,150.0 Mn by 2027-end. In addition, the U.S. currently accounts for more than three-fourth revenue share of the North America phototherapy treatment market.



Increasing adoption of phototherapy in dermatology clinics and hospitals in Europe is favouring the growth of the market in the region. Moreover, psychological burdens associated with acne and psoriasis is high in the region, compelling patients to seek professional help in the form of prescription treatments, phototherapy, and others. Germany and the UK are two of the major markets for phototherapy in Europe and expected to remain dominant throughout the forecast period.



Need more information about Report methodology ? @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/askus/rep-gb-na-4297



Key Excerpts from the Report Include:



Based on end user, hospitals currently account for the largest value share of the phototherapy treatment market for acne and psoriasis in North America and Europe. However, preference for home care settings among patients is likely to grow in the near future.



Demand for blue light therapy is relatively higher than other phototherapy types in both North America and Europe. This trend is expected to continue throughout the assessment period. The blue light phototherapy segment is estimated to reach a market valuation of US$ 1,067.1 Mn towards the end of 2027.



Phototherapy being a high margin reconstructive technology is perceived as an opportunity for market players to invest in future growth. Lifespan, UC Irvine Health, Buffalo Medical Group, Blackrock Clinic Limited, The Private Phototherapy Clinic Ltd, National Skin Centre, and Massachusetts General Hospital are some of the leading companies profiled in the FMI report.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Industry Research Co. expert analysis on Report titled "Global Machine Intelligence Market 2019 By Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024". This research provides current market overview including types, application and top manufacturers. Machine Intelligence report gives thorough analysis on geographical area and regional trends. Machine Intelligence report also offers exclusive data with statistical information and tables and figures.



Get sample copy of this report: https://www.industryresearch.co/enquiry/request-sample/13798989



Machine Intelligence is intelligence demonstrated by machines, in contrast to the natural intelligence displayed by humans and other animals.



Machine Intelligence market report brigs exclusives analysis on following top players: Bsh HausgerAte, Fanuc, Hanson Robotics, Harman International Industries, IBM, Intel, Cisco Systems, ABB, Fanuc.



Scope of the Report:



-The global Machine Intelligence market is valued at xx million USD in 2018 and is expected to reach xx million USD by the end of 2024, growing at a CAGR of xx% between 2019 and 2024.



-The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Southeast Asia regions.



-North America, especially The United States, will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from United States might affect the development trend of Machine Intelligence.



-Europe also play important roles in global market, with market size of xx million USD in 2019 and will be xx million USD in 2024, with a CAGR of xx%.



This report studies the Machine Intelligence market status and outlook of Global and major regions, from angles of players, countries, product types and end industries; this report analyzes the top players in global market, and splits the Machine Intelligence market by product type and applications/end industries.



Market Segment by Type, covers:

-Hardware

-Software

-Services



Market Segment by Applications, can be divided into

-Healthcare

-Manufacturing

-Automotive

-Others



Ask for Discounts Here: https://www.industryresearch.co/enquiry/request-discount/13798989



Detailed TOC of Global Machine Intelligence Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2024



1 Market Overview



1.1 Machine Intelligence Introduction



1.2 Market Analysis by Type



1.3 Market Analysis by Applications



1.4 Market Analysis by Regions



1.5 Market Dynamics



1.5.1 Market Opportunities



1.5.2 Market Risk



1.5.3 Market Driving Force



2 Manufacturers Profiles



2.1 Business Overview



2.2 Machine Intelligence Type and Applications



2.2.1 Product A



2.2.2 Product B



2.3 Machine Intelligence Sales, Price, Revenue, Gross Margin and Market Share (2017-2018)



3 Global Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue, Market Share and Competition by Manufacturer (2017-2018)



3.1 Global Machine Intelligence Sales and Market Share by Manufacturer (2017-2018)



3.2 Global Machine Intelligence Revenue and Market Share by Manufacturer (2017-2018)



3.3 Market Concentration Rate



3.3.1 Top 3 Machine Intelligence Manufacturer Market Share in 2018



3.3.2 Top 6 Machine Intelligence Manufacturer Market Share in 2018



3.4 Market Competition Trend



4 Global Machine Intelligence Market Analysis by Regions



4.1 Global Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Regions



4.2 North America Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



4.3 Europe Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



4.4 Asia-Pacific Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



4.5 South America Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



4.6 Middle East and Africa Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



5 North America Machine Intelligence by Country



5.1 North America Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Country



5.2 United States Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



5.3 Canada Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



5.4 Mexico Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



6 Europe Machine Intelligence by Country



6.1 Europe Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Country



6.2 Germany Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



6.3 UK Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



6.4 France Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



6.5 Russia Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



6.6 Italy Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



7 Asia-Pacific Machine Intelligence by Country



7.1 Asia-Pacific Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Country



7.2 China Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



7.3 Japan Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



7.4 Korea Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



7.5 India Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



7.6 Southeast Asia Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



8 South America Machine Intelligence by Country



8.1 South America Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Country



8.2 Brazil Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



8.3 Argentina Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



8.4 Colombia Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



9 Middle East and Africa Machine Intelligence by Countries



9.1 Middle East and Africa Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Country



9.2 Saudi Arabia Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



9.3 Turkey Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



9.4 Egypt Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



9.5 Nigeria Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



9.6 South Africa Machine Intelligence Sales and Growth Rate (2014-2019)



10 Global Machine Intelligence Market Segment by Type



10.1 Global Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Market Share by Type (2014-2019)



11 Global Machine Intelligence Market Segment by Application



11.1 Global Machine Intelligence Sales Market Share by Application (2014-2019)



12 Machine Intelligence Market Forecast (2019-2024)



12.1 Global Machine Intelligence Sales, Revenue and Growth Rate (2019-2024)



12.2 Machine Intelligence Market Forecast by Regions (2019-2024)



12.3 Machine Intelligence Market Forecast by Type (2019-2024)



12.4 Machine Intelligence Market Forecast by Application (2019-2024)



13 Sales Channel, Distributors, Traders and Dealers



13.1 Sales Channel



13.1.1 Direct Marketing



13.1.2 Indirect Marketing



13.1.3 Marketing Channel Future Trend



13.2 Distributors, Traders and Dealers



14 Research Findings and Conclusion



15 Appendix



15.1 Methodology



15.2 Data Source



[Request for Customization]



Purchase Full Report at $ 3480 (Single User License) at: https://www.industryresearch.co/purchase/13798989



About Industry Research:

Industry Research is an upscale platform to help key personnel in the business world in strategizing and taking visionary decisions based on facts and figures derived from in depth market research. We are one of the top report resellers in the market, dedicated towards bringing you an ingenious concoction of data parameters.



Contact Us

Name: Ajay More



Organization: Industry Research



Email: sales@industryresearch.co



Phone: +1424 253 0807
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) represents the second generation of dual energy absorptiometry devices. The DEXA technique is widely used for clinical measurement of bone mineral content. It has replaced the radionuclide source in dual energy photon absorptiometry (DPA) with an X-ray source. DEXA is a more reproducible technique, which involves lesser radiation exposure compared to the first generation absorptiometry devices.



View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/dual-energy-x-ray-absorptiometry-equipment-market.html



DEXA employs a pair of energies to attain accurate results independent of soft tissue thickness as well as tissue composition. The DEXA technique provides bone density measurement for axial, peripheral, as well as whole body scans. The technology can also detect small changes in bone mineral content measured at multiple anatomical sites with short examination time and excellent precision. Difficulty in differentiation between cortical and trabecular bone is the only disadvantage associated with the technique. Sources of error in the diagnosis of osteoporosis by DXA include osteomalacia, osteoarthritis, soft tissue calcification, and extreme obesity. Assessment of bone mineral density at peripheral sites such as the forearm is also possible with the use of axial DXA systems that measure spine and hip BMD.



The global Dexa equipment market can be segmented based on product type, application, end-user, and geography. In terms of product type, the global Dexa equipment market can be bifurcated into peripheral Dexa bone densitometer and central Dexa bone densitometer. Peripheral dual energy X-ray absorptiometer (pDEXA) has lower radiation dose with improved efficacy. Hence, the radiation hazard to the operating staff is low. Peripheral DEXA provides two-dimensional projection of a true three-dimensional object, unlike peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT). This is one of the disadvantages of peripheral DEXA. Assuming the uniform composition of soft tissue forms the second major drawback for the use of peripheral BMD, thus leading to accuracy errors. Based on application, the global Dexa equipment market can be divided into fracture risk assessment, body composition assessment, and fracture diagnosis. In terms of end-user, global Dexa equipment market can be segregated into hospitals, specialty clinics, diagnostic centers, and others.



Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=43565



Based on geography, the Dexa equipment market can be classified into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. The Dexa equipment market in North America can be segmented into the U.S. and Canada. The Dexa equipment market in Europe can be divided into the U.K., Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Rest of Europe. The Dexa equipment market in Asia Pacific can be classified into Japan, India, China, Australia & New Zealand, and Rest of Asia Pacific. The Dexa equipment market in Latin America can be split into Mexico, Brazil, and Rest of Latin America. The Dexa equipment market in Middle East & Africa can be segmented into Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Israel, and Rest of Middle East & Africa. North America dominated the global market for DEXA equipment due to factors such as growth in baby boomer population and the corresponding rise in incidence of osteoporosis along with various other bone related diseases.



High demand for crucial diagnosis and corresponding therapies has also contributed to the growth of the market. Europe is also a key region of the DEXA equipment market. It is followed by North America. Significant rise in incidences of hip fracture and increase in awareness about disease diagnosis and normal routine testing in countries such as the U.K., Spain, Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Austria are primarily boosting the Dexa equipment market in Europe. Other factors that influence demand in the region include increase in geriatric population, rise in incidence of spine and hip fractures, and growth in demand for diagnosis and treatment of such diseases.



Request TOC @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=43565



Key players operating in the Dexa equipment market include Hologic, Inc., GE Healthcare, Osteometer Meditech Inc., Demetech AB., Swissray International Inc., and Medonica Co. LTD.



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.



Contact Us



Transparency Market Research



90 State Street, Suite 700



Albany, NY 12207



Tel: +1-518-618-1030



USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453



Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com



Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Rising cases of needle stick injuries, the shift in demand towards ambulatory surgical centers and fusion pumps, and a greater number of surgical procedures performed are poised to benefit the IV equipment market. Furthermore, a prevalence of chronic diseases in an ageing population in developed nations are positive signs for the IV equipment market. However, lack of wireless connectivity, regulatory mandates for new product launches and increasing cases of medication errors inhibit the unencumbered growth of the IV equipment market that is anticipated to witness a steady CAGR of 5% from 2017 to 2022.



The IV catheter segment is the most popular in the IV equipment market and should remain so for the foreseeable future. The IV catheter segment is expected to be worth more than US$ 2.7 billion in 2017 itself and companies are recommended to target this segment with gusto. The infusion pump segment is a close second in the IV equipment market in terms of product type segment and is likely to be the biggest winner in terms of market share. Key stakeholders in the IV equipment market would do well to focus their energy on the Europe infusion pumps market as the region accounts for more than a third of the revenue contribution.



To know key findings Request Sample Report @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/19297



The securement device segment and stopclocks & valve segment have single digit revenue share in the IV equipment market. While the former is projected to lose market share, the latter is on track to gain share and companies may seek to take advantage of this. The stopcock & valves segment is estimated to grow with a CAGR of just under 6% from 2017 to 2022. Along with Europe, the stopcocks & valves segment has strong potential in APEJ

The drip chamber and needleless connector segment have a revenue share of less than a tenth in the IV equipment market at the end of 2017. The needleless connector segment is predicted to lose substantial share in the near future while the drip chamber segment should fall slowly. The Europe drip chamber segment is assessed to grow past more than US$ 285 million at the end of the forecast period. The needleless connector segment also has the greatest potential in Europe. Along with Europe, companies could additionally target the North America needleless connector segment



Hospitals hold the lion's share in the IV equipment market by end user segment and are forecast to hold steady for the medium to long term. Hospitals are the most-well equipped to deal with any and every patient need pertaining to IV treatment. Europe is the largest region in the hospital segment of the IV equipment market but there is a close competition for the second place between APEJ and North America



Request for Report Methodology @: https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/19297



The companies profiled in the IV equipment market are AngioDynamics, Moog Inc., Terumo Corporation, C. R. Bard, ICU Medical, Smiths Group, Baxter International Inc., Fresenius SE & Co., B. Braun Melsungen AG, and Becton, Dickinson and Company
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The Intelligent Software Assistant Market report gives Analysis of incomes, limits and benefits of Key Manufacturers including the market holdings, offers of units, income dispersion, and the measures that have been taken to overcome the issues faced.



Synopsis of Intelligent Software Assistant Market:



IVA is software driven assistant which uses artificial intelligence to model the human interaction to perform multiple tasks. IVA helps in managing connected cars, and homes and some of the leading examples of IVA are Google Assistant, Apple Siri, Microsoft's Cortana, and Amazon Echo.



Websites is expected to be an ideal platform for gathering information, resolving issues, and making purchasing decisions. Therefore, the adoption of IVA is expected to streamline the business activities eventually saving overhead costs involved in advertising, interviewing, and training operations.



Growing popularity of cloud applications, big data analytics and social media has changed the way businesses interact with customers. To add to the revenue and improve consumer satisfaction, organizations are revisiting consumer experience strategies. Digital Employee by Artificial Solutions is some strategies that are worked on for assisting the employees in achieving their sales targets. Other than adding to the enhancement of user experience, IVAs are meant to reduce customer service operational costs.



Ask for Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/enquiry/request-sample/13757932



Top Key Players Covered in this report: Oracle Corporation,Nuance Communications, Inc.,Microsoft Corporation,Inbenta Technologies,Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.,Apple, Inc.,IBM Corporation,Intel Corporation,Google, Inc.,Amazon.com, Inc.



Intelligent Software Assistant Market Segment by Product Types considering Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trends:



- Text to speech

- Automative speech recognition



Intelligent Software Assistant Market Segment by Applications considering Consumption Growth Rate and Market Share:



- BFSI

- Retail&Ecmmerce

- Automotive

- Healthcare

- Other



Read Full Report Here: https://www.industryresearch.biz/13757932



In this study, the years considered to estimate the market size of Intelligent Software Assistant are as follows:



- History Year: 2014-2018

- Base Year: 2018

- Estimated Year: 2019

- Forecast Year 2019 to 2025



Scope of Intelligent Software Assistant Market: Geographically, this Intelligent Software Assistant report is split into crucial positions, size, production, consumption, revenue (Mn/Bn USD), and also market share and increase space of Intelligent Software Assistant industry in these regions, by 2025, covering United States, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia, Europe as well as its share and also CAGR for its forecast interval.



TOC of Intelligent Software Assistant Market Report Contains: 



1. Market Overview: Product Overview, Classification, Applications, Regional Analysis, Industry Development Factors Analysis, Consumer Behaviour Analysis.

2. Intelligent Software Assistant Market Analysis by Region: Consumption of Intelligent Software Assistant Industry at Present Situation Analysis in USA, Europe, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia regions.

3. Intelligent Software Assistant Market Upstream and Downstream Analysis: Key Raw Materials Suppliers and Price Analysis, Key Raw Materials Production and Consumption Analysis, Manufacturing Process Analysis, Downstream Buyers Analysis, Industry Chain Analysis, Procurement Method Analysis, Customs Tariff Analysis.

4. Intelligent Software Assistant Market Forecast (2019-2025)



What Report exactly offers to the buyers?



- To gain insightful analyses of the Intelligent Software Assistant Industry and have comprehensive understanding of the global market and its commercial landscape.

- Market strategies that are being adopted by leading respective organizations

- Get a detailed representation of the Intelligent Software Assistant market.

- The assessed growth rate, together with Intelligent Software Assistant Market size and share over the forecast period 2019-2025.



Place a Direct Purchase Order @ https://www.industryresearch.biz/purchase/13757932



In a word, the Intelligent Software Assistant Market report provides major statistics on the state of the Intelligent Software Assistant industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.



About Industry Research Biz:

Industry Research Biz is the credible source for gaining the market reports that will provide you with the lead your business needs. At Industry Research Biz, our objective is providing a platform for many top-notch market research firms worldwide to publish their research reports, as well as helping the decision makers in finding most suitable market research solutions under one roof. Our aim is to provide the best solution that matches the exact customer requirements. This drives us to provide you with custom or syndicated research reports.



Contact Us:



Name: Mr. Ajay More



Email: sales@industryresearch.biz



Organization: Industry Research Biz



Phone: US +1424 253 0807/ UK +44 203 239 8187
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The major industrial sludge treatment chemicals market end-user segments include pulp & paper, oil & gas, food & beverages, electronics, automotive, metal processing, personal care, and chemicals. The minor industries include paint & coating, textiles, and others. Among these, the personal care segment held a notable share in the industry and will also grow at a significant CAGR by 2024. The food & beverage segment valued at around USD 1.5 billion over the forecast time frame.



Industrial Sludge Treatment Chemicals Market will surpass USD 7.5 billion by 2024; according to a new research report. North America, led by the U.S. and Canada, is likely to hold a major chunk in the industrial sludge treatment chemicals market in future due to the developed industries in this area. Asia Pacific is likely to grow at a notable CAGR of around 6.5% in future due to the rapid expansion in regional manufacturing units.



Request for a sample copy of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/2179



Industrial expansion coupled with a rapid increase in manufacturing activities will have a significant impact on the overall industrial sludge treatment chemicals market growth by 2024. A heavy amount of sludge and waste are generated from these units and treatment chemicals are required for the same. The economic growth of developing regions resulting in a surge in chemical and mining industries will positively influence the market demand due to an extensive release of waste products from these sectors. Strict government protocols related to the sludge and excessive waste generation will spur the demand for the industrial sludge treatment chemicals market over the forecast period.



Industrial Sludge Treatment Chemicals Market by Sludge Type



- Activated sludge

- Primary sludge

- Mixed sludge

- Others



Industrial Sludge Treatment Chemicals Market by Process Treatment



- Dewatering & drying treatment

- Conditioning & stabilization treatment

- Thickening treatment

- Digestion treatment



The proper disposal of waste and sludge content is an important issue across the globe due to the presence of hazardous chemical components in it. Special handling and appropriate care are essential at the time of the disposal and treatment to make them suitable for the use in the agriculture sector in the form of fertilizers, etc. These factors will enhance the industrial sludge treatment chemicals market growth by 2024.



Make an inquiry for buying this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2179



Excessive usage of water and the resultant high transportation and operational cost are the key restraining factors for industrial sludge treatment chemicals market growth over the forecast timeframe. Integrated production systems and technology advancements to reduce the sludge production will further hinder the market growth in the future owing to the lesser sludge produced from the industries.



Company Profile:



1. BASF

2. Accepta

3. Kemira

4. SUEZ

5. Ovivo

6. Ecolab

7. Kurita Water Industries Ltd.

8. Beckart Environmental

9. Amcon Construction Company

10. Hubbard-Hall Inc.

11. ITS Energy Services

12. Veolia

13. AkzoNobel

14. SAS Environmental Services Ltd



Industrial sludge treatment chemicals market is segmented based on sludge type, process chemical, process treatment, end-user, and regions. The three major sludge types include mixed, activated, and primary. The minor sludge types are tertiary, humus, etc., and have been included in the others segment. Among these, activated type dominated the overall the market and in 2016, it was valued at over USD 1.5 billion.



The four key processes are widely used in the industry, which include digestion, dewatering & drying, thickening, and conditioning & stabilization. Dewatering & drying process treatment is extensively used and held a significant share of the overall industrial sludge treatment chemicals market in 2024. This segment is likely to grow at a substantial CAGR of more than 6% by the end of the forecast period.



There are three major process chemical segments, flocculants, disinfectants, and coagulants. The minor chemicals include defoamers, activated carbon, etc. Among these, flocculants held a significant share in the overall industrial sludge treatment chemicals market and will grow at a substantial CAGR of around 6% by the end of the forecast time.



The prominent industry players include Ecolab, ITS Group, BASF, Veolia, Beckart, Kurita Industries, Kemira, AkzoNobel, Hubbard-Hall, Ashland, Ovivo, SAS Environmental, Accepta, and others.



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 Hegde

Corporate Sales, USA

Global Market Insights, Inc.

Phone: 1-302-846-7766

Toll Free: 1-888-689-0688

Email: sales@gminsights.com

Web: https://www.gminsights.com

Blog: http://headlinenewsnation.com
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- HLA typing recognizes the exceptional group of HLA antigens for a person. Identification of HLA-class I and class II antigens is carried out by molecular diagnostic procedures based on DNA. HLA typing utilizing these advanced DNA innovations and provides more vigorous, accurate testing results that are reliable in identifying difference in HLA genes.



View Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hla-typing-transplant-diagnostic-services-market.html



Technological developments in HLA typing, increase in number of procedures involving solid organ, stem cell transplantation, and soft tissue transplantation, rise in support in research and development, surge in investment in public private funds are the major factors driving the global HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market. However, unfavorable reimbursement policies for organ transplantation and donation procedures and high cost of polymerase chain reaction-based technological devices hamper the growth of the market. Moreover, shift in technology from serological assays to HLA profiling which is gene based and advancements in health care facilities across emerging countries present significant opportunities for HLA typing transplant players in the market. Significant gap between the number of organ donors and the number of organs that are required annually restrains the global HLA typing transplant diagnostic services market.



Based on technology, the global HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market can be segmented into molecular assay technology [polymerase chain reaction (PCR)], and sequencing based [next-generation sequencing (NGS)] and non-molecular assay technology. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) segment is projected to dominate the global HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market. However, the next-generation sequencing segment is anticipated to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period.



Request a Brochure of the Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=43394



The polymerase chain reaction segment can be sub-segmented into PCR-SSP (sequence-specific primer), PCR SSOP (sequence-specific oligonucleotide), and PCR-SBT (sequencing based typing). The PCR-SSP sub-segment is expected to dominate the polymerase chain reaction segment. However, the PCR-SBT segment is likely to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period. In terms of end-user, the global HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market can be classified into hospitals, transplant centers, specialty clinics, and academic institutes. The hospitals segment is expected to dominate the global HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market during the forecast period.



Geographically, the global HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market can be segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. Industrially developed nations in Europe and North America such as the U.S. and Canada account for the largest share of the global market owing to rise in prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiac, and renal associated diseases. However, increase in access and high adoption of advanced diagnostic technologies, advancements in technologies related to HLA-based transplant diagnostics, and high growth have been witnessed in emerging markets in Asia Pacific. Demand for HLA typing transplant diagnostics services in Asia Pacific is driven by high population growth, increase in awareness, and rise in investments in health care infrastructure. Major players in the market are focusing on this region to compensate for the sluggish business in highly competitive markets in the West. Leading players in the diagnostic services market are acquiring smaller technology companies to produce companion diagnostic services and expand them.



Request TOC @https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=43394



Key players operating in the HLA typing transplant diagnostics services market are One Lambda (Thermo Fischer Scientific, Inc.), Proimmune Ltd., Immucor, Inc., Creative Biolabs, Olerup SSP AB, Histogenetics LLC, QIAGEN, Inc., The UCLA Immunogenetics Center, Affymetrix, Inc., Admera Health, Illumina, Inc., Quick Biology, New York Blood Center, The Sequencing Center, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., BloodCenter of Wisconsin, and Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings.



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.



Contact Us



Transparency Market Research



90 State Street, Suite 700



Albany, NY 12207



Tel: +1-518-618-1030



USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453



Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.com



Website: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com
Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Global Hearing Aid Market : Size, Trends & Forecasts (2019-2021) provides a unique tool for evaluating the market, highlighting opportunities, and supporting strategic and tactical decision-making. This report recognizes that in this rapidly-evolving and competitive environment, up-to-date marketing information is essential to monitor performance and make critical decisions for growth and profitability. It provides information on trends and developments, and focuses on markets and materials, capacities and technologies, and on the changing structure of the Hearing Aid Market.



Hearing Aids Market worth 9.78 Billion USD by 2022



The report also profiles key market players such as- Sonova Holdings AG, William Demant Holding Group, GN ReSound on the basis of attributes such as company overview, recent developments, strategies adopted by the market leaders to ensure growth, sustainability, financial overview and recent developments.



Order a copy of thisreport (USD 800) at



https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/report/purchase/0926871081?mode=su?source=releasewire&Mode=3



Regional Coverage for Hearing Aid- APAC, Europe, North America, Australasia, Latin America, MEA



Essential points covered in Global Hearing Aid Market 2019 Research are:-



What will the market size and the growth rate be in 2021?

What are the key factors driving the global Hearing Aid market?

What are the key market trends impacting the growth of the global Hearing Aid market?

What are the challenges to market growth?

Who are the key vendors in the global Hearing Aid market?

What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the vendors in the global Hearing Aid market?

Trending factors influencing the market shares of the Americas, APAC, and EMEA.

What are the key outcomes of the five forces analysis of the global Hearing Aid market?

Inquire for free sample copy at



https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/0926871081/global-hearing-aid-market-2017-2021-edition/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=3



The report provides brief country analysis of the US, France and Germany. The analysis include market size in terms of value, volume and by distribution channel. Europe is expected to account for the largest share in the market during the forecasted period. Asia Pacific is set to be the emerging region for the hearing aid devices in the coming five years.



The report also assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the global hearing aid device market has also been forecasted for the period 2017-2021, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends.

Sonova Holdings AG, William Demant Holding Group and GN ReSound are some of the prominent players of the market whose company profiling have been done in the report on the basis of attributes like business overview and financial overview.



The report has 58 tables and figures browse the report description and TOC:



https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/0926871081/global-hearing-aid-market-2017-2021-edition?source=releasewire&Mode=3



We Offer 15% Customization on the Report covering additional 3 countries or 3 Companies in the report + We also offer FREE POST SALES SUPPORT FOR 6 MONTHS from the date of Purchase of the report



Hearing aids are mainly classified into Behind-the-Ear (BTE), In-the-Ear (ITE), In-the-Canal (ITC) Or Completely-in-the-Canal (CIC) and Implantable Hearing Aid. Implantable hearing aids are further classified into Cochlear Implants, Cochlear Implants and Bone-Anchored Hearing Implants.



The global hearing aid market has witnessed an upsurge during the period 2011 to 2016 and projections are made that the market is expected to grow at a rapid pace in the forecasted period i.e. 2017 to 2021. Major factors contributing in the growth of the market are growing prevalence of hearing loss patients, growing ageing population, latest technological advancements such as 3D printing, new product launces etc.

In the forecasted period, the market would be pushed by increasing noise pollution level, introduction of innovative hearing aid devices and internet connected hearing aids etc. Yet the market faces some challenges such as lack of awareness, high prices of devices, high degree of consolidation etc.



Connect to Our Sales Team at (sales@marketinsightsreports.com)



About MarketInsightsReports

MarketInsightsReports provides syndicated market research on industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. MarketInsightsReports provides global and regional market intelligence coverage, a 360-degree market view which includes statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.



Contact Us:



Irfan Tamboli (Head of Sales) - Market Insights Reports



Phone: + 1704 266 3234 | +91-750-707-8687



sales@marketinsightsreports.com | irfan@marketinsightsreports.com
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Under the purview of energy, coal bed methane primarily refers to the natural gas or methane recovery from un-mined coal seams and adjacent sandstones. Such methane recovery usually occurs prior to mining, whereas in some cases, coal seams remain un-mined and methane recovery from such sites is known as virgin coal bed methane. Coal bed methane recovery from un-mined coal mines is of strategic importance as absolute or maximum drainage of the methane seam is necessary to avoid the risk of explosion as well as mitigate the emission of methane in the atmosphere from coal mining operations. From the estimated global coal bed methane reserve of about 4,000 Tcf to 5,000 Tcf, about 20% to 25% is recoverable.



Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-136



The fact that the coal in some sites is at a greater depth, makes it not feasible to extract it on account of the associated safety. This and other environmental and economic considerations serve as the drivers for the global coal bed methane market. Further, the shifting focus towards the use of unconventional energy sources serves as another factor for the growth of global coal bed methane market. The constraints of the coal bed methane are dependent on the accessibility of coal seams. Major constraints of the global coal bed methane market include environmental, regulatory, technical and economic challenges. Among these, environmental constraints include risk associated with greenhouse gas emission. The economical challenges associated with the global coal bed methane market are more prevalent in the early stages of the recovery, when large quantities of water are pumped in with minimal recovery of revenue producing gas. This dewatering and produced water disposal cost is of significant importance for any carbon bed methane project. Although the development cost for the coal bed methane project is relatively lower, it is always a challenge to keep it within minimal range to achieve profitability. The technical constraints of the coal bed methane market depend on the well completion and optimization design to achieve maximum production with optimum number, spacing and location of wells. Also, handling and disposal of water at a minimal cost alongwith the efficient reservoir characterisation are other key technical restraints for global coal bed methane market. Also, coal bed methane requires a low pressure pipeline system which acts as an economical constraint. However, the potential of carbon bed methane to serve as a supplement for conventional natural gas supply and its contribution towards the global energy mix will act as an opportunity for global coal bed methane market. However, the market expansion of the global coal bed methane will be dependent upon the growth of newer technology and development.



Market segmentation of global coal bed methane can be done on the basis of application, technology and geography. On the basis of application, the global carbon methane market includes commercial application, industrial application, power generation, residential application, and transportation. On the basis of technology, the global carbon bed methane market includes fracturing techniques including hydro-fracturing, proppant-based fracturing and chemical additive based fracturing, exploration, and drilling. Among these, fracturing techniques have been utilised most frequently for coal bed methane recovery. On the basis of geography, the global coal bed methane market includes North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Middle East & Africa. Among these, the largest carbon bed methane resource bases are found in Canada, China, US, Soviet Union and Australia, with Canada accounting for the maximum share followed by the Soviet Union, China, Australia and US. On a broader level, any country with abundant coal reserves and population, and high energy demand will serve as a potential market for carbon bed methane development at a global level. The demand for coal bed methane gas is evident alongwith the demand for natural gas in China and other Asian countries. Associated exploration in the US has been active in the past few years whereas Canada witnessed lower exploration and the development offewer extraction technologies pertaining to global coal bed methane market.



Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-136



Some of the prominent players of the global coal bed methane market include Santos, Quick Silver Resources Inc, Baker Hughes Incorporated, BG Group, Arrow Energy, Blue Energy Limited, Halliburton, Dart Energy Ltd., Fortune Oil PLC, ConocoPhillips and Metgasco Limited.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- Boscalid is typically a fungicide used for use on food crops. Boscalid is a new range of fungicide used to control a wide range of plant pathogens in horticultural and broadacre crops. Boscalid is an odorless white crystalline soild. Boscalid is mainly used on food crops such as beans, bulb vegetables, berries, carrots, canola, fruiting vegetables, grapes, lettuce, pistachios, peanuts, potatoes, strawberries, tree nuts, stone fruit, Brassica vegetables (subgroups 5A and 5B), cucurbit vegetables, edible peas, cucumbers, mint, certain root vegetables and sunflower. Moreover, boscalid is also used for field crops such as cereals and oilseed rape. Furthermore, boscalid is used on food crops such as potatoes, succulent and dried shelled peas, peanuts, soybeans and root and tuber vegetables. The growing demand for fungicides especially boscalid from the farming industry across the world is expected to drive the boscalid market in the next few years.



Read Report Overview @

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/boscalid-market.html



Boscalid fungicide offers the farmers a distinctive mode of action with higher control of foliar and white mold and diseases, together with early blight and suppression of gray mold. Boscalid is a precautionary fungicide which hinders new growth of fungal cells and also blocks the energy production in the existing cells. Boscalid fungicide is an effectual and dependable product for the protection and control of a broad range of diseases, since its site of action is unlike the strobulirins and most other fungicides. Additionally, boscalid works really well in fungicide-resistance management rotations. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has classified boscalid as suggestive evidence of carcinogenicity, but not sufficient to assess human carcinogenic potential. Moreover, boscalid has a low toxicity that is toxicity categories III or IV for dermal, oral, inhalation, primary eye irritation and primary skin irritation. All these factors are ultimately resulting in growing popularity of boscalid in the farming industry across the world. The highly effective and efficient performance of boscalid fungicide in a wide range of food crops is driving the global boscalid market since the last few years.



Asia Pacific is expected to be the fastest growing market for boscalid in the next few years. The main reason for this is the rising demand for fungicides, especially boscalid, in China, India and South East Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand due to growing need for better yield for fulfilling the increasing food demand from the constantly escalating population. Moreover, the countries such as Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, and Israel are growingly emphasizing on improving the agriculture output. Furthermore, the U.S. and European countries are focusing on achieving maximum agriculture output from the existing arable land. All these factors are creating a positive prospect for the global agriculture, fertilizer and fungicides industry. The growing demand for boscalid in the agriculture industry across various regions of the world, especially in the developing countries, is anticipated to drive the global boscalid market in the next six years. The major players operating in the boscalid market are mainly focusing on the developing nations for tapping their immense market potential. These companies are installing huge production facilities in the developing nations to fulfill the rapidly growing demand for boscalid from the agriculture industry. Therefore, the global boscalid market is expected to experience a noteworthy growth in the next six years.



Request to view Sample Report:

https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=5528



BASF SE and Dow AgroSciences are one of the major companies operating in the global boscalid market.
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- The physical and mechanical testing of the material is a major part of the product development process. The universal testing machine (UTM) test allows the manufacturers to understand the product and its characteristics. Universal testing machine employs variety of tests to determine the sustainability of the component or the material for desired applications. The universal testing machine is designed to find the mechanical properties of the materials under tension, compression, bending, and shear loads. The demand for the universal testing machine is increasing rapidly due to need of the universal testing machine in the Defense, military, construction industry, automobile manufacturing, astronautics & aeronautics, scientific and education and other end uses.



The universal testing machine can test various kinds of materials, ranging from flexible samples, such as textiles and rubber, to hard samples, such as concrete and metals. This diversity of the universal testing machine is significantly driving the growth of the universal testing machine market across the globe.



Need of universal testing machine in automobile industries driving the growth of the market



Now a days, the demand for the universal testing machine is rapidly increasing in the automobile industries due to the various physical properties of the material which can be evaluated under one device, such as yield strength, tensile strength, compression, elastic and plastic deformation, bend compression, elasticity, and strain hardening. The mechanical testing of the component in the automobile industry is one of the major parameters for component quality and the safety assurance. These factors are boosting the growth of the universal testing machine market around the globe.



Get Sample Copy of Report @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-8804



Universe Testing Machine is extensively used for testing of variety of materials



One of the benefits of Universal Testing Machine is that device can be used to test the strength, durability of various materials. It is rapidly being used in laboratories and by manufacturers to test variety of materials such as ceramics, polymers, rubber, and metal.



The major challenge that is hindering the growth of the market is the high cost and the maintenance associated with the universal testing machine. To operate the universal testing machine, the experienced professional is required.



Global Universal Testing Machine Market: Segmentation



The universal testing machine market has been segmented on the basis of application, material type, end use and region.

Segmentation on the Basis of application:



Compression



Bending



Tensile



Load



Segmentation on the Basis of material type:



Textiles



Polymers



Metals



Ceramics



Others



Segmentation on the basis of end use:



Automobile manufacturing industries



Construction industries



Civil engineering



Educational institutes



Defense



Astronautics & aeronautics



Global Universal Testing Machine Market: Competition Landscape



Some of the prominent players in the Global Universal Testing Machine Market are AMETEK.Inc., Agilent Technologies, Hung Ta Instrument Co., Ltd., Hegewald & Peschke, Heng Yu Instrument (China), Instron, Mts, Shanghai Hualong Test Instrumens Co. Ltd., Shanghai Songdun, Shenzhen Reger Instrument, Shimadzu, Sincotec, Testometric, Tinius Olsen, Wazau, Zwick/Roell, Ccesyj, Cckx, MTS Systems, Applied Test Systems, Illinois Tool Works, Zwick Roell, Buehler, Emerson , Tinius Olsen, and TA Instruments



Request to Browse Full Table of Content, figure and Tables @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-8804



Global Universal Testing Machine Market: Regional Overview



On the basis of geography, the government with major economies in the field of mechanical industries

such as Japan, Germany, the United States, and South Korea are capturing the largest market share in the universal testing machine market. Due to the fast inventions and developments in the automobile industry, also due to the adoption of universal testing machine in several construction and manufacturing industries. Moreover, rising concerns about the quality control and quality assurance in the manufacturing industries in various countries such as France, and India are also contributing to the growth of the universal testing machine market. Also, in Europe, it is expected to witness the high growth of universal testing machine market in the forecasted period due to the rise in the number of automation industries and power plants in the region. The universal testing machine market in the Asia Pacific is also expected to develop at a higher CAGR, due to numerous initiatives taken by the governments in up grading the quality of the products and safety of the product, is boosting the growth of the universal testing machine market.
Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- With the presence of a large pool of participants, the global spas and beauty salons market is displaying a highly competitive business landscape, finds a new research report by Zion Market Research (ZMR). Metropolis Salon & Dry Bar, The Roose Parlour and Spa, Butterfly Studio Salon & Spa, Robert James Salon and Spa, Muse Salon & Spa LLC are some of the key vendors of spas and beauty salons across the world. These players are focusing aggressively on innovation, as well as on including advanced technologies in their existing products. Over the coming years, they are also expected to take up partnerships and mergers and acquisitions as their key strategy for business development, states the spas and beauty salons market study.



Citing an instance, in August 2018, Sunnyside Spa and Salon Fest launched deals on beauty & personal care services.



As estimated in this report, the global spas and beauty salons market stood at US$ 128.59 billion in 2017. Witnessing a tremendous rise during the period from 2018 to 2024, the revenue in this spas and beauty salons market is expected to reach US$ 190.81 billion by the end of the forecast period. The main types available in this spas and beauty salons market are spas and beauty salons.



Request Free Sample Research Report @ https://bit.ly/2S18yFO



Enlarged Focus On Personal Appearance To Boost Market Size



"Growing focus on personal appearance and rise in disposable incomes along with the implementation of novel methods in spa technology are predicted to boost spas and beauty salons market trends," says the author of this study. Apart from this, spas and beauty salons market is expected to gain traction in the years ahead as a major chunk of urban population prefers spa and salon services that aid them in rejuvenating & relaxing from their hectic schedules. In addition, escalating demand for healthy and standard life patterns is one of the key factors propelling the scope of spas and beauty salons market. High acceptance of spas and salon services among teenage population is expected to generate lucrative demand for the industry in the years ahead.



High cost of skilled professionals along with exorbitant product and service costs, however, are projected to inhibit the expansion of spas and beauty salons market in the near future. Nevertheless, launching of customized products & technological innovations in spas & beauty salons are predicted to provide lucrative avenues for the business over the years ahead.



Request Free Brochure of This Report: https://bit.ly/2V25zPz



Wide Acceptance Of Products To Support North America Maintain Dominance



Regionally, North America has been leading the worldwide spas and beauty salons market and is anticipated to continue on the dominant position in the years to come, states the spas and beauty salons market study. Rising acceptance of beauty salon products & services by professionals as well as individuals is the main factor behind the dominance of the North America spas and beauty salons market. The large number of market players headquartered in North America focusing on strategic alliances, R&D activities, and introduction of new products & services is another significant factor that is supporting this regional spas and beauty salons market. In addition, rapidly altering lifestyles of the urban population base and massively rising health & skin problems of geriatric population in the region is anticipated to drive expansion of spas and beauty salons market size.



The rising demand for healthy and standard lifestyles is one of the important factors fueling the growth of the market. The various types of spas offered to the consumers include medical spas, day spas, mineral spring's spas, mud baths, and ayurvedic spas, among other types. The products used in the salons or spas can be made from natural and synthetic ingredients amalgamated with other herbal products or substances to keep the body healthy. The increasing disposable income, growing focus towards personal appearance, and availability and use of advanced techniques in spa technology are expected to boost the growth of global spas and beauty salons market.



Owing to the availability of personalized services, countries such as the U.S., France, Germany, the UK, and Japan are among the top contributors to the spas and salon market in terms of revenue and operations. The high adoption rate of spas and salons services by teenagers are also triggering the growth of this market. The geriatric population is also opting for these services keeping in mind the benefits offered by the spas and salons market such as pleasure, peace of mind, and fitness to its end users. The factor hindering the growth of this market is the high cost of skilled professionals operating in spas and salon industry. The expensive products, solutions, and services costs charged by the spa and salons also limit the growth of the spas and salon market. The launch of customized products and technological innovations in the spas and beauty salons industry is expected to offer tremendous opportunities in this market.



Request Customization Here: https://bit.ly/2N61x5P



The spas and beauty salons market is segmented based on type and region. Type segment is categorized into spas and beauty salons. The spas segment is further bifurcated into day spas, club spas, medical spas, destination spas, mineral spring spas, and resort and hotel spas. Hair salon, waxing salon, nail salon, tanning salon, facials and skin care salon, and a full-service salon are the sub-segments included in beauty salons segment. Regional segmentation of the global spas and beauty salons market includes North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa with further country wise bifurcation into major countries such as the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, China, Japan, India, and Brazil.



The major players operating in the global spas and beauty salons market are Metropolis Salon & Dry Bar, The Roose Parlour and Spa, Butterfly Studio Salon & Spa, Robert James Salon and Spa, Muse Salon & Spa LLC, Metodo Rossano Ferretti Salon, Paul Labrecque Salon & Spa, Madeline Wade, and Salon U, among others.



Request For Discount for Spas and Beauty Salons Market @ https://bit.ly/2Ic0J0r



The global spas and beauty salons market is segmented as follows:



By Type



Spas

Day Spas

Club Spas

Medical Spas

Destination Spas

Mineral Springs Spa

Resort and Hotel Spas

Beauty Salons

Hair Salon

Waxing Salon

Nail Salon

Tanning Salon

Facials and Skin Care Salon

Full-Service Salon



By Region



North America

The U.S.

Europe

UK

France

Germany

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

Latin America

Brazil

The Middle East and Africa
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Global Leather Chemicals Market: Snapshot



The global leather chemicals market has been growing at a phenomenal pace in the past few years. The soaring demand for leather in the footwear and apparel industry is the primary growth driver for the global market. Leather chemicals are used to process, protect, and polish the finish foods. The unprecedented demand for high-quality leather is projected to create a huge demand for leather chemicals in the near future. The report by TMR predicts that rising disposable income and growing fashion industry will also be responsible for the growth in opportunities for the leather chemicals market.



Growing demand for automotive upholstery has also been anticipated to be a key element fueling the growth of the global leather chemicals market in the coming years. Increasing sales of automobiles and expenditure on their beautification has drastically spurred the demand for leather chemicals in the automotive industry. According to Transparency Market Research, in 2013, the global market for leather chemicals was valued at US$5.43 bn. Analysts anticipate the market will register a CAGR of 6.10% during the forecast period to reach a valuation of US$8.19 bn by the end of year 2020.



Read Report Overview @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/global-leather-chemicals-market.html



Tanning and Dyeing to Remain the Leading Chemicals in the Global Leather Chemicals Market



The products available in the global leather chemicals market are finishing chemicals, tanning and dyeing chemicals, and beamhouse chemicals. The report predicts that the tanning and dyeing chemicals segment will hold a major share in the global market as it plays an essential role in defining the aesthetics of the product. A high demand for tanning and dyeing will be seen in countries such as Brazil, India, and China. Meanwhile, beamhouse operation chemicals will also be in high demand as they play an integral role in the production process.



The key chemicals under this segment are well regulating agents, biocides, soda ash, chromium sulfate, and formic acid. The flourishing automotive industry, footwear and apparel industry are expected to raise the demand for beamhouse chemicals in the coming years.



Request Report Brochure @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=4137



Asia Pacific to Remain Key Regional Market as Footwear and Apparel Industry Flourishes in Developing Countries



From a geographic point of view, the global leather chemicals market has been segmented into Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, North America, and the Middle East and Africa. Europe and Asia Pacific have held a significant share in the global market for leather chemicals in the past few decades. Analysts anticipate that Asia Pacific will continue to lead as the developing countries of India and China boast a proliferating leather processing market.



The rise of footwear industry in developing parts of Asia Pacific, which is being supported by fashion-conscious youth and rising disposable income is expected to integral to the regional market. The Asia Pacific leather chemicals market will also be driven by the growing automotive industry, which uses leather to a large extent.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- FPS (Fire Protection Systems) are emergency response equipment used in case of a fire of any kind. FPS (Fire Protection Systems) covered under the scope of this research are fire detection systems, fire extinguishers, fire suppression systems, fire response systems and their respective sub-segments in the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market.



The global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market is estimated to be valued at US$ 41,735.1 Mn by the end of 2018 and is anticipated to reach US$ 83,507.3 Mn by the end of 2026 while expanding at a CAGR of 9.1% over the forecast period. The global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market is anticipated to create incremental opportunity of US$ 41,772.2 Mn between 2018 and 2026.



Factors Influencing the Growth of the Global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) Market



Due to the strong growth being witnessed by various industries, including mining, automotive, construction, manufacturing, utilities and petrochemical, demand for FPS (Fire Protection Systems) in the global market is expected to increase during the forecast period. Owing to these reasons, several companies are entering the market in Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Africa regions with an aim to exploit this demand and expand their geographical footprint.



Request For Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/10822



The global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market in the emerging regions is expected to be driven by foreign direct investments in the industrial sector. According to the Global Finance Magazine, in India, the contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP of the country increased from 24.8% in 2012 to 25.8% in 2015. Thus, companies are focusing on developing FPS (Fire Protection Systems) which comply with the safety regulations of the domestic markets. With effective research, development and innovation, the global manufacturers of FPS (Fire Protection Systems) will witness vast opportunities to capture the unexploited market and increase their market share in the FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market.



Increased focus on safety will fuel the growth of FPS (Fire Protection Systems) during the forecast period. FPS are especially useful in extremely hazardous environments, such as oil & gas and chemical industries. Such industries are among the most safety-conscious end-user industries for FPS (Fire Protection Systems) equipment. Due to the high risks involved in upstream activities, this industry, globally, will create potential business opportunities for FPS (Fire Protection Systems) vendors in the global market. Within the oil and gas industry, workers are exposed to high risks of injuries and accidents. In the event of an accident, litigation costs and employee compensation costs are very high within this industry. Furthermore, loss of working days for each worker results in loss of productivity, which weighs heavily on the overall production of the company. Thus, abiding by the safety regulations and issuing suitable FPS (Fire Protection Systems) are considered wise investment decisions in the oil & gas & chemical industry. This particular factor is expected to pave way for potential revenue opportunities for the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market during the forecast period.



Global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) Market Segmentation and Forecast



The global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market can be divided on the basis of product type, end use and region/country. On the basis of product type, the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market can be segmented into fire detection systems, fire extinguishers, fire suppression systems and fire response systems. Based on end use, the FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market can be segmented into residential, commercial and industrial segments. Significant regions covered in the FPS (Fire Protection Systems) report include North America, Latin America, Europe, South East Asia & Pacific, Middle East & Africa and China



By region, the North America FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market is estimated to dominate the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market. The Europe FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market is expected to hold around one-fourth of the market value share in the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market. Moreover, the South East Asia & Pacific region is estimated to remain a high growth market throughout the forecast period in the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 11.1% over the forecast period, predominantly owing to the vast presence of all industrial and commercial organizations.



By product type, in terms of volume, the fire response system segment is estimated to lead the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market throughout the forecast period. Furthermore, in terms of value, the fire suppression system segment is estimated to dominate the market with almost one-half of the market value by 2026. The fire extinguishers FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market is expected to create incremental $ opportunity worthUS$ 4,545.7 Mn between 2018 and 2026 in the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market. PMR forecasts that the fire suppression system segment is projected to represent a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.1% from 2018 to 2026.



By end use, in terms of volume, the commercial segment is estimated to be pegged at 313,188 '000 units in 2018. This segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.0% between 2018 and 2026 in the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market. The Industrial FPS (Fire Protection Systems) segment is projected to create incremental $ opportunity of US$ 16,974.8 Mn over the forecast period.



Request For Report Table of Content (TOC)@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/10822



fire protection system market



Key Players Dominating the Global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) Market



Some of the key market participants reported in this study of the global FPS (Fire Protection Systems) market are Gentex Corporation, United Technologies Corporation, Siemens AG, Robert Bosch GmbH, NAFFCO, GUNNEBO AB, Johnson Controls, Honeywell International, Hochiki Corporation, Halma plc, Consilium AB, DESAUTEL SAS, Yamato Protec Corporation, Swastik Synergy Engineering Private Limited and Solas Fire Safety Equipment (P) Ltd., among others.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- ResearchMoz.us has announced the addition of a report, titled "Energy-efficient Lighting Technology Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2018 - 2026". The report on the global energy-efficient lighting technology market offers a detailed assessment of key growth dynamics, current opportunities and emerging technology frontiers, and key demand trends that will underpin the prospects. The study also presents insights into growth avenues in various regions and recent strategies adopted by prominent players. It also offers an incisive analysis of macroeconomic factors that can impact the competitive dynamics in near future.



The drive for energy-efficient lighting technology stems from the need for optimizing the consumption of power in the backdrop of ever rising demand for energy across the globe. Coupled with this, insufficient rise in global energy production capacity has led governments and regulators promote the use of energy-efficient technologies, especially in developing region of Asia Pacific. This regulatory thrust plays a key role in the expansion of the global market. In this regard, efforts to bolster adoption of green building concepts and various environmentally-friendly mandates for residential building owners are fueling the growth.



Request for Sample PDF ( with ToC, Tables and Figures) at: https://www.researchmoz.us/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=2067841



The demand for energy-efficient lighting technology has witnessed a robust fillip from the growing awareness about the energy benefits of light bulbs such as LEDs and CFLs. The market has also witnessed substantial impetus from the growing affordability of these energy-efficient bulbs for middle-class populations, particularly in emerging economies. The growth in the global market is also fueled by stringent implementation of government mandates in developed regions such as in Canada and European Union.



However, since these energy-efficient bulbs have long replacement cycles, this factor may mar the outlook of the market in the short term. Moreover, the technical drawback of LEDs and CFLs to operate in extreme environments has hampered the prospects of the market to an extent. Nevertheless, the decline in revenues will be offset by gains from extensive uptake of LED as energy-efficient lighting technology in residential and commercial buildings, world over.



The growth in the global market is notably compounded by rising number of new constructions in developing worlds. New installations are expected to contribute the majority of shares in the global market by 2026 end. Furthermore, the advent of internet of lights has opened a world of possibilities in the global market. These technologies are fast gathering steam in residential applications on account of benefits such as better controls and integration with sensors.



On the regional front, North America and Europe are expected to contribute substantial shares to the global energy-efficient lighting technology market. Meanwhile, Asia Pacific is expected to hold the sway, garnering a promising CAGR during the assessment period.



Some of the prominent players operating in the energy-efficient lighting technology market includes Bridelux Inc., LIGMAN Lighting Co, Nichia Corporation, Apple Inc., OSRAM Licht Group, Eaton Corporation, and Cree Inc.



About ResearchMoz

ResearchMoz is the world's fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMoz's service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.



Contact Us:

Mr. Nachiket

Albany NY - 12207

United States

Tel: +1-518-621-2074

Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)

Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Embedded Software Market is driven by a surge in the adoption of IoT-enabled devices that helped the enterprises to offer enhanced connectivity & technological solutions and handle large-scale data used in complex architectures such as aircraft, drones, and autonomous cars. An increase in the demand for smart and connected devices in the automotive & healthcare industry is projected have a positive impact on the market. The healthcare industry is one of the fastest industries to adopt IoT-enabled embedded OS into medical devices, helping the medical personnel to improve the quality and effectiveness of services offered to their patients. Global Embedded Software Market was estimated at over USD 11 billion in 2017, and is set to reach USD 19 billion by 2024; according to a new research report by Global Market Insights, Inc.



Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/478



The increase in demand for open-source Linux software and open-source RTOS software is expected to offer lucrative growth to the embedded software market. As per GMI analysis, the worldwide shipment of open-source real-time operating systems has increased by 8.5% in 2017 as compared to 2016. The use of real-time systems enables the user to develop functional firmware in highly compressed timescales. Moreover, it also supports the custom Board Support Package (BSP) as per the user's requirement. The primary advantage of open source RTOS is low power consumption that helps MCUs to increase the processing speed by around 20%.



The RTOS segment in embedded software market is projected to register a CAGR of more than 11% due to a surge in the demand for special-purpose hardware using real-time systems such as ThreadX, Windows CE, Fusion RTOS, LynxOS, and VxWorks. The RTOS-enabled software uses a round-robin scheduling process that reduces the hog in the CPU and performs an error-free process in real-time. Such systems offer mission-critical and safety-critical applications to various industry verticals such as military, healthcare, manufacturing, and the automotive sector.



The real-time system in embedded software market is projected to register the highest growth with a CAGR of more than 12% during the forecast period. The growth in this segment is attributed to error-free task management and the use of preemptive kernel method in the system. The real-time system is classified into two types, soft and hard. The soft RTS offers less accuracy and strictness on time while hard RTS delivers the exact output at the required time.



The manufacturing sector held more than 23% embedded software market share in 2017 due to the evolution of Industry 4.0 manufacturing with seamless IoT connection. A surge in the demand for IoT-enabled OS allows the manufacturers to remotely monitor the product's statistics and automate the device-to-analytics data flow. The adoption of RTOS software facilitates the enterprises to monitor the changes in the production on a real-time basis, increasing the operational excellence in the manufacturing sector. In July 2016, Advantech launched 7" WebOP-2070T TFT that supports WVGA operator panel with web access/HMI software. This strategic move helped the company improve the manufacturing efficiency and decrease its labor cost.



Make an inquiry for buying this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/478



The Asia Pacific embedded software market is expected to record a CAGR of more than 10% over the forecast period. In July 2018, Chinese chip manufacturer, Chengdu Haiguang IC Design Co., has started the development of the x86 processors named "Dhyana" that includes their operating system. This strategic move helped the Chinese manufacturers to reduce their dependence on the operating systems of the U.S. A surge in disposable incomes of developing countries including India, Japan, and South Korea will also augment the embedded software market.



North America accounted for the highest embedded software market share of more than 51% in 2017 due to the presence of key players of the market in this region. An increase in the number of startup companies offering innovative software solutions in the U.S. will help them continue their dominance. Moreover, a rise in the adoption of special-purpose hardware using RTOS systems, such as Fusion RTOS, Windows CE, Lynx OS, and VxWorks, will augment the embedded software market share during the forecast period.



The key players operating in the embedded software market are ENEA, Green Hills Software, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Advantech, Microchip, Mitsubishi, STMicroelectronics, Express Logic, LG CNS, Mentor Graphics, National Instruments, Segger, Texas, Renesas, HCL, Qualcomm, Toshiba, Via, Dexcel, Graphene, and Qualitat systems.



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.
New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The report covers comprehensive information about market trends, volume (Units) and value (US$ Mn) projections, competition and recent developments and market dynamics in the global mud pumps market for the study period of 2013 to 2026.



The global mud pumps market is expected to reach a little over US$ 1,085 Mn over the forecast period, registering a CAGR of 4.4%. Growth in drilling activities in the oil & gas Industry to increase hydrocarbon production and ease of the mud circulation operation in drilling holes are some of the factors expected to lay a robust foundation for the growth of the global mud pumps market.



Triplex type mud pumps to find extensive usage across the globe



Mud pumps can be classified on the basis of the number of pistons into duplex, triplex and quintuplex, which consist of two, three and five pistons respectively. The triplex segment is expected to dominate the mud pumps market in terms of value as well as volume during the entire forecast period. Triplex mud pumps find extensive usage in circulating drilling fluid with high pressure for deep oil well drilling application. These usage characteristics make them preferable for use, primarily in onshore and offshore oil well drilling applications.



Request For Report Sample@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/24547



By the end of 2026, the triplex segment is projected to grow 1.42X its size in 2018 by value, creating an absolute dollar opportunity of nearly US$ 234 Mn during the forecast period.



Electric mud pumps  growing demand for electric products as countries tighten emission control regulations



Mud pumps are widely utilized in the oil & gas industry. On the basis of the mode of operation, mud pumps can be classified as electric and fuel engine mud pumps.



Fuel engine mud pumps use petroleum oils as the key liquefying agent. These types of mud pumps release hazardous gases into the environment. In order to contain the hazardous impact of fuel engine mud pumps on the environment, regulatory authorities are compelling manufacturers and consumers to opt for electric mud pumps, which do not emit volatile organic compounds and operate with low noise and low vibration. Electric mud pumps offer smooth operations in drilling rigs and are environment-friendly, which is why they dominate the market for mud pumps.



The electric mud pumps segment is projected to grow with a 4.5% CAGR during the forecast period in view of the tightening emission control regulations and is expected to create an absolute $ opportunity worth US$ 134 Mn between 2018 and 2026.



Usage of mud pumps in onshore oil well drilling rig segment to exhibit above-average growth



Among all the applications analyzed in this global mud pumps market study, the onshore application of mud pumps is expected to register about 1.43X growth in terms of value between 2018 and 2026. The offshore application of mud pumps is projected to register moderate growth during the entire forecast period, led by land oil field discoveries.



In terms of incremental $ opportunity, onshore and offshore segments are expected to compete within large margins. The onshore application of mud pumps is expected to occupy over an 86% share in terms of value by the end of 2026.



mud pumps market



North America to remain a high growth  high value region in the global mud pumps market



Increasing oil-well exploration activities, stable economic conditions and consistent growth in oil well drilling rig sales in the region are expected to drive the demand for mud pumps in the region.



The comparatively well-established production sector in the region and increasing oil and gas industry and hydrocarbon consumption will create a healthy platform for the growth of the mud pumps market. Some regions including China and Europe are expected to gain traction in the latter half of the forecast period, owing to the anticipated growth of the oil & gas industry in these regions. North America is expected to register above-average 1.1X growth in the market. All the other regions are anticipated to exhibit moderate growth during the same period.



Apart from Europe and China, all other regions are anticipated to lose market value share over the forecast period. China and Europe are collectively expected to register a CAGR of 4.3% by value.



Mud pumps market  competitive landscape



The global mud pumps market is consolidated with limited market players holding considerable double-digit market shares as of 2017. Globally, the top 12 players in the mud pumps market collectively hold between 53% and 58% of the market share.



Over the past few years, the mud pumps market has witnessed significant technological advancement from the competition perspective. Acquisitions, collaborations and new product launches are some of the key strategies adopted by prominent players to expand and sustain in the global mud pumps market.



In 2018, National Oil Varco signed a deal with Dubai Saudi Armaco to form a joint venture for the manufacturing of onshore rigs and equipment in Saudi Arabia

In 2016, Schlumberger Limited competed its merger with Cameron International Corporation to develop a strong brand value in the rig equipment market

In 2015, Flowserve opened a new pump manufacturing plant in Coimbatore, India. Through this new facility, the company aims to provide pump products for the oil and gas industry in Asia Pacific



Request For Report Table of Content (TOC)@ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/methodology/24547



Some of the key players involved in this market study on the global mud pumps market include National Oil Varco Inc., Schlumberger Limited, Gardner Denver Inc., Weatherford International Plc., China National Petroleum Corporation, Trevi-Finanziaria Industriale S.p.A., MhWirth, BenTech GmbH Drilling Oilfield systems, American Block Inc., Honghua Group Limited, White Star Pump Company LLC, Flowserve corporation, Ohara Corporation, Mud King Products, Inc. and Herrenknecht Vertical GmbH.
Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- With the presence of a large pool of participants, the global cosmetic products market is displaying a highly competitive business landscape, finds a new research report by Zion Market Research (ZMR). Alticor, Oriflame Cosmetics Global SA, Yves Rocher, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Mary Kay Inc., Revlon Inc., Kao Corp., L'Oreal Group, and Shiseido are some of the key vendors of cosmetic products across the world. These players are focusing aggressively on innovation, as well as on including advanced technologies in their existing products. Over the coming years, they are also expected to take up partnerships and mergers and acquisitions as their key strategy for business development, states the cosmetic products market study.



Citing an instance, on October 3, 2018, Guinot Institut Parisa France based cosmetic firm having a biggest chain of branded beauty units across Europe and 400 centers globallydeclared that it will inaugurate first Guinot-branded Beauty unit in Mount Pleasant, U.S. The company sources have stated that the center is likely to open on October 22nd 2018 near the market at Oakland shopping unit.



Request Free Sample Research Report @ https://bit.ly/2SRZrf9



As estimated in this report, the global cosmetic products market stood at US$ 532 billion in 2017. Witnessing a tremendous rise during the period from 2017 to 2024, the revenue in this cosmetic products market is expected to reach US$ 863 billion by the end of the forecast period. The main products available in this cosmetic products market are skin care products, hair care products, color cosmetics, fragrances, personal care products, and oral care products. Among them, the demand for personal care products is relatively higher and the trend is anticipated to remain so over the next few years, notes the cosmetic products market research report.



Desire To Retain Youthful Appearance Among Adults To Soar Market Size



"Massive use of cosmetic products to improve odor or body appearance along with immense desire of adults to retain youthful appearance is likely to nurture the growth of cosmetic products market in the years ahead," says the author of this study. Apart from this, massive demand for personal care products and growing popularity of online retailing & advertising, ecommerce activities, and internet is likely to aid the expansion of cosmetic products market. In addition, extensive use of shaving products, deodorants, skin care lotions, fragrances, hair care items, color and makeup cosmetics, and sun care products are expected to boost cosmetic products market demand over the coming years.



Request Free Brochure of This Report: https://bit.ly/2BBGeo3



Humungous Presence Of Key Players To Aid North America Maintain Dominance



Regionally, North America has been leading the worldwide cosmetic products market and is anticipated to continue on the dominant position in the years to come, states the cosmetic products market study. High living standards of the U.S. population along with prominent usage of sunscreen lotions are the key factors behind the dominance of the North America cosmetic products market. The presence of giant manufacturers such as Maybelline Cosmetics, Avon, Estee Lauder, MAC Cosmetics, and Clinique being headquartered in North America is another significant factor that is supporting the growth of this regional cosmetic products market.



The global cosmetic products market is segmented as follows:



By Product



Skin care products

Hair care products

Color cosmetics

Fragrances

Personal care products

Oral care products



By Form



Solutions

Creams

Lotions

Ointments

Suspensions

Tablets

Powders

Gels

Sticks

Aerosols



Request For Discount for Cosmetic Products Market @ https://bit.ly/2E9XKBA



By Application



Lips

Eyes

Eyebrows

Nails

Face



By Distribution Channel



Online

Beauty salons

Specialty stores

Direct selling

Departmental stores

Pharmacy

Supermarkets



By Region



North America

The U.S.

Europe

UK

France

Germany

Asia Pacific

China

Japan

India

Latin America

Brazil

The Middle East and Africa
Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The growing beauty products market has been increasing the demand for value-enriched cosmetics. The market is flooded with various cosmetic chemicals. Cosmetic chemicals are the basic ingredients found in cosmetic products including soap, shampoo, lipstick, mascara, deodorants and other beauty products (excluding the products listed under therapeutic goods). At present, various cosmetic business enterprises use more than 5000 different chemical compositions to offer selected cosmetic products. Based on its end use applications, cosmetic chemical have been further divided into surfactants, emollients, conditioning polymers, and UV absorbers. These chemical-based products contain preservatives which hinder microbial growth and thereby offer longer shell life to the cosmetics. In addition, these chemicals contain a variety of vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, herbs, hormones, and fragrances. This vast range of cosmetic chemicals allows business cosmetics to deliver different types of cosmetics in the market, thereby offering a vibrant market to cosmetic industries.



Request For Report Sample @ https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-as-31



Their use is widely found in personal care products. A wide range of applications ranging from anti-ageing cream to shampoo is driving the cosmetic chemical market to its zenith. Companies these days are focusing on organic grade cosmetic chemicals as they are considered to be a healthier option when compared to commodity surfactants and petroleum oils. The cosmetic chemicals market has been segmented into skin care products, make up products, hair care products and fragrance products. Among all its market segments, cleaning agents and foaming agents are the enduse applications that account for the largest percentage of the market. Skin care products accounted for 31% of global cosmetic market in year 2013. Though cosmetic chemicals offer many options to formulate cosmetics depending on different skin types, the market is shifting towards natural surfactants primarily because of the rising safety concerns of sulfate-based surfactants.



Globally, North America is the largest market for cosmetic product consumption. It accounted for 21.2% of global market share in 2012. USA with US$ 54.89 billion in 2012 is the biggest cosmetic market. However, with the rising dominance of non-western beauty culture in Eastern region, the market share is set to shift towards ASEAN region. Ethnic and cultural diversity in APAC, and particularly in ASEAN region,are driving the cosmetics market vertically upwards. Growing consumer class in ASEAN region from 67 million population to 125 million population by 2025 will offer a lucrative market for various business cosmetic business channels. A large consumer base, ample natural resources, availability of cheap labor and easing of policies such as FDI by government, are the main driving factors for the cosmetic chemicals market in ASEAN markets.



In the ASEAN region, the cosmetic market has been witnessing a double digit growth every 5 years. GDP at the constant price shows a vertically upwards trend in these regions. The rise in the middle class population in Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Philippines is the major driving factor for the growth of this sector, while in Malaysia and Singapore, wealthy segments contribute largely to it. Skin care products are set to witness exponential growth in the ASEAN market, thereby offering lucrative business opportunities in the cosmetic chemicals market.



Request For Report Table of Content (TOC): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-as-31



There is a flood of suppliers in cosmetic chemicals which results in a fragmented market. However, the demand for premium personal care products has led to consolidation of the market, thus leading to high competitiveness among the dominant players in this market. The prominent players of cosmetic chemicals market include Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Bayer AG, Givaudan SA, Merck KGaA, Shell Chemical and Berkshire Hathaway Inc.
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- The global [] market has been garnering remarkable momentum in the recent years. The steadily escalating demand due to improving purchasing power is projected to bode well for the global market. QY Research's latest publication, titled "[name of the reports]", offers an insightful take on the drivers and restraints present in the market. It assesses the historical data pertaining to the global [] market and compares it to the current market trends to give the readers a detailed analysis of the trajectory of the market. A team subject-matter experts have provided the readers a qualitative and quantitative data about the market and the various elements associated with it.



The research report is broken down into chapters, which are introduced by the executive summary. It's the introductory part of the chapter, which includes details about global market figures, both historical and estimates. The executive summary also provides a brief about the segments and the reasons for the progress or decline during the forecast period. The insightful research report on the global [] market includes Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to understand the factors impacting consumer and supplier behavior.



Request a Sample of this report at:https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/974257/global-corrugated-pallets-industry-market



The following Companies as the Key Players in the Corrugated Pallets Market Research Report: DS Smith, Smurfit Kappa, Conitex Sonoco,PGS Group,Milwood, Kamps Pallets, The Corrugated Pallets Company ...



Regions Covered in the Corrugated Pallets Market:

?The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)

?North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)

?South America (Brazil etc.)

?Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

?Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)



The scope of the Report:

The report segments the global [] market on the basis of application, type, service, technology, and region. Each chapter under this segmentation allows readers to grasp the nitty-gritties of the market. A magnified look at the segment-based analysis is aimed at giving the readers a closer look at the opportunities and threats in the market. It also address political scenarios that are expected to impact the market in both small and big ways.

The report on the global [] market examines changing regulatory scenario to make accurate projections about potential investments. It also evaluates the risk for new entrants and the intensity of the competitive rivalry.



Ask our Expert if You Have a Query at: enquiry@qyresearch.com



Strategic Points Covered in TOC:

Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product scope, market risk, market overview, and market opportunities of the Corrugated Pallets market

Chapter 2: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Corrugated Pallets market which consists of its revenue, sales, and price of the products

Chapter 3: Displaying the competitive nature among key manufacturers, with market share, revenue, and sales

Chapter 4: Presenting Corrugated Pallets market by regions, market share and with revenue and sales for the projected period

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions



Purchase the Corrugated Pallets Market Report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/bee383614ae2621d60da8062ee2eb4c1,0,1,Global%20Corrugated%20Pallets%20Industry%20Market%20Research%20Report%202019



Contact US

QY Research, INC.

USA: +1 6262 952 442

China: +86 1082 945 717

Japan: +81 9038 009 273

India: +91 9766 478 224
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- The global [] market has been garnering remarkable momentum in the recent years. The steadily escalating demand due to improving purchasing power is projected to bode well for the global market. QY Research's latest publication, titled "[name of the reports]", offers an insightful take on the drivers and restraints present in the market. It assesses the historical data pertaining to the global [] market and compares it to the current market trends to give the readers a detailed analysis of the trajectory of the market. A team subject-matter experts have provided the readers a qualitative and quantitative data about the market and the various elements associated with it.



The research report is broken down into chapters, which are introduced by the executive summary. It's the introductory part of the chapter, which includes details about global market figures, both historical and estimates. The executive summary also provides a brief about the segments and the reasons for the progress or decline during the forecast period. The insightful research report on the global [] market includes Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to understand the factors impacting consumer and supplier behavior.



Request a Sample of this report at:https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/974252/global-corrective-contact-lenses-depth-research-report



The following Companies as the Key Players in the Corrective Contact Lenses Market Research Report:Johnson & Johnson, CooperVision,Carl Zeiss, Menicon, Novartis,Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Essilor International,Contamac, HOYA, SynergEyes, UltraVision CLPL, Shanghai Hydron Contact Lens Optics (Ginko International)



Regions Covered in the Corrective Contact LensesMarket:



?The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)



?North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)



?South America (Brazil etc.)



?Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)



?Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)



The scope of the Report:



The report segments the global [] market on the basis of application, type, service, technology, and region. Each chapter under this segmentation allows readers to grasp the nitty-gritties of the market. A magnified look at the segment-based analysis is aimed at giving the readers a closer look at the opportunities and threats in the market. It also address political scenarios that are expected to impact the market in both small and big ways.



The report on the global [] market examines changing regulatory scenario to make accurate projections about potential investments. It also evaluates the risk for new entrants and the intensity of the competitive rivalry.



Ask our Expert if You Have a Query at: enquiry@qyresearch.com



Strategic Points Covered in TOC:



Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product scope, market risk, market overview, and market opportunities of the Corrective Contact Lensesmarket



Chapter 2: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the Corrective Contact Lensesmarket which consists of its revenue, sales, and price of the products



Chapter 3: Displaying the competitive nature among key manufacturers, with market share, revenue, and sales



Chapter 4: Presenting Corrective Contact Lensesmarket by regions, market share and with revenue and sales for the projected period



Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions



Purchase the Corrective Contact LensesMarket Report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/7d6d0bc998f08698160c684b2f0bcc7d,0,1,Global%20Corrective%20Contact%20Lenses%20Depth%20Research%20Report%202019



Contact US



QY Research, INC.



USA: +1 6262 952 442



China: +86 1082 945 717



Japan: +81 9038 009 273



India: +91 9766 478 224
Los Angeles, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- The global [] market has been garnering remarkable momentum in the recent years. The steadily escalating demand due to improving purchasing power is projected to bode well for the global market. QY Research's latest publication, titled "[name of the reports]", offers an insightful take on the drivers and restraints present in the market. It assesses the historical data pertaining to the global [] market and compares it to the current market trends to give the readers a detailed analysis of the trajectory of the market. A team subject-matter experts have provided the readers a qualitative and quantitative data about the market and the various elements associated with it.



The research report is broken down into chapters, which are introduced by the executive summary. It's the introductory part of the chapter, which includes details about global market figures, both historical and estimates. The executive summary also provides a brief about the segments and the reasons for the progress or decline during the forecast period. The insightful research report on the global [] market includes Porter's five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to understand the factors impacting consumer and supplier behavior.



Request a Sample of this report at:https://www.qyresearch.com/sample-form/form/974207/global-consumer-electronics-and-appliances-industry-depth-survey-report



The following Companies as the Key Players in the Global Consumer Electronics and Appliances Market Research Report:Electrolux, Koninklijke Philips,Samsung, Robert Bosch,Whirlpool, Haier, Midea Group,LG Electronics, ACE Hardware, Erajaya,Toshiba, Panasonic, Miele & Cie, SMEG, Sony, Electronic City Indonesia,Trikomsel Oke,PT. Electronic Solution Indonesia, Lazada



Regions Covered in the Global Consumer Electronics and AppliancesMarket:

?The Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries and Egypt)

?North America (the United States, Mexico, and Canada)

?South America (Brazil etc.)

?Europe (Turkey, Germany, Russia UK, Italy, France, etc.)

?Asia-Pacific (Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Japan, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, India, Indonesia, and Australia)



The scope of the Report:



The report segments the global [] market on the basis of application, type, service, technology, and region.



Each chapter under this segmentation allows readers to grasp the nitty-gritties of the market. A magnified look at the segment-based analysis is aimed at giving the readers a closer look at the opportunities and threats in the market. It also address political scenarios that are expected to impact the market in both small and big ways.



The report on the global [] market examines changing regulatory scenario to make accurate projections about potential investments. It also evaluates the risk for new entrants and the intensity of the competitive rivalry.



Ask our Expert if You Have a Query at: enquiry@qyresearch.com



Strategic Points Covered in TOC:



Chapter 1: Introduction, market driving force product scope, market risk, market overview, and market opportunities of the global Consumer Electronics and Appliancesmarket



Chapter 2: Evaluating the leading manufacturers of the global Consumer Electronics and Appliancesmarket which consists of its revenue, sales, and price of the products



Chapter 3: Displaying the competitive nature among key manufacturers, with market share, revenue, and sales



Chapter 4: Presenting global Consumer Electronics and Appliancesmarket by regions, market share and with revenue and sales for the projected period



Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: To evaluate the market by segments, by countries and by manufacturers with revenue share and sales by key countries in these various regions



Purchase the Global Consumer Electronics and AppliancesMarket Report at: https://www.qyresearch.com/settlement/pre/6ce5165b2d1b8ee051e4728fe3460d94,0,1,Global%20Consumer%20Electronics%20and%20Appliances%20Industry%20Depth%20Survey%20Report%202019



Contact US

QY Research, INC.

USA: +1 6262 952 442

China: +86 1082 945 717

Japan: +81 9038 009 273

India: +91 9766 478 224
Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- The continuous changes in the digital world have revolutionized the overall human experience. It has become essential for every business organization to use digital technology that can help them increase their productivity, improve efficiency and lessen the non-productive workers. In order to achieve high-profit margins and higher productivity, the organizations have started to adopt connected worker solutions that can help them stay connected to their labor. The connected worker solutions help the companies to ensure their worker's safety, track them remotely and achieve better regulatory compliance. The connected worker market is expanding since the connected worker solutions are helping companies to be aware of the unexpected accidents happening in the field. The connected worker also assists in tracking workers while reducing the chances of errors and increasing efficiency. The increased visibility in the process work status provided by connected worker solutions has triggered the adoption of the connected worker in the market.



Vendors in the connected worker market are focused on developing more solutions under connected worker that can help organizations track their work and increase worker productivity, thereby helping them improve profit margins. Increasing research and development by vendors in the market in order to add new functionalities to connected worker solutions protfolio are key trends in the market.



Click here to subscribe Sample @ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=2956



Connected Worker Market: Drivers and Restraints



The connected worker eliminates the manual processes through which the chances of errors caused by paper-based systems reduces, thereby helping the labor to correctly and safely execute their tasks. The connected worker also helps in enhancing the efficacy of workforce and operational metrics. Such factors are driving the growth of connected worker market. The connected worker solutions provide real-time data through which the organization can gain visibility into safety and health. The connected worker solution also includes workforce analytics that allows decisions to be taken based on data analysis. Such factors are further stimulating the progress of connected worker market.



The cost of implementing the connected worker solutions is very high since it requires specific infrastructure to be set up and also requires various devices to connect to labor. Such factors are hampering the adoption of a connected worker in the market. Also, there are chances of fraud if the physical devices used in connected worker gets hacked, which may result in inappropriate delivery of content. Also, the devices involved in the connected worker environment requires high internet connectivity. Such factors are furthermore restraining the growth of connected worker market.



Connected Worker Market: Segmentation



The connected worker market can be categorized on the basis of the type of solution, deployment type and industry. On the basis of the type of solution, the worker safety type in the connected worker market is expected to have a high growth rate due to the increasing concern of labor working at remote sites. On the basis of deployment type, the adoption of cloud-based deployment connected worker is anticipated to grow due to low cost and high scalability and flexibility offered by the cloud. By industry, the fire and safety and real estate and construction industry in the connected worker market are expected to grow.



Segmentation of the connected worker market based on type of solution:



Worker Productivity

Worker Safety

Worker Compliance

Workforce Analytics

Segmentation of the connected worker market based on deployment type:



Cloud

On-premise

Hybrid Network

Segmentation of the connected worker market based on industry:



Agriculture

Real estate and construction

Fire and Safety

Manufacturing

Transportation and Logistics

Oil and Gas

Mining

Others

Connected Worker Market: Competitive Landscape



Examples of some of the key players operating in the connected worker market are Honeywell International Inc., Oracle Corporation, Intel Corporation, Wipro Limited, Accenture Plc., Avnet, Inc., SAP SE, Vandrico Solutions Inc., and Nagarro.



Request/View TOC@ https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=T&rep_id=2956



Regional Overview



The connected worker market is segmented across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, China, SEA and others of APAC, Japan, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to be a large market for connected worker as a majority of the Connected Worker vendors such as Google Corporation, Honeywell International Inc. and Intel Corporation are based in the region. The increasing requirement of staying connected to labor at work settings that are out of reach of communication networks, which is driving the adoption of connected worker solutions in European countries, such as Germany and UK. The growing popularity of connected worker in developing regions, such as APEJ, Latin America and parts of Africa, are characterized by the increased spending connected devices in the regions. Rising disposable income among people in the countries mentioned above is likely to increase the scope of penetration of connected worker in these regions in the near future.



The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the connected worker market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, application and industry.



The Connected Worker market report covers exhaustive analysis on:



Market Segments

Market Dynamics

Market Size

Supply & Demand

Current Trends/Issues/Challenges

Competition & Companies involved

Technology

Value Chain

Regional analysis includes:



North America (U.S., Canada)

Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru)

Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, BENELUX, Nordic, Eastern Europe)

CIS and Russia

Asia-Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, South Korea)

Japan

Middle East and Africa (GCC Countries, South Africa, Turkey, Iran, Israel)

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, macro-economic 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.



Report Highlights:



Detailed overview of parent market

Changing market dynamics in the industry

In-depth market segmentation

Historical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value

Recent industry trends and developments

Competitive landscape

Strategies of key players and products offered

Potential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growth

A neutral perspective on market performance

Must-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint



Grow Your Business From Expert Advice: https://www.factmr.com/report/2956/connected-worker-market



About Fact.MR

Fact.MR is a fast-growing market research firm that offers the most comprehensive suite of syndicated and customized market research reports. We believe transformative intelligence can educate and inspire businesses to make smarter decisions. We know the limitations of the one-size-fits-all approach; that's why we publish multi-industry global, regional, and country-specific research reports.



Contact Us

Rohit Bhisey

Fact.MR

11140 Rockville Pike

Suite 400

Rockville, MD 20852

United States

Email: sales@factmr.com

Web: https://www.factmr.com/

Blog: https://factmrblog.com/

Read Industry News at - http://theguardiantribune.com
Rockville, MD -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- A huge number of contractors in North America are preferring a compact track loader over a skid steer loader. In a bid to magnify productivity and uptime at low operating expenses, a substantial demand for compact track loader has been recorded from this region. This, in turn, is foreseen to be highly beneficial for the North America compact track loader market. Also, a remarkable demand registered for compact track loader can be attributed to the additional productivity offered.



Request for Sample of this Global Market Research Report Here - https://www.factmr.com/connectus/sample?flag=S&rep_id=1661



The prevailing trade tensions between the U.S. and other countries are foreseen to have an adverse aftermath on the sales of agricultural equipment, compact track loader being no exception. Levying hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports are believed to have a notable impact on the U.S. agriculture machinery equipment industry. This, is turn, might induce a wave of stress in the compact track loader market. The trade tensions are believed to have an adverse influence on the agricultural equipment industry as China would consider tit-for-tat tariffs aimed at U.S. products, which includes agricultural exports.



American Giants Scouting for Opportunities Created by Construction Projects in Emerging Nations



Key American companies operating in the compact track loader market are capitalizing on the sprouting construction projects in developing economies such as China and India. Caterpillar, one of prominent companies operating in the compact track loader market, observed that nearly half of its sales upturn came from construction and recognized China to be a 'crucial' contributor. In the 4th quarter of 2017, Caterpillar recorded that sales in APAC rise 22 percent year on year. According to the company, the surging building construction and infrastructure investment across budding economies is one of the primary reasons for this to happen.



Incessant March of Compact Track Loader Persists Across Multiple Applications, Except for a Few



Though it is quite evident that compact track loader market is outshining the skid steel loader market in terms of sales, it may not be the same in all cases. There are a quite few applications with specific speed requirements, which will continue seeking skid steer loaders (SSLs). This might be a minor loophole in the growth trajectory of compact track loader market. Also, skid steer loaders will continue stealing the march when it comes to the cost factor. Demolition sites and many others with ample of debris are best furnished by skid steers, primarily those with solid tire modifications. Also, in case of applications where the ground conditions are firm, skid loader is a good fit. The weight of skid loader is less when compared to that of compact track loader, paving ways for greater flexibility and flawless transportation. For all rest of the applications, Compact track loader will continue gaining the market share from skid steer loader.



Request Global Market Report with TOC Here - https://www.factmr.com/report/1661/compact-track-loader-market



In a bid to upgrade the product versatility of the compact track loader market, manufacturers operating in the compact track loader market are focusing on increasing the number of attachments. A few major manufacturers operating in the compact track loader market are offering more than 70 unique attachments in their products, which include pallet forks, snow pushers, rotary cutters, snow blades, and many more. Also, manufacturers in the compact track loader market quote that more number of attachments result in a better command over season-specific work.



The compact track loader market report offers meticulous intelligence to the readers by providing cutting-edge insights on key players indulged in manufacturing and distribution in the compact track loader market. This chapter in the compact track loader market report provides a detailed assessment of vital facets such as product portfolios, SWOT analysis, key personnel, company overview, revenue shares, and latest innovations in the compact track loader market. Key companies operating in compact track loader market and profiled in the report on compact track loader market include Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co., Komatsu Ltd., Volvo Construction Equipment and Services Inc., Doosan Bobcat Inc., Yanmar Co. Ltd, CNH Industrial N.V, JCB, Inc., Kubota Corporation, Wacker Neuson SE, Kato Works Co. Ltd., Takeuchi Construction Machinery, Zhejiang Hero Time Machinery, and Sany Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.



Caterpillar Inc., an eminent player in the compact track loader market, had incorporated the methodology of 'Operating & Execution (O&E)' in a bid to direct resources toward areas representing opportunity for profitable growth. Moreover, the company is expanding its services with an emphasis on aftermarket and digital technologies for attaining high return on investments.



To Buy Global Market Research Report, Go with this Link - https://www.factmr.com/checkout/1623/S



About FactMR

FactMR 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 Us

FactMR

11140 Rockville Pike

Suite 400, Rockville, MD 20852

United States

Email: sales@factmr.com

Web: https://www.factmr.com/

Blog: https://factmrblog.com/
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/15/2019 -- The global commercial robotics market has witnessed steady growth in the last few years due to rapid growth of vital end users such as the healthcare industry. Commercial robotics has become a crucial requirement in several parts of the healthcare sector, which is likely to enable a steady growth in demand from the global commercial robotics market in the coming years. Other sectors such as the defense and marine industries are also likely to exhibit growing demand from the global commercial robotics market in the coming years, brightening the market's prospects. The commercial robotics market is thus likely to exhibit a smooth growth trajectory in the coming years, according to Transparency Market Research.



The firm puts the commercial robotics market's 2017 valuation at US$5.9 bn, estimating the market to rise to a valuation of US$17.6 bn by 2022 at a strong 24.4% CAGR.



Browse The Report: https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/commercial-robotics-market.html



Steady growth of the healthcare industry has been vital for the global commercial robotics market in the last few years. The medical robotics sector has developed at a rapid rate in the recent past due to growing acknowledgment of its benefits in the healthcare sector, which has led to growing investment from leading medical industry players. The healthcare industry is particularly strongly leaned towards technological innovation in developed regions such as North America and Western Europe. However, the global medical robotics market could shift its center from the West to emerging regions such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East in the coming years due to growing government support to the healthcare sector in countries such as China and India.



The North America market is set to dominate the global commercial robotics market in the coming years due to the widespread acceptance of the infrastructure required for adoption of commercial robotic systems. The steady technological advancement of the healthcare sector in North America is thus a major driver for the global commercial robotics market. Europe is also a major contributor to the global commercial robotics market due to the strong presence of the industrial sector as well as a burgeoning healthcare industry. The commercial robotics market in North America is expected to be valued at US$7.6 bn in 2022, representing more than 43% of the global commercial robotics market. The defense and security sector could also account for a significant portion of the demand from North America and Europe, as numerous developed countries in these regions have focused on military modernization in the recent past.



Get PDF Sample for this Research Report @ https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=31412



The increasing government interest in the healthcare sector in countries such as China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia is likely to drive the commercial robotics market in Asia Pacific except Japan in the coming years, with the regional market set to account for 18.4% of the global commercial robotics market by 2022. The region is expected to make a 271 BPS rise over the 2017-2022 forecast period.



The Middle East and Japan are also likely to contribute significantly to the global commercial robotics market in the coming years, with the MEA market for commercial robotics expected to rise to US$471 mn by 2022 at a strong CAGR of 22.7%. The strong presence of Japanese companies in the robotics sector is likely to enable smooth growth of the commercial robotics market in Japan in the coming years, with the Japan commercial robotics market set to rise to a valuation of US$899.8 mn by 2022.
Sellbyville, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- Caprolactam Market in Asia Pacific will emerge as the fastest growing region which is chiefly driven by increasing number of manufacturing industries in China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Rising automobile & transportation, and textile industry coupled with growing demand of electronic gadgets will augment the demand of caprolactam in the region.



Request for a Table of Content of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-toc/upcoming/2288



On the basis of grade, the market is diversified as caprolactam and anionic polymerization caprolactam. AP caprolactam is gaining more endorsement pertaining to its low moisture characteristics. This gathered enough substantiation to widen the end-use domain such as blocking agent for isocyanate, processing auxiliary for polyamide film extrusion, impact modifier for melamine coated chipboards and others. Increasing use of AP caprolactam will further spur the product market during forecast period.



Based on application, the product market is fragmented into nylon 6 fibers, nylon 6 resins and other applications. Caprolactam is majorly used as an intermediate in manufacturing of nylon6 fibers, nylon 6 resins while other niche applications of the product include crosslinking agent for polyurethanes, synthesis of lysine, manufacturing of some engineering plastics, etc. The global nylon 6 resin market is likely to witness CAGR over 6% by the end of 2024 which will further propel the growth of caprolactam market. Favorable government initiatives such as the Indian government's proposed integrated textile park to assist small and medium entrepreneur by providing financial aid in 2014, will also be a contributing factor for the product industry development.



Request for a Customization of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/roc/2288



Caprolactam Market Size is likely to witness a steady growth from 2017 to 2024 pertaining to high growth in nylon 6 applications in end-use sectors such as automotive, electronics, textiles, packaging, etc.



Caprolactam, is a cyclic amide or lactam of caproic acid. It is a colorless organic compound which is a raw material to nylon 6, an extensively used synthetic polymer. Caprolactam is usually manufactured from three different sources such as cyclohexane, phenol and toluene. The most commonly used raw material to produce caprolactam is cyclohexane via converting it to oximes by using hydroxylammonium sulfate followed by Beckmann rearrangement. The product's mechanical properties such as light-weight and high strength makes it an aptly endorsed material to produce nylon fiber and resins. The caprolactam manufacturing plant requires less technical complexity coupled with low initial infrastructure investment which will encourage new participants to enter the market. The product industries generally exhibit high degree of forward integration as most of the caprolactam producers are also involved in production of nylon 6 products.



Increasing application of nylon 6 in the form of fiber and resins will spur the market growth in next seven years. Nylon 6 fibers has a myriad end-use application owing to the unique characteristics including light weight, fatigue & heat resistance, and high tensile elastic strength. Various application of nylon 6 fiber including textile, carpets, industrial yarn, etc. is likely to augment the demand of nylon 6 which will further spur the caprolactam market during the forecast spell. The use of nylon resins in automotive industry to manufacture air bags, doors, windows, tire cords, gear, under the hood components, etc. and in electronic industry to manufacture electrical & electronic components will contribute to the product's market growth. Rising disposable income of consumers and changing technologies to manufacture light weight vehicle owing to their fuel efficiency will upscale the demand of nylon 6 which will lead to humongous growth of caprolactam market in next seven years.



The primary hindrance in the product market is the release of ammonium sulfate as a by-product during its manufacturing pertaining to its hazardous nature and toxicity which causes environmental and health concern. The other reason that will encumber the market growth is stringent regulation by the government. For instance, in 2011, the investigating authority of China implement regulation no.68 of 2011, to launch an anti-dumping investigation of caprolactam which originated from Europe and the U.S.



Based on the raw material, the market is categorized as cyclohexane, phenol and toluene. Among all, cyclohexane is the most popular raw material due to its low cost and ease of availability. The new technological innovation to minimize the amount of hazardous by-product will augment use of cyclohexane. For instance, Fibrant HPO-plus technology has significantly reduced the byproduct to 1.5 tons per ton of caprolactam.



Make an inquiry for buying this report @ https://www.gminsights.com/inquiry-before-buying/2288



The immense contribution by the companies involved in this industry makes the competitive landscape of caprolactam market vivid and dynamic. Some of the renowned players are Lanxess, Advansix, Fibrant, Ube Industries Ltd., Bruggemann Gruppe, Domo Chemicals, BASF, Spolana, Alpek S.A.B, Kemerovo JSC Azot, Sumitomo Chemicals Co.ltd., Guichon Valves, KuibysheuAzot OJSC, etc.
Office of Representative Bobby Rush(NEW YORK) -- New Jersey high school students made history earlier this year by becoming the first known high school class to draft a bill, lobby it in Congress and eventually have it signed into law.

It all started three years ago in an honors civics class at Hightstown High School. Stuart Wexler was teaching his classmates about the Civil Rights movement and specifically about the various racist hate crimes taking place at the time that went unsolved. After some research, the class discovered that around a dozen of these cases had recently been reopened and then closed again without resolution.

Oslene Johnson was a junior in high school at the time and said that the class was then motivated to try and provide some sort of justice for these victims and their families. They decided to create a shared document where they worked together to draft what is now the Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act. The law requires that decades-old government records relating to unsolved civil rights cases be reviewed, declassified and released to the public.

"I think the most important driving force for us throughout this entire process has been what it could possibly mean for the families of the victims able to have access to the information about their relatives about what happened to their relatives," Johnson said.

The students spent the first year drafting the bill, but then came the tricky part: getting members of Congress to sign on to the bill. Students would spend their class time making phone calls, sending emails and tweeting to Congressman trying to get their bill some type of attention. Some even traveled to Washington, D.C. and lobbied their bill to congressman own their on.

Aditya Shah was also a junior in the civics class and said that it was difficult at first getting congressman to take their efforts seriously and that they received a lot of rejection initially. However, once the students were able to get in the door and get a meeting, Shah said they always made an impression.

"I remember one of the staffers telling me, 'Wow you guys are way more prepared than some of the actual lobbyists who come in and lobby for their bills,'" Shah said.

Illinois Rep. Bobby Rush was the first congressman to sign on as a co-sponsor of the bill and said that he was overwhelmed and inspired by these students' dedication and persistence.

"They came up with a great solution to an unrecognized and unacknowledged problem that existed for years," Rush said.

Alabama Sen. Doug Jones was also one of the early supporters of the bill and introduced the bill to the United States Senate. Jones said that he was also impressed by how much research the students did on the issue of these civil rights cold cases.

"They really understood how important it was to bring some healing to these communities," Jones said.

Some of the students actually traveled to Washington, D.C. to witness Sen. Jones introduce the bill on the Senate floor, and said it was a day they will never forget. Some sitting in the Senate gallery had to fight back tears as they watched Jones give an impassioned speech about their bill and its' importance.

Three years later, the bill was signed by President Trump and for students like Shah it is still a little unbelievable.

"We were able to surmount each challenge and we grew in our passion and our vigor and I just was so proud to see that all of our efforts, determination, hard work and drive was able to help so many people's lives and change the dialogue in a nation," Shah said.

The law requires the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to create a collection of records for unsolved criminal civil rights cases that all government offices must disclose to without redaction. It also establishes a Civil Rights Cold Case Records Review Board which will operate as an independent agency made up of private citizens that will be responsible for reviewing the records and the public disclosure of the records relating to such cases.

Rush, who has a long history with the civil rights movement in Illinois, said he hopes the release of these records will help solve civil rights cases that nobody cared about and provide investigative facts for families.

"There will be no guessing, no speculating," Rush said. "So in some instances families will be relieved, and in some instances they will be grieved. But they will know what the facts are."

For the students, one of their major takeaways was that it showed them what it means to work together as a country to implement change.

"What this has taught me is that, no matter my age, I can do something that can have a positive change that will affect our entire country," said Johnson.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Harrisburg, NC -- (SBWIRE) -- 02/16/2019 -- GLOBAL BATHING SUIT MARKET RESEARCH REPORT 2019

This Report proposes compelling details of Bathing Suit market size, market share, contemporary trends, upcoming investment opportunities, and other primary segments. The Bathing Suit analysis centers over numerous vital elements that influences global Bathing Suit industry along with the international economy. Historic overview, present market status, and futuristic projections of Bathing Suit industry are discussed in this study report.



The report presents the market competitive landscape and a corresponding detailed analysis of the major vendor/key players in the market.

Top Companies in the Global Bathing Suit Market: - Pentland Group, Arena, Diana Sport, Hosa, Zoke, Dolfin Swimwear, Derong Group, FEW, Wacoal, Yingfa, TNZI, Sanqi International, Gottex, American Apparel, Seafolly, Aimer, PARAH S.p.A, Seaspray, TYR Sport, Perry, NOZONE, Platypus, La Perla Group and Others.



Click the link to get a free Sample Copy of the Report:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/02051079990/global-bathing-suit-market-research-report-2019/inquiry?source=releasewire&Mode=18



GLOBAL BATHING SUIT MARKET SEGMENT BY TYPE:-

Women

Men

Boys

Girls



GLOBAL BATHING SUIT MARKET SEGMENT BY APPLICATIONS:-

Individual Use

Commercial Use



MARKET SEGMENT BY REGIONS:-

For comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, the Global Bathing Suit Market is analyzed across key geographies namely: United States, China, Europe, Japan, South-east Asia, India and others. Each of these regions is analyzed on basis of market findings across major countries in these regions for a macro-level understanding of the market.



Avail Exclusive Discount on This Report:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/02051079990/global-bathing-suit-market-research-report-2019/discount?source=releasewire&mode=18



THERE ARE 15 CHAPTERS TO DEEPLY DISPLAY THE GLOBAL BATHING SUIT MARKET.

Chapter 1: to describe Bathing Suit Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;

Chapter 2: to analyze the top manufacturers of Bathing Suit, with sales, revenue, and price of Bathing Suit, in 2017 and 2018;

Chapter 3: to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2017 and 2018;

Chapter 4: to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Bathing Suit, for each region, from 2014 to 2018;

Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9: to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;

Chapter 10 and 11: to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2014 to 2018;

Chapter 12: Bathing Suit market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2019 to 2025;

Chapter 13, 14 and 15: to describe Bathing Suit sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix and Data source.



The report has 150 tables and figures browse the report description and TOC:

https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/02051079990/global-bathing-suit-market-research-report-2019?source=releasewire&Mode=18



INFLUENCE OF THE BATHING SUIT MARKET REPORT:

-Comprehensive assessment of all opportunities and risk in the Bathing Suit market.

-Bathing Suit market recent innovations and major events.

-Detailed study of business strategies for growth of the Bathing Suit market-leading players.

-Conclusive study about the growth plot of Bathing Suit market for forthcoming years.

-In-depth understanding of Bathing Suit market-particular drivers, constraints and major micro markets.

-Favourable impression inside vital technological and market latest trends striking the Bathing Suit market.



About MarketInsightsReports

MarketInsightsReports provides syndicated market research on industry verticals including Healthcare, Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Technology and Media, Chemicals, Materials, Energy, Heavy Industry, etc. MarketInsightsReports provides global and regional market intelligence coverage, a 360-degree market view which includes statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.



Contact US:

Irfan Tamboli (Head of Sales)

Market Insights Reports

Phone: + 1704 266 3234

Mob: +91-750-707-8687

sales@marketinsightsreports.com

irfan@marketinsightsreports.com


Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading.
Q:My HOA sent out a proposed policy for owners wanting to install solar power systems installed on a roof shared with other units. I am not anxious to have any contractor mess with my roof or my neighbors since we all own it and we are in the middle of a lengthy roof replacement project. D.S., San Diego

A:Civil Code 4746 applies to installation of solar systems on shared roofs, meaning roofs that are over stacked condominiums. Associations may require an owner to first develop a solar site survey showing how the shared roof can be fairly divided between the units under it. Associations also may require the owner to meet the conditions permitted by the statute  including maintaining, repairing and insuring it. This statute was new in 2018 and expands the strong preference toward solar installations expressed in Civil Code 714 and 714.1 by making it clear that homeowners may install solar systems even on a roof they share with other owners.

Many associations are adopting reasonable solar installation policies to make sure that both the applicant and the board or committee reviewing the applications are aware of the solar system installation requirements.

Q:I am interested in installing solar energy over my condo, but our board president feels they are ugly, so he always denies my request. He says even if he allowed it (and he wont) I would be responsible for all roof damage and leaks covering all units in my building even though the solar array would only be just above my unit. Does he have the ability to continue saying no? J.N., Tustin

Advertisement

A:Your associations president is placing the homeowners association at legal risk. You may want to show him a copy of Civil Code 714, 714.1, and 4746. Point him to 714(f) and (g), under which a violating association could be hit with a civil penalty of $1,000 plus an attorney fee award. Hopefully this will educate him and avoid escalating into a legal dispute. But the HOA can insist damage and leaks would be your responsibility.

Q:I have been attempting to get approval of a solar installation above my unit. I am being asked to sign a fairly comprehensive legal agreement, in addition to other restrictions, now that they handed over the process to a lawyer. I did not expect such a comprehensive and intimidating agreement. I would also like to ensure the process is simplified for future homeowners. S.M., San Diego

A:The association may under Civil 4746(b)(2) require you to sign an agreement under which you meet the conditions allowable under Civil 714.1 and 4746, including a requirement that this agreement bind later owners of your property. These agreements are normally recorded on your property so that later owners are legally notified of the fact and contents of the agreement.

Such agreements specify your responsibilities and protect your association neighbors. It isnt fair if your solar system results in costs to the other owners who are not benefiting from the system. If you think the agreement is excessively burdensome, have a lawyer compare it to the aforementioned two statutes, to make sure the agreement doesnt go too far.

Kelly G. Richardson CCAL is a Fellow of the College of Community Association Lawyers and Senior Partner of Richardson Ober PC, a California law firm known for community association advice. Send questions to Kelly@richardsonober.com. Past columns at www.HOAHomefront.com.
Whats the best way to celebrate Presidents Day?

Visiting a presidential library is one option, and if you want to pick the most popular one, its easily the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

He served from 1981 to 1989 and is one of two presidents with a their presidential libraries in the state of California, where he also served as governor.

Sitting high on a hilltop with views of the Pacific Ocean, the 300-acre site was the most visited presidential library over the last four years, and most of the years of the last decade, according to numbers from The National Archives and Records Administration.

There you can walk through the Air Force One airplane that served seven U.S. presidents, see a replica of the Oval Office and learn all about the life of the 40th president. We talked to Melissa Giller, who has worked there for 17 years, about what makes it so popular and learned some things about Reagan that you might not have heard before.

Advertisement

Here are just a few.

1. The librarys dedication was the first time five living U.S. presidents gathered in one place.

Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush gathered on Nov. 4, 1991, to help dedicated the library. They were joined by six first ladies, too: Lady Bird Johnson, Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, Pat Nixon, Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush.

Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter, Lady Bird Johnson, Gerald Ford, Betty Ford, Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Nancy Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Barbara Bush (Ralph C. Bledsoe, Ronald Reagan Library.)

2. When Reagan was shot in 1981, he didnt know it.

There was an assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan at the Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. on March 30, 1981. At first, Reagan didnt know he was shot, Giller explained.

He thought he couldnt breathe because his Secret Service agent had thrown him into the limousine to make sure that he wasnt shot and the president thought that the Secret Service agent had broken his rib, Giller said. He had no idea he was shot. The limo was returning to the White House [when] the Secret Service agent and Ronald Reagan realized [he] was coughing up blood.

Advertisement

The library has a whole gallery about the assassination attempt including footage, the suit that was cut off the presidents body and his x-rays.

3. He used his mothers Bible when he was sworn in as president.

His mothers Bible is on display at the library.

His mother was very religious, Giller said. It sort of shaped Ronald Reagan and his religious beliefs and we have his mothers Bible on display, which is the Bible that Ronald Reagan used for both swearings in as president of the United States.

Advertisement

4. When Reagan saw the land for the library, he also decided he wanted to be buried there.

President Reagan came up to look at the land and, at the time, Simi Valley was undeveloped and it was just rolling hills and mountains and horse trails as far as the eye can see and when you stand out on our hilltop, you can actually see the Pacific Ocean, Giller said. The president fell in love with the land just immediately and he even said, When I die, I want to be buried right here. In the way in which hes buried, he looks out over the ocean and the sunset every day.

Flowers lie on grave marker of US President Ronald Reagan on the one-year anniversary of his death at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on June 5, 2005 in Simi Valley, California. (David McNew/Getty Images)

To learn more about the Reagan Presidential Library, go here.

Advertisement

Subscribe to The Conversation podcast

The Conversation with Abby & Luis is a podcast that slows down the news cycle to make sense of issues and stories that matter to listeners in San Diego and beyond. We talk to news makers, experts and others to offer interesting, in-depth conversations that will keep you up to date and informed.

Check out some of our most recent episodes below, or subscribe on Apple or Stitcher.

This file photo taken on August 15, 1988 shows US First Lady Nancy Reagan and her husband, US President Ronald Reagan, at a luncheon in New Orleans honoring her for her work to combat drug abuse. (MIKE SARGENT/AFP/Getty Images)

Advertisement



Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
Trump leaking military secrets a threat

Re Trump plans to keep troops in Iraq (Feb. 4): Loose lips can damage a nation: What if a senator attended a classified meeting and divulged information from that meeting to the public? Would that be a punishable offense?

It is not a stretch to think Donald Trump attended a meeting that spelled out sensitive information about spying on Iran from a base in Iraq. That was certainly on his mind when he discussed that information in public.

Didnt Trump know that the Iraqi government could not condone the U.S. using a base in Iraq to spy on Iran?

Advertisement

When will Congress do their job and use the powers of the Constitution to table Trump?

Dan Martin

Carlsbad

Few side with Trump in dropping arms treaty

Re U.S. announces withdrawal from INF nuclear arms treaty with Russia (Feb. 1): I just watched Gen. Colin Powell say publicly that it is a major mistake for the president to withdraw from the nuclear weapons treaty President Reagan crafted in 1987 with the Russians.

Powell, a retired four-star general with 35 years service, also served as national security adviser for President Bush (1987-93), commander of the U.S. Armed Forces Command (1989), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-93), and the U.S. secretary of state under President Bush (2001-06).

I recently watched a replay of the president on television saying again weve built miles of his wall and have millions in appropriations to build it. Do any of the people who make excuses for the president really believe these blatant lies he repeats on national TV? Do his followers actually believe this man knows more than the generals and our chiefs of intelligence for the CIA, FBI, and National Security Agency? Would you trust Gen. Colin Powell or Donald Trump more with the safety of this country?

Ed Karesky

Advertisement

Escondido

Ignoring our experts endangers the nation

Re Intelligence officials misquoted, Trump claims (Feb. 1): Trumps discrediting of our intelligence agencies was bad enough when he stood next to and sided with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, stating that Putin strongly denied meddling in our 2016 election and that I dont know why it would be Russia.

Advertisement

He has now again demeaned our intelligence chiefs who testified honestly and professionally to Congress about threat assessments as annually required. Since their facts differed from his delusions, he said they should go back to school. Then after meeting with them, he now says they are on the same (read his) page because they told him they were misquoted and that their live public comments were fake news. Huh?

When will Republican leaders grow a spine, place country over the 2020 election, and take Trump to task for continually disparaging his own hand-picked intelligence officials, which truly is a national security concern.

Bill Leonard

Del Mar Heights

Advertisement

It is past time to bring U.S. troops back home

Re Senate breaks with president (Feb. 5): Id like to thank Senator Rand Paul for standing against his partys call to prolong American entanglement in Syria and Afghanistan. The only GOP candidate in the last presidential primary to show serious concern about the debt, Paul has again shown himself better than his party.

Id also like to thank Iraqs President Barham Salih for pushing back against President Trumps sop to interventionists (Iraqis rebuff Trump over troops).

It is strange that Trump, who has so emphasized how he opposed starting the war in Iraq, now supports prolonging the use of Iraq as a base for ongoing U.S. intervention in the region. Our debt-ridden government should be closing down foreign military bases (see the documentary Standing Army), not finding ways to keep newer ones open.

Advertisement

David M. Hodges

Lakeside

Time to end military efforts in Afghanistan

Re Great nations prevail (Feb. 8): Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen opposes ending our 18 years in Afghanistan because it is better to fight the terrorists there than, on American streets and American cities. Its not that simple.

Advertisement

If we withdrew now, how many more would die on American streets? Ten, 100, or 1,000? The papers report 2,420 American lives have been lost so far in the Afghan war and thousands more seriously injured. The U.S. has spent $932 billion in Afghanistan since 2001. Americans rest their case. We want out.

Tom Dresselhuys

Carmel Valley

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.
As awful as the constant spills from Tijuanas broken sewage infrastructure have been for the Tijuana River and the San Diego County-Baja California coast, new information suggests theyre an even scarier health threat than previously thought.

A draft report prepared by U.S. Customs and Border Protection that was provided to local officials this week detailed water quality tests in several of the canyons that empty into the Tijuana River Valley. As expected, the tests showed high levels of pathogens from human fecal waste. Exposure to this waste can lead to serious, potentially fatal bacterial and viral infections. Thats worrisome enough.

But the tests also showed the presence of more than two dozen additional substances that pose health risks  from hexavalent chromium (the heavy-duty industrial pollutant made famous by the movie Erin Brockovich) to banned pesticides to uranium. While risks from human waste fade over time, these potent substances last far longer, potentially creating the need for a Superfund-style toxic cleanup. Christopher Harris, spokesman for the National Border Patrol Council Local 1613, is grimly accurate in calling the Tijuana River Valley one giant chemical waste dump. The chemical burns and rashes that border agents have suffered in recent years now seem even more ominous.

The draft report ratchets up already high stakes. The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board has long supported an all-of-the-above approach on the Tijuana sewage crisis. We called for the city of San Diego to join a lawsuit filed in September by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board against the Trump administration over its failure to enforce federal water pollution laws and supported a similar suit filed by the Port of San Diego, Imperial Beach and Chula Vista. We also offered hope that county Supervisor Greg Coxs discussions with officials from the EPAs regional headquarters in San Francisco bear fruit. Playing good cop, bad cop makes sense, But recently board Chair Diane Jacob revealed if she had her way, Id have joined the lawsuit a long time ago. Pressed, she told us shed ask the board to reconsider a lawsuit. Thats good. Its time for the board to discuss whether Coxs talks are working, or enough is enough.

Advertisement

This problem also demands the attention of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris. They must grasp that the Tijuana River Valley contamination is only getting worse  then get the federal government to act.

The San Diego congressional delegation says its doing what it can. According to a background briefing from an aide to a local House member, Congress appropriated $10 million for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the North American Development Bank  a joint U.S.-Mexico agency that finances border environmental projects  to address the Tijuana crisis in 2018. The bill to avert the government shutdown that Trump signed Friday includes another $15 million for the two agencies.

But the EPA and the bank arent obligated to spend the $25 million on Tijuana sewage infrastructure, according to the briefing. Instead, the agencies will review a variety of eligible projects to determine which most address regional priorities. This is beyond maddening. The years-old Tijuana sewage nightmare is subject to ponderous bureaucratic inspection before the federal government can act?

Newsom, Feinstein and Harris need to take on this Washington sclerosis and demolish it.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
This is not the editorial we expected to write.

In recent days, the San Diego County Sheriffs Department had told KPBS itll cost $354,524.22 to provide police misconduct and use of force records in response to a public records request, with the bulk of costs related to redacting audio and video records. Thats just for 48 use of force cases. The department was still estimating the cost for 28 others. Meanwhile, it told Voice of San Diego it would cost $246,759.32 to release misconduct records to its journalists and told The San Diego Union-Tribune it would cost $30,617.52 for three sex assault cases.

When The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board interviewed Gore in April ahead of his re-election, he told us, I dont think I have a reputation of denying things. I try to be as open as we can about everything from internal affairs investigations to use of the force. When we endorsed him a month later, we wrote that the sheriff made a plausible case in an interview with us that he is open to criticism and ready to embrace new approaches. We also wrote that his opponent hasnt made the case that Gore is resistant to change and criticism, but that, A stronger challenger may succeed in 2022.

Fast forward to Friday. An earlier draft of this editorial said, A stronger candidate should start his or her campaign now by blasting Gore for the outrage of asking the public to shell out so much money for public records. Now we wont say that. Gore may be right when he says the redaction of audio and video files related to records newly available under Senate Bill 1421 is time-consuming. But Gore has been sheriff long enough to know that agencies routinely waive fees related to public record disclosures because journalists act in the publics interest.

Advertisement

In a call, Gore told us the fee was not meant to make it so costly people wont request records. But, we said, thats the chilling effect for a billing practice thats now being challenged in front of the state Supreme Court. We hung up the phone and started writing this editorial. To Gores credit, he called us back and said that to build confidence in his department, he had decided not to charge fees. Thank you, sheriff. Ultimately, the Sheriffs Department and local media have the same goal: to help the public. That was done with your decision here.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
In response to rumors of his own demise, Mark Twain famously quipped, The report of my death was an exaggeration. The same could be said for the initial news stories about the high-speed rail endeavor following Gov. Gavin Newsoms straight talk about the projects woes in his first State of the State address.

High-speed rail in California is far from dead and the plan Newsom sketched is almost identical to the one adopted last year. While he dropped a few tantalizing breadcrumbs of future changes, the real shocker is that he was honest about the status of the project. There simply isnt any additional money on the horizon to build much more than the segment under construction in the Central Valley, even after Gov. Jerry Brown convinced the state Legislature to allocate a full quarter of cap-and-trade revenues and after the Legislature extended the cap-and-trade program through 2030. Project supporters and opponents agree: A stand-alone Central Valley high-speed rail line as proposed is not a viable commercial venture.

Related: Why Californias bullet train should not stall

It wasnt supposed to be this way. In 2008, we were told that we would be riding fast trains from Los Angeles to San Francisco in 2020, which is less than a year from now. It would take less than three hours and tickets would be affordable. The only state money needed was $9 billion from the $9.95 billion bond measure on the ballot. There were critical safeguards in place to make sure that anything that got built would pay its own way once completed; precious funds to invest and run other transit services would be protected.

Advertisement

After witnessing chaotic early community meetings, I got involved as a volunteer with a small ad-hoc group that started advocating for the adoption of best practices for transportation projects. As someone who had voted for the project, I was shocked to learn how unprepared the state agency in charge was. Decisions had been made without any of the planning that is essential for high-speed rail projects. Every major consultant in the country had a contract; this helped secure political support and bond campaign contributions but created an unmanageable organization.

Newsom laid out a series of criticisms in his speech; a plan that takes too long and costs too much, not enough transparency and accountability, consultants running amok, an enormous funding gap, strings attached to federal grants. By 2009, these problems and their potentially existential consequences were already glaringly obvious. This was a project designed to fail, but only after a lot of money had been spent.

Serious people have tried and largely failed to get the project back on track. However, policy-makers believe that you wont get the money for your pet project if you tell the truth. Of course, a culture of deception is incompatible with the accountability that is required to deliver transportation projects at a price that makes them worth building in the first place. While overly optimistic politicians are a universal phenomenon, we need to get real about how pervasive and corrosive this attitude is in California.

As a former mayor of San Francisco, a city where politics is a high art, Newsom must understand how much easier it is to talk about governance than to fix it. Real changes in governance and policy-making are not sexy. Ribbon-cuttings offer great photo opportunities. Snapshots of audit committee meetings? Not so much.

This is slow, tedious work; it will take time and probably legislation. The payoff will be not be quick and probably not fast enough for even Newsoms limited commitment to high-speed rail which will still require another $15 billion of spending.

If he is serious about change, the ambitions for the construction underway in the Central Valley should be even further curtailed. The project must get small enough that we as a state offer the possibility to develop critical organizational skills that are in short supply.

Even connecting Fresno to Merced and delivering on the promise to hold contractors accountable will be a challenge. This will require renegotiating our contract that governs the federal grants we received, but there is almost certainly a deal to be made that is better for everyone.

The bad news and good news about high-speed rail is that it is simply too big and too challenging to get done the way we have staggered to the finish line with other projects. This can be an opportunity to learn from our mistakes  an opportunity we hope that Newsom takes.

Advertisement

Alexis is co-founder of Californians Advocating Responsible Rail Design (CARRD). Website: calhsr.com.
The showy first summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last June was draped in flags and bunting, but the decoration covered what turned out to be a mostly empty box that lacked a shared agreement on denuclearization.

Given this disappointing record, whats realistically possible when the two leaders meet again in two weeks in Vietnam?

Diplomacy is letting someone else have your way, as the late Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson once observed. But that adage applies to Kim as much as Trump. The best outcome may simply be a roadmap that, by opening pathways and marking obstructions, makes both sides safer during a decade-long process toward the U.S. goal of final, fully verified denuclearization.

In the run-up to the Hanoi summit, some pragmatic ideas are being floated by experts in and out of the Trump administration. The premise of these discussions is that denuclearization wont be a sudden stand-down but a phased process that, if its successful, will create its own momentum and ever-increasing security.

Advertisement

The baseline for U.S. officials is a recognition that, as Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats put it in congressional testimony last month: North Korea is unlikely to give up all of its nuclear weapons and production capabilities, even as it seeks to negotiate partial denuclearization steps to obtain key U.S. and international concessions.

Trump tried to put the best face on this stark assessment afterward, tweeting: North Korea relationship is best it has ever been with U.S. No testing, getting remains, hostages returned. Decent chance of Denuclearization. All true, except for the last bit, which remains fuzzy, at best.

Stephen Biegun, Trumps special envoy for North Korea, offered a frank account in a Jan. 31 speech at Stanford University. North Korea has given us little indication that they have yet made the decision to completely dismantle and destroy that [nuclear] capability. We all know that. The challenge, he said, is to change the trajectory of their policies by changing the trajectory of our own.

Biegun has been collecting ideas from experts from Stanford and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Its not clear what, if anything, has emerged from these conversations, but papers prepared by the two groups illustrate some of the background issues for the Hanoi meeting.

The Carnegie group, led by George Perkovich, Ariel Levite and Toby Dalton, has focused on the importance of comprehensive, verifiable caps on North Koreas nuclear arsenal, during the long process toward denuclearization. In gathering information for their recommendations, theyve held meetings with Chinese and other international experts.

The Carnegie team has explored how limits on North Koreas nuclear and missile program might be verified, given the lack of modern infrastructure in that country and its poor record-keeping. The answer, they argue, is probabilistic verification, which may not measure every item in the stockpile but can give a reliable overall assessment of whether Pyongyang is complying.

The Stanford team, headed by Siegfried Hecker, Robert Carlin and Elliot Serbin, stresses specific, observable measures of whether the North Korean threat is receding. They argue that 2018 [marked] a halt and some rollback, after Kim stopped nuclear and missile testing and closed a nuclear test site. And they provide benchmarks to assess whether future diplomacy is sustaining this progress.

North Korea will not give up its weapons and its weapons program until its security can be assured, argue the Stanford experts. Such assurance cannot be achieved simply by an American promise or an agreement on paper, it will require a substantial period of co-existence and interdependence ... that may stretch to 10 years.

Advertisement

The Stanford team argues that as a sweetener (and also to employ North Korean scientists and boost verification), Pyongyang should be allowed to retain a civilian nuclear program and a peaceful space program.

Trump will undoubtedly crank up the hype machine at the Hanoi summit, so experts should analyze carefully the details of whatever agreement emerges  and on whether that accord continues the reduction of the North Korean military threat that began last year.

The bedrock of this diplomatic opening is so basic that people often overlook it. But read carefully what Biegun said at Stanford:

President Trump is ready to end this war. It is over. It is done. We are not going to invade North Korea. We are not seeking to topple the North Korean regime. ... We are ready for a different future. Its bigger than denuclearization, while it stands on the foundation of denuclearization.

Advertisement

Trumps summitry with Kim is partly hot air. But theres something real and fundamental here, too, which could make the world safer.

Ignatius is on Twitter, @IgnatiusPost.
Last March, when The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Capt. Marco Garmo had been the subject of an illegal gun sales investigation, Sheriff Bill Gore said the case was thoroughly investigated and his department took appropriate action.

Garmo, who until this week commanded the Rancho San Diego sheriffs substation, said at the time that he didnt know he needed a federal firearms license to buy or sell more than five weapons a year.

Im not making excuses, he said last year. Its a mistake thats probably commonly made. My intentions were not to violate the law.

At the end of the sheriffs internal investigation, two years ago this month, Gore issued Garmo a formal reprimand for violating rules against buying and selling guns without a federal firearms license.

Advertisement

Im comfortable with the fact that hes a gun collector; thats not illegal, the sheriff told the Union-Tribune last year. Im uncomfortable with the fact he sold more than he was authorized to. Thats why he was disciplined.

Then-District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, who received the case from the state Department of Justice, declined to file charges against the sheriffs captain. Instead, her office warned Garmo not to break the laws on excessive gun sales again.

But federal agents may not be so forgiving.

On Wednesday, agents from the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives executed several search warrants across San Diego, including the East County estate of well-known San Diego jeweler Leo Hamel.

The same day, the sheriffs department announced that Garmo would be placed on paid administrative leave while federal investigators pursue an unspecified criminal investigation. The department declined to comment further, beyond saying its officials are cooperating with investigators.

No arrests have been announced, and the extent of the current criminal case is unclear.

Federal officials declined to discuss the investigation. Records related to the search that normally would be available for public inspection have been sealed by a judge.

Advertisement

Hamel and Garmo, who both declined to return calls seeking comment this week, have known each other for years. Both were active in the Deputy Sheriffs Association of San Diego County, a nonprofit labor group that negotiates wages and benefits with the sheriffs department and provides additional services to members.

Garmo served as a director of the association. Hamel has been a donor and was named an honorary deputy sheriff.

The Deputy Sheriffs Association operates a store in Poway that sells guns and other law enforcement-related merchandise and supplies to members.

Also, both Garmo and Hamel won election in June 2016 to the Republican Central Committee, a volunteer group of political activists that works to elect Republicans to local and state office and promotes the Republican Party across San Diego County and beyond.

Advertisement

Despite winning more than 22,000 votes combined, neither man remained on the committee. Party Chairman Tony Krvaric said Thursday that each had their seat vacated in 2017 for failing to attend meetings.

Marco won but he never showed up, so after four meetings a vacancy was declared and we filled that, he said. Hamel, too, was kicked off for non-attendance.

Krvaric said he was surprised to learn of the federal investigation.

This is complete news to me, he said. The whole thing is completely surreal, and well see what the investigation comes up with.

Advertisement

Garmo told the Union-Tribune last year that he was a gun hobbyist who frequently bought and sold firearms the way any collector would. He said he never profited from the sales.

All of my purchases were legal, he said. All of my transfers were legal through standard measures.

The sheriffs internal investigation into Garmos illegal gun sales at the time was limited to calendar years 2014, 2015 and 2016, a three-year period during which Garmo sold 44 guns without a federal license.

Emails obtained by the Union-Tribune showed that Garmo had bought and sold more than 150 weapons over the years.

Advertisement

Former Cmdr. David Myers, who challenged Gore in his 2018 re-election campaign, was critical of how the review was handled.

I originally reported suspicious firearm sales to Gore who conducted a sham internal investigation to sweep it under the carpet, Myers said.

In a statement Friday, the sheriffs department again said the Garmo investigation was handled properly. After state investigators referred the case to prosecutors, the District Attorneys Office declined to file charges.

Then, the sheriffs Internal Affairs Unit opened its own investigation and reprimanded Capt. Marco Garmo for his actions, the department said. Our IA Unit is dedicated to preserving integrity and public trust. We stand by the work done by our Internal Affairs investigators, as well as our local and state partners.

Advertisement

A spokeswoman said department officials asked Garmo to sign a waiver to allow the release of pertinent documents but the captain declined. He has rights under the Peace Officers Bill of Rights, she said in an email.

After the sheriff departments internal investigation was closed with a reprimand, Garmo donated $200 to Gores re-election campaign. Other members of Garmos family contributed $1,700 to the Re-Elect Sheriff Gore 2018 campaign, election filings show.

Garmo told the Union-Tribune last year that most of the Garmo family donations to Gores re-election effort came from distant relatives, and his personal contribution had nothing to do with the illegal-gun sales case or its outcome.

I support the best man for the job regardless of my penalty, which was heavy considering what I did, he wrote in an email.

Advertisement

Gore spent 32 years with the FBI before retiring from the federal government. Gore had risen to the level of assistant director of the FBI overseeing strategic planning and internal affairs from his post in Washington D.C.

When the late former Sheriff William Kolender resigned mid-term in 2009, Gore was appointed sheriff. He was elected the following year and re-elected in 2014 and last year.

jeff.mcdonald@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1708 @sdutMcDonald
At an event honoring her policy work for children, Mexicos former first lady highlighted stories Friday of unaccompanied minor migrants, who have been invisible for too long, she said.

Margarita Zavala, a former senator in Mexico and the wife of former president Felipe Calderon, spoke of the untold story of minors who cross Mexico to the U.S. border, sometimes losing their parents along the way and some who never make it.

What is it that makes a boy or girl cross an entire country? she asked. What force must be there for a boy or girl to have to cross a country, to cross a desert to see his father or their mother. Thats why I always said we cannot lose them.

A child that accomplishes this cannot lose, she said.

Advertisement

Zavala was honored by Border Angels on Friday, recognized with their 2018 Power of One award at the Sherman Heights Community Center. Border Angels is a San Diego-based nonprofit that advocates for immigrant rights.

Osvaldo Ruiz and James Cordero were also honored by Border Angels for their work on migrant issues. Ruiz brings supplies to migrants and helps rebuild Tijuana shelters. Cordero also brings donations to Tijuana and makes extreme water drops for migrants crossing in the remote desert, something others have been prosecuted for doing.

I use my stature. I use my skin tone. I use my privilege  to speak up for others, said Cordero when accepting his award.

Zavala was a candidate in Mexicos 2018 presidential elections, and among the first to run as an independent after a change in law allowing presidential hopefuls to run outside the main political parties.

She left the race two months before the election citing the principle of political honesty. Zavala has since created a new political party in Mexico called Mexico Libre.

Zavalas husband, Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), was president from 2006 to 2012. Critics blame his administration for launching a war against Mexicos drug cartels that led to a surge in violence across much of the country, especially in border cities.

Also a conservative, Zavala, a mother of three, has taken a softer stance on social issues and focused her policy efforts on children.

At her speech Friday, she said the immigrant story is part of Mexicos story.

Advertisement

Im from Mexico City, and in the City of Mexico, all of us, but I mean all of us, have immigrants close to us, said Zavala in Spanish. And mostly, we have them in the United States and most are undocumented. Thats the story of our country.

As a lawyer, she began working on the issue of migrant children long before tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors began showing up at the U.S. border in 2014, sparking international attention and concern.

The unaccompanied boys and girls for a long time were invisible, she said during her keynote speech. Only very recently did we start talking about them.

Zavala read personal accounts from migrant children in Spanish. Border Angels founder and director Enrique Morones repeated one of the anecdotes for the English-only speaking audience about a boy, named Edgar, who was allegedly told to walk straight or were going to shoot you, by U.S. border officials.

Advertisement

Maritere Delgaldo, a 15-year-old Preuss School student, said she appreciated the personal stories.

I somehow already had a personal connection because I already know a lot of immigrants and they have tough stories, said Delgaldo, who said hearing the stories in childrens words was still eye-opening.

After the event, Zavala took questions from reporters, including one about Trump administrations new Migrant Protection Protocols, which returns asylum seekers to Mexico while they wait for their cases in U.S. immigration court.

Zavala noted that the Migrant Protection Protocols policy does not place unaccompanied minors back into Mexico, but she said the long wait for minors to ask U.S. officials for asylum protection risks their safety while they wait in dangerous border cities.

Advertisement

Children are children, she said. They dont understand the border and the migration policies and theyre just looking for their dad and their mom and to reunite with their family.
The owners of two San Diego physical therapy clinics have paid $450,000 to settle allegations that they fraudulently billed TRICARE, the militarys healthcare system.

According to federal prosecutors, the clinics billed TRICARE for medical services that were required to be performed by qualified medical doctors, but were allegedly performed by unqualified and unauthorized employees.

The clinics accused of wrongdoing were South Bay Physical Medicine and San Diego Spine and Rehabilitation, which was registered as Direct Health Medical Center. Brett Allan, Sr., Brett Allan, Jr., and Jeff Allan owned the clinics.

Because a settlement was reached, there was no determination of liability made against the clinics or their owners.

Advertisement

According to prosecutors, TRICARE  which serves 9.4 million active, retired and reserve military and their families  specifically limits billing privileges to enrolled medical providers. The federal government had alleged that the Allans violated the False Claims Act by billing TRICARE for physical therapy services provided by individuals not enrolled as TRICARE providers.

Bryan Denny, special agent in charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Services western field office, said the Department of Defense is committed to combating healthcare fraud and holding accountable those who defraud TRICARE.

The announced resolution is a significant victory because the integrity of the U.S. militarys healthcare program is of utmost importance to our military personnel and their families, Denny said in a statement released Wednesday.

The settlement announced this week comes after several individuals  including doctors and military members  were convicted last year in San Diego in an unrelated $65.6 million TRICARE fraud. In that case, a team of people worked to recruit and pay Marines, primarily from the San Diego area, and their dependents, to obtain specialty medications that would be paid for by TRICARE and billed at exorbitant prices.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

Advertisement

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
FBI officials in San Diego sought help from the public Friday to identify a man suspected of carrying out three bank robberies, including one last month in Imperial Beach and two others in November 2017.

Dubbed the Aggravated Bandit because of his demanding and aggravated demeanor during the heists, the man is suspected of robbing employees at the Chase branch on Palm Avenue and 11th Street in Imperial Beach on two different occasions  Jan. 31 of this year, and Nov. 28, 2017.

Hes also suspected of pulling off a robbery Nov. 20, 2017, at the Wells Fargo branch on Highland Village Place and Camino Del Sur in the Torrey Highlands area of San Diego, according to Davene Butler, a spokeswoman for the FBIs San Diego field office.

During each heist, the man robbed two or three tellers, making verbal demands for cash and asking specifically for hundreds before fleeing, Butler said.

Advertisement

No weapon was seen or mentioned in any of the robberies.

He was described as a skinny, 5-foot-7-inch Hispanic man in his early 20s, weighing between 140 and 170 pounds.

During both November 2017 robberies, he wore a black hooded sweatshirt, dark sunglasses, a black hat and a black bandanna covering his face. Last month in Imperial Beach, he wore a red hoodie, a black and white mask, blue jeans and two-tone black and white shoes.

Anyone with information regarding the robbery spree or the identity of the robber was asked to contact the San Diego FBI office at (858) 320-1800 or San Diego County Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

Advertisement

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com
A 37-year-old man was hospitalized this morning with a broken leg suffered in a collision with a vehicle in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.

The man was in a marked crosswalk with the green pedestrian signal crossing southbound across the 1000 block of University Avenue, just east of the Cabrillo (163) Freeway, at 11 p.m. Friday.

A 22-year-old woman driving a 2010 Jeep Wrangler northbound on Vermont Street failed to yield and made a left turn onto University Avenue and struck the man in the crosswalk, according to Sgt. Michael Tansey of the San Diego Police Department.

The man was taken to a hospital with a broken leg, but the injury was not considered life-threatening, Tansey said.

Advertisement

The driver remained at the scene and alcohol or drugs were not considered factors in the crash, he said. The incident was under investigation by San Diego police traffic detectives.
Authorities this week offered a $1,000 reward for help identifying three men suspected of beating and robbing a pair of men two days before Christmas in the North Park area.

The victims, ages 35 and 24, were walking along a sidewalk on University Avenue near Ohio Street around 1:40 a.m. on Dec. 23 when they were confronted by the trio, according to San Diego police.

The three men, all believed to be in their 20s, had been yelling obscenities at two women prior to the confrontation, according to investigators. They began punching and kicking the 35-year-old man until he fell to the ground, then kicked him multiple times in the head and face as he was on the ground.

When the 24-year-old man attempted to intervene, he was also punched and kicked by the suspects multiple times, police said.

Advertisement

The assailants stopped their attack when they were confronted by bouncers from a nearby bar, then fled with the first victims wallet and the second victims iPhone, according to investigators.

The 35-year-old man was transported to a hospital for treatment of a facial fracture and facial abrasions, while the 24-year-old man was also taken to a hospital for treatment of lacerations to his head and face, as well as a dislocated elbow. Their names were withheld.

Anyone with information about the robbery or the identity of the suspects was urged to call the San Diego Police Department mid-city division at (619) 516-3078, or San Diego County Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.

Staff writer Alex Riggins contributed to this report.
Police are searching for a suspect who shot a man during a brawl in a parking lot shared by several Kearny Mesa restaurants.

The gunfire was reported a few minutes before 10 p.m. Friday in a parking lot off Convoy Street just north of Dagget Street, San Diego police Officer John Buttle said.

According to a statement released by the department early Saturday morning, a 38-year-old man walked up to the door of the Min Sok Chon restaurant in the strip mall and engaged in a conversation with some other patrons of the establishment.

An argument followed, the statement said, turning into a fight between eight to 10 people in the parking lot outside the restaurant. During the fight, police said, a male patron shot the 38-year-old four times with a semiautomatic handgun.

Advertisement

Two shots hit the mans torso and two struck his lower body. He was transported by ambulance to a hospital where he underwent surgery and, according to police, is in critical condition.

Police patrol vehicles swarmed the scene as the Police Departments helicopter circled overhead in search of the suspect or suspects.

The shooter, according to the police, is an Asian male in his late 20s, five feet six inches tall with a thin to medium build wearing a black ski cap, black hooded sweatshirt, black sweatpants and black slippers.

Twitter: @Alex_Riggins

(619) 293-1710

alex.riggins@sduniontribune.com

Advertisement

UPDATES:

9:30 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

11:35 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 10:30 p.m.
A slurry seal pavement contractor has botched at least eight jobs across San Diego in recent months, frustrating residents who have watched long-awaited street repairs quickly disintegrate because of the substandard work.

City officials say the contractor, G. Scott Asphalt Repair of Chula Vista, has agreed to re-perform each of the faulty slurry seal jobs, which the contractor has blamed on improper mixing of paving materials.

Theyve acknowledged an issue with their mix, and were currently working with them to go repair their work under warranty, Kristy Reeser, deputy director of the citys Streets Division, told the City Council this week.

The faulty work includes at least eight paving jobs: two in downtown and one each in Point Loma, Linda Vista, Bay Park, Kearny Mesa, Carmel Valley and Southeastern San Diego.

Advertisement

A city spokesman said the list of botched jobs is still being compiled, so it could grow.

City staff will continue to actively monitor work performed by this contractor for any additional failures, said the spokesman, Alec Phillipp.

Councilwoman Dr. Jennifer Campbell said shes disappointed and concerned.

Whats going on that you fill a pothole and a month later its open again, Campbell said. Its so inefficient and not cost-effective to have to do things twice.

The botched jobs come four months after city officials celebrated meeting a goal, two years early, of paving or sealing 1,000 miles of streets in the five-year period between July 2015 and June 2020. Mayor Kevin Faulconer in October called the accomplishment a good start but acknowledged the city has a lot more work to do.

On Thursday, Faulconer said contractors performing substandard work will not be tolerated.

We have set high standards for street repair and wont settle for anything less, the mayor said in an email.

Every neighborhood in San Diego deserves smooth streets. Thats why weve made historic investments in road repair over the past few years and implemented reforms to speed up projects and hold contractors accountable.

Advertisement

The city has spent about $300 million on street repair since the mayors 2015 pledge, and another $76 million is slated for the budget year that began July 1. The focus on street repair has tripled the citys annual infrastructure spending to $553 million, up from $179 million five years ago.

An independent assessment of city streets in 2016 showed significant improvement compared to 2011.

In 2016, 60 percent of the citys 2,800 miles of streets were classified in good condition, with 34 percent deemed fair and 6 percent classified as poor. In 2011, 35 percent of streets were in good condition, 40 percent were deemed fair and 25 percent were classified as poor.

City officials chose slurry seal as a stopgap measure intended to extend the life of a street that already is in good condition.

Advertisement

Slurry seal provides a durable riding surface and addresses any existing surface distresses on streets in generally good condition, the citys website says, describing slurry seal as a pavement preservation method consisting of an asphalt emulsion, sand and rock which is applied to the street surface at an average thickness of  inch..

Slurry seal, which is less expensive than repaving, was used on 704 of the 1,007 miles of streets the city paved over during the first three years of the five-year campaign. The city also repaved 299 miles of streets with asphalt overlay and it repaired four miles of concrete streets.

Reeser, the city streets official, described G. Scott Asphalt Repair as a subcontractor, not the citys prime slurry contractor.

That particular contractor and their slurry mix didnt have the right proportion of materials, she said. They had too much rubber, which was causing the slurry seal on the particular streets they did to not adhere to the street properly.

Advertisement

She said its possible G. Scott would be prohibited from performing work for the city in the future if they dont re-do the botched slurry jobs, which is required under warranty.

Im sure if they do not repair their work, there will be consequences, Reeser said.

The eight locations where substandard work was performed are Milton Street, Kearny Villa Road, College Avenue south of University Avenue, Comstock Street at Lanston Street, 3rd Avenue at A Street, Sixth Avenue between Beech and Ash Streets, Rosecrans Street at Talbot Street and Carmel Valley Road at Shasta Daisy Trail.

Reeser said employees of the citys Public Works Department will coordinate removal of the defective slurry material and its replacement with superior material.

Advertisement

Phillipp said G. Scott will incur all the costs for materials and installation.

A receptionist for G. Scott said on Friday that no officials from the company would be available to comment until next week.

Councilman Scott Sherman said its crucial the city hold contractors accountable and stop doing business with them if they perform substandard work. He said he has received many complaints from residents about poor paving work.

Reeser said the city generally gets bids from the same small set of contractors for its slurry jobs.

Advertisement

Theres not that many companies that perform slurry seal, particularly in our region, she said.

The city uses the 2016 independent assessment of its streets to determine which projects to prioritize and which to pave or slurry seal. Other factors determining which repairs get prioritized include traffic volume, type of road, maintenance history and potential conflicts with other projects, like utility work.

Residents can see detailed street information, including maps of ongoing work and schedules for future jobs, at streets.sandiego.gov.

A new independent assessment is scheduled to begin late this year and conclude in 2020.

Advertisement

david.garrick@sduniontribune.com (619) 269-8906 Twitter:@UTDavidGarrick
A Montana woman and her friend detained by a Border Patrol agent after he heard them speaking Spanish during a trip to convenience store are suing the federal agency and the officer.

Ana Suda and Martha Mimi Hernandez were waiting to pay for their groceries at the local Town Pump in May 2018 when they when they were approached by Customs and Border Patrol agent Paul ONeal, who demanded to know where they were born. The women, both U.S. citizens, told him they were born in Texas and California, but the information was not enough to placate him.

Customs and Border Patrol agent, Paul ONeal, demanded to know where the two women were born. (ACLU)

The agent forced them to turn over their licenses and then detained them near his patrol car for nearly an hour.

Advertisement

According to the lawsuit, filed by the Immigrants Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, ONeal told Ms. Suda and Ms. Hernandez that he did so because he heard them speaking Spanish. He offered no other justification for their detention.

ONeal eventually returned the womens licenses and allowed them to return home, but they were left humiliated by the interaction and became afraid that they may be stopped, detained and interrogated at any time, the ACLU said in a press release.

In a video of the exchange recorded by Suda, ONeal can be heard identifying himself before one of the women asks why they are being questioned.

Maam, the reason I asked for your IDs is because I came in here and saw that you guys were speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here, he tells them.

When Suda asks if theyre being racially profiled, he responds: It has nothing to do with that. It has to do with the fact that you were speaking Spanish in a store in a state that is predominantly English-speaking.

The cellphone footage, shared online, quickly went viral and nabbed headlines across the nation.

The lawsuit contends ONeal violated their Fourth Amendment right because there was no legitimate reason to seize the women; and of equal protection, because the agent singled the women out based on race, relying on their use of Spanish as justification and proxy for race.

Advertisement

The court documents additionally notes that America is a multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-ethnic country with no official language.
San Diegans drive too much  and regional efforts are failing to get them out of their cars and on to buses, trolleys and other cleaner forms of commuting.

Thats according to Hasan Ikhrata, the new high-profile executive director of the San Diego Association of Governments, who was hired away from a similar planning and transportation agency in Los Angeles.

Ikhrata recently informed the agencys 21-member board of city and county officials that SANDAG had no viable blueprint to meet state-mandated rules to limit greenhouse gases from cars and truck trips.

Ikhrata said that when he started in December he didnt anticipate how little work had been completed on shifting the transportation system from a traditional auto-centric approach.

Advertisement

I was surprised at the laidback thinking about all of this, he recently told the Union-Tribune. It follows (the idea) San Diegos not really for big stuff. Well take our time. But sometimes when you have the laws of the land to meet, you dont have that luxury.

Meeting the challenge wont be without risks, Ikhrata explained at a Feb. 8 board meeting.

Traffic backs up on southbound Interstate 805 south of Mission Valley as a rain storm. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Specifically, the California Air Resources Board has called on transportation agencies, such as SANDAG to cut per-capita greenhouse-gas emissions from driving by 19 percent below a 2005 benchmark by 2035.

To meet that goal, transit would have to account for between 5 and 10 percent of total vehicle trips, up from just 1.5 percent today, Ikhrata said.

Were not going to be able to get there with what we have on the table right now, he said.

Drafting a successful vision will require several more years of work and a delay to a mandatory update of SANDAGs multi-billion-dollar regional transportation spending plan, he said. Without some kind of government waiver, he said, the agency would not be eligible for millions in state and federal funding and potentially be open to lawsuits.

Its not good news, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at the meeting, adding: This is a very important plan for us. We dont want to just kind of squeak in. We want to be leaders because our natural environment is part of who we are in the entire region.

Advertisement

Once SANDAG updates its regional plan, ideally by 2022, the agency will also need a massive boost in funding to build the envisioned projects, from highway and bus improvements to rail expansions and a recently proposed San Diego Grand Central to connect transit riders to the San Diego International Airport.

That will almost undoubtedly require a two-thirds vote of the electorate to augment the agencys current local funding stream, a half-cent sales tax known as Transnet. By comparison, Los Angeles County has four such taxes, totaling 2 cents.

We want to be leaders because our natural environment is part of who we are in the entire region. San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer

The idea that SANDAG was nowhere near on track to meet its long-term obligations to the state for cutting climate pollution didnt come as a shock to some on the board.

Advertisement

San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez said she had been concerned about a report issued by staff in October, before Ikhrata took over, which outlined several alternatives funding plans, including some that didnt meet the states goal for capping driving emissions.

Thank you for the critical statement that the draft proposals that we currently have werent going to meet those targets, she said at the meeting. I was really concerned about the fact that we have options that didnt get us there.

Last fall, SANDAG officials had suggested the region might be able to hit the states 2035 target if it beefed up the bus network while cities enacted policies to discourage driving.

A San Diego Metropolitan Transit System South Bay Rapid limited bus, route Rapid 225, between the East Palomar Street Transit Station and downtown San Diego. (Howard Lipin / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Advertisement

Even then, elected officials were clamoring for freeway expansions in their own jurisdictions, while suggesting that electric cars could preclude the need for a dramatic increase in transit use.

County Supervisor Jim Desmond said that SANDAG should meet the state goals, while also calling for highway improvements to be part of the overall approach.

You had mentioned transit as part of the solution and the airport connection, and I just wanted to make sure you know that roads can also lead to reducing greenhouse gases, he said at the meeting.

San Marcos at Twin Oaks Valley Road on 78 East is the top of the most bottleneck traffic congestion in the County of San Diego. (staff / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Advertisement

Ikhrata reassured Desmond that road and highway improvements would be part of the regional plan update.

The SANDAG leader has acknowledged that without an expansion of certain clogged auto arteries, a needed tax increase would likely not secure enough votes at the ballot box.

That theory could get a test as soon as 2020, when the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System plans to put its own levy before voters. While that proposal could include street improvement in connection with trolley and bus upgrades, the measure would primarily benefit transit riders.

Historically, much of the region, especially North County residents far from trolley services, have been skeptical of large investments in rail projects.

Advertisement

It took elected officials in the region nearly three decades to close the deal on the current $2.1-billion Mid-Coast Trolley extension, connecting the Blue Line from downtown to University City. The $506 million Green Line from downtown to Santee opened in 2005 after a similar time commitment.

While transit ridership has fallen, as it has in many places, in recent years with a rebounding economy, San Diegos trolley system is one of the most successful light rail systems in the country.

It has surprisingly low overhead and fairly robust ridership numbers, moving about 120,000 people a day over 54 miles of track. Only a handful of cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston, have similar systems with higher usage.

Advertisement

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Advertisement

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
A 15-year veteran of a manufacturing business who was being terminated opened fire inside the companys Aurora plant Friday afternoon, killing five people and wounding five police officers who responded to the scene, police said.

Authorities said the gunman, 45-year-old Gary Martin, of Aurora, was also killed in the shootout at Henry Pratt Co., a manufacturer of industrial valves. The names of the victims were not released Friday evening. A sixth officer suffered a knee injury. It wasnt clear how he was injured, but he wasnt shot.

Aurora police Chief Kristen Ziman said the department received multiple calls at 1:24 p.m. about a shooting at the company, located at 641 Archer Ave. on the citys west side. Officers arrived four minutes later and immediately drew fire, she said  two of the first four officers entering the building were shot. Ziman said the shooter was armed with a Smith & Wesson handgun and fired shots from a window as authorities approached.

More officers arrived, and three more were shot, she said. As some tried to care for gunshot victims, she said, others tracked Martin through the 29,000-square-foot building.

Advertisement

When they located the offender, they engaged in gunfire with him, ultimately killing him, Ziman said at a news conference.

Police said two of the wounded officers were airlifted to Chicago-area trauma hospitals. Local hospitals said they were caring for at least 10 patients hurt in the shooting. More than 200 employees work at the plant, but Ziman could not say how many were there Friday. The police chief added that the shooter acted alone, and hundreds of law enforcement officers from various agencies helped at the scene.

Everybody runs towards the gunfire, she said. Again, that was the whole point, to try and keep our citizens safe.

Local businessman Bob Gonzalez was having a conversation with a client Friday afternoon when he saw a few police cars fly past, bound for the nearby manufacturing plant. He thought at first they were responding to a fire, but the cars just kept coming  Aurora police, state police, even a vehicle from the Department of Homeland Security.

Tribune coverage: Aurora mass shooting 

He soon realized the emergency was a mass shooting in an industrial park a few hundred feet from his office.

Ive seen it on the news happening someplace else, but never here in Aurora, said Gonzalez, an insurance agent who also serves as the board president of West Aurora School District 129.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, standing with Aurora officials at the news conference, said there was no way for him to prepare for this kind of event, the first tragedy of his administration.

Advertisement

There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors of their hopes, their dreams and their futures, he said. There are no words to express our gratitude to the officers who were wounded in the line of duty as they responded to the gravest kind of danger they could face.

President Donald Trump sent a tweet as news of the incident was unfolding, sending his Heartfelt condolences to all of the victims and their families, adding America is with you! He said law enforcement officers did a great job.

Tiffany Probst, whose father works in the building, told the Tribune she first heard about the shooting when her friend alerted her to a Facebook post. She jumped in her car and drove toward the scene, but couldnt get close.

Her father doesnt carry a cellphone, so she had no way to reach him. She sat in her car and watched the police response on her phone.

Advertisement

Were sitting there staring at the screen and watching SWAT about to go in, she said.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, her father managed to find someone with a phone and called her, and relief replaced her growing panic.

As the investigation continued, a Kane County sheriffs office bomb squad vehicle could be seen outside what was believed to be Martins apartment building in the 1900 block of Selmarten Road.

Neighbor Tammy Kurtz said shes lived down the hall from Martin for years, describing him as a quiet, friendly guy who was kind to her 8-year-old grandson.

Advertisement

Im in shock, she said. This guy was very nice. I cant believe that this happened.

Kurtz added that she had heard about the shooting at work before the gunman was identified, and was surprised to return home in the evening to see caution tape lining the perimeter of her building and a helicopter hovering overhead. She was able to enter her unit and said a law enforcement officer in a camouflage uniform knocked on her door and told her she was safe, but she should be prepared to evacuate soon.

He said Im not in any danger, she said, but added that authorities on the premises didnt give her any more information.

People at the home of a relative of the Martin family in the western suburbs were visibly emotional and upset Friday evening. They asked for privacy to mourn.

Advertisement

We are mourning for the victims, and we are mourning for our families, said one woman, who declined to be identified but spoke on behalf of the family. We need peace.  Were worried about the other people who were killed and hurt. Our family has to mourn too because we lost one too.

Officials with Henry Pratt could not immediately be reached for comment. The company began in 1901 as a metal fabricating shop, according to the companys website. Its administrative headquarters are located in Aurora, and the company also has manufacturing plants in Aurora, Washington and Indiana.

The company is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Co.

Mueller Water Products is shocked and deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy that occurred today at our Henry Pratt facility in Aurora, Illinois, the company said in a written statement. Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones, the first responders, the Aurora community and the entire Mueller family during this extremely difficult time.

Advertisement

Kane County Board Chairman Chris Lauzen attended the news conference with Pritzker and other officials to show his support and pray for the police officers, sheriffs deputies, paramedics and civilians involved in the shooting.

I express my sympathy for all the employees and family who will go through the worst suffering any of us could imagine, Lauzen said.

Lauzen said he grew up a few blocks away from Henry Pratt Co. and still lives nearby with his wife, Sarah.

This is more than just Kane County, this is home, Lauzen said.

Advertisement

Contributing: Megan Jones, Steve Lord, Sarah Freishtat and Denise Crosby of the Aurora Beacon-News; Rafael Guerrero of the Courier-News; Erin Hegarty and Suzanne Baker of the Naperville Sun; John Keilman, Angie Leventis Lourgos, Stacy St. Clair, Katherine Rosenberg-Douglas, Madeline Buckley, Dawn Rhodes and Kate Thayer of the Chicago Tribune; freelance reporters Linda Girardi and Clifford Ward; and The Associated Press.
Six people, including a gunman, died in a mass shooting at a manufacturing firm Friday afternoon, and five officers were struck by gunfire, officials said.

Authorities confirmed the shooter, Gary Martin, 45, was killed in a shootout with police. Police said he was a 15-year veteran of Henry Pratt Co. in the industrial park in the Chicago suburb, and was getting fired Friday.

For the latest on the shooting from Aurora, including the identities of the victims and more on how the suspected gunman got his weapon, click here.

Tribune coverage: Aurora mass shooting 

Advertisement

Here is how the news unfolded on Friday:

10:30 p.m.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said Martin was acting alone.

Ziman estimates hundreds of law enforcement came out today in response to the shootings.

9:40 p.m.

At an evening press conference, Ziman said that the first two officers were shot shortly after arriving. Other officers arrived to help and rescue the responding officers, as well as give aid.

Ziman said that the shooter was a 15-year veteran of the company and that information they had indicated he was going to be terminated Friday.

Martin fired a Smith & Wesson handgun, she said.

It was unclear, Ziman said, if the shooting was planned beforehand.

Advertisement

Original reports also indicated that Martin was initially shooting at police from a window, she said.

The entire incident lasted 1 hour and 35 minutes, she said, ending when police found the gunman hiding inside the building and shot him.

All of the officers shot were shot within the first 5 minutes of arrival, Ziman said, pushing Martin inside until they were eventually able to find him.

Ziman said police were still contacting family of the deceased and would not release identities this evening.

Advertisement

Authorities have executed a search warrant at Martins home, she said, looking for evidence.

There are 200 people who work at this plant, but Ziman said she could not say how many were at work Friday. All of the officers who were shot were male, Ziman said.

Ziman commended the help of all of the officers who arrived to help from around the state. She applauded the officers, too, who were being shot at and continued to help. They took on gunfire but pressed on until they located the shooter, she said. They are true heroes.

9:37 p.m.

Advertisement

Statement from the Kendall County Sheriffs Office:

Our hearts, thoughts and prayers are with the Aurora Police, the Aurora community, and the families of the victims involved in todays tragedy. We stand with our brothers and sisters in blue, and the world, in praying for a speedy recovery for the Aurora Officers injured, as well as the innocent victims whos lives have been forever changed. We will never forget the innocent lives lost far too soon, and pray their families and friends can one day find peace.

9:04 p.m.

Statement from Mueller Water Products:

Advertisement

Statement from Mueller Water Products, who Henry Pratt is a subsidiary of: pic.twitter.com/UcHXiFCwzp  Megan Jones (@MeganA_Jones) February 16, 2019

8:23 p.m.

Some family members of the shooter gathered at a west suburban home Friday night were visibly emotional. They asked for privacy to mourn.

We are mourning for the victims and we are mourning for our families, said one woman, who declined to be identified but spoke on behalf of the family. We need peace.  Were worried about the other people who were killed and hurt. Our family has to mourn too because we lost one too.  Linda Girardi

Advertisement

6:06 p.m.

A spokeswoman for Advocate Health said she could confirm there is one patient at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital and one patient at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. Condition reports are not available at this time.

6:02 p.m.

What is today the Henry Pratt Company, which makes valves, began in 1901 as a metal fabricating shop, according to the companys website. Its administrative headquarters are located in Aurora, and the company also has manufacturing plants in Aurora, Washington, and Indiana. The company is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Company.  Sarah Freishtat

Advertisement

5:51 p.m.

Martins mother told WGN: My heart goes out to all the victims.

5:50 p.m.

Appearing at the press conference with Aurora officials, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there was no way for him to prepare for this kind of event, the first tragedy of his administration.

Advertisement

There are no words for the kind of evil that robs our neighbors if their hopes, their dreams and their futures, he said. There are no words to express our gratitute to the officers who were wounded in the line of duty as they responded to the gravest kind of danger they could face.  Peter Kendall

5:48 p.m.

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the department received a call for shots fired around 1:24 p.m. at 641 Archer Avenue, a manufacturing warehouse. At 1:28 p.m., officers were fired upon immediately and 2 of the 4 officers who entered at first were shot.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker acknowledged the first responders and every single law enforcement officer who helped secure the scene. You rushed toward danger and doing so, saved lives.  Megan Jones

Advertisement

5:18 p.m.

According to the Associated Press: Presence Mercy Medical Center spokesman Matt Wakely said that the hospital received three victims from the shooting. Wakely said two were being treated and the third has been transferred via helicopter to another hospital. No conditions were available. No victims had been sent to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove as of Friday evening, spokeswoman Kate Eller told the AP.

5:06 p.m.

Rush Copley Hospital said in a tweet it had received three patients from the shooting in Aurora, and did not expect to receive more. Earlier in the day, the hospital said it had received two patients.  Sarah Freishtat

Advertisement

5:02 p.m.

Tom Santelli was making a delivery for his company, Long Supply on Cleveland Street, when the event took place. He could not get into his company.Im trying to get to work so I can go home, the 52-year resident said, standing outside his truck, staring into a sea of police at the scene.  Steve Lord

4:47 p.m.

According to a news release from his office, Gov. J.B. Pritzker will attend a press briefing at the Aurora Police Department at 5:30 p.m.

Advertisement

4:37 p.m.

Bob Gonzalez, president of the school board of the nearby West Aurora School District 129, lives and works what he estimated was 50 feet from the Henry Pratt Co. His twin 4-year-old grandchildren were in his home upstairs and he was talking with a client in his State Farm office downstairs when they heard sirens and squad cars fly by.

They at first assumed it was a fire, but when the squads kept coming for the next 20 minutes, they knew it was more. He saw cars from Aurora and other nearby agencies, state police troopers and a homeland security vehicle.

As soon as he heard it was a shooting, he locked the doors to his office, closed the blinds upstairs, took his grandchildren to a bathroom in the back of the apartment and told them to stay away from the windows. They asked questions and he tried to keep them calm, telling them that maybe it was just a fire, but I was very scared at the same time, he said.

Advertisement

Gonzalez said Aurora has shootings, but he cant remember anything like this in the 31 years hes lived in the city.

Its kind of unsettling, he said. It just makes me wonder, here, the door to my office is always unlocked, I see my clients come in, I know my clients, but it makes me wonder whether now I should have some kind lock that I can lock from the inside and keep my door locked at all times. Its very scary.

His school district also has elementary schools less than two miles from the site of the shooting, and he immediately thought of the students and got in touch with the district superintendent when he heard the sirens.

Ive seen it on the news happening someplace else, he said. But never here in Aurora.  Sarah Freishtat

Advertisement

4:31 p.m.

Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge President Chris Southwood issued a statement regarding the shooting. The four officers are members of Aurora FOP Lodge # 11, according to a news release.

Every police officer dreads days like this one, yet these four courageous Aurora officers and their colleagues did not hesitate to literally put their lives on the line today to stop further bloodshed. These four heroes willingly ran into harms way to protect their fellow citizens and very nearly paid the ultimate price. We Illinoisans should be humbly grateful for their sacrifice, and we ask that you join us in praying that the injured civilians and police officers make a full and speedy recovery.

4:26 p.m.

Advertisement

Local U.S. Rep Bill Foster, a Democrat, on Friday afternoon issued a statement on the shooting that took place at the Henry Pratt Company in Aurora, according to a news release from his office:

I am deeply disturbed by the senseless gun violence that struck the Aurora community today. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. While we wait for more details, its clear we owe a debt of gratitude to law enforcement and the first-responders who rushed into harms way to protect innocent people. Our country needs to take immediate action to stop what has become an epidemic of gun violence in our nation. I, along with the majority of Americans, refuse to accept this fact as a normal part of our way of life at work, schools, and in our communities. Every person deserves the right to go to work or school without the threat of violence.

Kelley Munch, communications specialist with the City of Naperville, said both the police and fire departments from Naperville assisted in the incident.  Suzanne Baker

4:21 p.m.

Advertisement

According to the AP, The White House says President Donald Trump has been briefed on a shooting and is monitoring the situation.

Spokesman Sarah Sanders issued her statement Friday as Trump prepared to depart for a weekend trip to his home in Palm Beach, Florida.

3:54 p.m.

An employee named John Probst told ABC-7 he was in the building when the shooting took place. He identified the gunman as a co-worker.

Advertisement

One of the guys was up in the office, he said this person was shooting and he come running down and he was bleeding pretty bad, he said.   What I saw was the guy running down the aisle with a pistol with a laser on it.

3:47 p.m.

From Kane County Undersheriff Pat Gengler on behalf of the Aurora Police Department:

The incident on Highland Ave and Archer Ave. in Aurora has been contained. We believe at this time there is no ongoing threat to the public. Public should expect to see ongoing police activity as we investigate the incident. 

Advertisement

3:45 p.m.

Aurora University said in a tweet Friday afternoon that classes were canceled for the rest of the day at the main campus. Earlier, the school told students on campus to go into the nearest available building and shelter-in-place, and told students off-campus to stay away.  Sarah Freishtat

3:43 p.m.

By 3:35 p.m., the ambulances and fire trucks appeared to have left the scene. Around 50 police cars were still there, joined by several tank-like police vehicles that lumbered toward the entrance.  Megan Jones

Advertisement

3:39 p.m.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin in a tweet said he is monitoring the situation. My heart breaks for Aurora. Im tracking updates on the situation with my staff. Thank you to the members of law enforcement who are responding to the emergency, the tweet said.

3:21 p.m.

Tiffany Probst first heard of a shooting at her fathers workplace when her friend alerted her to a Facebook post. She jumped in her car and drove toward the company but couldnt get close. She quickly learned the shooting happened in the building where her dad, John, works.

Advertisement

Her father, though is old school, and doesnt carry a cellphone, she said. She had no way to reach him. The minutes ticked by as she sat in the car and watched the police response unfolding on her phone.

Were sitting there staring at the screen and watching SWAT about to go in, she said.

Finally, after about 15 minutes, her father managed to find someone with a phone and called her, and relief replaced her growing panic.  Madeline Buckley

3:13 p.m.

Advertisement

Rush Copley hospital officials in Aurora said in a tweet they are assisting those involved in the active shooter incident and had received two patients who were being treated for non-life threatening injuries.  Sarah Freishtat

2:40 p.m.

Aurora police pinpointed the active shooting location to 641 Archer Ave.

Roads are blocked off in the area and vehicles belonging to Aurora police and the Kane County sheriff as well as ambulances and fire truck were seen speeding down Lake Street to respond. State police and DuPage County officials also responded.

Advertisement

West Aurora School District schools are holding all students in place for their safety due to the incident in the area, according to a statement.

No one will be allowed to leave or enter the buildings until the lockdown has been lifted, according to the statement.  Megan Jones
A former Navy man was bound over for trial Friday on one count of murder, accused of stabbing his wife to death in 2014 and hiding her body in their house for two years before dumping the decomposing remains in San Diego Bay.

San Diego Superior Court Judge Frederick Link said he had heard enough evidence in a two-day preliminary hearing to believe that Elizabeth Sullivan was the victim of a crime.

Further, the judge said, evidence of her blood in the attic of the couples Point Loma home, on the underside of a carpet and on a knife hidden under insulation in the attic, was enough to hold Matthew Sullivan for trial.

The attic is the tell-tale key, Link said. Without that I dont think you have a case.

Advertisement

Elizabeth Sullivan (Courtesy photo)

He added, This is going to be a very interesting trial.

Defense attorney Marcus DeBose argued that a prosecutor had presented no evidence proving his client had killed Elizabeth Sullivan and that there was at least one other good suspect, the boyfriend she dated while married.

DeBose said Matthew Sullivan cooperated with San Diego police and homicide detectives throughout their investigation after his wife was reported missing, by a friend, on Oct. 13, 2014.

Deputy District Attorney Jill Lindberg brought in witnesses who said Elizabeth Sullivan had a troubled marriage and went to see a divorce lawyer that morning. Her friends never heard from her again after that night.

Police took a missing persons report on her, but found no evidence of foul play for two years.

Then, on Oct. 4, 2016 - the day movers were packing up Matthew Sullivans belongings at the Truxton Road home at Liberty Station he had shared with his wife - Elizabeth Sullivans body turned up in the bay.

She had been stabbed to death and was decomposing in a way that indicated she had lain for some time on one side, a doctor testified.

Advertisement

A police cadaver dog later reacted to a spot in the Sullivan garage where a refrigerator-freezer had stood for several years, Lindberg said.

Investigators also pulled up carpeting in the house, finding the womans blood soaked through to the sub-floor, and a bloody knife stashed in the attic. Matthew Sullivans DNA also was found on the knife, Lindberg said.

Sullivan was arrested last year and charged with murder. By then he had left the Navy with an honorable discharge and moved to Delaware. He was brought back to San Diego and remains jailed while awaiting trial.

Advertisement

pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com

Advertisement

Twitter: @pdrepard
A martial arts instructor accused of sexually assaulting a girl at his National City home was sentenced Friday to six years in state prison.

Gabriel Abel Gonzalez, 39, pleaded guilty last month to a single count of committing a lewd act on a child under 14.

Gonzalez, a jiu-jitsu teacher formerly based in Chula Vista, was arrested last August by National City police, who said the crimes happened at the defendants home, not at the gym where he taught classes.

The criminal complaint, which originally listed four counts of lewd acts with a child against Gonzalez, states that the crimes happened on Aug. 18.

Advertisement

Gonzalez worked at the Chula Vista Jiu-Jitsu Club for six months prior to his arrest and Alliance Eastlake, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu training gym, before that for two years, according to his boss.
A federal jury in Oregon earlier this week found a 60-year-old San Diego man guilty of traveling there with the intention of having sex with a minor, the U.S. Attorneys Office in Oregon said.

Federal prosecutors said David George Hopkins flew up to Portland in June 2017 to have sex with a 13-year-old girl, her mother and her mothers friend, after chatting with them online.

In reality, the girl and her mother were fictitious. Hopkins had been communicating online with an FBI agent, authorities said.

According to court documents and a news release, Hopkins had an online relationship with a woman he knew as Ana.

Advertisement

Hopkins told Ana hed previously had sex with minors in South America. The woman reported him to police in Eugene, Ore., who referred the matter to the FBI.

The ensuing investigation led to an agent posing as both a friend of Anas, and the teenage daughter of Anas friend. The conversations were explicitly sexual, according to authorities and court documents.

When Hopkins flew into Portland, FBI agents were waiting for him at the airport.

He was convicted Wednesday of four counts related to the online conversations and his travel.

His sentencing is set for May 23. It was not immediately clear how long a prison term he faces, and his attorneys did not respond to a request for comment.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Advertisement

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
An Alabama man accused of spraying a Hillcrest restaurant with gunfire Tuesday night, missing the patrons and workers inside, pleaded not guilty Friday to 11 counts of premeditated attempted murder and other charges.

Stefano Markell Parker, 29, who was convicted of murder in Alabama at age 16, appeared in San Diego Superior Court with a deputy public defender.

He was charged with one count of premeditated attempted murder for each of the 11 people who were inside The Asian Bistro on University Avenue when Parker opened fire, Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said.

He said two more people came forward, identifying themselves as victims, after an original count of nine people, and that still more victims might be found.

Advertisement

Parker also is charged with 11 special allegations that he personally used a firearm and additional charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and having one strike prior felony conviction.

He faces a total of 374 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges and allegations, Reizen said.

It was clear this was premeditated attempted murder, Reizen said out of court. He was aiming at people inside.

The prosecutor added that it was miraculous that no one was injured.

Reizen said investigators dont know Parkers motive for shooting into the restaurant, but they are looking into the possibility it was a hate crime.

Investigators who viewed Parkers Facebook page found at least one anti-gay comment, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer said at a Wednesday news conference.

Parker had written, on Jan. 31, Who told all those gayfers it was safe to come outside ?

Hillcrest has long been identified as a cornerstone of San Diegos LGBTQ community.

Advertisement

A lot of people in this day and age post what their mindset is, the prosecutor said out of court. Weve looked at open-source (social media) and there was not enough there to suggest this was a hate crime.

Authorities say Parker stood outside The Asian Bistro about 7:40 p.m. Tuesday and fired about 20 rounds into the restaurant from a high-powered rifle.

Windows and doors shattered, spraying those inside with bits of glass. Many ducked out of the way, police said.

The gunman, wearing a trench coat, then lowered the rifle and walked away calmly, police said.

Advertisement

Police swarmed into the area and within 20 minutes found Parker about four blocks away, in an alley between Fourth and Fifth avenues, near Walnut Avenue. Officers found a rifle discarded not far away.

Faulconer was among several public officials to decry the violence. We pride ourselves on being a very diverse city that celebrates unique culture, and that is never going to change, he said.

We will stand together to denounce violence, and we will stand together to support our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community.

Social media and public records showed that Parker owned Vital Waters, a company based in Birmingham, Alabama and ran Aquatech Diving Services in Birmingham.

Advertisement

Parker also had a notable violent criminal past, including a murder conviction when he was 16, according to the Jefferson County, Alabama District Attorneys Office.

A spokeswoman said Parker was charged with capital murder and pleaded guilty to felony murder in 2006. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with 16 of those years suspended.

He served four years and was released on five years probation, the spokeswoman said.

The Birmingham News reported this week that a 14-year-old was killed in the 2005 shooting and that Parker was charged as an adult.

Advertisement

Parker also was arrested in Alabama in 2017 on charges of drug trafficking and marijuana possession. Prosecutors there said the case was forwarded to a grand jury but no indictment has been issued.

Advertisement

pauline.repard@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @pdrepard
California is known as a land of sunshine. But, for the extreme weather that has accompanied the Wests colder months, California might as well be called the snowy state.

A series of winter storms has brought record-breaking rainfall and dropped snow levels dramatically across the state, causing fresh powder to fall in areas that rarely see any. First, snow fell along the coast in Northern Californias Humboldt County on Sunday. Then, Redding  at an elevation of roughly 500 feet  received more powder over a 12-hour period than Boston has seen this entire winter.

I believe the scientific term for this statistic is bonkers,  Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the UCLA Institute of Environment and Sustainability, wrote on Twitter this week.

This is what we woke up to..I've been living here in Shasta lake/Redding for 10 yrs & never have i seen snow like this...WILD! pic.twitter.com/GQWw2D6vCv  tina lou (@tinalou5252) February 13, 2019

Advertisement

Forecasters said between 10 and 13 inches of snow fell on Redding this week, and the region could see more depending on how far the weekends next chilly winter storm drops snow levels.

Snow levels across much of the Sierra Nevada are hovering between 2,000 and 3,000 feet and will probably remain there through much of the weekend, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.

Forecasters said there is a chance that snow levels could fall below 700 feet by Sunday night in the northern Sierra. But the storm will be on its way out by then, Chandler-Cooley said, so itll be hit or miss with how much snow these communities get.

Much of the northern part of the state has already been under siege by snow following a string of storms that hit in early February and even after this weeks warmer atmospheric river.

Sierra at Tahoe had received 2.8 feet of snow in 24 hours by Friday morning, pushing the resorts total over the last week to 6.4 feet. Dodge Ridge in Tuolumne County saw 1.8 feet in the same time span, and 14.5 feet over the last two weeks, according to the weather service.

Snow piled high in the Sierra might look alluring for skiers and snowboarders hoping for a good shred session, but getting there wont be easy. The weather service has issued winter storm and avalanche warnings over much of the Sierra, cautioning travelers of dangerous conditions.

The Snow Valley ski resort in Running Springs was closed Friday because California 18, the highway that leads to the area, was blocked off after a rock slide, Caltrans reported. Mt. Baldy also was closed because of road damage.

Parts of roads leading to Idyllwild and other mountain communities were heavily damaged and in some cases destroyed, but access was not completely cut off.

Advertisement

Crews were starting repairs on California Highways 74 and 243. A route combining surviving portions of the two mountain highways and a county road kept the communities connected to the world, but authorities urged outsiders to leave the tenuous route to residents.

Were discouraging tourism and snow play up there this weekend, said California Department of Transportation spokeswoman Terri Kasinga.

Highways also were damaged in the nearby San Bernardino Mountains, where ski resorts around Big Bear Lake have an abundance of snow. Kasinga said those routes would be open to the public.

In Mono County, home to Mammoth Mountain and June Lake, the weather service has issued a winter storm warning through noon Sunday.

Advertisement

A 70-mile stretch of Interstate 80 over the Sierra Nevada that was closed Thursday night because of white-out conditions remained blocked off Friday. Officials said its not clear when the road will reopen.

Dangerous travel conditions will continue across the #Sierra today through early Sunday morning. An additional 3 to 6 feet of snow are expected through this period. The Winter Storm Warning has been extended to include all of Saturday. #cawx pic.twitter.com/vzU40Fmsz9  NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) February 15, 2019

The next storm is also expected to gradually lower snow levels in Southern California, in addition to delivering scattered showers. Communities at elevations of 5,000 feet will probably see a fresh dusting of powder by Saturday afternoon, and those as low as 1,500 feet may get some snow by Sunday night, said Keily Delerme, a meteorologist with the weather service in Oxnard.

Theres a colder air mass thats expected to move across the area and thats whats going to bring temperatures below normal and drop snow levels, she said.

Advertisement

More snow means more picturesque views of the San Gabriel Mountains behind the downtown Los Angeles skyline next week.

Aside from the recreational splendor of fresh snow, the deluge also adds to an already wet winter that has replenished reservoirs and created a healthy snowpack in the Sierra Nevada  a major source of Californias water supply. The snowpack on Thursday measured 141% of average for that date and 107% of average for what would typically be recorded at its peak on April 1, according to the California Department of Water Resources.

This is welcome news for the states water supply, which is replenished when the snow melts during warmer months. But water experts warn that conservation is still necessary, even during wet winters.

Climate change has created a situation in California that the only thing thats constant is that our weather is so variable we can hardly judge it, said Chris Orrock, a Department of Water Resources spokesman. Its not if, its when well get another drought. We need to be prepared for that next round.

Advertisement

Rain in Southern California does much less to boost water supplies. But this week saw some record rain totals.

The storm Thursday dropped more than 10 inches of rain on Palomar Mountain, more than 6 inches in Julian and close to 3.5 inches in Oceanside.

The system produced one of the wettest winter days in decades, breaking daily rainfall records in seven communities, including Palomar. The mountain received 10.10 inches, snapping the record of 9.58 inches set on Feb. 14, 1991. Ramona got 4.05 inches, nearly 2 inches higher than a record set in 1995.

A weather balloon released from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station at 4 a.m. Thursday showed the highest level of precipitable water in the atmosphere, for winter, since 1948, said Matt Moreland, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service office in Rancho Bernardo.

Advertisement

Downtown Los Angeles saw 2.12 inches of rain in the 24-hour period that ended at midnight Friday. The area has seen 15.5 inches of rain this water year, which began Oct. 1, surpassing the average for the entire year of 14.93 inches. This represents the region getting 173% of average precipitation for this time of year. Typically, the downtown area sees less than 9 inches in that time frame.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @Hannahnfry
In the annals of sensational Los Angeles slayings, few compare to the crime that occurred 90 years ago today in a grand mansion at the top of a hill.

Exactly what happened would be debated for decades, clouded by wealth, power and many cover-ups.

Heres a summary from the pages of The Times:

Ned Doheny (Herald-Examiner)

Advertisement

Edward Laurence Ned Doheny Jr., the 35-year-old heir to an oil family fortune, was found dead, shot through the head, at Greystone Mansion, his 55-room, Tudor-style home in Beverly Hills.

His secretary, Hugh Plunkett, was found nearby, also dead of a bullet wound.

After a brief investigation, authorities ruled that a deranged Plunkett had shot his employer and then turned the gun on himself. But to this day the crime is a source of rumor and speculation. Was it really a murder-suicide or just made to look that way? Was it tied to another scandal?

Doheny was the son of L.A.s richest man, and thats what led to so many questions that were never answered. Some speculated the killing may have been tied to a huge national corruption scandal, which brought more intrigue.

Greystone Mansion, where oil heir Ned Doheny, 35, and his secretary Hugh Plunkett were found dead in 1929. (Los Angeles Public Library)

In 2002, historian Richard Rayner explained the context:

Oil, discovered in 1892 near the La Brea Tar Pits by Edward L. Doheny, drove the great L.A. boom. By the early 1920s, Doheny was one of the richest men in America. In 1922, he sent his son Ned and Neds chauffeur, Hugh Plunkett, to Washington, where they handed $100,000 in a black leather satchel to Interior Secretary Albert Fall. In exchange Doheny got the lease on a naval oil reserve, worth some $100 million. It all came out as part of the Teapot Dome scandal that brought down Warren Hardings administration.

In 1929 the unstable Plunkett was due to testify before one of the ongoing investigations, but on the night of Feb. 16, he and Ned Doheny were found dead on the floor of a bedroom in one of the Doheny mansions. Both had been shot in the head. Buron Fitts, recently elected district attorney, promised a full investigation. None came. To look over back issues of the L.A. papers during that period is to receive a blunt lesson. The case explodes, receives a brief blizzard of press, and then ... nothing. The doors shut, the waters close over, the official line is peddled: Plunkett went mad, shot Doheny and then himself. Its a stunning example of power at work.

Advertisement

Los Angeles Times coverage of the killing. (Los Angeles Times)

Indeed, coverage of the case dropped off decidedly. That, many historians say, was the power of the Doheny family back then.

But the deaths, after years of financial scandals, took its toll on the elder Doheny, who faded from public view.

The case was closed, but speculation continued about what really happened.

Advertisement

The Los Angeles Public Library broke down the many theories of what really happened. KCET TV profiled the scene of the crime.

Times Staff Writer Shelby Grad contributed to this report.
Robert Winter, the architectural historian who spent much of his life examining and explaining Los Angeles sprawling and complex cityscape to a generation of residents, students and tourists, has died. He was 94.

Winter, a longtime professor at Occidental College who delighted in taking students, guests and friends on bus tours of his adopted city, died Saturday, according to Angel City Press, his publisher.

Winters gift to the city was An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, a field guide of sorts that identified, cheered and occasionally mocked L.A.s diverse architecture. The book, now in its sixth edition, was embraced as a bible by many, stowed in glove compartments for quick access, jammed in backpacks by people who wandered through the different architectural periods and moods that somehow cobbled the city together.

He found the airy atrium of the Bradbury Building on South Broadway to be one of the most beautiful interior spaces in L.A., thought Disney Hall was perhaps the citys most interesting structure and appreciated the endless whimsy of L.A., where a tire factory would look like an Assyrian fortress or a gas station like a space ship.

Advertisement

The the Atrium area of The Bradbury Building ikn downtown Los Angeles (Grant Mudford / Handout)

He could be biting, too. In a 2017 interview with Curbed LA, he dismissed the design for the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as Trumpitecture, a billionaires take on what the average person might enjoy. He didnt particularly think much of the Broad museums exterior but marveled at what was inside. And he equated Orange County to a set of dentures  orderly, identical and uniformly white.

Former Los Angeles Times architectural critic Christopher Hawthorne found Winters guidebook to be indispensable, and Patt Morrison, a longtime writer at The Times who was one of Winters students, recalled paging through the book, struck by the number of times the word razed appeared underneath photos. It was as if, she wrote, one was looking at eager, unique faces and finding the word murdered under each one.

Winter was not an immediate fan of the way L.A. looked. It was summertime, 1956, hot and miserable when he arrived to teach social history at UCLA. His first impression was that the city seemed a sprawl of mismatched buildings. But with time, he came to see the far-flung architectural styles  from civic buildings to hamburger stands  as a complex and innovative tapestry. Around every corner, another surprise.

Theres more freedom here than you encounter anywhere in the United States or Europe, he told The Times in a 2006 interview.

The Walt Disney Concert Hall with the L.A. skyline in the background (NICK UT / AP)

Winter was born in Elkhart, Ind., in 1924. His father was a journalist; his mother a teacher. He attended Dartmouth University, but his studies were interrupted by World War II when he served a stint in the Air Force, stationed in Italy. He later graduated from John Hopkins University and earned a doctorate in cultural history.

His tenure at UCLA ended after six years when he failed to publish a paper, a requirement. In a 2009 interview with the Lotusland Chronicles, Winter explained that he had simply tidied up his doctoral dissertation and submitted it for publication to meet the requirement, but that it was quickly rejected. I must stop here, one reviewer wrote on the returned manuscript, before I have a heart attack.

Advertisement

But he didnt go far to find work. Occidental immediately offered him a teaching post, and he remained a fixture on campus for 31 years.

Winter found a kindred spirit in David Gebhard, an architectural historian at UC Santa Barbara, and together they wrote the first edition of An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles, which was published in 1965. Like Winter, Gebhard found the L.A. cityscape to be endlessly surprising. By contrast, he said, New York was architecturally dull and San Francisco stodgy.

Robert Winter, here at an art auction, was known as lively instructor at Occidental College (Courtesy Angel City Press)

The guidebook was initially pocket-size. But it grew in size and length, eventually weighing in at 700 pages. It was revised nearly every decade, ever denser with new or rediscovered buildings added and those that had been knocked down  or those now obscured from view by other structures  subtracted. Gebhard died in 1996, and Bob Inman, a city explorer who had written such books as Finding Los Angeles by Foot and A Guide to the Public Stairways of Los Angeles, collaborated with Winter on the most recent edition of the guidebook.

Advertisement

Winter served on historic-preservation commissions in Pasadena and L.A. and was appointed to the State Historical Resources Commission in 1998. And it was during his watch that the Cultural Heritage Commission declared the Hollywood sign to be a monument. He was also active in the Coleman Chamber Music Assn., the Union Rescue Mission and the Pasadena Historical Society.

Winter is credited by some with sparking the California Arts and Crafts revival because he wrote about it so frequently and with such passion. He also lived it.

In 1972, he moved into a distinctive 1909 Craftsman-style home on the eastern rim of the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena that had belonged to Ernest Batchelder, a note tile maker. Winter said he always felt as if he were more of a guardian than a homeowner.

I feel as if I really dont own this place, but that Im the caretaker.

Advertisement

Winter, who was never married, is survived by a brother, Jim; niece Ellen Winter; and nephews Robert and David Winter.
This is a continuing series of online activities to undertake on your computer or tablet during your quarantine quandary, as well as local in-person events as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.  The La Jolla Community Center presents Stretch for the Best Quality of Life at 10 a.m.
Encinitas recently was told by state officials it needed to abolish, or change extensively, an anti-growth law passed by voters in 2013. The move is part of a growing effort by California to force communities to comply with state housing laws. Huntington Beach was sued by California in January for not complying with state law to allow enough homebuilding to accommodate its growing population.

Question: Will the state taking legal action against communities actually result in more housing?

Phil Blair, Manpower

YES: Unfortunately, if that is what it takes. In a city of villages, we need to all take our fair share of YIMBY (yes in my back yard.) People forget that two-thirds of all of San Diegos growth is our own children and grandchildren wanting to live in our community. We need affordable and workforce affordable housing throughout the county, not just in pockets.

Kelly Cunningham, San Diego Institute for Economic Research

NO: Instead of increasing costs on cities and adding more regulations and requirements, communities would be better served by unburdening their efforts to address their own housing needs. It is irrational to impose more requirements by a faraway central planning state government in Sacramento. State regulations, including burdensome environmental rules, drive up the costs of construction and deter new building and development. Massive statewide deregulation would better serve efforts especially to increase housing for middle-income families.

David Ely, San Diego State University

YES: Expanding the supply is key to solving the housing crisis in California. Removing barriers that thwart the building of high-density housing or impede rezoning will stimulate construction by private companies. Removing legal barriers can be especially impactful since they can be the most difficult type of obstacle to overcome. However, while the state taking legal action may be a step in the right direction, it will not be enough to solve the housing shortage.

Gina Champion-Cain, American National Investments

YES: Codifying NIMBY (not in my backyard) policy through local legislation is the most egregious form of development obstruction. Law, whether enacted through vote or by elected officials, is the most powerful tool deployed against residential construction. The state is advancing from threats to meaningful action against the forces aligned to prevent increased housing stock. Each barrier to construction removed will lead directly to more housing. The state's action should be supported.

Alan Gin, University of San Diego

YES: Restrictions on construction will limit the amount of new housing that can be built in cities with those restrictions. The state taking legal action will force those cities to reconsider the restrictions. The cities will argue that the limits are to maintain a certain quality of life. But they run counter to the idea that all cities in the region should contribute to solving the housing affordability problem in San Diego, which would be helped by more housing.

James Hamilton, UC San Diego

YES: The Encinitas measure will restrict and delay new construction and is bad public policy. That said, I am uncomfortable with the state dictating policies for every community, even in cases where I agree with what the state is trying to do. Leaving individual communities free to chart their own course is the best way to find out which policies really work and to protect Americans freedom to control our own destiny.

Gary London, London Moeder Advisors

YES: I am heartened by the state taking an aggressive role in addressing housing matters at the community level. But even with this, I fear that the housing shortage is so deep as to be perpetual. State mandates relieve some pressure from local elected officials who are conflicted in their dual recognition that we need housing, but that many of their constituents are not on board.

Norm Miller, University of San Diego

NO: Communities, like Encinitas, may agree to back away from voter (Prop A) approvals, and 30 feet height limits, but residents will figure out other ways to defeat or slow down housing proposals, i.e., pointless California Environmental Quality Act lawsuits. Unless the state takes direct control over approvals, we will see only modest progress toward allowing more density and taller structures that make housing more affordable. Traffic! will be the mantra. Any politician supporting more density will likely be voted out of office.

Jamie Moraga, IntelliSolutions

YES: It could. Measures like Proposition A can empower NIMBYism (Not in My Backyard). Encinitas remains the only city in the county without a state-certified housing plan. A single city shouldnt be absolved of a reasonable amount of housing obligations. The voters of Encinitas will need to resolve this issue so that it results in a win-win.

Austin Neudecker, Rev

YES: The Department of Housing and Community Development is attempting to loosen the restrictions that artificially restrict housing supply and drive prices up. Legal measures should be a last resort, but residents of Encinitas should proactively address the issue and amend or replace the proposition. We should look at the larger picture: a lack of affordable housing stifles economic growth.

Bob Rauch, R.A. Rauch & Associates

YES: The way to solve the housing shortage is to hold cities accountable. Local government policies have failed to deliver housing in sufficient quantities. Those who vote for density are voted out of office as citizens against virtually everything (CAVES) use those votes to move practical politicians out of office. Politicians need political cover and the state needs to unleash some legal energy.

Lynn Reaser, Point Loma Nazarene University

YES: In recognizing that local policies can thwart state efforts to increase housing, the state is becoming serious. Gov. Newsom has indicated a goal of producing 3.5 million additional housing units by 2035, a goal that will be impossible without local support. Localities could be held accountable for housing goals, with the possibility that transportation funding could be withheld if goals are missed. Sacramento is sending a strong message to local governments: Support more housing.

Chris Van Gorder, Scripps Health

Not participating this week.

Have an idea for an EconoMeter question? Email me at phillip.molnar@sduniontribune.com.

Follow me on Twitter: @PhillipMolnar
VATICAN CITY (AP)  Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been found guilty by the Vatican of sex abuse and defrocked, as calls rose Saturday for Pope Francis to reveal what he knew about the once-powerful American prelate's apparently decades-long predatory sexual behavior.

The announcement Saturday, delivered in uncharacteristically blunt language for the Vatican, meant that the 88-year-old McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., becomes the highest-ranking churchman and the first cardinal to be punished by dismissal from the clerical state, or laicization.

He was notified Friday of the decision, which was upheld upon his appeal and approved by Pope Francis.

The pontiff next week leads a summit of bishops from around the world who have been summoned to Rome help him grapple with the entrenched problems of clerical sex abuse and the systematic cover-ups by the Catholic church's hierarchy.

Decades of revelations about priests who have sexually preyed on minors and their bosses who shuffled abusive clergy from parish to parish instead of removing them from access to children have shaken the faith of many Catholics. They also threaten the moral authority of Francis and even the survival of his papacy.

McCarrick, who in his prestigious red cardinal robes hobnobbed with presidents, other VIP politicians and pontiffs, is now barred from celebrating Mass or other sacraments including confession and from wearing clerical garb. From now on he is referred to as Mr. McCarrick.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy See's guardian of doctrinal purity, issued a decree on Jan. 11 finding McCarrick guilty of "solicitation in the sacrament of confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power," the Vatican said. That commandment forbids adultery.

On Wednesday, Congregation officials considered his appeal and upheld the decree.

The pope "recognized the definitive nature of this decision made in accordance with (church) law, rendering it as 'res iudicata,'" the Vatican said, using the Latin phrase for admitting no further recourse.

The McCarrick scandal was particularly damning to the church's reputation because it apparently was an open secret in some ecclesial circles that he slept with adult seminarians. Francis yanked McCarrick's rank as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation found credible an allegation he fondled a teenage altar boy in the 1970s.

McCarrick's civil lawyer, Barry Coburn, said Saturday that his client had no comment on the defrocking.

Coburn also declined to say if McCarrick was still living at the Kansas friary where he moved after Francis ordered him to live in penance and prayer while the investigation into his actions continued.

Besides bishops arriving for the sex abuse summit, victims' rights advocates are also converging on Rome. They are demanding that Francis, other Vatican officials and bishops elsewhere come clean about how McCarrick managed such a meteoric rise through church ranks despite reports about his sexual life.

"The pope has known from the earliest days of his papacy, or he should have known, that ex-cardinal McCarrick was a sexual predator," said Anne Barrett Doyle, an advocate at BishopAccountability.org.

"He has a resistance to removing bishops and he also has a tolerance for bishops who are sexual wrongdoers," Doyle told The Associated Press on Saturday near St. Peter's Square.

Of the defrocking, Doyle said: "Let McCarrick be the first of many. I can think of 10 other bishops who are substantively, credibly accused of sexual abuse with minor and sexual misconduct with adults, who should be laicized."

A conservative lay group, The Catholic Association, said in a statement that much more must be done to hold accountable "those in the church hierarchy who looked the other way as McCarrick rose through their ranks" and to ensure that priestly celibacy is restored and youths are safeguarded from sexual abuse.

Walking with Doyle was Phil Saviano, a board member of BishopAccountability.org, and a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest. While calling McCarrick's defrocking "ultimately a good thing," he said the punishment should have been meted out long ago.

He said he hoped Francis isn't "throwing a bone to his dissenters in an attempt to quiet everybody down. And then McCarrick will be the one and only, because there are certainly many others who have allegations against them who should face some accountability."

His account of being abused helped the Boston Globe produce a Pulitzer-winning investigation into church cover-ups, which was chronicled in the movie "Spotlight."

When ordained a priest in his native New York City in 1958, McCarrick embraced a vocation that required celibacy. Later on in his career, McCarrick curried cachet at the Vatican as a stellar fundraiser. A globe-trotting powerbroker, McCarrick liked to be called "Uncle Ted" by the young seminarians he courted.

Despite apparent common knowledge in church circles of his sexual behavior, McCarrick rose up through the ranks, even serving as the spokesman for fellow U.S. bishops when they enacted a "zero tolerance" policy against sexually abusive priests in 2002.

One of his accusers, James Grein, the son of a family friend of McCarrick's, testified to church officials that, among other abuses, McCarrick had repeatedly groped him during confession. He said the abuse, which went on for decades, began when he was 11.

"Today I am happy that the pope believed me," Grein said in a statement issued through his lawyer. He expressed hope that McCarrick "will no longer be able to use the power of Jesus' church to manipulate families and sexually abuse children."

Grein said pressure must be put on U.S. state attorney generals and senators to change the statute of limitations for abuse cases.

"Hundreds of priests, bishops and cardinals are hiding behind man-made law," he said.

The current archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where McCarrick was posted at the pinnacle of his career from 2001-2006, said it hoped that the Vatican decision "serves to help the healing process for survivors of abuse, as well as those who have experienced disappointment or disillusionment because of what former Archbishop McCarrick has done."

Complaints were also made about McCarrick's conduct in the New Jersey dioceses of Newark and Metuchen, where he previously served.

Francis himself became implicated in the decades-long McCarrick cover-up after a former Vatican ambassador to Washington accused the pope of rehabilitating the cardinal from sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI despite being told of his penchant for young men.

Francis hasn't responded to those claims but he ordered a limited Vatican investigation. The Vatican has acknowledged the outcome may produce evidence that mistakes were made and said Francis would "follow the path of truth, wherever it may lead."

Sexual abuse scandals have threatened to taint the legacy of past papacies, including that of John Paul II, who has since been made a saint.

The Rev. Marcial Maciel, a pedophile, enjoyed John Paul II's admiration for his success in spurring vocations and for inspiring generous financial donations.

Maciel's predatory crimes against children were ignored for decades by the Vatican bureaucracy.
The bad weather is having an effect on Samoan families that rely on selling fish to make a living.

The Samoa Meteorological Service has in recent weeks issued warnings to small crafts and boats against taking to sea, as heavy rain and winds pounded the islands, as a result of tropical depressions in various parts of the Pacific.

Some of the affected fishermen, who were at the Savalalo fish market yesterday, told the Samoa Observer that the bad weather is impacting their sales and even leading to extra expenses.

Fisherman Sefo Seone said the bad weather is forcing them to travel further to fish.

If the Apia ocean gets too choppy and not well for fishing, we would always travel to the other side of Upolu to get some fish to sell, he said.

Mr. Seone  who is both a fisherman and a fish vendor  said the bad weather has resulted in extra cost as at times he goes fishing at night.

Another fish vendor, Uati Sione, said selling fish is the only form of income for his family and continued bad weather doesnt augur well for his family.

This is the breadwinner for my own family and I wont have any more hope if there is no fish because to be honest, I get quite a lot from selling the fish, and so I just hope the weather doesnt get too hazardous.

There were only about 10 fish vendors at the market when this newspaper went around, and the absence of fish varieties was noticeable.

Another fish vendor, Beverly Kepu, said she normally sells a lot of tuna but that wasnt possible with the bad weather.

If it werent for this weather, I wouldve been busy right now with lots of fish on my table. I just hope the weather goes back to normal very soon, she said.
Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Dr. Sailele Malielegaoi, says the man who accused him of murder, corruption and gun smuggling among other things will finally have his day in Court.

He was referring to Paulo Malele, who is better known as King Faipopo, whom the Police arrested and charged last week for making false statements.

He (Malele) will have his day in Court to bring all his witnesses to testify to determine, whether I committed such crimes, Tuilaepa said.

It is pointless for me to be in office when this person is saying I am a murderer."

"Even a house gecko I cant kill it, I just cant do that, only people who do not fear God do those unspeakable things.

The defendant lives in Australia but came to Samoa for his mothers funeral, when he was detained by the Police and taken in for questioning.

According to the Police, their investigation started in August last year, when a complaint was lodged by the Prime Minister in relation to alleged defamatory statements made by the defendant.

The Police said Mr. Paulo  through YouTube videos  made public statements accusing the Prime Minister of committing murder, corruption, theft, gun smuggling and other statements that are strongly denied by the complainant."

During his weekly program with the media, the Prime Minister said Malele was probably influenced by false reports by Samoan-based local residents.

Again he wasnt here and so it must be false reports by the local residents. This is also an opportunity for the locals who feed him (Malele) the wrong information to go before the Court and testify and bring their evidence, he said.

Malolo has been remanded at liberty and is scheduled to appear before the Court on March 5.

He has to report to the Criminal Investigation Division every Friday.

The Police also used the opportunity to issue a warning about the abuse of social media.

The damage that defamatory statements on social media outlets and cyber bullying has done to several members of the community is a matter that these laws are designed to address, the statement said.

Where complaints are laid with the police, we will do our best to assist those being victimised on social media platforms by any false statements. 
Remittances are not only important to low income families living below the poverty line, but it has also been an economic stabiliser for Samoa.

So says the Governor of the Central Bank of Samoa, Maiava Atalina Ainuu-Enari, in response to questions sent to her by the Sunday Samoan.

One of the main positive impacts of remittances is that it is an additional source of income for many low income families in Samoa, she said.

Remittances can then be used by these low income families to pay for education (school fees), health (medical bills), build homes and buying cars  in addition to daily expenses like food and transport."

A small portion of these remittances are invested, for example, setting up a small family business, buying property.

Maiava highlighted during the tsunami in 2009 and cyclones in the past (1991-2000) rebuilding the lives of those affected.

What this means is that in the aftermath of natural disasters, the inflow of private remittances for families and churches has been quick, and has allowed those most affected (families and businesses) by these disasters to quickly rebuild and recover (hence stabilising the economy) while official assistance and aid may take longer to arrive and disburse.

She explained that New Zealand has traditionally been Samoas source of remittances, given that it has the largest Samoan diaspora.

And we have the Treaty of Friendship with New Zealand, where 1,100 residents of Samoa are eligible to migrate to New Zealand under this scheme, she added.

What this means is that there is a steady increase in the number of Samoan immigrants to New Zealand, which will normally translate to increasing remittances from New Zealand."

Also, the New Zealand dollar has been fairly strong in the past few years, which also contributed to the large nominal value of remittances from New Zealand.

Maiava acknowledged the senders of remittances from abroad, as they directly contribute to the livelihood of their respective families in Samoa.

These remittances are directly financing their families and churches domestic consumption and financial commitments and obligations to their local communities, and possibly to a lesser extent through investments."

The main recipients of remittances are individuals and families at an average of 68 per cent, while the second largest recipients of remittances are churches and charitable organizations at 11 per cent on average."

The bulk of remittances that is received, come through the money transfer operators (average 80 per cent) with 20 per cent received through the commercial banks.

Tourism and Remittances are the largest foreign exchange earner for the country. These foreign exchange are kept as the countrys official foreign reserves, and used to make much needed foreign payments on imported goods (oil, cars, food) and services (transport services).
Dear Editor,

You should embrace the thriving democratic principles now showing in the Samoan political system.

The right to dissent is one of the corner stones of democracy.

The PM is prone to allergic reactions against dissent voices on social media has now limited the democratic freedom of others to expression by amending and establishing suppression laws under the guise of libel. This is immature in my opinion.

The idea of restrictions in casting votes only within the shores of Samoa is a form of voting suppression against the right to vote of overseas Samoans. That is pretty shallow and completely lacking in in depth foresight on your part.

I do not condone the throwing of pig heads or threatening the PMs wellbeing, that kind of dissent expression is only prevalent in violent areas elsewhere in the world, where violence of guns and civil wars settle matters of dispute. It is vile in my opinion.

People need to understand the roots of maintaining the status quo, the govt in setting the impoverished scene within the communities around Samoa and exploiting the local cultural context should be addressed.

Dissent by making people in the villages and districts become well aware of their matai status and the political ramifications of their shortsighted votes which are far often influenced by the sway of the village council and the last minute bribery to uplift some financial constraints, should be reinforced and strengthened.

By addressing these issues at the grassroots level would only see change come about.

Social media helped the American public understand the inner workings of their corporate biased congress and POTUs, the same can be utilised by the Samoan people in spreading the message to those ignorant of their responsibilities around voting where the incumbent govt is monitoring and exploiting effectively to maintain power.

Suppressing unnecessary dissent in violence should be regulated and criminalized.

Whether claims on social media are truthful or seemed libelous, protecting expressions of opinions should be paramount as it should generate conversation and answers from the PM and his government, not defensiveness by simply limiting citizens rights to express.

If a claim is untrue, it is the PMs duty to clarify and explain.

This is called transparency and accountability in governance, by placing their feet in the fire.

In this case, the PM just opted for the easy fix, kill the fire by pouring legal ramifications against those who raised it.

Let us pray that no government in Samoa would again make the same mistake that the PM and his HRPP has now made - suppressing the peaceful voice of dissent of her citizens.

Ropati V.
Dear Editor,

Re: P.M. gives instruction on terrorist

Are these people nuttas or just frustrated at having no freedom of speech often denied in Samoa?

I havent seen the video in question.

When the PM speaks out on weekly TV, he should invite these people to discuss openly their concerns. The general public has no say. The PM drones on and on yet nobody responds with questions or concerns.

People want their human rights met to be able to trust. This was signed and agreed upon by the smiley PM in peace agreements.

The Samoa Land and Titles Court is full of problems.

Now the PM will have majority vote of the panel in Supreme Court. Is that a fair court system?

Has this worked in the lower Court?

Is this practiced in our other sister countries?

So who will be the voice to protect the Samoa people, to disclose their hieradary first right to customary land taken by greedy imposters?

The PM knows law and politics should remain neutral. So why has he amended the Constitution? Is the PM misunderstood or purposely suppressing the peoples rights?

This requires serious international intervention. Privy council should intervene.

Fuaoletoelau
Think a minuteThis is an amazing true story of love and luck, or what appeared to be luck. Terri wanted to buy her husband David something special for Christmas. Then in September she found exactly what she was looking for.

Unfortunately it cost more than she could afford on her husbands salary as a policeman. Yet the gracious shopkeeper let her take it home that same day with the agreement that she would pay him whenever she could. So she gave it to her husband as an early Christmas present.

About two weeks later, Terris husband David was working the night shift when a call on his police radio reported a drugstore robbery. Officer Dave arrived just in time to see the robbers car speeding away. Quickly he turned on the loud police siren on his car and chased after him.

It was not long before the criminal pulled over and Dave was walking up to the robbers car to arrest him. Suddenly the thief threw open his door and shot Officer Dave in the stomach with a .45 caliber gun!

When Daves wife Terri heard the news that her policeman husband had been shot, she was so grateful! You see, Christmas came early that year for David with the gift of life his wife could not wait to give him: his own bulletproof vest.

Did you realize that your life has likely been saved a number of times that you didnt even know about? You were not saved by luck, but by love. God loves you so much that He keeps giving you more time to get right with Him. He keeps patiently waiting for you to truly love Him in return and start living His way every day, so you can be truly ready for your life to end. Remember: No one gets out of life alive. Everyone who lives dies.

So why risk one more day? With all your heart ask Jesus to forgive you for living your own wrong way, and to take full charge of your daily way of living. With the Creator and Lord of life Himself in control, you will never need luck, because you will finally have the complete certainty and peace that youre living every day ready to dieincluding today.

Just think a minute
NAMPO, North Korea (AP)  Power-strapped North Korea is exploring two ambitious alternative energy sources  tidal power and coal-based synthetic fuels  that could greatly improve living standards and reduce its reliance on oil imports and vulnerability to sanctions.

Finding a lasting energy source that isn't vulnerable to sanctions has long been a top priority for North Korean officials. Leader Kim Jong Un used his New Year's address last month to call on the country to "radically increase the production of electricity" and singled out the coal-mining industry as a "primary front in developing the self-supporting economy." For the longer-term, he stressed the importance of atomic, wind and tidal power.

Since further development of atomic energy is unlikely anytime soon, the power-scarce country is developing technology to "gasify" coal into substitute motor fuels. It also is looking into using huge sea barriers with electricity-generating turbines to harness the power of the ocean's tides.

Coal and hydropower are North Korea's main energy resources. The North imports nearly all of its oil and petroleum products from China. Solar panels are visible just about everywhere, from urban balconies to rural farm buildings and military installations. Wind remains a very minor energy source.

The North's renewed focus on oil alternatives underscores what some foreign observers believe are two of its long-term best bets.

Kim's late father, Kim Jong Il, tried to get international support for developing nuclear power in the 1990s before the North ultimately opted instead for nuclear weapons. That brought some of the most intense sanctions ever applied by the United Nations against the country, making its energy situation even more precarious.

But coal is something North Korea has in abundance.

It's used to supply thermal power plants and factories, to heat homes and to make fertilizer and even a kind of cloth, called Vinylon. Slow-running, smoke-belching trucks that use a gasification process with firewood are common in the North Korean countryside. Coal isn't generally seen as a good oil-product substitute because converting it to a liquid form is inefficient and expensive  coal gasification was last used on a large scale in Nazi Germany to keep its cars and trucks moving.

Given North Korea's limited options, it's a technology that appears to be paying off.

The output from just one gasifier unit reportedly destined for the North Sunchon Chemical Plant, north of Pyongyang, could yield synthetic fuel amounting to about 10 percent of the North's recent petroleum supply, according to a recent study for the Nautilus Institute by David von Hippel and Peter Hayes, two of the foremost experts on the issue. The study cited as one of its sources a Wall Street Journal report from December that tracked the unit to a Chinese exporter.

The facility is believed to be a center of "C-1" technology, which uses coal to make a kind of gas used to produce synthetic fuels, industrial chemicals and fertilizers.

Now that China has reduced its coal imports from the North in line with the sanctions, there's more available for gasification.

"The project appears to provide a significant benefit to the DPRK, in terms of supplying fuels to compensate for petroleum product imports that run afoul of United Nations Security Council sanctions passed in the last two years, although the project will not completely replace all lost imports on its own," they wrote in the report.

DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The North's interest in tidal energy also reflects a practical desire to exploit existing resources.

Glyn Ford, a former member of the European Parliament with extensive experience with the North, said he has had several discussions with North Korean officials regarding tidal power and even helped arrange a study tour to a facility in the UK a decade ago. He said they have tried to invite experts to the North.

The country is perfectly situated for tidal power.

"The bulk of the Korean Peninsula's west coast is a rich tidal power resource," Ford said in a telephone interview with The AP. "There are some detailed studies of the potential in South Korea and the same resources are there to be exploited north of the Demilitarized Zone."

The world's largest functioning tidal power plant is located near the South Korean city of Ansan. It opened in 2011 and produces about enough power to support a city of 500,000.

Kim Jong Un has shown a strong penchant for mobilizing his million-man military on big projects. And the North has shown it can build something like a tidal power plant.

One of North Korea's proudest accomplishments is the gigantic West Sea Barrage, which was completed in 1986 at a cost of $4 billion. The huge seawall near the city of Nampo, a port about an hour's drive from the capital, crosses the mouth of the Taedong River and helps control flooding and reduce the amount of salt that seeps in from the ocean, increasing the amount and quality of arable land.

"The attraction is that, apart from the turbines, it is all a gigantic earth-moving project," Ford said. "That's ideal for the Korean People's Army skillset."
Samoa is natural and beautiful and has all that a tourist would want to see and experience  there is no need to add to it.

That is the view of Justine Masters, a resident of Melbourne, Australia who is on a vacation in Samoa for the first time with her husband, children and other family members.

She said their experiences since their arrival has been fantastic and they are enjoying it.

Samoa is very nice and natural and easy and I wouldnt know how to improve it any more while its already in place, she said.

Its where Id like to come to relax and I reckon its also where other tourists would like to come to relax and chill from pressure.

Mrs. Masters was sightseeing around the Savalalo market yesterday when she was sighted by the Samoa Observer and told of her and her familys experiences.

Weve really enjoyed it and its been fantastic going out in the sites and especially with the help of our friend Vaaiga Tuigamala who brought us for site seeing and its been really lovely, she said.

Seeing her children enjoy every minute of their stay in Samoa overwhelmed her emotionally, she added, as they appreciated everything that the country had to offer. These included the Samoan culture, its people and the environment and she said she is keen to visit again, when she finds the time.

She had also explained that Samoa has got the culture, the people and the environment and she will plan for a second visit when she has the time. Mrs. Masters was seen at the Savalalo Market with her brother and sister-in-laws and their children, as well as her own children. The Australian tourists were checking what was on sale at the market. They fly back to Melbourne today.
Twenty-four-year-old Canadian tourist Kathryn Hrycusko was on a mission when she flew into Samoa  to enjoy all that the country had to offer.

And the country did not disappoint her: The To Sua Trench, giant clam shells and white sandy beaches. And travelling alone enabled her to embrace the experience, as she has always dreamt of visiting Samoa.

The To Sua Trench is beautiful and the beaches had been very comforting and since Im travelling alone, I feel very relaxed and welcomed. I have also been to the giant clams and I think thats my favourite so far, very beautiful colours and absolutely stunning, she said.

Travelling alone has its benefits and after two weeks of seeing, sleeping, eating and waking up in Samoa  Kathryn says the experience has been refreshing  especially after her recent school graduation.

Its easier to travel alone and travelling alone to Samoa had been very blessed and warming, as you dont get to wait for other people.

But the fun came to an abrupt halt recently, when Kathryn was bitten by a stray-dog in Apia. The incident confirmed the fears of other visitors to Samoa, who have expressed concern with the large number of stray dogs.

Ive had really good experiences and also the not so good experiences, because of the incident with the dog, but its really been fun and I still love it here, she said.

When she was asked if there were recommendations she would like to make to improve services for tourists, Kathryn said the locals should look after their dogs well and take care of the environment.

Kathryn had also travelled to the big island of Savaii and from her touristy experience concluded that Samoa is a wonderful place she had always dreamt of visiting.
The Ministry of Police is in charge of enforcing the law that prohibits smoking in public places.

And with increasing public concerns at the effects of smoking on non-smokers (second hand smoking), the Ministry of Health is currently working with the Police to ensure enforcement of the tobacco legislation is effected.

In enforcing any law, it is the Police that have that sole duty, whereas we assist their work in any way like through public awareness.

Everyone also has a human right under the constitution to tell the person smoking in public to stop or get rid of their cigarettes  people found smoking in public will be fined, a MOH official told the Samoa Observer.

The Ministry is currently facing challenges in enforcing the law, according to the official, as the risk of nonsmokers to cancer through exposure is very high. Consequently, the Samoa Cancer Society is also working with the Ministry to ensure the risk in public places are minimized.

Even if a person doesnt smoke, being exposed to fumes from a cigarette product has the potential to increase the risks of cancer, respiratory issues and death.

People just go out smoking in public places and around other people. That goes to say that they do not know what the law - meaning there is not enough education and they are blatantly ignoring it, not wanting to adhere to the law.

Tobacco shouldnt just be the governments problem. It should also be our responsibility to adhere to the law, said the Samoa Cancer Society CEO, Shelley Burich.

She also added that everyone has rights as citizens to let other people know when they are breaking the law.

And if we dont speak up then we are not doing our duty, we shouldnt always complain about what the government is not doing but also we have a voice to put our hand up to be responsible.
Sasina, Letui and Fagaee, villages in Gagaifomauga No. 3, remain fully supportive of Laauli Leuatea Polataivao as their representative in Parliament, and the ruling Human Rights Protection Party (H.R.P.P).

The message was relayed by Seve Avaula Panapa, on behalf of the villages, during a press conference at the Maota o Samoa yesterday.

Contrary to the decision to remove Laauli from the party, Seve made it absolutely clear that Sasina, Letui and Fagaee remain supportive of their Member of Parliament  even if it gets to a situation where a by-election is called.

If the H.R.P.P. refuses to honour his membership, that does not change anything, he will always be our Member of Parliament, Seve said.

He added that there is no need for a by-election.

That will cost the government money, he said. Laauli will return to Parliament (if that happens) because he has the full support of Sasina, Letui and Fagaee.

This week, H.R.P.P. Whip, Alaiasa Moefaauo Moananu, confirmed that the former Speaker of Parliament and Cabinet Minister has been removed from the ruling Party for his decision to vote against Constitutional amendment proposed by the Government.

Alaiasa said the H.R.P.Ps Executive unanimously reached the decision last month.

Laauli has always maintained that his future is dependent on his constituents and what they want.

Yesterday, Seve claimed that he was speaking on behalf the three villages in support of Laauli. He praised Laaulis decision to vote against the Electoral Constituencies Bill.

The law in question has plucked the authority of the puleono-o-Salafai, he said. It appears that he was wounded by his own colleagues from Savaii. He fought for the sake of Savaii unaided. He fought for what is best for Salafai.

Seve reiterated that the electoral constituencies law is discriminatory and imbalanced.

Yet the H.R.P.P expounds that what is good in Upolu is also good for Savaii and that is not the case.

Seve made it clear their constituency supports Laaulis decision to remain in the ruling Party.

The bylaws are limited within the H.R.P.P. and our M.P. stood up for sake of Savaii. However if issues ascends as a result of this law, it is recorded that Laauli was against it from the beginning.

Another Sasina chief, Polataivao, echoed similar sentiments.

We support Laauli, his decision to vote against the measure is fully supported by the Constituency, and given the ramifications this bill has for Savaii, it was the best decision, said Polataivao.

Speaking to the media yesterday, Laauli also made it clear he has not resigned and will not resign from the H.R.P.P.

He added that there is a need for an opposition party to counter the ruling party.

There were three parties in Parliament, then two and now just one ruling party. And considering the advantages and disadvantages of what has occurred, I am praying for what is next, he said.


Opposition parties on Saturday demanded a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for consultations on the Pulwama terror attack. They made this demand at the all-party meeting that was convened by Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the aftermath of the horrific attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir that left 49 paramilitary troopers dead till Friday.



"We asked Home Minister to request the Prime Minister to hold a consultation meeting with the presidents of all national and regional parties and hold discussions with them," Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters after the meeting.



Azad said Congress has extended its full support to the government to end terror. "We have disagreements with the government and there will be; but we have decided to stand with the government for the sake of country, for its safety and unity, for the safety of people and security forces," he said.



"We are with the Army, the BSF, the CRPF, the J&K Police to end the terror."



He said it was for the first time such a large number of security personnel had died in non-war situation since 1947.



"The nation is sad, angry. People and politicians irrespective of their religion, region, caste are mourning," Azad said. "Be it Kashmir or any part of the country, Congress will extend full cooperation to the government to deal with the militancy."



Other parties also supported the demand in the meeting, he added.



Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja said such a meeting should be convened to discuss the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the efforts the government was likely to take to maintain peace and normalcy in the state.



"All parties expressed condemnation of the attack and reiterated that they were firmly behind the security forces at this challenging moment," Raja said after the all-party meeting.



The political parties also advised against any instigations against the Muslim community, he added.



Rashtriya Janata Dal's Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav, Trinamool Congress's Sudip Bandyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien, Republican Party of India chief and Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, Congress's Anand Sharma, Telugu Desam Party's Ram Mohan Naidu were among the leaders present at the meeting.



The all-party meeting on Saturday also passed a resolution condemning the February 14 Pulwama attack that has till now claimed the lives of 49 CRPF troopers.



In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot. The toll rose to 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.



The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.






Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced Rs 11 lakh each for the families of two Bihar troopers who were killed in the Pulwama attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir.

He also announced a state funeral for Ratan Kumar Thakur, resident of Kahalgaon in Bhagalpur district and Sanjay Sinha, resident of Masaurhi in Patna district.



Their bodies arrived earlier at the Patna Airport where the Chief Minister was also present.



The funeral will take place in their respective villages later in the day, a police official said, adding that "they will be given a guard of honour".





A large number of security forces, including those from the Bihar Police, and hundreds of people gathered at the airport and saluted the troopers amid loud chanting of "Amar Sahid" and "Bharat Mata Ki Jai".



In the worst-ever terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir since militancy erupted in 1989, a suicide bomber on Thursday rammed his SUV packed with explosives into a CRPF bus on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Pulwama district, killing at least 40 troopers on the spot, the toll reached 49 on Friday as several injured succumbed.



The attack has left the security establishment stunned as it created the biggest casualty of security personnel in a single day in peace time.


By SA Commercial Prop News

A fast-developing infrastructure of flexible workspaces is helping companies explore new opportunities in West and East Africa, says Joanne Bushell, CEO of Middle East & Africa of Regus.



A fast-developing infrastructure of flexible workspaces is helping companies explore new opportunities in West and East Africa, says Joanne Bushell, CEO of Middle East & Africa of Regus.

Over the past decade, all eyes have been turned to the economic achievements of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and Asias emerging markets. But with much less media fanfare, the markets of Africa have also made huge gains, and they present excellent opportunities for South African businesses and investors. If you havent already looked at them, now is the time to do so.

Over the period 2001-2010, six of the worlds ten fastest-growing economies were in sub-Saharan Africa, according to analysis by The Economist. Nor is this a one-off: it predicts that seven African countries - Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Congo, Ghana, Zambia and Nigeria  will be in the top ten during 2011-2015.

Whilst the economies of the West worry about the threat of double-dip recession, Africas business communities are optimistic. In the latest edition of the Regus Business Confidence Index, West Africa was at 140 points, 26 above the global average; in East Africa it stood at 151 points, 37 points above the global average. In both regions, the number of companies reporting revenue and profit growth was well above the global average.

However, the mood was less buoyant in South Africa, the African economy most firmly coupled to the West. Here, the Regus Business Confidence Index had slipped 17 points from April 2011, down to 115. With the percentage of South African companies reporting revenue growth also down, businesses here need to explore new options.

Many factors are fuelling the boom in West and East Africa. Trade with non-traditional partners has risen steeply, so that they now account for about half of sub-Saharan Africas exports. China, India and Brazil dominate, but theres also been a rise in intraregional trade. This rise in non-traditional trade insulates Africas frontier economies against the problems of the industrialized countries.

Problems in the West have also plugged Africas brain drain  the decades-long outflow of ambitious workers and students deserting Africa for the employment opportunities elsewhere. A recent BBC report spoke of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, of educated Nigerians who have decided to return because of a combination of strong growth back home, and the economic slowdown in the West.

Brain drain has now been replaced by brain gain. One recent repat told the BBC, If you come back and look on the ground [in Nigeria], youll see a serious entrepreneurial mindset.

Many different organisations, from charities to banks, are nurturing that entrepreneurial mindset. Theyre helping to assemble the building blocks of trade  such as business education, financial management and accountancy training, microfinance, and access to larger-scale finance.

Regus is another organisation putting in place the infrastructural building blocks in Africas frontier markets. Already firmly established in South Africa with more than ten business centres across Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg, Regus has responded to demand for flexible workspace elsewhere in Africa. Its network now covers Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

Regus plans to expand the network still further, as global demand for flexible workspace soars. Over the next three years, the company will increase its global network by at least 75%, equating to over 800 additional business centres. Africa has and will benefit from this expansion, with Uganda and Ivory Coast among the countries where Regus has this year opened centres for the first time.

This expanding network of ready-to-use, flexible workspace allows both local and international companies, start-ups and existing businesses, to establish a low-risk presence in Africas growing economies. They can explore the opportunities in these frontier markets without making lengthy commitments in terms of real estate, equipment or upfront expenditure. They can respond quickly to the more volatile market conditions that prevail in frontier markets: expanding, contracting or withdrawing as they wish.

These two parallel developments  Africas economic growth and a developing turnkey infrastructure of finance and flexible business workspaces  present enormous opportunities for local and international businesses. With the Wests developed economies gripped by anxiety, now is the time for South African businesses to look elsewhere. Like any frontier markets, the economies of West and East Africa offer few guarantees to businesses, but they certainly offer some great possibilities.
Gov't confirms Yemen's rejection of normalization' steps with israel by US-saudi-backed gov't [16/February/2019] SANAA, Feb. 16 (Saba) - Official spokesman of the National Salvation Government Minister of Information Dhaifallah al-Shami on Friday affirmed Yemen's rejection of the steps of normalization executed by the government of mercenaries Riyadh with the Zionist entity.



The spokesman said in a statement to the Yemeni news agency Saba that the participation of Khaled al-Yamani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the exiled Hadi government backed by Riyadh at the Warsaw Conference, along with the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity, represents a disgrace and reflect the level of moral fall of the mercenaries and their US-backed aggression coalition.



He pointed out that the participation of this mercenary government in this conference does not represents at all Yemeni people known for his supportive and supportive positions for all issues of the Arab and Islamic nation, in the forefront of them the Palestinian cause.



The spokesman for the National Salvation Government of that this participation is a serious indicator of the normalization in public manner with criminal zionist entity.



He reaffirmed the principled and firm position of the political leadership and the government of national salvation that supports the Palestinian cause and rejects any steps towards normalization by the mercenary government or other regimes at the expense of the central nation's cause.





AA

Saba
Espanola Firefighters Esteban Martinez and Ron Padilla unlocked an SUV after a mother accidentally locked her keys and her 4-year-old daughter inside. The Fire Department only opens vehicles when a child is locked inside or someones life is in danger.
We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message.
Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!

Your notification has been saved.

There was a problem saving your notification.

{{description}}

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Baring Vostok founder detained for 2 months in $40 mln embezzlement case

 RIA Novosti, Ramil Sitdikov

17:20 16/02/2019

MOSCOW, February 16 (RAPSI)  Moscows Basmanny District Court on Saturday ordered detention of the founder of Baring Vostok investment company, U.S. citizen Michael Calvey, as part of a 2.5-billion-ruble (about $40 million) embezzlement case, the courts press service told RAPSI.

Baring Vostok founder expressed a wish to cooperate with investigators and asked the court to release him on a 5-million-ruble bail or put under house arrest. The court dismissed his appeal and placed Calvey in jail until April 13.

On Friday, the court detained for two months five other suspects including Baring Vostok Industry Partner for the financial industry sector, French citizen Philippe Delpal, the companys partners Vagan Abgaryan, Baring Vostok Investment Director Ivan Zyuzin, Maxim Vladimirov and ex- chairman of Vostochny bank board Alexey Kordichev. Delpal pleaded not guilty in court and refused to cooperate with investigators.

According to investigation, Calvey knowing about a 2.5-billion-ruble debt of the First Collector Bureau, a firm under his control, has organized the sale of its shares to Vostochny bank that has led to embezzlement.

The Investigative Committee claims that the suspect committed a crime that could not be classified as business crime because he used a chain of sham companies settling the deal. Moreover, investigators say they have a PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report on the done deal estimating the sold shares at 600,000 rubles, which indicates an instance of fraud.

Calvey denies allegations insisting that the deal was fair as both companies agreed its terms and stood for it, including a person reporting an alleged crime to law enforcement bodies. He noted that a report has been filed with police by a member of Vostochny bank board of directors Sherzod Yusupov. According to Calvey, the real reason of his prosecution is a wide corporate dispute related to the control of the bank by two groups of shareholders: Baring Vostok and stockholders coming from Uniastrum bank, which was reorganized and joined to Vostochny in early 2017.

Baring Vostok company founded by Calvey in 1994 focuses on private equity investments in the CIS and Russia. The company has invested in shares of Yandex, Vkusvill, Tinkoff Bank and other major projects.
If you are not redirected automatically, please follow this link
Olympic medallist wrestler Sushil Kumar to remain in jail as court extends his judicial custody till July 9 in a murder case.
AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes had an interview with US popular talk show host Larry King. You can watch one of the videos below and watch the rest of the interview on the other videos on Youtube. During the interview, Tony Fernandes mentioned that AirAsia will be opening new fast food restaurant.

If you watch the interview, Tony Fernandes mentioned that he loved AirAsia in-flight food. Watch the video from 3:12 onwards to listen.

I think our food is fantastic. we believe in it so much were going to start a fast food restaurant out of it.



Its called Santan,

For those who havent read our blog, we blogged on the food in Santan. Santan is the name of the AirAsias in-flight menu.

Share Pin

Golden Butter Chicken Rice

Some of Santans popular food are Pak Nasser Nasi Lemak and Uncle Chin Chicken Rice. Recently we reviewed their new festive food called Golden Butter Chicken, you can read it here.

There is no mention of the date and the location of Santan, AirAsias new fast food restaurant yet. However, this will be one good idea as there are not many fast food restaurants in Malaysia are selling fast food nasi lemak and chicken rice.

Wilson Ng A Father and traveler who enjoys to eat, shop, travel and taking pictures with Samsung S21 Ultra. Im a full time blogger, youtuber and father for two.

I travel around 17 International trips per year. Remember to follow us at www.instagram.com/placesandfoods and www.youtube.com/placesandfoods. For ads or features, contact me at [email protected] See author's posts
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

Go to form
A law enforcement officer works at the scene of a shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019, in Aurora, Ill. Officials say several people were killed and at least five police officers were wounded after a gunman opened fire in an industrial park. (AP Photo/Matt Marton)
The Burial Of Kojo, a movie produced by Blitz The Ambassador, a Ghanaian rapper based in the USA will be available on Netflix from March.



The Burial of Kojo a 2018 movie which was premiered for the first time at the Urbanworld Film Festival 2018 will finally be on giant online streaming website, Netflix and once its there anyone who couldnt catch the premiere in Ghana will be able to watch it.



Distribution rights for the movie has been purchased by Array-A film distribution company. The company has announced in a Twitter post that, The Burial Of Kojo will be available on Netflix from March 31st.



The Burial Of Kojo was shot in Ghana, produced by Sam Blitz Bazawule and Ama K. Abrebese.



The Burial Of Kojo follows the tumultuous relationship between two brothers, Kojo and Kwabena. Kojo causes a car accident that tragically kills Kwabenas bride on their wedding day. Kwabena in turn, devices an elaborate plan to seek revenge 7 years later. He lures Kojo to an abandoned mine, knocks him unconscious and leaves him in the mine shaft to die. Kojo must survive with no food and water, while his wife and local detective race against time to find him.











Source: ghbase,com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Vice President of IMANI Ghana, Kofi Bentil has asked Senior Minister, Osafo-Maafo to help get to the bottom of what led to the violence that occurred during the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election.



The Senior Minister over the week, condemned former President John Mahama for painting Ghana black before members of the diplomatic corps.



The former President among several comments bemoaned governments somewhat lack of commitment to getting to the bottom of the Ayawaso chaos.



According to him, because President Akufo-Addo had endorsed violence in the past through his all be die comment, he is finding it difficult to solve the Ayawaso debacle which led to the injuring of some members of the NDC.



However, the Senior Minister disagrees; describing Mahama as unpatriotic.



But reacting to this, Kofi Bentil says the diplomats know more than anyone can imagine so that should be the least of Osafo-Maafos worries.



Speaking in a panel discussion on Joy FMs Newsfile programme, Kofi Bentil said: he should be minded to be getting to the bottom of this; if for nothing at all for the fact that he is a Senior Ministerit comes as if he is more interested in what people tell the diplomats about us. The diplomats tend to know more about what is happening in this countryit is not news to them. What he should be worried about is what is the truth of the matter.



Mr Bentil also urged the former President to submit the videos he has to the appropriate authorities to help in investigations.



That evidence that former President Mahama has is materialI would expect him to probably submit it, he urged.

Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
President Buhari has expressed disappointment at the postponement of the elections by INEC. Read his statement below.



I am deeply disappointed that despite the long notice given and our preparations both locally and internationally, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) postponed the Presidential and National Assembly elections within hours of its commencement.



Many Nigerians have traveled to various locations to exercise their right to vote, and international observers are gathered.



INEC themselves have given assurances, day after day and almost hour after hour that they are in complete readiness for the elections. We and all our citizens believed them.



This administration has ensured that we do not interfere in any way with the work of INEC except to ensure that all funds were released to the commission.



We now urge INEC to ensure not only that materials already distributed are safe and do not get into wrong hands, but that everything is done to avoid the lapses that resulted in this unfortunate postponement, and ensure a free and fair election on the rescheduled dates.



While I reaffirm my strong commitment to the independence, neutrality of the electoral umpire and the sanctity of the electoral process and ballot, I urge all political stakeholders and Nigerians to continue to rally round INEC at this trying national moment in our democratic journey.



I, therefore, appeal to all Nigerians to refrain from all civil disorder and remain peaceful, patriotic and united to ensure that no force or conspiracy derail our democratic development.



I have decided to move back to Abuja to ensure that the 14.00 hrs meeting called by INEC with all stakeholders is successful.



Muhammadu Buhari



Daura, February 16, 2019













Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
I love the idea of the NDC getting a fresh leader with a fresh mandate and without any excess baggage going into the 2020 elections, and to come out of the terrible mess Mahama has made of us. I think the repercussions of such an event will be great.



Make no mistake, the myriad of problems confronting the NDC today are not beyond our control. They are an amalgam of bad leadership, avarice, gluttony, and the discarding of our founding principles into the dustbin, by one man who thinks the survival of the NDC depends on his benevolence.



The NDC has lost it's moral rudder. Since February 2009, our partys moral development and the commitment to our founding principles have been encumbered by a leadership with blurry vision, entitlement and twisted policies.



In a world of hostile competition, where leaders fight for the well-being of their people, we have lost our party to relational political learners who barely understand the link between party interest and their own inordinate political ambitions. Unlike Rawlings and to some extent, Mills who spoke on the political aspirations of their people, the uninsightful John Mahama is skilled in supporting policies that call for the exploitation of hard working footsoldiers and enrichment of his friends and family.



For the purposes of political convenience, Mahama is today promising to place NDC footsoldiers on salary if he ever comes back as the leader of the party. And this particular salary according to him is targeted to improve the lives of foot soldiers.



I think Mr Mahama is living in an isolated political bubble. Otherwise, what explains this latest talk of putting NDC footsoldiers on government payroll in his second coming? How does mr Mahama intends to do that?

This was a leader whose tenure saw the biggest neglect of the NDC footsoldiers, so much that, "Heroes fund" that Prof Mills established to cater for the NDC footsoldiers as insurance for any mishaps in the line of duty for the party got run down by Mahama. Yes, Mahama couldn't sustain the NDC welfare system bequited him, and yet he want another shot at the presidency with big promises.



This grandstanding prima-donna is doing the tough talking now because he want power for the sake of it. The desperation to come back to power is gradually destroying what is left of the former president.



Of all the contenders in the race, Mahama represents the choice that most endangers the stability and future of our great party. My conclusion is not based on prejudice of any kind. It is based on a factual analysis of Mahama's competence, of his rhetoric, and of his track record as the leader of this great party. From his moral turpitude to gross avarice and calculated treachery against the party's founding principles, and lack of respect for the founder, hes hoping to return to divide the party even more.



Mahama remains the most divisive factor in NDC today. There are real serious divisions within the NDC, and Mahama has proven that he has no capacity to bring all forces under the umbrella.



We cannot afford to place our future in the hands of someone who is merely a good talker, one who believe he has unfinished business to come back to. We as party folks must practice the pragmatic thought process of selecting our next leader based upon what makes good sense and not what sounds good or feels good.

NDC risks staying in opposition forever if John Mahama get the nod to lead the party into the 2020 elections.



Any chance of mounting a respectable election campaign in 2020 will necessitate a different leader for the NDC. It cannot be the case that the NDC has run out of steam. We want somebody who can attract floating voters. Somebody who cannot be tagged with corruption, incompetent and so forth and so on.



So, again, setting differences aside, and regardless of the issues, John Mahama is just not the leader the NDC needs going forward. Mahama as a qualified returnee candidate is suicidal and suffocating. Actually, it is as suicidal as leaving a one year old child alone in the middle of a busy highway. His reign was one of bold, brazen, gluttonous self indulgence. The NDC need to stop him from continuing his nonstop stream of self serving, patronage, and horse and buggy politics. Mahama not only lacks a spine but he also shows no sign of having any bones whatsoever. His candidature is likely to open a bottomless pit can of worms; the "incompetent tag" and many other issues that the NPP placed at Mahama's doorsteps isn't just going away anytime soon.



The results of 2016 is a clear indictment of the Mahama era. There were just too many scandals that Mahama can be remembered for, and indeed the scandals under Mahama chipped away NDC's trust.

How is his comeback going to confront the perception that his government mismanaged the economy, misappropriated resources and elevated corruption to the highest level of governance? Will Ghanaians still give Mahama another opportunity to lead Ghana again after being rejected disgracefully by the same people a few years ago?



I am honestly running out of ways to say this nicely, but I'm going to give it one last shot; for me, Mahama brings virtually nothing to the table as a candidate in 2020, and it will be a huge gamble for the NDC to hand him the nomination.



This is a man who run on his own records as President in 2016 with all the advantages of incumbency and lost in a humiliating fashion of 44.4% with near one million vote margin. If you lose miserably by that margin as President and arguably the most popular candidate at the time, how then could you possibly overturn that margin in opposition? Will Mahama be able to overturn such a wide margin four years after the 2016 disaster with all the disadvantages associated with opposition politics?



Matter of fact; 2020 is going to be won on issues and whomever emerges to defeat President Addo D has to offer something that combats his courageous and principled leadership style, and with rigid adherence to principles. The person must also show he can be on offense without being offensive and convince people he has something to offer the people. Mahama is definately out of his depth and the NDC will be better served losing 2020 with a 'fresh candidate' and come back stronger in 2024 than to lose 2020 with Mahama as a candidate.



Truth is, if the NDC wants to salvage a speck of dignity, it's time to get Mahama out of the way. There's no way the party will have another chance anytime soon with him at the forefront. And Mahama himself needs to cut his losses and crawl into a vodka bottle and not climb out until the NDC redeem it's image. He needs to get over himself. He had his chance and carelessly gave away power on the platter of gold. There's no way in hell many of us will vote for him on the ticket.



And to the extent that he once confounded his critics by telling them to wait to see his back in 2016 if they really want him out, it is time for Mahama to find another way to contribute to our nation.



The NDC is in need of a strong center and a leader that would be acceptable by all. Mahama is certainly not that leader.



I shall be back.

Source: Dela Coffie









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The leadership of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been urged to take a decisive position and disband their political vigilante groups to save the nation from future acts of violence.



Reverend Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, a Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, said the two leaders, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and former President John Dramani Mahama, whose parties were noted to have such vigilante groupings, must put a stop to their activities.



He said some members of Parliament have also won power through the acts of vigilantism resulting in some innocent people being harmed.

Rev Opuni-Frimpong, who is also the immediate past General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, said: The two leaders are the only ones who can say enough is enough with these vigilante activities.



Rev. Opuni-Frimpong was briefing the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on his return from the Democratic Republic of Congo where he was part of an eight-member eminent African Religious team tasked by the All African Conference of Churches (ACC) in Nairobi, Kenya, to accompany church leaders to Congo to pursue post-election peace and reconciliation.



He said it was unfortunate that some members of the vigilante groups now wielded guns, shot and maimed others.

He noted that in war-torn countries like Congo, where violence became difficult to control, there were always outside militias and groupings that operated aside the main security apparatus who could be well coordinated or controlled.



Rev. Opuni-Frimpong said there was no need to formalise any of the political vigilantes but rather a total ban and disarming was what was needed to keep the country safe.



We are not saying that they should not mobilise their people to run errands for them, especially during political rallies and campaigns, it is the act of militancy and violence that must stop.



Rev. Opuni-Frimpong urged civil society groups, traditional leaders, business community and the media to continuously condemn vigilantism and demand the political parties to stop their operations before the general election in 2020.



Ghana has a lot to learn from war torn countries like Congo, which was doing all it could to reverse the country into a peaceful atmosphere.

He said the country had come very far, and serving as a good example for many African countries adding; We should not do anything that would plunge the country into any unfortunate situation.



Rev. Opuni-Frimpong appealed to all citizens to do all they could to allow Ghanas democracy to work.



Ghanas democracy should work to a point that we will become a shining example on the African Continent, he said.

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Spokesperson for the John Dramani Mahama campaign, Mr James Agyenim Boateng has described as shameful comments by senior minister Hon. Yaw Osafo-Maafo who has in a statement say it was wrong for former president to show a video footage of what happened at Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election to some foreign diplomats.



He says the senior minister now has the temerity to describe Mr Mahama's meeting with the diplomats as wrong especially when the Senior Minister still serves in the Akufo-Addo government under whose watch state-sponsored goons with weapons and Police SWAT Hunter Vehicles were unleashed on voters.



Interestingly, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of which Mr Osafo-Maafo is a member, conducted itself at a 21st century by-election as though it was engaged in a 16th century conquest, the Senior Minister did not find that unpatriotic and shameful, he said.



In a statement copied Peacefmonline.com, he described that what is even more worrying is the claim from key government functionaries that the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election remains the most peaceful by-election on record.



Below Is A Copy Of The Statement.



My attention has been drawn to online publications of the reaction of Senior Minister Yaw Osafo-Maafo to a meeting held between former President John Dramani Mahama and members of the Diplomatic Corps, following state-sponsored brutalities unleashed on lawabiding citizens during the recent Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election in Accra.



It is shameful and hypocritical on the part of Mr Osafo-Maafo that he had the temerity to describe Mr Mahamas meeting with diplomats the way he did, especially when the Senior Minister still serves in the Akufo-Addo government under whose watch state-sponsored goons with weapons and Police SWAT Hunter Vehicles were unleashed on voters.



Interestingly, when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) of which Mr Osafo-Maafo is a member, conducted itself at a 21st century by-election as though it was engaged in a 16th century conquest, the Senior Minister did not find that unpatriotic and shameful.



Even more worrying is the claim from key government functionaries that the Ayawaso West Wuogon by-election remains the most peaceful by-election on record.



The dastardly acts of the pro-government hoodlums left scores of people injured and maimed from beatings and gunshots.



For the avoidance of doubt, former President Mahama acted fairly and appropriately by taking a pre-emptive step to galvanise public support to save Ghana from the looming catastrophe fueled by the NPP and its thugs ahead of the 2020 elections.



Apart from re-stating the commitment of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to free, fair and peaceful elections, Mr Mahamas meeting merely shared information that was already in the public domain.



If that was unpatriotic and shameful as Mr Osafo-Maafo put it, then he must lay the blame squarely at the doorstep of those who sponsored the NPP thuggery on the day of the byelection.



It must also be pointed out that it is not unusual for government, opposition and other key opinion leaders to routinely brief stakeholders, including the international community, on major developments in the country. Indeed, this practice is not alien to the NPP. Instead of Mr Osafo-Maafo and his cohorts worrying their heads over who is being briefed, they should concentrate on arresting the perpetrators of the mayhem and bringing them to justice.

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.

Featured Video
Three (300) hundred widows in the Manhyia-South constituency Friday morning showered praise on their Member of Parliament (MP), Dr Matthew Opoku-Prempeh for showing them kindness.



They also prayed long life for the outspoken MP who they said has been defending them against attacks from some NDC members who recently described Lydia Seyram Alhassan, wife of the deceased former MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon as bloody widow.



Speaking on behalf of the widows, Maame Kwartemaa, an 80 year old Manhyia resident told the Ghanaian Observer Newspaper that the MP has repeatedly shown them kindness, adding that to see him do so in the month of February makes it even more touching.



The MP, who she conveniently called Napo has been visiting widows at every Christmas and other occasions.



I want to particularly commend my son, Dr Napo for the show of care and kindness over the years as well as this presentation of wax prints today. For some of us whose husbands died early in life our MP has shown that he is husband for us and we promise him and the NPP government of our prayers so they can govern Ghana for long Maame Kwartemaa posited.



Widows receiving gifts from Manhyia south MP; Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh



OTHER PRSENTATIONS:



The MP earlier at the Abbeys Park also presented four tricycles, street-light bulbs, and 40 pieces of waste bins.



Dr Opoku Prempeh who doubles as Education Minister also donated 80 sewing machines to some apprentices learning sewing in the community.



The Ash-town Library also received some books from the Education Minister with the latter promising to restock the place periodically as they plan to construct a more spacious one in the community.



A library as well as a Police station is currently under way at Potia, a famous community in the Manhyia South constituency.



EDUCATION MINISTER:



Speaking to newsmen, Dr Opoku Prempeh noted the presentation of the items to the people in the constituency forms part of his duties as MP and Minister of State.



The act of showing kindness should always be paramount in the thinking of those who are privileged to be either in an appointed or elected position, the Education Minister advised.



Dr Prempeh stressed his commitment to helping eliminate poverty, noting that education and human empowerment are the best approaches to eliminating hunger, disease and poverty.



People who are educated do much with the knowledge and skill they acquire and therefore everyone in the country should ensure his or her family members take advantage of the free basic as well as the free secondary school opportunity to add value to their lives, Dr Prempeh reiterated.

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.

Featured Video
The all female group affiliated to the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Loyal Ladies, stormed various university campuses across the country in what they described as sharing the NPP love using chocolates.



The event, which formed part of the third anniversary of the group, saw the bevy of ladies sharing 13,000 bars of made in Ghana chocolates.



The newly elected MP for Ayawaso West Wougon, Madam Lydia Syram Alhassam, who joined the NPP Loyal Ladies at the University of Ghana, received a rousing welcome from the students who lined up to receive the chocolate bars.



The MP lauded the efforts of the NPP Loyal Ladies and pledged to adopt their programs in her constituency. She assured the students of her continuous support to make their stay on campus comfortable.



Other events in the Greater Accra Region were at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, the Accra Technical University, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), the Ghana Telecom University and the University for Professional Studies.



The group was accompanied by Mr. Prince Sefah, the Deputy CEO of the National Identification Authority.



In the Ashanti Region, the NPP Regional Organizer, Francis Adomako, led the group to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the Kumasi Technical University to a festive atmosphere.



The Western Region was also not left out as the Ladies from the Takoradi Technical University stormed various campuses sharing chocolates.



The new Bono Region saw members of the group in the University for Energy and Natural Resources giving life to the city of Sunyani.



Speaking at a food bazar at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, General Martha Kodua, Vice President of NPP Loyal Ladies, catalogued the many achievements of the NPP administration in the last two years in comparison with the eight years of poor performance by the NDC.



This excited the students so much that they expressed their contentment with intermittent cheers and a thunderous applause.



She explained that the NPP Loyal Ladies have not taken a day off campaigning since the 2016 elections because they know that John Mahama would want to sneak back into power like a thief in the night so they will continue to make sure the doors are firmly shut and secure.



Speaking to pressmen later, Mrs. Kodua explained that the Valentines Day chocolate sharing and food bazar was a novelty of the group and would be expanding to all other university campuses in the next years.



She explained that the NPP Loyal Ladies currently had about 15000 membership nationwide and they have added close to 2000 just from their activities on campuses on Valentines Day.



She said the group would work assiduously to recruit 100,000 members for the NPP in the 2020 general elections.

Source: 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.

Featured Video
Mr Felix Nyante, Executive Director/Registrar, Nursing and Midwifery Council, Ghana, has said the country is poised to celebrate the bicentenary anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing as relevant and apt.



He acknowledged her multitasking role as contributing significantly towards the development of nursing and midwifery in Ghana and the world at large.



Mr Nyante was speaking to the Ghana News Agency on the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of the year 2020 as the Year of the Nurse and Midwife, in honour of the 200th birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale.



According to a WHO release, this designation is expected to be presented to member states of the 72nd World Health Assembly for final consideration and endorsement.



Our practitioners are a great asset for the country and we intend to safeguard and strengthen the profession through greater investment in improving education, professional development, standards and regulation.



Mr Nyante said the celebration would be used to reflect as a country, our commitment and mechanisms to employ towards the achievement of the sustainable development goal (SDG) 3 by 2030.



He said with the ongoing digitisation drive in the regulation of training, education and practice of nursing and midwifery in Ghana, healthcare delivery will witness more competent, safe, prompt and efficient outcomes as espoused by Nightingale.



We salute her for her resilience in serving humanity and the example she has left us, which is just as relevant today as she was in her lifetime (1820-1910).



WHO says the campaign is particularly important given that nurses and midwives constitute more than 50 percent of the health workforce in many countries.



Howard Catton, Director, Nursing, Policy and Programmes at the WHO, said next year there will be a unique opportunity to honour the nursing contribution to the health of our world by celebrating the bicentenary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.



He said, This celebration offers a platform to recognise past and present nurse leaders globally, raise the visibility of the nursing profession in policy dialogue and invest in the development and increased capacity of the nursing workforce. Nurses, who make up approximately half of the health workforce and who are intrinsically linked to the ability of countries to address health priorities and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, will turn the ambition of achieving health for all people into a reality

Source: GNA









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
Today at London Fashion Week, emerging designer Gerrit Jacob presented his Central Saint Martins MA collection to an audience that included the likes of Game of Thrones star Natalie Dormer and supermodel Jourdan Dunn. Lennon Gallagher, son of Gen-X music royalty Liam Gallagher, walked. The clothing was gloriously outlandish, the kind of thing you always want to see at London Fashion Week (which supports young talent more than New York or Milan or Paris): cargo pants with snarling skull prints, a thermal with elbows made of bra cups, a shimmering teddy bear coat I want to crawl inside forever.

But photography doesn't really paint the whole picture. Why? Because Jacob's show included a heady dose of virtual reality.

Ten front-row guests at Jacob's show sported Magic Leap's One headset, taking in additional images surrounding the clothes. The event would technically qualify as "mixed reality:" you could see Jacob's clothes without it (and there were screens showing the VR imagery for the rest of the guests) but those with headsets saw a whole other world laid on top of the regular show.

"Runway shows are a really nice example of what mixed reality could do, but it could be in shops, [or] on the streets," Jacob told the Evening Standard. "All we do as designers is work on creating the context of the world around us, and to make it become a reality is, to me, an opportunity in every aspect of presenting clothes."

Jacob's show was powered by Three Mobile's 5G technology. Three is setting up a 5G lab at CSM, enabling more design students to work with mixed reality. We live in the future!
Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Three people were killed and 19 others injured in a head-on collision between a passenger bus and a truck on a highway in southern Uganda near the border with Rwanda on Saturday, Rwandan police said
Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is expected in Kenya on Sunday for talks with President Uhuru Kenyatta on regional integration, peace and security, it was officially confirmed here on Saturday
.              .         10-15      .            ,        ,       ,    .     ,  ...
Woodland Park Police Department(DENVER) -- Missing Colorado mom Kelsey Berreths parents - who are suing son-in-law Patrick Frazee for the wrongful death of their daughter - allege in new court documents that Frazee murdered his fiancee because she refused to give him full custody of their one-year-old daughter Kaylee.

Upon information and belief, Frazee had motive to kill Kelsey in that he wanted full custody of [Kaylee Berreth] and/or Kelsey to leave [Kaylee Berreth] with him and Kelsey would not agree, the parents' attorney, Angela Jones, wrote in an amended civil complaint filed Friday in federal court on behalf of plaintiffs Cheryl and Darrell Berreth.

The lawsuit claims Frazee told Cheryl Berreth a series of lies knowing that Kelsey was dead because he had killed her, or caused her to be killed, on November 22, 2018.

On December 2, the plaintiffs claim, Cheryl Berreth called Frazee and asked him if everything was okay.

Frazee allegedly told Cheryl that he and Kelsey had broken up on Thanksgiving Day and agreed to split custody of their daughter. That same day, Kelsey left Kaylee with Frazee while she figured out what she was going to do," according to the phone call documented in the amended complaint.

Kelsey also allegedly asked Frazee "for her things back, so he gave Kelsey her keys and her gun," according to the complaint.

According to Cheryl, Frazee told her that he and Kelsey had plans for November 25, three days after she was last seen shopping at a local supermarket in Woodland Park, Colorado.

"When he later sent a text and she didnt respond, he figured she had put her phone on do-not-disturb so that she could study, which is something he said that she often did when she was studying or [Kaylee] was napping," the court documents detail.

Frazee allegedly also told Cheryl that despite the relationship starting off well, it eventually turned sour. He had "had enough and wasnt going to deal with things anymore," because Kelsey was always criticizing him or "putting him down" in front of the baby.

In explaining one possible reason for her disappearance, Frazee allegedly suggested to Cheryl that Kelsey may have disappeared with a friend or co-worker because "Kelsey didnt always return home directly after she got off of work and that she had gone out to dinner with some co-workers," according to the court documents.

Frazee allegedly also told Cheryl that despite the relationship starting off well, it eventually turned sour. He had "had enough and wasnt going to deal with things anymore," because Kelsey was always criticizing him or "putting him down" in front of the baby.

In explaining one possible reason for her disappearance, Frazee allegedly suggested to Cheryl that Kelsey may have disappeared with a friend or co-worker because "Kelsey didnt always return home directly after she got off of work and that she had gone out to dinner with some co-workers," according to the court documents.

On December 3, "Frazee called Cheryl-Lee Berreth and told her he hadnt been able to access Kelseys phone records online. He stated that she had set up the online access when she was working in Grand Junction and he didnt know the answers to the access questions like where did you meet your spouse?"

Frazee also stated that he thought that Kelsey may have opened her own phone plan and changed her phone number. He told Cheryl-Lee Berreth: I love your daughter. He said that Woodland Park is a safe place and the Berreths didnt need to worry about foul play," according to the documents.

The documents also allege that Frazee encouraged false reports about Kelsey, including that the couple were not engaged, that Kelsey was not Kaylee's primary caregiver, that Kelsey had gone to rehab, that she had run off before, that she had abandoned the baby in Frazee's care and that she "had 'issues' that would warrant Frazee getting full custody."

Kelsey Berreth was last seen in public Thanksgiving Day. Police arrested Frazee December 21. Even though her body has not been found, Frazee has been charged with her murder. He has not entered a plea.

On February 8, Idaho nurse Krystal Lee Kenney pleaded guilty to helping Frazee dispose of Berreths cell phone. She is cooperating with the investigation and is required to testify against Frazee as part of her plea deal with prosecutors.

Cheryl and Darryl's newly amended complaint even go as far as to venture a guess as to how Frazee may have allegedly murdered their daughter.

"Frazee had an opportunity to kill Kelsey or have Kelsey killed in that he had her keys and, because he had her gun, she was vulnerable to an attack," the documents stated.

Calls to the attorneys representing Patrick Frazee in the civil lawsuit have not been returned.

Last month, a judge granted temporary custody of Kaylee to Berreth's parents, Cheryl and Darrell Berreth. The couple also has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Frazee.

Frazee is due back in court Feb. 19.

Copyright  2019, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
RTHK: Paul Manafort faces up to 24 years in jail

President Donald Trump's former campaign chief Paul Manafort faces up to 24 years in prison after being found to have violated his plea deal with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, a court document filed on Friday said.

Mueller's office said it agreed with a Justice Department calculation that Manafort should face "235 to 293 months, a fine range of US$50,000 to US$24,371,497.74, a term of supervised release of up to five years, restitution in the amount of US$24,815,108.74, and forfeiture in the amount of US$4,412,500," the filing said.

Earlier this month, federal district judge Amy Berman Jackson agreed with prosecutors that Manafort had "intentionally" lied to investigators about his contacts with a suspected Russian operative, Konstantin Kilimnik, in 2016 and 2017 - despite having pledged to cooperate as part of his September plea agreement.

Jackson also ruled that Manafort had lied about a secretive payment he made to a law firm, and lied on another occasion when investigators queried him about a separate, still secret investigation related to the Mueller probe.

The ruling meant that Mueller no longer has to abide by the deal, in which Manafort agreed to plead guilty to two reduced conspiracy charges, carrying a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Manafort is one of seven former Trump campaign associates who have been charged by Mueller's team.

He was convicted in August in a Virginia court on eight charges of banking and tax fraud related to his work for Russia-backed political parties in Ukraine between 2004 and 2014.

He was separately charged in Washington with money laundering, witness tampering and other offences, which were consolidated into the two conspiracy charges in the plea bargain. (AFP)

This story has been published on: 2019-02-16. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article.